*Attacked by 750,000 Germans.*
[Official Summary, Dated Dec. 3.]
Col. E.D. Swinton of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff of
the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium, in a narrative
dated Nov. 26, gives a general review of the development of the
situation of the force for six weeks preceding that date.
There has recently been a lull in the active operations, he says. No
progress has been made by either side, and yet there has come about an
important modification comprising a readjustment in the scope of the
part played by the British Army as a whole. He explains the movement
from the River Aisne to the Belgian frontier to prolong the left flank
of the French Army, and says that in attempting this the British force
was compelled to assume responsibility for a very extended section of
the front. He points out, as did Field Marshal Sir John French,
Commander in Chief of the British forces, that the British held only
one-twelfth of the line, so that the greater share of the common task of
opposing the enemy fell and still falls to the French, while the
Belgians played an almost vital part.
With the fall of Antwerp the Germans made every effort to push forward a
besieging force toward the west and hastened to bring up a new army
corps which had been hastily raised and trained, their object being to
drive the Allies out of Belgium and break through to Dunkirk and Calais.
Altogether they had a quarter of a million of fresh men. Eventually the
Germans had north of La Bassée about fourteen corps and eight cavalry
divisions, that is, "a force of three-quarters of a million of men with
which to attempt to drive the Allies into the sea. In addition, there
was immensely powerful armament and heavy siege artillery, which also
had been brought up from around Antwerp."
The official eye-witness tells of the blows delivered by the Germans at
Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres, where "at first the Allies were greatly
outnumbered." For a whole month the British army around Ypres succeeded
in holding its ground against repeated onslaughts made by vastly
superior forces. The writer goes into details of the German attacks and
describes how they were frustrated by the Allies.
The British force, says Col. Swinton, which consisted all along of the
same units, had "to withstand an almost continuous bombardment and to
meet one desperate assault after another, each carried out by fresh
units from the large numbers which the Germans were devoting to the
operation." Finally the French came to their assistance, and "never was
help more welcome; for by then our small local reserves had again and
again been thrown into the fight in the execution of counter-attacks,
and our men were exhausted by the incessant fighting."
The British front now has been considerably shortened and in addition
has been reinforced, while a lull in the activity has enabled the
British to readjust their forces, strengthen their positions, and bring
up reserves. There has, therefore, "been a great general improvement in
the conditions under which we are carrying on the fight". Of the
fighting which preceded this reorganization the writer says it is due
solely to the resource, initiative, and endurance of the regimental
officers and men that success has lain with the British. He continues:
"As the struggle swayed backward and forward through wood and hamlet,
the fighting assumed a most confused and desperate character. The units
became inextricably mixed, and in many cases, in order to strengthen
some threatened point or to fill a gap in the line, the officers had to
collect and throw into the fight what men they could, regardless of the
units to which they belonged. Our casualties have been severe; but we
have been fighting a battle, and a battle implies casualties, and, heavy
as they have been, it must be remembered that they have not been
suffered in vain.
"The duty of the French, Belgians, and British in the western theatre of
operations has been to act as a containing force; in other words, to
hold on to and to keep occupied as many of the enemy as possible while
the Russians were attacking in the east. In this we have succeeded in
playing our part, and by our resistance have contributed materially
toward the success of the campaign. Moreover, our losses have not
impaired our fighting efficiency. The troops have required only a slight
respite in order to be able to continue the action with as much
determination as ever. They are physically fit and well fed and have
suffered merely from the fatigue which is inseparable from a protracted
struggle such as they have been through. The severest handling by the
enemy has never had more than a temporary effect on their spirits,
which they have soon recovered, owing to the years of discipline and
training to which the officers and men have been accustomed.
"The value of such preparation is as noticeable on the side of the enemy
as on our own. The phenomenal losses suffered by the Germans' new
formations have been remarked, and they were in part due to their lack
of training. Moreover, though at the first onset these formations
advanced to the attack as gravely as their active corps, they have not
by any means, shown the same recuperative powers. The Twenty-seventh
Corps, for instance, which is a new formation composed principally of
men with from only seven to twelve weeks' training, has not yet
recovered from its first encounter with the British infantry around
Becelaere, to the northeast of Ypres, a month ago. On the other hand,
the Guards Corps, in spite of having suffered severely in Belgium, of
having been thrown headlong across the Oise River at Guise and of having
lost large numbers on the plains of Compiègne and on the banks of the
Aisne River, advanced against Ypres on the 11th of November as bravely
as they did on the 20th of August."
The Allies, continues Col. Swinton, have made great sacrifices to defend
against tremendous odds a line that could only be maintained by making
these sacrifices; but the fact that the situation has been relieved is
no reason for assuming that the enemy has abandoned his intention of
pressing through to the sea. The writer points out that the Germans
continue to attack with great courage, but little abated by failure,
and, while they have not succeeded in gaining the Straits of Dover, they
have been enabled to consolidate their position on the western front and
retain all but a small portion of Belgium.
"As well as they have fought, however," continues the narrative, "it is
doubtful if their achievements are commensurate with their losses, which
recently have been largely due to a lack of training and a comparative
lack of discipline of the improvised units they put in the field."
Col. Swinton concludes with the statement that, as the war is going to
be one of exhaustion, after the regular armies of the belligerents have
done their work it will be upon the raw material of the countries
concerned that final success will depend.