“… And now, Majesty, you suggest—?… That is a superb plan; but it appears to me—I mean, to Hindenburg—that you—we—are rating one of the nations opposed to us too lightly.… Yes, Your Majesty, I know you are going to stand no nonsense from them _after_ the War,—in fact, you warned their Ambassador, most properly, if I may say so, to that effect,—but would it not be a good move, just as a preliminary, to stand no nonsense from them _during_ the War?… _Too far away? They can’t get over?_ Well—here are the approximate numbers of the American troops already in France. And there are a lot of them in England too.… _Rather surprising?_ Yes. Indeed, quite a creditable feat for an unwarlike nation. I shall show these figures to Von Capelle: it will justify what I said about his submarines: in fact, it will annoy him extremely. And there are more coming. They are pouring over faster and faster. I shall tell him that too.… _But the Americans have had no experience of intensive warfare? And they have fallen behind with their constructive programme—aeroplanes and artillery?_ Quite so. And, therefore, taking these facts into consideration, I—Hindenburg—Your Majesty will doubtless decide that our only chance is to concentrate in overwhelming strength, here and now, against _one_ of the two enemy forces at present opposed to us, and destroy that force in detail before the Americans can throw any considerable body of troops into the line.… _Expensive?_ Undoubtedly.… _No one has ever succeeded during this War in breaking a properly organized trenchline?_ Agreed; but only because no one has yet been able or willing to pay the necessary price. The British might have done it on the Somme, but Haig was too squeamish about the lives of his men. British generals are handicapped in their military dispositions by a public opinion which happily does not exist in our enlightened Fatherland. I—Hin—Your Majesty can afford to do it. With all these unemployed Divisions from the Russian Front, we can go to the limit in the matter of casualties.… _How many?_ Well, I think we can afford to lose a million men—say a million.… Yes, indeed, Majesty, your heart must bleed at the prospect; but after all, it is for the ultimate good of Humanity.… ‘_One cannot make omelettes without breaking eggs?_’ Admirable! Your Majesty’s felicity of phrase shows no falling off, I perceive. And yet the Americans talk of their Woodrow Wilson! Besides, it will be a million less to make trouble for Us after the War. Now, I suppose we are all agreed on the foe to be crushed?… _The British?_ Naturally. The British! The time has come to drive them into the sea. Haig has recently extended his line twenty-eight miles—rather reluctantly, too. He has had to send troops to Italy, and he had heavy casualties in Belgium last autumn. Twenty-seven thousand killed, in fact. Still, without a supreme commander, you cannot blame the various Allied leaders for ‘passing the buck’ to one another, as the Yankees say.