[505] “The want of an unlimited quantity of high explosives was a fatal bar to our success.”—The Times, May 14th, 1915.
[506] But compare the British bombardment of Japanese towns noted in Chap. xxxix, § 11. And aeroplane bombs and machine-gun fire have since been used by the British military authorities against Indian village crowds suspected of sedition.
[507] E.g. in hand grenades.
[508] For the flighty incapacity of the British military authorities in this adventure, see Sir Ian Hamilton’s Gallipoli Diary. It is only fair to the British commander to add that the incapacity was that of the home authorities to understand his demands for men and material.—P. G.
[509] See Stern, Tanks 1914-1918. See also Fuller, Tanks in the Great War.
[510] “I found a general opinion among officers and men under the command of the Fifth Army that they had been victims of atrocious staff work, tragic in its consequence. From what I saw of some of the Fifth Army staff officers, I was of the same opinion. Some of these young gentlemen, and some of the elderly officers, were arrogant and supercilious, without revealing any sign of intelligence. If they had wisdom, it was deeply camouflaged by an air of inefficiency. If they had knowledge, they hid it as a secret of their own. General Gough in Flanders, though personally responsible for many tragic happenings, was badly served by some of his subordinates, and battalion officers and divisional staffs raged against the whole of the Fifth Army organization, or lack of organization, with an extreme passion of speech.”—Philip Gibbs, Realities of War.
[511] A very good account of the state of mind of Paris during and after the war is in W. P. Adams’ Paris Sees it Through.
[512] The Times, December 8th, 1919.
[513] Authorities vary between 250,000 and a million houses.
[514] J. M. Keynes, op. cit.