The Literary digest history of the world war, compiled from original and contemporary sources: American, British, French, German, and others . Fifth Armyhad fought wdth splendid calm-ness and doggedness, and theirtenacity saved Great Britainand France by permitting thearrival of reserves. Some ideaof what those odds were wasdisclosed in the fact that onIMarch 21 there were only four-teen British infantry divisionsagainst forty German divisions, reinforced by some eight toten more divisions during the subsequent two days. Goughs army had been sent dow^n in January to takeover from the French a
The Literary digest history of the world war, compiled from original and contemporary sources: American, British, French, German, and others . Fifth Armyhad fought wdth splendid calm-ness and doggedness, and theirtenacity saved Great Britainand France by permitting thearrival of reserves. Some ideaof what those odds were wasdisclosed in the fact that onIMarch 21 there were only four-teen British infantry divisionsagainst forty German divisions, reinforced by some eight toten more divisions during the subsequent two days. Goughs army had been sent dow^n in January to takeover from the French a sector forty to fifty miles dajs Gough had known that the German attack w^asimminent, had moved his men up to their positions and hadmade every preparation possible. The only thing he couldnot foresee or guard against w^as mist and fog. This, com-bined with the efficiency wdth which the Germans made useof their interior lines, kept him in the dark until the ad-vancing waves of gray were in sight. The mist preventedhis men from seeing anything for more than thirty yards, sothat the Germans crept up until Goughs outpost line was. Sir Hugh Gough 12 LUDENDORFFS COLOSSAL DRIVE IN THE WEST overrun and his whole line broken up. While perhaps noradical blame could be attached to Gough himself, he had topay the price which a defeated general must pay in war,and so was removed. There was no question that Britishsoldiers under him fought bravely as they had always official report from Haig was published in Octobercovering the German offensive. Its most interesting state-ment was the following: Altogether at least sixty-four German divisions participated inthe operations of March 21, a number considerably exceeding thetotal forces comprising the British Army in France. The totalBritish force on the original battle-front on March* 21 was twenty-nine infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions, of which nine-teen divisions were in line. These numbers went fa
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
