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HISTORY

OF THE

R EAT WAR

DUN CAN -CLARK

1 1

Presented to the
library of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

PROFESSOR
H. L. WILLIAMS

PICTORIAL HISTORY

of the

GREAT WAR

S. J. Duncan-Clark

War Analyst and Special Correspondent
(177(1

W. R. Plewman

Military Critic, Toronto Star

Canada in the Great War

by
W. S. Wallace, M.A. (Oxon.)

(Lately Major, Canadian Infantry)
Lecturer on History, University of Toronto

Illustrated with Colorgravures

British, Canadian, American, and French Official

Photographs and Maps.

THE J. L. NICHOLS CO. Limited

ivn

\VM. M. CLARK

All Photographs Copyrighted by

Underwood & Underwood
and others.

DEDICATION

To Righteousness,

The Foundation of Peace;
To Freedom,

The Spirit of Peace;
To Democracy,

The Dwelling of Peace;
and to all Brave Men of whatever Clime or Creed,
Who for these things fought and suffered even unto death.

FOREWORD

The need of a popular History of the Great War, which should be at once
authoritative and free from bias and weak sentimentalism, is felt by all. This vol-
ume is designed to fill this need.

It attempts to encompass the causes of the great conflict, the chief happenings
of military and political importance during the bloodiest fifty-one months of the
world's history, and their results and their effects upon the nations involved. An
earnest endeavor has been made to take the reader through the most important
phases. The limitation of this work to one volume makes the giving of exhaustive
details of every incident, every battle, every siege, every advance or retreat, an
impossibility. But in this very limitation lies the book's greatest value.

To please a tactician, chapters might be devoted to the battles along the Marne,
the Somme, the Yser, at Cambrai, or to the struggle before Verdun or to the Rus-
sian campaigns. But for the reader who seeks a straightforward, circumstantial
narrative of the great war, without its chief events being clouded and obscured by a
multiplicity of subsidiary details, this book has been written.

Devotion of time to research by the very best authors and critics has been
given that its facts may be clearly and accurately presented. It contains no state-
ments based on rumors, no accounts taken from unauthoritative sources.

The New World undoubtedly was a great determining factor in the overthrow
and crushing of junkerism, and for that reason this volume should be of the great
est interest to the peoples of Canada and the United States. Over two and one-
half million sons of North America crossed to France. Their concentration and
transportation was one of the greatest military feats in history. Canada, as a part
of the British Empire, naturally became involved first. Her record of service will
fill every patriot with a feeling of pride and inspiration. The active share in the
war by the United States, though it covered ordy a little over a year and a half, is
the nation's most glorious achievement.

With this in mind, painstaking effort has been made to do the fullest justice to
all in recounting the parts played by these nations during the months of their unself-
ish crusade against autocracy and militarism.

Entertaining visualization of the war is best attained through photographs.
Consequently this book has been profusely illustrated with hundreds of scenes offi-
cially photographed during the long period of campaigning on all the great fronts.
These in themselves tell the narrative in a convincing manner. In securing these
pictures, the most skilled men attached to the fighting forces were emjjloyed. Many
were taken by men who risked death for a "close-up".

In preparing this instructive, inspiring and entertaining history, no vital epi-
sode of the war has been overlooked. The narrative is complete from the demolition
of Liege to the restoration of Peace. It is hoped that it will do full justice to the
sacrifice, courage, steadfastness in the face of great difficulties, of the tireless and
valorous fighting men of f;he British Empire, France, Italy, Belgium, Serbia and
the United States.

H. H. H.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pictorial History

The Great War

Chaptek

Chapter

II.

Chapter

III.

Chapter

IV.

Chapter

VI.

Chapter

VII.

Chapter

VIII.

Chapter

XII

Chapter

XIII

Chapter

XIV.

Chapter

XV.

Chapter XVI.

PAG!

-The Red Trail of Prussia 11

-The Spark in Europe's Powder Magazine 25

The Armies Are Unleashed 53

-Prussian Plans Go Astray 63

-The Era of Gigantic Battels 75

-hlxdenburg retreats 85

-Russia's Tragic Story 107

-Italy and the Little Xations 119

-The War on the Sea 145

-America's Long Patience 159

-The United States Draws the Sword 175

-The Decisive Campaign ix the Year 1918 183

-The Aftermath of the Armistice 235

-The Price of Victory 255

-How the Central Powers Fell 261

-Mara*els of the War on Land, Sea and Air 289

"THE MARINES"

PAGE

By Secretary Josephus Daniels 293

"AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES"
By Gen. John J. Pershing 307

"NAVAL BATTLES OF THE WAR"
By Admiral Wm. E. Sims 339

BOOK II.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR.

Chapter I. — The First Canadian Contingent 3

Chapter II. — The Growth of the Canadian Corps 11

Chapter III. — The Canadian Corps, 1917 17

Chapter IV. — The Canadian Corps, 1918 21

Chapter V. — The Canadian Cavalry 29

Chapter VI. — The Work of the Auxiliary Service 3.5

Chapter VII. — The Story of the Reinforcements 41

Chapter VIII. — Canadians in the Imperial Forces _ 45

Chapter IX.— The Civilian War Effort 51

Chapter X. — Canada's War Government 57

Pictorial History of The Great War

The Red Trail of Prussia

CHAPTER I

PRUSSIA UNSCRUPULOUS IN EARLY HISTORY — BISMARCK THE EMPIRE
BUILDER — GERMANY YICTORIOUS OYER FRANCE IN 1870 — HARSHEST
TERMS IN HISTORY— PRUSSIA PREPARED CAREFULLY FOR ALL WARS-
MIDDLE EUROPE EMPIRE PRUSSIAN AMBITION

About two centuries and a half ago the
Mark of Brandenburg, formerly known
as the Xordmark, came under the sway of
Frederick William the Great Elector.

That was the beginning of Prussia as
an ambitious, aggressive and unscrupu-
lous state.

The first act of Frederick William Mas
the abolition of the constitution. He
made himself absolute monarch. His sec-
ond act was to create a professional army
to sustain him in absolutism.

He trained his army, disciplined it rig-
orously and equipped it as well as was
possible in those seventeenth century
days. Then he set forth to conquer bis
neighbors.

In this he was measurably successful.
Other little marks and duchies were
added to the territory of Brandenburg,
and Berlin became the center of a con-
siderable domain.

So Frederick William the Great Elec-
tor set the style for all Prussian rulers
who should come after him.

The three fundamental principles of
Prussianism were absolutism, military
power and conquest. They remained the
fundamental principles of Prussianism
thru two centuries and a half, and until
the allied democracies of the world under-
took to destroy them in the World War.

The domain of the Great Elector was
joined with East Prussia by his successor,
and in 1701 Frederick III assumed the
title of King of Prussia, placing the
crown on his own head with bis own hands
— that being the nearest approach to
actual coronation by the Almighty that he
could devise.

Meantime the sway of the Prussian
dynasty extended in all directions. Swed-
ish Pomerania, Silesia and the Posen and
West Prussian provinces of Poland were
added in the period from 1720 to 1795.
The fortunes of war fluctuated, it is true;
Prussian arms were not always success-
ful. Xapoleon played havoc with Prus-
sian dominions for a time, and the Hohen-
zollerns were stripped of territories and
power; but the Napoleonic success was
meteoric. At the Congress of Vienna, in
1814, Prussia recovered practically all
that she had lost, and came into posses-
sion of several additional states that had
hitherto escaped her rapacity.

However, before the yoke of autocracy
was finally fastened upon the necks of the
subject peoples of Prussia; before they
were made the helpless and unthinking
tools of a madly ambitious imperialism,
there was a revolt against absolutism.
The fires of democracy that had swept
thru the American colonies, France and
England in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries were slow in kindling
their torches in central Europe. But in
18-48 and '49 Prussia heard the cry of
popular defiance in the streets of Berlin,
and saw the flag of insurrection raised in
Baden and Saxony.

With brutal power she crushed the
revolutionaries of her own domain.
Those of Baden and Saxony might have
fared better — the king of Saxony, indeed,
was forced to hide himself but Prussia
sent her armies into her neighbor states
and trampled ruthlessly under foot the
brave men who sought to win freedom.

That is typical of Prussia. Always and
everywhere she has been the enemy of

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, his wife wd children. The Archduke and wife

were assassinated.

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

freedom, the implacable foe of democ-
racy. She has denied it to all people who
came under her sway, and she has done
her best to destroy it in the lands that she
could not, or did not choose, to conquer.

The yoke securely fastened upon the
necks of the people within her own realm
and those of her neighbors; the revolu-
tionary leaders exiled, imprisoned or
slain, Prussia turned her thought and
energy again toward the plans of aggres-
sion that were the chief concern of her
rulers and statesmen.

Rismarck had come upon the scene —
Bismarck the empire builder. His vision
of Prussia dominant was challenged by
the presence of a powerful rival in central
Europe. The House of Hapsburg. rul-

sary preparation for war. When things
were in readiness to strike a sharp, hard
blow, he aggravated the dispute to the
point of ruptured relations. The war he
wanted followed. Prussia's armies, ready
for action, were hurled into Bavaria and
Austria, the former state having elected
to take Austria's side in the quarrel.

The struggle was of short duration. In
seven weeks Austria capitulated at the
battle of Konnigsgratz, or Sadowa.
From that day Hapsburg never ventured
to challenge Hohenzollern, or in any way
to interfere with Prussian plans.

Rismarck, having cleared the field,
went on with his work of building an em-
pire. He welded the German states into
a confederation under a constitution that

Serbian civilians

ing Austria, had been often the ally of
the House of Hohenzollern in expeditions
of conquest and phmder. Rut Bismarck
wanted no ally of co-equal strength, no
possible competitor in imperialism. The
Prussian conception of an ally is a vassal.
compelled to play the game as Prussia
pleases.

Hence it was necessary to eliminate
Austria as a potential rival in order to as-
sure for Prussia the place she desired.

Rismarck had no difficulty in finding a
cause for friction. There was a dispute
over Sehleswig-Holstein that he carefully
fostered. He encouraged the belief that
all difficulties could be settled amicably
and, in the meantime, made every neces-

\\as designed to fasten the Hohenzollern
dynasty upon it forever, and to give to
its successive monarchs autocratic control,
supported by military power. It Mas
provided in the constitution that it might
not he amended without the consent of
Prussia. This was the ultimate and abso-
lute safeguard. Only Prussia could undo
Prussia; only Hohenzollern could relax
the grip of Hohenzollern upon the lives
of the German people.

Bavaria, having suffered defeat with
Austria in the Seven Weeks' war. came
reluctantly into the confederation. She
did not love Prussia and the Hohenzol-
lerns. For years it was against the law
to display the German flag in Bavaria.

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

She never became fully reconciled to her
new status as the subordinate of Prussia
in the family of Teutonic tribes.

Hohenzollern ambitions were not satis-
fied to rest with the consolidation of terri-
tory under the German empire. The
King of Prussia had become German
Emperor, and the new title merely quick-
ened the inherent appetite for further
conquest. Envious eyes turned toward
France. The rich provinces of Alsace-
Lorraine invited plunder and acquisition.

A comparatively short struggle re-
sulted in a complete victory for Germany.
It was another instance where prepared-
ness prevailed over courage and devotion.
Alsace-Lorraine was added to the Ger-
man empire, and France was compelled
to pay an indemnity of five billion francs
in order to get the German army out of
her territory.

This sketch of Prussian history is nec-
essary in order that we may understand
how wholly in keeping with the character

Serbian officers watching experiments with liquid fire.

Moreover France was a possible rival
whose humbling was advisable in order to
assure the dominant position of Europe.
Bismarck deliberately laid the founda-
tion for war with France by provoking a
quarrel thru the publication of a garbled
telegram from the King of Prussia to the
King of France. The wording of the
telegram was made to carry an insult to
the French monarch — and in those days
there was only one way of dealing with
insults.

and aspirations of the rulers and people
of Prussia was the world war in which
their ambitions culminated.

Prussia never blundered into wars un-
wittingly. She made them with deliber-
ate purpose; prepared for them long in
advance, and carried them thru to victory
with only one intent — to increase her own
power and territorial sovereignty.

The forty odd years of peace that fol-
lowed gave the world time to forget Prus-
sia's history. Moreover, Prussia, herself,

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

was camouflaged in the German empire,
and people who had known the German
tribes before they became subject to Prus-
sian rule and guidance found it difficult
to believe that the industrious, home-lov-
ing folk of Germany could have in their
hearts ambitions that menaced the peace
and happiness of neighbor nations. It is
probable, indeed, that such ambitions were
foreign to these tribes or states in their
earlier history as a confederation, but they
were never absent from the minds of their
Prussian over-lords.

During those forty years Prussia did
two things — she Prussianized the rest of
the German people, and she built up a
great army and a great navy for enter-
prises of conquest conceived on a vaster
scale than ever before.

The story of these four decades of mis-
education for the German people is one
that merits a volume to itself. The secu-
lar and religious instruction given the
youth of the land was definitely directed
toward inculcating a vaunting pride of
race and nation and a contempt for all
other peoples. They were taught to be-
lieve that the Germans were the chosen
of God, with a destiny to subdue the
world to their own peculiar "kultur."
The state, embodied in the kaiser and the
general staff of the German army, be-
came for them the voice of God. What
the state decreed Avas right, no matter
how it might violate individual concep-
tions of ethics. To live and die for the
state, unquestioningly obedient to its com-
mands — this was the supreme morality.

This education was part of the process
by which the German people were made
the docile tools of the Prussian dynasty,
serviceable for the later execution of its

maturing plans.

Such is the general background of the
World War.

. As we draw nearer the fateful year in
which Germany launched her long pre-
paring thunderbolts against the world,
one incident after another shows that the
hour of action was no chance hour.

Wilhelm II dreamed thru the earlier
years of his reign of the day when the
resting German sword would be again
unsheathed to continue the traditions of
his dynasty and to carve from Europe
and the continents beyond a domain
greater in extent and incomparably richer
in resources than any autocrat of history
had ever ruled.

In accordance with his ambitions there
developed in Germany an organization
devoted to the creation of a great middle
Europe state, including Austria-Hun-
gary in its scope, and extending its fron-
tiers thru the Balkans to Asia Minor and
Mesopotamia. Maps that were printed
and distributed in Germany twenty years
before the World War began showed the
greater empire, and swept within its
boundaries Belgium and Holland on the
west, and the Baltic States of Russia, Po-
land, and the Balkan countries on the east
and southeast, as well as the dual mon-
archy. Leaders in this movement spoke
of acquiring territory in South America,
notably in the southern Argentine. It
was boldly predicted that the whole civil-
ized world would become either part of
the empire, or subject to it in the relation
of vassal to master.

In order to promote the project for a
middle-Europe empire with an Asiatic
annex, the Kaiser visited Constantinople.
Damascus and Jerusalem. He addressed

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

Wm. Hohenzollern, ex-Kaiser of Germany, in the uniform of a Turkish officer.
The shriveled left arm is most noticeahle.

MARSHAL FOCH, COMMANDER IN < HIEF OF THE ENTIRE ALLIED FORCES

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

Lloyd George, Great Britain's foremost Statesman and War Lord

SIR DOUGLAS HAIG. COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE BRITISH FORCES IN FRANCE AND

BELGIUM

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

a great audience of Turks in Damascus,
and declared himself the friend of the
Ottoman empire and the Mohammedhan
faith. His immediate reward was a con-
cession from Turkey allowing Germany
to construct the Bagdad railroad* and giv-
ing it a right of way in European Turkey,
thru what was known as the Sanjat of
Xovibazar, thus creating the link thru the
Balkans that has been often referred to
as the Bagdad corridor.

Austria- Hungary played her part in
these plans, doubtless with the knowledge
and approval of Germany. She seized
Bosnia and Herzegovina, border Balkan
states. When her act aroused the anger
of Europe, the Kaiser appeared as her
champion, and declared that he supported
the policy of his Austrian ally.

The Prussian plans were moving
smoothly and swiftly toward the achieve-
ment of Prussian ambitions, when the
Balkan war broke out. The utter defeat
of Turkey deprived Germany of her right
of way thru the Sanjat of Xovibazar.
which became Serbian territory, and
closed the Bagdad corridor.

Bulgaria was prompted to renew the
struggle in a second war by the intrigues
of the central empires. They hoped by
this means to recover the advantage they
had lost in the Balkans — the necessary
link of empire by which Hamburg would
be joined to Bagdad. The plan failed.
Bulgaria was defeated by her erstwhile
allies.

And thus it was that in 1913 Germany

t f| 9|

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The Ex-Crown Prince of Germany whose flight
showed his weak character.

found her ambitions checked. Serbia,
enlarged in territory, lay squarely across
her path to the east. Serbia was antago-
nistic to Vienna and Berlin. She looked
to Petrograd — then St. Petersburg — for
friendship and support. Germany real-
ized that diplomatic efforts to open a way
thru the Balkans could not succeed.

She knew only one way in which to
realize her ambitions— and that was force.
Force, for Prussia, was the normal and
most desirable method of obtaining any-
thing she desired.

Such is the trail of intrigue and blood-
shed that leads up to the critical day in
June 1914, when a deed of assassination
furnished the pretext that Prussia needed
for the execution of her designs.

THE RED TRAIL OF PRUSSIA

The German Ex-Emperor's Palace in TSerlin.

The Spark in Europe's Powder Magazine

CHAPTER II

ASSASSINATION OF AUSTRIAN ARCHDUKE — AUSTRIA CHARGED ANTI-DY-
NASTIC PLOTS — ASSASSINATION IN FACT PLOTTED BY GERMANY — ULTI-
MATUMi TO SERBIA — SERBIA MAKES CONCESSIONS TO KEEP PEACE— GER-
MANY AND AUSTRIA REFUSE TERMS —AUSTRIA DECLARES WAR ON SERBIA,
GERMANY DECLARES WAR ON RUSSIA, BELGIUM AND FRANCE — AUSTRIA
DRIVES ON SERBIA AND GERMANY INVADES BELGIUM — GREAT BRITAIN
SENDS ULTIMATUM TO GERMANY — STATE. OF WAR DECLARED BETWEEN
GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY.

ences of the business men and the imperial
chancellor, and the men of finance and in-
dustry were warned to set their affairs in
order and to prepare for a great war.

Then came the spark that exploded the
powder magazine of Europe.

The Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir
to the throne of Austria-Hungary, went
with his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg,
on a visit of state to Serajevo, the capital
of Bosnia.

Bosnia had been annexed by Austria-
Hungary in 1908. There were many
Bosnians who bitterly resented the Haps-
burg interference with their national life.
The state had its secret political organ-
izations, its intrigues and plots, all con-
cerned with frustrating Austrian rule and
promoting Slav interests.

Serajevo was not a safe city for the
heir to the Austrian throne to visit, and
this fact must have been well known to
the authorities. Yet, in spite of the perils
that always beset royalty in Europe, and
that were peculiarly acute in southeastern
Europe; in spite of the known existence
of enmities and conspiracies in Bosnia,
practically no precautions were taken by
the municipal officials of Serajevo to pro-
tect the lives of the imperial heir and his
wife.

It was on Sunday, June 28, 1914, that
the Archduke arrived at the Bosnian capi-
tal. He and his wife at once got into an
automobile and were driven toward the
town hall, where they were to be wel-
comed officially. The crowd that watched
them pass thru the city streets showed
little enthusiasm. Their automobile had
not gone far before a man dashed from
the throng on the pavement, and hurled a

The Balkan wars were over, and with
their settlement Europe heaved a sigh of
relief. For a time a general conflagration
had threatened the nations of the old
world. The European war cloud, famil-
iar in the headlines of the newspapers,
had hung upon the horizon with low mut-
terings of thunder. But the crisis was
passed safely, and men again began to
talk as tho a great war were a, thing im-
possible.

They pointed to the growing inter-
course among nations; the spread of
democratic institutions; the rising intelli-
gence of the masses of the people; the
multiplying of international peace trea-
ties and agreements for arbitration. Had
not the Hague peace tribunal been estab-
lished, and were not many of the gi-eat
powers of the world signatory to its con-
ventions, in which they pledged them-
selves to regard international law, and to
live with one another on a basis of reason-
ableness and humanity?

These things were all true.

And yet from all of these things men
derived a false sense of security.

Xations ruled by responsible govern-
ments, controlled by the enlightened sen-
timent of their peoples, could not under-
stand the peril that remained latent in the
world's autocracies.

Prussia was rapidly completing her
plans. We have learned from the dis-
closures made by Dr. Muehlon, a former
Krupp director, and others who were in
a position to know what was transpiring
within the councils of the empire, that
conspiracy against the world's peace was
on foot in Germanv. There were confer-

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

TIIK SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

bomb at tbe car. He missed tbe arch-
duke. The bomb fell on the road, and
exploded just as a second car passed over
it, containing members of the archduke's
staff.

The would-be assassin attempted to
escape in the crowd, but was caught and
put under arrest. He was a youth — 21
years of age — named Gabrinovics.

Archduke Ferdinand was livid with
fear and indignation when he readied the
town hall, and, when the burgomaster

exposed the royal visitor to attack. On
the way back from tbe town hall the im-
perial ear passed a youth named Gavrilo
Prinzip. standing on the curb, who calm-
ly drew a revolver and fired twice. The
first shot fatally wounded the duchess,
the second pierced tbe neck of the arch-
duke, severing the jugular vein. Both
died without uttering a word.

Prinzip was arrested. He denied any
knowledge of Gabrinovics. and declared
that the first attempt at assassination was

German soldiers decorated for exceptio
These soldiers are being rewarded for making one

tried to read to him an address of welcome
be interrupted with the angry exclama-
tion :

"Herr Burgomaster, it is perfectly
scandalous. We have come to Serajevo,
and a bomb is thrown at us."

The burgomaster stammered an inco-
herent apology and went on with his
address. Rut the archduke's sharp re-
buke bad no practical effect. Nothing
was done to remedy the neglect that had

al bravery during the Battle of Verdun.

if the many furious attacks on the Verdun front.

a surprise to him. He said be was a Ser-
bian student, and had for long entertained
the idea of killing some eminent person.

The Austrian authorities immediately
promulgated the story that they had dis-
covered an anti-dynastic plot, the source
of which was in Serbia.

Tbe circumstances of the assassination
have led many people to believe that it
was deliberately planned, not by Bos-
nians or Serbians, but by Austrians and

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

THE SPARK IN EFROPE'S POWDER .MAGAZINE

Germans who desired a pretext for at-
tacking Serbia as the initial step toward
recovering the Bagdad corridor and open-
ing the road to world conquest. It is
assuredly true that the taking off of the
archduke coincided exactly with the cul-
mination of Prussia's preparations for
war. It is, too, rather extraordinary that
Prinzip, the youth who killed him, was
sentenced to twenty years imprisonment
instead of to death. In a country where
the death penalty was common, twenty
years imprisonment for the murderer of

ized that a serious situation had developed
involving grave possibilities.

Early in July it was rumored in diplo-
matic circles that Austria-Hungary was
planning drastic reprisals for what she
alleged was a Serbian crime, committed,
if not with the authority, at least with the
sympathy of the Serbian government.

Then Count Tisza, at that time premier
of Austria, reassured the capitals of Eu-
rope by a speech in the Austrian parlia-
ment in which he held out strong hope
that there woidd be an amicable settle-

The Arch Conspirators — The Ex-Kaiser, Ferdinand of Bulgaria, the Ex-Sultan of Turkey, and the late

Franz Josef of Austria.

the heir to the throne seems strangely
lenient.

The world was slow to realize the sig-
nificance of the Serajevo tragedy. " Peo-
ple were horrified at the deed, and
editorials were written denouncing an-
arch}'; but no one seemed to see — at first
— the figures of war and famine and pesti-
lence walking in the funeral procession of
the dead archduke.

In the chancelleries of Europe, how-
ever, there was much anxiety. In Lon-
don, Paris, Rome and Petrograd men
conversant with European affairs real-

ment of the whole matter. Apprehen-
sions were allayed, and the world thought
it saw the war cloud passing.

One week later Austria sent an ulti-
matum to Serbia, demanding a reply in
48 hours.

The ultimatum recited the facts of the
assassination and alleged that the crime
was due to Serbia's tolerance of propa-
ganda and intrigue against the peace and
territory of the dual monarchy. It de-
manded that the Serbian government
should condemn this propaganda and ut-
terly suppress it.

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

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THE SPARK IX EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

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ai Idea— This diagram does not represent any particular battle or area, but illustrates the principles by which
iernhardi, who was pooh-poohed for his ideas by the German General Staff at the outbreak of the war

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

Count Von Bernstorff
The German arch conspirator and ex-ambassador.

The ultimatum then continued :

In order to give a formal character to
this undertaking the royal Servian gov-
ernment shall publish on the front page
of its official journal of the 26th June
(13th July) the following declaration:

"The royal government of Servia con-
demns the propaganda directed against
Austria-Hungary — i. e., the general ten-
dency of which the final aim is to detach
from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy
territories belonging to it, and it sincerely
deplores the fatal consequences of these
criminal proceedings.

"The royal government regrets that
Servian officers and functionaries partici-
pated in the above mentioned propaganda
and thus compromised the good neighbor-
ly relations to which the royal government
was solemnly pledged by its declaration of
the 31st March, 1909.

Supersubmarine Deutschland which arrived at Baltimore after a trip across the Atlantic.

THE SPARK IX EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

"The royal government, which disap-
proves and repudiates all idea of interfer-
ing or attempting to interfere with the
destinies of the inhabitants of any part
whatsoever of Austria-Hungary, consid-
ers it its duty formally to warn officers
and functionaries, and the whole popula-
tion of the kingdom, that henceforward
it will proceed with the utmost rigor
against persons who may be guilty of
such machinations, which it will use all
its efforts to anticipate and suppress."

This declaration shall simultaneously
be communicated to the royal army as an
order of the day by his majesty the king
and shall be published in the official bul-
letin of the army.

The royal Servian government further
undertakes :

1. To suppress any publication which
incites to hatred and contempt of the
Austro-IIung'arian monarchy and the

Alfred Zimmerman, Germany's ex-foreign minister.

One of the German Sanitary Posts before Laon.

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

Bethman Hollweg. the weak-minded me,mher of the
Ex-kaiser's War Board.

general tendency of which is directed
against its territorial integrity;

2. To dissolve immediately the society
styled Xarodna Odhrana, to confiscate all
its means of propaganda, and to proceed
in the same manner against other societies
and their branches in Servia which engage
in propaganda against the Austro-Hun-
garian monarch} 7 . The royal government
shall take the necessary measures to pre-
vent the societies dissolved from continu-
ing their activity under another name and
form ;

3. To eliminate without delay from
public instruction in Servia, both as re-
gards the teaching body and also as
regards the methods of instruction, every-
thing that serves, or might serve, to
foment the propaganda against Austria-
Hungary;

4. To remove from the military serv-
ice, and from the administration in ffen-

Remarkable Photograph of German Submarine U 65, Terror of the Sea, in Act of Holding up Liner.
This is probably the only photograph showing a German U-boat actually holding up a liner at sea to arrive
in America.

THE SPARK IX ECROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

eral, all officers and functionaries guilty
of propaganda against the Austro-Hun-
garian monarchy whose names and deeds
the Austro-Hungarian government re-
serves to itself the right of communicating
to the royal government;

."). To accept the collaboration in Ser-
bia of representatives of the Austro-Hun-
garian government in the suppression of
the subversive movement directed against
the territorial integrity of the monarchy;

G. To take judicial proceedings against
accessories to the plot of the 28th June
who are on Servian territory. Delegates
of the Austro-Hungarian government
will take part in the investigation relating
thereto;

7. To proceed without delay to the ar-
rest of Major Voija Tankositch and of
the individual named Milan Ciganovitch,
a Servian state employe, who have been
compromised by the results of the magis-
terial inquiry at Serajevo;

8. To prevent by effective measures
the co-operation of the Servian authorities

General Yon Hindenburg, commander-in-chief, and his
chief of staff.

This Photo was taken in 1014. The Crowds were Optimistic

THE SPARK IX EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

in the illicit traffic of arms and explosives
across the frontier, to dismiss and punish
severely the officials of the frontier serv-
ice at Schahatz and Loznica guilty of
having assisted the perpetrators of the
Serajevo crime hy facilitating their pass-
age across the frontier;

9. To furnish the imperial and royal
government with explanations regarding
the unjustifiable utterances of high Ser-
bian officials, hoth in Servia and abroad,
who, notwithstanding their official posi-
tion, did not hesitate after the crime of
the 28th June to express themselves in in-
terviews in terms of hostility to the Aus-
tro-Hungarian government; and, finally.

10. To notify the imperial and royal
government without delay of the execu-
tion of the measures comprised under the
preceding heads.

Immediately the terms of the Austrian
ultimatum became known in diplomatic

The Late Count George von Hertling, the Ex-Ba-
varian Prime Minister and Ex-Imperial German
Chancellor.

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created Ukrainian state on the other concluding a treaty of peace.

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

circles in Europe there was consternation.
It was seen that Austria had imposed con-
ditions no nation could accept without an
utter humbling. The war cloud gathered
again, darker and more threatening than
lit- fore.

We have since learned, through the
disclosures made by Dr. Muehlon, the
former Krupp director to whom I have
already referred, that the kaiser had a
hand in drafting this drastic document.
He was consulted by Austria, and ap-
proved its form without consulting his

Meantime the European chancelleries
were vibrant with nervous agitation. The
telegraph and cable were carrying coded
messages from ambassadors to their gov-
ernments, and apprehension of the most
serious results was everywhere felt.

Serbia's reply came within the allotted
time. It amazed the world by its almost
complete concession to Austria. Practi-
cally all of the eleven demands but one
were accepted without modification. Ser-
bia declined to permit the agents of Aus-
tria to prosecute investigations on Serbian

Royal Family of Germany.
William II. Ex-Emperor of Germany and Ex-King of Prussia, married the Ex-Princess Victoria of Schles-
wig-Holstein-Sonderlnircr-Austenhnrg. He has six sons and one daughter. The Ex-Crown Prince Frederick Wil-
liam, married the Ex-Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenhurg-Schwerin. The Ex-Emperor's sister, Sophia is the wife
Df Constantine. Ex-King of the Hellenes. Ex-Prince Henry, his hrother. married his cousin. Ex-Princess Irene
of Hesse, daughter of the late Ex-Princess Alice of England. The Ex-Emperor's mother was Princess Victoria
of England, daughter of Queen Victoria.

advisers, according to the story that
Muehlon had from Chancellor von Beth-
niann Hollweg.

The kaiser is said to have told the chan-
cellor he was determined to go thru with
his program, and that no one now could
turn him back from bis purpose. His
resolution being thus declared he left for
a trip on his royal yacht, a discreet
maneuver designed to create the impres-
sion that he had no part in the matter.

soil, but agreed to carry out the required
investigations and to report progress in
suppressing anti-Austrian propaganda to
the representatives of the dual monarchy.
In conclusion she offered, if Austria wire
not fully satisfied with these concessions,
to submit the whole matter in dispute to
The Hague or to any tribunal constituted
by the Great Powers.

It was recognized by all impartial ob-
servers that a more complete acquiescence

WOODROW WILSON'. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

Pictorial History

The World War

GEN". PERSHING, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE AMERICAN FORCES ABROAD.

THE SPARK IX EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

could not be asked in reason.

The Austrian minister received Ser-
bia's conciliatory reply at Belgrade on
July 2.5. 1914, at .5:4.5 in the afternoon.
He did not even wait to read it. His
things were all packed and ready for de-
parture. He put the manuscript in his
dispatch box, and left Belgrade at once
for Vienna, thus severing diplomatic rela-
tions without ceremony.

It was evident that Austria wanted
trouble. The ultimatum had been de-
signed not to obtain a settlement of diffi-
culties, but to promote war.

Great Britain immediately took up the
task of preventing .an outbreak of hostil-
ities. She proposed to Germany, on July
27. that the matters at issue between Aus-
tria and Serbia be submitted to a confer-
ence of representatives from Germany,
France. Italy and Great Britain. Italy
was then a member of the triple alliance,
of which the two other members were Ger-
many and Austria-Hungary.

Germany declined the proposal by
which peace might have been preserved,
alleging that the controversy between
Austria and Serbia involved the honor of
Austria and could not be submitted to
adjudication by disinterested parties.
Russia. Serbia's friend, opened direct ne-
gotiations with Vienna, and these were
proceeding more or less encouragingly
when they suddenly terminated, and
Vienna refused to negotiate further.
There is strong foundation for the belief
that Germany intervened to prevent an
understanding between Vienna and St.
Petersburg.

Meantime Austria mobilized her armies
and Serbia responded by like action.
There was some talk of ' localizing the
trouble, and permitting a punitive expe-
dition against Serbia, but it ended in talk
Russia, realizing that her interests in the
Balkans and in the Dardanelles were
menaced by the threat of Austria to drive
down toward the Aegean Sea thru Serbia,
mobilized five army corps behind the Vis-
tula. The mobilization was far from the

The Ex-Kaiser in Austrian Uniform. The Shriveled
Left Arm Is Quite Noticeable.

frontiers of the central empires and con-
stituted no immediate threat.

On July 28 Austria formally declared
war against Serbia, and began an imme-
diate movement of her forces toward the
Serbian frontiers on the Save and Dan-
ube. Russia, alarmed by this indication
that Austria was determined to conquer
the little Slav monarchy that looked to
her as protector, and that stood as a bar-
rier between Germany and the east, at
once began mobilization in her southwest-
ern provinces.

Thus far there had been no direct threat
to Germany, but the kaiser on the same
day mobilized bis fleet — an act that car-
ried with it a very clear menace to Great
Britain.

By July 21) the Austrian guns were
bombarding Belgrade from the north side

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

4:!

of the Danube, and the world was aroused
to the fact that the long predicted Euro-
pean war could be averted only by some
miracle.

The semi-official Lokal Anzeiger, of
Berlin, issued an extra edition about noon
of July 30. announcing that a decree had
been issued for the general mobilization
of the German army. The news was
flashed at once to St. Petersburg. The
edition was promptly suppressed by the
authorities, but it had accomplished its
purpose. It may never be known whether
it was originally printed with authority
and in order to provoke a belligerent re-
sponse from Russia, and then suppressed
to complete the case for innocence that
Germany hoped to lay before the world
in convincing fashion.

Its suppression was followed by a per-
emptory demand from Berlin that Rus-

Capt. Boy-ed. ex- attache of Germany to l T - S.

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The German Offensive. The Guard Grenadier Regiment who were taken prisoners by the British.

44 THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

sia cease mobilization within twenty-four
hours. But Russia, apprised that Ger-
many was mobilizing, refused to accede
to this demand and ordered a general mo-
bilization.

The efforts of Great Britain had failed
either to avert or to localize the war.
France, alarmed by the swift movements
of the central empires and their implaca-
ble spirit, was calling out her troops. She
held them, however, at a discreet distance
from the frontier, avoiding as far as pos-
sible needless provocation.

Realizing now that a general European
war was inevitable; that France and Rus-
sia were certain to be involved with Ger-
many and Austria, Great Britain made
one last effort to avert the worst possible
consequences — she addressed a note to
Paris and Berlin, asking both govern-
ments to respect the neutrality of Bel-
gium.

A prompt reply was received from
France, agreeing unconditionally. Ger-
many made no answer. Her plans were

Richard von Kuehlmann, ex-member Russian
Peace Conference.

jt from a French 305 Battery did this to a German 8SM Gui
struck it clear amidship.

The first shot aimed at the gun

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

already laid for the invasion of Belgium.
It was the most convenient route to Paris,
and Prussia considers nothing but her
own interests.

On August 1 Germany formally de-
clared war on Russia and made public
her suppressed mobilization order.

Great Britain followed this action by
informing France that her fleet would
undertake to protect the French north
coast against German invasion. On the
same day the first hostilities opened the
struggle on the west front when a Ger-
man patrol crossed the French frontier
at Cirey. The French immediately began
the movement of their troops toward the
frontier. Their preparations were made
to defend the line from Luxembourg
south to Switzerland, along the Alsace-
Lorraine border. The invasion of Alsace
was planned as a counter-stroke to the

Captain Franz von Papen, Ex-German Military Attache,

Iritish Capture Line of Luxurious German Dugouts in Sunken Road.

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

Field Marshal Von Mackensen who led the Austro-
German Forces on the Italian Front.

German threat.

They relied upon the neutrality of Bel-
gium and Luxembourg as protection
against invasion over an almost unforti-
fied frontier.

But on August 3 Germany addressed
a demand to Belgium for free passage
across her territory. The little country
did not hesitate. She returned a prompt
refusal, and mobilized her small army to
meet the menace that immediately over-
shadowed her. Her refusal was at once
followed by a declaration of war against
her. A like declaration was simultane-
ously made against France, and the
armies of Germany began the attack.

On the afternoon of August 3 German
troops entered the little Belgian town of
Arion, while Chancellor Von Bethmann
Hollweg explained to the reichstag that
military necessity compelled Germany to
commit a wrong against Belgium for
which reparation would be made.

Clinging to an eleventh hour hope

Great Britain addressed to Berlin an ulti-
matum, allowing twenty-four hours for
reply, in which she demanded that the
neutrality of Belgium be respected.

The ultimatum was delivered by Sir
W. E. Goschen, British amhassador to
Berlin, on the afternoon of August 4.
Herr Von Jagow, the German secretary
for foreign affairs, received it in person,
and gave an immediate answer in the
negative. He said it was impossible for
Germany to observe the neutrality of Bel-
gium since her troops had already crossed
the frontier. He argued that Germany
had to take this course in order to prevent
France attacking her thru Belgium. He
ignored the fact that France had already
given her word that she would observe the
obligation of Belgian neutrality, and that
Great Britain, had France broken her
word, would have been compelled to deal
with her as she later dealt with Germany.

The British ambassador asked if he
might see the chancellor, unwilling to take
Von Jagow's reply as final. He was
granted permission. Von Bethmann
Hollweg appeared much perturbed. He
talked for twenty minutes, haranguing
Great Britain's representative in tones
pleading and upbraiding. He declared
it seemed impossible that Great Britain
was going to make war on a friendly
neighbor merely for the little word "neu-
trality" that had been disregarded so
often in history, merely for a "scrap of
paper."

The interview ended unavailingly. Sir
W. E. Goschen prepared at once to leave
Berlin. That evening the British em-
bassy was mobbed.

At midnight in London a vast throng
gathered in Trafalgar Square, awaiting
the issue of the momentous ultimatum.
As the great clock in the tower of West-
minster struck the fateful hour it was an-
nounced that a state of war existed be-
tween Great Britain and Germany.

There was a moment's silence. Then a
great cheer went up, and the multitude
melted silentlv away.

THE SPARK IX EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

CAMOUFLAGE ARTISTS CHANGING A MONSTER GUN INTO A "PIECE OF LANDSCAPE"

^ar

THE BRILLIANT COLORING WHICH BLENDS COMPLETELY WITH ITS SURROUNDINGS

THE SPARK IN EUROPE'S POWDER MAGAZINE

The Armies Are Unleashed

CHAPTER III

germany and austria had two million men ready great

Britain's army weak — france well prepared — Belgium

and serbia reasonably well equipped germany's drive

through belgium allied reverses germany's enor-
mous strength crushes allies.

Great Britain, Russia, France and Bel-
gium were now embroiled in war with
Germany. Austria- Hungary was at war
with Serbia, and almost immediately be-
came a belligerent against the other allies.

Germany had 25 first line army corps
readj r for action, numbering approxi-
mately 1,000,000 men; she had twenty-
five additional reserve corps of like num-
ber. On the day that hostilities began
there were at least 2,000,000 German sol-
diers available, and this number was soon
increased by another 1,-500,000.

Austria-Hungary had a first line army
of about 1,000,000 well trained soldiers,
with reserves of less number than those
of Germany, but material that was rapid-
ly converted which brought her total force
up to approximately 3,000,000 before
many weeks had elapsed.

Turkey, soon to enter the war as an
ally of the central empires, was a nation
of soldiers. In later years they had been
trained by German officers. She is esti-
mated to have had about 750,000 good
soldiers subject to mobilization when the
war began.

Bulgaria, whose decision to link her
fortunes with Germany came only after
much hesitation and a cool and calculated
bargaining, had probably a little less than
half a million men fit for the field.

Great Britain, whose reliance was
placed upon her navy, was notably weak
militarily. Her regular army, at home
and in the colonies, numbered only 156,-
100 men. She had a territorial or militia
force numbering 251.000. Her native
troops in India and her volunteer sqldiers
of the overseas dominions, including
cadets and members of rifle clubs, did not
exceed half a million.

France, a military country, was in
much better situation. She began the wai
with nearly 4,000,000 trained men be-
tween the ages of 19 and 48, of whom
2,500,000 belonged to the active army and
its reserves, the remainder constituting
the territorial army.

Accurate figures as to Russia's military
strength have always been difficult to ob-
tain. Her available man power was
enormous. It is estimated that she had
28,000,000 men between the ages oi
twenty and forty-three who could be
drawn upon for military service in Aug-
ust 1914. It is probable that at least
twenty-five per cent of this number was
called to the colors — or 7,000,000 men —
before the war had continued many weeks.
Perhaps one-half that number was sent
to the long fighting front.

Italy, who came into the war on the
side of the allies in the spring of 1915, had
about 1,200,000 fully trained soldiers.
800,000 partly trained, and a million more
untrained but available for call.

Belgium had only 120,000 men with
which to meet the armies of Germany
when they crossed her frontier. This
force was later increased to a quarter of
a million.

Serbia mobilized 350,000 to face the
Austrian invasion.

Such was the approximate strength of
the opposing forces at the beginning of
the great struggle.

It was recognized that Germany had
the best organized army in Europe. Its
equipment was perfect in every detail.
Xot a necessary thing had been over-
looked that was within range of human
foresight. Every officer was provided
with maps, showing in detail the cities,

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

towns and villages, the roads and rail-
roads, the rivers, forests and elevations
of Belgium and France.

For years the trucks used for peace
transport in Germany had heen huilt so
as to be available for war purposes.

shells began to fall upon the Belgian de-
fenses. Then they were a nightmare to
the world.

Germany's decision to attack France
thru Belgium was due to the topograph-
ical difficulties in the way of a successful

A German Lookout in a Waterproof Trench. A view of a sandbag-constructed trench
on the German battlefront in the Western battle zone showing how carefully the
trench has been water-proofed.

Never had any nation in arms been pre-
pared with every type of known fighting
weapon as Germany was prepared. She
had guns more powerful than the world
had dreamed of, until their 42 centimeter

advance from Alsace-Lorraine. Paris
lies within a series of natural escarpments
that run in a north and south direction
across France to the east of the capital.
The outermost is that of the Vosges

THE ARMIES ARK UNLEASHED

mountains; moving toward Paris the next
is the heights of the Meuse; then comes
the eastern edge of the Champagne, and,
nearest Paris, the hills that extend from
the region of Laon to the Seine.

After the war of 1870 France strongly
fortified the line of the Meuse. The Ver-
dun-Toul-Epinal-Belfort defensive bar-
rier is famous. This Germany would
have been compelled to storm, after cross-
ing the Vosges, had she observed the neu-
trality of Belgium, and struck France
directly from her own territory.

There are gaps in the line, but they
were readily defensible and offered only
narrow entrances for the immense force
with which Germany planned to over-
whelm her neighbor. The gap of Stenay
lies between the Ardennes forest and the
Meuse heights; the Toul-Epinal gap is
made by the valley of the Moselle, and
the Belfort gap lies between the southern
end of the Meuse escarpment and the
mountains of Switzerland.

By sweeping thru Belgium the enemy
hoped to circumvent the escarpments at
their northern end, and to reach Paris

Armorplated flattery on the Flanders Coast
Back View of the Armorplated Gun Turret.

Teuton Machine Gun in Action Under Bomh-Proof
Shelter.

over ground vastly freer from obstacles.

Germany had two main foes to con-
sider when she began her campaigns —
France and Russia. She anticipated no
appreciable resistance from Belgium.
She knew the military weakness of Great
Britain, and feared chiefly her fleet. Rus-
sia, she reasoned, would be slow in mobil-
izing and reaching her frontiers.

Hence it was her plan to drive France
to her knees in a swift, smashing blow.
and then to turn and deal with Russia
before the Slavic giant mustered his
strength and became dangerous.

Of the twenty-six army corps that she
had available for an immediate use she
sent twenty against France and six to
hold Russia in check.

She began her attack by occupying the
Duchy of Luxembourg, to the east of Bel-
gium. It was an easv victory. Luxem-

5<;

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

bourg had no army to oppose invasion.
The Duchess went out to meet the ad-
vance guard of the enemy and made for-
mal, hut futile, protest against the outrage
that was planned.

The capital of Luxembourg was seized,
and its railroads taken over by the Ger-
mans. The latter were, of course, of con-
siderable value for the transport of troops
to the French frontier.

Meantime three German divisions had

enemy attempted to storm the forts after
a heavy bombardment. He was driven
back with heavy losses, and an amazed
world began to wonder whether little Bel-
gium would halt the foe on the very
threshold of his campaign. But the world
had much to learn of Prussian power. A
third storming effort was made on Aug-
ust 7, and the enemy succeeded in enter-
ing that part of the city lying east of the
Meuse. General Leman withdrew his

French Armored Cruisers "Jaureguiberry" and "Bouvet" in Speed Trials

reached the Belgian frontier opposite the
Meuse fortress of Liege. On the night of
August 4th they moved to the attack.

Liege is surrounded by six large pen-
tagonal forts, and as many smaller ones.
General Leman. a brave Belgian officer,
famous as a mathematician, commanded
the garrison, and made every possible
preparation for stubborn resistance.

On the fifth and again on the sixth the

troops to the west bank of the river.

On the seventh a German siege train
arrived carrying heavier guns, and the
monster 42 centimeter shells were hurled
against the remaining forts of the be-
leaguered city. The bombardment was
terrific, and the forts crumbled under the
ponderous impact.

But it was not until August 15 that the
last of the Liege forts vielded. Thev had

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

served a great purpose. Belgium's mag-
nificent but sacrificial effort had delayed
the armies of Germany for two weeks,
giving the French time to prepare their
defense and the British to mobilize their
little army and hasten it across the chan-
nel to the scene of hostilities.

On August 7, the day that the Germans
entered Liege, the French began their in-
vasion of Alsace. It was designed as a
flank attack on the enemy, and, in theory,
was wisely planned. But the French
movement was too long delayed to be suc-
cessful. The enemy had moved more rap-
idly and was already on the ground with
strong forces. Moreover the German
success at Liege developed at once a se-
rious threat to the French northern fron-
tier that made further offensive adventure
in Alsace imprudent. It was necessary to
concentrate in order to meet the menace
of a sweep thru Belgium.

The British expeditionary force, under
General Sir John French, and numbering
only some 80,000 men, landed in France
on August 8, and immediately moved for-
ward to join the French who were ad-
vancing into Belgium.

Meantime the enemy was sweeping
across northern Belgium, outraging the
civilian inhabitants of the little towns and

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The three women were found operating machine-
guns during the American advance.

Searching skies for the enemy air fleet. Search-
light in full activity: to the left an officer observing
the movements of an enemy aeroplane.

villages, burning and pillaging. Behind
was a trail of blood and ruin.

The French armies took up defensive
positions on a line beginning at Mont-
medy and extending northwest along the
Meuse to Mezieres, and thence north to
Dinant. From Dinant the line ran west
to Charleroi. The British assumed posi-
tions to the left of the French, north of
Mons. The second French army was
holding positions along the Alsace-Lor-
raine border, its right wing resting in
upper Alsace near Mulhouse and its left
near Nancy.

The Belgians evacuated Brussels, re-
tiring on Antwerp. In this way they
saved one of the most beautiful capitals
from otherwise inevitable destruction. On

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

August 20 the Germans occupied Brus-
sels, taking over the administration of the
city.

The dismayed civilians lined the streets
and watched the endless procession of
enemy soldiers, clad in their gray uni-
forms, marching with monotonous rythm
thru the city. They marched with heads
erect and the confidence of conquerors.
They were on their way to Paris, and not
one of them doubted that he would reach

that were a few days late in reaching
Liege, were on time at Namur, and made
it a heap of ruins in a few hours.

The battleground was now cleared for
the first great test of strength between
the enemy and the allied armies of Great
Britain and France. Von Kluck com-
manded the right wing of the advancing
foe; the left wing was commanded by the
Duke of Wurtemburg; the center was
held by troops under Von Bulow and Von

Great German Battleship "Ersatz Bavern" Among Those Surrendered.

the great French capital within a few
days time.

On August 22 the Germans, after a
brief assault, captured the Belgian fort-
ress of Namur, at the junction of the
Meuse and Sambre rivers. Namur was
the last stronghold between them and the
allied armies. Its sudden capitulation
came with the shock of surprise. It had
been thought it might hold at least as long
as did Liege. But the big siege guns,

Hansen.

The Crown Prince of Germany, com-
manding the Fifth army, was advancing
from Luxembourg.

The French troops reeled backward
under the smashing blow of the enemy.
Along the lint' Mezieres-Dinant-Charleroi
they retired fighting toward Rethel and
Hirson. Between Mezieres and Longwy
they staggered under the attack of the
Crown Prince, and retreated toward

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

,7.1

Chalons, thru the Argonne forest.

The little British army in front of Mons
was left without support, and had to face
the full strength of the enemy First army
under Von Kluck. It fought a gallant
battle, outnumbered three to one. The
enemy attempted to drive the British into
the entrenched camp of Maubeuge, but
the masterly tactics of Sir John French
defeated his purpose.

There then began one of the most nota-

Had he succeeded in this disaster might
have overtaken the armies of France and
Great Britain, and the victory might have
been gained by Germany before her oppo-
nents had time to rally. But Sir John
French with his 80,000 men managed to
hold Von Kluck and 240,000 at bay. In
four days he retreated 04 miles — an aver-
age of 16 miles a day — righting courage-
ous rear-guard actions on every mile, and
occasionallv halting to strike a more than

A Successful Submarine Torpedo Attack, Cruiser Destroyed by An '-Assassin of the Sea."

ble retreats in history— the retreat of the usually hard blow against his pitiless pur-
British army from Mons. It held the suers.

vital position on the left wing of the allied Effective retreat calls for as high gen-
forces. It had for its task the supreme eralship as effective attack. It is a much
duty of preventing an enveloping move- harder test of morale. Giving ground is
ment. always discouraging to the rank and file
From the time the retreat began it was and taxing upon the nerve and endurance
the aim of Von Kluck to outflank the of officers, who must maintain a spirit of
allies, swing around their left wing and hope and confidence i
intercept their retirement on Paris.

As the allied armies retired the world

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

Palace of Justice, Brussels, Belgium.

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

watched with keen anxiety. Germany
was exultant, but nations that loved
France and admired Paris contemplated
with alarm and consternation the possi-
bility that the great capital of light and
life and youth might suffer as Relgian
cities had suffered, or that the nation
whose spirit it embodied might be forced
to yield to the invading foe.

For six days, from August 22 to Aug-
ust 28, the fate of the allied armies hung
in the balance. The Germans had an-
other opportunity to win a Sedan. The
crisis was reached on August 26, when
the Rritish met the full force of Von
Kluck's offensive — five army corps
against two. The British were standing
on the line of Cambrai-LeCateau-Landre-
cies, and preparing to retire, when the
blow fell. It was met with supreme
courage.

Re-enforcements had been asked from
the French, but no help was sent, and
the British were compelled to fight alone.
Had they failed Paris would have been
lost, because Von Kluck would have
driven between Paris and the French
right wing, rolling back the French ar-
mies and compelling them to fight at a
serious disadvantage for their very exis-
tence. The capital city would have been
left without other protection than its
fortifications and garrison — utterly in-
sufficient for defense under the new con-
ditions of warfare.

But the British repulsed the enemy on-
slaught, and General French succeeded in
good order upon St. Quentin. Here he
obtained the help he had asked, and thus
supported he again faced the enemy and
fought a vigorous delaying battle with
him in which was inflicted heavy losses.

By September 1 the allied armies had
fallen back to within 40 miles of Paris,
and the second line of French defenses
had been taken by the enemy. There was
as yet no sign from General Joffre, com-

manding the French armies, that he had
any intention of halting and offering a
stabilized resistance.

The line as it retreated was pivoting
on Verdun. Along the Verdun-Toul
fortifications the enemy was completely
checked, while at Nancy the French army,
that had been driven ignominiously from
Lorraine, was retrieving its honor by a
magnificent and stubborn defense.

The left wing of the retreating Anglo-
French armies came under the protection
of the guns of the Paris forts on Septem-
ber 3. It had won the race. Von Kluck's
efforts to outflank and envelope had
faded.

The allied armies were now buttressed
between the great entrenched camp of
Paris and the fortified line of Verdun-
Toul. In the center they bent crescenti-
cally south of the Marne.

The supreme moment for which Gen-
eral Joffre had waited silently and imper-
turbably was now at hand. He had
yielded all of northern France to reach
this position, and here he elected to make
his stand and risk conclusive battle with
the enemy.

Immense Ammunition Dumps Captured by Allies.

THE ARMIES ARE UNLEASHED

Prussian Plans Go Astray

CHAPTER IV

GERMAN DRIVE WEAKENS JOEERE STOPS GERMAN ADVANCE AT

VERDUN — FRENCH RESERVES FROM PARIS BOLSTER LINE — BEL-
GIANS CHECK GERMANS ELSEWHERE — GREAT BRITAIN HOLDS
LINE AT YPRES.

The whole carefully elaborated plan of
campaign for a quick and crushing tri-
umph of Prussia over her enemies and
rivals required the occupation of Paris
and the paralysis of the French and Brit-
ish armies in not more than six weeks'
time.

Every day's delay increased the menace
on the German eastern front where com-
paratively few troops had been left to
watch the Russians.

General Joffre, of course, realized this
fact. He also realized that the further
the German armies pursued him into
France the longer the distance over which
they must maintain communications and
bring transport.

The region of the Marne was known
in every topographical detail to Joffre
and his subordinates. The French army
had often held maneuvers along the river
valley and on the heights that border it.
The opportunities for employing tactics
and developing strategy had all been care-
fully studied.

The battle line from Paris to Verdun
was some 180 miles in length. Paris had
ceased to be the French capital, and be-
come merely a great camp, ready to
defend itself if need be against siege or
storming attack. The French govern-
ment removed to Bordeaux on September
3, just as General Von Kluck, now only
25 miles to the north at Senlis, discovered
that the British had eluded him, and that
his last chance to turn the exposed left

flank of the allied armies was gone.

Von Kluck could not storm Paris
directly. He could not go around it on
the west without breaking the continuity
of the German line and exposing himsel
and his comrades to certain disaster.
There was only one thing left for him to
do — to swing across in front of Paris and
assume positions in which he could assist
the German armies to the east of him in
attacking the allied center.

Von Kluck violated a Napoleonic
aphorism in venturing to swing across
Paris and turn his flank toward his oppo-
nent, but he was convinced the allies were
a beaten foe, lacking either the spirit or
the resourcefulness to accept the opportu-
nity his movement might offer.

He reckoned without Joffre. The
silent, unworried and unhurried French
strategist had foreseen what Von Kluck
would be compelled to do at the time when
the German general saw nothing but the
possibility of outflanking Joffre and the
British.

The longer-visioned Frenchman had
ambushed an army, under Maunoury, in
the region of Amiens. This army had
no part in the retreat. It was a surprise
prepared for use at the right moment.

Joffre had another surprise in readiness.
He had placed the man whom he consid-
ered the ablest strategist in Europe at the
head of another army, as yet unused.
There lias been some mystery about the
seventh army commanded by General

PRUSSIAN PLANS GO ASTRAY

Foch at thchattle of the Maine. It was
three corps strong — 120,000 men.

I have heard a story — that I am un-
able to confirm — concerning the part
,played by Italy at this critical time. Italy
had declared her neutrality, altho an ally
of Germany and Austria when the war
began. But France, never at any time a
cordial friend of Italy, as a matter of
wise precaution had to watch the Franco-
Italian frontier. It is said that two army
corps were delegated to this duty.

Then, so the story goes, word came to
the French government from the Italian
government that the latter had no inten-
tion of becoming involved in the hostil-
ities; that the French frontier was per-
fectly safe, and that the French were ex-
ceedingly foolish if they did not withdraw
their two army corps and use them to
check the Germans.

The French acted on this suggestion,
it is said, and threw into the battle at the
critical moment two army corps that the

■»«■» i

BTt'i

. ^t \ ^H

Queen Elizabeth of Belgium cheered her wounded
soldiers at the front.

The latest photograph of King Albert, of Belgium.

enemy calculated were still employed in
watching Italy.

Whether the story be true or no, it is
certain that Joffre met the enemy with
greater strength and troops fresher and
more vigorous than he expected to en-
counter.

As Yon Kluck swung east, Maunoury,
who had slipped down nearer Paris on
the heels of the Germans, struck him on
his flank. A desperate battle began on
the Ourcq river. Von Kluck sent for aid
and obtained re-enforcements. He at-
tempted to break thru Maunoury's line
and destroy its menace to the German
armies, now preparing to attack on the
allied center.

But Joffre had a third surprise ready.
Every taxi-cab and vehicle in Paris had
been employed to make it possible, and
the Paris garrison, consisting of a med-

PRUSSIAN PLANS GO ASTRAY

ley of fighting material, gendarmes, Re-
publican guards and others, was rushed
to the scene of action. The sudden ap-
pearance of the re-enforcements threw con-
sternation into the German ranks. Maun-
oury's first blow had been a surprise; this
threatened second blow was a greater
surprise; what might happen if they wait-
ed for further developments none could
guess, and no one was too anxious to
discover by experiment.
So they decided to retreat.

lying his forces with indomitable cour-
age, he struck so heavily that the whole
enemy line was thrown into confusion
and a general retreat began.

The battle had become an allied vic-
tory by September 10, and the German
army was hastening toward the Aisne
with the French and British in close pur-
suit.

The retreat of the Germans from the
Marne was marked by similar tactics to
those characterizing the retreat of the al-

Drilling Belgian recruit-, in the bayonet charge. The Belgian soldier's efficiency with the bayonet when
it came to close quarter lighting was due to incessant drilling-.

Meantime the British and the French
Fifth army, under D'Esperey, had come
into action, smashing a hard blow against
Von Kluck's front. The combination
was too much. The retreat became al-
most a rout.

Von Kluck exposed to attack his
neighbor Von Buelow, and General Foch
now came into action with great dash and
vigor. He had suffered heavy losses in
defensive action the day before, but, ral-

lies from Mons and Charleroi — except
that they were reversed. General von
Kluck narrowly escaped the clutches of
the British, and the crown prince, who
had driven southward thru the Argonne,
was in serious peril from the pursuit of
the French.

In six days the Germans reached the
Aisne, where defensive positions had been
prepared and the terrain afforded advan-
tage for resistance. Here thev made their

PRUSSIAN PLAXS GO ASTRAY

stand.

The struggle now became an effort on
the part of the allies to outflank them on
their right, and the righting moved north
and east along the Oise, the German line
slowly extending in a reach for the pro-
tection of the seacoast, and forcing a simi-
lar stretching of the enemy's front. The
French reoccupied Rheims and Amiens.

Meantime the Belgians were harassing
the Germans by sorties from Antwerp,
and the continued advance of the allies

to aid in the defense. In was quite in-
adequate for the task, however. On Oct.
.5 three of the Antwerp forts fell under
the German bombardment. By this time
there were skirmishes on the Belgian
frontier, and two days later there was
fighting near Ypres. The bombardment
of the City of Antwerp itself began Oct.
8. On Oct. 10 it surrendered, the Bel-
gian army escaping and reaching Os-
tend by a detour along the coast. Here
it joined the allies, later evacuating the

Covered with mud and
inundated fighting ground.

rfory. Tired

northward toward the Belgian frontier
developed a new danger in the possible
junction of the Belgian troops with the
French and British. On Sept. "JO the Ger-
mans began moving siege guns toward
Antwerp. By Sept. 29 they were shell-
ing the outer forts of the city. On Oct.
2 the allies had reached* Arras, where they
met a check. Two days later a detach-
ment of British marines entered Antwerp

veary Belgians bespattered with the mud from their

city and falling back toward Xienport
and Dixmude.

The race to the coast had been won,
and a wall of steel was built across the
corner of Belgium from Xienport to
Ypres thru which the enemy was never
able to drive a path of victory in spite of
the most desperate efforts.

A battle front now extended from
Nieuportj on the Belgian coast, thru

PRUSSIAN PLANS GO ASTRAY

A stricken city — What was left of Ypres, utterly devastated by Germans. A remarkable panoramic
view of Ypres at the end of the war.

Ypres and Arras to the junction of the
Oise and the Aisne, and thence eastward
along the Aisne, thru Soissons and
Rheims, across the Champagne and the
Argonne to the north of Verdun. From
the region of Verdun it ran southeasterly
to Belfort and into Alsace. It was near-
ly 400 miles in length.

Since one end rested on the seacoast
and the other was against the Swiss fron-
tier, flanking movements had become im-

possible, and the frontal attack was the
only means of open warfare, so both
sides intrenched and prepared for the
greatest siege in history.

During the period of the race for the
coast, however, there had been violent
fighting along the Aisne, in the Argonne,
around Verdun and along the Lorraine
and Alsace borders. The French for-
tunes in Alsace had fluctuated. Mulhau-
sen had been taken, lost and retaken and
lost again. The Germans had crossed the
Meuse at St. Mihiel and occupied the
town. They held it as the point of a
wedge driven into the Verdun-Toul forti-
fied front.

Belgians check Uhlans from behind barricaded street-
Belgians camping in a church at Camptich. A church Firing over barricades in Willebrook Station near
at Camptich converted into a camping place. Malines.

PRUSSIAN PLANS GO ASTRAY

NORWAY

H
Z

O
<

E|i A

R»7

-■-

</}

Von Tirpitz of the German Navy whose ruthless submarine warfare against women and children shocked

the world.

PRUSSIAN PLANS GO ASTRAY

7:)

To recount all the incidents of the
trench siege that followed the winning
of the coast would he an almost endless
task. The outstanding features of it
alone need he related. Of these the two
first were the battle of the Yser and the
battle of Ypres. The former was an at-
tempt of the Germans to drive in the left
wing of the allies where it stretched from
Dixmude to the sea, and thus to make
an opening thru which they could pour
in a flanking movement. It began on
Oct. 20 with an attack on Nieuport that
temporarily succeeded. British gunboats,
however, drove the Germans out of the
city, and the attack was renewed near
Dixmude. Here again defeat was met
thru the cutting of dikes and flooding of
the canal region. On Oct. 28 the Ger-
mans evacuated the south bank of the
Yser, and the battle ended.

Three days later the battle of Ypres
began. The British were defending this
position with an army that had been re-
duced to about 100,000. Their front was
some thirty miles in length. They were
attacked by vastly greater numbers. The
fighting lasted fifteen days, culminating
in an assault on the British front by the
famous Prussian guard, under the eyes
of the kaiser. The assault failed. Ypres
itself was destroyed, but the position was
saved. These two battles of Flanders
are said to have cost the Germans 150,000
men.

From Xov. 16 until April 21 there was
no fresh drive for Calais on the Ypres
front. But in the interval there was tre-
mendous fighting in the Argonne, in
Champagne, east of the Meuse, and in
the Yosges. No great gains followed these
terrific encounters, altho there were ad-
vances here and there by both sides. The
most marked were the German advance
at Soissons in the middle of January, the

French gains in the Champagne in
March and the French offensive against
the St. Mihiel salient in April.

On April 22 the second battle of Ypres
began with the German surprise attack in
which gas was first used. It was in this
battle that the Canadians saved the day
after the French line had been driven in.
After five days' fighting, the German at-
tack was checked, the allies being com-
pelled to yield ground and reform their'
lines on their new positions. Ypres, how-
ever, remained in possession of the
British.

In the early summer there was a not-
able French offensive on the front north
of Arras, in which the Germans had
been slowly driven back toward their po-
sitions at Lille and Lens. This offensive
ended leaving Souchez as a German
salient projecting into the French front.
Early in July there was a desperate ef-
fort of the crown prince to advance in
the Argonne. His first onslaught car-
ried several French positions, but was
soon checked.

But after a year of trench siege the
front showed little change, and the end
seemed as far distant as ever.

Immense Ammunition Dumps Captured by Allies.

PRUSSIAN PLANS GO ASTRAY

The Era of Gigantic Battles

C II APTE R V

NEW FIGHTING METHODS USED TRENCHES BARBED WIRE

ENTANGLEMENTS POISONED GAS BATTLE OF VERDUN

BATTLE OF SOMME ALLIED GAINS.

When the first eighteen months of the
war had passed and the entrenched lines
on the western front showed no signifi-
cant change, the world began to wonder
whether the allies and the central powers
had not reached a state of deadlock from
which neither could extract a decisive vic-
tory.

At first there had been much confident
talk of breaking the enemy line. Ger-
many was certain she could reach Paris,
the channel ports or any other goal upon
which her heart w 7 as set — until she tried.
Her failures to go thru to Calais on the
two occasions when she hurled vast forces
against the allied front in Flanders must
have discouraged her, even as it encour-
aged the allies.

Men who were on the Yser and at
Ypres in the allied armies said afterward
they could not understand why the enemy
had not simply walked thru their lines
to the sea. They were outnumbered, ter-
ribly outgunned, and the Germans had
twenty shells to their one.

These enemy failures, and the failures
of the British at Xeuve Chapelle and the
French in the Champagne, the St. Mihiel
salient and the Artois, aroused doubts
as to the possibility of smashing thru an
army fortified in trench positions for
great gains that might lead to victory.

Military writers began to talk about
war by attrition — that is by the gradual
wearing down of the enemy. There was
much calculating concerning man-power,

and estimates of natural resources.
Statesmen and generals got a new vision
of the war's significance; they saw that
it was a war of nations, and not of armies
merely — a war in which the civilian was
to be as important as the soldier.

While some men turned their thought
to plans for increasing the resources and
stimulating the resourcefulness of their
countries, in order that they might be fit
to stand the test of a long struggle, other
men gave themselves to thinking out
methods by which the problems of the
new warfare could be solved, and the de-
fenses of the trenches overcome. The
traditional tactics and traditional
weapons were manifestly inadequate.

Already the achievements of the
world's inventive genius for the last fifty
years had been requisitioned and adapted
to the service of the armies. The tele-
phone and the wireless, the automobile,
the aeroplane and the submarine — all of
these things were playing undreamed of
parts in the great conflict and creating
conditions for which the history of the
world had no parallel.

For these conditions, almost wholly un-
foreseen and certainly in no full sense
appreciated by strategists and tacticians
prior to the actual experience of the war,
new plans of attacks and defense bad to
be worked out and new weapons invented.

One of the first marked tendencies was
to strengthen the artillery. It soon be-
came clear that attempts to take en-
trenched lines, protected by barbed wire

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

Admiral Wemyss, whose appointment as First Sea Lord was considered a wise step, for he was familiar
with the navy from the ground up, and was classed as an "old sea-dog."

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

entanglements and the fire of innumer-
able machine guns, involved a certain and
terrible expenditure of life, unless the
charge of the infantry was preceded by a
most thoro and destructive artillery bom-
hardment.

The cutting of the enemy barbed wire
with nippers proved an enterprise far too
costly to be continued. The high explo-
sive shell was substituted as a more effi-
cient and less costly method.

It was in the experimental fighting of
the first year and a half that the "bar-
rage" was discovered. The barrage is a
method of directing the combined and
simultaneous fire of a number of batteries
so as to create a barrier of shrapnel, high-
explosive or other shells thru which the
enemy dare not pass, or, should he ven-
ture, must suffer a terrible loss.

In process of time the barrage was de-
veloped so that there came to be a num-
ber of ways in which it was used for
various purposes. There was the creep-
ing barrage, that moved slowly forward
hke a curtain of fire in front of the ad-
vancing infantry, holding the enemy's
first line trench until the attackers were
within a few yards of it, and then lifting
suddenly to fall on his support and re-
serve trenches. There was the rolling bar-
rage, by which a certain area of the
enemy's line was subjected to a systematic
shelling that moved back and forth, as a
lawn is rolled, until everything was flat-
tened out. And there was the box bar-
rage, laid down so as to form an almost
impenetrable protection for a threatened
position, or thrown about the enemy so
as to prevent his movement laterally as
well as frontally.

Another discovery of the experimental
stage was the impossibility of an unlim-
ited objective under the new conditions.
It was no longer safe to say to a mili-
tary unit "There is the enemy line. Go
as far as you can." Operations were on
too big a scale. Single units, that found

Earl Kitchener, Great Britain's former War Min-
ister, better known as Kitchener of Khartoum, who
was drowned on his way to Russia.

exceptional opportunities for advancing
on their immediate sector, were in danger
of getting far ahead of their supporting
comrades on either side, losing contact,
with the main body, and so — in the very
hour of victory — becoming cut off disas-
trously. This happened more than once.

