MR. LLOYD GEORGE AND PASSCHENDAELE
[To the Editor of Tim SPECTATOR.] Sin,--I read with some-surprise the opening of " A Spectator's Notebook " this week, containing the formal letter of con- gratulation which was addressed by the Prime Minister, on behalf of the War Cabinet, to 'the Comminder-in-Odef in France, on October; 16th, 1917: ' -1- - My surprise was that a journal which one respects for its fair-minded attitude, should regard' sash a document as of relevance to the controversy on Passchendaele, or of the least historical significance. In the circumstances of the time, the Prime Minister could hardly write less. - But, in any case, the answer to it is surely embodied in two of the facts given in Volume IV of Mr. Lloyd George's memoirs.
First, that early in October the War Cabinet was officially informed that the British casualties up to the 5th of that month were 148,470, whilst the German casualties were 2g5,000—a grossly misleading statement.
Second, that when the Prime Minister visited G.H.Q. towards the end of September, to. prove their statement that the Germans were reduced to their last reserves, he was shown a cage of prisoners, and had to admit that the men were a weedy lot—whereas, actually, G.H.Q. had telephoned to warn the Fifth Army of the visit,, and instruc- tions had been given to have the able-bodied prisoners removed from the cage.—Yours, &c., B. II. LmDELL HART.
00 Gloucester Marx, W.I.
[Janus writes : So W-hen Mr. Lloyd George went out of his way to add an erpression of his personal confidence in Sir Douglas Haig to the War Cabinet's congratulations, it all meant nothing. Everything, indeed, would have been different if Mr. Lloyd George had seen " able-bodied prisoners instead of " weedy " prisoners in the Fifth Army cages. As for the casualty figures Mr. Lloyd George_ himself admits that his statement on that point is disputed—as it moat emphatically is.]
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