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A WAR OF MOVEMENT.

SIR DOUGLAS HAIGH SPEAKS,

BRITISH ARMY READY TO

STRIKE,

In an interview which Sir Dougr les Haig granted a representative of the Havas Agency at the British front on the Ist February, the British Commander-in-Chief began by paying a warm tribute to the.hospitality of the French population, who always gave the British troops a reception marked by sincei’e friendship. The correspondent having given expression to the deep impression made upon him by what he had seen in the zone of operations, Sir Douglas Haig said: — “I should have liked the impression of strength which we have given you to be even deeper, for even though we have done what is really enormous, we still have much to do, and it will always be so in the course of a war of material like this. What we have been doing and are mainly doing now in England is a great effort to ensure the Army behind shall be equal in power to that in front.

“WE SHALL NEVER fIAVE TOO MANY GUNS.”

“Already in the matter of the production of munitions we have reached the output we had wanted. On that count we have every security.

“What we want now in greater quantity are guns and railways. M e shall never have too many guns. They are goods that you cannot make in a day, and which are wearing out all the time. “I may say, as regards the wastage of our guns, we get agreeable surprises, but we do not rely on any chance help, and we go on casting guns. The same with rails —that invaluable auxiliary of the armies in the field.

“Some weeks ago our network of railways behind our lines was notoriously inadequate. The disproportion between the tonnage landed at our bases and the tonnage whieh our railways were capable of carrying was of a character to hamper our operations. At my request, directors of the English railway companies came over to investigate our requirements, and they all told me; ‘Whatever you want we shall give you,’ and. indeed 1 got everything I asked for, and even more, for the companies carried their patriotism so far even as to strip their lines of ballast, of which we were in want. THE PRINCIPAL FRONT.

“We arc furnishing material of all sorts to our friends, and particularly Russia, Italy, and Koumania. We cannot escape this obligation, for the single front of the Allies must not be weak in any part. Unity of front and a solid front are the principle. - “There is another matter which must not bo lost sight of, and it is that the Western front is and will remain the principal front of operations. lam convinced that the decision of the war will take place on the Western front, and that is why we must devote all our plans to making the front defensively and offensively the best.”

The correspondent having asked the Field-Marshal whether he thought that the decision could be secured by the breaking down of the Herman front, Sir Douglas Haig replied :

“Tliiil is just lioav I imagine (he decision will lake jiluee. 1 his trench war must give way to ;i war of movement, which alone will procure for ns the great advantages lhat we conn! upon. There is no doubt that the German-Western front will be broken by the FrancoBritish armies. This year will lie decisive in the sense that it will see the war decided on the battlefield, that is to say, an event after which Germany will appear defeated militarily. It may be that the year of the decision will also be the year of peace. We all hope that it may be, and we .shall do all that is in out power that this may be so. NO assurance without COMPLETE VICTORY. “Nevertheless, I wish to speak with all frankness to my country and to its Allies, and to say to them that if Germany, which is a great nation, by which I mean a numerous nation, cannot lie entirely beaten' this year, we shall not hesitate to carry on the Avar. For onr tranquility and the security of the world there can be no peace Avithout complete victory, for an incomplete victory would leave military Germany able to declare a terrible revenge in tlie A’ery near future. “After having attacked England, yon would see her again on youi frontiers, more greedy than eA’er for blood and conquest. Let us beAvare of the suspicious manoeuvres of that enemy, who feels himself lost, whether he talks of peace or seeks to divide us.

“For this great task I can rely entirely upon my troops. Their

morale is above suspicion. All of us have, with regard to peace, a square jaw—that is to say, the indomitable resolve to fight to the end. I am certainly at one with my Government, my country, my soldiers, and with yours when I declare that the necessity of winning and our faith in victory are for us only one and the same thing.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19170428.2.24

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1705, 28 April 1917, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
844

A WAR OF MOVEMENT. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1705, 28 April 1917, Page 4

A WAR OF MOVEMENT. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1705, 28 April 1917, Page 4

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