MR. LLOYD GEORGE AND GENERAL GOUGH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 119, 5 June 1937, Page 11

MR. LLOYD GEORGE AND GENERAL GOUGH

UNJUSTIFlJfcE ASPERSION Exchanp|^^H|wtes — — — — ^ q

riENEEAL ' SIU HUBEBT GOUGH, Commauder of the Fifth Army iu tho Great War^ and Mr. Lloyd George, who was Prime Minister at the time of the famous re'treat of the Fifth Army in March, 1918, paid warm tributes to each other at a reunion dinner of the Fifth Army Old ' Comrados ' Association. ' Mr. Lloyd George was to have been a guest at the dinner, biit was kept away by a cold. He, however, sent a message whieh was read by his secretary. Mr. Lloyd George exonerated General Gough from all blame for the retreat^ and General Gough in turn said that Mr. Lloyd George had allooated blame to the Fifth Army because he was ' ' grossly niisinf ormed " about that critical period of the war. . "It is only a very great man who will admit ho was wrong and have the courage to allow his admission to be published," thc General iadded. .Mr. Lloyd George, in . his message, statedj "The refusal of the Fifth Army to run away even when it was broken, was the dircct cause of the failure of the great German offensive in 3918. I have the best German authority for making that statement. "It was not tho fault of the Fifth Army nor of their 'gallant General that although the attaclc had bccn anticipated for wecks the lino was so thinly held at that point. "Nor wero they responsiblo for tho fact that propcr fortification had not been thrown up on that scctor, nor for the further essential fiact that the Britisb and French rcsevvcs had been so placed that they could not be brought ap in timo to support the attacked Army or thc counter-attack. "On March 21; 1918, Allies and Gcr. mans wero approximately ecpial in numbers of combatants on thc Westcrn Front, but the AJlios had a dcfinitc mcchanical supcrloritv — in gnns, aeroplancs, machine guns, tanlis and ammunitiun. That is to say — along the

whole line the preponderance was ctn our side. "But the Allied forces were so distributed that at the point of attack we were weaker in numbers, in artillery and in reserves than at tany point of the whole British line. ^ f 'jThat was not tho fault of General Gough. He warned G.H.Q. in time that tho enemy were accumulating immenso forces opposite the Fifth Arniy. The dispatches of the Commander:in_Chief showed that he also lcnew weeks boforehand- where thc attack was coming. Nevertheless, the bullc of the troops were kept'in the north "many days remove from the threatened front. "Moroover, Foch's proposal to place a large uumber of French and British divisions in reserve behind the menaced front, weeks before the battle, was rejected by our G.H.Q. Ilcnce the tragic dclays in' tho arrival of reservo divisions to support and rcstoro tho battlo front. But that was not General Gough's f.ault^ and it is iniquitous that he still has to bcar tho official blame. "It is a matter of honour and of fair dealing that an opportunity sliould be affordcd to a distinguished officer, wlio is resting under unjustifiable aspersion, to vindieate himself in the cyes of the country for whieh hc fought. If there is nny doubt now left in anyone's mind as to what happcned, there ought to be an inquiry. " , General Gough, in thc course of his spoocli, said: "As Trimc Minister at the timo of thc War pUr. Lloyd George made scvero criticisuis, and allocaled blame to the

■* fr Fifth .^.arch retreat m whieh ^^^^^^^Hsastrously involved. This wasm^JHp the fact that he was misinformed — grossly misinformed. "To give only one instanco of this — the statement that we had negleeted to arrange • for the destruction of our bridges. The fcrutli was that six weeks before the attack all arrahgements were completed for the blowing up of over 250 bridges and over 250 bridges were, in fact, blown up. "However, it is not my intention here to enter .into this question of how and from what sources this information reached him, but what I do want to emphasise is this — that having come to the co'nclusion- that much of the infor. mation was untrue, and that the blaino was unfair, he has had the generosity and the greatness of niind publicly to say so, on more .than one occasion, and to put it on rccord in his memoirs. /'For thcso qualitics wo camiot but ndmiro as wcll as thaulc him. Such qualities aro- not always found among thc great' oncs of tho earth^ and when they aro they,, uudoubtedly give proof of noble and fine characteristics. "But it is evident • that the courage and strength whieh Mr/ Lloyd ■ George brought to thc conduct of tho war are undiminished, and it is only ,a very great man who will admit he was wrong and havo the courage ,.to allow'" his admission to be published." General Gough declared that during the Passchcndaeie operations thc reports from the Fifth Army headquarters, and from himself pcrsonally, painted a true and faithful picturo of Ihe position and their prospects, and he

was convinced that if any impulse for the breaking off of that battle camo from anywhere it camo from ihe Fifth Army headquarters. When, at their instigiation and insisL ence, the Second Army was brought to extend its right the Fifth Army continued to fight on, often under protest, to protect the second on the left. (Finally, in MaTch, 1918, in the great battle whieh almost destroyed them, they laid the foundations of final victory, sacrificing themselves in that long-drawn-out agony, to carry out a task and support a burden whicli, with. out wishing to bo critical, everyone who could judge impaTtially of those operations, must admit was a most undue task to lay on the shoulders of so few troops. Brigadier-General Sir Edward Bellingham, who was. captured during the retreat, in proposing the tojast of "The Fifth Army,'' said; "That our General sliould have been relieved of his command was a gross injustice — an injustico whieh must be repaired. Like the gallant officer he is, General Gough has borne patiently, and without a murmur for nineteen years, the slight to whieh he wias sub. jected. But let me assuro him, here aud now, that if he considered any slur had been cast upon his ability as an Army Commander, it never entered the head of anyono serving under him, for each and everyone knew that the Army aud its gallant commander had put up an epic fight against overwhelming odds, cmulating in steadfastness, valour and endurance the Tenth Legion of Caesar or the Old Guard of Napoleon. "There is no fairer public than the British public, and I therefore appeal to them to insist that something be done and done forthwith — to rcnder General Gough his due. " Among the gucsts at the dinner were Herr von Ribbentrop, tho German Ambassador, and Major Otzen, a German officer avIio fouglit against the Fifth Army. .- • .