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diff --git a/16282.txt b/16282.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d90929 --- /dev/null +++ b/16282.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4627 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of the World War, Vol. 3, by Francis +A. March and Richard J. Beamish, Illustrated by James H. Hare and Donald +Thompson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: History of the World War, Vol. 3 + + +Author: Francis A. March and Richard J. Beamish + + + +Release Date: July 13, 2005 [eBook #16282] + +Language: en + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR, VOL. 3*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Jennifer Zickerman, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 16282-h.htm or 16282-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/2/8/16282/16282-h/16282-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/2/8/16282/16282-h.zip) + + + + + +Complete Edition + +HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR, VOLUME III + +An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War + +by + +FRANCIS A. MARCH, Ph.D. + +In Collaboration with + +RICHARD J. BEAMISH +Special War Correspondent and Military Analyst + +With an Introduction by General Peyton C. March +Chief of Staff of the United States Army + +With Exclusive Photographs by James H. Hare and Donald Thompson +World-Famed War Photographers +and with Reproductions from the Official Photographs of the +United States, Canadian, British, French and Italian Governments + +Leslie-Judge Company +New York + +MCMXIX + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE THRILL OF OLD-TIME WAR + +The stirrup charge of the Scots Greys at St. Quentin. Holding on to the +stirrup leathers of the cavalry the Highlanders crashed like an +avalanche upon the German lines, tearing great gaps in their massed +formations.] + + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME III + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I. NEUVE CHAPELLE AND WAR +IN BLOOD-SOAKED TRENCHES + +War Amid Barbed-Wire Entanglements and the Desolation +of No Man's Land--Subterranean Tactics Continuing Over +Four Years--Attacks that Cost Thousands of Lives for +Every Foot of Gain 1 + + +CHAPTER II. ITALY DECLARES WAR ON +AUSTRIA + +Her Great Decision--D'Annunzio, Poet and Patriot--Italia +Irredenta--German Indignation--The Campaigns on the Isonzo +and in the Tyrol 29 + +CHAPTER III. GLORIOUS GALLIPOLI + +A Titanic Enterprise--Its Objects--Disasters and Deeds +of Deathless Glory--The Heroic Anzacs--Bloody Dashes up +Impregnable Slopes--Silently they Stole Away--A Successful +Failure 58 + + +CHAPTER IV. THE GREATEST NAVAL +BATTLE IN HISTORY + +The Battle of Jutland--Every Factor on Sea and in Sky +Favorable to the Germans--Low Visibility a Great Factor--A +Modern Sea Battle--Light Cruisers Screening Battleship +Squadron--Germans Run Away when British Fleet Marshals Its +Full Strength--Death of Lord Kitchener 78 + + +CHAPTER V. THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN + +The Advance on Cracow--Von Hindenburg Strikes at +Warsaw--German Barbarism--The War in Galicia--The +Fall of Przemysl--Russia's Ammunition Fails--The Russian +Retreat--The Fall of Warsaw--The Last Stand--Czernowitz 104 + + +CHAPTER VI. HOW THE BALKANS DECIDED + +Ferdinand of Bulgaria Insists Upon Joining Germany--Dramatic +Scene in the King's Palace--The Die is Cast--Bulgaria Succumbs +to Seductions of Potsdam Gang--Greece Mobilizes--French and +British Troops at Saloniki--Serbia Over-run--Roumania's +Disastrous Venture in the Arena of Mars 145 + + +CHAPTER VII. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA + +British Army Threatening Bagdad Besieged in Kut-el-Amara--After +Heroic Defense General Townshend Surrenders after 143 Days of +Siege--New British Expedition Recaptures Kut--Troops Push on Up +the Tigris--Fall of Bagdad the Magnificent 187 + + +CHAPTER VIII. IMMORTAL VERDUN + +Grave of the Military Reputations of von Falkenhayn and the +Crown Prince--Hindenburg's Warning--Why the Germans Made the +Disastrous Attempt to Capture the Great Fortress--Heroic +France Reveals Itself to the World--"They Shall Not +Pass"--Nivelle's Glorious Stand on Dead Man Hill--Lord +Northcliffe's Description--A Defense Unsurpassed in the +History of France 209 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOLUME III + + +THE THRILL OF OLD-TIME WAR _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + +THE GLORIOUS CHARGE OF THE NINTH LANCERS 4 + +CHARGING THROUGH BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS 6 + +BRITISH INDIAN TROOPS CHARGING THE GERMAN + TRENCHES AT NEUVE CHAPELLE 10 + +CHARGING ON GERMAN TRENCHES IN GAS MASKS 12 + +AN INCIDENT OF THE WAR IN FLANDERS 18 + [Transcriber's Note: This illustration was missing from + the source for this e-book.] + +ITALY'S TITANIC LABOR TO CONQUER THE ALPS 30 + +WAITING THE ORDER TO ATTACK 38 + +TRANSPORTING WOUNDED AMID THE DIFFICULTIES + OF THE ITALIAN MOUNTAIN FRONT 42 + +THE LOSS OF THE "IRRESISTIBLE" 68 + +THE HISTORIC LANDING FROM THE "RIVER CLYDE" + AT SEDDUL BAHR 76 + +ADMIRAL WILLIAM S. SIMS 98 + +ADMIRAL SIR DAVID BEATTY 98 + +GERMAN FRIGHTFULNESS FROM THE AIR 110 + +BAGDAD THE MAGNIFICENT FALLS TO THE BRITISH 208 + +AMMUNITION FOR THE GUNS 224 + +HOW VERDUN WAS SAVED 224 + + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +NEUVE CHAPELLE AND WAR IN BLOOD-SOAKED TRENCHES + + +After the immortal stand of Joffre at the first battle of the Marne and +the sudden savage thrust at the German center which sent von Kluck and +his men reeling back in retreat to the prepared defenses along the line +of the Aisne, the war in the western theater resolved itself into a play +for position from deep intrenchments. Occasionally would come a sudden +big push by one side or the other in which artillery was massed until +hub touched hub and infantry swept to glory and death in waves of gray, +or blue or khaki as the case might be. But these tremendous efforts and +consequent slaughters did not change the long battle line from the Alps +to the North Sea materially. Here and there a bulge would be made by +the terrific pressure of men and material in some great assault like +that first push of the British at Neuve Chapelle, like the German attack +at Verdun or like the tremendous efforts by both sides on that bloodiest +of all battlefields, the Somme. + +Neuve Chapelle deserves particular mention as the test in which the +British soldiers demonstrated their might in equal contest against the +enemy. There had been a disposition in England as elsewhere up to that +time to rate the Germans as supermen, to exalt the potency of the +scientific equipment with which the German army had taken the field. +When the battle of Neuve Chapelle had been fought, although its losses +were heavy, there was no longer any doubt in the British nation that +victory was only a question of time. + +[Illustration: THE BATTLE GROUND OF NEUVE CHAPELLE] + +The action came as a pendant to the attack by General de Langle de +Cary's French army during February, 1915, at Perthes, that had been a +steady relentless pressure by artillery and infantry upon a strong +German position. To meet it heavy reinforcements had been shifted by +the Germans from the trenches between La Bassee and Lille. The +earthworks at Neuve Chapelle had been particularly depleted and only a +comparatively small body of Saxons and Bavarians defended them. Opposite +this body was the first British army. The German intrenchments at Neuve +Chapelle surrounded and defended the highlands upon which were placed +the German batteries and in their turn defended the road towards Lille, +Roubaix and Turcoing. + +The task assigned to Sir John French was to make an assault with only +forty-eight thousand men on a comparatively narrow front. There was only +one practicable method for effective preparation, and this was chosen by +the British general. An artillery concentration absolutely unprecedented +up to that time was employed by him. Field pieces firing at point-blank +range were used to cut the barbed wire entanglements defending the enemy +intrenchments, while howitzers and bombing airplanes were used to drop +high explosives into the defenseless earthworks. + +Sir Douglas Haig, later to become the commander-in-chief of the British +forces, was in command of the first army. Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien +commanded the second army. It was the first army that bore the brunt of +the attack. + +No engagement during the years on the western front was more sudden and +surprising in its onset than that drive of the British against Neuve +Chapelle. At seven o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, March 10, 1915, +the British artillery was lazily engaged in lobbing over a desultory +shell fire upon the German trenches. It was the usual breakfast +appetizer, and nobody on the German side took any unusual notice of it. +Really, however, the shelling was scientific "bracketing" of the enemy's +important position. The gunners were making sure of their ranges. + +[Illustration: THE GLORIOUS CHARGE OF THE NINTH LANCERS + +An incident of the retreat from Mons to Cambrai. A German battery of +eleven guns posted in a wood, had caused havoc in the British ranks. The +Ninth Lancers rode straight at them, across the open, through a hail of +shell from the other German batteries, cut down all the gunners, and put +every gun out of action.] + +At 7.30 range finding ended, and with a roar that shook the earth the +most destructive and withering artillery action of the war up to that +time was on. Field pieces sending their shells hurtling only a few feet +above the earth tore the wire emplacements of the enemy to pieces and +made kindling wood of the supports. Howitzers sent high explosive +shells, containing lyddite, of 15-inch, 9.2-inch and 6-inch caliber into +the doomed trenches and later into the ruined village. It was eight +o'clock in the morning, one-half hour after the beginning of the +artillery action, that the village was bombarded. During this time +British soldiers were enabled to walk about in No Man's Land behind the +curtain of fire with absolute immunity. No German rifleman or machine +gunner left cover. The scene on the German side of the line was like +that upon the blasted surface of the moon, pock-marked with shell holes, +and with no trace of human life to be seen above ground. + +An eye witness describing the scene said: + +"The dawn, which broke reluctantly through a veil of clouds on the +morning of Wednesday, March 10, 1915, seemed as any other to the +Germans behind the white and blue sandbags in their long line of +trenches curving in a hemi-cycle about the battered village of +Neuve Chapelle. For five months they had remained undisputed +masters of the positions they had here wrested from the British in +October. Ensconced in their comfortably-arranged trenches with but +a thin outpost in their fire trenches, they had watched day succeed +day and night succeed night without the least variation from the +monotony of trench warfare, the intermittent bark of the machine +guns--rat-tat-tat-tat-tat--and the perpetual rattle of rifle fire, +with here and there a bomb, and now and then an exploded mine. + +[Illustration: _Illustrated London News_. + +CHARGING THROUGH BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS + +In one sector at Givenchy, the wire had not been sufficiently smashed by +the artillery preparation and the infantry attack was held up in the +face of a murderous German fire.] + +"For weeks past the German airmen had grown strangely shy. On this +Wednesday morning none were aloft to spy out the strange doings +which, as dawn broke, might have been descried on the desolate +roads behind the British lines. + +"From ten o'clock of the preceding evening endless files of men +marched silently down the roads leading towards the German +positions through Laventie and Richebourg St. Vaast, poor shattered +villages of the dead where months of incessant bombardment have +driven away the last inhabitants and left roofless houses and rent +roadways.... + +"Two days before, a quiet room, where Nelson's Prayer stands on the +mantel-shelf, saw the ripening of the plans that sent these sturdy +sons of Britain's four kingdoms marching all through the night. Sir +John French met the army corps commanders and unfolded to them his +plans for the offensive of the British army against the German +line at Neuve Chapelle. + +"The onslaught was to be a surprise. That was its essence. The +Germans were to be battered with artillery, then rushed before they +recovered their wits. We had thirty-six clear hours before us. Thus +long, it was reckoned (with complete accuracy as afterwards +appeared), must elapse before the Germans, whose line before us had +been weakened, could rush up reinforcements. To ensure the enemy's +being pinned down right and left of the 'great push,' an attack was +to be delivered north and south of the main thrust simultaneously +with the assault on Neuve Chapelle." + +After describing the impatience of the British soldiers as they awaited +the signal to open the attack, and the actual beginning of the +engagement, the narrator continues: + +"Then hell broke loose. With a mighty, hideous, screeching burst of +noise, hundreds of guns spoke. The men in the front trenches were +deafened by the sharp reports of the field-guns spitting out their +shells at close range to cut through the Germans' barbed wire +entanglements. In some cases the trajectory of these vicious +missiles was so flat that they passed only a few feet above the +British trenches. + +"The din was continuous. An officer who had the curious idea of +putting his ear to the ground said it was as though the earth were +being smitten great blows with a Titan's hammer. After the first +few shells had plunged screaming amid clouds of earth and dust into +the German trenches, a dense pall of smoke hung over the German +lines. The sickening fumes of lyddite blew back into the British +trenches. In some places the troops were smothered in earth and +dust or even spattered with blood from the hideous fragments of +human bodies that went hurtling through the air. At one point the +upper half of a German officer, his cap crammed on his head, was +blown into one of our trenches. + +"Words will never convey any adequate idea of the horror of those +five and thirty minutes. When the hands of officers' watches +pointed to five minutes past eight, whistles resounded along the +British lines. At the same moment the shells began to burst farther +ahead, for, by previous arrangement, the gunners, lengthening their +fuses, were 'lifting' on to the village of Neuve Chapelle so as to +leave the road open for our infantry to rush in and finish what the +guns had begun. + +"The shells were now falling thick among the houses of Neuve +Chapelle, a confused mass of buildings seen reddish through the +pillars of smoke and flying earth and dust. At the sound of the +whistle--alas for the bugle, once the herald of victory, now +banished from the fray!--our men scrambled out of the trenches and +hurried higgledy-piggledy into the open. Their officers were in +front. Many, wearing overcoats and carrying rifles with fixed +bayonets, closely resembled their men. + +[Illustration: BRITISH INDIAN TROOPS CHARGING THE GERMAN TRENCHES AT +NEUVE CHAPELLE + +Germany counted on a revolution in India, but the Indian troops proved +to be among the most loyal and brilliant fighters in the Imperial +forces.] + +"It was from the center of our attacking line that the assault was +pressed home soonest. The guns had done their work well. The +trenches were blown to irrecognizable pits dotted with dead. The +barbed wire had been cut like so much twine. Starting from the +Rue Tilleloy the Lincolns and the Berkshires were off the mark +first, with orders to swerve to right and left respectively as soon +as they had captured the first line of trenches, in order to let +the Royal Irish Rifles and the Rifle Brigade through to the +village. The Germans left alive in the trenches, half demented with +fright, surrounded by a welter of dead and dying men, mostly +surrendered. The Berkshires were opposed with the utmost gallantry +by two German officers who had remained alone in a trench serving a +machine gun. But the lads from Berkshire made their way into that +trench and bayoneted the Germans where they stood, fighting to the +last. The Lincolns, against desperate resistance, eventually +occupied their section of the trench and then waited for the +Irishmen and the Rifle Brigade to come and take the village ahead +of them. Meanwhile the second Thirty-ninth Garhwalis on the right +had taken their trenches with a rush and were away towards the +village and the Biez Wood. + +"Things had moved so fast that by the time the troops were ready +to advance against the village the artillery had not finished its +work. So, while the Lincolns and the Berks assembled the prisoners +who were trooping out of the trenches in all directions, the +infantry on whom devolved the honor of capturing the village, +waited. One saw them standing out in the open, laughing and +cracking jokes amid the terrific din made by the huge howitzer +shells screeching overhead and bursting in the village, the rattle +of machine guns all along the line, and the popping of rifles. Over +to the right where the Garhwalis had been working with the bayonet, +men were shouting hoarsely and wounded were groaning as the +stretcher-bearers, all heedless of bullets, moved swiftly to and +fro over the shell-torn ground. + +"There was bloody work in the village of Neuve Chapelle. The +capture of a place at the Bayonet point is generally a grim +business, in which instant, unconditional surrender is the only +means by which bloodshed, a deal of bloodshed, can be prevented. If +there is individual resistance here and there the attacking +troops cannot discriminate. They must go through, slaying as they +go such as oppose them (the Germans have a monopoly of the +finishing-off of wounded men), otherwise the enemy's resistance +would not be broken, and the assailants would be sniped and +enfiladed from hastily prepared strongholds at half a dozen +different points. + +[Illustration: CHARGING ON GERMAN TRENCHES IN GAS MASKS + +Each British soldier carried two gas-proof helmets. At the first alarm +of gas the helmet was instantly adjusted, for breathing even a whiff of +the yellow cloud meant death or serious injury. This picture shows the +earlier type before the respirator mask was devised to keep up with +Germany's development of gas warfare.] + +"The village was a sight that the men say they will never forget. +It looked as if an earthquake had struck it. The published +photographs do not give any idea of the indescribable mass of ruins +to which our guns reduced it. The chaos is so utter that the very +line of the streets is all but obliterated. + +"It was indeed a scene of desolation into which the Rifle +Brigade--the first regiment to enter the village, I believe--raced +headlong. Of the church only the bare shell remained, the interior +lost to view beneath a gigantic mound of debris. The little +churchyard was devastated, the very dead plucked from their graves, +broken coffins and ancient bones scattered about amid the fresher +dead, the slain of that morning--gray-green forms asprawl athwart +the tombs. Of all that once fair village but two things remained +intact--two great crucifixes reared aloft, one in the churchyard, +the other over against the chateau. From the cross, that is the +emblem of our faith, the figure of Christ, yet intact though all +pitted with bullet marks, looked down in mute agony on the slain in +the village. + +"The din and confusion were indescribable. Through the thick pall +of shell smoke Germans were seen on all sides, some emerging half +dazed from cellars and dugouts, their hands above their heads, +others dodging round the shattered houses, others firing from the +windows, from behind carts, even from behind the overturned +tombstones. Machine guns were firing from the houses on the +outskirts, rapping out their nerve-racking note above the noise of +the rifles. + +"Just outside the village there was a scene of tremendous +enthusiasm. The Rifle Brigade, smeared with dust and blood, fell in +with the Third Gurkhas with whom they had been brigaded in India. +The little brown men were dirty but radiant. Kukri in hand they had +very thoroughly gone through some houses at the cross-roads on the +Rue du Bois and silenced a party of Germans who were making +themselves a nuisance there with some machine guns. Riflemen and +Gurkhas cheered themselves hoarse." + +Unfortunately for the complete success of the brilliant attack a great +delay was caused by the failure of the artillery that was to have +cleared the barbed wire entanglements for the Twenty-third Brigade, and +because of the unlooked for destruction of the British field telephone +system by shell and rifle fire. The check of the Twenty-third Brigade +banked other commands back of it, and the Twenty-fifth Brigade was +obliged to fight at right angles to the line of battle. The Germans +quickly rallied at these points, and took a terrific toll in British +lives. Particularly was this true at three specially strong German +positions. One called Port Arthur by the British, another at Pietre +Mill and the third was the fortified bridge over Des Layes Creek. + +Because of the lack of telephone communication it was impossible to send +reinforcements to the troops that had been held up by barbed wire and +other emplacements and upon which German machine guns were pouring a +steady stream of death. + +As the Twenty-third Brigade had been held up by unbroken barbed wire +northwest of Neuve Chapelle, so the Seventh Division of the Fourth Corps +was also checked in its action against the ridge of Aubers on the left +of Neuve Chapelle. Under the plan of Sir Douglas Haig the Seventh +Division was to have waited until the Eighth Division had reached Neuve +Chapelle, when it was to charge through Aubers. With the tragic mistake +that cost the Twenty-third Brigade so dearly, the plan affecting the +Seventh Division went awry. The German artillery, observing the +concentration of the Seventh Division opposite Aubers, opened a vigorous +fire upon that front. During the afternoon General Haig ordered a +charge upon the German positions. The advance was made in short rushes +in the face of a fire that seemed to blaze from an inferno. Inch by inch +the ground was drenched with British blood. At 5.30 in the afternoon the +men dug themselves in under the relentless German fire. Further advance +became impossible. + +The night was one of horror. Every minute the men were under heavy +bombardment. At dawn on March 11th the dauntless British infantry rushed +from the trenches in an effort to carry Aubers, but the enemy artillery +now greatly reinforced made that task an impossible one. The trenches +occupied by the British forces were consolidated and the salient made by +the push was held by the British with bulldog tenacity. + +The number of men employed in the action on the British side was +forty-eight thousand. During the early surprise of the action the loss +was slight. Had the wire in front of the Twenty-third Brigade been cut +by the artillery assigned to such action, and had the telephone system +not been destroyed the success of the thrust would have been complete. +The delay of four and a half hours between the first and second phases +of the attack caused virtually all the losses sustained by the attacking +force. The total casualties were 12,811 men of the British forces. Of +these 1,751 officers and privates were taken prisoners and 10,000 +officers and men were killed and wounded. + +The action continued throughout Thursday, March 11th, with little change +in the general situation. The British still held Neuve Chapelle and +their intrenchments threatened Aubers. On Friday morning, March 12th, +the Crown Prince of Bavaria made a desperate attempt under cover of a +heavy fog to recapture the village. The effort was made in +characteristic German dense formations. The Westphalian and Bavarian +troops came out of Biez Wood in waves of gray-green, only to be blown to +pieces by British guns already loaded and laid on the mark. Elsewhere +the British waited until the Germans were scarcely more than fifty paces +away when they opened with deadly rapid fire before which the German +waves melted like snow before steam. It was such slaughter as the +British had experienced when held up before Aubers. Slaughter that +staggered Germany. + +So ended Neuve Chapelle, a battle in which the decision rested with the +British, a victory for which a fearful price had been paid but out of +which came a confidence that was to hearten the British nation and to +put sinews of steel into the British army for the dread days to come. + +The story of Neuve Chapelle was repeated in large and in miniature many +times during the deadlock of trench warfare on the western front until +victory finally came to the Allies. During those years the western +battle front lay like a wounded snake across France and Belgium. It +writhed and twisted, now this way, now that, as one side or the other +gambled with men and shells and airplanes for some brief advantage. It +bent back in a great bulge when von Hindenburg made his famous retreat +in the winter of 1916 after the Allies had pressed heavily against the +Teutonic front upon the ghastly field of the Somme. The record is one of +great value to military strategists, to the layman it is only a +succession of artillery barrages, of gas attacks, of aerial +reconnaissances and combats. + +One day grew to be very much like another in that deadlock of pythons. A +play for position here was met by a counter-thrust in another place. +German inventions were out-matched and outnumbered by those coming from +the Allied side. + +Trench warfare became the daily life of the men. They learned to fight +and live in the open. The power of human adaptation to abnormal +conditions was never better exemplified than in those weary, dreary +years on the western front. + +[Illustration: SCENE OF THE BLOODY BATTLES OF THE SOMME + +The tide of war swept over this terrain with terrific violence. Peronne +was taken by the British in their great offensive of 1916-17; in the +last desperate effort of the Germans in 1918 they plunged through +Peronne, advancing 35 miles, only to be hurled back with awful losses by +Marshal Foch.] + +The fighting-lines consisted generally of one, two, or three lines of +shelter-trenches lying parallel, measuring twenty or twenty-five inches +in width, and varying in length according to the number they hold; the +trenches were joined together by zigzag approaches and by a line of +reinforced trenches (armed with machine guns), which were almost +completely proof against rifle, machine gun, or gun fire. The ordinary +German trenches were almost invisible from 350 yards away, a distance +which permitted a very deadly fire. It is easy to realize that if the +enemy occupied three successive lines and a line of reinforced +intrenchments, the attacking line was likely, at the lowest estimate, to +be decimated during an advance of 350 yards--by rifle fire at a range of +350 yards' distance, and by the extremely quick fire of the machine +guns, each of which delivered from 300 to 600 bullets a minute with +absolute precision. In the field-trench, a soldier enjoyed far greater +security than he would if merely prone behind his knapsack in an +excavation barely fifteen inches deep. He had merely to stoop down a +little to disappear below the level of the ground and be immune from +infantry fire; moreover, his machine guns fired without endangering him. +In addition, this stooping position brought the man's knapsack on a +level with his helmet, thus forming some protection against shrapnel +and shell-splinters. + +At the back of the German trenches shelters were dug for +non-commissioned officers and for the commander of the unit. + +Ever since the outbreak of the war, the French troops in Lorraine, after +severe experiences, realized rapidly the advantages of the German +trenches, and began to study those they had taken gloriously. Officers, +non-commissioned officers, and men of the engineers were straightway +detached in every unit to teach the infantry how to construct similar +shelters. The education was quick, and very soon they had completed the +work necessary for the protection of all. The tools of the enemy +"casualties," the spades and picks left behind in deserted villages, +were all gladly piled on to the French soldiers' knapsacks, to be +carried willingly by the very men who used to grumble at being loaded +with even the smallest regulation tool. As soon as night had set in on +the occasion of a lull in the fighting, the digging of the trenches was +begun. Sometimes, in the darkness, the men of each fighting +nation--less than 500 yards away from their enemy--would hear the noise +of the workers of the foe: the sounds of picks and axes; the officers' +words of encouragement; and tacitly they would agree to an armistice +during which to dig shelters from which, in the morning, they would dash +out, to fight once more. + +Commodious, indeed, were some of the trench barracks. One French soldier +wrote: + +"In really up-to-date intrenchments you may find kitchens, +dining-rooms, bedrooms, and even stables. One regiment has first +class cow-sheds. One day a whimsical 'piou-piou,' finding a cow +wandering about in the danger zone, had the bright idea of finding +shelter for it in the trenches. The example was quickly followed, +and at this moment the ----th Infantry possess an underground farm, +in which fat kine, well cared for, give such quantities of milk +that regular distributions of butter are being made--and very good +butter, too." + +But this is not all. An officer writes home a tale of yet another one +of the comforts of home added to the equipment of the trenches: + +"We are clean people here. Thanks to the ingenuity of ----, we are +able to take a warm bath every day from ten to twelve. We call this +teasing the 'boches,' for this bathing-establishment of the latest +type is fitted up--would you believe it?