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 shore 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 illustrated, 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 Canal has now reached and passed 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 canals 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.