, denying that there was an ammunition shortage.

The report of that discourse took one flat aback. For weeks past
letters from G.H.Q., as also the fervent representations made by
visitors over on duty or on leave from the front, had been harping
upon this question. Lord Kitchener had informed the House of Lords on
the 15th day of March that the supply of war material was "causing him
considerable anxiety." There was not the slightest doubt, even
allowing for the tendency of men exposed to nerve-racking experiences
or placed in positions of anxious responsibility to find fault, that
our army in France and Flanders was at a terrible disadvantage as
compared to that opposed to it in the matter of artillery ammunition.
The state of affairs was perfectly well known, not merely to the
personnel of batteries constantly restricted in respect to
expenditure, but also to the infantry and to other branches of the
service deprived of adequate gun support. Into the controversies and
recriminations which have taken place over the subject of how this
extraordinary statement came to be made at Newcastle, it is not
proposed to enter here. There is at all events no controversy as to
whether the statement was true or not, in substance and in fact. It is
common knowledge now, and it was indeed fairly common knowledge at the
time, that the statement was in the highest degree misleading. It did
a great deal of mischief amongst the troops in the war zone, and it
caused serious injury to those who were responsible for the provision
of munitions in this country.

A pronouncement of that kind, published as it was in all the
newspapers, was bound to arouse comment not merely at home, but also
amongst officers and men confronting the enemy between Dixmude and the
La Bassee Canal. These latter, who were only too well aware of the
realities of the case, resented such a misstatement of facts, and they
were also inclined to jump to the conclusion, not altogether
unnaturally, that the serious ammunition shortage, the crying need for
additional heavy ordnance, and so forth, were being deliberately
ignored by those responsible for supply at home. The inferiority of
our side in the field in respect to certain forms of munitions as
compared to the enemy, came to be attributed to indifference and to
mismanagement on the part of the Master-General of the Ordnance's
department and of Lord Kitchener. Even the majority of artillery
officers had not the sligh