--in the trenches!" + +Describing trenches occupied by the British in their protracted +"siege-warfare" in Northern France along and to the north of the Aisne +Valley, a British officer wrote: "In the firing-line the men sleep and +obtain shelter in the dugouts they have hollowed or 'undercut' in the +side of the trenches. These refuges are slightly raised above the +bottom of the trench, so as to remain dry in wet weather. The floor of +the trench is also sloped for purposes of draining. Some trenches +are provided with head-cover, and others with overhead cover, the +latter, of course, giving protection from the weather as well as from +shrapnel balls and splinters of shells.... At all points subject to +shell-fire access to the firing-line from behind is provided by +communication-trenches. These are now so good that it is possible to +cross in safety the fire-swept zone to the advanced trenches from the +billets in villages, the bivouacs in quarries, or the other places where +the headquarters of units happen to be." + +A cavalry subaltern gave the following account of life in the trenches: +"Picnicking in the open air, day and night (you never see a roof now), +is the only real method of existence. There are loads of straw to bed +down on, and everyone sleeps like a log, in turn, even with shrapnel +bursting within fifty yards." + +One English officer described the ravages of modern artillery fire, not +only upon all men, animals and buildings within its zone, but upon the +very face of nature itself: "In the trenches crouch lines of men, in +brown or gray or blue, coated with mud, unshaven, hollow-eyed with the +continual strain." + +"The fighting is now taking place over ground where both sides have for +weeks past been excavating in all directions," said another letter from +the front, "until it has become a perfect labyrinth. A trench runs +straight for a considerable distance, then it suddenly forks in three or +four directions. One branch merely leads into a ditch full of water, +used in drier weather as a means of communication; another ends abruptly +in a cul-de-sac, probably an abandoned sap-head; the third winds on, +leading into galleries and passages further forward. + +"Sometimes where new ground is broken the spade turns up the +long-buried dead, ghastly relics of former fights, and on all sides +the surface of the earth is ploughed and furrowed by fragments of +shell and bombs and distorted by mines. Seen from a distance, this +apparently confused mass of passages, crossing and recrossing one +another, resembles an irregular gridiron. + +"The life led by the infantry on both sides at close quarters is a +strange, cramped existence, with death always near, either by means +of some missile from above or some mine explosion from beneath--a +life which has one dull, monotonous background of mud and water. +Even when there is but little fighting the troops are kept hard at +work strengthening the existing defenses, constructing others, and +improvising the shelter imperative in such weather." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ITALY DECLARES WAR ON AUSTRIA + + +For many years before the great war began the great powers of Europe +were divided into two great alliances, the Triple Entente, composed of +Russia, France and England, and the Triple Alliance, composed of +Germany, Austria and Italy. When the war began Italy refused to join +with Germany and Austria. Why? The answer to this question throws a +vivid light on the origin of the war. + +Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance; she knew the facts, not only +what was given to the public, but the inside facts. According to the +terms of the alliance each member was bound to stand by each other only +in case of attack. Italy refused to join with Austria and Germany +because they were the aggressors. The constant assertions of the German +statesmen, and of the Kaiser himself, that war had been forced upon +them were declared untrue by their associate Italy in the very +beginning, and the verdict of Italy was the verdict of the world. Not +much was said in the beginning about Italy's abstention from war. The +Germans, indeed, sneered a little and hinted that some day Italy would +be made to regret her course, but now that the Teuton snake is scotched +the importance of Italy's action has been perceived and appraised at its +true value. + +The Germans from the very beginning understood the real danger that +might come to the Central Powers through Italian action. Every effort +was made by the foreign office to keep her neutral. First threats were +used, later promises were held out of addition to Italian territory if +she would send her troops to Germany's assistance. When this failed the +most strenuous efforts were made to keep Italy neutral, and a former +German premier, Prince von Buelow, was sent to Italy for this purpose. +Socialist leaders, too, were sent from Germany to urge the Italian +Socialists to insist upon neutrality. + +[Illustration: ITALY'S TITANIC LABOR TO CONQUER THE ALPS + +When the Italians were making their first mighty advance against Austria +descriptions came through of the almost unbelievable natural obstacles +they were conquering. Getting one of the monster guns into position in +the mountains, as shown above, over the track that had to be built for +every foot of its progress, was one such handicap.] + +In July, 1914, the Italian Government was not taken by surprise. They +had observed the increase year by year of the German army and of the +German fleet. At the end of the Balkan wars they had been asked whether +they would agree to an Austrian attack upon Serbia. They had +consequently long been deliberating as to what their course should be in +case of war, and they had made up their minds that under no +circumstances would they aid Germany against England. + +Quite independently of her long-standing friendship with England it +would be suicide to Italy in her geographical position to enter a war +which should permit her coast to be attacked by the English and French +navies, and her participation in the Triple Alliance always carried the +proviso that it did not bind her to fight England. This was well known +in the German foreign office, and, indeed, in France where the writers +upon war were reckoning confidently on the withdrawing of Italy from the +Triple Alliance, and planning to use the entire forces of France against +Germany. + +A better understanding of the Italian position will result from a +consideration of the origin of the Triple Alliance. + +After the war of 1870, Bismarck, perceiving the quick recovery of +France, considered the advisability of attacking her again, and, to use +his own words, "bleeding her white." He found, however, that if this +were attempted France would be joined by Russia and England and he gave +up this plan. In order, however, to render France powerless he planned +an alliance which should be able to control Europe. A league between +Germany, Austria and Russia was his desire, and for some time every +opportunity was taken to develop friendship with the Czar. Russia, +however, remained cool. Her Pan-Slavonic sympathies were opposed to the +interests of Germany. Bismarck, therefore, determined, without losing +the friendship of Russia, to persuade Italy to join in the continental +combination. Italy, at the time, was the least formidable of the six +great powers, but Bismarck foresaw that she could be made good use of +in such a combination. + +At that time Italy, just after the completion of Italian unity, found +herself in great perplexity. Her treatment of the Pope had brought about +the hostility of Roman Catholics throughout the world. She feared both +France and Austria, who were strong Catholic countries, and hardly knew +where to look for friends. The great Italian leader at the time was +Francesco Crispi, who, beginning as a Radical and a conspirator, had +become a constitutional statesman. Bismarck professed the greatest +friendship for Crispi, and gave Crispi to understand that he approved of +Italy's aspirations on the Adriatic and in Tunis. + +The next year, however, at the Berlin Congress, Italy's interests were +ignored, and finally, in 1882, France seized Tunis, to the great +indignation of the Italians. It has been shown in more recent times that +the French seizure of Tunis was directly due to Bismarck's instigation. + +The Italians having been roused to wrath, Bismarck proceeded to offer +them a place in the councils of the Triple Alliance. It was an easy +argument that such an alliance would protect them against France, and no +doubt it was promised that it would free them from the danger of attack +by Austria. England, at the time, was isolated, and Italy continued on +the best understanding with her. + +The immediate result of the alliance was a growth of Italian hostility +toward France, which led, in 1889, to a tariff war on France. Meanwhile +German commercial and financial enterprises were pushed throughout the +Italian peninsula. What did Italy gain by this? Her commerce was +weakened, and Austria permitted herself every possible unfriendly act +except open war. + +As time went on Germany and Austria became more and more arrogant. +Italy's ambitions on the Balkan peninsula were absolutely ignored. In +1908 Austria appropriated Bosnia and Herzegovina, another blow to Italy. +By this time Italy understood the situation well, and that same year, +seeing no future for herself in Europe, she swooped down on Tripoli. In +doing this she forestalled Germany herself, for Germany had determined +to seize Tripoli. + +[Illustration: HOW THE POWERS DIVIDED NORTHERN AFRICA] + +Both Germany and Austria were opposed to this action of Italy, but +Italy's eyes were now open. Thirty years of political alliance had +created no sympathy among the Italians for the Germans. Moreover, it was +not entirely a question of policy. The lordly arrogance of the +Prussians caused sharp antagonism. The Italians were lovers of liberty; +the Germans pledged toward autocracy. They found greater sympathy in +England and in France. + +"I am a son of liberty," said Cavour, "to her I owe all that I am." +That, too, is Italy's motto. When the war broke out popular sympathy in +Italy was therefore strongly in favor of the Allies. The party in power, +the Liberals, adopted the policy of neutrality for the time being, but +thousands of Italians volunteered for the French and British service, +and the anti-German feeling grew greater as time went on. + +Finally, on the 23rd of May, 1915, the Italian Government withdrew its +ambassador to Austria and declared war. A complete statement of the +negotiations between Italy and Austria-Hungary, which led to this +declaration, was delivered to the Government of the United States by the +Italian Ambassador on May 25th. This statement, of which the following +is an extract, lucidly presented the Italian position: + +"The Triple Alliance was essentially defensive, and designed solely +to preserve the _status quo_, or in other words equilibrium, in +Europe. That these were its only objects and purposes is +established by the letter and spirit of the treaty, as well as by +the intentions clearly described and set forth in official acts of +the ministers who created the alliance and confirmed and renewed it +in the interests of peace, which always has inspired Italian +policy. The treaty, as long as its intents and purposes had been +loyally interpreted and regarded, and as long as it had not been +used as a pretext for aggression against others, greatly +contributed to the elimination and settlement of causes of +conflict, and for many years assured to Europe the inestimable +benefits of peace. But Austria-Hungary severed the treaty by her +own hands. She rejected the response of Serbia which gave to her +all the satisfaction she could legitimately claim. She refused to +listen to the conciliatory proposals presented by Italy in +conjunction with other powers in the effort to spare Europe from a +vast conflict, certain to drench the Continent with blood and to +reduce it to ruin beyond the conception of human imagination, and +finally she provoked that conflict. + +"Article first of the treaty embodied the usual and necessary +obligation of such pacts--the pledge to exchange views upon any +fact and economic questions of a general nature that might arise +pursuant to its terms. None of the contracting parties had the +right to undertake without a previous agreement any step the +consequence of which might impose a duty upon the other signatories +arising under the alliance, or which would in any way whatsoever +encroach upon their vital interests. This article was violated by +Austria-Hungary, when she sent to Serbia her note dated July 23, +1914, an action taken without the previous assent of Italy. Thus, +Austria-Hungary violated beyond doubt one of the fundamental +provisions of the treaty. The obligation of Austria-Hungary to come +to a previous understanding with Italy was the greater because her +obstinate policy against Serbia gave rise to a situation which +directly tended toward the provocation of a European war. + +[Illustration: _Photo by James H. Hare_. + +WAITING THE ORDER TO ATTACK + +Italian shock troops, young picked soldiers, resting before the order +came to hurl themselves against the Austrians.] + +"As far back as the beginning of July, 1914, the Italian Government, +preoccupied by the prevailing feeling in Vienna, caused to be laid +before the Austro-Hungarian Government a number of suggestions +advising moderation, and warning it of the impending danger of a +European outbreak. The course adopted by Austria-Hungary against +Serbia constituted, moreover, a direct encroachment upon the general +interests of Italy both political and economical in the Balkan +peninsula. Austria-Hungary could not for a moment imagine that Italy +could remain indifferent while Serbian independence was being trodden +upon. On a number of occasions theretofore, Italy gave Austria to +understand, in friendly but clear terms, that the independence of +Serbia was considered by Italy as essential to the Balkan equilibrium. +Austria-Hungary was further advised that Italy could never permit that +equilibrium to be disturbed through a prejudice. This warning had been +conveyed not only by her diplomats in private conversations with +responsible Austro-Hungarian officials, but was proclaimed publicly +by Italian statesmen on the floors of Parliament. + +"Therefore, when Austria-Hungary ignored the usual practices and +menaced Serbia by sending her ultimatum, without in any way +notifying the Italian Government of what she proposed to do, indeed +leaving that government to learn of her action through the press, +rather than through the usual channels of diplomacy, when +Austria-Hungary took this unprecedented course she not only severed +her alliance with Italy but committed an act inimical to Italy's +interests.... + +"After the European war broke out Italy sought to come to an +understanding with Austria-Hungary with a view to a settlement +satisfactory to both parties which might avert existing and future +trouble. Her efforts were in vain, notwithstanding the efforts of +Germany, which for months endeavored to induce Austria-Hungary to +comply with Italy's suggestion thereby recognizing the propriety +and legitimacy of the Italian attitude. Therefore Italy found +herself compelled by the force of events to seek other solutions. + +"Inasmuch as the treaty of alliance with Austria-Hungary had ceased +virtually to exist and served only to prolong a state of continual +friction and mutual suspicion, the Italian Ambassador at Vienna was +instructed to declare to the Austro-Hungarian Government that the +Italian Government considered itself free from the ties arising out +of the treaty of the Triple Alliance in so far as Austria-Hungary +was concerned. This communication was delivered in Vienna on May +4th. + +"Subsequently to this declaration, and after we had been obliged to +take steps for the protection of our interests, the Austro-Hungarian +Government submitted new concessions, which, however, were deemed +insufficient and by no means met our minimum demands. These offers +could not be considered under the circumstances. The Italian +Government taking into consideration what has been stated above, and +supported by the vote of Parliament and the solemn manifestation of +the country came to the decision that any further delay would be +inadvisable. Therefore, on May 23d, it was declared, in the name of +the King, to the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Rome, that, beginning +the following day, May 24th, it would consider itself in a state of +war with Austria-Hungary." + +It was a closely reasoned argument that the Italian statesmen presented, +but there was something more than reasoned argument in Italy's course. +She had been waiting for years for the opportunity to bring under her +flag the men of her own race still held in subjection by hated Austria. +Now was the time or never. Her people had become roused. Mobs filled the +streets. Great orators, even the great poet, D'Annunzio, proclaimed a +holy war. The sinking of the Lusitania poured oil on the flames, and the +treatment of Belgium and eastern France added to the fury. + +[Illustration: _Photo by International Film Service_. + +TRANSPORTING WOUNDED AMID THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE ITALIAN MOUNTAIN FRONT + +The isolated mountain positions were only accessible to the bases of +operations by these aerial cable cars. This picture, taken during the +Austrian retreat, shows a wounded soldier being taken down the mountain +by this means.] + +Italian statesmen, even if they had so desired, could not have withstood +the pressure. It was a crusade for Italia Irredenta, for +civilization, for humanity. The country had been flooded by +representatives of German propaganda, papers had been hired and, by all +report, money in large amounts distributed. But every German effort was +swept away in the flood of feeling. It was the people's war. + +Amid tremendous enthusiasm the Chamber of Deputies adopted by vote of +407 to 74 the bill conferring upon the government full power to make +war. All members of the Cabinet maintained absolute silence regarding +what step should follow the action of the chamber. When the chamber +reassembled on May 20th, after its long recess, there were present 482 +Deputies out of 500, the absentees remaining away on account of illness. +The Deputies especially applauded were those who wore military uniforms +and who had asked permission for leave from their military duties to be +present at the sitting. All the tribunes were filled to overflowing. No +representatives of Germany, Austria or Turkey were to be seen in the +diplomatic tribune. The first envoy to arrive was Thomas Nelson Page, +the American Ambassador, who was accompanied by his staff. M. Barrere, +Sir J. Bennell Rodd, and Michel de Giers, the French, British and +Russian Ambassadors, respectively, appeared a few minutes later and all +were greeted with applause, which was shared by the Belgian, Greek and +Roumanian ministers. George B. McClellan, one-time mayor of New York, +occupied a seat in the President's tribune. + +A few minutes before the session began the poet, Gabrielle D'Annunzio, +one of the strongest advocates of war, appeared in the rear of the +public tribune which was so crowded that it seemed impossible to squeeze +in anybody else. But the moment the people saw him they lifted him +shoulder high and passed him over their heads to the first row. + +The entire chamber, and all those occupying the other tribunes, rose and +applauded for five minutes, crying "Viva D'Annunzio!" Later thousands +sent him their cards and in return received his autograph bearing the +date of this eventful day. Senor Marcora, President of the Chamber, +took his place at three o'clock. All the members of the House, and +everybody in the galleries, stood up to acclaim the old follower of +Garibaldi. Premier Salandra, followed by all the members of the Cabinet, +entered shortly afterward. It was a solemn moment. Then a delirium of +cries broke out. + +"Viva Salandra!" roared the Deputies, and the cheering lasted for a long +time. After the formalities of the opening, Premier Salandra, deeply +moved by the demonstration, arose and said: + +"Gentlemen, I have the honor to present to you a bill to meet the +eventual expenditures of a national war." + +The announcement was greeted by further prolonged applause. The +Premier's speech was continually interrupted by enthusiasm, and at times +he could hardly continue on account of the wild cheering. The climax was +reached when he made a reference to the army and navy. Then the cries +seemed interminable, and those on the floor of the House and in the +galleries turned to the military tribune from which the officers +answered by waving their hands and handkerchiefs. + +At the end of the Premier's speech there were deafening vivas for the +King, war and Italy. Thirty-four Socialists refused to join the cheers, +even in the cry "Viva Italia!" and they were hooted and hissed. + +The action of the Italian Government created intense feeling. A +newspaper man in Vienna, describing the Austrian indignation, said: + +"The exasperation and contempt which Italy's treacherous surprise attack +and her hypocritical justification aroused here, are quite +indescribable. Neither Serbia nor Russia, despite a long and costly war, +is hated. Italy, however, or rather those Italian would-be politicians +and business men who offer violence to the majority of peaceful Italian +people, are unutterably hated." On the other hand German papers spoke +with much more moderation and recognized that Italy was acting in an +entirely natural manner. + +On the very day on which war was declared active operations were begun. +Both sides had been making elaborate preparations. Austria had prepared +herself by building strong fortifications in which were employed the +latest technical improvements in defensive warfare. Upon the Garso and +around Gorizia the Austrians had placed innumerable batteries of +powerful guns mounted on rails and protected by armor plates. They also +had a great number of medium and smaller guns. A net of trenches had +been excavated and constructed in cement all along the edge of the hills +which dominated the course of the Isonzo River. + +These trenches, occupying a position nearly impregnable because so +mountainous, were defended by every modern device. They were protected +with numerous machine guns, surrounded by wire entanglements through +which ran a strong electric current. These lines of trenches followed +without interruption from the banks of the Isonzo to the summit of the +mountains which dominate it; they formed a kind of formidable staircase +which had to be conquered step by step with enormous sacrifice. + +During this same period General Cadorna, then head of the Italian army, +had been bringing that army up to date, working for high efficiency and +piling up munitions. + +The Army of Italy was a formidable one. Every man in Italy is liable to +military service for a period of nineteen years from the age of twenty +to thirty-nine. + +At the time of the war the approximate war strength of the army was as +follows: Officers, 41,692; active army with the colors, 289,910; +reserve, 638,979; mobile militia, 299,956; territorial militia, +1,889,659; total strength, 3,159,836. The above number of total men +available included upward of 1,200,000 fully trained soldiers, with +perhaps another 800,000 partially trained men, the remaining million +being completely untrained men. This army was splendidly armed, its +officers well educated, and the men brave and disciplined. + +The Italian plan of campaign apparently consisted first, in neutralizing +the Trentino by capturing or covering the defenses and cutting the two +lines of communication with Austria proper, the railway which ran south +from Insbruck, and that which ran southwest from Vienna and joined the +former at Fransensfets; and second, in a movement in force on the +eastern frontier, with Trieste captured or covered on the right flank in +the direction of the Austrian fortress at Klagenfurt and Vienna. + +The first blow was struck by Austria on the day that war was declared. +On that day bombs were dropped on Venice, and five other Adriatic ports +were shelled from air, and some from sea. The Italian armies invaded +Austria on the east with great rapidity, and by May 27th a part of the +Italian forces had moved across the Isonzo River to Monfalcone, sixteen +miles northwest of Trieste. Another force penetrated further to the +north in the Crown land of Gorizia, and Gradisco. Reports from Italy +were that encounters with the enemy had thus far been merely outpost +skirmishes, but had allowed Italy to occupy advantageous positions on +Austrian territory. By June 1st, the Italians had occupied the greater +part of the west bank of the Isonzo, with little opposition. The left +wing was beyond the Isonzo, at Caporetto, fighting among the boulders of +Monte Nero, where the Austrian artillery had strong positions. +Monfalcone was kept under constant bombardment. + +A general Italian advance took place on June 7th across the Isonzo River +from Caporetto to the sea, a distance of about forty miles. Monfalcone +was taken by the Italians on June the 10th, the first serious blow +against Trieste, as Monfalcone was a railway junction, and its +electrical works operated the light and power of Trieste. + +Next day the center made a great blow against Gradisca and Sagrado, but +the river line proved too strong. The only success was won that night at +Plava, north of Borrigia, which was carried by a surprise attack. The +Isonzo was in flood, and presented a serious obstacle to the onrush of +the Italians. By June 14th the Italian eastern army had pushed forward +along the gulf of Trieste toward the town of Nebrosina, nine miles from +Trieste. + +Meanwhile, the Austrian armies were being constantly strengthened. The +initial weakness of the Austrian defensive was due to the fact that the +armies normally assigned to the invaded region had been sent to defend +the Austrian line in Galicia against the Russians. When Italy began her +invasion the defenses of the country were chiefly in the hands of +hastily mobilized youths below the military age of nineteen, and men +above the military age of forty-two. From now on Austrian troops began +to arrive from the Galician front, some of these representing the finest +fighting material in the Austrian ranks. The chance of an easy victory +was slipping from Italy's hands. The Italian advance was checked. + +On the 15th of June the Italians carried an important position on Monte +Nero, climbing the rocks by night and attacking by dawn. But this +conquest did not help much. No guns of great caliber could be carried on +the mountain, and Tolmino, which had been heavily fortified, and +contained a garrison of some thirty thousand men, was entirely safe. +The following week there were repeated counter-attacks at Plava and on +Monte Nero, but the Italians held what they had won. + +The position was now that Cadorna's left wing was in a strong position, +but could not do much against Tolmino. His center was facing the great +camp of Gorizia, while his right was on the edge of the Carso, and had +advanced as far as Dueno, on the Monfalcone-Trieste Railroad. The army +was in position to make an attack upon Gorizia. On the 2d of July an +attack on a broad front was aimed directly at Gorizia. The left was to +swing around against the defenses of Gorizia to the north; the center +was directed against the Gorizia bridge head, and the right was to swing +around to the northeast through the Doberdo plateau. If it succeeded the +Trieste railway would be cut and Gorizia must fall. + +[Illustration: AREA OF CADORNA'S OPERATIONS + +Showing the Isonzo Valley and the town of Gorizia which fell to the +Italians August 9, 1916.] + +Long and confused fighting followed. The center and the right of the +Italian army slowly advanced their line, taking over one thousand +prisoners. For days there was continuous bombardment and +counter-bombardment. The fighting on the left was terrific. In the +neighborhood of Plava the Italian forces found themselves opposed by +Hungarian troops, unaccustomed to mountain warfare, who at first fell +back. Austrian reserves came to their aid, and flung back three times +the Italian charge. + +Three new Italian brigades were brought up, and King Victor Emanuel +himself came to encourage his troops. The final assault carried the +heights. On the 22d of July the Italian right captured the crest of San +Michele, which dominates the Doberdo plateau. + +Meanwhile the Austrian armies were being heavily reinforced, and General +Cadorna found himself unable to make progress. Much ground had been won +but Gorizia was still unredeemed. Many important vantage points were in +Italian hands, but it was difficult to advance. The result of the three +months' campaign was a stalemate. In the high mountains to the north +Italy's campaign was a war of defense. To undertake her offensive on the +Isonzo it was necessary that she guard her flanks and rear. The +Tyrolese battle-ground contained three distinct points where it was +necessary to operate; the Trentino Salient, the passes of the Dolomites, +and the passes of the Carnic Alps. + +Early in June Italy had won control of the ridges of the mountains in +the two latter points, but the problem in the Trentino was more +difficult. It was necessary, because of the converging valleys, to push +her front well inland. On the Carnic Alps the fighting consisted of +unimportant skirmishes. The main struggle centered around the pass of +Monte Croce Carnico. + +In two weeks the Alpini had seized dominating positions to the west of +the pass, but the Austrians clung to the farther slopes. A great deal of +picturesque fighting went on, but not much progress was made. Further +west in the Dolomite region there was more fighting. On the 30th of May +Cartina had been captured, and the Italians moved north toward the +Pusterthal Railway. Progress was slow, as the main routes to the railway +were difficult. + +By the middle of August they were only a few miles from the railway, +but all the routes led through defiles, and the neighboring heights were +in the possession of the Austrians. To capture these heights was a most +difficult feat, which the Italians performed in the most brilliant way; +but even after they had passed these defiles success was not yet won. +Each Italian column was in its own grove, with no lateral communication. +The Austrians could mass themselves where they pleased. As a result the +Italian forces were compelled to halt. + +In the Trentino campaign the Italians soon captured the passes, and +moved against Trente and Roverito. These towns were heavily fortified, +as were their surrounding heights. The campaign became a series of small +fights on mountain peaks and mountain ridges. Only small bodies of +troops could maneuver, and the raising of guns up steep precipices was +extremely difficult. The Italians slowly succeeded in gaining ground, +and established a chain of posts around the heights so that often one +would see guns and barbed wire entrenchments at a height of more than +ten thousand feet among the crevasses of the glaciers. The Alpini +performed wonderful feats of physical endurance, but the plains of +Lombardy were still safe. