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s an Arm \ ) ASSES J "of" tary development could give the En- i p Germans to transfer their divisions to - by strengthening their forces on the "FOR Lo | GREAT Ludendorff Sees She Must Smash Allies Before America Gets Into Fray--Bolsheviki Not to ' Blame for Treaty That Frees Eastern German Troops. Bonar Law "Still Sceptital" When All Others See Big Drive Coming-- British Man-Power : Problem Acute Haig Threatens Resignation as Supreme War Coun- cil Orders Him to "Take Over More Line" --No Haig-Petain Plot Against Foch. BY GEORGE H. B. DEWAR Article VII. Two sovereign facts early in 1018 transcend, in the judgment of German leadership, all minor military and poli- tical considerations. One is that France and Great Britain must be overwhelm- ed in 1918 before America can estab- lish a formidable army on French soil; the other that the impending collapse of Russia as a great military opponent promises Germany a highly favourable ~-and probably at last--chance of forc- ing a decision on the Western Front. "All that mattered was to get to- gether (1918) enough troops for an attack on the west," wrote Ludendorfi. The need was urgent to collect, for | this end, "every man that could be spared from the various theatres" of the war, The collapse of Russia offered Ger- many, a greater, a far speedier, pros- pect of victory in the first half of 1918 than the hope of American mili- + tente at that season. But to close fin- ally with Russia was not as easy as| many people without Ludendorfi's knowledge and judgment imagined. The Bolsheviks spun out the nego- tiations. They angled for support out- side Russia. They fried to induce the | reme War ode at Versailles resolv- enemy to evacuate the country be- fore the terms were finally carried out. This did not suit German's plan for | transporting in safety the bulk of her | fighting troops and material to the Western Front for an offensive' in L 3918 before America could develop. Vustrian and German socialist pleas t for the poor Bolsheviks were therefore i The armistice was de- junced: hostilities were resumedgof | Rus WM on February : 4 and it once the Bolshevifflcaders t to their and the Teeaty of rest-Litovsk was imposed on « {In April 1022 Mt. Lloyd Géorge re- minded the Bolshevik delegates at Genoa that, by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia had enabled the the Western Front and to place the Allies there in grave danger. The Sov- jet delegates might have asked why the Allies, knowing perfectly well of this danger, took no steps to avoid it front until after the Germans had transferred from east to west the di- visions required, and delivered their blow! The truth is the Bolsheviks were compelled to make peace with Ger- many on her own terms; whereas the British War Cabinet was not compell- ed to jeopardise the British Army, and the whole Allied cause, by withholding from Haig, between January and March 1918, the forces essential to de- | fend their front, and at the same time the incompetent of Versailles that this front should be still further 'extended) « - is to the credit of the British Press the public was warned of the com- i ive; there were many refer- SM newspapers through the "of -1918; and"\they came f titative sources" at our 'What view did the War Cabinet take the ability of a German of- ? Either they did not take the ) seriously, or the mem- Cabinet diffesed from one threat of that 1 1918, Mr. Bonar Law, 1 f i Pe = O if i £ 8:8 : : ] i il iis Yet, despite this warning, of which he spoke in such high terms on April oth, the War Cabinet had not thought fit to give the British Commander-in- Chief the troops necessary to meet or overcome the great German offensive. Colonel Henderson, in his work The Science of War, declares that in all his- tory there are few more glaring -in- stances of incompetent statesmanship than the proposal of the British Cabi- net in 1813, at the moment when Wel- lington was contemplating a campaign to expel the French from Spain--and was accordingly asking for more men, etc, to detach a large force in. the va- gue hope of exciting a revolution in Italy. Might he not have slightly modified his censure on the 1813 Cabinet had he lived to find the 1018 Cabinet, in face of this heavy enemy threat, de- ciding to extend its operations in"a distant and subsidiary theatre of the war? For that is what did occur. At the end of January 1918, the Sup- ed on a gredter effort, with more troops, in Pale¥fine; and the resolu- tion was reached despite the British Commander-in-Chiéf's warning that concentration of our resources was now absolutely essential in the vital theatre, where alone a decision could be reached by either side. As to the