PREVENTION OF WASTAGE. . 51 , 



area towards Bapaume. He remarked " You are going to have 

 a bad time," and his words proved true. 



Water supply is a diiS&cult and yet a very important 

 proposition where large bodies of troops are concentrated. 

 Picture the concentration of 150,000 to 190,000 animals in a 

 radius of a few miles, and the prospect of a successful advance 

 over a country removed from water in the summer season. 

 French village ponds in occupied areas were of no value. They 

 were the cause of sewage poisoning in some instances. So 

 particular were Corps in certain areas that the maps of 

 Brigadier-Generals' Administration were marked with water 

 points and even water troughs for animals. But for these 

 wise provisions, in these areas our wastage would have been 

 much heavier. Animals travelling by train, and especially sick 

 horses under evacuation, had their own self-contained watering 

 arrangements. Water parades, time schedules, and the 

 presence of an officer at watering parades are part of the 

 requisite care of animals in the field. It is a feature of animal 

 management in India, and in frontier expeditions of that 

 country, which requires putting on a better basis, and particu- 

 larly with regard to the camel. The remedy lies in the special 

 concentration of thought on the subject and a discountenance of 

 the " Kuch purwa nahi" haphazard methods that are apt to 

 prevail. 



Foods and. Feedings. It is said that an army fights on its 

 stomach. It is quite true. There is no physical endurance 

 without a liberal supply of food. Morale goes to pieces on an 

 empty stomach. I am convinced that one of our best items of 

 propaganda was the display of comestibles and the prices at 

 which they could be obtained, in the Expeditionary Force 

 Canteens in France when the Germans pushed our troops back 

 in the Somme area in March 1918. It was an eye-opener to an 

 enemy who had been imbued with tales that England was 

 being brought to her knees through their " unrestricted, 

 submarine warfare." 



What is true of men is equally true of animals, the only 

 difference being that while the one can voice his complaints 

 and objections, the other must suffer in dumb obedience. All 