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GLORIOUS GALLIPOLI + + +If ever the true mettle and temper of a people were tried and +exemplified in the crucible of battle, that battle was the naval and +land engagement embracing Gallipoli and the Dardanelles and the people +so tested, the British race. Separated in point of time but united in +its general plan, the engagements present a picture of heroism founded +upon strategic mistakes; of such perseverance and dogged determination +against overwhelming natural and artificial odds as even the pages of +supreme British bravery cannot parallel. The immortal charge of the +Light Brigade was of a piece with Gallipoli, but it was merely a battle +fragment and its glorious record was written in blood within the scope +of a comparatively few inspired minutes. In the mine-strewn Dardanelles +and upon the sun-baked, blood-drenched rocky slopes of Gallipoli, death +always partnered every sailor and soldier. As at Balaklava, virtually +everyone knew that some one had blundered, but the army and the navy as +one man fought to the bitter end to make the best of a bad bargain, to +tear triumph out of impossibilities. + +France co-operated with the British in the naval engagement, but the +greater sacrifice, the supreme charnel house of the war, the British +race reserved for itself. There, the yeomanry of England, the unsung +county regiments whose sacrifices and achievements have been neglected +in England's generous desire to honor the men from "down under," the +Australians and New Zealanders grouped under the imperishable title of +the Anzacs--there the Scotch, Welsh and Irish knit in one devoted +British Army with the great fighters from the self-governing colonies +waged a battle so hopeless and so gallant that the word Gallipoli shall +always remind the world how man may triumph over the fear of death; how +with nothing but defeat and disaster before them, men may go to their +deaths as unconcernedly as in other days they go to their nightly sleep. + +On November 5, 1914, Great Britain declared war upon Turkey. +Hostilities, however, had preceded the declaration. On November 3d the +combined French and British squadrons had bombarded the entrance forts. +This was merely intended to draw the fire of the forts and make an +estimate of their power. From that time on a blockade was maintained, +and on the 13th of December a submarine, commanded by Lieutenant +Holbrook, entered the straits and torpedoed the Turkish warship +Messoudieh, which was guarding the mine fields. + +By the end of January the blockading fleet, through constant +reinforcement, had become very strong, and had seized the Island of +Tenedos and taken possession of Lemnos, which nominally belonged to +Greece, as bases for naval operations. On the 19th of February began the +great attack upon the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles, which +attracted the attention of the world for nearly a year. + +The expedition against the Dardanelles had been considered with the +greatest care, and approved by the naval authorities. That their +judgment was correct, however, is another question. The history of naval +warfare seems to make very plain that a ship, however powerful, is at a +tremendous disadvantage when attacking forts on land. The badly served +cannon of Alexandria fell, indeed, before a British fleet, but Gallipoli +had been fortified by German engineers, and its guns were the Krupp +cannon. The British fleet found itself opposed by unsurmountable +obstacles. Looking backward it seems possible, that if at the very start +Lord Kitchener had permitted a detachment of troops to accompany the +fleet, success might have been attained, but without the army the navy +was powerless. + +The Peninsula of Gallipoli is a tongue of land about fifty miles long, +varying in width from twelve to two or three miles. It is a mass of +rocky hills so steep that in many places it is a matter of difficulty to +reach their tops. On it are a few villages, but there are no decent +roads and little cultivated land. On the southern shore of the +Dardanelles conditions are nearly the same. Here, the entrance is a flat +and marshy plain, but east of this plain are hills three thousand feet +high. The high ground overhangs the sea passage on both sides, and with +the exception of narrow bits of beach at their base, presents almost no +opportunity for landing. + +A strong current continually sifts down the straits from the Sea of +Marmora. + +Forts were placed at the entrance on both the north and south side, but +they were not heavily armed and were merely outposts. Fourteen miles +from the mouth the straits become quite narrow, making a sharp turn +directly north and then resuming their original direction. The channel +thus makes a sharp double bend. At the entrance to the strait, known as +the Narrows, were powerful fortresses, and the slopes were studded with +batteries. Along both sides of the channel the low ground was lined with +batteries. It was possible to attack the forts at fairly long range, +but there was no room to bring any large number of ships into action +at the same time. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE GALLIPOLI PENINSULA + +Showing the various landing-places, with inset of the Sari-Bair Region.] + +At the time of the Gallipoli adventure there were probably nearly half a +million of men available for a defense of the straits, men well armed +and well trained under German leadership. The first step was +comparatively easy. The operations against the other forts began at 8 +A.M. on Friday, the 19th of February. The ships engaged were the +Inflexible, the Agamemnon, the Cornwallis, the Vengeance and the Triumph +from the British fleet, and the Bouvet, Suffren, and the Gaulois from +the French, all under the command of Vice-Admiral Sackville Carden. The +French squadron was under Rear-Admiral Gueprette. A flotilla of +destroyers accompanied the fleet, and airplanes were sent up to guide +the fire of the battleships. + +At first the fleet was arranged in a semicircle some miles out to sea +from the entrance to the strait. It afforded an inspiring spectacle as +the ships came along and took up position, and the picture became most +awe-inspiring when the guns began to boom. The bombardment at first was +slow. Shells from the various ships screaming through the air at the +rate of about one every two minutes. + +The Turkish batteries, however, were not to be drawn, and, seeing this, +the British Admiral sent one British ship and one French ship close in +shore toward the Sedd-el-Bahr forts. As they went in they sped right +under the guns of the shore batteries, which could no longer resist the +temptation to see what they could do. Puffs of white smoke dotted the +landscape on the far shore, and dull booms echoed over the placid water. +Around the ships fountains of water sprang up into the air. The enemy +had been drawn, but his marksmanship was obviously very bad. Not a +single shot directed against the ships went within a hundred yards of +either. + +At sundown on account of the failing light Admiral Carden withdrew the +fleet. On account of the bad weather the attack was not renewed until +February 25th. It appeared that the outer forts had not been seriously +damaged on the 19th, and that what injury had been done had been +repaired. In an hour and a half the Cape Helles fort was silenced. The +Agamemnon was hit by a shell fired at a range of six miles, which killed +three men and wounded five. Early in the afternoon Sedd-el-Bahr was +attacked at close range, but not silenced till after 5 P.M. At this time +British trawlers began sweeping the entrance for mines, and during the +next day the mine field was cleared for a distance of four miles up the +straits. + +As soon as this clearance was made the Albion, Vengeance and Majestic +steamed into the strait and attacked Fort Dardanos, a fortification some +distance below the Narrows. The Turks replied vigorously, not only from +Dardanos but from batteries scattered along the shore. Believing that +the Turks had abandoned the forts at the entrance, landing parties of +marines were sent to shore. In a short time, however, they met a +detachment of the enemy and were compelled to retreat to their boats. +The outer forts, however, were destroyed, and their destruction was +extremely encouraging to the Allies. + +For a time a series of minor operations was carried on, meeting with +much success. Besides attacks on forts inside of the strait, Smyrna was +bombarded on March the 5th, and on March the 6th the Queen Elizabeth, +the Agamemnon and the Ocean bombarded the forts at Chanak on the Asiatic +side of the Narrows, from a position in the gulf of Saros on the outer +side of the Gallipoli Peninsula. To all of these attacks the Turks +replied vigorously and the attacking ships were repeatedly struck, but +with no loss of life. On the 7th of March Fort Dardanos was silenced, +and Fort Chanak ceased firing, but, as it turned out, only temporarily. + +Preparations were now being made for a serious effort against the +Narrows. The date of the attack was fixed for March 17th, weather +permitting. On the 16th Admiral Carden was stricken down with illness +and was invalided by medical authority. Admiral de Roebeck, second in +command, who had been very active in the operations, was appointed to +succeed him. Admiral de Roebeck was in cordial sympathy with the +purposes of the expedition and determined to attack on the 18th of +March. At a quarter to eleven that morning, the Queen Elizabeth, +Inflexible, Agamemnon, Lord Nelson, the Triumph and Prince George +steamed up the straits towards the Narrows, and bombarded the forts of +Chanak. At 12.22 the French squadron, consisting of the Suffren, +Gaulois, Charlemagne, and Bouvet, advanced up the Dardanelles to aid +their English associates. + +Under the combined fire of the two squadrons the Turkish forts, which at +first replied strongly, were finally silenced. All of the ships, +however, were hit several times during this part of the action. A third +squadron, including the Vengeance, Irresistible, Albion, Ocean, +Swiftshore and Majestic, then advanced to relieve the six old +battleships inside the strait. + +[Illustration: THE LOSS OF THE "IRRESISTIBLE" + +During an attack on the Dardanelles the British battleship +"Irresistible" struck a Turkish mine and sank in a few minutes. Severe +losses of similar character demonstrated that it would be impossible to +force the strait by naval attack.] + +As the French squadron, which had engaged the forts in a most brilliant +fashion, was passing out the Bouvet was blown up by a drifting mine +and sank in less than three minutes, carrying with her most of her crew. +At 2.36 P.M. the relief battleships renewed the attack on the forts, +which again opened fire. The Turks were now sending mines down with the +current. At 4.09 the Irresistible quitted the line, listing heavily, and +at 5.50 she sank, having probably struck a drifting mine. At 6.05 the +Ocean, also having struck a mine, sank in deep water. Practically the +whole of the crews were removed safely. The Gaulois was damaged by +gunfire; the Inflexible had her forward control position hit by a heavy +shell, which killed and wounded the majority of the men and officers at +that station and set her on fire. At sunset the forts were still in +action, and during the twilight the Allied fleet slipped out of the +Dardanelles. + +Meantime, an expeditionary force was being gathered. The largest portion +of this force came from Great Britain, but France also provided a +considerable number from her marines and from her Colonial army. Both +nations avoided, as far as possible, drawing upon the armies destined +for service in France. + +In the English army there were divisions from Australia and New Zealand +and there were a number of Indian troops and Territorials. The whole +force was put under the command of General Sir Ian Hamilton. The +commander-in-chief on the Turkish side was the German General Liman von +Sanders, the former chief of the military mission at Constantinople. The +bulk of the expeditionary force, which numbered altogether about a +hundred and twenty thousand men, were, therefore, men whose presence in +the east did not weaken the Allied strength in the west. + +The great difficulty of the new plan was that it was impossible to +surprise the enemy. The whole Gallipoli Peninsula was so small that a +landing at any point would be promptly observed, and the nature of the +ground was of such a character that progress from any point must +necessarily be slow. The problem was therefore a simple one. + +The expeditionary force gathered in Egypt during the first half of +April, and about the middle of the month was being sent to Lemnos. +Germany was well aware of the English plans, and was doing all that it +could to provide a defense. + +On April 28d the movement began, and about five o'clock in the afternoon +the first of the transports slowly made its way through the maze of +shipping toward the entrance of Mudros Bay. + +Immediately the patent apathy, which had gradually overwhelmed everyone, +changed to the utmost enthusiasm, and as the liners steamed through the +fleet, their decks yellow with khaki, the crews of the warships cheered +them on to victory while the bands played them out with an unending +variety of popular airs. The soldiers in the transports answered this +last salutation from the navy with deafening cheers, and no more +inspiring spectacle has ever been seen than this great expedition. + +The whole of the fleet from the transports had been divided up into five +divisions and there were three main landings. The 29th Division +disembarked off the point of the Gallipoli Peninsula near Sedd-el-Bahr, +where its operations were covered both from the gulf of Saros and from +the Dardanelles by the fire of the covering warships. The Australian and +New Zealand contingent disembarked north of Gaba Tepe. Further north a +naval division made a demonstration. + +Awaiting the Australians was a party of Turks who had been intrenched +almost on the shore and had opened up a terrific fusillade. The +Australian volunteers rose, as a man, to the occasion. They waited +neither for orders nor for the boats to reach the beach, but springing +out into the sea they went in to the shore, and forming some sort of a +rough line rushed straight on the flashes of the enemy's rifles. In less +than a quarter of an hour the Turks were in full flight. + +While the Australians and New Zealanders, or Anzacs as they are now +generally known from the initials of the words Australian-New Zealand +Army Corps, were fighting so gallantly at Gaba Tepe, the British troops +were landing at the southern end of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The +advance was slow and difficult. The Turk was pushed back, little by +little, and the ground gained organized. The details of this progress, +though full of incidents of the greatest courage and daring, need not be +recounted. + +On June the 4th a general attack was made, preceded by heavy +bombardments by all guns, but after terrific fighting, in which many +prisoners were captured and great losses suffered, the net result was an +advance of about five hundred yards. As time went on the general +impression throughout the Allied countries was that the expedition had +failed. On June 30th the losses of the Turks were estimated at not less +than seventy thousand, and the British naval and military losses up to +June 1st, aggregated 38,635 officers and men. At that time the British +and French allies held but a small corner of the area to be conquered. +In all of these attacks the part played by the Australian and New +Zealand army corps was especially notable. Reinforcements were +repeatedly sent to the Allies, who worked more and more feverishly as +time went on with the hope of aiding Russia, which was then desperately +struggling against the great German advance. + +On August 17th it was reported that a landing had been made at Suvla +Bay, the extreme western point of the Peninsula. From this point it was +hoped to threaten the Turkish communications with their troops at the +lower end of the Peninsula. This new enterprise, however, failed to make +any impression, and in the first part of September, vigorous Turkish +counter, offensives gained territory from the Franco-British troops. +According to the English reports the Turks paid a terrible price for +their success. + +It had now become evident that the expedition was a failure. The Germans +were already gloating over what they called the "failure of British sea +power," and English publicists were attempting to show that, though the +enterprise had failed, the very presence of a strong Allied force at +Saloniki had been an enormous gain. The first official announcement of +failure was made December 20, 1916, when it was announced that the +British forces at Anzac and Suvla Bay had been withdrawn, and that only +the minor positions near Sedd-el-Bahr were occupied. Great Britain's +loss of officers and men at the Dardanelles up to December 11th was +112,921, according to an announcement made in the House of Commons by +the Parliamentary Under Secretary for War. Besides these casualties the +number of sick admitted to hospitals was 96,688. The decision to +evacuate Gallipoli was made in the course of November by the British +Government as the result of the early expressed opinion of General +Monro, who had succeeded General Hamilton on October 28, 1915. + +General Monro found himself confronted with a serious problem in the +attempt to withdraw an army of such a size from positions not more than +three hundred yards from the enemy's trenches, and to embark on open +beaches every part of which was within effective range of Turkish guns. +Moreover, the evacuation must be done gradually, as it was impossible +to move the whole army at once with such means of transportation as +existed. The plan was to remove the munitions, supplies and heavy guns +by instalments, working only at night, carrying off at the same time a +large portion of the troops, but leaving certain picked battalions to +guard the trenches. Every endeavor had to be made for concealment. The +plan was splendidly successful, and the Turks apparently completely +deceived. On December 20th the embarkation of the last troops at Suvla +was accomplished. The operations at Anzac were conducted in the same +way. Only picked battalions were left to the end, and these were carried +safely off. + +[Illustration: THE HISTORIC LANDING FROM THE "RIVER CLYDE" AT SEDDUL +BAHR + +An incident of the Dardanelles Expedition. Terrible losses were +sustained by the Allied troops from the concentrated fire of the Turkish +machine guns on shore.] + +The success of the Suvla and Anzac evacuation made the position at Cape +Helles more dangerous. The Turks were on the lookout, and it seemed +almost impossible that they could be again deceived. On January 7th an +attack was made by the Turks upon the trenches, which was beaten back. +That night more than half the troops had left the Peninsula. The next +day there was a heavy storm which made embarkation difficult, but it was +nevertheless accomplished. The whole evacuation was a clever and +successful bit of work. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GREATEST NAVAL BATTLE IN HISTORY + + +Germany's ambition for conquest at sea had been nursed and carefully +fostered for twenty years. During the decade immediately preceding the +declaration of war, it had embarked upon a policy of naval up-building +that brought it into direct conflict with England's sea policy. +Thereafter it became a race in naval construction, England piling up a +huge debt in its determination to construct two tons of naval shipping +to every one ton built by Germany. + +Notwithstanding Great Britain's efforts in this direction, Germany's +naval experts, with the ruthless von Tirpitz at their head, maintained +that, given a fair seaway with ideal weather conditions favoring the low +visibility tactics of the German sea command, a victory for the Teutonic +ships would follow. It was this belief that drew the ships of the +German cruiser squadron and High Seas Fleet off the coast of Jutland and +Horn Reef into the great battle that decided the supremacy of the sea. + +The 31st of May, 1916, will go down in history as the date of this +titanic conflict. The British light cruiser Galatea on patrol duty near +Horn Reef reported at 2.20 o'clock on the afternoon of that day, that it +had sighted smoke plumes denoting the advance of enemy vessels from the +direction of Helgoland Bight. Fifteen minutes later the smoke plumes +were in such number and volume that the advance of a considerable force +to the northward and eastward was indicated. It was reasoned by +Vice-Admiral Beatty, to whom the Galatea had sent the news by radio, +that the enemy in rounding Horn Reef would inevitably be brought into +action. The first ships of the enemy were sighted at 3.31 o'clock. These +were the battle screen of fast light cruisers. Back of these were five +modern battle cruisers of the highest power and armament. + +The report of the battle, by an eye-witness, that was issued upon +semiofficial authority of the British Government, follows: + +First Phase, 3.30 P.M. May 31st. Beatty's battle cruisers, consisting +of the Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary, Tiger, Inflexible, Indomitable, +Invincible, Indefatigable, and New Zealand, were on a southeasterly +course, followed at about two miles distance by the four battleships of +the class known as Queen Elizabeths. + +Enemy light cruisers were sighted and shortly afterward the head of the +German battle cruiser squadron, consisting of the new cruiser +Hindenburg, the Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Luetzow, Moltke, and possibly the +Salamis. + +Beatty at once began firing at a range of about 20,000 yards (twelve +miles) which shortened to 16,000 yards (nine miles) as the fleets +closed. The Germans could see the British distinctly outlined against +the light yellow sky. The Germans, covered by a haze, could be very +indistinctly made out by the British gunners. + +The Queen Elizabeths opened fire on one after another as they came +within range. The German battle cruisers turned to port and drew away +to about 20,000 yards. + +Second Phase, 4.40 P.M. A destroyer screen then appeared beyond the +German battle cruisers. The whole German High Seas Fleet could be seen +approaching on the northeastern horizon in three divisions, coming to +the support of their battle cruisers. + +The German battle cruisers now turned right around 16 points and took +station in front of the battleships of the High Fleet. + +Beatty, with his battle cruisers and supporting battleships, therefore, +had before him the whole of the German battle fleet, and Jellicoe was +still some distance away. + +The opposing fleets were now moving parallel to one another in opposite +directions, and but for a master maneuver on the part of Beatty the +British advance ships would have been cut off from Jellicoe's Grand +Fleet. In order to avoid this and at the same time prepare the way so +that Jellicoe might envelop his adversary, Beatty immediately also +turned right around 16 points, so as to bring his ships parallel to the +German battle cruisers and facing the same direction. + +As soon as he was around he increased to full speed to get ahead of the +Germans and take up a tactical position in advance of their line. He was +able to do this owing to the superior speed of the British battle +cruisers. + +Just before the turning point was reached, the Indefatigable sank, and +the Queen Mary and the Invincible also were lost at the turning point, +where, of course, the High Seas Fleet concentrated their fire. + +A little earlier, as the German battle cruisers were turning the Queen +Elizabeths had in similar manner concentrated their fire on the turning +point and destroyed a new German battle cruiser, believed to be the +Hindenburg. + +Beatty had now got around and headed away with the loss of three ships, +racing parallel to the German battle cruisers. The Queen Elizabeths +followed behind engaging the main Seas Fleet. + +Third Phase, 5 P.M. The Queen Elizabeths now turned short to port 16 +points in order to follow Beatty. The Warspite jammed her steering +gear, failed to get around, and drew the fire of six of the enemy, who +closed in upon her. + +The Germans claimed her as a loss, since on paper she ought to have been +lost, but, as a matter of act, though repeatedly straddled by shell fire +with the water boiling up all around her, she was not seriously hit, and +was able to sink one of her opponents. Her captain recovered control of +the vessel, brought her around, and followed her consorts. + +In the meantime the Barham, Valiant and Malaya turned short so as to +avoid the danger spot where the Queen Mary and the Invincible had been +lost, and for an hour, until Jellicoe arrived, fought a delaying action +against the High Seas Fleet. + +The Warspite joined them at about 5.15 o'clock, and all four ships were +so successfully maneuvered in order to upset the spotting corrections of +their opponents that no hits of a seriously disabling character were +suffered. They had the speed over their opponents by fully four knots, +and were able to draw away from part of the long line of German +battleships, which almost filled up the horizon. + +At this time the Queen Elizabeths were steadily firing on at the flashes +of German guns at a range which varied between 12,000 and 15,000 yards, +especially against those ships which were nearest them. The Germans were +enveloped in a mist and only smoke and flashes were visible. + +By 5.45 half of the High Seas Fleet had been left out of range, and the +Queen Elizabeths were steaming fast to join hands with Jellicoe. + +To return to Beatty's battle cruisers. They had succeeded in outflanking +the German battle cruisers, which were, therefore, obliged to turn a +full right angle to starboard to avoid being headed. + +Heavy fighting was renewed between the opposing battle cruiser +squadrons, during which the Derfflinger was sunk; but toward 6 o'clock +the German fire slackened very considerably, showing that Beatty's +battle cruisers and the Queen Elizabeths had inflicted serious damage +on their immediate opponents. + +Fourth Phase, 6 P.M. The Grand Fleet was now in sight, and, coming up +fast in three directions, the Queen