to accumulate some small
reserve of ammunition, but, during this period, all our efforts in
this direction were of no avail, because the number of rounds per
18-pdr. gun throughout this period fell to less than five!

I had serious misgivings that the _morale_ of the Army was becoming
affected by this first long and weary winter of inactivity in the
trenches, and to render the defence effective it was necessary to
undertake an offensive operation.

Early in March a small reserve of ammunition had been
accumulated, and the Battle of Neuve Chapelle was fought and won. Had
proper steps been taken to increase the supply when my first strong
appeals were sent in during September 1914, the offensive operation
commenced so successfully at Neuve Chapelle might have been much
further developed, and, indeed, possibly have led to great and
important results. But the battle had to be broken off after three
days' fighting because we were brought to a standstill through want of
ammunition.

Immediately afterwards I again addressed the strongest representations
I could frame to the War Office. I begged that His Majesty's
Government might be informed that, if their object was to drive the
enemy off French and Belgian territory during 1915, no progress
towards this objective could be obtained unless and until the supply
of artillery ammunition should enable the Army to engage in sustained
operations. The only official reply which I received to this letter
was an injunction to use the utmost economy, but a private letter,
dated March 16th, was addressed by Sir James Wolfe Murray to Sir
William Robertson, who was then my Chief of Staff. This letter was
said to have been dictated by the Secretary of State, and its contents
hinted very strongly that an impression prevailed at the War Office
that we were wasting ammunition.

The operations at Neuve Chapelle used up all our available resources,
and it became necessary to restore them by reverting for a time to a
strictly defensive attitude.

It was, moreover, very clear that the Germans had early realised that
the war was to be one calling for colossal supplies of munitions;
supplies, indeed, upon such a stupendous scale as the world
had never before dreamed of, and they also realised the vital
necessity for heavy artillery. They began with an inferior field gun,
and they never stopped to remedy this defect, but directed all their
energies, from the first, to developing their heavy ar