Cent. | Cent. | Cent.
13-pdr. | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil
18-pdr. | 3.8 | 6.8 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 6.1 | 8
4.5-in. howitzer |44.4 | 68.5 | 88 | 75 | 59 | 65
60-pdr. | -- | 66 | 60 | 56 | 53 | 50
7-in. howitzer |55 | 59 | 51 | 77 | 69 | 50

Colonel FitzGerald and Captain Guest reported that on May 12th and
14th they had carried out my instructions and laid the facts before
Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Balfour and Mr. Bonar Law. On May 15th, Colonel
Repington's article appeared in _The Times_. The world knows what then
happened. The Coalition Government was formed, with Mr. Lloyd George
as Minister of Munitions; and, though delays afterwards occurred, the
problem was at last faced with the intelligence and energy that its
gravity demanded, and I feel that for his work on munitions we owe
unmeasured gratitude to Mr. Lloyd George. The successful solution of
the problem came when he applied to it that matchless energy which has
enabled him to come through the great ordeal as England's
most valued leader in her direst hour.

For my unprecedented action I claim that no other course lay open to
me. To organise the nation's industrial resources upon a stupendous
scale was the only way if we were to continue with success the great
struggle which lay before us, and I feel that the result achieved
fully warranted the steps I took.

INDEX

ABBEVILLE, 182, 199, 205;
Railway junction, 200.

Admiralty, _see_ British Admiralty.

Aeltre, 208.

Aeroplane Squadrons, 2, 3, 4, 5;
R.F.C., 25.

Aeroplanes and Aircraft,
effect on warfare, 12;
at Amiens, 33;
potentialities realised by French, 155;
menace of, to London, in event of Germans reaching Calais, 215.

Aerial Reconnaissances, 12, 43-4, 90, 121, 145, 185, 200 _passim_;
Future of, 144.

Air Services (_see also_ Royal Flying Corps),
spirit of, 340.

Aire, 200.

Aire-Bethune line,
2nd Corps directed on, 199, 201, 202.

Aire-La Bassee Canal reached by 2nd Corps, 203.

Aisne,
Battle of the, 13, 16, 142 _sqq._, 193 _sqq._;
day of opening, 146;
British share in, 115, 118 _sqq._, 140-1;
French's dispositions of, how influenced, 157;
French share in, 115, 121, 123, 135, 140 _sqq._, 145, 146,
154, 157, 158-9, 160, 161, 164;
German forces believed to be in position for, 116;
Ge