service of the base, and from the evidence of my own eyes, let me try and
draw some general picture of what that service is: Suppose a British
officer speaking:

Remember first that every man, every horse, every round of
ammunition, every article of clothing and equipment, all the
guns and vehicles, and nearly all the food have to be
brought across the English Channel to maintain and reinforce
the ever-growing British Army, which holds now so important
a share of the fighting line in France. The ports of entry
are already overtaxed by the civil and military needs of
France herself. Imagine how difficult it is--and how the
difficulty grows daily with the steady increase of the
British Army--to receive, disembark, accommodate, and
forward the multitude of men and the masses of material!

You see the khaki in the French streets, the mingling
everywhere of French and English; but the ordinary visitor
can form no idea of the magnitude of this friendly invasion.
There is no formal delimitation of areas or spaces, in
docks, or town, or railways. But gradually the observer will
realise that the town is honeycombed with the temporary
locations of the British Army, which everywhere speckle the
map hanging in the office of the Garrison Quartermaster. And
let him further visit the place where the long lines of
reinforcement, training and hospital camps are installed on
open ground, and old England's mighty effort will scarcely
hide itself from the least intelligent. _Work, efficiency,
economy_ must be the watchwords of a base. Its functions may
not be magnificent--_but they are war_--and war is