Nelson's History of the War. By John Buchan. Vol. XX.
(Nelson. 2s. Gd. net.)—Colonel Buohan's new volume describes the summer campaigns of 1917—Messines and Passchendaele, the French offen- sive on the Aisne and in Champagne, and the Russian collapse. It is admirably written and well illustrated with maps, and contains in an appendix Sir Douglas Haig's despatch on the Flanders fighting and President Wilson's dignified reply to the Pope. At the moment it is interesting to compare the French tactics of 1917 on the Chemin des Dames with the plan now being followed ; the new flanking and enveloping movements are far more deadly and less costly than the old frontal attacks. The chapter on Passchendaele is clear and judicious. In saying that " we gambled upon a normal August and we did not get it," Colonel Buchan indicates the sole cause of our incomplete success.
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