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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:49:02 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16513-8.txt b/16513-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2099d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/16513-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15246 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of World's War Events, Volume III, by Various + +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: World's War Events, Volume III + Recorded by Statesmen, Commanders, Historians and by Men + Who Fought or Saw the Great Campaigns + +Author: Various + +Editor: Francis J. Reynolds + Allen L. Churchill + +Release Date: August 12, 2005 [EBook #16513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S WAR EVENTS, VOLUME III *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: IN FRONT IS GENERAL PETAIN ABOUT TO BE MADE A MARSHAL. +BEHIND HIM, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ARE MARSHAL JOFFRE AND MARSHAL FOCH +(FRENCH), FIELD MARSHAL HAIG (BRITISH), GENERAL PERSHING (AMERICAN), +GENERAL GILLAIN (BELGIAN), GENERAL ALBRICCI (ITALIAN), GENERAL HALLER +(POLISH)] + + + + + +WORLD'S WAR +EVENTS + +RECORDED BY STATESMEN -- COMMANDERS +HISTORIANS AND BY MEN WHO FOUGHT OR SAW +THE GREAT CAMPAIGNS + +COMPILED AND EDITED BY + +FRANCIS J. REYNOLDS + +FORMER REFERENCE LIBRARIAN -- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS + +AND + +ALLEN L. CHURCHILL + +ASSOCIATE EDITOR "THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR" +ASSOCIATE EDITOR "THE NEW INTERNATIONAL +ENCYCLOPEDIA" + +VOLUME III + +[Illustration] + +PF COLLIER & SON COMPANY +NEW YORK + +Copyright 1919 + +BY P.F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY + + + + +WORLD'S WAR EVENTS + +VOLUME III + + BEGINNING WITH THE DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST + AMERICAN DESTROYERS FOR SERVICE ABROAD + IN APRIL, 1917, AND CLOSING + WITH THE TREATIES + OF PEACE IN + 1919 + + +CONTENTS + +ARTICLE PAGE + + I. A DESTROYER IN ACTIVE SERVICE 7 + _An American Officer_ + + II. EAST AFRICA 32 + _Jan Christiaan Smuts_ + + III. GREECE'S ATONEMENT 54 + _Lewis R. Freeman_ + + IV. THE ITALIANS AT BAY 69 + _G. Ward Price_ + + V. BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND 101 + _Official Narrative_ + + VI. WITH THE AMERICAN SUBMARINES 119 + _Henry B. Beston_ + + VII. WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE 138 + _Abbé Felix Klein_ + + VIII. THE BATTLE OF PICARDY 153 + _J.B.W. Gardiner_ + + IX. BULGARIA QUITS 170 + _Lothrop Stoddard_ + + X. THE FIGHTING CZECHO-SLOVAKS 183 + _Maynard Owen Williams_ + + XI. SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE 200 + _Corporal H.J. Burbach_ + + XII. AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD 210 + _Raoul Blanchard_ + + XIII. NIGHT RAIDS FROM THE AIR 229 + _Mary Helen Fee_ + + XIV. THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE 242 + _General John J. Pershing_ + + XV. THE AMERICAN NAVY IN EUROPE 271 + _Admiral H.T. Mayo_ + + XVI. ARMISTICE TERMS SIGNED BY GERMANY 297 + + XVII. COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 306 + +XVIII. TREATY OF PEACE WITH GERMANY 318 + + XIX. TREATY OF PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 365 + + INDEX 375 + + + + +A DESTROYER IN ACTIVE SERVICE + +BY AN AMERICAN OFFICER + + + +APRIL 7. + +[Sidenote: War accepted with equanimity.] + +[Sidenote: Life on a destroyer is simple.] + +Well, I must confess that, even after war has been declared, the skies +haven't fallen and oysters taste just the same. I never would have +dreamed that so big a step would be accepted with so much equanimity. It +is due to two causes, I think. First, because we have trembled on the +verge so long and sort of dabbled our toes in the water, that our minds +have grown gradually accustomed to what under other circumstances would +be a violent shock. Second, because the individual units of the Navy are +so well prepared that there is little to do. We made a few minor changes +in the routine and slipped the war-heads on to the torpedoes, and +presto, we were ready for war. One beauty of a destroyer is that, life +on board being reduced to its simplest terms anyhow, there is little to +change. We may be ordered to "strip," that is, go to our Navy yard and +land all combustibles, paints, oils, surplus woodwork, etc.; but we have +not done so yet. + +We were holding drill yesterday when the signal was made from the +flagship, "War is declared." I translated it to my crew, who received +the news with much gayety but hardly a trace of excitement. + + +APRIL 13. + +[Sidenote: Anxiety to get into the big game.] + +There is absolutely no news. We are standing by for what may betide, +with not the faintest idea of what it may be. Of course, we are +drilling all the time, and perfecting our readiness for action in every +way, but there is a total absence of that excitement and sense of +something impending that one usually associates with the beginning of +war. Indeed, I think that the only real anxiety is lest we may not get +into the big game at all. I do not think any of us are bloodthirsty or +desirous of either glory or advancement, but we have the wish to justify +our existence. With me it takes this form--by being in the service I +have sacrificed my chance to make good as husband, father, citizen, son, +in fact, in every human relationship, in order to be, as I trust, one of +the Nation's high-grade fighting instruments. Now, if fate never uses me +for the purpose to which I have been fashioned, then much time, labor, +and material have been wasted, and I had better have been made into a +good clerk, farmer, or business man. + +[Sidenote: The desire to be put to the test.] + +I do so want to be put to the test and not found wanting. Of course, I +know that the higher courage is to do your duty from day to day no +matter in how small a line, but all of us conceal a sneaking desire to +attempt the higher hurdles and sail over grandly. + +You need not be proud of me, for there is no intrinsic virtue in being +in the Navy when war is declared; but I hope fate will give me the +chance to make you proud. + + +APRIL 21. + +[Sidenote: A chance to command.] + +[Sidenote: Bringing a ship to dock.] + +I have been having lots of fun in command myself, and good experience. I +have taken her out on patrol up to Norfolk twice, where the channel is +as thin and crooked as a corkscrew, then into dry dock. Later, escorted +a submarine down, then docked the ship alongside of a collier, and have +established, to my own satisfaction at least, that I know how to handle +a ship. All this may not convey much, but you remember how you felt +when you first handled your father's car. Well, the car weighs about two +tons and the W---- a thousand, and she goes nearly as fast. You have to +bring your own mass up against another dock or oilship as gently as +dropping an egg in an egg-cup, and you can imagine what the battleship +skipper is up against, with 30,000 tons to handle. Only he generally has +tugs to help him, whereas we do it all by ourselves. + +[Sidenote: Justifying one's existence as an officer.] + +This war is far harder on you than on me. The drill, the work of +preparing for grim reality, all of it is what I am trained for. The very +thought of getting into the game gives me a sense of calmness and +contentment I have never before known. I suppose it is because +subconsciously I feel that I am justifying my existence now more than +ever before. And that feeling brings anybody peace. + + +MAY 1. + +Back in harness again and thankful for the press of work that keeps me +from thinking about you all at home. + +[Sidenote: Orders to sail.] + +Well, we are going across all right, exactly where and for how long I do +not know. Our present orders are to sail to-morrow night, but there +seems to be wild uncertainty about whether we will go out then. In the +meantime, we are frantically taking on mountains of stores, ammunition, +provisions, etc., trying to fill our vacancies with new men from the +Reserve Ship, and hurrying everything up at high pressure. + +Well, I am glad it has come. It is what I wanted and what I think you +wanted for me. It is useless to discuss all the possibilities of where +we are going and what we are going to do. From the look of things, I +think we are going to help the British. I hope so. Of course, we are a +mere drop in the bucket. + + +MAY 5. + +[Sidenote: Happier always for having taken the chance.] + +As I start off now, my only real big regret is that through +circumstances so much of my responsibility has been taken by +others--you, my brother, and your father. I don't know that I am really +to blame. At least, I am very sure that never in all my life did I +intentionally try to shift any load of mine onto another. But in any +case, it makes me all the more glad that I am where I am, going where I +am to go--to have my chance, in other words. I once said in jest that +all naval officers ought really to get killed, to justify their +existence. I don't exactly advocate that extreme. But I shall all my +life be happier for having at least taken my chance. It will increase my +self-respect, which in turn increases my usefulness in life. So can you +get my point of view, and be glad with me? + +[Sidenote: The best things of life.] + +Now I am to a great extent a fatalist, though I hope it really is +something higher than that. Call it what you will, I have always +believed that if we go ahead and do our duty, counting not the cost, +then the outcome will be in the hands of a power way beyond our own. But +if it be fated that I don't come back, let no one ever say, "Poor +_R----_." I have had all the best things of life given me in full +measure--the happiest childhood and boyhood, health, the love of family +and friends, the profession I love, marriage to the girl I wanted, and +my son. If I go now, it will be as one who quits the game while the blue +chips are all in his own pile. + + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON + +MAY 19. + +[Sidenote: Rescuing a sailor.] + +On the trip over, we were steaming behind the _R----_, when all at once +she steered out and backed, amid much running around on board. At first +we thought she saw a submarine and stood by our guns. Then we saw she +had a man overboard. We immediately dropped our lifeboat, and I went in +charge for the fun of it. Beat the _R----'s_ boat to him. He had no +life-preserver, but the wool-lined jacket he wore kept him high out of +water, and he was floating around as comfortably as you please, barring +the fact that his fall had knocked him unconscious. So we not only took +him back to his ship, but picked up the _R----'s_ boat-hook, which the +clumsy lubbers had dropped--and kept it as a reward for our trouble. + +[Sidenote: Very little known about the U-boat situation.] + +We are being somewhat overhauled, refitted, etc., in the British +dock-yard here. Navy yards are much the same the world over, I guess. I +will say, however, that they have dealt with us quickly and efficiently, +with the minimum of red tape and correspondence. We have become in fact +an integral part of the British Navy. Admiral Sims is in general +supervision of us, but we are directly in command of the British Admiral +commanding the station. Of the U-boat situation, I may say little. There +is nothing about which so much is imagined, rumored and reported, and so +little known for certain. Five times, when coming through the danger +zone, we manned all guns, thinking we saw something. Once in my watch I +put the helm hard over to dodge a torpedo--which proved to be a +porpoise! And I'll do the same thing again, too. We are in this war up +to the neck, there is no doubt about that--and thank Heaven for it! + +Kiss our son for me and make up your mind that you would rather have his +father over here on the job than sitting in a swivel-chair at home doing +nothing. + + +MAY 26. + +I never seem to get time to write a real letter. All hands, including +your husband, are so dead tired when off watch that there is nothing to +do but flop down on your bunk--or on the deck sometimes--and sleep. The +captain and I take watch on the bridge day and night, and outside of +this I do my own navigating and other duties, so time does not go +a-begging with me. However, we are still unsunk, for which we should be +properly grateful. + +[Sidenote: War has become matter-of-fact.] + +I have seen a little of Ireland and like New York State better than +ever. It is difficult to realize how matter-of-fact the war has become +with every one over here. You meet some mild mannered gentleman and talk +about the weather, and then find later that he is a survivor from some +desperate episode that makes your blood tingle. I would that we were +over on the North Sea side, where Providence might lay us alongside a +German destroyer some gray dawn. This submarine-chasing business is much +like the proverbial skinning of a skunk--useful, but not especially +pleasant or glorious. + + +JUNE 1. + +[Sidenote: Glad to be in the big game.] + +When I said good-bye to you at home, I don't think that either of us +realized that I was coming over here to stay. Perhaps it was just as +well. Human nature is such that we subconsciously refuse to accept an +idea, even when we know it to be a true one, because it is totally +new--beyond our experience. Pursuant to which, I could not believe that +my fondest hopes were to be realized, and that not only I, but the whole +of America, would really get into the big game. Oh, it is big all right, +and it grows on you the more you get into it. + +Now, I realize that it is asking too much of you or of any woman to view +with perfect complacency having a husband suddenly injected into war. +But just consider--suppose I was a prosperous dentist or produce +merchant on shore, instead of in the Navy. By now you and I would be +undergoing all the agonies of indecision as to whether I should enlist +or no; it would darken our lives for weeks or months, and in the end I +should go anyhow, letting my means of livelihood and yours go hang, and +be away just as long and stand as good a chance of being blown up as I +do now. So I am very thankful that things have worked out as they have +for us. + +[Sidenote: Little one is permitted to tell.] + +There is very little to tell that I am allowed to tell you. The +technique of submarine-chasing and dodging would be dry reading to a +landsman. It is a very curious duty in that it would be positively +monotonous, were it not for the possibility of being hurled into +eternity the next minute. I am in very good health and wholly free from +nervous tension. + +P.S. When despondent, pull some Nathan Hale "stuff," and regret that you +have but one husband to give to your country. + + +JUNE 8. + +[Sidenote: Sleep, warmth and fresh food become ideals.] + +Once more I get the chance to write. We are in port for three days, and +that three days looks as big as a month's leave would have a month ago. +Everything in life is comparative, I guess. When we live a comfortable, +civilized, highly complex life, our longings and desires are many and +far-reaching. Now and here such things as sleep, warmth, and fresh food +become almost the limit of one's imagination. Just like the sailor of +the old Navy, whose idea of perfect contentment was "Two watches below +and beans for dinner." + +[Sidenote: Nothing causes excitement.] + +You get awfully blasé on this duty--things which should excite you don't +at all. For instance, out of the air come messages like the following: +"Am being chased and delayed by submarine." "Torpedoed and sinking +fast." And you merely look at the chart and decide whether to go to the +rescue full speed, or let some boat nearer to the scene look after it. +Or, if the alarm is given on your own ship, you grab mechanically for +life-jacket, binoculars, pistol, and wool coat, and jump to your +station, not knowing whether it is really a periscope or a stick +floating along out of water. + +JUNE 20. + +Well, we got mail when we came into port this time, your letter of May +28 being the last one. I don't mind the frequent pot-shots the U-boats +take at us, but doggone their hides if they sink any of our mail! We +won't forgive them that. + +[Sidenote: No joy-of-battle to be found.] + +My health is excellent, better than my temper, in fact. I am beginning +to think that we are not getting our money's worth in this war. I want +to have my blood stirred and do something heroic--_à la_ +moving-pictures. Instead of which it much resembles a campaign against +cholera-germs or anything else which is deadly but difficult to get any +joy-of-battle out of. + +Do tell me everything you are doing, for it is up to you to make +conversation, since there is so little of affairs at this end that I can +talk about. It is a shame, for you always claimed that I never spoke +unless you said something first; and now I am doing the same thing under +cover of the letter. + + +JULY 2. + +[Sidenote: Life so gray that shock of danger is beneficial.] + +The other day, half-way out on the Atlantic, we sighted a periscope, and +some one at the gun sent a shell skimming over the _C----_, who was in +the way, and then the periscope turned out to be a ventilator sticking +up over some wreckage. However, the incident was welcome. You have no +conception of how gray life can get to be on this job, and the shock of +danger, real or imaginary, is really beneficial, I think. All hands seem +to be more cheerful under its influence. + + +JULY 4. + +I was so glad to get your letters. A man who has a brave woman behind +him will do his duty far better and, incidentally, stand more chance of +coming back, than one who feels a drag instead of a push. + +I am glad son had his first fight. You were perfectly right to make him +go on. Mother used to tell how, when brother was a wee boy, he came home +almost weeping, and said, "Mother, a boy hit me." Instead of comforting +him, she said, "Did you hit him back?" It almost killed her, he was so +utterly dumbfounded and hurt; but next time he hit back and licked. + +[Sidenote: The life wears nerves and temper.] + +I am well but get rather jumpy at times. Strangely enough, it is always +over more or less trivial matters. Every time we have a submarine scare, +I feel markedly better for a while--it seems to reëstablish my sense of +proportion. + +It is a mighty nerve- and temper-wearing life--at sea nearly all the time +and with the boat rolling and bucking like a broncho, you can't +exercise. You can hardly do any work, but only hold on tight and wipe +the salt spray from your eyes. Sometimes I have started to shave and +found the salt so thick on my face that soap would not lather. + + +JULY 16. + +[Sidenote: Time is passed navigating, standing watch, sleeping.] + +Things are the same as before with us. Time passes quickly, with +navigating, standing watch and sleeping when you get a chance. One day +or two passes all too quickly. I wish there were more to do in the shape +of relaxation when we do get ashore. The people here are cordial enough, +according to their lights, but those that we meet are practically all +Army and Navy people, who have no abode here themselves and are almost +as much strangers as we are; and there is no resident population of +that caste that would ordinarily open its doors to foreign naval +officers. + +[Sidenote: Little for diversion in Ireland.] + +Ireland is a poor country comparatively. A town of 50,000 here shows +less in the way of facilities for diversion than the average town of +10,000 in the States. + +[Sidenote: Mental privations hurt more than physical ones.] + +Don't worry about my privations--"which mostly there ain't none." Such +as they are, they are necessary and unavoidable; and, above all, we are +fitted for them. You can't well sympathize with a man who is doing the +thing he has longed for and trained for all his life. Besides, physical +privations are nothing; it is the mental ones that hurt. A soldier in +the trenches, with little to eat and nothing but a hole to sleep in, can +feel happy all the same--particularly if life has something in prospect +for him if he lives. But a man out of work at home, sleeping in the park +and panhandling for food, is much more to be pitied, though his +immediate hardships may be no greater. + +The weather over here is very passable at present, but they say it is +simply hell off the coast in winter. However, somebody said the war will +be over in November. I hope the Kaiser and Hindenburg know it, too! + + +JULY 26. + +[Sidenote: Anxious to be in action.] + +I haven't done anything heroic, which irks me. We would like to get in +on the ground floor, while all hands are in a receptive mood, and before +the Plattsburgers and other such death-defying supermen make it too +common. + + +JULY 22. + +[Sidenote: A cheerful letter from home.] + +Your two letters of July 7 and 8 came this afternoon, but I got the +latter first and expected from what you said in contrition that there +was hot stuff--gas-attack followed by bayonet-work--in the former; +therefore I was all the more ashamed to find you had dealt so leniently +and squarely with me. Why didn't you come back with a long invoice of +troubles of your own, as 99 per cent of women would? Evidently you are +the one-per-cent woman. I bitterly regretted my whines after having +written them, for their very untruth. Alas, how many people think the +world is drab-colored and life a failure, and so have done or said +something they regret all their lives, when a vegetable pill or a brisk +walk would have changed their vision completely! Why is it that people +sometimes deliberately hurt those they have loved most in the world? I +suppose it is because we are all really children at heart and want some +one else to cry too. The other day Smith shamefacedly abstracted from +the mail-box a letter to his wife, and tore it up, and I know--oh, I +know! + +At a husbands' meeting on the ship the other day, we all agreed that the +heavy hand was the only way to deal with women; but it seemed on +investigation that no one had actually tried it the reason being +apparently a well-grounded fear that our wives wouldn't like it. + +[Sidenote: Danger, but little action or variety.] + +This war hasn't had as much action, variety, and stimulation for us as I +would like. Danger there always is, but being little in evidence, you +have to prod your nerves to realize it rather than soothe them down. +Lately, however, things have changed in a manner which, though involving +no more danger, furnishes a somewhat greater mental stimulation, and +thence is better for everybody. I regret to say that I am gaining in +weight. It was my hope to come back thin and gaunt and +interesting-looking. Instead of which, you will likely be mad as a +hornet to find me so sleek, while you at home have done all the thinning +down. Truth to tell, if you compare our relative peace and war status, +you are much more at war than I am. + +[Sidenote: The highest form of courage.] + +If you find son timid in some things, just remember that I was, too. +Lots of things he will change about automatically. At his age I had +small love for fire-crackers or explosives of any kind, but in two or +three years, and without any prompting, I became really expert in guns +and gunpowder. Try to get him to realize that the very highest form of +courage is to be afraid to do a thing--and do it! + + +AUGUST 3. + +[Sidenote: U-boat score against destroyers is zero.] + +Once in a while some one of us gets a torpedo fired at him, and only +luck or quick seamanship saves him from destruction. Some day the +torpedo will hit, and then the Navy Department will "regret to report." +But the laws of probability and chance cannot lie, and as the total +U-boat score against our destroyers so far is zero, you can figure for +yourself that they will have to improve somewhat before the Kaiser can +hand out many iron crosses at our expense. + +[Sidenote: Picking up survivors.] + +We had a new experience the other day when we picked up two boatloads of +survivors from the ----, torpedoed without warning. I will say they were +pretty glad to see us when we bore down on them. As we neared, they +began to paddle frantically, as though fearful we should be snatched +away from them at the last moment. The crew were mostly Arabs and +Lascars, and the first mate, a typical comic-magazine Irishman, +delivered himself of the following: "Sure, toward the last, some o' thim +haythen gits down on their knees and starts calling on Allah; but I sez, +sez I, 'Git up afore I swat ye wid the axe-handle, ye benighted haythen; +sure if this boat gits saved 't will be the Holy Virgin does it or none +at all, at all! Git up,' sez I." + +[Sidenote: The deep sea breeds a certain fineness of character.] + +The officers were taken care of in the ward-room--rough unlettered old +sailormen, who possessed a certain fineness of character which I +believe the deep sea tends to breed in those who follow it long enough. +I have known some old Tartars greatly hated by those under them, but to +whom a woman or child would take naturally. + +What you say about my possibly being taken prisoner both amuses and +touches me. The former because it seems so highly unlikely a +contingency. Submarines do not take prisoners if they can help it, and +least of all from a man-of-war. But I have often thought of just what I +should do in such a case, and I have decided that it would be far better +to die than to submit to certain things. In which case, I should use my +utmost ingenuity to take along one or two adversaries with me. + + +AUGUST 11. + +[Sidenote: The case for universal conscription.] + +So the boys at home don't all take kindly to being conscripted, eh? +Well, I wish for a lot of reasons that the conscription might be as +complete and far-reaching as it is in, for instance, France. I think for +one thing that universal conscription is the final test of democracy. +Again, I think it would do every individual in the nation good to find +out that there was something a little bit bigger than he--something that +neither money, nor politics, nor obscurity, nor the Labor Union, nor any +one else could help him to wriggle out of. It would go far towards +disillusioning those many who seem to feel that they do not have to take +too seriously a government because they have helped to create it. + +[Sidenote: Not a question of courage but of mental process.] + +While I have precious little sympathy for slackers of any variety, one +must not judge them too harshly because their minds do not happen to +work the same as ours. In nine cases out of ten it is not a question of +courage, but one of mental process. Some people come of a caste to whom +war or the idea of fighting for their country is second nature. They +take it for granted, like death and taxes. If they ever permitted +themselves seriously to question the rightness of it; to submit +patriotism and courage to an acid analysis, they might suddenly turn +arrant cowards. How much harder is it, then, for people who have never +even faced the idea of it before to be suddenly placed up against the +actual fact! + + +AUGUST 18. + +I have been having a little extra fun on my own hook recently. The poor +captain has had to have an operation, and will be on his back for some +weeks. + +[Sidenote: Double duty on the bridge.] + +Do I like going to war all on my own? Oh no, just like a cat hates +cream. It is a wee bit strenuous, as I have to do double duty; and one +night I was on the bridge steadily from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. But the funny +part is that I didn't feel especially all in afterward, and one good +sleep fixed me up completely. + +[Sidenote: A submarine escapes.] + +I had a big disappointment on my first run out. I nearly bagged a +submarine for you. We got her on the surface as nice as anything, but it +was very rough, and she was far away, and before I could plunk her, she +got under. If she had only--but, as the saying goes, if the dog hadn't +stopped to scratch himself, he would have got the rabbit (not, however, +that we stopped to scratch ourselves). + + +AUGUST 27. + +[Sidenote: Responsibility for lives and ship.] + +I am still in command of the ship and love it, but there is a difference +between being second in command and being It. It makes you introspective +to realize that a hundred lives and a $700,000 ship are absolutely +dependent upon you, without anybody but the Almighty to ask for advice +if you get into difficulty. + +It is not so much the submarines, which are largely a matter of luck, +but the navigating. Say I am heading back for port after several days +out, the weather is thick as pea-soup, and I have not seen land or had +an observation for days. I know where I am--at least I think I do--but +what if I have miscalculated, or am carried off my course by the strong +and treacherous tides on this coast, and am heading right into the +breakers somewhere, or perchance a mine-field! Then the fog lifts a +little, and I see the cliffs or mountains that I recognize, and bring +her in with a slam-bang, much bravado, and a sigh of relief. + +Don't you remember the days when you thought son was dying if he +cried--or if he didn't? Well, that's it! + +[Sidenote: Recreations ashore.] + +Don't get the idea that I have no recreations. We walk and play golf, go +to the movies on occasion, and there is always a jolly gang of mixed +services to play with. + + +SEPTEMBER 9. + +Life here doesn't vary much. The captain is up and taking a few days' +leave, though I doubt if he will take command for two or three weeks +yet. But I am having a lovely time running her. + +[Sidenote: A veteran New Zealander for dinner.] + +The other night we had a very interesting chap for dinner--a New +Zealander he was, who has served in Egypt, Gallipoli, the trenches in +France, and is now in the Royal Naval Reserve. The tales he told were of +wonderful interest. He was modest and seemed to have been a decent sort, +but you could sense the brutalizing effect of war on him. Some of the +things he told were such jokes on the Germans that we laughed right +heartily. + +[Sidenote: The beast in man is near the surface.] + +The beast in man lies so close to the surface. We think we are human and +law-abiding of our own volition, whereas, as a matter of fact, +nine-tenths of it is from pure habit. It doesn't occur to us to be +anything else. But let all standards and customs be scrapped, let us see +the things done freely that never even entered our minds before, and a +lot of us are liable to develop ape and tiger proclivities. We nearly +all put unconscious limits to our humanity. The most chivalrous and +kindly Westerner or Southerner would admit that massacring Chinamen, +Mexicans, or Negroes is not such a great crime; and the most devoted +mother or father is prone to regard as unspanked brats children who to a +third party appear quite as well as the critic's own. + + +SEPTEMBER 20. + +I am still in command and loving every minute of it. With any other +captain than ours it would be a come-down to resume my place as a +subordinate. But in his case I think that all mourn a little when he is +away. + + +SEPTEMBER 29. + +[Sidenote: New knowledge of navigation and ship handling.] + +Oh, it's great stuff, this being in command and handling the ship alone. +Particularly I enjoy swooping down on some giant freighter, like a hawk +on a turkey, running close alongside, where a wrong touch to helm or +engine may spell destruction, and then demanding through a megaphone why +she does or does not do so and so. I have learned more navigation and +ship-handling since being over here than in all my previous seagoing +experience. In the old ante-bellum days one hesitated to get too close +to another ship, even in daytime, far more so at night, even with the +required navigation lights on. Now, without so much light as a glowworm +could give, we run around, never quite certain when the darkness ahead +may turn into a ship close enough to throw a brick at. + +However, I am back in the ranks again now, as the captain has come back +and resumed command. + + +OCTOBER 9. + +[Sidenote: Job of an executive officer is thankless.] + +You must not be resentful because of things you have gone through, +unappreciated by those perhaps for whom you have undergone them. It is +one of the laws of life, and a hard law too, but it comes to everybody, +either in a few big things or a multitude of little ones. Do the people +who keep the world turning around ever get due recognition? I was +thinking in much the same resentful vein myself to-day, in my own small +way, how thankless the job of an executive officer is; how you never +reach any big end, or even feel that you have made progress, but just +keep on the job, watching and inspecting and fussing to keep the whole +personnel-matériel machine running smoothly, and knowing that your +recognition is purely negative, in that, if all goes well, you don't get +called down. And then I calm down and realize that it is all in the +game, and that it is the best tribute so to handle your job in life that +nothing has to be said. If your car runs perfectly, you neither feel nor +hear it, and give it little credit on that account. But let it strip a +gear or something go!! + +[Sidenote: Roller-skating for amusement ashore.] + +I hate to tell you what I was doing this afternoon. You will think I am +not at war at all when I tell you that I have been roller-skating. I was +a bit rusty at first, but warmed up to it. It is about the only exercise +we can get on shore, for it rains all the time. Each shower puts an +added crimp in my temper, as I have been trying to get a new coat of +camouflage paint on the ship. I think, if some of the old +paint-and-polish captains and admirals could see her now, they would die +of apoplexy. + +[Sidenote: No chance for wives to come over.] + +I fear there is no chance for you to come over. Admiral Sims +disapproves--not of you personally--one cannot find a place to live +here, and there would be too many hardships. How would it be for you +when we had said good-bye, and you saw the ship start out into a howling +gale or go out right after several ships had been sunk outside? With you +at home among friends, I can keep my mind on my job, which I couldn't if +you were alone over here. + +Let me say right now that the destroyer torpedoed was not ours. It was +hard on you all to have the news published that one had been and a man +killed, and not say what boat, as that leaves every one in suspense. I +suppose the relatives of the man were notified, but that doesn't help +other people who were anxious. + +[Sidenote: A destroyer is torpedoed but does not sink.] + +I don't suppose I can tell you which boat either, if the authorities +won't. You do not know any one on board of her, however. They saw it +coming, jammed on full speed, and nearly cleared it. It took them just +at the stern and blew off about 30 feet as neatly as son would bite the +end off a banana. The submarine heard the explosion, of course, from +below, and came to the surface to see the "damned Yankee" sink, only to +find the rudderless, sternless boat steaming full speed in a circle with +her one remaining propeller, and to be greeted by a salvo of four-inch +shells that made her duck promptly. The man killed saw the torpedo +coming and ran aft to throw overboard some high explosives stowed +there--but he didn't quite make it. + +[Sidenote: Damaged destroyers somehow get back to port.] + +Our destroyers are really wonderful boats--you can shoot off one end of +them, ram them, cut them in two, and still they float and get to port +somehow. + +Some time ago, on a pitch-dark night, one of them was rammed by a +British boat and nearly cut in two. Was there a panic? Not at all. As +she settled in the water, they got out their boats and life-rafts, the +officers and a few selected men stayed on board, and the rest pulled off +in the darkness singing, "Are we downhearted? No!" and "Hail, hail, the +gang's all here." She floated, though with her deck awash; the boats +were recalled, and they brought her in. She is fixed up and back in the +game again now. + + +OCTOBER 25. + +[Sidenote: British destroyers fight raiders.] + +[Sidenote: The Admiral strict as a Prussian.] + +Where did you hear that about two destroyers being sunk off the coast of +Ireland on September 3? False alarm. Of course, you have read in the +papers about the convoy destroyed in the North Sea by German raiders. +The two British destroyers with the convoy stood up to them and fought +as a bulldog would fight a tiger--and with the same result. Somebody was +arguing with the Admiral, our boss, to the effect that it would have +been better for them to have saved themselves, trailed the raiders, and +sent radio, so that the British cruisers could have intercepted and +destroyed them. Said the Admiral, "Yes, it would have been better, but I +would court-martial and shoot the man that did it." He's a wonder to +serve under, as grim and strict as a Prussian, but very just, and runs +things in a way that secures all our admiration--though we may fuss a +bit when, expecting two or three comfortable days in port, we get chased +out on short notice into a raving gale outside. + + +A BRITISH DOCK YARD, NOVEMBER 4. + +[Sidenote: A friend on hospital duty.] + +There are lots of our army people here. Some of them are just passing +through, while others are stationed at near-by training camps or +hospitals. I was wandering around the big hotel here, when I saw a +familiar face in army uniform, and who should it be but M----. Much joy! +He is near here, on temporary duty at a British hospital. I had him over +to the ship for lunch, and hope to see him again. I certainly respect +that boy. He has no military ambitions, and wishes the war were over, so +he could get back to his wife and children; but _he_ answered the call +while others were hiding behind volleys of language, and he is here to +see it through. I am afraid he is homesick and lonely, for it is harder +for a boy who does not know the English than for us hardened +mercenaries, who are accustomed to hobnob with everybody from Cubans to +Cossacks. + +[Sidenote: The American uniform and the British.] + +I will be glad when American Army and Navy uniforms are designed by a +tailor who really knows something about it. Alas, our people are +distinctly inferior to the British in the cut of their jib. I think it +is the high standing collar that queers us. It is only at its best when +one stands at Attention--head up, chest out, arms at side--being +distinctly a parade uniform. The British, with their rolling collar, and +coat tight where it may be, and loose where it needs to be, are, you +might say, less military and better dressed. + +Tell the Enfant that I am very proud when he gets gold honor-marks on +his school-papers, and I think that it probably means about the same as +a star on a midshipman's collar. (That ought to get him.) + +I must close and get a bit of sleep. It seems as if, when it is all +over, all the heaven I will want, is to be with you and son again, +perfectly quiet. + + +AT SEA, NOVEMBER 16. + +[Sidenote: True democracy is in a way inefficient.] + +I think a true democracy is necessarily inefficient in a way. The only +really efficient government in the world is the one which we intend to +pull down, or else go down ourselves, trying to! + +Can't you imagine, in the dim Valhalla beyond, how the archer of +Pharaoh, the swordsman from the plains before Troy, and the Roman +legionary will greet the hurrying souls of the aviator, the +bomb-thrower, and the bayonet-man with, "Brother, what were you?" + +I'd hate to have to explain to their uncomprehending ears what a +conscientious objector is! + + +DECEMBER 2. + +[Sidenote: Assuming command.] + +Well, to-day is one of the big days of my life, for I assumed command of +this little packet. I put on my sword and fixings and reported to +Captain Paine, who was most benevolent. Several of us went on shore to +celebrate with a little dinner. Some of the boys just over joined in, +and we became involved with some Highland officers of a fighting +regiment famous throughout Europe for the last three hundred years. +One's first ship, like the first baby is an event that cannot be +duplicated. + + +DECEMBER 21. + +[Sidenote: A jammed rudder leaves the destroyer unmanageable.] + +I needed your letter, being about twenty years older than I was a week +ago. No, no harm done. Just had my first experience of what it means +under certain circumstances to be in command. Went out with certain +others on a certain job. All went well, though we had a poor grade of +oil in our bunkers and were burning more than we should ordinarily. +Then, through certain chances, we had to go farther than expected. +Still, I figured to get back with a moderate margin, when the gale +struck us. You may have read of Biscay storms; well, believe me, they +are not over-rated. I have seen just as bad, perhaps, but not from the +deck of a destroyer. And while I am frantically calculating whether I +shall have enough fuel to make port or not, there is a wild yell from +the bridge that the rudder is jammed at hard-a-starboard and can't be +moved. She, of course, at once fell off into the trough of the sea, and +the big green combers swept clear over her at every roll, raising merry +hob. All the boats were smashed to kindling-wood; chests, and everything +on deck not riveted down, went over the side. In that sea you could no +more manoeuvre by your engines alone than you could dam Niagara with a +handful of sand. A man alongside of me aft, where we were working on the +steering-gear, was swept overboard, but, having a line around his waist, +was hauled back like a hooked fish. + +All I could do was to steam in a big circle, and at one point would be +running before it, and could work for an instant or two with the seas +running up to our waists. When they get over your head, you probably +won't be there any longer. At that time I didn't really expect to stay +afloat, but was too busy with the matters in hand to care. Well, we +finally got it fixed, though we could only use about 15 degrees of +rudder instead of full. + +[Sidenote: Lack of fuel causes worry.] + +All this time we were drifting merrily to leeward at a rate that I hated +even to guess at, with the certainty, unless matters mended, of +eventually piling up on the Spanish coast, then not far away, though I +hadn't had sight of sun or stars in days, and didn't know within fifty +miles where I was. Well, when I finally headed up into it, I could just +about hold her, without making any headway to speak of. You cannot drive +a destroyer dead into a heavy sea at full speed without bursting her in +two. Still, the situation would have been nothing to worry about much if +I had had sufficient fuel. Now, you on shore may fancy that a ship just +keeps on steaming till she gets there, whether it takes a month or more; +but such is far from the case. Every mile you go consumes just so much +fuel, and, if your margin of safety is too small, you are liable to be +out of luck. And my calculations showed me that while I was using up oil +enough to be making ---- knots, in the teeth of the gale we were only +making ---- knots, and that at that rate I never would make port. + +[Sidenote: Three courses are possible.] + +[Sidenote: The destroyer makes France.] + +[Sidenote: Steel the aristocrat among metals.] + +There were three courses open to me: to let her drift, consuming my oil, +in the hope that it would blow over; to run into a Spanish port; or to +run for France, my destination, and, if I fell short of it, to yell for +help by radio, and trust to luck that they could send out and pick me +up. The first course was too risky. I would be making untold miles to +leeward all the time, would probably roll the masts and funnels out of +her, and maybe burst down anyhow, too far off for help. The second +choice was the safest. I could reach Ferrol or Vigo all right, but they +would probably try to intern me; and while I had heard that King Alfonso +was a regular guy and a good scout to run around with, the ensuing +diplomatic complications would make me about as popular in Allied +circles as the proverbial skunk at a bridge-party. So I took the final +alternative, and jammed her into the teeth of it for all I thought she +could stand without imitating an opera hat or an accordion. And, glory +be, she made it, the blessed little old cross between a porpoise and a +safety-razor blade! Whether the gale really moderated, or I got more +nerve, I don't know; but anyhow I gave her more and more, half a knot at +a time, until we were actually making appreciable headway against it. I +never thought any ship could stand the bludgeoning she got. It seemed as +if every rivet must shear, every frame and stanchion crush, under the +impact of the Juggernaut seas that hurtled into her. As a thoroughbred +horse starts and trembles under the touch of the whip, so she reared and +trembled, only to bury herself again in the roaring Niagara of water. +Oh, you thoroughbred high-tensile steel! blue-blooded aristocrat among +metals; Bethlehem or Midvale may claim you--you are none the less +worthy of the Milan casque, the Damascus blade, your forefathers! +Verily, I believe you hold on by sheer nerve, when by all physical laws +should buckle or bend to the shock! + +[Sidenote: Torpedo detonators spilt on deck.] + +And so we kept on. Don't you know, how in the stories it is always in a +terrific gale that the caged lion or gorilla or python breaks loose and +terrorizes the ship? We don't sport a menagerie on the ----, but I did +pick up the contents of the dry gun-cotton case, which had broken and +spilt the torpedo detonators around on deck contiguous to the hot +radiator! And, of course, the decks below were knee-deep in books, +clothes, dishes, etc., complicated in some compartments by a foot or two +of oil and water. + +[Sidenote: Soundings and landmarks.] + +Well, the next day we made a little more, and the seas were only +gigantic, not titanic. The oil was holding out better, too, as we struck +a better grade in some of our tanks, and I saw that we had a fighting +chance of making it. By night I felt almost confident we could, and I +really slept some. Next day I expected to make land, but, of course, had +little idea how far I might really be from my reckoning. Nevertheless, +we sighted ---- Light about where I expected to, and laid a course from +there into the harbor. It was a rather thick, foggy day, and pretty soon +I noted a cunning little rock or two, dead ahead, where they didn't by +any means belong. So I rather hurriedly arrested further progress, took +soundings, and bearings of different landmarks, and found that we were +some twenty-five miles from our reckoning--so far, in fact, as to have +picked up the next light-house instead of the one we thought. + +After this 'twas plain sailing, though I had never been into that port +before. Made it about noon, took possession of a convenient mooring-buoy +inside the breakwater--which buoy I found out later was sacred to the +French flag-ship or somebody like that--called on our Admiral there, and +was among friends. Yes, by heck, I let 'em buy me a drink at the club--I +needed it! Had oil enough left for just about an hour more! + + +Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, April, 1918. + + * * * * * + +While the great campaigns were being waged on the western fronts, there +was being carried on in a more remote part of the world a series of +operations which involved as hard fighting and as many difficulties as +were encountered in any other field of action. The campaigns in East +Africa which resulted in driving the Germans from their former colonies +are described in the following narrative. + + + + +EAST AFRICA + +JAN CHRISTIAAN SMUTS + + +[Sidenote: Learned South Africa in The Boer War.] + +In the strenuous days of the Boer War I learned to know my South Africa +from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean as one learns a country only under +the searching test of war. I came to know the unfrequented paths, the +trackless parts of the bush, the wastes where people do not often go. I +believe it is generally admitted that I covered more country than any +other commander in the field on either side--and my movement was not +always in the direction of the enemy! + +[Sidenote: Obtaining water on the Kalahari Desert.] + +When the present war broke out, I proceeded once more on my extensive +travels, and I became something of an expert in the waterless, sandy +wastes of the southern half of German Southwest Africa. As for the +Kalahari Desert, over which the movement of men and transport was +supposed to be quite impossible, we did not rest until we had sunk +bore-holes for water for hundreds of miles, and until we had moved a +large force of thousands of mounted men across an area in which it was +thought no human being could ever move. One of the reasons of our +success in that campaign was that, moving through the Kalahari Desert, +we struck the enemy country at its very heart. The travels of +Livingstone, of Selous, who was a comrade of mine in this war, and of +other illustrious men in those vast solitudes of southern Africa were as +joy-rides to what we had to undergo in conducting a big campaign against +the enemy, and still more against nature. + +[Sidenote: A campaign in East Africa.] + +[Sidenote: Careful study of topography necessary.] + +[Sidenote: Books of travelers all wrong.] + +When that campaign was over, and I thought my traveling days were past, +the call came to East Africa, and 1916 was spent in traveling over the +vast tropical expanses of that fascinating country. I need scarcely say +that a military commander has often very special opportunities of +learning geography. He has to study the country with the eyes not of the +scientist or the traveler or the hunter, but of the soldier responsible +for the lives and the movements and supplies of large masses of men. It +is one thing to follow the track of the elephant or to stalk the lion or +antelope or to collect butterflies or other gorgeous things; it is quite +a different and, from the point of view of learning geography, certainly +a far more enlightening, task to lead a large army over those virgin +solitudes, where your problem involves the careful study not only of +topographical features, but of all the numerous natural conditions which +affect your progress. To provide for the needs of a small _safari_ may +be a light or delightful task; but the difficulties and requirements of +a large force, moving forward against an alert, ubiquitous foe, compel +you to probe into everything: the nature of the country, with its +mountains and rivers, forests and deserts, for scores of miles around; +its animal and human diseases; its capacity for supplies and transport; +its climate and soil and rainfall. And one of your first discoveries is +that the books of the travelers are mostly wrong. What to them was +perhaps a paradise of plant or animal life is to you, moving with your +vast impedimenta, a veritable purgatory. You soon come to agree with +Scripture that all men are liars, and from this rule you do not even +except the missionaries who write with their heads in the clouds; nor do +you except the writers of intelligence books compiled in Whitehall from +the hunting tales of the travelers or the fairy-tales of the +missionaries, and marked "very secret." But these secrets are like most +secrets of the African continent, very disconcerting to the simple, +trustful soul. + +[Sidenote: The silence of the forest is broken by the tramp of armed +men.] + +[Sidenote: Horses virtually unknown.] + +These campaigning experiences were unique. Probably never before in the +history of the world had such things been seen: the stillness, the +brooding silence of the vast primeval forest where no, or few, white men +have ever been before, and the only path is the track of the elephant; +the silence of the forest, stretching for hundreds of miles in all +directions, broken by the tramp of tens of thousands of armed men, +followed by the guns and heavy transport of a modern army, with its +hundreds of motor-lorries, its miles of wagons, its vast concourse of +black porters; while overhead the aëroplane, or, as the natives call it, +the "bird," more dreaded and more feared than even the crocodile in the +river, passes on swiftly with its bombs for the foe retreating ahead. +And what an effect this movement, continued for many months over many +thousands of miles, produced on the minds of the native population, +looking on in speechless awe and amazement at the mystery of the white +man's doings! I have often stopped to wonder at the natives' state of +mind. It must have been not unlike what is told of one of my simple +countrymen, on whose farm an aviator descended with an aëroplane, never +seen or heard of before, and who calmly walked forward to shake hands +with the heavenly visitant, whom he believed none other than the Lord! +And since horses, because of the fly, are virtually unknown in most +parts of the country, the natives were dumfounded by our mounted men, +strange centaur-like animals that they called "Kabure," after my mounted +Boer forces, of whom at first they were mortally afraid. Even bodies of +well-trained armed native soldiers have been seen to throw away their +rifles and run for dear life into the bush at the first sight of mounted +men. + +[Sidenote: Parallel mountain ranges rise in tiers.] + +[Sidenote: The second belt or veldt.] + +[Sidenote: Changes in rainfall.] + +The whole east of the African continent from the cape in the south up to +Abyssinia in the north, and, I believe, farther, is marked by one +persistent feature, the existence of several more or less parallel +mountain-ranges rising in tiers from the coast. At the top of the last +and highest mountain-range lies the great elevated inland plateau, +stretching like a broad back along the continent. The first line of +hills or low mountains runs at a distance of from ten to fifty miles +from the coast of the Indian Ocean, and all the country between it and +the sea forms a low coastal belt, which seldom rises more than a few +hundred feet above sea-level, with a distinct coastal climate and +vegetation. Between these coastal hills and the next range lies the +second belt, called in South Africa the low veldt, again with a climate +and rainfall and vegetation of its own. Next and last, at a distance of +from a hundred to one hundred and fifty miles from the Indian Ocean, +runs a mountain system, often rising to great altitudes, on which rests +the great elevated inland plateau from four thousand to six thousand +feet above the level of the sea. This plateau continues for hundreds of +miles westward, and then begins to slope toward the Atlantic Ocean in +the far distance. Sometimes, as in Central Africa, the slope to the west +is very sudden, and another range of mountains forms the western +buttress of the great central plateau. All the great rivers of Africa, +with the exception of the Niger, rise on this plateau or on its +mountain-flanks, which have a very high rainfall. The bush, or great +forest, which is almost impenetrable in the coastal belt, becomes +somewhat more open in patches in the middle belt, while on the plateau +open, park-like country alternates with treeless, grassy plains, and +the forest is confined to the deep valleys or the mountain-slopes. The +rainfall, which is fair on the coast, becomes very light in the middle +belt, which in consequence tends to have an arid character; on the +plateau it is high or very high. Because of these marked differences the +economic character of the three regions varies considerably. +Semi-tropical products, such as maize, coffee, cotton, and millet, can +be raised on an almost unlimited scale on the plateau; while rice, +rubber, sisal, and copra are raised in the two lower belts. + +[Sidenote: The chain of large lakes.] + +[Sidenote: Extinct and active volcanoes.] + +All along the mountains which mark the western edge of the high plateau +one will notice a chain of lakes, from Nyasa in the south through +Tanganyika and Kivu to Lake Albert in the north. In prehistoric time +some convulsion of nature broke the African continent all along its +spine, and formed this system of lakes. Another break occurs on the high +plateau, from Portuguese East Africa in the south to British East Africa +in the north, along the Great Rift Valley, with its magnificent +escarpments and weird scenery, prolonged through Lake Rudolf to the Red +Sea and on to the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley. Great volcanoes, now +mostly extinct, though some to the north of Kivu are still active, are a +still later feature of the country. + +[Sidenote: Lakes and mountains a frontier for defense.] + +I have referred to these lakes and to the great mountain-chain along the +lakes because they formed the western boundary of German East Africa, +and from the point of view of defense made a magnificent frontier so +strong that the Belgian forces moving from the Congo found it impossible +to invade the enemy territory from the west, and had to be moved in +large part northeast before they could strike south. Once there, with +their usual dash they did their work remarkably well. + +[Sidenote: Seaplanes attack German vessels in the lakes.] + +As soon as this northern column had reached Kigali, the capital of the +lofty Ruanda Province, the German forces fell back from the neighborhood +of Lake Kivu, and the remainder of the Belgian army was able to advance +from the west across the mountain barrier. Simultaneously, and in +coördination with their advance, strong British columns were moving +southward to the west of Victoria Nyanza. As soon as we had reached the +southern shores of the lake, a new concerted forward movement by the +British and Belgian columns was begun both from Victoria Nyanza and from +Tanganyika, where in the meantime the German armed vessels on the lake +had been bombed and destroyed by seaplanes, and Ujiji on the eastern +shore had been occupied. This movement did not stop until Tabora, with +the central railway, was occupied early in September, 1916. + +[Sidenote: General Northey's advance across the mountain.] + +At the same time a great movement was made in the south by General +Northey, who advanced from the line between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa +across the mountains flanking the great plateau on the west. This is a +very mountainous region; but he got over the mountains, and moving +north, took Bismarckburg, Neu Langenburg, and afterward Iringa, where +our main forces joined hands with his. These advances, all carried out +with great skill and energy against very great physical difficulties, +were subsidiary to the principal attack, which was being executed from +the north-east, in the neighborhood of Kilimanjaro. + +[Sidenote: The River Rovuma a strategic line.] + +[Sidenote: Pursuit of enemy across Rovuma is difficult.] + +The southern boundary between German East Africa and Portuguese East +Africa was formed by the River Rovuma, which, coming from the high +plateau and the mountains to the east of Nyasa, is one of the large +African rivers. Except in its highest reaches near Lake Nyasa it is not +fordable, and makes an admirable strategic line. However, as Portugal +came into the war after most of the German colony had already been +occupied by us, this river acquired strategic importance only toward the +end of the campaign, and then in a sense adverse to us, as General Van +Deventer has found to his cost. After the remnants of the German native +forces had been driven across the Rovuma at the beginning of December, +1917, our forces found the swift pursuit across the river a difficult +task. We are, however, now operating against the roving bands into which +the enemy force has split, and if ever they try to break back to their +occupied colony, they will find the line of the Rovuma a very serious +barrier. + +[Sidenote: The search for the German raider _Königsberg_.] + +[Sidenote: The _Königsberg's_ guns accompany the enemy on land.] + +The eastern boundary of the colony is the coast-line of the Indian Ocean +for almost five hundred miles, with some very beautiful harbors, and it +was dominated by our navy from the day that war was declared. The Royal +Navy has played a very active part in our African campaigns, and one of +the most fascinating episodes of the war was the search for the +_Königsberg_, lost after she had destroyed the _Pegasus_ and done much +damage in the Indian Ocean. She was discovered in a most secluded branch +of the Rufiji River, and ultimately destroyed by seaplanes and monitors +in her impenetrable lair. Yet, though destroyed, she made her voice +heard over all that vast country, for her ten big naval guns, each +pulled by teams of four hundred stalwart natives, accompanied the enemy +armies in all directions, and, with other naval guns and howitzers +smuggled into the country, made the enemy in many a fight stronger in +heavy artillery than we were. + +[Sidenote: Extensive enemy fortifications at the mountain gap.] + +[Sidenote: The rainy season worse than imagined.] + +From a strategic point of view, the northern frontier was the most +difficult of all. It passed north of Kilimanjaro, to the west of which +is a desert belt. East of this desert belt and Kilimanjaro the enemy +colony was protected by an almost impassable mountain system, with a +very narrow, swampy, dangerous gap between the Usambara and Pare +Mountains, and another gap of about four or five miles between the Pare +Mountains and Kilimanjaro. It was impossible to move an army through the +first gap; the second gap at the foot of Kilimanjaro was the place where +the enemy had located himself early in the war on British territory, and +with patience and skill had dug himself in, with very extensive +fortifications, surrounded by dense forests and impassable swamps. Here +he lay waiting for eighteen months, threatening British East Africa. +From here he was driven in March, 1916, and by the end of that month our +forces had conquered the whole Kilimanjaro-Meru areas. It was at this +stage, and after our initial success, that the rainy season set in; and +that is another great feature of German East Africa. I had read much +about it, and I had heard more; but the reality far surpassed the worst +I had read or heard. For weeks the rain came down ceaselessly, +pitilessly, sometimes three inches in twenty-four hours, until all the +hollows became rivers, all the low-lying valleys became lakes, the +bridges disappeared, and all roads dissolved in mud. All communications +came to an end, and even Moses himself in the desert had not such a +commissariat situation as faced me. + +[Sidenote: The enemy's line of retreat.] + +When in the latter part of May the rains subsided, the advance against +the enemy was once more resumed. In order to create the maximum +difficulties for our advance, the enemy chose as his line of retreat the +great block of mountains which I have referred to as forming the eastern +buttress of the great central plateau. For the next three and a half +months our forward movement continued with only one short pause until +by the middle of September we had reached the great valleys of the +Rufiji and the Great Rwaha in the far south, and across the Rwaha we +could link up with General Northey at Iringa in the southwest. + +[Sidenote: Difficulties of transport and supply in advance.] + +[Sidenote: Poisonous insects and tropical diseases.] + +[Sidenote: The campaign a story of human endurance.] + +It is impossible for those unacquainted with German East Africa to +realize the physical, transport, and supply difficulties of an advance +over this magnificent, but mountainous, country, with a great rainfall +and wide, unbridged rivers in the regions of the mountains, and +insufficient surface water on the plains for the needs of an army; with +magnificent primeval forest everywhere, pathless, trackless, except for +the spoor of the elephant or the narrow footpaths of the natives. The +malaria mosquito is everywhere except on the higher plateaus; everywhere +the belts are infested with the deadly tsetse fly, which makes an end of +all animal transport; and almost everywhere the ground is rich black or +red cotton soil, which any transport converts into mud in the rain or +dust in the drought. Everywhere the fierce heat of equatorial Africa, +accompanied by a wild luxuriance of parasitic life, breed tropical +diseases in the unacclimatized whites. These conditions make life for +the white man in that country sufficiently trying. If in addition he has +to perform hard work and make long marches on short rations, the trial +becomes very severe; if, above all, huge masses of men and material have +to be moved over hundreds of miles in a great military expedition +against a mobile and alert foe, then the strain becomes almost +unendurable. And the chapter of accidents in this region of the unknown! +Unseasonable rains cut off expeditions for weeks from their supply +bases. Animals died by the thousand--after passing through an unknown +fly-belt. Mechanical transport got bogged in the marshes, held up by +bridges washed away, or mountain passes obstructed by sudden floods. And +the gallant boys, marching far ahead under the pitiless African sun, +with the fever raging in their blood, pressed ever on after the +retreating enemy, often on reduced rations, and without any of the small +comforts which in this climate are real necessities. In the story of +human endurance this campaign deserves a very special place, and the +heroes who went through it uncomplainingly, doggedly, are entitled to +all recognition and reverence. Their commander-in-chief will remain +eternally proud of them. + +When in January, 1917, I relinquished the command to my successor, +General Hoskins, we were across the Rufiji River in the southeast, and +in the great valley formed by the principal tributaries, the Ulanga and +Ruhuje rivers in the west; but the rainy season which set in shortly +afterward stopped all advance until the following June. + +[Sidenote: Enemy's forces evacuate German East Africa.] + +Five months later our advance was resumed, and by the beginning of +December, 1917, the last remnants of the enemy's forces had evacuated +German East Africa across the Rovuma, while our forces were operating +against the enemy bands far south in Portuguese territory, as I have +already stated. + +[Sidenote: Development of tropical Africa retarded by diseases.] + +In economic value this region ranks very high among the tropical +countries of the African continent, and probably no part of all Africa +has a climate or soil more suitable for the production on an immense +scale of copra, cocoanuts, coffee, sugar, sisal, rubber, cotton, and +other tropical products, or of such semi-tropical products as maize and +millet. In common with the rest of tropical Africa, its full development +is still retarded by the undefeated animal and human diseases, +especially malaria. But the time is not far distant when science will +have overcome these drawbacks, and when Central and East Africa will +have become one of the most productive and valuable parts of the +tropics. But until science solves the problems of tropical disease, East +and Central Africa must not be looked upon as an area for white +colonization. Perhaps they will never be a white man's country in any +real sense. In those huge territories the white man's task will probably +be largely confined to that of administrator, teacher, expert, manager, +or overseer of the large negro populations, whose progressive +civilization will be more suitably promoted in connection with the +industrial development of the land. + +[Sidenote: The Germans discouraged white settlement.] + +[Sidenote: Natives compelled to work for planters.] + +[Sidenote: German system more profitable one.] + +It is clear from their practice in East Africa that the Germans had +decided to develop the country not as an ordinary colony, but as a +tropical possession for the cultivation of tropical raw materials. They +systematically discouraged white settlement; the white colonists, with +their small farms, gradually building up a European system on a small +scale, who are a marked feature of British colonies, were conspicuously +absent. Instead, tracts of country were granted to companies, +syndicates, or men with large capital, on conditions that plantations of +tropical products would be cultivated. The planters were supplied with +native labor under a government system which compelled the natives to +work for the planters for a certain very small wage during part of every +year; and as labor was very plentiful, with seven and a half millions of +natives, the future for the capitalist syndicates seemed rosy enough. No +wonder that under this _corvée_ system East Africa and the Kamerun were +rapidly developing into very valuable tropical assets, from which in +time the German Empire would have derived much of the tropical raw +material for its industries. The Germans realized better than most +people that the value of tropical Africa lay not in any openings for +white colonization, such as are being developed next door to their +colonies in British East Africa, but in the plantation system, where +white capital and black labor collaborate to establish an entirely +different order of things. Harsh as the German system undoubtedly is, I +am not prepared to deny that it is perhaps the more scientific one, and +that in the long run it is the more profitable form of exploiting the +tremendous natural resources of the tropics. + +With regard to tropical Africa, so vast in area, so great in resources, +the first desideratum for its development is the opening up of +communication. The lakes, the Nile, and the Congo form the principal +natural links in any chains of communication with the seaboard; and the +question is, how far railways have come in or will come in to complete +these chains. + +[Sidenote: Railways built in the Congo territory and connective.] + +Two railways built during the war in the Congo territory have largely +extended the communications from east to west, and from the center to +the south. These two railways have opened up many routes in Central and +East Africa, and it is now possible to travel from the Indian Ocean at +Dar-es-Salaam by the German Central Railway to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika; +by steamer across the lake to Albertville; thence by train to Kabalo; by +steamer on to Kongolo; train to Kindu, and on by steamer and rail down +the Congo to the Atlantic Ocean. + +[Sidenote: Railways in South Africa.] + +Now, as to the communications in the south, one can travel from Cape +Town by rail to Bukama, and thence by steamer and rail either to Boma on +the Atlantic coast, or by rail and steamer to Dar-es-Salaam on the +Indian Ocean. Besides these through lines, there is the Uganda Railway +from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to the Victoria Nyanza, and there are +in contemplation two other railways from the east coast to Nyasa, one +from Kilwa, and one from Porto Amelia, in Portuguese East Africa. A +railway is also under construction from Lobito Bay on the Atlantic to +the Katanga copper areas, already reached from the south and east by the +railways from Cape Town and Beira. + +[Sidenote: Communications to the northward.] + +The question remains as to communications northward to the +Mediterranean. One can travel to-day from Alexandria by rail and river +to Khartoum, and thence by steamer up the Nile to Rejaf, near the Uganda +border. From Rejaf to Nimule, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, +the Nile is impracticable for river transport, and therefore over that +distance a railway will have to be built. But from Nimule the river is +again navigable up to Lake Albert. The problem is to connect Lake Albert +with the Central and South African systems. + +[Sidenote: Possible Belgian and British routes.] + +[Sidenote: Tropical Africa a great problem in world politics.] + +Three routes are possible, one wholly Belgian, one partly British and +partly Belgian, and one wholly British. That is on the assumption that +German East Africa remains British after this war. The Belgian project +is to construct the railway from the Congo bend at Stanleyville over the +gold-fields at Kilo to Mahagi on Lake Albert. The British project would +be to construct a line from the south of Elizabethville to Bismarckburg, +at the south of Lake Tanganyika, to proceed thence by steamer to Ujiji, +thence by the existing railway to Tabora, to construct a line from +Tabora to Mwanza on Lake Victoria Nyanza, and a line from Entebbe on +that lake to Butiabwa, on Lake Albert. The third or mixed +Belgian-British line would proceed by way of Butiabwa, Entebbe, Mwanza, +Tabora, and Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, but from there would make use of +the existing line to Kabalo on the Congo. It is probable that by one or +other of these three routes through communication from South Africa to +the Mediterranean may be established within the next ten years. With +this vital industrial aspect of tropical Africa there is wrapped up the +equally important political aspect, and these two problems are certain +to make of tropical Africa one of the great problems of future world +politics. + +[Sidenote: Germans have no colonists to spare.] + +Now, the Germans are not in search of colonies after the English model, +and those that they have in East and West Africa had no white population +to speak of before the war. Quite apart from the fact that tropical +Africa would be no suitable territory for white settlement, they have no +colonists to spare, since for the sake of their industrial and military +future in Germany they desire the largest concentration of population +possible in the fatherland. As Baron von Rechenberg, formerly governor +of German East Africa, has expressed it: + +"Just as we lack suitable land for settling, so we lack suitable German +settlers.... For a number of years immigration into Germany has been +much greater than emigration from Germany.... Even in times of peace +German agriculture had not a surplus, but a shortage, of labor, and it +cannot possibly accord with our interests to increase the shortage by +encouraging emigration.... Regrettable though it is, there can be no +question at the conclusion of peace of acquiring territory for +settlement. There is no appropriate country, and there are no farmers to +settle on it." + +[Sidenote: Germany desires not colonies but strategic positions.] + +[Sidenote: Central Africa needed to supply raw materials.] + +[Sidenote: Germany could use natives in war.] + +German colonial aims are really not colonial, but are entirely dominated +by far-reaching conceptions of world politics. Not colonies, but +military power and strategic positions for exercising world power in +future, are her real aims. Her ultimate objective in Africa is the +establishment of a great Central African Empire, comprising not only her +colonies before the war, but also all the English, French, Belgian, and +Portuguese possessions south of the Sahara and Lake Chad and north of +the Zambezi River in South Africa. Toward this objective she was +steadily marching even before the war broke out, and she claims the +return of her lost African colonies at the end of the war as a +starting-point from which to resume the interrupted march. Or, rather, +as appears from Count Hertling's recent pronouncement, she claims a +reallocation of the world's colonies, so that she may have a share +commensurate with her world position. This Central African block, the +maps of which are now in course of preparation and printing at the +Colonial Office in Berlin, is intended in the first place to supply the +economic requirements and raw materials of German industry; in the +second and far more important place, to become the recruiting-ground for +vast native armies, the great value of which has been demonstrated in +the tropical campaigns of this war, and especially in East Africa; while +the natural harbors on the Atlantic and Indian oceans will supply the +naval and submarine bases from which both ocean routes will be +dominated, and British and American sea-power will be brought to naught. +The native armies will be useful in the next great war, to which the +German General Staff is already devoting serious attention, as appears +from the book of General von Freytag, the deputy chief of the German +General Staff, recently published here under the title "Deductions of +the World War." + +[Sidenote: A great army on the flank of Asia.] + +The untrained levies of the Union of South Africa would go down before +these German-trained hordes of Africans, who would also be able to deal +with North Africa and Egypt without the deflection of any white troops +from Germany; and they would in addition mean a great army planted on +the flank of Asia whose force could be felt throughout the middle East +as far as Persia, and who knows how much farther? + +[Sidenote: African natives a part of Germany's plan of conquest.] + +This is the grandiose scheme. It is no mere fanciful picture, but based +on the writings of great German publicists, professors, and high +colonial authorities, and chapter and verse could be quoted in full +detail for every feature of the scheme. The civilization of the African +natives and the economic development of the dark continent must be +subordinate to the most far-reaching schemes of German world power and +world conquest; the world must be brought into subjection to German +militarism. As in former centuries again the African native must play +his part in the new slavery. Dr. Solf, the present German Colonial +Secretary, in the "Colonial Calendar" for 1917, made the following +pronouncement as to the organic connection of German colonial aims with +her other aims of world power: + +[Sidenote: Directions of German aims.] + +"The history of our colonies in this world war has shown what was +hitherto wanting in the German colonial empire. It has shown that it was +not a proper 'empire' at all, but merely a number of possessions without +geographical and political connection, and without established +communications.... How greatly would the power of resistance of our +colonies have been increased if they had not been isolated!... These +experiences show what direction our aims must take. We shall achieve the +fulfillment of our desires if we remain conscious that the +colonial-political aim is not something which stands alone by itself, +but must be regarded in organic connection with all other aims which we +are determined to attain by the world war." + +Prof. Delbrück, in a recent number of the "Preussische Jahrbücher," thus +sketches the new African Empire: + +[Sidenote: Plan for a new African Empire.] + +"If our victory is great enough, we can hope to unite under our hand the +whole of Central Africa with our old colony South-west Africa; +Senegambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Dahomey, well-populated +Nigeria with the port of Lagos, Kamerun, the rich islands of San Thomé +and Principe with their splendid ports, the Katanga ore district, +Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, and Delagoa Bay, Madagascar, +German East Africa, Zanzibar, and Uganda; and in addition the great port +of Ponta Delgado in the Azores--one of the most important and most +frequented coaling stations--and Horta, one of the most important +centers of the transatlantic cable system. At present the Azores belong +to Portugal, which is at war with Germany. Portugal also owns the Cape +Verde Islands, with the port of Porto Grande, one of the most frequented +coaling stations in the Eastern Atlantic. + +[Sidenote: The riches of the African territories.] + +"All these territories together have over 100,000,000 inhabitants. +United in a single ownership, and with their various characteristics +supplementing one another, they offer simply immeasurable prospects. +They are rich in natural treasures, rich in possibilities of settlement +and trade, and rich in men who can work and also be used in war. To +demand them is not unjust, and does not offend against the principle of +equilibrium, since Germany would thus only be obtaining a colonial +empire such as England and Russia, France and America, have long +possessed." + +Franz Kolbe, in the "Deutsche Politik," a year ago thus described the +future rôle for raiders in the South Atlantic: + +[Sidenote: Importance of German-West African Coast in combating Great +Britain.] + +"The whole coast of West Africa from the mouth of the Cross River to the +mouth of the Orange River would be in German possession. When one only +remembers what immense achievements were performed by the _Emden_ in +the Indian Ocean and by the _Karlsruhe_ in the Atlantic, without any +naval base, without any possibility of replenishing in port their +supplies of munitions, food, etc., it will be realized what the +fortification of half the West Coast of Africa would signify for Germany +and for England! As soon as, in the new war, the Suez Canal is closed +against England by the Turks, all traffic between England and India, +Australia, and South Africa must go round the Cape of Good Hope. But +then all the shipping must pass the coast of German Central Africa. It +would be impossible for England any longer to concentrate her whole +fleet in the North Sea and to menace Germany. She would be compelled to +station a considerable fleet in South Africa for the protection of her +trade, and that would mean a not inconsiderable weakening of her forces +in European waters." + +In the same review Emil Zimmermann explains the rôle of German East +Africa in the future scheme of world power: + +[Sidenote: German Africa would have balance of power in the East.] + +"German Africa, which will find allies at once in Abyssinia and in +Mohammedan freedom movements, will make the employment of black troops +against our European frontiers impossible. German Africa alone will give +us a balance of power in the East and in Africa. It will remove the +Egyptian pressure on Asia Minor. German Africa will make us a world +power by enabling us to exert decisive influence upon the world +political decisions of our enemies and of other powers, and to exercise +pressure on all shaping of policy in Africa, Asia Minor, and southern +Europe." + +And in another article in the "Preussische Jahrbücher," he says: "Nearer +Asia cannot continue to exist without this covering of its flank. That +is the meaning of the German colonial question." In other words, +Berlin-Bagdad is not safe without a great German Central or East +African Empire. + +[Sidenote: British ambitions are different.] + +[Sidenote: German policies dangerous.] + +The point of view of the British Empire is very different indeed. In the +first place, it has never had any military ambitions apart from the +measure of sea-power essential to its continued existence; in Africa it +has never militarized the natives, has always opposed any such policy +and has tended to study the natives' interests and regard their point of +view with special favor, often to the no small disappointment of +individual white settlers. Indeed, no impartial person can deny that, so +far from exploiting the natives either for military or industrial +purposes, British policy has on the whole, over a very long stretch of +years, had a tender regard for native interests, and on the whole its +results have been beneficial to the natives in their gradual +civilization. In shaping this wise policy British statesmen have had a +very long and wide African experience to guide them, and in consequence +they have avoided the very dangerous and dubious policies which the +German new-comers have set in motion. Among these not the least +dangerous is to regard the native primarily as raw material to be +manufactured into military power and world power. + +[Sidenote: The British Empire asks peace and security.] + +In the second place, the objects pursued by British policy on the +African continent are inherently pacific and defensive. It desires no +man's territory; it desires only to live in peace and develop the great +African territories and populations intrusted to its care. And looking +at the future from the broadest points of view, looking at the magnitude +of its material African interests and the future welfare of the vast +native populations, and its difficult task of civilizing the dark +continent; looking further upon Africa as the half-way house to India +and Australasia, the British Empire asks only for peace and +security--international peace and security of its external +communications. It cannot allow the return of conditions which mean the +militarization of the natives and their employment for schemes of world +power; it cannot allow naval and submarine bases to be organized on both +sides of the African coast, to the endangerment of the sea +communications of the empire and the peace of the world. And it must +insist on the maintenance of conditions which will guarantee through +land communications for its territories from one end of the continent to +the other. + +[Sidenote: Dependence on communications by sea and land.] + +The British Empire is not like Germany, Russia, or the United States, a +compact territorial entity; it is scattered over the globe, and entirely +dependent on the maintenance of communications for its continued +existence. In future these lines of communication should proceed not +only by sea, but also by land. One of the most impressive lessons of +this vast war is the vulnerability of sea-power and sea communications +through the development of underwater transport, and the immense +importance of railway communication. In fact, to be really effective the +two should go hand in hand. Nor are we at the end of the chapter in +discovering new means of transportation. It is not only conceivable, but +probable, that aërial navigation may revolutionize the present transport +situation. + +[Sidenote: Prussian militarism cannot be tolerated.] + +[Sidenote: The dominions desire a Monroe Doctrine for the South.] + +As long as there is no real change of heart in Germany and no final and +irrevocable break with militarism, the law of self-preservation should +be considered paramount; no fresh extension of Prussian militarism to +other continents and seas should be tolerated; and the conquered German +colonies can be regarded only as guaranties for the security of the +future peace of the world. This opinion will be shared, I feel sure, by +the vast bulk of the young nations who form the Dominions of the +British Empire. They have no military aims or ambitions; their tasks are +solely the tasks of peace; their greatest interest and aim is peace. +Voluntarily they joined in this war, and to their efforts is largely due +the destruction of the German Colonial Empire, and the consequent +prevention of the German military system being spread to the ends of the +earth. They should not be asked to consent to the restoration to a +militant Germany of fresh footholds for militarism in the Southern +Hemisphere, and thus to endanger the future of their young and rising +communities who are developing the waste places of the earth. They want +a new Monroe Doctrine for the South as there has been a Monroe Doctrine +for the West, to protect it against European militarism. Behind the +sheltering wall of such a doctrine they promise to build up a great, +new, peaceful world not only for themselves, but for the many millions +of black folk intrusted to their care. + +[Sidenote: Germany's stubborn defense of her African colonies.] + +The enemy's stubborn defence of his last colony has not only been a +great feat in itself, but is also a proof of the supreme importance +attached by the German Government to this African colony both as an +economic asset and as a strategic point of departure for the +establishment of the future Central African Empire to which I have +referred. At the conclusion of peace our statesmen will be bound to bear +in mind these wider and obscurer issues, fraught with such consequences +to the world and to the British Empire in particular. Perhaps I may be +allowed to express the fervent hope that a land where so many of our +heroes lost their lives or their health; where, under the most terrible +and exacting conditions, human loyalty and human service were poured out +lavishly in a great cause, may never be allowed to become a menace to +the future peaceful development of the world. I am sure my gallant boys, +dead or living, would wish for no other or greater reward. + + * * * * * + +Greece, as a result of the intrigues of the pro-German king and queen, +was a thorn in the flesh to the Allies for the first years of the war. +The deposition of King Constantine, and the resumption of power of +Premier Venizelos, brought Greece back to the place where her people +wished to be. + + + + +GREECE'S ATONEMENT + +LEWIS R. FREEMAN + + +[Sidenote: A meeting with Venizelos.] + +The Venizelists had been having a bad time of it from the first, but the +blackest hours of all were those toward the end of last April, when +Constantine was still strong in Athens, and before the Saloniki Allies +had found it practicable or expedient to welcome them to a full +brotherhood of arms. It was during this "dark before the dawn" period +that I had my first meeting with M. Venizelos, a conventional half +hour's interview in the suburban villa, midway along the curve of +Saloniki Bay where the Provisional Government had established its +headquarters. + +[Sidenote: The attitude of Constantine.] + +I had just come up from Athens, where I had found the Allied diplomats +still smarting under the memories of their ignominious experiences +following Constantine's spectacular coup of the previous December, and +it was by no means the least of these who had told me point-blank that +he could not conceive how it would be possible that Saloniki should be +returned to Greece after the war. Of course it was the Royalist +Government that my distinguished friend had had in mind when he spoke, +but there was not much to indicate at this time that the Greece of +Constantine and his minions was not also going to be the Greece of after +the war. + +It was with this state of things in mind, and recalling his well known +ambitions to found a Greater Greece--by extending Epirus north along +the Adriatic, and bringing the millions of Greeks of Asia Minor at least +under the protection of the Government at Athens--that I mustered up my +courage and asked M. Venizelos offhand if he felt confident of being +able even to maintain the integrity of his country as it existed before +the war. + +[Sidenote: What Greece must do for the Allies.] + +"Not unless those of us Greeks who have remained faithful to the cause +of humanity and our honor are ultimately able to lend the Allies +material help in a measure sufficient to counterbalance the harm the +action of the Royalists has caused them," was the prompt reply; "and by +material help I mean military aid. We must fight, and fight, and keep on +fighting, for it is only with blood--with Greek blood--that the stain +upon Greek honor can be washed away. It is only our army that can save +us, and that is why we have been so impatient of the delay there has +been in equipping it and getting it to the front. The one division we +have in the trenches now, and the two others that are ready to go, are +not enough, but they are about all we have been able to raise so far. +Thessaly is for us (as you may have seen in traveling across it), and +would give us two more divisions at least; but our Allies have not yet +seen fit to allow us to go there after them." + +[Sidenote: Venizelos determines to aid the Allies.] + +M. Venizelos spoke of a number of other things before I left him +(notably of the extent to which the Russian revolution and the entry of +America had helped him in his fight to save Greece), but it was plain +that the problem uppermost in his mind was that of wiping out the score +of the Allies against his country by giving them a substantial measure +of assistance in the field. + +"Do not fail to visit our force on the ---- sector before you leave the +Balkans," was his parting injunction. "There may be a chance of seeing +it in action before very long, and if you do, you will need no further +assurance of the way in which we shall make our honor white before our +Allies and all the world." + +[Sidenote: Unenviable position of the Venizelists.] + +[Sidenote: Elaborate precautions against treachery.] + +The Serbian and two or three other Armies have been worse off in a +physical way, but no national force since the outbreak of the war has +been in so thoroughly an unenviable position on every other score as was +that of the Venizelists at this time. The Serbs and the Belgians had at +least the knowledge that the confidence and the sympathy of the Allies +were theirs. Also, they had chances to fight to their hearts' content. +The Venizelists had scant measure of sympathy, and still less of +confidence; and when their first chance to fight was at last given them, +they were allowed to face the foe only after elaborate precautions had +been taken against everything, from incompetence and cowardice on their +part to open treachery. That this was the fault neither of themselves +nor of their Allies, and had only come about through the perfidy of a +King to whom they no longer swore fealty, did not make the shame of it +much easier to bear for an army of spirited volunteers who had risked +their all for a chance to wipe out the dishonor of their country. + +[Sidenote: Spies sent in the guise of deserters.] + +The thing that for a while made it so difficult for the Allies to know +what to do with the Venizelist army was the almost ridiculous ease with +which, under the peculiar circumstances of its recruitment, it lent +itself to spying purposes. All the Royalists, or their German +paymasters, had to do to establish a spy in the Saloniki area was to +send over one of their Intelligence Officers in the guise of a deserter +from the Greek army to that of Venizelos, and there he was! To send back +information, or even to return in person, across the but partially +patrolled "Neutral Zone" was scarcely more difficult, and it was the +wholesale way in which this sort of thing went on that made it so hard +for the Allies to decide just who the bona fide Venizelists were, and +just how far it would be safe to trust a force to which the enemy still +had such ready means of access. + +[Sidenote: Tact and common sense used.] + +There was nothing else for the Allies to do but "go slow" and "play +safe" in dealing with the Venizelist army, and, under the circumstances, +there is no doubt that a difficult situation was handled with a good +deal of tact and common sense. Just how trying the situation of the +Venizelists was, however, I had a chance to see one day when I happened +to be at their Headquarters arranging for my visit to the Greek sector +of the Front. Their troops had acquitted themselves with great credit in +some gallantly carried out raiding operations, which must have made it +doubly hard for them to put up with a new restrictive order just +promulgated by the Supreme Command as a further precaution against the +leakage of information to the enemy. + +Just as I was about to take my departure, a copy of the new order was +delivered to the Staff Officer with whom I had been conferring about my +visit to the Front. He read it through slowly, his swarthy face flushing +red with anger as he proceeded. + +[Sidenote: A series of humiliations.] + +"Have you heard of this?" he said, handing me the paper, and controlling +his voice with an effort, "No man or officer of our army is to cross the +---- bridge without a special permit from General Headquarters. It is +only the latest in the long series of humiliations we have had to put up +with. Just look at the way we stand. In Athens our names are posted as +traitors who can be shot on sight. Here it isn't quite like that, +but--well (he raised his hand above his head and let it fall limply in +a gesture of despair), all I can say is that the only officers of the +Venizelist army to be envied are those whose names are recorded here +(indicating a file at his elbow). It's the death-list from +day-before-yesterday's fighting." + +[Sidenote: Venizelist troops succeed in big attacks.] + +Owing to the delay in issuing my pass in Saloniki, I did not arrive at +Greek Headquarters until the evening of the day on which the big attack +had taken place, and it was day-break of the morning following before I +was able to make my way up to the advanced lines. The Venizelist troops +had taken all their objectives, and held them with great courage against +such counterattacks as the surprised Bulgars--who, not expecting an +attack from the Greeks, had made the mistake of massing too much of +their strength against the British and French attacks to east and +west--were able to organize against them. They had been busy all night +"reversing" the captured trenches in anticipation of a determined +attempt on the part of the reinforced enemy to retake them in the +morning. + +[Sidenote: Movement carried out without confusion.] + +The hilly but well-metaled cartroad, along which by the light of the +waning moon I cantered with an officer of the Greek staff, had been +thronged all night with the surging current of the battle traffic--an +up-flow of munition convoys and reinforcements, and back-flow of wounded +and prisoners--but I could not help remarking the comparative quiet and +absence of confusion with which the complex movement was carried on. + +[Sidenote: The Greeks seem to understand the game of war.] + +"Somehow this doesn't seem quite like the transport of a new army just +undergoing its baptism of fire," I said to my companion. "I've seen +things on the roads behind the western front in far worse messes than +any of these little jams we've passed to-night. These chaps are as +businesslike as though they'd been at the game for years." + +[Sidenote: Veterans of the Balkan wars.] + +"So they have," was the quiet reply. "Our army, as recruited so far, is +a new one only in name. The men who attacked yesterday were of the +famous S---- Division, which fought all through the last two Balkan wars +and gained no end of praise from all the foreign military attachés for +its great mountain work. It was this Division which scaled the steep +range beyond Doiran and drove the Bulgars out of Rupel Pass." + +[Sidenote: The Battle of "Rupel Pass."] + +"The S---- Division," "Rupel Pass." Instantly I recalled how a British +General, over on the Struma a few days previously, had pointed out to me +a steep range of serried snow-capped mountains towering against the +skyline to the northwest, and told me that the feat of the Greeks in +taking a division over it at a point where even the wary Bulgar had +deemed it impossible was one of the finest exploits in the annals of +mountain warfare. + +"The Italians have fought the Austrians at a greater altitude in a +number of places in the Alps, and in our wars with the Himalayan +tribesmen we have sent our Gurkhas twice as high. But all of that was +after more or less preparation. Here, the Greeks simply started off and +went over that range with only their rifles and the packs on their +backs. I know of nothing to compare with it save the taking of +Kaymakchalan by the Serbs last November in the operations which freed +Monastir. Not many in Saloniki have had much good to say of the Greek as +a soldier of late, but you may be sure that we can do with more men of +the kind that crossed that mountain range, and there is no reason why +Venizelos should not be able to bring them to us." + +[Sidenote: A favorable position for observation.] + +The hill from which we were to follow the action jutted out of the +mountains into the plain like the bow of a battleship. So favorable was +its position for observation--from its brow a wide expanse of mountain +and valley was spread from twenty to sixty miles in three +directions--that the British and French as well as the Greeks maintained +posts there. We found the officers in both of the Allied "O. Pips" +[signal corps talk for O.P., meaning observation post] highly +enthusiastic over the work of the Greeks in their attack of the +preceding day. + +[Sidenote: The evening bulletin.] + +We found two officers in the British Observation Post chuckling over the +evening bulletin, which had just been delivered to them. "You have to +read between the lines of Sarrail's 'Evening Hope' if you want to get at +the real facts," said one of them. "It's what it fails to tell you, that +you really want to know. Now, you might be able to gather from this that +all the Balkan Allies have been doing quite a bit of attacking during +the last day or two at various parts of the Front from Doiran west to +Albania, but you have to go between the lines to find that our shifty +Bulgar friend over there gave most of them as good or better than they +gave him all the way. It's sad but true that in this, our 'Great Spring +Offensive,' as the papers at home have talked of it, the whole lot of +us--French, British, Russian, Italian, and even the Serb--have been +fought to a standstill by the Bulgar. Far as I can see, the only gain we +have to show for it is in the casualty lists." + +I failed to see just what there was to chuckle about in such an +interpretation of the glowing lines of the evening bulletin, and said as +much. + +[Sidenote: Successes of the little Venizelist army.] + +"It isn't funny in the least," was the reply, "and it would seem still +less so if we could see at close range some of the things that are lying +out on a hundred miles of these accursed mountain sides as a +consequence of what has happened. But what _did_ strike us as a bit rich +was the fact that, of all the Allies, this little piece of the +Venizelist army, which we have held in leash all winter while we made up +our minds as to whether it would be safe to slip or not, is the only one +of the whole lot of us that has taken all the objectives set for it." + +A sporting instinct and a grim sense of humor--the readiness to admire a +brave foe and the ability to extract amusement from discomfiture--are +the two things that have conspired to make the British soldier so +uniformly successful in treating those "twin impostors," Triumph and +Disaster, "just the same." + +[Sidenote: The view across the Vardar.] + +The sky was lightening and throwing into ghostly silhouette the line of +the mountain ridge across the Vardar by the time we had pushed on out +along the communication trench to the Greek Observation Post on the +extreme brow of the hill. Since midnight the enemy "heavies" had been +coughing gruffly under the mist-blanket that overlaid the plain, +dappling it with alternately flashing and fading blotches of light till +it glowed fantastically like a lamp-shade of Carrara marble; +star-shells, fired with a low trajectory, popped up and dove out of +sight again, throwing a fluttering green radiance over the white pall +which swathed the battlefield. + +[Sidenote: The Bulgar preparing to go over the top.] + +The mist-mask must have fended the day-break from the plain long after +it was light upon the hill from where we watched, for it was not until +the range of serrated peaks to the east of Doiran was all aglow with the +red and gold of sunrise that the higher-keyed crack of the enemy's +field-guns came welling up to tell us that the Bulgar was getting ready +to go over the top. The flame-spurts--paling from a hot red to faded +lemon as the light grew stronger--splashed up against the mist-pall as +the jet of an illuminated fountain rises and falls, and down where the +battered first-line trenches faced each other the dust-geysers of the +exploding shells rolled up in clouds to the surface of the thinning +vapors as the mud of the bottom boils up through the waters of an +agitated pool. + +[Sidenote: The Allied artillery opens.] + +For a minute or two the ragged line of the barrage wallowed forward +through the outraged mist alone. Then, as a sudden flight of rockets +spat forth from the Greek first line to warn that the enemy infantry was +on the way, all the Allied artillery that could be brought to bear +opened up and began dropping shells just behind where the murky +mist-clouds marked the swath of the Bulgar barrage. + +For the space of perhaps two or three minutes the fog-bank swirled and +curled in swaying eddies as the shells came hurtling into it; +then--whether it was from a sudden awakening of the wind or through the +licking up of its vapors by the first rays of the now risen sun, I never +knew--almost in the wave of a hand, it was gone, revealing a broad +expanse of trench-creased plain with a long belt of gray figures moving +across it in a cloud of dust and smoke. + +[Sidenote: Lively hand-to-hand fighting.] + +"It isn't much of a barrage as barrages go on the western front," said +Captain X---- half apologetically. "Their artillery won't do much harm +to us, and, I'm afraid, ours not much to them. And we'll hardly be +having enough machine guns emplaced to sting them as they ought to be +stung for swarming up in masses like that. But if it's only a +second-class artillery show, I still think I can promise you--if only +the Bulgar has the stomach for it--a livelier bit of hand-to-hand +fighting than you might find in a whole summer of looking for it in +France. Do you see those little winking flashes all along where the +infantry are moving? Some of them are from bayonets, but most are from +knives. A great man with the knife is the Bulgar. Did you ever hear that +song about him they sang at a revue the British 'Tommies' had at +Saloniki? It was a parody on some other song that was being sung in the +halls in London, and went something like this: + +[Sidenote: A Bulgar song.] + + I'm Boris the Bulgar, + The Man With the Knife; + The Pride of Sofia, + The Taker of Life. + Good gracious, how spacious + And deep are the cuts, + Of Boris the Bulgar, + The Knifer-- + +"Now for it! Look at that!" + +[Sidenote: The barrages lift and the Greeks advance to meet the +Bulgars.] + +I never did hear just what it was that Boris was a knifer of, for at +that juncture the two barrages--having respectively protected and +harried to the best of their abilities the advancing wave of infantry +down to within a hundred yards or so of the Greek trenches--"lifted" +almost simultaneously on to "communications," and that lifting was the +signal for the opening of the climacteric stage of the action. Without +an instant's delay, a solid wave of Greeks in brown--lightly fringed in +front with the figures of a few of the more active or impetuous who had +outdistanced their comrades in the scramble over the top--rose up out of +the earth and swept forward to meet the line of gray. The gust of their +first great cheer rolled up to us above the thunder of the artillery. + +"Now for it!" repeated X----, focussing down his telescope and steadying +himself with his elbows. "I think you'll find the show from now on worth +all the trouble of coming up to see." + +[Sidenote: the Bulgars break and retreat.] + +I do not attempt to account for what happened now; I only record it. It +may have been that the Allied artillery had wrought more havoc in that +advancing wave of men than had been apparent from a distance, or it may +have been that the enemy artillery had done less to the entrenched +defenders than it was expected to do; at any rate, the line of gray +began to break at almost the first impact of the line of brown, and the +great hand-to-hand fight that X---- had promised me was transformed into +a Marathon. + +[Sidenote: Greeks have always beaten the Bulgars.] + +"As I expected," muttered my companion. "'Boris' has no stomach for a +fight to-day with the man who licked him yesterday, and will lick him +to-morrow and go right on licking him to the end if they'll only give +him a show. The Bulgar never has stood up to the Greek, and he never +will." + +[Sidenote: The Greek Staff is in a mountain valley.] + +[Sidenote: Scarcity of nurses.] + +The Greek Staff shared a round bowl of a mountain valley, a few miles +back from the front lines, with a clearing station. The equipment of the +little hospital had mostly been provided by the British Red Cross, but +the Venizelists had made a brave effort to furnish the staff themselves. +There were two French-trained Greek surgeons, a Greek matron, Greek +orderlies, and two Greek nurses. Since the attack began there had been +work for a dozen of the latter, but--as it had been impossible for the +women of most of the Venizelist families to get away from Old Greece--no +others were available. An English nurse, who had marched in the retreat +of the Serbians, and a French nurse from a Saloniki hospital had +volunteered to step into the breach, and these five women were +courageously trying to make up in zeal what they lacked in numbers. + +[Sidenote: Working double hours.] + +"We are not enough for a double shift since the fighting began," Madame +A----, the matron, had said to me the night of my arrival; "so we are +accomplishing the same end by working double hours. We are working to +atone for the dishonor our King has brought upon our country, just as +our men are fighting to atone for it; and the harder we all work and +fight the sooner it will come about." + +The last thing to catch my eye as I looked back from the rim of the +valley when I rode away at midnight had been the flash of a bar of light +on a white uniform, as a tired figure had drooped against the flap of a +hospital tent for a breath of air. + +[Sidenote: Women nurses go without sleep.] + +"If any one of those women has had a wink of sleep in the last three +days," Captain X---- had said as we reined in to let a string of +ambulances go by, "it must have been taken standing. I have been up most +of the time myself, and never once have I looked across to the clearing +station but I saw some sign of a nurse on the move." + +[Sidenote: Venizelos at the nurses' mess.] + +Madame A---- had asked me to drop in at the nurses' mess for luncheon in +case I got back from the trenches in time, and this, by dint of hard +riding, I was just able to do. Three or four powerful military cars +drawn up at the hospital gate indicated new arrivals, but as to who they +were I had no hint until I had pushed in through the flap of the mess +tent and found M. Venizelos seated on a soap-box, _vis-à-vis_ Madame +A---- at a table improvised from a couple of condensed milk cases. At +the regular mess table, sitting on reversed water-buckets, were three +French flying officers and a civilian whom I recognized as the private +secretary of M. Venizelos. Two nurses were just rising from unfinished +plates of soup in response to word that a crucial abdominal operation +awaited their attendance at the theatre. + +"Most of the Provisional Government has come out to pay us a visit this +morning," said Madame A----, showing me to a blanket-roll seat at one +end of the mess table, "and we are lunching early so that it can get +back to Saloniki to take up the reins of State again. The General has +carried off the Admiral and the Foreign Minister, but I have managed to +keep the President for _our_ banquet. He has made the round of the +hospital and spoken to every man here--that is," she added with a catch +in her voice, "to all that could hear him. We've--we've lost three men +this morning just because there wasn't staff to operate quickly enough." + +[Sidenote: A strange banquet at which the guests contribute.] + +That was, I think, one of the strangest little "banquets" I ever sat +down to. Every one travels more or less "self-contained" in the Saloniki +area, and whenever a party is thrown together the joint supplies are +commandeered for the common good. The mess menu was a simple one of +soup, tinned salmon, rice, and cheese, but by the time M. Venizelos's +hamper had yielded a box of fresh figs, a can of the honey of Hymettus, +and a couple of bottles of Cretan wine, and the French officers had +"anted up" cognac, some tins of _flageolet_ for salad, and a tumbler of +_confiture_, and the English nurse had brought out the last of her +Christmas plum-cake, and I had thrown in a loaf of Italian _pan-forte_ +and a can of chocolates, the little crazy-legged camp-table had assumed +a passing festal air. + +[Sidenote: No one speaks of war at the feast.] + +A number of toasts were proposed and drunk, but no one spoke of the +nearer or remoter progress of the war. M. Venizelos adverted several +times to the wonder of the spring flowers as he had seen them from the +road, especially the great fields of blood-red poppies, and I overheard +him telling Madame A---- some apparently amusing incidents of his early +life in Crete. But it was not until, the banquet over, he had settled +himself in his car for the ride to Saloniki that he alluded to any of +the things with which his mind must have been so engrossed all the time. + +"So you thought that our troops had all the best of the enemy this +morning?" he said with a grave smile as he shook my hand. + +"Incomparably the best of it," I answered. + +[Sidenote: Why Venizelos is confident in the power of Greece.] + +"Then perhaps you will understand why I felt so confident that the +Bulgars would not have come into the war if they had known that Greece +would stand by Serbia. And you will also understand why I feel so +confident that our military help to the Allies will be a very real one, +perhaps enough of a one even to save Greece from herself." + +This was, I believe, the latest occasion on which M. Venizelos visited +his troops at the front. Before another fortnight had gone by the forces +of the "Protecting Powers" were moving into Old Greece, and in a month +Constantine had abdicated and opened the way for the return of his +former Prime Minister to Athens. + +[Sidenote: The maker and Savior of Modern Greece.] + +From the time of the Balkan wars of 1912-13 to the outbreak of the +present one Venizelos was often referred to as "The Maker of Modern +Greece." After this war he may well be known as "The Savior of Modern +Greece"; and of the two achievements there can be no doubt that history +must record that the one of "saving" was incomparably greater than the +one of "making." + +[Sidenote: What the influence of Venizelos may do.] + +It is still too early to make it worth while to endeavor to forecast +what is on the knees of the capricious war-gods of the Balkans, and +there is no use in trying to deny that the Bulgar--just as long as +Germany has the power and will to back him up--will take a deal of +beating. But that Venizelos will be able to make the army of reunited +Greece a potently contributive factor in bringing about that +devoutly-to-be-wished consummation may now be taken as assured. + + +Copyright, World's Work, January, 1918. + + * * * * * + +We have seen in a previous narrative the difficulties which the Italians +encountered in conducting their campaign against Austria. As a result of +German falsehood and propaganda, the Italian line was weakened and +penetrated by a great German army, and the Italian lines were swept +back. They finally held, however, and the strength of their resistance +is indicated in the following pages. + + + + +THE ITALIANS AT BAY + +G. WARD PRICE + + +[Sidenote: Udine as it seemed before the war.] + +Udine was a typically quaint and sleepy little Italian town galvanized +into unnatural life and prosperity. Every one who has spent a week in +Italy can put the picture of the place before his imagination in a +moment: streets of dark, restful, Gothic cloisters; a broad piazza +flanked by a graceful loggia; remains of medieval fortification of which +the towering gate-houses still narrowed each entrance to the town; a +general air of pleasant tranquillity and of a well-being that was a +legacy from the more spacious days of centuries gone by. The nature of +the place was that of mellow old wine, very gracious, rich with +associations that brought a glow to the palate of memory, but for all +that something of which one wanted only little at a time. A glimpse of +Udine as she had been for centuries was delightful, to dwell there would +seem like being buried alive. + +[Sidenote: Bustle and congestion when Udine becomes Army Headquarters.] + +To this forgotten township of the old Venetian province had come +suddenly in the spring of 1913 all the bustle and congestion of the +headquarters of the whole Italian Army. For the next two and a half +years you could hardly find a room in Udine to sleep in; the people of +the place opened large modern restaurants and cafés for the officers and +soldiers who crowded its streets; big shops filled the gloom of the old +arcades with an incongruous expanse of plate-glass windows; the good +burgesses of Udine made money and waxed fat. + +[Sidenote: A tactical dead-lock on the western front.] + +It seemed, indeed, as if the steady shower of war prosperity that had +fallen upon them for two years might last until that indefinite, but to +most minds far-off, day when peace should come. For it was the general +opinion that in the West, at least, the war had reached a condition of +tactical dead-lock. Trench warfare had petrified movement, except in +laborious shifting of a few hundred yards at a time, hardly perceptible +on a small-scale map. The day of sweeping advances, of sudden +retirements, was over. At a reasonable distance behind that unbudging +wall of trenches you were as secure from personal displacement by the +war as if you were at the other end of Italy; indeed, no earlier than +the beginning of this month of October some people had arrived with +their families at Udine from other parts of the country to carry on +trades connected with the life of the army. + +[Sidenote: General Cadorna praises the British batteries.] + +I myself set foot in Udine for the first time on October 20. I was going +back to the Macedonian front, where for two years I had been the +official correspondent of the British Army, and I had asked the War +Office to authorize me to visit on the way the British batteries which +since April had been cooperating with the Italian Army on the Isonzo. +General Cadorna had given them high praise in a message to the British +Government after the fighting in which they had taken part in May, and I +thought it would be interesting to see British and Italian troops side +by side in the field for the first time. + +[Sidenote: Visits to the Italian front yield important information.] + +Visitors to the Italian front used to find most convenient arrangements +made to give them a rapid idea of conditions there. Lying almost +entirely among mountains, the line presented unusual opportunities for +survey from dominating heights, and there were many places where, at +leisure and in virtual safety, one could watch the Austrian +intrenchments from close range. Fast cars took you up to these +vantage-points, and a number of staff-officers, speaking perfect English +and knowing every detail of the front and its history, raised these +visits from the level of sight-seeing excursions to opportunities for +learning a great deal that was important and technical. + +[Sidenote: The Austro-German offensive begins.] + +The very last of these journeys, which had been made by visitors of +every country, took place on October 24, the day that the great +Austro-German offensive began, and I remember how, as we drove along in +the rain, all our talk was of the bad news of that morning--that the +enemy, reinforced by a huge number of divisions brought secretly from +the Russian front, and profiting by a night of rain and fog, had thrust +down into the valley of the Isonzo between Plezzo and Tolmino, carried, +apparently by surprise, two Italian lines across the ravine after a +short and very violent bombardment, and then, pushing on, had captured +Caporetto, thus cutting off the Italian troops on Monte Nero and the +other mountains beyond the Isonzo, and opening a most serious gap in the +very center of the Italian line. + +[Sidenote: Gorizia has suffered from the war.] + +[Sidenote: A shell interrupts the sight-seers.] + +The day was one of evil omen. We went to Gorizia, that pretty Austrian +spa that was taken by the Italians last year, and has suffered from the +war as much as Udine, its neighbor across the old frontier, has +prospered. In the heart of the town its old castle towers up from an +isolated crag, and from the battlements you can look across the valley +to the Italian and Austrian lines on the slopes of San Marco opposite. +Scores of parties like our own had made this visit to Gorizia Castle, +and to-day the driving rain and valley mists made observation so bad +that it seemed more than usually safe to show oneself above the ramparts +on the side toward the enemy. Yet we had not been there three +minutes--a group of two well-known American correspondents and one +Italian, with an Italian officer, and myself--when an Austrian six-inch +shell burst with a crash hardly ten feet from the right-hand man of our +line. A black wall of flying mud towered up and blotted out the sky; +three of us were thrown headlong by the force of the explosion. Only the +fact that the shell had fallen deeply into the rain-softened bank of +earth on top of the battlements saved the names of the last four +visitors to the Italian front from being recorded on graves in Gorizia +cemetery. + +"I've brought people here seventy or eighty times," said the officer who +was with us, "and nothing like that has ever happened before." + +"We've evidently brought bad luck," said some one, and so, little though +we guessed it, we had. + +[Sidenote: The Italians expect an Austrian push.] + +During the first fortnight of October it had been a remark frequently +made throughout Italy that an Austrian push was probable before the real +winter set in. I had heard this likelihood discussed by people at the +Chamber of Deputies on my way through Rome, but without serious +significance being given to it. The Austro-Swiss frontier had been +closed for five weeks, always a sign that important movements of troops +were going on in the enemy's country; something more unusual was that +even the postal mails from Austria to Holland and Scandinavia had been +suspended. + +[Sidenote: Cadorna believes the enemy will use large reserves.] + +According to the talk one heard in Italy, Cadorna had already had in +mind the chance of a strong autumn attack on his army when he arrested +his own offensive in September after capturing by a brilliant stroke the +greater part of the Bainsizza plateau beyond the Isonzo, taking thirty +thousand prisoners and one hundred and fifty guns. The French and +British general staffs, it was said, had asked Cadorna whether he meant +to go on with his offensive, for which they had contributed contingents +of guns. Cadorna's reply had been that he had strong Austrian forces +against him, of which he knew the total, but that he also believed large +reserves of unknown quantity were available for use against him, owing +to the collapse of the Russian Army. In these circumstances he preferred +to consolidate and prepare rather than to continue to challenge forces +that could not be exactly estimated. + +Both the increase of enemy strength on the Italian front and the +paralyzing uncertainty under which the Allies labored, were directly due +to the debacle of the Russian Army during the summer. The means by which +commanders-in-chief arrive at the indispensable knowledge of what forces +they have against them is through a highly organized intelligence +department, working in close cooperation with the similar departments of +the other Allied armies. + +[Sidenote: How the enemy's strength is ascertained.] + +Each of these departments, by interrogating prisoners and reading papers +found on enemy dead, by collating the reports of the air service, by +minutely sifting the enemy press, arrives at a fairly accurate knowledge +of the enemy's order of battle on the front of its own army. So +essential is this system to the successful carrying-on of operations +that raids are often specially organized on the enemy trenches with the +sole object of capturing prisoners who may be able to give information +that will clear up some point about which there is uncertainty. All the +knowledge of the enemy's dispositions thus collected by each of the +Allied armies is open to all of them; it is exchanged and compared and +collated, so that they finally arrive at a fairly complete knowledge of +the distribution of the enemy's forces in each one of the theaters of +war. + +[Sidenote: The Russian intelligence department collapses.] + +Now, when the Russian Army went to pieces in the summer, its +intelligence department collapsed with the rest. The Russian Army has +taken virtually no prisoners for a long time, and consequently the facts +about what troops the Austrians and Germans have on that front have not +been ascertainable. It was known that the enemy used to have about one +hundred and thirty divisions there, but no one could tell whether they +still remained or whether they had been brought away to be held in +reserve for some sudden operation on another front. + +[Sidenote: The attack by the Austro-Germans a surprise.] + +In this way it came about that the sudden attack by an unexpectedly +large Austro-German force upon the Isonzo line took the Italians by +surprise, with the result that they lost in three days not only all they +had won in two and a half years of hard fighting, by sacrifices and +sufferings and labors beyond human estimation, but also the larger part +of that rich north-eastern department of their country which was for +centuries the metropolitan province of the great Venetian republic. + +[Sidenote: Enemy has a great number of fresh guns.] + +On October 22 we learned at Italian headquarters that ten German +divisions, about one hundred and twenty thousand men, had arrived behind +the enemy front on the Isonzo and were concentrated in reserve round +Laibach. This was the first time in the whole war that German troops had +met the Italians on this front. The number of new Austrian divisions was +reported to be even greater. Many new batteries of heavy caliber had +also arrived and were registering their ranges; indeed, when the attack +actually came, it was found that the number of fresh guns was even +greater than had been thought, for some of them did not reveal their +position by registering, but, taking their ranges from guns earlier in +position, fired not a round until they joined in that terrific first +bombardment with which the attack opened on the morning of October 24. + +[Sidenote: Italians expect to hold west side of Isonzo.] + +Most serious was the situation, but even yet no one grasped how bad the +reality was going to be. It was generally accepted that all ground +beyond the Isonzo would have to be abandoned, but it seemed beyond all +doubt that the Italians would be able to make good their defense along +the steep ridge that forms the western side of the Isonzo valley. As you +looked from those heights across the river, it was like looking from the +wall of a medieval castle; you dominated everything, and behind you were +great Italian guns ready to fill the gorge of the Isonzo and the slopes +beyond with a barrier of bursting steel. + +But one of those combinations that have often helped the Germans in this +war helped them to the success that seemed impossible. It was made up of +the secrecy with which they had been able to complete their +preparations, of the luck of surprise and bad weather, and above all of +the fatal failure in their duty of certain detachments of the Italian +forces. + +[Sidenote: German propaganda has created disaffection in every Allied +country.] + +[Sidenote: Soldiers everywhere are weary of war.] + +One of the successes of this year's German offensive was the creation in +the heart of an efficient and gallant army of this canker of +disaffection by propaganda that has been as energetic and as dangerous +to our cause as any of the enemy's operations in the field. In every +Allied country it has been active; among the English it is at work +corrupting labor, preying on the nerves of the overstrained worker, and +whispering any subtle lie that will sap his will and undermine his +spirit. In France one fractional part of the widespread organization +that carries on this treacherous work is being exposed by the +revelations in the Bolo case. In Italy the Germans cunningly twisted +fanatics, both socialist and clerical, into agents for forwarding their +work, and they had flooded the country with money to corrupt the army +which they had not been able to beat in the field. The individual +soldiers of every country, including above all the Central empires +themselves, are dead-weary of the war, but the enemy alone has had the +cunning and the baseness deliberately to exploit this feeling to his +profit, working through the agency of bought traitors and hired spies. +And so the Austro-Germans had managed to imbue a limited part of the +Italian Army with the distorted idea that the quickest way to regain the +longed-for comforts of peace was to refuse to fight and thus open the +way for a rapid Austrian victory. + +When this ferment of disloyalty had done its work, the Germans were +ready to attack the particular sector of the line held by the troops +that it had most affected. These were on the left wing of the Italian +Second Army, which held the front of the Isonzo from Plezzo down to +Tolmino, and it was on that point that the enemy directed his first +thrust. + +[Sidenote: The news of the taking of Caporetto.] + +The news of the taking of Caporetto on the morning of October 24 had +about as startling an effect at Italian headquarters as would be +produced on the British front if it were suddenly announced that the +Germans were in Ypres. Not only was Caporetto a town on the Upper Isonzo +which the Italians had seized by dashing forward across the frontier the +very morning that war was declared, but it also stood at the head of a +most important strategical valley leading back into the mountains on +which the Italian main line lay, and from the town lead several easy +roads that follow various routes into the plain beyond. Already the +enemy was pressing in force along those roads. The Italians had, indeed, +fallen back to reserve positions, but were the enemy to win through--as +he did within two days--he would be on the flank and almost in the rear +of the whole Italian Army of a million men. + +[Sidenote: Rapid progress of the Germans is difficult to explain.] + +[Sidenote: Italian outposts are surrounded.] + +Just how the Germans progressed so fast that by noon on October 24 they +had a machine-gun posted on the square in Caporetto still remains, eight +days later, incompletely explained. All that is really known is this: at +2 a.m. they started a very violent bombardment. When the shelling +suddenly stopped after only two hours, the Italians regarded the +interruption merely as a lull, for the artillery preparation for an +infantry attack in force usually lasts much longer. With the valley +hidden by darkness, mist, and rain, and seeing more dimly than usual +through the mica of their gas-masks, the Italians knew nothing of the +German infantry's advance up the valley from the Santa Lucia bridgehead, +south of Tolmino, until the enemy had actually reached their wire. In +this way the Plec line of defense across that reach of the Isonzo known +as the Conca di Plezzo, a line specially designed to check an offensive +from Santa Lucia, was captured by surprise, and then German troops +poured down into the river gorge from Mrzli on its eastern side, until +the valley was full of the enemy, and Monte Nero and the other Italian +outpost positions on the heights beyond the Isonzo were completely +surrounded. + +[Sidenote: Violent fighting on the Bainsizza plateau.] + +The valley being in their possession, the Germans wasted no time. +Pushing northward along the river, one detachment occupied Idersko and +Caporetto; another proceeded to assault the height of Starijok, just +above Caporetto; yet another strong force made a frontal attack on the +ridge of Zagradan, which runs like a wall along the Italian side of the +river, and after fierce fighting took Luico, one of the pivots of the +defenses upon it. Elsewhere he had attacked at the same time with less +definite result. Mount Globocak was seized by surprise. It was an +Italian big-gun position, and orders were given for it to be retaken at +any cost. So a distinguished brigade of bersaglieri was sent up to +counter-attack, and drove the Germans from the captured guns down the +slopes of Globocak again. North of Caporetto, too, the angle of the +Italian line at Zaga had been assailed, but had resisted, and across the +river on the Bainsizza plateau the most violent fighting of all took +place, as a result of which the Italian line was withdrawn from Kal, and +the heavy guns and equipment were sent back across the Isonzo, though +the Italian counter-attacks on the Bainsizza were carried out with such +dash that they captured several hundred Austrian prisoners. + +[Sidenote: Danger that the Italian Army may be trapped.] + +Now the enemy's plan stood out in all its formidable strength and +strategy. He had opened a gap in the Italian front; through this gap he +was pouring overwhelming forces. Already the rest of the Italian Second +Army and the Third Army on the Carso to the south of it were outflanked. +If the whole of that great force was not to have its line of +communications cut and be surrounded, it must be immediately and rapidly +withdrawn for a great distance. An immense sacrifice of Italian +territory was imperative if the Italian Army was to be saved from a trap +by the side of which the fall of Metz was the capture of an outpost. +During the afternoon of October 25 the general order of retreat was +given. + +[Sidenote: Austrians use seventeen-inch howitzers.] + +I went up again to visit the British batteries which were with the Third +Army on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, and from one of their +observatories watched the heavy shelling. The Austrians were using huge +seventeen-inch howitzers, and the explosions of their gigantic shells, +each weighing a ton, was like a small eruption. A solid block of piebald +smoke as big as a cathedral sprang into the air and it was a minute or +more before the last of it had drifted away. + +[Sidenote: Monfalcone the most romantic point in the fighting line.] + +And as the sun was setting I went down to Monfalcone, to a place which +could not be mentioned then, but which was at the same time probably the +oddest and the most romantic point of the world's fighting-line. +Monfalcone was for the Austrians a sort of combination of Birkenhead and +Bournemouth. There were important ship-building yards there, and it had +besides popularity as a seaside place. In the shipyard the Austrians had +left an eighteen-thousand-ton liner, of which the hull was complete and +the decks built in. + +[Sidenote: Tools of constructive labor are dropped.] + +To reach the ship you passed through a yard that was a rusty monument to +the futility of war. There were all the tools of constructive labor just +as they had been dropped when this nightmare of destructive passion +burst upon the world; weather-reddened traveling cranes rusted to the +tracks on which they will never move again; trucks overturned, a lathe +smashed by a shell that had torn a wide gap in the roof above. Here, +where the air used to tremble all day long with the clang of giant +hammers, there was now silence and desertion, and the offices from which +great ships were controlled on their voyages to far-off seas had become +the barracks of Italian artillery-men. + +[Sidenote: The partly built Austrian liner.] + +There was a big wooden staircase that the Italians had built leading up +to the various decks of the great liner, and, once on board, you could +walk out to the forward bridge of the ship where from a sort of +conning-tower you looked out at the Austrian trenches less than a mile +away without the possibility of being seen. An odd observation post, +neither asea nor ashore, and to make the confusion of elements more +complete, the gunners whose guns barked continually from just behind it +were sailors of the Italian Navy, dressed not in blue, but in military +gray-green. + +[Sidenote: A view of coveted Triest.] + +Triest, the coveted city, lay ten miles away in full view, and each +night the Italians saw its windows answer with flashes of dull gold the +last rays of the sun setting behind Italy. As you looked from Monfalcone +across the dreamy blue of the empty gulf between, the town lay like a +stone image, lifeless except for the white smoke curling gently from a +single tall chimney into the quiet evening air. Much nearer along the +coast was the Castle of Duina standing on an abrupt cliff. It belongs to +the Grand Duchess of Thurn and Taxis, who used to gather parties of +poets, painters, and writers there to stay in what was like a legendary +palace looking down from its high headland upon the sunlit, sail-flecked +Adriatic, stretching away into the shining distance. + +[Sidenote: The Italians are evacuating the Bainsizza plateau.] + +It was from that last fair glimpse of Triest that you turned back to the +grave realities of situation. On the next morning, the twenty-sixth, the +Italian supreme command announced that the Bainsizza plateau was being +evacuated. It had been won with great losses and gallantry in August, +and the Italians had laboriously equipped it with roads and military +establishments to create a firm taking-off place for the next attack +upon the crest of Mount Gabriele, which was expected to drive the +Austrians back for five miles up the Vippaco valley, on the way to +Laibach, one of the back-doors to Triest. + +The same day came the news of the fall of the Italian Government, which +had been attacked during the fortnight by a strange combination of the +advanced wing of the pro-war party who considered that the ministry was +not displaying enough firmness in its conduct of the campaign, with the +pacifist socialist party who denounced the Government for infringing +the constitutional rights of the people in the interests of militarism. +A feeling of _malaise_ was in the air. All the elements of success were +present in the Italian Army except the most important of all, the +psychological element. + +[Sidenote: Evacuation of Udine.] + +By this time motor-lorries had already begun to pour back through Udine, +and in the streets the Signal Corps were taking down the +telegraph-wires. You saw little parties of father, mother, and children +suddenly emerge from house or shop, each with hand-luggage. If you +looked closely you generally saw that the woman was crying. + +[Sidenote: Air fights between Germans and Italians.] + +On the twenty-sixth there were frequent attempts to reach Udine by +German flyers who were new to the ground. It was the first time that the +Italian Air Corps had had to deal with a German attempt to contest their +supremacy and they came well out of the trial. Ten enemy machines were +brought down during the day, two individual Italian airmen accounting +for three each. When the enemy machines were sighted heading for Udine +the jarring scream of a siren gave the alarm, and the police cleared the +streets. + +Saturday, October 27, was the day of general exodus. + +[Sidenote: Batteries hold rearward positions.] + +I left Udine early on Saturday morning, in the car of the British +general commanding our artillery contingent on the Italian front, to go +up to the batteries and see how they got on in the retreat. We crawled +out toward the front along roads blocked with rearward-moving traffic +for which there was no organization, and after lunching at the general's +headquarters at Gradisca, I went on to Rubbia, just across the Isonzo, +to the south of Gorizia, where was the group headquarters of the +batteries. Already the supply service of the Third Army were pouring in +a black mass along the road, screened at the side and overhead by +rushmats from the observation of the enemy. Voices and hammering under +the long wooden bridge across the Isonzo at Rubbia were signs that the +Italian engineers were putting in position charges of explosive to blow +it up when as much material as possible had been brought over. Some of +our batteries had already been withdrawn to rearward positions not far +from group headquarters and were firing as fast as the guns could be +reloaded. The others were still in their old emplacements a mile or so +farther forward, being shelled terrifically by the Austrian twelve-inch +batteries, but having extraordinary luck. They were using up as much of +their ammunition as they could, because it was becoming clearer every +moment that the Italian transport service was not going to be able to +supply the lorries to move the shells, which were big enough for fifty +of them to make a full lorry-load. + +[Sidenote: Lack of motor lorries to move ammunition.] + +A major from one of the batteries came into group headquarters while I +was in the mess. He was dark under the eyes after a couple of sleepless +nights, for his men had been working hard all round the clock to get the +ammunition back from the forward dumps, labor that afterward proved +wasted, as there were no lorries forthcoming to carry it farther on. +Sixty twelve-inch shells and one aeroplane bomb a yard away from one of +his four guns was the afternoon's experience of his battery, and only +one man wounded made up the casualty-list for the same period. + +"And I'm going to have a damn good dinner to-night whatever happens," he +announced. "Goodness knows when we shall eat or sleep again. So the +fowls and the rabbits we had in the battery are being killed this +afternoon." + +[Sidenote: English and French artillery dependent on Italian transport.] + +There were Austrian shells falling on the hill by group headquarters, +but none fell on that dense-packed road along which military traffic of +every kind and shape crawled and stuck and crawled on again. The tension +grew greater at our headquarters. The guns needed tractors to move them, +and motor-lorries were required to carry the battery stores. For the +English artillery contingent had no transport of its own, the +arrangement having been that this should be supplied by the Italians. +The French artillery contingent with the Italian Army, on the other +hand, was independent in this respect. + +The organization with regard to the transport of guns is different in +the Italian and the British armies. The British system is that every gun +shall have its motor or horse-haulage permanently assigned to it, so +that it is always mobile at a moment's notice. In the Italian army the +mechanical transport service provides haulage for all units when +required, and as it is only in extraordinarily exceptional circumstances +that every single thing in the army needs moving at once, they are able +to effect considerable economies over the British method, which +constantly keeps large numbers of lorries and tractors and cars, +together with their drivers and mechanics, idle, since the units to +which they are attached are not at the moment in need of transport. + +[Sidenote: Doubtful if all the British guns can be moved.] + +By the time it was dark on Saturday evening the likelihood of all the +British guns getting away seemed doubtful, and the Italian artillery +colonel who supervised their employment as corps artillery came to our +group headquarters to say that preparations must be made for blowing the +last of them up, and that in any case each tractor must tow more than +one gun and come back for others directly it had got its first tows +behind the Isonzo. + +[Sidenote: Enormous conflagration of military stores.] + +And now the darkening landscape suddenly began to spring out into +brilliant points of light, as everywhere behind the Italian front, +supply-depots, military stores, and vast collections of wooden sheds +were set in a blaze. Gorizia was the site of a special conflagration, +and the enemy gun-fire was steadily increasing, till sometimes the +barrage rose to a single prolonged roar, and you could not have got a +knife edge between the bursts. + +By 7.30 p.m. six of our guns were across the river and the rest were now +firing like field artillery, with no other batteries between them and +the enemy. They kept up this protection of the retreat of the infantry +so long, in fact, that the last round of all, at about 10 p.m., was +fired just before the gun was hitched to the tractor, and there was yet +another gun that had its breech mechanism smashed for fear it might have +to be left behind. + +[Sidenote: Abandoned ammunition is exploded.] + +[Sidenote: Like a volcanic eruption.] + +The bright moon hung in a pale-green sky, looking down on a dozen roads +each crawling like a black snake with the close press of retreating +troops. As I was making my way back to Gradisca the whole firmament +leaped into sudden brilliance and every feature in every face among the +throngs around me on the road stood out for several seconds under a +ghastly light. Then followed from behind Monte Michele, a deep, rolling +roar. It was the first of the explosions of the great abandoned stores +of gun-ammunition behind the front. From then till dawn the night sky +was continually breaking into a glare like that of gigantic sunset, and +the crash of destroyed artillery ammunition shook the ground. The less +brilliant, but steadier, glow of burning stores and sheds and houses was +constantly multiplied, and the flash of every new explosion revealed +fresh masses of black smoke rising in sharp outline against the lurid +horizon. It was an apocalyptic spectacle; nothing short of a volcanic +eruption could produce those tremendous effects of infernal +illumination. Millions of pounds' worth of material, all the fruits of +two and a half years of labor, were burned and blasted out of existence +in a few hours. + +[Sidenote: The necessity for speed.] + +[Sidenote: Valuable stores abandoned for lack of lorries.] + +The difficulty that complicated the Italian evacuation of their war-zone +was the fact that every hour the need for speed became more urgent, if +utter disaster was to be averted. A unit would be given twelve hours to +get to the point on the railway where it was to entrain and then an hour +later its time-limit would be reduced to two hours. A headquarters might +be told that a sufficient supply of motor-lorries would be available to +evacuate all its material and that it had better begin getting rid of +chairs and tables and its superfluous stuff at once, but no sooner had +these less important stores gone than word would come that no more +transport was available and that all the immensely valuable stores and +reserves of ammunition that still remained, must be abandoned, as no +lorries could be found for them. + +[Sidenote: Difficulties in a sudden retreat.] + +[Sidenote: Every officer tries to save his supplies.] + +Moving a great army is an affair of time-tables. There is room for only +a certain amount of men and material on the roads and railways at one +time, and every man and every wagon above that maximum becomes a factor +of confusion and retards the movement of the whole mass to a dangerous +degree. The sudden retreat of an army is often reduced to chaos, first, +because a thoroughly worked-out plan of general retirement exists but +rarely in the strong-boxes of any general staff, and secondly, because +in the absence of a time-table drawn up in detail and strictly enforced, +the elementary principle of self-preservation leads every unit of the +army to put itself on the road as quickly as it can get transportation. +This is not to say that confusion is an invariable indication of +personal panic; but it is very natural, and even very proper, that every +battery commander, the director of every military store and depot, and +the leader of every body of troops which is not definitely ordered to +remain, should have the individual determination that his particular +command shall not fall into the hands of the enemy. The artillery +officer firmly resolves that he will save his guns at all costs; the +heads of supply departments are in charge of valuable stores which their +army needs for its very existence and which would be of great aid to the +enemy if captured, and the troop-leader naturally argues that it would +be futile to allow his men to be cut off when a general retreat has +already been ordered. So if the organization of withdrawal is left to +the discretion of the people involved in it, as it has to be when the +whole thing has not been deliberately arranged beforehand, confusion is +almost inevitable. + +[Sidenote: Fear of being cut off by the enemy.] + +[Sidenote: Only severest means can stop civilian traffic.] + +[Sidenote: Modern war is a wild fury of destruction.] + +Moreover, the enemy always seems to be advancing much faster than he +really is. Under the discouragement that every army feels in falling +back, it is easy to credit the pursuer with exaggerated powers of rapid +motion; the defeated soldier forgets that the miles are just as long and +weary for his adversary trudging painfully after him as they are for +himself. Rumor, too, spreads wildly among tired and disheartened men. +Enemy cavalry, enemy armored motor-cars, hurrying ahead to cut him +off--that idea haunts the mind of each man in an enforced retirement. A +further complication is caused when, as was the case in the Italian +withdrawal, the civilian population is also desperately anxious to be +gone before the arrival of the enemy. The news of the forthcoming +evacuation of territory spreads backward with rapidity, and the roads +along the route of the retreating army fill at once with unregulated, +disorderly swarms of frightened civilians and their household baggage, +hastily stowed on slow-moving dilapidated carts that are likely to break +down at narrow points of the way and block whole miles of military +traffic for hours at a time. The Italian Army had to endure a great deal +of that kind of complication. Theoretically, of course, a general could +throw back cavalry and mounted police along the line of his retreat and +forbid any civilian traffic whatever under pain of military penalties; +but it is very difficult to use such measures against your own +countrymen threatened with invasion, specially when the whole aim and +object of your war is to free men of your own race from foreign +domination. And not only does the sentimental reason of saving +fellow-citizens from the yoke of an invader forbid this course, but also +considerations of common humanity. In the old wars, when the danger-area +of fighting was restricted to the places where opposing troops actually +came into contact, there was no particular danger for the civilian +inhabitants remaining in invaded territory; though their property might +suffer from the enemy's requisitions, their lives were likely to be +safe. But wars of this modern character spread destruction broadcast +over a whole region. A rear-guard action will involve a rain of shells +that may smash to pieces any village on the line of retreat; gas may be +used, creeping into the refuges where the non-combatant population has +taken shelter, and choking them there like vermin in a hole. War is no +longer a civilly organized affair of pitched battles; it is a wild fury +of destruction, raging across the whole country-side like a typhoon. + +If the English batteries on the Italian front had brought with them to +Italy their full organization of transport, they could have saved all +their ammunition and stores, their ordnance workshops and supplies. As +it was, they had been incorporated in the Italian Army as corps +artillery on the Italian basis; they had to take their chance of getting +transport along with every one else, and consequently of all their +equipment they could save only the guns themselves, which after all was +what chiefly mattered. + +[Sidenote: A marching army does not seem as numerous as the same in +confusion.] + +Discipline is a camouflage of numbers. A thousand men marching past in +column of fours does not make upon the mind the same impression of +multitude as the sight of half that number in a disordered rabble. +Regularity and compactness reduce the appearance of mass; and you +receive a profounder suggestion of size from a comparatively small pile +of natural rocks than you do from the geometrical pyramids. In the same +way an army whose formations are suddenly relaxed seems to swell +enormously in numbers. You can drive through a region where a million +men are stationed under regular military organization and get no idea of +congestion, but if those men are suddenly dissolved from a closely knit +body into a crowd of individual persons, the same country-side seems +hardly large enough to hold them all. + +[Sidenote: Discomforts of the retreat.] + +So, as with that little party of Englishmen I started on the retreat in +the early morning hours of October 28, we seemed to be engulfed in a +constantly broadening flood of human beings. We were in a train, the men +in open trucks, miserable enough under the cold, streaming rain, the +officers crowded into a closed van with the baggage. When we started in +the dark we had the train to ourselves, but as I awoke three hours later +from an uneasy sleep and looked out of the van, the rest of the train +already swarmed with Italian soldiers who had clambered upon it as it +crept along at a snail's pace. And when dawn came we saw ahead of us a +long vista of trains stretching out of sight, while behind stood +another queue of them, whistling impatiently like human beings at a +ticket office; sometimes one of them would back a little and make the +others behind it back too, all screeching furiously with their whistles +exactly as if they were trying to shout, "Where are you coming to?" + +[Sidenote: The one idea is to keep on moving.] + +Along the railway, and on the roads at both sides of it, and across the +fields beyond the roads, moved at the same time a crawling mass of +people, all going in the same direction, all at about the same pace, +without stopping, without talking to one another, every one of them just +plodding slowly, wearily, persistently rearward. As you watched them you +knew that each man had in his mind just one idea, to keep on moving like +that until he knew that he was safe. There was no panic or fighting +during the retreat except at isolated times and places; the situation +was just this, that for the unique and imposed will that sways an army +there had been substituted a multitude of individual wills all striving +independently for the same end of self-preservation. + +[Sidenote: People seem unaware of the others.] + +These dark, sluggish streams of men and vehicles and beasts crept +tortuously over the country-side like the channels of a delta trickling +to the sea. Here and there little eddies of stragglers had been thrown +out to each side. It is a curious thing, which I have noticed under +similar conditions before, that each person or little group of persons +in this mass of human beings seemed almost unaware of the presence of +the rest. You would see a family party of peasants gathered round their +ox cart and making a meal of bread and raw red wine without so much as a +glance at the motley thousands streaming by at their elbows; a soldier +would strip off his wet clothes on the road's edge to change them for +some that he had looted from a wayside store with no apparent +perception of the women trudging past; nor did they seem to notice him. +The niceties of convention are quickly dulled by fatigue, and it is only +the easefulness of modern life that makes the coarser little realities +of human nature seem shocking. + +[Sidenote: The crowds get clothes from stacked trucks.] + +Among the trains that stretched out of sight along the line there were +some trucks stacked with bundles of military mackintoshes, woolen +helmets, shirts, thick socks. Some inquisitive soldier discovered these +and disinterred a complete outfit for himself. A few minutes later he +was a changed figure, with clean clothing in place of his own muddy, +rain-soaked things, and a stiff blue mackintosh and sou'wester hat over +all. The transfiguration attracted envious attention, and he was +besieged with questions. Soon those trucks with their piles of white +packages looked like giant sugar-basins swarming with wasps, and all +around were throngs jostling one another for the next place on the heap. +It was all quite good-humored; they were all laughing, waving their +arms, calling to friends on the trucks to throw them a shirt or a +waterproof, and when these things came flying down to them they turned +away with the satisfied smile of children. Nothing puts human beings in +such thoroughly good temper as to get something for nothing. + +[Sidenote: A litter of old clothes on the road.] + +[Sidenote: Two Italian ladies follow the track.] + +In this way the whole track soon became a litter of old clothes, which +the retiring soldiers trampled into the mud. Amid all this chaos one +kept on meeting utterly incongruous figures, for with all the world +road-worn, shabby, and dirty, to be clean and well-dressed is to be +grotesque. Amid this multitude of haggard, unwashed, unshaven, dead-beat +males, I noticed two Italian ladies treading delicately over the rough +ballast of the railway-track. They had naturally brought with them in +their flight the most valuable of their possessions, which were of a +kind to be most conveniently carried on their persons. Against this gray +background of mud and rubbish and a disbanded army their two figures +glittered with a brilliance that would have been conspicuous in the rue +de la Paix. Heavy sable furs and muffs almost bowed their shoulders; +each finger had two or three rings that flashed in the light; round +their necks were gold chains hung with pendants, and yet, instead of the +air of self-satisfied ostentation that might well have gone with a +display so lavish, there were only two pathetically little, frightened, +perplexed faces, and an uncertain gait that did not promise much further +progress along that ankle-wrenching railway-line. + +By this time I had left the train, which had taken thirty hours to cover +fifteen miles, and was walking ahead along the track. There was always +the chance that something might happen to the two bridges farther on +over the Tagliamento, and I wanted to be on the same side of the river +as the telegraph office when that occurred. + +[Sidenote: The Tagliamento bridges dominate the retirement.] + +These bridges were the feature that dominated the whole movement of +retirement. In military terms, they constituted a defile upon its route. +Everything had to converge upon one of those three narrow passages, and +until they were crossed there was no security for the Italian Army. + +Rear-guard actions were, indeed, fought at intermediate places such as +the line of the Torre, west of Udine, where General Petiti di Roreto +made a stand with six brigades, the valley of the Judrio, the heights +above Cormons. But such efforts could do no more than delay the enemy's +advance; the respite that the Italian Army so urgently needed to pull +itself together, to reassemble its units, redistribute its artillery, +and, in short, gather into one hand again the scattered threads of +control, could be found only behind the Tagliamento River, forty miles +back from the old front line. + +[Sidenote: Rain fills the Isonzo and holds back the enemy.] + +Fortunately from Saturday night through Sunday night, the first period +of the retreat of the fighting troops as distinct from the rearward +services of the army, it poured torrentially with rain, and this, while +increasing the hardships endured by the men, contributed in two ways to +their salvation; for one thing it swelled the swift and now bridgeless +Isonzo, which the enemy had to cross, brimful, and turned the +Tagliamento, usually a trickle of water in an untidy stony bed across +which a man can wade, into a broad deep flood; it, furthermore, kept the +Austrian and German aeroplanes from following up to sweep with bomb and +machine-gun the tightly packed road where they could have massacred +victims by the hundred and might have turned the retreat into a hopeless +rout. + +Though the men exposed in open trucks or sludging along the muddy roads +and swampy fields had cursed the rain bitterly, its value to our side +became conspicuously plain when Monday morning broke bright with autumn +sunshine. + +[Sidenote: Troops fill the village of Latisana.] + +It was about ten o'clock on that morning when I reached the village of +Latisana, where was the southernmost bridge across the Tagliamento. The +streets of the little town were simply chock-a-block with troops which +were pouring into it from converging roads. Two or three Italian +officers, splashed to the eyes with mud and hoarse with shouting, had +organized some control at this point, or otherwise nothing would have +moved at all. Pushing soldiers this way and that, seizing horses' heads, +straining their voices against the din of clattering motors, they held +up each stream of traffic in turn for a few minutes and passed the +other through. + +[Sidenote: An English soldier keeps his air of efficiency.] + +[Sidenote: Men in great need of food.] + +Conspicuous in his khaki among this spate of Italian gray, stood an +English soldier contentedly munching dry brown bread. The motor-bicycle +at his side indicated him as a despatch-rider belonging to one of the +batteries. It would have been hard to say whether machine or man was the +more travel-stained. The cycle's front wheel was badly bent, evidently +by some collision; the soldier's hand was bound with a dirty rag, and +his face clotted with the blood of a congealed scratch, the result of +having been pushed off the road by a motor-lorry in the dark and falling +head-long down a stone embankment. Yet about both mount and man there +was still an air of efficiency and unimpaired fundamental soundness that +was encouraging, and the mud-plastered figure saluted the English +officer at my side with a flick of the wrist that would have passed on +the parade-ground at Wellington Barracks. Two guns of his battery, he +reported, were three or four miles back down the road; the men were +dead-beat, but the worst was that they had had nothing to eat for +thirty-six hours, owing to the tractor that had their rations on board +catching fire and burning them; they had picked up scraps of bread that +other troops had dropped, and some of them had tried and appreciated +cutlets from a dead mule; they needed food to restore their strength for +they had been working hard without sleep for two days and nights. It had +been forty-eight hours of continuous hauling on those heavy guns, which +were constantly getting edged off the road by other traffic, and which +had to be unhitched every time the tractor stopped because it was so +overloaded that it would not start with the full weight of its tow. So +the officer had sent him on ahead to scout for food, and he had just +found a _sosistenza_ where they had given him a sack of bread to take +back. + +"You all right yourself?" asked my officer-companion. + +"Quite all right, sir, thank you," he answered, and slinging the bulging +sack across his shoulders, the despatch-rider straddled his battered +bicycle and set off on a sinuous path through the wedged traffic, with +his bent front-wheel writhing like a tortured snake. + +[Sidenote: Finding the way to reach Padua.] + +[Sidenote: Walking single file through the mud.] + +This news of the existence of a _sosistenza_ was good hearing. I myself +had not the least idea of how to get to Padua, the nearest place from +which I could hope to send a telegram, except by walking there; and +Padua was sixty miles along the railway-line. Two days' walking, two +brown loaves the gift of the Italian officer in charge of the +bread-depot, and a stick of chocolate; it was a prospect of no +allurement. I stepped into place in the long trail of refugees and +started, however. It needed no more than two hours of stumbling over +sleepers and crunching on the rough stone ballast of the track to make +of me as tired and dull-witted a hobo as the rest. We all walked in +single file, keeping as far as possible to a strip of soft mud at the +side of the line where the going was easier, and one's whole mind had +become before long entirely concentrated on nothing more than the +increasing soreness of two tired feet and the gradual development of a +blister on a big toe. From Portogruaro onward, however, my own personal +luck changed, and by getting one lift after another I reached Padua the +same night. + +[Sidenote: British guns wait to cross.] + +[Sidenote: An Italian colonel attempts to keep order on the bridge.] + +[Sidenote: A panic is started.] + +[Sidenote: Austrian aeroplanes are overhead.] + +[Sidenote: Italian officers check panic.] + +[Sidenote: Airplane opens fire on the road.] + +Gradually the throng at the Latisana bridge increased, and eventually no +less than eleven of the British guns attached to the Italian army were +drawn up at the side of the road waiting their turn to cross. The +English colonel who commanded the group to which they belonged had +arrived and was using the funnel of the bridge to collect his scattered +units. The men refreshed with the bread that they had received from the +Italian food-depot, were resting by the side of the road; an Italian +artillery colonel, under whose command the guns had been when on the +Third Army front as corps artillery, was on the bridge trying to hold up +the onpressing, unbroken string of heterogeneous traffic long enough for +the English guns to be edged into the procession. Then suddenly one of +these things happened to which an army in retreat is peculiarly liable. +How it started no one seems to know. One theory is that Austrian +soldiers dressed in Italian uniforms had been hurried on ahead by the +enemy to mingle with the retreat and spread such panics. What actually +happened was that several men galloped up all at once on horseback +shouting, "The Austrians are here." Immediately the crowd, hitherto +patiently waiting its turn to cross the bridge, made one simultaneous +push toward its opening. Beyond the river there was the whole +country-side to scatter over; on this side they could expect no other +fate than to be caught helplessly in a trap. It was like a stampede in a +burning theater; the desperate eagerness of every person in the crowd to +get on the bridge stopped almost any one from getting there. Carts and +people at the edge of the road were shoved down the embankment by the +weight of the dense mass surging along its center. And then to add to +the terror of the moment there was heard above the shouts and oaths of +the struggling mob a low, foreboding hum, the characteristic drone of +Austrian aeroplanes. It is hard to see what could have come of the +situation but complete and bloody disaster if it had not been for the +decided action of some Italian officers. By main force they thrust into +the middle of the entrance to the bridge and checked the panic with +sheer personal determination. The sound of their authoritative voices +brought back the sense of discipline that had momentarily gone. Under +their orders the pushing throng sorted itself into some order. A jibing +mule was summarily shot to clear the road, and so in a few minutes, +despite the constant approach of the low-flying enemy aircraft, a way +was cleared for the English guns to cross the bridge. They were scarcely +over when the first Austrian machine, swooping down, dropped bombs and +opened fire with its machine-gun on the tight-packed road. The attack +did not do much damage, though one British Red Cross car was filled as +full of holes as a pepper-pot; but the experience showed how much worse +the retreat would have been had not the heavy rain of the week-end kept +the Austrian airmen in their hangars. + +[Sidenote: The army reaches Tagliamento.] + +So the retiring army reached the Tagliamento, and completed the first +stage of its retreat. Once behind that barrier the Italians could be +sure of a certain breathing space, but to secure its protection was the +most difficult part of their rearward movement. To the constant +convergence which the lack of more than three bridges rendered necessary +must be attributed much of the confusion of the retirement and the +abandonment of the military equipment that was still to the east of the +Tagliamento when the pressure of the enemy finally compelled their +destruction. + +[Sidenote: Germans try to cross the upper course of Tagliamento.] + +[Sidenote: Enemies who cross are killed or captured.] + +The Germans fully realized the formidable obstacle to the retreat of the +Italians which this rain-swollen river constituted, and they made a +determined effort to secure for themselves a passage across its upper +course while the Second and Third Armies to the south were not yet +behind the stream. There is a bridge a few miles west of the town of +Gemona which was not being used by the retreating army because of its +comparatively flimsy construction. The Tagliamento, then very high, was, +like many mountain streams, subject to very rapid rises and falls. +Therefore, part of the enemy advance-guard, which was following up the +Italian retirement was pushed on ahead to try to obtain control of this +bridge at Gemona, for use at any rate when the waters had sunk a little. +This German detachment forced its way across the bridge with +considerable courage, some of them being swept away by the swift stream +pouring over it, but on the other bank they were immediately faced with +stout resistance by the Italian rear-guard, and with their backs to the +river virtually all the enemy who had crossed the Tagliamento were +killed or captured. + +[Sidenote: Gallant conduct of the rear-guard.] + +The gallant and skilful conduct of the rear-guard of the Italian army +is, indeed, the brightest part of the gloomy story of the retreat. + +[Sidenote: The Italian armies are on the defensive.] + +[Sidenote: The war now a struggle against invaders.] + +The cavalry, specially, played a distinguished part in covering the +retirement. Charging machine-guns with the lance, and holding commanding +positions until they were virtually cut off, these regiments had very +heavy losses. A retreat where circumstances make it impossible to get +the whole of the army away imposes upon the rear-guard a call for +special self-sacrifice, since the moment never comes, when, the whole of +the main body being safely past, it can break off the combat and itself +retire, its duty done. In the withdrawal of the armies that were along +the front in the Cadore and Carnic Alps, occasions of this kind occurred +several times during the week throughout which the retreat lasted, when +rear-guard detachments were completely surrounded. At Lorenzago a force +in this position succeeded in cutting its way back to join the main body +again; west of Gemona, however, the remnants of the Thirty-sixth +Division were so thoroughly engulfed by the advancing Austro-German +forces that, having used up all their ammunition, they were obliged to +surrender. And so, gradually, not without moments of discouragement +almost amounting to despair, the Italian armies, which ten days before +had been fighting on Austrian territory with every prospect of carrying +still further a series of victories that had lasted two years and a +half, found themselves on the defensive far back of their own borders, +awaiting the attack of a triumphant and advancing foe. It had been a +terrible trial for them and for the nation at their back. Almost in one +night, dreams of imperial expansion, cherished with an enthusiasm that +gave them an air of virtual reality, faded into a remoteness beyond +reckoning. The war that had been from the first gloriously offensive, +was suddenly transformed into an outnumbered struggle against invaders +who had already seized half of one of the richest provinces of Italy. +Yet, though numbed by the shock and stricken to the heart by the +realization of her disaster, Italy reacted well. There was no talk of +yielding to be heard, only anxious discussion of the best means of +organizing the further resistance that would so soon be necessary. + +For though the great majority of the Italian army had succeeded for the +moment in escaping from the grasp of the Austro-Germans, the enemy was +steadfastly pursuing. Encouraged by a victory that must have more than +realized his most ambitious hopes, reinforced by captured guns and +material, he would wait only long enough to get sufficient strength into +position before hurling the whole of his weight once more against the +Italian line. + +[Sidenote: Impossible to meet the second shock on the Tagliamento.] + +To meet this second shock on the Tagliamento was not possible. The river +itself quickly became, as the rain stopped and the waters fell, too +easily traversable an obstacle to be worth fortifying. The line which it +would have imposed upon the Italian army was, moreover, too long to be +held in the depth desirable for resistance to the attack of superior +numbers. So the Tagliamento was occupied as an intermediate position +only long enough to shield the further retreat of the army and its +transport behind the broader and deeper stream of the Piave. + +[Sidenote: The new stand behind the Piave.] + +[Sidenote: Winter rains will delay enemy's heavy guns.] + +Here at the time of writing the Italian forces are in position and the +enemy's advanced detachments have begun to register ranges and destroy +possible observation posts across the river with such artillery as they +have so far had the time to bring up. Whether the Piave line and the +rest of the Italian front to the westward, which has had to be modified +in conformation with the general movement of retreat, can be held +indefinitely, will probably be a question of heavy guns. If the enemy +can bring up his larger artillery before reinforcements of the same +character arrive from France and England, a further retreat from north +and east to another river line may well be necessary. Fortunately the +winter rains that have set in make for delay in the arrival of such +cumbrous war-engines as the Austrian seventeen-inch mortars, and it may +be that persistent mud and rain will compel the Austrians to be +satisfied with holding the considerable tract of territory that they +have won. + +[Sidenote: Danger that Venice must be abandoned.] + +[Sidenote: Cathedrals and palaces are protected by sand bags.] + +But all preparations are being made to face the conceivable eventuality +of another retirement. The most serious consequence that this would +entail would be the abandonment of Venice and the necessity of bringing +that inestimable city within close range of the destruction of war. Even +at this early stage, therefore, while the danger to Venice is as yet not +urgent, the Italian Government is doing its best to surround her with +the protection of such neutrality as the conventions of war, for what +they are worth, secure to undefended and unoccupied towns. No person in +uniform is allowed to enter the place and the civilian population is +being encouraged to leave by free railway transport and subventions to +support them until they can settle elsewhere. Even in such tragic hours +Venice keeps up her old tradition of light-heartedness. The cafés round +the great piazza are full in the evenings with a cheerful crowd. +Moreover, to go into St. Mark's is to enter a sort of neolithic grotto; +the pillars, set about with sand-bags, have the girth of the arcades of +a Babylonian temple; bulging poultices of sacks protect each fresco; as +a building it reminds one of a German student padded for a duel. The +Doge's Palace, too, is more hidden with scaffolding than it could have +been when it was being built; each of those delicate columns of +different design is set around with a stout palisade of timber balks. +Venice, indeed, looks like a drawing-room with the dust-sheets on the +furniture and the chandeliers in bags, and to complete the parallel, the +family is going away before one's eyes. + +Sad days for Italy, days unimaginable a month ago. There must, indeed, +be virtue in the Allies' cause since such ordeals as these still leave +our courage high. + + +Copyright, Century, March, 1918. + + * * * * * + +The bottling up of the Harbor of Zeebrugge and the attempted closing of +the Harbor of Ostend formed what was probably the most brilliant single +naval exploit of the war. These daring and successful attempts are +described in the narrative following. + + + + +BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND + +THE OFFICIAL NARRATIVE + + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ as she lies in Ostend Harbor.] + +Those who recall High Wood upon the Somme--and they must be many, as it +was after the battles of 1916--may easily figure to themselves the decks +of H.M.S. _Vindictive_ as she lies to-day, a stark, black profile, +against the sea haze of the harbor amid the stripped, trim shapes of the +fighting ships which throng these waters. That wilderness of debris, +that litter of the used and broken tools of war, lavish ruin and that +prodigal evidence of death and battle, are as obvious and plentiful here +as there. The ruined tank nosing at the stout tree which stopped it has +its parallel in the flame-thrower hut at the port wing of _Vindictive's_ +bridge, its iron sides freckled with rents from machine-gun bullets and +shell-splinters; the tall white cross which commemorates the martyrdom +of the Londoners is sister to the dingy, pierced White Ensign which +floated over the fight of the Zeebrugge Mole. + +[Sidenote: The _Iris_ and the _Daffodil_ which shared the honors.] + +Looking aft from the chaos of her wrecked bridge, one sees, snug against +their wharf, the heroic bourgeois shapes of the two Liverpool +ferry-boats (their captains' quarters are still labelled "Ladies Only") +_Iris_ and _Daffodil_, which shared with _Vindictive_ the honors and +ardors of the fight. The epic of their achievement shapes itself in the +light of that view across the scarred and littered decks, in that +environment of gray water and great still ships. + +[Sidenote: The three cruisers that were sunk at Zeebrugge.] + +Their objectives were the canal of Zeebrugge and the entrance to the +harbor of Ostend--theirs, and those of five other veteran and obsolete +cruisers and a mosquito fleet of destroyers, motor-launches and coastal +motor-boats. Three of the cruisers, _Intrepid_, _Iphigenia_ and +_Thetis_, each duly packed with concrete and with mines attached to her +bottom for the purpose of sinking her, _Merrimac_-fashion, in the neck +of the canal, were aimed at Zeebrugge; two others, similarly prepared, +were directed at Ostend. The function of _Vindictive_, with her +ferry-boats, was to attack the great half-moon Mole which guards the +Zeebrugge Canal, land bluejackets and marines upon it, destroy what +stores, guns, and Germans she could find, and generally create a +diversion while the block-ships ran in and sank themselves in their +appointed place. Vice Admiral Keyes, in the destroyer _Warwick_, +commanded the operation. + +[Sidenote: The conditions favorable for the attack.] + +There had been two previous attempts at the attack, capable of being +pushed home if weather and other conditions had served. The night of the +22nd offered nearly all the required conditions, and at some fifteen +miles off Zeebrugge the ships took up their formation for the attack. +_Vindictive_, which had been towing _Iris_ and _Daffodil_, cast them off +to follow under their own steam; _Intrepid_, _Iphigenia_, and _Thetis_ +slowed down to give the first three time to get alongside the Mole; +_Sirius_ and _Brilliant_ shifted their course for Ostend; and the great +swarm of destroyers and motor craft sowed themselves abroad upon their +multifarious particular duties. The night was overcast and there was a +drift of haze; down the coast a great searchlight swung its beams to and +fro; there was a small wind and a short sea. + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ heads for the Mole.] + +[Sidenote: The wind helps make a smoke-screen.] + +From _Vindictive's_ bridge, as she headed in towards the Mole with her +faithful ferry-boats at her heels, there was scarcely a glimmer of +light to be seen shorewards. Ahead of her, as she drove through the +water, rolled the smoke-screen, her cloak of invisibility, wrapped about +her by the small craft. This was a device of Wing-Commander Brock, +R.N.A.S., "without which," acknowledges the Admiral in Command, "the +operation could not have been conducted." The north-east wind moved the +volume of it shoreward ahead of the ships; beyond it, the distant town +and its defenders were unsuspicious; and it was not till _Vindictive_, +with her bluejackets and marines standing ready for the landing, was +close upon the Mole that the wind lulled and came away again from the +south-west, sweeping back the smoke-screen and laying her bare to the +eyes that looked seaward. + +[Sidenote: The star shells discover the ships and battle opens.] + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ reaches the Mole.] + +There was a moment immediately afterwards when it seemed to those in the +ships as if the dim coast and the hidden harbor exploded into light. A +star shell soared aloft, then a score of star shells; the wavering beams +of the searchlights swung round and settled to a glare; the wildfire of +gun flashes leaped against the sky; strings of luminous green beads shot +aloft, hung and sank; and the darkness of the night was supplanted by +the nightmare daylight of battle fires. Guns and machine-guns along the +Mole and batteries ashore woke to life, and it was in a gale of shelling +that _Vindictive_ laid her nose against the thirty-foot high concrete +side of the Mole, let go an anchor, and signed to _Daffodil_ to shove +her stern in. _Iris_ went ahead and endeavored to get alongside +likewise. + +[Sidenote: Captain Carpenter in the flame-thrower hut.] + +The fire, from the account of everybody concerned, was intense. While +ships plunged and rolled beside the Mole in an unexpected send of sea, +_Vindictive_ with her greater draught jarring against the foundation of +the Mole with every plunge, they were swept diagonally by machine-gun +fire from both ends of the Mole and by heavy batteries ashore. Commander +A.F.B. Carpenter (now Captain) conned _Vindictive_ from her open bridge +till her stern was laid in, when he took up his position in the +flame-thrower hut on the port side. It is to this hut that reference has +already been made; it is marvellous that any occupant of it should have +survived a minute, so riddled and shattered is it. Officers of _Iris_, +which was in trouble ahead of _Vindictive_, describe Captain Carpenter +as "handling her like a picket-boat." + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive's_ false high deck and gangways.] + +_Vindictive_ was fitted along the port side with a high false deck, +whence ran the eighteen brows, or gangways, by which the storming and +demolition parties were to land. The men were gathered in readiness on +the main and lower decks, while Colonel Elliot, who was to lead the +Marines, waited on the false deck just abaft the bridge, and Captain +H.C. Halahan, who commanded the bluejackets, was amidships. The gangways +were lowered, and scraped and rebounded upon the high parapet of the +Mole as _Vindictive_ rolled; and the word for the assault had not yet +been given when both leaders were killed, Colonel Elliot by a shell and +Captain Halahan by the machine-gun fire which swept the decks. The same +shell that killed Colonel Elliot also did fearful execution in the +forward Stokes Mortar Battery. + +[Sidenote: Landing on the Mole.] + +"The men were magnificent." Every officer bears the same testimony. The +mere landing on the Mole was a perilous business; it involved a passage +across the crashing, splintering gangways, a drop over the parapet into +the field of fire of the German machine-guns which swept its length, and +a further drop of some sixteen feet to the surface of the Mole itself. +Many were killed and more were wounded as they crowded up to the +gangways; but nothing hindered the orderly and speedy landing by every +gangway. + +Lieutenant H.T.C. Walker had his arm carried away by a shell on the +upper deck and lay in the darkness while the storming parties trod him +under. He was recognized and dragged aside by the Commander. He raised +his remaining arm in greeting, "Good luck to you," he called, as the +rest of the stormers hastened by; "good luck." + +[Sidenote: The wounded and dying cheer.] + +The lower deck was a shambles as the Commander made the rounds of his +ship; yet those wounded and dying raised themselves to cheer as he made +his tour. The crew of the howitzer which was mounted forward had all +been killed; a second crew was destroyed likewise; and even then a third +crew was taking over the gun. In the stern cabin a firework expert, who +had never been to sea before--one of Captain Brock's employees--was +steadily firing great illuminating rockets out of a scuttle to show up +the lighthouse on the end of the Mole to the block ships and their +escort. + +[Sidenote: The _Daffodil's_ part in the fight.] + +The _Daffodil_, after aiding to berth _Vindictive_, should have +proceeded to land her own men, but now Commander Carpenter ordered her +to remain as she was, with her bows against _Vindictive's_ quarter, +pressing the latter ship into the Mole. Normally, _Daffodil's_ boilers +develop eighty pounds' pressure of steam per inch; but now, for this +particular task, Artificer Engineer Button, in charge of them maintained +a hundred and sixty pounds for the whole period that she was holding +_Vindictive_ to the Mole. Her casualties, owing to her position during +the fight, were small--one man killed and eight wounded, among them her +Commander, Lieutenant H. Campbell, who was struck in the right eye by a +shell splinter. + +[Sidenote: The _Iris_ finds her work difficult.] + +_Iris_ had troubles of her own. Her first attempts to make fast to the +Mole ahead of _Vindictive_ failed, as her grapnels were not large +enough to span the parapet. Two officers. Lieutenant Commander Bradford +and Lieutenant Hawkins, climbed ashore and sat astride the parapet +trying to make the grapnels fast till each was killed and fell down +between the ship and the wall. Commander Valentine Gibbs had both legs +shot away and died next morning. Lieutenant Spencer, B.N.R., though +wounded, conned the ship and Lieutenant Henderson, R.N., came up from +aft and took command. + +[Sidenote: Terrible casualties on the _Iris_.] + +_Iris_ was obliged at last to change her position and fall in astern of +_Vindictive_, and suffered very heavily from the fire. A single big +shell plunged through the upper deck and burst below at a point where +fifty-six marines were waiting the order to go to the gang-ways. +Forty-nine were killed and the remaining seven wounded. Another shell in +the ward-room, which was serving as sick bay, killed four officers and +twenty-six men. Her total casualties were eight officers and sixty-nine +men killed and three officers and a hundred and two men wounded. + +[Sidenote: The demolition parties on the Mole dynamite buildings.] + +The storming and demolition parties upon the Mole met with no resistance +from the Germans, other than the intense and unremitting fire. The +geography of the great Mole, with its railway line and its many +buildings, hangars, and store-sheds, was already well known, and the +demolition parties moved to their appointed work in perfect order. One +after another the building burst into flame or split and crumpled as the +dynamite went off. + +[Sidenote: The enemy fights with the machine-guns.] + +A bombing party, working up towards the Mole extension in search of the +enemy, destroyed several machine-gun emplacements, but not a single +prisoner rewarded them. It appears that upon the approach of the ships, +and with the opening of the fire, the enemy simply retired and contented +themselves with bringing machine-guns to the shore end of the Mole. And +while they worked and destroyed, the covering party below the parapet +could see in the harbor, by the light of the German star shells, the +shapes of the block ships stealing in and out of their own smoke and +making for the mouth of the canal. + +[Sidenote: The _Thetis_ shows the road to all the ships.] + +_Thetis_ came first, steaming into a tornado of shell from the great +batteries ashore. All her crew, save a remnant who remained to steam her +in and sink her, had already been taken off by the ubiquitous motor +launches, but the remnant spared hands enough to keep her four guns +going. It was hers to show the road to _Intrepid_ and _Iphigenia_, who +followed. + +[Sidenote: The _Thetis_ is sunk.] + +She cleared the string of armed barges which defends the channel from +the tip of the Mole, but had the ill-fortune to foul one of her +propellers upon the net defence which flanks it on the shore side. The +propeller gathered in the net and rendered her practically unmanageable; +the shore batteries found her and pounded her unremittingly; she bumped +into a bank, edged off, and found herself in the channel again, still +some hundreds of yards from the mouth of the canal, in a practically +sinking condition. As she lay she signalled invaluable directions to the +others, and here Commander R.S. Sneyd, D.S.O., accordingly blew the +charges and sank her. A motor launch, under Lieutenant H. Littleton, +R.N.V.R., raced alongside and took off her crew. Her losses were five +killed and five wounded. + +[Sidenote: The _Intrepid_ follows.] + +_Intrepid_, smoking like a volcano and with all her guns blazing, +followed; her motor launch had failed to get alongside outside the +harbor, and she had men enough for anything. Straight into the canal she +steered, her smoke blowing back from her into _Iphigenia's_ eyes, so +that the latter, blinded and going a little wild, rammed a dredger with +a barge moored beside it, which lay at the western arm of the canal. +She got clear though, and entered the canal pushing the barge before +her. It was then that a shell hit the steam connections of her whistle, +and the escape of steam which followed drove off some of the smoke and +let her see what she was doing. + +[Sidenote: Sinking of the _Intrepid_ and the _Iphigenia_.] + +Lieutenant Stuart Bonham-Carter, commanding the _Intrepid_, placed the +nose of his ship neatly on the mud of the western bank, ordered his crew +away, and blew up his ship by the switches in the chart-room. Four dull +bumps was all that could be heard; and immediately afterwards there +arrived on deck the engineer, who had been in the engine-room during the +explosion and reported that all was as it should be. + +[Sidenote: Probable that the canal is effectively blocked.] + +Lieutenant E.W. Billyard-Leake, commanding _Iphigenia_, beached her +according to arrangement on the eastern side, blew her up, saw her drop +nicely across the canal, and left her with her engines still going to +hold her in position till she should have bedded well down on the +bottom. According to latest reports from air observation, the two old +ships with their holds full of concrete are lying across the canal in a +V position; and it is probable that the work they set out to do has been +accomplished and that the canal is effectively blocked. + +A motor launch, under Lieutenant P.T. Deane, R.N.V.R., had followed them +in to bring away the crews, and waited further up the canal towards the +mouth against the western bank. Lieutenant Bonham-Carter, having sent +away his boats, was reduced to a Carley float, an apparatus like an +exaggerated lifebuoy with a floor of grating. Upon contact with the +water it ignited a calcium flare, and he was adrift in the uncanny +illumination with a German machine-gun a few hundred yards away giving +him its undivided attention. + +What saved him was possibly the fact that the defunct _Intrepid_ was +still emitting huge clouds of smoke, which it had been worth nobody's +while to turn off. He managed to catch a rope as the motor launch +started, and was towed for a while till he was observed and taken on +board. Another officer jumped ashore and ran along the bank to the +launch. A bullet from the machine-gun stung him as he ran, and when he +arrived, charging down the bank out of the dark, he was received by a +number of the launch's crew who attacked him with a hammer. + +[Sidenote: Shells make incessant geysers in the harbor.] + +The whole harbor was alive with small craft. As the motor launch cleared +the canal, and came forth to the incessant geysers thrown up by the +shells, rescuers and rescued had a view of yet another phase of the +attack. The shore end of the Mole consists of a jetty, and here an old +submarine, commanded by Lieutenant R.D. Sandford, R.N., loaded with +explosives, was run into the piles and touched off, her crew getting +away in a boat to where the usual launch awaited them. + +[Sidenote: An old submarine is blown up.] + +Officers describe the explosion as the greatest they ever witnessed--a +huge roaring spout of flame that tore the jetty in half and left a gap +of over 100 feet. The claim of another launch to have sunk a +torpedo-boat alongside the jetty is supported by many observers, +including officers of the _Vindictive_, who had seen her mast and funnel +across the Mole and noticed them disappear. + +[Sidenote: The splendid heroism of men and officers.] + +Where every moment had its deed and every deed its hero, a recital of +acts of valor becomes a mere catalogue. "The men were magnificent," say +the officers; the men's opinion of their leaders expresses itself in the +manner in which they followed them, in their cheers, in their demeanor +to-day while they tidy up their battered ships, setting aside the +inevitable souvenirs, from the bullet-torn engines to great chunks of +Zeebrugge Mole dragged down and still hanging in the fenders of the +_Vindictive_. The motor launch from the canal cleared the end of the +Mole and there beheld, trim and ready, the shape of the _Warwick_, with +the great silk flag presented to the Admiral by the officers of his old +ship, the _Centurion_. They stood up on the crowded decks of the little +craft and cheered it again and again. + +[Sidenote: The _Warwick_ takes off the men from the canal.] + +While the _Warwick_ took them on board, they saw _Vindictive_, towed +loose from the Mole by _Daffodil_, turn and make for home--a great black +shape, with funnels gapped and leaning out of the true, flying a vast +streamer of flame as her stokers worked her up--her, the almost +wreck--to a final display of seventeen knots. Her forward funnel was a +sieve; her decks were a dazzle of sparks; but she brought back intact +the horseshoe nailed to it, which Sir Roger Keyes had presented to her +commander. + +[Sidenote: One destroyer, the _North Star_, is sunk.] + +[Sidenote: Monitors and siege guns bombard the enemy.] + +Meantime the destroyers _North Star_, _Phoebe_, and _Warwick_, which +guarded the _Vindictive_ from action by enemy destroyers while she lay +beside the Mole, had their share in the battle. _North Star_, losing her +way in the smoke, emerged to the light of the star-shells, and was sunk. +The German _communiqué_, which states that only a few members of the +crew could be saved by them, is in this detail of an unusual accuracy, +for the _Phoebe_ came up under a heavy fire in time to rescue nearly +all. Throughout the operations monitors and the siege guns in Flanders, +manned by the Royal Marine Artillery, heavily bombarded the enemy's +batteries. + +[Sidenote: The attack on Ostend.] + +The wind that blew back the smoke-screen at Zeebrugge served us even +worse off Ostend, where that and nothing else prevented the success of +an operation ably directed by Commodore Hubert Lynes, C.M.G. The coastal +motor boats had lit the approaches and the ends of the piers with +calcium flares and made a smoke-cloud which effectually hid the fact +from the enemy. _Sirius_ and _Brilliant_ were already past the Stroom +Bank buoy when the wind changed, revealing the arrangements to the +enemy, who extinguished the flares with gunfire. + +[Sidenote: The _Sirius_ runs aground.] + +The _Sirius_ was already in a sinking condition when at length the two +ships, having failed to find the entrance, grounded, and were forced +therefore to sink themselves at a point about four hundred yards east of +the piers, and their crews were taken off by motor launches. + +[Sidenote: Operations cannot be rehearsed.] + +The difficulty of the operation is to be gauged from the fact that from +Zeebrugge to Ostend the enemy batteries number not less than 120 heavy +guns, which can concentrate on retiring ships, during daylight, up to a +distance of about sixteen miles. This imposes as a condition of success +that the operation must be carried out at night, and not late in the +night. It must take place at high water, with the wind from the right +quarter, and with a calm sea for the small craft. The operation cannot +be rehearsed beforehand, since the essence of it is secrecy, and though +one might have to wait a long time to realize all the essential +conditions of wind and weather, secrecy wears badly when large numbers +of men are brought together in readiness for the attack. + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ makes for Ostend.] + +The _Sirius_ lies in the surf some two thousand yards east of the +entrance to Ostend Harbor, which she failed so gallantly to block; and +when, in the early hours of yesterday morning, the _Vindictive_ groped +her way through the smoke-screen and headed for the entrance, it was as +though the old fighting-ship awoke and looked on. A coastal motor-boat +had visited her and hung a flare in her slack and rusty rigging; and +that eye of unsteady fire, paling in the blaze of the star-shells or +reddening through the drift of the smoke, watched the whole great +enterprise, from the moment when it hung in doubt to its ultimate +triumphant success. + +[Sidenote: Unforeseen conditions add to the difficulties.] + +[Sidenote: German destroyers guard the coast.] + +The planning and execution of that success had been entrusted by the +Vice-Admiral, Sir Roger Keyes, to Commodore Hubert Lynes, C.M.G., who +directed the previous attempt to block the harbor with _Sirius_ and +_Brilliant_. Upon that occasion, a combination of unforeseen, and +unforeseeable, conditions had fought against him; upon this, the main +problem was to secure the effect of a surprise attack upon an enemy who +was clearly, from his ascertained dispositions, expecting him. _Sirius_ +and _Brilliant_ had been baffled by the displacement of the Stroom Bank +buoy, which marks the channel to the harbor entrance, but since then +aerial reconnaissance had established that the Germans had removed the +buoy altogether and that there were now no guiding marks of any kind. +They had also cut gaps in the piers as a precaution against a landing; +and, further, when towards midnight on Thursday the ships moved from +their anchorage, it was known that some nine German destroyers were out +and at large upon the coast. The solution of the problem is best +indicated by the chronicle of the event. + +[Sidenote: A still sea and no moon.] + +It was a night that promised well for the enterprise--nearly windless, +and what little breeze stirred came from a point or so west of north; a +sky of lead-blue, faintly star-dotted, and no moon; a still sea for the +small craft, the motor-launches and the coastal motor-boats, whose work +is done close in shore. From the destroyer which served the Commodore +for flagship, the remainder of the force was visible only as swift +silhouettes of blackness, destroyers bulking like cruisers in the +darkness, motor-launches like destroyers, and coastal motor-boats +showing themselves as racing hillocks of foam. From Dunkirk, a sudden +and brief flurry of gunfire announced that German aeroplanes were +about--they were actually on their way to visit Calais; and over the +invisible coast of Flanders the summer-lightning of the restless +artillery rose and fell monotonously. + +[Sidenote: _Vindictive_ passes.] + +"There's _Vindictive_!" The muffled seamen and marines standing by the +torpedo-tubes and the guns turned at that name to gaze at the great +black ship, seen mistily through the streaming smoke from the +destroyer's funnels, plodding silently to her goal and her end. +Photographs have made familiar that high-sided profile and the tall +funnels, with their Zeebrugge scars, always with a background of the +pier at Dover against which she lay to be fitted for her last task; now +there was added to her the environment of the night and the sea and the +greatness and tragedy of her mission. + +[Sidenote: Small craft guide the _Vindictive_.] + +She receded into the night astern as the destroyer raced on to lay the +light buoy that was to be her guide, and those on board saw her no more. +She passed thence into the hands of the small craft, whose mission it +was to guide her, light her, and hide her in the clouds of the +smoke-screen. + +[Sidenote: Precise orders are planned for each stage of operation.] + +There was no preliminary bombardment of the harbor and the batteries as +before the previous attempt; that was to be the first element in the +surprise. A time-table had been laid down for every stage of the +operation; and the staff work beforehand had even included precise +orders for the laying of the smoke barrage, with plans calculated for +every direction of wind. The monitors, anchored in their +firing-positions far to seaward, awaited their signal; the great siege +batteries of the Royal Marine Artillery in Flanders--among the largest +guns that have ever been placed on land-mountings--stood by likewise to +neutralize the big German artillery along the coast; and the airmen who +were to collaborate with an aerial bombardment of the town waited +somewhere in the darkness overhead. The destroyers patrolled to seaward +of the small craft. + +[Sidenote: The signal is given for the guns to open.] + +The _Vindictive_, always at that solemn gait of hers, found the +flagship's light-buoy and bore up for where a coastal motor-boat, +commanded by Lieutenant William R. Slayter, R.N., was waiting by a +calcium flare upon the old position of the Stroom Bank buoy. Four +minutes before she arrived there, and fifteen minutes only before she +was due at the harbor mouth, the signal for the guns to open was given. +Two motor-boats dashed in towards the ends of the high wooden piers and +torpedoed them. There was a machine-gun on the end of the western pier, +and that vanished in the roar and the leap of flame and debris which +called to the guns. Over the town a flame suddenly appeared high in air, +and sank slowly earthwards--the signal that the aeroplanes had seen and +understood; and almost coincident with their first bombs came the first +shells whooping up from the monitors at sea. The surprise part of the +attack was sprung. + +[Sidenote: The attack is a complete surprise.] + +The surprise, despite the German's watchfulness, seems to have been +complete. Up till the moment when the torpedoes of the motor-boats +exploded, there had not been a shot from the land--only occasional +routine star-shells. The motor-launches were doing their work +magnificently. These pocket-warships, manned by officers and men of the +Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, are specialists at smoke-production; they +built to either hand of the _Vindictive's_ course the likeness of a +dense sea-mist driving landward with the wind. The star-shells paled and +were lost as they sank in it; the beams of the searchlights seemed to +break off short upon its front. It blinded the observers of the great +batteries when suddenly, upon the warning of the explosions, the guns +roared into action. + +[Sidenote: Heavy batteries on the Ostend coast open fire.] + +There was a while of tremendous uproar. The coast about Ostend is +ponderously equipped with batteries, each with its name known and +identified: Tirpitz, Hindenburg, Deutschland, Cecilia, and the rest; +they register from six inches up to monsters of fifteen-inch naval +pieces in land-turrets, and the Royal Marine Artillery fights a war-long +duel with them. These now opened fire into the smoke and over it at the +monitors; the Marines and the monitors replied; and, meanwhile, the +aeroplanes were bombing methodically and the anti-craft guns were +searching the skies for them, Star-shells spouted up and floated down, +lighting the smoke banks with spreading green fires; and those strings +of luminous green balls, which airmen call "flaming onions," soared up +up to lose themselves in the clouds. Through all this stridency and +blaze of conflict, the old _Vindictive_, still unhurrying, was walking +the lighted waters towards the entrance. + +It was then that those on the destroyers became aware that what had +seemed to be merely smoke was wet and cold, that the rigging was +beginning to drip, that there were no longer stars--a sea-fog had come +on. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers keep in touch by lights and sirens.] + +The destroyers had to turn on their lights and use their sirens to keep +in touch with each other; the air attack was suspended, and +_Vindictive_, with some distance yet to go, found herself in gross +darkness. + +[Sidenote: The fog and smoke are dense.] + +[Sidenote: A motor-boat leads the way for _Vindictive_.] + +There were motor-boats to either side of her, escorting her to the +entrance, and these were supplied with what are called Dover +flares--enormous lights capable of illuminating square miles of sea at +once. A "Very" pistol was fired as a signal to light these; but the fog +and the smoke together were too dense for even the flares. _Vindictive_ +then put her helm over and started to cruise to find the entrance. Twice +in her wanderings she must have passed across it, and at her third turn, +upon reaching the position at which she had first lost her way, there +came a rift in the mist, and she saw the entrance clear, the piers to +either side and the opening dead ahead. The inevitable motor-boat dashed +up, raced on into the opening under a heavy and momentarily growing +fire, and planted a flare on the water between the piers. _Vindictive_ +steamed over it and on. She was in. + +[Sidenote: A hail of lead falls upon the _Vindictive_.] + +The guns found her at once. She was hit every few seconds after she +entered, her scarred hull broken afresh in a score of places and her +decks and upper works swept. The machine-gun on the end of the western +pier had been put out of action by the motor-boat's torpedo, but from +other machine-guns at the inshore ends of the pier, from a position on +the front, and from machine-guns apparently firing over the eastern +pier, there converged upon her a hail of lead. The after-control was +demolished by a shell which killed all its occupants. Upper and lower +bridges and chart-room were swept by bullets, and Commander Godsal, +R.N., ordered his officers to go with him to the conning-tower. + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ prepares to turn.] + +They observed through the observation slit in the steel wall of the +conning-tower that the eastern pier was breached some two hundred yards +from its seaward end, as though at some time a ship had been in +collision with it. They saw the front of the town silhouetted again and +again in the light of the guns that blazed at them; the night was a +patchwork of fire and darkness. Immediately after passing the breach in +the pier. Commander Godsal left the conning-tower and went out on deck, +the better to watch the ship's movements; he chose his position, and +called in through the slit of the conning-tower his order to starboard +the helm. The _Vindictive_ responded; she laid her battered nose to the +eastern pier and prepared to swing her 320 feet of length across the +channel. + +[Sidenote: A shell strikes the conning-tower.] + +It was at that moment that a shell from the shore batteries struck the +conning-tower. Lieutenant Sir John Alleyne and Lieutenant V.A.C. +Crutchley, R.N., were still within; Commander Godsal was close to the +tower outside. Lieutenant Alleyne was stunned by the shock; Lieutenant +Crutchley shouted through the slit to the Commander, and, receiving no +answer, rang the port engine full speed astern to help in swinging the +ship. By this time she was lying at an angle of about forty degrees to +the pier, and seemed to be hard and fast, so that it was impossible to +bring her further round. + +[Sidenote: The order is given to abandon ship and the _Vindictive_ sinks +in the channel.] + +After working the engines for some minutes to no effect, Lieutenant +Crutchley gave the order to clear the engine-room and abandon ship, +according to the programme previously laid down. Engineer +Lieutenant-Commander Wm. A. Bury, who was the last to leave the +engine-room, blew the main charges by the switch installed aft; +Lieutenant Crutchley blew the auxiliary charges in the forward six-inch +magazine from the conning-tower. Those on board felt the old ship shrug +as the explosive tore the bottom plates and the bulk-heads from her; she +sank about six feet and lay upon the bottom of the channel. Her work was +done. + +It is to be presumed that Commander Godsal was killed by the shell which +struck the conning-tower. Lieutenant Crutchley, searching the ship +before he left her, failed to find his body, or that of Sub-Lieutenant +MacLachlan, in that wilderness of splintered wood and shattered steel. +In the previous attempt to block the port, Commander Godsal had +commanded _Brilliant_, and, together with all the officers of that ship +and of _Sirius_, had volunteered at once for a further operation. + +Most of the casualties were incurred while the ship was being abandoned. +The men behaved with just that cheery discipline and courage which +distinguished them in the Zeebrugge raid. + +[Sidenote: Recall rockets are fired from the flagship.] + +Always according to programme, the recall rockets for the small craft +were fired from the flagship at 2.30 a.m. The great red rockets whizzed +up to lose themselves in the fog; they cannot have been visible half a +mile away; but the work was done, and one by one the launches and +motor-boats commenced to appear from the fog, stopped their engines +alongside the destroyers and exchanged news with them. There were +wounded men to be transferred and dead men to be reported--their names +called briefly across the water from the little swaying deck to the +crowded rail above. But no one had seen a single enemy craft; the nine +German destroyers who were out and free to fight had chosen the +discreeter part. + +[Sidenote: Ostend Harbor is thus made impracticable.] + +It is not claimed by the officers who carried out the operation that +Ostend Harbor is completely blocked; but its purpose--to embarrass the +enemy and make the harbor impracticable to any but small craft and +dredging operations difficult--has been fully accomplished. + + * * * * * + +Too little was heard during the war of the work of the American +submarines, but they performed most efficient and useful service. A +sketch of the life aboard one of these little vessels follows. + + + + +WITH THE AMERICAN SUBMARINES + +HENRY B. BESTON + + +[Sidenote: A view of the Embankment.] + +A London day of soft and smoky skies, darkened every now and then by +capricious and intrusive little showers, was drawing to a close in a +twilight of gold and gray. Our table stood in a bay of plate-glass +windows overlooking the Embankment close by Cleopatra's Needle. We +watched the little double-decked tram-cars gliding by, the opposing, +interthreading streams of pedestrians, and a fleet of coal barges coming +up the river, solemn as a cloud. + +[Sidenote: Submarine folk are a people apart.] + +Behind us lay, splendid and somewhat theatric, the mottled marble, stiff +white napery, and bright silver of a fashionable dining-hall. Only a few +guests were at hand. At our little table sat the captain of a submarine +who was then in London for a few days on richly merited leave, a +distinguished young officer of the "mother ship" accompanying our +underwater craft, and myself. It is impossible to be long with submarine +folk without realizing that they are a people apart, differing from the +rest of the naval personnel even as their vessels differ. A man must +have something individual to his character to volunteer for the service, +and every officer is a volunteer. An extraordinary power of quick +decision, a certain keen, resolute look, a certain carriage; submarine +folk are such men as all of us like to have by our side in any great +trial or crisis of our life. + +Guests began to come by twos and threes--pretty girls in shimmering +dresses, young army officers with wound-stripes and clumsy limps. A +faint murmur of conversation rose, faint and continuous as the murmur of +a distant stream. + +Because I requested him, the captain told me of the crossing of the +submarines. It was the epic of an heroic journey. + +[Sidenote: How the submarines crossed the Atlantic.] + +[Sidenote: The mother-ship and submarines leave.] + +"After each boat had been examined in detail, we began to fill them with +supplies for the voyage. The crew spent days manoeuvring cases of +condensed milk, cans of butter, meat, and chocolate, down the +hatchways--food which the boat swallowed up as if she had been a kind of +steel stomach. Until we had it all neatly and tightly stowed away, the +_Z_ looked like a corner grocery store. Then, early one December +morning, we pulled out of the harbor. It wasn't very cold, merely raw +and damp, and it was misty dark. I remember looking at the winter stars +riding high just over the meridian. The port behind us was still and +dead, but a handful of navy-folk had come to one of the wharves to see +us off. Yes, there was something of a stir--you know, the kind of stir +that's made when boats go to sea: shouted orders, the plash of dropped +cables, vagrant noises. It didn't take a great time to get under way; we +were ready, waiting for the word to go. The flotilla--mother-ship, tugs +and all--was out to sea long before the dawn. You would have liked the +picture: the immense stretch of the grayish, winter-stricken sea, the +little covey of submarines running awash, the gray mother-ship going +ahead, as casually as an excursion steamer, into the featureless dawn. + +"The weather was wonderful for two days,--a touch of Indian summer on +December's ocean; then, on the night of the third day, we ran into a +blow, the worst I ever saw in my life. A storm--oh, boy!" + +He paused for an instant. One could see memories living in the fine, +resolute eyes. The broken noises of the restaurant, which had seemingly +died away while he spoke, crept back again to one's ears. A waiter +dropped a clanging fork-- + +[Sidenote: A terrific storm comes on toward night.] + +"A storm. Never remember anything like it. A perfect terror. Everybody +realized that any attempt to keep together would be hopeless. And night +was coming on. One by one the submarines disappeared into that fury of +wind and driving water, the mother-ship, because she was the largest +vessel in the flotilla, being the last we saw. We snatched her last +signal out of the teeth of the gale, and then she was gone, swallowed up +in the storm. So we were alone. + +[Sidenote: Rough water the next day.] + +"We got through the night somehow or other. The next morning the ocean +was a dirty brown-gray, and knots and wisps of cloud were tearing by +close over the water. Every once in a while a great hollow-bellied wave +would come rolling out of the hullabaloo and break thundering over us. +On all the boats the lookout on the bridge had to be lashed in place, +and every once in a while a couple of tons of water would come tumbling +past him. Nobody at the job stayed dry for more than three minutes; a +bathing-suit would have been more to the point than oilers. + +[Sidenote: The boat registers a roll of seventy degrees.] + +[Sidenote: The cook provides food after a fashion.] + +"Shaken, you ask? No, not very bad: a few assorted bruises and a +wrenched thumb; though poor Jonesy on the _Z-3_ had a wave knock him up +against the rail and smash in a couple of ribs. But no being sick for +him; he kept to his feet and carried on in spite of the pain, in spite +of being in a boat which registered a roll of seventy degrees. I used to +watch the old hooker rolling under me. You've never been on a submarine +when she's rolling,--talk about rolling--oh, boy! We all say seventy +degrees, because that's as far as our instruments register. There were +times when I almost thought she was on her way to make a complete +revolution. You can imagine what it was like inside. To begin with, the +oily air was none too sweet, because every time we opened a hatch we +shipped enough water to make the old hooker look like a start at a +swimming tank; and then she was lurching so continuously and violently +that to move six feet was an expedition. The men were +wonderful--wonderful! Each man at his allotted task, and--what's that +English word?--carrying on. Our little cook couldn't do a thing with the +stove, might as well have tried to cook on a miniature earthquake; but +he saw that all of us had something to eat--doing his bit, game as could +be." + +He paused again. The Embankment was fading away in the dark. A waiter +appeared, and drew down the thick, light-proof curtains. + +"Yes, the men were wonderful--wonderful. And there wasn't very much +sickness. Let's see, how far had I got?--Since it was impossible to make +any headway, we lay to for forty-eight hours. The deck began to go the +second morning, some of the plates being ripped right off. And +blow--well, as I told you in the beginning, I never saw anything like +it. The disk of the sea was just one great ragged mass of foam being +hurled through space by a wind screaming past with the voice and force +of a million express trains. + +[Sidenote: The submarines run on the surface to save electricity.] + +"Perhaps you are wondering why we didn't submerge. We simply couldn't +use up our electricity. It takes oil and running on the surface to +create the electric power, and we had a long, long journey ahead. Then +ice began to form on the superstructure, and we had to get out a crew to +chop it off. It was something of a job; there wasn't much to hang on +to, and the waves were still breaking over us. But we freed her of the +danger, and she went on-- + +"We used to wonder where the other boys were, in the midst of all the +racket. One ship was drifting toward the New England coast, her compass +smashed to flinders; others had run for Bermuda, others were still at +sea. + +[Sidenote: Good weather at last.] + +"Then we had three days of good easterly wind. By jingo, but the good +weather was great! Were we glad to have it?--oh, boy! We had just got +things shipshape again when we had another blow, but this second one was +by no means as bad as the first. And after that we had another spell of +decent weather. The crew used to start the phonograph and keep it going +all day. + +[Sidenote: Reaching a friendly coast.] + +"The weather was so good that I decided to keep right on to the harbor +which was to be our base over here. I had enough oil, plenty of water; +the only possible danger was a shortage of provisions. So I put us all +on a ration, arranging to have the last grand meal on Christmas day. Can +you imagine Christmas on a little storm-bumped submarine some hundred +miles off the coast? A day or two more and we ran calmly into--shall we +say, 'deleted' harbor? + +[Sidenote: The men rejoice at food and baths.] + +"Hungry, dirty; oh, so dirty! We hadn't had any sort of bath or wash for +about three weeks; we all were green-looking from having been cooped up +so long, and our unshaven grease-streaked faces would have upset a +dinosaur. The authorities were wonderfully kind, and looked after us and +our men in the very best style. I thought we could never stop eating, +and a real sleep--oh, boy!" + +"Did you fly the flag as you came in?" I asked. + +"You bet we did!" answered the captain, his keen, handsome face lighting +at the memory. "You see," he continued in a practical spirit, "they +would probably have pumped us full of holes if we hadn't." + +And that is the way the American submarines crossed the Atlantic to do +their share for the Great Cause. + +[Sidenote: A guest on the mother-ship.] + +I got to the port of the submarines just as an uncertain and rainy +afternoon had finally decided to turn into a wild and disagreeable +night. Short, drenching showers of rain fell, one after the other, like +the strokes of a lash; a wind came up out of the sea, and one could hear +the thunder of surf on the headlands. The mother-ship lay moored in a +wild, desolate, and indescribably romantic bay; she floated in a +sheltered pool, a very oasis of modernity, a marvelous creature of +another world and another time. There was just light enough for me to +see that her lines were those of a giant yacht. Then a curtain of rain +beat hissing down on the sea, and the ship and the vague darkening +landscape disappeared--disappeared as if they had melted away in the +shower. Presently the bulk of the vessel appeared again. At once we drew +alongside, and from that moment on, I was the guest of the vessel, +recipient of a hospitality and courtesy for which I here make grateful +acknowledgment to my friends and hosts. + +[Sidenote: The ship is most skillfully handled.] + +The mother-ship of the submarines was a combination of flagship, +supply-station, repair-shop, and hotel. The officers of the submarines +had rooms aboard her, which they occupied when off patrol, and the crews +off duty slung their hammocks 'tween decks. The boat was pretty well +crowded, having more submarines to look after than she had been built to +care for; but thanks to the skill of her officers, everything was going +as smoothly as could be. The vessel had, so to speak, a submarine +atmosphere. Everybody aboard lived, worked, and would have died for the +submarine. They believed in the submarine, believed in it with an +enthusiasm which rested on pillars of practical fact. + +[Sidenote: The heroism of the men who tried the first submarine.] + +The chief of staff was the youngest captain in our navy; a man of hard +energy and keen insight; one to whom our submarine service owes a very +genuine debt. His officers were specialists: the surgeon of the vessel +had been for years engaged in studying the hygiene of submarines, and +was constantly working to free the atmosphere of the vessels from +deleterious gases and to improve the living conditions of the crews. I +remember listening one night to a history of the submarine, told by one +of the officers of the staff; and for the first time in my life I came +to appreciate at its full value the heroism of the men who risked their +lives in the first cranky, clumsy, uncertain little vessels, and the +imagination and the faith of the men who believed in the type. Ten years +ago, a descent in a sub was an adventure to be prefaced by tears and +making of wills; to-day submarines are chasing submarines hundreds of +miles at sea, are crossing the ocean, and have grown from a tube of +steel not much larger than a lifeboat, to underwater cruisers which +carry six-inch guns. + +Said an officer to me, "The future of the submarine? Why, sir, the +submarine is the only war vessel that's going to have a future!" + +[Sidenote: The submarines are moved alongside.] + +On the night of my arrival, once dinner was over, I went on deck and +looked down through the rain at the submarines moored alongside. They +lay close by, one beside the other, in a pool of radiance cast by a +number of electric lights hanging over each open hatchway. Beyond this +pool lay the rain and the dark; within it, their sides awash in the +clear green water of the bay, their gray bridges and rust-stained +superstructures shining in the rain, lay the strange, bulging, +crocodilian shapes of steel. There was something unearthly, something +not of this world or time, in the picture; I might have been looking at +invaders of the sleeping earth. The wind swept past in great booming +salvoes; rain fell in sloping, liquid rods through the brilliancy of +electric lamps burning with a steadiness that had something in it +strange, incomprehensible, and out of place in the motion of the storm. + +And then a hand appeared on the topmost rung of the nearer ladder, and a +bulky sailor, a very human sailor in very human dungarees, poked his +head out of the aperture, surveyed the inhospitable night, and +disappeared. + +[Sidenote: Submarines are going out to-night.] + +"He's on Branch's boat. They're going out to-night," said the officer +who was guiding me about. + +"To-night? How on earth will he ever find his way to the open sea?" + +"Knows the bay like a book. However, if the weather gets any worse, I +doubt if the captain will let him go. Branch will be wild if they don't +let him out. Somebody has just reported wreckage off the coast, so there +must be a Hun round." + +"But aren't our subs sometimes mistaken for Germans?" + +"Oh, yes," was the calm answer. + +[Sidenote: The boats may never come back.] + +I thought of that ominous phrase I had noted in the British +records,--"failed to report,"--and I remembered the stolid British +captain who had said to me, speaking of submarines, "Sometimes nobody +knows just what happened. Out there in the deep water, whatever happens, +happens in a hurry." + +My guide and I went below to the officers' corridor. Now and then, +through the quiet, a mandolin or guitar could be heard far off twanging +some sentimental island ditty; and beneath these sweeter sounds lay a +monotonous mechanical humming. + +"What's that sound?" I asked. + +"That's the Filipino mess-boys having a little festino in their +quarters. The humming? Oh, that's the mother-ship's dynamos charging the +batteries of Branch's boat. Saves running on the surface." + +[Sidenote: The captain of the patrol cheerful.] + +My guide knocked at a door. Within his tidy little room, the captain who +was to go out on patrol was packing the personal belongings he needed on +the trip. + +"Hello!" he cried cheerily when he saw us; "come on in. I'm only doing a +little packing up. What's it like outside?" + +"Raining same as ever, but I don't think it's blowing up any harder." + +[Sidenote: Reading matter is in demand.] + +"Hooray!" cried the young captain with heartfelt sincerity; "then I'll +get out to-night. You know the captain told me that if it got any worse, +he'd hold me till to-morrow morning. I told him I'd rather go out +to-night. Perfect cinch once you get to the mouth of the bay; all you +have to do is submerge and take it easy. What do you think of the news? +Smithie thinks he saw a Hun yesterday. Got anything good to read? +Somebody's pinched that magazine I was reading. Thirteen, fourteen, +fifteen--that ought to be enough handkerchiefs. Hello, there goes the +juice!" + +The humming of the dynamo was dying away slowly, fading with an effect +of lengthening distance. The guitar orchestra, as if to celebrate its +deliverance, burst into a triumphant rendering of Sousa's "Stars and +Stripes." + +My guide and I waited till after midnight to watch the going of Branch's +_Z-5_. Branch and his second, stuffed into black oilskins down whose +gleaming surface ran beaded drops of rain, stood on the bridge; a number +of sailors were busy doing various things along the deck. The electric +lights shone in all their calm unearthly brilliance. Then slowly, very +slowly, the _Z-5_ began to gather headway, the clear water seemed to +flow past her green sides, and she rode out of the pool of light into +the darkness waiting close at hand. + +"Good-bye! Good luck!" we cried. + +A vagrant shower came roaring down into the shining pool. + +"Good-bye!" cried voices through the night. + +[Sidenote: The submarines disappear in the dark.] + +Three minutes later all trace of the _Z-5_ had disappeared in the dark. + +[Sidenote: Night and day are the same on a submarine.] + +Captain Bill of the _Z-3_ was out on patrol. His vessel was running +submerged. The air within--they had but recently dived--was new and +sweet; and that raw cold which eats into submerged submarines had not +begun to take the joy out of life. It was the third day out; the time, +five o'clock in the afternoon. The outer world, however, did not +penetrate into the submarine. Night or day, on the surface or submerged, +only one time, a kind of motionless electric high noon, existed within +those concave walls of gleaming cream-white enamel. + +Those of the crew not on watch were taking it easy. Like unto their +officers, submarine sailors are an unusual lot. They are _real_ sailors, +or machinist sailors--boys for whose quality the navy has a flattering, +picturesque, and quite unprintable adjective. A submarine man, mind you, +works harder than perhaps any other man of his grade in the navy, +because the vessel in which he lives is nothing but a tremendously +intricate machine. + +[Sidenote: Life on board.] + +In one of the compartments the phonograph, the eternal, ubiquitous +phonograph of the navy, was bawling its raucous rags and mechano-nasal +songs, and in the pauses between records, one could just hear the low +hum of the distant dynamos. A little group in blue dungarees held a +conversation in a corner; a petty officer, blue cap tilted back on his +head, was at work on a letter; the cook, whose genial art was +customarily under an interdict while the vessel was running submerged, +was reading an ancient paper from his own home town. + +[Sidenote: News of a German submarine.] + +Captain Bill sat in a retired nook, if a submarine can possibly be said +to have a retired nook, with a chart spread open on his knees. The night +before, he had picked up a wireless message saying that a German had +been seen at sundown in a certain spot on the edge of his patrol. So +Captain Bill had planned to run submerged to the spot in question, and +then pop up suddenly in the hope of potting the Hun. Some fifteen +minutes before sundown, therefore, the _Z-3_ arrived at the place where +the Fritz had been observed. + +"I wish I knew just where the bird was," said an intent voice; "I'd drop +a can right on his neck." + +[Sidenote: The sentiments of the captain of a destroyer.] + +These sentiments were not those of anybody aboard the _Z-3_. An American +destroyer had also come to the spot looking for the German, and the +gentle thought recorded above was that of her captain. It was just +sundown; a level train of splendor burned on the ruffled waters to the +west; a light, cheerful breeze was blowing. The destroyer, ready for +anything, was hurrying along at a smart clip. + +"This is the place all right, all right," said the navigator of the +destroyer. "Come to think of it, that chap's been reported from here +twice." + +Keen eyes swept the shining uneasy plain. + +[Sidenote: How a submarine crew takes orders.] + +Meanwhile, some seventy feet below, the _Z-3_ manoeuvred, killing +time. The phonograph had been hushed, and every man was ready at his +post. The prospect of a go with the enemy had brought with it a keen +thrill of anticipation. Now, a submarine crew is a well-trained machine. +There are no shouted orders. If a submarine captain wants to send his +boat under quickly, he simply touches the button of a Klaxon; the horn +gives a demoniac yell throughout the ship, and each man does what he +ought to do at once. Such a performance is called a "crash dive." + +"I'd like to see him come up so near that we could ram him," said the +captain, gazing almost directly into the sun. "Find out what she's +making." + +[Sidenote: Getting up speed.] + +The engineer lieutenant stooped to a voice-tube that almost swallowed up +his face, and yelled a question to the engine-room. An answer came, +quite unheard by the others. + +"Twenty-four, sir," said the engineer lieutenant. + +"Get her up to twenty-six." + +The engineer cried again through the voice-tube. The wake of the vessel +roared like a mill-race, the white foam tumbling rosily in the setting +sun. + +[Sidenote: Seventy feet below the surface.] + +Seventy feet below, Captain Bill was arranging the last little details +with the second in command. + +[Sidenote: The plan of attack.] + +"In about five minutes we'll come up and take a look-see [stick up the +periscope], and if we see the bird, and we're in a good position to send +him a fish [torpedo], we'll let him have one. If there is something +there, and we're not in a good position, we'll manoeuvre till we get +into one, and then let him have it. If there isn't anything to be seen, +we'll go under again and take another look-see in half an hour. Reilly +has his instructions." (Reilly was chief of the torpedo-room.) + +[Sidenote: Wreckage all about.] + +"Something round here must have got it in the neck recently," said the +destroyer captain, breaking a silence which had hung over the bridge. +"Didn't you think that wreckage a couple of miles back looked pretty +fresh? Wonder if the boy we're after had anything to do with it. Keep an +eye on that sun-streak." + +[Sidenote: A crash dive to avoid a destroyer.] + +An order was given in the _Z-3_. It was followed instantly by a kind of +commotion--sailors opened valves, compressed air ran down pipes, the +ratchets of the wheel clattered noisily. On the moon-faced depth-gauge, +with its shining brazen rim, the recording arrow fled swiftly, counter +clockwise, from seventy to twenty, to fifteen feet. Captain Bill stood +crouching at the periscope, and when it broke the surface, a greenish +light poured down it and focused in his eyes. He gazed keenly for a few +seconds, and then reached for the horizontal wheel which turns the +periscope round the horizon. He turned--gazed, jumped back, and pushed +the button for a crash dive. + +"She was almost on top of me," he explained afterwards, "coming like +hell! I had to choose between being rammed or depth-bombed." + +There was another swift commotion, another opening and closing of +valves, and the arrow on the depth-gauge leaped forward. Captain Bill +was sending her down as far as he could, as fast as he dared. Fifty +feet, seventy feet--ninety feet. Hoping to throw the destroyer off, the +_Z-3_ doubled on her track. A hundred feet. + +Crash! Depth-charge number one. + +[Sidenote: Depth bombs explode near by.] + +[Sidenote: The submarine's peril.] + +According to Captain Bill, who is good at similes, it was as if a giant, +wading along through the sea, had given the boat a vast and violent +kick, and then, leaning down, had shaken her as a terrier shakes a rat. +The _Z-3_ rocked, lay on her side, and fell through the water. A number +of lights went out. Men picked themselves out of corners, one with the +blood streaming down his face from a bad gash over his eye. Many of them +told later of "seeing stars" when the vibration of the depth-charge +traveled through the hull and their own bodies; some averred that "white +light" seemed to shoot out of the _Z-3's_ walls. Each man stood at his +post waiting for the next charge. + +Crash! A second depth-charge. To everyone's relief, it was less violent +than the first. A few more lights went out. Meanwhile the _Z-3_ +continued to sink and was rapidly nearing the danger-point. Having +escaped the first two depth-charges, Captain Bill hastened to bring the +boat up to a higher level. Then, to make things cheerful, it was +discovered that the _Z-3_ showed absolutely no inclination to obey her +controls. + +[Sidenote: Anxious moments before the submarine rises again.] + +"At first," said Captain Bill, "I thought that the first depth-bomb must +have jammed all the external machinery; then I decided that our measures +to rise had not yet overcome the impetus of our forced descent. +Meanwhile the old hooker was heading for the bottom of the Irish Sea, +though I'd blown out every bit of water in her tanks. Had to--fifty feet +more, and she would have crushed in like an egg-shell under the wheel of +a touring-car. But she kept on going down. The distance of the third, +fourth, and fifth depth-bombs, however, put cheer in our hearts. Then, +presently, she began to rise; the old girl came up like an elevator in a +New York business block. I knew that the minute I came to the surface +those destroyer brutes would try to fill me full of holes, so I had a +man with a flag ready to jump on deck the minute we emerged. He was +pretty damn spry about it, too. I took another look through the +periscope, and saw that the destroyer lay about two miles away, and as I +looked she came for me _again_. Meanwhile, my signal-man was hauling +himself out of the hatchway as if his legs were in boiling water." + +[Sidenote: The Stars and Stripes signal to the destroyer.] + +"We've got her!" cried somebody aboard the destroyer, in a deep American +voice full of the exultation of battle. The lean rifles swung, lowered. +"Point one, lower." They were about to hear "Fire!" when the Stars and +Stripes and sundry other signals burst from the deck of the misused +_Z-3_. + +"Well, what do you think of that!" said the gunner. "If it ain't one of +our own gang. Say, we must have given it to 'em hard." + +"We'll go over and see who it is," said the captain of the destroyer. +"The signals are O.K., but it may be a dodge of the Huns. Ask 'em who +they are." + +In obedience to the order, a sailor on the destroyer's bridge wigwagged +the message. + +"_Z-3_," answered one of the dungaree-clad figures on the submarine's +deck. + +[Sidenote: No resentment of the adventure.] + +Captain Bill came up himself, as the destroyer drew alongside, to see +his would-be assassin. There was no resentment in his heart. The +adventure was only part of the day's work. The destroyer neared; her bow +overlooked them. The two captains looked at each other. The dialogue was +laconic. + +"Hello, Bill," said the destroyer captain. "All right?" + +"Sure," answered Captain Bill, to one who had been his friend and +classmate. + +"Ta-ta, then," said he of the destroyer; and the lean vessel swept away +in the twilight. + +[Sidenote: The cook's opinion of the destroyers.] + +Captain Bill decided to stay on the surface for a while. Then he went +below to look over things. The cook, standing over some unlovely slop +which marked the end of a half a dozen eggs broken by the concussion, +was giving his opinion on destroyers. The cook was a child of Brooklyn, +and could talk. The opinion was not a nice opinion. + +"Give it to 'em, cooko," said one of the crew, patting the orator +affectionately on the shoulder. "We're with you." + +And Captain Bill laughed to himself. + +The breakfast-hour was drawing to its end, and the very last straggler +sat alone at the ward-room table. Presently an officer of the +mother-ship, passing through, called to the lingering group of +submarine officers. + +[Sidenote: The first of the flotilla to return.] + +"The _X-4_ is coming up the bay, and the _X-12_ has been reported from +signal station." + +The news was received with a little hum of friendly interest. "Wonder +what Ned will have to say for himself this time." "Must have struck +pretty good weather." "Bet you John has been looking for another chance +at that Hun of his." + +[Sidenote: The appearance of the crew.] + +The talk drifted away into other channels. A little time passed. Then +suddenly a door opened, and, one after the other, entered the three +officers of the first home-coming submarine. They were clad in various +ancient uniforms which might have been worn by an apprentice lad in a +garage: old gray flannel shirts, and stout grease-stained shoes; several +days had passed since their faces had felt a razor, and all were a +little pale from their cruise. But the liveliest of keen eyes burned in +each resolute young face, eyes smiling and glad. + +A friendly hullabaloo broke forth. Chairs scraped, one fell with a +crash. + +"Hello, boys!" + +"Hi, Ned!" + +"For the love of Pete, Joe, shave off those whiskers of yours; they make +you look like Trotzky." + +"See any Germans?" + +"What's the news?" + +"What's doing?" + +"Hi, Manuelo"--this to a Filipino mess-boy who stood looking on with +impassive curiosity--"serve three more breakfasts." + +"Anything go for you?" + +"Well, if here isn't our old Bump!" + +[Sidenote: Captain Ned begins his story.] + +The crowd gathered round Captain Ned, who had established contact (this +is a military term quite out of place in a work on the navy) with the +eagerly sought, horribly elusive German. + +"Go on, Ned, give us an earful. What time did you say it was?" + +[Sidenote: An enemy submarine that escaped.] + +"About 5 a.m." answered the captain. He stood leaning against a door, +and the fine head, the pallor, the touch of fatigue, all made a very +striking and appealing picture. "Say about eight minutes after five. I'd +just come up to take a look-see, and saw him just about two miles away, +on the surface, and moving right along. So I went under to get into a +good position, came up again, and let him have one. Well, he saw it just +as it was almost on him, swung her round, and dived like a ton of lead." + +The audience listened in silent sympathy. One could see the +disappointment on the captain's face. + +"Where was he?" + +"About so-and-so." + +"That's the jinx that got after the convoy sure as you live." + +[Sidenote: Two blind ships that tried to find each other under water.] + +The speaker had had his own adventures with the Germans. A month or so +before, he had shoved up his periscope and spotted a Fritz on the +surface in full noonday. The watchful Fritz, however, had been lucky +enough to see the enemy almost at once, and had dived. The American +followed suit. The eyeless submarine manoeuvred about, some eighty +feet under, the German evidently "making his getaway," the American +hoping to be lucky enough to pick up Fritz's trail, and get a shot at +him when he rose again to the top. And while the two blind ships +manoeuvred there in the dark of the abyss, the keel of the fleeing +German had actually, by a curious chance, scraped along the top of the +American vessel and carried away the wireless aerials! + +All were silent for a few seconds, thinking over the affair. It was not +difficult to read the thought in every mind, the thought of _getting at +the Germans_. The characteristic _aggressiveness_ of the American mind, +heritage of a people compelled to subdue a vast, wild continent, is a +wonderful military attribute. The idea of our navy is, "Get after 'em, +keep after 'em, stay after 'em, don't give 'em an instant of security or +rest." And none have this fighting spirit deeper in their hearts than +our gallant boys of the submarine patrol. + +"That's all," said Captain Ned. "I'm going to have a wash-up." He lifted +a grease-stained hand to his cheek, rubbed his unshaven beard, and +grinned. "Any letters?" + +"Whole bag of stuff. Smithie put it on your desk." + +[Sidenote: "Trotzky" and "Rasputin."] + +Captain Ned wandered off. Presently, the door opened again, and three +more veterans of the patrol cruised in, also in ancient uniforms. There +were more cheers; more friendly cries. It was unanimously decided that +the "Trotzky" of the first lot had better take a back seat, since the +second in command of the newcomers was "a perfect ringer for Rasputin." + +"See anything?" + +[Sidenote: A British patrol hunts a lost torpedo.] + +"Nothing much. There's a bit of wreckage just off shore. Saw a British +patrol boat early Tuesday morning. I was on the surface, lying between +her and the sunrise; she was hidden by a low-lying swirl of fog; she saw +us first. When we saw her, I made signals, and over she came. Guess what +the old bird wanted--_wanted to know if I'd seen a torpedo he'd fired at +me!_ An old scout with white whiskers; one of those retired captains, I +suppose, who has gone back on the job. He admitted he had received the +Admiralty notes about us, but thought we acted suspicious. Did you ever +hear of such nerve?" + +[Sidenote: Courage of the submarine patrol.] + +When the war was young, I served on land with _messieurs les poilus_. I +have seen the contests of aviators, also trench-raids and the fighting +for Verdun. Since then I have seen the war at sea. To my mind, if there +is one service of this war which more than any other requires those +qualities of endurance, skill, and courage whose blend the fighting men +call--Elizabethanly, but oh, so truly--"_guts_," it is the submarine +patrol. + + +Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, October, 1918. + + * * * * * + +France took tender care of her wounded heroes, and the following +narrative gives a number of touching incidents observed by one who +visited several of the French hospitals and received stories and +experiences from the wounded soldiers. + + + + +WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE + +ABBÉ FELIX KLEIN + + +The descriptions which are to follow belong to history already ancient; +to the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918. So rapid is the march of +events with us now! + +[Sidenote: The enthusiasm of a wounded soldier in 1914.] + +The soldier wounded during the first months of the War came to us +overflowing with enthusiasm, eager to express himself. His mind was full +of picturesque and varied impressions and he asked for nothing better +than to tell about them. Willingly he described the emotions and spirit +of the moment of departure; his curiosity in the presence of the +unknown, the shock of the first contact with the enemy, the dizzy joy of +initial successes. He confessed the amazement and pain of the first +checks and the headlong retreat which followed them. He spoke of the +famous Joffre's "_ordre du jour_" when, in the battle of the Marne, the +men were told to take the offensive. They stopped the enemy. They +pursued him. They experienced the intoxication of a victory that gave +back to France her old prestige and felt with certainty, although at +first confusedly, that their battle was a decisive event in human +history. + +[Sidenote: The wounded of 1918 reflect the long tragedy.] + +[Sidenote: They have faced terrible new weapons.] + +To this brilliant and epic beginning succeeded a long and sombre +tragedy, to this _Iliad_ worthy of a Homer an _Inferno_ worthy of a +Dante. So we cannot wonder that the wounded of 1918 differed from those +of 1914, and that their faces, like the face of the Florentine poet +returning from hell, reflected the terrible things through which they +had passed. The suffering of years, the eternal waiting for a decision +of arms that did not come, the increasing horror of confronting weapons +unknown in the early months--heavy artillery, gas, liquid fire, +aëroplane attacks--left their mark upon our soldiers. + +Dante imagines the terrible things he recounts. Our soldiers have seen +them face to face. New Year after New Year has come and gone, and found +them living underground, in constant danger of unseen and unavoidable +forms of death, huddled together in damp, dark holes, exposed to rain +and snow and shell fire. Rarely was there fighting--as we used to +understand the term--but daily death took its toll, and ill and wounded +were evacuated to the rear. + +[Sidenote: Modern battle has become a scientific operation.] + +Ardor they certainly retained for the assault, and heroism for +confronting sheets of fire, or clouds of asphyxiating gas; but in the +scientific operation which the modern battle has become, most things +that are purely personal are more to be dreaded than desired, a fiery +temper counts for much less than coolness, discipline, mastery of self, +the spirit of abnegation and self-sacrifice. And when the battle was +won, that is to say, when they had taken, not a town with a resounding +name, but the ruins of a village, a treeless forest, a dismantled fort, +a hill thirty metres high, the survivors still had a task before them +which had lost none of its roughness or austerity. They had to organize +the new position in haste, dig other shelters, undergo bombardments and +reject counter-attacks, all the more violent because the enemy, +supported in the rear by positions prepared in advance, was more furious +than ever after defeat. Thus it continued--until now, even now, when +under the irresistible pressure of the French, the English and the +Americans, the German wall is crumbling. At last it will be broken, and +the victorious flood of the armies of democracy will pass through. Then +our invaded provinces and the sacred soil of Belgium will be freed; then +the conditions of just and honorable peace among all the nations of the +earth may be dictated on the banks of the Rhine--or farther, if +necessary. + +[Sidenote: Patience and tenacity are necessary.] + +But to support, while we waited, the monotonous trench-life to +accomplish the rapid nocturnal raids or the formidable exploits of the +great days and weeks of offensive, required more than that brilliant +quality of our fathers, the _furia francese_ that was the synonym of +overwhelming courage and the ardor which commands victory. Patience to +wait, resignation to accept, tenacity to prolong efforts, deliberate and +indomitable will to overcome trials, within and without and to press on +to the distant goal of final victory were above all things necessary. + +[Sidenote: "To the end!"] + +These qualities, summed up in one expression: "To the end!" so +profoundly different from those which hitherto have passed as +characteristic of our race, were the ones most noticeable in our +combatant of the fourth year of the War. Youthful enthusiasm was no +more; each man numbered the dangers run, each man took clear account of +those to come. + +[Sidenote: Patriotism becomes a passion.] + +Only austere love of duty can sustain a man at such a height. A +schoolmaster-sergeant of Lyon, Philippe Gonnard, voices it to a friend +inclined to pity him: he was ill enough to get his freedom, but wished, +nevertheless, to keep at his post until he was killed: "I intend to stay +at the front.... Patriotism for me is a passion. Does that mean that I +am happy here far from all I love? You do not think that and I have +often said I am not, in prose and verse. But from now until peace, no +man of heart can be happy. If I came back, I should be still less happy, +because instead of being dissatisfied with my lot, I should be +dissatisfied with myself." + +[Sidenote: Strong will and nobility of soul.] + +More or less consciously, this was the rock bottom of the character of +the soldier of France after three and a half years of war: "Will always +on the stretch, anguish conquered, melancholy transformed into nobility +of soul--as long as literature does not portray these essential traits +of the soldier," says one of our best author-combatants, "all it creates +will only be artificial and bear no relation to reality." + +[Sidenote: "No matter, it is for France."] + +"No matter, it is for France!" says the wounded soldier to the comrades +bending over him, and if it is during an attack he tells them not to +stop, not to carry him away "because it is no longer worth while," but +to continue without him the noble work for which he is offering his +life. Let a chaplain bring him divine help in time and he will die more +than resigned, joyous and radiant in the faith of his childhood, +bewailing his sins and kissing the crucifix like the French of the +Middle Ages. How many times, in the horrible frame of modern war, have +words been uttered, scenes enacted, agonies suffered which echoed the +most sublime passages of the _Chanson de Roland_! + +[Sidenote: Most of the wounded recover.] + +[Sidenote: Many times wounded.] + +But, thank God, among those who fall without being killed outright, the +minority are mortally wounded. Most of them are destined to get well or +at least to survive: they know it, and are glad. As soon as they regain +consciousness after the shock, the first idea is: "Am I really not +dead?" To be wounded does not disconcert them at all. "We are here for +that!" said, the other day, one of my young friends of the class 1915, +who by exception has been preserved until now. The alternative, in this +present War, is not to come out of it wounded, or unwounded, but wounded +or dead: to escape death is all that one can reasonably ask. Men who +have only been wounded once, are more and more scarce, some have +returned to the front four or five times. We had at the hospital a year +ago an American sergeant of the Foreign Legion, engaged at Orleans in +August, 1914, who having fought in Champagne, on the Somme and in +Alsace, had received three wounds, the last at the end of 1915, at +Belloy-en-Santerre, when a German bomb had badly damaged his left thigh: +"the last" up to that time, for he had to go back under fire and will in +all probability receive a fourth wound. + +[Sidenote: The slightly wounded are lucky.] + +[Sidenote: The most unfortunate.] + +Those slightly wounded have not much merit, it must be confessed, in +being resigned or even joyful. After a rapid dressing at the first +station they will rest several days at the hospital at the front, and +then get leave of convalescence which they will pass with their +families. A wound for them, who can bear a little suffering, means an +unexpected holiday and supplementary permission. They are only sorry if +they are hit stupidly, out of action or at the beginning of a +well-prepared attack, and prevented from going on with it. Let us leave +them to their good luck, and stay longer with the severely wounded, +those, for instance, who have a leg or arm broken, a fractured jaw, +vertebra or ribs bruised, or are deprived of one of their senses--blind, +deaf, paralyzed. We unhesitatingly acknowledge that these three last +categories of wounded feel their misery profoundly, and need time to get +used to it. Those, happily much more numerous, who have only temporarily +or permanently lost the use of one of their limbs, generally consider +themselves very fortunate. "I have the good wound!" they affect to say, +meaning that the War is over for them. So at least they express +themselves, not at all wishing to be admired, and trying as it were, to +minimize their courage in bearing their trial. + +[Sidenote: Self-sacrifice of the wounded.] + +[Sidenote: "Arise, ye dead!"] + +But aside from this paradoxical attitude, they frequently speak and act +in the most simple, touching way! It is common to hear one say to the +stretcher-bearer who comes to fetch him: "Take my comrade here first; he +is much more wounded than I; I can wait...." And that when it means +lying on the ground under the bombardment, thirsty, feverish, feeling +his strength ebb with his blood. Before any one comes back to get him, +often he will try again, if he has a sound arm left, to fire his rifle +or his machine-gun once more. Glory surrounds the epic incident of the +trench where the only unwounded soldier, seeing the enemy arrive, cried +out as if in delirium: "Arise, ye dead!" and the dying really rose, and +succeeded, some of them, in firing once more before they fell again, and +the assailants fled. A more recent and simpler deed is also worth +recording. + +[Sidenote: A dead observer protects his pilot.] + +Returning from a bombardment of the enemy's factories in broad daylight, +a French machine conducted by two men was attacked by several aviators. +The observer, hit by a ball in the chest, dropped down into the +_carlingue_. The pilot seeing this prepared to turn back. But hearing +his machine-gun firing again, he concluded that the observer was not +seriously hurt. As soon as he landed in France: "Well, what about that +wound?" he asked. No answer. He bent down and saw that his companion was +dead. Even in his agony he had continued to protect his comrade. + +In the beginning of the War the wounded stayed a long, a very long time +without being rescued, at the place where they fell, or in the shelter +to which they had been able to crawl. Our stretcher-bearers of the +American Ambulance found, after the battle of the Marne, many who had +lain for days and nights in shell holes, at the foot of trees, in +ruined barns or churches! One may guess what the mortality might be! +Today, happily, it is no longer so. The field of action is more +restricted and the aid is better organized. + +[Sidenote: Transportation is painful and dangerous.] + +[Sidenote: Relief at the first dressing station.] + +[Sidenote: The nurses devoted and the sufferers resigned.] + +If transportation, however, is less retarded than three years ago, it is +still painful and rather dangerous. Even when a special passage has been +dug before the attack for the evacuation of the wounded, all jolts are +not avoided in this dark and narrow way; but in going through the +ordinary passage-ways, dangerous and unseen obstacles are often +encountered--crumbling earth, perhaps, or convoys going in the opposite +direction. If they heeded the wounded soldier, the stretcher-bearers +would go on open ground. This he frequently does, if he is at all able +to get on without aid; once hit he thinks himself invulnerable--a +singular illusion which has brought about many catastrophes. At the +first dressing-station and at the front hospital, relief begins. In +ordinary times, this will be quite complete, and the wounded will not be +carried to the rear until they are really able to stand the journey. But +while the battle is on, they must go in the greatest haste: the worst +cases are thoroughly cared for; the badly hurt who can be moved receive +the attention which enables them to depart speedily; the slight cases +have to be content with summary consideration. Here one sees the +devotion of the nurses and the resignation of the sufferers, and better +than resignation: the noble effort not to moan, the murmured prayer, the +forgetfulness of self, eagerness to ask news of the fight. Among the +falsities of a book a thousand times too vaunted (falsities due not so +much to the lie direct as to the constant dwelling on odious details, +and the suppression of admirable facts), nothing is farther from the +truth than the picture of a hospital at the front where one hears and +sees only blaspheming and rebellious men. With most of the wounded who +have spoken to me about it in our hospital, and who certainly had the +right to bear witness, we proclaim loudly that if the French army had +been such as the work in question paints it in this passage and in many +others, the War would have ended long ago, and history would never have +known the names of the Marne, nor the Yser, nor Verdun, nor the +Chemin-des-Dames. + +[Sidenote: A true picture of our Ambulance at the front.] + +A true picture of an Ambulance at the front, overflowing with wounded +the evening of a battle, I find in these lines by an eyewitness: "Some +moderate complaints among the crowded stretchers: one asks for a drink, +one wants relief for pain, a bed, a dressing, to be quickly attended. +But let some story be told in the group, some incident come out like a +trumpet-call, all faces brighten, the men lift themselves a little, the +mirage of glory gives them heart again. I commemorate with piety the +anonymous example of a little Zouave, doubled over on himself, holding +his bullet-pierced abdomen in both hands, whom I heard gently asked: +'Well, little one, how goes it?' Oh, very well, _mon Lieutenant_, our +company has passed the road from B---- to the south; we had gotten there +when I was knocked out. It's all right; we are smashing them!" + +[Sidenote: Their first thought for victory.] + +I, personally, received such answers from wounded who came to us from +the Chemin-des-Dames, or from the fort of Malmaison. When I asked for +news, my mind preoccupied with their individual sufferings, their first +thought was to tell me of the victory. The ordinary French phrase for +"How are you? _Comment ça va-t-il?