Elizabeths altered their course four +points to the starboard and drew in toward the enemy to allow Jellicoe +room to deploy into line. + +The Grand Fleet was perfectly maneuvered and the very difficult +operation of deploying between the battle cruisers and the Queen +Elizabeths was perfectly timed. + +Jellicoe came up, fell in behind Beatty's cruisers, and followed by the +damaged but still serviceable Queen Elizabeths, steamed right across the +head of the German fleet. + +The first of the ships to come into action were the Revenue and the +Royal Oak with their fifteen-inch guns, and the Agincourt which fired +from her seven turrets with the speed almost of a Maxim gun. + +The whole British fleet had now become concentrated. They had been +perfectly maneuvered, so as to "cross the T" of the High Seas Fleet, +and, indeed, only decent light was necessary to complete their work of +destroying the Germans in detail. The light did improve for a few +minutes, and the conditions were favorable to the British fleet, which +was now in line approximately north and south across the head of the +Germans. + +During the few minutes of good light Jellicoe smashed up the first three +German ships, but the mist came down, visibility suddenly failed, and +the defeated High Seas Fleet was able to draw off in ragged divisions. + +Fifth Phase, Night. The Germans were followed by the British, who still +had them enveloped between Jellicoe on the west, Beatty on the north, +and Evan Thomas with his three Queen Elizabeths on the south. The +Warspite had been sent back to her base. + +During the night the torpedo boat destroyers heavily attacked the German +ships, and, although they lost seriously themselves, succeeded in +sinking two of the enemy. + +[Illustration: HOW THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE OF JUTLAND WAS FOUGHT + +This chart must be taken only as a general indication of the courses of +the opposing German and British battle fleets.] + +Co-ordination of the units of the fleet was practically impossible to +keep up, and the Germans discovered by the rays of their searchlights +the three Queen Elizabeths, not more than 4,000 yards away. +Unfortunately they were then able to escape between the battleships and +Jellicoe, since the British gunners were not able to fire, as the +destroyers were in the way. + +So ended the Jutland battle, which was fought as had been planned and +very nearly a great success. It was spoiled by the unfavorable weather +conditions, especially at the critical moment, when the whole British +fleet was concentrated and engaged in crushing the head of the German +line. + +Commenting on the engagement, Admiral Jellicoe said: "The battle cruiser +fleet, gallantly led by Vice-Admiral Beatty, and admirably supported by +the ships of the fifth battle squadron under Rear Admiral Evan-Thomas, +fought the action under, at times, disadvantageous conditions, +especially in regard to light, in a manner that was in keeping with the +best traditions of the service." + +His estimate of the German losses was: two battleships of the +dreadnought type, one of the Deutschland type, which was seen to sink; +the battle cruiser Luetzow, admitted by the Germans; one battle cruiser +of the dreadnought type, one battle cruiser seen to be so severely +damaged that its return was extremely doubtful; five light cruisers, +seen to sink--one of them possibly a battleship; six destroyers seen to +sink, three destroyers so damaged that it was doubtful if they would be +able to reach port, and a submarine sunk. The official German report +admitted only eleven ships sunk; the first British report placed the +total at eighteen, but Admiral Jellicoe enumerated twenty-one German +vessels as probably lost. + +The Admiral paid a fine tribute to the German naval men: "The enemy," he +said, "fought with the gallantry that was expected of him. We +particularly admired the conduct of those on board a disabled German +light cruiser which passed down the British line shortly after the +deployment under a heavy fire, which was returned by the only gun left +in action. The conduct of the officers and men war entirely beyond +praise. On all sides it is reported that the glorious traditions of the +past were most worthily upheld; whether in the heavy ships, cruisers, +light cruisers, or destroyers, the same admirable spirit prevailed. The +officers and men were cool and determined, with a cheeriness that would +have carried them through anything. The heroism of the wounded was the +'admiration' of all. I cannot adequately express the pride with which +the spirit of the fleet filled me." + +At daylight on the 1st of June the British battle fleet, being +southward of Horn Reef, turned northward in search of the enemy vessels. +The visibility early on the first of June was three to four miles less +than on May 31st, and the torpedo-boat destroyers, being out of visual +touch, did not rejoin the fleet until 9 A.M. The British fleet remained +in the proximity of the battlefield and near the line of approach to the +German ports until 11 A.M., in spite of the disadvantage of long +distances from fleet bases and the danger incurred in waters adjacent +to the enemy's coasts from submarines and torpedo craft. + +The enemy, however, made no sign, and the admiral was reluctantly +compelled to the conclusion that the High Sea Fleet had returned into +port. Subsequent events proved this assumption to have been correct. The +British position must have been known to the enemy, as at 4 A.M. the +fleet engaged a Zeppelin about five minutes, during which time she had +ample opportunity to note and subsequently report the position and +course of the British fleet. + +The Germans at first claimed a victory for their fleet. The test, of +course, was the outcome of the battle. The fact that the German fleet +retreated and nevermore ventured forth from beneath the protecting guns +and mine fields around Helgoland, demonstrates beyond dispute that the +British were entitled to the triumph. The German official report makes +the best presentation of the German case. It follows in full: + + The High Sea Fleet, consisting of three battleship squadrons, five + battle cruisers, and a large number of small cruisers, with several + destroyer flotillas, was cruising in the Skagerrak on May 31 for + the purpose, as on earlier occasions, of offering battle to the + British fleet. The vanguard of the small cruisers at 4.30 o'clock + in the afternoon (German time) suddenly encountered ninety miles + west of Hanstholm, (a cape on the northwest coast of Jutland), a + group of eight of the newest cruisers of the Calliope class and + fifteen or twenty of the most modern destroyers. + + While the German light forces and the first cruiser squadron under + Vice Admiral Hipper were following the British, who were retiring + north-westward, the German battle cruisers sighted to the westward + Vice Admiral Beatty's battle squadron of six ships, including four + of the Lion type and two of the Indefatigable type. Beatty's + squadron developed a battle line on a southeasterly course and Vice + Admiral Hipper formed his line ahead on the same general course and + approached for a running fight. He opened fire at 5.49 o'clock in + the afternoon with heavy artillery at a range of 13,000 meters + against the superior enemy. The weather was clear and light, and + the sea was light with a northwest wind. + + After about a quarter of an hour a violent explosion occurred on + the last cruiser of the Indefatigable type. It was caused by a + heavy shell, and destroyed the vessel. + + About 6.20 o'clock in the afternoon five warships of the Queen + Elizabeth type came from the west and joined the British battle + cruiser line, powerfully reinforcing with their fifteen-inch guns + the five British battle cruisers remaining after 6.20 o'clock. To + equalize this superiority Vice Admiral Hipper ordered the + destroyers to attack the enemy. The British destroyers and small + cruisers interposed, and a bitter engagement at close range + ensued, in the course of which a light cruiser participated. + + The Germans lost two torpedo boats, the crews of which were rescued + by sister ships under a heavy fire. Two British destroyers were + sunk by artillery, and two others--the Nestor and Nomad--remained + on the scene in a crippled condition. These later were destroyed by + the main fleet after German torpedo boats had rescued all the + survivors. + + While this engagement was in progress, a mighty explosion, caused + by a big shell, broke the Queen Mary, the third ship in line, + asunder, at 6.30 o'clock. + + Soon thereafter the German main battleship fleet was sighted to the + southward, steering north. The hostile fast squadrons thereupon + turned northward, closing the first part of the fight, which lasted + about an hour. + + The British retired at high speed before the German fleet, which + followed closely. The German battle cruisers continued the + artillery combat with increasing intensity, particularly with the + division of the vessels of the Queen Elizabeth type, and in this + the leading German battleship division participated intermittently. + The hostile ships showed a desire to run in a flat curve ahead of + the point of our line and to cross it. + + At 7.45 o'clock in the evening British small cruisers and + destroyers launched an attack against our battle cruisers, who + avoided the torpedoes by manoeuvring, while the British battle + cruisers retired from the engagement, in which they did not + participate further as far as can be established. Shortly + thereafter a German reconnoitring group, which was parrying the + destroyer attack, received an attack from the northeast. The + cruiser Wiesbaden was soon put out of action in this attack. The + German torpedo flotillas immediately attacked the heavy ships. + + Appearing shadow-like from the haze bank to the northeast was made + out a long line of at least twenty-five battleships, which at first + sought a junction with the British battle cruisers and those of the + Queen Elizabeth type on a northwesterly to westerly course, and + then turned on an easterly to southeasterly course. + + With the advent of the British main fleet, whose centre consisted + of three squadrons of eight battleships each, with a fast division + of three battle cruisers of the Invincible type on the + northern-end, and three of the newest vessels of the Royal + Sovereign class, armed with fifteen-inch guns, at the southern end, + there began about 8 o'clock in the evening the third section of the + engagement, embracing the combat between the main fleets. + + Vice Admiral Seheer determined to attack the British main fleet, + which he now recognised was completely assembled and about doubly + superior. The German battleship squadron, headed by battle + cruisers, steered first toward the extensive haze bank to the + northeast, where the crippled cruiser Wiesbaden was still + receiving a heavy fire. Around the Wiesbaden stubborn individual + fights under quickly changing conditions now occurred. + + The light enemy forces, supported by an armored cruiser squadron of + five ships of the Minatour, Achilles, and Duke of Edinburgh classes + coming from the northeast, were encountered and apparently + surprised on account of the decreasing visibility of our battle + cruisers and leading battleship division. The squadron came under + a violent and heavy fire by which the small cruisers Defense and + Black Prince were sunk. The cruiser Warrior regained its own line a + wreck and later sank. Another small cruiser was damaged severely. + + Two destroyers already had fallen victims to the attack of German + torpedo boats against the leading British battleships and a small + cruiser and two destroyers were damaged. The German battle cruisers + and leading battleship division had in these engagements come under + increased fire of the enemy's battleship squadron, which, shortly + after 8 o'clock, could be made out in the haze turning to the + north-eastward and finally to the east, Germans observed, amid the + artillery combat and shelling of great intensity, signs of the + effect of good shooting between 8.20 and 8.30 o'clock particularly. + Several officers on German ships observed that a battleship of the + Queen Elizabeth class blew up under conditions similar to that of + the Queen Mary. The Invincible sank after being hit severely. A + ship of the Iron Duke class had earlier received a torpedo hit, and + one of the Queen Elizabeth class was running around in a circle, + its steering apparatus apparently having been hit. + + The Luetzow was hit by at least fifteen heavy shells and was unable + to maintain its place in line. Vice Admiral Hipper, therefore, + transshipped to the Moltke on a torpedo boat and under a heavy + fire. The Derfflinger meantime took the lead temporarily. Parts of + the German torpedo flotilla attacked the enemy's main fleet and + heard detonations. In the action the Germans lost a torpedo boat. + An enemy destroyer was seen in a sinking condition, having been hit + by a torpedo. + + After the first violent onslaught into the mass of the superior + enemy the opponents lost sight of each other in the smoke by powder + clouds. After a short cessation in the artillery combat Vice + Admiral Scheer ordered a new attack by all the available forces. + + German battle cruisers, which with several light cruisers and + torpedo boats again headed the line, encountered the enemy soon + after 9 o'clock and renewed the heavy fire, which was answered by + them from the mist, and then by the leading division of the main + fleet. Armored cruisers now flung themselves in a reckless onset at + extreme speed against the enemy line in order to cover the attack + of the torpedo boats. They approached the enemy line, although + covered with shot from 6,000 meters distances. Several German + torpedo flotillas dashed forward to attack, delivered torpedoes, + and returned, despite the most severe counterfire, with the loss of + only one boat. The bitter artillery fire was again interrupted, + after this second violent onslaught, by the smoke from guns and + funnels. + + Several torpedo flotillas, which were ordered to attack somewhat + later, found, after penetrating the smoke cloud, that the enemy + fleet was no longer before them; nor, when the fleet commander + again brought the German squadrons upon the southerly and + southwesterly course where the enemy was last seen, could our + opponents be found. Only once more--shortly before 10.30 + o'clock--did the battle flare up. For a short time in the late + twilight German battle cruisers sighted four enemy capital ships to + seaward and opened fire immediately. As the two German battleship + squadrons attacked, the enemy turned and vanished in the darkness. + Older German light cruisers of the fourth reconnoissance group + also were engaged with the older enemy armored cruisers in a short + fight. + + This ended the day battle. + + The German divisions, which, after losing sight of the enemy, began + a night cruise in a southerly direction, were attacked until dawn + by enemy light force in rapid succession. + + The attacks were favored by the general strategic situation and the + particularly dark night. + + The cruiser Frauenlob was injured severely during the engagement of + the fourth reconnoissance group with a superior cruiser force, and + was lost from sight. + + One armored cruiser of the Cressy class suddenly appeared close to + a German battleship and was shot into fire after forty seconds, and + sank in four minutes. + + The Florent (?) Destroyer 60, (the names were hard to decipher in + the darkness and therefore were uncertainly established) and four + destroyers--3, 78, 06, and 27--were destroyed by our fire. One + destroyer was cut in two by the ram of a German battleship. Seven + destroyers, including the G-30, were hit and severely damaged. + These, including the Tipperary and Turbulent, which after saving + survivors, were left behind in a sinking condition, drifted past + our line, some of them burning at the bow or stern. + + The tracks of countless torpedoes were sighted by the German ships, + but only the Pommern (a battleship) fell an immediate victim to a + torpedo. The cruiser Rostock was hit, but remained afloat. The + cruiser Elbing was damaged by a German battleship during an + unavoidable maneuver. After vain endeavors to keep the ship afloat + the Elbing was blown up, but only after her crew had embarked on + torpedo boats. A post torpedo boat was struck by a mine laid by the + enemy. + + ADMITTED LOSSES--BRITISH + + NAME TONNAGE PERSONNEL + + Queen Mary (battle cruiser) 27,000 1,000 + Indefatigable (battle cruiser) 18,750 800 + Invincible (battle cruiser) 17,250 750 + Defense (armored cruiser) 14,600 755 + Warrior (armored cruiser) 13,550 704 + Black Prince (armored cruiser) 13,550 704 + Tipperary (destroyer) 1,850 150 + Turbulent (destroyer) 1,850 150 + Shark (destroyer) 950 100 + Sparrowhawk (destroyer) 950 100 + Ardent (destroyer) 950 100 + Fortune (destroyer) 950 100 + Nomad (destroyer) 950 100 + Nestor (destroyer) 950 100 + + BRITISH TOTALS + + Battle cruisers 63,000 2,550 + Armored cruisers 41,700 2,163 + Destroyers 9,400 900 + + Fourteen ships 114,100 5,613 + + + ADMITTED LOSSES--GERMAN[A] + + NAME TONNAGE PERSONNEL + + Lutzow (battle cruiser) 26,600 1,200 + Pommern (battleship) 13,200 729 + Wiesbaden (cruiser) 5,600 450 + Frauenlob (cruiser) 2,715 264 + Elbing (cruiser) 5,000 450 + Rostock (cruiser) 4,900 373 + Five destroyers 5,000 500 + + GERMAN TOTALS + + Battle cruisers 39,800 1,929 + Cruisers 18,215 1,537 + Destroyers 5,000 500 + + Eleven ships 63,015 3,966 + +[Footnote A: These figures are given for what they are worth, but no one +outside of Germany doubted but that their losses were very much greater +than admitted in the official report.] + +[Illustration: ADMIRAL WILLIAM S. SIMS + +Commander-in-Chief of United States Naval Forces in European waters.] + +[Illustration: ADMIRAL SIR DAVID BEATTY + +Commander-in-Chief of the British Grand Fleet.] + + TOTAL LOSSES OF MEN + + BRITISH + + Dead or missing.............................. 6,104 + Wounded...................................... 513 + + Total........................................ 6,617 + + GERMAN + + Dead or missing.............................. 2,414 + Wounded ..................................... 449 + + Total........................................ 2,863 + + + LOSS IN MONEY VALUE + (Rough Estimate) + + British ............................... $115,000,000 + German ................................ 63,000,000 + + Total.................................. $178,000,000 + + +While the world was still puzzling over the conflicting reports of the +Battle of Jutland came the shocking news that Field Marshal Lord Horatio +Herbert Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, had perished +off the West Orkney Islands on June 5th, through the sinking of the +British cruiser Hampshire. The entire crew was also lost, except twelve +men, a warrant officer and eleven seamen, who escaped on a raft. Earl +Kitchener was on his way to Russia, at the request of the Russian +Government, for a consultation regarding munitions to be furnished the +Russian army. He was intending to go to Archangel and visit Petrograd, +and expected to be back in London by June 20th. He was accompanied +by Hugh James O'Beirne, former Councillor of the British Embassy at +Petrograd, O.A. Fitz-Gerald, his military secretary, Brigadier-General +Ellarshaw, and Sir Frederick Donaldson, all of whom were lost. + +The cause of the sinking of the Hampshire is not known. It is supposed +that it struck a mine, but the tragedy very naturally brought into +existence many stories which ascribe his death to more direct German +action. + +Seaman Rogerson, one of the survivors, describes Lord Kitchener's last +moments as follows: "Of those who left the ship, and have survived, I +was the one who saw Lord Kitchener last. He went down with the ship, he +did not leave her. I saw Captain Seville help his boat's crew to clear +away his galley. At the same time the Captain was calling to Lord +Kitchener to come to the boat, but owing to the noise made by the wind +and sea, Lord Kitchener could not hear him, I think. When the explosion +occurred, Kitchener walked calmly from the Captain's cabin, went up +the ladder and on to the quarter deck. There I saw him walking quite +collectedly, talking to two of the officers. All three were wearing +khaki and had no overcoats on. Kitchener calmly watched the preparations +for abandoning the ship, which were going on in a steady and orderly +way. The crew just went to their stations, obeyed orders, and did their +best to get out the boats. But it was impossible. Owing to the rough +weather, no boats could be lowered. Those that were got out were +smashed up at once. No boats left the ship. What people on the shore +thought to be boats leaving, were rafts. Men did get into the boats as +these lay in their cradles, thinking that as the ship went under the +boats would float, but the ship sank by the head, and when she went she +turned a somersault forward, carrying down with her all the boats and +those in them. I do not think Kitchener got into a boat. When I sprang +to a raft he was still on the starboard side of the quarter deck, +talking with the officers. From the little time that elapsed between my +leaving the ship and her sinking I feel certain Kitchener went down with +her, and was on deck at the time she sank." + +[Illustration: WHERE EARL KITCHENER MET HIS DEATH] + +The British Admiralty, after investigation, gave out a statement +declaring that the vessel struck a mine, and sank about fifteen minutes +after. + +The news of Lord Kitchener's death shocked the whole Allied world. He +was the most important personality in the British Empire. He had built +up the British army, and his name was one to conjure by. His efficiency +was a proverb, and he had an air of mystery about him that made him a +sort of a popular hero. He was great before the World War began; he was +the conqueror of the Soudan; the winner of the South African campaign; +the reorganizer of Egypt. In his work as Secretary of War he had +met with some criticism, but he possessed, more than any other man, +the public confidence. At the beginning of the war he was appointed +Secretary of War at the demand of an overwhelming public opinion. He +realized more than any one else what such a war would mean. When others +thought of it as an adventure to be soon concluded, he recognized that +there would be years of bitter conflict. He asked England to give up its +cherished tradition of a volunteer army; to go through arduous military +training; he saw the danger to the Empire, and he alone, perhaps, had +the authority to inspire his countrymen with the will to sacrifice. But +his work was done. The great British army was in the field. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN + + +In the very beginning Russia had marked out one point for attack. This +was the city of Cracow. No doubt the Grand Duke Nicholas had not hoped +to be able to invest that city early. The slowness of the mobilization +of the Russian army made a certain prudence advisable at the beginning +of the campaign. But the great success of his armies in Lemberg +encouraged more daring aims. He had invested Przemysl, and Galicia lay +before him. Accordingly, he set his face toward Cracow. + +Cracow, from a military point of view, is the gate both of Vienna +and Berlin. A hundred miles west of it is the famous gap of Moravia, +between the Carpathian and the Bohemian mountains, which leads down into +Austria. Through this gap runs the great railway connecting Silesia +with Vienna, and the Grand Duke knew that if he could capture Cracow he +would have an easy road before him to the Austrian capital. Cracow also +is the key of Germany. + +Seventy miles from the city lies the Oder River. An army might enter +Germany by this gate and turn the line of Germany's frontier fortresses. +The Oder had been well fortified, but an invader coming from Cracow +might move upon the western bank. The Russian plan no doubt was to +threaten both enemy capitals. Moreover, an advance of Russia from Cracow +would take its armies into Silesia, full of coal and iron mines, and one +of the greatest manufacturing districts in the German Empire. This would +be a real success, and all Germany would feel the blow. + +Another reason for the Russian advance in Galicia was her desire to +control the Galician oil wells. To Germany petrol had become one of the +foremost munitions of war. Since she could not obtain it from either +America or Russia she must get it from Austria, and the Austrian oil +fields were all in Galicia. This, in itself, would explain the Galician +campaign. Moreover, through the Carpathian Mountains it was possible +to make frequent raids into Hungary, and Russia understood well the +feeling of Hungary toward her German allies. She hoped that when Hungary +perceived her regiments sacrificed and her plains overrun by Russian +troops, she would regret that she had allowed herself to be sacrificed +to Prussian ambition. The Russians, therefore, suddenly, moved toward +Cracow. + +Then von Hindenburg came to the rescue. The supreme command of the +Austrian forces was given to him. The defenses of Cracow were +strengthened under the direction of the Germans, and a German army +advanced from the Posen frontier toward the northern bank of the +Vistula. The advance threatened the Russian right, and, accordingly, +within ten days' march of Cracow, the Russians stopped. The German +offensive in Poland had begun. The news of the German advance came about +the fifth of October. Von Hindenburg, who had been fighting in East +Prussia, had at last perceived that nothing could be gained there. The +vulnerable part of Russia was the city of Warsaw. This was the capital +of Poland, with a population of about three-quarters of a million. If +he could take Warsaw, he would not only have pleasant quarters for the +winter but Russia would be so badly injured that no further offensive +from her need be anticipated for a long period. Von Hindenburg had with +him a large army. In his center he probably had three-quarters of a +million men, and on his right the Austrian army in Cracow, which must +have reached a million. + +Counting the troops operating in East Prussia and along the Carpathians, +and the garrison of Przemysl, the Teuton army must have had two +and a half million soldiers. Russia, on the other hand, though her +mobilization was still continuing, at this time could not have had as +many as two million men in the whole nine hundred miles of her battle +front. + +The fight for Warsaw began Friday, October 16th, and continued for three +days, von Hindenburg being personally in command. On Monday the Germans +found themselves in trouble. A Russian attack on their left wing had +come with crushing force. Von Hindenburg found his left wing thrown +back, and the whole German movement thrown into disorder. Meanwhile an +attempt to cross the Vistula at Josefov had also been a failure. The +Russians allowed the Germans to pass with slight resistance, waited +until they arrived at the village Kazimirjev, a district of low hills +and swampy flats, and then suddenly overwhelmed them. + +Next day the Russians crossed the river themselves, and advanced along +the whole line, driving the enemy before them, through great woods of +spruce out into the plains on the west. This forest region was well +known to the Russian guides, and the Germans suffered much as the +Russians had suffered in East Prussia. Ruzsky, the Russian commander, +pursued persistently; the Germans retreating first to Kielce, whence +they were driven, on the 3d of November, with great losses, and then +being broken into two pieces, with the north retiring westward and the +south wing southwest toward Cracow. + +Rennenkampf's attack on the German left wing was equally successful, and +von Hindenburg was driven into full retreat. The only success won during +this campaign was that in the far south where Austrian troops were +sweeping eastward toward the San. This army drove back the Russians +under Ivanov, reoccupied Jaroslav and relieved Przemysl. This was a +welcome relief to Przemysl, for the garrison was nearly starved, and it +was well for the garrison that the relief came, for in a few days the +Russians returned, recaptured Jaroslav and reinvested Przemysl. As von +Hindenburg retreated he left complete destruction in his wake, roads, +bridges, railroad tracks, water towers, railway stations, all were +destroyed; even telegraph posts, broken or sawn through, and insulators +broken to bits. + +It was now the turn of Russia to make a premature advance, and to pay +for it. Doubtless the Grand Duke Nicholas, whose strategy up to this +point had been so admirable, knew very well the danger of a new advance +in Galicia, but he realized the immense political as well as military +advantages which were to be obtained by the capture of Cracow. He +therefore attempted to move an army through Poland as well as through +Galicia, hoping that the army in Poland would keep von Hindenburg busy, +while the Galician army would deal with Cracow. + +The advance was slow on account of the damaged Polish roads. It was +preceded by a cavalry screen which moved with more speed. On November +10th, the vanguard crossed the Posen frontier and cut the railway on the +Cracow-Posen line. This reconnaissance convinced the Russian general +that the German army did not propose to make a general stand, and it +seemed to him that if he struck strongly with his center along the +Warta, he might destroy the left flank of the German southern army, +while his own left flank was assaulting Cracow. He believed that even if +his attack upon the Warta failed, the Russian center could at any +rate prevent the enemy from interfering with the attack further south +upon Cracow. + +[Illustration: GERMAN FRIGHTFULNESS FROM THE AIR + +A gas attack on the eastern front photographed by a Russian airman.] + +The movement therefore began, and by November 12th, the Russian cavalry +had taken Miechow on the German frontier, about twenty miles north of +Cracow. Its main forces were still eighty miles to the east. About this +time Grand Duke Nicholas perceived that von Hindenburg was preparing a +counter stroke. He had retreated north, and then, by means of his +railways, was gathering a large army at Thorn. Large reinforcements were +sent him, some from the western front, giving him a total of about eight +hundred thousand men. In his retreat from Warsaw, while he had destroyed +all roads railways in the south and west, he had carefully preserved +those of the north already planning to use them in another movement. He +now was beginning an advance, once again, against Warsaw. On account of +the roads he perceived that it would be difficult for the Russians to +obtain reinforcements. Von Hindenburg had with him as Chief of Staff +General von Ludendorff, one of the cleverest staff officers in the +German army, and General von Mackensen, a commander of almost equal +repute. + +The Russian army in the north had been pretty well scattered. The +Russian forces were now holding a front of nearly a thousand miles, with +about two million men. The Russian right center, which now protected +Warsaw from the new attack could hardly number more than two hundred +thousand men. Von Hindenburg's aim was Warsaw only, and did not affect +directly the Russian advance to Cracow, which was still going on. +Indeed, by the end of the first week in December, General Dmitrieff had +cavalry in the suburbs of Cracow, and his main force was on the line of +the River Rava about twelve miles away. Cracow had been strongly +fortified, and much entrenching had been done in a wide circle around +the city. + +The German plan was to use its field army in Cracow's defense rather +than a garrison. Two separate forces were used; one moving southwest of +Cracow along the Carpathian hills, struck directly at Ivanov's left; +the other, operating from Hungary, threatened the Russian rear. These +two divisions struck at the same time and the Russians found it +necessary to fight rear actions as they moved forward. They were doing +this with reasonable success and working their way toward Cracow, when, +on the 12th of December, the Austrian forces working from Hungary +carried the Dukla Pass. This meant that the Austrians would be able to +pour troops down into the rear of the Russian advance, and the Russian +army would be cut off. Dmitrieff, therefore, fell rapidly back, until +the opening of the Dukla Pass was in front of his line, and the Russian +army was once more safe. + +Meanwhile the renewed seige of Przemysl was going on with great vigor, +and attracting the general attention of the Allied world. The Austrians +attempted to follow up their successes at the Dukla Pass by attempting +to seize the Lupkow Pass, and the Uzzok Pass, still further to the east, +but the Russians were tired of retreating. New troops had arrived, and +about the 20th of December a new advance was begun. + +With the right of the army swinging up along the river Nida, northeast +of Cracow, the Russian left attacked the Dukla Pass in great force, +driving Austrians back and capturing over ten thousand men. On Christmas +Day all three great western passes were in Russian hands. The Austrian +fighting, during this period, was the best they had so far shown, the +brunt of it being upon the Hungarian troops, who, at this time, were +saving Germany. + +Meantime von Hindenburg was pursuing his movement in the direction of +Warsaw. The Russian generals found it difficult to obtain information. +Each day came the chronicle of contests, some victories, some defeats, +and it soon appeared that a strong force was crushing in the Russian +outposts from the direction of Thorn and moving toward Warsaw. Ruzsky +found himself faced by a superior German force, and was compelled to +retreat. The Russian aim was to fall back behind the river Bzura, which +lies between the Thorn and Warsaw. Bzura is a strong line of defense, +with many fords but no bridges. The Russian right wing passed by the +city of Lowicz, moved southwest to Strykov and then on past Lodz. West +of Lowicz is a great belt of marshes impossible for the movement of +armies. + +The first German objective was the city of Lodz. Von Hindenburg knew +that he must move quickly before the Russians should get up reserves. +His campaign of destruction had made it impossible for aid to be sent to +the Russian armies from Ivanov, far in the south, but every moment +counted. His right pushed forward and won the western crossings of the +marshes. His extreme left moved towards Plock, but the main effort was +against Piontek, where there is a famous causeway engineered for heavy +transport through the marshes. + +At first the Russians repelled the attack on the causeway, but on +November 19th the Russians broke and were compelled to fall back. Over +the causeway, then, the German troops were rushed in great numbers, +splitting the Russian army into two parts; one on the south surrounding +Lodz, and the other running east of Brezin on to the Vistula. The +Russian army around Lodz was assailed on the front flank and rear. It +looked like an overwhelming defeat for the Russian army. At the very +last moment possible, Russian reinforcements appeared--a body of +Siberians from the direction of Warsaw. They were thrown at once into +the battle and succeeded in re-establishing the Russian line. This left +about ninety thousand Germans almost entirely surrounded, as if they +were in a huge sack. Ruzsky tried his best to close the mouth of the +sack, but he was unsuccessful. The fighting was terrific, but by the +26th the Germans in the sack had escaped. + +The Germans were continually receiving reinforcements and still largely +outnumbered the Russians. Von Hindenburg therefore determined on a new +assault. The German left wing was now far in front of the Russian city +of Lodz, one of the most important of the Polish cities. The population +was about half a million. Such a place was a constant danger, for it was +the foundation of a Russian salient. + +When the German movement began the Russian general, perceiving how +difficult it would have been to hold the city, deliberately withdrew, +and on December 6th the Germans entered Lodz without opposition. + +The retreat relieved the Russians of a great embarrassment. Its capture +was considered in Germany as a great German victory, and at this time +von Hindenburg seems to have felt that he had control of the situation. +His movement, to be sure, had not interfered with the Russian advance on +Cracow, but Warsaw must have seemed to him almost in his power. He +therefore concentrated his forces for a blow at Warsaw. His first new +movement was directed at the Russian right wing, which was then north of +the Bzura River and east of Lowicz. He also directed the German forces +in East Prussia to advance and attempted to cut the main railway line +between Warsaw and Petrograd. If this attempt had been successful it +would have been a highly serious matter for the Russians. The Russians, +however, defeated it, and drove the enemy back to the East Prussian +border. The movement against the Russian right wing was more successful, +and the Russians fell back slowly. This was not because they were +defeated in battle, but because the difficult weather interfered with +communications. There had been a thaw, and the whole country was +waterlogged. The Grand Duke was willing that the Germans should fight in +the mud. + +This slow retreat continued from the 7th of December to Christmas Eve, +and involved the surrender of a number of Polish towns, but it left the +Russians in a strong position. They were able to entrench themselves so +that every attack of the enemy Was broken. The Germans tried hard. Von +Hindenburg would have liked to enter Warsaw on Christmas. The citizens +heard day and night the sound of the cannon, but they were entirely +safe. + +The German attack was a failure. On the whole, the Grand Duke Nicholas +had shown better strategy than the best of the German generals. +Outnumbered from the very start, his tactics had been admirable. Twice +he had saved Warsaw, and he was still threatening Cracow. The Russian +armies were fighting with courage and efficiency, and were continually +growing in numbers as the days went by. + +During the first weeks of 1915 while there were a number of attacks and +counter attacks both armies had come to the trench warfare, so familiar +in France. The Germans in particular had constructed a most elaborate +trench system, with underground rooms containing many of the ordinary +comforts of life. Toward the end of the month the Russians began to move +in East Prussia in the north and also far south in the Bukovina. The +object of these movements was probably to prevent von Hindenburg from +releasing forces on the west. Russia was still terribly weak in +equipment and was not ready for a serious advance. An attack on sacred +East Prussia would stir up the Germans, while Hungary would be likewise +disturbed by the advance on Bukovina. Von Hindenburg, however, was still +full of the idea of capturing Warsaw. He had failed twice but the old +Field Marshal was stubborn and moreover he knew well what the capture of +Warsaw would mean to Russia, and so he tried again. + +The Russian front now followed the west bank of the Bzura for a few +miles, changed to the eastern bank following the river until it met with +the Rawka, from there a line of trenches passed south and east, of +Balinov and from there to Skiernievice. Von Mackensen concentrated a +considerable army at Balinov and had on the 1st of February about a +hundred and forty thousand men there. That night, with the usual +artillery preparation, he moved from Balinov against the Russian +position at the Borzymov Crest. The Germans lost heavily but drove +forward into the enemy's line, and by the 3d of February had almost made +a breach in it. This point, however, could be readily reinforced and +troops were hurried there from Warsaw in such force that on February 4th +the German advance was checked. Von Mackensen had lost heavily, and by +the time it was checked he had become so weak that his forces yielded +quickly to the counter-attack and were flung back. + +This was the last frontal attack upon Warsaw. Von Hindenburg then +determined to attack Warsaw by indirection. Austria was instructed to +move forward along the whole Carpathian front, while he himself, with +strong forces, undertook to move from East Prussia behind the Polish +capital, and cut the communications between Warsaw and Petrograd. If +Austria could succeed, Przemysl might be relieved, Lemberg recaptured, +and Russia forced back so far on the south that Warsaw would have to be +abandoned. On the other hand if the East Prussia effort were successful, +the Polish capital would certainly fall. These plans, if they had +developed successfully, would have crippled the power of Russia for at +least six months. Meantime, troops could be sent to the west front, and +perhaps enable Germany to overwhelm France. By this time almost all of +Poland west of the Vistula was in the power of the Germans, while +three-fourths of Galicia was controlled by Russia. + +Von Hindenburg now returned to his old battle-ground near the Masurian +Lakes. The Russian forces, which, at the end of January, had made a +forward movement in East Prussia, had been quite successful. Their right +was close upon Tilsit, and their left rested upon the town of +Johannisburg. Further south was the Russian army of the Narev. Von +Hindenburg determined to surprise the invaders, and he gathered an army +of about three hundred thousand men to face the Russian forces which did +not number more than a hundred and twenty thousand, and which were under +the command of General Baron Sievers. The Russian army soon found itself +in a desperate position. A series of bitter fights ensued, at some of +which the Kaiser himself was present. The Russians were driven steadily +back for a week, but the German stories of their tremendous losses are +obviously unfounded They retreated steadily until February 20th, +fighting courageously, and by that date the Germans began to find +themselves exhausted. + +Russian reinforcements came up, and a counter-attack was begun. The +German aim had evidently been to reach Grodno and cut the main line from +Warsaw to Petrograd, which passes through that city. They had now +reached Suwalki, a little north of Grodno, but were unable to advance +further, though the Warsaw-Petrograd railway was barely ten miles away. +The southern portion of von Hindenburg's army was moving against the +railway further west, in the direction of Ossowietz. But Ossowietz put +up a determined resistance, and the attack was unsuccessful. By the +beginning of March, von Hindenburg ordered a gradual retreat to the East +Prussian frontier. + +While this movement to drive the Russians from East Prussia was under +way, von Hindenburg had also launched an attack against the Russian army +on the Narev. If he could force the lower Narev from that point, too, he +could cut the railroad running east from the Polish capital. He had +hoped that the attacks just described further east would distract the +Russian attention so that he would find the Narev ill guarded. The +advance began on February 22d, and after numerous battles captured +Przasnysz, and found itself with only one division to oppose its +progress to the railroad. On the 23d this force was attacked by the +German right, but resisted with the utmost courage. It held out for more +than thirty-six hours, until, on the evening of the 24th, Russian +reinforcements began to come up, and drove the invaders north through +Przasnysz in retreat. + +It was an extraordinary fight. The Russians were unable to supply all +their troops with munitions and arms. At Przasnysz men fought without +rifles, armed only with a bayonet. All they could do was to charge with +cold steel, and they did it so desperately that, though they were +outnumbered, they drove the Germans before them. By all the laws of war +the Russians should have been defeated with ease. As it was, the German +attempt to capture Warsaw by a flank movement was defeated. While the +struggle was going on in the north, the Austrian armies in Galicia were +also moving, Russia was still holding the three great passes in the +Carpathian Mountains, but had not been able to begin an offensive in +Hungary. + +The Austrians had been largely reinforced by German troops, and were +moving forward to the relief of Przemysl, and also to drive Brussilov +from the Galician mountains. Brussilov's movements had been partly +military and partly political. From the passes, in those mountains +Hungary could be attacked, and unless he could be driven away there was +no security for the Hungarian cornfields, to which Germany was looking +for food supplies. Moreover, from the beginning of the Russian movement +in Galicia, northern Bukovina had been in Russian hands. Bukovina was +not only a great supply ground for petrol and grain, but she adjoined +Roumania which, while still neutral, had a strong sympathy with the +Allies, especially Italy. The presence of a Russian army on her border +might encourage her to join the Allies. Austria naturally desired to +free Roumania from this pressure. The leading Austrian statesmen, at +this time, were especially interested in Hungary. The Austrian Minister +of Foreign Affairs was Baron Stephen Burian, the Hungarian diplomatist, +belonging to the party of the Hungarian Premier, Count Tisza. It was his +own country that was threatened. The prizes of a victorious campaign +were therefore great. + +The campaign began in January amid the deepest snow, and continued +during February in the midst of blizzards. The Austrians were divided +into three separate armies. The first was charged with the relief of +Przemysl. The second advanced in the direction of Lemberg, and the third +moved upon Bukovina. The first made very little progress, after a number +of lively battles. It was held pretty safely by Brussilov. The second +army was checked by Dmitrieff. Further east, however, the army of the +Bukovina crossed the Carpathian range, and made considerable advances. +This campaign was fought out in a great number of battles, the most +serious of which, perhaps, was the battle of Koziowa. At that point +Brussilov's center withstood for several days the Austrian second army +which was commanded by the German General von Linsengen. The Russian +success here saved Lemberg, prevented the relief of Przemysl and gave +time to send reinforcements into Bukovina. + +The Austrian third army, moving on Bukovina, had the greatest Austrian +success. They captured in succession Czernowitz, Kolomea, and Stanislau. +They did not succeed, however, in driving the Russians from the +province. The Russians retired slowly, waiting for reinforcements. These +reinforcements came, whereupon the Austrians were pushed steadily back. +The passes in the Carpathians still remained in Austrian hands, but +Przemysl was not relieved or Lemberg recaptured. On March 22d Przemysl +fell. + +The capture of Przemysl was the greatest success that Russia had so far +attained. It had been besieged for about four months, and the taking of +the fortress was hailed as the first spectacular success of the war. Its +capture altered the whole situation. It released a large Russian army, +which was sent to reinforce the armies of Ivanov, where the Austrians +were vigorously attacked. + +By the end of March the Russians had captured the last Austrian position +on the Lupkow pass and were attacking vigorously the pass of Uzzok, +which maintained a stubborn defense. Brussilov tried to push his way to +the rear of the Uzzok position, and though the Austrians delivered a +vigorous counter-attack they were ultimately defeated. In fire weeks of +fighting Ivanov captured over seventy thousand prisoners. + +During this period there was considerable activity in East Prussia, and +the Courland coast was bombarded by the German Baltic squadron. There +was every indication that Austria was near collapse, but all the time +the Germans were preparing for a mighty effort, and the secret was kept +with extraordinary success. The little conflicts in the Carpathians and +in East Prussia were meant to deceive, while a great army, with an +enormous number of guns of every caliber, and masses of ammunition, +were being gathered. The Russian commanders were completely deceived. +There had been no change in the generals in command except that General +Ruzsky, on account of illness, was succeeded by General Alexeiev. The +new German army was put under the charge of von Hindenburg's former +lieutenant, General von Mackensen. This was probably the strongest army +that Germany ever gathered, and could not have numbered less than two +millions of men, with nearly two thousand pieces in its heavy batteries. + +On April 28th, the action began. The Austro-German army lay along the +left of the Donajetz River to its junction with the Biala, and along the +Biala to the Carpathian Mountains. Von Mackensen's right moved in the +direction of Gorlice. General Dmitrieff was compelled to weaken his +front to protect Gorlice and then, on Saturday, the 1st of May, the +great attack began. Under cover of artillery fire such as had never been +seen before bridges were pushed across the Biala and Ciezkowice was +taken. The Russian positions were blown out of existence. The Russian +armies did what they could but their defense collapsed and they were +soon in full retreat. + +The German armies advanced steadily, and though the Russians made a +brave stand at many places they could do nothing. On the Wisloka they +hung on for five days, but they were attempting an impossibility. From +that time on each day marked a new German victory, and in spite of the +most desperate fighting the Russians were forced back until, on the +11th, the bulk of their line lay just west of the lower San as far as +Przemysl and then south to the upper Dniester. The armies were in +retreat, but were not routed. In a fortnight the army of Dmitrieff had +fallen back eighty-five miles. + +The Grand Duke Nicholas by this time understood the situation. He +perceived that it was impossible to make a stand. The only thing to do +was to retreat steadily until Germany's mass of war material should be +used up, even though miles of territory should be sacrificed. It should +be a retreat in close contact with the enemy, so that the Austro-German +troops would have to fight for every mile. This meant a retreat not for +days, but perhaps for weeks. It meant that Przemysl must be given up, +and Lemberg, and even Warsaw, but the safety of the Russian army was of +more importance than a province or a city. + +On May 18th the German War Office announced their successes in the +following terms: "The army under General von Mackensen in the course of +its pursuit of the Russians reached yesterday the neighborhood of +Subiecko, on the lower Wisloka, and Kolbuezowa, northeast of Debica. +Under the pressure of this advance the Russians also retreated from +their positions north of the Vistula. In this section the troops under +General von Woyrach, closely following the enemy, penetrated as far as +the region northwest of Kielce. In the Carpathians Austro-Hungarian and +German troops under General von Linsingen conquered the hills east of +the Upper Stryi, and took 8,660 men prisoners, as well as capturing six +machine guns. At the present moment, while the armies under General von +Mackensen are approaching the Przemysl fortresses and the lower San, it +is possible to form an approximate idea of the booty taken. In the +battles of Tarno and Gorlika, and in the battles during the pursuit of +these armies, we have so far taken 103,500 Russian prisoners, 69 cannon, +and 255 machine guns. In these figures the booty taken by the Allied +troops fighting in the Carpathians, and north of the Vistula, is not +included. This amounts to a further 40,000 prisoners. Przemysl +surrendered to the German's on June 3, 1915, only ten weeks after the +Russian capture of the fortress, which had caused such exultation." + +General von Mackensen continued toward Lemberg, the capital of Galicia. +On June 18th, when the victorious German armies were approaching the +gates of Lemberg, the Russian losses were estimated at 400,000 dead and +wounded, and 300,000 prisoners, besides 100,000 lost before Marshal von +Hindenburg's forces in Poland and Courland. On June 23d Lemberg fell. +The weakness of Russia in this campaign arose from the exhaustion of her +ammunition supplies, but great shipments of such supplies were being +constantly forwarded from Vladivostock. + +When the German army crossed the San, Wilhelm II, then German Emperor, +was present. It is interesting to look back on the scene. Here is a +paragraph from the account of the Wolff Telegraphic Bureau: "The Emperor +had hurried forward to his troops by automobile. On the way he was +greeted with loud hurrahs by the wounded, riding back in wagons. On the +heights of Jaroslav the Emperor met Prince Eitel Friedrich, and then, +from several points of observation, for hours followed with keen +attention the progress of the battle for the crossing." + +While the great offensive in Galicia was well under way, the Germans +were pushing forward in East Prussia. Finding little resistance they +ultimately invaded Courland, captured Libau, and established themselves +firmly in that province. The sweep of the victorious German armies +through Galicia was continued into Poland. On July 19th William the War +Lord bombastically telegraphed his sister, the Queen of Greece, to the +effect that he had "paralyzed Russia for at least six months to come" +and was on the eve of "delivering a coup on the western front that will +make all Europe tremble." + +It would be futile to recount the details of the various German +victories which followed the advance into Poland. On July 24th, the +German line ran from Novogard in the north, south of Przasnysz, thence +to Novogeorgievsk, then swinging to the southeast below Warsaw it passed +close to the west of Ivangorad, Lublin, Chelm, and then south to a point +just east of Lemberg. Warsaw at that time was in the jaws of the German +nutcracker. + +On July 21st, the bells in all the churches throughout Russia clanged a +call to prayer for twenty-four hours' continual service of intercession +for victory. In spite of the heat the churches were packed. Hour after +hour the people stood wedged together, while the priests and choirs +chanted their litanies. Outside the Kamian Cathedral an open-air mass +was celebrated in the presence of an enormous crowd. But the German +victories continued. + +On August 5th Warsaw was abandoned. Up to July 29th hope was entertained +in military quarters in London and Paris that the Germans would stand a +siege in their fortresses along the Warsaw salient, but on that date +advices came from Petrograd that in order to save the Russian armies a +retreat must be made, and the Warsaw fortresses abandoned. For some time +before this the Russian resistance had perceptibly stiffened, and many +vigorous counter-attacks had been made against the German advance, but +it was the same old story, the lack of ammunition. The armies were +compelled to retire and await the munitions necessary for a new +offensive. + +The last days of Russian rule in Warsaw were days of extraordinary +interest. The inhabitants, to the number of nearly half a million, +sought refuge in Russia. All goods that could be useful to the Germans +were either removed or burned. Crops were destroyed in the surrounding +fields. When the Germans entered they found an empty and deserted city, +with only a few Poles and the lowest classes of Jews still left. Warsaw +is a famous city, full of ancient palaces, tastefully, adorned shops, +finely built streets, and fourscore church towers where the bells are +accustomed to ring melodiously for matins and vespers. In the Ujazdowske +Avenue one comes to the most charming building in all Warsaw, the +Lazienki Palace, with its delicious gardens mirrored in a lovely lake. +It is a beautiful city. + +The fall of Warsaw meant the fall of Russian Poland, but Russia was not +yet defeated. Von Hindenburg was to be treated as Napoleon was in 1812, +The strategy of the Grand Duke was sound; so long as he could save the +army the victories of Germany would be futile, It is true that the +German armies were not compelled, like those of Napoleon, to live on the +land. They could bring their supplies from Berlin day by day, but every +mile they advanced into hostile territory made their task harder. The +German line of communication, as it grew longer, became weaker and the +troops needed for garrison duty in the captured towns, seriously +diminished the strength of the fighting army, The Russian retreat was +good strategy and it was carried on with extraordinary cleverness. + +It is unnecessary to describe the events which succeeded the fall of +Warsaw in great detail. There was a constant succession of German +victories and Russian defeats, but never one of the Russian armies +enveloped or destroyed. Back they went, day after day, always fighting; +each great Russian fortress resisted until it saw itself in danger, and +then safely withdrew its troops. Kovno fell and Novogeorgievsk, and +Ivangorad, then Ossowietz was abandoned, and Brest-Litovsk and Grodno. +On September 5th the Emperor of Russia the following order: + + Today I have taken supreme command of all the forces of the sea and + land armies operating in the theater of war. With firm faith in the + clemency of God, with unshakable assurance in final victory, we + shall fulfil our sacred duty to defend our country to the last. We + will not dishonor the Russian land. + +The Grand Duke Nicholas was made Viceroy of the Caucasus, a post which +took him out of the main theater of fighting but gave him a great field +for fresh military activity. He had been bearing a heavy burden, and had +shown himself to be a great commander. He had outmaneuvered von +Hindenberg again and again, and though finally the Russian armies under +his command had been driven back, the retreat itself was a proof of his +military ability, not only in its conception, but in the way in which it +was done. + +The Emperor chose General Alexieff as his Chief of General Staff. He was +the ablest of the great generals who had been leading the Russian army. +With this change in command a new spirit seemed to come over Russia. The +German advance, however, was not yet completely checked. It was +approaching Vilna. + +The fighting around Vilna was the bitterest in the whole long retreat. +On the 18th of September it fell, but the