England, Canada and the Great War Part 8

The general result of the German attack, therefore, though serious enough, is far from unprecedented. In the two years after Trafalgar, when our command of the sea was unquestioned, we still lost 1,045 merchant ships by capture, and in the whole period from 1794 to 1875 we lost over 10,000 merchant ships.

Nor should we lose sight of the very heavy losses sustained by the enemy in the present war. At the commencement of hostilities, Germany had 915 merchant ships abroad, of which only 158 got home safely; the remainder within a few days were cleared from the oceans, either captured or driven to shelter in neutral ports. In the aggregate the German Mercantile Marine consisted of over 5 million tons of shipping; at the present time nearly half of this has been sunk or captured by ourselves or our Allies, while the bulk of the rest is lying useless in harbour.

Let me now refer to the military effort of Great Britain. Under the t.i.tle:--"_Strength of the Army," &c._, the War Cabinet Report gives the following most inspiring figures.

The effort which the British nations have made under the one item of "Provision of Men for the Armed Forces of the Crown"

amounts to not less than 7,500,000 men, and of these 60.4 per cent. have been contributed by England, 8.3 per cent. by Scotland, 3.7 per cent. by Wales, 2.3 per cent. by Ireland, 1.2 per cent. by the Dominions and the Colonies, while the remainder, 13.3 per cent., composed of native fighting troops, labour corps, carriers, &c., represent the splendid contribution made by India and our various African and other Dependencies.

=Royal Artillery.=--The personnel of the Royal Artillery increased 17.6 per cent., between August, 1916, and August, 1917.

In the first nine months of 1917 the supply of modern anti-aircraft guns in the field increased 44 per cent., that of field guns 17 per cent., of field-howitzers 26 per cent., of heavy guns 40 per cent., of medium howitzers 104 per cent., of heavy howitzers 16 per cent., and of heavy-guns on railway mountings 100 per cent.; these last have an increased range of about 35 per cent.... We have also supplied large numbers of heavy guns and trench mortars to our Allies in different theatres of war.

The Medical Service has continued to expand with the growth of the Army and its strength is now largely in excess of our whole original Expeditionary Force.... More than 17,000 women are employed as nurses and over 28,000 others are engaged in military hospitals on various forms of work.... Hospitals in the United Kingdom now number more than 2,000.

The health of the troops in the United Kingdom is actually better than the peace rate; the same is the case in France, excluding admissions to hospital by reason of wounds.

The above quoted figures prove that out of a total of 7,500,000 men for the Armed Forces of the British Crown, Great Britain--the United Kingdom--had contributed, at the end of last year, 5,625,000, out of which number the sh.o.r.e of England and Wales amounted to 4,800,000. The British Colonial Empire's contribution had been 1,875,000.

At the date of the current year--August, 1918--I am writing, I can safely calculate that the number of men for the Armed Forces of the British Crown--using the words of the Official Report above quoted--has reached, at least, _the grand and magnificent total of 8,000,000_. The percentage of respective contributions of the United Kingdom and the Colonial Empire no doubt remaining the same, the relative number of each of them is,--for the United Kingdom 6,000,000; for the Colonies 2,000,000.

I consider the War Cabinet Report of 1917 so interesting, so encouraging, that my readers will, I am confident, kindly bear with me in a few more very important quotations, the full Report itself having had only a very limited circulation in Canada.

TRANSPORT.

In addition to the prodigious Naval effort of England, both military and mercantile, previously ill.u.s.trated, Great Britain has most powerfully contributed to the fighting operations on land by an immense improvement in transportation facilities by railway construction in all British theatres of war.

The Report says:--

In all these theatres railways have come to play a more and more important part. In France a vast light railway system has been created, involving the supply during the present year of approximately 1,700 miles of track and the whole of the equipment.... Exclusive of these light railway systems, the total amount of permanent railway track supplied complete to all theatres of war is about 3,600 miles. In Egypt the railway crossing the desert from the Suez Ca.n.a.l has now reached and pa.s.sed Gaza. In Mesopotamia the rapid and successful movements of our troops have only been made possible by the construction of a whole series of lines since the beginning of 1917. The development of road-building has been on a similar scale, and the shipments of material, equipment and stores for these two purposes during the last nine months have averaged 200,000 tons a month. Much labour has also been spent in the organisation of an Overland Line of Communication through France and Italy to the Mediterranean in order to save shipping. This line was opened for personnel traffic in June, 1917, and for goods traffic early in August.

