the Agadir Crisis Gen Sir Percy Radcliffe wrote that M.O.1, formerly "academic and sterile", "became the mainspring of all our preparations for war". Because of the need for secrecy, Harper's MO1 was tiny – ten officers, three of them seconded from the Quartermaster-General's Department. Secret documents (e.g. railway timetables) were typed up by officers rather than (enlisted) clerks and printed on a secret printing press. By 14 November 1912, after two years of work, the railway timetables were ready for the assembly of the BEF, prior to sea transport to France. When Deputy Director of Military Operations, Colonel Harper minuted (1 October 1913) that in the event of war corps should simply be "post boxes" to relay the decisions of GHQ to divisions – this view would gradually be revised in the course of the war, and by the latter part of World War One experienced corps commanders were taking on more and more autonomy over operations. First World War GHQ On the outbreak of war Colonel Harper was placed in charge of the Oa (planning operations and written orders) section at BEF GHQ. The I (intelligence) and Ob (written records) sections were subordinate to Oa, making Oa in practice something of a bottleneck. He had a poor relationship with the BEF Chief of Staff Murray, as he was used to working with Murray's deputy and rival Wilson. On 24 August (the day after the Battle of Mons) Harper refused to do anything for Murray, so that Lord Loch had to write messages even though it was not his job. Wilson had to intercede to prevent French from sacking Harper (Wilson diary 7 Sep) but a week later recorded (Wilson diary 14 Sep), that Murray and Harper argued constantly. Robertson (QuarterMaster-General of the BEF) was known to remark - by one account to some visiting politicians at Abbeville in 1914 who saw the letters written on a door - that "Oa" stood for "Old 'Arper". Robertson, now BEF Chief of Staff, removed Harper – who had been promoted temporary Brigadier-General in November - "in a very untactful way" (Rawlinson diary 29 Jan & 8 Feb 1915) whilst Wilson was away touring the French front. Robertson separated Staff Duties and Intelligence out from Operations into separate sections, each headed by a Brigadier-General. Although Harper's removal was part of a restructuring at GHQ, his successor Whigham was more focussed and approachable than