Memorial statue to Prime Minister David Lloyd George in Parliament Square, London, United Kingdom. © 2013 John M. Shea
"What bearing had all this on Third Ypres? By 11 October [1917] it had been raining steadily in Flanders for a week. There could be no reason for taking a more hopeful view of operations there than when Lloyd George, before the weather had broken, had spoken so disparagingly on the subject eight days earlier. Nor was the Prime Minister inclined to do so. . . .Far from being hopeful, the Prime Minister predicted failure in the attempts to capture even the Klerken Ridge. He 'would call the War Cabinet's attention to this in three weeks' time'. . . .Indeed there was a large positive consequence of Lloyd George's chillingly negative announcement that, in three weeks' time, the War Cabinet would assemble to record the lack of success of the operation. This forewarning of failure and futility constituted his authorization for the campaign to continue."
At the last meeting of the British War Policy Committee on October 11, 1917, there was little discussion about the Third Battle of Ypres, even though the government of Prime Minister Lloyd George anticipated failure and could have stopped the battle, but let it stumble on. Rather there was a lengthy discussion of where to focus attention other than on the western front: Italy? Palestine?
Passchendaele The Untold Story by Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, pp. 153 and 155, copyright © 1996 Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2002
1917-10-11, 1917, October, Lloyd George, David Lloyd George, Third Battle of Ypres, Third Ypres, Battle of Passchendaele, Passchendaele, Palestine