Cabinet of 1813, it may have been indiscreet in thinking of sending troops to Italy; but Welling- ton was not at the time threatened by a mighty concentration of the enemy in Spain, as we in 1918 were threaten- ed in France. Lord Liverpool.and Pal- merston his War Secretary strike some of us as, after all, not such inefficient war figures when we come to contrast them with their successors in office a hundred and five years later! When at the close of 1917, British leadership, in accord with the French and the Allied view generally, decided on a defensive policy for the first part of the coming year, its reason was simply that our divisions were, numeri- cally below strength; whilst the Ger. mans, on the other hand, were grow- ing and growing in power. The ques- tion of man-power on the Western Front had become most grave. The man-power problem should be considered cooly. It was one of the interminable controversies during the war, and by appeals to passion neither side succeeded in converting its op- ponents, Many observers at home felt that too many men of the right age and physique for military service were be- ng withheld by the tribunals and State authority; being allotted to which, on emergency, might have been done by men past the tary age, and by women. Certainly the 'combing-out' process must have become in 1918-1919 more drastic had not the British Army in France succeeded between August and November by superb skill and cour- age in breaking the German centre; for had our troops in France failed or faltered therein the war would have lasted into the next year, and we should have been forced to draw deep- €r on our remaining man-power re- sources. The action of Ludendorff in shift- ing division after division from Russia to the Western Front from November 1917 onwards was a warning that we should be shortly engaged in heavy ighti and must have on the spot tasks easily mili- der-in-Chief's views op the subject be- fore deciding what to do with the troops still at home. Ireland and "an invasion" being uly allowed for, there remained at be, of these ought despatched to France to secure ront there? : id the Commander-in-Chief early | Germans ' 1018 consider the to risk very heavy losses by a against the Allies in order to secure a decision? nswer to this is Haig took the ST BATTLE ary 1918. The Government were in pos- session of it. But between the beginning of Janu. ary and the end of the third week in March, the fresh forces required to secure the British line did not arrive in France. The Commander-in-Chief's warning to the War Cabinet was not acted up- on. ai The question of the line for two years past had been a delicate one be- tween the Allies. In the fourth week of September, 1917 the British were engaged in the Menin Road battle where' the Ger- mans replied with a series of powerful counter-attacks. The time was quite in-| + opportune to raise again the line ques- tion. Yet it was discussed in a conference at Boulogne on September 25th. The French Government pressed for an extension of our line and the relief of French divisions. The British Govern- ment assented. The British Command- er-in-Chief was not at this conference. The matter should not have been rais- ed and decided on--even 'in principle' ~--during his absence. How could the question of the adjustment of the line be well settled before the Allies had reached, for instance, some agreement as to the operations for the coming year? However, it was explained that the conference at Boulogne had not decid- ed to extend the British front but had merely expressed its desire to do 'in principle' and as far as possible what was desired by the French Govern- ment, The French resumed the argument, pressed by their politicians in 1916, that the British Army, considering its numerical strength in France, was not fairly sharing the burden of the line with the French Army. But that argument was not sound. If left out of the reckoning the fact that the whole of our front was a hard fighting, always dangerous, one; whereas a considerable length of the line held by the French was, by com- parison, a non-fighting one. It is true that Nivelle had regarded as possible a German attack in Alsace-Loraine even to Switzerland, and his successor also took--or seemed to take--that front seriously. An expectation of a German attack through Switzerland via Bel- fort oppressed French civilians, Yet no hard fighting actually occurred there after the early part of the war; and the Germans made no plans for such an attack. Tlie truth probably js that danger of such an attack disappeared when the British Army became a great fighting force in the north, But a new authority was now to ats tempt to settle this apparently inter- minable