_" (literally: How goes it?) may apply +to an event or to a person. This being so, it is never of himself that +the newly-wounded soldier thinks, but of what is interesting to +everybody--the common success. I went to welcome a patient brought in +October 26th and asked: "You came tonight?" + +"Yes, Father." + +"Not too tired by the journey?" + +"No, not too much." + +"What wound?" + +"Jaw pierced by a bullet, arm broken, wound in the thigh." + +"How goes it?" + +[Sidenote: The wounded are delighted with the success of the attack.] + +"Very well! The wounded who came to the hospital at the front were +delighted, we had gotten everything we were trying for!" + +"You were in the attack?" + +"Unfortunately no, I was wounded the day before." + +"In the bombardment?" + +"Yes, while we were filling up the trenches to make a way for the tanks +toward the fort of Malmaison." + +"That must have been pretty constant thundering?" + +"Yes, but very soon we did not think of it. In the little bombardments +you hear the shells coming and try to get to shelter, but, in those +great days, when it is going on all the time, you can no longer +distinguish anything, it is a continual noise, a kind of huge snoring. +Then you are quite calm." + +[Sidenote: They do not speak of what they have done or seen.] + +These are a few illustrations, a few rays of light, such as one still +gets sometimes. I do not know if they will become more frequent with the +new evolution of the War. They have been rare, and never followed by +long expansiveness. Our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the War +did not like to speak of what he had done nor of what he had seen. What +may be the reasons for his silence? In seeking to interpret them we +penetrate a little into the psychology of this taciturn man. + +[Sidenote: The soldier plays an impersonal part.] + +First, his impressions of the War are no longer fresh and now he would +have some difficulty in analyzing them. It is as with ourselves in a new +country: at first we have a thousand things to describe in our letters; +after that nothing strikes us any longer. This passage to a sort of +unconsciousness is the easier for the soldier as he plays a more +impersonal part in the War; a simple cell in a great organism, a simple +wheel in an enormous machine, quite beyond his comprehension in its +learned complication. Catastrophes happen to him but no adventures: he +may be wounded, he may be killed, nothing else. This is no material for +fine stories. + +A deeper reason for the silence of the witness, or rather the actor, in +the great drama of the War, is a very just realization of the +impossibility of conveying any idea of it to those who have never been +there. It is so very different from anything they know; so out of +proportion to the normal life of human beings. + +[Sidenote: The wounded man does not like to think of war.] + +To these intellectual motives may be added one of feeling. The wounded +soldier does not like to speak of the War because he does not like to +think of it: there are too many horrors; he has had to bear too many +privations, too much suffering. As soon as he finds himself out of it, +he tries to turn his mind away from it as much as possible, and to shake +off the impression of it, as the sick man in the morning shakes off his +fevered nightmare. Later on, doubtless, when his memories have lost +their keen edge, they may attract him again. All he asks for the moment +is to forget. One thing especially afflicts his heart and tightens his +lips: it is the thought of the comrades he has lost. + +Such are the reasons why the later wounded, differing from those at the +beginning of the War, shut themselves up in a silence full of gravity. + +[Sidenote: The men in hospital are grateful.] + +[Sidenote: Infirmities are less felt.] + +In spite of this, however, you would have a false idea of the military +hospital if you thought of it as a place of mournful desolation. +Doubtless our earlier patients regained their spirits more quickly, +having no years of suffering behind them. But the quiet and serious +resignation which reigns in the hospital of to-day does not exclude a +certain sweetness; the wounded man appreciates the intelligent and +devoted care lavished upon him, he congratulates himself and thanks God +for having escaped from mortal peril, for not having fallen to the +bottom of the abyss, for remounting now the slope at the summit of which +he has a glimpse of the recovery of his strength and activity. If his +wound leaves no serious traces, he rejoices to live again as he did +before; if it has deprived him of the use of his limbs or of some +necessary organ, he consoles himself by the thought that the War is over +for him and that soon he will take his place at home. His infirmities, +which perhaps will weigh more heavily upon him later, he feels less +here, where they are the normal thing and where it is the exception to +appear intact. + +It is a rest for him not to hear the voice of the cannon. And he likes +the moral peace with which the wise kindness of the doctors, the +devotion of the nurses, the friendship of the chaplain, surround him; he +especially enjoys the many letters he receives from his family, and +those which he slowly writes himself, or dictates to an amiable +neighbor. Often he has friends and relatives in the neighborhood who +come to see him, but what he likes best of all is the visit from his +family, his mother, father, wife, his young children. + +[Sidenote: A dying man is decorated.] + +[Sidenote: A legacy of honor for his family.] + +Another joy in the life of our wounded is the announcement and then the +presentation of his decoration. Once, however, I saw the Cross of Honor +received with no sign of satisfaction at all, but that was because it +came too late, and its recipient, one of my friends, a brave officer, +was about to receive another recompense in heaven. It was very affecting +to see the decoration laid on that already gasping breast, without any +consciousness on the part of the poor hero. His mother and wife, at +least, before they buried him, could take the glorious emblem to hand +down as heirloom and as instruction to his three little ones. It is a +noble idea of the French Government, to give the decorations of soldiers +killed by the enemy to their families--their widows, their orphans, or, +if they are not married, to their old parents. During these years filled +with emotion, few spectacles have impressed me so deeply as the ceremony +of "taking arms" in the court of honor of the Invalides, when in this +historic monument, built by Louis XIV. and now the tomb of Napoleon, a +General of the Third Republic gave the emblem of the brave to women and +children dressed in mourning, at the same time as to rough soldiers +newly healed of their wounds and ready to return to the front. + +[Sidenote: The return to the front.] + +[Sidenote: Often impatient to rejoin his comrades.] + +Return to the front!... This is the almost invariable ending of the +history of our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the War. Return to +the front! Never will the heroism required for the acceptance of such a +duty be sufficiently admired! After three years of fatigue, privations, +of unheard-of dangers, after one or several wounds which brought him +within an inch of death, this man who has for long months felt the +sweetness, the care, the calm of a comfortable hospital; has had a taste +of the charms of family life once more; has little by little turned his +thought away from the horrors of war, now he is sent back, to the depot, +from which he knows that before long he will be called again to the +front! And he submits, resigns himself: what do I say? Often impatient +of inaction, of the little rules which annoy his independent temper, he +asks to go in advance of the call, to rejoin as a volunteer and without +further delay his comrades of Champagne, Lorraine, Flanders or Picardy. +He reenters his regiment as the traveler reenters his own country, and +his only sadness is to find that during his absence so many old comrades +have fallen, so many newcomers have filled the gaps. But the welcome of +the survivors warms his heart. + +[Sidenote: He goes into the trenches at night.] + +Although it is night--for only at night do they go into the +trenches--the sky is ploughed with illuminating fireworks, with +projections and projectiles, of various kinds which bursting sow quick +flashes of light, and a death often as prompt. In a maze of narrow and +complicated paths our friend advances without knowing where and feeling +his way: nearer and nearer he approaches to enemies whose sleepless hate +growls menacingly below his feet in the ground, around him on the earth, +above him in the sky filled with sinister gleams. He goes his way +without enthusiasm, but without hesitation, without boasting, but +without fear, knowing by long experience what peril he runs, but +offering himself calmly to his formidable destiny, ready to answer: +"Present!" if God and his country demand his life. + +[Sidenote: There are no heroes in past history so grand.] + +What hero in all the centuries of history attains to the grandeur of our +hero? Who ever defended, in a war so terrible, a cause so important to +the future of the world? Who has striven so hard, suffered so much, so +often passed through death? To prove himself equal to his high mission, +he has had to rid himself of all egoism, renounce lucre and vain honors, +sacrifice family joys; many times he has known the worst extremes of +weariness, thirst, hunger and cold; he equals and surpasses in +austerity the severest of monks; he practices an obedience and humility +that monasteries and Thebaîdes know nothing of, constantly ready to +expose himself, as soon as he receives the order, to a terrible and +invisible death. No one ever more completely obeyed the counsels of +Christ: "If you will be perfect, leave your father and mother, your +wife, forsake your possessions, renounce yourself, take up your cross +and follow Me." + +[Sidenote: Humanity has never shown such moral grandeur.] + +Those among these brave men who have faith, are conscious of such +supernatural life and their letters--admirable collections have been +published--reflect a light of authentic saintliness. The others, too, +without knowing it, walk in the footsteps of Christ; at the moment of +supreme sacrifice He will enlighten them with the brightness of His +grace and will admit them, like their believing brothers, into the +heaven promised to those who suffer for righteousness. Humanity which +has never known horrors like those it is enduring now, has also never +shown such moral grandeur, and it is not astonishing that in face of +such great crimes and such great virtues, our soul should pause, +breathless, incapable of expressing the excess of its emotion. + +[Sidenote: The devoted war of the American public for the wounded.] + +I cannot speak to the great American public about our wounded, without +saying how much we appreciate the fact that it has followed them, with +admirable solicitude, all the length of their hard Calvary. Its +stretcher-bearers have helped us rescue them at the front, its +ambulances have carried them to our hospitals, where they have found its +doctors, its nurses to tend their wounds, its offerings of all kinds to +assure their material well-being and their moral comfort. And in +after-care it has not been less solicitous: teaching the blind, +reeducating the maimed and giving them the costly apparatus which take +the place of their lost limbs. When they could not survive, despite +efforts of science and devotion, it contributed toward assuring the +future of their widows and orphans. + +America to-day gives us even her blood; she has from the first given us +her gold, given her heart! + + +Copyright, Catholic World, October, 1918. + + * * * * * + +The great series of battles, known in general as the Battle of Picardy, +formed a prelude to the final acts of the war. A stirring account of +these battles is given in the narrative which follows. + + + + +THE BATTLE OF PICARDY + +J.B.W. GARDINER + + +[Sidenote: Possibly the decisive battle of the war.] + +[Sidenote: Germany will emerge victor or vanquished.] + +On March 21st, 1918, Germany opened the great engagement which will +probably prove to be the decisive battle of the war. This designation +has already, but not altogether correctly, been given to the Battle of +the Marne. The Marne did decide that the Germans were not to capture +Paris in their first great rush through Belgium and France. It did not +only halt the German advance, but threw it back behind the Aisne, thus +preventing Germany from winning the war in 1914. But it did not defeat +the German army decisively. Nor did it make an ultimate German victory +impossible. It left the German army still in the field, its strength +practically unimpaired, still capable of strong defense, still with +great striking power in attack. It made possible for the future a +decisive Allied victory, but it did not achieve it. The German defeat at +Verdun, indeed, did more harm to the German army, lessened to a greater +extent its power of defense and its strength to attack than did the +Marne, because through the French defense and counter-efforts, the +German army lost nearly half a million men. But the battle now raging, +which for convenience of reference is called the Battle of Picardy +(although it embraces Picardy, Artois, and Flanders), will do more than +did either the Marne or Verdun. It will place irrevocably and +unmistakably upon Germany the laurel of victory or the thorny crown of +defeat. It is, therefore, the decisive battle of the war. It is the +final struggle of the civilized world against the domination of the +beast. It is Germany's final effort, and, in order that this may be +appreciated, it is necessary only to recount the conditions which +impelled Germany to take the offensive at this time. + +[Sidenote: Germany's eastern ambitions attained.] + +[Sidenote: A peace by compromise would be a German victory.] + +The developments in Russia, so entirely favorable to Germany, led many +to believe that, having attained so completely their eastern ambitions, +the German leaders would rest content with what they had, and, +strengthening their lines in the west through reinforcements drawn from +the Russian front, remain on the defensive on the western front until a +peace could be arranged. With the German talons firmly fixed in the +throat of Ukraine; with Poland, Courland, and Lithuania practically +annexed, there was a certain element of reason in this contention. It +was entirely conceivable that with such strength in the west, Germany +could set in motion the machinery of a peace propaganda, and obtain a +peace conference which would enable her to work out a programme of +concessions in the west for concessions in the east--a peace by +compromise which would answer present needs while furnishing all future +requirements in case she decided to provoke another war. Thus Germany +would end the war with a victory just as truly as if she had won it on +the field of battle, and without the terrific loss in man power that an +offensive on the western front would entail. + +[Sidenote: The Allies refuse a peace by compromise.] + +In constructing this theory, however, certain essentials were ignored. +German voraciousness can never be satisfied. It is a bottomless pit +which can be filled only by pouring into it the world. When there is +nothing more to be had, Germany would perforce rest content. The +possession of Russia only whetted her appetite for France and Belgium +and the life of England. Moreover, the Allies, having now learned +Germany, and having acquired a sense of their own safety and of the +future peace of the world, had no thought of permitting Germany to +remain in possession of western Russia, of Serbia, and of Rumania, and +thereby not only perpetuating but actually aggravating the condition out +of which grew the present war. They had, therefore, notified Germany +that they would lay down arms only when she was willing to disgorge what +she and her allies had swallowed, and had rectified their frontiers in +accordance with President Wilson's fourteen conditions and with Lloyd +George's statement on the same subject. + +In other words, Germany was to be permitted to emerge from the war with +a profit only through military victory; she would have to defend her +conquests. This negatived the idea of a peace through negotiation. + +[Sidenote: The German people equally to blame with their government.] + +[Sidenote: The letter to Prince Sixtus.] + +[Sidenote: Austria might make a separate peace.] + +[Sidenote: There is suspicion among thieves.] + +Having absorbed the fundamental fact that the Allies proposed to +continue the fight to the end, what then was Germany's position? I am +not one of those who cherish the fatuous delusion that this is a war in +which the German people are not equally involved with their government. +At the same time, it is undeniable that there existed in both the German +and the Austrian empires a considerable internal pressure, induced by +hunger and by privations (but not by any moral or ethical +considerations), to bring the war to a close. The cupboards of Russia +were neither so full nor so readily available as had been anticipated. +Suffering was general, and, with the scarcity not only of food but of +wool and of cotton, made the prospect of going through another winter of +war a gloomy contemplation. In Austria the situation was worse than in +Germany. The letter of the Austrian Emperor to his brother-in-law, +Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, which the French Government published +in April, gives sufficient indication of the Austrian need for peace. It +shows also that Germany must have had doubt of the loyalty of her ally, +and German knowledge that conditions had come to such a pass in Austria +that a separate peace would be more welcome to Austria than no peace at +all, regardless of the sacrifices which had to be made to obtain it. How +long Austria could be held Germany did not know, but it was evident that +she was not to be trusted too far. Austria is as unscrupulous, as +hypocritical as is Germany, and Germany knows it. And while there may be +honor among thieves, there is also suspicion. + +[Sidenote: Germany must resume the offensive.] + +But, aside from internal and political considerations, the military +situation itself was one which demanded immediate action or none at all. +It is an elemental military fact that a war cannot be won by defensive +action alone. Defeat may be averted by such means; but victory cannot be +achieved. Germany, with the exception of a single incident south of +Cambrai, had been on the defensive since the close of the battle of +Verdun early in the summer of 1916. The necessity for offensive action +at some time was therefore absolute if Germany was to win. But there +were many considerations which made that time the present. Germany could +not afford to wait. + +[Sidenote: Divisions are brought from Russia.] + +The middle of March found Germany at the height of her man power. Never +before since the outbreak of war had the opportunity been presented for +the concentration on the western front of practically her entire +effective strength in both men and guns. For this, of course, Russia was +responsible. The divisions which were holding the Russian lines had been +carefully picked over, and from men thus selected new divisions were +formed and old ones filled up. All were sent to France as rapidly as +possible, the movement occupying the time from September, 1917, to +March of this year. Similarly, all available artillery was concentrated +in the west, the eastern front being practically denuded. Germany then +was in immediate danger of being diverted by activities of the Allies in +other fields. + +[Sidenote: America could not furnish numbers in 1917.] + +The Allies on the other hand were by no means at their full strength. +America, who stepped into the war just in time to take Russia's place, +still remained impotent, unable to place in Europe numbers in any way +commensurate with the situation. But America was gathering impetus as +she went. And while she was a negligible force in 1917--except in the +matters of food and money--and would probably be a negligible force in +1918 subject to the same exception, in 1919 she was almost certain to +turn the tide strongly against the Central Powers. Even in 1918 there +could be expected a steady though small stream of men across the ocean, +who being fresh, eager, and unwearied, might cause trouble. Germany then +had the one chance to win, and that chance demanded that she strike with +all her power before America reached the field. To delay meant not a +drawn game but certain defeat. For if Germany is ever confronted in +Europe with the full strength of America in men and in the machinery of +war, she will be crushed. + +[Sidenote: Germany must strike before America reaches the field.] + +[Sidenote: The Russian situation is disquieting.] + +Finally, the situation in Russia boded ill for Germany. Great rejoicing +has taken place in Berlin and in Vienna over peace with Russia. But it +is a peace which has not altered Germany's inability to keep faith with +any Power. Her persistent worship of materialism and force has created a +situation in Russia not at all to Germany's liking. Once the Russian +border was absolutely undefended and the way to Petrograd and Moscow +wide open, Germany could not resist the temptation to march on in +continued aggression, regardless of treaty or promises or peace or +morality. And Russia has furnished strong evidence that she is not at +all complacent under such aggression. + +[Sidenote: A new Russian national army is formed.] + +[Sidenote: Danger of guerilla warfare.] + +The Russians are in a stage of transition, and are, therefore, unstable, +mentally unsettled. They are completely dissatisfied at Germany's +interpretation of the peace terms. They see themselves being starved +that Germany may fatten on their granaries. They are reaching the point +where organized resistance is the only answer of which the situation is +capable. Steps have already been taken to form a new national army, to +offer organized resistance to further encroachments. There are also +large elements which have never accepted the unconditional surrender and +which never will. At any moment in this land of instability, the fires +which have been kindled by German bad faith and duplicity may break into +a conflagration. There is no danger at the present time--there is danger +that before the year is out public dissatisfaction and unrest may +crystallize and Germany be faced with the most colossal guerilla war the +world has seen; and while warfare of this kind cannot defeat Germany, it +can neutralize many divisions of German troops and pin them down to the +eastern front while the Allies make the finishing stroke in the west. +This situation, out of which anything can grow, made it strongly +advisable that Germany should act before the crystallization should take +place. + +[Sidenote: Ready for a great blow in the West.] + +Realizing that she could not wait without serious danger to herself, +Germany mustered all her resources in the west for the great blow she +was to deliver. The problem which confronted the German General Staff +was to destroy one of the two great armies, that of France or that of +England. Both could not be handled together. Germany did not have the +strength. The attack had to be delivered against one or the other. Which +should it be? + +[Sidenote: The French losses much greater than the British.] + +An attack against the French had certain advantages. The French army was +unmistakably the weaker of the two. In the early days of the war, while +the British army was being formed, it was the French who had to stand +the brunt of the fighting. At Verdun it was the French who from February +to July beat back the German assaults along the Meuse time after time in +the most tremendous duel of the war. In the Battle of the Somme it was +the French who fought their way forward south of the river to the +outskirts of Péronne and Chaulnes. The French losses had, therefore, +been very much greater than the British. As the populations of France +and of the United Kingdom are about the same, the French people had, +therefore, suffered much more than had the British, and were +correspondingly less able to stand such a blow as Germany was able to +deliver. + +[Sidenote: Much of French front is invulnerable.] + +But there was one great disadvantage in attacking France. The blow could +not be delivered against the front from St. Mihiel to the Swiss +frontiers. This front is vulnerable only where the Vosges Mountains are +broken by the great gaps at Belfort, Epinal, and Nancy; and these gaps +are easy to defend and well backed up in rear by great bases of supply +excellently served by many radiating railroad lines. It could not be +delivered at Verdun, because France had not only retaken all the ground +of military value which had been lost; but Verdun had become to France a +religion, a fanaticism. To France it was a symbol of French love of +country, of French patriotism. Verdun meant France. Germany, therefore, +had no desire to test this fortified area again. This left only the +Champagne line between the Argonne Forest and Rheims. + +[Sidenote: Reasons for not striking on the Champagne line.] + +[Sidenote: The Allied armies would be left intact.] + +If Germany had attacked this front, the British army, the stronger of +her enemies, would soon have struck, and whether Germany so elected or +not, she would nevertheless be running two major operations at the same +time--one offensive in Champagne, the other defensive in Picardy or in +Flanders. Again, suppose her army did bend the French line back, as it +undoubtedly would, how far back would it have to go in order for Germany +to reach a complete military decision? There would indeed be no such +decision in sight, almost regardless of the depth of penetration. The +lines might have to be rectified; Verdun might have to be abandoned; the +Vosges frontier line might have to be drawn in. But even so the French +and British armies would both be intact; both biding their time when, +with full force of their own and a million or more American troops, +Germany could be beaten. In short, an attack against the French at any +point, while promising new gains in territory, promised nothing in the +way of a decision, and, be it remembered, this is Germany's last effort; +it must reach either victory or defeat. The Battle of Picardy must and +will produce a definite, positive result. It cannot end in indecision. + +[Sidenote: British army trained only for trench warfare.] + +[Sidenote: The French positions.] + +[Sidenote: The British railway connections might be taken.] + +An attack against the British offered none of the disadvantages which +attended an attack against the French. The British were stronger it is +true. But this army, unlike that of the French, was trained for but one +thing--trench warfare. If Germany could restore war in the open--a war +of movement--this strength might be offset by a wider experience. In +attacking the British, the French could be held in check by defensive +tactics with not a great deal of difficulty; as in such operations the +terrain was greatly in Germany's favor. To take a hurried glimpse of the +French positions, we find them in the valley of the Ailette north of +the Chemin des Dames facing the high slopes of the plateau on which is +found Laon. In the Champagne they are facing a high rolling country, +studded with good artillery positions and points of observation. In the +Vosges, their problem is identical with that of the Germans--forcing the +gaps in a barrier otherwise impassable. There would be then a minimum of +danger from the French while Germany was engaged on the British front. +Moreover, behind the British line was, first, Amiens, through which +passed the great railroad systems from Calais, Boulogne, and Abbeville, +binding together the British north of the Somme to the French in the +south. With Amiens in German hands this connection would be badly +ruptured. And farther on still was the sea, which, if Germany could +reach it, would physically separate the great Allied army into two +armies, without connection, each of which could be dealt with +separately. And unlike an advance through Champagne, the farther the +Germans pushed through, the closer the Allies came to total disaster and +defeat. Germany, therefore, selected the British front for attack and +took up the task of destroying the British army. + +[Sidenote: The main blow is to fall along the Oise.] + +[Sidenote: Plan to drive through Amiens.] + +[Sidenote: High ground near Lens and Ypres to be retaken.] + +The German plan of campaign was simple in its essence, although +involving great numbers of men and an inconceivable mass of material. It +was to strike the main blow along the Oise on the front between St. +Quentin and La Fère, while a subsidiary attack was to be simultaneously +delivered on the northern side of the Cambrai salient between Cambrai +and Arras. This subsidiary attack was designed to break the salient and +destroy the danger of a flank attack against the movement to the south. +In the main attack, delivered with 15,000 men to the mile of front, it +was intended to break the connection between the British and the French +along the Oise, push a great wedge through at the point of rupture, and +then roll the British line back to the north, leaving the French to be +taken care of later. Failing in this (and Germany had taken into account +the possibility of failure), the British were to be forced back through +Amiens to the sea, and the split in the armies accomplished by +interposing between the parts a section of the seacoast. This operation +would automatically flank the positions held by the British at Arras, +force the British to fall back from Vimy Ridge, and from Lens toward St. +Pol, and, as they retreated, to uncover the Ypres salient and the +positions held in the high ground to the east and south of Ypres--that +is, the Messines and the Passchendaele ridges. + +[Sidenote: The Germans use eighty divisions the first day.] + +[Sidenote: The Allies retreat.] + +After a brief but very intense bombardment the German infantry went +forward on March 21, 1918. They were favored by a heavy mist which +concealed their movements until they were within fifty yards of the +British trenches, between La Fère and St. Quentin. By sheer weight of +numbers these trenches were overrun and the German infantry poured +through the gap. The line to the north was at once affected by the break +in the southern line, and taken in flank, was also forced to fall back. +But a few hours after the attack was launched, the entire fifty miles of +line north of La Fère was ablaze and the British were in retreat. In +this attack the Germans threw in on the first day 80 divisions--about +one million men--nearly 20,000 men to the mile--a heavier concentration +of men than had ever been used in an attack since the war began. Against +this number the British, in the opening attack could oppose only 5,000 +men to the mile. It is not surprising in view of this disparity in +numbers that the British were completely overwhelmed. In spite of the +rapidity of the initial German advance and the strength of the German +attack, the hoped-for rupture of the Allied line at the Oise did not +occur. The British and French, though retreating steadily, kept in close +touch and preserved intact the continuity of their line. + +[Sidenote: The French extend their left to keep in touch with the +British.] + +As the British section of the line withdrew, the French, in order to +preserve this continuity, were necessarily affected. The French extreme +left withdrew behind the Oise to throw this defensive screen before the +German attack, gradually extending their left as the British retreat +continued, passed Noyons and Pont l'Eveque. As the Allies in their +retreat approached the Somme River, the German progress became slower, +the efforts were labored. From this point indeed, the huge battle took +on something of the nature of the battle of Verdun. It became a fight +for limited objectives. Each village offered resistance and became the +object of an independent battle. The German advance, however, though +slow was not the less persistent and steady. + +[Sidenote: The Somme divides the field into two areas.] + +[Sidenote: Montdidier falls.] + +[Sidenote: French check the Germans at Villers-Bretonneux.] + +With the crossing of the Somme and the Somme-Aisne Canal on the front +between Peronne and Noyons, the battle was automatically divided into +two well defined areas by the east and west course of the Somme between +Peronne and Amiens. In the southern area, the Allied line was held by +both British and French in about equal proportions. But the French were +not yet in great force. The Germans, having passed both the Somme and +the Canal, fought their way westward step by step, in total disregard of +losses, until the line of the Avre River was reached. Here the French, +who held the line from the Luce River south and then east, made a +position stand, and a series of pitched battles occurred for the river +crossing. The first of these to fall was Montdidier at the head waters +of the Avre. This enabled the German army to reach westward of the river +and spread out after crossing to flank the defenses to the north. +Gradually the left bank of the river was cleared as far north as +Moreuil. Here the high ground on the left bank between Moreuil and the +mouth of the Luce enabled the French to beat off all German attacks for +several days. Finally, however, both Moreuil and Morisel were taken and +later the village of Cassel, the Avre being thus cleared of the Allied +troops as far north as the mouth of the Luce. From Cassel to the Somme, +however, the German forces found themselves in serious difficulties. +About Hangard, particularly, the fighting was exceptionally heavy; but +after changing hands several times, the Germans were finally thrown +across to the southern bank of the Luce and there held in place. From +Hangard north to the Somme the result was the same. After struggling for +days against the troops on the high plateau of which Villers-Bretonneux +is the centre, the Germans were brought to a standstill in their +attempts to approach Amiens by way of the Avre-Somme angle. + +[Sidenote: The British retire behind the Ancre.] + +[Sidenote: Albert is taken; but Germans are soon held.] + +In the battlefield north of the Somme, the British retired slowly until +they were safely behind the Ancre River, which figured so prominently in +the battle of the Somme in 1916. Taking Albert, an important British +base, the Germans tried desperately to push beyond and reach the +railroad which runs along the lower Ancre from Amiens to Albert. Failing +in this, they struck heavily in the angle between the Somme and the +Ancre in order to flank the line north of Albert from the high ground +north-east of Corbie. Here also they met with defeat, so that from +Beaumont-Hamel southward the Allied line became stationary. + +[Sidenote: The situation of the Germans.] + +[Sidenote: To win peace the Germans must destroy an army.] + +At this point in the battle the Germans found themselves in this +situation: from Montdidier westward the French lines were firmly +established first along a series of small but well defined heights as +far as Noyons and thence along the southern bank of the Oise as far as +the lower forest of Coucy. This side of the wedge was firmly fixed and +capable of great resistance. Moreover, to expend time and men in an +attack on this front would mean a serious departure from the German +plan, as success here would mean an advance toward Paris instead of +toward the sea. And at this stage of the war, peace cannot be obtained +by the capture of any city, even the French capital. The price of peace +is the destruction of an army, either that of the British or that of the +French. This can be accomplished only through reaching the sea at some +central point such as Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme. + +Therefore, the German problem had of necessity to find its solution +north of Montdidier--between that town and Albert. There is not much +doubt that by concentrating sufficient artillery and by the expenditure +of sufficient men, the German leaders would be able to push their way +farther westward, even beyond Amiens. But as the wedge deepened it would +gradually draw down to a point so that the ultimate situation would be +that the German lines would form an acute angle, the vortex of which +would be on the Somme at or west of Amiens, one side passing through +Albert, or possibly through the village of Bucquoy, the other through +Montdidier. Such a formation would mean positive disaster. It would be +worth a quarter of a million men to the Allies to strike both north and +south across the base of this angle and snuff it out. It would mean to +Germany the loss of a mass of artillery and tens of thousands of men. +And the Allies would not be slow to see this opportunity and strike. The +German High Command, therefore, did not dare to take the chance with +matters as they then were. + +[Sidenote: Necessary to advance north of the Somme.] + +[Sidenote: The defenses of the British northern wing.] + +[Sidenote: The fight for Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette.] + +In order that the German army might continue its march to the sea then, +it was necessary that the line north of the Somme should advance, +synchronizing its movement with the point of the wedge along the river. +Thus only would the wedge be sufficiently wide to avoid disaster. But +the entire northern wing of the British army was guarded by Vimy Ridge +and the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette. It was impossible that the +advance could be made, leaving these positions directly on the flank. +The combination of these two heights forms a huge semicircle concave +toward the south. The British batteries posted on these heights could +continue to rake the German advancing troops in flank and rear with most +destructive effect. Therefore, after the fighting in the south came to a +halt, the Germans undertook to open the way by forcing these two +positions. Using seven divisions--about 90,000 men--the Germans attacked +on a front not exceeding ten miles from Arleux to Fampoux on the Scarpe. +The attack continued for two days, but was an absolute failure. The +German advance had to be made down the slopes of one hill, across a +stretch of flat, open valley, and up the sides of another. Down in the +valley were the British outpost positions which were overwhelmed and +driven in. But in attempting to cross the valley floor the Germans +literally withered under machine gun and rifle fire. At the end of two +days' fighting, during which the greater part of these divisions were +cut to pieces, the attack had to be abandoned. The fighting then from +Lens southward to the Avre came to an end with the Germans completely +halted. The first definite stage of the decisive battle of the war was +thus concluded. + +[Sidenote: The attack about Bucquoy.] + +[Sidenote: Considerable initial successes.] + +[Sidenote: A stand at the edge of the Forest of Nieppe.] + +[Sidenote: The Germans take Messines Ridge.] + +But the Germans were by no means ready to acknowledge defeat. The +Lens-Arras sector had to be cleared up. The attack from the south, +crystallizing about Bucquoy, and from the east both having broken down, +there remained but to attack from the north. Utilizing to the utmost the +advantages of the great railroad system which parallels this front, +connecting in a single chain all of their great advance bases, the +Germans effected a heavy concentration at Lille, and, using about twenty +divisions (which were afterward increased to thirty), struck the British +line between Givenchy--just north of La Bassée--and Warneton on the Lys +River. The initial successes were considerable. The Germans penetrated +to a maximum depth of more than four miles in the centre, although on +both right and left the line held fast. North of Armentières, however, +the British line gave ground, which enabled the Germans to pocket this +city and to capture it on the second day of the attack. On the +succeeding days, the British centre continued to give way until the edge +of the Forest of Nieppe was reached. The German position at this point +in the attack became practically untenable. The northern side of this +wedge was lined with heights from which the British artillery was +pouring a devastating plunging fire. These heights, beginning farther +east, began with the famous Messines-Wytschaete Ridge and extended due +west through Kemmel to Cassel. Moreover, in falling back the British +pivoted on Messines, which left this strong bastion from which to strike +out against the very heart of the salient. Accordingly, to remove this +danger the German leaders swung the attack north against the Messines +Ridge. After days of fighting in which Bailleul was taken and the foot +of the Kemmel series of hills was reached, the Messines Ridge was taken +in reverse and the British line was withdrawn until it passed over the +ridge just north of Wytschaete. Still pressing on the north, the Germans +attacked the Kemmel position, but the British, now reinforced by the +French, threw the attacks back as rapidly as they formed. Failing here +and at the centre in Nieppe Forest, still another attack was delivered, +this time against the southern side of the wedge from Givenchy to St. +Venant. The first two days of this fighting was also disastrous to the +Germans who were entirely unable to dent the British positions. In +brief, the Germans were then enclosed in a huge semicircle about fifteen +miles in diameter. All parts of the area enclosed were subject to +artillery fire from three sides and the Germans were striking first on +one side then on the other in frantic efforts to break the Allies' +grip--and giving no indication of sufficient power to succeed. + +[Sidenote: Objectives of the Germans in the North.] + +[Sidenote: The British gradually retire about Ypres.] + +The objects of the German effort in the north were several. Primarily it +was intended as a means of breaking the defenses of Arras and of Lens by +cutting in behind the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge. +Again it was intended to take Hazebrouck, Bethune, St. Pol, Aire, and +St. Omer, through which the distribution of supplies and men landing at +Calais is effected. Finally it was intended to take from the British the +high ground in Flanders, uncover Ypres, and open the way to the coast. +But for many reasons, now that the Allies had caught their breath for a +moment, so to speak, the advantage appeared to have passed from German +hands. The element of surprise, so essential to success even in trench +warfare, was no longer possible. The gradual retirements of the British +around Ypres were not costly nor did they "open a way" to the channel +ports as the Germans hoped. The Germans had fixed the points of +attack--and these were the only possible points: southern Flanders and +from the Avre to the Scarpe. Germany had already used in the offense 130 +divisions out of 204; and of these 50 had been in action twice--while +the British had been heavily engaged from the outset, the French have +had but few divisions in action. There was, therefore, apparently much +greater reserve strength behind the Allies' battle line than Germany +could possibly muster. And it is reserve strength which must ultimately +decide the issue. + +[Sidenote: The crisis of the Great War is at hand.] + +Germany has taken the great plunge--the concentration and utilization of +her entire resources in man power in a final effort to win. It is +Germany's last bid for victory before the peace propaganda is launched. +Germany must win or go down to defeat. But Germany cannot stop. She must +go on and on regardless of cost. She has expended literally hundreds of +thousands of men, not for territorial conquest as the German press has +pointed out and emphasized, but to destroy the British army. What +figment of pretense is left if the battle remains indecisive? None the +less, for the Allies as well the situation is serious though not +critical. The crisis of the Great War is truly at hand. None can doubt +the outcome who has any belief in honor and justice among civilized +nations. + + +Copyright, World's Work, June, 1918. + + * * * * * + +For many months prior to the end of the war Bulgaria had sought an +opportunity to make peace. The people were wearied with fighting and it +was plain to them that a German victory was hopeless. Finally a complete +collapse occurred, King Ferdinand fled, and Bulgaria surrendered, as is +described in the following pages. + + + + +BULGARIA QUITS + +LOTHROP STODDARD + + +[Sidenote: "Mitteleuropa" crumbles.] + +Bulgaria's withdrawal from the Teutonic block and her frank capitulation +to the Allies is easily the most dramatic episode of the World War. +Almost overnight the massive bridge of "Mitteleuropa" has crumbled at +its central span, leaving exhausted Turkey foredoomed to speedy +surrender and laying distracted Austria open to the combined assaults of +Allied arms and domestic revolution. So stupendous are the possibilities +flowing from the Allies' September offensive in Macedonia that we are +almost tempted to believe that the age of miracles is come again. + +[Sidenote: The war-spirit of Bulgaria weakens.] + +Yet in such hours we should clarify our vision by insistent remembrance +of Clausewitz's famous saying that war is but the extension of politics. +For brilliant as was the Franco-Serbian escalade of mid-September, +storming successive mountain walls as though they were mere trench lines +and shearing through war-hardened Bulgarian divisions like a knife +through rotten cheese, there was more than fighting involved. For the +last year and even longer a combination of circumstances had been +weaning Bulgaria from her former solidarity with the Central powers, and +this disruptive process, proceeding with special rapidity during the +last few months, had been steadily sapping the morale of the Bulgarian +people and the war-spirit of the Bulgarian soldiery. From the broader +point of view, therefore, the Allies' Macedonian offensive must be +deemed not merely a skilful military operation, but even more a +well-timed garnering of fruits ripe for the plucking. In such masterly +combinations of strategy and politics lies the secret of decisive +victory. + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria's political evolution.] + +The accurate gaging by Allied statesmanship of Bulgaria's political +evolution is specially noteworthy because that evolution was both +complicated and obscure. In fact, its roots reach down to the +fundamental aspirations of the Bulgarian people. Bulgaria's present +volte-face is no chance product of panic, but a logical step in her +national policy. Its consequences thus promise to be not ephemeral, but +lasting. An understanding of the factors that brought about the existing +situation is therefore worth careful study. + +[Sidenote: The Prussians of the Balkans.] + +[Sidenote: Desire to attain race unity.] + +The Bulgarians have often been called the Prussians of the Balkans, and +in this characterization there is a large measure of truth. A +hard-working, tenacious folk, capable of great patience, docile to iron +discipline, and appreciative of governmental efficiency, the material +progress made by the Bulgarians during their forty years of independence +is as striking in its way as the similar progress of the German people. +Unfortunately, the Bulgarians resemble the Prussians not only in their +virtues, but in their most unlovely qualities as well. There are the +same tactlessness, brutality, overweening ambition, and cynical +indifference to the means by which those ambitions are to be attained. +This has shown itself clearly throughout Bulgarian history. When +Bulgaria gained her independence of Turkey in 1878 she started with a +perfectly legitimate ambition, the attainment of Bulgarian race-unity +through the annexation of those Bulgar-inhabited portions of Macedonia +that remained under Turkish rule. For this the Bulgarian people toiled +and taxed themselves without stint. For this they built up a military +machine relatively the most formidable on earth. + +[Sidenote: Projects of the leaders.] + +But that was by no means the whole story. Race-unity may have been the +goal for which the simple Bulgarian peasant drilled and delved. His +leaders had more grandiose projects in view. This was specially true of +the Bulgarian monarch, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a man of great +political sagacity, but of a cynical unscrupulousness rivaling +Machiavelli's "Prince." Ferdinand's dream was a great Bulgarian empire +embracing the entire Balkan Peninsula, with its seat at Constantinople +and his exalted self occupying the imperial throne. This implied both +the expulsion of the Turks from Europe and the subjugation of the other +Christian Balkan peoples. In the Balkan War of 1912 Bulgaria's hour +seemed to have struck, but Ferdinand for once overplayed his hand, and +Bulgaria's Balkan rivals beat her on the battle-field and forced her to +the humiliating Peace of Bukharest in 1913. + +[Sidenote: the Peace of Bukharest.] + +The Peace of Bukharest was not a constructive settlement. It was an +attempt on the part of embittered enemies to punish Bulgaria's ambitions +and keep her permanently down. The result was most unfortunate. Playing +upon their balked desire for race-unity, Ferdinand bound his subjects to +his wider imperialistic designs. Raging under their humiliations and +their failure to redeem their Macedonian brethren, the Bulgarians +declared themselves ready to league with the devil if they might thereby +tear up the Bukharest parchment and revenge themselves upon their +enemies. + +[Sidenote: The opportunity for revenge.] + +The opportunity was not long in coming. The Pan-German devil was already +preparing his stroke for world dominion, and when the blow fell in 1914, +Bulgaria's alinement was almost a foregone conclusion. The military +losses in the recent Balkan Wars had of course so weakened her that +cautious diplomatic jockeying was a preliminary necessity, but when +Russia had succumbed to Hindenburg's hammer-strokes in the summer of +1915 and the Germanic hosts menaced Serbia in the autumn, Bulgaria threw +off the mask, struck Serbia from the rear, and joined the Teutonic +powers. Thus did the "Berlin-Bagdad" dream grow into solid fact, and +Mitteleuropa became a hard reality. + +[Sidenote: The people give hearty assent.] + +[Sidenote: Germany promises cessions from Turkey.] + +[Sidenote: Victory over Serbia and Rumania.] + +There can be no question that when Bulgaria entered the war on the +Teutonic side in the autumn of 1915 she did so with the hearty assent of +the vast majority of her people. The Germans had promised Bulgaria those +things which Bulgarians most desired. A Teutonic alliance offered +Bulgaria immediate possession of Serbian Macedonia, where lived the bulk +of the Bulgarian element still outside Bulgaria's political frontiers, +together with the practical destruction of the Serbian arch-enemy. The +Teutonic alliance likewise offered prospects of reclaiming the Bulgarian +populations of Greek Macedonia and of the southern Dobrudja, annexed by +Rumania, in 1913, should Greece and Rumania, both notoriously pro-Ally, +strike in on the Entente side. Lastly, the German Government agreed to +use its good offices with its ally, Turkey, to obtain for Bulgaria a +Turkish cession of the Demotika district of Thrace west of the Maritza +River, thereby giving Bulgaria direct railroad communication with +Dedeagatch, her one practicable outlet on the Ægean Sea. All these +things presently came to pass. Serbia lay crushed, and Serbian Macedonia +was under Bulgarian control before the close of 1915. Turkey soon +yielded Demotika. In the spring of 1916 the quarrel between the Greek +King Constantine and the Entente powers permitted Bulgaria to occupy the +coveted Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia, while that +same autumn Rumania's intervention on the Allied side resulted in her +speedy defeat, with Bulgarian troops overrunning the whole Dobrudja as +far as the Danube mouth, and Bulgarian regiments triumphantly parading +through the streets of Bukharest. Small wonder that up to the close of +1916 Bulgaria remained a loyal member of Mitteleuropa, thoroughly +contented with her bargain. + +[Sidenote: Effects of defeats on Russia.] + +[Sidenote: The Russian Revolution.] + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria only a link in Mitteleuropa.] + +The year 1917, however, saw the beginning of that estrangement from +Germany which has finally caused Bulgaria's abandonment of the Teutonic +cause. The first rift in the lute was the Russian Revolution. This event +was a great shock to Ferdinand and the Sofia politicians. When Bulgaria +had joined Germany in the autumn of 1915 her political leaders had +divined the fact that Russia's war spirit was broken by the crushing +defeats inflicted upon her by the Germans and that she would ultimately +retire from the war. But Sofia had looked forward to a Russian +retirement under imperial auspices and thereafter to a Russo-German +rapprochement in which Bulgaria should be the connecting-link, +extracting a profitable brokerage by playing off one against the other +in Balkan affairs. The idea was subtle, yet not without reason when we +remember that it was toward this very state of things that the last +czarist governments of Stürmer and Golytzin were feeling their way. +However, Bulgarian expectations were completely dashed by the credo of +Revolutionary Russia, which renounced imperialism and eschewed all those +near-Eastern ambitions which had been the watchword of the old régime. +Now, Bulgaria did not like the new situation. For though Russia was +definitely out of the Balkans, Germany and Austria were emphatically +not, and their weight was too heavy to be borne pleasantly even by their +friends. It was one thing for Bulgaria to be the connecting link of +Mitteleuropa, with mighty Russia always potentially present to redress +the balance. It was quite another matter to be just the link. That this +was to be Bulgaria's future rôle in Mitteleuropa, Germany's new attitude +made increasingly plain. The progressive disintegration of Russia +through 1917 riveted Teutonic domination on the Balkans and even offered +alternative routes to the East. This meant that Germany no longer needed +to show Bulgaria special consideration, and what that fact implied to +Teutonic minds was quickly shown by the series of bitter +disillusionments that Bulgaria had to experience. + +[Sidenote: Germany disposes of the Dobrudja.] + +The first shock came regarding the Dobrudja. When the Teuton-Bulgar +armies had swept the Rumanians out of the Dobrudja at the close of 1916, +Bulgaria had expected to acquire the entire peninsula. But Germany soon +showed that she had other ideas on the matter. The Dobrudja not only +controlled the mouth of the Danube, but also contained the port terminus +of the main railroad trunk-line from Central Europe to the Black Sea. +These things Germany had no intention of placing in Bulgarian hands. +Accordingly, Bulgaria was given only the southern Dobrudja, the rest of +the peninsula being held "in common." And when in the spring of 1918 +Russia's final collapse forced Rumania to make peace with the Central +powers, it was to them, and not to Bulgaria, that Rumania ceded the +Dobrudja prize. Of course Germany temporized, and extended the Dobrudja +"condominium" until the final peace settlement, but Bulgaria could see +with half an eye that her hopes in this quarter would never be realized. + +[Sidenote: The dispute with Turkey about Thrace.] + +A second shock was presently administered by Turkey. In return for +Bulgaria's extension of territory in the southern Dobrudja, Turkey +demanded compensation by Bulgaria's retrocession of the Demotika +district of Thrace. This district, it will be remembered, was vital to +Bulgaria's railway communications with her Ægean seaboard. Bulgaria +therefore angrily rejected the proposal, Turkey as vehemently insisted, +and by the beginning of 1918 a very pretty quarrel was on between the +two allies, culminating in at least one bloody mix-up between Turkish +and Bulgarian troops. In these circumstances Bulgaria appealed to +Germany, but was deeply chagrined to receive from the Wilhelmstrasse a +Delphic utterance which might have been interpreted as an indorsement of +Turkish claims. The reason for this was that Germany was then +overrunning the Ukraine preparatory to the occupation of Transcaucasia +and the penetration of the middle East. For such far-flung projects +zealous Turkish cooperation was a prime necessity. Accordingly, Turkey +had to be favored in every possible way. As for Bulgaria, she must not +embarrass Germany in her march to world dominion. + +[Sidenote: Germany does not promise Saloniki.] + +[Sidenote: Reservation regarding Macedonia.] + +A third shock was in store. Ever since the spring of 1916 Bulgaria had +occupied the Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia. In 1916, +Greece was clinging to an ambiguous neutrality, but a year later the +Entente powers deposed King Constantine, and Greece ranged herself +squarely on the Allied side, with a declaration of war against Bulgaria +as one of the first consequences. Thereupon Bulgaria urged Germany to +allow her definitely to annex the occupied districts and to promise her +Saloniki when victory should crown the Teuton-Bulgar arms. But here +again Bulgaria discovered that Germany had other fish to fry. Ex-King +Constantine and the Greek royalists might yet be very useful to Berlin. +Therefore they must not be alienated by giving Bulgaria territories +which would render every Greek an irreconcilable foe to Mitteleuropa. +Also Saloniki, the great Ægean outlet of central Europe was far too +valuable a prize to be committed exclusively to Bulgarian hands. But +Saloniki could be reached from central Europe only across Macedonia. +Therefore in the final Balkan settlement there must be reserves +regarding Bulgaria's control of the Macedonian railroad system. For that +matter, this might have to be applied to Bulgaria's own railroad system, +since it was the trunk-line from central Europe to the East. + +[Sidenote: German interests first.] + +So reasoned the suave German diplomats. The effect upon Bulgarian +sensibilities can be imagined. How far removed was this drab reality +from roseate dreams of imperial Bulgaria dominating the entire Balkans +and treating with Teutonic partners as a respected equal! The grim truth +was this: Bulgaria's promised gains were being whittled away according +to the shifting exigencies of German policy. Was anything certain for +the future? No. Because German interests came first, and the junior +colleagues must "do their part." Here once more appeared the Nemesis of +Prussian _Realpolitik_, that sinister heresy the crowning demerit of +which is that it is not even "real," since it reposes on short-sighted +egoism and disregards those moral "imponderables," good faith, +fair-dealing, etc., which weigh most heavily in the end. Having turned +the neutral world into enemies, _Realpolitik_ was now ready to turn +Germany's allies into neutrals. + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria is discontented.] + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria suffers also from previous wars.] + +Thus by the opening months of 1918 Bulgaria was no longer a contented +member of central Europe. Most of her political leaders were profoundly +disillusioned, and uncertain as to the future. Of course these political +matters were still somewhat veiled from the masses. But meanwhile the +Bulgarian peasant had been undergoing a little educative process of his +own. German diplomats might ask Bulgaria to make sacrifices. The +Bulgarian peasant could answer roundly that this was already the case. +For Bulgaria was suffering--suffering in every fiber of her being. When +she entered the European struggle in 1915, Bulgaria was still weak from +two bloody wars. True, the Bulgarian conscripts had marched gladly +enough once more, because they were told that it was a matter of a +single short campaign, ending in a speedy peace. But two long years had +now passed, and Bulgaria's manhood still stood mobilized in distant +Macedonia, while at home the fields went fallow, and the scanty +harvests, reaped by women and children, had to be shared with the +German. Everywhere there was increasing want, sometimes semi-starvation. +Bulgaria, like Russia, was proving that a primitive agricultural people +may make a fine campaign, but cannot wage prolonged modern war. + +[Sidenote: Premier Radoslavov resigns.] + +All this discontent, both above and below, presently focused itself in +the parliamentary situation. The opposition groups in the Bulgarian +Sobranje steadily gained strength until on June 17, 1918, Premier +Radoslavov was forced to resign. Radoslavov had been in power since +1913. He had been the architect of the Teuton-Bulgar alliance and was +known to be a firm believer in the Mitteleuropa idea. His successor, +Malinov, naturally gave lip-service to the same program, but his past +leaning had been toward Russia, and he had never displayed marked +enthusiasm for the Teutons. + +Of course this change of ministry did not mean that Bulgaria was then +ready to make a separate peace with the Entente Allies. Every Bulgarian +knew that such an act would mean the abandonment of Bulgaria's whole +imperialistic dream and the immediate relinquishment of supremely prized +Macedonia. But it did mean that Bulgaria was discontented with her +present situation and that she was resolved to take a more independent +stand toward her Teutonic allies even though Germany was in the full +flush of her great Western offensive and dreaming of a speedy entry into +Paris. + +[Sidenote: The changes of fortune in the West.] + +[Sidenote: Peace demonstrations.] + +[Sidenote: The tales of Bulgarian prisoners.] + +[Sidenote: The capitulation.] + +But just a month after Malinov's accession came the dramatic shift of +fortune in the West. The German offensive broke down, and the Allies +began their astounding succession of victories. Instantly the Balkan +situation altered. Bulgaria knew that the spring offensive had been +Germany's supreme bid for victory. To fill the ranks for the rush on +Paris and the channel ports the last German veterans had been withdrawn +from the East. Gone were those field-gray divisions which had stiffened +the Macedonian front and kept down popular discontent by garrisoning +Bulgarian towns. The peasant voice was at last free to speak, and it +spoke in no uncertain terms for an end of the war. Agrarian disturbances +increased in frequency. Peace demonstrations occurred in Sofia. In fact, +some of these demonstrations were tinged with revolutionary red. +Bolshevism, that wild revolt against the whole existing order to-day +manifest in every quarter of the globe, had not passed Bulgaria by. Of +course there was the army, but the army itself was not immune. By early +July, Bulgarian deserters and prisoners taken on the Macedonian front +were telling the Allied intelligence officers strange tales--tales of +midnight soldiers' meetings at which "delegates" were chosen in true +Russian fashion, and which Bulgarian regimental officers found it wisest +to ignore. Such was the situation in early summer. By the first days of +autumn Bulgaria was cracking from end to end. It was in mid-September +that General Franchet d'Espérey, the Allied commander, ordered the +Macedonian offensive. Small wonder that within a fortnight Bulgaria had +surrendered and retired from the war. + +[Sidenote: Turkey's doom sealed.] + +The consequences of Bulgaria's capitulation should be both momentous and +far-reaching. In the first place, Turkey's doom is sealed. Cut off from +direct communication with the Teutonic powers save by the Black Sea +water-route and staggering under her Palestine defeats, Turkey is now +menaced at her very heart. By the terms of the recent armistice Bulgaria +has agreed to allow the Allies free passage across her territory, +including the full use of her railways. This means that the Allies can +move through Bulgaria upon Turkish Thrace, the sole land bastion +protecting Constantinople. Turkey's military situation is thus hopeless, +and it is not impossible that before these lines appear in print Turkey +will have followed Bulgaria's example and will have thrown up the +sponge. + +[Sidenote: Rumania to be freed.] + +A second possibility is the liberation of Rumania. The "peace" imposed +upon Rumania by the Central powers last spring was one of the most +shameless acts of international brigandage in the annals of modern +history, and though dire necessity compelled Rumania to sign, it was +plain that she would submit to her new slavery only so long as the +Teutonic pistol was held to her head. This pistol took the form of a +Teutonic army of ten divisions camped upon her soil. But to-day Rumania +is thrilling to the great news, and when Allied bayonets begin flashing +south of the Danube these heliographs of liberty will light a flame of +revolt which second-rate German divisions will be unable to stamp out. +With the ground burning under their feet the Teutons will probably +evacuate Rumania with only the most perfunctory resistance to the +advancing Allies. + +[Sidenote: German prestige in the East crumbles.] + +And southern Russia is in much the same case. To-day it is bowed beneath +the Teuton yoke, yet the Teutonic corps of occupation are mere islets +lost in its vast immensity and ruling more by prestige than by physical +power. But German prestige is crumbling fast, and when Turkey's +surrender opens the Black Sea to the Allied fleets, southern Russia, +like Rumania, should be in a blaze. From the Ukraine to the Caucasus the +land is already seething with disaffection. The Don Cossacks have never +been subdued. Will the Germans dare to hold their thin communication +lines till the guns of Entente warships are thundering off Odessa and +Batum? + +[Sidenote: Austria's condition is desperate.] + +Lastly, there is Austria-Hungary. Bulgaria's capitulation opens the way +for the liberation of Serbia and an Allied push to the Austrian border +on the middle Danube. Beyond lie whole provinces full of mutinous +Jugoslavs and Rumanians. For that matter, all the non-German and +non-Magyar peoples of the Dual Empire are in a state of suppressed +revolt, held down by armies largely composed of their disaffected +brethren. Perhaps the Balkan winter may delay the Allied advance, +perhaps Germany may find enough troops to stifle Austrian disaffection, +but the condition of the Hapsburg realm is at best a desperate one, full +of explosive possibilities. + +[Sidenote: Bulgars are disillusioned about Germany.] + +[Sidenote: There may be a Balkan confederation.] + +These are the major consequences which seem likely to flow from +Bulgaria's surrender. There remains the question of the future attitude +of Bulgaria herself. Will she remain a passive spectator of these +momentous happenings, or will she, striking in on the Allies' side, do +her share toward bringing them to pass? The latter eventuality is more +than possible. The Bulgarians, from czar to peasant lad, are realists, +not given to vain sacrifices. They see that Germany's game is up and +that her Balkan grip is broken forever. They have also been bitterly +disillusioned about Mitteleuropa, and must to-day realize that under +Mitteleuropa whatever Balkan territories might have been colored +"Bulgarian" upon the map, they themselves would have been virtually +serfs of a Germany whose idea of empire was the outworn concept of a +master race lording it over submissive slaves. With their eyes thus +opened, the Bulgarians are in a position to appreciate the Allies' +profession of faith with its program of freedom for the smallest peoples +and fair-dealing even toward the foe. Imperialistic dreams must of +course be banished forever. But solicitude for race-brethren outside +Bulgaria's present frontiers is a sentiment which the Allies recognize +as wholly legitimate and which they are pledged to satisfy either by +permitting annexation to the homeland or, where this is impossible owing +to superior claims of intervening races, by assuring the unredeemed +Bulgars full cultural liberty. The Allies' hope is a Balkan +confederation in which its varied races may pull together in common +interest and mutual respect instead of rending one another in vain +dreams of barren empire achieved through blood and iron. Is it too much +to hope that so level-headed a people as the Bulgarians will come to +realize that in such a Balkan settlement their lasting interests will be +far safer than in a Balkans precariously dominated by a Bulgarian +minority holding down a majority of sullen and vengeful race enemies? + + +Copyright, Century, December, 1918. + + * * * * * + +The most picturesque army raised during the great war was that formed by +large numbers of Czecho-Slovaks, formerly prisoners of war in Russia and +deserters from the Austrian armies. This force fought its way through +Russia and Siberia, opposed by the Bolsheviks who had promised them safe +conduct to France. A description of these famous fighters is contained +in the following pages. + + + + +THE FIGHTING CZECHO-SLOVAKS + +MAYNARD OWEN WILLIAMS + + +[Sidenote: The romantic Czecho-Slovak army.] + +The Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force is one of the most romantic armies +of the ages and an important step toward world democracy and idealism. I +learned to know the Czechs in a journey across Siberia on one of their +trains. They furnished me a bed when beds were scarce, transportation +when transportation was scarcer, and shoes when shoes were necessary. I +have never seen a real Czech that I could not endorse. + +[Sidenote: Two methods of travel in Russia.] + +[Sidenote: A journey on a Czecho-Slovak train.] + +Last March there were two ways to travel in Russia. If one was an +American--relief worker, correspondent, Y.M.C.A. man--one could get a +private car. Many Americans rode that way for a trifling cost and +without inconvenience. And it was in such cars that some of Russia's +severest critics traveled. The other way was intimate travel with the +common herd. I started thus. It was at Irtishevo, a junction point near +the lower Volga, that I changed. In a crowded station in the Russian +disorder, I suddenly found myself looking into the eyes of a spirited, +smiling young officer, who had evidently learned that I was an American +journalist and who was explaining to me in three languages that there +was no way out of my riding to Vladivostok with his military train. He +wore a red and white ribbon. His alert bearing and enthusiasm marked him +in the numbers of nondescript soldiers who were still traveling in the +Russian chaos of last spring. I was about to protest mildly in French +when three of his fellow soldiers of fortune seized my baggage, carried +it around a countless number of trains and stowed it away in a +compartment from which another officer, warned of our arrival just in +time, was removing his personal effects. He may have stood up all night. +Anyway, I was a quite willing captive on one of the forty odd trains of +the Czecho-Slovaks which had started to cross Russia and Siberia to +fight for their liberty in France. + +My friend was of medium height, well knit, deep chested, smart in +bearing. The red and white ribbon on his cap was the badge of the +Czechs. Before I had left them at Vladivostok five weeks later I could +have picked a Czech out from any crowd by his air of determination +backed by an enthusiastic good cheer which everywhere won its way from +Austrian prisoner to warmhearted Russian peasant woman. All that night I +heard them singing in that splendid, low, group chorus of theirs along +the entire line of the train. + +[Sidenote: The Czechs are finely disciplined.] + +I found these finely disciplined fellows next morning sitting in the +doorways of their freight cars. Some were playing on violins they had +whittled out in the prison camps. The future of their cross country +jaunt to the Pacific worried them not at all. They had fought their way +out of the Ukraine, where German elements had tried to stop them. As +former citizens of the Central Powers, they were quite happy in the +chance to fight again for what their ancestors of five centuries before +had stood. Bolsheviks there were among them. But a Czech Bolshevik +differs from a Russian in that he shaves and thinks before he acts. +Never have I seen more sharp salutes or stricter discipline, and these +men were in Russia where discipline was a curiosity. A Czech is so +anxious to accomplish that he is willing to discipline himself. When a +Czech marches, he marches irresistibly. In theory, he may be a +Socialist. In action, he is a patriot. + +[Sidenote: Teaching English to Czech officers.] + +I found my place on the expedition as teacher of English to a group of +Czech officers and members of the National Assembly. My class wanted +English in order to be able to understand President Wilson's speeches as +they traveled across the United States, for they rank the President with +their own national leader, Masaryk. The Czech is literate in several +languages, and if he wants another he gives a week-end to it. In my +class were university graduates, artisans, engineers and musicians. The +Czech is a natural-born good mixer. + +[Sidenote: The young men make friends everywhere.] + +When our train would reach a town, these young men of action won friends +wherever they went. Milk woman and bread seller all along the +Trans-Siberian liked them, for they pay spot cash, deal honorably and +don't know what ruffianism means. + +The miracle accomplished by the Czechs is the result of discipline and +courage rather than strategy. Their rise to power was on their own +initiative. They could have stayed passive as have so many times their +number among the prisoners from other parts of Austria. But their stand +for freedom from the Austrian yoke is uncompromising. They started out +determined to fight for France and victory. The great bulk of the +remaining Austrian prisoners are completely satisfied if only they can +keep away from war. The Czechs are passionate in their burning +patriotism. The Austrian prisoners in Russia who still feel a certain +degree of loyalty to Austria are passive in their sentiment. Most of +them shrink from enforced military service--either back in Austria or in +a German-Austrian prisoner offensive on the spot in Siberia. + +[Sidenote: Groups that have no love for the Germans.] + +[Sidenote: Willing to join the Czechs.] + +This Czechish heart centre of virile independence acted as a powerful +magnet wherever their bands moved. All through Russia and Siberia, there +are refugee groups from Poland, Lithuania, Courland and the Riga +District. These people have no love for the Germans who drove them from +their homes nor for the Junkers of their own communities who handed +their lands over to the Germans rather than have them divided by the +Bolsheviks. Germany is finding that there is a difference between saving +landed proprietors from hostile peasants and workingmen and the huge +task of enslaving these same peasants under the Prussian yoke. Hundreds +of these elements in Russia's great refugee population wanted to enter +the Czech expedition, but these fighters were compelled to keep their +army small, compact and homogeneous. Transportation was insufficient. +Even Czech artisans were refused a place in the trains unless they could +pass rigid examinations. The willingness of other forces to unite with +the Czechs may well be counted on when the call for them comes in +Siberia and Russia. + +[Sidenote: The National Assembly of Bohemia.] + +[Sidenote: Attractive decorations of the cars.] + +The General Staff train on which I rode carried, in addition to the cars +for officers and men, a hall for the National Assembly meetings, a +complete printing outfit, a photographic dark-room, with full equipment +for still and motion pictures, a bakery, kitchens and a laundry. It was +on this moving train, all parts of which were connected by telephone +with the car of the commanding officer, that the plans for a New Bohemia +were being worked out. A daily four-page newspaper was published on the +General Staff train. It gave the ideals of the expedition, the current +news translated into Czechish, lessons in French for the use of the +forces on landing in France, and quotations from Professor Masaryk. +About four thousand copies of this paper were printed every day and +distributed not only among the Czechs but among many of the Austrian war +prisoners, who were thus informed of the ambitious plans these fighting +independents saw before them. Their trains showed their versatility and +love for decoration and home-making. Not only were they clean, but +hundreds of the cars were decorated with life-size drawings, and with +quaint designs in evergreens. To enable the men to find their friends, a +roster of the occupants of the car was printed on the red flanks of +their freight wagons. On the roofs, model aeroplanes and wind-mills spun +in the breeze. A Czech train reminded me of a picnic, and, aside from +the earnestness, it was. + +[Sidenote: Study and athletic contests.] + +For some travelers, the Trans-Siberian trip is monotonous. It was not +for the Czechs. They read and studied. They were always busy--even +before their clashes with the Bolsheviks began to take up some time. The +Y.M.C.A. had secretaries with some of the trains and sent supplies of +literature and games. The Bohemians are the champion gymnasts of the +world and athletic contests were arranged at every station, until at the +call of a bugle the train would pull out, picking up sweating, happy men +as it gathered speed. + +[Sidenote: The Czechs distribute President Wilson's speeches.] + +At the larger stations we spent sometimes hours, sometimes days. That +gave a chance for the Czechs to mix with the Russian people. It gave the +people an awakening sense of acquaintance with this happy race, who, +while going from war to war around the world, were distributing the +words of President Wilson to prove the sanity of their cause and the +folly of the Russian collapse. The President's speeches were widely +read and much appreciated. But these enthusiastic, friendly Czech +soldiers were the living examples of the President's rather abstruse +lessons of democracy. President Wilson might seem a political Messiah, +but the Czechs were the John the Baptists who made the initial +impression upon the Russian and Siberian peasants. + +An Austrian prisoner at a Siberian station shouted one day so all could +hear: "What is this freedom that you talk about?" + +Immediately a thick-chested Czech strode forward. + +"It is the one thing that makes a man a man," he replied. "It is the +thing that links men together without weakening them individually. It is +the thing that will wipe out tyranny, because a free man won't stand a +tyrant." + +As he talked to the slow-minded Russians and the slouching Austrian, +this ruddy-cheeked Czech exemplified the advantages he preached. There +was no slouch in his body, or character. The power that had gathered +together a group which had been dispersed all over Russia and welded it +into a fighting unit was not only passionate desire for freedom and +willingness to fight for it, but the power of self-discipline which made +both possible. + +[Sidenote: The spirit of crusaders.] + +The Czech army was gay without license. In Irkutsk, during the Easter +holidays, it ate ice-cream sandwiches or went up in tiny Ferris wheels +in the true spirit of the reveler at a dry-town carnival. In Omsk one +night it stood silent for hours, listening to the art of a Czech +violinist playing for the wounded in the Red Cross car. It paraded the +streets with a smile and an air of pride. It is boyish, open-hearted, +lovable. It makes friends. Neat in dress, erect in bearing, enthusiastic +in outlook--the Czechs win the Russian masses. There is the spirit of +the Crusaders in these fighters, a spirit of personal and national +cleanliness. Liberty to them is not a thing to wave a flag over but to +die for, if necessary. They are too sincere to be dramatic. + +[Sidenote: A force in establishing confidence.] + +Having come out of Armenia, with its remnant race of human wrecks, and +after months of the demoralizing fatalism and moral laxity of the +Russian, I was astounded by the miracle of stability of the tiny Czech +force in establishing an economic frontier between the Germanophile +sections of Russia and freedom-loving Siberia. Not only is this force +the key to the military problem of opposing Germany in Siberia. But from +the standpoint of sympathetic friendship between confused Russia and +America, the Czecho-Slovaks offer the most helpful force in establishing +confidence and turning into fact the good will which America bears to +Russian citizenry. + +They can best tell their own story. Lieutenant B---- of my English class +was typical. + +"When war was declared, I was in Switzerland," he told me. "Late in July +I climbed to the heights overlooking Austria. I could throw a stone over +into that land of oppression. That very day, when I went down into the +Swiss village, I heard that the Austrian mobilization had been ordered. +I could not believe that war would come. I returned to the land I hated +and in two days I had joined my class. We were to fight Russia. This was +unthinkable. Better to mutiny against our German and Magyar officers +than murder our brother Slavs. + +[Sidenote: Czech regiments went over to Russia by companies.] + +"And so it was that the word was secretly passed through whole regiments +of our men to desert to the Russians. The opportunity came when we faced +Brusiloff's army. The Russians knew and were ready to receive us. We +walked over in companies, with banners flying and bands playing and men +falling before the shots that rang out behind us. We hoped to turn and +fight against our oppressors. And for a while some of us did. But one by +one those of us who had entered the Russian ranks were removed and sent +to prison camps, whence we were scattered among the homes and factories +of Russia. My own band of companies was soon thoroughly broken up and +dispersed from Turkestan and the Caucasus to Tobolsk and Irkutsk. As +German influences strengthened at the Russian court we were sent to +worse and worse positions, malarial and barren territories. But we +prospered in spite of all that was done to oppress us. + +[Sidenote: Waiting the time to strike for liberty.] + +"For a while I managed a cotton factory in Turkestan and later I went to +open some mines further in the country. But all the while we kept in +touch with one another and day by day we waited for the time when we +could strike for liberty and Bohemia. Professor Masaryk was to give the +signal for the blow for liberty. + +[Sidenote: The Russian Revolution.] + +[Sidenote: Czechs ask to go to France.] + +"Then came the Russian Revolution. With the Czar, the German influences +at Court were overthrown. We left our farm work and our shop benches. We +poured out of the dark mines and united in Czech battalions to fight in +the armies of Kerensky. At Zborov, we pierced six enemy lines but were +forced to retreat because the other fighters failed to advance as fast +as we. Then came the long wait for the time when Russia should find +herself, as she is still trying to do. The Slav is not a coward once his +mind is trained. There is hope for his ultimate recovery. The power of +Czardom was enforced ignorance, and this made possible the infamous +treaty of Brest-Litovsk. But we saw that there was no hope for a mere +handful of us to hold the Russian front, and to attempt this would be to +antagonize the Russian people. So we applied for permission to leave +Russia and go to France. + +[Sidenote: The journey to Vladivostok.] + +"Everyone said that it could not be done. It meant going almost round +the world. But we were determined and soon we had gained the support of +the French Government and the permission of the Bolshevik leaders, who +were glad enough to get us out of the country. They feared we would +start a counter-revolution. But here we are in Siberia and the hardest +part of our journey is over. Two weeks more should find us in +Vladivostok and from there we can go very quickly to France, where +thousands of our fellows are already fighting for the cause of liberty." + +[Sidenote: The men are classified by occupation.] + +Captain H---- was in Omsk. Behind him, as I talked with him, was a card +index file showing the occupation and residence of forty thousand Czech +artisans resident in Siberia. Typewriters clicked in the bright office +and outside a Czech wagon arrived with a ton of meat en route to the +cold storage cellar which he had built in the outskirts of Omsk. + +[Sidenote: Food is obtained at high prices.] + +"I arrived here alone and with only a few rubles," said Captain H----. +"But I heard that some day my fellows would come through on their way to +France. So I began organizing our resources. Many of our men have made +much money as prisoners in Russia. They were generous. Men began to +flock in and we took off their Austrian uniforms and put them into +Russian uniforms--the uniform of our expeditionary force. Fighting men +were listed and trained. Artisans we merely listed, and there are forty +thousand names classified by occupation and residence in those files. In +three weeks we have taken in 610 Czech prisoners and sent them out in +the uniform of the expeditionary force to France. Every shoe and belt +and uniform is utilized and nothing is wasted except the hated Austrian +uniform, which is in most cases worn to shreds anyway. We have +established friendly relations with the people. Theoretically we are not +supposed to be doing this. Theoretically, we are not securing food. But +actually we are getting enough and to spare. Ten trains a week get +several days' supplies here. Only in disorganized Russia could such +things be. But we have to pay the secret agents of the local Soviet +sixty-five rubles for meat. Its market price is thirty-five." + +[Sidenote: Professor Masaryk in America is the leader.] + +In my note-book, I cannot find the names of a dozen leaders of the Czech +expedition. In a sense, there were no leaders. The outstanding fact in +the Czech army is the democracy of it. The leaders are men who have been +trained, but they owe their position to popular choice. Yet there is no +foolish idea that military decisions can be made by a committee of +soldiers. The Czech sacrifices personal ambition to his cause and that +is why his cause is worth fighting for. The Russian cause, a thing of +chaos, is losing force every day. I might almost say that the Czechs, in +Siberia, were led by Professor Masaryk, in America, through the +influence of his words in the daily paper. As prominent a figure among +the Czechs as any one man in the expedition is Kenneth Miller of New +York, director of the Y.M.C.A., and held on a high pedestal in the +affection of 10,000 men. He has had much to do with the moving of the +Czech trains in all their complicated travel arrangements. + +[Sidenote: How the Czechs came to control Siberia.] + +The democracy of the Czech army and the ease with which it made friends +continually surprise me. The officer who induced me to join them was a +mere lieutenant, yet he never consulted anyone about taking me in. Was I +not an American? Each day some officer was told off to arrange matters +with the station masters. They moved their trains without bluff or +bluster. Sometimes the Soviets hindered them in order to get what guns +and supplies they could. But not till weeks after they started did any +Soviet have the temerity to try to stop or disarm the men. The Russian +masses were quickly won to friendship for the Czechs and the only force +that tried to interfere was the Bolshevik battalions who acted under +orders from distant points, where the man who gave the order enjoyed +comparative safety. The way that their control of Siberia through an +attempt to disarm them came about is as romantic as any feature of their +story. + +[Sidenote: They have passes to leave the country.] + +The presence of forty thousand well-disciplined Czech soldiers whose +loyalty to the cause of freedom was stronger than that of the rapidly +changing Russian proletariat made it seem desirable to the Bolshevik +authorities to rid the country of men so willing to fight and so little +subject to the extreme socialistic doctrines then rife in Russia. Both +Lenine and Trotzky by agreement with Professor Masaryk furnished these +men with passes for leaving the country and in spite of the chaotic +condition of transportation ample rolling stock, amounting to about +sixty trains of forty freight cars each, was placed at their disposal or +secured by the Czechs through their own efforts. Arrangements had +already been made with representatives of the French Government so that +plenty of money was provided for provisioning, equipping and +transporting a minimum of forty thousand men over about six thousand +miles. + +[Sidenote: Military equipment being taken away.] + +[Sidenote: The Czechs resist.] + +Before these trains had gone far one local Soviet after another had +insisted on their leaving behind the armored motor cars, aeroplanes, +machine-guns and other military equipment which had been allotted to +them by the Russian Government during the Kerensky offensive. By the +time Penza--one day's run west of the Volga--was reached, after +machine-guns had been mounted on the engines in fighting their way +through the Germanized Ukrainian districts, the arms of each train had +been reduced to 140 rifles and ammunition. But the Czechs knew enough +about Russian conditions to realize the necessity for at least one gun +to a man and when the Bolsheviki, early in June, started to disarm them, +guns and rifles appeared from secret hiding places, to the extreme +consternation of the disarmers. + +[Sidenote: Siberian Soviets delay the Czechs.] + +[Sidenote: The Czechs overcome their captors.] + +The reason for their being in the district of the Urals is one part of +the romance of their adventurous life. Out across Siberia, near the +Manchurian frontier, during April and May, the Cossack General Semenoff +was operating. He had closed to traffic the Trans-Siberian line by way +of Harbin, so that the first twelve thousand Czechs had had to use the +single track Amur Railway line to the north by way of Khabarovsk. By May +4 an international proletariat army thoroughly mercenary in character +and numbering possibly three thousand men, largely Austrian prisoners of +war, was enlisted to repulse Semenoff from the region of the railway +junction at Karuimskaya. Obviously since it was known that the Czechs +were financed by France and that France favored intervention in Siberia +it was indiscreet to allow thousands of Czech soldiers whose bravery was +unquestioned to pass within fourteen miles of the army under the command +of Semenoff. Fictitious floods on the Amur and some well-founded stories +of the poor condition of the single track Amur line were conjured up by +the Siberian Soviets as a reason for temporarily preventing the Czechs +from proceeding to France. The only real service performed by Semenoff's +provocative army of mercenaries and Chinese and Japanese irregulars, was +the indirect one of detaining the Czechs in Siberia, a service on which +the Cossack leader never figured. There is no question but that to get +to France was the sincere desire of the Czechs and there was no +suggestion that their forces could be or desired to be used in Siberia. +Having left the Austrian army rather than fire on their brother Slavs +the Czechs could scarcely be expected to have much enthusiasm for +fighting Russians over an ill-defined intervention program through +thousands of miles of Siberia. Chafing under the enforced delay, these +soldiers insisted that they be allowed to proceed to France. This seemed +out of the question to the Bolsheviki whose only alternative was to +disarm them. The Czechs who had carefully avoided any aggression upon +Russians until then, immediately set up a stout resistance, quickly +overcoming their would-be captors and thus almost miraculously putting +the small force which had then probably reached one hundred thousand men +in control of thousands of miles of railway reaching from Novo +Nikolayevsk to Tcheliabinsk and thence along the two branches leading to +Ekaterinburg and Zlatoust. This virtually established an economic +boundary between Siberia and Russia along the line of the Urals, since +the unsettled condition of the country makes the railway the only +practicable line of communication. + +[Sidenote: How control of the railway is secured.] + +[Sidenote: The Russian peasants friendly.] + +The control of the railways was easily secured. At each of the important +stations Czech trains held the sidings. Due to the delay the trains +which should have been en route to France piled up at the stations, and +even in European Russia at Samara, Simbirsk and Suizran, a sufficient +number of Czechs held the station points to make their capture by +Bolsheviki forces a difficult matter. The Czechs made no attempt to +seize the towns located some distance from the stations or any other +territory. They wanted only to make secure their railroad travel. The +high prices which they paid for their necessarily large supplies of +provisions and the fact that they paid cash while the Bolshevik forces +and Soviets often requisitioned food supplies, likewise their good cheer +and personal magnetism, won for them the friendship of the peasant and +artisan classes in many of the villages so that when the clash came only +such Bolshevik forces as were definitely put to the task of disarming +them were actually hostile. The easy-going and friendly Russian peasant, +supine under the violent political changes, is a traditional friend and +an unwilling enemy. This characteristic, which the Allied Governments +have harshly criticized, may be counted upon to work to the advantage of +the Allies under any fair scheme for economic aid and peaceful +penetration which does not give grounds upon which active German +propaganda could construct open hostility. + +One may well wonder why the hundreds of thousands of Austrian war +prisoners in Siberia have not blown up tunnels, destroyed tracks and +otherwise tried to stop the Czech expedition. It may be that the +Austrians secretly admired these men and were too tired of war to take +the initiative in Siberia. + +[Sidenote: Seizure of Vladivostok.] + +[Sidenote: The people welcome the Czechs.] + +The seizure of Vladivostok by the Czechs was characteristic. From their +arrival, they attracted the attention and admiration of the people, many +of whom were planning an anti-Bolshevik demonstration. Every ship +commander in the harbor had his men ready for landing parties in case of +trouble. But there was no disorder on the day of the demonstration and +not till a month later did a Bolshevik disturbance give the Czechs a +chance to free an anti-Bolshevik city from its oppressors. Japanese, +Chinese, English or Americans from the war-ships could have done it. But +when the Czechs did it, a Slavic, Russian-speaking people gained +control of a city that gladly welcomed their intervention. The same idea +explains their marvelous success in Russia. Having braved death rather +than fight Russians, the Czechs can now fight oppressive Russian +elements without having their motives misunderstood or their plans +opposed. + +[Sidenote: Marriages of war prisoners and peasant women.] + +Siberia has afforded an interesting race study ever since the Teuton +prisoners began to arrive. From the very first, German and Austrian +prisoners mated with the sturdy peasant women of Siberia and settled to +a happy and unhampered life in the undeveloped lands of the great +plains. Some of the women had husbands at the front, but _nichevo_ never +means "never mind" to a greater extent than it does in Russian marital +affairs. A man's a man for a' that, and there was little trouble until +the two parents of different nationality and language discussed which +language the children should be taught. German and Russian produce the +same tow-headed stock. With the downfall of the Russian army the Russian +husband sometimes returned and though quite willing to assume +responsibility for the new offspring, insisted on asking the Austrian +substitute at his bed and board to leave. As often as not the Austrian +left. There were always a better farm and frau to be had elsewhere, and +some Russian women are tiresome anyway. + +[Sidenote: Many Austrians do not go home.] + +When conditions are like this in Siberia, why should an Austrian return +to a hungry country to fight a heroic enemy? A happy home in Siberia, +which some other man has founded, or starvation in Austria? No wonder +the Austrians in Siberia are a mercenary and unpatriotic lot. I saw many +in the Bolshevik army. Most of those I talked with were under arms for +the sake of the 200 rubles per month, equipment and food they were paid +by the Bolsheviks, without, as they told me, planning to run any +unnecessary chances of losing their lives in actual fighting against the +Czechs or any other enemy of the Bolsheviks for that amount of money, if +they could avoid it; not a very difficult matter. + +Allied military support of the Czechs in Siberia is not Japanese +intervention, and sentiment in Russia and Siberia against intervention +to-day is now what it was six months ago. If the Bolsheviki do not +represent the people of Russia, the only way the Russian people can +develop confidence in themselves, and strength, is to throw off the +Bolsheviki. The Archangel and Siberian regions have started such moves. + +Siberia seems ready to welcome the Czechs, and if the Allied forces in +Siberia keep themselves sufficiently in the background, Siberia will +probably welcome the friends of the Czechs. The Allies have failed in +Russia in the past because they have trusted upon material equipment +rather than upon education of the people in the ideals of our cause. A +certain amount of military intervention is necessary in Siberia if we +are to protect the Czechs and protect the supplies which an economic +mission would furnish. The danger lies in taking the control of that +military intervention out of the hands of the Czechs. If my observation +among all classes in Siberia counts for anything, the day the non-Slavic +forces of the Allies, especially the Japanese, whom the Russians +despise, move ahead of the Czechs who have already the confidence of the +Russians as no Allied army could, that day the Allied army will +encounter difficulties. This may spell tragedy for the cause of +democracy. + +[Sidenote: Siberia differs from Russia.] + +In general the Volga divides Siberia, the home of the freedom-seeking +exile, from Russia, in which for years German ideas have been encouraged +to the exclusion of French and English. Whole sections of Russia and +Siberia will starve this winter. If we follow the Czechs into Siberia +with economic aid, repairing and consolidating the railroad lines behind +them, installing modern methods of distribution we can then say to the +stricken people--"Some of you are starving, but this is in spite of all +the aid we can give." But across the Volga in Russia the people will say +to Germany--"We are starving because you took our food, because you +forced disorganization which has ruined us." Spring will allow the +intelligent Russian peasant to compare such Americanism with the blight +of Prussianism. Never fear that the object lesson will be in vain! + +[Sidenote: A nucleus for the forces of freedom.] + +Can the Czechs become an actual nucleus for the forces of freedom in +Russia and Siberia? They already are. The extent of their influence in +Siberia, in the region of the Don and in the heart of the Central Powers +themselves, is only limited by the support they receive from the Allies +and the restraint of the latter in independent action. The fate of +history may depend on the working out of the Czecho-Slovak miracle--a +plain gift of fortune to the cause of freedom. + + +Copyright, Asia, Journal of the American Asiatic Association, September, +1918. + + * * * * * + +The spirit which animated the American soldiers in France was a +revelation to the Allies, although it was precisely the spirit which +Americans at home knew would inspire them when they reached the actual +fighting line. Some instances of this spirit, and of experiences on the +American firing line, are told in the following pages. + + + + +SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE + +CORPORAL H.J. BURBACH + + +"We have arrived!" + +[Sidenote: We reach the front.] + +The French Army officer, who, skilled through years of actual artillery +service on the French fronts, had been my instructor through weeks of +training, and my guide up to the Front, stood still and spoke most +casually, as if our destination had been a Chicago restaurant. + +[Sidenote: My comrades are hidden in the fog.] + +"Yes, sir." I tried to be as casual, but could not disguise the +excitement that filled me. "Shall--the guns--" and I stopped, startled +at the tone of my own voice. It sounded as if it were coming from some +person a dozen feet away. And as I stood there a sense of elation, that +was possibly partly fear, swept over me. I looked about me, toward the +direction of the French officer who had spoken, toward the fellows of my +battery who had accompanied me up to the Front. I say toward their +direction, for I could not see my comrades--the fog that had come over +the land at sunset was too heavy to allow one to see an arm's length. + +The officer snickered. + +"Is this all that there is to it? Are we really on the firing line?" I +asked aloud. "Why, it's as quiet here as the Michigan woods!" + +The officer laughed again. + +"At this minute, yes," he said; then, "Wait here, I will be back +directly, and no noise!" + +[Sidenote: The firing line seems a lonely place.] + +He went off through the fog, and I have never experienced such a +feeling of loneliness as swept over me at that minute--loneliness, and I +really believe disappointment,--for I had imagined the firing line to be +a place of constant terror. + +"Gee, this is what we've been training for all these months!" I heard +one of the fellows say. "Well, all I've got to say is it won't be so +quiet over on the Boches' land when we get started," and they all +laughed. + +[Sidenote: An experience of many sensations.] + +It is absolutely impossible to describe the sensations that come over a +fellow when he realizes that he is going under fire. I think that you +pass through various stages that include every sensation in life. You +are frightened, you are glad to get into the fight. You are anxious to +begin--you wish you had a few weeks' longer training to become a better +shot. + +I am not sure how long we stood there waiting for the return of the +French officer who was tutoring us for our baptism of fire, but suddenly +he was at my side. + +[Sidenote: The first need is a signal station.] + +"The battery is to be over there," he pointed through the night, "and we +will set up a signal station right here. The first thing to do is to dig +in the telephone wires, for headquarters reports that there is +considerable rifle fire about here in the daytime. Order a detachment of +men to help you!" + +[Sidenote: Digging in the telephone wires.] + +"Yes, sir," and I went quickly back toward where I knew the men were +waiting, happy to think that there was work to be done at once. I gave +the orders that had been handed to me, and in about twenty minutes we +were turning over the earth. While we were working others were just as +busy, for our battery was being placed in position, and some fifty feet +behind the battery the others of the signal service detachment, of which +I was a member, were setting up a receiving station. As I helped in the +digging of that small trench for telephone wires my heart sang, and I +lived again the months that I had served in order that I might be fit +for the service I was performing that minute. + +It might be well, before going further into this narrative, to say that +the fellows who had accompanied me were the first American troops to +take charge of a sector of the French line, a sector which some day will +be moved into the heart of Germany and make old friend Hun wish that +there was a way for him to change his nationality and viewpoint. + +[Sidenote: The artillery training camp.] + +The training camp where we had prepared for the front after our arrival +in France had been purchased by the United States from the French, and +had been in use since the beginning of the war for the purpose of +putting the high spots on the training of men belonging to both the +heavy and light artillery. It was a spacious place; we had comfortable +quarters and lots of good food. I had been on the Mexican border, so +that sound of the heavy guns that were being used for training purposes +did not annoy me, though to about ninety per cent. of the rest of the +fellows this was a new sound, and orders were issued that cotton was to +be put in the ears. + +[Sidenote: The French officers are fine fellows.] + +Except for the return fire, we might have been at the front, for the +camp was an exact duplication of conditions under fire. Our equipment +was largely French, and the officers who tutored us in modern warfare +were all French--and as fine a bunch of fellows as ever lived. + +[Sidenote: Buying a village for a target.] + +One of the exciting incidents of the Camp was the day that news arrived +that the American government had purchased a small village just beyond +the Camp (France is honeycombed with small villages,--it is almost +impossible to walk a mile without passing through a village) and that +it was to be used as a target for the American boys. + +We practiced in turn, a battery going out for a few hours' work, and +then returning. Both light and heavy Artillery used the village as a +target, and it was not long before there was only a heap of rubbish to +tell where there had once been houses. + +[Sidenote: The instructors praise American marksmanship.] + +One of the things that the American fellows felt proud of was the fact +that they were constantly being praised by their French instructors +because of their very superior marksmanship. Several men told me that +the American troopers learned in two weeks' time as much of the +craftsmanship of war as the French learned in three months. As the story +was on themselves, I guess it must be true. + +[Sidenote: Good care close to the firing line.] + +[Sidenote: A question of high prices.] + +We worked hard in camp, but the fellows liked it. We had good food, lots +of fresh vegetables, and meat. It is a fact that the closer you get to +the firing line the better care you get. There was plenty of recreation +through the Y.M.C.A. activities, but we did not have many furloughs. +Remember that at the time I am writing of, the American boys were new in +France. One of the reasons for the lack of furloughs was that in many of +the towns near the great camps that were set apart for the Americans the +merchants had decided that it was harvest time, and prices had gone very +high. General Pershing himself ordered that no member of the American +force should buy anything in these towns until the matter of prices was +adjusted, and this was speedily done. + +[Sidenote: A journey in motor trucks.] + +[Sidenote: Making the new quarters sanitary.] + +I had been in the training camp about a month, making a special study of +telephone work as carried on between the front-line trenches and +outposts regimental headquarters, and the various gun batteries of the +regiment. At the end of that time I was detached from my regular +battery and assigned as Signal Sergeant to work with another battery +proceeding immediately to the American sector of the Front. We did not +travel forward in gradual stages as is the usual custom of approaching +the firing line for the first time, but made the journey as quickly as +possible, in motor trucks--a never-to-be-forgotten journey. Our +destination was a village between five and ten miles from the Front, +where we were to be billeted, and where the American troops would spend +their time while not actively in the trenches. We got there in the +afternoon, and a batch of the men were detached to make the place clean +and perfectly sanitary. It needed their work. The village had been used +by the French soldiers for some time, and there had been no time or +opportunity for repair work. With the coming of the Americans it was +different. Cleanliness is a strictly enforced rule with the fellows of +our fighting force, and from a standpoint of sanitation we are literally +introducing soap, water and whitewash into France. + +[Sidenote: The order to advance.] + +Later that afternoon, when it was growing dusk, came the orders to go +forward--and at nightfall I found myself walking beside the French +officer across rough ground, a very occasional dull boom telling us that +there was an enemy before us--but all other sounds seemed natural. + +As I said before, it is impossible to accurately describe the sensations +that come over a fellow when he discovers that he is on the firing line, +and I welcomed the work to which I was so quickly assigned, and which we +rapidly accomplished. I marveled at the precision with which I had gone +to work that first night on the front, but everyone had their work to +do, and did it so quickly and coolly that we had no time to think of +personal feelings. + +[Sidenote: An interesting day on the firing line.] + +The first day on the firing line was very interesting. The battery kept +up a constant fire, getting range from the map which is issued daily--as +well as the given ranges, targets, etc. (which arrived over the field +telephone). That night we stood ready to do any work required, but no +orders came through, and I had my first experience in sleeping in a gun +pit. + +Our food, by the way, was brought up daily from the headquarters at the +village and was prepared in rolling field kitchens. + +[Sidenote: Food is good and abundant.] + +As an example of the care that the fellows are getting, I might say that +we were given bread and milk, fruit, excellent coffee, eggs, or possibly +hash, and, of course, bread for breakfast; a heavy meal of soup, steak +or some roast meat, potatoes and vegetables, coffee and sweets, came +next, with a meal of canned foods for supper. All of it well cooked and +mighty tasty. Believe me, Uncle Sam was taking mighty fine care of his +soldier boys! + +[Sidenote: The telephone system is demolished.] + +The following day started as the first, but in the middle of the +afternoon the telephone system of our sector was demolished by rifle and +it was impossible to get into communication with either the headquarters +or the trenches. + +"That stops work for today!" the officer told me. "No more gun fire till +we get it fixed." + +I can remember asking anxiously what we could do. + +"Nothing just this minute," he laughed at my eagerness, "but tonight you +and I will crawl out on our bellies and find that broken wire. Then we +will fix it, and unless they find us with a shell we'll crawl back." + +[Sidenote: We go out to mend the wire.] + +The prospect was exciting, and I waited anxiously for night. Then, armed +with the necessary tools, we started to crawl along the trench +containing the wires. We had no light, we could not stand upright. We +went about a half mile, feeling every inch of wire for the break, and +then suddenly I ran my hand along the wire that suddenly came to a +point. We had found the break. + +"I've got it," I called in my best whisper, but before I could receive a +reply there was a noise from the German trenches. + +"Star shell, star shell," my French companion called excitedly. + +[Sidenote: A star shell bursts above us.] + +Suddenly the shell burst above us, and it was more brilliant than day. +Frightened! Say, that light is so great and the knowledge that if the +Germans spot you you're a goner, makes you just lie there and forget to +breathe! It does not take many seconds for a star shell to die away to a +glow, but in those seconds you go right through life and back to the +present. When the light was gone I lay there fairly panting for breath. + +"We'll have to work quickly," came the inspiring voice at my elbow, and +we did. We had not finished work before a new star shell was sent up. + +[Sidenote: The repair work is finished.] + +The repair work did not take many minutes, and we started back again. We +were halted several times by star shells, and after the second or third +time I began to reassure myself by saying that the Germans did not know +I was out there, that they had nothing against me individually. +Afterwards I heard one of the officers say that they were probably +suspicious because of the sudden cessation of the gun fire that +afternoon, and were looking for a raiding party to cross no-man's-land. + +[Sidenote: The noise of the shells.] + +During the time that I was at the front, it was the custom for men to +spend six days at the front, then go back to the village in which they +were billeted--always well beyond the firing line--and there rest for +about two weeks. By the end of my third day I had become quite +acclimated to the noise. One afternoon a scouting aeroplane must have +reported some fancied movement of troops in a village two or three miles +back of us, for the Germans started a heavy barrage which went singing +over our heads. The shells went high, but just the same they made +everyone uncomfortable for a few minutes. Fellows that have been on the +line, however, will tell you that you don't mind the noise of shell +fire--for you figure it out that the bullet that hits you is the bullet +you never hear--and while that doesn't seem a very comfortable thought, +you soon forget to think of danger. + +[Sidenote: Shifting the gun's position.] + +Perhaps the most exciting incident, and at the same time the one that +sent more terror to our hearts than any other, occurred late one +afternoon. It was foggy, though fog always hung over our battery--in +fact, the climate of the front that has been assigned to our troops is +notorious for its winter fogginess. Orders had been sent out to shift +the position of our gun, and as the afternoon wore away--and the thick +smoke-like pall that hung over us made it impossible to recognize the +fellow standing next to you when he was half a dozen feet away--it was +decided that there was no use to wait till night, but that we could +shift the gun at once. + +[Sidenote: A German aeroplane right overhead.] + +All the crowd started to work, the new gun pit was ready, and the signal +station was all moved. It was just as we got the gun into the position +and were straightening it into position that a faint breeze came +stealing down from the mountains. In a minute the breeze was stronger, +and we could see a hundred yards away. In another minute we could see +three times that distance, and at the end of the third minute we could +see clear up into the heavens--and there was a German plane flying +straight for us. + +Did you ever stand waiting for death? I suppose not--but that was what +happened to our gun crews. The plane swooped low and seemed to hang +right over us. We waited, hardly daring to breathe. I saw the +perspiration running from one fellow's face, and guess it was running +down mine. I know that I had a most pressing desire to run--anywhere, so +long as I was moving. As I was looking down I glanced at my wrist watch +about every thirty seconds and lived minutes between each glance. No one +spoke--it was as if we had suddenly been turned to wood. Then after +fifteen minutes of observation the Hun plane circled away from us--and +we had lived several lifetimes in that short time. + +[Sidenote: Army trucks take us back to the village.] + +It was the fog that got me--and sent me back to the United States. Two +years before, coming home from drill at the armory (I was then a member +of the National Guard) I fell asleep on the train and contracted a +severe cold. The cold never seemed to leave me, and now, after a week of +fog, after sleeping in a gun pit, I grew hoarse and developed a nasty +cough. I was not really sick when I left the firing line after my six +days and returned to the billet, but I felt pretty miserable. I can +remember being glad when, after a several miles' walk back of the lines, +we found the army trucks ready to carry us to the village where we were +quartered. + +[Sidenote: A month at the base hospital.] + +I spent four days in the billet receiving further instruction from my +French officer, and then after ten days I started back to the training +camp, where I was to help in the instruction of the fellows of my +division who had not as yet been under fire. By the time I reached the +camp I was what might be termed all in, down and out. I went to the +hospital, and when I was able I was moved in an ambulance to a U.S. Army +Base hospital far removed from the firing line. I was at the base +hospital a month, and spent most of the time in the sunshine trying to +get rid of the heavy bronchial condition that had fastened itself to me. +The hospital was full--but not with Americans. I was surrounded by +fellows from all the allied nations, and had the chance to talk with +them. They're a great lot, and anybody who has any doubt about whether +we are going to win this war needs only a few minutes' conversation with +some of the chaps that have been over there for years. You bet we're +going to win--there isn't a thought of anything else but victory. + +[Sidenote: Orders to go home.] + +At the end of my month at the base hospital it was decided that I was +not fit for the firing line. Uncle Sam is mighty good to his fellows--he +does not believe in placing them under unnecessary risks, and when the +doctors said that my bronchial condition was practically chronic, and +the life on the firing line would only aggravate it, I got my orders to +go home and take up service in a climate where there was less chance of +my becoming a liability and where there was just as much work for me to +do as in France, though of a different nature. + +It was a disappointment, but I'm glad to think that I had those six days +on the firing line, and proud to think that I was with the first batch +of Americans to see service in the fight against autocracy. + + +Copyright, The Forum, May, 1918. + + * * * * * + +That portion of France in which the American army did its most active +fighting is a country filled with historic and romantic associations. It +is also a country of great scenic beauty. The following article +describes graphically the general aspect of this portion of France. + + + + +AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD + +RAOUL BLANCHARD + + +[Sidenote: A glorious battlefield.] + +Terrific battles, ushering in the dawn of victories which will ensure +the freedom of the world, were fought in July and August, 1918, between +the Marne and Vesle rivers, from Château-Thierry to Soissons and Fismes. +In this soul-stirring struggle the young American troops played a large +part, and played it with heroism and success. It has occurred to us, +therefore, that the American people will be glad to become acquainted +with the battlefield made glorious by their sons, with the soil which +will some day be a consecrated goal of pilgrimage for the entire nation. + +[Sidenote: The field once the most beautiful country.] + +This field of death, bristling with ruins still smouldering, was +formerly, and will soon be once more, a beautiful stretch of country. +Here we are in the heart of the Ile de France, and the countryside +displays all the gracious charm of a typical French landscape. With its +undulating plateaus, pleasant vales, broad green valleys, forests and +greensward, châteaux and villas, small towns, and dear old villages +thronged with souvenirs of the past, the district between the Marne and +the Aisne was peculiarly representative of France--the France of the +Merovingians and Capets as well as of the twentieth century. + +There is no manufacturing and little commercial activity; but a +skillful, varied, and persistent culture of the soil, with special +attention to those most exacting of crops, the vine and vegetables, +which are successfully raised only by dint of hard labor, and to the +production of vast quantities of sugar-beets and cereals. + +[Sidenote: The villages are built of stone.] + +The villages, built of the beautiful stone of the district, have, one +and all, an air of dignity and prosperity which gives animation to the +landscape. The very names are among the most pleasant to the ear, and +often among the most illustrious in the language. Our great men of +letters, La Fontaine and Racine, Pope Urban II, who preached the First +Crusade, and other statesmen and princes, all born in the province, had +already made it a genuinely historic spot; and the memory of the battles +fought by Napoleon at Château-Thierry and Soissons, against the invaders +of 1814, has not yet faded. When they turned the enemy back from Paris, +the Americans were fighting in the most truly French of all the +districts of France, and their gallantry has imparted to it a new charm, +a more resplendent glory. + +[Sidenote: Topography from the Marne to the Vesle.] + +But this attractive region does not exhibit everywhere the same +features. The topography of the Ile de France is so varied that one can +distinguish several families, or groups, of landscapes between the Marne +and the Vesle. Let us follow them, in the order followed by the +different stages of the battle. + +The southern portion is the most elevated and most picturesque; it +includes the shores of the Marne, from Epernay to Château-Thierry, as +well as the hills and valleys to the eastward, grouped about the Ardre +River in the district called the Tardenois. In the centre the +battlefield embraces plateaus studded with low hills, half hidden by +broad patches of forest, and cut by deep, narrow valleys--those of the +Ourcq and its affluents; whence the region is known as the district of +the Ourq, or the Orxois. Lastly, to the north this undulating ground +gives place to a practically level plateau, a vast table-land of +cultivated fields, through which flow the deep ravines of the Aisne, the +Vesle, and their affluents. This is the Soissonnais. + +[Sidenote: The wake of the American armies.] + +From the Tardenois to the Soissonnais by way of the Orxois, let us +follow in the wake of the French and American armies, in their +decisively victorious advance. + +[Sidenote: Valleys of stream cut deep.] + +On emerging from the plains of Champagne, at Epernay, the Marne flows +through the plateaus of the Ile de France as far as Paris, and the +country along its banks changes its aspect. Instead of the wide valley +which seems one with the immense bare plain, the stream, breaking out a +path for itself through the solid mass of the plateau, has cut a gash +from 500 to 2000 metres in width, which turns and winds in graceful and +ever-changing curves. Thus, although its general course is from east to +west, the trend of the walls of the valley constantly changes and bears +toward every point of the compass in turn. Moreover, these walls, +intersected by the ravines and valleys of numerous tributary streams, +are cut up into capes, bastions, and deep hollows. Finally, the cliff +from whose summit the plateau overlooks the valley, and whose average +height is about 150 metres, at times rises steeply from the lowland, and +again is broken up into terraces following the different strata of which +it is composed. Thus, although the topographical elements are simple +enough, they lend themselves to an ever-changing combination of forms, +which gives to the landscape its great charm, and at the same time +offers some formidable advantages of various kinds from a military +standpoint. + +[Sidenote: The placid Marne.] + +[Sidenote: The Marne easy to cross.] + +The bright green ribbon of the Marne winds along the valley bottom. The +placid stream, about a hundred metres wide and broken here and there by +islets, wanders from one bank to the other, lined by poplars and +willows. On either side of its limpid waters are broad fields, whose +delicate greenery frames the sparkling line of the river, which forms a +by no means impassable obstacle. In the days just preceding the German +offensive of July 15, American patrols constantly crossed between +Château-Thierry and Mézy, and picked up prisoners and information on the +northern bank. In like manner, during that offensive the attacking +German troops were able without great losses to cross the Marne and +attack the defenders on the southern bank. To be sure, the Allied +air-men made their life a burden by keeping up an incessant bombardment +of the bridges, large and small. + +[Sidenote: Fierce fighting on the slopes.] + +But the real obstacle which this valley offers is found in the slopes +which dominate it, and it was there that the fiercest fighting took +place until the day when the French and Americans, having thrown the +enemy back across the river, scaled the cliffs of the right bank on his +heels and dislodged him therefrom. In this neighborhood there were two +sectors of terrific fighting--that of Châtillon-Dormans upstream, and +that of Château-Thierry below. + +[Sidenote: A wide valley with steep slopes.] + +[Sidenote: The vine-growing district.] + +Going upstream, the valley is quite wide: from Monvoisin to Dormans, by +Château-Thierry, it measures two kilometres almost everywhere. The high +cliff which overlooks it on the north, cut by a multitude of narrow +valleys coming down from the table-land of the Tardenois, forms a series +of buttresses which make excellent defensive positions. On the sharpest, +which is a genuine peninsula overhanging the main valley, sits the +village of Châtillon, formerly crowned by a haughty feudal castle, on +whose ruins was erected a statue of Pope Urban II, who long ago had +trouble with the German emperors. The slopes below are hard to climb, +because of their steepness and the network of tilled fields. Here we +are at the heart of the vine-growing district, and these banks of the +Marne contribute largely to the production of the famous champagne. The +vines extend, on long rows of poles, to the very summit of the cliffs, +especially on the right bank, which has a better exposure to the sun; +they are often connected by strands of wire, on which straw mats are +placed to protect the vines from the cold in winter. + +[Sidenote: Allied troops find many obstacles.] + +On a lower level, nearer the stream, are magnificent orchards: the +cherry tree joins with the vine to impart to those slopes an aspect of +rustic opulence. Huddled white villages, with tawny-hued pointed roofs, +follow one another in regular succession on the rolling ground. Their +names have lately won a terrible celebrity: Binson, Vandières, +Vincelles, Tréloup. Sandstone quarries burrow into the summit of the +cliffs and furnish shelters for the defenders. Finally, there are strips +of forest along the slopes wherever the exposure is thought poorly +suited for crops. All these features unite to form a cheerful, animated, +lovely landscape; but at the same time a conglomeration of obstacles +which the Allied troops were able to overcome only after fierce +fighting. + +[Sidenote: Villages in the hillsides.] + +Below the little town of Dormans, the valley narrows temporarily: from +Tréloup to Brasles it is frequently less than 500 metres in width. The +cliff, although steep as before, is less cut up, and the patches of +forest are large. At the mouths of the smaller affluent valleys, the +villages rear their church-towers on the hillsides, overlooking the +lowest vineyards and orchards; on this right bank are Jaulgonne, +Chartèves, and Mont Saint-Père, all taken by the Allies late in July, +and Fossoy, where the Americans successfully repulsed the German attack +of July 15. + +[Sidenote: The ancient town of Château-Thierry.] + +But now the valley widens once more as it enters the broad basin of +Château-Thierry. It is a beautiful spot, and at the same time, of great +military value. The little town long ago forgot its rôle of fortress, +but has been brutally reminded of it by the violence of the battles that +have been fought in its neighborhood. In the foreground is the wide +expanse of fields in the valley bottom; then a suburb of the town +enclosed between two arms of the Marne. Across the river, scaling the +slopes of a hill crowned by the ruins of a castle, the town rises, +terrace-like, at the mouth of a narrow valley. The position can be +carried by frontal attack only on the heels of a defeated foe, as +Napoleon carried it in 1814, and Franchet d'Esperey just a hundred years +later. But in 1918 the Americans had to take Château-Thierry in flank, +and in order to force their way into the town, had to fight the bloody +battles of Vaux, Bouresches, and Etrepilly, which carried them to the +north of the town and hastened its evacuation. + +[Sidenote: Military operations difficult.] + +What is the nature of the terrain above those steep cliffs which enclose +the valley of the Marne? Does it become more favorable to military +operations than the deep depression through which the river flows? Not +by any means. The surface of the table-land is broken by so many ravines +and narrow valleys which descend steeply to the Marne, that it is cut +into a multitude of ridges and hillocks amid which it is no longer +possible to recognize the original horizontal aspect of the plateau. + +[Sidenote: Heavy impermeable soil.] + +[Sidenote: Hills that are fortresses.] + +On the other hand, the strata which lie on the surface--loam, sandstone, +and clayey sand--make a heavy, impermeable soil, quite infertile, in +which it is hard to raise anything, and which is largely given over to +woods. Thus, freedom of movement is impeded by deep ravines, ridges +running in all directions, and more or less dense forests; an offensive +is difficult, and the defensive easy. This is true in the immediate +neighborhood of Château-Thierry, where the ravines of Vaux, Brasles, +Chartèves, Jaulgonne, and Tréloup, and the valley of the Surmelin, slash +the plateau on either side of the Marne into fragments--into +forest-topped hillocks which are genuine fortresses, where the struggle +was terrific and where the Allies were able to advance only one step at +a time: on Hill 204, west of Château-Thierry, in the Bois de Mont +St-Père, the forest of Fèze above Jaulgonne, and especially on the spur +of the forest of Riz; and south of the Marne, at the broad, wooded +bastion of Saint-Agnan and at La Chapelle-Monthodon, where the fighting +was so intense from the 15th to the 20th of July. + +[Sidenote: The villages and forests of the table-land.] + +[Sidenote: Genuine mountain battles.] + +This strip of broken table-land becomes broader again farther upstream, +above Dormans and Châtillon-sur-Marne. In that direction the plateau of +the Ile de France ascends until it is more than 260 metres above the +stream. Erosion has been even more active there, and in that part of the +Tardenois the plateau is dissected into narrow strips separated by deep +valleys, broad and moist, the largest of which is the valley of the +Ardre. In the valley bottoms the streams are bordered by bands of +tillage land; above, on the lower slopes, amid the vineyards and +orchards which monopolize all the favorable exposures, is a multitude of +small villages, some of which have become famous--Ste. Euphraise, +Bligny, and Ville-en-Tardenois, whose rustic dwellings of uncut rubble, +arranged amphitheatre-wise, sheltered some 500 inhabitants. Higher up, +on the uneven surface of the plateau, are scattered villages built on +limestone foundations--tiny fortresses, like Rumigny and Champlat, the +scene of hard-fought battles. Almost the entire surface is covered with +forests of pine and oak and birch. These are the woods of Le Roi, +Courton, Pourcy, and Reims, where hand-to-hand fighting went on for more +than a fortnight, British, Italians, and French succeeding at first in +checking the enemy and then in forcing him back, in those titanic +combats. They were, in reality, genuine mountain battles; for the hills +reach a height of 265 metres, above the level of the plateau, while the +valleys are at least 100 metres deep; and the difficulties of the uneven +surface were greatly increased by the obstacles offered by forests, +vineyards, streams, and the villages, closely packed with stone houses, +which could easily be transformed into fortifications. + +[Sidenote: The first great American battle.] + +A deep, broad, swampy valley, traversed by an unfordable stream; +surmounted by steep slopes bristling with vineyards, orchards, villages, +and diversified by quarries; above, an entanglement of low hills, +ravines, and valleys, under a mantle of forest--such was the theatre of +operations in which the Americans won their first great victory. A more +difficult terrain could not be desired, or one better adapted to test +the valor of the victorious troops. + +But when they had made themselves masters of this battlefield, the +Allies were by no means at the end of their labors; and the difficulties +of the ground to be traversed were still serious in the central portion +of the theatre of operations--the Orxois. + +[Sidenote: The Orxois plateau--its soil and relief.] + +[Sidenote: A varied landscape.] + +The Orxois is a plateau extending north of the Marne to the Soissonnais, +at a mean height of 160 metres. But it is very far from being uniform. +Let us study the nature of its soil, and the relief, that we may +comprehend its aspects more thoroughly. The substratum of the plateau of +the Orxois is the layer of rock called "hard limestone" 30 to 40 metres +in thickness, so much of which is used for building material in the +towns and villages. This layer is almost horizontal, and if there were +nothing superimposed upon it, the plateau would be a practically level +platform. But above the hard limestone are successive layers of a far +different character--layers of sand, of Beauchamp sandstone, mingled +with marl, making a moist, impermeable, infertile soil; then another +layer of limestone, softer and more clayey than that below. Finally, +this upper limestone is covered, especially toward the east, with thin +layers of marl, clay and, lastly, Fontainebleau sand, which are +connected with the strata of the Tardenois. Thus, to a depth of 100 +metres, we find a succession of diversified strata, hard and soft, dry +and moist, which impart great variety to the landscape. + +The valleys which intersect this conglomeration run from east to west, +toward the deep depression hollowed out by the Savières and the Lower +Ourcq. From north to south, we can count three--the Upper Ourcq, by +Fère-en-Tardenois and La Ferté Milon, the Ru d'Alland, and the Clignon. +Very wide where they pass through the upper strata, these valleys grow +abruptly narrower and deeper when they reach the level of the hard +limestone, where they are little more than deep and narrow ditches. +Between these furrows, the marl, sand, and softer limestones form +ridges, now steep, now rising more gently, the sandy soil bearing woods, +the limestones cultivated fields. + +[Sidenote: The ridges run east and west.] + +Thus the whole plateau of the Orxois is a series of elevations and +depressions, running from east to west, which form just so many +obstacles to an advance from south to north like that of the Allies. +Luckily they approached this locality at the same time from the west, +which enabled them to outflank the obstacles simultaneously with their +approach from the south. + +[Sidenote: Torcy, Belleau and Bouresches.] + +North of Château-Thierry, three or four kilometres from the Marne, the +plateau is less diversified. The only obstacle is the valley of the +Clignon, which deepens rapidly toward the west. Above it, at the summit +of the limestone cliff, the plateau forms a species of promontories on +which are built villages--Torcy, Belleau, Bouresches. The American +troops had held their positions there during the last part of June, and +it was there that the heroic marines halted the enemy in his march upon +Paris. And again, it was there that they assumed the offensive on July +18, to outflank Château-Thierry from the north. On that day they carried +the ridges of Torcy and Belleau; on the 19th they pressed beyond +Bouresches; and on the 20th they forced their way into Etrepilly and +Château-Thierry. + +[Sidenote: The terrain beyond is less rugged.] + +Immediately beyond, the terrain is not so difficult. The Clignon valley +becomes less rugged and gradually blends with the plateau. Toward +Bézu-St.-Germain and Epieds lies a comparatively open plain with +extensive stretches of fallow land. In this more open region the +progress was more rapid; on July 22 the American troops took possession +of Epieds, twelve kilometres from Bouresches, their starting point. + +[Sidenote: Along the valley of the Ourcq.] + +But the difficulties are more serious farther to the north, along the +hills which form the southern boundary of the valley of the Ourcq. +Although the depression made by the Ru d'Alland, being broad and level, +is not a considerable obstacle, it is not the same beyond. The relief +map shows a line of heights running from west to east, and rising higher +and higher in that direction. From these heights a multitude of valleys +descend to the Ourcq, from south to north, cutting the crest into hills +separated by depressions. Thus the terrain is broken up in every +direction and well adapted to meet an attack from the west as well as +one from the south. + +[Sidenote: The French carry ridges and valleys in succession.] + +It was necessary to deal with all these obstacles one by one. Starting +from the west, the French had to carry successively these lines of +crests and depressions with their fortified villages: ridge of Monnes, +July 19; ravine of Neuilly-St-Front the same evening; the hill of +Latilly and its wood the 20th; La Croix and Grisolles the 21st, with +their thickets and dense plantations of osiers. On the 23d the Allied +troops took Rocourt and the wood of Le Chatelet; on the 24th the deep +ravine of Brécy; and, finally, on the 25th, French and Americans +together attacked the hill of the forest of Fère, which is 228 metres +high, completely covered with woods, cut by ravines, and flanked by +fortified villages. On the 27th the whole position was taken, and the +Allies were on the verge of the deep valley of the Ourcq, which they +were next to cross. + +[Sidenote: Caves in the cliffs.] + +[Sidenote: Allies turn the line of the Ourcq.] + +This line was a by no means inconsiderable obstacle. Imagine, if you +please, a deep depression, twisting and turning in all directions, and +from 200 to 400 metres wide, extending at least as far as +Fère-en-Tardenois. It is bounded on either side by cliffs of hard +limestone, 30 to 40 metres high, in which innumerable caves are +scooped--the so-called _boves_, which are used as dwellings, with doors +and windows flush with the face of the cliff. These _boves_ are +invaluable defensive positions, out of reach of bullets and shells. The +valley bottom is wet and swampy, with dense clumps of poplars mingled +with alder-bushes. There are numerous villages at the foot of the +cliffs,--Rozet-St.-Albain, Brény, Armentières,--or on the slopes above, +like Noroy. A frontal attack on such a position would have been too +costly. The Allies turned the line of the Ourcq from the north. They +crossed the river in force in the upper part of its course, where it +has not yet attacked the stratum of hard limestone, and where the valley +is wider, and the sides are less steep. Nevertheless they encountered +terrible difficulties. + +[Sidenote: Strategic value of hills of Orxois.] + +North of the Ourcq, indeed, the last heights of the Orxois form another +chain of hills, from four to six kilometres wide--the last obstacle +before we come to the plateau of the Soissonnais. These hills are of the +greatest possible diversity of shape and vary in height from 200 metres +at the western extremity to 230 at the eastern. Their bases consist +largely of sandstone and Fontainebleau sand, with clumps of forest +scattered here and there; higher up is the softer limestone, the land +being entirely cleared and covered with crops. Here and there we find +the remains of the former covering of clay and Fontainebleau +sand--wooded ridges which expand toward the east into the wood of +Seringes, the forest of Nesle, and Meunière wood. These hills, the last +as we travel northward, where they command the whole of the Soissonnais, +have therefore the greatest strategic value, particularly the positions +of Hartennes, Plessier-Huleu, and Seringes. + +[Sidenote: The French approach from the west.] + +Luckily these formidable defensive positions were approached from the +west, astride the ridges. Starting from the forest of Retz, the French +crossed the Savières with a rush, and in a single bound reached +Noroy-sur-Ourcq and Villers-Hélon, which lie along one of the ridges, +surrounded by orchards. On July 19 they had advanced three kilometres to +the east; the strong line of the Ourcq was outflanked. On the 20th they +were at Parcy-Tigny and Rozet-St.-Albain, pushing forward over the +broken ground planted with sugar-beets and cereals, enlivened in spots +by small clumps of trees perched on the sandstone hillocks. Thus they +drew near to the heart of the position--the ridges of Plessier and of +Hartennes. There the resistance was much more violent; but after three +days of hard fighting, the French entered Plessier and approached the +village of Oulchy-la-Ville, surrounded by picturesque heaps of sandstone +blocks mingled with pines and birches. On the 25th, in the evening, they +were in occupation of Oulchy-le-Château, which lies in a charming vale +running down to the Ourcq. The line of the Ourcq, as to that portion +where the river, flowing between high cliffs, constitutes a real +obstacle, was in the Allies' hands. + +[Sidenote: Fère-en-Tardenois and Sergy.] + +It remained to complete the victory by the conquest of the eastern +sector of the hills; and this again was no easy task. The French and +Americans had now to approach that strong defensive position from the +south. On the 28th they entered Fère-en-Tardenois; the Americans crossed +the Ourcq, taking Sergy, which changed hands nine times. On July 31, +after more titanic battles, they wrested Seringes from the foe. On +August 1 there was a general advance all along the line, and the Allies +carried the whole line of hilltops, from Plessier-Huleu to Meunière +wood. + +[Sidenote: Heroes of the second battle of the Marne.] + +This was the end: the horizon expanded. From the heights conquered in +fourteen days of fighting the Allies went down to the plateau of the +Soissonnais; soon they would reach the Vesle and join hands with the +troops who had retaken Soissons. Among the numberless heroes of this +second battle of the Marne, they who stormed the heights of the Orxois +and either outflanked or crossed the valley of the Ourcq were the +bravest of the brave and are entitled to the largest share of our +gratitude. The third act of the battle was played upon a terrain quite +different from those preceding it. The relief is considerably +simplified. The great plateau of the Ile de France, which is buried, as +it were, under the accumulations of recent deposits, where erosion has +worn gaps in the ridges of the Orxois, and hollowed out the deep ravines +of the Tardenois, is reduced here to the substratum of hard limestone, +almost entirely free from superimposed layers. So that, instead of being +an uneven, swampy district, the Soissonnais is a dry level table-land, +where the streams flow underground through the layers of limestone. A +fertile district, too, for the surface is covered with a thin coating of +loam, in which sugar-beets and cereals vie with one another in profusion +of growth. + +[Sidenote: Valleys of the Vesle and the Aisne.] + +[Sidenote: Fertile slopes and valleys.] + +However, the plateau is intersected by occasional valleys, generally +broad and deep. The two most considerable are those of the Vesle and the +Aisne which come together above Soissons, at Condé, and isolate the +famous Chemin-des-Dames to the north. Two tributaries, Ambleny brook and +the Crise, flowing down to the Aisne, subdivide the southern portion of +the Soissonnais, where the battle was fought. With respect to the +plateau, these valleys are little worlds apart. Below the hard +limestone, they have hollowed out a path through very soft rocks, sands, +and clays; in these the streams have inevitably made large inroads, +sapping the limestone cliffs which overhang them. Thus the valley +bottoms are abnormally wide--from two to three kilometres near Soissons. +The presence of the clayey soils makes them very moist, and we find +there fields of beets and grain side by side with extensive tracts of +grassland. On the lower slopes are many small fields given over to the +less hardy products--beans, orchards, and sometimes grape-vines. Here +are most of the villages, at the level where the water-courses, seeping +through the limestone of the plateau, reappear in the shape of springs, +on the impervious stratum. For the most part the villages lie along the +hillsides, surrounded by trees, embellished by châteaux and parks. They +are well-built and attractive, boasting churches of graceful +architecture, thanks to the lovely decorative stone taken from the +quarries in the limestone cliffs above, which are called _boves_, or +_croutes_. A fascinating, fertile country, diversified and pleasant to +the eye, before the war it might well have been taken as a sample of +rural opulence. + +[Sidenote: Great difficulties of passage.] + +Plateau and valleys, then, differ materially--the one monotonous and +easy of access; the other, no less charming than varied, but presenting +great difficulties of passage in the face of opposition. There is not a +village on the plateau: only a few large farms and scattered sugar-beet +refineries. In the valleys and on the slopes there are everywhere +houses, châteaux, parks, orchards, and grottoes. The slender +church-tower barely rises to the level of the plateau, as if to watch +for the approach of an enemy. The conditions then were quite simple: on +the plateau it was possible to gain many kilometres in a single rush; +but in the valleys a fierce resistance was to be expected. + +[Sidenote: The Franco-American attack.] + +The French and American attack in the Soissonnais was fortunate in its +starting-point. In the course of the hard-fought battles between June 15 +and July 15, the French had retaken the entire valley of +Ambleny-Coeuvres, and had gained a footing on the plateau to the +eastward, which stretches as far as the outskirts of Soissons. To the +south they had completely cleared the verge of the forest of Retz, from +which they were thus able to debouch into the plain. + +[Sidenote: In sight of Soissons.] + +[Sidenote: Germans bring up reserves.] + +The first onrush was magnificent. Starting at ten minutes to five in the +morning, the Allies were within sight of Soissons at ten o'clock, having +overrun the whole plateau on a front of some ten kilometres. Rarely has +a more successful attack been seen in this war. It was even said that +on this first day some French and Americans got as far as the suburbs of +Soissons. But the danger for the Germans was too great, and they brought +all their reserves thither. Moreover, they had the valley of the Crise +to support their defense. + +[Sidenote: Artillery can hardly see the villages.] + +This valley is the widest and deepest of all those which eat into the +plateau of the Soissonnais from the south. The very considerable +depression is more than 100 metres below the surface of the plateau, +which it cuts in two, effectively shutting off all progress from west to +east; for on the south a narrow isthmus, that of Vierzy, barely +separates it from the ravine of the Savières; and on the southeast it +reaches to the foot of the wooded hills of Hartennes. Clinging to the +sides of the valley and of the ravines which open into it, numerous +villages--Vauxbuin, Berzy-le-Sec, Villemontoire, Buzancy--are the more +difficult to capture because the artillery can hardly see them, as they +lie close against the hillside. It was on the Crise, in the latter part +of May, that a handful of Frenchmen held up the German avalanche from +the Chemin-des-Dames. + +[Sidenote: German guns have revenge.] + +[Sidenote: Allies enter Soissons.] + +The Germans paid us back in July. Sheltered in the ravines and windings +of the valley, their artillery, being almost invisible, had nothing to +disturb its aim. The villages, the orchards, the grottoes, crammed with +machine-guns, were so many fortresses; the whole valley was a veritable +hell. There were incessant counter-attacks, which the Allies, on the +bare plateau, entirely devoid of cover, could repel only with the +greatest difficulty. They pushed forward step by step, and by fits and +starts. On the 19th our troops were hard put to it to hold the ground +they had taken the day before; on the 20th they barely began to nibble +at the ravines, at Ploisy and L'Echelle. On the 21st the Americans took +Berzy-le-Sec, and the French were astride the lower waters of the Crise; +on the 23d they went down into the ravine of Buzancy. But not until the +25th did they gain possession of the promontory of Villemontoire; and +only on the 29th did a Scottish division, after three days of forward +fighting, carry Buzancy. This last success, to be sure, was decisive, +for it uncovered the upper valley of the Crise. And so, on August 2, the +enemy gave way; that day the Allies crossed the valley along its entire +length, and advanced across the eastern side of the plateau as far as +the Vesle. On the same day they entered Soissons--at last. The ancient +capital of the French kings, the city which formerly disputed the claim +of Paris to be called the metropolis, is now no more than a mass of +ruins. For four long years the war has laid its heavy hand upon her; and +it is no new thing for her, since she had played an important military +rôle in 1814, 1815, and 1870. She owes it to her fine location, in the +heart of a broad valley, where the roads from south and east meet. Let +us hope that her martyrdom will soon come to an end. + +[Sidenote: The Allies hold the entire plateau.] + +Here ended the second battle of the Marne. The Allies have regained +possession of the whole plateau which extends from the Marne to the +Vesle and the Aisne. They have established themselves in the valleys of +those great rivers, from Soissons to Braisne, Bazoches, and Fismes--even +to Rheims. They find there formidable obstacles to be overcome: a broad, +moist, sometimes swampy bottom; facing them the cliff of the +Chemin-des-Dames and the plateau of the Vesle, with its cap of +limestone, and its numerous windings lined with villages and grottoes. +Except in case of a surprise or a voluntary retirement, it will be a +hard job to carry these positions. But sufficient unto the day is the +evil thereof. The results already achieved are fine enough to justify us +in declaring ourselves satisfied. + +[Illustration: A PICTORIAL MAP SHOWING THE FARTHEST GERMAN ADVANCE, THE +HINDENBURG LINE AND THE LINE AT THE TIME OF THE ARMISTICE: NOVEMBER 11, +1918] + +[Sidenote: The American troops do magnificent work.] + +[Sidenote: Peers of the world's best soldiers] + +The work done in their début, by the American troops in conjunction with +our own, was magnificent. They fought against victorious soldiers sure +of success, and whipped them. They were engaged on a difficult terrain. +In the south they were obliged to cross a broad river and wide valleys, +to scale cliffs bristling with defensive positions. In the center they +were confronted by a confused entanglement of broken ground, hills and +ravines, woods and open fields, bisected by a deep valley half-concealed +by trees. In the north they became acquainted with the snare formed by +plateaus falling abruptly away into the wolf-trap of ravines, where the +enemy, lying in ambush, refused to give ground. The Americans triumphed +over all these obstacles, and deserve to be reckoned the peers of the +best soldiers in the world. On the other hand, fighting as they have +fought in these countrysides, so typically French in their simplicity +and grandeur, and seeing all their charms foully outraged, our +attractive villages destroyed, our churches--graceful masterpieces, in +almost every case, of the Middle Ages--desecrated and shattered, they +have come to understand France better; they have had a share in her +misfortunes and in her hopes. + + +Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, December, 1918. + + * * * * * + +Throughout the war Germans persisted in the assumption that by nightly +raids from bombing machines and Zeppelins they could spread terror among +the Allies and weaken their morale. They did succeed in killing a large +number of defenseless men and women, but this was the only result of +these attacks. A vivid account of these night raids is given in the +narrative following. + + + + +NIGHT RAIDS FROM THE AIR + +MARY HELEN FEE + + +[Sidenote: Thousands of automobile trucks.] + +When the first offensive began to the north of us, we, who were +stationed in the American Canteen at E----, not more than fifteen miles +from Rheims, were thrilled by the sight of the thousands of automobile +trucks, which like a mighty river flowed ceaselessly by our canteen +carrying French troops up to the English front; and we grew sad when we +beheld ambulance convoys hurrying in the same direction. + +We could not be oblivious to certain signs which pointed to renewed +activity in our sector. The American ambulance boys predicted with the +emphasis and at the same time with the vagueness born of surmise instead +of exact knowledge, that we should "see something doing" in a few weeks. + +[Sidenote: Few German airplanes.] + +What chiefly excited our curiosity, however, was the scarcity of German +airplanes. Although the days were clear and fine for observing, only +occasionally did the barking of guns call us outside to behold a little +white, shimmering object skipping defiantly through extremest blue while +tufts of woolly cloud broke far below it, serving only to aid us in +detecting the almost invisible plane. One came over one night just about +sunset, and called us and our dinner guests from the beginning of a +meal. Another paid us an early morning call. Then for nearly three weeks +we enjoyed undisturbed rest at night. Not once did the "alerte" send us +shivering to damp cellars; not once did we hear the deep "boom" followed +by a savage jar and rattle which differentiates the falling bomb or +torpedo from the cannon. We said, fatuously, that we believed all the +airplanes were engaged up on the English front, and that at last our +mastery of the air must be firmly established. + +[Sidenote: News of the second offensive.] + +[Sidenote: The permissionaires return in good humor.] + +It was on a Monday that the news of the second offensive reached us. +Trains from Paris were delayed and the Paris papers did not arrive, but +the ambulance men told us there was a German offensive from Rheims to +Soissons. Next day the canteen was crowded with permissionaires hastily +recalled from leave and hurrying to join their regiments at the front. +Most of them had passed through, ten to two days before, in the subdued +good humor with which the poilu hails his bath, disinfecting, clean +clothes, and relative security of body while on a ten days' leave. They +were going back to face death, mutilation, and an experience which +drives many men mad. There was no undue hilarity about them, but a quiet +determination which has been reflected in the stand made by the armies. +Here and there a weakling had tried to escape thought in drink, but the +percentage of that sort was very small. + +[Sidenote: Three weeks' respite of raids.] + +On Tuesday more news drifted in, and that night I did not fully undress +on going to bed. So strongly can the sense of optimism be grown from +little habit that a respite of three weeks from bombing attacks had +almost (though not quite) convinced me there would never be any more. I +may explain that I was serving as canteen accountant, and occupied a +tiny three-room apartment across the street from the canteen, between it +and the railway station, and I took my meals at one of the two Red Cross +houses maintained in E----. + +[Sidenote: Objective of a bomb attack.] + +When a town is bombed, the Germans have various objectives, principally +the railway stations, troop barracks, canteens, munition dumps, food +stores, and hospitals. As a rule, when private homes are destroyed, it +is because they happen to be close to these points of attack. Torpedoes +are too expensive to be wasted in chance destruction. + +[Sidenote: Lights are extinguished in the war zone.] + +In towns in the war zone, great precaution is taken to prevent even a +thin line or dot of light from showing at night. Only the railroad shows +its signal lights, and these are put out at the first alarm, while all +moving trains come to a standstill and extinguish what lights they +carry. The lamps in passenger coaches are always put out when the train +enters the war zone. So the bombing aviator has a rather difficult task +in getting his bombs exactly where he wants them. The bomb must be +released about a thousand feet in advance of the object aimed at, and +the plane must pass over and reverse its course before a second bomb +can be thrown at the same target. The course of a plane can be followed +by tracing its bombs. + +My position during a bombing raid was most unenviable. A torpedo cast at +the railway station and going a bit too far was likely to land on the +two-story brick house in which I was lodged. One cast at the canteen, +and falling short, was likely to do the same. + +[Sidenote: Anticipating air raids.] + +It is fashionable among the workers in France to affect great +indifference to danger. I am free to confess that I am not a +particularly courageous woman. My imagination is active, and on nights +when we expect a bombing raid I always go through a period of misery +before going to bed. I would not for anything leave the war zone, but I +have always a lively vision of coming out of slumber to the +accompaniment of fearful noise and the crashing of the building atop, +and then my coward imagination paints pictures of lying torn and +anguished under settling weights of being burned alive while disabled +and unable to extricate myself. Oddly enough, all my terrors vanish with +the falling of the first bomb. I cannot remember being in what the +English call a "blue funk" while a raid is going on, though many a time +I have been in one beforehand. + +[Sidenote: Premonition of danger.] + +Tuesday night some subtle instinct warned that trouble might come. In +accordance with a natural forethought I slipped into a suit of underwear +and woollen stockings under my nightdress. I must have been asleep in +three minutes after my head touched the pillow, for I was dead tired. + +[Sidenote: A bomb lands close by.] + +[Sidenote: The sky blazes with shells.] + +I wakened with the sense that I had heard a gun, and, with one +stockinged foot thrust out of bed, wondered sleepily whether it was the +first, second or third of the alerte, or whether indeed I had not +wakened from a dream of a gun. Probably it was the last gun of the +alerte, for the next sound was the thunderous roar of a bomb which +clearly had landed close by (it got a railway shed and a freight car on +the tracks behind me). The terrific noise and the shock to our building, +which rattled as if it were coming down, considerably accelerated my +movements. I snapped on the electric torch which always lay, together +with my cap and slippers, beside the bed, slipped a skirt over my +nightdress and my great-coat atop, and got into the cap and slippers in +record time. But by the time I had crossed the flagged passage and +wrestled with the lock of the "grande porte" there was no getting out of +the house. The canteen, directly across the street, lay in utter +darkness, lights out, doors locked. There was no hope of using it as a +short cut to the _abris_, or shelter, on the other side, while to try to +go around it was almost certain death. The sky was ablaze with breaking +shells from our seventy-fives; shrapnel was falling like hail in the +streets, while the steady "pup-pup" of machine-guns--both our own and +the bombing planes'--advised all who could to remain under shelter. The +noise of our guns and of the bombs was like a small inferno. + +[Sidenote: Waiting through the raid alone.] + +I stayed it out--about twenty minutes--alone in that dark flagged +hallway, and it was lonesome. When the shrapnel and machine-gun fire let +up sufficiently to make it safe, I crept along under the shelter of the +eaves to the door of a courtyard next door where I knew one of our cooks +lived. She had invited me a few days before, to refuge there instead of +trying to get over the _abris_, because, she said, the whole upper lofts +were full of hay, and it had been demonstrated that bombs will not +penetrate to any depth in hay. But the door was locked, and though I +beat upon it with my electric torch, nobody heard me. I finally took +advantage of a lull in the firing, when the Germans went back to their +own lines for more ammunition, to get over the _abris_. + +There one of the women on night duty at the canteen told me that the +directrice and everybody else not on night duty, had gone up to the +evacuation hospital about ten o'clock, in response to a call for aid +from the French authorities. + +[Sidenote: Many wounded in the hospitals.] + +In E---- there were half a dozen large hospitals. The wounded, chiefly +English, were coming in faster than the hospital corps could handle +them. They needed our help, not only in registering the men--very few of +whom understood any French--but in feeding and giving water. + +I got to the hospital the next day and worked steadily till eight +thirty. Then an ambulance driver gave me a lift as far as the canteen, +and I managed to get a cold supper at our mess. + +[Sidenote: Dispensing hospitality to worn-out officers.] + +I was hardly in my office before I heard a knock at the door, which, as +I was alone in the house, I always locked at night as soon as I entered. +In response to my "Who's there?" a voice, guided by my English, replied, +"I am an English officer." I threw open the door without a second's +hesitation. A young officer, weary, white-faced, stood there, beginning +to apologize as he saw my uniform and white veil. He was simply "done," +he said--and he looked it. He had found every hotel was full, and, +seeing a few gleams of light behind the shutters, he had knocked in the +hope of finding shelter for the night. I knew that the woman at the +canteen who would go off duty at midnight was scheduled to go +immediately to the hospital to work until seven in the morning and that +I could occupy her bed after I came back from the hospital, and I +offered my apartment to the officer for the night. He was most grateful, +and I rushed over to the canteen to get him a pitcher of hot water and a +cup of chocolate. But there I found a group of French officers, who said +they had neither sleep nor rest for three days and nights, pleading for +some place to lie down. As there was a comfortable leather couch in my +office, besides a wide soft couch over which I had laid my steamer rug, +and, in addition, an exceedingly soft double bed in my room which I +thought the tired Englishman ought to be willing to share with an +equally tired man, I proffered my hospitality, which was gratefully +accepted. I piloted them across to the office, and returned to the +canteen, hoping to find an American ambulance boy who would run me over +to the hospital. + +[Sidenote: A new raid begins.] + +[Sidenote: Directing men to shelter.] + +[Sidenote: Help from American boys.] + +I sighted a group of the familiar uniforms, and was heading for it when, +bang! went a falling bomb, without any warning alerte. The next instant +all lights were out, and the French soldiers were swarming through the +door. As all the other women in the canteen had set duties to +perform--putting out fires, locking up money and food--and I, not being +on duty, had none, I stationed myself at the door, calling out to the +soldiers where they would find shelter. Being transients, they did not +know where to find refuge. But long before the canteen was empty, the +machine-gun bullets were sweeping the street and the shrapnel was +raining down. Two American boys came up in the darkness, and one said in +the quietest tone of authority, "Get between us, lady!" They backed me +up against the side of the canteen, close under the shelter of the +eaves, and stood one on each side of me. I had no trench-helmet, so one +of them took his sheepskin driving coat, folded it, and put it over his +head and mine. As soon as a lull in the firing permitted, we ran across +the street to the _abris_. The Germans went back several times for more +ammunition and continued the bombing for nearly two hours. + +[Sidenote: The nurses stay with the wounded.] + +One of our workers, who was at the hospital, told me that her first +impulse was to run for an _abris_ as we would do at the canteen, but +when she looked about her and saw everybody composedly going on with +duty, she gathered herself together and did the same--"Although," she +added, "my teeth just rattled at first." Some of the wounded were +terrified and begged not to be left; and that called out the mother +instinct in the women, so that they forgot to be afraid. + +The Germans swept the hospital with their machine guns and did their +best to bomb it, but fortunately made no hits. It was finally necessary +to put out all lights and to cease work. It was a most trying ordeal, +because the buildings were of pine, close together, and a direct hit +probably would have started a fire which would have burned the wounded +as they lay. + +[Sidenote: The sound of battle draws near.] + +About half past one I went up to our mess and crawled into an empty bed. +The next morning when I awakened it was to the sound of distant cannon. +This meant that the battle was drawing nearer. + +[Sidenote: A ride on an ambulance.] + +An especially hard day kept me on the strain from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and +when I returned to the mess I found no dinner and no servants. Our +directrice, anticipating evacuation, had dismissed them. Only a little +Belgian refugee, a sort of "slavey," hung on, because she had no other +place to go. Tired out, I managed to make an omelet and a cup of tea, +and to fry some griddle cakes to replace the bread which was conspicuous +by its absence. Then I stationed myself in front of the canteen hoping +to flag a passing ambulance. An American driver stopped his car, and a +Frenchman, who was beside him on the front seat, jumped down to help me +up. This man had a bandage around his throat, and when I asked him if he +was wounded, he made a hissing sound in reply. The American driver +explained that he could not speak because he had a bullet through his +windpipe. There were six badly wounded men on the stretchers inside, but +we heard not a sound from them. + +[Sidenote: A night of horrors.] + +I shall not soon forget that night I had steeled myself to meet horrors, +and knew that I _must not_ let them affect me. Yet in spite of terrible +wounds, there was little sound of suffering. The place was wonderfully +quiet. + +When I got inside of the receiving room, a group of our women who had +been at work all afternoon were still moving about, white and +hollow-eyed with fatigue. A French doctor asked if I could not bring +some food there from the canteen. It was Thursday. Some of the men had +been wounded on Tuesday, and had had no food and little water. + +[Sidenote: Bringing up food for the wounded.] + +I found an English girl with an empty ambulance, who risked a reprimand +for leaving without orders, and we flashed back to the canteen, and +loaded up with twenty gallons of hot chocolate, bread, about three +hundred hard boiled eggs, some kilos of chocolate, and raw eggs and +sugar. We flew back to the hospital; but there was a big convoy of +ambulances just in, so that we could not get up to the main buildings. +We scouted around in the dark to find a place to deposit our stuff and +open a temporary kitchen, and, returning to the ambulance, we came +across a wounded boy who had sunk on a bench. The ambulance driver had +passed him, making his way on foot, but being full-up, she was unable to +give him a lift. He was wounded in the chest, was exhausted, and had no +great-coat. It was absolutely necessary to get him under cover and to +give him warmth and nourishment. We put our arms around him and tried to +help him along, but soon it was apparent that he had not the strength to +make the reception ward. + +[Sidenote: Holding up a boy too weak to stand.] + +The English girl said, "You hold him up while I get a stretcher"; so I +jammed myself up against the side of a building and put my arms about +the boy while his weight grew heavier and heavier against me. I could +not let him slip, because the roadway was narrow and a long string of +ambulances, without lights, was passing. He never uttered a sound, but +his arms moved convulsively. As he felt himself growing weaker, he put +them around my neck, and clung to me precisely as a frightened child +would. It seemed an age while I waited there, warning off ambulances +that were about to shave us too closely. I could not help wondering +where that boy's mother was, what she was doing, or if he had a mother. +And I thought some terrible thoughts about war and some wicked ones +about Germans. + +[Sidenote: Dispensing food to the wounded.] + +The girl came with her stretcher at last, and we got the boy on it. +Then we went about setting up our feeding station. Hungry men limped in, +bandaged mostly about the head, and _how_ they consumed hard boiled eggs +and drank hot chocolate! I left the English girl dispensing food and +drink, while I took to the badly wounded a mixture of beaten egg, hot +milk and sugar. Here and there men asked for a piece of chocolate or +bread, but most of the wounded wanted only the liquid food. They would +say with their awful English cockney accent, "Ah! that's good!" or +"Prime stuff!" or "Could you spare a little more, sister?" In spite of +dreadful wounds, they were full of pluck. + +[Sidenote: Great numbers of wounded in stretchers.] + +For the next two hours I gave water and egg mixture to all sorts and +conditions of men--English, French, Canadians, Moroccans, Senegalese. +The doctor asked if I knew enough to administer morphine hypodermics, +and I regretfully admitted that I did not, while I registered a vow to +learn. Then some American Red Cross men appeared, and some English +doctors. Before midnight three or four long Red Cross trains had been +filled with wounded, and sent out. Yet at that hour more than five +hundred wounded men still lay on their stretchers on the grass outside. +And all the while, as I worked, I thought of how, as soon as the moon +came up, we should hear the familiar roar and rattle of the bombs, and +of how the shrapnel and machine gun bullets would rain down on those +upturned faces. + +[Sidenote: The hospital floors are crowded.] + +But, grace to heaven, the Germans did not come that night! At midnight I +went into Ward 4, where some of the worst wounded had been placed. +Stretchers had been laid on top of the beds and flat on the floor on +both sides of the central aisle, till one could hardly move. Most of the +wounded seemed to sleep. Only here and there one begged for water, and +these men were usually wounded in the abdomen where not even water +could be given. We could moisten their lips and wipe off the hot +feverish faces, and that was all. + +[Sidenote: Everything possible has been done.] + +By one o'clock it was evident that the most of what could be done had +been done. Another section of our women had arrived with more food, and +I went out to the covered way between the receiving room and the +operating room, to steal a ride home on the driver's seat of some +departing ambulance. An English boy, who had been gassed, asked me +hoarsely if I could get him a blanket, and I did so. Another man was +there, on whose eyelashes and eyebrows something that looked like ice +seemed to hang. I think it was an application to soothe gas-burns. + +It was two o'clock before I got to bed at the mess. The English officer +was still occupying my apartment. I might pass off my action in +resigning it to him as philanthropy, but candor compels me to admit that +I was glad of an excuse to stay at the house where there was company in +case of a bombing raid. + +[Sidenote: The French bills come in.] + +Friday was a long, tense day. The French merchants and all the people +with whom we had dealings, anticipating our withdrawal, swarmed in with +accounts. When the G.A.N. (Grand Armée Nationale) sent in its request +for a check (previously, I had been obliged fairly to windlass their +bill out of them), I knew the French would evacuate. The Commandant sent +for the Directrice, and advised her to follow French headquarters +wherever it might move. He said he was evacuating all French hospitals +and had turned over all evacuation hospitals to the English. No more +wounded French were to be brought into E----. + +[Sidenote: The German aviators bomb hospitals again.] + +All day I worked without food, and after 7.30 got supper for myself and +three companions. We hoped for a night's rest, but the Germans began +bombing us at dusk, and kept it up till daylight. They were after +hospitals, as we knew by the fact that the dropping bombs were at a +distance from us and the regular line. All night the machine-gun battle +went on--our own guns at E----, warring with the sweeping planes +overhead. We got so tired of going to shelter, and so accustomed to the +firing, that we finally stayed in our rooms and even opened our shutters +to peer out into the calm summer sky. Shells were bursting and ground +signals of colored lights were streaming skyward. It was too exciting to +sleep until we gave out from sheer exhaustion. I managed to get an +intermittent slumber from four until seven. + +[Sidenote: The town is full of refugees.] + +As there was no breakfast at our mess, I went to the canteen for a cup +of coffee, and found the place crowded. The French Commander said that +our town was due to be shelled before long as we were getting in range +of the German guns. We decided not to go until we had to, but to cease +keeping the canteen open at night; to sell only hot coffee, chocolate, +bread, cheese, eggs and apples by day--thus omitting our hot meal--and +to divide our forces, one part to run the canteen, another to organize a +temporary canteen on the grounds of the evacuation hospital, and still +another to maintain the rolling canteen at the railway station. The +streets were almost blocked with refugees. I saw one unconscious woman +in a wheelbarrow being trundled by a boy. Regiments went through, going +up to the front, the men's faces stern and set. The sound of the battle +grew louder and louder. + +[Sidenote: An airplane sweeps the street with a machine gun.] + +That night we bundled our bedding into the Ford camion, and slept in one +of the deep champagne caves. I had volunteered to go on duty at the +canteen at six the next morning, and arriving there on time, found two +or three hundred tired and hungry men waiting for the doors to open. +The night before a great thermos marmite had been filled with boiling +coffee, and we were able to begin feeding the men without delay. All day +we did a tremendous business. About half past nine a German plane came +over, tried to bomb us, and swept the street with a machine gun. We +continued serving and pouring out coffee. The aviator killed a woman and +child who were standing in a garden, and then one of our machine guns +got him. The plane, a three passenger one, came tumbling down into the +public square. The pilot was caught with both legs under the engine and +was badly hurt, but the observer and the gunner were uninjured. An +infuriated Frenchman, who had seen the killing of the woman and child, +rushed up and killed the gunner as they lifted him out. I got these +facts from an American staff car driver who assisted in extricating the +pilot. That morning, our guns got three German planes. + +[Sidenote: A German shell hits twenty-seven.] + +At one that afternoon I left the canteen, and went home for the bath +which I had missed that morning. I had just finished dressing when a +German shell passed over the house, killing, as they said, twenty-seven +persons. + +[Sidenote: The distant thunder of battle.] + +I elected to stay over night at the hotel instead of going to the +champagne cave. No sound disturbed the night except the distant thunder +of the battle and the bursting of shells which were falling about a +thousand yards short of the town. The Germans were trying to destroy the +bridge over the Marne, to cut our communication with Rheims, but they +did not have the range. + + +Copyright, The Forum, November, 1918. + + * * * * * + +Volumes of detailed narrative could not sum up more graphically what the +American Army did in France than did the summary written by General +Pershing, presented in the following pages. + + + + +THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE + +GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING + + +[Sidenote: Organization of the American army.] + +With French and British armies at their maximum strength, and all +efforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly intrenched positions in +Belgium and France failed, it was necessary to plan for an American +force adequate to turn the scale in favor of the Allies. Taking account +of the strength of the central powers at that time, the immensity of the +problem which confronted us could hardly be overestimated. The first +requisite being an organization that could give intelligent direction to +effort, the formation of a General Staff occupied my early attention. + +[Sidenote: The division.] + +[Sidenote: A corps comprises six divisions.] + +After a thorough consideration of allied organizations it was decided +that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of +3,000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250 +men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, +a machine-gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, +a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and +military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of +over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German +division. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions--four +combat and one depot and one replacement division--and also two +regiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. With +four divisions fully trained, a corps could take over an American +sector with, two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depot +and replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks. + +[Sidenote: Plan of training for the infantry.] + +Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force which should be +able to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, the +development of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use of +the rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. The +plan of training after arrival in France allowed a division one month +for acclimatization and instruction in small units from battalions down, +a second month in quiet trench sectors by battalion, and a third month +after it came out of the trenches when it should be trained as a +complete division in war of movement. + +[Sidenote: The school center at Langres.] + +[Sidenote: British and French officers assist.] + +Very early a system of schools was outlined and started, which should +have the advantage of instruction by officers direct from the front. At +the great school center at Langres, one of the first to be organized, +was the staff school, where the principles of general staff work, as +laid down in our own organization were taught to carefully selected +officers. Men in the ranks, who had shown qualities of leadership, were +sent to the school of candidates for commissions. A school of the line +taught younger officers the principles of leadership, tactics, and the +use of the different weapons. In the artillery school, at Saumur, young +officers were taught the fundamental principles of modern artillery; +while at Issoudun an immense plant was built for training cadets in +aviation. These and other schools, with their well-considered +curriculums for training in every branch of our organization, were +coordinated in a manner best to develop an efficient army out of willing +and industrious young men, many of whom had not before known even the +rudiments of military technique. Both Marshal Haig and General Petain +placed officers and men at our disposal for instructional purposes, and +we are deeply indebted for the opportunities given to profit by their +veteran experience. + +[Sidenote: Questions of communication and supply.] + +The eventual place the American Army should take on the western front +was to a large extent influenced by the vital questions of communication +and supply. The northern ports of France were crowded by the British +Armies' shipping and supplies while the southern ports, though otherwise +at our service, had not adequate port facilities for our purposes and +these we should have to build. The already overtaxed railway system +behind the active front in northern France would not be available for us +as lines of supply and those leading from the southern ports of +northeastern France would be unequal to our needs without much new +construction. Practically all warehouses, supply depots and regulating +stations must be provided by fresh constructions. While France offered +us such material as she had to spare after a drain of three years +enormous quantities of material had to be brought across the Atlantic. + +[Sidenote: Plans for construction on a vast scale.] + +With such a problem any temporization or lack of definiteness in making +plans might cause failure even with victory within our grasp. Moreover, +broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources would +bring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to the +nations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. The tonnage for +material for necessary construction for the supply of an army of three +and perhaps four million men would require a mammoth program of +shipbuilding at home, and miles of dock construction in France, with a +correspondingly large project for additional railways and for storage +depots. + +[Sidenote: The southern ports are selected.] + +All these considerations led to the inevitable conclusion that if we +were to handle and supply the great forces deemed essential to win the +war we must utilise the southern ports of France--Bordeaux, La Pallice, +St. Nazaire, and Brest--and the comparatively unused railway systems +leading therefrom to the northeast. Generally speaking, then, this would +contemplate the use of our forces against the enemy somewhere in that +direction, but the great depots of supply must be centrally located, +preferably in the area included by Tours, Bourges, and Chateauroux, so +that our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever they +might be serving on the western front. + +[Sidenote: Army and civilian experts are employed.] + +To build up such a system there were talented men in the Regular Army, +but more experts were necessary than the Army could furnish. Thanks to +the patriotic spirit of our people at home, there came from civil life +men trained for every sort of work involved in building and managing the +organization necessary to handle and transport such an army and keep it +supplied. With such assistance the construction and general development +of our plans have kept pace with the growth of the forces, and the +Service of Supply is now able to discharge from ships and move 45,000 +tons daily, besides transporting troops and material in the conduct of +active operations. + +[Sidenote: Organization of the Service of Supply.] + +As to organization, all the administrative and supply services, except +the Adjutant General's, Inspector General's and Judge Advocate General's +Departments which remain at general headquarters, have been transferred +to the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours under a +commanding general responsible to the commander in chief for supply of +the armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief Signal +Officer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of Chemical +Warfare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to questions +of procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General in the +maintenance of order in general, the Director General of Transportation +in all that affects such matters, and the Chief Engineer in all matters +of administration and supply, are subordinate to the Commanding General +of the Service of Supply, who, assisted by a staff especially organized +for the purpose, is charged with the administrative coordination of all +these services. + +[Sidenote: The transportation department.] + +The transportation department under the Service of Supply directs the +operation, maintenance, and construction of railways, the operation of +terminals, the unloading of ships, and transportation of material to +warehouses or to the front. Its functions make necessary the most +intimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, +with the practical result that our transportation department has been +able to improve materially the operations of railways generally. +Constantly laboring under a shortage of rolling stock, the +transportation department has nevertheless been able by efficient +management to meet every emergency. + +[Sidenote: Duties of the Engineer Corps.] + +The Engineer Corps is charged with all construction, including light +railways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projects +required, the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeaux +and Nantes, and the immense storage depots at La Palice, Montoir, and +Gièvres, besides innumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports of +France. These projects have all been carried on by phases keeping pace +with our needs. The Forestry Service under the Engineer Corps has cut +the greater part of the timber and railway ties required. + +To meet the shortage of supplies from America, due to lack of shipping, +the representatives of the different supply departments were constantly +in search of available material and supplies in Europe. In order to +coordinate these purchases and to prevent competition between our +departments, a general purchasing agency was created early in our +experience to coordinate our purchases and, if possible, induce our +Allies to apply the principle among the Allied armies. While there was +no authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met by +grouping the purchasing representatives of the different departments +under one control, charged with the duty of consolidating requisitions +and purchases. Our efforts to extend the principle have been signally +successful, and all purchases for the Allied armies are now on an +equitable and cooperative basis. Indeed, it may be said that the work of +this bureau has been thoroughly efficient and businesslike. + +Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary +for its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important +deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In order +to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer +of the French Government to provide us with the necessary artillery +equipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and one +fifty-five G P F guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. The +wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, although +we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, there +were no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on our +front at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these types +produced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-five +millimeter guns. + +[Sidenote: The first airplanes received from America.] + +In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the French +Government came to our aid until our own aviation program should be +under way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for training +our personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2,676 pursuit, +observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received from home +arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1,379. The first +American squadron completely equipped by American production, including +airplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to tanks, we +were also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we were less +fortunate, for the reason that the French production could barely meet +the requirements of their own armies. + +[Sidenote: The attitude of the French Government liberal.] + +It should be fully realized that the French Government has always taken +a most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us every +possible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in +other respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, and +tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been +exclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our own +manufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the time +the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early +supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories. + +[Sidenote: Responsibility for the welfare of the troops.] + +[Sidenote: Welfare organizations and their valuable work.] + +The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as Commander in +Chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who came to +France in the impressionable period of youth. They could not have the +privilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of leave of +visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully realizing +that the standard of conduct that should be established for them must +have a permanent influence in their lives and on the character of their +future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian +Association, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the Jewish +Welfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in every +possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different customs +and language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with the +cause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in their +behalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and their +innate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that the +members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to +be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of +these representative men and women has given a new significance to the +Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be +repaid. + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-sixth fights at Seicheprey.] + +During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had +engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was +Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20, in the Toul sector, but none +had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had +passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the +trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and +by March 21, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four +divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to +any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed +was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed. + +[Sidenote: Pershing offers forces to Foch.] + +On March 28 I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch, who had been +agreed upon as Commander in Chief of the Allied Armies, all of our +forces to be used as he might decide. At his request the first division +was transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at +Chaumont en Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required prompt +action, an agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the +Allied premiers and commanders and myself on May 2 by which British +shipping was to transport 10 American divisions to the British Army +area, where they were to be trained and equipped, and additional British +shipping was to be provided for as many divisions as possible for use +elsewhere. + +[Sidenote: The First takes Cantigny.] + +[Sidenote: Fighting qualities demonstrated.] + +On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier +salient on the Picardy battle front. Tactics had been suddenly +revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident of the +results of their training, were eager for the test. On the morning of +May 28 this division attacked the commanding German position in its +front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all other +objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly against vicious +counterattacks and galling artillery fire. Although local, this +brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated our +fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that the +enemy's troops were not altogether invincible. + +[Sidenote: The Third Division on the Marne.] + +[Sidenote: The Second wins Bouresches and Belleau Wood.] + +The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27, had advanced +rapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisis +equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every +available man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the Third +Division, which had just come from its preliminary training in the +trenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine-gun battalion +preceded the other units and successfully held the bridgehead at the +Marne, opposite Château-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve near +Montdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport to +check the progress of the enemy toward Paris. The Division attacked and +retook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held its +ground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle of +Belleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority and +gained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemy +than to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second was relieved, it +captured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision. + +[Sidenote: Second Corps is organized.] + +Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Major General George W. Read, had been +organized for the command of our divisions with the British, which were +held back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of +the ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three to +relieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris area +to join the group of American divisions which stood between the city and +any farther advance of the enemy in that direction. + +[Sidenote: The Forty-second and the Twenty-eighth.] + +[Sidenote: Brilliant work of the Third.] + +The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way, +and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary training +before being put into action, their very presence warranted the use of +all the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves. +Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheims +against the German offensive of July 15, and held their ground +unflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies of +the Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancing +waves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank of +the Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west of +Mézy, opposite Château-Thierry, where a large force of German infantry +sought to force a passage under support of powerful artillery +concentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A single regiment of +the Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals +on this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its +front while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing, +pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the German +attacks with counterattacks at critical points and succeeded in throwing +two German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600 prisoners. + +[Sidenote: First and Second in the thrust toward Soissons.] + +The great force of the German Château-Thierry offensive established the +deep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and the +vulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to his +disadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, every +division with any sort of training was made available for use in a +counter-offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons on +July 18 was given to our First and Second Divisions in company with +chosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of a +preliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery, +firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while the +infantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops under +these trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemy +brought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense both +with machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting the +First Division continued to advance until it had gained the heights +above Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-Sec. The Second +Division took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance and +reached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. These +two divisions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery. + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-sixth and the Third.] + +The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a French division, was under +command of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement toward +Soissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy while the Third +Division was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The +Twenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past the +Château-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing its +progress, took the heights of Mont St. Père and the villages of +Chartèves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine-gun and artillery +fire. + +[Sidenote: Germans fall back.] + +[Sidenote: The Forty-second relieves the Twenty-sixth.] + +[Sidenote: Third and Fourth Advance.] + +On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugney and Epieds, +our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from the +Champagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through the +Forêt de Fère, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the +27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth Divisions +were already advancing, while the French divisions with which we were +cooperating were moving forward at other points. + +[Sidenote: The Forty-second and Thirty-second.] + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-eighth and the Seventy-seventh.] + +The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29th +and was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. The +Forty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering the +heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the +Thirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in the +pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of reducing +the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was relieved by the +Fourth at Chéry-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the Twenty-eighth, +while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on the Vesle. The +operations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the Third Corps, +Major General Robert L. Bullard, commanding. + +[Sidenote: The First Army is organized.] + +[Sidenote: The American sector is extended.] + +With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to the +concentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of the +forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had long +been planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the First +Army was organized on August 10 under my personal command. While +American units had held different divisional and corps sectors along the +western front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, +a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts the +American forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over a +permanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30, the line +beginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to the +west through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, was +placed under my command. The American sector was afterwards extended +across the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and included +the Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and the +Seventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun. + +[Sidenote: Large troop movements.] + +The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable +defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of +corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the +location of hospitals, and the molding together of all the elements of a +great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our +Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was to be +a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of approximately +600,000 troops, and required for its success the most careful attention +to every detail. + +[Sidenote: Heavy guns can reach Metz.] + +The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army +artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of +our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns +were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail +movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command +which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces, +gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in +one operation on the western front. + +[Sidenote: The First Corps.] + +[Sidenote: The Third Corps.] + +[Sidenote: The Fifth Corps.] + +[Sidenote: Reserves.] + +From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the +Moselle River the line was roughly 40 miles long and situated on +commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First +Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second Divisions) under +command of Major General Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on +Pont-a-Mousson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth, +Forty-second, and First Divisions), under Major General Joseph T. +Dickman, in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the +pivot of the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to +Mouilly the Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and +our Fifth Corps, under command of Major General George H. Cameron, with +our Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base of +the salient, were to attack three difficult hills--Les Eparges, Combres, +and Amaranthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighth +Division, our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army the +Thirty-fifth and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth and +Thirty-third available. It should be understood that our corps +organizations are very elastic, and that we have at no time had +permanent assignments of divisions to corps. + +[Sidenote: The attack on St. Mihiel begins.] + +[Sidenote: Breaking the barbed-wire defenses.] + +After four hours' artillery preparation, the seven American divisions +in the front line advanced at 5 a.m., on September 12, assisted by a +limited number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by the +French. These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters and +others armed with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bands +of barbed wire that protected the enemy's front line and support +trenches, in irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down all +defense of an enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artillery +fire and our sudden approach out of the fog. + +[Sidenote: The First Army takes the salient.] + +[Sidenote: Many prisoners and guns taken.] + +Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curved +back to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corps +made the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and the +Fifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counterattack. A rapid +march brought reserve regiments of a Division of the Fifth Corps into +Vigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of our +Fourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west of +Thiaucourt to Vigneulles, and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost of +only 7,000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and +443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of many +villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a position +to threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in its +first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had a +formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had +one to reckon with. + +[Illustration: AMERICAN ATTACK ON THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT] + +[Sidenote: Movement to cut German railway connections.] + +On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our Corps +and Army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel, and our Divisions +in reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the area +back of the line between the Meuse River and the western edge of the +forest of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old German +front line from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. In +the general attack all along the line, the operation assigned the +American Army as the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward +the important railroad communications of the German armies through +Mézières and Sedan. The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines +or the withdrawal of his forces with four years' accumulation of plants +and material would be dangerously imperiled. + +[Sidenote: German Army not demoralized.] + +The German Army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the mass +of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions and +notably its machine-gun defense were exhibiting remarkable tactical +efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware +of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that +he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was planned +with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the +determination to use all our Divisions in forcing decision. We expected +to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume them while +the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack should break +his line, which it was our firm purpose to do. + +[Sidenote: The Argonne Forest considered impregnable.] + +[Sidenote: American order of battle.] + +Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the +Argonne Forest whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by +dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of +battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to +Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in +line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from +Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and +Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve; +and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with +Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and +the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The Army reserve consisted of the +First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions. + +[Sidenote: Attack begins on September 25.] + +[Sidenote: Montfaucon is taken.] + +On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the +French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been +inactive. In the attack which began on the 26th we drove through the +barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's +Land, mastering all the first-line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and +28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of +enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from 3 to 7 miles, +and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and Exermont, +Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinonville, +Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our +Divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured +Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our +main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of +forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's +reaction, which was bound to come as he had good roads and ample +railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PERSHING'S SECRET BATTLE MAP SHOWN AT +NATIONAL MUSEUM + +There is on exhibition in the United States National Museum at +Washington what is probably the most interesting and valuable single +record of America's part in the Great War--General Pershing's own secret +battle map, transported here from his headquarters in France and set up +in the museum exactly as it was there. + +It was General Pershing's own idea to have the map displayed to the +public to show the people of the United States the actual military +results obtained by their armies. For instance, at the hour the +armistice was signed the United States forces were holding 145 +kilometers of front, of which 134 kilometers were active. This is made +plain on the map by the colored pins and tags by which the different +allied and enemy armies are shown. + +The map itself shows the location of all divisions, both the enemy and +allied, on the western front; the correct battle line, commanding +generals, location of headquarters and boundaries down to include +armies, and various other information concerning divisions, as, for +example, whether they were fresh or tired. The map was developed and +kept posted to date daily by the third section of General Pershing's +staff, and used by them and other superior officers during active +operations for strategical studies and purposes of general information. + +It is evident that during the war the information which this map +contained was such that the enemy would have spared no pains to secure +it. Every precaution was taken to insure its secrecy, and to this end +the map was always kept locked up, and in addition was kept in a small +compartment formed by a closed screen. Furthermore, access to this map +was had by only the half dozen chiefs of the general headquarters staff +sections whose work was directly affected by the changes shown on the +map. This map appears to have been unique. The staff officers from the +different allied headquarters who had occasion to see the map declared +that it was the most complete representation of the opposing forces that +they had seen. + +General Pershing, in his letter to the adjutant general suggesting the +public display of the map in the National Museum, says: + +"It has occurred to me that this particular map with its accompanying +installation will have a great historical value. It will be of intense +interest to future generations, not only because it was the only map of +its kind used at these headquarters, but because it shows in a vivid +fashion the exact situation at the hour of the armistice."] + +[Sidenote: Difficult tasks of engineers and gunners.] + +In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roads +across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man's +Land, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put +their shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through the +mire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of the +enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, +quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counterattacks in strong +force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas. +From September 28 until October 4 we maintained the offensive against +patches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of machine +guns, and pushed forward our guns and transport, seizing strategical +points in preparation for further attacks. + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-seventh and the Thirtieth with the British.] + +Other Divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. It +was the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh and +Thirtieth Divisions, which had remained with the British, to have a +place of honor in cooperation with the Australian Corps on September 29 +and October 1 in the assault on the Hindenburg line where the St. +Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The Thirtieth +Division speedily broke through the main line of defense for all its +objectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through the +main line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of the +maze of trenches and shell craters and under cross fire from machine +guns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and in +later actions, from October 6 to October 19, our Second Corps captured +over 6,000 prisoners and advanced over 13 miles. The spirit and +aggressiveness of these Divisions have been highly praised by the +British Army commander under whom they served. + +[Sidenote: Second and Thirty-sixth with the French.] + +On October 2 to 9 our Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions were sent to +assist the French in an important attack against the old German +positions before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defense +works on their front against a persistent defense worthy of the +grimmest period of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held wooded +hill of Blanc Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweeping +over it with consummate dash and skill. This Division then repulsed +strong counterattacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienne +and took the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims +and yield positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9 +the Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its first +experience under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment and +rapidly took up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne. + +[Sidenote: Steady progress in the Argonne Forest.] + +[Sidenote: The terrain favors the defense.] + +The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in this +crucial contest as the German command threw in more and more first-class +troops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the almost +impenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite this +reinforcement, it was our Army that was doing the driving. Our aircraft +was increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and our +Infantry and Artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience. +The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions with +little time for training, but they had the advantage of serving beside +men who knew their business and who had almost become veterans +overnight. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, which +especially favored the defense, by a prodigal use of machine guns manned +by highly trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges. +In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unable +to accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards, +but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage of +our troops. + +[Sidenote: Strong enemy counterattacks.] + +[Sidenote: First Corps takes Chatel-Chéhéry.] + +[Sidenote: Argonne Forest is cleared.] + +On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third Corps +tilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth Corps +took Gesnes while the First Corps advanced for over 2 miles along the +irregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of the +Argonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art and +weapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemy +striving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strong +counterattacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corps +captured Chatel-Chéhéry and continued along the river to Cornay. On the +east of Meuse sector one of the two Divisions cooperating with the +French captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the Fifth +Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fléville, and the Third Corps +which had continuous fighting against odds was working its way through +Brieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of +the enemy. + +[Sidenote: The Second Army is organized.] + +It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9 the +immediate command of the First Army was turned over to Lieutenant +General Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisions +occupied a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieutenant General Robert +L. Bullard, who had been commander of the First Division and then of the +Third Corps. Major General Dickman was transferred to the command of the +First Corps, while the Fifth Corps was placed under Major General +Charles P. Summerall, who had recently commanded the First Division. +Major General John L. Hines, who had gone rapidly up from regimental to +division commander, was assigned to the Third Corps. These four officers +had been in France from the early days of the expedition and had learned +their lessons in the school of practical warfare. + +[Sidenote: The Kriemhilde line is penetrated.] + +Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day more +prisoners, mostly survivors from machine-gun nests captured in fighting +at close quarters. On October 18 there was very fierce fighting in the +Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th the +First Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-hand +encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde line, where the enemy had +hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated further +the Kriemhilde line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and the +important town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down the +enemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us, +thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advance +less difficult. + +[Sidenote: Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium.] + +Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but our +Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first Divisions were hastily withdrawn from +our front and dispatched to help the French Army in Belgium. Detraining +in the neighborhood of Ypres, these Divisions advanced by rapid stages +to the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. On +October 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked and +methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3 the +Thirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy across +the Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bank +included in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movement +troops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, a +difficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector, +reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. These +divisions received high commendation from their corps commanders for +their dash and energy. + +[Sidenote: Preparation for the final assault.] + +On the 23d the Third and Fifth Corps pushed northward to the level of +Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the +enemy's violent counterattacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of +our forces was under way for the final assault. Evidences of loss of +morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more +fortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardships +of very inclement weather. + +[Sidenote: The final advance begins.] + +With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the +Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. Our increased artillery +force acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and the +enemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistent +fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome his +will to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, and +Andevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressed +through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On +the 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became an +impetuous onslaught that could not be stayed. + +[Sidenote: Aid of large caliber guns.] + +[Sidenote: The enemy's line of communications cut.] + +On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motor +trucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads close +behind. The First Corps reached Authe and Châtillon-sur-Bar, the Fifth +Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating the +enemy's line to a depth of 12 miles. Our large caliber guns had advanced +and were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the important +lines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps crossed the +Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence that the +day was theirs, eagerly cleared the way of machine guns as they swept +northward, maintaining complete coordination throughout. On the 6th, a +division of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite Sedan, +25 miles from our line of departure. The strategical goal which was our +highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main line of +communications, and nothing but surrender or an armistice could save his +army from complete disaster. + +[Sidenote: Prisoners and guns taken.] + +[Sidenote: Divisions long in battle line.] + +In all 40 enemy divisions had been used against us in the Meuse-Argonne +battle. Between September 26 and November 6 we took 26,059 prisoners and +468 guns on this front. Our Divisions engaged were the First, Second, +Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, +Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Forty-second, +Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, +Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first. Many of our +divisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves of +steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. +The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, +Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and, Ninetieth were in the line twice. Although +some of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon became +equal to the best. + +[Sidenote: The fight in the Meuse Hills.] + +On the three days preceding November 10, the Third, the Second Colonial, +and the Seventeenth French Corps fought a difficult struggle through the +Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the plain. +Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces contemplated +an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the direction of Longwy +by the First Army, while, at the same time, the Second Army should +assure the offensive toward the rich iron fields of Briey. These +operations were to be followed by an offensive toward Château-Salins +east of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly, attacks on the +American front had been ordered and that of the Second Army was in +progress on the morning of November 11, when instructions were received +that hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock a.m. + +[Sidenote: A new offensive is halted by the armistice.] + +At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left, +began at Port-sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres and +through the Woevre to Bezonvaux in the foothills of the Meuse, thence +along to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevre +forests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting with +the French under Sedan. + +[Sidenote: Cordial assistance of the Allied armies and governments.] + +Cooperation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A far +greater effort has been put forth by the Allied armies and staffs to +assist us than could have been expected. The French Government and Army +have always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment, and +transportation and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamlets +wherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French people +have everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friends +than as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quite +inadequate to express our gratitude. There can be no doubt that the +relations growing out of our associations here assure a permanent +friendship between the two peoples. Although we have not been so +intimately associated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troops +and ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. The +reception of those of our forces who have passed through England and of +those who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic. +Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the ties of +language and blood bring the British and ourselves together completely +and inseparably. + +[Sidenote: Americans in Italy and in Russia.] + +There are in Europe altogether including a regiment and some sanitary +units with the Italian Army and the organizations at Murmansk, also +including those en route from the States, approximately 2,053,347 men, +less our losses. Of this total there are in France 1,338,169 combatant +troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the Infantry personnel of +10 have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in France +organized into three armies of three corps each. + +[Sidenote: American losses and American captures.] + +The losses of the Americans up to November 18 are: Killed in action, +36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths unclassified, 2,204; wounded, +179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 44,000 +prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars. + +[Sidenote: Ability of the American officers.] + +The duties of the General Staff, as well as those of the Army and corps +staffs, have been very ably performed. Especially is this true when we +consider the new and difficult problems with which they have been +confronted. This body of officers, both as individuals and as an +organization, have, I believe, no superiors in professional ability, in +efficiency, or in loyalty. + +[Sidenote: The Service of Supply.] + +Nothing that we have in France better reflects the efficiency and +devotion to duty of Americans in general than the Service of Supply +whose personnel is thoroughly imbued with a patriotic desire to do its +full duty. They have at all times fully appreciated their responsibility +to the rest of the Army and the results produced have been most +gratifying. + +[Sidenote: The Medical Corps.] + +Our Medical Corps is especially entitled to praise for the general +effectiveness of its work both in hospital and at the front. Embracing +men of high professional attainments, and splendid women devoted to +their calling and untiring in their efforts, this department has made a +new record for medical and sanitary proficiency. + +[Sidenote: The Quartermaster Department.] + +The Quartermaster Department has had difficult and various tasks, but it +has more than met all demands that have been made upon it. Its +management and its personnel have been exceptionally efficient and +deserve every possible commendation. + +[Sidenote: Ordnance Department, Signal Corps and Engineer Corps.] + +As to the more technical services, the able personnel of the Ordnance +Department in France has splendidly fulfilled its functions both in +procurement and in forwarding the immense quantities of ordnance +required. The officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps +have performed their duties with a large conception of the problem and +with a devoted and patriotic spirit to which the perfection of our +communications daily testify. While the Engineer Corps has been referred +to in another part of this report, it should be further stated that the +work has required large vision and high professional skill, and great +credit is due their personnel for the high proficiency that they have +constantly maintained. + +[Sidenote: American aviators.] + +[Sidenote: The Tank Corps.] + +Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability and have +left a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant page +in the annals of our Army. While the Tank Corps has had limited +opportunities its personnel has responded gallantly on every possible +occasion and has shown courage of the highest order. + +[Sidenote: Other Departments.] + +The Adjutant General's Department has been directed with a systematic +thoroughness and excellence that surpassed any previous work of its +kind. The Inspector General's Department has risen to the highest +standards and throughout has ably assisted commanders in the +enforcement of discipline. The able personnel of the Judge Advocate +General's Department has solved with judgment and wisdom the multitude +of difficult legal problems, many of them involving questions of great +international importance. + +It would be impossible in this brief preliminary report to do justice to +the personnel of all the different branches of this organization which I +shall cover in detail in a later report. + +[Sidenote: Cooperation of Navy and Army.] + +The Navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided the +Army, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never before +been such perfect cooperation between these two branches of the service. + +As to Americans in Europe not in the military services, it is the +greatest pleasure to say that, both in official and in private life, +they are intensely patriotic and loyal, and have been invariably +sympathetic and helpful to the Army. + +[Sidenote: Heroism of the officers and the men in the line.] + +Finally, I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the +line. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, +their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion +which I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have +earned the eternal gratitude of our country. + + * * * * * + +No one doubted the efficiency of the navy or of its capacity to carry on +its operations in a way worthy of the traditions of the American Navy. +What the navy did during the war, and how it did it, is summarized in +the following report by its chief. + + + + +THE AMERICAN NAVY IN + +EUROPE + +EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF + +ADMIRAL H.T. MAYO + + +[Sidenote: Activities in Ireland, Great Britain, and France.] + +In conformity with instructions contained in the reference, the +following preliminary statement is herewith submitted in regard to +United States naval activities in Europe. This preliminary report +relates to our naval activities in Great Britain, Ireland, and France, +visit to the last named having been concluded on November 1, 1918. A +complete and detailed report will be submitted later and upon completion +of the current tour of inspection and observation. + +In view of the fact that United States naval activities in Europe are +chiefly matters of cooperation with the allied navies, and that the +cooperation amounts practically to consolidation where effected with the +British Navy, this preliminary report is arranged on that basis in +several parts: + + +[Sidenote: General cooperation.] + +I. COOPERATION WITH THE ALLIED NAVIES IN GENERAL. + (1) Commander United States naval forces in Europe. + (2) Allied naval council. + (3) Naval staff representative, Paris. + (4) Naval staff representative, Rome. + +[Sidenote: Naval Headquarters in London and Ireland.] + +II. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE BRITISH. + (1) United States naval headquarters, London. + (2) United States naval activities in Ireland. + (_a_) Battleship Division Six, Berehaven. + (_b_) Submarine detachment, Berehaven. + (_c_) Destroyers based on Queenstown. + (_d_) Subchaser Detachment Three based on Queenstown. + (3) United States naval air stations in Ireland; seaplane stations; + kite-balloon station. + (4) Battleship Division Nine. + (5) Mine Force. + (6) Subchaser Detachment One, based on Plymouth. + (7) United States Naval Air Stations, Great Britain, Seaplane Station, + Killingholme; Northern Bombing Group, Assembly and Repair Plant, + Eastleigh. + (8) Cross-channel Transport Service. + +[Sidenote: Paris, Brest and coast districts.] + +[Sidenote: Naval air stations.] + +III. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE FRENCH. + (1) Naval staff representative, Paris. + (2) United States naval headquarters, Brest. + (3) French coastal districts. + (4) Destroyers based on Brest. + (5) United States naval air stations on French coast: + (_a_) Seaplane stations. + (_b_) Dirigible stations. + (_c_) Kite-balloon stations. + (_d_) Assembly and repair plant, Pauillac. + (_e_) Aviation Training School, Moutchie. + +[Sidenote: Radio stations, hospitals, etc.] + +IV. OTHER COOPERATING ACTIVITIES. + (1) Naval liaison officer at Army General Headquarters. + (2) Naval Radio Station, Croix d'Hins. + (3) United States Naval Railway Battery. + (4) Naval Pipe-Line Unit. + (5) Stations not yet inspected or not to be visited. + +V. UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION IN EUROPE. + +VI. Y.M.C.A. AND SIMILAR ACTIVITIES. + +VII. HOSPITAL FACILITIES, ETC. + +VIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS. + + + + +I. COOPERATION WITH THE ALLIED NAVIES IN GENERAL. + + +[Sidenote: Varied character of Naval activities.] + +It could hardly have been foreseen to what extent United States naval +activities in Europe would accumulate, and it is a fact that it has been +a growth by accretion rather than by system. The resultant fact is that +the supervision of the commander of United States Naval Forces in Europe +is of great and varied scope and continues to increase from week to +week. Despite this great extent and varied character of our naval +activities in Europe (as evidenced by the list given in par. 2 above) +and the fact that their growth by accretion has made a highly +centralized control more or less inevitable, the results speak for +themselves--all of our naval activities are cooperative in character and +all of them give every evidence of performing useful and appreciated +work wherever found. + +[Sidenote: Under the Allied Naval War Council.] + +Cooperation with the allied navies in general is effected by means of +the Allied Naval War Council, which meets monthly or as may be deemed +advisable. The membership is composed of the several naval ministers and +naval chiefs of staff and of officers specifically appointed to +represent them in their absence. Vice Admiral Sims is the United States +naval representative. The secretariat of the council is composed of +British officers and personnel, with officers of the allied navies +designated for liaison duties therewith. + +The Allied Naval Council has advisory functions only and has liaison +with the Supreme War Council, with a view to coordinating and unifying +allied naval effort, both as regards naval work only and as regards +unity of action with military or land effort. Proposals made by the +several allied navies are considered and definite steps recommended to +be taken in the premises. As well the naval aspects of military (land) +proposals are examined into and passed upon. Conversely military (land) +aspects of naval activities are referred to the Supreme War Council for +consideration. + +[Sidenote: Unity of effort on land and sea.] + +[Sidenote: Council at first advisory.] + +The Allied Naval Council has had, in common with the Supreme War +Council, until last spring the handicap of being only advisory in +function. The conclusions are recommended to the several Governments for +adoption, but there is no common instrumentality for carrying into +effect measures which require cooperation or coordination. This state of +affairs in the Supreme War Council has been remedied by the appointment +of an allied commander in chief in the person of Marshal Foch. + +There can be no doubt but that the Supreme War Council has met and that +the Allied Naval Council continues to fill a great need as a sort of +clearing house for the necessarily varied proposals of the several +Governments, most of which require cooperation on the part of some other +Government, and certainly it should be continued in being until a more +forceful control of allied naval effort can be agreed upon and brought +into effect. + +[Sidenote: Liaison officers with the War Council and the Naval Council.] + +The United States naval staff representative in Paris is the United +States naval liaison officer with the Supreme War Council, and a member +of the staff of Vice Admiral Sims is the liaison officer with the +secretariat of the Allied Naval Council. The United States naval staff +representative in Paris is also liaison officer at the French Ministry +of Marine and is at present naval attaché as well. + +[Sidenote: Naval attaché to Italy.] + +The naval attaché to Italy, Capt. C.R. Train, maintains naval liaison +with the Italian Ministry of Marine and keeps in touch with the United +States naval activities in Italian waters. + + + +II. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE BRITISH. + + +Inasmuch as the British are predominant in naval activity, it is natural +to find that a major part of our naval activities are in cooperation +with them and controlled by them. In fact, the British have been in +position to carry so much of the "naval load" of this war that our first +and our principal efforts have been toward taking up a share of that +load. + +[Sidenote: Friendly rivalry between British and Americans.] + +Cooperation has in many cases been carried to such an extent that the +coordination necessary for efficiency has developed into practical +consolidation. It is pleasing to note that while consolidation is all +but a fact, our own naval forces have in every case preferred to +preserve their individuality of organization and administration and, as +far as feasible, of operations; and that a healthy and friendly rivalry +between them and their British associates has resulted in much good to +the personnel of both services. + +[Sidenote: On the coast of Ireland.] + +The largest single group of naval activities wherein cooperation is +effected with the British is that in Ireland, all of them being under +the jurisdiction of the commander in chief, coast of Ireland, who has +been and is Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, whose cordial appreciation of the +work of our forces has gone far to stimulate the personnel coming under +his direction. The chief of staff, destroyer flotillas, and the officer +in charge of aviation in Ireland are designated by the British Admiralty +as members of the staff of Admiral Bayly. + +[Sidenote: Battleship Division Six.] + +_Battleship Division Six_, Rear Admiral T.S. Rodgers, is based on +Berehaven, Ireland, in readiness for the protection of convoys in +general and of troop convoys in particular. Arrangements are in effect +for the supply of their needs as to fuel and stores. While lack of +destroyers has operated to restrict their training underway, they are in +good material condition and their efficiency is being maintained by +utilizing all available facilities. + +[Sidenote: The submarine patrol.] + +_Submarine Detachment_, Lieutenant Commanders Friedell and Grady, is +based on Berehaven, Ireland, and maintains a submarine patrol off the +west and south coasts of Ireland. Their service is hard; they have had a +great deal of work at sea and have cheerfully met every demand made on +them. Despite their relative isolation, they have maintained themselves +in readiness with the aid of the submarine tender _Bushnell_, whose +limited facilities have been utilized to the utmost. Their performances +and condition of material and personnel reflect great credit on all +concerned. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers at Queenstown.] + +(_a_) _The destroyers based on Queenstown_, Capt. F.R.P. Pringle, are +the original United States naval force in European waters--a distinction +which is an ever-present spur to cheerful efficiency under any and all +circumstances and produces results which must be a satisfaction to their +superiors. + +[Sidenote: Changes in destroyer personnel.] + +(_b_) Despite the fact that the requirements of supplying personnel for +new destroyers has resulted in large changes in the original experienced +destroyer personnel, this has been accomplished in such a manner as to +maintain the operating efficiency of the force at or near its original +high standard. + +(_c_) Aside from unavoidable casualties, the force is in good operating +condition. The systemization of supply and repairs developed and +maintained by the destroyer tenders _Melville_ and _Dixie_ effect the +readiness of destroyers for sea with commendable promptness and with a +view to the comfort of destroyer personnel during their short stays in +port. + +[Sidenote: Destroyer tenders.] + +[Sidenote: Gunnery and torpedo exercises.] + +(_d_) Within the last few months means have been found to systematize +and supervise the training, particularly with regard to the carrying out +of gunnery and torpedo exercises, which, under the press of keeping the +sea, had somewhat lapsed in favor of the necessary development of escort +work and of depth-charge tactics. + +(_e_) All of the activities at Queenstown--the torpedo repair and +overhaul station, the training barracks at Passage, the repair force +barracks at Ballybricken House, the general supply depot at Deepwater +Quay, the hospital and barracks at White Point, as well as the +activities afloat--were well underway and gave an impression of +purposefulness in "getting on with the war" in that particular corner of +the world. + +[Sidenote: Enlisted Men's Club at Queenstown.] + +(_f_) On account of the restricted facilities for liberty and +recreation, a special and most successful effort has been made to +furnish healthful and interesting diversion in Queenstown itself by +means of the Enlisted Men's Club, wholly of and for the men, which is +second to none in results obtained in promoting contentment. + +[Sidenote: Subchaser at Queenstown.] + +_Subchaser Detachment Three at Queenstown_, Captain A.J. Hepburn, had +only recently arrived, but arrangements for their employment were well +in hand, and they were expected to begin operations as soon as the means +of basing them had been perfected. The need of a suitable tender was +apparent, especially for the upkeep of those units whose working ground +would be at some distance from the main base. The personnel gave +evidence of a strong feeling of eagerness to get to work and of +readiness to face the hardships that going to sea in small craft +entails. + +[Sidenote: Seaplane and balloon stations.] + +_United States Naval Air Stations in Ireland_, Commander F.R. McCrary, +consists of seaplane stations at Whiddy Island, Queenstown (also the +main supply and repair base), Wexford, and Lough Foyle, and a +kite-balloon station at Berehaven. None of these stations was in +operation in mid-September, except that Lough Foyle was partially so, +but all were about ready to begin operations and would do so upon the +receipt of the necessary planes or pilots or both, all of which were en +route. A great deal of the construction has been done by our own +personnel, some of the stations having been entirely done by them. + +[Sidenote: Rear Admiral Rodman's command.] + +(_a_) _Battleship Division Nine of the Atlantic Fleet_, under the +command of Rear Admiral Rodman, has constituted the Sixth Battle +Squadron of the British Grand Fleet under Admiral Sir David Beatty for +nearly a year. + +(_b_) When this division was sent abroad it had, in common with other +units of the Atlantic Fleet, suffered in efficiency from the expansion +of the Navy, which required reduction in the number of officers and +transfers of numbers of men to furnish trained and experienced nuclei +for other vessels. Upon reporting in the Grand Fleet, it immediately +took its place in the battle line on exactly the same status as other +units of the Grand Fleet. The opportunities for gunnery exercises are +limited but drill and adherence to standardized methods and procedure as +developed in our own naval service have brought this division to a +satisfactory state of efficiency, which continues to improve. + +[Sidenote: General efficiency of the squadron.] + +(_c_) It is pleasing to record that the efficiency of this unit in +gunnery, engineering, and seamanship is deemed by the British commander +in chief to be in no way inferior to that of the best of the British +battle squadrons. In fact, it is perfectly proper to state the belief +that our ships are in some respects superior to the British, and perhaps +chiefly in the arrangements for the health and contentment of personnel, +which have been very thoroughly examined into by the flag officers, +captains, and other officers of the Grand Fleet. These ships have also +been the subject of much favorable comment in regard to their capacity +for self-maintenance, a matter which has been given much attention in +our own Navy of late years. + +[Sidenote: Capacity for self-maintenance.] + +(_d_) Service in the Grand Fleet is noteworthy by reason of the fact +that the fleet is at never less than four hours' notice for going to +sea, so that liberty is restricted and whatever is necessary in the way +of overhaul and upkeep of machinery must always be planned with a view +to assembly in case of orders to sea. + +[Sidenote: Mine-laying operation.] + +[Sidenote: Readiness to attack difficulties.] + +_The Mine Force of the Atlantic Fleet_, under the command of Rear +Admiral Strauss, is an independent unit, except that the mine-laying +operations are under the jurisdiction of the commander in chief of the +Grand Fleet, who has to choose the time when arrangements can be carried +into effect to furnish the necessary destroyer escort and heavy covering +forces. The arrangements made at home prior to the departure of the mine +force appear to have been well considered and thoroughly developed. The +mine-laying operations themselves give an impression of efficiency which +can only come from thorough preparation and complete understanding of +the work. The assembly of mines in the bases has been somewhat changed +by the necessity for certain alterations in the mine itself, most of +which are due to difficulties inherent in the application of the +operating principle of the mine. Here, as elsewhere, the cheerful +readiness of officers and men to attack difficulties and to surmount all +obstacles is producing results of magnitude and importance of which all +too little is known even in the Navy itself. + +[Sidenote: Crossing the channel.] + +_The Cross-channel Transport Service_ was brought into being to render +indispensable assistance to the British in ferrying United States troops +across the channel from England, in whose ports over half of our troops +were landed from British ships. At the time of inspection late in +September four United States vessels were in service, and four more were +expected in the course of a few weeks. The vessels in service were +superior in capacity to British vessels engaged in the same work and +combined with the efficiency of their naval personnel made them the +subject of favorable remark by the British transport authorities. + +[Sidenote: Subchasers at Plymouth.] + +_Subchaser Detachment One_, based on Plymouth, Captain L.A. Cotten, had +been operating for some time. A very compact and efficient base was in +process of completion and should, with the aid of the subchaser tender +_Hannibal_, amply suffice for the requirements of a larger number of +chasers than that now available. This base is to be expanded into a +United States naval base, of which Rear Admiral Bristol will be in +charge. The upkeep of chasers is effected entirely with the resources of +the base; operations are initiated by the British commander in chief at +Plymouth. A great deal of development work in listening devices is being +carried on at and from this base. The work of the subchasers from this +base has proved their usefulness up to the limit of their sea-going +capacity. + +(_a_) _United States Naval Aviation in England_ is carried on by +cooperation in two British commands. + +[Sidenote: Seaplanes at Killingholme.] + +(_b_) _The United States Seaplane Station, Killingholme_, Commander K. +Whiting, is under the vice admiral commanding on the east coast of +England. It has been in operation for some time and does escort of +coastal convoys, escort of mine layers in the southern part of the North +Sea, and some reconnaissance work in the direction of the Dutch coast. + +[Sidenote: Day and night bombing squadrons.] + +(_c_) _The Northern Bombing Group_, Captain D.C. Hanrahan, is under the +vice admiral commanding at Dover, whose jurisdiction extends to naval +aviation units in northern France in the vicinity of Calais and +Dunkerque. The day bombing squadrons are manned by marines; the night +bombing squadrons by the Navy. There has been some delay in the +acquisition of suitable night bombing planes, but their delivery will +find all in readiness to go immediately to work. The British prescribe +the objectives and designate the available free flying time; the +operations themselves are carried out by our own personnel. The seaplane +station at Dunkerque has operated successfully under the handicap of +limited and difficult water area in which to take off and to land. + +[Sidenote: The base at Eastleigh.] + +(_d_) _The Assembly, Repair, and Supply Station at Eastleigh_ was +brought into being primarily for the Northern Bombing Group because of +the difficulties of transportation to and from the general aviation base +at Pauillac. It also does necessary work for Killingholme and for the +air stations in Ireland. This base, when visited, was in process of +completion and gave every evidence of purpose and capacity to meet all +requirements likely to be made of it. + + + +III. _Activities in Cooperation with the French._ + + +[Sidenote: Vice Admiral Wilson's command.] + +Aside from the cooperation effected by the force commander with the +French Ministry of Marine through the naval staff representative in +Paris on matters of general policy, actual cooperation is carried on by +Vice Admiral H.B. Wilson, commander United States naval forces in +France, whose headquarters are maintained in Brest. + +[Sidenote: The coastal convoy system.] + +It is deemed worthy of special remark that whereas practically all +cooperation with the British is effected by operating as units under +British control, cooperation with the French is arranged on a basis that +leaves to the United States naval forces a very large measure of +initiative. This is particularly true in regard to troopships destined +to French ports, which are provided with escort and routed in and out +wholly from the Brest headquarters which is kept fully informed as to +routes and positions of British-controlled convoys and as to locations +of submarine activities and has to so adjust routes on and off the coast +as to keep clear of both. Three out of eight escort units are provided +by United States vessels for the coastal convoy system, which is +operated by the French. Unity of purpose and sympathy of understanding +have combined to make the handling of cargo convoys on and off the coast +a matter of ready adjustment to the general conditions obtaining in +regard to destination of cargo ships and availability of escort vessels. + +[Sidenote: Rate of movement of troops by transports.] + +At the end of the fiscal year United States naval forces in France are +stated to have been escorting troops into France at the rate of 134,000 +per month. Since May 1, 1918, the number of troopships and cargo-vessel +convoys east and west bound have averaged more than 1 a day, and the +number of ships over 200 a month. No convoy of troopships has failed to +be met by destroyer escort before entering the area of submarine +activity, and no passenger intrusted to the care of the United States +naval forces in France has been lost. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers controlled from Brest.] + +(_a_) _The destroyers based on Brest_ are controlled directly from +headquarters at Brest and are at present maintained in readiness for +service with the aid of the fleet repair ship _Prometheus_ and lately +also by the destroyer tender _Bridgeport_. Additional repair shops on +shore are in process of completion. + +[Sidenote: Gunnery and torpedo exercises.] + +(_b_) Arrangements are now in hand for the carrying out of gunnery +exercises including torpedoes, the need of which has been recognised but +had hitherto been deemed impracticable on account of press of work. + +[Sidenote: Facilities for repairing vessels.] + +(_c_) The United States naval repair facilities here as well as +elsewhere on the coast of France have to be made use of not only for the +upkeep of the United States naval vessels based on the coast, but also +for necessary repairs to troopships and cargo vessels, whether naval, +Army, or Shipping Board, the guiding idea being to keep the ships +moving. + +[Sidenote: French divided into districts.] + +(_a_) _Coastal Districts in France._--The north and west coasts of +France are divided into districts which correspond with the French +prefectures maritimes, and the district headquarters are in every case +located in the same place as those of the several prefects maritimes. +These headquarters are communication and operating centers and provide +naturally by arrangement as above described for full and ready +cooperation with the French district activities. + +[Sidenote: Port officers.] + +(_b_) The principal ports have assigned to them a port officer whose +function in regard to all United States ships is to expedite their "turn +around," and in addition, where vessels carrying United States naval +armed guards are concerned, to inspect the armed guards and adjust such +matters as are beyond the capacity or authority of the armed guard +commander. + +(_a_) _United States Naval Aviation in France_ includes all that the +title implies, except the northern bombing group mentioned above, and +aviation matters are immediately in the hands of Captain T.T. Craven, +aid for aviation on Vice Admiral Wilson's staff. + +[Sidenote: Stations for seaplanes, dirigibles and balloons.] + +(_b_) There are eight sea-plane stations, three dirigible stations, and +three kite-balloon stations, all of which are operated by district +commanders in cooperation with the French naval air services in the +several corresponding prefectures maritimes. There is also an assembly, +repair, and supply base at Pauillac for the general service of all air +stations in France and a sea-plane gunnery and bombing training school +at Moutchie, both of these activities being directly under the +headquarters in Brest. + +(_c_) Of the eight seaplane stations, five have been in operation for +periods varying from 12 to 3 months, and the remaining 3 are now about +ready to begin. + +(_d_) Of the three dirigible stations, only that at Paimboeuf has been +in operation for any length of time, and is to be used also for training +and experimental work. The station at Guipavas will shortly be in +operation. The station at Gujan has been delayed to let material go to +other stations which it was deemed advisable to complete first. + +[Sidenote: Experimental balloon work at Brest.] + +(_e_) Of the three kite-balloon stations, only that at Brest is ready +for operation. Test and experimental work have been carried on here +since August, 1918, in connection with destroyers and yachts. The +station at La Trinite is nearing completion and that at La Pallice is +progressing rapidly. The utility of the station at La Trinite seems to +be somewhat in doubt, as the original purposes for its establishment +have undergone some change due to alterations in the methods of handling +convoys, coastal as well as on and off shore. + +[Sidenote: Repair and supply station at Pauillac.] + +(_f_) The assembly repair and supply station at Pauillac is under the +command of Captain F.T. Evans, under whose forceful and able direction +the station has progressed rapidly to completion and is deemed ready to +undertake any and all demands that may be made on it. + +[Sidenote: Devices used in training aviators.] + +(_g_) The training school at Moutchie, under the command of Commander +R.W. Cabaniss appears to have a thorough system of instruction, founded +on sound bases, and includes study and lectures, as well as ample, +practical work. Endeavor is made to keep in touch with and to adopt, +where deemed advisable, the best British and French methods. Some of the +devices in use for training are ingeniously adapted to the simulation of +the conditions obtaining while flying. + + + +IV. OTHER COOPERATING ACTIVITIES. + + +[Sidenote: Liaison with the United States Army.] + +_Liaison with the United States Army in France_ is carried on by +maintaining a naval liaison officer (Commander R. Williams) at the Army +general headquarters, chiefly for the purpose of rendering assistance in +effecting cooperation as to the handling and routing of troopships and +of cargo vessels consigned to Army account. + +[Sidenote: The radio station near Bordeaux.] + +_Trans-Atlantic Radio Station._--The erection of the trans-Atlantic +radio-transmitting station at Croix d'Hins, near Bordeaux, is being done +by United States naval personnel under the direction of Lieutenant +Commander G.C. Sweet. The French authorities are putting in the +foundations. The personnel is well taken care of and the work of +construction appears to be progressing favorably. It is hoped and +expected by those in charge that a four-tower unit will be ready for +operation about March 1, 1919. + +[Sidenote: The naval railway batteries in France.] + +_The 14-inch Naval Railway Battery_ was built and equipped by the Navy +and manned by naval personnel for service in France with the United +States Army. It arrived in France in July last under the command of Rear +Admiral C.P. Plunkett and was ready for service during August. A part +of the battery has been operating with the French against Laon and +vicinity, and is understood to have rendered what the French consider +very valuable service against the enemy. The entire battery is now with +the First United States Army, but data as to what it has accomplished +are not yet available. This test of our naval guns of late design and +large caliber in long-range firing and the opportunities given to naval +personnel to study and observe the artillery work on the western front +are considered to be of great value to the service. + +[Sidenote: The oil pipe line across Scotland.] + +_A United States Naval Pipe-line Unit_ has completed important service +in the construction of a fuel-oil pipe line across Scotland, and is +understood to have been asked for by the French to do some work of the +same kind for them. + +(_a_) There are yet to be inspected and observed the following +activities, which have not so far been mentioned: + +[Sidenote: Additional naval bases.] + +United States naval base at Cardiff, Subchaser Detachment Two, based on +Corfu, Captain C.P. Nelson, United States naval air stations in Italy. + +(_b_) It is not deemed practicable to visit the United States naval +forces based at Gibraltar (Rear Admiral Niblack), nor the United States +naval forces based on the Azores, because of difficulties of +transportation, as is also the case in regard to the U.S.S. _Olympia_ in +northern Russia. + + + +V. UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION IN EUROPE. + + +[Sidenote: Aviation Headquarters in Paris and London.] + +(_a_) The establishment of United States naval aviation in Europe has +been one of the most difficult and involved tasks which have had to be +undertaken and brought into effect. Captain H.I. Cone arrived in Europe +for this work about October 1, 1917, and has continued in charge of it +ever since. He maintained headquarters in Paris until about August 1, +1918, when he removed to London and was designated as aid for aviation +on staff of the commander of United States naval forces in Europe. + +[Sidenote: Supplies arranged for by cable.] + +(_b_) There were arrangements to be made with the French and the British +as to locations for stations that would be best adapted for cooperation. +There were further arrangements to be made as to the procurement of +sites or the taking over of the stations already in operation or in +process of construction. The Navy Department had also to be communicated +with, largely by cable, as to design, quantities, and shipments of +material, which upon receipt had to be allocated with a view to +completing certain stations as soon as possible while not delaying the +progress of the general scheme any more than could be helped. + +[Sidenote: Coastwise transportation difficult.] + +(_c_) Delays and mistakes in the shipment of aviation material probably +caused more trouble than any other one thing, for when material once +arrives in a European port it has been, and still is, a very difficult +matter to arrange for coastwise transportation. + +[Sidenote: Creditable progress.] + +(_d_) Taking into consideration the necessary scope of the project, the +difficulties inherent in providing for establishments on foreign soil, +and the delays which the magnitude of the undertakings caused in the +production and shipment of material (and personnel) from the United +States, the state of progress is considered highly creditable to Captain +Cone and to his assistants. + + + +VI. Y.M.C.A. AND SIMILAR ACTIVITIES. + + +[Sidenote: Y.M.C.A. activities.] + +(_a_) It was satisfactory to note that in practically all cases--whether +our own naval facilities provided reading, writing, and amusement +facilities for the personnel or not--the Y.M.C.A. was in evidence. +Their arrangements were, in many places, all that could be expected in +the way of cheerful and comfortable quarters; and, in those places where +the facilities were not so good, inquiry usually revealed the fact that +a suitable building was either under way or soon would be. + +[Sidenote: Knights of Columbus.] + +(_b_) In at least one place the Knights of Columbus were found +established in a commodious building with all in readiness to duplicate +the character of the work generally associated with Y.M.C.A. activities. + +(_c_) All assistance of this character, from whatever source, has been +gladly taken advantage of by the officers in charge, and is much used +and appreciated by the men. + + + +VII. HOSPITAL FACILITIES, SICK QUARTERS, ETC. + + +[Sidenote: Excellent hospitals at naval bases.] + +It is deemed worthy of note that the arrangements and facilities for +caring for the sick and injured Navy personnel are almost more than +ample. In many of the naval-base hospitals the majority of the patients +are, consequently, of other services--both the United States and the +allied. The provisions of the United States Navy in this respect are so +complete in their facilities and so efficient in their readiness as to +excite the admiration of all the foreign services, military as well as +naval. + +[Sidenote: Hearty cooperation with British and French.] + +As has already been said at the beginning of this report, cooperation +with the British and the French had been the chief method of work for +the United States naval forces in European waters. That cooperation has +been effected with such cordial appreciation and the few minor +difficulties have yielded so readily to sympathetic understanding that +all zeal displayed was in the common interest of "winning the war" that +there is and can be nothing but reciprocal praise for each other's +efforts, which will be of lasting benefit in future when the present +compelling community of interest is no longer operative. The United +States and the allies know each other better individually and +collectively and are and will continue to be the greater and better +friends for the experience that has come out of the cordial cooperation +and coordination required by the common interest in this war. + +[Sidenote: Spirit of men and officers.] + +There is ample evidence on every hand, from the north of Scotland to the +shores of the Mediterranean, that officers and men of the naval service, +regular and reserve alike and together, have "turned to" on the work in +hand, inspired by the guiding idea of doing all in their power, however +humble the task, of "helping to win the war." Officers whose preference +is for duty at sea, men who came over with a view to doing battle with +the enemy, one and all, have done and are doing the work that comes to +hand, even to the digging of ditches, with a will and with a cheery +readiness for more of the same kind, for anything that will help to "get +on with the war," that is an inspiration to all who work with them and +of vast satisfaction to those over them who will know what their +preferences in the matter of war employment are. They are a credit to +the service and to their country. + +[Sidenote: High standard of conduct.] + +Furthermore, this large body of men, which occupies the position of the +advance guard of the Navy, as a whole have so conducted themselves as to +earn the highly favorable comment of the citizens in whose country they +found themselves and whose guests they are in some measure. It is +believed that it may well be said that the men on duty in Europe, far +away from home ties and influences, will return to their own country +unharmed by the temptations and pitfalls which their relatives and +friends may have feared. They are a fine, upstanding lot of men, and +their adaptability and efficiency have been so apparent as to fully +warrant the oft-made statement that the men of the United States Navy, +which includes the Marine Corps, can do anything, anywhere, and at any +time. + +[Sidenote: The _President Lincoln_ is torpedoed.] + +On May 31, 1918, the _President Lincoln_ was returning to America from a +voyage to France, and was in line formation with the U.S.S. +_Susquehanna_, the U.S.S. _Antigone_, and the U.S.S. _Ryndam_, the +latter being on the left flank of the formation and about 800 yards from +the _President Lincoln_. The weather was pleasant, the sun shining +brightly, with a choppy sea. The ships were about 500 miles from the +coast of France and had passed through what was considered to be the +most dangerous part of the war zone. At about 9 a.m. a terrific +explosion occurred on the port side of the ship about 120 feet from the +bow and immediately afterwards another explosion occurred on the port +side about 120 feet from the stern of the ship, these explosions being +immediately identified as coming from torpedoes fired by a German +submarine. + +It was found that the ship was struck by three torpedoes, which had been +fired as one salvo from the submarine, two of the torpedoes striking +practically together near the bow of the ship and the third striking +near the stern. The wake of the torpedoes had been sighted by the +officers and lookouts on watch, but the torpedoes were so close to the +ship as to make it impossible to avoid them; and it was also found that +the submarine at the time of firing was only about 800 yards from the +_President Lincoln_. + +There were at the time 715 persons on board, including about 30 officers +and men of the Army. Some of these were sick and two soldiers were +totally paralyzed. + +The alarm was immediately sounded and everyone went to his proper +station which had been designated at previous drills. There was not the +slightest confusion and the crew and passengers waited for and acted on +orders from the commanding officer with a coolness which was truly +inspiring. + +[Sidenote: No confusion in leaving ship.] + +Inspections were made below decks and it was found that the ship was +rapidly filling with water, both forward and aft, and that there was +little likelihood that she would remain afloat. The boats were lowered +and the life rafts were placed in the water and about 15 minutes after +the ship was struck all hands except the guns' crews were ordered to +abandon the ship. + +[Sidenote: Saving the sick and wounded.] + +It had been previously planned that in order to avoid the losses which +have occurred in such instances by filling the boats at the davits +before lowering them, that only one officer and five men would get into +the boats before lowering and that everyone else would get into the +water and get on the life rafts and then be picked up by the boats, this +being entirely feasible, as everyone was provided with an efficient +life-saving jacket. One exception was made to this plan, however, in +that one boat was filled with the sick before being lowered and it was +in this boat that the paralyzed soldiers were saved without difficulty. + +[Sidenote: Courageous work of the gunners.] + +The guns' crews were held at their stations hoping for an opportunity to +fire on the submarine should it appear before the ship sank, and orders +were given to the guns' crews to begin firing, hoping that this might +prevent further attack. All the ship's company except the guns' crews +and necessary officers were at that time in the boats and on the rafts +near the ship, and when the guns' crews began firing the people in the +boats set up a cheer to show that they were not downhearted. The guns' +crews only left their guns when ordered by the commanding officer just +before the ship sank. The guns in the bow kept up firing until after the +water was entirely over the main deck of the after half of the ship. + +The state of discipline which existed and the coolness of the men is +well illustrated by what occurred when the boats were being lowered and +were about half way from their davits to the water. At this particular +time, there appeared some possibility of the ship not sinking +immediately, and the commanding officer gave the order to stop lowering +the boats. This order could not be understood, however, owing to the +noise caused by escaping steam from the safety valves of the boilers +which had been lifted to prevent explosion, but by motion of the hand +from the commanding officer the crews stopped lowering the boats and +held them in mid-air for a few minutes until at a further motion of the +hand the boats were dropped into the water. + +[Sidenote: Rafts tied together to prevent drifting.] + +Immediately after the ship sank the boats pulled among the rafts and +were loaded with men to their full capacity and the work of collecting +the rafts and tying them together to prevent drifting apart and being +lost was begun. + +[Sidenote: The submarine takes an officer prisoner.] + +While this work was under way and about half an hour after the ship +sank, a large German submarine emerged and came among the boats and +rafts, searching for the commanding officer and some of the senior +officers whom they desired to take prisoners. The submarine commander +was able to identify only one officer, Lieutenant E.V.M. Isaacs, whom he +took on board and carried away. The submarine remained in the vicinity +of the boats for about two hours and returned again in the afternoon, +hoping apparently for an opportunity of attacking some of the other +ships which had been in company with the _President Lincoln_ but which +had, in accordance with standard instructions, steamed as rapidly as +possible from the scene of attack. + +[Sidenote: After dark signal lights.] + +By dark the boats and rafts had been collected and secured together, +there being about 500 men in the boats and about 200 on the rafts. +Lighted lanterns were hoisted in the boats and flare-up lights and +Coston signal lights were burned every few minutes, the necessary detail +of men being made to carry out this work during the night. + +[Sidenote: Water and food limited.] + +The boats had been provided with water and food, but none was used +during the day, as the quantity was necessarily limited and it might be +a period of several days before a rescue could be effected. + +The ship's wireless plant had been put out of commission by the force of +the explosion, and although the ship's operator had sent the radio +distress signals, yet it was known that the nearest destroyers were 250 +miles away, protecting another convoy and it was possible that military +necessity might prevent their being detached to come to our rescue. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers _Warrington_ and _Smith_ arrive.] + +At about 11 p.m. a white light flashing in the blackness of the +night--it was very dark--was sighted, and very shortly it was found that +the destroyer _Warrington_ had arrived for our rescue and about an hour +afterwards the destroyer _Smith_ also arrived. The transfer of the men +from the boats and rafts to the destroyers was effected as quickly as +possible and the destroyers remained in the vicinity until after +daylight the following morning, when a further search was made for +survivors who might have drifted in a boat or on a raft, but none were +found, and at about 6 a.m. the return trip to France was begun. + +The performance of Lieutenant Commander Kenyon, commanding the U.S. +destroyer _Warrington_, and Lieutenant Commander Klein, of the U.S. +destroyer _Smith_ deserves great commendation, as they located our +position in the middle of the night, after having run a distance of +about 250 miles, during which time the boats and rafts of the _President +Lincoln_ had drifted 15 miles from the position reported by radio, and +it had been necessary for the commanding officers of these destroyers to +make an estimate of the probable drift of the boats during that time. +The only thing they had to base their estimate on was the force and +direction of the wind. The discovery of the boats was not accidental, as +the course steered was the result of mature deliberation and estimate of +the situation. + +[Sidenote: Drift of the boats accurately estimated.] + +[Sidenote: The missing.] + +Of the 715 men present all told on board, it was found after the muster +that 3 officers and 23 men were lost with the ship and that 1 officer, +Lieutenant Isaacs, above mentioned, had been taken prisoner. The three +officers were Passed Assistant Surgeon L.C. Whiteside, ship's medical +officer; Paymaster Andrew Mowat, ship's supply officer; and Assistant +Paymaster J.D. Johnston, United States Naval Reserve Force. + +[Sidenote: Two officers taken down with the ship.] + +The loss of these officers was peculiarly regrettable, as they could +have escaped. Both Dr. Whiteside and Paymaster Mowat had seen the men +under their charge leave the ship, the doctor having attended to placing +the sick in the boat provided for the purpose, and they then remained in +the ship for some unexplainable reason, as testified by witnesses who +last saw them, and apparently these two excellent officers were taken +down with the ship. Paymaster Johnston got on a raft alongside the ship, +but in some way was caught by the ship as she went under, as C.M. +Hippard, ship's cook, third class, United States Navy, states that he +was on the raft with Paymaster Johnston and that they were both drawn +under the water, but when he came to the surface, Paymaster Johnston +could no longer be seen. + +[Sidenote: Men working below decks.] + +Of the 23 men who were lost, the following 7 men were engaged in work +below decks in the forward end of the ship, and they were either killed +by the force of the explosion of the two torpedoes which struck in that +vicinity, or were drowned by the inrush of the water. + +H.A. Himelwright, storekeeper, second class, United States Navy; F.W. +Wilson, jr., yeoman, second class, United States Naval Reserve Force; B. +Zanetti, coxswain, United States Navy; A.S. Egbert, seaman, second +class, National Naval Volunteer; G.B. Hoffman, seaman, United States +Navy; J.A. Jenkins, seaman, second class, United States Navy; F.A. +Hedglin, seaman, second class, United States Navy. + +[Sidenote: One raft probably went down.] + +The remaining 16 men were apparently caught on the raft alongside the +ship and went down, this being probably caused by the current of water +which was rushing into the big hole in the ship's side, as the men were +on rafts which were in this vicinity. + +[Sidenote: Danger from submarine.] + +Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance of +any kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boat +was all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as to +whether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts, I thought he +might probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officers +disclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds of +the men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on the +submarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with the +intention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed by +some of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, "Good night, here +comes the fireworks." The spirit which actuated the remark of this +kind, under such circumstances, could be none other than that of cool +courage and bravery. + +[Sidenote: Instances of self-sacrifice.] + +There were many instances where a man showed more interest in the safety +of another than he did for himself. When loading the boats from the +rafts one man would hold back and insist that another be allowed to +enter the boat. There was a striking case of this kind when about dark I +noticed that Chief Master-at-Arms Rogers, who was rather an old man, and +been in the Navy for years, was on a raft, and I sent a boat to take him +from the raft, but he objected considerably to this, stating that he was +quite all right, although as a matter of fact he was very cold and +cramped from his long hours on the raft. + +[Sidenote: The Balsa rafts excellent.] + +Fortunately, the splendid type of life raft known as the Balsa raft, as +it was made of balsa wood, had been furnished the ship, and these +resulted in saving a great many men who might otherwise have been lost, +due to exhaustion in the water. + +[Sidenote: Inspiring conduct of the men.] + +The conduct of the men during this time of grave danger was thrilling +and inspiring, as a large percentage of them were young boys, who had +only been in the Navy for a period of a few months. This is another +example of the innate courage and bravery of the young manhood of +America. + + * * * * * + +The Germans, hard pressed by the Americans and French in the +Meuse-Argonne, and by the British in Flanders, at last saw the futility +of further resistance, and asked for an armistice, on November 11. The +terms of this armistice, dictated by the Allies, were as follows: + + + + +ARMISTICE TERMS SIGNED BY GERMANY + + +[Sidenote: Operations to cease.] + +One--Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the +signature of the armistice. + +[Sidenote: Invaded countries to be evacuated.] + +Two--Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, +Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within +fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops which +have not left the above-mentioned territories within the period fixed +will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the allied and United States +forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All +movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordance +with a note annexed to the stated terms. + +[Sidenote: Inhabitants to be repatriated.] + +Three--Repatriation beginning at once to be completed within fifteen +days of all the inhabitants of the countries above enumerated (including +hostages, persons under trial or convicted). + +[Sidenote: Surrender of war material.] + +Four--Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following +war material: Five thousand guns (2,500 heavy, and 2,500 field), 25,000 +machine guns, 3,000 minenwerfer, 1,700 airplanes (fighters, +bombers--firstly, all of the D 7's and all the night bombing machines). +The above to be delivered in situ to the allied and United States troops +in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the note +(annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of the armistice. + +Five--Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bank +of the Rhine. The countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall be +administered by the local troops of occupation. The occupation of these +territories will be carried out by allied and United States garrisons +holding the principal crossings of the Rhine (Mayence, Coblenz, +Cologne), together with the bridgeheads at these points of a +thirty-kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarly +holding the strategic points of the regions. A neutral zone shall be +reserved on the right bank of the Rhine between the stream and a line +drawn parallel to the bridgeheads and to the stream and at a distance of +ten kilometers, from the frontier of Holland up to the frontier of +Switzerland. The evacuation by the enemy of the Rhinelands (left and +right bank) shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further +period of sixteen days, in all, thirty-one days after the signing of the +armistice. All the movements of evacuation or occupation are regulated +by the note (annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of +the armistice. + +[Sidenote: Allies to occupy left bank of Rhine and principal crossings.] + +[Sidenote: Inhabitants of evacuated territories to be protected.] + +Six--In all territories evacuated by the enemy there shall be no +evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the +persons or property of the inhabitants. No person shall be persecuted +for offenses of participation in war measures prior to the signing of +the armistice. No destruction of any kind shall be committed. Military +establishments of all kinds shall be delivered intact, as well as +military stores of food, munitions, and equipment, not removed during +the time fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil +population, cattle, &c., shall be left in situ. Industrial +establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnel +shall not be removed. + +[Sidenote: Means of transportation to be surrendered in good order.] + +Seven--Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroads, +waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no +manner impaired. All civil and military personnel at present employed on +them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives and 150,000 wagons in good +working order, with all necessary spare parts and fittings, shall be +delivered to the associated powers within the period fixed in annexure +No. 2, and total of which shall not exceed thirty-one days. There shall +likewise be delivered 5,000 motor lorries (camion automobiles) in good +order, within the period of thirty-six days. The railways of +Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within the period of thirty-one +days, together with pre-war personnel and material. Further, the +material necessary for the working of railways in the countries on the +left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and +material for the upkeep of permanent ways, signals, and repair shops +shall be left in situ. These stores shall be maintained by Germany in so +far as concerns the working of the railroads in the countries on the +left bank of the Rhine. All barges taken from the Allies shall be +restored to them. The note, annexure No. 2, regulates the details of +these measures. + +[Sidenote: Mine positions to be revealed.] + +Eight--The German command shall be responsible for revealing within the +period of forty-eight hours after the signing of the armistice all mines +or delayed action fuses on territory evacuated by the German troops and +shall assist in their discovery and destruction. It also shall reveal +all destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or +polluting of springs and wells, &c.). All under penalty of reprisals. + +[Sidenote: Allies to have right of requisition.] + +Nine--The right of requisition shall be exercised by the allied and +United States armies in all occupied territories, subject to regulation +of accounts with those whom it may concern. The upkeep of the troops of +occupation in the Rhineland (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be +charged to the German Government. + +[Sidenote: Allied and American prisoners of war to be repatriated.] + +Ten--The immediate repatriation without reciprocity, according to +detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all allied and United +States prisoners of war, including persons under trial or convicted. The +allied powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of them as +they wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subject +of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 1918, in +course of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners of +war interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall continue as before. The +repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the +conclusion of the preliminaries of peace. + +[Sidenote: Sick and wounded to be cared for.] + +Eleven--Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory +will be cared for by German personnel, who will be left on the spot with +the medical material required. + +[Sidenote: Germans to withdraw from Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey and +Russia.] + +Twelve--All German troops at present in the territories which before +belonged to Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey, shall withdraw immediately +within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August First, +Nineteen Fourteen. All German troops at present in the territories which +before the war belonged to Russia shall likewise withdraw within the +frontiers of Germany, defined as above, as soon as the Allies, taking +into account the internal situation of these territories, shall decide +that the time for this has come. + +[Sidenote: Evacuation to begin immediately.] + +[Sidenote: German requisitions to cease.] + +Thirteen--Evacuation by German troops to begin at once, and all German +instructors, prisoners, and civilians as well as military agents now on +the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to be recalled. + +Fourteen--German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures +and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining supplies intended +for Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914). + +[Sidenote: Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk treaties to be renounced.] + +Fifteen--Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and +of the supplementary treaties. + +Sixteen--The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated +by the Germans on their eastern frontier, either through Danzig, or by +the Vistula, in order to convey supplies to the populations of those +territories and for the purpose of maintaining order. + +[Sidenote: East Africa to be evacuated.] + +Seventeen--Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa +within a period to be fixed by the Allies. + +[Sidenote: Repatriation without reciprocation.] + +Eighteen--Repatriation, without reciprocity, within a maximum period of +one month in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed +of all interned civilians, including hostages (persons?) under trial or +convicted, belonging to the allied or associated powers other than those +enumerated in Article Three. + +[Sidenote: Financial restitution.] + +Nineteen--The following financial conditions are required: Reparation +for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shall +be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for +the recovery or reparation for war losses. Immediate restitution of the +cash deposit in the national bank of Belgium, and in general immediate +return of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together +with plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interests +in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian gold +yielded to Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in +trust to the Allies until the signature of peace. + +[Sidenote: Cessation of hostilities at sea.] + +Twenty--Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite +information to be given as to the location and movements of all German +ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of navigation +in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marines +of the allied and associated powers, all questions of neutrality being +waived. + +[Sidenote: Germany to return naval prisoners.] + +Twenty-one--All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the allied and +associated powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity. + +[Sidenote: Submarines and mine layers to be surrendered.] + +Twenty-two--Surrender to the Allies and United States of all submarines +(including submarine cruisers and all mine-laying submarines) now +existing, with their complete armament and equipment, in ports which +shall be specified by the Allies and United States. Those which cannot +take the sea shall be disarmed of the personnel and material and shall +remain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. The +submarines which are ready for the sea shall be prepared to leave the +German ports as soon as orders shall be received by wireless for their +voyage to the port designated for their delivery, and the remainder at +the earliest possible moment. The conditions of this article shall be +carried into effect within the period of fourteen days after the signing +of the armistice. + +[Sidenote: German warships to be disarmed and interned.] + +Twenty-three--German surface warships which shall be designated by the +Allies and the United States shall be immediately disarmed and +thereafter interned in neutral ports or in default of them in allied +ports to be designated by the Allies and the United States. They will +there remain under the supervision of the Allies and of the United +States, only caretakers being left on board. The following warships are +designated by the Allies: Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight +light cruisers (including two mine layers), fifty destroyers of the most +modern types. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to +be concentrated in German naval bases to be designated by the Allies +and the United States and are to be completely disarmed and classed +under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. The military +armament of all ships of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore. All +vessels designated to be interned shall be ready to leave the German +ports seven days after the signing of the armistice. Directions for the +voyage will be given by wireless. + +[Sidenote: Allies to sweep mine fields.] + +Twenty-four--The Allies and the United States of America shall have the +right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany +outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to be +indicated. + +[Sidenote: Free accession to the Baltic for the Allies.] + +Twenty-five--Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to the +naval and mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers. To +secure this the Allies and the United States of America shall be +empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries, and +defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat into +the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within and +without German territorial waters, without any question of neutrality +being raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions are +to be indicated. + +[Sidenote: Blockade conditions to remain unchanged.] + +Twenty-six--The existing blockade conditions set up by the allied and +associated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German merchant ships +found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the United +States should give consideration to the provisioning of Germany during +the armistice to the extent recognized as necessary. + +[Sidenote: Naval aircraft to be immobilized.] + +Twenty-seven--All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilized +in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States of +America. + +[Sidenote: Navigation material to be abandoned.] + +Twenty-eight--In evacuating the Belgian coast and ports Germany shall +abandon in situ and in fact all port and river navigation material, all +merchant ships, tugs, lighters, all naval aeronautic apparatus, material +and supplies, and all arms, apparatus, and supplies of every kind. + +[Sidenote: Black Sea ports to be evacuated.] + +Twenty-nine--All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany; all +Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black +Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of +America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all +warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those ports are to be +returned and German materials as specified in Clause Twenty-eight are to +be abandoned. + +[Sidenote: Merchant vessels to be restored.] + +Thirty--All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the allied and +associated powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by the +Allies and the United States of America without reciprocity. + +[Sidenote: No destruction permitted.] + +Thirty-one--No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted +before evacuation, surrender, or restoration. + +[Sidenote: German restrictions on trading vessels to be canceled.] + +Thirty-two--The German Government will notify the neutral Governments of +the world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, +and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of their +vessels with the allied and associated countries, whether by the German +Government or by private German interests, and whether in return for +specific concessions, such as the export of shipbuilding materials, or +not, are immediately canceled. + +[Sidenote: No transfers of German shipping.] + +Thirty-three--No transfers of German merchant shipping of any +description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of the +armistice. + +[Sidenote: Armistice to last thirty days.] + +Thirty-four--The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, with +option to extend. During this period if its clauses are not carried +into execution the armistice may be denounced by one of the contracting +parties, which must give warning forty-eight hours in advance. It is +understood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant the +denunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient execution +within a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying them +into execution. In order to assure the execution of this convention +under the best conditions, the principle of a permanent international +armistice commission is admitted. This commission will act under the +authority of the allied military and naval Commanders in Chief. + +[Sidenote: Must be accepted within seventy-two hours.] + +Thirty-five--This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany within +seventy-two hours of notification. + +This armistice has been signed the Eleventh of November, Nineteen +Eighteen, at 5 o'clock a.m. French time. + + F. Foch. + R.E. Wemyss. + Erzberger. + A. Oberndorff. + Winterfeldt. + Von Salow. + + * * * * * + +The chief concern of President Wilson, and the controlling reason for +his trip abroad to attend the Peace Conference, was the formation of a +League of Nations to insure perpetual peace. After months of +deliberation the covenant of the League of Nations was prepared and made +public. The text of this covenant follows. + + + + +COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS + + +[Sidenote: The purposes of the League.] + +PREAMBLE--In order to promote international cooperation and to +secure international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations +not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just, and honorable +relations between nations, by the firm establishment of the +understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among +Governments, and by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect +for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one +another, the Powers signatory to this covenant adopt this Constitution +of the League of Nations: + +[Sidenote: A body of delegates.] + +ARTICLE I.--The action of the high contracting parties under +the terms of this covenant shall be effected through the instrumentality +of a meeting of a body of delegates representing the high contracting +parties, of meetings at more frequent intervals of an Executive Council, +and of a permanent international secretariat to be established at the +seat of the League. + +[Sidenote: Each high contracting party to have a vote.] + +ART. II.--Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at +stated intervals and from time to time, as occasion may require, for the +purpose of dealing with matters within the sphere of action of the +League. Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at the seat of +the league, or at such other places as may be found convenient, and +shall consist of representatives of the high contracting parties. Each +of the high contracting parties shall have one vote, but may have not +more than three representatives. + +[Sidenote: Nations to be represented in the Executive Council.] + +ART. III.--The Executive Council shall consist of +representatives of the United States of America, the British Empire, +France, Italy, and Japan, together with representatives of four other +States, members of the League. The selection of these four States shall +be made by the body of delegates on such principles and in such manner +as they think fit. Pending the appointment of these representatives of +the other States, representatives of ---- shall be members of the +Executive Council. + +[Sidenote: Meetings at least once a year.] + +Meetings of the Council shall be held from time to time as occasion may +require, and at least once a year, at whatever place may be decided on, +or, failing any such decision, at the seat of the League, and any matter +within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the +world may be dealt with at such meetings. + +Invitations shall be sent to any Power to attend a meeting of the +council at which such matters directly affecting its interests are to be +discussed, and no decision taken at any meeting will be binding on such +Powers unless so invited. + +[Sidenote: Committees to investigate particular matters.] + +ART. IV.--All matters of procedure at meetings of the body of +delegates or the Executive Council, including the appointment of +committees to investigate particular matters, shall be regulated by the +body of delegates or the Executive Council, and may be decided by a +majority of the States represented at the meeting. + +The first meeting of the body of delegates and of the Executive Council +shall be summoned by the President of the United States of America. + +[Sidenote: The permanent secretariat.] + +ART. V.--The permanent secretariat of the League shall be +established at ----, which shall constitute the seat of the League. The +secretariat shall comprise such secretaries and staff as may be +required, under the general direction and control of a Secretary General +of the League, who shall be chosen by the Executive Council. The +secretariat shall be appointed by the Secretary General subject to +confirmation by the Executive Council. + +The Secretary General shall act in that capacity at all meetings of the +body of delegates or of the Executive Council. + +The expenses of the secretariat shall be borne by the States members of +the League, in accordance with the apportionment of the expenses of the +International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union. + +[Sidenote: Representatives to have diplomatic privileges and +immunities.] + +ART. VI.--Representatives of the high contracting parties and +officials of the League, when engaged in the business of the League, +shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities, and the buildings +occupied by the League or its officials, or by representatives attending +its meetings, shall enjoy the benefits of extra-territoriality. + +[Sidenote: Admission to the League.] + +ART. VII.--Admission to the League of States, not signatories +to the covenant and not named in the protocol hereto as States to be +invited to adhere to the covenant, requires the assent of not less than +two-thirds of the States represented in the body of delegates, and shall +be limited to fully self-governing countries, including dominions and +colonies. + +No State shall be admitted to the League unless it is able to give +effective guarantees of its sincere intention to observe its +international obligations and unless it shall conform to such principles +as may be prescribed by the League in regard to its naval and military +forces and armaments. + +[Sidenote: To reduce national armaments.] + +ART. VIII.--The high contracting parties recognize the +principle that the maintenance of peace will require the reduction of +national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety, +and the enforcement by common action of international obligations, +having special regard to the geographical situation and circumstances of +each State, and the Executive Council shall formulate plans for +effecting such reduction. The Executive Council shall also determine for +the consideration and action of the several Governments what military +equipment and armament is fair and reasonable in proportion to the scale +of forces laid down in the program of disarmament; and these limits, +when adopted, shall not be exceeded without the permission of the +Executive Council. + +[Sidenote: To regulate private manufacture of munitions.] + +The high contracting parties agree that the manufacture by private +enterprise of munitions and implements of war lends itself to grave +objections, and direct the Executive Council to advise how the evil +effects attendant upon such manufacture can be prevented, due regard +being had to the necessities of those countries which are not able to +manufacture for themselves the munitions and implements of war necessary +for their safety. + +The high contracting parties undertake in no way to conceal from each +other the condition of such of their industries as are capable of being +adapted to warlike purposes or the scale of their armaments, and agree +that there shall be full and frank interchange of information as to +their military and naval programs. + +ART. IX.--A permanent commission shall be constituted to advise +the League on the execution of the provisions of Article VIII. and on +military and naval questions generally. + +[Sidenote: Territorial integrity.] + +ART. X.--The high contracting parties shall undertake to +respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial +integrity and existing political independence of all States members of +the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or +danger of such aggression the Executive Council shall advise upon the +means by which the obligation shall be fulfilled. + +[Sidenote: All wars the concern of the League.] + +ART. XI.--Any war or threat of war, whether immediately +affecting any of the high contracting parties or not, is hereby declared +a matter of concern to the League, and the high contracting parties +reserve the right to take any action that may be deemed wise and +effectual to safeguard the peace of nations. + +It is hereby also declared and agreed to be the friendly right of each +of the high contracting parties to draw the attention of the body of +delegates or of the Executive Council to any circumstance affecting +international intercourse which threatens to disturb international peace +or good understanding between nations upon which peace depends. + +[Sidenote: Disputes to be submitted to arbitration.] + +ART. XII.--The high contracting parties agree that should +disputes arise between them which cannot be adjusted by the ordinary +processes of diplomacy they will in no case resort to war without +previously submitting the questions and matters involved either to +arbitration or to inquiry by the Executive Council, and until three +months after the award by the arbitrators or a recommendation by the +Executive Council, and that they will not even then resort to war as +against a member of the League which complies with the award of the +arbitrators or the recommendation of the Executive Council. + +In any case under this article the award of the arbitrators shall be +made within a reasonable time, and the recommendation of the Executive +Council shall be made within six months after the submission of the +dispute. + +[Sidenote: The Executive Council to act if arbitration fails.] + +ART. XIII.--The high contracting parties agree that whenever +any dispute or difficulty shall arise between them, which they recognize +to be suitable for submission to arbitration and which cannot be +satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole matter +to arbitration. For this purpose the court of arbitration to which the +case is referred shall be the court agreed on by the parties or +stipulated in any convention existing between them. The high contracting +parties agree that they will carry out in full good faith any award that +may be rendered. In the event of any failure to carry out the award the +Executive Council shall propose what steps can best be taken to give +effect thereto. + +[Sidenote: A permanent court of international justice.] + +ART. XIV.