The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-07-07
HAIG'S CONFIDENCE.
Certain Victory Predicted by the Brit
ish Commander.

hitherto General Haig's bulletins
have simply recorded facts without a
touch of elatiOn or any speculation
about the future. Sir John French's
dispatches had an atmosphere of valor
and reflected the traditions of the
British army. He was of Irish blood
and wrote, as he fought, with imagin-
alton and spirit. He was inclined to
magnify in an eloquent way what had
been accomplished by the army. If
was never depressed by the generals
view OF check or reverse. When
beaten the British army acquitted it.
self gloriously, as in the retreat from
Mons. Sir John French was no less
sturdy with the pen than with the
sword
Sir Douglas Haig is all Scotch, dour
IN defeat, composed in the hour of
success. always steady, inclined to
caution. His bulletins have had no at
mosphere; matter Of fact, they have
understated achievement and avoided
vainglory. Haig has never let him
self go. There has been nothing lit
erary in his dispatches, not a met
aphor anywhere. He has never dipped
his pen in the traditions of the Brit
lsh army. At no time has he shown
thing. What is to be. thought, then,
when Sir Douglas Haig throws off his
restraint, abandons his reserve and
confidently predicts the decline and
defeat of the German army on his
front?
One of the most remarkable des-
patches of the war is the special or
der of the day which Field Marshal
Halg issued after the capture of the
Messines Ridge by General Plumer's
Second army. The carrying of a po-
sition of such great natural strength
with comparatively light casualties the
British commander in chief considers
a demonstration of the superiority of
his army when it undertakes the offen-
sive after careful preparation, and for
the first time he does not hesitate to
predict the final result:
Nothing can save the enemy from
complete defeat, and, brave and tena-
cious as the German troops are, it is
only question how much longer they
can endure the repetition of such
blows"
Between the lines can be read the
British strategy. The enemy cannot
be outflanked or forced into the open,
and objective hardly enter into the
calculations Of the general staff. But
by fierce and sustained attacks, often
repeated. heavy losses can be. infiict-
cd upon the enemy and his morale
beaten down, until he will have no
desire to stand and fight it out. Then
there will be what the French call a
"debacle," in plain English a rout;
and instead of giving way a mile or
two the German army will abandon
the field and "retire" from French
and intimately Belgian territory.
This is the vision of Sir Douglas
Haig. one of the most reserved of
men, a soldier who knew the bitter
ness of defeat when the British force
he commanded in the first month OF
the war was cut to pieces by the en-
emy and only a remnant Of it was
saved by the courage and professional
skill Of Sir Horace Smith -DorrieL
and of Haig himself
We venture to say that the supreme
confidence thus exhibited by the Brit
ish commander i'm chief and his pre-
diction of the breaking of the Ger
man military power constitute a mo
mentous record in the great war
New York Sun.