retreat out of the sound of the guns, where through his subordinates he
felt the pulse of the whole army day by day?

His favorite expression was "the spirit that quickeneth"; the spirit of
effort, of discipline, of the fellowship of cohesion of
organization--spreading out from the personality at the desk in this
room down through all the units to the men themselves. Though officers
and soldiers rarely saw him they had felt the impulse of his spirit soon
after he had taken command. A new era had come in France. That old
organization called the British Empire, loose and decentrated--and
holding together because it was so--had taken another step forward in
the gathering of its strength into a compact force.




II

VERDUN AND ITS SEQUEL

German grand strategy and Verdun--Why the British did not go to
Verdun--What they did to help--Racial characteristics in
armies--Father Joffre a miser of divisions--The Somme
country--Age-old tactics--If the flank cannot be turned can the front
be broken?--Theory of the Somme offensive.


In order properly to set the stage for the battle of the Somme, which
was the corollary of that of Verdun, we must, at the risk of appearing
to thresh old straw, consider the German plan of campaign in 1916 when