--The Executive Council shall formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice, and this +court shall, when established, be competent to hear and determine any +matter which the parties recognize as suitable for submission to it for +arbitration under the foregoing article. + +[Sidenote: Cases to be stated to the Executive Council.] + +ART. XV.--If there should arise between States, members of the +League, any dispute likely to lead to rupture, which is not submitted to +arbitration as above, the high contracting parties agree that they will +refer the matter to the Executive Council; either party to the dispute +may give notice of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary General +who will make all necessary arrangements for a full investigation and +consideration thereof. For this purpose the parties agree to communicate +to the Secretary General as promptly as possible statements of their +case, all the relevant facts and papers, and the Executive Council may +forthwith direct the publication thereof. + +[Sidenote: Terms of settlements to be published.] + +[Sidenote: Measures to give effect to recommendations.] + +Where the efforts of the council lead to the settlement of the dispute, +a statement shall be published, indicating the nature of the dispute and +the terms of settlement, together with such explanations as may be +appropriate. If the dispute has not been settled, a report by the +council shall be published, setting forth with all necessary facts and +explanations the recommendation which the council think just and proper +for the settlement of the dispute. If the report is unanimously agreed +to by the members of the council, other than the parties to the dispute, +the high contracting parties agree that they will not go to war with any +party which complies with the recommendations, and that if any party +shall refuse so to comply the council shall propose measures necessary +to give effect to the recommendations. If no such unanimous report can +be made it shall be the duty of the majority and the privilege of the +minority to issue statements, indicating what they believe to be the +facts, and containing the reasons which they consider to be just and +proper. + +[Sidenote: Dispute may be referred to the body of delegates.] + +The Executive Council may in any case under this article refer the +dispute to the body of delegates. The dispute shall be so referred at +the request of either party to the dispute, provided that such request +must be made within fourteen days after the submission of the dispute. +In a case referred to the body of delegates, all the provisions of this +article, and of Article XII., relating to the action and powers of the +Executive Council, shall apply to the action and powers of the body of +delegates. + +[Sidenote: When a nation breaks its covenants.] + +ART. XVI.--Should any of the high contracting parties break or +disregard its covenants under Article XII. it shall thereby ipso facto +be deemed to have committed an act of war against all the other members +of the League, which hereby undertakes immediately to subject it to the +severance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of all +intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the +covenant-breaking State and the prevention of all financial, commercial, +or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-breaking +State and the nationals of any other State, whether a member of the +League or not. + +[Sidenote: Armed forces of the League.] + +It shall be the duty of the Executive Council in such case to recommend +what effective military or naval force the members of the League shall +severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the +covenants of the League. + +[Sidenote: Financial economic measures.] + +The high contracting parties agree, further, that they will mutually +support one another in the financial and economic measures which may be +taken under this article in order to minimize the loss and inconvenience +resulting from the above measures, and that they will mutually support +one another in resisting any special measures aimed at one of their +number by the covenant-breaking State and that they will afford passage +through their territory to the forces of any of the high contracting +parties who are cooperating to protect the covenants of the League. + +[Sidenote: When a non-member is party to a dispute.] + +ART. XVII.--In the event of dispute between one State member of +the League and another State which is not a member of the League, or +between States not members of the League, the high contracting parties +agree that the State or States, not members of the League, shall be +invited to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the +purposes of such dispute, upon such conditions as the Executive Council +may deem just, and upon acceptance of any such invitation, the above +provisions shall be applied with such modifications as may be deemed +necessary by the League. + +Upon such invitation being given the Executive Council shall immediately +institute an inquiry into the circumstances and merits of the dispute +and recommend such action as may seem best and most effectual in the +circumstances. + +In the event of a power so invited refusing to accept the obligations of +membership in the League for the purposes of the League, which in the +case of a State member of the League would constitute a breach of +Article XII., the provisions of Article XVI. shall be applicable as +against the State taking such action. + +[Sidenote: Executive Council to take means to settle the dispute.] + +If both parties to the dispute, when so invited, refuse to accept the +obligations of membership in the League for the purpose of such dispute, +the Executive Council may take such action and make such recommendations +as will prevent hostilities and will result in the settlement of the +dispute. + +[Sidenote: Supervision of trade in arms.] + +ART. XVIII.--The high contracting parties agree that the League +shall be intrusted with general supervision of the trade in arms and +ammunition with the countries in which the control of this traffic is +necessary in the common interest. + +[Sidenote: Development of backward peoples a sacred trust.] + +ART. XIX.--To those colonies and territories which, as a +consequence of the late war, have ceased to be under the sovereignty of +the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by +peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous +conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle +that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust +of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust +should be embodied in the constitution of the League. + +The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the +tutelage of such peoples should be intrusted to advanced nations, who by +reason of their resources, their experience, or their geographical +position, can best undertake this responsibility, and that this tutelage +should be exercised by them as mandatories on behalf of the League. + +The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the +development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, +its economic conditions and other similar circumstances. + +[Sidenote: Provisional recognition of certain communities.] + +Certain communities, formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire, have +reached a stage of development where their existence as independent +nations can be provisionally recognized, subject to the rendering of +administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory power until such +time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities +must be a principal consideration in the selection of the mandatory +power. + +[Sidenote: Central Africa peoples.] + +Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage +that the mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the +territory, subject to conditions which will guarantee freedom of +conscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order +and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms +traffic, and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment +of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training +of the natives for other than police purposes and the defense of +territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and +commerce of other members of the League. + +[Sidenote: The South Pacific Isles.] + +There are territories, such as Southwest Africa and certain of the South +Pacific Isles, which, owing to the sparseness of the population, or +their small size, or their remoteness from the centers of civilization, +or their geographical contiguity to the mandatory State and other +circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the mandatory +States as integral portions thereof, subject to the safeguards above +mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population. + +[Sidenote: Mandatory's annual report.] + +In every case of mandate, the mandatory State shall render to the League +an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge. + +The degree of authority, control, or administration, to be exercised by +the mandatory State, shall, if not previously agreed upon by the high +contracting parties in each case, be explicitly defined by the Executive +Council in a special act or charter. + +[Sidenote: The mandatory commission.] + +The high contracting parties further agree to establish at the seat of +the League a mandatory commission to receive and examine the annual +reports of the mandatory powers, and to assist the League in insuring +the observance of the terms of all mandates. + +ART. XX.--The high contracting parties will endeavor to secure +and maintain fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women, and +children, both in their own countries and in all countries to which +their commercial and industrial relations extend; and to that end agree +to establish as part of the organization of the League a permanent +bureau of labor. + +[Sidenote: Transportation and commerce.] + +ART. XXI.--The high contracting parties agree that provision +shall be made through the instrumentality of the League to secure and +maintain freedom of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of +all States members of the League, having in mind, among other things, +special arrangements with regard to the necessities of the regions +devastated during the war of 1914-1918. + +[Sidenote: International bureaus to be placed under League.] + +ART. XXII.--The high contracting parties agree to place under +the control of the League all international bureaus already established +by general treaties, if the parties to such treaties consent. +Furthermore, they agree that all such international bureaus to be +constituted in future shall be placed under control of the League. + +[Sidenote: Treaties to be registered with the League.] + +ART. XXIII.--The high contracting parties agree that every +treaty or international engagement entered into hereafter by any State +member of the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretary +General and as soon as possible published by him, and that no such +treaty or international engagement shall be binding until so registered. + +[Sidenote: Reconsideration of treaties.] + +ART. XXIV.--It shall be the right of the body of delegates from +time to time to advise the reconsideration by States members of the +League of treaties which have become inapplicable and of international +conditions of which the continuance may endanger the peace of the world. + +[Sidenote: To procure release from obligations inconsistent with the +League.] + +ART. XXV.--The high contracting parties severally agree that +the present covenant is accepted as abrogating all obligations inter se +which are inconsistent with the terms thereof, and solemnly engage that +they will not hereafter enter into any engagements inconsistent with the +terms thereof. In case any of the Powers signatory hereto or +subsequently admitted to the League shall, before becoming a party to +this covenant, have undertaken any obligations which are inconsistent +with the terms of this covenant, it shall be the duty of such Power to +take immediate steps to procure its release from such obligations. + +[Sidenote: Covenant to be ratified.] + +ART. XXVI.--Amendments to this covenant will take effect when +ratified by the States whose representatives compose the Executive +Council and by three-fourths of the States whose representatives compose +the body of delegates. + + + + +OFFICIAL SUMMARY OF THE TREATY OF PEACE + + +GERMANY + +[Sidenote: The Allied and Associated Powers.] + +The preamble names as parties of the one part the United States, the +British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, described as the Five Allied +and Associated Powers, and Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, +Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Liberia, +Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Serbia, Siam, +Czecho-Slovakia, and Uruguay, who with the five above are described as +the allied and associated powers, and on the other part, Germany. + +[Sidenote: Desire for a firm, just and durable peace.] + +It states that: bearing in mind that on the request of the then Imperial +German Government an armistice was granted on November 11, 1918, by the +principal allied and associated powers in order that a treaty of peace +might be concluded with her, and whereas the allied and associated +powers, being equally desirous that the war in which they were +successively involved directly or indirectly and which originated in the +declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914, against Serbia, +the declaration of war by Germany against Russia on August 1, 1914, and +against France on August 3, 1914, and in the invasion of Belgium, should +be replaced by a firm, just, and durable peace, the plenipotentiaries, +(having communicated their full powers found in good and due form) have +agreed as follows: + +From the coming into force of the present treaty the state of war will +terminate. From the moment and subject to the provisions of this treaty, +official relations with Germany, and with each of the German States, +will be resumed by the allied and associated Powers. + + + +SECTION I + + +LEAGUE OF NATIONS + +[Sidenote: Specific duties of the League of Nations.] + +The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section I of the peace +treaty, which places upon the League many specific, in addition to its +general, duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation of +a neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world's +peace. It will appoint three of the five members of the Sarre +Commission, oversee its rêgime, and carry out the plebiscite. It will +appoint the High Commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of +the free city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germany and +Poland. It will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the +former German colonies, and act as a final court in part of the +plebiscites of the Belgian-German frontier, and in disputes as to the +Kiel Canal, and decide certain of the economic and financial problems. +An International Conference on Labor is to be held in October under its +direction, and another on the international control of ports, waterways, +and railways is foreshadowed. + + +MEMBERSHIP + +[Sidenote: How states may become members or withdraw.] + +The members of the League will be the signatories of the covenant and +other States invited to accede who must lodge a declaration of accession +without reservation within two months. A new State, dominion, or colony +may be admitted, provided its admission is agreed to by two-thirds of +the assembly. A State may withdraw upon giving two years' notice, if it +has fulfilled all its international obligations. + + +SECRETARIAT + +[Sidenote: Permanent secretariat at Geneva.] + +A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the League, +which will be at Geneva. + + +ASSEMBLY + +[Sidenote: Voting by States.] + +The Assembly will consist of representatives of the members of the +League, and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will be by States. +Each member will have one vote and not more than three representatives. + + +COUNCIL + +[Sidenote: Meetings at least once a year.] + +The Council will consist of representatives of the Five Great Allied +Powers, together with representatives of four members selected by the +Assembly from time to time; it may co-opt additional States and will +meet at least once a year. + +Members not represented will be invited to send a representative when +questions affecting their interests are discussed. Voting will be by +States. Each State will have one vote and not more than one +representative. A decision taken by the Assembly and Council must be +unanimous except in regard to procedure and in certain cases specified +in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will be by a +majority. + + +ARMAMENTS + +[Sidenote: Permanent commission on military and naval questions.] + +The Council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for +consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every ten years. +Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armaments fixed without +the concurrence of the Council. All members will exchange full +information as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commission +will advise the Council on military and naval questions. + + +PREVENTING OF WAR + +[Sidenote: Members to submit disputes to arbitration.] + +[Sidenote: Council to consider means to protect covenants.] + +Upon any war, or threat of war, the Council will meet to consider what +common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of +dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three +months after the award. Members agree to carry out an arbitral award and +not to go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it. +If a member fails to carry out the award, the Council will propose the +necessary measures. The Council will formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice to determine +international disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do not +submit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of the +Assembly. If the Council, less the parties to the dispute, is +unanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that they +will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with its +recommendations. In this case, a recommendation, by the Assembly, +concurred in by all its members represented on the Council and a simple +majority of the rest, less the parties to the dispute, will have the +force of a unanimous recommendation by the Council. In either case, if +the necessary agreement cannot be secured, the members reserve the right +to take such [action?] as may be necessary for the maintenance of right +and justice. Members resorting to war in disregard of the covenant will +immediately be debarred from all intercourse with other members. The +Council will in such cases consider what military or naval action can be +taken by the League collectively for the protection of the covenants +and will afford facilities to members cooperating in this enterprise. + + +VALIDITY OF TREATIES + +All treaties or international engagements concluded after the +institution of the League will be registered with the secretariat and +published. The Assembly may from time to time advise members to +reconsider treaties which have become inapplicable or involve danger to +peace. + +[Sidenote: Monroe Doctrine not to be invalidated.] + +The covenant abrogates all obligations between members inconsistent with +its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity of international +engagements such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings +like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of peace. + + +THE MANDATORY SYSTEM + +[Sidenote: For nations not able to stand alone.] + +The tutelage of nations not yet able to stand by themselves will be +intrusted to advanced nations who are best fitted to undertake it. The +covenant recognizes three different stages of development requiring +different kinds of mandatories: + +[Sidenote: Provisional independence.] + +(a) Communities like those belonging to the Turkish Empire, which can be +provisionally recognized as independent, subject to advice and +assistance from mandatary in whose selection they would be allowed a +voice. + +[Sidenote: Abuses to be prohibited.] + +(b) Communities like those of Central Africa, to be administered by the +mandatary under conditions generally approved by the members of the +League, where equal opportunities for trade will be allowed to all +members; certain abuses, such as trade in slaves, arms, and liquor will +be prohibited, and the construction of military and naval bases and the +introduction of compulsory military training will be disallowed. + +[Sidenote: League to determine degree of mandatary's authority.] + +(c) Other communities, such as Southwest Africa and the South Pacific +Islands, but administered under the laws of the mandatary as integral +portions of its territory. In every case the mandatary will render an +annual report, and the degree of its authority will be defined. + + +GENERAL INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS + +[Sidenote: To maintain fair conditions of labor.] + +[Sidenote: Steps for prevention and control of disease.] + +Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international +convention, existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the +League will in general endeavor, through the international organization +established by the Labor Convention, to secure and maintain fair +conditions of labor for men, women and children in their own countries +and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the +native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will entrust +the League with the general supervision over the execution of agreements +for the suppression of traffic in women and children, &c.; and the +control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in which +control is necessary; they will make provision for freedom of +communication and transit and equitable treatment for commerce of all +members of the League, with special reference to the necessities of +regions devastated during the war; and they will endeavor to take steps +for international prevention and control of disease. International +bureaus and commissions already established will be placed under the +League, as well as those to be established in the future. + + +AMENDMENTS TO THE COVENANT + +Amendments to the covenant will take effect when ratified by the Council +and by a majority of the Assembly. + + + +SECTION II + + +BOUNDARIES OF GERMANY + +[Sidenote: Germany to cede to France and Poland.] + +Germany cedes to France Alsace-Lorraine, 5,600 square miles to the +southwest, and to Belgium two small districts between Luxemburg and +Holland, totaling 382 square miles. She also cedes to Poland the +southeastern tip of Silesia beyond and including Oppeln, most of Posen, +and West Prussia, 27,686 square miles, East Prussia being isolated from +the main body by a part of Poland. She loses sovereignty over the +northeastern tip of East Prussia, 40 square miles north of the river +Memel, and the internationalized areas about Danzig, 729 square miles, +and the Basin of the Sarre, 738 square miles, between the western border +of the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria and the southeast corner of +Luxemburg. The Danzig area consists of the V between the Nogat and +Vistula Rivers made a W by the addition of a similar V on the west, +including the city of Danzig. The southeastern third of East Prussia and +the area between East Prussia and the Vistula north of latitude 53 +degrees 3 minutes is to have its nationality determined by popular vote, +5,785 square miles, as is to be the case in part of Schleswig, 2,787 +square miles. + + + +SECTION III + + +BELGIUM + +[Sidenote: Frontier changes.] + +Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, by +which Belgium was established as a neutral State, and to agree in +advance to any convention with which the allied and associated Powers +may determine to replace them. She is to recognize the full sovereignty +of Belgium over the contested territory of Moresnet and over part of +Prussian Moresnet, and to renounce in favor of Belgium all rights over +the circles of Eupen and Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to be +entitled within six months to protest against this change of sovereignty +either in whole or in part, the final decision to be reserved to the +League of Nations. A commission is to settle the details of the +frontier, and various regulations for change of nationality are laid +down. + + +LUXEMBURG + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights of exploitation.] + +Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the Grand +Duchy of Luxemburg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the German +Zollverein from January first, last, renounces all right of exploitation +of the railroads, adheres to the abrogation of its neutrality, and +accepts in advance any international agreement as to it reached by the +allied and associated powers. + + +LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE + +[Sidenote: No German fortifications or armed forces.] + +As provided in the military clauses, Germany will not maintain any +fortifications or armed forces less than fifty kilometers to the east of +the Rhine, hold any manoeuvres, nor maintain any works to facilitate +mobilization. In case of violation, "she shall be regarded as committing +a hostile act against the Powers who sign the present treaty and as +intending to disturb the peace of the world." "By virtue of the present +treaty, Germany shall be bound to respond to any request for an +explanation which the Council of the League of Nations may think it +necessary to address to her." + + +ALSACE-LORRAINE + +[Sidenote: Territories restored to France.] + +After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong done in +1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, the +territories ceded to Germany by the Treaty of Frankfort are restored to +France with their frontiers as before 1871, to date from the signing of +the armistice, and to be free of all public debts. + +[Sidenote: How French citizenship may be acquired.] + +Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those who +are immediately restored to full French citizenship, those who have to +make formal applications therefor, and those for whom naturalization is +open after three years. The last named class includes German residents +in Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished from those who acquire the position +of Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. All public property and +all private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to France without +payment or credit. France is substituted for Germany as regards +ownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways. The +Rhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep. + +[Sidenote: Manufactured products to be admitted to Germany.] + +[Sidenote: Administration of Kehl and Strassbourg.] + +For five years manufactured products of Alsace-Lorraine will be admitted +to Germany free of duty to a total amount not exceeding in any year the +average of the three years preceding the war and textile materials may +be imported from Germany to Alsace-Lorraine and re-exported free of +duty. Contracts for electric power from the right bank must be continued +for ten years. For seven years, with possible extension to ten, the +ports of Kehl and Strassbourg shall be administered as a single unit by +a French administrator appointed and supervised by the Central Rhine +Commission. Property rights will be safeguarded in both ports and +equality of treatment as respects traffic assured the nationals, +vessels, and goods of every country. + +[Sidenote: Contracts, judgments of courts, political condemnations.] + +Contracts between Alsace-Lorraine and Germany are maintained save for +France's right to annul on grounds of public interest. Judgments of +courts hold in certain classes of cases while in others a judicial +exequatur is first required. Political condemnations during the war are +null and void and the obligation to repay war fines is established as in +other parts of allied territory. + +Various clauses adjust the general provisions of the treaty to the +special conditions of Alsace-Lorraine, certain matters of execution +being left to conventions to be made between France and Germany. + + +THE SARRE + +[Sidenote: To compensate for destruction of mines in France.] + +In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in Northern France and +as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France full +ownership of the coal mines of the Sarre Basin with their subsidiaries, +accessories and facilities. Their value will be estimated by the +Separation Commission and credited against that account. The French +rights will be governed by German law in force at the armistice +excepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners, whom +Germany undertakes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish the +present proportion of coal for local needs and contribute in just +proportion to local taxes. The basin extends from the frontier of +Lorraine as re-annexed to France north as far as St. Wendel including on +the west the valley of the Sarre as far as Sarre Holzbach and on the +east the town of Homburg. + +[Sidenote: To be governed by a commission.] + +[Sidenote: A local representative assembly to be organized.] + +In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population and +guarantee to France entire freedom in working the mines the territory +will be governed by a commission appointed by the League of Nations and +consisting of five members, one French, one a native inhabitant of the +Sarre, and three representing three different countries other than +France and Germany. The League will appoint a member of the Commission +as Chairman to act as executive of the Commission. The Commission will +have all powers of government formerly belonging to the German Empire, +Prussia and Bavaria, will administer the railroads and other public +services and have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. The local +courts will continue, but subject to the Commission. Existing German +legislation will remain the basis of the law, but the Commission may +make modification after consulting a local representative assembly which +it will organize. It will have the taxing power but for local purposes +only. New taxes must be approved by this assembly. Labor legislation +will consider the wishes of the local labor organizations and the labor +program of the League. French and other labor may be freely utilized, +the former being free to belong to French unions. All rights acquired as +to pensions and social insurance will be maintained by Germany and the +Sarre Commission. + +[Sidenote: Liberty of religion and language.] + +There will be no military service but only a local gendarmerie to +preserve order. The people will preserve their local assemblies, +religious liberties, schools, and language, but may vote only for local +assemblies. They will keep their present nationality except so far as +individuals may change it. Those wishing to leave will have every +facility with respect to their property. The territory will form part of +the French customs system, with no export tax on coal and metallurgical +products going to Germany nor on German products entering the basin and +for five years no import duties on products of the basin going to +Germany or German products coming into the basin. For local consumption +French money may circulate without restriction. + +[Sidenote: Plebiscite to be held after fifteen years.] + +After fifteen years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertain +the desires of the population as to continuance of the existing régime +under the League of Nations, union with France or union with Germany. +The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over twenty resident +therein at the signature. Taking into account the opinions thus +expressed the League will decide the ultimate sovereignty. In any +portion restored to Germany the German Government must buy out the +French mines at an appraised valuation. If the price is not paid within +six months thereafter this portion passes finally to France. If Germany +buys back the mines the League will determine how much of the coal shall +be annually sold to France. + + + +SECTION IV + + +GERMAN AUSTRIA + +[Sidenote: Independence to be recognized.] + +"Germany recognizes the total independence of German Austria in the +boundaries traced." + + +CZECHO-SLOVAKIA + +[Sidenote: Frontiers of the new State.] + +Germany recognizes the entire independence of the Czecho-Slovak State, +including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians south of the +Carpathians, and accepts the frontiers of this State as to be +determined, which in the case of the German frontier shall follow the +frontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipulations as to acquisition +and change of nationality follow. + + +POLAND + +[Sidenote: A Boundary Commission to be constituted.] + +[Sidenote: Minorities to be protected.] + +Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of Upper Silesia, Posen and the +province of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A Field +Boundary Commission of seven, five representing the allied and +associated powers and one each representing Poland and Germany, shall be +constituted within fifteen days of the peace to delimit this boundary. +Such special provisions as are necessary to protect racial, linguistic +or religious minorities and to protect freedom of transit and equitable +treatment of commerce of other nations shall be laid down in a +subsequent treaty between the principal allied and associated powers and +Poland. + + +EAST PRUSSIA + +[Sidenote: Frontiers of East Prussia and Poland.] + +The southern and the eastern frontier of East Prussia as touching Poland +is to be fixed by plebiscites, the first in the regency of Allenstein +between the southern frontier of East Prussia and the northern frontier, +or Regierungsbezirk Allenstein from where it meets the boundary between +East and West Prussia to its junction with the boundary between the +circles of Oletsko and Angersburg, thence the northern boundary of +Oletsko to its junction with the present frontier, and the second in the +area comprising the circles of Stuhm and Rosenberg and the parts of the +circles of Marienburg and Marienwerder east of the Vistula. + +[Sidenote: German troops and officials to leave.] + +In each case German troops and authorities will move out within fifteen +days of the peace, and the territories be placed under an international +commission of five members appointed by the principal allied and +associated powers, with the particular duty of arranging for a free, +fair and secret vote. The commission will report the results of the +plebiscites to the powers with a recommendation for the boundary, and +will terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down and +the new authorities set up. + +[Sidenote: Access to the Vistula.] + +The principal allied and associated powers will draw up regulations +assuring East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the +Vistula. A subsequent convention, of which the terms will be fixed by +the principal allied and associated powers, will be entered into +between Poland, Germany and Danzig, to assure suitable railroad +communication across German territory on the right bank of the Vistula +between Poland and Danzig, while Poland shall grant free passage from +East Prussia to Germany. + +The northeastern corner of East Prussia about Memel is to be ceded by +Germany to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept the +settlement made, especially as regards the nationality of the +inhabitants. + + +DANZIG + +[Sidenote: Danzig to be under League of Nations.] + +Danzig and the district immediately about it is to be constituted into +the "free city of Danzig" under the guarantee of the League of Nations. +A high commissioner appointed by the League and President of Danzig +shall draw up a constitution in agreement with the duly appointed +representatives of the city, and shall deal in the first instance with +all differences arising between the city and Poland. The actual +boundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointed +within six months from the peace and to include three representatives +chosen by the allied and associated powers, and one each by Germany and +Poland. + +[Sidenote: Convention between Danzig and Poland.] + +A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the principal allied +and associated powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, +which shall include Danzig within the Polish customs frontiers, though a +free area in the port; insure to Poland the free use of all the city's +waterways, docks and other port facilities, the control and +administration of the Vistula and the whole through railway system +within the city, and postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication +between Poland and Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poles +within the city, and place its foreign relations and the diplomatic +protection of its citizens abroad in charge of Poland. + + +DENMARK + +[Sidenote: Frontier to be fixed by self-determination.] + +The frontier between Germany and Denmark will be fixed by the +self-determination of the population. Ten days from the peace German +troops and authorities shall evacuate the region north of the line +running from the mouth of the Schlei, south of Kappel, Schleswig, and +Friedrichstadt along the Eider to the North Sea south of Tonning; the +Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils shall be dissolved, and the territory +administered by an international commission of five, of whom Norway and +Sweden shall be invited to name two. + +[Sidenote: Voting to be in zones.] + +The commission shall insure a free and secret vote in three zones. That +between the German-Danish frontier and a line running south of the +Island of Alsen, north of Flensburg, and south of Tondern to the North +Sea, north of the Island of Sylt, will vote as a unit within three weeks +after the evacuation. Within five weeks after this vote the second zone, +whose southern boundary runs from the North Sea south of the Island of +Fehr to the Baltic south of Sygum, will vote by communes. Two weeks +after that vote the third zone running to the limit of evacuation will +also vote by communes. The international commission will then draw a new +frontier on the basis of these plebiscites and with due regard for +geographical and economic conditions. Germany will renounce all +sovereignty over territories north of this line in favor of the +Associated Governments, who will hand them over to Denmark. + + +HELIGOLAND + +[Sidenote: Fortifications to be destroyed.] + +The fortifications, military establishments, and harbors of the Islands +of Heligoland and Dune are to be destroyed under the supervision of the +Allies by German labor and at Germany's expense. They may not be +reconstructed, nor any similar fortifications built in the future. + + +RUSSIA + +[Sidenote: Brest-Litovsk treaty to be abrogated.] + +Germany agrees to respect as permanent and inalienable the independency +of all territories which were part of the former Russian Empire, to +accept the abrogation of the Brest-Litovsk and other treaties entered +into with the Maximalist Government of Russia, to recognize the full +force of all treaties entered into by the allied and associated powers +with States which were a part of the former Russian Empire, and to +recognize the frontiers as determined thereon. The allied and associated +powers formally reserve the right of Russia to obtain restitution and +reparation on the principles of the present treaty. + + + +SECTION V + + +GERMAN RIGHTS OUTSIDE EUROPE + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights.] + +Outside Europe, Germany renounces all rights, titles, and privileges as +to her own or her allies' territories to all the allied and associated +powers, and undertakes to accept whatever measures are taken by the five +allied powers in relation thereto. + + +COLONIES AND OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS + +[Sidenote: Property of German Empire to be transferred to new +governments.] + +Germany renounces in favor of the allied and associated powers her +overseas possessions with all rights and titles therein. All movable and +immovable property belonging to the German Empire, or to any German +State, shall pass to the Government exercising authority therein. These +Governments may make whatever provisions seem suitable for the +repatriation of German nationals and as to the conditions on which +German subjects of European origin shall reside, hold property, or carry +on business. Germany undertakes to pay reparation for damage suffered by +French nationals in the Cameroons or its frontier zone through the acts +of German civil and military authorities and of individual Germans from +the 1st of January, 1900, to the 1st of August, 1914. Germany renounces +all rights under the convention of the 4th of November, 1911, and the +29th of September, 1912, and undertakes to pay to France in accordance +with an estimate presented and approved by the Repatriation Commission +all deposits, credits, advances, &c., thereby secured. Germany +undertakes to accept and observe any provisions by the allied and +associated powers as to the trade in arms and spirits in Africa as well +as to the General Act of Berlin of 1885 and the General Act of Brussels +of 1890. Diplomatic protection to inhabitants of former German colonies +is to be given by the Governments exercising authority. + +[Sidenote: Diplomatic protection for inhabitants.] + + +CHINA + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce Boxer indemnities.] + +Germany renounces in favor of China all privileges and indemnities +resulting from the Boxer Protocol of 1901, and all buildings, wharves, +barracks for munitions of warships, wireless plants, and other public +property except diplomatic or consular establishments in the German +concessions of Tientsin and Hankow and in other Chinese territory except +Kiao-Chau and agrees to return to China at her own expense all the +astronomical instruments seized in 1900 and 1901. China will, however, +take no measures for disposal of German property in the legation quarter +at Peking without the consent of the Powers signatory to the Boxer +Protocol. + +[Sidenote: Abrogation of concession.] + +Germany accepts the abrogation of the concessions at Hankow and +Tientsin, China agreeing to open them to international use. Germany +renounces all claims against China or any allied and associated +Government for the internment or repatriation of her citizens in China +and for the seizure or liquidation of German interests there since +August 14, 1917. She renounces in favor of Great Britain her State +property in the British concession at Canton and of France and China +jointly of the property of the German school in the French concession at +Shanghai. + + +SIAM + +[Sidenote: Rights of extra territoriality to cease.] + +Germany recognizes that all agreements between herself and Siam, +including the right of extra-territoriality, ceased July 22, 1917. All +German public property, except consular and diplomatic premises, passes +without compensation to Siam, German private property to be dealt with +in accordance with the economic clauses. Germany waives all claims +against Siam for the seizure and condemnation of her ships, liquidation +of her property, or internment of her nationals. + + +LIBERIA + +[Sidenote: Commercial treaties and agreements to be abrogated.] + +Germany renounces all rights under the international arrangements of +1911 and 1912 regarding Liberia, more particularly the right to nominate +a receiver of the customs, and disinterests herself in any further +negotiations for the rehabilitation of Liberia. She regards as abrogated +all commercial treaties and agreements between herself and Liberia and +recognizes Liberia's right to determine the status and condition of the +re-establishment of Germans in Liberia. + + +MOROCCO + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights in Morocco.] + +Germany renounces all her rights, titles, and privileges under the Act +of Algeciras and the Franco-German agreements of 1909 and 1911, and +under all treaties and arrangements with the Sherifian Empire. She +undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations as to Morocco between +France and other Powers, accepts all the consequences of the French +protectorate and renounces the capitulations; the Sherifian Government +shall have complete liberty of action in regard to German nationals, and +all German protected persons shall be subject to the common law. All +movable and immovable German property, including mining rights, may be +sold at public auction, the proceeds to be paid to the Sherifian +Government and deducted from the reparation account. Germany is also +required to relinquish her interests in the State Bank of Morocco. All +Moroccan goods entering Germany shall have the same privilege as French +goods. + + +EGYPT + +[Sidenote: To recognize British Protectorate over Egypt.] + +Germany recognizes the British Protectorate over Egypt declared on +December 18, 1914, and renounces as from August 4, 1914, the +capitulation and all the treaties, agreements, etc., concluded by her +with Egypt. She undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations about +Egypt between Great Britain and other Powers. There are provisions for +jurisdiction over German nationals and property and for German consent +to any changes which may be made in relation to the Commission of Public +Debt. Germany consents to the transfer to Great Britain of the powers +given to the late Sultan of Turkey for securing the free navigation of +the Suez Canal. Arrangements for property belonging to German nationals +in Egypt are made similar to those in the case of Morocco and other +countries. Anglo-Egyptian goods entering Germany shall enjoy the same +treatment as British goods. + + +TURKEY AND BULGARIA + +[Sidenote: Arrangements with Turkey and Bulgaria.] + +Germany accepts all arrangements which the Allied and Associated Powers +made with Turkey and Bulgaria with reference to any rights, privileges +or interests claimed in those countries by Germany or her nationals and +not dealt with elsewhere. + + +SHANTUNG + +[Sidenote: To cede Kiao-Chau rights to Japan.] + +Germany cedes to Japan all rights, titles, and privileges, notably as to +Kiao-Chau, and the railroads, mines, and cables acquired by her treaty +with China of March 6, 1897, by and other agreements as to Shantung. All +German rights to the railroad from Tsing-tao to Tsinan-fu, including all +facilities and mining rights and rights of exploitation, pass equally to +Japan, and the cables from Tsing-tao to Shanghai and Che-foo, the cables +free of all charges. All German State property, movable and immovable, +in Kiao-Chau is acquired by Japan free of all charges. + + + +SECTION VI + + +MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR + +In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of +the armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes directly to observe the +military, naval, and air clauses which follow. + + +MILITARY FORCES + +[Sidenote: German Army to be demobilized.] + +The demobilization of the German Army must take place within two months +of the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, including 4,000 +officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry and three of +cavalry, and to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal order +and control of frontiers. Divisions may not be grouped under more than +two army corps headquarters staffs. The great German General Staff is +abolished. The army administrative service, consisting of civilian +personnel not included in the number of effectives, is reduced to +one-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. Employees of the German States, +such as customs officers, first guards, and coast guards, may not exceed +the number in 1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only in +accordance with the growth of population. None of these may be assembled +for military training. + + +ARMAMENTS + +[Sidenote: Munition works to be closed.] + +All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, or +design of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically excepted, +must be closed within three months of the peace, and their personnel +dismissed. The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed Germany is +laid down in detail tables, all in excess to be surrendered or rendered +useless. The manufacture or importation of asphyxiating, poisonous, or +other gases and all analogous liquids is forbidden as well as the +importation of arms, munitions, and war materials. Germany may not +manufacture such materials for foreign governments. + + +CONSCRIPTION + +[Sidenote: Conscription to be abolished in Germany.] + +Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must be +maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of twelve consecutive +years, the number of discharges before the expiration of that term not +in any year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officers +remaining in the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, and +newly appointed officers must agree to serve actively for twenty-five +years. + +No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units +allowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No +associations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or +touring clubs, educational establishments or universities may occupy +themselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization are +forbidden. + + +FORTRESSES + +[Sidenote: Fortifications in Rhine to be dismantled.] + +All fortified works, fortresses, and field works situated in German +territory within a zone of fifty kilometers east of the Rhine will be +dismantled within three months. The construction of any new +fortifications there is forbidden. The fortified works on the southern +and eastern frontiers, however, may remain. + + +CONTROL + +[Sidenote: Interallied commissions of control.] + +Interallied commissions of control will see to the execution of the +provisions for which a time limit is set, the maximum named being three +months. They may establish headquarters at the German seat of Government +and go to any part of Germany desired. Germany must give them complete +facilities, pay their expenses, and also the expenses of execution of +the treaty, including the labor and material necessary in demolition, +destruction or surrender of war equipment. + + +NAVAL + +[Sidenote: German navy to be demobilized.] + +The German navy must be demobilized within a period of two months after +the peace. She will be allowed 6 small battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 +destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either military or +commercial, with a personnel of 15,000 men, including officers, and no +reserve force of any character. Conscription is abolished, only +voluntary service being permitted, with a minimum period of 25 years +service for officers and 12 for men. No member of the German mercantile +marine will be permitted any naval training. + +[Sidenote: German war vessels that must be surrendered.] + +All German vessels of war in foreign ports and the German high sea fleet +interned at Scapa Flow will be surrendered, the final disposition of +these ships to be decided upon by the allied and associated powers. +Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, +and all submarines, with their salvage vessels. All war vessels under +construction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels not +otherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve, or used for +commercial purposes. Replacement of ships except those lost can take +place only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years for +destroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be +10,000 tons. + +[Sidenote: To sweep up mines.] + +Germany is required to sweep up the mines in the North Sea and the +Baltic Sea, as decided upon by the Allies. All German fortifications in +the Baltic, defending the passages through the belts, must be +demolished. Other coast defenses are permitted, but the number and +caliber of the guns must not be increased. + + +WIRELESS + +[Sidenote: German wireless messages only for commercial purposes.] + +During a period of three months after the peace German high power +wireless stations at Nauen, Hanover, and Berlin will not be permitted to +send any messages except for commercial purposes, and under supervision +of the allied and associated Governments, nor may any more be +constructed. + + +CABLES + +[Sidenote: To renounce title to cables.] + +Germany renounces all title to specified cables, the value of such as +were privately owned being credited to her against reparation +indebtedness. + +Germany will be allowed to repair German submarine cables which have +been cut but are not being utilized by the allied powers, and also +portions of cables which, after having been cut, have been removed, or +are at any rate not being utilized by any one of the allied and +associated powers. In such cases the cables, or portions of cables, +removed or utilized remain the property of the allied and associated +powers, and accordingly fourteen cables or parts of cables are specified +which will not be restored to Germany. + + +AIR + +[Sidenote: Air personnel to be demobilized.] + +The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air +forces except for not over 100 unarmed seaplanes to be retained till +October 1 to search for submarine mines. No dirigible shall be kept. The +entire air personnel is to be demobilized within two months, except for +1,000 officers and men retained till October. No aviation grounds or +dirigible sheds are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine, or +the eastern or southern frontiers, existing installations within these +limits to be destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts of +aircraft is forbidden for six months. All military and naval +aeronautical material under a most exhaustive definition must be +surrendered within three months, except for the 100 seaplanes already +specified. + + +PRISONERS OF WAR + +[Sidenote: Repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians.] + +The repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians is to be +carried out without delay and at Germany's expense by a commission +composed of representatives of the Allies and Germany. Those under +sentence for offenses against discipline are to be repatriated without +regard to the completion of their sentences. Until Germany has +surrendered persons guilty of offenses against the laws and customs of +war, the Allies have the right to retain selected German officers. The +Allies may deal at their own discretion with German nationals who do not +desire to be repatriated, all repatriation being conditional on the +immediate release of any allied subjects still in Germany. Germany is to +accord facilities to commissions of inquiry in collecting information in +regard to missing prisoners of war and of imposing penalties on German +officials who have concealed allied nationals. Germany is to restore all +property belonging to allied prisoners. There is to be a reciprocal +exchange of information as to dead prisoners and their graves. + + +GRAVES + +[Sidenote: Graves to be respected and maintained.] + +Both parties will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers and +sailors buried on their territories, agree to recognize and assist any +commission charged by any allied or associate Government with +identifying, registering, maintaining or erecting suitable monuments +over the graves, and to afford to each other all facilities for the +repatriation of the remains of their soldiers. + + + +SECTION VII + + +RESPONSIBILITIES + +[Sidenote: William II charged with responsibility for war.] + +"The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William II. of +Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense against +criminal law, but for a supreme offense against international morality +and the sanctity of treaties." + +The ex-Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland and a special +tribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five great +powers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be guided +"by the highest motives of international policy with a view of +vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the +validity of international morality," and will fix the punishment it +feels should be imposed. + +[Sidenote: Persons who violated laws of war to be tried.] + +Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and +customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals under +military law. If the charges affect nationals of only one State, they +will be tried before a tribunal of that State; if they affect nationals +of several States, they will be tried before joint tribunals of the +States concerned. Germany shall hand over to the associated Governments, +either jointly or severally, all persons so accused and all documents +and information necessary to insure full knowledge of the incriminating +acts, the discovery of the offenders, and the just appreciation of the +responsibility. The Judge [garbled in cabling] will be entitled to name +his own counsel. + + + +SECTION VIII + + +REPARATION AND RESTITUTION + +[Sidenote: Germany's responsibility for loss and damage.] + +"The allied and associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the +responsibility of herself and her allies, for causing all the loss and +damage to which the allied and associated Governments and their +nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon +them by the aggression of Germany and her allies." + +The total obligation of Germany to pay as defined in the category of +damages is to be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing, +and not later than May 1, 1921, by an interallied Reparation Commission. + +At the same time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligation +within thirty years shall be presented. These payments are subject to +postponement in certain contingencies. Germany irrevocably recognizes +the full authority of this commission, agrees to supply it with all the +necessary information and to pass legislation to effectuate its +findings. She further agrees to restore to the Allies cash and certain +articles which can be identified. + +[Sidenote: Schedule of payments to be presented.] + +[Sidenote: One thousand million pounds in two years.] + +As an immediate step toward restoration Germany shall pay within two +years one thousand million pounds sterling in either gold, goods, ships, +or other specific forms of payment. + +This sum being included in, and not additional to, the first thousand +million bond issue referred to below, with the understanding that +certain expenses, such as those of the armies of occupation and payments +for food and raw materials, may be deducted at the discretion of the +Allies. + +[Sidenote: Belgium to be repaid.] + +Germany further binds herself to repay all sums borrowed by Belgium from +her allies as a result of Germany's violation of the treaty of 1839 up +to November 11, 1918, and for this purpose will issue at once and hand +over to the Reparation Commission 5 per cent gold bonds falling due in +1926. + +While the allied and associated Governments recognize that the resources +of Germany are not adequate, after taking into account permanent +diminution of such resources which will result from other treaty claims, +to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage, they require +her to make compensation for all damage caused to civilians under seven +main categories: + +[Sidenote: Damage to civilians to be compensated.] + +(a) Damages by personal injury to civilians caused by acts of war, +directly or indirectly, including bombardments from the air. + +(b) Damages caused to civilians, including exposure at sea, resulting +from acts of cruelty ordered by the enemy, and to civilians in the +occupied territories. + +(c) Damages caused by maltreatment of prisoners. + +(d) Damages to the Allied peoples represented by pensions and separation +allowances, capitalized at the signature of this treaty. + +(e) Damages to property other than naval or military materials. + +(f) Damages to civilians by being forced to labor. + +(g) Damages in the form of levies or fines imposed by the enemy. + +[Sidenote: Work of Reparation Commission.] + +In periodically estimating Germany's capacity to pay, the Reparation +Commission shall examine the German system of taxation, first to the end +that the sums for reparation which Germany is required to pay shall +become a charge upon all her revenues prior to that for the service or +discharge of any domestic loan; and secondly, so as to satisfy itself +that in general the German scheme of taxation is fully as heavy +proportionately as that of any of the powers represented on the +commission. + +[Sidenote: Refusals in case of default.] + +The measures which the allied and associated powers shall have the right +to take, in case of voluntary default by Germany, and which Germany +agrees not to regard as acts of war, may include economic and financial +prohibitions and reprisals and in general such other measures as the +respective Governments may determine to be necessary in the +circumstances. + +[Sidenote: Germany's capacity to pay.] + +The commission shall consist of one representative each of the United +States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, a representative of +Serbia or Japan taking the place of the Belgian representative, when the +interests of either country are particularly affected, with all other +allied powers entitled, when their claims are under consideration, to +the right of representation without voting power. It shall permit +Germany to give evidence regarding her capacity to pay, and shall assure +her a just opportunity to be heard. It shall make its permanent +headquarters at Paris, establish its own procedure and personnel; have +general control of the whole reparation problem; and become the +exclusive agency of the Allies for receiving, holding, selling, and +distributing reparation payments. Majority vote shall prevail, except +that unanimity is required on questions involving the sovereignty of any +of the Allies, the cancellation of all or part of Germany's obligations, +the time and manner of selling, distributing, and negotiating bonds +issued by Germany, any postponement between 1921 and 1926 of annual +payments beyond 1930 and any postponement after 1926 for a period of +more than three years of the application of a different method of +measuring damage than in a similar former case, and the interpretation +of provisions. Withdrawal from representation is permitted on twelve +months' notice. + +[Sidenote: Guarantees to cover claims.] + +The Commission may require Germany to give from time to time by way of +guarantee, issues of bonds or other obligations to cover such claims as +are not otherwise satisfied. In this connection and on account of the +total amount of claims, bond issues are presently to be required of +Germany in acknowledgment of its debt as follows: 20,000,000,000 marks +gold, payable not later than May 1, 1921, without interest; +40,000,000,000 marks gold bearing 2-1/2 per cent interest between 1921 +and 1926, and thereafter 5 per cent, with a 1 per cent sinking fund +payment beginning 1926; and an undertaking to deliver 40,000,000,000 +marks gold bonds bearing interest at 5 per cent, under terms to be fixed +by the Commission. + +[Sidenote: Interest on Germany's debt.] + +[Sidenote: Certificates to represent bonds or goods.] + +Interest on Germany's debt will be 5 per cent unless otherwise +determined by the Commission in the future, and payments that are not +made in gold may "be accepted by the Commission in the form of +properties, commodities, businesses, rights, concessions, &c." +Certificates of beneficial interest, representing either bonds or goods +delivered by Germany, may be issued by the Commission to the interested +powers, no power being entitled, however, to have its certificates +divided into more than five pieces. As bonds are distributed and pass +from the control of the Commission, an amount of Germany's debt +equivalent to their par value is to be considered as liquidated. + + +SHIPPING + +[Sidenote: Right to Allies to have merchant shipping replaced.] + +The German Government recognizes the right of the Allies to the +replacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and +fishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede to +the Allies all German merchant ships of 1,600 tons gross and upward; +one-half of her ships between 1,600 and 1,000 tons gross, and +one-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These ships +are to be delivered within two months to the Separation Committee, +together with documents of title evidencing the transfer of the ships +free from encumbrance. + +"As an additional part of reparation," the German Government further +agrees to build merchant ships for the account of the Allies to the +amount of not exceeding 200,000 tons gross annually during the next five +years. + +All ships used for inland navigation taken by Germany from the Allies +are to be restored within two months, the amount of loss not covered by +such restitution to be made up by the cession of the German river fleet +up to 20 per cent thereof. + + +DYESTUFFS AND CHEMICAL DRUGS + +[Sidenote: Material to be delivered to Reparations Commission.] + +In order to effect payment by deliveries in kind, Germany is required, +for a limited number of years, varying in the case of each, to deliver +coal, coal-tar products, dyestuffs and chemical drugs, in specific +amounts to the Reparations Commission. The Commission may so modify the +conditions of delivery as not to interfere unduly with Germany's +industrial requirements. The deliveries of coal are based largely upon +the principle of making good diminutions in the production of the allied +countries resulting from the war. + +Germany accords option to the commission on dyestuffs and chemical +drugs, including quinine, up to 50 per cent of the total stock in +Germany at the time the treaty comes into force, and similar option +during each six months to the end of 1924 up to 25 per cent of the +previous six months' output. + + +DEVASTATED AREAS + +[Sidenote: Machinery and animals to be replaced.] + +Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. The Reparations Commission is +authorized to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles by the +delivery of animals, machinery, &c., existing in Germany, and to +manufacture materials required for reconstruction purposes; all with due +consideration for Germany's essential domestic requirements. + +[Sidenote: French damages in coal and fuel to be made good.] + +Germany is to deliver annually for ten years to France coal equivalent +to the difference between the annual pre-war output of Nord and Pas de +Calais mines and the annual production during the above ten-year period. +Germany further gives options over ten years for delivery of 7,000,000 +tons of coal per year to France in addition to the above, of 8,000,000 +tons to Belgium and of an amount rising from 4,500,000 tons in 1919 to +1920 to 8,500,000 in 1923 to 1924 to Italy at prices to be fixed as +prescribed in the treaty. Coke may be taken in place of coal in the +ratio of three tons to four. Provision is also made for delivery to +France over three years of benzol, coal tar, and of ammonia. The +Commission has powers to postpone or annul the above deliveries should +they interfere unduly with the industrial requirements of Germany. + +[Sidenote: Koran of Caliph Othman and skull of Okwawa.] + +Germany is to restore within six months the Koran of the Caliph Othman, +formerly at Medina, to the King of the Hedjaz, and the skull of the +Sultan Okwawa, formerly in German East Africa, to his Britannic +Majesty's Government. + +[Sidenote: Papers taken in 1870.] + +The German Government is also to restore to the French Government +certain papers taken by the German authorities in 1870, belonging then +to M. Reuher, and to restore the French flags taken during the war of +1870 and 1871. + +[Sidenote: Reparations to the Louvain Library.] + +As reparation for the destruction of the Library of Louvain Germany is +to hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, &c., to the +equivalent of those destroyed. + +[Sidenote: Belgian works of art.] + +In addition to the above Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings, now +in Berlin, belonging to the altar piece of "The Adoration of the Lamb," +by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, the center of which is now in the Church of +St. Bavon at Ghent, and the wings, now in Berlin and Munich, of the +altar piece of "The Last Supper," by Dirk Bouts, the center of which +belongs to the Church of St. Peter at Louvain. + + +FINANCE + +[Sidenote: The pre-war debts of Alsace.] + +[Sidenote: German debts not to be assumed by mandatory powers.] + +Powers to which German territory is ceded will assume a certain portion +of the German pre-war debt, the amount to be fixed by the Reparations +Commission on the basis of the ratio between the revenue and of the +ceded territory and Germany's total revenues for the three years +preceding the war. In view, however, of the special circumstances under +which Alsace-Lorraine was separated from France in 1871, when Germany +refused to accept any part of the French public debt, France will not +assume any part of Germany's pre-war debt there, nor will Poland share +in certain German debts incurred for the oppression of Poland. If the +value of the German public property in ceded territory exceeds the +amount of debt assumed, the States to which property is ceded will give +credit on reparation for the excess, with the exception of +Alsace-Lorraine. Mandatory powers will not assume any German debts or +give any credit for German Government property. Germany renounces all +right of representation on, or control of, State banks, commissions, or +other similar international financial and economic organizations. + +[Sidenote: Germany to pay cost of armies of occupation.] + +Germany is required to pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in German +territory, this cost to be a first charge on her resources. The cost of +reparation is the next charge, after making such provisions for payments +for imports as the Allies may deem necessary. + +[Sidenote: Funds deposited by Turkey and Austria-Hungary.] + +Germany is to deliver to the allied and associated powers all sums +deposited in Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection with +the financial support extended by her to them during the war, and to +transfer to the Allies all claims against Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, or +Turkey in connection with agreements made during the war. Germany +confirms the renunciation of the Treaties of Bucharest and +Brest-Litovsk. + +[Sidenote: Public utilities in ceded territories.] + +[Sidenote: Brazilian coffee to be paid for.] + +On the request of the Reparations Commission, Germany will expropriate +any rights or interests of her nationals in public utilities in ceded +territories or those administered by mandatories, and in Turkey, China, +Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, and transfer them to the +Reparations Commission, which will credit her with their value. Germany +guarantees to repay to Brazil the fund arising from the sale of Sao +Paulo coffee which she refused to allow Brazil to withdraw from Germany. + + + +SECTION IX + + +OPIUM + +[Sidenote: Convention on opium to be brought into force.] + +The contracting powers agree, whether or not they have signed and +ratified the opium convention of January 23, 1912, or signed the special +protocol opened at The Hague in accordance with resolutions adopted by +the third opium conference in 1914, to bring the said convention into +force by enacting within twelve months of the peace the necessary +legislation. + + +RELIGIOUS MISSIONS + +[Sidenote: To continue their work.] + +The allied and associated powers agree the properties of religious +missions in territories belonging or ceded to them shall continue in +their work under the control of the powers, Germany renouncing all +claims in their behalf. + + + +SECTION X--ECONOMIC CLAUSES + + +CUSTOMS + +[Sidenote: German tariff to be regulated for five years.] + +For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff duties higher +than the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain agricultural products, +wines, vegetable oils, artificial silk, and washed or scoured wool this +restriction obtains for two and a half years more. For five years, +unless further extended by the League of Nations, Germany must give most +favored nation treatment to the allied and associated powers. She shall +impose no customs tariff for five years on goods originating in +Alsace-Lorraine, and for three years on goods originating in former +German territory ceded to Poland with the right of observation of a +similar exception for Luxemburg. + + +SHIPPING + +[Sidenote: Rights of ships of the Allies.] + +Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years and +thereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the League of Nations +otherwise decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as German +vessels, and have most favored nation treatment in fishing, coasting +trade, and towage even in territorial waters. Ships of a country having +no seacoast may be registered at some one place within its territory. + + +UNFAIR COMPETITION + +[Sidenote: Safeguards against unfair competition.] + +Germany undertakes to give the trade of the allied and associated powers +adequate safeguards against unfair competition, and in particular to +suppress the use of false wrappings and markings, and on condition of +reciprocity to respect the laws and judicial decisions of allied and +associated States in respect of regional appellations of wines and +spirits. + +[Illustration: CLOSING WORDS OF THE PEACE TREATY, WITH THE SIGNATURES +AND SEALS OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATES, HEADED BY THE BRITISH PRIME +MINISTER, LLOYD GEORGE.] + +[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF CANADIAN, AUSTRALIAN, SOUTH +AFRICAN, NEW ZEALAND, AND INDIAN DELEGATES. THEN THE FRENCH, HEADED BY +PREMIER CLEMENCEAU.] + +[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE DELEGATIONS FROM PERU, POLAND +(HEADED BY PREMIER PADEREWSKI), PORTUGAL, RUMANIA, SERBIA, +CZECHO-SLOVAKIA, AND URUGUAY.] + +[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE GERMAN DELEGATES, DR. HERMANN +MULLER AND DR. BELL, ON THE LAST PAGE OF THE TREATY] + +[Illustration: The signatures of the American delegates--President +Wilson, Secretary of State Lansing, Mr. Henry White, Colonel House, and +General Bliss--come first after the closing words of the Treaty of Peace +(pages 213 and 214); then the names of the British delegates--Prime +Minister Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Milner, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. +Barnes (page 214); the Canadians, Minister of Justice Doherty and +Minister of Customs Sifton; the Australians, Premier Hughes and Mr. +Cook; the South Africans, Premier Botha and General Smuts; Premier +Massey of New Zealand; Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, and +Maharajah Ganga Singh for India (pages 215 and 216). Then come the +French--Premier Clemenceau, whose signature is third from the top on +page 216, M. Pichon, M. Klotz, M. Tardieu, and M. Cambon (page 216). The +name of Premier Paderewski of Poland is the second from the top on page +221.] + + +TREATMENT OF NATIONALS + +[Sidenote: German nationality.] + +Germany shall impose no exceptional taxes or restriction upon the +nationals of allied and associated States for a period of five years +and, unless the League of Nations acts, for an additional five years +German nationality shall not continue to attach to a person who has +become a national of an allied or associated State. + + +MULTILATERAL CONVENTIONS + +[Sidenote: Postal and telegraphic conventions.] + +[Sidenote: North Sea conventions.] + +[Sidenote: Arrangements with various nations.] + +Some forty multilateral conventions are renewed between Germany and the +allied and associated powers, but special conditions are attached to +Germany's readmission to several. As to postal and telegraphic +conventions Germany must not refuse to make reciprocal agreements with +the new States. She must agree as respects the radio-telegraphic +convention to provisional rules to be communicated to her, and adhere to +the new convention when formulated. In the North Sea fisheries and North +Sea liquor traffic convention, rights of inspection and police over +associated fishing boats shall be exercised for at least five years only +by vessels of these powers. As to the international railway union she +shall adhere to the new convention when formulated. China, as to the +Chinese customs tariff arrangement of 1905 regarding Whangpoo, and the +Boxer indemnity of 1901; France, Portugal, and Rumania, as to The Hague +Convention of 1903, relating to civil procedure, and Great Britain and +the United States as to Article III. or the Samoan Treaty of 1899, are +relieved of all obligations toward Germany. + + +BILATERAL TREATIES + +[Sidenote: Renewal of treaties.] + +Each allied and associated State may renew any treaty with Germany in so +far as consistent with the peace treaty by giving notice within six +months. Treaties entered into by Germany since August 1, 1914, with +other enemy States, and before or since that date with Rumania, Russia, +and governments representing parts of Russia are abrogated, and +concessions granted under pressure by Russia to German subjects are +annulled. The allied and associated States are to enjoy most favored +nation treatment under treaties entered into by Germany and other enemy +States before August 1, 1914, and under treaties entered into by Germany +and neutral States during the war. + + +PRE-WAR DEBTS + +[Sidenote: Clearing houses for pre-war debts.] + +A system of clearing houses is to be created within three months, one in +Germany and one in each allied and associated State which adopts the +plan for the payment of pre-war debts, including those arising from +contracts suspended by the war. For the adjustment of the proceeds of +the liquidation of enemy property and the settlement of other +obligations each participating State assumes responsibility for the +payment of all debts owing by its nationals to nationals of the enemy +States, except in case of pre-war insolvency of the debtor. The proceeds +of the sale of private enemy property in each participating State may be +used to pay the debts owed to the nationals of that State, direct +payment from debtor to creditor and all communications relating thereto +being prohibited. Disputes may be settled by arbitration by the courts +of the debtor country, or by the mixed arbitral tribunal. Any ally or +associated power may, however, decline to participate in this system by +giving six months' notice. + + +ENEMY PROPERTY + +[Sidenote: Damages for private property seized or injured.] + +Germany shall restore or pay for all private enemy property seized or +damaged by her, the amount of damages to be fixed by the mixed arbitral +tribunal. The allied and associated States may liquidate German private +property within their territories as compensation for property of their +nationals not restored or paid for by Germany. For debts owed to their +nationals by German nationals and for other claims against Germany, +Germany is to compensate its nationals for such losses and to deliver +within six months all documents relating to property held by its +nationals in allied and associated States. All war legislation as to +enemy property rights and interests is confirmed and all claims by +Germany against the allied or associated Governments for acts under +exceptional war measures abandoned. + +[Sidenote: Pre-war contracts.] + +Pre-war contracts between allied and associated nationals excepting the +United States, Japan, and Brazil and German nationals are cancelled +except for debts for accounts already performed. + + +AGREEMENTS + +[Sidenote: Disputes as to transfers of property already made.] + +For the transfer of property where the property had already passed, +leases of land and houses, contracts of mortgages, pledge or lien, +mining concessions, contracts with governments and insurance contracts, +mixed arbitral tribunals shall be established of three members, one +chosen by Germany, one by the associated States and the third by +agreement, or, failing which, by the President of Switzerland. They +shall have jurisdiction over all disputes as to contracts concluded +before the present peace treaty. + +[Sidenote: Insurance contracts.] + +Fire insurance contracts are not considered dissolved by the war, even +if premiums have not been paid, but lapse at the date of the first +annual premium falling due three months after the peace. Life insurance +contracts may be restored by payments of accumulated premiums with +interest, sums falling due on such contracts during the war to be +recoverable with interest. Marine insurance contracts are dissolved by +the outbreak of war except where the risk insured against had already +been incurred. Where the risk had not attached, premiums paid are +recoverable, otherwise premiums due and sums due on losses are +recoverable. Reinsurance treaties are abrogated unless invasion has made +it impossible for the reinsured to find another reinsurer. Any allied or +associated power, however, may cancel all the contracts running between +its nationals and a German life insurance company, the latter being +obligated to hand over the proportion of its assets attributable to such +policies. + + +INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY + +[Sidenote: Conditions on use of German patents and copyrights.] + +Rights as to industrial, literary, and artistic property are +re-established. The special war measures of the allied and associated +powers are ratified and the right reserved to impose conditions on the +use of German patents and copyrights when in the public interest. Except +as between the United States and Germany, pre-war licenses and rights to +sue for infringements committed during the war are cancelled. + + + +SECTION XI + + +AERIAL NAVIGATION + +[Sidenote: Allied aircraft in German territory.] + +Aircraft of the allied and associated powers shall have full liberty of +passage and landing over and in German territory, equal treatment with +German planes as to use of German airdromes, and with most favored +nation planes as to internal commercial traffic in Germany. Germany +agrees to accept allied certificates of nationality, airworthiness, or +competency or licenses and to apply the convention relative to aerial +navigation concluded between the allied and associated powers to her own +aircraft over her own territory. These rules apply until 1923, unless +Germany has since been admitted to the League of Nations or to the above +convention. + + + +SECTION XII. + + +FREEDOM OF TRANSIT. + +[Sidenote: Germany may not discriminate against allied or associated +powers.] + +Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories by mail or +water to persons, goods, ships, carriages, and mails from or to any of +the allied or associated powers, without customs or transit duties, +undue delays, restrictions, or discriminations based on nationality, +means of transport, or place of entry or departure. Goods in transit +shall be assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishable +goods. Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor of +her own transport routes or maintain "control stations" in connection +with transmigration traffic. She may not establish any tax +discrimination against the ports of allied or associated powers; must +grant the latter's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted her +own or other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powers +equal rights with those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, +save that she is free to open or close her maritime coasting trade. + + +FREE ZONES IN PORTS + +[Sidenote: Existing free zones to be maintained.] + +Free zones existing in German ports on August 1, 1914, must be +maintained with due facilities as to warehouses, packing, and shipping, +without discrimination, and without charges except for expenses of +administration and use. Goods leaving the free zones for consumption in +Germany and goods brought into the free zones from Germany shall be +subject to the ordinary import and export taxes. + + +INTERNATIONAL RIVERS. + +The Elbe from the junction of the Ultava, the Ultava from Prague, the +Oder from Oppa, the Niemen from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm are +declared International, together with their connections. + +[Sidenote: Appeal to a special tribunal under international +commissions.] + +The riparian states must ensure good conditions of navigation within +their territories unless a special organization exists therefor. +Otherwise appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the League of +Nations, which also may arrange for a general international waterways +convention. + +The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissions +to meet within three months, that for the Elbe composed of four +representatives of Germany, two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each from +Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium; and that for the Oder +composed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, Great +Britain, France, Denmark, and Sweden. If any riparian state on the +Niemen should so request of the League of Nations, a similar commission +shall be established there. These commissions shall upon request of any +riparian state meet within three months to revise existing international +agreement. + + +THE DANUBE. + +[Sidenote: Representatives in European Danube Commission.] + +The European Danube Commission reassumes its pre-war powers, but for the +time being with representatives of only Great Britain, France, Italy, +and Rumania. The upper Danube is to be administered by a new +international commission until a definitive statute be drawn up at a +conference of the powers nominated by the allied and associated +governments within one year after the peace. + +The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damages +caused to the European Commission; shall cede their river facilities in +surrendered territory, and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, and Rumania any +rights necessary on their shores for carrying on improvements in +navigation. + + +THE RHINE AND THE MOSELLE + +[Sidenote: The Rhine is under the Central Commission.] + +The Rhine is placed under the Central Commission to meet at Strassbourg +within six months after the peace, and to be composed of four +representatives of France, which shall in addition select the President, +four of Germany, and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, +Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Germany must give France on the course +of the Rhine included between the two extreme points of her frontiers +all rights to take water to feed canals, while herself agreeing not to +make canals on the right bank opposite France. She must also hand over +to France all her drafts and designs for this part of the river. + + +RHINE-MEUSE CANAL + +[Sidenote: Plan for a Rhine-Meuse Canal.] + +Belgium is to be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal if +she so desires within twenty-five years, in which case Germany must +construct the part within her territory on plans drawn by Belgium, +similarly the interested allied governments may construct a Rhine-Meuse +canal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent international +commission. Germany may not object if the Central Rhine Commission +desires to extend its jurisdiction over the lower Moselle, the upper +Rhine, or lateral canals. + +[Sidenote: Facilities for navigation to be ceded.] + +Germany must cede to the allied and associated governments certain tugs, +vessels, and facilities for navigation on all these rivers, the specific +details to be established by an arbiter named by the United States. +Decision will be based on the legitimate needs of the parties concerned +and on the shipping traffic during the five years before the war. The +value will be included in the regular reparation account. In the case +of the Rhine shares in the German navigation companies and property such +as wharves and warehouses held by Germany in Rotterdam at the outbreak +of the war must be handed over. + + +RAILWAYS. + +[Sidenote: Communication by rail to be assured.] + +Germany, in addition to most favored nation treatment on her railways, +agrees to cooperate in the establishment of through ticket services for +passengers and baggage; to ensure communication by rail between the +allied, associated, and other States; to allow the construction or +improvement within twenty-five years of such lines as necessary; and to +conform her rolling stock to enable its incorporation in trains of the +allied or associated powers. She also agrees to accept the denunciation +of the St. Gothard convention if Switzerland and Italy so request, and +temporarily to execute instructions as to the transport of troops and +supplies and the establishment of postal and telegraphic service, as +provided. + + +CZECHO-SLOVAKIA + +[Sidenote: Access to the sea on north and south.] + +To assure Czecho-Slovakia access to the sea, special rights are given +her both north and south. Toward the Adriatic she is permitted to run +her own through trains to Fiume and Trieste. To the north, Germany is to +lease her for ninety-nine years spaces in Hamburg and Stettin, the +details to be worked out by a commission of three representing +Czecho-Slovakia, Germany, and Great Britain. + + +THE KIEL CANAL. + +[Sidenote: Open to ships of all nations at peace with Germany.] + +The Kiel Canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant ships of +all nations at peace with Germany, subjects, goods and ships of all +States are to be treated on terms of absolute equality, and no taxes to +be imposed beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for which +Germany is to be responsible. In case of violation of or disagreement as +to those provisions, any State may appeal to the League of Nations, and +may demand the appointment of an international commission. For +preliminary hearing of complaints Germany shall establish a local +authority at Kiel. + + + +SECTION XIII. + + +INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION. + +[Sidenote: Permanent organization to be established.] + +Members of the League of Nations agree to establish a permanent +organization to promote international adjustment of labor conditions, to +consist of an annual international labor conference and an international +labor office. + +The former is composed of four representatives of each State, two from +the Government, and one each from the employers and the employed, each +of them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative legislative +body, its measures taking the form of draft conventions or +recommendations for legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, +must be submitted to the lawmaking authority in every State +participating. Each Government may either enact the terms into law; +approve the principles, but modify them to local needs; leave the actual +legislation in case of a Federal State to local legislatures; or reject +the convention altogether without further obligation. + +[Sidenote: An international labor office.] + +The international labor office is established at the seat of the League +of Nations as part of its organization. It is to collect and distribute +information on labor throughout the world and prepare agenda for the +conference. It will publish a periodical in French and English, and +possibly other languages. Each State agrees to make to it for +presentation to the conference an annual report of measures taken to +execute accepted conventions. The governing body, in its Executive, +consists of twenty-four members, twelve representing the Governments, +six the employers, and six the employes to serve for three years. + +[Sidenote: Court of international justice.] + +On complaint that any Government has failed to carry out a convention to +which it is a party, the governing body may make inquiries directly to +that Government, and in case the reply is unsatisfactory, may publish +the complaint with comment. A complaint by one Government against +another may be referred by the governing body to a commission of inquiry +nominated by the Secretary General of the League. If the commission +report fails to bring satisfactory action the matter may be taken to a +permanent court of international justice for final decision. The chief +reliance for securing enforcement of the law will be publicity with a +possibility of economic action in the background. + +[Sidenote: Labor conferences.] + +The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at +Washington, to discuss the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; +prevention of unemployment; extension and application of the +international conventions adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting night +work for women, and the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of +matches; and employment of women and children at night or in unhealthy +work, of women before and after childbirth, including maternity benefit, +and of children as regards minimum age. + + +LABOR CLAUSES. + +[Sidenote: Of supreme national importance.] + +Nine principles of labor conditions were recognized on the ground that +"the well-being, physical and moral, of the industrial wage earners is +of supreme International importance." With exceptions necessitated by +differences of climate, habits and economic development. They include: +the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a +commodity or article of commerce; the right of association of employers +and employes; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; +the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; a weekly rest of at least +twenty-four hours; which should include Sunday wherever practicable; +abolition of child labor and assurance of the continuation of the +education and proper physical development of children; equal pay for +equal work as between men and women; equitable treatment of all workers +lawfully resident therein, including foreigners; and a system of +inspection in which women should take part. + + + +SECTION XIV--GUARANTEES + + +[Sidenote: The bridgehead of Cologne.] + +As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to the +west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied by +allied and associated troops for a fifteen years' period. If the +conditions are faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, +including the bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expiration +of five years; certain other districts including the bridgehead of +Coblenz, and the territories nearest the Belgian frontier will be +evacuated after ten years, and the remainder, including the bridgehead +of Mainz, will be evacuated after fifteen years. In case the Interallied +Reparation Commission finds that Germany has failed to observe the whole +or part of her obligations, either during the occupation or after the +fifteen years have expired, the whole or part of the areas specified +will be reoccupied immediately. If before the expiration of the fifteen +years Germany complies with all the treaty undertakings, the occupying +forces will be withdrawn. + +[Sidenote: German troops.] + +All German troops at present in territories to the east of the new +frontier shall return as soon as the allied and associated governments +deem wise. They are to abstain from all requisitions and are in no way +to interfere with measures for national defense taken by the Government +concerned. + +All questions regarding occupation not provided for by the treaty will +be regulated by a subsequent convention or conventions which will have +similar force and effect. + + + +SECTION XV. + + +MISCELLANEOUS. + +[Sidenote: To recognize treaties made by allies.] + +Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the treaties of peace +and additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associated +powers with the powers allied with Germany, to agree to the decisions to +be taken as to the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, +and to recognize the new States in the frontiers to be fixed. + +Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against any +allied or associated power signing the present treaty based on events +previous to the coming into force of the treaty. + +[Sidenote: Decision of German prize courts.] + +[Sidenote: Effective on ratification.] + +Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any +allied or associated prize court. The Allies reserve the right to +examine all decisions of German prize courts. The present treaty, of +which the French and British texts are both authentic, shall be ratified +and the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon as possible. +The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the +date of deposition of its ratification. + + + + +SUMMARY OF PRELIMINARY TREATY OF PEACE + +AUSTRIA + + +On June 2 there had been handed to the Austrian delegates a preliminary +treaty which covered certain points, but left others to be dealt with +later. + +Austria must accept the covenant of the league of nations and the labor +charter. + +[Sidenote: Extra European rights to be renounced.] + +She must renounce all her extra European rights. + +She must demobilize all her naval and aerial forces. + +Austria must recognize the complete independence of Hungary. + +Austrian nationals, guilty of violating international laws of war, to be +tried by the Allies. + +Austria must accept economic conditions and freedom of transit similar +to those in German treaty. + +Sections dealing with war prisoners and graves are identical with German +treaty. + +Guarantees of execution of treaty corresponds to those in German pact. + +[Sidenote: Boundaries with Czecho-Slovakia.] + +Boundaries of Bohemia and Moravia to form boundary between Austria and +Czecho-Slovakia, with minor rectifications. + +Allies later to fix southern boundary (referring to Jugoslavia). + +Eastern boundary Marburg and Radkersburg to Jugoslavia. + +Western and northwestern frontiers (facing Bavaria and Switzerland) +unchanged. + +Austria must recognize independence of Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia. + +[Sidenote: Republic of Austria recognized.] + +Austria is recognized as an independent republic under the name +"Republic of Austria." + +Austria must recognize frontiers of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, +Rumania, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia as at present or ultimately +determined. + +Boundaries of Austria, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia to be finally +fixed by mixed commission. + +Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia must agree to protect racial, religious +and linguistic minorities. + +Both new Slav nations and Rumania must assure freedom of transit and +equitable treatment of foreign commerce. + +Austria must recognize full independence of all territories formerly a +part of Russia. + +[Sidenote: Brest-Litovsk treaty annulled.] + +Brest-Litovsk treaty is annulled. + +All treaties with Russian elements concluded since revolution annulled. + +Allies reserve right of restitution for Russia from Austria. + +Austria must consent to abrogation of treaties of 1839 establishing +Belgian neutrality. + +Austria must agree to new Belgian boundaries as fixed by Allies. + +Similar provisions with respect to neutrality and boundaries of +Luxemburg. + +Austria must accept allied disposition of any Austrian rights in Turkey +and Bulgaria. + +She must accept allied arrangements with Germany regarding +Schleswig-Holstein. + +[Sidenote: Equality of races before the law.] + +Austrian nations of all races, languages and religions equal before the +law. + +Clauses affecting Egypt, Morocco, Siam and China identical with German +treaty. + +Entire Austro-Hungarian navy to be surrendered to Allies. + +Twenty-one specified auxiliary cruisers to be disarmed and treated as +merchantmen. + +All warships, including submarines, under construction shall be broken +up and may be used only for industrial purposes. + +All naval arms and material must be surrendered. + +[Sidenote: Use of submarines prohibited.] + +Future use of submarines prohibited. + +Austrian wireless station at Vienna not to be used for military or +political messages to Austria's late allies without Allies' consent for +three months. + +Austria may not have naval or air forces. + +She must demobilize existing air forces within two months and surrender +aviation material. + +Austrian nationals cannot serve in military, naval or aerial forces of +foreign powers. + +She may send no military, naval or aerial mission to any foreign +country. + +Penalties section identical with German treaty excepting reference to +German kaiser. New states required to aid in prosecution and punishment +of their nationals guilty of offenses against international law. + +[Sidenote: Access to the Adriatic promised.] + +Economic clauses in general similar to those in German treaty. Austria +given access to Adriatic. + +Austria must abandon all financial claims against signatories. + +Treaty to become operative when signed by Austria and three of the +principal powers. + +On July 21, an amplified treaty with Austria-Hungary taking up matters +omitted from the first paper was given to the delegates from that +country. A summary of the articles follows: + +[Sidenote: Arrangements for reparation.] + +In addition to the published summary of the terms of June 2, the new +clauses provide for reparation arrangements very similar to those in the +treaty with Germany, including the establishment of an Austrian +subsection of the Reparations Commission, the payment of a reasonable +sum in cash, the issuing of bonds, and the delivery of livestock and +certain historical and art documents. + +The financial terms provide that the Austrian pre-war debt shall be +apportioned among the former parts of Austria, and that the Austrian +coinage and war bonds, circulating in the separated territory, shall be +taken up by the new governments and redeemed as they see fit. + +Under the military terms the Austrian army is henceforth reduced to +30,000 men on a purely voluntary basis. + +[Sidenote: Universal military service to be abolished.] + +Paragraph 5, relating to the military situation, says that the Austrian +army shall not exceed 30,000 men, including officers and depot troops. +Within three months the Austrian military forces shall be reduced to +this number, universal military service abolished and voluntary +enlistment substituted as part of the plan "to render possible the +initiation of a general limitation of armaments of all nations." + +The army shall be used exclusively for the maintenance of internal order +and control of frontiers. All officers must be regulars, those of the +present army to be retained being under obligation to serve until 40 +years old, those newly appointed agreeing to at least twenty consecutive +years of active service. Non-commissioned officers and privates must +enlist for not less than twelve consecutive years, including at least +six years with the colors. + +[Sidenote: Manufacture of war material.] + +Within three months the armament of the Austrian army must be reduced +according to detailed schedules, and all surplus surrendered. The +manufacture of all war material shall be confined to one single factory +under the control of the State, and other such establishments shall be +closed or converted. Importation and exportation of arms, munitions and +war materials of all kinds are forbidden. + +[Sidenote: Compensation for damage to civilians.] + +Paragraph 8 (on reparation) reads, in substance: The allied and +associated Governments affirm, and Austria accepts, the responsibility +of Austria and her allies for causing loss and damage to which the +allied and associated Governments and their nationals have been +subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the +aggression of Austria and her allies. While recognizing that Austria's +resources will not be adequate to make complete reparation, the allied +and associated Governments request, and Austria undertakes, that she +will make compensation for damage done to civilians and their property, +in accordance with categories of damages similar to those provided in +the treaty with Germany. + +The amount of damage is to be determined by the Reparation Commission +provided for in the treaty with Germany, which is to have a special +section to handle the Austrian situation. The commission will notify +Austria before May 1, 1921, of the extent of her liabilities and of the +schedule of payments for the discharge thereof during a period of thirty +years. It will bear in mind the diminutions of Austria's resources and +capacity of payment resulting from the treaty. + +As immediate reparation, Austria shall pay during 1919, 1920, and the +first four months of 1921, in such manner as provided by the Reparation +Commission, "a reasonable sum which shall be determined by the +commission." + +[Sidenote: Bond issues to be made.] + +Three bond issues shall be made--the first before May 1, 1921, without +interest; the second at 2-1/2 per cent. interest between 1921 and 1926, +and thereafter at 5 per cent., with an additional 1 per cent. for +amortization beginning in 1926, and a third at 5 per cent, when the +commission is satisfied that Austria can meet the interest and sinking +fund obligations. The amount shall be divided by the allied and +associated Governments in proportions determined upon in advance on a +basis of general equity. + +[Sidenote: Representatives of the Reparation Commission.] + +The Austrian section of the Reparation Commission shall include +representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, +Greece, Poland, Rumania, the Serbo-Slovene State, and Czecho-Slovakia. +The first four shall each appoint a delegate with two votes, and the +other five shall choose one delegate each year to represent them all. +Withdrawal from the commission is permitted on twelve months' notice. + +[Sidenote: To pay cost of armies of occupation.] + +Paragraph 9, (Financial.)--The first charge upon all the assets and +revenues of Austria shall be the costs arising under the present treaty, +including, in order of priority, the costs of the armies of occupation, +reparations, and other charges specifically agreed to and, with certain +exceptions, as granted by the Reparation Commission for payments for +imports. Austria must pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the armistice of November 3, 1918, so long as maintained, and may +export no gold before May 1, 1921, without consent of the Reparation +Commission. + +Each of the States to which Austrian territory is transferred and each +of the States arising out of the dismemberment of Austria, including the +Republic of Austria, shall assume part of the Austrian pre-war debt +specifically secured on railways, salt mines, and other property, the +amount to be fixed by the Reparation Commission on the basis of the +value of the property so transferred. + +[Sidenote: The pre-war debt.] + +Similarly, the unsecured bonded pre-war debt of the former empire shall +be distributed by the Reparation Commission in the proportion that the +revenues for the three years before the war of the separated territory +bore to those of the empire, excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina. + +No territory formerly part of the empire, except the Republic of +Austria, shall carry with it any obligation in respect of the war debt +of the former Austrian Government, but neither the Governments of those +territories nor their nationals shall have recourse against any other +State, including Austria, in respect of war debt bonds held within their +respective territories by themselves or their nationals. + +[Sidenote: Replacement of ships lost by the Allies.] + +Austria, recognizing the right of the Allies to ton-for-ton replacement +of all ships lost or damaged in the war, cedes all merchant ships and +fishing boats belonging to nationals of the former empire, agreeing to +deliver them within two months to the Reparation Commission. With a view +to making good the losses in river tonnage, she agrees to deliver up 20 +per cent. of her river fleet. + +[Sidenote: Restoration of devastated areas.] + +The allied and associated powers require, and Austria undertakes, that +in part reparation she will devote her economic resources to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. Within sixty days of the +coming into force of the treaty the governments concerned shall file +with the Reparation Commission lists of animals, machinery, equipment, +and the like destroyed by Austria which the governments desire replaced +in kind, and lists of the materials which they desire produced in +Austria for the work of reconstruction, which shall be reviewed in the +light of Austria's ability to meet them. + +[Sidenote: Animals to be delivered.] + +As an immediate advance as to animals, Austria agrees to deliver within +three months after ratification of the treaty 4,000 milch cows to Italy +and 1,000 each to Serbia and Rumania; 1,000 heifers to Italy, 300 to +Serbia, and 500 to Rumania; 50 bulls to Italy and 25 each to Serbia and +Rumania; 1,000 calves to each of the three nations; 1,000 bullocks to +Italy and 500 each to Serbia and Rumania; 2,000 sows to Italy, and +1,000 draft horses and 1,000 sheep to both Serbia and Rumania. + +[Sidenote: Timber, iron and magnesite.] + +Austria also agrees to give an option for five years as to timber, iron, +and magnesite in amounts as nearly equal to the pre-war importations as +Austria's resources make possible. She renounces in favor of Italy all +cables touching territories assigned to Italy, and in favor of the +allied and associated powers the others. + +[Sidenote: Valuable objects to be restored.] + +Austria agrees to restore all records, documents, objects of antiquity +and art, and all scientific and bibliographic material taken away from +the invaded or ceded territories. She will also hand over without delay +all official records of the ceded territories and all records, documents +and historical material possessed by public institutions and having a +direct bearing on the history of the ceded territories which have been +removed during the past ten years, except that for Italy the period +shall be from 1861. + +As to artistic archæological, scientific or historic objects formerly +belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Government or Crown, Austria agrees to +negotiate with the State concerned for an amicable arrangement for the +return to the districts of origin on terms of reciprocity of any object +which ought to form part of the intellectual patrimony of the ceded +districts, and for twenty years to safeguard all other such objects for +the free use of students. + +[Sidenote: War debt held outside the empire.] + +The war debt held outside the former empire shall be a charge on the +Republic of Austria alone. All war securities shall be stamped within +two months with the stamp of the State taking them up, replaced by +certificates, and settlement made to the Reparation Commission. + +The currency notes of the former Austro-Hungarian Bank circulating in +the separated territory shall be stamped within two months by the new +governments of the various territories with their own stamp, replaced +within twelve months by a new currency, and turned over within twelve +months to the Reparation Commission. The bank itself shall be liquidated +as from the day after the signature of the treaty by the Reparation +Commission. + +[Sidenote: Property within the new States.] + +States to which Austrian territory was transferred and States arising +from the dismemberment of Austria shall acquire all property within +their territories of the old or new Austrian Government, including that +of the former royal family. The value is to be assessed by the +Reparation Commission and credited to Austria on the reparation account. + +[Sidenote: Property of historic interest.] + +Property of predominant historic interest to the former kingdoms of +Poland, Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, the +Republic of Ragusa, the Venetian Republic, or the episcopal +principalities of Trent and Bressanone may be transferred without +payment. + +Austria renounces all rights as to all international, financial, or +commercial organizations in allied countries, Germany, Hungary, +Bulgaria, Turkey, or the former Russian Empire. She agrees to +expropriate, on demand of the Reparation Commission, any rights of her +nationals in any public utility or concession in these territories, in +separated districts, and in mandatory territories, to transfer them to +the commission within six months, and to hold herself responsible for +indemnifying her nationals so dispossessed. + +[Sidenote: Austria to renounce treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk.] + +She also agrees to deliver within one month the gold deposited as +security for the Ottoman debt, renounce any benefits accruing from the +treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk, and transfer to the allied and +associated Governments all claims against her former Allies. + +Any financial adjustments, such as those relating to banking and +insurance companies, savings banks, postal savings banks, land banks or +mortgage companies in the former monarchy, necessitated by the +dismemberment of the monarchy, and the resettlement of public debts and +currency, shall be regulated by agreements between the various +governments failing which the Reparation Commission shall appoint an +arbitrator or arbitrators, whose decision shall be final. + +Austria shall not be responsible for pensions of nationals of the former +empire who have become nationals of other States. + +[Sidenote: Committee of three jurists.] + +As for special objects carried off by the House of Hapsburg and other +dynasties from Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Czecho-Slovakia, a committee +of three jurists appointed by the Reparation Commission is to examine +within a year the conditions under which the objects were removed and to +order restoration if the removal were illegal. The list of articles +includes among others: + +[Sidenote: List of special articles to be restored.] + +For Tuscany, the Crown Jewels and part of the Medici heirlooms; for +Modena, a Virgin by Andrea del Sarto and manuscripts; for Palermo, +twelfth century objects made for the Norman Kings; for Naples, +ninety-eight manuscripts carried off in 1718; for Belgium, various +objects and documents removed in 1794; for Poland, a gold cup of King +Ladislas IV., removed in 1772; and for Czecho-Slovakia, various documents +and historical manuscripts removed from the Royal Castle of Prague. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Air Raids, at night, III, 229-241; + British, II, 249; + on England, I, 375-388 + +Albert, King of Belgium, I, 114-115; + encourages soldiers, I, 51-53 + +Albert, town of, III, 164 + +_Alcedo_ torpedoed, II, 374-378 + +Alderson, General, at Second Ypres, I, 258 + +Aleppo, importance as railway junction, II, 180; + starting point for caravans, II, 178 + +Alien enemies, rules concerning, II, 239-243 + +Allenby, General, at Gommecourt, II. 75; + commands in Palestine, II, 344-368; + in Allied retreat, I, 65-67 + +Allied Armies, in Macedonia, III, 170; + positions in Battle of the Marne, I, 78, 81, 90-93 + +Alsace, operations in, I, 84 + +America Drawn Into War, II, 205-225; + bad faith of Germans, II, 210; + sinking of _Lusitania_, II, 210; + stirred by invasion of Belgium, II, 208; + _Sussex_, II, 212 + +America's Break with Germany, relations severed, II, 197-198; + reasons for, II, 194-204 + +America's Declaration of Existence of War, II, 224-225 + +American Expeditionary Forces, a corps, III, 242-243; + a division, III, 242; + airplanes, III, 248; + artillery supply, III, 247; + artillery training camp, III, 202; + attack in the Soissonais, III, 224; + aviators, III, 269; + communication and supply, III, 244-246; + construction work, III, 244; + Engineer Corps, III, 216, 269; + fight through Meuse-Argonne sector, III, 256-267; + First and Second in Soissons drive, III, 252; + First Army is organized, III, 254; + first days on the firing line, III, 200-209; + First Division at Montdidier, III, 250; + First Division takes Cantigny, III, 250; + Forty-second Division east of Rheims, III, 251; + Forty-second and Thirty-second at Cierges, III, 253; + from the Marne to the Aisne, III, 210-228; + German supply line cut, III, 266; + infantry training, III, 243; + line on date of armistice, III, 267; + losses of, III, 268; + Medical Corps, III, 268; + Ordnance Department, III, 269; + organization of, III, 242-248; + plans for movement against St. Mihiel salient, III, 254; + ports employed, III, 245; + quality of soldiers, III, 228; + Quartermaster's Department, III, 269; + Second and Thirty-sixth with French, III, 261-262; + Second Army organized, III, 263; + Second Corps organized on British front, III, 251; + Second Division takes Bouresches, Belleau Wood and Vaux, III, + 250-251; + Service of Supply, III, 245-247, 268; + Signal Corps, III, 269; + soldiers in Italy, III, 268; + soldiers in Russia, III, 268; + take St. Mihiel salient, III, 254-257; + ten divisions train on British front, III, 250; + Tank Corps, III, 269; + Third Division on the Marne, III, 250-252; + Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium, III, 264; + three divisions on the Vesle, III, 253; + troops in the Argonne, III, 258-266; + Twenty-eighth Division east of Rheims, III, 251; + Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth Divisions break Hindenburg line, III, + 261; + Twenty-sixth at Seicheprey, III, 249; + Twenty-sixth takes Torcy, III, 253 + +American Navy in the War, III, 270-296; + activities of Y.M.C.A. and Knights of Columbus, III, 287-288; + air stations in Ireland, III, 278; + aviation base at Eastleigh, III, 281; + base at Cardiff, Scotland, III, 286; + Battleship Division Nine, III, 278; + convoy of troops, III, 282; + co-operates with Allies, III, 271-273; + cross-channel transport service, III, 280; + destroyers on coast of Ireland, III, 275; + destroyers at Brest, III, 282-283; + forces at Gibraltar, III, 286; + mine-laying operations, III, 279; + naval pipe-line unit, III, 286; + northern bombing group of seaplanes, III, 281; + seaplane station at Killingholme, III, 280; + radio station near Bordeaux, III, 285; + railway battery, III, 285-286; + Rear-Admiral Rodgers, III, 276; + subchasers, III, 277; + subchasers at Corfu, III, 286; + subchasers at Plymouth, III, 280; + submarines, III, 276; + Vice-Admiral Wilson on French coast, III, 281-282 + +American Food Commission, II, 163 + +American Railway Association, aids war preparations, II, 332 + +American ships torpedoed, II, 286 + +Amiens, capture of, I, 82 + +Ancre, Battle of the, Beaumont taken, II, 109 + +Ancre and Somme, lines between, II, 71 + +Anglo-Russian Campaign in Turkey, II, 174-187; + British save oil fields, II, 181; + British in Kut-el-Amara, II, 181; + Russians in Caucasia, II, 183-186 + +Anzac, meaning of term, I, 224 + +Arbuthnot, Rear-Admiral Sir Robert, death of, II, 52; + ships are disabled, II, 41 + +_Ardent_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Argonne, American army prepares for battle, III, 258; + Americans open battle, III, 259; + character of ground, III, 258; + divisions engaged, III, 266; + is cleared of enemy, III, 263; + prisoners taken, III, 266 + +Armenia, Russians in, I, 184 + +Armistice, duration of, III, 304-305; + November 11, 1918, III, 266; + signatories, III, 305; + terms of, III, 297-305 + +Artillery, work of, in Argonne, III, 259, 261 + +Asia, routes, II, 177-178 + +Atrocities, in Belgium and Serbia, II, 223 + +Australians, at Gallipoli, I, 222-224; + in Palestine, II, 350 + +Austria-Hungary, army and navy reorganized, I, 8; + condition on Bulgaria's capitulation, III, 181; + orders partial mobilization, I, 24-25; + seeks control of Constantinople, I, 126; + sends ultimatum to Serbia, I, 14 + +Austria-Hungary and Russia, mutual antagonism of, I, 8 + +Austrians, on Col di Lana, II, 55-65; + in the Alps, I, 315-319; + use 17-inch howitzers, III, 78 + +Austro-German Offensive Against Italy, III, 71-100 + +Austro-Italian front, II, 56 + +Aviation, American naval, in Europe, under Captain Cone, III, 286; + American naval air stations in England, III, 280-281; + American naval air stations in France, III, 283-285; + American naval air stations in Ireland, III, 278; + German air raids, I, 375-383; III, 229-241; + report on Jerusalem, II, 362; + Royal Flying Corps at Mons, I, 73 + +Avocourt, attack on, II, 22; + retaken by French, II, 19 + +Avocourt Wood, stormed by Germans, II, 18 + +_Ayesha_, cruise of the, I, 184-189 + + +B + +Bainsizza Plateau, evacuated, III, 80; + fighting on, III, 78 + +Baker, Newton D., Secretary of War, II, 298-343 + +Balkan Nations, I, 127-128 + +Balkan Railway, II, 179 + +Balkan War, danger to Turkey, I, 134 + +Basra, threatened, II, 181 + +Battle Lines, Map of, III, 227 + +Bayly, Admiral Sir Lewis, commands destroyer forces, III, 275 + +Beatty, Admiral, reports on Jutland Battle, II, 31-40 + +Beaumont, captured, II, 109 + +Beau Repaire Farm, III, 252 + +Belgian Army, heroism at Liege, I, 45; + retreats to Ostend, I, 106; + spirit of soldiers, I, 113, 122; + stand in Belgium, I, 101 + +Belgium, conditions better than in France, II, 167; + dangers for, I, 17; + French army in, I, 100-101; + German rule in, II, 159-173; + invasion of, I, 41-61; + last ditch in, I, 108-124; + neutrality of, I, 31-32; + war in, I, 106-107 + +Belleau Wood, taken, III, 251 + +Berzy-le-Sec, captured, III, 252 + +Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr von, opinion, I, 25-26 + +Birdwood, General, plans of, I, 370-371 + +Bismarck Fort, I, 216 + +_Black Prince_, sunk, II, 52 + +Black Sea, closing of, I, 135-137 + +Bohemia, National Assembly of, III, 186 + +Bohlen, Herr Krupp von, opinion of, I, 20 + +Bollati, Signor, views on German Government, I, 18-19 + +"Boris the Bulgar," III, 63 + +Boulogne, objective, I, 103 + +Bouresches, taken, III, 251 + +Boy-Ed, Captain, violates American neutrality, II, 288 + +Bridge of Arches, I, 47 + +Briggs, Lieutenant General, operations at Saloniki, II, 252 + +_Brilliant_, at Ostend, III, 111-112, 118 + +_Bristol_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172 + +British Admiralty, I, 283-284 + +British and French, cooperation in Somme attack, II, 75, 86, 89 + +British Armies, advance in Marne battle, I, 80-82; + in capture of Tsing-Tao, I, 205-220; + growth of, II, 67; + in the Great Retreat, I, 86-89; + on Italian front, III, 83; + remove from Aisne, I, 99-100; + retreat in Picardy, III, 162-163; + transported to northern theater, I, 99 + +British Empire, in Africa, III, 50 + +British Navy, arrival of squadron at Port Stanley, I, 161-162; + at Jutland Bank, II, 32-54; + in Coronel sea fight, I, 141-157; + in Falkland Battle, I, 157-175; + Grand Fleet, II, 30; + at Zeebrugge and Ostend, III, 101-118 + +British Troops in Mesopotamia, + advance up Tigris, II, 181; + routes to Bagdad, II, 185 + +Brussiloff, commands offensive in Volhynia, II, 132-133; + talks on Rumanian situation, II, 137 + +Bulgaria, affected by the Russian Revolution, III, 174; + character of people, III, 171-172; + dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179; + dissatisfaction with Peace of Bucharest, III, 172; + dissatisfied with share of the Dobrudja, III, 175; + dissatisfied with treatment from Germany, III, 177-178; + influenced by Teuton promises, III, 173; + influenced by Allied victories in the West, III, 179; + victorious in Serbia and Rumania, III, 174; + withdraws from the war, III, 170 + +Bulgarians, advance in Struma Valley, II, 246; + attack Greeks, III, 61-64; + in Eastern Macedonia, II, 247 + +Bullard, General Robert L., commands Second Army, III, 263; + commands Third Corps, and operations on the Vesle, III, 253 + + +C + +Cadorna, General, arrests Italian offensive, III, 72-73 + +Caetani, Gelasio, Italian engineer on Col di Lana, II, 62 + +Calais, battle of, I, 104; + objective of Germans, I, 103 + +Cambon, coolness in crisis, I, 36; + fears of, I, 16 + +Cameron, Major General George H., in St. Mihiel battle, III, 255 + +Canadians, at Second Ypres, I, 248-286; + counterattack on Germans, I, 251-252; + heroism of, I, 249-252; + in gas attack at Ypres, I, 253; + position of Division at Ypres, I, 248-249; + recapture of guns at Ypres, I, 221; + Royal Highlanders, I, 255-257; + Third Brigade, I, 249-257 + +_Canopus_, accompanies Glasgow, I, 146-147; + in Falkland fight, I, 156-158 + +Cantigny, taken by First Division, III, 250 + +Cantonments, completion of, II, 327; + materials for, II, 322-323; + sites chosen, II, 319-320; + typical, II, 323 + +Caporetto, falls to Austrians, III, 71; + taking of, III, 76 + +_Carnovan_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170 + +Carpathians, I, 319-320 + +Carpenter, Captain A.F.B., commands _Vindictive_ at Zeebrugge, + III, 104 + +_Cassin_, U.S. destroyer, torpedoed, II, 369-376 + +Castelnau, General de, orders troops to hold at Verdun, II, 16 + +Cavell, Edith, I, 348-364; + trial of, I, 350-352 + +Central Powers, desire to dominate other races, II, 215 + +Champagne, great offensive in, I, 322-347 + +Channel, race for, I, 96-107 + +Charleroi, defeat of Allied armies at, I, 61 + +Château-Thierry, German offensive at, III, 252; + July counteroffensive, III, 252; + Third Division holds bridgehead, III, 250; + topography, III, 210-213 + +Chetwode, General, route of Germans by, I, 73 + +China, neutrality of, I, 204 + +_Choising_, German ship, I, 187-191 + +Col di Lana, blowing off Austrian position, II, 55-65 + +Combles, French advance on, II, 94-95 + +_Communipaw_, sunk, II, 282 + +Congress, in extraordinary session, II, 226 + +Constantine, King of Greece, attitude of, III, 54 + +Constantinople, contention for, I, 129-130; + German cruisers at, I, 135; + hold of England and France on, I, 129; + importance of, I, 126-127, 140; II, 177 + +Contalmaison, attack on, II, 78 + +Convoy System, III, 282 + +_Cornwall_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172 + +Coronel, Battle of, I, 141-157 + +Coté du Poivre, attack at, II, 18-21; + taken by French, II, 28 + +Council of National Defense, II, 321-343 + +Cradock, Rear Admiral Sir Christopher, attacks German cruisers, I, + 150-157; + in chase for German squadron, I, 145 + +Crown Prince, German, army of, at Verdun, II, 12; + brings up fresh forces, II, 18; + urges troops to take Verdun, II, 8 + +Cumières, retaken by French, II, 22; + stormed by Germans, II, 22 + +Curry, General, at Second Ypres, I, 256-257, 259 + +Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force, III, 183 + +Czecho-Slovaks, III, 183-199; + character of men in Siberia, III, 184-185; + journey on a Czecho-Slovak train, III, 184 + + +D + +_Daffodil_, at Ostend, III, 101; + at Zeebrugge, III, 102-103, 105 + +Declaration of War, II, 238 + +_Defence_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Dellville Wood, attacks on, II, 87-88; + terrain around, II, 85 + +Deportations, II, 161-162 + +Destroyers, American, III, 7-31 + +Dickman, Major General, commands First Corps, III, 263; + in St. Mihiel battle, III, 255 + +Dobrudja, disposed of by Germany, III, 175; + failure of defense in, II, 134 + +Doiran Lake, British lines near, II, 246 + +Donnelly, Lieutenant, surprises Turks, I, 235-236 + +Douaumont, attacks at, II, 21; + French victory at, II, 27 + +Drake, exploits of, I, 149 + +Duchess of Hohenberg, I, 9 + +Dunkirk, bombed, I, 109-110; + objective of Germans, I, 103 + + +E + +East African Campaigns, III, 32-53 + +Egypt, natural routes to, II, 178; + need for large army, II, 180 + +Eightieth Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in Argonne, III, 258 + +Eighty-ninth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Eighty-second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in reserve in Argonne, III, 259 + +Eighty-seventh Division, in Argonne, III, 259 + +_Eitel Friedrich_, in Falkland fight, I, 162-174; + interns at Newport News, I, 174 + +_Emden_, cruise of, I, 176-197; + ships captured by, I, 179-180 + +Engineers, sent to France, II, 328; + training of, II, 327; + work of, in Argonne, III, 259 + +England on neutrality of Belgium, I, 30-31; + scorns German proposal, I, 26-27 + +Erzerum, taken by Russians, I, 183 + +Evan-Thomas, Admiral, report on Jutland Bank, II, 39 + + +F + +Falkland Sea Fight, I, 142-175 + +Festubert, Canadian advance at, I, 274-275 + +Fifth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +First Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in drive for Soissons, III, 252; + in reserve in Argonne, III, 259; + takes Berzy-le-Sec, III, 252 + +Flanders, Battle of, I, 97; + German attack in, I, 101-103 + +Foch, General, afterward Marshal, outmanoeuvres Germans in Battle of + the Marne, I, 93; + launches counteroffensive, III, 252; + uses American troops in Picardy and on the Marne, III, 249, 250 + +Food, in Belgium, II, 168 + +Forts of Liege, I, 54-59 + +Forts, on banks of Meuse, I, 54-56 + +Forty-Second (Rainbow) Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + captures Sergy, III, 253 + +Fourth Division, in Argonne, III, 258; + relieves Forty-second, III, 253 + +France, her wounded heroes, III, 138-152; + Germany declares war on, I, 35; + German rule in, II, 159-173; + control cards, II, 160 + +Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, assassination of, I, 10; + character of, I, 7-9; + marriage to Sophie Chotek, I, 9; + political designs of, I, 7-9 + +French, Sir John, on Battle of the Marne, I, 73-82; + on Great Retreat, I, 62-72 + +French and British, cooperate in Battle of the Somme, II, 86, 89; + on Italian front, III, 83 + +French Armies, advance at Marne, I, 80-82; + break German attack at Verdun, II, 16; + in Alsace, I, 83-84; + in Battle of the Marne, I, 91-95; + in Meuse Hills, III, 266; + losses of, III, 159; + official account, I, 83-107; + retreat at Verdun, II, 14; + victorious at Ypres, I, 275 + +Fricourt, British attacks on, II, 76; + captured, II, 77 + + +G + +Gallipoli, abandonment of, I, 366-374; + campaign at, I, 221-239; + suffering of troops, I, 367 + +Gas, accounts for German gains at Second Ypres, I, 269; + bombardment at Second Ypres, I, 262-265; + cloud of, at Second Ypres, I, 242; + Canadians charge through, I, 268; + first use in war, I, 240-276; + Germans first to employ, I, 276; + peculiar appearance of gas battle, I, 267 + +Gerard, Ambassador to Germany, II, 294 + +German Activities in the United States, II, 278; + note to Mexico, II, 297 + +German Armies, battle plans of, II, 12; + cross the Sambre, I, 86; + checked at Verdun, II, 16; + driven to Soissons-Rheims, I, 77; + first to use gas in battle, I, 241-242; + in Battle of Picardy, III, 153-169; + in Battle of the Marne, I, 89-90; + in Race for the Seas, I, 101-102; + invade Belgium, I, 41; + line at close of Battle of the Marne, I, 81; + losses in Battle of the Marne, I, 95; + losses at Ypres, I, 105; + losses at Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 209; + losses at Tsing-tao, I, 219-220; + strength at Verdun, II, 20; + positions in Champagne, I, 324-327; + losses of, at Ypres, I, 105; + defenses between Somme and Ancre, II, 72; + in retreat, I, 79-82; + prepare for Battle of Verdun, II, 8-12; + rapid advance against Italians, III, 77-78; + reinforced, I, 84 + +German Colonial Aims, strategic points desired, III, 45-46 + +German Control in Belgium, II, 167-172 + +German Control in France, gendarmerie brutal, II, 167; + treatment of girl workers, I, 161 + +German East Africa, a menace to Asia, III, 49; + evacuated by enemy, III, 41; + opinion of Baron von Rechenberg, III, 45 + +German Fleet, in Battle of Jutland Bank, II, 30-54 + +German Interference with American manufacturers, II, 292 + +German Note to Mexico, II, 297 + +German Notice of January 31, 1917, II, 285 + +German Propaganda, in Allied countries, III, 75-76 + +German Spies in America, II, 286-292 + +German West Africa, strategic importance of, III, 48-49 + +Germans, issue submarine proclamation, I, 280; + make peace proposals, II, 29; + nearness to iron ore, II, 9; + system of colonization, III, 43 + +Germany attains eastern ambitions, III, 154; + declares war on France, I, 35; + industrial expansion of, I, 127; + mobilizes, I, 35; + loses prestige in the East, III, 181; + must destroy either French or British army, III, 158; + need for Central Africa, III, 46: + perfidy of Government, II, 222; + plans of, I, 128-133; + preparation for defense, I, 201-202; + proclaims ruthless submarine warfare, II, 194; + sends note on submarine warfare, I, 307-308 + +Germany's African colonies, strategic importance of, III, 46-47 + +_Glasgow_, in Coronel fight, I, 146-157 + +_Gneisenau_, in Falkland fight, I, 147-171 + +Gompers, Samuel, labor leader, assistance rendered to government, + II, 325; + on Council of National Defense, II, 325-326 + +_Good Hope_, sunk, I, 146-155 + +Gorizia, suffers from war, III, 71 + +Goschen, Sir Edward, I, 30-32 + +Gough, General, in Battle of the Somme, II, 77 + +Grand Fleet, British, II, 30 + +Great Britain, holds vantage points in the East, II, 180; + interests in Persia, II, 174-176 + +Greeks, fight at Rupel Pass, III, 59; + on the side of the Allies, III, 54-68; + successes of, III, 61 + +Greeks and Bulgars, III, 64 + +"Green Devils," nickname for German gendarmerie, II, 167 + +Grey, Sir Edward, refuses German proposals, I, 30 + +Guillemont, fighting at, II, 88-91 + + +H + +Hague, The, American policy at, II, 206 + +Haig, Sir Douglas, commands British in Battle of the Somme, II, + 67-113 + +Haig and Joffre, discuss plans for Somme offensive, II, 67 + +Hardaumont, fight for, II, 18 + +Hardromont Quarries, taken by General Mangin, II, 22 + +Henderson, Sir David, I, 71 + +Hepburn, Captain A.J., commands subchasers, III, 277 + +High Wood, II, 81, 82 + +Hill 304, artillery attack on, II, 21 + +Hindenburg Line, broken, III, 261 + +Hines, Major General John L., commands Third Corps, III, 263 + +Hohenberg, Duchess of, I, 9-10 + +Hood, Rear Admiral, at Jutland Bank, II, 38; + death of, II, 52 + +Hoskins, General, in East Africa, III, 41 + +Hospitals, II, 342-343; + at naval bases, III, 288; + bombed by Germans, III, 240 + +_Housatonic_, sunk, II, 200 + + +I + +Identification Papers, II, 159 + +_Indefatigable_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +_Inflexible_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170 + +Ingram, Osmund K., saves comrades, II, 370 + +International Law, upheld by United States, II, 284 + +_Intrepid_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107-108 + +_Invincible_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170; + sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +_Iphigenia_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107-108 + +_Iris_, in Ostend Harbor, III, 101 + +_Iris_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102-103, 105-106 + +Irish, in Gallipoli fight, I, 227 + +Isonzo, filled by rain, retards enemy, III, 92; + in Austro-German offensive, III, 71, 75 + +Italian Retreat, army reaches Tagliamento, III, 96; + Austrian aeroplanes overhead, III, 95; + brilliant work of cavalry, III, 97; + civilians in, III, 90-91; + difficulties of, III, 82-91; + Importance of Tagliamento bridges, III, 91; + military stores evacuated or destroyed, III, 84-86; + stand on Piave, III, 99 + +Italians evacuate Bainsizza Plateau, III, 80; + evacuate Udine, III, 81; + expect Austrian push, III, 72; + tactics, I, 315-318 + +Italy, American troops in, III, 268; + Legion Italienne withdrawn for rest, II, 56-57; + war on Alpine front, II, 55-65 + + +J + +_Jacob Jones_, U.S. destroyer, torpedoed, II, 378-384 + +Jagow, Herr von, on Austrian note, I, 15; + on mobilization, I, 35 + +Japan in the War, I, 198-220 + +Japanese characteristics, I, 198; + landing and advance of, I, 203-206; + losses at Tsing-tao, I, 220; + ultimatum, I, 199-200 + +Jellicoe, Sir John, commands at Jutland Bank, II, 30-45 + +Jerusalem, British advance toward, II, 366-368; + capture of, II, 343; + official entry into, II, 368 + +Joffre, General, announces plans to General French, I, 76; + appeals to troops, I, 323-324; + forms new Ninth Army, I, 75; + gives order to advance, I, 90; + letter of thanks from, I, 347; + resumes offensive, I, 98-99 + +Joffre and Haig, discuss plans for summer offensive, II, 67 + +Jutland Bank, II, 30-54 + + +K + +Kalahari Desert, III, 32 + +Kato, Japanese Foreign Minister, I, 199 + +Kato, Japanese Vice Admiral, I, 202 + +_Kent_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-175 + +Keyes, Vice Admiral, commands _Warwick_ at Zeebrugge, III, 102 + +Kiao-chau, blockade of coast, I, 202-203 + +Kigali, East Africa, III, 37 + +Kitchener, Earl, II, 188-193 + +Kivu Lake, East Africa, III, 37 + +Kleyer, Burgomaster of Liege, I, 47-51 + +_Königsberg_, in Rufiji River, III, 18 + +Kriemhilde Line, penetrated by Americans, III, 264 + +Kut-el-Amara, occupied by British, II, 181; + importance of, II, 183 + + +L + +Lansing, Secretary, note to German Government, I, 305-307 + +League of Nations, III, 306-316 + +Leipsic Salient, II, 77 + +_Leipzig_, in Pacific, I, 147-148 + +Leman, General, I, 43-61 + +Le Mort Homme (Dead Man Hill), attacks on, II, 18-22 + +Le Transloy, defenses of, II, 102 + +Leval, Maitre de, endeavors to aid Miss Cavell, I, 353-362; + opinion on German Courts, I, 352 + +Liege, Forts of, I, 54; + Germans enter, I, 49 + +Liggett, General Hunter, commands First Corps of First Army, III, 253; + commands First Army, III, 263 + +Lipsett, Lieutenant Colonel, at Second Ypres, I, 257-258 + +Littell, Colonel I.W., constructs cantonments, II, 320 + +Louvain, capture of, I, 61 + +_Lusitania_, torpedoed, I, 277-312 + +Luxembourg, invaded, I, 41 + +_Lyman M. Law_, sunk, II, 200 + + +M + +Macedonia, Bulgarians in, II, 247 + +_Macedonia_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-171 + +Macready, General, cited, I, 72 + +Mametz Wood, II, 78-79 + +Mangin, General, takes quarries of Haudromont, II, 22 + +Marne, American Third Division at Château-Thierry, III, 250; + description, III, 212-215; + Battle of the, I, 73-82; I; 91-95 + +Marne-Aisne District, character of country, III, 210-224 + +Marne-Vesle, topography, III, 211-212 + +Masaryk, Professor, leader of Czecho-Slovaks, III, 192 + +Massiges, capture of, I, 340-341 + +Mayo, Admiral, report of, III, 270-296 + +Mediterranean, German submarines in, II, 282 + +Menin Road, I, 270-272 + +Mesopotamia, value of, II, 174-175 + +Messines Ridge, in Battle of Picardy, III, 167-168 + +Meuse-Argonne Front, the final advance, III, 265-267 + +Meuse River, divides battlefield of Verdun, II, 10; + fighting on both sides of, II, 18 + +Mexico, German note to, II, 297 + +Mitteleuropa, apparently accomplished in 1915, III, 173; + Bulgaria only a link, III, 175; + crumbling of idea, III, 170 + +Monastir, advance on, II, 250 + +Monfalcone, III, 79-80 + +_Mongolia_, fires first shot at Germans, II, 270-277 + +Monroe Doctrine, II, 205-207 + +Mons, Allied line through, I, 62; + British retreat from, I, 70 + +Montdidier, First Division at, III, 250; + taken, III, 164 + +Monte Nero, cut off, III, 71 + +Montfaucon, taken, III, 259 + +Moscow, refugees in, II, 114, 116 + +Motor trucks, supply French at Verdun, II, 17 + +Mountain Warfare, I, 313-321 + +Mücke, Captain of the _Ayesha_, I, 176-197 + +Mudros Harbor, I, 222 + +Mulhouse, capture of, I, 83-84 + +Munitions Board, Council of National Defense, II, 321 + +Murray, Sir Archibald, Lieutenant General, cited, I, 72 + + +N + +Namur, surrender of, I, 61 + +Napier, Rear Admiral, II, 39 + +National Army, II, 318 + +National Guard, II, 318 + +Naval War Council, III, 273-275 + +Navy, United States, transports troops to Europe, II, 340 + +_Nestor_, sunk, II, 52 + +Neutrality, armed, II, 220 + +New Zealanders, in Palestine Campaign, II, 361 + +Newfoundlanders, at Gallipoli, I, 221-238 + +Niblack, Rear Admiral, commands ships at Gibraltar, III, 286 + +Nicholas, Grand Duke, in Caucasia, II, 183-184 + +Nieuport, bombardment of, I, 110; + fight on the road to, I, 123 + +Ninetieth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Ninety-first Division, in Belgium, III, 264; + in Argonne, III, 259; + at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Nivelle, General, brings up 400 millimeter guns, II, 26 + +_Nomad_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Northey, General, advances in East Africa, III, 37 + +North Sea, battle of the, I, 85 + +_North Star_, British destroyer, sunk at Zeebrugge, III, 110 + +_Nürnberg_, in Pacific, I, 147-148 + + +O + +Oil, in Black Sea district, I, 136; + pipe line in Scotland, III, 286 + +Oil fields, in Persia, II, 175; + pipe line from Persian fields, II, 181 + +Okuma, Prime Minister of Japan, I, 199 + +_Olympia_, on coast of northern Russia, III, 286 + +Ostend, evacuated, I, 106 + +Ostend Harbor, blocking of, III, 111-118 + +Ourcq, valley of, III, 219-223; + Forty-second on, III, 253 + +Ovillers, taken by British, II, 82 + + +P + +Palestine, Campaign, II, 344-366 + +Papen, Captain von, plots of, II, 287-289 + +Pare Mountains, III, 39 + +_Patria_, attacked, II, 283 + +Peace, Allies refuse a peace by compromise, III, 155 + +Peace Treaty, with Austria, III, 366-374; + with Germany, III, 318-365 + +Pershing, General John J., offers army to Foch for Picardy battle, + III, 249; + report on American Army in Europe, III, 242-270; + sent to France, II, 339 + +Persia, British and Russian interests in, II, 174-176 + +_Persis_, sunk, II, 282 + +Petain, General, congratulates French at Verdun, II, 19; + uses 40,000 motor trucks, II, 17 + +Petrograd, refugees in, II, 116, 118-120 + +_Petrolite_, sunk, II, 282 + +Piave, Italians stand on, III, 99-100 + +Picardy, Battle of, III, 153-169; + fighting in Lens-Arras sector, III, 167; + French extend to join British at the Oise. III, 163; + German infantry advances, III, 162; + Germans bring divisions from Russia, III, 156; + Germans checked at Villers-Bretonneux, III, 164; + Germans take Albert, II, 164; + Germans take Messines Ridge, III, 167-168; + German objectives in the North, III, 168; + Montdidier falls, III, 164; + number of German divisions, III, 162; + opens, III, 153; + plan to drive through Amiens, III, 162; + Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette, III, 166; + why attack was made here, III, 159-162 + +Plec Line, taken, III, 77 + +Plunkett, Rear Admiral, commands railway battery, III, 285-286 + +Poland, refugees from, II, 115 + +_President Lincoln_, torpedoed, III, 290-296 + +Press, German opinion misled, I, 23-24; + public opinion on peaceful settlement I, 15; + Serajevo tragedy, I, 10; + warning in New York papers, I, 284 + +Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 208-211 + +Pringle, Captain, commands destroyers at Queenstown, III, 276 + +Proclamation of War, II, 238-243 + + +R + +Radio, Bordeaux station, III, 285 + +Radoslavov, Premier of Bulgaria, resigns, III, 178 + +Railways, Balkan, II, 179; + Berlin to Bagdad, I, 129; + British and Belgian routes in Africa, III, 44; + in Africa, III, 43-44; + in Asia Minor, II, 179 + +Ramscapelle, destruction of, I, 117-118; + recaptured, I, 103 + +Rawlinson, General, commands Fourth Army at the Somme, II, 75; + commended by Haig, II, 83 + +Read, Major General, commands Second Corps, III, 251 + +Red Cross, establishes hospital bases, II, 341 + +Refugees, I, 46; II, 114-123 + +Regular Army, II, 318 + +Relief ships, attacks on, II, 292 + +Retreat of Allies, I, 62-72 + +Rheims, capture of, I, 82 + +Robertson, General, cited, I, 72 + +Rodgers, Rear Admiral, commands Division Six, III, 276 + +Rodman, Rear Admiral, commands Battleship Division Nine, III, 278 + +Roubaix, France, under German rule, II, 159 + +Rovuma River, III, 37 + +Rumania, Allied plan for operation in, II, 133; + army well drilled, II, 140; + danger in entering war, II, 124; + failure of defense in Dobrudia, II, 134 + +Rumania, King of, a Hohenzollern, II, 126; + personality, II, 126-127; + views, II, 127-131 + +Rumanians, withdraw from Transylvania, II, 134 + +Russia, American troops in, III, 268; + declares war on Austria, I, 21-23; + defends Serbia, I, 14; + desires control of Constantinople, I, 126-127; + general mobilization, I, 38; + interests in Persia, II, 175-176; + likely to defend Serbia, I, 14; + partial mobilisation, I, 24-25; + receives ultimatum, I, 34-35; + revolution in, II, 258-270 + +Russian Army, effect of collapse on Italian situation, III, 74 + +Russian Campaign, 1916, II, 68; + in Caucasia, II, 183-186 + +Russian Refugees, children emaciated, II, 115; + in freight train in Moscow, II, 114-116; + number of, II, 116-117 + +Russian Revolution, barricade on the Litenie, II, 264; + Cossacks in, II, 253, 259-261; + Czar dissolves Duma, II, 255; + Duma takes command, II, 286; + people charged by police, II, 254; + soldiers join revolutionists, II, 267 + + +S + +Sailly-Saillisel, French attacks on, II, 102-105 + +St. Julien, fighting at, I, 262-264; + penetration of, I, 244-246 + +St. Mihiel, Battle of, III, 254-257 + +Saloniki, British operations at, II, 248, 250 + +Sambuks, cruise in, I, 191-193 + +Samson, air adventure at Gallipoli, I, 232 + +Sand Dunes, I, 119-120 + +Sazanoff, M., receives German ambassador, I, 27 + +_Scharnhorst_, in Falkland fight, I, 147-170; + in Pacific, I, 147-148 + +Second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in drive for Soissons, III, 252; + takes St. Etienne, III, 262; + takes Beau Repaire Farm, and Vierzy, III, 252; + with French near Rheims, III, 261-262 + +Seicheprey, Twenty-sixth in battle, III, 249 + +Selective Draft, classes exempt, II, 309; + liability to service, II, 304; + physical examination of men, II, 308; + registration, II, 305-312 + +Serajevo, assassination at, I, 10 + +Serbia, announcement of expedition against, I, 19; + defended by Russia, I, 14; + demands from, I, 11; + replies to ultimatum, I, 22-23; + ultimatum to, I, 14 + +Sergy, taken by Forty-second Division, III, 253 + +Seventy-eighth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Seventy-ninth Division in Argonne, III, 259 + +_Shark_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Shipping Board, II, 340 + +Sixtus, Prince, emperor's letter to, III, 155-156 + +Smith-Dorrien, Sir Horace, services of, I, 69-70 + +Smuts, General Jan Christiaan, III, 32-53 + +Soissons, American First and Second Divisions in drive toward, III, + 252; + Franco-American drive toward, III, 224-226; + entered by Allies, III, 226 + +Solf, Dr., opinion on German colonies, III, 47 + +Somme, Battle of the, II, 67-113 + +Somme and Ancre, lines between, II, 71 + +_Sparrowhawk_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Spee, Graf von, commands cruisers in the Pacific, I, 147-155; + in Falkland light, I, 162-170; + wins Coronel fight, I, 148-156 + +Struma River, bridged by British engineers, II, 250; + British positions on, II, 245; + rise hinders operations, II, 248 + +Subchasers at Corfu, III, 286 + +Submarine War Zone proclaimed, II, 219 + +Submarine Warfare, American lives lost, II, 279; + American vessels sunk, II, 200; + in the Mediterranean, II, 282; + American ships, II, 269-384; + proclaimed by Germany, II, 194, 196-197; + the _Sussex_ case, II, 194-196 + +Submarines, hunt each other in the dark, II, 135-136 + +Submarines, American, III, 119-137; + cross the Atlantic, III, 119-124; + go out on patrol, III, 126-134; + how it feels to be depth-bombed, III, 131-132; + the mother ship, III, 124-125 + +Suez Canal, control of the, I, 138; + importance, I, 138 + +Summerall, Major General Charles P., III, 263 + +_Sussex_, torpedoed without warning, II, 283 + +_Sussex_ Case, II, 194-196 + + +T + +Tagliamento, importance of bridges, III, 91 + +Taurus Mountains, Armenian, II, 184; + frontier of Egypt, II, 178 + +_Thetis_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107 + +Thiaucourt, taken by Americans, III, 256 + +Thiaumont, II, 23-25 + +Thiepval, British advance on, II, 98-99; + in Somme battle, II, 76 + +Third Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + on Marne, III, 251-252 + +Thirtieth Division, with British, III, 261 + +Thirty-fifth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Thirty-second Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, 259; + takes Hill 230, III, 253 + +Thirty-seventh Division, in Belgium, III, 264 + +Thirty-sixth Division, with French near Rheims, III, 261-262 + +Thirty-third Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in Argonne, III, 258 + +Tigris, British on, II, 181 + +_Tipperary_, sunk, II, 52 + +Torcy, taken by Twenty-sixth Division, III, 253 + +Townshend, General, advances on Bagdad, II, 182 + +Treaty of Peace, with Austria, III, 366; + with Germany, III, 318-365 + +Trebizond, Turks flee toward, II, 183 + +_Triumph_, attacks Fort Bismarck, I, 216 + +Trones Wood, British troops in the, II, 78 + +Trucks, used at Verdun, II, 17 + +Tsing-tao, capture of, I, 198-220; + importance of, I, 200-201; + siege of, I, 207-220 + +_Turbulent_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Turkey, Anglo-Russian campaign in, II, 174-187; + dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179; + imperialistic designs, I, 129-130; + economic and strategic position of, I, 131-132; + military situation hopeless, III, 180; + reason for joining Germany, I, 132-133; + reorganizing army, I, 134-135 + +Twenty-eighth Division, east of Rheims, III, 251; + relieves Thirty-second, III, 253 + +Twenty-ninth Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, 259 + +Twenty-seventh Division, with British in attack on Hindenburg line, + III, 261 + +Twenty-sixth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + pivot of Soissons movement, III, 252-253 + + +U + +Udine, before the war, III, 69-70; + in war, III, 69-70; + evacuated by Italians, III, 81 + +United States, holds Germany responsible, II, 284; + neutrality endangered, II, 208; + prepares for war, II, 298-343; + protests to England, I, 281; + protests to Germany on submarine proclamation, I, 281 + +United States, military preparations of, II, 298-343; + Act to Increase Military Establishment, II, 300-301; + cantonment sites chosen, II, 319-320; + construction and supplies, II, 324-325; + Council of National Defense, II, 331; + Council of National Defense organized, II, 334; + delayed by neutrality, II, 298; + labor assembled, II, 325; + labor conditions adjusted, II, 326; + Medical Reserve, II, 313; + navy transports troops to Europe, II, 340; + Officers' Reserve Corps, II, 313; + Officers' Training Camps, II, 314-315; + organizes mines, agriculture and factories, II, 299; + Pershing goes to France, II, 328; + plan to operate railways in France, II, 328; + Quartermaster General's problems, II, 329-334; + Red Cross hospital bases, II, 341; + Regular Army and National Guard increased, II, 304; + Selective Draft, II, 304, 305-312; + training of engineers, II, 337; + voluntary enlistment, II, 301 + + +V + +Van Deventer, General, in East Africa, III, 38 + +Vaux, fight for possession of, II, 18; + Germans gain at, II, 19; + taken by Second Division, III, 251 + +Vaux, Fort, captured by French, II, 23; + French victory at, II, 27 + +Venice, endangered in Italian retreat, III, 99-100 + +Venizelists, in Greece, III, 54-58 + +Venizelos, interview with, III, 54-67 + +Verdun, plateaus on either side the Meuse, II, 10; + relief map of, II, 10; + value of, II, 10 + +Verdun, Battle of, II, 7-29 + +Vierzy, taken by Second Division, III, 252 + +Vigneulles, taken by Americans, III, 256 + +Villers-Bretonneux, Germans checked at, III, 164 + +Vimy, in Picardy battle, III, 166 + +Vimy Ridge, German attacks on, II, 68 + +_Vindictive_, at Ostend, III, 111, 113-117; + in Ostend Harbor, III, 101; + work of, at Zeebrugge, III, 102-110 + + +W + +Walthamstow, air raid, I, 375-383 + +War, causes of, I, 7-40; + formally declared by the United States, II, 298 + +War Messages, II, 226-243 + +_Warrior_, sunk, II, 52 + +_Warwick_, at Zeebrugge, III, 110 + +Welland Canal, attack on, II, 291 + +Western Battle Front, August, 1916, Map of, II, 66 + +William II, Kaiser, eager to act, I, 28-30; + influence of, I, 16; + returns to Berlin, I, 23; + trip to Norway, I, 13; + ultimatum to Russia, I, 34-35 + +Wilson, Major General, cited for admirable work, I, 72 + +Wilson, President, addresses Congress on break with Germany, II, + 192-204; + ideas on peace, II, 216; + note regarding peace, II, 214-215; + War Message of, II, 226-241 + +Wilson, Vice Admiral H.B., commands U.S. Naval forces in France, + III, 281 + + +Y + +_Yarrowdale_, prisoners from, II, 294-296 + +Ypres, air battles at, I, 265, 266-275; + First Battle of, I, 104-106; + Canadians at, I, 248-276; + Germans use gas projectiles, I, 242; + second battle of, I, 240-276; + in battle of Picardy, III, 168 + +_Ysaka Maru_, sunk, II, 282 + +Yser, Germans trying to cross the, I, 116-117; + last ditch, I, 108 + + +Z + +Zeebrugge and Ostend, bottled up by British, III, 101-118 + +Zeppelins, raid England, I, 375-383 + +Zimmermann, Herr von, I, 35; + views of, I, 21-22 + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's World's War Events, Volume III, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S WAR EVENTS, VOLUME III *** + +***** This file should be named 16513-8.txt or 16513-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/1/16513/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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Reynolds. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: .5em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px; } + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + img {border: 0;} + .right {text-align: right;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of World's War Events, Volume III, by Various + +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: World's War Events, Volume III + Recorded by Statesmen, Commanders, Historians and by Men + Who Fought or Saw the Great Campaigns + +Author: Various + +Editor: Francis J. Reynolds + Allen L. Churchill + +Release Date: August 12, 2005 [EBook #16513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S WAR EVENTS, VOLUME III *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/393.jpg"><img src="./images/393-tb.jpg" alt="GENERAL PETAIN ABOUT TO BE MADE A MARSHAL" title="GENERAL PETAIN ABOUT TO BE MADE A MARSHAL" /></a></div> + +<div class='caption'>IN FRONT IS GENERAL PETAIN ABOUT TO BE MADE A MARSHAL. +BEHIND HIM, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ARE MARSHAL JOFFRE AND MARSHAL FOCH +(FRENCH), FIELD MARSHAL HAIG (BRITISH), GENERAL PERSHING (AMERICAN), +GENERAL GILLAIN (BELGIAN), GENERAL ALBRICCI (ITALIAN), GENERAL HALLER +(POLISH)</div> +<p><a name="Page_0" id="Page_0"></a><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p> + +<h1>WORLD'S WAR</h1> +<h1>EVENTS</h1> + +<div class="center">RECORDED BY STATESMEN • COMMANDERS<br /> +HISTORIANS AND BY MEN WHO FOUGHT OR SAW<br /> +THE GREAT CAMPAIGNS</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Compiled and Edited by</span></h3> + +<h2>FRANCIS J. REYNOLDS</h2> + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">Former Reference Librarian • Library of Congress</span></div> + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">and</span></div> + +<div class="center">ALLEN L. CHURCHILL</div> + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">Associate Editor "The Story of the Great War"</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Associate Editor "The New International +Encyclopedia"</span></div> + +<div class="center">VOLUME III</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/emblem.png" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /></div> + + +<div class="center">PF COLLIER & SON COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK</div><p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></p> + +<div class="center">Copyright 1919</div> + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">By P.F. Collier & Son Company</span> +<a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a></div> + + + +<h2>WORLD'S WAR EVENTS</h2> + +<h4>VOLUME III</h4> + +<div class='center'> +BEGINNING WITH THE DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST<br /> +AMERICAN DESTROYERS FOR SERVICE ABROAD<br /> +IN APRIL, 1917, AND CLOSING<br /> +WITH THE TREATIES<br /> +OF PEACE IN<br /> +1919<br /> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a></p> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">article</span></td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td align='right'><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>I.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Destroyer in Active Service</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>An American Officer</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>II.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">East Africa</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jan Christiaan Smuts</i></span> +</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_32'>32</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>III.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Greece's Atonement</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Lewis R. Freeman</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>IV.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Italians at Bay</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>G. Ward Price</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_69'>69</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>V.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Bottling up Zeebrugge and Ostend</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Official Narrative</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_101'>101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VI.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">With the American Submarines</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Henry B. Beston</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VII.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wounded Heroes of France</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Abbé Felix Klein</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_138'>138</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Battle of Picardy</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>J.B.W. Gardiner</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_153'>153</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>IX.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Bulgaria Quits</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Lothrop Stoddard</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>X.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Fighting Czecho-Slovaks</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Maynard Owen Williams</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_183'>183</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XI.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Six Days on the American Firing Line</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Corporal H.J. Burbach</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_200'>200</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XII.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">An American Battlefield</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Raoul Blanchard</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Night Raids from the Air</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mary Helen Fee</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_229'>229</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The American Army in Europe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>General John J. Pershing</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_242'>242</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td align='right'>XV.<br /><br /></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The American Navy In Europe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Admiral H.T. Mayo</i></span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_271'>271</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Armistice Terms Signed by Germany</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_297'>297</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Covenant of the League of Nations</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_306'>306</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Treaty of Peace with Germany</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_318'>318</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Treaty of Peace with Austria</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_365'>365</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_375'>375</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> +<p><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A DESTROYER IN ACTIVE SERVICE</h2> + +<h3>BY AN AMERICAN OFFICER</h3> + + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">April</span> 7.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">War accepted with equanimity.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Life on a destroyer is simple.</div> + +<p>Well, I must confess that, even after war has been declared, the skies +haven't fallen and oysters taste just the same. I never would have +dreamed that so big a step would be accepted with so much equanimity. It +is due to two causes, I think. First, because we have trembled on the +verge so long and sort of dabbled our toes in the water, that our minds +have grown gradually accustomed to what under other circumstances would +be a violent shock. Second, because the individual units of the Navy are +so well prepared that there is little to do. We made a few minor changes +in the routine and slipped the war-heads on to the torpedoes, and +presto, we were ready for war. One beauty of a destroyer is that, life +on board being reduced to its simplest terms anyhow, there is little to +change. We may be ordered to "strip," that is, go to our Navy yard and +land all combustibles, paints, oils, surplus woodwork, etc.; but we have +not done so yet.</p> + +<p>We were holding drill yesterday when the signal was made from the +flagship, "War is declared." I translated it to my crew, who received +the news with much gayety but hardly a trace of excitement.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">April</span> 13.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Anxiety to get into the big game.</div> + +<p>There is absolutely no news. We are standing by for what may betide, +with not the faintest idea of what it may be. Of course, we are<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a> +drilling all the time, and perfecting our readiness for action in every +way, but there is a total absence of that excitement and sense of +something impending that one usually associates with the beginning of +war. Indeed, I think that the only real anxiety is lest we may not get +into the big game at all. I do not think any of us are bloodthirsty or +desirous of either glory or advancement, but we have the wish to justify +our existence. With me it takes this form—by being in the service I +have sacrificed my chance to make good as husband, father, citizen, son, +in fact, in every human relationship, in order to be, as I trust, one of +the Nation's high-grade fighting instruments. Now, if fate never uses me +for the purpose to which I have been fashioned, then much time, labor, +and material have been wasted, and I had better have been made into a +good clerk, farmer, or business man.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The desire to be put to the test.</div> + +<p>I do so want to be put to the test and not found wanting. Of course, I +know that the higher courage is to do your duty from day to day no +matter in how small a line, but all of us conceal a sneaking desire to +attempt the higher hurdles and sail over grandly.</p> + +<p>You need not be proud of me, for there is no intrinsic virtue in being +in the Navy when war is declared; but I hope fate will give me the +chance to make you proud.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">April</span> 21.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A chance to command.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Bringing a ship to dock.</div> + +<p>I have been having lots of fun in command myself, and good experience. I +have taken her out on patrol up to Norfolk twice, where the channel is +as thin and crooked as a corkscrew, then into dry dock. Later, escorted +a submarine down, then docked the ship alongside of a collier, and have +established, to my own satisfaction at least, that I know how to handle +a ship. All this may not convey much, but you <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>remember how you felt +when you first handled your father's car. Well, the car weighs about two +tons and the W—— a thousand, and she goes nearly as fast. You have to +bring your own mass up against another dock or oilship as gently as +dropping an egg in an egg-cup, and you can imagine what the battleship +skipper is up against, with 30,000 tons to handle. Only he generally has +tugs to help him, whereas we do it all by ourselves.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Justifying one's existence as an officer.</div> + +<p>This war is far harder on you than on me. The drill, the work of +preparing for grim reality, all of it is what I am trained for. The very +thought of getting into the game gives me a sense of calmness and +contentment I have never before known. I suppose it is because +subconsciously I feel that I am justifying my existence now more than +ever before. And that feeling brings anybody peace.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">May</span> 1.</div> + +<p>Back in harness again and thankful for the press of work that keeps me +from thinking about you all at home.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Orders to sail.</div> + +<p>Well, we are going across all right, exactly where and for how long I do +not know. Our present orders are to sail to-morrow night, but there +seems to be wild uncertainty about whether we will go out then. In the +meantime, we are frantically taking on mountains of stores, ammunition, +provisions, etc., trying to fill our vacancies with new men from the +Reserve Ship, and hurrying everything up at high pressure.</p> + +<p>Well, I am glad it has come. It is what I wanted and what I think you +wanted for me. It is useless to discuss all the possibilities of where +we are going and what we are going to do. From the look of things, I +think we are going to help the British. I hope so. Of course, we are a +mere drop in the bucket.<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a></p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">May</span> 5.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Happier always for having taken the chance.</div> + +<p>As I start off now, my only real big regret is that through +circumstances so much of my responsibility has been taken by +others—you, my brother, and your father. I don't know that I am really +to blame. At least, I am very sure that never in all my life did I +intentionally try to shift any load of mine onto another. But in any +case, it makes me all the more glad that I am where I am, going where I +am to go—to have my chance, in other words. I once said in jest that +all naval officers ought really to get killed, to justify their +existence. I don't exactly advocate that extreme. But I shall all my +life be happier for having at least taken my chance. It will increase my +self-respect, which in turn increases my usefulness in life. So can you +get my point of view, and be glad with me?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The best things of life.</div> + +<p>Now I am to a great extent a fatalist, though I hope it really is +something higher than that. Call it what you will, I have always +believed that if we go ahead and do our duty, counting not the cost, +then the outcome will be in the hands of a power way beyond our own. But +if it be fated that I don't come back, let no one ever say, "Poor +<i>R——</i>." I have had all the best things of life given me in full +measure—the happiest childhood and boyhood, health, the love of family +and friends, the profession I love, marriage to the girl I wanted, and +my son. If I go now, it will be as one who quits the game while the blue +chips are all in his own pile.</p> + + +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">G</span><span class="smcap">eneral Post Office, London</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">May</span> 19.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Rescuing a sailor.</div> + +<p>On the trip over, we were steaming behind the <i>R——</i>, when all at once +she steered out and backed, amid much running around on board. At first +we thought she saw a submarine and <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>stood by our guns. Then we saw she +had a man overboard. We immediately dropped our lifeboat, and I went in +charge for the fun of it. Beat the <i>R——'s</i> boat to him. He had no +life-preserver, but the wool-lined jacket he wore kept him high out of +water, and he was floating around as comfortably as you please, barring +the fact that his fall had knocked him unconscious. So we not only took +him back to his ship, but picked up the <i>R——'s</i> boat-hook, which the +clumsy lubbers had dropped—and kept it as a reward for our trouble.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Very little known about the U-boat situation.</div> + +<p>We are being somewhat overhauled, refitted, etc., in the British +dock-yard here. Navy yards are much the same the world over, I guess. I +will say, however, that they have dealt with us quickly and efficiently, +with the minimum of red tape and correspondence. We have become in fact +an integral part of the British Navy. Admiral Sims is in general +supervision of us, but we are directly in command of the British Admiral +commanding the station. Of the U-boat situation, I may say little. There +is nothing about which so much is imagined, rumored and reported, and so +little known for certain. Five times, when coming through the danger +zone, we manned all guns, thinking we saw something. Once in my watch I +put the helm hard over to dodge a torpedo—which proved to be a +porpoise! And I'll do the same thing again, too. We are in this war up +to the neck, there is no doubt about that—and thank Heaven for it!</p> + +<p>Kiss our son for me and make up your mind that you would rather have his +father over here on the job than sitting in a swivel-chair at home doing +nothing.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">May</span> 26.</div> + +<p>I never seem to get time to write a real letter. All hands, including +your husband, are so dead tired when off watch that there is nothing to +do <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>but flop down on your bunk—or on the deck sometimes—and sleep. The +captain and I take watch on the bridge day and night, and outside of +this I do my own navigating and other duties, so time does not go +a-begging with me. However, we are still unsunk, for which we should be +properly grateful.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">War has become matter-of-fact.</div> + +<p>I have seen a little of Ireland and like New York State better than +ever. It is difficult to realize how matter-of-fact the war has become +with every one over here. You meet some mild mannered gentleman and talk +about the weather, and then find later that he is a survivor from some +desperate episode that makes your blood tingle. I would that we were +over on the North Sea side, where Providence might lay us alongside a +German destroyer some gray dawn. This submarine-chasing business is much +like the proverbial skinning of a skunk—useful, but not especially +pleasant or glorious.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">June</span> 1.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Glad to be in the big game.</div> + +<p>When I said good-bye to you at home, I don't think that either of us +realized that I was coming over here to stay. Perhaps it was just as +well. Human nature is such that we subconsciously refuse to accept an +idea, even when we know it to be a true one, because it is totally +new—beyond our experience. Pursuant to which, I could not believe that +my fondest hopes were to be realized, and that not only I, but the whole +of America, would really get into the big game. Oh, it is big all right, +and it grows on you the more you get into it.</p> + +<p>Now, I realize that it is asking too much of you or of any woman to view +with perfect complacency having a husband suddenly injected into war. +But just consider—suppose I was a prosperous dentist or produce +merchant on shore, instead of in the Navy. By now you and I would be +undergoing all the agonies of <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>indecision as to whether I should enlist +or no; it would darken our lives for weeks or months, and in the end I +should go anyhow, letting my means of livelihood and yours go hang, and +be away just as long and stand as good a chance of being blown up as I +do now. So I am very thankful that things have worked out as they have +for us.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Little one is permitted to tell.</div> + +<p>There is very little to tell that I am allowed to tell you. The +technique of submarine-chasing and dodging would be dry reading to a +landsman. It is a very curious duty in that it would be positively +monotonous, were it not for the possibility of being hurled into +eternity the next minute. I am in very good health and wholly free from +nervous tension.</p> + +<p>P.S. When despondent, pull some Nathan Hale "stuff," and regret that you +have but one husband to give to your country.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">June</span> 8.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Sleep, warmth and fresh food become ideals.</div> + +<p>Once more I get the chance to write. We are in port for three days, and +that three days looks as big as a month's leave would have a month ago. +Everything in life is comparative, I guess. When we live a comfortable, +civilized, highly complex life, our longings and desires are many and +far-reaching. Now and here such things as sleep, warmth, and fresh food +become almost the limit of one's imagination. Just like the sailor of +the old Navy, whose idea of perfect contentment was "Two watches below +and beans for dinner."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Nothing causes excitement.</div> + +<p>You get awfully blasé on this duty—things which should excite you don't +at all. For instance, out of the air come messages like the following: +"Am being chased and delayed by submarine." "Torpedoed and sinking +fast." And you merely look at the chart and decide whether to go to the +rescue full speed, or let some boat nearer to the scene look after it. +Or, <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>if the alarm is given on your own ship, you grab mechanically for +life-jacket, binoculars, pistol, and wool coat, and jump to your +station, not knowing whether it is really a periscope or a stick +floating along out of water.</p> + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">June</span> 20.</div> + +<p>Well, we got mail when we came into port this time, your letter of May +28 being the last one. I don't mind the frequent pot-shots the U-boats +take at us, but doggone their hides if they sink any of our mail! We +won't forgive them that.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No joy-of-battle to be found.</div> + +<p>My health is excellent, better than my temper, in fact. I am beginning +to think that we are not getting our money's worth in this war. I want +to have my blood stirred and do something heroic—<i>à la</i> +moving-pictures. Instead of which it much resembles a campaign against +cholera-germs or anything else which is deadly but difficult to get any +joy-of-battle out of.</p> + +<p>Do tell me everything you are doing, for it is up to you to make +conversation, since there is so little of affairs at this end that I can +talk about. It is a shame, for you always claimed that I never spoke +unless you said something first; and now I am doing the same thing under +cover of the letter.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">July</span> 2.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Life so gray that shock of danger is beneficial.</div> + +<p>The other day, half-way out on the Atlantic, we sighted a periscope, and +some one at the gun sent a shell skimming over the <i>C——</i>, who was in +the way, and then the periscope turned out to be a ventilator sticking +up over some wreckage. However, the incident was welcome. You have no +conception of how gray life can get to be on this job, and the shock of +danger, real or imaginary, is really beneficial, I think. All hands seem +to be more cheerful under its influence.<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a></p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">July</span> 4.</div> + +<p>I was so glad to get your letters. A man who has a brave woman behind +him will do his duty far better and, incidentally, stand more chance of +coming back, than one who feels a drag instead of a push.</p> + +<p>I am glad son had his first fight. You were perfectly right to make him +go on. Mother used to tell how, when brother was a wee boy, he came home +almost weeping, and said, "Mother, a boy hit me." Instead of comforting +him, she said, "Did you hit him back?" It almost killed her, he was so +utterly dumbfounded and hurt; but next time he hit back and licked.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The life wears nerves and temper.</div> + +<p>I am well but get rather jumpy at times. Strangely enough, it is always +over more or less trivial matters. Every time we have a submarine scare, +I feel markedly better for a while—it seems to reëstablish my sense of +proportion.</p> + +<p>It is a mighty nerve- and temper-wearing life—at sea nearly all the time +and with the boat rolling and bucking like a broncho, you can't +exercise. You can hardly do any work, but only hold on tight and wipe +the salt spray from your eyes. Sometimes I have started to shave and +found the salt so thick on my face that soap would not lather.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">July</span> 16.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Time is passed navigating, standing watch, sleeping.</div> + +<p>Things are the same as before with us. Time passes quickly, with +navigating, standing watch and sleeping when you get a chance. One day +or two passes all too quickly. I wish there were more to do in the shape +of relaxation when we do get ashore. The people here are cordial enough, +according to their lights, but those that we meet are practically all +Army and Navy people, who have no abode here themselves and are almost +as much strangers as we are; and there is no resident popula<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>tion of +that caste that would ordinarily open its doors to foreign naval +officers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Little for diversion in Ireland.</div> + +<p>Ireland is a poor country comparatively. A town of 50,000 here shows +less in the way of facilities for diversion than the average town of +10,000 in the States.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mental privations hurt more than physical ones.</div> + +<p>Don't worry about my privations—"which mostly there ain't none." Such +as they are, they are necessary and unavoidable; and, above all, we are +fitted for them. You can't well sympathize with a man who is doing the +thing he has longed for and trained for all his life. Besides, physical +privations are nothing; it is the mental ones that hurt. A soldier in +the trenches, with little to eat and nothing but a hole to sleep in, can +feel happy all the same—particularly if life has something in prospect +for him if he lives. But a man out of work at home, sleeping in the park +and panhandling for food, is much more to be pitied, though his +immediate hardships may be no greater.</p> + +<p>The weather over here is very passable at present, but they say it is +simply hell off the coast in winter. However, somebody said the war will +be over in November. I hope the Kaiser and Hindenburg know it, too!</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">July</span> 26.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Anxious to be in action.</div> + +<p>I haven't done anything heroic, which irks me. We would like to get in +on the ground floor, while all hands are in a receptive mood, and before +the Plattsburgers and other such death-defying supermen make it too +common.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">July</span> 22.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A cheerful letter from home.</div> + +<p>Your two letters of July 7 and 8 came this afternoon, but I got the +latter first and expected from what you said in contrition that there +was hot stuff—gas-attack followed by bayonet-work—in the former; +therefore I was all the more ashamed to find you had dealt <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>so leniently +and squarely with me. Why didn't you come back with a long invoice of +troubles of your own, as 99 per cent of women would? Evidently you are +the one-per-cent woman. I bitterly regretted my whines after having +written them, for their very untruth. Alas, how many people think the +world is drab-colored and life a failure, and so have done or said +something they regret all their lives, when a vegetable pill or a brisk +walk would have changed their vision completely! Why is it that people +sometimes deliberately hurt those they have loved most in the world? I +suppose it is because we are all really children at heart and want some +one else to cry too. The other day Smith shamefacedly abstracted from +the mail-box a letter to his wife, and tore it up, and I know—oh, I +know!</p> + +<p>At a husbands' meeting on the ship the other day, we all agreed that the +heavy hand was the only way to deal with women; but it seemed on +investigation that no one had actually tried it the reason being +apparently a well-grounded fear that our wives wouldn't like it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Danger, but little action or variety.</div> + +<p>This war hasn't had as much action, variety, and stimulation for us as I +would like. Danger there always is, but being little in evidence, you +have to prod your nerves to realize it rather than soothe them down. +Lately, however, things have changed in a manner which, though involving +no more danger, furnishes a somewhat greater mental stimulation, and +thence is better for everybody. I regret to say that I am gaining in +weight. It was my hope to come back thin and gaunt and +interesting-looking. Instead of which, you will likely be mad as a +hornet to find me so sleek, while you at home have done all the thinning +down. Truth to tell, if you compare our relative peace and war status, +you are much more at war than I am.<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The highest form of courage.</div> + +<p>If you find son timid in some things, just remember that I was, too. +Lots of things he will change about automatically. At his age I had +small love for fire-crackers or explosives of any kind, but in two or +three years, and without any prompting, I became really expert in guns +and gunpowder. Try to get him to realize that the very highest form of +courage is to be afraid to do a thing—and do it!</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">August</span> 3.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">U-boat score against destroyers is zero.</div> + +<p>Once in a while some one of us gets a torpedo fired at him, and only +luck or quick seamanship saves him from destruction. Some day the +torpedo will hit, and then the Navy Department will "regret to report." +But the laws of probability and chance cannot lie, and as the total +U-boat score against our destroyers so far is zero, you can figure for +yourself that they will have to improve somewhat before the Kaiser can +hand out many iron crosses at our expense.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Picking up survivors.</div> + +<p>We had a new experience the other day when we picked up two boatloads of +survivors from the ——, torpedoed without warning. I will say they were +pretty glad to see us when we bore down on them. As we neared, they +began to paddle frantically, as though fearful we should be snatched +away from them at the last moment. The crew were mostly Arabs and +Lascars, and the first mate, a typical comic-magazine Irishman, +delivered himself of the following: "Sure, toward the last, some o' thim +haythen gits down on their knees and starts calling on Allah; but I sez, +sez I, 'Git up afore I swat ye wid the axe-handle, ye benighted haythen; +sure if this boat gits saved 't will be the Holy Virgin does it or none +at all, at all! Git up,' sez I."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The deep sea breeds a certain fineness of character.</div> + +<p>The officers were taken care of in the ward-room—rough unlettered old +sailormen, who <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>possessed a certain fineness of character which I +believe the deep sea tends to breed in those who follow it long enough. +I have known some old Tartars greatly hated by those under them, but to +whom a woman or child would take naturally.</p> + +<p>What you say about my possibly being taken prisoner both amuses and +touches me. The former because it seems so highly unlikely a +contingency. Submarines do not take prisoners if they can help it, and +least of all from a man-of-war. But I have often thought of just what I +should do in such a case, and I have decided that it would be far better +to die than to submit to certain things. In which case, I should use my +utmost ingenuity to take along one or two adversaries with me.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">August</span> 11.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The case for universal conscription.</div> + +<p>So the boys at home don't all take kindly to being conscripted, eh? +Well, I wish for a lot of reasons that the conscription might be as +complete and far-reaching as it is in, for instance, France. I think for +one thing that universal conscription is the final test of democracy. +Again, I think it would do every individual in the nation good to find +out that there was something a little bit bigger than he—something that +neither money, nor politics, nor obscurity, nor the Labor Union, nor any +one else could help him to wriggle out of. It would go far towards +disillusioning those many who seem to feel that they do not have to take +too seriously a government because they have helped to create it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Not a question of courage but of mental process.</div> + +<p>While I have precious little sympathy for slackers of any variety, one +must not judge them too harshly because their minds do not happen to +work the same as ours. In nine cases out of ten it is not a question of +courage, but one of mental process. Some people come <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>of a caste to whom +war or the idea of fighting for their country is second nature. They +take it for granted, like death and taxes. If they ever permitted +themselves seriously to question the rightness of it; to submit +patriotism and courage to an acid analysis, they might suddenly turn +arrant cowards. How much harder is it, then, for people who have never +even faced the idea of it before to be suddenly placed up against the +actual fact!</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">August</span> 18.</div> + +<p>I have been having a little extra fun on my own hook recently. The poor +captain has had to have an operation, and will be on his back for some +weeks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Double duty on the bridge.</div> + +<p>Do I like going to war all on my own? Oh no, just like a cat hates +cream. It is a wee bit strenuous, as I have to do double duty; and one +night I was on the bridge steadily from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. But the funny +part is that I didn't feel especially all in afterward, and one good +sleep fixed me up completely.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A submarine escapes.</div> + +<p>I had a big disappointment on my first run out. I nearly bagged a +submarine for you. We got her on the surface as nice as anything, but it +was very rough, and she was far away, and before I could plunk her, she +got under. If she had only—but, as the saying goes, if the dog hadn't +stopped to scratch himself, he would have got the rabbit (not, however, +that we stopped to scratch ourselves).</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">August</span> 27.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Responsibility for lives and ship.</div> + +<p>I am still in command of the ship and love it, but there is a difference +between being second in command and being It. It makes you introspective +to realize that a hundred lives and a $700,000 ship are absolutely +dependent upon you, without anybody but the Almighty to ask for advice +if you get into difficulty.<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a></p> + +<p>It is not so much the submarines, which are largely a matter of luck, +but the navigating. Say I am heading back for port after several days +out, the weather is thick as pea-soup, and I have not seen land or had +an observation for days. I know where I am—at least I think I do—but +what if I have miscalculated, or am carried off my course by the strong +and treacherous tides on this coast, and am heading right into the +breakers somewhere, or perchance a mine-field! Then the fog lifts a +little, and I see the cliffs or mountains that I recognize, and bring +her in with a slam-bang, much bravado, and a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>Don't you remember the days when you thought son was dying if he +cried—or if he didn't? Well, that's it!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Recreations ashore.</div> + +<p>Don't get the idea that I have no recreations. We walk and play golf, go +to the movies on occasion, and there is always a jolly gang of mixed +services to play with.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">September</span> 9.</div> + +<p>Life here doesn't vary much. The captain is up and taking a few days' +leave, though I doubt if he will take command for two or three weeks +yet. But I am having a lovely time running her.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A veteran New Zealander for dinner.</div> + +<p>The other night we had a very interesting chap for dinner—a New +Zealander he was, who has served in Egypt, Gallipoli, the trenches in +France, and is now in the Royal Naval Reserve. The tales he told were of +wonderful interest. He was modest and seemed to have been a decent sort, +but you could sense the brutalizing effect of war on him. Some of the +things he told were such jokes on the Germans that we laughed right +heartily.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The beast in man is near the surface.</div> + +<p>The beast in man lies so close to the surface. We think we are human and +law-abiding of our own volition, whereas, as a matter of fact, +<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>nine-tenths of it is from pure habit. It doesn't occur to us to be +anything else. But let all standards and customs be scrapped, let us see +the things done freely that never even entered our minds before, and a +lot of us are liable to develop ape and tiger proclivities. We nearly +all put unconscious limits to our humanity. The most chivalrous and +kindly Westerner or Southerner would admit that massacring Chinamen, +Mexicans, or Negroes is not such a great crime; and the most devoted +mother or father is prone to regard as unspanked brats children who to a +third party appear quite as well as the critic's own.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">September</span> 20.</div> + +<p>I am still in command and loving every minute of it. With any other +captain than ours it would be a come-down to resume my place as a +subordinate. But in his case I think that all mourn a little when he is +away.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">September</span> 29.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">New knowledge of navigation and ship handling.</div> + +<p>Oh, it's great stuff, this being in command and handling the ship alone. +Particularly I enjoy swooping down on some giant freighter, like a hawk +on a turkey, running close alongside, where a wrong touch to helm or +engine may spell destruction, and then demanding through a megaphone why +she does or does not do so and so. I have learned more navigation and +ship-handling since being over here than in all my previous seagoing +experience. In the old ante-bellum days one hesitated to get too close +to another ship, even in daytime, far more so at night, even with the +required navigation lights on. Now, without so much light as a glowworm +could give, we run around, never quite certain when the darkness ahead +may turn into a ship close enough to throw a brick at.<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a></p> + +<p>However, I am back in the ranks again now, as the captain has come back +and resumed command.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">October</span> 9.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Job of an executive officer is thankless.</div> + +<p>You must not be resentful because of things you have gone through, +unappreciated by those perhaps for whom you have undergone them. It is +one of the laws of life, and a hard law too, but it comes to everybody, +either in a few big things or a multitude of little ones. Do the people +who keep the world turning around ever get due recognition? I was +thinking in much the same resentful vein myself to-day, in my own small +way, how thankless the job of an executive officer is; how you never +reach any big end, or even feel that you have made progress, but just +keep on the job, watching and inspecting and fussing to keep the whole +personnel-matériel machine running smoothly, and knowing that your +recognition is purely negative, in that, if all goes well, you don't get +called down. And then I calm down and realize that it is all in the +game, and that it is the best tribute so to handle your job in life that +nothing has to be said. If your car runs perfectly, you neither feel nor +hear it, and give it little credit on that account. But let it strip a +gear or something go!!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Roller-skating for amusement ashore.</div> + +<p>I hate to tell you what I was doing this afternoon. You will think I am +not at war at all when I tell you that I have been roller-skating. I was +a bit rusty at first, but warmed up to it. It is about the only exercise +we can get on shore, for it rains all the time. Each shower puts an +added crimp in my temper, as I have been trying to get a new coat of +camouflage paint on the ship. I think, if some of the old +paint-and-polish captains and admirals could see her now, they would die +of apoplexy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No chance for wives to come over.</div> + +<p>I fear there is no chance for you to come over. Admiral Sims +disapproves—not of you <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>personally—one cannot find a place to live +here, and there would be too many hardships. How would it be for you +when we had said good-bye, and you saw the ship start out into a howling +gale or go out right after several ships had been sunk outside? With you +at home among friends, I can keep my mind on my job, which I couldn't if +you were alone over here.</p> + +<p>Let me say right now that the destroyer torpedoed was not ours. It was +hard on you all to have the news published that one had been and a man +killed, and not say what boat, as that leaves every one in suspense. I +suppose the relatives of the man were notified, but that doesn't help +other people who were anxious.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A destroyer is torpedoed but does not sink.</div> + +<p>I don't suppose I can tell you which boat either, if the authorities +won't. You do not know any one on board of her, however. They saw it +coming, jammed on full speed, and nearly cleared it. It took them just +at the stern and blew off about 30 feet as neatly as son would bite the +end off a banana. The submarine heard the explosion, of course, from +below, and came to the surface to see the "damned Yankee" sink, only to +find the rudderless, sternless boat steaming full speed in a circle with +her one remaining propeller, and to be greeted by a salvo of four-inch +shells that made her duck promptly. The man killed saw the torpedo +coming and ran aft to throw overboard some high explosives stowed +there—but he didn't quite make it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Damaged destroyers somehow get back to port.</div> + +<p>Our destroyers are really wonderful boats—you can shoot off one end of +them, ram them, cut them in two, and still they float and get to port +somehow.</p> + +<p>Some time ago, on a pitch-dark night, one of them was rammed by a +British boat and nearly cut in two. Was there a panic? Not at all. As +she settled in the water, they got <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>out their boats and life-rafts, the +officers and a few selected men stayed on board, and the rest pulled off +in the darkness singing, "Are we downhearted? No!" and "Hail, hail, the +gang's all here." She floated, though with her deck awash; the boats +were recalled, and they brought her in. She is fixed up and back in the +game again now.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">October</span> 25.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">British destroyers fight raiders.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Admiral strict as a Prussian.</div> + +<p>Where did you hear that about two destroyers being sunk off the coast of +Ireland on September 3? False alarm. Of course, you have read in the +papers about the convoy destroyed in the North Sea by German raiders. +The two British destroyers with the convoy stood up to them and fought +as a bulldog would fight a tiger—and with the same result. Somebody was +arguing with the Admiral, our boss, to the effect that it would have +been better for them to have saved themselves, trailed the raiders, and +sent radio, so that the British cruisers could have intercepted and +destroyed them. Said the Admiral, "Yes, it would have been better, but I +would court-martial and shoot the man that did it." He's a wonder to +serve under, as grim and strict as a Prussian, but very just, and runs +things in a way that secures all our admiration—though we may fuss a +bit when, expecting two or three comfortable days in port, we get chased +out on short notice into a raving gale outside.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">A British Dock Yard, November</span> 4.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A friend on hospital duty.</div> + +<p>There are lots of our army people here. Some of them are just passing +through, while others are stationed at near-by training camps or +hospitals. I was wandering around the big hotel here, when I saw a +familiar face in army uniform, and who should it be but M——. Much joy! +He is near here, on temporary duty at a British hospital. I had him over +to the ship <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>for lunch, and hope to see him again. I certainly respect +that boy. He has no military ambitions, and wishes the war were over, so +he could get back to his wife and children; but <i>he</i> answered the call +while others were hiding behind volleys of language, and he is here to +see it through. I am afraid he is homesick and lonely, for it is harder +for a boy who does not know the English than for us hardened +mercenaries, who are accustomed to hobnob with everybody from Cubans to +Cossacks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The American uniform and the British.</div> + +<p>I will be glad when American Army and Navy uniforms are designed by a +tailor who really knows something about it. Alas, our people are +distinctly inferior to the British in the cut of their jib. I think it +is the high standing collar that queers us. It is only at its best when +one stands at Attention—head up, chest out, arms at side—being +distinctly a parade uniform. The British, with their rolling collar, and +coat tight where it may be, and loose where it needs to be, are, you +might say, less military and better dressed.</p> + +<p>Tell the Enfant that I am very proud when he gets gold honor-marks on +his school-papers, and I think that it probably means about the same as +a star on a midshipman's collar. (That ought to get him.)</p> + +<p>I must close and get a bit of sleep. It seems as if, when it is all +over, all the heaven I will want, is to be with you and son again, +perfectly quiet.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">At Sea, November</span> 16.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">True democracy is in a way inefficient.</div> + +<p>I think a true democracy is necessarily inefficient in a way. The only +really efficient government in the world is the one which we intend to +pull down, or else go down ourselves, trying to!</p> + +<p>Can't you imagine, in the dim Valhalla beyond, how the archer of +Pharaoh, the swordsman from the plains before Troy, and the<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a> Roman +legionary will greet the hurrying souls of the aviator, the +bomb-thrower, and the bayonet-man with, "Brother, what were you?"</p> + +<p>I'd hate to have to explain to their uncomprehending ears what a +conscientious objector is!</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">December</span> 2.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Assuming command.</div> + +<p>Well, to-day is one of the big days of my life, for I assumed command of +this little packet. I put on my sword and fixings and reported to +Captain Paine, who was most benevolent. Several of us went on shore to +celebrate with a little dinner. Some of the boys just over joined in, +and we became involved with some Highland officers of a fighting +regiment famous throughout Europe for the last three hundred years. +One's first ship, like the first baby is an event that cannot be +duplicated.</p> + + +<div class='right'><span class="smcap">December</span> 21.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A jammed rudder leaves the destroyer unmanageable.</div> + +<p>I needed your letter, being about twenty years older than I was a week +ago. No, no harm done. Just had my first experience of what it means +under certain circumstances to be in command. Went out with certain +others on a certain job. All went well, though we had a poor grade of +oil in our bunkers and were burning more than we should ordinarily. +Then, through certain chances, we had to go farther than expected. +Still, I figured to get back with a moderate margin, when the gale +struck us. You may have read of Biscay storms; well, believe me, they +are not over-rated. I have seen just as bad, perhaps, but not from the +deck of a destroyer. And while I am frantically calculating whether I +shall have enough fuel to make port or not, there is a wild yell from +the bridge that the rudder is jammed at hard-a-starboard and can't be +moved. She, of course, at once fell off into the trough of the sea, and +the big green combers <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>swept clear over her at every roll, raising merry +hob. All the boats were smashed to kindling-wood; chests, and everything +on deck not riveted down, went over the side. In that sea you could no +more manœuvre by your engines alone than you could dam Niagara with a +handful of sand. A man alongside of me aft, where we were working on the +steering-gear, was swept overboard, but, having a line around his waist, +was hauled back like a hooked fish.</p> + +<p>All I could do was to steam in a big circle, and at one point would be +running before it, and could work for an instant or two with the seas +running up to our waists. When they get over your head, you probably +won't be there any longer. At that time I didn't really expect to stay +afloat, but was too busy with the matters in hand to care. Well, we +finally got it fixed, though we could only use about 15 degrees of +rudder instead of full.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Lack of fuel causes worry.</div> + +<p>All this time we were drifting merrily to leeward at a rate that I hated +even to guess at, with the certainty, unless matters mended, of +eventually piling up on the Spanish coast, then not far away, though I +hadn't had sight of sun or stars in days, and didn't know within fifty +miles where I was. Well, when I finally headed up into it, I could just +about hold her, without making any headway to speak of. You cannot drive +a destroyer dead into a heavy sea at full speed without bursting her in +two. Still, the situation would have been nothing to worry about much if +I had had sufficient fuel. Now, you on shore may fancy that a ship just +keeps on steaming till she gets there, whether it takes a month or more; +but such is far from the case. Every mile you go consumes just so much +fuel, and, if your margin of safety is too small, you are liable to be +out of luck. And my calculations showed me that while I was using up oil +enough to be making —— knots, in the teeth of <a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>the gale we were only +making —— knots, and that at that rate I never would make port.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Three courses are possible.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The destroyer makes France.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Steel the aristocrat among metals.</div> + +<p>There were three courses open to me: to let her drift, consuming my oil, +in the hope that it would blow over; to run into a Spanish port; or to +run for France, my destination, and, if I fell short of it, to yell for +help by radio, and trust to luck that they could send out and pick me +up. The first course was too risky. I would be making untold miles to +leeward all the time, would probably roll the masts and funnels out of +her, and maybe burst down anyhow, too far off for help. The second +choice was the safest. I could reach Ferrol or Vigo all right, but they +would probably try to intern me; and while I had heard that King Alfonso +was a regular guy and a good scout to run around with, the ensuing +diplomatic complications would make me about as popular in Allied +circles as the proverbial skunk at a bridge-party. So I took the final +alternative, and jammed her into the teeth of it for all I thought she +could stand without imitating an opera hat or an accordion. And, glory +be, she made it, the blessed little old cross between a porpoise and a +safety-razor blade! Whether the gale really moderated, or I got more +nerve, I don't know; but anyhow I gave her more and more, half a knot at +a time, until we were actually making appreciable headway against it. I +never thought any ship could stand the bludgeoning she got. It seemed as +if every rivet must shear, every frame and stanchion crush, under the +impact of the Juggernaut seas that hurtled into her. As a thoroughbred +horse starts and trembles under the touch of the whip, so she reared and +trembled, only to bury herself again in the roaring Niagara of water. +Oh, you thoroughbred high-tensile steel! blue-blooded aristocrat among +metals; Bethlehem or Midvale may claim you—you are none the <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>less +worthy of the Milan casque, the Damascus blade, your forefathers! +Verily, I believe you hold on by sheer nerve, when by all physical laws +should buckle or bend to the shock!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Torpedo detonators spilt on deck.</div> + +<p>And so we kept on. Don't you know, how in the stories it is always in a +terrific gale that the caged lion or gorilla or python breaks loose and +terrorizes the ship? We don't sport a menagerie on the ——, but I did +pick up the contents of the dry gun-cotton case, which had broken and +spilt the torpedo detonators around on deck contiguous to the hot +radiator! And, of course, the decks below were knee-deep in books, +clothes, dishes, etc., complicated in some compartments by a foot or two +of oil and water.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Soundings and landmarks.</div> + +<p>Well, the next day we made a little more, and the seas were only +gigantic, not titanic. The oil was holding out better, too, as we struck +a better grade in some of our tanks, and I saw that we had a fighting +chance of making it. By night I felt almost confident we could, and I +really slept some. Next day I expected to make land, but, of course, had +little idea how far I might really be from my reckoning. Nevertheless, +we sighted —— Light about where I expected to, and laid a course from +there into the harbor. It was a rather thick, foggy day, and pretty soon +I noted a cunning little rock or two, dead ahead, where they didn't by +any means belong. So I rather hurriedly arrested further progress, took +soundings, and bearings of different landmarks, and found that we were +some twenty-five miles from our reckoning—so far, in fact, as to have +picked up the next light-house instead of the one we thought.</p> + +<p>After this 'twas plain sailing, though I had never been into that port +before. Made it about noon, took possession of a convenient mooring-buoy +inside the breakwater—which buoy I found out later was sacred to the<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a> +French flag-ship or somebody like that—called on our Admiral there, and +was among friends. Yes, by heck, I let 'em buy me a drink at the club—I +needed it! Had oil enough left for just about an hour more!</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, April, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>While the great campaigns were being waged on the western fronts, there +was being carried on in a more remote part of the world a series of +operations which involved as hard fighting and as many difficulties as +were encountered in any other field of action. The campaigns in East +Africa which resulted in driving the Germans from their former colonies +are described in the following narrative.<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>EAST AFRICA</h2> + +<h3>JAN CHRISTIAAN SMUTS</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">Learned South Africa in The Boer War.</div> + +<p>In the strenuous days of the Boer War I learned to know my South Africa +from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean as one learns a country only under +the searching test of war. I came to know the unfrequented paths, the +trackless parts of the bush, the wastes where people do not often go. I +believe it is generally admitted that I covered more country than any +other commander in the field on either side—and my movement was not +always in the direction of the enemy!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Obtaining water on the Kalahari Desert.</div> + +<p>When the present war broke out, I proceeded once more on my extensive +travels, and I became something of an expert in the waterless, sandy +wastes of the southern half of German Southwest Africa. As for the +Kalahari Desert, over which the movement of men and transport was +supposed to be quite impossible, we did not rest until we had sunk +bore-holes for water for hundreds of miles, and until we had moved a +large force of thousands of mounted men across an area in which it was +thought no human being could ever move. One of the reasons of our +success in that campaign was that, moving through the Kalahari Desert, +we struck the enemy country at its very heart. The travels of +Livingstone, of Selous, who was a comrade of mine in this war, and of +other illustrious men in those vast solitudes of southern Africa were as +joy-rides to what we had to undergo in conducting a big campaign against +the enemy, and still more against nature.<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">A campaign in East Africa.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Careful study of topography necessary.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Books of travelers all wrong.</div> + +<p>When that campaign was over, and I thought my traveling days were past, +the call came to East Africa, and 1916 was spent in traveling over the +vast tropical expanses of that fascinating country. I need scarcely say +that a military commander has often very special opportunities of +learning geography. He has to study the country with the eyes not of the +scientist or the traveler or the hunter, but of the soldier responsible +for the lives and the movements and supplies of large masses of men. It +is one thing to follow the track of the elephant or to stalk the lion or +antelope or to collect butterflies or other gorgeous things; it is quite +a different and, from the point of view of learning geography, certainly +a far more enlightening, task to lead a large army over those virgin +solitudes, where your problem involves the careful study not only of +topographical features, but of all the numerous natural conditions which +affect your progress. To provide for the needs of a small <i>safari</i> may +be a light or delightful task; but the difficulties and requirements of +a large force, moving forward against an alert, ubiquitous foe, compel +you to probe into everything: the nature of the country, with its +mountains and rivers, forests and deserts, for scores of miles around; +its animal and human diseases; its capacity for supplies and transport; +its climate and soil and rainfall. And one of your first discoveries is +that the books of the travelers are mostly wrong. What to them was +perhaps a paradise of plant or animal life is to you, moving with your +vast impedimenta, a veritable purgatory. You soon come to agree with +Scripture that all men are liars, and from this rule you do not even +except the missionaries who write with their heads in the clouds; nor do +you except the writers of intelligence books compiled in Whitehall from +the hunting tales of the trav<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>elers or the fairy-tales of the +missionaries, and marked "very secret." But these secrets are like most +secrets of the African continent, very disconcerting to the simple, +trustful soul.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The silence of the forest is broken by the tramp of armed +men.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Horses virtually unknown.</div> + +<p>These campaigning experiences were unique. Probably never before in the +history of the world had such things been seen: the stillness, the +brooding silence of the vast primeval forest where no, or few, white men +have ever been before, and the only path is the track of the elephant; +the silence of the forest, stretching for hundreds of miles in all +directions, broken by the tramp of tens of thousands of armed men, +followed by the guns and heavy transport of a modern army, with its +hundreds of motor-lorries, its miles of wagons, its vast concourse of +black porters; while overhead the aëroplane, or, as the natives call it, +the "bird," more dreaded and more feared than even the crocodile in the +river, passes on swiftly with its bombs for the foe retreating ahead. +And what an effect this movement, continued for many months over many +thousands of miles, produced on the minds of the native population, +looking on in speechless awe and amazement at the mystery of the white +man's doings! I have often stopped to wonder at the natives' state of +mind. It must have been not unlike what is told of one of my simple +countrymen, on whose farm an aviator descended with an aëroplane, never +seen or heard of before, and who calmly walked forward to shake hands +with the heavenly visitant, whom he believed none other than the Lord! +And since horses, because of the fly, are virtually unknown in most +parts of the country, the natives were dumfounded by our mounted men, +strange centaur-like animals that they called "Kabure," after my mounted +Boer forces, of whom at first they were mortally afraid. Even bodies of +well-trained armed native soldiers have been <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>seen to throw away their +rifles and run for dear life into the bush at the first sight of mounted +men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Parallel mountain ranges rise in tiers.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The second belt or veldt.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Changes in rainfall.</div> + +<p>The whole east of the African continent from the cape in the south up to +Abyssinia in the north, and, I believe, farther, is marked by one +persistent feature, the existence of several more or less parallel +mountain-ranges rising in tiers from the coast. At the top of the last +and highest mountain-range lies the great elevated inland plateau, +stretching like a broad back along the continent. The first line of +hills or low mountains runs at a distance of from ten to fifty miles +from the coast of the Indian Ocean, and all the country between it and +the sea forms a low coastal belt, which seldom rises more than a few +hundred feet above sea-level, with a distinct coastal climate and +vegetation. Between these coastal hills and the next range lies the +second belt, called in South Africa the low veldt, again with a climate +and rainfall and vegetation of its own. Next and last, at a distance of +from a hundred to one hundred and fifty miles from the Indian Ocean, +runs a mountain system, often rising to great altitudes, on which rests +the great elevated inland plateau from four thousand to six thousand +feet above the level of the sea. This plateau continues for hundreds of +miles westward, and then begins to slope toward the Atlantic Ocean in +the far distance. Sometimes, as in Central Africa, the slope to the west +is very sudden, and another range of mountains forms the western +buttress of the great central plateau. All the great rivers of Africa, +with the exception of the Niger, rise on this plateau or on its +mountain-flanks, which have a very high rainfall. The bush, or great +forest, which is almost impenetrable in the coastal belt, becomes +somewhat more open in patches in the middle belt, while on the plateau +open, park-like coun<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>try alternates with treeless, grassy plains, and +the forest is confined to the deep valleys or the mountain-slopes. The +rainfall, which is fair on the coast, becomes very light in the middle +belt, which in consequence tends to have an arid character; on the +plateau it is high or very high. Because of these marked differences the +economic character of the three regions varies considerably. +Semi-tropical products, such as maize, coffee, cotton, and millet, can +be raised on an almost unlimited scale on the plateau; while rice, +rubber, sisal, and copra are raised in the two lower belts.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The chain of large lakes.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Extinct and active volcanoes.</div> + +<p>All along the mountains which mark the western edge of the high plateau +one will notice a chain of lakes, from Nyasa in the south through +Tanganyika and Kivu to Lake Albert in the north. In prehistoric time +some convulsion of nature broke the African continent all along its +spine, and formed this system of lakes. Another break occurs on the high +plateau, from Portuguese East Africa in the south to British East Africa +in the north, along the Great Rift Valley, with its magnificent +escarpments and weird scenery, prolonged through Lake Rudolf to the Red +Sea and on to the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley. Great volcanoes, now +mostly extinct, though some to the north of Kivu are still active, are a +still later feature of the country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Lakes and mountains a frontier for defense.</div> + +<p>I have referred to these lakes and to the great mountain-chain along the +lakes because they formed the western boundary of German East Africa, +and from the point of view of defense made a magnificent frontier so +strong that the Belgian forces moving from the Congo found it impossible +to invade the enemy territory from the west, and had to be moved in +large part northeast before they could strike south. Once there, with +their usual dash they did their work remarkably well.<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Seaplanes attack German vessels in the lakes.</div> + +<p>As soon as this northern column had reached Kigali, the capital of the +lofty Ruanda Province, the German forces fell back from the neighborhood +of Lake Kivu, and the remainder of the Belgian army was able to advance +from the west across the mountain barrier. Simultaneously, and in +coördination with their advance, strong British columns were moving +southward to the west of Victoria Nyanza. As soon as we had reached the +southern shores of the lake, a new concerted forward movement by the +British and Belgian columns was begun both from Victoria Nyanza and from +Tanganyika, where in the meantime the German armed vessels on the lake +had been bombed and destroyed by seaplanes, and Ujiji on the eastern +shore had been occupied. This movement did not stop until Tabora, with +the central railway, was occupied early in September, 1916.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">General Northey's advance across the mountain.</div> + +<p>At the same time a great movement was made in the south by General +Northey, who advanced from the line between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa +across the mountains flanking the great plateau on the west. This is a +very mountainous region; but he got over the mountains, and moving +north, took Bismarckburg, Neu Langenburg, and afterward Iringa, where +our main forces joined hands with his. These advances, all carried out +with great skill and energy against very great physical difficulties, +were subsidiary to the principal attack, which was being executed from +the north-east, in the neighborhood of Kilimanjaro.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The River Rovuma a strategic line.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Pursuit of enemy across Rovuma is difficult.</div> + +<p>The southern boundary between German East Africa and Portuguese East +Africa was formed by the River Rovuma, which, coming from the high +plateau and the mountains to the east of Nyasa, is one of the large +African rivers. Except in its highest reaches near Lake Nyasa it is not +fordable, and makes an ad<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>mirable strategic line. However, as Portugal +came into the war after most of the German colony had already been +occupied by us, this river acquired strategic importance only toward the +end of the campaign, and then in a sense adverse to us, as General Van +Deventer has found to his cost. After the remnants of the German native +forces had been driven across the Rovuma at the beginning of December, +1917, our forces found the swift pursuit across the river a difficult +task. We are, however, now operating against the roving bands into which +the enemy force has split, and if ever they try to break back to their +occupied colony, they will find the line of the Rovuma a very serious +barrier.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The search for the German raider <i>Königsberg</i>.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Königsberg's</i> guns accompany the enemy on land.</div> + +<p>The eastern boundary of the colony is the coast-line of the Indian Ocean +for almost five hundred miles, with some very beautiful harbors, and it +was dominated by our navy from the day that war was declared. The Royal +Navy has played a very active part in our African campaigns, and one of +the most fascinating episodes of the war was the search for the +<i>Königsberg</i>, lost after she had destroyed the <i>Pegasus</i> and done much +damage in the Indian Ocean. She was discovered in a most secluded branch +of the Rufiji River, and ultimately destroyed by seaplanes and monitors +in her impenetrable lair. Yet, though destroyed, she made her voice +heard over all that vast country, for her ten big naval guns, each +pulled by teams of four hundred stalwart natives, accompanied the enemy +armies in all directions, and, with other naval guns and howitzers +smuggled into the country, made the enemy in many a fight stronger in +heavy artillery than we were.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Extensive enemy fortifications at the mountain gap.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The rainy season worse than imagined.</div> + +<p>From a strategic point of view, the northern frontier was the most +difficult of all. It passed north of Kilimanjaro, to the west of which +<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>is a desert belt. East of this desert belt and Kilimanjaro the enemy +colony was protected by an almost impassable mountain system, with a +very narrow, swampy, dangerous gap between the Usambara and Pare +Mountains, and another gap of about four or five miles between the Pare +Mountains and Kilimanjaro. It was impossible to move an army through the +first gap; the second gap at the foot of Kilimanjaro was the place where +the enemy had located himself early in the war on British territory, and +with patience and skill had dug himself in, with very extensive +fortifications, surrounded by dense forests and impassable swamps. Here +he lay waiting for eighteen months, threatening British East Africa. +From here he was driven in March, 1916, and by the end of that month our +forces had conquered the whole Kilimanjaro-Meru areas. It was at this +stage, and after our initial success, that the rainy season set in; and +that is another great feature of German East Africa. I had read much +about it, and I had heard more; but the reality far surpassed the worst +I had read or heard. For weeks the rain came down ceaselessly, +pitilessly, sometimes three inches in twenty-four hours, until all the +hollows became rivers, all the low-lying valleys became lakes, the +bridges disappeared, and all roads dissolved in mud. All communications +came to an end, and even Moses himself in the desert had not such a +commissariat situation as faced me.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The enemy's line of retreat.</div> + +<p>When in the latter part of May the rains subsided, the advance against +the enemy was once more resumed. In order to create the maximum +difficulties for our advance, the enemy chose as his line of retreat the +great block of mountains which I have referred to as forming the eastern +buttress of the great central plateau. For the next three and a half +months <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>our forward movement continued with only one short pause until +by the middle of September we had reached the great valleys of the +Rufiji and the Great Rwaha in the far south, and across the Rwaha we +could link up with General Northey at Iringa in the southwest.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Difficulties of transport and supply in advance.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Poisonous insects and tropical diseases.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The campaign a story of human endurance.</div> + +<p>It is impossible for those unacquainted with German East Africa to +realize the physical, transport, and supply difficulties of an advance +over this magnificent, but mountainous, country, with a great rainfall +and wide, unbridged rivers in the regions of the mountains, and +insufficient surface water on the plains for the needs of an army; with +magnificent primeval forest everywhere, pathless, trackless, except for +the spoor of the elephant or the narrow footpaths of the natives. The +malaria mosquito is everywhere except on the higher plateaus; everywhere +the belts are infested with the deadly tsetse fly, which makes an end of +all animal transport; and almost everywhere the ground is rich black or +red cotton soil, which any transport converts into mud in the rain or +dust in the drought. Everywhere the fierce heat of equatorial Africa, +accompanied by a wild luxuriance of parasitic life, breed tropical +diseases in the unacclimatized whites. These conditions make life for +the white man in that country sufficiently trying. If in addition he has +to perform hard work and make long marches on short rations, the trial +becomes very severe; if, above all, huge masses of men and material have +to be moved over hundreds of miles in a great military expedition +against a mobile and alert foe, then the strain becomes almost +unendurable. And the chapter of accidents in this region of the unknown! +Unseasonable rains cut off expeditions for weeks from their supply +bases. Animals died by the thousand—after passing through an unknown +fly-belt. Mechanical <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>transport got bogged in the marshes, held up by +bridges washed away, or mountain passes obstructed by sudden floods. And +the gallant boys, marching far ahead under the pitiless African sun, +with the fever raging in their blood, pressed ever on after the +retreating enemy, often on reduced rations, and without any of the small +comforts which in this climate are real necessities. In the story of +human endurance this campaign deserves a very special place, and the +heroes who went through it uncomplainingly, doggedly, are entitled to +all recognition and reverence. Their commander-in-chief will remain +eternally proud of them.</p> + +<p>When in January, 1917, I relinquished the command to my successor, +General Hoskins, we were across the Rufiji River in the southeast, and +in the great valley formed by the principal tributaries, the Ulanga and +Ruhuje rivers in the west; but the rainy season which set in shortly +afterward stopped all advance until the following June.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Enemy's forces evacuate German East Africa.</div> + +<p>Five months later our advance was resumed, and by the beginning of +December, 1917, the last remnants of the enemy's forces had evacuated +German East Africa across the Rovuma, while our forces were operating +against the enemy bands far south in Portuguese territory, as I have +already stated.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Development of tropical Africa retarded by diseases.</div> + +<p>In economic value this region ranks very high among the tropical +countries of the African continent, and probably no part of all Africa +has a climate or soil more suitable for the production on an immense +scale of copra, cocoanuts, coffee, sugar, sisal, rubber, cotton, and +other tropical products, or of such semi-tropical products as maize and +millet. In common with the rest of tropical Africa, its full development +is still retarded by the undefeated animal and human diseases, +especially malaria. But the time is not far distant when <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>science will +have overcome these drawbacks, and when Central and East Africa will +have become one of the most productive and valuable parts of the +tropics. But until science solves the problems of tropical disease, East +and Central Africa must not be looked upon as an area for white +colonization. Perhaps they will never be a white man's country in any +real sense. In those huge territories the white man's task will probably +be largely confined to that of administrator, teacher, expert, manager, +or overseer of the large negro populations, whose progressive +civilization will be more suitably promoted in connection with the +industrial development of the land.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Germans discouraged white settlement.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Natives compelled to work for planters.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">German system more profitable one.</div> + +<p>It is clear from their practice in East Africa that the Germans had +decided to develop the country not as an ordinary colony, but as a +tropical possession for the cultivation of tropical raw materials. They +systematically discouraged white settlement; the white colonists, with +their small farms, gradually building up a European system on a small +scale, who are a marked feature of British colonies, were conspicuously +absent. Instead, tracts of country were granted to companies, +syndicates, or men with large capital, on conditions that plantations of +tropical products would be cultivated. The planters were supplied with +native labor under a government system which compelled the natives to +work for the planters for a certain very small wage during part of every +year; and as labor was very plentiful, with seven and a half millions of +natives, the future for the capitalist syndicates seemed rosy enough. No +wonder that under this <i>corvée</i> system East Africa and the Kamerun were +rapidly developing into very valuable tropical assets, from which in +time the German Empire would have derived much of the tropical raw +material for its industries.<a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a> The Germans realized better than most +people that the value of tropical Africa lay not in any openings for +white colonization, such as are being developed next door to their +colonies in British East Africa, but in the plantation system, where +white capital and black labor collaborate to establish an entirely +different order of things. Harsh as the German system undoubtedly is, I +am not prepared to deny that it is perhaps the more scientific one, and +that in the long run it is the more profitable form of exploiting the +tremendous natural resources of the tropics.</p> + +<p>With regard to tropical Africa, so vast in area, so great in resources, +the first desideratum for its development is the opening up of +communication. The lakes, the Nile, and the Congo form the principal +natural links in any chains of communication with the seaboard; and the +question is, how far railways have come in or will come in to complete +these chains.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Railways built in the Congo territory and connective.</div> + +<p>Two railways built during the war in the Congo territory have largely +extended the communications from east to west, and from the center to +the south. These two railways have opened up many routes in Central and +East Africa, and it is now possible to travel from the Indian Ocean at +Dar-es-Salaam by the German Central Railway to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika; +by steamer across the lake to Albertville; thence by train to Kabalo; by +steamer on to Kongolo; train to Kindu, and on by steamer and rail down +the Congo to the Atlantic Ocean.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Railways in South Africa.</div> + +<p>Now, as to the communications in the south, one can travel from Cape +Town by rail to Bukama, and thence by steamer and rail either to Boma on +the Atlantic coast, or by rail and steamer to Dar-es-Salaam on the +Indian Ocean. Besides these through lines, there is the Uganda Railway +from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>the Victoria Nyanza, and there are +in contemplation two other railways from the east coast to Nyasa, one +from Kilwa, and one from Porto Amelia, in Portuguese East Africa. A +railway is also under construction from Lobito Bay on the Atlantic to +the Katanga copper areas, already reached from the south and east by the +railways from Cape Town and Beira.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Communications to the northward.</div> + +<p>The question remains as to communications northward to the +Mediterranean. One can travel to-day from Alexandria by rail and river +to Khartoum, and thence by steamer up the Nile to Rejaf, near the Uganda +border. From Rejaf to Nimule, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, +the Nile is impracticable for river transport, and therefore over that +distance a railway will have to be built. But from Nimule the river is +again navigable up to Lake Albert. The problem is to connect Lake Albert +with the Central and South African systems.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Possible Belgian and British routes.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Tropical Africa a great problem in world politics.</div> + +<p>Three routes are possible, one wholly Belgian, one partly British and +partly Belgian, and one wholly British. That is on the assumption that +German East Africa remains British after this war. The Belgian project +is to construct the railway from the Congo bend at Stanleyville over the +gold-fields at Kilo to Mahagi on Lake Albert. The British project would +be to construct a line from the south of Elizabethville to Bismarckburg, +at the south of Lake Tanganyika, to proceed thence by steamer to Ujiji, +thence by the existing railway to Tabora, to construct a line from +Tabora to Mwanza on Lake Victoria Nyanza, and a line from Entebbe on +that lake to Butiabwa, on Lake Albert. The third or mixed +Belgian-British line would proceed by way of Butiabwa, Entebbe, Mwanza, +Tabora, and Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, but from there would make use of +the existing line to Kabalo on the Congo. It is probable that by one or +other of these three <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>routes through communication from South Africa to +the Mediterranean may be established within the next ten years. With +this vital industrial aspect of tropical Africa there is wrapped up the +equally important political aspect, and these two problems are certain +to make of tropical Africa one of the great problems of future world +politics.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germans have no colonists to spare.</div> + +<p>Now, the Germans are not in search of colonies after the English model, +and those that they have in East and West Africa had no white population +to speak of before the war. Quite apart from the fact that tropical +Africa would be no suitable territory for white settlement, they have no +colonists to spare, since for the sake of their industrial and military +future in Germany they desire the largest concentration of population +possible in the fatherland. As Baron von Rechenberg, formerly governor +of German East Africa, has expressed it:</p> + +<p>"Just as we lack suitable land for settling, so we lack suitable German +settlers.... For a number of years immigration into Germany has been +much greater than emigration from Germany.... Even in times of peace +German agriculture had not a surplus, but a shortage, of labor, and it +cannot possibly accord with our interests to increase the shortage by +encouraging emigration.... Regrettable though it is, there can be no +question at the conclusion of peace of acquiring territory for +settlement. There is no appropriate country, and there are no farmers to +settle on it."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany desires not colonies but strategic positions.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Central Africa needed to supply raw materials.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany could use natives in war.</div> + +<p>German colonial aims are really not colonial, but are entirely dominated +by far-reaching conceptions of world politics. Not colonies, but +military power and strategic positions for exercising world power in +future, are her real aims. Her ultimate objective in Africa is the +establishment of a great Central African Empire, comprising not only her +colonies before <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>the war, but also all the English, French, Belgian, and +Portuguese possessions south of the Sahara and Lake Chad and north of +the Zambezi River in South Africa. Toward this objective she was +steadily marching even before the war broke out, and she claims the +return of her lost African colonies at the end of the war as a +starting-point from which to resume the interrupted march. Or, rather, +as appears from Count Hertling's recent pronouncement, she claims a +reallocation of the world's colonies, so that she may have a share +commensurate with her world position. This Central African block, the +maps of which are now in course of preparation and printing at the +Colonial Office in Berlin, is intended in the first place to supply the +economic requirements and raw materials of German industry; in the +second and far more important place, to become the recruiting-ground for +vast native armies, the great value of which has been demonstrated in +the tropical campaigns of this war, and especially in East Africa; while +the natural harbors on the Atlantic and Indian oceans will supply the +naval and submarine bases from which both ocean routes will be +dominated, and British and American sea-power will be brought to naught. +The native armies will be useful in the next great war, to which the +German General Staff is already devoting serious attention, as appears +from the book of General von Freytag, the deputy chief of the German +General Staff, recently published here under the title "Deductions of +the World War."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A great army on the flank of Asia.</div> + +<p>The untrained levies of the Union of South Africa would go down before +these German-trained hordes of Africans, who would also be able to deal +with North Africa and Egypt without the deflection of any white troops +from Germany; and they would in addition mean a great army planted on +the flank of Asia whose <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>force could be felt throughout the middle East +as far as Persia, and who knows how much farther?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">African natives a part of Germany's plan of conquest.</div> + +<p>This is the grandiose scheme. It is no mere fanciful picture, but based +on the writings of great German publicists, professors, and high +colonial authorities, and chapter and verse could be quoted in full +detail for every feature of the scheme. The civilization of the African +natives and the economic development of the dark continent must be +subordinate to the most far-reaching schemes of German world power and +world conquest; the world must be brought into subjection to German +militarism. As in former centuries again the African native must play +his part in the new slavery. Dr. Solf, the present German Colonial +Secretary, in the "Colonial Calendar" for 1917, made the following +pronouncement as to the organic connection of German colonial aims with +her other aims of world power:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Directions of German aims.</div> + +<p>"The history of our colonies in this world war has shown what was +hitherto wanting in the German colonial empire. It has shown that it was +not a proper 'empire' at all, but merely a number of possessions without +geographical and political connection, and without established +communications.... How greatly would the power of resistance of our +colonies have been increased if they had not been isolated!... These +experiences show what direction our aims must take. We shall achieve the +fulfillment of our desires if we remain conscious that the +colonial-political aim is not something which stands alone by itself, +but must be regarded in organic connection with all other aims which we +are determined to attain by the world war."</p> + +<p>Prof. Delbrück, in a recent number of the "Preussische Jahrbücher," thus +sketches the new African Empire:<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plan for a new African Empire.</div> + +<p>"If our victory is great enough, we can hope to unite under our hand the +whole of Central Africa with our old colony South-west Africa; +Senegambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Dahomey, well-populated +Nigeria with the port of Lagos, Kamerun, the rich islands of San Thomé +and Principe with their splendid ports, the Katanga ore district, +Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, and Delagoa Bay, Madagascar, +German East Africa, Zanzibar, and Uganda; and in addition the great port +of Ponta Delgado in the Azores—one of the most important and most +frequented coaling stations—and Horta, one of the most important +centers of the transatlantic cable system. At present the Azores belong +to Portugal, which is at war with Germany. Portugal also owns the Cape +Verde Islands, with the port of Porto Grande, one of the most frequented +coaling stations in the Eastern Atlantic.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The riches of the African territories.</div> + +<p>"All these territories together have over 100,000,000 inhabitants. +United in a single ownership, and with their various characteristics +supplementing one another, they offer simply immeasurable prospects. +They are rich in natural treasures, rich in possibilities of settlement +and trade, and rich in men who can work and also be used in war. To +demand them is not unjust, and does not offend against the principle of +equilibrium, since Germany would thus only be obtaining a colonial +empire such as England and Russia, France and America, have long +possessed."</p> + +<p>Franz Kolbe, in the "Deutsche Politik," a year ago thus described the +future rôle for raiders in the South Atlantic:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Importance of German-West African Coast in combating Great +Britain.</div> + +<p>"The whole coast of West Africa from the mouth of the Cross River to the +mouth of the Orange River would be in German possession. When one only +remembers what immense achievements were performed by the <i>Emden</i><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a> in +the Indian Ocean and by the <i>Karlsruhe</i> in the Atlantic, without any +naval base, without any possibility of replenishing in port their +supplies of munitions, food, etc., it will be realized what the +fortification of half the West Coast of Africa would signify for Germany +and for England! As soon as, in the new war, the Suez Canal is closed +against England by the Turks, all traffic between England and India, +Australia, and South Africa must go round the Cape of Good Hope. But +then all the shipping must pass the coast of German Central Africa. It +would be impossible for England any longer to concentrate her whole +fleet in the North Sea and to menace Germany. She would be compelled to +station a considerable fleet in South Africa for the protection of her +trade, and that would mean a not inconsiderable weakening of her forces +in European waters."</p> + +<p>In the same review Emil Zimmermann explains the rôle of German East +Africa in the future scheme of world power:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German Africa would have balance of power in the East.</div> + +<p>"German Africa, which will find allies at once in Abyssinia and in +Mohammedan freedom movements, will make the employment of black troops +against our European frontiers impossible. German Africa alone will give +us a balance of power in the East and in Africa. It will remove the +Egyptian pressure on Asia Minor. German Africa will make us a world +power by enabling us to exert decisive influence upon the world +political decisions of our enemies and of other powers, and to exercise +pressure on all shaping of policy in Africa, Asia Minor, and southern +Europe."</p> + +<p>And in another article in the "Preussische Jahrbücher," he says: "Nearer +Asia cannot continue to exist without this covering of its flank. That +is the meaning of the German colonial question." In other words, +Berlin-Bagdad <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>is not safe without a great German Central or East +African Empire.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">British ambitions are different.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">German policies dangerous.</div> + +<p>The point of view of the British Empire is very different indeed. In the +first place, it has never had any military ambitions apart from the +measure of sea-power essential to its continued existence; in Africa it +has never militarized the natives, has always opposed any such policy +and has tended to study the natives' interests and regard their point of +view with special favor, often to the no small disappointment of +individual white settlers. Indeed, no impartial person can deny that, so +far from exploiting the natives either for military or industrial +purposes, British policy has on the whole, over a very long stretch of +years, had a tender regard for native interests, and on the whole its +results have been beneficial to the natives in their gradual +civilization. In shaping this wise policy British statesmen have had a +very long and wide African experience to guide them, and in consequence +they have avoided the very dangerous and dubious policies which the +German new-comers have set in motion. Among these not the least +dangerous is to regard the native primarily as raw material to be +manufactured into military power and world power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The British Empire asks peace and security.</div> + +<p>In the second place, the objects pursued by British policy on the +African continent are inherently pacific and defensive. It desires no +man's territory; it desires only to live in peace and develop the great +African territories and populations intrusted to its care. And looking +at the future from the broadest points of view, looking at the magnitude +of its material African interests and the future welfare of the vast +native populations, and its difficult task of civilizing the dark +continent; looking further upon Africa as the half-way house to India +and Australasia, the British Empire asks <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>only for peace and +security—international peace and security of its external +communications. It cannot allow the return of conditions which mean the +militarization of the natives and their employment for schemes of world +power; it cannot allow naval and submarine bases to be organized on both +sides of the African coast, to the endangerment of the sea +communications of the empire and the peace of the world. And it must +insist on the maintenance of conditions which will guarantee through +land communications for its territories from one end of the continent to +the other.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dependence on communications by sea and land.</div> + +<p>The British Empire is not like Germany, Russia, or the United States, a +compact territorial entity; it is scattered over the globe, and entirely +dependent on the maintenance of communications for its continued +existence. In future these lines of communication should proceed not +only by sea, but also by land. One of the most impressive lessons of +this vast war is the vulnerability of sea-power and sea communications +through the development of underwater transport, and the immense +importance of railway communication. In fact, to be really effective the +two should go hand in hand. Nor are we at the end of the chapter in +discovering new means of transportation. It is not only conceivable, but +probable, that aërial navigation may revolutionize the present transport +situation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Prussian militarism cannot be tolerated.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The dominions desire a Monroe Doctrine for the South.</div> + +<p>As long as there is no real change of heart in Germany and no final and +irrevocable break with militarism, the law of self-preservation should +be considered paramount; no fresh extension of Prussian militarism to +other continents and seas should be tolerated; and the conquered German +colonies can be regarded only as guaranties for the security of the +future peace of the world. This opinion will be shared, I feel sure, by +the vast bulk of the <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>young nations who form the Dominions of the +British Empire. They have no military aims or ambitions; their tasks are +solely the tasks of peace; their greatest interest and aim is peace. +Voluntarily they joined in this war, and to their efforts is largely due +the destruction of the German Colonial Empire, and the consequent +prevention of the German military system being spread to the ends of the +earth. They should not be asked to consent to the restoration to a +militant Germany of fresh footholds for militarism in the Southern +Hemisphere, and thus to endanger the future of their young and rising +communities who are developing the waste places of the earth. They want +a new Monroe Doctrine for the South as there has been a Monroe Doctrine +for the West, to protect it against European militarism. Behind the +sheltering wall of such a doctrine they promise to build up a great, +new, peaceful world not only for themselves, but for the many millions +of black folk intrusted to their care.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany's stubborn defense of her African colonies.</div> + +<p>The enemy's stubborn defence of his last colony has not only been a +great feat in itself, but is also a proof of the supreme importance +attached by the German Government to this African colony both as an +economic asset and as a strategic point of departure for the +establishment of the future Central African Empire to which I have +referred. At the conclusion of peace our statesmen will be bound to bear +in mind these wider and obscurer issues, fraught with such consequences +to the world and to the British Empire in particular. Perhaps I may be +allowed to express the fervent hope that a land where so many of our +heroes lost their lives or their health; where, under the most terrible +and exacting conditions, human loyalty and human service were poured out +lavishly in a great cause, may never be allowed <a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>to become a menace to +the future peaceful development of the world. I am sure my gallant boys, +dead or living, would wish for no other or greater reward.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Greece, as a result of the intrigues of the pro-German king and queen, +was a thorn in the flesh to the Allies for the first years of the war. +The deposition of King Constantine, and the resumption of power of +Premier Venizelos, brought Greece back to the place where her people +wished to be.<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GREECE'S ATONEMENT</h2> + +<h3>LEWIS R. FREEMAN</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">A meeting with Venizelos.</div> + +<p>The Venizelists had been having a bad time of it from the first, but the +blackest hours of all were those toward the end of last April, when +Constantine was still strong in Athens, and before the Saloniki Allies +had found it practicable or expedient to welcome them to a full +brotherhood of arms. It was during this "dark before the dawn" period +that I had my first meeting with M. Venizelos, a conventional half +hour's interview in the suburban villa, midway along the curve of +Saloniki Bay where the Provisional Government had established its +headquarters.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The attitude of Constantine.</div> + +<p>I had just come up from Athens, where I had found the Allied diplomats +still smarting under the memories of their ignominious experiences +following Constantine's spectacular coup of the previous December, and +it was by no means the least of these who had told me point-blank that +he could not conceive how it would be possible that Saloniki should be +returned to Greece after the war. Of course it was the Royalist +Government that my distinguished friend had had in mind when he spoke, +but there was not much to indicate at this time that the Greece of +Constantine and his minions was not also going to be the Greece of after +the war.</p> + +<p>It was with this state of things in mind, and recalling his well known +ambitions to found a Greater Greece—by extending Epirus north <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>along +the Adriatic, and bringing the millions of Greeks of Asia Minor at least +under the protection of the Government at Athens—that I mustered up my +courage and asked M. Venizelos offhand if he felt confident of being +able even to maintain the integrity of his country as it existed before +the war.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">What Greece must do for the Allies.</div> + +<p>"Not unless those of us Greeks who have remained faithful to the cause +of humanity and our honor are ultimately able to lend the Allies +material help in a measure sufficient to counterbalance the harm the +action of the Royalists has caused them," was the prompt reply; "and by +material help I mean military aid. We must fight, and fight, and keep on +fighting, for it is only with blood—with Greek blood—that the stain +upon Greek honor can be washed away. It is only our army that can save +us, and that is why we have been so impatient of the delay there has +been in equipping it and getting it to the front. The one division we +have in the trenches now, and the two others that are ready to go, are +not enough, but they are about all we have been able to raise so far. +Thessaly is for us (as you may have seen in traveling across it), and +would give us two more divisions at least; but our Allies have not yet +seen fit to allow us to go there after them."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Venizelos determines to aid the Allies.</div> + +<p>M. Venizelos spoke of a number of other things before I left him +(notably of the extent to which the Russian revolution and the entry of +America had helped him in his fight to save Greece), but it was plain +that the problem uppermost in his mind was that of wiping out the score +of the Allies against his country by giving them a substantial measure +of assistance in the field.</p> + +<p>"Do not fail to visit our force on the —— sector before you leave the +Balkans," was his parting injunction. "There may be a chance <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>of seeing +it in action before very long, and if you do, you will need no further +assurance of the way in which we shall make our honor white before our +Allies and all the world."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Unenviable position of the Venizelists.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Elaborate precautions against treachery.</div> + +<p>The Serbian and two or three other Armies have been worse off in a +physical way, but no national force since the outbreak of the war has +been in so thoroughly an unenviable position on every other score as was +that of the Venizelists at this time. The Serbs and the Belgians had at +least the knowledge that the confidence and the sympathy of the Allies +were theirs. Also, they had chances to fight to their hearts' content. +The Venizelists had scant measure of sympathy, and still less of +confidence; and when their first chance to fight was at last given them, +they were allowed to face the foe only after elaborate precautions had +been taken against everything, from incompetence and cowardice on their +part to open treachery. That this was the fault neither of themselves +nor of their Allies, and had only come about through the perfidy of a +King to whom they no longer swore fealty, did not make the shame of it +much easier to bear for an army of spirited volunteers who had risked +their all for a chance to wipe out the dishonor of their country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spies sent in the guise of deserters.</div> + +<p>The thing that for a while made it so difficult for the Allies to know +what to do with the Venizelist army was the almost ridiculous ease with +which, under the peculiar circumstances of its recruitment, it lent +itself to spying purposes. All the Royalists, or their German +paymasters, had to do to establish a spy in the Saloniki area was to +send over one of their Intelligence Officers in the guise of a deserter +from the Greek army to that of Venizelos, and there he was! To send back +information, or even to return in person, across the <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>but partially +patrolled "Neutral Zone" was scarcely more difficult, and it was the +wholesale way in which this sort of thing went on that made it so hard +for the Allies to decide just who the bona fide Venizelists were, and +just how far it would be safe to trust a force to which the enemy still +had such ready means of access.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Tact and common sense used.</div> + +<p>There was nothing else for the Allies to do but "go slow" and "play +safe" in dealing with the Venizelist army, and, under the circumstances, +there is no doubt that a difficult situation was handled with a good +deal of tact and common sense. Just how trying the situation of the +Venizelists was, however, I had a chance to see one day when I happened +to be at their Headquarters arranging for my visit to the Greek sector +of the Front. Their troops had acquitted themselves with great credit in +some gallantly carried out raiding operations, which must have made it +doubly hard for them to put up with a new restrictive order just +promulgated by the Supreme Command as a further precaution against the +leakage of information to the enemy.</p> + +<p>Just as I was about to take my departure, a copy of the new order was +delivered to the Staff Officer with whom I had been conferring about my +visit to the Front. He read it through slowly, his swarthy face flushing +red with anger as he proceeded.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A series of humiliations.</div> + +<p>"Have you heard of this?" he said, handing me the paper, and controlling +his voice with an effort, "No man or officer of our army is to cross the +---- bridge without a special permit from General Headquarters. It is +only the latest in the long series of humiliations we have had to put up +with. Just look at the way we stand. In Athens our names are posted as +traitors who can be shot on sight. Here it isn't quite like that, +but—well (he <a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>raised his hand above his head and let it fall limply in +a gesture of despair), all I can say is that the only officers of the +Venizelist army to be envied are those whose names are recorded here +(indicating a file at his elbow). It's the death-list from +day-before-yesterday's fighting."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Venizelist troops succeed in big attacks.</div> + +<p>Owing to the delay in issuing my pass in Saloniki, I did not arrive at +Greek Headquarters until the evening of the day on which the big attack +had taken place, and it was day-break of the morning following before I +was able to make my way up to the advanced lines. The Venizelist troops +had taken all their objectives, and held them with great courage against +such counterattacks as the surprised Bulgars—who, not expecting an +attack from the Greeks, had made the mistake of massing too much of +their strength against the British and French attacks to east and +west—were able to organize against them. They had been busy all night +"reversing" the captured trenches in anticipation of a determined +attempt on the part of the reinforced enemy to retake them in the +morning.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Movement carried out without confusion.</div> + +<p>The hilly but well-metaled cartroad, along which by the light of the +waning moon I cantered with an officer of the Greek staff, had been +thronged all night with the surging current of the battle traffic—an +up-flow of munition convoys and reinforcements, and back-flow of wounded +and prisoners—but I could not help remarking the comparative quiet and +absence of confusion with which the complex movement was carried on.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Greeks seem to understand the game of war.</div> + +<p>"Somehow this doesn't seem quite like the transport of a new army just +undergoing its baptism of fire," I said to my companion. "I've seen +things on the roads behind the western front in far worse messes than +any of these little jams we've passed to-night. These chaps <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>are as +businesslike as though they'd been at the game for years."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Veterans of the Balkan wars.</div> + +<p>"So they have," was the quiet reply. "Our army, as recruited so far, is +a new one only in name. The men who attacked yesterday were of the +famous S—— Division, which fought all through the last two Balkan wars +and gained no end of praise from all the foreign military attachés for +its great mountain work. It was this Division which scaled the steep +range beyond Doiran and drove the Bulgars out of Rupel Pass."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Battle of "Rupel Pass."</div> + +<p>"The S—— Division," "Rupel Pass." Instantly I recalled how a British +General, over on the Struma a few days previously, had pointed out to me +a steep range of serried snow-capped mountains towering against the +skyline to the northwest, and told me that the feat of the Greeks in +taking a division over it at a point where even the wary Bulgar had +deemed it impossible was one of the finest exploits in the annals of +mountain warfare.</p> + +<p>"The Italians have fought the Austrians at a greater altitude in a +number of places in the Alps, and in our wars with the Himalayan +tribesmen we have sent our Gurkhas twice as high. But all of that was +after more or less preparation. Here, the Greeks simply started off and +went over that range with only their rifles and the packs on their +backs. I know of nothing to compare with it save the taking of +Kaymakchalan by the Serbs last November in the operations which freed +Monastir. Not many in Saloniki have had much good to say of the Greek as +a soldier of late, but you may be sure that we can do with more men of +the kind that crossed that mountain range, and there is no reason why +Venizelos should not be able to bring them to us."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A favorable position for observation.</div> + +<p>The hill from which we were to follow the action jutted out of the +mountains into the <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>plain like the bow of a battleship. So favorable was +its position for observation—from its brow a wide expanse of mountain +and valley was spread from twenty to sixty miles in three +directions—that the British and French as well as the Greeks maintained +posts there. We found the officers in both of the Allied "O. Pips" +[signal corps talk for O.P., meaning observation post] highly +enthusiastic over the work of the Greeks in their attack of the +preceding day.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The evening bulletin.</div> + +<p>We found two officers in the British Observation Post chuckling over the +evening bulletin, which had just been delivered to them. "You have to +read between the lines of Sarrail's 'Evening Hope' if you want to get at +the real facts," said one of them. "It's what it fails to tell you, that +you really want to know. Now, you might be able to gather from this that +all the Balkan Allies have been doing quite a bit of attacking during +the last day or two at various parts of the Front from Doiran west to +Albania, but you have to go between the lines to find that our shifty +Bulgar friend over there gave most of them as good or better than they +gave him all the way. It's sad but true that in this, our 'Great Spring +Offensive,' as the papers at home have talked of it, the whole lot of +us—French, British, Russian, Italian, and even the Serb—have been +fought to a standstill by the Bulgar. Far as I can see, the only gain we +have to show for it is in the casualty lists."</p> + +<p>I failed to see just what there was to chuckle about in such an +interpretation of the glowing lines of the evening bulletin, and said as +much.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Successes of the little Venizelist army.</div> + +<p>"It isn't funny in the least," was the reply, "and it would seem still +less so if we could see at close range some of the things that are lying +out on a hundred miles of these accursed moun<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>tain sides as a +consequence of what has happened. But what <i>did</i> strike us as a bit rich +was the fact that, of all the Allies, this little piece of the +Venizelist army, which we have held in leash all winter while we made up +our minds as to whether it would be safe to slip or not, is the only one +of the whole lot of us that has taken all the objectives set for it."</p> + +<p>A sporting instinct and a grim sense of humor—the readiness to admire a +brave foe and the ability to extract amusement from discomfiture—are +the two things that have conspired to make the British soldier so +uniformly successful in treating those "twin impostors," Triumph and +Disaster, "just the same."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The view across the Vardar.</div> + +<p>The sky was lightening and throwing into ghostly silhouette the line of +the mountain ridge across the Vardar by the time we had pushed on out +along the communication trench to the Greek Observation Post on the +extreme brow of the hill. Since midnight the enemy "heavies" had been +coughing gruffly under the mist-blanket that overlaid the plain, +dappling it with alternately flashing and fading blotches of light till +it glowed fantastically like a lamp-shade of Carrara marble; +star-shells, fired with a low trajectory, popped up and dove out of +sight again, throwing a fluttering green radiance over the white pall +which swathed the battlefield.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Bulgar preparing to go over the top.</div> + +<p>The mist-mask must have fended the day-break from the plain long after +it was light upon the hill from where we watched, for it was not until +the range of serrated peaks to the east of Doiran was all aglow with the +red and gold of sunrise that the higher-keyed crack of the enemy's +field-guns came welling up to tell us that the Bulgar was getting ready +to go over the top. The flame-spurts—paling from a hot red to faded +lemon as the light grew stronger—splashed up against the mist-pall as +the jet of <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>an illuminated fountain rises and falls, and down where the +battered first-line trenches faced each other the dust-geysers of the +exploding shells rolled up in clouds to the surface of the thinning +vapors as the mud of the bottom boils up through the waters of an +agitated pool.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Allied artillery opens.</div> + +<p>For a minute or two the ragged line of the barrage wallowed forward +through the outraged mist alone. Then, as a sudden flight of rockets +spat forth from the Greek first line to warn that the enemy infantry was +on the way, all the Allied artillery that could be brought to bear +opened up and began dropping shells just behind where the murky +mist-clouds marked the swath of the Bulgar barrage.</p> + +<p>For the space of perhaps two or three minutes the fog-bank swirled and +curled in swaying eddies as the shells came hurtling into it; +then—whether it was from a sudden awakening of the wind or through the +licking up of its vapors by the first rays of the now risen sun, I never +knew—almost in the wave of a hand, it was gone, revealing a broad +expanse of trench-creased plain with a long belt of gray figures moving +across it in a cloud of dust and smoke.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Lively hand-to-hand fighting.</div> + +<p>"It isn't much of a barrage as barrages go on the western front," said +Captain X—— half apologetically. "Their artillery won't do much harm +to us, and, I'm afraid, ours not much to them. And we'll hardly be +having enough machine guns emplaced to sting them as they ought to be +stung for swarming up in masses like that. But if it's only a +second-class artillery show, I still think I can promise you—if only +the Bulgar has the stomach for it—a livelier bit of hand-to-hand +fighting than you might find in a whole summer of looking for it in +France. Do you see those little winking flashes all along where the +infantry are <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>moving? Some of them are from bayonets, but most are from +knives. A great man with the knife is the Bulgar. Did you ever hear that +song about him they sang at a revue the British 'Tommies' had at +Saloniki? It was a parody on some other song that was being sung in the +halls in London, and went something like this:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A Bulgar song.</div> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Bulgar Song"> +<tr><td align='left'>I'm Boris the Bulgar,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Man With the Knife;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Pride of Sofia,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Taker of Life.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Good gracious, how spacious</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">And deep are the cuts,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Of Boris the Bulgar,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Knifer—</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>"Now for it! Look at that!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The barrages lift and the Greeks advance to meet the +Bulgars.</div> + +<p>I never did hear just what it was that Boris was a knifer of, for at +that juncture the two barrages—having respectively protected and +harried to the best of their abilities the advancing wave of infantry +down to within a hundred yards or so of the Greek trenches—"lifted" +almost simultaneously on to "communications," and that lifting was the +signal for the opening of the climacteric stage of the action. Without +an instant's delay, a solid wave of Greeks in brown—lightly fringed in +front with the figures of a few of the more active or impetuous who had +outdistanced their comrades in the scramble over the top—rose up out of +the earth and swept forward to meet the line of gray. The gust of their +first great cheer rolled up to us above the thunder of the artillery.</p> + +<p>"Now for it!" repeated X——, focussing down his telescope and steadying +himself with his elbows. "I think you'll find the show from now on worth +all the trouble of coming up to see."<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">the Bulgars break and retreat.</div> + +<p>I do not attempt to account for what happened now; I only record it. It +may have been that the Allied artillery had wrought more havoc in that +advancing wave of men than had been apparent from a distance, or it may +have been that the enemy artillery had done less to the entrenched +defenders than it was expected to do; at any rate, the line of gray +began to break at almost the first impact of the line of brown, and the +great hand-to-hand fight that X—— had promised me was transformed into +a Marathon.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Greeks have always beaten the Bulgars.</div> + +<p>"As I expected," muttered my companion. "'Boris' has no stomach for a +fight to-day with the man who licked him yesterday, and will lick him +to-morrow and go right on licking him to the end if they'll only give +him a show. The Bulgar never has stood up to the Greek, and he never +will."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Greek Staff is in a mountain valley.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Scarcity of nurses.</div> + +<p>The Greek Staff shared a round bowl of a mountain valley, a few miles +back from the front lines, with a clearing station. The equipment of the +little hospital had mostly been provided by the British Red Cross, but +the Venizelists had made a brave effort to furnish the staff themselves. +There were two French-trained Greek surgeons, a Greek matron, Greek +orderlies, and two Greek nurses. Since the attack began there had been +work for a dozen of the latter, but—as it had been impossible for the +women of most of the Venizelist families to get away from Old Greece—no +others were available. An English nurse, who had marched in the retreat +of the Serbians, and a French nurse from a Saloniki hospital had +volunteered to step into the breach, and these five women were +courageously trying to make up in zeal what they lacked in numbers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Working double hours.</div> + +<p>"We are not enough for a double shift since the fighting began," Madame +A——, the <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>matron, had said to me the night of my arrival; "so we are +accomplishing the same end by working double hours. We are working to +atone for the dishonor our King has brought upon our country, just as +our men are fighting to atone for it; and the harder we all work and +fight the sooner it will come about."</p> + +<p>The last thing to catch my eye as I looked back from the rim of the +valley when I rode away at midnight had been the flash of a bar of light +on a white uniform, as a tired figure had drooped against the flap of a +hospital tent for a breath of air.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Women nurses go without sleep.</div> + +<p>"If any one of those women has had a wink of sleep in the last three +days," Captain X—— had said as we reined in to let a string of +ambulances go by, "it must have been taken standing. I have been up most +of the time myself, and never once have I looked across to the clearing +station but I saw some sign of a nurse on the move."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Venizelos at the nurses' mess.</div> + +<p>Madame A—— had asked me to drop in at the nurses' mess for luncheon in +case I got back from the trenches in time, and this, by dint of hard +riding, I was just able to do. Three or four powerful military cars +drawn up at the hospital gate indicated new arrivals, but as to who they +were I had no hint until I had pushed in through the flap of the mess +tent and found M. Venizelos seated on a soap-box, <i>vis-à-vis</i> Madame +A—— at a table improvised from a couple of condensed milk cases. At +the regular mess table, sitting on reversed water-buckets, were three +French flying officers and a civilian whom I recognized as the private +secretary of M. Venizelos. Two nurses were just rising from unfinished +plates of soup in response to word that a crucial abdominal operation +awaited their attendance at the theatre.<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a></p> + +<p>"Most of the Provisional Government has come out to pay us a visit this +morning," said Madame A——, showing me to a blanket-roll seat at one +end of the mess table, "and we are lunching early so that it can get +back to Saloniki to take up the reins of State again. The General has +carried off the Admiral and the Foreign Minister, but I have managed to +keep the President for <i>our</i> banquet. He has made the round of the +hospital and spoken to every man here—that is," she added with a catch +in her voice, "to all that could hear him. We've—we've lost three men +this morning just because there wasn't staff to operate quickly enough."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A strange banquet at which the guests contribute.</div> + +<p>That was, I think, one of the strangest little "banquets" I ever sat +down to. Every one travels more or less "self-contained" in the Saloniki +area, and whenever a party is thrown together the joint supplies are +commandeered for the common good. The mess menu was a simple one of +soup, tinned salmon, rice, and cheese, but by the time M. Venizelos's +hamper had yielded a box of fresh figs, a can of the honey of Hymettus, +and a couple of bottles of Cretan wine, and the French officers had +"anted up" cognac, some tins of <i>flageolet</i> for salad, and a tumbler of +<i>confiture</i>, and the English nurse had brought out the last of her +Christmas plum-cake, and I had thrown in a loaf of Italian <i>pan-forte</i> +and a can of chocolates, the little crazy-legged camp-table had assumed +a passing festal air.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No one speaks of war at the feast.</div> + +<p>A number of toasts were proposed and drunk, but no one spoke of the +nearer or remoter progress of the war. M. Venizelos adverted several +times to the wonder of the spring flowers as he had seen them from the +road, especially the great fields of blood-red poppies, and I overheard +him telling Madame A—— some apparently amusing incidents of his early +life in Crete. But it was not until, <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>the banquet over, he had settled +himself in his car for the ride to Saloniki that he alluded to any of +the things with which his mind must have been so engrossed all the time.