iterranean while Australasian troops were
perpetually passing westwards through the Mediterranean. Military
forces belonging to the one belligerent Empire were, in fact, crossing
each other at sea. This involved an avoidable absorption of
ship-tonnage, it threw an avoidable strain upon the naval forces of
the Entente, and it imposed an avoidable period of inaction upon the
troops concerned. Look upon the Anzacs simply as counters and upon the
Great War as a _Kriegspiel_, and such procedure becomes ridiculous.
Whatever there is to be said for and against the Dardanelles,
Salonika, Palestine, and Mesopotamia side-shows, they did undoubtedly
absorb military forces in excess of those which Australia and New
Zealand placed in the field, and they provided active work in eastern
regions far nearer to the Antipodes than was the Western Front.

This, however, entirely ignores sentiment, and sentiment can never
justly nor safely be ignored in military matters. The Anzacs would
have bitterly resented being relegated to theatres, of secondary
importance so to speak. Their Governments would have protested had
such a thing been even hinted at, and they would have protested in
very forcible terms. No other course than that actually followed was
in reality practicable nor, as far as I know, ever suggested. As a
matter of fact, however, none of the Australasian mounted troops,
apart from some quite minor exceptions, ever did proceed west of the
Aegean. After performing brilliant service in the Gallipoli Peninsula
acting as foot soldiers, the Anzac Horse spent the last three years of
the war in Egypt, where they seized and made the most of opportunities
for gaining distinction under General Allenby such as would never have
been presented to them in France.

I was a good deal concerned in the operations in East Africa during
the first year and a half of the war, a period of scanty progress and
of regrettable misadventures. We enjoyed the advantage, when this
question came before Admiral Jackson's committee, of having
Lieut.-Colonel (now Major-General Sir A. R.) Hoskins present, who at
the time was Inspector-General of the King's African Rifles and was
consequently well acquainted with our own territories in that part of
the world. From the outset, Hoskins was disinclined to regard
operations in this quarter as a sort of picnic, and the event proved
that he was right. It was, however, settled that the whole business
should be handed over