The New British Divisions
The New British Divisions is a letter written by Arthur Conan Doyle published in The Daily Chronicle on 18 february 1916.
The New British Divisions
To the Editor Daily Chronicle.
Sir, — The official statement that eight divisions of the new Army reached France during the winter is reproduced in your columns in a way which would give the impression that these are the only eight new divisions in the fighting line. "Eight divisions of the new Army already in the field" is the exact caption. In the leading article these have sunk to four divisions.
Such a reading would give an unduly depressing picture of our military strength. There were many divisions of the new Army which had done great work in France in the summer and autumn. Mentioning only those which have already appeared in dispatches there are the 9th and 15th Scottish Divisions, which made so brilliant an advance at Loos, and there are the 21st and 24th English divisions, which played a part in the sane action which has never yet been clearly stated, but will be found to have been a most difficult and honourable one. There is the 12th, which had hard fighting in the later stages of the same battle, and the 14th Light Infantry Division, which encountered the liquid fire attack at Hooge, and had hard fighting on September 2. Besides these we have, of course, the three Dardanelles divisions, the 10th (Irish), who did great work both at Suvla and afterwards in Serbia, the 11th, and the 13th. It has been mentioned in the papers also that the 22nd was in the Serbian advance. Thus, if we take take only the troops actually mentioned in public documents we can account for ten divisions besides the eight which reached France during the winter.
- ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
- Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex, Feb. 16.
