Hit this a few minutes ago while reading Field Marshal Viscount Slim's "Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945" and wanted to share why I think amongst the various books and articles you might pick up why you might also pick up something from a British general who fought a tenacious and skilled enemy, in one of the worst places you could get stuck fighting a war - his observations run the gamut from civil military operations to tank warfare in restrictive terrain - from jungle fighting to HUMINT.

Here are some of Slim's observations on morale:

Morale is a state of mind. It is that intangible force which will move a whole group of men to give their last ounce to achieve something, without counting the cost to themselves; that makes them feel they are a part of something greater than themselves. If they are to feel that, their morale must, if it is to endure - and the essence of morale is that is should endure-have certain foundations. These foundations are spiritual, intellectual and material, and that is the order of their importance. Spiritual first, because only spiritual foundations can stand real strain. Next Intellectual, because men are swayed by reason as well as feeling. Material last-important, but last-because the very highest kinds of morale are often met when material conditions are lowest.
Slim goes on to lay out the composition of each category:
1) Spiritual
a) There must be a great an noble object.
b) Its achievement must be vital.
c) The method of achievement must be active, aggressive.
d) The man must feel that what he is and what he does matters directly toward the attainment of the object.

2) Intellectual
a) He must be convinced that the object can be obtained; that it is not out of reach.
b) He must see too, that the organization to which he belongs and which is striving to achieve the object is an efficient one.
c) He must have confidence in his leaders and know that whatever dangers and hardships he is called upon to suffer, his life will not be lightly flung away.

3) Material
a) The man must feel he will get a fair deal from his commanders and from the Army generally.
b) He must, as far as humanly possible, be given the best weapons and equipment for his task.
c) His living and working conditions must be made as good as they can be.
This is from the chapter entitled "The Foundations" which is the first after Slim has been promoted from command of VVV Corps to the command of 14th Army. Prior to that he'd been brought in from a division command in the Iraqi desert to take command of I Burma Corps - which had ended with a very difficult withdrawal while in contact with the Japanese back through Burma to India.

By the time he writes down his foundations of morale - the ones broken out above, he'd learned a helluva lot about leading men under the most difficult circumstances.

If you get a chance to read this book - you'll see allot of familiar observations about character, decision making under pressure, chance and opportunity in war, the importance of logistics, the effect of poor reports, or what it takes to adapt a unit to the conditions at hand to solve the tactical and operational problems it faces.


Best Regards, Rob