In France the conveyance of supplies of all kinds to our armies along the French rivers and ca.n.a.ls is performed by a large fleet of tugs, barges, and self-propelled barges. The fleet thus employed in France consists of over 700 vessels, and the tonnage carried by it averages over 50,000 tons per week.

THE AIR SERVICE.

In a recital indicating generally what steps have been taken in matters of administration and control, the Report says:--

From the point of view of defence, the new arm presented problems pregnant with at least equal importance. The proud and ancient inviolability of these islands was being challenged in a new and startling fashion, and the seriousness of the problem was added to by the fact that the geographical position of the capital of the Empire rendered it particularly inviting to attack from the air.

Respecting the supply of Aircraft, the Report says that:--

In endeavoring to describe the measures taken to meet the aircraft needs of the Navy and Army, the writer is at once confronted by the fact that the information desired by the country is precisely the information desired by the enemy. What the country wants to know is what has been the expansion in our Air Services; whether we have met and are meeting all the demands of the Navy and of the Army, both for replacement of obsolete machines by the most modern types, and for the increase of our fighting strength in the air; what proportion of the national resources in men, material and factories is being devoted to aviation; what the expansion is likely to be in the future. These are precisely the facts which we should like to know with regard to the German air service, and for that reason it would be inadmissible for us to supply Germany with corresponding information about ourselves by publishing a statement on the subject.

It can be said that the expansion of our Air Services is keeping pace generally with the growing needs of the Navy and the Army.

In Chapter VIII, under the heading:--"_The Ministry of Munitions in 1917_," the following is read:--

The number of persons engaged in the production of munitions in October, 1917, was 2,022,000 men and 704,000 women, as compared with 1,921,000 men and 535,000 women in January. They have thus been increased during the past six months at the rate of 11,000 men and 19,000 women per month. These numbers include those employed in Government and in private establishments, in the princ.i.p.al munition industries, chemical and explosive trades, engineering and munition plants, furnaces and foundries, in shipbuilding and in mining other than coal-mining. The total represents approximately two-thirds of the total labour occupied on Government work in industry.

The preceding official statistics prove most conclusively that actually, and ever since the beginning of the third year of the war, more than _twelve millions_ of men and women--more than the fourth of the total population of the United Kingdom--have been either in the Armed Forces of the British Crown--Navy and Army--or in the shipbuilding yards, in munitions factories, in transportation on land and sea, in the Medical Service, in the Air Service, &c., employed for the success of the cause of the Allies.

THE FINANCIAL EFFORT OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The gigantic military effort of Great Britain, in all the branches of its wonderfully developed organization, as above ill.u.s.trated, was only rendered possible by a corresponding financial contribution.

During the financial year preceding the outbreak of the war, the total expenditure of the Government of Great Britain was $987,464,845. The hostilities have imposed upon the United Kingdom vast expenditures. "For that period"--again quoting the War Cabinet Report--"from the 1st April, 1917, to the 1st December, 1917, the total Exchequer issues for expenditure (including Consolidated Fund Service and Supply Services) were 1,799,223,000,--($8,796,115,000) representing a daily average for that period of 7,344,000 ($36,720,000)."

At this rate of expenditure, the total for the year equals at least $13,500,000,000. But the financial charges entailed by the war being constantly on the increase, they can be calculated at a daily average of no less than $40,000,000 until the close of the conflict.

England has not only incurred very heavy financial obligations, met both by an enormously increased taxation and the issue of large National loans, to pay the cost of her own war expenditure, but she has also generously helped her friends whose financial resources were not so abundant as her own. To the 1st December, 1917, she had made advances to the Allies amounting to no less than $5,930,000,000. In addition to this large amount, the advances she had made to the Dominions for the same period summed up $875,000,000.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF DOMINION, COLONIAL AND INDIAN TROOPS.

