h laurels
to their standards.'

"I cannot convey what I feel with regard to the conduct of
the troops under my command better than by expressing my conviction
that they have justified that confidence well and nobly.

"6. That confidence is everywhere endorsed by their fellow-countrymen;
and, whatever may be before the British Army in France, I am sure they
will continue to follow the same, glorious path till final and
complete victory is attained.

(Signed) "J. D. P. FRENCH, Field Marshal,
"Commander-in-Chief, The British Army
in the Field."

CHAPTER X.

THE BATTLE OF YPRES.

_First Phase, October 15th to October 26th._

Before continuing my narrative, which has now reached the opening
stages of the First Battle of Ypres, let us consider what were the
points at issue in this grave crisis in the history of the world. What
were the stakes for which we were playing?

Let us suppose that from October 1914 up to the end of the war, the
German right flank had been established at Dieppe, instead of at
Nieuport. The enemy would have been in occupation of the whole of the
Department of the Pas de Calais, including the seaports of Dieppe,
Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk.

How then would it have fared with the British Empire?

Discussing the question of the Channel tunnel, at a meeting of the
Council of Imperial Defence, in May 1914, I suggested the possibility
of submarines being despatched in sections by rail to certain ports
and there assembled. The expert reply was that this would be quite
impracticable. How has the experience of the war borne out this
dictum?

It is as certain as anything can be, that, in the circumstances I have
supposed, the Channel ports would soon have been full to overflowing
with these craft, which, with such bases of operations,
would have rendered the Channel a veritable _mare clausum_, so far as
any attempt by our Navy to prevent invasion were concerned.

If, then, Napoleon entertained high hopes of success when he
concentrated an army at Boulogne in 1805 for the invasion of this
country, surely the Germans, in such circumstances as I have
described, would have regarded such an enterprise with still greater
confidence. And they would have been justified in so doing.

Then, as to aircraft. An examination of the map will show that London
would be within about half the aircraft range of the German