From Colossal Blunders of the War by William Seaver Woods, 1930 . . . the Germans rose in their trenches, mocked at the advancing British, "and then calmly mowed them down in thousands," while the Germans lost only 200 men. These are not the words of an enemy, but are quoted from a letter of Lloyd George to Prime Minister Asquith written only ten days after the battle of Festubert. An eye-witness of the battle was Colonel Repington, the famous war correspondent of the London Times, who telegraphed the Times "that the want of an unlimited supply of high explosive shells was a fatal bar to our success." At this news British public opinion exploded. The Liberal government was forced to give important posts to the Conservatives, and even Lord Kitchener, who was revered with an awe approaching idolatry, was deprived of the control of munitions, and Lloyd George was made Minister of Munitions to try to save the situation. That was the famous "shell scandal." . . . ( page 132 ) New York : Macmillan, 1930.

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W. Paul Tabaka
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