British generals denied the awesome power of the chief weapon involved. “The introduction of the Machine Gun,” declared a memo from French’s headquarters to the Ministry of Munitions two months after the battle, “has not, in the opinion of the General Staff, altered the universally accepted principle that superior numbers of bayonets closing with the enemy is what finally turns the scale.” Even some two and a half years later, in May 1918, the British forces would have only one machine gun for every 61 men. The Canadians would have one for every 13, the French one for every 12.
