WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

362 WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
stating that he thought the estimates of the Intelligence
Department of the War Office as to the German artillery
were exaggerated. When the War Committee expressed apprehension
as to the probability of so great an operation
causing heavy casualties, which owing to the difficulties we
were experiencing with man power would be difficult to replace,
the Commander-in-Chief thought there was no ground
for our fears. He called attention to the slightness of the
losses we had sustained in capturing Messines and the Vimy
Ridge, and how in the latter case we had penetrated far
into the German line in the course of a single day with comparatively
small losses. In that attack, one division, according
to him, had pierced the German Front to a depth of five
miles. If this attack were equally successful, that would
enable us to reach a portion of the Passchendaele Ridge
which constituted the first offensive in the course of a single
day without any serious casualties.
As to man power, and supplies of ammunition and guns,
Sir William Robertson anticipated no difficulty. As for men,
he hoped to have one hundred and fifty thousand to send
out, with which to supply the twenty or thirty thousand
wanted to complete the establishment of the Army in France,
and replace the casualties suffered in the attack. He would
also send out the 67th Division. He considered the position
to be sufficiently favourable to justify undertaking the operations
in the manner proposed by the Commander-in-Chief.
As to the results he expected from this venture, the Commander-in-Chief
made it quite clear to the Committee that
he anticipated not merely that he would capture the Passchendaele
Ridge, but that the operation would result in our
securing the Flemish Coast.
Admiral Jellicoe was called in to bear his testimony to
the grave need of achieving this aim before the winter, and
he stated categorically that unless that were done, the position
would become impossible, and that unless we cleared