Item 02: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett articles on the Gallipoli campaign, 1915 - Page 142
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[Page 142]
[Letter by Ashmead Bartlett which appeared in The Times, in full, 24 Nov. 1915, in response to Mr Churchill's personal statement to the House of Commons on 15 November]
Mr. Churchill's Explanations
To the Editor of 'The Times'.
Sir,
We seem to have reached the end of the sensational revelations over the Dardanelles Expedition for the time being, but I would like to make some observations which will throw further light on various points raised in Mr. Churchill's speech. The Government has, or is in any way credited with, the laudable desire to set our house in order and to prevent a repetition of those mistakes in the future which have brought us to the verge of disaster in the past, and after the speeches of the Prime Minister, Sir Edward Carson and Mr. Churchill there can be no longer any grounds for concealing certain facts in connection with the Naval operations which preceded the landing of our Army in Gallipoli.
Three fundamental points stand out clearly from the recent controversies and most of our troubles can be traced to them. First and foremost we have never had a General Staff at the War Office since the beginning of the War, when all the best brains in the Service, with that laudable and natural desire to meet the enemy in the field, left for the front. Secondly, when Lord Kitchener was appointed