be a staunch advocate of Britain's concentration of effort on the Western Front, in March 1902 (before the Entente Cordiale) he wrote a paper ("Treaty Obligations of the British Empire") recommending that, in the event of Belgian neutrality being violated by France or Germany in any future war, Britain should concentrate on naval warfare and deploy no more troops to Belgium than was needed to "afford ocular proof of our share in the war." His suggestion did not meet with approval at the highest political level: Foreign Secretary Lord Lansdowne commented that British policy had always been to deploy a small force immediately and (as had been done in the Boer War) a corps as soon as mobilisation was complete, whilst Lord Salisbury, then in his final months as Prime Minister, commented that he disapproved of such "meditations". Robertson was promoted to brevet colonel on 29 November 1903. Having been one of the oldest lieutenants in the army, he was now one of the youngest colonels, heading a staff of nine officers (divided into Imperial, Foreign and Special sections). In the later words of a contemporary, Robertson "became rated as a superman, and only key appointments were considered good enough for him." Robertson was made Assistant Director of Military Operations under James Grierson and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 30 June 1905. In spring 1905, during the First Moroccan Crisis, Grierson and Robertson conducted a war game based on a German march through Belgium, Robertson commanding the German forces. They were persuaded that early and strong British intervention – it was assumed that British forces would land at Antwerp – was necessary to slow the German advance and avoid French defeat. In 1906 they toured the Charleroi-to-Namur area with the French liaison officer Victor Huguet. In 1906 Robertson also toured the Balkans, where he was impressed by the size of the mountains, a factor which was later to influence his scepticism about the Salonika front during the First World War. When that job expired in January 1907, Robertson, without a post, was placed on so-called half-pay. In fact, his salary dropped from £800 to £300, causing him severe financial difficulty; he earned money by translating German and Austro-Hungarian military manuals into English, again assisted by his wife. He became Assistant Quartermaster-General at Headquarters Aldershot Command on 21 May 1907 and then brigadier general (equivalent