Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Evening Standard of June
14th dealt with the retreat of the Fifth Army from St. Quentin, by way of a connected narrative designed to " remove the mischievous legend that a British Army had been broken "—an idea bad for our prestige abroad and pernicious to our young soldiers. He pointed out that, by a miracle of courage and endurance, the British e was never broken, though a tidal wave of a million men, released by " the idiots and traitors of Brest," was " bound to wash some- thing away." Everywhere the knock-out was avoided, although our eleven divisions, with only three infantry and two cavalry divisions in support, had to cover the enormous front of seventy thousand yards, and although visibility was cut down to fifty yards by fog during the most critical hours. The so-called " disaster of St. Quentin " was really " a masterpiece of disciplined skill. Never have British soldiers been more tenacious." The Fifth Army, after critical days and an anxious week, was " reinforced and firm, and presented an unbroken front to the enemy."
