ght.

"Taking all these factors into consideration, it would seem that for an
early success some equivalent to the suspended Russian co-operation is
vitally necessary. The ground gained and the positions which we hold are
not such as to enable me to envisage with soldierly equanimity the
probability of the large forces adumbrated above being massed against my
troops without let or hindrance from elsewhere. Fresh light may be shed
on the matter by the battle now imminent, but I am cabling on reasoned
existing facts. Time is an object, but if Greece came in, preferably
_via_ Enos, the problem would be simplified. It is broadly my view that
we must obtain the support of a fresh ally in this theatre, or else
there should be got ready British reinforcements to the full extent
mentioned in my No. M.F. 234, though as stated above the disappearance
of Russian co-operation was not contemplated in my estimate."

_3rd June, 1915. Imbros._ Meant to go to Anzac; sea too rough; in the
afternoon saw de Robeck and Roger Keyes. Braithwaite came over and we
went through my cable of yesterday. The sailors would just as soon I had
left out that remark about the enemy being bucked up by the retreat of
our battleships. But the passage implied also that their mere visible
presence was shown to be most valuable. Both of them agree that I am
well within the mark in saying what I did about the loss of my Russian
Army Corps. Roger Keyes next launched a dry land criticism. He rightly
thinks that the weakness of our _present_ units is _the_ real weakness:
he thinks we are far more in need of drafts than of fresh units; he
suggests that a rider be sent now to insist that the estimates in
yesterday's cable were only made on the assumption that my present force
is kept up to strength. I did press that very point in my first cable of
17th May, which is referred to in the opening of this cable; further, we
keep on saying it every week in our War Office cable giving strengths.
After all, K. is 65. He still believes "A man's a man and a rifle's a
rifle"; I still believe that half the value of every human being depends
upon his environment:--we are not going to convert one another now.

As we were actually talking, Williams brought over an answer:--

"No. 5104, cipher. From Earl Kitchener to General Sir Ian Hamilton. With
reference to your No. M.F. 288. Owing to the restricted nature of the
ground you occupy and the experience we have had in Flanders of