The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1919. A HISTORIC DOCUMENT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 241, 5 July 1919, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1919. A HISTORIC DOCUMENT

In his final dispatch, the full text of which arrived )>y a recent English mail, Sir Douglas Haig gives a comprehensive review of the operations of the British armies on the Western front which resulted in the termination of tho. war by the destruction of .the enemy's fighting power. ,It is an extremely interesting narrative, in the course of which the British Cbmiriandcr-in-Ghict recounts many striking facts, expresses his opinions on many keenly-debated points, discloses much information that could pot have been made public while the fighting was in progress, and gives us the broad! outlines of the story of the war from the soldiers' point of view. The story is so wonderful and so, .thrilling'that' there .is no'necessity; to resort, to artificial literary devices to arouse or sustain the attention of the British' public Sir Douglas Haig uses no flourishes. His great narrative is written in a simple, straightforward, Its severe simplicity makes it all tne more impressive. We have.been told over and over again that the recent war was not merely a clash' of armies, but a conflict of..whole nations. A.perusal of Sir Douglas Haigs final' dispatch enables us to understand what this really means. It is, of course, impossible to speak top. highly of the achievements of our fignting men; but, as the Comman-der-in-Uhiof points out, the accomplishment' of the stupendous task which the British Empire began on August 4, .1914, is due "mainly to the wonderful spirit of the .British race in all.parts of the world." An unshakable will to win has been the common possession of the men in the trenches', the; Navy,, and.mercantile marine, the war workers" behind the lines, and tho men and women of the Empire. This- spirit is unconquerable. Victory in such a war as we have passed through depends.in the long run on the moral stability of the nation as a' whole. '' Sin Douglas Haig fully recognises this in the concluding passages of his dispatch, where he makes

very warm and sincere acknowledgment of-.the great'debt owed by all ranks of the armies in France to our kinsmen mid kinswomen of the British Empiro for tho unfailing support they havfegiven us by their thoughts, their prayers, and their work •throughoiit-.the'. long years of war. In all those years their trust and confidence never wavered, their labours never ceased, and no sacrifices, hardships, <.r privations wero too great to be borne, provided that thereby the needs of tho troops might adequately be supplied. _. The dauntless spirit of the people at "honie o strengthened the invincible spirit of. tho Army, the while their incessant toil on land and sea, in the mine, i factory, and shipyard placed in \,.our i hn,nds" the means with which to fight. All this is'true; but the British na-} tion can never forget the over-1 whelming debt of gratitude which it owes to.its fighting men. _ ' Tlie duty of readiness is writ large over Sir Douglas Haig's dispatch. The war has. upset many military maxims, but it has emphasised with .tremendous force.the need for being j prepared. The:Gorman plan of campaign was based upon a clear recognition of the enormous advantage of superior preparation, and as Wc look back on. the desperate situations which arose in the early clays of the struggle we cannot help marvelling at the way our armies) recovered from the staggering blows i delivered by the enemy before the Allies had got into their stride. Sin. Douglas Haig states that the margin by which the German onrush in 1 DM was stemmed was so narrow and the subsequent struggle sn severe, that tho word "miraculous" is hardly too strong a term to describe the recovery and ultimate victory of the Allies. What might have been the effect of British intervention on a larger scale in the earlier stage of the war is shown by what wits actually achieved by our original Expeditionary Force. Tho Crminmnder-in-Chief goes onto state that "there' can be no question that to our general unprcparcdness must be attributed the loss of many thousands of brave men, whose sacrifice we deeply deplore, while we regard their splendid gallantry and self- | devotion with unstinted admiration and gratitude." However sincere

may lie our desire for the cstablishment of n Lcagii3 of Nations to enforce peace, common sense will not permit us to overlook the fact that the proposed League is an experimental arrangement, and that it may not survive its infantile troubles. Eeason will not allow us to jump to the conclusion that war has been banished for ever from Llie world. We may hope for the best, but we must be prepared for the worst. We do not know what, will happen during llic next few years, and \Ve ought to be always ready for any and every emergency. "lie ye ready'' is one of the outstanding lessons of the war.

Sut Douglas Haig is of opinion that the experiences of the struggle which has just been, brought to a close have not invalidated fundamentally the pre-existing principles of war. He states that "if the operations of the past four and a half years are regarded as a single continuous campaign there can be recognised in them the same general features and the same necessary stages which between forces of approximately equal strength have marked all the conclusive battles or history."' When armies of millions are engaged with-the resources of great empires behind them the stages arc necessarily prolonged. The launching and destruction of Napoleon's last rcserves'at Waterloo were a matter of minutes. In this worldwar the sortie of the beleaguered German armies which commenced on March 21, 1918, lasted for four months, yet it represents a single colossal battle. The British Com-mander-in-Chief says the war did not follow any ■ unprecedented course, and its end was not sudden, nor should it have been unexpected. During the fighting, of 1915 the opinion gained ground that great changes in tjhe general character of warfare were inevitable, and many new methods were tried, but the Somme fighting of IDIG showed thai i;he principles of our pre-war training were as sound as ever. A reversion to old methods was. the result, and the events of the next two years fully confirmed the lessons drawn from the Battle of the Somme. Science and invention in the shape of a wonderful variety of mechanical appliances and contrivances played a tremendously important part, in the conflict, hut the last word still remains with the infari--try. The human element is still the decisive factor. Tm« Infantry remains the. foundation and mainstay of the Army. Sir Douglas Haig declares that "immense, as the influence of-' mechanical devices may be, they cannot, by themselves decide a, campaign. Their true role is that of assisting the infantryman, which they have done in a most admirable manner. They cannot replace him. Only by the rifle and the bayonet of the infantryman can the decisive victory be.won." These, things arc written for our learning. It would be madness to shut our eyes to flic possibility that sooner or later our Empire will have to fight another war. Jo will be well for us if we.renivinbcrthat the necessities for the waging of a successful war are the best generalship, the best organisation, the best science, the best material, and. above all. the best men. We cannot have, these things without paying the price—the price .of readiness. .