</p> + +<p>"So you thought that our troops had all the best of the enemy this +morning?" he said with a grave smile as he shook my hand.</p> + +<p>"Incomparably the best of it," I answered.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Why Venizelos is confident in the power of Greece.</div> + +<p>"Then perhaps you will understand why I felt so confident that the +Bulgars would not have come into the war if they had known that Greece +would stand by Serbia. And you will also understand why I feel so +confident that our military help to the Allies will be a very real one, +perhaps enough of a one even to save Greece from herself."</p> + +<p>This was, I believe, the latest occasion on which M. Venizelos visited +his troops at the front. Before another fortnight had gone by the forces +of the "Protecting Powers" were moving into Old Greece, and in a month +Constantine had abdicated and opened the way for the return of his +former Prime Minister to Athens.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The maker and Savior of Modern Greece.</div> + +<p>From the time of the Balkan wars of 1912-13 to the outbreak of the +present one Venizelos was often referred to as "The Maker of Modern +Greece." After this war he may well be known as "The Savior of Modern +Greece"; and of the two achievements there can be no doubt that history +must record that the one of "saving" was incomparably greater than the +one of "making."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">What the influence of Venizelos may do.</div> + +<p>It is still too early to make it worth while to endeavor to forecast +what is on the knees of the capricious war-gods of the Balkans, and +there is no use in trying to deny that the Bulgar—just as long as +Germany has the power and will to back him up—will take a deal of +beating. But that Venizelos will be able to make the army of reunited +Greece a potently con<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>tributive factor in bringing about that +devoutly-to-be-wished consummation may now be taken as assured.</p> + +<div class='center'>Copyright, World's Work, January, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>We have seen in a previous narrative the difficulties which the Italians +encountered in conducting their campaign against Austria. As a result of +German falsehood and propaganda, the Italian line was weakened and +penetrated by a great German army, and the Italian lines were swept +back. They finally held, however, and the strength of their resistance +is indicated in the following pages.<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE ITALIANS AT BAY</h2> + +<h3>G. WARD PRICE</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">Udine as it seemed before the war.</div> + +<p>Udine was a typically quaint and sleepy little Italian town galvanized +into unnatural life and prosperity. Every one who has spent a week in +Italy can put the picture of the place before his imagination in a +moment: streets of dark, restful, Gothic cloisters; a broad piazza +flanked by a graceful loggia; remains of medieval fortification of which +the towering gate-houses still narrowed each entrance to the town; a +general air of pleasant tranquillity and of a well-being that was a +legacy from the more spacious days of centuries gone by. The nature of +the place was that of mellow old wine, very gracious, rich with +associations that brought a glow to the palate of memory, but for all +that something of which one wanted only little at a time. A glimpse of +Udine as she had been for centuries was delightful, to dwell there would +seem like being buried alive.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bustle and congestion when Udine becomes Army Headquarters.</div> + +<p>To this forgotten township of the old Venetian province had come +suddenly in the spring of 1913 all the bustle and congestion of the +headquarters of the whole Italian Army. For the next two and a half +years you could hardly find a room in Udine to sleep in; the people of +the place opened large modern restaurants and cafés for the officers and +soldiers who crowded its streets; big shops filled the gloom of the old +arcades with an incongruous expanse of plate-glass windows; the good +burgesses of Udine made money and waxed fat.<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">A tactical dead-lock on the western front.</div> + +<p>It seemed, indeed, as if the steady shower of war prosperity that had +fallen upon them for two years might last until that indefinite, but to +most minds far-off, day when peace should come. For it was the general +opinion that in the West, at least, the war had reached a condition of +tactical dead-lock. Trench warfare had petrified movement, except in +laborious shifting of a few hundred yards at a time, hardly perceptible +on a small-scale map. The day of sweeping advances, of sudden +retirements, was over. At a reasonable distance behind that unbudging +wall of trenches you were as secure from personal displacement by the +war as if you were at the other end of Italy; indeed, no earlier than +the beginning of this month of October some people had arrived with +their families at Udine from other parts of the country to carry on +trades connected with the life of the army.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">General Cadorna praises the British batteries.</div> + +<p>I myself set foot in Udine for the first time on October 20. I was going +back to the Macedonian front, where for two years I had been the +official correspondent of the British Army, and I had asked the War +Office to authorize me to visit on the way the British batteries which +since April had been cooperating with the Italian Army on the Isonzo. +General Cadorna had given them high praise in a message to the British +Government after the fighting in which they had taken part in May, and I +thought it would be interesting to see British and Italian troops side +by side in the field for the first time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Visits to the Italian front yield important information.</div> + +<p>Visitors to the Italian front used to find most convenient arrangements +made to give them a rapid idea of conditions there. Lying almost +entirely among mountains, the line presented unusual opportunities for +survey from dominating heights, and there were many places where, at +leisure and in virtual safety, <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>one could watch the Austrian +intrenchments from close range. Fast cars took you up to these +vantage-points, and a number of staff-officers, speaking perfect English +and knowing every detail of the front and its history, raised these +visits from the level of sight-seeing excursions to opportunities for +learning a great deal that was important and technical.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Austro-German offensive begins.</div> + +<p>The very last of these journeys, which had been made by visitors of +every country, took place on October 24, the day that the great +Austro-German offensive began, and I remember how, as we drove along in +the rain, all our talk was of the bad news of that morning—that the +enemy, reinforced by a huge number of divisions brought secretly from +the Russian front, and profiting by a night of rain and fog, had thrust +down into the valley of the Isonzo between Plezzo and Tolmino, carried, +apparently by surprise, two Italian lines across the ravine after a +short and very violent bombardment, and then, pushing on, had captured +Caporetto, thus cutting off the Italian troops on Monte Nero and the +other mountains beyond the Isonzo, and opening a most serious gap in the +very center of the Italian line.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gorizia has suffered from the war.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A shell interrupts the sight-seers.</div> + +<p>The day was one of evil omen. We went to Gorizia, that pretty Austrian +spa that was taken by the Italians last year, and has suffered from the +war as much as Udine, its neighbor across the old frontier, has +prospered. In the heart of the town its old castle towers up from an +isolated crag, and from the battlements you can look across the valley +to the Italian and Austrian lines on the slopes of San Marco opposite. +Scores of parties like our own had made this visit to Gorizia Castle, +and to-day the driving rain and valley mists made observation so bad +that it seemed more than usually safe to show oneself above the ramparts +on the side toward the enemy. Yet we had not been there <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>three +minutes—a group of two well-known American correspondents and one +Italian, with an Italian officer, and myself—when an Austrian six-inch +shell burst with a crash hardly ten feet from the right-hand man of our +line. A black wall of flying mud towered up and blotted out the sky; +three of us were thrown headlong by the force of the explosion. Only the +fact that the shell had fallen deeply into the rain-softened bank of +earth on top of the battlements saved the names of the last four +visitors to the Italian front from being recorded on graves in Gorizia +cemetery.</p> + +<p>"I've brought people here seventy or eighty times," said the officer who +was with us, "and nothing like that has ever happened before."</p> + +<p>"We've evidently brought bad luck," said some one, and so, little though +we guessed it, we had.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Italians expect an Austrian push.</div> + +<p>During the first fortnight of October it had been a remark frequently +made throughout Italy that an Austrian push was probable before the real +winter set in. I had heard this likelihood discussed by people at the +Chamber of Deputies on my way through Rome, but without serious +significance being given to it. The Austro-Swiss frontier had been +closed for five weeks, always a sign that important movements of troops +were going on in the enemy's country; something more unusual was that +even the postal mails from Austria to Holland and Scandinavia had been +suspended.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Cadorna believes the enemy will use large reserves.</div> + +<p>According to the talk one heard in Italy, Cadorna had already had in +mind the chance of a strong autumn attack on his army when he arrested +his own offensive in September after capturing by a brilliant stroke the +greater part of the Bainsizza plateau beyond the Isonzo, taking thirty +thousand prisoners and one hundred and fifty guns. The French and +British general staffs, it was said, had asked Cadorna <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>whether he meant +to go on with his offensive, for which they had contributed contingents +of guns. Cadorna's reply had been that he had strong Austrian forces +against him, of which he knew the total, but that he also believed large +reserves of unknown quantity were available for use against him, owing +to the collapse of the Russian Army. In these circumstances he preferred +to consolidate and prepare rather than to continue to challenge forces +that could not be exactly estimated.</p> + +<p>Both the increase of enemy strength on the Italian front and the +paralyzing uncertainty under which the Allies labored, were directly due +to the debacle of the Russian Army during the summer. The means by which +commanders-in-chief arrive at the indispensable knowledge of what forces +they have against them is through a highly organized intelligence +department, working in close cooperation with the similar departments of +the other Allied armies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">How the enemy's strength is ascertained.</div> + +<p>Each of these departments, by interrogating prisoners and reading papers +found on enemy dead, by collating the reports of the air service, by +minutely sifting the enemy press, arrives at a fairly accurate knowledge +of the enemy's order of battle on the front of its own army. So +essential is this system to the successful carrying-on of operations +that raids are often specially organized on the enemy trenches with the +sole object of capturing prisoners who may be able to give information +that will clear up some point about which there is uncertainty. All the +knowledge of the enemy's dispositions thus collected by each of the +Allied armies is open to all of them; it is exchanged and compared and +collated, so that they finally arrive at a fairly complete knowledge of +the distribution of the enemy's forces in each one of the theaters of +war.<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Russian intelligence department collapses.</div> + +<p>Now, when the Russian Army went to pieces in the summer, its +intelligence department collapsed with the rest. The Russian Army has +taken virtually no prisoners for a long time, and consequently the facts +about what troops the Austrians and Germans have on that front have not +been ascertainable. It was known that the enemy used to have about one +hundred and thirty divisions there, but no one could tell whether they +still remained or whether they had been brought away to be held in +reserve for some sudden operation on another front.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The attack by the Austro-Germans a surprise.</div> + +<p>In this way it came about that the sudden attack by an unexpectedly +large Austro-German force upon the Isonzo line took the Italians by +surprise, with the result that they lost in three days not only all they +had won in two and a half years of hard fighting, by sacrifices and +sufferings and labors beyond human estimation, but also the larger part +of that rich north-eastern department of their country which was for +centuries the metropolitan province of the great Venetian republic.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Enemy has a great number of fresh guns.</div> + +<p>On October 22 we learned at Italian headquarters that ten German +divisions, about one hundred and twenty thousand men, had arrived behind +the enemy front on the Isonzo and were concentrated in reserve round +Laibach. This was the first time in the whole war that German troops had +met the Italians on this front. The number of new Austrian divisions was +reported to be even greater. Many new batteries of heavy caliber had +also arrived and were registering their ranges; indeed, when the attack +actually came, it was found that the number of fresh guns was even +greater than had been thought, for some of them did not reveal their +position by registering, but, taking their ranges from guns earlier in +position, fired not a round until they joined in that terrific <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>first +bombardment with which the attack opened on the morning of October 24.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Italians expect to hold west side of Isonzo.</div> + +<p>Most serious was the situation, but even yet no one grasped how bad the +reality was going to be. It was generally accepted that all ground +beyond the Isonzo would have to be abandoned, but it seemed beyond all +doubt that the Italians would be able to make good their defense along +the steep ridge that forms the western side of the Isonzo valley. As you +looked from those heights across the river, it was like looking from the +wall of a medieval castle; you dominated everything, and behind you were +great Italian guns ready to fill the gorge of the Isonzo and the slopes +beyond with a barrier of bursting steel.</p> + +<p>But one of those combinations that have often helped the Germans in this +war helped them to the success that seemed impossible. It was made up of +the secrecy with which they had been able to complete their +preparations, of the luck of surprise and bad weather, and above all of +the fatal failure in their duty of certain detachments of the Italian +forces.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German propaganda has created disaffection in every Allied +country.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Soldiers everywhere are weary of war.</div> + +<p>One of the successes of this year's German offensive was the creation in +the heart of an efficient and gallant army of this canker of +disaffection by propaganda that has been as energetic and as dangerous +to our cause as any of the enemy's operations in the field. In every +Allied country it has been active; among the English it is at work +corrupting labor, preying on the nerves of the overstrained worker, and +whispering any subtle lie that will sap his will and undermine his +spirit. In France one fractional part of the widespread organization +that carries on this treacherous work is being exposed by the +revelations in the Bolo case. In Italy the Germans cunningly twisted +fanatics, both socialist and clerical, into agents <a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>for forwarding their +work, and they had flooded the country with money to corrupt the army +which they had not been able to beat in the field. The individual +soldiers of every country, including above all the Central empires +themselves, are dead-weary of the war, but the enemy alone has had the +cunning and the baseness deliberately to exploit this feeling to his +profit, working through the agency of bought traitors and hired spies. +And so the Austro-Germans had managed to imbue a limited part of the +Italian Army with the distorted idea that the quickest way to regain the +longed-for comforts of peace was to refuse to fight and thus open the +way for a rapid Austrian victory.</p> + +<p>When this ferment of disloyalty had done its work, the Germans were +ready to attack the particular sector of the line held by the troops +that it had most affected. These were on the left wing of the Italian +Second Army, which held the front of the Isonzo from Plezzo down to +Tolmino, and it was on that point that the enemy directed his first +thrust.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The news of the taking of Caporetto.</div> + +<p>The news of the taking of Caporetto on the morning of October 24 had +about as startling an effect at Italian headquarters as would be +produced on the British front if it were suddenly announced that the +Germans were in Ypres. Not only was Caporetto a town on the Upper Isonzo +which the Italians had seized by dashing forward across the frontier the +very morning that war was declared, but it also stood at the head of a +most important strategical valley leading back into the mountains on +which the Italian main line lay, and from the town lead several easy +roads that follow various routes into the plain beyond. Already the +enemy was pressing in force along those roads. The Italians had, indeed, +fallen back to reserve positions, but were the enemy to win through—as +he did within two days—he would <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>be on the flank and almost in the rear +of the whole Italian Army of a million men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rapid progress of the Germans is difficult to explain.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Italian outposts are surrounded.</div> + +<p>Just how the Germans progressed so fast that by noon on October 24 they +had a machine-gun posted on the square in Caporetto still remains, eight +days later, incompletely explained. All that is really known is this: at +2 a.m. they started a very violent bombardment. When the shelling +suddenly stopped after only two hours, the Italians regarded the +interruption merely as a lull, for the artillery preparation for an +infantry attack in force usually lasts much longer. With the valley +hidden by darkness, mist, and rain, and seeing more dimly than usual +through the mica of their gas-masks, the Italians knew nothing of the +German infantry's advance up the valley from the Santa Lucia bridgehead, +south of Tolmino, until the enemy had actually reached their wire. In +this way the Plec line of defense across that reach of the Isonzo known +as the Conca di Plezzo, a line specially designed to check an offensive +from Santa Lucia, was captured by surprise, and then German troops +poured down into the river gorge from Mrzli on its eastern side, until +the valley was full of the enemy, and Monte Nero and the other Italian +outpost positions on the heights beyond the Isonzo were completely +surrounded.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Violent fighting on the Bainsizza plateau.</div> + +<p>The valley being in their possession, the Germans wasted no time. +Pushing northward along the river, one detachment occupied Idersko and +Caporetto; another proceeded to assault the height of Starijok, just +above Caporetto; yet another strong force made a frontal attack on the +ridge of Zagradan, which runs like a wall along the Italian side of the +river, and after fierce fighting took Luico, one of the pivots of the +defenses upon it. Elsewhere he had attacked at the same time with less +definite result. Mount Globocak was seized by surprise.<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a> It was an +Italian big-gun position, and orders were given for it to be retaken at +any cost. So a distinguished brigade of bersaglieri was sent up to +counter-attack, and drove the Germans from the captured guns down the +slopes of Globocak again. North of Caporetto, too, the angle of the +Italian line at Zaga had been assailed, but had resisted, and across the +river on the Bainsizza plateau the most violent fighting of all took +place, as a result of which the Italian line was withdrawn from Kal, and +the heavy guns and equipment were sent back across the Isonzo, though +the Italian counter-attacks on the Bainsizza were carried out with such +dash that they captured several hundred Austrian prisoners.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Danger that the Italian Army may be trapped.</div> + +<p>Now the enemy's plan stood out in all its formidable strength and +strategy. He had opened a gap in the Italian front; through this gap he +was pouring overwhelming forces. Already the rest of the Italian Second +Army and the Third Army on the Carso to the south of it were outflanked. +If the whole of that great force was not to have its line of +communications cut and be surrounded, it must be immediately and rapidly +withdrawn for a great distance. An immense sacrifice of Italian +territory was imperative if the Italian Army was to be saved from a trap +by the side of which the fall of Metz was the capture of an outpost. +During the afternoon of October 25 the general order of retreat was +given.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Austrians use seventeen-inch howitzers.</div> + +<p>I went up again to visit the British batteries which were with the Third +Army on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, and from one of their +observatories watched the heavy shelling. The Austrians were using huge +seventeen-inch howitzers, and the explosions of their gigantic shells, +each weighing a ton, was like a small eruption. A solid block of piebald +smoke as big as a cathedral sprang into the air and it <a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>was a minute or +more before the last of it had drifted away.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Monfalcone the most romantic point in the fighting line.</div> + +<p>And as the sun was setting I went down to Monfalcone, to a place which +could not be mentioned then, but which was at the same time probably the +oddest and the most romantic point of the world's fighting-line. +Monfalcone was for the Austrians a sort of combination of Birkenhead and +Bournemouth. There were important ship-building yards there, and it had +besides popularity as a seaside place. In the shipyard the Austrians had +left an eighteen-thousand-ton liner, of which the hull was complete and +the decks built in.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Tools of constructive labor are dropped.</div> + +<p>To reach the ship you passed through a yard that was a rusty monument to +the futility of war. There were all the tools of constructive labor just +as they had been dropped when this nightmare of destructive passion +burst upon the world; weather-reddened traveling cranes rusted to the +tracks on which they will never move again; trucks overturned, a lathe +smashed by a shell that had torn a wide gap in the roof above. Here, +where the air used to tremble all day long with the clang of giant +hammers, there was now silence and desertion, and the offices from which +great ships were controlled on their voyages to far-off seas had become +the barracks of Italian artillery-men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The partly built Austrian liner.</div> + +<p>There was a big wooden staircase that the Italians had built leading up +to the various decks of the great liner, and, once on board, you could +walk out to the forward bridge of the ship where from a sort of +conning-tower you looked out at the Austrian trenches less than a mile +away without the possibility of being seen. An odd observation post, +neither asea nor ashore, and to make the confusion of elements more +complete, the gunners whose guns barked continually from just behind it +<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>were sailors of the Italian Navy, dressed not in blue, but in military +gray-green.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A view of coveted Triest.</div> + +<p>Triest, the coveted city, lay ten miles away in full view, and each +night the Italians saw its windows answer with flashes of dull gold the +last rays of the sun setting behind Italy. As you looked from Monfalcone +across the dreamy blue of the empty gulf between, the town lay like a +stone image, lifeless except for the white smoke curling gently from a +single tall chimney into the quiet evening air. Much nearer along the +coast was the Castle of Duina standing on an abrupt cliff. It belongs to +the Grand Duchess of Thurn and Taxis, who used to gather parties of +poets, painters, and writers there to stay in what was like a legendary +palace looking down from its high headland upon the sunlit, sail-flecked +Adriatic, stretching away into the shining distance.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Italians are evacuating the Bainsizza plateau.</div> + +<p>It was from that last fair glimpse of Triest that you turned back to the +grave realities of situation. On the next morning, the twenty-sixth, the +Italian supreme command announced that the Bainsizza plateau was being +evacuated. It had been won with great losses and gallantry in August, +and the Italians had laboriously equipped it with roads and military +establishments to create a firm taking-off place for the next attack +upon the crest of Mount Gabriele, which was expected to drive the +Austrians back for five miles up the Vippaco valley, on the way to +Laibach, one of the back-doors to Triest.</p> + +<p>The same day came the news of the fall of the Italian Government, which +had been attacked during the fortnight by a strange combination of the +advanced wing of the pro-war party who considered that the ministry was +not displaying enough firmness in its conduct of the campaign, with the +pacifist socialist party who denounced the Government for infringing +<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>the constitutional rights of the people in the interests of militarism. +A feeling of <i>malaise</i> was in the air. All the elements of success were +present in the Italian Army except the most important of all, the +psychological element.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Evacuation of Udine.</div> + +<p>By this time motor-lorries had already begun to pour back through Udine, +and in the streets the Signal Corps were taking down the +telegraph-wires. You saw little parties of father, mother, and children +suddenly emerge from house or shop, each with hand-luggage. If you +looked closely you generally saw that the woman was crying.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Air fights between Germans and Italians.</div> + +<p>On the twenty-sixth there were frequent attempts to reach Udine by +German flyers who were new to the ground. It was the first time that the +Italian Air Corps had had to deal with a German attempt to contest their +supremacy and they came well out of the trial. Ten enemy machines were +brought down during the day, two individual Italian airmen accounting +for three each. When the enemy machines were sighted heading for Udine +the jarring scream of a siren gave the alarm, and the police cleared the +streets.</p> + +<p>Saturday, October 27, was the day of general exodus.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Batteries hold rearward positions.</div> + +<p>I left Udine early on Saturday morning, in the car of the British +general commanding our artillery contingent on the Italian front, to go +up to the batteries and see how they got on in the retreat. We crawled +out toward the front along roads blocked with rearward-moving traffic +for which there was no organization, and after lunching at the general's +headquarters at Gradisca, I went on to Rubbia, just across the Isonzo, +to the south of Gorizia, where was the group headquarters of the +batteries. Already the supply service of the Third Army were pouring in +a black mass along the road, screened at the side and overhead by +<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>rushmats from the observation of the enemy. Voices and hammering under +the long wooden bridge across the Isonzo at Rubbia were signs that the +Italian engineers were putting in position charges of explosive to blow +it up when as much material as possible had been brought over. Some of +our batteries had already been withdrawn to rearward positions not far +from group headquarters and were firing as fast as the guns could be +reloaded. The others were still in their old emplacements a mile or so +farther forward, being shelled terrifically by the Austrian twelve-inch +batteries, but having extraordinary luck. They were using up as much of +their ammunition as they could, because it was becoming clearer every +moment that the Italian transport service was not going to be able to +supply the lorries to move the shells, which were big enough for fifty +of them to make a full lorry-load.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Lack of motor lorries to move ammunition.</div> + +<p>A major from one of the batteries came into group headquarters while I +was in the mess. He was dark under the eyes after a couple of sleepless +nights, for his men had been working hard all round the clock to get the +ammunition back from the forward dumps, labor that afterward proved +wasted, as there were no lorries forthcoming to carry it farther on. +Sixty twelve-inch shells and one aeroplane bomb a yard away from one of +his four guns was the afternoon's experience of his battery, and only +one man wounded made up the casualty-list for the same period.</p> + +<p>"And I'm going to have a damn good dinner to-night whatever happens," he +announced. "Goodness knows when we shall eat or sleep again. So the +fowls and the rabbits we had in the battery are being killed this +afternoon."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">English and French artillery dependent on Italian transport.</div> + +<p>There were Austrian shells falling on the hill by group headquarters, +but none fell on that dense-packed road along which military traffic <a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>of +every kind and shape crawled and stuck and crawled on again. The tension +grew greater at our headquarters. The guns needed tractors to move them, +and motor-lorries were required to carry the battery stores. For the +English artillery contingent had no transport of its own, the +arrangement having been that this should be supplied by the Italians. +The French artillery contingent with the Italian Army, on the other +hand, was independent in this respect.</p> + +<p>The organization with regard to the transport of guns is different in +the Italian and the British armies. The British system is that every gun +shall have its motor or horse-haulage permanently assigned to it, so +that it is always mobile at a moment's notice. In the Italian army the +mechanical transport service provides haulage for all units when +required, and as it is only in extraordinarily exceptional circumstances +that every single thing in the army needs moving at once, they are able +to effect considerable economies over the British method, which +constantly keeps large numbers of lorries and tractors and cars, +together with their drivers and mechanics, idle, since the units to +which they are attached are not at the moment in need of transport.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Doubtful if all the British guns can be moved.</div> + +<p>By the time it was dark on Saturday evening the likelihood of all the +British guns getting away seemed doubtful, and the Italian artillery +colonel who supervised their employment as corps artillery came to our +group headquarters to say that preparations must be made for blowing the +last of them up, and that in any case each tractor must tow more than +one gun and come back for others directly it had got its first tows +behind the Isonzo.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Enormous conflagration of military stores.</div> + +<p>And now the darkening landscape suddenly began to spring out into +brilliant points of light, as everywhere behind the Italian front, +supply-depots, military stores, and vast col<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>lections of wooden sheds +were set in a blaze. Gorizia was the site of a special conflagration, +and the enemy gun-fire was steadily increasing, till sometimes the +barrage rose to a single prolonged roar, and you could not have got a +knife edge between the bursts.</p> + +<p>By 7.30 p.m. six of our guns were across the river and the rest were now +firing like field artillery, with no other batteries between them and +the enemy. They kept up this protection of the retreat of the infantry +so long, in fact, that the last round of all, at about 10 p.m., was +fired just before the gun was hitched to the tractor, and there was yet +another gun that had its breech mechanism smashed for fear it might have +to be left behind.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Abandoned ammunition is exploded.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Like a volcanic eruption.</div> + +<p>The bright moon hung in a pale-green sky, looking down on a dozen roads +each crawling like a black snake with the close press of retreating +troops. As I was making my way back to Gradisca the whole firmament +leaped into sudden brilliance and every feature in every face among the +throngs around me on the road stood out for several seconds under a +ghastly light. Then followed from behind Monte Michele, a deep, rolling +roar. It was the first of the explosions of the great abandoned stores +of gun-ammunition behind the front. From then till dawn the night sky +was continually breaking into a glare like that of gigantic sunset, and +the crash of destroyed artillery ammunition shook the ground. The less +brilliant, but steadier, glow of burning stores and sheds and houses was +constantly multiplied, and the flash of every new explosion revealed +fresh masses of black smoke rising in sharp outline against the lurid +horizon. It was an apocalyptic spectacle; nothing short of a volcanic +eruption could produce those tremendous effects of infernal +illumination. Millions of pounds' worth of material, all the fruits of +<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>two and a half years of labor, were burned and blasted out of existence +in a few hours.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The necessity for speed.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Valuable stores abandoned for lack of lorries.</div> + +<p>The difficulty that complicated the Italian evacuation of their war-zone +was the fact that every hour the need for speed became more urgent, if +utter disaster was to be averted. A unit would be given twelve hours to +get to the point on the railway where it was to entrain and then an hour +later its time-limit would be reduced to two hours. A headquarters might +be told that a sufficient supply of motor-lorries would be available to +evacuate all its material and that it had better begin getting rid of +chairs and tables and its superfluous stuff at once, but no sooner had +these less important stores gone than word would come that no more +transport was available and that all the immensely valuable stores and +reserves of ammunition that still remained, must be abandoned, as no +lorries could be found for them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Difficulties in a sudden retreat.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Every officer tries to save his supplies.</div> + +<p>Moving a great army is an affair of time-tables. There is room for only +a certain amount of men and material on the roads and railways at one +time, and every man and every wagon above that maximum becomes a factor +of confusion and retards the movement of the whole mass to a dangerous +degree. The sudden retreat of an army is often reduced to chaos, first, +because a thoroughly worked-out plan of general retirement exists but +rarely in the strong-boxes of any general staff, and secondly, because +in the absence of a time-table drawn up in detail and strictly enforced, +the elementary principle of self-preservation leads every unit of the +army to put itself on the road as quickly as it can get transportation. +This is not to say that confusion is an invariable indication of +personal panic; but it is very natural, and even very proper, that every +battery commander, the director of every military store and depot, and +the leader of every body of troops <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>which is not definitely ordered to +remain, should have the individual determination that his particular +command shall not fall into the hands of the enemy. The artillery +officer firmly resolves that he will save his guns at all costs; the +heads of supply departments are in charge of valuable stores which their +army needs for its very existence and which would be of great aid to the +enemy if captured, and the troop-leader naturally argues that it would +be futile to allow his men to be cut off when a general retreat has +already been ordered. So if the organization of withdrawal is left to +the discretion of the people involved in it, as it has to be when the +whole thing has not been deliberately arranged beforehand, confusion is +almost inevitable.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fear of being cut off by the enemy.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Only severest means can stop civilian traffic.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Modern war is a wild fury of destruction.</div> + +<p>Moreover, the enemy always seems to be advancing much faster than he +really is. Under the discouragement that every army feels in falling +back, it is easy to credit the pursuer with exaggerated powers of rapid +motion; the defeated soldier forgets that the miles are just as long and +weary for his adversary trudging painfully after him as they are for +himself. Rumor, too, spreads wildly among tired and disheartened men. +Enemy cavalry, enemy armored motor-cars, hurrying ahead to cut him +off—that idea haunts the mind of each man in an enforced retirement. A +further complication is caused when, as was the case in the Italian +withdrawal, the civilian population is also desperately anxious to be +gone before the arrival of the enemy. The news of the forthcoming +evacuation of territory spreads backward with rapidity, and the roads +along the route of the retreating army fill at once with unregulated, +disorderly swarms of frightened civilians and their household baggage, +hastily stowed on slow-moving dilapidated carts that are likely to break +down at narrow <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>points of the way and block whole miles of military +traffic for hours at a time. The Italian Army had to endure a great deal +of that kind of complication. Theoretically, of course, a general could +throw back cavalry and mounted police along the line of his retreat and +forbid any civilian traffic whatever under pain of military penalties; +but it is very difficult to use such measures against your own +countrymen threatened with invasion, specially when the whole aim and +object of your war is to free men of your own race from foreign +domination. And not only does the sentimental reason of saving +fellow-citizens from the yoke of an invader forbid this course, but also +considerations of common humanity. In the old wars, when the danger-area +of fighting was restricted to the places where opposing troops actually +came into contact, there was no particular danger for the civilian +inhabitants remaining in invaded territory; though their property might +suffer from the enemy's requisitions, their lives were likely to be +safe. But wars of this modern character spread destruction broadcast +over a whole region. A rear-guard action will involve a rain of shells +that may smash to pieces any village on the line of retreat; gas may be +used, creeping into the refuges where the non-combatant population has +taken shelter, and choking them there like vermin in a hole. War is no +longer a civilly organized affair of pitched battles; it is a wild fury +of destruction, raging across the whole country-side like a typhoon.</p> + +<p>If the English batteries on the Italian front had brought with them to +Italy their full organization of transport, they could have saved all +their ammunition and stores, their ordnance workshops and supplies. As +it was, they had been incorporated in the Italian Army as <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>corps +artillery on the Italian basis; they had to take their chance of getting +transport along with every one else, and consequently of all their +equipment they could save only the guns themselves, which after all was +what chiefly mattered.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A marching army does not seem as numerous as the same in +confusion.</div> + +<p>Discipline is a camouflage of numbers. A thousand men marching past in +column of fours does not make upon the mind the same impression of +multitude as the sight of half that number in a disordered rabble. +Regularity and compactness reduce the appearance of mass; and you +receive a profounder suggestion of size from a comparatively small pile +of natural rocks than you do from the geometrical pyramids. In the same +way an army whose formations are suddenly relaxed seems to swell +enormously in numbers. You can drive through a region where a million +men are stationed under regular military organization and get no idea of +congestion, but if those men are suddenly dissolved from a closely knit +body into a crowd of individual persons, the same country-side seems +hardly large enough to hold them all.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Discomforts of the retreat.</div> + +<p>So, as with that little party of Englishmen I started on the retreat in +the early morning hours of October 28, we seemed to be engulfed in a +constantly broadening flood of human beings. We were in a train, the men +in open trucks, miserable enough under the cold, streaming rain, the +officers crowded into a closed van with the baggage. When we started in +the dark we had the train to ourselves, but as I awoke three hours later +from an uneasy sleep and looked out of the van, the rest of the train +already swarmed with Italian soldiers who had clambered upon it as it +crept along at a snail's pace. And when dawn came we saw ahead of us a +long vista of trains stretching out of sight, while behind stood +<a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>another queue of them, whistling impatiently like human beings at a +ticket office; sometimes one of them would back a little and make the +others behind it back too, all screeching furiously with their whistles +exactly as if they were trying to shout, "Where are you coming to?"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The one idea is to keep on moving.</div> + +<p>Along the railway, and on the roads at both sides of it, and across the +fields beyond the roads, moved at the same time a crawling mass of +people, all going in the same direction, all at about the same pace, +without stopping, without talking to one another, every one of them just +plodding slowly, wearily, persistently rearward. As you watched them you +knew that each man had in his mind just one idea, to keep on moving like +that until he knew that he was safe. There was no panic or fighting +during the retreat except at isolated times and places; the situation +was just this, that for the unique and imposed will that sways an army +there had been substituted a multitude of individual wills all striving +independently for the same end of self-preservation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">People seem unaware of the others.</div> + +<p>These dark, sluggish streams of men and vehicles and beasts crept +tortuously over the country-side like the channels of a delta trickling +to the sea. Here and there little eddies of stragglers had been thrown +out to each side. It is a curious thing, which I have noticed under +similar conditions before, that each person or little group of persons +in this mass of human beings seemed almost unaware of the presence of +the rest. You would see a family party of peasants gathered round their +ox cart and making a meal of bread and raw red wine without so much as a +glance at the motley thousands streaming by at their elbows; a soldier +would strip off his wet clothes on the road's edge to change them for +some that he had looted from a wayside store with no appar<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>ent +perception of the women trudging past; nor did they seem to notice him. +The niceties of convention are quickly dulled by fatigue, and it is only +the easefulness of modern life that makes the coarser little realities +of human nature seem shocking.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The crowds get clothes from stacked trucks.</div> + +<p>Among the trains that stretched out of sight along the line there were +some trucks stacked with bundles of military mackintoshes, woolen +helmets, shirts, thick socks. Some inquisitive soldier discovered these +and disinterred a complete outfit for himself. A few minutes later he +was a changed figure, with clean clothing in place of his own muddy, +rain-soaked things, and a stiff blue mackintosh and sou'wester hat over +all. The transfiguration attracted envious attention, and he was +besieged with questions. Soon those trucks with their piles of white +packages looked like giant sugar-basins swarming with wasps, and all +around were throngs jostling one another for the next place on the heap. +It was all quite good-humored; they were all laughing, waving their +arms, calling to friends on the trucks to throw them a shirt or a +waterproof, and when these things came flying down to them they turned +away with the satisfied smile of children. Nothing puts human beings in +such thoroughly good temper as to get something for nothing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A litter of old clothes on the road.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Two Italian ladies follow the track.</div> + +<p>In this way the whole track soon became a litter of old clothes, which +the retiring soldiers trampled into the mud. Amid all this chaos one +kept on meeting utterly incongruous figures, for with all the world +road-worn, shabby, and dirty, to be clean and well-dressed is to be +grotesque. Amid this multitude of haggard, unwashed, unshaven, dead-beat +males, I noticed two Italian ladies treading delicately over the rough +ballast of the railway-track. They had naturally brought with them in +their flight the most valuable of their possessions, <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>which were of a +kind to be most conveniently carried on their persons. Against this gray +background of mud and rubbish and a disbanded army their two figures +glittered with a brilliance that would have been conspicuous in the rue +de la Paix. Heavy sable furs and muffs almost bowed their shoulders; +each finger had two or three rings that flashed in the light; round +their necks were gold chains hung with pendants, and yet, instead of the +air of self-satisfied ostentation that might well have gone with a +display so lavish, there were only two pathetically little, frightened, +perplexed faces, and an uncertain gait that did not promise much further +progress along that ankle-wrenching railway-line.</p> + +<p>By this time I had left the train, which had taken thirty hours to cover +fifteen miles, and was walking ahead along the track. There was always +the chance that something might happen to the two bridges farther on +over the Tagliamento, and I wanted to be on the same side of the river +as the telegraph office when that occurred.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Tagliamento bridges dominate the retirement.</div> + +<p>These bridges were the feature that dominated the whole movement of +retirement. In military terms, they constituted a defile upon its route. +Everything had to converge upon one of those three narrow passages, and +until they were crossed there was no security for the Italian Army.</p> + +<p>Rear-guard actions were, indeed, fought at intermediate places such as +the line of the Torre, west of Udine, where General Petiti di Roreto +made a stand with six brigades, the valley of the Judrio, the heights +above Cormons. But such efforts could do no more than delay the enemy's +advance; the respite that the Italian Army so urgently needed to pull +itself together, to reassemble its units, redistribute its artillery, +and, in short, gather <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>into one hand again the scattered threads of +control, could be found only behind the Tagliamento River, forty miles +back from the old front line.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rain fills the Isonzo and holds back the enemy.</div> + +<p>Fortunately from Saturday night through Sunday night, the first period +of the retreat of the fighting troops as distinct from the rearward +services of the army, it poured torrentially with rain, and this, while +increasing the hardships endured by the men, contributed in two ways to +their salvation; for one thing it swelled the swift and now bridgeless +Isonzo, which the enemy had to cross, brimful, and turned the +Tagliamento, usually a trickle of water in an untidy stony bed across +which a man can wade, into a broad deep flood; it, furthermore, kept the +Austrian and German aeroplanes from following up to sweep with bomb and +machine-gun the tightly packed road where they could have massacred +victims by the hundred and might have turned the retreat into a hopeless +rout.</p> + +<p>Though the men exposed in open trucks or sludging along the muddy roads +and swampy fields had cursed the rain bitterly, its value to our side +became conspicuously plain when Monday morning broke bright with autumn +sunshine.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Troops fill the village of Latisana.</div> + +<p>It was about ten o'clock on that morning when I reached the village of +Latisana, where was the southernmost bridge across the Tagliamento. The +streets of the little town were simply chock-a-block with troops which +were pouring into it from converging roads. Two or three Italian +officers, splashed to the eyes with mud and hoarse with shouting, had +organized some control at this point, or otherwise nothing would have +moved at all. Pushing soldiers this way and that, seizing horses' heads, +straining their voices against the din of clattering motors, they held +up each stream <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>of traffic in turn for a few minutes and passed the +other through.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An English soldier keeps his air of efficiency.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Men in great need of food.</div> + +<p>Conspicuous in his khaki among this spate of Italian gray, stood an +English soldier contentedly munching dry brown bread. The motor-bicycle +at his side indicated him as a despatch-rider belonging to one of the +batteries. It would have been hard to say whether machine or man was the +more travel-stained. The cycle's front wheel was badly bent, evidently +by some collision; the soldier's hand was bound with a dirty rag, and +his face clotted with the blood of a congealed scratch, the result of +having been pushed off the road by a motor-lorry in the dark and falling +head-long down a stone embankment. Yet about both mount and man there +was still an air of efficiency and unimpaired fundamental soundness that +was encouraging, and the mud-plastered figure saluted the English +officer at my side with a flick of the wrist that would have passed on +the parade-ground at Wellington Barracks. Two guns of his battery, he +reported, were three or four miles back down the road; the men were +dead-beat, but the worst was that they had had nothing to eat for +thirty-six hours, owing to the tractor that had their rations on board +catching fire and burning them; they had picked up scraps of bread that +other troops had dropped, and some of them had tried and appreciated +cutlets from a dead mule; they needed food to restore their strength for +they had been working hard without sleep for two days and nights. It had +been forty-eight hours of continuous hauling on those heavy guns, which +were constantly getting edged off the road by other traffic, and which +had to be unhitched every time the tractor stopped because it was so +overloaded that it would not start with the full weight of its tow. So +the officer had sent him on ahead to scout for food, <a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>and he had just +found a <i>sosistenza</i> where they had given him a sack of bread to take +back.</p> + +<p>"You all right yourself?" asked my officer-companion.</p> + +<p>"Quite all right, sir, thank you," he answered, and slinging the bulging +sack across his shoulders, the despatch-rider straddled his battered +bicycle and set off on a sinuous path through the wedged traffic, with +his bent front-wheel writhing like a tortured snake.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Finding the way to reach Padua.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Walking single file through the mud.</div> + +<p>This news of the existence of a <i>sosistenza</i> was good hearing. I myself +had not the least idea of how to get to Padua, the nearest place from +which I could hope to send a telegram, except by walking there; and +Padua was sixty miles along the railway-line. Two days' walking, two +brown loaves the gift of the Italian officer in charge of the +bread-depot, and a stick of chocolate; it was a prospect of no +allurement. I stepped into place in the long trail of refugees and +started, however. It needed no more than two hours of stumbling over +sleepers and crunching on the rough stone ballast of the track to make +of me as tired and dull-witted a hobo as the rest. We all walked in +single file, keeping as far as possible to a strip of soft mud at the +side of the line where the going was easier, and one's whole mind had +become before long entirely concentrated on nothing more than the +increasing soreness of two tired feet and the gradual development of a +blister on a big toe. From Portogruaro onward, however, my own personal +luck changed, and by getting one lift after another I reached Padua the +same night.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">British guns wait to cross.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">An Italian colonel attempts to keep order on the bridge.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A panic is started.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Austrian aeroplanes are overhead.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Italian officers check panic.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Airplane opens fire on the road.</div> + +<p>Gradually the throng at the Latisana bridge increased, and eventually no +less than eleven of the British guns attached to the Italian army were +drawn up at the side of the road waiting their turn to cross. The +English colonel who commanded the group to which they <a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>belonged had +arrived and was using the funnel of the bridge to collect his scattered +units. The men refreshed with the bread that they had received from the +Italian food-depot, were resting by the side of the road; an Italian +artillery colonel, under whose command the guns had been when on the +Third Army front as corps artillery, was on the bridge trying to hold up +the onpressing, unbroken string of heterogeneous traffic long enough for +the English guns to be edged into the procession. Then suddenly one of +these things happened to which an army in retreat is peculiarly liable. +How it started no one seems to know. One theory is that Austrian +soldiers dressed in Italian uniforms had been hurried on ahead by the +enemy to mingle with the retreat and spread such panics. What actually +happened was that several men galloped up all at once on horseback +shouting, "The Austrians are here." Immediately the crowd, hitherto +patiently waiting its turn to cross the bridge, made one simultaneous +push toward its opening. Beyond the river there was the whole +country-side to scatter over; on this side they could expect no other +fate than to be caught helplessly in a trap. It was like a stampede in a +burning theater; the desperate eagerness of every person in the crowd to +get on the bridge stopped almost any one from getting there. Carts and +people at the edge of the road were shoved down the embankment by the +weight of the dense mass surging along its center. And then to add to +the terror of the moment there was heard above the shouts and oaths of +the struggling mob a low, foreboding hum, the characteristic drone of +Austrian aeroplanes. It is hard to see what could have come of the +situation but complete and bloody disaster if it had not been for the +decided action of some Italian officers. By main force they thrust into +the middle of the entrance to <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>the bridge and checked the panic with +sheer personal determination. The sound of their authoritative voices +brought back the sense of discipline that had momentarily gone. Under +their orders the pushing throng sorted itself into some order. A jibing +mule was summarily shot to clear the road, and so in a few minutes, +despite the constant approach of the low-flying enemy aircraft, a way +was cleared for the English guns to cross the bridge. They were scarcely +over when the first Austrian machine, swooping down, dropped bombs and +opened fire with its machine-gun on the tight-packed road. The attack +did not do much damage, though one British Red Cross car was filled as +full of holes as a pepper-pot; but the experience showed how much worse +the retreat would have been had not the heavy rain of the week-end kept +the Austrian airmen in their hangars.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The army reaches Tagliamento.</div> + +<p>So the retiring army reached the Tagliamento, and completed the first +stage of its retreat. Once behind that barrier the Italians could be +sure of a certain breathing space, but to secure its protection was the +most difficult part of their rearward movement. To the constant +convergence which the lack of more than three bridges rendered necessary +must be attributed much of the confusion of the retirement and the +abandonment of the military equipment that was still to the east of the +Tagliamento when the pressure of the enemy finally compelled their +destruction.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germans try to cross the upper course of Tagliamento.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Enemies who cross are killed or captured.</div> + +<p>The Germans fully realized the formidable obstacle to the retreat of the +Italians which this rain-swollen river constituted, and they made a +determined effort to secure for themselves a passage across its upper +course while the Second and Third Armies to the south were not yet +behind the stream. There is a bridge a few miles west of the town of +Gemona which was not being used by the retreating <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>army because of its +comparatively flimsy construction. The Tagliamento, then very high, was, +like many mountain streams, subject to very rapid rises and falls. +Therefore, part of the enemy advance-guard, which was following up the +Italian retirement was pushed on ahead to try to obtain control of this +bridge at Gemona, for use at any rate when the waters had sunk a little. +This German detachment forced its way across the bridge with +considerable courage, some of them being swept away by the swift stream +pouring over it, but on the other bank they were immediately faced with +stout resistance by the Italian rear-guard, and with their backs to the +river virtually all the enemy who had crossed the Tagliamento were +killed or captured.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gallant conduct of the rear-guard.</div> + +<p>The gallant and skilful conduct of the rear-guard of the Italian army +is, indeed, the brightest part of the gloomy story of the retreat.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Italian armies are on the defensive.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The war now a struggle against invaders.</div> + +<p>The cavalry, specially, played a distinguished part in covering the +retirement. Charging machine-guns with the lance, and holding commanding +positions until they were virtually cut off, these regiments had very +heavy losses. A retreat where circumstances make it impossible to get +the whole of the army away imposes upon the rear-guard a call for +special self-sacrifice, since the moment never comes, when, the whole of +the main body being safely past, it can break off the combat and itself +retire, its duty done. In the withdrawal of the armies that were along +the front in the Cadore and Carnic Alps, occasions of this kind occurred +several times during the week throughout which the retreat lasted, when +rear-guard detachments were completely surrounded. At Lorenzago a force +in this position succeeded in cutting its way back to join the main body +again; west of Gemona, however, the remnants of the Thirty-sixth +Division were <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>so thoroughly engulfed by the advancing Austro-German +forces that, having used up all their ammunition, they were obliged to +surrender. And so, gradually, not without moments of discouragement +almost amounting to despair, the Italian armies, which ten days before +had been fighting on Austrian territory with every prospect of carrying +still further a series of victories that had lasted two years and a +half, found themselves on the defensive far back of their own borders, +awaiting the attack of a triumphant and advancing foe. It had been a +terrible trial for them and for the nation at their back. Almost in one +night, dreams of imperial expansion, cherished with an enthusiasm that +gave them an air of virtual reality, faded into a remoteness beyond +reckoning. The war that had been from the first gloriously offensive, +was suddenly transformed into an outnumbered struggle against invaders +who had already seized half of one of the richest provinces of Italy. +Yet, though numbed by the shock and stricken to the heart by the +realization of her disaster, Italy reacted well. There was no talk of +yielding to be heard, only anxious discussion of the best means of +organizing the further resistance that would so soon be necessary.</p> + +<p>For though the great majority of the Italian army had succeeded for the +moment in escaping from the grasp of the Austro-Germans, the enemy was +steadfastly pursuing. Encouraged by a victory that must have more than +realized his most ambitious hopes, reinforced by captured guns and +material, he would wait only long enough to get sufficient strength into +position before hurling the whole of his weight once more against the +Italian line.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Impossible to meet the second shock on the Tagliamento.</div> + +<p>To meet this second shock on the Tagliamento was not possible. The river +itself quickly became, as the rain stopped and the waters <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>fell, too +easily traversable an obstacle to be worth fortifying. The line which it +would have imposed upon the Italian army was, moreover, too long to be +held in the depth desirable for resistance to the attack of superior +numbers. So the Tagliamento was occupied as an intermediate position +only long enough to shield the further retreat of the army and its +transport behind the broader and deeper stream of the Piave.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The new stand behind the Piave.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Winter rains will delay enemy's heavy guns.</div> + +<p>Here at the time of writing the Italian forces are in position and the +enemy's advanced detachments have begun to register ranges and destroy +possible observation posts across the river with such artillery as they +have so far had the time to bring up. Whether the Piave line and the +rest of the Italian front to the westward, which has had to be modified +in conformation with the general movement of retreat, can be held +indefinitely, will probably be a question of heavy guns. If the enemy +can bring up his larger artillery before reinforcements of the same +character arrive from France and England, a further retreat from north +and east to another river line may well be necessary. Fortunately the +winter rains that have set in make for delay in the arrival of such +cumbrous war-engines as the Austrian seventeen-inch mortars, and it may +be that persistent mud and rain will compel the Austrians to be +satisfied with holding the considerable tract of territory that they +have won.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Danger that Venice must be abandoned.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Cathedrals and palaces are protected by sand bags.</div> + +<p>But all preparations are being made to face the conceivable eventuality +of another retirement. The most serious consequence that this would +entail would be the abandonment of Venice and the necessity of bringing +that inestimable city within close range of the destruction of war. Even +at this early stage, therefore, while the danger to Venice is as yet not +urgent, the Italian Government is doing its best to sur<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>round her with +the protection of such neutrality as the conventions of war, for what +they are worth, secure to undefended and unoccupied towns. No person in +uniform is allowed to enter the place and the civilian population is +being encouraged to leave by free railway transport and subventions to +support them until they can settle elsewhere. Even in such tragic hours +Venice keeps up her old tradition of light-heartedness. The cafés round +the great piazza are full in the evenings with a cheerful crowd. +Moreover, to go into St. Mark's is to enter a sort of neolithic grotto; +the pillars, set about with sand-bags, have the girth of the arcades of +a Babylonian temple; bulging poultices of sacks protect each fresco; as +a building it reminds one of a German student padded for a duel. The +Doge's Palace, too, is more hidden with scaffolding than it could have +been when it was being built; each of those delicate columns of +different design is set around with a stout palisade of timber balks. +Venice, indeed, looks like a drawing-room with the dust-sheets on the +furniture and the chandeliers in bags, and to complete the parallel, the +family is going away before one's eyes.</p> + +<p>Sad days for Italy, days unimaginable a month ago. There must, indeed, +be virtue in the Allies' cause since such ordeals as these still leave +our courage high.</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, Century, March, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The bottling up of the Harbor of Zeebrugge and the attempted closing of +the Harbor of Ostend formed what was probably the most brilliant single +naval exploit of the war. These daring and successful attempts are +described in the narrative following.<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND</h2> + +<h3>THE OFFICIAL NARRATIVE</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Vindictive</i> as she lies in Ostend Harbor.</div> + +<p>Those who recall High Wood upon the Somme—and they must be many, as it +was after the battles of 1916—may easily figure to themselves the decks +of H.M.S. <i>Vindictive</i> as she lies to-day, a stark, black profile, +against the sea haze of the harbor amid the stripped, trim shapes of the +fighting ships which throng these waters. That wilderness of debris, +that litter of the used and broken tools of war, lavish ruin and that +prodigal evidence of death and battle, are as obvious and plentiful here +as there. The ruined tank nosing at the stout tree which stopped it has +its parallel in the flame-thrower hut at the port wing of <i>Vindictive's</i> +bridge, its iron sides freckled with rents from machine-gun bullets and +shell-splinters; the tall white cross which commemorates the martyrdom +of the Londoners is sister to the dingy, pierced White Ensign which +floated over the fight of the Zeebrugge Mole.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Iris</i> and the <i>Daffodil</i> which shared the honors.</div> + +<p>Looking aft from the chaos of her wrecked bridge, one sees, snug against +their wharf, the heroic bourgeois shapes of the two Liverpool +ferry-boats (their captains' quarters are still labelled "Ladies Only") +<i>Iris</i> and <i>Daffodil</i>, which shared with <i>Vindictive</i> the honors and +ardors of the fight. The epic of their achievement shapes itself in the +light of that view across the scarred and littered decks, in that +environment of gray water and great still ships.<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The three cruisers that were sunk at Zeebrugge.</div> + +<p>Their objectives were the canal of Zeebrugge and the entrance to the +harbor of Ostend—theirs, and those of five other veteran and obsolete +cruisers and a mosquito fleet of destroyers, motor-launches and coastal +motor-boats. Three of the cruisers, <i>Intrepid</i>, <i>Iphigenia</i> and +<i>Thetis</i>, each duly packed with concrete and with mines attached to her +bottom for the purpose of sinking her, <i>Merrimac</i>-fashion, in the neck +of the canal, were aimed at Zeebrugge; two others, similarly prepared, +were directed at Ostend. The function of <i>Vindictive</i>, with her +ferry-boats, was to attack the great half-moon Mole which guards the +Zeebrugge Canal, land bluejackets and marines upon it, destroy what +stores, guns, and Germans she could find, and generally create a +diversion while the block-ships ran in and sank themselves in their +appointed place. Vice Admiral Keyes, in the destroyer <i>Warwick</i>, +commanded the operation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The conditions favorable for the attack.</div> + +<p>There had been two previous attempts at the attack, capable of being +pushed home if weather and other conditions had served. The night of the +22nd offered nearly all the required conditions, and at some fifteen +miles off Zeebrugge the ships took up their formation for the attack. +<i>Vindictive</i>, which had been towing <i>Iris</i> and <i>Daffodil</i>, cast them off +to follow under their own steam; <i>Intrepid</i>, <i>Iphigenia</i>, and <i>Thetis</i> +slowed down to give the first three time to get alongside the Mole; +<i>Sirius</i> and <i>Brilliant</i> shifted their course for Ostend; and the great +swarm of destroyers and motor craft sowed themselves abroad upon their +multifarious particular duties. The night was overcast and there was a +drift of haze; down the coast a great searchlight swung its beams to and +fro; there was a small wind and a short sea.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Vindictive</i> heads for the Mole.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The wind helps make a smoke-screen.</div> + +<p>From <i>Vindictive's</i> bridge, as she headed in towards the Mole with her +faithful ferry-boats at her heels, there was scarcely a glimmer of +<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>light to be seen shorewards. Ahead of her, as she drove through the +water, rolled the smoke-screen, her cloak of invisibility, wrapped about +her by the small craft. This was a device of Wing-Commander Brock, +R.N.A.S., "without which," acknowledges the Admiral in Command, "the +operation could not have been conducted." The north-east wind moved the +volume of it shoreward ahead of the ships; beyond it, the distant town +and its defenders were unsuspicious; and it was not till <i>Vindictive</i>, +with her bluejackets and marines standing ready for the landing, was +close upon the Mole that the wind lulled and came away again from the +south-west, sweeping back the smoke-screen and laying her bare to the +eyes that looked seaward.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The star shells discover the ships and battle opens.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Vindictive</i> reaches the Mole.</div> + +<p>There was a moment immediately afterwards when it seemed to those in the +ships as if the dim coast and the hidden harbor exploded into light. A +star shell soared aloft, then a score of star shells; the wavering beams +of the searchlights swung round and settled to a glare; the wildfire of +gun flashes leaped against the sky; strings of luminous green beads shot +aloft, hung and sank; and the darkness of the night was supplanted by +the nightmare daylight of battle fires. Guns and machine-guns along the +Mole and batteries ashore woke to life, and it was in a gale of shelling +that <i>Vindictive</i> laid her nose against the thirty-foot high concrete +side of the Mole, let go an anchor, and signed to <i>Daffodil</i> to shove +her stern in. <i>Iris</i> went ahead and endeavored to get alongside +likewise.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Captain Carpenter in the flame-thrower hut.</div> + +<p>The fire, from the account of everybody concerned, was intense. While +ships plunged and rolled beside the Mole in an unexpected send of sea, +<i>Vindictive</i> with her greater draught jarring against the foundation of +the Mole with every plunge, they were swept diagonally by <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>machine-gun +fire from both ends of the Mole and by heavy batteries ashore. Commander +A.F.B. Carpenter (now Captain) conned <i>Vindictive</i> from her open bridge +till her stern was laid in, when he took up his position in the +flame-thrower hut on the port side. It is to this hut that reference has +already been made; it is marvellous that any occupant of it should have +survived a minute, so riddled and shattered is it. Officers of <i>Iris</i>, +which was in trouble ahead of <i>Vindictive</i>, describe Captain Carpenter +as "handling her like a picket-boat."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Vindictive's</i> false high deck and gangways.</div> + +<p><i>Vindictive</i> was fitted along the port side with a high false deck, +whence ran the eighteen brows, or gangways, by which the storming and +demolition parties were to land. The men were gathered in readiness on +the main and lower decks, while Colonel Elliot, who was to lead the +Marines, waited on the false deck just abaft the bridge, and Captain +H.C. Halahan, who commanded the bluejackets, was amidships. The gangways +were lowered, and scraped and rebounded upon the high parapet of the +Mole as <i>Vindictive</i> rolled; and the word for the assault had not yet +been given when both leaders were killed, Colonel Elliot by a shell and +Captain Halahan by the machine-gun fire which swept the decks. The same +shell that killed Colonel Elliot also did fearful execution in the +forward Stokes Mortar Battery.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Landing on the Mole.</div> + +<p>"The men were magnificent." Every officer bears the same testimony. The +mere landing on the Mole was a perilous business; it involved a passage +across the crashing, splintering gangways, a drop over the parapet into +the field of fire of the German machine-guns which swept its length, and +a further drop of some sixteen feet to the surface of the Mole itself. +Many were killed and more were wounded as they crowded up to the +gangways; <a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>but nothing hindered the orderly and speedy landing by every +gangway.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant H.T.C. Walker had his arm carried away by a shell on the +upper deck and lay in the darkness while the storming parties trod him +under. He was recognized and dragged aside by the Commander. He raised +his remaining arm in greeting, "Good luck to you," he called, as the +rest of the stormers hastened by; "good luck."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The wounded and dying cheer.</div> + +<p>The lower deck was a shambles as the Commander made the rounds of his +ship; yet those wounded and dying raised themselves to cheer as he made +his tour. The crew of the howitzer which was mounted forward had all +been killed; a second crew was destroyed likewise; and even then a third +crew was taking over the gun. In the stern cabin a firework expert, who +had never been to sea before—one of Captain Brock's employees—was +steadily firing great illuminating rockets out of a scuttle to show up +the lighthouse on the end of the Mole to the block ships and their +escort.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Daffodil's</i> part in the fight.</div> + +<p>The <i>Daffodil</i>, after aiding to berth <i>Vindictive</i>, should have +proceeded to land her own men, but now Commander Carpenter ordered her +to remain as she was, with her bows against <i>Vindictive's</i> quarter, +pressing the latter ship into the Mole. Normally, <i>Daffodil's</i> boilers +develop eighty pounds' pressure of steam per inch; but now, for this +particular task, Artificer Engineer Button, in charge of them maintained +a hundred and sixty pounds for the whole period that she was holding +<i>Vindictive</i> to the Mole. Her casualties, owing to her position during +the fight, were small—one man killed and eight wounded, among them her +Commander, Lieutenant H. Campbell, who was struck in the right eye by a +shell splinter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Iris</i> finds her work difficult.</div> + +<p><i>Iris</i> had troubles of her own. Her first attempts to make fast to the +Mole ahead of <i>Vindictive</i><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a> failed, as her grapnels were not large +enough to span the parapet. Two officers. Lieutenant Commander Bradford +and Lieutenant Hawkins, climbed ashore and sat astride the parapet +trying to make the grapnels fast till each was killed and fell down +between the ship and the wall. Commander Valentine Gibbs had both legs +shot away and died next morning. Lieutenant Spencer, B.N.R., though +wounded, conned the ship and Lieutenant Henderson, R.N., came up from +aft and took command.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Terrible casualties on the <i>Iris</i>.</div> + +<p><i>Iris</i> was obliged at last to change her position and fall in astern of +<i>Vindictive</i>, and suffered very heavily from the fire. A single big +shell plunged through the upper deck and burst below at a point where +fifty-six marines were waiting the order to go to the gang-ways. +Forty-nine were killed and the remaining seven wounded. Another shell in +the ward-room, which was serving as sick bay, killed four officers and +twenty-six men. Her total casualties were eight officers and sixty-nine +men killed and three officers and a hundred and two men wounded.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The demolition parties on the Mole dynamite buildings.</div> + +<p>The storming and demolition parties upon the Mole met with no resistance +from the Germans, other than the intense and unremitting fire. The +geography of the great Mole, with its railway line and its many +buildings, hangars, and store-sheds, was already well known, and the +demolition parties moved to their appointed work in perfect order. One +after another the building burst into flame or split and crumpled as the +dynamite went off.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The enemy fights with the machine-guns.</div> + +<p>A bombing party, working up towards the Mole extension in search of the +enemy, destroyed several machine-gun emplacements, but not a single +prisoner rewarded them. It appears that upon the approach of the ships, +and with the opening of the fire, the enemy simply retired and contented +themselves with bring<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>ing machine-guns to the shore end of the Mole. And +while they worked and destroyed, the covering party below the parapet +could see in the harbor, by the light of the German star shells, the +shapes of the block ships stealing in and out of their own smoke and +making for the mouth of the canal.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Thetis</i> shows the road to all the ships.</div> + +<p><i>Thetis</i> came first, steaming into a tornado of shell from the great +batteries ashore. All her crew, save a remnant who remained to steam her +in and sink her, had already been taken off by the ubiquitous motor +launches, but the remnant spared hands enough to keep her four guns +going. It was hers to show the road to <i>Intrepid</i> and <i>Iphigenia</i>, who +followed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Thetis</i> is sunk.</div> + +<p>She cleared the string of armed barges which defends the channel from +the tip of the Mole, but had the ill-fortune to foul one of her +propellers upon the net defence which flanks it on the shore side. The +propeller gathered in the net and rendered her practically unmanageable; +the shore batteries found her and pounded her unremittingly; she bumped +into a bank, edged off, and found herself in the channel again, still +some hundreds of yards from the mouth of the canal, in a practically +sinking condition. As she lay she signalled invaluable directions to the +others, and here Commander R.S. Sneyd, D.S.O., accordingly blew the +charges and sank her. A motor launch, under Lieutenant H. Littleton, +R.N.V.R., raced alongside and took off her crew. Her losses were five +killed and five wounded.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Intrepid</i> follows.</div> + +<p><i>Intrepid</i>, smoking like a volcano and with all her guns blazing, +followed; her motor launch had failed to get alongside outside the +harbor, and she had men enough for anything. Straight into the canal she +steered, her smoke blowing back from her into <i>Iphigenia's</i> eyes, so +that the latter, blinded and going a little wild, rammed a dredger with +a barge moored beside <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>it, which lay at the western arm of the canal. +She got clear though, and entered the canal pushing the barge before +her. It was then that a shell hit the steam connections of her whistle, +and the escape of steam which followed drove off some of the smoke and +let her see what she was doing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sinking of the <i>Intrepid</i> and the <i>Iphigenia</i>.</div> + +<p>Lieutenant Stuart Bonham-Carter, commanding the <i>Intrepid</i>, placed the +nose of his ship neatly on the mud of the western bank, ordered his crew +away, and blew up his ship by the switches in the chart-room. Four dull +bumps was all that could be heard; and immediately afterwards there +arrived on deck the engineer, who had been in the engine-room during the +explosion and reported that all was as it should be.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Probable that the canal is effectively blocked.</div> + +<p>Lieutenant E.W. Billyard-Leake, commanding <i>Iphigenia</i>, beached her +according to arrangement on the eastern side, blew her up, saw her drop +nicely across the canal, and left her with her engines still going to +hold her in position till she should have bedded well down on the +bottom. According to latest reports from air observation, the two old +ships with their holds full of concrete are lying across the canal in a +V position; and it is probable that the work they set out to do has been +accomplished and that the canal is effectively blocked.</p> + +<p>A motor launch, under Lieutenant P.T. Deane, R.N.V.R., had followed them +in to bring away the crews, and waited further up the canal towards the +mouth against the western bank. Lieutenant Bonham-Carter, having sent +away his boats, was reduced to a Carley float, an apparatus like an +exaggerated lifebuoy with a floor of grating. Upon contact with the +water it ignited a calcium flare, and he was adrift in the uncanny +illumination with a German machine-gun a few hundred yards away giving +him its undivided attention.<a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a></p> + +<p>What saved him was possibly the fact that the defunct <i>Intrepid</i> was +still emitting huge clouds of smoke, which it had been worth nobody's +while to turn off. He managed to catch a rope as the motor launch +started, and was towed for a while till he was observed and taken on +board. Another officer jumped ashore and ran along the bank to the +launch. A bullet from the machine-gun stung him as he ran, and when he +arrived, charging down the bank out of the dark, he was received by a +number of the launch's crew who attacked him with a hammer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Shells make incessant geysers in the harbor.</div> + +<p>The whole harbor was alive with small craft. As the motor launch cleared +the canal, and came forth to the incessant geysers thrown up by the +shells, rescuers and rescued had a view of yet another phase of the +attack. The shore end of the Mole consists of a jetty, and here an old +submarine, commanded by Lieutenant R.D. Sandford, R.N., loaded with +explosives, was run into the piles and touched off, her crew getting +away in a boat to where the usual launch awaited them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An old submarine is blown up.</div> + +<p>Officers describe the explosion as the greatest they ever witnessed—a +huge roaring spout of flame that tore the jetty in half and left a gap +of over 100 feet. The claim of another launch to have sunk a +torpedo-boat alongside the jetty is supported by many observers, +including officers of the <i>Vindictive</i>, who had seen her mast and funnel +across the Mole and noticed them disappear.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The splendid heroism of men and officers.</div> + +<p>Where every moment had its deed and every deed its hero, a recital of +acts of valor becomes a mere catalogue. "The men were magnificent," say +the officers; the men's opinion of their leaders expresses itself in the +manner in which they followed them, in their cheers, in their demeanor +to-day while they tidy up their battered ships, setting aside the +<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>inevitable souvenirs, from the bullet-torn engines to great chunks of +Zeebrugge Mole dragged down and still hanging in the fenders of the +<i>Vindictive</i>. The motor launch from the canal cleared the end of the +Mole and there beheld, trim and ready, the shape of the <i>Warwick</i>, with +the great silk flag presented to the Admiral by the officers of his old +ship, the <i>Centurion</i>. They stood up on the crowded decks of the little +craft and cheered it again and again.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Warwick</i> takes off the men from the canal.</div> + +<p>While the <i>Warwick</i> took them on board, they saw <i>Vindictive</i>, towed +loose from the Mole by <i>Daffodil</i>, turn and make for home—a great black +shape, with funnels gapped and leaning out of the true, flying a vast +streamer of flame as her stokers worked her up—her, the almost +wreck—to a final display of seventeen knots. Her forward funnel was a +sieve; her decks were a dazzle of sparks; but she brought back intact +the horseshoe nailed to it, which Sir Roger Keyes had presented to her +commander.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">One destroyer, the <i>North Star</i>, is sunk.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Monitors and siege guns bombard the enemy.</div> + +<p>Meantime the destroyers <i>North Star</i>, <i>Phœbe</i>, and <i>Warwick</i>, which +guarded the <i>Vindictive</i> from action by enemy destroyers while she lay +beside the Mole, had their share in the battle. <i>North Star</i>, losing her +way in the smoke, emerged to the light of the star-shells, and was sunk. +The German <i>communiqué</i>, which states that only a few members of the +crew could be saved by them, is in this detail of an unusual accuracy, +for the <i>Phœbe</i> came up under a heavy fire in time to rescue nearly +all. Throughout the operations monitors and the siege guns in Flanders, +manned by the Royal Marine Artillery, heavily bombarded the enemy's +batteries.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The attack on Ostend.</div> + +<p>The wind that blew back the smoke-screen at Zeebrugge served us even +worse off Ostend, where that and nothing else prevented the success of +an operation ably directed by Commodore Hubert Lynes, C.M.G. The coastal +motor <a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>boats had lit the approaches and the ends of the piers with +calcium flares and made a smoke-cloud which effectually hid the fact +from the enemy. <i>Sirius</i> and <i>Brilliant</i> were already past the Stroom +Bank buoy when the wind changed, revealing the arrangements to the +enemy, who extinguished the flares with gunfire.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Sirius</i> runs aground.</div> + +<p>The <i>Sirius</i> was already in a sinking condition when at length the two +ships, having failed to find the entrance, grounded, and were forced +therefore to sink themselves at a point about four hundred yards east of +the piers, and their crews were taken off by motor launches.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Operations cannot be rehearsed.</div> + +<p>The difficulty of the operation is to be gauged from the fact that from +Zeebrugge to Ostend the enemy batteries number not less than 120 heavy +guns, which can concentrate on retiring ships, during daylight, up to a +distance of about sixteen miles. This imposes as a condition of success +that the operation must be carried out at night, and not late in the +night. It must take place at high water, with the wind from the right +quarter, and with a calm sea for the small craft. The operation cannot +be rehearsed beforehand, since the essence of it is secrecy, and though +one might have to wait a long time to realize all the essential +conditions of wind and weather, secrecy wears badly when large numbers +of men are brought together in readiness for the attack.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Vindictive</i> makes for Ostend.</div> + +<p>The <i>Sirius</i> lies in the surf some two thousand yards east of the +entrance to Ostend Harbor, which she failed so gallantly to block; and +when, in the early hours of yesterday morning, the <i>Vindictive</i> groped +her way through the smoke-screen and headed for the entrance, it was as +though the old fighting-ship awoke and looked on. A coastal motor-boat +had visited her and hung a flare in her slack and rusty rigging; and +that eye of unsteady fire, <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>paling in the blaze of the star-shells or +reddening through the drift of the smoke, watched the whole great +enterprise, from the moment when it hung in doubt to its ultimate +triumphant success.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Unforeseen conditions add to the difficulties.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">German destroyers guard the coast.</div> + +<p>The planning and execution of that success had been entrusted by the +Vice-Admiral, Sir Roger Keyes, to Commodore Hubert Lynes, C.M.G., who +directed the previous attempt to block the harbor with <i>Sirius</i> and +<i>Brilliant</i>. Upon that occasion, a combination of unforeseen, and +unforeseeable, conditions had fought against him; upon this, the main +problem was to secure the effect of a surprise attack upon an enemy who +was clearly, from his ascertained dispositions, expecting him. <i>Sirius</i> +and <i>Brilliant</i> had been baffled by the displacement of the Stroom Bank +buoy, which marks the channel to the harbor entrance, but since then +aerial reconnaissance had established that the Germans had removed the +buoy altogether and that there were now no guiding marks of any kind. +They had also cut gaps in the piers as a precaution against a landing; +and, further, when towards midnight on Thursday the ships moved from +their anchorage, it was known that some nine German destroyers were out +and at large upon the coast. The solution of the problem is best +indicated by the chronicle of the event.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A still sea and no moon.</div> + +<p>It was a night that promised well for the enterprise—nearly windless, +and what little breeze stirred came from a point or so west of north; a +sky of lead-blue, faintly star-dotted, and no moon; a still sea for the +small craft, the motor-launches and the coastal motor-boats, whose work +is done close in shore. From the destroyer which served the Commodore +for flagship, the remainder of the force was visible only as swift +silhouettes of blackness, destroyers bulking like cruisers in the +darkness, <a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>motor-launches like destroyers, and coastal motor-boats +showing themselves as racing hillocks of foam. From Dunkirk, a sudden +and brief flurry of gunfire announced that German aeroplanes were +about—they were actually on their way to visit Calais; and over the +invisible coast of Flanders the summer-lightning of the restless +artillery rose and fell monotonously.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Vindictive</i> passes.</div> + +<p>"There's <i>Vindictive</i>!" The muffled seamen and marines standing by the +torpedo-tubes and the guns turned at that name to gaze at the great +black ship, seen mistily through the streaming smoke from the +destroyer's funnels, plodding silently to her goal and her end. +Photographs have made familiar that high-sided profile and the tall +funnels, with their Zeebrugge scars, always with a background of the +pier at Dover against which she lay to be fitted for her last task; now +there was added to her the environment of the night and the sea and the +greatness and tragedy of her mission.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Small craft guide the <i>Vindictive</i>.</div> + +<p>She receded into the night astern as the destroyer raced on to lay the +light buoy that was to be her guide, and those on board saw her no more. +She passed thence into the hands of the small craft, whose mission it +was to guide her, light her, and hide her in the clouds of the +smoke-screen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Precise orders are planned for each stage of operation.</div> + +<p>There was no preliminary bombardment of the harbor and the batteries as +before the previous attempt; that was to be the first element in the +surprise. A time-table had been laid down for every stage of the +operation; and the staff work beforehand had even included precise +orders for the laying of the smoke barrage, with plans calculated for +every direction of wind. The monitors, anchored in their +firing-positions far to seaward, awaited their signal; the great siege +batteries of the Royal Marine Artillery in Flanders—among the largest +guns that <a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>have ever been placed on land-mountings—stood by likewise to +neutralize the big German artillery along the coast; and the airmen who +were to collaborate with an aerial bombardment of the town waited +somewhere in the darkness overhead. The destroyers patrolled to seaward +of the small craft.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The signal is given for the guns to open.</div> + +<p>The <i>Vindictive</i>, always at that solemn gait of hers, found the +flagship's light-buoy and bore up for where a coastal motor-boat, +commanded by Lieutenant William R. Slayter, R.N., was waiting by a +calcium flare upon the old position of the Stroom Bank buoy. Four +minutes before she arrived there, and fifteen minutes only before she +was due at the harbor mouth, the signal for the guns to open was given. +Two motor-boats dashed in towards the ends of the high wooden piers and +torpedoed them. There was a machine-gun on the end of the western pier, +and that vanished in the roar and the leap of flame and debris which +called to the guns. Over the town a flame suddenly appeared high in air, +and sank slowly earthwards—the signal that the aeroplanes had seen and +understood; and almost coincident with their first bombs came the first +shells whooping up from the monitors at sea. The surprise part of the +attack was sprung.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The attack is a complete surprise.</div> + +<p>The surprise, despite the German's watchfulness, seems to have been +complete. Up till the moment when the torpedoes of the motor-boats +exploded, there had not been a shot from the land—only occasional +routine star-shells. The motor-launches were doing their work +magnificently. These pocket-warships, manned by officers and men of the +Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, are specialists at smoke-production; they +built to either hand of the <i>Vindictive's</i> course the likeness of a +dense sea-mist driving landward with the wind. The star-shells paled and +were lost as they sank in it; the beams of <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>the searchlights seemed to +break off short upon its front. It blinded the observers of the great +batteries when suddenly, upon the warning of the explosions, the guns +roared into action.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heavy batteries on the Ostend coast open fire.</div> + +<p>There was a while of tremendous uproar. The coast about Ostend is +ponderously equipped with batteries, each with its name known and +identified: Tirpitz, Hindenburg, Deutschland, Cecilia, and the rest; +they register from six inches up to monsters of fifteen-inch naval +pieces in land-turrets, and the Royal Marine Artillery fights a war-long +duel with them. These now opened fire into the smoke and over it at the +monitors; the Marines and the monitors replied; and, meanwhile, the +aeroplanes were bombing methodically and the anti-craft guns were +searching the skies for them, Star-shells spouted up and floated down, +lighting the smoke banks with spreading green fires; and those strings +of luminous green balls, which airmen call "flaming onions," soared up +up to lose themselves in the clouds. Through all this stridency and +blaze of conflict, the old <i>Vindictive</i>, still unhurrying, was walking +the lighted waters towards the entrance.</p> + +<p>It was then that those on the destroyers became aware that what had +seemed to be merely smoke was wet and cold, that the rigging was +beginning to drip, that there were no longer stars—a sea-fog had come +on.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Destroyers keep in touch by lights and sirens.</div> + +<p>The destroyers had to turn on their lights and use their sirens to keep +in touch with each other; the air attack was suspended, and +<i>Vindictive</i>, with some distance yet to go, found herself in gross +darkness.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The fog and smoke are dense.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A motor-boat leads the way for <i>Vindictive</i>.</div> + +<p>There were motor-boats to either side of her, escorting her to the +entrance, and these were supplied with what are called Dover +flares—enormous lights capable of illuminating square miles of sea at +once. A "Very" pistol was fired as a signal to light these; but the fog +and the <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>smoke together were too dense for even the flares. <i>Vindictive</i> +then put her helm over and started to cruise to find the entrance. Twice +in her wanderings she must have passed across it, and at her third turn, +upon reaching the position at which she had first lost her way, there +came a rift in the mist, and she saw the entrance clear, the piers to +either side and the opening dead ahead. The inevitable motor-boat dashed +up, raced on into the opening under a heavy and momentarily growing +fire, and planted a flare on the water between the piers. <i>Vindictive</i> +steamed over it and on. She was in.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A hail of lead falls upon the <i>Vindictive</i>.</div> + +<p>The guns found her at once. She was hit every few seconds after she +entered, her scarred hull broken afresh in a score of places and her +decks and upper works swept. The machine-gun on the end of the western +pier had been put out of action by the motor-boat's torpedo, but from +other machine-guns at the inshore ends of the pier, from a position on +the front, and from machine-guns apparently firing over the eastern +pier, there converged upon her a hail of lead. The after-control was +demolished by a shell which killed all its occupants. Upper and lower +bridges and chart-room were swept by bullets, and Commander Godsal, +R.N., ordered his officers to go with him to the conning-tower.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>Vindictive</i> prepares to turn.</div> + +<p>They observed through the observation slit in the steel wall of the +conning-tower that the eastern pier was breached some two hundred yards +from its seaward end, as though at some time a ship had been in +collision with it. They saw the front of the town silhouetted again and +again in the light of the guns that blazed at them; the night was a +patchwork of fire and darkness. Immediately after passing the breach in +the pier. Commander Godsal left the conning-tower and went out on deck, +the better <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>to watch the ship's movements; he chose his position, and +called in through the slit of the conning-tower his order to starboard +the helm. The <i>Vindictive</i> responded; she laid her battered nose to the +eastern pier and prepared to swing her 320 feet of length across the +channel.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A shell strikes the conning-tower.</div> + +<p>It was at that moment that a shell from the shore batteries struck the +conning-tower. Lieutenant Sir John Alleyne and Lieutenant V.A.C. +Crutchley, R.N., were still within; Commander Godsal was close to the +tower outside. Lieutenant Alleyne was stunned by the shock; Lieutenant +Crutchley shouted through the slit to the Commander, and, receiving no +answer, rang the port engine full speed astern to help in swinging the +ship. By this time she was lying at an angle of about forty degrees to +the pier, and seemed to be hard and fast, so that it was impossible to +bring her further round.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The order is given to abandon ship and the <i>Vindictive</i> sinks +in the channel.</div> + +<p>After working the engines for some minutes to no effect, Lieutenant +Crutchley gave the order to clear the engine-room and abandon ship, +according to the programme previously laid down. Engineer +Lieutenant-Commander Wm. A. Bury, who was the last to leave the +engine-room, blew the main charges by the switch installed aft; +Lieutenant Crutchley blew the auxiliary charges in the forward six-inch +magazine from the conning-tower. Those on board felt the old ship shrug +as the explosive tore the bottom plates and the bulk-heads from her; she +sank about six feet and lay upon the bottom of the channel. Her work was +done.</p> + +<p>It is to be presumed that Commander Godsal was killed by the shell which +struck the conning-tower. Lieutenant Crutchley, searching the ship +before he left her, failed to find his body, or that of Sub-Lieutenant +MacLachlan, in that wilderness of splintered wood and <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>shattered steel. +In the previous attempt to block the port, Commander Godsal had +commanded <i>Brilliant</i>, and, together with all the officers of that ship +and of <i>Sirius</i>, had volunteered at once for a further operation.</p> + +<p>Most of the casualties were incurred while the ship was being abandoned. +The men behaved with just that cheery discipline and courage which +distinguished them in the Zeebrugge raid.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Recall rockets are fired from the flagship.</div> + +<p>Always according to programme, the recall rockets for the small craft +were fired from the flagship at 2.30 a.m. The great red rockets whizzed +up to lose themselves in the fog; they cannot have been visible half a +mile away; but the work was done, and one by one the launches and +motor-boats commenced to appear from the fog, stopped their engines +alongside the destroyers and exchanged news with them. There were +wounded men to be transferred and dead men to be reported—their names +called briefly across the water from the little swaying deck to the +crowded rail above. But no one had seen a single enemy craft; the nine +German destroyers who were out and free to fight had chosen the +discreeter part.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ostend Harbor is thus made impracticable.</div> + +<p>It is not claimed by the officers who carried out the operation that +Ostend Harbor is completely blocked; but its purpose—to embarrass the +enemy and make the harbor impracticable to any but small craft and +dredging operations difficult—has been fully accomplished.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Too little was heard during the war of the work of the American +submarines, but they performed most efficient and useful service. A +sketch of the life aboard one of these little vessels follows.<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WITH THE AMERICAN SUBMARINES</h2> + +<h3>HENRY B. BESTON</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">A view of the Embankment.</div> + +<p>A London day of soft and smoky skies, darkened every now and then by +capricious and intrusive little showers, was drawing to a close in a +twilight of gold and gray. Our table stood in a bay of plate-glass +windows overlooking the Embankment close by Cleopatra's Needle. We +watched the little double-decked tram-cars gliding by, the opposing, +interthreading streams of pedestrians, and a fleet of coal barges coming +up the river, solemn as a cloud.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Submarine folk are a people apart.</div> + +<p>Behind us lay, splendid and somewhat theatric, the mottled marble, stiff +white napery, and bright silver of a fashionable dining-hall. Only a few +guests were at hand. At our little table sat the captain of a submarine +who was then in London for a few days on richly merited leave, a +distinguished young officer of the "mother ship" accompanying our +underwater craft, and myself. It is impossible to be long with submarine +folk without realizing that they are a people apart, differing from the +rest of the naval personnel even as their vessels differ. A man must +have something individual to his character to volunteer for the service, +and every officer is a volunteer. An extraordinary power of quick +decision, a certain keen, resolute look, a certain carriage; submarine +folk are such men as all of us like to have by our side in any great +trial or crisis of our life.<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a></p> + +<p>Guests began to come by twos and threes—pretty girls in shimmering +dresses, young army officers with wound-stripes and clumsy limps. A +faint murmur of conversation rose, faint and continuous as the murmur of +a distant stream.</p> + +<p>Because I requested him, the captain told me of the crossing of the +submarines. It was the epic of an heroic journey.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">How the submarines crossed the Atlantic.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The mother-ship and submarines leave.</div> + +<p>"After each boat had been examined in detail, we began to fill them with +supplies for the voyage. The crew spent days manœuvring cases of +condensed milk, cans of butter, meat, and chocolate, down the +hatchways—food which the boat swallowed up as if she had been a kind of +steel stomach. Until we had it all neatly and tightly stowed away, the +<i>Z</i> looked like a corner grocery store. Then, early one December +morning, we pulled out of the harbor. It wasn't very cold, merely raw +and damp, and it was misty dark. I remember looking at the winter stars +riding high just over the meridian. The port behind us was still and +dead, but a handful of navy-folk had come to one of the wharves to see +us off. Yes, there was something of a stir—you know, the kind of stir +that's made when boats go to sea: shouted orders, the plash of dropped +cables, vagrant noises. It didn't take a great time to get under way; we +were ready, waiting for the word to go. The flotilla—mother-ship, tugs +and all—was out to sea long before the dawn. You would have liked the +picture: the immense stretch of the grayish, winter-stricken sea, the +little covey of submarines running awash, the gray mother-ship going +ahead, as casually as an excursion steamer, into the featureless dawn.</p> + +<p>"The weather was wonderful for two days,—a touch of Indian summer on +December's ocean; then, on the night of the third day, we <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>ran into a +blow, the worst I ever saw in my life. A storm—oh, boy!"</p> + +<p>He paused for an instant. One could see memories living in the fine, +resolute eyes. The broken noises of the restaurant, which had seemingly +died away while he spoke, crept back again to one's ears. A waiter +dropped a clanging fork—</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A terrific storm comes on toward night.</div> + +<p>"A storm. Never remember anything like it. A perfect terror. Everybody +realized that any attempt to keep together would be hopeless. And night +was coming on. One by one the submarines disappeared into that fury of +wind and driving water, the mother-ship, because she was the largest +vessel in the flotilla, being the last we saw. We snatched her last +signal out of the teeth of the gale, and then she was gone, swallowed up +in the storm. So we were alone.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rough water the next day.</div> + +<p>"We got through the night somehow or other. The next morning the ocean +was a dirty brown-gray, and knots and wisps of cloud were tearing by +close over the water. Every once in a while a great hollow-bellied wave +would come rolling out of the hullabaloo and break thundering over us. +On all the boats the lookout on the bridge had to be lashed in place, +and every once in a while a couple of tons of water would come tumbling +past him. Nobody at the job stayed dry for more than three minutes; a +bathing-suit would have been more to the point than oilers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The boat registers a roll of seventy degrees.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The cook provides food after a fashion.</div> + +<p>"Shaken, you ask? No, not very bad: a few assorted bruises and a +wrenched thumb; though poor Jonesy on the <i>Z-3</i> had a wave knock him up +against the rail and smash in a couple of ribs. But no being sick for +him; he kept to his feet and carried on in spite of the pain, in spite +of being in a boat which registered a roll of seventy degrees. I used to +watch the old hooker rolling under me. You've never been on a submarine +when she's rolling,—talk <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>about rolling—oh, boy! We all say seventy +degrees, because that's as far as our instruments register. There were +times when I almost thought she was on her way to make a complete +revolution. You can imagine what it was like inside. To begin with, the +oily air was none too sweet, because every time we opened a hatch we +shipped enough water to make the old hooker look like a start at a +swimming tank; and then she was lurching so continuously and violently +that to move six feet was an expedition. The men were +wonderful—wonderful! Each man at his allotted task, and—what's that +English word?—carrying on. Our little cook couldn't do a thing with the +stove, might as well have tried to cook on a miniature earthquake; but +he saw that all of us had something to eat—doing his bit, game as could +be."</p> + +<p>He paused again. The Embankment was fading away in the dark. A waiter +appeared, and drew down the thick, light-proof curtains.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the men were wonderful—wonderful. And there wasn't very much +sickness. Let's see, how far had I got?—Since it was impossible to make +any headway, we lay to for forty-eight hours. The deck began to go the +second morning, some of the plates being ripped right off. And +blow—well, as I told you in the beginning, I never saw anything like +it. The disk of the sea was just one great ragged mass of foam being +hurled through space by a wind screaming past with the voice and force +of a million express trains.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The submarines run on the surface to save electricity.</div> + +<p>"Perhaps you are wondering why we didn't submerge. We simply couldn't +use up our electricity. It takes oil and running on the surface to +create the electric power, and we had a long, long journey ahead. Then +ice began to form on the superstructure, and we had to get out a crew to +chop it off. It was something <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>of a job; there wasn't much to hang on +to, and the waves were still breaking over us. But we freed her of the +danger, and she went on—</p> + +<p>"We used to wonder where the other boys were, in the midst of all the +racket. One ship was drifting toward the New England coast, her compass +smashed to flinders; others had run for Bermuda, others were still at +sea.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Good weather at last.</div> + +<p>"Then we had three days of good easterly wind. By jingo, but the good +weather was great! Were we glad to have it?—oh, boy! We had just got +things shipshape again when we had another blow, but this second one was +by no means as bad as the first. And after that we had another spell of +decent weather. The crew used to start the phonograph and keep it going +all day.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Reaching a friendly coast.</div> + +<p>"The weather was so good that I decided to keep right on to the harbor +which was to be our base over here. I had enough oil, plenty of water; +the only possible danger was a shortage of provisions. So I put us all +on a ration, arranging to have the last grand meal on Christmas day. Can +you imagine Christmas on a little storm-bumped submarine some hundred +miles off the coast? A day or two more and we ran calmly into—shall we +say, 'deleted' harbor?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The men rejoice at food and baths.</div> + +<p>"Hungry, dirty; oh, so dirty! We hadn't had any sort of bath or wash for +about three weeks; we all were green-looking from having been cooped up +so long, and our unshaven grease-streaked faces would have upset a +dinosaur. The authorities were wonderfully kind, and looked after us and +our men in the very best style. I thought we could never stop eating, +and a real sleep—oh, boy!"</p> + +<p>"Did you fly the flag as you came in?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"You bet we did!" answered the captain, his keen, handsome face lighting +at the memory.<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a> "You see," he continued in a practical spirit, "they +would probably have pumped us full of holes if we hadn't."</p> + +<p>And that is the way the American submarines crossed the Atlantic to do +their share for the Great Cause.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A guest on the mother-ship.</div> + +<p>I got to the port of the submarines just as an uncertain and rainy +afternoon had finally decided to turn into a wild and disagreeable +night. Short, drenching showers of rain fell, one after the other, like +the strokes of a lash; a wind came up out of the sea, and one could hear +the thunder of surf on the headlands. The mother-ship lay moored in a +wild, desolate, and indescribably romantic bay; she floated in a +sheltered pool, a very oasis of modernity, a marvelous creature of +another world and another time. There was just light enough for me to +see that her lines were those of a giant yacht. Then a curtain of rain +beat hissing down on the sea, and the ship and the vague darkening +landscape disappeared—disappeared as if they had melted away in the +shower. Presently the bulk of the vessel appeared again. At once we drew +alongside, and from that moment on, I was the guest of the vessel, +recipient of a hospitality and courtesy for which I here make grateful +acknowledgment to my friends and hosts.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The ship is most skillfully handled.</div> + +<p>The mother-ship of the submarines was a combination of flagship, +supply-station, repair-shop, and hotel. The officers of the submarines +had rooms aboard her, which they occupied when off patrol, and the crews +off duty slung their hammocks 'tween decks. The boat was pretty well +crowded, having more submarines to look after than she had been built to +care for; but thanks to the skill of her officers, everything was going +as smoothly as could be. The vessel had, so to speak, a submarine +atmosphere. Everybody aboard lived, worked, and <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>would have died for the +submarine. They believed in the submarine, believed in it with an +enthusiasm which rested on pillars of practical fact.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The heroism of the men who tried the first submarine.</div> + +<p>The chief of staff was the youngest captain in our navy; a man of hard +energy and keen insight; one to whom our submarine service owes a very +genuine debt. His officers were specialists: the surgeon of the vessel +had been for years engaged in studying the hygiene of submarines, and +was constantly working to free the atmosphere of the vessels from +deleterious gases and to improve the living conditions of the crews. I +remember listening one night to a history of the submarine, told by one +of the officers of the staff; and for the first time in my life I came +to appreciate at its full value the heroism of the men who risked their +lives in the first cranky, clumsy, uncertain little vessels, and the +imagination and the faith of the men who believed in the type. Ten years +ago, a descent in a sub was an adventure to be prefaced by tears and +making of wills; to-day submarines are chasing submarines hundreds of +miles at sea, are crossing the ocean, and have grown from a tube of +steel not much larger than a lifeboat, to underwater cruisers which +carry six-inch guns.</p> + +<p>Said an officer to me, "The future of the submarine? Why, sir, the +submarine is the only war vessel that's going to have a future!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The submarines are moved alongside.</div> + +<p>On the night of my arrival, once dinner was over, I went on deck and +looked down through the rain at the submarines moored alongside. They +lay close by, one beside the other, in a pool of radiance cast by a +number of electric lights hanging over each open hatchway. Beyond this +pool lay the rain and the dark; within it, their sides awash in the +clear green water of the bay, their gray bridges and rust-stained +superstructures shining in the rain, <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>lay the strange, bulging, +crocodilian shapes of steel. There was something unearthly, something +not of this world or time, in the picture; I might have been looking at +invaders of the sleeping earth. The wind swept past in great booming +salvoes; rain fell in sloping, liquid rods through the brilliancy of +electric lamps burning with a steadiness that had something in it +strange, incomprehensible, and out of place in the motion of the storm.</p> + +<p>And then a hand appeared on the topmost rung of the nearer ladder, and a +bulky sailor, a very human sailor in very human dungarees, poked his +head out of the aperture, surveyed the inhospitable night, and +disappeared.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Submarines are going out to-night.</div> + +<p>"He's on Branch's boat. They're going out to-night," said the officer +who was guiding me about.</p> + +<p>"To-night? How on earth will he ever find his way to the open sea?"</p> + +<p>"Knows the bay like a book. However, if the weather gets any worse, I +doubt if the captain will let him go. Branch will be wild if they don't +let him out. Somebody has just reported wreckage off the coast, so there +must be a Hun round."</p> + +<p>"But aren't our subs sometimes mistaken for Germans?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," was the calm answer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The boats may never come back.</div> + +<p>I thought of that ominous phrase I had noted in the British +records,—"failed to report,"—and I remembered the stolid British +captain who had said to me, speaking of submarines, "Sometimes nobody +knows just what happened. Out there in the deep water, whatever happens, +happens in a hurry."</p> + +<p>My guide and I went below to the officers' corridor. Now and then, +through the quiet, a mandolin or guitar could be heard far off twanging +some sentimental island ditty; and <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>beneath these sweeter sounds lay a +monotonous mechanical humming.</p> + +<p>"What's that sound?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"That's the Filipino mess-boys having a little festino in their +quarters. The humming? Oh, that's the mother-ship's dynamos charging the +batteries of Branch's boat. Saves running on the surface."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The captain of the patrol cheerful.</div> + +<p>My guide knocked at a door. Within his tidy little room, the captain who +was to go out on patrol was packing the personal belongings he needed on +the trip.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" he cried cheerily when he saw us; "come on in. I'm only doing a +little packing up. What's it like outside?"</p> + +<p>"Raining same as ever, but I don't think it's blowing up any harder."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Reading matter is in demand.</div> + +<p>"Hooray!" cried the young captain with heartfelt sincerity; "then I'll +get out to-night. You know the captain told me that if it got any worse, +he'd hold me till to-morrow morning. I told him I'd rather go out +to-night. Perfect cinch once you get to the mouth of the bay; all you +have to do is submerge and take it easy. What do you think of the news? +Smithie thinks he saw a Hun yesterday. Got anything good to read? +Somebody's pinched that magazine I was reading. Thirteen, fourteen, +fifteen—that ought to be enough handkerchiefs. Hello, there goes the +juice!"</p> + +<p>The humming of the dynamo was dying away slowly, fading with an effect +of lengthening distance. The guitar orchestra, as if to celebrate its +deliverance, burst into a triumphant rendering of Sousa's "Stars and +Stripes."</p> + +<p>My guide and I waited till after midnight to watch the going of Branch's +<i>Z-5</i>. Branch and his second, stuffed into black oilskins down whose +gleaming surface ran beaded drops of rain, stood on the bridge; a number +of sailors were busy doing various things along the deck.<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a> The electric +lights shone in all their calm unearthly brilliance. Then slowly, very +slowly, the <i>Z-5</i> began to gather headway, the clear water seemed to +flow past her green sides, and she rode out of the pool of light into +the darkness waiting close at hand.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye! Good luck!" we cried.</p> + +<p>A vagrant shower came roaring down into the shining pool.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye!" cried voices through the night.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The submarines disappear in the dark.</div> + +<p>Three minutes later all trace of the <i>Z-5</i> had disappeared in the dark.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Night and day are the same on a submarine.</div> + +<p>Captain Bill of the <i>Z-3</i> was out on patrol. His vessel was running +submerged. The air within—they had but recently dived—was new and +sweet; and that raw cold which eats into submerged submarines had not +begun to take the joy out of life. It was the third day out; the time, +five o'clock in the afternoon. The outer world, however, did not +penetrate into the submarine. Night or day, on the surface or submerged, +only one time, a kind of motionless electric high noon, existed within +those concave walls of gleaming cream-white enamel.</p> + +<p>Those of the crew not on watch were taking it easy. Like unto their +officers, submarine sailors are an unusual lot. They are <i>real</i> sailors, +or machinist sailors—boys for whose quality the navy has a flattering, +picturesque, and quite unprintable adjective. A submarine man, mind you, +works harder than perhaps any other man of his grade in the navy, +because the vessel in which he lives is nothing but a tremendously +intricate machine.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Life on board.</div> + +<p>In one of the compartments the phonograph, the eternal, ubiquitous +phonograph of the navy, was bawling its raucous rags and mechano-nasal +songs, and in the pauses between records, one could just hear the low +hum of the distant dynamos. A little group in blue dungarees held a +conversation in a corner; a petty officer, <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>blue cap tilted back on his +head, was at work on a letter; the cook, whose genial art was +customarily under an interdict while the vessel was running submerged, +was reading an ancient paper from his own home town.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">News of a German submarine.</div> + +<p>Captain Bill sat in a retired nook, if a submarine can possibly be said +to have a retired nook, with a chart spread open on his knees. The night +before, he had picked up a wireless message saying that a German had +been seen at sundown in a certain spot on the edge of his patrol. So +Captain Bill had planned to run submerged to the spot in question, and +then pop up suddenly in the hope of potting the Hun. Some fifteen +minutes before sundown, therefore, the <i>Z-3</i> arrived at the place where +the Fritz had been observed.</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew just where the bird was," said an intent voice; "I'd drop +a can right on his neck."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The sentiments of the captain of a destroyer.</div> + +<p>These sentiments were not those of anybody aboard the <i>Z-3</i>. An American +destroyer had also come to the spot looking for the German, and the +gentle thought recorded above was that of her captain. It was just +sundown; a level train of splendor burned on the ruffled waters to the +west; a light, cheerful breeze was blowing. The destroyer, ready for +anything, was hurrying along at a smart clip.</p> + +<p>"This is the place all right, all right," said the navigator of the +destroyer. "Come to think of it, that chap's been reported from here +twice."</p> + +<p>Keen eyes swept the shining uneasy plain.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">How a submarine crew takes orders.</div> + +<p>Meanwhile, some seventy feet below, the <i>Z-3</i> manœuvred, killing +time. The phonograph had been hushed, and every man was ready at his +post. The prospect of a go with the enemy had brought with it a keen +thrill of anticipation. Now, a submarine crew is a well-trained machine. +There are no shouted orders. If a submarine captain wants to send his +boat under <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>quickly, he simply touches the button of a Klaxon; the horn +gives a demoniac yell throughout the ship, and each man does what he +ought to do at once. Such a performance is called a "crash dive."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to see him come up so near that we could ram him," said the +captain, gazing almost directly into the sun. "Find out what she's +making."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Getting up speed.</div> + +<p>The engineer lieutenant stooped to a voice-tube that almost swallowed up +his face, and yelled a question to the engine-room. An answer came, +quite unheard by the others.</p> + +<p>"Twenty-four, sir," said the engineer lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"Get her up to twenty-six."</p> + +<p>The engineer cried again through the voice-tube. The wake of the vessel +roared like a mill-race, the white foam tumbling rosily in the setting +sun.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Seventy feet below the surface.</div> + +<p>Seventy feet below, Captain Bill was arranging the last little details +with the second in command.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The plan of attack.</div> + +<p>"In about five minutes we'll come up and take a look-see [stick up the +periscope], and if we see the bird, and we're in a good position to send +him a fish [torpedo], we'll let him have one. If there is something +there, and we're not in a good position, we'll manœuvre till we get +into one, and then let him have it. If there isn't anything to be seen, +we'll go under again and take another look-see in half an hour. Reilly +has his instructions." (Reilly was chief of the torpedo-room.)</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Wreckage all about.</div> + +<p>"Something round here must have got it in the neck recently," said the +destroyer captain, breaking a silence which had hung over the bridge. +"Didn't you think that wreckage a couple of miles back looked pretty +fresh? Wonder if the boy we're after had anything to do with it. Keep an +eye on that sun-streak."<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">A crash dive to avoid a destroyer.</div> + +<p>An order was given in the <i>Z-3</i>. It was followed instantly by a kind of +commotion—sailors opened valves, compressed air ran down pipes, the +ratchets of the wheel clattered noisily. On the moon-faced depth-gauge, +with its shining brazen rim, the recording arrow fled swiftly, counter +clockwise, from seventy to twenty, to fifteen feet. Captain Bill stood +crouching at the periscope, and when it broke the surface, a greenish +light poured down it and focused in his eyes. He gazed keenly for a few +seconds, and then reached for the horizontal wheel which turns the +periscope round the horizon. He turned—gazed, jumped back, and pushed +the button for a crash dive.</p> + +<p>"She was almost on top of me," he explained afterwards, "coming like +hell! I had to choose between being rammed or depth-bombed."</p> + +<p>There was another swift commotion, another opening and closing of +valves, and the arrow on the depth-gauge leaped forward. Captain Bill +was sending her down as far as he could, as fast as he dared. Fifty +feet, seventy feet—ninety feet. Hoping to throw the destroyer off, the +<i>Z-3</i> doubled on her track. A hundred feet.</p> + +<p>Crash! Depth-charge number one.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Depth bombs explode near by.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The submarine's peril.</div> + +<p>According to Captain Bill, who is good at similes, it was as if a giant, +wading along through the sea, had given the boat a vast and violent +kick, and then, leaning down, had shaken her as a terrier shakes a rat. +The <i>Z-3</i> rocked, lay on her side, and fell through the water. A number +of lights went out. Men picked themselves out of corners, one with the +blood streaming down his face from a bad gash over his eye. Many of them +told later of "seeing stars" when the vibration of the depth-charge +traveled through the hull and their own bodies; some averred that "white +light" seemed to shoot out of the <i>Z-3's</i> walls. Each man stood at his +post waiting for the next charge.<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a></p> + +<p>Crash! A second depth-charge. To everyone's relief, it was less violent +than the first. A few more lights went out. Meanwhile the <i>Z-3</i> +continued to sink and was rapidly nearing the danger-point. Having +escaped the first two depth-charges, Captain Bill hastened to bring the +boat up to a higher level. Then, to make things cheerful, it was +discovered that the <i>Z-3</i> showed absolutely no inclination to obey her +controls.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anxious moments before the submarine rises again.</div> + +<p>"At first," said Captain Bill, "I thought that the first depth-bomb must +have jammed all the external machinery; then I decided that our measures +to rise had not yet overcome the impetus of our forced descent. +Meanwhile the old hooker was heading for the bottom of the Irish Sea, +though I'd blown out every bit of water in her tanks. Had to—fifty feet +more, and she would have crushed in like an egg-shell under the wheel of +a touring-car. But she kept on going down. The distance of the third, +fourth, and fifth depth-bombs, however, put cheer in our hearts. Then, +presently, she began to rise; the old girl came up like an elevator in a +New York business block. I knew that the minute I came to the surface +those destroyer brutes would try to fill me full of holes, so I had a +man with a flag ready to jump on deck the minute we emerged. He was +pretty damn spry about it, too. I took another look through the +periscope, and saw that the destroyer lay about two miles away, and as I +looked she came for me <i>again</i>. Meanwhile, my signal-man was hauling +himself out of the hatchway as if his legs were in boiling water."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Stars and Stripes signal to the destroyer.</div> + +<p>"We've got her!" cried somebody aboard the destroyer, in a deep American +voice full of the exultation of battle. The lean rifles swung, lowered. +"Point one, lower." They were about to hear "Fire!" when the Stars and +Stripes and <a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>sundry other signals burst from the deck of the misused +<i>Z-3</i>.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think of that!" said the gunner. "If it ain't one of +our own gang. Say, we must have given it to 'em hard."</p> + +<p>"We'll go over and see who it is," said the captain of the destroyer. +"The signals are O.K., but it may be a dodge of the Huns. Ask 'em who +they are."</p> + +<p>In obedience to the order, a sailor on the destroyer's bridge wigwagged +the message.</p> + +<p>"<i>Z-3</i>," answered one of the dungaree-clad figures on the submarine's +deck.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No resentment of the adventure.</div> + +<p>Captain Bill came up himself, as the destroyer drew alongside, to see +his would-be assassin. There was no resentment in his heart. The +adventure was only part of the day's work. The destroyer neared; her bow +overlooked them. The two captains looked at each other. The dialogue was +laconic.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Bill," said the destroyer captain. "All right?"</p> + +<p>"Sure," answered Captain Bill, to one who had been his friend and +classmate.</p> + +<p>"Ta-ta, then," said he of the destroyer; and the lean vessel swept away +in the twilight.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The cook's opinion of the destroyers.</div> + +<p>Captain Bill decided to stay on the surface for a while. Then he went +below to look over things. The cook, standing over some unlovely slop +which marked the end of a half a dozen eggs broken by the concussion, +was giving his opinion on destroyers. The cook was a child of Brooklyn, +and could talk. The opinion was not a nice opinion.</p> + +<p>"Give it to 'em, cooko," said one of the crew, patting the orator +affectionately on the shoulder. "We're with you."</p> + +<p>And Captain Bill laughed to himself.</p> + +<p>The breakfast-hour was drawing to its end, and the very last straggler +sat alone at the ward-room table. Presently an officer of the +<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>mother-ship, passing through, called to the lingering group of +submarine officers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The first of the flotilla to return.</div> + +<p>"The <i>X-4</i> is coming up the bay, and the <i>X-12</i> has been reported from +signal station."</p> + +<p>The news was received with a little hum of friendly interest. "Wonder +what Ned will have to say for himself this time." "Must have struck +pretty good weather." "Bet you John has been looking for another chance +at that Hun of his."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The appearance of the crew.</div> + +<p>The talk drifted away into other channels. A little time passed. Then +suddenly a door opened, and, one after the other, entered the three +officers of the first home-coming submarine. They were clad in various +ancient uniforms which might have been worn by an apprentice lad in a +garage: old gray flannel shirts, and stout grease-stained shoes; several +days had passed since their faces had felt a razor, and all were a +little pale from their cruise. But the liveliest of keen eyes burned in +each resolute young face, eyes smiling and glad.</p> + +<p>A friendly hullabaloo broke forth. Chairs scraped, one fell with a +crash.</p> + +<p>"Hello, boys!"</p> + +<p>"Hi, Ned!"</p> + +<p>"For the love of Pete, Joe, shave off those whiskers of yours; they make +you look like Trotzky."</p> + +<p>"See any Germans?"</p> + +<p>"What's the news?"</p> + +<p>"What's doing?"</p> + +<p>"Hi, Manuelo"—this to a Filipino mess-boy who stood looking on with +impassive curiosity—"serve three more breakfasts."</p> + +<p>"Anything go for you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, if here isn't our old Bump!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Captain Ned begins his story.</div> + +<p>The crowd gathered round Captain Ned, who had established contact (this +is a military term quite out of place in a work on the navy) with the +eagerly sought, horribly elusive German.<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a></p> + +<p>"Go on, Ned, give us an earful. What time did you say it was?"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An enemy submarine that escaped.</div> + +<p>"About 5 a.m." answered the captain. He stood leaning against a door, +and the fine head, the pallor, the touch of fatigue, all made a very +striking and appealing picture. "Say about eight minutes after five. I'd +just come up to take a look-see, and saw him just about two miles away, +on the surface, and moving right along. So I went under to get into a +good position, came up again, and let him have one. Well, he saw it just +as it was almost on him, swung her round, and dived like a ton of lead."</p> + +<p>The audience listened in silent sympathy. One could see the +disappointment on the captain's face.</p> + +<p>"Where was he?"</p> + +<p>"About so-and-so."</p> + +<p>"That's the jinx that got after the convoy sure as you live."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Two blind ships that tried to find each other under water.</div> + +<p>The speaker had had his own adventures with the Germans. A month or so +before, he had shoved up his periscope and spotted a Fritz on the +surface in full noonday. The watchful Fritz, however, had been lucky +enough to see the enemy almost at once, and had dived. The American +followed suit. The eyeless submarine manœuvred about, some eighty +feet under, the German evidently "making his getaway," the American +hoping to be lucky enough to pick up Fritz's trail, and get a shot at +him when he rose again to the top. And while the two blind ships +manœuvred there in the dark of the abyss, the keel of the fleeing +German had actually, by a curious chance, scraped along the top of the +American vessel and carried away the wireless aerials!</p> + +<p>All were silent for a few seconds, thinking over the affair. It was not +difficult to read the thought in every mind, the thought of <i>getting at<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a> +the Germans</i>. The characteristic <i>aggressiveness</i> of the American mind, +heritage of a people compelled to subdue a vast, wild continent, is a +wonderful military attribute. The idea of our navy is, "Get after 'em, +keep after 'em, stay after 'em, don't give 'em an instant of security or +rest." And none have this fighting spirit deeper in their hearts than +our gallant boys of the submarine patrol.</p> + +<p>"That's all," said Captain Ned. "I'm going to have a wash-up." He lifted +a grease-stained hand to his cheek, rubbed his unshaven beard, and +grinned. "Any letters?"</p> + +<p>"Whole bag of stuff. Smithie put it on your desk."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"Trotzky" and "Rasputin."</div> + +<p>Captain Ned wandered off. Presently, the door opened again, and three +more veterans of the patrol cruised in, also in ancient uniforms. There +were more cheers; more friendly cries. It was unanimously decided that +the "Trotzky" of the first lot had better take a back seat, since the +second in command of the newcomers was "a perfect ringer for Rasputin."</p> + +<p>"See anything?"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A British patrol hunts a lost torpedo.</div> + +<p>"Nothing much. There's a bit of wreckage just off shore. Saw a British +patrol boat early Tuesday morning. I was on the surface, lying between +her and the sunrise; she was hidden by a low-lying swirl of fog; she saw +us first. When we saw her, I made signals, and over she came. Guess what +the old bird wanted—<i>wanted to know if I'd seen a torpedo he'd fired at +me!</i> An old scout with white whiskers; one of those retired captains, I +suppose, who has gone back on the job. He admitted he had received the +Admiralty notes about us, but thought we acted suspicious. Did you ever +hear of such nerve?"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Courage of the submarine patrol.</div> + +<p>When the war was young, I served on land with <i>messieurs les poilus</i>. I +have seen the contests of aviators, also trench-raids and the <a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>fighting +for Verdun. Since then I have seen the war at sea. To my mind, if there +is one service of this war which more than any other requires those +qualities of endurance, skill, and courage whose blend the fighting men +call—Elizabethanly, but oh, so truly—"<i>guts</i>," it is the submarine +patrol.</p> + +<div class='center'>Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, October, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>France took tender care of her wounded heroes, and the following +narrative gives a number of touching incidents observed by one who +visited several of the French hospitals and received stories and +experiences from the wounded soldiers.<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE</h2> + +<h3>ABBÉ FELIX KLEIN</h3> + + +<p>The descriptions which are to follow belong to history already ancient; +to the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918. So rapid is the march of +events with us now!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The enthusiasm of a wounded soldier in 1914.</div> + +<p>The soldier wounded during the first months of the War came to us +overflowing with enthusiasm, eager to express himself. His mind was full +of picturesque and varied impressions and he asked for nothing better +than to tell about them. Willingly he described the emotions and spirit +of the moment of departure; his curiosity in the presence of the +unknown, the shock of the first contact with the enemy, the dizzy joy of +initial successes. He confessed the amazement and pain of the first +checks and the headlong retreat which followed them. He spoke of the +famous Joffre's "<i>ordre du jour</i>" when, in the battle of the Marne, the +men were told to take the offensive. They stopped the enemy. They +pursued him. They experienced the intoxication of a victory that gave +back to France her old prestige and felt with certainty, although at +first confusedly, that their battle was a decisive event in human +history.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The wounded of 1918 reflect the long tragedy.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">They have faced terrible new weapons.</div> + +<p>To this brilliant and epic beginning succeeded a long and sombre +tragedy, to this <i>Iliad</i> worthy of a Homer an <i>Inferno</i> worthy of a +Dante. So we cannot wonder that the wounded of 1918 differed from those +of 1914, and that their faces, like the face of the Florentine poet +returning from hell, reflected the terrible things through which they +had passed. The suffering <a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>of years, the eternal waiting for a decision +of arms that did not come, the increasing horror of confronting weapons +unknown in the early months—heavy artillery, gas, liquid fire, +aëroplane attacks—left their mark upon our soldiers.</p> + +<p>Dante imagines the terrible things he recounts. Our soldiers have seen +them face to face. New Year after New Year has come and gone, and found +them living underground, in constant danger of unseen and unavoidable +forms of death, huddled together in damp, dark holes, exposed to rain +and snow and shell fire. Rarely was there fighting—as we used to +understand the term—but daily death took its toll, and ill and wounded +were evacuated to the rear.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Modern battle has become a scientific operation.</div> + +<p>Ardor they certainly retained for the assault, and heroism for +confronting sheets of fire, or clouds of asphyxiating gas; but in the +scientific operation which the modern battle has become, most things +that are purely personal are more to be dreaded than desired, a fiery +temper counts for much less than coolness, discipline, mastery of self, +the spirit of abnegation and self-sacrifice. And when the battle was +won, that is to say, when they had taken, not a town with a resounding +name, but the ruins of a village, a treeless forest, a dismantled fort, +a hill thirty metres high, the survivors still had a task before them +which had lost none of its roughness or austerity. They had to organize +the new position in haste, dig other shelters, undergo bombardments and +reject counter-attacks, all the more violent because the enemy, +supported in the rear by positions prepared in advance, was more furious +than ever after defeat. Thus it continued—until now, even now, when +under the irresistible pressure of the French, the English and the +Americans, the German wall is crumbling. At last it will <a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>be broken, and +the victorious flood of the armies of democracy will pass through. Then +our invaded provinces and the sacred soil of Belgium will be freed; then +the conditions of just and honorable peace among all the nations of the +earth may be dictated on the banks of the Rhine—or farther, if +necessary.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Patience and tenacity are necessary.</div> + +<p>But to support, while we waited, the monotonous trench-life to +accomplish the rapid nocturnal raids or the formidable exploits of the +great days and weeks of offensive, required more than that brilliant +quality of our fathers, the <i>furia francese</i> that was the synonym of +overwhelming courage and the ardor which commands victory. Patience to +wait, resignation to accept, tenacity to prolong efforts, deliberate and +indomitable will to overcome trials, within and without and to press on +to the distant goal of final victory were above all things necessary.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"To the end!"</div> + +<p>These qualities, summed up in one expression: "To the end!" so +profoundly different from those which hitherto have passed as +characteristic of our race, were the ones most noticeable in our +combatant of the fourth year of the War. Youthful enthusiasm was no +more; each man numbered the dangers run, each man took clear account of +those to come.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Patriotism becomes a passion.</div> + +<p>Only austere love of duty can sustain a man at such a height. A +schoolmaster-sergeant of Lyon, Philippe Gonnard, voices it to a friend +inclined to pity him: he was ill enough to get his freedom, but wished, +nevertheless, to keep at his post until he was killed: "I intend to stay +at the front.... Patriotism for me is a passion. Does that mean that I +am happy here far from all I love? You do not think that and I have +often said I am not, in prose and verse. But from now until peace, no +man of heart can be happy. If I came back, I should be still less happy, +because instead of <a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>being dissatisfied with my lot, I should be +dissatisfied with myself."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Strong will and nobility of soul.</div> + +<p>More or less consciously, this was the rock bottom of the character of +the soldier of France after three and a half years of war: "Will always +on the stretch, anguish conquered, melancholy transformed into nobility +of soul—as long as literature does not portray these essential traits +of the soldier," says one of our best author-combatants, "all it creates +will only be artificial and bear no relation to reality."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">"No matter, it is for France."</div> + +<p>"No matter, it is for France!" says the wounded soldier to the comrades +bending over him, and if it is during an attack he tells them not to +stop, not to carry him away "because it is no longer worth while," but +to continue without him the noble work for which he is offering his +life. Let a chaplain bring him divine help in time and he will die more +than resigned, joyous and radiant in the faith of his childhood, +bewailing his sins and kissing the crucifix like the French of the +Middle Ages. How many times, in the horrible frame of modern war, have +words been uttered, scenes enacted, agonies suffered which echoed the +most sublime passages of the <i>Chanson de Roland</i>!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Most of the wounded recover.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Many times wounded.</div> + +<p>But, thank God, among those who fall without being killed outright, the +minority are mortally wounded. Most of them are destined to get well or +at least to survive: they know it, and are glad. As soon as they regain +consciousness after the shock, the first idea is: "Am I really not +dead?" To be wounded does not disconcert them at all. "We are here for +that!" said, the other day, one of my young friends of the class 1915, +who by exception has been preserved until now. The alternative, in this +present War, is not to come out of it wounded, or unwounded, but wounded +or dead:<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a> to escape death is all that one can reasonably ask. Men who +have only been wounded once, are more and more scarce, some have +returned to the front four or five times. We had at the hospital a year +ago an American sergeant of the Foreign Legion, engaged at Orleans in +August, 1914, who having fought in Champagne, on the Somme and in +Alsace, had received three wounds, the last at the end of 1915, at +Belloy-en-Santerre, when a German bomb had badly damaged his left thigh: +"the last" up to that time, for he had to go back under fire and will in +all probability receive a fourth wound.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The slightly wounded are lucky.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The most unfortunate.</div> + +<p>Those slightly wounded have not much merit, it must be confessed, in +being resigned or even joyful. After a rapid dressing at the first +station they will rest several days at the hospital at the front, and +then get leave of convalescence which they will pass with their +families. A wound for them, who can bear a little suffering, means an +unexpected holiday and supplementary permission. They are only sorry if +they are hit stupidly, out of action or at the beginning of a +well-prepared attack, and prevented from going on with it. Let us leave +them to their good luck, and stay longer with the severely wounded, +those, for instance, who have a leg or arm broken, a fractured jaw, +vertebra or ribs bruised, or are deprived of one of their senses—blind, +deaf, paralyzed. We unhesitatingly acknowledge that these three last +categories of wounded feel their misery profoundly, and need time to get +used to it. Those, happily much more numerous, who have only temporarily +or permanently lost the use of one of their limbs, generally consider +themselves very fortunate. "I have the good wound!" they affect to say, +meaning that the War is over for them. So at least they express +themselves, not at all wishing to be ad<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>mired, and trying as it were, to +minimize their courage in bearing their trial.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Self-sacrifice of the wounded.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">"Arise, ye dead!"</div> + +<p>But aside from this paradoxical attitude, they frequently speak and act +in the most simple, touching way! It is common to hear one say to the +stretcher-bearer who comes to fetch him: "Take my comrade here first; he +is much more wounded than I; I can wait...." And that when it means +lying on the ground under the bombardment, thirsty, feverish, feeling +his strength ebb with his blood. Before any one comes back to get him, +often he will try again, if he has a sound arm left, to fire his rifle +or his machine-gun once more. Glory surrounds the epic incident of the +trench where the only unwounded soldier, seeing the enemy arrive, cried +out as if in delirium: "Arise, ye dead!" and the dying really rose, and +succeeded, some of them, in firing once more before they fell again, and +the assailants fled. A more recent and simpler deed is also worth +recording.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A dead observer protects his pilot.</div> + +<p>Returning from a bombardment of the enemy's factories in broad daylight, +a French machine conducted by two men was attacked by several aviators. +The observer, hit by a ball in the chest, dropped down into the +<i>carlingue</i>. The pilot seeing this prepared to turn back. But hearing +his machine-gun firing again, he concluded that the observer was not +seriously hurt. As soon as he landed in France: "Well, what about that +wound?" he asked. No answer. He bent down and saw that his companion was +dead. Even in his agony he had continued to protect his comrade.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of the War the wounded stayed a long, a very long time +without being rescued, at the place where they fell, or in the shelter +to which they had been able to crawl. Our stretcher-bearers of the +American Ambulance found, after the battle of the Marne, many who had +lain for days and nights in shell <a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>holes, at the foot of trees, in +ruined barns or churches! One may guess what the mortality might be! +Today, happily, it is no longer so. The field of action is more +restricted and the aid is better organized.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Transportation is painful and dangerous.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Relief at the first dressing station.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The nurses devoted and the sufferers resigned.</div> + +<p>If transportation, however, is less retarded than three years ago, it is +still painful and rather dangerous. Even when a special passage has been +dug before the attack for the evacuation of the wounded, all jolts are +not avoided in this dark and narrow way; but in going through the +ordinary passage-ways, dangerous and unseen obstacles are often +encountered—crumbling earth, perhaps, or convoys going in the opposite +direction. If they heeded the wounded soldier, the stretcher-bearers +would go on open ground. This he frequently does, if he is at all able +to get on without aid; once hit he thinks himself invulnerable—a +singular illusion which has brought about many catastrophes. At the +first dressing-station and at the front hospital, relief begins. In +ordinary times, this will be quite complete, and the wounded will not be +carried to the rear until they are really able to stand the journey. But +while the battle is on, they must go in the greatest haste: the worst +cases are thoroughly cared for; the badly hurt who can be moved receive +the attention which enables them to depart speedily; the slight cases +have to be content with summary consideration. Here one sees the +devotion of the nurses and the resignation of the sufferers, and better +than resignation: the noble effort not to moan, the murmured prayer, the +forgetfulness of self, eagerness to ask news of the fight. Among the +falsities of a book a thousand times too vaunted (falsities due not so +much to the lie direct as to the constant dwelling on odious details, +and the suppression of admirable facts), nothing is <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>farther from the +truth than the picture of a hospital at the front where one hears and +sees only blaspheming and rebellious men. With most of the wounded who +have spoken to me about it in our hospital, and who certainly had the +right to bear witness, we proclaim loudly that if the French army had +been such as the work in question paints it in this passage and in many +others, the War would have ended long ago, and history would never have +known the names of the Marne, nor the Yser, nor Verdun, nor the +Chemin-des-Dames.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A true picture of our Ambulance at the front.</div> + +<p>A true picture of an Ambulance at the front, overflowing with wounded +the evening of a battle, I find in these lines by an eyewitness: "Some +moderate complaints among the crowded stretchers: one asks for a drink, +one wants relief for pain, a bed, a dressing, to be quickly attended. +But let some story be told in the group, some incident come out like a +trumpet-call, all faces brighten, the men lift themselves a little, the +mirage of glory gives them heart again. I commemorate with piety the +anonymous example of a little Zouave, doubled over on himself, holding +his bullet-pierced abdomen in both hands, whom I heard gently asked: +'Well, little one, how goes it?' Oh, very well, <i>mon Lieutenant</i>, our +company has passed the road from B—— to the south; we had gotten there +when I was knocked out. It's all right; we are smashing them!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their first thought for victory.</div> + +<p>I, personally, received such answers from wounded who came to us from +the Chemin-des-Dames, or from the fort of Malmaison. When I asked for +news, my mind preoccupied with their individual sufferings, their first +thought was to tell me of the victory. The ordinary French phrase for +"How are you? <i>Comment ça va-t-il?</i>" (literally: How goes it?) may apply +to an event or to a person. This being so, it is never of himself that +the newly-<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>wounded soldier thinks, but of what is interesting to +everybody—the common success. I went to welcome a patient brought in +October 26th and asked: "You came tonight?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Father."</p> + +<p>"Not too tired by the journey?"</p> + +<p>"No, not too much."</p> + +<p>"What wound?"</p> + +<p>"Jaw pierced by a bullet, arm broken, wound in the thigh."</p> + +<p>"How goes it?"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The wounded are delighted with the success of the attack.</div> + +<p>"Very well! The wounded who came to the hospital at the front were +delighted, we had gotten everything we were trying for!"</p> + +<p>"You were in the attack?"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately no, I was wounded the day before."</p> + +<p>"In the bombardment?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, while we were filling up the trenches to make a way for the tanks +toward the fort of Malmaison."</p> + +<p>"That must have been pretty constant thundering?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but very soon we did not think of it. In the little bombardments +you hear the shells coming and try to get to shelter, but, in those +great days, when it is going on all the time, you can no longer +distinguish anything, it is a continual noise, a kind of huge snoring. +Then you are quite calm."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">They do not speak of what they have done or seen.</div> + +<p>These are a few illustrations, a few rays of light, such as one still +gets sometimes. I do not know if they will become more frequent with the +new evolution of the War. They have been rare, and never followed by +long expansiveness. Our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the War +did not like to speak of what he had done nor of what he had seen. What +may be the reasons for his silence? In seeking to interpret them we +penetrate a little into the psychology of this taciturn man.<a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The soldier plays an impersonal part.</div> + +<p>First, his impressions of the War are no longer fresh and now he would +have some difficulty in analyzing them. It is as with ourselves in a new +country: at first we have a thousand things to describe in our letters; +after that nothing strikes us any longer. This passage to a sort of +unconsciousness is the easier for the soldier as he plays a more +impersonal part in the War; a simple cell in a great organism, a simple +wheel in an enormous machine, quite beyond his comprehension in its +learned complication. Catastrophes happen to him but no adventures: he +may be wounded, he may be killed, nothing else. This is no material for +fine stories.</p> + +<p>A deeper reason for the silence of the witness, or rather the actor, in +the great drama of the War, is a very just realization of the +impossibility of conveying any idea of it to those who have never been +there. It is so very different from anything they know; so out of +proportion to the normal life of human beings.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The wounded man does not like to think of war.</div> + +<p>To these intellectual motives may be added one of feeling. The wounded +soldier does not like to speak of the War because he does not like to +think of it: there are too many horrors; he has had to bear too many +privations, too much suffering. As soon as he finds himself out of it, +he tries to turn his mind away from it as much as possible, and to shake +off the impression of it, as the sick man in the morning shakes off his +fevered nightmare. Later on, doubtless, when his memories have lost +their keen edge, they may attract him again. All he asks for the moment +is to forget. One thing especially afflicts his heart and tightens his +lips: it is the thought of the comrades he has lost.</p> + +<p>Such are the reasons why the later wounded, differing from those at the +beginning of the<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a> War, shut themselves up in a silence full of gravity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The men in hospital are grateful.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Infirmities are less felt.</div> + +<p>In spite of this, however, you would have a false idea of the military +hospital if you thought of it as a place of mournful desolation. +Doubtless our earlier patients regained their spirits more quickly, +having no years of suffering behind them. But the quiet and serious +resignation which reigns in the hospital of to-day does not exclude a +certain sweetness; the wounded man appreciates the intelligent and +devoted care lavished upon him, he congratulates himself and thanks God +for having escaped from mortal peril, for not having fallen to the +bottom of the abyss, for remounting now the slope at the summit of which +he has a glimpse of the recovery of his strength and activity. If his +wound leaves no serious traces, he rejoices to live again as he did +before; if it has deprived him of the use of his limbs or of some +necessary organ, he consoles himself by the thought that the War is over +for him and that soon he will take his place at home. His infirmities, +which perhaps will weigh more heavily upon him later, he feels less +here, where they are the normal thing and where it is the exception to +appear intact.</p> + +<p>It is a rest for him not to hear the voice of the cannon. And he likes +the moral peace with which the wise kindness of the doctors, the +devotion of the nurses, the friendship of the chaplain, surround him; he +especially enjoys the many letters he receives from his family, and +those which he slowly writes himself, or dictates to an amiable +neighbor. Often he has friends and relatives in the neighborhood who +come to see him, but what he likes best of all is the visit from his +family, his mother, father, wife, his young children.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A dying man is decorated.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A legacy of honor for his family.</div> + +<p>Another joy in the life of our wounded is the announcement and then the +presentation of his <a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>decoration. Once, however, I saw the Cross of Honor +received with no sign of satisfaction at all, but that was because it +came too late, and its recipient, one of my friends, a brave officer, +was about to receive another recompense in heaven. It was very affecting +to see the decoration laid on that already gasping breast, without any +consciousness on the part of the poor hero. His mother and wife, at +least, before they buried him, could take the glorious emblem to hand +down as heirloom and as instruction to his three little ones. It is a +noble idea of the French Government, to give the decorations of soldiers +killed by the enemy to their families—their widows, their orphans, or, +if they are not married, to their old parents. During these years filled +with emotion, few spectacles have impressed me so deeply as the ceremony +of "taking arms" in the court of honor of the Invalides, when in this +historic monument, built by Louis XIV. and now the tomb of Napoleon, a +General of the Third Republic gave the emblem of the brave to women and +children dressed in mourning, at the same time as to rough soldiers +newly healed of their wounds and ready to return to the front.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The return to the front.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Often impatient to rejoin his comrades.</div> + +<p>Return to the front!... This is the almost invariable ending of the +history of our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the War. Return to +the front! Never will the heroism required for the acceptance of such a +duty be sufficiently admired! After three years of fatigue, privations, +of unheard-of dangers, after one or several wounds which brought him +within an inch of death, this man who has for long months felt the +sweetness, the care, the calm of a comfortable hospital; has had a taste +of the charms of family life once more; has little by little turned his +thought away from the horrors of war, now he is sent back, to the depot, +from which he knows that before long <a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>he will be called again to the +front! And he submits, resigns himself: what do I say? Often impatient +of inaction, of the little rules which annoy his independent temper, he +asks to go in advance of the call, to rejoin as a volunteer and without +further delay his comrades of Champagne, Lorraine, Flanders or Picardy. +He reenters his regiment as the traveler reenters his own country, and +his only sadness is to find that during his absence so many old comrades +have fallen, so many newcomers have filled the gaps. But the welcome of +the survivors warms his heart.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He goes into the trenches at night.</div> + +<p>Although it is night—for only at night do they go into the +trenches—the sky is ploughed with illuminating fireworks, with +projections and projectiles, of various kinds which bursting sow quick +flashes of light, and a death often as prompt. In a maze of narrow and +complicated paths our friend advances without knowing where and feeling +his way: nearer and nearer he approaches to enemies whose sleepless hate +growls menacingly below his feet in the ground, around him on the earth, +above him in the sky filled with sinister gleams. He goes his way +without enthusiasm, but without hesitation, without boasting, but +without fear, knowing by long experience what peril he runs, but +offering himself calmly to his formidable destiny, ready to answer: +"Present!" if God and his country demand his life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">There are no heroes in past history so grand.</div> + +<p>What hero in all the centuries of history attains to the grandeur of our +hero? Who ever defended, in a war so terrible, a cause so important to +the future of the world? Who has striven so hard, suffered so much, so +often passed through death? To prove himself equal to his high mission, +he has had to rid himself of all egoism, renounce lucre and vain honors, +sacrifice family joys; many times he has known the worst extremes of +weariness, thirst, hunger <a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>and cold; he equals and surpasses in +austerity the severest of monks; he practices an obedience and humility +that monasteries and Thebaîdes know nothing of, constantly ready to +expose himself, as soon as he receives the order, to a terrible and +invisible death. No one ever more completely obeyed the counsels of +Christ: "If you will be perfect, leave your father and mother, your +wife, forsake your possessions, renounce yourself, take up your cross +and follow Me."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Humanity has never shown such moral grandeur.</div> + +<p>Those among these brave men who have faith, are conscious of such +supernatural life and their letters—admirable collections have been +published—reflect a light of authentic saintliness. The others, too, +without knowing it, walk in the footsteps of Christ; at the moment of +supreme sacrifice He will enlighten them with the brightness of His +grace and will admit them, like their believing brothers, into the +heaven promised to those who suffer for righteousness. Humanity which +has never known horrors like those it is enduring now, has also never +shown such moral grandeur, and it is not astonishing that in face of +such great crimes and such great virtues, our soul should pause, +breathless, incapable of expressing the excess of its emotion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The devoted war of the American public for the wounded.</div> + +<p>I cannot speak to the great American public about our wounded, without +saying how much we appreciate the fact that it has followed them, with +admirable solicitude, all the length of their hard Calvary. Its +stretcher-bearers have helped us rescue them at the front, its +ambulances have carried them to our hospitals, where they have found its +doctors, its nurses to tend their wounds, its offerings of all kinds to +assure their material well-being and their moral comfort. And in +after-care it has not been less solicitous: teaching the blind, +reeducating the maimed and giving them the costly <a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>apparatus which take +the place of their lost limbs. When they could not survive, despite +efforts of science and devotion, it contributed toward assuring the +future of their widows and orphans.</p> + +<p>America to-day gives us even her blood; she has from the first given us +her gold, given her heart!</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, Catholic World, October, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The great series of battles, known in general as the Battle of Picardy, +formed a prelude to the final acts of the war. A stirring account of +these battles is given in the narrative which follows.<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BATTLE OF PICARDY</h2> + +<h3>J.B.W. GARDINER</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">Possibly the decisive battle of the war.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany will emerge victor or vanquished.</div> + +<p>On March 21st, 1918, Germany opened the great engagement which will +probably prove to be the decisive battle of the war. This designation +has already, but not altogether correctly, been given to the Battle of +the Marne. The Marne did decide that the Germans were not to capture +Paris in their first great rush through Belgium and France. It did not +only halt the German advance, but threw it back behind the Aisne, thus +preventing Germany from winning the war in 1914. But it did not defeat +the German army decisively. Nor did it make an ultimate German victory +impossible. It left the German army still in the field, its strength +practically unimpaired, still capable of strong defense, still with +great striking power in attack. It made possible for the future a +decisive Allied victory, but it did not achieve it. The German defeat at +Verdun, indeed, did more harm to the German army, lessened to a greater +extent its power of defense and its strength to attack than did the +Marne, because through the French defense and counter-efforts, the +German army lost nearly half a million men. But the battle now raging, +which for convenience of reference is called the Battle of Picardy +(although it embraces Picardy, Artois, and Flanders), will do more than +did either the Marne or Verdun. It will place irrevocably and +unmistakably upon Germany the laurel of victory or the thorny crown of +defeat. It is, therefore, the decisive battle of the <a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>war. It is the +final struggle of the civilized world against the domination of the +beast. It is Germany's final effort, and, in order that this may be +appreciated, it is necessary only to recount the conditions which +impelled Germany to take the offensive at this time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany's eastern ambitions attained.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A peace by compromise would be a German victory.</div> + +<p>The developments in Russia, so entirely favorable to Germany, led many +to believe that, having attained so completely their eastern ambitions, +the German leaders would rest content with what they had, and, +strengthening their lines in the west through reinforcements drawn from +the Russian front, remain on the defensive on the western front until a +peace could be arranged. With the German talons firmly fixed in the +throat of Ukraine; with Poland, Courland, and Lithuania practically +annexed, there was a certain element of reason in this contention. It +was entirely conceivable that with such strength in the west, Germany +could set in motion the machinery of a peace propaganda, and obtain a +peace conference which would enable her to work out a programme of +concessions in the west for concessions in the east—a peace by +compromise which would answer present needs while furnishing all future +requirements in case she decided to provoke another war. Thus Germany +would end the war with a victory just as truly as if she had won it on +the field of battle, and without the terrific loss in man power that an +offensive on the western front would entail.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Allies refuse a peace by compromise.</div> + +<p>In constructing this theory, however, certain essentials were ignored. +German voraciousness can never be satisfied. It is a bottomless pit +which can be filled only by pouring into it the world. When there is +nothing more to be had, Germany would perforce rest content. The +possession of Russia only whetted her appetite for France and Belgium +and the life of England. Moreover, the Allies, having <a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>now learned +Germany, and having acquired a sense of their own safety and of the +future peace of the world, had no thought of permitting Germany to +remain in possession of western Russia, of Serbia, and of Rumania, and +thereby not only perpetuating but actually aggravating the condition out +of which grew the present war. They had, therefore, notified Germany +that they would lay down arms only when she was willing to disgorge what +she and her allies had swallowed, and had rectified their frontiers in +accordance with President Wilson's fourteen conditions and with Lloyd +George's statement on the same subject.</p> + +<p>In other words, Germany was to be permitted to emerge from the war with +a profit only through military victory; she would have to defend her +conquests. This negatived the idea of a peace through negotiation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The German people equally to blame with their government.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The letter to Prince Sixtus.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Austria might make a separate peace.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">There is suspicion among thieves.</div> + +<p>Having absorbed the fundamental fact that the Allies proposed to +continue the fight to the end, what then was Germany's position? I am +not one of those who cherish the fatuous delusion that this is a war in +which the German people are not equally involved with their government. +At the same time, it is undeniable that there existed in both the German +and the Austrian empires a considerable internal pressure, induced by +hunger and by privations (but not by any moral or ethical +considerations), to bring the war to a close. The cupboards of Russia +were neither so full nor so readily available as had been anticipated. +Suffering was general, and, with the scarcity not only of food but of +wool and of cotton, made the prospect of going through another winter of +war a gloomy contemplation. In Austria the situation was worse than in +Germany. The letter of the Austrian Emperor to his brother-in-law, +Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, which the French Government pub<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>lished +in April, gives sufficient indication of the Austrian need for peace. It +shows also that Germany must have had doubt of the loyalty of her ally, +and German knowledge that conditions had come to such a pass in Austria +that a separate peace would be more welcome to Austria than no peace at +all, regardless of the sacrifices which had to be made to obtain it. How +long Austria could be held Germany did not know, but it was evident that +she was not to be trusted too far. Austria is as unscrupulous, as +hypocritical as is Germany, and Germany knows it. And while there may be +honor among thieves, there is also suspicion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany must resume the offensive.</div> + +<p>But, aside from internal and political considerations, the military +situation itself was one which demanded immediate action or none at all. +It is an elemental military fact that a war cannot be won by defensive +action alone. Defeat may be averted by such means; but victory cannot be +achieved. Germany, with the exception of a single incident south of +Cambrai, had been on the defensive since the close of the battle of +Verdun early in the summer of 1916. The necessity for offensive action +at some time was therefore absolute if Germany was to win. But there +were many considerations which made that time the present. Germany could +not afford to wait.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Divisions are brought from Russia.</div> + +<p>The middle of March found Germany at the height of her man power. Never +before since the outbreak of war had the opportunity been presented for +the concentration on the western front of practically her entire +effective strength in both men and guns. For this, of course, Russia was +responsible. The divisions which were holding the Russian lines had been +carefully picked over, and from men thus selected new divisions were +formed and old ones filled up. All were sent to France as rapidly as +<a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>possible, the movement occupying the time from September, 1917, to +March of this year. Similarly, all available artillery was concentrated +in the west, the eastern front being practically denuded. Germany then +was in immediate danger of being diverted by activities of the Allies in +other fields.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">America could not furnish numbers in 1917.</div> + +<p>The Allies on the other hand were by no means at their full strength. +America, who stepped into the war just in time to take Russia's place, +still remained impotent, unable to place in Europe numbers in any way +commensurate with the situation. But America was gathering impetus as +she went. And while she was a negligible force in 1917—except in the +matters of food and money—and would probably be a negligible force in +1918 subject to the same exception, in 1919 she was almost certain to +turn the tide strongly against the Central Powers. Even in 1918 there +could be expected a steady though small stream of men across the ocean, +who being fresh, eager, and unwearied, might cause trouble. Germany then +had the one chance to win, and that chance demanded that she strike with +all her power before America reached the field. To delay meant not a +drawn game but certain defeat. For if Germany is ever confronted in +Europe with the full strength of America in men and in the machinery of +war, she will be crushed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany must strike before America reaches the field.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Russian situation is disquieting.</div> + +<p>Finally, the situation in Russia boded ill for Germany. Great rejoicing +has taken place in Berlin and in Vienna over peace with Russia. But it +is a peace which has not altered Germany's inability to keep faith with +any Power. Her persistent worship of materialism and force has created a +situation in Russia not at all to Germany's liking. Once the Russian +border was absolutely undefended and the way to Petrograd and Moscow +wide open, Germany could not resist the temptation to march on <a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>in +continued aggression, regardless of treaty or promises or peace or +morality. And Russia has furnished strong evidence that she is not at +all complacent under such aggression.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A new Russian national army is formed.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Danger of guerilla warfare.</div> + +<p>The Russians are in a stage of transition, and are, therefore, unstable, +mentally unsettled. They are completely dissatisfied at Germany's +interpretation of the peace terms. They see themselves being starved +that Germany may fatten on their granaries. They are reaching the point +where organized resistance is the only answer of which the situation is +capable. Steps have already been taken to form a new national army, to +offer organized resistance to further encroachments. There are also +large elements which have never accepted the unconditional surrender and +which never will. At any moment in this land of instability, the fires +which have been kindled by German bad faith and duplicity may break into +a conflagration. There is no danger at the present time—there is danger +that before the year is out public dissatisfaction and unrest may +crystallize and Germany be faced with the most colossal guerilla war the +world has seen; and while warfare of this kind cannot defeat Germany, it +can neutralize many divisions of German troops and pin them down to the +eastern front while the Allies make the finishing stroke in the west. +This situation, out of which anything can grow, made it strongly +advisable that Germany should act before the crystallization should take +place.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ready for a great blow in the West.</div> + +<p>Realizing that she could not wait without serious danger to herself, +Germany mustered all her resources in the west for the great blow she +was to deliver. The problem which confronted the German General Staff +was to destroy one of the two great armies, that of France or that of +England. Both could not be handled together. Germany did not have <a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>the +strength. The attack had to be delivered against one or the other. Which +should it be?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The French losses much greater than the British.</div> + +<p>An attack against the French had certain advantages. The French army was +unmistakably the weaker of the two. In the early days of the war, while +the British army was being formed, it was the French who had to stand +the brunt of the fighting. At Verdun it was the French who from February +to July beat back the German assaults along the Meuse time after time in +the most tremendous duel of the war. In the Battle of the Somme it was +the French who fought their way forward south of the river to the +outskirts of Péronne and Chaulnes. The French losses had, therefore, +been very much greater than the British. As the populations of France +and of the United Kingdom are about the same, the French people had, +therefore, suffered much more than had the British, and were +correspondingly less able to stand such a blow as Germany was able to +deliver.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Much of French front is invulnerable.</div> + +<p>But there was one great disadvantage in attacking France. The blow could +not be delivered against the front from St. Mihiel to the Swiss +frontiers. This front is vulnerable only where the Vosges Mountains are +broken by the great gaps at Belfort, Epinal, and Nancy; and these gaps +are easy to defend and well backed up in rear by great bases of supply +excellently served by many radiating railroad lines. It could not be +delivered at Verdun, because France had not only retaken all the ground +of military value which had been lost; but Verdun had become to France a +religion, a fanaticism. To France it was a symbol of French love of +country, of French patriotism. Verdun meant France. Germany, therefore, +had no desire to test this fortified area again. This left only the +Champagne line between the Argonne Forest and Rheims.<a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Reasons for not striking on the Champagne line.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Allied armies would be left intact.</div> + +<p>If Germany had attacked this front, the British army, the stronger of +her enemies, would soon have struck, and whether Germany so elected or +not, she would nevertheless be running two major operations at the same +time—one offensive in Champagne, the other defensive in Picardy or in +Flanders. Again, suppose her army did bend the French line back, as it +undoubtedly would, how far back would it have to go in order for Germany +to reach a complete military decision? There would indeed be no such +decision in sight, almost regardless of the depth of penetration. The +lines might have to be rectified; Verdun might have to be abandoned; the +Vosges frontier line might have to be drawn in. But even so the French +and British armies would both be intact; both biding their time when, +with full force of their own and a million or more American troops, +Germany could be beaten. In short, an attack against the French at any +point, while promising new gains in territory, promised nothing in the +way of a decision, and, be it remembered, this is Germany's last effort; +it must reach either victory or defeat. The Battle of Picardy must and +will produce a definite, positive result. It cannot end in indecision.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">British army trained only for trench warfare.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The French positions.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The British railway connections might be taken.</div> + +<p>An attack against the British offered none of the disadvantages which +attended an attack against the French. The British were stronger it is +true. But this army, unlike that of the French, was trained for but one +thing—trench warfare. If Germany could restore war in the open—a war +of movement—this strength might be offset by a wider experience. In +attacking the British, the French could be held in check by defensive +tactics with not a great deal of difficulty; as in such operations the +terrain was greatly in Germany's favor. To take a hurried glimpse of the +French positions, <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>we find them in the valley of the Ailette north of +the Chemin des Dames facing the high slopes of the plateau on which is +found Laon. In the Champagne they are facing a high rolling country, +studded with good artillery positions and points of observation. In the +Vosges, their problem is identical with that of the Germans—forcing the +gaps in a barrier otherwise impassable. There would be then a minimum of +danger from the French while Germany was engaged on the British front. +Moreover, behind the British line was, first, Amiens, through which +passed the great railroad systems from Calais, Boulogne, and Abbeville, +binding together the British north of the Somme to the French in the +south. With Amiens in German hands this connection would be badly +ruptured. And farther on still was the sea, which, if Germany could +reach it, would physically separate the great Allied army into two +armies, without connection, each of which could be dealt with +separately. And unlike an advance through Champagne, the farther the +Germans pushed through, the closer the Allies came to total disaster and +defeat. Germany, therefore, selected the British front for attack and +took up the task of destroying the British army.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The main blow is to fall along the Oise.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Plan to drive through Amiens.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">High ground near Lens and Ypres to be retaken.</div> + +<p>The German plan of campaign was simple in its essence, although +involving great numbers of men and an inconceivable mass of material. It +was to strike the main blow along the Oise on the front between St. +Quentin and La Fère, while a subsidiary attack was to be simultaneously +delivered on the northern side of the Cambrai salient between Cambrai +and Arras. This subsidiary attack was designed to break the salient and +destroy the danger of a flank attack against the movement to the south. +In the main attack, delivered with 15,000 men to the mile of front, it +was <a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>intended to break the connection between the British and the French +along the Oise, push a great wedge through at the point of rupture, and +then roll the British line back to the north, leaving the French to be +taken care of later. Failing in this (and Germany had taken into account +the possibility of failure), the British were to be forced back through +Amiens to the sea, and the split in the armies accomplished by +interposing between the parts a section of the seacoast. This operation +would automatically flank the positions held by the British at Arras, +force the British to fall back from Vimy Ridge, and from Lens toward St. +Pol, and, as they retreated, to uncover the Ypres salient and the +positions held in the high ground to the east and south of Ypres—that +is, the Messines and the Passchendaele ridges.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Germans use eighty divisions the first day.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Allies retreat.</div> + +<p>After a brief but very intense bombardment the German infantry went +forward on March 21, 1918. They were favored by a heavy mist which +concealed their movements until they were within fifty yards of the +British trenches, between La Fère and St. Quentin. By sheer weight of +numbers these trenches were overrun and the German infantry poured +through the gap. The line to the north was at once affected by the break +in the southern line, and taken in flank, was also forced to fall back. +But a few hours after the attack was launched, the entire fifty miles of +line north of La Fère was ablaze and the British were in retreat. In +this attack the Germans threw in on the first day 80 divisions—about +one million men—nearly 20,000 men to the mile—a heavier concentration +of men than had ever been used in an attack since the war began. Against +this number the British, in the opening attack could oppose only 5,000 +men to the mile. It is not surprising in view of this disparity in +num<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>bers that the British were completely overwhelmed. In spite of the +rapidity of the initial German advance and the strength of the German +attack, the hoped-for rupture of the Allied line at the Oise did not +occur. The British and French, though retreating steadily, kept in close +touch and preserved intact the continuity of their line.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The French extend their left to keep in touch with the +British.</div> + +<p>As the British section of the line withdrew, the French, in order to +preserve this continuity, were necessarily affected. The French extreme +left withdrew behind the Oise to throw this defensive screen before the +German attack, gradually extending their left as the British retreat +continued, passed Noyons and Pont l'Eveque. As the Allies in their +retreat approached the Somme River, the German progress became slower, +the efforts were labored. From this point indeed, the huge battle took +on something of the nature of the battle of Verdun. It became a fight +for limited objectives. Each village offered resistance and became the +object of an independent battle. The German advance, however, though +slow was not the less persistent and steady.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Somme divides the field into two areas.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Montdidier falls.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">French check the Germans at Villers-Bretonneux.</div> + +<p>With the crossing of the Somme and the Somme-Aisne Canal on the front +between Peronne and Noyons, the battle was automatically divided into +two well defined areas by the east and west course of the Somme between +Peronne and Amiens. In the southern area, the Allied line was held by +both British and French in about equal proportions. But the French were +not yet in great force. The Germans, having passed both the Somme and +the Canal, fought their way westward step by step, in total disregard of +losses, until the line of the Avre River was reached. Here the French, +who held the line from the Luce River south and then east, made a +position stand, and a series of pitched battles occurred for the river +cross<a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>ing. The first of these to fall was Montdidier at the head waters +of the Avre. This enabled the German army to reach westward of the river +and spread out after crossing to flank the defenses to the north. +Gradually the left bank of the river was cleared as far north as +Moreuil. Here the high ground on the left bank between Moreuil and the +mouth of the Luce enabled the French to beat off all German attacks for +several days. Finally, however, both Moreuil and Morisel were taken and +later the village of Cassel, the Avre being thus cleared of the Allied +troops as far north as the mouth of the Luce. From Cassel to the Somme, +however, the German forces found themselves in serious difficulties. +About Hangard, particularly, the fighting was exceptionally heavy; but +after changing hands several times, the Germans were finally thrown +across to the southern bank of the Luce and there held in place. From +Hangard north to the Somme the result was the same. After struggling for +days against the troops on the high plateau of which Villers-Bretonneux +is the centre, the Germans were brought to a standstill in their +attempts to approach Amiens by way of the Avre-Somme angle.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The British retire behind the Ancre.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Albert is taken; but Germans are soon held.</div> + +<p>In the battlefield north of the Somme, the British retired slowly until +they were safely behind the Ancre River, which figured so prominently in +the battle of the Somme in 1916. Taking Albert, an important British +base, the Germans tried desperately to push beyond and reach the +railroad which runs along the lower Ancre from Amiens to Albert. Failing +in this, they struck heavily in the angle between the Somme and the +Ancre in order to flank the line north of Albert from the high ground +north-east of Corbie. Here also they met with defeat, so that from +Beaumont-Hamel southward the Allied line became stationary.<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The situation of the Germans.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">To win peace the Germans must destroy an army.</div> + +<p>At this point in the battle the Germans found themselves in this +situation: from Montdidier westward the French lines were firmly +established first along a series of small but well defined heights as +far as Noyons and thence along the southern bank of the Oise as far as +the lower forest of Coucy. This side of the wedge was firmly fixed and +capable of great resistance. Moreover, to expend time and men in an +attack on this front would mean a serious departure from the German +plan, as success here would mean an advance toward Paris instead of +toward the sea. And at this stage of the war, peace cannot be obtained +by the capture of any city, even the French capital. The price of peace +is the destruction of an army, either that of the British or that of the +French. This can be accomplished only through reaching the sea at some +central point such as Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme.</p> + +<p>Therefore, the German problem had of necessity to find its solution +north of Montdidier—between that town and Albert. There is not much +doubt that by concentrating sufficient artillery and by the expenditure +of sufficient men, the German leaders would be able to push their way +farther westward, even beyond Amiens. But as the wedge deepened it would +gradually draw down to a point so that the ultimate situation would be +that the German lines would form an acute angle, the vortex of which +would be on the Somme at or west of Amiens, one side passing through +Albert, or possibly through the village of Bucquoy, the other through +Montdidier. Such a formation would mean positive disaster. It would be +worth a quarter of a million men to the Allies to strike both north and +south across the base of this angle and snuff it out. It would mean to +Germany the loss of a mass of artillery and <a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>tens of thousands of men. +And the Allies would not be slow to see this opportunity and strike. The +German High Command, therefore, did not dare to take the chance with +matters as they then were.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Necessary to advance north of the Somme.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The defenses of the British northern wing.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The fight for Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette.</div> + +<p>In order that the German army might continue its march to the sea then, +it was necessary that the line north of the Somme should advance, +synchronizing its movement with the point of the wedge along the river. +Thus only would the wedge be sufficiently wide to avoid disaster. But +the entire northern wing of the British army was guarded by Vimy Ridge +and the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette. It was impossible that the +advance could be made, leaving these positions directly on the flank. +The combination of these two heights forms a huge semicircle concave +toward the south. The British batteries posted on these heights could +continue to rake the German advancing troops in flank and rear with most +destructive effect. Therefore, after the fighting in the south came to a +halt, the Germans undertook to open the way by forcing these two +positions. Using seven divisions—about 90,000 men—the Germans attacked +on a front not exceeding ten miles from Arleux to Fampoux on the Scarpe. +The attack continued for two days, but was an absolute failure. The +German advance had to be made down the slopes of one hill, across a +stretch of flat, open valley, and up the sides of another. Down in the +valley were the British outpost positions which were overwhelmed and +driven in. But in attempting to cross the valley floor the Germans +literally withered under machine gun and rifle fire. At the end of two +days' fighting, during which the greater part of these divisions were +cut to pieces, the attack had to be abandoned. The fighting then from +Lens southward to the Avre came to an end with the Germans completely +halted. The <a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>first definite stage of the decisive battle of the war was +thus concluded.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The attack about Bucquoy.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Considerable initial successes.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A stand at the edge of the Forest of Nieppe.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Germans take Messines Ridge.</div> + +<p>But the Germans were by no means ready to acknowledge defeat. The +Lens-Arras sector had to be cleared up. The attack from the south, +crystallizing about Bucquoy, and from the east both having broken down, +there remained but to attack from the north. Utilizing to the utmost the +advantages of the great railroad system which parallels this front, +connecting in a single chain all of their great advance bases, the +Germans effected a heavy concentration at Lille, and, using about twenty +divisions (which were afterward increased to thirty), struck the British +line between Givenchy—just north of La Bassée—and Warneton on the Lys +River. The initial successes were considerable. The Germans penetrated +to a maximum depth of more than four miles in the centre, although on +both right and left the line held fast. North of Armentières, however, +the British line gave ground, which enabled the Germans to pocket this +city and to capture it on the second day of the attack. On the +succeeding days, the British centre continued to give way until the edge +of the Forest of Nieppe was reached. The German position at this point +in the attack became practically untenable. The northern side of this +wedge was lined with heights from which the British artillery was +pouring a devastating plunging fire. These heights, beginning farther +east, began with the famous Messines-Wytschaete Ridge and extended due +west through Kemmel to Cassel. Moreover, in falling back the British +pivoted on Messines, which left this strong bastion from which to strike +out against the very heart of the salient. Accordingly, to remove this +danger the German leaders swung the attack north against the Messines +Ridge. After days of fighting in which Bailleul was taken and the <a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>foot +of the Kemmel series of hills was reached, the Messines Ridge was taken +in reverse and the British line was withdrawn until it passed over the +ridge just north of Wytschaete. Still pressing on the north, the Germans +attacked the Kemmel position, but the British, now reinforced by the +French, threw the attacks back as rapidly as they formed. Failing here +and at the centre in Nieppe Forest, still another attack was delivered, +this time against the southern side of the wedge from Givenchy to St. +Venant. The first two days of this fighting was also disastrous to the +Germans who were entirely unable to dent the British positions. In +brief, the Germans were then enclosed in a huge semicircle about fifteen +miles in diameter. All parts of the area enclosed were subject to +artillery fire from three sides and the Germans were striking first on +one side then on the other in frantic efforts to break the Allies' +grip—and giving no indication of sufficient power to succeed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Objectives of the Germans in the North.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The British gradually retire about Ypres.</div> + +<p>The objects of the German effort in the north were several. Primarily it +was intended as a means of breaking the defenses of Arras and of Lens by +cutting in behind the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge. +Again it was intended to take Hazebrouck, Bethune, St. Pol, Aire, and +St. Omer, through which the distribution of supplies and men landing at +Calais is effected. Finally it was intended to take from the British the +high ground in Flanders, uncover Ypres, and open the way to the coast. +But for many reasons, now that the Allies had caught their breath for a +moment, so to speak, the advantage appeared to have passed from German +hands. The element of surprise, so essential to success even in trench +warfare, was no longer possible. The gradual retirements of the British +around Ypres were not costly nor did they "open a way" to the <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>channel +ports as the Germans hoped. The Germans had fixed the points of +attack—and these were the only possible points: southern Flanders and +from the Avre to the Scarpe. Germany had already used in the offense 130 +divisions out of 204; and of these 50 had been in action twice—while +the British had been heavily engaged from the outset, the French have +had but few divisions in action. There was, therefore, apparently much +greater reserve strength behind the Allies' battle line than Germany +could possibly muster. And it is reserve strength which must ultimately +decide the issue.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The crisis of the Great War is at hand.</div> + +<p>Germany has taken the great plunge—the concentration and utilization of +her entire resources in man power in a final effort to win. It is +Germany's last bid for victory before the peace propaganda is launched. +Germany must win or go down to defeat. But Germany cannot stop. She must +go on and on regardless of cost. She has expended literally hundreds of +thousands of men, not for territorial conquest as the German press has +pointed out and emphasized, but to destroy the British army. What +figment of pretense is left if the battle remains indecisive? None the +less, for the Allies as well the situation is serious though not +critical. The crisis of the Great War is truly at hand. None can doubt +the outcome who has any belief in honor and justice among civilized +nations.</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, World's Work, June, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>For many months prior to the end of the war Bulgaria had sought an +opportunity to make peace. The people were wearied with fighting and it +was plain to them that a German victory was hopeless. Finally a complete +collapse occurred, King Ferdinand fled, and Bulgaria surrendered, as is +described in the following pages.<a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BULGARIA QUITS</h2> + +<h3>LOTHROP STODDARD</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">"Mitteleuropa" crumbles.</div> + +<p>Bulgaria's withdrawal from the Teutonic block and her frank capitulation +to the Allies is easily the most dramatic episode of the World War. +Almost overnight the massive bridge of "Mitteleuropa" has crumbled at +its central span, leaving exhausted Turkey foredoomed to speedy +surrender and laying distracted Austria open to the combined assaults of +Allied arms and domestic revolution. So stupendous are the possibilities +flowing from the Allies' September offensive in Macedonia that we are +almost tempted to believe that the age of miracles is come again.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The war-spirit of Bulgaria weakens.</div> + +<p>Yet in such hours we should clarify our vision by insistent remembrance +of Clausewitz's famous saying that war is but the extension of politics. +For brilliant as was the Franco-Serbian escalade of mid-September, +storming successive mountain walls as though they were mere trench lines +and shearing through war-hardened Bulgarian divisions like a knife +through rotten cheese, there was more than fighting involved. For the +last year and even longer a combination of circumstances had been +weaning Bulgaria from her former solidarity with the Central powers, and +this disruptive process, proceeding with special rapidity during the +last few months, had been steadily sapping the morale of the Bulgarian +people and the war-spirit of the Bulgarian soldiery. From the broader +point of view, therefore, the Allies' Macedonian offensive must <a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>be +deemed not merely a skilful military operation, but even more a +well-timed garnering of fruits ripe for the plucking. In such masterly +combinations of strategy and politics lies the secret of decisive +victory.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bulgaria's political evolution.</div> + +<p>The accurate gaging by Allied statesmanship of Bulgaria's political +evolution is specially noteworthy because that evolution was both +complicated and obscure. In fact, its roots reach down to the +fundamental aspirations of the Bulgarian people. Bulgaria's present +volte-face is no chance product of panic, but a logical step in her +national policy. Its consequences thus promise to be not ephemeral, but +lasting. An understanding of the factors that brought about the existing +situation is therefore worth careful study.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Prussians of the Balkans.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Desire to attain race unity.</div> + +<p>The Bulgarians have often been called the Prussians of the Balkans, and +in this characterization there is a large measure of truth. A +hard-working, tenacious folk, capable of great patience, docile to iron +discipline, and appreciative of governmental efficiency, the material +progress made by the Bulgarians during their forty years of independence +is as striking in its way as the similar progress of the German people. +Unfortunately, the Bulgarians resemble the Prussians not only in their +virtues, but in their most unlovely qualities as well. There are the +same tactlessness, brutality, overweening ambition, and cynical +indifference to the means by which those ambitions are to be attained. +This has shown itself clearly throughout Bulgarian history. When +Bulgaria gained her independence of Turkey in 1878 she started with a +perfectly legitimate ambition, the attainment of Bulgarian race-unity +through the annexation of those Bulgar-inhabited portions of Macedonia +that remained under Turkish rule. For this the Bulgarian people toiled +and taxed themselves without stint. For this they <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>built up a military +machine relatively the most formidable on earth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Projects of the leaders.</div> + +<p>But that was by no means the whole story. Race-unity may have been the +goal for which the simple Bulgarian peasant drilled and delved. His +leaders had more grandiose projects in view. This was specially true of +the Bulgarian monarch, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a man of great +political sagacity, but of a cynical unscrupulousness rivaling +Machiavelli's "Prince." Ferdinand's dream was a great Bulgarian empire +embracing the entire Balkan Peninsula, with its seat at Constantinople +and his exalted self occupying the imperial throne. This implied both +the expulsion of the Turks from Europe and the subjugation of the other +Christian Balkan peoples. In the Balkan War of 1912 Bulgaria's hour +seemed to have struck, but Ferdinand for once overplayed his hand, and +Bulgaria's Balkan rivals beat her on the battle-field and forced her to +the humiliating Peace of Bukharest in 1913.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">the Peace of Bukharest.</div> + +<p>The Peace of Bukharest was not a constructive settlement. It was an +attempt on the part of embittered enemies to punish Bulgaria's ambitions +and keep her permanently down. The result was most unfortunate. Playing +upon their balked desire for race-unity, Ferdinand bound his subjects to +his wider imperialistic designs. Raging under their humiliations and +their failure to redeem their Macedonian brethren, the Bulgarians +declared themselves ready to league with the devil if they might thereby +tear up the Bukharest parchment and revenge themselves upon their +enemies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The opportunity for revenge.</div> + +<p>The opportunity was not long in coming. The Pan-German devil was already +preparing his stroke for world dominion, and when the blow fell in 1914, +Bulgaria's alinement was almost a foregone conclusion. The military +losses in the recent Balkan Wars had of course so <a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>weakened her that +cautious diplomatic jockeying was a preliminary necessity, but when +Russia had succumbed to Hindenburg's hammer-strokes in the summer of +1915 and the Germanic hosts menaced Serbia in the autumn, Bulgaria threw +off the mask, struck Serbia from the rear, and joined the Teutonic +powers. Thus did the "Berlin-Bagdad" dream grow into solid fact, and +Mitteleuropa became a hard reality.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The people give hearty assent.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany promises cessions from Turkey.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Victory over Serbia and Rumania.</div> + +<p>There can be no question that when Bulgaria entered the war on the +Teutonic side in the autumn of 1915 she did so with the hearty assent of +the vast majority of her people. The Germans had promised Bulgaria those +things which Bulgarians most desired. A Teutonic alliance offered +Bulgaria immediate possession of Serbian Macedonia, where lived the bulk +of the Bulgarian element still outside Bulgaria's political frontiers, +together with the practical destruction of the Serbian arch-enemy. The +Teutonic alliance likewise offered prospects of reclaiming the Bulgarian +populations of Greek Macedonia and of the southern Dobrudja, annexed by +Rumania, in 1913, should Greece and Rumania, both notoriously pro-Ally, +strike in on the Entente side. Lastly, the German Government agreed to +use its good offices with its ally, Turkey, to obtain for Bulgaria a +Turkish cession of the Demotika district of Thrace west of the Maritza +River, thereby giving Bulgaria direct railroad communication with +Dedeagatch, her one practicable outlet on the Ægean Sea. All these +things presently came to pass. Serbia lay crushed, and Serbian Macedonia +was under Bulgarian control before the close of 1915. Turkey soon +yielded Demotika. In the spring of 1916 the quarrel between the Greek +King Constantine and the Entente powers permitted Bulgaria to occupy the +coveted Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia, <a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>while that +same autumn Rumania's intervention on the Allied side resulted in her +speedy defeat, with Bulgarian troops overrunning the whole Dobrudja as +far as the Danube mouth, and Bulgarian regiments triumphantly parading +through the streets of Bukharest. Small wonder that up to the close of +1916 Bulgaria remained a loyal member of Mitteleuropa, thoroughly +contented with her bargain.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effects of defeats on Russia.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Russian Revolution.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Bulgaria only a link in Mitteleuropa.</div> + +<p>The year 1917, however, saw the beginning of that estrangement from +Germany which has finally caused Bulgaria's abandonment of the Teutonic +cause. The first rift in the lute was the Russian Revolution. This event +was a great shock to Ferdinand and the Sofia politicians. When Bulgaria +had joined Germany in the autumn of 1915 her political leaders had +divined the fact that Russia's war spirit was broken by the crushing +defeats inflicted upon her by the Germans and that she would ultimately +retire from the war. But Sofia had looked forward to a Russian +retirement under imperial auspices and thereafter to a Russo-German +rapprochement in which Bulgaria should be the connecting-link, +extracting a profitable brokerage by playing off one against the other +in Balkan affairs. The idea was subtle, yet not without reason when we +remember that it was toward this very state of things that the last +czarist governments of Stürmer and Golytzin were feeling their way. +However, Bulgarian expectations were completely dashed by the credo of +Revolutionary Russia, which renounced imperialism and eschewed all those +near-Eastern ambitions which had been the watchword of the old régime. +Now, Bulgaria did not like the new situation. For though Russia was +definitely out of the Balkans, Germany and Austria were emphatically +not, and their weight was too heavy to be borne pleasantly even by their +friends. It <a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>was one thing for Bulgaria to be the connecting link of +Mitteleuropa, with mighty Russia always potentially present to redress +the balance. It was quite another matter to be just the link. That this +was to be Bulgaria's future rôle in Mitteleuropa, Germany's new attitude +made increasingly plain. The progressive disintegration of Russia +through 1917 riveted Teutonic domination on the Balkans and even offered +alternative routes to the East. This meant that Germany no longer needed +to show Bulgaria special consideration, and what that fact implied to +Teutonic minds was quickly shown by the series of bitter +disillusionments that Bulgaria had to experience.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany disposes of the Dobrudja.</div> + +<p>The first shock came regarding the Dobrudja. When the Teuton-Bulgar +armies had swept the Rumanians out of the Dobrudja at the close of 1916, +Bulgaria had expected to acquire the entire peninsula. But Germany soon +showed that she had other ideas on the matter. The Dobrudja not only +controlled the mouth of the Danube, but also contained the port terminus +of the main railroad trunk-line from Central Europe to the Black Sea. +These things Germany had no intention of placing in Bulgarian hands. +Accordingly, Bulgaria was given only the southern Dobrudja, the rest of +the peninsula being held "in common." And when in the spring of 1918 +Russia's final collapse forced Rumania to make peace with the Central +powers, it was to them, and not to Bulgaria, that Rumania ceded the +Dobrudja prize. Of course Germany temporized, and extended the Dobrudja +"condominium" until the final peace settlement, but Bulgaria could see +with half an eye that her hopes in this quarter would never be realized.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The dispute with Turkey about Thrace.</div> + +<p>A second shock was presently administered by Turkey. In return for +Bulgaria's extension of territory in the southern Dobrudja, Turkey +<a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>demanded compensation by Bulgaria's retrocession of the Demotika +district of Thrace. This district, it will be remembered, was vital to +Bulgaria's railway communications with her Ægean seaboard. Bulgaria +therefore angrily rejected the proposal, Turkey as vehemently insisted, +and by the beginning of 1918 a very pretty quarrel was on between the +two allies, culminating in at least one bloody mix-up between Turkish +and Bulgarian troops. In these circumstances Bulgaria appealed to +Germany, but was deeply chagrined to receive from the Wilhelmstrasse a +Delphic utterance which might have been interpreted as an indorsement of +Turkish claims. The reason for this was that Germany was then +overrunning the Ukraine preparatory to the occupation of Transcaucasia +and the penetration of the middle East. For such far-flung projects +zealous Turkish cooperation was a prime necessity. Accordingly, Turkey +had to be favored in every possible way. As for Bulgaria, she must not +embarrass Germany in her march to world dominion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany does not promise Saloniki.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Reservation regarding Macedonia.</div> + +<p>A third shock was in store. Ever since the spring of 1916 Bulgaria had +occupied the Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia. In 1916, +Greece was clinging to an ambiguous neutrality, but a year later the +Entente powers deposed King Constantine, and Greece ranged herself +squarely on the Allied side, with a declaration of war against Bulgaria +as one of the first consequences. Thereupon Bulgaria urged Germany to +allow her definitely to annex the occupied districts and to promise her +Saloniki when victory should crown the Teuton-Bulgar arms. But here +again Bulgaria discovered that Germany had other fish to fry. Ex-King +Constantine and the Greek royalists might yet be very useful to Berlin. +Therefore they must not be alienated by giving Bulgaria <a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>territories +which would render every Greek an irreconcilable foe to Mitteleuropa. +Also Saloniki, the great Ægean outlet of central Europe was far too +valuable a prize to be committed exclusively to Bulgarian hands. But +Saloniki could be reached from central Europe only across Macedonia. +Therefore in the final Balkan settlement there must be reserves +regarding Bulgaria's control of the Macedonian railroad system. For that +matter, this might have to be applied to Bulgaria's own railroad system, +since it was the trunk-line from central Europe to the East.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German interests first.</div> + +<p>So reasoned the suave German diplomats. The effect upon Bulgarian +sensibilities can be imagined. How far removed was this drab reality +from roseate dreams of imperial Bulgaria dominating the entire Balkans +and treating with Teutonic partners as a respected equal! The grim truth +was this: Bulgaria's promised gains were being whittled away according +to the shifting exigencies of German policy. Was anything certain for +the future? No. Because German interests came first, and the junior +colleagues must "do their part." Here once more appeared the Nemesis of +Prussian <i>Realpolitik</i>, that sinister heresy the crowning demerit of +which is that it is not even "real," since it reposes on short-sighted +egoism and disregards those moral "imponderables," good faith, +fair-dealing, etc., which weigh most heavily in the end. Having turned +the neutral world into enemies, <i>Realpolitik</i> was now ready to turn +Germany's allies into neutrals.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bulgaria is discontented.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Bulgaria suffers also from previous wars.</div> + +<p>Thus by the opening months of 1918 Bulgaria was no longer a contented +member of central Europe. Most of her political leaders were profoundly +disillusioned, and uncertain as to the future. Of course these political +matters were still somewhat veiled from the masses. But meanwhile the +Bulgarian peasant had been <a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>undergoing a little educative process of his +own. German diplomats might ask Bulgaria to make sacrifices. The +Bulgarian peasant could answer roundly that this was already the case. +For Bulgaria was suffering—suffering in every fiber of her being. When +she entered the European struggle in 1915, Bulgaria was still weak from +two bloody wars. True, the Bulgarian conscripts had marched gladly +enough once more, because they were told that it was a matter of a +single short campaign, ending in a speedy peace. But two long years had +now passed, and Bulgaria's manhood still stood mobilized in distant +Macedonia, while at home the fields went fallow, and the scanty +harvests, reaped by women and children, had to be shared with the +German. Everywhere there was increasing want, sometimes semi-starvation. +Bulgaria, like Russia, was proving that a primitive agricultural people +may make a fine campaign, but cannot wage prolonged modern war.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Premier Radoslavov resigns.</div> + +<p>All this discontent, both above and below, presently focused itself in +the parliamentary situation. The opposition groups in the Bulgarian +Sobranje steadily gained strength until on June 17, 1918, Premier +Radoslavov was forced to resign. Radoslavov had been in power since +1913. He had been the architect of the Teuton-Bulgar alliance and was +known to be a firm believer in the Mitteleuropa idea. His successor, +Malinov, naturally gave lip-service to the same program, but his past +leaning had been toward Russia, and he had never displayed marked +enthusiasm for the Teutons.</p> + +<p>Of course this change of ministry did not mean that Bulgaria was then +ready to make a separate peace with the Entente Allies. Every Bulgarian +knew that such an act would mean the abandonment of Bulgaria's whole +imperialistic dream and the immediate relinquishment of supremely prized +Macedonia. But it did <a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>mean that Bulgaria was discontented with her +present situation and that she was resolved to take a more independent +stand toward her Teutonic allies even though Germany was in the full +flush of her great Western offensive and dreaming of a speedy entry into +Paris.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The changes of fortune in the West.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Peace demonstrations.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The tales of Bulgarian prisoners.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The capitulation.</div> + +<p>But just a month after Malinov's accession came the dramatic shift of +fortune in the West. The German offensive broke down, and the Allies +began their astounding succession of victories. Instantly the Balkan +situation altered. Bulgaria knew that the spring offensive had been +Germany's supreme bid for victory. To fill the ranks for the rush on +Paris and the channel ports the last German veterans had been withdrawn +from the East. Gone were those field-gray divisions which had stiffened +the Macedonian front and kept down popular discontent by garrisoning +Bulgarian towns. The peasant voice was at last free to speak, and it +spoke in no uncertain terms for an end of the war. Agrarian disturbances +increased in frequency. Peace demonstrations occurred in Sofia. In fact, +some of these demonstrations were tinged with revolutionary red. +Bolshevism, that wild revolt against the whole existing order to-day +manifest in every quarter of the globe, had not passed Bulgaria by. Of +course there was the army, but the army itself was not immune. By early +July, Bulgarian deserters and prisoners taken on the Macedonian front +were telling the Allied intelligence officers strange tales—tales of +midnight soldiers' meetings at which "delegates" were chosen in true +Russian fashion, and which Bulgarian regimental officers found it wisest +to ignore. Such was the situation in early summer. By the first days of +autumn Bulgaria was cracking from end to end. It was in mid-September +that General Franchet d'Espérey, the Allied commander, ordered the +Macedonian offensive.<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a> Small wonder that within a fortnight Bulgaria had +surrendered and retired from the war.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Turkey's doom sealed.</div> + +<p>The consequences of Bulgaria's capitulation should be both momentous and +far-reaching. In the first place, Turkey's doom is sealed. Cut off from +direct communication with the Teutonic powers save by the Black Sea +water-route and staggering under her Palestine defeats, Turkey is now +menaced at her very heart. By the terms of the recent armistice Bulgaria +has agreed to allow the Allies free passage across her territory, +including the full use of her railways. This means that the Allies can +move through Bulgaria upon Turkish Thrace, the sole land bastion +protecting Constantinople. Turkey's military situation is thus hopeless, +and it is not impossible that before these lines appear in print Turkey +will have followed Bulgaria's example and will have thrown up the +sponge.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rumania to be freed.</div> + +<p>A second possibility is the liberation of Rumania. The "peace" imposed +upon Rumania by the Central powers last spring was one of the most +shameless acts of international brigandage in the annals of modern +history, and though dire necessity compelled Rumania to sign, it was +plain that she would submit to her new slavery only so long as the +Teutonic pistol was held to her head. This pistol took the form of a +Teutonic army of ten divisions camped upon her soil. But to-day Rumania +is thrilling to the great news, and when Allied bayonets begin flashing +south of the Danube these heliographs of liberty will light a flame of +revolt which second-rate German divisions will be unable to stamp out. +With the ground burning under their feet the Teutons will probably +evacuate Rumania with only the most perfunctory resistance to the +advancing Allies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German prestige in the East crumbles.</div> + +<p>And southern Russia is in much the same case. To-day it is bowed beneath +the Teuton <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>yoke, yet the Teutonic corps of occupation are mere islets +lost in its vast immensity and ruling more by prestige than by physical +power. But German prestige is crumbling fast, and when Turkey's +surrender opens the Black Sea to the Allied fleets, southern Russia, +like Rumania, should be in a blaze. From the Ukraine to the Caucasus the +land is already seething with disaffection. The Don Cossacks have never +been subdued. Will the Germans dare to hold their thin communication +lines till the guns of Entente warships are thundering off Odessa and +Batum?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Austria's condition is desperate.</div> + +<p>Lastly, there is Austria-Hungary. Bulgaria's capitulation opens the way +for the liberation of Serbia and an Allied push to the Austrian border +on the middle Danube. Beyond lie whole provinces full of mutinous +Jugoslavs and Rumanians. For that matter, all the non-German and +non-Magyar peoples of the Dual Empire are in a state of suppressed +revolt, held down by armies largely composed of their disaffected +brethren. Perhaps the Balkan winter may delay the Allied advance, +perhaps Germany may find enough troops to stifle Austrian disaffection, +but the condition of the Hapsburg realm is at best a desperate one, full +of explosive possibilities.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bulgars are disillusioned about Germany.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">There may be a Balkan confederation.</div> + +<p>These are the major consequences which seem likely to flow from +Bulgaria's surrender. There remains the question of the future attitude +of Bulgaria herself. Will she remain a passive spectator of these +momentous happenings, or will she, striking in on the Allies' side, do +her share toward bringing them to pass? The latter eventuality is more +than possible. The Bulgarians, from czar to peasant lad, are realists, +not given to vain sacrifices. They see that Germany's game is up and +that her Balkan grip is broken forever. They have also been bitterly +disillusioned about Mitteleuropa, and must to-<a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>day realize that under +Mitteleuropa whatever Balkan territories might have been colored +"Bulgarian" upon the map, they themselves would have been virtually +serfs of a Germany whose idea of empire was the outworn concept of a +master race lording it over submissive slaves. With their eyes thus +opened, the Bulgarians are in a position to appreciate the Allies' +profession of faith with its program of freedom for the smallest peoples +and fair-dealing even toward the foe. Imperialistic dreams must of +course be banished forever. But solicitude for race-brethren outside +Bulgaria's present frontiers is a sentiment which the Allies recognize +as wholly legitimate and which they are pledged to satisfy either by +permitting annexation to the homeland or, where this is impossible owing +to superior claims of intervening races, by assuring the unredeemed +Bulgars full cultural liberty. The Allies' hope is a Balkan +confederation in which its varied races may pull together in common +interest and mutual respect instead of rending one another in vain +dreams of barren empire achieved through blood and iron. Is it too much +to hope that so level-headed a people as the Bulgarians will come to +realize that in such a Balkan settlement their lasting interests will be +far safer than in a Balkans precariously dominated by a Bulgarian +minority holding down a majority of sullen and vengeful race enemies?</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, Century, December, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The most picturesque army raised during the great war was that formed by +large numbers of Czecho-Slovaks, formerly prisoners of war in Russia and +deserters from the Austrian armies. This force fought its way through +Russia and Siberia, opposed by the Bolsheviks who had promised them safe +conduct to France. A description of these famous fighters is contained +in the following pages.<a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE FIGHTING CZECHO-SLOVAKS</h2> + +<h3>MAYNARD OWEN WILLIAMS</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">The romantic Czecho-Slovak army.</div> + +<p>The Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force is one of the most romantic armies +of the ages and an important step toward world democracy and idealism. I +learned to know the Czechs in a journey across Siberia on one of their +trains. They furnished me a bed when beds were scarce, transportation +when transportation was scarcer, and shoes when shoes were necessary. I +have never seen a real Czech that I could not endorse.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Two methods of travel in Russia.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A journey on a Czecho-Slovak train.</div> + +<p>Last March there were two ways to travel in Russia. If one was an +American—relief worker, correspondent, Y.M.C.A. man—one could get a +private car. Many Americans rode that way for a trifling cost and +without inconvenience. And it was in such cars that some of Russia's +severest critics traveled. The other way was intimate travel with the +common herd. I started thus. It was at Irtishevo, a junction point near +the lower Volga, that I changed. In a crowded station in the Russian +disorder, I suddenly found myself looking into the eyes of a spirited, +smiling young officer, who had evidently learned that I was an American +journalist and who was explaining to me in three languages that there +was no way out of my riding to Vladivostok with his military train. He +wore a red and white ribbon. His alert bearing and enthusiasm marked him +in the numbers of nondescript soldiers who were still traveling in the +Russian chaos of last <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>spring. I was about to protest mildly in French +when three of his fellow soldiers of fortune seized my baggage, carried +it around a countless number of trains and stowed it away in a +compartment from which another officer, warned of our arrival just in +time, was removing his personal effects. He may have stood up all night. +Anyway, I was a quite willing captive on one of the forty odd trains of +the Czecho-Slovaks which had started to cross Russia and Siberia to +fight for their liberty in France.</p> + +<p>My friend was of medium height, well knit, deep chested, smart in +bearing. The red and white ribbon on his cap was the badge of the +Czechs. Before I had left them at Vladivostok five weeks later I could +have picked a Czech out from any crowd by his air of determination +backed by an enthusiastic good cheer which everywhere won its way from +Austrian prisoner to warmhearted Russian peasant woman. All that night I +heard them singing in that splendid, low, group chorus of theirs along +the entire line of the train.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Czechs are finely disciplined.</div> + +<p>I found these finely disciplined fellows next morning sitting in the +doorways of their freight cars. Some were playing on violins they had +whittled out in the prison camps. The future of their cross country +jaunt to the Pacific worried them not at all. They had fought their way +out of the Ukraine, where German elements had tried to stop them. As +former citizens of the Central Powers, they were quite happy in the +chance to fight again for what their ancestors of five centuries before +had stood. Bolsheviks there were among them. But a Czech Bolshevik +differs from a Russian in that he shaves and thinks before he acts. +Never have I seen more sharp salutes or stricter discipline, and these +men were in Russia where discipline was a curiosity. A<a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a> Czech is so +anxious to accomplish that he is willing to discipline himself. When a +Czech marches, he marches irresistibly. In theory, he may be a +Socialist. In action, he is a patriot.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Teaching English to Czech officers.</div> + +<p>I found my place on the expedition as teacher of English to a group of +Czech officers and members of the National Assembly. My class wanted +English in order to be able to understand President Wilson's speeches as +they traveled across the United States, for they rank the President with +their own national leader, Masaryk. The Czech is literate in several +languages, and if he wants another he gives a week-end to it. In my +class were university graduates, artisans, engineers and musicians. The +Czech is a natural-born good mixer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The young men make friends everywhere.</div> + +<p>When our train would reach a town, these young men of action won friends +wherever they went. Milk woman and bread seller all along the +Trans-Siberian liked them, for they pay spot cash, deal honorably and +don't know what ruffianism means.</p> + +<p>The miracle accomplished by the Czechs is the result of discipline and +courage rather than strategy. Their rise to power was on their own +initiative. They could have stayed passive as have so many times their +number among the prisoners from other parts of Austria. But their stand +for freedom from the Austrian yoke is uncompromising. They started out +determined to fight for France and victory. The great bulk of the +remaining Austrian prisoners are completely satisfied if only they can +keep away from war. The Czechs are passionate in their burning +patriotism. The Austrian prisoners in Russia who still feel a certain +degree of loyalty to Austria are passive in their sentiment. Most of +them shrink from enforced military service—either back in Austria or in +a<a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a> German-Austrian prisoner offensive on the spot in Siberia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Groups that have no love for the Germans.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Willing to join the Czechs.</div> + +<p>This Czechish heart centre of virile independence acted as a powerful +magnet wherever their bands moved. All through Russia and Siberia, there +are refugee groups from Poland, Lithuania, Courland and the Riga +District. These people have no love for the Germans who drove them from +their homes nor for the Junkers of their own communities who handed +their lands over to the Germans rather than have them divided by the +Bolsheviks. Germany is finding that there is a difference between saving +landed proprietors from hostile peasants and workingmen and the huge +task of enslaving these same peasants under the Prussian yoke. Hundreds +of these elements in Russia's great refugee population wanted to enter +the Czech expedition, but these fighters were compelled to keep their +army small, compact and homogeneous. Transportation was insufficient. +Even Czech artisans were refused a place in the trains unless they could +pass rigid examinations. The willingness of other forces to unite with +the Czechs may well be counted on when the call for them comes in +Siberia and Russia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The National Assembly of Bohemia.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Attractive decorations of the cars.</div> + +<p>The General Staff train on which I rode carried, in addition to the cars +for officers and men, a hall for the National Assembly meetings, a +complete printing outfit, a photographic dark-room, with full equipment +for still and motion pictures, a bakery, kitchens and a laundry. It was +on this moving train, all parts of which were connected by telephone +with the car of the commanding officer, that the plans for a New Bohemia +were being worked out. A daily four-page newspaper was published on the +General Staff train. It gave the ideals of the expedition, the current +news translated into Czechish, lessons in French for <a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>the use of the +forces on landing in France, and quotations from Professor Masaryk. +About four thousand copies of this paper were printed every day and +distributed not only among the Czechs but among many of the Austrian war +prisoners, who were thus informed of the ambitious plans these fighting +independents saw before them. Their trains showed their versatility and +love for decoration and home-making. Not only were they clean, but +hundreds of the cars were decorated with life-size drawings, and with +quaint designs in evergreens. To enable the men to find their friends, a +roster of the occupants of the car was printed on the red flanks of +their freight wagons. On the roofs, model aeroplanes and wind-mills spun +in the breeze. A Czech train reminded me of a picnic, and, aside from +the earnestness, it was.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Study and athletic contests.</div> + +<p>For some travelers, the Trans-Siberian trip is monotonous. It was not +for the Czechs. They read and studied. They were always busy—even +before their clashes with the Bolsheviks began to take up some time. The +Y.M.C.A. had secretaries with some of the trains and sent supplies of +literature and games. The Bohemians are the champion gymnasts of the +world and athletic contests were arranged at every station, until at the +call of a bugle the train would pull out, picking up sweating, happy men +as it gathered speed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Czechs distribute President Wilson's speeches.</div> + +<p>At the larger stations we spent sometimes hours, sometimes days. That +gave a chance for the Czechs to mix with the Russian people. It gave the +people an awakening sense of acquaintance with this happy race, who, +while going from war to war around the world, were distributing the +words of President Wilson to prove the sanity of their cause and the +folly of the Russian collapse. The President's speeches <a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>were widely +read and much appreciated. But these enthusiastic, friendly Czech +soldiers were the living examples of the President's rather abstruse +lessons of democracy. President Wilson might seem a political Messiah, +but the Czechs were the John the Baptists who made the initial +impression upon the Russian and Siberian peasants.</p> + +<p>An Austrian prisoner at a Siberian station shouted one day so all could +hear: "What is this freedom that you talk about?"</p> + +<p>Immediately a thick-chested Czech strode forward.</p> + +<p>"It is the one thing that makes a man a man," he replied. "It is the +thing that links men together without weakening them individually. It is +the thing that will wipe out tyranny, because a free man won't stand a +tyrant."</p> + +<p>As he talked to the slow-minded Russians and the slouching Austrian, +this ruddy-cheeked Czech exemplified the advantages he preached. There +was no slouch in his body, or character. The power that had gathered +together a group which had been dispersed all over Russia and welded it +into a fighting unit was not only passionate desire for freedom and +willingness to fight for it, but the power of self-discipline which made +both possible.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The spirit of crusaders.</div> + +<p>The Czech army was gay without license. In Irkutsk, during the Easter +holidays, it ate ice-cream sandwiches or went up in tiny Ferris wheels +in the true spirit of the reveler at a dry-town carnival. In Omsk one +night it stood silent for hours, listening to the art of a Czech +violinist playing for the wounded in the Red Cross car. It paraded the +streets with a smile and an air of pride. It is boyish, open-hearted, +lovable. It makes friends. Neat in dress, erect in bearing, enthusiastic +in outlook—the Czechs win the Russian masses. There <a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>is the spirit of +the Crusaders in these fighters, a spirit of personal and national +cleanliness. Liberty to them is not a thing to wave a flag over but to +die for, if necessary. They are too sincere to be dramatic.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A force in establishing confidence.</div> + +<p>Having come out of Armenia, with its remnant race of human wrecks, and +after months of the demoralizing fatalism and moral laxity of the +Russian, I was astounded by the miracle of stability of the tiny Czech +force in establishing an economic frontier between the Germanophile +sections of Russia and freedom-loving Siberia. Not only is this force +the key to the military problem of opposing Germany in Siberia. But from +the standpoint of sympathetic friendship between confused Russia and +America, the Czecho-Slovaks offer the most helpful force in establishing +confidence and turning into fact the good will which America bears to +Russian citizenry.</p> + +<p>They can best tell their own story. Lieutenant B—— of my English class +was typical.</p> + +<p>"When war was declared, I was in Switzerland," he told me. "Late in July +I climbed to the heights overlooking Austria. I could throw a stone over +into that land of oppression. That very day, when I went down into the +Swiss village, I heard that the Austrian mobilization had been ordered. +I could not believe that war would come. I returned to the land I hated +and in two days I had joined my class. We were to fight Russia. This was +unthinkable. Better to mutiny against our German and Magyar officers +than murder our brother Slavs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Czech regiments went over to Russia by companies.</div> + +<p>"And so it was that the word was secretly passed through whole regiments +of our men to desert to the Russians. The opportunity came when we faced +Brusiloff's army. The Russians knew and were ready to receive us. We +walked over in companies, with banners flying and <a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>bands playing and men +falling before the shots that rang out behind us. We hoped to turn and +fight against our oppressors. And for a while some of us did. But one by +one those of us who had entered the Russian ranks were removed and sent +to prison camps, whence we were scattered among the homes and factories +of Russia. My own band of companies was soon thoroughly broken up and +dispersed from Turkestan and the Caucasus to Tobolsk and Irkutsk. As +German influences strengthened at the Russian court we were sent to +worse and worse positions, malarial and barren territories. But we +prospered in spite of all that was done to oppress us.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Waiting the time to strike for liberty.</div> + +<p>"For a while I managed a cotton factory in Turkestan and later I went to +open some mines further in the country. But all the while we kept in +touch with one another and day by day we waited for the time when we +could strike for liberty and Bohemia. Professor Masaryk was to give the +signal for the blow for liberty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Russian Revolution.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Czechs ask to go to France.</div> + +<p>"Then came the Russian Revolution. With the Czar, the German influences +at Court were overthrown. We left our farm work and our shop benches. We +poured out of the dark mines and united in Czech battalions to fight in +the armies of Kerensky. At Zborov, we pierced six enemy lines but were +forced to retreat because the other fighters failed to advance as fast +as we. Then came the long wait for the time when Russia should find +herself, as she is still trying to do. The Slav is not a coward once his +mind is trained. There is hope for his ultimate recovery. The power of +Czardom was enforced ignorance, and this made possible the infamous +treaty of Brest-Litovsk. But we saw that there was no hope for a mere +handful of us to hold the Russian front, and to attempt this would be to +antag<a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>onize the Russian people. So we applied for permission to leave +Russia and go to France.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The journey to Vladivostok.</div> + +<p>"Everyone said that it could not be done. It meant going almost round +the world. But we were determined and soon we had gained the support of +the French Government and the permission of the Bolshevik leaders, who +were glad enough to get us out of the country. They feared we would +start a counter-revolution. But here we are in Siberia and the hardest +part of our journey is over. Two weeks more should find us in +Vladivostok and from there we can go very quickly to France, where +thousands of our fellows are already fighting for the cause of liberty."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The men are classified by occupation.</div> + +<p>Captain H—— was in Omsk. Behind him, as I talked with him, was a card +index file showing the occupation and residence of forty thousand Czech +artisans resident in Siberia. Typewriters clicked in the bright office +and outside a Czech wagon arrived with a ton of meat en route to the +cold storage cellar which he had built in the outskirts of Omsk.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Food is obtained at high prices.</div> + +<p>"I arrived here alone and with only a few rubles," said Captain H——. +"But I heard that some day my fellows would come through on their way to +France. So I began organizing our resources. Many of our men have made +much money as prisoners in Russia. They were generous. Men began to +flock in and we took off their Austrian uniforms and put them into +Russian uniforms—the uniform of our expeditionary force. Fighting men +were listed and trained. Artisans we merely listed, and there are forty +thousand names classified by occupation and residence in those files. In +three weeks we have taken in 610 Czech prisoners and sent them out in +the uniform of the expeditionary force to France. Every shoe and belt +and uniform is utilized and nothing is wasted except the hated Austrian +uniform, <a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>which is in most cases worn to shreds anyway. We have +established friendly relations with the people. Theoretically we are not +supposed to be doing this. Theoretically, we are not securing food. But +actually we are getting enough and to spare. Ten trains a week get +several days' supplies here. Only in disorganized Russia could such +things be. But we have to pay the secret agents of the local Soviet +sixty-five rubles for meat. Its market price is thirty-five."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Professor Masaryk in America is the leader.</div> + +<p>In my note-book, I cannot find the names of a dozen leaders of the Czech +expedition. In a sense, there were no leaders. The outstanding fact in +the Czech army is the democracy of it. The leaders are men who have been +trained, but they owe their position to popular choice. Yet there is no +foolish idea that military decisions can be made by a committee of +soldiers. The Czech sacrifices personal ambition to his cause and that +is why his cause is worth fighting for. The Russian cause, a thing of +chaos, is losing force every day. I might almost say that the Czechs, in +Siberia, were led by Professor Masaryk, in America, through the +influence of his words in the daily paper. As prominent a figure among +the Czechs as any one man in the expedition is Kenneth Miller of New +York, director of the Y.M.C.A., and held on a high pedestal in the +affection of 10,000 men. He has had much to do with the moving of the +Czech trains in all their complicated travel arrangements.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">How the Czechs came to control Siberia.</div> + +<p>The democracy of the Czech army and the ease with which it made friends +continually surprise me. The officer who induced me to join them was a +mere lieutenant, yet he never consulted anyone about taking me in. Was I +not an American? Each day some officer was told off to arrange matters +with the station masters. They moved their trains without bluff <a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>or +bluster. Sometimes the Soviets hindered them in order to get what guns +and supplies they could. But not till weeks after they started did any +Soviet have the temerity to try to stop or disarm the men. The Russian +masses were quickly won to friendship for the Czechs and the only force +that tried to interfere was the Bolshevik battalions who acted under +orders from distant points, where the man who gave the order enjoyed +comparative safety. The way that their control of Siberia through an +attempt to disarm them came about is as romantic as any feature of their +story.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">They have passes to leave the country.</div> + +<p>The presence of forty thousand well-disciplined Czech soldiers whose +loyalty to the cause of freedom was stronger than that of the rapidly +changing Russian proletariat made it seem desirable to the Bolshevik +authorities to rid the country of men so willing to fight and so little +subject to the extreme socialistic doctrines then rife in Russia. Both +Lenine and Trotzky by agreement with Professor Masaryk furnished these +men with passes for leaving the country and in spite of the chaotic +condition of transportation ample rolling stock, amounting to about +sixty trains of forty freight cars each, was placed at their disposal or +secured by the Czechs through their own efforts. Arrangements had +already been made with representatives of the French Government so that +plenty of money was provided for provisioning, equipping and +transporting a minimum of forty thousand men over about six thousand +miles.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Military equipment being taken away.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Czechs resist.</div> + +<p>Before these trains had gone far one local Soviet after another had +insisted on their leaving behind the armored motor cars, aeroplanes, +machine-guns and other military equipment which had been allotted to +them by the Russian Government during the Kerensky offensive. By the +time Penza—one day's run west of the<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a> Volga—was reached, after +machine-guns had been mounted on the engines in fighting their way +through the Germanized Ukrainian districts, the arms of each train had +been reduced to 140 rifles and ammunition. But the Czechs knew enough +about Russian conditions to realize the necessity for at least one gun +to a man and when the Bolsheviki, early in June, started to disarm them, +guns and rifles appeared from secret hiding places, to the extreme +consternation of the disarmers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Siberian Soviets delay the Czechs.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Czechs overcome their captors.</div> + +<p>The reason for their being in the district of the Urals is one part of +the romance of their adventurous life. Out across Siberia, near the +Manchurian frontier, during April and May, the Cossack General Semenoff +was operating. He had closed to traffic the Trans-Siberian line by way +of Harbin, so that the first twelve thousand Czechs had had to use the +single track Amur Railway line to the north by way of Khabarovsk. By May +4 an international proletariat army thoroughly mercenary in character +and numbering possibly three thousand men, largely Austrian prisoners of +war, was enlisted to repulse Semenoff from the region of the railway +junction at Karuimskaya. Obviously since it was known that the Czechs +were financed by France and that France favored intervention in Siberia +it was indiscreet to allow thousands of Czech soldiers whose bravery was +unquestioned to pass within fourteen miles of the army under the command +of Semenoff. Fictitious floods on the Amur and some well-founded stories +of the poor condition of the single track Amur line were conjured up by +the Siberian Soviets as a reason for temporarily preventing the Czechs +from proceeding to France. The only real service performed by Semenoff's +provocative army of mercenaries and Chinese and Japanese irregulars, was +the indirect one of detaining the Czechs in Siberia, <a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>a service on which +the Cossack leader never figured. There is no question but that to get +to France was the sincere desire of the Czechs and there was no +suggestion that their forces could be or desired to be used in Siberia. +Having left the Austrian army rather than fire on their brother Slavs +the Czechs could scarcely be expected to have much enthusiasm for +fighting Russians over an ill-defined intervention program through +thousands of miles of Siberia. Chafing under the enforced delay, these +soldiers insisted that they be allowed to proceed to France. This seemed +out of the question to the Bolsheviki whose only alternative was to +disarm them. The Czechs who had carefully avoided any aggression upon +Russians until then, immediately set up a stout resistance, quickly +overcoming their would-be captors and thus almost miraculously putting +the small force which had then probably reached one hundred thousand men +in control of thousands of miles of railway reaching from Novo +Nikolayevsk to Tcheliabinsk and thence along the two branches leading to +Ekaterinburg and Zlatoust. This virtually established an economic +boundary between Siberia and Russia along the line of the Urals, since +the unsettled condition of the country makes the railway the only +practicable line of communication.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">How control of the railway is secured.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Russian peasants friendly.</div> + +<p>The control of the railways was easily secured. At each of the important +stations Czech trains held the sidings. Due to the delay the trains +which should have been en route to France piled up at the stations, and +even in European Russia at Samara, Simbirsk and Suizran, a sufficient +number of Czechs held the station points to make their capture by +Bolsheviki forces a difficult matter. The Czechs made no attempt to +seize the towns located some distance from the stations or any other +territory. They wanted only to make secure their <a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>railroad travel. The +high prices which they paid for their necessarily large supplies of +provisions and the fact that they paid cash while the Bolshevik forces +and Soviets often requisitioned food supplies, likewise their good cheer +and personal magnetism, won for them the friendship of the peasant and +artisan classes in many of the villages so that when the clash came only +such Bolshevik forces as were definitely put to the task of disarming +them were actually hostile. The easy-going and friendly Russian peasant, +supine under the violent political changes, is a traditional friend and +an unwilling enemy. This characteristic, which the Allied Governments +have harshly criticized, may be counted upon to work to the advantage of +the Allies under any fair scheme for economic aid and peaceful +penetration which does not give grounds upon which active German +propaganda could construct open hostility.</p> + +<p>One may well wonder why the hundreds of thousands of Austrian war +prisoners in Siberia have not blown up tunnels, destroyed tracks and +otherwise tried to stop the Czech expedition. It may be that the +Austrians secretly admired these men and were too tired of war to take +the initiative in Siberia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Seizure of Vladivostok.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The people welcome the Czechs.</div> + +<p>The seizure of Vladivostok by the Czechs was characteristic. From their +arrival, they attracted the attention and admiration of the people, many +of whom were planning an anti-Bolshevik demonstration. Every ship +commander in the harbor had his men ready for landing parties in case of +trouble. But there was no disorder on the day of the demonstration and +not till a month later did a Bolshevik disturbance give the Czechs a +chance to free an anti-Bolshevik city from its oppressors. Japanese, +Chinese, English or Americans from the war-ships could have done it. But +when the Czechs did it, a Slavic, Russian-speaking people <a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>gained +control of a city that gladly welcomed their intervention. The same idea +explains their marvelous success in Russia. Having braved death rather +than fight Russians, the Czechs can now fight oppressive Russian +elements without having their motives misunderstood or their plans +opposed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Marriages of war prisoners and peasant women.</div> + +<p>Siberia has afforded an interesting race study ever since the Teuton +prisoners began to arrive. From the very first, German and Austrian +prisoners mated with the sturdy peasant women of Siberia and settled to +a happy and unhampered life in the undeveloped lands of the great +plains. Some of the women had husbands at the front, but <i>nichevo</i> never +means "never mind" to a greater extent than it does in Russian marital +affairs. A man's a man for a' that, and there was little trouble until +the two parents of different nationality and language discussed which +language the children should be taught. German and Russian produce the +same tow-headed stock. With the downfall of the Russian army the Russian +husband sometimes returned and though quite willing to assume +responsibility for the new offspring, insisted on asking the Austrian +substitute at his bed and board to leave. As often as not the Austrian +left. There were always a better farm and frau to be had elsewhere, and +some Russian women are tiresome anyway.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Many Austrians do not go home.</div> + +<p>When conditions are like this in Siberia, why should an Austrian return +to a hungry country to fight a heroic enemy? A happy home in Siberia, +which some other man has founded, or starvation in Austria? No wonder +the Austrians in Siberia are a mercenary and unpatriotic lot. I saw many +in the Bolshevik army. Most of those I talked with were under arms for +the sake of the 200 rubles per month, equipment and food they were paid +by the Bolsheviks, without, as they told me, planning to <a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>run any +unnecessary chances of losing their lives in actual fighting against the +Czechs or any other enemy of the Bolsheviks for that amount of money, if +they could avoid it; not a very difficult matter.</p> + +<p>Allied military support of the Czechs in Siberia is not Japanese +intervention, and sentiment in Russia and Siberia against intervention +to-day is now what it was six months ago. If the Bolsheviki do not +represent the people of Russia, the only way the Russian people can +develop confidence in themselves, and strength, is to throw off the +Bolsheviki. The Archangel and Siberian regions have started such moves.</p> + +<p>Siberia seems ready to welcome the Czechs, and if the Allied forces in +Siberia keep themselves sufficiently in the background, Siberia will +probably welcome the friends of the Czechs. The Allies have failed in +Russia in the past because they have trusted upon material equipment +rather than upon education of the people in the ideals of our cause. A +certain amount of military intervention is necessary in Siberia if we +are to protect the Czechs and protect the supplies which an economic +mission would furnish. The danger lies in taking the control of that +military intervention out of the hands of the Czechs. If my observation +among all classes in Siberia counts for anything, the day the non-Slavic +forces of the Allies, especially the Japanese, whom the Russians +despise, move ahead of the Czechs who have already the confidence of the +Russians as no Allied army could, that day the Allied army will +encounter difficulties. This may spell tragedy for the cause of +democracy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Siberia differs from Russia.</div> + +<p>In general the Volga divides Siberia, the home of the freedom-seeking +exile, from Russia, in which for years German ideas have been encouraged +to the exclusion of French and English. Whole sections of Russia and +Siberia will <a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>starve this winter. If we follow the Czechs into Siberia +with economic aid, repairing and consolidating the railroad lines behind +them, installing modern methods of distribution we can then say to the +stricken people—"Some of you are starving, but this is in spite of all +the aid we can give." But across the Volga in Russia the people will say +to Germany—"We are starving because you took our food, because you +forced disorganization which has ruined us." Spring will allow the +intelligent Russian peasant to compare such Americanism with the blight +of Prussianism. Never fear that the object lesson will be in vain!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A nucleus for the forces of freedom.</div> + +<p>Can the Czechs become an actual nucleus for the forces of freedom in +Russia and Siberia? They already are. The extent of their influence in +Siberia, in the region of the Don and in the heart of the Central Powers +themselves, is only limited by the support they receive from the Allies +and the restraint of the latter in independent action. The fate of +history may depend on the working out of the Czecho-Slovak miracle—a +plain gift of fortune to the cause of freedom.</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, Asia, Journal of the American Asiatic Association, September, +1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The spirit which animated the American soldiers in France was a +revelation to the Allies, although it was precisely the spirit which +Americans at home knew would inspire them when they reached the actual +fighting line. Some instances of this spirit, and of experiences on the +American firing line, are told in the following pages.<a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE</h2> + +<h3>CORPORAL H.J. BURBACH</h3> + + +<p>"We have arrived!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">We reach the front.</div> + +<p>The French Army officer, who, skilled through years of actual artillery +service on the French fronts, had been my instructor through weeks of +training, and my guide up to the Front, stood still and spoke most +casually, as if our destination had been a Chicago restaurant.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">My comrades are hidden in the fog.</div> + +<p>"Yes, sir." I tried to be as casual, but could not disguise the +excitement that filled me. "Shall—the guns—" and I stopped, startled +at the tone of my own voice. It sounded as if it were coming from some +person a dozen feet away. And as I stood there a sense of elation, that +was possibly partly fear, swept over me. I looked about me, toward the +direction of the French officer who had spoken, toward the fellows of my +battery who had accompanied me up to the Front. I say toward their +direction, for I could not see my comrades—the fog that had come over +the land at sunset was too heavy to allow one to see an arm's length.</p> + +<p>The officer snickered.</p> + +<p>"Is this all that there is to it? Are we really on the firing line?" I +asked aloud. "Why, it's as quiet here as the Michigan woods!"</p> + +<p>The officer laughed again.</p> + +<p>"At this minute, yes," he said; then, "Wait here, I will be back +directly, and no noise!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The firing line seems a lonely place.</div> + +<p>He went off through the fog, and I have never <a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>experienced such a +feeling of loneliness as swept over me at that minute—loneliness, and I +really believe disappointment,—for I had imagined the firing line to be +a place of constant terror.</p> + +<p>"Gee, this is what we've been training for all these months!" I heard +one of the fellows say. "Well, all I've got to say is it won't be so +quiet over on the Boches' land when we get started," and they all +laughed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An experience of many sensations.</div> + +<p>It is absolutely impossible to describe the sensations that come over a +fellow when he realizes that he is going under fire. I think that you +pass through various stages that include every sensation in life. You +are frightened, you are glad to get into the fight. You are anxious to +begin—you wish you had a few weeks' longer training to become a better +shot.</p> + +<p>I am not sure how long we stood there waiting for the return of the +French officer who was tutoring us for our baptism of fire, but suddenly +he was at my side.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The first need is a signal station.</div> + +<p>"The battery is to be over there," he pointed through the night, "and we +will set up a signal station right here. The first thing to do is to dig +in the telephone wires, for headquarters reports that there is +considerable rifle fire about here in the daytime. Order a detachment of +men to help you!"</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Digging in the telephone wires.</div> + +<p>"Yes, sir," and I went quickly back toward where I knew the men were +waiting, happy to think that there was work to be done at once. I gave +the orders that had been handed to me, and in about twenty minutes we +were turning over the earth. While we were working others were just as +busy, for our battery was being placed in position, and some fifty feet +behind the battery the others of the signal service detachment, of which +I was a member, were setting up a receiving station. As I helped in <a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>the +digging of that small trench for telephone wires my heart sang, and I +lived again the months that I had served in order that I might be fit +for the service I was performing that minute.</p> + +<p>It might be well, before going further into this narrative, to say that +the fellows who had accompanied me were the first American troops to +take charge of a sector of the French line, a sector which some day will +be moved into the heart of Germany and make old friend Hun wish that +there was a way for him to change his nationality and viewpoint.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The artillery training camp.</div> + +<p>The training camp where we had prepared for the front after our arrival +in France had been purchased by the United States from the French, and +had been in use since the beginning of the war for the purpose of +putting the high spots on the training of men belonging to both the +heavy and light artillery. It was a spacious place; we had comfortable +quarters and lots of good food. I had been on the Mexican border, so +that sound of the heavy guns that were being used for training purposes +did not annoy me, though to about ninety per cent. of the rest of the +fellows this was a new sound, and orders were issued that cotton was to +be put in the ears.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The French officers are fine fellows.</div> + +<p>Except for the return fire, we might have been at the front, for the +camp was an exact duplication of conditions under fire. Our equipment +was largely French, and the officers who tutored us in modern warfare +were all French—and as fine a bunch of fellows as ever lived.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Buying a village for a target.</div> + +<p>One of the exciting incidents of the Camp was the day that news arrived +that the American government had purchased a small village just beyond +the Camp (France is honeycombed with small villages,—it is almost +impossible to walk a mile without passing <a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>through a village) and that +it was to be used as a target for the American boys.</p> + +<p>We practiced in turn, a battery going out for a few hours' work, and +then returning. Both light and heavy Artillery used the village as a +target, and it was not long before there was only a heap of rubbish to +tell where there had once been houses.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The instructors praise American marksmanship.</div> + +<p>One of the things that the American fellows felt proud of was the fact +that they were constantly being praised by their French instructors +because of their very superior marksmanship. Several men told me that +the American troopers learned in two weeks' time as much of the +craftsmanship of war as the French learned in three months. As the story +was on themselves, I guess it must be true.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Good care close to the firing line.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A question of high prices.</div> + +<p>We worked hard in camp, but the fellows liked it. We had good food, lots +of fresh vegetables, and meat. It is a fact that the closer you get to +the firing line the better care you get. There was plenty of recreation +through the Y.M.C.A. activities, but we did not have many furloughs. +Remember that at the time I am writing of, the American boys were new in +France. One of the reasons for the lack of furloughs was that in many of +the towns near the great camps that were set apart for the Americans the +merchants had decided that it was harvest time, and prices had gone very +high. General Pershing himself ordered that no member of the American +force should buy anything in these towns until the matter of prices was +adjusted, and this was speedily done.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A journey in motor trucks.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Making the new quarters sanitary.</div> + +<p>I had been in the training camp about a month, making a special study of +telephone work as carried on between the front-line trenches and +outposts regimental headquarters, and the various gun batteries of the +regiment. At the end of that time I was detached from <a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>my regular +battery and assigned as Signal Sergeant to work with another battery +proceeding immediately to the American sector of the Front. We did not +travel forward in gradual stages as is the usual custom of approaching +the firing line for the first time, but made the journey as quickly as +possible, in motor trucks—a never-to-be-forgotten journey. Our +destination was a village between five and ten miles from the Front, +where we were to be billeted, and where the American troops would spend +their time while not actively in the trenches. We got there in the +afternoon, and a batch of the men were detached to make the place clean +and perfectly sanitary. It needed their work. The village had been used +by the French soldiers for some time, and there had been no time or +opportunity for repair work. With the coming of the Americans it was +different. Cleanliness is a strictly enforced rule with the fellows of +our fighting force, and from a standpoint of sanitation we are literally +introducing soap, water and whitewash into France.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The order to advance.</div> + +<p>Later that afternoon, when it was growing dusk, came the orders to go +forward—and at nightfall I found myself walking beside the French +officer across rough ground, a very occasional dull boom telling us that +there was an enemy before us—but all other sounds seemed natural.</p> + +<p>As I said before, it is impossible to accurately describe the sensations +that come over a fellow when he discovers that he is on the firing line, +and I welcomed the work to which I was so quickly assigned, and which we +rapidly accomplished. I marveled at the precision with which I had gone +to work that first night on the front, but everyone had their work to +do, and did it so quickly and coolly that we had no time to think of +personal feelings.<a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">An interesting day on the firing line.</div> + +<p>The first day on the firing line was very interesting. The battery kept +up a constant fire, getting range from the map which is issued daily—as +well as the given ranges, targets, etc. (which arrived over the field +telephone). That night we stood ready to do any work required, but no +orders came through, and I had my first experience in sleeping in a gun +pit.</p> + +<p>Our food, by the way, was brought up daily from the headquarters at the +village and was prepared in rolling field kitchens.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Food is good and abundant.</div> + +<p>As an example of the care that the fellows are getting, I might say that +we were given bread and milk, fruit, excellent coffee, eggs, or possibly +hash, and, of course, bread for breakfast; a heavy meal of soup, steak +or some roast meat, potatoes and vegetables, coffee and sweets, came +next, with a meal of canned foods for supper. All of it well cooked and +mighty tasty. Believe me, Uncle Sam was taking mighty fine care of his +soldier boys!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The telephone system is demolished.</div> + +<p>The following day started as the first, but in the middle of the +afternoon the telephone system of our sector was demolished by rifle and +it was impossible to get into communication with either the headquarters +or the trenches.</p> + +<p>"That stops work for today!" the officer told me. "No more gun fire till +we get it fixed."</p> + +<p>I can remember asking anxiously what we could do.</p> + +<p>"Nothing just this minute," he laughed at my eagerness, "but tonight you +and I will crawl out on our bellies and find that broken wire. Then we +will fix it, and unless they find us with a shell we'll crawl back."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">We go out to mend the wire.</div> + +<p>The prospect was exciting, and I waited anxiously for night. Then, armed +with the necessary tools, we started to crawl along the trench +containing the wires. We had no light, <a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>we could not stand upright. We +went about a half mile, feeling every inch of wire for the break, and +then suddenly I ran my hand along the wire that suddenly came to a +point. We had found the break.</p> + +<p>"I've got it," I called in my best whisper, but before I could receive a +reply there was a noise from the German trenches.</p> + +<p>"Star shell, star shell," my French companion called excitedly.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A star shell bursts above us.