Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-08-17
British Commander of Troops
In France Says Initiative Is
Now With Allies


July 31-Via London-At the close
of the two years OF the war and Of
the first month of the year, Gen Sir
Douglas Haig. commander-in-chief of
the group OF British armies in France,
in speaking OF the situation laid par
ticular emphasis on the fact that the
! beginning Of the third year of the war
saw the initiative entirely with the
I Allies on all fronts, while England for
the first time was exerting something
Hike a power worthy of her numerous
resources on land. .-.-. e.
The tide has turned" he said.
Time has been with the Allies from
the first. 1t is only question of more
tine till We win a decisive victory
| which is the one sure way to bring
peace in this, as in other wars. Until
| this victory is won it i'll becomes a
British soldier in France to think of
| peace. >~
Those who had the freedom of the
, battle lines the last four weeks had
glimpses of the Youthful and scholar
ly features of SIR Douglas Haig in a
passing automobile on dusty roads,
thick with moving troops and trans
ports. and again of his athletic figure
alighting from his car at the headquar-
tiers of one of the army commanders
for a conference. But mostly his
time is spent in a quiet room in a
small chateau, which is his personal
headquarters. In the center of this
room, where he talked with the Asso-
ciated Press correspondent Monday,
was raised a map of the region of the
offensive with every detail, roads,
woods, villages, trenches, ridges and
valleys, and all the contours revealed
at glance. The only other visible
machinery of command were little
sheets of reports which come from the
firing line through the curtains OF
shell fire, giving the situation at in
tervals in every sector of the front.
The problem of. the first summers
campaign and the second for the Al
lies, - he said, was to hold the Ger
mansS from forcing a decision with
their ready numbers of men, guns and
shells. Whether it was the able gen.
eralship and he-oism of the French on
the Marine, the logged retreat of the
little British expeditionary forces from
Mons, the stubborn resistance OF the
French and British to the German ef-
fort for the channel ports, the Russian
retreat last summer, Belgium's sacri-
flee or Italy's stonewalling against
Austria's offensive or Frances immor-
tai defense of Verdun, the purpose
was always to gain time for prepare
tons necessary to take the offensive
away from the enemy. 20
He mentioned the days of Ypres in
the fill Of 1914, when the British had
only battalions where they have divi-
sions now and fought with flesh and
blood against superior gun fire.
Our unpreparedness at the start
of the war, due to its unexpectedness,
is no secret he continued, while
france, which had a great national
army and universal service, was CIV
ing all her strength; we had to begin
from the bottom. The majority OF our
best regulars had been killed or
wounded in the early fighting. With
the remainder as nucleus to drill
and organize the volunteers who were
raw, but had the spirit that quicken
eth, we undertook to create an army
of millions which must be differed
largely by men of no military expert
ence to fight the German army with
its 40 years of preparations.
I'VE had to make uniforms before
the men who had enlisted could be
taken out of civilian garb; TO build
plants before we could begin the man.
ufacture of our clothes, before we
could arm our recruits and to build
guns and munition plants before we
had artillery" .s.s'-~'
However we'll trained an army"
he continued, however able its gen.
erals, however ample its artillery and
muritions, the supreme test in war
of this kind is its capacity, unit by
unit, for bearing heavy losses I'M
flinchingly. Wherever sacrifice OF
life was necessary to the end these
new army men have borne it with
out murmuring and in a manner
worthy of the best traditions of the
Anglo-Saxon race when it has had to
fight for principles associated with
its history the world over. .~..-....>...
when her navy held England safe
from invasion, it was principle which
led these men-all volunteers-to
fight on soil which is not their own,
they realized that the preparedness.
discipline and autocratic organization
of the enemy which stood for militar-
ism we're abhorrent to them"
Turning to the map he put his
finger first on Pozieres and then on
Delville wood, where the British in
cessant struggle has gained precious
high ground, and said: .- '...-..- ~
Here our men, after they had con-