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Show LLOYD-GEORGE GIF SPEAKER AT CONFERENCE British War Minister Congratulates Con-gratulates Representatives of Entente Allies Upon Success of Offensive. MUNITIONS THE PRIMARY CAUSE z " 1 With Plenty of Big Guns and Shells on Hand and More in Sight Victory Is Believed Certain. LONDON, July 13, 8:0u p. m.- David Da-vid Lloyd-George, British minister of war, presiding today at an entente allied al-lied conference on equipment, declared that the combined offensive of the allies al-lies had wrenched the initiative from the Germans, never, he trusted, to return. re-turn. "We have crossed the watershed," he said, ''and now victory is beginning to flow in our direction. This change is due to the improvement in our equipment. equip-ment. ' ' The conference was held at the war office and was participated in by Albert Al-bert Thomas, French minister of munitions; mu-nitions; General Beliaeff, assistant minister min-ister of war of Russia; General A. Dall O'Lio, member of the Italian ministry of war, and the new British minister of munitions, Edwin S. Montagu. "Since our last munitions conference, confer-ence, " said Mr. Lloyd-George, "there has been a considerable change in the fortunes of the allies. On that date the great Champagne offensive in the west had just failed to attain its objective, ob-jective, and the French and British armies had sustained heavy losses without with-out the achievement of any particular success. In the east the enemy had pressed the gallant armies of Russia back some 100 miles and the Balkans had just been overrun by the central powers. Change on AH Fronts. "The overwhelming victories won by the valiant soldiers of Kussia have struck terror into the hearts of our foes, and these, coupled with the immortal im-mortal defense of Verdun by our indomitable in-domitable 1' Tench comrades, and the brave resistance of the Italians against overwhelming odds in the southern Alps, have changed the whole complexion com-plexion of the landscape. "Now, the combined offensive in the east and west has wrenched the initiative in-itiative out of the hands of the enemy never, I trust, to return to his grasp. We have crossed the watershed and now victory is beginning to flow in our direction. "Why have our prospects improved? The answer is, the equipment of our armies has improved enormously and is continuing to improve. . "The British navy until recently has absorbed more than' half of tho metalworkers metal-workers of this country. The task of building new ships and repairing the old ones for the gigantic navy and fitting and equipping them, occupies the energies of 1,000,000 men. Most of our new factories now are complete; most of the machinery has been set up. Hundreds of thousands of men alid women, hitherto unaccustomed to metal nnd chemical work, have been trained for muni t inns-ma kin o Difficulties Solved. "Every month we ore turning out hundreds of guns and howitzers, light, medium and heavy. Our heavy guns-are guns-are rolling in at a great rate, and we ! are turning out nearly twice as much j ammunition in a single week and, i what is more, nearly three times as much heavy shell as we fired for the great offensive in September, although the ammunition we expended in that battle was the result of manv weary weeks' accumulation. The new factories factor-ies and workshops we sot up have not yet attained one-third their full capacity, capac-ity, but their output is now increasin;.r with great rapidity. Our main difficulties diffi-culties in organizing, constructing, equipment, labor supply and readjustment readjust-ment have been solved. If officials, employers and workmen keep nt it with the same zeal and assiduity as thev have hitherto employed, our supplies will ?oon be overwhelming. "T cannot help thinking that the improvement im-provement in the Russia n a mm unit ion has been one of the greatest and most unpleasant surprises the enemy has sustained. Still, our task is but half accomplished. Everv irreat battle furnishes fur-nishes additional proof that this is a war of equipment. More ammunition means more victories and fewer casualties." |