</div> + +<p>Suddenly the shell burst above us, and it was more brilliant than day. +Frightened! Say, that light is so great and the knowledge that if the +Germans spot you you're a goner, makes you just lie there and forget to +breathe! It does not take many seconds for a star shell to die away to a +glow, but in those seconds you go right through life and back to the +present. When the light was gone I lay there fairly panting for breath.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to work quickly," came the inspiring voice at my elbow, and +we did. We had not finished work before a new star shell was sent up.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The repair work is finished.</div> + +<p>The repair work did not take many minutes, and we started back again. We +were halted several times by star shells, and after the second or third +time I began to reassure myself by saying that the Germans did not know +I was out there, that they had nothing against me individually. +Afterwards I heard one of the officers say that they were probably +suspicious because of the sudden cessation of the gun fire that +afternoon, and were looking for a raiding party to cross no-man's-land.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The noise of the shells.</div> + +<p>During the time that I was at the front, it was the custom for men to +spend six days at the front, then go back to the village in which they +were billeted—always well beyond the firing line—and there rest for +about two weeks. By the end of my third day I had become quite +<a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>acclimated to the noise. One afternoon a scouting aeroplane must have +reported some fancied movement of troops in a village two or three miles +back of us, for the Germans started a heavy barrage which went singing +over our heads. The shells went high, but just the same they made +everyone uncomfortable for a few minutes. Fellows that have been on the +line, however, will tell you that you don't mind the noise of shell +fire—for you figure it out that the bullet that hits you is the bullet +you never hear—and while that doesn't seem a very comfortable thought, +you soon forget to think of danger.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Shifting the gun's position.</div> + +<p>Perhaps the most exciting incident, and at the same time the one that +sent more terror to our hearts than any other, occurred late one +afternoon. It was foggy, though fog always hung over our battery—in +fact, the climate of the front that has been assigned to our troops is +notorious for its winter fogginess. Orders had been sent out to shift +the position of our gun, and as the afternoon wore away—and the thick +smoke-like pall that hung over us made it impossible to recognize the +fellow standing next to you when he was half a dozen feet away—it was +decided that there was no use to wait till night, but that we could +shift the gun at once.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A German aeroplane right overhead.</div> + +<p>All the crowd started to work, the new gun pit was ready, and the signal +station was all moved. It was just as we got the gun into the position +and were straightening it into position that a faint breeze came +stealing down from the mountains. In a minute the breeze was stronger, +and we could see a hundred yards away. In another minute we could see +three times that distance, and at the end of the third minute we could +see clear up into the heavens—and there was a German plane flying +straight for us.<a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a></p> + +<p>Did you ever stand waiting for death? I suppose not—but that was what +happened to our gun crews. The plane swooped low and seemed to hang +right over us. We waited, hardly daring to breathe. I saw the +perspiration running from one fellow's face, and guess it was running +down mine. I know that I had a most pressing desire to run—anywhere, so +long as I was moving. As I was looking down I glanced at my wrist watch +about every thirty seconds and lived minutes between each glance. No one +spoke—it was as if we had suddenly been turned to wood. Then after +fifteen minutes of observation the Hun plane circled away from us—and +we had lived several lifetimes in that short time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Army trucks take us back to the village.</div> + +<p>It was the fog that got me—and sent me back to the United States. Two +years before, coming home from drill at the armory (I was then a member +of the National Guard) I fell asleep on the train and contracted a +severe cold. The cold never seemed to leave me, and now, after a week of +fog, after sleeping in a gun pit, I grew hoarse and developed a nasty +cough. I was not really sick when I left the firing line after my six +days and returned to the billet, but I felt pretty miserable. I can +remember being glad when, after a several miles' walk back of the lines, +we found the army trucks ready to carry us to the village where we were +quartered.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A month at the base hospital.</div> + +<p>I spent four days in the billet receiving further instruction from my +French officer, and then after ten days I started back to the training +camp, where I was to help in the instruction of the fellows of my +division who had not as yet been under fire. By the time I reached the +camp I was what might be termed all in, down and out. I went to the +hospital, and when I was able I was moved in an ambulance to a U.S. Army +Base hospital far removed <a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>from the firing line. I was at the base +hospital a month, and spent most of the time in the sunshine trying to +get rid of the heavy bronchial condition that had fastened itself to me. +The hospital was full—but not with Americans. I was surrounded by +fellows from all the allied nations, and had the chance to talk with +them. They're a great lot, and anybody who has any doubt about whether +we are going to win this war needs only a few minutes' conversation with +some of the chaps that have been over there for years. You bet we're +going to win—there isn't a thought of anything else but victory.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Orders to go home.</div> + +<p>At the end of my month at the base hospital it was decided that I was +not fit for the firing line. Uncle Sam is mighty good to his fellows—he +does not believe in placing them under unnecessary risks, and when the +doctors said that my bronchial condition was practically chronic, and +the life on the firing line would only aggravate it, I got my orders to +go home and take up service in a climate where there was less chance of +my becoming a liability and where there was just as much work for me to +do as in France, though of a different nature.</p> + +<p>It was a disappointment, but I'm glad to think that I had those six days +on the firing line, and proud to think that I was with the first batch +of Americans to see service in the fight against autocracy.</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, The Forum, May, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>That portion of France in which the American army did its most active +fighting is a country filled with historic and romantic associations. It +is also a country of great scenic beauty. The following article +describes graphically the general aspect of this portion of France.<a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD</h2> + +<h3>RAOUL BLANCHARD</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">A glorious battlefield.</div> + +<p>Terrific battles, ushering in the dawn of victories which will ensure +the freedom of the world, were fought in July and August, 1918, between +the Marne and Vesle rivers, from Château-Thierry to Soissons and Fismes. +In this soul-stirring struggle the young American troops played a large +part, and played it with heroism and success. It has occurred to us, +therefore, that the American people will be glad to become acquainted +with the battlefield made glorious by their sons, with the soil which +will some day be a consecrated goal of pilgrimage for the entire nation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The field once the most beautiful country.</div> + +<p>This field of death, bristling with ruins still smouldering, was +formerly, and will soon be once more, a beautiful stretch of country. +Here we are in the heart of the Ile de France, and the countryside +displays all the gracious charm of a typical French landscape. With its +undulating plateaus, pleasant vales, broad green valleys, forests and +greensward, châteaux and villas, small towns, and dear old villages +thronged with souvenirs of the past, the district between the Marne and +the Aisne was peculiarly representative of France—the France of the +Merovingians and Capets as well as of the twentieth century.</p> + +<p>There is no manufacturing and little commercial activity; but a +skillful, varied, and persistent culture of the soil, with special +attention to those most exacting of crops, the vine and vegetables, +which are successfully raised <a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>only by dint of hard labor, and to the +production of vast quantities of sugar-beets and cereals.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The villages are built of stone.</div> + +<p>The villages, built of the beautiful stone of the district, have, one +and all, an air of dignity and prosperity which gives animation to the +landscape. The very names are among the most pleasant to the ear, and +often among the most illustrious in the language. Our great men of +letters, La Fontaine and Racine, Pope Urban II, who preached the First +Crusade, and other statesmen and princes, all born in the province, had +already made it a genuinely historic spot; and the memory of the battles +fought by Napoleon at Château-Thierry and Soissons, against the invaders +of 1814, has not yet faded. When they turned the enemy back from Paris, +the Americans were fighting in the most truly French of all the +districts of France, and their gallantry has imparted to it a new charm, +a more resplendent glory.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Topography from the Marne to the Vesle.</div> + +<p>But this attractive region does not exhibit everywhere the same +features. The topography of the Ile de France is so varied that one can +distinguish several families, or groups, of landscapes between the Marne +and the Vesle. Let us follow them, in the order followed by the +different stages of the battle.</p> + +<p>The southern portion is the most elevated and most picturesque; it +includes the shores of the Marne, from Epernay to Château-Thierry, as +well as the hills and valleys to the eastward, grouped about the Ardre +River in the district called the Tardenois. In the centre the +battlefield embraces plateaus studded with low hills, half hidden by +broad patches of forest, and cut by deep, narrow valleys—those of the +Ourcq and its affluents; whence the region is known as the district of +the Ourq, or the Orxois. Lastly, to the north this undulating ground +gives place to a practically level plateau, a <a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>vast table-land of +cultivated fields, through which flow the deep ravines of the Aisne, the +Vesle, and their affluents. This is the Soissonnais.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The wake of the American armies.</div> + +<p>From the Tardenois to the Soissonnais by way of the Orxois, let us +follow in the wake of the French and American armies, in their +decisively victorious advance.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Valleys of stream cut deep.</div> + +<p>On emerging from the plains of Champagne, at Epernay, the Marne flows +through the plateaus of the Ile de France as far as Paris, and the +country along its banks changes its aspect. Instead of the wide valley +which seems one with the immense bare plain, the stream, breaking out a +path for itself through the solid mass of the plateau, has cut a gash +from 500 to 2000 metres in width, which turns and winds in graceful and +ever-changing curves. Thus, although its general course is from east to +west, the trend of the walls of the valley constantly changes and bears +toward every point of the compass in turn. Moreover, these walls, +intersected by the ravines and valleys of numerous tributary streams, +are cut up into capes, bastions, and deep hollows. Finally, the cliff +from whose summit the plateau overlooks the valley, and whose average +height is about 150 metres, at times rises steeply from the lowland, and +again is broken up into terraces following the different strata of which +it is composed. Thus, although the topographical elements are simple +enough, they lend themselves to an ever-changing combination of forms, +which gives to the landscape its great charm, and at the same time +offers some formidable advantages of various kinds from a military +standpoint.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The placid Marne.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Marne easy to cross.</div> + +<p>The bright green ribbon of the Marne winds along the valley bottom. The +placid stream, about a hundred metres wide and broken here and there by +islets, wanders from one bank to <a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>the other, lined by poplars and +willows. On either side of its limpid waters are broad fields, whose +delicate greenery frames the sparkling line of the river, which forms a +by no means impassable obstacle. In the days just preceding the German +offensive of July 15, American patrols constantly crossed between +Château-Thierry and Mézy, and picked up prisoners and information on the +northern bank. In like manner, during that offensive the attacking +German troops were able without great losses to cross the Marne and +attack the defenders on the southern bank. To be sure, the Allied +air-men made their life a burden by keeping up an incessant bombardment +of the bridges, large and small.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fierce fighting on the slopes.</div> + +<p>But the real obstacle which this valley offers is found in the slopes +which dominate it, and it was there that the fiercest fighting took +place until the day when the French and Americans, having thrown the +enemy back across the river, scaled the cliffs of the right bank on his +heels and dislodged him therefrom. In this neighborhood there were two +sectors of terrific fighting—that of Châtillon-Dormans upstream, and +that of Château-Thierry below.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A wide valley with steep slopes.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The vine-growing district.</div> + +<p>Going upstream, the valley is quite wide: from Monvoisin to Dormans, by +Château-Thierry, it measures two kilometres almost everywhere. The high +cliff which overlooks it on the north, cut by a multitude of narrow +valleys coming down from the table-land of the Tardenois, forms a series +of buttresses which make excellent defensive positions. On the sharpest, +which is a genuine peninsula overhanging the main valley, sits the +village of Châtillon, formerly crowned by a haughty feudal castle, on +whose ruins was erected a statue of Pope Urban II, who long ago had +trouble with the German emperors. The slopes below are hard to climb, +because of their steepness <a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>and the network of tilled fields. Here we +are at the heart of the vine-growing district, and these banks of the +Marne contribute largely to the production of the famous champagne. The +vines extend, on long rows of poles, to the very summit of the cliffs, +especially on the right bank, which has a better exposure to the sun; +they are often connected by strands of wire, on which straw mats are +placed to protect the vines from the cold in winter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Allied troops find many obstacles.</div> + +<p>On a lower level, nearer the stream, are magnificent orchards: the +cherry tree joins with the vine to impart to those slopes an aspect of +rustic opulence. Huddled white villages, with tawny-hued pointed roofs, +follow one another in regular succession on the rolling ground. Their +names have lately won a terrible celebrity: Binson, Vandières, +Vincelles, Tréloup. Sandstone quarries burrow into the summit of the +cliffs and furnish shelters for the defenders. Finally, there are strips +of forest along the slopes wherever the exposure is thought poorly +suited for crops. All these features unite to form a cheerful, animated, +lovely landscape; but at the same time a conglomeration of obstacles +which the Allied troops were able to overcome only after fierce +fighting.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Villages in the hillsides.</div> + +<p>Below the little town of Dormans, the valley narrows temporarily: from +Tréloup to Brasles it is frequently less than 500 metres in width. The +cliff, although steep as before, is less cut up, and the patches of +forest are large. At the mouths of the smaller affluent valleys, the +villages rear their church-towers on the hillsides, overlooking the +lowest vineyards and orchards; on this right bank are Jaulgonne, +Chartèves, and Mont Saint-Père, all taken by the Allies late in July, +and Fossoy, where the Americans successfully repulsed the German attack +of July 15.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The ancient town of Château-Thierry.</div> + +<p>But now the valley widens once more as it <a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>enters the broad basin of +Château-Thierry. It is a beautiful spot, and at the same time, of great +military value. The little town long ago forgot its rôle of fortress, +but has been brutally reminded of it by the violence of the battles that +have been fought in its neighborhood. In the foreground is the wide +expanse of fields in the valley bottom; then a suburb of the town +enclosed between two arms of the Marne. Across the river, scaling the +slopes of a hill crowned by the ruins of a castle, the town rises, +terrace-like, at the mouth of a narrow valley. The position can be +carried by frontal attack only on the heels of a defeated foe, as +Napoleon carried it in 1814, and Franchet d'Esperey just a hundred years +later. But in 1918 the Americans had to take Château-Thierry in flank, +and in order to force their way into the town, had to fight the bloody +battles of Vaux, Bouresches, and Etrepilly, which carried them to the +north of the town and hastened its evacuation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Military operations difficult.</div> + +<p>What is the nature of the terrain above those steep cliffs which enclose +the valley of the Marne? Does it become more favorable to military +operations than the deep depression through which the river flows? Not +by any means. The surface of the table-land is broken by so many ravines +and narrow valleys which descend steeply to the Marne, that it is cut +into a multitude of ridges and hillocks amid which it is no longer +possible to recognize the original horizontal aspect of the plateau.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heavy impermeable soil.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Hills that are fortresses.</div> + +<p>On the other hand, the strata which lie on the surface—loam, sandstone, +and clayey sand—make a heavy, impermeable soil, quite infertile, in +which it is hard to raise anything, and which is largely given over to +woods. Thus, freedom of movement is impeded by deep ravines, ridges +running in all directions, <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>and more or less dense forests; an offensive +is difficult, and the defensive easy. This is true in the immediate +neighborhood of Château-Thierry, where the ravines of Vaux, Brasles, +Chartèves, Jaulgonne, and Tréloup, and the valley of the Surmelin, slash +the plateau on either side of the Marne into fragments—into +forest-topped hillocks which are genuine fortresses, where the struggle +was terrific and where the Allies were able to advance only one step at +a time: on Hill 204, west of Château-Thierry, in the Bois de Mont +St-Père, the forest of Fèze above Jaulgonne, and especially on the spur +of the forest of Riz; and south of the Marne, at the broad, wooded +bastion of Saint-Agnan and at La Chapelle-Monthodon, where the fighting +was so intense from the 15th to the 20th of July.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The villages and forests of the table-land.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Genuine mountain battles.</div> + +<p>This strip of broken table-land becomes broader again farther upstream, +above Dormans and Châtillon-sur-Marne. In that direction the plateau of +the Ile de France ascends until it is more than 260 metres above the +stream. Erosion has been even more active there, and in that part of the +Tardenois the plateau is dissected into narrow strips separated by deep +valleys, broad and moist, the largest of which is the valley of the +Ardre. In the valley bottoms the streams are bordered by bands of +tillage land; above, on the lower slopes, amid the vineyards and +orchards which monopolize all the favorable exposures, is a multitude of +small villages, some of which have become famous—Ste. Euphraise, +Bligny, and Ville-en-Tardenois, whose rustic dwellings of uncut rubble, +arranged amphitheatre-wise, sheltered some 500 inhabitants. Higher up, +on the uneven surface of the plateau, are scattered villages built on +limestone foundations—tiny fortresses, like Rumigny and Champlat, the +scene of hard-fought battles. Almost the en<a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>tire surface is covered with +forests of pine and oak and birch. These are the woods of Le Roi, +Courton, Pourcy, and Reims, where hand-to-hand fighting went on for more +than a fortnight, British, Italians, and French succeeding at first in +checking the enemy and then in forcing him back, in those titanic +combats. They were, in reality, genuine mountain battles; for the hills +reach a height of 265 metres, above the level of the plateau, while the +valleys are at least 100 metres deep; and the difficulties of the uneven +surface were greatly increased by the obstacles offered by forests, +vineyards, streams, and the villages, closely packed with stone houses, +which could easily be transformed into fortifications.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The first great American battle.</div> + +<p>A deep, broad, swampy valley, traversed by an unfordable stream; +surmounted by steep slopes bristling with vineyards, orchards, villages, +and diversified by quarries; above, an entanglement of low hills, +ravines, and valleys, under a mantle of forest—such was the theatre of +operations in which the Americans won their first great victory. A more +difficult terrain could not be desired, or one better adapted to test +the valor of the victorious troops.</p> + +<p>But when they had made themselves masters of this battlefield, the +Allies were by no means at the end of their labors; and the difficulties +of the ground to be traversed were still serious in the central portion +of the theatre of operations—the Orxois.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Orxois plateau—its soil and relief.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A varied landscape.</div> + +<p>The Orxois is a plateau extending north of the Marne to the Soissonnais, +at a mean height of 160 metres. But it is very far from being uniform. +Let us study the nature of its soil, and the relief, that we may +comprehend its aspects more thoroughly. The substratum of the plateau of +the Orxois is the layer of rock called "hard limestone" 30 to 40 metres +in thickness, so much of which is used for building material <a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>in the +towns and villages. This layer is almost horizontal, and if there were +nothing superimposed upon it, the plateau would be a practically level +platform. But above the hard limestone are successive layers of a far +different character—layers of sand, of Beauchamp sandstone, mingled +with marl, making a moist, impermeable, infertile soil; then another +layer of limestone, softer and more clayey than that below. Finally, +this upper limestone is covered, especially toward the east, with thin +layers of marl, clay and, lastly, Fontainebleau sand, which are +connected with the strata of the Tardenois. Thus, to a depth of 100 +metres, we find a succession of diversified strata, hard and soft, dry +and moist, which impart great variety to the landscape.</p> + +<p>The valleys which intersect this conglomeration run from east to west, +toward the deep depression hollowed out by the Savières and the Lower +Ourcq. From north to south, we can count three—the Upper Ourcq, by +Fère-en-Tardenois and La Ferté Milon, the Ru d'Alland, and the Clignon. +Very wide where they pass through the upper strata, these valleys grow +abruptly narrower and deeper when they reach the level of the hard +limestone, where they are little more than deep and narrow ditches. +Between these furrows, the marl, sand, and softer limestones form +ridges, now steep, now rising more gently, the sandy soil bearing woods, +the limestones cultivated fields.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The ridges run east and west.</div> + +<p>Thus the whole plateau of the Orxois is a series of elevations and +depressions, running from east to west, which form just so many +obstacles to an advance from south to north like that of the Allies. +Luckily they approached this locality at the same time from the west, +which enabled them to outflank the obstacles simultaneously with their +approach from the south.<a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Torcy, Belleau and Bouresches.</div> + +<p>North of Château-Thierry, three or four kilometres from the Marne, the +plateau is less diversified. The only obstacle is the valley of the +Clignon, which deepens rapidly toward the west. Above it, at the summit +of the limestone cliff, the plateau forms a species of promontories on +which are built villages—Torcy, Belleau, Bouresches. The American +troops had held their positions there during the last part of June, and +it was there that the heroic marines halted the enemy in his march upon +Paris. And again, it was there that they assumed the offensive on July +18, to outflank Château-Thierry from the north. On that day they carried +the ridges of Torcy and Belleau; on the 19th they pressed beyond +Bouresches; and on the 20th they forced their way into Etrepilly and +Château-Thierry.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The terrain beyond is less rugged.</div> + +<p>Immediately beyond, the terrain is not so difficult. The Clignon valley +becomes less rugged and gradually blends with the plateau. Toward +Bézu-St.-Germain and Epieds lies a comparatively open plain with +extensive stretches of fallow land. In this more open region the +progress was more rapid; on July 22 the American troops took possession +of Epieds, twelve kilometres from Bouresches, their starting point.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Along the valley of the Ourcq.</div> + +<p>But the difficulties are more serious farther to the north, along the +hills which form the southern boundary of the valley of the Ourcq. +Although the depression made by the Ru d'Alland, being broad and level, +is not a considerable obstacle, it is not the same beyond. The relief +map shows a line of heights running from west to east, and rising higher +and higher in that direction. From these heights a multitude of valleys +descend to the Ourcq, from south to north, cutting the crest into hills +separated by depressions. Thus the terrain is broken up in every +direction and well adapted <a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>to meet an attack from the west as well as +one from the south.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The French carry ridges and valleys in succession.</div> + +<p>It was necessary to deal with all these obstacles one by one. Starting +from the west, the French had to carry successively these lines of +crests and depressions with their fortified villages: ridge of Monnes, +July 19; ravine of Neuilly-St-Front the same evening; the hill of +Latilly and its wood the 20th; La Croix and Grisolles the 21st, with +their thickets and dense plantations of osiers. On the 23d the Allied +troops took Rocourt and the wood of Le Chatelet; on the 24th the deep +ravine of Brécy; and, finally, on the 25th, French and Americans +together attacked the hill of the forest of Fère, which is 228 metres +high, completely covered with woods, cut by ravines, and flanked by +fortified villages. On the 27th the whole position was taken, and the +Allies were on the verge of the deep valley of the Ourcq, which they +were next to cross.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Caves in the cliffs.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Allies turn the line of the Ourcq.</div> + +<p>This line was a by no means inconsiderable obstacle. Imagine, if you +please, a deep depression, twisting and turning in all directions, and +from 200 to 400 metres wide, extending at least as far as +Fère-en-Tardenois. It is bounded on either side by cliffs of hard +limestone, 30 to 40 metres high, in which innumerable caves are +scooped—the so-called <i>boves</i>, which are used as dwellings, with doors +and windows flush with the face of the cliff. These <i>boves</i> are +invaluable defensive positions, out of reach of bullets and shells. The +valley bottom is wet and swampy, with dense clumps of poplars mingled +with alder-bushes. There are numerous villages at the foot of the +cliffs,—Rozet-St.-Albain, Brény, Armentières,—or on the slopes above, +like Noroy. A frontal attack on such a position would have been too +costly. The Allies turned the line of the Ourcq from the north. They +crossed the river in force in <a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>the upper part of its course, where it +has not yet attacked the stratum of hard limestone, and where the valley +is wider, and the sides are less steep. Nevertheless they encountered +terrible difficulties.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Strategic value of hills of Orxois.</div> + +<p>North of the Ourcq, indeed, the last heights of the Orxois form another +chain of hills, from four to six kilometres wide—the last obstacle +before we come to the plateau of the Soissonnais. These hills are of the +greatest possible diversity of shape and vary in height from 200 metres +at the western extremity to 230 at the eastern. Their bases consist +largely of sandstone and Fontainebleau sand, with clumps of forest +scattered here and there; higher up is the softer limestone, the land +being entirely cleared and covered with crops. Here and there we find +the remains of the former covering of clay and Fontainebleau +sand—wooded ridges which expand toward the east into the wood of +Seringes, the forest of Nesle, and Meunière wood. These hills, the last +as we travel northward, where they command the whole of the Soissonnais, +have therefore the greatest strategic value, particularly the positions +of Hartennes, Plessier-Huleu, and Seringes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The French approach from the west.</div> + +<p>Luckily these formidable defensive positions were approached from the +west, astride the ridges. Starting from the forest of Retz, the French +crossed the Savières with a rush, and in a single bound reached +Noroy-sur-Ourcq and Villers-Hélon, which lie along one of the ridges, +surrounded by orchards. On July 19 they had advanced three kilometres to +the east; the strong line of the Ourcq was outflanked. On the 20th they +were at Parcy-Tigny and Rozet-St.-Albain, pushing forward over the +broken ground planted with sugar-beets and cereals, enlivened in spots +by small clumps of trees perched on the sandstone hillocks. Thus they +drew near to the heart of the position—the <a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>ridges of Plessier and of +Hartennes. There the resistance was much more violent; but after three +days of hard fighting, the French entered Plessier and approached the +village of Oulchy-la-Ville, surrounded by picturesque heaps of sandstone +blocks mingled with pines and birches. On the 25th, in the evening, they +were in occupation of Oulchy-le-Château, which lies in a charming vale +running down to the Ourcq. The line of the Ourcq, as to that portion +where the river, flowing between high cliffs, constitutes a real +obstacle, was in the Allies' hands.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fère-en-Tardenois and Sergy.</div> + +<p>It remained to complete the victory by the conquest of the eastern +sector of the hills; and this again was no easy task. The French and +Americans had now to approach that strong defensive position from the +south. On the 28th they entered Fère-en-Tardenois; the Americans crossed +the Ourcq, taking Sergy, which changed hands nine times. On July 31, +after more titanic battles, they wrested Seringes from the foe. On +August 1 there was a general advance all along the line, and the Allies +carried the whole line of hilltops, from Plessier-Huleu to Meunière +wood.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heroes of the second battle of the Marne.</div> + +<p>This was the end: the horizon expanded. From the heights conquered in +fourteen days of fighting the Allies went down to the plateau of the +Soissonnais; soon they would reach the Vesle and join hands with the +troops who had retaken Soissons. Among the numberless heroes of this +second battle of the Marne, they who stormed the heights of the Orxois +and either outflanked or crossed the valley of the Ourcq were the +bravest of the brave and are entitled to the largest share of our +gratitude. The third act of the battle was played upon a terrain quite +different from those preceding it. The relief is considerably +simplified. The great plateau of the Ile de France, which is <a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>buried, as +it were, under the accumulations of recent deposits, where erosion has +worn gaps in the ridges of the Orxois, and hollowed out the deep ravines +of the Tardenois, is reduced here to the substratum of hard limestone, +almost entirely free from superimposed layers. So that, instead of being +an uneven, swampy district, the Soissonnais is a dry level table-land, +where the streams flow underground through the layers of limestone. A +fertile district, too, for the surface is covered with a thin coating of +loam, in which sugar-beets and cereals vie with one another in profusion +of growth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Valleys of the Vesle and the Aisne.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Fertile slopes and valleys.</div> + +<p>However, the plateau is intersected by occasional valleys, generally +broad and deep. The two most considerable are those of the Vesle and the +Aisne which come together above Soissons, at Condé, and isolate the +famous Chemin-des-Dames to the north. Two tributaries, Ambleny brook and +the Crise, flowing down to the Aisne, subdivide the southern portion of +the Soissonnais, where the battle was fought. With respect to the +plateau, these valleys are little worlds apart. Below the hard +limestone, they have hollowed out a path through very soft rocks, sands, +and clays; in these the streams have inevitably made large inroads, +sapping the limestone cliffs which overhang them. Thus the valley +bottoms are abnormally wide—from two to three kilometres near Soissons. +The presence of the clayey soils makes them very moist, and we find +there fields of beets and grain side by side with extensive tracts of +grassland. On the lower slopes are many small fields given over to the +less hardy products—beans, orchards, and sometimes grape-vines. Here +are most of the villages, at the level where the water-courses, seeping +through the limestone of the plateau, reappear in the shape of springs, +on the impervious stra<a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>tum. For the most part the villages lie along the +hillsides, surrounded by trees, embellished by châteaux and parks. They +are well-built and attractive, boasting churches of graceful +architecture, thanks to the lovely decorative stone taken from the +quarries in the limestone cliffs above, which are called <i>boves</i>, or +<i>croutes</i>. A fascinating, fertile country, diversified and pleasant to +the eye, before the war it might well have been taken as a sample of +rural opulence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Great difficulties of passage.</div> + +<p>Plateau and valleys, then, differ materially—the one monotonous and +easy of access; the other, no less charming than varied, but presenting +great difficulties of passage in the face of opposition. There is not a +village on the plateau: only a few large farms and scattered sugar-beet +refineries. In the valleys and on the slopes there are everywhere +houses, châteaux, parks, orchards, and grottoes. The slender +church-tower barely rises to the level of the plateau, as if to watch +for the approach of an enemy. The conditions then were quite simple: on +the plateau it was possible to gain many kilometres in a single rush; +but in the valleys a fierce resistance was to be expected.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Franco-American attack.</div> + +<p>The French and American attack in the Soissonnais was fortunate in its +starting-point. In the course of the hard-fought battles between June 15 +and July 15, the French had retaken the entire valley of +Ambleny-Cœuvres, and had gained a footing on the plateau to the +eastward, which stretches as far as the outskirts of Soissons. To the +south they had completely cleared the verge of the forest of Retz, from +which they were thus able to debouch into the plain.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">In sight of Soissons.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Germans bring up reserves.</div> + +<p>The first onrush was magnificent. Starting at ten minutes to five in the +morning, the Allies were within sight of Soissons at ten o'clock, having +overrun the whole plateau on a front of some ten kilometres. Rarely has +a more <a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>successful attack been seen in this war. It was even said that +on this first day some French and Americans got as far as the suburbs of +Soissons. But the danger for the Germans was too great, and they brought +all their reserves thither. Moreover, they had the valley of the Crise +to support their defense.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Artillery can hardly see the villages.</div> + +<p>This valley is the widest and deepest of all those which eat into the +plateau of the Soissonnais from the south. The very considerable +depression is more than 100 metres below the surface of the plateau, +which it cuts in two, effectively shutting off all progress from west to +east; for on the south a narrow isthmus, that of Vierzy, barely +separates it from the ravine of the Savières; and on the southeast it +reaches to the foot of the wooded hills of Hartennes. Clinging to the +sides of the valley and of the ravines which open into it, numerous +villages—Vauxbuin, Berzy-le-Sec, Villemontoire, Buzancy—are the more +difficult to capture because the artillery can hardly see them, as they +lie close against the hillside. It was on the Crise, in the latter part +of May, that a handful of Frenchmen held up the German avalanche from +the Chemin-des-Dames.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German guns have revenge.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Allies enter Soissons.</div> + +<p>The Germans paid us back in July. Sheltered in the ravines and windings +of the valley, their artillery, being almost invisible, had nothing to +disturb its aim. The villages, the orchards, the grottoes, crammed with +machine-guns, were so many fortresses; the whole valley was a veritable +hell. There were incessant counter-attacks, which the Allies, on the +bare plateau, entirely devoid of cover, could repel only with the +greatest difficulty. They pushed forward step by step, and by fits and +starts. On the 19th our troops were hard put to it to hold the ground +they had taken the day before; on the 20th they barely began to nibble +at the ravines, at Ploisy and L'Echelle. On <a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>the 21st the Americans took +Berzy-le-Sec, and the French were astride the lower waters of the Crise; +on the 23d they went down into the ravine of Buzancy. But not until the +25th did they gain possession of the promontory of Villemontoire; and +only on the 29th did a Scottish division, after three days of forward +fighting, carry Buzancy. This last success, to be sure, was decisive, +for it uncovered the upper valley of the Crise. And so, on August 2, the +enemy gave way; that day the Allies crossed the valley along its entire +length, and advanced across the eastern side of the plateau as far as +the Vesle. On the same day they entered Soissons—at last. The ancient +capital of the French kings, the city which formerly disputed the claim +of Paris to be called the metropolis, is now no more than a mass of +ruins. For four long years the war has laid its heavy hand upon her; and +it is no new thing for her, since she had played an important military +rôle in 1814, 1815, and 1870. She owes it to her fine location, in the +heart of a broad valley, where the roads from south and east meet. Let +us hope that her martyrdom will soon come to an end.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Allies hold the entire plateau.</div> + +<p>Here ended the second battle of the Marne. The Allies have regained +possession of the whole plateau which extends from the Marne to the +Vesle and the Aisne. They have established themselves in the valleys of +those great rivers, from Soissons to Braisne, Bazoches, and Fismes—even +to Rheims. They find there formidable obstacles to be overcome: a broad, +moist, sometimes swampy bottom; facing them the cliff of the +Chemin-des-Dames and the plateau of the Vesle, with its cap of +limestone, and its numerous windings lined with villages and grottoes. +Except in case of a surprise or a voluntary retirement, it will be a +hard job to carry these positions. But sufficient unto the <a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>day is the +evil thereof. The results already achieved are fine enough to justify us +in declaring ourselves satisfied.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/map-231.png"><img src="./images/map-231-tb.png" alt="Map of the Furthest German Advance" title="Map of the Furthest German Advance" /></a></div> + + +<div class='caption'>A PICTORIAL MAP SHOWING THE FARTHEST GERMAN ADVANCE, THE +HINDENBURG LINE AND THE LINE AT THE TIME OF THE ARMISTICE: NOVEMBER 11, +1918</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The American troops do magnificent work.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Peers of the world's best soldiers</div> + +<p>The work done in their début, by the American troops in conjunction with +our own, was magnificent. They fought against victorious soldiers sure +of success, and whipped them. They were engaged on a difficult terrain. +In the south they were obliged to cross a broad river and wide valleys, +to scale cliffs bristling with defensive positions. In the center they +were confronted by a confused entanglement of broken ground, hills and +ravines, woods and open fields, bisected by a deep valley half-concealed +by trees. In the north they became acquainted with the snare formed by +plateaus falling abruptly away into the wolf-trap of ravines, where the +enemy, lying in ambush, refused to give ground. The Americans triumphed +over all these obstacles, and deserve to be reckoned the peers of the +best soldiers in the world. On the other hand, fighting as they have +fought in these countrysides, so typically French in their simplicity +and grandeur, and seeing all their charms foully outraged, our +attractive villages destroyed, our churches—graceful masterpieces, in +almost every case, of the Middle Ages—desecrated and shattered, they +have come to understand France better; they have had a share in her +misfortunes and in her hopes.</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, December, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Throughout the war Germans persisted in the assumption that by nightly +raids from bombing machines and Zeppelins they could spread terror among +the Allies and weaken their morale. They did succeed in killing a large +number of defenseless men and women, but this was the only result of +these attacks. A vivid account of these night raids is given in the +narrative following.<a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NIGHT RAIDS FROM THE AIR</h2> + +<h3>MARY HELEN FEE</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">Thousands of automobile trucks.</div> + +<p>When the first offensive began to the north of us, we, who were +stationed in the American Canteen at E——, not more than fifteen miles +from Rheims, were thrilled by the sight of the thousands of automobile +trucks, which like a mighty river flowed ceaselessly by our canteen +carrying French troops up to the English front; and we grew sad when we +beheld ambulance convoys hurrying in the same direction.</p> + +<p>We could not be oblivious to certain signs which pointed to renewed +activity in our sector. The American ambulance boys predicted with the +emphasis and at the same time with the vagueness born of surmise instead +of exact knowledge, that we should "see something doing" in a few weeks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Few German airplanes.</div> + +<p>What chiefly excited our curiosity, however, was the scarcity of German +airplanes. Although the days were clear and fine for observing, only +occasionally did the barking of guns call us outside to behold a little +white, shimmering object skipping defiantly through extremest blue while +tufts of woolly cloud broke far below it, serving only to aid us in +detecting the almost invisible plane. One came over one night just about +sunset, and called us and our dinner guests from the beginning of a +meal. Another paid us an early morning call. Then for nearly three weeks +we enjoyed undisturbed rest at night. Not once did the "alerte" send <a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>us +shivering to damp cellars; not once did we hear the deep "boom" followed +by a savage jar and rattle which differentiates the falling bomb or +torpedo from the cannon. We said, fatuously, that we believed all the +airplanes were engaged up on the English front, and that at last our +mastery of the air must be firmly established.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">News of the second offensive.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The permissionaires return in good humor.</div> + +<p>It was on a Monday that the news of the second offensive reached us. +Trains from Paris were delayed and the Paris papers did not arrive, but +the ambulance men told us there was a German offensive from Rheims to +Soissons. Next day the canteen was crowded with permissionaires hastily +recalled from leave and hurrying to join their regiments at the front. +Most of them had passed through, ten to two days before, in the subdued +good humor with which the poilu hails his bath, disinfecting, clean +clothes, and relative security of body while on a ten days' leave. They +were going back to face death, mutilation, and an experience which +drives many men mad. There was no undue hilarity about them, but a quiet +determination which has been reflected in the stand made by the armies. +Here and there a weakling had tried to escape thought in drink, but the +percentage of that sort was very small.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Three weeks' respite of raids.</div> + +<p>On Tuesday more news drifted in, and that night I did not fully undress +on going to bed. So strongly can the sense of optimism be grown from +little habit that a respite of three weeks from bombing attacks had +almost (though not quite) convinced me there would never be any more. I +may explain that I was serving as canteen accountant, and occupied a +tiny three-room apartment across the street from the canteen, between it +and the railway station, and I took my meals at one of the two Red Cross +<a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>houses maintained in E——.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Objective of a bomb attack.</div> + +<p>When a town is bombed, the Germans have various objectives, principally +the railway stations, troop barracks, canteens, munition dumps, food +stores, and hospitals. As a rule, when private homes are destroyed, it +is because they happen to be close to these points of attack. Torpedoes +are too expensive to be wasted in chance destruction.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Lights are extinguished in the war zone.</div> + +<p>In towns in the war zone, great precaution is taken to prevent even a +thin line or dot of light from showing at night. Only the railroad shows +its signal lights, and these are put out at the first alarm, while all +moving trains come to a standstill and extinguish what lights they +carry. The lamps in passenger coaches are always put out when the train +enters the war zone. So the bombing aviator has a rather difficult task +in getting his bombs exactly where he wants them. The bomb must be +released about a thousand feet in advance of the object aimed at, and +the plane must pass over and reverse its course before a second bomb +can be thrown at the same target. The course of a plane can be followed +by tracing its bombs.</p> + +<p>My position during a bombing raid was most unenviable. A torpedo cast at +the railway station and going a bit too far was likely to land on the +two-story brick house in which I was lodged. One cast at the canteen, +and falling short, was likely to do the same.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anticipating air raids.</div> + +<p>It is fashionable among the workers in France to affect great +indifference to danger. I am free to confess that I am not a +particularly courageous woman. My imagination is active, and on nights +when we expect a bombing raid I always go through a period of misery +before going to bed. I would not for anything leave the war zone, but I +have always a lively vision of coming out of slumber to the +accompaniment of fearful noise and the crashing of the building atop, +and then my coward imagination <a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>paints pictures of lying torn and +anguished under settling weights of being burned alive while disabled +and unable to extricate myself. Oddly enough, all my terrors vanish with +the falling of the first bomb. I cannot remember being in what the +English call a "blue funk" while a raid is going on, though many a time +I have been in one beforehand.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Premonition of danger.</div> + +<p>Tuesday night some subtle instinct warned that trouble might come. In +accordance with a natural forethought I slipped into a suit of underwear +and woollen stockings under my nightdress. I must have been asleep in +three minutes after my head touched the pillow, for I was dead tired.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A bomb lands close by.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The sky blazes with shells.</div> + +<p>I wakened with the sense that I had heard a gun, and, with one +stockinged foot thrust out of bed, wondered sleepily whether it was the +first, second or third of the alerte, or whether indeed I had not +wakened from a dream of a gun. Probably it was the last gun of the +alerte, for the next sound was the thunderous roar of a bomb which +clearly had landed close by (it got a railway shed and a freight car on +the tracks behind me). The terrific noise and the shock to our building, +which rattled as if it were coming down, considerably accelerated my +movements. I snapped on the electric torch which always lay, together +with my cap and slippers, beside the bed, slipped a skirt over my +nightdress and my great-coat atop, and got into the cap and slippers in +record time. But by the time I had crossed the flagged passage and +wrestled with the lock of the "grande porte" there was no getting out of +the house. The canteen, directly across the street, lay in utter +darkness, lights out, doors locked. There was no hope of using it as a +short cut to the <i>abris</i>, or shelter, on the other side, while to try to +go around it was almost certain death. The sky was ablaze with breaking +shells from our sev<a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>enty-fives; shrapnel was falling like hail in the +streets, while the steady "pup-pup" of machine-guns—both our own and +the bombing planes'—advised all who could to remain under shelter. The +noise of our guns and of the bombs was like a small inferno.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Waiting through the raid alone.</div> + +<p>I stayed it out—about twenty minutes—alone in that dark flagged +hallway, and it was lonesome. When the shrapnel and machine-gun fire let +up sufficiently to make it safe, I crept along under the shelter of the +eaves to the door of a courtyard next door where I knew one of our cooks +lived. She had invited me a few days before, to refuge there instead of +trying to get over the <i>abris</i>, because, she said, the whole upper lofts +were full of hay, and it had been demonstrated that bombs will not +penetrate to any depth in hay. But the door was locked, and though I +beat upon it with my electric torch, nobody heard me. I finally took +advantage of a lull in the firing, when the Germans went back to their +own lines for more ammunition, to get over the <i>abris</i>.</p> + +<p>There one of the women on night duty at the canteen told me that the +directrice and everybody else not on night duty, had gone up to the +evacuation hospital about ten o'clock, in response to a call for aid +from the French authorities.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Many wounded in the hospitals.</div> + +<p>In E—— there were half a dozen large hospitals. The wounded, chiefly +English, were coming in faster than the hospital corps could handle +them. They needed our help, not only in registering the men—very few of +whom understood any French—but in feeding and giving water.</p> + +<p>I got to the hospital the next day and worked steadily till eight +thirty. Then an ambulance driver gave me a lift as far as the canteen, +and I managed to get a cold supper at our mess.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dispensing hospitality to worn-out officers.</div> + +<p>I was hardly in my office before I heard a <a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>knock at the door, which, as +I was alone in the house, I always locked at night as soon as I entered. +In response to my "Who's there?" a voice, guided by my English, replied, +"I am an English officer." I threw open the door without a second's +hesitation. A young officer, weary, white-faced, stood there, beginning +to apologize as he saw my uniform and white veil. He was simply "done," +he said—and he looked it. He had found every hotel was full, and, +seeing a few gleams of light behind the shutters, he had knocked in the +hope of finding shelter for the night. I knew that the woman at the +canteen who would go off duty at midnight was scheduled to go +immediately to the hospital to work until seven in the morning and that +I could occupy her bed after I came back from the hospital, and I +offered my apartment to the officer for the night. He was most grateful, +and I rushed over to the canteen to get him a pitcher of hot water and a +cup of chocolate. But there I found a group of French officers, who said +they had neither sleep nor rest for three days and nights, pleading for +some place to lie down. As there was a comfortable leather couch in my +office, besides a wide soft couch over which I had laid my steamer rug, +and, in addition, an exceedingly soft double bed in my room which I +thought the tired Englishman ought to be willing to share with an +equally tired man, I proffered my hospitality, which was gratefully +accepted. I piloted them across to the office, and returned to the +canteen, hoping to find an American ambulance boy who would run me over +to the hospital.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A new raid begins.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Directing men to shelter.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Help from American boys.</div> + +<p>I sighted a group of the familiar uniforms, and was heading for it when, +bang! went a falling bomb, without any warning alerte. The next instant +all lights were out, and the French soldiers were swarming through the +door. As all the other women in the canteen had set <a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>duties to +perform—putting out fires, locking up money and food—and I, not being +on duty, had none, I stationed myself at the door, calling out to the +soldiers where they would find shelter. Being transients, they did not +know where to find refuge. But long before the canteen was empty, the +machine-gun bullets were sweeping the street and the shrapnel was +raining down. Two American boys came up in the darkness, and one said in +the quietest tone of authority, "Get between us, lady!" They backed me +up against the side of the canteen, close under the shelter of the +eaves, and stood one on each side of me. I had no trench-helmet, so one +of them took his sheepskin driving coat, folded it, and put it over his +head and mine. As soon as a lull in the firing permitted, we ran across +the street to the <i>abris</i>. The Germans went back several times for more +ammunition and continued the bombing for nearly two hours.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The nurses stay with the wounded.</div> + +<p>One of our workers, who was at the hospital, told me that her first +impulse was to run for an <i>abris</i> as we would do at the canteen, but +when she looked about her and saw everybody composedly going on with +duty, she gathered herself together and did the same—"Although," she +added, "my teeth just rattled at first." Some of the wounded were +terrified and begged not to be left; and that called out the mother +instinct in the women, so that they forgot to be afraid.</p> + +<p>The Germans swept the hospital with their machine guns and did their +best to bomb it, but fortunately made no hits. It was finally necessary +to put out all lights and to cease work. It was a most trying ordeal, +because the buildings were of pine, close together, and a direct hit +probably would have started a fire which would have burned the wounded +as they lay.<a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The sound of battle draws near.</div> + +<p>About half past one I went up to our mess and crawled into an empty bed. +The next morning when I awakened it was to the sound of distant cannon. +This meant that the battle was drawing nearer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A ride on an ambulance.</div> + +<p>An especially hard day kept me on the strain from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and +when I returned to the mess I found no dinner and no servants. Our +directrice, anticipating evacuation, had dismissed them. Only a little +Belgian refugee, a sort of "slavey," hung on, because she had no other +place to go. Tired out, I managed to make an omelet and a cup of tea, +and to fry some griddle cakes to replace the bread which was conspicuous +by its absence. Then I stationed myself in front of the canteen hoping +to flag a passing ambulance. An American driver stopped his car, and a +Frenchman, who was beside him on the front seat, jumped down to help me +up. This man had a bandage around his throat, and when I asked him if he +was wounded, he made a hissing sound in reply. The American driver +explained that he could not speak because he had a bullet through his +windpipe. There were six badly wounded men on the stretchers inside, but +we heard not a sound from them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A night of horrors.</div> + +<p>I shall not soon forget that night I had steeled myself to meet horrors, +and knew that I <i>must not</i> let them affect me. Yet in spite of terrible +wounds, there was little sound of suffering. The place was wonderfully +quiet.</p> + +<p>When I got inside of the receiving room, a group of our women who had +been at work all afternoon were still moving about, white and +hollow-eyed with fatigue. A French doctor asked if I could not bring +some food there from the canteen. It was Thursday. Some of the men had +been wounded on Tuesday, and had had no food and little water.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bringing up food for the wounded.</div> + +<p>I found an English girl with an empty am<a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>bulance, who risked a reprimand +for leaving without orders, and we flashed back to the canteen, and +loaded up with twenty gallons of hot chocolate, bread, about three +hundred hard boiled eggs, some kilos of chocolate, and raw eggs and +sugar. We flew back to the hospital; but there was a big convoy of +ambulances just in, so that we could not get up to the main buildings. +We scouted around in the dark to find a place to deposit our stuff and +open a temporary kitchen, and, returning to the ambulance, we came +across a wounded boy who had sunk on a bench. The ambulance driver had +passed him, making his way on foot, but being full-up, she was unable to +give him a lift. He was wounded in the chest, was exhausted, and had no +great-coat. It was absolutely necessary to get him under cover and to +give him warmth and nourishment. We put our arms around him and tried to +help him along, but soon it was apparent that he had not the strength to +make the reception ward.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Holding up a boy too weak to stand.</div> + +<p>The English girl said, "You hold him up while I get a stretcher"; so I +jammed myself up against the side of a building and put my arms about +the boy while his weight grew heavier and heavier against me. I could +not let him slip, because the roadway was narrow and a long string of +ambulances, without lights, was passing. He never uttered a sound, but +his arms moved convulsively. As he felt himself growing weaker, he put +them around my neck, and clung to me precisely as a frightened child +would. It seemed an age while I waited there, warning off ambulances +that were about to shave us too closely. I could not help wondering +where that boy's mother was, what she was doing, or if he had a mother. +And I thought some terrible thoughts about war and some wicked ones +about Germans.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dispensing food to the wounded.</div> + +<p>The girl came with her stretcher at last, and <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>we got the boy on it. +Then we went about setting up our feeding station. Hungry men limped in, +bandaged mostly about the head, and <i>how</i> they consumed hard boiled eggs +and drank hot chocolate! I left the English girl dispensing food and +drink, while I took to the badly wounded a mixture of beaten egg, hot +milk and sugar. Here and there men asked for a piece of chocolate or +bread, but most of the wounded wanted only the liquid food. They would +say with their awful English cockney accent, "Ah! that's good!" or +"Prime stuff!" or "Could you spare a little more, sister?" In spite of +dreadful wounds, they were full of pluck.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Great numbers of wounded in stretchers.</div> + +<p>For the next two hours I gave water and egg mixture to all sorts and +conditions of men—English, French, Canadians, Moroccans, Senegalese. +The doctor asked if I knew enough to administer morphine hypodermics, +and I regretfully admitted that I did not, while I registered a vow to +learn. Then some American Red Cross men appeared, and some English +doctors. Before midnight three or four long Red Cross trains had been +filled with wounded, and sent out. Yet at that hour more than five +hundred wounded men still lay on their stretchers on the grass outside. +And all the while, as I worked, I thought of how, as soon as the moon +came up, we should hear the familiar roar and rattle of the bombs, and +of how the shrapnel and machine gun bullets would rain down on those +upturned faces.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The hospital floors are crowded.</div> + +<p>But, grace to heaven, the Germans did not come that night! At midnight I +went into Ward 4, where some of the worst wounded had been placed. +Stretchers had been laid on top of the beds and flat on the floor on +both sides of the central aisle, till one could hardly move. Most of the +wounded seemed to sleep. Only here and there one begged for water, and +these men were usually wounded in the ab<a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>domen where not even water +could be given. We could moisten their lips and wipe off the hot +feverish faces, and that was all.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Everything possible has been done.</div> + +<p>By one o'clock it was evident that the most of what could be done had +been done. Another section of our women had arrived with more food, and +I went out to the covered way between the receiving room and the +operating room, to steal a ride home on the driver's seat of some +departing ambulance. An English boy, who had been gassed, asked me +hoarsely if I could get him a blanket, and I did so. Another man was +there, on whose eyelashes and eyebrows something that looked like ice +seemed to hang. I think it was an application to soothe gas-burns.</p> + +<p>It was two o'clock before I got to bed at the mess. The English officer +was still occupying my apartment. I might pass off my action in +resigning it to him as philanthropy, but candor compels me to admit that +I was glad of an excuse to stay at the house where there was company in +case of a bombing raid.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The French bills come in.</div> + +<p>Friday was a long, tense day. The French merchants and all the people +with whom we had dealings, anticipating our withdrawal, swarmed in with +accounts. When the G.A.N. (Grand Armée Nationale) sent in its request +for a check (previously, I had been obliged fairly to windlass their +bill out of them), I knew the French would evacuate. The Commandant sent +for the Directrice, and advised her to follow French headquarters +wherever it might move. He said he was evacuating all French hospitals +and had turned over all evacuation hospitals to the English. No more +wounded French were to be brought into E——.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The German aviators bomb hospitals again.</div> + +<p>All day I worked without food, and after 7.30 got supper for myself and +three companions. We hoped for a night's rest, but the Germans began +bombing us at dusk, and kept <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>it up till daylight. They were after +hospitals, as we knew by the fact that the dropping bombs were at a +distance from us and the regular line. All night the machine-gun battle +went on—our own guns at E——, warring with the sweeping planes +overhead. We got so tired of going to shelter, and so accustomed to the +firing, that we finally stayed in our rooms and even opened our shutters +to peer out into the calm summer sky. Shells were bursting and ground +signals of colored lights were streaming skyward. It was too exciting to +sleep until we gave out from sheer exhaustion. I managed to get an +intermittent slumber from four until seven.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The town is full of refugees.</div> + +<p>As there was no breakfast at our mess, I went to the canteen for a cup +of coffee, and found the place crowded. The French Commander said that +our town was due to be shelled before long as we were getting in range +of the German guns. We decided not to go until we had to, but to cease +keeping the canteen open at night; to sell only hot coffee, chocolate, +bread, cheese, eggs and apples by day—thus omitting our hot meal—and +to divide our forces, one part to run the canteen, another to organize a +temporary canteen on the grounds of the evacuation hospital, and still +another to maintain the rolling canteen at the railway station. The +streets were almost blocked with refugees. I saw one unconscious woman +in a wheelbarrow being trundled by a boy. Regiments went through, going +up to the front, the men's faces stern and set. The sound of the battle +grew louder and louder.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An airplane sweeps the street with a machine gun.</div> + +<p>That night we bundled our bedding into the Ford camion, and slept in one +of the deep champagne caves. I had volunteered to go on duty at the +canteen at six the next morning, and arriving there on time, found two +or three hundred tired and hungry men waiting for the <a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>doors to open. +The night before a great thermos marmite had been filled with boiling +coffee, and we were able to begin feeding the men without delay. All day +we did a tremendous business. About half past nine a German plane came +over, tried to bomb us, and swept the street with a machine gun. We +continued serving and pouring out coffee. The aviator killed a woman and +child who were standing in a garden, and then one of our machine guns +got him. The plane, a three passenger one, came tumbling down into the +public square. The pilot was caught with both legs under the engine and +was badly hurt, but the observer and the gunner were uninjured. An +infuriated Frenchman, who had seen the killing of the woman and child, +rushed up and killed the gunner as they lifted him out. I got these +facts from an American staff car driver who assisted in extricating the +pilot. That morning, our guns got three German planes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A German shell hits twenty-seven.</div> + +<p>At one that afternoon I left the canteen, and went home for the bath +which I had missed that morning. I had just finished dressing when a +German shell passed over the house, killing, as they said, twenty-seven +persons.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The distant thunder of battle.</div> + +<p>I elected to stay over night at the hotel instead of going to the +champagne cave. No sound disturbed the night except the distant thunder +of the battle and the bursting of shells which were falling about a +thousand yards short of the town. The Germans were trying to destroy the +bridge over the Marne, to cut our communication with Rheims, but they +did not have the range.</p> + + +<div class='center'>Copyright, The Forum, November, 1918.</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Volumes of detailed narrative could not sum up more graphically what the +American Army did in France than did the summary written by General +Pershing, presented in the following pages.<a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE</h2> + +<h3>GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">Organization of the American army.</div> + +<p>With French and British armies at their maximum strength, and all +efforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly intrenched positions in +Belgium and France failed, it was necessary to plan for an American +force adequate to turn the scale in favor of the Allies. Taking account +of the strength of the central powers at that time, the immensity of the +problem which confronted us could hardly be overestimated. The first +requisite being an organization that could give intelligent direction to +effort, the formation of a General Staff occupied my early attention.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The division.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A corps comprises six divisions.</div> + +<p>After a thorough consideration of allied organizations it was decided +that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of +3,000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250 +men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, +a machine-gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, +a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and +military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of +over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German +division. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions—four +combat and one depot and one replacement division—and also two +regiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. With +four divisions fully trained, a corps could take over <a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>an American +sector with, two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depot +and replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plan of training for the infantry.</div> + +<p>Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force which should be +able to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, the +development of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use of +the rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. The +plan of training after arrival in France allowed a division one month +for acclimatization and instruction in small units from battalions down, +a second month in quiet trench sectors by battalion, and a third month +after it came out of the trenches when it should be trained as a +complete division in war of movement.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The school center at Langres.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">British and French officers assist.</div> + +<p>Very early a system of schools was outlined and started, which should +have the advantage of instruction by officers direct from the front. At +the great school center at Langres, one of the first to be organized, +was the staff school, where the principles of general staff work, as +laid down in our own organization were taught to carefully selected +officers. Men in the ranks, who had shown qualities of leadership, were +sent to the school of candidates for commissions. A school of the line +taught younger officers the principles of leadership, tactics, and the +use of the different weapons. In the artillery school, at Saumur, young +officers were taught the fundamental principles of modern artillery; +while at Issoudun an immense plant was built for training cadets in +aviation. These and other schools, with their well-considered +curriculums for training in every branch of our organization, were +coordinated in a manner best to develop an efficient army out of willing +and industrious young men, many of whom had not before known even the +rudiments of mili<a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>tary technique. Both Marshal Haig and General Petain +placed officers and men at our disposal for instructional purposes, and +we are deeply indebted for the opportunities given to profit by their +veteran experience.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Questions of communication and supply.</div> + +<p>The eventual place the American Army should take on the western front +was to a large extent influenced by the vital questions of communication +and supply. The northern ports of France were crowded by the British +Armies' shipping and supplies while the southern ports, though otherwise +at our service, had not adequate port facilities for our purposes and +these we should have to build. The already overtaxed railway system +behind the active front in northern France would not be available for us +as lines of supply and those leading from the southern ports of +northeastern France would be unequal to our needs without much new +construction. Practically all warehouses, supply depots and regulating +stations must be provided by fresh constructions. While France offered +us such material as she had to spare after a drain of three years +enormous quantities of material had to be brought across the Atlantic.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plans for construction on a vast scale.</div> + +<p>With such a problem any temporization or lack of definiteness in making +plans might cause failure even with victory within our grasp. Moreover, +broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources would +bring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to the +nations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. The tonnage for +material for necessary construction for the supply of an army of three +and perhaps four million men would require a mammoth program of +shipbuilding at home, and miles of dock construction in France, with a +correspondingly large project for additional railways and for storage +depots.<a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The southern ports are selected.</div> + +<p>All these considerations led to the inevitable conclusion that if we +were to handle and supply the great forces deemed essential to win the +war we must utilise the southern ports of France—Bordeaux, La Pallice, +St. Nazaire, and Brest—and the comparatively unused railway systems +leading therefrom to the northeast. Generally speaking, then, this would +contemplate the use of our forces against the enemy somewhere in that +direction, but the great depots of supply must be centrally located, +preferably in the area included by Tours, Bourges, and Chateauroux, so +that our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever they +might be serving on the western front.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Army and civilian experts are employed.</div> + +<p>To build up such a system there were talented men in the Regular Army, +but more experts were necessary than the Army could furnish. Thanks to +the patriotic spirit of our people at home, there came from civil life +men trained for every sort of work involved in building and managing the +organization necessary to handle and transport such an army and keep it +supplied. With such assistance the construction and general development +of our plans have kept pace with the growth of the forces, and the +Service of Supply is now able to discharge from ships and move 45,000 +tons daily, besides transporting troops and material in the conduct of +active operations.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Organization of the Service of Supply.</div> + +<p>As to organization, all the administrative and supply services, except +the Adjutant General's, Inspector General's and Judge Advocate General's +Departments which remain at general headquarters, have been transferred +to the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours under a +commanding general responsible to the commander in chief for supply of +the armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief Signal +Officer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of Chemical +War<a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>fare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to questions +of procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General in the +maintenance of order in general, the Director General of Transportation +in all that affects such matters, and the Chief Engineer in all matters +of administration and supply, are subordinate to the Commanding General +of the Service of Supply, who, assisted by a staff especially organized +for the purpose, is charged with the administrative coordination of all +these services.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The transportation department.</div> + +<p>The transportation department under the Service of Supply directs the +operation, maintenance, and construction of railways, the operation of +terminals, the unloading of ships, and transportation of material to +warehouses or to the front. Its functions make necessary the most +intimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, +with the practical result that our transportation department has been +able to improve materially the operations of railways generally. +Constantly laboring under a shortage of rolling stock, the +transportation department has nevertheless been able by efficient +management to meet every emergency.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Duties of the Engineer Corps.</div> + +<p>The Engineer Corps is charged with all construction, including light +railways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projects +required, the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeaux +and Nantes, and the immense storage depots at La Palice, Montoir, and +Gièvres, besides innumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports of +France. These projects have all been carried on by phases keeping pace +with our needs. The Forestry Service under the Engineer Corps has cut +the greater part of the timber and railway ties required.</p> + +<p>To meet the shortage of supplies from America, due to lack of shipping, +the representatives <a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>of the different supply departments were constantly +in search of available material and supplies in Europe. In order to +coordinate these purchases and to prevent competition between our +departments, a general purchasing agency was created early in our +experience to coordinate our purchases and, if possible, induce our +Allies to apply the principle among the Allied armies. While there was +no authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met by +grouping the purchasing representatives of the different departments +under one control, charged with the duty of consolidating requisitions +and purchases. Our efforts to extend the principle have been signally +successful, and all purchases for the Allied armies are now on an +equitable and cooperative basis. Indeed, it may be said that the work of +this bureau has been thoroughly efficient and businesslike.</p> + +<p>Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary +for its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important +deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In order +to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer +of the French Government to provide us with the necessary artillery +equipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and one +fifty-five G P F guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. The +wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, although +we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, there +were no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on our +front at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these types +produced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-five +millimeter guns.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The first airplanes received from America.</div> + +<p>In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the French +Government came <a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>to our aid until our own aviation program should be +under way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for training +our personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2,676 pursuit, +observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received from home +arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1,379. The first +American squadron completely equipped by American production, including +airplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to tanks, we +were also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we were less +fortunate, for the reason that the French production could barely meet +the requirements of their own armies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The attitude of the French Government liberal.</div> + +<p>It should be fully realized that the French Government has always taken +a most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us every +possible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in +other respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, and +tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been +exclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our own +manufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the time +the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early +supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Responsibility for the welfare of the troops.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Welfare organizations and their valuable work.</div> + +<p>The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as Commander in +Chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who came to +France in the impressionable period of youth. They could not have the +privilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of leave of +visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully realizing +that the standard of conduct that should be established for them must +have a permanent influence in their lives and on the character of their +future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's<a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a> Christian +Association, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the Jewish +Welfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in every +possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different customs +and language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with the +cause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in their +behalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and their +innate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that the +members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to +be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of +these representative men and women has given a new significance to the +Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be +repaid.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Twenty-sixth fights at Seicheprey.</div> + +<p>During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had +engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was +Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20, in the Toul sector, but none +had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had +passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the +trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and +by March 21, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four +divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to +any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed +was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Pershing offers forces to Foch.</div> + +<p>On March 28 I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch, who had been +agreed upon as Commander in Chief of the Allied Armies, all of our +forces to be used as he might decide. At his request the first division +was transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at +Chaumont en Vexin. As German superiority <a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>in numbers required prompt +action, an agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the +Allied premiers and commanders and myself on May 2 by which British +shipping was to transport 10 American divisions to the British Army +area, where they were to be trained and equipped, and additional British +shipping was to be provided for as many divisions as possible for use +elsewhere.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The First takes Cantigny.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Fighting qualities demonstrated.</div> + +<p>On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier +salient on the Picardy battle front. Tactics had been suddenly +revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident of the +results of their training, were eager for the test. On the morning of +May 28 this division attacked the commanding German position in its +front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all other +objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly against vicious +counterattacks and galling artillery fire. Although local, this +brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated our +fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that the +enemy's troops were not altogether invincible.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Third Division on the Marne.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Second wins Bouresches and Belleau Wood.</div> + +<p>The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27, had advanced +rapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisis +equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every +available man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the Third +Division, which had just come from its preliminary training in the +trenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine-gun battalion +preceded the other units and successfully held the bridgehead at the +Marne, opposite Château-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve near +Montdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport to +check the progress of the enemy toward Paris.<a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a> The Division attacked and +retook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held its +ground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle of +Belleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority and +gained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemy +than to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second was relieved, it +captured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Second Corps is organized.</div> + +<p>Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Major General George W. Read, had been +organized for the command of our divisions with the British, which were +held back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of +the ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three to +relieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris area +to join the group of American divisions which stood between the city and +any farther advance of the enemy in that direction.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Forty-second and the Twenty-eighth.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Brilliant work of the Third.</div> + +<p>The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way, +and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary training +before being put into action, their very presence warranted the use of +all the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves. +Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheims +against the German offensive of July 15, and held their ground +unflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies of +the Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancing +waves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank of +the Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west of +Mézy, opposite Château-Thierry, where a large force of German infantry +sought to force a passage under support of powerful artillery +concentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A <a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>single regiment of +the Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals +on this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its +front while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing, +pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the German +attacks with counterattacks at critical points and succeeded in throwing +two German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600 prisoners.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">First and Second in the thrust toward Soissons.</div> + +<p>The great force of the German Château-Thierry offensive established the +deep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and the +vulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to his +disadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, every +division with any sort of training was made available for use in a +counter-offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons on +July 18 was given to our First and Second Divisions in company with +chosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of a +preliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery, +firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while the +infantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops under +these trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemy +brought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense both +with machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting the +First Division continued to advance until it had gained the heights +above Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-Sec. The Second +Division took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance and +reached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. These +two divisions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Twenty-sixth and the Third.</div> + +<p>The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a<a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a> French division, was under +command of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement toward +Soissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy while the Third +Division was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The +Twenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past the +Château-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing its +progress, took the heights of Mont St. Père and the villages of +Chartèves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine-gun and artillery +fire.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germans fall back.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Forty-second relieves the Twenty-sixth.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Third and Fourth Advance.</div> + +<p>On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugney and Epieds, +our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from the +Champagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through the +Forêt de Fère, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the +27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth Divisions +were already advancing, while the French divisions with which we were +cooperating were moving forward at other points.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Forty-second and Thirty-second.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Twenty-eighth and the Seventy-seventh.</div> + +<p>The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29th +and was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. The +Forty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering the +heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the +Thirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in the +pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of reducing +the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was relieved by the +Fourth at Chéry-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the Twenty-eighth, +while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on the Vesle. The +operations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the Third Corps, +Major General Robert L. Bullard, commanding.<a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">The First Army is organized.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The American sector is extended.</div> + +<p>With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to the +concentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of the +forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had long +been planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the First +Army was organized on August 10 under my personal command. While +American units had held different divisional and corps sectors along the +western front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, +a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts the +American forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over a +permanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30, the line +beginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to the +west through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, was +placed under my command. The American sector was afterwards extended +across the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and included +the Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and the +Seventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Large troop movements.</div> + +<p>The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable +defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of +corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the +location of hospitals, and the molding together of all the elements of a +great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our +Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was to be +a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of approximately +600,000 troops, and required for its success the most careful attention +to every detail.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heavy guns can reach Metz.</div> + +<p>The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army +artillery, with its <a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>personnel, and we were confident from the start of +our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns +were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail +movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command +which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces, +gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in +one operation on the western front.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The First Corps.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Third Corps.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Fifth Corps.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Reserves.</div> + +<p>From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the +Moselle River the line was roughly 40 miles long and situated on +commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First +Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second Divisions) under +command of Major General Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on +Pont-a-Mousson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth, +Forty-second, and First Divisions), under Major General Joseph T. +Dickman, in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the +pivot of the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to +Mouilly the Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and +our Fifth Corps, under command of Major General George H. Cameron, with +our Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base of +the salient, were to attack three difficult hills—Les Eparges, Combres, +and Amaranthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighth +Division, our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army the +Thirty-fifth and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth and +Thirty-third available. It should be understood that our corps +organizations are very elastic, and that we have at no time had +permanent assignments of divisions to corps.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The attack on St. Mihiel begins.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Breaking the barbed-wire defenses.</div> + +<p>After four hours' artillery preparation, the <a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>seven American divisions +in the front line advanced at 5 a.m., on September 12, assisted by a +limited number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by the +French. These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters and +others armed with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bands +of barbed wire that protected the enemy's front line and support +trenches, in irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down all +defense of an enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artillery +fire and our sudden approach out of the fog.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The First Army takes the salient.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Many prisoners and guns taken.</div> + +<p>Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curved +back to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corps +made the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and the +Fifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counterattack. A rapid +march brought reserve regiments of a Division of the Fifth Corps into +Vigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of our +Fourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west of +Thiaucourt to Vigneulles, and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost of +only 7,000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and +443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of many +villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a position +to threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in its +first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had a +formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had +one to reckon with.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/map-261.png"><img src="./images/map-261-tb.png" alt="American Attack on the St. Mihiel Salient" title="American Attack on the St. Mihiel Salient" /></a></div> + +<div class='caption'>AMERICAN ATTACK ON THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Movement to cut German railway connections.</div> + +<p>On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our Corps +and Army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel, and our Divisions +in reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the area +back of the line <a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>between the Meuse River and the western edge of the +forest of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old German +front line from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. In +the general attack all along the line, the operation assigned the +American Army as the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward +the important railroad communications of the German armies through +Mézières and Sedan. The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines +or the withdrawal of his forces with four years' accumulation of plants +and material would be dangerously imperiled.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German Army not demoralized.</div> + +<p>The German Army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the mass +of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions and +notably its machine-gun defense were exhibiting remarkable tactical +efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware +of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that +he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was planned +with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the +determination to use all our Divisions in forcing decision. We expected +to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume them while +the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack should break +his line, which it was our firm purpose to do.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Argonne Forest considered impregnable.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">American order of battle.</div> + +<p>Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the +Argonne Forest whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by +dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of +battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to +Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in +line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from +Malancourt to Vauquois, <a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and +Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve; +and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with +Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and +the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The Army reserve consisted of the +First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Attack begins on September 25.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Montfaucon is taken.</div> + +<p>On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the +French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been +inactive. In the attack which began on the 26th we drove through the +barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's +Land, mastering all the first-line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and +28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of +enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from 3 to 7 miles, +and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and Exermont, +Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinonville, +Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our +Divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured +Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our +main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of +forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's +reaction, which was bound to come as he had good roads and ample +railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves.</p> + +<div class='tnote'>Transcriber's Note: The following is a transcription +of the text of the facsimile.<br /> To see an image of the facsimile, <a href="./images/facs.png"><i>click here</i></a>. +</div> + +<div class='bbox'><h3>FACSIMILE OF PERSHING'S SECRET BATTLE MAP SHOWN AT +NATIONAL MUSEUM</h3> + +<p>There is on exhibition in the United States National Museum at +Washington what is probably the most interesting and valuable single +record of America's part in the Great War—General Pershing's own secret +battle map, transported here from his headquarters in France and set up +in the museum exactly as it was there.</p> + +<p>It was General Pershing's own idea to have the map displayed to the +public to show the people of the United States the actual military +results obtained by their armies. For instance, at the hour the +armistice was signed the United States forces were holding 145 +kilometers of front, of which 134 kilometers were active. This is made +plain on the map by the colored pins and tags by which the different +allied and enemy armies are shown.</p> + +<p>The map itself shows the location of all divisions, both the enemy and +allied, on the western front; the correct battle line, commanding +generals, location of headquarters and boundaries down to include +armies, and various other information concerning divisions, as, for +example, whether they were fresh or tired. The map was developed and +kept posted to date daily by the third section of General Pershing's +staff, and used by them and other superior officers during active +operations for strategical studies and purposes of general information.</p> + +<p>It is evident that during the war the information which this map +contained was such that the enemy would have spared no pains to secure +it. Every precaution was taken to insure its secrecy, and to this end +the map was always kept locked up, and in addition was kept in a small +compartment formed by a closed screen. Furthermore, access to this map +was had by only the half dozen chiefs of the general headquarters staff +sections whose work was directly affected by the changes shown on the +map. This map appears to have been unique. The staff officers from the +different allied headquarters who had occasion to see the map declared +that it was the most complete representation of the opposing forces that +they had seen.</p> + +<p>General Pershing, in his letter to the adjutant general suggesting the +public display of the map in the National Museum, says:</p> + +<p>"It has occurred to me that this particular map with its accompanying +installation will have a great historical value. It will be of intense +interest to future generations, not only because it was the only map of +its kind used at these headquarters, but because it shows in a vivid +fashion the exact situation at the hour of the armistice."</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Difficult tasks of engineers and gunners.</div> + +<p>In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roads +across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man's +Land, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put +their shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through the +mire in support of the in<a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>fantry, now under the increasing fire of the +enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, +quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counterattacks in strong +force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas. +From September 28 until October 4 we maintained the offensive against +patches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of machine +guns, and pushed forward our guns and transport, seizing strategical +points in preparation for further attacks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Twenty-seventh and the Thirtieth with the British.</div> + +<p>Other Divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. It +was the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh and +Thirtieth Divisions, which had remained with the British, to have a +place of honor in cooperation with the Australian Corps on September 29 +and October 1 in the assault on the Hindenburg line where the St. +Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The Thirtieth +Division speedily broke through the main line of defense for all its +objectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through the +main line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of the +maze of trenches and shell craters and under cross fire from machine +guns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and in +later actions, from October 6 to October 19, our Second Corps captured +over 6,000 prisoners and advanced over 13 miles. The spirit and +aggressiveness of these Divisions have been highly praised by the +British Army commander under whom they served.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Second and Thirty-sixth with the French.</div> + +<p>On October 2 to 9 our Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions were sent to +assist the French in an important attack against the old German +positions before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defense +works on their <a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a>front against a persistent defense worthy of the +grimmest period of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held wooded +hill of Blanc Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweeping +over it with consummate dash and skill. This Division then repulsed +strong counterattacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienne +and took the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims +and yield positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9 +the Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its first +experience under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment and +rapidly took up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Steady progress in the Argonne Forest.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The terrain favors the defense.</div> + +<p>The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in this +crucial contest as the German command threw in more and more first-class +troops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the almost +impenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite this +reinforcement, it was our Army that was doing the driving. Our aircraft +was increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and our +Infantry and Artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience. +The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions with +little time for training, but they had the advantage of serving beside +men who knew their business and who had almost become veterans +overnight. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, which +especially favored the defense, by a prodigal use of machine guns manned +by highly trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges. +In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unable +to accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards, +but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage of +our troops.<a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Strong enemy counterattacks.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">First Corps takes Chatel-Chéhéry.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Argonne Forest is cleared.</div> + +<p>On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third Corps +tilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth Corps +took Gesnes while the First Corps advanced for over 2 miles along the +irregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of the +Argonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art and +weapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemy +striving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strong +counterattacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corps +captured Chatel-Chéhéry and continued along the river to Cornay. On the +east of Meuse sector one of the two Divisions cooperating with the +French captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the Fifth +Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fléville, and the Third Corps +which had continuous fighting against odds was working its way through +Brieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of +the enemy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Second Army is organized.</div> + +<p>It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9 the +immediate command of the First Army was turned over to Lieutenant +General Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisions +occupied a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieutenant General Robert +L. Bullard, who had been commander of the First Division and then of the +Third Corps. Major General Dickman was transferred to the command of the +First Corps, while the Fifth Corps was placed under Major General +Charles P. Summerall, who had recently commanded the First Division. +Major General John L. Hines, who had gone rapidly up from regimental to +division commander, was assigned to the Third Corps. These four officers +had been in France from the early days of the expedition and had learned +<a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>their lessons in the school of practical warfare.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Kriemhilde line is penetrated.</div> + +<p>Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day more +prisoners, mostly survivors from machine-gun nests captured in fighting +at close quarters. On October 18 there was very fierce fighting in the +Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th the +First Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-hand +encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde line, where the enemy had +hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated further +the Kriemhilde line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and the +important town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down the +enemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us, +thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advance +less difficult.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium.</div> + +<p>Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but our +Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first Divisions were hastily withdrawn from +our front and dispatched to help the French Army in Belgium. Detraining +in the neighborhood of Ypres, these Divisions advanced by rapid stages +to the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. On +October 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked and +methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3 the +Thirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy across +the Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bank +included in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movement +troops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, a +difficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector, +reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. These +divisions received high com<a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>mendation from their corps commanders for +their dash and energy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Preparation for the final assault.</div> + +<p>On the 23d the Third and Fifth Corps pushed northward to the level of +Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the +enemy's violent counterattacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of +our forces was under way for the final assault. Evidences of loss of +morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more +fortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardships +of very inclement weather.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The final advance begins.</div> + +<p>With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the +Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. Our increased artillery +force acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and the +enemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistent +fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome his +will to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, and +Andevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressed +through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On +the 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became an +impetuous onslaught that could not be stayed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Aid of large caliber guns.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The enemy's line of communications cut.</div> + +<p>On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motor +trucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads close +behind. The First Corps reached Authe and Châtillon-sur-Bar, the Fifth +Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating the +enemy's line to a depth of 12 miles. Our large caliber guns had advanced +and were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the important +lines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps crossed the +Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence that the +day was theirs, eagerly <a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>cleared the way of machine as they swept +northward, maintaining complete coordination throughout. On the 6th, a +division of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite Sedan, +25 miles from our line of departure. The strategical goal which was our +highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main line of +communications, and nothing but surrender or an armistice could save his +army from complete disaster.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Prisoners and guns taken.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Divisions long in battle line.</div> + +<p>In all 40 enemy divisions had been used against us in the Meuse-Argonne +battle. Between September 26 and November 6 we took 26,059 prisoners and +468 guns on this front. Our Divisions engaged were the First, Second, +Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, +Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Forty-second, +Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, +Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first. Many of our +divisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves of +steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. +The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, +Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and, Ninetieth were in the line twice. Although +some of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon became +equal to the best.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The fight in the Meuse Hills.</div> + +<p>On the three days preceding November 10, the Third, the Second Colonial, +and the Seventeenth French Corps fought a difficult struggle through the +Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the plain. +Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces contemplated +an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the direction of Longwy +by the First Army, while, at the same time, the Second Army should +assure the offensive toward the rich iron fields of Briey. These +operations were to be followed <a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>by an offensive toward Château-Salins +east of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly, attacks on the +American front had been ordered and that of the Second Army was in +progress on the morning of November 11, when instructions were received +that hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock a.m.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A new offensive is halted by the armistice.</div> + +<p>At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left, +began at Port-sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres and +through the Woevre to Bezonvaux in the foothills of the Meuse, thence +along to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevre +forests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting with +the French under Sedan.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Cordial assistance of the Allied armies and governments.</div> + +<p>Cooperation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A far +greater effort has been put forth by the Allied armies and staffs to +assist us than could have been expected. The French Government and Army +have always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment, and +transportation and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamlets +wherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French people +have everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friends +than as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quite +inadequate to express our gratitude. There can be no doubt that the +relations growing out of our associations here assure a permanent +friendship between the two peoples. Although we have not been so +intimately associated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troops +and ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. The +reception of those of our forces who have passed through England and of +those who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic. +Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the <a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a>ties of +language and blood bring the British and ourselves together completely +and inseparably.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Americans in Italy and in Russia.</div> + +<p>There are in Europe altogether including a regiment and some sanitary +units with the Italian Army and the organizations at Murmansk, also +including those en route from the States, approximately 2,053,347 men, +less our losses. Of this total there are in France 1,338,169 combatant +troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the Infantry personnel of +10 have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in France +organized into three armies of three corps each.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">American losses and American captures.</div> + +<p>The losses of the Americans up to November 18 are: Killed in action, +36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths unclassified, 2,204; wounded, +179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 44,000 +prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ability of the American officers.</div> + +<p>The duties of the General Staff, as well as those of the Army and corps +staffs, have been very ably performed. Especially is this true when we +consider the new and difficult problems with which they have been +confronted. This body of officers, both as individuals and as an +organization, have, I believe, no superiors in professional ability, in +efficiency, or in loyalty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Service of Supply.</div> + +<p>Nothing that we have in France better reflects the efficiency and +devotion to duty of Americans in general than the Service of Supply +whose personnel is thoroughly imbued with a patriotic desire to do its +full duty. They have at all times fully appreciated their responsibility +to the rest of the Army and the results produced have been most +gratifying.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Medical Corps.</div> + +<p>Our Medical Corps is especially entitled to praise for the general +effectiveness of its work both in hospital and at the front. Embracing +<a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a>men of high professional attainments, and splendid women devoted to +their calling and untiring in their efforts, this department has made a +new record for medical and sanitary proficiency.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Quartermaster Department.</div> + +<p>The Quartermaster Department has had difficult and various tasks, but it +has more than met all demands that have been made upon it. Its +management and its personnel have been exceptionally efficient and +deserve every possible commendation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ordnance Department, Signal Corps and Engineer Corps.</div> + +<p>As to the more technical services, the able personnel of the Ordnance +Department in France has splendidly fulfilled its functions both in +procurement and in forwarding the immense quantities of ordnance +required. The officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps +have performed their duties with a large conception of the problem and +with a devoted and patriotic spirit to which the perfection of our +communications daily testify. While the Engineer Corps has been referred +to in another part of this report, it should be further stated that the +work has required large vision and high professional skill, and great +credit is due their personnel for the high proficiency that they have +constantly maintained.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">American aviators.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Tank Corps.</div> + +<p>Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability and have +left a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant page +in the annals of our Army. While the Tank Corps has had limited +opportunities its personnel has responded gallantly on every possible +occasion and has shown courage of the highest order.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Other Departments.</div> + +<p>The Adjutant General's Department has been directed with a systematic +thoroughness and excellence that surpassed any previous work of its +kind. The Inspector General's Department has risen to the highest +standards <a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a>and throughout has ably assisted commanders in the +enforcement of discipline. The able personnel of the Judge Advocate +General's Department has solved with judgment and wisdom the multitude +of difficult legal problems, many of them involving questions of great +international importance.</p> + +<p>It would be impossible in this brief preliminary report to do justice to +the personnel of all the different branches of this organization which I +shall cover in detail in a later report.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Cooperation of Navy and Army.</div> + +<p>The Navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided the +Army, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never before +been such perfect cooperation between these two branches of the service.</p> + +<p>As to Americans in Europe not in the military services, it is the +greatest pleasure to say that, both in official and in private life, +they are intensely patriotic and loyal, and have been invariably +sympathetic and helpful to the Army.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heroism of the officers and the men in the line.</div> + +<p>Finally, I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the +line. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, +their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion +which I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have +earned the eternal gratitude of our country.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>No one doubted the efficiency of the navy or of its capacity to carry on +its operations in a way worthy of the traditions of the American Navy. +What the navy did during the war, and how it did it, is summarized in +the following report by its chief.<a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE AMERICAN NAVY IN</h2> + +<h2>EUROPE</h2> + +<h3>EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF</h3> + +<h3>ADMIRAL H.T. MAYO</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">Activities in Ireland, Great Britain, and France.</div> + +<p>In conformity with instructions contained in the reference, the +following preliminary statement is herewith submitted in regard to +United States naval activities in Europe. This preliminary report +relates to our naval activities in Great Britain, Ireland, and France, +visit to the last named having been concluded on November 1, 1918. A +complete and detailed report will be submitted later and upon completion +of the current tour of inspection and observation.</p> + +<p>In view of the fact that United States naval activities in Europe are +chiefly matters of cooperation with the allied navies, and that the +cooperation amounts practically to consolidation where effected with the +British Navy, this preliminary report is arranged on that basis in +several parts:</p> + + +<div class="sidenote">General cooperation.</div> + +<div> +I. <span class="smcap">Cooperation With the Allied Navies in General.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(1) Commander United States naval forces in Europe.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(2) Allied naval council.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(3) Naval staff representative, Paris.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(4) Naval staff representative, Rome.</span><br /> +<br /> +<div class="sidenote">Naval Headquarters in London and Ireland.</div> +<br /> +II. <span class="smcap">Activities in Cooperation With the British.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(1) United States naval headquarters, London.</span><br /><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(2) United States naval activities in Ireland.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>a</i>) Battleship Division Six, Berehaven.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>b</i>) Submarine detachment, Berehaven.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>c</i>) Destroyers based on Queenstown.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>d</i>) Subchaser Detachment Three based on Queenstown.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(3) United States naval air stations in Ireland; seaplane stations;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">kite-balloon station.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(4) Battleship Division Nine.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(5) Mine Force.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(6) Subchaser Detachment One, based on Plymouth.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(7) United States Naval Air Stations, Great Britain, Seaplane Station,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Killingholme; Northern Bombing Group, Assembly and Repair Plant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Eastleigh.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(8) Cross-channel Transport Service.</span><br /> +<br /> +<div class="sidenote">Paris, Brest and coast districts.</div> +<br /> +<div class="sidenote">Naval air stations.</div> +<br /> +III. <span class="smcap">Activities in Cooperation With the French.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(1) Naval staff representative, Paris.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(2) United States naval headquarters, Brest.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(3) French coastal districts.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(4) Destroyers based on Brest.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(5) United States naval air stations on French coast:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>a</i>) Seaplane stations.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>b</i>) Dirigible stations.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>c</i>) Kite-balloon stations.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>d</i>) Assembly and repair plant, Pauillac.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(<i>e</i>) Aviation Training School, Moutchie.</span><br /> +<br /> +<div class="sidenote">Radio stations, hospitals, etc.</div> +<br /> +IV. <span class="smcap">Other Cooperating Activities.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(1) Naval liaison officer at Army General Headquarters.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(2) Naval Radio Station, Croix d'Hins.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(3) United States Naval Railway Battery.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(4) Naval Pipe-Line Unit.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(5) Stations not yet inspected or not to be visited.</span><br /><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a> +<br /> +V. <span class="smcap">United States Naval Aviation in Europe.</span><br /> +<br /> +VI. <span class="smcap">Y.M.C.A. and Similar Activities.</span><br /> +<br /> +VII. <span class="smcap">Hospital Facilities, Etc.</span><br /> +<br /> +VIII. <span class="smcap">Concluding Remarks.</span><br /> +<br /><br /> <br /></div> + + +<div class='center'>I. <span class="smcap">Cooperation With the Allied Navies in General.</span></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Varied character of Naval activities.</div> + +<p>It could hardly have been foreseen to what extent United States naval +activities in Europe would accumulate, and it is a fact that it has been +a growth by accretion rather than by system. The resultant fact is that +the supervision of the commander of United States Naval Forces in Europe +is of great and varied scope and continues to increase from week to +week. Despite this great extent and varied character of our naval +activities in Europe (as evidenced by the list given in par. 2 above) +and the fact that their growth by accretion has made a highly +centralized control more or less inevitable, the results speak for +themselves—all of our naval activities are cooperative in character and +all of them give every evidence of performing useful and appreciated +work wherever found.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Under the Allied Naval War Council.</div> + +<p>Cooperation with the allied navies in general is effected by means of +the Allied Naval War Council, which meets monthly or as may be deemed +advisable. The membership is composed of the several naval ministers and +naval chiefs of staff and of officers specifically appointed to +represent them in their absence. Vice Admiral Sims is the United States +naval representative. The secretariat of the council is composed of +British officers and personnel, with officers of the allied navies +designated for liaison duties therewith.</p> + +<p>The Allied Naval Council has advisory functions only and has liaison +with the Supreme War Council, with a view to coordinating and <a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a>unifying +allied naval effort, both as regards naval work only and as regards +unity of action with military or land effort. Proposals made by the +several allied navies are considered and definite steps recommended to +be taken in the premises. As well the naval aspects of military (land) +proposals are examined into and passed upon. Conversely military (land) +aspects of naval activities are referred to the Supreme War Council for +consideration.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Unity of effort on land and sea.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Council at first advisory.</div> + +<p>The Allied Naval Council has had, in common with the Supreme War +Council, until last spring the handicap of being only advisory in +function. The conclusions are recommended to the several Governments for +adoption, but there is no common instrumentality for carrying into +effect measures which require cooperation or coordination. This state of +affairs in the Supreme War Council has been remedied by the appointment +of an allied commander in chief in the person of Marshal Foch.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt but that the Supreme War Council has met and that +the Allied Naval Council continues to fill a great need as a sort of +clearing house for the necessarily varied proposals of the several +Governments, most of which require cooperation on the part of some other +Government, and certainly it should be continued in being until a more +forceful control of allied naval effort can be agreed upon and brought +into effect.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Liaison officers with the War Council and the Naval Council.</div> + +<p>The United States naval staff representative in Paris is the United +States naval liaison officer with the Supreme War Council, and a member +of the staff of Vice Admiral Sims is the liaison officer with the +secretariat of the Allied Naval Council. The United States naval staff +representative in Paris is also liaison officer at the French Ministry +of Marine and is at present naval attaché as well.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Naval attaché to Italy.</div> + +<p>The naval attaché to Italy, Capt. C.R. Train, <a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>maintains naval liaison +with the Italian Ministry of Marine and keeps in touch with the United +States naval activities in Italian waters.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='center'>II. <span class="smcap">Activities in Cooperation with the British.</span></div> + +<p>Inasmuch as the British are predominant in naval activity, it is natural +to find that a major part of our naval activities are in cooperation +with them and controlled by them. In fact, the British have been in +position to carry so much of the "naval load" of this war that our first +and our principal efforts have been toward taking up a share of that +load.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Friendly rivalry between British and Americans.</div> + +<p>Cooperation has in many cases been carried to such an extent that the +coordination necessary for efficiency has developed into practical +consolidation. It is pleasing to note that while consolidation is all +but a fact, our own naval forces have in every case preferred to +preserve their individuality of organization and administration and, as +far as feasible, of operations; and that a healthy and friendly rivalry +between them and their British associates has resulted in much good to +the personnel of both services.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">On the coast of Ireland.</div> + +<p>The largest single group of naval activities wherein cooperation is +effected with the British is that in Ireland, all of them being under +the jurisdiction of the commander in chief, coast of Ireland, who has +been and is Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, whose cordial appreciation of the +work of our forces has gone far to stimulate the personnel coming under +his direction. The chief of staff, destroyer flotillas, and the officer +in charge of aviation in Ireland are designated by the British Admiralty +as members of the staff of Admiral Bayly.<a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Battleship Division Six.</div> + +<p><i>Battleship Division Six</i>, Rear Admiral T.S. Rodgers, is based on +Berehaven, Ireland, in readiness for the protection of convoys in +general and of troop convoys in particular. Arrangements are in effect +for the supply of their needs as to fuel and stores. While lack of +destroyers has operated to restrict their training underway, they are in +good material condition and their efficiency is being maintained by +utilizing all available facilities.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The submarine patrol.</div> + +<p><i>Submarine Detachment</i>, Lieutenant Commanders Friedell and Grady, is +based on Berehaven, Ireland, and maintains a submarine patrol off the +west and south coasts of Ireland. Their service is hard; they have had a +great deal of work at sea and have cheerfully met every demand made on +them. Despite their relative isolation, they have maintained themselves +in readiness with the aid of the submarine tender <i>Bushnell</i>, whose +limited facilities have been utilized to the utmost. Their performances +and condition of material and personnel reflect great credit on all +concerned.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Destroyers at Queenstown.</div> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>The destroyers based on Queenstown</i>, Capt. F.R.P. Pringle, are +the original United States naval force in European waters—a distinction +which is an ever-present spur to cheerful efficiency under any and all +circumstances and produces results which must be a satisfaction to their +superiors.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Changes in destroyer personnel.</div> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) Despite the fact that the requirements of supplying personnel for +new destroyers has resulted in large changes in the original experienced +destroyer personnel, this has been accomplished in such a manner as to +maintain the operating efficiency of the force at or near its original +high standard.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Aside from unavoidable casualties, the force is in good operating +condition. The systemization of supply and repairs developed and +maintained by the destroyer tenders <i>Melville</i><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a> and <i>Dixie</i> effect the +readiness of destroyers for sea with commendable promptness and with a +view to the comfort of destroyer personnel during their short stays in +port.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Destroyer tenders.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Gunnery and torpedo exercises.</div> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) Within the last few months means have been found to systematize +and supervise the training, particularly with regard to the carrying out +of gunnery and torpedo exercises, which, under the press of keeping the +sea, had somewhat lapsed in favor of the necessary development of escort +work and of depth-charge tactics.</p> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) All of the activities at Queenstown—the torpedo repair and +overhaul station, the training barracks at Passage, the repair force +barracks at Ballybricken House, the general supply depot at Deepwater +Quay, the hospital and barracks at White Point, as well as the +activities afloat—were well underway and gave an impression of +purposefulness in "getting on with the war" in that particular corner of +the world.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Enlisted Men's Club at Queenstown.</div> + +<p>(<i>f</i>) On account of the restricted facilities for liberty and +recreation, a special and most successful effort has been made to +furnish healthful and interesting diversion in Queenstown itself by +means of the Enlisted Men's Club, wholly of and for the men, which is +second to none in results obtained in promoting contentment.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Subchaser at Queenstown.</div> + +<p><i>Subchaser Detachment Three at Queenstown</i>, Captain A.J. Hepburn, had +only recently arrived, but arrangements for their employment were well +in hand, and they were expected to begin operations as soon as the means +of basing them had been perfected. The need of a suitable tender was +apparent, especially for the upkeep of those units whose working ground +would be at some distance from the main base. The personnel gave +evidence of a strong feeling of eagerness to get to work and <a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a>of +readiness to face the hardships that going to sea in small craft +entails.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Seaplane and balloon stations.</div> + +<p><i>United States Naval Air Stations in Ireland</i>, Commander F.R. McCrary, +consists of seaplane stations at Whiddy Island, Queenstown (also the +main supply and repair base), Wexford, and Lough Foyle, and a +kite-balloon station at Berehaven. None of these stations was in +operation in mid-September, except that Lough Foyle was partially so, +but all were about ready to begin operations and would do so upon the +receipt of the necessary planes or pilots or both, all of which were en +route. A great deal of the construction has been done by our own +personnel, some of the stations having been entirely done by them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rear Admiral Rodman's command.</div> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>Battleship Division Nine of the Atlantic Fleet</i>, under the +command of Rear Admiral Rodman, has constituted the Sixth Battle +Squadron of the British Grand Fleet under Admiral Sir David Beatty for +nearly a year.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) When this division was sent abroad it had, in common with other +units of the Atlantic Fleet, suffered in efficiency from the expansion +of the Navy, which required reduction in the number of officers and +transfers of numbers of men to furnish trained and experienced nuclei +for other vessels. Upon reporting in the Grand Fleet, it immediately +took its place in the battle line on exactly the same status as other +units of the Grand Fleet. The opportunities for gunnery exercises are +limited but drill and adherence to standardized methods and procedure as +developed in our own naval service have brought this division to a +satisfactory state of efficiency, which continues to improve.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">General efficiency of the squadron.</div> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) It is pleasing to record that the efficiency of this unit in +gunnery, engineering, and seamanship is deemed by the British commander +in chief to be in no way inferior to that of the best of the British +battle squadrons.<a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a> In fact, it is perfectly proper to state the belief +that our ships are in some respects superior to the British, and perhaps +chiefly in the arrangements for the health and contentment of personnel, +which have been very thoroughly examined into by the flag officers, +captains, and other officers of the Grand Fleet. These ships have also +been the subject of much favorable comment in regard to their capacity +for self-maintenance, a matter which has been given much attention in +our own Navy of late years.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Capacity for self-maintenance.</div> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) Service in the Grand Fleet is noteworthy by reason of the fact +that the fleet is at never less than four hours' notice for going to +sea, so that liberty is restricted and whatever is necessary in the way +of overhaul and upkeep of machinery must always be planned with a view +to assembly in case of orders to sea.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mine-laying operation.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Readiness to attack difficulties.</div> + +<p><i>The Mine Force of the Atlantic Fleet</i>, under the command of Rear +Admiral Strauss, is an independent unit, except that the mine-laying +operations are under the jurisdiction of the commander in chief of the +Grand Fleet, who has to choose the time when arrangements can be carried +into effect to furnish the necessary destroyer escort and heavy covering +forces. The arrangements made at home prior to the departure of the mine +force appear to have been well considered and thoroughly developed. The +mine-laying operations themselves give an impression of efficiency which +can only come from thorough preparation and complete understanding of +the work. The assembly of mines in the bases has been somewhat changed +by the necessity for certain alterations in the mine itself, most of +which are due to difficulties inherent in the application of the +operating principle of the mine. Here, as elsewhere, the cheerful +readiness of officers and men to attack difficulties and to surmount all +obstacles is producing results of magnitude and importance <a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a>of which all +too little is known even in the Navy itself.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Crossing the channel.</div> + +<p><i>The Cross-channel Transport Service</i> was brought into being to render +indispensable assistance to the British in ferrying United States troops +across the channel from England, in whose ports over half of our troops +were landed from British ships. At the time of inspection late in +September four United States vessels were in service, and four more were +expected in the course of a few weeks. The vessels in service were +superior in capacity to British vessels engaged in the same work and +combined with the efficiency of their naval personnel made them the +subject of favorable remark by the British transport authorities.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Subchasers at Plymouth.</div> + +<p><i>Subchaser Detachment One</i>, based on Plymouth, Captain L.A. Cotten, had +been operating for some time. A very compact and efficient base was in +process of completion and should, with the aid of the subchaser tender +<i>Hannibal</i>, amply suffice for the requirements of a larger number of +chasers than that now available. This base is to be expanded into a +United States naval base, of which Rear Admiral Bristol will be in +charge. The upkeep of chasers is effected entirely with the resources of +the base; operations are initiated by the British commander in chief at +Plymouth. A great deal of development work in listening devices is being +carried on at and from this base. The work of the subchasers from this +base has proved their usefulness up to the limit of their sea-going +capacity.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>United States Naval Aviation in England</i> is carried on by +cooperation in two British commands.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Seaplanes at Killingholme.</div> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) <i>The United States Seaplane Station, Killingholme</i>, Commander K. +Whiting, is under the vice admiral commanding on the east coast of +England. It has been in operation for <a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a>some time and does escort of +coastal convoys, escort of mine layers in the southern part of the North +Sea, and some reconnaissance work in the direction of the Dutch coast.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Day and night bombing squadrons.</div> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) <i>The Northern Bombing Group</i>, Captain D.C. Hanrahan, is under the +vice admiral commanding at Dover, whose jurisdiction extends to naval +aviation units in northern France in the vicinity of Calais and +Dunkerque. The day bombing squadrons are manned by marines; the night +bombing squadrons by the Navy. There has been some delay in the +acquisition of suitable night bombing planes, but their delivery will +find all in readiness to go immediately to work. The British prescribe +the objectives and designate the available free flying time; the +operations themselves are carried out by our own personnel. The seaplane +station at Dunkerque has operated successfully under the handicap of +limited and difficult water area in which to take off and to land.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The base at Eastleigh.</div> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) <i>The Assembly, Repair, and Supply Station at Eastleigh</i> was +brought into being primarily for the Northern Bombing Group because of +the difficulties of transportation to and from the general aviation base +at Pauillac. It also does necessary work for Killingholme and for the +air stations in Ireland. This base, when visited, was in process of +completion and gave every evidence of purpose and capacity to meet all +requirements likely to be made of it.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='center'>III. <span class="smcap">Activities in Cooperation with the French.</span></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Vice Admiral Wilson's command.</div> + +<p>Aside from the cooperation effected by the force commander with the +French Ministry of Marine through the naval staff representative in +Paris on matters of general policy, actual cooperation is carried on by +Vice Admiral H.B. Wilson, commander United States <a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a>naval forces in +France, whose headquarters are maintained in Brest.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The coastal convoy system.</div> + +<p>It is deemed worthy of special remark that whereas practically all +cooperation with the British is effected by operating as units under +British control, cooperation with the French is arranged on a basis that +leaves to the United States naval forces a very large measure of +initiative. This is particularly true in regard to troopships destined +to French ports, which are provided with escort and routed in and out +wholly from the Brest headquarters which is kept fully informed as to +routes and positions of British-controlled convoys and as to locations +of submarine activities and has to so adjust routes on and off the coast +as to keep clear of both. Three out of eight escort units are provided +by United States vessels for the coastal convoy system, which is +operated by the French. Unity of purpose and sympathy of understanding +have combined to make the handling of cargo convoys on and off the coast +a matter of ready adjustment to the general conditions obtaining in +regard to destination of cargo ships and availability of escort vessels.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rate of movement of troops by transports.</div> + +<p>At the end of the fiscal year United States naval forces in France are +stated to have been escorting troops into France at the rate of 134,000 +per month. Since May 1, 1918, the number of troopships and cargo-vessel +convoys east and west bound have averaged more than 1 a day, and the +number of ships over 200 a month. No convoy of troopships has failed to +be met by destroyer escort before entering the area of submarine +activity, and no passenger intrusted to the care of the United States +naval forces in France has been lost.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Destroyers controlled from Brest.</div> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>The destroyers based on Brest</i> are controlled directly from +headquarters at Brest and are at present maintained in readiness for +<a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a>service with the aid of the fleet repair ship <i>Prometheus</i> and lately +also by the destroyer tender <i>Bridgeport</i>. Additional repair shops on +shore are in process of completion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gunnery and torpedo exercises.</div> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) Arrangements are now in hand for the carrying out of gunnery +exercises including torpedoes, the need of which has been recognised but +had hitherto been deemed impracticable on account of press of work.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Facilities for repairing vessels.</div> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) The United States naval repair facilities here as well as +elsewhere on the coast of France have to be made use of not only for the +upkeep of the United States naval vessels based on the coast, but also +for necessary repairs to troopships and cargo vessels, whether naval, +Army, or Shipping Board, the guiding idea being to keep the ships +moving.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">French divided into districts.</div> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>Coastal Districts in France.</i>—The north and west coasts of +France are divided into districts which correspond with the French +prefectures maritimes, and the district headquarters are in every case +located in the same place as those of the several prefects maritimes. +These headquarters are communication and operating centers and provide +naturally by arrangement as above described for full and ready +cooperation with the French district activities.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Port officers.</div> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) The principal ports have assigned to them a port officer whose +function in regard to all United States ships is to expedite their "turn +around," and in addition, where vessels carrying United States naval +armed guards are concerned, to inspect the armed guards and adjust such +matters as are beyond the capacity or authority of the armed guard +commander.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>United States Naval Aviation in France</i> includes all that the +title implies, except the northern bombing group mentioned above, and +aviation matters are immediately in the hands <a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a>of Captain T.T. Craven, +aid for aviation on Vice Admiral Wilson's staff.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Stations for seaplanes, dirigibles and balloons.</div> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) There are eight sea-plane stations, three dirigible stations, and +three kite-balloon stations, all of which are operated by district +commanders in cooperation with the French naval air services in the +several corresponding prefectures maritimes. There is also an assembly, +repair, and supply base at Pauillac for the general service of all air +stations in France and a sea-plane gunnery and bombing training school +at Moutchie, both of these activities being directly under the +headquarters in Brest.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Of the eight seaplane stations, five have been in operation for +periods varying from 12 to 3 months, and the remaining 3 are now about +ready to begin.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) Of the three dirigible stations, only that at Paimboeuf has been +in operation for any length of time, and is to be used also for training +and experimental work. The station at Guipavas will shortly be in +operation. The station at Gujan has been delayed to let material go to +other stations which it was deemed advisable to complete first.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Experimental balloon work at Brest.</div> + +<p>(<i>e</i>) Of the three kite-balloon stations, only that at Brest is ready +for operation. Test and experimental work have been carried on here +since August, 1918, in connection with destroyers and yachts. The +station at La Trinite is nearing completion and that at La Pallice is +progressing rapidly. The utility of the station at La Trinite seems to +be somewhat in doubt, as the original purposes for its establishment +have undergone some change due to alterations in the methods of handling +convoys, coastal as well as on and off shore.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Repair and supply station at Pauillac.</div> + +<p>(<i>f</i>) The assembly repair and supply station at Pauillac is under the +command of Captain F.T. Evans, under whose forceful and able direction +the station has progressed rapidly to <a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a>completion and is deemed ready to +undertake any and all demands that may be made on it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Devices used in training aviators.</div> + +<p>(<i>g</i>) The training school at Moutchie, under the command of Commander +R.W. Cabaniss appears to have a thorough system of instruction, founded +on sound bases, and includes study and lectures, as well as ample, +practical work. Endeavor is made to keep in touch with and to adopt, +where deemed advisable, the best British and French methods. Some of the +devices in use for training are ingeniously adapted to the simulation of +the conditions obtaining while flying.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='center'>IV. <span class="smcap">Other Cooperating Activities.</span></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Liaison with the United States Army.</div> + +<p><i>Liaison with the United States Army in France</i> is carried on by +maintaining a naval liaison officer (Commander R. Williams) at the Army +general headquarters, chiefly for the purpose of rendering assistance in +effecting cooperation as to the handling and routing of troopships and +of cargo vessels consigned to Army account.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The radio station near Bordeaux.</div> + +<p><i>Trans-Atlantic Radio Station.</i>—The erection of the trans-Atlantic +radio-transmitting station at Croix d'Hins, near Bordeaux, is being done +by United States naval personnel under the direction of Lieutenant +Commander G.C. Sweet. The French authorities are putting in the +foundations. The personnel is well taken care of and the work of +construction appears to be progressing favorably. It is hoped and +expected by those in charge that a four-tower unit will be ready for +operation about March 1, 1919.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The naval railway batteries in France.</div> + +<p><i>The 14-inch Naval Railway Battery</i> was built and equipped by the Navy +and manned by naval personnel for service in France with the United +States Army. It arrived in France in July last under the command of Rear +Admiral C.P. Plunkett and was ready for service <a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a>during August. A part +of the battery has been operating with the French against Laon and +vicinity, and is understood to have rendered what the French consider +very valuable service against the enemy. The entire battery is now with +the First United States Army, but data as to what it has accomplished +are not yet available. This test of our naval guns of late design and +large caliber in long-range firing and the opportunities given to naval +personnel to study and observe the artillery work on the western front +are considered to be of great value to the service.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The oil pipe line across Scotland.</div> + +<p><i>A United States Naval Pipe-line Unit</i> has completed important service +in the construction of a fuel-oil pipe line across Scotland, and is +understood to have been asked for by the French to do some work of the +same kind for them.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) There are yet to be inspected and observed the following +activities, which have not so far been mentioned:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Additional naval bases.</div> + +<p>United States naval base at Cardiff, Subchaser Detachment Two, based on +Corfu, Captain C.P. Nelson, United States naval air stations in Italy.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) It is not deemed practicable to visit the United States naval +forces based at Gibraltar (Rear Admiral Niblack), nor the United States +naval forces based on the Azores, because of difficulties of +transportation, as is also the case in regard to the U.S.S. <i>Olympia</i> in +northern Russia.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='center'>V. <span class="smcap">United States Naval Aviation in Europe.</span></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Aviation Headquarters in Paris and London.</div> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) The establishment of United States naval aviation in Europe has +been one of the most difficult and involved tasks which have had to be +undertaken and brought into effect. Captain H.I. Cone arrived in Europe +for this work about October 1, 1917, and has continued <a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a>in charge of it +ever since. He maintained headquarters in Paris until about August 1, +1918, when he removed to London and was designated as aid for aviation +on staff of the commander of United States naval forces in Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Supplies arranged for by cable.</div> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) There were arrangements to be made with the French and the British +as to locations for stations that would be best adapted for cooperation. +There were further arrangements to be made as to the procurement of +sites or the taking over of the stations already in operation or in +process of construction. The Navy Department had also to be communicated +with, largely by cable, as to design, quantities, and shipments of +material, which upon receipt had to be allocated with a view to +completing certain stations as soon as possible while not delaying the +progress of the general scheme any more than could be helped.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Coastwise transportation difficult.</div> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Delays and mistakes in the shipment of aviation material probably +caused more trouble than any other one thing, for when material once +arrives in a European port it has been, and still is, a very difficult +matter to arrange for coastwise transportation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Creditable progress.</div> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) Taking into consideration the necessary scope of the project, the +difficulties inherent in providing for establishments on foreign soil, +and the delays which the magnitude of the undertakings caused in the +production and shipment of material (and personnel) from the United +States, the state of progress is considered highly creditable to Captain +Cone and to his assistants.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='center'>VI. <span class="smcap">Y.M.C.A. and Similar Activities.</span></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Y.M.C.A. activities.</div> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) It was satisfactory to note that in practically all cases—whether +our own naval facilities provided reading, writing, and amusement +facilities for the personnel or not—the Y.M.C.A.<a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a> was in evidence. +Their arrangements were, in many places, all that could be expected in +the way of cheerful and comfortable quarters; and, in those places where +the facilities were not so good, inquiry usually revealed the fact that +a suitable building was either under way or soon would be.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Knights of Columbus.</div> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) In at least one place the Knights of Columbus were found +established in a commodious building with all in readiness to duplicate +the character of the work generally associated with Y.M.C.A. activities.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) All assistance of this character, from whatever source, has been +gladly taken advantage of by the officers in charge, and is much used +and appreciated by the men.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div class='center'>VII. <span class="smcap">Hospital Facilities, Sick Quarters, Etc.</span></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Excellent hospitals at naval bases.</div> + +<p>It is deemed worthy of note that the arrangements and facilities for +caring for the sick and injured Navy personnel are almost more than +ample. In many of the naval-base hospitals the majority of the patients +are, consequently, of other services—both the United States and the +allied. The provisions of the United States Navy in this respect are so +complete in their facilities and so efficient in their readiness as to +excite the admiration of all the foreign services, military as well as +naval.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Hearty cooperation with British and French.</div> + +<p>As has already been said at the beginning of this report, cooperation +with the British and the French had been the chief method of work for +the United States naval forces in European waters. That cooperation has +been effected with such cordial appreciation and the few minor +difficulties have yielded so readily to sympathetic understanding that +all zeal displayed was in the common interest of "winning the war" that +there is and can be nothing but reciprocal praise for each other's +efforts, which will be of lasting benefit in future when the <a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"></a>present +compelling community of interest is no longer operative. The United +States and the allies know each other better individually and +collectively and are and will continue to be the greater and better +friends for the experience that has come out of the cordial cooperation +and coordination required by the common interest in this war.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spirit of men and officers.</div> + +<p>There is ample evidence on every hand, from the north of Scotland to the +shores of the Mediterranean, that officers and men of the naval service, +regular and reserve alike and together, have "turned to" on the work in +hand, inspired by the guiding idea of doing all in their power, however +humble the task, of "helping to win the war." Officers whose preference +is for duty at sea, men who came over with a view to doing battle with +the enemy, one and all, have done and are doing the work that comes to +hand, even to the digging of ditches, with a will and with a cheery +readiness for more of the same kind, for anything that will help to "get +on with the war," that is an inspiration to all who work with them and +of vast satisfaction to those over them who will know what their +preferences in the matter of war employment are. They are a credit to +the service and to their country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">High standard of conduct.</div> + +<p>Furthermore, this large body of men, which occupies the position of the +advance guard of the Navy, as a whole have so conducted themselves as to +earn the highly favorable comment of the citizens in whose country they +found themselves and whose guests they are in some measure. It is +believed that it may well be said that the men on duty in Europe, far +away from home ties and influences, will return to their own country +unharmed by the temptations and pitfalls which their relatives and +friends may have feared. They are a fine, upstanding lot of men, and +their adaptability and <a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a>efficiency have been so apparent as to fully +warrant the oft-made statement that the men of the United States Navy, +which includes the Marine Corps, can do anything, anywhere, and at any +time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The <i>President Lincoln</i> is torpedoed.</div> + +<p>On May 31, 1918, the <i>President Lincoln</i> was returning to America from a +voyage to France, and was in line formation with the U.S.S. +<i>Susquehanna</i>, the U.S.S. <i>Antigone</i>, and the U.S.S. <i>Ryndam</i>, the +latter being on the left flank of the formation and about 800 yards from +the <i>President Lincoln</i>. The weather was pleasant, the sun shining +brightly, with a choppy sea. The ships were about 500 miles from the +coast of France and had passed through what was considered to be the +most dangerous part of the war zone. At about 9 a.m. a terrific +explosion occurred on the port side of the ship about 120 feet from the +bow and immediately afterwards another explosion occurred on the port +side about 120 feet from the stern of the ship, these explosions being +immediately identified as coming from torpedoes fired by a German +submarine.</p> + +<p>It was found that the ship was struck by three torpedoes, which had been +fired as one salvo from the submarine, two of the torpedoes striking +practically together near the bow of the ship and the third striking +near the stern. The wake of the torpedoes had been sighted by the +officers and lookouts on watch, but the torpedoes were so close to the +ship as to make it impossible to avoid them; and it was also found that +the submarine at the time of firing was only about 800 yards from the +<i>President Lincoln</i>.</p> + +<p>There were at the time 715 persons on board, including about 30 officers +and men of the Army. Some of these were sick and two soldiers were +totally paralyzed.</p> + +<p>The alarm was immediately sounded and <a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a>everyone went to his proper +station which had been designated at previous drills. There was not the +slightest confusion and the crew and passengers waited for and acted on +orders from the commanding officer with a coolness which was truly +inspiring.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No confusion in leaving ship.</div> + +<p>Inspections were made below decks and it was found that the ship was +rapidly filling with water, both forward and aft, and that there was +little likelihood that she would remain afloat. The boats were lowered +and the life rafts were placed in the water and about 15 minutes after +the ship was struck all hands except the guns' crews were ordered to +abandon the ship.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Saving the sick and wounded.</div> + +<p>It had been previously planned that in order to avoid the losses which +have occurred in such instances by filling the boats at the davits +before lowering them, that only one officer and five men would get into +the boats before lowering and that everyone else would get into the +water and get on the life rafts and then be picked up by the boats, this +being entirely feasible, as everyone was provided with an efficient +life-saving jacket. One exception was made to this plan, however, in +that one boat was filled with the sick before being lowered and it was +in this boat that the paralyzed soldiers were saved without difficulty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Courageous work of the gunners.</div> + +<p>The guns' crews were held at their stations hoping for an opportunity to +fire on the submarine should it appear before the ship sank, and orders +were given to the guns' crews to begin firing, hoping that this might +prevent further attack. All the ship's company except the guns' crews +and necessary officers were at that time in the boats and on the rafts +near the ship, and when the guns' crews began firing the people in the +boats set up a cheer to show that they were not downhearted. The guns' +crews only left their guns when ordered <a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>by the commanding officer just +before the ship sank. The guns in the bow kept up firing until after the +water was entirely over the main deck of the after half of the ship.</p> + +<p>The state of discipline which existed and the coolness of the men is +well illustrated by what occurred when the boats were being lowered and +were about half way from their davits to the water. At this particular +time, there appeared some possibility of the ship not sinking +immediately, and the commanding officer gave the order to stop lowering +the boats. This order could not be understood, however, owing to the +noise caused by escaping steam from the safety valves of the boilers +which had been lifted to prevent explosion, but by motion of the hand +from the commanding officer the crews stopped lowering the boats and +held them in mid-air for a few minutes until at a further motion of the +hand the boats were dropped into the water.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rafts tied together to prevent drifting.</div> + +<p>Immediately after the ship sank the boats pulled among the rafts and +were loaded with men to their full capacity and the work of collecting +the rafts and tying them together to prevent drifting apart and being +lost was begun.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The submarine takes an officer prisoner.</div> + +<p>While this work was under way and about half an hour after the ship +sank, a large German submarine emerged and came among the boats and +rafts, searching for the commanding officer and some of the senior +officers whom they desired to take prisoners. The submarine commander +was able to identify only one officer, Lieutenant E.V.M. Isaacs, whom he +took on board and carried away. The submarine remained in the vicinity +of the boats for about two hours and returned again in the afternoon, +hoping apparently for an opportunity of attacking some of the other +ships which had been in company with the <i>President Lincoln</i> but <a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>which +had, in accordance with standard instructions, steamed as rapidly as +possible from the scene of attack.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">After dark signal lights.</div> + +<p>By dark the boats and rafts had been collected and secured together, +there being about 500 men in the boats and about 200 on the rafts. +Lighted lanterns were hoisted in the boats and flare-up lights and +Coston signal lights were burned every few minutes, the necessary detail +of men being made to carry out this work during the night.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Water and food limited.</div> + +<p>The boats had been provided with water and food, but none was used +during the day, as the quantity was necessarily limited and it might be +a period of several days before a rescue could be effected.</p> + +<p>The ship's wireless plant had been put out of commission by the force of +the explosion, and although the ship's operator had sent the radio +distress signals, yet it was known that the nearest destroyers were 250 +miles away, protecting another convoy and it was possible that military +necessity might prevent their being detached to come to our rescue.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Destroyers <i>Warrington</i> and <i>Smith</i> arrive.</div> + +<p>At about 11 p.m. a white light flashing in the blackness of the +night—it was very dark—was sighted, and very shortly it was found that +the destroyer <i>Warrington</i> had arrived for our rescue and about an hour +afterwards the destroyer <i>Smith</i> also arrived. The transfer of the men +from the boats and rafts to the destroyers was effected as quickly as +possible and the destroyers remained in the vicinity until after +daylight the following morning, when a further search was made for +survivors who might have drifted in a boat or on a raft, but none were +found, and at about 6 a.m. the return trip to France was begun.</p> + +<p>The performance of Lieutenant Commander Kenyon, commanding the U.S. +destroyer <i>Warrington</i>, and Lieutenant Commander Klein, of <a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a>the U.S. +destroyer <i>Smith</i> deserves great commendation, as they located our +position in the middle of the night, after having run a distance of +about 250 miles, during which time the boats and rafts of the <i>President +Lincoln</i> had drifted 15 miles from the position reported by radio, and +it had been necessary for the commanding officers of these destroyers to +make an estimate of the probable drift of the boats during that time. +The only thing they had to base their estimate on was the force and +direction of the wind. The discovery of the boats was not accidental, as +the course steered was the result of mature deliberation and estimate of +the situation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Drift of the boats accurately estimated.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">The missing.</div> + +<p>Of the 715 men present all told on board, it was found after the muster +that 3 officers and 23 men were lost with the ship and that 1 officer, +Lieutenant Isaacs, above mentioned, had been taken prisoner. The three +officers were Passed Assistant Surgeon L.C. Whiteside, ship's medical +officer; Paymaster Andrew Mowat, ship's supply officer; and Assistant +Paymaster J.D. Johnston, United States Naval Reserve Force.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Two officers taken down with the ship.</div> + +<p>The loss of these officers was peculiarly regrettable, as they could +have escaped. Both Dr. Whiteside and Paymaster Mowat had seen the men +under their charge leave the ship, the doctor having attended to placing +the sick in the boat provided for the purpose, and they then remained in +the ship for some unexplainable reason, as testified by witnesses who +last saw them, and apparently these two excellent officers were taken +down with the ship. Paymaster Johnston got on a raft alongside the ship, +but in some way was caught by the ship as she went under, as C.M. +Hippard, ship's cook, third class, United States Navy, states that he +was on the raft with Paymaster Johnston and that they were both drawn +under the <a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a>water, but when he came to the surface, Paymaster Johnston +could no longer be seen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Men working below decks.</div> + +<p>Of the 23 men who were lost, the following 7 men were engaged in work +below decks in the forward end of the ship, and they were either killed +by the force of the explosion of the two torpedoes which struck in that +vicinity, or were drowned by the inrush of the water.</p> + +<p>H.A. Himelwright, storekeeper, second class, United States Navy; F.W. +Wilson, jr., yeoman, second class, United States Naval Reserve Force; B. +Zanetti, coxswain, United States Navy; A.S. Egbert, seaman, second +class, National Naval Volunteer; G.B. Hoffman, seaman, United States +Navy; J.A. Jenkins, seaman, second class, United States Navy; F.A. +Hedglin, seaman, second class, United States Navy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">One raft probably went down.</div> + +<p>The remaining 16 men were apparently caught on the raft alongside the +ship and went down, this being probably caused by the current of water +which was rushing into the big hole in the ship's side, as the men were +on rafts which were in this vicinity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Danger from submarine.</div> + +<p>Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance of +any kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boat +was all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as to +whether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts, I thought he +might probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officers +disclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds of +the men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on the +submarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with the +intention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed by +some of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, "Good night, here +comes the fireworks." The spirit which actuated the <a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a>remark of this +kind, under such circumstances, could be none other than that of cool +courage and bravery.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Instances of self-sacrifice.</div> + +<p>There were many instances where a man showed more interest in the safety +of another than he did for himself. When loading the boats from the +rafts one man would hold back and insist that another be allowed to +enter the boat. There was a striking case of this kind when about dark I +noticed that Chief Master-at-Arms Rogers, who was rather an old man, and +been in the Navy for years, was on a raft, and I sent a boat to take him +from the raft, but he objected considerably to this, stating that he was +quite all right, although as a matter of fact he was very cold and +cramped from his long hours on the raft.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Balsa rafts excellent.</div> + +<p>Fortunately, the splendid type of life raft known as the Balsa raft, as +it was made of balsa wood, had been furnished the ship, and these +resulted in saving a great many men who might otherwise have been lost, +due to exhaustion in the water.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Inspiring conduct of the men.</div> + +<p>The conduct of the men during this time of grave danger was thrilling +and inspiring, as a large percentage of them were young boys, who had +only been in the Navy for a period of a few months. This is another +example of the innate courage and bravery of the young manhood of +America.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Germans, hard pressed by the Americans and French in the +Meuse-Argonne, and by the British in Flanders, at last saw the futility +of further resistance, and asked for an armistice, on November 11. The +terms of this armistice, dictated by the Allies, were as follows:<a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ARMISTICE TERMS SIGNED BY GERMANY</h2> + + +<div class="sidenote">Operations to cease.</div> + +<p>One—Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the +signature of the armistice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Invaded countries to be evacuated.</div> + +<p>Two—Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, +Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within +fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops which +have not left the above-mentioned territories within the period fixed +will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the allied and United States +forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All +movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordance +with a note annexed to the stated terms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Inhabitants to be repatriated.</div> + +<p>Three—Repatriation beginning at once to be completed within fifteen +days of all the inhabitants of the countries above enumerated (including +hostages, persons under trial or convicted).</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Surrender of war material.</div> + +<p>Four—Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following +war material: Five thousand guns (2,500 heavy, and 2,500 field), 25,000 +machine guns, 3,000 minenwerfer, 1,700 airplanes (fighters, +bombers—firstly, all of the D 7's and all the night bombing machines). +The above to be delivered in situ to the allied and United States troops +in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the note +(annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of the armistice.</p> + +<p>Five—Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bank +of the Rhine.<a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a> The countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall be +administered by the local troops of occupation. The occupation of these +territories will be carried out by allied and United States garrisons +holding the principal crossings of the Rhine (Mayence, Coblenz, +Cologne), together with the bridgeheads at these points of a +thirty-kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarly +holding the strategic points of the regions. A neutral zone shall be +reserved on the right bank of the Rhine between the stream and a line +drawn parallel to the bridgeheads and to the stream and at a distance of +ten kilometers, from the frontier of Holland up to the frontier of +Switzerland. The evacuation by the enemy of the Rhinelands (left and +right bank) shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further +period of sixteen days, in all, thirty-one days after the signing of the +armistice. All the movements of evacuation or occupation are regulated +by the note (annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of +the armistice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Allies to occupy left bank of Rhine and principal crossings.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Inhabitants of evacuated territories to be protected.</div> + +<p>Six—In all territories evacuated by the enemy there shall be no +evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the +persons or property of the inhabitants. No person shall be persecuted +for offenses of participation in war measures prior to the signing of +the armistice. No destruction of any kind shall be committed. Military +establishments of all kinds shall be delivered intact, as well as +military stores of food, munitions, and equipment, not removed during +the time fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil +population, cattle, &c., shall be left in situ. Industrial +establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnel +shall not be removed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Means of transportation to be surrendered in good order.</div> + +<p>Seven—Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroads, +waterways, main <a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a>roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no +manner impaired. All civil and military personnel at present employed on +them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives and 150,000 wagons in good +working order, with all necessary spare parts and fittings, shall be +delivered to the associated powers within the period fixed in annexure +No. 2, and total of which shall not exceed thirty-one days. There shall +likewise be delivered 5,000 motor lorries (camion automobiles) in good +order, within the period of thirty-six days. The railways of +Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within the period of thirty-one +days, together with pre-war personnel and material. Further, the +material necessary for the working of railways in the countries on the +left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and +material for the upkeep of permanent ways, signals, and repair shops +shall be left in situ. These stores shall be maintained by Germany in so +far as concerns the working of the railroads in the countries on the +left bank of the Rhine. All barges taken from the Allies shall be +restored to them. The note, annexure No. 2, regulates the details of +these measures.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mine positions to be revealed.</div> + +<p>Eight—The German command shall be responsible for revealing within the +period of forty-eight hours after the signing of the armistice all mines +or delayed action fuses on territory evacuated by the German troops and +shall assist in their discovery and destruction. It also shall reveal +all destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or +polluting of springs and wells, &c.). All under penalty of reprisals.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Allies to have right of requisition.</div> + +<p>Nine—The right of requisition shall be exercised by the allied and +United States armies in all occupied territories, subject to regulation +of accounts with those whom it may concern. The upkeep of the troops of +occupation <a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a>in the Rhineland (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be +charged to the German Government.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Allied and American prisoners of war to be repatriated.</div> + +<p>Ten—The immediate repatriation without reciprocity, according to +detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all allied and United +States prisoners of war, including persons under trial or convicted. The +allied powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of them as +they wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subject +of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 1918, in +course of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners of +war interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall continue as before. The +repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the +conclusion of the preliminaries of peace.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Sick and wounded to be cared for.</div> + +<p>Eleven—Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory +will be cared for by German personnel, who will be left on the spot with +the medical material required.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germans to withdraw from Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey and +Russia.</div> + +<p>Twelve—All German troops at present in the territories which before +belonged to Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey, shall withdraw immediately +within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August First, +Nineteen Fourteen. All German troops at present in the territories which +before the war belonged to Russia shall likewise withdraw within the +frontiers of Germany, defined as above, as soon as the Allies, taking +into account the internal situation of these territories, shall decide +that the time for this has come.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Evacuation to begin immediately.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">German requisitions to cease.</div> + +<p>Thirteen—Evacuation by German troops to begin at once, and all German +instructors, prisoners, and civilians as well as military agents now on +the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to be recalled.</p> + +<p>Fourteen—German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures +and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining supplies <a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a>intended +for Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914).</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk treaties to be renounced.</div> + +<p>Fifteen—Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and +of the supplementary treaties.</p> + +<p>Sixteen—The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated +by the Germans on their eastern frontier, either through Danzig, or by +the Vistula, in order to convey supplies to the populations of those +territories and for the purpose of maintaining order.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">East Africa to be evacuated.</div> + +<p>Seventeen—Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa +within a period to be fixed by the Allies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Repatriation without reciprocation.</div> + +<p>Eighteen—Repatriation, without reciprocity, within a maximum period of +one month in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed +of all interned civilians, including hostages (persons?) under trial or +convicted, belonging to the allied or associated powers other than those +enumerated in Article Three.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Financial restitution.</div> + +<p>Nineteen—The following financial conditions are required: Reparation +for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shall +be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for +the recovery or reparation for war losses. Immediate restitution of the +cash deposit in the national bank of Belgium, and in general immediate +return of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together +with plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interests +in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian gold +yielded to Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in +trust to the Allies until the signature of peace.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Cessation of hostilities at sea.</div> + +<p>Twenty—Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite +information to be given as to the location and movements of all German +ships. Notification to be given to neutrals <a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a>that freedom of navigation +in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marines +of the allied and associated powers, all questions of neutrality being +waived.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany to return naval prisoners.</div> + +<p>Twenty-one—All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the allied and +associated powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Submarines and mine layers to be surrendered.</div> + +<p>Twenty-two—Surrender to the Allies and United States of all submarines +(including submarine cruisers and all mine-laying submarines) now +existing, with their complete armament and equipment, in ports which +shall be specified by the Allies and United States. Those which cannot +take the sea shall be disarmed of the personnel and material and shall +remain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. The +submarines which are ready for the sea shall be prepared to leave the +German ports as soon as orders shall be received by wireless for their +voyage to the port designated for their delivery, and the remainder at +the earliest possible moment. The conditions of this article shall be +carried into effect within the period of fourteen days after the signing +of the armistice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German warships to be disarmed and interned.</div> + +<p>Twenty-three—German surface warships which shall be designated by the +Allies and the United States shall be immediately disarmed and +thereafter interned in neutral ports or in default of them in allied +ports to be designated by the Allies and the United States. They will +there remain under the supervision of the Allies and of the United +States, only caretakers being left on board. The following warships are +designated by the Allies: Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight +light cruisers (including two mine layers), fifty destroyers of the most +modern types. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to +be concentrated in German naval bases to <a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a>be designated by the Allies +and the United States and are to be completely disarmed and classed +under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. The military +armament of all ships of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore. All +vessels designated to be interned shall be ready to leave the German +ports seven days after the signing of the armistice. Directions for the +voyage will be given by wireless.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Allies to sweep mine fields.</div> + +<p>Twenty-four—The Allies and the United States of America shall have the +right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany +outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to be +indicated.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Free accession to the Baltic for the Allies.</div> + +<p>Twenty-five—Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to the +naval and mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers. To +secure this the Allies and the United States of America shall be +empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries, and +defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat into +the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within and +without German territorial waters, without any question of neutrality +being raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions are +to be indicated.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Blockade conditions to remain unchanged.</div> + +<p>Twenty-six—The existing blockade conditions set up by the allied and +associated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German merchant ships +found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the United +States should give consideration to the provisioning of Germany during +the armistice to the extent recognized as necessary.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Naval aircraft to be immobilized.</div> + +<p>Twenty-seven—All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilized +in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States of +America.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Navigation material to be abandoned.</div> + +<p>Twenty-eight—In evacuating the Belgian coast and ports Germany shall +abandon in situ <a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a>and in fact all port and river navigation material, all +merchant ships, tugs, lighters, all naval aeronautic apparatus, material +and supplies, and all arms, apparatus, and supplies of every kind.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Black Sea ports to be evacuated.</div> + +<p>Twenty-nine—All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany; all +Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black +Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of +America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all +warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those ports are to be +returned and German materials as specified in Clause Twenty-eight are to +be abandoned.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Merchant vessels to be restored.</div> + +<p>Thirty—All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the allied and +associated powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by the +Allies and the United States of America without reciprocity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No destruction permitted.</div> + +<p>Thirty-one—No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted +before evacuation, surrender, or restoration.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German restrictions on trading vessels to be canceled.</div> + +<p>Thirty-two—The German Government will notify the neutral Governments of +the world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, +and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of their +vessels with the allied and associated countries, whether by the German +Government or by private German interests, and whether in return for +specific concessions, such as the export of shipbuilding materials, or +not, are immediately canceled.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No transfers of German shipping.</div> + +<p>Thirty-three—No transfers of German merchant shipping of any +description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of the +armistice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Armistice to last thirty days.</div> + +<p>Thirty-four—The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, with +option to extend. During this period if its clauses are not car<a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"></a>ried +into execution the armistice may be denounced by one of the contracting +parties, which must give warning forty-eight hours in advance. It is +understood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant the +denunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient execution +within a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying them +into execution. In order to assure the execution of this convention +under the best conditions, the principle of a permanent international +armistice commission is admitted. This commission will act under the +authority of the allied military and naval Commanders in Chief.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Must be accepted within seventy-two hours.</div> + +<p>Thirty-five—This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany within +seventy-two hours of notification.</p> + +<p>This armistice has been signed the Eleventh of November, Nineteen +Eighteen, at 5 o'clock a.m. French time.</p> + +<div> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">F. Foch.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">R.E. Wemyss.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">Erzberger.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">A. Oberndorff.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">Winterfeldt.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">Von Salow.</span><br /> +</div> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The chief concern of President Wilson, and the controlling reason for +his trip abroad to attend the Peace Conference, was the formation of a +League of Nations to insure perpetual peace. After months of +deliberation the covenant of the League of Nations was prepared and made +public. The text of this covenant follows.<a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS</h2> + + +<div class="sidenote">The purposes of the League.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Preamble</span>—In order to promote international cooperation and to +secure international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations +not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just, and honorable +relations between nations, by the firm establishment of the +understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among +Governments, and by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect +for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one +another, the Powers signatory to this covenant adopt this Constitution +of the League of Nations:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A body of delegates.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Article I</span>.—The action of the high contracting parties under +the terms of this covenant shall be effected through the instrumentality +of a meeting of a body of delegates representing the high contracting +parties, of meetings at more frequent intervals of an Executive Council, +and of a permanent international secretariat to be established at the +seat of the League.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Each high contracting party to have a vote.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. II</span>.—Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at +stated intervals and from time to time, as occasion may require, for the +purpose of dealing with matters within the sphere of action of the +League. Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at the seat of +the league, or at such other places as may be found convenient, and +shall consist of representatives of the high contracting parties. Each +of the high contracting parties shall have <a name="Page_307" id="Page_307"></a>one vote, but may have not +more than three representatives.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Nations to be represented in the Executive Council.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. III.</span>—The Executive Council shall consist of +representatives of the United States of America, the British Empire, +France, Italy, and Japan, together with representatives of four other +States, members of the League. The selection of these four States shall +be made by the body of delegates on such principles and in such manner +as they think fit. Pending the appointment of these representatives of +the other States, representatives of —— shall be members of the +Executive Council.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Meetings at least once a year.</div> + +<p>Meetings of the Council shall be held from time to time as occasion may +require, and at least once a year, at whatever place may be decided on, +or, failing any such decision, at the seat of the League, and any matter +within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the +world may be dealt with at such meetings.</p> + +<p>Invitations shall be sent to any Power to attend a meeting of the +council at which such matters directly affecting its interests are to be +discussed, and no decision taken at any meeting will be binding on such +Powers unless so invited.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Committees to investigate particular matters.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. IV.</span>—All matters of procedure at meetings of the body of +delegates or the Executive Council, including the appointment of +committees to investigate particular matters, shall be regulated by the +body of delegates or the Executive Council, and may be decided by a +majority of the States represented at the meeting.</p> + +<p>The first meeting of the body of delegates and of the Executive Council +shall be summoned by the President of the United States of America.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The permanent secretariat.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. V.</span>—The permanent secretariat of the League shall be +established at——, which shall <a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a>constitute the seat of the League. The +secretariat shall comprise such secretaries and staff as may be +required, under the general direction and control of a Secretary General +of the League, who shall be chosen by the Executive Council. The +secretariat shall be appointed by the Secretary General subject to +confirmation by the Executive Council.</p> + +<p>The Secretary General shall act in that capacity at all meetings of the +body of delegates or of the Executive Council.</p> + +<p>The expenses of the secretariat shall be borne by the States members of +the League, in accordance with the apportionment of the expenses of the +International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Representatives to have diplomatic privileges and +immunities.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. VI.</span>—Representatives of the high contracting parties and +officials of the League, when engaged in the business of the League, +shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities, and the buildings +occupied by the League or its officials, or by representatives attending +its meetings, shall enjoy the benefits of extra-territoriality.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Admission to the League.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. VII.</span>—Admission to the League of States, not signatories +to the covenant and not named in the protocol hereto as States to be +invited to adhere to the covenant, requires the assent of not less than +two-thirds of the States represented in the body of delegates, and shall +be limited to fully self-governing countries, including dominions and +colonies.</p> + +<p>No State shall be admitted to the League unless it is able to give +effective guarantees of its sincere intention to observe its +international obligations and unless it shall conform to such principles +as may be prescribed by the League in regard to its naval and military +forces and armaments.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To reduce national armaments.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. VIII.</span>—The high contracting parties recognize the +principle that the maintenance of <a name="Page_309" id="Page_309"></a>peace will require the reduction of +national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety, +and the enforcement by common action of international obligations, +having special regard to the geographical situation and circumstances of +each State, and the Executive Council shall formulate plans for +effecting such reduction. The Executive Council shall also determine for +the consideration and action of the several Governments what military +equipment and armament is fair and reasonable in proportion to the scale +of forces laid down in the program of disarmament; and these limits, +when adopted, shall not be exceeded without the permission of the +Executive Council.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To regulate private manufacture of munitions.</div> + +<p>The high contracting parties agree that the manufacture by private +enterprise of munitions and implements of war lends itself to grave +objections, and direct the Executive Council to advise how the evil +effects attendant upon such manufacture can be prevented, due regard +being had to the necessities of those countries which are not able to +manufacture for themselves the munitions and implements of war necessary +for their safety.</p> + +<p>The high contracting parties undertake in no way to conceal from each +other the condition of such of their industries as are capable of being +adapted to warlike purposes or the scale of their armaments, and agree +that there shall be full and frank interchange of information as to +their military and naval programs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. IX.</span>—A permanent commission shall be constituted to advise +the League on the execution of the provisions of Article VIII. and on +military and naval questions generally.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Territorial integrity.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. X.</span>—The high contracting parties shall undertake to +respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial +integrity and existing political independence of all States members of +the League. In case of any such <a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a>aggression or in case of any threat or +danger of such aggression the Executive Council shall advise upon the +means by which the obligation shall be fulfilled.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">All wars the concern of the League.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XI.</span>—Any war or threat of war, whether immediately +affecting any of the high contracting parties or not, is hereby declared +a matter of concern to the League, and the high contracting parties +reserve the right to take any action that may be deemed wise and +effectual to safeguard the peace of nations.</p> + +<p>It is hereby also declared and agreed to be the friendly right of each +of the high contracting parties to draw the attention of the body of +delegates or of the Executive Council to any circumstance affecting +international intercourse which threatens to disturb international peace +or good understanding between nations upon which peace depends.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Disputes to be submitted to arbitration.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XII.</span>—The high contracting parties agree that should +disputes arise between them which cannot be adjusted by the ordinary +processes of diplomacy they will in no case resort to war without +previously submitting the questions and matters involved either to +arbitration or to inquiry by the Executive Council, and until three +months after the award by the arbitrators or a recommendation by the +Executive Council, and that they will not even then resort to war as +against a member of the League which complies with the award of the +arbitrators or the recommendation of the Executive Council.</p> + +<p>In any case under this article the award of the arbitrators shall be +made within a reasonable time, and the recommendation of the Executive +Council shall be made within six months after the submission of the +dispute.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Executive Council to act if arbitration fails.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XIII.</span>—The high contracting parties agree that whenever +any dispute or difficulty shall arise between them, which they recognize +<a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"></a>to be suitable for submission to arbitration and which cannot be +satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole matter +to arbitration. For this purpose the court of arbitration to which the +case is referred shall be the court agreed on by the parties or +stipulated in any convention existing between them. The high contracting +parties agree that they will carry out in full good faith any award that +may be rendered. In the event of any failure to carry out the award the +Executive Council shall propose what steps can best be taken to give +effect thereto.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A permanent court of international justice.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XIV.</span>—The Executive Council shall formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice, and this +court shall, when established, be competent to hear and determine any +matter which the parties recognize as suitable for submission to it for +arbitration under the foregoing article.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Cases to be stated to the Executive Council.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XV.</span>—If there should arise between States, members of the +League, any dispute likely to lead to rupture, which is not submitted to +arbitration as above, the high contracting parties agree that they will +refer the matter to the Executive Council; either party to the dispute +may give notice of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary General +who will make all necessary arrangements for a full investigation and +consideration thereof. For this purpose the parties agree to communicate +to the Secretary General as promptly as possible statements of their +case, all the relevant facts and papers, and the Executive Council may +forthwith direct the publication thereof.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Terms of settlements to be published.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Measures to give effect to recommendations.</div> + +<p>Where the efforts of the council lead to the settlement of the dispute, +a statement shall be published, indicating the nature of the dispute and +the terms of settlement, together with such explanations as may be +appropriate. If the dispute has not been settled, a report by the +<a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a>council shall be published, setting forth with all necessary facts and +explanations the recommendation which the council think just and proper +for the settlement of the dispute. If the report is unanimously agreed +to by the members of the council, other than the parties to the dispute, +the high contracting parties agree that they will not go to war with any +party which complies with the recommendations, and that if any party +shall refuse so to comply the council shall propose measures necessary +to give effect to the recommendations. If no such unanimous report can +be made it shall be the duty of the majority and the privilege of the +minority to issue statements, indicating what they believe to be the +facts, and containing the reasons which they consider to be just and +proper.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dispute may be referred to the body of delegates.</div> + +<p>The Executive Council may in any case under this article refer the +dispute to the body of delegates. The dispute shall be so referred at +the request of either party to the dispute, provided that such request +must be made within fourteen days after the submission of the dispute. +In a case referred to the body of delegates, all the provisions of this +article, and of Article XII., relating to the action and powers of the +Executive Council, shall apply to the action and powers of the body of +delegates.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">When a nation breaks its covenants.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XVI.</span>—Should any of the high contracting parties break or +disregard its covenants under Article XII. it shall thereby ipso facto +be deemed to have committed an act of war against all the other members +of the League, which hereby undertakes immediately to subject it to the +severance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of all +intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the +covenant-breaking State and the prevention of all financial, commercial, +or personal intercourse between the nationals of the <a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a>covenant-breaking +State and the nationals of any other State, whether a member of the +League or not.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Armed forces of the League.</div> + +<p>It shall be the duty of the Executive Council in such case to recommend +what effective military or naval force the members of the League shall +severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the +covenants of the League.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Financial economic measures.</div> + +<p>The high contracting parties agree, further, that they will mutually +support one another in the financial and economic measures which may be +taken under this article in order to minimize the loss and inconvenience +resulting from the above measures, and that they will mutually support +one another in resisting any special measures aimed at one of their +number by the covenant-breaking State and that they will afford passage +through their territory to the forces of any of the high contracting +parties who are cooperating to protect the covenants of the League.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">When a non-member is party to a dispute.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XVII.</span>—In the event of dispute between one State member of +the League and another State which is not a member of the League, or +between States not members of the League, the high contracting parties +agree that the State or States, not members of the League, shall be +invited to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the +purposes of such dispute, upon such conditions as the Executive Council +may deem just, and upon acceptance of any such invitation, the above +provisions shall be applied with such modifications as may be deemed +necessary by the League.</p> + +<p>Upon such invitation being given the Executive Council shall immediately +institute an inquiry into the circumstances and merits of the dispute +and recommend such action as may seem best and most effectual in the +circumstances.<a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a></p> + +<p>In the event of a power so invited refusing to accept the obligations of +membership in the League for the purposes of the League, which in the +case of a State member of the League would constitute a breach of +Article XII., the provisions of Article XVI. shall be applicable as +against the State taking such action.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Executive Council to take means to settle the dispute.</div> + +<p>If both parties to the dispute, when so invited, refuse to accept the +obligations of membership in the League for the purpose of such dispute, +the Executive Council may take such action and make such recommendations +as will prevent hostilities and will result in the settlement of the +dispute.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Supervision of trade in arms.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XVIII.</span>—The high contracting parties agree that the League +shall be intrusted with general supervision of the trade in arms and +ammunition with the countries in which the control of this traffic is +necessary in the common interest.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Development of backward peoples a sacred trust.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XIX.</span>—To those colonies and territories which, as a +consequence of the late war, have ceased to be under the sovereignty of +the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by +peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous +conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle +that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust +of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust +should be embodied in the constitution of the League.</p> + +<p>The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the +tutelage of such peoples should be intrusted to advanced nations, who by +reason of their resources, their experience, or their geographical +position, can best undertake this responsibility, and that this tutelage +should be exercised by them as mandatories on behalf of the League.<a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a></p> + +<p>The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the +development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, +its economic conditions and other similar circumstances.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Provisional recognition of certain communities.</div> + +<p>Certain communities, formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire, have +reached a stage of development where their existence as independent +nations can be provisionally recognized, subject to the rendering of +administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory power until such +time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities +must be a principal consideration in the selection of the mandatory +power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Central Africa peoples.</div> + +<p>Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage +that the mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the +territory, subject to conditions which will guarantee freedom of +conscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order +and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms +traffic, and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment +of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training +of the natives for other than police purposes and the defense of +territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and +commerce of other members of the League.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The South Pacific Isles.</div> + +<p>There are territories, such as Southwest Africa and certain of the South +Pacific Isles, which, owing to the sparseness of the population, or +their small size, or their remoteness from the centers of civilization, +or their geographical contiguity to the mandatory State and other +circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the mandatory +States as integral portions thereof, subject to the safeguards above +mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population.<a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Mandatory's annual report.</div> + +<p>In every case of mandate, the mandatory State shall render to the League +an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge.</p> + +<p>The degree of authority, control, or administration, to be exercised by +the mandatory State, shall, if not previously agreed upon by the high +contracting parties in each case, be explicitly defined by the Executive +Council in a special act or charter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The mandatory commission.</div> + +<p>The high contracting parties further agree to establish at the seat of +the League a mandatory commission to receive and examine the annual +reports of the mandatory powers, and to assist the League in insuring +the observance of the terms of all mandates.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XX.</span>—The high contracting parties will endeavor to secure +and maintain fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women, and +children, both in their own countries and in all countries to which +their commercial and industrial relations extend; and to that end agree +to establish as part of the organization of the League a permanent +bureau of labor.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Transportation and commerce.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XXI.</span>—The high contracting parties agree that provision +shall be made through the instrumentality of the League to secure and +maintain freedom of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of +all States members of the League, having in mind, among other things, +special arrangements with regard to the necessities of the regions +devastated during the war of 1914-1918.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">International bureaus to be placed under League.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XXII.</span>—The high contracting parties agree to place under +the control of the League all international bureaus already established +by general treaties, if the parties to such treaties consent. +Furthermore, they agree that all such international bureaus to be +constituted in future shall be placed under control of the League.<a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Treaties to be registered with the League.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XXIII.</span>—The high contracting parties agree that every +treaty or international engagement entered into hereafter by any State +member of the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretary +General and as soon as possible published by him, and that no such +treaty or international engagement shall be binding until so registered.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Reconsideration of treaties.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XXIV.</span>—It shall be the right of the body of delegates from +time to time to advise the reconsideration by States members of the +League of treaties which have become inapplicable and of international +conditions of which the continuance may endanger the peace of the world.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To procure release from obligations inconsistent with the +League.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XXV.</span>—The high contracting parties severally agree that +the present covenant is accepted as abrogating all obligations inter se +which are inconsistent with the terms thereof, and solemnly engage that +they will not hereafter enter into any engagements inconsistent with the +terms thereof. In case any of the Powers signatory hereto or +subsequently admitted to the League shall, before becoming a party to +this covenant, have undertaken any obligations which are inconsistent +with the terms of this covenant, it shall be the duty of such Power to +take immediate steps to procure its release from such obligations.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Covenant to be ratified.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Art. XXVI.</span>—Amendments to this covenant will take effect when +ratified by the States whose representatives compose the Executive +Council and by three-fourths of the States whose representatives compose +the body of delegates.<a name="Page_318" id="Page_318"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>OFFICIAL SUMMARY OF THE TREATY OF PEACE</h2> + + +<h3>GERMANY</h3> + +<div class="sidenote">The Allied and Associated Powers.</div> + +<p>The preamble names as parties of the one part the United States, the +British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, described as the Five Allied +and Associated Powers, and Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, +Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Liberia, +Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Serbia, Siam, +Czecho-Slovakia, and Uruguay, who with the five above are described as +the allied and associated powers, and on the other part, Germany.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Desire for a firm, just and durable peace.</div> + +<p>It states that: bearing in mind that on the request of the then Imperial +German Government an armistice was granted on November 11, 1918, by the +principal allied and associated powers in order that a treaty of peace +might be concluded with her, and whereas the allied and associated +powers, being equally desirous that the war in which they were +successively involved directly or indirectly and which originated in the +declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914, against Serbia, +the declaration of war by Germany against Russia on August 1, 1914, and +against France on August 3, 1914, and in the invasion of Belgium, should +be replaced by a firm, just, and durable peace, the plenipotentiaries, +(having communicated their full powers found in good and due form) have +agreed as follows:<a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a></p> + +<p>From the coming into force of the present treaty the state of war will +terminate. From the moment and subject to the provisions of this treaty, +official relations with Germany, and with each of the German States, +will be resumed by the allied and associated Powers.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION I</h3> + +<h4>LEAGUE OF NATIONS</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Specific duties of the League of Nations.</div> + +<p>The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section I of the peace +treaty, which places upon the League many specific, in addition to its +general, duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation of +a neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world's +peace. It will appoint three of the five members of the Sarre +Commission, oversee its rêgime, and carry out the plebiscite. It will +appoint the High Commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of +the free city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germany and +Poland. It will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the +former German colonies, and act as a final court in part of the +plebiscites of the Belgian-German frontier, and in disputes as to the +Kiel Canal, and decide certain of the economic and financial problems. +An International Conference on Labor is to be held in October under its +direction, and another on the international control of ports, waterways, +and railways is foreshadowed.</p> + + +<h4>MEMBERSHIP</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">How states may become members or withdraw.</div> + +<p>The members of the League will be the signatories of the covenant and +other States invited to accede who must lodge a declaration of accession +without reservation within two months. A new State, dominion, or colony +may be admitted, provided its admission is agreed <a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a>to by two-thirds of +the assembly. A State may withdraw upon giving two years' notice, if it +has fulfilled all its international obligations.</p> + + +<h4>SECRETARIAT</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Permanent secretariat at Geneva.</div> + +<p>A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the League, +which will be at Geneva.</p> + + +<h4>ASSEMBLY</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Voting by States.</div> + +<p>The Assembly will consist of representatives of the members of the +League, and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will be by States. +Each member will have one vote and not more than three representatives.</p> + + +<h4>COUNCIL</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Meetings at least once a year.</div> + +<p>The Council will consist of representatives of the Five Great Allied +Powers, together with representatives of four members selected by the +Assembly from time to time; it may co-opt additional States and will +meet at least once a year.</p> + +<p>Members not represented will be invited to send a representative when +questions affecting their interests are discussed. Voting will be by +States. Each State will have one vote and not more than one +representative. A decision taken by the Assembly and Council must be +unanimous except in regard to procedure and in certain cases specified +in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will be by a +majority.</p> + + +<h4>ARMAMENTS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Permanent commission on military and naval questions.</div> + +<p>The Council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for +consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every ten years. +Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armaments fixed without +the concurrence of the Council. All members will ex<a name="Page_321" id="Page_321"></a>change full +information as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commission +will advise the Council on military and naval questions.</p> + + +<h4>PREVENTING OF WAR</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Members to submit disputes to arbitration.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Council to consider means to protect covenants.</div> + +<p>Upon any war, or threat of war, the Council will meet to consider what +common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of +dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three +months after the award. Members agree to carry out an arbitral award and +not to go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it. +If a member fails to carry out the award, the Council will propose the +necessary measures. The Council will formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice to determine +international disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do not +submit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of the +Assembly. If the Council, less the parties to the dispute, is +unanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that they +will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with its +recommendations. In this case, a recommendation, by the Assembly, +concurred in by all its members represented on the Council and a simple +majority of the rest, less the parties to the dispute, will have the +force of a unanimous recommendation by the Council. In either case, if +the necessary agreement cannot be secured, the members reserve the right +to take such [action?] as may be necessary for the maintenance of right +and justice. Members resorting to war in disregard of the covenant will +immediately be debarred from all intercourse with other members. The +Council will in such cases consider what military or naval action can be +taken by the League collectively <a name="Page_322" id="Page_322"></a>for the protection of the covenants +and will afford facilities to members cooperating in this enterprise.</p> + + +<h4>VALIDITY OF TREATIES</h4> + +<p>All treaties or international engagements concluded after the +institution of the League will be registered with the secretariat and +published. The Assembly may from time to time advise members to +reconsider treaties which have become inapplicable or involve danger to +peace.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Monroe Doctrine not to be invalidated.</div> + +<p>The covenant abrogates all obligations between members inconsistent with +its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity of international +engagements such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings +like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of peace.</p> + + +<h4>THE MANDATORY SYSTEM</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">For nations not able to stand alone.</div> + +<p>The tutelage of nations not yet able to stand by themselves will be +intrusted to advanced nations who are best fitted to undertake it. The +covenant recognizes three different stages of development requiring +different kinds of mandatories:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Provisional independence.</div> + +<p>(a) Communities like those belonging to the Turkish Empire, which can be +provisionally recognized as independent, subject to advice and +assistance from mandatary in whose selection they would be allowed a +voice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Abuses to be prohibited.</div> + +<p>(b) Communities like those of Central Africa, to be administered by the +mandatary under conditions generally approved by the members of the +League, where equal opportunities for trade will be allowed to all +members; certain abuses, such as trade in slaves, arms, and liquor will +be prohibited, and the construction of military and naval bases and the +introduction of compulsory military training will be disallowed.<a name="Page_323" id="Page_323"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">League to determine degree of mandatary's authority.</div> + +<p>(c) Other communities, such as Southwest Africa and the South Pacific +Islands, but administered under the laws of the mandatary as integral +portions of its territory. In every case the mandatary will render an +annual report, and the degree of its authority will be defined.</p> + + +<h4>GENERAL INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">To maintain fair conditions of labor.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Steps for prevention and control of disease.</div> + +<p>Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international +convention, existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the +League will in general endeavor, through the international organization +established by the Labor Convention, to secure and maintain fair +conditions of labor for men, women and children in their own countries +and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the +native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will entrust +the League with the general supervision over the execution of agreements +for the suppression of traffic in women and children, &c.; and the +control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in which +control is necessary; they will make provision for freedom of +communication and transit and equitable treatment for commerce of all +members of the League, with special reference to the necessities of +regions devastated during the war; and they will endeavor to take steps +for international prevention and control of disease. International +bureaus and commissions already established will be placed under the +League, as well as those to be established in the future.</p> + + +<h4>AMENDMENTS TO THE COVENANT</h4> + +<p>Amendments to the covenant will take effect when ratified by the Council +and by a majority of the Assembly.<a name="Page_324" id="Page_324"></a></p> + + + +<h3>SECTION II</h3> + +<h4>BOUNDARIES OF GERMANY</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Germany to cede to France and Poland.</div> + +<p>Germany cedes to France Alsace-Lorraine, 5,600 square miles to the +southwest, and to Belgium two small districts between Luxemburg and +Holland, totaling 382 square miles. She also cedes to Poland the +southeastern tip of Silesia beyond and including Oppeln, most of Posen, +and West Prussia, 27,686 square miles, East Prussia being isolated from +the main body by a part of Poland. She loses sovereignty over the +northeastern tip of East Prussia, 40 square miles north of the river +Memel, and the internationalized areas about Danzig, 729 square miles, +and the Basin of the Sarre, 738 square miles, between the western border +of the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria and the southeast corner of +Luxemburg. The Danzig area consists of the V between the Nogat and +Vistula Rivers made a W by the addition of a similar V on the west, +including the city of Danzig. The southeastern third of East Prussia and +the area between East Prussia and the Vistula north of latitude 53 +degrees 3 minutes is to have its nationality determined by popular vote, +5,785 square miles, as is to be the case in part of Schleswig, 2,787 +square miles.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION III</h3> + + +<h4>BELGIUM</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Frontier changes.</div> + +<p>Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, by +which Belgium was established as a neutral State, and to agree in +advance to any convention with which the allied and associated Powers +may determine to replace them. She is to recognize the full sovereignty +of Belgium over the contested territory of Moresnet and over part of +Prussian Mores<a name="Page_325" id="Page_325"></a>net, and to renounce in favor of Belgium all rights over +the circles of Eupen and Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to be +entitled within six months to protest against this change of sovereignty +either in whole or in part, the final decision to be reserved to the +League of Nations. A commission is to settle the details of the +frontier, and various regulations for change of nationality are laid +down.</p> + + +<h4>LUXEMBURG</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany to renounce rights of exploitation.</div> + +<p>Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the Grand +Duchy of Luxemburg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the German +Zollverein from January first, last, renounces all right of exploitation +of the railroads, adheres to the abrogation of its neutrality, and +accepts in advance any international agreement as to it reached by the +allied and associated powers.</p> + + +<h4>LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">No German fortifications or armed forces.</div> + +<p>As provided in the military clauses, Germany will not maintain any +fortifications or armed forces less than fifty kilometers to the east of +the Rhine, hold any manœuvres, nor maintain any works to facilitate +mobilization. In case of violation, "she shall be regarded as committing +a hostile act against the Powers who sign the present treaty and as +intending to disturb the peace of the world." "By virtue of the present +treaty, Germany shall be bound to respond to any request for an +explanation which the Council of the League of Nations may think it +necessary to address to her."</p> + + +<h4>ALSACE-LORRAINE</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Territories restored to France.</div> + +<p>After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong done in +1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, the +<a name="Page_326" id="Page_326"></a>territories ceded to Germany by the Treaty of Frankfort are restored to +France with their frontiers as before 1871, to date from the signing of +the armistice, and to be free of all public debts.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">How French citizenship may be acquired.</div> + +<p>Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those who +are immediately restored to full French citizenship, those who have to +make formal applications therefor, and those for whom naturalization is +open after three years. The last named class includes German residents +in Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished from those who acquire the position +of Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. All public property and +all private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to France without +payment or credit. France is substituted for Germany as regards +ownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways. The +Rhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Manufactured products to be admitted to Germany.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Administration of Kehl and Strassbourg.</div> + +<p>For five years manufactured products of Alsace-Lorraine will be admitted +to Germany free of duty to a total amount not exceeding in any year the +average of the three years preceding the war and textile materials may +be imported from Germany to Alsace-Lorraine and re-exported free of +duty. Contracts for electric power from the right bank must be continued +for ten years. For seven years, with possible extension to ten, the +ports of Kehl and Strassbourg shall be administered as a single unit by +a French administrator appointed and supervised by the Central Rhine +Commission. Property rights will be safeguarded in both ports and +equality of treatment as respects traffic assured the nationals, +vessels, and goods of every country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Contracts, judgments of courts, political condemnations.</div> + +<p>Contracts between Alsace-Lorraine and Germany are maintained save for +France's right to annul on grounds of public interest. Judg<a name="Page_327" id="Page_327"></a>ments of +courts hold in certain classes of cases while in others a judicial +exequatur is first required. Political condemnations during the war are +null and void and the obligation to repay war fines is established as in +other parts of allied territory.</p> + +<p>Various clauses adjust the general provisions of the treaty to the +special conditions of Alsace-Lorraine, certain matters of execution +being left to conventions to be made between France and Germany.</p> + + +<h4>THE SARRE</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">To compensate for destruction of mines in France.</div> + +<p>In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in Northern France and +as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France full +ownership of the coal mines of the Sarre Basin with their subsidiaries, +accessories and facilities. Their value will be estimated by the +Separation Commission and credited against that account. The French +rights will be governed by German law in force at the armistice +excepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners, whom +Germany undertakes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish the +present proportion of coal for local needs and contribute in just +proportion to local taxes. The basin extends from the frontier of +Lorraine as re-annexed to France north as far as St. Wendel including on +the west the valley of the Sarre as far as Sarre Holzbach and on the +east the town of Homburg.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To be governed by a commission.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">A local representative assembly to be organized.</div> + +<p>In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population and +guarantee to France entire freedom in working the mines the territory +will be governed by a commission appointed by the League of Nations and +consisting of five members, one French, one a native inhabitant of the +Sarre, and three representing three different countries other than +France and Germany. The League will appoint a member of <a name="Page_328" id="Page_328"></a>the Commission +as Chairman to act as executive of the Commission. The Commission will +have all powers of government formerly belonging to the German Empire, +Prussia and Bavaria, will administer the railroads and other public +services and have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. The local +courts will continue, but subject to the Commission. Existing German +legislation will remain the basis of the law, but the Commission may +make modification after consulting a local representative assembly which +it will organize. It will have the taxing power but for local purposes +only. New taxes must be approved by this assembly. Labor legislation +will consider the wishes of the local labor organizations and the labor +program of the League. French and other labor may be freely utilized, +the former being free to belong to French unions. All rights acquired as +to pensions and social insurance will be maintained by Germany and the +Sarre Commission.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Liberty of religion and language.</div> + +<p>There will be no military service but only a local gendarmerie to +preserve order. The people will preserve their local assemblies, +religious liberties, schools, and language, but may vote only for local +assemblies. They will keep their present nationality except so far as +individuals may change it. Those wishing to leave will have every +facility with respect to their property. The territory will form part of +the French customs system, with no export tax on coal and metallurgical +products going to Germany nor on German products entering the basin and +for five years no import duties on products of the basin going to +Germany or German products coming into the basin. For local consumption +French money may circulate without restriction.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plebiscite to be held after fifteen years.</div> + +<p>After fifteen years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertain +the desires of the <a name="Page_329" id="Page_329"></a>population as to continuance of the existing régime +under the League of Nations, union with France or union with Germany. +The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over twenty resident +therein at the signature. Taking into account the opinions thus +expressed the League will decide the ultimate sovereignty. In any +portion restored to Germany the German Government must buy out the +French mines at an appraised valuation. If the price is not paid within +six months thereafter this portion passes finally to France. If Germany +buys back the mines the League will determine how much of the coal shall +be annually sold to France.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION IV</h3> + + +<h4>GERMAN AUSTRIA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Independence to be recognized.</div> + +<p>"Germany recognizes the total independence of German Austria in the +boundaries traced."</p> + + +<h4>CZECHO-SLOVAKIA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Frontiers of the new State.</div> + +<p>Germany recognizes the entire independence of the Czecho-Slovak State, +including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians south of the +Carpathians, and accepts the frontiers of this State as to be +determined, which in the case of the German frontier shall follow the +frontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipulations as to acquisition +and change of nationality follow.</p> + + +<h4>POLAND</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">A Boundary Commission to be constituted.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Minorities to be protected.</div> + +<p>Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of Upper Silesia, Posen and the +province of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A Field +Boundary Commission of seven, five representing the allied and +associated powers and one each representing Poland and Germany, shall be +constituted within fifteen days of the <a name="Page_330" id="Page_330"></a>peace to delimit this boundary. +Such special provisions as are necessary to protect racial, linguistic +or religious minorities and to protect freedom of transit and equitable +treatment of commerce of other nations shall be laid down in a +subsequent treaty between the principal allied and associated powers and +Poland.</p> + + +<h4>EAST PRUSSIA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Frontiers of East Prussia and Poland.</div> + +<p>The southern and the eastern frontier of East Prussia as touching Poland +is to be fixed by plebiscites, the first in the regency of Allenstein +between the southern frontier of East Prussia and the northern frontier, +or Regierungsbezirk Allenstein from where it meets the boundary between +East and West Prussia to its junction with the boundary between the +circles of Oletsko and Angersburg, thence the northern boundary of +Oletsko to its junction with the present frontier, and the second in the +area comprising the circles of Stuhm and Rosenberg and the parts of the +circles of Marienburg and Marienwerder east of the Vistula.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German troops and officials to leave.</div> + +<p>In each case German troops and authorities will move out within fifteen +days of the peace, and the territories be placed under an international +commission of five members appointed by the principal allied and +associated powers, with the particular duty of arranging for a free, +fair and secret vote. The commission will report the results of the +plebiscites to the powers with a recommendation for the boundary, and +will terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down and +the new authorities set up.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Access to the Vistula.</div> + +<p>The principal allied and associated powers will draw up regulations +assuring East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the +Vistula. A subsequent convention, of which the terms will be fixed by +the principal allied and associated powers, will be entered into +be<a name="Page_331" id="Page_331"></a>tween Poland, Germany and Danzig, to assure suitable railroad +communication across German territory on the right bank of the Vistula +between Poland and Danzig, while Poland shall grant free passage from +East Prussia to Germany.</p> + +<p>The northeastern corner of East Prussia about Memel is to be ceded by +Germany to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept the +settlement made, especially as regards the nationality of the +inhabitants.</p> + + +<h4>DANZIG</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Danzig to be under League of Nations.</div> + +<p>Danzig and the district immediately about it is to be constituted into +the "free city of Danzig" under the guarantee of the League of Nations. +A high commissioner appointed by the League and President of Danzig +shall draw up a constitution in agreement with the duly appointed +representatives of the city, and shall deal in the first instance with +all differences arising between the city and Poland. The actual +boundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointed +within six months from the peace and to include three representatives +chosen by the allied and associated powers, and one each by Germany and +Poland.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Convention between Danzig and Poland.</div> + +<p>A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the principal allied +and associated powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, +which shall include Danzig within the Polish customs frontiers, though a +free area in the port; insure to Poland the free use of all the city's +waterways, docks and other port facilities, the control and +administration of the Vistula and the whole through railway system +within the city, and postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication +between Poland and Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poles +within the city, and place its foreign re<a name="Page_332" id="Page_332"></a>lations and the diplomatic +protection of its citizens abroad in charge of Poland.</p> + + +<h4>DENMARK</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Frontier to be fixed by self-determination.</div> + +<p>The frontier between Germany and Denmark will be fixed by the +self-determination of the population. Ten days from the peace German +troops and authorities shall evacuate the region north of the line +running from the mouth of the Schlei, south of Kappel, Schleswig, and +Friedrichstadt along the Eider to the North Sea south of Tonning; the +Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils shall be dissolved, and the territory +administered by an international commission of five, of whom Norway and +Sweden shall be invited to name two.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Voting to be in zones.</div> + +<p>The commission shall insure a free and secret vote in three zones. That +between the German-Danish frontier and a line running south of the +Island of Alsen, north of Flensburg, and south of Tondern to the North +Sea, north of the Island of Sylt, will vote as a unit within three weeks +after the evacuation. Within five weeks after this vote the second zone, +whose southern boundary runs from the North Sea south of the Island of +Fehr to the Baltic south of Sygum, will vote by communes. Two weeks +after that vote the third zone running to the limit of evacuation will +also vote by communes. The international commission will then draw a new +frontier on the basis of these plebiscites and with due regard for +geographical and economic conditions. Germany will renounce all +sovereignty over territories north of this line in favor of the +Associated Governments, who will hand them over to Denmark.</p> + + +<h4>HELIGOLAND</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Fortifications to be destroyed.</div> + +<p>The fortifications, military establishments, and harbors of the Islands +of Heligoland and Dune are to be destroyed under the supervision <a name="Page_333" id="Page_333"></a>of the +Allies by German labor and at Germany's expense. They may not be +reconstructed, nor any similar fortifications built in the future.</p> + + +<h4>RUSSIA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Brest-Litovsk treaty to be abrogated.</div> + +<p>Germany agrees to respect as permanent and inalienable the independency +of all territories which were part of the former Russian Empire, to +accept the abrogation of the Brest-Litovsk and other treaties entered +into with the Maximalist Government of Russia, to recognize the full +force of all treaties entered into by the allied and associated powers +with States which were a part of the former Russian Empire, and to +recognize the frontiers as determined thereon. The allied and associated +powers formally reserve the right of Russia to obtain restitution and +reparation on the principles of the present treaty.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION V</h3> + + +<h4>GERMAN RIGHTS OUTSIDE EUROPE</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Germany to renounce rights.</div> + +<p>Outside Europe, Germany renounces all rights, titles, and privileges as +to her own or her allies' territories to all the allied and associated +powers, and undertakes to accept whatever measures are taken by the five +allied powers in relation thereto.</p> + + +<h4>COLONIES AND OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Property of German Empire to be transferred to new +governments.</div> + +<p>Germany renounces in favor of the allied and associated powers her +overseas possessions with all rights and titles therein. All movable and +immovable property belonging to the German Empire, or to any German +State, shall pass to the Government exercising authority therein. These +Governments may make whatever provisions seem suitable for the +repatriation of German nationals and as to the conditions on <a name="Page_334" id="Page_334"></a>which +German subjects of European origin shall reside, hold property, or carry +on business. Germany undertakes to pay reparation for damage suffered by +French nationals in the Cameroons or its frontier zone through the acts +of German civil and military authorities and of individual Germans from +the 1st of January, 1900, to the 1st of August, 1914. Germany renounces +all rights under the convention of the 4th of November, 1911, and the +29th of September, 1912, and undertakes to pay to France in accordance +with an estimate presented and approved by the Repatriation Commission +all deposits, credits, advances, &c., thereby secured. Germany +undertakes to accept and observe any provisions by the allied and +associated powers as to the trade in arms and spirits in Africa as well +as to the General Act of Berlin of 1885 and the General Act of Brussels +of 1890. Diplomatic protection to inhabitants of former German colonies +is to be given by the Governments exercising authority.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Diplomatic protection for inhabitants.</div> + + +<h4>CHINA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany to renounce Boxer indemnities.</div> + +<p>Germany renounces in favor of China all privileges and indemnities +resulting from the Boxer Protocol of 1901, and all buildings, wharves, +barracks for munitions of warships, wireless plants, and other public +property except diplomatic or consular establishments in the German +concessions of Tientsin and Hankow and in other Chinese territory except +Kiao-Chau and agrees to return to China at her own expense all the +astronomical instruments seized in 1900 and 1901. China will, however, +take no measures for disposal of German property in the legation quarter +at Peking without the consent of the Powers signatory to the Boxer +Protocol.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Abrogation of concession.</div> + +<p>Germany accepts the abrogation of the concessions at Hankow and +Tientsin, China agree<a name="Page_335" id="Page_335"></a>ing to open them to international use. Germany +renounces all claims against China or any allied and associated +Government for the internment or repatriation of her citizens in China +and for the seizure or liquidation of German interests there since +August 14, 1917. She renounces in favor of Great Britain her State +property in the British concession at Canton and of France and China +jointly of the property of the German school in the French concession at +Shanghai.</p> + + +<h4>SIAM</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Rights of extra territoriality to cease.</div> + +<p>Germany recognizes that all agreements between herself and Siam, +including the right of extra-territoriality, ceased July 22, 1917. All +German public property, except consular and diplomatic premises, passes +without compensation to Siam, German private property to be dealt with +in accordance with the economic clauses. Germany waives all claims +against Siam for the seizure and condemnation of her ships, liquidation +of her property, or internment of her nationals.</p> + +<h4>LIBERIA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Commercial treaties and agreements to be abrogated.</div> + +<p>Germany renounces all rights under the international arrangements of +1911 and 1912 regarding Liberia, more particularly the right to nominate +a receiver of the customs, and disinterests herself in any further +negotiations for the rehabilitation of Liberia. She regards as abrogated +all commercial treaties and agreements between herself and Liberia and +recognizes Liberia's right to determine the status and condition of the +re-establishment of Germans in Liberia.</p> + + +<h4>MOROCCO</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany to renounce rights in Morocco.</div> + +<p>Germany renounces all her rights, titles, and privileges under the Act +of Algeciras and the<a name="Page_336" id="Page_336"></a> Franco-German agreements of 1909 and 1911, and +under all treaties and arrangements with the Sherifian Empire. She +undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations as to Morocco between +France and other Powers, accepts all the consequences of the French +protectorate and renounces the capitulations; the Sherifian Government +shall have complete liberty of action in regard to German nationals, and +all German protected persons shall be subject to the common law. All +movable and immovable German property, including mining rights, may be +sold at public auction, the proceeds to be paid to the Sherifian +Government and deducted from the reparation account. Germany is also +required to relinquish her interests in the State Bank of Morocco. All +Moroccan goods entering Germany shall have the same privilege as French +goods.</p> + + +<h4>EGYPT</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">To recognize British Protectorate over Egypt.</div> + +<p>Germany recognizes the British Protectorate over Egypt declared on +December 18, 1914, and renounces as from August 4, 1914, the +capitulation and all the treaties, agreements, etc., concluded by her +with Egypt. She undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations about +Egypt between Great Britain and other Powers. There are provisions for +jurisdiction over German nationals and property and for German consent +to any changes which may be made in relation to the Commission of Public +Debt. Germany consents to the transfer to Great Britain of the powers +given to the late Sultan of Turkey for securing the free navigation of +the Suez Canal. Arrangements for property belonging to German nationals +in Egypt are made similar to those in the case of Morocco and other +countries. Anglo-Egyptian goods entering Germany shall enjoy the same +treatment as British goods.<a name="Page_337" id="Page_337"></a></p> + + +<h4>TURKEY AND BULGARIA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Arrangements with Turkey and Bulgaria.</div> + +<p>Germany accepts all arrangements which the Allied and Associated Powers +made with Turkey and Bulgaria with reference to any rights, privileges +or interests claimed in those countries by Germany or her nationals and +not dealt with elsewhere.</p> + + +<h4>SHANTUNG</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">To cede Kiao-Chau rights to Japan.</div> + +<p>Germany cedes to Japan all rights, titles, and privileges, notably as to +Kiao-Chau, and the railroads, mines, and cables acquired by her treaty +with China of March 6, 1897, by and other agreements as to Shantung. All +German rights to the railroad from Tsing-tao to Tsinan-fu, including all +facilities and mining rights and rights of exploitation, pass equally to +Japan, and the cables from Tsing-tao to Shanghai and Che-foo, the cables +free of all charges. All German State property, movable and immovable, +in Kiao-Chau is acquired by Japan free of all charges.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION VI</h3> + +<h4>MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR</h4> + + +<p>In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of +the armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes directly to observe the +military, naval, and air clauses which follow.</p> + + +<h4>MILITARY FORCES</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">German Army to be demobilized.</div> + +<p>The demobilization of the German Army must take place within two months +of the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, including 4,000 +officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry and three of +cavalry, and to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal order +and control of frontiers. Divisions may <a name="Page_338" id="Page_338"></a>not be grouped under more than +two army corps headquarters staffs. The great German General Staff is +abolished. The army administrative service, consisting of civilian +personnel not included in the number of effectives, is reduced to +one-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. Employees of the German States, +such as customs officers, first guards, and coast guards, may not exceed +the number in 1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only in +accordance with the growth of population. None of these may be assembled +for military training.</p> + + +<h4>ARMAMENTS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Munition works to be closed.</div> + +<p>All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, or +design of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically excepted, +must be closed within three months of the peace, and their personnel +dismissed. The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed Germany is +laid down in detail tables, all in excess to be surrendered or rendered +useless. The manufacture or importation of asphyxiating, poisonous, or +other gases and all analogous liquids is forbidden as well as the +importation of arms, munitions, and war materials. Germany may not +manufacture such materials for foreign governments.</p> + + +<h4>CONSCRIPTION</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Conscription to be abolished in Germany.</div> + +<p>Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must be +maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of twelve consecutive +years, the number of discharges before the expiration of that term not +in any year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officers +remaining in the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, and +newly appointed officers must agree to serve actively for twenty-five +years.<a name="Page_339" id="Page_339"></a></p> + +<p>No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units +allowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No +associations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or +touring clubs, educational establishments or universities may occupy +themselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization are +forbidden.</p> + + +<h4>FORTRESSES</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Fortifications in Rhine to be dismantled.</div> + +<p>All fortified works, fortresses, and field works situated in German +territory within a zone of fifty kilometers east of the Rhine will be +dismantled within three months. The construction of any new +fortifications there is forbidden. The fortified works on the southern +and eastern frontiers, however, may remain.</p> + + +<h4>CONTROL</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Interallied commissions of control.</div> + +<p>Interallied commissions of control will see to the execution of the +provisions for which a time limit is set, the maximum named being three +months. They may establish headquarters at the German seat of Government +and go to any part of Germany desired. Germany must give them complete +facilities, pay their expenses, and also the expenses of execution of +the treaty, including the labor and material necessary in demolition, +destruction or surrender of war equipment.</p> + + +<h4>NAVAL</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">German navy to be demobilized.</div> + +<p>The German navy must be demobilized within a period of two months after +the peace. She will be allowed 6 small battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 +destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either military or +commercial, with a personnel of 15,000 men, including officers, and no +reserve force of any character. Conscription is abolished, only +voluntary service being permitted, with a minimum period <a name="Page_340" id="Page_340"></a>of 25 years +service for officers and 12 for men. No member of the German mercantile +marine will be permitted any naval training.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German war vessels that must be surrendered.</div> + +<p>All German vessels of war in foreign ports and the German high sea fleet +interned at Scapa Flow will be surrendered, the final disposition of +these ships to be decided upon by the allied and associated powers. +Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, +and all submarines, with their salvage vessels. All war vessels under +construction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels not +otherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve, or used for +commercial purposes. Replacement of ships except those lost can take +place only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years for +destroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be +10,000 tons.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To sweep up mines.</div> + +<p>Germany is required to sweep up the mines in the North Sea and the +Baltic Sea, as decided upon by the Allies. All German fortifications in +the Baltic, defending the passages through the belts, must be +demolished. Other coast defenses are permitted, but the number and +caliber of the guns must not be increased.</p> + + +<h4>WIRELESS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">German wireless messages only for commercial purposes.</div> + +<p>During a period of three months after the peace German high power +wireless stations at Nauen, Hanover, and Berlin will not be permitted to +send any messages except for commercial purposes, and under supervision +of the allied and associated Governments, nor may any more be +constructed.</p> + + +<h4>CABLES</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">To renounce title to cables.</div> + +<p>Germany renounces all title to specified cables, the value of such as +were privately owned being credited to her against reparation +indebtedness.<a name="Page_341" id="Page_341"></a></p> + +<p>Germany will be allowed to repair German submarine cables which have +been cut but are not being utilized by the allied powers, and also +portions of cables which, after having been cut, have been removed, or +are at any rate not being utilized by any one of the allied and +associated powers. In such cases the cables, or portions of cables, +removed or utilized remain the property of the allied and associated +powers, and accordingly fourteen cables or parts of cables are specified +which will not be restored to Germany.</p> + + +<h4>AIR</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Air personnel to be demobilized.</div> + +<p>The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air +forces except for not over 100 unarmed seaplanes to be retained till +October 1 to search for submarine mines. No dirigible shall be kept. The +entire air personnel is to be demobilized within two months, except for +1,000 officers and men retained till October. No aviation grounds or +dirigible sheds are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine, or +the eastern or southern frontiers, existing installations within these +limits to be destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts of +aircraft is forbidden for six months. All military and naval +aeronautical material under a most exhaustive definition must be +surrendered within three months, except for the 100 seaplanes already +specified.</p> + + +<h4>PRISONERS OF WAR</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians.</div> + +<p>The repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians is to be +carried out without delay and at Germany's expense by a commission +composed of representatives of the Allies and Germany. Those under +sentence for offenses against discipline are to be repatriated without +regard to the completion of their sentences. Until Germany has +surrendered per<a name="Page_342" id="Page_342"></a>sons guilty of offenses against the laws and customs of +war, the Allies have the right to retain selected German officers. The +Allies may deal at their own discretion with German nationals who do not +desire to be repatriated, all repatriation being conditional on the +immediate release of any allied subjects still in Germany. Germany is to +accord facilities to commissions of inquiry in collecting information in +regard to missing prisoners of war and of imposing penalties on German +officials who have concealed allied nationals. Germany is to restore all +property belonging to allied prisoners. There is to be a reciprocal +exchange of information as to dead prisoners and their graves.</p> + + +<h4>GRAVES</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Graves to be respected and maintained.</div> + +<p>Both parties will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers and +sailors buried on their territories, agree to recognize and assist any +commission charged by any allied or associate Government with +identifying, registering, maintaining or erecting suitable monuments +over the graves, and to afford to each other all facilities for the +repatriation of the remains of their soldiers.</p> + + +<h3>SECTION VII</h3> + +<h4>RESPONSIBILITIES</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">William II charged with responsibility for war.</div> + +<p>"The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William II. of +Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense against +criminal law, but for a supreme offense against international morality +and the sanctity of treaties."</p> + +<p>The ex-Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland and a special +tribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five great +powers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be guided +"by the highest <a name="Page_343" id="Page_343"></a>motives of international policy with a view of +vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the +validity of international morality," and will fix the punishment it +feels should be imposed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Persons who violated laws of war to be tried.</div> + +<p>Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and +customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals under +military law. If the charges affect nationals of only one State, they +will be tried before a tribunal of that State; if they affect nationals +of several States, they will be tried before joint tribunals of the +States concerned. Germany shall hand over to the associated Governments, +either jointly or severally, all persons so accused and all documents +and information necessary to insure full knowledge of the incriminating +acts, the discovery of the offenders, and the just appreciation of the +responsibility. The Judge [garbled in cabling] will be entitled to name +his own counsel.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION VIII</h3> + +<h4>REPARATION AND RESTITUTION</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Germany's responsibility for loss and damage.</div> + +<p>"The allied and associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the +responsibility of herself and her allies, for causing all the loss and +damage to which the allied and associated Governments and their +nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon +them by the aggression of Germany and her allies."</p> + +<p>The total obligation of Germany to pay as defined in the category of +damages is to be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing, +and not later than May 1, 1921, by an interallied Reparation Commission.</p> + +<p>At the same time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligation +within thirty years <a name="Page_344" id="Page_344"></a>shall be presented. These payments are subject to +postponement in certain contingencies. Germany irrevocably recognizes +the full authority of this commission, agrees to supply it with all the +necessary information and to pass legislation to effectuate its +findings. She further agrees to restore to the Allies cash and certain +articles which can be identified.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Schedule of payments to be presented.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">One thousand million pounds in two years.