Under the above t.i.tle, the War Cabinet Report concludes a general review of the past year's effort by paying high tribute to the value of the services rendered by the whole British Colonial Empire, in the following elogious terms:--

In the above sketch of military operations during the past year, it has not been possible to distinguish between the particular services rendered by the various nations and nationalities of the Empire. But it must not be forgotten that during the war the forces of the Crown have become welded into a true Imperial army, representative of every part of the world-wide British Commonwealth, and a brief note may be included as to the special services of the various overseas forces.

The share of the Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African and Newfoundland contingents in the successes of the 1917 campaign are well known. The capture of Vimy Ridge in April, the prolonged and bitter fighting around Lens during the whole summer and autumn, and the capture of Pa.s.schendaele were carried out by the Canadian Corps, which has thus proved itself as excellent in offensive as its splendid defence of Ypres in 1915 had shown it to be in defensive fighting. The New Zealand and Australian contingents have corresponding achievements to their credit in their share of the battle of Messines and in the long sustained and bitterly contested fights in the Ypres salient from July to November. The South African brigade sustained the brilliant reputation which it won last year at Delville Wood by the devoted services it rendered on the battlefields of Arras and Ypres. Finally, the Newfoundland Regiment took a glorious and costly part in the same two battles. The troops of all the Dominions have shown themselves throughout the campaign of 1917 to have maintained the historic standards of the British Army and have been worthy rivals of the United Kingdom troops in every military effort and achievement.

This testimony to the services rendered by the Dominions would not be complete without some reference to the part played by South Africa in German East Africa, where her troops have borne, under the brilliant leadership of General Van Deventer, a conspicuous share in a peculiarly arduous campaign.

The smaller Colonies and Protectorates have naturally been unable to play so great and conspicuous a part in the World War, but in their own spheres they have contributed their full share to the military effort of the Empire. Labour and fighting troops were freely drawn upon for the Mesopotamian and East African theatres. West Africa, British East Africa, Uganda, Nyasaland and Rhodesia have all sent contingents to fight in German East Africa. 16,000 men from the West Indies have been sent across the Atlantic; and labour corps from the Eastern Colonies have been sent to the Mesopotamian and East African fronts, and, despite unfavourable conditions, to the Western theatre. A large number of individuals from overseas possessions, such as the Malay States and Hong Kong, have also joined the Imperial forces.

Finally, India's contribution, both in man-power, material and money, has steadily increased throughout the year. India has taken a very important share in the victorious campaign in Mesopotamia. The great majority of the troops in this theatre of war are Indian. They have fully sustained the high reputation of the Indian Army for gallantry and endurance. India has been responsible for much of the supply, medical and transportation system by water and on land. Indian forces have also rendered conspicuous service in France, Egypt and East Africa. The question of the supply of officers, especially medical officers, has been solved; commissions have been granted to Indians, and a voluntary Indian Defence Force is now being organised and trained. Special mention should be made of the loyal and effective a.s.sistance of the Indian ruling princes and chiefs, from the smallest to the greatest.

The Indian Government has moreover generously contributed $500,000,000 towards the cost of the war.

The foregoing quotations of official figures, of facts undeniable, of achievements really most extraordinary, const.i.tute the unanswerable refutation, complete and crushing, of the Nationalist charge that England, while not doing her own duty with regard to the war, was using undue influence to coerce the British Colonies to partic.i.p.ate in the conflict far beyond the fair proportionate effort to be expected on their part; that an illegitimate pressure of Great Britain's Government on her Colonies was being practised, as insidiously alleged, to promote her Imperialist ambition of the World's ascendency.

Unfortunately, those false and most unjust notions had taken deeper root in many minds, even in some who should have been much above such an unfair misconception, than was at first supposed. Hence the importance of setting the matter right, and the necessity of proving that England's war achievements, in every branch of the Military Service, were far exceeding what had, at first, been expected of her, and was ever considered possible. British pluck and manliness were equal to the direst emergency that ever called them forth. Patriotism, courage, determination, perseverance, rising superior to any increased difficulties, have truly worked miracles of manly efforts and self-sacrifices inspired by the n.o.ble cause which brought Great Britain in the World's struggle.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE VERITABLE AIMS OF THE ALLIES.