Mr. Thomas Atkins, none other, is the hero of that retreat from Mons. The first statue raised in London after the war ought to be of him.  If there had been five hundred thousand of him in Belgium at the end of the second week in August, Brussels would now be under the Belgian flag.  Like many other good things in this world, including the French army, there were not enough of him.  Many a company on that retreat simply got tired of retreating, though orders were to fall back.  It dug a trench and lay down and kept on firing—­accurately, in the regular, businesslike way, reinforced by the “stick it” British character—­until killed or engulfed.  This held back the flood long enough for the remainder of the army to retire.

Not all the generalship emanated from generals.  I like best that story of the cross-roads where, with Germans pressing hard on all sides, two columns in retreat fell in together, uncertain which way to go.  With confusion developing for want of instructions, a lone, exhausted staff officer who happened along took charge, and standing at the junction in the midst of shell-fire told every doubting unit what to do, with a one-two-three alacrity of decision.  His work finished, he and his red cap disappeared, and I never could find anyone who knew who he was.

After the retreat and after the victory of the Marne, what was England’s position?  The average Englishman had thought that England’s part in the alliance was to send a small army to France and to take care of the German fleet.  England’s fleet was her first consideration; that must be served.  France’s demand for rifles and supplies must be attended to before the British demand.  Serbia needed supplies; Russia needed supplies; a rebellion threatened in South Africa; the Turks threatened the invasion of Egypt.  England had to spread her energy out over a vast empire with an army that had barely escaped annihilation.  Every soldier who fought must be supplied overseas.  German officers put a man on a railroad train and he detrained near the front.  Every British soldier had to go on board a train and then a ship and then disembark from the ship and go on board another train.  Every article of ordnance, engineering, medical supply, food supply, must be handled four times, while in Germany they need be handled but twice.  Any railway traffic manager will understand what this means.  Both the British supply system and the medical corps were marvels.

Germany was stronger than the British public thought.  Germany and Austria could put at the front in the first six months of the war practically double the number which the Allies could maintain.  Russia had multitudes to draw from in reserve, but the need was multitudes at the front.  There she was only as strong as the number she could feed and equip.  In the first year of the war England suffered 380,000 casualties on land, more than three times the number of men that she had at Mons. This wastage must be met before she could begin to increase her forces.  The length of line on the western front that she was holding was not the criterion of her effort.  The French who shared with the British that terrible Ypres salient realized this.