Let us return to a simile which we used very
early in the war when people were profoundly discouraged by the spectacle of an apparently complete deadlock. We compared the circumstances with a tug of war. One sees, for example, ten powerful bluejackets at an athletic meeting opposed by ten tall and solid policemen. When the rival sides heave their weight on to the rope they seem to be so evenly matched that it is incredible that one side should pull the other over the line. The first ten minutes fortify that opinion. Neither side budges by even half an inch. The balance looks too steady ever to be moved. But presently something happens, nobody quite knows how or why ; movement sets in, and the team which is being hauled across the line when it has once begun to go goes rapidly. The footwork is all astray and the rhythm of the tug is upset. To some extent the men who are losing ground impede one another. In the end ten massive men are hauled struggling across the line as though they were a pack of children.
