PART PLAYED BY BRITISH

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 42, 18 August 1916, Page 8

PART PLAYED BY BRITISH

AWAITED THE SIGNAL FROM

GENERAL JOFFRE

"Only German soldiers in open field formations now stand between the French and the River Sorame," said Major-General P. B. Maurice, at London, recently, alluding to the part of the river which flows northward to the east of the sector along which the French have made their greatest gains. "The last of the enemy's defensive works in this sector have been captuied by our Allies." In giving the Associated Press a summary of the results attained by the Allied offensive on the western front, Major-General Maurice, who is Director of Military Operations of the Imperial General Staff, continued :—

" Much undeserved obloquy has been heaped upon the British Army by English, French, and American people because we apparently did nothing to assist the French in the desperate fighting on the Verdun front. But all this time we were doing the part requested by General Joffre.

" According to this plan/we conserved our troops, accumulated supplies, and waited the word for the grand offensive in which we were to play our part with the Russians and as well as the French. For certain tactical and moral reasons, which need not be dilated on, it was necessary that the French should not lose the east bank of tho Meuse, and General Jolfre informed us that he could hold the positions which command that part of the river until the end of June, so we- knew we were going to strike at the beginning of July.

"The blow planned by the Allied General1! Staffs included offensives by the Russians and Italians, which, I do not need to tell you, already have .begun. We are not disappointed with our own advance, which we expected to be slow, and we are enormously pleased with the wonderful progress made by the French, who, with comparatively light losses, are sweeping forward to the Somme. "It is quite evident the Germans were surprised by the strength of the French offensive. They evidently believed our Allies •would be kept too busy, before Verdun to participate seriously in tho Western offensive which they knew was coining. Consequently they made extensive preparations before our front, piling up reinforcements there, ■while comparatively neglecting the sonthern sector dominated by the French.

" On the whole, wo are well satisfied with our advance. We will continue our artillery preparations, ■as we have no intention of butting coir head against a stone wall. The human factor must be. considered, and this factor presents some unexpected problems on the Gorman side, since after all ths enemy has something to say about the progress of any offensive. We are meeting strenuous opposition. Our progress most certainly will be deliberate. " That our gallant allies should advance faster with smaller losses than we is not only the fortune of war, but may be called poetic justice, since they lost so heavily during the long weeks while we were getting ready to take our share in the great offensive. However, it must be clear now, even to laymen, that the blame heaped on us for not going to the aid of the French before Verdun was quite undeserved, as we ate doing exactly what General Jofire requested, and when he gave the word we sprang to the attack."