From ‘The Military Situation’, The Spectator, 1 May 1915:
EXCEPT for the terrible death-roll, there is nothing to disquiet us in the second battle of Ypres, the embers of which are glowing as we write. The Germans have once more made a determined attempt to break our line and to reach Dunkirk and Calais, and they have failed as they failed at the end of last October, and as they will fail try as many times and as long as they will. They may plot with all the chemists of Germany to invent new asphyxiating gases; they may borrow the stink-pots of China; they may devise new methods of frightfulness at once devilish and childish; but they will not break the British line, or the Belgian line, or the French line, except temporarily. If they gain any ground, they will almost certainly be driven out of it by counter-attacks; but if not, the loss of a few acres or square miles will do us no harm, or will be more than counterbalanced by gains of the kind which we made at Neuve Chapelle or the French have made in the Argonne and in the Vosges. We are not showing composure after the event. We felt exactly as we feel now on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, when for the moment things seemed going badly. But we fully admit that we can claim little credit fur our optimism. No one who took the trouble to view the facts in true perspective could have made himself unhappy. Last October there was plenty of ground for deep anxiety. We were then literally like a triumphant Mrs. Partington, pushing back the Atlantic with a mop. We had one thin khaki thread of British troops with nothing whatever behind it. All our reserves were in the firing line, and on the worst days of the first battle of Ypres even the despatch-riders and the cooks stood rifle in hand in the trenches. The line was then so attenuated that there was not much more than a man to every yard for all purposes. Now not only are our positions held very much more strongly than before, but we have solid blocks of troops in reserve which, even if the line were seriously broken, would be able to place such a barrier in front of Dunkirk and Calais that the German assaults would beat against it in vain. Besides the great increase in the firing line and the fact that, instead of there being nothing behind that line, there are as many troops as we can possibly want, we have a force of artillery which is equal, if not indeed superior, to that of the Germans. Our guns were always good and magnificently served, but formerly there were not enough of them. Also we were unable to match the very heavy artillery of the Germans with corresponding pieces. Now our deficiencies are made up both in quantity and quality. We fire as quickly as the enemy, and throw shells as big and heavy as theirs.
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