Moreover the barrage, and the increas-
ing use of artillery generally, made it of
utmost importance that there should be
the closest cooperation between the guns
and the infantry. This could only be en-
sured by giving the infantry definite ob-
jectives, to be reached at a certain hour
and beyond which it must not go without
explicit orders, however promising the op-
portunities might be. Once the plan of
the limited objective was adopted, to
ignore it meant slaughter for those who
took chances — meant that the venture-
some unit was certain to come under the
devastating barrage of its own guns.

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

Hence the fighting of battles became
a matter of great precision as to the
division of labor, the assignment of objec-
tives, the scheduling of attack and ar-
rival. Battles were frequently planned
months in advance and rehearsed behind
the lines on fields where the enemy posi-
tions and trenches were reproduced as
nearly as possible.

Ultimately a battle became an intri-
cate affair in which the functions of heavy
and field artillery, mine throwers, trench
mortars and machine guns had all to be
carefully weighed and related to the par-
ticular task to be done. In the same way
the use of gas. of hand grenades and rifle
fire had to be skilfully calculated and the
proportion and manner of each deter-
mined. Aeroplanes and tanks added two
further factors of ever increasing import-
ance.

The year 1916 brought two great
battles on the western front that exceed-
ed anything the world had conceived to
be possible — the battle of Verdun and the
battle of the Somme. The former lasted
from February 21 until July 1, and the
latter from July 1 until March of the fol-
lowing year. Each battle — so called —
was a series of bitterly fought engage-
ments, any one of which alone woidd have
been considered a notable event in pre-
vious wars.

The battle of Verdun was the first Ger-
man attempt to put into effective use the
lessons learned in the year and a half of
entrenched warfare.

Two striking features characterized the
beginning of this battle — First, its sur-
prise nature; second, the amazing pre-
liminary bombardment. The French
knew that something unusual was in
progress in and behind the lines north of
Verdun, and they were on their guard
against attack: but they did not know
how strong was the force concentrated by
the enemy under cover of the hills and
woods. Not less than 500,000 men were
assembled by the Germans for this mighty

General B\

Hero of Cambrai in Famous Tank
Charge.

effort, which, they hoped, would lead to
the occupation of the great and famous
fortress of France, and, possibly to the
reduction of the whole Meuse line of de
fense, and the opening of the Marne val-
ley route to Paris.

Never before had there been seen such
a massing of artillery. It had never en-
tered the mind of a military commander
that so vast a number of guns could be
used on a comparatively limited front.
The war correspondent of the Niewe Rot-
terdamsche Courant, thus described what
he saw when he visited the German lines
at Verdun: —

"Over the roads Leading towards Ver-
dun artillery and ammunition were
brought up in such quantities as the his-
tory of war has never seen on such a lim-
ited area. The country seemed to be cov
ered with an incredible number of guns.
We could hardly believe what we saw
around Verdun. Long rows of guns, as

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

Australian Premier and Family: An attempt was made to assassinate William M. Hughes, the
Australian Premier, at his home in New Victoria, Australia.

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

in old battle pictures, set up in open fields
with gunners standing about them, and
on the hill-tops observation posts with
their great telescopes uncovered. When
I shut my eyes I still see before me the
curved lines, row upon row of guns,
endless array, with gunners moving about
tbem in the open battlefield."

To tell in detail the story of Verdun
would require a volume of several hun-
dred pages. It was from its first hour a
demonstration of German strength and
French resistance. Never was the spirit
of France more gloriously displayed than
in this long and terrible conflict. Two
thrilling watchwords rang around the
world from the battlefields of the Meuse
hills and valleys — "They shall not pass!"
and "We shall get them!"

Following the intense and protracted
bombardment with which the Germans

Herbert Asquith, famous British Statesman.

of Heroic Scotch Highlanders. The hardiest of the British trc
composed of the brawny sons of Scotland,

i [ighlanders

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

opened the Verdun campaign, came a
charge of their infantry on a front of
twenty miles. The first day they gained
ground to a depth of two miles, acquiring
positions of advantage from which to con-
tinue the attack.

On the last day of February the Ger-
mans entered Fort Douaumont. northeast
of Verdun, and one of the most important
of the outer ring of fortresses. It had

attack was repulsed by the French, but,
inch by inch, they gave ground on both
sides of the Meuse, drawing ever a nar-
rower circle around Verdun. In June
the Germans drove up the valley and the
hillside leading to Fort Vaux, and, in a
bitter fight, captured it. Douaumont and
Vaux were now both in the enemy's
hands; a few days later Thiaumont fell,
almost due north of Verdun, and on June

A German Zeppelin flight over British fleet, which the fleet destroyed with three well placed

been reduced to a ruin before the enemy
occupied it. During March they cap-
tured Forges, on the west bank of the
Meuse, and occupied Vaux, southwest of
Douaumont. The long struggle for Dead
Man's hill began, the bloodiest struggle
and the ghastliest battlefield on the whole
Verdun front.

Thruout April and May the fighting
continued incessantly. Manv a terrific

24 the Germans entered Fleury, pene-
trating the inner circle of Verdun's de-
fenses. It was a critical hour for France.
For a week the fate of Verdun hung in
the balance.

Then on July 1 — almost without warn-
ing — the British and Flinch smashed
hard against the German lines on a front
of ten miles, north and south of the
Somme river.

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

The second great battle of the war was
beginning — a battle worthy to stand side
by side with Verdun.

The success of the allied attack on the
Somme, altho not measuring up in its ear-
ly stages to the hopes of the British and
French commanders, was enough to
alarm the Germans and to relieve the
pressure on Verdun. The Meuse city
was never again in peril. Germany, first
and last, spent 500,000 men in a futile
effort. France came out of the great test
of strength and spirit her confidence for-
tified, and forever certain of the world's
admiration.

The battle of the Somme was. for the
allies, what Verdun had been for the Ger-
mans — an attempt to put into effective
practise the lessons of warfare learned
during the first year and a half or two
years of war. The massing of artillery,
the employment of the barrage, the use
of the limited objective, and the develop-
ment of the tactical nibble into the big,
strategic bite, were all phases of this
battle.

When it began the British and French
believed they could smash thru and break
the enemy line- and the theory was gen-
erally held that if the line could be broken
on a considerable front a decisive victory
might be gained by pressing the advan-
tage with u lfaltering vigor.

On this theory and with this hope heavy
sacrifices were made in the storming of
enemy positions. The enemy was made
to suffer heavy losses, and his tenacious
defense indicated that he regarded seri-
ously the possible consequences of the
Franco- British drive.

But the Somme battle had been begun
too late in the summer/ Xo time margin
had been left for the possible failure of
the original schedule, and when the
British were held up for weeks at Thiep-
val and north of the Ancre, the schedule
was thrown out of gear.

Before the lull value of the Somme
successes could be realized by pressing

Gen. Vassitch Commanded Serbia Second Army.

the victory home, the open season for
lighting ended and the rainy season set
in. The Somme became an almost im-
passable mire. Infantry movements were
exceedingly difficult, and the transport of
big guns impracticable. Operations had
to be abandoned, and the enemy, who was
getting exceedingly uneasy about the
security of his lines, obtained a respite
that allowed him to revise his plans and
prepare for a new program in the spring.
When the drive halted in November
!!)](! the British had conquered the ridge
overlooking Bapaume, and the French
had pushed forward to the outskirts of
Peronne. It was estimated the Germans
had lost 700,000 men. of whom 95,000 had
been taken prisoner. The allies counted
among their gains 135 heavy guns, 180
field pieces and 1,438 machine guns.
From this standpoint the Somme battle
had been the most successful battle.

THE ERA OF GIGANTIC BATTLES

Hindenburg Retreats

CHAPTER VI

LLOYD GEORGE FORMS NEW BRITISH CABINET — GERMAN PEACE.
PROPOSALS — GERMAN ATROCITIES — GERMANS RETREAT -
FAMOUS HINDENBURG RETREAT — UNRESTRICTED U-BOAT WAR-
FARE GEN. BYNG'S TANK DRIVE AT CAMBRA1 BRITISH

ARTILLERY OVERWHELMING — CANADA AND OTHER BRITISH
COLONIES TAKE PART.

Had the British and French resumed
their drive on the Somme front when
favorable weather made further opera-
tions possible in the spring of 1017 great
and important results might have been
realized.

They had driven a wedge into the ene-
my lines, twenty miles in width and nine
miles in depth. They had made the
deepest impression on an entrenched
front that had been made anywhere or
by either side since the war began.

If the wedge had been pushed only a
few miles further east it would have cut
lines of petrol and steam communication
absolutely vital to the security of the
German line. North of it and south of
it were German salients, occupied by
many thousands of troops whose posi-
tions were menaced by the wedge, and
would have been seriously endangered by
its further progress.

Germany had suffered so heavily to no
purpose in the battle of Verdun, and had
been forced to pay so high a price for the
defense of her Picardy positions on the
Somme. that she was not in a position to
launch a big offensive.

Indeed, during the winter of 191(>, she
made an attempt to promote negotia-
tions for peace. She had just finished the
conquest of the greater part of Rouma-
nia, and she considered the moment op-
portune to suggest that a settlement
might be reached.

forming a cabinet. He invited represen-
tatives of all political parties to join him.
and succeeded in creating a coalition or
union government in which many of
Britain's ablest men accepted office.

The answer of this government to the
enemy peace proposals was to authorize
the enlistment of 1,000,000 more men, and
to ask parliament for a war credit of
$2,000,000,000. Thru Premier Briand
France warned the world to beware of
Germany seeking peace, and General
Xivelle celebrated his appointment to
succeed General Joffre. now made a Mar-
shal of France, by taking 11,000 pris-
oners and advancing two miles on a
seven mile front north of Verdun.

Germany continued her efforts, hut the
allied governments gave the world to un-
derstand that they Avere in no humor to
consider the enemy's proposals, and had
no faith in the enemy's word. Premier
Lloyd George declared that allied peace
terms were, "Reparation, Restoration
and Security."

Germany had no 'intention whatever of
making peace on terms involving repara-
tion and restoration.

So. rinding it useless to pursue her
peace efforts further. Germany turned
her attention to obtaining a more secure
position on the western front.

During the winter months an elaborate
trench system, fortified as no trench sys-

Just before her proposals were made tern had ever been fortified before, was

there had been a change in the British constructed along a front extending

government. Mr. Asquith, the Liberal roughly -from the region of Douai to the

party premier, resigned, and David Lloyd Aisne, with Cambrai and St. Quentin

George accepted the responsibility of marking its main positions.

HIXDKXBURG RETREATS

HIXDEMH'RC; RETREATS

Belgian civilians, deported from Bel-
gium, and allied prisoners were employed
in the construction of this trench system
that became famous thruout the world as
the Hindenburg line.

Early in 1917 the British began to fee
out the enemy lines north of the Ancre
brook on the Somme front. They found
an encouraging situation and pushed for-
ward. Presently they were regaining
village after village, capturing strategic
heights, and advancing with unexpected
rapidity. It became evident that the
enemy was retreating according to plan,
and engaging only in such rear guard ac-
tion as was necessary to protect his re-
tirement, lie was withdrawing his im-
perilled salients from their positions
north and south of the allies' Somme
wedge.

The British took Bapaume and the Admiral Sir David Beatty, of the British Navy.

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After the fight with the Huns near Rheims. The Black Watch, which contains some of the hest lighters

in the British \rniv.

HINDEXBURG RETREATS

British and Canadian Troops in the Most Sanguir y

HINDENBURG RETR EATS

Battle Against the Germans in Ypres Sector.

HIXDEXBURG RETREATS

ridge extending south from it toward
Peronne. Then things moved rapidly.
The Germans fell hack on a front of 60
miles, burning, blasting and pillaging as
they went. In all history there is no
precedent for the work of wanton de-
struction the retreating armies wrought.
Evacuated cities were mined and reduced
to utter ruins by internal explosions timed
to take effect after the German troops
were well away; in some villages build-
ings were Avrecked by fastening cables to
their corners, and then attaching the
cables to steam tractors, that literally
pulled the buildings to pieces.

Orchards were chopped down, or valu-
able trees scarred so as to ensure their
death. Vines were cut at the roots.

The civilian population of many a
small town was driven out and carried
along with the armies for service behind

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Horses, too, wore gas masks. Both men and horses
wore gas masks at the front.

Scottish fighters in a bayonet charge. :.'nd Battalion "London Scottish" is an interesting study,

HIXDEXBURG RETK EATS

-tl

tlie German lines.

The retreating armies reached the new
Hindenburg positions late in March, and
there estahlished themselves none too
soon for their own safety. The allies were
close upon their heels.

It had heen the belief of Von Hinden-
burg that by making the great retirement
he would destroy the program of the al-
lies for a spring offensive. He supposed
that they had concentrated vast numbers
of guns, and assembled immense quanti-
ties of munitions on the Sonime front,
and that they would not be able to bring
these supplies up to his new line in time
to launch a serious drive before certain
other events occurred upon which he was
counting.

One of these events was the success of
unrestricted U-boat warfare, proclaimed
by Germany on January 31, 1917; the
other was Russian surrender or revolu-

I.i.-Col. William A, Bishop, V. C, D. S. O., M. C, of the British
Royal Flying Corps, greatest living war aviator

The British Cavalry. They are seen charging over the top of a rid

HIXDEXBURG RETREATS

■>,,yft{C'?'>^?K>&-rit^.\^Ui-..*.i.*;^.. i : M K!.i...,.-. .

he British Battleship "Iron Duke," Flagship of the Home Fleet, Has Been Present at All Battl
tween the British and German Armadas.

Be-

HINDENBURG RETREATS

tion. for either of which Germany had
heen working by every secret and corrupt
means at her command.

It happened, however, that General
Haig and General Xivelle, the British
and French commanders, were not quite
so simple as the German general supposed
them to be.

General Haig, for example, instead of
attempting to move all his big- guns and
stores of munitions across the Ilinden-
burg wilderness, simply ran them up the

over the ridge and several miles to the
east of it, the enemy was manifestly sur-
prised. The British attack and subse-
quent progress threatened the security of
the Hindenburg line at its northern end.
and there was a frantic effort of the
enemy to construct new and stronger po-
sitions covering Douai and protecting
Cambrai before Haig's men could menace
these important points.

In the meantime the French under
General Xivelle carried out an ambitious

•idence of the good shootincr of the Canadian Artillery.
nit this German gun out of commission.

A direct shot from a Canadian artillery

line a few miles to the region behind Ar-
ras and Vimy ridge. In like manner Gen-
eral Xivelle made his concentrations in
the Aisne region. From neither of these
fronts had the enemy retired.

The quick pursuit, and the vigor with
which the British and French attacked
St. Quentin, threw the enemy off his
guard. Hence when on Easter .Monday.
April 0. the British stormed Vimy Ridge,
taking 6,000 prisoners and advancing

attack along the Aisne front, with the
Craonne plateau and the Chemin des
Dames as their primary objective, and the
St. Gobain plateau and city of Laon as
their ultimate and chief objectives.

They gained their primary objectives
in part, at least: but the price paid was
so heavy that the political leaders of
Fiance were panic stricken, and— so the
story goes — ordered the attack abandoned
at a time when a greal success impended.

HIXDEXBURG RETREATS

IIIXDEXBl'RG RETREATS

General Nivelle soon thereafter lost
his command, and was succeeded by Gen-
eral Petain, a man of strict military mind
and spirit, who had no ears for the poli-
ticians, and was inclined to move care-
fully, rather than spectacularly. For the
rest of the year there was little offensive
action on the part of the French. They
fought a hard and' successful duel with
the forces of the German Crown Prince
for possession of the Chemin des Dames,

positions from Messines to Passchen-
daele.

On the Cambrai front General Byng

made a dramatic attack that came as a
complete surprise to the enemy.

Tanks had been first employed by the
British on the Somme. They had proved
wonderfully effective in smashing down
barbed wire, field fortifications and
trench parapets; they bad dune great
work in cleaning out machine gun nests.

I'ritish troops in France captured 657 German guns, including over 150 heavy guns. Macl
liumber of 5,750 have been counted as have over a thousand trench mortars.

to the

and late in the year, by a clever bit of
tactical work on the part of Petain, they
ousted the enemy from road and plateau,
and won positions commanding the ap-
proaches to Laon.

The British, having exploited their suc-
cess on Vimy Ridge as far as seemed pos-
sible, opened a new campaign in Belgium,
resulting in the capture of all the ridge

But on the Somme tanks had been com-
paratively few in number. An effort had
been made to use them in Flanders, but
the ground was so muddy, so horribly
churned by shell fire, that tbe tank was
at a disadvantage.

But General Byng swept the enemy
temporarily off bis feel by a tank attack
on an extraordinary scale. Hundreds of

9<>

II I r.DENB I FRG H ETR EATS

II1XDENBURG RETREATS

Australian troops on parade just before leaving for the front.

the monsters rolled suddenly down on the
German trenches behind a screen of
Mm ike from the British guns, their rumble
drowned to the hearing of the enemy by
the roar of the cannon. They smashed
a wide path thru the enemy lines, open-
ing the way for the infantry. The suc-
cess was too big — it was bigger than the
British expected, bigger than they were
prepared to support.

The infantry advanced within three
miles of Cambrai, occupying Bourlon
wood on the crest of Bourlon hill. But
the enemy counter attack caught the
British insufficiently supported in their
new positions, and they were forced to
abandon about two-thirds of the ground
they had gained.

The failure of General Byng to hold
his advance was a great disappointment
to the allies. However there were greater
results from the venture than appeared
on the map.

It had demonstrated the value of tanks,
and it had proved that the enemy line
could be broken — a possibility long doubt-
ed by many.

The battles of 191(5 and 1917 were
amazing demonstrations of destructive
power.

The Somme bombardments were the
most intense known in the history of war-
fare, up to that time,

In eighty days of righting the French
and British troops used on a front of less
than 2.5 miles 1.5,000,000 artillery shells,
or an average of between 1.50,000 and
•200.000 a day— not less than 0,000 an
hour for every hour of the twenty-four.
And this is exclusive of trench mortar
shells and other projectiles, such as hand
grenades.

Many of these shells weighed over a
ton; many more over half a ton. It is
safe to estimate that .5,000,000 tons of
metal were hurled against the German
defenses in little more than ten weeks
time.

Royal Horse Artillery going into action at the
gallop. This remarkable British official photograph
taken on tlie British Western fronl in I
the Royal Horse Artillery approaching a
position at a gallop. The K. II. A. are il
mobile branch of the artillery.

HINDEXBURG RETREATS

^m$k

iriXDEMH KG RKTKKATS

This, of course, was only part of the
blasting work. Unestimated quantities of

high explosives were used in mining oper-
ations, and vast craters were created in
which enemy soldiers and guns were en-
tomhed.

It was thus that Thiepval, the Etegina

redoubt and other powerful German
works were reduced to ruins, and their
garrisons driven from the chaotic heaps
of earth and masonry and molten metal.

quantity used m the same time on the
Somme. Instead of 6,000 an hour they
discharged over 12,000. As a consequence

the British captured four times as big an
area as they had in a like period of the
Somme offensive.

Along the Aisne the French exceeded
the British record in quantity of shells
used. The strong defenses of the Ger-
mans, in the eaves and tunnels of the
chalk and limestone cliffs, required a tre-

Sir Robert Borden, Premier of Canada, making rousing speech to Canadian fighters at front.

But if the Somme drive ontrivalled all
previous records, it became a comparative-
ly moderate affair in the light of what
took place on the Arras front and along
the Aisne in 1917.

It is estimated that the British in the
first ten days of their fighting on the Ar-
ras front deluged the enemy with
4,000,000 shells, or more than double the

tnendous pounding. The French literally
shattered the solid rock, and forced the
enemy to Hee from his quarried shelters
as men will flee in the day of God's judg-
ment.

The part played by the over-seas Do-
minions of Great Britain in the world wai-
ls one that will long he remembered to
the "lory of the Hrilish race and the

100

HINDENBURG RETREATS

HIXDEXBURG RETREATS

l(H

praise of those free institutions that were
cradled in England.

From Canada, Australia. New Zealand
and South Africa there was an immediate
response. -Men of the colonies rallied to
the call of the empire. It should lie home
in mind that the people of these self-gov-
erning dependencies were under no con-
straint of constitution, law or force to send
their sons to Europe, or in any other way

frontier because of the century of friendly
relations that she had enjoyed with her
great American neighbor. She had no
army — only a few militia battalions.

Hut when the news came that Belgium
had been invaded and that Great Britain
was at war with Germany, there flashed
across the Atlantic the message "Eng-
land can count on Canada."

In seven weeks Canada had created a

of fighting.

to share in the sacrifices of the great con-
flict. They were as free to choose as was
the United Stales, and they chose at once
to stand with the mother country, with
France and with Belgium for the cause
of liberty against the central autocracies.
The story of Canada's response is
characteristic of that of the others. Can-
ada was essentially a non-military coun-
try, happy in the security of her own long

magnificent camp at Valcartier, near the
ancient city of Quebec, and was gather-
ing the nucleus of as fine and as fit a little
army as fought on any front in the four
years of war.

The government's first call was for
20,000 men. It got 40.000. and the first
contingent sailed from the Gaspe Basin
on October 3, two months after the war
began, numbering 33,000 picked men.

I <)■_>

IIIXDHMUIU; RETREATS

Collision of this vessel, the S. S. lino, with the S. S. Mont Blanc caused the Great Halifax disaster.

Indescribable horrors and ruin caused by great Halifax explosion. This most remarkable photo tells the
story of suffering and misery caused by the great Halifax explosion with graphic realism.

IIIXDKXHriKr RETREATS

103

A period of training was necessary in
England, but four months from the day
of departure a Canadian division landed
in France and was sent to the Flanders
front.

From that hour to the end of the war
Canada always hail a plaee in the line.
To her credit stands one brilliant victory
after another and many a stout defense.

Langemarck and St. Julien are names
on the Canadian honor roll. It was there
that the sons of the Maple Leaf saved
the day when the enemy, in April 1915,
broke thru the line of the French colonial
troops by -the use of gas. Canada closed
the gap. and. at terrific price held the
enemy at bay for over 7'2 hours until re-
enforcements could arrive.

In the battle of the Somme the names
of Courcelette and the Regina redoubt
are remembered among the names of
places that are forever identified with
Canadian courage.

The taking of Yimy Ridge will be one
of the great and often told stories in the
history of the Dominion.

It was the Canadians, who, after othei
troops had tried for weeks to capture
Passchendaele. northeast of Ypres. did
the job and came back from victory a
mere tattered and wounded remnant.

Canada, by voluntary enlistment and
conscription, raised an army of about
.500.000 men. Her population is barely
more than 8,000,000. An army of like
proportion in the United States would
number over 10.000.000.

Australia did even better in proportion
to population, and Australian troops were
abreast of the Canadians in the bravery
and daring of their efforts for freedom.
In the early stages of the war they were
mainly engaged in defending Egypt from
Turk attack and holding tribesmen of the
desert in cheek.

Their campaigns on the Gallipoli
peninsula, in which the New Zealanders

Armenians defeated Turks in the siege of Van.
The Turks were compelled to withdraw after a
heaw loss inflicted by the Armenians.

were their comrades, brought them undy-
ing renown. The world remembers them
as the men who fought naked to the waist,
in cotton knee breeches and bare legs, and
fought with the fury of demons, and the
courage of young gods.

On many a western front sector the
Australians did magnificent service. The
demoralized retreat of the enemy from
the Amiens front in the late summer of
1918 is ascribed to the work of these
sinewy giants from the antipodes. It is
said that their habit of raiding the enemy
trenches in broad daylight, often while
the German soldiers were eating their
noon-day meal, completely unnerved the
foe, and made him yield easily when the
main counter attack was launched.

South African troops participated in
the west front fighting, but the great
work of South Africa was done in con-
quering the German colonies in Africa.

Xo less loyal than the self-governing
colonies was India — still the domain of
alien rule. Her turbaned sons took Bag-
dad and helped to take Jerusalem; they
redeemed Mesopotamia and Syria; they
were represented on every front, and
everywhere with honor to themselves.

"The mpst daring adventure in naval history": The attack on Zeebrugge. In this picture is visualized the seen!
history In the foreground is the Vindictive, which had been fitted with prows to land men on the ~reat half-moc
to block the channel, are seen in the distance. The Thetis came first, steaming into a tornado of shell-fire from th 1 .
in the mud and blown up The Iphigenia was also beached, according to plan, on the eastern side, her engines beini^
the defenders and the flash of the British and German guns made the dark and artificially fog-laden scene specta*

:hc attack on the Mole on April 22. which Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge describes as the most daring adventure in nava
Me. the Mersey ferry boats Iris and Dr.ffodil being shown at each end of her. The three cement-laden cruisers, designed
rman batteries' ashore. The Intrepid, smoking like a volcano, and with all her guns blazing, followed, and was sunk
)t going to hold her in position till she became bedded well down at the bottom. The searchlights and star shells ot
to behold.

106

HIXDKXHriU; RETREATS

Man or Beast? Masked Dispatch Riders Pick a Safe Road. English Advance Scouts Con-
sulting Road Plans. Masked Dispatch Riders on the Salonica Front Well Guarded from the
Fumes of Bulgar Gas Shells, Examining a Map in Order to Pick Out a Safe Road Back to
Headquarters.

Russia's Tragic Story

C II A PT E H A' I I

RUSSIA AT FIRST SUCCESSFUL — HINDENBURG STAYS THE
RUSSIAN ARMIES — RUSSIA RETREATS — VOX MACKENSEN VIC-
TORIOUS — RUSSIAN' OFFICIALS' TREACHERY — RUSSIAN REVOLU-
TION TAKES PEACE — KERENSKY BECOMES LEADER — KERENSKY
DEPOSED — TROTZKY AND LENINE IN POWER — RUSSIA MAKES
SEPARATE PEACE.

Russia came into the war as an auto-
cracy. She left by the wide gateways of
anarchy, along a road lurid with flame
and crimson with blood.

Imperial Russia was actuated by the
desire to prevent the extension of Im-
perial Prussia's sway to the Balkans,
Constantinople and the regions that lie
beyond.

Always the eyes of Russia had been
on Constantinople. She was a mighty
empire whose coasts in Europe were
washed by the waters of land-locked seas,
or, in the north, were barred by the Arctic-
ice for long months in every year. For
her developing life she needed better ac-
cess to the rest of the world. It seemed
intolerable to her that the Dardanelles
should be controlled by Turkey, apt at
any moment to become the tool of some
unfriendly or rival power, and thus the
warden who would lock the only door thru
which her mighty neighbor coidd emerge
from the Black Sea.

On the Black Sea was the great Rus-
sian port of Odessa, the port where the
vast harvests of southern and south-
western Russia — the incomparably rich
black soil country — were gathered for
shipment thruout the world. Thus the
freedom of the Dardanelles was vital to
the life of Russia. Desire to get Constan-
tinople, or at least to keep it from Ger-
man control, was more than a mere de-
sire for empire. It was prompted by the
fundamental principle of self-preserva-
tion.

There were some differences of opinion
in the military councils of Russia when
the war began as to whether the armies
should advance across Poland and attack
Germany, or whether the Vistula should
be held as a line of defense, while the at-
tack was made on East Prussia and
Galicia, to the north and to the south of
Poland.

This latter idea prevailed. It was de-
cided to hold the Warsaw-Ivangorod for-
tified line of the Vistula, while an advance
was made across the Baltic provinces,
against East Prussia, and thru Bessara-
bia into Galicia.

Before the Germans had completed
their drive thru Belgium the Russians
were over the East Prussian frontier. As
they advanced against an insufficient de-
fending force the people of the invaded
region sent up a loud cry for help, that
reached the ears of the conquering armies
sweeping toward Paris. It became neces-
sary to send back to the eastern front
troops that had been intended to cooper-
ate in the humiliation of France. The
Russian giant had moved with swifter
strides than the German general staff had
believed to be possible, and when it re-
quired re-enforcements to stay the threat-
ening disaster on the Marne, they were
already far distant, hurrying to cheek the
Slav armies in a remote corner of the
empire.

The service of the Russians En the criti-
cal hour that held victory or defeat for
the western allies should not be forgotten.

10*

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

They paid a heavy price for their prompt
and courageous flank attack on the foe.

On September 1, General Von Hin-
denburg met them in East Prussia with
powerful re-enforcements. It was his
first dramatic appearance in the role of
deliverer for the German people.

The battle took place at Tannenherg.
The Russians were routed, with a loss of
80,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners,
and were compelled to make a hasty re-

armies were early placed upon the de-
fensive. On the day of the defeat at Tan-
nenberg, in East Prussia, the Russians
won a great victory over the Austrians
at Lemberg. Thousands of the enemy
were taken prisoner.

The Austrian demoralization was so
great that Berlin became alarmed. At the
western end of Galicia stood the city of
Cracow, once capital of Poland. It was
the gateway into Germany. If the Rus-
sians reached Cracow the immensely valn-

Cleaning Up Sackville Street. Dublin. After Rebellion. It Had Been Shelled by Field Artillery.

treat to their fortified line on the River
Xiemen.

The Hindenburg victory was hailed
with great acclaim in Berlin. It was dis-
appointing news for the allies, but the
disappointment was quickly turned to re-
joicing by the success on the Marne — a
success to which the Slav reverse had con-
tributed materially.

Better fortune attended the Russian
invasion of Galicia. where the Austrian

able industrial and mining region of Sile-
sian Germany would be exposed to inva-
sion.

Vienna was urged to strengthen its ar-
mies and exert a supreme effort to check
the Slav advance. But the Russians
could not be held at Lemberg. nor yet at
the San river, seventy miles further west,
where the Austrians made a desperate
stand against them.

On September 7. as the German arm}

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

IO0

was falling back to the Aisne in France,
the Russians routed the Austrians agah.
at Ravaruska. A little more than a week
later they invested the great Galieiai.
f'< rtress of Przemysl. Leaving hesiegea
by their troops they pressed forward ana
occupied Jaroslav on September '23.

With these important strategic points
either controlled or held, they advanced
to the Donajec river, that crosses Galieia
from north to south, and, by the end of
the mouth, had pushed their vanguards

Thus, two months after the beginning
<>f the war. the Russians had conquered
Galieia, and were menacing Germany and
Hungary.

Early in October the Austrians began
a series of counter attacks. German
troops had been sent to their aid, and
with the better trained soldiers of their
great ally they were able to make appre-
ciable progress.

The Russians were driven from the
Uzsok pass in the Carpathians and com-

For this "military purpose" the Germans dropped bombs on England. The end of a perfect air raid by
the German air men on England. The baby victims and women are being buried.

to within cannon range of Cracow.

Here they were content to rest for the
time, while they spread out along the Car-
pathians, that separate Galieia from
Hungary, in an attempt to get posses-
sion of the chief mountain passes de-
bouching on the Hungarian plains. Here
and there they actually penetrated the
barrier range and reached the plains, oc-
casioning consternation in Hilda Pest.
capital of Hungary.

pelled to abandon Przemysl. The cap-
ture of Jaroslav followed and the Rus-
sian armies fell back in eastern Galieia
beyond the San.

A great battle developed along the San
in the middle of October. It lasted for
days in which fortunes varied. Gradual-
ly the Russians gained the upper hand.
The Austrians attempted a Hank attack
thru Bukowina, but before it could
threaten seriously the Sla\ line the Aus-

110

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STOKY

trians collapsed on the San, and the Rus-
sians re-entered Jaroslav. Six days later
Przemysl was again besieged, and re-
mained surrounded by the Russian forces
until its capture in the following March.
By the middle of November the Rus-
sians were once more on the outskirts of
Cracow.

established a strong line across Galicia,
protecting the rear of their forces in the
Carpathians. A long series of operations
then began in the mountains — battles in
deep snows and zero temperatures — in
which the Russians gradually forced their
way into the passes. On March 22 they
captured Przemysl, and under the im-

London air raid. Mother

i inspecting their home. A mother and her little
.-isit and this mass of debris greets their eyes.

jn have returned home

Hungary was again raided thru the
mountain passes, and the Austrians were
driven from Bukowina.

Germany was forced to send additional
aid to her ally. With this help the siege
of Cracow was lifted, and the Russians
retired to the Donajec river, where they

pulse of this success swept forward on
Hungary with Buda Pest as its goal.

The alarmed Austrians rallied again
and again to defend their frontier, fight-
ing stubbornly for every yard of ground,
and then, with the coming of May ap-
peared Mackensen on the Donajec.

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

111

The German offensive against Russia
was marked by three great efforts to con-
quer Poland, sieze the Vistula defenses
and crush the armies of the Czar.

The first of these began in the opening
days of October, 1914, with Yon Hinden-
burg in command, fresh from his victory
over the Russians at Tannenberg, in East
Prussia. The German armies, admirably
equipped, swept across Poland to the
Vistula. They reached the outskirts of
Warsaw and Ivangorod by October 17.
Aviators dropped proclamations in War-
saw calling for the surrender of the city.
The big guns began to shell its fortifica-
tions. Then re-enforcements suddenly
attacked the left flank of the Teutons,
driving it back and compelling a retreat
all along the line. In perfect order Yon
Hindenburg's armies withdrew, moving
too swiftly for the pursuing Russians.
who followed to the German frontier and
actually crossed into Posen at one point.

This Russian success was brief. Yon
Hindenburg struck again. Early in No-
vember he began a movement against
both flanks of the Russian army. One
came down the south bank of the Vistula
from the East Russian fortress of Thorn;
the other advanced northeast from Czen-
stochowa, whither it had retired after its
failure at Ivangorod. The Russians were

The Maharaja of Patiala visited the Western front.

This photo shows the Maharaja of Patiala inspecting

the big camouflaged Britisl Western

front.

First picture of the actual surrender of Jerusalem
on December 9th. 1917. Tie only photo taken on
the morning of December 9th. when Jerusalem sur-
rendered.

in serious peril of being outflanked and
cut off from Warsaw and the Vistula.
They fell back toward Lodz. Here, at
the moment that threatened their destruc-
tion, re-enforcements from Warsaw sud-
denly attacked the flank and rear of Yon
Hindenburg's encircling movement, and
the battle of Lodz began. The tables were
turned. The Germans were in peril of
extinction. An entire army corps sur-
rendered. But aid was rushed to them
and they cut their way out of the Slav net.
The Russians fell back from Lodz, and
ultimately took up positions along the
Bzura river, twenty miles west of War-
saw. Thus began a long trench siege
paralleling the Vistula Prom west of War-
saw to the Galician boundary.

For months there was bitter fighting
along the entrenched front in Poland, ami

112

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

campaign and counter campaign in the
Baltic provinces and East Prussia. The
Russians met disaster at the Mazurian
lakes, but carried out a sweeping offensive
in Galicia and the Carpathians, already
described, and it was this success that
brought ujjon them the third and greatest
German drive.

General Von Mackensen came upon
the scene as the leader of this final attack

They crossed the San, abandoned Prze-
mysl, after an effort to rally and hold it.
and fell back on Lemberg. They lost
Lemberg on June 22, and a week later
Mackensen turned his attack north, be-
hind the fortified line of the Vistula.
i
Meantime Von Ilindenburg was press-
ing the battle hard in the Baltic provinces.
By the middle of July a tremendous
struggle was in progress on a 900 mile

A busy

road just behind the lines. The company at the right are resting prior to taking up
their march again.

upon the armies of the czar. He massed
the greatest concentration of artillery
that had been seen up to that time on the
eastern front against the Russian Donajec
line. On May 3, 1916, he opened fire with
all his guns.

The Russian front was shattered.
Mackensen captured 30.000 prisoners and
drove his enemy in hasty retreat eastward.

front, with Warsaw and Ivangorod as the
main objectives of the Austro-German
forces. They fell on August 5 and 6.
By the end of xVugust the Germans had
reached Brest Litovsk.

The czar suddenly came from Petro-
grad to the battle front, removed the
Grand Duke Nicholas from command of
the armies, and placed himself at their

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

113

head. Rut it did not stay the retreat. In
the middle of September Von Hinden-
burg drove the Russians across the Dvina,
and Von Mackensen occupied Pinsk, on
the edge of the marshes that bear the same
name.

Then only was the Austro-German ad-
vance halted. It succeeded in gaining
vast territory, and penetrating far into
Russia, but it failed to destroy the Rus-
sian armies. They had escaped thru the
masterly leadershij) of the Grand Duke.

the hands of men entrusted with military
administration.

Rut worse than graft was the treachery
of officials, in some cases generals and
lesser officials, who sold secrets to the foe.

The knowledge of these things began to
reach the men in the trenches. They had
been forced at times to fight with nail-
studded clubs instead of rifles. When
they learned that they were being robbed
and betrayed sedition spread thru their
ranks.

Advancing over newly conquered territory held its difficulties. As many as thirty Tommies were needed

to move this big gun.

They had escaped the enemy; but they
had not escaped the corruption, misman-
agement and betrayal that obtained be-
hind their lines in the Russian bu-
reaucracy.

The Russian rank and file was hungry,
wearied, and ill-supplied with arms and
munitions. Graft reeked in Russia. Of-
ficials enriched themselves at the expense
of their armies. Supplies often failed to
reach the soldiers, finding their way into

Desertions were numerous during the
winter of 1916-1917. The armies held
their positions, but chiefly because Ger-
many did not care to press her advance
further. She was busy fomenting trouble
in the Russian empire. Her agents dis-
covering the increasing dissatisfaction in
the army, were promoting it. Mutiny
would serve equally as well as a victory
won by direct attack.

A plot to induce Russia to make a sepa-

w <
<;>

too
o

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

115

rate peace was being engineered from
Berlin with the aid of disloyal members
of the government at Petrograd. It is
said the czarina was not wholly innocent
of participation in this conspiracy against
the empire and its allies.

The winter passed with much suffering
on the front for the rank and tile of the
Russian armies.

There was some activity in eastern
Galicia. Roumania had been invaded,
and the Russians were looked upon as her
natural helpers, but intrigue prevented
aid coming in effective form until it was
too late, and the little country went the
way of others that had felt the crushing
heel of German militarism.

With spring there came increasing un-
rest in Russia. The world heard only
rumors of it, but persons in Petrograd
saw signs of a coming storm.

The first lightning Hash from the gath-
ering clouds was the killing of the Monk
Rasputin, a mysterious and notorious in-
dividual who had for long been a court
favorite, exercising a strange influence
over the czarina and, at times, over the
czar. It was believed that Rasputin was
intriguing for Prussia, and giving his aid
to what were known as the "Dark
Forces," an unscrupulous cabal of court-
iers and officials whose chief concern was
to profit at the empire's expense, and to
keep themselves in advantageous posi-
tions for the purpose. They represented
the extreme of reaction, and opposed
every movement of a liberalizing char-
acter.

The news that the body of Rasputin
had been thrown into the Xeva aroused
immense enthusiasm among those who
looked for the day when Russia would
escape the clutches of its exploiters. It
seemed to be tire spark in the powder, and
the explosion followed quickly.

On March 11, 1917, a revolutionary
movement started in Petrograd. Soldiers

v" -y*_ _) ,r,.;tj&>_ _ . -■„

■+.l~~

r>.t£:.-*te

First Tommies cros

constructed bridge i
tured by the British.

aver a rougnly
rich was cap-

from the Petrograd garrison joined the
workers. The following day the Duma
met in defiance of the czar's orders, and
a message was sent to the czar, who was
then on the front with his armies, de-
manding his abdication.

Meantime the capital city was in tur-
moil. The workers were fighting the
police, who, armed with machine guns,
held positions in houses and on roofs,
from which they attempted to slay the
clamoring mob in the streets. Cossacks
were called in to ride down the people as
they had in many another such emer-
gency: but this time the Cossacks refused
to do the murderous work assigned them,
and treated the crowd with smiling con-
sideration.

The czar is said to have been served
with the demand for his abdication while
aboard a train en route for Petrograd,
whither he was hastening to face the revo-
lutionary crisis that had arisen so sudden-
ly. Tie accepted the destiny prescribed
for him without argument, and asked only
that he be allowed to go to his palace in

116

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

the Crimea and spend his days among his
flowers. This request was denied. He
was taken to Petrograd and there placed
in confinement.

A new cabinet was formed with Prince
Lvoff, a Russian patriot of democratic
spirit, as its leader. It was a coalition
cabinet, including the cadet party, a con-
servative democratic element, and the
socialists of the less radical type, repre-
sented by Kerensky.

Its life was comparatively brief. It
made way for a cabinet more thoroly so-
cialistic under Kerensky.

For a time the world hoped much from
this extraordinary little man, who, in a
puny frame, combined a fiery spirit and
keen intelligence. But the extreme social-
ist element was not satisfied with the
Fabian tactics of Kerensky, who at-
tempted to hold Russia true to the allies,
continue the war, and readjust internal
conditions on a basis of representative
government similar to that of the United
States.

The extremists, known as bolsheviki, a
word that means simply majority, main-
tained a constant agitation, harassing
Kerensky's government at every step.
Their attitude lent itself most conveni-
ently to German plans, and Germany
flooded Russia with agents who joined
with the bolsheviki in an effort to pull
down what might have developed into a
stable and efficient government.

The peasants and the soldiers were
urged to demand peace and an immediate
distribution of the land and other prop-
erty. Kerensky used all his eloquence to
impel the armies to maintain the fight
against Germany, and to encourage the
people in support of the war; but it
proved unavailing.

His effort to convene a constituent as-
sembly for the purpose of drafting a new
constitution was defeated by the bolshevik
agitation. The ignorant peasantry of
Russia knew nothing of constituent as-
semblies and constitutional forms of gov-

Sir John French, former Commander of Victorious
British Expeditionary Forces in 1914.

eminent; they did know the soviet, or
local council, and the shrewd bolsheviki
appealed to this knowledge with the
promise of administration thru Soviets.

A returned expatriate, a Russian Jew,
who called himself Trotzky, was one of
the most aggressive and influential bol-
shevik leaders. He, like Kerensky, pos-
sessed great powers of eloquence. Asso-
ciated with him was a man name Lenine,
a fanatic, whose only aim in life was to
overthrow the capitalist systems of the
world. In this effort he was willing to
take help from any quarter. It is not nec-
essary to question his mad sincerity. It
was quite compatible with honesty of con-
viction that he should accept help from
Germany in money or men, and there is
little doubt that he did. It was traitorous
to Russia and freedom, but it was loyal
enough to his own lunatic dream.

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

117

Between these men succeeded in over-
throwing Kerensky. and seizing the gov-
ernment. Anarchy followed, marked by
bloodshed and destruction of property.
The Russian armies, now reduced to a
helpless strength by desertions, were or-
dered demobilized, and the bolshevik
regime opened negotiations with the
enemy for peace.

There followed a series of conferences

United States, the latter by now a bellig-
erent, looked with alarm on the situation.
The possibility of German control in Rus-
sia constituted a new menace. Already
German troops released from service on
the east front were appearing on the west-
ern front, and Germany was replenishing
her depleted stores from Russian gran-
aries. Some day, if the extension of her
power was not checked, she might even

— '~^jffr^^^ '

.-.,1V 7 -;- f> -r "

British Torpedo Boat Destroyer "Viking

at Brest Litovsk between the bolshevik

representatives and the German, Austrian
and Bulgarian delegates. They ended by
the enemy imposing terms upon Russia
that stripped her of the Baltic provinces.
Poland, the Ukraine, and the region of
the Caucasus.

Russia lav open to German exploita-
tion, and it was carried on with pitiless
energy. The western allies and the

recruit new armies from among the lius-
sian people. Plans were formulated to
stay her progress. Commissioners were
Bent to help the Russian people. They
were able to do little. Finally it was de-
termined to send allied forces into Russia,
and troops representing the western allies.
Japan and the United Stales landed at
Vladivostok, while others were landed at
Archangel and on the Murman coast.

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC STORY

Inspection of a destroyed tunnel entrance on the Western Front at Cambrai.

Italy and The Little Nations

CHAPTER VIII

ITALY EXTERS THE WAR — ITALY ENTERS AUSTRIA — ITALIAN SUCCESSES
— AUSTRIA REINFORCED BY GERMANY CHECKS ITALIAN DRIYE— ITALIAN
ARMY DEMORALIZED — STAND MADE AT PIAYE RIVER — SERBIA ENTIRELY
OVER RUN — MOXTEXEGRO CAPITULATES — ROUMANIA SIGNS PEACE
TERMS — BRITISH FAILURE IN GALL1POLI CAMPAIGN — GENERAL \LLENBY
SUCCESSFUL IN HOLY LAND — CONST ANTINE OF GREECE FLEES — GREECE
JOINS ALLIES.

Before the war began Italy was the
ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
The alliance was of a defensive kind.
Each of the three nations was pledged to
go to the help of either or both of the
others in the event of an attack.

Immediately after the declarations of
war made by Germany against Russia
and France, Italy declared her neutral-
ity. She took the ground that the central
empires had been the aggressors, and that
she was under no obligation to join them
in anything but a defensive war. This
prompt action destroyed the triple alli-
ance, and in its place there gradually de-
veloped the quadruple alliance of Ger-
many, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and
Bulgaria — the three latter countries be-
ing, in fact, the vassal allies of Germany,
executing her will and cooperating in her
plans for a Pan-German empire of Mid-
dle Europe with an Asiatic annex in
Syria, Mesopotamia and the remoter east.

Italy maintained her neutrality until
May 191.5. In the interval the country
was disturbed by continual agitation. A
strong and popular war party came into
existence. It was provoked by the fact
that Italy in earlier wars had been de-
prived of territory in the Trentino, in the
region of the Isonzo river, Trieste and
Istria. This territory, in which a popu-
lation of Italian birth or ancestry prepon-
derated, was known as Italia Irredenta,
or Italy unredeemed, and there was loud
clamor for its recovery.

Austria-Hungary, altho for years an
ally, was not loved. In the days of her
victory over Italy, when the former Ital-
ian provinces were seized, she had delim-
ited a boundary which gave her possession
of all the advantageous heights and im-
portant passes thru the Alps. Thus she
had been a menacing neighbor, and the
alliance, from Italy's side, had been con-
summated largely in order to safeguard
the possibility of another attack and in-
vasion.

The demand for war became so insis-
tent in Italy that the government was
forced to yield. No doubt existed that
Italy went to war on the motion of her
people rather than at the behest of her
king, or of her military leaders. On May
22, 1915, she declared war on Austria.
Her declaration of war on Germany did
not come until more than a year later,
August 27, 1916.

Italy's plan of campaign was to hold
the mountain frontier along the Trentino
region and the Carnic Alps, and to make
her offensive against the Isonzo river
front of the enemy, with Goritz and
Trieste as her chief objectives.

She had vast difficulties to overcome.
The work of the Italian engineers in mak-
ing possible a warfare largely conducted
in snow clad and cloud capped mountains
is one of the marvels of the great struggle.

The Isonzo river front presented great
obstacles to successful campaigning. The

120

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

■b* -9

Kg , j

99fi lis

7 JL

am mw;**' ■ H

Edith Cavell, whose execution by the Germans
shocked the world.

Austrians held the commanding positions
and were strongly fortified. They had
to divert strength from the Russian front
in order to meet the new assault, but they
were able to maintain a defense that de-
manded supreme efforts on the part of
Italy.

The campaign went slowly. Italian
forces reached Austrian soil on the west
bank of the Isonzo, and nibbled at the
edges of the Carso plateau, over which
lay the road to Trieste. A small advance
was made into the Trentino, but was soon
halted.

Then Austria summoned its strength
for a counter offensive. A great effort
was planned to destroy the Italian armies,
and end the menace that was interfering
with the operations against Russia. The
Austrian offensive in the Trentino was a
well conceived plan to reach the Italian
plains and cut the rail communications
with the Isonzo front, thus compelling a

Latin retirement from the positions that
threatened Goritz and Trieste. It began
on May 16, 1916, and was checked by
June 3. In that short space, however,
the Austrians pushed through the moun-
tains, captured the Arsiero region and
reached the edge of the Italian plains.
They were within twenty-five miles of
their objective when the Latins brought
them to a halt, and began a counter offen-
sive that gradually reconquered all the
lost territory. The Italians were aided in
bringing this serious menace to a sharp
conclusion by the sudden drive of General
Brussiloff into Bukowina and Galicia.
Austrian troops had to be withdrawn from
the Trentino front to meet the new Rus-
sian advance.

There followed a period of more or less
desultory righting, and then Italy
launched another great drive on the Ison-
zo front. It began in early August,
1916. The Goritz bridgehead and the
Carso plateau Avere the objectives.

The attack came as a surprise to the
Austrians, who had their hands pretty
well occupied with keeping the Russians
out of Lemberg. It opened on August
6, the Latin guns concentrating their fire
on Sabatino, San Michele and the bridge
across the Isonzo that was protected by
these mountain positions. On August 8,
in a great charge they stormed and
crossed the bridge, took the mountain for-
tifications and reached Goritz. The city
fell the following day, while the Italians
drove forward routing the Carso posi-
tions of the enemy.

Across the Carso plateau, south of Go-
ritz, lies the road to Trieste. On August
11. the advance continued along a twelve-
mile front. The whole Doberdo plateau
was occupied, and further gains made on
the Carso. Oppacchiasella was taken the
next day. The advanced line of the Latin
army reached positions within thirteen
miles of Trieste. The offensive rested
with this for a few weeks, to be resumed
in September, when more ground was
gained on the Carso plateau.

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

121

In October and November the fighting

.shifted to the Trentino and other sectors
of the Italian front, but the wedge bad

been driven far in toward Trieste, and the
Italians were well placed for further suc-
cessful operations.

They resumed their attacks in May,
1917, after a winter and spring that was
marked by no significant events on either
side. Under the leadership of General
Cadorna they made amazing progress,
sweeping over the Bainsizza plateau.
northeast of Goritz, and taking practical-
ly the whole of the Carso plateau.

Trieste and Laibach were both men-
aced by these victories. Austrian collapse
seemed a not improbable result of the
great defeats suffered by the Hapsburg
armies.

Then came a sudden reversal of affairs.
Victory had thrown Cadorna off his
guard. On the northern end of his Isonzo
front enemy agents had been surreptiti-
ously eorruptinganddenioralizinghis troops.

Like lightning from a sky unclouded
the bolt fell in the region of Caporetto.
The enemy struck with large forces and
important elements of the Italian second
army, instead of resisting, threw down
their arms and allowed the foe to advance
unhindered.

This disaster threatened to overwhelm
the Italian forces, whose greater numbers
and most effective troops were on the east-
ern front, holding the two plateaus and
the intervening valley beyond the Isonzo.
The enemy was on their flank and headed
with little to check him toward the main
lines of communication upon which the
Italian armies were absolutely dependent
for safe retreat.

The situation developed into a race be-
tween the enemy and the Italians for
T'dine. the main railroad center. The
Italians won in sufficient numbers to save
a large part of their great force. But a
tragic part was lost. The enemy cut off
and captured some 250,000 prisoners and

Lieut. H. T. C. Walker, of the British Royal Navy,
hero of the British naval attack on Zeehrugge.

enormous numbers of guns and quantities
of ammunition. Cadorna fell back fight-
ing delaying actions until he had crossed
the Piave. Here he made his stand until
he was disposed of and succeeded by Gen-
eral Diaz.

Then followed a long siege and a stub-
born defense. The allies sent aid to Italy.
British and French troops left the west-
ern front, and later some American units
joined them, and took up positions in the
Italian line.

For a long time the situation was peri-
lous. At places the Austrians crossed the
Piave. They attempted to drive down
from the Asiago plateau, and repeat their
earlier success. German aid was freely
extended to them. They had indeed been
helped by the Germans in the original
drive that compelled Italy's retreat.

But repeated offensives failed to shake
the Italian line, and in the summer of

122

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

1*23

124

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

German dead in their front line trenches. It may
be horrible and all that but it was the only way of
defeating the Kaiser.

1918 Italy countered. She cleaned the
western bank of the Piave of all hostile
forces and regained important positions
on the northern mountain front. Then
she halted.

The great climax came late in October
and early in November of 1917, when,
with the Germans in full retreat on the
western front, Italy struck again. The
Austrian lines broke; demoralization
spread thru the ranks; the armies fled be-
fore the pursuing allied forces, and thus
routed their commander was forced to
throw up his hands and ask for an armis-
tice.

It was granted. Its drastic terms were
equivalent to a complete surrender. Italy
occupied the Trentino, the Isonzo region,
Trieste, Istria and the Dalmatian coast.

In the debacle that followed for the
dual monarchy the emperor abdicated, and
the patchwork empire of central Europe
broke up into several parts, each

claiming the right of independence and
self-government. The Germans and
Magyars parted company; the Czecho-
slovaks and the Jugo-Slavs established
republics.

When the full story of the war is writ-
ten there will be no more brilliant chapter
in it than that which tells of how Serbia,
in its early months, routed the Austrian
forces and drove them from her soil.
With the Belgians, the Serbs have earned
title to be considered among the bravest
of peoples.

Belgrade was under bombardment by
August 1, and in the third week in Aug-
ust an Austrian army that had crossed the
Drina was routed at the Jedar, and driven
back to its own territory. Then the tables
were turned. Serbians and Montenegrins
swarmed into Bosnia, and approached
Serajevo. This continued through Sep-
tember. With the coming of October, the
Austrians regained the initiative. Their
army had been re-enforced. They had
some German aid. Crossing the Drina
again they moved forward until they had
reached the Oriental railroad, running
from Belgrade to Constantinople, through
Nish and Sofia. Belgrade was caught on
flank and rear, and the garrison had to
evacuate it and retreat.

The Austrians reached Valievo. They
were on the high road to conquest. Then
happened one of the most dramatic events
in the whole war — an event never to be
forgotten. On December 9, 1911, with
the shattered forces of the Serbians giv-
ing way before the enemy, there rode
upon the field the erect and venerable
figure of King Peter. The white haired
monarch rallid his discouraged troops, and
leading them in person, swept forward
against the enemy. The astonished Aus-
trians were beaten, routed, driven back
from Valievo, from Belgrade — back
across Drina and Save and Danube, until
the soil of Serbia was free from the foot

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

125

of her foe. It was a scene belonging to
the warfare of centuries gone — a scene
we are not likely to see repeated in the
history of the world.

Serbia remained free until the Great
Mackensen drive began in October. 1915.

Von Mackensen had displayed his
military talents in the campaign against
Russia. He was fresh from the scenes of
victory. With an army of 400,000 men
he hurled himself against the Serbs. The
Austrian force that had unsuccessfully at-
tempted to overrun the little country of
peasant heroes was greatly strengthened
by German troops, and the leadership of
Germany's most brilliant strategist gave
the new campaign an element of danger
far exceeding the earlier effort.

The Serbs fought courageously, but
they were outnumbered and outgunned.
Moreover by the middle of the month they
were treacherously struck on the flank by
Bulgaria, who entered the war as a Teu-
ton ally. King Constantine of Greece
made a scrap of paper of his treaty
pledging aid to Serbia, and, although the
allies landed forces at Saloniki, they were
unable to advance with sufficient strength
and rapidity to afford the Serbians aid.

Belgrade fell on October 10. By Oc-
tober 28 the Bulgars and Teutons had
effected a junction in northeastern Ser-

Brittsh outposts ever on watch for enemy attacks.
This photograph shows an alert outpost in the Ypres
Salient.

The British Advance in the West. Trenches captured
from the Germans during the great British offensive in
the West.

bia. Nish was captured on November 7,
and the Bulgars sweeping west reached
Monastir by November 19. A month
later the Anglo-French forces, that had
attempted to push up the Vardar valley,
fell back to Saloniki. The conquest of
Serbia was complete.

But a large part of the Serbian army
had escaped in one of the most terrible
retreats of history, across the snowy
mountains of Albania. That army, reor-
ganized, is now back on Serbian soil,
lighting with a magnificent courage for
the redemption of its fatherland. Mona-
stir, that fell into the hands of the Bulgars
in November, 1915, was once again in pos-
session of the Serbs in November, 1916.

Serbia remained, except for a narrow
fringe in the Monastir region, a con-
quered land until the late summer of 1918.
Then began an attack by the allied
armies, in which the Serbs played a mag-
nificent part, that routed the Bulgar
troops, left to hold the Macedonian front,
and brought the surrender of Bulgaria.
A few weeks later the Serbs were back at

126

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

Belgrade, and when Germany and Aus-
tria signed armistice terms, they had
crossed the Danube and stood on Austrian
soil.

Roumania's participation in the war
was a tragic disappointment to herself
and to her allies. She hesitated a long
time under pressure from both sides, and
finally reached decision in August 1916
to join the entente countries against the
central empires. Once the decision was

Russia, but Russia was in the hands of
traitors and German agents, and the help
she sent was wholly inadequate. Von
Mackensen threatened Bucharest from
the east, and Von Falkenhayn attacked
the Roumanian armies in Transylvania.
Between two fires the little country was
helpless. Its intrepid forces that had
crossed the Carpathians began a retreat
before Von Falkenhayn. They fought
courageously every step of the road, and

Duke of Connaught, accompanied by General Currie and other Canadian officers, inspecting Canadian

soldiers.

reached she acted with more precipitation
than wisdom. On August 27 she began
an invasion of Transylvania, throwing
her armies across the Carpathians and
making swift advances.

Then the redoubtable Von Mackensen
was sent to subdue her. He struck her
in the flank, using Bulgaria as a base and
driving north into the Dobrudja, between
the Danube and the Black Sea. She tried
to hold him. A distress call was sent to

gave ground only when defense was no
longer possible. November was a month
of repeated disasters, and on December
6 the enemy entered the capital.

Russian aid then screened the shattered
Roumanian army while it retired beyond
the Sereth, and for months thereafter,
until the revolution ended Russian re-
sistance, the Slav. forces held the Danube-
Sereth front against the foe.

When Russia entered the peace con-

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

127

King of Belgium and Staff.

ference of Brest Litovsk and thru its bol-
shevik agents made terms with the enemy,
Roumania was forced to follow in a like
humiliating surrender. The Brest
Litovsk treaty was signed on March 2,

March 4. Harsh • terms were imposed
upon Roumania by the enemy. The
little country could only pray that allied
victory in the west front would bring her
deliverance.

1918, and the armistice of Bucharest on The little nations of Europe were not

128

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

The Magnificent Cathedral at Reims, France.

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

129

the only ones affected by the war. The
people of Armenia and Syria and Meso-
potamia felt its tragic pressure under the
campaigns of the Turks.

Turkey, as an ally of the central em-
pires, served the important end to them
of keeping the Dardanelles and Constan-
tinople out of the hands of Russia and
the allies, and thus preserving the bridge
from Europe to Asia over which Ger-
many planned to construct her great
Hamburg to Bagdad highway.

Great Britain was vitally interested in
this phase of the struggle. Her posses-
sions in India and her suzerainty in
Egypt were menaced by the Prussian am-
bition, and by the vassal aid that Turkey
was giving to Berlin. Hence, early in
the war, she made two efforts to check
the Turk and his German master.

One of these was the Gallipoli cam-

Madam Poincaire, wife of the President of France.

Photograph of M. Raymond Poincaire elected
president of the French Republic, January 17, 1913.
His term of office is seven years.

paign, in which France joined her. It
was a daring but disastrous adventure. It
had for its object originally the forcing
of the Dardanelles by a naval attack.
The British and French warships pene-
trated the Narrows for some miles, but
under the fire from the shore batteries,
and facing the subtle perils of mines and
submarines, they were compelled to de-
sist after several great vessels — including
the Bouvet, the Ocean and the Irresistible
— had been sunk.

Then it was decided to land troops on
the Gallipoli peninsula, constituting the
northern side of the straits. The plan
was to take the shore batteries, occupy the
peninsula, menace Constantinople from
the land, and. with the straits freed from
enemy control, to enter the Black Sea
with the navy. Had the plan succeeded

130

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

Left to right,' Marshall Joseph Joffre, one of the
French Commissioners : Ambassador Jules Jusserand.

Turkey would have been utterly crushed.
On April 21, 191.5, troops were landed
under heavy fire at various points on the
peninsula. British and French troops
cooperated. A large element of the Brit-
ish force was composed of Australians
and New Zealanders, whose magnificent

fighting qualities and great daring earned
for them the admiration of the world.
These troops — known as the Anzacs — oc-
cupied positions near Suvla bay.

The Turks had been allowed time to
occupy and fortify the peninsula, and
they made a stubborn resistance. There
are no better fighters when they are well
officered than the soldiers of the Sultan,
and they were organized and under the
command of Germans in many instances.
Month after month was marked by a bit-
ter and costly conflict. Allied gains were
slow.

Early in August 191.5 the British had
a great opportunity to win a decisive vic-
tory. In the Suvla bay region, where the
peninsula is narrower than at some other
points, the Turk had been defeated and
was in retreat. Had the retreat been fol-
lowed up by an instant renewal of attack,
the British might have cut across the
peninsula, isolating the Turks on its
western end from their base. But there

The destruction of Louvain. A view of the famous Cathedral of St. Pierre known the world over for

its famous chimes.

132

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

133

was some failure on the part of the com-
mand, and the opportunity was lost. The
Turks were given time to rally and obtain
re-enforcements. As a result of this fail-
ure General Sir Ian Hamilton was re-
called, and Major General Munro sent
to succeed him.

But the change in command did not
greatly help the situation. In December
1915 it was decided to abandon the cam-
paign, and the British were withdrawn
from the Sin la bay region. The follow-
ing January the remainder of the allied
forces bade farewell to the peninsula,
leaving behind many a wooden cross to
mark the graves of heroes who had died
in vain.

Concurrently with the Gallipoli cam-
paign the British had begun a campaign
in Mesopotamia and had been compelled
to defend their Egyptian front.

The Mesopotamian campaign opened
in November 1914, when Basra was
seized at the northern end of the Persian
Gulf. The British were impelled by the
need of preventing Germany securing
access to the Gulf, where the establish-
ment of a naval base would have been a
direct threat to India. They were also
intent upon blocking Germany's road
thru Bagdad to Persia. Already German
agents were busy in Persia instigating
revolt.

By seizing Basra a base was obtained
from which Great Britain could control
the Aral) tribes, whom Turkey, as Berlin's
agent, was attempting to enlist in a "holy
war." Operations went slowly at first,
but successfully. In November 191.5 the
British bad occupied Kut-el-Amara on
tbe Tigris, about half way north to Bag-
dad, and General Townsbend was Hearing
tbe ancient city of tbe caliphs.

Then came a serious reverse. Within
eighteen miles of Bagdad the British were
routed by the Turks, and forced to re-
treat. They fell back to Kut, and there
stood. The Turks besieged the city.

A Zeppelin over Paris. A Zeppelin sighted over
Paris boulevards. It can be plainly seen in this

General Aylmer and Sir Percy Lake at-
tempted to reach the city with re-enforce-
ments and raise tbe siege, but failed before
tbe powerful Sannavat position. On
April 29, 1916, after 117 days. General
Townsbend surrendered to the Turks.
His garrison had been starved into sub-
mission.

134

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

135

Heavy Gun Supposed to Have Been the Type to Shell Paris, a Distance of 7". Miles.

It was a humiliating termination to the
first stage of a promising campaign. But
the British are not easily daunted. In the
following December, with a new army
under the command of General Maude,
they resumed the campaign. On Feb-
ruary 24, 1917, they re-entered Kut. The
Turks were badly demoralized, and the

Copper hands on the gigantic shell used in the
bombarding of Paris. This section was found in a
street of Paris after a shell struck nearby.

advance against them was continued with-
out interval. On March 11 he entered
Bagdad. From that time on the Turk
was always in retreat. Expeditionary
forces drove many miles north beyond
Bagdad, and northwest along the Eu-
phrates toward Aleppo.

In the meantime General Allenby was
conducting his Palestine campaign. The
Turks had been routed on the Egyptian
front, and the British had crossed the des-
ert of Sinai, and entered the Holy Land
on its southern border.

On March 27 they met the main forces
of the enemy near Gaza and defeated
them with heavy losses. For some months
thereafter progress was slow. Boads had
to be constructed and communications
maintained across the desert with the base
in Egypt. All the fresh water for the
British army was brought across the des-
ert in conduits.

In the autumn of 1917, however, Gen-
eral Allenby got his movement under
way. Beersheba was taken on October
31. Gaza and Jaffa, the latter the Medi-
terranean port of Jerusalem, fell in
November. As Christmas drew near the
world awaited with expectancy news that

136

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

ITALY AXD THE LITTLE NATIONS

137

the Holy City itself had returned to
Christian occupation and control. It was
thought General Allenhy might time its
capture for Christmas day, hut being
more of a soldier than a sentimentalist, he
took it at the first opportunity and en-
tered it on foot, in modest recognition of
its sacred character, on December 11.

The fall of Jerusalem marked the be-
ginning of the end for Turkey in Syria.
During 1918 General Allenhy continued
his northward progress, slowly overcom-
ing natural obstacles and enemy opposi-
tion. Aleppo, the gateway to Asia Minor,
was his goal. Once at this important
junction point, where the railroad
branches to go east toward Bagdad and
south toward Mecca, be knew the whole
of Syria and Mesopotamia would be in
Christian hands.

Early in October his long journey
ended. He reached Aleppo, and the
Turkish armies still left in northern Meso-
potamia were cut off from Constantinople.
On the last day of October Turkey sur-
rendered. Thus the Armenians and
Syrians were freed from the tyranny of
the Ottoman empire, but not before un-
told thousands of them had suffered hor-
rors that cannot be named, and multitudes
had perished from starvation and abuse.

In the indictment of Germany must be
charged not only the atrocities she per-
petrated on the people of Belgium and
France, but the brutal massacres in Ar-
menia, carried out by her vassal ally
without a word of protest or a restraining
finger from Berlin.

The part that Greece played in the war
was not understood by many people.
There were those who charged the allied
nations with treating Greece as Germany
had treated Belgium. Here are the facts:

A diagram of the mammoth shell, probably the or-
used in the immense gun located in St. Gobain woof'
which bombarded Paris a distance of seventy-five mile>
The destruction caused by these gigantic shells wa~
very great, and the Parisians were continually in ?
state of terror until the Allies made a concentrate-:
attack and drove the German forces beyond the Paris
range.

Germany violated a treaty to enter Bel-
gium.

The allies entered Greece to keep a
treaty.

Germany entered Belgium by violence.

The allies entered Greece by invitatio ■
of the constitutional government, of
which "Yenizelos was then premier.

138

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

139

Germany killed Belgians and burned
their towns.

The allies respected the lives and prop-
erty of the Greeks.

Germany bled Belgium white with
taxation.

The allies kept Greece alive with loans.

Great Britain, France and Russia were
the three powers that gave Greece its in-
dependence and placed the father of Con-
stantine on the throne. They were obli-
gated by treaty to preserve the dynasty
and the constitutional government of
Greece. The treaty further provided
that they might land troops on Greek soil
by common agreement among themselves
in order to fulfill their treaty obligations.

When Constantine refused to recognize
the vote of the people that returned the
Venizelist government after its forced
resignation he over-threw constitutional
government. This fact justified the pres-
ence of the allies in Greece, aside from
their invitation, and aside from the fact
that they were there to fulfill for Greece
her treaty pledge to Serbia, which Con-
stantine refused to keep.

When Constantine fled from Greece he
knew that evidence of his base treachery
had been discovered. He was the con-
scious tool of Germany. His plea to be
permitted to remain neutral was a dis-
honest plea. He was never neutral.

Capt. George Guynemer, the leading French avia-
tor, and Lieut. Vosse, (in oval), a leading German
aviator, meet death at almost the same time.

In the last year of the war the Greeks,
freed from the incubus of a Berlin-con-
trolled monarch, joined with the Serbs,
Italians, French and British in driving
the Bulgar from the soil of Macedonia.
The spirit of Greece was always with the
allies.

French Troops Going Over the Top and Entering the Enemy's Wire Entanglements.

140

ITALY AND THE LITTLE NATIONS

141

4x *v J' ~/A a-

It &

" 'A\V\y

LOOPING TO ESCAPE THE MURDERC

FIRE FROM THE ENEMY FLAXES

The War On The Sea

CHAPTER IX

BRITISH FLEET MASTER Or SEAS GERMAN SKA RAIDS STOPPED

U. S. AUGMENTS BRITISH SEA FORCES — BATTLE OFF JUTLAND
U-BOAT WARFARE LUSITANIA SUNK.

In no war since the beginning of the
world has the sea played a part so im-
portant as in this war.

Consider a moment the position of the
central empires, and then the position of
the allied nations.

There was no fighting front of decisive
significance that Germany and Austria-
Hungary could not reach by land, and
there was none, except the Mesopotamia]!
and Syrian fronts, more than 500 miles
from Berlin.

