We have received the following from Private Handel Davies, late of the Garage, Garnant, who has been on active service during 1914-15 and 1916 : —
“In war pessimism is a poison, so don’t let pessimists frighten you into a gloomy summer. The Huns are not having it all their own way, yet these pessimists will tell you that they have the best part of Belgium and Serbia.
But ask them where would they have been if they had been faced by only little Belgium or Serbia? What have the Huns accomplished against armies that were meeting them on anything like fair terms? Nothing.
They began the war at a time when neither France, England, or Russia were prepared for war; they swept towards Paris because the French Army was ill-equipped with weapons, but by the time they reached the outskirts of the French capital the Allies had half pulled themselves together.
It’s true they had a little equipment, but what pluck! No wonder the Germans remarked that ‘those Frenchmen can fight,’ and that ‘those Frenchmen can fight,’ and that ‘those damn English don’t know when they are beaten.’ Well, that was the pluck that saved Paris.
Not all the devilish machinery the Kaiser possessed could have saved the German Army had it been placed at the disadvantage in which the Allies found themselves those dark days of last September twelvemonth. But back to the Marne the invaders were thrust, and then they dug themselves in, and gave our boys an opportunity to polish their weapons.
“Once we had a fair amount of ammunition and men the Huns decided that it was better to let Paris and Calais alone; yet they’ve fancied their chance many times since, but to no avail. Just think that for nearly two years the Germans have been dashing themselves to pieces against the French and British lines, and still they are foiled and baffled wherever they try to break through.
They are not the men they were a year last August; they are weaker in number and resources; the Allies are stronger. Is it probable that he strangulated enemy can do today what he failed to do at the zenith of his power? Of course, there have been blunders. War is a tissue of blunders. Have the Germans never blundered? We have no monopoly in blundering.
The point is that we have bought our lesson and are now working at full speed to apply it. The whole nation is pulling its weight, and pulling it to win, too. All thanks are due to Mr. Lloyd George, who awoke England up in time, and who came to the rescue with shells that are known as ‘Lloyd George’s Special’; and you would all be surprised how the boys have taken to him, just because he’s the leaking man today. And since he’s been the Minister of Munitions it is surprising what he’s done for the country.
He seems to be always with his coat off and in dead earnest. Everyone out here will back him up to the hilt with regard to the Compulsion Bill, and it’s only fair, too, when it is needed to win; and for winning there’s no doubt.
I daresay some of you think you could run the war better than the men who are running it. You are wiser after every event than they are before it. But I beg you to blend humour with infallibility. If you can’t be easy, be as easy as you can.
“Your interesting Amman Valley Chronicle I receive weekly since I’m out here, and thanks to it for all the interesting news I find there always. Soon we expect a change in events, then I’m sure you will all see things in their true colour. Must come to a finish now, wishing you the best of luck.”