</div> + +<p>As an immediate step toward restoration Germany shall pay within two +years one thousand million pounds sterling in either gold, goods, ships, +or other specific forms of payment.</p> + +<p>This sum being included in, and not additional to, the first thousand +million bond issue referred to below, with the understanding that +certain expenses, such as those of the armies of occupation and payments +for food and raw materials, may be deducted at the discretion of the +Allies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Belgium to be repaid.</div> + +<p>Germany further binds herself to repay all sums borrowed by Belgium from +her allies as a result of Germany's violation of the treaty of 1839 up +to November 11, 1918, and for this purpose will issue at once and hand +over to the Reparation Commission 5 per cent gold bonds falling due in +1926.</p> + +<p>While the allied and associated Governments recognize that the resources +of Germany are not adequate, after taking into account permanent +diminution of such resources which will result from other treaty claims, +to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage, they require +her to make compensation for all damage caused to civilians under seven +main categories:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Damage to civilians to be compensated.</div> + +<p>(a) Damages by personal injury to civilians caused by acts of war, +directly or indirectly, including bombardments from the air.</p> + +<p>(b) Damages caused to civilians, including exposure at sea, resulting +from acts of cruelty <a name="Page_345" id="Page_345"></a>ordered by the enemy, and to civilians in the +occupied territories.</p> + +<p>(c) Damages caused by maltreatment of prisoners.</p> + +<p>(d) Damages to the Allied peoples represented by pensions and separation +allowances, capitalized at the signature of this treaty.</p> + +<p>(e) Damages to property other than naval or military materials.</p> + +<p>(f) Damages to civilians by being forced to labor.</p> + +<p>(g) Damages in the form of levies or fines imposed by the enemy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Work of Reparation Commission.</div> + +<p>In periodically estimating Germany's capacity to pay, the Reparation +Commission shall examine the German system of taxation, first to the end +that the sums for reparation which Germany is required to pay shall +become a charge upon all her revenues prior to that for the service or +discharge of any domestic loan; and secondly, so as to satisfy itself +that in general the German scheme of taxation is fully as heavy +proportionately as that of any of the powers represented on the +commission.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Refusals in case of default.</div> + +<p>The measures which the allied and associated powers shall have the right +to take, in case of voluntary default by Germany, and which Germany +agrees not to regard as acts of war, may include economic and financial +prohibitions and reprisals and in general such other measures as the +respective Governments may determine to be necessary in the +circumstances.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany's capacity to pay.</div> + +<p>The commission shall consist of one representative each of the United +States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, a representative of +Serbia or Japan taking the place of the Belgian representative, when the +interests of either country are particularly affected, with all other +allied powers entitled, when their claims are under consideration, to +the right <a name="Page_346" id="Page_346"></a>of representation without voting power. It shall permit +Germany to give evidence regarding her capacity to pay, and shall assure +her a just opportunity to be heard. It shall make its permanent +headquarters at Paris, establish its own procedure and personnel; have +general control of the whole reparation problem; and become the +exclusive agency of the Allies for receiving, holding, selling, and +distributing reparation payments. Majority vote shall prevail, except +that unanimity is required on questions involving the sovereignty of any +of the Allies, the cancellation of all or part of Germany's obligations, +the time and manner of selling, distributing, and negotiating bonds +issued by Germany, any postponement between 1921 and 1926 of annual +payments beyond 1930 and any postponement after 1926 for a period of +more than three years of the application of a different method of +measuring damage than in a similar former case, and the interpretation +of provisions. Withdrawal from representation is permitted on twelve +months' notice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Guarantees to cover claims.</div> + +<p>The Commission may require Germany to give from time to time by way of +guarantee, issues of bonds or other obligations to cover such claims as +are not otherwise satisfied. In this connection and on account of the +total amount of claims, bond issues are presently to be required of +Germany in acknowledgment of its debt as follows: 20,000,000,000 marks +gold, payable not later than May 1, 1921, without interest; +40,000,000,000 marks gold bearing 2-1/2 per cent interest between 1921 +and 1926, and thereafter 5 per cent, with a 1 per cent sinking fund +payment beginning 1926; and an undertaking to deliver 40,000,000,000 +marks gold bonds bearing interest at 5 per cent, under terms to be fixed +by the Commission.<a name="Page_347" id="Page_347"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Interest on Germany's debt.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Certificates to represent bonds or goods.</div> + +<p>Interest on Germany's debt will be 5 per cent unless otherwise +determined by the Commission in the future, and payments that are not +made in gold may "be accepted by the Commission in the form of +properties, commodities, businesses, rights, concessions, &c." +Certificates of beneficial interest, representing either bonds or goods +delivered by Germany, may be issued by the Commission to the interested +powers, no power being entitled, however, to have its certificates +divided into more than five pieces. As bonds are distributed and pass +from the control of the Commission, an amount of Germany's debt +equivalent to their par value is to be considered as liquidated.</p> + + +<h4>SHIPPING</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Right to Allies to have merchant shipping replaced.</div> + +<p>The German Government recognizes the right of the Allies to the +replacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and +fishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede to +the Allies all German merchant ships of 1,600 tons gross and upward; +one-half of her ships between 1,600 and 1,000 tons gross, and +one-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These ships +are to be delivered within two months to the Separation Committee, +together with documents of title evidencing the transfer of the ships +free from encumbrance.</p> + +<p>"As an additional part of reparation," the German Government further +agrees to build merchant ships for the account of the Allies to the +amount of not exceeding 200,000 tons gross annually during the next five +years.</p> + +<p>All ships used for inland navigation taken by Germany from the Allies +are to be restored within two months, the amount of loss not covered by +such restitution to be made up by the cession of the German river fleet +up to 20 per cent thereof.<a name="Page_348" id="Page_348"></a></p> + + +<h4>DYESTUFFS AND CHEMICAL DRUGS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Material to be delivered to Reparations Commission.</div> + +<p>In order to effect payment by deliveries in kind, Germany is required, +for a limited number of years, varying in the case of each, to deliver +coal, coal-tar products, dyestuffs and chemical drugs, in specific +amounts to the Reparations Commission. The Commission may so modify the +conditions of delivery as not to interfere unduly with Germany's +industrial requirements. The deliveries of coal are based largely upon +the principle of making good diminutions in the production of the allied +countries resulting from the war.</p> + +<p>Germany accords option to the commission on dyestuffs and chemical +drugs, including quinine, up to 50 per cent of the total stock in +Germany at the time the treaty comes into force, and similar option +during each six months to the end of 1924 up to 25 per cent of the +previous six months' output.</p> + + +<h4>DEVASTATED AREAS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Machinery and animals to be replaced.</div> + +<p>Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. The Reparations Commission is +authorized to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles by the +delivery of animals, machinery, &c., existing in Germany, and to +manufacture materials required for reconstruction purposes; all with due +consideration for Germany's essential domestic requirements.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">French damages in coal and fuel to be made good.</div> + +<p>Germany is to deliver annually for ten years to France coal equivalent +to the difference between the annual pre-war output of Nord and Pas de +Calais mines and the annual production during the above ten-year period. +Germany further gives options over ten years for delivery of 7,000,000 +tons of coal per year to<a name="Page_349" id="Page_349"></a> France in addition to the above, of 8,000,000 +tons to Belgium and of an amount rising from 4,500,000 tons in 1919 to +1920 to 8,500,000 in 1923 to 1924 to Italy at prices to be fixed as +prescribed in the treaty. Coke may be taken in place of coal in the +ratio of three tons to four. Provision is also made for delivery to +France over three years of benzol, coal tar, and of ammonia. The +Commission has powers to postpone or annul the above deliveries should +they interfere unduly with the industrial requirements of Germany.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Koran of Caliph Othman and skull of Okwawa.</div> + +<p>Germany is to restore within six months the Koran of the Caliph Othman, +formerly at Medina, to the King of the Hedjaz, and the skull of the +Sultan Okwawa, formerly in German East Africa, to his Britannic +Majesty's Government.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Papers taken in 1870.</div> + +<p>The German Government is also to restore to the French Government +certain papers taken by the German authorities in 1870, belonging then +to M. Reuher, and to restore the French flags taken during the war of +1870 and 1871.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Reparations to the Louvain Library.</div> + +<p>As reparation for the destruction of the Library of Louvain Germany is +to hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, &c., to the +equivalent of those destroyed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Belgian works of art.</div> + +<p>In addition to the above Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings, now +in Berlin, belonging to the altar piece of "The Adoration of the Lamb," +by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, the center of which is now in the Church of +St. Bavon at Ghent, and the wings, now in Berlin and Munich, of the +altar piece of "The Last Supper," by Dirk Bouts, the center of which +belongs to the Church of St. Peter at Louvain.</p> + + +<h4>FINANCE</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">The pre-war debts of Alsace.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">German debts not to be assumed by mandatory powers.</div> + +<p>Powers to which German territory is ceded will assume a certain portion +of the German <a name="Page_350" id="Page_350"></a>pre-war debt, the amount to be fixed by the Reparations +Commission on the basis of the ratio between the revenue and of the +ceded territory and Germany's total revenues for the three years +preceding the war. In view, however, of the special circumstances under +which Alsace-Lorraine was separated from France in 1871, when Germany +refused to accept any part of the French public debt, France will not +assume any part of Germany's pre-war debt there, nor will Poland share +in certain German debts incurred for the oppression of Poland. If the +value of the German public property in ceded territory exceeds the +amount of debt assumed, the States to which property is ceded will give +credit on reparation for the excess, with the exception of +Alsace-Lorraine. Mandatory powers will not assume any German debts or +give any credit for German Government property. Germany renounces all +right of representation on, or control of, State banks, commissions, or +other similar international financial and economic organizations.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Germany to pay cost of armies of occupation.</div> + +<p>Germany is required to pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in German +territory, this cost to be a first charge on her resources. The cost of +reparation is the next charge, after making such provisions for payments +for imports as the Allies may deem necessary.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Funds deposited by Turkey and Austria-Hungary.</div> + +<p>Germany is to deliver to the allied and associated powers all sums +deposited in Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection with +the financial support extended by her to them during the war, and to +transfer to the Allies all claims against Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, or +Turkey in connection with agreements made during the war. Germany +confirms the renunciation of the Treaties of Bucharest and +Brest-Litovsk.<a name="Page_351" id="Page_351"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Public utilities in ceded territories.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Brazilian coffee to be paid for.</div> + +<p>On the request of the Reparations Commission, Germany will expropriate +any rights or interests of her nationals in public utilities in ceded +territories or those administered by mandatories, and in Turkey, China, +Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, and transfer them to the +Reparations Commission, which will credit her with their value. Germany +guarantees to repay to Brazil the fund arising from the sale of Sao +Paulo coffee which she refused to allow Brazil to withdraw from Germany.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION IX</h3> + + +<h4>OPIUM</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Convention on opium to be brought into force.</div> + +<p>The contracting powers agree, whether or not they have signed and +ratified the opium convention of January 23, 1912, or signed the special +protocol opened at The Hague in accordance with resolutions adopted by +the third opium conference in 1914, to bring the said convention into +force by enacting within twelve months of the peace the necessary +legislation.</p> + + +<h4>RELIGIOUS MISSIONS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">To continue their work.</div> + +<p>The allied and associated powers agree the properties of religious +missions in territories belonging or ceded to them shall continue in +their work under the control of the powers, Germany renouncing all +claims in their behalf.</p> + + + +<h3>SECTION X—ECONOMIC CLAUSES</h3> + + +<h4>CUSTOMS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">German tariff to be regulated for five years.</div> + +<p>For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff duties higher +than the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain agricultural products, +wines, vegetable oils, artificial silk, and washed or scoured wool this +restriction <a name="Page_352" id="Page_352"></a>obtains for two and a half years more. For five years, +unless further extended by the League of Nations, Germany must give most +favored nation treatment to the allied and associated powers. She shall +impose no customs tariff for five years on goods originating in +Alsace-Lorraine, and for three years on goods originating in former +German territory ceded to Poland with the right of observation of a +similar exception for Luxemburg.</p> + + +<h4>SHIPPING</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Rights of ships of the Allies.</div> + +<p>Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years and +thereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the League of Nations +otherwise decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as German +vessels, and have most favored nation treatment in fishing, coasting +trade, and towage even in territorial waters. Ships of a country having +no seacoast may be registered at some one place within its territory.</p> + + +<h4>UNFAIR COMPETITION</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Safeguards against unfair competition.</div> + +<p>Germany undertakes to give the trade of the allied and associated powers +adequate safeguards against unfair competition, and in particular to +suppress the use of false wrappings and markings, and on condition of +reciprocity to respect the laws and judicial decisions of allied and +associated States in respect of regional appellations of wines and +spirits.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="thirteen" id="thirteen"></a><a href="./images/394.jpg"><img src="./images/394-tb.jpg" alt="CLOSING WORDS OF THE PEACE TREATY" title="CLOSING WORDS OF THE PEACE TREATY" /></a></div> + +<div class='caption'>CLOSING WORDS OF THE PEACE TREATY, WITH THE SIGNATURES +AND SEALS OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATES, HEADED BY THE BRITISH PRIME +MINISTER, LLOYD GEORGE.</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="fifteen" id="fifteen"></a><a href="./images/395.jpg"><img src="./images/395-tb.jpg" alt="Signatures of Canadian, Australian, South African, New Zealand, Indian and the French" title="Signatures of Canadian, Australian, South African, New Zealand, Indian and the French" /></a></div> + +<div class='caption'>SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF CANADIAN, AUSTRALIAN, SOUTH +AFRICAN, NEW ZEALAND, AND INDIAN DELEGATES. THEN THE FRENCH, HEADED BY +PREMIER CLEMENCEAU.</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="twenty_one" id="twenty_one"></a><a href="./images/396.jpg"><img src="./images/396-tb.jpg" alt="Signatures of Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, Czecho-Slovakia, and Uruguay" title="Signatures of Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, Czecho-Slovakia, and Uruguay" /></a></div> + +<div class='caption'>SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE DELEGATIONS FROM PERU, POLAND +(HEADED BY PREMIER PADEREWSKI), PORTUGAL, RUMANIA, SERBIA, +CZECHO-SLOVAKIA, AND URUGUAY.</div> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="./images/397a.jpg"><img src="./images/397a-tb.jpg" alt="Signatures of the German delegates, Dr. Hermann Muller and Dr. Bell, on the last page of the treaty" title="Signatures of the German delegates, Dr. Hermann Muller and Dr. Bell, on the last page of the treaty" /></a></div> + +<div class='caption'>SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE GERMAN DELEGATES, DR. HERMANN +MULLER AND DR. BELL, ON THE LAST PAGE OF THE TREATY.</div> + +<div class='bbox'>The signatures of the American delegates—President +Wilson, Secretary of State Lansing, Mr. Henry White, Colonel House, and +General Bliss—come first after the closing words of the Treaty of Peace +(pages <a href="#thirteen">213 and 214</a>); then the names of the British delegates—Prime +Minister Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Milner, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. +Barnes (page <a href="#thirteen">214</a>); the Canadians, Minister of Justice Doherty and +Minister of Customs Sifton; the Australians, Premier Hughes and Mr. +Cook; the South Africans, Premier Botha and General Smuts; Premier +Massey of New Zealand; Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, and +Maharajah Ganga Singh for India (pages <a href="#fifteen">215 and 216</a>). Then come the +French—Premier Clemenceau, whose signature is third from the top on +page <a href="#fifteen">216</a>, M. Pichon, M. Klotz, M. Tardieu, and M. Cambon (page <a href="#fifteen">216</a>). The +name of Premier Paderewski of Poland is the second from the top on page +<a href="#twenty_one">221</a>.</div> + +<h4>TREATMENT OF NATIONALS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">German nationality.</div> + +<p>Germany shall impose no exceptional taxes or restriction upon the +nationals of allied and associated States for a period of five years +and, unless the League of Nations acts, for an additional five years +German nationality shall not continue to attach to a person who has +<a name="Page_353" id="Page_353"></a>become a national of an allied or associated State.</p> + + +<h4>MULTILATERAL CONVENTIONS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Postal and telegraphic conventions.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">North Sea conventions.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Arrangements with various nations.</div> + +<p>Some forty multilateral conventions are renewed between Germany and the +allied and associated powers, but special conditions are attached to +Germany's readmission to several. As to postal and telegraphic +conventions Germany must not refuse to make reciprocal agreements with +the new States. She must agree as respects the radio-telegraphic +convention to provisional rules to be communicated to her, and adhere to +the new convention when formulated. In the North Sea fisheries and North +Sea liquor traffic convention, rights of inspection and police over +associated fishing boats shall be exercised for at least five years only +by vessels of these powers. As to the international railway union she +shall adhere to the new convention when formulated. China, as to the +Chinese customs tariff arrangement of 1905 regarding Whangpoo, and the +Boxer indemnity of 1901; France, Portugal, and Rumania, as to The Hague +Convention of 1903, relating to civil procedure, and Great Britain and +the United States as to Article III. or the Samoan Treaty of 1899, are +relieved of all obligations toward Germany.</p> + + +<h4>BILATERAL TREATIES</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Renewal of treaties.</div> + +<p>Each allied and associated State may renew any treaty with Germany in so +far as consistent with the peace treaty by giving notice within six +months. Treaties entered into by Germany since August 1, 1914, with +other enemy States, and before or since that date with Rumania, Russia, +and governments representing parts of Russia are abrogated, and +concessions granted under pressure by Russia to German subjects are +annulled. The allied and associated States <a name="Page_354" id="Page_354"></a>are to enjoy most favored +nation treatment under treaties entered into by Germany and other enemy +States before August 1, 1914, and under treaties entered into by Germany +and neutral States during the war.</p> + + +<h4>PRE-WAR DEBTS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Clearing houses for pre-war debts.</div> + +<p>A system of clearing houses is to be created within three months, one in +Germany and one in each allied and associated State which adopts the +plan for the payment of pre-war debts, including those arising from +contracts suspended by the war. For the adjustment of the proceeds of +the liquidation of enemy property and the settlement of other +obligations each participating State assumes responsibility for the +payment of all debts owing by its nationals to nationals of the enemy +States, except in case of pre-war insolvency of the debtor. The proceeds +of the sale of private enemy property in each participating State may be +used to pay the debts owed to the nationals of that State, direct +payment from debtor to creditor and all communications relating thereto +being prohibited. Disputes may be settled by arbitration by the courts +of the debtor country, or by the mixed arbitral tribunal. Any ally or +associated power may, however, decline to participate in this system by +giving six months' notice.</p> + + +<h4>ENEMY PROPERTY</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Damages for private property seized or injured.</div> + +<p>Germany shall restore or pay for all private enemy property seized or +damaged by her, the amount of damages to be fixed by the mixed arbitral +tribunal. The allied and associated States may liquidate German private +property within their territories as compensation for property of their +nationals not restored or paid for by Germany. For debts owed to their +<a name="Page_355" id="Page_355"></a>nationals by German nationals and for other claims against Germany, +Germany is to compensate its nationals for such losses and to deliver +within six months all documents relating to property held by its +nationals in allied and associated States. All war legislation as to +enemy property rights and interests is confirmed and all claims by +Germany against the allied or associated Governments for acts under +exceptional war measures abandoned.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Pre-war contracts.</div> + +<p>Pre-war contracts between allied and associated nationals excepting the +United States, Japan, and Brazil and German nationals are cancelled +except for debts for accounts already performed.</p> + + +<h4>AGREEMENTS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Disputes as to transfers of property already made.</div> + +<p>For the transfer of property where the property had already passed, +leases of land and houses, contracts of mortgages, pledge or lien, +mining concessions, contracts with governments and insurance contracts, +mixed arbitral tribunals shall be established of three members, one +chosen by Germany, one by the associated States and the third by +agreement, or, failing which, by the President of Switzerland. They +shall have jurisdiction over all disputes as to contracts concluded +before the present peace treaty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Insurance contracts.</div> + +<p>Fire insurance contracts are not considered dissolved by the war, even +if premiums have not been paid, but lapse at the date of the first +annual premium falling due three months after the peace. Life insurance +contracts may be restored by payments of accumulated premiums with +interest, sums falling due on such contracts during the war to be +recoverable with interest. Marine insurance contracts are dissolved by +the outbreak of war except where the risk insured against had already +been incurred. Where the risk had not attached, premiums <a name="Page_356" id="Page_356"></a>paid are +recoverable, otherwise premiums due and sums due on losses are +recoverable. Reinsurance treaties are abrogated unless invasion has made +it impossible for the reinsured to find another reinsurer. Any allied or +associated power, however, may cancel all the contracts running between +its nationals and a German life insurance company, the latter being +obligated to hand over the proportion of its assets attributable to such +policies.</p> + + +<h4>INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Conditions on use of German patents and copyrights.</div> + +<p>Rights as to industrial, literary, and artistic property are +re-established. The special war measures of the allied and associated +powers are ratified and the right reserved to impose conditions on the +use of German patents and copyrights when in the public interest. Except +as between the United States and Germany, pre-war licenses and rights to +sue for infringements committed during the war are cancelled.</p> + + +<h3>SECTION XI</h3> + +<h4>AERIAL NAVIGATION</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Allied aircraft in German territory.</div> + +<p>Aircraft of the allied and associated powers shall have full liberty of +passage and landing over and in German territory, equal treatment with +German planes as to use of German airdromes, and with most favored +nation planes as to internal commercial traffic in Germany. Germany +agrees to accept allied certificates of nationality, airworthiness, or +competency or licenses and to apply the convention relative to aerial +navigation concluded between the allied and associated powers to her own +aircraft over her own territory. These rules apply until 1923, unless +Germany has since been admitted to the League of Nations or to the above +convention.<a name="Page_357" id="Page_357"></a></p> + + + +<h3>SECTION XII.</h3> + +<h4>FREEDOM OF TRANSIT.</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Germany may not discriminate against allied or associated +powers.</div> + +<p>Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories by mail or +water to persons, goods, ships, carriages, and mails from or to any of +the allied or associated powers, without customs or transit duties, +undue delays, restrictions, or discriminations based on nationality, +means of transport, or place of entry or departure. Goods in transit +shall be assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishable +goods. Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor of +her own transport routes or maintain "control stations" in connection +with transmigration traffic. She may not establish any tax +discrimination against the ports of allied or associated powers; must +grant the latter's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted her +own or other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powers +equal rights with those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, +save that she is free to open or close her maritime coasting trade.</p> + + +<h4>FREE ZONES IN PORTS</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Existing free zones to be maintained.</div> + +<p>Free zones existing in German ports on August 1, 1914, must be +maintained with due facilities as to warehouses, packing, and shipping, +without discrimination, and without charges except for expenses of +administration and use. Goods leaving the free zones for consumption in +Germany and goods brought into the free zones from Germany shall be +subject to the ordinary import and export taxes.</p> + + +<h4>INTERNATIONAL RIVERS.</h4> + +<p>The Elbe from the junction of the Ultava, the Ultava from Prague, the +Oder from Oppa, <a name="Page_358" id="Page_358"></a>the Niemen from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm are +declared International, together with their connections.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Appeal to a special tribunal under international +commissions.</div> + +<p>The riparian states must ensure good conditions of navigation within +their territories unless a special organization exists therefor. +Otherwise appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the League of +Nations, which also may arrange for a general international waterways +convention.</p> + +<p>The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissions +to meet within three months, that for the Elbe composed of four +representatives of Germany, two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each from +Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium; and that for the Oder +composed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, Great +Britain, France, Denmark, and Sweden. If any riparian state on the +Niemen should so request of the League of Nations, a similar commission +shall be established there. These commissions shall upon request of any +riparian state meet within three months to revise existing international +agreement.</p> + + +<h4>THE DANUBE.</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Representatives in European Danube Commission.</div> + +<p>The European Danube Commission reassumes its pre-war powers, but for the +time being with representatives of only Great Britain, France, Italy, +and Rumania. The upper Danube is to be administered by a new +international commission until a definitive statute be drawn up at a +conference of the powers nominated by the allied and associated +governments within one year after the peace.</p> + +<p>The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damages +caused to the European Commission; shall cede their river facilities in +surrendered territory, and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, and Rumania any +<a name="Page_359" id="Page_359"></a>rights necessary on their shores for carrying on improvements in +navigation.</p> + + +<h4>THE RHINE AND THE MOSELLE</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">The Rhine is under the Central Commission.</div> + +<p>The Rhine is placed under the Central Commission to meet at Strassbourg +within six months after the peace, and to be composed of four +representatives of France, which shall in addition select the President, +four of Germany, and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, +Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Germany must give France on the course +of the Rhine included between the two extreme points of her frontiers +all rights to take water to feed canals, while herself agreeing not to +make canals on the right bank opposite France. She must also hand over +to France all her drafts and designs for this part of the river.</p> + + +<h4>RHINE-MEUSE CANAL</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Plan for a Rhine-Meuse Canal.</div> + +<p>Belgium is to be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal if +she so desires within twenty-five years, in which case Germany must +construct the part within her territory on plans drawn by Belgium, +similarly the interested allied governments may construct a Rhine-Meuse +canal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent international +commission. Germany may not object if the Central Rhine Commission +desires to extend its jurisdiction over the lower Moselle, the upper +Rhine, or lateral canals.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Facilities for navigation to be ceded.</div> + +<p>Germany must cede to the allied and associated governments certain tugs, +vessels, and facilities for navigation on all these rivers, the specific +details to be established by an arbiter named by the United States. +Decision will be based on the legitimate needs of the parties concerned +and on the shipping traffic during the five years before the war. The +value will <a name="Page_360" id="Page_360"></a>be included in the regular reparation account. In the case +of the Rhine shares in the German navigation companies and property such +as wharves and warehouses held by Germany in Rotterdam at the outbreak +of the war must be handed over.</p> + + +<h4>RAILWAYS.</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Communication by rail to be assured.</div> + +<p>Germany, in addition to most favored nation treatment on her railways, +agrees to cooperate in the establishment of through ticket services for +passengers and baggage; to ensure communication by rail between the +allied, associated, and other States; to allow the construction or +improvement within twenty-five years of such lines as necessary; and to +conform her rolling stock to enable its incorporation in trains of the +allied or associated powers. She also agrees to accept the denunciation +of the St. Gothard convention if Switzerland and Italy so request, and +temporarily to execute instructions as to the transport of troops and +supplies and the establishment of postal and telegraphic service, as +provided.</p> + + +<h4>CZECHO-SLOVAKIA</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Access to the sea on north and south.</div> + +<p>To assure Czecho-Slovakia access to the sea, special rights are given +her both north and south. Toward the Adriatic she is permitted to run +her own through trains to Fiume and Trieste. To the north, Germany is to +lease her for ninety-nine years spaces in Hamburg and Stettin, the +details to be worked out by a commission of three representing +Czecho-Slovakia, Germany, and Great Britain.</p> + + +<h4>THE KIEL CANAL.</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Open to ships of all nations at peace with Germany.</div> + +<p>The Kiel Canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant ships of +all nations at peace with Germany, subjects, goods and ships of all +States are to be treated on terms of absolute <a name="Page_361" id="Page_361"></a>equality, and no taxes to +be imposed beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for which +Germany is to be responsible. In case of violation of or disagreement as +to those provisions, any State may appeal to the League of Nations, and +may demand the appointment of an international commission. For +preliminary hearing of complaints Germany shall establish a local +authority at Kiel.</p> + + +<h3>SECTION XIII.</h3> + +<h4>INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION.</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">Permanent organization to be established.</div> + +<p>Members of the League of Nations agree to establish a permanent +organization to promote international adjustment of labor conditions, to +consist of an annual international labor conference and an international +labor office.</p> + +<p>The former is composed of four representatives of each State, two from +the Government, and one each from the employers and the employed, each +of them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative legislative +body, its measures taking the form of draft conventions or +recommendations for legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, +must be submitted to the lawmaking authority in every State +participating. Each Government may either enact the terms into law; +approve the principles, but modify them to local needs; leave the actual +legislation in case of a Federal State to local legislatures; or reject +the convention altogether without further obligation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An international labor office.</div> + +<p>The international labor office is established at the seat of the League +of Nations as part of its organization. It is to collect and distribute +information on labor throughout the world and prepare agenda for the +conference. It will publish a periodical in French and Eng<a name="Page_362" id="Page_362"></a>lish, and +possibly other languages. Each State agrees to make to it for +presentation to the conference an annual report of measures taken to +execute accepted conventions. The governing body, in its Executive, +consists of twenty-four members, twelve representing the Governments, +six the employers, and six the employes to serve for three years.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Court of international justice.</div> + +<p>On complaint that any Government has failed to carry out a convention to +which it is a party, the governing body may make inquiries directly to +that Government, and in case the reply is unsatisfactory, may publish +the complaint with comment. A complaint by one Government against +another may be referred by the governing body to a commission of inquiry +nominated by the Secretary General of the League. If the commission +report fails to bring satisfactory action the matter may be taken to a +permanent court of international justice for final decision. The chief +reliance for securing enforcement of the law will be publicity with a +possibility of economic action in the background.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Labor conferences.</div> + +<p>The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at +Washington, to discuss the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; +prevention of unemployment; extension and application of the +international conventions adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting night +work for women, and the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of +matches; and employment of women and children at night or in unhealthy +work, of women before and after childbirth, including maternity benefit, +and of children as regards minimum age.</p> + + +<h4>LABOR CLAUSES.</h4> + +<div class="sidenote">Of supreme national importance.</div> + +<p>Nine principles of labor conditions were recognized on the ground that +"the well-being, physical and moral, of the industrial wage <a name="Page_363" id="Page_363"></a>earners is +of supreme International importance." With exceptions necessitated by +differences of climate, habits and economic development. They include: +the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a +commodity or article of commerce; the right of association of employers +and employes; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; +the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; a weekly rest of at least +twenty-four hours; which should include Sunday wherever practicable; +abolition of child labor and assurance of the continuation of the +education and proper physical development of children; equal pay for +equal work as between men and women; equitable treatment of all workers +lawfully resident therein, including foreigners; and a system of +inspection in which women should take part.</p> + + +<h3>SECTION XIV—GUARANTEES</h3> + + +<div class="sidenote">The bridgehead of Cologne.</div> + +<p>As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to the +west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied by +allied and associated troops for a fifteen years' period. If the +conditions are faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, +including the bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expiration +of five years; certain other districts including the bridgehead of +Coblenz, and the territories nearest the Belgian frontier will be +evacuated after ten years, and the remainder, including the bridgehead +of Mainz, will be evacuated after fifteen years. In case the Interallied +Reparation Commission finds that Germany has failed to observe the whole +or part of her obligations, either during the occupation or after the +fifteen years have expired, the whole or part of the areas specified +will be reoccupied immediately. If before <a name="Page_364" id="Page_364"></a>the expiration of the fifteen +years Germany complies with all the treaty undertakings, the occupying +forces will be withdrawn.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">German troops.</div> + +<p>All German troops at present in territories to the east of the new +frontier shall return as soon as the allied and associated governments +deem wise. They are to abstain from all requisitions and are in no way +to interfere with measures for national defense taken by the Government +concerned.</p> + +<p>All questions regarding occupation not provided for by the treaty will +be regulated by a subsequent convention or conventions which will have +similar force and effect.</p> + + +<h3>SECTION XV.</h3> + +<h4>MISCELLANEOUS.</h4> + + +<div class="sidenote">To recognize treaties made by allies.</div> + +<p>Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the treaties of peace +and additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associated +powers with the powers allied with Germany, to agree to the decisions to +be taken as to the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, +and to recognize the new States in the frontiers to be fixed.</p> + +<p>Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against any +allied or associated power signing the present treaty based on events +previous to the coming into force of the treaty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Decision of German prize courts.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Effective on ratification.</div> + +<p>Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any +allied or associated prize court. The Allies reserve the right to +examine all decisions of German prize courts. The present treaty, of +which the French and British texts are both authentic, shall be ratified +and the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon as possible. +The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the +date of deposition of its ratification.<a name="Page_365" id="Page_365"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SUMMARY OF PRELIMINARY TREATY OF PEACE</h2> + +<h3>AUSTRIA</h3> + + +<p>On June 2 there had been handed to the Austrian delegates a preliminary +treaty which covered certain points, but left others to be dealt with +later.</p> + +<p>Austria must accept the covenant of the league of nations and the labor +charter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Extra European rights to be renounced.</div> + +<p>She must renounce all her extra European rights.</p> + +<p>She must demobilize all her naval and aerial forces.</p> + +<p>Austria must recognize the complete independence of Hungary.</p> + +<p>Austrian nationals, guilty of violating international laws of war, to be +tried by the Allies.</p> + +<p>Austria must accept economic conditions and freedom of transit similar +to those in German treaty.</p> + +<p>Sections dealing with war prisoners and graves are identical with German +treaty.</p> + +<p>Guarantees of execution of treaty corresponds to those in German pact.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Boundaries with Czecho-Slovakia.</div> + +<p>Boundaries of Bohemia and Moravia to form boundary between Austria and +Czecho-Slovakia, with minor rectifications.</p> + +<p>Allies later to fix southern boundary (referring to Jugoslavia).</p> + +<p>Eastern boundary Marburg and Radkersburg to Jugoslavia.</p> + +<p>Western and northwestern frontiers (facing Bavaria and Switzerland) +unchanged.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366"></a>Austria must recognize independence of Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Republic of Austria recognized.</div> + +<p>Austria is recognized as an independent republic under the name +"Republic of Austria."</p> + +<p>Austria must recognize frontiers of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, +Rumania, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia as at present or ultimately +determined.</p> + +<p>Boundaries of Austria, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia to be finally +fixed by mixed commission.</p> + +<p>Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia must agree to protect racial, religious +and linguistic minorities.</p> + +<p>Both new Slav nations and Rumania must assure freedom of transit and +equitable treatment of foreign commerce.</p> + +<p>Austria must recognize full independence of all territories formerly a +part of Russia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Brest-Litovsk treaty annulled.</div> + +<p>Brest-Litovsk treaty is annulled.</p> + +<p>All treaties with Russian elements concluded since revolution annulled.</p> + +<p>Allies reserve right of restitution for Russia from Austria.</p> + +<p>Austria must consent to abrogation of treaties of 1839 establishing +Belgian neutrality.</p> + +<p>Austria must agree to new Belgian boundaries as fixed by Allies.</p> + +<p>Similar provisions with respect to neutrality and boundaries of +Luxemburg.</p> + +<p>Austria must accept allied disposition of any Austrian rights in Turkey +and Bulgaria.</p> + +<p>She must accept allied arrangements with Germany regarding +Schleswig-Holstein.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Equality of races before the law.</div> + +<p>Austrian nations of all races, languages and religions equal before the +law.</p> + +<p>Clauses affecting Egypt, Morocco, Siam and China identical with German +treaty.</p> + +<p>Entire Austro-Hungarian navy to be surrendered to Allies.<a name="Page_367" id="Page_367"></a></p> + +<p>Twenty-one specified auxiliary cruisers to be disarmed and treated as +merchantmen.</p> + +<p>All warships, including submarines, under construction shall be broken +up and may be used only for industrial purposes.</p> + +<p>All naval arms and material must be surrendered.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Use of submarines prohibited.</div> + +<p>Future use of submarines prohibited.</p> + +<p>Austrian wireless station at Vienna not to be used for military or +political messages to Austria's late allies without Allies' consent for +three months.</p> + +<p>Austria may not have naval or air forces.</p> + +<p>She must demobilize existing air forces within two months and surrender +aviation material.</p> + +<p>Austrian nationals cannot serve in military, naval or aerial forces of +foreign powers.</p> + +<p>She may send no military, naval or aerial mission to any foreign +country.</p> + +<p>Penalties section identical with German treaty excepting reference to +German kaiser. New states required to aid in prosecution and punishment +of their nationals guilty of offenses against international law.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Access to the Adriatic promised.</div> + +<p>Economic clauses in general similar to those in German treaty. Austria +given access to Adriatic.</p> + +<p>Austria must abandon all financial claims against signatories.</p> + +<p>Treaty to become operative when signed by Austria and three of the +principal powers.</p> + +<p>On July 21, an amplified treaty with Austria-Hungary taking up matters +omitted from the first paper was given to the delegates from that +country. A summary of the articles follows:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arrangements for reparation.</div> + +<p>In addition to the published summary of the terms of June 2, the new +clauses provide for reparation arrangements very similar to those in the +treaty with Germany, including the establishment of an Austrian +subsection of the<a name="Page_368" id="Page_368"></a> Reparations Commission, the payment of a reasonable +sum in cash, the issuing of bonds, and the delivery of livestock and +certain historical and art documents.</p> + +<p>The financial terms provide that the Austrian pre-war debt shall be +apportioned among the former parts of Austria, and that the Austrian +coinage and war bonds, circulating in the separated territory, shall be +taken up by the new governments and redeemed as they see fit.</p> + +<p>Under the military terms the Austrian army is henceforth reduced to +30,000 men on a purely voluntary basis.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Universal military service to be abolished.</div> + +<p>Paragraph 5, relating to the military situation, says that the Austrian +army shall not exceed 30,000 men, including officers and depot troops. +Within three months the Austrian military forces shall be reduced to +this number, universal military service abolished and voluntary +enlistment substituted as part of the plan "to render possible the +initiation of a general limitation of armaments of all nations."</p> + +<p>The army shall be used exclusively for the maintenance of internal order +and control of frontiers. All officers must be regulars, those of the +present army to be retained being under obligation to serve until 40 +years old, those newly appointed agreeing to at least twenty consecutive +years of active service. Non-commissioned officers and privates must +enlist for not less than twelve consecutive years, including at least +six years with the colors.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Manufacture of war material.</div> + +<p>Within three months the armament of the Austrian army must be reduced +according to detailed schedules, and all surplus surrendered. The +manufacture of all war material shall be confined to one single factory +under the control of the State, and other such establishments shall be +closed or converted. Importation and exportation of arms, munitions and +war materials of all kinds are forbidden.<a name="Page_369" id="Page_369"></a></p> + +<div class="sidenote">Compensation for damage to civilians.</div> + +<p>Paragraph 8 (on reparation) reads, in substance: The allied and +associated Governments affirm, and Austria accepts, the responsibility +of Austria and her allies for causing loss and damage to which the +allied and associated Governments and their nationals have been +subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the +aggression of Austria and her allies. While recognizing that Austria's +resources will not be adequate to make complete reparation, the allied +and associated Governments request, and Austria undertakes, that she +will make compensation for damage done to civilians and their property, +in accordance with categories of damages similar to those provided in +the treaty with Germany.</p> + +<p>The amount of damage is to be determined by the Reparation Commission +provided for in the treaty with Germany, which is to have a special +section to handle the Austrian situation. The commission will notify +Austria before May 1, 1921, of the extent of her liabilities and of the +schedule of payments for the discharge thereof during a period of thirty +years. It will bear in mind the diminutions of Austria's resources and +capacity of payment resulting from the treaty.</p> + +<p>As immediate reparation, Austria shall pay during 1919, 1920, and the +first four months of 1921, in such manner as provided by the Reparation +Commission, "a reasonable sum which shall be determined by the +commission."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bond issues to be made.</div> + +<p>Three bond issues shall be made—the first before May 1, 1921, without +interest; the second at 2-1/2 per cent. interest between 1921 and 1926, +and thereafter at 5 per cent., with an additional 1 per cent. for +amortization beginning in 1926, and a third at 5 per cent, when the +commission is satisfied that Austria can meet the interest and sinking +fund obligations. The amount <a name="Page_370" id="Page_370"></a>shall be divided by the allied and +associated Governments in proportions determined upon in advance on a +basis of general equity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Representatives of the Reparation Commission.</div> + +<p>The Austrian section of the Reparation Commission shall include +representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, +Greece, Poland, Rumania, the Serbo-Slovene State, and Czecho-Slovakia. +The first four shall each appoint a delegate with two votes, and the +other five shall choose one delegate each year to represent them all. +Withdrawal from the commission is permitted on twelve months' notice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">To pay cost of armies of occupation.</div> + +<p>Paragraph 9, (Financial.)—The first charge upon all the assets and +revenues of Austria shall be the costs arising under the present treaty, +including, in order of priority, the costs of the armies of occupation, +reparations, and other charges specifically agreed to and, with certain +exceptions, as granted by the Reparation Commission for payments for +imports. Austria must pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the armistice of November 3, 1918, so long as maintained, and may +export no gold before May 1, 1921, without consent of the Reparation +Commission.</p> + +<p>Each of the States to which Austrian territory is transferred and each +of the States arising out of the dismemberment of Austria, including the +Republic of Austria, shall assume part of the Austrian pre-war debt +specifically secured on railways, salt mines, and other property, the +amount to be fixed by the Reparation Commission on the basis of the +value of the property so transferred.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The pre-war debt.</div> + +<p>Similarly, the unsecured bonded pre-war debt of the former empire shall +be distributed by the Reparation Commission in the proportion that the +revenues for the three years before the war of the separated territory +bore to those of the empire, excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina.<a name="Page_371" id="Page_371"></a></p> + +<p>No territory formerly part of the empire, except the Republic of +Austria, shall carry with it any obligation in respect of the war debt +of the former Austrian Government, but neither the Governments of those +territories nor their nationals shall have recourse against any other +State, including Austria, in respect of war debt bonds held within their +respective territories by themselves or their nationals.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Replacement of ships lost by the Allies.</div> + +<p>Austria, recognizing the right of the Allies to ton-for-ton replacement +of all ships lost or damaged in the war, cedes all merchant ships and +fishing boats belonging to nationals of the former empire, agreeing to +deliver them within two months to the Reparation Commission. With a view +to making good the losses in river tonnage, she agrees to deliver up 20 +per cent. of her river fleet.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Restoration of devastated areas.</div> + +<p>The allied and associated powers require, and Austria undertakes, that +in part reparation she will devote her economic resources to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. Within sixty days of the +coming into force of the treaty the governments concerned shall file +with the Reparation Commission lists of animals, machinery, equipment, +and the like destroyed by Austria which the governments desire replaced +in kind, and lists of the materials which they desire produced in +Austria for the work of reconstruction, which shall be reviewed in the +light of Austria's ability to meet them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Animals to be delivered.</div> + +<p>As an immediate advance as to animals, Austria agrees to deliver within +three months after ratification of the treaty 4,000 milch cows to Italy +and 1,000 each to Serbia and Rumania; 1,000 heifers to Italy, 300 to +Serbia, and 500 to Rumania; 50 bulls to Italy and 25 each to Serbia and +Rumania; 1,000 calves to each of the three nations; 1,000 bullocks to +Italy and 500 each to Serbia and Rumania; 2,000 sows to<a name="Page_372" id="Page_372"></a> Italy, and +1,000 draft horses and 1,000 sheep to both Serbia and Rumania.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Timber, iron and magnesite.</div> + +<p>Austria also agrees to give an option for five years as to timber, iron, +and magnesite in amounts as nearly equal to the pre-war importations as +Austria's resources make possible. She renounces in favor of Italy all +cables touching territories assigned to Italy, and in favor of the +allied and associated powers the others.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Valuable objects to be restored.</div> + +<p>Austria agrees to restore all records, documents, objects of antiquity +and art, and all scientific and bibliographic material taken away from +the invaded or ceded territories. She will also hand over without delay +all official records of the ceded territories and all records, documents +and historical material possessed by public institutions and having a +direct bearing on the history of the ceded territories which have been +removed during the past ten years, except that for Italy the period +shall be from 1861.</p> + +<p>As to artistic archæological, scientific or historic objects formerly +belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Government or Crown, Austria agrees to +negotiate with the State concerned for an amicable arrangement for the +return to the districts of origin on terms of reciprocity of any object +which ought to form part of the intellectual patrimony of the ceded +districts, and for twenty years to safeguard all other such objects for +the free use of students.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">War debt held outside the empire.</div> + +<p>The war debt held outside the former empire shall be a charge on the +Republic of Austria alone. All war securities shall be stamped within +two months with the stamp of the State taking them up, replaced by +certificates, and settlement made to the Reparation Commission.</p> + +<p>The currency notes of the former Austro-Hungarian Bank circulating in +the separated <a name="Page_373" id="Page_373"></a>territory shall be stamped within two months by the new +governments of the various territories with their own stamp, replaced +within twelve months by a new currency, and turned over within twelve +months to the Reparation Commission. The bank itself shall be liquidated +as from the day after the signature of the treaty by the Reparation +Commission.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Property within the new States.</div> + +<p>States to which Austrian territory was transferred and States arising +from the dismemberment of Austria shall acquire all property within +their territories of the old or new Austrian Government, including that +of the former royal family. The value is to be assessed by the +Reparation Commission and credited to Austria on the reparation account.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Property of historic interest.</div> + +<p>Property of predominant historic interest to the former kingdoms of +Poland, Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, the +Republic of Ragusa, the Venetian Republic, or the episcopal +principalities of Trent and Bressanone may be transferred without +payment.</p> + +<p>Austria renounces all rights as to all international, financial, or +commercial organizations in allied countries, Germany, Hungary, +Bulgaria, Turkey, or the former Russian Empire. She agrees to +expropriate, on demand of the Reparation Commission, any rights of her +nationals in any public utility or concession in these territories, in +separated districts, and in mandatory territories, to transfer them to +the commission within six months, and to hold herself responsible for +indemnifying her nationals so dispossessed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Austria to renounce treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk.</div> + +<p>She also agrees to deliver within one month the gold deposited as +security for the Ottoman debt, renounce any benefits accruing from the +treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk, and transfer to the allied and +associated Governments all claims against her former Allies.<a name="Page_374" id="Page_374"></a></p> + +<p>Any financial adjustments, such as those relating to banking and +insurance companies, savings banks, postal savings banks, land banks or +mortgage companies in the former monarchy, necessitated by the +dismemberment of the monarchy, and the resettlement of public debts and +currency, shall be regulated by agreements between the various +governments failing which the Reparation Commission shall appoint an +arbitrator or arbitrators, whose decision shall be final.</p> + +<p>Austria shall not be responsible for pensions of nationals of the former +empire who have become nationals of other States.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Committee of three jurists.</div> + +<p>As for special objects carried off by the House of Hapsburg and other +dynasties from Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Czecho-Slovakia, a committee +of three jurists appointed by the Reparation Commission is to examine +within a year the conditions under which the objects were removed and to +order restoration if the removal were illegal. The list of articles +includes among others:</p> + +<div class="sidenote">List of special articles to be restored.</div> + +<p>For Tuscany, the Crown Jewels and part of the Medici heirlooms; for +Modena, a Virgin by Andrea del Sarto and manuscripts; for Palermo, +twelfth century objects made for the Norman Kings; for Naples, +ninety-eight manuscripts carried off in 1718; for Belgium, various +objects and documents removed in 1794; for Poland, a gold cup of King +Ladislas IV., removed in 1772; and for Czecho-Slovakia, various documents +and historical manuscripts removed from the Royal Castle of Prague.<a name="Page_375" id="Page_375"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>INDEX</h2> + + +<p> +A<br /> +<br /> +Air Raids, at night, III, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>-<a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British, II, 249;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on England, I, 375-388</span><br /> +<br /> +Albert, King of Belgium, I, 114-115;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">encourages soldiers, I, 51, 53</span><br /> +<br /> +Albert, town of, III, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Alcedo</i> torpedoed, II, 374-378<br /> +<br /> +Alderson, General, at Second Ypres, I, 258<br /> +<br /> +Aleppo, importance as railway junction, II, 180;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">starting point for caravans, II, 178</span><br /> +<br /> +Alien enemies, rules concerning, II, 239-243<br /> +<br /> +Allenby, General, at Gommecourt, II. 75;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commands in Palestine, II, 344-368;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Allied retreat, I, 65-67</span><br /> +<br /> +Allied Armies, in Macedonia, III, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">positions in Battle of the Marne, I, 78, 81, 90-93</span><br /> +<br /> +Alsace, operations in, I, 84<br /> +<br /> +America Drawn Into War, II, 205-225;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad faith of Germans, II, 210;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sinking of <i>Lusitania</i>, II, 210;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stirred by invasion of Belgium, II, 208;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Sussex</i>, II, 212</span><br /> +<br /> +America's Break with Germany, relations severed, II, 197-198;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, II, 194-204</span><br /> +<br /> +America's Declaration of Existence of War, II, 224-225<br /> +<br /> +American Expeditionary Forces, a corps, III, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>-<a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a division, III, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">airplanes, III, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artillery supply, III, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artillery training camp, III, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack in the Soissonais, III, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aviators, III, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">communication and supply, III, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>-<a href='#Page_246'>246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">construction work, III, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Engineer Corps, III, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fight through Meuse-Argonne sector, III, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>-<a href='#Page_267'>267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First and Second in Soissons drive, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Army is organized, III, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first days on the firing line, III, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>-<a href='#Page_209'>209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Division at Montdidier, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Division takes Cantigny, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty-second Division east of Rheims, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty-second and Thirty-second at Cierges, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from the Marne to the Aisne, III, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>-<a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German supply line cut, III, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">infantry training, III, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">line on date of armistice, III, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses of, III, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Medical Corps, III, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ordnance Department, III, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organization of, III, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>-<a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans for movement against St. Mihiel salient, III, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ports employed, III, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quality of soldiers, III, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quartermaster's Department, III, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second and Thirty-sixth with French, III, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>-<a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second Army organized, III, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second Corps organized on British front, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second Division takes Bouresches, Belleau Wood and Vaux, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>-<a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Service of Supply, III, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>-<a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Signal Corps, III, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">soldiers in Italy, III, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">soldiers in Russia, III, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">take St. Mihiel salient, III, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>-<a href='#Page_257'>257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ten divisions train on British front, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tank Corps, III, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Third Division on the Marne, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>-<a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium, III, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">three divisions on the Vesle, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">troops in the Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>-<a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Twenty-eighth Division east of Rheims, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth Divisions break Hindenburg line, III, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Twenty-sixth at Seicheprey, III, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Twenty-sixth takes Torcy, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +American Navy in the War, III, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>-<a href='#Page_296'>296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">activities of Y.M.C.A. and Knights of Columbus, III, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>-<a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">air stations in Ireland, III, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aviation base at Eastleigh, III, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">base at Cardiff, Scotland, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Battleship Division Nine, III, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">convoy of troops, III, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">co-operates with Allies, III, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>-<a href='#Page_273'>273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cross-channel transport service, III, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destroyers on coast of Ireland, III, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destroyers at Brest, III, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>-<a href='#Page_283'>283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces at Gibraltar, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mine-laying operations, III, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>;</span><br /><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">naval pipe-line unit, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">northern bombing group of seaplanes, III, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seaplane station at Killingholme, III, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">radio station near Bordeaux, III, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">railway battery, III, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>-<a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rear-Admiral Rodgers, III, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subchasers, III, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subchasers at Corfu, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subchasers at Plymouth, III, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">submarines, III, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vice-Admiral Wilson on French coast, III, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>-<a href='#Page_282'>282</a></span><br /> +<br /> +American Food Commission, II, 163<br /> +<br /> +American Railway Association, aids war preparations, II, 332<br /> +<br /> +American ships torpedoed, II, 286<br /> +<br /> +Amiens, capture of, I, 82<br /> +<br /> +Ancre, Battle of the, Beaumont taken, II, 109<br /> +<br /> +Ancre and Somme, lines between, II, 71<br /> +<br /> +Anglo-Russian Campaign in Turkey, II, 174-187;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British save oil fields, II, 181;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British in Kut-el-Amara, II, 181;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Russians in Caucasia, II, 183-186</span><br /> +<br /> +Anzac, meaning of term, I, 224<br /> +<br /> +Arbuthnot, Rear-Admiral Sir Robert, death of, II, 52;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ships are disabled, II, 41</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Ardent</i>, at Jutland Bank, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Argonne, American army prepares for battle, III, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Americans open battle, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of ground, III, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divisions engaged, III, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is cleared of enemy, III, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prisoners taken, III, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Armenia, Russians in, I, 184<br /> +<br /> +Armistice, duration of, III, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>-<a href='#Page_305'>305</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">November 11, 1918, III, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signatories, III, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">terms of, III, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>-<a href='#Page_305'>305</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Artillery, work of, in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259,</a> <a href='#Page_261'>261</a><br /> +<br /> +Asia, routes, II, 177-178<br /> +<br /> +Atrocities, in Belgium and Serbia, II, 223<br /> +<br /> +Australians, at Gallipoli, I, 222-224;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Palestine, II, 350</span><br /> +<br /> +Austria-Hungary, army and navy reorganized, I, 8;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condition on Bulgaria's capitulation, III, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders partial mobilization, I, 24-25;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks control of Constantinople, I, 126;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends ultimatum to Serbia, I, 14</span><br /> +<br /> +Austria-Hungary and Russia, mutual antagonism of, I, 8<br /> +<br /> +Austrians, on Col di Lana, II, 55-65;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Alps, I, 315-319;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use 17-inch howitzers, III, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Austro-German Offensive Against Italy, III, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>-<a href='#Page_100'>100</a><br /> +<br /> +Austro-Italian front, II, 56<br /> +<br /> +Aviation, American naval, in Europe, under Captain Cone, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American naval air stations in England, III, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>-<a href='#Page_281'>281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American naval air stations in France, III, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>-<a href='#Page_285'>285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American naval air stations in Ireland, III, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German air raids, I, 375, 383; III, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>-<a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">report on Jerusalem, II, 362;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Royal Flying Corps at Mons, I, 73</span><br /> +<br /> +Avocourt, attack on, II, 22;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retaken by French, II, 19</span><br /> +<br /> +Avocourt Wood, stormed by Germans, II, 18<br /> +<br /> +<i>Ayesha</i>, cruise of the, I, 184-189<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +B<br /> +<br /> +Bainsizza Plateau, evacuated, III, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fighting on, III, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Baker, Newton D., Secretary of War, II, 298-343<br /> +<br /> +Balkan Nations, I, 127-128<br /> +<br /> +Balkan Railway, II, 179<br /> +<br /> +Balkan War, danger to Turkey, I, 134<br /> +<br /> +Basra, threatened, II, 181<br /> +<br /> +Battle Lines, Map of, III, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a><br /> +<br /> +Bayly, Admiral Sir Lewis, commands destroyer forces, III, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a><br /> +<br /> +Beatty, Admiral, reports on Jutland Battle, II, 31-40<br /> +<br /> +Beaumont, captured, II, 109<br /> +<br /> +Beau Repaire Farm, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a><br /> +<br /> +Belgian Army, heroism at Liege, I, 45;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retreats to Ostend, I, 106;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirit of soldiers, I, 113, 122;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stand in Belgium, I, 101</span><br /> +<br /> +Belgium, conditions better than in France, II, 167;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dangers for, I, 17;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French army in, I, 100-101;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German rule in, II, 159-173;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invasion of, I, 41-61;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last ditch in, I, 108-124;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">neutrality of, I, 31-32;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war in, I, 106-107</span><br /> +<br /> +Belleau Wood, taken, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a><br /> +<br /> +Berzy-le-Sec, captured, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a><br /> +<br /> +Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr von, opinion, I, 25-26<br /> +<br /> +Birdwood, General, plans of, I, 370-371<br /> +<br /> +Bismarck Fort, I, 216<br /> +<br /> +<i>Black Prince</i>, sunk, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Black Sea, closing of, I, 135-137<br /> +<br /> +Bohemia, National Assembly of, III, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a><br /> +<br /> +Bohlen, Herr Krupp von, opinion of, I, 20<br /> +<br /> +Bollati, Signor, views on German Government, I, 18-19<br /> +<br /> +"Boris the Bulgar," III, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a><br /> +<br /> +Boulogne, objective, I, 103<br /> +<br /> +Bouresches, taken, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a><br /> +<br /> +Boy-Ed, Captain, violates American neutrality, II, 288<br /> +<br /> +Bridge of Arches, I, 47<br /> +<br /> +Briggs, Lieutenant General, operations at Saloniki, II, 252<br /><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377"></a> +<br /> +<i>Brilliant</i>, at Ostend, III, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>-<a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Bristol</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172<br /> +<br /> +British Admiralty, I, 283-284<br /> +<br /> +British and French, cooperation in Somme attack, II, 75, 86, 89<br /> +<br /> +British Armies, advance in Marne battle, I, 80-82;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in capture of Tsing-Tao, I, 205-220;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of, II, 67;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Great Retreat, I, 86-89;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Italian front, III, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remove from Aisne, I, 99-100;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retreat in Picardy, III, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>-<a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">transported to northern theater, I, 99</span><br /> +<br /> +British Empire, in Africa, III, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a><br /> +<br /> +British Navy, arrival of squadron at Port Stanley, I, 161-162;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Jutland Bank, II, 32-54;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Coronel sea fight, I, 141-157;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Falkland Battle, I, 157-175;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grand Fleet, II, 30;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Zeebrugge and Ostend, III, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>-<a href='#Page_118'>118</a></span><br /> +<br /> +British Troops in Mesopotamia,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advance up Tigris, II, 181;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">routes to Bagdad, II, 185</span><br /> +<br /> +Brussiloff, commands offensive in Volhynia, II, 132-133;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">talks on Rumanian situation, II, 137</span><br /> +<br /> +Bulgaria, affected by the Russian Revolution, III, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of people, III, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>-<a href='#Page_172'>172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissatisfaction with Peace of Bucharest, III, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissatisfied with share of the Dobrudja, III, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissatisfied with treatment from Germany, III, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>-<a href='#Page_178'>178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influenced by Teuton promises, III, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influenced by Allied victories in the West, III, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">victorious in Serbia and Rumania, III, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from the war, III, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bulgarians, advance in Struma Valley, II, 246;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack Greeks, III, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>-<a href='#Page_64'>64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Eastern Macedonia, II, 247</span><br /> +<br /> +Bullard, General Robert L., commands Second Army, III, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commands Third Corps, and operations on the Vesle, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +C<br /> +<br /> +Cadorna, General, arrests Italian offensive, III, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>-<a href='#Page_73'>73</a><br /> +<br /> +Caetani, Gelasio, Italian engineer on Col di Lana, II, 62<br /> +<br /> +Calais, battle of, I, 104;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objective of Germans, I, 103</span><br /> +<br /> +Cambon, coolness in crisis, I, 36;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fears of, I, 16</span><br /> +<br /> +Cameron, Major General George H., in St. Mihiel battle, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a><br /> +<br /> +Canadians, at Second Ypres, I, 248-286;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">counterattack on Germans, I, 251-252;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heroism of, I, 249-252;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in gas attack at Ypres, I, 253;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of Division at Ypres, I, 248-249;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recapture of guns at Ypres, I, 221;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Royal Highlanders, I, 255-257;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Third Brigade, I, 249-257</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Canopus</i>, accompanies Glasgow, I, 146-147;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Falkland fight, I, 156-158</span><br /> +<br /> +Cantigny, taken by First Division, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a><br /> +<br /> +Cantonments, completion of, II, 327;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">materials for, II, 322-323;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sites chosen, II, 319-320;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">typical, II, 323</span><br /> +<br /> +Caporetto, falls to Austrians, III, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taking of, III, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Carnovan</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170<br /> +<br /> +Carpathians, I, 319-320<br /> +<br /> +Carpenter, Captain A.F.B., commands <i>Vindictive</i> at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Cassin</i>, U.S. destroyer, torpedoed, II, 369-376<br /> +<br /> +Castelnau, General de, orders troops to hold at Verdun, II, 16<br /> +<br /> +Cavell, Edith, I, 348-364; +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trial of, I, 350-352</span><br /> +<br /> +Central Powers, desire to dominate other races, II, 215<br /> +<br /> +Champagne, great offensive in, I, 322, 347<br /> +<br /> +Channel, race for, I, 96-107<br /> +<br /> +Charleroi, defeat of Allied armies at, I, 61<br /> +<br /> +Château-Thierry, German offensive at, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">July counteroffensive, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Third Division holds bridgehead, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">topography, III, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>-<a href='#Page_213'>213</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Chetwode, General, route of Germans by, I, 73<br /> +<br /> +China, neutrality of, I, 204<br /> +<br /> +<i>Choising</i>, German ship, I, 187-191<br /> +<br /> +Col di Lana, blowing off Austrian position, II, 55-65<br /> +<br /> +Combles, French advance on, II, 94-95<br /> +<br /> +<i>Communipaw</i>, sunk, II, 282<br /> +<br /> +Congress, in extraordinary session, II, 26<br /> +<br /> +Constantine, King of Greece, attitude of, III, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a><br /> +<br /> +Constantinople, contention for, I, 129-130;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German cruisers at, I, 135;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hold of England and France on, I, 129;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of, I, 126-127, 140; II, 177</span><br /> +<br /> +Contalmaison, attack on, II, 78<br /> +<br /> +Convoy System, III, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Cornwall</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172<br /> +<br /> +Coronel, Battle of, I, 141-157<br /> +<br /> +Coté du Poivre, attack at, II, 18-21;<br /><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken by French, II, 28</span><br /> +<br /> +Council of National Defense, II, 321-343<br /> +<br /> +Cradock, Rear Admiral Sir Christopher, attacks German cruisers, I, 150-157;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in chase for German squadron, I, 145</span><br /> +<br /> +Crown Prince, German, army of, at Verdun, II, 12;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings up fresh forces, II, 18;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges troops to take Verdun, II, 8</span><br /> +<br /> +Cumières, retaken by French, II, 22;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stormed by Germans, II, 22</span><br /> +<br /> +Curry, General, at Second Ypres, I, 256-257, 259<br /> +<br /> +Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force, III, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a><br /> +<br /> +Czecho-Slovaks, III, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>-<a href='#Page_199'>199</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of men in Siberia, III, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>-<a href='#Page_185'>185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">journey on a Czecho-Slovak train, III, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +D<br /> +<br /> +<i>Daffodil</i>, at Ostend, III, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>-<a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Declaration of War, II, 238<br /> +<br /> +<i>Defence</i>, at Jutland Bank, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Dellville Wood, attacks on, II, 87-88;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">terrain around, II, 85</span><br /> +<br /> +Deportations, II, 161-162<br /> +<br /> +Destroyers, American, III, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>-<a href='#Page_31'>31</a><br /> +<br /> +Dickman, Major General, commands First Corps, III, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in St. Mihiel battle, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Dobrudja, disposed of by Germany, III, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of defense in, II, 134</span><br /> +<br /> +Doiran Lake, British lines near, II, 246<br /> +<br /> +Donnelly, Lieutenant, surprises Turks, I, 235-236<br /> +<br /> +Douaumont, attacks at, II, 21;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French victory at, II, 27</span><br /> +<br /> +Drake, exploits of, I, 149<br /> +<br /> +Duchess of Hohenberg, I, 9<br /> +<br /> +Dunkirk, bombed, I, 109-110;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">objective of Germans, I, 103</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +E<br /> +<br /> +East African Campaigns, III, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>-<a href='#Page_53'>53</a><br /> +<br /> +Egypt, natural routes to, II, 178;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">need for large army, II, 180</span><br /> +<br /> +Eightieth Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Eighty-ninth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a><br /> +<br /> +Eighty-second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in reserve in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Eighty-seventh Division, in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Eitel Friedrich</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 162-174;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interns at Newport News, I, 174</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Emden</i>, cruise of, I, 176, 197;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ships captured by, I, 179-180</span><br /> +<br /> +Engineers, sent to France, II, 328;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">training of, II, 327;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work of, in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a></span><br /> +<br /> +England on neutrality of Belgium, I, 30-31;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scorns German proposal, I, 26-27</span><br /> +<br /> +Erzerum, taken by Russians, I, 183<br /> +<br /> +Evan-Thomas, Admiral, report on Jutland Bank, II, 39<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +F<br /> +<br /> +Falkland Sea Fight, I, 142-175<br /> +<br /> +Festubert, Canadian advance at, I, 274-275<br /> +<br /> +Fifth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a><br /> +<br /> +First Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in drive for Soissons, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in reserve in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes Berzy-le-Sec, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Flanders, Battle of, I, 97;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German attack in, I, 101-103</span><br /> +<br /> +Foch, General, afterward Marshal, outmanœuvres Germans in Battle of the Marne, I, 93;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">launches counteroffensive, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">uses American troops in Picardy and on the Marne, III, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Food, in Belgium, II, 168<br /> +<br /> +Forts of Liege, I, 54-59<br /> +<br /> +Forts, on banks of Meuse, I, 54-56<br /> +<br /> +Forty-Second (Rainbow) Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">captures Sergy, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fourth Division, in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relieves Forty-second, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +France, her wounded heroes, III, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>-<a href='#Page_152'>152</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germany declares war on, I, 35;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German rule in, II, 159-173;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">control cards, II, 160</span><br /> +<br /> +Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, assassination of, I, 10;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, I, 7-9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage to Sophie Chotek, I, 9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political designs of, I, 7-9</span><br /> +<br /> +French, Sir John, on Battle of the Marne, I, 73-82;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Great Retreat, I, 62-72</span><br /> +<br /> +French and British, cooperate in Battle of the Somme, II, 86, 89;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Italian front, III, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></span><br /> +<br /> +French Armies, advance at Marne, I, 80-82;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">break German attack at Verdun, II, 16;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Alsace, I, 83-84;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Battle of the Marne, I, 91-95;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Meuse Hills, III, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses of, III, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">official account, I, 83-107;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retreat at Verdun, II, 14;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">victorious at Ypres, I, 275</span><br /> +<br /> +Fricourt, British attacks on, II, 76;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">captured, II, 77</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +G<br /><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379"></a> +<br /> +Gallipoli, abandonment of, I, 366-374;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign at, I, 221-239;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suffering of troops, I, 367</span><br /> +<br /> +Gas, accounts for German gains at Second Ypres, I, 269;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bombardment at Second Ypres, I, 262-265;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cloud of, at Second Ypres, I, 242;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canadians charge through, I, 268;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first use in war, I, 240-276;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans first to employ, I, 276;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">peculiar appearance of gas battle, I, 267</span><br /> +<br /> +Gerard, Ambassador to Germany, II, 294<br /> +<br /> +German Activities in the United States, II, 278;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">note to Mexico, II, 297</span><br /> +<br /> +German Armies, battle plans of, II, 12;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cross the Sambre, I, 86;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">checked at Verdun, II, 16;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">driven to Soissons-Rheims, I, 77;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first to use gas in battle, I, 241-242;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Battle of Picardy, III, <a href='#Page_153'>153,</a> <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Battle of the Marne, I, 89-90;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Race for the Seas, I, 101-102;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invade Belgium, I, 41;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">line at close of Battle of the Marne, I, 81;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses in Battle of the Marne, I, 95;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses at Ypres, I, 105;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses at Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 209;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses at Tsing-tao, I, 219-220;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strength at Verdun, II, 20;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">positions in Champagne, I, 324-327;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses of, at Ypres, I, 105;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defenses between Somme and Ancre, II, 72;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in retreat, I, 79-82;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prepare for Battle of Verdun, II, 8-12;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rapid advance against Italians, III, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>-<a href='#Page_78'>78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reinforced, I, 84</span><br /> +<br /> +German Colonial Aims, strategic points desired, III, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>-<a href='#Page_46'>46</a><br /> +<br /> +German Control in Belgium, II, 167-172<br /> +<br /> +German Control in France, gendarmerie brutal, II, 167;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of girl workers, I, 161</span><br /> +<br /> +German East Africa, a menace to Asia, III, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evacuated by enemy, III, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Baron von Rechenberg, III, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></span><br /> +<br /> +German Fleet, in Battle of Jutland Bank, II, 30-54<br /> +<br /> +German Interference with American manufacturers, II, 292<br /> +<br /> +German Note to Mexico, II, 297<br /> +<br /> +German Notice of January 31, 1917, II, 285<br /> +<br /> +German Propaganda, in Allied countries, III, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>-<a href='#Page_76'>76</a><br /> +<br /> +German Spies in America, II, 286-292<br /> +<br /> +German West Africa, strategic importance of, III, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>-<a href='#Page_49'>49</a><br /> +<br /> +Germans, issue submarine proclamation, I, 280;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">make peace proposals, II, 29;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nearness to iron ore, II, 9;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">system of colonization, III, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Germany attains eastern ambitions, III, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares war on France, I, 35;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">industrial expansion of, I, 127;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mobilizes, I, 35;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loses prestige in the East, III, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">must destroy either French or British army, III, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">need for Central Africa, III, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">perfidy of Government, II, 222;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans of, I, 128-133;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparation for defense, I, 201-202;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaims ruthless submarine warfare, II, 194;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends note on submarine warfare, I, 307-308</span><br /> +<br /> +Germany's African colonies, strategic importance of, III, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>-<a href='#Page_47'>47</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Glasgow</i>, in Coronel fight, I, 146-157<br /> +<br /> +<i>Gneisenau</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 147-171<br /> +<br /> +Gompers, Samuel, labor leader, assistance rendered to government, II, 325;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Council of National Defense, II, 325-326</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Good Hope</i>, sunk, I, 146-155<br /> +<br /> +Gorizia, suffers from war, III, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a><br /> +<br /> +Goschen, Sir Edward, I, 30-32<br /> +<br /> +Gough, General, in Battle of the Somme, II, 77<br /> +<br /> +Grand Fleet, British, II, 30<br /> +<br /> +Great Britain, holds vantage points in the East, II, 180;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interests in Persia, II, 174-176</span><br /> +<br /> +Greeks, fight at Rupel Pass, III, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the side of the Allies, III, <a href='#Page_54'>54,</a> <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successes of, III, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Greeks and Bulgars, III, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a><br /> +<br /> +"Green Devils," nickname for German gendarmerie, II, 167<br /> +<br /> +Grey, Sir Edward, refuses German proposals, I, 30<br /> +<br /> +Guillemont, fighting at, II, 88-91<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +H<br /> +<br /> +Hague, The, American policy at, II, 206<br /> +<br /> +Haig, Sir Douglas, commands British in Battle of the Somme, II, 67-113<br /> +<br /> +Haig and Joffre, discuss plans for Somme offensive, II, 67<br /> +<br /> +Hardaumont, fight for, II, 18<br /> +<br /> +Hardromont Quarries, taken by General Mangin, II, 22<br /> +<br /> +Henderson, Sir David, I, 71<br /> +<br /> +Hepburn, Captain A.J., commands subchasers, III, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a><br /> +<br /> +High Wood, II, 81, 82<br /> +<br /> +Hill 304, artillery attack on, II, 21<br /> +<br /> +Hindenburg Line, broken, III, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a><br /> +<br /> +Hines, Major General John L., commands Third Corps, III, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a><br /><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380"></a> +<br /> +Hohenberg, Duchess of, I, 9-10<br /> +<br /> +Hood, Rear Admiral, at Jutland Bank, II, 38;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, II, 52</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoskins, General, in East Africa, III, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a><br /> +<br /> +Hospitals, II, 342-343; +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at naval bases, III, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bombed by Germans, III, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Housatonic</i>, sunk, II, 200<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +Identification Papers, II, 159<br /> +<br /> +<i>Indefatigable</i>, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +<i>Inflexible</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170<br /> +<br /> +Ingram, Osmund K., saves comrades, II, 370<br /> +<br /> +International Law, upheld by United States, II, 284<br /> +<br /> +<i>Intrepid</i>, at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107,</a> <a href='#Page_108'>108</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Invincible</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Iphigenia</i>, at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107,</a> <a href='#Page_108'>108</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Iris</i>, in Ostend Harbor, III, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Iris</i>, at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>-<a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_105'>105,</a> <a href='#Page_106'>106</a><br /> +<br /> +Irish, in Gallipoli fight, I, 227<br /> +<br /> +Isonzo, filled by rain, retards enemy, III, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Austro-German offensive, III, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Italian Retreat, army reaches Tagliamento, III, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Austrian aeroplanes overhead, III, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant work of cavalry, III, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">civilians in, III, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>-<a href='#Page_91'>91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties of, III, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>-<a href='#Page_91'>91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Importance of Tagliamento bridges, III, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">military stores evacuated or destroyed, III, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>-<a href='#Page_86'>86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stand on Piave, III, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Italians evacuate Bainsizza Plateau, III, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evacuate Udine, III, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">expect Austrian push, III, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tactics, I, 315, 318</span><br /> +<br /> +Italy, American troops in, III, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legion Italienne withdrawn for rest, II, 56-57;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war on Alpine front, II, 55-65</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +J<br /> +<br /> +<i>Jacob Jones</i>, U.S. destroyer, torpedoed, II, 378-384<br /> +<br /> +Jagow, Herr von, on Austrian note, I, 15;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on mobilization, I, 35</span><br /> +<br /> +Japan in the War, I, 198-220<br /> +<br /> +Japanese characteristics, I, 198;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">landing and advance of, I, 203-206;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses at Tsing-tao, I, 220;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ultimatum, I, 199-200</span><br /> +<br /> +Jellicoe, Sir John, commands at Jutland Bank, II, 30-45<br /> +<br /> +Jerusalem, British advance toward, II, 366-368;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capture of, II, 343;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">official entry into, II, 368</span><br /> +<br /> +Joffre, General, announces plans to General French, I, 76;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals to troops, I, 323-324;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms new Ninth Army, I, 75;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives order to advance, I, 90;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of thanks from, I, 347;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resumes offensive, I, 98-99</span><br /> +<br /> +Joffre and Haig, discuss plans for summer offensive, II, 67<br /> +<br /> +Jutland Bank, II, 30-54<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +K<br /> +<br /> +Kalahari Desert, III, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a><br /> +<br /> +Kato, Japanese Foreign Minister, I, 199<br /> +<br /> +Kato, Japanese Vice Admiral, I, 202<br /> +<br /> +<i>Kent</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 161, 175<br /> +<br /> +Keyes, Vice Admiral, commands <i>Warwick</i> at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a><br /> +<br /> +Kiao-chau, blockade of coast, I, 202-203<br /> +<br /> +Kigali, East Africa, III, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a><br /> +<br /> +Kitchener, Earl, II, 188-193<br /> +<br /> +Kivu Lake, East Africa, III, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a><br /> +<br /> +Kleyer, Burgomaster of Liege, I, 47-51<br /> +<br /> +<i>Königsberg</i>, in Rufiji River, III, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a><br /> +<br /> +Kriemhilde Line, penetrated by Americans, III, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a><br /> +<br /> +Kut-el-Amara, occupied by British, II, 181;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of, II, 183</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +L<br /> +<br /> +Lansing, Secretary, note to German Government, I, 305-307<br /> +<br /> +League of Nations, III, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>-<a href='#Page_316'>316</a><br /> +<br /> +Leipsic Salient, II, 77<br /> +<br /> +<i>Leipzig</i>, in Pacific, I, 147-148<br /> +<br /> +Leman, General, I, 43-61<br /> +<br /> +Le Mort Homme (Dead Man Hill), attacks on, II, 18-22<br /> +<br /> +Le Transloy, defenses of, II, 102<br /> +<br /> +Leval, Maitre de, endeavors to aid Miss Cavell, I, 353-362;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion on German Courts, I, 352</span><br /> +<br /> +Liege, Forts of, I, 54;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans enter, I, 49</span><br /> +<br /> +Liggett, General Hunter, commands First Corps of First Army, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commands First Army, III, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lipsett, Lieutenant Colonel, at Second Ypres, I, 257-258<br /> +<br /> +Littell, Colonel I.W., constructs cantonments, II, 320<br /> +<br /> +Louvain, capture of, I, 61<br /> +<br /> +<i>Lusitania</i>, torpedoed, I, 277-312<br /> +<br /> +Luxembourg, invaded, I, 41<br /> +<br /> +<i>Lyman M. Law</i>, sunk, II, 200<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +M<br /><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381"></a> +<br /> +Macedonia, Bulgarians in, II, 247<br /> +<br /> +<i>Macedonia</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 161-171<br /> +<br /> +Macready, General, cited, I, 72<br /> +<br /> +Mametz Wood, II, 78-79<br /> +<br /> +Mangin, General, takes quarries of Haudromont, II, 22<br /> +<br /> +Marne, American Third Division at Château-Thierry, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, III, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>-<a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Battle of the, I, 73-82; I; 91-95</span><br /> +<br /> +Marne-Aisne District, character of country, III, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>-<a href='#Page_224'>224</a><br /> +<br /> +Marne-Vesle, topography, III, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>-<a href='#Page_212'>212</a><br /> +<br /> +Masaryk, Professor, leader of Czecho-Slovaks, III, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a><br /> +<br /> +Massiges, capture of, I, 340-341<br /> +<br /> +Mayo, Admiral, report of, III, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>-<a href='#Page_296'>296</a><br /> +<br /> +Mediterranean, German submarines in, II, 282<br /> +<br /> +Menin Road, I, 270-272<br /> +<br /> +Mesopotamia, value of, II, 174-175<br /> +<br /> +Messines Ridge, in Battle of Picardy, III, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>-<a href='#Page_168'>168</a><br /> +<br /> +Meuse-Argonne Front, the final advance, III, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>-<a href='#Page_267'>267</a><br /> +<br /> +Meuse River, divides battlefield of Verdun, II, 10;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fighting on both sides of, II, 18</span><br /> +<br /> +Mexico, German note to, II, 297<br /> +<br /> +Mitteleuropa, apparently accomplished in 1915, III, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bulgaria only a link, III, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crumbling of idea, III, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Monastir, advance on, II, 250<br /> +<br /> +Monfalcone, III, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>-<a href='#Page_80'>80</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Mongolia</i>, fires first shot at Germans, II, 270-277<br /> +<br /> +Monroe Doctrine, II, 205-207<br /> +<br /> +Mons, Allied line through, I, 62;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British retreat from, I, 70</span><br /> +<br /> +Montdidier, First Division at, III, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken, III, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Monte Nero, cut off, III, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a><br /> +<br /> +Montfaucon, taken, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a><br /> +<br /> +Moscow, refugees in, II, 114, 116<br /> +<br /> +Motor trucks, supply French at Verdun, II, 17<br /> +<br /> +Mountain Warfare, I, 313, 321<br /> +<br /> +Mücke, Captain of the <i>Ayesha</i>, I, 176-197<br /> +<br /> +Mudros Harbor, I, 222<br /> +<br /> +Mulhouse, capture of, I, 83-84<br /> +<br /> +Munitions Board, Council of National Defense, II, 321<br /> +<br /> +Murray, Sir Archibald, Lieutenant General, cited, I, 72<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +N<br /> +<br /> +Namur, surrender of, I, 61<br /> +<br /> +Napier, Rear Admiral, II, 39<br /> +<br /> +National Army, II, 318<br /> +<br /> +National Guard, II, 318<br /> +<br /> +Naval War Council, III, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>-<a href='#Page_275'>275</a><br /> +<br /> +Navy, United States, transports troops to Europe, II, 340<br /> +<br /> +<i>Nestor</i>, sunk, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Neutrality, armed, II, 220<br /> +<br /> +New Zealanders, in Palestine Campaign, II, 361<br /> +<br /> +Newfoundlanders, at Gallipoli, I, 221-238<br /> +<br /> +Niblack, Rear Admiral, commands ships at Gibraltar, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a><br /> +<br /> +Nicholas, Grand Duke, in Caucasia, II, 183-184<br /> +<br /> +Nieuport, bombardment of, I, 110;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fight on the road to, I, 123</span><br /> +<br /> +Ninetieth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a><br /> +<br /> +Ninety-first Division, in Belgium, III, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Nivelle, General, brings up 400 millimeter guns, II, 26<br /> +<br /> +<i>Nomad</i>, at Jutland Bank, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Northey, General, advances in East Africa, III, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a><br /> +<br /> +North Sea, battle of the, I, 85<br /> +<br /> +<i>North Star</i>, British destroyer, sunk at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Nürnberg</i>, in Pacific, I, 147-148<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +O<br /> +<br /> +Oil, in Black Sea district, I, 136;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pipe line in Scotland, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Oil fields, in Persia, II, 175;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pipe line from Persian fields, II, 181</span><br /> +<br /> +Okuma, Prime Minister of Japan, I, 199<br /> +<br /> +<i>Olympia</i>, on coast of northern Russia, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a><br /> +<br /> +Ostend, evacuated, I, 106<br /> +<br /> +Ostend Harbor, blocking of, III, <a href='#Page_111'>111,</a> <a href='#Page_118'>118</a><br /> +<br /> +Ourcq, valley of, III, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>-<a href='#Page_223'>223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty-second on, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ovillers, taken by British, II, 82<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +P<br /> +<br /> +Palestine, Campaign, II, 344-366<br /> +<br /> +Papen, Captain von, plots of, II, 287-289<br /> +<br /> +Pare Mountains, III, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Patria</i>, attacked, II, 283<br /> +<br /> +Peace, Allies refuse a peace by compromise, III, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a><br /> +<br /> +Peace Treaty, with Austria, III, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>-<a href='#Page_374'>374</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Germany, III, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>-<a href='#Page_365'>365</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pershing, General John J., offers army to Foch for Picardy battle, III, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">report on American Army in Europe, III, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>-<a href='#Page_270'>270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to France, II, 339</span><br /> +<br /> +Persia, British and Russian interests in, II, 174-176<br /> +<br /> +<i>Persis</i>, sunk, II, 282<br /> +<br /> +Petain, General, congratulates French at Verdun, II, 19;<br /><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">uses 40,000 motor trucks, II, 17</span><br /> +<br /> +Petrograd, refugees in, II, 116, 118-120<br /> +<br /> +<i>Petrolite</i>, sunk, II, 282<br /> +<br /> +Piave, Italians stand on, III, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>-<a href='#Page_100'>100</a><br /> +<br /> +Picardy, Battle of, III, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>-<a href='#Page_169'>169</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fighting in Lens-Arras sector, III, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French extend to join British at the Oise. III, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German infantry advances, III, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans bring divisions from Russia, III, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans checked at Villers-Bretonneux, III, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans take Albert, II, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans take Messines Ridge, III, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>-<a href='#Page_168'>168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German objectives in the North, III, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Montdidier falls, III, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of German divisions, III, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opens, III, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan to drive through Amiens, III, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette, III, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why attack was made here, III, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>-<a href='#Page_162'>162</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Plec Line, taken, III, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a><br /> +<br /> +Plunkett, Rear Admiral, commands railway battery, III, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>-<a href='#Page_286'>286</a><br /> +<br /> +Poland, refugees from, II, 115<br /> +<br /> +<i>President Lincoln</i>, torpedoed, III, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>-<a href='#Page_296'>296</a><br /> +<br /> +Press, German opinion misled, I, 23-24;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">public opinion on peaceful settlement I, 15;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Serajevo tragedy, I, 10;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">warning in New York papers, I, 284</span><br /> +<br /> +Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 208-211<br /> +<br /> +Pringle, Captain, commands destroyers at Queenstown, III, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a><br /> +<br /> +Proclamation of War, II, 238-243<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +R<br /> +<br /> +Radio, Bordeaux station, III, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a><br /> +<br /> +Radoslavov, Premier of Bulgaria, resigns, III, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a><br /> +<br /> +Railways, Balkan, II, 179;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Berlin to Bagdad, I, 129;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British and Belgian routes in Africa, III, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Africa, III, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>-<a href='#Page_44'>44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Asia Minor, II, 179</span><br /> +<br /> +Ramscapelle, destruction of, I, 117-118;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recaptured, I, 103</span><br /> +<br /> +Rawlinson, General, commands Fourth Army at the Somme, II, 75;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commended by Haig, II, 83</span><br /> +<br /> +Read, Major General, commands Second Corps, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a><br /> +<br /> +Red Cross, establishes hospital bases, II, 341<br /> +<br /> +Refugees, I, 46; II, 114-123<br /> +<br /> +Regular Army, II, 318<br /> +<br /> +Relief ships, attacks on, II, 292<br /> +<br /> +Retreat of Allies, I, 62-72<br /> +<br /> +Rheims, capture of, I, 82<br /> +<br /> +Robertson, General, cited, I, 72<br /> +<br /> +Rodgers, Rear Admiral, commands Division Six, III, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a><br /> +<br /> +Rodman, Rear Admiral, commands Battleship Division Nine, III, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a><br /> +<br /> +Roubaix, France, under German rule, II, 159<br /> +<br /> +Rovuma River, III, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a><br /> +<br /> +Rumania, Allied plan for operation in, II, 133;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">army well drilled, II, 140;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">danger in entering war, II, 124;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of defense in Dobrudia, II, 134</span><br /> +<br /> +Rumania, King of, a Hohenzollern, II, 126;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personality, II, 126-127;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views, II, 127, 131</span><br /> +<br /> +Rumanians, withdraw from Transylvania, II, 134<br /> +<br /> +Russia, American troops in, III, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares war on Austria, I, 21-23;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends Serbia, I, 14;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">desires control of Constantinople, I, 126-127;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general mobilization, I, 38;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interests in Persia, II, 175-176;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">likely to defend Serbia, I, 14;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">partial mobilisation, I, 24-25;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives ultimatum, I, 34-35;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution in, II, 258-270</span><br /> +<br /> +Russian Army, effect of collapse on Italian situation, III, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a><br /> +<br /> +Russian Campaign, 1916, II, 68;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Caucasia, II, 183-186</span><br /> +<br /> +Russian Refugees, children emaciated, II, 115;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in freight train in Moscow, II, 114-116;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of, II, 116-117</span><br /> +<br /> +Russian Revolution, barricade on the Litenie, II, 264;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cossacks in, II, 253, 259-261;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Czar dissolves Duma, II, 255;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Duma takes command, II, 286;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">people charged by police, II, 254;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">soldiers join revolutionists, II, 267</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +S<br /> +<br /> +Sailly-Saillisel, French attacks on, II, 102, 105<br /> +<br /> +St. Julien, fighting at, I, 262, 264;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">penetration of, I, 244, 246</span><br /> +<br /> +St. Mihiel, Battle of, III, <a href='#Page_254'>254,</a> <a href='#Page_257'>257</a><br /> +<br /> +Saloniki, British operations at, II, 248, 250<br /> +<br /> +Sambuks, cruise in, I, 191, 193<br /> +<br /> +Samson, air adventure at Gallipoli, I, 232<br /> +<br /> +Sand Dunes, I, 119, 120<br /> +<br /> +Sazanoff, M., receives German ambassador, I, 27<br /> +<br /> +<i>Scharnhorst</i>, in Falkland fight, I, 147, 170;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Pacific, I, 147, 148</span><br /> +<br /> +Second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in drive for Soissons, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes St. Etienne, III, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes Beau Repaire Farm, and Vierzy, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with French near Rheims, III, <a href='#Page_261'>261,</a> <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Seicheprey, Twenty-sixth in battle, III, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a><br /><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383"></a> +<br /> +Selective Draft, classes exempt, II, 309;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">liability to service, II, 304;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">physical examination of men, II, 308;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">registration, II, 305-312</span><br /> +<br /> +Serajevo, assassination at, I, 10<br /> +<br /> +Serbia, announcement of expedition against, I, 19;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defended by Russia, I, 14;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demands from, I, 11;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replies to ultimatum, I, 22-23;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ultimatum to, I, 14</span><br /> +<br /> +Sergy, taken by Forty-second Division, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a><br /> +<br /> +Seventy-eighth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a><br /> +<br /> +Seventy-ninth Division in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Shark</i>, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Shipping Board, II, 340<br /> +<br /> +Sixtus, Prince, emperor's letter to, III, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>-<a href='#Page_156'>156</a><br /> +<br /> +Smith-Dorrien, Sir Horace, services of, I, 69-70<br /> +<br /> +Smuts, General Jan Christiaan, III, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>-<a href='#Page_53'>53</a><br /> +<br /> +Soissons, American First and Second Divisions in drive toward, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Franco-American drive toward, III, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>-<a href='#Page_226'>226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entered by Allies, III, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Solf, Dr., opinion on German colonies, III, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a><br /> +<br /> +Somme, Battle of the, II, 67, 113<br /> +<br /> +Somme and Ancre, lines between, II, 71<br /> +<br /> +<i>Sparrowhawk</i>, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Spee, Graf von, commands cruisers in the Pacific, I, 147-155;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Falkland light, I, 162-170;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wins Coronel fight, I, 148-156</span><br /> +<br /> +Struma River, bridged by British engineers, II, 250;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British positions on, II, 245;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise hinders operations, II, 248</span><br /> +<br /> +Subchasers at Corfu, III, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a><br /> +<br /> +Submarine War Zone proclaimed, II, 219<br /> +<br /> +Submarine Warfare, American lives lost, II, 279;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American vessels sunk, II, 200;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Mediterranean, II, 282;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American ships, II, 269-384;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclaimed by Germany, II, 194, 196-197;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the <i>Sussex</i> case, II, 194-196</span><br /> +<br /> +Submarines, hunt each other in the dark, II, 135-136<br /> +<br /> +Submarines, American, III, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>-<a href='#Page_137'>137</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cross the Atlantic, III, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>-<a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">go out on patrol, III, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>-<a href='#Page_134'>134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how it feels to be depth-bombed, III, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>-<a href='#Page_132'>132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the mother ship, III, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>-<a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Suez Canal, control of the, I, 138;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance, I, 138</span><br /> +<br /> +Summerall, Major General Charles P., III, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a><br /> +<br /> +<i>Sussex</i>, torpedoed without warning, II, 283<br /> +<br /> +<i>Sussex</i> Case, II, 194-196<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +T<br /> +<br /> +Tagliamento, importance of bridges, III, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a><br /> +<br /> +Taurus Mountains, Armenian, II, 184;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">frontier of Egypt, II, 178</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Thetis</i>, at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a><br /> +<br /> +Thiaucourt, taken by Americans, III, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a><br /> +<br /> +Thiaumont, II, 23-25<br /> +<br /> +Thiepval, British advance on, II, 98-99;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Somme battle, II, 76</span><br /> +<br /> +Third Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Marne, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>-<a href='#Page_252'>252</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thirtieth Division, with British, III, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a><br /> +<br /> +Thirty-fifth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a><br /> +<br /> +Thirty-second Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes Hill 230, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thirty-seventh Division, in Belgium, III, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a><br /> +<br /> +Thirty-sixth Division, with French near Rheims, III, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>-<a href='#Page_262'>262</a><br /> +<br /> +Thirty-third Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tigris, British on, II, 181<br /> +<br /> +<i>Tipperary</i>, sunk, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Torcy, taken by Twenty-sixth Division, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a><br /> +<br /> +Townshend, General, advances on Bagdad, II, 182<br /> +<br /> +Treaty of Peace, with Austria, III, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Germany, III, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>-<a href='#Page_365'>365</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Trebizond, Turks flee toward, II, 183<br /> +<br /> +<i>Triumph</i>, attacks Fort Bismarck, I, 216<br /> +<br /> +Trones Wood, British troops in the, II, 78<br /> +<br /> +Trucks, used at Verdun, II, 17<br /> +<br /> +Tsing-tao, capture of, I, 198-220;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of, I, 200-201;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">siege of, I, 207-220</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Turbulent</i>, at Jutland Bank, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +Turkey, Anglo-Russian campaign in, II, 174-187;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imperialistic designs, I, 129-130;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">economic and strategic position of, I, 131-132;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">military situation hopeless, III, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for joining Germany, I, 132, 133;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganizing army, I, 134-135</span><br /> +<br /> +Twenty-eighth Division, east of Rheims, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;<br /><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384"></a> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relieves Thirty-second, III, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Twenty-ninth Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a><br /> +<br /> +Twenty-seventh Division, with British in attack on Hindenburg line, III, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a><br /> +<br /> +Twenty-sixth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pivot of Soissons movement, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>-<a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +U<br /> +<br /> +Udine, before the war, III, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>-<a href='#Page_70'>70</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in war, III, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>-<a href='#Page_70'>70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evacuated by Italians, III, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></span><br /> +<br /> +United States, holds Germany responsible, II, 284;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">neutrality endangered, II, 208;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prepares for war, II, 298-343;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests to England, I, 281;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests to Germany on submarine proclamation, I, 281</span><br /> +<br /> +United States, military preparations of, II, 298-343;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Act to Increase Military Establishment, II, 300-301;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cantonment sites chosen, II, 319-320;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">construction and supplies, II, 324-325;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Council of National Defense, II, 331;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Council of National Defense organized, II, 334;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delayed by neutrality, II, 298;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">labor assembled, II, 325;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">labor conditions adjusted, II, 326;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Medical Reserve, II, 313;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">navy transports troops to Europe, II, 340;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Officers' Reserve Corps, II, 313;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Officers' Training Camps, II, 314-315;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organizes mines, agriculture and factories, II, 299;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pershing goes to France, II, 328;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan to operate railways in France, II, 328;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quartermaster General's problems, II, 329-334;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Red Cross hospital bases, II, 341;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Regular Army and National Guard increased, II, 304;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Selective Draft, II, 304, 305-312;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">training of engineers, II, 337;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">voluntary enlistment, II, 301</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +V<br /> +<br /> +Van Deventer, General, in East Africa, III, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a><br /> +<br /> +Vaux, fight for possession of, II, 18;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans gain at, II, 19;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken by Second Division, III, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Vaux, Fort, captured by French, II, 23;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French victory at, II, 27</span><br /> +<br /> +Venice, endangered in Italian retreat, III, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>-<a href='#Page_100'>100</a><br /> +<br /> +Venizelists, in Greece, III, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>-<a href='#Page_58'>58</a><br /> +<br /> +Venizelos, interview with, III, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>-<a href='#Page_67'>67</a><br /> +<br /> +Verdun, plateaus on either side the Meuse, II, 10;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relief map of, II, 10;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">value of, II, 10</span><br /> +<br /> +Verdun, Battle of, II, 7-29<br /> +<br /> +Vierzy, taken by Second Division, III, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a><br /> +<br /> +Vigneulles, taken by Americans, III, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a><br /> +<br /> +Villers-Bretonneux, Germans checked at, III, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a><br /> +<br /> +Vimy, in Picardy battle, III, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a><br /> +<br /> +Vimy Ridge, German attacks on, II, 68<br /> +<br /> +<i>Vindictive</i>, at Ostend, III, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>-<a href='#Page_117'>117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Ostend Harbor, III, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work of, at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>-<a href='#Page_110'>110</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +W<br /> +<br /> +Walthamstow, air raid, I, 375-383<br /> +<br /> +War, causes of, I, 7-40;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formally declared by the United States, II, 298</span><br /> +<br /> +War Messages, II, 226-243<br /> +<br /> +<i>Warrior</i>, sunk, II, 52<br /> +<br /> +<i>Warwick</i>, at Zeebrugge, III, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a><br /> +<br /> +Welland Canal, attack on, II, 291<br /> +<br /> +Western Battle Front, August, 1916, Map of, II, 66<br /> +<br /> +William II, Kaiser, eager to act, I, 28-30;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, I, 16;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Berlin, I, 23;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trip to Norway, I, 13;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ultimatum to Russia, I, 34-35</span><br /> +<br /> +Wilson, Major General, cited for admirable work, I, 72<br /> +<br /> +Wilson, President, addresses Congress on break with Germany, II, 192-204;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ideas on peace, II, 216;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">note regarding peace, II, 214-215;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">War Message of, II, 226-241</span><br /> +<br /> +Wilson, Vice Admiral H.B., commands U.S. Naval forces in France, III, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Y<br /> +<br /> +<i>Yarrowdale</i>, prisoners from, II, 294-296<br /> +<br /> +Ypres, air battles at, I, 265, 266-275;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Battle of, I, 104-106;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canadians at, I, 248-276;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Germans use gas projectiles, I, 242;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second battle of, I, 240-276;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in battle of Picardy, III, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Ysaka Maru</i>, sunk, II, 282<br /> +<br /> +Yser, Germans trying to cross the, I, 116-117;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last ditch, I, 108</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Z<br /> +<br /> +Zeebrugge and Ostend, bottled up by British, III, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>-<a href='#Page_118'>118</a><br /> +<br /> +Zeppelins, raid England, I, 375-383<br /> +<br /> +Zimmermann, Herr von, I, 35;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views of, I, 21-22</span><br /> +</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project 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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: World's War Events, Volume III + Recorded by Statesmen, Commanders, Historians and by Men + Who Fought or Saw the Great Campaigns + +Author: Various + +Editor: Francis J. Reynolds + Allen L. Churchill + +Release Date: August 12, 2005 [EBook #16513] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S WAR EVENTS, VOLUME III *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: IN FRONT IS GENERAL PETAIN ABOUT TO BE MADE A MARSHAL. +BEHIND HIM, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ARE MARSHAL JOFFRE AND MARSHAL FOCH +(FRENCH), FIELD MARSHAL HAIG (BRITISH), GENERAL PERSHING (AMERICAN), +GENERAL GILLAIN (BELGIAN), GENERAL ALBRICCI (ITALIAN), GENERAL HALLER +(POLISH)] + + + + + +WORLD'S WAR +EVENTS + +RECORDED BY STATESMEN -- COMMANDERS +HISTORIANS AND BY MEN WHO FOUGHT OR SAW +THE GREAT CAMPAIGNS + +COMPILED AND EDITED BY + +FRANCIS J. REYNOLDS + +FORMER REFERENCE LIBRARIAN -- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS + +AND + +ALLEN L. CHURCHILL + +ASSOCIATE EDITOR "THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR" +ASSOCIATE EDITOR "THE NEW INTERNATIONAL +ENCYCLOPEDIA" + +VOLUME III + +[Illustration] + +PF COLLIER & SON COMPANY +NEW YORK + +Copyright 1919 + +BY P.F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY + + + + +WORLD'S WAR EVENTS + +VOLUME III + + BEGINNING WITH THE DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST + AMERICAN DESTROYERS FOR SERVICE ABROAD + IN APRIL, 1917, AND CLOSING + WITH THE TREATIES + OF PEACE IN + 1919 + + +CONTENTS + +ARTICLE PAGE + + I. A DESTROYER IN ACTIVE SERVICE 7 + _An American Officer_ + + II. EAST AFRICA 32 + _Jan Christiaan Smuts_ + + III. GREECE'S ATONEMENT 54 + _Lewis R. Freeman_ + + IV. THE ITALIANS AT BAY 69 + _G. Ward Price_ + + V. BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND 101 + _Official Narrative_ + + VI. WITH THE AMERICAN SUBMARINES 119 + _Henry B. Beston_ + + VII. WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE 138 + _Abbe Felix Klein_ + + VIII. THE BATTLE OF PICARDY 153 + _J.B.W. Gardiner_ + + IX. BULGARIA QUITS 170 + _Lothrop Stoddard_ + + X. THE FIGHTING CZECHO-SLOVAKS 183 + _Maynard Owen Williams_ + + XI. SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE 200 + _Corporal H.J. Burbach_ + + XII. AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD 210 + _Raoul Blanchard_ + + XIII. NIGHT RAIDS FROM THE AIR 229 + _Mary Helen Fee_ + + XIV. THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE 242 + _General John J. Pershing_ + + XV. THE AMERICAN NAVY IN EUROPE 271 + _Admiral H.T. Mayo_ + + XVI. ARMISTICE TERMS SIGNED BY GERMANY 297 + + XVII. COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 306 + +XVIII. TREATY OF PEACE WITH GERMANY 318 + + XIX. TREATY OF PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 365 + + INDEX 375 + + + + +A DESTROYER IN ACTIVE SERVICE + +BY AN AMERICAN OFFICER + + + +APRIL 7. + +[Sidenote: War accepted with equanimity.] + +[Sidenote: Life on a destroyer is simple.] + +Well, I must confess that, even after war has been declared, the skies +haven't fallen and oysters taste just the same. I never would have +dreamed that so big a step would be accepted with so much equanimity. It +is due to two causes, I think. First, because we have trembled on the +verge so long and sort of dabbled our toes in the water, that our minds +have grown gradually accustomed to what under other circumstances would +be a violent shock. Second, because the individual units of the Navy are +so well prepared that there is little to do. We made a few minor changes +in the routine and slipped the war-heads on to the torpedoes, and +presto, we were ready for war. One beauty of a destroyer is that, life +on board being reduced to its simplest terms anyhow, there is little to +change. We may be ordered to "strip," that is, go to our Navy yard and +land all combustibles, paints, oils, surplus woodwork, etc.; but we have +not done so yet. + +We were holding drill yesterday when the signal was made from the +flagship, "War is declared." I translated it to my crew, who received +the news with much gayety but hardly a trace of excitement. + + +APRIL 13. + +[Sidenote: Anxiety to get into the big game.] + +There is absolutely no news. We are standing by for what may betide, +with not the faintest idea of what it may be. Of course, we are +drilling all the time, and perfecting our readiness for action in every +way, but there is a total absence of that excitement and sense of +something impending that one usually associates with the beginning of +war. Indeed, I think that the only real anxiety is lest we may not get +into the big game at all. I do not think any of us are bloodthirsty or +desirous of either glory or advancement, but we have the wish to justify +our existence. With me it takes this form--by being in the service I +have sacrificed my chance to make good as husband, father, citizen, son, +in fact, in every human relationship, in order to be, as I trust, one of +the Nation's high-grade fighting instruments. Now, if fate never uses me +for the purpose to which I have been fashioned, then much time, labor, +and material have been wasted, and I had better have been made into a +good clerk, farmer, or business man. + +[Sidenote: The desire to be put to the test.] + +I do so want to be put to the test and not found wanting. Of course, I +know that the higher courage is to do your duty from day to day no +matter in how small a line, but all of us conceal a sneaking desire to +attempt the higher hurdles and sail over grandly. + +You need not be proud of me, for there is no intrinsic virtue in being +in the Navy when war is declared; but I hope fate will give me the +chance to make you proud. + + +APRIL 21. + +[Sidenote: A chance to command.] + +[Sidenote: Bringing a ship to dock.] + +I have been having lots of fun in command myself, and good experience. I +have taken her out on patrol up to Norfolk twice, where the channel is +as thin and crooked as a corkscrew, then into dry dock. Later, escorted +a submarine down, then docked the ship alongside of a collier, and have +established, to my own satisfaction at least, that I know how to handle +a ship. All this may not convey much, but you remember how you felt +when you first handled your father's car. Well, the car weighs about two +tons and the W---- a thousand, and she goes nearly as fast. You have to +bring your own mass up against another dock or oilship as gently as +dropping an egg in an egg-cup, and you can imagine what the battleship +skipper is up against, with 30,000 tons to handle. Only he generally has +tugs to help him, whereas we do it all by ourselves. + +[Sidenote: Justifying one's existence as an officer.] + +This war is far harder on you than on me. The drill, the work of +preparing for grim reality, all of it is what I am trained for. The very +thought of getting into the game gives me a sense of calmness and +contentment I have never before known. I suppose it is because +subconsciously I feel that I am justifying my existence now more than +ever before. And that feeling brings anybody peace. + + +MAY 1. + +Back in harness again and thankful for the press of work that keeps me +from thinking about you all at home. + +[Sidenote: Orders to sail.] + +Well, we are going across all right, exactly where and for how long I do +not know. Our present orders are to sail to-morrow night, but there +seems to be wild uncertainty about whether we will go out then. In the +meantime, we are frantically taking on mountains of stores, ammunition, +provisions, etc., trying to fill our vacancies with new men from the +Reserve Ship, and hurrying everything up at high pressure. + +Well, I am glad it has come. It is what I wanted and what I think you +wanted for me. It is useless to discuss all the possibilities of where +we are going and what we are going to do. From the look of things, I +think we are going to help the British. I hope so. Of course, we are a +mere drop in the bucket. + + +MAY 5. + +[Sidenote: Happier always for having taken the chance.] + +As I start off now, my only real big regret is that through +circumstances so much of my responsibility has been taken by +others--you, my brother, and your father. I don't know that I am really +to blame. At least, I am very sure that never in all my life did I +intentionally try to shift any load of mine onto another. But in any +case, it makes me all the more glad that I am where I am, going where I +am to go--to have my chance, in other words. I once said in jest that +all naval officers ought really to get killed, to justify their +existence. I don't exactly advocate that extreme. But I shall all my +life be happier for having at least taken my chance. It will increase my +self-respect, which in turn increases my usefulness in life. So can you +get my point of view, and be glad with me? + +[Sidenote: The best things of life.] + +Now I am to a great extent a fatalist, though I hope it really is +something higher than that. Call it what you will, I have always +believed that if we go ahead and do our duty, counting not the cost, +then the outcome will be in the hands of a power way beyond our own. But +if it be fated that I don't come back, let no one ever say, "Poor +_R----_." I have had all the best things of life given me in full +measure--the happiest childhood and boyhood, health, the love of family +and friends, the profession I love, marriage to the girl I wanted, and +my son. If I go now, it will be as one who quits the game while the blue +chips are all in his own pile. + + + GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON + +MAY 19. + +[Sidenote: Rescuing a sailor.] + +On the trip over, we were steaming behind the _R----_, when all at once +she steered out and backed, amid much running around on board. At first +we thought she saw a submarine and stood by our guns. Then we saw she +had a man overboard. We immediately dropped our lifeboat, and I went in +charge for the fun of it. Beat the _R----'s_ boat to him. He had no +life-preserver, but the wool-lined jacket he wore kept him high out of +water, and he was floating around as comfortably as you please, barring +the fact that his fall had knocked him unconscious. So we not only took +him back to his ship, but picked up the _R----'s_ boat-hook, which the +clumsy lubbers had dropped--and kept it as a reward for our trouble. + +[Sidenote: Very little known about the U-boat situation.] + +We are being somewhat overhauled, refitted, etc., in the British +dock-yard here. Navy yards are much the same the world over, I guess. I +will say, however, that they have dealt with us quickly and efficiently, +with the minimum of red tape and correspondence. We have become in fact +an integral part of the British Navy. Admiral Sims is in general +supervision of us, but we are directly in command of the British Admiral +commanding the station. Of the U-boat situation, I may say little. There +is nothing about which so much is imagined, rumored and reported, and so +little known for certain. Five times, when coming through the danger +zone, we manned all guns, thinking we saw something. Once in my watch I +put the helm hard over to dodge a torpedo--which proved to be a +porpoise! And I'll do the same thing again, too. We are in this war up +to the neck, there is no doubt about that--and thank Heaven for it! + +Kiss our son for me and make up your mind that you would rather have his +father over here on the job than sitting in a swivel-chair at home doing +nothing. + + +MAY 26. + +I never seem to get time to write a real letter. All hands, including +your husband, are so dead tired when off watch that there is nothing to +do but flop down on your bunk--or on the deck sometimes--and sleep. The +captain and I take watch on the bridge day and night, and outside of +this I do my own navigating and other duties, so time does not go +a-begging with me. However, we are still unsunk, for which we should be +properly grateful. + +[Sidenote: War has become matter-of-fact.] + +I have seen a little of Ireland and like New York State better than +ever. It is difficult to realize how matter-of-fact the war has become +with every one over here. You meet some mild mannered gentleman and talk +about the weather, and then find later that he is a survivor from some +desperate episode that makes your blood tingle. I would that we were +over on the North Sea side, where Providence might lay us alongside a +German destroyer some gray dawn. This submarine-chasing business is much +like the proverbial skinning of a skunk--useful, but not especially +pleasant or glorious. + + +JUNE 1. + +[Sidenote: Glad to be in the big game.] + +When I said good-bye to you at home, I don't think that either of us +realized that I was coming over here to stay. Perhaps it was just as +well. Human nature is such that we subconsciously refuse to accept an +idea, even when we know it to be a true one, because it is totally +new--beyond our experience. Pursuant to which, I could not believe that +my fondest hopes were to be realized, and that not only I, but the whole +of America, would really get into the big game. Oh, it is big all right, +and it grows on you the more you get into it. + +Now, I realize that it is asking too much of you or of any woman to view +with perfect complacency having a husband suddenly injected into war. +But just consider--suppose I was a prosperous dentist or produce +merchant on shore, instead of in the Navy. By now you and I would be +undergoing all the agonies of indecision as to whether I should enlist +or no; it would darken our lives for weeks or months, and in the end I +should go anyhow, letting my means of livelihood and yours go hang, and +be away just as long and stand as good a chance of being blown up as I +do now. So I am very thankful that things have worked out as they have +for us. + +[Sidenote: Little one is permitted to tell.] + +There is very little to tell that I am allowed to tell you. The +technique of submarine-chasing and dodging would be dry reading to a +landsman. It is a very curious duty in that it would be positively +monotonous, were it not for the possibility of being hurled into +eternity the next minute. I am in very good health and wholly free from +nervous tension. + +P.S. When despondent, pull some Nathan Hale "stuff," and regret that you +have but one husband to give to your country. + + +JUNE 8. + +[Sidenote: Sleep, warmth and fresh food become ideals.] + +Once more I get the chance to write. We are in port for three days, and +that three days looks as big as a month's leave would have a month ago. +Everything in life is comparative, I guess. When we live a comfortable, +civilized, highly complex life, our longings and desires are many and +far-reaching. Now and here such things as sleep, warmth, and fresh food +become almost the limit of one's imagination. Just like the sailor of +the old Navy, whose idea of perfect contentment was "Two watches below +and beans for dinner." + +[Sidenote: Nothing causes excitement.] + +You get awfully blase on this duty--things which should excite you don't +at all. For instance, out of the air come messages like the following: +"Am being chased and delayed by submarine." "Torpedoed and sinking +fast." And you merely look at the chart and decide whether to go to the +rescue full speed, or let some boat nearer to the scene look after it. +Or, if the alarm is given on your own ship, you grab mechanically for +life-jacket, binoculars, pistol, and wool coat, and jump to your +station, not knowing whether it is really a periscope or a stick +floating along out of water. + +JUNE 20. + +Well, we got mail when we came into port this time, your letter of May +28 being the last one. I don't mind the frequent pot-shots the U-boats +take at us, but doggone their hides if they sink any of our mail! We +won't forgive them that. + +[Sidenote: No joy-of-battle to be found.] + +My health is excellent, better than my temper, in fact. I am beginning +to think that we are not getting our money's worth in this war. I want +to have my blood stirred and do something heroic--_a la_ +moving-pictures. Instead of which it much resembles a campaign against +cholera-germs or anything else which is deadly but difficult to get any +joy-of-battle out of. + +Do tell me everything you are doing, for it is up to you to make +conversation, since there is so little of affairs at this end that I can +talk about. It is a shame, for you always claimed that I never spoke +unless you said something first; and now I am doing the same thing under +cover of the letter. + + +JULY 2. + +[Sidenote: Life so gray that shock of danger is beneficial.] + +The other day, half-way out on the Atlantic, we sighted a periscope, and +some one at the gun sent a shell skimming over the _C----_, who was in +the way, and then the periscope turned out to be a ventilator sticking +up over some wreckage. However, the incident was welcome. You have no +conception of how gray life can get to be on this job, and the shock of +danger, real or imaginary, is really beneficial, I think. All hands seem +to be more cheerful under its influence. + + +JULY 4. + +I was so glad to get your letters. A man who has a brave woman behind +him will do his duty far better and, incidentally, stand more chance of +coming back, than one who feels a drag instead of a push. + +I am glad son had his first fight. You were perfectly right to make him +go on. Mother used to tell how, when brother was a wee boy, he came home +almost weeping, and said, "Mother, a boy hit me." Instead of comforting +him, she said, "Did you hit him back?" It almost killed her, he was so +utterly dumbfounded and hurt; but next time he hit back and licked. + +[Sidenote: The life wears nerves and temper.] + +I am well but get rather jumpy at times. Strangely enough, it is always +over more or less trivial matters. Every time we have a submarine scare, +I feel markedly better for a while--it seems to reestablish my sense of +proportion. + +It is a mighty nerve- and temper-wearing life--at sea nearly all the time +and with the boat rolling and bucking like a broncho, you can't +exercise. You can hardly do any work, but only hold on tight and wipe +the salt spray from your eyes. Sometimes I have started to shave and +found the salt so thick on my face that soap would not lather. + + +JULY 16. + +[Sidenote: Time is passed navigating, standing watch, sleeping.] + +Things are the same as before with us. Time passes quickly, with +navigating, standing watch and sleeping when you get a chance. One day +or two passes all too quickly. I wish there were more to do in the shape +of relaxation when we do get ashore. The people here are cordial enough, +according to their lights, but those that we meet are practically all +Army and Navy people, who have no abode here themselves and are almost +as much strangers as we are; and there is no resident population of +that caste that would ordinarily open its doors to foreign naval +officers. + +[Sidenote: Little for diversion in Ireland.] + +Ireland is a poor country comparatively. A town of 50,000 here shows +less in the way of facilities for diversion than the average town of +10,000 in the States. + +[Sidenote: Mental privations hurt more than physical ones.] + +Don't worry about my privations--"which mostly there ain't none." Such +as they are, they are necessary and unavoidable; and, above all, we are +fitted for them. You can't well sympathize with a man who is doing the +thing he has longed for and trained for all his life. Besides, physical +privations are nothing; it is the mental ones that hurt. A soldier in +the trenches, with little to eat and nothing but a hole to sleep in, can +feel happy all the same--particularly if life has something in prospect +for him if he lives. But a man out of work at home, sleeping in the park +and panhandling for food, is much more to be pitied, though his +immediate hardships may be no greater. + +The weather over here is very passable at present, but they say it is +simply hell off the coast in winter. However, somebody said the war will +be over in November. I hope the Kaiser and Hindenburg know it, too! + + +JULY 26. + +[Sidenote: Anxious to be in action.] + +I haven't done anything heroic, which irks me. We would like to get in +on the ground floor, while all hands are in a receptive mood, and before +the Plattsburgers and other such death-defying supermen make it too +common. + + +JULY 22. + +[Sidenote: A cheerful letter from home.] + +Your two letters of July 7 and 8 came this afternoon, but I got the +latter first and expected from what you said in contrition that there +was hot stuff--gas-attack followed by bayonet-work--in the former; +therefore I was all the more ashamed to find you had dealt so leniently +and squarely with me. Why didn't you come back with a long invoice of +troubles of your own, as 99 per cent of women would? Evidently you are +the one-per-cent woman. I bitterly regretted my whines after having +written them, for their very untruth. Alas, how many people think the +world is drab-colored and life a failure, and so have done or said +something they regret all their lives, when a vegetable pill or a brisk +walk would have changed their vision completely! Why is it that people +sometimes deliberately hurt those they have loved most in the world? I +suppose it is because we are all really children at heart and want some +one else to cry too. The other day Smith shamefacedly abstracted from +the mail-box a letter to his wife, and tore it up, and I know--oh, I +know! + +At a husbands' meeting on the ship the other day, we all agreed that the +heavy hand was the only way to deal with women; but it seemed on +investigation that no one had actually tried it the reason being +apparently a well-grounded fear that our wives wouldn't like it. + +[Sidenote: Danger, but little action or variety.] + +This war hasn't had as much action, variety, and stimulation for us as I +would like. Danger there always is, but being little in evidence, you +have to prod your nerves to realize it rather than soothe them down. +Lately, however, things have changed in a manner which, though involving +no more danger, furnishes a somewhat greater mental stimulation, and +thence is better for everybody. I regret to say that I am gaining in +weight. It was my hope to come back thin and gaunt and +interesting-looking. Instead of which, you will likely be mad as a +hornet to find me so sleek, while you at home have done all the thinning +down. Truth to tell, if you compare our relative peace and war status, +you are much more at war than I am. + +[Sidenote: The highest form of courage.] + +If you find son timid in some things, just remember that I was, too. +Lots of things he will change about automatically. At his age I had +small love for fire-crackers or explosives of any kind, but in two or +three years, and without any prompting, I became really expert in guns +and gunpowder. Try to get him to realize that the very highest form of +courage is to be afraid to do a thing--and do it! + + +AUGUST 3. + +[Sidenote: U-boat score against destroyers is zero.] + +Once in a while some one of us gets a torpedo fired at him, and only +luck or quick seamanship saves him from destruction. Some day the +torpedo will hit, and then the Navy Department will "regret to report." +But the laws of probability and chance cannot lie, and as the total +U-boat score against our destroyers so far is zero, you can figure for +yourself that they will have to improve somewhat before the Kaiser can +hand out many iron crosses at our expense. + +[Sidenote: Picking up survivors.] + +We had a new experience the other day when we picked up two boatloads of +survivors from the ----, torpedoed without warning. I will say they were +pretty glad to see us when we bore down on them. As we neared, they +began to paddle frantically, as though fearful we should be snatched +away from them at the last moment. The crew were mostly Arabs and +Lascars, and the first mate, a typical comic-magazine Irishman, +delivered himself of the following: "Sure, toward the last, some o' thim +haythen gits down on their knees and starts calling on Allah; but I sez, +sez I, 'Git up afore I swat ye wid the axe-handle, ye benighted haythen; +sure if this boat gits saved 't will be the Holy Virgin does it or none +at all, at all! Git up,' sez I." + +[Sidenote: The deep sea breeds a certain fineness of character.] + +The officers were taken care of in the ward-room--rough unlettered old +sailormen, who possessed a certain fineness of character which I +believe the deep sea tends to breed in those who follow it long enough. +I have known some old Tartars greatly hated by those under them, but to +whom a woman or child would take naturally. + +What you say about my possibly being taken prisoner both amuses and +touches me. The former because it seems so highly unlikely a +contingency. Submarines do not take prisoners if they can help it, and +least of all from a man-of-war. But I have often thought of just what I +should do in such a case, and I have decided that it would be far better +to die than to submit to certain things. In which case, I should use my +utmost ingenuity to take along one or two adversaries with me. + + +AUGUST 11. + +[Sidenote: The case for universal conscription.] + +So the boys at home don't all take kindly to being conscripted, eh? +Well, I wish for a lot of reasons that the conscription might be as +complete and far-reaching as it is in, for instance, France. I think for +one thing that universal conscription is the final test of democracy. +Again, I think it would do every individual in the nation good to find +out that there was something a little bit bigger than he--something that +neither money, nor politics, nor obscurity, nor the Labor Union, nor any +one else could help him to wriggle out of. It would go far towards +disillusioning those many who seem to feel that they do not have to take +too seriously a government because they have helped to create it. + +[Sidenote: Not a question of courage but of mental process.] + +While I have precious little sympathy for slackers of any variety, one +must not judge them too harshly because their minds do not happen to +work the same as ours. In nine cases out of ten it is not a question of +courage, but one of mental process. Some people come of a caste to whom +war or the idea of fighting for their country is second nature. They +take it for granted, like death and taxes. If they ever permitted +themselves seriously to question the rightness of it; to submit +patriotism and courage to an acid analysis, they might suddenly turn +arrant cowards. How much harder is it, then, for people who have never +even faced the idea of it before to be suddenly placed up against the +actual fact! + + +AUGUST 18. + +I have been having a little extra fun on my own hook recently. The poor +captain has had to have an operation, and will be on his back for some +weeks. + +[Sidenote: Double duty on the bridge.] + +Do I like going to war all on my own? Oh no, just like a cat hates +cream. It is a wee bit strenuous, as I have to do double duty; and one +night I was on the bridge steadily from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. But the funny +part is that I didn't feel especially all in afterward, and one good +sleep fixed me up completely. + +[Sidenote: A submarine escapes.] + +I had a big disappointment on my first run out. I nearly bagged a +submarine for you. We got her on the surface as nice as anything, but it +was very rough, and she was far away, and before I could plunk her, she +got under. If she had only--but, as the saying goes, if the dog hadn't +stopped to scratch himself, he would have got the rabbit (not, however, +that we stopped to scratch ourselves). + + +AUGUST 27. + +[Sidenote: Responsibility for lives and ship.] + +I am still in command of the ship and love it, but there is a difference +between being second in command and being It. It makes you introspective +to realize that a hundred lives and a $700,000 ship are absolutely +dependent upon you, without anybody but the Almighty to ask for advice +if you get into difficulty. + +It is not so much the submarines, which are largely a matter of luck, +but the navigating. Say I am heading back for port after several days +out, the weather is thick as pea-soup, and I have not seen land or had +an observation for days. I know where I am--at least I think I do--but +what if I have miscalculated, or am carried off my course by the strong +and treacherous tides on this coast, and am heading right into the +breakers somewhere, or perchance a mine-field! Then the fog lifts a +little, and I see the cliffs or mountains that I recognize, and bring +her in with a slam-bang, much bravado, and a sigh of relief. + +Don't you remember the days when you thought son was dying if he +cried--or if he didn't? Well, that's it! + +[Sidenote: Recreations ashore.] + +Don't get the idea that I have no recreations. We walk and play golf, go +to the movies on occasion, and there is always a jolly gang of mixed +services to play with. + + +SEPTEMBER 9. + +Life here doesn't vary much. The captain is up and taking a few days' +leave, though I doubt if he will take command for two or three weeks +yet. But I am having a lovely time running her. + +[Sidenote: A veteran New Zealander for dinner.] + +The other night we had a very interesting chap for dinner--a New +Zealander he was, who has served in Egypt, Gallipoli, the trenches in +France, and is now in the Royal Naval Reserve. The tales he told were of +wonderful interest. He was modest and seemed to have been a decent sort, +but you could sense the brutalizing effect of war on him. Some of the +things he told were such jokes on the Germans that we laughed right +heartily. + +[Sidenote: The beast in man is near the surface.] + +The beast in man lies so close to the surface. We think we are human and +law-abiding of our own volition, whereas, as a matter of fact, +nine-tenths of it is from pure habit. It doesn't occur to us to be +anything else. But let all standards and customs be scrapped, let us see +the things done freely that never even entered our minds before, and a +lot of us are liable to develop ape and tiger proclivities. We nearly +all put unconscious limits to our humanity. The most chivalrous and +kindly Westerner or Southerner would admit that massacring Chinamen, +Mexicans, or Negroes is not such a great crime; and the most devoted +mother or father is prone to regard as unspanked brats children who to a +third party appear quite as well as the critic's own. + + +SEPTEMBER 20. + +I am still in command and loving every minute of it. With any other +captain than ours it would be a come-down to resume my place as a +subordinate. But in his case I think that all mourn a little when he is +away. + + +SEPTEMBER 29. + +[Sidenote: New knowledge of navigation and ship handling.] + +Oh, it's great stuff, this being in command and handling the ship alone. +Particularly I enjoy swooping down on some giant freighter, like a hawk +on a turkey, running close alongside, where a wrong touch to helm or +engine may spell destruction, and then demanding through a megaphone why +she does or does not do so and so. I have learned more navigation and +ship-handling since being over here than in all my previous seagoing +experience. In the old ante-bellum days one hesitated to get too close +to another ship, even in daytime, far more so at night, even with the +required navigation lights on. Now, without so much light as a glowworm +could give, we run around, never quite certain when the darkness ahead +may turn into a ship close enough to throw a brick at. + +However, I am back in the ranks again now, as the captain has come back +and resumed command. + + +OCTOBER 9. + +[Sidenote: Job of an executive officer is thankless.] + +You must not be resentful because of things you have gone through, +unappreciated by those perhaps for whom you have undergone them. It is +one of the laws of life, and a hard law too, but it comes to everybody, +either in a few big things or a multitude of little ones. Do the people +who keep the world turning around ever get due recognition? I was +thinking in much the same resentful vein myself to-day, in my own small +way, how thankless the job of an executive officer is; how you never +reach any big end, or even feel that you have made progress, but just +keep on the job, watching and inspecting and fussing to keep the whole +personnel-materiel machine running smoothly, and knowing that your +recognition is purely negative, in that, if all goes well, you don't get +called down. And then I calm down and realize that it is all in the +game, and that it is the best tribute so to handle your job in life that +nothing has to be said. If your car runs perfectly, you neither feel nor +hear it, and give it little credit on that account. But let it strip a +gear or something go!! + +[Sidenote: Roller-skating for amusement ashore.] + +I hate to tell you what I was doing this afternoon. You will think I am +not at war at all when I tell you that I have been roller-skating. I was +a bit rusty at first, but warmed up to it. It is about the only exercise +we can get on shore, for it rains all the time. Each shower puts an +added crimp in my temper, as I have been trying to get a new coat of +camouflage paint on the ship. I think, if some of the old +paint-and-polish captains and admirals could see her now, they would die +of apoplexy. + +[Sidenote: No chance for wives to come over.] + +I fear there is no chance for you to come over. Admiral Sims +disapproves--not of you personally--one cannot find a place to live +here, and there would be too many hardships. How would it be for you +when we had said good-bye, and you saw the ship start out into a howling +gale or go out right after several ships had been sunk outside? With you +at home among friends, I can keep my mind on my job, which I couldn't if +you were alone over here. + +Let me say right now that the destroyer torpedoed was not ours. It was +hard on you all to have the news published that one had been and a man +killed, and not say what boat, as that leaves every one in suspense. I +suppose the relatives of the man were notified, but that doesn't help +other people who were anxious. + +[Sidenote: A destroyer is torpedoed but does not sink.] + +I don't suppose I can tell you which boat either, if the authorities +won't. You do not know any one on board of her, however. They saw it +coming, jammed on full speed, and nearly cleared it. It took them just +at the stern and blew off about 30 feet as neatly as son would bite the +end off a banana. The submarine heard the explosion, of course, from +below, and came to the surface to see the "damned Yankee" sink, only to +find the rudderless, sternless boat steaming full speed in a circle with +her one remaining propeller, and to be greeted by a salvo of four-inch +shells that made her duck promptly. The man killed saw the torpedo +coming and ran aft to throw overboard some high explosives stowed +there--but he didn't quite make it. + +[Sidenote: Damaged destroyers somehow get back to port.] + +Our destroyers are really wonderful boats--you can shoot off one end of +them, ram them, cut them in two, and still they float and get to port +somehow. + +Some time ago, on a pitch-dark night, one of them was rammed by a +British boat and nearly cut in two. Was there a panic? Not at all. As +she settled in the water, they got out their boats and life-rafts, the +officers and a few selected men stayed on board, and the rest pulled off +in the darkness singing, "Are we downhearted? No!" and "Hail, hail, the +gang's all here." She floated, though with her deck awash; the boats +were recalled, and they brought her in. She is fixed up and back in the +game again now. + + +OCTOBER 25. + +[Sidenote: British destroyers fight raiders.] + +[Sidenote: The Admiral strict as a Prussian.] + +Where did you hear that about two destroyers being sunk off the coast of +Ireland on September 3? False alarm. Of course, you have read in the +papers about the convoy destroyed in the North Sea by German raiders. +The two British destroyers with the convoy stood up to them and fought +as a bulldog would fight a tiger--and with the same result. Somebody was +arguing with the Admiral, our boss, to the effect that it would have +been better for them to have saved themselves, trailed the raiders, and +sent radio, so that the British cruisers could have intercepted and +destroyed them. Said the Admiral, "Yes, it would have been better, but I +would court-martial and shoot the man that did it." He's a wonder to +serve under, as grim and strict as a Prussian, but very just, and runs +things in a way that secures all our admiration--though we may fuss a +bit when, expecting two or three comfortable days in port, we get chased +out on short notice into a raving gale outside. + + +A BRITISH DOCK YARD, NOVEMBER 4. + +[Sidenote: A friend on hospital duty.] + +There are lots of our army people here. Some of them are just passing +through, while others are stationed at near-by training camps or +hospitals. I was wandering around the big hotel here, when I saw a +familiar face in army uniform, and who should it be but M----. Much joy! +He is near here, on temporary duty at a British hospital. I had him over +to the ship for lunch, and hope to see him again. I certainly respect +that boy. He has no military ambitions, and wishes the war were over, so +he could get back to his wife and children; but _he_ answered the call +while others were hiding behind volleys of language, and he is here to +see it through. I am afraid he is homesick and lonely, for it is harder +for a boy who does not know the English than for us hardened +mercenaries, who are accustomed to hobnob with everybody from Cubans to +Cossacks. + +[Sidenote: The American uniform and the British.] + +I will be glad when American Army and Navy uniforms are designed by a +tailor who really knows something about it. Alas, our people are +distinctly inferior to the British in the cut of their jib. I think it +is the high standing collar that queers us. It is only at its best when +one stands at Attention--head up, chest out, arms at side--being +distinctly a parade uniform. The British, with their rolling collar, and +coat tight where it may be, and loose where it needs to be, are, you +might say, less military and better dressed. + +Tell the Enfant that I am very proud when he gets gold honor-marks on +his school-papers, and I think that it probably means about the same as +a star on a midshipman's collar. (That ought to get him.) + +I must close and get a bit of sleep. It seems as if, when it is all +over, all the heaven I will want, is to be with you and son again, +perfectly quiet. + + +AT SEA, NOVEMBER 16. + +[Sidenote: True democracy is in a way inefficient.] + +I think a true democracy is necessarily inefficient in a way. The only +really efficient government in the world is the one which we intend to +pull down, or else go down ourselves, trying to! + +Can't you imagine, in the dim Valhalla beyond, how the archer of +Pharaoh, the swordsman from the plains before Troy, and the Roman +legionary will greet the hurrying souls of the aviator, the +bomb-thrower, and the bayonet-man with, "Brother, what were you?" + +I'd hate to have to explain to their uncomprehending ears what a +conscientious objector is! + + +DECEMBER 2. + +[Sidenote: Assuming command.] + +Well, to-day is one of the big days of my life, for I assumed command of +this little packet. I put on my sword and fixings and reported to +Captain Paine, who was most benevolent. Several of us went on shore to +celebrate with a little dinner. Some of the boys just over joined in, +and we became involved with some Highland officers of a fighting +regiment famous throughout Europe for the last three hundred years. +One's first ship, like the first baby is an event that cannot be +duplicated. + + +DECEMBER 21. + +[Sidenote: A jammed rudder leaves the destroyer unmanageable.] + +I needed your letter, being about twenty years older than I was a week +ago. No, no harm done. Just had my first experience of what it means +under certain circumstances to be in command. Went out with certain +others on a certain job. All went well, though we had a poor grade of +oil in our bunkers and were burning more than we should ordinarily. +Then, through certain chances, we had to go farther than expected. +Still, I figured to get back with a moderate margin, when the gale +struck us. You may have read of Biscay storms; well, believe me, they +are not over-rated. I have seen just as bad, perhaps, but not from the +deck of a destroyer. And while I am frantically calculating whether I +shall have enough fuel to make port or not, there is a wild yell from +the bridge that the rudder is jammed at hard-a-starboard and can't be +moved. She, of course, at once fell off into the trough of the sea, and +the big green combers swept clear over her at every roll, raising merry +hob. All the boats were smashed to kindling-wood; chests, and everything +on deck not riveted down, went over the side. In that sea you could no +more manoeuvre by your engines alone than you could dam Niagara with a +handful of sand. A man alongside of me aft, where we were working on the +steering-gear, was swept overboard, but, having a line around his waist, +was hauled back like a hooked fish. + +All I could do was to steam in a big circle, and at one point would be +running before it, and could work for an instant or two with the seas +running up to our waists. When they get over your head, you probably +won't be there any longer. At that time I didn't really expect to stay +afloat, but was too busy with the matters in hand to care. Well, we +finally got it fixed, though we could only use about 15 degrees of +rudder instead of full. + +[Sidenote: Lack of fuel causes worry.] + +All this time we were drifting merrily to leeward at a rate that I hated +even to guess at, with the certainty, unless matters mended, of +eventually piling up on the Spanish coast, then not far away, though I +hadn't had sight of sun or stars in days, and didn't know within fifty +miles where I was. Well, when I finally headed up into it, I could just +about hold her, without making any headway to speak of. You cannot drive +a destroyer dead into a heavy sea at full speed without bursting her in +two. Still, the situation would have been nothing to worry about much if +I had had sufficient fuel. Now, you on shore may fancy that a ship just +keeps on steaming till she gets there, whether it takes a month or more; +but such is far from the case. Every mile you go consumes just so much +fuel, and, if your margin of safety is too small, you are liable to be +out of luck. And my calculations showed me that while I was using up oil +enough to be making ---- knots, in the teeth of the gale we were only +making ---- knots, and that at that rate I never would make port. + +[Sidenote: Three courses are possible.] + +[Sidenote: The destroyer makes France.] + +[Sidenote: Steel the aristocrat among metals.] + +There were three courses open to me: to let her drift, consuming my oil, +in the hope that it would blow over; to run into a Spanish port; or to +run for France, my destination, and, if I fell short of it, to yell for +help by radio, and trust to luck that they could send out and pick me +up. The first course was too risky. I would be making untold miles to +leeward all the time, would probably roll the masts and funnels out of +her, and maybe burst down anyhow, too far off for help. The second +choice was the safest. I could reach Ferrol or Vigo all right, but they +would probably try to intern me; and while I had heard that King Alfonso +was a regular guy and a good scout to run around with, the ensuing +diplomatic complications would make me about as popular in Allied +circles as the proverbial skunk at a bridge-party. So I took the final +alternative, and jammed her into the teeth of it for all I thought she +could stand without imitating an opera hat or an accordion. And, glory +be, she made it, the blessed little old cross between a porpoise and a +safety-razor blade! Whether the gale really moderated, or I got more +nerve, I don't know; but anyhow I gave her more and more, half a knot at +a time, until we were actually making appreciable headway against it. I +never thought any ship could stand the bludgeoning she got. It seemed as +if every rivet must shear, every frame and stanchion crush, under the +impact of the Juggernaut seas that hurtled into her. As a thoroughbred +horse starts and trembles under the touch of the whip, so she reared and +trembled, only to bury herself again in the roaring Niagara of water. +Oh, you thoroughbred high-tensile steel! blue-blooded aristocrat among +metals; Bethlehem or Midvale may claim you--you are none the less +worthy of the Milan casque, the Damascus blade, your forefathers! +Verily, I believe you hold on by sheer nerve, when by all physical laws +should buckle or bend to the shock! + +[Sidenote: Torpedo detonators spilt on deck.] + +And so we kept on. Don't you know, how in the stories it is always in a +terrific gale that the caged lion or gorilla or python breaks loose and +terrorizes the ship? We don't sport a menagerie on the ----, but I did +pick up the contents of the dry gun-cotton case, which had broken and +spilt the torpedo detonators around on deck contiguous to the hot +radiator! And, of course, the decks below were knee-deep in books, +clothes, dishes, etc., complicated in some compartments by a foot or two +of oil and water. + +[Sidenote: Soundings and landmarks.] + +Well, the next day we made a little more, and the seas were only +gigantic, not titanic. The oil was holding out better, too, as we struck +a better grade in some of our tanks, and I saw that we had a fighting +chance of making it. By night I felt almost confident we could, and I +really slept some. Next day I expected to make land, but, of course, had +little idea how far I might really be from my reckoning. Nevertheless, +we sighted ---- Light about where I expected to, and laid a course from +there into the harbor. It was a rather thick, foggy day, and pretty soon +I noted a cunning little rock or two, dead ahead, where they didn't by +any means belong. So I rather hurriedly arrested further progress, took +soundings, and bearings of different landmarks, and found that we were +some twenty-five miles from our reckoning--so far, in fact, as to have +picked up the next light-house instead of the one we thought. + +After this 'twas plain sailing, though I had never been into that port +before. Made it about noon, took possession of a convenient mooring-buoy +inside the breakwater--which buoy I found out later was sacred to the +French flag-ship or somebody like that--called on our Admiral there, and +was among friends. Yes, by heck, I let 'em buy me a drink at the club--I +needed it! Had oil enough left for just about an hour more! + + +Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, April, 1918. + + * * * * * + +While the great campaigns were being waged on the western fronts, there +was being carried on in a more remote part of the world a series of +operations which involved as hard fighting and as many difficulties as +were encountered in any other field of action. The campaigns in East +Africa which resulted in driving the Germans from their former colonies +are described in the following narrative. + + + + +EAST AFRICA + +JAN CHRISTIAAN SMUTS + + +[Sidenote: Learned South Africa in The Boer War.] + +In the strenuous days of the Boer War I learned to know my South Africa +from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean as one learns a country only under +the searching test of war. I came to know the unfrequented paths, the +trackless parts of the bush, the wastes where people do not often go. I +believe it is generally admitted that I covered more country than any +other commander in the field on either side--and my movement was not +always in the direction of the enemy! + +[Sidenote: Obtaining water on the Kalahari Desert.] + +When the present war broke out, I proceeded once more on my extensive +travels, and I became something of an expert in the waterless, sandy +wastes of the southern half of German Southwest Africa. As for the +Kalahari Desert, over which the movement of men and transport was +supposed to be quite impossible, we did not rest until we had sunk +bore-holes for water for hundreds of miles, and until we had moved a +large force of thousands of mounted men across an area in which it was +thought no human being could ever move. One of the reasons of our +success in that campaign was that, moving through the Kalahari Desert, +we struck the enemy country at its very heart. The travels of +Livingstone, of Selous, who was a comrade of mine in this war, and of +other illustrious men in those vast solitudes of southern Africa were as +joy-rides to what we had to undergo in conducting a big campaign against +the enemy, and still more against nature. + +[Sidenote: A campaign in East Africa.] + +[Sidenote: Careful study of topography necessary.] + +[Sidenote: Books of travelers all wrong.] + +When that campaign was over, and I thought my traveling days were past, +the call came to East Africa, and 1916 was spent in traveling over the +vast tropical expanses of that fascinating country. I need scarcely say +that a military commander has often very special opportunities of +learning geography. He has to study the country with the eyes not of the +scientist or the traveler or the hunter, but of the soldier responsible +for the lives and the movements and supplies of large masses of men. It +is one thing to follow the track of the elephant or to stalk the lion or +antelope or to collect butterflies or other gorgeous things; it is quite +a different and, from the point of view of learning geography, certainly +a far more enlightening, task to lead a large army over those virgin +solitudes, where your problem involves the careful study not only of +topographical features, but of all the numerous natural conditions which +affect your progress. To provide for the needs of a small _safari_ may +be a light or delightful task; but the difficulties and requirements of +a large force, moving forward against an alert, ubiquitous foe, compel +you to probe into everything: the nature of the country, with its +mountains and rivers, forests and deserts, for scores of miles around; +its animal and human diseases; its capacity for supplies and transport; +its climate and soil and rainfall. And one of your first discoveries is +that the books of the travelers are mostly wrong. What to them was +perhaps a paradise of plant or animal life is to you, moving with your +vast impedimenta, a veritable purgatory. You soon come to agree with +Scripture that all men are liars, and from this rule you do not even +except the missionaries who write with their heads in the clouds; nor do +you except the writers of intelligence books compiled in Whitehall from +the hunting tales of the travelers or the fairy-tales of the +missionaries, and marked "very secret." But these secrets are like most +secrets of the African continent, very disconcerting to the simple, +trustful soul. + +[Sidenote: The silence of the forest is broken by the tramp of armed +men.] + +[Sidenote: Horses virtually unknown.] + +These campaigning experiences were unique. Probably never before in the +history of the world had such things been seen: the stillness, the +brooding silence of the vast primeval forest where no, or few, white men +have ever been before, and the only path is the track of the elephant; +the silence of the forest, stretching for hundreds of miles in all +directions, broken by the tramp of tens of thousands of armed men, +followed by the guns and heavy transport of a modern army, with its +hundreds of motor-lorries, its miles of wagons, its vast concourse of +black porters; while overhead the aeroplane, or, as the natives call it, +the "bird," more dreaded and more feared than even the crocodile in the +river, passes on swiftly with its bombs for the foe retreating ahead. +And what an effect this movement, continued for many months over many +thousands of miles, produced on the minds of the native population, +looking on in speechless awe and amazement at the mystery of the white +man's doings! I have often stopped to wonder at the natives' state of +mind. It must have been not unlike what is told of one of my simple +countrymen, on whose farm an aviator descended with an aeroplane, never +seen or heard of before, and who calmly walked forward to shake hands +with the heavenly visitant, whom he believed none other than the Lord! +And since horses, because of the fly, are virtually unknown in most +parts of the country, the natives were dumfounded by our mounted men, +strange centaur-like animals that they called "Kabure," after my mounted +Boer forces, of whom at first they were mortally afraid. Even bodies of +well-trained armed native soldiers have been seen to throw away their +rifles and run for dear life into the bush at the first sight of mounted +men. + +[Sidenote: Parallel mountain ranges rise in tiers.] + +[Sidenote: The second belt or veldt.] + +[Sidenote: Changes in rainfall.] + +The whole east of the African continent from the cape in the south up to +Abyssinia in the north, and, I believe, farther, is marked by one +persistent feature, the existence of several more or less parallel +mountain-ranges rising in tiers from the coast. At the top of the last +and highest mountain-range lies the great elevated inland plateau, +stretching like a broad back along the continent. The first line of +hills or low mountains runs at a distance of from ten to fifty miles +from the coast of the Indian Ocean, and all the country between it and +the sea forms a low coastal belt, which seldom rises more than a few +hundred feet above sea-level, with a distinct coastal climate and +vegetation. Between these coastal hills and the next range lies the +second belt, called in South Africa the low veldt, again with a climate +and rainfall and vegetation of its own. Next and last, at a distance of +from a hundred to one hundred and fifty miles from the Indian Ocean, +runs a mountain system, often rising to great altitudes, on which rests +the great elevated inland plateau from four thousand to six thousand +feet above the level of the sea. This plateau continues for hundreds of +miles westward, and then begins to slope toward the Atlantic Ocean in +the far distance. Sometimes, as in Central Africa, the slope to the west +is very sudden, and another range of mountains forms the western +buttress of the great central plateau. All the great rivers of Africa, +with the exception of the Niger, rise on this plateau or on its +mountain-flanks, which have a very high rainfall. The bush, or great +forest, which is almost impenetrable in the coastal belt, becomes +somewhat more open in patches in the middle belt, while on the plateau +open, park-like country alternates with treeless, grassy plains, and +the forest is confined to the deep valleys or the mountain-slopes. The +rainfall, which is fair on the coast, becomes very light in the middle +belt, which in consequence tends to have an arid character; on the +plateau it is high or very high. Because of these marked differences the +economic character of the three regions varies considerably. +Semi-tropical products, such as maize, coffee, cotton, and millet, can +be raised on an almost unlimited scale on the plateau; while rice, +rubber, sisal, and copra are raised in the two lower belts. + +[Sidenote: The chain of large lakes.] + +[Sidenote: Extinct and active volcanoes.] + +All along the mountains which mark the western edge of the high plateau +one will notice a chain of lakes, from Nyasa in the south through +Tanganyika and Kivu to Lake Albert in the north. In prehistoric time +some convulsion of nature broke the African continent all along its +spine, and formed this system of lakes. Another break occurs on the high +plateau, from Portuguese East Africa in the south to British East Africa +in the north, along the Great Rift Valley, with its magnificent +escarpments and weird scenery, prolonged through Lake Rudolf to the Red +Sea and on to the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley. Great volcanoes, now +mostly extinct, though some to the north of Kivu are still active, are a +still later feature of the country. + +[Sidenote: Lakes and mountains a frontier for defense.] + +I have referred to these lakes and to the great mountain-chain along the +lakes because they formed the western boundary of German East Africa, +and from the point of view of defense made a magnificent frontier so +strong that the Belgian forces moving from the Congo found it impossible +to invade the enemy territory from the west, and had to be moved in +large part northeast before they could strike south. Once there, with +their usual dash they did their work remarkably well. + +[Sidenote: Seaplanes attack German vessels in the lakes.] + +As soon as this northern column had reached Kigali, the capital of the +lofty Ruanda Province, the German forces fell back from the neighborhood +of Lake Kivu, and the remainder of the Belgian army was able to advance +from the west across the mountain barrier. Simultaneously, and in +cooerdination with their advance, strong British columns were moving +southward to the west of Victoria Nyanza. As soon as we had reached the +southern shores of the lake, a new concerted forward movement by the +British and Belgian columns was begun both from Victoria Nyanza and from +Tanganyika, where in the meantime the German armed vessels on the lake +had been bombed and destroyed by seaplanes, and Ujiji on the eastern +shore had been occupied. This movement did not stop until Tabora, with +the central railway, was occupied early in September, 1916. + +[Sidenote: General Northey's advance across the mountain.] + +At the same time a great movement was made in the south by General +Northey, who advanced from the line between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa +across the mountains flanking the great plateau on the west. This is a +very mountainous region; but he got over the mountains, and moving +north, took Bismarckburg, Neu Langenburg, and afterward Iringa, where +our main forces joined hands with his. These advances, all carried out +with great skill and energy against very great physical difficulties, +were subsidiary to the principal attack, which was being executed from +the north-east, in the neighborhood of Kilimanjaro. + +[Sidenote: The River Rovuma a strategic line.] + +[Sidenote: Pursuit of enemy across Rovuma is difficult.] + +The southern boundary between German East Africa and Portuguese East +Africa was formed by the River Rovuma, which, coming from the high +plateau and the mountains to the east of Nyasa, is one of the large +African rivers. Except in its highest reaches near Lake Nyasa it is not +fordable, and makes an admirable strategic line. However, as Portugal +came into the war after most of the German colony had already been +occupied by us, this river acquired strategic importance only toward the +end of the campaign, and then in a sense adverse to us, as General Van +Deventer has found to his cost. After the remnants of the German native +forces had been driven across the Rovuma at the beginning of December, +1917, our forces found the swift pursuit across the river a difficult +task. We are, however, now operating against the roving bands into which +the enemy force has split, and if ever they try to break back to their +occupied colony, they will find the line of the Rovuma a very serious +barrier. + +[Sidenote: The search for the German raider _Koenigsberg_.] + +[Sidenote: The _Koenigsberg's_ guns accompany the enemy on land.] + +The eastern boundary of the colony is the coast-line of the Indian Ocean +for almost five hundred miles, with some very beautiful harbors, and it +was dominated by our navy from the day that war was declared. The Royal +Navy has played a very active part in our African campaigns, and one of +the most fascinating episodes of the war was the search for the +_Koenigsberg_, lost after she had destroyed the _Pegasus_ and done much +damage in the Indian Ocean. She was discovered in a most secluded branch +of the Rufiji River, and ultimately destroyed by seaplanes and monitors +in her impenetrable lair. Yet, though destroyed, she made her voice +heard over all that vast country, for her ten big naval guns, each +pulled by teams of four hundred stalwart natives, accompanied the enemy +armies in all directions, and, with other naval guns and howitzers +smuggled into the country, made the enemy in many a fight stronger in +heavy artillery than we were. + +[Sidenote: Extensive enemy fortifications at the mountain gap.] + +[Sidenote: The rainy season worse than imagined.] + +From a strategic point of view, the northern frontier was the most +difficult of all. It passed north of Kilimanjaro, to the west of which +is a desert belt. East of this desert belt and Kilimanjaro the enemy +colony was protected by an almost impassable mountain system, with a +very narrow, swampy, dangerous gap between the Usambara and Pare +Mountains, and another gap of about four or five miles between the Pare +Mountains and Kilimanjaro. It was impossible to move an army through the +first gap; the second gap at the foot of Kilimanjaro was the place where +the enemy had located himself early in the war on British territory, and +with patience and skill had dug himself in, with very extensive +fortifications, surrounded by dense forests and impassable swamps. Here +he lay waiting for eighteen months, threatening British East Africa. +From here he was driven in March, 1916, and by the end of that month our +forces had conquered the whole Kilimanjaro-Meru areas. It was at this +stage, and after our initial success, that the rainy season set in; and +that is another great feature of German East Africa. I had read much +about it, and I had heard more; but the reality far surpassed the worst +I had read or heard. For weeks the rain came down ceaselessly, +pitilessly, sometimes three inches in twenty-four hours, until all the +hollows became rivers, all the low-lying valleys became lakes, the +bridges disappeared, and all roads dissolved in mud. All communications +came to an end, and even Moses himself in the desert had not such a +commissariat situation as faced me. + +[Sidenote: The enemy's line of retreat.] + +When in the latter part of May the rains subsided, the advance against +the enemy was once more resumed. In order to create the maximum +difficulties for our advance, the enemy chose as his line of retreat the +great block of mountains which I have referred to as forming the eastern +buttress of the great central plateau. For the next three and a half +months our forward movement continued with only one short pause until +by the middle of September we had reached the great valleys of the +Rufiji and the Great Rwaha in the far south, and across the Rwaha we +could link up with General Northey at Iringa in the southwest. + +[Sidenote: Difficulties of transport and supply in advance.] + +[Sidenote: Poisonous insects and tropical diseases.] + +[Sidenote: The campaign a story of human endurance.] + +It is impossible for those unacquainted with German East Africa to +realize the physical, transport, and supply difficulties of an advance +over this magnificent, but mountainous, country, with a great rainfall +and wide, unbridged rivers in the regions of the mountains, and +insufficient surface water on the plains for the needs of an army; with +magnificent primeval forest everywhere, pathless, trackless, except for +the spoor of the elephant or the narrow footpaths of the natives. The +malaria mosquito is everywhere except on the higher plateaus; everywhere +the belts are infested with the deadly tsetse fly, which makes an end of +all animal transport; and almost everywhere the ground is rich black or +red cotton soil, which any transport converts into mud in the rain or +dust in the drought. Everywhere the fierce heat of equatorial Africa, +accompanied by a wild luxuriance of parasitic life, breed tropical +diseases in the unacclimatized whites. These conditions make life for +the white man in that country sufficiently trying. If in addition he has +to perform hard work and make long marches on short rations, the trial +becomes very severe; if, above all, huge masses of men and material have +to be moved over hundreds of miles in a great military expedition +against a mobile and alert foe, then the strain becomes almost +unendurable. And the chapter of accidents in this region of the unknown! +Unseasonable rains cut off expeditions for weeks from their supply +bases. Animals died by the thousand--after passing through an unknown +fly-belt. Mechanical transport got bogged in the marshes, held up by +bridges washed away, or mountain passes obstructed by sudden floods. And +the gallant boys, marching far ahead under the pitiless African sun, +with the fever raging in their blood, pressed ever on after the +retreating enemy, often on reduced rations, and without any of the small +comforts which in this climate are real necessities. In the story of +human endurance this campaign deserves a very special place, and the +heroes who went through it uncomplainingly, doggedly, are entitled to +all recognition and reverence. Their commander-in-chief will remain +eternally proud of them. + +When in January, 1917, I relinquished the command to my successor, +General Hoskins, we were across the Rufiji River in the southeast, and +in the great valley formed by the principal tributaries, the Ulanga and +Ruhuje rivers in the west; but the rainy season which set in shortly +afterward stopped all advance until the following June. + +[Sidenote: Enemy's forces evacuate German East Africa.] + +Five months later our advance was resumed, and by the beginning of +December, 1917, the last remnants of the enemy's forces had evacuated +German East Africa across the Rovuma, while our forces were operating +against the enemy bands far south in Portuguese territory, as I have +already stated. + +[Sidenote: Development of tropical Africa retarded by diseases.] + +In economic value this region ranks very high among the tropical +countries of the African continent, and probably no part of all Africa +has a climate or soil more suitable for the production on an immense +scale of copra, cocoanuts, coffee, sugar, sisal, rubber, cotton, and +other tropical products, or of such semi-tropical products as maize and +millet. In common with the rest of tropical Africa, its full development +is still retarded by the undefeated animal and human diseases, +especially malaria. But the time is not far distant when science will +have overcome these drawbacks, and when Central and East Africa will +have become one of the most productive and valuable parts of the +tropics. But until science solves the problems of tropical disease, East +and Central Africa must not be looked upon as an area for white +colonization. Perhaps they will never be a white man's country in any +real sense. In those huge territories the white man's task will probably +be largely confined to that of administrator, teacher, expert, manager, +or overseer of the large negro populations, whose progressive +civilization will be more suitably promoted in connection with the +industrial development of the land. + +[Sidenote: The Germans discouraged white settlement.] + +[Sidenote: Natives compelled to work for planters.] + +[Sidenote: German system more profitable one.] + +It is clear from their practice in East Africa that the Germans had +decided to develop the country not as an ordinary colony, but as a +tropical possession for the cultivation of tropical raw materials. They +systematically discouraged white settlement; the white colonists, with +their small farms, gradually building up a European system on a small +scale, who are a marked feature of British colonies, were conspicuously +absent. Instead, tracts of country were granted to companies, +syndicates, or men with large capital, on conditions that plantations of +tropical products would be cultivated. The planters were supplied with +native labor under a government system which compelled the natives to +work for the planters for a certain very small wage during part of every +year; and as labor was very plentiful, with seven and a half millions of +natives, the future for the capitalist syndicates seemed rosy enough. No +wonder that under this _corvee_ system East Africa and the Kamerun were +rapidly developing into very valuable tropical assets, from which in +time the German Empire would have derived much of the tropical raw +material for its industries. The Germans realized better than most +people that the value of tropical Africa lay not in any openings for +white colonization, such as are being developed next door to their +colonies in British East Africa, but in the plantation system, where +white capital and black labor collaborate to establish an entirely +different order of things. Harsh as the German system undoubtedly is, I +am not prepared to deny that it is perhaps the more scientific one, and +that in the long run it is the more profitable form of exploiting the +tremendous natural resources of the tropics. + +With regard to tropical Africa, so vast in area, so great in resources, +the first desideratum for its development is the opening up of +communication. The lakes, the Nile, and the Congo form the principal +natural links in any chains of communication with the seaboard; and the +question is, how far railways have come in or will come in to complete +these chains. + +[Sidenote: Railways built in the Congo territory and connective.] + +Two railways built during the war in the Congo territory have largely +extended the communications from east to west, and from the center to +the south. These two railways have opened up many routes in Central and +East Africa, and it is now possible to travel from the Indian Ocean at +Dar-es-Salaam by the German Central Railway to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika; +by steamer across the lake to Albertville; thence by train to Kabalo; by +steamer on to Kongolo; train to Kindu, and on by steamer and rail down +the Congo to the Atlantic Ocean. + +[Sidenote: Railways in South Africa.] + +Now, as to the communications in the south, one can travel from Cape +Town by rail to Bukama, and thence by steamer and rail either to Boma on +the Atlantic coast, or by rail and steamer to Dar-es-Salaam on the +Indian Ocean. Besides these through lines, there is the Uganda Railway +from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to the Victoria Nyanza, and there are +in contemplation two other railways from the east coast to Nyasa, one +from Kilwa, and one from Porto Amelia, in Portuguese East Africa. A +railway is also under construction from Lobito Bay on the Atlantic to +the Katanga copper areas, already reached from the south and east by the +railways from Cape Town and Beira. + +[Sidenote: Communications to the northward.] + +The question remains as to communications northward to the +Mediterranean. One can travel to-day from Alexandria by rail and river +to Khartoum, and thence by steamer up the Nile to Rejaf, near the Uganda +border. From Rejaf to Nimule, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, +the Nile is impracticable for river transport, and therefore over that +distance a railway will have to be built. But from Nimule the river is +again navigable up to Lake Albert. The problem is to connect Lake Albert +with the Central and South African systems. + +[Sidenote: Possible Belgian and British routes.] + +[Sidenote: Tropical Africa a great problem in world politics.] + +Three routes are possible, one wholly Belgian, one partly British and +partly Belgian, and one wholly British. That is on the assumption that +German East Africa remains British after this war. The Belgian project +is to construct the railway from the Congo bend at Stanleyville over the +gold-fields at Kilo to Mahagi on Lake Albert. The British project would +be to construct a line from the south of Elizabethville to Bismarckburg, +at the south of Lake Tanganyika, to proceed thence by steamer to Ujiji, +thence by the existing railway to Tabora, to construct a line from +Tabora to Mwanza on Lake Victoria Nyanza, and a line from Entebbe on +that lake to Butiabwa, on Lake Albert. The third or mixed +Belgian-British line would proceed by way of Butiabwa, Entebbe, Mwanza, +Tabora, and Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, but from there would make use of +the existing line to Kabalo on the Congo. It is probable that by one or +other of these three routes through communication from South Africa to +the Mediterranean may be established within the next ten years. With +this vital industrial aspect of tropical Africa there is wrapped up the +equally important political aspect, and these two problems are certain +to make of tropical Africa one of the great problems of future world +politics. + +[Sidenote: Germans have no colonists to spare.] + +Now, the Germans are not in search of colonies after the English model, +and those that they have in East and West Africa had no white population +to speak of before the war. Quite apart from the fact that tropical +Africa would be no suitable territory for white settlement, they have no +colonists to spare, since for the sake of their industrial and military +future in Germany they desire the largest concentration of population +possible in the fatherland. As Baron von Rechenberg, formerly governor +of German East Africa, has expressed it: + +"Just as we lack suitable land for settling, so we lack suitable German +settlers.... For a number of years immigration into Germany has been +much greater than emigration from Germany.... Even in times of peace +German agriculture had not a surplus, but a shortage, of labor, and it +cannot possibly accord with our interests to increase the shortage by +encouraging emigration.... Regrettable though it is, there can be no +question at the conclusion of peace of acquiring territory for +settlement. There is no appropriate country, and there are no farmers to +settle on it." + +[Sidenote: Germany desires not colonies but strategic positions.] + +[Sidenote: Central Africa needed to supply raw materials.] + +[Sidenote: Germany could use natives in war.] + +German colonial aims are really not colonial, but are entirely dominated +by far-reaching conceptions of world politics. Not colonies, but +military power and strategic positions for exercising world power in +future, are her real aims. Her ultimate objective in Africa is the +establishment of a great Central African Empire, comprising not only her +colonies before the war, but also all the English, French, Belgian, and +Portuguese possessions south of the Sahara and Lake Chad and north of +the Zambezi River in South Africa. Toward this objective she was +steadily marching even before the war broke out, and she claims the +return of her lost African colonies at the end of the war as a +starting-point from which to resume the interrupted march. Or, rather, +as appears from Count Hertling's recent pronouncement, she claims a +reallocation of the world's colonies, so that she may have a share +commensurate with her world position. This Central African block, the +maps of which are now in course of preparation and printing at the +Colonial Office in Berlin, is intended in the first place to supply the +economic requirements and raw materials of German industry; in the +second and far more important place, to become the recruiting-ground for +vast native armies, the great value of which has been demonstrated in +the tropical campaigns of this war, and especially in East Africa; while +the natural harbors on the Atlantic and Indian oceans will supply the +naval and submarine bases from which both ocean routes will be +dominated, and British and American sea-power will be brought to naught. +The native armies will be useful in the next great war, to which the +German General Staff is already devoting serious attention, as appears +from the book of General von Freytag, the deputy chief of the German +General Staff, recently published here under the title "Deductions of +the World War." + +[Sidenote: A great army on the flank of Asia.] + +The untrained levies of the Union of South Africa would go down before +these German-trained hordes of Africans, who would also be able to deal +with North Africa and Egypt without the deflection of any white troops +from Germany; and they would in addition mean a great army planted on +the flank of Asia whose force could be felt throughout the middle East +as far as Persia, and who knows how much farther? + +[Sidenote: African natives a part of Germany's plan of conquest.] + +This is the grandiose scheme. It is no mere fanciful picture, but based +on the writings of great German publicists, professors, and high +colonial authorities, and chapter and verse could be quoted in full +detail for every feature of the scheme. The civilization of the African +natives and the economic development of the dark continent must be +subordinate to the most far-reaching schemes of German world power and +world conquest; the world must be brought into subjection to German +militarism. As in former centuries again the African native must play +his part in the new slavery. Dr. Solf, the present German Colonial +Secretary, in the "Colonial Calendar" for 1917, made the following +pronouncement as to the organic connection of German colonial aims with +her other aims of world power: + +[Sidenote: Directions of German aims.] + +"The history of our colonies in this world war has shown what was +hitherto wanting in the German colonial empire. It has shown that it was +not a proper 'empire' at all, but merely a number of possessions without +geographical and political connection, and without established +communications.... How greatly would the power of resistance of our +colonies have been increased if they had not been isolated!... These +experiences show what direction our aims must take. We shall achieve the +fulfillment of our desires if we remain conscious that the +colonial-political aim is not something which stands alone by itself, +but must be regarded in organic connection with all other aims which we +are determined to attain by the world war." + +Prof. Delbrueck, in a recent number of the "Preussische Jahrbuecher," thus +sketches the new African Empire: + +[Sidenote: Plan for a new African Empire.] + +"If our victory is great enough, we can hope to unite under our hand the +whole of Central Africa with our old colony South-west Africa; +Senegambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Dahomey, well-populated +Nigeria with the port of Lagos, Kamerun, the rich islands of San Thome +and Principe with their splendid ports, the Katanga ore district, +Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, and Delagoa Bay, Madagascar, +German East Africa, Zanzibar, and Uganda; and in addition the great port +of Ponta Delgado in the Azores--one of the most important and most +frequented coaling stations--and Horta, one of the most important +centers of the transatlantic cable system. At present the Azores belong +to Portugal, which is at war with Germany. Portugal also owns the Cape +Verde Islands, with the port of Porto Grande, one of the most frequented +coaling stations in the Eastern Atlantic. + +[Sidenote: The riches of the African territories.] + +"All these territories together have over 100,000,000 inhabitants. +United in a single ownership, and with their various characteristics +supplementing one another, they offer simply immeasurable prospects. +They are rich in natural treasures, rich in possibilities of settlement +and trade, and rich in men who can work and also be used in war. To +demand them is not unjust, and does not offend against the principle of +equilibrium, since Germany would thus only be obtaining a colonial +empire such as England and Russia, France and America, have long +possessed." + +Franz Kolbe, in the "Deutsche Politik," a year ago thus described the +future role for raiders in the South Atlantic: + +[Sidenote: Importance of German-West African Coast in combating Great +Britain.] + +"The whole coast of West Africa from the mouth of the Cross River to the +mouth of the Orange River would be in German possession. When one only +remembers what immense achievements were performed by the _Emden_ in +the Indian Ocean and by the _Karlsruhe_ in the Atlantic, without any +naval base, without any possibility of replenishing in port their +supplies of munitions, food, etc., it will be realized what the +fortification of half the West Coast of Africa would signify for Germany +and for England! As soon as, in the new war, the Suez Canal is closed +against England by the Turks, all traffic between England and India, +Australia, and South Africa must go round the Cape of Good Hope. But +then all the shipping must pass the coast of German Central Africa. It +would be impossible for England any longer to concentrate her whole +fleet in the North Sea and to menace Germany. She would be compelled to +station a considerable fleet in South Africa for the protection of her +trade, and that would mean a not inconsiderable weakening of her forces +in European waters." + +In the same review Emil Zimmermann explains the role of German East +Africa in the future scheme of world power: + +[Sidenote: German Africa would have balance of power in the East.] + +"German Africa, which will find allies at once in Abyssinia and in +Mohammedan freedom movements, will make the employment of black troops +against our European frontiers impossible. German Africa alone will give +us a balance of power in the East and in Africa. It will remove the +Egyptian pressure on Asia Minor. German Africa will make us a world +power by enabling us to exert decisive influence upon the world +political decisions of our enemies and of other powers, and to exercise +pressure on all shaping of policy in Africa, Asia Minor, and southern +Europe." + +And in another article in the "Preussische Jahrbuecher," he says: "Nearer +Asia cannot continue to exist without this covering of its flank. That +is the meaning of the German colonial question." In other words, +Berlin-Bagdad is not safe without a great German Central or East +African Empire. + +[Sidenote: British ambitions are different.] + +[Sidenote: German policies dangerous.] + +The point of view of the British Empire is very different indeed. In the +first place, it has never had any military ambitions apart from the +measure of sea-power essential to its continued existence; in Africa it +has never militarized the natives, has always opposed any such policy +and has tended to study the natives' interests and regard their point of +view with special favor, often to the no small disappointment of +individual white settlers. Indeed, no impartial person can deny that, so +far from exploiting the natives either for military or industrial +purposes, British policy has on the whole, over a very long stretch of +years, had a tender regard for native interests, and on the whole its +results have been beneficial to the natives in their gradual +civilization. In shaping this wise policy British statesmen have had a +very long and wide African experience to guide them, and in consequence +they have avoided the very dangerous and dubious policies which the +German new-comers have set in motion. Among these not the least +dangerous is to regard the native primarily as raw material to be +manufactured into military power and world power. + +[Sidenote: The British Empire asks peace and security.] + +In the second place, the objects pursued by British policy on the +African continent are inherently pacific and defensive. It desires no +man's territory; it desires only to live in peace and develop the great +African territories and populations intrusted to its care. And looking +at the future from the broadest points of view, looking at the magnitude +of its material African interests and the future welfare of the vast +native populations, and its difficult task of civilizing the dark +continent; looking further upon Africa as the half-way house to India +and Australasia, the British Empire asks only for peace and +security--international peace and security of its external +communications. It cannot allow the return of conditions which mean the +militarization of the natives and their employment for schemes of world +power; it cannot allow naval and submarine bases to be organized on both +sides of the African coast, to the endangerment of the sea +communications of the empire and the peace of the world. And it must +insist on the maintenance of conditions which will guarantee through +land communications for its territories from one end of the continent to +the other. + +[Sidenote: Dependence on communications by sea and land.] + +The British Empire is not like Germany, Russia, or the United States, a +compact territorial entity; it is scattered over the globe, and entirely +dependent on the maintenance of communications for its continued +existence. In future these lines of communication should proceed not +only by sea, but also by land. One of the most impressive lessons of +this vast war is the vulnerability of sea-power and sea communications +through the development of underwater transport, and the immense +importance of railway communication. In fact, to be really effective the +two should go hand in hand. Nor are we at the end of the chapter in +discovering new means of transportation. It is not only conceivable, but +probable, that aerial navigation may revolutionize the present transport +situation. + +[Sidenote: Prussian militarism cannot be tolerated.] + +[Sidenote: The dominions desire a Monroe Doctrine for the South.] + +As long as there is no real change of heart in Germany and no final and +irrevocable break with militarism, the law of self-preservation should +be considered paramount; no fresh extension of Prussian militarism to +other continents and seas should be tolerated; and the conquered German +colonies can be regarded only as guaranties for the security of the +future peace of the world. This opinion will be shared, I feel sure, by +the vast bulk of the young nations who form the Dominions of the +British Empire. They have no military aims or ambitions; their tasks are +solely the tasks of peace; their greatest interest and aim is peace. +Voluntarily they joined in this war, and to their efforts is largely due +the destruction of the German Colonial Empire, and the consequent +prevention of the German military system being spread to the ends of the +earth. They should not be asked to consent to the restoration to a +militant Germany of fresh footholds for militarism in the Southern +Hemisphere, and thus to endanger the future of their young and rising +communities who are developing the waste places of the earth. They want +a new Monroe Doctrine for the South as there has been a Monroe Doctrine +for the West, to protect it against European militarism. Behind the +sheltering wall of such a doctrine they promise to build up a great, +new, peaceful world not only for themselves, but for the many millions +of black folk intrusted to their care. + +[Sidenote: Germany's stubborn defense of her African colonies.] + +The enemy's stubborn defence of his last colony has not only been a +great feat in itself, but is also a proof of the supreme importance +attached by the German Government to this African colony both as an +economic asset and as a strategic point of departure for the +establishment of the future Central African Empire to which I have +referred. At the conclusion of peace our statesmen will be bound to bear +in mind these wider and obscurer issues, fraught with such consequences +to the world and to the British Empire in particular. Perhaps I may be +allowed to express the fervent hope that a land where so many of our +heroes lost their lives or their health; where, under the most terrible +and exacting conditions, human loyalty and human service were poured out +lavishly in a great cause, may never be allowed to become a menace to +the future peaceful development of the world. I am sure my gallant boys, +dead or living, would wish for no other or greater reward. + + * * * * * + +Greece, as a result of the intrigues of the pro-German king and queen, +was a thorn in the flesh to the Allies for the first years of the war. +The deposition of King Constantine, and the resumption of power of +Premier Venizelos, brought Greece back to the place where her people +wished to be. + + + + +GREECE'S ATONEMENT + +LEWIS R. FREEMAN + + +[Sidenote: A meeting with Venizelos.] + +The Venizelists had been having a bad time of it from the first, but the +blackest hours of all were those toward the end of last April, when +Constantine was still strong in Athens, and before the Saloniki Allies +had found it practicable or expedient to welcome them to a full +brotherhood of arms. It was during this "dark before the dawn" period +that I had my first meeting with M. Venizelos, a conventional half +hour's interview in the suburban villa, midway along the curve of +Saloniki Bay where the Provisional Government had established its +headquarters. + +[Sidenote: The attitude of Constantine.] + +I had just come up from Athens, where I had found the Allied diplomats +still smarting under the memories of their ignominious experiences +following Constantine's spectacular coup of the previous December, and +it was by no means the least of these who had told me point-blank that +he could not conceive how it would be possible that Saloniki should be +returned to Greece after the war. Of course it was the Royalist +Government that my distinguished friend had had in mind when he spoke, +but there was not much to indicate at this time that the Greece of +Constantine and his minions was not also going to be the Greece of after +the war. + +It was with this state of things in mind, and recalling his well known +ambitions to found a Greater Greece--by extending Epirus north along +the Adriatic, and bringing the millions of Greeks of Asia Minor at least +under the protection of the Government at Athens--that I mustered up my +courage and asked M. Venizelos offhand if he felt confident of being +able even to maintain the integrity of his country as it existed before +the war. + +[Sidenote: What Greece must do for the Allies.] + +"Not unless those of us Greeks who have remained faithful to the cause +of humanity and our honor are ultimately able to lend the Allies +material help in a measure sufficient to counterbalance the harm the +action of the Royalists has caused them," was the prompt reply; "and by +material help I mean military aid. We must fight, and fight, and keep on +fighting, for it is only with blood--with Greek blood--that the stain +upon Greek honor can be washed away. It is only our army that can save +us, and that is why we have been so impatient of the delay there has +been in equipping it and getting it to the front. The one division we +have in the trenches now, and the two others that are ready to go, are +not enough, but they are about all we have been able to raise so far. +Thessaly is for us (as you may have seen in traveling across it), and +would give us two more divisions at least; but our Allies have not yet +seen fit to allow us to go there after them." + +[Sidenote: Venizelos determines to aid the Allies.] + +M. Venizelos spoke of a number of other things before I left him +(notably of the extent to which the Russian revolution and the entry of +America had helped him in his fight to save Greece), but it was plain +that the problem uppermost in his mind was that of wiping out the score +of the Allies against his country by giving them a substantial measure +of assistance in the field. + +"Do not fail to visit our force on the ---- sector before you leave the +Balkans," was his parting injunction. "There may be a chance of seeing +it in action before very long, and if you do, you will need no further +assurance of the way in which we shall make our honor white before our +Allies and all the world." + +[Sidenote: Unenviable position of the Venizelists.] + +[Sidenote: Elaborate precautions against treachery.] + +The Serbian and two or three other Armies have been worse off in a +physical way, but no national force since the outbreak of the war has +been in so thoroughly an unenviable position on every other score as was +that of the Venizelists at this time. The Serbs and the Belgians had at +least the knowledge that the confidence and the sympathy of the Allies +were theirs. Also, they had chances to fight to their hearts' content. +The Venizelists had scant measure of sympathy, and still less of +confidence; and when their first chance to fight was at last given them, +they were allowed to face the foe only after elaborate precautions had +been taken against everything, from incompetence and cowardice on their +part to open treachery. That this was the fault neither of themselves +nor of their Allies, and had only come about through the perfidy of a +King to whom they no longer swore fealty, did not make the shame of it +much easier to bear for an army of spirited volunteers who had risked +their all for a chance to wipe out the dishonor of their country. + +[Sidenote: Spies sent in the guise of deserters.] + +The thing that for a while made it so difficult for the Allies to know +what to do with the Venizelist army was the almost ridiculous ease with +which, under the peculiar circumstances of its recruitment, it lent +itself to spying purposes. All the Royalists, or their German +paymasters, had to do to establish a spy in the Saloniki area was to +send over one of their Intelligence Officers in the guise of a deserter +from the Greek army to that of Venizelos, and there he was! To send back +information, or even to return in person, across the but partially +patrolled "Neutral Zone" was scarcely more difficult, and it was the +wholesale way in which this sort of thing went on that made it so hard +for the Allies to decide just who the bona fide Venizelists were, and +just how far it would be safe to trust a force to which the enemy still +had such ready means of access. + +[Sidenote: Tact and common sense used.] + +There was nothing else for the Allies to do but "go slow" and "play +safe" in dealing with the Venizelist army, and, under the circumstances, +there is no doubt that a difficult situation was handled with a good +deal of tact and common sense. Just how trying the situation of the +Venizelists was, however, I had a chance to see one day when I happened +to be at their Headquarters arranging for my visit to the Greek sector +of the Front. Their troops had acquitted themselves with great credit in +some gallantly carried out raiding operations, which must have made it +doubly hard for them to put up with a new restrictive order just +promulgated by the Supreme Command as a further precaution against the +leakage of information to the enemy. + +Just as I was about to take my departure, a copy of the new order was +delivered to the Staff Officer with whom I had been conferring about my +visit to the Front. He read it through slowly, his swarthy face flushing +red with anger as he proceeded. + +[Sidenote: A series of humiliations.] + +"Have you heard of this?" he said, handing me the paper, and controlling +his voice with an effort, "No man or officer of our army is to cross the +---- bridge without a special permit from General Headquarters. It is +only the latest in the long series of humiliations we have had to put up +with. Just look at the way we stand. In Athens our names are posted as +traitors who can be shot on sight. Here it isn't quite like that, +but--well (he raised his hand above his head and let it fall limply in +a gesture of despair), all I can say is that the only officers of the +Venizelist army to be envied are those whose names are recorded here +(indicating a file at his elbow). It's the death-list from +day-before-yesterday's fighting." + +[Sidenote: Venizelist troops succeed in big attacks.] + +Owing to the delay in issuing my pass in Saloniki, I did not arrive at +Greek Headquarters until the evening of the day on which the big attack +had taken place, and it was day-break of the morning following before I +was able to make my way up to the advanced lines. The Venizelist troops +had taken all their objectives, and held them with great courage against +such counterattacks as the surprised Bulgars--who, not expecting an +attack from the Greeks, had made the mistake of massing too much of +their strength against the British and French attacks to east and +west--were able to organize against them. They had been busy all night +"reversing" the captured trenches in anticipation of a determined +attempt on the part of the reinforced enemy to retake them in the +morning. + +[Sidenote: Movement carried out without confusion.] + +The hilly but well-metaled cartroad, along which by the light of the +waning moon I cantered with an officer of the Greek staff, had been +thronged all night with the surging current of the battle traffic--an +up-flow of munition convoys and reinforcements, and back-flow of wounded +and prisoners--but I could not help remarking the comparative quiet and +absence of confusion with which the complex movement was carried on. + +[Sidenote: The Greeks seem to understand the game of war.] + +"Somehow this doesn't seem quite like the transport of a new army just +undergoing its baptism of fire," I said to my companion. "I've seen +things on the roads behind the western front in far worse messes than +any of these little jams we've passed to-night. These chaps are as +businesslike as though they'd been at the game for years." + +[Sidenote: Veterans of the Balkan wars.] + +"So they have," was the quiet reply. "Our army, as recruited so far, is +a new one only in name. The men who attacked yesterday were of the +famous S---- Division, which fought all through the last two Balkan wars +and gained no end of praise from all the foreign military attaches for +its great mountain work. It was this Division which scaled the steep +range beyond Doiran and drove the Bulgars out of Rupel Pass." + +[Sidenote: The Battle of "Rupel Pass."] + +"The S---- Division," "Rupel Pass." Instantly I recalled how a British +General, over on the Struma a few days previously, had pointed out to me +a steep range of serried snow-capped mountains towering against the +skyline to the northwest, and told me that the feat of the Greeks in +taking a division over it at a point where even the wary Bulgar had +deemed it impossible was one of the finest exploits in the annals of +mountain warfare. + +"The Italians have fought the Austrians at a greater altitude in a +number of places in the Alps, and in our wars with the Himalayan +tribesmen we have sent our Gurkhas twice as high. But all of that was +after more or less preparation. Here, the Greeks simply started off and +went over that range with only their rifles and the packs on their +backs. I know of nothing to compare with it save the taking of +Kaymakchalan by the Serbs last November in the operations which freed +Monastir. Not many in Saloniki have had much good to say of the Greek as +a soldier of late, but you may be sure that we can do with more men of +the kind that crossed that mountain range, and there is no reason why +Venizelos should not be able to bring them to us." + +[Sidenote: A favorable position for observation.] + +The hill from which we were to follow the action jutted out of the +mountains into the plain like the bow of a battleship. So favorable was +its position for observation--from its brow a wide expanse of mountain +and valley was spread from twenty to sixty miles in three +directions--that the British and French as well as the Greeks maintained +posts there. We found the officers in both of the Allied "O. Pips" +[signal corps talk for O.P., meaning observation post] highly +enthusiastic over the work of the Greeks in their attack of the +preceding day. + +[Sidenote: The evening bulletin.] + +We found two officers in the British Observation Post chuckling over the +evening bulletin, which had just been delivered to them. "You have to +read between the lines of Sarrail's 'Evening Hope' if you want to get at +the real facts," said one of them. "It's what it fails to tell you, that +you really want to know. Now, you might be able to gather from this that +all the Balkan Allies have been doing quite a bit of attacking during +the last day or two at various parts of the Front from Doiran west to +Albania, but you have to go between the lines to find that our shifty +Bulgar friend over there gave most of them as good or better than they +gave him all the way. It's sad but true that in this, our 'Great Spring +Offensive,' as the papers at home have talked of it, the whole lot of +us--French, British, Russian, Italian, and even the Serb--have been +fought to a standstill by the Bulgar. Far as I can see, the only gain we +have to show for it is in the casualty lists." + +I failed to see just what there was to chuckle about in such an +interpretation of the glowing lines of the evening bulletin, and said as +much. + +[Sidenote: Successes of the little Venizelist army.] + +"It isn't funny in the least," was the reply, "and it would seem still +less so if we could see at close range some of the things that are lying +out on a hundred miles of these accursed mountain sides as a +consequence of what has happened. But what _did_ strike us as a bit rich +was the fact that, of all the Allies, this little piece of the +Venizelist army, which we have held in leash all winter while we made up +our minds as to whether it would be safe to slip or not, is the only one +of the whole lot of us that has taken all the objectives set for it." + +A sporting instinct and a grim sense of humor--the readiness to admire a +brave foe and the ability to extract amusement from discomfiture--are +the two things that have conspired to make the British soldier so +uniformly successful in treating those "twin impostors," Triumph and +Disaster, "just the same." + +[Sidenote: The view across the Vardar.] + +The sky was lightening and throwing into ghostly silhouette the line of +the mountain ridge across the Vardar by the time we had pushed on out +along the communication trench to the Greek Observation Post on the +extreme brow of the hill. Since midnight the enemy "heavies" had been +coughing gruffly under the mist-blanket that overlaid the plain, +dappling it with alternately flashing and fading blotches of light till +it glowed fantastically like a lamp-shade of Carrara marble; +star-shells, fired with a low trajectory, popped up and dove out of +sight again, throwing a fluttering green radiance over the white pall +which swathed the battlefield. + +[Sidenote: The Bulgar preparing to go over the top.] + +The mist-mask must have fended the day-break from the plain long after +it was light upon the hill from where we watched, for it was not until +the range of serrated peaks to the east of Doiran was all aglow with the +red and gold of sunrise that the higher-keyed crack of the enemy's +field-guns came welling up to tell us that the Bulgar was getting ready +to go over the top. The flame-spurts--paling from a hot red to faded +lemon as the light grew stronger--splashed up against the mist-pall as +the jet of an illuminated fountain rises and falls, and down where the +battered first-line trenches faced each other the dust-geysers of the +exploding shells rolled up in clouds to the surface of the thinning +vapors as the mud of the bottom boils up through the waters of an +agitated pool. + +[Sidenote: The Allied artillery opens.] + +For a minute or two the ragged line of the barrage wallowed forward +through the outraged mist alone. Then, as a sudden flight of rockets +spat forth from the Greek first line to warn that the enemy infantry was +on the way, all the Allied artillery that could be brought to bear +opened up and began dropping shells just behind where the murky +mist-clouds marked the swath of the Bulgar barrage. + +For the space of perhaps two or three minutes the fog-bank swirled and +curled in swaying eddies as the shells came hurtling into it; +then--whether it was from a sudden awakening of the wind or through the +licking up of its vapors by the first rays of the now risen sun, I never +knew--almost in the wave of a hand, it was gone, revealing a broad +expanse of trench-creased plain with a long belt of gray figures moving +across it in a cloud of dust and smoke. + +[Sidenote: Lively hand-to-hand fighting.] + +"It isn't much of a barrage as barrages go on the western front," said +Captain X---- half apologetically. "Their artillery won't do much harm +to us, and, I'm afraid, ours not much to them. And we'll hardly be +having enough machine guns emplaced to sting them as they ought to be +stung for swarming up in masses like that. But if it's only a +second-class artillery show, I still think I can promise you--if only +the Bulgar has the stomach for it--a livelier bit of hand-to-hand +fighting than you might find in a whole summer of looking for it in +France. Do you see those little winking flashes all along where the +infantry are moving? Some of them are from bayonets, but most are from +knives. A great man with the knife is the Bulgar. Did you ever hear that +song about him they sang at a revue the British 'Tommies' had at +Saloniki? It was a parody on some other song that was being sung in the +halls in London, and went something like this: + +[Sidenote: A Bulgar song.] + + I'm Boris the Bulgar, + The Man With the Knife; + The Pride of Sofia, + The Taker of Life. + Good gracious, how spacious + And deep are the cuts, + Of Boris the Bulgar, + The Knifer-- + +"Now for it! Look at that!" + +[Sidenote: The barrages lift and the Greeks advance to meet the +Bulgars.] + +I never did hear just what it was that Boris was a knifer of, for at +that juncture the two barrages--having respectively protected and +harried to the best of their abilities the advancing wave of infantry +down to within a hundred yards or so of the Greek trenches--"lifted" +almost simultaneously on to "communications," and that lifting was the +signal for the opening of the climacteric stage of the action. Without +an instant's delay, a solid wave of Greeks in brown--lightly fringed in +front with the figures of a few of the more active or impetuous who had +outdistanced their comrades in the scramble over the top--rose up out of +the earth and swept forward to meet the line of gray. The gust of their +first great cheer rolled up to us above the thunder of the artillery. + +"Now for it!" repeated X----, focussing down his telescope and steadying +himself with his elbows. "I think you'll find the show from now on worth +all the trouble of coming up to see." + +[Sidenote: the Bulgars break and retreat.] + +I do not attempt to account for what happened now; I only record it. It +may have been that the Allied artillery had wrought more havoc in that +advancing wave of men than had been apparent from a distance, or it may +have been that the enemy artillery had done less to the entrenched +defenders than it was expected to do; at any rate, the line of gray +began to break at almost the first impact of the line of brown, and the +great hand-to-hand fight that X---- had promised me was transformed into +a Marathon. + +[Sidenote: Greeks have always beaten the Bulgars.] + +"As I expected," muttered my companion. "'Boris' has no stomach for a +fight to-day with the man who licked him yesterday, and will lick him +to-morrow and go right on licking him to the end if they'll only give +him a show. The Bulgar never has stood up to the Greek, and he never +will." + +[Sidenote: The Greek Staff is in a mountain valley.] + +[Sidenote: Scarcity of nurses.] + +The Greek Staff shared a round bowl of a mountain valley, a few miles +back from the front lines, with a clearing station. The equipment of the +little hospital had mostly been provided by the British Red Cross, but +the Venizelists had made a brave effort to furnish the staff themselves. +There were two French-trained Greek surgeons, a Greek matron, Greek +orderlies, and two Greek nurses. Since the attack began there had been +work for a dozen of the latter, but--as it had been impossible for the +women of most of the Venizelist families to get away from Old Greece--no +others were available. An English nurse, who had marched in the retreat +of the Serbians, and a French nurse from a Saloniki hospital had +volunteered to step into the breach, and these five women were +courageously trying to make up in zeal what they lacked in numbers. + +[Sidenote: Working double hours.] + +"We are not enough for a double shift since the fighting began," Madame +A----, the matron, had said to me the night of my arrival; "so we are +accomplishing the same end by working double hours. We are working to +atone for the dishonor our King has brought upon our country, just as +our men are fighting to atone for it; and the harder we all work and +fight the sooner it will come about." + +The last thing to catch my eye as I looked back from the rim of the +valley when I rode away at midnight had been the flash of a bar of light +on a white uniform, as a tired figure had drooped against the flap of a +hospital tent for a breath of air. + +[Sidenote: Women nurses go without sleep.] + +"If any one of those women has had a wink of sleep in the last three +days," Captain X---- had said as we reined in to let a string of +ambulances go by, "it must have been taken standing. I have been up most +of the time myself, and never once have I looked across to the clearing +station but I saw some sign of a nurse on the move." + +[Sidenote: Venizelos at the nurses' mess.] + +Madame A---- had asked me to drop in at the nurses' mess for luncheon in +case I got back from the trenches in time, and this, by dint of hard +riding, I was just able to do. Three or four powerful military cars +drawn up at the hospital gate indicated new arrivals, but as to who they +were I had no hint until I had pushed in through the flap of the mess +tent and found M. Venizelos seated on a soap-box, _vis-a-vis_ Madame +A---- at a table improvised from a couple of condensed milk cases. At +the regular mess table, sitting on reversed water-buckets, were three +French flying officers and a civilian whom I recognized as the private +secretary of M. Venizelos. Two nurses were just rising from unfinished +plates of soup in response to word that a crucial abdominal operation +awaited their attendance at the theatre. + +"Most of the Provisional Government has come out to pay us a visit this +morning," said Madame A----, showing me to a blanket-roll seat at one +end of the mess table, "and we are lunching early so that it can get +back to Saloniki to take up the reins of State again. The General has +carried off the Admiral and the Foreign Minister, but I have managed to +keep the President for _our_ banquet. He has made the round of the +hospital and spoken to every man here--that is," she added with a catch +in her voice, "to all that could hear him. We've--we've lost three men +this morning just because there wasn't staff to operate quickly enough." + +[Sidenote: A strange banquet at which the guests contribute.] + +That was, I think, one of the strangest little "banquets" I ever sat +down to. Every one travels more or less "self-contained" in the Saloniki +area, and whenever a party is thrown together the joint supplies are +commandeered for the common good. The mess menu was a simple one of +soup, tinned salmon, rice, and cheese, but by the time M. Venizelos's +hamper had yielded a box of fresh figs, a can of the honey of Hymettus, +and a couple of bottles of Cretan wine, and the French officers had +"anted up" cognac, some tins of _flageolet_ for salad, and a tumbler of +_confiture_, and the English nurse had brought out the last of her +Christmas plum-cake, and I had thrown in a loaf of Italian _pan-forte_ +and a can of chocolates, the little crazy-legged camp-table had assumed +a passing festal air. + +[Sidenote: No one speaks of war at the feast.] + +A number of toasts were proposed and drunk, but no one spoke of the +nearer or remoter progress of the war. M. Venizelos adverted several +times to the wonder of the spring flowers as he had seen them from the +road, especially the great fields of blood-red poppies, and I overheard +him telling Madame A---- some apparently amusing incidents of his early +life in Crete. But it was not until, the banquet over, he had settled +himself in his car for the ride to Saloniki that he alluded to any of +the things with which his mind must have been so engrossed all the time. + +"So you thought that our troops had all the best of the enemy this +morning?" he said with a grave smile as he shook my hand. + +"Incomparably the best of it," I answered. + +[Sidenote: Why Venizelos is confident in the power of Greece.] + +"Then perhaps you will understand why I felt so confident that the +Bulgars would not have come into the war if they had known that Greece +would stand by Serbia. And you will also understand why I feel so +confident that our military help to the Allies will be a very real one, +perhaps enough of a one even to save Greece from herself." + +This was, I believe, the latest occasion on which M. Venizelos visited +his troops at the front. Before another fortnight had gone by the forces +of the "Protecting Powers" were moving into Old Greece, and in a month +Constantine had abdicated and opened the way for the return of his +former Prime Minister to Athens. + +[Sidenote: The maker and Savior of Modern Greece.] + +From the time of the Balkan wars of 1912-13 to the outbreak of the +present one Venizelos was often referred to as "The Maker of Modern +Greece." After this war he may well be known as "The Savior of Modern +Greece"; and of the two achievements there can be no doubt that history +must record that the one of "saving" was incomparably greater than the +one of "making." + +[Sidenote: What the influence of Venizelos may do.] + +It is still too early to make it worth while to endeavor to forecast +what is on the knees of the capricious war-gods of the Balkans, and +there is no use in trying to deny that the Bulgar--just as long as +Germany has the power and will to back him up--will take a deal of +beating. But that Venizelos will be able to make the army of reunited +Greece a potently contributive factor in bringing about that +devoutly-to-be-wished consummation may now be taken as assured. + + +Copyright, World's Work, January, 1918. + + * * * * * + +We have seen in a previous narrative the difficulties which the Italians +encountered in conducting their campaign against Austria. As a result of +German falsehood and propaganda, the Italian line was weakened and +penetrated by a great German army, and the Italian lines were swept +back. They finally held, however, and the strength of their resistance +is indicated in the following pages. + + + + +THE ITALIANS AT BAY + +G. WARD PRICE + + +[Sidenote: Udine as it seemed before the war.] + +Udine was a typically quaint and sleepy little Italian town galvanized +into unnatural life and prosperity. Every one who has spent a week in +Italy can put the picture of the place before his imagination in a +moment: streets of dark, restful, Gothic cloisters; a broad piazza +flanked by a graceful loggia; remains of medieval fortification of which +the towering gate-houses still narrowed each entrance to the town; a +general air of pleasant tranquillity and of a well-being that was a +legacy from the more spacious days of centuries gone by. The nature of +the place was that of mellow old wine, very gracious, rich with +associations that brought a glow to the palate of memory, but for all +that something of which one wanted only little at a time. A glimpse of +Udine as she had been for centuries was delightful, to dwell there would +seem like being buried alive. + +[Sidenote: Bustle and congestion when Udine becomes Army Headquarters.] + +To this forgotten township of the old Venetian province had come +suddenly in the spring of 1913 all the bustle and congestion of the +headquarters of the whole Italian Army. For the next two and a half +years you could hardly find a room in Udine to sleep in; the people of +the place opened large modern restaurants and cafes for the officers and +soldiers who crowded its streets; big shops filled the gloom of the old +arcades with an incongruous expanse of plate-glass windows; the good +burgesses of Udine made money and waxed fat. + +[Sidenote: A tactical dead-lock on the western front.] + +It seemed, indeed, as if the steady shower of war prosperity that had +fallen upon them for two years might last until that indefinite, but to +most minds far-off, day when peace should come. For it was the general +opinion that in the West, at least, the war had reached a condition of +tactical dead-lock. Trench warfare had petrified movement, except in +laborious shifting of a few hundred yards at a time, hardly perceptible +on a small-scale map. The day of sweeping advances, of sudden +retirements, was over. At a reasonable distance behind that unbudging +wall of trenches you were as secure from personal displacement by the +war as if you were at the other end of Italy; indeed, no earlier than +the beginning of this month of October some people had arrived with +their families at Udine from other parts of the country to carry on +trades connected with the life of the army. + +[Sidenote: General Cadorna praises the British batteries.] + +I myself set foot in Udine for the first time on October 20. I was going +back to the Macedonian front, where for two years I had been the +official correspondent of the British Army, and I had asked the War +Office to authorize me to visit on the way the British batteries which +since April had been cooperating with the Italian Army on the Isonzo. +General Cadorna had given them high praise in a message to the British +Government after the fighting in which they had taken part in May, and I +thought it would be interesting to see British and Italian troops side +by side in the field for the first time. + +[Sidenote: Visits to the Italian front yield important information.] + +Visitors to the Italian front used to find most convenient arrangements +made to give them a rapid idea of conditions there. Lying almost +entirely among mountains, the line presented unusual opportunities for +survey from dominating heights, and there were many places where, at +leisure and in virtual safety, one could watch the Austrian +intrenchments from close range. Fast cars took you up to these +vantage-points, and a number of staff-officers, speaking perfect English +and knowing every detail of the front and its history, raised these +visits from the level of sight-seeing excursions to opportunities for +learning a great deal that was important and technical. + +[Sidenote: The Austro-German offensive begins.] + +The very last of these journeys, which had been made by visitors of +every country, took place on October 24, the day that the great +Austro-German offensive began, and I remember how, as we drove along in +the rain, all our talk was of the bad news of that morning--that the +enemy, reinforced by a huge number of divisions brought secretly from +the Russian front, and profiting by a night of rain and fog, had thrust +down into the valley of the Isonzo between Plezzo and Tolmino, carried, +apparently by surprise, two Italian lines across the ravine after a +short and very violent bombardment, and then, pushing on, had captured +Caporetto, thus cutting off the Italian troops on Monte Nero and the +other mountains beyond the Isonzo, and opening a most serious gap in the +very center of the Italian line. + +[Sidenote: Gorizia has suffered from the war.] + +[Sidenote: A shell interrupts the sight-seers.] + +The day was one of evil omen. We went to Gorizia, that pretty Austrian +spa that was taken by the Italians last year, and has suffered from the +war as much as Udine, its neighbor across the old frontier, has +prospered. In the heart of the town its old castle towers up from an +isolated crag, and from the battlements you can look across the valley +to the Italian and Austrian lines on the slopes of San Marco opposite. +Scores of parties like our own had made this visit to Gorizia Castle, +and to-day the driving rain and valley mists made observation so bad +that it seemed more than usually safe to show oneself above the ramparts +on the side toward the enemy. Yet we had not been there three +minutes--a group of two well-known American correspondents and one +Italian, with an Italian officer, and myself--when an Austrian six-inch +shell burst with a crash hardly ten feet from the right-hand man of our +line. A black wall of flying mud towered up and blotted out the sky; +three of us were thrown headlong by the force of the explosion. Only the +fact that the shell had fallen deeply into the rain-softened bank of +earth on top of the battlements saved the names of the last four +visitors to the Italian front from being recorded on graves in Gorizia +cemetery. + +"I've brought people here seventy or eighty times," said the officer who +was with us, "and nothing like that has ever happened before." + +"We've evidently brought bad luck," said some one, and so, little though +we guessed it, we had. + +[Sidenote: The Italians expect an Austrian push.] + +During the first fortnight of October it had been a remark frequently +made throughout Italy that an Austrian push was probable before the real +winter set in. I had heard this likelihood discussed by people at the +Chamber of Deputies on my way through Rome, but without serious +significance being given to it. The Austro-Swiss frontier had been +closed for five weeks, always a sign that important movements of troops +were going on in the enemy's country; something more unusual was that +even the postal mails from Austria to Holland and Scandinavia had been +suspended. + +[Sidenote: Cadorna believes the enemy will use large reserves.] + +According to the talk one heard in Italy, Cadorna had already had in +mind the chance of a strong autumn attack on his army when he arrested +his own offensive in September after capturing by a brilliant stroke the +greater part of the Bainsizza plateau beyond the Isonzo, taking thirty +thousand prisoners and one hundred and fifty guns. The French and +British general staffs, it was said, had asked Cadorna whether he meant +to go on with his offensive, for which they had contributed contingents +of guns. Cadorna's reply had been that he had strong Austrian forces +against him, of which he knew the total, but that he also believed large +reserves of unknown quantity were available for use against him, owing +to the collapse of the Russian Army. In these circumstances he preferred +to consolidate and prepare rather than to continue to challenge forces +that could not be exactly estimated. + +Both the increase of enemy strength on the Italian front and the +paralyzing uncertainty under which the Allies labored, were directly due +to the debacle of the Russian Army during the summer. The means by which +commanders-in-chief arrive at the indispensable knowledge of what forces +they have against them is through a highly organized intelligence +department, working in close cooperation with the similar departments of +the other Allied armies. + +[Sidenote: How the enemy's strength is ascertained.] + +Each of these departments, by interrogating prisoners and reading papers +found on enemy dead, by collating the reports of the air service, by +minutely sifting the enemy press, arrives at a fairly accurate knowledge +of the enemy's order of battle on the front of its own army. So +essential is this system to the successful carrying-on of operations +that raids are often specially organized on the enemy trenches with the +sole object of capturing prisoners who may be able to give information +that will clear up some point about which there is uncertainty. All the +knowledge of the enemy's dispositions thus collected by each of the +Allied armies is open to all of them; it is exchanged and compared and +collated, so that they finally arrive at a fairly complete knowledge of +the distribution of the enemy's forces in each one of the theaters of +war. + +[Sidenote: The Russian intelligence department collapses.] + +Now, when the Russian Army went to pieces in the summer, its +intelligence department collapsed with the rest. The Russian Army has +taken virtually no prisoners for a long time, and consequently the facts +about what troops the Austrians and Germans have on that front have not +been ascertainable. It was known that the enemy used to have about one +hundred and thirty divisions there, but no one could tell whether they +still remained or whether they had been brought away to be held in +reserve for some sudden operation on another front. + +[Sidenote: The attack by the Austro-Germans a surprise.] + +In this way it came about that the sudden attack by an unexpectedly +large Austro-German force upon the Isonzo line took the Italians by +surprise, with the result that they lost in three days not only all they +had won in two and a half years of hard fighting, by sacrifices and +sufferings and labors beyond human estimation, but also the larger part +of that rich north-eastern department of their country which was for +centuries the metropolitan province of the great Venetian republic. + +[Sidenote: Enemy has a great number of fresh guns.] + +On October 22 we learned at Italian headquarters that ten German +divisions, about one hundred and twenty thousand men, had arrived behind +the enemy front on the Isonzo and were concentrated in reserve round +Laibach. This was the first time in the whole war that German troops had +met the Italians on this front. The number of new Austrian divisions was +reported to be even greater. Many new batteries of heavy caliber had +also arrived and were registering their ranges; indeed, when the attack +actually came, it was found that the number of fresh guns was even +greater than had been thought, for some of them did not reveal their +position by registering, but, taking their ranges from guns earlier in +position, fired not a round until they joined in that terrific first +bombardment with which the attack opened on the morning of October 24. + +[Sidenote: Italians expect to hold west side of Isonzo.] + +Most serious was the situation, but even yet no one grasped how bad the +reality was going to be. It was generally accepted that all ground +beyond the Isonzo would have to be abandoned, but it seemed beyond all +doubt that the Italians would be able to make good their defense along +the steep ridge that forms the western side of the Isonzo valley. As you +looked from those heights across the river, it was like looking from the +wall of a medieval castle; you dominated everything, and behind you were +great Italian guns ready to fill the gorge of the Isonzo and the slopes +beyond with a barrier of bursting steel. + +But one of those combinations that have often helped the Germans in this +war helped them to the success that seemed impossible. It was made up of +the secrecy with which they had been able to complete their +preparations, of the luck of surprise and bad weather, and above all of +the fatal failure in their duty of certain detachments of the Italian +forces. + +[Sidenote: German propaganda has created disaffection in every Allied +country.] + +[Sidenote: Soldiers everywhere are weary of war.] + +One of the successes of this year's German offensive was the creation in +the heart of an efficient and gallant army of this canker of +disaffection by propaganda that has been as energetic and as dangerous +to our cause as any of the enemy's operations in the field. In every +Allied country it has been active; among the English it is at work +corrupting labor, preying on the nerves of the overstrained worker, and +whispering any subtle lie that will sap his will and undermine his +spirit. In France one fractional part of the widespread organization +that carries on this treacherous work is being exposed by the +revelations in the Bolo case. In Italy the Germans cunningly twisted +fanatics, both socialist and clerical, into agents for forwarding their +work, and they had flooded the country with money to corrupt the army +which they had not been able to beat in the field. The individual +soldiers of every country, including above all the Central empires +themselves, are dead-weary of the war, but the enemy alone has had the +cunning and the baseness deliberately to exploit this feeling to his +profit, working through the agency of bought traitors and hired spies. +And so the Austro-Germans had managed to imbue a limited part of the +Italian Army with the distorted idea that the quickest way to regain the +longed-for comforts of peace was to refuse to fight and thus open the +way for a rapid Austrian victory. + +When this ferment of disloyalty had done its work, the Germans were +ready to attack the particular sector of the line held by the troops +that it had most affected. These were on the left wing of the Italian +Second Army, which held the front of the Isonzo from Plezzo down to +Tolmino, and it was on that point that the enemy directed his first +thrust. + +[Sidenote: The news of the taking of Caporetto.] + +The news of the taking of Caporetto on the morning of October 24 had +about as startling an effect at Italian headquarters as would be +produced on the British front if it were suddenly announced that the +Germans were in Ypres. Not only was Caporetto a town on the Upper Isonzo +which the Italians had seized by dashing forward across the frontier the +very morning that war was declared, but it also stood at the head of a +most important strategical valley leading back into the mountains on +which the Italian main line lay, and from the town lead several easy +roads that follow various routes into the plain beyond. Already the +enemy was pressing in force along those roads. The Italians had, indeed, +fallen back to reserve positions, but were the enemy to win through--as +he did within two days--he would be on the flank and almost in the rear +of the whole Italian Army of a million men. + +[Sidenote: Rapid progress of the Germans is difficult to explain.] + +[Sidenote: Italian outposts are surrounded.] + +Just how the Germans progressed so fast that by noon on October 24 they +had a machine-gun posted on the square in Caporetto still remains, eight +days later, incompletely explained. All that is really known is this: at +2 a.m. they started a very violent bombardment. When the shelling +suddenly stopped after only two hours, the Italians regarded the +interruption merely as a lull, for the artillery preparation for an +infantry attack in force usually lasts much longer. With the valley +hidden by darkness, mist, and rain, and seeing more dimly than usual +through the mica of their gas-masks, the Italians knew nothing of the +German infantry's advance up the valley from the Santa Lucia bridgehead, +south of Tolmino, until the enemy had actually reached their wire. In +this way the Plec line of defense across that reach of the Isonzo known +as the Conca di Plezzo, a line specially designed to check an offensive +from Santa Lucia, was captured by surprise, and then German troops +poured down into the river gorge from Mrzli on its eastern side, until +the valley was full of the enemy, and Monte Nero and the other Italian +outpost positions on the heights beyond the Isonzo were completely +surrounded. + +[Sidenote: Violent fighting on the Bainsizza plateau.] + +The valley being in their possession, the Germans wasted no time. +Pushing northward along the river, one detachment occupied Idersko and +Caporetto; another proceeded to assault the height of Starijok, just +above Caporetto; yet another strong force made a frontal attack on the +ridge of Zagradan, which runs like a wall along the Italian side of the +river, and after fierce fighting took Luico, one of the pivots of the +defenses upon it. Elsewhere he had attacked at the same time with less +definite result. Mount Globocak was seized by surprise. It was an +Italian big-gun position, and orders were given for it to be retaken at +any cost. So a distinguished brigade of bersaglieri was sent up to +counter-attack, and drove the Germans from the captured guns down the +slopes of Globocak again. North of Caporetto, too, the angle of the +Italian line at Zaga had been assailed, but had resisted, and across the +river on the Bainsizza plateau the most violent fighting of all took +place, as a result of which the Italian line was withdrawn from Kal, and +the heavy guns and equipment were sent back across the Isonzo, though +the Italian counter-attacks on the Bainsizza were carried out with such +dash that they captured several hundred Austrian prisoners. + +[Sidenote: Danger that the Italian Army may be trapped.] + +Now the enemy's plan stood out in all its formidable strength and +strategy. He had opened a gap in the Italian front; through this gap he +was pouring overwhelming forces. Already the rest of the Italian Second +Army and the Third Army on the Carso to the south of it were outflanked. +If the whole of that great force was not to have its line of +communications cut and be surrounded, it must be immediately and rapidly +withdrawn for a great distance. An immense sacrifice of Italian +territory was imperative if the Italian Army was to be saved from a trap +by the side of which the fall of Metz was the capture of an outpost. +During the afternoon of October 25 the general order of retreat was +given. + +[Sidenote: Austrians use seventeen-inch howitzers.] + +I went up again to visit the British batteries which were with the Third +Army on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, and from one of their +observatories watched the heavy shelling. The Austrians were using huge +seventeen-inch howitzers, and the explosions of their gigantic shells, +each weighing a ton, was like a small eruption. A solid block of piebald +smoke as big as a cathedral sprang into the air and it was a minute or +more before the last of it had drifted away. + +[Sidenote: Monfalcone the most romantic point in the fighting line.] + +And as the sun was setting I went down to Monfalcone, to a place which +could not be mentioned then, but which was at the same time probably the +oddest and the most romantic point of the world's fighting-line. +Monfalcone was for the Austrians a sort of combination of Birkenhead and +Bournemouth. There were important ship-building yards there, and it had +besides popularity as a seaside place. In the shipyard the Austrians had +left an eighteen-thousand-ton liner, of which the hull was complete and +the decks built in. + +[Sidenote: Tools of constructive labor are dropped.] + +To reach the ship you passed through a yard that was a rusty monument to +the futility of war. There were all the tools of constructive labor just +as they had been dropped when this nightmare of destructive passion +burst upon the world; weather-reddened traveling cranes rusted to the +tracks on which they will never move again; trucks overturned, a lathe +smashed by a shell that had torn a wide gap in the roof above. Here, +where the air used to tremble all day long with the clang of giant +hammers, there was now silence and desertion, and the offices from which +great ships were controlled on their voyages to far-off seas had become +the barracks of Italian artillery-men. + +[Sidenote: The partly built Austrian liner.] + +There was a big wooden staircase that the Italians had built leading up +to the various decks of the great liner, and, once on board, you could +walk out to the forward bridge of the ship where from a sort of +conning-tower you looked out at the Austrian trenches less than a mile +away without the possibility of being seen. An odd observation post, +neither asea nor ashore, and to make the confusion of elements more +complete, the gunners whose guns barked continually from just behind it +were sailors of the Italian Navy, dressed not in blue, but in military +gray-green. + +[Sidenote: A view of coveted Triest.] + +Triest, the coveted city, lay ten miles away in full view, and each +night the Italians saw its windows answer with flashes of dull gold the +last rays of the sun setting behind Italy. As you looked from Monfalcone +across the dreamy blue of the empty gulf between, the town lay like a +stone image, lifeless except for the white smoke curling gently from a +single tall chimney into the quiet evening air. Much nearer along the +coast was the Castle of Duina standing on an abrupt cliff. It belongs to +the Grand Duchess of Thurn and Taxis, who used to gather parties of +poets, painters, and writers there to stay in what was like a legendary +palace looking down from its high headland upon the sunlit, sail-flecked +Adriatic, stretching away into the shining distance. + +[Sidenote: The Italians are evacuating the Bainsizza plateau.] + +It was from that last fair glimpse of Triest that you turned back to the +grave realities of situation. On the next morning, the twenty-sixth, the +Italian supreme command announced that the Bainsizza plateau was being +evacuated. It had been won with great losses and gallantry in August, +and the Italians had laboriously equipped it with roads and military +establishments to create a firm taking-off place for the next attack +upon the crest of Mount Gabriele, which was expected to drive the +Austrians back for five miles up the Vippaco valley, on the way to +Laibach, one of the back-doors to Triest. + +The same day came the news of the fall of the Italian Government, which +had been attacked during the fortnight by a strange combination of the +advanced wing of the pro-war party who considered that the ministry was +not displaying enough firmness in its conduct of the campaign, with the +pacifist socialist party who denounced the Government for infringing +the constitutional rights of the people in the interests of militarism. +A feeling of _malaise_ was in the air. All the elements of success were +present in the Italian Army except the most important of all, the +psychological element. + +[Sidenote: Evacuation of Udine.] + +By this time motor-lorries had already begun to pour back through Udine, +and in the streets the Signal Corps were taking down the +telegraph-wires. You saw little parties of father, mother, and children +suddenly emerge from house or shop, each with hand-luggage. If you +looked closely you generally saw that the woman was crying. + +[Sidenote: Air fights between Germans and Italians.] + +On the twenty-sixth there were frequent attempts to reach Udine by +German flyers who were new to the ground. It was the first time that the +Italian Air Corps had had to deal with a German attempt to contest their +supremacy and they came well out of the trial. Ten enemy machines were +brought down during the day, two individual Italian airmen accounting +for three each. When the enemy machines were sighted heading for Udine +the jarring scream of a siren gave the alarm, and the police cleared the +streets. + +Saturday, October 27, was the day of general exodus. + +[Sidenote: Batteries hold rearward positions.] + +I left Udine early on Saturday morning, in the car of the British +general commanding our artillery contingent on the Italian front, to go +up to the batteries and see how they got on in the retreat. We crawled +out toward the front along roads blocked with rearward-moving traffic +for which there was no organization, and after lunching at the general's +headquarters at Gradisca, I went on to Rubbia, just across the Isonzo, +to the south of Gorizia, where was the group headquarters of the +batteries. Already the supply service of the Third Army were pouring in +a black mass along the road, screened at the side and overhead by +rushmats from the observation of the enemy. Voices and hammering under +the long wooden bridge across the Isonzo at Rubbia were signs that the +Italian engineers were putting in position charges of explosive to blow +it up when as much material as possible had been brought over. Some of +our batteries had already been withdrawn to rearward positions not far +from group headquarters and were firing as fast as the guns could be +reloaded. The others were still in their old emplacements a mile or so +farther forward, being shelled terrifically by the Austrian twelve-inch +batteries, but having extraordinary luck. They were using up as much of +their ammunition as they could, because it was becoming clearer every +moment that the Italian transport service was not going to be able to +supply the lorries to move the shells, which were big enough for fifty +of them to make a full lorry-load. + +[Sidenote: Lack of motor lorries to move ammunition.] + +A major from one of the batteries came into group headquarters while I +was in the mess. He was dark under the eyes after a couple of sleepless +nights, for his men had been working hard all round the clock to get the +ammunition back from the forward dumps, labor that afterward proved +wasted, as there were no lorries forthcoming to carry it farther on. +Sixty twelve-inch shells and one aeroplane bomb a yard away from one of +his four guns was the afternoon's experience of his battery, and only +one man wounded made up the casualty-list for the same period. + +"And I'm going to have a damn good dinner to-night whatever happens," he +announced. "Goodness knows when we shall eat or sleep again. So the +fowls and the rabbits we had in the battery are being killed this +afternoon." + +[Sidenote: English and French artillery dependent on Italian transport.] + +There were Austrian shells falling on the hill by group headquarters, +but none fell on that dense-packed road along which military traffic of +every kind and shape crawled and stuck and crawled on again. The tension +grew greater at our headquarters. The guns needed tractors to move them, +and motor-lorries were required to carry the battery stores. For the +English artillery contingent had no transport of its own, the +arrangement having been that this should be supplied by the Italians. +The French artillery contingent with the Italian Army, on the other +hand, was independent in this respect. + +The organization with regard to the transport of guns is different in +the Italian and the British armies. The British system is that every gun +shall have its motor or horse-haulage permanently assigned to it, so +that it is always mobile at a moment's