The central powers and their vassal al-
lies had land communication. The trans-
port of troops and materials could be done
wholly by rail, and without risk of attack
by the enemy, or of any enemy interfer-
ence.

For example in shifting her armies
back and forth between the French and
Russian fronts Germany ran no danger
of loss thru hostile efforts. She could
move men and guns to the Macedonian
and Mesopotamian fronts without consid-
ering the possibility that her enemies
would block their road of travel or de-
stroy them en route.

But Great Britain could not reach any
front without crossing seas or channels.
Every man she sent to war, every ton of
food and munitions, had to be protected
against submarine attack. In order to
keep contact with her Russian ally Great
Britain had to travel thousands of miles
around the Xorth Cape of Scandinavia,

to Archangel. To reach the Macedonian
front she had to travel the length of the
most dangerous of all the seven seas — the
Mediterranean. If the Mediterranean
had been created for the express purpose
of making things easy for the U-boats,
its configuration could not have been im-
proved upon. In order to reach the Meso-
potamian front Great Britain had to risk
these same waters, and continue thru the
Red Sea to the Persian Gulf — a distance
of 9,000 miles.

Half a million soldiers came 3.000 miles
across the Atlantic to fight with their
British comrades, and were kept contin-
ually supplied by transport between Can-
ada and the front for four years. Half
a million came round Good Hope or thru
the Suez from Australia and Xew Zea-
land, and were in like manner provided.

France sent troops to the east and risked
the perils of the sea. Italy, washed by the
Mediterranean, was dependent upon sea
transport for food and coal and almost
every other essential.

And all these countries relied upon
America as a source of supply, and upon
the Atlantic as a line of comnrunication
with the food, and munitions and raw ma-
terials of the American market.

Finally, when the great crisis of the war
developed, and the life and death struggle
on the plains of Picardy and the banks of
the Manic was being watched breathlessly
by the world, the whole issue depended

THE WAR ON THE SEA

THE WAR OX THE SEA

147

upon whether America could get l,.iOO,-
000 men across the sea in time.

It is evident, therefore, that the sea
constituted one of the biggest problems
the allies had to face. They had to make
the sea safe for transport and serviceable
as a line of communication. If they failed
in this the war was lost.

As obviously the sea presented to Ger-
many her greatest opportunity. It was
the most vulnerable point at which to

the great ocean highways with power and

promptitude.

It happened that the British fleet was
mobilized for maneuvers when the war
cloud gathered in Europe. Instead of
demobilizing it slipped quietly up to a
rendezvous in northern waters, and
awaited developments. Thus it was ready
the instant war was declared to meet and
fight the enemy.

The enemy, who probably entertained

French soldiers moving up to the front. This British official photograph shows a detachment of stocky French
poilus marching up to the front lines to meet the Huns.

strike her enemies.

Hence the struggle for the sea became,
in many respects, the supreme struggle
of the war.

In this struggle Great Britain played
the part that saved the world from a
triumph of Prussianism. Weak as she
was numerically and in material equip-
ment for land warfare at the beginning of
the war, on sea she was mighty, and she
moved to the defense of civilization and

hopes of a swift descent upon the shores
of Great Britain and a sweeping cam-
paign by fast cruisers against enemy com-
merce, modified his plans. He did not
dare to challenge the British fleet to do
battle.

Several enemy cruisers were at large
when the war began, notably the Emden.
These engaged in raiding tactics. They
sank many thousands of tons of allied
shipping, ignoring wholly the requirement

148

THE WAR OX THE SEA

of international law that their prizes
should he taken into port to have their
status determined by a prize court.

However the commanders of these
raiders were humane. They made pro-
vision for the safety of passengers and
crew, and this consideration entitled them
to the respect which even the allies felt
for their daring and courage. Had Ger-
many confined herself to such operations
as the Emden conducted she would not

countered a British squadron of lighter
armament in the Pacific, off Coronel on
the coast of Chile. Rear-admiral Crad-
dock was in command of the British
squadron. He was maneuvered into an
unfortunate position. After a courage-
ous fight against odds in which he went
down with his flagship, the Good Hope,
the rest of his squadron, excepting the
Monmouth, managed to disengage itself.
The Monmouth followed the Good Hope

Shell from big German gun kills many in Paris nursery. One of the shells fired by the big German gun
in the forest of St. Cubans, a distance of about eighty miles from Paris, fell in a nursery and created the
awful havoc shown above.

have sunk in the eyes of the world to the
level of national degradation that now
marks her.

But the raiders were pursued and cap-
tured one after another. An Australian
cruiser, the Sydney, ran down the Emden
off Cocos Island in the Indian ocean on
November 9, 1914.

Prior to this, however, a German
squadron, under Admiral von Spee, en-

to the bottom.

This was the first important naval en-
counter in the war, and it naturally gave
great satisfaction to Germany and her
friends, of whom, at this time, she had
not a few in America and thruout the
world. The von Spee victory was a blow
at the supremacy of Britain on the sea.

A month later, on December 8, 1914,
von Spee was cruising north on the oppo-

THE WAR OX THE SEA

149

site side of the continent. He was look-
ing for victims in the region of the Falk-
land Islands — British islands off the coast
of Patagonia.

Concealed in one of the deep harbors
of the Falkland group lay a British
cruiser squadron under the command of
Vice-admiral Stnrdee. It was waiting
for the Germans, and as they steamed
northward past the islands, it suddenly
sallied out and attacked. Before the

on allied commerce was le + 't to the U-boat.

The story of the U-boat's depredations
is too long to tell in detail. The history
of the war, exhaustively related, will need
a large volume devoted exclusively to the

U-boat.

It became, at the climax of its destruc-
tiveness, the most serious peril the allies
had to face, and, in the end, it was the
utter undoing of Germany.

French warriors on horseback. General Joffre had kept these and nearly all his other mounted men from
within rifle raree of the Germans. These men. who were photographed while reconnoitering in Sornme
region, were as tine cavalry as the world ever saw. In their two years of service back of the trenches they
had time to master the technique of their kind of warfare.

enemy fully realized what was happening
he had lost his flagship, the Scharnhorst,
and the battle cruisers Gneisenau, Leip-
zig and Xurnberg.

That incident just about finished the
surface efforts of the German navy.
Such activities as were later engaged in
by German battleships took place in
waters immediately adjacent to Germany
or Great Britain. The waging of war

The U-boats had enjoyed several nota-
ble successes in the opening months of
the war. A number of British war ships
had been sunk, and there was no little un-
easiness lest Germany should be able to
nibble down the strength of Britain's
navy ship by ship.

On September 5, the light cruiser Path-
finder was sunk by the U-2 at the en-
trance to the Firth of Forth; on Septem-

150

THE WAR ON THE SEA

O-S

S S

THE WAR ON THE SEA

151

ber 22 the U-boats had a field day. They
caught the armoured cruiser Aboukir in
the North Sea just after she had parted
from her sister ships the Hogue and the
Cressy. The Aboukir was seen to be in
distress by the other cruisers, and they
went to her aid. This was exactly what
the enemy had hoped would happen. As
they neared the sinking ship each of them
received in her hull a torpedo from the
hiding submarine. All three cruisers
went down with the loss of 1,400 lives.
The cruisers were old and almost obsolete.
The loss of life was the most serious phase
of the incident. Germany was jubilant.
She saw the destruction of the British
fleet by "attrition". The U-boat com-
mander responsible for the coup — Otto
Weddigen — was decorated and became a
national hero.

But the British had learned a lesson.
Instructions were given that in case of a
ship being torpedoed other ships must not
go to the rescue, but must take every pre-
caution to ensure their own safety. Fur-
thermore plans were considered and
agreed upon for protecting the navy from
the war of attrition without in any
measure lessening its efficacy as a menace
and a blockading force against the enemy.

Losses to battle ships in North Sea and
Atlantic waters became rare events. The
enemy's successes were largely confined to
the Mediterranean, where the problems of
defense were exceedingly difficult, and the
treachery of the King of Greece made
murder easy for the U-boat.

Germany soon realized that she had a
long and probably disappointing task
ahead of her in an effort to pick off the
great British fleet one ship at a time. Her
naval experts began to turn their atten-
tion more definitely to the destruction of
allied commerce. This was wise policy.
To attack the allied lines of communica-
tion and cut off the armies in France, Ma-
cedonia, Egypt and Mesopotamia from
their sources of food supply and muni-
tions meant to compel the capitulation of
the allied countries.

Marshal Petain, the Defender of Verdun.

Germany had scattered mines in the
waters adjacent to the British Isles. Ger-
man ships carrying neutral flags had en-
gaged in this murderous work. It was a
clear violation of international law. No
nation had the right to make the common
highways of the sea unsafe for neutral
shipping and noncombatant merchant
vessels of the enemy by the indiscriminate
placing of mines.

152

THE WAR ON THE SEA

153

As a consequence of this action Great
Britain in November 1914 announced
that a safe channel for neutral shipping
would be maintained in the North Sea
for all ships entering and leaving it by
the Straits of Dover. That meant Brit-
ish ships would sweep up enemy mines
and guarantee safety in the swept and
guarded waters. Ships taking the north-
ern passage did so at their own peril.

safety of crew and passengers. Neutral
ships were told that they ran danger in
entering the zone, as a result of "incidents
inevitable in sea warfare."

That was the beginning of Germany's
great U-boat campaign to starve England
into submission. Predictions were made
in Germany that England would be com-
pelled to yield in a comparatively short
time.

Kemmel Hill Before the Germans Attacked. This was the French commander's post on Mount Kemmel
the battle of April 24, when the Germans stormed and captured part of the hill.

Von Tirpitz characterized this action of
Great Britain as the closing of the North
Sea to neutrals, and hinted at reprisals.
The reprisals came in the announcement
of the German government on February
4, 1915, that the waters surrounding
Great Britain and Ireland were a war
region, and that every enemy merchant
ship found in these waters on and after
February 18 would be destroyed, without
guarantee of warning or provision for the

Further it was the beginning of the
long controversy betAveen the United
States and Germany over her attempt to
make piracy and murder legitimate on
the high seas. The declaration of U-boat
warfare was followed almost at once by
President Wilson's note warning Ger-
many that America would hold her to
"strict accountability - ' for offenses against
the law of nations and humanity.

To continue the story of the XT-boat

154

THE AVAR ON THE SEA

war in detail would be merely to relate
sinking after sinking, crime after crime
against the innocent and the helpless.
From the torpedoing of merchant ships
without warning the Germans passed to
the diabolical practise of shelling open
life-boats with women and children in
them.

No brutality was too terrible, and the
brutal deeds were met with rejoicing and
approval by the German people. To this
hour no voice has been raised in Germany

"Whoever cannot prevail upon himself
to approve from the bottom of his heart
the sinking of the Lusitania — whoever
cannot conquer his sense of the gigantic
cruelty to unnumbered perfectly innocent
victims, and give himself up to honest de-
light at this victorious exploit of German
defensive power — him we judge to be no
true German."

It was such utterances as these that
later arose to refute the arguments of men
who tried to draw distinction between the

Real dogs of war on duty in the trenches. People often talked of the "dogs of war" but the dogs they
thought of then were far different from these real dogs in the trenches.

to condemn the massacres of the seas, or
to regret such offenses as the torpedoing
of the Lusitania and the Sussex.

When the Lusitania was sunk, with a
loss of 1,154 lives, a medal was struck in
Germany to commemorate the occasion,
and Pastor D. Baumgarten, a prominent
German clergyman, in the course of an
address on the Sermon on the Mount, de-
clared :

German rulers and the German people.

After the sinking of the Lusitania more
notes were exchanged between the United
States and Germany, and America began
a long season of waiting for an "overt"
act on the part of the enemy — an act of
open and deliberate hostility.

In August the White Star steamer
Arabic was sunk, struck by a torpedo
without warning of any kind. There

THE WAR ON THE SEA

155

were ±'2i persons on board of whom 26
were Americans. While the lives of all
were endangered only 30 were lost, of
whom two were Americans.

Alter some argument Count von Bern-
storff, on behalf of his government, dis-
avowed the sinking of the Arabic, and
assured President Wilson that a recur-
rence of like incidents was considered "out
of the question."

On February 9. 1916, Germany sent
her last note on the Lnsitania affair, in
which she declared she was willing to pay
a full indemnity for the lives of American
victims — as tho that were possible — and
repeated the pledge that "unarmed mer-
chantmen shall not be sunk without warn-
ing and unless the safety of the passen-
gers and crew can be assured."

And a little less than a month later
came the sinking of the Sussex, with a
loss of some 80 lives. The Sussex was a
channel steamer carrying passengers from
Folkstone to Dieppe. She had 25 Amer-
icans on board, some of whom were in-
jured. The U-boat attacked without any
warning and made no effort to save the
victims of its torpedo.

Germany attempted to evade the Sus-
sex issue. She suggested a mine might
have caused the disaster; she raised the
point that the Sussex was armed, or that
she was a mine-layer or a warship of some
sort. These assertions and allegations
were all disjjroved.

President Wilson on April 26 sent Ger-
many a note that practically informed
her she had been caught in repeated lies
and deceit, and concluded with the omi-
nous declaration :

"If the Imperial German Government
should not now proclaim and make effec-
tive renunciation of its present methods
of submarine warfare against passenger
and cargo ships, the United States Gov-
ernment can have no other choice than to
break off completely diplomatic relations
with the German government."

This shows the appearance of some of the fragments
of shell found in a street of Paris.

To this Germany replied with the an-
nouncement that the German naval forces
had received the following orders :

"In accordance with the general prin-
ciples of visit and search and destruction
of merchant vessels recognized by inter-
national law, such vessels, both within and
without the area declared as a naval war
zone, shall not be sunk without warning
and without saving human lives, unless
these vessels attempt to escape or offer
resistance."

At the same time Germany suggested
that now the United States should exer-
cise her influence to make the British gov-
ernment observe the rules of international
law. and added that if the British govern-
ment did not follow the "laws of human-
ity" the German government would feel
it was facing a new situation in which it
must reserve to itself "complete liberty
of decision."

156

THE WAR ON THE SEA

Camouflaged Big Gun. Mounted on a specially
constructed railroad carriage, this big French 400
m/m, gun was ready to bang away at the German
forces making the drive on the Somme front. It was
exceedingly well camouflaged to prevent detection
by Boche aerial forces.

The British navy had not occasioned
the loss of a single neutral or non-com-
batant life. Even in battle with German
warships it had uniformly done everything
in its power to rescue enemy sailors. It
had bombed no open ports and sunk no
merchantmen. It had most scrupulously
observed the rules of visit and search, and
the enemy had been given his day in the
prize court. Its offense was the effective
blockade of Germany at a point remote
from the German coast and beyond the
reach of the U-boats.

The impudence of the German reply,
however, lay in making the fulfillment of
her pledges to the United States depend
upon the conduct of a third party who had

no place in the controversy.

Matters drifted along under this ar-
rangement until the beginning of 1917,
and then, as elsewhere narrated, the crisis
came and the rupture in diplomatic rela-
tions as a result of Germany's proclama-
tion of unrestricted U-boat warfare.

That proclamation was the beginning
of a new and serious chapter for the allies.
The rate of destruction went up at once.
In March, April, May and June of 1917
ships were sunk in such numbers that it
looked as if the enemy's intentions might
be realized, and the surrender of Great
Britain and France forced by starvation.

The United States, entering the war on
Good Friday, brought the help of her
genius and industry to the problem. De-
vices were invented for detecting the
presence of submarines and for destroy-
ing them. The depth bomb began to
prove of great value. When the arming
of merchantmen failed to lessen the sink-
ing of ships materially, the convoy system
was adopted. It proved the most effec-
tive method of rendering the U-boat
harmless.

Gradually the U-boat was mastered.
Allied ship-building efforts gained upon
the ship-destroying efforts of the foe.
America transported 2,000,000 soldiers to
France with practically no losses. By
the summer of 1918 the earlier alarm that
the central empires might win the war
with the submarine was dissipated. In-
stead it was felt that the submarine could
do nothing more than delay the issue.

During the period of the submarine
war the British navy had two clashes with
the enemy on the high seas. Vice-Ad-
miral Beatty, in command of a British
patrolling squadron, encountered a Ger-
man raiding squadron in the North Sea
on January 24, 1915. There was a sharp
little fight, in which the enemy battle
cruiser Blucher was sunk, and two other
of his big ships badly damaged. The
British cruisers Lion and Tiger suffered,
but were able to make port under their

THE WAR OX THE SEA

157

own steam.

The biggest naval battle of the war oc-
curred oft' the coast of Denmark on May
••31, 1916.

Vice-Admiral Beatty, commanding the
battle cruiser squadron, discovered the
enemy's high sea fleet steaming north and
west in the region of Jutland. It was late
in the afternoon, and the weather was
hazy, but Beatty at once closed in and
gave fight. It was his purpose to engage
and hold the foe until the British dread-
nanght fleet coidd arrive on the scene.

The battle raged mightily until dark-
ness set in, and the enemy, realizing his
peril, succeeded in slipping away in night
and fog and reaching his own sheltered
waters behind Helgoland.

The British lost three battle cruisers —
the Qneen Mary, Indefatigable and In-
vincible; three armored cruisers — the De-
fense, Warrior and Black Prince, and
eight destroyers. The enemy admitted at
the time the loss of one battleship, the
Pommern, one battle cruiser, the Lutzow,
four cruisers and five destroyers.

When the war ended it developed that
his losses had been far heavier than he
had admitted or than the British had
claimed, and that from May 31, 1916,
until the hour of final defeat official Ger-
many knew that its fleet coidd never again
run the risk of meeting the British.

In British naval history, however, no
incidents will live longer or redound more
loudly to the praise of Britain than the
intrepid raids on the submarine bases of
Zeebrugge and Ostend, on the Belgian
coast. The former took place on the
night of April 22-23, 1918. Vice Admiral
Sir Roger Keyes directed the daring ex-
pedition that undertook to destroy the
fortified mole of Zeebrugge and block
the channel by which access was had
to the canal. Six obsolete British cruisers
took part in the enterprise — the Brilliant,
Iphigenia, Sirius, Intrepid, Thetis and
Vindictive. The last named won great

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Submersible Torpedo-boat Signalling
Fleet at Biserta.

glory. She landed storming parties on
the mole while being hammered with shells
from the enemy shore batteries. A noble
wreck she managed to reach port. A few
weeks later she ventured forth again, and
allowed herself to be sunk at the entrance
to the harbor of Ostend.

In all the history of the world there has
been no more wonderful spectacle, nor
any surrender more utterly humiliating,
than that which ended the long struggle
upon and beneath the seas.

When in late November 1918, the
pride of the German navy, great dread-
naughts, battle cruisers, armored cruisers
and destroyers, steamed sullenly across
the North Sea and gave themselves up to
the waiting fleet of Britain with its allied
squadrons of American and French war-
ships, there ended the dream of Wilhelm
Hohenzollern, the dream of a vast world
empire, mighty on land and sea.

THE WAR OX THE SEA

French Submarine T

'Lavoisier" Help*

Ureat Austrian Battleship "Herzog Karl" surrendered to Italy.

America's Long Patience

CHAPTER X

AMERICA NEUTRAL — BELGIUM STARVING — GERMAN PLOTS —
LUSITANIA SUNK — EXCHANGE OF NOTES — RELATIONS WITH
AUSTRIA BROKEN — AMERICA'S ULTIMATUM.

America was slow to discover that she
lived in the world rather than in the west-
ern hemisphere alone, and that she was
neighbor to Europe as well as to Mexico.

When the war began in Europe the
American people looked upon it as a
strange and tragic madness of monarchs
and subject nations, with which they had
nothing to do, and could have nothing to
do, except as intermediary in an effort to
make peace.

Millions of Americans were shocked
and outraged by the ruthless treatment
of Belgium when Germany hurled herself
across the little country's frontier in a
frantic effort to get at the throat of
France.

Some Americans wanted the United
States to protest and even to threaten a
declaration of war if Germany persisted
in her violation of Belgium's rights and
liberty.

No action was taken by the American
government, however, and it is probable
the government faithfully reflected the
sentiment of a majority of the people, at
that time. There was very general sym-
pathy for Belgium, and wide-spread in-
dignation against Germany, but the old
tradition that America had no lot or part
in the politics and quarrels of Europe
obtained thruout the laud, and few would
have been willing to go beyond sympathy
and indignation.

America's sympathy was shown most

practically and with little delay. All over
the country funds were raised for the re-
lief of Belgium, whose people had been
reduced to misery and starvation in a
brief space of time by the cruelty of the foe.
When it became apparent that the
proper administration of American boun-
ty depended upon direct American super-
vision, an American Commission for the
Belief of Belgium was named, with Her-
bert Clark Hoover, an Iowa mining
engineer, as chairman. Mr. Hoover
proved a wonderful organizer, a man of
generous heart and great executive abil-
ity. Under his leadership millions of dol-
lars were raised for the help of King Al-
bert's oppressed people, and under his
personal direction the money was dis-
bursed for their salvation. For two years
he labored incessantly, handicapped by
the frequent refusal of the German ad-
ministrators of Belgium to cooperate or
in any way to facilitate his work.

The ministry for Belgium was Amer-
ica's main means of contact with the war
zone during 1914-15-16. There were
other contacts, but they were all of the
same sort — relief work for the suffering
of Serbia, Syria, and Armenia, or ambu-
lance driving and Bed Cross service in
France.

Officially America was neutral. The
President issued declarations of neutral-
ity as each new belligerent appeared in
Europe. Immediately following tlie first
outbreak of war. in August 1914, he ap-

AMERICA'S LONG PATIENCE

AMERICA'S LOXG PATIENCE

161

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162

AMERICA'S LONG PATIEXCE

pealed to the American people to main-
tain a strict neutrality in word and act.

The American people made a loyal ef-
fort to acquiesce in the President's
request, and a very large proportion of
them succeeded admirably; but the Amer-
ican of German birth or descent proved
in many instances an exception to the loy-
alty of the majority.

The United States did not realize at
first that its citizens of German blood

ment, the pride and even the fear of
German- Americans. Secret, organizations
were formed; oaths of loyalty to the
kaiser were taken; reservists were drilled.

Agents were hired to go into American
industries and provoke and persuade the
workers to strike. These efforts were
directed chiefly to the demoralization of
the munition factories, or other concerns
producing goods that were of value to
the enemies of Germany.

French Advancing Behind a Barrage Fire.

were being made the objects of continued
incitement by German agents in Amer-
ica; but this was true. Had they been
left to themselves there is little likelihood
that any serious trouble would have devel-
oped. But men on the pay-roll of the
German Ambassador, Count Bernstorff,
and in the employ of Dr. Dumba, the
Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, main-
tained a ceaseless propaganda thru chan-
nels and agencies of varied kinds by
which they played upon the racial senti-

At the same time agents lobbied in
Congress, while subsidized or misguided
newspapers thruout the country sup-
ported their efforts to obtain an embargo
on the export of munitions, and even on
the export of foodstuffs.

The propaganda of the Bernstorff-
Dumba organization attempted to make
the American people helieve it was unjust
and, indeed, unlawful to sell guns and
shells and food to the enemies of Germany

AMERICANS GO TO FRANCE

i<;.-{

164

AMERICA'S LONG PATIENCE

Premier Orlando directed Italy's War Committee.

when Germany was unable to buy them.
This was, of course, ridiculous. The
manufacturers and producers of the
United States had a right to sell to any-
body who coidd reach their market and
pay their price. It was not their fault
that Germany could not come to New
York or Boston or New Orleans and
trade. The obstacle in the way was not
American prejudice so much as the Brit-
ish fleet — and that was an obstacle that
Germany would have had to remove for
herself.

The refusal of Congress to follow the
promptings of the kaiser thru Count
Bernstorff and his agents, provoked these
gentlemen to more desperate efforts.

Explosions became frequent in muni-
tion factories; bridges were blown up;
trains were wrecked.

But all of these things, altho vexing the
American people, did not greatly stir
them. Many of them simply refused to
believe that they were anything more

than accidents, or — at worst — the work
of irresponsible fanatics.

Then came a day — May 1, 1915 — when
there appeared in the New York news-
paper* an advertisement. It read as follows:

NOTICE!

TRAVELLERS intending to embark
on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that
a state of war exists between German} 7
and her allies and Great Britain and her
allies; that the zone of war includes the
waters adjacent to the British Isles; that,
in accordance with formal notice given by
the Imperial German Government, ves-
sels flying the flag of Great Britain, or
of any of her allies, are liable to destruc-
tion in those waters and that travellers
sailing in the Avar zone on ships of Great
Britain or her allies do so at their own
risk.

IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY

Washington, D. C, April 22, 1915.

Not many people saw this extraor-
dinary advertisement, in which a foreign
government ignored the government of
the United States, and talked directly to
the American people in threatening words
and tone. Those who did see it paid
little attention to it.

But there were individuals to whom
came mysterious warnings to avoid sail-
ing from New York on the Lusitania,
that was due to steam out of the harbor
the day after the appearance of the Ger-
man Embassy's menacing notice. Some
of them heeded these warnings. Others
laughed at them. The idea that Germany
would sink a great passenger liner, with
American citizens on board, seemed
absurd.

It was true that German submarines
had been very active and had occasioned
considerable loss, but, aside from the sink-
ing of several allied battleships — legiti-

AMERICAS LONG PATIENCE

165

mate prey — there had been no appal-
lingly dramatic happenings such as were
soon to come.

In February the German government
had proclaimed a submarine zone around
the British Isles, and announced the es-
tablishment of a U-boat blockade of
Great Britain.

President Wilson followed the enemy
proclamation with a note addressed to
Berlin, pointing out the perils of Ger-
many's plan of blockade and its threat to
the freedom and security of neutrals.
This note closed with an emphatic decla-
ration that if Germany violated the rights
of the United States upon the high seas.
the United States would hold her to a
"strict accountability."

It was with this phrase still clearly in
mind that American citizens went on
board the Lusitania, and sailed from New
York, in spite of insulting advertisements
and mysterious warnings.

The Lusitania carried in her hold some
small arms ammunition — rifle cartridges.
She had no dangerous cargo. In every re-
spect her manifest complied with the law.
She was a British passenger liner. She
had no troops on board, and altho on the
naval reserve list, she had not yet been
called for active service.

At five minutes after two on the after-
noon of May 7, 191.5, the Lusitania was
slipping along rather slowly off the Old
Head of Kinsale, Ireland. Suddenly the
U-boat 39 appeared at her side, and dis-
charged two torpedoes into the utterly
helpless vessel.

Xo warning was given, no opportunity
for the escape of the women and children,
and of course no effort was made to visit
and search her, as the law of the sea
requires.

The great liner sank quickly, carrying
to their death l,lo4 persons, many of
whom were women and children. A score
of little babies died pitifully.

Among the 1,154 dead were 102 Amer-

Major Baracca, Italian Ace.

The news of this tragic happening
shocked and horrified the world. It
stunned Americans. It seemed impossi-
ble to believe it true. After the first in-
credulous amazement there came a surge
of anger, and had President Wilson
declared war on Germany the day after
the sinking of the Lusitania he would
have had a large part of the nation with
him for vengeance on the cruel and cow-
ardly foe.

But President Wilson did not declare
war. Instead he, made a speech at Phil-
adelphia in which he said: — "There is
such a thing as a man being too proud to
fight; there is such a thing as a nation
being so right that it does not need to
convince others by force that it is right."

The phrase "too proud to fight" was
the most unfortunate the President had

166

AMERICA'S LONG PATIENCE

167

ever used. Torn from its context it was
carried around the world, and wherever
it was repeated there came back to Amer-
ica the laughter of mockery and the scorn
of men.

President Wilson did not know Ger-
many then. No man knew her as all
came to know her later. Had lie known
her he would never have used the second
phrase, about a nation being "so right
that it does not need to convince others

onstrate the righteousness of the United
States to the German intelligence. He
went about his task earnestly, ably and
patiently. He wrote two notes to Ger-
many, in the first demanding reparation,
and. in the second, emphasizing the de-
mand, and insisting that Germany must
not sink ships without warning, and must
not turn passengers adrift in open boats
at a distance remote from shore.

After these several interchanges of

Italians had many anti-aircraft guns mounted on tractors. Italian anti-craft guns and light artillery
pieces were mounted and hauled into position by tractors.

by force." President Wilson learned
that there is only one way to convince the
Prussian mind of anything, and that is by
force. You might be as right as God
Himself, and it would make no impres-
sion whatever upon the type of mind that
burned Louvain, sank the Lusitania,
murdered Nurse Cavell and wantonly
converted Northern France into a wilder-
ness of death and desolation.

President Wilson attempted to dem-

notes, on September 1 Count Bernstorff
announced that Germany would sink no
more passenger liners without warning,
and would otherwise comply with the con-
ditions deemed by the United States gov-
ernment to be essential in the interests of
humanity, international law and neutral
rights.

Public indignation subsided a little. It
was hoped that the President's concil-
iatory plan would prove effective.

168

AMERICA'S LOXG PATIENCE

AMERICAS LONG PATIEXCE

169

There were other provocations, how-
ever, that disturbed the peace of mind and
good temper of the average American
citizen. The activities of certain agents,
whose connections had been traced back
to the vicinity of the Austrian embassy,
made many people feel that America was
much too tolerant of some of the repre-
sentatives of the central empires. This
impression became so strong that the
State Department at Washington, early

made small difference as long as the
shrewd, unscrupulous little agent of the
Ilohenzollern autocrat was still free to
go as he pleased in Washington.
Dr. Dumba had never been more than a
tool for Count Bernstorff. Dumba was a
business man and Bernstorff an aristo-
crat, hence Dumba was content to he a
valet in conspiracy for his master, the
arch-conspirator.

However the expulsion of Dumba —

ftaiian Rersaglieri cycle regiment on their way to the Austrian frontier.

in September 191.5, requested the Aus-
trian government to recall Dr. Dumba.
This did not mean severing diplomatic
relations, but merely a protest against
the conduct of the particular individual
then acting for the dual monarchy at
Washington.

The Austrian government did as it was
requested, and Dumba departed. Hut the
departure of the Hapsburg ambassador

for such it was in all but technicality
led to further discoveries and disclosures.
As a consequence in December the two
German agents chiefly responsible for
outrages and plots in America — Boy-Ed
and Von Papen — were induced to follow
the former Austrian ambassador.

It was on September 1 that Count
Bernstorff gave the sacred word of Ger-
many that she would not sink another

170

AMERICAS LONG PATIENCE

Austro-Italian Fighting in the Alps.

AMERICA'S LONG PATIENCE

171

passenger ship without full warning. A
little less than six months later, on March
25, 1916, the channel packet Sussex was
torpedoed off the French coast. She sank
with loss of life among crew and passen-
gers. Several Americans were on hoard,
but happily escaped death. The Sussex
was wantonly sunk. Xo warning was
given. Xo effort was made to save life.
It was another instance of cold-blooded
murder.

America was on the verge of breaking
diplomatic relations with Germany. The
anger of the people was intense. "Strict
accountability" had been the words a year
before, and Germany had acted as tho
they meant nothing of which she need be
afraid.

President Wilson sent another note,
and made a speech to Congress emphasiz-
ing the serious and perilous nature of the
situation. In his note he told Germany
that should she repeat this crime diplo-
matic relations would be severed.

In a few weeks Germany answered
with new promises of good behavior, and
once again the United States swallowed
its wrath and gave the Germans a chance.

Thru the remainder of 1916 Germany
avoided further provocation. President
Wilson was re-elected in November on a
platform summed up in the phrase "He
kept us out of war." America, evidently,
was happy to be kept out of war in 'spite
of all the injury that had been done her,
and the insults that had been heaped upon
her. Her anger had flamed up occasion-
ally, but there was no steady heat. There
was certainly no heat intense enough to
repudiate the pacifist slogan of the Demo-
cratic nominee.

This was in part due to the fact that
the people of the great middle-west and
far west were not yet aware of the real
perils to tlie nation involved in temporiz-
ing with a power like Germany. More-
oxer the offenses committed by U-boats
did not appeal with the same force to
them as to the people of the eastern and

" — ""*"" - — " " . 'W "".* ■

Military Men of Southern Europe, Roumanian,
Servian and Greek.

sea-board states. They were inclined to
think that Americans should keep off the
sea when the sea was dangerous, and not
risk the provocation of international dis-
pute and war merely to gratify their de-
sire for travel.

Following the victorious campaign of
the President on his peace platform,
there came a rather dramatic opportunity
to act for a moment as a potential peace-
maker.

Early in December Berlin proposed
that the warring countries engage in an
effort to negotiate peace. Germany had
just completed the conquest of Roumania
by occupying Bucharest six days before.
Russia was hors de combat. The hour
seemed opportune to the Prussian leaders.

President Wilson also thought the
hour opportune for a definite effort to
end the war. lie addressed an identical
note to all the belligerents requesting

172

AMERICA'S LONG PATIENCE

AMERICAS LONG PATIENCE

173

them to make a clear statement of the
terms upon which they were willing to
consider peace. He based this request
upon the ground of America's interest in
the restoration of peace. He argued that
the prolongation of the war was endan-
gering the security of the United States.

The President's note was not favorably
received in the lands opposed to the cen-
tral empires. Nevertheless they replied
with definite statements of their war aims.
From all of them came a declaration that
they would enter into no discussion of
peace with Germany until she had defined
her terms. The British prime minister
insisted that there could be no peace with-
out assurance of reparation, restoration
and security. Finally in a combined re-
ply, just as the year ended, the allies em-
phatically rejected the German proposals
for a conference, and reminded the world
that Germany looked upon sacred prom-
ises as "scraps of paper," and approved
the principle that "necessity knows no
law."

However opinions may differ as to the
wisdom of the course taken by President
Wilson, it can never be questioned that he
exerted himself to the extreme limit of
patience and tact in the effort to keep
America neutral and peaceful, and to en-
courage a spirit of conciliation among
the belligerent nations over-seas.

More ardent spirits would have entered
the war when Belgium was invaded, the
Lusitania sunk or the Sussex torpedoed —
excuses were abundant. But President
Wilson was not seeking excuses to fight;
he was trying to avoid fighting. If
America had to fight he wanted it to be
the result of a situation that left no pos-
sible alternative; he wanted every Amer-
ican citizen, no matter what his ancestry
or nativity, to feel that America was en-
tering the war only after she had ex-
hausted every means in her power to re-
main neutral and because national safety
and self-respect could not be preserved
in any other way.

"US

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This photograph, one of the most remarkable made
in the national army camps, shows a number of the
soldiers in the trenches wearing their gas masks, fac-
ing a gas attack of the "enemy."

When his attempt failed to obtain from
the belligerent nations an agreement to
enter upon peace negotiation — failed be-
cause of Germany's refusal to commit
herself to any definite proposals — he
realized that he had gone as far as it was
possible to go. He had given the central
empires chance after chance, and they
had proved shifty, untrustworthy and in-
different to honorable appeal. Now,
altho the proposal for negotiation came
from them, and, at his request, had been
met by the allies with a clear forthsetting
of their war aims, the central powers de-
clined to go on record as to their basis of
bargaining. President Wilson was satis-
fied at last that if Germany gave any new
provocation to the United States there
could be only one answer to it. Reason,
persuasion and appeal were no longer of
any avail. Force — force to the utmost-
was the only way left.

174

AMERICA'S LONG PATIENCE

The United States Draws The Sword

CHAPTER XI

GERMANY RENEWS SUBMARINE WARFARE — NO HOPE FOB

FRIKXDLY RELATIONS — GERMAN-MEXICO PLOTS UNITED

STATES DECLARES WAR OX GERMANY GEN. PERSHING ARRIVES

IN TRANCE — FIRST UNITED STATES EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

REACH FRANCE FRENCH AND AMERICANS SHOW CORDIAL

RELATIONS.

It was on the last day of January in
the year 1917 that Germany announced
to the world that she would wage war on
the sea with unrestricted frightfulness.
Tims she repudiated her pledges to the
United States and intimated that she
would torpedo without warning every
ship that dared to sail the seas. At this
time she had lost faith in the efficacy of
her wonderful military machine and be-
lieved that the huge fleet of submarines
she had been building secretly would en-
able her to starve Britain into submission
within three months. She argued that
she could afford to earn the hostility of
all civilization so long as she won the war.
The gauntlet thrown down by the Teu-
ton warlords was taken up quickly, if
reluctantly, by the great North American
republic. On February 26th, President
Wilson went before Congress and asked
that diplomatic relations with Germany
be severed. lie knew, then, that the step
he was taking was irretraceable and that
only a miracle could keep the United
States from being involved in the fearful
European struggle. His last hope, which
was that the United States would be able
to maintain armed neutrality, soon van-
ished. Although the President authorized
the arming of American merchant ships,
the desperate German government pro-
ceeded to carry out its threat and soon a
whole series of attacks on the trading
ships of the world, involving the loss of
American property and of American
lives. And so on April 2nd, the Presi-
dent went before Congress again and re-
quested that a state of war with Germany
be declared. In this utterance Mr. Wil-
son took pains to say that "We are but

one of the champions of the rights of
mankind."

Congress did not hesitate as to its
course. The revelation that the German
Foreign Minister, while his country was
at peace with the United States, had
urged the German Minister in Mexico to
arrange for a Mexican invasion of the
United States, promising to Mexico a
slice of American territory, and that he
also had sought to improve this plan by
seeking an anti-American alliance be-
tween Japan and Mexico, aroused the ire
of the whole country, and made the
people ready to plunge into the Old
World struggle. The Senate passed the
war declaration on April i by a vote of
82 to 6 and the House of Representatives
passed it on April G by .'iT.'J to 50. At the
same time the President was directed to
employ the entire naval and military re-
sources of the country to bring the
struggle to a successful termination.

President Wilson immediately after
signing the war resolution issued a proc-
lamation concerning the conduct and
treatment of alien enemies.

All of these momentous acts that swept
America from her traditional isolation
into the maelstrom of European strife
took place amid profound emotion on the
part of those participating, and breathless
interest on the part of the people.

Beyond a display of flags— flags of all
the nations at war against the central em-
pires — there was no great public demon-
stration. Millions of Americans rejoiced
that the bonds of neutrality were broken,
that the obligation to silence and inactiv-
ity was removed, and that — before it was
too late America had taken her place

176

THE UNITED STATES DRAWS THE SWORD

Commandant Bachkarova, the leader of the
Women's Death Battalion.

beside the great democracies of the world
for the final fight against autocracy and
the legions of oppression.

In 1776 America had raised the flag of
freedom and the right of self-determina-
tion and self-government. She had been
true to these ideals that then began to
revolutionize the world. She had fought
to free the slave. She had given Cuba
liberty. She had redeemed the Phil-
ippines from the bondage of Spain. By
all that she had held precious, by all that
made her history glorious she had a right
to stand with France and England and
Italy and little Belgium against the Hun.
Her duty lay upon the frontiers of free-
dom, and it was with a glad pride, count-
ing well the cost, that America un-
sheathed her sword, and sent across the
seas to the older allies a message of cheer
and comradeship.

Generally speaking, the year 1916 had
been most unfortunate for the Germanic
combination from a military standpoint.

Only on the Roumanian front had any
consolation been offered to the high Ger-
man command. Russia, although she ex-
hausted herself terribly by her efforts,
had carried off the honors on the east, the
Italians had had a good year on the
southwest and in the west the Verdun
offensive had failed and the British and
French counter-offensive at the Somme
had made dangerous headway. Early in
1917, therefore, Germany was dreading
events on all fronts, particularly on the
east and the west. Her agents in the
east were reporting that a revolution
might occur in Russia but the hopes
raised by her secret agents in other quar-
ters had been sadly disappointed and she
could not be sure that the downfall of the
Czaristic regime, with its pro-German ele-
ment, would be a help to Germany. For
that reason she decided to order a retreat
from the great Arras-Soissons salient, to
dodge the attacks the allies were prepar-
ing and to depend on her submarines to
gain victory at sea while her armies
evaded decisive conflict on land.

That was the general situation in the
world conflict when the United States be-
came a belligerent on April 6, 1917-
Three days later the British forces gained
a brilliant success at Vimy Ridge, and
they and the French scored time and
again during the remainder of the 1917
fighting season hut they had not sufficient
strength of themselves to overwhelm the
enemy and the United States was in no
position to render appreciable help except
at sea. American dreadnoughts and de-
stroyers were not long in finding their
way to the North Sea and there, and
around the shores of Ireland, they did
splendid work in curbing the piratical
underwater craft of the common enemy.
The closest possible co-operation pre-
vailed between the British and American
admirals, and together they baffled the
supreme effort of the enemy to accom-
plish the defeat that the enemy's armies
had failed to obtain.

In the meantime the United States set

THE UNITED STATES DRAWS THE SWOKD

177

3 78

THE UNITED STATES DRAWS THE SWORD

to work determinedly to improvise an
army and to build transports in the hope
of aiding the allied nations to gain victory
in the year 1918. As the months passed
by and the destruction of Russia's mili-
tary efficiency by the revolution became
clear, it was seen that the United States
would have to prepare to take a much
larger part in the struggle than had been
anticipated. Twenty-two days after the
declaration of war. Congress passed con-
scription or the law providing for the
selective draft. In a few weeks, the regu-
lar army, by volunteering, was brought
up to a strength of 287,000 and the Na-
tional Guard up to 02.5,000. On June 5,
ten million young Americans registered
and became available, when required, for
the purposes of the national cause. Two
Aveeks later, two million men, by drawing
lots, were chosen for military service.
This number was greatly increased in
1918. Among those enlisting were 300,-
000 colored men, many of whom won
decorations 'on the field of battle.

By the end of June General Pershing,
who was appointed to the chief command
of the United States expeditionary
forces, and the first contingent of Amer-
ican troops were safe on the soil of
France. Training camps for American
troops soon were established midway be-
tween Paris and the Swiss frontier.
Within six months of the declaration of
war it became known that American
troops were righting in the trenches on
the Nancy front on the banks of the
Rhine-Marne front. A few weeks later,
in November, the Germans, in their
eagerness to gain precise information,
made an elaborate raid on the American
front in which they killed three, wounded
eleven and captured eleven men from the
United States. Germany did not realize
then that not a year would pass before
the allies, with the material aid of a huge
American army, would have beaten her
to her knees.

The flag of America had been on the
front since the first month of the war —

A. F. Kerensky, Russia's youthful Minister of
War, formerly one of the greatest of the nation's
heroes.

since August 1914. It had been there as
a promise and prediction that America
would follow it. The story of where that
flag came from and what befell it was told
in Current History by the Rev. S. N.
Watson. And this, in part, is the story :

Under the burning skies of August,
1914, there was seen in the streets of Paris
a procession of soldiers of the Foreign
Legion. Over the heads of one of the
groups floated the Stars and Stripes. The
soldiers who formed this American group
belonged to the Second Regiment of the
Foreign Legion, and their devotion to
France and to liberty had impelled them
to enlist. Their flag was the first Amer-
ican flag on the French front. Some one
had offered them this flag here in Paris,
where the group was formed. They took
it with them to Rouen, where they had
their first camp. When Rouen was
threatened by the enemy this regiment
was sent to Toulouse. Returning from
Toulouse to Paris for active service at

THE UNITED STATES DRAWS THE SWORD

L79

180

THE UNITED STATES DRAWS THE SWORD

181

Foreign Minister Leon Trotsky, of the Bolshevik
RusMan Government.

the front, its members draped the starry
banner over the side of the cattle car in
which they were riding; and, arrived at
the front, they always found a place of
honor for their idolized flag. When they
slept at night, or when they went "over
the top" in an assault, one man or another
always carried it with him.

At last came the moment when the
United States took its place in the war.
The little group of American volunteers
was dispersed. Three were dead, one
was grievously wounded, one was a pris-
oner in Germany. Of one of those now
dead it is reported that he lay three days
in his bed without saying a word and that
suddenly he seized the flag ami waved it,
crying "I'm an American!" and expired.

One of the survivors sent the flag to the
rector of the American Church in Paris,
asking him to offer it to the French Gov-

ernment. The rector willingly accepted
the task. He wrote to the Minister of
War, telling of the request of his com-
patriots, and received this cordial reply:

"I accept with pleasure, in the name of
the French Army, this glorious emblem,
for which General Xiox, Governor of the
Invalides, has reserved a beautiful place
in the Hall of Honor of the Musee de
l'Armee. This flag will thus remain a
striking witness of the devotion to France
displayed by the American volunteers
who, from the beginning of the war, came
to fight in the ranks of our army for right
and civilization."

General Pershing was present on the
occasion when the flag was presented to
France. It was on July 4. 1917, in the
Court of Honor of the Hotel des In-
valides, Paris. The French president was
there, and the minister of war and Mar-
shal Joffre. In making the presentation
the rector of the American church in
Paris said:

Gen. Diaz, Italian Victor, Invited to visit America.

18'2

THE UNITED STATES DRAWS THE SWORD

"What a prophet this flag has been, the
first American flag that has floated over
the heads of those who were fighting on
the soil of France for the ideals which the
banner represents, and which are the life
and soul of France! It was not permitted
to our gallant boys of the Foreign Legion
to carry their flag openly, like the colors
of a commander when he leads his soldiers

has come to pass, now that the great Re-
public beyond the sea is physically taking
the place which it has always held in
spirit. We are rendering a service to the
comrades who died for France when we
ask you to accept this emblem for which
they gave their lives. It is also an inspira-
tion to the living to be worthy of those
pioneers who preceded them on the road

"Battalion of Death" Made Up of Russian Women.

to the charge, but they carried it just the
same; one after the other, they carried
this flag wrapped about their bodies as a
belt — a life-preserver for the soul; one
after the other, they were wounded — some
were killed — and it was in this way that
the American flag received its first bap-
tism of blood in this conflict where now it
lias its recognized place.

"This flag has been the prophet of what

that leads to eternal liberty and the Te-
demption of justice."

So the flag was placed among the treas-
ured things of France in the heart of
Paris, where it remains to this day. And
General Pershing, with his staff about
him, stood before the tomb of America's
heroic friend and said: —

"Lafayette, we are here!"

W. R. P.

The Decisive Campaign in the Year 1918

CHAPTER XII

GERMAN REVERSES AND (JAINS UNITED STATES SPEEDS UP — ■

GERMAN GIGANTIC ATTEMPT AT CHANNEL PORTS ALLIES

UNITED UNDER FOCH FOCH's STRATEGY WINS GERMAN

RETREAT ENORMOUS ALLIED GAINS GERMANY ADMITS

DEFEAT ARMISTICE SIGNED.

To understand how Victory came to
the allied and associated powers in 1918
it is necessary that we shall see the main
features of the war in the preceding
years. In 1914 the Germans tried for
victory in the west and failed. In 191.5
the Germans tried for victory in the east
and failed again. In 1916 the Germans
made their main efforts on the Italian
and French fronts but their attacks broke
down and allied offensives at the Somme.
on the west, in Galicia on the east and
along the Isonzo on the southwest made
appreciable headway in spite of the most
desperate Teutonic resistance. The 1914
and 191,5 offensives of the Germans,
while they fell short of complete success,
carried the battle-fronts from one to
three hundred miles away from the Ger-
man border on the west and the east and
for several years kept the devastation of
war out of the fatherland. Thus the
defence of Germany was maintained at a
safe distance from the towns and cities
of Germany which actually suffered less
damage than was experienced by those of
the various allied countries on the conti-
nent which were victorious in the great
struggle. Just so soon as the allies dem-
onstrated their ability to sweep over the
fair country of the Germanic peoples, the
white flag went up and the enemy signi-
fied that he would submit to any 'terms
the allies saw fit to impose.

The year 191 6 was the first one in
which the honors did not go to the Ger-
mans. In the two years next preceding,
the Germans carried on extremely vigor-
ous offensives, both of which came to
within an inch of complete victory. Hut

in 1916 the only consolation Germany
could get out of the campaign was that
she improved matters near its close by
concentrating all her reserve forces
against Roumania and overrunning the
larger part of that country. Neverthe-
less, she averted a disaster on the east in
that year only by employing many hun-
dreds of thousands of German troops on
that front which were urgently needed
elsewhere. Germany realized that the
armies of Austria-Hungary were in an
exhausted condition at mid-summer in
1917, and that but for the assistance
given by Germany the weary dual empire
would have been overwhelmed, carrying
down to ruin with her Bulgaria and Tur-
key, and ultimately Germany, herself.
As we saw in Chapter XI, it was the
obvious inability of her armies under
existing conditions to wage victorious
offensives on either of the main fronts
that nerved Germany to resort to unre-
stricted f rightfulness on the sea and incur
the hostility of the United States.

Nineteen-seventeen was a peculiar year
in the war. It opened under the most
favorable circumstances the allies had en-
joyed up to that time, yet it was a year
of terrible disappointment of the most
unexpected sort. The setback exper-
ienced was not foreseen by Lloyd George
in January when he said "We are on the
verge of the greatest liberation the world
has seen since the French revolution."
Nor did the enemy's submarine venture
accomplish its purpose. Thanks to the
effective work of the allied navies, the
conservation of food in America and the
speeding-up of shipbuilding programs)

184 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1913

Russian Armored Cruiser "Ruric."

Austrian Coast Defense Battleship "Hapsburg" at Sea, Surrendered to Italy.

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

185

along with the rejection of non-essential
cargoes, the enemy's plan to starve
Britain and shut off military supplies
destined for France, was a miserable fail-
ure. The year also saw the great North
American republic, the United States,
and plucky little Greece under Venizelos,
enlist with the forces of civilization. The
upset to the calculations of both the
Huns and the civilized nations was pro-
vided by the revolution in March which
swept away Czarism and crippled still

near Cambrai and almost simultaneously
the enemy inflicted a disastrous defeat on
the Italian armies on the Isonzo, captur-
ing no less than 300,000 men and 3,000
guns, representing one-half of the artil-
lery and one-fourth of the personnel of
the Italian field armies.

At the opening of the year 1918 the
anxiety of the allied nations was in
marked contrast with the jubilant spirit
of the German warlords. The enemy's
highest command was convinced that it

Provisional government troops guarding the central telephone station in Petri

am the Bolsheviki

further the military efficiency of Russia
which already had suffered from the
treachery of Germans in high places at
the court of St. Petersburg. The im-
potency of the Russian armies from an
offensive viewpoint enabled the Germans
and Austrians to move large numbers of
troops from the east to the western and
southwestern fronts. Thus reinforced, the
enemy countered effectively when Brit-
ish troops under General Byng broke
through the German front with tanks

would not be possible for the United
States to develop an army large and
efficient enough to be any considerable
factor in the year's campaign and it was
equally certain that the armies of France
and Britain, which had had to send help
to Italy during the previous Fall, would
be unable to prevent bhe piercing of the
allied battle-front by new methods and
the defeat in detail of the separated allied
armies.

Yon Hindenburg, the German gener-

186

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

alissimo, openly boasted that he would be
in Paris in April. His chief lieutenant,
Ludendorff, declared that nothing could
rob Germany of victory. The Kaiser
Wilhelm, himself, became so infected by
the enthusiasm of his military advisers
that he permitted the attack that was
being prepared to be referred to as "The
Kaiser's Offensive." Instead of pussy-
footing for peace as he had been doing
throughout 1917 he flaunted his political
advisers, vetoed the no-indemnity-no-

strength by the enemy gave him a numer-
ical superiority in March of but little
more than one hundred thousand men.
but he knew that his advantage in unity
of command, standardization of organi-
zation and the ability to concentrate
reserves where they could be of the most
value, which the allies did not possess,
was worth several hundred thousand men.
He also knew that more troops were
hurrying westward and by the middle of
May would bring his numerical superior-

These Russian soldiers were made of the right stuff and when called upon to fight to down the enemies
of democracy, willingly took up arms and fought a courageous battle.

annexation policy of the Reichstag and
imposed an oppressive peace on Russia
and Roumania, by treaties signed at
Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest in Febru-
ary and March.

By the spring of 1918 the German
armies in France and Belgium were at
least half a million stronger than they
were a year earlier while those of the
allies, actually fit for the front, were little
if any more numerous. This accession of

ity in troops actually available for the
firing line up to five hundred thousand.
Consequently, he had little doubt of his
ability to destroy the allied armies before
the military power of the United States
coidd come into play. So great was his
confidence that he figured that he could
afford to take chances.

Perhaps the best plan open to the
enemy was to concentrate against the
French. The morale of France was

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

187

shakier and the army of France was more
exhausted than were those of Britain.
In April and May of 1917 the political
situation in France caused the allies con-
cern owing to the war-weariness of the
people. It was possible, therefore, that
even though the French army were not
destroyed by a smashing German attack,
the morale of the nation would not bear
the tremendous increase in casualties in-
volved in the French bearing the brunt
of the German attack.

against the British and only reluctantly
did he yield to Petain's request, which
was backed up by the Supreme Allied
War Council which had been formed to
tide the allies over the supreme crisis of
the war.

The plan that Hindenburg actually
did put into operation was to attack the
British on the .50-mile front extending
from La Fere on the Oise river to the
region of Arras on the Scarpe river. The
enemy's generalissimo knew that the

A striking glimpse of Russia's army of women. 2.500 in number, drilling behind the trenches at the central

western front.

General Petain, the French command-
er-in-chief, seems to have expected
Hindenburg to concentrate against the
French. The most likely point of attack
against the French was in the Rheims
region and Petain strongly urged Gen-
eral Haig. the British commander-in-
chief, to take over twenty-eight more
miles of front on both sides of St. Quen-
tin but mostly south of that city. General
Haig was not sure that the Germans'
confidence would not lead to an attack

southern third of this fiont was weakly
held, that its rear defences were not com-
pleted and that the bulk of the British
reserves were well to the north behind a
vital portion of the line while the bulk
of the French reserves were well to the
east in the region of Rheims where the
French were awaiting an onslaught. He
argued that if he could make a huge
In-each in the allied front at the point
where the British front ended and the
French front began, the German armies

188

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

could push well through, turn, and then
roll up the lines of the separated allied
armies, driving the British northwest-
ward towards the Straits of Dover and
the French southeastward towards the
Swiss frontier, in which case Paris woidd
be gathered in without trouble and the
allied armies be destroyed at leisure.

During her last bid for victory, made
on the western front in 1918, Germany
used 3,000,000 men. Of these 2,500,000
were on hand and available when the
great opening attack was made upon the
British on March 21st. The British
armies at that time held a front of 125
miles stretching northward from the Oise
river in France, to a point just beyond
Ypres in Belgium. The order of the
British armies from south to north Mas
Fifth, Third, First and Second, their
commanders, in the same order, being
Generals Gough, Byng, Home and
Plumer. Although the British held but-
little more than one-fourth of the entire
battle-front between Switzerland and the
North Sea they really were playing a
much more important part than the
length of line indicated for opposed to
them were two and a half times as many
Germans to the mile as were to be found
elsewhere. This was true even before the
Germans massed their troops for the final
offensive.

The methods the Germans would use
in their attack were known to the allies.
The British army headquarters frankly
published a statement in the middle of
February in which the British officers
said that the Germans, after training
their troops for a dash over destroyed
trenches and for open fighting beyond
were already bringing their men forward
towards the line and that after a few
hours' violent bombardment the assaidt
troops, which would stealthily enter the
front trenches during the night after a
long march, would "go over the top." It
was expected that powerful tanks, shells
combining high explosives and gases and
vast numbers of mobile guns that would

Premier Nikolai Lenine of the Bolshevik Russian
Government.

keep pace with the advancing infantry,
would feature the German onslaught.
This whole program was carried out as
anticipated by the intelligence corps
of the British army with the exception
that the German tanks played a very
unimportant part.

All through the winter of 1917-18 the
British army prepared for a defensive
in the first half of the 1918 fighting sea-
son or until sufficient troops from Amer-
ica were ready for offensive operations.
It was considered quite possible that a
retirement from St. Quentin to the
Somme bend at Peronne might be forced,
and the bridgehead at Peronne was very
powerfully fortified and the whole line of
the Somme prepared as a defensive posi-
tion. It was felt that more ground could
be yielded safely here than farther north
and it was in the Arras region that the
•strongest measures were taken to check
an enemy advance. Along the whole
front, the first two or three miles back

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1018

189

from No Man's Land constituted an out-
post line studded with redoubts and
machine gun nests. It was hoped that
the Germans, after their preparatory
bombardment, woidd suffer staggering
losses in trying to overwhelm the sur-
vivors of this thinly-held outpost area and
that when they reached the main battle-
positions on the far side their assaults
would collapse.

All the weather conditions favored the
German attack. The season was excep-

through and immediately it became nec-
essary for the forces on either side to
retreat in order to avoid being hopelessly
outflanked.

To say that the world was astounded
and thrown into a state of consternation
by this German success is to state the
truth mildly. The average person had
come to believe that siege warfare woidd
be continued until the end of the war.
People had been told so many times that
it was beyond the power of either side to

Flight of Rus

The camera caught a handful of the thousands as they fled in disorder from the foe.

tionally advanced and extraordinarily
dry but the enemy waited until he was
sure that a heavy morning mist would
overhang the battle area. Then after a
bombardment exceeding in fury anything
the world ever had known the storm
troops dashed forward. On the first day
they broke well into the outpost positions
but made no alarming progress. The
next day, seeing signs of weakness in the
St. Quentin region, the enemy redoubled
his efforts in that quarter and broke cleat.

break through and the slow variation of
the battle-line in other years had so de-
stroyed their hopes that they looked for
nothing very spectacular on land and
certainly not a war of movement. The
fact that for years the British had not
lost a gun and that in 1916 and 1917 the
British had conducted repeated offensives
against the enemy with ever-increasing
success, had lulled them into a sense of
security which even the desertion of Rus-
sia with one-half of all the allied soldiery

190

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

and the disastrous defeat of the Italian
army a few months before had not swept
awaj .

The German success in the closing days
of March were most impressive. Two
days after the battle began Berlin claimed
the capture of 16,000 British soldiers and
200 guns. These figures soon grew to
70,000 British prisoners and 1,200 guns
captured. The efforts of General Gough
to stay his retreat at the So.nme were not
successful. The fortified British defences
on a 60 mile front soon were obliterated.
The dryness of the season enabled the
Germans to break across at unexpected
points and fearing that his somewhat dis-
organized army was in no condition to
make a stand and that a debacle- might
result from a rash attempt to hang on,
General Gough ordered the abandonment
of the great Peronne bridgehead.

As the enemy advanced, gap after gap
opened in the living battle-front the allies
tried to present to the foe. The British,
aided by the French, had the utmost dif-
ficulty preventing the enemy from getting
far to the rear of their main forces.
Cavalry had not shown to advantage on
other occasions but the British command-
er-in-chief himself bears testimony to the
fact that on this occasion but for the
heroic sacrifices made by the cavalry that
dashed forward to fill the gaps as they
appeared, it is hard to see how. the tide
of defeat could have been stayed. Labor
units under Generals Grant and Carey,
Canadian and American engineers who
happened to be in the line of advance,
and even Chinese coolies were thrown into
the breaches. These, with the aid of
troops hurriedly detached from the near-
est French armies and of Canadian cav-
alry, and some light tanks, performed
invaluable services. Without them,
Amiens could not have been saved.

Advancing at the rate of seven miles
a day for six days, the Germans by March
28th, were 43 miles beyond their starting
point at St. Quentin and their guns near
Montdidier were shelling the most im-

Real head of the Greek government and the com-
mander of the Allied forces in Greece. Left to right:
Eleutherius Venizelos, the prime minister of Greece,
and the real head of the Greek government, with
Genera! Sarrail, French commander of the Allied
forces in Greece.

portant of the allies' lateral lines of com-
munication, which ran through Amiens.
At the same time projectiles from a mar-
vellous cannon were dropping on Paris
from a point more than 80 miles away in
the forest of St. Gobain, near Laon.

It was hoped by the Germans that this
new form of frightfulness, and the exag-
gerated stories of panic-stricken civilian
refugees, would cause the complete col-
lapse of the morale of France. In this
the enemy was disappointed. Premier
Clemenceau rose to the occasion by a dis-
play of sublime courage. The French
army never showed to better advantage.
It quickly put into effect plans for mutual
co-operation that already existed, and
took over ten miles of British front which,
by the determined advance of the enemy
soon was stretched to a length of fifty
miles, extending easterly and westerly and

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAH 1918

191

Ferdinand, King of Roumania.

not northerly and .southerly as hefore.

Innumerable deeds of gallantry per-
formed by individuals and by units which
were performed in the path of the Ger-
man advance never will be chronicled.
Only a few have been recorded. One of
these is told by General Haig in his offi-
cial report. The enemy had swept over
Roisel, Peronne, Ham, Xesle, Bray,
Chaulnes and Roye and 100 men of the
Gist Brigade. 20th division, were told off
under the command of Captain E. C.
Combe, M. C, to make a stand at Ques-
ndy and cover the retreat of their division.
From early morning until six at night
this little detachment fought against ter-
rible odds until finally the order came for
it to retire. By that time only eleven of
the gallant one hundred survived. The
other eighty-nine had sacrificed them-
selves that their fellows might effect their
retirement and that the Great Cause for
which the allies fought might prevail.

Within ten days the enemy's drive

south of the Somme river definitely was
checked, notwithstanding the fact that
General Gough 's Fifth Army virtually
had been destroyed, and its commander
assigned to the task of preparing field de-
fences.

On March 26th, the British and French
government appointed General Foch as
governments appointed General Foch as
in the western arena. Two days later
General (rough was transferred and Gen-
eral Rawlinson was placed in command
of the British forces south of the Somme
river. At this time the Fourth British
Army, that Rawlinson previously had
commanded, was in reserve. North of
the Somme the battle-front stabilized fol-
lowing the crushing defeat of an attack
launched against Arras on March 28th.
Byng's Third Army had come through
the ordeal with flying colors, although on
several successive days it was dangerously
menaced by German troops that kept fil-
tering through and opening up new gaps.
At last every hole was plugged up and
every outflanking movement baffled and
the enemy was forced to turn elsewhere
in the hope of gaining a new success.

It always will be a matter of contro-
versy how much, if at all, General Gough
was to blame for the British reverse in
March. His commander-in-chief empha-
sizes the fact that while Byng with his
Third Army held only 27 miles of front,
with an average of one division to 4,700
yards, Gough with his Fifth Army held
a front of 42 miles, with an average oft
one division to every 6,750 yards of front.
In other words, relative to its task, the
Fifth Army was one-third weaker than
the Third Army. On the opening day
of the attack the enemy launched 64 divi-
sions against 29 British divisions, of which
only 19 actually were on the firing line,
the others being in reserve. Before this
first drive spent itself in front of Amiens,
the enemy had used 73 divisions and the
British 42 divisions.

The critical situation facing the allies
in the first week of April easily can be

192

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

71 '^XL^^77~]

Montenegrin Standard Bearer.

imagined. The Fifth British Army vir-
tually had been destroyed by the German
attack. Probably between one-half and
two-thirds of its numbers had been killed,
wounded or captured. The remainder
were in no condition for immediate fight-
ing and had to be sent to quiet parts of
the line or to reserve camps for rest and
reorganization. Even the Third Army
was in a serious state, from fighting night
and day without sleep and sometimes for
days at a stretch without food. Thus one-
half of the entire British forces in France
had been destroyed or had its fighting
efficiency dangerously impaired. At the
same time the length of battle-front that
had to be defended, in the open and with-
out the aid of elaborately fortified sys-
tems, had increased from fifty to one
hundred miles. Obviously, the British
were in no condition to take care of all
the new front, and the French army un-
der General Fayolle rapidly extended its
front westward," and with the aid of other
French troops concentrated 300,000 men
on the southern half of the huge salient
made by the German advance. This

drain on the French reserves and the
weakening of the French front along the
Aisne and elsewhere offered the enemy
the alternative of making a drive south-
ward towards Paris against the French
or westward towards the Channel ports
against the British. As the British were
in much the more serious condition, the
enemy elected to resume his offensive
operations by a smash westward from the
Aubers ridge on April 9th.

Before the German drive in Flanders
develoj)ed it became clear to most observ-
ers that the decisive struggle then pro-
gressing would continue throughout the
spring and summer and that victory
woidd depend on the speed with which the
belligerents put their last reserves into
the fray. The enemy, having failed to
gain complete success in March, was sure
to scour all Central Europe for men.
The allies, on their part, sent out mes-
sages for help to the outermost parts of
the earth. In one of these appeals, the '
British premier said to Canada's gov-
ernor-general "Let no one think that
what even-die remotest of our Dominions
can now do can be too late." The allies
also made the most urgent representations
to the United States to speed up the
transportation of troops to Europe. It
was found that the United States was
making elaborate preparations for war in
1919 and 1920 and was far behind in its
program for providing airplanes, guns
and munitions in 1918. The American
army was without adequate divisional or-
ganization for the troops when they
landed in France and the training of the
troops could not be hurriedly completed
on the continent. The allies, however,
persuaded the United States to rush for-
ward troops without their full equipment,
promising to make up all deficiencies,
themselves, so far as possible, and to assist
in the training. General Pershing splen-
didly co-operated by offering to permit
trained American troops to be brigaded
for service with British and French troops
and President Wilson agreed that if the

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1018 193

Prof. Thomas G. Masaryk, President of Czecho-Slovakia, Signing the Declaration of Independence
of Czecho-Slovakia, in Independence Hall, Philadelphia.

194

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

allies would find sufficient vessels, Amer-
ican troops would go forward at the rate
of 250,000 a month.

By the opening of April the Germans
already had overrun 1,200 additional
square miles of French soil and the hearts
of the French people, who had been hop-
ing for nearly four years to see the enemy
expelled, nearly stopped beating. It ap-
peared to be likely that the second drive
would be made in the north, and that the

ports of Calais and Boulogne. By April
3rd the world knew that trained Amer-
ican troops were marching down the roads
of France to share in the great ordeal on
the German offensive front. The total
number of American troops ready for
service at that time was about 200,000.

A number of circumstances favored the
German drive in Flanders in April.
Part of the front to be attacked was
manned by Portuguese who had been

Latest photo of Ex-King Constantine, Queen Sophie and their children at their castle in Switzerland. In
the family group sitting from left to right are Ex-Crown Prince George, Ex-Queen Sophie, Ex-King Con-
stantine and Princess Helene. Standing are Princess Katherine, Prince Paul and Princess Irene.

enemy would try to crowd the allies out
of the 300 square miles of Belgian soil
that they had managed to hold since the
beginning of the war. Colonel Reping-
ton, the London Times' correspondent,
had expressed the opinion that "grave
strategic decisions may not be only due
but overdue", by which he meant that per-
haps the allies already should have aban-
doned Ypres and the rest of Belgium and
northwestern France and the Channel

long without a rest period, who never had
experienced a real offensive and who were
in course of removal from the trenches
when the attack was launched. Another
part of the front was held by hard-tried
veterans who had been put in this sup-
posedly quiet sector after being terribly
decimated in the March fighting. Here,
too, the dryness of the season made pos-
sible a quick advance over the usually
muddy lowlands on both sides of the Lys

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918 19;

Tanan honors late American ambassador, provides cruiser to carry body to United States. The first-class
Japanese cruiser Azuma steaming from Tokio with the body of the late George W. Guthr.e, American
ambassador to Japan. The body was brought to San Francisco. Solemn ceremon.es marked the sailing of
the vessel.

196

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1918

river. At a point so far north, also, it
was much harder for the French and
American troops to render assistance. By
keeping after the overworked and partly
exhausted British army, the Germans
lioped to break the backbone of the allied
resistance and gain a triumph that woidd
repay them for all their losses in the
colossal struggle.

The fact that the British were antici-
pating an attack on the Flanders front
or in the Artois did not save them from a
second serious setback. The Germans
smashed forward on a 35-mile front to a
depth of 13 miles and in the first three
days of the attack captured more than
20,000 men and 200 guns. The line op-
posite the Portuguese was completely
pierced and only by the most desperate
gallantry of various British units was the
gap closed. The fact that the Australian
troops some weeks before had been moved
south to the Ancre river region made it
the more difficult to redeem the situation.
The enemy drove up the Lys valley and
turning northward menaced the line of
retreat of the British forces in the Ypres
salient. As they moved northward up
the slopes of the ridge on which Mount
Kemmel stood out like an island, it be-
came evident that the British had not the
power to wage an immediate counter-
offensive and that it was advisable to re-
duce the famous Ypres salient so as to
be in a better position to prevent a break-
through that would give the enemy the
Channel ports. Then on April 17th,
eight days after the enemy's drive began,
it was announced that Messines, Passch-
endaele, Zonnebeke, Hill 60 and Ilolle-
beke, and all the high ground that the
British, Canadian and Australasian
troops had taken at the cost of 150,000
casualties in 1917 had been abandoned to
the foe. It is known now that this was
in accordance with plans drawn up some
time before. These were carried out with
remarkable success, so that the enemy was
full of chagrin when he learned that the
enemy had eluded his grasp even before

Japanese Officers Representing japan
at Allied Councils.

he stretched out his hand. By dodging
the blow the enemy was preparing in Bel-
gium. General Plumer threw the enemy
off his stride and made it necessary for
him to go several miles over shell-muti-
lated ground and prepare all over again
for a great advance.