Russian troops were safely +removed and the Russian resistance had become strong. Munitions were +pouring into the new Russian army. The news from the battle-front began +to show improvement. On September 8th General Brussilov, further in the +south, had attacked the Germans in front of Tarnopol, and defeated them +with heavy loss. More than seventeen thousand men were captured with +much artillery. Soon the news came of other advances. Dubno was retaken +and Lutsk. + +The end of September saw the German advance definitely checked. The +Russian forces were now extended in a line from Riga on the north, along +the river Dvina, down to Dvinsk. Then turning to the east along the +river, it again turned south and so on down east of the Pripet Marshes, +it followed an almost straight line to the southern frontier. Its two +strongest points were Riga, on the Gulf of Riga, which lay under the +protection of the guns of the fleet, and Dvinsk, through which ran the +great Petrograd Railway line. Against these two points von Hindenburg +directed his attack. And now, for the first time in many months, he met +with complete failure. The German fleet attempted to assist him on the +Gulf of Riga, but was defeated by the Russian Baltic fleet with heavy +losses. A bombardment turned out a failure and the German armies were +compelled to retire. + +A more serious effort was made against Dvinsk but was equally +unsuccessful and the German losses were immense. Again and again the +attempt was made to cross the Dvina River, but without success; the +German invasion was definitely stopped. By the end of October there was +complete stagnation in the northern sector of the battle line, and +though in November there were a number of battles, nothing happened of +great importance. + +Further south, however, Russia become active. An army had been organized +at her Black Sea bases, and for political reasons it was necessary that +that army should move. At this time the great question was, what was +Roumania about to do? To prevent her from being forced to join the +Central Powers she must have encouragement. It was determined therefore +that an offensive should be made in the direction of Czernowitz. This +town was the railway center of a wide region, and lay close to +Roumania's northern frontier. + +[Illustration: THE GERMAN ATTACK ON THE ROAD TO PETROGRAD] + +The Russian aggressive met with great success. It is true that it never +approached the defenses of Czernowitz, but Brussilov, on the north, had +been able to make great gains of ground, and the very fact that such a +powerful movement could be made so soon after the Russian retreat was an +encouragement to every friend of the Allied cause. This offensive +continued till up to the fourth week of January when it came to an +abrupt stop. A despatch from Petrograd explained the movement as +follows: "The recent Russian offensive in Bessarabia and Galicia was +carried out in accordance with the plan prepared by the Entente Allies' +War Council to relieve the pressure on the Entente forces while they +were fortifying Saloniki and during the evacuation of the Gallipoli +Peninsula." Russia had sacrificed more than seventy thousand soldiers for +her Allies. + +During the year 1916 the Russian armies seemed to have had a new birth. +At last they were supplied with guns and munitions. They waited until +they were ready. In March a series of battles was fought in the +neighborhood of Lake Narotch, and eight successive attacks were made +against the German army, intrenched between Lake Narotch and Lake +Vischenebski. The Germans at first were driven back and badly defeated. +Later on, however, the Russian artillery was sent to another section, +and the Germans were able to recover their position. During June the +Russians attacked all along the southern part of their line. In three +weeks they had regained a whole province. Lutsk and Dubno had been +retaken; two hundred thousand men and hundreds of guns, had been +captured, and the Austrian line had been pierced and shattered. Further +south the German army had been compelled to retreat and the Russian +armies were in Bukovina and Galicia. On the 10th of August Stanislau +fell. + +By this time two Austrian armies had been shattered, over three hundred +and fifty thousand prisoners taken, and nearly a million men put out of +action. Germany, however, was sending reinforcements as fast as +possible, and putting up a desperate defense. Nevertheless everything +was encouraging for Russia and she entered upon the winter in a very +different condition from her condition in the previous year. Then she +had just ended her great retreat. Now she had behind her a series of +successes. But a new difficulty had arisen in the loss of the political +harmony at home which had marked the first years of the war. Dark days +were ahead. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HOW THE BALKANS DECIDED + + +For more than half a century the Balkans have presented a problem which +disturbed the minds of the statesmen of Europe. Again and again, during +that period, it seemed that in the Balkan mountains might be kindled a +blaze which might set the world afire. Balkan politics is a labyrinth in +which one might easily be lost. The inhabitants of the Balkans represent +many races, each with its own ambition, and, for the most part, +military. There were Serbs, and Bulgarians, and Turks, and Roumanians, +and Greeks, and their territorial divisions did not correspond to their +nationalities. The land was largely mountainous, with great gaps that +make it, in a sense, the highway of the world. From 1466 to 1878 the +Balkans was in the dominion of the Turks. In the early days while the +Turks were warring against Hungary, their armies marched through the +Balkan hills. The natives kept apart, and preserved their language, +religion and customs. + +In the nineteenth century, as the Turks grew weaker, their subject +people began to seek independence. Greece came first, and, in 1829, +aided by France, Russia and Great Britain, she became an independent +kingdom. Serbia revolted in 1804, and by 1820 was an autonomous state, +though still tributary to Turkey. In 1859, Roumania became autonomous. +The rising of Bulgaria in 1876, however, was really the beginning of the +succession of events which ultimately led to the World War of 1914-18. +The Bulgarian insurrection was crushed by the Turks in such a way as to +stir the indignation of the whole world. What are known as the +"Bulgarian Atrocities" seem mild today, but they led to the +Russo-Turkish War in 1877. + +The treaty of Berlin, by which that war was settled in 1878, was one of +those treaties which could only lead to trouble. It deprived Russia of +much of the benefit of her victory, and left nearly every racial +question unsettled. Roumania lost Bessarabia, which was mainly inhabited +by Roumanians. Bosnia and Herzegovina were handed over to the +administration of Austria. Turkey was allowed to retain Macedonia, +Albania and Thrace. Serbia was given Nish, but had no outlet to the sea. +Greece obtained Thessaly, and a new province was made of the country +south of the Balkans called Eastern Rumelia. From that time on, quarrel +after quarrel made up the history of the Balkan peoples, each of whom +sought the assistance and support of some one of the great powers. +Russia and Austria were constantly intriguing with the new states, in +the hope of extending their own domains in the direction of +Constantinople. + +The history of Bulgaria shows that that nation has been continually the +center of these intrigues. In 1879 they elected as their sovereign +Prince Alexander of Battenburg, whose career might almost be called +romantic. A splendid soldier and an accomplished gentleman, he stands +out as an interesting figure in the sordid politics of the Balkans. He +identified himself with his new country. In 1885 he brought about a +union with Eastern Rumelia, which led to a disagreement with Russia. + +Serbia, doubtless at Russian instigation, suddenly declared war, but was +overwhelmed by Prince Alexander in short order. Russia then abducted +Prince Alexander, but later was forced to restore him. However, Russian +intrigues, and his failure to obtain support from one of the great +powers, forced his abdication in 1886. + +In 1887 Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became the Prince of +Bulgaria. He, also, was a remarkable man, but not the romantic of his +predecessor. He seems to have been a sort of a parody of a king. He was +fond of ostentation, and full of ambition. He was a personal coward, but +extremely cunning. During his long reign he built up Bulgaria into a +powerful, independent kingdom, and even assumed the title of Czar of +Bulgaria. During the first days of his reign he was kept safely on the +throne by his mother, the Princess Clementine, a daughter of Louis +Phillippe, who, according to Gladstone, was the cleverest woman in +Europe, and for a few years Bulgaria was at peace. In 1908 he declared +Bulgaria independent, and its independence was recognized by Turkey on +the payment of an indemnity. During this period Russia was the protector +of Bulgaria, but the Bulgarian fox was looking also for the aid of +Austria. Serbia more and more relied upon Russia. + +The Austrian treatment of the Slavs was a source of constant +irritation to Serbia. Roumania had a divided feeling. Her loss of +Bessarabia to Russia had caused ill feeling, but in Austria's province +of Transylvania there were millions of Roumanians, whom Roumania +desired to bring under her rule. Greece was fearful of Russia, because +of Russia's desire for the control of Constantinople. All of these +nations, too, were deeply conscious of the Austro-German ambitions +for extension of their power through to the East. Each of these +principalities was also jealous of the other. Bulgaria and Serbia +had been at war; many Bulgarians were in the Roumanian territory, +many Serbians, Bulgarians and Greeks in Macedonia. There was only +one tie in common, that was their hatred of Turkey. In 1912 a league +was formed, under the direction of the Greek statesman, Venizelos, +having for its object an attack on Turkey. By secret treaties +arrangements were made for the division of the land, which they +hoped to obtain from Turkey. + +War was declared, and Turkey was decisively defeated, and then the +trouble began. Serbia and Bulgaria had been particularly anxious for an +outlet to the sea, and in the treaty between them it had been arranged +that Serbia should have an outlet on the Adriatic, while Bulgaria was to +obtain an outlet on the AEgean. The Triple Alliance positively refused +Serbia its share of the Adriatic coast. Serbia insisted, therefore, on a +revision of the treaty, which would enable her to have a seaport on the +AEgean. + +An attempt was made to settle the question by arbitration, but King +Ferdinand refused, whereupon, in July, 1913, the Second Balkan War +began. Bulgaria was attacked by Greece and Serbia, and Turkey took a +chance and regained Adrianople, and even Roumania, which had been +neutral in the First Baltic War, mobilized her armies and marched toward +Sofia. Bulgaria surrendered, and on the 10th of August the Treaty of +Bucharest was signed by the Balkan States. + +As a result of this Bulgaria was left in a thoroughly dissatisfied state +of mind. She had been the leader in the war against Turkey, she had +suffered heavy losses, and she had gained almost nothing. Moreover she +had lost to Roumania, a territory containing a quarter of a million +Bulgarians, and a splendid harbor on the Black Sea. Serbia and Greece +were the big winners. Such a treaty could not be a final settlement. The +Balkans were left seething with unrest. Serbia, though she had gained +much, was still dissatisfied. Her ambitions, however, now turned in the +direction of the Jugoslavs under the rule of Austria, and it was her +agitation in this matter which directly brought on the Great War. But +Bulgaria was sullen and ready for revenge. When the Great War began, +therefore, Roumania, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece were strongly in +sympathy with Russia, who had been their backer and friend. Bulgaria, in +spite of all she owed to Russia in the early days, was now ready to find +protection from an alliance with the Central Powers. Her feeling was +well known to the Allies, and every effort was made to obtain her +friendship and, if possible, her aid. + +Viviani, then Premier of France, in an address before the French Chamber +of Deputies, said: + + The Balkan question was raised at the outset of the war, even + before it came to the attention of the world. The Bucharest Treaty + had left in Bulgaria profound heartburnings. Neither King nor + people were resigned to the loss of the fruits of their efforts and + sacrifices, and to the consequences of the unjustifiable war they + had waged upon their former allies. From the first day, the Allied + governments took into account the dangers of such a situation, and + sought a means to remedy it. Their policy has proceeded in a spirit + of justice and generosity which has characterized the attitude of + Great Britain, Russia and Italy as well as France. We have + attempted to re-establish the union of the Baltic peoples, and in + accord with them seek the realization of their principal national + aspirations. The equilibrium thus obtained by mutual sacrifices + really made by each would have been the best guarantee of future + peace. Despite constant efforts in which Roumania, Greece and + Serbia lent their assistance, we have been unable to obtain the + sincere collaboration of the Bulgarian Government. The difficulties + respecting the negotiations were always at Sofia. + +At the beginning of the war it appears, therefore, that Bulgaria was +entering into negotiations with the Allies, hoping to regain in this +way, some of the territory she had lost in the Second Baltic War. Many +of her leading statesmen and most distinguished generals favored the +cause of Russia, but in May came the great German advance in Galicia, +and the Allies' stalemate in the Dardanelles, and the king, and his +supporters, found the way clear for a movement in favor of Germany. +Still protesting neutrality they signed a secret treaty with Berlin, +Vienna and Constantinople on July 17th. The Central Powers had promised +them not only what they had been asking, in Macedonia, but also the +Greek territory of Epirus. This treaty was concealed from those +Bulgarian leaders who still held to Russia, and on the 5th of October +Bulgaria formally entered into war on the side of Germany, and began an +attack on Serbia. + +The full account of the intrigue which led to this action has never been +told. It is not improbable that King Ferdinand himself never had any +other idea than to act as he did, but he dissembled for a long time. He +set forth his claims in detail to the Allies, who used every effort to +induce Roumania, Greece and Serbia to make the concessions that would be +necessary. Such concessions were made, but not until it was too late. In +a telegram from Milan dated September 24th, an account is given of an +interview between Czar Ferdinand and a committee from those Bulgarians +who were opposed to the King's policy. + +"Mind your own head. I shall mind mine!" are the words which the King +spoke to M. Stambulivski when he received the five opposition members +who had come to warn him of the danger to which he was exposing himself +and the nation. + +The five members were received by the King in the red room at the Royal +Palace and chairs had been placed for them around a big table. The King +entered the room, accompanied by Prince Boris, the heir apparent, and +his secretary, M. Boocovitch. + +"Be seated, gentlemen," said the King, as he sat down himself, as if for +a very quiet talk. His secretary took a seat at the table, a little +apart to take notes, but the conversation immediately became so heated +and rapid that he was unable to write it down. + +The first to speak was M. Malinoff, leader of the Democratic party, who +said: "The policy adopted by the Government is one of adventure, tending +to throw Bulgaria into the arms of Germany, and driving her to attack +Serbia. This policy is contrary to the aspirations, feeling and +interests of the country, and if the Government obstinately continues in +this way it will provoke disturbances of the greatest gravity." It was +the first allusion to the possibility of a revolution, but the King +listened without flinching. M. Malinoff concluded: "For these reasons we +beg your Majesty, after having vainly asked the Government, to convoke +the Chamber immediately, and we ask this convocation for the precise +object of saving the country from dangerous adventures by the formation +of a coalition Ministry." + +The King remained silent, and, with a nod, invited M. Stambulivski to +speak. M. Stambulivski was a leader of the Agrarian party, a man of +sturdy, rustic appearance, accustomed to speak out his mind boldly, and +exceedingly popular among the peasant population. He grew up himself as +a peasant, and wore the laborer's blouse up till very recently. He stood +up and looking the King straight in the face said in resolute tones: "In +the name of every farmer in Bulgaria I add to what M. Malinoff has just +said, that the Bulgarian people hold you personally responsible more +than your Government, for the disastrous adventure of 1913. If a +similar adventure were to be repeated now its gravity this time would be +irreparable. The responsibility would once more fall on your policy, +which is contrary to the welfare of our country, and the nation would +not hesitate to call you personally to account. That there may be no +mistake as to the real wishes of the country I present to your Majesty +my country's demand in writing." + +He handed the King a letter containing the resolution voted by the +Agrarians. The King read it and then turned to M. Zanoff, leader of the +Radical Democrats, and asked him to speak. M. Zanoff did so, speaking +very slowly and impressively, and also looking the King straight in the +face: "Sire, I had sworn never again to set foot inside your palace, and +if I come today it is because the interests of my country are above +personal questions, and have compelled me. Your Majesty may read what I +have to say in this letter, which I submit to you in behalf of our +party." + +He handed the letter and the King read it and still remained silent. +Then he said, turning to his former Prime Minister and ablest +politician: "Gueshoff, it is now your turn to speak." + +M. Gueshoff got up and said: "I also am fully in accord with what M. +Stambulivski has just said. No matter how severe his words may have been +in their simple unpolished frankness, which ignores the ordinary +formalities of etiquette, they entirely express our unanimous opinion. +We all, as representing the opposition, consider the present policy of +the Government contrary to the sentiments and interests of the country, +because by driving it to make common cause with Germany it makes us the +enemies of Russia, which was our deliverer, and the adventure into which +we are thus thrown compromises our future. We disapprove most absolutely +of such a policy, and we also ask that the Chamber be convoked, and a +Ministry formed with the co-operation of all parties." + +After M. Gueshoff, the former Premier, M. Daneff also spoke, and +associated himself with what had already been said. + +The King remained still silent for a while, then he, also, stood up and +said: "Gentlemen, I have listened to your threats, and will refer them +to the President of the Council of Ministers, that he may know and +decide what to do." + +All present bowed, and a chilly silence followed. The King had evidently +taken the frank warning given him as a threat to him personally, and he +walked up and down nervously for a while. Prince Boris turned aside to +talk with the Secretary, who had resumed taking notes. The King +continued pacing to and fro, evidently very nettled. Then, approaching +M. Zanoff, and as if to change the conversation, he asked him for news +about this season's harvest. + +M. Zanoff abruptly replied: "Your Majesty knows that we have not come +here to talk about the harvest, but of something far more important at +present, namely, the policy of your Government, which is on the point of +ruining our country. We can on no account approve the policy that is +anti-Russian. If the Crown and M. Radoslavoff persist in their policy +we shall not answer for the consequences. We have not desired to seek +out those responsible for the disaster of 1913, because other grave +events have been precipitated. But it was a disaster due to criminal +folly. It must not be repeated by an attack on Serbia by Bulgaria, as +seems contemplated by M. Radoslavoff, and which according to all +appearances, has the approval of your Majesty. It would be a +premeditated crime, and deserve to be punished." + +The King hesitated a moment, and then held out his hand to M. Zanoff, +saying: "All right. At all events I thank you for your frankness." Then, +approaching M. Stambulivski, he repeated to him his question about the +harvest. + +M. Stambulivski, as a simple peasant, at first allowed himself to be led +into a discussion of this secondary matter, and had expressed the hope +that the prohibition on the export of cereals would be removed, when he +suddenly remembered, and said: "But this is not the moment to speak of +these things. I again repeat to your Majesty that the country does not +want a policy of adventure which cost it so dear in 1913. It was your +own policy too. Before 1913 we thought you were a great diplomatist, but +since then we have seen what fruits your diplomacy bears. You took +advantage of all the loopholes in the Constitution to direct the country +according to your own views. Your Ministers are nothing. You alone are +the author of this policy and you will have to bear the responsibility." + +The King replied frigidly, "The policy which I have decided to follow is +that which I consider the best for the welfare of the country." + +"It is a policy which will only bring misfortune," replied the sturdy +Agrarian. "It will lead to fresh catastrophes, and compromise not only +the future of our country, but that of your dynasty, and may cost you +your head." + +It was as bold a saying as ever was uttered before a King, and Ferdinand +looked astonished at the peasant who was thus speaking to him. He said, +"Do not mind my head; it is already old. Rather mind your own!" he +added with a disdainful smile, and turned away. + +M. Stambulivski retorted: "My head matters little, Sire. What matters +more is the good of our country." + +The King paid no more attention to him, and took M. Gueshoff and M. +Danoff apart, who again insisted on convoking the Chamber, and assured +him that M. Radoslavoff's government would be in a minority. They also +referred to the Premier's oracular utterances. + +"Ah!" said the King. "Has Radoslavoff spoken to you, and what has he +said?" + +"He has said--" replied the leaders, "that Bulgaria would march with +Germany and attack Serbia." + +The King made a vague gesture, and then said: "Oh, I did not know." + +This incident throws a strong light upon the conflict which was going on +in the Balkan states, between those Kings who were of German origin, and +who believed in the German power, and their people who loved Russia. +King Ferdinand got his warning. He did not listen, and he lost his +throne. All this, however, took place before the Bulgarian declaration +of war. Yet much had already shown what King Ferdinand was about to do. +The Allies, to be sure, were incredulous, and were doing their best to +cultivate the good will of the treacherous King, On September 23rd the +official order was given for Bulgaria's mobilization. She, however, +officially declared that her position was that of armed neutrality and +that she had no aggressive intentions. As it has developed, she was +acting under the direction of the German High Command. + +It was at this period that Germany had failed to crash Russia in the +struggle on the Vilna, and, in accordance with her usual strategy when +one plan failed, another was undertaken. It seemed to her, therefore, +that the punishment of Serbia would make up for other failures, and +moreover would enable her to assist Turkey, which needed munitions, +besides releasing for Germany supplies of food and other material which +might come from Turkey. + +They therefore entrusted an expedition against Serbia to Field Marshal +von Mackensen, and had begun to gather an army for that purpose, north +of the Danube. + +This army of course was mainly composed of Austrian troops, but was +stiffened throughout by some of the best regiments from the German army. +To assist this new army they counted upon Bulgaria, with whom they had +already a secret treaty, and in spite of the falsehoods issued from +Sofia, the Bulgarian mobilization was meant for an attack on Serbia. The +condition of affairs was well understood in Russia. + +On October 2, 1915, M. Sazonov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, +issued the following statement: "The situation in the Balkans is very +grave. The whole Russian nation is aroused by the unthinkable treachery +of Ferdinand and his Government to the Slavic cause. Bulgaria owes her +independence to Russia, and yet seems willing now to become a vassal of +Russia's enemies. In her attitude towards Serbia, when Serbia is +fighting for her very existence, Bulgaria puts herself in the class with +Turkey. We do not believe that the Bulgarian people sympathize with the +action of their ruler therefore, the Allies are disposed to give them +time for reflection. If they persist in their present treacherous course +they must answer to Russia." The next day the following ultimatum from +Russia was handed the Bulgarian Prime Minister: + + Events which are taking place in Bulgaria at this moment give + evidence of the definite decision of King Ferdinand's Government to + place the fate of its country in the hands of Germany. The presence + of German and Austrian officers at the Ministry of War and on the + staffs of the army, the concentration of troops in the zone + bordering on Serbia, and the extensive financial support accepted + from her enemies by the Sofia Cabinet, no longer leave any doubt as + to the object of the present military preparations of Bulgaria. The + powers of the Entente, who have at heart the realization of the + aspirations of the Bulgarian people, have on many occasions warned + M. Radoslavoff that any hostile act against Serbia would be + considered as directed against themselves. The assurances given by + the head of the Bulgarian Cabinet in reply to these warnings are + contradicted by facts. The representative of Russia, bound to + Bulgaria by the imperishable memory of her liberation from the + Turkish yoke, cannot sanction by his presence preparations for + fratricidal aggression against a Slav and allied people. The + Russian Minister has, therefore, received orders to leave Bulgaria + with all the staffs of the Legation and the Consulates if the + Bulgarian Government does not within twenty-four hours openly break + with the enemies of the Slav cause and of Russia, and does not at + once proceed to send away the officers belonging to the armies of + states who are at war with the powers of the Entente. + +Similar ultimatums were presented by representatives of France and Great +Britain. Bulgaria's reply to these ultimatums was described as bold to +the verge of insolence. In substance she denied that German officers +were on the staffs of Bulgarian armies, but said that if they were +present that fact concerned only Bulgaria, which reserved the right to +invite whomsoever she liked. The Bulgarian Government then issued a +manifesto to the nation, announcing its decision to enter the war on the +side of the Central Powers. The manifesto reads as follows: + + The Central Powers have promised us parts of Serbia, creating an + Austro-Hungarian border line, which is absolutely necessary for + Bulgaria's independence of the Serbians. We do not believe in the + promises of the Quadruple Entente. Italy, one of the Allies, + treacherously broke her treaty of thirty-three years. We believe in + Germany, which is fighting the whole world to fulfill her treaty + with Austria. Bulgaria must fight at the victor's side. The Germans + and Austro-Hungarians are victorious on all fronts. Russia soon + will have collapsed entirely. Then will come the turn of France. + Italy and Serbia. Bulgaria would commit suicide if she did not + fight on the side of the Central Powers, which offer the only + possibility of realizing her desire for a union of all Bulgarian + peoples. + +The manifesto also stated that Russia was fighting for Constantinople +and the Dardanelles; Great Britain to destroy Germany's competition; +France for Alsace and Lorraine, and the other allies to rob foreign +countries; the Central Powers were declared to be fighting to defend +property and assure peaceful progress. The manifesto filled seven +columns in the newspapers, and discussed at some length Bulgaria's trade +interests. It attacked Serbia most bitterly, declaring that Serbia had +oppressed the Bulgarian population of Macedonia in a most barbarous +manner; that she had attacked Bulgarian territory and that the