We are
massing troops round the great city where great battles have been fought
before--concentrating for a great offensive. So there will very soon be
a third battle of Ypres, and I expect I shall be present on the occasion
myself. It should be very exciting. In the two former battles we were on
the defensive; this time we shall be on the offensive. And I must
say--pessimistic as I am on all Western offensives--this idea holds
forth a faint ray of hope of success. I have always held that there is
only one way in which the war can be won in the West--by a flanking
offensive in the North. This is not entirely the type of flanking
movement I would myself recommend, but it is an attempt at the idea--and
that is something. It may prove a semi-fiasco like the awful tragedies
of Neuve Chapelle, Loos, the Somme, and Arras; but it might possibly
turn out a success. Then it would be simply a case of _veni, vidi,
vici_!"
That memorandum is particularly interesting in view of the events which
followed, and the story which this narrative will tell. I always held
very strong-views on the conduct of the war. I was not one of those who
looked upon this great bid for world power on the part, of the German
Empire as purely a campaign on the Western Front, all other campaigns in
other corners of the globe being mere "side shows.
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