At this time General Maurice, the
director of British military operations, an
official located in England, was so con-
cerned about the course of operations and
possibly so prejudiced against the ap-
pointment of a generalissimo in the
person of Foeh, a military officer of a
foreign nation, that he broke into print
with the question "Where is Blucher?",
thereby intimating that the allied com-
mander-in-chief was not properly and
promptly supporting the British forces in
the field. For this extraordinary piece of
presumption he was removed from office.
It would have been impossible to retain
him and preserve sympathetic relations

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

197

with the sorely-tried French republic.
The answer to Genera] Maurice's ques-
tion came in a few days when French
troops went into the firing line north of
the Lys river and made vigorous local
counter-attacks.

A month after the enemy had begun
his spring campaign against the British

the enemy still was going strong-, hut in
reality he had shot his bolt against the
British. Although here and there evi-
dences of demoralization had heen seen,
on the whole the British army never had
fought better against terrible odds.
Small groups of men stood their ground
stubbornly when hopelessly outnumbered
and died to the hist man after taking an
awful toll of the advancing enemy. The
enemy knew that this year's campaign
was his last great gamble, with World
Power or Downfall as the stakes, and
that having gone into the venture there
could he no halting betwixt two opinions,
or counting of the cost. He was con-
scious of the fact that his own people and
those of his allies were weary of the strain
of Avar and that unless a complete
triumph were secured at once they would
refuse to go on with the struggle. And
so the enemy frantically spurred on his
devoted soldiery.

The marvellous effectiveness of the
steps taken by the British government to
baffle the enemy's offensive campaign
was evident within thirty days of the ini-
tial attack. Perhaps the British setback
would not have been as great if the same
degree of energy, combined with vision,
had heen shown earlier in the year. At
all events, the British were well supplied
with reserves of young and partly-trained
troops, and with reserves of ammunition,
guns and airplanes, all kept in England,
and by miracles of transportation it was
possible to say that within a month •_'<><>.-
000 fresh troops had heen put into France
and the numbers and equipment of the
British army brought quite u}' to what
they were before the German offensive
campaign began. By that time, also, it

Roumania's Queen Marie, a staunch supporter of
the Allied cause.

hecame known that the Germans had
used 1,600,000 men in the attacks during
the month, of whom more than 1,000,000
had heen used against the British. 300,000
against the French and another 300,000
against mixed forces of British and
French.

On April "2.5th Mount Keinmel was in
the hands of the Germans hut their prog-
ress had become painful and very slow.
They held positions in a narrow salient
against which a punishing tire could he
brought to hear from north, west and
south, and it seemed likely that their mad
rush again was restrained and that they
would be forced elsewhere to obtain a
spectacular success. During the- seven
weeks between March 2ls1 and April
30th. the armies of Britain were harder
pressed than ever before in their history
and they came through with Hying colors.
Not in the days of Wellington or Marl-
borough had they shown greater tenacity

198 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1918

199

or more conspicuous gallantry. Fifty-
five British divisions had fought to a
standstill no less than 109 German divi-
sions.

It was about this time — on April 23rd
— that the British navy essayed to do
what the British army in 1917 had at-
tempted, namely, to prevent the enemy
from using the German submarine bases
on the Belgian coast at Ostend and Zee-
brugge. Actually there was but one sub-
marine base and that was at Bruges,

at Ostend. Later, the best known of the
vessels used in the raid at Zeebrugge, the
Vindictive, which had put the landing
party on the Mole, was sunk as a block-
ade vessel off Ostend. These brilliant
performances by British seamen were
undertaken because of the evidence that
for months the British laud forces would
be in no position to deny the enemy the
use of his submarine bases. Their suc-
cess did much to stimulate the resolution
of the British people to persevere until

death Mow against Germans. The Roumanian army had been

Roumaniaij army reorg

reorganized by the French, and made ready to fight again.

some miles inland, from which canals ran
to Zeebrugge and Ostend. The spectacu-
lar raids made on the canals <at these
places, in which 150 vessels participated,
were very successful and for five months
denied to the enemy the use of the Bel-
gian coast for the purposes of submarines.
Three obsolete British cruisers, filled
with concrete, were sunk in the shifting
sands at the mouth of the canal at Zee-
brugge and two at the mouth of the canal

German militarism was destroyed, no
matter what the sacrifices.

When May was reached conflicting
opinions were expressed by various au-
thorities as to the war outlook. It was
reported that Lloyd George was almost
irritated by the quiet confidence of Gen-
eral Foch and that turning to the allied
generalissimo he asked whether Ik- meant
to he understood as saving that lie would
be rather in the position of the allies than

200

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

in the position of the Germans. It is said
that the allied generalissimo answered in
the affirmative. That may have been the
case, but General Foch undoubtedly was
looking at general conditions, the vast
reserves that were hurrying towards the
allies from America and to the final out-
come of the war rather than to the pros-
pects for the immediate future. General
Robertson of the British army was com-
plimented by the English press at this
time for warning the British people that
they must expect a long war, which was
an unfortunate view to express because it
was the very one that had prevented the
United States from being ready for the
fray in the spring of 1918 and the one,
which, if acted on, was most likely to
cause the allies to leave undone those
extreme things that needed to be done to
baffle and defeat the enemy once and for
all during the season's campaign. When
the middle of May was reached, the view
of the British headquarters staff, as semi-
officially uttered through the Associated
Press was that, "for the whole summer
the situation must continue to be an anx-
ious one."

By the middle of May the world
learned that General Foch had been
placed in command of all the allied forces
between the Adriatic and the North Seas.
Serious as matters were on the French
front, there was no certainty that they
would not become worse because of the
British and French having to increase
the aid they had extended to the Italians
towards the close of 1917. The Italian
army was so weakened by the Isonzo dis-
aster that the allies during the trying days
of the following March, April and May
had to ever bear in mind that the Italian
armies, although much improved in
morale and equipment, might not be able
to stand alone. It was clear that the
moves made on the western and south-
western fronts really would be part of
one great campaign and that the allied
cause was almost as much concerned with
one front as with the other. On that ac-

Last chapter in the famous Dumba incident. Good-
bye, Doctor Dumba. Doctor and Madame Constantin
Dumba aboard the S. S. Nieu Amsterdam, which car-
ried the for.mer Austrian Ambassador and his wife
back home on the request to his government by the
United States that he be recalled.

count it was desirable that the reserves of
all the allied nations should be pooled and
be located and used in the way calculated
to give the best results. When Foch took
over supreme command of the Italian
forces, it was understood that he had
under his control 1.200,000 British troops,
1,500,000 French, 250,000 Americans and
1,000,000 Italians. These figures, par-
ticularly of Americans and Italians, did

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

201

not represent all the troops in reserve and
in training.

On the 27th of May the German com-
mander-in-chief turned from the British
to attack the French. He had been
amazed to find that the British had 200,-
000 men whom they speedily could bring
over from England to the battle-front
and the fact that the British had made
good a large proportion of their losses
and that the Germans had suffered cas-
ualties estimated at .5.50,000 as against
the British 360,000 casualties, was quite

had been weakened appreciably by the
extension of its front westward and that
the only place where the French were
prepared and awaiting attack was east of
Rheims. They also may have emphasized
the fact that the numerous spurs running
from the Aisne ridge down to the river
would facilitate the German plan of in-
filtration and permit large forces to pass
in comparative shelter behind the spurs
into the valley and the bridgeheads be-
yond, thus cutting off the allied troops
remaining on the high around. Another

'Herzog Karl," Austrian Battleship Surrent:

disconcerting. There are some indica-
tions that the Kaiser Wilhelm and Von
Hindenburg were disposed to continue
all their efforts against the British but
that Ludendorff, Von Hindenburg's
quartermaster-general and chief lieuten-
ant, sided with the crown prince in
demanding that a terrific drive be made
against the French on the Aisne heights.
In support of their views, the crown
prince and Ludendorff probably urged
that the French front north of the Aisne

consideration was the fact that near the
point where the battle-front curved away
from the ridge and passed southward
across the Aisne, some overworked British
troops had been put in for a rest.

Whatever led the German leaders to
change their plans, the fact is that after
pounding the British for two months and
six days they gave the British a much-
needed rest and turned their attentions to
the comparatively fresh French armies.
They were then sixty miles away from

202

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

Paris and fifty miles from the Channel
ports. Obviously the allies had much
more freedom of movement when the
Germans turned southward than they
had when the waters of the Channel were
so close behind them. An advance of
twenty miles westward at almost any
point and of ten miles at some points
probably would have made it advisable
for the allies to abandon Dunkirk, Bel-
gium and the Channel ports and take up
a front along the lower Somme river.

in March did not indicate that the morale
of the British troops, which had been
good throughout four years of war,
had deteriorated, and whether the gen-
eralship was not even worse. It may be
that this feeling was weakened by the
developments following the German drive
beginning on May 27. On that day the
German troops swept across the Ailette
river, stormed the Aisne heights on the
far side and sweeping southward reached
the Aisne river in the rear of many thou-

On the whole it appears that the Ger-
mans were guilty of a first-class blunder
when they gave the British a breathing
spell that lasted for nearly two months
or until the allies were able to return to
the offensive. The best that can be said
for their tactics is that they hoped by a
sudden change of front to catch the allies
off their guard.

Up to this time there were some people
in France who were wondering whether
the great reverse suffered by the British

sands of allied troops. The British
troops sandwiched in among the French
were put in a particularly precarious po-
sition by the collapse of the French front
immediately west of them. The troops
of both nations, however, fought gallant-
ly. They were attacked by forces out-
numbering them by at least two to one.

Four days after the Aisne attack be-
gan the enemy was in full possession of
the famous Chemin Des Dames (Ladies'
Walk) and the territory taken by the

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

203

French at the cost of well on to two hun-
dred thousand casualties in the abortive
Xivelle offensive in April of the previous
year. Not only so, but the enemy was
30 miles beyond his starting- point, hav-
ing driven a mighty wedge into the allied
front that reached all the way to the
Marne river. The front of attack was
more than forty miles wide. During the
first three days of his advance the victor-
ious enemy captured more than 400 guns
and more than 45,000 prisoners, and

Marne river, sixteen miles apart. The
check to the enemy administered by the
Americans came at a critical moment.
The enemy for the second time in the war
was across the Marne river and heading
for Paris. The Americans, with some
French troops, tackled the enemy at
Chateau Thierry and at Jaulgonne, on
the east, and hurled the enemy back to
the north bank. The enemy was not in
great strength, fortunately, but his loss
of the bridgehead held up his advance

Types of Austrian Troops That Invaded Roumania.

British papers printed statements to the
effect that the whole war situation had
become one of "the utmost gravity."
During their advance to the Marne the
enemy crossed two important lateral lines
of communication, including the railway
running to Verdun from Paris through
Kheims.

June the 4th saw some signs of im-
provement from the allied viewpoint. On
that day troops from the United States
came into action at two points on the

and made it necessary for him to make
elaborate preparations for forcing the
river. The general situation still caused
uneasiness and Premier Clemenceau,
whose frequent visits to the front did
much to inspire confidence on the part of
both civilians and military, took the pre-
caution of ordering the creation of a
Committee for the Defence of Paris.

It has not been made clear as to what
extent, if at all, the defeat on the Aisne
heights was due to the faulty staff work

'204

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

A United States Soldier Completely Equipped tor
Service On his back this American fighting man
carries his blanket roll, small shovel, bag, etc. His
canteen is at his belt. He is armed with a 30 calibre
U. S. Army rifle. Minimum weight for maximum
efficiency is the principle upon which his whole out-
fit has been designed.

of the local commander. There are some
indications that the defensive measures

were not of the best. The measures put
into effect two weeks later when the en-
emy tried to widen his offensive front
and merge the new Marne salient with
the Montdidier salient by attacking on
both sides of the Oise river were extra-
ordinarily successful and the local coun-
ter-attacks were much more powerful
and •effective than on any previous occa-
sion. American troops near Montdidier
had some part in delivering these counter
blows. While the enemy advanced a
maximum distance of six miles on a front
of thirty miles he did not gain a spectac-
ular success, a fact which was not covered
up by the declaration of the Prussian
War Minister that as a result of the two
blows a large part of the French army
had been defeated.

The Aisne attack was a most spectac-
ular victory, bought at a very low price,
but the attack on the Oise sector un-
doubtedly cost the enemy more casualties
than it cost the French and the enemy
made no appreciable progress towards
his goal, which was the destruction of the
British and French armies before the
power of the United States could be
made to tell. American troops continued
to arrive at the rate of a quarter of a mil-
lion a month and already those that had
preceded them were rendering aid of
some consequence.

The severe check administered to the
Germans early in June at the Oise gave
the enemy something to think about. It
forced him to take time to make more
careful preparation for his next attack
which, in view of the advance in the sea-
son, necessarily had to be much more
Successful than any that had preceded it.
This delay was imposed on the enemy
when it was only too plain to him that
speed was the essence of victory. The
situation for the enemy was most exas-
perating. He was tantalizingly near to
the Channel ports and tantalizingly near
to the French capital, possession of either
of which would have given him a' power-
ful lever in securing peace. No doubt he

The Victorious

Premier Venizelos, the man
who did most to bring Greece
in on the side of the allies.

Crown Prince Alexander of
King Victor Emmanuel Gen. Diaz, commander in chief Serbia, commander of the

of Italy. of the Italian armies. Serbian army.

->Mi

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1018

also felt he was tantalizingly near to
overpowering the hard-pressed allied
armies which, however, always seemed to
have just enough strength left to haffle
his efforts to deliver the coup de mort.

A circumstance that added to the irri-
tation of the enemy was the tardiness of
the Austrians in striking on the Italian
front. The German warlords felt that a
triumph on the Italian front, where the
allies held vulnerable positions, would
help materially their campaign in France.

Cheered by these developments, Lloyd
George declared that "there is not the
slightest doubt in my mind, surveying the
whole facts, that our victory will be com-
plete." A few days later, Von Kuehl-
mann, the German Foreign Minister, was
dismissed for stating that a military vic-
tory was beyond the reach of either side,
a view he probably was put up to express
in the hope of evoking a favorable
response from the allied side, and a view
that the Kaiser and Von Hindenburg are

The great Teutonic drive into Russia. Austrian troops with arms stacked enjoying a brief rest in the

mountains.

In the middle of June the Austrians did
attack, but after an opening success of
considerable dimensions, nature opened
the floodgates of heaven and severed
communication witli the far bank of the
Piave river, and the Austrian offensive
collapsed. Almost simultaneously the
Germans made a minor attack, with
40,000 men against the acute salient
around Rheims, and this, too, was a dis-
mal failure.

supposed to have shared. The extremists
among the warlords were furious at this
moderate statement, which was not un-
reasonable considering that the German
losses of nearly a million men in less than
four months had not brought a decisive
success.

An estimate of the German and allied
casualties in the four drives of the Ger-
man offensive campaign taking place
before the first of July is as follows:

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

207

German Allied

Offensive. casualties. casualties.

March 31 3.50,000 200,000

April 9 200,000 160,000

May 27 12.5,000 1.50,000

June 9 22.5,000 150,000

Total casualties • —

Mar. 31-July 1 900,000 060,000

The fifth and last of the drives' of the
German offensive campaign in 1918 be-
gan on July 1.5. The allied battle-front,
which formerly had stretched in a general
direction northerly to the North Sea from
the Aisne, now appeared as a bent and
twisted thing. It bagged alarmingly in
three places as a result of the driving
forward of the German battering-ram.
These huge salients were west of Lille in
the Lys valley, between Arras and Sois-
sons and between Soissons and Rheims,
the last two being referred to sometimes
as the Montdidier and Marne salients.
Retween these two salients in the German
line the allied line curved sharply away
from Paris around the forests of Villiers-
Cotterets and Compiegne. On the south
end of this salient, between the Marne
and the Aisne, French and American
troojis applied persistent pressure during
June and drove the enemy back two or
three miles but without reducing the
Marne salient to a degree dangerous for
the Germans.

The enemy, as we have seen, was very
anxious to merge the Marne and Mont-
didier salients and acquire a broad front
opposite Paris from which he could
maintain a continuous bombardment of
the city with a multitude of guns capable
of firing forty miles, but the allied resist-
ance here was too strong, and he deter-
mined to wage east of Rheims the offen-
sive he had prepared earlier in the season,
attacking southward, at the same time as
he tried to move southward and south-
eastward from the east side of the Marne
salient. He was aware that Foch had
massed troops between the Marne front
and Paris and he hoped that by eluding
these by going round them on the east,

A United States Naval Militia Bugler Sounding
Call "To the Colors"

he could surround Rheims and sweep
over Epernay and Chalons with ease, and
three days later be forty miles from his
starting point and far to the southeast
of Paris. Such a success would have
placed the allied armies in a more serious
position than they were in the opening
month of the war.

The last German offensive in the war
was doomed to failure from the outset.

208

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1018

200

The enemy used half a million men in
this effort and would have put in more
had his initial attack obtained success.
He made the cardinal error of putting
into the Marne salient, which was 25
miles deep and only 2.5 miles across, hun-
dreds of thousands of men with the vast
supplies of material required for a great
drive. His lines of communication within
the salient were vulnerahle to shellfire
from three directions and his thickly-
massed troops were sure to encounter a

better. Under the skilful leadership of
General Gouraud, they withdrew from
the heights of Moronvilliers, evaded the
blow dealt at them and terribly decimated
the enemy as he advanced across the shat-
tered outpost positions. The enemy's
advance here averaged only a mile and a
half on a 2.5-mile front. The enemy was
in such apparent difficulty in his isolated
position south of the Marne and he had
suffered such heavy losses at all points
without compensation, that General Foch

Nation's defense in the hands of these men. The Council of National Defense and the Advisory Com-
mission and tl directors and secretaries of both bodies in joint session in the office of the Secretary of

War, Washington, D. C.

punishing fire. The consequence was
that the best the enemy could do west of
Rheims was to advance a maximum dis-
tance of five miles on a 2.5-mile front, the
average being only three miles. This
advance enabled him to gain a precarious
foothold or bridgehead south of the
Marne. Here the Americans did excep-
tionally well and they and the French
always were masters of the situation.
East of Rheims the French did even

concluded that the time bad come for
snatching the initiative from the enemy.
And so on July the 18th, three days after
the opening of the Germans' final offen-
sive effort, the allied generalissimo let
loose the allied thunderbolt and French
and American troops began the first
allied offensive of the year by attacking
the 25 miles of German front nearest to
Paris. In this onslaught the allies used
200,000 troops.

210 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR

1918

The Honorable Robert Lansing, Secretary of State by reason of the resignation of Secretary Bryan.

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

211

The allied attack was successful beyond
all expectations. As the German storm
troops facing eastward battered them-
selves in vain against the allied defences
on the east side of the Marne salient the
allied offensive troops, also facing east-
ward, smashed in the western side of the
salient on which the Germans were stand-
ing on the defensive. Thus an attacking
allied army was moving in the same direc-
tion, roughly, as the German attacking
forces on the far side of the salient and at
a distance of only 2.5 miles in their rear, a
situation seldom seen in warfare. In the
first two days of their attack the allies
advanced eight miles, capturing 17,000
Germans and 360 guns. Within two
weeks, notwithstanding the most frantic
opposition, they had advanced 16 miles,
the Marne salient had been reduced, 500
square miles of the soil of France had
been redeemed, and 30,000 Germans and
500 cannon had been captured.

The turning back of the tide of Ger-
man invasion in 1918 was due to the same
causes as explain the ebbing of the tide
of German militarism in 1914. The
enemy was overconfident and underrated
the offensive powers of the allied forces,
and as a result, made inadequate pro-
vision for the protection of the right flank
of his advancing armies. And so when
the allied shock troops attacked on July
18 under General Mangin they turned
the flank of Von Boehm's army as Gen-
eral Manoury four years before, at the
previous battle of the Marne, had turned
the flank of Von Kluck's army. On each
occasion the enemy was taken at a serious
disadvantage and had to retreat. By
tremendous effort and at great sacrifice
immediate disaster was averted, but the
setback in both battles deprived the Ger-
mans of their chance of victory and
doomed them to ultimate defeat. In 1914
the commander-in-chief of the German
armies was Von Moltke; in 1918 it was
Von Hindenbnrg.

No greater mistake can be made than
to imagine that General Foch had lured

Getting Peady to Pay the Bovs at Camp Meade.
No less than $300,000 is in sight here.

the Germans on to the Marne by pretend-
ing weakness and that he was sure of vic-
tory when he struck back. The whole
period from March 21 to July 15 was
one of genuine anxiety for the allied mili-
tary leaders and statesmen and as late
as the middle of June the allies were dis-
cussing whether it would be better to
evacuate Paris or the Channel ports.
When the Germans began their last of-
fensive on July 15, they had a superiority
of half a million men on the western front
or three times the numerical superiority
they had on March 21st. A much larger
proportion of their men, however, had
become battle-worn owing to unparal-
leled exertions. There is not the slightest
doubt that General Foch was gravely
concerned about the degree of success the
enemy might gain in July. He felt that
the allies could not afford to give more
ground as any considerable German ad-
vance would imperil the integrity of the
allied armies or at least put the enemy in
a position where he could bring great
pressure on the allies to make peace.

General Foch took terrible risks in
July in preparing to prevent a German
advance on Paris. He concluded that the
enemy meant to make an attack in that
direction and therefore he withdrew 200,-

212 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1918

Secretary of the Treasury, William J. McAdoo, Resigned. Mr. McAdoo, the son-in-law of the President,
U. S. Railroad Administrator, Resigned.

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

213

000 men from positions north of the
Somme and held them in readiness in the
region between Paris and the nearest
point on the battle-front. Superior Ger-
man forces under Prince Rupprecht of
Bavaria still were menacing the vital
northern .sector and had the German
strategists learned of the secret move-
ment southward of allied reserves they
might have made another dash forward
towards the month of the Somme and
imperilled all the allied troops in Flan-
ders and the Artois. The enemy appears
to have been ignorant of the secret con-
centration of allied reserves opposite
Paris at the expense of the northern allied
front and when at comparatively low cost
the allies on the Marne and in the Cham-
pagne baffled the enemy's blow on July
15, without employing the bulk of their
reserves, an obvious opportunity to upset
his plans and secure the initiative devel-
oped.

We have the authority of General Foch
for the statement that he had in his mind
no grandiose plan for winning the war
when he turned to the offensive. In self-
defence he had to strike back at the
Marne and later on he found opportu-
nities for waging a genuine offensive
campaign. The enemy's stupidity in
putting his head into the Marne salient
noose gave Foch his first chance, and
finding his first drive so successful, Foch
thought he would try another, and the
second led to the third, and the offensive
front gradually widened out until the at-
tack extended to the whole 200 miles of
front between Verdun and the North
Sea. The main idea of General Foch in
the early weeks of the offensive Mas to
put the enemy into a new hole just before
he succeeded in getting out of another
hole. On each occasion the enemy had
to engage additional portions of his re-
serves until finally he lost his offensive
power and even the ability to defend him-
self. The factor that contributed most to
the success of the successive allied drives
was the extraordinary secrecy of concen-

Soldiers charge German dummies for Red Cross
benefit at Fort Hamilton. Besides the event shown
in this picture, there were artillery and machine
gun drills by the soldiers

tration against the sectors to be attacked.
This, also, was the real explanation of
the advantages gained by the enemy in
his four-months' offensive campaign. At
one time it was thought that the huge
quantities of war material and the masses
of men required for an offensive could
not be brought up to any front without
being seen by the enemy in time to give
ample warning. It also was thought that
weeks of bombardment were necessary to
reduce the enemy's fortified positions.
But as the quantities of munitions and
the number of guns along the entire front
multiplied, their significance became less
obvious, as indicating the nearness of an
offensive, and in time it became apparent
that a bombardment of but a few hours
would suffice to obliterate the strongest
fortified systems. Consequently, all that
remained to do to obtain the tremendous
advantage of surprise and bring about a
war of movement Avas to have hundreds
of thousands of men ready to hurl
through the breach before the enemy
could discover the plan and make a simi-
lar concentration opposite the breach. It
was this new element of surprise due to
the artillery of the offensive mastering
the fortified systems of the defensive that
revolutionized warfare on the western
front and that distinguished the campaign

214 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

Hon. Newton S. Baker, Secretary of War,

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1918

21.5

of 1918 from those that preceded it.

Foeh's second blow, delivered with a
view to retaining the much-prized initia-
tive, was struck by British and French
troops south of the Somme river on Aug-
ust 8th. In this attack most of the glory
went to the Canadian and Australian
troops, which with the 51st British divi-

without it being necessary to employ
them, the Canadians were given a special
course of training back of Arras. When
the time came for the attack on the
Somme front, Foch gave orders for the
strictest secrecy and for elaborate meas-
ures for deceiving the Germans. While
the bulk of the Canadian troops were

Battleship Pennsylvania, Super-Dreadnaught.

sion and a few others comprised the best
assault troops in the British army. The
Canadian army corps had been on the
Vimy front in March and then were taken
out and moved south so as to be ready to
cope with the enemy in the event of a
deadly break through. The crisis passing

smuggled under cover of night to the
Amiens region, some battalions were
moved northward to Belgium, where they
moved down the roads in broad daylight
with colors flying and bands playing, and
were put into the Bring line near Mount
Kemmel. Here telephone conversations

216 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

The Hon. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navv

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

217

were put on for the express benefit of the
German listeners and enemy spies. A
few American troops and British shock
troops also went through movements si in-
gesting that an attack was about to be
made. Then when the enemy was taking-
steps to meet a tremendous attack on the
Mount Eemmel front, the camouflage
troops were rushed hack to their own
units and the mighty drive up the Somn.e
valley began.

13 miles on a front of 25 miles taking
1-1,000 prisoners and hundreds of guns
during the first day of their advance.
Many units took more prisoners than the
total number of their casualties. By the
end of the first day the main line of com-
munication and retreat for the enemy
within the Montdidier salient was gravely
threatened and the enemy was under the
necessity of evacuating it at a much faster
rate than he abandoned tin- apex of the

Battles

;r-Dreadnaught, on Speed Trial.

The second battle of the Somme was
a splendid victory for the British and
French. The Fourth Army under Gen-
eral Rawlinson represented the British.
The enemy was completely surprised and
Swept off liis feet. With the aid of tanks
and thousands of mounted troops, the
allies advanced a maximum distance of

Marne salient. By August 12, the enemy
was retreating on most of the 100-mile
front between Amiens and Rheims. In-
stead of being in Paris as he had fondly
hoped less than a month before when he
attacked on the Manic the enemy was
retiring towards the Hindenburg line
after suffering at least 325,000 casualties

218

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

— 80,000 of whom were captives in the
hands of the allies — and losing 1,400 guns
and 850 square miles of French territory.
It must not he thought that the world
by this time had formed the opinion that
the enemy would lose the war in 1918.
The public simply felt that the period of
the most intense anxiety probably was
past. Some of the highest military au-
thorities reminded the public that the

the great American war expert, also inti-
mated that the enemy retirement to the
Hindenburg line blight be unfortunate
for the allies as it had been the year be-
fore, that the allies would have to slowly
advance through innumerable fortified
lines before they reached victory, and that
the threat to German home territory in
possible thrusts by the American army
"will hardly be grave." He even went so

Pres

Wilson and Poincare driving- to the house of Prince Murat in Paris, which during the Peace Con-
ference is to he the White House Overseas.

Germans had sprung a come-back after
the Byng tank attack near Cambrai in
November of 1917 and that the same
thing might happen again. Colonel Rep-
ington of the London Times expressed
the opinion that the Germans might re-
sume their offensive and he advised Gen-
eral Foch not to be imprudent and try
for a knockout in 1918. Frank Simonds,

far as to say that "our enemy has too
many reserves and too many prepared
positions behind his present front to be
in danger of disaster this year and prob-
ably next." It is clear that at this time
some of the experts did not sense the real
situation.

On August 19 the French attacked on
the front east of the Oise river. Their

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1918

219

advance here linked up the allied of-
fensive fronts north of the Marne and
east of Amiens. At this time the Ger-
mans still clung to Rove and Chaulnes
and held positions in the old battle zones
of 1915-16 west of the upper Somme.
Two days later the British Third Army
under General Byng drove forward to
the south of Arras, advancing five miles
on a 17-mile front and securing 10,000

allied attack in the 1918 campaign was
the first to signify that the German
armies would be overthrown in the fight-
ing season of that year. Some mention
the attack made on October 8, when the
Hindenburg line was breached between
Cambrai and St. Quentin. It is more
likely that the attacks made by the Cana-
dians and other British troops east of
Arras in the week beginning August

ent and Mrs. Wilson in 1 '. r e -. t . France, on Board S. S. George Washington.

prisoners. Here the British were moving
at right angles to their battle-front in the
first battle of the Somme. The ease with
which they filtered down the Bapaume
ridge between the numerous fortified lines
of the previous battle quickly discredited
the views then in circulation about the im-
pregnability of the positions they were
about to attack.

Opinions differ as to which particular

27th really determined that the enemy
would have to submit. In the drives of
July 18 and August 8 the allies surprised
an enemy who virtually was out in the
open, protected by only improvised de-
fences and occupying ugly salients. On
August 27th, however, lie was expecting
an attack and felt confident in the
strength of the permanent fortified sys-
tems he had prepared with the utmost

220 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

Rear Admiral William S. Sims, Who Commanded U. S. Fleet Abroad

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IX THE YEAR 1918

221

care during the preceding - two years.
These included the famous Drocourt-
Queant switch line, with a section of the
Hindenburg line in front of it and another
line behind it. The Canadians, who had
been taken out of the Somnie front a few
days after that drive began and by a wide
detour of more than fifty miles had been
brought up to the Arras front, were sup-
posed by the enemy to be taking a rest,
whereas they were sent hurling through
the Hindenburg line on August 27 and a

rest that alone could stave off disaster.
German officers have admitted that the
smashing of the lines east of Arras by
the Canadians dashed any lingering hopes
they had of averting defeat.

The grand work of the Canadians had
appreciable results both north and south.
It hastened a German retirement from
the Lys river salient which already had
begun and it speeded up the retirement
north of the Somnie. On August 29
Bapaume and Combles were taken, Mount

American Artillerymen on the Marne Front.

few days later through the even more
powerful Drocourt line. Each of these
so-called lines consisted of several series
of entrenchments, with elaborate under-
ground tunnels and innumerable redoubts
and machine gun posts. The wonderful
success of the Canadians, with little or no
help from tanks, against the positions re-
lied on by the enemy to check the allied
advance, convinced the high German com-
mand that it had do artificial defences
that could give its overworked armies the

Kemmel was abandoned to the British
and the enemy was in retreat on the 70
miles of front between Ypres and
Peronne. The general situation made it
inevitable that the enemy also should
withdraw on the 80 miles of front between
Peronne and Rheims.

By September 12 it was evident that
the Germans were losing ground much
faster than they had gained it in the
spring campaign. That day was made
famous in history by the army of the

222 THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

A Depth Bomb need not actually bit a submarine to destroy it.

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

•2-2:)

United States launching its first inde-
pendent offensive effort. The work as-
signed to it was the elimination of the St.
Mihiel salient which had resisted the pres-
sure brought against it by the French dur-
ing four years of warfare. The salient
was in the shape of a foot. It had been
.there since September, 1914, when Ger-
man militarism tried to stride across the
Meuse south of St. Mihiel and trample
over prostrate France. The foot was ar-
rested at St. Mihiel when poised for the
next step. The First American Army
under General Liggett, acting under the
supervision of General Pershing, attacked
this salient from the north and from the
south, and crushed it in as though it were
an eggshell, taking well on to 15,000 pris-
oners and more than 100 guns. The
French troops co-operating with the
Americans, took 7,000 prisoners. In
August as many as 322,000 American
troops landed in France and the number
of men available for the front was in the
neighborhood of half a million. The wip-
ing out of the St. Mihiel salient per-
mitted General Foch to go on with plans
for attacks on the all-important German
lateral line of communication running
through Sedan and Montmedy or for an
attack in Lorraine, south of Metz.

On the day in which the Americans
struck first as an independent army, the
German Vice-Chancellor, Von Payer, an-
nounced that "Strong and courageous in
the consciousness of our own invincibility,
we laugh a! the idea that we Should first
penitently ask for mercy before we are
admitted to peace negotiations." This
speech was made to give the allies an idea
of the terms the Teutons would want if
the allies agreed to the request Austria-
Hungary was making at that moment for
a peace conference in some neutral coun-
try while hostilities continued. The main
provision was that Germany should be
allowed to retain her conquests in the East
while abandoning her spoils in the West
and restoring Belgium. A few days later,
the Serbians broke the Bulgarian front in

Gen. Allenby commanded victorious British forces
in Palestine. General Sir Edmund Henry Hyman
Allenby who commanded the British forces thai have
won successes in the campaign against the Turks in

Palestine. ,

22i THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

£} -O * CO ' O

E5-E E ~
S rt r- E ™ so

AMERICANS COUNTER ATTACKING A GERMAN TRENCH RAID. THE RESULTS WERE

FA\ ORABLE

AMERICANS AT CHATEAU THIERRY. THE ARTILLERY SUPPORTED THE INFANTRY AND
MADE THE GREAT VICTORY POSSIBLE

HOAV THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

Stretcher-Bearers Bringing Wounded Under Fire From the Ene

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAH 1918

229

Macedonia and the British overwhelmed
the Turkish army in Palestine. Before
Oetoher opened Bulgaria, finding Ger-
many was unable to give her help, sur-
rendered unconditionally.

The closing days of September saw
allied victories all up and down the
western front. Within three days the
American forces west of the Meuse
smashed forward 10 miles on a 20-mile
front; the French to the west of them in
the Champagne advanced 7 miles on a
20-mile front, taking 10,000 prisoners;
the British on the Cambrai front ad-
vanced 7 miles on a 35-mile front, taking
22,000 prisoners and 300 guns, and reach-
ing the outskirts of Cambrai, and the
British and Belgians on both sides of
Ypres advanced 10 miles on a 20-mile
front, capturing Dixmude, Passchen-
daele, Roulers, Menin and Langemarck,
10,000 prisoners and 100 guns. At that
time the enemy was retiring on the whole
front between Verdun and Nieuport with
the exception of ten miles of front next
the coast.

The outlook now became so alarming
for Germany that on Saturday, October
.5, Germany intimated to President Wil-
son that she desired an armistice and a
peace conference in which the 14 points
of President Wilson would be the basis
of discussion. The allies saw that Ger-
many preferred to talk rather than to
fight and they insisted on Germany bind-
ing herself more specifically and also that
during negotiations she conduct warfare
according to the laws of nations and
otherwise give evidence of good faith. In
the meantime they redoubled their efforts
to destroy the German armies, and on
October 8, with the aid of many thou-
sands of American troops, the British
crashed through the powerful Hinden-
burg defences north of St. Quentin and
in two days advanced into open country
beyond to a depth of 12 miles on ;i 20
mile front, taking 200 guns and 20.000
prisoners. This success precipitated an
enemv retirement from the Chemin detf

Dames, the Champagne and the northern
Argonne. In the north the Canadians
captured Cambrai. A few days later new
Belgian and British attacks led to the
capture of Lille, Ostend, Bruges, Roulers
and Menin. Retreating on the south, the
enemy surrendered Laon, La Fere and
Vouziers.

On October 22, Germany gave the
pledges required by the allies and the
United States agreed to forward Ger-
many's request for an armistice. Already
the allies had redeemed 6,000 square miles
of French soil and 900 square miles of
Belgian soil. According to one estimate
the German and allied offensives in 1918
up to this time, compared as follows :

German Allied

Offensive Offensive

119 days 98 days

March 21- July 18-

Jul/j 18 Oct. U

Ground captured

in square miles. . 2,770 7,300

Guns captured 2,200 4,000

Prisoners taken 200,000 300,000

Casualties inflicted

by attacking

army 700,000 1,000,000

Casualties suffered

by attacking

army 1,000,000 700,000

According to this estimate the total
allied casualties from March 21, were
1,400,000 and those of the Germans
2.000,000. The allied losses had been
made good by the increase of the Amer-
ican forces which now comprised two
armies, the Second being under General
Bullard. Including troops in training
the United States had 2,000,000 men
across seas.

The events during the last week of
October suggested that the war was hur-
rying to an end. The Italians attacked
on the Piave front and with British storm-
troops and a small American force play-
ing an important role, broke through the
Austrian army, capturing 100,000 men
and 600 guns, and placing the remainder

230

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

2:51

French entering Village after

of the Austrian forces, which were handi-
capped by revolutions in Bohemia and
Jugo-Slavia, at the mercy of the allies.
On November 4 the Austrians signed an
armistice that represented absolute sub-
mission. When this armistice went into
effect 1,000,000 Austrians and 6,000 guns
- — in reality the whole Austrian army —
were in the possession of Italy.

During- the first week in November the

Armistice locating bomb traps

allies dashed forward 11 miles, south of
the Dutch frontier, and readied Ghent.
One hundred miles away on the southeast
the French and Americans did magnifi-
cent work. The enemy, in trying to re-
treat to his own country, had to pass
through two "funnels," the one running
eastward through Liege and the other
southeastward through Sedan and Mont-
inedy. The Ardennes forest and bills ly-
ing between these funnels prevented hasty

232

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

233

withdrawal there, and the two funnels
were quite unequal to the demands made
upon them. Matters, therefore, were
made doubly critical for the enemy when
the Americans advanced 14 miles on a 25-
mile front west of the Meuse and reached
points only 10 miles from Montmedy and
15 miles from Sedan

Recognizing that the ji<>- was up, Ger-
many on November 8 applied on the bat-
tlefield to General Foch for an armistice,
as directed to do by President Wilson.
This did not put an immediate end to hos-
tilities. The British went on and cap-
tured Maubeuge. From Germany came

Germany submitted to the humiliating
conditions by which Germany secured
exemption from further attack.

It was on the morning of Monday,
November 11, that Germany admitted
herself beaten and placed herself at the
mercy of the allied and associated pow-
ers. When the fighting stopped her
armies had been forced across the frontier
of France on a front of 120 miles stretch-
ing southeastward from the North Sea.
The enemy still was west of the French
border along a stretch of 160 miles. The
area he occupied in France then was of
varying width embracing about 1,500

Armistice Parlies Meeting — Germans Approaching.

reports that the fleet, as a last resort, had
been ordered to give battle to the British
grand fleet and that the German crews
had mutinied and joined a revolutionary
movement that speedily swept over Ger-
many. The Kaiser and Crown Prince
had refused t«> si^n documents of abdica-
tion but on the advice of their generals
had fled from their army headquarters at
Spa to Holland where they were in-
terned. Vet still the allied troops pressed
on. The French and Americans reached
Sedan and Mezieres and got astride one
line of retreat. Italian troops, which ear-
lier in the summer had fought in the
Rheims salient, captured Rocroi. During
the last two days of fighting the allies
advanced 15 miles on a front of 100 miles.
And then the delegates of revolutionary

square miles. He also retained more thai.
9,000 square miles in Belgium. Had he
not cried quits, however, his armies would
have been overwhelmingly defeated with
in a few weeks, for they were nearly in r
helpless condition and Foch had a tremen-
dous offensive in Lorraine south of Met
ready to launch. Monster British air-
planes also were under orders to bomb
Berlin when orders arrived to cancel all
such undertakings. By a peculiar coinci-
dence of history, Canadian troops, acting
with the British army, who had taken
Denain and Valenciennes, captured Mons
the morning that the armistice ended hos-
tilities, thus bringing the British hack to
the point in Belgium where they began
fighting more than four years before.

W. R. P.

234

THE DECISIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE YEAR 1918

The Aftermath of The Armistice

CHAPTER XIII

ARMISTICE TERMS NOT SEVERE GERMAN NAVAL SURRENDER

IMPOSING SPECTACLE OCCUPATION OF GERMANY BEGUN

EBERT BECOMES GERMAN LEADER — LLOYD GEORGE SUSTAINED

PRES. WILSON HEARTILY RECEIVED POLISH INVASION OF

GERMANY LEAGUE OF NATIONS RESOLUTIONS.

The armistice terms imposed on Ger-
many by the allied and associated powers
were severe but not more so than was
necessary to ensure that Germany should
not resist any longer the will of the allies.
The most humilating feature was the
provision requiring the surrender of the
best fighting ships of the German navy
without their firing a shot as a protest
against the onerous terms of the peace
settlement. The world never has wit-
nessed a more pathetic spectacle than that
afforded on November '21st. ten days
after the signing of the armistice, when
fourteen German Dreadnoughts, seven
acout cruisers and fifty destroyers
sceamed across the North Sea under the
direction of their own crews and tamely
surrendered to the allied fleet fifty miles
to the east of the Firth of Forth. These
surface warships later were interned in
the Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands.
Almost simultaneously scores of German
submarines were surrendered to the Brit-
ish off Harwich. In the course of a few
weeks the number was increased to more
than 120 and it became known that the
number of underwater boats that (Ger-
many would be required to give up would
exceed the original limit set of 160. I in-
completed submarines and surface war-
ships not being surrendered were re-
quired to dismantle and the crews of the
latter to be paid off. To see that' the
terms were thoroughly fulfilled, the Brit-
ish Dreadnought Hercules, accompanied
by torpedo boat destroyers, visited the
German naval strongholds after the Ger-
mans, themselves, had swept away the
mine barriers. Of 48 German warships
capable of entering the line when war

began, Germany was left with only 13,
as she had found it necessary to scrap 20
pre-Dreadnoughts after the Battle of
Jutland. An additional Dreadnought
was given up in December.

'Hie original armistice terms were
amended from time to time. In most
cases the changes made with each month-
ly renewal rendered Germany more help
less before the allies. The number of
machine guns the enemy had to surren-
der, however, was reduced by .5,000 to
25,000 and the number of airplanes by
300 to 1,700. The number of motor lor-
ries was reduced from 10,000 to .5,000.
The reason for these changes was that
the Germans had less equipment than had
been estimated. On the other hand the
enemy was called upon to turn over 150,-
000 railway cars or three times the num-
ber originally fixed. Without these the
German army could not conduct serious
military enterprises or the country be fed
except by grace of the allies. The allies
also stipulated that they should be free
to occupy the so-called neutral strip east
of the Rhine, north of Mainz, if they so
desired, and a small bridgehead east of
Strassburg.

On November 14 American and French
troops crossed the Lorraine frontier in
the rear of the evacuating German forces.
Four days later Belgian troops were in
Brussels and Antwerp, and French
troops in Mulhausen and Colmar. Not
a living German soldier remained on
French soil with the exception of prison-
ers. By November 2.5 British troops had
reached Namur in Belgium and all Al-
forces. Ten days before Christmas the
sace-Lorraine had been occupied by allied

23G

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

W t

o -a

■s: <u

° <U

i-- .n

life

X 5

5c v

^ o

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

237

allied troops were safely entrenched in
their three great bridgeheads at Cologne,
Coblenz and Mainz, the British at Co-
logne, the Americans at Coblenz and the
French at Mainz.

By the end of November a consider-
able number of Canadian prisoners-of-
war had reached Metz from prison camps
in the Rhineland. American troops had
passed beyond Metz in their movement
eastward and joyfully greeted the Amer-
ican and Canadian prisoners whom they

show heartlessness towards hundreds of
thousands of allied prisoners at the very
time that their country needed mercy at
the hands of the allied peoples. The ex-
planation under the circumstances prob-
ably was stupidity and distraction rather
than deliberate cruelty — stupidity be-
cause for selfish reasons the Germans
should have made the care of their pris-
oners their first concern; distraction be-
cause Germany was in a terrible condition
and her new rulers were overwhelmed

Czecho-Slovaks at Vladivostok ready to leave for the Russian Interior. The armies of the Czecho-Slovaks
that attempted to free Siberia from the Bolsheviki.

had met tramping wearily towards the
west. Nearly 18,000 British prisoners had
reached England. Of these 8,794 arrived
at Hull from Holland; 8,271 at Dover
and .500 at London. The British Gov-
ernment sternly warned Germany that
she would accept no explanations for the
ill-treatment or criminal neglect of the
prisoners while on their way to the Ger-
man border. One wonders what pos-
sessed the German rulers that they should

with the multitude of great tasks requir-
ing urgent attention.

A correspondent with the British forces
states that he was in Huy. 12 miles
beyond Namur, when the Canadian van-
guard entered the place. One of our men
was asked where was the front line and
answered, "In the centre of the high
street, sir." The boys IV0111 Canada must
have looked with greal interest at the
forts of Namur, perched on precipitous

238

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

239

cliffs, which quickly succumbed to the fire
of the mighty German 42-centimetre
howitzers in August of 1914, bringing
about the fall of a great bastion in the
allied front. It was at Huy, on the south
side of the Meuse, that the Germans
forced a crossing to the north and began
their surprising advance north-westward
on Brussels and then south-westward on
Lille and Minis, where the British, who
awaited them found themselves hopeless-
ly outflanked on the left, their right
exposed by the unannounced retirement

greeting a released comrade. All were
footsore and weary and some were very
bitter over the inhuman treatment of
which they had been victims, but their
passage through Belgium was made eas-
ier by the plaudits and comforts heaped
on them by the grateful Belgian people.

The time limit for the evacuation by
the Germans of Belgium, Luxemburg,
and Alsace-Lorraine expired on Novem-
ber , - , 7. All German soldiers not out of
those regions by that time were liable to
capture and internment. It was amaz-

" •■■ -:■- - ■■■<:•■ ~ — ' —

lanrmgen

Passing Through Kiel Canal to Surrender.

of the French from Charleroi and their
front menaced by forces superior by three
to one. All the way up the Sambre and
Meuse valleys from Mons to Liege the
Canadians met multitudes of allied pris-
oners pouring homeward from the hateful
prison camps of the Hun. The majority
of them were French, English, Italian,
and Russian soldiers, some of them wear-
ing parts of uniforms of nations other
than their own, but here and there, no
doubt, the Canadians bad the pleasure of

ing, therefore, that the Dutch Govern-
ment should have allowed 68,000 German
troops to pass through the peninsula of
Dutch territory that prevented their
quick return to their homeland. The ex-
cuse that the Belgians wanted to get rid
of them and that the Germans were de-
prived of their anus at the border was not
sufficient. Holland was guilty of an un-
neutral act in allowing troops of a bel-
ligerent country to cross her territories
to escape the consequences of warfare.

240

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

241

As a, consequence she had to agree to
allow the allies to send supplies across her
territories to the allied army of occupa-
tion in Germany.

In Germany serious political trouble
developed early in 1919. The Ebert
government that had displaced the short-
lived government of Prince Maxmilian
of Baden, had been composed of three
Majority Socialists and three Indepen-

operation their view that the manual
workers of the country should disenfran-
chise and despoil all the other citizens of
the country. Thousands of men and
women were shot down during the dis-
orders in Berlin and elsewhere but finally
the government secured the upper hand
and the elections were held. In these the
Majority Socialists made considerable
gains and, although not having a, major-

Knights of Columbus Overseas Relief Hut. This hut is a copy of a relief camp close to the lines, con-
structed of the driftwood of the battle area. The hinges and latch are made of shoe and harness leather.
In it the secretary gives free to American or ally tobacco, cigarettes, chocolate, first aid, etc.

dent Socialists. The latter resigned or
were dismissed from the government and
a wing of the Independent Socialists
combined with the Spartacans, or Ger-
man Bolsheviki, and tried to prevent the
holding of elections for a National Con-
stituent Assembly. They knew that the
vast majority of the people were against
them and they attempted to put into

ity of the seats, secured their position as
the strongest party in the House.

Premier Ebert set forth his position
about this time in a striking address to
soldiers who had returned to the capital
from the front. This is what he said:

"Your deeds and sacrifices are unex-
ampled. No enemy overcame you. Only
when the preponderance of our opponents

242

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

243

in men and material grew ever heavier
did we abandon the struggle. You en-
dured indescribable sufferings, accom-
plished incomparable deeds and gave,
vear 'after year, proofs of your unshake-
able courage. You protected the home-
land from invasion, sheltered your wives,
children and parents from flames and
slaughter and preserved the nation's
workshops and fields from devastation.
With deepest emotion the homeland
thanks you. You can return with heads
erect. Never have men done or suffered
more than you.

"The German people have shaken off
the old ride. On you, above all others,
rests the hope of German freedom. The
hard requirements of the victors are
heavy upon us but we will not collapse.
We will build a new Germany. With
the strength and unshakeable courage you
have proved a thousand times, see to it
that Germany remains united and that
the old misery of a system of small states
does not overtake us again. The unity
of the German nation is a work of re-
ligion, of socialism. We must work with
all our strength if we are not to sink to
the state of a beggar people. You are
laving down the arms which, borne by the
sons of the people, should never be a
danger but only a protection for the peo-
ple whose happiness your industrious
bands must build up from new founda-
tions."

There were few signs of repentance in
these words.

Two days before the German general
elections were held Dr. Liebknecht and
Rosa Luxemburg, the leaders of the
Spartacans, were arrested and killed
under very suspicious circumstances.
Liebknecht was shot down as he was try-
ing to escape and Rosa Luxemburg was
taken from ber guards and beaten to
death. At least that is the official ex-
planation. The circumstances strongly
suggest that the officers of the guards
connived at their assassination. During
the weeks following the deaths of these

two leaders comparative quiet prevailed
in Germany and the men who had been
called the Kaiser-Socialists, because they
had voted for war credits and condoned
war outrages, remained in power.

Refore the Peace Conference assem-
bled general elections also were held in
the United Kingdom. Here Lloyd
George was overwhelmingly sustained so
far as the number of seats was concerned
although the popular vote showed that
his Coalition government only received
5,028,34.5 votes against 4,330,000 secured
by the anti-Coalition candidates. The
old Liberal party of H. H. Asquith was
eliminated in this election and the Labor
group became strong enough numerically
to be entitled to rank as the official Oppo-
sition. The election results were a great
personal tribute to Lloyd George as the
man who had led the Rritish people to
victory. They also seemed to indicate
that the Rritish people desired that Ger-
many should be made to pay the penalty
for her criminal responsibility in begin-
ning the war and waging it with extraor-
dinary barbarism.

In France there were reports that Pre-
mier Clemenceau would be outvoted but
when he had explained his attitude to-
wards the peace settlement and interven-
tion in Russia he scored a great triumph
in the House, his budget going through
with a majority of 246.

The visit of President Wilson to Eu-
rope to attend the Peace Conference
caused controversies both at home and
abroad as to the wisdom of this unprece-
dented move but the heartiness of his
reception in the various capitals before
the Conference met seemed to indicate
that the masses largely were in sympathy
with his dream of establishing peace on a
permanent basis. Later on bis work in
behalf of the League of Nations further
justified his prolonged absence from
Washington.

Pending the decisions of the Peace
Conference, Jugo-Slavia and Czecho-
slovakia set themselves up as indepen-

244

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

dent states and the troops of both clashed
with Italian forces, particular those of
Jugo-Slavia in Dalmatia which had been
promised to Italy when she entered the
Avar on the side of France and Britain
but which was popidated mainly by Slavs.
The Czecho-Slovaks also clashed with the

sian Bolshevik government advanced
westward for nearly two hundred miles,
boasting as they came that they would
overrun all Europe and tear up any peace
treaty the allies might dictate. The allied
nations became much perplexed as to the
course to take towards the Russian Bol-

Battleship Missouri passing through the Panama Canal.

Germans on the west and the Poles on
the north, while Lemberg changed hands
more than once as Poles fought bitterly
with the Ruthenians of the surrounding
country. In German Poland, fighting
took place between Poles and Germans
and east of Poland the army of the Rus-

shevik government as their peoples had
had enough of war without interfering in
purely Russian affairs, and so at the sug-
gestion of Premier Borden of Canada
they invited the Bolsheviki and all the
other Russian factions to meet in confer-
ence on the Princes' Islands near Con-

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

245

TRAIXED DOGS BRINGING UP AMMUNITION TO THE FRENCH FRONT LINE TRENCHES.

248

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

249

stantiuople in the sea Marmora.

A great political figure in the war, one
better known to Europe than to this con-
tinent, passed off the scene early in 1919
in the person of Count Yon Hertling.
This man was Chancellor of Germany, a
position equivalent to that of Premier,
but vested with greater powers, from
November of 1917 to October of 1918.
In other words, he controlled Germany's
destinies from the time the colossal dis-
aster to the Italian armies took place until
the counter-offensive of General Foch
forced Germany to seek an armistice on

war for selfish jiurposes in which she was
making a tool of France, and that Ger-
many in resisting the growing power of
the United States, was really the cham-
pion of all Europe. Von Hertling for-
merly was Premier of Bavaria and was a
Roman Catholic. He displaced Michaelis
as Chancellor, Michaelis being a bureau-
cratic stop-gap. Von Hertling was
chosen to succeed Michaelis because u
was hoped he would detach the Centre or
Clerical party from the Majority Parties
who were demanding a democratic peace
and because he was influential with the

Barbed Wire Entanglements Failed to Stop Our Boys in the Great Drive.

Going Through German Wire.

Americans Are Here Seen

the western front. Before and after he
became Chancellor he did his best to
cause dissension between the allies and to
trap them into peace discussions. He
professed to favor peace without annexa-
tions or indemnities but in February of
1918 he put the screws on Russia 'and
Rumania, stripped them of territory and
economic independence and made them
Germany's vassals. In his day he taught
the divine right of military officers as well
as the divine right of kings and absolute
submission to religious authority. He
pretended that Britain was waging the

Vatican and likely to check the tendency
of Bavaria to break away from Prussia.
More than once he said that the question
of Alsace-Lorraine was the only barrier
to peace. He favored adding Lorraine
to Prussia and Alsace to Bavaria, but
was bitterly opposed to returning the
Provinces to France. He did not give
up his office as Chancellor until Prince
Maximilian assumed" power on riehalf or
the revolution. Prince Maximilian short-
ly thereafter became Prince Regent and
left the Chancellorship to Ebert, who was
termed premier.

2.50

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

251

French general thanking the American soldiers for
their bravery under lire.

The death of Colonel Roosevelt syn-
chronised with that of Von Hertling and
removed a warm friend of Great Britain
and one who never ceased to champion
the justice of the allied cause in 1/ie war.
It cannot be said that the United States
would not have intervened without the
stimulating effect of "Teddy's" propa-
ganda, for President Wilson secured a
free hand when he was returned to power
as the man who had kept his country out
of the great struggle. Nevertheless, the
writings and speeches of Colonel Roose-
velt were a real factor in convincing the
best elements in the United States that
their country should throw all her re-
sources into the scales against Germanic
barbarism. So far as the military aspect
of the allied cause is concerned the allies
had no stouter champion. Perhaps the
redoubtable colonel was too virile or too
domineering a character to subscribe to
the idealistic features of the allied cause.
He probably believed that mankind
gained something out of the rivalry and
strife between nations and that life would
become too insipid were a League of
Peace to straighten out all serious inter-
national disputes without recourse to
arms. In one sense the Colonel belonged
to the old school. He was a true friend,
a formidable foe and a man of honor. He

represented the best type of statesmen in
the days when rivalry between nations
was keenest. It cannot be said that he
was peculiarly adapted for the work of
laying a new foundation for the society
of nations based on co-operation for the
good of all.

On Saturday, January 18, the first
session of the Peace Conference was held
in Paris. Forty-eight years previously,
at Versailles, just outside Paris, the Ger-
man Empire was proclaimed by the vic-
torious King of Prussia, following the
war of 1870. The Peace Conference of
1919 was called to determined the condi-
tions ending The Great War and to veto
the treaty of Versailles, restore Alsace-
Lorraine to its rightful owner and write
"Finis" across the inglorious history of
the German Empire.

The first series of resolutions adopted
by the Conference were as follows :
On the League of Nations.

"That it is essential to the maintenance
of the world settlement which the Asso-
ciated Nations are now met to establish
that a League of Nations be created to
promote international obligations and
provide safeguards against war. This
league should be created as an integral
part of the general treaty of peace, and
should be open to every civilized nation
which can be relied on to promote its
objects.

"The members of the league should
periodically meet in international confer-
ence, and should have a permanent or-
ganization and secretaries to carry on the
business of the league in the intervals be-
tween the conferences.

"The Conference, therefore, appoints a
committee representative of the Asso-
ciated Governments to work out the
details of the constitution and the func-
tions of the league."
On Responsibility.

"That a commission composed of two
representatives apiece from the five Great
Powers and five representatives to be
elected by the other powers be appointed

252

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

to enquire and report upon the following:

"First — The responsibility of the au-
thors of the war;

"Second — The facts as to breaches of
the laws and customs of war committed
by the forces of the German Empire and
their allies on land, on sea, and in the air
during the present war;

"Third — The degree of responsibility
for these offences attaching to particular
members of the enemy's forces, including
members of the general staffs and other
individuals, however highly placid;

Great Powers and not more than two
representatives apiece from Belgium,
Greece, Poland, Roumania and Serbia,
to examine and report:

"First, on the amount of reparation
which the enemy countries ought to pay;
second, on what they are capable of pay-
ing, and, third, on the method, the form
and time within which payment should be
made."

On International Legislation.

"That a commission composed of two
representatives apiece from the five Great

Looking at First Sight Like a Group of Antediluvian Monsters Squatting in the Open Before
Starting on Their Prowl. At a "Tankdrome" on the Cambrai Front.

"Fourth — The constitution and proce-
dure of a tribunal appropriate to the trial
of these offences ;

"Fifth — Any other matters cognate or
ancillary to the above which may arise in
the course of the enquiry, and which the
commission finds it useful and relevant to
take into consideration."
On Reparation.

"That a commission be appointed which
shall comprise not more than three repre-
sentatives apiece from each of the five

Powers and five representatives to be
elected by the other powers represented
at the Peace Conference be appointed to
enquire into the conditions of employment
from international aspect and to consider
the international means necessary to
secure/ common action on matters affect-
ing conditions of employment and to rec-
ommend the form of a permanent agency
to continue such enquiry and considera-
tion, in co-operation with and under the
direction of the League of Nations."
On International Control.

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

253

"That a commission composed of two
representatives apiece from the five Great
Powers and five representatives to he ap-
pointed by the other powers enquire
and report upon the international regime
for ports, waterways and railways."

The delegates of the Great Powers on
the Committee to plan for the League of
Nations were: For the United States,
President Wilson and Col. Edward M.
House; Great Britain, Lord Robert Cecil
and Gen. Jan Christian Smuts; France,

tralia, South Africa and India each being
allowed two representatives. The size of
the representation of each nation was de-
cided upon not, as proposed by the
French plan, in accordance with the part
played by the nation in the Avar, but fol-
lowing the American and British plan,
in proportion to the extent of the interest
of each nation in the peace settlement,
Brazil, Belgium and Serbia were given
three representatives. Greece, Poland,
Czecho-Slovakia, Roumania and China

One of the various kinds of machine guns that were used against the Germans on the West-
ern Front. This gun was invented by an American.

Leon Bourgeois and Ferdinand Lar-
naude. dean of the Faculty of Law of
the University of Paris; for Italy, Pre-
mier Orlando and Vitterio Scialioa;
Japan, Viscount Chinda and K. Ochiai.

France, Britain, the United States,
Italy and Japan were given five repre-
sentatives each in the Peace Congress.
The British dominions were represented
apart from Great Britain, Canada, Aus-

were assigned two representatives each.
Portugal, and the states which did not
declare war upon Germany but merely
broke off diplomatic relations with her,
were given one delegate each. Brazil
owes her treatment to her historic position
as a former empire and her population of
more than twenty millions which worked
against placing her secondare to nations
much less peopled,

W. R. P.

2.54

THE AFTERMATH OF THE ARMISTICE

■

I *

' • ••»■*.■ ^ » ^«iV

The Price of Victory

CHAPTER XIV

A COLOSSAL TOLL — LARGE PERCENTAGE OF LIVES LOST — HALF
OF ENLISTED NUMBER WOUNDED OR KILLED VALUE OF DE-
STROYED PROPERTY ENORMOUS TOTAL AVAR DEBT IMMENSE

LOSSES IN SHIPPING TONNAGE — RUSSIAN PROBLEM — VICTORY
DUE TO COMBINED AID.

The terrible price paid by humanity in
blood and tears and money to save Civ-
ilization from the Hun cannot be told in
words. The struggle was of so colossal
a nature, spread over so wide an area and
affected human life in such a multitude of
ways that it is impossible to record with
any degree of accuracy or in great detail
the sum total of misery that it entailed.
Most of the estimates of the number of
soldiers who died from wounds and dis-
ease are under rather than over the actual
figures. It is an extremely conservative
estimate that eleven million men in uni-

form lost their lives, that civilians to a
number almost equally large were mas-
sacred or died from famine and want,
and that many other millions of potential
lives were lost. As to the money cost of
the war, a rough and ready way of put-
ting it is to say that it used up more than
one-third of all the wealth of the world.

Combining official with semi-official
and unofficial statements we get the fol-
lowing estimate of the numbers of men
enlisted, the lives lost anH the total cas-
ualties of the principal belligerent coun-
tries :

Men
Enlisted

United States 3,704,700

British Empire 10,000,000

France 7,000,000

Italy .5,000,000

Russia 14,000.000

Belgium 500,000

Serbia .500,000

Rumania 600,000

Total for Allies 41,364,700

Germany 12,000,000

Austria-Hungarv 7,-500,000

Turkey 1,7-50,000

Bulgaria 1,100,000

• 22,3.50,000

Total for all belligerents 63,714,700

The casualties of the Canadian forces,
which were included in the above totals
for the British empire are officially given
as follows:

• Other
Officers Ranks Total

Killed in action 1,842 33,824 35,666

Died of wounds-... 614 11,806 12,420

Lives

Total

Lost

Casualties

72,738

262,693

975,000

3,049,991

1,500,000

4,500,000

500,000

1,500,000

3,000,000

8,000,000

100,000

350,000

125,000

375,000

1.50.000

400,000

6,422,738

18,437,684

2,750,000

8,500,000

1,750,000

5,000,000

300,000

1,000,000

200,000

550,000

.5,000,000 15,050,000
17,422,738 33,487,684

Died of disease 220 5,185 5,405

Wounded 7,130 148,659 155,799

Prisoners of war 3,575

Presumed dead 142 4,529 4,671

Missing 41 384 425

Deaths in Canada 2,221

Totals 0,989 204,397 220,182

The total deaths were 60,383.

256

THE PRICE OF VICTORY

The Australian losses were slightly
heavier than those of Canada although
the Commonwealth's population is much
smaller.

The casualties for the United States
are given as follows:

Killed inaction 28,363

Died of wounds 12,101

Died of disease 16,034

Died from other causes 1,980

Missing in action 14,260

Wounded slightly 92,036

Wounded 43,168

Wounded severely 54,751

Total dead for U. S 72,738

Total U. S. wounded 189,955

Total U. S. casualties 262,693

The number of men in the British navy
who lost their lives was 33,361. The
number in the British merchant marine
which were lost totalled 14,661, making a
grand total of 48,002 British lives lost at
sea.

The British casualties in the various
arenas were made up thus:

Total
Arena Casualties

France and Belgium..... 2,070,000

Dardanelles 119,000

Mesopotamia 97,000

Egvpt and Palestine 58,000

Macedonia 27,000

East Africa ., 17,000

Italv 6,700

Percentage

of dead in

«f o. Dead

total losses

560,000

33,000

31,000

16,000

7,600

9,100

1,020

The above figures for the western arena
do not include the missing or the dead
who died from wounds sometime after
being wounded.

Bulgaria claimed her losses reached the
amazing figure of 1,353,000 made up as
follows :

Killed 101,000

Wounded 1,152,000

Prisoners 100,000

Italy 15,000,000,000

Rumania 3,000,000,000

Serbia 2,000,000,000

Total Expenditures

by Allies $200,000,000,000

Germany $ 52,000,000,000

Austria-Hungary 30,000,000,000

Turkey 5,000,000,000

Bulgaria 3,000,000,000

Total 1,353,000

This total was easily double that of
most estimates. The number of wounded
also showed an unusually high rate as
compared with the number of dead. Bul-
garia's casualties in The Great War prob-
ably were under 600,000.

The war expenditures of the various
belligerents have been estimated as fol-
lows :

Britain $ 60,000,000,000

United States 50.000,000,000

Russia 30,000,000,000

France 40,000,000,000

Total Germanic Ex-
penditures $110,000,000,000

Expended by all bellig-
erents on the war $310,000,000,000

In nearly every case the war debt of
the belligerents involves interest charges
of from two to three times the govern-
ment revenue before the war. The 1919
French budget called for an expenditure
three and a half times greater than the
pre-war expenditures or for an amount
supposed to be equal to one-half of all
the earnings of the French people for the

THE PRICE OF VICTORY

257

year. The billions of dollars Germany
has to pay in reparation of course should
be added, properly speaking, to the Ger-
man cost of the war.

During the great allied offensive on

tlie western front in 1918. the allied
armies captured 362,355 prisoners, in-
cluding 7.000 officers, as well as 0.217
cannon. 38.622 machine guns and 3,907
mine throwers, or more than one-third of
the enemy's artillery.

The allies during the month of October
captured 108,34.'} prisoners, including 2,-
472 officers, as well as 2,064 cannon,
13,630 machine guns, and 1,103 mine
throwers. The American forces in
Prance during the strenuous campaign of
1918 captured 44.000 Germans and 1.400
guns.

The official British figures of air fight-
ing upon the British Western front from
January 1. 1018, to the date of the armis-
tice show that the number of enemy
machines destroyed in aerial combats by
the British totalled 3,060, while enemy
machines driven down out of control
numbered 1.174. Germany is known to
have lost well over six thousand airplanes
destroyed and surrendered during the
year. On the other hand, the resources
of the allies were reinforced by 1,700 Ger-
man machines of modern type and in
good serviceable condition.

Great Britain was pre-eminent in the
air at the close of the war, when the Brit-

!»-•■"' "'*-"■. ■ <■■'-<

'%£

E»mSmP'

m» jk k frflBl

r^l

In tli t •= photograph are seen the American Artillery
before Met-, the capital of Alsace, firing into '

man lines.

American Poles March to the Front in France. — The
regiment was raised and trained in the United States
and all the men and officers are citizens of the United
States.

ish air force was the largest in the world.
In August, 1014, the British naval and
military air services together mustered
planes. 4.5 seaplanes and 7 airships, while
at the close of hostilities she had 21,000
airplanes, 1.300 seaplanes and 103 air-
ships. Besides this there were 2.5,000 air-
planes and seaplanes being built and
55,000 airplane engines under contract.

In 1014, 4.) bombs were dropped on
Paris. In 101.). 70 bombs, 62 of them on
March 20, fell on the city. In 1016, the
18.5 officers and 1,8.53 men of other ranks.
In November. 1018, there were 30,000
officers. 264,000 men. At the outbreak
of the war Great Britain had 166 air-
enemy einployed 61 bombs against Paris,
and in 1917, 11. During the last ten
months of the war there were 1.211 cas-
ualties from 396 bombs. Airplanes and
Zeppelins dropped 228 bombs on August
(J. killing two persons and injuring ."592.
The long-range cannon tired 108 shells
into Paris, killing 10(1 and wounding 417.
On Good Friday, 1018. more than 100
persons were killed.

258

THE PRICE OF VICTORY

Trophies Captured by the American? from the Huns
at the Battle of Leichfrey. Among the other trophies
in the picture may lie seen a Boche gun, gas mask,
wire-cutter and canteen.

British merchant tonnage losses were
9,031,828 gross tons from the beginning
of the war to Oct. 81, 1918. New con-
struction in the United Kingdom in the
same period was 4,342,290; purchases
abroad were 530,000 tons and enemy ton-
nage captured was 710,520. The net loss
was 3,443,012 tons. In the last seven
months of the war the output exceeded
the world's losses by more than 1,000,000
tons. In the case of Great Britain, al-
though the output had not overtaken the
losses, yet if purchases abroad were taken
into account, the losses of the last five
months were balanced by the gains.

The losses in merchant vessels by
enemy action and marine risk from the
beginning of the war to the end of Octo-
ber, 1918, was 15,053,780 gross tons. In
the same period 10,849,527 tons were con-
structed and 2,392,075 tons of enemy ves-
sels captured. This makes the net loss
of tonnage during the war 1,811,584 tons.
One hundred and two ocean going steam-
ships of 330,330 gross tons, were built by

American shipyards during November.
In addition (53 smaller vessels of 18,108
gross tons were constructed during the
same period.