discussion, namely, the Sup- reme Council of Versailles. This body had come into existence in November 1917 owing to the collapse of the Sec- ond Italian army and the retreat to the Piave, The British members of the Council were therefore reminded that, whilst paft of the French front was in effect a non-fighting front, the whole of the British front 'was an active one: that the great offensives of the British in the second half of 1917 had taken the pressure off the French; that large numbers of our troops had been with- out leave for yer and a half, The British representatives were gi- ven to understand that, if the extension went beyond .Barisis--which was the uttermost that could be agreed to, and which would strain our man-power re- sources in. France gravely-- then the British Commander-in-Chief could not undertake the responsibility of defend- ing the Channel ports. (This was equivalent to a threat of resignation-- and it was so intended. What would THE first celebration of Labor Day was inaugurated just forty-one years ago. Labor Day. celebrates the organization of working men for a common purpose--for common protection, and common progress. It represents a form of business insurange. It is the amalgamation of each small separ- ate asset into a mighty power. It has capitalized the individual worker, protects his independence and safeguards his interests. An insurance Company represents the organization of working men for a common purpose, for common protection, and common progress. It is the amalgamation of each small individual investment, into a mighty power, District Representa have happened in March 1918 if we had taken over the line to Berry.-au Bac!) The result was a verbal compromise. The Supreme Council did not exactly insist. It did not exactly desist. It resolved at the end of January that "in principle" the proposal should stand; but conceded that the question of when-the extension from Barisis to the Ailette should be carried out must be left to Petain and Haig. This closed the prolonged discus- sion on the line. At the end of Janu- ary 1918 we completed the extension of cur line to Barisis, and so had 125 ter half. The With Banners It has capitalized the individual's dollar, It creates "an Estate" for each investor, safeguarding his interests, and protecting his independence. You cherish union as a means of power. Use it--to protect the future of those you love (whether you live or die) by joining the Union of Home Protectors composed of London Life policyholders.' Let our Agent explain the particular type of our all-Canadian policies which best suits your needs, London Life Ivsaxamce Gompany Policies "Good as Gold" HEAD OFFICES - Agencies in All miles of active front to hold. Seven weeks were allowed us by the enemy to do what we could, by the un- ceasing. work of our troops who had been fighting through 1917, to reor- ganize tht new front taken over. The time was inadequate. Early in 1018, Petain and Haig, re- cognizing that the Germans were gett- ing ready for their offensive, and the point of junction between the French and British Armies was one of danger, discussed plans for mutual sup- port, If the enemy attacked the French heavily at or near this point, the Bri- tish should intervene, and vice versa. It has been stated that this was a private understanding between the Bri. tish and French Commanders-in- Chief; and that it was concealed from Foch, the chief military representative of' France at Versailles, There is no truth in that. At the var- ious meetings between the French and British representatives of G. Q. G. and G. H. Q. and other officers in both armies, Foch's representatives were frequently present, and naturally they followed the whole discussion closely. As many as forty British and French officers attended some of these confer- ences. : i---- How Ludendorff Threw Titantic Ar- my Into the World's Greatest Battle will be described in the Eighth Article of Mr. Dewar's Series on "Gen, Haig's Command," which will appear in Whig next Saturday, 'Sept. Lower Somme Valley, and i of Allies Were His Objectives--How "| the British Intelligence Department contributed to defensive preparations ~The Myth of Converting the Dead Into Soap--and Soup! Versailles Ideas to a German Point of Attack--Haig Chance in March 21st Attack. ee epee ------ Not 100 Per Cent, j Mr. Flubdub, after trying to reac the paper while his wife gabbed, laid it aside. ® "I see a registration of motorists visiting the national parks shows there is an average of 3.45 persoms per car." "What about it snapped his bes. Nothing: I was just thin 4 = hing ; : king, LONDON, CANADA Principal Cities tive, W. Walters, King & Brock Sts. 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