[A Straight Deal by Owen Wister]@TWC D-Link bookA Straight Deal CHAPTER XIV: England the Slacker! 7/20
They reclaimed and cultivated more than 1100 square miles of land there, which produced in consequence enough food to save two million tons of shipping annually for the Allies.
In Palestine and Mesopotamia alone, British troops in 1917 took 23,590 prisoners.
In 1918, in Palestine from September 18th to October 7th, they took 79,000 prisoners. What did England do in the war, anyhow? With "French's contemptible little army" she saved France at the start--but I'll skip that--except to mention that one division lost 10,000 out of 12,000 men, and 350 out of 400 officers.
At Zeebrugge and Ostend--do not forget the Vindictive--she dealt with submarines in April and May, 1918--but I'll skip that; I cannot set down all that she did, either at the start, or nearing the finish, or at any particular moment during those four years and three months that she was helping to hold Germany off from the throat of the world; it would make a very thick book.
But I am giving you enough, I think, wherewith to answer the ignorant, and the frauds, and the fools.
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