The triumphant close of the war waged
on behalf of civilization by the allies
provided enough glory to go all around.
Each of the allied nations could afford to
show a generous appreciation of the part
played by the others. The truth is that
individually all of the five first-class
powers that fought on the side of the
allies rendered service that was essential
to the final success. These five included
Russia, which made a most valuable con-
tribution until she broke under the terrific
strain of war. Several small powers ren-
dered most valuable service. For in-
stance, Belgium, whose little army for a
brief period stayed the advance of the
German hordes and gave the British and
French a chance to assemble their forces.
Rumania and Serbia also interfered so
seriously with the enemy's plans as to at-
tract the attention of large Teutonic
forces which might have been used else-
where with great effect. Had the British
Empire, France, Russia, Italy or the
United States not participated in the
struggle, had any of them failed to give
the help they afforded, it is hard to see
how Germany would have been brought
to her knees by the fall of 1918. It is by
no means certain that the non-participa-
tion of any one of them would not have
permitted the Central Powers to acquire
greater prestige as a result of the conflict.

At present Russia is under a cloud.
The allied peoples feel that she treacher-
ously deserted them in a crisis, imperil-
ling their victory, increasing their sac-
rifices and prolonging the war. That
feeling is natural and justifiable. Never-

THE PRICE OF VICTORY

259

theless, it is a fact that the educated and
business classes in Russia bitterly deplore
the degradation of their country and are
the most unfortunate victims of the rule
of the Bolshevik. The masses of the peo-
ple, ignorant, easily duped, grief-stricken
with their losses in the fighting, on the
verge of starvation, freed from the des-
potism of Czarism only to pass under the
hateful despotism of Bolshevikism. are
bewildered and distracted and groping
blindly towards the light. What Russia
has done she did not mean to do. Russia
will emerge from the bog and the black-
ness and take a leading place among the
great democratic nations. To-day she is
to be pitied much more than she is to be
condemned. To-morrow, for our own
sake as well as for hers, we must aid her
to the full extent of our ability. In the
meantime, we should recognize that when
the war began the great military power
of the allied side was not Britain, France
or Italy, but Russia, slow-moving but ter-
rible in her might: that the enemy
planned to overthrow the French and
British in 1914 so that he would be able
to cope in 191.5 with the deadlier peril on
the east: that Russia struck in East Prus-

Gen. Planter Review- Hi- Yanks at the
Gen. I'lumer is seen in this photo reviewing
"Yanks" who participated in the big British offensive.

American officers examining captured German
howitzer. Officers of the 26th Division examining a
German 210 howitzer captured by the 1 u 2nd Infan-
try. 26th Division in France.

sia during August of the first year of
war and caused the enemy to rail enough
divisions from the west to permit the
allies to win the first battle of the Marne
— the only truly decisive battle in the
war: that Russia struck again in 1916
when Italy was hard pressed, won tre-
mendous victories and brought appreci-
able relief to the Italians, and that in
1917, after the revolution, Kerensky suc-
ceeded in inducing the Russian army to
undertake an offensive which had mag-
nificent success until treachery developed
at one part of the front. Russia quit be-
cause her morale was broken and because
her people, having rid themselves of the
Czar, thought the war in which the Czar
had taken them should come to an end.
It is not unreasonable to assume that
Russia inflicted one-third of the casualties
suffered by the enemy powers in the war
and endured as many casualties as the
total suffered by Britain and France, or
about eight millions.

The part played by Italy is much
underrated, in 1915 the British and
French were almost helpless before the
enemy's fortified line in the west and it)

260

THE PRICE OF VICTORY

the east the German army was riding
roughshod over Russia. The intervention
of Italy drew half a million of the enemy
to the south-western arena, and may have
prevented the loss of the war then and
there. Italy's casualties are one-third of
those suffered by all the nations of the
British Empire. She certainly inflicted
much heavier casualties on the Central
Powers.

There is no occasion to emphasize th^
essential part paid by France in the Avar.
In proportion to population and wealth
France's sacrifices are much greater than
those suffered by any other allied power,
and the damage to her richest industrial
areas runs up into the billions.

The aid given by the United States
was of the utmost value in hastening the
end of the war. The issue in this year's
campaign was whether the allies should
win the war at an early date or suffer
such a disaster as would protract the war
for years. The speeding-up of the ship-
. ment of American troops when the scales
were in the balance enabled the allies to
frustrate the enemy's designs and by re-
leasing veteran French troops from quiet
sectors and by providing good American
shock troops in the later stages of the
campaign, brought Germany to her
knees. The low casualties suffered by the
millions of the American armies, but one-
twelfth of those of the British Empire, do
not adequately represent the exceedingly
valuable contribution of the United
States. In financing the allies when
Britain's resources were sorely tried and
in supplying devices for curbing the
enemy's submarine activities which at
times were greatly worrying the British
authorities, the United States gave inval-
uable help.

As in the Napoleonic wars a hundred

Photo showing 'one French solidier in an enemy's
trench signaling to his comrades.

years ago Britain was the mainstay of the
forces of liberty. During the struggle
her military power caught up with and
passed well beyond that of France.
Without the aid of her armies, or the
work of protection and supply so gal-
lantly performed by her mighty navy, or
the self-sacrificing performances of her
merchant marine, or her loans of billions
of dollars to weaker allies, the cause of
humanity would have been defeated
During the war the United Kingdom
provided no less than eight million men
and her Dominions overseas and India
raised another two millions.

W. R. P.

How The Central Powers FeH

CHAP TEE XV

GERMANY WEAKENS BULGARIA SURRENDERS TURKEY SUR-
RENDERS AUSTRIAN ARMISTICE AND SURRENDER FOLLOW -

GERMANY SIGNS ARMISTICE KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES

MILITARY AND NAVAL FORCES SURRENDER — ALLIES OCCUPY

GERMANY CASUALTIES.

The iron defense of the Central Powers
and their allies once pierced, the collapse
of the coalition came with a swiftness
which surprised even the most optimistic
among the councillors and leaders of the
entente nations and the United States.
And strangely enough, while the eyes of
the world were turned toward the great
struggle in France, where it was helieved
the issue would he settled, the first breaks
which brought the end came from all the
other fronts. Within six weeks after the
first hint had come that the hour of vic-
tory was about to strike, the war was
ended. In the chronological order in
which they were forced out of the war, the
Teutonic allies surrendered as follows:

BULGARIA — Armistice signed just
before midnight on September 29th. 1918.

TURKEY — Armistice went into ef-
fect in the afternoon of October 31st.

AUSTRIA — Armistice, signed on No-
vember 3rd, went into effect in the after-
noon of November 4th.

GERMANY — Armistice went into ef-
fect 11 o'clock A. M., November 11th.

Bulgaria, the little autocracy in the
Balkans, whose czar had heeded the prom-
ises made by Germany of a large share in
the territorial loot of conquest, was the
first to surrender. Driven back, then
crushed, the first of the Allied invading
army on his own soil, Czar Ferdinand was
quick to sue for peace. His people never
had favored the war. The Kaiser had

withdrawn nearly all of the German
troops which had supported the Bulgar-
ians. Even the Austrian troops, menaced
earlier in the summer by the Italian cam-
paign which had cleaned them out of the
greater part of Albania, had withdrawn
from the Macedonian front. Bulgaria
fought it out alone.

About the middle of September the Al-
lies' lines extended from Saloniki on the
east to southern Albania where they were
in contact with the Italian forces. Under
Gen. Franchet d'Esperey, a force of
French, British, Itahans, Serbs and
Greeks began the drive northward. To
the Serbs fell the honor of the first vic-
tories. They were advancing to hurl the
enemy from their native land and sup-
ported by French and Greek units, they
drove northeast of Monastir. Victory was
almost immediate. The first day of the
drive the Serbs advanced several miles
and freed scores of villages. Within a
few days they were threatening the chief
railroads and lines of communication and
the Bulgar right was nearly cut off.

On September 24th, Prilep, one of the
chief bases of the enemy, was taken and
the Bulgars faced annihilation. So rapid
. had their retreat been, that Prilep was
entered by French cavalry operating far
in advance of the main French and Ser-
bian forces. In the meantime the British
and Greek army operating in the Lake
Doiran region, had advanced and had ef-
fected a juncture with the French and

262

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

Serbians and a united attack moved rap-
idly toward the Bulgarian border itself.
Within two days more the Bulgarian
army had been split into several groups
and each one of these was in flight. The
government at Sofia admitted they were
facing disaster. Far in the vanguard —
fighting their way back home — the Serbs
pursued the fleeing Bulgars across track-
less mountain wastes and through the
once cultivated valleys that had been laid
waste by war. On September 25th, the
British reached Bulgarian soil opposite
Kosturino and the next day Strumnitza
fell. The Serbs now were well toward
the great Bulgarian base of Uskub and
Ferdinand's troops were fleeing in dis-
order, hopelessly beaten.

Nothing could save Sofia from possible
bombardment and the Bulgarian govern-
ment sought peace. A commission bear-
ing the white flag of surrender entered
the allied lines. The Allied commanders
left Gen. d'Esperey to impose the terms.
The Bulgarians submitted to uncondi-
tional surrender. They agreed to evacu-
ate all territory they still held in Greece
and Serbia, to completely demobilize their
army; to give up all their railroads, and,
what was most important of all. to allow
the Allied forces a free passage through
Bulgaria.

Thus was the first big gap cut into the
Berlin to Bagdad project. The road to
A T ienna was open. Austria was in what
was almost a panic and Vienna signified
willingness to discuss peaee, though hold-
ing to the statement that they would stand
by Germany on terms. The stock market
iii Berlin felt the effects of the Bulgarian
disaster and in both Berlin and Vienna
the socialists began open discussion of
constitutional reforms. The Teutonic
Alliance was crumbling. With Bulgaria
out and the Macedonian region free from
danger, the Allies could now turn their
attention to Constantinople from the
north while the British were advancing
through the Holy Land on the south.
Serbia was being evacuated and Austria
would soon be attacked from across the

Frank Mayo, Rear Admiral, United States Navy.

Danube. King Ferdinand of Bulgaria
had abdicated in favor of his son, Boris,
and the Allies were in control of the
Balkans.

The developments in the Balkans had
surprised the Allies, but' the victories in
the Orient and the smashing of the Turks
came with even greater suddenness. Since
his occupation of Jerusalem, Gen. Alien-
by, with a force of British and Indian
troops, reinforced by French and friendly
Arab tribesmen, had moved slowly north-
ward until in the latter part of September
they occupied a line from the River Jor-
dan westward to the Mediterranean. The
great stroke was delivered on September
18th, 19th, 20th and 21st. Over a front
of sixteen miles Gen. Allenby struck the
Turkish forces and in less than a day they
were fleeing in full rout. They pushed
through between Rafat and the sea for
nineteen miles on the first day and took

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

263

3,000 prisoners. Bodies of cavalry were
advancing so rapidly that they threatened
to completely cut off the Turks' retreat.
Railway communications were cut and the
Turkish forces were trapped. Huge
stores of guns and supplies were taken
and the Turk dead blocked the roadways.
Caught in the valleys and lowlands, they
were at the mercy of the British artillery,
and airplanes, flying at low altitudes,
raked the fleeing forces with machine gun
fire.

By September 25th, British cavalry had
pressed along the coast for sixty miles and
taken Haifa and Acre, two important
ports. Step by step the Allies were rush-
ing forward along the entire line, practi-
cally without opposition except from
straggling bodies of the routed enemy,
and the prisoners now numbered nearly
50,000. The Fourth Turkish army also
had been caught in the trap and sur-
rounded. The British had advanced to
the sea of Galilee which region they now

U. S. Submarines Played an Important Part in the Guarding of American Coasts

By September 21st, the captured Turks
numbered 20,000. An entire Turkish
column, attempting to escape into the
Jordan valley, was cut off and taken.
The whole valley was commanded by Al-
lied artillery and two Turkish armies were
in the trap. The British cavalry captured
Nazareth and the plains of Armageddon
with more stores and guns. The Seventh
and Eighth Turkish armies were practi-
cally annihilated. Six miles piled deep
with their bodies bore testimony to the
deadly accuracy of the British artillery.

dominated. Field Marshal Liman von
Sanders, who had been in command of the
Turks around Nazareth, had fled to Con-
stantinople.

By October 1st, Damascus was sur-
rounded and taken. French detachments
were speeding toward Beirut. This port
they took a few days later. Palestine had
been completely cleared of the enemy and
it was officially announced in London that
Gen. Allenby had bagged 71,000 prison-
ers. The Allies kept advancing north-
ward and a Turk column north of Damas-

264

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

A German Liquid-Fire Attack Against British Troops.

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

265

A Scene on a Xo-Man's-Land "Quagmire" on the Western Front.

266

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

267

ens was cut off and taken. British and
French warships began cooperating along
the coast. The Aral) chieftain reported
the capture of 10,000 Turks in their share
of the campaign and of the Ottoman
armies involved it was stated that only
17.000 had escaped to the northward.

Thenceforth the Allied advance was
rapid. Mosul, on the road to Constanti-
nople, was readied by one expedition, and

dered. The remainder of the Turkish
forces were demobilized except for enough
to serve for policing purposes. The few
vessels of the fleet were dismantled.
Within a short time British and French
vessels had sailed through the Dardanelles
to Constantinople. The thousands of
British prisoners captured when Gen.
Townshend was forced to surrender at
Kut-el-Amara, were liberated. It was

American Marines took a part in the rout of the Hun. Note the build of these boys

other columns moved along the coast to
Smyrna where they cooperated with the
fleets. Rioting had broken out in the
capital and the uprising was directed at
the German officers and leaders of the
Young Turk party. Turkey was
crushed. Facing destruction from the
south, west and north, with open revolu-
tion threatening, the Porte sued for an
armistice under terms which meant sur-
render. The Dardanelles were surren-

Gen. -Townshend himself who had been
sent to the Allied commanders with the
first plea for an armistice.

In June, her drives in France lagging
to a halt, Germany goaded Austria- Hun-
gary into making an attack and on June
15th, the Teutonic Allies began a greal
offensive over a front of 100 miles from
the Asiago plateau to tin- sea and along
the lines on the Piave river. The first
force of the drive carried the enemv across

268

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

the Piave in places and the Italians, who
had now heeii reinforced by a considerable
force of British and French and some
American troops, lost 30,000 prisoners.
But any initial success was quickly offset
by a counter offensive. Within three days
the Austrian drive both in the mountain-
ous region of the north and in the lowlands
north of Venice had been brought to a
complete halt. The Austrians hurled
division after division into the battle, re-
gardless of heavy losses. Driven on by
the German high command, Austria was
staking all on the final effort.

Nature had intervened in behalf of the
Italians. The Austrian and German
forces had crossed the Piave on pontoons,
bringing up with them many heavy guns.
Torrential rains had fallen after their ad-
vance and Allied airmen had bombed and
destroyed the bridges behind them. Cut
off, they were slaughtered in thousands.
The only means of reaching them with
food was by airplane and the Allies held
the superiority in the air. Along the en-
tire Asiago plateau the Austrians met
defeat. It was estimated that they had
thrown half a million men into action and
of these probably 200,000 were numbered
among the casualties.

The Italians followed up with a vic-
torious advance. Positions along the
Brenta river were taken and the heights
in the Mont del Rosso and Di Val Bello
region were scaled and taken. Fresh
army corps were rushed to aid the
Austrians, for the determined advance
threatened to carry the Italians back to
their lines held before the disaster of
months before. But steadily the Italians
and British and French pressed forward,
improving their lines and strengthening
their positions during July and August.
Height by height the enemy was pushed
back in the north.

In October, the Italian effort developed
into a heavy drive. Every available unit
was sent in against the Austrians, who
had been somewhat weakened bv the with-

General Tasker H. Bliss, former Chief of Staff
of the United States Army, one of the American
delegates to the Peace Conference.

drawal of German forces back to the front
in France. The influence of the Sepa-
ratists had begun to be felt seriously and
revolt was threatening to disrupt the
Dual Monarchy. Through Holland,
Emperor Charles had asked for mediation
to secure the meeting of a peace confer-
ence. Back across the Asiago plateau the
Austrians were driven, losing thousands
in dead and prisoners. Austria was now
extremely hard pressed, many of her
troops were unreliable and she pleaded
with Berlin for reinforcements. Cross-
ings of the Piave were won by the
Italians and British and the big push
northward was rapid. On October 30th.
American troops under Maj. Gen. Treat,
operating with the British army, crossed
the Piave. Vittorio, the great Austrian
base, was captured and a hundred other
towns freed along a front of 100 miles.

HOW TIIK CENTRAL POWERS FELL

269

The offensive now had developed until it
reached all along- the Piave. In the Mont
Grappa region the enemy was beaten at
Segusino in a sanguinary battle and Mont
Gesen was taken.

Full disaster had overtaken Emperor
Charles' armies by late in October. Fifty
thousand prisoners had been taken and
hundreds of the heaviest guns. The Aus-
trians were pouring across the mountains
in rout and the Allies were pushed to their
utmost even to keep in contact in places.
The Tagliamento river was crossed by the
Italians. Other columns reached the
towns of Azzano. Decimo, Portugrua.ru
and Concordia. The Italians were now
within less than eighteen miles of I Mine
where the Italian headquarters had been
established when the disaster at Caporetta
overtook them. Their total advance had
been thirty miles.

On November 1st. with nearly 100,000
of their armies prisoners, 200.000 more
cut off and surrounded in the Brenta and
Piave regions, emissaries from the Aus-
trian commanders entered the Italian
lines under a white flag, bearing a plea
for an armistice. The Allied war council
in Versailles began drawing up the terms.
In the meantime, with the announcement
that he would rather drive the Austrians
out than accept their surrender, Gen.
Diaz kept up his hammer blows. The
Austrians were in full rout and their cas-
ualties were mounting into the hundreds
of thousands. Their entire army in the
Trentino district had been cut off.

On November 3rd, the Allies' terms
were presented to Austria and the armi-
stice was signed. Germany's last prop
had been kicked out from under her.
Fighting in a death grip on the west
front, her eastern borders were now ex-
posed to the enemy's attack. The armi-
stice terms left Austria powerless. She
was forced to evacuate all territories un-
der occupation. Her Heet bad to be given
up to the Allies. Her army had to be to-
tally demobilized and all her troops fight-

Brigadier General Peyton Conwaj March, Commander
of all United States Artillery in France.

ing with the Germans in France had to be
withdrawn. The armistice terms practi-
cally granted what Italy had fought for,
the occupation of the Trentino district,
which she had lost to Austria, as well as
the peninsula of Istria. The armistice
provided magistrational powers over this
territory and troops also began occupa-
tion to ensure the keeping of the terms in
good faith.

Germany made her first direct request
for an armistice on October 0th, but for
the purposes of narration the peace nego-
tiations which resulted in the complete
dissolution of the Teutonic Allies and the
surrender of Germany are here reviewed
in chronological order, along with the in-
ternal disturbances which accompanied
the defeats at the front and which have
resulted in a political upheaval of the
greater part of Europe:

270

how the central powers fell

As early as September 15th, the Kaiser
had offered a separate peace to Belgium,
one that was scorned by the little king-
dom. This was taken as the first indica-
tion of a "peace drive", started to weaken
the Allies and bring discord. The offer
was vague except in that it asked Bel-
gium's neutrality until the close of the
war and guaranteed her political identity.

On the same day Austria, through the
Swiss government and the other neutral

Though the Allies regarded this simply
as a ruse, President Wilson sent the fol-
lowing curt reply:

"The government of the United States
feels that there is only one reply which
it can make to the suggestion of the im-
perial Austro-Hungarian government.
It has repeatedly and with entire candor
stated the terms upon which the United
States would consider peace, and can and
will entertain no proposal for a confer-

King George Salutes the Stars and Stripes When United State? Soldiers March Through London.

nations, sent a proposal for a parley of
the powers to accomplish peace. It pro
posed that the hostilities not cease during
the discussions, which were to be carried
on by delegates from the belligerents to
bring out the ideas of eventual terms for
the ending of the war. The conference
was to be "nonbinding and confidential
discussion on the basic principle for the
conclusion of peace".

ence upon a matter concerning which it
has made its position and purpose so
plain."

Austria-Hungary was known to be
facing dissolution. The Czecho-Slavs and
the Jugo-Slavs were already declaring
for separate republics and Bohemia was
threatening a similar step.

On October 6th, Germany, with the

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

271

272

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

new chancellor, Prince Maximilian of
Baden, in power as the representative of
the coalition government, which had been
formed to still the threatened disturb-
ances by adherents of the Social demo-
crats, sent the first direct appeal for an
armistice. On that day Prince Maximil-
ian, through the Swiss government, sent
the following note to President Wilson:
"The German Government requests the
president of the United States to take in
hand the restoration of peace, acquaint

quests the immediate conclusion of an
armistice on land and water and in the air."

Baron Burian, of Austria, made known
the similar wish of Austria, and in his sub-
sequent utterances to the Reichstag,
Prince Maximilian supplemented his dec-
laration of the government's position by
indicating the wish to change the consti-
tution, to accomplish democratization and
to form a league of nations to protect the
peace of the world.

The message of President Wilson men-

Boxing contest viewed by 20.000 soldiers. It was one of the ,most picturesque boxing tournaments ever
held at Camp Upton. The' ring was raised about eight feet from the ground and draped with the flags of

the Allies.

all the belligerent states of this request
and invite them to send plenipotentiaries
for the purpose of opening negotiations.

"It accepts the program set forth by the
president of the United States in his mes-
sage to congress on January 8 and in his
later pronouncements, especially his
speech of September '27. as a basis for
peace negotiations.

"With a view to avoiding further
bloodshed, the German government ra-

tioned in the German note occupies a
place in a previous chapter as the basis
upon which all peace negotiations must
rest. His liberty loan speech on Septem-
ber 27th, to which the German chancellor
also referred, follows:

"We are all agreed that there can be
no peace obtained by any kind of bargain
or compromise with the governments of
the central empires, because we have dealt
with them already and have seen them

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

273

deal with other governments that were
parties to this struggle, at Brest-Litovsk
and Bucharest.

"They have convinced us that they are
without honor and do not intend justice.
They observe no covenants, accept no
principle hut force and their own interest.

"Get out first — then talk armistice and
peace," was the sense of the reply sent to
Germany by President Wilson on Octo-
ber 8th. He stated that there could be no
compromise with autocracy and de-
manded to know in unequivocable lan-
guage if Germany would accept the un-
compromising terms laid down by him.
The Allied nations saw in the German
note another trap, one by which the Ger-
man chancellor hoped to involve the
United States in a long diplomatic dis-
cussion, which, when peace finally was
denied, would strengthen the flagging-
strength of the German people's faith in
the government by showing them that the
Allies sought not a just peace but were
bent upon a war of slaughter and con-
quest. But every faith was placed in
President Wilson, and his reply, which
follows, was ample assurance that he
would handle the situation:

"Before making reply to the request of
the imperial German* government, and in
order that that reply shall be as candid
and straightforward as the momentous in-
terests involved require, the president of
the United States deems it necessary to
assure himself of the exact meaning of the
note of the imperial chancellor.

"Does the imperial chancellor mean
that the imperial German government ac-
cepts the terms laid downby the president
in his address to the congress of the
United States on the eighth of January
last and in subsequent addresses, and that
its object in entering into discussions
would be only to agree upon the practical
details of their application?

"The president feels bound to say with

Capt. Raoul Lufbery, premier "ace" of the Lafa-
yette Escadrille, has brought down his twelfth Ger-
man plane. He would have madr it thirteen had he
not run short of ammunition

274

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

regard to the suggestion of an armistice
that he would not feel at liberty to pro-
pose a cessation of arms to the govern-
ments with which the government of the
United States is associated against the
central powers, so long as the armies of
those powers are upon their soil. The
good faith of any discussion would mani-
festly depend upon the consent of the
central powers immediately to withdraw
their forces everywhere from invaded ter-
ritory.

"The president also feels that he is
justified in asking whether the imperial
chancellor is speaking merely for the con-
stituted authorities of the empire who
have so far conducted the war. He deems
the answer to these questions vital from
every point of view."

From all over the United States, from
the people and from Congress came de-
mands for the unconditional surrender of
the Central Powers. The Germans were
being driven back and every day regis-
tered another defeat for their arms. There
was scant faith placed in the sincerity of
their peace aims. On October 14th, Ger-
many's further expression of acceptance
of President Wilson's terms came by wire-
less. The message follows:

"In reply to the question of the presi-
dent of the United States of America the
German government hereby declares:

"The German government has accepted
the terms laid down by President Wilson
in his address of January the eighth, and
in his subsequent addresses, on the
foundation of a permanent peace of jus-
tice.

"Consequently, its object in entering
into discussions would be only to agree
upon practical details of the application
of those terms.

"The German government believes
that the governments of the powers asso-
ciated with the government of the United
States also take the position taken by
President Wilson in his address. The
German government, in accordance with

Americans on Aisne Sector. American troops on
active service in the Aisne sector : boarding motor-
lorries for a journey.

the Austro-Hungarian government, for
the purpose of bringing about an armis-
tice, declares itself ready to comply with
the propositions of the president in regard
to evacuation.

"The German government suggests
that the president may occasion the meet-
ing of a mixed commission for making the
necessary arrangements concerning the
evacuation.

"The present German government,
which has undertaken the responsibility
for this step towards peace, has been
formed by conferences and in agreement
with the great majority of the reichstag.

"The chancellor, supported in all of his
actions by the will of this majority, speaks
in the name of the German government
and of the German people."

This note was signed by Solf, the new
state secretary of the foreign office, and
brought forth a new cry for unconditional
surrender both here and in the allied na-
tions of Europe. Further evidence of a
"peace trap" was seen in the suggestion
for discussion of the terms, and on Octo-
ber 15th President Wilson sent a reply

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

275

which Left no doubt as to the uncompro-
mising attitude of the Allies and the
United States. lie stated that the terms
of evacuation and reparation were those
which must be determined wholly by the
Allies and in which Germany could have
no hand. lie called attention to the con-
tinued activities of submarines and the
burning of cities during the German re-
treat and other inhuman acts, all being
committed while the Germans sought to
discuss terms for tbe cessation of hostil-
ities. He left no doubt that the deposing
of the Kaiser was one of the chief aims of
the nations fighting against Germany. In
the following language he told of tbe blow
aimed at autocracy:

"It is necessary, also, in order that there
may be no possibility of misunderstand-
ing, that tbe president should very sol-
emnly call tbe attention of the government
of Germany to the language and plain
intent of one of the terms of peace which
the German government has now ac-
cepted. It is contained in the address of
tbe president delivered at Mount Vernon
on the fourth of July last. It is as fol-
lows :

' 'The destruction of every arbitrary
power anywbere that can separately,
secretly, and of its single choice disturb
tbe peace of the world; or, if it cannot be
presently destroyed, at least its reduction
to virtual impotency.'

"Tbe power which has hitherto con-
trolled the German nation is of the sort
here described. It is within tbe choice of
the German nation to alter it. Tbe presi-
dent's words just quoted naturally con-
stitute a condition precedent to peace, if
peace is to come by the action of the Ger-
man people themselves. The president
feels bound to say that tbe whole process
of peace will, in his judgment, depend
upon the definiteness and the satisfactory
character of the guaranties which can be
given i:i tin's fundamental matter. It is
indispensable that the governments asso-
ciated against Germany should know
beyond neradvcnture with whom they are
dealing."

American and French Soldiers Searching for Con-
cealed Self-explosive Bombs.

Affairs in Austria were going from bad
to worse. The discussion of splitting the
Dual Monarchy into four states was
going on. These new nations on the map
were to be a Germanic Austria, tbe re-
public of the Czecho-Slavs and the
Illvrian and Ruthenian republics. On
October 18th, the Czecho-Slavs revolted
and raised their own flag. Prague was
seized and a republic was declared with no
doubt that its national policies would be
against Germany and all other forms of
autocracy. From Berlin came the first
indications to the world that open rebel-
lion was threatened. Tbe Socialists
rioted and a display of force was made to
quell them.

Tbe Allies were placing great faith in
President Wilson's ability to keep out of
diplomatic tangles with Berlin and
Vienna and to avoid traps in peace nego-
tiations. Hut with tbe consent of tbe

276

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

Artillery on tl
Americar

encli Front Used b>
Advantage.

United States, it was agreed that all
peace proposals should go to the Allied
war cabinet. The British, with the taste
of victory, with the end of four years of
conflict and suffering almost in sight,
were determined in their demands that
absolutely no compromise be reached.

From Austria had come a plea for a
separate peace, but it was not made pub-
lic until October 19th, the day on which
President Wilson sent his reply. Aus-
tria, like Germany, agreed to the famous
"fourteen articles", but likewise, sug-
gested "negotiations of the details". The
President's curt reply voiced the same un-
compromising attitude he had adopted
toward Germany and Vienna was told
that evacuation must come first, then talk
of peace.

Another note was received from Berlin
on October 21st. This reiterated as-

surances that the overthrow of autocracy
would come with peace and that it was
the voice of the German people speaking
through the negotiations, not that of the
Kaiser. It protested against the view
that atrocities were being committed and
assured President Wilson that .these acts
were against the strictest orders and the
guilty were being punished. But the
note, like its predecessors, made no sug-
gestion of quick and absolute surrender
on the terms the Allies would impose. At
the same time Great Britain made her
position plain as regarded evacuation of
territory. Hints at new demands regard-
ing the freedom of the seas were made
and the British press asked for terms
which would impose tue fullest reparation
and indemnities for the ravaged countries.

President Wilson's reply to this latest
advance was the strongest of his ex-
changes with Germany and deserves full
space here. The note closed the doors to
any further discussion without a guaranty
of surrender and made it plain that the
Allied military command would dictate
the terms of an armistice in the field and
that Germany must apply directly there.
It also dealt in unqualified terms with the
record of pledges broken by Germany
and stated that the United States and the
Allies would in no way deal with the
Hohenzollern dynasty or with a cabinet
who represented them. The President's
memorable note follows:

"Having received the solemn and ex-
plicit assurance of the German govern-
ment that it unreservedly accepts the
terms of peace laid down in his address to
the congress of the United States on the
eighth of January, 1918, and the prin-
ciples of settlement enunciated in his sub-
sequent addresses, particularly the
address of the twenty-seventh of Septem-
ber, and that it desires to discuss the
details of their application and that this
wish and purpose emanated, not from
those who have hitherto dictated German
policy and conducted the present war on
Germany's behalf, but from ministers who
speak for the majority of the reichstag

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

277

and for an overwhelming majority of the
German peoples; and having received
also the explicit promise of the present
German government that the humane
rules of civilized warfare will he observed
both on land and sea by the German
armed forces, the president of the United
States feels that he cannot decline to take
up with the governments with which the
government of the United States is asso-
ciated the question of an armistice.

"He deems it his duty to say again,
however, that the only armistice he woidd
feel justified in submitting for considera-
tion would be one which should leave the
United States and the powers associated
with her in a position to enforce any ar-
rangements that may be entered into and
to make a renewal of hostilities on the
part of Germany impossible.

"The president has, therefore, trans-
mitted his correspondence with the pres-
ent German authorities to the govern-
ments with which the government of the
United States is associated as a bellig-
erent, with the suggestion that, if those
governments are disposed to effect peace
upon the terms and principles indicated,
their military advisers and the military
advisers of the United States be asked to
submit to the governments associated
against Germany the necessary terms of
such an armistice as will fully protect
the interests of the peoples involved and
ensure to the associated governments the
unrestricted power to safeguard and en-
force the details of the peace to which the
German government has agreed, provided
they deem such an armistice possible from
the military point of view.

"Should such terms of armistice be
suggested, their acceptance by Germany
will afford the best concrete evidence of
her unequivocal acceptance of the terms

Three soldiers wearing different types of gas masks.
At an exhibition they realistically went through then
drills and maneuvers and won applause from the great
crowd that gathered to see them.

and principles of peace from which the
whole action proceeds.

"The president would deem himself
lacking in candor did lie not point out in
the frankest possible terms the reason
why extraordinary safeguards must be
demanded. Significant and important as
the constitutional changes seem to be
which are spoken of by the German for-
eign secretary in his note of the 20th of
October, it does not appear that the prin-
ciple of a government responsible to the
German people has yet been fully worked
out or that any guarantees either exist or
are in contemplation that the alterations
of principle and of practice now partially
agreed upon will be permanent.

"Moreover, it does not appear that the

278

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FEEL

Minister Whitlock returning to his post in Belgium.
U. S. Minister Brand Whitlock aboard the S. S. Rot-
terdam.

heart of the present difficulty has heen
reached. It may he that future wars

have heen brought under the control of
the German people, hut the present war
lias not heen; and it is with the present
war that we are dealing.

"It is evident that the German people
have no means of commanding the
acquiescence of the military authorities of
the empire in the popular will; that the
power of the king of Prussia to control
the policy of the empire is unimpaired;
that the determining initiative still re-
mains with those who have hitherto heen
the masters of Germany.

"Feeling that the whole peace of the
world depends now on plain speaking and
straightforward action, the president
deems it his duty to say, without any at-
tempt to soften what may seem harsh
words, that the nations of the world do
not and cannot trust the word of those
who have hitherto heen the masters of
German policy, and to point out once
more that, in concluding peace and at-
tempting to undo the infinite injuries and
injustices of this war, the government of
the United States cannot deal with any
hut veritable representatives of the Ger-
man people.

"If it must deal with the military mas-
ters and the monarchial autocrats of Ger-
many now, or if it is likely to have to deal
with them later in regard to the interna-
tional obligations of the German empire,
it must demand, not peace negotiations,
but surrender. Nothing can he gained
by leaving this essential thing unsaid."

Events were transpiring in the domains
of the Central Powers which were having
a strong influence. The people's party
and the Social Democrats, openly com-
mitted to an early peace, were making
their demands heard in Berlin. The Ger-
mans were being cleared from Roumania
and the eastern gates of Austria were
now threatened by the Allies. Hungarian
soldiers were openly joining the peace

HOW THE CENTRAL TOWERS EELL

279

mobs in Budapest and other eities in the
Dual Monarchy. And, most serious of
all, the militarists, who had committed
Germany to the great war, had lost then-
last shreds of power. Ludendorff, who,
more than Hindenburg, was the embodi-
ment of the military policy, was forced
out after a bitter controversy. The first
quartermaster general, up to the last mo-
ment, even with the iron military machine
falling about his ears, is supposed to have
stood firm against surrender. Hinden-
burg, with others, had met the Kaiser and
the new chancellor and his ministry in

to it.

Austria again asked for separate peace
terms and on October 2i)th she made her
direct plea for an armistice at once, the
details of which have been recounted
above.

The action of the Allies was quick in
regard to Germany's last plea. The Al-
lied war cabinet met at Versailles and
framed the terms of armistice. These
were transmitted to Gen. Foch and on
November 5th, President Wilson commu-
nicated to Berlin the fact that the terms
might be had by applying to the Allied

Americans Before St. Millie] Salient. Before opening arti
these American boys are seen with eas masks on await ins

lery lire on the Germans in the St. Mihiel salient
to receive the final word.

conference. There were rumors that he
frankly told his sovereign that all was
lost. And with this news to the outside
world, came authoritative evidence that
the German army at the front was dis-
banding in revolt even as it retreated.

Berlin, convinced that the Allies and
the United Stales would countenance
no more quibbling, on October 27th, made
a direct request for the terms of an
armistice. To President Wilson, Berlin
addressed the information that the gov-
ernment was now by the people and that
the military authority had been subjected

high command on the field of battle.

Germany, pushed to extreme straits.
did not delay. Gen. Foch was notified
by wireless that a German armistice com-
mission sought to enter the lines and con-
fer with him at headquarters, and on
November 7th, firing was stopped at the
point in the lines where the commission
was to arrive and they were taken to Gen.
Foch's headquarters. Gen. E. G. W. von
Gruenell, Germany's delegate to the
Hague peace conferences; Gen. H. K. A.
von Winterfeld, former military attache
in Paris: Vice Admiral Meurer, and Ad-

280

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

miral Paul von Hintze made up the
German commission.

And even as they were entering the
lines, great events making for the collapse
of Germany and Austria were trans-
piring. Along a front of a hundred miles
the Allied armies were advancing in an
assault which in savageness surpassed
anything that had gone before. Ghent
had capitulated as Queen Elizabeth of
Belgium watched; Sedan was in flames
and the first American troops had ad-
vanced to its outskirts; the Italians now
numbered their prisoners at 1,000,000
men and they had taken 6.000 big guns
and 200,000 horses. And in Germany
there remained no doubt that autocracy
was toppling. German sailors on some
of the battleships at Kiel bad revolted and
seized the vessels in the name of the revo-
lution. The first outburst of the workers
and soldiers movement came when 20,000
workers gathered at Stuttgart and waved
the red flag and shouted the slogan
"Down with the war and long live the
social republic". Dispatches which found
their way out of Austria revealed that a
state of chaos existed there. Cities were
flooded by the soldiers returning in dis-
order. The demoralized troops were
plundering and rallying to the banners
of a score of incipient revolts. Of food
there was little and the returning soldiers
seized what little of that there was.

On November 8th, from the German
commission within the French lines, there
was sent a courier who bore the terms of
the Allies to the German council at Spa.
Germany was given seventy-two hours in
which to answer, but the request that
fighting cease until that time was refused
by Gen. Foch. The wily French com-
mander refused to be tricked and bis vic-
torious troops kept on in their rush
Rhinewards.

Emperor Wilbelm II, the world's
greatest autocrat, abdicated the throne
and renounced the rights of succession for
the Crown Prince on November 9th and

Lieut. Eddie Rickenbacher, America's greatest
"Ace." standing by his machine at an American Avia-
tion field, France. Lieut. Rickenbacher brougb.1

down twenty-six enemy planes.

the overthrow of autocracy and militarism
was complete. This was followed by the
announcement a few hours later that the
first of the German states to announce a
republic was Bavaria and that the diet of
that little kingdom had overthrown the
Wittelsbach dynasty and deposed King
Ludwig and his heir, Prince Rupprecht.
The German chancellor's announcement
of the Kaiser's abdication follows:

"The German imperial chancellor,
Prince Max of Baden, has issued the fol-
lowing decree: 'The kaiser and king has
decided to renounce the throne.

' 'The imperial chancellor will remain
in office until the questions connected with
the abdication of the kaiser, the renounc-
ing by the crown prince of the throne of
the German empire and of Prussia, and
the setting up of a regency shall have been
settled.

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

281

" 'For the regency he intends to ap-
point Deputy Ebert as imperial chancel-
lor, and he proposes that a bill shall be
brought in for the establishment of a law
providing for the immediate promulga-
tion of general suffrage and for a eonsti-

dreams of dominion had plunged the
world into war. With some of his staff
and members of his personal household,
he tied to Holland, where he was interned.
Early in the year 1919 the conferees of
the nations will meet and settle the peace

Henry P. Davison of the Red Cross.

tutional German national assembly, which
will settle finally the future form of gov-
ernment of the German nation and of
those peoples which might be desirous of
coming within the empire.' "

Thus ended the reign of the man whose

terms. His presence in Holland was a
great source of embarrassment to that
country. The people of Holland, influ-
enced by the wave of democracy — and in
some instances bolshevism — that was
sweeping Europe, feared that his pres-

282

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

ence in their country might he used as an
excuse to demand the removal of royalty
and the setting up of a socialistic form of
government.

In the meantime the political disturb-
ances in Germany were growing. The
strikes of workers extended through all
the cities of northern Germany. More
ships had heen seized by the rebels at Kiel

flying everywhere in Berlin and a republic
was declared to exist by the social demo-
crats. Friedrich Ebert, with the resigna-
tion of Prince Maximilian, had become
chancellor and head of the provisional
government. Among his cabinet he num-
bered Dr. Liebknecht, recently released
from prison, and Philip Scheidemann,
both worldwide known leaders of govern-

RemarkaUe View of

and there had heen fighting between them
and the scattered royalists. With tl>e
abdication of the Kaiser, Berlin had been
seized by the workmen's and soldiers'
council. The revolutionists held sway in
Wurtemburg and Brunswick and the
monarchs of those principalities stepped
down from their thrones.

On November 10th, the red flag was

he Lines.

mental reform. A general strike had
been called and within seven hours, with
no bloodshed except for a few deaths in
clashes with German army officers, the
overthrow of the imperial government
had been accomplished and another re-
public added to the free nations of the
world.

The world war ended at 11 o'clock

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

283

A. M. (Paris time) on November 11th,
1918. The United States received the
news in a dispatch sent from Washington
stating that at 2:45 o'clock A. M. the
state department had announced that the
armistice terms had been signed and that
they would become effective at the hour
given above. Gen. Foch had conveyed
the news to all his commanders and

MILITARY SURRENDERS

The Germans, within fourteen days,
must evacuate all of Belgium, France,
Alsace-Lorraine, and Luxemburg. All
German troops remaining after that time
will become prisoners of war.

The Germans must surrender 5,000
cannon, half heavy and half held artil-

ii Repl

ewish Welfare I'manl I hit in [-'ranee on the Fighting Lines

promptly to the minute firing ceased at
the time set.

The terms imposed in the armistice
left no opportunity for Germany to re-
sume military operations. With the sign-
ing of the agreement the new government
in Berlin, in effect, placed itself absolutely
in the hands of the Allies. The following
is a summary of the terms of the armis-
tice:

lery; 30,000 machine guns, 3,000 mine
throwers, and 2,000 airplanes, fighters.
bombers — firstly I), seventy-threes — and
night bombing machines.

The Germans must surrender in good
condition 5,000 locomotives, 50,000
wagons, and 10,000 motor lorries. They
also must turn over all flic railways in

284

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

Alsace-Lorraine and their coal and metal
supplies.

All Germans in East Africa must sur-
render in one month.

NAVAL SURRENDERS

The Germans must surrender 160 sub-
marines, including all cruiser and mine
laying submarines. They also must give

auxiliary vessels (trawlers, motor vessels,
etc.) are to be disarmed.

All ports on the Black sea occupied by
the Germans are to be surrendered, to-
gether with all the Russian vessels cap
tured by the Germans.

All merchant vessels belonging to the
Allies now in the hands of the Germans

The Salvation Army Hut and Cooking Station on the Fighting Lines in France.

up the following naval craft, the individ-
ual ships to be designated by the allies:
Fifty destroyers, six battle cruisers, ten
battleships, eight light cruisers.

The other submarines and all the other
surface vessels are to be disarmed and dis-
manned and concentrated in German
ports to be designated by the Allies. All

are to be surrendered without reciprocity.
OCCUPATIONS
The allies will occupy all of the country
on the left (west) bank of the Rhine and
the principal crossings at Mayence, Cob-
lenz, and Cologne, together with the
bridgeheads (twenty miles in radius) on
the right bank.

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

285

The Germans must withdraw and cre-
ate a neutral zone on the right hank forty
kilometers wide from the Holland border
to the Swiss border.

The allies will occupy the German forts
on the Cattegat to insure freedom of ac-
cess to the Baltic.

RESTORATION

Resides France, Belgium and Alsace,
the Germans must retire from all terri-
tory held by Russia, Roumania. and Tur-
key before the war.

The treaties of Bucharest and Brest-
Litovsk are abrogated.

The allies are to have access to the re-
stored territories in the east either
through Dantzig or the River Vistula.

RESTITUTION

Full restitution for all damage done by
the German armies.

Restitution of the cash taken from the
National Bank of Belgium.

Return of all of the gold taken by the
Germans from Russia and Roumania. this
gold to be turned over to the allies as
trustees.

REPATRIATION

All allied prisoners in Germany, mili-
tary, naval or civilian, to be repatriated
immediately without reciprocal action by
the allies.

The territory west of the Rhine which
the Germans were to evacuate is roughly
20,000 square miles in extent, with a
population of about 9,000,000. It in-
cludes some of the most important mining
and manufacturing districts of Germany,
and such great centers as Cologne, Strass-
burg, Metz, and Coblenz.

The territory consists of Alsace-Lor
raine, the Palatinate, the Rhine province,
Birkenfeld, and about one-third of Hesse.

The Rhine province is the largest of
these districts. Its area is 10,42:5 square
miles and the census of 1010 gave its
population as 5, 7.59,ooo. It contains

Two Salvation Army Lasses, Prize Winners in
Doughnut and Pie Making.

great coal and metal deposits and some
of the largest iron and steel manufactur-
ing centers of Germany. There also are
textile industries on a vast scale as well
as extensive farming and wine growing
regions.

The most important cities are Cologne,
Coblenz, Bonn, and Aix-la-Chapelle.
The Rhine province is the most westerly
province of Prussia, by which it was
acquired in 181.5.

Next in size is Alsace-Lorraine. Torn
from France after the Franco-Prussian
Avar, its restoration to the mother country
has been one of the chief points upon
which the allies have insisted in outlining
their terms. Its area is .5,(500 square
miles, and its population about 1,87-5,000.

The principal towns are Metz, Strass-
burg, Muehlhausen, and Kolmar. It con-
tains the great iron ore district of Briey,
one of the principal sources of German
supply, and the extensive Saar coal fields.
Its textile industries are among the most
important in Germany.

The Palatinate is 2, .'{72 square miles in
extent, and has about 950,000 inhabitants.
It is chiefly a farming and wine growing
country, although there arc some large

280

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

manufacturing industries. The capital is
Speyer.

Birkenfeld is a principality belonging
to, although detached from the grand
duchy of Oldenburg. It is inclosed in the
Rhine province. Its area is 194 square
miles, and its population about 45,000.

The total area of the grand duchy of
Hesse, about one-third of which lies west
of the Rhine, is 2,965 square miles, and its
total population is 1,300,000. The capital
of Hesse, which is on the west bank of the
Rhine, is Mainz, one of the principal fort-
resses of Germany.

clined by 45 per cent, while that of the
allies was as great at the end as at the
beginning of the campaign, thanks to the
extraordinarily rapid reinforcement of
the American army. The British bore
the brunt of the righting of the final cam-
paign and their strength was reduced by
27 per cent, during the season while that
of the French declined by only 21 per
cent. When the fighting ceased the re-
treating German armies, outnumbered by
the ratio of 25 to 17, terribly exhausted
and short of munitions, were being split
in two by the forest of the Ardennes,

The interned Austrian transport "Damih.

(1 to carry food to the starving people of Belgium.

Evacuation of this territory also freed
from German control the nominally inde-
pendent grand duchy of Luxemburg,
which, invaded by Germany at the begin-
ning of the war, had been completely
under its control since that time.

That the Germans gave up the struggle
on November 11th because the allies were
about to destroy the German armies is
beyond peradventure. During the course
of the sanguinary 1918 campaign the
strength of the enemy's field armies de-

which would have prevented mutual sup-
port being quickly given by the northern
and southern German armies. Foch
would have covered himself with glory by
administering the coup de mort to the
stricken German armies, but he yielded
to the view that it would be a crime to
sacrifice thousands of additional lives on
the allied side when every essential of
peace could be secured without such a
sacrifice. The only regrettable feature
about that decision is that multitudes of

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

•287

German people did not sense the fact that

their armies were defeated.

Figures suggesting in detail the changes
in the relative strength of the combatants
as the German offensive waned and the
allied offensive progressed to final victory
were given by General Maurice, who ap-
pears to have had access to semi-official
information. Taking the strength of the
Belgian army as the unit, which means
that a unit represents slightly more than
100,000 men, the following appears to
have been the standing of the belligerents
on March 21st. when the supreme Ger-
man effort to win the war began.

Strength of Strength of

Allied Armies German Armies

British 10l/ 2

French 12%

American.... '• |

Belgian 1 26

2.5 units

26 units

Thus the actual strength of the Ger-
mans at the front at the beginning of the
campaign was little more than 100,000
greater than that of the four allied nations,
but the Germans had 13 other units, or
more than 1,300,000 additional troops, on
the way across Europe, which they could
use and had available in the west before
they attacked the French north of the
Aisne on May 27th. In spite of all his
losses in attacking the British, the enemy's
attacking strength in May had increased
from 2(i to 31 units, giving him an advan-
tage of more than half a million men. In
the first weeks of the campaign the allies
were unable to make the best use of their
several and distinct armies because of the
lack of a supreme commander. Had the
wisest use been made of the pooled re-
sources of the allies it is doubtful that the
reverses between March and July ever
would have been suffered. The enemy
with undivided control, was able to con-
centrate such overpowering strength
against a 50-mile sector of the British
front as gave him the initiative over all
the allied armies and gol them "in bad."

A long and anxious time was spent before
the allies freed themselves from their
painful disadvantage.

The writer has stated his belief that
Foch had little idea, himself, what would
be the effect of a counter-thrust on July
18. The most he counted on, probably,
was that the enemy's offensive would be
held up until the reinforcements from the
United States would permit a genuine of-
fensive campaign to proceed. This view
is supported by the fact that in July the
enemy still retained a great advantage in
numbers though his troops were more bat-
tle-worn. The relative strength of the
combatants when the allies struck back
was:

Allied Strength German Strength

British &/»

French lli/S

U. S 3

Belgian 1 30

25 30

It will be noticed that the strength of
the British and French had fallen off by
214 units, which were made up by the
Americans. The German strength, since
March, had increased by i units.

The rapidly-increasing American re-
serves justified Foch in striking and in
keeping striking. Having snatched away
the initiative he kept the enemy reserves
dashing about madly to plug up holes in
the line and wore them down rapidly.
And so when the Germans made their
submission in November the relative
strength of the opponents was as Follows:

Allied Strength German Strength

British 8

French 10

Americans.... 6

Belgians 1 17

25 17

In effect, the 1918 campaign ended in
the allies gaining the greatesl victory ever
recorded in military history.

W. K. I>.

288

HOW THE CENTRAL POWERS FELL

Marvels of the War on Land, Sea and Air

CHAPTER XVI

I'AXKS GREAT INVENTION — VIRSHIPS IMPROVED GREATLY -
GERMAN SUBMARINE MOST FORMIDABLE — NAVAL COMPARISONS.

The most remarkable invention devel-
oped for military purposes during The
Great War was the tank. It was an idea
adapted from the tractor machine and
various persons in England and in Amer-
ica were credited with first giving the
suggestion to the British War Office. It
was used with considerable success in the
battle of the Somme in 1916 but later
the anti-tank guns of the Germans proved
effective and many officers on both sides
were disposed to regard the tank as a fail-
ure. Consequently, a complete surprise
was sprung by General Byng late in 1917
when hundreds of tanks rushed forward,
beating down or carrying away the elabo-
rate wire entanglements protecting the
German trenches opposite Cambrai.
opening the way for an advance of nine
miles by the British infantry. Had Gen-
eral Haig been well supplied with re-
serves to hurl through the breach thus
made by the perambulating fortresses, a
different ending to the campaign of that
year might have been written into history.
Thereafter the tank was greatly feared
by the German army but it was too late
then for the Germans to go into the
manufacture of them on a large scale.
They had only a few tanks in their spring
offensive in 1*918. The British and other
allied armies, however, had many hun-
dreds of them and used them as brigades
in a most spectacular manner. In the
Somme offensive of August, 1918, the
tanks did very fine work.

In the air wonderful progress was
made in the development of heavier-than-
air machines which proved to be much

more effective for army purposes than
the German dirigibles or Zeppelins.
These huge flying monsters were used in
making several raids on England but
with disastrous results to themselves.
Finally the Germans confined the opera-
tions of Zeppelins to scouting for the
Fleet. When the war began the British
army had only one hundred airplanes but
at the end of the war they had tens of
thousands. On Ostend and Zeebrugge
alone the British bombing planes dropped
an average of four tons of bombs daily
over a period lasting for five months. By
that time three-decker airplanes capable
of flying thousands of miles and of car-
rying as many as forty men had been
used. The third day after the armistice
was signed had been set as the date for
a great raid on Berlin by monster allied
airplanes.

The submarine became a much more
formidable vessel as the war progressed,
and the radius and power of the torpedo,
its principal weapon, was much increased.
Some of the later submarines were of
2,-500 tons, equipped with six-inch guns
and capable of submerging safely to a
depth of 300 feet. The British also de-
veloped a battle-cruiser capable of cross-
ing the ocean in three days.

The British Admiralty permitted to be
made public the real story of the sub-
marine cruisers the British successfully
constructed at the time the Germans were
boasting of their super-submarine. The
British craft have two runnels and make
24 knots an hour on the surface under
steam power. They carry from eight to

290

MARVELS OF THE WAR

ten torpedo tubes, two or three 4-inch
guns and also are equipped with internal
combustion motors for surface cruising.
The batteries for the undersea power can
be charged from both the steam and com-
bustion engines, and an ingenious scheme
has been devised for quickly dismantling
the funnels for the purpose of submerg-
ing. The vessels displace 2,000 tons on
the surface and 2,700 tons submerged.
They are 340 feet long, have a beam" of
26 feet and a cruising radius of 3,000
miles. They are designed to be even a
match for torpedo-boat destroyers in sur-
face fighting.

It is also known that the British have
successfully built a submarine carrying
a 12-inch gun, although the details of
this craft have not been made public.
The craft was built with the idea of mak-
ing it possible to fire this gun, the new
ideas embraced in the construction includ-
ing the "cushioning" of the boat to with-
stand the terrific concussion of the gun.
This idea is reported unofficially as hav-
ing been successful. So far as is known
the new craft was never employed against
any enemy vessel.

During the first half of the year 1918
no less than 100 German submarines were
trapped in British mine fields off Heligo-
land. The total number captured or de-
stroyed during the war is put at 202. As
at least 122 were surrendered since the
armistice and 58 were not yet completed,
it appears that Germany used during the
war or had in course of construction, a
total of 382 submarines, whereas she was
credited with only 3.5 when war began.
During the course of one month the Brit-
ish mined zone off the Belgian coast
caught 17 German submarines.

Five hundred and seventeen ships were
added to the British navy during the war.
The new vessels include seven battleships,
five battle-cruisers, twenty-six light cruis-
ers, seventeen monitors, 230 destroyers
and 232 mine-sVeepers and special craft.

Secretary Daniels of the U. S., at the
end of the" war said that Great Britain
has in operation or building sixty-one

battleships, 13 battle cruisers, 31 heavy
cruisers, 111 light cruisers, 216 patrol and
gunboats, 409 destroyers, 219 submarines,
98 torpedo boats, 32 flotilla leaders, 220
airships and 897 miscellaneous ships.

The United States, with the second
largest navy in the world, has built or
projected 39 battleships, six battle cruis-
ers, eight armored cruisers, forty light
cruisers, 342 destroyers, 181 submarines,
15 coast torpedo vessels, 17 torpedo boats
and 569 other vessels.

France has 29 battleships, 21 cruisers,
eight light cruisers, 92 destroyers, 121
torpedo boats, 70 submarines, 39 airships
and 183 other craft.

Italy has 18 battleships, seven cruisers,
ten light cruisers, five monitors, 15 flotilla
leaders, 54 destroyers, 83 torpedo boats,
*5 submarines, 30 airships and 442 mis-
cellaneous vessels.

Russia, before quitting the war, had 18
battleships, four battle cruisers, 12 heavy
and nine light cruisers, 128 destroyers,
54 submarines, 13 torpedo boats, 14 air-
ships and 90 miscellaneous vessels.

Before the armistice was signed, Ger-
many had 47 battleships, six battle cruis-
ers, 51 other cruisers, 223 destroyers, 175
torpedo boats, 243 submarines, and 564
miscellaneous vessels.

During the war 2,475 British ships
were sunk with their crews beneath them,
and 3,147 vessels were sunk and their
crews left adrift. Fishing vessels to the
number of 670 were lost during the period
of hostilities.

According to one story, when the
kaiser urged upon Admiral Scheer in
October, 1918, that he sail out to meet
the British fleet, the admiral consented,
but only on condition that the kaiser ac-
company the fleet on the flagship and
take nominal control of the action with
the British fleet. In the interview be-
tween Scheer and the kaiser the latter
pledged his word to Scheer that he would
do so. The German fleet was to have
sailed on a Thursday night, the kaiser
was to have arrived at Kiel the previous
Tuesday. But on the Monday preceding

MARVELS OF THE WAR

291

a naval attache arrived at Kiel with a
despatch for Scheer from the kaiser, in
which Wilhelni .stated that he could not
come to Kiel because he believed it to be
his duty to remain at Potsdam. Admiral
Scheer then decided not only not to allow
the fleet to sail, but as a protest against
the Hohenzollerns to take possession of
Kiel. Scheer informed Premier Ebert
that he would hold the great naval base
until a new government had been formed.
Prince Henry of Prussia, who was at
K iel. was held a prisoner for a week. In
a cablegram to government officials at
Berlin. Admiral Scheer said. "We pre-
ferred disgrace to fighting in the cause of
a coward."

Describing the German warships which
surrendered to the British and are now
interned in Scapa Flow, the correspond-
ent of The Daily Telegraph says:

"The German admiral's flag, white
with a thin black cross and two black
balls, indicative of his rank, still flew at
the main topgallant of the Friedrich der
Grosse, as the German squadron moved
between the British lines. It hung limp
and dirty — typical in this state of all the
German ships and their crews. The ships
were in such condition that they looked
like vessels laid by for breaking-up pur-
poses. They could not have seen paint
for two years. Their sides, funnels and
bridges were covered with red rust, and
the masts were black with soot. The
•runs even bad not been painted for
months.

"The Derfl'linger was in better condi-
tion than any of the others, and there was
an appearance on board that discipline
was still in vogue. On all the other ships
the crews were lounging about, many on
the quarter decks, not recognizing their
officers, (hi the Derfl'linger the officers
were parading smartly about on their own
quarter, and the men were clean and or-
derly. As we passed close to each ship

tin- men crowded the rail. They looked
miserable and drenched and cold. Their

clothing was nondescript. There was an
air of melancholy and depression every-
where.

"It was a pleasure to come from them
alongside our own great ships, where
everything was spick and span. Hearty
sailormen with cheery faces were at every
porthole, and the quarter decks were
occupied only by officers, the commander
marching briskly along in the traditional
way, telescope under his arm. The Ger-
man officers have been very polite, and
no trouble whatever has been experienced
with them. The British officers have re-
jected all advances at friendliness, and
have extended only the necessary cour-
tesies."

Captain Persius, the German naval
critic, chose the moment when the finest
vessels of the German navy were about
to be surrendered to the allies to publish
in the Berlin Tageblatt a sensational ar-
ticle containing revelations regarding the
German fleet. Captain Persius said the
hope that the German fleet would be able
in a second Skagerrak battle to beat the
British fleet rested upon the bluff and
lies of the naval authorities. In August,
1914, Germany had about one million
tonnage in warships, while Great Britain
had more than double that, and thanks to
the mistakes of Von Tirpitz, the German
material was quite inferior to the British.
In the Skaggerak battle, the German
fleet was saved from destruction partly
by good leadership and partly by favor-
able weather conditions. Had the
weather been clear or Admiral Von
Scheer's leadership less able the destruc-
tion of the whole German navy would
have resulted. The long-range British
nuns would have completely smashed the
lighter-armed German ships. As it was.
the losses of the German fleet were enor-
mous, and on June 1. Captain Persius
says, it was clear to every thinking man
that the Skaggcrrak battle must he the
only general naval engagement of the
war.

On all sides, says Capt. Persius. Ad-

292

MARVELS OF THE WAR

miral Von Tirpitz was advised to con-
struct only submarines, but he remained
obstinate. On October 1, 1915, several
members of the Reichstag made an ear-
nest appeal to the army command — not
to the naval staff — with the result that an
order was issued terminating the con-
struction of battleships in order that the
material might be used for the making of
U-boats. In the meantime so great a
scarcity of material had arisen that it be-
came necessary to disarm a number of the
battleships and take the metal. In this
manner, at the beginning of 1916 twenty-
three battleships had been disarmed, as
well as one newly built cruiser.

At the beginning of 1918 Captain Per-
sius states, the German navy consisted
only of dreadnaughts and battleships of
the* Heligoland, Kaiser and Markgraf
types, and some few battle cruisers. All
the ships which Von Tirpitz had con-
structed from 1897 to 1906, at a cost of
innumerable millions, had been destroyed;
and the U-boats that had been con-
structed had proved unable to fight
against British warships. Admiral Von
Capelle during his period as head of the
navy constructed very few submarines,
work being continued only on the con-
struction of submarines of the large type,
but in official quarters it was still stated
that Germany possessed an enormous
number of U-boats and that the losses
Mere virtually nil. That was not true, the
writer admits. In 1917, he states, 83
submarines were constructed, while 66
were destroyed. In April, 1917, Ger-
many had 126 submarines and in October
146. In February. 1918. she had 136 and
in June of the same year 113.

Only a small percentage of these sub-
marines were actively operating at any
given time, Captain Persius declares. In
January, 1917, for instance, when condi-
tions were favorable for submarine work,
only twelve percent were active while
thirty percent were in harbor, thirty-eight
percent under repairs and twenty per-
cent "incapacitated". Submarine crews,
he says, were not sufficiently educated and

trained and they looked with distrust
upon the weapon. In the last months,
he reveals, it was very difficult to get men
for submarine work, as experienced sea-
men looked upon the submarine warfare
as political stupidity. Captain Persius
tells of the mutiny that broke out at the
beginning of the month when the Ger-
man navy was ordered out for attack.
Had the seamen obeyed, the writer re-
marks, innumerable lives would have been
lost, and he declares that "every thinking
man therefore is of the opinion that the
seamen on November 5 rendered an in-
valuable service to their country".

The surrender of war weapons by the
enemy represented a higher percentage of
his strength than had been estimated. A
Paris despatch reported that the allies
captured one-third of the German artil-
lery during their offensive, that one-ninth
was destroyed in action and that the sur-
render of 5,000 guns represented at least
one-half of all the enemy's remaining ar-
tillery. The enemy was credited with
having only 2,586 planes, and the surren-
der of 1,700 machines left him without a
single bombing or fighting plane, the re-
mainder being planes designed for other
work.

The detailed report of General Haig
on the British operations between April
and November showed that General
Haig agrees with Foch that the defensive
power of the German army was destroyed
by the allies' four months' campaign and
that the armistice saved the German
armies from a colossal disaster and Ger-
many from an armed invasion. But for
the cessation of hostilities the allied of-
fensive would have been extended still
farther. During the 1918 campaign the
British captured more than 200,000 Ger-
mans and 2,850 cannon out of a total of
330,000 prisoners and 6,000 cannon taken
by all the allied armies. General Haig
says that during the last three months of
the fighting, the British, using 59 divi-
sions, met and defeated no less than 99
different divisions of the Germans.

W. R. P.

THE MARINES

Secretary Josephus Daniels

No achievement in the entire war
stands forth more brilliantly than the
share of American troops in stopping the
Germans. The Germans were within less
than fifty miles from Paris. Apparent 1\
all that was needed was the final push.

Because the Marines bore the greater
share of the fighting at Chateau Thierry
and Belleau Wood. Secretary of the
Navy Daniels deals extensively with these
engagements in his annual report for

Daniels' report which deals with the
fighting at Chateau Thierry and Belleau
Wood, renamed by the French in honoi
of the U. S. Marine Corps, and which was
the first detailed and accurate narrative
made public:

MARINE CORPS WINS GLORY.

This efficient fighting, building, and land-
ing force of the Navy has won imperish-
able glory in the fulfillment of its latest
duties upon the battle fields of France,

Allied Motor Transport Halted on the Western Front.

1918. Also, a bit of Foch's strategy, not
before made public, is hinted at in the re-
port. Secretary Daniels indicates that
Marshal Foch realized the strength, cour-
age and efficiency of the Americans before
the rest of Europe awoke to them, and
that in his confidence he dangled an ap-
parently open road to Paris before the
eyes of the German Crown Prince as a
bait and that the indomitable Americans
were the steel jaws of the trap he was to
spring.

Following is that portion of Secretary

where the Marines, fighting for the time
under Gen. Pershing as a part of the vic-
torious American Army, have written a
story of valor and sacrifice that will live in
the brightest annals of the war. With
heroism that nothing could daunt the Ma-
rine Corps played a vital role in steni-
ming the German rush on Paris, and in lat-
er days aided in the beginning of the great
offensive, the freeing of Rheims, and par-
ticipated in the hard fighting in Cham-
pagne, which had as its object the throw-
ing back of the Prussian armies in the vi-
cinity of Cambrai and St. Quentin.

294

THE MARINES

With only 8,000 men engaged in the
fiercest battles, the Marine Corps casual-
ties numbered 69 officers and 1,531 enlisted
men dead and 78 officers and -!,435 enlisted
men wounded seriously enough to be offi-
cially reported by cablegram, to which
number should be added not a few whose
wounds did not incapacitate them from
further fighting. However, with a casual-
ty list that numbers over half the origi-
nal 8,000 men who entered battle, the offi-
cial reports account for only 57 United
States Marines who have been captured by
the enemy. This includes those who were
wounded far in advance of their lines and
who fell into the hands of the Germans
while unable to resist.

STOPPED DRIVE OX PARIS.

Memorial Day shall henceforth have a
greater, deeper significance for America,
for it was on that day. May 30, 1918, that
our country really received its first call to
battle- — the battle in which American

This shell case is now in possession of President
Wilson because it contained the first shot tired by
American troops at the enemy. An American offi-
cer of the forces overseas is shown holding the his-
toric shell case.

troops had the honor of stopping the Ger-
man drive on Paris, throwing back the
Prussian hordes in attack after attack, and
beginning the retreat which lasted until
Imperial Germany was beaten to its knees
and its emissaries appealing for an armis-
tice under the flag of truce. And to the
United States Marines, fighting side by
side with equally brave and equally cour-
ageous men in the American Army, to that
faithful sea and land force of the Navy fell
the honor of taking over the lines where
the blow of the Prussian would strike the
hardest, the line that was nearest Paris
and where, should a breach occur, all would
be lost. The world knows today that the
United States Marines held that line; that
they blocked the advance that was rolling
on toward Paris at a rate of six or seven
miles a day; that they met the attack in
American fashion and with American hero-
ism; that Marines and soldiers of the Am-
erican Army threw back the crack guard.
divisions of Germany, broke their advance,
and then, attacking, drove them back in the
beginning of a retreat that was not to end
until the "cease firing" signal sounded for
the end of the world's greatest war. In
this connection Melville Stone, general
manager of the Associated Press, said, fol-
lowing an exhaustive trip of investigation
in Europe :

"They (the Marines) had before them
the best Prussian Guards and shock troops
— the Germans were perfectly sure they
could drive the 'amateurs' back.

"It was a 'dramatic situation, for success
meant that the Germans could probably
push for Calais and other channel ports;
but Foch dangled Paris before their eyes
by putting raw Americans at a point
across the direct road to Paris, in the pock-
et 1 iet ween Rheims and Soissons. Instead
of driving back the 'amateurs,' the 'ama-
teurs' drove them and gave them also a
very sound thrashing. Their losses were
very heavy, but they did the work, and in
doing it also did three things : They saved
Paris ; they seriously injured the morale of
the best German troops; and they set a
standard and fixed a reputation for Ameri-

THE MARINES

295

can troops that none other dared tarnish."
Such is the opinion of the head of a
great news gathering force regarding the
achievements of the United States Marines
at Chateau Thierry, where in the battle
field of Bois de Belleau, now named the
Bois de la Brigade de la Marine by official
order of the French Staff, this branch of
the Navy met the Germans and blocked
their drive ou Paris.

ORDERED TO FRONT ON MEMORIAL DAY.

It was on the evening of May 30, after a
day dedicated to the memory of their coni-
rades who had fallen in the training days
and in the Verdun sector, that the Fifth
and Sixth Regiments and the Sixth Ma-
chine Gun Battalion, United States Ma-
rines, each received the following orders:

"Advance information official received
that this regiment will move at 10 p. m. 30
May by bus to new area. All trains shall
be loaded at once and arrangements has-
tened. Wagons, when loaded, will move to
Serans to form train."

All through the night there was fevered
activity among the Marines. Then, the
next morning, the long trains of camions,
busses, and trucks, each carrying its full
complement of United States Marines, went
forward on a road which at one place
wound within less than 10 miles of Paris,
toward Means aud the fighting line.

Through the town of Meaux went the
long line of camions and to the village of
Montriel-aux-Lions, less than 4 miles from
the rapidly advancing German line. On this
trip the camions containing the Americans
were the only traffic traveling in the direc-
tion of the Germans; everything else was
going the other way — refugees, old men
and women, small children, riding on every
conceivable conveyance, many trudging
along the side of the road driving a cow or
calf before them, all of them covered with
the white dust which the camion caravan
was whirling up as it rolled along; along
that road only one organization was ad-
vancing, the United States Marines.

COT INTO LINE ON JUNE 2.

