END OF THE WAR.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16416, 9 January 1919, Page 7

END OF THE WAR.

GERMANS WELL POUNDED. . SIR DOUGLAS HAIG'S DESPATCH, j ( i m r Cable.—Press A?«ociation.-Copyriglit.) , and N.Z. Cable A«o<natH>n.) ] (Received January Bth, 8.5 p.m-) LONDON, January /• ( \ "Gazette" has been issued contain- . ing Sir Douglas Haig's despatch, dated , December 21st, covering the period ( since the termination of tho great d fensive battles on the Somme and Lys. The despatch states that last Ap the German attacks, though unsuccessful, had restricted the Allies resources to tho uttermost, and the possibility o an immediate renewal of the enemy ofensive was viewed with grave anxiety. Per contra, the enemy undoubtedly had suffered severely, but cient superiority of force to retain the initiative which, however, ho could not afford to'delay applying owing to the increasing growth of the Army The British military policy was to maintain an active defence until an equUibrium of strength had been reached Tho complete success of the Allied counter-attack near £oissons on July 18th marked the turning point.of the campaign/after which tho initiative lay with the Allies- _ "At this point, and m this junrion," 6ays Sir Douglas Haig, should like to pay a personal tribute to tho foresight and determination of the French Marshal, in whose hands the coordination of action of the Allied armies was placed." gir Douglas Haig proceeds to describe tho steps taken during the period of active defence to repair the effects of tho enemy breaches in the defensive system, and shows how, in consequence of the enemy fire commanding important railway construction and railway junctions, the Allies undertook a comprehensive programme of railway construction in order to render the traffic between north and south independent of Amiens. This involved the laying of 200 miles of broad gauge track between April and July. The offensive work involved the digging of five thousand miles of trenches. In the meantime the fighting troops severely harassed the enemy in the Lys sector, delaying and ultimately preventing a renewal of the German offensive there. But the outstanding feature of the events described is Sir Douglas Haig's 'own account of the great series of British victories between August Bth and Nbvomber Hth. He says that at Amiens, Bapaume, in tho breaking of the Drocourt-Queant and Hindenburg systems, before Le Catean and on the Selle, in Flanders and on the Sambre, the enemy was /again and again brought to battle and defeated. He was finally defeated in the great battles of November Ist and 4th, and was utterly without reserves. At the date of the armistice he was falling back without coherent plan in widespread disorder and confusion. In a further reference to the situation when hostilities ceased, Sir Donglas Haig states that by the end of October the British armies were in a position to prevent the enemy's withdrawal to shorter lines, and the British were ablo to force an immediate conclusion.

BRITISH ACft 1K VKMERTS. NOTHING' FINER IN HISTORY. GLOWING TRIBUTE TO INFANTRY. . ** — (Australian and N.Z. Cable Aoaocja&m.) (Banter's Telegrams.) LONDON, Jannary 6. The dispatch disclosed that) thej "> principal British attack was to have taken place on November Ist, after Valenciennes had been captured. Sir Douglas Hnig says:—-'ln the fighting on and subsequent to that date, we broke the enemy's resistance beyond possibility of recovery. The enemy , thereafter. was capable neither of accepting nor refasing battle." The Allies' strategic plan was realised with a completeness rarely seen in war, and when the armistice was signed the enemy's defensive powers were already definitely destroyed. A con- ' tinnan.ee of hostilities could only have meant disaster to the German armieß, ; and an armed invasion of Germany. ». In the course of eloquent passages Sir Douglas Haig says:—"Tn three months' epic fighting, the British armies in Frarce brought a sudden, dramatic end to the great wearing-out battle of the past four years. The.confidence of our troops throughout years of strain never wavered. The annals of war hold no record of a more wonderful recovery than that which, three months after the tremendous blows showered upon them on the Somme and Lys, saw the undefeated British armies advancing from victory to victory, finally foroing triumphant enemy to acknowledge unconditional defeat." , In the decisive contests of the petfod covered, Sir Donglas Haig says:—"The British attacked the strongest and most vital parts of the enemy's front, cut his lateral communications, and fought his Vet divisions to a standstill On different battlefronts 187,000 prisoners were taken, and 20,850 guns, 29.000 machine-guns, and 3000 trench mortars captured. These results were achieved by 59 British divisions, which enpapred and defeated 99 separate German divisions in three mouths. In spite of the accepted military doctrine that in good defensive positions any given force can hold up a considerably greater attacking force (and this our defence proved in March and Aprils, yet when the tide of battle turned, and the British attacked, completely destroying the German resistance, the British were numerically inferior to the defeated German forces." Sir Douglas Haig pays a tribute to the most magnificent spirit of the men. Referring to the infantry, he says:— 'In spite of tho enormous development of mechanical invention in every phase of warfare, the place which the infantryman has always held as the main substance and foundation of an army, is as secure to-day as in any period of history. The infantryman remains the backbone of defence, and the spearhead of attack. At no time has the reputation of tho British infantryman been ' higher, or his achievement more worthy of renown. No praise can be too high for the valour he has shown, no gratitudo too deep for the work he has accomplished."

Sir Douglas Haig also refers to the unsurpassable* work of the artillery and cavalry, adding that the recent fighting showed that cavalry was still a necefiary Arm in modern war. He also pays tributes to the other arms, including the gas services, which discharged between March and November 2250 tons of gas, also the Forestry Corps, which in the year ended October 31st, cut 2,500,000 tons of timber for the AngloFrench armies The despatch concludes with a reference to the harmonious relations with the Allies, which were undimmed by any hint of discord or conflict of interests or ideals.