notice. In the Italian army the +mechanical transport service provides haulage for all units when +required, and as it is only in extraordinarily exceptional circumstances +that every single thing in the army needs moving at once, they are able +to effect considerable economies over the British method, which +constantly keeps large numbers of lorries and tractors and cars, +together with their drivers and mechanics, idle, since the units to +which they are attached are not at the moment in need of transport. + +[Sidenote: Doubtful if all the British guns can be moved.] + +By the time it was dark on Saturday evening the likelihood of all the +British guns getting away seemed doubtful, and the Italian artillery +colonel who supervised their employment as corps artillery came to our +group headquarters to say that preparations must be made for blowing the +last of them up, and that in any case each tractor must tow more than +one gun and come back for others directly it had got its first tows +behind the Isonzo. + +[Sidenote: Enormous conflagration of military stores.] + +And now the darkening landscape suddenly began to spring out into +brilliant points of light, as everywhere behind the Italian front, +supply-depots, military stores, and vast collections of wooden sheds +were set in a blaze. Gorizia was the site of a special conflagration, +and the enemy gun-fire was steadily increasing, till sometimes the +barrage rose to a single prolonged roar, and you could not have got a +knife edge between the bursts. + +By 7.30 p.m. six of our guns were across the river and the rest were now +firing like field artillery, with no other batteries between them and +the enemy. They kept up this protection of the retreat of the infantry +so long, in fact, that the last round of all, at about 10 p.m., was +fired just before the gun was hitched to the tractor, and there was yet +another gun that had its breech mechanism smashed for fear it might have +to be left behind. + +[Sidenote: Abandoned ammunition is exploded.] + +[Sidenote: Like a volcanic eruption.] + +The bright moon hung in a pale-green sky, looking down on a dozen roads +each crawling like a black snake with the close press of retreating +troops. As I was making my way back to Gradisca the whole firmament +leaped into sudden brilliance and every feature in every face among the +throngs around me on the road stood out for several seconds under a +ghastly light. Then followed from behind Monte Michele, a deep, rolling +roar. It was the first of the explosions of the great abandoned stores +of gun-ammunition behind the front. From then till dawn the night sky +was continually breaking into a glare like that of gigantic sunset, and +the crash of destroyed artillery ammunition shook the ground. The less +brilliant, but steadier, glow of burning stores and sheds and houses was +constantly multiplied, and the flash of every new explosion revealed +fresh masses of black smoke rising in sharp outline against the lurid +horizon. It was an apocalyptic spectacle; nothing short of a volcanic +eruption could produce those tremendous effects of infernal +illumination. Millions of pounds' worth of material, all the fruits of +two and a half years of labor, were burned and blasted out of existence +in a few hours. + +[Sidenote: The necessity for speed.] + +[Sidenote: Valuable stores abandoned for lack of lorries.] + +The difficulty that complicated the Italian evacuation of their war-zone +was the fact that every hour the need for speed became more urgent, if +utter disaster was to be averted. A unit would be given twelve hours to +get to the point on the railway where it was to entrain and then an hour +later its time-limit would be reduced to two hours. A headquarters might +be told that a sufficient supply of motor-lorries would be available to +evacuate all its material and that it had better begin getting rid of +chairs and tables and its superfluous stuff at once, but no sooner had +these less important stores gone than word would come that no more +transport was available and that all the immensely valuable stores and +reserves of ammunition that still remained, must be abandoned, as no +lorries could be found for them. + +[Sidenote: Difficulties in a sudden retreat.] + +[Sidenote: Every officer tries to save his supplies.] + +Moving a great army is an affair of time-tables. There is room for only +a certain amount of men and material on the roads and railways at one +time, and every man and every wagon above that maximum becomes a factor +of confusion and retards the movement of the whole mass to a dangerous +degree. The sudden retreat of an army is often reduced to chaos, first, +because a thoroughly worked-out plan of general retirement exists but +rarely in the strong-boxes of any general staff, and secondly, because +in the absence of a time-table drawn up in detail and strictly enforced, +the elementary principle of self-preservation leads every unit of the +army to put itself on the road as quickly as it can get transportation. +This is not to say that confusion is an invariable indication of +personal panic; but it is very natural, and even very proper, that every +battery commander, the director of every military store and depot, and +the leader of every body of troops which is not definitely ordered to +remain, should have the individual determination that his particular +command shall not fall into the hands of the enemy. The artillery +officer firmly resolves that he will save his guns at all costs; the +heads of supply departments are in charge of valuable stores which their +army needs for its very existence and which would be of great aid to the +enemy if captured, and the troop-leader naturally argues that it would +be futile to allow his men to be cut off when a general retreat has +already been ordered. So if the organization of withdrawal is left to +the discretion of the people involved in it, as it has to be when the +whole thing has not been deliberately arranged beforehand, confusion is +almost inevitable. + +[Sidenote: Fear of being cut off by the enemy.] + +[Sidenote: Only severest means can stop civilian traffic.] + +[Sidenote: Modern war is a wild fury of destruction.] + +Moreover, the enemy always seems to be advancing much faster than he +really is. Under the discouragement that every army feels in falling +back, it is easy to credit the pursuer with exaggerated powers of rapid +motion; the defeated soldier forgets that the miles are just as long and +weary for his adversary trudging painfully after him as they are for +himself. Rumor, too, spreads wildly among tired and disheartened men. +Enemy cavalry, enemy armored motor-cars, hurrying ahead to cut him +off--that idea haunts the mind of each man in an enforced retirement. A +further complication is caused when, as was the case in the Italian +withdrawal, the civilian population is also desperately anxious to be +gone before the arrival of the enemy. The news of the forthcoming +evacuation of territory spreads backward with rapidity, and the roads +along the route of the retreating army fill at once with unregulated, +disorderly swarms of frightened civilians and their household baggage, +hastily stowed on slow-moving dilapidated carts that are likely to break +down at narrow points of the way and block whole miles of military +traffic for hours at a time. The Italian Army had to endure a great deal +of that kind of complication. Theoretically, of course, a general could +throw back cavalry and mounted police along the line of his retreat and +forbid any civilian traffic whatever under pain of military penalties; +but it is very difficult to use such measures against your own +countrymen threatened with invasion, specially when the whole aim and +object of your war is to free men of your own race from foreign +domination. And not only does the sentimental reason of saving +fellow-citizens from the yoke of an invader forbid this course, but also +considerations of common humanity. In the old wars, when the danger-area +of fighting was restricted to the places where opposing troops actually +came into contact, there was no particular danger for the civilian +inhabitants remaining in invaded territory; though their property might +suffer from the enemy's requisitions, their lives were likely to be +safe. But wars of this modern character spread destruction broadcast +over a whole region. A rear-guard action will involve a rain of shells +that may smash to pieces any village on the line of retreat; gas may be +used, creeping into the refuges where the non-combatant population has +taken shelter, and choking them there like vermin in a hole. War is no +longer a civilly organized affair of pitched battles; it is a wild fury +of destruction, raging across the whole country-side like a typhoon. + +If the English batteries on the Italian front had brought with them to +Italy their full organization of transport, they could have saved all +their ammunition and stores, their ordnance workshops and supplies. As +it was, they had been incorporated in the Italian Army as corps +artillery on the Italian basis; they had to take their chance of getting +transport along with every one else, and consequently of all their +equipment they could save only the guns themselves, which after all was +what chiefly mattered. + +[Sidenote: A marching army does not seem as numerous as the same in +confusion.] + +Discipline is a camouflage of numbers. A thousand men marching past in +column of fours does not make upon the mind the same impression of +multitude as the sight of half that number in a disordered rabble. +Regularity and compactness reduce the appearance of mass; and you +receive a profounder suggestion of size from a comparatively small pile +of natural rocks than you do from the geometrical pyramids. In the same +way an army whose formations are suddenly relaxed seems to swell +enormously in numbers. You can drive through a region where a million +men are stationed under regular military organization and get no idea of +congestion, but if those men are suddenly dissolved from a closely knit +body into a crowd of individual persons, the same country-side seems +hardly large enough to hold them all. + +[Sidenote: Discomforts of the retreat.] + +So, as with that little party of Englishmen I started on the retreat in +the early morning hours of October 28, we seemed to be engulfed in a +constantly broadening flood of human beings. We were in a train, the men +in open trucks, miserable enough under the cold, streaming rain, the +officers crowded into a closed van with the baggage. When we started in +the dark we had the train to ourselves, but as I awoke three hours later +from an uneasy sleep and looked out of the van, the rest of the train +already swarmed with Italian soldiers who had clambered upon it as it +crept along at a snail's pace. And when dawn came we saw ahead of us a +long vista of trains stretching out of sight, while behind stood +another queue of them, whistling impatiently like human beings at a +ticket office; sometimes one of them would back a little and make the +others behind it back too, all screeching furiously with their whistles +exactly as if they were trying to shout, "Where are you coming to?" + +[Sidenote: The one idea is to keep on moving.] + +Along the railway, and on the roads at both sides of it, and across the +fields beyond the roads, moved at the same time a crawling mass of +people, all going in the same direction, all at about the same pace, +without stopping, without talking to one another, every one of them just +plodding slowly, wearily, persistently rearward. As you watched them you +knew that each man had in his mind just one idea, to keep on moving like +that until he knew that he was safe. There was no panic or fighting +during the retreat except at isolated times and places; the situation +was just this, that for the unique and imposed will that sways an army +there had been substituted a multitude of individual wills all striving +independently for the same end of self-preservation. + +[Sidenote: People seem unaware of the others.] + +These dark, sluggish streams of men and vehicles and beasts crept +tortuously over the country-side like the channels of a delta trickling +to the sea. Here and there little eddies of stragglers had been thrown +out to each side. It is a curious thing, which I have noticed under +similar conditions before, that each person or little group of persons +in this mass of human beings seemed almost unaware of the presence of +the rest. You would see a family party of peasants gathered round their +ox cart and making a meal of bread and raw red wine without so much as a +glance at the motley thousands streaming by at their elbows; a soldier +would strip off his wet clothes on the road's edge to change them for +some that he had looted from a wayside store with no apparent +perception of the women trudging past; nor did they seem to notice him. +The niceties of convention are quickly dulled by fatigue, and it is only +the easefulness of modern life that makes the coarser little realities +of human nature seem shocking. + +[Sidenote: The crowds get clothes from stacked trucks.] + +Among the trains that stretched out of sight along the line there were +some trucks stacked with bundles of military mackintoshes, woolen +helmets, shirts, thick socks. Some inquisitive soldier discovered these +and disinterred a complete outfit for himself. A few minutes later he +was a changed figure, with clean clothing in place of his own muddy, +rain-soaked things, and a stiff blue mackintosh and sou'wester hat over +all. The transfiguration attracted envious attention, and he was +besieged with questions. Soon those trucks with their piles of white +packages looked like giant sugar-basins swarming with wasps, and all +around were throngs jostling one another for the next place on the heap. +It was all quite good-humored; they were all laughing, waving their +arms, calling to friends on the trucks to throw them a shirt or a +waterproof, and when these things came flying down to them they turned +away with the satisfied smile of children. Nothing puts human beings in +such thoroughly good temper as to get something for nothing. + +[Sidenote: A litter of old clothes on the road.] + +[Sidenote: Two Italian ladies follow the track.] + +In this way the whole track soon became a litter of old clothes, which +the retiring soldiers trampled into the mud. Amid all this chaos one +kept on meeting utterly incongruous figures, for with all the world +road-worn, shabby, and dirty, to be clean and well-dressed is to be +grotesque. Amid this multitude of haggard, unwashed, unshaven, dead-beat +males, I noticed two Italian ladies treading delicately over the rough +ballast of the railway-track. They had naturally brought with them in +their flight the most valuable of their possessions, which were of a +kind to be most conveniently carried on their persons. Against this gray +background of mud and rubbish and a disbanded army their two figures +glittered with a brilliance that would have been conspicuous in the rue +de la Paix. Heavy sable furs and muffs almost bowed their shoulders; +each finger had two or three rings that flashed in the light; round +their necks were gold chains hung with pendants, and yet, instead of the +air of self-satisfied ostentation that might well have gone with a +display so lavish, there were only two pathetically little, frightened, +perplexed faces, and an uncertain gait that did not promise much further +progress along that ankle-wrenching railway-line. + +By this time I had left the train, which had taken thirty hours to cover +fifteen miles, and was walking ahead along the track. There was always +the chance that something might happen to the two bridges farther on +over the Tagliamento, and I wanted to be on the same side of the river +as the telegraph office when that occurred. + +[Sidenote: The Tagliamento bridges dominate the retirement.] + +These bridges were the feature that dominated the whole movement of +retirement. In military terms, they constituted a defile upon its route. +Everything had to converge upon one of those three narrow passages, and +until they were crossed there was no security for the Italian Army. + +Rear-guard actions were, indeed, fought at intermediate places such as +the line of the Torre, west of Udine, where General Petiti di Roreto +made a stand with six brigades, the valley of the Judrio, the heights +above Cormons. But such efforts could do no more than delay the enemy's +advance; the respite that the Italian Army so urgently needed to pull +itself together, to reassemble its units, redistribute its artillery, +and, in short, gather into one hand again the scattered threads of +control, could be found only behind the Tagliamento River, forty miles +back from the old front line. + +[Sidenote: Rain fills the Isonzo and holds back the enemy.] + +Fortunately from Saturday night through Sunday night, the first period +of the retreat of the fighting troops as distinct from the rearward +services of the army, it poured torrentially with rain, and this, while +increasing the hardships endured by the men, contributed in two ways to +their salvation; for one thing it swelled the swift and now bridgeless +Isonzo, which the enemy had to cross, brimful, and turned the +Tagliamento, usually a trickle of water in an untidy stony bed across +which a man can wade, into a broad deep flood; it, furthermore, kept the +Austrian and German aeroplanes from following up to sweep with bomb and +machine-gun the tightly packed road where they could have massacred +victims by the hundred and might have turned the retreat into a hopeless +rout. + +Though the men exposed in open trucks or sludging along the muddy roads +and swampy fields had cursed the rain bitterly, its value to our side +became conspicuously plain when Monday morning broke bright with autumn +sunshine. + +[Sidenote: Troops fill the village of Latisana.] + +It was about ten o'clock on that morning when I reached the village of +Latisana, where was the southernmost bridge across the Tagliamento. The +streets of the little town were simply chock-a-block with troops which +were pouring into it from converging roads. Two or three Italian +officers, splashed to the eyes with mud and hoarse with shouting, had +organized some control at this point, or otherwise nothing would have +moved at all. Pushing soldiers this way and that, seizing horses' heads, +straining their voices against the din of clattering motors, they held +up each stream of traffic in turn for a few minutes and passed the +other through. + +[Sidenote: An English soldier keeps his air of efficiency.] + +[Sidenote: Men in great need of food.] + +Conspicuous in his khaki among this spate of Italian gray, stood an +English soldier contentedly munching dry brown bread. The motor-bicycle +at his side indicated him as a despatch-rider belonging to one of the +batteries. It would have been hard to say whether machine or man was the +more travel-stained. The cycle's front wheel was badly bent, evidently +by some collision; the soldier's hand was bound with a dirty rag, and +his face clotted with the blood of a congealed scratch, the result of +having been pushed off the road by a motor-lorry in the dark and falling +head-long down a stone embankment. Yet about both mount and man there +was still an air of efficiency and unimpaired fundamental soundness that +was encouraging, and the mud-plastered figure saluted the English +officer at my side with a flick of the wrist that would have passed on +the parade-ground at Wellington Barracks. Two guns of his battery, he +reported, were three or four miles back down the road; the men were +dead-beat, but the worst was that they had had nothing to eat for +thirty-six hours, owing to the tractor that had their rations on board +catching fire and burning them; they had picked up scraps of bread that +other troops had dropped, and some of them had tried and appreciated +cutlets from a dead mule; they needed food to restore their strength for +they had been working hard without sleep for two days and nights. It had +been forty-eight hours of continuous hauling on those heavy guns, which +were constantly getting edged off the road by other traffic, and which +had to be unhitched every time the tractor stopped because it was so +overloaded that it would not start with the full weight of its tow. So +the officer had sent him on ahead to scout for food, and he had just +found a _sosistenza_ where they had given him a sack of bread to take +back. + +"You all right yourself?" asked my officer-companion. + +"Quite all right, sir, thank you," he answered, and slinging the bulging +sack across his shoulders, the despatch-rider straddled his battered +bicycle and set off on a sinuous path through the wedged traffic, with +his bent front-wheel writhing like a tortured snake. + +[Sidenote: Finding the way to reach Padua.] + +[Sidenote: Walking single file through the mud.] + +This news of the existence of a _sosistenza_ was good hearing. I myself +had not the least idea of how to get to Padua, the nearest place from +which I could hope to send a telegram, except by walking there; and +Padua was sixty miles along the railway-line. Two days' walking, two +brown loaves the gift of the Italian officer in charge of the +bread-depot, and a stick of chocolate; it was a prospect of no +allurement. I stepped into place in the long trail of refugees and +started, however. It needed no more than two hours of stumbling over +sleepers and crunching on the rough stone ballast of the track to make +of me as tired and dull-witted a hobo as the rest. We all walked in +single file, keeping as far as possible to a strip of soft mud at the +side of the line where the going was easier, and one's whole mind had +become before long entirely concentrated on nothing more than the +increasing soreness of two tired feet and the gradual development of a +blister on a big toe. From Portogruaro onward, however, my own personal +luck changed, and by getting one lift after another I reached Padua the +same night. + +[Sidenote: British guns wait to cross.] + +[Sidenote: An Italian colonel attempts to keep order on the bridge.] + +[Sidenote: A panic is started.] + +[Sidenote: Austrian aeroplanes are overhead.] + +[Sidenote: Italian officers check panic.] + +[Sidenote: Airplane opens fire on the road.] + +Gradually the throng at the Latisana bridge increased, and eventually no +less than eleven of the British guns attached to the Italian army were +drawn up at the side of the road waiting their turn to cross. The +English colonel who commanded the group to which they belonged had +arrived and was using the funnel of the bridge to collect his scattered +units. The men refreshed with the bread that they had received from the +Italian food-depot, were resting by the side of the road; an Italian +artillery colonel, under whose command the guns had been when on the +Third Army front as corps artillery, was on the bridge trying to hold up +the onpressing, unbroken string of heterogeneous traffic long enough for +the English guns to be edged into the procession. Then suddenly one of +these things happened to which an army in retreat is peculiarly liable. +How it started no one seems to know. One theory is that Austrian +soldiers dressed in Italian uniforms had been hurried on ahead by the +enemy to mingle with the retreat and spread such panics. What actually +happened was that several men galloped up all at once on horseback +shouting, "The Austrians are here." Immediately the crowd, hitherto +patiently waiting its turn to cross the bridge, made one simultaneous +push toward its opening. Beyond the river there was the whole +country-side to scatter over; on this side they could expect no other +fate than to be caught helplessly in a trap. It was like a stampede in a +burning theater; the desperate eagerness of every person in the crowd to +get on the bridge stopped almost any one from getting there. Carts and +people at the edge of the road were shoved down the embankment by the +weight of the dense mass surging along its center. And then to add to +the terror of the moment there was heard above the shouts and oaths of +the struggling mob a low, foreboding hum, the characteristic drone of +Austrian aeroplanes. It is hard to see what could have come of the +situation but complete and bloody disaster if it had not been for the +decided action of some Italian officers. By main force they thrust into +the middle of the entrance to the bridge and checked the panic with +sheer personal determination. The sound of their authoritative voices +brought back the sense of discipline that had momentarily gone. Under +their orders the pushing throng sorted itself into some order. A jibing +mule was summarily shot to clear the road, and so in a few minutes, +despite the constant approach of the low-flying enemy aircraft, a way +was cleared for the English guns to cross the bridge. They were scarcely +over when the first Austrian machine, swooping down, dropped bombs and +opened fire with its machine-gun on the tight-packed road. The attack +did not do much damage, though one British Red Cross car was filled as +full of holes as a pepper-pot; but the experience showed how much worse +the retreat would have been had not the heavy rain of the week-end kept +the Austrian airmen in their hangars. + +[Sidenote: The army reaches Tagliamento.] + +So the retiring army reached the Tagliamento, and completed the first +stage of its retreat. Once behind that barrier the Italians could be +sure of a certain breathing space, but to secure its protection was the +most difficult part of their rearward movement. To the constant +convergence which the lack of more than three bridges rendered necessary +must be attributed much of the confusion of the retirement and the +abandonment of the military equipment that was still to the east of the +Tagliamento when the pressure of the enemy finally compelled their +destruction. + +[Sidenote: Germans try to cross the upper course of Tagliamento.] + +[Sidenote: Enemies who cross are killed or captured.] + +The Germans fully realized the formidable obstacle to the retreat of the +Italians which this rain-swollen river constituted, and they made a +determined effort to secure for themselves a passage across its upper +course while the Second and Third Armies to the south were not yet +behind the stream. There is a bridge a few miles west of the town of +Gemona which was not being used by the retreating army because of its +comparatively flimsy construction. The Tagliamento, then very high, was, +like many mountain streams, subject to very rapid rises and falls. +Therefore, part of the enemy advance-guard, which was following up the +Italian retirement was pushed on ahead to try to obtain control of this +bridge at Gemona, for use at any rate when the waters had sunk a little. +This German detachment forced its way across the bridge with +considerable courage, some of them being swept away by the swift stream +pouring over it, but on the other bank they were immediately faced with +stout resistance by the Italian rear-guard, and with their backs to the +river virtually all the enemy who had crossed the Tagliamento were +killed or captured. + +[Sidenote: Gallant conduct of the rear-guard.] + +The gallant and skilful conduct of the rear-guard of the Italian army +is, indeed, the brightest part of the gloomy story of the retreat. + +[Sidenote: The Italian armies are on the defensive.] + +[Sidenote: The war now a struggle against invaders.] + +The cavalry, specially, played a distinguished part in covering the +retirement. Charging machine-guns with the lance, and holding commanding +positions until they were virtually cut off, these regiments had very +heavy losses. A retreat where circumstances make it impossible to get +the whole of the army away imposes upon the rear-guard a call for +special self-sacrifice, since the moment never comes, when, the whole of +the main body being safely past, it can break off the combat and itself +retire, its duty done. In the withdrawal of the armies that were along +the front in the Cadore and Carnic Alps, occasions of this kind occurred +several times during the week throughout which the retreat lasted, when +rear-guard detachments were completely surrounded. At Lorenzago a force +in this position succeeded in cutting its way back to join the main body +again; west of Gemona, however, the remnants of the Thirty-sixth +Division were so thoroughly engulfed by the advancing Austro-German +forces that, having used up all their ammunition, they were obliged to +surrender. And so, gradually, not without moments of discouragement +almost amounting to despair, the Italian armies, which ten days before +had been fighting on Austrian territory with every prospect of carrying +still further a series of victories that had lasted two years and a +half, found themselves on the defensive far back of their own borders, +awaiting the attack of a triumphant and advancing foe. It had been a +terrible trial for them and for the nation at their back. Almost in one +night, dreams of imperial expansion, cherished with an enthusiasm that +gave them an air of virtual reality, faded into a remoteness beyond +reckoning. The war that had been from the first gloriously offensive, +was suddenly transformed into an outnumbered struggle against invaders +who had already seized half of one of the richest provinces of Italy. +Yet, though numbed by the shock and stricken to the heart by the +realization of her disaster, Italy reacted well. There was no talk of +yielding to be heard, only anxious discussion of the best means of +organizing the further resistance that would so soon be necessary. + +For though the great majority of the Italian army had succeeded for the +moment in escaping from the grasp of the Austro-Germans, the enemy was +steadfastly pursuing. Encouraged by a victory that must have more than +realized his most ambitious hopes, reinforced by captured guns and +material, he would wait only long enough to get sufficient strength into +position before hurling the whole of his weight once more against the +Italian line. + +[Sidenote: Impossible to meet the second shock on the Tagliamento.] + +To meet this second shock on the Tagliamento was not possible. The river +itself quickly became, as the rain stopped and the waters fell, too +easily traversable an obstacle to be worth fortifying. The line which it +would have imposed upon the Italian army was, moreover, too long to be +held in the depth desirable for resistance to the attack of superior +numbers. So the Tagliamento was occupied as an intermediate position +only long enough to shield the further retreat of the army and its +transport behind the broader and deeper stream of the Piave. + +[Sidenote: The new stand behind the Piave.] + +[Sidenote: Winter rains will delay enemy's heavy guns.] + +Here at the time of writing the Italian forces are in position and the +enemy's advanced detachments have begun to register ranges and destroy +possible observation posts across the river with such artillery as they +have so far had the time to bring up. Whether the Piave line and the +rest of the Italian front to the westward, which has had to be modified +in conformation with the general movement of retreat, can be held +indefinitely, will probably be a question of heavy guns. If the enemy +can bring up his larger artillery before reinforcements of the same +character arrive from France and England, a further retreat from north +and east to another river line may well be necessary. Fortunately the +winter rains that have set in make for delay in the arrival of such +cumbrous war-engines as the Austrian seventeen-inch mortars, and it may +be that persistent mud and rain will compel the Austrians to be +satisfied with holding the considerable tract of territory that they +have won. + +[Sidenote: Danger that Venice must be abandoned.] + +[Sidenote: Cathedrals and palaces are protected by sand bags.] + +But all preparations are being made to face the conceivable eventuality +of another retirement. The most serious consequence that this would +entail would be the abandonment of Venice and the necessity of bringing +that inestimable city within close range of the destruction of war. Even +at this early stage, therefore, while the danger to Venice is as yet not +urgent, the Italian Government is doing its best to surround her with +the protection of such neutrality as the conventions of war, for what +they are worth, secure to undefended and unoccupied towns. No person in +uniform is allowed to enter the place and the civilian population is +being encouraged to leave by free railway transport and subventions to +support them until they can settle elsewhere. Even in such tragic hours +Venice keeps up her old tradition of light-heartedness. The cafes round +the great piazza are full in the evenings with a cheerful crowd. +Moreover, to go into St. Mark's is to enter a sort of neolithic grotto; +the pillars, set about with sand-bags, have the girth of the arcades of +a Babylonian temple; bulging poultices of sacks protect each fresco; as +a building it reminds one of a German student padded for a duel. The +Doge's Palace, too, is more hidden with scaffolding than it could have +been when it was being built; each of those delicate columns of +different design is set around with a stout palisade of timber balks. +Venice, indeed, looks like a drawing-room with the dust-sheets on the +furniture and the chandeliers in bags, and to complete the parallel, the +family is going away before one's eyes. + +Sad days for Italy, days unimaginable a month ago. There must, indeed, +be virtue in the Allies' cause since such ordeals as these still leave +our courage high. + + +Copyright, Century, March, 1918. + + * * * * * + +The bottling up of the Harbor of Zeebrugge and the attempted closing of +the Harbor of Ostend formed what was probably the most brilliant single +naval exploit of the war. These daring and successful attempts are +described in the narrative following. + + + + +BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND + +THE OFFICIAL NARRATIVE + + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ as she lies in Ostend Harbor.] + +Those who recall High Wood upon the Somme--and they must be many, as it +was after the battles of 1916--may easily figure to themselves the decks +of H.M.S. _Vindictive_ as she lies to-day, a stark, black profile, +against the sea haze of the harbor amid the stripped, trim shapes of the +fighting ships which throng these waters. That wilderness of debris, +that litter of the used and broken tools of war, lavish ruin and that +prodigal evidence of death and battle, are as obvious and plentiful here +as there. The ruined tank nosing at the stout tree which stopped it has +its parallel in the flame-thrower hut at the port wing of _Vindictive's_ +bridge, its iron sides freckled with rents from machine-gun bullets and +shell-splinters; the tall white cross which commemorates the martyrdom +of the Londoners is sister to the dingy, pierced White Ensign which +floated over the fight of the Zeebrugge Mole. + +[Sidenote: The _Iris_ and the _Daffodil_ which shared the honors.] + +Looking aft from the chaos of her wrecked bridge, one sees, snug against +their wharf, the heroic bourgeois shapes of the two Liverpool +ferry-boats (their captains' quarters are still labelled "Ladies Only") +_Iris_ and _Daffodil_, which shared with _Vindictive_ the honors and +ardors of the fight. The epic of their achievement shapes itself in the +light of that view across the scarred and littered decks, in that +environment of gray water and great still ships. + +[Sidenote: The three cruisers that were sunk at Zeebrugge.] + +Their objectives were the canal of Zeebrugge and the entrance to the +harbor of Ostend--theirs, and those of five other veteran and obsolete +cruisers and a mosquito fleet of destroyers, motor-launches and coastal +motor-boats. Three of the cruisers, _Intrepid_, _Iphigenia_ and +_Thetis_, each duly packed with concrete and with mines attached to her +bottom for the purpose of sinking her, _Merrimac_-fashion, in the neck +of the canal, were aimed at Zeebrugge; two others, similarly prepared, +were directed at Ostend. The function of _Vindictive_, with her +ferry-boats, was to attack the great half-moon Mole which guards the +Zeebrugge Canal, land bluejackets and marines upon it, destroy what +stores, guns, and Germans she could find, and generally create a +diversion while the block-ships ran in and sank themselves in their +appointed place. Vice Admiral Keyes, in the destroyer _Warwick_, +commanded the operation. + +[Sidenote: The conditions favorable for the attack.] + +There had been two previous attempts at the attack, capable of being +pushed home if weather and other conditions had served. The night of the +22nd offered nearly all the required conditions, and at some fifteen +miles off Zeebrugge the ships took up their formation for the attack. +_Vindictive_, which had been towing _Iris_ and _Daffodil_, cast them off +to follow under their own steam; _Intrepid_, _Iphigenia_, and _Thetis_ +slowed down to give the first three time to get alongside the Mole; +_Sirius_ and _Brilliant_ shifted their course for Ostend; and the great +swarm of destroyers and motor craft sowed themselves abroad upon their +multifarious particular duties. The night was overcast and there was a +drift of haze; down the coast a great searchlight swung its beams to and +fro; there was a small wind and a short sea. + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ heads for the Mole.] + +[Sidenote: The wind helps make a smoke-screen.] + +From _Vindictive's_ bridge, as she headed in towards the Mole with her +faithful ferry-boats at her heels, there was scarcely a glimmer of +light to be seen shorewards. Ahead of her, as she drove through the +water, rolled the smoke-screen, her cloak of invisibility, wrapped about +her by the small craft. This was a device of Wing-Commander Brock, +R.N.A.S., "without which," acknowledges the Admiral in Command, "the +operation could not have been conducted." The north-east wind moved the +volume of it shoreward ahead of the ships; beyond it, the distant town +and its defenders were unsuspicious; and it was not till _Vindictive_, +with her bluejackets and marines standing ready for the landing, was +close upon the Mole that the wind lulled and came away again from the +south-west, sweeping back the smoke-screen and laying her bare to the +eyes that looked seaward. + +[Sidenote: The star shells discover the ships and battle opens.] + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ reaches the Mole.] + +There was a moment immediately afterwards when it seemed to those in the +ships as if the dim coast and the hidden harbor exploded into light. A +star shell soared aloft, then a score of star shells; the wavering beams +of the searchlights swung round and settled to a glare; the wildfire of +gun flashes leaped against the sky; strings of luminous green beads shot +aloft, hung and sank; and the darkness of the night was supplanted by +the nightmare daylight of battle fires. Guns and machine-guns along the +Mole and batteries ashore woke to life, and it was in a gale of shelling +that _Vindictive_ laid her nose against the thirty-foot high concrete +side of the Mole, let go an anchor, and signed to _Daffodil_ to shove +her stern in. _Iris_ went ahead and endeavored to get alongside +likewise. + +[Sidenote: Captain Carpenter in the flame-thrower hut.] + +The fire, from the account of everybody concerned, was intense. While +ships plunged and rolled beside the Mole in an unexpected send of sea, +_Vindictive_ with her greater draught jarring against the foundation of +the Mole with every plunge, they were swept diagonally by machine-gun +fire from both ends of the Mole and by heavy batteries ashore. Commander +A.F.B. Carpenter (now Captain) conned _Vindictive_ from her open bridge +till her stern was laid in, when he took up his position in the +flame-thrower hut on the port side. It is to this hut that reference has +already been made; it is marvellous that any occupant of it should have +survived a minute, so riddled and shattered is it. Officers of _Iris_, +which was in trouble ahead of _Vindictive_, describe Captain Carpenter +as "handling her like a picket-boat." + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive's_ false high deck and gangways.] + +_Vindictive_ was fitted along the port side with a high false deck, +whence ran the eighteen brows, or gangways, by which the storming and +demolition parties were to land. The men were gathered in readiness on +the main and lower decks, while Colonel Elliot, who was to lead the +Marines, waited on the false deck just abaft the bridge, and Captain +H.C. Halahan, who commanded the bluejackets, was amidships. The gangways +were lowered, and scraped and rebounded upon the high parapet of the +Mole as _Vindictive_ rolled; and the word for the assault had not yet +been given when both leaders were killed, Colonel Elliot by a shell and +Captain Halahan by the machine-gun fire which swept the decks. The same +shell that killed Colonel Elliot also did fearful execution in the +forward Stokes Mortar Battery. + +[Sidenote: Landing on the Mole.] + +"The men were magnificent." Every officer bears the same testimony. The +mere landing on the Mole was a perilous business; it involved a passage +across the crashing, splintering gangways, a drop over the parapet into +the field of fire of the German machine-guns which swept its length, and +a further drop of some sixteen feet to the surface of the Mole itself. +Many were killed and more were wounded as they crowded up to the +gangways; but nothing hindered the orderly and speedy landing by every +gangway. + +Lieutenant H.T.C. Walker had his arm carried away by a shell on the +upper deck and lay in the darkness while the storming parties trod him +under. He was recognized and dragged aside by the Commander. He raised +his remaining arm in greeting, "Good luck to you," he called, as the +rest of the stormers hastened by; "good luck." + +[Sidenote: The wounded and dying cheer.] + +The lower deck was a shambles as the Commander made the rounds of his +ship; yet those wounded and dying raised themselves to cheer as he made +his tour. The crew of the howitzer which was mounted forward had all +been killed; a second crew was destroyed likewise; and even then a third +crew was taking over the gun. In the stern cabin a firework expert, who +had never been to sea before--one of Captain Brock's employees--was +steadily firing great illuminating rockets out of a scuttle to show up +the lighthouse on the end of the Mole to the block ships and their +escort. + +[Sidenote: The _Daffodil's_ part in the fight.] + +The _Daffodil_, after aiding to berth _Vindictive_, should have +proceeded to land her own men, but now Commander Carpenter ordered her +to remain as she was, with her bows against _Vindictive's_ quarter, +pressing the latter ship into the Mole. Normally, _Daffodil's_ boilers +develop eighty pounds' pressure of steam per inch; but now, for this +particular task, Artificer Engineer Button, in charge of them maintained +a hundred and sixty pounds for the whole period that she was holding +_Vindictive_ to the Mole. Her casualties, owing to her position during +the fight, were small--one man killed and eight wounded, among them her +Commander, Lieutenant H. Campbell, who was struck in the right eye by a +shell splinter. + +[Sidenote: The _Iris_ finds her work difficult.] + +_Iris_ had troubles of her own. Her first attempts to make fast to the +Mole ahead of _Vindictive_ failed, as her grapnels were not large +enough to span the parapet. Two officers. Lieutenant Commander Bradford +and Lieutenant Hawkins, climbed ashore and sat astride the parapet +trying to make the grapnels fast till each was killed and fell down +between the ship and the wall. Commander Valentine Gibbs had both legs +shot away and died next morning. Lieutenant Spencer, B.N.R., though +wounded, conned the ship and Lieutenant Henderson, R.N., came up from +aft and took command. + +[Sidenote: Terrible casualties on the _Iris_.] + +_Iris_ was obliged at last to change her position and fall in astern of +_Vindictive_, and suffered very heavily from the fire. A single big +shell plunged through the upper deck and burst below at a point where +fifty-six marines were waiting the order to go to the gang-ways. +Forty-nine were killed and the remaining seven wounded. Another shell in +the ward-room, which was serving as sick bay, killed four officers and +twenty-six men. Her total casualties were eight officers and sixty-nine +men killed and three officers and a hundred and two men wounded. + +[Sidenote: The demolition parties on the Mole dynamite buildings.] + +The storming and demolition parties upon the Mole met with no resistance +from the Germans, other than the intense and unremitting fire. The +geography of the great Mole, with its railway line and its many +buildings, hangars, and store-sheds, was already well known, and the +demolition parties moved to their appointed work in perfect order. One +after another the building burst into flame or split and crumpled as the +dynamite went off. + +[Sidenote: The enemy fights with the machine-guns.] + +A bombing party, working up towards the Mole extension in search of the +enemy, destroyed several machine-gun emplacements, but not a single +prisoner rewarded them. It appears that upon the approach of the ships, +and with the opening of the fire, the enemy simply retired and contented +themselves with bringing machine-guns to the shore end of the Mole. And +while they worked and destroyed, the covering party below the parapet +could see in the harbor, by the light of the German star shells, the +shapes of the block ships stealing in and out of their own smoke and +making for the mouth of the canal. + +[Sidenote: The _Thetis_ shows the road to all the ships.] + +_Thetis_ came first, steaming into a tornado of shell from the great +batteries ashore. All her crew, save a remnant who remained to steam her +in and sink her, had already been taken off by the ubiquitous motor +launches, but the remnant spared hands enough to keep her four guns +going. It was hers to show the road to _Intrepid_ and _Iphigenia_, who +followed. + +[Sidenote: The _Thetis_ is sunk.] + +She cleared the string of armed barges which defends the channel from +the tip of the Mole, but had the ill-fortune to foul one of her +propellers upon the net defence which flanks it on the shore side. The +propeller gathered in the net and rendered her practically unmanageable; +the shore batteries found her and pounded her unremittingly; she bumped +into a bank, edged off, and found herself in the channel again, still +some hundreds of yards from the mouth of the canal, in a practically +sinking condition. As she lay she signalled invaluable directions to the +others, and here Commander R.S. Sneyd, D.S.O., accordingly blew the +charges and sank her. A motor launch, under Lieutenant H. Littleton, +R.N.V.R., raced alongside and took off her crew. Her losses were five +killed and five wounded. + +[Sidenote: The _Intrepid_ follows.] + +_Intrepid_, smoking like a volcano and with all her guns blazing, +followed; her motor launch had failed to get alongside outside the +harbor, and she had men enough for anything. Straight into the canal she +steered, her smoke blowing back from her into _Iphigenia's_ eyes, so +that the latter, blinded and going a little wild, rammed a dredger with +a barge moored beside it, which lay at the western arm of the canal. +She got clear though, and entered the canal pushing the barge before +her. It was then that a shell hit the steam connections of her whistle, +and the escape of steam which followed drove off some of the smoke and +let her see what she was doing. + +[Sidenote: Sinking of the _Intrepid_ and the _Iphigenia_.] + +Lieutenant Stuart Bonham-Carter, commanding the _Intrepid_, placed the +nose of his ship neatly on the mud of the western bank, ordered his crew +away, and blew up his ship by the switches in the chart-room. Four dull +bumps was all that could be heard; and immediately afterwards there +arrived on deck the engineer, who had been in the engine-room during the +explosion and reported that all was as it should be. + +[Sidenote: Probable that the canal is effectively blocked.] + +Lieutenant E.W. Billyard-Leake, commanding _Iphigenia_, beached her +according to arrangement on the eastern side, blew her up, saw her drop +nicely across the canal, and left her with her engines still going to +hold her in position till she should have bedded well down on the +bottom. According to latest reports from air observation, the two old +ships with their holds full of concrete are lying across the canal in a +V position; and it is probable that the work they set out to do has been +accomplished and that the canal is effectively blocked. + +A motor launch, under Lieutenant P.T. Deane, R.N.V.R., had followed them +in to bring away the crews, and waited further up the canal towards the +mouth against the western bank. Lieutenant Bonham-Carter, having sent +away his boats, was reduced to a Carley float, an apparatus like an +exaggerated lifebuoy with a floor of grating. Upon contact with the +water it ignited a calcium flare, and he was adrift in the uncanny +illumination with a German machine-gun a few hundred yards away giving +him its undivided attention. + +What saved him was possibly the fact that the defunct _Intrepid_ was +still emitting huge clouds of smoke, which it had been worth nobody's +while to turn off. He managed to catch a rope as the motor launch +started, and was towed for a while till he was observed and taken on +board. Another officer jumped ashore and ran along the bank to the +launch. A bullet from the machine-gun stung him as he ran, and when he +arrived, charging down the bank out of the dark, he was received by a +number of the launch's crew who attacked him with a hammer. + +[Sidenote: Shells make incessant geysers in the harbor.] + +The whole harbor was alive with small craft. As the motor launch cleared +the canal, and came forth to the incessant geysers thrown up by the +shells, rescuers and rescued had a view of yet another phase of the +attack. The shore end of the Mole consists of a jetty, and here an old +submarine, commanded by Lieutenant R.D. Sandford, R.N., loaded with +explosives, was run into the piles and touched off, her crew getting +away in a boat to where the usual launch awaited them. + +[Sidenote: An old submarine is blown up.] + +Officers describe the explosion as the greatest they ever witnessed--a +huge roaring spout of flame that tore the jetty in half and left a gap +of over 100 feet. The claim of another launch to have sunk a +torpedo-boat alongside the jetty is supported by many observers, +including officers of the _Vindictive_, who had seen her mast and funnel +across the Mole and noticed them disappear. + +[Sidenote: The splendid heroism of men and officers.] + +Where every moment had its deed and every deed its hero, a recital of +acts of valor becomes a mere catalogue. "The men were magnificent," say +the officers; the men's opinion of their leaders expresses itself in the +manner in which they followed them, in their cheers, in their demeanor +to-day while they tidy up their battered ships, setting aside the +inevitable souvenirs, from the bullet-torn engines to great chunks of +Zeebrugge Mole dragged down and still hanging in the fenders of the +_Vindictive_. The motor launch from the canal cleared the end of the +Mole and there beheld, trim and ready, the shape of the _Warwick_, with +the great silk flag presented to the Admiral by the officers of his old +ship, the _Centurion_. They stood up on the crowded decks of the little +craft and cheered it again and again. + +[Sidenote: The _Warwick_ takes off the men from the canal.] + +While the _Warwick_ took them on board, they saw _Vindictive_, towed +loose from the Mole by _Daffodil_, turn and make for home--a great black +shape, with funnels gapped and leaning out of the true, flying a vast +streamer of flame as her stokers worked her up--her, the almost +wreck--to a final display of seventeen knots. Her forward funnel was a +sieve; her decks were a dazzle of sparks; but she brought back intact +the horseshoe nailed to it, which Sir Roger Keyes had presented to her +commander. + +[Sidenote: One destroyer, the _North Star_, is sunk.] + +[Sidenote: Monitors and siege guns bombard the enemy.] + +Meantime the destroyers _North Star_, _Phoebe_, and _Warwick_, which +guarded the _Vindictive_ from action by enemy destroyers while she lay +beside the Mole, had their share in the battle. _North Star_, losing her +way in the smoke, emerged to the light of the star-shells, and was sunk. +The German _communique_, which states that only a few members of the +crew could be saved by them, is in this detail of an unusual accuracy, +for the _Phoebe_ came up under a heavy fire in time to rescue nearly +all. Throughout the operations monitors and the siege guns in Flanders, +manned by the Royal Marine Artillery, heavily bombarded the enemy's +batteries. + +[Sidenote: The attack on Ostend.] + +The wind that blew back the smoke-screen at Zeebrugge served us even +worse off Ostend, where that and nothing else prevented the success of +an operation ably directed by Commodore Hubert Lynes, C.M.G. The coastal +motor boats had lit the approaches and the ends of the piers with +calcium flares and made a smoke-cloud which effectually hid the fact +from the enemy. _Sirius_ and _Brilliant_ were already past the Stroom +Bank buoy when the wind changed, revealing the arrangements to the +enemy, who extinguished the flares with gunfire. + +[Sidenote: The _Sirius_ runs aground.] + +The _Sirius_ was already in a sinking condition when at length the two +ships, having failed to find the entrance, grounded, and were forced +therefore to sink themselves at a point about four hundred yards east of +the piers, and their crews were taken off by motor launches. + +[Sidenote: Operations cannot be rehearsed.] + +The difficulty of the operation is to be gauged from the fact that from +Zeebrugge to Ostend the enemy batteries number not less than 120 heavy +guns, which can concentrate on retiring ships, during daylight, up to a +distance of about sixteen miles. This imposes as a condition of success +that the operation must be carried out at night, and not late in the +night. It must take place at high water, with the wind from the right +quarter, and with a calm sea for the small craft. The operation cannot +be rehearsed beforehand, since the essence of it is secrecy, and though +one might have to wait a long time to realize all the essential +conditions of wind and weather, secrecy wears badly when large numbers +of men are brought together in readiness for the attack. + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ makes for Ostend.] + +The _Sirius_ lies in the surf some two thousand yards east of the +entrance to Ostend Harbor, which she failed so gallantly to block; and +when, in the early hours of yesterday morning, the _Vindictive_ groped +her way through the smoke-screen and headed for the entrance, it was as +though the old fighting-ship awoke and looked on. A coastal motor-boat +had visited her and hung a flare in her slack and rusty rigging; and +that eye of unsteady fire, paling in the blaze of the star-shells or +reddening through the drift of the smoke, watched the whole great +enterprise, from the moment when it hung in doubt to its ultimate +triumphant success. + +[Sidenote: Unforeseen conditions add to the difficulties.] + +[Sidenote: German destroyers guard the coast.] + +The planning and execution of that success had been entrusted by the +Vice-Admiral, Sir Roger Keyes, to Commodore Hubert Lynes, C.M.G., who +directed the previous attempt to block the harbor with _Sirius_ and +_Brilliant_. Upon that occasion, a combination of unforeseen, and +unforeseeable, conditions had fought against him; upon this, the main +problem was to secure the effect of a surprise attack upon an enemy who +was clearly, from his ascertained dispositions, expecting him. _Sirius_ +and _Brilliant_ had been baffled by the displacement of the Stroom Bank +buoy, which marks the channel to the harbor entrance, but since then +aerial reconnaissance had established that the Germans had removed the +buoy altogether and that there were now no guiding marks of any kind. +They had also cut gaps in the piers as a precaution against a landing; +and, further, when towards midnight on Thursday the ships moved from +their anchorage, it was known that some nine German destroyers were out +and at large upon the coast. The solution of the problem is best +indicated by the chronicle of the event. + +[Sidenote: A still sea and no moon.] + +It was a night that promised well for the enterprise--nearly windless, +and what little breeze stirred came from a point or so west of north; a +sky of lead-blue, faintly star-dotted, and no moon; a still sea for the +small craft, the motor-launches and the coastal motor-boats, whose work +is done close in shore. From the destroyer which served the Commodore +for flagship, the remainder of the force was visible only as swift +silhouettes of blackness, destroyers bulking like cruisers in the +darkness, motor-launches like destroyers, and coastal motor-boats +showing themselves as racing hillocks of foam. From Dunkirk, a sudden +and brief flurry of gunfire announced that German aeroplanes were +about--they were actually on their way to visit Calais; and over the +invisible coast of Flanders the summer-lightning of the restless +artillery rose and fell monotonously. + +[Sidenote: _Vindictive_ passes.] + +"There's _Vindictive_!" The muffled seamen and marines standing by the +torpedo-tubes and the guns turned at that name to gaze at the great +black ship, seen mistily through the streaming smoke from the +destroyer's funnels, plodding silently to her goal and her end. +Photographs have made familiar that high-sided profile and the tall +funnels, with their Zeebrugge scars, always with a background of the +pier at Dover against which she lay to be fitted for her last task; now +there was added to her the environment of the night and the sea and the +greatness and tragedy of her mission. + +[Sidenote: Small craft guide the _Vindictive_.] + +She receded into the night astern as the destroyer raced on to lay the +light buoy that was to be her guide, and those on board saw her no more. +She passed thence into the hands of the small craft, whose mission it +was to guide her, light her, and hide her in the clouds of the +smoke-screen. + +[Sidenote: Precise orders are planned for each stage of operation.] + +There was no preliminary bombardment of the harbor and the batteries as +before the previous attempt; that was to be the first element in the +surprise. A time-table had been laid down for every stage of the +operation; and the staff work beforehand had even included precise +orders for the laying of the smoke barrage, with plans calculated for +every direction of wind. The monitors, anchored in their +firing-positions far to seaward, awaited their signal; the great siege +batteries of the Royal Marine Artillery in Flanders--among the largest +guns that have ever been placed on land-mountings--stood by likewise to +neutralize the big German artillery along the coast; and the airmen who +were to collaborate with an aerial bombardment of the town waited +somewhere in the darkness overhead. The destroyers patrolled to seaward +of the small craft. + +[Sidenote: The signal is given for the guns to open.] + +The _Vindictive_, always at that solemn gait of hers, found the +flagship's light-buoy and bore up for where a coastal motor-boat, +commanded by Lieutenant William R. Slayter, R.N., was waiting by a +calcium flare upon the old position of the Stroom Bank buoy. Four +minutes before she arrived there, and fifteen minutes only before she +was due at the harbor mouth, the signal for the guns to open was given. +Two motor-boats dashed in towards the ends of the high wooden piers and +torpedoed them. There was a machine-gun on the end of the western pier, +and that vanished in the roar and the leap of flame and debris which +called to the guns. Over the town a flame suddenly appeared high in air, +and sank slowly earthwards--the signal that the aeroplanes had seen and +understood; and almost coincident with their first bombs came the first +shells whooping up from the monitors at sea. The surprise part of the +attack was sprung. + +[Sidenote: The attack is a complete surprise.] + +The surprise, despite the German's watchfulness, seems to have been +complete. Up till the moment when the torpedoes of the motor-boats +exploded, there had not been a shot from the land--only occasional +routine star-shells. The motor-launches were doing their work +magnificently. These pocket-warships, manned by officers and men of the +Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, are specialists at smoke-production; they +built to either hand of the _Vindictive's_ course the likeness of a +dense sea-mist driving landward with the wind. The star-shells paled and +were lost as they sank in it; the beams of the searchlights seemed to +break off short upon its front. It blinded the observers of the great +batteries when suddenly, upon the warning of the explosions, the guns +roared into action. + +[Sidenote: Heavy batteries on the Ostend coast open fire.] + +There was a while of tremendous uproar. The coast about Ostend is +ponderously equipped with batteries, each with its name known and +identified: Tirpitz, Hindenburg, Deutschland, Cecilia, and the rest; +they register from six inches up to monsters of fifteen-inch naval +pieces in land-turrets, and the Royal Marine Artillery fights a war-long +duel with them. These now opened fire into the smoke and over it at the +monitors; the Marines and the monitors replied; and, meanwhile, the +aeroplanes were bombing methodically and the anti-craft guns were +searching the skies for them, Star-shells spouted up and floated down, +lighting the smoke banks with spreading green fires; and those strings +of luminous green balls, which airmen call "flaming onions," soared up +up to lose themselves in the clouds. Through all this stridency and +blaze of conflict, the old _Vindictive_, still unhurrying, was walking +the lighted waters towards the entrance. + +It was then that those on the destroyers became aware that what had +seemed to be merely smoke was wet and cold, that the rigging was +beginning to drip, that there were no longer stars--a sea-fog had come +on. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers keep in touch by lights and sirens.] + +The destroyers had to turn on their lights and use their sirens to keep +in touch with each other; the air attack was suspended, and +_Vindictive_, with some distance yet to go, found herself in gross +darkness. + +[Sidenote: The fog and smoke are dense.] + +[Sidenote: A motor-boat leads the way for _Vindictive_.] + +There were motor-boats to either side of her, escorting her to the +entrance, and these were supplied with what are called Dover +flares--enormous lights capable of illuminating square miles of sea at +once. A "Very" pistol was fired as a signal to light these; but the fog +and the smoke together were too dense for even the flares. _Vindictive_ +then put her helm over and started to cruise to find the entrance. Twice +in her wanderings she must have passed across it, and at her third turn, +upon reaching the position at which she had first lost her way, there +came a rift in the mist, and she saw the entrance clear, the piers to +either side and the opening dead ahead. The inevitable motor-boat dashed +up, raced on into the opening under a heavy and momentarily growing +fire, and planted a flare on the water between the piers. _Vindictive_ +steamed over it and on. She was in. + +[Sidenote: A hail of lead falls upon the _Vindictive_.] + +The guns found her at once. She was hit every few seconds after she +entered, her scarred hull broken afresh in a score of places and her +decks and upper works swept. The machine-gun on the end of the western +pier had been put out of action by the motor-boat's torpedo, but from +other machine-guns at the inshore ends of the pier, from a position on +the front, and from machine-guns apparently firing over the eastern +pier, there converged upon her a hail of lead. The after-control was +demolished by a shell which killed all its occupants. Upper and lower +bridges and chart-room were swept by bullets, and Commander Godsal, +R.N., ordered his officers to go with him to the conning-tower. + +[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ prepares to turn.] + +They observed through the observation slit in the steel wall of the +conning-tower that the eastern pier was breached some two hundred yards +from its seaward end, as though at some time a ship had been in +collision with it. They saw the front of the town silhouetted again and +again in the light of the guns that blazed at them; the night was a +patchwork of fire and darkness. Immediately after passing the breach in +the pier. Commander Godsal left the conning-tower and went out on deck, +the better to watch the ship's movements; he chose his position, and +called in through the slit of the conning-tower his order to starboard +the helm. The _Vindictive_ responded; she laid her battered nose to the +eastern pier and prepared to swing her 320 feet of length across the +channel. + +[Sidenote: A shell strikes the conning-tower.] + +It was at that moment that a shell from the shore batteries struck the +conning-tower. Lieutenant Sir John Alleyne and Lieutenant V.A.C. +Crutchley, R.N., were still within; Commander Godsal was close to the +tower outside. Lieutenant Alleyne was stunned by the shock; Lieutenant +Crutchley shouted through the slit to the Commander, and, receiving no +answer, rang the port engine full speed astern to help in swinging the +ship. By this time she was lying at an angle of about forty degrees to +the pier, and seemed to be hard and fast, so that it was impossible to +bring her further round. + +[Sidenote: The order is given to abandon ship and the _Vindictive_ sinks +in the channel.] + +After working the engines for some minutes to no effect, Lieutenant +Crutchley gave the order to clear the engine-room and abandon ship, +according to the programme previously laid down. Engineer +Lieutenant-Commander Wm. A. Bury, who was the last to leave the +engine-room, blew the main charges by the switch installed aft; +Lieutenant Crutchley blew the auxiliary charges in the forward six-inch +magazine from the conning-tower. Those on board felt the old ship shrug +as the explosive tore the bottom plates and the bulk-heads from her; she +sank about six feet and lay upon the bottom of the channel. Her work was +done. + +It is to be presumed that Commander Godsal was killed by the shell which +struck the conning-tower. Lieutenant Crutchley, searching the ship +before he left her, failed to find his body, or that of Sub-Lieutenant +MacLachlan, in that wilderness of splintered wood and shattered steel. +In the previous attempt to block the port, Commander Godsal had +commanded _Brilliant_, and, together with all the officers of that ship +and of _Sirius_, had volunteered at once for a further operation. + +Most of the casualties were incurred while the ship was being abandoned. +The men behaved with just that cheery discipline and courage which +distinguished them in the Zeebrugge raid. + +[Sidenote: Recall rockets are fired from the flagship.] + +Always according to programme, the recall rockets for the small craft +were fired from the flagship at 2.30 a.m. The great red rockets whizzed +up to lose themselves in the fog; they cannot have been visible half a +mile away; but the work was done, and one by one the launches and +motor-boats commenced to appear from the fog, stopped their engines +alongside the destroyers and exchanged news with them. There were +wounded men to be transferred and dead men to be reported--their names +called briefly across the water from the little swaying deck to the +crowded rail above. But no one had seen a single enemy craft; the nine +German destroyers who were out and free to fight had chosen the +discreeter part. + +[Sidenote: Ostend Harbor is thus made impracticable.] + +It is not claimed by the officers who carried out the operation that +Ostend Harbor is completely blocked; but its purpose--to embarrass the +enemy and make the harbor impracticable to any but small craft and +dredging operations difficult--has been fully accomplished. + + * * * * * + +Too little was heard during the war of the work of the American +submarines, but they performed most efficient and useful service. A +sketch of the life aboard one of these little vessels follows. + + + + +WITH THE AMERICAN SUBMARINES + +HENRY B. BESTON + + +[Sidenote: A view of the Embankment.] + +A London day of soft and smoky skies, darkened every now and then by +capricious and intrusive little showers, was drawing to a close in a +twilight of gold and gray. Our table stood in a bay of plate-glass +windows overlooking the Embankment close by Cleopatra's Needle. We +watched the little double-decked tram-cars gliding by, the opposing, +interthreading streams of pedestrians, and a fleet of coal barges coming +up the river, solemn as a cloud. + +[Sidenote: Submarine folk are a people apart.] + +Behind us lay, splendid and somewhat theatric, the mottled marble, stiff +white napery, and bright silver of a fashionable dining-hall. Only a few +guests were at hand. At our little table sat the captain of a submarine +who was then in London for a few days on richly merited leave, a +distinguished young officer of the "mother ship" accompanying our +underwater craft, and myself. It is impossible to be long with submarine +folk without realizing that they are a people apart, differing from the +rest of the naval personnel even as their vessels differ. A man must +have something individual to his character to volunteer for the service, +and every officer is a volunteer. An extraordinary power of quick +decision, a certain keen, resolute look, a certain carriage; submarine +folk are such men as all of us like to have by our side in any great +trial or crisis of our life. + +Guests began to come by twos and threes--pretty girls in shimmering +dresses, young army officers with wound-stripes and clumsy limps. A +faint murmur of conversation rose, faint and continuous as the murmur of +a distant stream. + +Because I requested him, the captain told me of the crossing of the +submarines. It was the epic of an heroic journey. + +[Sidenote: How the submarines crossed the Atlantic.] + +[Sidenote: The mother-ship and submarines leave.] + +"After each boat had been examined in detail, we began to fill them with +supplies for the voyage. The crew spent days manoeuvring cases of +condensed milk, cans of butter, meat, and chocolate, down the +hatchways--food which the boat swallowed up as if she had been a kind of +steel stomach. Until we had it all neatly and tightly stowed away, the +_Z_ looked like a corner grocery store. Then, early one December +morning, we pulled out of the harbor. It wasn't very cold, merely raw +and damp, and it was misty dark. I remember looking at the winter stars +riding high just over the meridian. The port behind us was still and +dead, but a handful of navy-folk had come to one of the wharves to see +us off. Yes, there was something of a stir--you know, the kind of stir +that's made when boats go to sea: shouted orders, the plash of dropped +cables, vagrant noises. It didn't take a great time to get under way; we +were ready, waiting for the word to go. The flotilla--mother-ship, tugs +and all--was out to sea long before the dawn. You would have liked the +picture: the immense stretch of the grayish, winter-stricken sea, the +little covey of submarines running awash, the gray mother-ship going +ahead, as casually as an excursion steamer, into the featureless dawn. + +"The weather was wonderful for two days,--a touch of Indian summer on +December's ocean; then, on the night of the third day, we ran into a +blow, the worst I ever saw in my life. A storm--oh, boy!" + +He paused for an instant. One could see memories living in the fine, +resolute eyes. The broken noises of the restaurant, which had seemingly +died away while he spoke, crept back again to one's ears. A waiter +dropped a clanging fork-- + +[Sidenote: A terrific storm comes on toward night.] + +"A storm. Never remember anything like it. A perfect terror. Everybody +realized that any attempt to keep together would be hopeless. And night +was coming on. One by one the submarines disappeared into that fury of +wind and driving water, the mother-ship, because she was the largest +vessel in the flotilla, being the last we saw. We snatched her last +signal out of the teeth of the gale, and then she was gone, swallowed up +in the storm. So we were alone. + +[Sidenote: Rough water the next day.] + +"We got through the night somehow or other. The next morning the ocean +was a dirty brown-gray, and knots and wisps of cloud were tearing by +close over the water. Every once in a while a great hollow-bellied wave +would come rolling out of the hullabaloo and break thundering over us. +On all the boats the lookout on the bridge had to be lashed in place, +and every once in a while a couple of tons of water would come tumbling +past him. Nobody at the job stayed dry for more than three minutes; a +bathing-suit would have been more to the point than oilers. + +[Sidenote: The boat registers a roll of seventy degrees.] + +[Sidenote: The cook provides food after a fashion.] + +"Shaken, you ask? No, not very bad: a few assorted bruises and a +wrenched thumb; though poor Jonesy on the _Z-3_ had a wave knock him up +against the rail and smash in a couple of ribs. But no being sick for +him; he kept to his feet and carried on in spite of the pain, in spite +of being in a boat which registered a roll of seventy degrees. I used to +watch the old hooker rolling under me. You've never been on a submarine +when she's rolling,--talk about rolling--oh, boy! We all say seventy +degrees, because that's as far as our instruments register. There were +times when I almost thought she was on her way to make a complete +revolution. You can imagine what it was like inside. To begin with, the +oily air was none too sweet, because every time we opened a hatch we +shipped enough water to make the old hooker look like a start at a +swimming tank; and then she was lurching so continuously and violently +that to move six feet was an expedition. The men were +wonderful--wonderful! Each man at his allotted task, and--what's that +English word?--carrying on. Our little cook couldn't do a thing with the +stove, might as well have tried to cook on a miniature earthquake; but +he saw that all of us had something to eat--doing his bit, game as could +be." + +He paused again. The Embankment was fading away in the dark. A waiter +appeared, and drew down the thick, light-proof curtains. + +"Yes, the men were wonderful--wonderful. And there wasn't very much +sickness. Let's see, how far had I got?--Since it was impossible to make +any headway, we lay to for forty-eight hours. The deck began to go the +second morning, some of the plates being ripped right off. And +blow--well, as I told you in the beginning, I never saw anything like +it. The disk of the sea was just one great ragged mass of foam being +hurled through space by a wind screaming past with the voice and force +of a million express trains. + +[Sidenote: The submarines run on the surface to save electricity.] + +"Perhaps you are wondering why we didn't submerge. We simply couldn't +use up our electricity. It takes oil and running on the surface to +create the electric power, and we had a long, long journey ahead. Then +ice began to form on the superstructure, and we had to get out a crew to +chop it off. It was something of a job; there wasn't much to hang on +to, and the waves were still breaking over us. But we freed her of the +danger, and she went on-- + +"We used to wonder where the other boys were, in the midst of all the +racket. One ship was drifting toward the New England coast, her compass +smashed to flinders; others had run for Bermuda, others were still at +sea. + +[Sidenote: Good weather at last.] + +"Then we had three days of good easterly wind. By jingo, but the good +weather was great! Were we glad to have it?--oh, boy! We had just got +things shipshape again when we had another blow, but this second one was +by no means as bad as the first. And after that we had another spell of +decent weather. The crew used to start the phonograph and keep it going +all day. + +[Sidenote: Reaching a friendly coast.] + +"The weather was so good that I decided to keep right on to the harbor +which was to be our base over here. I had enough oil, plenty of water; +the only possible danger was a shortage of provisions. So I put us all +on a ration, arranging to have the last grand meal on Christmas day. Can +you imagine Christmas on a little storm-bumped submarine some hundred +miles off the coast? A day or two more and we ran calmly into--shall we +say, 'deleted' harbor? + +[Sidenote: The men rejoice at food and baths.] + +"Hungry, dirty; oh, so dirty! We hadn't had any sort of bath or wash for +about three weeks; we all were green-looking from having been cooped up +so long, and our unshaven grease-streaked faces would have upset a +dinosaur. The authorities were wonderfully kind, and looked after us and +our men in the very best style. I thought we could never stop eating, +and a real sleep--oh, boy!" + +"Did you fly the flag as you came in?" I asked. + +"You bet we did!" answered the captain, his keen, handsome face lighting +at the memory. "You see," he continued in a practical spirit, "they +would probably have pumped us full of holes if we hadn't." + +And that is the way the American submarines crossed the Atlantic to do +their share for the Great Cause. + +[Sidenote: A guest on the mother-ship.] + +I got to the port of the submarines just as an uncertain and rainy +afternoon had finally decided to turn into a wild and disagreeable +night. Short, drenching showers of rain fell, one after the other, like +the strokes of a lash; a wind came up out of the sea, and one could hear +the thunder of surf on the headlands. The mother-ship lay moored in a +wild, desolate, and indescribably romantic bay; she floated in a +sheltered pool, a very oasis of modernity, a marvelous creature of +another world and another time. There was just light enough for me to +see that her lines were those of a giant yacht. Then a curtain of rain +beat hissing down on the sea, and the ship and the vague darkening +landscape disappeared--disappeared as if they had melted away in the +shower. Presently the bulk of the vessel appeared again. At once we drew +alongside, and from that moment on, I was the guest of the vessel, +recipient of a hospitality and courtesy for which I here make grateful +acknowledgment to my friends and hosts. + +[Sidenote: The ship is most skillfully handled.] + +The mother-ship of the submarines was a combination of flagship, +supply-station, repair-shop, and hotel. The officers of the submarines +had rooms aboard her, which they occupied when off patrol, and the crews +off duty slung their hammocks 'tween decks. The boat was pretty well +crowded, having more submarines to look after than she had been built to +care for; but thanks to the skill of her officers, everything was going +as smoothly as could be. The vessel had, so to speak, a submarine +atmosphere. Everybody aboard lived, worked, and would have died for the +submarine. They believed in the submarine, believed in it with an +enthusiasm which rested on pillars of practical fact. + +[Sidenote: The heroism of the men who tried the first submarine.] + +The chief of staff was the youngest captain in our navy; a man of hard +energy and keen insight; one to whom our submarine service owes a very +genuine debt. His officers were specialists: the surgeon of the vessel +had been for years engaged in studying the hygiene of submarines, and +was constantly working to free the atmosphere of the vessels from +deleterious gases and to improve the living conditions of the crews. I +remember listening one night to a history of the submarine, told by one +of the officers of the staff; and for the first time in my life I came +to appreciate at its full value the heroism of the men who risked their +lives in the first cranky, clumsy, uncertain little vessels, and the +imagination and the faith of the men who believed in the type. Ten years +ago, a descent in a sub was an adventure to be prefaced by tears and +making of wills; to-day submarines are chasing submarines hundreds of +miles at sea, are crossing the ocean, and have grown from a tube of +steel not much larger than a lifeboat, to underwater cruisers which +carry six-inch guns. + +Said an officer to me, "The future of the submarine? Why, sir, the +submarine is the only war vessel that's going to have a future!" + +[Sidenote: The submarines are moved alongside.] + +On the night of my arrival, once dinner was over, I went on deck and +looked down through the rain at the submarines moored alongside. They +lay close by, one beside the other, in a pool of radiance cast by a +number of electric lights hanging over each open hatchway. Beyond this +pool lay the rain and the dark; within it, their sides awash in the +clear green water of the bay, their gray bridges and rust-stained +superstructures shining in the rain, lay the strange, bulging, +crocodilian shapes of steel. There was something unearthly, something +not of this world or time, in the picture; I might have been looking at +invaders of the sleeping earth. The wind swept past in great booming +salvoes; rain fell in sloping, liquid rods through the brilliancy of +electric lamps burning with a steadiness that had something in it +strange, incomprehensible, and out of place in the motion of the storm. + +And then a hand appeared on the topmost rung of the nearer ladder, and a +bulky sailor, a very human sailor in very human dungarees, poked his +head out of the aperture, surveyed the inhospitable night, and +disappeared. + +[Sidenote: Submarines are going out to-night.] + +"He's on Branch's boat. They're going out to-night," said the officer +who was guiding me about. + +"To-night? How on earth will he ever find his way to the open sea?" + +"Knows the bay like a book. However, if the weather gets any worse, I +doubt if the captain will let him go. Branch will be wild if they don't +let him out. Somebody has just reported wreckage off the coast, so there +must be a Hun round." + +"But aren't our subs sometimes mistaken for Germans?" + +"Oh, yes," was the calm answer. + +[Sidenote: The boats may never come back.] + +I thought of that ominous phrase I had noted in the British +records,--"failed to report,"--and I remembered the stolid British +captain who had said to me, speaking of submarines, "Sometimes nobody +knows just what happened. Out there in the deep water, whatever happens, +happens in a hurry." + +My guide and I went below to the officers' corridor. Now and then, +through the quiet, a mandolin or guitar could be heard far off twanging +some sentimental island ditty; and beneath these sweeter sounds lay a +monotonous mechanical humming. + +"What's that sound?" I asked. + +"That's the Filipino mess-boys having a little festino in their +quarters. The humming? Oh, that's the mother-ship's dynamos charging the +batteries of Branch's boat. Saves running on the surface." + +[Sidenote: The captain of the patrol cheerful.] + +My guide knocked at a door. Within his tidy little room, the captain who +was to go out on patrol was packing the personal belongings he needed on +the trip. + +"Hello!" he cried cheerily when he saw us; "come on in. I'm only doing a +little packing up. What's it like outside?" + +"Raining same as ever, but I don't think it's blowing up any harder." + +[Sidenote: Reading matter is in demand.] + +"Hooray!" cried the young captain with heartfelt sincerity; "then I'll +get out to-night. You know the captain told me that if it got any worse, +he'd hold me till to-morrow morning. I told him I'd rather go out +to-night. Perfect cinch once you get to the mouth of the bay; all you +have to do is submerge and take it easy. What do you think of the news? +Smithie thinks he saw a Hun yesterday. Got anything good to read? +Somebody's pinched that magazine I was reading. Thirteen, fourteen, +fifteen--that ought to be enough handkerchiefs. Hello, there goes the +juice!" + +The humming of the dynamo was dying away slowly, fading with an effect +of lengthening distance. The guitar orchestra, as if to celebrate its +deliverance, burst into a triumphant rendering of Sousa's "Stars and +Stripes." + +My guide and I waited till after midnight to watch the going of Branch's +_Z-5_. Branch and his second, stuffed into black oilskins down whose +gleaming surface ran beaded drops of rain, stood on the bridge; a number +of sailors were busy doing various things along the deck. The electric +lights shone in all their calm unearthly brilliance. Then slowly, very +slowly, the _Z-5_ began to gather headway, the clear water seemed to +flow past her green sides, and she rode out of the pool of light into +the darkness waiting close at hand. + +"Good-bye! Good luck!" we cried. + +A vagrant shower came roaring down into the shining pool. + +"Good-bye!" cried voices through the night. + +[Sidenote: The submarines disappear in the dark.] + +Three minutes later all trace of the _Z-5_ had disappeared in the dark. + +[Sidenote: Night and day are the same on a submarine.] + +Captain Bill of the _Z-3_ was out on patrol. His vessel was running +submerged. The air within--they had but recently dived--was new and +sweet; and that raw cold which eats into submerged submarines had not +begun to take the joy out of life. It was the third day out; the time, +five o'clock in the afternoon. The outer world, however, did not +penetrate into the submarine. Night or day, on the surface or submerged, +only one time, a kind of motionless electric high noon, existed within +those concave walls of gleaming cream-white enamel. + +Those of the crew not on watch were taking it easy. Like unto their +officers, submarine sailors are an unusual lot. They are _real_ sailors, +or machinist sailors--boys for whose quality the navy has a flattering, +picturesque, and quite unprintable adjective. A submarine man, mind you, +works harder than perhaps any other man of his grade in the navy, +because the vessel in which he lives is nothing but a tremendously +intricate machine. + +[Sidenote: Life on board.] + +In one of the compartments the phonograph, the eternal, ubiquitous +phonograph of the navy, was bawling its raucous rags and mechano-nasal +songs, and in the pauses between records, one could just hear the low +hum of the distant dynamos. A little group in blue dungarees held a +conversation in a corner; a petty officer, blue cap tilted back on his +head, was at work on a letter; the cook, whose genial art was +customarily under an interdict while the vessel was running submerged, +was reading an ancient paper from his own home town. + +[Sidenote: News of a German submarine.] + +Captain Bill sat in a retired nook, if a submarine can possibly be said +to have a retired nook, with a chart spread open on his knees. The night +before, he had picked up a wireless message saying that a German had +been seen at sundown in a certain spot on the edge of his patrol. So +Captain Bill had planned to run submerged to the spot in question, and +then pop up suddenly in the hope of potting the Hun. Some fifteen +minutes before sundown, therefore, the _Z-3_ arrived at the place where +the Fritz had been observed. + +"I wish I knew just where the bird was," said an intent voice; "I'd drop +a can right on his neck." + +[Sidenote: The sentiments of the captain of a destroyer.] + +These sentiments were not those of anybody aboard the _Z-3_. An American +destroyer had also come to the spot looking for the German, and the +gentle thought recorded above was that of her captain. It was just +sundown; a level train of splendor burned on the ruffled waters to the +west; a light, cheerful breeze was blowing. The destroyer, ready for +anything, was hurrying along at a smart clip. + +"This is the place all right, all right," said the navigator of the +destroyer. "Come to think of it, that chap's been reported from here +twice." + +Keen eyes swept the shining uneasy plain. + +[Sidenote: How a submarine crew takes orders.] + +Meanwhile, some seventy feet below, the _Z-3_ manoeuvred, killing +time. The phonograph had been hushed, and every man was ready at his +post. The prospect of a go with the enemy had brought with it a keen +thrill of anticipation. Now, a submarine crew is a well-trained machine. +There are no shouted orders. If a submarine captain wants to send his +boat under quickly, he simply touches the button of a Klaxon; the horn +gives a demoniac yell throughout the ship, and each man does what he +ought to do at once. Such a performance is called a "crash dive." + +"I'd like to see him come up so near that we could ram him," said the +captain, gazing almost directly into the sun. "Find out what she's +making." + +[Sidenote: Getting up speed.] + +The engineer lieutenant stooped to a voice-tube that almost swallowed up +his face, and yelled a question to the engine-room. An answer came, +quite unheard by the others. + +"Twenty-four, sir," said the engineer lieutenant. + +"Get her up to twenty-six." + +The engineer cried again through the voice-tube. The wake of the vessel +roared like a mill-race, the white foam tumbling rosily in the setting +sun. + +[Sidenote: Seventy feet below the surface.] + +Seventy feet below, Captain Bill was arranging the last little details +with the second in command. + +[Sidenote: The plan of attack.] + +"In about five minutes we'll come up and take a look-see [stick up the +periscope], and if we see the bird, and we're in a good position to send +him a fish [torpedo], we'll let him have one. If there is something +there, and we're not in a good position, we'll manoeuvre till we get +into one, and then let him have it. If there isn't anything to be seen, +we'll go under again and take another look-see in half an hour. Reilly +has his instructions." (Reilly was chief of the torpedo-room.) + +[Sidenote: Wreckage all about.] + +"Something round here must have got it in the neck recently," said the +destroyer captain, breaking a silence which had hung over the bridge. +"Didn't you think that wreckage a couple of miles back looked pretty +fresh? Wonder if the boy we're after had anything to do with it. Keep an +eye on that sun-streak." + +[Sidenote: A crash dive to avoid a destroyer.] + +An order was given in the _Z-3_. It was followed instantly by a kind of +commotion--sailors opened valves, compressed air ran down pipes, the +ratchets of the wheel clattered noisily. On the moon-faced depth-gauge, +with its shining brazen rim, the recording arrow fled swiftly, counter +clockwise, from seventy to twenty, to fifteen feet. Captain Bill stood +crouching at the periscope, and when it broke the surface, a greenish +light poured down it and focused in his eyes. He gazed keenly for a few +seconds, and then reached for the horizontal wheel which turns the +periscope round the horizon. He turned--gazed, jumped back, and pushed +the button for a crash dive. + +"She was almost on top of me," he explained afterwards, "coming like +hell! I had to choose between being rammed or depth-bombed." + +There was another swift commotion, another opening and closing of +valves, and the arrow on the depth-gauge leaped forward. Captain Bill +was sending her down as far as he could, as fast as he dared. Fifty +feet, seventy feet--ninety feet. Hoping to throw the destroyer off, the +_Z-3_ doubled on her track. A hundred feet. + +Crash! Depth-charge number one. + +[Sidenote: Depth bombs explode near by.] + +[Sidenote: The submarine's peril.] + +According to Captain Bill, who is good at similes, it was as if a giant, +wading along through the sea, had given the boat a vast and violent +kick, and then, leaning down, had shaken her as a terrier shakes a rat. +The _Z-3_ rocked, lay on her side, and fell through the water. A number +of lights went out. Men picked themselves out of corners, one with the +blood streaming down his face from a bad gash over his eye. Many of them +told later of "seeing stars" when the vibration of the depth-charge +traveled through the hull and their own bodies; some averred that "white +light" seemed to shoot out of the _Z-3's_ walls. Each man stood at his +post waiting for the next charge. + +Crash! A second depth-charge. To everyone's relief, it was less violent +than the first. A few more lights went out. Meanwhile the _Z-3_ +continued to sink and was rapidly nearing the danger-point. Having +escaped the first two depth-charges, Captain Bill hastened to bring the +boat up to a higher level. Then, to make things cheerful, it was +discovered that the _Z-3_ showed absolutely no inclination to obey her +controls. + +[Sidenote: Anxious moments before the submarine rises again.] + +"At first," said Captain Bill, "I thought that the first depth-bomb must +have jammed all the external machinery; then I decided that our measures +to rise had not yet overcome the impetus of our forced descent. +Meanwhile the old hooker was heading for the bottom of the Irish Sea, +though I'd blown out every bit of water in her tanks. Had to--fifty feet +more, and she would have crushed in like an egg-shell under the wheel of +a touring-car. But she kept on going down. The distance of the third, +fourth, and fifth depth-bombs, however, put cheer in our hearts. Then, +presently, she began to rise; the old girl came up like an elevator in a +New York business block. I knew that the minute I came to the surface +those destroyer brutes would try to fill me full of holes, so I had a +man with a flag ready to jump on deck the minute we emerged. He was +pretty damn spry about it, too. I took another look through the +periscope, and saw that the destroyer lay about two miles away, and as I +looked she came for me _again_. Meanwhile, my signal-man was hauling +himself out of the hatchway as if his legs were in boiling water." + +[Sidenote: The Stars and Stripes signal to the destroyer.] + +"We've got her!" cried somebody aboard the destroyer, in a deep American +voice full of the exultation of battle. The lean rifles swung, lowered. +"Point one, lower." They were about to hear "Fire!" when the Stars and +Stripes and sundry other signals burst from the deck of the misused +_Z-3_. + +"Well, what do you think of that!" said the gunner. "If it ain't one of +our own gang. Say, we must have given it to 'em hard." + +"We'll go over and see who it is," said the captain of the destroyer. +"The signals are O.K., but it may be a dodge of the Huns. Ask 'em who +they are." + +In obedience to the order, a sailor on the destroyer's bridge wigwagged +the message. + +"_Z-3_," answered one of the dungaree-clad figures on the submarine's +deck. + +[Sidenote: No resentment of the adventure.] + +Captain Bill came up himself, as the destroyer drew alongside, to see +his would-be assassin. There was no resentment in his heart. The +adventure was only part of the day's work. The destroyer neared; her bow +overlooked them. The two captains looked at each other. The dialogue was +laconic. + +"Hello, Bill," said the destroyer captain. "All right?" + +"Sure," answered Captain Bill, to one who had been his friend and +classmate. + +"Ta-ta, then," said he of the destroyer; and the lean vessel swept away +in the twilight. + +[Sidenote: The cook's opinion of the destroyers.] + +Captain Bill decided to stay on the surface for a while. Then he went +below to look over things. The cook, standing over some unlovely slop +which marked the end of a half a dozen eggs broken by the concussion, +was giving his opinion on destroyers. The cook was a child of Brooklyn, +and could talk. The opinion was not a nice opinion. + +"Give it to 'em, cooko," said one of the crew, patting the orator +affectionately on the shoulder. "We're with you." + +And Captain Bill laughed to himself. + +The breakfast-hour was drawing to its end, and the very last straggler +sat alone at the ward-room table. Presently an officer of the +mother-ship, passing through, called to the lingering group of +submarine officers. + +[Sidenote: The first of the flotilla to return.] + +"The _X-4_ is coming up the bay, and the _X-12_ has been reported from +signal station." + +The news was received with a little hum of friendly interest. "Wonder +what Ned will have to say for himself this time." "Must have struck +pretty good weather." "Bet you John has been looking for another chance +at that Hun of his." + +[Sidenote: The appearance of the crew.] + +The talk drifted away into other channels. A little time passed. Then +suddenly a door opened, and, one after the other, entered the three +officers of the first home-coming submarine. They were clad in various +ancient uniforms which might have been worn by an apprentice lad in a +garage: old gray flannel shirts, and stout grease-stained shoes; several +days had passed since their faces had felt a razor, and all were a +little pale from their cruise. But the liveliest of keen eyes burned in +each resolute young face, eyes smiling and glad. + +A friendly hullabaloo broke forth. Chairs scraped, one fell with a +crash. + +"Hello, boys!" + +"Hi, Ned!" + +"For the love of Pete, Joe, shave off those whiskers of yours; they make +you look like Trotzky." + +"See any Germans?" + +"What's the news?" + +"What's doing?" + +"Hi, Manuelo"--this to a Filipino mess-boy who stood looking on with +impassive curiosity--"serve three more breakfasts." + +"Anything go for you?" + +"Well, if here isn't our old Bump!" + +[Sidenote: Captain Ned begins his story.] + +The crowd gathered round Captain Ned, who had established contact (this +is a military term quite out of place in a work on the navy) with the +eagerly sought, horribly elusive German. + +"Go on, Ned, give us an earful. What time did you say it was?" + +[Sidenote: An enemy submarine that escaped.] + +"About 5 a.m." answered the captain. He stood leaning against a door, +and the fine head, the pallor, the touch of fatigue, all made a very +striking and appealing picture. "Say about eight minutes after five. I'd +just come up to take a look-see, and saw him just about two miles away, +on the surface, and moving right along. So I went under to get into a +good position, came up again, and let him have one. Well, he saw it just +as it was almost on him, swung her round, and dived like a ton of lead." + +The audience listened in silent sympathy. One could see the +disappointment on the captain's face. + +"Where was he?" + +"About so-and-so." + +"That's the jinx that got after the convoy sure as you live." + +[Sidenote: Two blind ships that tried to find each other under water.] + +The speaker had had his own adventures with the Germans. A month or so +before, he had shoved up his periscope and spotted a Fritz on the +surface in full noonday. The watchful Fritz, however, had been lucky +enough to see the enemy almost at once, and had dived. The American +followed suit. The eyeless submarine manoeuvred about, some eighty +feet under, the German evidently "making his getaway," the American +hoping to be lucky enough to pick up Fritz's trail, and get a shot at +him when he rose again to the top. And while the two blind ships +manoeuvred there in the dark of the abyss, the keel of the fleeing +German had actually, by a curious chance, scraped along the top of the +American vessel and carried away the wireless aerials! + +All were silent for a few seconds, thinking over the affair. It was not +difficult to read the thought in every mind, the thought of _getting at +the Germans_. The characteristic _aggressiveness_ of the American mind, +heritage of a people compelled to subdue a vast, wild continent, is a +wonderful military attribute. The idea of our navy is, "Get after 'em, +keep after 'em, stay after 'em, don't give 'em an instant of security or +rest." And none have this fighting spirit deeper in their hearts than +our gallant boys of the submarine patrol. + +"That's all," said Captain Ned. "I'm going to have a wash-up." He lifted +a grease-stained hand to his cheek, rubbed his unshaven beard, and +grinned. "Any letters?" + +"Whole bag of stuff. Smithie put it on your desk." + +[Sidenote: "Trotzky" and "Rasputin."] + +Captain Ned wandered off. Presently, the door opened again, and three +more veterans of the patrol cruised in, also in ancient uniforms. There +were more cheers; more friendly cries. It was unanimously decided that +the "Trotzky" of the first lot had better take a back seat, since the +second in command of the newcomers was "a perfect ringer for Rasputin." + +"See anything?" + +[Sidenote: A British patrol hunts a lost torpedo.] + +"Nothing much. There's a bit of wreckage just off shore. Saw a British +patrol boat early Tuesday morning. I was on the surface, lying between +her and the sunrise; she was hidden by a low-lying swirl of fog; she saw +us first. When we saw her, I made signals, and over she came. Guess what +the old bird wanted--_wanted to know if I'd seen a torpedo he'd fired at +me!_ An old scout with white whiskers; one of those retired captains, I +suppose, who has gone back on the job. He admitted he had received the +Admiralty notes about us, but thought we acted suspicious. Did you ever +hear of such nerve?" + +[Sidenote: Courage of the submarine patrol.] + +When the war was young, I served on land with _messieurs les poilus_. I +have seen the contests of aviators, also trench-raids and the fighting +for Verdun. Since then I have seen the war at sea. To my mind, if there +is one service of this war which more than any other requires those +qualities of endurance, skill, and courage whose blend the fighting men +call--Elizabethanly, but oh, so truly--"_guts_," it is the submarine +patrol. + + +Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, October, 1918. + + * * * * * + +France took tender care of her wounded heroes, and the following +narrative gives a number of touching incidents observed by one who +visited several of the French hospitals and received stories and +experiences from the wounded soldiers. + + + + +WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE + +ABBE FELIX KLEIN + + +The descriptions which are to follow belong to history already ancient; +to the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918. So rapid is the march of +events with us now! + +[Sidenote: The enthusiasm of a wounded soldier in 1914.] + +The soldier wounded during the first months of the War came to us +overflowing with enthusiasm, eager to express himself. His mind was full +of picturesque and varied impressions and he asked for nothing better +than to tell about them. Willingly he described the emotions and spirit +of the moment of departure; his curiosity in the presence of the +unknown, the shock of the first contact with the enemy, the dizzy joy of +initial successes. He confessed the amazement and pain of the first +checks and the headlong retreat which followed them. He spoke of the +famous Joffre's "_ordre du jour_" when, in the battle of the Marne, the +men were told to take the offensive. They stopped the enemy. They +pursued him. They experienced the intoxication of a victory that gave +back to France her old prestige and felt with certainty, although at +first confusedly, that their battle was a decisive event in human +history. + +[Sidenote: The wounded of 1918 reflect the long tragedy.] + +[Sidenote: They have faced terrible new weapons.] + +To this brilliant and epic beginning succeeded a long and sombre +tragedy, to this _Iliad_ worthy of a Homer an _Inferno_ worthy of a +Dante. So we cannot wonder that the wounded of 1918 differed from those +of 1914, and that their faces, like the face of the Florentine poet +returning from hell, reflected the terrible things through which they +had passed. The suffering of years, the eternal waiting for a decision +of arms that did not come, the increasing horror of confronting weapons +unknown in the early months--heavy artillery, gas, liquid fire, +aeroplane attacks--left their mark upon our soldiers. + +Dante imagines the terrible things he recounts. Our soldiers have seen +them face to face. New Year after New Year has come and gone, and found +them living underground, in constant danger of unseen and unavoidable +forms of death, huddled together in damp, dark holes, exposed to rain +and snow and shell fire. Rarely was there fighting--as we used to +understand the term--but daily death took its toll, and ill and wounded +were evacuated to the rear. + +[Sidenote: Modern battle has become a scientific operation.] + +Ardor they certainly retained for the assault, and heroism for +confronting sheets of fire, or clouds of asphyxiating gas; but in the +scientific operation which the modern battle has become, most things +that are purely personal are more to be dreaded than desired, a fiery +temper counts for much less than coolness, discipline, mastery of self, +the spirit of abnegation and self-sacrifice. And when the battle was +won, that is to say, when they had taken, not a town with a resounding +name, but the ruins of a village, a treeless forest, a dismantled fort, +a hill thirty metres high, the survivors still had a task before them +which had lost none of its roughness or austerity. They had to organize +the new position in haste, dig other shelters, undergo bombardments and +reject counter-attacks, all the more violent because the enemy, +supported in the rear by positions prepared in advance, was more furious +than ever after defeat. Thus it continued--until now, even now, when +under the irresistible pressure of the French, the English and the +Americans, the German wall is crumbling. At last it will be broken, and +the victorious flood of the armies of democracy will pass through. Then +our invaded provinces and the sacred soil of Belgium will be freed; then +the conditions of just and honorable peace among all the nations of the +earth may be dictated on the banks of the Rhine--or farther, if +necessary. + +[Sidenote: Patience and tenacity are necessary.] + +But to support, while we waited, the monotonous trench-life to +accomplish the rapid nocturnal raids or the formidable exploits of the +great days and weeks of offensive, required more than that brilliant +quality of our fathers, the _furia francese_ that was the synonym of +overwhelming courage and the ardor which commands victory. Patience to +wait, resignation to accept, tenacity to prolong efforts, deliberate and +indomitable will to overcome trials, within and without and to press on +to the distant goal of final victory were above all things necessary. + +[Sidenote: "To the end!"] + +These qualities, summed up in one expression: "To the end!" so +profoundly different from those which hitherto have passed as +characteristic of our race, were the ones most noticeable in our +combatant of the fourth year of the War. Youthful enthusiasm was no +more; each man numbered the dangers run, each man took clear account of +those to come. + +[Sidenote: Patriotism becomes a passion.] + +Only austere love of duty can sustain a man at such a height. A +schoolmaster-sergeant of Lyon, Philippe Gonnard, voices it to a friend +inclined to pity him: he was ill enough to get his freedom, but wished, +nevertheless, to keep at his post until he was killed: "I intend to stay +at the front.... Patriotism for me is a passion. Does that mean that I +am happy here far from all I love? You do not think that and I have +often said I am not, in prose and verse. But from now until peace, no +man of heart can be happy. If I came back, I should be still less happy, +because instead of being dissatisfied with my lot, I should be +dissatisfied with myself." + +[Sidenote: Strong will and nobility of soul.] + +More or less consciously, this was the rock bottom of the character of +the soldier of France after three and a half years of war: "Will always +on the stretch, anguish conquered, melancholy transformed into nobility +of soul--as long as literature does not portray these essential traits +of the soldier," says one of our best author-combatants, "all it creates +will only be artificial and bear no relation to reality." + +[Sidenote: "No matter, it is for France."] + +"No matter, it is for France!" says the wounded soldier to the comrades +bending over him, and if it is during an attack he tells them not to +stop, not to carry him away "because it is no longer worth while," but +to continue without him the noble work for which he is offering his +life. Let a chaplain bring him divine help in time and he will die more +than resigned, joyous and radiant in the faith of his childhood, +bewailing his sins and kissing the crucifix like the French of the +Middle Ages. How many times, in the horrible frame of modern war, have +words been uttered, scenes enacted, agonies suffered which echoed the +most sublime passages of the _Chanson de Roland_! + +[Sidenote: Most of the wounded recover.] + +[Sidenote: Many times wounded.] + +But, thank God, among those who fall without being killed outright, the +minority are mortally wounded. Most of them are destined to get well or +at least to survive: they know it, and are glad. As soon as they regain +consciousness after the shock, the first idea is: "Am I really not +dead?" To be wounded does not disconcert them at all. "We are here for +that!" said, the other day, one of my young friends of the class 1915, +who by exception has been preserved until now. The alternative, in this +present War, is not to come out of it wounded, or unwounded, but wounded +or dead: to escape death is all that one can reasonably ask. Men who +have only been wounded once, are more and more scarce, some have +returned to the front four or five times. We had at the hospital a year +ago an American sergeant of the Foreign Legion, engaged at Orleans in +August, 1914, who having fought in Champagne, on the Somme and in +Alsace, had received three wounds, the last at the end of 1915, at +Belloy-en-Santerre, when a German bomb had badly damaged his left thigh: +"the last" up to that time, for he had to go back under fire and will in +all probability receive a fourth wound. + +[Sidenote: The slightly wounded are lucky.] + +[Sidenote: The most unfortunate.] + +Those slightly wounded have not much merit, it must be confessed, in +being resigned or even joyful. After a rapid dressing at the first +station they will rest several days at the hospital at the front, and +then get leave of convalescence which they will pass with their +families. A wound for them, who can bear a little suffering, means an +unexpected holiday and supplementary permission. They are only sorry if +they are hit stupidly, out of action or at the beginning of a +well-prepared attack, and prevented from going on with it. Let us leave +them to their good luck, and stay longer with the severely wounded, +those, for instance, who have a leg or arm broken, a fractured jaw, +vertebra or ribs bruised, or are deprived of one of their senses--blind, +deaf, paralyzed. We unhesitatingly acknowledge that these three last +categories of wounded feel their misery profoundly, and need time to get +used to it. Those, happily much more numerous, who have only temporarily +or permanently lost the use of one of their limbs, generally consider +themselves very fortunate. "I have the good wound!" they affect to say, +meaning that the War is over for them. So at least they express +themselves, not at all wishing to be admired, and trying as it were, to +minimize their courage in bearing their trial. + +[Sidenote: Self-sacrifice of the wounded.] + +[Sidenote: "Arise, ye dead!"] + +But aside from this paradoxical attitude, they frequently speak and act +in the most simple, touching way! It is common to hear one say to the +stretcher-bearer who comes to fetch him: "Take my comrade here first; he +is much more wounded than I; I can wait...." And that when it means +lying on the ground under the bombardment, thirsty, feverish, feeling +his strength ebb with his blood. Before any one comes back to get him, +often he will try again, if he has a sound arm left, to fire his rifle +or his machine-gun once more. Glory surrounds the epic incident of the +trench where the only unwounded soldier, seeing the enemy arrive, cried +out as if in delirium: "Arise, ye dead!" and the dying really rose, and +succeeded, some of them, in firing once more before they fell again, and +the assailants fled. A more recent and simpler deed is also worth +recording. + +[Sidenote: A dead observer protects his pilot.] + +Returning from a bombardment of the enemy's factories in broad daylight, +a French machine conducted by two men was attacked by several aviators. +The observer, hit by a ball in the chest, dropped down into the +_carlingue_. The pilot seeing this prepared to turn back. But hearing +his machine-gun firing again, he concluded that the observer was not +seriously hurt. As soon as he landed in France: "Well, what about that +wound?" he asked. No answer. He bent down and saw that his companion was +dead. Even in his agony he had continued to protect his comrade. + +In the beginning of the War the wounded stayed a long, a very long time +without being rescued, at the place where they fell, or in the shelter +to which they had been able to crawl. Our stretcher-bearers of the +American Ambulance found, after the battle of the Marne, many who had +lain for days and nights in shell holes, at the foot of trees, in +ruined barns or churches! One may guess what the mortality might be! +Today, happily, it is no longer so. The field of action is more +restricted and the aid is better organized. + +[Sidenote: Transportation is painful and dangerous.] + +[Sidenote: Relief at the first dressing station.] + +[Sidenote: The nurses devoted and the sufferers resigned.] + +If transportation, however, is less retarded than three years ago, it is +still painful and rather dangerous. Even when a special passage has been +dug before the attack for the evacuation of the wounded, all jolts are +not avoided in this dark and narrow way; but in going through the +ordinary passage-ways, dangerous and unseen obstacles are often +encountered--crumbling earth, perhaps, or convoys going in the opposite +direction. If they heeded the wounded soldier, the stretcher-bearers +would go on open ground. This he frequently does, if he is at all able +to get on without aid; once hit he thinks himself invulnerable--a +singular illusion which has brought about many catastrophes. At the +first dressing-station and at the front hospital, relief begins. In +ordinary times, this will be quite complete, and the wounded will not be +carried to the rear until they are really able to stand the journey. But +while the battle is on, they must go in the greatest haste: the worst +cases are thoroughly cared for; the badly hurt who can be moved receive +the attention which enables them to depart speedily; the slight cases +have to be content with summary consideration. Here one sees the +devotion of the nurses and the resignation of the sufferers, and better +than resignation: the noble effort not to moan, the murmured prayer, the +forgetfulness of self, eagerness to ask news of the fight. Among the +falsities of a book a thousand times too vaunted (falsities due not so +much to the lie direct as to the constant dwelling on odious details, +and the suppression of admirable facts), nothing is farther from the +truth than the picture of a hospital at the front where one hears and +sees only blaspheming and rebellious men. With most of the wounded who +have spoken to me about it in our hospital, and who certainly had the +right to bear witness, we proclaim loudly that if the French army had +been such as the work in question paints it in this passage and in many +others, the War would have ended long ago, and history would never have +known the names of the Marne, nor the Yser, nor Verdun, nor the +Chemin-des-Dames. + +[Sidenote: A true picture of our Ambulance at the front.] + +A true picture of an Ambulance at the front, overflowing with wounded +the evening of a battle, I find in these lines by an eyewitness: "Some +moderate complaints among the crowded stretchers: one asks for a drink, +one wants relief for pain, a bed, a dressing, to be quickly attended. +But let some story be told in the group, some incident come out like a +trumpet-call, all faces brighten, the men lift themselves a little, the +mirage of glory gives them heart again. I commemorate with piety the +anonymous example of a little Zouave, doubled over on himself, holding +his bullet-pierced abdomen in both hands, whom I heard gently asked: +'Well, little one, how goes it?' Oh, very well, _mon Lieutenant_, our +company has passed the road from B---- to the south; we had gotten there +when I was knocked out. It's all right; we are smashing them!" + +[Sidenote: Their first thought for victory.] + +I, personally, received such answers from wounded who came to us from +the Chemin-des-Dames, or from the fort of Malmaison. When I asked for +news, my mind preoccupied with their individual sufferings, their first +thought was to tell me of the victory. The ordinary French phrase for +"How are you? _Comment ca va-t-il?_" (literally: How goes it?) may apply +to an event or to a person. This being so, it is never of himself that +the newly-wounded soldier thinks, but of what is interesting to +everybody--the common success. I went to welcome a patient brought in +October 26th and asked: "You came tonight?" + +"Yes, Father." + +"Not too tired by the journey?" + +"No, not too much." + +"What wound?" + +"Jaw pierced by a bullet, arm broken, wound in the thigh." + +"How goes it?" + +[Sidenote: The wounded are delighted with the success of the attack.] + +"Very well! The wounded who came to the hospital at the front were +delighted, we had gotten everything we were trying for!" + +"You were in the attack?" + +"Unfortunately no, I was wounded the day before." + +"In the bombardment?" + +"Yes, while we were filling up the trenches to make a way for the tanks +toward the fort of Malmaison." + +"That must have been pretty constant thundering?" + +"Yes, but very soon we did not think of it. In the little bombardments +you hear the shells coming and try to get to shelter, but, in those +great days, when it is going on all the time, you can no longer +distinguish anything, it is a continual noise, a kind of huge snoring. +Then you are quite calm." + +[Sidenote: They do not speak of what they have done or seen.] + +These are a few illustrations, a few rays of light, such as one still +gets sometimes. I do not know if they will become more frequent with the +new evolution of the War. They have been rare, and never followed by +long expansiveness. Our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the War +did not like to speak of what he had done nor of what he had seen. What +may be the reasons for his silence? In seeking to interpret them we +penetrate a little into the psychology of this taciturn man. + +[Sidenote: The soldier plays an impersonal part.] + +First, his impressions of the War are no longer fresh and now he would +have some difficulty in analyzing them. It is as with ourselves in a new +country: at first we have a thousand things to describe in our letters; +after that nothing strikes us any longer. This passage to a sort of +unconsciousness is the easier for the soldier as he plays a more +impersonal part in the War; a simple cell in a great organism, a simple +wheel in an enormous machine, quite beyond his comprehension in its +learned complication. Catastrophes happen to him but no adventures: he +may be wounded, he may be killed, nothing else. This is no material for +fine stories. + +A deeper reason for the silence of the witness, or rather the actor, in +the great drama of the War, is a very just realization of the +impossibility of conveying any idea of it to those who have never been +there. It is so very different from anything they know; so out of +proportion to the normal life of human beings. + +[Sidenote: The wounded man does not like to think of war.] + +To these intellectual motives may be added one of feeling. The wounded +soldier does not like to speak of the War because he does not like to +think of it: there are too many horrors; he has had to bear too many +privations, too much suffering. As soon as he finds himself out of it, +he tries to turn his mind away from it as much as possible, and to shake +off the impression of it, as the sick man in the morning shakes off his +fevered nightmare. Later on, doubtless, when his memories have lost +their keen edge, they may attract him again. All he asks for the moment +is to forget. One thing especially afflicts his heart and tightens his +lips: it is the thought of the comrades he has lost. + +Such are the reasons why the later wounded, differing from those at the +beginning of the War, shut themselves up in a silence full of gravity. + +[Sidenote: The men in hospital are grateful.] + +[Sidenote: Infirmities are less felt.] + +In spite of this, however, you would have a false idea of the military +hospital if you thought of it as a place of mournful desolation. +Doubtless our earlier patients regained their spirits more quickly, +having no years of suffering behind them. But the quiet and serious +resignation which reigns in the hospital of to-day does not exclude a +certain sweetness; the wounded man appreciates the intelligent and +devoted care lavished upon him, he congratulates himself and thanks God +for having escaped from mortal peril, for not having fallen to the +bottom of the abyss, for remounting now the slope at the summit of which +he has a glimpse of the recovery of his strength and activity. If his +wound leaves no serious traces, he rejoices to live again as he did +before; if it has deprived him of the use of his limbs or of some +necessary organ, he consoles himself by the thought that the War is over +for him and that soon he will take his place at home. His infirmities, +which perhaps will weigh more heavily upon him later, he feels less +here, where they are the normal thing and where it is the exception to +appear intact. + +It is a rest for him not to hear the voice of the cannon. And he likes +the moral peace with which the wise kindness of the doctors, the +devotion of the nurses, the friendship of the chaplain, surround him; he +especially enjoys the many letters he receives from his family, and +those which he slowly writes himself, or dictates to an amiable +neighbor. Often he has friends and relatives in the neighborhood who +come to see him, but what he likes best of all is the visit from his +family, his mother, father, wife, his young children. + +[Sidenote: A dying man is decorated.] + +[Sidenote: A legacy of honor for his family.] + +Another joy in the life of our wounded is the announcement and then the +presentation of his decoration. Once, however, I saw the Cross of Honor +received with no sign of satisfaction at all, but that was because it +came too late, and its recipient, one of my friends, a brave officer, +was about to receive another recompense in heaven. It was very affecting +to see the decoration laid on that already gasping breast, without any +consciousness on the part of the poor hero. His mother and wife, at +least, before they buried him, could take the glorious emblem to hand +down as heirloom and as instruction to his three little ones. It is a +noble idea of the French Government, to give the decorations of soldiers +killed by the enemy to their families--their widows, their orphans, or, +if they are not married, to their old parents. During these years filled +with emotion, few spectacles have impressed me so deeply as the ceremony +of "taking arms" in the court of honor of the Invalides, when in this +historic monument, built by Louis XIV. and now the tomb of Napoleon, a +General of the Third Republic gave the emblem of the brave to women and +children dressed in mourning, at the same time as to rough soldiers +newly healed of their wounds and ready to return to the front. + +[Sidenote: The return to the front.] + +[Sidenote: Often impatient to rejoin his comrades.] + +Return to the front!... This is the almost invariable ending of the +history of our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the War. Return to +the front! Never will the heroism required for the acceptance of such a +duty be sufficiently admired! After three years of fatigue, privations, +of unheard-of dangers, after one or several wounds which brought him +within an inch of death, this man who has for long months felt the +sweetness, the care, the calm of a comfortable hospital; has had a taste +of the charms of family life once more; has little by little turned his +thought away from the horrors of war, now he is sent back, to the depot, +from which he knows that before long he will be called again to the +front! And he submits, resigns himself: what do I say? Often impatient +of inaction, of the little rules which annoy his independent temper, he +asks to go in advance of the call, to rejoin as a volunteer and without +further delay his comrades of Champagne, Lorraine, Flanders or Picardy. +He reenters his regiment as the traveler reenters his own country, and +his only sadness is to find that during his absence so many old comrades +have fallen, so many newcomers have filled the gaps. But the welcome of +the survivors warms his heart. + +[Sidenote: He goes into the trenches at night.] + +Although it is night--for only at night do they go into the +trenches--the sky is ploughed with illuminating fireworks, with +projections and projectiles, of various kinds which bursting sow quick +flashes of light, and a death often as prompt. In a maze of narrow and +complicated paths our friend advances without knowing where and feeling +his way: nearer and nearer he approaches to enemies whose sleepless hate +growls menacingly below his feet in the ground, around him on the earth, +above him in the sky filled with sinister gleams. He goes his way +without enthusiasm, but without hesitation, without boasting, but +without fear, knowing by long experience what peril he runs, but +offering himself calmly to his formidable destiny, ready to answer: +"Present!" if God and his country demand his life. + +[Sidenote: There are no heroes in past history so grand.] + +What hero in all the centuries of history attains to the grandeur of our +hero? Who ever defended, in a war so terrible, a cause so important to +the future of the world? Who has striven so hard, suffered so much, so +often passed through death? To prove himself equal to his high mission, +he has had to rid himself of all egoism, renounce lucre and vain honors, +sacrifice family joys; many times he has known the worst extremes of +weariness, thirst, hunger and cold; he equals and surpasses in +austerity the severest of monks; he practices an obedience and humility +that monasteries and Thebaides know nothing of, constantly ready to +expose himself, as soon as he receives the order, to a terrible and +invisible death. No one ever more completely obeyed the counsels of +Christ: "If you will be perfect, leave your father and mother, your +wife, forsake your possessions, renounce yourself, take up your cross +and follow Me." + +[Sidenote: Humanity has never shown such moral grandeur.] + +Those among these brave men who have faith, are conscious of such +supernatural life and their letters--admirable collections have been +published--reflect a light of authentic saintliness. The others, too, +without knowing it, walk in the footsteps of Christ; at the moment of +supreme sacrifice He will enlighten them with the brightness of His +grace and will admit them, like their believing brothers, into the +heaven promised to those who suffer for righteousness. Humanity which +has never known horrors like those it is enduring now, has also never +shown such moral grandeur, and it is not astonishing that in face of +such great crimes and such great virtues, our soul should pause, +breathless, incapable of expressing the excess of its emotion. + +[Sidenote: The devoted war of the American public for the wounded.] + +I cannot speak to the great American public about our wounded, without +saying how much we appreciate the fact that it has followed them, with +admirable solicitude, all the length of their hard Calvary. Its +stretcher-bearers have helped us rescue them at the front, its +ambulances have carried them to our hospitals, where they have found its +doctors, its nurses to tend their wounds, its offerings of all kinds to +assure their material well-being and their moral comfort. And in +after-care it has not been less solicitous: teaching the blind, +reeducating the maimed and giving them the costly apparatus which take +the place of their lost limbs. When they could not survive, despite +efforts of science and devotion, it contributed toward assuring the +future of their widows and orphans. + +America to-day gives us even her blood; she has from the first given us +her gold, given her heart! + + +Copyright, Catholic World, October, 1918. + + * * * * * + +The great series of battles, known in general as the Battle of Picardy, +formed a prelude to the final acts of the war. A stirring account of +these battles is given in the narrative which follows. + + + + +THE BATTLE OF PICARDY + +J.B.W. GARDINER + + +[Sidenote: Possibly the decisive battle of the war.] + +[Sidenote: Germany will emerge victor or vanquished.] + +On March 21st, 1918, Germany opened the great engagement which will +probably prove to be the decisive battle of the war. This designation +has already, but not altogether correctly, been given to the Battle of +the Marne. The Marne did decide that the Germans were not to capture +Paris in their first great rush through Belgium and France. It did not +only halt the German advance, but threw it back behind the Aisne, thus +preventing Germany from winning the war in 1914. But it did not defeat +the German army decisively. Nor did it make an ultimate German victory +impossible. It left the German army still in the field, its strength +practically unimpaired, still capable of strong defense, still with +great striking power in attack. It made possible for the future a +decisive Allied victory, but it did not achieve it. The German defeat at +Verdun, indeed, did more harm to the German army, lessened to a greater +extent its power of defense and its strength to attack than did the +Marne, because through the French defense and counter-efforts, the +German army lost nearly half a million men. But the battle now raging, +which for convenience of reference is called the Battle of Picardy +(although it embraces Picardy, Artois, and Flanders), will do more than +did either the Marne or Verdun. It will place irrevocably and +unmistakably upon Germany the laurel of victory or the thorny crown of +defeat. It is, therefore, the decisive battle of the war. It is the +final struggle of the civilized world against the domination of the +beast. It is Germany's final effort, and, in order that this may be +appreciated, it is necessary only to recount the conditions which +impelled Germany to take the offensive at this time. + +[Sidenote: Germany's eastern ambitions attained.] + +[Sidenote: A peace by compromise would be a German victory.] + +The developments in Russia, so entirely favorable to Germany, led many +to believe that, having attained so completely their eastern ambitions, +the German leaders would rest content with what they had, and, +strengthening their lines in the west through reinforcements drawn from +the Russian front, remain on the defensive on the western front until a +peace could be arranged. With the German talons firmly fixed in the +throat of Ukraine; with Poland, Courland, and Lithuania practically +annexed, there was a certain element of reason in this contention. It +was entirely conceivable that with such strength in the west, Germany +could set in motion the machinery of a peace propaganda, and obtain a +peace conference which would enable her to work out a programme of +concessions in the west for concessions in the east--a peace by +compromise which would answer present needs while furnishing all future +requirements in case she decided to provoke another war. Thus Germany +would end the war with a victory just as truly as if she had won it on +the field of battle, and without the terrific loss in man power that an +offensive on the western front would entail. + +[Sidenote: The Allies refuse a peace by compromise.] + +In constructing this theory, however, certain essentials were ignored. +German voraciousness can never be satisfied. It is a bottomless pit +which can be filled only by pouring into it the world. When there is +nothing more to be had, Germany would perforce rest content. The +possession of Russia only whetted her appetite for France and Belgium +and the life of England. Moreover, the Allies, having now learned +Germany, and having acquired a sense of their own safety and of the +future peace of the world, had no thought of permitting Germany to +remain in possession of western Russia, of Serbia, and of Rumania, and +thereby not only perpetuating but actually aggravating the condition out +of which grew the present war. They had, therefore, notified Germany +that they would lay down arms only when she was willing to disgorge what +she and her allies had swallowed, and had rectified their frontiers in +accordance with President Wilson's fourteen conditions and with Lloyd +George's statement on the same subject. + +In other words, Germany was to be permitted to emerge from the war with +a profit only through military victory; she would have to defend her +conquests. This negatived the idea of a peace through negotiation. + +[Sidenote: The German people equally to blame with their government.] + +[Sidenote: The letter to Prince Sixtus.] + +[Sidenote: Austria might make a separate peace.] + +[Sidenote: There is suspicion among thieves.] + +Having absorbed the fundamental fact that the Allies proposed to +continue the fight to the end, what then was Germany's position? I am +not one of those who cherish the fatuous delusion that this is a war in +which the German people are not equally involved with their government. +At the same time, it is undeniable that there existed in both the German +and the Austrian empires a considerable internal pressure, induced by +hunger and by privations (but not by any moral or ethical +considerations), to bring the war to a close. The cupboards of Russia +were neither so full nor so readily available as had been anticipated. +Suffering was general, and, with the scarcity not only of food but of +wool and of cotton, made the prospect of going through another winter of +war a gloomy contemplation. In Austria the situation was worse than in +Germany. The letter of the Austrian Emperor to his brother-in-law, +Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, which the French Government published +in April, gives sufficient indication of the Austrian need for peace. It +shows also that Germany must have had doubt of the loyalty of her ally, +and German knowledge that conditions had come to such a pass in Austria +that a separate peace would be more welcome to Austria than no peace at +all, regardless of the sacrifices which had to be made to obtain it. How +long Austria could be held Germany did not know, but it was evident that +she was not to be trusted too far. Austria is as unscrupulous, as +hypocritical as is Germany, and Germany knows it. And while there may be +honor among thieves, there is also suspicion. + +[Sidenote: Germany must resume the offensive.] + +But, aside from internal and political considerations, the military +situation itself was one which demanded immediate action or none at all. +It is an elemental military fact that a war cannot be won by defensive +action alone. Defeat may be averted by such means; but victory cannot be +achieved. Germany, with the exception of a single incident south of +Cambrai, had been on the defensive since the close of the battle of +Verdun early in the summer of 1916. The necessity for offensive action +at some time was therefore absolute if Germany was to win. But there +were many considerations which made that time the present. Germany could +not afford to wait. + +[Sidenote: Divisions are brought from Russia.] + +The middle of March found Germany at the height of her man power. Never +before since the outbreak of war had the opportunity been presented for +the concentration on the western front of practically her entire +effective strength in both men and guns. For this, of course, Russia was +responsible. The divisions which were holding the Russian lines had been +carefully picked over, and from men thus selected new divisions were +formed and old ones filled up. All were sent to France as rapidly as +possible, the movement occupying the time from September, 1917, to +March of this year. Similarly, all available artillery was concentrated +in the west, the eastern front being practically denuded. Germany then +was in immediate danger of being diverted by activities of the Allies in +other fields. + +[Sidenote: America could not furnish numbers in 1917.] + +The Allies on the other hand were by no means at their full strength. +America, who stepped into the war just in time to take Russia's place, +still remained impotent, unable to place in Europe numbers in any way +commensurate with the situation. But America was gathering impetus as +she went. And while she was a negligible force in 1917--except in the +matters of food and money--and would probably be a negligible force in +1918 subject to the same exception, in 1919 she was almost certain to +turn the tide strongly against the Central Powers. Even in 1918 there +could be expected a steady though small stream of men across the ocean, +who being fresh, eager, and unwearied, might cause trouble. Germany then +had the one chance to win, and that chance demanded that she strike with +all her power before America reached the field. To delay meant not a +drawn game but certain defeat. For if Germany is ever confronted in +Europe with the full strength of America in men and in the machinery of +war, she will be crushed. + +[Sidenote: Germany must strike before America reaches the field.] + +[Sidenote: The Russian situation is disquieting.] + +Finally, the situation in Russia boded ill for Germany. Great rejoicing +has taken place in Berlin and in Vienna over peace with Russia. But it +is a peace which has not altered Germany's inability to keep faith with +any Power. Her persistent worship of materialism and force has created a +situation in Russia not at all to Germany's liking. Once the Russian +border was absolutely undefended and the way to Petrograd and Moscow +wide open, Germany could not resist the temptation to march on in +continued aggression, regardless of treaty or promises or peace or +morality. And Russia has furnished strong evidence that she is not at +all complacent under such aggression. + +[Sidenote: A new Russian national army is formed.] + +[Sidenote: Danger of guerilla warfare.] + +The Russians are in a stage of transition, and are, therefore, unstable, +mentally unsettled. They are completely dissatisfied at Germany's +interpretation of the peace terms. They see themselves being starved +that Germany may fatten on their granaries. They are reaching the point +where organized resistance is the only answer of which the situation is +capable. Steps have already been taken to form a new national army, to +offer organized resistance to further encroachments. There are also +large elements which have never accepted the unconditional surrender and +which never will. At any moment in this land of instability, the fires +which have been kindled by German bad faith and duplicity may break into +a conflagration. There is no danger at the present time--there is danger +that before the year is out public dissatisfaction and unrest may +crystallize and Germany be faced with the most colossal guerilla war the +world has seen; and while warfare of this kind cannot defeat Germany, it +can neutralize many divisions of German troops and pin them down to the +eastern front while the Allies make the finishing stroke in the west. +This situation, out of which anything can grow, made it strongly +advisable that Germany should act before the crystallization should take +place. + +[Sidenote: Ready for a great blow in the West.] + +Realizing that she could not wait without serious danger to herself, +Germany mustered all her resources in the west for the great blow she +was to deliver. The problem which confronted the German General Staff +was to destroy one of the two great armies, that of France or that of +England. Both could not be handled together. Germany did not have the +strength. The attack had to be delivered against one or the other. Which +should it be? + +[Sidenote: The French losses much greater than the British.] + +An attack against the French had certain advantages. The French army was +unmistakably the weaker of the two. In the early days of the war, while +the British army was being formed, it was the French who had to stand +the brunt of the fighting. At Verdun it was the French who from February +to July beat back the German assaults along the Meuse time after time in +the most tremendous duel of the war. In the Battle of the Somme it was +the French who fought their way forward south of the river to the +outskirts of Peronne and Chaulnes. The French losses had, therefore, +been very much greater than the British. As the populations of France +and of the United Kingdom are about the same, the French people had, +therefore, suffered much more than had the British, and were +correspondingly less able to stand such a blow as Germany was able to +deliver. + +[Sidenote: Much of French front is invulnerable.] + +But there was one great disadvantage in attacking France. The blow could +not be delivered against the front from St. Mihiel to the Swiss +frontiers. This front is vulnerable only where the Vosges Mountains are +broken by the great gaps at Belfort, Epinal, and Nancy; and these gaps +are easy to defend and well backed up in rear by great bases of supply +excellently served by many radiating railroad lines. It could not be +delivered at Verdun, because France had not only retaken all the ground +of military value which had been lost; but Verdun had become to France a +religion, a fanaticism. To France it was a symbol of French love of +country, of French patriotism. Verdun meant France. Germany, therefore, +had no desire to test this fortified area again. This left only the +Champagne line between the Argonne Forest and Rheims. + +[Sidenote: Reasons for not striking on the Champagne line.] + +[Sidenote: The Allied armies would be left intact.] + +If Germany had attacked this front, the British army, the stronger of +her enemies, would soon have struck, and whether Germany so elected or +not, she would nevertheless be running two major operations at the same +time--one offensive in Champagne, the other defensive in Picardy or in +Flanders. Again, suppose her army did bend the French line back, as it +undoubtedly would, how far back would it have to go in order for Germany +to reach a complete military decision? There would indeed be no such +decision in sight, almost regardless of the depth of penetration. The +lines might have to be rectified; Verdun might have to be abandoned; the +Vosges frontier line might have to be drawn in. But even so the French +and British armies would both be intact; both biding their time when, +with full force of their own and a million or more American troops, +Germany could be beaten. In short, an attack against the French at any +point, while promising new gains in territory, promised nothing in the +way of a decision, and, be it remembered, this is Germany's last effort; +it must reach either victory or defeat. The Battle of Picardy must and +will produce a definite, positive result. It cannot end in indecision. + +[Sidenote: British army trained only for trench warfare.] + +[Sidenote: The French positions.] + +[Sidenote: The British railway connections might be taken.] + +An attack against the British offered none of the disadvantages which +attended an attack against the French. The British were stronger it is +true. But this army, unlike that of the French, was trained for but one +thing--trench warfare. If Germany could restore war in the open--a war +of movement--this strength might be offset by a wider experience. In +attacking the British, the French could be held in check by defensive +tactics with not a great deal of difficulty; as in such operations the +terrain was greatly in Germany's favor. To take a hurried glimpse of the +French positions, we find them in the valley of the Ailette north of +the Chemin des Dames facing the high slopes of the plateau on which is +found Laon. In the Champagne they are facing a high rolling country, +studded with good artillery positions and points of observation. In the +Vosges, their problem is identical with that of the Germans--forcing the +gaps in a barrier otherwise impassable. There would be then a minimum of +danger from the French while Germany was engaged on the British front. +Moreover, behind the British line was, first, Amiens, through which +passed the great railroad systems from Calais, Boulogne, and Abbeville, +binding together the British north of the Somme to the French in the +south. With Amiens in German hands this connection would be badly +ruptured. And farther on still was the sea, which, if Germany could +reach it, would physically separate the great Allied army into two +armies, without connection, each of which could be dealt with +separately. And unlike an advance through Champagne, the farther the +Germans pushed through, the closer the Allies came to total disaster and +defeat. Germany, therefore, selected the British front for attack and +took up the task of destroying the British army. + +[Sidenote: The main blow is to fall along the Oise.] + +[Sidenote: Plan to drive through Amiens.] + +[Sidenote: High ground near Lens and Ypres to be retaken.] + +The German plan of campaign was simple in its essence, although +involving great numbers of men and an inconceivable mass of material. It +was to strike the main blow along the Oise on the front between St. +Quentin and La Fere, while a subsidiary attack was to be simultaneously +delivered on the northern side of the Cambrai salient between Cambrai +and Arras. This subsidiary attack was designed to break the salient and +destroy the danger of a flank attack against the movement to the south. +In the main attack, delivered with 15,000 men to the mile of front, it +was intended to break the connection between the British and the French +along the Oise, push a great wedge through at the point of rupture, and +then roll the British line back to the north, leaving the French to be +taken care of later. Failing in this (and Germany had taken into account +the possibility of failure), the British were to be forced back through +Amiens to the sea, and the split in the armies accomplished by +interposing between the parts a section of the seacoast. This operation +would automatically flank the positions held by the British at Arras, +force the British to fall back from Vimy Ridge, and from Lens toward St. +Pol, and, as they retreated, to uncover the Ypres salient and the +positions held in the high ground to the east and south of Ypres--that +is, the Messines and the Passchendaele ridges. + +[Sidenote: The Germans use eighty divisions the first day.] + +[Sidenote: The Allies retreat.] + +After a brief but very intense bombardment the German infantry went +forward on March 21, 1918. They were favored by a heavy mist which +concealed their movements until they were within fifty yards of the +British trenches, between La Fere and St. Quentin. By sheer weight of +numbers these trenches were overrun and the German infantry poured +through the gap. The line to the north was at once affected by the break +in the southern line, and taken in flank, was also forced to fall back. +But a few hours after the attack was launched, the entire fifty miles of +line north of La Fere was ablaze and the British were in retreat. In +this attack the Germans threw in on the first day 80 divisions--about +one million men--nearly 20,000 men to the mile--a heavier concentration +of men than had ever been used in an attack since the war began. Against +this number the British, in the opening attack could oppose only 5,000 +men to the mile. It is not surprising in view of this disparity in +numbers that the British were completely overwhelmed. In spite of the +rapidity of the initial German advance and the strength of the German +attack, the hoped-for rupture of the Allied line at the Oise did not +occur. The British and French, though retreating steadily, kept in close +touch and preserved intact the continuity of their line. + +[Sidenote: The French extend their left to keep in touch with the +British.] + +As the British section of the line withdrew, the French, in order to +preserve this continuity, were necessarily affected. The French extreme +left withdrew behind the Oise to throw this defensive screen before the +German attack, gradually extending their left as the British retreat +continued, passed Noyons and Pont l'Eveque. As the Allies in their +retreat approached the Somme River, the German progress became slower, +the efforts were labored. From this point indeed, the huge battle took +on something of the nature of the battle of Verdun. It became a fight +for limited objectives. Each village offered resistance and became the +object of an independent battle. The German advance, however, though +slow was not the less persistent and steady. + +[Sidenote: The Somme divides the field into two areas.] + +[Sidenote: Montdidier falls.] + +[Sidenote: French check the Germans at Villers-Bretonneux.] + +With the crossing of the Somme and the Somme-Aisne Canal on the front +between Peronne and Noyons, the battle was automatically divided into +two well defined areas by the east and west course of the Somme between +Peronne and Amiens. In the southern area, the Allied line was held by +both British and French in about equal proportions. But the French were +not yet in great force. The Germans, having passed both the Somme and +the Canal, fought their way westward step by step, in total disregard of +losses, until the line of the Avre River was reached. Here the French, +who held the line from the Luce River south and then east, made a +position stand, and a series of pitched battles occurred for the river +crossing. The first of these to fall was Montdidier at the head waters +of the Avre. This enabled the German army to reach westward of the river +and spread out after crossing to flank the defenses to the north. +Gradually the left bank of the river was cleared as far north as +Moreuil. Here the high ground on the left bank between Moreuil and the +mouth of the Luce enabled the French to beat off all German attacks for +several days. Finally, however, both Moreuil and Morisel were taken and +later the village of Cassel, the Avre being thus cleared of the Allied +troops as far north as the mouth of the Luce. From Cassel to the Somme, +however, the German forces found themselves in serious difficulties. +About Hangard, particularly, the fighting was exceptionally heavy; but +after changing hands several times, the Germans were finally thrown +across to the southern bank of the Luce and there held in place. From +Hangard north to the Somme the result was the same. After struggling for +days against the troops on the high plateau of which Villers-Bretonneux +is the centre, the Germans were brought to a standstill in their +attempts to approach Amiens by way of the Avre-Somme angle. + +[Sidenote: The British retire behind the Ancre.] + +[Sidenote: Albert is taken; but Germans are soon held.] + +In the battlefield north of the Somme, the British retired slowly until +they were safely behind the Ancre River, which figured so prominently in +the battle of the Somme in 1916. Taking Albert, an important British +base, the Germans tried desperately to push beyond and reach the +railroad which runs along the lower Ancre from Amiens to Albert. Failing +in this, they struck heavily in the angle between the Somme and the +Ancre in order to flank the line north of Albert from the high ground +north-east of Corbie. Here also they met with defeat, so that from +Beaumont-Hamel southward the Allied line became stationary. + +[Sidenote: The situation of the Germans.] + +[Sidenote: To win peace the Germans must destroy an army.] + +At this point in the battle the Germans found themselves in this +situation: from Montdidier westward the French lines were firmly +established first along a series of small but well defined heights as +far as Noyons and thence along the southern bank of the Oise as far as +the lower forest of Coucy. This side of the wedge was firmly fixed and +capable of great resistance. Moreover, to expend time and men in an +attack on this front would mean a serious departure from the German +plan, as success here would mean an advance toward Paris instead of +toward the sea. And at this stage of the war, peace cannot be obtained +by the capture of any city, even the French capital. The price of peace +is the destruction of an army, either that of the British or that of the +French. This can be accomplished only through reaching the sea at some +central point such as Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme. + +Therefore, the German problem had of necessity to find its solution +north of Montdidier--between that town and Albert. There is not much +doubt that by concentrating sufficient artillery and by the expenditure +of sufficient men, the German leaders would be able to push their way +farther westward, even beyond Amiens. But as the wedge deepened it would +gradually draw down to a point so that the ultimate situation would be +that the German lines would form an acute angle, the vortex of which +would be on the Somme at or west of Amiens, one side passing through +Albert, or possibly through the village of Bucquoy, the other through +Montdidier. Such a formation would mean positive disaster. It would be +worth a quarter of a million men to the Allies to strike both north and +south across the base of this angle and snuff it out. It would mean to +Germany the loss of a mass of artillery and tens of thousands of men. +And the Allies would not be slow to see this opportunity and strike. The +German High Command, therefore, did not dare to take the chance with +matters as they then were. + +[Sidenote: Necessary to advance north of the Somme.] + +[Sidenote: The defenses of the British northern wing.] + +[Sidenote: The fight for Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette.] + +In order that the German army might continue its march to the sea then, +it was necessary that the line north of the Somme should advance, +synchronizing its movement with the point of the wedge along the river. +Thus only would the wedge be sufficiently wide to avoid disaster. But +the entire northern wing of the British army was guarded by Vimy Ridge +and the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette. It was impossible that the +advance could be made, leaving these positions directly on the flank. +The combination of these two heights forms a huge semicircle concave +toward the south. The British batteries posted on these heights could +continue to rake the German advancing troops in flank and rear with most +destructive effect. Therefore, after the fighting in the south came to a +halt, the Germans undertook to open the way by forcing these two +positions. Using seven divisions--about 90,000 men--the Germans attacked +on a front not exceeding ten miles from Arleux to Fampoux on the Scarpe. +The attack continued for two days, but was an absolute failure. The +German advance had to be made down the slopes of one hill, across a +stretch of flat, open valley, and up the sides of another. Down in the +valley were the British outpost positions which were overwhelmed and +driven in. But in attempting to cross the valley floor the Germans +literally withered under machine gun and rifle fire. At the end of two +days' fighting, during which the greater part of these divisions were +cut to pieces, the attack had to be abandoned. The fighting then from +Lens southward to the Avre came to an end with the Germans completely +halted. The first definite stage of the decisive battle of the war was +thus concluded. + +[Sidenote: The attack about Bucquoy.] + +[Sidenote: Considerable initial successes.] + +[Sidenote: A stand at the edge of the Forest of Nieppe.] + +[Sidenote: The Germans take Messines Ridge.] + +But the Germans were by no means ready to acknowledge defeat. The +Lens-Arras sector had to be cleared up. The attack from the south, +crystallizing about Bucquoy, and from the east both having broken down, +there remained but to attack from the north. Utilizing to the utmost the +advantages of the great railroad system which parallels this front, +connecting in a single chain all of their great advance bases, the +Germans effected a heavy concentration at Lille, and, using about twenty +divisions (which were afterward increased to thirty), struck the British +line between Givenchy--just north of La Bassee--and Warneton on the Lys +River. The initial successes were considerable. The Germans penetrated +to a maximum depth of more than four miles in the centre, although on +both right and left the line held fast. North of Armentieres, however, +the British line gave ground, which enabled the Germans to pocket this +city and to capture it on the second day of the attack. On the +succeeding days, the British centre continued to give way until the edge +of the Forest of Nieppe was reached. The German position at this point +in the attack became practically untenable. The northern side of this +wedge was lined with heights from which the British artillery was +pouring a devastating plunging fire. These heights, beginning farther +east, began with the famous Messines-Wytschaete Ridge and extended due +west through Kemmel to Cassel. Moreover, in falling back the British +pivoted on Messines, which left this strong bastion from which to strike +out against the very heart of the salient. Accordingly, to remove this +danger the German leaders swung the attack north against the Messines +Ridge. After days of fighting in which Bailleul was taken and the foot +of the Kemmel series of hills was reached, the Messines Ridge was taken +in reverse and the British line was withdrawn until it passed over the +ridge just north of Wytschaete. Still pressing on the north, the Germans +attacked the Kemmel position, but the British, now reinforced by the +French, threw the attacks back as rapidly as they formed. Failing here +and at the centre in Nieppe Forest, still another attack was delivered, +this time against the southern side of the wedge from Givenchy to St. +Venant. The first two days of this fighting was also disastrous to the +Germans who were entirely unable to dent the British positions. In +brief, the Germans were then enclosed in a huge semicircle about fifteen +miles in diameter. All parts of the area enclosed were subject to +artillery fire from three sides and the Germans were striking first on +one side then on the other in frantic efforts to break the Allies' +grip--and giving no indication of sufficient power to succeed. + +[Sidenote: Objectives of the Germans in the North.] + +[Sidenote: The British gradually retire about Ypres.] + +The objects of the German effort in the north were several. Primarily it +was intended as a means of breaking the defenses of Arras and of Lens by +cutting in behind the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge. +Again it was intended to take Hazebrouck, Bethune, St. Pol, Aire, and +St. Omer, through which the distribution of supplies and men landing at +Calais is effected. Finally it was intended to take from the British the +high ground in Flanders, uncover Ypres, and open the way to the coast. +But for many reasons, now that the Allies had caught their breath for a +moment, so to speak, the advantage appeared to have passed from German +hands. The element of surprise, so essential to success even in trench +warfare, was no longer possible. The gradual retirements of the British +around Ypres were not costly nor did they "open a way" to the channel +ports as the Germans hoped. The Germans had fixed the points of +attack--and these were the only possible points: southern Flanders and +from the Avre to the Scarpe. Germany had already used in the offense 130 +divisions out of 204; and of these 50 had been in action twice--while +the British had been heavily engaged from the outset, the French have +had but few divisions in action. There was, therefore, apparently much +greater reserve strength behind the Allies' battle line than Germany +could possibly muster. And it is reserve strength which must ultimately +decide the issue. + +[Sidenote: The crisis of the Great War is at hand.] + +Germany has taken the great plunge--the concentration and utilization of +her entire resources in man power in a final effort to win. It is +Germany's last bid for victory before the peace propaganda is launched. +Germany must win or go down to defeat. But Germany cannot stop. She must +go on and on regardless of cost. She has expended literally hundreds of +thousands of men, not for territorial conquest as the German press has +pointed out and emphasized, but to destroy the British army. What +figment of pretense is left if the battle remains indecisive? None the +less, for the Allies as well the situation is serious though not +critical. The crisis of the Great War is truly at hand. None can doubt +the outcome who has any belief in honor and justice among civilized +nations. + + +Copyright, World's Work, June, 1918. + + * * * * * + +For many months prior to the end of the war Bulgaria had sought an +opportunity to make peace. The people were wearied with fighting and it +was plain to them that a German victory was hopeless. Finally a complete +collapse occurred, King Ferdinand fled, and Bulgaria surrendered, as is +described in the following pages. + + + + +BULGARIA QUITS + +LOTHROP STODDARD + + +[Sidenote: "Mitteleuropa" crumbles.] + +Bulgaria's withdrawal from the Teutonic block and her frank capitulation +to the Allies is easily the most dramatic episode of the World War. +Almost overnight the massive bridge of "Mitteleuropa" has crumbled at +its central span, leaving exhausted Turkey foredoomed to speedy +surrender and laying distracted Austria open to the combined assaults of +Allied arms and domestic revolution. So stupendous are the possibilities +flowing from the Allies' September offensive in Macedonia that we are +almost tempted to believe that the age of miracles is come again. + +[Sidenote: The war-spirit of Bulgaria weakens.] + +Yet in such hours we should clarify our vision by insistent remembrance +of Clausewitz's famous saying that war is but the extension of politics. +For brilliant as was the Franco-Serbian escalade of mid-September, +storming successive mountain walls as though they were mere trench lines +and shearing through war-hardened Bulgarian divisions like a knife +through rotten cheese, there was more than fighting involved. For the +last year and even longer a combination of circumstances had been +weaning Bulgaria from her former solidarity with the Central powers, and +this disruptive process, proceeding with special rapidity during the +last few months, had been steadily sapping the morale of the Bulgarian +people and the war-spirit of the Bulgarian soldiery. From the broader +point of view, therefore, the Allies' Macedonian offensive must be +deemed not merely a skilful military operation, but even more a +well-timed garnering of fruits ripe for the plucking. In such masterly +combinations of strategy and politics lies the secret of decisive +victory. + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria's political evolution.] + +The accurate gaging by Allied statesmanship of Bulgaria's political +evolution is specially noteworthy because that evolution was both +complicated and obscure. In fact, its roots reach down to the +fundamental aspirations of the Bulgarian people. Bulgaria's present +volte-face is no chance product of panic, but a logical step in her +national policy. Its consequences thus promise to be not ephemeral, but +lasting. An understanding of the factors that brought about the existing +situation is therefore worth careful study. + +[Sidenote: The Prussians of the Balkans.] + +[Sidenote: Desire to attain race unity.] + +The Bulgarians have often been called the Prussians of the Balkans, and +in this characterization there is a large measure of truth. A +hard-working, tenacious folk, capable of great patience, docile to iron +discipline, and appreciative of governmental efficiency, the material +progress made by the Bulgarians during their forty years of independence +is as striking in its way as the similar progress of the German people. +Unfortunately, the Bulgarians resemble the Prussians not only in their +virtues, but in their most unlovely qualities as well. There are the +same tactlessness, brutality, overweening ambition, and cynical +indifference to the means by which those ambitions are to be attained. +This has shown itself clearly throughout Bulgarian history. When +Bulgaria gained her independence of Turkey in 1878 she started with a +perfectly legitimate ambition, the attainment of Bulgarian race-unity +through the annexation of those Bulgar-inhabited portions of Macedonia +that remained under Turkish rule. For this the Bulgarian people toiled +and taxed themselves without stint. For this they built up a military +machine relatively the most formidable on earth. + +[Sidenote: Projects of the leaders.] + +But that was by no means the whole story. Race-unity may have been the +goal for which the simple Bulgarian peasant drilled and delved. His +leaders had more grandiose projects in view. This was specially true of +the Bulgarian monarch, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a man of great +political sagacity, but of a cynical unscrupulousness rivaling +Machiavelli's "Prince." Ferdinand's dream was a great Bulgarian empire +embracing the entire Balkan Peninsula, with its seat at Constantinople +and his exalted self occupying the imperial throne. This implied both +the expulsion of the Turks from Europe and the subjugation of the other +Christian Balkan peoples. In the Balkan War of 1912 Bulgaria's hour +seemed to have struck, but Ferdinand for once overplayed his hand, and +Bulgaria's Balkan rivals beat her on the battle-field and forced her to +the humiliating Peace of Bukharest in 1913. + +[Sidenote: the Peace of Bukharest.] + +The Peace of Bukharest was not a constructive settlement. It was an +attempt on the part of embittered enemies to punish Bulgaria's ambitions +and keep her permanently down. The result was most unfortunate. Playing +upon their balked desire for race-unity, Ferdinand bound his subjects to +his wider imperialistic designs. Raging under their humiliations and +their failure to redeem their Macedonian brethren, the Bulgarians +declared themselves ready to league with the devil if they might thereby +tear up the Bukharest parchment and revenge themselves upon their +enemies. + +[Sidenote: The opportunity for revenge.] + +The opportunity was not long in coming. The Pan-German devil was already +preparing his stroke for world dominion, and when the blow fell in 1914, +Bulgaria's alinement was almost a foregone conclusion. The military +losses in the recent Balkan Wars had of course so weakened her that +cautious diplomatic jockeying was a preliminary necessity, but when +Russia had succumbed to Hindenburg's hammer-strokes in the summer of +1915 and the Germanic hosts menaced Serbia in the autumn, Bulgaria threw +off the mask, struck Serbia from the rear, and joined the Teutonic +powers. Thus did the "Berlin-Bagdad" dream grow into solid fact, and +Mitteleuropa became a hard reality. + +[Sidenote: The people give hearty assent.] + +[Sidenote: Germany promises cessions from Turkey.] + +[Sidenote: Victory over Serbia and Rumania.] + +There can be no question that when Bulgaria entered the war on the +Teutonic side in the autumn of 1915 she did so with the hearty assent of +the vast majority of her people. The Germans had promised Bulgaria those +things which Bulgarians most desired. A Teutonic alliance offered +Bulgaria immediate possession of Serbian Macedonia, where lived the bulk +of the Bulgarian element still outside Bulgaria's political frontiers, +together with the practical destruction of the Serbian arch-enemy. The +Teutonic alliance likewise offered prospects of reclaiming the Bulgarian +populations of Greek Macedonia and of the southern Dobrudja, annexed by +Rumania, in 1913, should Greece and Rumania, both notoriously pro-Ally, +strike in on the Entente side. Lastly, the German Government agreed to +use its good offices with its ally, Turkey, to obtain for Bulgaria a +Turkish cession of the Demotika district of Thrace west of the Maritza +River, thereby giving Bulgaria direct railroad communication with +Dedeagatch, her one practicable outlet on the AEgean Sea. All these +things presently came to pass. Serbia lay crushed, and Serbian Macedonia +was under Bulgarian control before the close of 1915. Turkey soon +yielded Demotika. In the spring of 1916 the quarrel between the Greek +King Constantine and the Entente powers permitted Bulgaria to occupy the +coveted Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia, while that +same autumn Rumania's intervention on the Allied side resulted in her +speedy defeat, with Bulgarian troops overrunning the whole Dobrudja as +far as the Danube mouth, and Bulgarian regiments triumphantly parading +through the streets of Bukharest. Small wonder that up to the close of +1916 Bulgaria remained a loyal member of Mitteleuropa, thoroughly +contented with her bargain. + +[Sidenote: Effects of defeats on Russia.] + +[Sidenote: The Russian Revolution.] + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria only a link in Mitteleuropa.] + +The year 1917, however, saw the beginning of that estrangement from +Germany which has finally caused Bulgaria's abandonment of the Teutonic +cause. The first rift in the lute was the Russian Revolution. This event +was a great shock to Ferdinand and the Sofia politicians. When Bulgaria +had joined Germany in the autumn of 1915 her political leaders had +divined the fact that Russia's war spirit was broken by the crushing +defeats inflicted upon her by the Germans and that she would ultimately +retire from the war. But Sofia had looked forward to a Russian +retirement under imperial auspices and thereafter to a Russo-German +rapprochement in which Bulgaria should be the connecting-link, +extracting a profitable brokerage by playing off one against the other +in Balkan affairs. The idea was subtle, yet not without reason when we +remember that it was toward this very state of things that the last +czarist governments of Stuermer and Golytzin were feeling their way. +However, Bulgarian expectations were completely dashed by the credo of +Revolutionary Russia, which renounced imperialism and eschewed all those +near-Eastern ambitions which had been the watchword of the old regime. +Now, Bulgaria did not like the new situation. For though Russia was +definitely out of the Balkans, Germany and Austria were emphatically +not, and their weight was too heavy to be borne pleasantly even by their +friends. It was one thing for Bulgaria to be the connecting link of +Mitteleuropa, with mighty Russia always potentially present to redress +the balance. It was quite another matter to be just the link. That this +was to be Bulgaria's future role in Mitteleuropa, Germany's new attitude +made increasingly plain. The progressive disintegration of Russia +through 1917 riveted Teutonic domination on the Balkans and even offered +alternative routes to the East. This meant that Germany no longer needed +to show Bulgaria special consideration, and what that fact implied to +Teutonic minds was quickly shown by the series of bitter +disillusionments that Bulgaria had to experience. + +[Sidenote: Germany disposes of the Dobrudja.] + +The first shock came regarding the Dobrudja. When the Teuton-Bulgar +armies had swept the Rumanians out of the Dobrudja at the close of 1916, +Bulgaria had expected to acquire the entire peninsula. But Germany soon +showed that she had other ideas on the matter. The Dobrudja not only +controlled the mouth of the Danube, but also contained the port terminus +of the main railroad trunk-line from Central Europe to the Black Sea. +These things Germany had no intention of placing in Bulgarian hands. +Accordingly, Bulgaria was given only the southern Dobrudja, the rest of +the peninsula being held "in common." And when in the spring of 1918 +Russia's final collapse forced Rumania to make peace with the Central +powers, it was to them, and not to Bulgaria, that Rumania ceded the +Dobrudja prize. Of course Germany temporized, and extended the Dobrudja +"condominium" until the final peace settlement, but Bulgaria could see +with half an eye that her hopes in this quarter would never be realized. + +[Sidenote: The dispute with Turkey about Thrace.] + +A second shock was presently administered by Turkey. In return for +Bulgaria's extension of territory in the southern Dobrudja, Turkey +demanded compensation by Bulgaria's retrocession of the Demotika +district of Thrace. This district, it will be remembered, was vital to +Bulgaria's railway communications with her AEgean seaboard. Bulgaria +therefore angrily rejected the proposal, Turkey as vehemently insisted, +and by the beginning of 1918 a very pretty quarrel was on between the +two allies, culminating in at least one bloody mix-up between Turkish +and Bulgarian troops. In these circumstances Bulgaria appealed to +Germany, but was deeply chagrined to receive from the Wilhelmstrasse a +Delphic utterance which might have been interpreted as an indorsement of +Turkish claims. The reason for this was that Germany was then +overrunning the Ukraine preparatory to the occupation of Transcaucasia +and the penetration of the middle East. For such far-flung projects +zealous Turkish cooperation was a prime necessity. Accordingly, Turkey +had to be favored in every possible way. As for Bulgaria, she must not +embarrass Germany in her march to world dominion. + +[Sidenote: Germany does not promise Saloniki.] + +[Sidenote: Reservation regarding Macedonia.] + +A third shock was in store. Ever since the spring of 1916 Bulgaria had +occupied the Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia. In 1916, +Greece was clinging to an ambiguous neutrality, but a year later the +Entente powers deposed King Constantine, and Greece ranged herself +squarely on the Allied side, with a declaration of war against Bulgaria +as one of the first consequences. Thereupon Bulgaria urged Germany to +allow her definitely to annex the occupied districts and to promise her +Saloniki when victory should crown the Teuton-Bulgar arms. But here +again Bulgaria discovered that Germany had other fish to fry. Ex-King +Constantine and the Greek royalists might yet be very useful to Berlin. +Therefore they must not be alienated by giving Bulgaria territories +which would render every Greek an irreconcilable foe to Mitteleuropa. +Also Saloniki, the great AEgean outlet of central Europe was far too +valuable a prize to be committed exclusively to Bulgarian hands. But +Saloniki could be reached from central Europe only across Macedonia. +Therefore in the final Balkan settlement there must be reserves +regarding Bulgaria's control of the Macedonian railroad system. For that +matter, this might have to be applied to Bulgaria's own railroad system, +since it was the trunk-line from central Europe to the East. + +[Sidenote: German interests first.] + +So reasoned the suave German diplomats. The effect upon Bulgarian +sensibilities can be imagined. How far removed was this drab reality +from roseate dreams of imperial Bulgaria dominating the entire Balkans +and treating with Teutonic partners as a respected equal! The grim truth +was this: Bulgaria's promised gains were being whittled away according +to the shifting exigencies of German policy. Was anything certain for +the future? No. Because German interests came first, and the junior +colleagues must "do their part." Here once more appeared the Nemesis of +Prussian _Realpolitik_, that sinister heresy the crowning demerit of +which is that it is not even "real," since it reposes on short-sighted +egoism and disregards those moral "imponderables," good faith, +fair-dealing, etc., which weigh most heavily in the end. Having turned +the neutral world into enemies, _Realpolitik_ was now ready to turn +Germany's allies into neutrals. + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria is discontented.] + +[Sidenote: Bulgaria suffers also from previous wars.] + +Thus by the opening months of 1918 Bulgaria was no longer a contented +member of central Europe. Most of her political leaders were profoundly +disillusioned, and uncertain as to the future. Of course these political +matters were still somewhat veiled from the masses. But meanwhile the +Bulgarian peasant had been undergoing a little educative process of his +own. German diplomats might ask Bulgaria to make sacrifices. The +Bulgarian peasant could answer roundly that this was already the case. +For Bulgaria was suffering--suffering in every fiber of her being. When +she entered the European struggle in 1915, Bulgaria was still weak from +two bloody wars. True, the Bulgarian conscripts had marched gladly +enough once more, because they were told that it was a matter of a +single short campaign, ending in a speedy peace. But two long years had +now passed, and Bulgaria's manhood still stood mobilized in distant +Macedonia, while at home the fields went fallow, and the scanty +harvests, reaped by women and children, had to be shared with the +German. Everywhere there was increasing want, sometimes semi-starvation. +Bulgaria, like Russia, was proving that a primitive agricultural people +may make a fine campaign, but cannot wage prolonged modern war. + +[Sidenote: Premier Radoslavov resigns.] + +All this discontent, both above and below, presently focused itself in +the parliamentary situation. The opposition groups in the Bulgarian +Sobranje steadily gained strength until on June 17, 1918, Premier +Radoslavov was forced to resign. Radoslavov had been in power since +1913. He had been the architect of the Teuton-Bulgar alliance and was +known to be a firm believer in the Mitteleuropa idea. His successor, +Malinov, naturally gave lip-service to the same program, but his past +leaning had been toward Russia, and he had never displayed marked +enthusiasm for the Teutons. + +Of course this change of ministry did not mean that Bulgaria was then +ready to make a separate peace with the Entente Allies. Every Bulgarian +knew that such an act would mean the abandonment of Bulgaria's whole +imperialistic dream and the immediate relinquishment of supremely prized +Macedonia. But it did mean that Bulgaria was discontented with her +present situation and that she was resolved to take a more independent +stand toward her Teutonic allies even though Germany was in the full +flush of her great Western offensive and dreaming of a speedy entry into +Paris. + +[Sidenote: The changes of fortune in the West.] + +[Sidenote: Peace demonstrations.] + +[Sidenote: The tales of Bulgarian prisoners.] + +[Sidenote: The capitulation.] + +But just a month after Malinov's accession came the dramatic shift of +fortune in the West. The German offensive broke down, and the Allies +began their astounding succession of victories. Instantly the Balkan +situation altered. Bulgaria knew that the spring offensive had been +Germany's supreme bid for victory. To fill the ranks for the rush on +Paris and the channel ports the last German veterans had been withdrawn +from the East. Gone were those field-gray divisions which had stiffened +the Macedonian front and kept down popular discontent by garrisoning +Bulgarian towns. The peasant voice was at last free to speak, and it +spoke in no uncertain terms for an end of the war. Agrarian disturbances +increased in frequency. Peace demonstrations occurred in Sofia. In fact, +some of these demonstrations were tinged with revolutionary red. +Bolshevism, that wild revolt against the whole existing order to-day +manifest in every quarter of the globe, had not passed Bulgaria by. Of +course there was the army, but the army itself was not immune. By early +July, Bulgarian deserters and prisoners taken on the Macedonian front +were telling the Allied intelligence officers strange tales--tales of +midnight soldiers' meetings at which "delegates" were chosen in true +Russian fashion, and which Bulgarian regimental officers found it wisest +to ignore. Such was the situation in early summer. By the first days of +autumn Bulgaria was cracking from end to end. It was in mid-September +that General Franchet d'Esperey, the Allied commander, ordered the +Macedonian offensive. Small wonder that within a fortnight Bulgaria had +surrendered and retired from the war. + +[Sidenote: Turkey's doom sealed.] + +The consequences of Bulgaria's capitulation should be both momentous and +far-reaching. In the first place, Turkey's doom is sealed. Cut off from +direct communication with the Teutonic powers save by the Black Sea +water-route and staggering under her Palestine defeats, Turkey is now +menaced at her very heart. By the terms of the recent armistice Bulgaria +has agreed to allow the Allies free passage across her territory, +including the full use of her railways. This means that the Allies can +move through Bulgaria upon Turkish Thrace, the sole land bastion +protecting Constantinople. Turkey's military situation is thus hopeless, +and it is not impossible that before these lines appear in print Turkey +will have followed Bulgaria's example and will have thrown up the +sponge. + +[Sidenote: Rumania to be freed.] + +A second possibility is the liberation of Rumania. The "peace" imposed +upon Rumania by the Central powers last spring was one of the most +shameless acts of international brigandage in the annals of modern +history, and though dire necessity compelled Rumania to sign, it was +plain that she would submit to her new slavery only so long as the +Teutonic pistol was held to her head. This pistol took the form of a +Teutonic army of ten divisions camped upon her soil. But to-day Rumania +is thrilling to the great news, and when Allied bayonets begin flashing +south of the Danube these heliographs of liberty will light a flame of +revolt which second-rate German divisions will be unable to stamp out. +With the ground burning under their feet the Teutons will probably +evacuate Rumania with only the most perfunctory resistance to the +advancing Allies. + +[Sidenote: German prestige in the East crumbles.] + +And southern Russia is in much the same case. To-day it is bowed beneath +the Teuton yoke, yet the Teutonic corps of occupation are mere islets +lost in its vast immensity and ruling more by prestige than by physical +power. But German prestige is crumbling fast, and when Turkey's +surrender opens the Black Sea to the Allied fleets, southern Russia, +like Rumania, should be in a blaze. From the Ukraine to the Caucasus the +land is already seething with disaffection. The Don Cossacks have never +been subdued. Will the Germans dare to hold their thin communication +lines till the guns of Entente warships are thundering off Odessa and +Batum? + +[Sidenote: Austria's condition is desperate.] + +Lastly, there is Austria-Hungary. Bulgaria's capitulation opens the way +for the liberation of Serbia and an Allied push to the Austrian border +on the middle Danube. Beyond lie whole provinces full of mutinous +Jugoslavs and Rumanians. For that matter, all the non-German and +non-Magyar peoples of the Dual Empire are in a state of suppressed +revolt, held down by armies largely composed of their disaffected +brethren. Perhaps the Balkan winter may delay the Allied advance, +perhaps Germany may find enough troops to stifle Austrian disaffection, +but the condition of the Hapsburg realm is at best a desperate one, full +of explosive possibilities. + +[Sidenote: Bulgars are disillusioned about Germany.] + +[Sidenote: There may be a Balkan confederation.] + +These are the major consequences which seem likely to flow from +Bulgaria's surrender. There remains the question of the future attitude +of Bulgaria herself. Will she remain a passive spectator of these +momentous happenings, or will she, striking in on the Allies' side, do +her share toward bringing them to pass? The latter eventuality is more +than possible. The Bulgarians, from czar to peasant lad, are realists, +not given to vain sacrifices. They see that Germany's game is up and +that her Balkan grip is broken forever. They have also been bitterly +disillusioned about Mitteleuropa, and must to-day realize that under +Mitteleuropa whatever Balkan territories might have been colored +"Bulgarian" upon the map, they themselves would have been virtually +serfs of a Germany whose idea of empire was the outworn concept of a +master race lording it over submissive slaves. With their eyes thus +opened, the Bulgarians are in a position to appreciate the Allies' +profession of faith with its program of freedom for the smallest peoples +and fair-dealing even toward the foe. Imperialistic dreams must of +course be banished forever. But solicitude for race-brethren outside +Bulgaria's present frontiers is a sentiment which the Allies recognize +as wholly legitimate and which they are pledged to satisfy either by +permitting annexation to the homeland or, where this is impossible owing +to superior claims of intervening races, by assuring the unredeemed +Bulgars full cultural liberty. The Allies' hope is a Balkan +confederation in which its varied races may pull together in common +interest and mutual respect instead of rending one another in vain +dreams of barren empire achieved through blood and iron. Is it too much +to hope that so level-headed a people as the Bulgarians will come to +realize that in such a Balkan settlement their lasting interests will be +far safer than in a Balkans precariously dominated by a Bulgarian +minority holding down a majority of sullen and vengeful race enemies? + + +Copyright, Century, December, 1918. + + * * * * * + +The most picturesque army raised during the great war was that formed by +large numbers of Czecho-Slovaks, formerly prisoners of war in Russia and +deserters from the Austrian armies. This force fought its way through +Russia and Siberia, opposed by the Bolsheviks who had promised them safe +conduct to France. A description of these famous fighters is contained +in the following pages. + + + + +THE FIGHTING CZECHO-SLOVAKS + +MAYNARD OWEN WILLIAMS + + +[Sidenote: The romantic Czecho-Slovak army.] + +The Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force is one of the most romantic armies +of the ages and an important step toward world democracy and idealism. I +learned to know the Czechs in a journey across Siberia on one of their +trains. They furnished me a bed when beds were scarce, transportation +when transportation was scarcer, and shoes when shoes were necessary. I +have never seen a real Czech that I could not endorse. + +[Sidenote: Two methods of travel in Russia.] + +[Sidenote: A journey on a Czecho-Slovak train.] + +Last March there were two ways to travel in Russia. If one was an +American--relief worker, correspondent, Y.M.C.A. man--one could get a +private car. Many Americans rode that way for a trifling cost and +without inconvenience. And it was in such cars that some of Russia's +severest critics traveled. The other way was intimate travel with the +common herd. I started thus. It was at Irtishevo, a junction point near +the lower Volga, that I changed. In a crowded station in the Russian +disorder, I suddenly found myself looking into the eyes of a spirited, +smiling young officer, who had evidently learned that I was an American +journalist and who was explaining to me in three languages that there +was no way out of my riding to Vladivostok with his military train. He +wore a red and white ribbon. His alert bearing and enthusiasm marked him +in the numbers of nondescript soldiers who were still traveling in the +Russian chaos of last spring. I was about to protest mildly in French +when three of his fellow soldiers of fortune seized my baggage, carried +it around a countless number of trains and stowed it away in a +compartment from which another officer, warned of our arrival just in +time, was removing his personal effects. He may have stood up all night. +Anyway, I was a quite willing captive on one of the forty odd trains of +the Czecho-Slovaks which had started to cross Russia and Siberia to +fight for their liberty in France. + +My friend was of medium height, well knit, deep chested, smart in +bearing. The red and white ribbon on his cap was the badge of the +Czechs. Before I had left them at Vladivostok five weeks later I could +have picked a Czech out from any crowd by his air of determination +backed by an enthusiastic good cheer which everywhere won its way from +Austrian prisoner to warmhearted Russian peasant woman. All that night I +heard them singing in that splendid, low, group chorus of theirs along +the entire line of the train. + +[Sidenote: The Czechs are finely disciplined.] + +I found these finely disciplined fellows next morning sitting in the +doorways of their freight cars. Some were playing on violins they had +whittled out in the prison camps. The future of their cross country +jaunt to the Pacific worried them not at all. They had fought their way +out of the Ukraine, where German elements had tried to stop them. As +former citizens of the Central Powers, they were quite happy in the +chance to fight again for what their ancestors of five centuries before +had stood. Bolsheviks there were among them. But a Czech Bolshevik +differs from a Russian in that he shaves and thinks before he acts. +Never have I seen more sharp salutes or stricter discipline, and these +men were in Russia where discipline was a curiosity. A Czech is so +anxious to accomplish that he is willing to discipline himself. When a +Czech marches, he marches irresistibly. In theory, he may be a +Socialist. In action, he is a patriot. + +[Sidenote: Teaching English to Czech officers.] + +I found my place on the expedition as teacher of English to a group of +Czech officers and members of the National Assembly. My class wanted +English in order to be able to understand President Wilson's speeches as +they traveled across the United States, for they rank the President with +their own national leader, Masaryk. The Czech is literate in several +languages, and if he wants another he gives a week-end to it. In my +class were university graduates, artisans, engineers and musicians. The +Czech is a natural-born good mixer. + +[Sidenote: The young men make friends everywhere.] + +When our train would reach a town, these young men of action won friends +wherever they went. Milk woman and bread seller all along the +Trans-Siberian liked them, for they pay spot cash, deal honorably and +don't know what ruffianism means. + +The miracle accomplished by the Czechs is the result of discipline and +courage rather than strategy. Their rise to power was on their own +initiative. They could have stayed passive as have so many times their +number among the prisoners from other parts of Austria. But their stand +for freedom from the Austrian yoke is uncompromising. They started out +determined to fight for France and victory. The great bulk of the +remaining Austrian prisoners are completely satisfied if only they can +keep away from war. The Czechs are passionate in their burning +patriotism. The Austrian prisoners in Russia who still feel a certain +degree of loyalty to Austria are passive in their sentiment. Most of +them shrink from enforced military service--either back in Austria or in +a German-Austrian prisoner offensive on the spot in Siberia. + +[Sidenote: Groups that have no love for the Germans.] + +[Sidenote: Willing to join the Czechs.] + +This Czechish heart centre of virile independence acted as a powerful +magnet wherever their bands moved. All through Russia and Siberia, there +are refugee groups from Poland, Lithuania, Courland and the Riga +District. These people have no love for the Germans who drove them from +their homes nor for the Junkers of their own communities who handed +their lands over to the Germans rather than have them divided by the +Bolsheviks. Germany is finding that there is a difference between saving +landed proprietors from hostile peasants and workingmen and the huge +task of enslaving these same peasants under the Prussian yoke. Hundreds +of these elements in Russia's great refugee population wanted to enter +the Czech expedition, but these fighters were compelled to keep their +army small, compact and homogeneous. Transportation was insufficient. +Even Czech artisans were refused a place in the trains unless they could +pass rigid examinations. The willingness of other forces to unite with +the Czechs may well be counted on when the call for them comes in +Siberia and Russia. + +[Sidenote: The National Assembly of Bohemia.] + +[Sidenote: Attractive decorations of the cars.] + +The General Staff train on which I rode carried, in addition to the cars +for officers and men, a hall for the National Assembly meetings, a +complete printing outfit, a photographic dark-room, with full equipment +for still and motion pictures, a bakery, kitchens and a laundry. It was +on this moving train, all parts of which were connected by telephone +with the car of the commanding officer, that the plans for a New Bohemia +were being worked out. A daily four-page newspaper was published on the +General Staff train. It gave the ideals of the expedition, the current +news translated into Czechish, lessons in French for the use of the +forces on landing in France, and quotations from Professor Masaryk. +About four thousand copies of this paper were printed every day and +distributed not only among the Czechs but among many of the Austrian war +prisoners, who were thus informed of the ambitious plans these fighting +independents saw before them. Their trains showed their versatility and +love for decoration and home-making. Not only were they clean, but +hundreds of the cars were decorated with life-size drawings, and with +quaint designs in evergreens. To enable the men to find their friends, a +roster of the occupants of the car was printed on the red flanks of +their freight wagons. On the roofs, model aeroplanes and wind-mills spun +in the breeze. A Czech train reminded me of a picnic, and, aside from +the earnestness, it was. + +[Sidenote: Study and athletic contests.] + +For some travelers, the Trans-Siberian trip is monotonous. It was not +for the Czechs. They read and studied. They were always busy--even +before their clashes with the Bolsheviks began to take up some time. The +Y.M.C.A. had secretaries with some of the trains and sent supplies of +literature and games. The Bohemians are the champion gymnasts of the +world and athletic contests were arranged at every station, until at the +call of a bugle the train would pull out, picking up sweating, happy men +as it gathered speed. + +[Sidenote: The Czechs distribute President Wilson's speeches.] + +At the larger stations we spent sometimes hours, sometimes days. That +gave a chance for the Czechs to mix with the Russian people. It gave the +people an awakening sense of acquaintance with this happy race, who, +while going from war to war around the world, were distributing the +words of President Wilson to prove the sanity of their cause and the +folly of the Russian collapse. The President's speeches were widely +read and much appreciated. But these enthusiastic, friendly Czech +soldiers were the living examples of the President's rather abstruse +lessons of democracy. President Wilson might seem a political Messiah, +but the Czechs were the John the Baptists who made the initial +impression upon the Russian and Siberian peasants. + +An Austrian prisoner at a Siberian station shouted one day so all could +hear: "What is this freedom that you talk about?" + +Immediately a thick-chested Czech strode forward. + +"It is the one thing that makes a man a man," he replied. "It is the +thing that links men together without weakening them individually. It is +the thing that will wipe out tyranny, because a free man won't stand a +tyrant." + +As he talked to the slow-minded Russians and the slouching Austrian, +this ruddy-cheeked Czech exemplified the advantages he preached. There +was no slouch in his body, or character. The power that had gathered +together a group which had been dispersed all over Russia and welded it +into a fighting unit was not only passionate desire for freedom and +willingness to fight for it, but the power of self-discipline which made +both possible. + +[Sidenote: The spirit of crusaders.] + +The Czech army was gay without license. In Irkutsk, during the Easter +holidays, it ate ice-cream sandwiches or went up in tiny Ferris wheels +in the true spirit of the reveler at a dry-town carnival. In Omsk one +night it stood silent for hours, listening to the art of a Czech +violinist playing for the wounded in the Red Cross car. It paraded the +streets with a smile and an air of pride. It is boyish, open-hearted, +lovable. It makes friends. Neat in dress, erect in bearing, enthusiastic +in outlook--the Czechs win the Russian masses. There is the spirit of +the Crusaders in these fighters, a spirit of personal and national +cleanliness. Liberty to them is not a thing to wave a flag over but to +die for, if necessary. They are too sincere to be dramatic. + +[Sidenote: A force in establishing confidence.] + +Having come out of Armenia, with its remnant race of human wrecks, and +after months of the demoralizing fatalism and moral laxity of the +Russian, I was astounded by the miracle of stability of the tiny Czech +force in establishing an economic frontier between the Germanophile +sections of Russia and freedom-loving Siberia. Not only is this force +the key to the military problem of opposing Germany in Siberia. But from +the standpoint of sympathetic friendship between confused Russia and +America, the Czecho-Slovaks offer the most helpful force in establishing +confidence and turning into fact the good will which America bears to +Russian citizenry. + +They can best tell their own story. Lieutenant B---- of my English class +was typical. + +"When war was declared, I was in Switzerland," he told me. "Late in July +I climbed to the heights overlooking Austria. I could throw a stone over +into that land of oppression. That very day, when I went down into the +Swiss village, I heard that the Austrian mobilization had been ordered. +I could not believe that war would come. I returned to the land I hated +and in two days I had joined my class. We were to fight Russia. This was +unthinkable. Better to mutiny against our German and Magyar officers +than murder our brother Slavs. + +[Sidenote: Czech regiments went over to Russia by companies.] + +"And so it was that the word was secretly passed through whole regiments +of our men to desert to the Russians. The opportunity came when we faced +Brusiloff's army. The Russians knew and were ready to receive us. We +walked over in companies, with banners flying and bands playing and men +falling before the shots that rang out behind us. We hoped to turn and +fight against our oppressors. And for a while some of us did. But one by +one those of us who had entered the Russian ranks were removed and sent +to prison camps, whence we were scattered among the homes and factories +of Russia. My own band of companies was soon thoroughly broken up and +dispersed from Turkestan and the Caucasus to Tobolsk and Irkutsk. As +German influences strengthened at the Russian court we were sent to +worse and worse positions, malarial and barren territories. But we +prospered in spite of all that was done to oppress us. + +[Sidenote: Waiting the time to strike for liberty.] + +"For a while I managed a cotton factory in Turkestan and later I went to +open some mines further in the country. But all the while we kept in +touch with one another and day by day we waited for the time when we +could strike for liberty and Bohemia. Professor Masaryk was to give the +signal for the blow for liberty. + +[Sidenote: The Russian Revolution.] + +[Sidenote: Czechs ask to go to France.] + +"Then came the Russian Revolution. With the Czar, the German influences +at Court were overthrown. We left our farm work and our shop benches. We +poured out of the dark mines and united in Czech battalions to fight in +the armies of Kerensky. At Zborov, we pierced six enemy lines but were +forced to retreat because the other fighters failed to advance as fast +as we. Then came the long wait for the time when Russia should find +herself, as she is still trying to do. The Slav is not a coward once his +mind is trained. There is hope for his ultimate recovery. The power of +Czardom was enforced ignorance, and this made possible the infamous +treaty of Brest-Litovsk. But we saw that there was no hope for a mere +handful of us to hold the Russian front, and to attempt this would be to +antagonize the Russian people. So we applied for permission to leave +Russia and go to France. + +[Sidenote: The journey to Vladivostok.] + +"Everyone said that it could not be done. It meant going almost round +the world. But we were determined and soon we had gained the support of +the French Government and the permission of the Bolshevik leaders, who +were glad enough to get us out of the country. They feared we would +start a counter-revolution. But here we are in Siberia and the hardest +part of our journey is over. Two weeks more should find us in +Vladivostok and from there we can go very quickly to France, where +thousands of our fellows are already fighting for the cause of liberty." + +[Sidenote: The men are classified by occupation.] + +Captain H---- was in Omsk. Behind him, as I talked with him, was a card +index file showing the occupation and residence of forty thousand Czech +artisans resident in Siberia. Typewriters clicked in the bright office +and outside a Czech wagon arrived with a ton of meat en route to the +cold storage cellar which he had built in the outskirts of Omsk. + +[Sidenote: Food is obtained at high prices.] + +"I arrived here alone and with only a few rubles," said Captain H----. +"But I heard that some day my fellows would come through on their way to +France. So I began organizing our resources. Many of our men have made +much money as prisoners in Russia. They were generous. Men began to +flock in and we took off their Austrian uniforms and put them into +Russian uniforms--the uniform of our expeditionary force. Fighting men +were listed and trained. Artisans we merely listed, and there are forty +thousand names classified by occupation and residence in those files. In +three weeks we have taken in 610 Czech prisoners and sent them out in +the uniform of the expeditionary force to France. Every shoe and belt +and uniform is utilized and nothing is wasted except the hated Austrian +uniform, which is in most cases worn to shreds anyway. We have +established friendly relations with the people. Theoretically we are not +supposed to be doing this. Theoretically, we are not securing food. But +actually we are getting enough and to spare. Ten trains a week get +several days' supplies here. Only in disorganized Russia could such +things be. But we have to pay the secret agents of the local Soviet +sixty-five rubles for meat. Its market price is thirty-five." + +[Sidenote: Professor Masaryk in America is the leader.] + +In my note-book, I cannot find the names of a dozen leaders of the Czech +expedition. In a sense, there were no leaders. The outstanding fact in +the Czech army is the democracy of it. The leaders are men who have been +trained, but they owe their position to popular choice. Yet there is no +foolish idea that military decisions can be made by a committee of +soldiers. The Czech sacrifices personal ambition to his cause and that +is why his cause is worth fighting for. The Russian cause, a thing of +chaos, is losing force every day. I might almost say that the Czechs, in +Siberia, were led by Professor Masaryk, in America, through the +influence of his words in the daily paper. As prominent a figure among +the Czechs as any one man in the expedition is Kenneth Miller of New +York, director of the Y.M.C.A., and held on a high pedestal in the +affection of 10,000 men. He has had much to do with the moving of the +Czech trains in all their complicated travel arrangements. + +[Sidenote: How the Czechs came to control Siberia.] + +The democracy of the Czech army and the ease with which it made friends +continually surprise me. The officer who induced me to join them was a +mere lieutenant, yet he never consulted anyone about taking me in. Was I +not an American? Each day some officer was told off to arrange matters +with the station masters. They moved their trains without bluff or +bluster. Sometimes the Soviets hindered them in order to get what guns +and supplies they could. But not till weeks after they started did any +Soviet have the temerity to try to stop or disarm the men. The Russian +masses were quickly won to friendship for the Czechs and the only force +that tried to interfere was the Bolshevik battalions who acted under +orders from distant points, where the man who gave the order enjoyed +comparative safety. The way that their control of Siberia through an +attempt to disarm them came about is as romantic as any feature of their +story. + +[Sidenote: They have passes to leave the country.] + +The presence of forty thousand well-disciplined Czech soldiers whose +loyalty to the cause of freedom was stronger than that of the rapidly +changing Russian proletariat made it seem desirable to the Bolshevik +authorities to rid the country of men so willing to fight and so little +subject to the extreme socialistic doctrines then rife in Russia. Both +Lenine and Trotzky by agreement with Professor Masaryk furnished these +men with passes for leaving the country and in spite of the chaotic +condition of transportation ample rolling stock, amounting to about +sixty trains of forty freight cars each, was placed at their disposal or +secured by the Czechs through their own efforts. Arrangements had +already been made with representatives of the French Government so that +plenty of money was provided for provisioning, equipping and +transporting a minimum of forty thousand men over about six thousand +miles. + +[Sidenote: Military equipment being taken away.] + +[Sidenote: The Czechs resist.] + +Before these trains had gone far one local Soviet after another had +insisted on their leaving behind the armored motor cars, aeroplanes, +machine-guns and other military equipment which had been allotted to +them by the Russian Government during the Kerensky offensive. By the +time Penza--one day's run west of the Volga--was reached, after +machine-guns had been mounted on the engines in fighting their way +through the Germanized Ukrainian districts, the arms of each train had +been reduced to 140 rifles and ammunition. But the Czechs knew enough +about Russian conditions to realize the necessity for at least one gun +to a man and when the Bolsheviki, early in June, started to disarm them, +guns and rifles appeared from secret hiding places, to the extreme +consternation of the disarmers. + +[Sidenote: Siberian Soviets delay the Czechs.] + +[Sidenote: The Czechs overcome their captors.] + +The reason for their being in the district of the Urals is one part of +the romance of their adventurous life. Out across Siberia, near the +Manchurian frontier, during April and May, the Cossack General Semenoff +was operating. He had closed to traffic the Trans-Siberian line by way +of Harbin, so that the first twelve thousand Czechs had had to use the +single track Amur Railway line to the north by way of Khabarovsk. By May +4 an international proletariat army thoroughly mercenary in character +and numbering possibly three thousand men, largely Austrian prisoners of +war, was enlisted to repulse Semenoff from the region of the railway +junction at Karuimskaya. Obviously since it was known that the Czechs +were financed by France and that France favored intervention in Siberia +it was indiscreet to allow thousands of Czech soldiers whose bravery was +unquestioned to pass within fourteen miles of the army under the command +of Semenoff. Fictitious floods on the Amur and some well-founded stories +of the poor condition of the single track Amur line were conjured up by +the Siberian Soviets as a reason for temporarily preventing the Czechs +from proceeding to France. The only real service performed by Semenoff's +provocative army of mercenaries and Chinese and Japanese irregulars, was +the indirect one of detaining the Czechs in Siberia, a service on which +the Cossack leader never figured. There is no question but that to get +to France was the sincere desire of the Czechs and there was no +suggestion that their forces could be or desired to be used in Siberia. +Having left the Austrian army rather than fire on their brother Slavs +the Czechs could scarcely be expected to have much enthusiasm for +fighting Russians over an ill-defined intervention program through +thousands of miles of Siberia. Chafing under the enforced delay, these +soldiers insisted that they be allowed to proceed to France. This seemed +out of the question to the Bolsheviki whose only alternative was to +disarm them. The Czechs who had carefully avoided any aggression upon +Russians until then, immediately set up a stout resistance, quickly +overcoming their would-be captors and thus almost miraculously putting +the small force which had then probably reached one hundred thousand men +in control of thousands of miles of railway reaching from Novo +Nikolayevsk to Tcheliabinsk and thence along the two branches leading to +Ekaterinburg and Zlatoust. This virtually established an economic +boundary between Siberia and Russia along the line of the Urals, since +the unsettled condition of the country makes the railway the only +practicable line of communication. + +[Sidenote: How control of the railway is secured.] + +[Sidenote: The Russian peasants friendly.] + +The control of the railways was easily secured. At each of the important +stations Czech trains held the sidings. Due to the delay the trains +which should have been en route to France piled up at the stations, and +even in European Russia at Samara, Simbirsk and Suizran, a sufficient +number of Czechs held the station points to make their capture by +Bolsheviki forces a difficult matter. The Czechs made no attempt to +seize the towns located some distance from the stations or any other +territory. They wanted only to make secure their railroad travel. The +high prices which they paid for their necessarily large supplies of +provisions and the fact that they paid cash while the Bolshevik forces +and Soviets often requisitioned food supplies, likewise their good cheer +and personal magnetism, won for them the friendship of the peasant and +artisan classes in many of the villages so that when the clash came only +such Bolshevik forces as were definitely put to the task of disarming +them were actually hostile. The easy-going and friendly Russian peasant, +supine under the violent political changes, is a traditional friend and +an unwilling enemy. This characteristic, which the Allied Governments +have harshly criticized, may be counted upon to work to the advantage of +the Allies under any fair scheme for economic aid and peaceful +penetration which does not give grounds upon which active German +propaganda could construct open hostility. + +One may well wonder why the hundreds of thousands of Austrian war +prisoners in Siberia have not blown up tunnels, destroyed tracks and +otherwise tried to stop the Czech expedition. It may be that the +Austrians secretly admired these men and were too tired of war to take +the initiative in Siberia. + +[Sidenote: Seizure of Vladivostok.] + +[Sidenote: The people welcome the Czechs.] + +The seizure of Vladivostok by the Czechs was characteristic. From their +arrival, they attracted the attention and admiration of the people, many +of whom were planning an anti-Bolshevik demonstration. Every ship +commander in the harbor had his men ready for landing parties in case of +trouble. But there was no disorder on the day of the demonstration and +not till a month later did a Bolshevik disturbance give the Czechs a +chance to free an anti-Bolshevik city from its oppressors. Japanese, +Chinese, English or Americans from the war-ships could have done it. But +when the Czechs did it, a Slavic, Russian-speaking people gained +control of a city that gladly welcomed their intervention. The same idea +explains their marvelous success in Russia. Having braved death rather +than fight Russians, the Czechs can now fight oppressive Russian +elements without having their motives misunderstood or their plans +opposed. + +[Sidenote: Marriages of war prisoners and peasant women.] + +Siberia has afforded an interesting race study ever since the Teuton +prisoners began to arrive. From the very first, German and Austrian +prisoners mated with the sturdy peasant women of Siberia and settled to +a happy and unhampered life in the undeveloped lands of the great +plains. Some of the women had husbands at the front, but _nichevo_ never +means "never mind" to a greater extent than it does in Russian marital +affairs. A man's a man for a' that, and there was little trouble until +the two parents of different nationality and language discussed which +language the children should be taught. German and Russian produce the +same tow-headed stock. With the downfall of the Russian army the Russian +husband sometimes returned and though quite willing to assume +responsibility for the new offspring, insisted on asking the Austrian +substitute at his bed and board to leave. As often as not the Austrian +left. There were always a better farm and frau to be had elsewhere, and +some Russian women are tiresome anyway. + +[Sidenote: Many Austrians do not go home.] + +When conditions are like this in Siberia, why should an Austrian return +to a hungry country to fight a heroic enemy? A happy home in Siberia, +which some other man has founded, or starvation in Austria? No wonder +the Austrians in Siberia are a mercenary and unpatriotic lot. I saw many +in the Bolshevik army. Most of those I talked with were under arms for +the sake of the 200 rubles per month, equipment and food they were paid +by the Bolsheviks, without, as they told me, planning to run any +unnecessary chances of losing their lives in actual fighting against the +Czechs or any other enemy of the Bolsheviks for that amount of money, if +they could avoid it; not a very difficult matter. + +Allied military support of the Czechs in Siberia is not Japanese +intervention, and sentiment in Russia and Siberia against intervention +to-day is now what it was six months ago. If the Bolsheviki do not +represent the people of Russia, the only way the Russian people can +develop confidence in themselves, and strength, is to throw off the +Bolsheviki. The Archangel and Siberian regions have started such moves. + +Siberia seems ready to welcome the Czechs, and if the Allied forces in +Siberia keep themselves sufficiently in the background, Siberia will +probably welcome the friends of the Czechs. The Allies have failed in +Russia in the past because they have trusted upon material equipment +rather than upon education of the people in the ideals of our cause. A +certain amount of military intervention is necessary in Siberia if we +are to protect the Czechs and protect the supplies which an economic +mission would furnish. The danger lies in taking the control of that +military intervention out of the hands of the Czechs. If my observation +among all classes in Siberia counts for anything, the day the non-Slavic +forces of the Allies, especially the Japanese, whom the Russians +despise, move ahead of the Czechs who have already the confidence of the +Russians as no Allied army could, that day the Allied army will +encounter difficulties. This may spell tragedy for the cause of +democracy. + +[Sidenote: Siberia differs from Russia.] + +In general the Volga divides Siberia, the home of the freedom-seeking +exile, from Russia, in which for years German ideas have been encouraged +to the exclusion of French and English. Whole sections of Russia and +Siberia will starve this winter. If we follow the Czechs into Siberia +with economic aid, repairing and consolidating the railroad lines behind +them, installing modern methods of distribution we can then say to the +stricken people--"Some of you are starving, but this is in spite of all +the aid we can give." But across the Volga in Russia the people will say +to Germany--"We are starving because you took our food, because you +forced disorganization which has ruined us." Spring will allow the +intelligent Russian peasant to compare such Americanism with the blight +of Prussianism. Never fear that the object lesson will be in vain! + +[Sidenote: A nucleus for the forces of freedom.] + +Can the Czechs become an actual nucleus for the forces of freedom in +Russia and Siberia? They already are. The extent of their influence in +Siberia, in the region of the Don and in the heart of the Central Powers +themselves, is only limited by the support they receive from the Allies +and the restraint of the latter in independent action. The fate of +history may depend on the working out of the Czecho-Slovak miracle--a +plain gift of fortune to the cause of freedom. + + +Copyright, Asia, Journal of the American Asiatic Association, September, +1918. + + * * * * * + +The spirit which animated the American soldiers in France was a +revelation to the Allies, although it was precisely the spirit which +Americans at home knew would inspire them when they reached the actual +fighting line. Some instances of this spirit, and of experiences on the +American firing line, are told in the following pages. + + + + +SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE + +CORPORAL H.J. BURBACH + + +"We have arrived!" + +[Sidenote: We reach the front.] + +The French Army officer, who, skilled through years of actual artillery +service on the French fronts, had been my instructor through weeks of +training, and my guide up to the Front, stood still and spoke most +casually, as if our destination had been a Chicago restaurant. + +[Sidenote: My comrades are hidden in the fog.] + +"Yes, sir." I tried to be as casual, but could not disguise the +excitement that filled me. "Shall--the guns--" and I stopped, startled +at the tone of my own voice. It sounded as if it were coming from some +person a dozen feet away. And as I stood there a sense of elation, that +was possibly partly fear, swept over me. I looked about me, toward the +direction of the French officer who had spoken, toward the fellows of my +battery who had accompanied me up to the Front. I say toward their +direction, for I could not see my comrades--the fog that had come over +the land at sunset was too heavy to allow one to see an arm's length. + +The officer snickered. + +"Is this all that there is to it? Are we really on the firing line?" I +asked aloud. "Why, it's as quiet here as the Michigan woods!" + +The officer laughed again. + +"At this minute, yes," he said; then, "Wait here, I will be back +directly, and no noise!" + +[Sidenote: The firing line seems a lonely place.] + +He went off through the fog, and I have never experienced such a +feeling of loneliness as swept over me at that minute--loneliness, and I +really believe disappointment,--for I had imagined the firing line to be +a place of constant terror. + +"Gee, this is what we've been training for all these months!" I heard +one of the fellows say. "Well, all I've got to say is it won't be so +quiet over on the Boches' land when we get started," and they all +laughed. + +[Sidenote: An experience of many sensations.] + +It is absolutely impossible to describe the sensations that come over a +fellow when he realizes that he is going under fire. I think that you +pass through various stages that include every sensation in life. You +are frightened, you are glad to get into the fight. You are anxious to +begin--you wish you had a few weeks' longer training to become a better +shot. + +I am not sure how long we stood there waiting for the return of the +French officer who was tutoring us for our baptism of fire, but suddenly +he was at my side. + +[Sidenote: The first need is a signal station.] + +"The battery is to be over there," he pointed through the night, "and we +will set up a signal station right here. The first thing to do is to dig +in the telephone wires, for headquarters reports that there is +considerable rifle fire about here in the daytime. Order a detachment of +men to help you!" + +[Sidenote: Digging in the telephone wires.] + +"Yes, sir," and I went quickly back toward where I knew the men were +waiting, happy to think that there was work to be done at once. I gave +the orders that had been handed to me, and in about twenty minutes we +were turning over the earth. While we were working others were just as +busy, for our battery was being placed in position, and some fifty feet +behind the battery the others of the signal service detachment, of which +I was a member, were setting up a receiving station. As I helped in the +digging of that small trench for telephone wires my heart sang, and I +lived again the months that I had served in order that I might be fit +for the service I was performing that minute. + +It might be well, before going further into this narrative, to say that +the fellows who had accompanied me were the first American troops to +take charge of a sector of the French line, a sector which some day will +be moved into the heart of Germany and make old friend Hun wish that +there was a way for him to change his nationality and viewpoint. + +[Sidenote: The artillery training camp.] + +The training camp where we had prepared for the front after our arrival +in France had been purchased by the United States from the French, and +had been in use since the beginning of the war for the purpose of +putting the high spots on the training of men belonging to both the +heavy and light artillery. It was a spacious place; we had comfortable +quarters and lots of good food. I had been on the Mexican border, so +that sound of the heavy guns that were being used for training purposes +did not annoy me, though to about ninety per cent. of the rest of the +fellows this was a new sound, and orders were issued that cotton was to +be put in the ears. + +[Sidenote: The French officers are fine fellows.] + +Except for the return fire, we might have been at the front, for the +camp was an exact duplication of conditions under fire. Our equipment +was largely French, and the officers who tutored us in modern warfare +were all French--and as fine a bunch of fellows as ever lived. + +[Sidenote: Buying a village for a target.] + +One of the exciting incidents of the Camp was the day that news arrived +that the American government had purchased a small village just beyond +the Camp (France is honeycombed with small villages,--it is almost +impossible to walk a mile without passing through a village) and that +it was to be used as a target for the American boys. + +We practiced in turn, a battery going out for a few hours' work, and +then returning. Both light and heavy Artillery used the village as a +target, and it was not long before there was only a heap of rubbish to +tell where there had once been houses. + +[Sidenote: The instructors praise American marksmanship.] + +One of the things that the American fellows felt proud of was the fact +that they were constantly being praised by their French instructors +because of their very superior marksmanship. Several men told me that +the American troopers learned in two weeks' time as much of the +craftsmanship of war as the French learned in three months. As the story +was on themselves, I guess it must be true. + +[Sidenote: Good care close to the firing line.] + +[Sidenote: A question of high prices.] + +We worked hard in camp, but the fellows liked it. We had good food, lots +of fresh vegetables, and meat. It is a fact that the closer you get to +the firing line the better care you get. There was plenty of recreation +through the Y.M.C.A. activities, but we did not have many furloughs. +Remember that at the time I am writing of, the American boys were new in +France. One of the reasons for the lack of furloughs was that in many of +the towns near the great camps that were set apart for the Americans the +merchants had decided that it was harvest time, and prices had gone very +high. General Pershing himself ordered that no member of the American +force should buy anything in these towns until the matter of prices was +adjusted, and this was speedily done. + +[Sidenote: A journey in motor trucks.] + +[Sidenote: Making the new quarters sanitary.] + +I had been in the training camp about a month, making a special study of +telephone work as carried on between the front-line trenches and +outposts regimental headquarters, and the various gun batteries of the +regiment. At the end of that time I was detached from my regular +battery and assigned as Signal Sergeant to work with another battery +proceeding immediately to the American sector of the Front. We did not +travel forward in gradual stages as is the usual custom of approaching +the firing line for the first time, but made the journey as quickly as +possible, in motor trucks--a never-to-be-forgotten journey. Our +destination was a village between five and ten miles from the Front, +where we were to be billeted, and where the American troops would spend +their time while not actively in the trenches. We got there in the +afternoon, and a batch of the men were detached to make the place clean +and perfectly sanitary. It needed their work. The village had been used +by the French soldiers for some time, and there had been no time or +opportunity for repair work. With the coming of the Americans it was +different. Cleanliness is a strictly enforced rule with the fellows of +our fighting force, and from a standpoint of sanitation we are literally +introducing soap, water and whitewash into France. + +[Sidenote: The order to advance.] + +Later that afternoon, when it was growing dusk, came the orders to go +forward--and at nightfall I found myself walking beside the French +officer across rough ground, a very occasional dull boom telling us that +there was an enemy before us--but all other sounds seemed natural. + +As I said before, it is impossible to accurately describe the sensations +that come over a fellow when he discovers that he is on the firing line, +and I welcomed the work to which I was so quickly assigned, and which we +rapidly accomplished. I marveled at the precision with which I had gone +to work that first night on the front, but everyone had their work to +do, and did it so quickly and coolly that we had no time to think of +personal feelings. + +[Sidenote: An interesting day on the firing line.] + +The first day on the firing line was very interesting. The battery kept +up a constant fire, getting range from the map which is issued daily--as +well as the given ranges, targets, etc. (which arrived over the field +telephone). That night we stood ready to do any work required, but no +orders came through, and I had my first experience in sleeping in a gun +pit. + +Our food, by the way, was brought up daily from the headquarters at the +village and was prepared in rolling field kitchens. + +[Sidenote: Food is good and abundant.] + +As an example of the care that the fellows are getting, I might say that +we were given bread and milk, fruit, excellent coffee, eggs, or possibly +hash, and, of course, bread for breakfast; a heavy meal of soup, steak +or some roast meat, potatoes and vegetables, coffee and sweets, came +next, with a meal of canned foods for supper. All of it well cooked and +mighty tasty. Believe me, Uncle Sam was taking mighty fine care of his +soldier boys! + +[Sidenote: The telephone system is demolished.] + +The following day started as the first, but in the middle of the +afternoon the telephone system of our sector was demolished by rifle and +it was impossible to get into communication with either the headquarters +or the trenches. + +"That stops work for today!" the officer told me. "No more gun fire till +we get it fixed." + +I can remember asking anxiously what we could do. + +"Nothing just this minute," he laughed at my eagerness, "but tonight you +and I will crawl out on our bellies and find that broken wire. Then we +will fix it, and unless they find us with a shell we'll crawl back." + +[Sidenote: We go out to mend the wire.] + +The prospect was exciting, and I waited anxiously for night. Then, armed +with the necessary tools, we started to crawl along the trench +containing the wires. We had no light, we could not stand upright. We +went about a half mile, feeling every inch of wire for the break, and +then suddenly I ran my hand along the wire that suddenly came to a +point. We had found the break. + +"I've got it," I called in my best whisper, but before I could receive a +reply there was a noise from the German trenches. + +"Star shell, star shell," my French companion called excitedly. + +[Sidenote: A star shell bursts above us.] + +Suddenly the shell burst above us, and it was more brilliant than day. +Frightened! Say, that light is so great and the knowledge that if the +Germans spot you you're a goner, makes you just lie there and forget to +breathe! It does not take many seconds for a star shell to die away to a +glow, but in those seconds you go right through life and back to the +present. When the light was gone I lay there fairly panting for breath. + +"We'll have to work quickly," came the inspiring voice at my elbow, and +we did. We had not finished work before a new star shell was sent up. + +[Sidenote: The repair work is finished.] + +The repair work did not take many minutes, and we started back again. We +were halted several times by star shells, and after the second or third +time I began to reassure myself by saying that the Germans did not know +I was out there, that they had nothing against me individually. +Afterwards I heard one of the officers say that they were probably +suspicious because of the sudden cessation of the gun fire that +afternoon, and were looking for a raiding party to cross no-man's-land. + +[Sidenote: The noise of the shells.] + +During the time that I was at the front, it was the custom for men to +spend six days at the front, then go back to the village in which they +were billeted--always well beyond the firing line--and there rest for +about two weeks. By the end of my third day I had become quite +acclimated to the noise. One afternoon a scouting aeroplane must have +reported some fancied movement of troops in a village two or three miles +back of us, for the Germans started a heavy barrage which went singing +over our heads. The shells went high, but just the same they made +everyone uncomfortable for a few minutes. Fellows that have been on the +line, however, will tell you that you don't mind the noise of shell +fire--for you figure it out that the bullet that hits you is the bullet +you never hear--and while that doesn't seem a very comfortable thought, +you soon forget to think of danger. + +[Sidenote: Shifting the gun's position.] + +Perhaps the most exciting incident, and at the same time the one that +sent more terror to our hearts than any other, occurred late one +afternoon. It was foggy, though fog always hung over our battery--in +fact, the climate of the front that has been assigned to our troops is +notorious for its winter fogginess. Orders had been sent out to shift +the position of our gun, and as the afternoon wore away--and the thick +smoke-like pall that hung over us made it impossible to recognize the +fellow standing next to you when he was half a dozen feet away--it was +decided that there was no use to wait till night, but that we could +shift the gun at once. + +[Sidenote: A German aeroplane right overhead.] + +All the crowd started to work, the new gun pit was ready, and the signal +station was all moved. It was just as we got the gun into the position +and were straightening it into position that a faint breeze came +stealing down from the mountains. In a minute the breeze was stronger, +and we could see a hundred yards away. In another minute we could see +three times that distance, and at the end of the third minute we could +see clear up into the heavens--and there was a German plane flying +straight for us. + +Did you ever stand waiting for death? I suppose not--but that was what +happened to our gun crews. The plane swooped low and seemed to hang +right over us. We waited, hardly daring to breathe. I saw the +perspiration running from one fellow's face, and guess it was running +down mine. I know that I had a most pressing desire to run--anywhere, so +long as I was moving. As I was looking down I glanced at my wrist watch +about every thirty seconds and lived minutes between each glance. No one +spoke--it was as if we had suddenly been turned to wood. Then after +fifteen minutes of observation the Hun plane circled away from us--and +we had lived several lifetimes in that short time. + +[Sidenote: Army trucks take us back to the village.] + +It was the fog that got me--and sent me back to the United States. Two +years before, coming home from drill at the armory (I was then a member +of the National Guard) I fell asleep on the train and contracted a +severe cold. The cold never seemed to leave me, and now, after a week of +fog, after sleeping in a gun pit, I grew hoarse and developed a nasty +cough. I was not really sick when I left the firing line after my six +days and returned to the billet, but I felt pretty miserable. I can +remember being glad when, after a several miles' walk back of the lines, +we found the army trucks ready to carry us to the village where we were +quartered. + +[Sidenote: A month at the base hospital.] + +I spent four days in the billet receiving further instruction from my +French officer, and then after ten days I started back to the training +camp, where I was to help in the instruction of the fellows of my +division who had not as yet been under fire. By the time I reached the +camp I was what might be termed all in, down and out. I went to the +hospital, and when I was able I was moved in an ambulance to a U.S. Army +Base hospital far removed from the firing line. I was at the base +hospital a month, and spent most of the time in the sunshine trying to +get rid of the heavy bronchial condition that had fastened itself to me. +The hospital was full--but not with Americans. I was surrounded by +fellows from all the allied nations, and had the chance to talk with +them. They're a great lot, and anybody who has any doubt about whether +we are going to win this war needs only a few minutes' conversation with +some of the chaps that have been over there for years. You bet we're +going to win--there isn't a thought of anything else but victory. + +[Sidenote: Orders to go home.] + +At the end of my month at the base hospital it was decided that I was +not fit for the firing line. Uncle Sam is mighty good to his fellows--he +does not believe in placing them under unnecessary risks, and when the +doctors said that my bronchial condition was practically chronic, and +the life on the firing line would only aggravate it, I got my orders to +go home and take up service in a climate where there was less chance of +my becoming a liability and where there was just as much work for me to +do as in France, though of a different nature. + +It was a disappointment, but I'm glad to think that I had those six days +on the firing line, and proud to think that I was with the first batch +of Americans to see service in the fight against autocracy. + + +Copyright, The Forum, May, 1918. + + * * * * * + +That portion of France in which the American army did its most active +fighting is a country filled with historic and romantic associations. It +is also a country of great scenic beauty. The following article +describes graphically the general aspect of this portion of France. + + + + +AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD + +RAOUL BLANCHARD + + +[Sidenote: A glorious battlefield.] + +Terrific battles, ushering in the dawn of victories which will ensure +the freedom of the world, were fought in July and August, 1918, between +the Marne and Vesle rivers, from Chateau-Thierry to Soissons and Fismes. +In this soul-stirring struggle the young American troops played a large +part, and played it with heroism and success. It has occurred to us, +therefore, that the American people will be glad to become acquainted +with the battlefield made glorious by their sons, with the soil which +will some day be a consecrated goal of pilgrimage for the entire nation. + +[Sidenote: The field once the most beautiful country.] + +This field of death, bristling with ruins still smouldering, was +formerly, and will soon be once more, a beautiful stretch of country. +Here we are in the heart of the Ile de France, and the countryside +displays all the gracious charm of a typical French landscape. With its +undulating plateaus, pleasant vales, broad green valleys, forests and +greensward, chateaux and villas, small towns, and dear old villages +thronged with souvenirs of the past, the district between the Marne and +the Aisne was peculiarly representative of France--the France of the +Merovingians and Capets as well as of the twentieth century. + +There is no manufacturing and little commercial activity; but a +skillful, varied, and persistent culture of the soil, with special +attention to those most exacting of crops, the vine and vegetables, +which are successfully raised only by dint of hard labor, and to the +production of vast quantities of sugar-beets and cereals. + +[Sidenote: The villages are built of stone.] + +The villages, built of the beautiful stone of the district, have, one +and all, an air of dignity and prosperity which gives animation to the +landscape. The very names are among the most pleasant to the ear, and +often among the most illustrious in the language. Our great men of +letters, La Fontaine and Racine, Pope Urban II, who preached the First +Crusade, and other statesmen and princes, all born in the province, had +already made it a genuinely historic spot; and the memory of the battles +fought by Napoleon at Chateau-Thierry and Soissons, against the invaders +of 1814, has not yet faded. When they turned the enemy back from Paris, +the Americans were fighting in the most truly French of all the +districts of France, and their gallantry has imparted to it a new charm, +a more resplendent glory. + +[Sidenote: Topography from the Marne to the Vesle.] + +But this attractive region does not exhibit everywhere the same +features. The topography of the Ile de France is so varied that one can +distinguish several families, or groups, of landscapes between the Marne +and the Vesle. Let us follow them, in the order followed by the +different stages of the battle. + +The southern portion is the most elevated and most picturesque; it +includes the shores of the Marne, from Epernay to Chateau-Thierry, as +well as the hills and valleys to the eastward, grouped about the Ardre +River in the district called the Tardenois. In the centre the +battlefield embraces plateaus studded with low hills, half hidden by +broad patches of forest, and cut by deep, narrow valleys--those of the +Ourcq and its affluents; whence the region is known as the district of +the Ourq, or the Orxois. Lastly, to the north this undulating ground +gives place to a practically level plateau, a vast table-land of +cultivated fields, through which flow the deep ravines of the Aisne, the +Vesle, and their affluents. This is the Soissonnais. + +[Sidenote: The wake of the American armies.] + +From the Tardenois to the Soissonnais by way of the Orxois, let us +follow in the wake of the French and American armies, in their +decisively victorious advance. + +[Sidenote: Valleys of stream cut deep.] + +On emerging from the plains of Champagne, at Epernay, the Marne flows +through the plateaus of the Ile de France as far as Paris, and the +country along its banks changes its aspect. Instead of the wide valley +which seems one with the immense bare plain, the stream, breaking out a +path for itself through the solid mass of the plateau, has cut a gash +from 500 to 2000 metres in width, which turns and winds in graceful and +ever-changing curves. Thus, although its general course is from east to +west, the trend of the walls of the valley constantly changes and bears +toward every point of the compass in turn. Moreover, these walls, +intersected by the ravines and valleys of numerous tributary streams, +are cut up into capes, bastions, and deep hollows. Finally, the cliff +from whose summit the plateau overlooks the valley, and whose average +height is about 150 metres, at times rises steeply from the lowland, and +again is broken up into terraces following the different strata of which +it is composed. Thus, although the topographical elements are simple +enough, they lend themselves to an ever-changing combination of forms, +which gives to the landscape its great charm, and at the same time +offers some formidable advantages of various kinds from a military +standpoint. + +[Sidenote: The placid Marne.] + +[Sidenote: The Marne easy to cross.] + +The bright green ribbon of the Marne winds along the valley bottom. The +placid stream, about a hundred metres wide and broken here and there by +islets, wanders from one bank to the other, lined by poplars and +willows. On either side of its limpid waters are broad fields, whose +delicate greenery frames the sparkling line of the river, which forms a +by no means impassable obstacle. In the days just preceding the German +offensive of July 15, American patrols constantly crossed between +Chateau-Thierry and Mezy, and picked up prisoners and information on the +northern bank. In like manner, during that offensive the attacking +German troops were able without great losses to cross the Marne and +attack the defenders on the southern bank. To be sure, the Allied +air-men made their life a burden by keeping up an incessant bombardment +of the bridges, large and small. + +[Sidenote: Fierce fighting on the slopes.] + +But the real obstacle which this valley offers is found in the slopes +which dominate it, and it was there that the fiercest fighting took +place until the day when the French and Americans, having thrown the +enemy back across the river, scaled the cliffs of the right bank on his +heels and dislodged him therefrom. In this neighborhood there were two +sectors of terrific fighting--that of Chatillon-Dormans upstream, and +that of Chateau-Thierry below. + +[Sidenote: A wide valley with steep slopes.] + +[Sidenote: The vine-growing district.] + +Going upstream, the valley is quite wide: from Monvoisin to Dormans, by +Chateau-Thierry, it measures two kilometres almost everywhere. The high +cliff which overlooks it on the north, cut by a multitude of narrow +valleys coming down from the table-land of the Tardenois, forms a series +of buttresses which make excellent defensive positions. On the sharpest, +which is a genuine peninsula overhanging the main valley, sits the +village of Chatillon, formerly crowned by a haughty feudal castle, on +whose ruins was erected a statue of Pope Urban II, who long ago had +trouble with the German emperors. The slopes below are hard to climb, +because of their steepness and the network of tilled fields. Here we +are at the heart of the vine-growing district, and these banks of the +Marne contribute largely to the production of the famous champagne. The +vines extend, on long rows of poles, to the very summit of the cliffs, +especially on the right bank, which has a better exposure to the sun; +they are often connected by strands of wire, on which straw mats are +placed to protect the vines from the cold in winter. + +[Sidenote: Allied troops find many obstacles.] + +On a lower level, nearer the stream, are magnificent orchards: the +cherry tree joins with the vine to impart to those slopes an aspect of +rustic opulence. Huddled white villages, with tawny-hued pointed roofs, +follow one another in regular succession on the rolling ground. Their +names have lately won a terrible celebrity: Binson, Vandieres, +Vincelles, Treloup. Sandstone quarries burrow into the summit of the +cliffs and furnish shelters for the defenders. Finally, there are strips +of forest along the slopes wherever the exposure is thought poorly +suited for crops. All these features unite to form a cheerful, animated, +lovely landscape; but at the same time a conglomeration of obstacles +which the Allied troops were able to overcome only after fierce +fighting. + +[Sidenote: Villages in the hillsides.] + +Below the little town of Dormans, the valley narrows temporarily: from +Treloup to Brasles it is frequently less than 500 metres in width. The +cliff, although steep as before, is less cut up, and the patches of +forest are large. At the mouths of the smaller affluent valleys, the +villages rear their church-towers on the hillsides, overlooking the +lowest vineyards and orchards; on this right bank are Jaulgonne, +Charteves, and Mont Saint-Pere, all taken by the Allies late in July, +and Fossoy, where the Americans successfully repulsed the German attack +of July 15. + +[Sidenote: The ancient town of Chateau-Thierry.] + +But now the valley widens once more as it enters the broad basin of +Chateau-Thierry. It is a beautiful spot, and at the same time, of great +military value. The little town long ago forgot its role of fortress, +but has been brutally reminded of it by the violence of the battles that +have been fought in its neighborhood. In the foreground is the wide +expanse of fields in the valley bottom; then a suburb of the town +enclosed between two arms of the Marne. Across the river, scaling the +slopes of a hill crowned by the ruins of a castle, the town rises, +terrace-like, at the mouth of a narrow valley. The position can be +carried by frontal attack only on the heels of a defeated foe, as +Napoleon carried it in 1814, and Franchet d'Esperey just a hundred years +later. But in 1918 the Americans had to take Chateau-Thierry in flank, +and in order to force their way into the town, had to fight the bloody +battles of Vaux, Bouresches, and Etrepilly, which carried them to the +north of the town and hastened its evacuation. + +[Sidenote: Military operations difficult.] + +What is the nature of the terrain above those steep cliffs which enclose +the valley of the Marne? Does it become more favorable to military +operations than the deep depression through which the river flows? Not +by any means. The surface of the table-land is broken by so many ravines +and narrow valleys which descend steeply to the Marne, that it is cut +into a multitude of ridges and hillocks amid which it is no longer +possible to recognize the original horizontal aspect of the plateau. + +[Sidenote: Heavy impermeable soil.] + +[Sidenote: Hills that are fortresses.] + +On the other hand, the strata which lie on the surface--loam, sandstone, +and clayey sand--make a heavy, impermeable soil, quite infertile, in +which it is hard to raise anything, and which is largely given over to +woods. Thus, freedom of movement is impeded by deep ravines, ridges +running in all directions, and more or less dense forests; an offensive +is difficult, and the defensive easy. This is true in the immediate +neighborhood of Chateau-Thierry, where the ravines of Vaux, Brasles, +Charteves, Jaulgonne, and Treloup, and the valley of the Surmelin, slash +the plateau on either side of the Marne into fragments--into +forest-topped hillocks which are genuine fortresses, where the struggle +was terrific and where the Allies were able to advance only one step at +a time: on Hill 204, west of Chateau-Thierry, in the Bois de Mont +St-Pere, the forest of Feze above Jaulgonne, and especially on the spur +of the forest of Riz; and south of the Marne, at the broad, wooded +bastion of Saint-Agnan and at La Chapelle-Monthodon, where the fighting +was so intense from the 15th to the 20th of July. + +[Sidenote: The villages and forests of the table-land.] + +[Sidenote: Genuine mountain battles.] + +This strip of broken table-land becomes broader again farther upstream, +above Dormans and Chatillon-sur-Marne. In that direction the plateau of +the Ile de France ascends until it is more than 260 metres above the +stream. Erosion has been even more active there, and in that part of the +Tardenois the plateau is dissected into narrow strips separated by deep +valleys, broad and moist, the largest of which is the valley of the +Ardre. In the valley bottoms the streams are bordered by bands of +tillage land; above, on the lower slopes, amid the vineyards and +orchards which monopolize all the favorable exposures, is a multitude of +small villages, some of which have become famous--Ste. Euphraise, +Bligny, and Ville-en-Tardenois, whose rustic dwellings of uncut rubble, +arranged amphitheatre-wise, sheltered some 500 inhabitants. Higher up, +on the uneven surface of the plateau, are scattered villages built on +limestone foundations--tiny fortresses, like Rumigny and Champlat, the +scene of hard-fought battles. Almost the entire surface is covered with +forests of pine and oak and birch. These are the woods of Le Roi, +Courton, Pourcy, and Reims, where hand-to-hand fighting went on for more +than a fortnight, British, Italians, and French succeeding at first in +checking the enemy and then in forcing him back, in those titanic +combats. They were, in reality, genuine mountain battles; for the hills +reach a height of 265 metres, above the level of the plateau, while the +valleys are at least 100 metres deep; and the difficulties of the uneven +surface were greatly increased by the obstacles offered by forests, +vineyards, streams, and the villages, closely packed with stone houses, +which could easily be transformed into fortifications. + +[Sidenote: The first great American battle.] + +A deep, broad, swampy valley, traversed by an unfordable stream; +surmounted by steep slopes bristling with vineyards, orchards, villages, +and diversified by quarries; above, an entanglement of low hills, +ravines, and valleys, under a mantle of forest--such was the theatre of +operations in which the Americans won their first great victory. A more +difficult terrain could not be desired, or one better adapted to test +the valor of the victorious troops. + +But when they had made themselves masters of this battlefield, the +Allies were by no means at the end of their labors; and the difficulties +of the ground to be traversed were still serious in the central portion +of the theatre of operations--the Orxois. + +[Sidenote: The Orxois plateau--its soil and relief.] + +[Sidenote: A varied landscape.] + +The Orxois is a plateau extending north of the Marne to the Soissonnais, +at a mean height of 160 metres. But it is very far from being uniform. +Let us study the nature of its soil, and the relief, that we may +comprehend its aspects more thoroughly. The substratum of the plateau of +the Orxois is the layer of rock called "hard limestone" 30 to 40 metres +in thickness, so much of which is used for building material in the +towns and villages. This layer is almost horizontal, and if there were +nothing superimposed upon it, the plateau would be a practically level +platform. But above the hard limestone are successive layers of a far +different character--layers of sand, of Beauchamp sandstone, mingled +with marl, making a moist, impermeable, infertile soil; then another +layer of limestone, softer and more clayey than that below. Finally, +this upper limestone is covered, especially toward the east, with thin +layers of marl, clay and, lastly, Fontainebleau sand, which are +connected with the strata of the Tardenois. Thus, to a depth of 100 +metres, we find a succession of diversified strata, hard and soft, dry +and moist, which impart great variety to the landscape. + +The valleys which intersect this conglomeration run from east to west, +toward the deep depression hollowed out by the Savieres and the Lower +Ourcq. From north to south, we can count three--the Upper Ourcq, by +Fere-en-Tardenois and La Ferte Milon, the Ru d'Alland, and the Clignon. +Very wide where they pass through the upper strata, these valleys grow +abruptly narrower and deeper when they reach the level of the hard +limestone, where they are little more than deep and narrow ditches. +Between these furrows, the marl, sand, and softer limestones form +ridges, now steep, now rising more gently, the sandy soil bearing woods, +the limestones cultivated fields. + +[Sidenote: The ridges run east and west.] + +Thus the whole plateau of the Orxois is a series of elevations and +depressions, running from east to west, which form just so many +obstacles to an advance from south to north like that of the Allies. +Luckily they approached this locality at the same time from the west, +which enabled them to outflank the obstacles simultaneously with their +approach from the south. + +[Sidenote: Torcy, Belleau and Bouresches.] + +North of Chateau-Thierry, three or four kilometres from the Marne, the +plateau is less diversified. The only obstacle is the valley of the +Clignon, which deepens rapidly toward the west. Above it, at the summit +of the limestone cliff, the plateau forms a species of promontories on +which are built villages--Torcy, Belleau, Bouresches. The American +troops had held their positions there during the last part of June, and +it was there that the heroic marines halted the enemy in his march upon +Paris. And again, it was there that they assumed the offensive on July +18, to outflank Chateau-Thierry from the north. On that day they carried +the ridges of Torcy and Belleau; on the 19th they pressed beyond +Bouresches; and on the 20th they forced their way into Etrepilly and +Chateau-Thierry. + +[Sidenote: The terrain beyond is less rugged.] + +Immediately beyond, the terrain is not so difficult. The Clignon valley +becomes less rugged and gradually blends with the plateau. Toward +Bezu-St.-Germain and Epieds lies a comparatively open plain with +extensive stretches of fallow land. In this more open region the +progress was more rapid; on July 22 the American troops took possession +of Epieds, twelve kilometres from Bouresches, their starting point. + +[Sidenote: Along the valley of the Ourcq.] + +But the difficulties are more serious farther to the north, along the +hills which form the southern boundary of the valley of the Ourcq. +Although the depression made by the Ru d'Alland, being broad and level, +is not a considerable obstacle, it is not the same beyond. The relief +map shows a line of heights running from west to east, and rising higher +and higher in that direction. From these heights a multitude of valleys +descend to the Ourcq, from south to north, cutting the crest into hills +separated by depressions. Thus the terrain is broken up in every +direction and well adapted to meet an attack from the west as well as +one from the south. + +[Sidenote: The French carry ridges and valleys in succession.] + +It was necessary to deal with all these obstacles one by one. Starting +from the west, the French had to carry successively these lines of +crests and depressions with their fortified villages: ridge of Monnes, +July 19; ravine of Neuilly-St-Front the same evening; the hill of +Latilly and its wood the 20th; La Croix and Grisolles the 21st, with +their thickets and dense plantations of osiers. On the 23d the Allied +troops took Rocourt and the wood of Le Chatelet; on the 24th the deep +ravine of Brecy; and, finally, on the 25th, French and Americans +together attacked the hill of the forest of Fere, which is 228 metres +high, completely covered with woods, cut by ravines, and flanked by +fortified villages. On the 27th the whole position was taken, and the +Allies were on the verge of the deep valley of the Ourcq, which they +were next to cross. + +[Sidenote: Caves in the cliffs.] + +[Sidenote: Allies turn the line of the Ourcq.] + +This line was a by no means inconsiderable obstacle. Imagine, if you +please, a deep depression, twisting and turning in all directions, and +from 200 to 400 metres wide, extending at least as far as +Fere-en-Tardenois. It is bounded on either side by cliffs of hard +limestone, 30 to 40 metres high, in which innumerable caves are +scooped--the so-called _boves_, which are used as dwellings, with doors +and windows flush with the face of the cliff. These _boves_ are +invaluable defensive positions, out of reach of bullets and shells. The +valley bottom is wet and swampy, with dense clumps of poplars mingled +with alder-bushes. There are numerous villages at the foot of the +cliffs,--Rozet-St.-Albain, Breny, Armentieres,--or on the slopes above, +like Noroy. A frontal attack on such a position would have been too +costly. The Allies turned the line of the Ourcq from the north. They +crossed the river in force in the upper part of its course, where it +has not yet attacked the stratum of hard limestone, and where the valley +is wider, and the sides are less steep. Nevertheless they encountered +terrible difficulties. + +[Sidenote: Strategic value of hills of Orxois.] + +North of the Ourcq, indeed, the last heights of the Orxois form another +chain of hills, from four to six kilometres wide--the last obstacle +before we come to the plateau of the Soissonnais. These hills are of the +greatest possible diversity of shape and vary in height from 200 metres +at the western extremity to 230 at the eastern. Their bases consist +largely of sandstone and Fontainebleau sand, with clumps of forest +scattered here and there; higher up is the softer limestone, the land +being entirely cleared and covered with crops. Here and there we find +the remains of the former covering of clay and Fontainebleau +sand--wooded ridges which expand toward the east into the wood of +Seringes, the forest of Nesle, and Meuniere wood. These hills, the last +as we travel northward, where they command the whole of the Soissonnais, +have therefore the greatest strategic value, particularly the positions +of Hartennes, Plessier-Huleu, and Seringes. + +[Sidenote: The French approach from the west.] + +Luckily these formidable defensive positions were approached from the +west, astride the ridges. Starting from the forest of Retz, the French +crossed the Savieres with a rush, and in a single bound reached +Noroy-sur-Ourcq and Villers-Helon, which lie along one of the ridges, +surrounded by orchards. On July 19 they had advanced three kilometres to +the east; the strong line of the Ourcq was outflanked. On the 20th they +were at Parcy-Tigny and Rozet-St.-Albain, pushing forward over the +broken ground planted with sugar-beets and cereals, enlivened in spots +by small clumps of trees perched on the sandstone hillocks. Thus they +drew near to the heart of the position--the ridges of Plessier and of +Hartennes. There the resistance was much more violent; but after three +days of hard fighting, the French entered Plessier and approached the +village of Oulchy-la-Ville, surrounded by picturesque heaps of sandstone +blocks mingled with pines and birches. On the 25th, in the evening, they +were in occupation of Oulchy-le-Chateau, which lies in a charming vale +running down to the Ourcq. The line of the Ourcq, as to that portion +where the river, flowing between high cliffs, constitutes a real +obstacle, was in the Allies' hands. + +[Sidenote: Fere-en-Tardenois and Sergy.] + +It remained to complete the victory by the conquest of the eastern +sector of the hills; and this again was no easy task. The French and +Americans had now to approach that strong defensive position from the +south. On the 28th they entered Fere-en-Tardenois; the Americans crossed +the Ourcq, taking Sergy, which changed hands nine times. On July 31, +after more titanic battles, they wrested Seringes from the foe. On +August 1 there was a general advance all along the line, and the Allies +carried the whole line of hilltops, from Plessier-Huleu to Meuniere +wood. + +[Sidenote: Heroes of the second battle of the Marne.] + +This was the end: the horizon expanded. From the heights conquered in +fourteen days of fighting the Allies went down to the plateau of the +Soissonnais; soon they would reach the Vesle and join hands with the +troops who had retaken Soissons. Among the numberless heroes of this +second battle of the Marne, they who stormed the heights of the Orxois +and either outflanked or crossed the valley of the Ourcq were the +bravest of the brave and are entitled to the largest share of our +gratitude. The third act of the battle was played upon a terrain quite +different from those preceding it. The relief is considerably +simplified. The great plateau of the Ile de France, which is buried, as +it were, under the accumulations of recent deposits, where erosion has +worn gaps in the ridges of the Orxois, and hollowed out the deep ravines +of the Tardenois, is reduced here to the substratum of hard limestone, +almost entirely free from superimposed layers. So that, instead of being +an uneven, swampy district, the Soissonnais is a dry level table-land, +where the streams flow underground through the layers of limestone. A +fertile district, too, for the surface is covered with a thin coating of +loam, in which sugar-beets and cereals vie with one another in profusion +of growth. + +[Sidenote: Valleys of the Vesle and the Aisne.] + +[Sidenote: Fertile slopes and valleys.] + +However, the plateau is intersected by occasional valleys, generally +broad and deep. The two most considerable are those of the Vesle and the +Aisne which come together above Soissons, at Conde, and isolate the +famous Chemin-des-Dames to the north. Two tributaries, Ambleny brook and +the Crise, flowing down to the Aisne, subdivide the southern portion of +the Soissonnais, where the battle was fought. With respect to the +plateau, these valleys are little worlds apart. Below the hard +limestone, they have hollowed out a path through very soft rocks, sands, +and clays; in these the streams have inevitably made large inroads, +sapping the limestone cliffs which overhang them. Thus the valley +bottoms are abnormally wide--from two to three kilometres near Soissons. +The presence of the clayey soils makes them very moist, and we find +there fields of beets and grain side by side with extensive tracts of +grassland. On the lower slopes are many small fields given over to the +less hardy products--beans, orchards, and sometimes grape-vines. Here +are most of the villages, at the level where the water-courses, seeping +through the limestone of the plateau, reappear in the shape of springs, +on the impervious stratum. For the most part the villages lie along the +hillsides, surrounded by trees, embellished by chateaux and parks. They +are well-built and attractive, boasting churches of graceful +architecture, thanks to the lovely decorative stone taken from the +quarries in the limestone cliffs above, which are called _boves_, or +_croutes_. A fascinating, fertile country, diversified and pleasant to +the eye, before the war it might well have been taken as a sample of +rural opulence. + +[Sidenote: Great difficulties of passage.] + +Plateau and valleys, then, differ materially--the one monotonous and +easy of access; the other, no less charming than varied, but presenting +great difficulties of passage in the face of opposition. There is not a +village on the plateau: only a few large farms and scattered sugar-beet +refineries. In the valleys and on the slopes there are everywhere +houses, chateaux, parks, orchards, and grottoes. The slender +church-tower barely rises to the level of the plateau, as if to watch +for the approach of an enemy. The conditions then were quite simple: on +the plateau it was possible to gain many kilometres in a single rush; +but in the valleys a fierce resistance was to be expected. + +[Sidenote: The Franco-American attack.] + +The French and American attack in the Soissonnais was fortunate in its +starting-point. In the course of the hard-fought battles between June 15 +and July 15, the French had retaken the entire valley of +Ambleny-Coeuvres, and had gained a footing on the plateau to the +eastward, which stretches as far as the outskirts of Soissons. To the +south they had completely cleared the verge of the forest of Retz, from +which they were thus able to debouch into the plain. + +[Sidenote: In sight of Soissons.] + +[Sidenote: Germans bring up reserves.] + +The first onrush was magnificent. Starting at ten minutes to five in the +morning, the Allies were within sight of Soissons at ten o'clock, having +overrun the whole plateau on a front of some ten kilometres. Rarely has +a more successful attack been seen in this war. It was even said that +on this first day some French and Americans got as far as the suburbs of +Soissons. But the danger for the Germans was too great, and they brought +all their reserves thither. Moreover, they had the valley of the Crise +to support their defense. + +[Sidenote: Artillery can hardly see the villages.] + +This valley is the widest and deepest of all those which eat into the +plateau of the Soissonnais from the south. The very considerable +depression is more than 100 metres below the surface of the plateau, +which it cuts in two, effectively shutting off all progress from west to +east; for on the south a narrow isthmus, that of Vierzy, barely +separates it from the ravine of the Savieres; and on the southeast it +reaches to the foot of the wooded hills of Hartennes. Clinging to the +sides of the valley and of the ravines which open into it, numerous +villages--Vauxbuin, Berzy-le-Sec, Villemontoire, Buzancy--are the more +difficult to capture because the artillery can hardly see them, as they +lie close against the hillside. It was on the Crise, in the latter part +of May, that a handful of Frenchmen held up the German avalanche from +the Chemin-des-Dames. + +[Sidenote: German guns have revenge.] + +[Sidenote: Allies enter Soissons.] + +The Germans paid us back in July. Sheltered in the ravines and windings +of the valley, their artillery, being almost invisible, had nothing to +disturb its aim. The villages, the orchards, the grottoes, crammed with +machine-guns, were so many fortresses; the whole valley was a veritable +hell. There were incessant counter-attacks, which the Allies, on the +bare plateau, entirely devoid of cover, could repel only with the +greatest difficulty. They pushed forward step by step, and by fits and +starts. On the 19th our troops were hard put to it to hold the ground +they had taken the day before; on the 20th they barely began to nibble +at the ravines, at Ploisy and L'Echelle. On the 21st the Americans took +Berzy-le-Sec, and the French were astride the lower waters of the Crise; +on the 23d they went down into the ravine of Buzancy. But not until the +25th did they gain possession of the promontory of Villemontoire; and +only on the 29th did a Scottish division, after three days of forward +fighting, carry Buzancy. This last success, to be sure, was decisive, +for it uncovered the upper valley of the Crise. And so, on August 2, the +enemy gave way; that day the Allies crossed the valley along its entire +length, and advanced across the eastern side of the plateau as far as +the Vesle. On the same day they entered Soissons--at last. The ancient +capital of the French kings, the city which formerly disputed the claim +of Paris to be called the metropolis, is now no more than a mass of +ruins. For four long years the war has laid its heavy hand upon her; and +it is no new thing for her, since she had played an important military +role in 1814, 1815, and 1870. She owes it to her fine location, in the +heart of a broad valley, where the roads from south and east meet. Let +us hope that her martyrdom will soon come to an end. + +[Sidenote: The Allies hold the entire plateau.] + +Here ended the second battle of the Marne. The Allies have regained +possession of the whole plateau which extends from the Marne to the +Vesle and the Aisne. They have established themselves in the valleys of +those great rivers, from Soissons to Braisne, Bazoches, and Fismes--even +to Rheims. They find there formidable obstacles to be overcome: a broad, +moist, sometimes swampy bottom; facing them the cliff of the +Chemin-des-Dames and the plateau of the Vesle, with its cap of +limestone, and its numerous windings lined with villages and grottoes. +Except in case of a surprise or a voluntary retirement, it will be a +hard job to carry these positions. But sufficient unto the day is the +evil thereof. The results already achieved are fine enough to justify us +in declaring ourselves satisfied. + +[Illustration: A PICTORIAL MAP SHOWING THE FARTHEST GERMAN ADVANCE, THE +HINDENBURG LINE AND THE LINE AT THE TIME OF THE ARMISTICE: NOVEMBER 11, +1918] + +[Sidenote: The American troops do magnificent work.] + +[Sidenote: Peers of the world's best soldiers] + +The work done in their debut, by the American troops in conjunction with +our own, was magnificent. They fought against victorious soldiers sure +of success, and whipped them. They were engaged on a difficult terrain. +In the south they were obliged to cross a broad river and wide valleys, +to scale cliffs bristling with defensive positions. In the center they +were confronted by a confused entanglement of broken ground, hills and +ravines, woods and open fields, bisected by a deep valley half-concealed +by trees. In the north they became acquainted with the snare formed by +plateaus falling abruptly away into the wolf-trap of ravines, where the +enemy, lying in ambush, refused to give ground. The Americans triumphed +over all these obstacles, and deserve to be reckoned the peers of the +best soldiers in the world. On the other hand, fighting as they have +fought in these countrysides, so typically French in their simplicity +and grandeur, and seeing all their charms foully outraged, our +attractive villages destroyed, our churches--graceful masterpieces, in +almost every case, of the Middle Ages--desecrated and shattered, they +have come to understand France better; they have had a share in her +misfortunes and in her hopes. + + +Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, December, 1918. + + * * * * * + +Throughout the war Germans persisted in the assumption that by nightly +raids from bombing machines and Zeppelins they could spread terror among +the Allies and weaken their morale. They did succeed in killing a large +number of defenseless men and women, but this was the only result of +these attacks. A vivid account of these night raids is given in the +narrative following. + + + + +NIGHT RAIDS FROM THE AIR + +MARY HELEN FEE + + +[Sidenote: Thousands of automobile trucks.] + +When the first offensive began to the north of us, we, who were +stationed in the American Canteen at E----, not more than fifteen miles +from Rheims, were thrilled by the sight of the thousands of automobile +trucks, which like a mighty river flowed ceaselessly by our canteen +carrying French troops up to the English front; and we grew sad when we +beheld ambulance convoys hurrying in the same direction. + +We could not be oblivious to certain signs which pointed to renewed +activity in our sector. The American ambulance boys predicted with the +emphasis and at the same time with the vagueness born of surmise instead +of exact knowledge, that we should "see something doing" in a few weeks. + +[Sidenote: Few German airplanes.] + +What chiefly excited our curiosity, however, was the scarcity of German +airplanes. Although the days were clear and fine for observing, only +occasionally did the barking of guns call us outside to behold a little +white, shimmering object skipping defiantly through extremest blue while +tufts of woolly cloud broke far below it, serving only to aid us in +detecting the almost invisible plane. One came over one night just about +sunset, and called us and our dinner guests from the beginning of a +meal. Another paid us an early morning call. Then for nearly three weeks +we enjoyed undisturbed rest at night. Not once did the "alerte" send us +shivering to damp cellars; not once did we hear the deep "boom" followed +by a savage jar and rattle which differentiates the falling bomb or +torpedo from the cannon. We said, fatuously, that we believed all the +airplanes were engaged up on the English front, and that at last our +mastery of the air must be firmly established. + +[Sidenote: News of the second offensive.] + +[Sidenote: The permissionaires return in good humor.] + +It was on a Monday that the news of the second offensive reached us. +Trains from Paris were delayed and the Paris papers did not arrive, but +the ambulance men told us there was a German offensive from Rheims to +Soissons. Next day the canteen was crowded with permissionaires hastily +recalled from leave and hurrying to join their regiments at the front. +Most of them had passed through, ten to two days before, in the subdued +good humor with which the poilu hails his bath, disinfecting, clean +clothes, and relative security of body while on a ten days' leave. They +were going back to face death, mutilation, and an experience which +drives many men mad. There was no undue hilarity about them, but a quiet +determination which has been reflected in the stand made by the armies. +Here and there a weakling had tried to escape thought in drink, but the +percentage of that sort was very small. + +[Sidenote: Three weeks' respite of raids.] + +On Tuesday more news drifted in, and that night I did not fully undress +on going to bed. So strongly can the sense of optimism be grown from +little habit that a respite of three weeks from bombing attacks had +almost (though not quite) convinced me there would never be any more. I +may explain that I was serving as canteen accountant, and occupied a +tiny three-room apartment across the street from the canteen, between it +and the railway station, and I took my meals at one of the two Red Cross +houses maintained in E----. + +[Sidenote: Objective of a bomb attack.] + +When a town is bombed, the Germans have various objectives, principally +the railway stations, troop barracks, canteens, munition dumps, food +stores, and hospitals. As a rule, when private homes are destroyed, it +is because they happen to be close to these points of attack. Torpedoes +are too expensive to be wasted in chance destruction. + +[Sidenote: Lights are extinguished in the war zone.] + +In towns in the war zone, great precaution is taken to prevent even a +thin line or dot of light from showing at night. Only the railroad shows +its signal lights, and these are put out at the first alarm, while all +moving trains come to a standstill and extinguish what lights they +carry. The lamps in passenger coaches are always put out when the train +enters the war zone. So the bombing aviator has a rather difficult task +in getting his bombs exactly where he wants them. The bomb must be +released about a thousand feet in advance of the object aimed at, and +the plane must pass over and reverse its course before a second bomb +can be thrown at the same target. The course of a plane can be followed +by tracing its bombs. + +My position during a bombing raid was most unenviable. A torpedo cast at +the railway station and going a bit too far was likely to land on the +two-story brick house in which I was lodged. One cast at the canteen, +and falling short, was likely to do the same. + +[Sidenote: Anticipating air raids.] + +It is fashionable among the workers in France to affect great +indifference to danger. I am free to confess that I am not a +particularly courageous woman. My imagination is active, and on nights +when we expect a bombing raid I always go through a period of misery +before going to bed. I would not for anything leave the war zone, but I +have always a lively vision of coming out of slumber to the +accompaniment of fearful noise and the crashing of the building atop, +and then my coward imagination paints pictures of lying torn and +anguished under settling weights of being burned alive while disabled +and unable to extricate myself. Oddly enough, all my terrors vanish with +the falling of the first bomb. I cannot remember being in what the +English call a "blue funk" while a raid is going on, though many a time +I have been in one beforehand. + +[Sidenote: Premonition of danger.] + +Tuesday night some subtle instinct warned that trouble might come. In +accordance with a natural forethought I slipped into a suit of underwear +and woollen stockings under my nightdress. I must have been asleep in +three minutes after my head touched the pillow, for I was dead tired. + +[Sidenote: A bomb lands close by.] + +[Sidenote: The sky blazes with shells.] + +I wakened with the sense that I had heard a gun, and, with one +stockinged foot thrust out of bed, wondered sleepily whether it was the +first, second or third of the alerte, or whether indeed I had not +wakened from a dream of a gun. Probably it was the last gun of the +alerte, for the next sound was the thunderous roar of a bomb which +clearly had landed close by (it got a railway shed and a freight car on +the tracks behind me). The terrific noise and the shock to our building, +which rattled as if it were coming down, considerably accelerated my +movements. I snapped on the electric torch which always lay, together +with my cap and slippers, beside the bed, slipped a skirt over my +nightdress and my great-coat atop, and got into the cap and slippers in +record time. But by the time I had crossed the flagged passage and +wrestled with the lock of the "grande porte" there was no getting out of +the house. The canteen, directly across the street, lay in utter +darkness, lights out, doors locked. There was no hope of using it as a +short cut to the _abris_, or shelter, on the other side, while to try to +go around it was almost certain death. The sky was ablaze with breaking +shells from our seventy-fives; shrapnel was falling like hail in the +streets, while the steady "pup-pup" of machine-guns--both our own and +the bombing planes'--advised all who could to remain under shelter. The +noise of our guns and of the bombs was like a small inferno. + +[Sidenote: Waiting through the raid alone.] + +I stayed it out--about twenty minutes--alone in that dark flagged +hallway, and it was lonesome. When the shrapnel and machine-gun fire let +up sufficiently to make it safe, I crept along under the shelter of the +eaves to the door of a courtyard next door where I knew one of our cooks +lived. She had invited me a few days before, to refuge there instead of +trying to get over the _abris_, because, she said, the whole upper lofts +were full of hay, and it had been demonstrated that bombs will not +penetrate to any depth in hay. But the door was locked, and though I +beat upon it with my electric torch, nobody heard me. I finally took +advantage of a lull in the firing, when the Germans went back to their +own lines for more ammunition, to get over the _abris_. + +There one of the women on night duty at the canteen told me that the +directrice and everybody else not on night duty, had gone up to the +evacuation hospital about ten o'clock, in response to a call for aid +from the French authorities. + +[Sidenote: Many wounded in the hospitals.] + +In E---- there were half a dozen large hospitals. The wounded, chiefly +English, were coming in faster than the hospital corps could handle +them. They needed our help, not only in registering the men--very few of +whom understood any French--but in feeding and giving water. + +I got to the hospital the next day and worked steadily till eight +thirty. Then an ambulance driver gave me a lift as far as the canteen, +and I managed to get a cold supper at our mess. + +[Sidenote: Dispensing hospitality to worn-out officers.] + +I was hardly in my office before I heard a knock at the door, which, as +I was alone in the house, I always locked at night as soon as I entered. +In response to my "Who's there?" a voice, guided by my English, replied, +"I am an English officer." I threw open the door without a second's +hesitation. A young officer, weary, white-faced, stood there, beginning +to apologize as he saw my uniform and white veil. He was simply "done," +he said--and he looked it. He had found every hotel was full, and, +seeing a few gleams of light behind the shutters, he had knocked in the +hope of finding shelter for the night. I knew that the woman at the +canteen who would go off duty at midnight was scheduled to go +immediately to the hospital to work until seven in the morning and that +I could occupy her bed after I came back from the hospital, and I +offered my apartment to the officer for the night. He was most grateful, +and I rushed over to the canteen to get him a pitcher of hot water and a +cup of chocolate. But there I found a group of French officers, who said +they had neither sleep nor rest for three days and nights, pleading for +some place to lie down. As there was a comfortable leather couch in my +office, besides a wide soft couch over which I had laid my steamer rug, +and, in addition, an exceedingly soft double bed in my room which I +thought the tired Englishman ought to be willing to share with an +equally tired man, I proffered my hospitality, which was gratefully +accepted. I piloted them across to the office, and returned to the +canteen, hoping to find an American ambulance boy who would run me over +to the hospital. + +[Sidenote: A new raid begins.] + +[Sidenote: Directing men to shelter.] + +[Sidenote: Help from American boys.] + +I sighted a group of the familiar uniforms, and was heading for it when, +bang! went a falling bomb, without any warning alerte. The next instant +all lights were out, and the French soldiers were swarming through the +door. As all the other women in the canteen had set duties to +perform--putting out fires, locking up money and food--and I, not being +on duty, had none, I stationed myself at the door, calling out to the +soldiers where they would find shelter. Being transients, they did not +know where to find refuge. But long before the canteen was empty, the +machine-gun bullets were sweeping the street and the shrapnel was +raining down. Two American boys came up in the darkness, and one said in +the quietest tone of authority, "Get between us, lady!" They backed me +up against the side of the canteen, close under the shelter of the +eaves, and stood one on each side of me. I had no trench-helmet, so one +of them took his sheepskin driving coat, folded it, and put it over his +head and mine. As soon as a lull in the firing permitted, we ran across +the street to the _abris_. The Germans went back several times for more +ammunition and continued the bombing for nearly two hours. + +[Sidenote: The nurses stay with the wounded.] + +One of our workers, who was at the hospital, told me that her first +impulse was to run for an _abris_ as we would do at the canteen, but +when she looked about her and saw everybody composedly going on with +duty, she gathered herself together and did the same--"Although," she +added, "my teeth just rattled at first." Some of the wounded were +terrified and begged not to be left; and that called out the mother +instinct in the women, so that they forgot to be afraid. + +The Germans swept the hospital with their machine guns and did their +best to bomb it, but fortunately made no hits. It was finally necessary +to put out all lights and to cease work. It was a most trying ordeal, +because the buildings were of pine, close together, and a direct hit +probably would have started a fire which would have burned the wounded +as they lay. + +[Sidenote: The sound of battle draws near.] + +About half past one I went up to our mess and crawled into an empty bed. +The next morning when I awakened it was to the sound of distant cannon. +This meant that the battle was drawing nearer. + +[Sidenote: A ride on an ambulance.] + +An especially hard day kept me on the strain from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and +when I returned to the mess I found no dinner and no servants. Our +directrice, anticipating evacuation, had dismissed them. Only a little +Belgian refugee, a sort of "slavey," hung on, because she had no other +place to go. Tired out, I managed to make an omelet and a cup of tea, +and to fry some griddle cakes to replace the bread which was conspicuous +by its absence. Then I stationed myself in front of the canteen hoping +to flag a passing ambulance. An American driver stopped his car, and a +Frenchman, who was beside him on the front seat, jumped down to help me +up. This man had a bandage around his throat, and when I asked him if he +was wounded, he made a hissing sound in reply. The American driver +explained that he could not speak because he had a bullet through his +windpipe. There were six badly wounded men on the stretchers inside, but +we heard not a sound from them. + +[Sidenote: A night of horrors.] + +I shall not soon forget that night I had steeled myself to meet horrors, +and knew that I _must not_ let them affect me. Yet in spite of terrible +wounds, there was little sound of suffering. The place was wonderfully +quiet. + +When I got inside of the receiving room, a group of our women who had +been at work all afternoon were still moving about, white and +hollow-eyed with fatigue. A French doctor asked if I could not bring +some food there from the canteen. It was Thursday. Some of the men had +been wounded on Tuesday, and had had no food and little water. + +[Sidenote: Bringing up food for the wounded.] + +I found an English girl with an empty ambulance, who risked a reprimand +for leaving without orders, and we flashed back to the canteen, and +loaded up with twenty gallons of hot chocolate, bread, about three +hundred hard boiled eggs, some kilos of chocolate, and raw eggs and +sugar. We flew back to the hospital; but there was a big convoy of +ambulances just in, so that we could not get up to the main buildings. +We scouted around in the dark to find a place to deposit our stuff and +open a temporary kitchen, and, returning to the ambulance, we came +across a wounded boy who had sunk on a bench. The ambulance driver had +passed him, making his way on foot, but being full-up, she was unable to +give him a lift. He was wounded in the chest, was exhausted, and had no +great-coat. It was absolutely necessary to get him under cover and to +give him warmth and nourishment. We put our arms around him and tried to +help him along, but soon it was apparent that he had not the strength to +make the reception ward. + +[Sidenote: Holding up a boy too weak to stand.] + +The English girl said, "You hold him up while I get a stretcher"; so I +jammed myself up against the side of a building and put my arms about +the boy while his weight grew heavier and heavier against me. I could +not let him slip, because the roadway was narrow and a long string of +ambulances, without lights, was passing. He never uttered a sound, but +his arms moved convulsively. As he felt himself growing weaker, he put +them around my neck, and clung to me precisely as a frightened child +would. It seemed an age while I waited there, warning off ambulances +that were about to shave us too closely. I could not help wondering +where that boy's mother was, what she was doing, or if he had a mother. +And I thought some terrible thoughts about war and some wicked ones +about Germans. + +[Sidenote: Dispensing food to the wounded.] + +The girl came with her stretcher at last, and we got the boy on it. +Then we went about setting up our feeding station. Hungry men limped in, +bandaged mostly about the head, and _how_ they consumed hard boiled eggs +and drank hot chocolate! I left the English girl dispensing food and +drink, while I took to the badly wounded a mixture of beaten egg, hot +milk and sugar. Here and there men asked for a piece of chocolate or +bread, but most of the wounded wanted only the liquid food. They would +say with their awful English cockney accent, "Ah! that's good!" or +"Prime stuff!" or "Could you spare a little more, sister?" In spite of +dreadful wounds, they were full of pluck. + +[Sidenote: Great numbers of wounded in stretchers.] + +For the next two hours I gave water and egg mixture to all sorts and +conditions of men--English, French, Canadians, Moroccans, Senegalese. +The doctor asked if I knew enough to administer morphine hypodermics, +and I regretfully admitted that I did not, while I registered a vow to +learn. Then some American Red Cross men appeared, and some English +doctors. Before midnight three or four long Red Cross trains had been +filled with wounded, and sent out. Yet at that hour more than five +hundred wounded men still lay on their stretchers on the grass outside. +And all the while, as I worked, I thought of how, as soon as the moon +came up, we should hear the familiar roar and rattle of the bombs, and +of how the shrapnel and machine gun bullets would rain down on those +upturned faces. + +[Sidenote: The hospital floors are crowded.] + +But, grace to heaven, the Germans did not come that night! At midnight I +went into Ward 4, where some of the worst wounded had been placed. +Stretchers had been laid on top of the beds and flat on the floor on +both sides of the central aisle, till one could hardly move. Most of the +wounded seemed to sleep. Only here and there one begged for water, and +these men were usually wounded in the abdomen where not even water +could be given. We could moisten their lips and wipe off the hot +feverish faces, and that was all. + +[Sidenote: Everything possible has been done.] + +By one o'clock it was evident that the most of what could be done had +been done. Another section of our women had arrived with more food, and +I went out to the covered way between the receiving room and the +operating room, to steal a ride home on the driver's seat of some +departing ambulance. An English boy, who had been gassed, asked me +hoarsely if I could get him a blanket, and I did so. Another man was +there, on whose eyelashes and eyebrows something that looked like ice +seemed to hang. I think it was an application to soothe gas-burns. + +It was two o'clock before I got to bed at the mess. The English officer +was still occupying my apartment. I might pass off my action in +resigning it to him as philanthropy, but candor compels me to admit that +I was glad of an excuse to stay at the house where there was company in +case of a bombing raid. + +[Sidenote: The French bills come in.] + +Friday was a long, tense day. The French merchants and all the people +with whom we had dealings, anticipating our withdrawal, swarmed in with +accounts. When the G.A.N. (Grand Armee Nationale) sent in its request +for a check (previously, I had been obliged fairly to windlass their +bill out of them), I knew the French would evacuate. The Commandant sent +for the Directrice, and advised her to follow French headquarters +wherever it might move. He said he was evacuating all French hospitals +and had turned over all evacuation hospitals to the English. No more +wounded French were to be brought into E----. + +[Sidenote: The German aviators bomb hospitals again.] + +All day I worked without food, and after 7.30 got supper for myself and +three companions. We hoped for a night's rest, but the Germans began +bombing us at dusk, and kept it up till daylight. They were after +hospitals, as we knew by the fact that the dropping bombs were at a +distance from us and the regular line. All night the machine-gun battle +went on--our own guns at E----, warring with the sweeping planes +overhead. We got so tired of going to shelter, and so accustomed to the +firing, that we finally stayed in our rooms and even opened our shutters +to peer out into the calm summer sky. Shells were bursting and ground +signals of colored lights were streaming skyward. It was too exciting to +sleep until we gave out from sheer exhaustion. I managed to get an +intermittent slumber from four until seven. + +[Sidenote: The town is full of refugees.] + +As there was no breakfast at our mess, I went to the canteen for a cup +of coffee, and found the place crowded. The French Commander said that +our town was due to be shelled before long as we were getting in range +of the German guns. We decided not to go until we had to, but to cease +keeping the canteen open at night; to sell only hot coffee, chocolate, +bread, cheese, eggs and apples by day--thus omitting our hot meal--and +to divide our forces, one part to run the canteen, another to organize a +temporary canteen on the grounds of the evacuation hospital, and still +another to maintain the rolling canteen at the railway station. The +streets were almost blocked with refugees. I saw one unconscious woman +in a wheelbarrow being trundled by a boy. Regiments went through, going +up to the front, the men's faces stern and set. The sound of the battle +grew louder and louder. + +[Sidenote: An airplane sweeps the street with a machine gun.] + +That night we bundled our bedding into the Ford camion, and slept in one +of the deep champagne caves. I had volunteered to go on duty at the +canteen at six the next morning, and arriving there on time, found two +or three hundred tired and hungry men waiting for the doors to open. +The night before a great thermos marmite had been filled with boiling +coffee, and we were able to begin feeding the men without delay. All day +we did a tremendous business. About half past nine a German plane came +over, tried to bomb us, and swept the street with a machine gun. We +continued serving and pouring out coffee. The aviator killed a woman and +child who were standing in a garden, and then one of our machine guns +got him. The plane, a three passenger one, came tumbling down into the +public square. The pilot was caught with both legs under the engine and +was badly hurt, but the observer and the gunner were uninjured. An +infuriated Frenchman, who had seen the killing of the woman and child, +rushed up and killed the gunner as they lifted him out. I got these +facts from an American staff car driver who assisted in extricating the +pilot. That morning, our guns got three German planes. + +[Sidenote: A German shell hits twenty-seven.] + +At one that afternoon I left the canteen, and went home for the bath +which I had missed that morning. I had just finished dressing when a +German shell passed over the house, killing, as they said, twenty-seven +persons. + +[Sidenote: The distant thunder of battle.] + +I elected to stay over night at the hotel instead of going to the +champagne cave. No sound disturbed the night except the distant thunder +of the battle and the bursting of shells which were falling about a +thousand yards short of the town. The Germans were trying to destroy the +bridge over the Marne, to cut our communication with Rheims, but they +did not have the range. + + +Copyright, The Forum, November, 1918. + + * * * * * + +Volumes of detailed narrative could not sum up more graphically what the +American Army did in France than did the summary written by General +Pershing, presented in the following pages. + + + + +THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE + +GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING + + +[Sidenote: Organization of the American army.] + +With French and British armies at their maximum strength, and all +efforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly intrenched positions in +Belgium and France failed, it was necessary to plan for an American +force adequate to turn the scale in favor of the Allies. Taking account +of the strength of the central powers at that time, the immensity of the +problem which confronted us could hardly be overestimated. The first +requisite being an organization that could give intelligent direction to +effort, the formation of a General Staff occupied my early attention. + +[Sidenote: The division.] + +[Sidenote: A corps comprises six divisions.] + +After a thorough consideration of allied organizations it was decided +that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of +3,000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250 +men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, +a machine-gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, +a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and +military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of +over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German +division. