KITCHENER'S MIRACLE
FINE TRIBUTE BY FRENCH GENERAL. General JTonvillS, writing in the ' Matin' -in 'British Tenacity,' says: "' Lord Kitchener declared that by the spring o£ 1917 Gredt Britain would iave, under arras 5,000,000 men. The task he undertook was superhuman, and meant nothing less than creating a formidable army out of nothing. As a starting-point he had only sis modest divisions on a war basis. Everytliing had to be organised for the manufacture of equipment, arms, and munitions. Recruiting depended solely on the voluntary system of a country of which the tradition for centuries forbade the imposition of military service. Kitchener disappeared before the achievement of his task, but his spirit has survived him. Of all the surprises of this war surely the greatest is the fact that at the hour he appointed, in less than 30 months from the outbreak of hostilities, the five million soldiers he had promised rose from the soil in the British Empire, provided with an abundance of arras of the latest pattern, well trained in mind and body for the necessities of modern \«iic Fare.
" Tl:e Germans, with their fat sinile, had made merry at Kitchener's expense. 'What!' they said, ' was this man a ' magician to conjure out of the "contemptible little army"' of Lord French a swarm of legions equipped with, thousands of guns!' To-day this miracle-is a fait accompli.- The British alone is as numerous and well armed as Emperor William's entire army. It is only after receiving many hard knocks from it that these once-impertinent mockers have learnt to appreciate its character." jln conclusion, General Fomrille says: "By a singular good fortune England has always found in times of crisis the right man to lead. She has now Lloyd George, who has the determination of . Pitt, with the naming enthusiasm of Gambetta. To-day, again, it is British tenacity which is triumphant. For. 30 months the British bulldog has been tightening his muscles and sharpening his teeth. He is now biting, and will not relax his hold."
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Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 24 August 1917, Page 3
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335KITCHENER'S MIRACLE Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 24 August 1917, Page 3
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