stroy the heavy wire entanglements. Moreover, in
maintaining a curtain of fire between the German lines and potential
reenforcements, it was necessary to increase the artillery arm
of the service. At this time the Germans could fire four shells
to one by the British. Another very essential equipment in which
the British were lacking was machine guns. The German army had
developed machine-gun warfare apparently to its highest power.
They not only used it to increase their volume of fire, but also
as a means of saving their infantry. When, for any reason, it was
found expedient to move infantry, a few machine-gun crews would
take the place of the soldiers with the rifle and maintain a fire
which would be almost as effective in checking the British advance
as the infantry had been. The British had no such number of machine
guns. They lacked this necessary part of their equipment just as
they lacked shells, cannon, aircraft, and other war material which
the Germans had developed and accumulated in large quantities under
the supervision of the German General Staff.

The German munition factories had been making and storing enormous
supplies for an army of several millions of men. On the other hand
the British had believed in the excellence of their comparatively
small army to such an extent that it required all of the fighting
from the time their troops landed on the Continent up to Festubert
to convince them that they must make and maintain a military machine
at least equal, if not superior, to the one her foes possessed.
It is true the British needed more men in the ranks, but what was
needed more was large additions to the supply of machine guns,
artillery, and ammunition.

For those reasons the British generals avoided clashes with the
Germans after the battle of Festubert, except when it was necessary
to hold as many of the Germans as possible to the British part of
the western front. This plan was maintained throughout the summer
of 1915. In the meantime the Germans were constructing, beyond
their trenches, the most elaborate series of field fortifications
in the history of warfare. The German staff realized that the time
was coming when the British would again take the offensive. When
that time arrived the Germans would thus be prepared to make every
foot of ground gained as costly as possible to their foes. In fact
they had reason for believing that it would be almost impossible for
their opponents to gain ground