He and the Field-Marshal Hindenburg must have known that they would have to make the last fatal throw and that there was barely time to rattle the dice. Austria was done, worn out, exhausted. It was doubtful whether she could stand against the Italians. Allenby, under whom the 56th Division had fought in April, had gone to Egypt in June, and by December had captured Jerusalem; and Turkey, at the end of her tether, lay at his mercy: events in this theatre of war might move so fast as to bring disaster from that direction on the Central Powers. The Bulgarians were not trusted. And there were signs that the German Army itself had lost its arrogant spirit.
Hindenburg could count on a preponderance of numbers on the Western Front, but desertions were appalling in number. Tens of thousands, we are told, crossed the frontiers into neutral countries, and a great many more stayed at home, “tacitly tolerated by their fellow-citizens and completely unmolested by the authorities.”
The movement of troops from east to west was carried out rapidly. By 213 the New Year the Germans had a majority of thirty divisions over the Entente on the Western Front. The plan was to attack with fifty to sixty divisions under massed artillery, varying between twenty and thirty batteries to each kilometre of front attacked, and a multitude of trench mortars as well.
Meanwhile American troops were arriving and training in the back areas.
The 56th Divisional Artillery had remained in the Mœuvres sector. Brig.-Gen. Elkington and his headquarters had, however, moved with the infantry, and we quote from the Brigadier’s diary:
“The headquarters of the division and the R.A. were established in huts in Victory Camp, and I took over command of the R.A. covering the division on the 8th [December]. On the 17th and 18th the 56th Divisional Artillery returned to the division and took over in the line. This part of the front was at the time a very quiet one, but much harassing fire was done and a certain amount of enemy counter-battery work was done on the battery positions. Work was begun on rear lines and rear battery positions. Very cold weather was experienced in December.
We remained in this sector with headquarters at Victory Camp, which consisted of Nissen huts and was the coldest and bleakest spot I encountered--it was a desperately cold winter. From the 1st to the 3rd January an American General and his staff officers were attached to the division and went round battery positions and saw some shooting. On the 5th January the 62nd Divisional Infantry relieved the 56th Divisional Infantry, and on the 7th and 8th the R.A. of the 62nd Division came and looked over the batteries in the line.