at the Western Front passing through one's hands, and to note the
extent to which these mounted up on what might be called non-fighting
days as compared to days of attack. As this was during the opening
stages of the Flanders offensive subsequent to General Plumer's
victory at Messines, these statistics were extremely instructive. I do
not know whether the details have ever been worked out for the years
1915-17, but it looked to me at that time as if the losses in three
weeks of ordinary trench-warfare came on the average to about the same
total as did the losses in a regular formal assault of some section
of the enemy's lines. Or, putting the thing in another form and
supposing the above calculation to be correct, you would in three
weeks of continuous attack in a given zone only lose the same number
of men as you would lose in that same zone in a year of stagnant,
unprofitable trench-warfare. Some of our offensives on the Western
Front have been condemned on the grounds of their costliness in human
life; but it has not been sufficiently realized in the country how
heavy the losses were during periods of quiescence.

As acting D.C.I.G.S. one, moreover, enjoyed opportunities of examining
the various compiled statements showing the numbers of our forces in
the various theatres, with full information as to the strength of our
Allies' armies in all quarters, as well as the carefully prepared
estimates of the enemy's fighting resources as these were arrived at
by our Intelligence organizations in consultation with those of the
French, Italians, Belgians, and others. One learnt the full details of
our "order of battle" for the time being, exactly where the different
divisions, army corps, etc., were located, and who commanded them. It
transpired that the Entente host on the Salonika Front at this time
comprised no fewer than 655,000 of all ranks, without counting in the
Serbs who would have brought the total up to about 800,000, while the
enemy forces opposed to them were calculated to muster only about
450,000; the situation was, in fact, much worse than one had imagined.
One discovered that, while slightly over 17 per cent of the male
population of Great Britain had been enrolled as soldiers, only 5 per
cent of the Irish male population had come forward, and that but for
north-east Ulster the figure would not have reached 3 per cent. One
became aware, moreover, that the Army Council, or at least its
Military Members, were