Evening star., 1918-04-10
been fully ascertained and laid before
the government by their military ad-
visers.


AFTER the retirement Of the nth
| army. the French reserves came up
with remarkable rapidity, when their
position before the battle Is borne in
mind. In fact the speed with which,
when the flnal decision was taken as
to the real design Of the enemy. the
French reserve were brought up Is one
OF the most remarkable feats of or
ganization in this war. and between
i the courage Of our troops and the han
| ding Of the army-the way the third
army held, never giving, way a hun
dred yards to the attack of the enemy
II think 1t right that 1t should be said
| about the army commanded by Gen.
Byng-what between the efforts Of our
soldiers and the loyal assistance given
in true spirit of comradeship by the
French army, the position is for the
moment stabilized. But 1t is clear that
the Germans, having gained an initial
success, are preparing another, and
perhaps an even greater. attack on the
allied armies.
Initial Success for Enemy.
up to the present the enemy has
undoubtedly obtained a great initial
success. There is no good in not ac-
cepting the facts. 1t is from that basis
we must begin to build. But he has
failed so far in his main objects. He
failed to capture Amiens. He failed
to separate the French and British
armies. But we should be guilty OF
great, it might be fatal. error If we
were to underestimate the gravity OF
the prospect.
THE enemy has captured valuable
ground. which is too near Amfens for
comfort or security, and he has sue
ceeded for the time being In Gripping
one of our great armies.
xrvfI tAh kHA a - O.
Of the measures adopted by the cab
met to meet the emergency. I have
already explained what was done about
the French reserves. The cabinet took
In order to fill up the gap In our
armies. No such large numbers OF
men eves passed acsoss the channel in
So short time.
Germans Exaggerate.
"As to the guns and machine guns
which were lost, the numbers are
grossly exaggerated by the enemy.
am assured that they have also exag-
gerated very considerably the number
Of prisoners they have taken. The
commander-in-chief assured me last
week that 1t was gross exaggeratfon.
II am very glad to be able to say
that the ministry of munitions were
able not merely to replace those guns
and machine guns, but that they still
have got very substantial reserve
The same thing applies to ammunition
There is an ample reserve Of ammunt-
tion both in this country and In France.
"Our aircraft strength Is greater now
than before the battle, and we all know
what brilliant service our airmen rem
story of the battle is told 1t will be
almost impossible to estimate the serv-
ices they rendered in retarding the
advance of the enemy. in destroying
his machinery and In making 1t dffhcult
for him to bring up his guns and am
munition. We feel confident that our
armies, generals and soldiers will be
quite equal to the next encounter, when
ever it comes.
Aid Of President Wilson.
'.rhe next step to which should like
to call the attention Of the house Is
the material and dramatic assistance
rendered by President Wilson In this
emergency-one of the most important
decisions in the war. In fact. the issue
of the battle might very well be de-
termined by this decision.
TN America there Is a very con-
siderable number Of men in the course
of training and the allies looked for
ward to having large American army
in France In the spring. 1t has taken
longer than anticipated to turn those
soldiers into this necessary divisional
organisations. II America waited to
complete these divisional organizations
1t would not be possible for these fne
part in this battle in this campaign,
although it might be very we'll the de-
cisive battle Of the war.
Serious Disappointment.
This was, Of course. one Of the most
serious disappointments from which
the allies had suffered. It is no use
pretending 1t was not one of our chief
causes of anxiety. We depend upon 1t
largely to make up the detection Of
Russia For many reasons-reasons.
nected with the time 1t takes. not
merely to train troops and their Of
foers. but to complete the necessary
organization-it was quite impossible to
put into France the number Of di-
pected would be there.
Under the circumstances we. there
fore. submitted to the President Of the
United States a definite proposal We
retary of War in this country within
two or three days after the battle had
commenced. Mr.. Balfour and I had
long conversation with him upon the
whole situation. and we submitted to
him certain recommendations which we
had been advised to make to Mr.. Baker
and the American government
How q. s. Troops Will Fight.
'On the strength Of the conversation
we submitted proposals to President
Wilson with the strong support of Pre-
mier Clemenceau, sto enable the COM
batant strength Of the American Army
to come into action during this battle,
fnasmuch as there was no hope of it
coming In as strong separate army.
BY this decision American battaltons
Will be brigaded with those of the
allies. This proposal was submitted
by Earl Reading on behalf of the Brit
ish government to President Wilson.
and President Wilson assented to the
proposal without any hesitation. with
the result that arrangements now are
being made for the fighting strength of
the American Army to be brought inn
mediately to bear in this struggle. a
struggle which is only now beginning,
to this extent, and 1t Is no mere small
extent, that the- German attack has
been held up. It has stirred up the
resolution and energy Of America be-
yond anything which has yet occurred.
Another Important Decision.
Another important decision taken by
the allied governments I must also call
to the attention Of the House. It became
more obvious after the battle than
ever before that the allied armies were
suffering from the fact that they were
nghtfng two separate armies and had
to negotiate support with each other.
valuable time was thus lost. Some of
us had been deeply Impressed by this
peru Tor SONS time and had done our