ench Armies, they could not rest idle. They must attack. They must
take the initiative away from the Germans. The greater the masses of
Germans which were held on the Western front under the Allied pounding,
the better the situation for the Russians and the Italians; and,
accordingly, the plan for the summer of 1916 for the first time
permitted all the Allies, thanks to increased though not adequate
munitions--there never can be that--to conduct something like a common
offensive. That of the Russians, starting earlier than the others, was
the first to pause, which meant that the Anglo-French and the Italian
offensives were in full blast, while the Russians, for the time being,
had settled into new positions.

Preparation for this attack on the Somme, an operation without parallel
in character and magnitude unless it be the German offensive at Verdun
which had failed, could not be too complete. There must be a continuous
flow of munitions which would allow the continuation of the battle with
blow upon blow once it had begun. Adequate realization of his task would
not hasten a general to undertake it until he was fully ready, and
military preference, if other considerations had permitted, would have
postponed the offensive till the spring of 1917.

III

A CANADIAN INNOVATION

Gathering of the clans from Australia, New Zealand and
Canada--England sends Sir Douglas Haig men but not an army--Methods
of converting men into an army--The trench raid a Canadian
invention--Development of trench raiding--The correspondents'
quarters--Getting ready for the "big push"--A well-kept secret.

"Some tough!" remarked a Canadian when he saw the Australians for the
first time marching along a French road. They and the New Zealanders
were conspicuous in France, owing to their felt hats with the brim
looped up on the side, their stalwart physique and their smooth-shaven,
clean-cut faces. Those who had been in Gallipoli formed the stiffening
of veteran experience and comradeship for those fresh from home or from
camps in Egypt.

Canadian battalions, which had been training in Canada and then in
England, increased the Canadian numbers until they had an army equal in
size to that of Meade or Lee at Gettysburg. English, Scotch, Welsh,
Irish, South Africans and Newfoundlanders foregathering in Picardy,
Artois and Flanders left one wondering about English as "she is spoke."
On the British front I have heard every vari