Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-27
FRENCH FOUND THEMSELVES AT BATTLE
OR MARINE; BRITISH COURAGE SAVED PARIS;
GERMAN EFFICIENCY AMAZES THE WORLD
Small British Army
S tan d S Fast and
Holds Off K a is e r
From Calais.
Nv ED T., KEEN

By ED l.. KEEN
LONDON, July T--After year at wa
the British Empire has somewhat les
than 10000 troops IN the field its allie
have approximately 100000
The British front In the western theatr
Is about 40 miles In length; the lines >
the other Allies east and west, including
servia and Montenegro, cover some l6O
miles. AS the ratio OF troops employe
is 1 to Il and the ratio Of mileage is
| TO 40, there appears to be some iustfca
ton for the complaints recently made
quite unoflclally of course-both u
France and Russia, that England Is no
doing her share Of the work
But the question as to whether Eng
| land Is fulfilling her obligations should
be considered in the light OF her prom
ises On this basis she has delivered more
| than was specified in the contract. There
| were two clauses In the secret agree
| ment made with France long before the
war started
England would take care Of the seas
She would send an expedltionary force
to France of 10000 men.
STILL SENDING MEN
That's all there was to It, She has car.
ried out the first clause to the letter; she
has sent nearly six times as many men
to the firing line as she bargained for,
and she Is still sending them as fast as
they can be trained.
Only the other day the Temps, OF Paris,
in an obviously inspired editorial COM
menting on recent tributes paid to France
by the British press, made these signifi-
cant remarks: "Frankness should be
mutual. IL on the land the support Of
our British allies Is still only limited
we must not forget that on the seas II
Is they who have had much the heaviest
task If at the beginning OF the war
we were able to complete the equipment
of our army with a rapidlty which was
not one of the German staff's least SUR
prises, we owe 1t to the fleet which rem
dered us masters of the seas" The
Temps then admits that to this capital
support on the sea the British Empire
has brought its industrial and financial
resources, while its military effort on
land has really surpassed all forecasts"
There probably always will be some
difference of opinion as to whether 1t
was British valor or German laundering
that saved Paris in the early days Of
the war. Perhaps 1t was the two Any
how, Paris was saved. and Britishers at
least, always will give the lions share
of the credit to Field Marshal French,
his generals and his soldiers, But even IL
the salvation OF Paris was not due to
the British there is no question that
they, and they alone, saved Calais and
the other Channel ports. OF course, in
accomplishing this England has done her
self a greater service than she has the
French.
AFTER CALAIS.
Since the failure of the Paris attack,
Germany's main effort has been concen-
trated in the direction of Calais, and
that Is the reason why, until he has re-
ceived sufficient reinforcements, General
French will be unable to extend his front.
The fate of the British Empire rests
upon the holding Of those 40 miles.
All idea of the big spring drive" upon
which the military writer's had fed the
imagination of the British public for
months was abandoned at Neuve Cha
pelle, when, at the cost of 1900 men, the
British barely made a dent in the Ger
man line Of highly fortified trenches.
In what was accomplished the Neuve
Chapelle offensive was in a sense a vic
tory; in what it failed to do, 1t was a
Lille was the objective, and
the Germans are still firmly planted in
Lille.
Then, after the second battle of Ypres,
in which the Germans first used asphyx-
iating gases. came the battle of La Bas-
see This showed the British public why
the "big drive" had become impossible,
Tho British and French troops were to
make joint advance after a preliminary
bombardment for three hours Of the
German trenches and the field of wire
intervening. In that time
the French fired nearly 100000 hlgh-ex-
plosve projectiles; in one hour the Brit
ish had exhausted their supply OF 10000
high explosives and the rest OF the time
used shrapnel Result: the French in
fantry advanced two miles into trenches
that had been practically cleared, with a
loss of only 2OOO; the British lost 1900
men in attempting TO take trenches that
hadn't been cleared,
STARTED SCANDAL.
A newspaperman witnessed this battle.
He told the public through the medium
OF the London Times, the reason why
the British had failed. starting the scan
dal that disrupted the British Liberal
Cabinet, caused the formation of a coali-
tion ministry, sheared Lord Kitchener's
wings and created the new Department
Of Munitions, with Lloyd-George at its
head.
Somebody had blundeFed. Lord North
clifre's newspapers fastened responsibility
ON Kitchener. While giving him due
credit for his magnificent work In rais-
ng, organizing and training the largest
volunteer army the world has ever seen
they charged him with neglecting the
one thing upon which any possible hone
II British success on land could be bassd
-an adequate supply of high-explosiys
shells
The one ineNplioable incident Is Premier
Asquith's statement. upon the highest
possible authority" that neither Great
Britain nor her Allies had been hammered
by lack of munitions-a statement di- |
'eetly eontradicted by his recent frantic
appeals 10 the workmen OF England 10 |