Battles of the War
Battles of the War is an article published in The Times on 22 march 1915.
Report of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's lecture reviewing the major early battles of the war from Mons to Ypres, emphasizing the courage and discipline of British forces, the checking of the German advance, and the need for every man to contribute to the war effort.
Battles of the War
SIR A. CONAN DOYLE'S REVIEW.
LORD HALDANE ON THE GERMAN FAILURE.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave his lecture on "Great Battles of the War," at Queen's Hall on Saturday. His observations covered the operations in France and Belgium from the battle of Mons to the end of October, and the details and incidents were taker from the engagements at Dour, Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne, Gheluvelt, La Bassée, Ypres, and other places. Lord Haldane presided.
The LECTURER said that he had come into possession of a good deal of information which had not yet found its way into print and was unknown to the public. The sources of his information were entirely confidential, but there was no reason why the facts should be concealed. On the contrary, the more one understood the more one realized the immense task our soldiers had undertaken and the magnificent way they had risen to it.
Beginning with a plan of the disposition of the forces at the battle of Mons, Sir A. Conan Doyle explained the danger of the salient on the canal along which Sir John French drew up his line. This angle made the position indefensible, so a second position was formed upon which to fall back. The incidents of the retreat, including the charge of De Lisle's cavalry, the rearguard action of the 1st Cheshires, the hopeless outnumbering of General Smith Dorrien's Army Corps at Le Cateau, and the response of the troops to their general's call for a great effort, and the loss of 1,000 of the Gordon Highlanders through not receiving the order to retire, were all descrined, as well as the work of the Munster Fusiliers at Fesmy, the cavalry action at Cerizy, and the heroic action of the L Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery.
On September & General Joffre suddenly produced his new army from Paris, and the battle of the Marne followed with the retreat of the Germans for 30 or 40 miles. An account of the battle of the Aisne, the gallant action of the 2nd Welsh and South Wales Borderers, and the critical time when the cavalry dismounted and filled the gap in the trenches as infantry, brought the story to the movement of 100.000 British troops to the extreme left of the position. This movement was made at night in the most difficult circumstances, and the Germans were quite unaware of it. The turning movement at La Bassée and the fighting at Neuve Chapelle introduced the story of the 7th Division which was sent to relieve Antwerp. There had been nothing more moving or heroic during the war than the work of the 7th Division in the last days of October. It was here General French sent the London Scottish into action, and they did their duty as Regular troops would have done, holding back the Bavarian attack from 9 at night until 3 in the morning, falling back in order and keeping the line intact until reinforcements arrived. The extent of the victory in the battle of Ypres had not been appreciated by the public. It turned the whole tide of the German advance at the most critical time. In this attack 600,000 Germans determined to get to the coast and 150,000 British and Indian troops deter mined that they should not. In their endeavour the Germans lost between 150,000 and 200,000 of their troops absolutely without anything to show for the loss. If that was not a great British victory what other name could be given it? He hoped he had helped his audience to realize the task ahead of us more clearly and the necessity for every man to give all he had the young man his strength, rich men their money, and workmen their work.
LORD HALDANE'S SPEECH.
LORD HALDANE said they were indebted to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for a description the vividness of which was only matched by the amount of detail he had contrived to pack into a short space of time. We were still in the middle of the campaign and there was little, so far, of which we could be certain. But there was one moral we could draw. There were those who said, and said truly, "Here is an enemy in possession of a very substantial part of France and nearly the whole of Belgium. Of the two contending armies surely that is the army that has a marked success." But what was the deeper meaning of the position? All the successes of the enemy were gained in the earlier stages of the war. He chose the time to begin and had prepared for it, thus gaining an enormous advantage. But how had things gone on? Sir John French, who, it was settled long ago, was to command a British Expeditionary Force should its services be required-and it had always been hoped they would not had given close study to the possibilities of the future. He had troops under him who had had four or five years' training, seasoned troops, and they had shown their qualities in the retreat from Mons. Only a force of the highest discipline and courage, led by а man with a thorough grasp of the situation, could have brought off that retreat in the face of overwhelming numbers. When the enemy had been brought to the point at which General Joffre's famous movement took place and an army was produced through Paris, all the early part of the enemy's success came to an end.
The German advance was successful because nobody could divine his numbers, his road, or his equipment, nobody could stop it at once. But by degrees the British and French forces-and the French had fought magnificently — (cheers) checked the advance. Then about October 25 came that movement of Sir John French, one of the finest pieces of staff work in modern history, and the battle of Ypres became possible. If the Germans at the beginning had conceived the plan of getting to Calais, possibly they might have accomplished it; but they did not think of it. When they did try it they were defeated in a battle the importance and significance of which had not been over-estimated. The enemy had success at the beginning of the war, but now the position was very different. The process of attrition was going on on three fronts-in the west, in East Prussia, and on the south-west in Galicia. That process of wastage was very severe in men. There was no such thing as an inexhaustible supply of men. The whole question was whether the position could be maintained lang enough. If it could, the advantage was with the de fending side, for the time would come when the enemy would be so much worn that he would have to retreat and could be followed. The moral of the lecture was to bring out clearly the success of the British and French armies in checking the enemy's advance. We might not have so many highly trained men. We had lost the flower of our Army in the field; but we had to-day a larger force, and though younger men they would readily be absorbed with the seasoned, experienced men who had been at the front from the beginning. We had also leaders of great experience. To that extent it was not taking a too sanguine view to say time was on our side. (Cheers.)