At last, their destination reached early
on the morning of .lime 2, they disem-

The Gas Mask Adopted by the United States.
Close up view of an American trooper accoutred
with new stvle gas-mask. He penetrated a gas cloud,
generated for the occasion, and came out unharmed,
although it usually takes an experienced hand to put
on a mask securely.

barked, stiff and tired after a journey of
more than 72 miles, but as they formed
their lines and marched onward in the di-
rection of the line they were to hold they
were determined and cheerful. That even-
ing the first field message from the Fourth
Brigade to Maj. Gen. Omar Bundy, com-
manding the Second Division, went for-
ward :

"Second Battalion, Sixth Marines, in line
from Le Thiolet through Clarembauts
Woods to Triangle to Lucv. Instructed to

296

THE MARINES

hold line. First Battalion, Sixth Marines,
going into line from Lucy through Hill
142. Third Battalion in support at La Voie
du Chatel, which is also the post command
of the Sixth Marines. Sixth machine-gun
battalion distributed at line."

Meanwhile the Fifth Regiment was mov-
ing into line, machine guns were advancing,
and the artillery taking its position. That
night the men and officers of the Marines
slept in the open, many of them in a field

vancing in smooth columns. The United
States Marines, trained to keen observa-
tion upon the rifle range, nearly every one
of them wearing marksman's medal or bet-
ter, that of the sharpshooter or expert
rifleman, did not wait for those gray-clad
hordes to advance nearer. Calmly they set
their sights and aimed with the same pre-
cision that they had shown upon the rifle
ranges at Paris Island, Mare Island, and
Quantico. Incessantly their rifles cracked,

Funeral of first Americans to die in France. Impressive rituals marked the burial of Corporal James D.
Gresham. Private Thomas F. Enright and Private Merle D. Hay, of Company F, 16th Infantry.

that was green with unharvested wheat,
awaiting the time when they should be sum-
moned to battle. The next day at 5 o'clock,
the afternoon of June 2, began the battle of
Chateau Thierry, with the Americans hold-
ing the line against the most vicious wedge
of the German advance.

BATTLE OF CHATEAU THIERRY.

The advance of the Germans was across
a wheat field, driving at Hill 165 and ad-

and with their tire came the support of the
artillery. The machine-gun fire, incessant
also, began to make its inroads upon the ad-
vancing forces. Closer and closer the
shrapnel burst to its targets. Caught in a
seething wave of machine-gun fire, of scat-
tering shrapnel, of accurate rifle fire, the
Germans found themselves in a position in
which further advance could only mean ab-
solute suicide. The lines hesitated. They

THE MARINES

297

stopped. They broke for cover, while the
Marines raked the woods and ravines in
which they had taken refuge with machine
gun and ritie to prevent them making an-
other attempt to advance by infiltrating
through. Above, a French airplane was
checking up on the artillery fire. Surprised
by the fact that men should deliberately set
their sights, adjust their range, and then
fire deliberately at an advancing foe, each
man picking his target instead of firing
merely in the direction of the enemy, the
aviator signalled below "Bravo!" In the

to defend the positions they had won with
all the stubbornness possible. In the black
recesses of Belleau Wood the Germans had
established nest after nest of machine
guns. There in the jungle of matted un-
derbrush, of vines, of heavy foliage, they
had placed themselves in positions they be-
lieved impregnable. And this meant that
unless they could be routed, unless they
could be thrown back, the breaking of the
line would be only a matter of time.
There would come another drive and an-
other. The battle of Chateau Thierry was

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rear that word was echoed again and again.
The German drive on Paris had been

-lopped.

FIERCE FIGHTING IN BELLEAU WOOD.

For the next few days the fighting took
OH the character of pushing forth outposts
and determining the strength of the enemy.
Now, the fighting had changed. The Ger-
mans, mystified that they should have run
against a stone wall of defense just when
they b< lieved that their advance would be
easiest, had halted, amazed; then prepared

therefore not won and could not be won
until Belleau Wood had been cleared of the
enemy.

It was dune 6 that the attack of the
American troops began against that wood
and its adjacent surroundings, with the
wood itself and the towns of Torcy and
Bouresches forming the objectives. At 5
o'clock the attack came, and there began
the tremendous sacrifices which the Marine
Corps gladly suffered that the German
fighters might be thrown back.

298

thp: marines

FOUGHT IN AMERICAN FASHION.

The Marines fought strictly according to
American methods — a rush, a halt, a rush
again, in four-wave formation, the rear
waves taking over the work of those who
had fallen before them, passing over the
bodies of their dead comrades and plung-
ing ahead, until they, too, should be torn to
bits. But behind those waves wore more
waves, and the attack went on.

"Men fell like flies"; the expression is

CHARGING MACHINE-GUN NESTS.

In Belleau Wood the fighting had been
literally from tree to tree, stronghold to
stronghold ; and it was a fight which must
last for weeks before its accomplishment in
victory. Belleau Wood was a jungle, its
every rocky formation forming a German
machine-gun nest, almost impossible to
reach by artillery or grenade fire. There
was only one way to wipe out these nests —
by the bayonet. And Ity this method were

Paris gives wonderful reception to American troops.

that of an officer writing from the field.
Companies that had entered the battle 250
strong dwindled to 50 and 60, with a ser-
geant in command; but the attack did not
falter. At 9:45 o'clock that night Boures-
ches was taken by Lieut. James F. Robert-
son and twenty-odd men of his platoon;
these soon were joined by two reinforcing
platoons. Then came the enemy counter
attacks, but the Marines held.

they wiiied out, for United States Marines,
bare chested, shouting their battle cry
of "E-e-e-e-e y-a-a-h-h-h yip!" charged
straight into the murderous fire from those
guns, and won! Out of the number that
charged, in more than one instance, only
one would reach the stronghold. There,
with his bayonet as his only weapon, he
would either kill or capture the defenders
of the nest, and then swinging the gun

THE ^MARINES

299

about in its position, turn it against the
remaining German positions in the forest.
Such was the character of the fighting in
Belleau Wood; fighting which continued
until July 6, when after a short relief the
invincible Americans finally were taken
back to the rest billet for recuperation.
jIELD the line for many weaky days.
In all the history of the Marine Corps
there is no such battle as that one in Bel-
leau Wood. Fighting day and night with-

ter that they were unable to supply, seeing
men fight on after they had been wounded
and until they dropped unconscious; time
after time officers seeing these things, be-
lieving that the very limit of human en-
durance had been reached, would send back
messages to their post command that their
men were exhausted. But in answer to
this would come the word that the lines
must hold, and if possible those lines must
attack, and the lines obeyed. Without wa-

The American Fed Cross workers at this station are feeding the Saloniki refugees, who are sheltered in

the tents that dot the plain.

out relief, without sleep, often without
water, and for days without hot rations,
the Marines met and defeated the best
divisions that Germany could throw into
the line. The heroism and doggedness
of that battle are unparalleled. Time
after time officers seeing their lines cut
to pieces, seeing their men so dog tired
that they even fell asleep under shell fire,
hearing their wounded calling for the wa-

ter, without food, without rest they went
forward — and forward every time to vic-
tory. Companies had been so torn and lac-
era ted by losses that they were hardly
platoons; but they held their lines and ad-
vanced them. In more than one case com-
panies lost every officer, leaving a sergeant
and sometimes a corporal to command, and
the advance continued. After 13 days in
this inferno of fire a captured German of-

300

THE MARINES

Where first American officer was wounded in
France. Lieut. De Vere H. Harden, of the Signal
Corps, is the man who was wounded, and his dis-
tinction is a noteworthy one.

ticer told with bis dying breath of a fresh
division of Germans that was about to be
thrown into the battle to attempt to wrest
from the Marines that part of the wood
they had gained. The Marines, who for
days had been fighting on their sheer
nerve, who bad been worn out from nights
of sleeplessness, from lack of rations, from
terrific shell and machine-gun fire, straight-
ened their lines and prepared for the at-
tack. It came — as the dying German officer
had predicted.

GERMAN CRACK TROOPS REPULSED AND BEATEN.

At 2 o'clock on the morning of June 13
it was launched by the Germans along the
whole front. Without regard for men, the
enemy hurled his forces against Bour-
esehes and the Bois de Belleau, and sought
to win back what had been taken from Ger-
many by the Americans. The orders were
that these positions must be taken at all
costs; that the utmost losses in men must
he endured that the Bois de Belleau and

Bouresches might fall again into German
hands. But the depleted lines of the Ma-
rines held; the men who had fought on
their nerve alone for days once more
showed the mettle of which they were
made. With their backs to the trees and
houlders of the Bois de Belleau, with their
sole shelter the scattered ruins of Bou-
resches, the thinning lines of the Marines
repelled the attack and crashed back the
new division which had sought to wrest the
position from them.

And so it went. Day after day, night
after night, while time after time messages
like the following traveled to the post com-
mand :

"Losses heavy. Difficult to get run-
ners through. Some have never returned.
Morale excellent, but troops about all in.
Men exhausted."

Exhausted, but holding on. And they
continued to hold on in spite of every dif-
ficulty. Advancing their lines slowly day
by day, the Marines finally prepared their
positions to such an extent that the last
rush for the possession of the wood could
be made. Then, on June 24, following a
tremendous barrage, the struggle began.

The barrage literally tore the woods to
pieces, but even its immensity could not
wipe out all the nests that remained; the
emplacements that were behind almost
every clump of bushes, every jagged, rough
group of boulders. But those that re-

The grave of Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt, aviator.
and son of ex-President Roosevelt, who was killed
durine an air raid over enemy lines on July 14 last,
has heen located in France.

THE MARINES

301

mained were wiped out by the American
method of the rush and the bayonet, and
in the days that followed every foot of
Belleau Wood was cleared of the enemy
and held by the frayed lines of the Amer-
icans.

PRAISE FROM FRENCH STAFF

It was, therefore, with the feeling of
work well done that the depleted lines of
the Marines were relieved in July, that
they might be rilled with replacements and
made ready for the grand offensive in the
vicinity of Soissons. July 18. And in rec-
ognition of their sacrifice and bravery this
praise was forthcoming from the French:

"Army Headquarters, June 30, 1918.

In view of the brilliant conduct of the
Fourth Brigade of the Second United
Status Division, which in a spirited fight
took Bouresches and the important strong
point of Bois de Belleau, stubbornly de-
fended by a large enemy force, the general
commanding the Sixth Army orders that
henceforth, in all official papers, the Bois
de Belleau shall be named 'Bois de la
Brigade de Marine.'

"Division General Degoutte,
"Com man ding Sixth Army."

GEN. PERSHING PERSONALLY CONGRATULATES

MARINES

Gen. Pershing's congratulations also
were contained in the following order, is-
sued by the brigade commander, dated

A member of an American Field Battalion is shown
Carrying an aged French woman into a cellar while a
Hun air raid is coins on

Husky Americans landing at Bordeaux.

June 9, 1918, to the units of his command:

"The brigade commander takes pride in
announcing that, in addition to the com-
mander in chief's telegram of congratula-
tion to the Fourth Brigade, published in
an indorsement from the division com-
mander, dated June 9, Gen. Pershing has
today visited division headquarters and
sent his personal greetings and congratula-
tions to the Marine Brigade. He also
added that Gen. Foch, commander in chief
of the allied armies in France, especially
charged him this morning to give the Ma-
rine Brigade his love and congratulations
on their fine work of the past week.

"By command of Brig. Gen. Harbord.

"H. Lay, Major, Adjutant."

GEN. HARBORD 'S COMMENDATION

On July 18 the Marines were again called
into action in the vicinity of Soissons, near
Tigny and Vierzy. Tn the face of a mur-
derous fire from concentrated machine
guns, which contested every foot of their

302

THE MARINES

advance, the United States Marines moved
forward until the severity of their casual-
ties necessitated that they dig in and hold
the positions they had gained. Here,
again, their valor called forth official
praise, which came in the following:

"General Orders, No. 46.

"It is with keen pride that the divisional
commander transmits to the command the
congratulations and affectionate greetings
of Gen. Pershing, who visited the divisional
headquarters last night. His praise of the

11 batteries of artillery, over 100 machine
guns, minnenwerfers, and supplies. The
Second Division has sustained the best
traditions of the Regular Army and the
Marine Corps. The story of your achieve-
ments will be told in millions of homes in
all allied nations tonight.

"J. G. Harbord,
"Major General, N. A.
"France, July 21."

■

* i

American troops learning how to go "over the top." With veterans of the battlefield as instructors, and
their native dash, they soon made good soldiers.

gallant work of the division on the 18th
and 19th is echoed by the French high
command, the Third Corps commander,
American Expeditionary Forces, and in a
telegram from the former divisional com-
mander. In spite of two sleepless nights,
long marches through rain and mud, and
the discomfort of hunger and thirst, the
division attacked side by side with the gal-
lant First Moroccan Division, and main-
tained itself with credit. You advanced
over 6 miles, captured over 3,000 prisoners,

IN BATTLE FOR ST. MIHIEL SALIENT

Then came the battle for the St. Mihiel
salient. On the night of September 11 the
Second Division took over a line running
from Remenauville to Limey, and on the
night of September 14 and the morning of
September 15 attacked, with two days'
objectives ahead of them. Overcoming the
enemy resistance, they romped through to
the Rupt de Mad, a small river, crossed it
on stone bridges, occupied Thiacourt, the

THE MARINES

3<);3

first day's objective, scaled the heights
just beyond it, pushed on to a line running
from the Zammes-Jouiney Ridges to the
Binvaux Forest, and there rested, with the
second day's objectives occupied bj 2:50
o'clock of the first day. The casualties of
the division were about 1,000, of which 134
were killed. Of these, about half were
Marines. The captures in which the Ma-
rines participated were 80 German officers,
3,1'UO men, ninety-odd cannon, and vast

-wept the enemy from the held.

"John A. Lejetjne,
"Major General,
"United States Marine Corps."

CAPTURE OF BLANC MoNT KIDGE

But even further honors were to befall,
the fighting, landing, and building force,
of which the Navy is justly proud. In the
early part of October it became necessary

United States nurses arriving in England on their way to France. The wonderfully humane work done by
the nurses at the front was the subject of hearty praise by General Pershing.

stores. In his congratulations, following

the battle, Gen. Lejeune said:

""Shi' I K.MBER 17. 1918.

"General < Irders, No. 54.

•'I desire to express to the officers and
men my profound appreciation of their
brilliant and successful attack in the recent
engagement

"Our division maintained the prestige

and honor of the country proudly and

for the allies to capture the bald, jagged
ridge 20 miles due easl of Rheims, known
as Blanc Mont Ridge. Here the armies of
Germany and the allies had clashed more
than once, and attempt after attempt had

l n made to wrest it from German hands.

It was a keystone of the German defense,
the fall of which would have a far-reaching
effect upon the enemy armies. To the
glory of the United States Marines, let it
be said, that they were again a part of that

304

THE MARINES

splendid Second Division which swept for-
ward in the attack which freed Blanc Mont
Ridge from German hands, pushed its way
down the slopes, and occupied the level
ground just beyond, thus assuring a vic-
tory, the full import of which can best be
judged by the order of Gen. Lejeune, fol-
lowing the battle:

"France, October 11, 1918.

"Officers and men of the Second Division:

selves several German divisions from other
parts of the front you greatly assisted the
victorious advance of the allied armies be-
tween Cambrai and St. Quentin.

"Your heroism and the heroism of our
comrades who died on the battle field will
live in history forever, and will be emu-
lated by the young men of our country for
generations to come.

Americans Going Forward to the first line trenehes- Troops of the 7th Infantry are climbing aboard
trucks of the Motor Transport Service on the way to the tiring line, relieving those who have already rid-
den part of the way.

"It is beyond my power of expression to
describe fitly my admiration for your hero-
ism. You attacked magnificently and you
seized Blanc Mont Ridge, the keystone of
the arch constituting the enemy's main po-
sition. You advanced beyond the ridge,
breaking the enemy's lines, and you held
the ground gained with a tenacity which is
unsurpassed in the annals of war.

"As a direct result of your victory, the
German armies east and west of Rheims
are in full retreat, and by drawing on your-

"To be able to say when this war is fin-
ished, 'I belonged to the Second Division;
I fought with it at the Battle of Blanc Mont
Ridge,' will be the highest honor that can
come to any man.

"John A. Lejeune,

"Major General,

"United States Marine Corps,

"Commanding.''

THE MARINES

30.5

MARKSMANSHIP AMAZES ALLIES

Thus it is that the United States Marines
have fulfilled the glorious traditions of
their corps in this their latest duty as the
"soldiers who go to sea." Their sharp-
shooting — and in one regiment 93 per cent
of the men wear the medal of marksman-
ship, a sharpshooter, or an expert rifleman
— has amazed soldiers of European armies,
accustomed merely to shooting in the gen-
eral direction of the enemy. Under the
fiercest fire they have calmly adjusted their
sights, aimed for their man, and killed him,
and in bayonet attacks their advance on
machine gun nests has been irresistible. In
the official citation lists more than one
American Marine is credited with taking
an enemy machine gun single handed, bay-
oneting its crew and then turning the gun
against the foe. In one battle alone, that
of Belleau Wood, the citation lists bear the
names of fully 500 United States marines
who so distinguished themselves in battle
as to call forth the official commendation
of their superior officers.

CORPS FULFILLED EVERY GLORIOUS TRADITION

More than faithful in every emergency,
accepting hardships with admirable mo-
rale, proud of the honor of taking their
place as shock troops for the American
legions, they have fulfilled every glorious
tradition of their corps, and they have
given to the world a list of heroes whose
names will go down to all history. Let
one, therefore, stand for the many, one
name denote all, one act of heroism tel)
the story of the countless deeds of bravery
that stand forth brilliantly upon the vie
torious pages of America's participation
in this the world's greatest war:

"First Sergt. Daniel Daly, Seventy-
third (Machine Gun) Company, twice
holder of the medal of honor, repeatedly
performed deeds of valor and great serv-
ice. On June 5 he extinguished, at risk of
his life, fire in the ammunition dump at
Lucy-le-Bocage. On June 7, while sector
was under one of its heaviest bombard-
ments, he visited all gun crews of his com-
pany, then posted over a wide section of
front, cheering the men. On June 10, sin-
gle-handed, he attacked enemy machine-

German Trenches Captured by the Allies.

gun emplacement and captured it by use
of hand grenades and his automatic pistol.
On the same date, during enemy attack on
Bouresches, he brought in wounded under
fire. At all times, by his reckless daring,
constant attention to the wants of his men,
and his unquenchable optimism, he was a
tower of strength until wounded by enemy
shrapnel fire on June 20. A peerless sol-
dier of the old school, twice decorated for
gallantry in China and Santo Domingo."

I must add this citation of a typical deed
of self-sacrifice, illustrative of the spirit
of the noble privates in the corps :

"Pvt. Albert E. Brooks, Company F,
Sixth Marines : Conspicuous for his heroic
action in placing his body in front of his
platoon leader while under heavy machine-
gun fire in order to dress the latter 's
wounds, lie was shot twice in the hip
while performing this act of mercy."

\V. R. P.

306

THE MARINES

American Expeditionary Forces

Qfl&A^m^^^

A remarkable summary of the opera-
tions of the American '.Expeditionary
Force in France from the date of its organ-
ization, May 26, 1917, to the signing of
the armistice November 11, 1918, was
cabled to the Secretary of War by Gener-
al Pershing on November 20, 1918. His
account of the active military operations
was as follows:

COMBAT OPERATIONS

During our period of training in the trench-
es some of our divisions had engaged the
enemy in local combats, the most important
of which was Seicheprey by the 26th on April
20. 1918, in the Toul sector, but none had par-
ticipated in action as a unit. The 1st Divi-
sion, which had passed through the prelimi-
nary stages of training, had gone to the
trenches for its first period of instruction at
the end of October, and by March 21, when
the German offensive in Picardy began, we
had four divisions with experience in the
trenches, all of which were equal to any de-
mands of battle action. The crisis which this
offensive developed was such that our occu-
pation of an American sector must be post-
poned.

On March 28 I placed at the disposal of
Marshal Foch, who had been agreed upon as
Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies, all
of our forces to be used as he might decide.
At his request the 1st Division was transferred
from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at
Chaumont en Vexin. As German superiority
in numbers required prompt action, an agree-
ment was reached at the Abbeville conference
of the allied premiers and commanders and
myself on May 2 by which the British ship-
ping was to transport ten American divisions
to the British army area, where they were to
be trained and equipped, and additional Brit-
ish shipping was to be provided for as many
divisions as possible for use elsewhere.

On April 26 the 1st Division had gone into
the line in the Montdidier salient on the Pic-
ardy battle front. Tactics had been suddenly
revolutionized to those of open warfare, and
our men. confident of the results of their train-
ing, were eager for the test. On the morning
of May 28 this division attacked the command-
ing German position in its front, taking with
splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all
ether objectives, which were organized and
held steadfastly against vicious counterattacks
and galling artillery fire. Although local, this
brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it
demonstrated our fighting qualities under ex-
treme battle conditions, and also that the en-
emy's troops were not altogether invincible.

The German Aisne offensive, which began
on May 27, had advanced rapidly toward the
River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced
a crisis equally as grave as that of the Picardy
offensive in March. Again every available
man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal,
and the 3rd Division, which had just come
from its preliminary training in the trenches,
was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized ma-
chine-gun battalion preceded the other units
and successfully held the bridgehead at the
Marne, opposite Chateau-Thierry. The 2nd
Division, in reserve near Montdidier, was sent
by motor trucks and other available transport
to check the progress of the enemy toward
Paris. The division attacked and retook the
town and railroad station at Bouresches and
sturdily held its ground against the enemy's
best guard divisions. In the battle of Belleau
Wood, which followed, our men proved their
superiority and gained a strong tactical posi-
tion, with far greater loss to the enemy than
to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second
was relieved, it captured the village of Vaux
with most splendid precision.

Meanwhile our 2nd Corps, under Major-
General George B. Read, had been organized
for the command of our divisions with the
British, which were held back in training areas
or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of

308

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

the ten divisions were withdrawn from the
British area in June, three to relieve divisions
in Lorraine and in the Vosges and two to the
Paris area to join the group of American di-
visions which stood between the city and any
further advance of the enemy in that direc-
tion.

BATTLE OF CHATEAU-THIERRY

The great June, July troop movement from
the States was well under way, and, although
these troops were to be given some preliminary
training before being put into action, their
very presence warranted the use of all the old-
er divisions in the confidence that we did not
lack reserves. Elements of the 42d Division
were in the line east of Rheims against the
German offensive of July 15, and held their
ground unflinchingly. On the right flank of
this offensive four companies of the 28th Di-
vision were in position in face of the advanc-
ing waves of the German infantry. The 3rd
Division was holding the bank of the Marne
from the bend east of the mouth of the Surme-
lin to the west of Mezy, opposite Chateau
Thierry, where a large force of German in-
fantry sought to force a passage under support
of powerful artillery concentrations and under
cover of smoke screens. A single regiment
of the 3rd wrote one of the most brilliant
pages in our military annals on this occasion.
It prevented the crossing at certain points on
its front while, on either flank, the Ger
mans, who had gained a footing, pressed for-
ward. Our men, firing in three directions, met
the German attacks with counterattacks at
critical points and succeeded in throwing two
German divisions into complete confusion, cap-
turing 600 prisoners.

The great force of the German Chateau-
Thierry offensive established the deep Marne
salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and
the vulnerability of this pocket to attack might
be turned to his disadvantage. Seizing this
opportunity to support my conviction, every
division with any sort of training was made
available for use in a counteroffensive. The
place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons
on July 18 was given to our 1st and 2nd Di-
visions in company with chosen French divi
sions. Without the usual brief warning of
a preliminary bombardment, the massed
French and American artillery, firing by the
map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn
while the infantry began its charge. The tacti-
cal handling of our troops under these trying
conditions was excellent throughout the ac-
tion. The enemy brought up large numbers
of reserves and made a stubborn defense, both
with machine guns and artillery, but through
five days' fighting the 1st Division continued

to advance until it had gained the heights
above Soissons and captured the village of
Berzy-le-Sec. The 2d Division took 'Beau
Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid ad-
vance and reached a position in front of Tigny
at the end of its second day. These two di-
visions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100
pieces of artillery.

The 26th Division, which, with a French
division, was under command of our 1st Corps,
acted as a pivot of the movement toward Sois-
sons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy
while the 3d Division was crossing the Marne
in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The 26th
attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy
withdrew past the Chateau-Thierry-Soissons
road. The 3d Division, continuing its progress,
took the heights of Mont St. Pere and the vil-
lages of Charteves and Jaulgonne in the face
of both machine gun and artillery fire.

On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen
back from Trugny and Epieds, our 42d Di-
vision, which had been brought over from the
Champagne, relieved the 26th, and fighting its
way through the Foret de Fere, overwhelmed
the nest of machine guns in its path. By the
27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the
3d and 4th Divisions were already advancing,
while the French divisions with which we
were co-operating were moving forward at
other points.

The 3d Division had made its advance into
Roncheres Wood on the 29th and was relieved
for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second.
The Forty-second and Thirty-second under-
took the task of conquering the heights be-
yond Cicrges, the Forty-second capturing Ser-
gy and the Thirty-second capturing Hill 230,
both American divisions joining in the pursuit
of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the opera-
tion of reducing the salient was finished.
Meanwhile the Forty-second was relieved by
the Fourth at Chery-Chartreuve, and the Thir-
ty-second by the Twenty-eighth, while the
Seventy-seventh Division took up a position
on the Vesle. The operations of these divi-
sions on the Vesle were under the 3rd Corps,
Major-General Robert L. Bullard command-
ing.

BATTLE OF ST. MIHIEL

With the reduction of the Marne salient, we
could look forward to the concentration of our
divisions in our own zone. In view of the
forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel
salient, which had long been planned as our
first offensive action on a large scale, the
First Army was organized on August 10 under
my personal command. While American units
had held different divisional and corps sectors

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

309

along the western front, there had not been
up to this time, for obvious reasons, a distinct
American sector; but, in view of the impor-
tant parts the American forces were now to
play, it was necessary to take over a perma-
nent portion of the line. Accordingly, on Au-
gust 30, the line beginning at l'ort sur Seille,
east of the Moselle and extending to the west
through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point
opposite Verdun, was placed under my com-
mand. The American sector was afterward
extended across the Meuse to the western edge
of the Argonne Forest, and included the 2d
Colonial French, which held the point of the
salient, and the 17th French Corps, which oc-
cupied the heights above Verdun.

The preparation for a complicated operation
against the formidable defenses in front of us
included the assembling of divisions and of
corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft,
tanks, ambulances, the location of hospitals,
and the molding together of all of the elements
of a great modern army with its own railroads,
supplied directly by our own Service of Sup-
ply. The concentration for this operation,
which was to be a surprise, involved the move-
ment, mostly at night, of approximately 600,-
000 troops, and required for its success the
most careful attention to every detail.

The French were generous in giving us as-
sistance in corps and army artillery, with its
personnel, and we were confident from the
start of our superiority over the enemy in
guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns were
able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously
with German rail movements. The French
Independent Air Force was placed under my
command which, together with the British
bombing squadrons and our air forces, gave us
the largest assembly of aviation that had ever
been engaged in one operation on the western
front.

From Les Eparges around the nose of the
salient at St. Mihiel to the Moselle River the
line was roughly forty miles long and situated
on commanding ground greatly strengthened
by artificial defenses. Our 1st Corps (82d,
90th, 5th and 2d Divisions), under the com-
mand of Major-General Hunter Liggett, re-
strung its right on Pont-a-Mousson, with its
left joining our 3rd Corps (the 89th, 42nd and
1st Divisions), under Major-General Joseph
T. Dickman, in line to Xivray, were to swing
toward Vigneulles on the pivot of the Moselle
River for the initial assault. From Xivray to
Mouilly the 2d Colonial French Corps was in
line in the center, and our 5th Corps, under
command of Major-General George H. Cam-
eron, with our 26th Division and a French
division at the western base of the salient,

were to attack three different hills — Les
Eparges, Combres and Amaranthe. Our 1st
Corps had in reserve the 78th Division, our
4th Corps the 3d Division, and our First Army
the 35th and 91st Divisions, with the 80th and
33d available. It should be understood that
our corps organizations are very elastic, and
that we have at no time had permanent as-
signments of divisions to corps.

After four hours' artillery preparations, the
seven American divisions in the front line ad-
vanced at 5 a. m. on September 12, assisted
by a limited number of tanks manned partly by
Americans and partly by French. These di-
visions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters
and others armed with bangalore torpedoes,
went through the successive bands of barbed
wire that protected the enemy's front line and
support trenches, in irresistible waves on
schedule time, breaking down all defense of
an enemy demoralized b> the great volume of
our artillery fire and our sudden approach out
of the fog.

Our 1st Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while
our 4th Corps curved back to the southwest
through Nonsard. The 2d Colonial French
Corps made the slight advance required of it
on very difficult ground, and the 5th Corps
took its three ridges and repulsed a counter-
attack. A rapid march brought reserve regi-
ments of a division of the 5th Corps into Vig
neules in the early morning, where it linked
up with patrols of our 4th Corps, closing the
salient and forming a new line west of Thiau-
court to Vigneulles and beyond Fresnes-en-
Woevre. At the cost of only 7,000 casualties,
mostly light, we had taken' 16,000 prisoners
and 443 guns, a great quantity of material, re-
leased the inhabitants of many villages from
enemy domination, and established our lines
in a position to threaten Metz. This signal
success of the American F'irst Army in its first
offensive was of prime importance. The Allies
found that they had a formidable army to aid
them, and the enemy learned finally that he
had one to reckon with.

MEUSE-ARGONNE OFFENSIVE, FIRST PHASE

On the day after we had taken the St. Mi-
hiel salient, much of our corps and army artil-
lery which had operated at St. Mihiel, and our
divisions in reserve at other points, were al-*
ready on the move toward the area back of the
line between the Meuse River and the western
edge of the forest of Argonne. With the ex-
ception of St. Mihiel, the old German front
line from Switzerland to the east of Rheims
was still intact. In the general attack all along
the line, the operation assigned the American
Army as the hinge of this allied offensive was
directed toward the important railroad com-

310

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

munications of the German armies through
Mezieres and Sedan. The enemy must hold
fast to this part of his lines or the withdrawal
of his forces with four years' accumulation of
plants and material would be dangerously
imperiled.

The German Army had as yet shown no
demoralization, and, while the mass of its
troops had suffered in morale, its first-class
divisions, and notably its machine-gun de-
fense, were exhibiting remarkable tactical effi-
ciency as well as courage. The German Gen-
eral Staff was fully aware of the consequences
of a success on the M euse- Argon ne line. Cer-

screened by dense thickets, had been gener-
ally considered impregnable. Our order of
battle from right to left was the 3d Corps
from the Meuse to Malancourt, with the 3:3d,
80th and 4th divisions in line, and the 3d
Division as corps reserve; the 5th Corps from
Malancourt to Vauquois, with 79th, 87th and 91st
Divisions in line, and the 32d in corps reserve,
and the 1st Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le
Chateau, with 35th, 28th and 77th Divisions in
line, and the 92d in corps reserve. The army
reserve consisted of the 1st, 29th and 82d
Divisions.

On the night of September 25 our troops

French and Americans Advance to Grenade Attack
Land somewhere on the front in France. They are
carrying in the sacks slung over their shoulders.

tain that he would do everything in his power
to oppose us, the action was planned with as
much secrecy as possible and was undertaken
with the determination to use all our divisions
in forcing decision. We expected to draw the
best German divisions to our front and to con-
sume them while the enemy was held under
grave apprehension lest our attack should
break his line, which it was our firm purpose
to do.

Our right flank was protected by the Meuse,
while our left embraced the Argonne Forest
whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense,

These staunch allies are shown crossing No Man's
moving cautiously, ready to use the grenades they are

quietly took the place of the French, who
thinly held the line of this sector, which had
long been inactive. In the attack which be-
gan on the 26th we drove through the barbed
wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters
across No Man's .Land, mastering all the first-
line defences. Continuing on the 27th and
28th, against machine guns and artillery of
an increasing number of enemy reserve divi-
sions, we penetrated to a depth of from three
to seven miles and took the village of Mont-
faucon and its commanding hill and Exer-
mont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malan-

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

311

court. Ivony. Hpinonville. Charpentry, \ ery
and other villages. Mast of the Meuse one
of our divisions, which was with the 2d
Colonial French Corps, captured Marcheville
and Rieville, giving further protection to the
flank of our main body. We had taken
10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of
forcing the battle into the open, ami were
prepared for the enemy's reaction, which was
bound to come, as he had good roads and
ample railroad facilities for bringing up his
artillery and reserves.

In the chill rain of dark nights our en-
gineers had to build new roads across spongy
shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond
No Man's Land, and build bridges. Our
gunners, with no thought of sleep, put their
shoulders to wheels and drag-ropes to bring
their guns through the mire in support of
the infantry, now under the increasing fire of
the enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken
the enemy by surprise, but quickly recover-
ing himself, he began to fire counterattacks
in strong force, supported by heavy bombard-
ments, with large quantities of gas. From
September 28 until October 4 we maintained
the offensive against patches of woods de-
fended by snipers and continuous lines of
machine guns, and pushed forward our guns
and transport, seizing strategical points in
preparation for further attacks.

OTHER UXITS WITH ALLIES

Other divisions attached to the allied armies
were doing their part. It was the fortune of
our 2d Corps, composed of the 27th and 30th
Divisions, which had remained with the Brit-
ish, to have a place of honor in cooperation
with the Australian Corps 'on September 29
and October 1 in the assault on the Hinden-
burg Line where the St. Quentin Canal passes
through a tunnel under a ridge. The 30th
Division speedily broke through the main line
of defense for all its objectives, while the
27th pushed on impetuously through the main
line until some of its elements reached Gouy.
In the midst of the maze of trenches and
shell craters and under crossfire from machine
guns the other elements fought desperately
against odds. In this and in later actions,
from October 6 to October 19, our 2d Corps
captured over 6.000 prisoners and advanced
over thirteen miles. The spirit and aggres-
siveness of these divisions have been highly
praised by the British Army commander un-
der whom they served.

On October' 2-9 our 2d and 36th Divisions
were sent to assist the French in an important
attack against the old German positions be-
fore Rheims. The 2d conquered the com-

plicated defense works on their front against
a persistent defense worthy of the grimmest
period of trench warfare and attacked the
strongly held wooded hill of Blanc Mont,
which they captured in a second assault,
sweeping over it with consummate dash and
skill. This division then repulsed strong
counterattacks before the village and ceme-
tery of Ste. Etienne and took the town, forc-
ing the Germans to fall back from before
Rheims and yield positions they had held since
September, 1914. On October 9 the 36th Divi-
sion relieved the "2d, and in its first experience
under fire withstood very severe artillery
bombardment and rapidly took up the pursuit
of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne.

MEUSE- ARGOXNE OFFEXSIVE, SECOXD PHASE

The allied progress elsewhere cheered the
efforts of our men in this crucial contest, as the
German command threw in more and more
first-class troops to stop our advance. We
made steady headway in the almost impen-
etrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for,
despite this reinforcement, it was our army
that was doing the driving. Our aircraft was
increasing in skill and numbers and forcing
the issue, and our infantry and artillery were
improving rapidly with each new experience.
The replacements fresh from home were put
into exhausted divisions with little time for
training, but they had the advantage of serv-
ing beside men who knew their business and
who had almost become veterans overnight.
The enemy had taken every advantage of the
terrain, which especially favored the defense
by a prodigal use of machine guns manned
by highly trained veterans and by using his
artillery at short ranges. In the face of such
strong frontal positions we should have been
unable to accomplish and progress according
to previously accepted standards, but I had
every confidence in our aggressive tactics and
the courage of our troops.

On October 4 the attack was renewed all
along our front. The 3d Corps, tilting to the
left, followed the Brieulles-Cunel Road ; our
5th Corps took Gesnes. while the 1st Corps
advanced for over two miles along the irreg-
ular valley of the Aire River and in the
wooded hills of the Argonne that bordered
the river, used by the enemy with all his art
and w r eapons of defense. This sort of fight-
ing continued against an enemy striving to
hold every foot of ground and whose very
strong counterattacks challenged us at every
point. On the 7th the 1st Corps captured
Chatel-Chenery and continued along the river
to Cornay. On the east of the Meuse sector
one of the two divisions cooperating with the

312

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

French, captured Consenvoye and the Hau-
mont Woods. On the 9th the 5th Corps, in
its progress up the Aire, took Fleville, and
the 3d Corps, which had continuous fighting
against odds, was working its way through
Briueulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had
cleared the Argonne Forest of the enemy.

It was now necessary to constitute a second
army, and on October 9 the immediate com-
mand of the First Army was turned over to
Lieut.-Gen. Hunter Liggett. The command
of the Second Army, whose divisions occupied
a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieut.-
Gen. Robert L. Bullard, who had been com-
mander of the 1st Division and then of the
3d Corps. Major-Gen. Dickman was trans-
ferred to the command of the 1st Corps, while
the 5th Corps was placed under Major-Gen.
Charles P. Summerall, who had recently com-
manded the 1st Division. Major-Gen. John L.
Hines, who had gone rapidly up from regi-
mental to division commander, was assigned
to the 3d Corps. These four officers had been
in France from the early days of the expedi-
tion and had learned their lessons in the school
of practical warfare.

Our constant pressure against the enemy
brought day by day more prisoners, mostly
survivors from machine-gun nests captured in
fighting at close quarters. On October 18
there was very fierce fighting in the Caures
Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont
Woods. On the 14th the 1st Corps took St.
Juvin, and the oth Corps, in hand-to-hand
encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde
line, where the enemy had hoped to check us
indefinitely. Later the 5th Corps penetrated
further the Kriemhilde line, and the 1st Corps
took Champignuelles and the important town
of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wear-
ing down the enemy, who continued desperately
to throw his best troops against us, thus weak-
ening his line in front of our Allies and making
their advance less difficult.

DIVISIONS IN BELGIUM.

Meanwhile we were not only able to continue
the battle, but our 37th and 01st Divisions were
hastily withdrawn from our front and dis-
patched to help the French Army in Belgium.
Detraining in the neighborhood of Ypres, these
divisions advanced by rapid stages to the fight-
ing line and were assigned to adjacent French
corps. On October 31, in continuation of the
Flanders offensive, they attacked and methodic-
ally broke down all enemy resistance. On Nov.
3, the 37th had completed its mission in dividing
the enemy across the Escaut River and firmly
established itself along the east bank included
in the division zone of action. By a clever

Hanking movement troops of the 01st Division
captured Spitaals Bosschen, a diffcult wood ex-
tending across the central part of the division
sector, reached the Escaut, and penetrated into
the town of Audenarde. These divisions re-
ceived high commendation from their corps
commanders for their dash and energy.

MEUSE-ARGONNE LAST PHASE.

On the 23d the 3d and 5th Corps pushed
northward to the level of Bantheville. While
we 'continued to press forward and throw back
the enemy's violent counterattacks with great
loss of morale by the enemy game our men more
der way for the final assault. Evidences of
loss of morale by the enemyga ve our men more
confidence in attack and more fortitude in
enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the
hardships of very inclement weather.

With comparatively well-rested divisions, the
final advance in the Meuse-Argonne front was
begun on November 1. Our increased artillery
force acquitted itself magnificently in support of
the advance, and the enemy broke before the
determined infantry, which, by its persistent
fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this
attack, had overcome his will to resist. The
3d Corps toook Ancreville, Doulcon and Ande-
vanne, and the 5th Corps took Landres et St.
Georges and passed through successive lines of
resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On the
2d the 1st Corps joined in the movement, which
now became an impetuous onslaught that could
not be stayed.

On the 3d advance troops surged forward in
pursuit, some by motor trucks, while the artil-
lery pressed along the country roads close be-
hind. The 1st Corps reached Authe and Chatil-
lon-Sur-Bar„ the 5th Corps, Fosse and Nouart,
and the 3d Corps, Halles, penetrating the
enemy's lines to a depth of twelve miles. Our
large-caliber guns had advanced and were skil-
fully brought into position to fire upon the
important lines at Montmedy, Longuyon and
Conflans. Our 3d Corps crossed the Meuse on
the 5th and the other corps, in the full confi-
dence that the day was theirs, eagerly cleared
t fle way of machine guns as they swept north-
v ard, maintaining complete coordination
throughout. On the Gth, a division of the 1st
Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite
Sedan, twenty-five miles from our line of de-
parture. The strategical goal which was our
highest hope was gained. We had cut the
enemy's main line of communications, and
nothing but surrender or an armistice could save
his army from complete disaster.

In all forty enemy divisions had been used
against us in the Meuse-Argonne battle. Be-

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

313

.ween September 26 and November 6 we took
86,059 prisoners and 168 guns on this front.
Our divisions engaged were the 1st, 3d, 4th, 5th,
26th, 28th, 29th, 32d, 33d, 35th, 37th, 12d, 77th,
78th, 79th, 80th, 82d, 89th, 90th and 91st. Many
of our divisions remained in line for a
length of time that requires nerves of steel,
while others were sent in again after only a
few days of rest. The 1st, 5th, 26th, 77th. 80th,
89th and 90th were in the line twice. Although
sinne of the divisions were fighting their first
battle, they soon became equal to the best.

OPERATIONS EAST OF THE MEUSE

On the three days preceding November 10,
the 3d, the 2d Colonial and the 17th French
Corps fought a difficult struggle through the
Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the
enemy into the plain. Meanwhile my plans for
further use of the American forces contemplated
an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle
in the direction of Longwy by the First Army,
while, at the same time, the Second Army should
assure the offensive toward the rich coal fields
of Briey. The operations were to be followed
by an offensive toward Chateau-Salins east of
the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly,
attacks on the American front had been ordered,
and that of the Second Army was in progress
on the morning of November 11, when instruc-
tions were received that hostilities should cease
at 11 o'clock a. m.

At this moment the line of the American sec-
tor, from right to left, began at Port-sur-Seille.
thence across the Moselle to Aandieres and
through the Woevre Iq Bezonvaux, in the foot-
hills of the Meuse, thence along to the foothills
and through the northern edge of the Woevre
forests to the Mens at Mouzay. thence along the
Meuse connecting with the French under Sedan.

RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES

Cooperation among the Allies has at all times
been most cordial. A far greater effort has been
put forth by the allied armies and staffs to assist
us than could have been expected. The French
Government and Army have always stood ready
to furnish us with supplies, equipment and trans-
portation and to aid us in every way. In the
towns and hamlets wherever our troops have
been stationed or billeted the French people have
everywhere receivd them more as relatives and
intimate friends than as soldiers of a foreign
army. For these things words are quite inade-
quate to express our gratitude. There can be
no doubt that the relations growing out of our
associations here assure a permanent friendship
between the two peoples. Although we have
not been so intimately associated with the peo-
ple of Great Britain, yet their troops and ours

when thrown together have always warmly fra-
ternized. The reception of those of our forces
who have passed through England and of those
who have been stationed there has always been
enthusiastic. Altogether it has been deeply im-
pressed upon us that the ties of language and
blood bring the British and ourselves together
completely and inseparably.

There are in Europe altogether, including a
regiment and some sanitary units with the
Italian Army and the organizations at Mur-
mansk, also including those en route from the
States, approximately 2,053,347 men. less our
losses. Of this total there are in France
1,338,169 combatant troops. Forty divisions
have arrived of which the infantry personnel
of ten have been used as replacements, leaving
thirty divisions now in France organized into
three armies of three corps each.

The losses of the Americans up to November
18 are: Killed and wounded, 36,145; died of
disease, 14,811: deaths unclassified, 2,204;
wounded, 179.625: prisoners. 2,163; missing,
1,160. We have captured about 44.000 prison-
ers and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mor-
tars.

[General Pershing then highly praised the
work of the General Staff, the Service of Sup-
ply, Medical Corps, Quartermaster Department,
Ordnance Department, Signal Corps, Engineer
Corps, and continued:]

Our aviators have no equals in daring or in
fighting ability, and have left a record of cour-
ageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant
page in the annals of our army. While the
Tank Corps has had limited opportunities, its
personnel has responded gallantly on every pos-
sible occasion, and has shown courage of the
highest order.

The navy in European waters has at all times
most cordially aided the army, and it is most
gratifying to report that there has never before
been such perfect cooperation between these two
branches of the service.

Finally, I pay supreme tribute to our officers
and soldiers of the line. When I think of their
heroism, their patience under hardships, their
unflinching spirit of offensve action, I am filled
wth emotion which I am unable to express.
Their deeds are immortal, and they have earned
the eternal gratitude of our country.

I am. Mr. Secretary, very respectfully,
JOHN J. PERSHING,
General, Commander-in-Chief,
American Expeditionary Forces.
To the Secretarv of War.

314

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

The year 1915 may be described as the mitted Germany to send and place mod
year of "Too late" for the allies, and espe- ern uuns.

cially for England, so far as land opera-
tions were concerned. The Gallipoli ad-
venture is an illustration. During the
winter a great naval attack upon the Dar-

Then, on April 26, British, Australian
and New Zealand forces landed for an at-
tack on the land side. The campaign,
which ran through the year, is a tale of
heroism and blunders too long- to tell here.

American Officer and Private Win French Decorations. General Gaucher, of the French Army, is
decorating an American officer and an American soldier for bravery in a recent bombardment.

danelles was planned and begun. It
failed, with the loss of several vessels.
Had it been inaugurated the year before
it is believed it would have succeeded, as
the usual Turkish slackness had neglected
the fortifications. But the delay per-

Had the landing been a few weeks or even
a few days earlier it might have succeeded,
but it was again "too late." Victory is
now believed to have been in sight at one
time, but the opportunity was missed. On
Jan. ( .t, '16 the attempt was finally given up.

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

315

Again, on March 10, the British drove
at Neuve Chapelle and took it, but blun-
ders were made which turned the victory
into a practical defeat. Four days later,
however, the Russians took Prz^emysl and
stood in the Carpathian passes, and Hun-
gary cried out for help against an immi-
nent invasion.

THE FALL OF WARSAW.

But in May the Huns, under Macken-
sen, broke the Russian line on the Duna-
jec, while Hindenburg drove through
from Courland toward Warsaw. On
June 23 the Russians were forced out of

On May 24, 1915, Italy had entered the
war on the side of the allies. The timid
statesmen who had been in power had to
choose between fighting the Hun and revo-
lution at home. Not for lack of zeal and
courage, bul because of topographical con-
ditions Italy was able to accomplish little
this year.

In 1866 Italy had obtained Venetia as a
reward for siding- with Prussia against
Austria. Berlin took care that its prospec-
tive ally should get the best of its actual
ally in the boundary drawing.

The line was so fixed along the Carnic
Alps as to be easily defended bv Austria

)f the la-ter types of British Submersible, The "E

Leniherg; on Aug. 5 Warsaw fell, and on
Aug. 25 the Germans took Brest-Litovsk,
and a few days later drove the Russians
across the Dwina. Except for occasional
advances to Galicia, the Russians did lit-
tle more in the Polish theater.

After the fall of Warsaw the Grand
Duke Nicholas was displaced from com-
mand and sent to the Caucasus, whence
he was to accomplish something against
the Turks the next year. But with the re-
treat beyond the Dwina, the Russian
armies, though this was not realized at the
time, ceased to be a possible decisive factor.

and difficult of attack by Italy. To get at
Austria the Italians had to fight uphill
through a very rough mountain region
whose natural defenses had been carefully
improved by military art. The slow prog-
ress of the Italian armies for more than a
year was mainly due to the difficulties of
the country over which they had to fight
their way.

On May 7, 191 5, occurred an event which
filled the world with horror, outside of Ger-
many, where it was the subject of public
rejoicing. This was the sinking by a Hun
submarine of the great Cunard liner Lusi-
tania, without the slightest warning or giv-
ing the least opportunity for her people to

316

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

The Latest Type of U. S. Submarine, the L-l.

escape. The result was the murder of 1 ,134
noncombatants, about half of them women
and children, and more than 100 of them
Americans. Tn moral effect this "success"
was a greater loss to Germany than the
battle of the Marne, for from it the world
began to understand that there could be
no safety for any nation until the German
empire was destroyed.

THE DISASTER OF SERBIA.

Little Serbia had beaten off the Austrian
attack the year before, and for nine months
had kept her soil clear of the invader. But

A Captured German Stronghold.

now came her turn to join Belgium in mar-
tyrdom.

Having really disposed of Russia, as the
event proved, even more by corruption of
its administration, including some of the
chief ministers of the czar, than by victories
in the field, the Huns were now able to
bring Bulgaria to their side and thus turn
irresistible forces upon hapless Serbia. An
Austro-German army swept over the Dan-
ube; the Bulgars attacked from the oast;
the pro-German king of Greece, whose wife
was the kaiser's sister, repudiated his sol-
emn engagement to aid Serbia if attacked
by Bulgaria.

The allies attempted to come to Serbia's
aid by landing troops at Saloniki, but again
they were "too late." The Serbian army
was simply overwhelmed, and its retreat
with most of the civilian population
through the mountains of Albania to the
Adriatic was one of the most tragic events
in history. The Serbian spirit, however,
remained unbroken, and Serbian soldiers
l] did their parts in winning the triumphs
of 1918.

Thus in the main theaters of the war the
year was a bad one for the Allies. In its
outer fields they made substantial progress.
Early in the war Australian, New Zealand
and Japanese forces had seized the German

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

•317

colonies in the Pacific, and the Japanese
had taken Kaio-Chao, the Hnn stronghold
on the Chinese coast.

Berlin had counted confidently on a Boer
revolt in South Africa, but the Boers them-
selves quickly suppressed some attempts
and on May 12, 1915, the forces of the Union
of South Africa captured the German mili-
tary colony of Southwest Africa. Mean-
while, British and French colonial forces

This year was also marked by the ap-
pearance of a new weapon, poison gas, lirst
used by the Euns in the second battle of
Ypres in April against French colonial
troops. The break in the line was closed by
the valor of the Canadians, who suffered
horribly, but still held fast.

"they shall not pass"

The western front battles of 1916 opened
on Feb. 21 with the -real German drive

Defenders of Our Shores. Coast defense :41m crew at Fort Andrews, Boston,
loading a projectile into a twelve-inch mortar.

had been cleaning up To^oland, and by the
end of the yen- East Africa was the only
colony still held by German forces.

Turkish attempts to reach the Suez canal
had also been repulsed and the British had
made alliances with the Arab tribes seated
about the Mohammedan holy cities of
Mecca and Medinah, which were to have
importanl effects upon the position of the
Turkish sultan in the eyes of Moslems
throughout the world.

against the Verdun position. For weeks

the issue was doubtful, with the French
tenaciously holding, hut slowly pushed back
by the constant hammering of the Huns.
The spirit of France was voiced in the
motto, "On ne passe pas" — "They shall
not pass." And they did not pass, though
before the Ilun wave reached its crest in
July it had penetrated the inner fortifica-
tion^ 0!' Verdun.

Then at the critical moment, on July 1,

318

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

The "America," a great seapla

the British and French struck hack on the
Sonnne, driving a wedge twenty miles wide
and ten miles deep into the German lines,
and inflicting' losses estimated at 700,000
men, including 95,000 prisoners, over 300
cannon and nearly 1,500 machine guns. In
this allied drive the "tank" first made its
appearance, a huge armored tractor de-

T' irst view
airplane-; for

1,000. The

airplanes, ub

of plant where Uncle Sam built his
which Congress has appropriated. $640,-
view shows the work of building the

ich went on behind guarded walls.

vised hy the British and built in America
whose "caterpillar" wheels enabled it to
waddle over seemingly impassable obstruc-
tions.

This battle, it was hoped, would be the
beginning of the "big push" that would
end in the expulsion of the Huns from
France, but it was halted in November by
the rainy season when its threat seemed
most dangerous to the enemy. It is also
reported that certain French politicians,
tainted with the "defeatist" propaganda
for which Bolo Pasha later paid with his
life, intrigued against Gen. Nivelle, com-
mander of the region of the famous "La-
dies' road," and procured his supersession
at the critical moment.

On the Asiatic front the Russian armies
under Grand Duke Nicholas made substan-
tial progress into Armenia, where the year
before the Turks, with German sanction,
bad massacred probably 250,000 of that
hapless race. The Russian fleets dominated
the Black sea, despite the addition to the
Turkish navy of German vessels and men,
but the capture of Trebizond on April 15
marked the limit of the Russian advance.

This was offset by the loss two weeks
later of 10,000 Anglo-Indian troops at Kilt-

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

319

el-Amara in Mesopotamia. These forces
for about a year had been slowly working
up the Tigris and had almost reached Bag-
dad when they were caught by floods,
surrounded and starved into surrender.

THE BETRAYAL OF ROUMANIA

By August of this year it also began to
look as if the Italians would finally be able
to earn- the war into Austria. They had
taken Gorizia after overcoming the must
enormous difficulties of terrain. Then on
Aug. 27 Roumania declared for the allies,
and added her army to the forces which the
Huns had to meet on the eastern front.

Of course Roumania could not have ven-
tured to come in without definite assurances
of support and supply of munitions from
the allies. These promises were kept on
the part of England and France. The arms
and munitions were duly delivered at Arch-
angel and on the Murmau coast. But they
never reached Roumania. Neither did the
promised Russian army that was to come
through Bessarabia ever arrive to join the
Roumanians and the Russian advance into
Galicia did not get far enough seriously to
impede the secondary Austro-German at-
tack from Transylvania.

Moreover the Roumanians, instead of
sending their principal army against Bul-
garia on the south, made their main effort
toward Hungary. As a result the Bulgar-
ians, led by Gen. Mackensen, probably the

A Captured German Dugout. On a 1>att1efie1<l near
Lens. The entrance to a thick concrete walled ar.d
bomb-proof roofed German trench dugout.

most efficient of the German commanders,
speedily forced the passage of the Danube,
and by Dec. 6 Bukharest had fallen, the
Roumanian government had fled to Jassy,
and half of Roumania, including the pre-
cious petroleum fields, was in possession
of the Huns.

As it afterward appeared German cor-
ruption of high Russian officials, extending
even to Stuermer, then prime minister, had
brought about the betrayal of Roumania,
both by failure to deliver indispensable
munitions and withholding the promised
aid of troops and by advance communica-
tion of Roumania 's plan of campaign to the
German general staff. That is, the un-
doubted abilities of Mackensen were aided
at Petrograd by the grossest treachery,
procured by Berlin's bribes. While Rou-
mania nominally held out for more than a
year, her army was not after the end of
191(1 an important factor in the conflict.

AMERICA ENTERS THE WAR

Many Americans had been slow to be-
lieve the (ales of Hun atrocity in Belgium
and Prance. But evidence accumulated and

320

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

U. S. Mine for Harbor protection.

the wholesale murder of the Lusitania
roused such indignation that millions
would have welcomed an immediate decla-
ration of war. The government at Wash-
ington however deemed it wise to wait
until the cup of Hun iniquity should be
not only full but running over.

After full two years of effort on the part
of President Wilson to recall Germany to
observance of the laws of civilized warfare,
and after Berlin's repeated promises had

proved to be brazen lies the break finally
came when on Jan. 31 the kaiser's govern-
ment added open insult to repeated in-
juries.

On that day Berlin decreed to itself the
ownership of about half of the Atlantic
ocean for its submarines and assumed to
bar out of this "war zone" not only all
enemy, but all neutral vessels, under pen-
alty of destruction. The United States was
forbidden to send to any British port more
than one ship weekly, which vessel must
also be distinguished by a sort of barber-
pole decoration.

On Feb. 3 the German ambassador was
handed his passports. On April 2 Presi-
dent Wilson" asked congress to make a
forma] declaration of war, which was
passed and signed on April 6 — Good Fri-
day, and in the judgment of the whole na-
tion a good day for a good deed.

The first American naval contingent
sailed immediately. American troops be-
gan to land in France on June 26 and saw
their first fighting on Oct. 27, but the re-
mainder of the year on this side of the
Atlantic was largely consumed in raising
and training the army, which finally grew
to 2,000,000 men in France and as many
more preparing to follow them when the
successive surrenders of Bulgaria, Turkey,
Austria, and Germany led to the ar-
mistice and ended hostilities.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS

The year 1917 had opened not unpros-

Allied Troops Resting After a Battle.

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

321

perously for the free nations. The French
and English had improved their positions
oa the western front. A new British army
that had heen pushing up the Tigris took
Bagdad on March 11. At the same time
the Huns in Flanders retreated about
twenty miles to what became known as
"the Hindenburg line." Toward the end
of May the Italians had crossed the Isonzo
and were on the Bainsizza plateau, within
twelve miles of Trieste. The United States,
though not yet ready with a great army,
was freely making enormous and sorely
needed loans to France, England, Italy,
Belgium and Russia.

But on March 12 a revolution, led by
members of the duma and backed by the
Petrograd garrison, had dethroned the
czar, declared monarchy abolished and set
up a Russian republic. It was hailed with
joy by all friends of democracy, but the
hopes built upon it were doomed to disap-
pointment. The provisional government
went through one crisis after another, until
finally with the fall of Kerensky on Nov. 8
the control of Russia fell into the hands of
the "bolsheviki," a group of radical social-
ists and doctrinaire pacifists, who demor-
alized the army and made peace with the
Huns, ceding to them and the Turks Po-
land, the Baltic provinces, the Ukraine and
Trans-Caucasia.

Even the original Russian revolution is
suspected to have been more or less "made

bomb-gun with which the
is well equipped.

Private Shelly being decorated by the King of
England with the Medal of Honor for gallantry in
advance from Hamel on July 4th.

in Germany," though the honesty of Keren-
sky and others of its original leaders is not
questioned. It has been proved, however,
that Lenine and Trotzky, the chiefs of the
bolsheviki, were from the beginning in Ger-
man pay and it was said of the Bolshe-
viki that "those who are not crazy are
crooked and those who are not crooked aro
crazy," and the epigram appears to be an
accurate description.

Even before the fall of Kerensky the
Germans had been enabled by the growing
demonstrations of the Russian armies to
take Riga and engineer the secession of the
Ukraine from northern Russia, with event-
ual results of getting temporary possession
of territories larger than the whole Ger-
man empire before the war.

THE ITALIAN DISASTER

Delivered by the collapse of Russia from
the need of maintaining more than a bor-
der guard on the eastern front, with plun-
dering expeditions into the Baltic provinces
and the Ukraine, the Huns concentrated for
a great drive upon Italy. On Oct. 26 the
Italian line was broken at Caporetto and
within three weeks the Italian army had
lost all its hard won gains of nearly thirty
months, and more.

Its retreat was marked by enormous
losses of men and material and ended only
at the Piave river, where a successful stand
was made with the aid of French and Brit-

322

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

ish troops. There is little doubt that ' ' Ger-
man propaganda" along the lines of the
Bolshevist idea that the war could be ended
by the soldiers simply refusing to fight any
more had undermined the morale of cerfain
Italian contingents and contributed to this
German success.

In other quarters, however, the allies
fared better. On June 12 the treacherous
King Constantine of Greece was forced to
abdicate and Venizelos returned to power.

with a proclamation of a "holy war." The
effort had failed, but the British govern-
ment was not content to rest on the evi-
dent loyalty of its Moslem subjects. It
struck back not only with the expedition
into Mesopotamia, but also by measures
which detached the Arab tribes about
Mecca and Medinah from obedience to Con-
stantinople.

Then in the latter part of 1917 an expe-
dition commanded by Gen. Allenby pushed

Arrival of the First American Troops in Paris.

Then began a reorganization and purifica-
tion of the Greek army, which the next
year sent 400,000 Greeks to aid in putting
Bulgaria and Turkey out of the war and
in the reconquest of Serbia.

There were other steps taken by the
allies of importance in a political as well
as a military sense. Early in the war the
Turkish government had attempted to
arouse all Mohammedans against the allies

across the desert from Egypt into Pales-
tine, defeated the Turks near Joppa, and
on Dec. 20 captured Jerusalem and later
pushed eastward across the Jordan and
seized the railroad to Medinah.

Christendom was pleased with the Christ-
mas gift of Jerusalem, and Zionist Jews
saw their hopes bearing promise of frui-
tion. But the new alignment which the
barring of all roads to the Moslem shrines

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

323

against the Turks of Constantinople gave
to the Moslem world was even more im-
portant.

The Turkish sultan's only claim to the
title of "Khalif " or successor of Mahomet
was that he had kept open the pilgrim
roads to Mecca and Medinah. For the
practical purposes of assuring to Moslems
power of compliance with the religious
duty of pilgrimage, the "khalif" is now
King George V.

THE REVIVAL OF A STATION

On Feb. 12, L918, the Russian bolshoviki
had accepted the Hun peace terms at Brest
Litovsk and Russia was nominally as well
as actually out of the war. On Ma roll 9,
Roumania had been forced to submit in
form. Russia was breaking into fragments
and plunging into ever increasing anar-
chy. The pro-German elements in the
Ukraine got the upper hand there and made
that groat granary virtually a German
province. Mutinies broke up the Russian
Black sea fleet, German forces seized the
Black sea ports, and the Turks pushed over
into the great Russian oil fields between the
Black sea and the Caspian.

Then came one of the most extraordinary
events of the war, checking the Germaniza-
tion of Russia, and leading directly to the
rebirth of a nation long subjugated and op-
pressed, with its formal recognition by all
the allied powers as an independent state
That nation was Bohemia, with the border
provinces of Moravia and Silesia, which
their own people prefer to call Slovakia.

Yanks Bringing in German Prisoners.

A Protected Battery. The most cleverly concealed
battery on the Serbian front.

Among the consequences of the war is the
winning of the Czech-Slovaks of their fight
of nearly 500 years to preserve their dis-
tinct nationality.

Bohemia, had, of course, been forced to
furnish her due proportion of troops to
the Austrian armies. At every opportun-
ity they went over to the Russians, with
whom they fought valiantly. "When Russia
collapsed' these Czech-Slovak regiments
turned eastward, seeking to make their
way through Siberia to the sea, hoping in
time to reach France and fight the Huns
there.

Fortunately for the cause of Bohemia
and of orderly liberty everywhere the mad-
ness of the Russian bolsheviki refused to
permit the Czech-Slovaks to depart in
peace. Their arms were demanded and
the trains on which they were making their
way to Vladivostok were attacked. There
were between 75,000 and 100,000 armed
men, strung out all the way from the Volga

824

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

32;

region to eastern Siberia.

The Czech-Slovaks defended themselves
and did more. Their national council, or-
ganized at Paris under the leadership of
Prof. Thomas G. Masaryk, an exiled edu-
cator, who proved a statesman of the first
rank, realized that these troops could form
a most valuable rallying point for such
elements in Russia as were neither infected
with bolshevik insanity nor in German pay.

The Czech-Slovak national council was
formally recognized, first by England and
France and later by the other allies, as a
de facto government, and the Czech-Slovak
troops in Russia were accorded the rights
of belligerents. This meant that the Huns

of great Hun drives opened from the
Scarpe to the Oise in Flanders.

On a sixty-mile front more than 1,000,-
000 men were hurled toward Amiens. The
German plan was to divide the British
from the French, roll up the British, drive
them back to the coast and destroy them.
Berlin hoped thus to obtain, if not' a com
plete victory, at least a "negotiated
peace" that would restore the German
colonies and permit the Huns to retain
their Russian plunder.

Those were extremely perilous days, for
the Americans had not yet come up in full
strength, and if the British armies were

A Night Scene in "No Man's Land." A pyrotechnic display over "\o Man's Land.
the French front, caused by a barrage of incendiary bombs.

A night scene on

could no longer treat Czech-Slovak prison-
ers as "deserters" without incurring stern
reprisals. Thanks largely to the Czech-
Slovaks, aided by Japanese and American
troops, bolsiievism had been practically
suppressed in Siberia when the war on the
western front ended, and European Russia
about half-way up the Volga was in the
hands of friends of the allies.

FOUR ANXIOUS MONTHS

With the utter collapse of Russia the
Huns were enabled to turn their full
strength upon the French and British
armies on the western front. On March 21
what was to be the first of the last series

destroyed the French could hardly stand
alone. But though the British line bent
back and back, it did not break, and as it
shortened the French extended. This bat-
tle led to the appointment on April 2 of
Marshal Foch as supreme commander of
all the allied forces. The allies thereafter
had absolutely unified direction of all
their armies.

Halted in the direct drive for Amiens,
the Huns struck at Arras and between
Messines and La Bassee with intent to
gain the Flanders ridge. The whole
weight of this drive fell on the British,
who were literally fighting with "their
backs to the wall," with no natural line

326

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

West Point Cadets

of defense between them and the channel.
But the British line held.

Balked in their direct attempts to divide
the British and French and reach the
channel ports, the Huns launched a new
drive between Soissons and Rheims, with
Paris as the goal. In six days the Huns
had hammered across the Aisne and had
again reached the Marne in the region of
Chateau Thierry. But an attempt to
push farther down the Ourcq was de-
feated by the French and Americans, and
at Cantigny and Belleau wood the United
States Marines added new names to a vic-
tory roll that goes back to the very begin-
ning of the nation in 1775.

THE HIGH TIDE OF THE HUN

The first half of 1.918 was, in fact, a race
between America and the Huns. It seemed
a question for weeks whether the Yanks
could get across the ocean fast enough.
They were coming at the rate of nearly
300,000 a month, but could they get into
the battle line soon enough? By July 1
the question was really answered, for more

than 1,000,000 American soldiers were inj
PVance, and thev were still pouring in,

Heavy United States Coast Artillery.

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

327

unchecked by Hun submarine raids on the
American coast.

On July 15 the Germans opened what
proved to be their last great drive.
Balked in their effort to open roads to
Paris along the Oise and Oureq valleys
they tried again from Chateau Thierry to
Rheims and on eastward across Cham-
pagne to the edge of the Argonne forest.
The Champagne attack was held within the

forest of Villers-Cotterets, southwest of
Soissons, were hurled against the west
Hank of the Marne wedge. The enemy en-
gaged on the eastward side of the wedge,
was taken by surprise and fell back before
the Franco-American forces.

The drive toward Epernay was the high
tide of the Hun and Chateau Thierry
marked what proved to be its final break.
Thereafter the allies kept on the defensive

■^

Caterpillar "Tank" Demonstrated to Officers of Army Meets Disaster. A model "Tank" constructed to be
demonstrated to officers of the United States Army turned a double somersault while climbing a bank after
crossing the Los Angeles River, when the soft earth gave way under the 13-ton machine. The demonstra-
tion, hpwever, was successful, as it showed how easily a machine used in time of war can cross a river and
climb its banks. The "Tank" is modeled after those in actual service in Europe.

French battle zone. "West of Rheims the
Huns got across the Marne and turned
their drive up its valley toward Epernay.
Then at Chateau Thierry on July 18 the
American marines went in. Out of 8,000
their casualties were 6,000, but they halted
the Hun advance on Epernay. Marshal
Foch had, in fact, anticipated the enemy
plan. Strong reserves gathered in the

and never again lost that advantage.

Gradually Foch extended pressure all
around the Marne pocket. The Hun re-
sistance was stubborn. By desperate
effort he held the corners of the pocket and
its mouth open through a retreat across
the Vesle. A few days later Foch struck
again at the nose of the Somme salient.
British and French troops advanced from

328

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

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Montdidicr to Albert. The Hun was again
taken by surprise, and by the middle of
August had been driven back to the lines
held before the Somme advance of the
allies in 1916.

THE YANKS IN" LORRAINE

By this time nearly 2,000,000 Americans
were in France. Heretofore they had been
brigaded with the French and British.
Xow they were to show what they could
do wholly by themselves. Pershing had
1,000,000 men under his personal command

Followed the "tedious task of fighting
through the Argonne forest. During Octo-
ber it was completed and the Americans
had closed the Stenay gap and were driv-
ing on to Sedan. That historic town, the
scene of the great French disaster in 1870,
they readied in the early days of Novem-
ber. Its capture cut one of the two great
German lines of supply and of retreat.

Meanwhile the French and British, with
various American contingents, had been
driving the Hun in a retreat of ever-

British Hydroplane and Submarine After Sinking a German Submarine by a Depth Bomb.

along the line from Verdun southeastward
across Lorraine.

The great American drive opened on
Sept. 12, and rapidly smashed in the St.
Mihiel salient which the Germans had
held for four years. "Within little more
than a week the Americans were within
cannon shot of the outer forts of Metz.
They did not directly attack that enormous
fortress. There was a longer but less
costly way to break the back of the Hun
armies.

increasing speed and disorder across
French Flanders and Belgium. Ostend and
Zeebrugge, lair of the U-boats, were aban-
doned. Full 15,000 Huns were caught
against the Dutch frontier and forced into
internment in Holland. When the Hun
envoys came with white flags to Guise on
Nov. 8 to receive Foch's terms of truce the
allied line was from east of Ghent and An
denarde to Maubeuge and the Hun "far-
thest west" in France was at Chaumont-
Porcien.

330

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

Herbert C. Hoover, Food Dictator, Was Selected by President Wilson as the Most Able Man for the

Position.

