DEFENCE OF KITCHENER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 198, 23 July 1931, Page 8

DEFENCE OF KITCHENER.

SIR GEORGE ARTHUR QUOTES FOCH. - I anc prepared ro accept tbe ver- ’ dko of such xnes as Foes, Joore anti Haig agaissr any armcvair nosWith these words sir George Arthar. olograplcer of Lord Enter.ever, dismissed evarges msoe by =:r Joss Forteszjue, the military sisooraar. m a k,sg srt.cie os tve bc-a -rn c r.c c.. He -t be bo reioons.’r.le ior the iac>: of preparation which ultimately sb to tire failure of both the Darcanelies avd Mesopotamian campaigns. iiir George, sees by a reporter, saic that in h-s 'judgment history would acclaim Marshal Foes ano lotru k.:tcneser the two outstanding figures on rbe Allied side durieg the war. “Both Marshal Jodfre arc F;e.aMsrshai Haig,” said Sir George, “have placed st or, record that wits-, out Kitchener and iris, work Germany would have won. , j “Marshal Jeff re cat said that unless. Lord Kitchener had started on tr.e j v'-rr first dav of the war to create the' New Army, they could not have beer, read-/ to effect the rener or the French at’Verdun. Without their help Verdun must s;ure!y have fallen.’" Sir John Forte tone declared that Lord Kitchener ordered the 2h;h Division to embark without its first line of transport. Tr.e answer to this, Sir George said, was that tne tv arflord oavh.se dreir issw paant.ee trans.fcjrt for the division was already Agafrf referring to the 20th Division, Sir John wrote: “His /Kitcheners.) one most unfortunate intervention was when, without a word to the First Lord, he cancelled the embarkation of the 2frth Division on the 22nd of February.” “There is a verv simple and con-' vincing reply to this,” said Sir George. “On February 21 the French Ambassador hurried to Sir Edward Grey to communicate to him that unless the 20th Division were kept available for Jrance for the 1 next few days he would not answer for the immunity of the line. j “As to saying that the 20th Divi-! sdon should have been sent that day, | it is nonsense. It could only have j been effective if it had started in January, when it was neither formed I nor fit' The moment Joffro and Kiri John French told Kitchener the, line I was safe he despatched the division.” I “Sir John accuses Kitchener of tak-| ing no interest in the Mesopotamian i campaign,” Sir George went on. “The j facts are that the War Committee insisted on the march to Bagdad, a decision from which both Kitchener and Lord Curzon wholly dissented. “Lord Kitchener believed that such an advance without further preparation would be fraught with great danger.” Sir George quoted Marshal Foch as saving at the peace procession in London: “The great figure missing! is Lord Kitchener, the organiser of victory.”