the whole spirit of the arm". The argument ran for two years. As well as provoking debate, his writing proved problematic for his career; in part because of a 1907 pamphlet, Fire Problems, he was twice blocked for promotion by the Commander-in-Chief India. In it, he had encouraged the development of machine-gun tactics, and much heavier concentration and use of the weapons, an unusual position for the pre-war period. In 1906, Pilcher had also published an anonymous invasion novel, The Writing on the Wall, which described a German invasion of Britain; The war he theorised was an invasion by Germany followed by a rapid collapse of the British forces, particularly the volunteers, which he saw as unfit for purpose; he advocated a form of conscription and a mandatory reserve system to strengthen the Army. The Spectator was dismissive, comparing the novel unfavourably to The Invasion of 1910 ("many useful hints are given as to practical lessons ... [but] the general plot entirely destroys any value it might otherwise possess") and noting that the suggestions were "highly typical", but that it was counterproductive to simply malign the Army and encourage the country to adopt German military policies. It was translated and published in Germany the same year, as Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin: Englands überwältigung durch Deutschland. First World War At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 Pilcher was on leave in England, and offered his services to the War Office, but was initially turned down as unsuitable for command by Sir John French; however, in January 1915 he was appointed to command the newly formed 17th (Northern) Division, a New Army division predominantly drawn from northern England. The division moved to France in July 1915, where it held a sector near Ypres for the remainder of the year. It fought the Actions of St Eloi Craters in March 1916, following which Douglas Haig considered relieving Pilcher of his command – he was not highly rated by his superior officers – but in the end his corps commander, Hew Fanshawe, was sacked instead. Pilcher was perceived by many as old-fashioned and disengaged, rarely visiting the trenches; the journalist Philip Gibbs remarked on his "courteous old-fashioned dignity and gentleness of manner", but concluded simply that "modern warfare was too brutal for him". Pilcher's command was certainly slack; an observer in the summer of 1916, recently appointed to 17th Division