When Parliament reassembled on Tuesday, the Prime Minister introduced a
new Military Service Bill. It would involve, be said, extreme sacrifices on the part of large classes, only to be Justified by the most extreme necessity. Before the battle the Allied forces oil the Western Front were approximately equal to the enemy's forces, including his new divisions from the Russian front Sir Henry Wilson and his colleagues on the Versailles Council predicted early in February that the Germans would attaok on a wide front south of Arras with ninety-five divisions, and would try to break the British line, capture Amiens, and sever us from the French, and further that they might succeed in penetrating to a depth half as great as the front of attack. The German Emperor had said to ex- King Constantine " I shall beat them, for they have no united command " ; and in this respect the enemy had an advantage. With two separate commands, it was more difficult to adjust the balance of risk in each sector of the menaced front.
