nearly 12,000 prisoners and 100 guns.

That rapid summary has brought me back to the point from which I
started. In three months and a half the "mighty conflict," in which,
on the British side, something short of 700,000 bayonets were engaged,
had rushed on from victory to victory; Foch and Haig working together
in an ideal marriage of minds and resources; the attack retaining
everywhere by the help of the tanks--of which, in the Battle of
Amiens, General Rawlinson had 400 under his command--the elements of
surprise and mobility. The harassed enemy would find himself hard
pressed in a particular section, driven to retreat, with heavy losses
in ground, guns and prisoners; and then, as soon as he had discovered
a line on which to stand and had thrown in his reserves, the attack
would be broken off, only to begin again elsewhere, and with the same
energy, unexpectedness, and success. British Staff work and British
tactics were at their highest point of excellence, and the spirit of
the men, fanned by that breeze which Victory and Hope bring with them,
were, in the Commander-in-Chief's word, "magnificent."

And so we come to the evening of the 26th of September. Along these
hill-sides, where we stand, on the west side of the Canal du Nord, lay
Sir Julian Byng and the Third Army. To his right, on the south-east,
was General Rawlinson, facing the strongest portion of the Hindenburg
line, with two American divisions, led by Major-General Read, under
his command; while on his left, and to the north, the First Army,
under General Home, held the line along the Canal du Nord, and the
marshes of the Sensée.

The most critical moment in the campaign had arrived. For in the
assault on the Hindenburg line heavy risks had to be run. It is clear,