Evening star., 1916-08-01
TIDE HAS TURNED,'
GEN. HA|G CLAIMS
Third Year of War Will Be the
Allies, Says British
Commander.
PRAISES THE EFFORTS
OF HIS VALIANT FORCES
Expects Decisive Victory-German
Officers Admit They
Are Beaten.

WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN THE
FIELD, July 31-At the close Of two
years Of the war and Of the first month Of
the British offensive. Gen. Sir Douglas
Haig. commander In chief Of the group
of British armies in France. in speaking
Of the situation. laid particular emphasis
on the fact that the beginning Of the third
year Of the war saw the initiative entirely
with the entente allies on all fronts. while
England. for the first time. was exert
ing something like a power worthy Of
her numerous resources on land.
THE tide has turned" he said. Tho
time has been with the allies from the
first. 1t is only question of more time
till we win decisive victory, which Is
the one sure way to bring peace in this
as in other wars. Until this victory is
| won, 1t i'll becomes British soldier In
France to think of peace"
Glimpse Of Headquarters.
Those who had the freedom Of the bat
| tie lines the last four weeks had glimpses
of the youthful and scholarly features of
Sir Douglas in a passing automobile on
dusty roads. thick with moving troops
and transport. and again Of his athletic
figure, alighting from his car at the head
quarters 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, whore he
talked with the Associated Press cor
respondent. was raised a map Of the
region of the offensive. with every do
ridges and valleys. and all the con-
| tours revealed at a 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 inter-
walls in every sector of the front.
The problem Of the first summers
campaign and the second for the al
Jies" ne said. was to hold the Ger
mans from forcing a decision with
their ready numbers of men, guns, and
shells. Whether it was the able gen.
eralship and heroism of the French on
the Marne the logged retreat OF the
little British expeditionary force 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 or Ser
Was sacrifice. Italys stonewalling
| immortal defense of Verdun. the purse
was always to gain time for prepara-
tions necessary to take the offensive
away from the enemy"
Has Advocated Patience.
He mentioned the days of Ypres in
the fall of 1914. when the British had
not battalions where they have divi-
sions now. and fought with flesh and
blood against superior gunfire. Since
he took command of tho army. which
he had to train and form. his favorite
word has been patience" to his sub
ordinates and callers.
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 giving all her
strength we had to begin building from
| the bottom. The majority of our best
regular officers had been killed or
wounded in the early fighting. With the
remainder as a nucleus to drill and Or
ganiZe the volunteers, who were raw but
had the spirit that quickens. they under
took to create an army of millions, which
| must be oficered largely by men of no
military experience to fight the German
army with It's forty years of prepara-
| tton. We had to make uniforms before
the men who had enlisted could be taken
out Of civilian garb, to build plants for
the manufacture Of rifles before we could
arm our recruits and to builc guns and
nunltlon plants before We had artillery.
Has to Keep Stonewalling.
Meanwhile we had to keep on stone
walling in France with such troops as we
had ready against that prepared army,
whose blows were the sturdier in his
efforts for a decision owing to his realiza-
ton that time was against him. Now
the army has had it's first practical ex-
perience in attack on large scale.
After his plans were made and the
order given to advance on July l he could
| only await news OF the results in this
quiet room with its atmosphere of de-
| tachment. There was no change in his
inperturbability in the half hours sus-
pense before the first definite information
arrived out of the mantle of shell. smoke
and confusion into which the infantry
I charged over a siXteen-mile front.
when night came he listened to the
reports of his subordinates, made plans
| for the morrow and gave directions Of
customary brevity and sometimes with
pithy homily.
| Characteristically Scotch, with the
hardy constitution of the Scot keeping