New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-11-10
The British Steam Roller
An Answer TO Some German Critics from the brtuS'
Director of Military Operations
Bu General F. B. Maurice

aged TO drive the U-boats from the sea, bat
7 tell YOU this as plain fact--that nothing
that the U-boats has done has lntertered III
any way with our plans in France lhey
have not kept a round Of ammunition from
our troops; our troops are being fed as I'D
orally as ever they were; they are pette'
supplied with guns and ammunition ano
other requirements of battle, and IN PROOF
of that statement point to what mas oeen
done here. It would be impossible to carry
out our operations if what ! have said was
not fact Now, as to my figures;
"The actual daily importations OF BRUSH
war material into France in January averaged
II A tons per hour. During the last week IN
September they averaged 24.5 tons an hour, ana
they have been steadily mounting up TO tna'
figure between January and September. lha'
is the stuff coming in. That has 10 De ais
tributed at the front and in its turn means
an immense development of communications.
Broad gauge railways are being built; hght
lines are being built; canals. are pelng I'M
proved and developed; roads are being mace
the whole time to get the stuff up to the oa'-
tie point, and TO show you how that develop
ment has been going on, may tell you tha'
on the LIST of March of this year i am not
taking the winter period, because hard WIN.
ter is unfavorable to traffic., on the lst o.
March the number of trains running daily on
broad gauge lines was 179 with war materis'
only for the British armies. For the last
week in September that number had jumped
up to 25s. That is the broad ,;auge railways
No U-Boat Restriction
"When the broad gauge railway stops there
is network of light railways leading OUT
TO the front. In March of this year the week
ly average tonnage carried by those hght
RAILWAYS was 25,30o. At the beginning OF
September q have not the figures for the end
of September) the weekly average was 49,
400; and then we come to the inland water5
WAYS. the canals OF course, you cannot make
a canal as you can a light railway, and the
development has not been so fast, but still
it has been considerable. In March the week
" tonnage carried blythe waterways IN France
for our army alone was 34,500 and in the last
week of September 1t was $1,000. THESE ng-
ures think are sufficient to justify my state
n.ent that the requirements OF our armies
are being kept continuously supplied despite
ANYTHING that the U-boats endeavor TO do to
interrupt communications with France.
81 should like to repeat what | said. DO
not want in any way to make what have SAID
appear too optimistic with regard to the
U-boat war. What we have achieved has only
been done with great effort on our part
owing to the extraordinary vigilance and the
admirable work of ouy navy, but in order to
do that we have had to concentrate force and
take protective measures which we should be
very glad to employ elsewhere, and therefore
do not want for one moment to say that the
U-boat war is thing to be laughed at, but
do. say this, that we have prevented 1t from
interfering with our operations in any way.
while on the subject of optimism, should
like to say a word about the fighting, too.
have told you as far as / can plain facts, and
think you will agree with me that from
our point of view the story is good reading
We have every right to be confident wheh
We see what our men have done, but the fight
ing is hard We have great deal in front
of US and we do not think that this battle is
going to end the war. We see great deal
more hard fighting in front of US. | should
like to add, especially to those of you gentle
men who appeal to the American public, that
the importance of getting American troops on
this side as quickly as possible and in as large
numbers as possible has not been diminished
by anything that has happened in Flanders"