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

331

Before the armistice was formally ac-
cepted this salient had been smashed in
and allied troops were in Rocroi, scene of
a famous French victory over 200 years
ago. The French had reached the Belgian
frontier east of Avesnes, and the Cana-
dians on the morning of Nov. 11 took Mons,
a place of a heroic effort of the British to
halt the Hun in the summer of 1914. Per-
shing's men on Nov. 10 had attacked on a
front of seventy-oue miles from the Mouse
southeastward and were within ten miles

structed armies of Greece and Serbia. Czar
Ferdinand the Tricky abdicated in favor of
his son Boris, who at last account was
unlikely long to keep his throne.

After some weeks and much squirming,
Turkey sent Gen. Townshend, the British
commander captured at Kut-el-Amara, to
beg for a truce from the British admiral
commanding the allied fleets in the Aegean,
and obtained conditions that foreshadowed
what the Huns themselves were to expect.
Meanwhile the British had advanced far up

A Motor Drawn Cannon with Armor Used to Fight Zeppelins

Aeroplanes

of the north side of Metz. Had the Hun
not submitted it was evidently the plan to
pocket Metz and push down the Moselle
valley for a direct invasion of Germany.

THE SMASH OF EMPIRES

Preceding the final collapse of the Hun
on the western front had come the collapse
of his vassals. Bulgaria was the first to
go, under the hammering of the allies on
the Macedonian front, aided by the recon-

the Euphrates and were approaching Alep-
po, while Allenby's army had pushed north
beyond Damascus.

A few days after the Turkish surrender,
Austria-Hungary, which had for weeks
been trying to obtain a parley for peace,
only to receive an "unconditional sur-
render" answer, sent a white flag into the
rtalian lines. Early in October the Ital-
ians had resumed the offensive and had

332

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

333

been steadily driving the Austrians back,
and the various nationalities which made
up the former Hapsburg empire had been
busily engaged in seceding from one an-
other.

The terms imposed on Austria-Hungary
involved a surrender, not only complete
but abject. There was, in fact, hardly a
government left in Vienna to sign truce
terms, and what Gen. Diaz really did was
to accept the surrender of the million or

The abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm and
his flight to Holland on the night of Nov.
10 completed the smash up of the Hun em-
pires, and the apparent end of the last
autocratic government in Europe.

XOT A ""GENERALS' WAB"

The war produced commanders whom
the military historian will rank among" the
most accomplished the world has known.
But it was not a "generals' war" in the

U. S. Sailors in the Firth of Forth After Surrender of German Fleet.

so of Austro-Hunsrarian soldiers who were
starving in front of his forces.

At last accounts the Bohemians were
completely masters of their own country,
the German-Austrians were begging for a
hearing from the allies, the south Slav- had
set up an independent government, Hun-
gary was in the throes of civil war, and
Kaiser Kail bad fled from Vienna to Switz-
erland,

did sense of the word. Its numbers were
too enormous and its fighting fronts ex-
tended for hundreds of miles. It afforded
no opportunity for the general to per-
form feats like that of Napoleon at the
bridge of Lodi or of Logan at Atlanta.
Operations were directed, not by the gen-
em] in personal contact with his whole
force — that was physically Impossible — but

334

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

by the general sitting at the collecting res-
ervoir of information, with numerous ad-
visers and assistants of all kinds.

In a very real sense the war was waged
by boards of directors, known as "general
staffs," with chairmen having power of
final decision. "Great headquarters" was
like the huge general office of a great indus-
trial plant or a big governmental depart-
ment. Elaborate plans had to be made far

tent to force a compromise peace if they
could not win a sweeping victory, made it
largely a "subalterns' war," using the
term with the due expansion compelled by
the engagement of such numbers that a
colonel was of little more relative impor-
tance than a lieutenant in former wars.
It was a war which could not be won by
"maneuvers" or unexpected combinations.
The Hun had to be "worn down." French

Vessel Entering Box Smoke Screen.

in advance for every important movement.
The monotonous reiteration of the German
official statements, that this or that move-
ment was "executed according to plan,"
became a catchword of derision to civilians
ignorant of the mechanics of modern war.
Yet it accurately described the condition,
though sometimes used to disguise re-
verses.

The "digging in" of the Huns, with in-

mental clarity early and correctly de-
scribed it as "a war of attrition."

FRANCE PROVIDES GREATER COMMANDERS

France provided the commander-in-chief
who ended the war, as was natural. The
Hun willed that the war must be lost or
won on the soil of France, and France was
tlic only one of the western allies which
had, at the start, an army commensurate
to the task both in numbers and training.

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

335

336

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

Britain and the United States had still
their great armies to make when they en-
tered the war. Moreover, the training of
British generals was in leading compact
forces on distant expeditions rather than
in management of enormous masses. Brit-
ish military technic was, perhaps, too indi-
vidual and too little accustomed to widest
range co-operation. It is significant that
most complaints of failure in due co-ordi-

commanded, and that of his chief subordi-
nates by the fact that the forces for which
they were responsible exceeded in numbers
any army led by Wellington. Nor must
the services of Kitchener, the great organ-
izer, nor of Sir John French, unshaken bat-
tler against well-nigh hopeless odds, be for-
gotten.

Minor British commanders, Townshend,
unfortunate in the field to whom destiny

...... 'x_*<

In the German Second Line Before Cambrai, After Its Capture by the British.
A Tank Stopped in Negotiating a Deep Until After the Action.

nation of action came from the British
front in France.

Great Britain did her full share in pro-
vision of man power, and more than her
share in provision of material, both by
land and sea. In the sea war Britain was
properly supreme. Yet though he rightly
gave place to Foch in supreme command,
Sir Douglas Haig's achievement may be
measured by the fact that he led to victory
greater armies than any Briton ever before

brought the fortune of being his captors'
envoy to beg peace for them; Maude
dying for England within a few days after
he had won her a great victory; Allenby,
captor of Jerusalem and hamstringer of
the Turk, and Botha, the Boer, who fought
bravely against England and loyally for
England when her cause was freedom's,
can be merely mentioned.

THE TURNERS OF THE TIDE

Of the American commanders, Pershing

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

337

338

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

Here are shown American officers and American marines saluting the parade of the Allies in the streets of

Vladivostock.

and his associates, it can be said that they
proved fully equal to their task. No
American since Grant has commanded so
great an army as did Pershing. Their
task was to turn the tide and make certain
the victory. They were not called upon
to endure as were their French and Brit
ish colleagues, though we feel sure they
would have endured with equal firmness
had the need come. Nor will the world
soon forget the word of Bundy at Chateau
Thierry, "Retreat for Americans is intol-
erable," for it marked the turning of the
Hun tide.

The impression left by the Italian lead-
ers at this distance is that Cadorna was
competent but slow and unfortunate, and
that Diaz was competent, steadfast,
prompt to press an advantage, and for-
tunate.

To Joff re and Foch, one for staying the
Hun rush at the Marne, and the other
for dealing the great counter stroke that
ended the conflict, must be awarded the
highest honors. Yet of Nivelle and Pe-

tain, of Mangin and Gouraud, of d'Es-
perey and Debeny, it must be said that
they equaled any of Napoleon's marshals,
and successfully led far greater forces
and solved far more complex military
problems. W. R. P.

British Tommies devised novel ways to carry their
wounded. Photo shows British carrying their
wounded on horses in Mesopotamia.

Naval Battles of The War

By
ADMIRAL SIMS

Admiral Mahan's contention, based on
history, that sea power rather than land
power is the decisive factor in wars where
both can play their part, has received
striking 1 confirmation both in the progress
and the events of the world war which the
German rulers began and which has
ended in their country's ruin.

The British navy has naturally played
the larger part in the sea struggle. When
the war began it was, nearly two to one,
the most powerful on the seas. And it
was ready as only the German war ma-
chine was ready on land. While its work
was admirably supplemented by the fleets
of France and Italy, and in the last two
years by that of the United States, upon
it fell the whole of one of the three great
sea tasks of the war, and the heavier part
of the other two.

These tasks were ( 1 ) clearing the
oceans of the German cruisers; (2) the
blockade of Germany, including the
paralysis of the German high seas fleet;
(3) guarding transport of troops and
supplies, including the battle with the
German submarines and mines.

HUNTING THE HUN FROM THE SEAS.

Within twenty-four hours after the
declaration of war Admiral Sir John Jel-
licoe was at sea with the British grand
fleet and the blockade lid was set upon the
German outlets to the oceans. The story
of that more than fifty months' ceaseless
watch of the Xorth sea must give first
place, however, to the tale of the hunting
of the Hun from all the outer waters of
the world.

How deliberate was the German war
planning is shown by the fact that several

days before its declaration Admiral
Spee's cruiser squadron steamed out of
Iviao Chao to take up the work of com-
merce destroying. Detaching the Emden
to raid the Indian ocean Spee sent the
Leipzig and Xeurenberg to join the Dres-
den on the South American coast, where
he later met them with the Scharnhorst
and Gneisenau after "shooting up" some
defenseless French and British trading
towns among the South Pacific islands.

On Nov. 1, 1914, Admiral Sir Charles
Craddock, steaming north from Cape
Horn, met the five German cruisers in a
gale off Coronel on the Chilean coast with
the armored cruisers Good Hope and
Monmouth and the light cruiser Glasgow.
The battleship Canopus, sent out to re-
enforce Craddock, was unable to get in
sight of the action owing to slow speed.
Craddock was overmatched, and the Good
Hope and Monmouth went down with all
hands, the battered Glasgow alone escap-
ing south to warn the Canopus.

THE FTGHT OFF THE FALKLANDS.

The British admiralty calculated cor-
rectly that Spee would be compelled by
want of coal and food to attempt a raid
on the Falkland islands, in the South At-
lantic, and sent thither Admiral Sir Fred-
erick Sturdee with the Invincible, Inflex-
ible. Carnarvon. Kent. Cornwall, Bristol
and Macedonia.

The next morning after the British
squadron arrived Spee steamed into sight.
The action opened just before 1 p. m. on
Dec. 8, 1914. At '4:16 the Scharnhorst
sank, and soon after the Gneisenau, to be
joined in the depths by the Xuernberg at
7:20 and by the Leipzig at 9:1.5. Unlike
the Huns at Coronel, the British seamen

340

NAVAL BATTLES OF THE WAR

341

did their best to rescue their beaten foes.

The Dresden escaped for the time and
fled back into the Pacific, to be overhauled
by the Kent and the Glasgow at Juan
Fernandez the next March and to pull
down her colors after an action of five
minutes.

The Emden had met her fate a month
before the fight off the Falklands, after
destroying a number of merchant ships.
On Nov. 10, 1914, the Australian cruiser

Within the first month of the war, on
Aug. 30, 1914, the Kaiser Wilhelm der
Grosse had been sunk by the Highflyer
off the Cape Verde islands. Two weeks
later, on Sept. 14, the Carmania, an
armed merchantman, had settled the Cap
Trafalgar in the South Atlantic, and the
Spreewald was captured by the Berwick
in the North Atlantic.

HUN FLAG SWEPT FROM OCEANS.

The Prinz Eitel Friederich was hunted

Remarkable PhotO'raph

'Flame-Throwing" or "Rain of Fire'
Trenches.

Attack in the First Line French

Sydney, when about fifty miles east of
the Cocos-Keeling islands in the Indian
ocean, picked up a wireless message from
the Cocos station: "Strange warship off
entrance."

Two hours later the Emden was
sighted coming out from the destruction
of the wireless station. Two hours more
and the Emden was a flaming wreck on
the North Keeling reefs.

to refuge in an American port on April
8, 1915. The Geier had interned at
Honolulu early in the war. The Karls-
ruhe simply disappeared, and its fate re-
mains one of the mysteries of the seas.
The Koenigsberg ran for shelter into an
African river forest, and perished there
on July 11, 1915.

Except for one or two raiders which
slipped through the blockade disguised as

342

NAVAL BATTLES OF THE WAR

neutral merchantmen, that was the end
of the German flag on the oceans.

The naval war's first and continuing
problem was the German battle fleet — to
beat it if it came out from its citadel down
in the corner of the North sea behind
Heligoland, or to keep it there impotent.
That was Admiral Sir John Jellicoe's re-
sponsibility. How it has been met by the
British navy under his command, and by
his successor, Admiral Sir David Beatty,
may be judged by the fact that only once
has the German high seas fleet ventured
out of harbor in force, as distinguished
from light cruiser raids which achieved
only baby-killing on bathing beaches.

The problem was enormous. England
had fought no great naval war for a cen-
tury. All the conditions had changed.
The fleet actions of modern armorclads,
off Santiago and in the Sea of Japan, had
settled little, owing to the inferiority of
the Spanish vessels and the incompetence
of the Russian commanders. Much had
been promised for the torpedo, but little
performed. It had sunk no Russian ves-
sel at Tsushima not already disabled by
gunfire.

THE BLOCKADE AND THE PATROL.

The first summer of the war proved
that the torpedo, plus the submarine, must
be more seriously reckoned with. A Brit-
ish cruiser squadron made a challenging
reconnaisance into the Heligoland bight.
Within half an hour three large though
old and somewhat slow cruisers, the
Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, were sent
down, the Germans claimed by a single
submarine. The lesson was promptly
learned that submarine infested waters
must be patrolled by small and swift ves-
sels, and that there could be no humane
slowing up for rescue.

No comparable success was again
achieved by the Hun U-boats against war
vessels. Some claimed were more prob-
ably by drifting mines, with which Ger-
many, in brazen disregard of her Hague
pledges, sowed the seas at every opportu-

nity. The "victories of our U-boats"
which German cities celebrated, were al-
most wholly over defenseless merchant
ships, such as the Lusitania. They were,
in fact, sheer murder of noncombatants.

The blockade had not only to bar tht
English channel and keep safe the ferry
to France, but also to cover the sub
Arctic waters north of the British islands
and up to Iceland. How effective it was
may be judged from the fact that aftei
the first week of the war the only supplies
that came into Germany from overseas
were smuggled through Holland or Italy.
Denmark or Sweden, the latter of which
will quite possibly have to reckon with the
allies in the final settlement for light re-
gard of neutral duties. The German fleet
could stand off the Russian in the Baltic
and keep that traffic open, but that was
all.

The French fleets in the Mediterra-
nean, aided by the Italian after the first
year, were equally efficient in their work.
Austria had a considerable naval force of
modern ships, but it never got out of the
Adriatic except under the surface. Aus-
trian and German submarines committed
their share of atrocities in the Mediter-
ranean, aided by the treachery of the
Greek government until King Constan-
tine was expelled from the throne, but
the Hun battleships never but once dared
a standup fight with their foes.

THE JUTLAND BATTLE.

This one great fleet action of the war
was preceded by three swift cruiser raids
toward the English coast. The first, on
Nov. 3, 1914, did little damage to Yar-
mouth. The second, on Dec. 16, 1914,
killed a large number of women and chil-
dren at Scarborough, Hartlepool and
Whitby. The third was intercepted on
Jan. 24, 1915, on the Dogger bank by
Sir David Beatty's cruiser squadron. In
that encounter the British cruisers Lion
and Tiger sank the German battleship
Bluecher and sent the Derfflinger home
badly crippled.

NAVAL BATTLES OF THE WAR

343

On the morning of May 31, 1916, Sir
John Jellicoe was between Scotland and
Denmark with the British grand fleet.
Sir David Beatty's cruiser squadron had
completed its sweep to the south and was
swinging northward. At 2:30 p. m.
Beatty was signaled by his light cruisers
that the German fleet was out in force.
It had apparently steamed north along
the Danish coast and, when sighted, was
heading home again, with light cruisers
leading.

The choice was Beatty's either to en-
counter and try to detain the foe or to keep
on his way to join Jellicoe. He followed
Nelson's rule: "Engage the enemy in
sight." The ensuing battle divides itself
into three stages: (a) Beatty's advance
until he found he had the whole German
heavy fleet before him; (b) Beatty's swing
round in an effort to draw the Germans
toward Jellicoe, during which Admiral
Evan Thomas came up with four battle-
ships and took the first fire of Scheer's
battleships; (c) the arrival of Jellicoe with
Admiral Hood's battle cruiser squadron in
the van.

The concentration of the British squad-
rons had been effected, and Jellicoe behind
Hood was bearing down on Scheer in over-
whelming force. But it was then 7 p. m.
and night brought the North sea haze be-
hind which and his own smoke screens
Scheer turned and escaped with most of his
vessels. The British fleet remained on the
scene until the afternoon of June 1, pick-
ing up survivors. Not one German ship
was in sight on a sea strewn with wreck-

THEY NEVER CAME OUT AGAIN

The Huns being near home, while the
British were 400 miles from port, got out
the first story of the action, claiming "an
enormous victory." Beatty lost, in fact,
two battle cruisers, the Indefatigable and
the Queen Man-, early in the action. Later
the Invincible, Admiral Hood's flagship,
went down with her commander, whose
conduct was worthy of a family so re-
nowned in naval annals. Some four or five
German vessels of equal or greater value
were sunk. Just how great the German

Boche helmets — mementos of Cambrai. Steef
helmets were all taken from Boche prisoners cap-
tured during the memorable advance on Cambrai.

losses were is yet to be ascertained.

Victories, however, are tested by their
results. With all the kaiser's claims to his
people, he did not claim that the British
blockade was ended. It continued, and
more stringent than ever. And, strange to
relate, immediately after the engagement it
became "inconvenient" to permit even the
most patriotic Germans to gaze upon their
"victorious" fleet. For months afterward
no civilian was permitted in the great
naval port of Wilhelmshaven. And the
German high seas fleet was never again
seen outside the bight of Heligoland.

The third great naval task of the war
was dealing with the submarine. Its in-
vention is contested between the English-
man Day and the American Buslmell. Day
was drowned by his in 1774 and Bushnell
made unsuccessful attacks with his upon
British vessels during our war of inde-
pendence. Holland, an American, first
made it practical. To the Hun was re-
served the distinction of making it the
synonym for wanton murder of the inno-
cent. For a thousand years at least the
German, in every land, when he dares to
boast of "civilization," must expect as a
blow in the face the word "Lusitania."

CURBING THE SUBMARINE

When the war began the submarine was
unproved as a war weapon. After its first
successes against the British cruisers al-
ready mentioned it had none of moment

344

HISTORY'S GREATEST WAR

345

346

NAVAL BATTLES OF THE WAR

347

save those which the eommon consent of
mankind outside of "kultured" Germany
has adjudged piratical. It warred with
success only upon the weak and the de-
fenseless. Its assigned role in the Hun
scheme of world conquest was to starve
out England. It failed and worse than
failed.

For military reasons all the measures
taken in dealing with the submarine have
not yet heen revealed. As usual, necessity
quickened invention. It was discovered
that airplanes flying over the sea could
locate submarines under the surface. The
seagull in its search for food betrayed
them. They were entangled in nets swept
between two vessels over their suspected
lurking places. It is said that great steel
nets barred against them the British chan-
nel entrance to the Atlantic and drawn
across the straits of Otranto confined
them in the Adriatic.

Apparently helpless freighters with con-
cealed guns and bombs enticed them to
destruction. As they could move only
slowly under water, the American inven-
tion of the depth bomb aided their de-
struction. British ship yards built as
never before to replace the losses they
caused. "When America entered the war
she joined in the building race on a scale
unknown since the world began. It was
announced the other day that the ship
yards of the free nations had replaced all
the losses by submarines since the war
began and were 500,000 tons ahead.

THE AMERICAN NAVY IX THE WAR

Slow in arousing to the truth that the
Hun must be finally smashed on land in
Europe, the United States had no great
army prepared when on Good Friday,
1917, its government resolved that Hun
outrages and insults could no longer be
endured. But its navy was ready. In size
it stood only fourth or fifth, but in efficiency
it was second to none. No American will
soon forget the thrill of pride he felt when
the word came back from England that the
first destroyer fleet had arrived, and what
was the answer given to the inquiry,
"When can you put to sea?"

Admiral Sims' answer was "Now." war

Ex-Emperor Charles of Austria-Hungry and his
Ex-Empress Zita.

After threshing through 3,000 miles of sea
his destroyers were ready to go out and
fight. They have had little fighting to do,
and the heavy ships have had none. But
with the British destroyers they have
guarded safely to France transports that
carried more than 2,000,000 men and all
their supplies, and with practically no loss
by submarines on the eastward voyage.
But one troopship, the Tuscania, was sunk
by a submarine on the way to Europe.

Had the Hun held out longer it is pos-
sible that American battleships might have
had an opportunity to prove their power
against the German fleet in the North sea.
But the German navy, disgraced by sub-
marine murders of noncombatants^ was
destined to end in the crowning dis-
grace to all naval discipline, capture by
mutineers from its own lawful authority.
Its masters violated every law of civilized
re, and it is not unnatural that its

348

NAVAL BATTLES OF THE WAR

3J.9

men should finally be guilty of treason to
their own criminal government. There is
no honor among thieves when gripped by
the law, and the pirate's hand turns
against his fellow when Execution Dock
looms in sight.

THE OTHER ALLIED FLEETS

France and Italy have done their part on
the sea, as clearly noted, but it has been
a part less visible from this side the Atlan-
tic, and of which the full story is not yet
known. Only fragments of the record have
reached us here. We know they have done
their share in curbing the submarine in the
Mediterranean and have confined the Aus-
trian fleet to the Adriatic. We know of
such daring deeds as the penetration of the
very harbor of Pola and the sinking of
Austrian battleships there. But for the
fuller record we must wait awhile.

The Russian fleet, before Russia col-
lapsed under Hunnish corruption and bol-
shevik craziness, did its part with some
distinction. Never strong enough in the
Baltic to contend with the Germans there,
it mastered the Black sea and aided in the
Russian army's advance to Trebizond.

The Japanese fleet has done all that was
asked of it and done it well. It aided in
the extinction of German ride on the Chi-
nese coast, and sent a squadron of de-
stroyers to the Mediterranean to battle the
submarine. It has been a reserve force
which would have come into play had any
reverse at sea befallen the fleets of the
European allies.

Brazil has also contributed vessels to the
guarding of the Atlantic against the sub-
marine, and Greek vessels, since Const an
tine was expelled, have aided in the patrol
of the eastern Mediterranean.

From a purely materialistic viewpoint
the Hun did not unwisely in pinning his
faith to the submarine. It has taken the
united sea power of the free nations to put
down its menace. Where the Hun miscal-
culated was, first, in believing that victory
could be won by land power without pre-
dominating sea power; second, in so using
his sea power as to make it clear that there
could be no safety for the rest of the world
until the Hun was not only swept from the
seas, but also ground to powder on land.

The end of the war came with startling

swiftness. Almost as suddenly as it broke
upon the world, it collapsed in an abject
defeat, not only of the German army, but
much more significant, in the defeat and
eradication of the German idea.

On July 15 of last year the German
armies were threatening Paris. The cap-
ital of France was under bombardment by
the seventy-five-mile gun. The troops of
the United States were just beginning to
arrive in sufficient numbers to constitute
a real force. A great German drive started
on the Maine. There it stopped, and in
three days it was turned back into one of
the great defeats of history, and after
that date the allies enjoyed an unbroken
procession of victories, while the central
powers have fallen apart until there is left
only Germany, with its cowering war lord
running to take refuge from his people with
his armies.

It is a different picture the blustering
beast of Potsdam now presents from the
pompous general seeking to conquer the
continent of Europe and extend his do-
minions into Asia. Hand in hand with a
"made in Germany" Gott, he promised his
people the countries of Europe as their
reward for making war. Now he is hiding
while his people, anarchy rent, marching
under the red flag, have brought about his
abdication and the destruction of the
house of Hohenzollern.

ELABORATE STRUCTURE IN RUINS

The elaborate structure he had built
based on blood bonds and lust for power
has disappeared. First it was Bulgaria,
the haggling center of the Balkans, seeking
its price in territory and power, which
veered first to the allies and then finally
fell into the German net. Bulgaria found
itself beaten and rushed to cover. Then
came the Turk and the great fortresses
shutting off the Dardanelles and the ports

Italy, after a debacle at Caporetta,
caused more by treason and German propa-
ganda within than the strength of the Aus-
trian army without, reorganized its shat-
tered forces and turned upon Austria, over-
whelmingly defeating Germany's chief aic
and forcing upon her tlie most abject sur-
render ever recorded. Then Germany fell.

W. R."p.

350

NAVAL BATTLES OF THE WAR

351

352

HISTORY'S GREATEST WAR

BOOK II

Canada In The Great War

W. S. WALLACE, M. A. (Oxon.)

(Lately Major, Canadian Infantry)
Lecturer in History, University of Toronto

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Canada In The Great War

CHAPTER I
THE FIRST CANADIAN CONTINGENT

CANADA IN THE LAP OF PEACE THE OUTBREAK OE WAR THE

CALL TO ARMS MOBILIZATION VALCARTIER CAMP THE

FIRST CONTINGENT NAILS — THE WELCOME IN ENGLAND — LIFE

ON SALISBURY PLAIN THE FIRST DIVISION PROCEEDS TO

FRANCE THEIR BAPTISM OF FIRE THE CANADIANS SAVE THE

DAY AT YPRES REORGANIZATION FESTUBERT GIVENCHY.

When the year 1914 dawned in Can-
ada, there were few Canadians who
dreamed that the year was destined to
usher in the greatest war of modern, or
indeed of ancient, times — a war in which
tens of thousands of the flower of Can-
ada's manhood were to lay down their
lives. There had been at intervals before
1914 sundry warnings about "the German
menace": but many people had regarded
tbese warnings as the cries of alarmists or
of imperialistic 'politicians. Most people
imagined too that if war did break out in
Europe, it would be short and sharp, and
would possibly be over before any Can-
adian troops could reach the theatre of
operations.

The outbreak of war between Great
Britain and Germany on August 4, 1914,
therefore, found Canada comparatively
unprepared. Canada had a few thousand
permanent troops, and a militia system
so inadequate that it bad roused the scorn'
of German military writers, who had pro-
nounced it a negligible factor so far as a
European war was concerned; but the
great mass of the Canadian people had
hardly come to think in terms of war at
all. Nevertheless, when war was declared,
the Canadian government promptly
cabled to England offering the services of
Canadian troops. The offer was accepted
with gratitude; and preparations were im-
mediately begun for the mobilization of a
division of approximately 20,000 men.

The story of this division, from its al-
most impromptu organization at Valcar-
tier Camp, near Quebec, to its heroic
stand at the Second Battle of Ypres,
when it was all but wiped out of existence,
and when, as Sir John French said, it
"saved the day" for the allies, is one of
the most dramatic and amazing episodes
of the great War. A hastily formed and
partially trained body of citizen soldiers,
the First Canadian Contingent won for
themselves, almost at the moment of their
arrival in France, a reputation second to
none on the Western front.

Valcartier had already been selected as
a military training ground before the war
broke out; but little had been done to put
it in shape to serve as a mobilization cen-
tre for an expeditionary force of over
20.000 men. On the day after war was
declared, however, the engineers were
already at work at the camp; and in less
than three weeks there had sprung up like
magic what is perhaps one of the finest
military encampments in the world. A
mile of ride ranges was constructed; a
waterworks system, a telephone system,
and an electric light system were in-
stalled; storehouses, offices, a moving pic-
ture palace, rose overnight; and ordnance
stores began to pour in by the C. X. R.
stub-line that runs past the valley.

By the middle of August the troops
bad begun to arrive. By the end of
August over 30,000 volunteers, from all

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

parts of the Dominion, were in camp.
Each militia unit had been assigned a def-
inite quota; but in nearly every case the
local contingents arrived far over strength.
Hundreds of men jumped on the troop
trains and came on their own responsi-
bility. Several regiments, such as the
Queen's Own of Toronto and the Royal
Highlanders of Montreal, sent each a
whole battalion. The Fort Garry Horse

a strain which at times neared the break-
ing-point.

At first all was confusion. Detach-
ments were juggled about from battalion
to battalion, and juggled back again.
Commanding officers were changed almost
daily. Brigades were formed, and broken
up again. But gradually order emerged
out of chaos. The final reorganization
was completed; the troops were medically

Canadian and German wounded receiving first aid
the hands of the Germans responsible for the scene
dian official photograph.)

of Winnipeg chartered two trains them-
selves, and came down to Valcartier with-
out authority; and no one had the heart
to send them back. The arrivals were a
motley crew. Some wore mufti, softie
wore khaki, and some wore the black or
scarlet serges of their militia units. The
task of equipping them, and even of ac-
commodating them, threw a tremendous
strain on the administrative departments.

in a village which only a few hours before was in
of ruin and devastation which it presents. (Cana-

examined, inoculated, and equipped with
service uniforms; training was begun, and
the rifle ranges re-echoed with the crack-
ing fusilade of musketry practice. By the
middle of September, the camp had
shaken down into a well-ordered routine.
It had been originally intended to send
overseas only one division with the neces-
sary reinforcements; but at the last min-
ute the government announced that the

THE FIRST CANADIAN CONTINGENT

whole force of 33,000 men would be sent
at once. Toward the end of September,
the necessary arrangements having been
made with tbe Admiralty, the First Con-
tingent embarked at Quebec in over thirty
transports. The flotilla was concentrated
at Gaspe Bay. where it was met by a con-
voy of British warships; and on October
3, the entire Armada. — containing the
largest military force which had ever
crossed the Atlantic at one time, — set
sail for the Great- War. In three long
parallel lines of about a dozen ships each.

flung dominions of the British Empire.
The area allotted by the War Office to
the Canadians was Salisbury Plain.
This was a group of camps, in the south
of England, which offered in summer
weather an almost perfect training
ground. For a few days the Canadians
were charmed with their new surround-
ings. Then the weather broke. There
followed one of the worst winters on rec-
ord even in England, that country of
dreary winters. The rain poured down
day after day: the roads became impass-

The massed Canadian pipe bands, playing at field sports of the Expeditionary Force — a sight to de-
light the eye and stir the blood of every son or descendant of Auld Scotia, whose martial music has
led the way to victory for the British flag in many a clime. (Canadian official photograph.)

with flags flying and signals twinkling, it
niade an imposing sight for the handful
of people who saw it off.

Two weeks of glorious October weather
brought the contingent to England.
Here it was disembarked at Plymouth,
the ancient home of so many of those
Devon sea-dogs who had first turned the
thoughts of Englishmen to the New
"World. The landing of the Canadians
was unheralded; but their welcome by the
people of Plymouth was a royal one. As
the troops marched through the town, the
townspeople mingled in and through the
ranks: and the arm of many a Canadian
soldier found its way around the waist of
a Devon lass. The day was symbolic; it
was the first tangible evidence in the
Great War of the solidarity of the far-

able: the Plain itself soon became a
morass. Everything grew saturated with
wet — tents, clothes, even tobacco and
matches. Training was impossible; and
sickness grew among the troops until the
hospitals were filled to overflowing.

Human nature can stand so much, and
no more. In Canada the First Contin-
gent had been extraordinarily well-be-
haved: and later in France it showed that
it could face without flinching the terrors
of the German poison gas. But the mud
of Salisbury Plain it could not abide.
Hundreds of men broke camp, and fled in
search of a few days' dry comfort. Somt
men went away, not to return until they
heard that the First Division was leaving
for France. Absence without leave be-
came an epidemic, a plague. Punishment

CANADA IX THE GREAT WAR

was unavailing to stop it. Men went
away, lived like lords at London hotels,
came back, and accepted their punishment
quietly as the price they were willing to
pay for a few days' respite from mud and
misery.

The first Canadians to go to France,
apart from a hospital unit, were the Prin-
cess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
This regiment, which was composed main- .
ly of British reservists and old soldiers,
had been raised separately from the Cana-
dian Contingent, through the generosity
of a Montreal millionaire, who was des-
tined to play a heroic part as one of its
officers. Its colours had been worked by
Princess Patricia herself. Early in De-
cember, 1914, the Princess Pats, as a
crack regiment, were ordered to proceed
to France, and there they joined the 27th
British Division. Xot until a year later
did they rejoin the Canadians.

The First Canadian Division did not
leave for France until the beginning of
the following February. Under Lieut. -
Gen. Alderson, an Imperial officer who
had been appointed to command the

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Major-General E. A. H. Alderson, the British Com-
mander of the First Contingent, Canadian Expe-
ditionary Force.

Major-General (now Lieut.-Gen.) Sir R. E. W.
Turner, V. C, C. 1!., who commanded the 2nd Di-
vision.

Canadians, it sailed from Avonmouth,
and after a most stormy passage through
the Bay of Biscay, landed at St. Xazaire
in the south of France. Its first experi-
ences in France were not remarkable. It
went through the usual stage of appren-
ticeship in what was relatively a quiet part
of the line. The Canadian artillery took
part in March in the ill-starred battle of
Xeuve Chapelle, and the infantry were on
the outskirts of the fighting. If the day
had gone better, the whole division would
doubtless have been engaged, but fate did
not so order it. For three months the
Canadians had a fairly undisturbed op-
portunity to initiate themselves into the
mysteries of modern warfare.

In the middle of April, the Canadian
Division took over from the French a

THE FIRST CANADIAN CONTINGENT

sector to the north of Ypres. in Belgian
Flanders. By this time trench warfare
had reduced the situation on the Western
front to comparative deadlock. Neither
side was ahle to advance, and the war
threatened to become one of exhaustion.
This did not suit the book of the Germans,
who had pinned their hopes to a quick
decision. In an endeavour to break the

the Canadians. The Turcos and Zouaves,
troops of reckless courage, but at the same
time superstitious natives of North Africa,
were swept back by the poisonous fumes
in agony of mind and body, and the Ger-
man masses advanced to the attack.

The situation of the Canadians was one
of the most critical which could arise in
warfare. Their left flank was completely

General Sir Arthur Currie. commander of the Canadian Corps, unveiling memorial erected by the
Canadian Artillery in honor of the artillerymen who fell at Yimy Ridge. The cross weighs three and
one-half tons and Boche shells surround the base.

deadlock, they brought into use a device
which they had already planned, but
which even they had hitherto hesitated to
employ, the infernal invention of poison
gas. In the late afternoon of April 22,
long yellow clouds of asphyxiating gas
were released against the French colonial
troops who were on the immediate left of

in the air, and they were outnumbered at
least five to one. If they retired, it was
probable that the whole of the British
forces in the Ypres salient would be sur-
rounded and captured, and it was possible
that the Germans might reach the Chan-
nel ports. Under the circumstances, the
only thing to do was to stand fast. Gen-

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

eral Alderson withdrew his left flank, so
as to meet an attack from the northwest,
and he shortened the rest of his line; but
after the first shock of the German attack
was over, the Canadians' line did not
budge. The strength of their defense, and
the success of two brilliant and heroic
counter-attacks, undertaken in defiance of
all military precept, gave the Germans the
impression that they were in greater force
than they were. The German attack was,
consequently, never fully pressed home.
Gradually the British reserves began to
arrive, cheering their Canadian comrades
as they came, and by April 25, after three
days of ceaseless fighting, the sorely-
tried Canadians were relieved.

When the Canadian Division came out
of the trenches that April day it had al-

most ceased to exist. Many battalions
ma relied out only one-fifth or one-sixth
of their original strength. One or two
battalions could barely muster 100 men.
But like the immortal Seventh Division
in the first battle of Ypres, the Canadians
had been victorious in death. If we are
to believe the British commander-in-chief,
they had saved the day at one of the criti-
cal points of the war. And what makes
their achievement the more remarkable
is the fact that, compared with the regu-
lar troops of the European armies, they
were, for the most part, untrained and
amateur soldiers. Neither at Valeartier
nor on Salisbury Plain had conditions
been such as to make thorough training
possible. Nothing but their high and
dauntless spirit carried them through the

A divisional headquarters on the British front in France during the progress of a hattle, showi
troops in reserve, German prisoners, and stretcher-bearers at work. (Australian official photograph,
British and Colonial Press.)

THE FIRST CANADIAN CONTINGENT

German prisoners captured by Canadians during a French raid, with one of their captors. The Cana-
dians became noted for the success of their raids by day and night and seldom failed to bring back
prisoners. i Canadian official photograph.)

furnace of the second battle of Ypres.

Until the middle of May, the remnants
of the division remained in rest billets.
Meanwhile, however, reinforcements were
coming forward from the reserves left be-
hind in England; and in a brief space of
time the division was back at full strength.
Reorganized and revived, it took part in
two of the battles of the early summer of
191.5, Festubert and Givenehy. These
engagements were on a small scale, and
produced results measured only in yards;

but they were bitterly fought, and the
casualties sustained in them still further
depleted the nucleus of "original Firsts"
remaining in France. By the end of the
summer, the number of men in France
who wore the colored shoulder straps of
the First Contingent had become pitifully
few. The division had become largely a
new force, ready to be merged in the
larger formation of the Canadian Corps
on the arrival in France of the Second
Division.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

The Growth of The Canadian Corps

CHAPTER II

THE SECOND DIVISION ARRIVES IN FRANCE — THE FORMATION OF

THE CANADIAN CORPS PATROLS THE CANADIANS PIONEERS

IN TRENCH-RAIDING — THE CREATION OF THE THIRD DIVISION
ST. ELOI SANCTUARY WOOD — THE CANADIANS COME BACK

THE ARRIVAL OF THE FOURTH DIVISION ON THE SOMME

COURCELETTE REGINA TRENCH THE CANADIAN CORPS AS

AN INSTRUMENT OF WARFARE.

Hardly had the First Canadian Con-
tingent left the shores of Canada when
the Canadian government proceeded to
authorize the recruiting of a second con-
tingent. During the winter of 1914-1915
the units composing this new force were
mobilized and trained at various centres
throughout the Dominion; and in the
spring of 1915 they sailed, not in one Ar-
mada like the First Contingent, but in
separate transports, for England. The
summer of 1915 was spent in training at
Shorncliffe, on the Kentish coast, which
now became a great Canadian military
centre in England; and in September,
1915, the Second Division left Shorncliffe
for the front, under the command of
Major-Gen. R. E. W. Turner, a Cana-
dian soldier, who had won the Victoria
Cross in the South African War.

The landing of the Second Division in
France had one dramatic feature. There
had been in the First Division French
Canadians scattered through the various
units; but in the Second Division there
was a whole battalion, the 22nd, composed
entirely of French Canadians. The arri-
val of this battalion on French soil, from
which its ancestors had emigrated over
three centuries before, and which it had
now come to defend, was an incident full
of dramatic quality.

The Second Division joined the First
in the southern portion of the Ypres sali-
ent, which was for so long a Canadian

sector. As soon as the junction was com-
pleted, the Canadian Corps came into ex-
istence. An army corps is an indefinite
number of divisions, placed under a corps
commander. The two Canadian divisions
were noAV placed under the command of
General Alderson, who relinquished the
command of the First Division to Major-
General Currie; and the Corps thus em-
barked on the career which, after its
growth from two to four divisions, was to
make it one of the most efficient and
famous fighting forces on the Western
front.

From the first the men of the Canadian
Corps proved themselves adepts in the
new features of the stationary trench war-
fare which had taken the place of the old
war of movement. One of the develop-
ments of 1915 was the science of bombing.
Bombing was an ancient mode of war-
fare, and it had played a part in the
Russo-Japanese War; but the British had
not foreseen the part that it would come
to play in the Great War, and they were
ill-equipped with bombs. Under these
circumstances, the men in the field in-
vented such home-made grenades as the
jam-tin bomb and the hair-brush. In the
use of these crude missiles the Canadians
showed themselves past-masters. Their
proficiency at games like baseball and la-
crosse gave them a steadiness of hand and
eye which stood them in good stead in
bombing, and made them unpleasant op-

CAXADA IX THE GREAT WAR

ponents. Another development of trench
warfare was patrol-fighting in No Man's
Land. Here too the Canadians proved
themselves no mean adversaries. The
woodcraft which most Canadians had in
their blood, inherited from fathers and
grandfathers who had been mighty hunt-
ers before the Lord, gave them an advan-
tage from the first in the midnight en-
counters between the trendies. Save for
a period when an adventurous Saxon

that strong parties of determined troops,
working on carefully rehearsed lines,
could enter the enemy trenches, inflict
damage and casualties out of all propor-
tion to their own losses, make prisoners,
and get away. The event fully justified
this belief. A raid was planned against
the German positions at La Petite Douve;
and on a dark night a raiding party from
the 7th Battalion crossed the Douve
River, entered the German trenches,

A Canadian Genera] of Division explaining the use of a machine sun against enemy aircraft to Hon.
J. D. Hazen, the Canadian Minister of Marine and Fisheries, during his visit to the" battlefront. (Ca-
nadian official photograph.)

corps strove to dispute with them the
supremacy of Xo Man's Land, the Cana-
dian patrols ranged almost at will along
the German wire.

It is difficult to say just when trench-
raiding by night began on the Western
front. Rut in the development of the art
of raiding enemy trenches the Canadians
have a good claim to be regarded as pio-
neers. Early in November, 1915, the
Canadian staff came to the conclusion

killed at least fifty "of the enemy, wrought
untold damage on dug-outs and machine-
gun emplacements, and brought back
twelve prisoners, with the total loss to
themselves of one killed and one wounded.
Xot all raids, of course, were so successful
as this. During the winter of 1915-1916
several Canadian raids were repulsed with
heavy losses. But gradually experience
brought greater surety of success. On
January 30. 1916, a most successful raid

THE GROWTH OF THE CANADIAN CORPS

was carried out by parties from the 28th
and 29th Battalions, who blackened their
faces in order to avoid detection from the
German flares. It was a Canadian offi-
cer, too, who hit upon the happy idea of
attiring a raiding party, when the ground
was covered with snow, in white cotton
nightgowns purchased in a shop in a little
French town behind the lines. And in
the .summer of 1916 the 19th Battalion
went a step further, when they carried out
in broad daylight a dash into the enemy
lines which may fairly be described as the
first daylight raid on the Western front.

Just after New Year's Day, 1916, the
Canadian Corps was strengthened by the
addition of the Third Division, the forma-
tion of which had been authorized the pre-
ceding December. In this division were
included the Princess Pats, who had
joined the Canadians shortly before, after
a year of the severest fighting with the
British, and the Canadian Mounted Ri-
fles, who were now transformed into
infantry. The command of the division
was placed in the hands of Major-Gen.
Mercer, an officer greatly loved by his
men who was destined to lay down his life
on the battlefield the following summer.

The fighting of the year 1916 was
among the bitterest and least spectacular
of the whole war. The first heavy fight-
ing in which the Canadians were engaged
was that about the craters at St. Eloi, at
the southern end of the Vpres salient, in
the month of April. This sector had been
much fought over. Mine and counter-
mine had been sprung; the ground had
been churned up by shell-fire; and the
rains had made it a veritable quagmire.
On April 2 the Third British Division
had established themselves on a line well
within the former German defences. The
next day they were relieved by the Sec-
ond Canadian Division. The position
which the Canadians took up was not con-
solidated: and before any consolidation
could be carried out, the German counter-
attack developed in strength. The Cana-
dian advance posts were overwhelmed,
and nearly all the gains of the British

H. M. King George V.

were surrendered. The Canadians were
not accustomed to accept defeat; and for
two weeks they strove repeatedly to re-
cover the lost ground. In the end they
had to give up the attempt as impossible,
and to dig in on the line from which the
British had set out.

The battle of St. Eloi was the only
occasion in the Great War when the
Canadian Corps had to admit defeat.
Whether the failure was due to bad staff
work, or to the inability of regimental of-
ficers to read their maps properly, or to
the impossible conditions under which the
fighting was carried on, is difficult to de-
termine. Certainly it was not due to any
deficiency on the part of the Canadian
soldier. The rank and file of the Cana-
dian arhiy fought at St. Eloi with a cour-
age, a determination, a doggedness which
could not have been surpassed: they did
all that it was possible for human beings
to do, amid mud and rain and darkness,
and the withering play of machine-guns,
and the obliterating crash of the most in-

CANADA IX THE GREAT WAR

tense shell-fire they had yet encountered.
Two months later, at Sanctuary Wood,
directly east of Ypres, the Third Cana-
dian Division had an experience which
threatened at first to be a repetition of
the reverse at St. Eloi. On the morning
of June 2, 1916, there broke on the
trenches occupied by the Mounted Rifles
and the Princess Pats a tornado of shell-
fire such as had not before that time been
seen on the Western front. To such a
point had the Germans brought the
science of massed artillery preparation
that no troops in the world could with-
stand it. It destroyed not only a line of
trenches but a whole area, and almost
every living thing within the area. When,
therefore, the German attacking wave
came over in the early afternoon of June
2, they met with little opposition. A few

knots of dazed survivors surrendered, or
died fighting; and the Germans swept on
to their final objective.

As so often happened, however, the
Germans did not press their advantage
to the full; and the arrival of reserves
made it possible for the Canadians to hold
up a further advance. Rut a counter-
attack undertaken the following day
failed; and on June 6 the Canadians lost
the village of Hooge to the north. It be-
gan to look as though the Canadians had
once more been worsted. They had lost
Major-Gen. Mercer, who had been killed,
and Rrig.-Gen. Williams, who had been
severely wounded and taken prisoner; and
whole battalions had been virtually wiped
out of existence. No doubt the Germans
thought that they could rest on their
laurels.

Canadian artillery strafing the Hun near Angres. The work of the big guns in Canadian hands was
remarkably effective, and they were kept busy when the infantry lay inactive in the trenches. (Canadian
official photograph.)

THE GROWTH OF THE CANADIAN CORPS

General Sir Arthur Currie. K. C. I!.. D. S. O..
Commander of the Canadian Army at the front when
the war ended.

But Sir Julian Byng, who had suc-
ceeded General Alderson as the Corps
Commander, had not shot his last bolt. He
resolved to teach the Germans the lesson
that two could play at the same game of
intensive artillery preparation; and he
assembled on the Canadian front a con-
course of guns of overwhelming propor-
tions. On June 12 these guns blew the
Germans out of their trenches, just as the
Canadians had been blown out of them £
few days before; and a dashing attack
by the First Division, under Major-Gen.
Currie, completely re-established the lost
positions. The "Byng Boys", as the
Canadians now came to be known, had
demonstrated the fact that, under any but

hopeless conditions, they could turn de-
feat into victory.

In August, 1910, the Canadian Corps
was brought up to what was henceforth
to be its full strength by the arrival in
France of the Fourth Division. At this
date the first battle of the Somnie was in
full blast. In the earlier stages of this
terrible and prolonged struggle the Cana-
dians had no part. It was not, indeed,
until the beginning of September that the
Canadian Corps was moved down to the
battle area; and not until the middle of
September was the Corps engaged in any
serious action.

From the middle of September, how-
ever, to the middle of November the
Corps bore its full share of the Somme
fighting. The first important action in
which the Canadians were engaged was
the capture of the sugar refiner}' at Cour-
celette on September 1.5, an incident ren-
dered more notable by the fact that on
this occasion the Tanks for the first time
cooperated with the Canadian infantry.
The following day the Canadians swept
on and captured the village of Courcelette
itself, in one of the neatest and most
clean-cut operations of the Somme fight-
ing. Of this success a memorable feature
was the dashing attack of the 22nd
French-Canadian Battalion, who proved
themselves on this occasion true cousins
of the wonderful infantry of France.
For many days the Germans strove stub-
bornly to retake Courcelette; but their
efforts resulted only in further loss of
ground and further punishment.

At a later stage of the fighting the
Canadians suffered heavy losses in the
taking of Regina Trench. This was a line
of German defences beyond Courcelette
which it took the Corps a full month to
capture. As the autumn had advanced.

li;

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

A tramway track, used to supply the Canadian Corps, running through the ruins of a French village
destroyed by German shell-lire. Narrow-gauge roads like this, operated by motors,' proved invaluable
in bringing up supplies and moving the wounded to the rear. (Canadian official photograph.)

the weather had broken, and the heavy
glutinous Somme mud had made the
problem of the attacking troops heart-
breakingly difficult. Nevertheless, in the
end success crowned their efforts; and
with the capture of Desire Trench, which
was the German support line, the Cana-
dians were able, in the latter part of No-
vember, to leave the Somme with a record
of unbroken victory.

The end of 1916 found the Canadian

Corps finally fashioned into the instru-
ment of warfare which during 1917 and
1918 was to be the spear-head of many
an attack. It had now attained the
strength of four divisions; and in the
fighting about Courcelette and Regina
and Desire Trenches these four divisions
had been welded into a coherent and effi-
cient unit. The growth and development
of the Canadian Corps was complete.

The Canadian Corps, 1917

CHAPTER III

BEFORE VIMY RIDGE — WINTER IN THE TRENCHES — DAYLIGHT

RAIDS THE ASSAULT ON VLMY ARLEUX AND FRESNOY THE

ATTACK ON LENS HILL 70 — THE TAKING OF PASSCHENDAELE

RIDGE — BELLEVUE SPUR — BACK BEFORE LENS.

When the Canadians left the Somrae in
the autumn of 191G, they did not return
to their old hunting-grounds in the Ypres
salient, but were assigned a new front on
the sector facing the long upland known
as Vimy Ridge. This was ground which
had been much fought over by the French,
who had the previous year actually cap-
tured a large part of the ridge, but had
subsequently been driven from it. The
ground was a maze of trenches, known
most appropriately as the Labyrinth, and
it was completely overlooked by the Ger-
man observation posts on the ridge.

The sector had, since the murderous
righting between the French and the Ger-
mans the previous year, been fairly quiet.
The British troops from whom the Cana-
dians took over had been content merely
to hold their ground; and the Germans,
from their advantageous position on the
ridge, had been content to take daily toll
of their opponents in the low-lying
trenches before them. The arrival of the
Canadians, however, marked the begin-
ning of a more lively period. Canadian
Snipers, silent men from the bush or the
prairies with many a notch on the butts
of their rifles, taught the Hun the value
of cover; Canadian scouts nightly pa-
trolled the shell-holes and craters of No
Man's Land, practically driving the Huns
from it; and Canadian raiding parties
made frequent unwelcome visits to the
German trenches. It was not long before
the Germans adopted the policy of hold-
ing their front line very lightly, especially
at night.

An interesting feature of this winter
warfare was the development by the Can-
adians of daylight trench-raiding. Day-
light raids had been practised by the
Canadians as early as the summer of
1916; but these had been cut-and-run af-
fairs. Just before Christmas, 1916, the
1st C. M. R.'s carried out the first day-
light raid on a large scale. A body of
picked men, numbering about 400, re-
hearsed the raid for a week beforehand on
imaginary trenches taped out behind the
lines; and then, after a whirlwind bom-
bardment of the German trenches, walked
over, in broad daylight, spent two hours
in the German front and support lines,
captured over 100 prisoners, and returned
with comparatively slight casualties.

Not all such raids proved uniformly
successful. One raid in particular, under-
taken by the 75th Battalion against the
German lines in front of Vimy Ridge,
was very costly. Instead of artillery
preparation, a gas attack was used to pave
the way for the operation; but atmos-
pheric conditions nullified the effect of
the gas, and when the raiders went over
the top, they were greeted by a hot fire
from the opposing trenches. The com-
manding officer, the second in command,
and many men were killed. Yet even on
this occasion the raid was pushed home,
and the chief objectives were attained.

With the advent of spring came the
long-awaited British offensive. The Brit-
ish First and Third Armies attacked on
a wide front before Arras; and the Cana-
dian Corps was assigned the task of tak-

CANADA IX THE GREAT WAR

Brig.-Gen. A. C. MacDonnell (now Major-General),
who commanded the 7th Brigade.

ing Vimy Ridge. The German defences
were subjected to a three days' bombard-
ment by a colossal assemblage of artillery,
and this was followed by an intense bar-
rage of shrapnel preceding the assault.
Then, in the early morning of April 9,
the attack was launched. Except at Hill

14.5, at the northern end of the ridge,
where a temporary check was sustained,
the Canadians advanced through the three
German lines of defence on a time-table.
By the end of the first day they were well
up to the crest of the ridge, and had taken
thousands of prisoners at slight cost to
themselves. The following day the ad-
vance was continued; and the Canadians
swept over the crest of the ridge. By
April 13 the reverse slope of the ridge
had been cleared of the Germans, and a
number of villages well within the Ger-
man lines, including Givenchy-en-Go-
helle, Vimy, Petit Vimy, Willerval, and
Bailleul, were firmly in Canadian hands.
The whole operation was perhaps the
most successful and spectacular which had
been carried out on the British front.
The Germans had believed their defences
on Vimy Ridge impregnable; and the
planner in which the Canadians had taken
them in their stride firmly established the
Canadian Corps in their reputation as
storm-troops.

On April 28 the Canadians entered the
second phase of the battle of Arras with
the capture of Arleux-en-Gohelle and the
German trench system known as the Ar-
leux Loop. This was followed, in the
beginning of May, by the capture by the
Canadians of Fresnoy. In both of these
operations bitter opposition was encoun-
tered; and Fresnoy, which was the apex
of the British advance, had to be evacu-
ated on May 8 by the British troops who
relieved the Canadians.

After the battle of Arras the Canadian
Corps was moved north to the sector op-
posite Lens. This town, with its sur-
rounding mining suburbs and slag-heaps,
was a hard nut to crack by frontal attack;
and when the Canadians laid siege to it,
they applied the pincers to it by means of
flanking assaults. First they drove in to.
the south of it by the capture of La Cou-
lotte village, with its electric power sta-
tion, on June 26, and the subsequent
capture of Avion and Eleu dit Leau-
vette. Next, thev attacked on August
15 Hill 70, to the north of Lens. Hill

THE CANADIAN CORPS, 1917

70 had been readied, but not held, by the
British in the battle of Loos in Septem-
ber, 191.5. Since then it had been further
strengthened, and was a formidable ob-
stacle. It ^as captured, however, after
a bitter struggle : and with it fell three of
the north-western suburbs of Lens.
Without doubt Lens itself, half encircled
as it was. would in due course have fallen
at the blast of the Canadian trumpets,
had not circumstances at another part of
the battle-line called for the presence of

recovered. But with the coming of the
autumn rains the attack stuck fast. It
was highly desirable that the Germans
should be ejected from the higher ground
about Passchendaele before the arrival of
the winter; and for this purpose it was
decided to bring in fresher troops. The
troops selected were the Canadians; and
in October," therefore, the Corps was
moved north from Lens to its old fight-
ing-ground in the Ypres salient.

After some preliminary work in im-

A Canadian 60-pounder in action on a French road; also showing boxes of shells lieing unloaded
from ammunition lorries while the gun hurls its defiant messages into the German lines. (Canadian offi-
cial photograph.)

the Canadian Corps elsewhere.

In the autumn of 1917 the British had
begun a series of operations in the Ypres
salient designed to widen the salient and
to wrest from the Germans the command
of the high ground from which they had
for three years made life in the British
trenches in that sector a perpetual night-
mare. The attack was at first most suc-
cessful, and the ground lost by the British
in the second battle of Ypres was fully

proving the advanced communications, in
which admirable service was rendered by
Canadian labour and pioneer battalions,
the Canadians attacked toward the
.Passchendaele Ridge in conjunction with
British troops on October 2(>. By night-
fall the Canadians were in possession of
practically all their objectives, and were
within striking distance of Passchendaele
itself. An attack on October .'JO carried
them to the outskirts of Passchendaele;

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

The late Lieut-Col. McCrae, author of "In Flan-
ders Fields," the war poem so widely quoted in
recent years.

and on November G they captured the vil-
lage, together with the high ground to the
north and north-west of it. A final as-
sault on November 10 placed in their
hands the last remaining spurs of the
ridge.

The fighting at Passchendaele was of
unexampled stubbornness. The German
defences were strengthened by numerous
concrete "pill-boxes", which were invul-
nerable except under the heaviest shell-
fire. In the attack on Bellevue Spur on
October 26, for instance, the troops ad-
vancing against these pill-boxes were at
times hip-deep in the liquid mud of the
battle-field; and so hot was the machine-
gun fire from the pill-boxes that it was
found necessary to order a temporary
retirement, and to reorganize the attack.

At every stage of the operations the Ger-
mans counter-attacked with the utmost
determination; and it was often only by
superhuman efforts that the Canadian ad-
vance parties were able to hold their
ground. The final result, however, was
that the Canadians accomplished the task
which they set out to accomplish. "For
the second time within the year," as Sir
Douglas Haig reported, "Canadian
troops achieved a record of uninterrupted
success."

After the capture of Passchendaele the
Canadian Corps returned to the Lens sec-
tor, where they spent the winter either in
rest or holding the line. No further at-
tempt was made at this juncture to cap-
ture Lens, for the collapse of Russia had
altered the general situation, and the ar-
rival of German reinforcements from the
Eastern front gave the Germans a hold
upon Lens which it would have been rash
to dispute. The Canadians, moreover,
had done their full share of fighting dur-
ing 1917, and after their strenuous efforts
at Passchendaele they required a period
for rest and recuperation.

The year 1917 was notable for a signifi-
cant change in the command of the Cana-
dian Corps. Up to and including the
battle of Vimy Ridge the command of
the Corps had been in the hands of an Im-
perial officer. In the summer of 1917,
however, Sir Julian Byng was promoted
to the command of the Third Army; and
the success of the Canadians was recog-
nized by the appointment as Corps Com-
mander of Major-Gen. (now Lieut. -Gen.
Sir) A. W. Currie, the commander of the
First Division. General Currie was an
officer who had risen from the ranks in
the Canadian militia, and he was in pri-
vate life a Vancouver business man inter-
ested in real estate and insurance; he
therefore fittingly typified the civilian
character of Canada's army. Under him
the Canadian Corps was to achieve its
crowning successes of the year 1918,

The Canadian Corps, 1918

CHAPTER IV

THE CORPS AS SHOCK TROOPS — IN REST — THE GREAT GERMAN
OFFENSIVE — CANADIAN RAILWAY TROOPS BEFORE AMIENS —

THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME THE CANADIAN CORPS

BREAKS A RECORD — IT RE-APPEARS BEFORE ARRAS — BREACHING
THE DROCOURT-QUEANT SWITCH — CAMBRAI — MONS ONCE
MORE — THE CANADIAN CORPS ON GERMAN SOIL.

By 1918 the Canadian Corps had come
to be regarded by the Higher Command
as shock troops. Specialization in war
had reached the point where some troops
were trained chiefly for holding the line,
and some troops chiefly for assault pur-
poses. The reputation which the Cana-
dians had achieved pointed them out as
pre-eminently suited for attack. With a
view, therefore, to giving them time for
specialized training and to giving them
that rest which is essential if the spirit of
troops is to be kept at the highest pitch,
various divisions of the Canadian Corps
were placed in rest for considerable pe-
riods of time during the first few months
of 1918.

This time was used by Sir Arthur Cur-
rie to perfect the Corps as an instrument
of offensive warfare. Xo pains were
spared to bring the Corps to a high degree
of efficiency in the handling of bayonets
and machine guns, in clearing trenches
and in cooperating with the tanks and
with the artillery. The results of this
period of training were fully revealed
later.

At the end of March, 1918, the storm
of the great German offensive broke
along the front occupied by the British
Fifth and Third Armies: and in a few
days the British were falling back over
the old Somme battlefield, and were fight-
ing a desperate action before the very
gates of Amiens itself. In stemming the
tide of the German advance, the Canadian

Cavalry Brigade, which was attached to
the British Third Army, played a gallant
part ; and in the miscellaneous force which
was thrown into the breach under General
Carey opposite Amiens was an Ontario
county battalion, which had been turned
into a railway unit. This battalion now
took full advantage of the opportunity to
exact their revenge for the long months
when they had been compelled to build
railways under German shell-fire, without
the chance of retorting in kind.

But the Canadian Corps took no part
in this fighting. Both the great German
drive toward Amiens, and the later drive
toward the Channel ports in the Armen-
tieres sector, left it untouched. The only
occasion on which the fighting came near
the Canadians was when the Germans at-
tacked opposite Arras, and were held up
by the Guards; and on this occasion the
.Canadians were only on the remote out-
skirts of the battle. Though doubtless
the facts belied the appearance of things,
it almost seemed as though the Germans
deliberately avoided attacking along the
front held by the Canadians.

Throughout the period of the German
offensive, however, the Canadian Corps
expected daily, indeed almost hourly, to
become engaged in the struggle. Under
such an expectation. Sir Arthur Currie
issued on March 27 a charge to his troops
which is worthy of being ranked With
Napoleon's famous manifesto to the army
of Italy, and which breathed in every line

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

the spirit that had come to actuate the mand you and I trust you to fight as you

Canadian Corps. This special order ran have ever fought, with all your strength,

in part as follows: with all your determination, with all your

"Looking hack with pride on the un- tranquil courage. On many a hard-

hroken record of your glorious achieve- fought field of hattle you have overcome

ments, asking you to realise that to-day this enemy. With God's help you shall

the fate of the' British Empire hangs in achieve victory once more."

the balance, 1 place my trust in the Cana- It was not until the latter part of the

dian Corps, knowing that where Cana-
dians are engaged there can be no giving
way.

"Under the orders of your devoted of-

summer, however, that the Canadian
Corps was called into action. Then, in-
deed, they showed that the Corps Com-
mander's confidence in them had not been

Canadian troops resting in a trench on the hard- won Wotan line of the Germans, which was captured
on the previous day after a desperate struggle that resulted in the rout of the enemy. (Canadian official
photograph. )

fleers in the coming battle yon will
advance or fall where yon stand facing
the enemy.

"To those who will fall I say, 'You will
not die, but step into immortality. Your
mothers will not lament your fate, but
will be proud to have borne such sons.
Your names will be revered for ever and
ever by your grateful country, and God
will take you unto Himself.'

"Canadians, in this fateful hour, I com-

misplaced. In the meantime the German
offensive had failed to obtain decisive
results. After striking initial successes
it had been held up in turn opposite
Amiens, opposite Calais, and along the
Marne, where a second battle of critical
importance for the future of the world
had been fought. Around Rheims a
fresh German offensive had been crushed
by the invincible troops of France before
it developed; and Marshal Foch, now the

THE CANADIAN CORPS. 1918

Generalissimo of all the allied forces on
the Western front, had chosen this
psychological moment to launch his long-
expected counter-offensive. French and
American troops, attacking from
Chateau-Thierry to Soissons, along the
west side of the salient created by the
German drive toward the Marne, had
smashed deeply into the new German de-
fences, and had forced the Germans to
evacuate a large part of the territory they
had overrun a few weeks before. The

launched on August 8 in the sector im-
mediately north of Montdidier. Fresh
from their months of training and rest,
the Canadians swept over the German de-
fences with irresistible dash. The results
obtained were brilliant. The number of
prisoners captured by the Canadians
actually exceeded the total number of
their casualties; a long list of villages fell
into their hands; and their advance on
August 8 reached at one point a distance
of eleven miles — perhaps a record on the

Canadians advancing into a wood, past an abandoned German field-gun, on the heels of the Huns'
retreat.

threat to Paris having been thus disposed
of, Foch now turned his attention to the
northern portion of the line; and before
the enemy had time to recover his breath,
Foch struck at him another body-blow
opposite Amiens.

In this fresh counter-offensive, which
was under the direction of Sir Douglas
Haig, the Canadians and the Australians
were given the post of honor as the spear-
head of the assault. The attack was

western front for an infantry advance
during the first day of an attack. The
later stages of the offensive were less re-
markable, owing to the rapid recovery
made by the Germans; but even so the
Canadians had penetrated the German
lines, before they were relieved, to an
average depth of fifteen miles. In the
whole operation the Canadian Corps cap-
tured over 12,000 prisoners, besides vast
numbers of guns of all kinds and huge

CANADA IX THE GREAT WAR

truth of this view. During the later
phase of the battle, when hidden and un-
expected German machine-gun fire was
making the Canadian advance slow and
difficult, a certain company of an infantry
battalion was resting overnight, prepara-
tory to an attack the following morning.
The officers were snatching a few hours
of well-earned sleep. A group of N. C.
O.'s and men, however, stayed awake to
discuss the problem of how best to rush a
hostile machine-gun post. Having agreed
upon what seemed to them the best pro-
cedure, they too turned in to sleep; and
the next morning they put their plan into
effect with brilliant success. As Sir
Frederick Maurice said, such troops were
unbeata de.

In the middle of August the Canadians
were withdrawn from the Somme sector,
and in a few days they reappeared unex-

Brig.-Gen. V. W. Odium decorated by H. M.
King with C. B.. C. M. G. and D. S. O.

quantities of war material. The effect of
the operation was to remove from Amiens
and the British lines of communication
the threat which had been imminent ever
since March, and to reduce the salient
created by the German offensive of the
early spring. Both in strategic results
and in spectacular effect the stroke was
the most considerable the Canadians had
yet delivered.

The credit for the Canadian success in
the second battle of the Somme was due
not only to the thoroughness of the staff
work, or to the leadership of the regi-
mental officers, but in a very special sense
to the individual initiative of the private
soldier. Major-Gen. Sir F. Maurice, the
military correspondent of the Daily
Chronicle, who was in France at this time,
told, in his impressions of the battle, an
anecdote which admirably illustrates the

Brig.-Gen. G. E. McQuaig

THE CANADIAN CORPS, 1918

pectedly in a new offensive opposite Ar-
ras. The feat of transferring a whole
army corps from one sector to another far
removed, in the course of little over a
week, and amid the confusion of an ac-
tive battle-front, was one that reflected
the utmost credit on the Canadian trans-
port arrangements. Certainly the Ger-
man intelligence staff must have been
surprised when, on August 26, Canadian
troops attacked to the south of their old
battle-ground at Vimy Ridge, and en-
tered the much-fought-over ruins of
Monchy.

At Monchy the main Hindenburg line
was breached. The Germans, however,
placed their reliance not in the battered
defences of this line, but in a reserve sys-
tem known by them as the Wotan line,
and by the British as the Drocourt-
Queant switch. The Drocourt-Queant
switch was the last word in military en-
gineering. Perfected by the Germans
during the course of eighteen months, it

was a vast system of fortresses, connected
by a series of trench lines behind deep
belts of thick wire, and by tunnels of the
size and depth of the London "tubes".
The Germans had reinforced their de-
fences here to such an extent that on a
front of 8,000 yards no fewer than eleven
divisions were identified. Undeterred,
however, by the strength of this defensive
organization, the Canadians advanced
from Monchy astride the Arras-Cambrai
road, and admirably assisted by English
troops on their right and left, stormed the
German positions on a front of six miles.
As Sir Douglas Haig reported, they "car-
ried all before them". They captured no
less than ten thousand prisoners, together
with numerous guns, machine-guns, and
war material of all sorts; and before the
day was over they were advancing in the
open country beyond the German battle-
zone.

The breaching of the Drocourt-Queant
line must have been a bitter blow for the

A Boche concrete gunpk used by the Canadians. Many of these strongholds were constructed so
massively that the enemy could not destroy them even when they retired.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

German High Command. Not only did
it lay bare the northern portion of their
line, but it served notice on them that
their most carefully prepared defences
were not proof against the skill and
valour of the troops of the British Em-
pire. It opened up before them a vista
of endless retirements, and quenched their
hopes of being able to maintain a stone-
wall defence.

Events now began to move more swift-
ly. In spite of a stubborn rear-guard

shoulder to shoulder, were not to be gain-
said; and in the darkness of the early
morning of October 9, the Canadian ad-
vance troops entered Cambrai and Le
Cateau, the first British troops to occupy
these towns since the "Old Contempti-
bles" had left them behind in 1914 in the
retreat from Mons.

After the fall of Cambrai the Cana-
dians were moved north toward Douai,
and commenced an advance in the direc-
tion of Valenciennes. After a number of

General Sir Arthur Currie, commanding the Canadian Corps, entering Mons on the morning the armis-
tice was signed. The town had been occupied by tne Germans for four years. The general is in tne
left foreground, returning the salutes of the overjoyed populace. (Canadian official photograph, from
Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.)

defence by the Germans, the Canadians
advanced steadily on Cambrai. On one
or two occasions, as when a smoke bar-
rage under which the Canadians were
attacking was blown back by a changing
wind, they suffered heavy casualties; and
as they approached Cambrai, the fighting
reached a pitch of unprecedented ferocity.
The enemy fought indeed with the cour-
age of despair. But the Canadians, as
well as the British with whom they fought

preliminary successes, they captured on
October 20 the large mining town of De-
nain; and on November 1 the Fourth
Division, in conjunction with British
troops, stormed Valenciennes. In com-
memoration of this event, the grateful
people of Valenciennes, with Gallic po-
liteness, have renamed their Place
d' Amies Place du Canada. From Valen-
ciennes onward the march of the Cana-
dian Corps was a triumphal progress. In

THE CANADIAN CORPS, 1918

Lt.-Col. (now Brig. Gen.) W. A. Griesbach (on
right), who commanded the 49th Battalion (Ed-
monton).

nine days the Corps advanced fully thirty
miles. On November 7 the Belgian bor-
der was crossed; and at 4 o'clock in the
morning of November 11, just before the
armistice which ended the Great War
came into effect, the Princess Pats, the
42nd Battalion, and a few men of the
Royal Canadian Regiment entered the
city of Mons. The wheel had come full
circle. British troops were back in the
position they had left nearly four and a
half years before; and the world had
been given a wonderful demonstration of
the ability of the Anglo-Saxon race to
"come back".

