THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE FIELD

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 124, 27 May 1915, Page 7

THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE FIELD

ALL ONE QUALITY-THE BEST BUT MUST HAVE BIG GUNS AND AMMUNITION (By T»J*grftpb."-P •ess Association. —Copyright.) (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) (Received May 27, 8 a.m.) LONDON, 26tH May. f her Times correspondent at British Headquarters says : "What strikes an observer of the British Army in the field is its homogeneity ; it is all one quality— the best. We know that the German ranks are of twenty grades, extending from the veterans of the Guard to the rawest cannon fodder. Even in the crack corps like the 7th and 15th the gaps are filled with questionable material. Some of the British battalions and brigades are long famous ; others are just winning their spurs, but it would be rash to say that the actual fighting value of one is higher than the other. Never in the history of Great Britain have there been such proofs of the mettle of our soldiers. Manifestly, man to. man, they are superior to their foes. .The reports all tell the same tale. When' the German infantry attack, it is haltingly and half-heartedly, like dazed, drugged men, All the strategy and tactics of war depend to-day on one burn-« ing fact : The enemy has got an amazingly powerful machine, and unless wo can provide a machine equal in power he will nullify our superior fighting quality. The machine consists of a great number of heavy guns and machine guns, and apparently an unlimited supply of high, explosives. The French recently, in Artois, made a great artillery concentration, and as the result »d.vanced, untroubled, for four miles. High explosives in sufficient quantities will annihilate hostile high trenches, parapets, and entanglements. One authority states that with sufficient artillery preparation we can take several miles of country with a walking-stick. This is not time for scolding and criticism ; we are all to blame, except the soldiers in the field. Our business now is -to redeem the miscalculations and get a counter-machine without delay."