le
popular memory has forgotten too much of the war.[3]

[3] By the kindness of General Sir Herbert Lawrence, Chief of the
General Staff, I am able to give a small reproduction of this chart,
which will be found at the end of the book, with an explanation
written by Captain W.O. Barton.

Let me then say, in recapitulation, and as presenting the main thesis
of these papers, that to the British mind, at any rate, so
inarticulate often, yet so tenacious, the Western campaign of last
year presents itself as having been fought by three national Armies:

(1) The veteran and glorious French Army, which, while providing in
Marshal Foch the master-spirit of the last unified effort, was yet,
after its huge sacrifices at Verdun, in Champagne, and many another
stricken field, inevitably husbanding its resources in men, and
yielding to the Armies of its Allies the hottest work in the final
struggle;

(2) The British Army, which, after its victorious reaction from its
March defensive, was at the very height of its four years' development
in men, training, and _morale_, and had already shown by the stand of
the Third Army at Arras, at the very fiercest moment of the German
onslaught, that although Germany might still attack, it was now
certain that, so long as the British Army was in the field, she could
not win the war: and finally;

(3) The young and growing American Army, which had only been some six
months in the fighting line, and was still rather a huge _promise_,
though of capital importance, both politically and militarily, than a
performance. It was brave and ardent, like a young eaglet, "with eyes
intentive to bedare the sun;" but it had its traditions to lay down,
its experience to buy, and large sections of its military lesson still
to learn. It could not, as a fighting force, have determined the war
last year; and the war was finally won, under the supreme command of a
great Frenchman, by the British Army, acting in concert with the
French and American armies--and supported by the British naval
blockade, and the British, French, and Serbian military successes in
the East.

In such a summary I am, naturally, merely a _porte-voix_, trying to
reproduce the thoughts of many minds, as I came across them in France.
But if this is the general upshot of the situation, and the general
settled conviction of the instructed British mind, as I believe it to
be, our alliance with France and our friendship with America,