strongest fortress in the world;
drove them out so completely that they were glad to take refuge,
morally as well as physically, behind their famous Hindenburg Line.

No doubt our grand attack lasting from July to November 1916 cemented
the Alliance with France and saved Verdun from falling. No doubt it
paved the way, in knowledge and morale, for further attacks at a later
date. The fact remains that before its lessons were learnt the slopes
of the Ancre and the Somme were sown with the bodies of thousands of
the finest specimens of the British race. What a cost was paid for the
example and the lesson! Never again during the war had Britain such
fine athletic men, such gallant and heroic sons to fight her battles.
No horror or hardship could subdue their spirit. Again and again,
through shattered ranks and over ground covered with the fallen, they
went forward to the supreme sacrifice as cheerfully and as
light-heartedly as if they were out for a holiday. They knew they
could beat the enemy in front of them, and they went on and did it
again and again, in spite of the wire, in spite of the mud, in spite
of thousands of machine-gun bullets and shells. The tragedy of it all
is written in one word. _Waste_--waste of lives, waste of effort,
waste of ammunition. The fact is now clear that in 1916 the resources
of the British Nation were not sufficiently developed to smash the
German war machine. That was undoubtedly the hope of every one who
took part in the battle, to deliver a final knock-out blow. But this
hope failed, even if it failed by a little. Our artillery, mighty as
it undoubtedly was, was not mighty enough yet to destroy the enemy's
defences and to shatter his power of resistance. Alas, it was a blow
that could never be repeated again with such magnificent human
resources!

After the supreme effort by all ranks a terrible wave of depression
naturally followed. And can this be wondered at? For a time there was
lack of confidence which made itself all too apparent in 1917, a year
of unparalleled disasters. No one who has not set out with such high
hopes can know how awful that depression can be.

The effort of the British Army was never so united, never so intense
as it was in the battle on the Somme. Later on reverses brought
knowledge and knowledge at last brought victory. But for some that
victory had its sad side too; for thousands upon thousands of those
gay and gallant comrades in the Great Endeavour were