BACKS TO THE WALL
HAIG'S ORDER PRESERVED
(British Official Wireless.) (Received October 18, 11.10 a.m.)
RUGBY, October 17,
By a bequest of the late Sir Philip Sassoon the British Museum, which already possessed Lord Haig's map of the Western Front on • September 25, 1918, hasnow acquired another striking memento of the Great War. It is Earl Haig's autograph draft of his famous "Back tc the Wall" order of April 11, 1918.
This document, which was issued at a moment of extreme national danger from the enemy, which Britain is again facing today, is written in a firm hand in five paragraphs of exhortation to all ranks'of the British Forces in France. t ,
Its concluding passage is: "Every position must be held to the last man. There must be no retirement. With our backs to the Wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of you must fight to the end. The safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind alike depend upon the conduct of each one of you at this critical moment."
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 94, 18 October 1939, Page 9
Word Count
177BACKS TO THE WALL Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 94, 18 October 1939, Page 9
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