The capture of Mons was not without
its dramatic features. The last troops to
leave Mons on August 23, 1914, had been
the 42nd Highlanders, the famous Black
Watch; the first troops to enter Mons on
November 11, 1918, were the 42nd Royal
Highlanders of Canada, who were affil-

iated, through the parent regiment, the
5th Roval Highlanders of Montreal, with
the Black Watch. The bodyguard of Sir
Arthur Currie, when he made a triumphal
entry into Mons on the afternoon of No-
vember 11, was a section of the 5th
Lancers, troopers of the old army who
all wore the Mons ribbon. To the city
of Mons Sir Arthur Currie presented a
Canadian flag tied to a lance; and this
flag now reposes in a conspicuous place in
the council chamber of the City Hall.

In June, 1918, Sir Arthur Currie had
made the statement that "the spirit of
the Canadian soldiers is such that there
is no position they are asked to take which
they will not take". The remark may
have appeared to some to smack of brag-
gadocio; but the event has shown it to be
a sober statement of fact. The record of
the Canadian Corps between August 8

Gunners of a Canadian 9.2 Howitzer having
midday meal.

their

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

and November 11, 1918, was one of un-
broken and spectacular success. During
this time they engaged and defeated no
less than fifty-seven German divisions;
they captured a grand total of nearly 35,-
000 prisoners, with 750 guns of all
calibres, 3,500 machine-guns, and other
war material too vast to reckon; they ad-
vanced in depth over 100 miles, captured
over 150 cities, towns, and villages, and
released over 300,000 French and Belgian
civilians from the domination of the Hun.
And in doing this they did not have to
admit a single failure.

The Canadian people may well be
proud of the achievements of their citizen
army. In the Great War the Canadian
Corps proved itself to be the equal of the
best troops of the British or French
armies. To say more than this would be

to state the impossible. Many a British
and French unit had a record no less bril-
liant and glorious than that of the Cana-
dians; and if little stress has been laid
here on this fact, it is merely because the
object of this sketch has been to follow
the adventures of the Canadians alone.

With the signing of the armistice, the
fighting was over. The terms of the
armistice called, however, for the occupa-
tion by the allies of the left bank of the
Rhine, as well as very large bridge-heads
on the right bank; and the Canadian
Corps was chosen as part of the army of
occupation. From Mons it advanced
through Belgium, and into Germany.
Corps headquarters was established at the
German University centre of Bonn; and
the end of the year 1918 found the Cana-
dians keeping their watch on the Rhine.

Canadian officers inspecting a depot_ of hundreds of machine guns and rapid-firers captured from the
enemy in the final engagements of the war.

The Canadian Cavalry

( IIAl'TER V

THE WORK OF THE CANADIAN CAVALRY THE CANADIAN

MOUNTED RIFLES — THE ROYAL CANADIAN DRAGOONS AND THE

STRATHCONA HORSE CAVALRYMEN IN THE TRENCHES THE

MOUNTED RIFLES TURNED INTO INFANTRY — THE CANADIAN

CAVALRY BRIGADE — STANDING BY^ THE DASH AT CAMBRA1 —

BEFORE AMIENS THE GREAT OFFENSIVE CANADIAN TROOP-
ERS RIDE INTO GERMANY.

Little has been known in Canada about
the work of the Canadian Cavalry. This
has been largely due to the fact that the
cavalry have been a comparatively small
body of troops, only occasionally called
into action; and their achievements have
been overshadowed by those of the Cana-
dian Corps. The fact, too, that, except
at one or two short periods, the cavalry
have acted separately from the Corps —
they have belonged indeed to a separate
British Army — has tempted people to for-
get about them. Yet the story of the
Canadian cavalry contains passages as
thrilling as any chapter of the war; and
the Canadian Cavalry Brigade has con-
tributed no less than the Canadian Corps,
to make the name of Canada respected on
the battlefield.

When the war broke out, it was ex-
pected that cavalry would play an im-
portant part in the struggle. It was not
foreseen that the evolution of trench war-
fare, the reign of the machine gun. and
the development of aircraft would seri-
ously diminish the sphere of usefulness of
mounted troops. Canadian mounted
troops had played a distinguished part in
the South African War; and at an early
date the Canadian government made ar-
rangements to send similar troops to
France. The usual quota of cavalry went
with the First Contingent; and in the
Second Contingent there were included a
number of regiments of Canadian
Mounted Rifles — a cross between cavalry

and infantry. During 1915, too, the
Royal Canadian Dragoons and the
Strathcona Horse, two cavalry regiments
belonging to Canada's permanent force,
were sent overseas. These troops were
all horsemen born and bred, such as Can-
ada was well able to supply. On arrival
in France, all these units were placed, to-
gether with the Royal Canadian Horse
Artillery and some British cavalry regi-
ments, under the command of Brig.-Gen.
Seely, once the Minister of War in the
Asquith government; and they formed an
independent cavalry force, ready to be
used when the opportunity should arise.

By 1915 the struggle on the Western
front had settled down to stationary war-
fare; and the opportunity to use cavalry
on the battlefield did not come until two
or three years later, with the gradual
return of a more open style of fighting.
In the meantime, so great was the need
for men on the British front, owing to
the fact that the new British armies were
not yet ready to be placed in the field,
that it was found necessary to employ
General Seely's force in the trenches.
During many months of 191.5 the Cana-
dian troopers did duty as dismounted
troops in the front line. The arrangement
was naturally not an ideal one. The cav-
alrymen, with their carbines and riding-
breeches, were ill-equipped for trench
warfare; and their training had not been
along the lines required for infantry
work. Nevertheless, they gave from the

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

first a good account of themselves. At
P^estubert, where the Royal Canadian
Dragoons and Strathcona's Horse were
first engaged, Canadian cavalrymen did
deeds of prowess no less remarkable than
those already wrought by the Canadian
infantry. If no Victoria Crosses were
won, it was not because no one deserved
the honour. An incident illustrative of
many similar deeds that are unrecorded,
was the performance of Corporal Pym
of the Royal Canadian Dragoons. Ilea in-

trenches, speak volumes for their dash
and gallantry.

As the year 191o wore on, it became
apparent that there was in the immediate
future little likelihood of an opportunity
arising for the use of such a cavalry force
as had been gathered under General
Seely's command. The Canadian author-
ities, moreover, were at this time en-
deavouring to collect a third division. It
was therefore decided to break up Gen-
eral Seely's command, and to convert the

1 ... / ' t" t ,11 1^

r^|!^^p|r

i <;■<''• ■ ' sfr n - .

Canadian soldier examining the rifle and kit of a German killed by Canadian cavalry a few minutes be-
fore, while projecting the rear of the German retreat. (Canadian official photgraph.)

ing cries for help from No Man's Land,
which was at this place only sixty yards
wide, Corporal Pym went out twice, in
broad daylight, and under a withering
machine-gun and rifle fire, and brought in
a severely wounded man who had been
lying in the open for three days. Ser-
geant Hollowed of the R. C. D.'s, who
went to his assistance, was shot down at
his side. Deeds such as this, performed
by troops during their first tour in the

six regiments of Canadian Mounted
Rifles which had formed part of his force
into four battalions of infantry. These
four battalions, which were known as the
1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Canadian Mounted
Rifles, formed the Eighth Rrigade of the
Third Division; and as such they played
a distinguished part in the history of the
Canadian Corps. Rut their reinforce-
ments were drawn mainly from infantry
depots, and they soon lost the character of

THE CANADIAN CAVALRY

mounted rifles in everything but name.

The fate of the Canadian Mounted
Rifles, however, did not overtake the
Royal Canadian Dragoons and Strath-
cona's Horse. These units remained cav-
alry regiments; and when the Fort Garry
Horse arrived in Franee in February,
1916, tlie three units were formed into
the Canadian Cavalry Rrigade — a force
quite distinct from the Canadian Corps,
and found only on rare occasions acting
in conjunction with it.

The year 1910 was a period of com-
parative inaction for the Canadian Cav-
alry Rrigade. The bitter trench battles
of this year gave no scope for cavalry
operations: and there seemed to be grave
danger that the once proud squadrons of
the Canadian cavalry would degenerate
into works companies. Many cavalry of-
ficers, despairing of seeing service again
in the front line, transferred to the in-
fantry or the artillery. Rut toward the
end of the year the hopes of the cavalry
brightened. During the long and bitter
struggle on the Somme in the autumn of
1916 there seemed on several occasions
to be a prospect that, if things went well,
the cavalry might get orders to ride for-
ward. During several attacks the horses
were kept bitted and bridled, ready to
advance at a moment's notice. The move
orders never came; but there was always
the chance that there might be better luck
next time. And it became clear, as the
year closed, that the Higher Command
was looking forward in the near future to
a much greater need for mounted troops.
Transfers from the cavalry to other
branches of the service were stopped ; and
the Canadian Cavalry Depot at Shorn-
cliffe, in England, was enlarged into a
Canadian Cavalry Reserve Rrigade, in
which each of the regiments at the front
had a reserve regiment to supply it witli
reinforcements.

In the great French offensive in Cham-
pagne in the spring of 1917 cavalry was
used, though only with indifferent suc-
cess; but it was not until very near the
end of the vear that the Canadian Cav-

General Watson.

airy Rrigade had the chance for which
they hail been waiting so long and so pa-
tiently. On Xovember 20, 1917, Sir
Julian Ryng, now in command of the
Third Army, launched in the direction of
Cambrai a surprise attack which prom-
ised at first to be one of the most suc-
cessful and brilliant operations on the
Western front. The troops which he had
at his command were limited in number,
owing to the demands recently made on
the Rritish for reinforcements for the
Italian front; but he planned to make up
for this deficiency by the use of a large
force of tanks, and he had in reserve a
powerful body of Rritish and French
cavalry with which to drive the attack
home. The honour of constituting the
spear-head of this cavalry mass went to
the Canadian Cavalry Rrigade. The at-
tack of the infantry and the tanks proved
brilliantly successful. The Germans,

CANADA IX THE GREAT WAR

taken by surprise, were completely over-
whelmed; and the road to Cambrai was
laid open. At this juncture the cavalry
advanced, the Canadians leading. All
seemed propitious. The spires of Cam-
brai could be seen gleaming ahead, and
nothing appeared to intervene. Then
occurred one of those mischances so com-
mon in war. An important bridge over
the Canal du Nord was found to have
been broken down by a British tank which
had attempted to cross it. A report to
this effect was sent back to cavalry head-
quarters; and in consequence orders came
forward countermanding the whole ad-
vance.

But before these orders reached the
Canadians, a squadron of the Fort Garry
Horse had crossed the canal in single file,

Brig-Gen. F. O. W Loomis, C. M. G., D. C O.

and had dashed forward into the enemy
country. The adventures of this squad-
ron of the Fort Garrys read like a
chapter from a boy's book of wonders.
They charged a battery of German guns,
and cut down all the gunners; they scat-
tered some stray German infantry de-
tachments like sheep; and they swept
almost to the gates of Cambrai itself.
There they discarded their horses, and
fought their way back on foot to the Brit-
ish lines a good two miles away. Of the
whole squadron only forty-three returned,
and the officer who led them back was
awarded the Victoria Cross. The charge
of the Fort Garrys at Cambrai left no
doubt in the minds of those who read
about it as to what the Canadian Cavalry
could do, if once they got half a chance.

There were those among the officers of
the Canadian Cavalry Brigade who held
that if the cavalry advance had not been
countermanded, they would have swept
all before them, and brought about the
fall of Cambrai and perhaps even more
far-reaching results. It was natural that
the brigade should have felt aggrieved at
being cheated of what seemed to be their
one great opportunity of the war. But
the success with which the Germans re-
acted a few days later against the new
British line, retrieving a large part of the
ground they had lost, suggests that pos-
sibly the Higher Command was in re-
ceipt of other and more important infor-
mation than that of the breaking down of
a bridge when they decided to hold up the
cavalry attack.

In any case, the brigade did not have
many months to wait before they saw ac-
tion again — the action beside which the
fighting at Cambrai was child's play.
The great German offensive of March,

THE CANADIAN CAVALRY

:;:;

1918, broke on the British Third and
Fifth Armies. The Canadian Cavalry
Brigade was part of the Third Army. It
did not indeed have to bear the brunt of
the initial attack, for that fell on the in-
fantry. But as the wave of the German
advance neared Amiens, it became neces-
sary to throw into the line every available
unit; and the Canadian cavalry was
thrown in with the rest. Fighting now
as mounted troops, now as dismounted,
counter-attacking in the face of machine-
gun fire at one time, fighting a stubborn
rearguard action at another, they played
their part in stemming the tide of the
German rush. Their casualties alone tes-
tified to the character of their work:
these were comparable only with the
losses of the First Division at the Second
Battle of Ypres.

In the later stages of the fighting in
1918 the Canadian Cavalry Brigade
played a somewhat subsidiary part.
During the British advance they were al-
ways booted and spurred, ready to dash
in when the opportunity offered; but the
stubborn character of the fighting did not
favour the intervention of mounted

Men of the Newfoundland Regiment who saved
Monchy at a critical moment.

Sketch of Brig. -Gen. G. S. Tuxford. who com-
manded the 3rd Brigade.

troops. On the rare occasions when they
did appear in the forward area, they were
soon withdrawn.

But after the signing of the armistice
between Germany and the Allies on Nov-
ember 11, the cavalry came once more to
the fore. In the occupation of Belgium
and the Rhine valley, the cavalry screen
led the way. Canadian troopers, together
with British troopers, rode into the vil-
lages of Belgium as the German Uhlans
had ridden into them over four years be-
fore, but on a different mission and in a
different mood. And before the year was
out, the inhabitants of sleepy German
villages in the Rhineland, peeping out
through their windows, saw Canadian
cavalry patrols riding through the village
street. It is a far cry from the Red River
to the Rhine; but many a lad who kit the
banks of the one in 1914 reached (lie
banks of the other in 1918.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

The Work of the Auxiliary Services

CHAPTER VI

THE CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS ITS ORGANIZATION AND

WORK A CANADIAN HOSPITAL* AT SALONIKA THE DENTAL

CORPS — THE RAILWAY TROOPS — THE FORESTRY CORPS — THE
SALVAGE CORPS — THE Y. M. C. A. — THE KHAKI UNIVERSITY —
THE AVAR RECORDS.

In every army there are a host of auxil-
iary services which contribute, in a great
variety of ways, to the upkeep and wel-
fare of the fighting troops. It has been
estimated that, in modern warfare, four
men are required behind the hues to keep
one man in the firing line. Xo account of
Canada's military effort, therefore, would
be complete which ignored the work of
these auxiliary troops, without which, in-
deed, the achievements of the fighting
men would have been impossible.

Foremost among these subsidiary serv-
ices is the Medical Corps. The work of
the Medical Corps pervades the whole of
army life. It meets the soldier on enlist-
ment; it meets him again on discharge;
and it watches over him during the inter-
val. Its work is not only with the sick
and the wounded; it lies even more with
the well and strong. Sanitation, vaccina-
tion and inoculation, quarantine — such
preventive measures as these fall within
its scope just as much as war surgery and
the sick parade.

Its detachments are to be found all the
way from the front line back to Canada.
At the front, with the infantry battalion
or the artillery brigade, there is the medi-
cal officer, with his orderlies and stretcher-
bearers. Just behind the line is the
dressing-station and the field ambulance.
At railhead there is generally found a
casualty clearing station, where prelimi-
nary operations are as a rule performed.
Behind that, on the coast of France or in
England, are the great base hospitals and

general hospitals, where the patient re-
ceives final treatment. In England, the
Canadian Army Medical Corps has also
some excellent special hospitals, such as
the Westcliffe Eye, Ear, Xose and
'Throat Hospital, the only military hos-
pital of its kind in England. Finally, in
Canada there are hospitals equipped for
dealing with the soldier who is perma-
nently unfit for active service, but who
must be made fit, so far as is possible, to
resume civilian life.

The Canadian Army Medical Corps
did not, however, minister to Canadians
alone. Many Imperial soldiers were
looked after in Canadian hospitals; and a
number of Canadian medical units,
notably casualty clearing stations, were
situated in areas where Canadian troops
were rarely found. One Canadian gen-
eral hospital, that furnished by the Uni-
versity of Toronto, was for two years at
Salonika, on the shores of the Aegean
Sea.

The story of the work of the Canadian
Army Medical Corps is marked by inci-
dents of heroism and devotion to duty no
less splendid than those which have
marked the work of any other branch of
the service. One of the first Victoria
Crosses won by a Canadian in the war
was won by Captain Scrimger, the medi-
cal officer of the 14th Battalion at the
Second Battle of Ypres. The work done
by the doctors at the advanced dressing
stations, often under the heaviest shell-
fire, and by the surgeons at the casualty
clearing stations, where operations had to

CANADA IX THE GREAT WAR

be performed often under a joint bom-
bardment from the land and the air, was
work for which no tribute could be too
great. And as for the heroism of the
nursing sisters, no words are adequate to
describe it. Under air-raids by brutal
German flying men by night and by day
they went about their duties in the wards
with a tranquil courage which put to
shame the trepidation of many a hard-
ened soldier. In an air-raid on a Cana-

Beside the Canadian Army Medical
Corps, there was another branch of the
army which presided over the health of
the soldiers — the Canadian Dental Corps.
When the war broke out, little provision
was made for the care of the teeth of the
Canadian soldier; but as hostilities
dragged on, it became apparent that, if
the Canadian forces were to be kept in a
state of efficiency, the teeth of the army
must be better attended to. A large num-

Canadian and Imperial troops helping themselves to free coffee supplied by the Canadian Y. M. C. A.
at a roadside stand made of biscuit boxes. The Helpful work of the "Y" was highly appreciated by the
troops in France and Flanders. (Canadian official photograph.)

dian general hospital at Etaples in the
spring of 1918, some of the nursing sis-
ters made the supreme sacrifice, and
others were maimed for life. Nor did the
dastardly German torpedo spare Cana-
dian nurses on the high seas. In the sink-
ing of the Canadian hospital ship Han-
dover 7/ Castle in the summer of 1!)18. a
number of these devoted women went
down to a watery, but glorious, grave.

her of dental officers was therefore re-
cruited; and before long each infantry
and cavalry brigade, each large medical
unit, and numerous other formations, had
a dental laboratory, with a full working
equipment. The number of patients who
passed through these laboratories or
clinics, literally hundreds at a time, amply
demonstrated the need which the Cana-
dian Dental Corps filled.

THE WORK OF THE AUXILIARY SERVICES

An interesting auxiliary service of the
Canadian army during the later stages of
the war was the Canadian Railway
Troops. [Modern warfare has become to
a remarkable degree a matter of railway
strategy. The superiority of the German
railway communications forced on the
British authorities at an early date the
necessity of improving the railway situa-
tion in the north of France, which was
quite inadequate to cope with the prob-
lem of supplying and moving the vast
masses of troops concentrated in that nar-
row triangle of territory. In addition to
this there was need of trained technical
troops to build the light railways which
were found to be the best means of carry-
ing supplies up to the front line. The
assistance of the Canadian government
was requested by the British in meeting
this problem; and as a result the Cana-
dian Railway Troops came into existence.
Xot only were a number of infantry bat-
talions turned into railway construction
units, but railway men were recruited In
Canada specifically for railway operation.
and rolling stock and rails were sent over-
seas as well. Nearly 500 miles of Cana-
dian rails were torn up and shipped direct
to France; and it was not an uncommon
occurrence for Canadian soldiers coming
back to railhead to go on leave to meet a
C. P. R. locomotive, manned by a C. P.
R. crew. The work of the railway troops,
both those who built and those who oper-
ated the roads, was at times extremely
hazardous. Especially during an ad-
vance, when they had to push the rail-
ways on after the troops as quickly as
possible, they came often under the sever-
est shell-fire, without any means of retal-
iating on the enemy. So successful was
their work that they were in demand in
other theatres of war besides the Western
front; and Canadian railway troops ac-
tually played a part in the advance of
the British in Palestine, and in the cap-
ture of the Holy Places at Jerusalem.

Another novel Canadian service which
played a crucial part in the war was the

Canadian Forestry Corps. Before 1914-
few people thought of lumbering as an
essential feature of modern warfare; but
the dawn of trench fighting soon brought
home to the authorities the necessity of
an extensive forestry program. Lumber
was needed for the construction of dug-
outs, for the making of the trench-mats
without which life in the trenches became
a slough of despond, and for the manu-
facture of railway ties. In addition, it
was required for the building of the multi-
tude of huts that sprang up behind the
lines and in the reserve camps — hospitals,
aerodromes, Y. M. C. A. canteens, offices,
store-rooms, rest-huts, bath-houses. The
problem of coping with this unprece-
dented demand for lumber was indeed a
serious one. War conditions had cut off
a large part of even the normal lumber
supply of France and Great Britain; and
it became necessary to make inroads on
the wonderful timber resources of the an-
cient parks and forests of these countries.
It was known that there were in the
Canadian army thousands of lumbermen;
and Canada was asked to furnish troops
to carry out lumbering and milling oper-
ations. A number of later battalions,
recruited almost wholly in lumbering dis-
tricts, were selected, and these were
formed into the Canadian Forestry
Corps. Detachments of the corps com-
menced operations in the south of France,
in England, and in the north of Scotland.
One detachment set to work in the royal
park of Windsor: and age-old trees, be-
neath which the kings and queens of Eng-
land had walked or hunted, resounded
under the axes of Canadian lumberjacks.
The work of the Forestry Corps did not
perhaps lend itself to deeds of daring and
renown: but there is no doubt thai the
steady stroke of its axes and the hum-
drum buzz of its saw-mills contributed In
real measure to the winning of the war.

Another interesting unit was the Sal-
vage Corps. This too was a development
of the later stages of the war. In the ear-
lier stages little attention was paid to the
conservation of materials. Every battle-

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

field was a litter of discarded rifles, equip-
ment, gun-carriages, and what not. As
materials ran short, however, the Salvage
Corps was formed. Its personnel was
composed entirely of men who were unfit
to carry on in the front line; hut with a
thoroughness which was an example to
the fighting troops the Corps ranged over
the whole battlefront, collecting every
scrap of material which could be in any
way turned to use. Their dumps would
have been the envy of the rags-bones-and-
bottles men of civilian life; and the
amount of money they saved the people
of Canada can only be reckoned in terms
of millions of dollars.

A branch of the army which should not
be forgotten is the military department
of the Canadian Y. M. C. A. In the
British and American armies, the Y. M.
C. A. is merely a civilian adjunct to the
military forces; but with the Canadians
the Y. M. C. A. is part of the armv itself.
The Y. M. C. A. officers hold honorary
commissions, and are under army disci-
pline? consequently the cooperation be-
tween the Y. M. C. A. and the combat-
ant forces is closer than would perhaps
otherwise be the case. For the work of
the Canadian Y. M. C. A. in the war no
praise can be too high. Its huts were to
be found in every training camp, in every
base camp, and in every forward area
where Canadian troops were quartered;
and these huts, with their warm fires,
their tables and writing materials, their
papers and magazines, their canteens and
their indoor games, were often the one
bright spot in the life of the men. In
every advance the Y. M. C. A. officers
were well forward, handing out hot cof-
fee and milk chocolate to the walking
wounded; and not infrequently they were
found in the front line on their errands
of kindliness. When the men were in rest
in the back areas, they were indefatigable
in organizing games of sport for them —
games which proved so beneficial in their
results that the idea was taken up by the
General Staff, and became part of the
recognized system of training in the

Canadian army. Concert parties, com-
posed often of famous artists, were
brought out to the front; and Canadian
soldiers just out of the line were often
able to enjoy entertainments in the Y.
M. C. A. huts no worse, and sometimes
better, than they could have seen in the
music-halls of London. And wherever
they were, the Y. M. C. A. officers ad-
mirably seconded the work of the Chap-
lains' Service in looking after the spiritual
welfare of the men. Taken all in all,
there were few branches of the army that
stood the test of the Great War better
than the Canadian Y. M. C. A.

Connected with the Y. M. C. A., and
yet distinct from it, was the Khaki Uni-
versity of Canada — or, to give it its full
official designation, the Educational Serv-
ice of the Overseas Military Forces of
Canada, The Canadians were pioneers
in several different lines during the war,
but in nothing more pronouncedly than
in their attempt, during the actual prog-
ress of hostilities, to give to the citizen
soldier a training, if he desired it, in the
arts and sciences of peace. The Khaki
University came into existence in the
camp where the ill-fated Fifth Canadian
Division was waiting for orders to go to
France — orders which never came. The
idea became immediately popular; and
soon teaching centres had been established
in practically all the Canadian centres in
England, and the "University of Vimy
Ridge" had been organized in France.
In the Khaki University everything was
taught for which a class and a teacher
could be found, from Greek prose to com-
mercial arithmetic. In France the diffi-
culties to be overcome were great. The
task of teaching, let us say, the Spanish
verb to a class of weary soldiers in a leaky
tent within sound of the German guns,
was one to try the patience of a more pa-
tient man than Job. But the Khaki
University filled a much-felt need. Es-
pecially when demobilization began, it
offered to the Canadian soldier a chance
to refit himself for picking up again the
threads of civilian life on his return to
Canada.

THE WORK OF THE AUXILIARY SERVICES

:$!>

Last of all, a word should he said about
the work of the Canadian War Records
Office. This office sprang out of the ap-
pointment of Sir Max Aitken (now Lord
Reaverbrook) as the Canadian official
eye-witness at the front. It was organ-
ized by him for the purpose of collecting
and preserving all possible information
regarding the part played by Canada's
troops in the Great War. Officers were

Canada has to-day a collection of origi-
nal materials relating to the part played
by her troops in the war that is not infe-
rior to that of any other country on either
side. The first-fruits of this collection
are to be seen in the first three volumes of
the official record known as Canada in
Flanders — a record that is unique at least
in this, that no other country but Canada
has attempted, while the fighting was still

Wounded Canadians being carried to the rear by German prisoners taken in the pursuit of the re-
treating Boche army in the fall of 1918. (Canadian official photograph.)

sent to the front to take down from the
lips of survivors the story of every en-
gagement in which Canadian troops took
part; war diaries, operation orders, aero-
plane photographs, trench maps, were
collected; and artists of international
fame were sent out to make sketches and
paintings. Movie films were even taken
of the troops in action. The result is that

in progress, to issue an authorized narra-
tive of the battles in which its troops have
been engaged. The importance of prop-
aganda in the war is something which can
hardly be overestimated; and there was
no form of propaganda which could have
been more effective than the plain un-
varnished story of what Canada's soldiers
did and suffered.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

The Storv of The Reinforcements

CHAPTER VII

the first, second, and third contingents later units —

the county battalions fancy formations the situa-
tion in quebec the volunteer system fails the fifth

division — the military service act — the draftees —
Canada's ach ievemen t.

When the fighting ended on the West-
ern front in November, 1918, the Cana-
dian Corps was practically the only large
formation in the British army which was
still at full strength. The Canadian cas-
ualties had not been less than those of
most other troops; but the supply of rein-
forcements had been constantly kept up.
What this had meant to the Corps, in
maintaining its morale and efficiency, may
well be imagined. The encouragement of
full ranks no doubt had much to do with
the success which attended the Corps in
all that it undertook; and from this point
of view alone, the story of how Canada
kept up her reinforcements is worth while
telling.

When the First Contingent was called
for, the difficulty was not to get recruits,
but to wged out those that offered. Thou-
sands were rejected all over Canada for
slight physical defects; and in the end
there sailed from Canada, not 20,000, the
number originally aimed at, but 33,000.
Nor was there any difficulty in filling the
ranks of the Second and Third Contin-
gents. Many of the units in these con-
tingents were recruited in a day. It
seemed as though Canada's military re-
sources were inexhaustible.

But by the middle of 1915, however, en-
listments had begun to thin out. The
units that were authorized immediately
after what was known as the Third Con-
tingent was raised, all reached full
strength; but in some cases recruiting to
full strength was a struggle. Battalions
were no longer raised in a day, nor yet in

a week. To get recruits it became neces
sary to appeal for them, in the press, on
the platform, and in the street. A re-
cruiting campaign, i* was found, cost
money; and it became necessary too for
battalions to solicit financial support from
the public.

It was at this juncture that the demand
was first heard for compulsory military
service, or conscription. Among the re-
cruits who were coining forward were
many married men with families, who
were certain to cost the country heavily
in separation allowances, patriotic fund
grants, and pensions: whereas many un-
married men were holding back from en-
listing. If only from the standpoint of
finance, it was contended that a system of
recruiting which gave rise to such a con-
dition of affairs was wrong; and it was
urged that the state itself should say who
should go. In the opinion of the govern-
ment, however, the country was not ripe
for conscription: and the Militia Depart-
ment continued to try to secure recruits
by means of the voluntary system.

With a view to galvanizing the volun-
tary system into renewed life, the Militia
Department hit upon the device of trying
to raise county battalions by appealing to
the local patriotism of the countryside.
County and municipal councils made
grants For the purpose of aiding recruit-
ing; and recruiting officers scoured the
country in every direction. The results
obtained were hardly commensurate with
the efforts put forth. Many battalions
found that the cost of recruiting a single

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

soldier ranged anywhere from $10 to $.50.
So great was the anxiety of commanding
officers to fill up their battalions that
many men were enlisted who were totally
unfit for active service, and who had to be
discharged later, after having cost the
government large sums of money for their
upkeep and training. And in the end the
great majority of these county battalions
went overseas far below strength. The
process of their recruitment was one of

was raised, a bantams' battalion, and a
pals' battalion. Certain units made a
specialty of recruiting companies of bank
clerks, of North American Indians, or of
Russians. Every inducement was held
out to get men to enlist together. The
idea underlying the formation of all these
units Mas that men of the same type
would be able to go to the front together
— an idea which the authorities must have
known was impossible of fulfilment.

Canadians using a British tank for transport purposes. The tanks fully proved their value as ad-
juncts to infantry soon after their first appearance on the Somme in 1916, where they spread terror
among the Germans. (Canadian official photograph.)

the most expensive and extra vagal it
which could well be imagined.

At the same time other expedients were
resorted to. Highland battalions were
raised in Scottish districts, Irish-Cana-
dian battalions in Irish districts. Uni-
versity battalions were authorized in uni-
versity centres; and an attempt was even
made to recruit a battalion of High
School boys. A sportsmen's battalion

With rare exceptions, these units were
later broken up on arrival in England,
and the men composing them scattered
as reinforcements.

The recruiting problem among the
French Canadians of the province of
Quebec was especially difficult. A sec-
tion of the French-Canadian people, led
by the Nationalist leaders, Bourassa and
Lavergne, were definitely opposed to the

THE STORY OF THE REINFORCEMENTS

participation of Canada in the war; and
in spite of the efforts of the more patri-
otic among the French Canadians, such
as Captain Talbot Papineau, the grand-
son of the rebel of 1837, who had been
one of the original officers of the Princess
Pats, and who later died on the battle-
field, the number of French-Canadian re-
cruits that offered was small indeed. Out
of five French-Canadian units authorized
at this time only two partially filled bat-
talions were obtained. It was perhaps
unnatural to expect from the province
of Quebec the same number of recruits
as from Ontario or from the West, since
the French Canadians had never been
educated up to their Imperial responsibil
ities, and the custom of early marriages
and large families among them had re-
duced the number of eligible young men;
but even when allowance was made for
these facts, the response from the prov-
ince of Quebec was disappointing.

By the beginning of 1917 enlistments
in Canada had fallen off until they were
far exceeded by the casualties at the front.
It became clear that Canada's military
effort was waning rather than waxing.
In 1910 Great Britain had been forced
to discard the voluntary system of recruit-
ing for a system of conscription or com-
pulsion; and the United States, upon its
entrance into the war in the early part of
1917, had immediately adopted the prin-
ciple of a selective draft. Xew Zealand
had reverted to compulsion; and, al-
though Australia had rejected conscrip-
tion, it had placed in the field five divi-
sions as against Canada's four divisions,
despite the fact that its population was
less than that of Canada. Under these
circumstances, the demand in Canada for
a system of compulsory military service
increased in strength and insistence; and
during 1917 Sir Robert Borden and the
leading members of his Cabinet gradually
came to the conclusion that the voluntary
system had failed, and that the principle
of compulsion would have to be adopted.

A striking commentary on the failure
of the voluntary system was afforded by

1 , V:. V

mr3h<"'^^.

German prisoner, badly wounded in the head,
waiting for stretcher-bearers to carry him to the
Canadian rear. (Canadian official photograph.)

the fate of the Fifth Canadian Division.
This division had been organized at Wit-
lev Camp in England in the beginning of
1917, as the result of a natural desire on
the part of the Canadian authorities not
to be outdone by the Australians.
Throughout the year the division waited
patiently for orders to proceed to France
— and waited in vain. Especially after
the adoption of the principle of compul-
sion by the Canadian government in the
summer of 1917 their hopes rose high.
But by the end of 1917 the immediate
need for reinforcements at the front was
such that it was found necessary to break
up the division, and send it to the front
in drafts. After nearly a year of forced
inaction and deferred hopes, the Fifth
Division passed out of existence.

Sir Robert Borden introduced the Mili-
tary Service Act into parliament on June

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

11, 1917, and in spite of opposition from
a wing of the Liberal party, it passed
both houses by substantial majorities.
Later in the year, when the coalition
formed between the Conservatives and
the conscriptionist wing of the Liberal
party went to the polls, the Act was em-
phatically endorsed by the electors, out-
side of the province of Quebec. In
operation the Act was not an unqualified
success. It yielded at first a disappoint-
ing number of recruits ; and in some parts
of the country, notably in the province of
Quebec, the exemptions granted w r ere out
of all proportion to those granted in parts
of the country which had already done
their full share in the war. But the Act
served the purpose of keeping up a suf-
ficient flow of reinforcements for the
troops already at the front; and from
that point of view it was amply justified.
The draftees called up under it proved
to be a fine upstanding class of men, for
the most part amenable to discipline and
training. During 1918 tens of thousands
of them went to France as reinforce-
ments; and the part they played in the

final successes of the Canadian Corps
showed them to be capable of achieving
results scarcely less splendid than the
volunteers who had preceded them.

The total number of enlistments in
Canada during the Great War was well
over 530,000, or about one in twelve of
the population. Of these over 100,000
were obtained under the Military Service
Act. The total number who proceeded
overseas was well over 400,000. This ef-
fort pales into insignificance beside the
war effort of Great Britain or France;
and it is inferior to the effort made by
Australia and New Zealand. But in
comparison with the record of the United
States, it is at least creditable, especially
when the large proportion of French
Canadians in Canada is taken into ac-
count. And although the Canadian sol-
diers enlisted in the war may not have
been as many as they might have been,
they were all of the best stamp; and if
Canada's contribution to the war was a
little deficient in quantity, it was not de-
ficient in quality.

Canadians In The Imperial Forces

CHAPTER VIII

SCARCITY OF OFFICERS IN THE BRITISH ARMY — CANADIANS
TAKE OUT COMMISSIONS — CANADIANS IN THE ROYAL A1B FORCE

— CANADIAN ACES CANADIANS SECONDED TO THE IMPERIALS

— ON THE LINE OF COMMUNICATIONS — SPECIAL POSITIONS —
THE NEWFOUNDLAND REGIMENT — CANADIANS IN THE BRITISH
NAVY.

Canada's war effort has not been lim-
ited to the troops that wear the maple
leaf badge. She has contributed in addi-
tion thousands of the best and bravest of
her sons to the military, naval, and air
forces of Great Britain. Complete fig-
ures with regard to Canadian enlistments
in the British forces will probably never
be available. But the fact that at one-
time approximately one-third of the Brit-
ish airmen were Canadian born, serves as
an index to the considerable numbers of
Canadians who fought with the Impe-
rials.

As early as 1915, owing to the way in
which the British War Office had used up
much of its best material in the first bat-
tles of the war, there was already a need
for suitable candidates for commissions in
the British army. The need was partly
supplied by numbers of Canadians. Not
only were many young Canadian officers,
mostly university undergraduates, sent
over to England; but many Canadians
who had enlisted in the ranks, both in the
British Army and in the Canadian Con-
tingents, were able to obtain commissions
with the Imperials.

From an early date, a remarkable num-
ber of these expressed a preference for
the aerial side of warfare. There were at
this period two air services in England,
the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal
Naval Air Service; and into both of these
the Canadians flocked. Their dash, their
self-reliance, their willingness to take
chances, rendered them as a rule excellent

air-fighters. It was not long before they
had won a reputation in the air, and fur-
ther Canadian enlistments were frankly
welcomed by Adastral House. From
1915 to the end of the war a constant
stream of Canadians, therefore, poured
into the air service of the Empire. Some
si I u;i( Irons in France, indeed, came to be
composed almost wholly of Canadians.

The achievements of the Canadian air-
men were indeed brilliant. It is only nec-
essary to mention the names of Bishop,
Collishaw. Barker, and a host of other
Canadian "aces" to bring home the part
that Canadian airmen played in the war.
Bishop held the record for the number
of machines brought down on the British
front, having destroyed more than seven-
ty enemy machines, apart from many
driven down out of control. So far as is
known, only one French airman and one
German airman exceeded his record. He
won nearly every military honour which
it was possible for a flying officer to win.
including the Victoria Cross. The Lon-
don Gazette notice of the award of the
Victoria Cross to him contains such a
thrilling story that it is worth reprinting
in full:

"V. C. August 10, 1917: Capt. Wm.
Avery Bishop.

"For most conspicuous bravery, deter-
mination, and skill. Captain Bishop, who
had been sent out to work independently,
flew first of all to an enemy aerodrome;
finding no machine about, he flew to an-

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

other aerodrome about three miles south-
east, which was at least twelve miles the
other side of the line. Seven machines,
some with their engines running, were on
the ground. He attacked these from
about fifty feet, and a mechanic, who was
starting one of the engines, was seen to
fall. One of the machines got off the
ground, but at a height of sixty feet Cap-
tain Bishop fired fifteen rounds into it
at very close range, and it crashed to the
ground. A second machine got off the
ground, into which he fired thirty rounds
at 150 yards range, and it fell into a tree.

for one of the deeds of derring-do per-
formed by a paladin of the Crusades.
Nor did mediaeval knight ever encounter
adventures half so many or half so thrill-
ing as this modern knight errant of the
air. During his first five months' fighting
in the air, Bishop fought no less than one
hundred and ten single combats with the
enemy, with a total of no less than seventy
machines destroyed or driven down out
of control. On one occasion he fell 4,000
feet with his machine in flames, and es-
caped unhurt.

Scarcelv less remarkable than the rec-

A row of the Aeroplanes operated by Canadian officers of a R. A. F. squadron in France. Many
Canadian flyers made a special record in the Imperial air forces, their skill and daring winning the
admiration of the army and aiding materially in driving the Hun from the air at critical stages of the
war.

Two more machines then rose from the
aerodrome. One of these lie engaged at
the height of 1,000 feet, emptying the rest
of his drum of ammunition. This ma-
chine crashed 300 yards from the aero-
drome, after which Captain Bishop
emptied a whole drum into the fourth
hostile machine, and then flew back to his
station. Four hostile scouts were about
1000 feet above him for about a mile of
his return journey, but they would not
attack. His machine was very badly shot
about by machine-gun fire from the
ground."

If the necessary substitutions were
made — if the desert were substituted for
the air, and the battle-horse for the battle-
plane— this adventure might well stand

ord of Bishop was that of Collishaw on
the Western front and Barker on the
Italian front. Collishaw, who was
awarded the D. S. O. for "great gallantry
and skill in all his combats", had a total
of machines to his credit only a few less
than that of Bishop: and the decorations
won by Barker in his air-fighting actually
exceeded in number and variety those won
by Bishop. Nor should mention be omit-
ted of the marvellous achievements of
many less famous Canadian airmen.
Hervey, a Canadian in the Royal Naval
Air Service, won the D. S. C. "for tack-
ling ten Gothas single-handed in a Ger-
man raid and bringing down two of
them". Hobbs. another Canadian in the
Royal Naval Air Service, won the D. S.

CANADIANS IX THE IMPERIAL FORCES

O. and the D. S. C. for bringing down a
Zeppelin and for demolishing three sub-
marines. And so one might go on with
an enumeration of Canadian exploits in
the air. Nowhere did Canadian pluck
and valour shine more brilliantly than in
the achievements of the hoys from Can-
ada who fought in both branches of the
Royal Air Force.

In addition to the thousands of Cana-
dians who enlisted with the Imperials.
there were many Canadian officers who

training school for cadets in the Royal
Air Force. Major-Gen. Lipsett, who
commanded for a long time the Third
Canadian Division at the front, was se-
lected for a higher position on the staff
of one of the British armies. Canadian
officers who had a knowledge of French
and German wee seconded to the Impe-
rials as intelligence officers; and Cana-
dian officers unfit for service in the front
line were employed in such formations as
the Salvage Corps. In other cases the

Hidden my-teries of the famous "Q" ship of the British Navy. H. M. S. Suffolk Coast, used as a decoy
to capture or destroy submarines. View of the dummy deckhouse, showing the gun which was concealed
until the iron doors fell at a signal from the bridge.

were seconded from the Canadian Expe-
ditionary Force to the Imperial army.
In some cases these officers were asked for
by the War Office on account of special
qualifications. Many Canadians with a
knowledge of chemistry Avere told off for
duty with the Ministry of Munitions.
The commandant of the Canadian Train-
ing School for officers and cadets at Bex-
hill-on-Sea was so successful that he was
borrowed by the British to command the

Imperials made places for Canadians who
were surplus to the establishment of the
Overseas Military Forces of Canada.
( )wing to the method of recruiting in Can-
ada, under which battalions were for long
recruited instead of drafts, many battal-
ions had to be broken up on arrival in
England: and many senior officers in the
Canadian forces consequently became
surplus. Numbers of these officers re-
verted to the rank of lieutenant, and went

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

to the front as reinforcements. Others
were not able or were not willing to do
this; and for many of these places were
found by the War Office on the lines of
communication. The variety of work
performed by these officers had in it
something of the amusing. Some became
town majors or area commandants; others
became burial officers or railway transport
officers. Some commanded laundries or
bath-houses behind the lines; others coin-

One of the most remarkable romances of
the war was the career of a Canadian
financier, Sir Max Aitken, afterwards
Lord Beaverbrook. From being first the
Canadian eye-witness at the front, and
then Canadian War Records officer, he
became a member of the British Cabinet,
and head of the Ministry of Information;
and the propaganda conducted in the last
year of the war by his department had, in
the opinion of shrewd observers, no in-

Lieut.-Com. Harold Autor, V. C, D. S. C, captain of the "Q" ship, Suffolk Coast, appearing up the hidden
hatchway to the bridge, on board the famous submarine decoy ship.

manded Chinese labour battalions or
English works companies. One Cana-
dian officer, who was in peace time a pro-
fessor of botany at an American univer-
sity, did such good work in promoting
agricultural production behind the lines
that he was given oversight of all agri-
cultural operations on the British front.
The part that some Canadians came to
play in the prosecution of the war had in
it, indeed, elements of the spectacular.

considerable influence in weakening the
morale of the enemy peoples. Another
Canadian, who went overseas as the adju-
tant of a Montreal battalion, became sec-
retary of the British War Mission to the
United States, and was knighted by the
king. A Canadian contractor from To-
ronto rose to have charge of road con-
struction behind the British lines in
France. Canadian scientific men did
splendid work on the Inventions Board

CANADIANS IN THE IMPERIAL FORCES

appointed by the British government, es-
pecially in developing devices used in the
anti-submarine warfare. In the wider
sphere of Imperial war effort, many indi-
vidual Canadians were not found wanting
when weighed in the balance.

Something should be said also about
Canada's part in the Great War on its
naval side. Unfortunately, when the war
broke out, Canada had a navy composed
of only two training ships, one of which
was dismantled. Immediately on the out-
break of war. the Canadian government
purchased two submarines, for the pur-
pose of defending the coast of British
Columbia from the attack of German
raiders, which seemed imminent at that
time. And at a later stage of the war,
the Canadian government organized a
fleet of small coastal patrol vessels of the
trawler and drifter type, for the purpose
of defending the Atlantic seaboard from
submarine attack. But at no period was
Canada able to play tiie glorious part in
the war on the high seas played, for in-
stance, by the naval forces of Australia.
Her chief contribution to the naval side
of the war was in the recruits she fur-
nished to the British navy. The fact that
Canada had no navy of her own worthy
of the name, meant that those Canadians
who preferred sea-fighting to land-fight-
ing had to take service with the Royal
Navy or the Royal Naval Volunteer Re-
serve. In all nearly 2,000 Canadians
were enrolled in the naval services of the
Empire. A large number of these had
commissions in the British Auxiliary Pa-
trol Service: and scores of the little motor
launches or "scooters" which did such
yeoman service in coping with the Ger-
man submarine menace were commanded
by young Canadian naval officers. In the
operations off Zeebrugge and Ostend in
the spring of 191 is. in which the old Vin-
dictive figured so gloriously, some of the
most hazardous details were in the hands
of these motor launch commanders.
Other Canadians were found on sub-
marines, torpedo-boat destroyers, and —
to a less extent — on larger warships, all

over the Seven Seas. And in the mer-"
chant marine, that splendid body of fear-
less civilian sailors who daily braved the
nerve-racking menace of the German sub-
marine torpedo, Canadian sailormen did
their bit with no less of fortitude and
heroism than the sailors of any other part
of the British Empire. Canada's naval
effort was, it is true, small and inade-
quate; but what there was of it was
splendid and worthy.

Lastly, mention should be made of the
part played by Newfoundland in the war.
Newfoundland is not a partner in the
Canadian Confederation, but it is so close-
ly connected with Canada both historically
and actually that a reference to its war
effort may fittingly be included here. On
the outbreak of war. Newfoundland,
which is England's oldest colony, prompt-
ly offered a regiment for service at the
front. The Royal Newfoundland Regi-
ment, as it was named, joined the First
Canadian contingent on its way across
the Atlantic in October, 1914. It was not,
however, included in the Canadian forces,
but was made part of a British division
which went to Gallipoli. At Gallipoli it
won for itself a high reputation; it
reached a point nearer Constantinople
than any other, and it had the honour of
being the last unit to leave the peninsula.
From Gallipoli the Newfoundlanders
were sent to France, and in the Battle of
the Somme, both during the first assault
and during the later stages, they fought
with a gallantry that called forth univer-
sal comment. The following year they
did good work at Monchy, near Arras,
and in the third battle of Vpres; and in
1918 they played their part in repelling
the German offensive, and in driving
home the allied counter-offensive. Each
year their casualties were pathetic; yet in
comparison with their numbers, no troops
gained a more justly famous reputation
than the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

The Civilian War Effort

CHAPTER IX

MUNITION-MAKING — FOOD PRODUCTION AND FOOD ECONOMY —

THE CANADIAN RED CROSS THE PATRIOTIC FUND — TAG DAYS

THE SPIRIT OF THE PRESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE

CHURCHES — THE WORK OF THE WOMEN — THE SLACKERS AND
THE PROFITEERS THE CASUALTY LISTS "IF YE BREAK

faith".

There was a home front as well as a
front in France and Flanders; and the
one was hardly less important than the
other. If the efforts of the Canadian sol-
diers overseas had not been loyally sec-
onded by the civilian war effort at home,
the story of Canada's part in the war
might be very different from what it is.
Nor were there lacking elements of self-
sacrifice and devotion in the story of most
of the men and women who stayed at
home, any more than in the story of the
men and women who went overseas.

The phase of civilian war effort in Can-
ada most closely connected with the win-
ning of the war was probably the making
of munitions. Vast contracts were let in
Canada not only for the manufacture of
munitions for the Canadian army, but for
the British and the American armies as
well. It is estimated that there were in
Canada in 1918 no less than 2.50,000
workers, men and women, engaged in the
making of war munitions of all kinds;
and there were perhaps another .50,000
engaged in handling these munitions in
transportation and in other collateral or-
ganizations. To take only one item,
Canadian plants had turned out by the
end of 1918, at a moderate estimate, no
less than 7-5 million shells, of all grades
from the 18-pounder to the 9.2". In the
case of the 18-pounder it is a remarkable
fact that in the last six months of r.>17
no less than .5.5 per cent of the total Brit-
ish output of shrapnel shells of this type

came from Canada. In the manufacture
of munitions for the British government
alone, over a billion and a half of dollars
have been expended.

But shells are only one item in Canada's
war output. Included in the general term
of munitions there have been turned out
in Canada explosives, aeroplanes, wooden
ships, steel ships, military uniforms, boots,
maple leaf badges, rifles, haversacks,
tents, and a hundred other items, the total
value of which staggers comprehension.

Hardly less important than the making
of munitions was increased food produc-
tion in Canada during the war, by means
of which the food deficiencies of the coun-
tries of Europe were partially made up.
In spite of the great scarcity of labour in
Canada, caused by the hundreds of thou-
sands of enlistments in the army, Cana-
dian farmers and ranchers succeeded in
materially increasing their output be-
tween 1914. and 1918. At the same time,
the general public, by careful economy
and self-sacrifice, reduced the consump-
tion of food in Canada. The result was
that Canada was able to export to the
war-ridden countries of Furope food-
stuffs out of all proportion to what it had
exported before the war. Where the an-
nual export of eggs before 1914 was only
1.58.217 doz. it had jumped by 1918 to
4.H!)K,7!>.'5 doz. The annual export of
wheat flour jumped from 434,969 barrels
to 9,931,148 barrels; and the export of
beef from 5,217,652 lbs. to 8fi..5G.5,104

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

lbs. These figures are perhaps the most
striking, and other exports did not show
such a stupendous increase; but taken all
in all, Canadian food exports during the
war more than quadrupled themselves.
This fact alone is a sufficient commentary
on the patriotic efforts of the Canadian
producer and the self-sacrifice of the
Canadian consumer.

Nor did the Canadian public forget
Rudyard Kipling's injunction to "pay,

the Red Cross Society. This society
exists for the purpose of supplementing
the work of the Army Medical Corps ?n
furnishing hospital supplies and comforts
for the sick and wounded. An important
and admirable feature of its work has
been the care of Canadian prisoners of
war in Germany and elsewhere; had it
not been for the parcels of food and cloth-
ing sent by the Red Cross to the Canadian
inmates of the enemy prison camps, many

Canadian girls making aeroplane wings at the Leaside Barracks of the Royal Air Force, near Toron-
to. They became adepts at the work and realized its importance to the flyers who braved the dangers
of the air.

pay, pay". Dominion, provincial, and
municipal taxation went up by leaps and
bounds to meet the expenses of the war;
and vast sums of money were borrowed
by the government from the people. Rut
over and above the financial effort of the
Canadian people in these directions, pri-
vate purse-strings were opened with al-
most incredible generosity for the support
of a number of voluntary war organiza-
tions. Among these, for instance, was

of these unfortunate men might never
have seen again their Canadian homes.
Contributions to the Canadian Red Cross
during the war totalled, in cash and sup-
plies/ approximately $20,000,000. In
addition to these contributions, more than
$6,000,000 went to the British Red Cross;
and to the French Red Cross, the Polish
Relief Fund, and the Belgian Relief
Fund, millions more. The number of
voluntary war organizations that ap-

THE CIVILIAN WAR EFFORT

pealed, and appealed successfully, to the
Canadian public were indeed legion. To
the military work of the V. M. C. A.
alone no less than 8.5.000,000 was contrib-
uted.

Tbe most extraordinary financial con-
tribution of Canada, however, outside the
ordinary channels of taxation, was the
Canadian Patriotic Fund, which was es-
tablished for looking after the dependents
of Canadian soldiers overseas. The
Canadian army was at the beginning of
the war one of the best paid in the world;
but the Canadian people had a laudable
desire that the dependents of the men who
were righting should not want for any-
thing while their bread-winners were
away. The Patriotic Fund was therefore
formed, and a scale of allowances, over
and above the allowances of the army,
was granted to needy dependents of pri-
vate soldiers and non-commissioned offi-
cers. Including the Manitoba Patriotic
Fund, which was a separate organization.
the total of Canadian contributions to the
Fund was between .$40,000,000 and
$.50,000,000 — an amazing sum when it is
remembered that it was composed wholly
of free gifts.

Taken all together, it is probable that
voluntary contributions in Canada for all
kinds of war purposes reached the sum of
over $ 100.000,000. The means by which
this money was raised would make a story
in itself. Special appeals, whirlwind
campaigns, special collections in the
churches, tag-days, — all were employed.
Tag-days proved to be among the most
successful devices for getting money for
patriotic purposes; and the man on tbe
street delved down into his pockets with
extraordinary patience as one tag-day
succeeded another.

In maintaining the home front in Can-
ada, much of the credit must go to the
Canadian newspapers. The spirit of the
press was never better in Canada than
during the war. With rare exceptions,
newspapers of every political stripe
preached the paramount duty of winning
the war. If there was criticism of the

A British woman veterinary administering a
"blueball" to a horse on "His Majesty's service.'
(British official photograph. >

government, it was generally criticism
that was intended to lie helpful rather
than obstructive. Every worthy object
of public support was heartily com-
mended to newspaper readers. The
Canadian Associated Press, during the
later stages of the fighting, kept a corre-
spondent continuously with the Canadian
troops in France, so that the people of
Canada would be able to yet news of their
own soldiers through Canadian sources;
and many newspapers had special corre-
spondents of their own in England and
France. The work of these correspon-
dents, in keeping up the morale of Cana-
da's civilian population, was no small
factor in aiding Canada's civilian war
effort.

Good work in the same direction was
done by the churches. Although the sym-
pathy of the churches was naturally with
peace rather than war, they realized at

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

the outset that peace was only to be at-
tained through the winning of the war;
and with one accord they bent their efforts
toward this end. In encouraging enlist-
ments, in asking for contributions for Red
Cross and other benevolent objects, in
commending to the people the Victory
Loans of the Dominion government, they
were not backward. Nor did their efforts
stop short of action, apart from words.
Many congregations made great sacri-

doubt as to where the great churches of
Canada stood on the vital question of the
prosecution of the war.

It is fitting, too, that a tribute should
be paid here to the work of the women.
The years of the war saw a remarkable
spread, in Canada as well as in other parts
of the English-speaking world, of female
suffrage; and rightly so, for the women
of Canada showed themselves during the
war deserving of the franchise in many

A British factory with women workers busily engaged in making fuse plugs for large shells. This
factory in pre-war times made cotton-spinning machinery. The women here as elsewhere proved them-
selves skillful and speed}' mechanics. (British official photograph.)

different ways. Statistics, however com-
plete, can give only an imperfect idea of
the services which they rendered; but the
following are a few facts bearing on the
subject. Fully 2,000 women, enlisted as
nursing sisters in the Canadian Expedi-
tionary Force; and thousands more
served as V. A. D.'s either in Canada,
England, or France. Over 1,000 were
employed by the Royal Air Force in Can-

fices in order to enable their pastors to go
to the front as chaplains; and not a few
clergymen proved their quality by enlist-
ing in the ranks as private soldiers. Con-
spicuous among these were many French
priests of the province of Quebec, exiles
from the land of their birth, who neverthe-
less went back to France, and won as poi-
lus in the French army death or glory on
the battlefield. There never was any

THE CIVILIAN WAR EFFORT

ada on a wide range of duties, including
motor transport work; and numbers went
overseas as ambulance drivers or on other
war work. The number of women em-
ployed in munition factories at one time
exceeded 30,000. Between 5,000 and
6,000 were employed in the civil service,
on work created for the most part by the
war; and no less than 7-5,000 gave their
services free to assist in the compilation
of the national register in June, 1918.
Figures are not available to show the ex-
tent to which women in commercial and
industrial life replaced men who had been
called to the colours, or the extent to
which they took a share in agricultural
work. But there were many thousands
of women in banks, offices, and factories
which before the war had almost exclu-
sively a male staff; and by the end of the
war women were working on the farms in
all parts of the country. Even among
women who were not able to take a more
direct part in the civilian war effort of the
country, there was few who were not per-
petually knitting socks for the soldiers at
the front.

Canada had of course its slackers, —
men who through cowardice or love of
ease or of money refused to bear the
white man's burden, and women who
through selfishness refused to make the
sacrifices t'lat patriotism demanded. Can-
ada had too its profiteers, men who saw in
the world's agony nothing but an oppor-
tunity for the amassing of money. But
these people existed in other countries as
well; and the hope may be expressed that
they were not more numerous in Canada
thah elsewhere.

For those who saw the path of duty
and followed it, the war was a time of
trial and testing that bore fruit in a
clearer vision and a firmer faith. As the

casualty lists poured in, with their tale of
death and wounds, many a mother and
many a wife learnt the solace of pride and
the courage of faith. In many a Cana-
dian home there went on a spiritual strug-
gle no less profound than the physical
struggle on the battlefield; and victory
crowned the one no less often than it
crowned the other. The part of those
who stayed at home was sometimes harder
than that of those who left home; and the
glory of the latter sometimes transcended
the glory of the former.

Some of the most beautiful lines in-
spired by the war, lines written by a
Canadian soldier-poet who afterwards
died in France, set the standard for the
Canadian people to live up to in the Great
Conflict :

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We loved, felt dawn and sunset glow,
Loved and were loved; and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe,
To you from failing hands we throw

The torch, be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Thank God, the torch was caught and
held. The Canadian people did not
break faith with those who died.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

Canada's War Government

CHAPTER X

THE BORDEN GOVERNMENT OF 1914-1917 — THE PARTY TRUCE

THE UNION GOVERNMENT WAR FINANCE MUNITIONS —

THE ROSS RIFLE — SHIPBUILDING — THE WAR TRADE BOARD —

THE FOOD BOARD FUEL AND TRANSPORTATION THE WAR

MEASURES ACT SOLDIERS' CIVIL RE-ESTABLISHMENT CAN-
ADA AND THE EMPIRE.

Party politics and the racial question
have unfortunately become mixed up in
Canada with the conduct of the war.
Happily, however, it does not fall within
the scope of this chronicle of Canada's
1 art in the Great War to dwell on these
factors in detail. To mention them is suf-
ficient. But no account of Canada's war
effort Avould be complete which did not
attempt to sketch the work of Canada's
war government, both before and after
the formation of the Union Government
in 1917.

When war broke out, the Conservative
administration of Sir Robert Borden was
in power at Ottawa. The first war meas-
ures adopted by the Borden government
met with the approval of the vast major-
ity of the Canadian people. Both the
great parties in parliament stood behind
the Canadian government's offer of men
and supplies for the defence of the Em-
pire. Both Sir Robert Borden and Sir
Wilfrid I aurier and their supporters
took the view that it was Canada's duty
to strain every effort to help to defeat the
Germans, and that the only thing that
mattered was the winning of the war.
The only discordant note was struck by
Henri Bourassa and a small group of
Quebec Nationalists. But this group was
without influence in parliament. So far
as Liberals and Conservatives were con-
cerned, a party truce was declared; and
to all intents and purposes Canada pre-
sented a united front to the enemy.

In time, however, the party truce broke

down. It broke down, not over the ques-
tion of fighting the war to a finish, but
over the question of method. By 1917
Sir Robert Borden had come to the con-
clusion that, if Canada's reinforcements
were to be kept up, compulsory military
service would have to be introduced. A
part of the Liberal party failed to agree
with him, holding that the volunteer sys-
tem had not had a fair trial. The remain-
der of the Liberal party, however, joined
hands with the government; and a Union
Government of both Liberals and Con-
servatives was formed, under the leader-
ship of Sir Robert Borden.

In the Union Government, out of a
total of twenty-three ministers, no less
than ten were prominent Liberals; and
presumably the infusion of this new blood
gave the government greater vigour and
stability. But in view of the fact that
both in this government and in that
which preceded it the guiding hand was
that of Sir Robert Borden, the work of
both administrations may be dealt with
together.

First and foremost in importance
comes the work of the Department of
Finance under Sir Thomas White, for in
the winning of the war the "silver bullet"
played a part hardly less decisive than
the leaden bullet. The problem con-
fronting the Department of Finance at
the outbreak of the war was indeed seri-
ous. Canada was a borrowing country;
but, aside from the United States during
the first two or three years of the war, the

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

countries she had borrowed from were
after 1914 not able to lend. The cost of
the war promised to be stupendous; it
has actually been so stupendous that the
national debt of Canada, which before the
war stood at about $336,000,000, quad-
rupled in size by the end of 1918. To
raise the money to pay for Canada's war
expenditures, the Department of Finance
appealed to the people of Canada, with
the result that, especially in the Victory
Loans of 1917 and 1918, more was ob-

jewelry, were taxed with especial stiff-
ness. A popular tax was the excess busi-
ness profits tax, by which war profiteers
were compelled to disgorge a part at
least of their ill-gotten gains; and a new
feature was the Dominion income tax
inaugurated in 1918, the first instance of
direct taxation in the federal sphere since
the formation of the Dominion over half
a century before.

The problem of financing Canada's
part in the war was greatly facilitated by

Captain the Honorable Frederick Shaughnessy,
clearing- the bad air from his dugout with the
purpose.

tained than was asked for. In order to
pay the interest on the debts thus con-
tracted, and to meet also certain current
war expenditures, increased taxation was
necessarily imposed. The form which
this taxation took met with general ap-
proval. In addition to increased customs
duties and higher rates of excise, a special
war tax was placed on railway tickets,
telegrams, cheques, letters, telegrams,
patent medicines, and amusements. Lux-
uries, such as tobacco, motor-cars, and

son of the well-known Canadian railroad magnate,
aid of a captured German machine made for this

the very large orders for war munitions
placed by the British government in Can-
ada, orders which the Canadian govern-
ment was largely instrumental in secur-
ing. The total credits established in Can-
ada on behalf of the British government
amounted to considerably over half a bil-
lion dollars, a large part of which went to
carry on the operations of the Imperial
Munitions Board in Canada. At the same
time, Great Britain made very large ad-
vances to Canada, chiefly for the mainte-

CANADA'S WAK GOVERNMENT

nance of Canadian troops overseas. These
credits, as it happened, very nearly can-
celled each other; and a great simplifica-
tion of the war finance of hoth Canada
and Great Britain was the result.

The munitions manufactured in Can-
ada reached as a rule a high standard.
Over one item, however, the Ross rifle, —
the Canadian service arm in which the
government, through a contract with the
manufacturers dating from long before
the war, were especially interested, — an

the evidence as to lack of confidence
which the men at the front had in the
weapon became too strong to be doubted,
Sir Robert Borden and the Cabinet can-
celled the Canadian contract with the
Ross rifle factory, and armed the Cana-
dians in England and France with the
Lee-Enfield. The truth was that the
Canadian Department of Militia was
without sufficient experience of the type
of weapons and equipment required at the
front; and much Canadian equipment,

Canadians at the front taking ;ulvantage of a period of rest to do a link- mending on the shirts that

i Susie sewed for soldiers.

unhappy controversy arose. It is unnec-
essary here to attempt to discuss the con-
troversy in detail. On all hands it was
admitted that the Ross rifle was an excel-
lent target weapon; but the fact was in-
disputable that the men at the front lost
confidence in it. and discarded it for the
Lee-Enfield, the British arm, whenever
the opportunity arose. Sir Sam Hughes,
the Minister of Militia, was committed to,
the support of the Ross rifle: but when

over and above the Ross rifle, had to be
scrapped in England, including a won-
derful combination shield and entrench-
ing tool, popularly known as "Sam
Hughes' shovel."

A little known feature of the Canadian
government's work was its shipbuilding
program. During the year 1918 there
were launched in Canada no less than 112
vessels, 59 of them steel and .V.i wooden,
with an approximate deadweight tonnage

CANADA IX THE GREAT WAR

of 440,000 tons; and these figures do not
include a large number of small craft of
less than 1,000 tons, such as trawlers and
drifters, of which a large number have
been built for the British government. In
addition, contracts have been placed in
Canada by the Department of the Naval
Service, on behalf of the allied govern-
ments, for a number of submarines and
for about 000 motor submarine chasers.
Good work was done by a number of
boards or commissions established by the

condition in exchange affecting Canadian
finance and trade, it prohibited the im-
port into Canada of non-essential articles
such as motor-cars, perfumes, marble,
gold and silver manufactures, pleasure
boats, and billiard tables. The Canada
Food Board, which was organized at the
same time, and which succeeded to the
duties of the former Food Controller,
was entrusted with the double task of in-
creasing production and promoting food
conservation. In increasing production,

A party of German prisoners being searched after their captnre by Canadians at Arleux and brought
back to a trench behind the firing line.

government. The AVar Trade Board,
which was organized in February, 1918,
had the threefold object of controlling the
export from Canada of articles essential
to war industry, the supply of which was
limited, controlling the import into Can-
ada of non-essential articles, and supervis-
ing the raw materials of the country with
a view to the most effective use of them
in the prosecution of the war. In June,
1918, in order to relieve an unfavorable

it arranged for emergency agricultural
labour on the farms during the harvest
season, notably the labour of many thou-
sands of schoolboys during the long vaca-
tion; it purchased and sold at cost to the
farmers over 1,100 tractors; and by a pub-
licity campaign it brought home to all the
necessity for sending vast supplies over-
seas to the warring countries of Europe.
In promoting food conservation, it issued
a multitude of food regulations restrict-

CANADA'S WAR GOVERNMENT

ing the home consumption of certain arti-
cles of diet, ordering the use of substi-
tutes, prohibiting waste under seven' pen-
alties, and curbing speculation and exces-
sive prices. It did not fix prices, as was
done in Great Britain and to a less extent
in the United States, with the result that
the cost of living in Canada rose to un-
precedented heights; but in so far as its
work pertained to the successful prosecu-
tion of the war, the Food Board did most
valuable service.

In the matter of fuel and transporta-
tion, splendid work was done by the Fuel
Controller and the Canadian Railway
War Board. On nothing in Canada per-
haps did the war place a greater strain
than on the supply of fuel and the rail-
way system. The Fuel Controller did
much to stimulate the production of coal
in Canada, to secure for Canada its fair
allotment of coal from the United States.
and ensure an equitable distribution
throughout the country. Equally bene-
ficial was the work of the Railway War
Board. In order to meet the congestion
of traffic on the railways produced by the
war, and especially by the entrance of the
United States into the war, the War
Board brought about a co-ordination of
the various Canadian railway lines, so
that, as regards actual transportation,
these were treated as a unit, and ship-
ments were "re-routed" over whatever
line afforded the quickest means of trans-
port. Thanks largely to the efforts of
the Board, Canada escaped a block of
railway traffic such as that which the
United States experienced in the winter
of 1917-18.

Long before the war ended, the gov-
ernment took measures to prepare for the
period of demobilization ami reconstruc-
tion after the war. Demobilization com-
mittees were appointed and a branch of
the government was set up, known as the
Department of Soldiers" Civil Re-estab-
lishment, which was charged with looking
after the re-absorption of the army in the
social and economic fabric of the country.
Under this department were placed both
the Board of Pensions Commissioners

and the Invalided Soldiers' Commission,
the latter of which had already gained an
international reputation for the success
of its methods in refitting disabled men
for civilian life. To cope with the gen-
eral problem of reconstruction a special
committee of the Cabinet was formed,
just as a special committee of the Cabinet,
the War Committee, had been appointed
to supervise Canada's prosecution of the
war.

Throughout the course of the Great
War the Canadian government acted in
the closest harmony and co-operation
with the government of Great Britain. If
there were before the war any tendencies
in Canada toward the dissolution of the
bonds of Empire, those tendencies were
obliterated as the struggle went on. In a
very real sense, the war knit closer the
ties that linked Canada to the mother
country. Repeatedly the prime minister
of Canada was called into consultation by
the British War Cabinet; the resident
ministers of the overseas Dominions in
London were admitted to the sessions of
the Imperial War Cabinet; the prime
ministers of the Dominions were given the
right of direct access to the prime minis-
ter of Great Britain on matters of cabi-
net importance. War is the great politi-
cal solvent. The experience of common
effort and common action which the com-
ponent parts of the British Empire
gained in the war will not easily pass
away; and it may well leave after it a leg-
acy of closer union in the future. What
form this union may take, it will be for
the future to decide. But that the Em-
pire whose soldiers fought shoulder to
shoulder on many a stricken field of bat-
tle in the Great War. and whose peoples
with spontaneous unanimity leapt to the
defence of human liberty, should after
the struggle supinely fall away and dis-
integrate, is something which it is diffi-
cult to believe. Much rather would one
think that the trials and travails of the
war will bear fruit in a purer imperialism
and a larger patriotism; and that the
glory that was the British Empire will
be less than the glory that will be.

CANADA IN THE GREAT WAR

CANADA'S WAR GOVERNMENT

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