Bulgarian +troops had been forced to fight for the defense of their own soil. In +fact it was written in quite the usual German manner. + +Long before this M. Venizelos, the Greek Premier, had perceived what was +coming. Greece was bound by treaty to assist Serbia if she were attacked +by Bulgaria. On September 21st, Venizelos asked France and Britain for a +hundred and fifty thousand troops. On the 24th, the Allies agreed to +this and Greece at once began to mobilize. His policy was received with +great enthusiasm in the Greek Chamber, and former Premier Gounaris, amid +applause, expressed his support of the government. + +On October 6th an announcement from Athens stated that Premier Venizelos +had resigned, the King having informed him that he was unable to support +the policy of his Minister. King Constantine was a brother-in-law of the +German Emperor, and although professing neutrality he had steadily +opposed M. Venizelos' policy. He had once before forced M. Venizelos' +resignation, but at the general elections which followed, the Greek +statesman was returned to power by a decisive majority. + +[Illustration: SCENE OF GREAT ALLIED OFFENSIVE THAT DEFEATED BULGARIA IN +SEPTEMBER, 1918] + +Intense indignation was caused by the King's action, though the King was +able to procure the support of a considerable party. Venizelos' +resignation was precipitated by the landing of the Allied troops in +Saloniki. They had come at the invitation of Venizelos, but the +opposition protested against the occupation of Greek territory by +foreign troops. After a disorderly session in which Venizelos explained +to the Chamber of Deputies the circumstances connected with the landing, +the Chamber passed a vote of confidence in the Government by 142 to 102. +The substance of his argument may be found in his conclusion: + +"We have a treaty with Serbia. If we are honest we will leave nothing +undone to insure its fulfillment in letter and spirit. Only if we are +rogues may we find excuses to avoid our obligations." + +Upon his first resignation M. Zaimis was appointed Premier, and declared +for a policy of armed neutrality. This position was sharply criticised +by Venizelos, but for a time became the policy of the Greek Government. +Meantime the Allied troops were arriving at Saloniki. On October 3d, +seventy thousand French troops arrived. A formal protest was made by the +Greek commandant, who then directed the harbor officials to assist in +arranging the landing. In a short time the Allied forces amounted to a +hundred and fifty thousand men, but the German campaign was moving +rapidly. + +The German Balkan army captured Belgrade on the 9th of October, and by +that date two Bulgarian armies were on the Serbian frontier. Serbia +found herself opposed by two hundred thousand Austro-Germans and a +quarter of a million Bulgarians. Greece and Roumania fully mobilized and +were watching the conflict, and the small allied contingent at Saloniki +was preparing to march inland to the aid of Serbia. + +The conduct of Greece on this occasion has led to universal criticism. +The King himself, no doubt, was mainly moved by his German wife and the +influence of his Imperial brother-in-law. Those that were associated +with him were probably moved by fear. They had been much impressed by +the strength of the German armies. They had seen the success of the +great German offensive in Russia, while the French and British were +being held in the West. They knew, too, the strength of Bulgaria. The +national characteristic of the Greeks is prudence, and it cannot be +denied that there was great reason to suppose that the armies of Greece +would not be able to resist the new attack. With these views Venizelos, +the greatest statesman that Greece had produced for many years, did not +agree, and the election seemed to show that he was supported by the +majority of the Greek people. + +This was another case where the Allies, faced by a dangerous situation, +were acting with too great caution. In Gallipoli they had failed, +because at the very beginning they had not used their full strength. +Now, again, knowing as they did all that depended upon it, bound as they +were to the most loyal support of Serbia, the aid they sent was too +small to be more than a drop in the bucket. It must be remembered, +however, that the greatest leaders among the Allies were at all times +opposed to in any way scattering their strength. They believed that the +war was to be won in France. Military leaders in particular yielded +under protest to the political leaders when expeditions of this +character were undertaken. + +Certainly this is true, that the world believed that Serbia had a right +to Allied assistance. The gallant little nation was fighting for her +life, and public honor demanded that she should be aided. It was this +strong feeling that led to the action that was taken, in spite of the +military opinions. It was, however, too late. + +In the second week of October Serbia found herself faced by an enemy +which was attacking her on three sides. She herself had been greatly +weakened. Her losses in 1914, when she had driven Austria from her +border, must have been at least two hundred thousand men. She had +suffered from pestilence and famine. Her strength now could not have +been more than two hundred thousand, and though she was fairly well +supplied with munitions, she was so much outnumbered that she could +hardly hope for success. On her west she was facing the Austro-German +armies; on her east Bulgaria; on the south Albania. Her source of +supplies was Saloniki and this was really her only hope. If the Allies +at Saloniki could stop the Bulgarian movement, the Serbians might face +again the Austro-Germans. They expected this help from the Allies. + +At Nish the town was decorated and the school children waited outside +the station with bouquets to present to the coming reinforcements. But +the Allies did not come. + +Von Mackensen's plan was simple enough. His object was to win a way to +Constantinople. This could be done either by the control of the Danube +or the Ottoman Railroad. To control the Danube he had to seize +northeastern Serbia for the length of the river. This was comparatively +easy and would give him a clear water way to the Bulgarian railways +connected with Constantinople. The Ottoman railway was a harder route +to win. It meant an advance to the southeast, which would clear the +Moravo valley up to Nish, and then the Nishava valley up to Bulgaria. +The movements involved were somewhat complex, but easily carried out on +account of the very great numerical superiority of von Mackensen's +forces. + +On September 19th Belgrade was bombarded. The Serbian positions were +gradually destroyed. On the 7th of October the German armies crossed the +Danube, and on the 8th the Serbians began to retreat. There was great +destruction in Belgrade and the Bulgarian General, Mishitch, was forced +slowly back to the foothills of the Tser range. + +For a time von Mackensen moved slowly. He did not wish to drive the +Serbians too far south. On the 12th of October the Bulgarian army began +its attack. At first it was held, but by October 17th was pushing +forward all along the line. On the 20th they entered Uskub, a central +point of all the routes of southern Serbia. This practically separated +the Allied forces at Saloniki from the Serbian armies further north. +Disaster followed disaster. On Tuesday, October 26th, a junction of +Bulgarian and Austro-German patrols was completed in the Dobravodo +mountains. General von Gallwitz announced that a moment of world +significance had come, that the "Orient and Occident had been united, +and on the basis of this firm and indissoluble union a new and mighty +vierbund comes into being, created by the victory of our arms." + +[Illustration: GERMANY'S DREAM: "THE +BREMEN-BERLIN-BOSPORUS-BAGDAD-BAHN"] + +The road from Germany, through Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria to Turkey +lay open. On October 31st, Milanovac was lost, and on November 2nd, +Kraguyevac surrendered, the decisive battle of the war. On November +7th, Nish was captured. General Jecoff announced: "After fierce and +sanguinary fighting the fortress of Nish has been conquered by our brave +victorious troops and the Bulgarian flag has been hoisted to remain +forever." + +The Serbian army continued steadily to retreat, until on November 8th, +advancing Franco-British troops almost joined with them, presenting a +line from Prilep to Dorolovo on the Bulgarian frontier. At this time the +Bulgarian army suffered a defeat at Izvor, and also at Strumitza. The +Allied armies were now reported to number three hundred thousand men. +The Austro-Germans by this time had reached the mountainous region of +Serbia, and were meeting with strong resistance. + +On November 13th, German despatches from the front claimed the capture +of 54,000 Serbian prisoners. The aged King Peter of Serbia was in full +flight, followed by the Crown Prince. The Serbians, however, were still +fighting and on November 15th, made a stand on the western bank of the +Morava River, and recaptured the town of Tatova. + +At this time the Allied world was watching the Serbian struggle with +interest and sympathy. In the House of Lords, Lord Lansdowne in a +discussion of the English effort to give them aid said: "It is +impossible to think or speak of Serbia without a tribute to the wondrous +gallantry with which that little country withstood two separate +invasions, and has lately been struggling against a third. She repelled +the first two invasions by an effort which I venture to think formed one +of the most glorious chapters in the history of this Great War." + +Serbia, however, was compelled once more to retreat, and their retreat +soon became a rout. Their guns were abandoned and the roads were strewn +with fainting, starving men. The sufferings of the Serbian people during +this time are indescribable. Men, women, and children struggled along in +the wake of the armies without food or shelter. King Peter himself was +able to escape, with the greatest difficulty. By traveling on horseback +and mule back in disguise he finally reached Scutari and crossed to +Brindisi and finally arrived at Saloniki on New Year's Day, crippled and +almost blind, but still full of fight. + +"I believe," he said, "in the liberty of Serbia, as I believe in God. It +was the dream of my youth. It was for that I fought throughout manhood. +It has become the faith of the twilight of my life, I live only to see +Serbia free. I pray that God may let me live until the day of redemption +of my people. On that day I am ready to die, if the Lord wills. I have +struggled a great deal in my life, and am tired, bruised and broken from +it, but I will see, I shall see, this triumph. I shall not die before +the victory of my country." + +The Serbian army had been driven out of Serbia. But the Allies who had +come up from Saloniki were still unbeaten. On October 12th, the French +General Serrail arrived and moved with the French forces, as has already +been said, to the Serbian aid. They met with a number of successes. On +October 19th they seized the Bulgarian town of Struminitza, and +occupied strong positions on the left bank of the Vardar. On October +27th they occupied Krivolak, with the British Tenth Division, which had +joined them on their right. They then occupied the summit of +Karahodjali, which commanded the whole section of the valley. This the +Bulgarians attacked in force on the 5th of November, but were badly +repulsed. They then attempted to move toward Babuna Pass, twenty-five +miles west of Krivolak, where they hoped to join hands with the Serbian +column at that point. + +They were being faced by a Bulgarian army numbering one hundred and +twenty-five thousand men, and found themselves in serious danger. They +were compelled to fall back into what is called the "Entrenched Camp of +Kavodar" without bringing the aid to the Serbian army that they had +hoped. The Allied expedition to aid Serbia had failed. It was hopeless +from the start, and, if anything, had injured Serbia by raising false +expectations which had interfered with their plans. + +During the whole of this disastrous campaign a desperate political +struggle was going on in Greece. On November 3rd, the Zaimis Cabinet +tendered its resignation to King Constantine. The trouble was over a +bill for extra pay to army officers, but it led to an elaborate +discussion of the Greek war policy, M. Venizelos made two long speeches +defending his policy, and condemning the policy of his opponents in +regard to the Balkan situation. He said that he deplored the fact that +Serbia was being left to be crushed by Bulgaria, Greece's hereditary +enemy, who would not scruple later to fall on Greece herself. He spoke +of the King in a friendly way, criticizing, however, his position. He +had been twice removed from the Premiership, although he had a majority +behind him in the Greek Chamber. + +"Our State," he said, "is a democracy, presided over by the King, and +the whole responsibility rests with the Cabinet. I admit that the Crown +has a right to disagree with the responsible Government if he thinks the +latter is not in agreement with the national will. But after the recent +election, non-agreement is out of the question, and now the Crown has +not the right to disagree again on the same question. It is not a +question of patriotism but of constitutional liberty." + +When the vote was taken the Government was defeated by 147 to 114. +Instead of appointing Venizelos Premier, King Constantine gave the +position to M. Skouloudis, and then dissolved the Greek Chamber by royal +decree. Premier Skouloudis declared his policy to be neutrality with the +character of sincerest benevolence toward the Entente Powers. The +general conditions at Athens during this whole time were causing great +anxiety in the Allied capitals, and the Allied expedition were in +continual fear of an attack in the rear in case of reverse. They +endeavored to obtain satisfactory assurances on this point, and while +assurances were given, during the whole period of King Constantine's +reign aggressive action was prevented because of the doubt as to what +course King Constantine would take. + +In the end Constantine was compelled to abdicate. Venizelos became +Premier, and Greece formally declared war on the Central Powers. + +It was not till August 27th, 1916, that Roumania cast aside her role of +neutral and entered the war with a declaration of hostilities on +Austria-Hungary. Great expectations were founded upon the supposedly +well-trained Roumanian army and upon the nation which, because of its +alertness and discipline, was known as "the policeman of Europe." The +belief was general in Paris and London that the weight of men and +material thrown into the scale by Roumania would bring the to a speedy, +victorious end. + +Germany, however, was confident. A spy system excelling in its detailed +reports anything that had heretofore been attempted, made smooth the +path of the German army. Scarcely had the Roumanian army launched a +drive in force into Transylvania on August 30th, when the message spread +from Bucharest "von Mackensen is coming. Recall the army. Draft all +males of military age. Prepare for the worst." + +And the worst fell upon hapless Roumania. A vast force of military +engineers moving like a human screen in front of von Mackensen's array, +followed routes carefully mapped out by German spies during the period +of Roumanians neutrality. Military bridges, measured to the inch, had +been prepared to carry cannon, material and men over streams and +ravines. Every Roumanian oil well, mine and storehouse had been located +and mapped. German scientists had studied Roumanian weather conditions +and von Mackensen attacked while the roads were at their best and the +weather most favorable. As the Germans swept forward, spies met them +giving them military information of the utmost value. A swarm of +airplanes spied out the movements of the Roumanians and no Roumanian +airplanes rose to meet them. + +General von Falkenhayn, co-operating with von Mackensen, smashed his way +through Vulkan Pass, and cut the main line running to Bucharest at +Craiova. The Dobrudja region was over-run and the central Roumanian +plain was swept clear of all Roumanian opposition to the German advance. +The seat of government transferred from Bucharest to Jassy on November +28, 1916, and on December 6th Bucharest was entered by von Mackensen, +definitely putting an end to Roumania as a factor in the war. + +The result of the fall of Roumania was to release immense stores of +petroleum for German use. British and Roumanian engineers had done +their utmost by the use of explosives to make useless the great +Roumanian oil wells, but German engineers soon the precious fluid in +full flow. This furnished the fuel which Germany had long and ardently +desired. The oil-burning submarine now came into its own. It was +possible to plan a great fleet of submersibles to attempt execution of +von Tirpitz's plan for unrestricted submarine warfare. This was decided +upon by the German High Command, the day Bucharest fell. It was realized +that such a policy would bring the United States into the war, but the +Kaiser and his advisers hoped the submarine on sea and a great western +front offensive on land would force a decision in favor of Germany +before America could get ready. How that hope failed was revealed at +Chateau-Thierry and in the humiliation of Germany. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA + + +In our previous discussion of the British campaign in Mesopotamia we +left the British forces intrenched at Kurna, and also occupying Basra, +the port of Bagdad. The object of the Mesopotamia Expedition was +primarily to keep the enemy from the shores of the Gulf of Persia. If +the English had been satisfied with that, the misfortune which was to +come to them might never have occurred, but the whole expedition was +essentially political rather than military in its nature. + +The British were defending India. The Germans, unable to attack the +British Empire by sea, were hoping to attack her by land. They had +already attempted to stir up a Holy War with the full expectation that +it would lead to an Indian revolution. In this they had failed, for the +millions of Mohammedans in India cared little for the Turkish Sultan or +his proclamations. Through Bagdad, however, they hoped to strike a blow +at the English influence on the Persian Gulf. The English, therefore, +felt strongly that it was not enough to sit safely astride the Tigris, +but that a blow at Bagdad would produce a tremendous political effect. +It would practically prevent German communication with Persia, and the +Indian frontier. + +As a matter of fact the Persian Gulf and the oil fields were safe so +long as the English held Kurna and Basra, and the Arabs were of no +special consequence. The real reason for the expedition was probably +that about this time matters were moving badly for the Allies. Serbia +was in trouble in the Balkans, Gallipoli was a failure, something it +seemed ought to be done to restore the British prestige. Up to this time +the Mesopotamia Expedition had been a great success, but it had made no +great impression on the world. The little villages in the hands of the +British had unknown names, but if Bagdad should be captured Great +Britain would have something to boast of; something would keep up its +prestige among its Mohammedan subjects. + +Before the expedition to Bagdad was determined on, there had been +several lively fights between the English forces and the Turks. On March +3d a Turkish force numbering about twelve thousand appeared at Ahwaz +where the British had placed a small garrison to protect the pipe line +of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The British retirement led to heavy +fighting, with severe losses. + +A number of lively skirmishes followed, and then the serious attack +against Shaiba. The Turkish army numbered about eighteen thousand men, +of whom eleven thousand were regulars. The fighting lasted for several +days, the Turks being reinforced. On the 14th of April, however, the +English attacked in turn and put the whole enemy force to flight. The +British lost about seven hundred officers and men, reported a Turkish +loss of about six thousand. In their retreat the Turks were attacked by +their Arab allies, and suffered additional losses. From that time till +summer there were no serious contests, although there were occasional +skirmishes which turned out favorably to the British. + +By this time the Turks had collected a considerable army north of Kurna, +and on May 31st an expedition was made to disperse it. On June 3d the +British captured Amara, seventy-five miles above Kurna, scattering the +Turkish army. Early in July a similar expedition was sent against +Nasiriyeh, which led to serious fighting, the Turks being badly defeated +with a loss of over two thousand five hundred men. + +Kut-el-Amara still remained, and early in August an expedition was +directed against that point. The Turks were found in great force, well +intrenched, and directed by German officers. The battle lasted for four +days. The English suffered great hardship on account of the scarcity of +water and the blinding heat, but on September 29th they drove the enemy +from the city and took possession. More than two thousand prisoners were +taken. The town was found thoroughly fortified, with an elaborate +system of trenches extending for miles, built in the true German +fashion. Its capture was the end of the summer campaign. + +[Illustration: THE MESOPOTAMIAN SECTOR, WHERE THE BRITISH ROUTED THE +TURKISH ARMY] + +The British now had at last made up their minds to push on to Bagdad. +General Townshend, whose work so far had been admirable, protested, but +Sir John Nixon, and the Indian military authorities, were strongly in +favor of the expedition. By October, Turkey was able to gather a large +army. She was fighting in Transcaucasia, Egypt, Gallipoli and +Mesopotamia. Little was going on in the first three of these fronts, +and she was able therefore to send to Mesopotamia almost a quarter of a +million men. + +To meet these, General Townshend had barely fifteen thousand men, of +whom only one-third were white soldiers. He was backed by a flotilla of +boats of almost every kind,--river boats, motor launches, paddle +steamers, native punts. The British army was almost worn out by the +fighting during the intense heat of the previous summer. But their +success had given them confidence. + +In the early days of October the advance began. For some days it +proceeded with no serious fighting. On the 23d of October it reached +Azizie, and was halted by a Turkish force numbering about four thousand. +These were soon routed, and the advance continued until General +Townshend arrived at Lajj, about seven miles from Ctesiphon, where the +Turks were found heavily intrenched and in great numbers. Ctesiphon was +a famous old city which had been the battle ground of Romans and +Parthians, but was now mainly ruins. In these ruins, however, the Turks +found admirable shelter for nests of machine guns. On the 21st of +November General Townshend made his attack. + +The Turks occupied two lines of intrenchments, and had about twenty +thousand men, the English about twelve thousand. General Townshend's +plan was to divide his army into three columns. The first was to attack +the center of the first Turkish position. A second was directed at the +left of that position, and a third was to swing widely around and come +in on the rear of the Turkish force. This plan was entirely successful, +but the Turkish army was not routed, and retreated fighting desperately +to its second line. There it was reinforced and counter-attacked with +such vigor that it drove the British back to its old first trenches. The +next day the Turks were further reinforced and attacked again. The +British drove them back over and over, but found themselves unable to +advance. The Turks had lost enormously but the English had lost about +one-third of their strength, and were compelled to fall back. They +therefore returned on the 26th to Lajj, and ultimately, after continual +rear guard actions, to Kut. There they found themselves surrounded, and +there was nothing to do but to wait for help. By this time the eyes of +the world were upon the beleaguered British army. Help was being hurried +to them from India, but Germany also was awake and Marshal von Der +Goltz, who had been military instructor in the Turkish army, was sent +down to take command of the Turkish forces. The town of Kut lies in the +loop of the Tigris, making it almost an island. There was an intrenched +line across the neck of land on the north, and the place could resist +any ordinary assault. The great difficulty was one of supplies. However, +as the relieving force was on the way, no great anxiety was felt. For +some days there was constant bombardment, which did no great damage. On +the 23d an attempt was made to carry the place by assault, but this too +failed. The relieving force, however, was having its troubles. These +were the days of floods, and progress was slow and at times almost +impossible. Moreover, the Turks were constantly resisting. + +The relief expedition was composed of thirty thousand Indian troops, two +Anglo-Indian divisions, and the remnants of Townshend's expedition, a +total of about ninety thousand men. General Sir Percy Lake was in +command of the entire force. The march began on January 6th. By January +8th the British had reached Sheikh Saad, where the Turks were defeated +in two pitched battles. On January 22d he had arrived at Umm-el-Hanna, +where the Turks had intrenched themselves. + +After artillery bombardment the Turkish positions were attacked, but +heavy rains had converted the ground into a sea of mud, rendering rapid +movement impossible. The enemy's fire was heavy and effective, +inflicting severe losses, and though every effort was made, the assault +failed. + +For days the British troops bivouacked in driving rain on soaked and +sodden ground. Three times they were called upon to advance over a +perfectly flat country, deep in mud, and absolutely devoid of cover +against well-constructed and well-planned trenches, manned by a brave +and stubborn enemy, approximately their equal in numbers. They showed a +spirit of endurance and self-sacrifice of which their country may well +be proud. + +But the repulse at Hanna did not discourage the British army. It was +decided to move up the left bank of the Tigris and attack the Turkish +position at the Dujailah redoubt. This meant a night march across the +desert with great danger that there would be no water supply and that, +unless the enemy was routed, the army would be in great danger. + +General Lake says: "On the afternoon of March 7th, General Aylmer +assembled his subordinate commanders and gave his final instructions, +laying particular stress on the fact that the operation was designed to +effect a surprise, and that to prevent the enemy forestalling us, it was +essential that the first phase of the operation should be pushed through +with the utmost vigor. His dispositions were, briefly, as follows: The +greater part of a division under General Younghusband, assisted by naval +gunboats, controlled the enemy on the left bank. The remaining troops +were formed into two columns, under General Kemball and General Keary +respectively, a reserve of infantry, and the cavalry brigade, being held +at the Corps Commander's own disposal. Kemball's column covered on the +outer flank by the cavalry brigade was to make a turning movement to +attack the Dujailah redoubt from the south, supported by the remainder +of the force, operating from a position to the east of the redoubt. The +night march by this large force, which led across the enemy's front to a +position on his right flank, was a difficult operation, entailing +movement over unknown ground, and requiring most careful arrangement to +attain success." + +Thanks to excellent staff work and good march discipline the troops +reached their allotted position apparently undiscovered by the enemy, +but while Keary's column was in position at daybreak, ready to support +Kemball's attack, the latter's command did not reach the point selected +for its deployment in the Dujailah depression until more than an hour +later. This delay was highly prejudicial to the success of the +operation. + +When, nearly three hours later, Kemball's troops advanced to the attack, +they were strongly opposed by the enemy from trenches cleverly concealed +in the brushwood, and were unable to make further ground for some time, +though assisted by Keary's attack upon the redoubt from the east. The +southern attack was now reinforced, and by 1 P.M. had pushed forward to +within five hundred yards of the redoubt, but concealed trenches again +stopped further progress and the Turks made several counter-attacks with +reinforcements which had by now arrived from the direction of Magasis. + +It was about this time that the Corps Commander received from his +engineer officers the unwelcome news that the water supply contained in +rain-water pools and in Dujailah depression, upon which he had reckoned, +was insufficient and could not be increased by digging. It was clear, +therefore, that unless the Dujailah redoubt could be carried that day +the scarcity of water would, of itself, compel the troops to fall back. +Preparations were accordingly made for a further assault on the redoubt, +and attacks were launched from the south and east under cover of a heavy +bombardment. + +The attacking forces succeeded in gaining a foothold in the redoubt. But +here they were heavily counter-attacked by large enemy reinforcements, +and being subjected to an extremely rapid and accurate shrapnel fire +from concealed guns in the vicinity of Sinn After, they were forced to +fall back to the position from which they started. The troops who had +been under arms for some thirty hours, including a long night march, +were now much exhausted, and General Aylmer considered that a renewal of +the assault during the night could not be made with any prospect of +success. Next morning the enemy's position was found to be unchanged and +General Aylmer, finding himself faced with the deficiency of order +already referred to, decided upon the immediate withdrawal of his troops +to Wadi, which was reached the same night. + +For the next month the English were held in their positions by the +Tigris floods. On April 4th the floods had sufficiently receded to +permit of another attack upon Umm-el-Hanna, which this time was +successful. On April 8th the Turkish position at Sanna-i-yat was +attacked, but the English were repulsed. They then determined to make +another attempt to capture the Sinn After redoubt. On April 17th the +fort of Beit-Aiessa, four miles from Es Sinn, on the left bank, was +captured after heavy bombardment, and held against serious +counter-attacks. On the 20th and 21st the Sanna-i-yat position was +bombarded and a vigorous assault was made, which met with some success. +The Turks, however, delivered a strong counter-attack, and succeeded in +forcing the British troops back. + +General Lake says: "Persistent and repeated attempts on both banks have +thus failed, and it was known that at the outside not more than six +days' supplies remained to the Kut garrison. The British troops were +nearly worn out. The same troops had advanced time and again to assault +positions strong by art and held by a determined enemy. For eighteen +consecutive days they had done all that men could do to overcome, not +only the enemy, but also exceptional climatic and physical obstacles, +and this on a scale of rations which was far from being sufficient in +view of the exertions they had undergone but which the shortage of river +transports, had made it impossible to augment. The need for rest was +imperative." + +On April 28th the British garrison at Kut-el-Amara surrendered +unconditionally, after a heroic resistance of a hundred and forty-three +days. According to British figures the surrendered army was composed of +2,970 English and 6,000 Indian troops. The Turkish figures are 13,300. +The Turks also captured a large amount of booty, although General +Townshend destroyed most of his guns and munitions. + +During the period in which Kut-el-Amara was besieged by the Turks, the +British troops had suffered much. The enemy bombarded the town almost +every day, but did little damage. The real foe was starvation. At first +the British were confident that a relief expedition would soon reach +them, and they amused themselves by cricket and hockey and fishing in +the river. By early February, however, it was found necessary to reduce +the rations, and a month later they were suffering from hunger. Some +little help was given them by airplanes, which brought tobacco and some +small quantities of supplies. Soon the horses and the mules were +slaughtered and eaten. As time went on the situation grew desperate; +till almost the end, however, they did not lose hope. Through the +wireless they were informed about the progress of the relief expeditions +and had even heard their guns in the distance. They gradually grew, +however, weaker and weaker, so that on the surrender the troops in the +first lines were too weak to march back with their kits. + +The Turks treated the prisoners in a chivalric manner; food and tobacco +was at once distributed, and all were interned in Anatolia, except +General Townshend and his staff, who were taken to Constantinople. Later +on it was General Townshend who was to have the honor of carrying the +Turkish plea for an armistice in the closing days of the war. + +The surrender of Kut created a world-wide sensation. The loss of eight +thousand troops was, of course, not a serious matter, and the road to +India was still barred, but the moral effect was most unfortunate. That +the great British nation, whose power had been so respected in the +Orient, should now be forced to yield, was a great blow to its prestige. +In England, of course, there was a flood of criticism. It was very plain +that a mistake had been made. A commission was appointed to inquire into +the whole business. This committee reported to Parliament on June 26, +1917, and the report created a great sensation. The substance of the +report was, that while the expedition was justifiable from a political +point of view, it was undertaken with insufficient forces and inadequate +preparation, and it sharply criticized those that were responsible. + +It seems plain that the military authorities in India under-estimated +their opponent. The report especially criticized General Sir John Eccles +Nixon, the former commander of the British forces in Mesopotamia, who +had urged the expedition, in spite of the objection of General +Townshend. Others sharing the blame were the Viceroy of India, Baron +Hardinge, General Sir Beauchamp Duff, Commander-in-Chief of the British +forces in India, and, in England, Major-General Sir Edmund Barrow, +Military Secretary of the India office, J. Austin Chamberlain, Secretary +for India, and the War Committee of the Cabinet. According to the +report, beside the losses incurred by the surrender more than +twenty-three thousand men were lost in the relieving expedition. The +general armament and equipment were declared to be not only +insufficient, but not up to the standard. + +In consequence of this report Mr. Chamberlain resigned as secretary for +India. In the House of Commons, Mr. Balfour, Secretary of Foreign +Affairs, supported Lord Hardinge, who, at the time of the report, was +Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He declared the criticism of Baron +Hardinge to be grossly unjust. After some discussion the House of +Commons supported Mr. Balfour's refusal to accept Baron Hardinge's +resignation, by a vote of 176 to 81. It seems to be agreed that the +civil administration of India were not responsible for the blunders of +the expedition. Ten years before, Lord Kitchener, after a bitter +controversy with Lord Curzon, had made the military side of the Indian +Government free of all civilian criticism and control. The blunders here +were military blunders. + +The English, of course, were not satisfied to leave the situation in +such a condition, and at once began their plans for a new attempt to +capture Bagdad. The summer campaign, however, was uneventful, though on +May 18th a band of Cossacks from the Russian armies in Persia joined the +British camp. A few days afterwards the British army went up the Tigris +and captured the Dujailah redoubt, where they had been so badly defeated +on the 8th of March. They then approached close to Kut, but the weather +was unsuitable, and there was now no object in capturing the city. + +In August Sir Percy Lake was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Sir +Frederick Stanley Maude, who carefully and thoroughly proceeded to +prepare for an expedition which should capture Bagdad. A dispatch from +General Maude dated July 10, 1917, gives a full account of this +expedition. It was thoroughly successful. This time with a sufficient +army and a thorough equipment the British found no difficulties, and on +February 26th they captured Kut-el-Amara, not after a hard-fought +battle, but as the result of a successful series of small engagements. +The Turks kept up a steady resistance, but the British blood was up. +They were remembering General Townshend's surrender, and the Turks were +driven before them in great confusion. + +The capture of Kut, however, was not an object in itself, and the +British pushed steadily on up the Tigris. The Turks occasionally made a +stand, but without effect. On the 28th of February the English had +arrived at Azizie, half way to Bagdad, where a halt was made. On the 5th +of March the advance was renewed. The Ctesiphon position, which had +defied General Townshend, was found to be strongly intrenched, but +empty. On March 7th the enemy made a stand on the River Diala, which +enters the Tigris eight miles below Bagdad. Some lively fighting +followed, the enemy resisting four attempts to cross the Diala. However, +on March 10th the British forces crossed, and were now close to Bagdad. +The enemy suddenly retired and the British troops found that their main +opponent was a dust storm. The enemy retired beyond Bagdad, and on March +11th the city was occupied by the English. + +The fall of Bagdad was an important event. It cheered the Allies, and +proved, especially to the Oriental world, the power of the British army. +Those who originally planned its capture had been right, but those who +were to carry out the plan had not done their duty. Under General Maude +it was a comparatively simple operation, though full of admirable +details, and it produced all the good effects expected. The British, of +course, did not stop at Bagdad. The city itself is not of strategic +importance. The surrounding towns were occupied and an endeavor was made +to conciliate the inhabitants. The real object of the expedition was +attained. + +[Illustration: BAGDAD THE MAGNIFICENT FALLS TO THE BRITISH + +Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude, Commander-in-Chief of +the British Mesopotamian Army, making his triumphal entry into the +ancient city at the head of his victorious army on March 11, 1917.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IMMORTAL VERDUN + + +France was revealed to herself, to Germany and to the world as the +heroic defender of civilization, as a defender defying death in the +victory of Verdun. There, with the gateway to Paris lying open at its +back, the French army, in the longest pitched battle in all history, +held like a cold blue rock against the uttermost man power and resources +of the German army. + +General von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff and military +dictator of the Teutonic allies, there met disaster and disgrace. There +the mettle of the Crown Prince was tested and he was found to be merely +a thing of straw, a weak creature whose mind was under the domination of +von Falkenhayn. + +For the tremendous offensive which was planned to end the war by one +terrific thrust, von Falkenhayn had robbed all the other fronts of +effective men and munitions. Field Marshal von Hindenburg and his crafty +Chief of Staff, General Ludendorff, had planned a campaign against +Russia designed to put that tottering military Colossus out of the war. +The plans were upon a scale that might well have proved successful. The +Kaiser, influenced by the Crown Prince and by von Falkenhayn, decreed +that the Russian campaign must be postponed and that von Hindenburg must +send his crack troops to join the army of the Crown Prince fronting +Verdun. Ludendorff promptly resigned as Chief of Staff to von Hindenburg +and suggested that the Field Marshal also resign. That grim old warrior +declined to take this action, preferring to remain idle in East Prussia +and watch what he predicted would be a useless effort on the western +front. His warning to the General Staff was explicit, but von Falkenhayn +coolly ignored the message. + +[Illustration: IMMORTAL VERDUN, WHERE THE FRENCH HELD THE GERMANS WITH +THE INSPIRING SLOGAN, "THEY SHALL NOT PASS"] + +Why did Germany select this particular point for its grand offensive? +The answer is to be found in a demand made by the great Junker +associations of Germany in May, 1915, nine months before the attack was +undertaken. That demand was to the effect that Verdun should be attacked +and captured. They declared that the Verdun fortifications made a +menacing salient thrust into the rich iron fields of the Briey basin. +From this metalliferous field of Lorraine came the ore that supplied +eighty per cent of the steel required for German and Austrian guns and +munitions. These fields of Briey were only twenty miles from the great +guns of Verdun. They were French territory at the beginning of the war +and had been seized by the army of the Crown Prince, co-operating with +the Army of Metz because of their immense value to the Germans in war +making. + +As a preliminary to the battle, von Falkenhayn placed a semicircle of +huge howitzers and rifles around the field of Briey. Then assembling the +vast forces drained from all the fronts and having erected ammunition +dumps covering many acres, the great battle commenced with a surprise +attack upon the village of Haumont on February 21, 1916. + +The first victory of the Germans at that point was an easy one. The +great fort of Douaumont was the next objective. This was taken on +February 25th after a concentrated bombardment that for intensity +surpassed anything that heretofore had been shown in the war. + +Von Falkenhayn, personally superintending the disposition of guns and +men, had now penetrated the outer defenses of Verdun. The tide was +running against the French, and shells, more shells for the guns of all +caliber; men, more men for the earthworks surrounding the devoted city +were needed. The narrow-gauge railway connecting Verdun with the great +French depots of supplies was totally inadequate for the transportation +burdens suddenly cast upon it. In this desperate emergency a transport +system was born of necessity, a system that saved Verdun. It was fleet +upon fleet of motor trucks, all sizes, all styles; anything that could +pack a few shells or a handful of men was utilized. The backbone of the +system was a great fleet of trucks driven by men whose average daily +rest was four hours, and upon whose horizon-blue uniforms the stains of +snow and sleet, of dust and mud, were indelibly fixed through the +winter, spring, summer and fall of 1916, for the glorious engagement +continued from February 21st until November 2d, when the Germans were +forced into full retreat from the field of honor, the evacuation of Fort +Vaux putting a period to Germany's disastrous plan and to von +Falkenhayn's military career. + +Lord Northcliffe, describing the early days of the immortal battle, +wrote: + +"Verdun is, in many ways, the most extraordinary of battles. The mass of +metal used on both sides is far beyond all parallel; the transformation +on the Douaumont Ridge was more suddenly dramatic than even the battle +of the Marne; and, above all, the duration of the conflict already looks +as if it would surpass anything in history. More than a month has +elapsed since, by the kindness of General Joffre and General Petain, I +was able to watch the struggle from various vital viewpoints. The battle +had then been raging with great intensity for a fortnignt, and, as I +write, four to five thousand guns are still thundering round Verdun. +Impossible, therefore, any man to describe the entire battle. The most +one can do is to set down one's impressions of the first phases of a +terrible conflict, the end of which cannot be foreseen. + +"My chief impression is one of admiration for the subtle powers of mind +of the French High Command. General Joffre and General Castelnau are men +with especially fine intellects tempered to terrible keenness. Always +they have had to contend against superior numbers. In 1870, when they +were subalterns, their country lost the advantage of its numerous +population by abandoning general military service at a time when Prussia +was completely realizing the idea of a nation in arms. In 1914, when +they were commanders, France was inferior to a still greater degree in +point of numbers to Prussianized Germany. In armament, France was +inferior at first to her enemy. The French High Command has thus been +trained by adversity to do all that human intellect can against almost +overwhelming hostile material forces. General Joffre, General +Castelnau--and, later, General Petain, who at a moment's notice +displaced General Herr--had to display genius where the Germans were +exhibiting talent, and the result is to be seen at Verdun. They there +caught the enemy in a series of traps of a kind hitherto unknown in +modern warfare--something elemental, and yet subtle, neo-primitive, +and befitting the atavistic character of the Teuton. They caught him in +a web of his own unfulfilled boasts. + +"The enemy began by massing a surprising force on the western front. +Tremendous energy and organizing power were the marks of his supreme +efforts to obtain a decision. It was usually reckoned that the Germans +maintain on all fronts a field army of about seventy-four and a half +army corps, which at full strength number three million men. Yet, while +holding the Russians from Riga to the south of the Pripet Marshes, and +maintaining a show of force in the Balkans, Germany seems to have +succeeded in bringing up nearly two millions and a half of men for her +grand spring offensive in the west. At one time her forces in France and +Flanders were only ninety divisions. But troops and guns were withdrawn +in increasing numbers from Russia and Serbia in December, 1915, until +there were, it is estimated, a hundred and eighteen divisions on the +Franco-British-Belgian front. A large number of six-inch and twelve-inch +Austrian howitzers were added to the enormous Krupp batteries. Then a +large proportion of new recruits of the 1916 class were moved into +Rhine-land depots to serve as drafts for the fifty-nine army corps, and +it is thought that nearly all the huge shell output that had accumulated +during the winter was transported westward. + +"The French Staff reckoned that Verdun would be attacked when the ground +had dried somewhat in the March winds. It was thought that the enemy +movement would take place against the British front in some of the +sectors of which there were chalk undulations, through which the rains +of winter quickly drained. The Germans skilfully encouraged this idea by +making an apparent preliminary attack at Lions, on a five-mile front +with rolling gas-clouds and successive waves of infantry. During this +feint the veritable offensive movement softly began on Saturday, +February 19, 1916, when the enormous masses of hostile artillery west, +east, and north of the Verdun salient started registering on the French +positions. Only in small numbers did the German guns fire, in order not +to alarm their opponents. But even this trial bombardment by shifts was +a terrible display of power, calling forth all the energies of the +outnumbered French gunners to maintain the artillery duels that +continued day and night until Monday morning, February 21st. + +"The enemy seems to have maintained a bombardment all round General +Herr's lines on February 21, 1916, but this general battering was done +with a thousand pieces of field artillery. The grand masses of heavy +howitzers were used in a different way. At a quarter past seven in the +morning they concentrated on the small sector of advanced intrenchments +near Brabant and the Meuse; twelve-inch shells fell with terrible +precision every few yards, according to the statements made by the +French troops. I afterwards saw a big German shell, from at least six +miles distant from my place of observation, hit quite a small target. So +I can well believe that, in the first bombardment of French positions, +which had been photographed from the air and minutely measured and +registered by the enemy gunners in the trial firing, the great, +destructive shots went home with extraordinary effect. The trenches were +not bombarded--they were obliterated. In each small sector of the +six-mile northward bulge of the Verdun salient the work of destruction +was done with surprising quickness. + +"After the line from Brabant to Haumont was smashed, the main fire power +was directed against the other end of the bow at Herbebois, Ornes, and +Maucourt. Then when both ends of the bow were severely hammered, the +central point of the Verdun salient, Caures Woods, was smothered in +shells of all sizes, poured in from east, north and west. In this manner +almost the whole enormous force of heavy artillery was centered upon +mile after mile of the French front. When the great guns lifted over the +lines of craters, the lighter field artillery placed row after row in +front of the wreckage, maintained an unending fire curtain over the +communicating saps and support intrenchments. + +"Then came the second surprising feature in the new German system of +attack. No waves of storming infantry swept into the battered works. +Only strong patrols at first came cautiously forward, to discover if it +were safe for the main body of troops to advance and reorganize the +French line so as to allow the artillery to move onward. There was thus +a large element of truth in the marvelous tales afterwards told by +German prisoners. Their commanders thought it would be possible to do +all the fighting with long-range artillery, leaving the infantry to act +as squatters to the great guns and occupy and rebuild line after line of +the French defenses without any serious hand-to-hand struggles. All they +had to do was to protect the gunners from surprise attack, while the +guns made an easy path for them and also beat back any counter-attack in +force. + +"But, ingenious as was this scheme for saving the man-power of Germany +by an unparalleled expenditure of shell, it required for full success +the co-operation of the French troops. But the French did not +co-operate. Their High Command had continually improved their system of +trench defense in accordance with the experiences of their own hurricane +bombardments in Champagne and the Carency sector. General Castelnau, the +acting Commander-in-Chief on the French front, was indeed the inventor +of hurricane fire tactics, which he had used for the first time in +February, 1915, in Champagne. When General Joffre took over the conduct +of all French operations, leaving to General Castelnau the immediate +control of the front in France, the victor of the battle of Nancy +weakened his advance lines and then his support lines, until his troops +actually engaged in fighting were very little more than a thin covering +body, such as is thrown out towards the frontier while the main forces +connect well behind. + +"We shall see the strategical effect of this extraordinary measure in +the second phase of the Verdun battle, but its tactical effect was to +leave remarkably few French troops exposed to the appalling tempest of +German and Austrian shells. The fire-trench was almost empty, and in +many cases the real defenders of the French line were men with machine +guns, hidden in dug-outs at some distance from the photographed +positions at which the German gunners aimed. The batteries of light +guns, which the French handled with the flexibility and continuity of +fire of Maxims, were also concealed in widely scattered positions. The +main damage caused by the first intense bombardment was the destruction +of all the telephone wires along the French front. In one hour the +German guns plowed up every yard of ground behind the observing posts +and behind the fire trench. Communications could only be slowly +re-established by messengers, so that many parties of men had to fight +on their own initiative, with little or no combination of effort with +their comrades. + +"Yet, desperate as were their circumstances, they broke down the German +plan for capturing trenches without an infantry attack. They caught the +patrols and annihilated them, and then swept back the disillusioned and +reluctant main bodies of German troops. First, the bombing parties were +felled, then the sappers as they came forward to repair the line for +their infantry, and at last the infantry itself in wave after wave of +field-gray. The small French garrison of every center of resistance +fought with cool, deadly courage, and often to the death. + +"Artillery fire was practically useless against them, for though their +tunnel shelters were sometimes blown in by the twelve-inch shells, which +they regarded as their special terror by reason of their penetrative +power and wide blast, even the Germans had not sufficient shells to +search out all their underground chambers, every one of which have two +or three exits. + +"The new organization of the French Machine-gun Corps was a fine factor +in the eventual success. One gun fired ten thousand rounds daily for a +week, most of the positions selected being spots from which each German +infantry advance would be enfiladed and shattered. Then the French 75's +which had been masked during the overwhelming fire of the enemy +howitzers, came unexpectedly into action when the German infantry +attacks increased in strength. Near Haumont, for example, eight +successive furious assaults were repulsed by three batteries of 75's. +One battery was then spotted by the Austrian twelve-inch guns, but it +remained in action until all its ammunition was exhausted. The gunners +then blew up their guns and retired, with the loss of only one man. + +[Illustration: AMMUNITION FOR THE GUNS + +Canadian narrow-gauge line taking ammunition up the line through a +shattered village.] + +[Illustration: HOW VERDUN WAS SAVED + +The motor transport never faltered when the railroads were put out of +action.] + +"Von Falkenhayn had increased the Crown Prince's army from the fourteen +divisions--that battled at Douaumont Fort--to twenty-five divisions. +In April he added five more divisions to the forces around Verdun by +weakening the effectives in other sectors and drawing more troops from +the Russian front. It was rumored that von Hindenburg was growing +restive and complaining that the wastage at Verdun would tell against +the success of the campaign on the Riga-Dvinsk front, which was to open +when the Baltic ice melted. + +"Great as was the wastage of life, it was in no way immediately +decisive. But when the expenditure of shells almost outran the highest +speed of production of the German munition factories, and the wear on +the guns was more than Krupp and Skoda could make good, there was danger +to the enemy in beginning another great offensive likely to overtax his +shellmakers and gunmakers." + +Immortal and indomitable France had won over her foe more power than she +had possessed even after the battle of the Marne. If her Allies, with +the help of Japan and the United States, could soon overtake the +production of the German and Austrian munition factories, it was +possible that Verdun, so close to Sedan, might become one of the turning +points of the war. + +Throughout the entire summer Verdun, with the whole population of France +roused to the supreme heights of heroism behind it, held like a rock. +Wave after wave of Germans in gray-green lines were sent against the +twenty-five miles of earthworks, while the French guns took their toll +of the crack German regiments. German dead lay upon the field until +exposed flesh became the same ghastly hue of their uniforms. No Man's +Land around Verdun was a waste and a stench. + +General Joffre's plan was very simple. It was to hold out. As was +afterwards revealed, much to the satisfaction of the French people, Sir +Douglas Haig had placed himself completely at the service of the French +Commander-in-Chief, and had suggested that he should use the British +army to weaken the thrust at Verdun. But General Joffre had refused the +proffered help. No man knew better than he what his country, with its +exceedingly low birthrate, was suffering on the Meuse. He had but to +send a telegram to British Headquarters, and a million Britons, with +thousands of heavy guns, would fling themselves upon the German lines +and compel Falkenhayn to divide his shell output, his heavy artillery, +and his millions of men between Verdun and the Somme. But General +Joffre, instead of sending the telegram in question, merely dispatched +officers to British Headquarters to assure and calm the chafing Scotsman +commanding the military forces of the British Empire. + +Throughout that long summer the battle cry of Verdun, "_Ne passeront +pas_!" ("They shall not pass!"), was an inspiration to the French army +and to the world. Then as autumn drifted its red foliage over the +heights surrounding the bloody field, the French struck back. General +Nivelle, who had taken command at Verdun under Joffre, commenced a +series of attacks and a persistent pressure against the German forces on +both sides of the Meuse. These thrusts culminated in a sudden sweeping +attack which on October 24th, resulted in the recapture by Nivelle's +forces of Fort Douaumont and on November 2d, in the recapture of Fort +Vaux. + +Thus ended in glory the most inspiring battle in the long and honorable +history of France. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR, VOL. 3*** + + +******* This file should be named 16282.txt or 16282.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/2/8/16282 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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