26, gives a general review of the development of the
situation of the force for six weeks preceding that date.
There has recently been a lull in the active operations, he says. No
progress has been made by either side, and yet there has come about an
important modification comprising a readjustment in the scope of the
part played by the British Army as a whole. He explains the movement
from the River Aisne to the Belgian frontier to prolong the left flank
of the French Army, and says that in attempting this the British force
was compelled to assume responsibility for a very extended section of
the front. He points out, as did Field Marshal Sir John French,
Commander in Chief of the British forces, that the British held only
one-twelfth of the line, so that the greater share of the common task of
opposing the enemy fell and still falls to the French, while the
Belgians played an almost vital part.
With the fall of Antwerp the Germans made every effort to push forward a
besieging force toward the west and hastened to bring up a new army
corps which had been hastily raised and trained, their object being to
drive the Allies out of Belgium and break through to Dunkirk and Calais.
Altogether they had a quarter of a million of fresh men.
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