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions--four +combat and one depot and one replacement division--and also two +regiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. With +four divisions fully trained, a corps could take over an American +sector with, two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depot +and replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks. + +[Sidenote: Plan of training for the infantry.] + +Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force which should be +able to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, the +development of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use of +the rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. The +plan of training after arrival in France allowed a division one month +for acclimatization and instruction in small units from battalions down, +a second month in quiet trench sectors by battalion, and a third month +after it came out of the trenches when it should be trained as a +complete division in war of movement. + +[Sidenote: The school center at Langres.] + +[Sidenote: British and French officers assist.] + +Very early a system of schools was outlined and started, which should +have the advantage of instruction by officers direct from the front. At +the great school center at Langres, one of the first to be organized, +was the staff school, where the principles of general staff work, as +laid down in our own organization were taught to carefully selected +officers. Men in the ranks, who had shown qualities of leadership, were +sent to the school of candidates for commissions. A school of the line +taught younger officers the principles of leadership, tactics, and the +use of the different weapons. In the artillery school, at Saumur, young +officers were taught the fundamental principles of modern artillery; +while at Issoudun an immense plant was built for training cadets in +aviation. These and other schools, with their well-considered +curriculums for training in every branch of our organization, were +coordinated in a manner best to develop an efficient army out of willing +and industrious young men, many of whom had not before known even the +rudiments of military technique. Both Marshal Haig and General Petain +placed officers and men at our disposal for instructional purposes, and +we are deeply indebted for the opportunities given to profit by their +veteran experience. + +[Sidenote: Questions of communication and supply.] + +The eventual place the American Army should take on the western front +was to a large extent influenced by the vital questions of communication +and supply. The northern ports of France were crowded by the British +Armies' shipping and supplies while the southern ports, though otherwise +at our service, had not adequate port facilities for our purposes and +these we should have to build. The already overtaxed railway system +behind the active front in northern France would not be available for us +as lines of supply and those leading from the southern ports of +northeastern France would be unequal to our needs without much new +construction. Practically all warehouses, supply depots and regulating +stations must be provided by fresh constructions. While France offered +us such material as she had to spare after a drain of three years +enormous quantities of material had to be brought across the Atlantic. + +[Sidenote: Plans for construction on a vast scale.] + +With such a problem any temporization or lack of definiteness in making +plans might cause failure even with victory within our grasp. Moreover, +broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources would +bring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to the +nations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. The tonnage for +material for necessary construction for the supply of an army of three +and perhaps four million men would require a mammoth program of +shipbuilding at home, and miles of dock construction in France, with a +correspondingly large project for additional railways and for storage +depots. + +[Sidenote: The southern ports are selected.] + +All these considerations led to the inevitable conclusion that if we +were to handle and supply the great forces deemed essential to win the +war we must utilise the southern ports of France--Bordeaux, La Pallice, +St. Nazaire, and Brest--and the comparatively unused railway systems +leading therefrom to the northeast. Generally speaking, then, this would +contemplate the use of our forces against the enemy somewhere in that +direction, but the great depots of supply must be centrally located, +preferably in the area included by Tours, Bourges, and Chateauroux, so +that our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever they +might be serving on the western front. + +[Sidenote: Army and civilian experts are employed.] + +To build up such a system there were talented men in the Regular Army, +but more experts were necessary than the Army could furnish. Thanks to +the patriotic spirit of our people at home, there came from civil life +men trained for every sort of work involved in building and managing the +organization necessary to handle and transport such an army and keep it +supplied. With such assistance the construction and general development +of our plans have kept pace with the growth of the forces, and the +Service of Supply is now able to discharge from ships and move 45,000 +tons daily, besides transporting troops and material in the conduct of +active operations. + +[Sidenote: Organization of the Service of Supply.] + +As to organization, all the administrative and supply services, except +the Adjutant General's, Inspector General's and Judge Advocate General's +Departments which remain at general headquarters, have been transferred +to the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours under a +commanding general responsible to the commander in chief for supply of +the armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief Signal +Officer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of Chemical +Warfare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to questions +of procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General in the +maintenance of order in general, the Director General of Transportation +in all that affects such matters, and the Chief Engineer in all matters +of administration and supply, are subordinate to the Commanding General +of the Service of Supply, who, assisted by a staff especially organized +for the purpose, is charged with the administrative coordination of all +these services. + +[Sidenote: The transportation department.] + +The transportation department under the Service of Supply directs the +operation, maintenance, and construction of railways, the operation of +terminals, the unloading of ships, and transportation of material to +warehouses or to the front. Its functions make necessary the most +intimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, +with the practical result that our transportation department has been +able to improve materially the operations of railways generally. +Constantly laboring under a shortage of rolling stock, the +transportation department has nevertheless been able by efficient +management to meet every emergency. + +[Sidenote: Duties of the Engineer Corps.] + +The Engineer Corps is charged with all construction, including light +railways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projects +required, the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeaux +and Nantes, and the immense storage depots at La Palice, Montoir, and +Gievres, besides innumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports of +France. These projects have all been carried on by phases keeping pace +with our needs. The Forestry Service under the Engineer Corps has cut +the greater part of the timber and railway ties required. + +To meet the shortage of supplies from America, due to lack of shipping, +the representatives of the different supply departments were constantly +in search of available material and supplies in Europe. In order to +coordinate these purchases and to prevent competition between our +departments, a general purchasing agency was created early in our +experience to coordinate our purchases and, if possible, induce our +Allies to apply the principle among the Allied armies. While there was +no authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met by +grouping the purchasing representatives of the different departments +under one control, charged with the duty of consolidating requisitions +and purchases. Our efforts to extend the principle have been signally +successful, and all purchases for the Allied armies are now on an +equitable and cooperative basis. Indeed, it may be said that the work of +this bureau has been thoroughly efficient and businesslike. + +Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary +for its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important +deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In order +to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer +of the French Government to provide us with the necessary artillery +equipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and one +fifty-five G P F guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. The +wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, although +we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, there +were no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on our +front at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these types +produced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-five +millimeter guns. + +[Sidenote: The first airplanes received from America.] + +In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the French +Government came to our aid until our own aviation program should be +under way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for training +our personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2,676 pursuit, +observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received from home +arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1,379. The first +American squadron completely equipped by American production, including +airplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to tanks, we +were also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we were less +fortunate, for the reason that the French production could barely meet +the requirements of their own armies. + +[Sidenote: The attitude of the French Government liberal.] + +It should be fully realized that the French Government has always taken +a most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us every +possible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in +other respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, and +tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been +exclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our own +manufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the time +the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early +supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories. + +[Sidenote: Responsibility for the welfare of the troops.] + +[Sidenote: Welfare organizations and their valuable work.] + +The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as Commander in +Chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who came to +France in the impressionable period of youth. They could not have the +privilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of leave of +visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully realizing +that the standard of conduct that should be established for them must +have a permanent influence in their lives and on the character of their +future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian +Association, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the Jewish +Welfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in every +possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different customs +and language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with the +cause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in their +behalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and their +innate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that the +members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to +be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of +these representative men and women has given a new significance to the +Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be +repaid. + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-sixth fights at Seicheprey.] + +During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had +engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was +Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20, in the Toul sector, but none +had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had +passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the +trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and +by March 21, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four +divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to +any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed +was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed. + +[Sidenote: Pershing offers forces to Foch.] + +On March 28 I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch, who had been +agreed upon as Commander in Chief of the Allied Armies, all of our +forces to be used as he might decide. At his request the first division +was transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at +Chaumont en Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required prompt +action, an agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the +Allied premiers and commanders and myself on May 2 by which British +shipping was to transport 10 American divisions to the British Army +area, where they were to be trained and equipped, and additional British +shipping was to be provided for as many divisions as possible for use +elsewhere. + +[Sidenote: The First takes Cantigny.] + +[Sidenote: Fighting qualities demonstrated.] + +On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidier +salient on the Picardy battle front. Tactics had been suddenly +revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident of the +results of their training, were eager for the test. On the morning of +May 28 this division attacked the commanding German position in its +front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all other +objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly against vicious +counterattacks and galling artillery fire. Although local, this +brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated our +fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that the +enemy's troops were not altogether invincible. + +[Sidenote: The Third Division on the Marne.] + +[Sidenote: The Second wins Bouresches and Belleau Wood.] + +The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27, had advanced +rapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisis +equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every +available man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the Third +Division, which had just come from its preliminary training in the +trenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine-gun battalion +preceded the other units and successfully held the bridgehead at the +Marne, opposite Chateau-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve near +Montdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport to +check the progress of the enemy toward Paris. The Division attacked and +retook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held its +ground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle of +Belleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority and +gained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemy +than to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second was relieved, it +captured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision. + +[Sidenote: Second Corps is organized.] + +Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Major General George W. Read, had been +organized for the command of our divisions with the British, which were +held back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of +the ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three to +relieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris area +to join the group of American divisions which stood between the city and +any farther advance of the enemy in that direction. + +[Sidenote: The Forty-second and the Twenty-eighth.] + +[Sidenote: Brilliant work of the Third.] + +The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way, +and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary training +before being put into action, their very presence warranted the use of +all the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves. +Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheims +against the German offensive of July 15, and held their ground +unflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies of +the Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancing +waves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank of +the Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west of +Mezy, opposite Chateau-Thierry, where a large force of German infantry +sought to force a passage under support of powerful artillery +concentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A single regiment of +the Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals +on this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its +front while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing, +pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the German +attacks with counterattacks at critical points and succeeded in throwing +two German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600 prisoners. + +[Sidenote: First and Second in the thrust toward Soissons.] + +The great force of the German Chateau-Thierry offensive established the +deep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and the +vulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to his +disadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, every +division with any sort of training was made available for use in a +counter-offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons on +July 18 was given to our First and Second Divisions in company with +chosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of a +preliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery, +firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while the +infantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops under +these trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemy +brought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense both +with machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting the +First Division continued to advance until it had gained the heights +above Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-Sec. The Second +Division took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance and +reached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. These +two divisions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery. + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-sixth and the Third.] + +The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a French division, was under +command of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement toward +Soissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy while the Third +Division was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The +Twenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past the +Chateau-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing its +progress, took the heights of Mont St. Pere and the villages of +Charteves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine-gun and artillery +fire. + +[Sidenote: Germans fall back.] + +[Sidenote: The Forty-second relieves the Twenty-sixth.] + +[Sidenote: Third and Fourth Advance.] + +On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugney and Epieds, +our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from the +Champagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through the +Foret de Fere, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the +27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth Divisions +were already advancing, while the French divisions with which we were +cooperating were moving forward at other points. + +[Sidenote: The Forty-second and Thirty-second.] + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-eighth and the Seventy-seventh.] + +The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29th +and was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. The +Forty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering the +heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the +Thirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in the +pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of reducing +the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was relieved by the +Fourth at Chery-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the Twenty-eighth, +while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on the Vesle. The +operations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the Third Corps, +Major General Robert L. Bullard, commanding. + +[Sidenote: The First Army is organized.] + +[Sidenote: The American sector is extended.] + +With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to the +concentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of the +forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had long +been planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the First +Army was organized on August 10 under my personal command. While +American units had held different divisional and corps sectors along the +western front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, +a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts the +American forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over a +permanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30, the line +beginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to the +west through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, was +placed under my command. The American sector was afterwards extended +across the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and included +the Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and the +Seventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun. + +[Sidenote: Large troop movements.] + +The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable +defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of +corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the +location of hospitals, and the molding together of all the elements of a +great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our +Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was to be +a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of approximately +600,000 troops, and required for its success the most careful attention +to every detail. + +[Sidenote: Heavy guns can reach Metz.] + +The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army +artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of +our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns +were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail +movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command +which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces, +gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in +one operation on the western front. + +[Sidenote: The First Corps.] + +[Sidenote: The Third Corps.] + +[Sidenote: The Fifth Corps.] + +[Sidenote: Reserves.] + +From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the +Moselle River the line was roughly 40 miles long and situated on +commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First +Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second Divisions) under +command of Major General Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on +Pont-a-Mousson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth, +Forty-second, and First Divisions), under Major General Joseph T. +Dickman, in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the +pivot of the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to +Mouilly the Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and +our Fifth Corps, under command of Major General George H. Cameron, with +our Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base of +the salient, were to attack three difficult hills--Les Eparges, Combres, +and Amaranthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighth +Division, our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army the +Thirty-fifth and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth and +Thirty-third available. It should be understood that our corps +organizations are very elastic, and that we have at no time had +permanent assignments of divisions to corps. + +[Sidenote: The attack on St. Mihiel begins.] + +[Sidenote: Breaking the barbed-wire defenses.] + +After four hours' artillery preparation, the seven American divisions +in the front line advanced at 5 a.m., on September 12, assisted by a +limited number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by the +French. These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters and +others armed with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bands +of barbed wire that protected the enemy's front line and support +trenches, in irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down all +defense of an enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artillery +fire and our sudden approach out of the fog. + +[Sidenote: The First Army takes the salient.] + +[Sidenote: Many prisoners and guns taken.] + +Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curved +back to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corps +made the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and the +Fifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counterattack. A rapid +march brought reserve regiments of a Division of the Fifth Corps into +Vigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of our +Fourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west of +Thiaucourt to Vigneulles, and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost of +only 7,000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and +443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of many +villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a position +to threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in its +first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had a +formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had +one to reckon with. + +[Illustration: AMERICAN ATTACK ON THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT] + +[Sidenote: Movement to cut German railway connections.] + +On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our Corps +and Army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel, and our Divisions +in reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the area +back of the line between the Meuse River and the western edge of the +forest of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old German +front line from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. In +the general attack all along the line, the operation assigned the +American Army as the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward +the important railroad communications of the German armies through +Mezieres and Sedan. The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines +or the withdrawal of his forces with four years' accumulation of plants +and material would be dangerously imperiled. + +[Sidenote: German Army not demoralized.] + +The German Army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the mass +of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions and +notably its machine-gun defense were exhibiting remarkable tactical +efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware +of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that +he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was planned +with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the +determination to use all our Divisions in forcing decision. We expected +to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume them while +the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack should break +his line, which it was our firm purpose to do. + +[Sidenote: The Argonne Forest considered impregnable.] + +[Sidenote: American order of battle.] + +Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the +Argonne Forest whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by +dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of +battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to +Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in +line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from +Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and +Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve; +and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with +Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and +the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The Army reserve consisted of the +First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions. + +[Sidenote: Attack begins on September 25.] + +[Sidenote: Montfaucon is taken.] + +On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the +French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been +inactive. In the attack which began on the 26th we drove through the +barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's +Land, mastering all the first-line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and +28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of +enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from 3 to 7 miles, +and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and Exermont, +Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinonville, +Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our +Divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured +Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our +main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of +forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's +reaction, which was bound to come as he had good roads and ample +railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PERSHING'S SECRET BATTLE MAP SHOWN AT +NATIONAL MUSEUM + +There is on exhibition in the United States National Museum at +Washington what is probably the most interesting and valuable single +record of America's part in the Great War--General Pershing's own secret +battle map, transported here from his headquarters in France and set up +in the museum exactly as it was there. + +It was General Pershing's own idea to have the map displayed to the +public to show the people of the United States the actual military +results obtained by their armies. For instance, at the hour the +armistice was signed the United States forces were holding 145 +kilometers of front, of which 134 kilometers were active. This is made +plain on the map by the colored pins and tags by which the different +allied and enemy armies are shown. + +The map itself shows the location of all divisions, both the enemy and +allied, on the western front; the correct battle line, commanding +generals, location of headquarters and boundaries down to include +armies, and various other information concerning divisions, as, for +example, whether they were fresh or tired. The map was developed and +kept posted to date daily by the third section of General Pershing's +staff, and used by them and other superior officers during active +operations for strategical studies and purposes of general information. + +It is evident that during the war the information which this map +contained was such that the enemy would have spared no pains to secure +it. Every precaution was taken to insure its secrecy, and to this end +the map was always kept locked up, and in addition was kept in a small +compartment formed by a closed screen. Furthermore, access to this map +was had by only the half dozen chiefs of the general headquarters staff +sections whose work was directly affected by the changes shown on the +map. This map appears to have been unique. The staff officers from the +different allied headquarters who had occasion to see the map declared +that it was the most complete representation of the opposing forces that +they had seen. + +General Pershing, in his letter to the adjutant general suggesting the +public display of the map in the National Museum, says: + +"It has occurred to me that this particular map with its accompanying +installation will have a great historical value. It will be of intense +interest to future generations, not only because it was the only map of +its kind used at these headquarters, but because it shows in a vivid +fashion the exact situation at the hour of the armistice."] + +[Sidenote: Difficult tasks of engineers and gunners.] + +In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roads +across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man's +Land, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put +their shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through the +mire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of the +enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, +quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counterattacks in strong +force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas. +From September 28 until October 4 we maintained the offensive against +patches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of machine +guns, and pushed forward our guns and transport, seizing strategical +points in preparation for further attacks. + +[Sidenote: The Twenty-seventh and the Thirtieth with the British.] + +Other Divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. It +was the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh and +Thirtieth Divisions, which had remained with the British, to have a +place of honor in cooperation with the Australian Corps on September 29 +and October 1 in the assault on the Hindenburg line where the St. +Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The Thirtieth +Division speedily broke through the main line of defense for all its +objectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through the +main line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of the +maze of trenches and shell craters and under cross fire from machine +guns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and in +later actions, from October 6 to October 19, our Second Corps captured +over 6,000 prisoners and advanced over 13 miles. The spirit and +aggressiveness of these Divisions have been highly praised by the +British Army commander under whom they served. + +[Sidenote: Second and Thirty-sixth with the French.] + +On October 2 to 9 our Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions were sent to +assist the French in an important attack against the old German +positions before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defense +works on their front against a persistent defense worthy of the +grimmest period of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held wooded +hill of Blanc Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweeping +over it with consummate dash and skill. This Division then repulsed +strong counterattacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienne +and took the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims +and yield positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9 +the Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its first +experience under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment and +rapidly took up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne. + +[Sidenote: Steady progress in the Argonne Forest.] + +[Sidenote: The terrain favors the defense.] + +The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in this +crucial contest as the German command threw in more and more first-class +troops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the almost +impenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite this +reinforcement, it was our Army that was doing the driving. Our aircraft +was increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and our +Infantry and Artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience. +The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions with +little time for training, but they had the advantage of serving beside +men who knew their business and who had almost become veterans +overnight. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, which +especially favored the defense, by a prodigal use of machine guns manned +by highly trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges. +In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unable +to accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards, +but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage of +our troops. + +[Sidenote: Strong enemy counterattacks.] + +[Sidenote: First Corps takes Chatel-Chehery.] + +[Sidenote: Argonne Forest is cleared.] + +On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third Corps +tilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth Corps +took Gesnes while the First Corps advanced for over 2 miles along the +irregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of the +Argonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art and +weapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemy +striving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strong +counterattacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corps +captured Chatel-Chehery and continued along the river to Cornay. On the +east of Meuse sector one of the two Divisions cooperating with the +French captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the Fifth +Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fleville, and the Third Corps +which had continuous fighting against odds was working its way through +Brieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of +the enemy. + +[Sidenote: The Second Army is organized.] + +It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9 the +immediate command of the First Army was turned over to Lieutenant +General Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisions +occupied a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieutenant General Robert +L. Bullard, who had been commander of the First Division and then of the +Third Corps. Major General Dickman was transferred to the command of the +First Corps, while the Fifth Corps was placed under Major General +Charles P. Summerall, who had recently commanded the First Division. +Major General John L. Hines, who had gone rapidly up from regimental to +division commander, was assigned to the Third Corps. These four officers +had been in France from the early days of the expedition and had learned +their lessons in the school of practical warfare. + +[Sidenote: The Kriemhilde line is penetrated.] + +Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day more +prisoners, mostly survivors from machine-gun nests captured in fighting +at close quarters. On October 18 there was very fierce fighting in the +Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th the +First Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-hand +encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde line, where the enemy had +hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated further +the Kriemhilde line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and the +important town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down the +enemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us, +thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advance +less difficult. + +[Sidenote: Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium.] + +Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but our +Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first Divisions were hastily withdrawn from +our front and dispatched to help the French Army in Belgium. Detraining +in the neighborhood of Ypres, these Divisions advanced by rapid stages +to the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. On +October 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked and +methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3 the +Thirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy across +the Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bank +included in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movement +troops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, a +difficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector, +reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. These +divisions received high commendation from their corps commanders for +their dash and energy. + +[Sidenote: Preparation for the final assault.] + +On the 23d the Third and Fifth Corps pushed northward to the level of +Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the +enemy's violent counterattacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of +our forces was under way for the final assault. Evidences of loss of +morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more +fortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardships +of very inclement weather. + +[Sidenote: The final advance begins.] + +With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the +Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. Our increased artillery +force acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and the +enemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistent +fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome his +will to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, and +Andevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressed +through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On +the 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became an +impetuous onslaught that could not be stayed. + +[Sidenote: Aid of large caliber guns.] + +[Sidenote: The enemy's line of communications cut.] + +On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motor +trucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads close +behind. The First Corps reached Authe and Chatillon-sur-Bar, the Fifth +Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating the +enemy's line to a depth of 12 miles. Our large caliber guns had advanced +and were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the important +lines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps crossed the +Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence that the +day was theirs, eagerly cleared the way of machine guns as they swept +northward, maintaining complete coordination throughout. On the 6th, a +division of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite Sedan, +25 miles from our line of departure. The strategical goal which was our +highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main line of +communications, and nothing but surrender or an armistice could save his +army from complete disaster. + +[Sidenote: Prisoners and guns taken.] + +[Sidenote: Divisions long in battle line.] + +In all 40 enemy divisions had been used against us in the Meuse-Argonne +battle. Between September 26 and November 6 we took 26,059 prisoners and +468 guns on this front. Our Divisions engaged were the First, Second, +Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, +Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Forty-second, +Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, +Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first. Many of our +divisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves of +steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. +The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, +Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and, Ninetieth were in the line twice. Although +some of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon became +equal to the best. + +[Sidenote: The fight in the Meuse Hills.] + +On the three days preceding November 10, the Third, the Second Colonial, +and the Seventeenth French Corps fought a difficult struggle through the +Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the plain. +Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces contemplated +an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the direction of Longwy +by the First Army, while, at the same time, the Second Army should +assure the offensive toward the rich iron fields of Briey. These +operations were to be followed by an offensive toward Chateau-Salins +east of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly, attacks on the +American front had been ordered and that of the Second Army was in +progress on the morning of November 11, when instructions were received +that hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock a.m. + +[Sidenote: A new offensive is halted by the armistice.] + +At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left, +began at Port-sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres and +through the Woevre to Bezonvaux in the foothills of the Meuse, thence +along to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevre +forests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting with +the French under Sedan. + +[Sidenote: Cordial assistance of the Allied armies and governments.] + +Cooperation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A far +greater effort has been put forth by the Allied armies and staffs to +assist us than could have been expected. The French Government and Army +have always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment, and +transportation and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamlets +wherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French people +have everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friends +than as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quite +inadequate to express our gratitude. There can be no doubt that the +relations growing out of our associations here assure a permanent +friendship between the two peoples. Although we have not been so +intimately associated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troops +and ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. The +reception of those of our forces who have passed through England and of +those who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic. +Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the ties of +language and blood bring the British and ourselves together completely +and inseparably. + +[Sidenote: Americans in Italy and in Russia.] + +There are in Europe altogether including a regiment and some sanitary +units with the Italian Army and the organizations at Murmansk, also +including those en route from the States, approximately 2,053,347 men, +less our losses. Of this total there are in France 1,338,169 combatant +troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the Infantry personnel of +10 have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in France +organized into three armies of three corps each. + +[Sidenote: American losses and American captures.] + +The losses of the Americans up to November 18 are: Killed in action, +36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths unclassified, 2,204; wounded, +179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 44,000 +prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars. + +[Sidenote: Ability of the American officers.] + +The duties of the General Staff, as well as those of the Army and corps +staffs, have been very ably performed. Especially is this true when we +consider the new and difficult problems with which they have been +confronted. This body of officers, both as individuals and as an +organization, have, I believe, no superiors in professional ability, in +efficiency, or in loyalty. + +[Sidenote: The Service of Supply.] + +Nothing that we have in France better reflects the efficiency and +devotion to duty of Americans in general than the Service of Supply +whose personnel is thoroughly imbued with a patriotic desire to do its +full duty. They have at all times fully appreciated their responsibility +to the rest of the Army and the results produced have been most +gratifying. + +[Sidenote: The Medical Corps.] + +Our Medical Corps is especially entitled to praise for the general +effectiveness of its work both in hospital and at the front. Embracing +men of high professional attainments, and splendid women devoted to +their calling and untiring in their efforts, this department has made a +new record for medical and sanitary proficiency. + +[Sidenote: The Quartermaster Department.] + +The Quartermaster Department has had difficult and various tasks, but it +has more than met all demands that have been made upon it. Its +management and its personnel have been exceptionally efficient and +deserve every possible commendation. + +[Sidenote: Ordnance Department, Signal Corps and Engineer Corps.] + +As to the more technical services, the able personnel of the Ordnance +Department in France has splendidly fulfilled its functions both in +procurement and in forwarding the immense quantities of ordnance +required. The officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps +have performed their duties with a large conception of the problem and +with a devoted and patriotic spirit to which the perfection of our +communications daily testify. While the Engineer Corps has been referred +to in another part of this report, it should be further stated that the +work has required large vision and high professional skill, and great +credit is due their personnel for the high proficiency that they have +constantly maintained. + +[Sidenote: American aviators.] + +[Sidenote: The Tank Corps.] + +Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability and have +left a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant page +in the annals of our Army. While the Tank Corps has had limited +opportunities its personnel has responded gallantly on every possible +occasion and has shown courage of the highest order. + +[Sidenote: Other Departments.] + +The Adjutant General's Department has been directed with a systematic +thoroughness and excellence that surpassed any previous work of its +kind. The Inspector General's Department has risen to the highest +standards and throughout has ably assisted commanders in the +enforcement of discipline. The able personnel of the Judge Advocate +General's Department has solved with judgment and wisdom the multitude +of difficult legal problems, many of them involving questions of great +international importance. + +It would be impossible in this brief preliminary report to do justice to +the personnel of all the different branches of this organization which I +shall cover in detail in a later report. + +[Sidenote: Cooperation of Navy and Army.] + +The Navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided the +Army, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never before +been such perfect cooperation between these two branches of the service. + +As to Americans in Europe not in the military services, it is the +greatest pleasure to say that, both in official and in private life, +they are intensely patriotic and loyal, and have been invariably +sympathetic and helpful to the Army. + +[Sidenote: Heroism of the officers and the men in the line.] + +Finally, I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the +line. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, +their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion +which I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have +earned the eternal gratitude of our country. + + * * * * * + +No one doubted the efficiency of the navy or of its capacity to carry on +its operations in a way worthy of the traditions of the American Navy. +What the navy did during the war, and how it did it, is summarized in +the following report by its chief. + + + + +THE AMERICAN NAVY IN + +EUROPE + +EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF + +ADMIRAL H.T. MAYO + + +[Sidenote: Activities in Ireland, Great Britain, and France.] + +In conformity with instructions contained in the reference, the +following preliminary statement is herewith submitted in regard to +United States naval activities in Europe. This preliminary report +relates to our naval activities in Great Britain, Ireland, and France, +visit to the last named having been concluded on November 1, 1918. A +complete and detailed report will be submitted later and upon completion +of the current tour of inspection and observation. + +In view of the fact that United States naval activities in Europe are +chiefly matters of cooperation with the allied navies, and that the +cooperation amounts practically to consolidation where effected with the +British Navy, this preliminary report is arranged on that basis in +several parts: + + +[Sidenote: General cooperation.] + +I. COOPERATION WITH THE ALLIED NAVIES IN GENERAL. + (1) Commander United States naval forces in Europe. + (2) Allied naval council. + (3) Naval staff representative, Paris. + (4) Naval staff representative, Rome. + +[Sidenote: Naval Headquarters in London and Ireland.] + +II. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE BRITISH. + (1) United States naval headquarters, London. + (2) United States naval activities in Ireland. + (_a_) Battleship Division Six, Berehaven. + (_b_) Submarine detachment, Berehaven. + (_c_) Destroyers based on Queenstown. + (_d_) Subchaser Detachment Three based on Queenstown. + (3) United States naval air stations in Ireland; seaplane stations; + kite-balloon station. + (4) Battleship Division Nine. + (5) Mine Force. + (6) Subchaser Detachment One, based on Plymouth. + (7) United States Naval Air Stations, Great Britain, Seaplane Station, + Killingholme; Northern Bombing Group, Assembly and Repair Plant, + Eastleigh. + (8) Cross-channel Transport Service. + +[Sidenote: Paris, Brest and coast districts.] + +[Sidenote: Naval air stations.] + +III. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE FRENCH. + (1) Naval staff representative, Paris. + (2) United States naval headquarters, Brest. + (3) French coastal districts. + (4) Destroyers based on Brest. + (5) United States naval air stations on French coast: + (_a_) Seaplane stations. + (_b_) Dirigible stations. + (_c_) Kite-balloon stations. + (_d_) Assembly and repair plant, Pauillac. + (_e_) Aviation Training School, Moutchie. + +[Sidenote: Radio stations, hospitals, etc.] + +IV. OTHER COOPERATING ACTIVITIES. + (1) Naval liaison officer at Army General Headquarters. + (2) Naval Radio Station, Croix d'Hins. + (3) United States Naval Railway Battery. + (4) Naval Pipe-Line Unit. + (5) Stations not yet inspected or not to be visited. + +V. UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION IN EUROPE. + +VI. Y.M.C.A. AND SIMILAR ACTIVITIES. + +VII. HOSPITAL FACILITIES, ETC. + +VIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS. + + + + +I. COOPERATION WITH THE ALLIED NAVIES IN GENERAL. + + +[Sidenote: Varied character of Naval activities.] + +It could hardly have been foreseen to what extent United States naval +activities in Europe would accumulate, and it is a fact that it has been +a growth by accretion rather than by system. The resultant fact is that +the supervision of the commander of United States Naval Forces in Europe +is of great and varied scope and continues to increase from week to +week. Despite this great extent and varied character of our naval +activities in Europe (as evidenced by the list given in par. 2 above) +and the fact that their growth by accretion has made a highly +centralized control more or less inevitable, the results speak for +themselves--all of our naval activities are cooperative in character and +all of them give every evidence of performing useful and appreciated +work wherever found. + +[Sidenote: Under the Allied Naval War Council.] + +Cooperation with the allied navies in general is effected by means of +the Allied Naval War Council, which meets monthly or as may be deemed +advisable. The membership is composed of the several naval ministers and +naval chiefs of staff and of officers specifically appointed to +represent them in their absence. Vice Admiral Sims is the United States +naval representative. The secretariat of the council is composed of +British officers and personnel, with officers of the allied navies +designated for liaison duties therewith. + +The Allied Naval Council has advisory functions only and has liaison +with the Supreme War Council, with a view to coordinating and unifying +allied naval effort, both as regards naval work only and as regards +unity of action with military or land effort. Proposals made by the +several allied navies are considered and definite steps recommended to +be taken in the premises. As well the naval aspects of military (land) +proposals are examined into and passed upon. Conversely military (land) +aspects of naval activities are referred to the Supreme War Council for +consideration. + +[Sidenote: Unity of effort on land and sea.] + +[Sidenote: Council at first advisory.] + +The Allied Naval Council has had, in common with the Supreme War +Council, until last spring the handicap of being only advisory in +function. The conclusions are recommended to the several Governments for +adoption, but there is no common instrumentality for carrying into +effect measures which require cooperation or coordination. This state of +affairs in the Supreme War Council has been remedied by the appointment +of an allied commander in chief in the person of Marshal Foch. + +There can be no doubt but that the Supreme War Council has met and that +the Allied Naval Council continues to fill a great need as a sort of +clearing house for the necessarily varied proposals of the several +Governments, most of which require cooperation on the part of some other +Government, and certainly it should be continued in being until a more +forceful control of allied naval effort can be agreed upon and brought +into effect. + +[Sidenote: Liaison officers with the War Council and the Naval Council.] + +The United States naval staff representative in Paris is the United +States naval liaison officer with the Supreme War Council, and a member +of the staff of Vice Admiral Sims is the liaison officer with the +secretariat of the Allied Naval Council. The United States naval staff +representative in Paris is also liaison officer at the French Ministry +of Marine and is at present naval attache as well. + +[Sidenote: Naval attache to Italy.] + +The naval attache to Italy, Capt. C.R. Train, maintains naval liaison +with the Italian Ministry of Marine and keeps in touch with the United +States naval activities in Italian waters. + + + +II. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE BRITISH. + + +Inasmuch as the British are predominant in naval activity, it is natural +to find that a major part of our naval activities are in cooperation +with them and controlled by them. In fact, the British have been in +position to carry so much of the "naval load" of this war that our first +and our principal efforts have been toward taking up a share of that +load. + +[Sidenote: Friendly rivalry between British and Americans.] + +Cooperation has in many cases been carried to such an extent that the +coordination necessary for efficiency has developed into practical +consolidation. It is pleasing to note that while consolidation is all +but a fact, our own naval forces have in every case preferred to +preserve their individuality of organization and administration and, as +far as feasible, of operations; and that a healthy and friendly rivalry +between them and their British associates has resulted in much good to +the personnel of both services. + +[Sidenote: On the coast of Ireland.] + +The largest single group of naval activities wherein cooperation is +effected with the British is that in Ireland, all of them being under +the jurisdiction of the commander in chief, coast of Ireland, who has +been and is Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, whose cordial appreciation of the +work of our forces has gone far to stimulate the personnel coming under +his direction. The chief of staff, destroyer flotillas, and the officer +in charge of aviation in Ireland are designated by the British Admiralty +as members of the staff of Admiral Bayly. + +[Sidenote: Battleship Division Six.] + +_Battleship Division Six_, Rear Admiral T.S. Rodgers, is based on +Berehaven, Ireland, in readiness for the protection of convoys in +general and of troop convoys in particular. Arrangements are in effect +for the supply of their needs as to fuel and stores. While lack of +destroyers has operated to restrict their training underway, they are in +good material condition and their efficiency is being maintained by +utilizing all available facilities. + +[Sidenote: The submarine patrol.] + +_Submarine Detachment_, Lieutenant Commanders Friedell and Grady, is +based on Berehaven, Ireland, and maintains a submarine patrol off the +west and south coasts of Ireland. Their service is hard; they have had a +great deal of work at sea and have cheerfully met every demand made on +them. Despite their relative isolation, they have maintained themselves +in readiness with the aid of the submarine tender _Bushnell_, whose +limited facilities have been utilized to the utmost. Their performances +and condition of material and personnel reflect great credit on all +concerned. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers at Queenstown.] + +(_a_) _The destroyers based on Queenstown_, Capt. F.R.P. Pringle, are +the original United States naval force in European waters--a distinction +which is an ever-present spur to cheerful efficiency under any and all +circumstances and produces results which must be a satisfaction to their +superiors. + +[Sidenote: Changes in destroyer personnel.] + +(_b_) Despite the fact that the requirements of supplying personnel for +new destroyers has resulted in large changes in the original experienced +destroyer personnel, this has been accomplished in such a manner as to +maintain the operating efficiency of the force at or near its original +high standard. + +(_c_) Aside from unavoidable casualties, the force is in good operating +condition. The systemization of supply and repairs developed and +maintained by the destroyer tenders _Melville_ and _Dixie_ effect the +readiness of destroyers for sea with commendable promptness and with a +view to the comfort of destroyer personnel during their short stays in +port. + +[Sidenote: Destroyer tenders.] + +[Sidenote: Gunnery and torpedo exercises.] + +(_d_) Within the last few months means have been found to systematize +and supervise the training, particularly with regard to the carrying out +of gunnery and torpedo exercises, which, under the press of keeping the +sea, had somewhat lapsed in favor of the necessary development of escort +work and of depth-charge tactics. + +(_e_) All of the activities at Queenstown--the torpedo repair and +overhaul station, the training barracks at Passage, the repair force +barracks at Ballybricken House, the general supply depot at Deepwater +Quay, the hospital and barracks at White Point, as well as the +activities afloat--were well underway and gave an impression of +purposefulness in "getting on with the war" in that particular corner of +the world. + +[Sidenote: Enlisted Men's Club at Queenstown.] + +(_f_) On account of the restricted facilities for liberty and +recreation, a special and most successful effort has been made to +furnish healthful and interesting diversion in Queenstown itself by +means of the Enlisted Men's Club, wholly of and for the men, which is +second to none in results obtained in promoting contentment. + +[Sidenote: Subchaser at Queenstown.] + +_Subchaser Detachment Three at Queenstown_, Captain A.J. Hepburn, had +only recently arrived, but arrangements for their employment were well +in hand, and they were expected to begin operations as soon as the means +of basing them had been perfected. The need of a suitable tender was +apparent, especially for the upkeep of those units whose working ground +would be at some distance from the main base. The personnel gave +evidence of a strong feeling of eagerness to get to work and of +readiness to face the hardships that going to sea in small craft +entails. + +[Sidenote: Seaplane and balloon stations.] + +_United States Naval Air Stations in Ireland_, Commander F.R. McCrary, +consists of seaplane stations at Whiddy Island, Queenstown (also the +main supply and repair base), Wexford, and Lough Foyle, and a +kite-balloon station at Berehaven. None of these stations was in +operation in mid-September, except that Lough Foyle was partially so, +but all were about ready to begin operations and would do so upon the +receipt of the necessary planes or pilots or both, all of which were en +route. A great deal of the construction has been done by our own +personnel, some of the stations having been entirely done by them. + +[Sidenote: Rear Admiral Rodman's command.] + +(_a_) _Battleship Division Nine of the Atlantic Fleet_, under the +command of Rear Admiral Rodman, has constituted the Sixth Battle +Squadron of the British Grand Fleet under Admiral Sir David Beatty for +nearly a year. + +(_b_) When this division was sent abroad it had, in common with other +units of the Atlantic Fleet, suffered in efficiency from the expansion +of the Navy, which required reduction in the number of officers and +transfers of numbers of men to furnish trained and experienced nuclei +for other vessels. Upon reporting in the Grand Fleet, it immediately +took its place in the battle line on exactly the same status as other +units of the Grand Fleet. The opportunities for gunnery exercises are +limited but drill and adherence to standardized methods and procedure as +developed in our own naval service have brought this division to a +satisfactory state of efficiency, which continues to improve. + +[Sidenote: General efficiency of the squadron.] + +(_c_) It is pleasing to record that the efficiency of this unit in +gunnery, engineering, and seamanship is deemed by the British commander +in chief to be in no way inferior to that of the best of the British +battle squadrons. In fact, it is perfectly proper to state the belief +that our ships are in some respects superior to the British, and perhaps +chiefly in the arrangements for the health and contentment of personnel, +which have been very thoroughly examined into by the flag officers, +captains, and other officers of the Grand Fleet. These ships have also +been the subject of much favorable comment in regard to their capacity +for self-maintenance, a matter which has been given much attention in +our own Navy of late years. + +[Sidenote: Capacity for self-maintenance.] + +(_d_) Service in the Grand Fleet is noteworthy by reason of the fact +that the fleet is at never less than four hours' notice for going to +sea, so that liberty is restricted and whatever is necessary in the way +of overhaul and upkeep of machinery must always be planned with a view +to assembly in case of orders to sea. + +[Sidenote: Mine-laying operation.] + +[Sidenote: Readiness to attack difficulties.] + +_The Mine Force of the Atlantic Fleet_, under the command of Rear +Admiral Strauss, is an independent unit, except that the mine-laying +operations are under the jurisdiction of the commander in chief of the +Grand Fleet, who has to choose the time when arrangements can be carried +into effect to furnish the necessary destroyer escort and heavy covering +forces. The arrangements made at home prior to the departure of the mine +force appear to have been well considered and thoroughly developed. The +mine-laying operations themselves give an impression of efficiency which +can only come from thorough preparation and complete understanding of +the work. The assembly of mines in the bases has been somewhat changed +by the necessity for certain alterations in the mine itself, most of +which are due to difficulties inherent in the application of the +operating principle of the mine. Here, as elsewhere, the cheerful +readiness of officers and men to attack difficulties and to surmount all +obstacles is producing results of magnitude and importance of which all +too little is known even in the Navy itself. + +[Sidenote: Crossing the channel.] + +_The Cross-channel Transport Service_ was brought into being to render +indispensable assistance to the British in ferrying United States troops +across the channel from England, in whose ports over half of our troops +were landed from British ships. At the time of inspection late in +September four United States vessels were in service, and four more were +expected in the course of a few weeks. The vessels in service were +superior in capacity to British vessels engaged in the same work and +combined with the efficiency of their naval personnel made them the +subject of favorable remark by the British transport authorities. + +[Sidenote: Subchasers at Plymouth.] + +_Subchaser Detachment One_, based on Plymouth, Captain L.A. Cotten, had +been operating for some time. A very compact and efficient base was in +process of completion and should, with the aid of the subchaser tender +_Hannibal_, amply suffice for the requirements of a larger number of +chasers than that now available. This base is to be expanded into a +United States naval base, of which Rear Admiral Bristol will be in +charge. The upkeep of chasers is effected entirely with the resources of +the base; operations are initiated by the British commander in chief at +Plymouth. A great deal of development work in listening devices is being +carried on at and from this base. The work of the subchasers from this +base has proved their usefulness up to the limit of their sea-going +capacity. + +(_a_) _United States Naval Aviation in England_ is carried on by +cooperation in two British commands. + +[Sidenote: Seaplanes at Killingholme.] + +(_b_) _The United States Seaplane Station, Killingholme_, Commander K. +Whiting, is under the vice admiral commanding on the east coast of +England. It has been in operation for some time and does escort of +coastal convoys, escort of mine layers in the southern part of the North +Sea, and some reconnaissance work in the direction of the Dutch coast. + +[Sidenote: Day and night bombing squadrons.] + +(_c_) _The Northern Bombing Group_, Captain D.C. Hanrahan, is under the +vice admiral commanding at Dover, whose jurisdiction extends to naval +aviation units in northern France in the vicinity of Calais and +Dunkerque. The day bombing squadrons are manned by marines; the night +bombing squadrons by the Navy. There has been some delay in the +acquisition of suitable night bombing planes, but their delivery will +find all in readiness to go immediately to work. The British prescribe +the objectives and designate the available free flying time; the +operations themselves are carried out by our own personnel. The seaplane +station at Dunkerque has operated successfully under the handicap of +limited and difficult water area in which to take off and to land. + +[Sidenote: The base at Eastleigh.] + +(_d_) _The Assembly, Repair, and Supply Station at Eastleigh_ was +brought into being primarily for the Northern Bombing Group because of +the difficulties of transportation to and from the general aviation base +at Pauillac. It also does necessary work for Killingholme and for the +air stations in Ireland. This base, when visited, was in process of +completion and gave every evidence of purpose and capacity to meet all +requirements likely to be made of it. + + + +III. _Activities in Cooperation with the French._ + + +[Sidenote: Vice Admiral Wilson's command.] + +Aside from the cooperation effected by the force commander with the +French Ministry of Marine through the naval staff representative in +Paris on matters of general policy, actual cooperation is carried on by +Vice Admiral H.B. Wilson, commander United States naval forces in +France, whose headquarters are maintained in Brest. + +[Sidenote: The coastal convoy system.] + +It is deemed worthy of special remark that whereas practically all +cooperation with the British is effected by operating as units under +British control, cooperation with the French is arranged on a basis that +leaves to the United States naval forces a very large measure of +initiative. This is particularly true in regard to troopships destined +to French ports, which are provided with escort and routed in and out +wholly from the Brest headquarters which is kept fully informed as to +routes and positions of British-controlled convoys and as to locations +of submarine activities and has to so adjust routes on and off the coast +as to keep clear of both. Three out of eight escort units are provided +by United States vessels for the coastal convoy system, which is +operated by the French. Unity of purpose and sympathy of understanding +have combined to make the handling of cargo convoys on and off the coast +a matter of ready adjustment to the general conditions obtaining in +regard to destination of cargo ships and availability of escort vessels. + +[Sidenote: Rate of movement of troops by transports.] + +At the end of the fiscal year United States naval forces in France are +stated to have been escorting troops into France at the rate of 134,000 +per month. Since May 1, 1918, the number of troopships and cargo-vessel +convoys east and west bound have averaged more than 1 a day, and the +number of ships over 200 a month. No convoy of troopships has failed to +be met by destroyer escort before entering the area of submarine +activity, and no passenger intrusted to the care of the United States +naval forces in France has been lost. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers controlled from Brest.] + +(_a_) _The destroyers based on Brest_ are controlled directly from +headquarters at Brest and are at present maintained in readiness for +service with the aid of the fleet repair ship _Prometheus_ and lately +also by the destroyer tender _Bridgeport_. Additional repair shops on +shore are in process of completion. + +[Sidenote: Gunnery and torpedo exercises.] + +(_b_) Arrangements are now in hand for the carrying out of gunnery +exercises including torpedoes, the need of which has been recognised but +had hitherto been deemed impracticable on account of press of work. + +[Sidenote: Facilities for repairing vessels.] + +(_c_) The United States naval repair facilities here as well as +elsewhere on the coast of France have to be made use of not only for the +upkeep of the United States naval vessels based on the coast, but also +for necessary repairs to troopships and cargo vessels, whether naval, +Army, or Shipping Board, the guiding idea being to keep the ships +moving. + +[Sidenote: French divided into districts.] + +(_a_) _Coastal Districts in France._--The north and west coasts of +France are divided into districts which correspond with the French +prefectures maritimes, and the district headquarters are in every case +located in the same place as those of the several prefects maritimes. +These headquarters are communication and operating centers and provide +naturally by arrangement as above described for full and ready +cooperation with the French district activities. + +[Sidenote: Port officers.] + +(_b_) The principal ports have assigned to them a port officer whose +function in regard to all United States ships is to expedite their "turn +around," and in addition, where vessels carrying United States naval +armed guards are concerned, to inspect the armed guards and adjust such +matters as are beyond the capacity or authority of the armed guard +commander. + +(_a_) _United States Naval Aviation in France_ includes all that the +title implies, except the northern bombing group mentioned above, and +aviation matters are immediately in the hands of Captain T.T. Craven, +aid for aviation on Vice Admiral Wilson's staff. + +[Sidenote: Stations for seaplanes, dirigibles and balloons.] + +(_b_) There are eight sea-plane stations, three dirigible stations, and +three kite-balloon stations, all of which are operated by district +commanders in cooperation with the French naval air services in the +several corresponding prefectures maritimes. There is also an assembly, +repair, and supply base at Pauillac for the general service of all air +stations in France and a sea-plane gunnery and bombing training school +at Moutchie, both of these activities being directly under the +headquarters in Brest. + +(_c_) Of the eight seaplane stations, five have been in operation for +periods varying from 12 to 3 months, and the remaining 3 are now about +ready to begin. + +(_d_) Of the three dirigible stations, only that at Paimboeuf has been +in operation for any length of time, and is to be used also for training +and experimental work. The station at Guipavas will shortly be in +operation. The station at Gujan has been delayed to let material go to +other stations which it was deemed advisable to complete first. + +[Sidenote: Experimental balloon work at Brest.] + +(_e_) Of the three kite-balloon stations, only that at Brest is ready +for operation. Test and experimental work have been carried on here +since August, 1918, in connection with destroyers and yachts. The +station at La Trinite is nearing completion and that at La Pallice is +progressing rapidly. The utility of the station at La Trinite seems to +be somewhat in doubt, as the original purposes for its establishment +have undergone some change due to alterations in the methods of handling +convoys, coastal as well as on and off shore. + +[Sidenote: Repair and supply station at Pauillac.] + +(_f_) The assembly repair and supply station at Pauillac is under the +command of Captain F.T. Evans, under whose forceful and able direction +the station has progressed rapidly to completion and is deemed ready to +undertake any and all demands that may be made on it. + +[Sidenote: Devices used in training aviators.] + +(_g_) The training school at Moutchie, under the command of Commander +R.W. Cabaniss appears to have a thorough system of instruction, founded +on sound bases, and includes study and lectures, as well as ample, +practical work. Endeavor is made to keep in touch with and to adopt, +where deemed advisable, the best British and French methods. Some of the +devices in use for training are ingeniously adapted to the simulation of +the conditions obtaining while flying. + + + +IV. OTHER COOPERATING ACTIVITIES. + + +[Sidenote: Liaison with the United States Army.] + +_Liaison with the United States Army in France_ is carried on by +maintaining a naval liaison officer (Commander R. Williams) at the Army +general headquarters, chiefly for the purpose of rendering assistance in +effecting cooperation as to the handling and routing of troopships and +of cargo vessels consigned to Army account. + +[Sidenote: The radio station near Bordeaux.] + +_Trans-Atlantic Radio Station._--The erection of the trans-Atlantic +radio-transmitting station at Croix d'Hins, near Bordeaux, is being done +by United States naval personnel under the direction of Lieutenant +Commander G.C. Sweet. The French authorities are putting in the +foundations. The personnel is well taken care of and the work of +construction appears to be progressing favorably. It is hoped and +expected by those in charge that a four-tower unit will be ready for +operation about March 1, 1919. + +[Sidenote: The naval railway batteries in France.] + +_The 14-inch Naval Railway Battery_ was built and equipped by the Navy +and manned by naval personnel for service in France with the United +States Army. It arrived in France in July last under the command of Rear +Admiral C.P. Plunkett and was ready for service during August. A part +of the battery has been operating with the French against Laon and +vicinity, and is understood to have rendered what the French consider +very valuable service against the enemy. The entire battery is now with +the First United States Army, but data as to what it has accomplished +are not yet available. This test of our naval guns of late design and +large caliber in long-range firing and the opportunities given to naval +personnel to study and observe the artillery work on the western front +are considered to be of great value to the service. + +[Sidenote: The oil pipe line across Scotland.] + +_A United States Naval Pipe-line Unit_ has completed important service +in the construction of a fuel-oil pipe line across Scotland, and is +understood to have been asked for by the French to do some work of the +same kind for them. + +(_a_) There are yet to be inspected and observed the following +activities, which have not so far been mentioned: + +[Sidenote: Additional naval bases.] + +United States naval base at Cardiff, Subchaser Detachment Two, based on +Corfu, Captain C.P. Nelson, United States naval air stations in Italy. + +(_b_) It is not deemed practicable to visit the United States naval +forces based at Gibraltar (Rear Admiral Niblack), nor the United States +naval forces based on the Azores, because of difficulties of +transportation, as is also the case in regard to the U.S.S. _Olympia_ in +northern Russia. + + + +V. UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION IN EUROPE. + + +[Sidenote: Aviation Headquarters in Paris and London.] + +(_a_) The establishment of United States naval aviation in Europe has +been one of the most difficult and involved tasks which have had to be +undertaken and brought into effect. Captain H.I. Cone arrived in Europe +for this work about October 1, 1917, and has continued in charge of it +ever since. He maintained headquarters in Paris until about August 1, +1918, when he removed to London and was designated as aid for aviation +on staff of the commander of United States naval forces in Europe. + +[Sidenote: Supplies arranged for by cable.] + +(_b_) There were arrangements to be made with the French and the British +as to locations for stations that would be best adapted for cooperation. +There were further arrangements to be made as to the procurement of +sites or the taking over of the stations already in operation or in +process of construction. The Navy Department had also to be communicated +with, largely by cable, as to design, quantities, and shipments of +material, which upon receipt had to be allocated with a view to +completing certain stations as soon as possible while not delaying the +progress of the general scheme any more than could be helped. + +[Sidenote: Coastwise transportation difficult.] + +(_c_) Delays and mistakes in the shipment of aviation material probably +caused more trouble than any other one thing, for when material once +arrives in a European port it has been, and still is, a very difficult +matter to arrange for coastwise transportation. + +[Sidenote: Creditable progress.] + +(_d_) Taking into consideration the necessary scope of the project, the +difficulties inherent in providing for establishments on foreign soil, +and the delays which the magnitude of the undertakings caused in the +production and shipment of material (and personnel) from the United +States, the state of progress is considered highly creditable to Captain +Cone and to his assistants. + + + +VI. Y.M.C.A. AND SIMILAR ACTIVITIES. + + +[Sidenote: Y.M.C.A. activities.] + +(_a_) It was satisfactory to note that in practically all cases--whether +our own naval facilities provided reading, writing, and amusement +facilities for the personnel or not--the Y.M.C.A. was in evidence. +Their arrangements were, in many places, all that could be expected in +the way of cheerful and comfortable quarters; and, in those places where +the facilities were not so good, inquiry usually revealed the fact that +a suitable building was either under way or soon would be. + +[Sidenote: Knights of Columbus.] + +(_b_) In at least one place the Knights of Columbus were found +established in a commodious building with all in readiness to duplicate +the character of the work generally associated with Y.M.C.A. activities. + +(_c_) All assistance of this character, from whatever source, has been +gladly taken advantage of by the officers in charge, and is much used +and appreciated by the men. + + + +VII. HOSPITAL FACILITIES, SICK QUARTERS, ETC. + + +[Sidenote: Excellent hospitals at naval bases.] + +It is deemed worthy of note that the arrangements and facilities for +caring for the sick and injured Navy personnel are almost more than +ample. In many of the naval-base hospitals the majority of the patients +are, consequently, of other services--both the United States and the +allied. The provisions of the United States Navy in this respect are so +complete in their facilities and so efficient in their readiness as to +excite the admiration of all the foreign services, military as well as +naval. + +[Sidenote: Hearty cooperation with British and French.] + +As has already been said at the beginning of this report, cooperation +with the British and the French had been the chief method of work for +the United States naval forces in European waters. That cooperation has +been effected with such cordial appreciation and the few minor +difficulties have yielded so readily to sympathetic understanding that +all zeal displayed was in the common interest of "winning the war" that +there is and can be nothing but reciprocal praise for each other's +efforts, which will be of lasting benefit in future when the present +compelling community of interest is no longer operative. The United +States and the allies know each other better individually and +collectively and are and will continue to be the greater and better +friends for the experience that has come out of the cordial cooperation +and coordination required by the common interest in this war. + +[Sidenote: Spirit of men and officers.] + +There is ample evidence on every hand, from the north of Scotland to the +shores of the Mediterranean, that officers and men of the naval service, +regular and reserve alike and together, have "turned to" on the work in +hand, inspired by the guiding idea of doing all in their power, however +humble the task, of "helping to win the war." Officers whose preference +is for duty at sea, men who came over with a view to doing battle with +the enemy, one and all, have done and are doing the work that comes to +hand, even to the digging of ditches, with a will and with a cheery +readiness for more of the same kind, for anything that will help to "get +on with the war," that is an inspiration to all who work with them and +of vast satisfaction to those over them who will know what their +preferences in the matter of war employment are. They are a credit to +the service and to their country. + +[Sidenote: High standard of conduct.] + +Furthermore, this large body of men, which occupies the position of the +advance guard of the Navy, as a whole have so conducted themselves as to +earn the highly favorable comment of the citizens in whose country they +found themselves and whose guests they are in some measure. It is +believed that it may well be said that the men on duty in Europe, far +away from home ties and influences, will return to their own country +unharmed by the temptations and pitfalls which their relatives and +friends may have feared. They are a fine, upstanding lot of men, and +their adaptability and efficiency have been so apparent as to fully +warrant the oft-made statement that the men of the United States Navy, +which includes the Marine Corps, can do anything, anywhere, and at any +time. + +[Sidenote: The _President Lincoln_ is torpedoed.] + +On May 31, 1918, the _President Lincoln_ was returning to America from a +voyage to France, and was in line formation with the U.S.S. +_Susquehanna_, the U.S.S. _Antigone_, and the U.S.S. _Ryndam_, the +latter being on the left flank of the formation and about 800 yards from +the _President Lincoln_. The weather was pleasant, the sun shining +brightly, with a choppy sea. The ships were about 500 miles from the +coast of France and had passed through what was considered to be the +most dangerous part of the war zone. At about 9 a.m. a terrific +explosion occurred on the port side of the ship about 120 feet from the +bow and immediately afterwards another explosion occurred on the port +side about 120 feet from the stern of the ship, these explosions being +immediately identified as coming from torpedoes fired by a German +submarine. + +It was found that the ship was struck by three torpedoes, which had been +fired as one salvo from the submarine, two of the torpedoes striking +practically together near the bow of the ship and the third striking +near the stern. The wake of the torpedoes had been sighted by the +officers and lookouts on watch, but the torpedoes were so close to the +ship as to make it impossible to avoid them; and it was also found that +the submarine at the time of firing was only about 800 yards from the +_President Lincoln_. + +There were at the time 715 persons on board, including about 30 officers +and men of the Army. Some of these were sick and two soldiers were +totally paralyzed. + +The alarm was immediately sounded and everyone went to his proper +station which had been designated at previous drills. There was not the +slightest confusion and the crew and passengers waited for and acted on +orders from the commanding officer with a coolness which was truly +inspiring. + +[Sidenote: No confusion in leaving ship.] + +Inspections were made below decks and it was found that the ship was +rapidly filling with water, both forward and aft, and that there was +little likelihood that she would remain afloat. The boats were lowered +and the life rafts were placed in the water and about 15 minutes after +the ship was struck all hands except the guns' crews were ordered to +abandon the ship. + +[Sidenote: Saving the sick and wounded.] + +It had been previously planned that in order to avoid the losses which +have occurred in such instances by filling the boats at the davits +before lowering them, that only one officer and five men would get into +the boats before lowering and that everyone else would get into the +water and get on the life rafts and then be picked up by the boats, this +being entirely feasible, as everyone was provided with an efficient +life-saving jacket. One exception was made to this plan, however, in +that one boat was filled with the sick before being lowered and it was +in this boat that the paralyzed soldiers were saved without difficulty. + +[Sidenote: Courageous work of the gunners.] + +The guns' crews were held at their stations hoping for an opportunity to +fire on the submarine should it appear before the ship sank, and orders +were given to the guns' crews to begin firing, hoping that this might +prevent further attack. All the ship's company except the guns' crews +and necessary officers were at that time in the boats and on the rafts +near the ship, and when the guns' crews began firing the people in the +boats set up a cheer to show that they were not downhearted. The guns' +crews only left their guns when ordered by the commanding officer just +before the ship sank. The guns in the bow kept up firing until after the +water was entirely over the main deck of the after half of the ship. + +The state of discipline which existed and the coolness of the men is +well illustrated by what occurred when the boats were being lowered and +were about half way from their davits to the water. At this particular +time, there appeared some possibility of the ship not sinking +immediately, and the commanding officer gave the order to stop lowering +the boats. This order could not be understood, however, owing to the +noise caused by escaping steam from the safety valves of the boilers +which had been lifted to prevent explosion, but by motion of the hand +from the commanding officer the crews stopped lowering the boats and +held them in mid-air for a few minutes until at a further motion of the +hand the boats were dropped into the water. + +[Sidenote: Rafts tied together to prevent drifting.] + +Immediately after the ship sank the boats pulled among the rafts and +were loaded with men to their full capacity and the work of collecting +the rafts and tying them together to prevent drifting apart and being +lost was begun. + +[Sidenote: The submarine takes an officer prisoner.] + +While this work was under way and about half an hour after the ship +sank, a large German submarine emerged and came among the boats and +rafts, searching for the commanding officer and some of the senior +officers whom they desired to take prisoners. The submarine commander +was able to identify only one officer, Lieutenant E.V.M. Isaacs, whom he +took on board and carried away. The submarine remained in the vicinity +of the boats for about two hours and returned again in the afternoon, +hoping apparently for an opportunity of attacking some of the other +ships which had been in company with the _President Lincoln_ but which +had, in accordance with standard instructions, steamed as rapidly as +possible from the scene of attack. + +[Sidenote: After dark signal lights.] + +By dark the boats and rafts had been collected and secured together, +there being about 500 men in the boats and about 200 on the rafts. +Lighted lanterns were hoisted in the boats and flare-up lights and +Coston signal lights were burned every few minutes, the necessary detail +of men being made to carry out this work during the night. + +[Sidenote: Water and food limited.] + +The boats had been provided with water and food, but none was used +during the day, as the quantity was necessarily limited and it might be +a period of several days before a rescue could be effected. + +The ship's wireless plant had been put out of commission by the force of +the explosion, and although the ship's operator had sent the radio +distress signals, yet it was known that the nearest destroyers were 250 +miles away, protecting another convoy and it was possible that military +necessity might prevent their being detached to come to our rescue. + +[Sidenote: Destroyers _Warrington_ and _Smith_ arrive.] + +At about 11 p.m. a white light flashing in the blackness of the +night--it was very dark--was sighted, and very shortly it was found that +the destroyer _Warrington_ had arrived for our rescue and about an hour +afterwards the destroyer _Smith_ also arrived. The transfer of the men +from the boats and rafts to the destroyers was effected as quickly as +possible and the destroyers remained in the vicinity until after +daylight the following morning, when a further search was made for +survivors who might have drifted in a boat or on a raft, but none were +found, and at about 6 a.m. the return trip to France was begun. + +The performance of Lieutenant Commander Kenyon, commanding the U.S. +destroyer _Warrington_, and Lieutenant Commander Klein, of the U.S. +destroyer _Smith_ deserves great commendation, as they located our +position in the middle of the night, after having run a distance of +about 250 miles, during which time the boats and rafts of the _President +Lincoln_ had drifted 15 miles from the position reported by radio, and +it had been necessary for the commanding officers of these destroyers to +make an estimate of the probable drift of the boats during that time. +The only thing they had to base their estimate on was the force and +direction of the wind. The discovery of the boats was not accidental, as +the course steered was the result of mature deliberation and estimate of +the situation. + +[Sidenote: Drift of the boats accurately estimated.] + +[Sidenote: The missing.] + +Of the 715 men present all told on board, it was found after the muster +that 3 officers and 23 men were lost with the ship and that 1 officer, +Lieutenant Isaacs, above mentioned, had been taken prisoner. The three +officers were Passed Assistant Surgeon L.C. Whiteside, ship's medical +officer; Paymaster Andrew Mowat, ship's supply officer; and Assistant +Paymaster J.D. Johnston, United States Naval Reserve Force. + +[Sidenote: Two officers taken down with the ship.] + +The loss of these officers was peculiarly regrettable, as they could +have escaped. Both Dr. Whiteside and Paymaster Mowat had seen the men +under their charge leave the ship, the doctor having attended to placing +the sick in the boat provided for the purpose, and they then remained in +the ship for some unexplainable reason, as testified by witnesses who +last saw them, and apparently these two excellent officers were taken +down with the ship. Paymaster Johnston got on a raft alongside the ship, +but in some way was caught by the ship as she went under, as C.M. +Hippard, ship's cook, third class, United States Navy, states that he +was on the raft with Paymaster Johnston and that they were both drawn +under the water, but when he came to the surface, Paymaster Johnston +could no longer be seen. + +[Sidenote: Men working below decks.] + +Of the 23 men who were lost, the following 7 men were engaged in work +below decks in the forward end of the ship, and they were either killed +by the force of the explosion of the two torpedoes which struck in that +vicinity, or were drowned by the inrush of the water. + +H.A. Himelwright, storekeeper, second class, United States Navy; F.W. +Wilson, jr., yeoman, second class, United States Naval Reserve Force; B. +Zanetti, coxswain, United States Navy; A.S. Egbert, seaman, second +class, National Naval Volunteer; G.B. Hoffman, seaman, United States +Navy; J.A. Jenkins, seaman, second class, United States Navy; F.A. +Hedglin, seaman, second class, United States Navy. + +[Sidenote: One raft probably went down.] + +The remaining 16 men were apparently caught on the raft alongside the +ship and went down, this being probably caused by the current of water +which was rushing into the big hole in the ship's side, as the men were +on rafts which were in this vicinity. + +[Sidenote: Danger from submarine.] + +Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance of +any kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boat +was all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as to +whether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts, I thought he +might probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officers +disclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds of +the men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on the +submarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with the +intention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed by +some of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, "Good night, here +comes the fireworks." The spirit which actuated the remark of this +kind, under such circumstances, could be none other than that of cool +courage and bravery. + +[Sidenote: Instances of self-sacrifice.] + +There were many instances where a man showed more interest in the safety +of another than he did for himself. When loading the boats from the +rafts one man would hold back and insist that another be allowed to +enter the boat. There was a striking case of this kind when about dark I +noticed that Chief Master-at-Arms Rogers, who was rather an old man, and +been in the Navy for years, was on a raft, and I sent a boat to take him +from the raft, but he objected considerably to this, stating that he was +quite all right, although as a matter of fact he was very cold and +cramped from his long hours on the raft. + +[Sidenote: The Balsa rafts excellent.] + +Fortunately, the splendid type of life raft known as the Balsa raft, as +it was made of balsa wood, had been furnished the ship, and these +resulted in saving a great many men who might otherwise have been lost, +due to exhaustion in the water. + +[Sidenote: Inspiring conduct of the men.] + +The conduct of the men during this time of grave danger was thrilling +and inspiring, as a large percentage of them were young boys, who had +only been in the Navy for a period of a few months. This is another +example of the innate courage and bravery of the young manhood of +America. + + * * * * * + +The Germans, hard pressed by the Americans and French in the +Meuse-Argonne, and by the British in Flanders, at last saw the futility +of further resistance, and asked for an armistice, on November 11. The +terms of this armistice, dictated by the Allies, were as follows: + + + + +ARMISTICE TERMS SIGNED BY GERMANY + + +[Sidenote: Operations to cease.] + +One--Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the +signature of the armistice. + +[Sidenote: Invaded countries to be evacuated.] + +Two--Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, +Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within +fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops which +have not left the above-mentioned territories within the period fixed +will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the allied and United States +forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All +movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordance +with a note annexed to the stated terms. + +[Sidenote: Inhabitants to be repatriated.] + +Three--Repatriation beginning at once to be completed within fifteen +days of all the inhabitants of the countries above enumerated (including +hostages, persons under trial or convicted). + +[Sidenote: Surrender of war material.] + +Four--Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following +war material: Five thousand guns (2,500 heavy, and 2,500 field), 25,000 +machine guns, 3,000 minenwerfer, 1,700 airplanes (fighters, +bombers--firstly, all of the D 7's and all the night bombing machines). +The above to be delivered in situ to the allied and United States troops +in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the note +(annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of the armistice. + +Five--Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bank +of the Rhine. The countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall be +administered by the local troops of occupation. The occupation of these +territories will be carried out by allied and United States garrisons +holding the principal crossings of the Rhine (Mayence, Coblenz, +Cologne), together with the bridgeheads at these points of a +thirty-kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarly +holding the strategic points of the regions. A neutral zone shall be +reserved on the right bank of the Rhine between the stream and a line +drawn parallel to the bridgeheads and to the stream and at a distance of +ten kilometers, from the frontier of Holland up to the frontier of +Switzerland. The evacuation by the enemy of the Rhinelands (left and +right bank) shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further +period of sixteen days, in all, thirty-one days after the signing of the +armistice. All the movements of evacuation or occupation are regulated +by the note (annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of +the armistice. + +[Sidenote: Allies to occupy left bank of Rhine and principal crossings.] + +[Sidenote: Inhabitants of evacuated territories to be protected.] + +Six--In all territories evacuated by the enemy there shall be no +evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the +persons or property of the inhabitants. No person shall be persecuted +for offenses of participation in war measures prior to the signing of +the armistice. No destruction of any kind shall be committed. Military +establishments of all kinds shall be delivered intact, as well as +military stores of food, munitions, and equipment, not removed during +the time fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil +population, cattle, &c., shall be left in situ. Industrial +establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnel +shall not be removed. + +[Sidenote: Means of transportation to be surrendered in good order.] + +Seven--Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroads, +waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no +manner impaired. All civil and military personnel at present employed on +them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives and 150,000 wagons in good +working order, with all necessary spare parts and fittings, shall be +delivered to the associated powers within the period fixed in annexure +No. 2, and total of which shall not exceed thirty-one days. There shall +likewise be delivered 5,000 motor lorries (camion automobiles) in good +order, within the period of thirty-six days. The railways of +Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within the period of thirty-one +days, together with pre-war personnel and material. Further, the +material necessary for the working of railways in the countries on the +left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and +material for the upkeep of permanent ways, signals, and repair shops +shall be left in situ. These stores shall be maintained by Germany in so +far as concerns the working of the railroads in the countries on the +left bank of the Rhine. All barges taken from the Allies shall be +restored to them. The note, annexure No. 2, regulates the details of +these measures. + +[Sidenote: Mine positions to be revealed.] + +Eight--The German command shall be responsible for revealing within the +period of forty-eight hours after the signing of the armistice all mines +or delayed action fuses on territory evacuated by the German troops and +shall assist in their discovery and destruction. It also shall reveal +all destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or +polluting of springs and wells, &c.). All under penalty of reprisals. + +[Sidenote: Allies to have right of requisition.] + +Nine--The right of requisition shall be exercised by the allied and +United States armies in all occupied territories, subject to regulation +of accounts with those whom it may concern. The upkeep of the troops of +occupation in the Rhineland (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be +charged to the German Government. + +[Sidenote: Allied and American prisoners of war to be repatriated.] + +Ten--The immediate repatriation without reciprocity, according to +detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all allied and United +States prisoners of war, including persons under trial or convicted. The +allied powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of them as +they wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subject +of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 1918, in +course of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners of +war interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall continue as before. The +repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the +conclusion of the preliminaries of peace. + +[Sidenote: Sick and wounded to be cared for.] + +Eleven--Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory +will be cared for by German personnel, who will be left on the spot with +the medical material required. + +[Sidenote: Germans to withdraw from Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey and +Russia.] + +Twelve--All German troops at present in the territories which before +belonged to Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey, shall withdraw immediately +within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August First, +Nineteen Fourteen. All German troops at present in the territories which +before the war belonged to Russia shall likewise withdraw within the +frontiers of Germany, defined as above, as soon as the Allies, taking +into account the internal situation of these territories, shall decide +that the time for this has come. + +[Sidenote: Evacuation to begin immediately.] + +[Sidenote: German requisitions to cease.] + +Thirteen--Evacuation by German troops to begin at once, and all German +instructors, prisoners, and civilians as well as military agents now on +the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to be recalled. + +Fourteen--German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures +and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining supplies intended +for Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914). + +[Sidenote: Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk treaties to be renounced.] + +Fifteen--Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and +of the supplementary treaties. + +Sixteen--The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated +by the Germans on their eastern frontier, either through Danzig, or by +the Vistula, in order to convey supplies to the populations of those +territories and for the purpose of maintaining order. + +[Sidenote: East Africa to be evacuated.] + +Seventeen--Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa +within a period to be fixed by the Allies. + +[Sidenote: Repatriation without reciprocation.] + +Eighteen--Repatriation, without reciprocity, within a maximum period of +one month in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed +of all interned civilians, including hostages (persons?) under trial or +convicted, belonging to the allied or associated powers other than those +enumerated in Article Three. + +[Sidenote: Financial restitution.] + +Nineteen--The following financial conditions are required: Reparation +for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shall +be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for +the recovery or reparation for war losses. Immediate restitution of the +cash deposit in the national bank of Belgium, and in general immediate +return of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together +with plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interests +in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian gold +yielded to Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in +trust to the Allies until the signature of peace. + +[Sidenote: Cessation of hostilities at sea.] + +Twenty--Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite +information to be given as to the location and movements of all German +ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of navigation +in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marines +of the allied and associated powers, all questions of neutrality being +waived. + +[Sidenote: Germany to return naval prisoners.] + +Twenty-one--All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the allied and +associated powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity. + +[Sidenote: Submarines and mine layers to be surrendered.] + +Twenty-two--Surrender to the Allies and United States of all submarines +(including submarine cruisers and all mine-laying submarines) now +existing, with their complete armament and equipment, in ports which +shall be specified by the Allies and United States. Those which cannot +take the sea shall be disarmed of the personnel and material and shall +remain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. The +submarines which are ready for the sea shall be prepared to leave the +German ports as soon as orders shall be received by wireless for their +voyage to the port designated for their delivery, and the remainder at +the earliest possible moment. The conditions of this article shall be +carried into effect within the period of fourteen days after the signing +of the armistice. + +[Sidenote: German warships to be disarmed and interned.] + +Twenty-three--German surface warships which shall be designated by the +Allies and the United States shall be immediately disarmed and +thereafter interned in neutral ports or in default of them in allied +ports to be designated by the Allies and the United States. They will +there remain under the supervision of the Allies and of the United +States, only caretakers being left on board. The following warships are +designated by the Allies: Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight +light cruisers (including two mine layers), fifty destroyers of the most +modern types. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to +be concentrated in German naval bases to be designated by the Allies +and the United States and are to be completely disarmed and classed +under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. The military +armament of all ships of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore. All +vessels designated to be interned shall be ready to leave the German +ports seven days after the signing of the armistice. Directions for the +voyage will be given by wireless. + +[Sidenote: Allies to sweep mine fields.] + +Twenty-four--The Allies and the United States of America shall have the +right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany +outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to be +indicated. + +[Sidenote: Free accession to the Baltic for the Allies.] + +Twenty-five--Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to the +naval and mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers. To +secure this the Allies and the United States of America shall be +empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries, and +defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat into +the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within and +without German territorial waters, without any question of neutrality +being raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions are +to be indicated. + +[Sidenote: Blockade conditions to remain unchanged.] + +Twenty-six--The existing blockade conditions set up by the allied and +associated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German merchant ships +found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the United +States should give consideration to the provisioning of Germany during +the armistice to the extent recognized as necessary. + +[Sidenote: Naval aircraft to be immobilized.] + +Twenty-seven--All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilized +in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States of +America. + +[Sidenote: Navigation material to be abandoned.] + +Twenty-eight--In evacuating the Belgian coast and ports Germany shall +abandon in situ and in fact all port and river navigation material, all +merchant ships, tugs, lighters, all naval aeronautic apparatus, material +and supplies, and all arms, apparatus, and supplies of every kind. + +[Sidenote: Black Sea ports to be evacuated.] + +Twenty-nine--All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany; all +Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black +Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of +America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all +warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those ports are to be +returned and German materials as specified in Clause Twenty-eight are to +be abandoned. + +[Sidenote: Merchant vessels to be restored.] + +Thirty--All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the allied and +associated powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by the +Allies and the United States of America without reciprocity. + +[Sidenote: No destruction permitted.] + +Thirty-one--No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted +before evacuation, surrender, or restoration. + +[Sidenote: German restrictions on trading vessels to be canceled.] + +Thirty-two--The German Government will notify the neutral Governments of +the world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, +and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of their +vessels with the allied and associated countries, whether by the German +Government or by private German interests, and whether in return for +specific concessions, such as the export of shipbuilding materials, or +not, are immediately canceled. + +[Sidenote: No transfers of German shipping.] + +Thirty-three--No transfers of German merchant shipping of any +description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of the +armistice. + +[Sidenote: Armistice to last thirty days.] + +Thirty-four--The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, with +option to extend. During this period if its clauses are not carried +into execution the armistice may be denounced by one of the contracting +parties, which must give warning forty-eight hours in advance. It is +understood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant the +denunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient execution +within a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying them +into execution. In order to assure the execution of this convention +under the best conditions, the principle of a permanent international +armistice commission is admitted. This commission will act under the +authority of the allied military and naval Commanders in Chief. + +[Sidenote: Must be accepted within seventy-two hours.] + +Thirty-five--This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany within +seventy-two hours of notification. + +This armistice has been signed the Eleventh of November, Nineteen +Eighteen, at 5 o'clock a.m. French time. + + F. Foch. + R.E. Wemyss. + Erzberger. + A. Oberndorff. + Winterfeldt. + Von Salow. + + * * * * * + +The chief concern of President Wilson, and the controlling reason for +his trip abroad to attend the Peace Conference, was the formation of a +League of Nations to insure perpetual peace. After months of +deliberation the covenant of the League of Nations was prepared and made +public. The text of this covenant follows. + + + + +COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS + + +[Sidenote: The purposes of the League.] + +PREAMBLE--In order to promote international cooperation and to +secure international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations +not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just, and honorable +relations between nations, by the firm establishment of the +understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among +Governments, and by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect +for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one +another, the Powers signatory to this covenant adopt this Constitution +of the League of Nations: + +[Sidenote: A body of delegates.] + +ARTICLE I.--The action of the high contracting parties under +the terms of this covenant shall be effected through the instrumentality +of a meeting of a body of delegates representing the high contracting +parties, of meetings at more frequent intervals of an Executive Council, +and of a permanent international secretariat to be established at the +seat of the League. + +[Sidenote: Each high contracting party to have a vote.] + +ART. II.--Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at +stated intervals and from time to time, as occasion may require, for the +purpose of dealing with matters within the sphere of action of the +League. Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at the seat of +the league, or at such other places as may be found convenient, and +shall consist of representatives of the high contracting parties. Each +of the high contracting parties shall have one vote, but may have not +more than three representatives. + +[Sidenote: Nations to be represented in the Executive Council.] + +ART. III.--The Executive Council shall consist of +representatives of the United States of America, the British Empire, +France, Italy, and Japan, together with representatives of four other +States, members of the League. The selection of these four States shall +be made by the body of delegates on such principles and in such manner +as they think fit. Pending the appointment of these representatives of +the other States, representatives of ---- shall be members of the +Executive Council. + +[Sidenote: Meetings at least once a year.] + +Meetings of the Council shall be held from time to time as occasion may +require, and at least once a year, at whatever place may be decided on, +or, failing any such decision, at the seat of the League, and any matter +within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the +world may be dealt with at such meetings. + +Invitations shall be sent to any Power to attend a meeting of the +council at which such matters directly affecting its interests are to be +discussed, and no decision taken at any meeting will be binding on such +Powers unless so invited. + +[Sidenote: Committees to investigate particular matters.] + +ART. IV.--All matters of procedure at meetings of the body of +delegates or the Executive Council, including the appointment of +committees to investigate particular matters, shall be regulated by the +body of delegates or the Executive Council, and may be decided by a +majority of the States represented at the meeting. + +The first meeting of the body of delegates and of the Executive Council +shall be summoned by the President of the United States of America. + +[Sidenote: The permanent secretariat.] + +ART. V.--The permanent secretariat of the League shall be +established at ----, which shall constitute the seat of the League. The +secretariat shall comprise such secretaries and staff as may be +required, under the general direction and control of a Secretary General +of the League, who shall be chosen by the Executive Council. The +secretariat shall be appointed by the Secretary General subject to +confirmation by the Executive Council. + +The Secretary General shall act in that capacity at all meetings of the +body of delegates or of the Executive Council. + +The expenses of the secretariat shall be borne by the States members of +the League, in accordance with the apportionment of the expenses of the +International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union. + +[Sidenote: Representatives to have diplomatic privileges and +immunities.] + +ART. VI.--Representatives of the high contracting parties and +officials of the League, when engaged in the business of the League, +shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities, and the buildings +occupied by the League or its officials, or by representatives attending +its meetings, shall enjoy the benefits of extra-territoriality. + +[Sidenote: Admission to the League.] + +ART. VII.--Admission to the League of States, not signatories +to the covenant and not named in the protocol hereto as States to be +invited to adhere to the covenant, requires the assent of not less than +two-thirds of the States represented in the body of delegates, and shall +be limited to fully self-governing countries, including dominions and +colonies. + +No State shall be admitted to the League unless it is able to give +effective guarantees of its sincere intention to observe its +international obligations and unless it shall conform to such principles +as may be prescribed by the League in regard to its naval and military +forces and armaments. + +[Sidenote: To reduce national armaments.] + +ART. VIII.--The high contracting parties recognize the +principle that the maintenance of peace will require the reduction of +national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety, +and the enforcement by common action of international obligations, +having special regard to the geographical situation and circumstances of +each State, and the Executive Council shall formulate plans for +effecting such reduction. The Executive Council shall also determine for +the consideration and action of the several Governments what military +equipment and armament is fair and reasonable in proportion to the scale +of forces laid down in the program of disarmament; and these limits, +when adopted, shall not be exceeded without the permission of the +Executive Council. + +[Sidenote: To regulate private manufacture of munitions.] + +The high contracting parties agree that the manufacture by private +enterprise of munitions and implements of war lends itself to grave +objections, and direct the Executive Council to advise how the evil +effects attendant upon such manufacture can be prevented, due regard +being had to the necessities of those countries which are not able to +manufacture for themselves the munitions and implements of war necessary +for their safety. + +The high contracting parties undertake in no way to conceal from each +other the condition of such of their industries as are capable of being +adapted to warlike purposes or the scale of their armaments, and agree +that there shall be full and frank interchange of information as to +their military and naval programs. + +ART. IX.--A permanent commission shall be constituted to advise +the League on the execution of the provisions of Article VIII. and on +military and naval questions generally. + +[Sidenote: Territorial integrity.] + +ART. X.--The high contracting parties shall undertake to +respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial +integrity and existing political independence of all States members of +the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or +danger of such aggression the Executive Council shall advise upon the +means by which the obligation shall be fulfilled. + +[Sidenote: All wars the concern of the League.] + +ART. XI.--Any war or threat of war, whether immediately +affecting any of the high contracting parties or not, is hereby declared +a matter of concern to the League, and the high contracting parties +reserve the right to take any action that may be deemed wise and +effectual to safeguard the peace of nations. + +It is hereby also declared and agreed to be the friendly right of each +of the high contracting parties to draw the attention of the body of +delegates or of the Executive Council to any circumstance affecting +international intercourse which threatens to disturb international peace +or good understanding between nations upon which peace depends. + +[Sidenote: Disputes to be submitted to arbitration.] + +ART. XII.--The high contracting parties agree that should +disputes arise between them which cannot be adjusted by the ordinary +processes of diplomacy they will in no case resort to war without +previously submitting the questions and matters involved either to +arbitration or to inquiry by the Executive Council, and until three +months after the award by the arbitrators or a recommendation by the +Executive Council, and that they will not even then resort to war as +against a member of the League which complies with the award of the +arbitrators or the recommendation of the Executive Council. + +In any case under this article the award of the arbitrators shall be +made within a reasonable time, and the recommendation of the Executive +Council shall be made within six months after the submission of the +dispute. + +[Sidenote: The Executive Council to act if arbitration fails.] + +ART. XIII.--The high contracting parties agree that whenever +any dispute or difficulty shall arise between them, which they recognize +to be suitable for submission to arbitration and which cannot be +satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole matter +to arbitration. For this purpose the court of arbitration to which the +case is referred shall be the court agreed on by the parties or +stipulated in any convention existing between them. The high contracting +parties agree that they will carry out in full good faith any award that +may be rendered. In the event of any failure to carry out the award the +Executive Council shall propose what steps can best be taken to give +effect thereto. + +[Sidenote: A permanent court of international justice.] + +ART. XIV.--The Executive Council shall formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice, and this +court shall, when established, be competent to hear and determine any +matter which the parties recognize as suitable for submission to it for +arbitration under the foregoing article. + +[Sidenote: Cases to be stated to the Executive Council.] + +ART. XV.--If there should arise between States, members of the +League, any dispute likely to lead to rupture, which is not submitted to +arbitration as above, the high contracting parties agree that they will +refer the matter to the Executive Council; either party to the dispute +may give notice of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary General +who will make all necessary arrangements for a full investigation and +consideration thereof. For this purpose the parties agree to communicate +to the Secretary General as promptly as possible statements of their +case, all the relevant facts and papers, and the Executive Council may +forthwith direct the publication thereof. + +[Sidenote: Terms of settlements to be published.] + +[Sidenote: Measures to give effect to recommendations.] + +Where the efforts of the council lead to the settlement of the dispute, +a statement shall be published, indicating the nature of the dispute and +the terms of settlement, together with such explanations as may be +appropriate. If the dispute has not been settled, a report by the +council shall be published, setting forth with all necessary facts and +explanations the recommendation which the council think just and proper +for the settlement of the dispute. If the report is unanimously agreed +to by the members of the council, other than the parties to the dispute, +the high contracting parties agree that they will not go to war with any +party which complies with the recommendations, and that if any party +shall refuse so to comply the council shall propose measures necessary +to give effect to the recommendations. If no such unanimous report can +be made it shall be the duty of the majority and the privilege of the +minority to issue statements, indicating what they believe to be the +facts, and containing the reasons which they consider to be just and +proper. + +[Sidenote: Dispute may be referred to the body of delegates.] + +The Executive Council may in any case under this article refer the +dispute to the body of delegates. The dispute shall be so referred at +the request of either party to the dispute, provided that such request +must be made within fourteen days after the submission of the dispute. +In a case referred to the body of delegates, all the provisions of this +article, and of Article XII., relating to the action and powers of the +Executive Council, shall apply to the action and powers of the body of +delegates. + +[Sidenote: When a nation breaks its covenants.] + +ART. XVI.--Should any of the high contracting parties break or +disregard its covenants under Article XII. it shall thereby ipso facto +be deemed to have committed an act of war against all the other members +of the League, which hereby undertakes immediately to subject it to the +severance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of all +intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the +covenant-breaking State and the prevention of all financial, commercial, +or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-breaking +State and the nationals of any other State, whether a member of the +League or not. + +[Sidenote: Armed forces of the League.] + +It shall be the duty of the Executive Council in such case to recommend +what effective military or naval force the members of the League shall +severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the +covenants of the League. + +[Sidenote: Financial economic measures.] + +The high contracting parties agree, further, that they will mutually +support one another in the financial and economic measures which may be +taken under this article in order to minimize the loss and inconvenience +resulting from the above measures, and that they will mutually support +one another in resisting any special measures aimed at one of their +number by the covenant-breaking State and that they will afford passage +through their territory to the forces of any of the high contracting +parties who are cooperating to protect the covenants of the League. + +[Sidenote: When a non-member is party to a dispute.] + +ART. XVII.--In the event of dispute between one State member of +the League and another State which is not a member of the League, or +between States not members of the League, the high contracting parties +agree that the State or States, not members of the League, shall be +invited to accept the obligations of membership in the League for the +purposes of such dispute, upon such conditions as the Executive Council +may deem just, and upon acceptance of any such invitation, the above +provisions shall be applied with such modifications as may be deemed +necessary by the League. + +Upon such invitation being given the Executive Council shall immediately +institute an inquiry into the circumstances and merits of the dispute +and recommend such action as may seem best and most effectual in the +circumstances. + +In the event of a power so invited refusing to accept the obligations of +membership in the League for the purposes of the League, which in the +case of a State member of the League would constitute a breach of +Article XII., the provisions of Article XVI. shall be applicable as +against the State taking such action. + +[Sidenote: Executive Council to take means to settle the dispute.] + +If both parties to the dispute, when so invited, refuse to accept the +obligations of membership in the League for the purpose of such dispute, +the Executive Council may take such action and make such recommendations +as will prevent hostilities and will result in the settlement of the +dispute. + +[Sidenote: Supervision of trade in arms.] + +ART. XVIII.--The high contracting parties agree that the League +shall be intrusted with general supervision of the trade in arms and +ammunition with the countries in which the control of this traffic is +necessary in the common interest. + +[Sidenote: Development of backward peoples a sacred trust.] + +ART. XIX.--To those colonies and territories which, as a +consequence of the late war, have ceased to be under the sovereignty of +the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by +peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous +conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle +that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust +of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust +should be embodied in the constitution of the League. + +The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the +tutelage of such peoples should be intrusted to advanced nations, who by +reason of their resources, their experience, or their geographical +position, can best undertake this responsibility, and that this tutelage +should be exercised by them as mandatories on behalf of the League. + +The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the +development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, +its economic conditions and other similar circumstances. + +[Sidenote: Provisional recognition of certain communities.] + +Certain communities, formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire, have +reached a stage of development where their existence as independent +nations can be provisionally recognized, subject to the rendering of +administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory power until such +time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities +must be a principal consideration in the selection of the mandatory +power. + +[Sidenote: Central Africa peoples.] + +Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage +that the mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the +territory, subject to conditions which will guarantee freedom of +conscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order +and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms +traffic, and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment +of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training +of the natives for other than police purposes and the defense of +territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and +commerce of other members of the League. + +[Sidenote: The South Pacific Isles.] + +There are territories, such as Southwest Africa and certain of the South +Pacific Isles, which, owing to the sparseness of the population, or +their small size, or their remoteness from the centers of civilization, +or their geographical contiguity to the mandatory State and other +circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the mandatory +States as integral portions thereof, subject to the safeguards above +mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population. + +[Sidenote: Mandatory's annual report.] + +In every case of mandate, the mandatory State shall render to the League +an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge. + +The degree of authority, control, or administration, to be exercised by +the mandatory State, shall, if not previously agreed upon by the high +contracting parties in each case, be explicitly defined by the Executive +Council in a special act or charter. + +[Sidenote: The mandatory commission.] + +The high contracting parties further agree to establish at the seat of +the League a mandatory commission to receive and examine the annual +reports of the mandatory powers, and to assist the League in insuring +the observance of the terms of all mandates. + +ART. XX.--The high contracting parties will endeavor to secure +and maintain fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women, and +children, both in their own countries and in all countries to which +their commercial and industrial relations extend; and to that end agree +to establish as part of the organization of the League a permanent +bureau of labor. + +[Sidenote: Transportation and commerce.] + +ART. XXI.--The high contracting parties agree that provision +shall be made through the instrumentality of the League to secure and +maintain freedom of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of +all States members of the League, having in mind, among other things, +special arrangements with regard to the necessities of the regions +devastated during the war of 1914-1918. + +[Sidenote: International bureaus to be placed under League.] + +ART. XXII.--The high contracting parties agree to place under +the control of the League all international bureaus already established +by general treaties, if the parties to such treaties consent. +Furthermore, they agree that all such international bureaus to be +constituted in future shall be placed under control of the League. + +[Sidenote: Treaties to be registered with the League.] + +ART. XXIII.--The high contracting parties agree that every +treaty or international engagement entered into hereafter by any State +member of the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretary +General and as soon as possible published by him, and that no such +treaty or international engagement shall be binding until so registered. + +[Sidenote: Reconsideration of treaties.] + +ART. XXIV.--It shall be the right of the body of delegates from +time to time to advise the reconsideration by States members of the +League of treaties which have become inapplicable and of international +conditions of which the continuance may endanger the peace of the world. + +[Sidenote: To procure release from obligations inconsistent with the +League.] + +ART. XXV.--The high contracting parties severally agree that +the present covenant is accepted as abrogating all obligations inter se +which are inconsistent with the terms thereof, and solemnly engage that +they will not hereafter enter into any engagements inconsistent with the +terms thereof. In case any of the Powers signatory hereto or +subsequently admitted to the League shall, before becoming a party to +this covenant, have undertaken any obligations which are inconsistent +with the terms of this covenant, it shall be the duty of such Power to +take immediate steps to procure its release from such obligations. + +[Sidenote: Covenant to be ratified.] + +ART. XXVI.--Amendments to this covenant will take effect when +ratified by the States whose representatives compose the Executive +Council and by three-fourths of the States whose representatives compose +the body of delegates. + + + + +OFFICIAL SUMMARY OF THE TREATY OF PEACE + + +GERMANY + +[Sidenote: The Allied and Associated Powers.] + +The preamble names as parties of the one part the United States, the +British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, described as the Five Allied +and Associated Powers, and Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, +Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Liberia, +Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Serbia, Siam, +Czecho-Slovakia, and Uruguay, who with the five above are described as +the allied and associated powers, and on the other part, Germany. + +[Sidenote: Desire for a firm, just and durable peace.] + +It states that: bearing in mind that on the request of the then Imperial +German Government an armistice was granted on November 11, 1918, by the +principal allied and associated powers in order that a treaty of peace +might be concluded with her, and whereas the allied and associated +powers, being equally desirous that the war in which they were +successively involved directly or indirectly and which originated in the +declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914, against Serbia, +the declaration of war by Germany against Russia on August 1, 1914, and +against France on August 3, 1914, and in the invasion of Belgium, should +be replaced by a firm, just, and durable peace, the plenipotentiaries, +(having communicated their full powers found in good and due form) have +agreed as follows: + +From the coming into force of the present treaty the state of war will +terminate. From the moment and subject to the provisions of this treaty, +official relations with Germany, and with each of the German States, +will be resumed by the allied and associated Powers. + + + +SECTION I + + +LEAGUE OF NATIONS + +[Sidenote: Specific duties of the League of Nations.] + +The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section I of the peace +treaty, which places upon the League many specific, in addition to its +general, duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation of +a neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world's +peace. It will appoint three of the five members of the Sarre +Commission, oversee its regime, and carry out the plebiscite. It will +appoint the High Commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of +the free city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germany and +Poland. It will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the +former German colonies, and act as a final court in part of the +plebiscites of the Belgian-German frontier, and in disputes as to the +Kiel Canal, and decide certain of the economic and financial problems. +An International Conference on Labor is to be held in October under its +direction, and another on the international control of ports, waterways, +and railways is foreshadowed. + + +MEMBERSHIP + +[Sidenote: How states may become members or withdraw.] + +The members of the League will be the signatories of the covenant and +other States invited to accede who must lodge a declaration of accession +without reservation within two months. A new State, dominion, or colony +may be admitted, provided its admission is agreed to by two-thirds of +the assembly. A State may withdraw upon giving two years' notice, if it +has fulfilled all its international obligations. + + +SECRETARIAT + +[Sidenote: Permanent secretariat at Geneva.] + +A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the League, +which will be at Geneva. + + +ASSEMBLY + +[Sidenote: Voting by States.] + +The Assembly will consist of representatives of the members of the +League, and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will be by States. +Each member will have one vote and not more than three representatives. + + +COUNCIL + +[Sidenote: Meetings at least once a year.] + +The Council will consist of representatives of the Five Great Allied +Powers, together with representatives of four members selected by the +Assembly from time to time; it may co-opt additional States and will +meet at least once a year. + +Members not represented will be invited to send a representative when +questions affecting their interests are discussed. Voting will be by +States. Each State will have one vote and not more than one +representative. A decision taken by the Assembly and Council must be +unanimous except in regard to procedure and in certain cases specified +in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will be by a +majority. + + +ARMAMENTS + +[Sidenote: Permanent commission on military and naval questions.] + +The Council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for +consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every ten years. +Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armaments fixed without +the concurrence of the Council. All members will exchange full +information as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commission +will advise the Council on military and naval questions. + + +PREVENTING OF WAR + +[Sidenote: Members to submit disputes to arbitration.] + +[Sidenote: Council to consider means to protect covenants.] + +Upon any war, or threat of war, the Council will meet to consider what +common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of +dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three +months after the award. Members agree to carry out an arbitral award and +not to go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it. +If a member fails to carry out the award, the Council will propose the +necessary measures. The Council will formulate plans for the +establishment of a permanent court of international justice to determine +international disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do not +submit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of the +Assembly. If the Council, less the parties to the dispute, is +unanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that they +will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with its +recommendations. In this case, a recommendation, by the Assembly, +concurred in by all its members represented on the Council and a simple +majority of the rest, less the parties to the dispute, will have the +force of a unanimous recommendation by the Council. In either case, if +the necessary agreement cannot be secured, the members reserve the right +to take such [action?] as may be necessary for the maintenance of right +and justice. Members resorting to war in disregard of the covenant will +immediately be debarred from all intercourse with other members. The +Council will in such cases consider what military or naval action can be +taken by the League collectively for the protection of the covenants +and will afford facilities to members cooperating in this enterprise. + + +VALIDITY OF TREATIES + +All treaties or international engagements concluded after the +institution of the League will be registered with the secretariat and +published. The Assembly may from time to time advise members to +reconsider treaties which have become inapplicable or involve danger to +peace. + +[Sidenote: Monroe Doctrine not to be invalidated.] + +The covenant abrogates all obligations between members inconsistent with +its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity of international +engagements such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings +like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of peace. + + +THE MANDATORY SYSTEM + +[Sidenote: For nations not able to stand alone.] + +The tutelage of nations not yet able to stand by themselves will be +intrusted to advanced nations who are best fitted to undertake it. The +covenant recognizes three different stages of development requiring +different kinds of mandatories: + +[Sidenote: Provisional independence.] + +(a) Communities like those belonging to the Turkish Empire, which can be +provisionally recognized as independent, subject to advice and +assistance from mandatary in whose selection they would be allowed a +voice. + +[Sidenote: Abuses to be prohibited.] + +(b) Communities like those of Central Africa, to be administered by the +mandatary under conditions generally approved by the members of the +League, where equal opportunities for trade will be allowed to all +members; certain abuses, such as trade in slaves, arms, and liquor will +be prohibited, and the construction of military and naval bases and the +introduction of compulsory military training will be disallowed. + +[Sidenote: League to determine degree of mandatary's authority.] + +(c) Other communities, such as Southwest Africa and the South Pacific +Islands, but administered under the laws of the mandatary as integral +portions of its territory. In every case the mandatary will render an +annual report, and the degree of its authority will be defined. + + +GENERAL INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS + +[Sidenote: To maintain fair conditions of labor.] + +[Sidenote: Steps for prevention and control of disease.] + +Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international +convention, existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the +League will in general endeavor, through the international organization +established by the Labor Convention, to secure and maintain fair +conditions of labor for men, women and children in their own countries +and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the +native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will entrust +the League with the general supervision over the execution of agreements +for the suppression of traffic in women and children, &c.; and the +control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in which +control is necessary; they will make provision for freedom of +communication and transit and equitable treatment for commerce of all +members of the League, with special reference to the necessities of +regions devastated during the war; and they will endeavor to take steps +for international prevention and control of disease. International +bureaus and commissions already established will be placed under the +League, as well as those to be established in the future. + + +AMENDMENTS TO THE COVENANT + +Amendments to the covenant will take effect when ratified by the Council +and by a majority of the Assembly. + + + +SECTION II + + +BOUNDARIES OF GERMANY + +[Sidenote: Germany to cede to France and Poland.] + +Germany cedes to France Alsace-Lorraine, 5,600 square miles to the +southwest, and to Belgium two small districts between Luxemburg and +Holland, totaling 382 square miles. She also cedes to Poland the +southeastern tip of Silesia beyond and including Oppeln, most of Posen, +and West Prussia, 27,686 square miles, East Prussia being isolated from +the main body by a part of Poland. She loses sovereignty over the +northeastern tip of East Prussia, 40 square miles north of the river +Memel, and the internationalized areas about Danzig, 729 square miles, +and the Basin of the Sarre, 738 square miles, between the western border +of the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria and the southeast corner of +Luxemburg. The Danzig area consists of the V between the Nogat and +Vistula Rivers made a W by the addition of a similar V on the west, +including the city of Danzig. The southeastern third of East Prussia and +the area between East Prussia and the Vistula north of latitude 53 +degrees 3 minutes is to have its nationality determined by popular vote, +5,785 square miles, as is to be the case in part of Schleswig, 2,787 +square miles. + + + +SECTION III + + +BELGIUM + +[Sidenote: Frontier changes.] + +Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, by +which Belgium was established as a neutral State, and to agree in +advance to any convention with which the allied and associated Powers +may determine to replace them. She is to recognize the full sovereignty +of Belgium over the contested territory of Moresnet and over part of +Prussian Moresnet, and to renounce in favor of Belgium all rights over +the circles of Eupen and Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to be +entitled within six months to protest against this change of sovereignty +either in whole or in part, the final decision to be reserved to the +League of Nations. A commission is to settle the details of the +frontier, and various regulations for change of nationality are laid +down. + + +LUXEMBURG + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights of exploitation.] + +Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the Grand +Duchy of Luxemburg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the German +Zollverein from January first, last, renounces all right of exploitation +of the railroads, adheres to the abrogation of its neutrality, and +accepts in advance any international agreement as to it reached by the +allied and associated powers. + + +LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE + +[Sidenote: No German fortifications or armed forces.] + +As provided in the military clauses, Germany will not maintain any +fortifications or armed forces less than fifty kilometers to the east of +the Rhine, hold any manoeuvres, nor maintain any works to facilitate +mobilization. In case of violation, "she shall be regarded as committing +a hostile act against the Powers who sign the present treaty and as +intending to disturb the peace of the world." "By virtue of the present +treaty, Germany shall be bound to respond to any request for an +explanation which the Council of the League of Nations may think it +necessary to address to her." + + +ALSACE-LORRAINE + +[Sidenote: Territories restored to France.] + +After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong done in +1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, the +territories ceded to Germany by the Treaty of Frankfort are restored to +France with their frontiers as before 1871, to date from the signing of +the armistice, and to be free of all public debts. + +[Sidenote: How French citizenship may be acquired.] + +Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those who +are immediately restored to full French citizenship, those who have to +make formal applications therefor, and those for whom naturalization is +open after three years. The last named class includes German residents +in Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished from those who acquire the position +of Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. All public property and +all private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to France without +payment or credit. France is substituted for Germany as regards +ownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways. The +Rhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep. + +[Sidenote: Manufactured products to be admitted to Germany.] + +[Sidenote: Administration of Kehl and Strassbourg.] + +For five years manufactured products of Alsace-Lorraine will be admitted +to Germany free of duty to a total amount not exceeding in any year the +average of the three years preceding the war and textile materials may +be imported from Germany to Alsace-Lorraine and re-exported free of +duty. Contracts for electric power from the right bank must be continued +for ten years. For seven years, with possible extension to ten, the +ports of Kehl and Strassbourg shall be administered as a single unit by +a French administrator appointed and supervised by the Central Rhine +Commission. Property rights will be safeguarded in both ports and +equality of treatment as respects traffic assured the nationals, +vessels, and goods of every country. + +[Sidenote: Contracts, judgments of courts, political condemnations.] + +Contracts between Alsace-Lorraine and Germany are maintained save for +France's right to annul on grounds of public interest. Judgments of +courts hold in certain classes of cases while in others a judicial +exequatur is first required. Political condemnations during the war are +null and void and the obligation to repay war fines is established as in +other parts of allied territory. + +Various clauses adjust the general provisions of the treaty to the +special conditions of Alsace-Lorraine, certain matters of execution +being left to conventions to be made between France and Germany. + + +THE SARRE + +[Sidenote: To compensate for destruction of mines in France.] + +In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in Northern France and +as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France full +ownership of the coal mines of the Sarre Basin with their subsidiaries, +accessories and facilities. Their value will be estimated by the +Separation Commission and credited against that account. The French +rights will be governed by German law in force at the armistice +excepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners, whom +Germany undertakes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish the +present proportion of coal for local needs and contribute in just +proportion to local taxes. The basin extends from the frontier of +Lorraine as re-annexed to France north as far as St. Wendel including on +the west the valley of the Sarre as far as Sarre Holzbach and on the +east the town of Homburg. + +[Sidenote: To be governed by a commission.] + +[Sidenote: A local representative assembly to be organized.] + +In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population and +guarantee to France entire freedom in working the mines the territory +will be governed by a commission appointed by the League of Nations and +consisting of five members, one French, one a native inhabitant of the +Sarre, and three representing three different countries other than +France and Germany. The League will appoint a member of the Commission +as Chairman to act as executive of the Commission. The Commission will +have all powers of government formerly belonging to the German Empire, +Prussia and Bavaria, will administer the railroads and other public +services and have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. The local +courts will continue, but subject to the Commission. Existing German +legislation will remain the basis of the law, but the Commission may +make modification after consulting a local representative assembly which +it will organize. It will have the taxing power but for local purposes +only. New taxes must be approved by this assembly. Labor legislation +will consider the wishes of the local labor organizations and the labor +program of the League. French and other labor may be freely utilized, +the former being free to belong to French unions. All rights acquired as +to pensions and social insurance will be maintained by Germany and the +Sarre Commission. + +[Sidenote: Liberty of religion and language.] + +There will be no military service but only a local gendarmerie to +preserve order. The people will preserve their local assemblies, +religious liberties, schools, and language, but may vote only for local +assemblies. They will keep their present nationality except so far as +individuals may change it. Those wishing to leave will have every +facility with respect to their property. The territory will form part of +the French customs system, with no export tax on coal and metallurgical +products going to Germany nor on German products entering the basin and +for five years no import duties on products of the basin going to +Germany or German products coming into the basin. For local consumption +French money may circulate without restriction. + +[Sidenote: Plebiscite to be held after fifteen years.] + +After fifteen years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertain +the desires of the population as to continuance of the existing regime +under the League of Nations, union with France or union with Germany. +The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over twenty resident +therein at the signature. Taking into account the opinions thus +expressed the League will decide the ultimate sovereignty. In any +portion restored to Germany the German Government must buy out the +French mines at an appraised valuation. If the price is not paid within +six months thereafter this portion passes finally to France. If Germany +buys back the mines the League will determine how much of the coal shall +be annually sold to France. + + + +SECTION IV + + +GERMAN AUSTRIA + +[Sidenote: Independence to be recognized.] + +"Germany recognizes the total independence of German Austria in the +boundaries traced." + + +CZECHO-SLOVAKIA + +[Sidenote: Frontiers of the new State.] + +Germany recognizes the entire independence of the Czecho-Slovak State, +including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians south of the +Carpathians, and accepts the frontiers of this State as to be +determined, which in the case of the German frontier shall follow the +frontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipulations as to acquisition +and change of nationality follow. + + +POLAND + +[Sidenote: A Boundary Commission to be constituted.] + +[Sidenote: Minorities to be protected.] + +Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of Upper Silesia, Posen and the +province of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A Field +Boundary Commission of seven, five representing the allied and +associated powers and one each representing Poland and Germany, shall be +constituted within fifteen days of the peace to delimit this boundary. +Such special provisions as are necessary to protect racial, linguistic +or religious minorities and to protect freedom of transit and equitable +treatment of commerce of other nations shall be laid down in a +subsequent treaty between the principal allied and associated powers and +Poland. + + +EAST PRUSSIA + +[Sidenote: Frontiers of East Prussia and Poland.] + +The southern and the eastern frontier of East Prussia as touching Poland +is to be fixed by plebiscites, the first in the regency of Allenstein +between the southern frontier of East Prussia and the northern frontier, +or Regierungsbezirk Allenstein from where it meets the boundary between +East and West Prussia to its junction with the boundary between the +circles of Oletsko and Angersburg, thence the northern boundary of +Oletsko to its junction with the present frontier, and the second in the +area comprising the circles of Stuhm and Rosenberg and the parts of the +circles of Marienburg and Marienwerder east of the Vistula. + +[Sidenote: German troops and officials to leave.] + +In each case German troops and authorities will move out within fifteen +days of the peace, and the territories be placed under an international +commission of five members appointed by the principal allied and +associated powers, with the particular duty of arranging for a free, +fair and secret vote. The commission will report the results of the +plebiscites to the powers with a recommendation for the boundary, and +will terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down and +the new authorities set up. + +[Sidenote: Access to the Vistula.] + +The principal allied and associated powers will draw up regulations +assuring East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the +Vistula. A subsequent convention, of which the terms will be fixed by +the principal allied and associated powers, will be entered into +between Poland, Germany and Danzig, to assure suitable railroad +communication across German territory on the right bank of the Vistula +between Poland and Danzig, while Poland shall grant free passage from +East Prussia to Germany. + +The northeastern corner of East Prussia about Memel is to be ceded by +Germany to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept the +settlement made, especially as regards the nationality of the +inhabitants. + + +DANZIG + +[Sidenote: Danzig to be under League of Nations.] + +Danzig and the district immediately about it is to be constituted into +the "free city of Danzig" under the guarantee of the League of Nations. +A high commissioner appointed by the League and President of Danzig +shall draw up a constitution in agreement with the duly appointed +representatives of the city, and shall deal in the first instance with +all differences arising between the city and Poland. The actual +boundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointed +within six months from the peace and to include three representatives +chosen by the allied and associated powers, and one each by Germany and +Poland. + +[Sidenote: Convention between Danzig and Poland.] + +A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the principal allied +and associated powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, +which shall include Danzig within the Polish customs frontiers, though a +free area in the port; insure to Poland the free use of all the city's +waterways, docks and other port facilities, the control and +administration of the Vistula and the whole through railway system +within the city, and postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication +between Poland and Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poles +within the city, and place its foreign relations and the diplomatic +protection of its citizens abroad in charge of Poland. + + +DENMARK + +[Sidenote: Frontier to be fixed by self-determination.] + +The frontier between Germany and Denmark will be fixed by the +self-determination of the population. Ten days from the peace German +troops and authorities shall evacuate the region north of the line +running from the mouth of the Schlei, south of Kappel, Schleswig, and +Friedrichstadt along the Eider to the North Sea south of Tonning; the +Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils shall be dissolved, and the territory +administered by an international commission of five, of whom Norway and +Sweden shall be invited to name two. + +[Sidenote: Voting to be in zones.] + +The commission shall insure a free and secret vote in three zones. That +between the German-Danish frontier and a line running south of the +Island of Alsen, north of Flensburg, and south of Tondern to the North +Sea, north of the Island of Sylt, will vote as a unit within three weeks +after the evacuation. Within five weeks after this vote the second zone, +whose southern boundary runs from the North Sea south of the Island of +Fehr to the Baltic south of Sygum, will vote by communes. Two weeks +after that vote the third zone running to the limit of evacuation will +also vote by communes. The international commission will then draw a new +frontier on the basis of these plebiscites and with due regard for +geographical and economic conditions. Germany will renounce all +sovereignty over territories north of this line in favor of the +Associated Governments, who will hand them over to Denmark. + + +HELIGOLAND + +[Sidenote: Fortifications to be destroyed.] + +The fortifications, military establishments, and harbors of the Islands +of Heligoland and Dune are to be destroyed under the supervision of the +Allies by German labor and at Germany's expense. They may not be +reconstructed, nor any similar fortifications built in the future. + + +RUSSIA + +[Sidenote: Brest-Litovsk treaty to be abrogated.] + +Germany agrees to respect as permanent and inalienable the independency +of all territories which were part of the former Russian Empire, to +accept the abrogation of the Brest-Litovsk and other treaties entered +into with the Maximalist Government of Russia, to recognize the full +force of all treaties entered into by the allied and associated powers +with States which were a part of the former Russian Empire, and to +recognize the frontiers as determined thereon. The allied and associated +powers formally reserve the right of Russia to obtain restitution and +reparation on the principles of the present treaty. + + + +SECTION V + + +GERMAN RIGHTS OUTSIDE EUROPE + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights.] + +Outside Europe, Germany renounces all rights, titles, and privileges as +to her own or her allies' territories to all the allied and associated +powers, and undertakes to accept whatever measures are taken by the five +allied powers in relation thereto. + + +COLONIES AND OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS + +[Sidenote: Property of German Empire to be transferred to new +governments.] + +Germany renounces in favor of the allied and associated powers her +overseas possessions with all rights and titles therein. All movable and +immovable property belonging to the German Empire, or to any German +State, shall pass to the Government exercising authority therein. These +Governments may make whatever provisions seem suitable for the +repatriation of German nationals and as to the conditions on which +German subjects of European origin shall reside, hold property, or carry +on business. Germany undertakes to pay reparation for damage suffered by +French nationals in the Cameroons or its frontier zone through the acts +of German civil and military authorities and of individual Germans from +the 1st of January, 1900, to the 1st of August, 1914. Germany renounces +all rights under the convention of the 4th of November, 1911, and the +29th of September, 1912, and undertakes to pay to France in accordance +with an estimate presented and approved by the Repatriation Commission +all deposits, credits, advances, &c., thereby secured. Germany +undertakes to accept and observe any provisions by the allied and +associated powers as to the trade in arms and spirits in Africa as well +as to the General Act of Berlin of 1885 and the General Act of Brussels +of 1890. Diplomatic protection to inhabitants of former German colonies +is to be given by the Governments exercising authority. + +[Sidenote: Diplomatic protection for inhabitants.] + + +CHINA + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce Boxer indemnities.] + +Germany renounces in favor of China all privileges and indemnities +resulting from the Boxer Protocol of 1901, and all buildings, wharves, +barracks for munitions of warships, wireless plants, and other public +property except diplomatic or consular establishments in the German +concessions of Tientsin and Hankow and in other Chinese territory except +Kiao-Chau and agrees to return to China at her own expense all the +astronomical instruments seized in 1900 and 1901. China will, however, +take no measures for disposal of German property in the legation quarter +at Peking without the consent of the Powers signatory to the Boxer +Protocol. + +[Sidenote: Abrogation of concession.] + +Germany accepts the abrogation of the concessions at Hankow and +Tientsin, China agreeing to open them to international use. Germany +renounces all claims against China or any allied and associated +Government for the internment or repatriation of her citizens in China +and for the seizure or liquidation of German interests there since +August 14, 1917. She renounces in favor of Great Britain her State +property in the British concession at Canton and of France and China +jointly of the property of the German school in the French concession at +Shanghai. + + +SIAM + +[Sidenote: Rights of extra territoriality to cease.] + +Germany recognizes that all agreements between herself and Siam, +including the right of extra-territoriality, ceased July 22, 1917. All +German public property, except consular and diplomatic premises, passes +without compensation to Siam, German private property to be dealt with +in accordance with the economic clauses. Germany waives all claims +against Siam for the seizure and condemnation of her ships, liquidation +of her property, or internment of her nationals. + + +LIBERIA + +[Sidenote: Commercial treaties and agreements to be abrogated.] + +Germany renounces all rights under the international arrangements of +1911 and 1912 regarding Liberia, more particularly the right to nominate +a receiver of the customs, and disinterests herself in any further +negotiations for the rehabilitation of Liberia. She regards as abrogated +all commercial treaties and agreements between herself and Liberia and +recognizes Liberia's right to determine the status and condition of the +re-establishment of Germans in Liberia. + + +MOROCCO + +[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights in Morocco.] + +Germany renounces all her rights, titles, and privileges under the Act +of Algeciras and the Franco-German agreements of 1909 and 1911, and +under all treaties and arrangements with the Sherifian Empire. She +undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations as to Morocco between +France and other Powers, accepts all the consequences of the French +protectorate and renounces the capitulations; the Sherifian Government +shall have complete liberty of action in regard to German nationals, and +all German protected persons shall be subject to the common law. All +movable and immovable German property, including mining rights, may be +sold at public auction, the proceeds to be paid to the Sherifian +Government and deducted from the reparation account. Germany is also +required to relinquish her interests in the State Bank of Morocco. All +Moroccan goods entering Germany shall have the same privilege as French +goods. + + +EGYPT + +[Sidenote: To recognize British Protectorate over Egypt.] + +Germany recognizes the British Protectorate over Egypt declared on +December 18, 1914, and renounces as from August 4, 1914, the +capitulation and all the treaties, agreements, etc., concluded by her +with Egypt. She undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations about +Egypt between Great Britain and other Powers. There are provisions for +jurisdiction over German nationals and property and for German consent +to any changes which may be made in relation to the Commission of Public +Debt. Germany consents to the transfer to Great Britain of the powers +given to the late Sultan of Turkey for securing the free navigation of +the Suez Canal. Arrangements for property belonging to German nationals +in Egypt are made similar to those in the case of Morocco and other +countries. Anglo-Egyptian goods entering Germany shall enjoy the same +treatment as British goods. + + +TURKEY AND BULGARIA + +[Sidenote: Arrangements with Turkey and Bulgaria.] + +Germany accepts all arrangements which the Allied and Associated Powers +made with Turkey and Bulgaria with reference to any rights, privileges +or interests claimed in those countries by Germany or her nationals and +not dealt with elsewhere. + + +SHANTUNG + +[Sidenote: To cede Kiao-Chau rights to Japan.] + +Germany cedes to Japan all rights, titles, and privileges, notably as to +Kiao-Chau, and the railroads, mines, and cables acquired by her treaty +with China of March 6, 1897, by and other agreements as to Shantung. All +German rights to the railroad from Tsing-tao to Tsinan-fu, including all +facilities and mining rights and rights of exploitation, pass equally to +Japan, and the cables from Tsing-tao to Shanghai and Che-foo, the cables +free of all charges. All German State property, movable and immovable, +in Kiao-Chau is acquired by Japan free of all charges. + + + +SECTION VI + + +MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR + +In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of +the armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes directly to observe the +military, naval, and air clauses which follow. + + +MILITARY FORCES + +[Sidenote: German Army to be demobilized.] + +The demobilization of the German Army must take place within two months +of the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, including 4,000 +officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry and three of +cavalry, and to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal order +and control of frontiers. Divisions may not be grouped under more than +two army corps headquarters staffs. The great German General Staff is +abolished. The army administrative service, consisting of civilian +personnel not included in the number of effectives, is reduced to +one-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. Employees of the German States, +such as customs officers, first guards, and coast guards, may not exceed +the number in 1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only in +accordance with the growth of population. None of these may be assembled +for military training. + + +ARMAMENTS + +[Sidenote: Munition works to be closed.] + +All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, or +design of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically excepted, +must be closed within three months of the peace, and their personnel +dismissed. The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed Germany is +laid down in detail tables, all in excess to be surrendered or rendered +useless. The manufacture or importation of asphyxiating, poisonous, or +other gases and all analogous liquids is forbidden as well as the +importation of arms, munitions, and war materials. Germany may not +manufacture such materials for foreign governments. + + +CONSCRIPTION + +[Sidenote: Conscription to be abolished in Germany.] + +Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must be +maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of twelve consecutive +years, the number of discharges before the expiration of that term not +in any year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officers +remaining in the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, and +newly appointed officers must agree to serve actively for twenty-five +years. + +No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units +allowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No +associations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or +touring clubs, educational establishments or universities may occupy +themselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization are +forbidden. + + +FORTRESSES + +[Sidenote: Fortifications in Rhine to be dismantled.] + +All fortified works, fortresses, and field works situated in German +territory within a zone of fifty kilometers east of the Rhine will be +dismantled within three months. The construction of any new +fortifications there is forbidden. The fortified works on the southern +and eastern frontiers, however, may remain. + + +CONTROL + +[Sidenote: Interallied commissions of control.] + +Interallied commissions of control will see to the execution of the +provisions for which a time limit is set, the maximum named being three +months. They may establish headquarters at the German seat of Government +and go to any part of Germany desired. Germany must give them complete +facilities, pay their expenses, and also the expenses of execution of +the treaty, including the labor and material necessary in demolition, +destruction or surrender of war equipment. + + +NAVAL + +[Sidenote: German navy to be demobilized.] + +The German navy must be demobilized within a period of two months after +the peace. She will be allowed 6 small battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 +destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either military or +commercial, with a personnel of 15,000 men, including officers, and no +reserve force of any character. Conscription is abolished, only +voluntary service being permitted, with a minimum period of 25 years +service for officers and 12 for men. No member of the German mercantile +marine will be permitted any naval training. + +[Sidenote: German war vessels that must be surrendered.] + +All German vessels of war in foreign ports and the German high sea fleet +interned at Scapa Flow will be surrendered, the final disposition of +these ships to be decided upon by the allied and associated powers. +Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, +and all submarines, with their salvage vessels. All war vessels under +construction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels not +otherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve, or used for +commercial purposes. Replacement of ships except those lost can take +place only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years for +destroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be +10,000 tons. + +[Sidenote: To sweep up mines.] + +Germany is required to sweep up the mines in the North Sea and the +Baltic Sea, as decided upon by the Allies. All German fortifications in +the Baltic, defending the passages through the belts, must be +demolished. Other coast defenses are permitted, but the number and +caliber of the guns must not be increased. + + +WIRELESS + +[Sidenote: German wireless messages only for commercial purposes.] + +During a period of three months after the peace German high power +wireless stations at Nauen, Hanover, and Berlin will not be permitted to +send any messages except for commercial purposes, and under supervision +of the allied and associated Governments, nor may any more be +constructed. + + +CABLES + +[Sidenote: To renounce title to cables.] + +Germany renounces all title to specified cables, the value of such as +were privately owned being credited to her against reparation +indebtedness. + +Germany will be allowed to repair German submarine cables which have +been cut but are not being utilized by the allied powers, and also +portions of cables which, after having been cut, have been removed, or +are at any rate not being utilized by any one of the allied and +associated powers. In such cases the cables, or portions of cables, +removed or utilized remain the property of the allied and associated +powers, and accordingly fourteen cables or parts of cables are specified +which will not be restored to Germany. + + +AIR + +[Sidenote: Air personnel to be demobilized.] + +The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air +forces except for not over 100 unarmed seaplanes to be retained till +October 1 to search for submarine mines. No dirigible shall be kept. The +entire air personnel is to be demobilized within two months, except for +1,000 officers and men retained till October. No aviation grounds or +dirigible sheds are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine, or +the eastern or southern frontiers, existing installations within these +limits to be destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts of +aircraft is forbidden for six months. All military and naval +aeronautical material under a most exhaustive definition must be +surrendered within three months, except for the 100 seaplanes already +specified. + + +PRISONERS OF WAR + +[Sidenote: Repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians.] + +The repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians is to be +carried out without delay and at Germany's expense by a commission +composed of representatives of the Allies and Germany. Those under +sentence for offenses against discipline are to be repatriated without +regard to the completion of their sentences. Until Germany has +surrendered persons guilty of offenses against the laws and customs of +war, the Allies have the right to retain selected German officers. The +Allies may deal at their own discretion with German nationals who do not +desire to be repatriated, all repatriation being conditional on the +immediate release of any allied subjects still in Germany. Germany is to +accord facilities to commissions of inquiry in collecting information in +regard to missing prisoners of war and of imposing penalties on German +officials who have concealed allied nationals. Germany is to restore all +property belonging to allied prisoners. There is to be a reciprocal +exchange of information as to dead prisoners and their graves. + + +GRAVES + +[Sidenote: Graves to be respected and maintained.] + +Both parties will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers and +sailors buried on their territories, agree to recognize and assist any +commission charged by any allied or associate Government with +identifying, registering, maintaining or erecting suitable monuments +over the graves, and to afford to each other all facilities for the +repatriation of the remains of their soldiers. + + + +SECTION VII + + +RESPONSIBILITIES + +[Sidenote: William II charged with responsibility for war.] + +"The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William II. of +Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense against +criminal law, but for a supreme offense against international morality +and the sanctity of treaties." + +The ex-Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland and a special +tribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five great +powers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be guided +"by the highest motives of international policy with a view of +vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the +validity of international morality," and will fix the punishment it +feels should be imposed. + +[Sidenote: Persons who violated laws of war to be tried.] + +Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and +customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals under +military law. If the charges affect nationals of only one State, they +will be tried before a tribunal of that State; if they affect nationals +of several States, they will be tried before joint tribunals of the +States concerned. Germany shall hand over to the associated Governments, +either jointly or severally, all persons so accused and all documents +and information necessary to insure full knowledge of the incriminating +acts, the discovery of the offenders, and the just appreciation of the +responsibility. The Judge [garbled in cabling] will be entitled to name +his own counsel. + + + +SECTION VIII + + +REPARATION AND RESTITUTION + +[Sidenote: Germany's responsibility for loss and damage.] + +"The allied and associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the +responsibility of herself and her allies, for causing all the loss and +damage to which the allied and associated Governments and their +nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon +them by the aggression of Germany and her allies." + +The total obligation of Germany to pay as defined in the category of +damages is to be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing, +and not later than May 1, 1921, by an interallied Reparation Commission. + +At the same time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligation +within thirty years shall be presented. These payments are subject to +postponement in certain contingencies. Germany irrevocably recognizes +the full authority of this commission, agrees to supply it with all the +necessary information and to pass legislation to effectuate its +findings. She further agrees to restore to the Allies cash and certain +articles which can be identified. + +[Sidenote: Schedule of payments to be presented.] + +[Sidenote: One thousand million pounds in two years.] + +As an immediate step toward restoration Germany shall pay within two +years one thousand million pounds sterling in either gold, goods, ships, +or other specific forms of payment. + +This sum being included in, and not additional to, the first thousand +million bond issue referred to below, with the understanding that +certain expenses, such as those of the armies of occupation and payments +for food and raw materials, may be deducted at the discretion of the +Allies. + +[Sidenote: Belgium to be repaid.] + +Germany further binds herself to repay all sums borrowed by Belgium from +her allies as a result of Germany's violation of the treaty of 1839 up +to November 11, 1918, and for this purpose will issue at once and hand +over to the Reparation Commission 5 per cent gold bonds falling due in +1926. + +While the allied and associated Governments recognize that the resources +of Germany are not adequate, after taking into account permanent +diminution of such resources which will result from other treaty claims, +to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage, they require +her to make compensation for all damage caused to civilians under seven +main categories: + +[Sidenote: Damage to civilians to be compensated.] + +(a) Damages by personal injury to civilians caused by acts of war, +directly or indirectly, including bombardments from the air. + +(b) Damages caused to civilians, including exposure at sea, resulting +from acts of cruelty ordered by the enemy, and to civilians in the +occupied territories. + +(c) Damages caused by maltreatment of prisoners. + +(d) Damages to the Allied peoples represented by pensions and separation +allowances, capitalized at the signature of this treaty. + +(e) Damages to property other than naval or military materials. + +(f) Damages to civilians by being forced to labor. + +(g) Damages in the form of levies or fines imposed by the enemy. + +[Sidenote: Work of Reparation Commission.] + +In periodically estimating Germany's capacity to pay, the Reparation +Commission shall examine the German system of taxation, first to the end +that the sums for reparation which Germany is required to pay shall +become a charge upon all her revenues prior to that for the service or +discharge of any domestic loan; and secondly, so as to satisfy itself +that in general the German scheme of taxation is fully as heavy +proportionately as that of any of the powers represented on the +commission. + +[Sidenote: Refusals in case of default.] + +The measures which the allied and associated powers shall have the right +to take, in case of voluntary default by Germany, and which Germany +agrees not to regard as acts of war, may include economic and financial +prohibitions and reprisals and in general such other measures as the +respective Governments may determine to be necessary in the +circumstances. + +[Sidenote: Germany's capacity to pay.] + +The commission shall consist of one representative each of the United +States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, a representative of +Serbia or Japan taking the place of the Belgian representative, when the +interests of either country are particularly affected, with all other +allied powers entitled, when their claims are under consideration, to +the right of representation without voting power. It shall permit +Germany to give evidence regarding her capacity to pay, and shall assure +her a just opportunity to be heard. It shall make its permanent +headquarters at Paris, establish its own procedure and personnel; have +general control of the whole reparation problem; and become the +exclusive agency of the Allies for receiving, holding, selling, and +distributing reparation payments. Majority vote shall prevail, except +that unanimity is required on questions involving the sovereignty of any +of the Allies, the cancellation of all or part of Germany's obligations, +the time and manner of selling, distributing, and negotiating bonds +issued by Germany, any postponement between 1921 and 1926 of annual +payments beyond 1930 and any postponement after 1926 for a period of +more than three years of the application of a different method of +measuring damage than in a similar former case, and the interpretation +of provisions. Withdrawal from representation is permitted on twelve +months' notice. + +[Sidenote: Guarantees to cover claims.] + +The Commission may require Germany to give from time to time by way of +guarantee, issues of bonds or other obligations to cover such claims as +are not otherwise satisfied. In this connection and on account of the +total amount of claims, bond issues are presently to be required of +Germany in acknowledgment of its debt as follows: 20,000,000,000 marks +gold, payable not later than May 1, 1921, without interest; +40,000,000,000 marks gold bearing 2-1/2 per cent interest between 1921 +and 1926, and thereafter 5 per cent, with a 1 per cent sinking fund +payment beginning 1926; and an undertaking to deliver 40,000,000,000 +marks gold bonds bearing interest at 5 per cent, under terms to be fixed +by the Commission. + +[Sidenote: Interest on Germany's debt.] + +[Sidenote: Certificates to represent bonds or goods.] + +Interest on Germany's debt will be 5 per cent unless otherwise +determined by the Commission in the future, and payments that are not +made in gold may "be accepted by the Commission in the form of +properties, commodities, businesses, rights, concessions, &c." +Certificates of beneficial interest, representing either bonds or goods +delivered by Germany, may be issued by the Commission to the interested +powers, no power being entitled, however, to have its certificates +divided into more than five pieces. As bonds are distributed and pass +from the control of the Commission, an amount of Germany's debt +equivalent to their par value is to be considered as liquidated. + + +SHIPPING + +[Sidenote: Right to Allies to have merchant shipping replaced.] + +The German Government recognizes the right of the Allies to the +replacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and +fishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede to +the Allies all German merchant ships of 1,600 tons gross and upward; +one-half of her ships between 1,600 and 1,000 tons gross, and +one-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These ships +are to be delivered within two months to the Separation Committee, +together with documents of title evidencing the transfer of the ships +free from encumbrance. + +"As an additional part of reparation," the German Government further +agrees to build merchant ships for the account of the Allies to the +amount of not exceeding 200,000 tons gross annually during the next five +years. + +All ships used for inland navigation taken by Germany from the Allies +are to be restored within two months, the amount of loss not covered by +such restitution to be made up by the cession of the German river fleet +up to 20 per cent thereof. + + +DYESTUFFS AND CHEMICAL DRUGS + +[Sidenote: Material to be delivered to Reparations Commission.] + +In order to effect payment by deliveries in kind, Germany is required, +for a limited number of years, varying in the case of each, to deliver +coal, coal-tar products, dyestuffs and chemical drugs, in specific +amounts to the Reparations Commission. The Commission may so modify the +conditions of delivery as not to interfere unduly with Germany's +industrial requirements. The deliveries of coal are based largely upon +the principle of making good diminutions in the production of the allied +countries resulting from the war. + +Germany accords option to the commission on dyestuffs and chemical +drugs, including quinine, up to 50 per cent of the total stock in +Germany at the time the treaty comes into force, and similar option +during each six months to the end of 1924 up to 25 per cent of the +previous six months' output. + + +DEVASTATED AREAS + +[Sidenote: Machinery and animals to be replaced.] + +Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. The Reparations Commission is +authorized to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles by the +delivery of animals, machinery, &c., existing in Germany, and to +manufacture materials required for reconstruction purposes; all with due +consideration for Germany's essential domestic requirements. + +[Sidenote: French damages in coal and fuel to be made good.] + +Germany is to deliver annually for ten years to France coal equivalent +to the difference between the annual pre-war output of Nord and Pas de +Calais mines and the annual production during the above ten-year period. +Germany further gives options over ten years for delivery of 7,000,000 +tons of coal per year to France in addition to the above, of 8,000,000 +tons to Belgium and of an amount rising from 4,500,000 tons in 1919 to +1920 to 8,500,000 in 1923 to 1924 to Italy at prices to be fixed as +prescribed in the treaty. Coke may be taken in place of coal in the +ratio of three tons to four. Provision is also made for delivery to +France over three years of benzol, coal tar, and of ammonia. The +Commission has powers to postpone or annul the above deliveries should +they interfere unduly with the industrial requirements of Germany. + +[Sidenote: Koran of Caliph Othman and skull of Okwawa.] + +Germany is to restore within six months the Koran of the Caliph Othman, +formerly at Medina, to the King of the Hedjaz, and the skull of the +Sultan Okwawa, formerly in German East Africa, to his Britannic +Majesty's Government. + +[Sidenote: Papers taken in 1870.] + +The German Government is also to restore to the French Government +certain papers taken by the German authorities in 1870, belonging then +to M. Reuher, and to restore the French flags taken during the war of +1870 and 1871. + +[Sidenote: Reparations to the Louvain Library.] + +As reparation for the destruction of the Library of Louvain Germany is +to hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, &c., to the +equivalent of those destroyed. + +[Sidenote: Belgian works of art.] + +In addition to the above Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings, now +in Berlin, belonging to the altar piece of "The Adoration of the Lamb," +by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, the center of which is now in the Church of +St. Bavon at Ghent, and the wings, now in Berlin and Munich, of the +altar piece of "The Last Supper," by Dirk Bouts, the center of which +belongs to the Church of St. Peter at Louvain. + + +FINANCE + +[Sidenote: The pre-war debts of Alsace.] + +[Sidenote: German debts not to be assumed by mandatory powers.] + +Powers to which German territory is ceded will assume a certain portion +of the German pre-war debt, the amount to be fixed by the Reparations +Commission on the basis of the ratio between the revenue and of the +ceded territory and Germany's total revenues for the three years +preceding the war. In view, however, of the special circumstances under +which Alsace-Lorraine was separated from France in 1871, when Germany +refused to accept any part of the French public debt, France will not +assume any part of Germany's pre-war debt there, nor will Poland share +in certain German debts incurred for the oppression of Poland. If the +value of the German public property in ceded territory exceeds the +amount of debt assumed, the States to which property is ceded will give +credit on reparation for the excess, with the exception of +Alsace-Lorraine. Mandatory powers will not assume any German debts or +give any credit for German Government property. Germany renounces all +right of representation on, or control of, State banks, commissions, or +other similar international financial and economic organizations. + +[Sidenote: Germany to pay cost of armies of occupation.] + +Germany is required to pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in German +territory, this cost to be a first charge on her resources. The cost of +reparation is the next charge, after making such provisions for payments +for imports as the Allies may deem necessary. + +[Sidenote: Funds deposited by Turkey and Austria-Hungary.] + +Germany is to deliver to the allied and associated powers all sums +deposited in Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection with +the financial support extended by her to them during the war, and to +transfer to the Allies all claims against Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, or +Turkey in connection with agreements made during the war. Germany +confirms the renunciation of the Treaties of Bucharest and +Brest-Litovsk. + +[Sidenote: Public utilities in ceded territories.] + +[Sidenote: Brazilian coffee to be paid for.] + +On the request of the Reparations Commission, Germany will expropriate +any rights or interests of her nationals in public utilities in ceded +territories or those administered by mandatories, and in Turkey, China, +Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, and transfer them to the +Reparations Commission, which will credit her with their value. Germany +guarantees to repay to Brazil the fund arising from the sale of Sao +Paulo coffee which she refused to allow Brazil to withdraw from Germany. + + + +SECTION IX + + +OPIUM + +[Sidenote: Convention on opium to be brought into force.] + +The contracting powers agree, whether or not they have signed and +ratified the opium convention of January 23, 1912, or signed the special +protocol opened at The Hague in accordance with resolutions adopted by +the third opium conference in 1914, to bring the said convention into +force by enacting within twelve months of the peace the necessary +legislation. + + +RELIGIOUS MISSIONS + +[Sidenote: To continue their work.] + +The allied and associated powers agree the properties of religious +missions in territories belonging or ceded to them shall continue in +their work under the control of the powers, Germany renouncing all +claims in their behalf. + + + +SECTION X--ECONOMIC CLAUSES + + +CUSTOMS + +[Sidenote: German tariff to be regulated for five years.] + +For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff duties higher +than the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain agricultural products, +wines, vegetable oils, artificial silk, and washed or scoured wool this +restriction obtains for two and a half years more. For five years, +unless further extended by the League of Nations, Germany must give most +favored nation treatment to the allied and associated powers. She shall +impose no customs tariff for five years on goods originating in +Alsace-Lorraine, and for three years on goods originating in former +German territory ceded to Poland with the right of observation of a +similar exception for Luxemburg. + + +SHIPPING + +[Sidenote: Rights of ships of the Allies.] + +Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years and +thereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the League of Nations +otherwise decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as German +vessels, and have most favored nation treatment in fishing, coasting +trade, and towage even in territorial waters. Ships of a country having +no seacoast may be registered at some one place within its territory. + + +UNFAIR COMPETITION + +[Sidenote: Safeguards against unfair competition.] + +Germany undertakes to give the trade of the allied and associated powers +adequate safeguards against unfair competition, and in particular to +suppress the use of false wrappings and markings, and on condition of +reciprocity to respect the laws and judicial decisions of allied and +associated States in respect of regional appellations of wines and +spirits. + +[Illustration: CLOSING WORDS OF THE PEACE TREATY, WITH THE SIGNATURES +AND SEALS OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATES, HEADED BY THE BRITISH PRIME +MINISTER, LLOYD GEORGE.] + +[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF CANADIAN, AUSTRALIAN, SOUTH +AFRICAN, NEW ZEALAND, AND INDIAN DELEGATES. THEN THE FRENCH, HEADED BY +PREMIER CLEMENCEAU.] + +[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE DELEGATIONS FROM PERU, POLAND +(HEADED BY PREMIER PADEREWSKI), PORTUGAL, RUMANIA, SERBIA, +CZECHO-SLOVAKIA, AND URUGUAY.] + +[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE GERMAN DELEGATES, DR. HERMANN +MULLER AND DR. BELL, ON THE LAST PAGE OF THE TREATY] + +[Illustration: The signatures of the American delegates--President +Wilson, Secretary of State Lansing, Mr. Henry White, Colonel House, and +General Bliss--come first after the closing words of the Treaty of Peace +(pages 213 and 214); then the names of the British delegates--Prime +Minister Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Milner, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. +Barnes (page 214); the Canadians, Minister of Justice Doherty and +Minister of Customs Sifton; the Australians, Premier Hughes and Mr. +Cook; the South Africans, Premier Botha and General Smuts; Premier +Massey of New Zealand; Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, and +Maharajah Ganga Singh for India (pages 215 and 216). Then come the +French--Premier Clemenceau, whose signature is third from the top on +page 216, M. Pichon, M. Klotz, M. Tardieu, and M. Cambon (page 216). The +name of Premier Paderewski of Poland is the second from the top on page +221.] + + +TREATMENT OF NATIONALS + +[Sidenote: German nationality.] + +Germany shall impose no exceptional taxes or restriction upon the +nationals of allied and associated States for a period of five years +and, unless the League of Nations acts, for an additional five years +German nationality shall not continue to attach to a person who has +become a national of an allied or associated State. + + +MULTILATERAL CONVENTIONS + +[Sidenote: Postal and telegraphic conventions.] + +[Sidenote: North Sea conventions.] + +[Sidenote: Arrangements with various nations.] + +Some forty multilateral conventions are renewed between Germany and the +allied and associated powers, but special conditions are attached to +Germany's readmission to several. As to postal and telegraphic +conventions Germany must not refuse to make reciprocal agreements with +the new States. She must agree as respects the radio-telegraphic +convention to provisional rules to be communicated to her, and adhere to +the new convention when formulated. In the North Sea fisheries and North +Sea liquor traffic convention, rights of inspection and police over +associated fishing boats shall be exercised for at least five years only +by vessels of these powers. As to the international railway union she +shall adhere to the new convention when formulated. China, as to the +Chinese customs tariff arrangement of 1905 regarding Whangpoo, and the +Boxer indemnity of 1901; France, Portugal, and Rumania, as to The Hague +Convention of 1903, relating to civil procedure, and Great Britain and +the United States as to Article III. or the Samoan Treaty of 1899, are +relieved of all obligations toward Germany. + + +BILATERAL TREATIES + +[Sidenote: Renewal of treaties.] + +Each allied and associated State may renew any treaty with Germany in so +far as consistent with the peace treaty by giving notice within six +months. Treaties entered into by Germany since August 1, 1914, with +other enemy States, and before or since that date with Rumania, Russia, +and governments representing parts of Russia are abrogated, and +concessions granted under pressure by Russia to German subjects are +annulled. The allied and associated States are to enjoy most favored +nation treatment under treaties entered into by Germany and other enemy +States before August 1, 1914, and under treaties entered into by Germany +and neutral States during the war. + + +PRE-WAR DEBTS + +[Sidenote: Clearing houses for pre-war debts.] + +A system of clearing houses is to be created within three months, one in +Germany and one in each allied and associated State which adopts the +plan for the payment of pre-war debts, including those arising from +contracts suspended by the war. For the adjustment of the proceeds of +the liquidation of enemy property and the settlement of other +obligations each participating State assumes responsibility for the +payment of all debts owing by its nationals to nationals of the enemy +States, except in case of pre-war insolvency of the debtor. The proceeds +of the sale of private enemy property in each participating State may be +used to pay the debts owed to the nationals of that State, direct +payment from debtor to creditor and all communications relating thereto +being prohibited. Disputes may be settled by arbitration by the courts +of the debtor country, or by the mixed arbitral tribunal. Any ally or +associated power may, however, decline to participate in this system by +giving six months' notice. + + +ENEMY PROPERTY + +[Sidenote: Damages for private property seized or injured.] + +Germany shall restore or pay for all private enemy property seized or +damaged by her, the amount of damages to be fixed by the mixed arbitral +tribunal. The allied and associated States may liquidate German private +property within their territories as compensation for property of their +nationals not restored or paid for by Germany. For debts owed to their +nationals by German nationals and for other claims against Germany, +Germany is to compensate its nationals for such losses and to deliver +within six months all documents relating to property held by its +nationals in allied and associated States. All war legislation as to +enemy property rights and interests is confirmed and all claims by +Germany against the allied or associated Governments for acts under +exceptional war measures abandoned. + +[Sidenote: Pre-war contracts.] + +Pre-war contracts between allied and associated nationals excepting the +United States, Japan, and Brazil and German nationals are cancelled +except for debts for accounts already performed. + + +AGREEMENTS + +[Sidenote: Disputes as to transfers of property already made.] + +For the transfer of property where the property had already passed, +leases of land and houses, contracts of mortgages, pledge or lien, +mining concessions, contracts with governments and insurance contracts, +mixed arbitral tribunals shall be established of three members, one +chosen by Germany, one by the associated States and the third by +agreement, or, failing which, by the President of Switzerland. They +shall have jurisdiction over all disputes as to contracts concluded +before the present peace treaty. + +[Sidenote: Insurance contracts.] + +Fire insurance contracts are not considered dissolved by the war, even +if premiums have not been paid, but lapse at the date of the first +annual premium falling due three months after the peace. Life insurance +contracts may be restored by payments of accumulated premiums with +interest, sums falling due on such contracts during the war to be +recoverable with interest. Marine insurance contracts are dissolved by +the outbreak of war except where the risk insured against had already +been incurred. Where the risk had not attached, premiums paid are +recoverable, otherwise premiums due and sums due on losses are +recoverable. Reinsurance treaties are abrogated unless invasion has made +it impossible for the reinsured to find another reinsurer. Any allied or +associated power, however, may cancel all the contracts running between +its nationals and a German life insurance company, the latter being +obligated to hand over the proportion of its assets attributable to such +policies. + + +INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY + +[Sidenote: Conditions on use of German patents and copyrights.] + +Rights as to industrial, literary, and artistic property are +re-established. The special war measures of the allied and associated +powers are ratified and the right reserved to impose conditions on the +use of German patents and copyrights when in the public interest. Except +as between the United States and Germany, pre-war licenses and rights to +sue for infringements committed during the war are cancelled. + + + +SECTION XI + + +AERIAL NAVIGATION + +[Sidenote: Allied aircraft in German territory.] + +Aircraft of the allied and associated powers shall have full liberty of +passage and landing over and in German territory, equal treatment with +German planes as to use of German airdromes, and with most favored +nation planes as to internal commercial traffic in Germany. Germany +agrees to accept allied certificates of nationality, airworthiness, or +competency or licenses and to apply the convention relative to aerial +navigation concluded between the allied and associated powers to her own +aircraft over her own territory. These rules apply until 1923, unless +Germany has since been admitted to the League of Nations or to the above +convention. + + + +SECTION XII. + + +FREEDOM OF TRANSIT. + +[Sidenote: Germany may not discriminate against allied or associated +powers.] + +Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories by mail or +water to persons, goods, ships, carriages, and mails from or to any of +the allied or associated powers, without customs or transit duties, +undue delays, restrictions, or discriminations based on nationality, +means of transport, or place of entry or departure. Goods in transit +shall be assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishable +goods. Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor of +her own transport routes or maintain "control stations" in connection +with transmigration traffic. She may not establish any tax +discrimination against the ports of allied or associated powers; must +grant the latter's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted her +own or other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powers +equal rights with those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, +save that she is free to open or close her maritime coasting trade. + + +FREE ZONES IN PORTS + +[Sidenote: Existing free zones to be maintained.] + +Free zones existing in German ports on August 1, 1914, must be +maintained with due facilities as to warehouses, packing, and shipping, +without discrimination, and without charges except for expenses of +administration and use. Goods leaving the free zones for consumption in +Germany and goods brought into the free zones from Germany shall be +subject to the ordinary import and export taxes. + + +INTERNATIONAL RIVERS. + +The Elbe from the junction of the Ultava, the Ultava from Prague, the +Oder from Oppa, the Niemen from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm are +declared International, together with their connections. + +[Sidenote: Appeal to a special tribunal under international +commissions.] + +The riparian states must ensure good conditions of navigation within +their territories unless a special organization exists therefor. +Otherwise appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the League of +Nations, which also may arrange for a general international waterways +convention. + +The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissions +to meet within three months, that for the Elbe composed of four +representatives of Germany, two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each from +Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium; and that for the Oder +composed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, Great +Britain, France, Denmark, and Sweden. If any riparian state on the +Niemen should so request of the League of Nations, a similar commission +shall be established there. These commissions shall upon request of any +riparian state meet within three months to revise existing international +agreement. + + +THE DANUBE. + +[Sidenote: Representatives in European Danube Commission.] + +The European Danube Commission reassumes its pre-war powers, but for the +time being with representatives of only Great Britain, France, Italy, +and Rumania. The upper Danube is to be administered by a new +international commission until a definitive statute be drawn up at a +conference of the powers nominated by the allied and associated +governments within one year after the peace. + +The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damages +caused to the European Commission; shall cede their river facilities in +surrendered territory, and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, and Rumania any +rights necessary on their shores for carrying on improvements in +navigation. + + +THE RHINE AND THE MOSELLE + +[Sidenote: The Rhine is under the Central Commission.] + +The Rhine is placed under the Central Commission to meet at Strassbourg +within six months after the peace, and to be composed of four +representatives of France, which shall in addition select the President, +four of Germany, and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, +Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Germany must give France on the course +of the Rhine included between the two extreme points of her frontiers +all rights to take water to feed canals, while herself agreeing not to +make canals on the right bank opposite France. She must also hand over +to France all her drafts and designs for this part of the river. + + +RHINE-MEUSE CANAL + +[Sidenote: Plan for a Rhine-Meuse Canal.] + +Belgium is to be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal if +she so desires within twenty-five years, in which case Germany must +construct the part within her territory on plans drawn by Belgium, +similarly the interested allied governments may construct a Rhine-Meuse +canal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent international +commission. Germany may not object if the Central Rhine Commission +desires to extend its jurisdiction over the lower Moselle, the upper +Rhine, or lateral canals. + +[Sidenote: Facilities for navigation to be ceded.] + +Germany must cede to the allied and associated governments certain tugs, +vessels, and facilities for navigation on all these rivers, the specific +details to be established by an arbiter named by the United States. +Decision will be based on the legitimate needs of the parties concerned +and on the shipping traffic during the five years before the war. The +value will be included in the regular reparation account. In the case +of the Rhine shares in the German navigation companies and property such +as wharves and warehouses held by Germany in Rotterdam at the outbreak +of the war must be handed over. + + +RAILWAYS. + +[Sidenote: Communication by rail to be assured.] + +Germany, in addition to most favored nation treatment on her railways, +agrees to cooperate in the establishment of through ticket services for +passengers and baggage; to ensure communication by rail between the +allied, associated, and other States; to allow the construction or +improvement within twenty-five years of such lines as necessary; and to +conform her rolling stock to enable its incorporation in trains of the +allied or associated powers. She also agrees to accept the denunciation +of the St. Gothard convention if Switzerland and Italy so request, and +temporarily to execute instructions as to the transport of troops and +supplies and the establishment of postal and telegraphic service, as +provided. + + +CZECHO-SLOVAKIA + +[Sidenote: Access to the sea on north and south.] + +To assure Czecho-Slovakia access to the sea, special rights are given +her both north and south. Toward the Adriatic she is permitted to run +her own through trains to Fiume and Trieste. To the north, Germany is to +lease her for ninety-nine years spaces in Hamburg and Stettin, the +details to be worked out by a commission of three representing +Czecho-Slovakia, Germany, and Great Britain. + + +THE KIEL CANAL. + +[Sidenote: Open to ships of all nations at peace with Germany.] + +The Kiel Canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant ships of +all nations at peace with Germany, subjects, goods and ships of all +States are to be treated on terms of absolute equality, and no taxes to +be imposed beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for which +Germany is to be responsible. In case of violation of or disagreement as +to those provisions, any State may appeal to the League of Nations, and +may demand the appointment of an international commission. For +preliminary hearing of complaints Germany shall establish a local +authority at Kiel. + + + +SECTION XIII. + + +INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION. + +[Sidenote: Permanent organization to be established.] + +Members of the League of Nations agree to establish a permanent +organization to promote international adjustment of labor conditions, to +consist of an annual international labor conference and an international +labor office. + +The former is composed of four representatives of each State, two from +the Government, and one each from the employers and the employed, each +of them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative legislative +body, its measures taking the form of draft conventions or +recommendations for legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, +must be submitted to the lawmaking authority in every State +participating. Each Government may either enact the terms into law; +approve the principles, but modify them to local needs; leave the actual +legislation in case of a Federal State to local legislatures; or reject +the convention altogether without further obligation. + +[Sidenote: An international labor office.] + +The international labor office is established at the seat of the League +of Nations as part of its organization. It is to collect and distribute +information on labor throughout the world and prepare agenda for the +conference. It will publish a periodical in French and English, and +possibly other languages. Each State agrees to make to it for +presentation to the conference an annual report of measures taken to +execute accepted conventions. The governing body, in its Executive, +consists of twenty-four members, twelve representing the Governments, +six the employers, and six the employes to serve for three years. + +[Sidenote: Court of international justice.] + +On complaint that any Government has failed to carry out a convention to +which it is a party, the governing body may make inquiries directly to +that Government, and in case the reply is unsatisfactory, may publish +the complaint with comment. A complaint by one Government against +another may be referred by the governing body to a commission of inquiry +nominated by the Secretary General of the League. If the commission +report fails to bring satisfactory action the matter may be taken to a +permanent court of international justice for final decision. The chief +reliance for securing enforcement of the law will be publicity with a +possibility of economic action in the background. + +[Sidenote: Labor conferences.] + +The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at +Washington, to discuss the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; +prevention of unemployment; extension and application of the +international conventions adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting night +work for women, and the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of +matches; and employment of women and children at night or in unhealthy +work, of women before and after childbirth, including maternity benefit, +and of children as regards minimum age. + + +LABOR CLAUSES. + +[Sidenote: Of supreme national importance.] + +Nine principles of labor conditions were recognized on the ground that +"the well-being, physical and moral, of the industrial wage earners is +of supreme International importance." With exceptions necessitated by +differences of climate, habits and economic development. They include: +the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a +commodity or article of commerce; the right of association of employers +and employes; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; +the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; a weekly rest of at least +twenty-four hours; which should include Sunday wherever practicable; +abolition of child labor and assurance of the continuation of the +education and proper physical development of children; equal pay for +equal work as between men and women; equitable treatment of all workers +lawfully resident therein, including foreigners; and a system of +inspection in which women should take part. + + + +SECTION XIV--GUARANTEES + + +[Sidenote: The bridgehead of Cologne.] + +As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to the +west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied by +allied and associated troops for a fifteen years' period. If the +conditions are faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, +including the bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expiration +of five years; certain other districts including the bridgehead of +Coblenz, and the territories nearest the Belgian frontier will be +evacuated after ten years, and the remainder, including the bridgehead +of Mainz, will be evacuated after fifteen years. In case the Interallied +Reparation Commission finds that Germany has failed to observe the whole +or part of her obligations, either during the occupation or after the +fifteen years have expired, the whole or part of the areas specified +will be reoccupied immediately. If before the expiration of the fifteen +years Germany complies with all the treaty undertakings, the occupying +forces will be withdrawn. + +[Sidenote: German troops.] + +All German troops at present in territories to the east of the new +frontier shall return as soon as the allied and associated governments +deem wise. They are to abstain from all requisitions and are in no way +to interfere with measures for national defense taken by the Government +concerned. + +All questions regarding occupation not provided for by the treaty will +be regulated by a subsequent convention or conventions which will have +similar force and effect. + + + +SECTION XV. + + +MISCELLANEOUS. + +[Sidenote: To recognize treaties made by allies.] + +Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the treaties of peace +and additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associated +powers with the powers allied with Germany, to agree to the decisions to +be taken as to the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, +and to recognize the new States in the frontiers to be fixed. + +Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against any +allied or associated power signing the present treaty based on events +previous to the coming into force of the treaty. + +[Sidenote: Decision of German prize courts.] + +[Sidenote: Effective on ratification.] + +Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any +allied or associated prize court. The Allies reserve the right to +examine all decisions of German prize courts. The present treaty, of +which the French and British texts are both authentic, shall be ratified +and the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon as possible. +The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the +date of deposition of its ratification. + + + + +SUMMARY OF PRELIMINARY TREATY OF PEACE + +AUSTRIA + + +On June 2 there had been handed to the Austrian delegates a preliminary +treaty which covered certain points, but left others to be dealt with +later. + +Austria must accept the covenant of the league of nations and the labor +charter. + +[Sidenote: Extra European rights to be renounced.] + +She must renounce all her extra European rights. + +She must demobilize all her naval and aerial forces. + +Austria must recognize the complete independence of Hungary. + +Austrian nationals, guilty of violating international laws of war, to be +tried by the Allies. + +Austria must accept economic conditions and freedom of transit similar +to those in German treaty. + +Sections dealing with war prisoners and graves are identical with German +treaty. + +Guarantees of execution of treaty corresponds to those in German pact. + +[Sidenote: Boundaries with Czecho-Slovakia.] + +Boundaries of Bohemia and Moravia to form boundary between Austria and +Czecho-Slovakia, with minor rectifications. + +Allies later to fix southern boundary (referring to Jugoslavia). + +Eastern boundary Marburg and Radkersburg to Jugoslavia. + +Western and northwestern frontiers (facing Bavaria and Switzerland) +unchanged. + +Austria must recognize independence of Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia. + +[Sidenote: Republic of Austria recognized.] + +Austria is recognized as an independent republic under the name +"Republic of Austria." + +Austria must recognize frontiers of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, +Rumania, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia as at present or ultimately +determined. + +Boundaries of Austria, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia to be finally +fixed by mixed commission. + +Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia must agree to protect racial, religious +and linguistic minorities. + +Both new Slav nations and Rumania must assure freedom of transit and +equitable treatment of foreign commerce. + +Austria must recognize full independence of all territories formerly a +part of Russia. + +[Sidenote: Brest-Litovsk treaty annulled.] + +Brest-Litovsk treaty is annulled. + +All treaties with Russian elements concluded since revolution annulled. + +Allies reserve right of restitution for Russia from Austria. + +Austria must consent to abrogation of treaties of 1839 establishing +Belgian neutrality. + +Austria must agree to new Belgian boundaries as fixed by Allies. + +Similar provisions with respect to neutrality and boundaries of +Luxemburg. + +Austria must accept allied disposition of any Austrian rights in Turkey +and Bulgaria. + +She must accept allied arrangements with Germany regarding +Schleswig-Holstein. + +[Sidenote: Equality of races before the law.] + +Austrian nations of all races, languages and religions equal before the +law. + +Clauses affecting Egypt, Morocco, Siam and China identical with German +treaty. + +Entire Austro-Hungarian navy to be surrendered to Allies. + +Twenty-one specified auxiliary cruisers to be disarmed and treated as +merchantmen. + +All warships, including submarines, under construction shall be broken +up and may be used only for industrial purposes. + +All naval arms and material must be surrendered. + +[Sidenote: Use of submarines prohibited.] + +Future use of submarines prohibited. + +Austrian wireless station at Vienna not to be used for military or +political messages to Austria's late allies without Allies' consent for +three months. + +Austria may not have naval or air forces. + +She must demobilize existing air forces within two months and surrender +aviation material. + +Austrian nationals cannot serve in military, naval or aerial forces of +foreign powers. + +She may send no military, naval or aerial mission to any foreign +country. + +Penalties section identical with German treaty excepting reference to +German kaiser. New states required to aid in prosecution and punishment +of their nationals guilty of offenses against international law. + +[Sidenote: Access to the Adriatic promised.] + +Economic clauses in general similar to those in German treaty. Austria +given access to Adriatic. + +Austria must abandon all financial claims against signatories. + +Treaty to become operative when signed by Austria and three of the +principal powers. + +On July 21, an amplified treaty with Austria-Hungary taking up matters +omitted from the first paper was given to the delegates from that +country. A summary of the articles follows: + +[Sidenote: Arrangements for reparation.] + +In addition to the published summary of the terms of June 2, the new +clauses provide for reparation arrangements very similar to those in the +treaty with Germany, including the establishment of an Austrian +subsection of the Reparations Commission, the payment of a reasonable +sum in cash, the issuing of bonds, and the delivery of livestock and +certain historical and art documents. + +The financial terms provide that the Austrian pre-war debt shall be +apportioned among the former parts of Austria, and that the Austrian +coinage and war bonds, circulating in the separated territory, shall be +taken up by the new governments and redeemed as they see fit. + +Under the military terms the Austrian army is henceforth reduced to +30,000 men on a purely voluntary basis. + +[Sidenote: Universal military service to be abolished.] + +Paragraph 5, relating to the military situation, says that the Austrian +army shall not exceed 30,000 men, including officers and depot troops. +Within three months the Austrian military forces shall be reduced to +this number, universal military service abolished and voluntary +enlistment substituted as part of the plan "to render possible the +initiation of a general limitation of armaments of all nations." + +The army shall be used exclusively for the maintenance of internal order +and control of frontiers. All officers must be regulars, those of the +present army to be retained being under obligation to serve until 40 +years old, those newly appointed agreeing to at least twenty consecutive +years of active service. Non-commissioned officers and privates must +enlist for not less than twelve consecutive years, including at least +six years with the colors. + +[Sidenote: Manufacture of war material.] + +Within three months the armament of the Austrian army must be reduced +according to detailed schedules, and all surplus surrendered. The +manufacture of all war material shall be confined to one single factory +under the control of the State, and other such establishments shall be +closed or converted. Importation and exportation of arms, munitions and +war materials of all kinds are forbidden. + +[Sidenote: Compensation for damage to civilians.] + +Paragraph 8 (on reparation) reads, in substance: The allied and +associated Governments affirm, and Austria accepts, the responsibility +of Austria and her allies for causing loss and damage to which the +allied and associated Governments and their nationals have been +subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the +aggression of Austria and her allies. While recognizing that Austria's +resources will not be adequate to make complete reparation, the allied +and associated Governments request, and Austria undertakes, that she +will make compensation for damage done to civilians and their property, +in accordance with categories of damages similar to those provided in +the treaty with Germany. + +The amount of damage is to be determined by the Reparation Commission +provided for in the treaty with Germany, which is to have a special +section to handle the Austrian situation. The commission will notify +Austria before May 1, 1921, of the extent of her liabilities and of the +schedule of payments for the discharge thereof during a period of thirty +years. It will bear in mind the diminutions of Austria's resources and +capacity of payment resulting from the treaty. + +As immediate reparation, Austria shall pay during 1919, 1920, and the +first four months of 1921, in such manner as provided by the Reparation +Commission, "a reasonable sum which shall be determined by the +commission." + +[Sidenote: Bond issues to be made.] + +Three bond issues shall be made--the first before May 1, 1921, without +interest; the second at 2-1/2 per cent. interest between 1921 and 1926, +and thereafter at 5 per cent., with an additional 1 per cent. for +amortization beginning in 1926, and a third at 5 per cent, when the +commission is satisfied that Austria can meet the interest and sinking +fund obligations. The amount shall be divided by the allied and +associated Governments in proportions determined upon in advance on a +basis of general equity. + +[Sidenote: Representatives of the Reparation Commission.] + +The Austrian section of the Reparation Commission shall include +representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, +Greece, Poland, Rumania, the Serbo-Slovene State, and Czecho-Slovakia. +The first four shall each appoint a delegate with two votes, and the +other five shall choose one delegate each year to represent them all. +Withdrawal from the commission is permitted on twelve months' notice. + +[Sidenote: To pay cost of armies of occupation.] + +Paragraph 9, (Financial.)--The first charge upon all the assets and +revenues of Austria shall be the costs arising under the present treaty, +including, in order of priority, the costs of the armies of occupation, +reparations, and other charges specifically agreed to and, with certain +exceptions, as granted by the Reparation Commission for payments for +imports. Austria must pay the total cost of the armies of occupation +from the armistice of November 3, 1918, so long as maintained, and may +export no gold before May 1, 1921, without consent of the Reparation +Commission. + +Each of the States to which Austrian territory is transferred and each +of the States arising out of the dismemberment of Austria, including the +Republic of Austria, shall assume part of the Austrian pre-war debt +specifically secured on railways, salt mines, and other property, the +amount to be fixed by the Reparation Commission on the basis of the +value of the property so transferred. + +[Sidenote: The pre-war debt.] + +Similarly, the unsecured bonded pre-war debt of the former empire shall +be distributed by the Reparation Commission in the proportion that the +revenues for the three years before the war of the separated territory +bore to those of the empire, excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina. + +No territory formerly part of the empire, except the Republic of +Austria, shall carry with it any obligation in respect of the war debt +of the former Austrian Government, but neither the Governments of those +territories nor their nationals shall have recourse against any other +State, including Austria, in respect of war debt bonds held within their +respective territories by themselves or their nationals. + +[Sidenote: Replacement of ships lost by the Allies.] + +Austria, recognizing the right of the Allies to ton-for-ton replacement +of all ships lost or damaged in the war, cedes all merchant ships and +fishing boats belonging to nationals of the former empire, agreeing to +deliver them within two months to the Reparation Commission. With a view +to making good the losses in river tonnage, she agrees to deliver up 20 +per cent. of her river fleet. + +[Sidenote: Restoration of devastated areas.] + +The allied and associated powers require, and Austria undertakes, that +in part reparation she will devote her economic resources to the +physical restoration of the invaded areas. Within sixty days of the +coming into force of the treaty the governments concerned shall file +with the Reparation Commission lists of animals, machinery, equipment, +and the like destroyed by Austria which the governments desire replaced +in kind, and lists of the materials which they desire produced in +Austria for the work of reconstruction, which shall be reviewed in the +light of Austria's ability to meet them. + +[Sidenote: Animals to be delivered.] + +As an immediate advance as to animals, Austria agrees to deliver within +three months after ratification of the treaty 4,000 milch cows to Italy +and 1,000 each to Serbia and Rumania; 1,000 heifers to Italy, 300 to +Serbia, and 500 to Rumania; 50 bulls to Italy and 25 each to Serbia and +Rumania; 1,000 calves to each of the three nations; 1,000 bullocks to +Italy and 500 each to Serbia and Rumania; 2,000 sows to Italy, and +1,000 draft horses and 1,000 sheep to both Serbia and Rumania. + +[Sidenote: Timber, iron and magnesite.] + +Austria also agrees to give an option for five years as to timber, iron, +and magnesite in amounts as nearly equal to the pre-war importations as +Austria's resources make possible. She renounces in favor of Italy all +cables touching territories assigned to Italy, and in favor of the +allied and associated powers the others. + +[Sidenote: Valuable objects to be restored.] + +Austria agrees to restore all records, documents, objects of antiquity +and art, and all scientific and bibliographic material taken away from +the invaded or ceded territories. She will also hand over without delay +all official records of the ceded territories and all records, documents +and historical material possessed by public institutions and having a +direct bearing on the history of the ceded territories which have been +removed during the past ten years, except that for Italy the period +shall be from 1861. + +As to artistic archaeological, scientific or historic objects formerly +belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Government or Crown, Austria agrees to +negotiate with the State concerned for an amicable arrangement for the +return to the districts of origin on terms of reciprocity of any object +which ought to form part of the intellectual patrimony of the ceded +districts, and for twenty years to safeguard all other such objects for +the free use of students. + +[Sidenote: War debt held outside the empire.] + +The war debt held outside the former empire shall be a charge on the +Republic of Austria alone. All war securities shall be stamped within +two months with the stamp of the State taking them up, replaced by +certificates, and settlement made to the Reparation Commission. + +The currency notes of the former Austro-Hungarian Bank circulating in +the separated territory shall be stamped within two months by the new +governments of the various territories with their own stamp, replaced +within twelve months by a new currency, and turned over within twelve +months to the Reparation Commission. The bank itself shall be liquidated +as from the day after the signature of the treaty by the Reparation +Commission. + +[Sidenote: Property within the new States.] + +States to which Austrian territory was transferred and States arising +from the dismemberment of Austria shall acquire all property within +their territories of the old or new Austrian Government, including that +of the former royal family. The value is to be assessed by the +Reparation Commission and credited to Austria on the reparation account. + +[Sidenote: Property of historic interest.] + +Property of predominant historic interest to the former kingdoms of +Poland, Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, the +Republic of Ragusa, the Venetian Republic, or the episcopal +principalities of Trent and Bressanone may be transferred without +payment. + +Austria renounces all rights as to all international, financial, or +commercial organizations in allied countries, Germany, Hungary, +Bulgaria, Turkey, or the former Russian Empire. She agrees to +expropriate, on demand of the Reparation Commission, any rights of her +nationals in any public utility or concession in these territories, in +separated districts, and in mandatory territories, to transfer them to +the commission within six months, and to hold herself responsible for +indemnifying her nationals so dispossessed. + +[Sidenote: Austria to renounce treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk.] + +She also agrees to deliver within one month the gold deposited as +security for the Ottoman debt, renounce any benefits accruing from the +treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk, and transfer to the allied and +associated Governments all claims against her former Allies. + +Any financial adjustments, such as those relating to banking and +insurance companies, savings banks, postal savings banks, land banks or +mortgage companies in the former monarchy, necessitated by the +dismemberment of the monarchy, and the resettlement of public debts and +currency, shall be regulated by agreements between the various +governments failing which the Reparation Commission shall appoint an +arbitrator or arbitrators, whose decision shall be final. + +Austria shall not be responsible for pensions of nationals of the former +empire who have become nationals of other States. + +[Sidenote: Committee of three jurists.] + +As for special objects carried off by the House of Hapsburg and other +dynasties from Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Czecho-Slovakia, a committee +of three jurists appointed by the Reparation Commission is to examine +within a year the conditions under which the objects were removed and to +order restoration if the removal were illegal. The list of articles +includes among others: + +[Sidenote: List of special articles to be restored.] + +For Tuscany, the Crown Jewels and part of the Medici heirlooms; for +Modena, a Virgin by Andrea del Sarto and manuscripts; for Palermo, +twelfth century objects made for the Norman Kings; for Naples, +ninety-eight manuscripts carried off in 1718; for Belgium, various +objects and documents removed in 1794; for Poland, a gold cup of King +Ladislas IV., removed in 1772; and for Czecho-Slovakia, various documents +and historical manuscripts removed from the Royal Castle of Prague. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Air Raids, at night, III, 229-241; + British, II, 249; + on England, I, 375-388 + +Albert, King of Belgium, I, 114-115; + encourages soldiers, I, 51-53 + +Albert, town of, III, 164 + +_Alcedo_ torpedoed, II, 374-378 + +Alderson, General, at Second Ypres, I, 258 + +Aleppo, importance as railway junction, II, 180; + starting point for caravans, II, 178 + +Alien enemies, rules concerning, II, 239-243 + +Allenby, General, at Gommecourt, II. 75; + commands in Palestine, II, 344-368; + in Allied retreat, I, 65-67 + +Allied Armies, in Macedonia, III, 170; + positions in Battle of the Marne, I, 78, 81, 90-93 + +Alsace, operations in, I, 84 + +America Drawn Into War, II, 205-225; + bad faith of Germans, II, 210; + sinking of _Lusitania_, II, 210; + stirred by invasion of Belgium, II, 208; + _Sussex_, II, 212 + +America's Break with Germany, relations severed, II, 197-198; + reasons for, II, 194-204 + +America's Declaration of Existence of War, II, 224-225 + +American Expeditionary Forces, a corps, III, 242-243; + a division, III, 242; + airplanes, III, 248; + artillery supply, III, 247; + artillery training camp, III, 202; + attack in the Soissonais, III, 224; + aviators, III, 269; + communication and supply, III, 244-246; + construction work, III, 244; + Engineer Corps, III, 216, 269; + fight through Meuse-Argonne sector, III, 256-267; + First and Second in Soissons drive, III, 252; + First Army is organized, III, 254; + first days on the firing line, III, 200-209; + First Division at Montdidier, III, 250; + First Division takes Cantigny, III, 250; + Forty-second Division east of Rheims, III, 251; + Forty-second and Thirty-second at Cierges, III, 253; + from the Marne to the Aisne, III, 210-228; + German supply line cut, III, 266; + infantry training, III, 243; + line on date of armistice, III, 267; + losses of, III, 268; + Medical Corps, III, 268; + Ordnance Department, III, 269; + organization of, III, 242-248; + plans for movement against St. Mihiel salient, III, 254; + ports employed, III, 245; + quality of soldiers, III, 228; + Quartermaster's Department, III, 269; + Second and Thirty-sixth with French, III, 261-262; + Second Army organized, III, 263; + Second Corps organized on British front, III, 251; + Second Division takes Bouresches, Belleau Wood and Vaux, III, + 250-251; + Service of Supply, III, 245-247, 268; + Signal Corps, III, 269; + soldiers in Italy, III, 268; + soldiers in Russia, III, 268; + take St. Mihiel salient, III, 254-257; + ten divisions train on British front, III, 250; + Tank Corps, III, 269; + Third Division on the Marne, III, 250-252; + Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium, III, 264; + three divisions on the Vesle, III, 253; + troops in the Argonne, III, 258-266; + Twenty-eighth Division east of Rheims, III, 251; + Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth Divisions break Hindenburg line, III, + 261; + Twenty-sixth at Seicheprey, III, 249; + Twenty-sixth takes Torcy, III, 253 + +American Navy in the War, III, 270-296; + activities of Y.M.C.A. and Knights of Columbus, III, 287-288; + air stations in Ireland, III, 278; + aviation base at Eastleigh, III, 281; + base at Cardiff, Scotland, III, 286; + Battleship Division Nine, III, 278; + convoy of troops, III, 282; + co-operates with Allies, III, 271-273; + cross-channel transport service, III, 280; + destroyers on coast of Ireland, III, 275; + destroyers at Brest, III, 282-283; + forces at Gibraltar, III, 286; + mine-laying operations, III, 279; + naval pipe-line unit, III, 286; + northern bombing group of seaplanes, III, 281; + seaplane station at Killingholme, III, 280; + radio station near Bordeaux, III, 285; + railway battery, III, 285-286; + Rear-Admiral Rodgers, III, 276; + subchasers, III, 277; + subchasers at Corfu, III, 286; + subchasers at Plymouth, III, 280; + submarines, III, 276; + Vice-Admiral Wilson on French coast, III, 281-282 + +American Food Commission, II, 163 + +American Railway Association, aids war preparations, II, 332 + +American ships torpedoed, II, 286 + +Amiens, capture of, I, 82 + +Ancre, Battle of the, Beaumont taken, II, 109 + +Ancre and Somme, lines between, II, 71 + +Anglo-Russian Campaign in Turkey, II, 174-187; + British save oil fields, II, 181; + British in Kut-el-Amara, II, 181; + Russians in Caucasia, II, 183-186 + +Anzac, meaning of term, I, 224 + +Arbuthnot, Rear-Admiral Sir Robert, death of, II, 52; + ships are disabled, II, 41 + +_Ardent_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Argonne, American army prepares for battle, III, 258; + Americans open battle, III, 259; + character of ground, III, 258; + divisions engaged, III, 266; + is cleared of enemy, III, 263; + prisoners taken, III, 266 + +Armenia, Russians in, I, 184 + +Armistice, duration of, III, 304-305; + November 11, 1918, III, 266; + signatories, III, 305; + terms of, III, 297-305 + +Artillery, work of, in Argonne, III, 259, 261 + +Asia, routes, II, 177-178 + +Atrocities, in Belgium and Serbia, II, 223 + +Australians, at Gallipoli, I, 222-224; + in Palestine, II, 350 + +Austria-Hungary, army and navy reorganized, I, 8; + condition on Bulgaria's capitulation, III, 181; + orders partial mobilization, I, 24-25; + seeks control of Constantinople, I, 126; + sends ultimatum to Serbia, I, 14 + +Austria-Hungary and Russia, mutual antagonism of, I, 8 + +Austrians, on Col di Lana, II, 55-65; + in the Alps, I, 315-319; + use 17-inch howitzers, III, 78 + +Austro-German Offensive Against Italy, III, 71-100 + +Austro-Italian front, II, 56 + +Aviation, American naval, in Europe, under Captain Cone, III, 286; + American naval air stations in England, III, 280-281; + American naval air stations in France, III, 283-285; + American naval air stations in Ireland, III, 278; + German air raids, I, 375-383; III, 229-241; + report on Jerusalem, II, 362; + Royal Flying Corps at Mons, I, 73 + +Avocourt, attack on, II, 22; + retaken by French, II, 19 + +Avocourt Wood, stormed by Germans, II, 18 + +_Ayesha_, cruise of the, I, 184-189 + + +B + +Bainsizza Plateau, evacuated, III, 80; + fighting on, III, 78 + +Baker, Newton D., Secretary of War, II, 298-343 + +Balkan Nations, I, 127-128 + +Balkan Railway, II, 179 + +Balkan War, danger to Turkey, I, 134 + +Basra, threatened, II, 181 + +Battle Lines, Map of, III, 227 + +Bayly, Admiral Sir Lewis, commands destroyer forces, III, 275 + +Beatty, Admiral, reports on Jutland Battle, II, 31-40 + +Beaumont, captured, II, 109 + +Beau Repaire Farm, III, 252 + +Belgian Army, heroism at Liege, I, 45; + retreats to Ostend, I, 106; + spirit of soldiers, I, 113, 122; + stand in Belgium, I, 101 + +Belgium, conditions better than in France, II, 167; + dangers for, I, 17; + French army in, I, 100-101; + German rule in, II, 159-173; + invasion of, I, 41-61; + last ditch in, I, 108-124; + neutrality of, I, 31-32; + war in, I, 106-107 + +Belleau Wood, taken, III, 251 + +Berzy-le-Sec, captured, III, 252 + +Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr von, opinion, I, 25-26 + +Birdwood, General, plans of, I, 370-371 + +Bismarck Fort, I, 216 + +_Black Prince_, sunk, II, 52 + +Black Sea, closing of, I, 135-137 + +Bohemia, National Assembly of, III, 186 + +Bohlen, Herr Krupp von, opinion of, I, 20 + +Bollati, Signor, views on German Government, I, 18-19 + +"Boris the Bulgar," III, 63 + +Boulogne, objective, I, 103 + +Bouresches, taken, III, 251 + +Boy-Ed, Captain, violates American neutrality, II, 288 + +Bridge of Arches, I, 47 + +Briggs, Lieutenant General, operations at Saloniki, II, 252 + +_Brilliant_, at Ostend, III, 111-112, 118 + +_Bristol_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172 + +British Admiralty, I, 283-284 + +British and French, cooperation in Somme attack, II, 75, 86, 89 + +British Armies, advance in Marne battle, I, 80-82; + in capture of Tsing-Tao, I, 205-220; + growth of, II, 67; + in the Great Retreat, I, 86-89; + on Italian front, III, 83; + remove from Aisne, I, 99-100; + retreat in Picardy, III, 162-163; + transported to northern theater, I, 99 + +British Empire, in Africa, III, 50 + +British Navy, arrival of squadron at Port Stanley, I, 161-162; + at Jutland Bank, II, 32-54; + in Coronel sea fight, I, 141-157; + in Falkland Battle, I, 157-175; + Grand Fleet, II, 30; + at Zeebrugge and Ostend, III, 101-118 + +British Troops in Mesopotamia, + advance up Tigris, II, 181; + routes to Bagdad, II, 185 + +Brussiloff, commands offensive in Volhynia, II, 132-133; + talks on Rumanian situation, II, 137 + +Bulgaria, affected by the Russian Revolution, III, 174; + character of people, III, 171-172; + dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179; + dissatisfaction with Peace of Bucharest, III, 172; + dissatisfied with share of the Dobrudja, III, 175; + dissatisfied with treatment from Germany, III, 177-178; + influenced by Teuton promises, III, 173; + influenced by Allied victories in the West, III, 179; + victorious in Serbia and Rumania, III, 174; + withdraws from the war, III, 170 + +Bulgarians, advance in Struma Valley, II, 246; + attack Greeks, III, 61-64; + in Eastern Macedonia, II, 247 + +Bullard, General Robert L., commands Second Army, III, 263; + commands Third Corps, and operations on the Vesle, III, 253 + + +C + +Cadorna, General, arrests Italian offensive, III, 72-73 + +Caetani, Gelasio, Italian engineer on Col di Lana, II, 62 + +Calais, battle of, I, 104; + objective of Germans, I, 103 + +Cambon, coolness in crisis, I, 36; + fears of, I, 16 + +Cameron, Major General George H., in St. Mihiel battle, III, 255 + +Canadians, at Second Ypres, I, 248-286; + counterattack on Germans, I, 251-252; + heroism of, I, 249-252; + in gas attack at Ypres, I, 253; + position of Division at Ypres, I, 248-249; + recapture of guns at Ypres, I, 221; + Royal Highlanders, I, 255-257; + Third Brigade, I, 249-257 + +_Canopus_, accompanies Glasgow, I, 146-147; + in Falkland fight, I, 156-158 + +Cantigny, taken by First Division, III, 250 + +Cantonments, completion of, II, 327; + materials for, II, 322-323; + sites chosen, II, 319-320; + typical, II, 323 + +Caporetto, falls to Austrians, III, 71; + taking of, III, 76 + +_Carnovan_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170 + +Carpathians, I, 319-320 + +Carpenter, Captain A.F.B., commands _Vindictive_ at Zeebrugge, + III, 104 + +_Cassin_, U.S. destroyer, torpedoed, II, 369-376 + +Castelnau, General de, orders troops to hold at Verdun, II, 16 + +Cavell, Edith, I, 348-364; + trial of, I, 350-352 + +Central Powers, desire to dominate other races, II, 215 + +Champagne, great offensive in, I, 322-347 + +Channel, race for, I, 96-107 + +Charleroi, defeat of Allied armies at, I, 61 + +Chateau-Thierry, German offensive at, III, 252; + July counteroffensive, III, 252; + Third Division holds bridgehead, III, 250; + topography, III, 210-213 + +Chetwode, General, route of Germans by, I, 73 + +China, neutrality of, I, 204 + +_Choising_, German ship, I, 187-191 + +Col di Lana, blowing off Austrian position, II, 55-65 + +Combles, French advance on, II, 94-95 + +_Communipaw_, sunk, II, 282 + +Congress, in extraordinary session, II, 226 + +Constantine, King of Greece, attitude of, III, 54 + +Constantinople, contention for, I, 129-130; + German cruisers at, I, 135; + hold of England and France on, I, 129; + importance of, I, 126-127, 140; II, 177 + +Contalmaison, attack on, II, 78 + +Convoy System, III, 282 + +_Cornwall_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172 + +Coronel, Battle of, I, 141-157 + +Cote du Poivre, attack at, II, 18-21; + taken by French, II, 28 + +Council of National Defense, II, 321-343 + +Cradock, Rear Admiral Sir Christopher, attacks German cruisers, I, + 150-157; + in chase for German squadron, I, 145 + +Crown Prince, German, army of, at Verdun, II, 12; + brings up fresh forces, II, 18; + urges troops to take Verdun, II, 8 + +Cumieres, retaken by French, II, 22; + stormed by Germans, II, 22 + +Curry, General, at Second Ypres, I, 256-257, 259 + +Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force, III, 183 + +Czecho-Slovaks, III, 183-199; + character of men in Siberia, III, 184-185; + journey on a Czecho-Slovak train, III, 184 + + +D + +_Daffodil_, at Ostend, III, 101; + at Zeebrugge, III, 102-103, 105 + +Declaration of War, II, 238 + +_Defence_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Dellville Wood, attacks on, II, 87-88; + terrain around, II, 85 + +Deportations, II, 161-162 + +Destroyers, American, III, 7-31 + +Dickman, Major General, commands First Corps, III, 263; + in St. Mihiel battle, III, 255 + +Dobrudja, disposed of by Germany, III, 175; + failure of defense in, II, 134 + +Doiran Lake, British lines near, II, 246 + +Donnelly, Lieutenant, surprises Turks, I, 235-236 + +Douaumont, attacks at, II, 21; + French victory at, II, 27 + +Drake, exploits of, I, 149 + +Duchess of Hohenberg, I, 9 + +Dunkirk, bombed, I, 109-110; + objective of Germans, I, 103 + + +E + +East African Campaigns, III, 32-53 + +Egypt, natural routes to, II, 178; + need for large army, II, 180 + +Eightieth Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in Argonne, III, 258 + +Eighty-ninth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Eighty-second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in reserve in Argonne, III, 259 + +Eighty-seventh Division, in Argonne, III, 259 + +_Eitel Friedrich_, in Falkland fight, I, 162-174; + interns at Newport News, I, 174 + +_Emden_, cruise of, I, 176-197; + ships captured by, I, 179-180 + +Engineers, sent to France, II, 328; + training of, II, 327; + work of, in Argonne, III, 259 + +England on neutrality of Belgium, I, 30-31; + scorns German proposal, I, 26-27 + +Erzerum, taken by Russians, I, 183 + +Evan-Thomas, Admiral, report on Jutland Bank, II, 39 + + +F + +Falkland Sea Fight, I, 142-175 + +Festubert, Canadian advance at, I, 274-275 + +Fifth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +First Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in drive for Soissons, III, 252; + in reserve in Argonne, III, 259; + takes Berzy-le-Sec, III, 252 + +Flanders, Battle of, I, 97; + German attack in, I, 101-103 + +Foch, General, afterward Marshal, outmanoeuvres Germans in Battle of + the Marne, I, 93; + launches counteroffensive, III, 252; + uses American troops in Picardy and on the Marne, III, 249, 250 + +Food, in Belgium, II, 168 + +Forts of Liege, I, 54-59 + +Forts, on banks of Meuse, I, 54-56 + +Forty-Second (Rainbow) Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + captures Sergy, III, 253 + +Fourth Division, in Argonne, III, 258; + relieves Forty-second, III, 253 + +France, her wounded heroes, III, 138-152; + Germany declares war on, I, 35; + German rule in, II, 159-173; + control cards, II, 160 + +Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, assassination of, I, 10; + character of, I, 7-9; + marriage to Sophie Chotek, I, 9; + political designs of, I, 7-9 + +French, Sir John, on Battle of the Marne, I, 73-82; + on Great Retreat, I, 62-72 + +French and British, cooperate in Battle of the Somme, II, 86, 89; + on Italian front, III, 83 + +French Armies, advance at Marne, I, 80-82; + break German attack at Verdun, II, 16; + in Alsace, I, 83-84; + in Battle of the Marne, I, 91-95; + in Meuse Hills, III, 266; + losses of, III, 159; + official account, I, 83-107; + retreat at Verdun, II, 14; + victorious at Ypres, I, 275 + +Fricourt, British attacks on, II, 76; + captured, II, 77 + + +G + +Gallipoli, abandonment of, I, 366-374; + campaign at, I, 221-239; + suffering of troops, I, 367 + +Gas, accounts for German gains at Second Ypres, I, 269; + bombardment at Second Ypres, I, 262-265; + cloud of, at Second Ypres, I, 242; + Canadians charge through, I, 268; + first use in war, I, 240-276; + Germans first to employ, I, 276; + peculiar appearance of gas battle, I, 267 + +Gerard, Ambassador to Germany, II, 294 + +German Activities in the United States, II, 278; + note to Mexico, II, 297 + +German Armies, battle plans of, II, 12; + cross the Sambre, I, 86; + checked at Verdun, II, 16; + driven to Soissons-Rheims, I, 77; + first to use gas in battle, I, 241-242; + in Battle of Picardy, III, 153-169; + in Battle of the Marne, I, 89-90; + in Race for the Seas, I, 101-102; + invade Belgium, I, 41; + line at close of Battle of the Marne, I, 81; + losses in Battle of the Marne, I, 95; + losses at Ypres, I, 105; + losses at Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 209; + losses at Tsing-tao, I, 219-220; + strength at Verdun, II, 20; + positions in Champagne, I, 324-327; + losses of, at Ypres, I, 105; + defenses between Somme and Ancre, II, 72; + in retreat, I, 79-82; + prepare for Battle of Verdun, II, 8-12; + rapid advance against Italians, III, 77-78; + reinforced, I, 84 + +German Colonial Aims, strategic points desired, III, 45-46 + +German Control in Belgium, II, 167-172 + +German Control in France, gendarmerie brutal, II, 167; + treatment of girl workers, I, 161 + +German East Africa, a menace to Asia, III, 49; + evacuated by enemy, III, 41; + opinion of Baron von Rechenberg, III, 45 + +German Fleet, in Battle of Jutland Bank, II, 30-54 + +German Interference with American manufacturers, II, 292 + +German Note to Mexico, II, 297 + +German Notice of January 31, 1917, II, 285 + +German Propaganda, in Allied countries, III, 75-76 + +German Spies in America, II, 286-292 + +German West Africa, strategic importance of, III, 48-49 + +Germans, issue submarine proclamation, I, 280; + make peace proposals, II, 29; + nearness to iron ore, II, 9; + system of colonization, III, 43 + +Germany attains eastern ambitions, III, 154; + declares war on France, I, 35; + industrial expansion of, I, 127; + mobilizes, I, 35; + loses prestige in the East, III, 181; + must destroy either French or British army, III, 158; + need for Central Africa, III, 46: + perfidy of Government, II, 222; + plans of, I, 128-133; + preparation for defense, I, 201-202; + proclaims ruthless submarine warfare, II, 194; + sends note on submarine warfare, I, 307-308 + +Germany's African colonies, strategic importance of, III, 46-47 + +_Glasgow_, in Coronel fight, I, 146-157 + +_Gneisenau_, in Falkland fight, I, 147-171 + +Gompers, Samuel, labor leader, assistance rendered to government, + II, 325; + on Council of National Defense, II, 325-326 + +_Good Hope_, sunk, I, 146-155 + +Gorizia, suffers from war, III, 71 + +Goschen, Sir Edward, I, 30-32 + +Gough, General, in Battle of the Somme, II, 77 + +Grand Fleet, British, II, 30 + +Great Britain, holds vantage points in the East, II, 180; + interests in Persia, II, 174-176 + +Greeks, fight at Rupel Pass, III, 59; + on the side of the Allies, III, 54-68; + successes of, III, 61 + +Greeks and Bulgars, III, 64 + +"Green Devils," nickname for German gendarmerie, II, 167 + +Grey, Sir Edward, refuses German proposals, I, 30 + +Guillemont, fighting at, II, 88-91 + + +H + +Hague, The, American policy at, II, 206 + +Haig, Sir Douglas, commands British in Battle of the Somme, II, + 67-113 + +Haig and Joffre, discuss plans for Somme offensive, II, 67 + +Hardaumont, fight for, II, 18 + +Hardromont Quarries, taken by General Mangin, II, 22 + +Henderson, Sir David, I, 71 + +Hepburn, Captain A.J., commands subchasers, III, 277 + +High Wood, II, 81, 82 + +Hill 304, artillery attack on, II, 21 + +Hindenburg Line, broken, III, 261 + +Hines, Major General John L., commands Third Corps, III, 263 + +Hohenberg, Duchess of, I, 9-10 + +Hood, Rear Admiral, at Jutland Bank, II, 38; + death of, II, 52 + +Hoskins, General, in East Africa, III, 41 + +Hospitals, II, 342-343; + at naval bases, III, 288; + bombed by Germans, III, 240 + +_Housatonic_, sunk, II, 200 + + +I + +Identification Papers, II, 159 + +_Indefatigable_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +_Inflexible_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170 + +Ingram, Osmund K., saves comrades, II, 370 + +International Law, upheld by United States, II, 284 + +_Intrepid_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107-108 + +_Invincible_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170; + sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +_Iphigenia_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107-108 + +_Iris_, in Ostend Harbor, III, 101 + +_Iris_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102-103, 105-106 + +Irish, in Gallipoli fight, I, 227 + +Isonzo, filled by rain, retards enemy, III, 92; + in Austro-German offensive, III, 71, 75 + +Italian Retreat, army reaches Tagliamento, III, 96; + Austrian aeroplanes overhead, III, 95; + brilliant work of cavalry, III, 97; + civilians in, III, 90-91; + difficulties of, III, 82-91; + Importance of Tagliamento bridges, III, 91; + military stores evacuated or destroyed, III, 84-86; + stand on Piave, III, 99 + +Italians evacuate Bainsizza Plateau, III, 80; + evacuate Udine, III, 81; + expect Austrian push, III, 72; + tactics, I, 315-318 + +Italy, American troops in, III, 268; + Legion Italienne withdrawn for rest, II, 56-57; + war on Alpine front, II, 55-65 + + +J + +_Jacob Jones_, U.S. destroyer, torpedoed, II, 378-384 + +Jagow, Herr von, on Austrian note, I, 15; + on mobilization, I, 35 + +Japan in the War, I, 198-220 + +Japanese characteristics, I, 198; + landing and advance of, I, 203-206; + losses at Tsing-tao, I, 220; + ultimatum, I, 199-200 + +Jellicoe, Sir John, commands at Jutland Bank, II, 30-45 + +Jerusalem, British advance toward, II, 366-368; + capture of, II, 343; + official entry into, II, 368 + +Joffre, General, announces plans to General French, I, 76; + appeals to troops, I, 323-324; + forms new Ninth Army, I, 75; + gives order to advance, I, 90; + letter of thanks from, I, 347; + resumes offensive, I, 98-99 + +Joffre and Haig, discuss plans for summer offensive, II, 67 + +Jutland Bank, II, 30-54 + + +K + +Kalahari Desert, III, 32 + +Kato, Japanese Foreign Minister, I, 199 + +Kato, Japanese Vice Admiral, I, 202 + +_Kent_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-175 + +Keyes, Vice Admiral, commands _Warwick_ at Zeebrugge, III, 102 + +Kiao-chau, blockade of coast, I, 202-203 + +Kigali, East Africa, III, 37 + +Kitchener, Earl, II, 188-193 + +Kivu Lake, East Africa, III, 37 + +Kleyer, Burgomaster of Liege, I, 47-51 + +_Koenigsberg_, in Rufiji River, III, 18 + +Kriemhilde Line, penetrated by Americans, III, 264 + +Kut-el-Amara, occupied by British, II, 181; + importance of, II, 183 + + +L + +Lansing, Secretary, note to German Government, I, 305-307 + +League of Nations, III, 306-316 + +Leipsic Salient, II, 77 + +_Leipzig_, in Pacific, I, 147-148 + +Leman, General, I, 43-61 + +Le Mort Homme (Dead Man Hill), attacks on, II, 18-22 + +Le Transloy, defenses of, II, 102 + +Leval, Maitre de, endeavors to aid Miss Cavell, I, 353-362; + opinion on German Courts, I, 352 + +Liege, Forts of, I, 54; + Germans enter, I, 49 + +Liggett, General Hunter, commands First Corps of First Army, III, 253; + commands First Army, III, 263 + +Lipsett, Lieutenant Colonel, at Second Ypres, I, 257-258 + +Littell, Colonel I.W., constructs cantonments, II, 320 + +Louvain, capture of, I, 61 + +_Lusitania_, torpedoed, I, 277-312 + +Luxembourg, invaded, I, 41 + +_Lyman M. Law_, sunk, II, 200 + + +M + +Macedonia, Bulgarians in, II, 247 + +_Macedonia_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-171 + +Macready, General, cited, I, 72 + +Mametz Wood, II, 78-79 + +Mangin, General, takes quarries of Haudromont, II, 22 + +Marne, American Third Division at Chateau-Thierry, III, 250; + description, III, 212-215; + Battle of the, I, 73-82; I; 91-95 + +Marne-Aisne District, character of country, III, 210-224 + +Marne-Vesle, topography, III, 211-212 + +Masaryk, Professor, leader of Czecho-Slovaks, III, 192 + +Massiges, capture of, I, 340-341 + +Mayo, Admiral, report of, III, 270-296 + +Mediterranean, German submarines in, II, 282 + +Menin Road, I, 270-272 + +Mesopotamia, value of, II, 174-175 + +Messines Ridge, in Battle of Picardy, III, 167-168 + +Meuse-Argonne Front, the final advance, III, 265-267 + +Meuse River, divides battlefield of Verdun, II, 10; + fighting on both sides of, II, 18 + +Mexico, German note to, II, 297 + +Mitteleuropa, apparently accomplished in 1915, III, 173; + Bulgaria only a link, III, 175; + crumbling of idea, III, 170 + +Monastir, advance on, II, 250 + +Monfalcone, III, 79-80 + +_Mongolia_, fires first shot at Germans, II, 270-277 + +Monroe Doctrine, II, 205-207 + +Mons, Allied line through, I, 62; + British retreat from, I, 70 + +Montdidier, First Division at, III, 250; + taken, III, 164 + +Monte Nero, cut off, III, 71 + +Montfaucon, taken, III, 259 + +Moscow, refugees in, II, 114, 116 + +Motor trucks, supply French at Verdun, II, 17 + +Mountain Warfare, I, 313-321 + +Muecke, Captain of the _Ayesha_, I, 176-197 + +Mudros Harbor, I, 222 + +Mulhouse, capture of, I, 83-84 + +Munitions Board, Council of National Defense, II, 321 + +Murray, Sir Archibald, Lieutenant General, cited, I, 72 + + +N + +Namur, surrender of, I, 61 + +Napier, Rear Admiral, II, 39 + +National Army, II, 318 + +National Guard, II, 318 + +Naval War Council, III, 273-275 + +Navy, United States, transports troops to Europe, II, 340 + +_Nestor_, sunk, II, 52 + +Neutrality, armed, II, 220 + +New Zealanders, in Palestine Campaign, II, 361 + +Newfoundlanders, at Gallipoli, I, 221-238 + +Niblack, Rear Admiral, commands ships at Gibraltar, III, 286 + +Nicholas, Grand Duke, in Caucasia, II, 183-184 + +Nieuport, bombardment of, I, 110; + fight on the road to, I, 123 + +Ninetieth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Ninety-first Division, in Belgium, III, 264; + in Argonne, III, 259; + at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Nivelle, General, brings up 400 millimeter guns, II, 26 + +_Nomad_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Northey, General, advances in East Africa, III, 37 + +North Sea, battle of the, I, 85 + +_North Star_, British destroyer, sunk at Zeebrugge, III, 110 + +_Nuernberg_, in Pacific, I, 147-148 + + +O + +Oil, in Black Sea district, I, 136; + pipe line in Scotland, III, 286 + +Oil fields, in Persia, II, 175; + pipe line from Persian fields, II, 181 + +Okuma, Prime Minister of Japan, I, 199 + +_Olympia_, on coast of northern Russia, III, 286 + +Ostend, evacuated, I, 106 + +Ostend Harbor, blocking of, III, 111-118 + +Ourcq, valley of, III, 219-223; + Forty-second on, III, 253 + +Ovillers, taken by British, II, 82 + + +P + +Palestine, Campaign, II, 344-366 + +Papen, Captain von, plots of, II, 287-289 + +Pare Mountains, III, 39 + +_Patria_, attacked, II, 283 + +Peace, Allies refuse a peace by compromise, III, 155 + +Peace Treaty, with Austria, III, 366-374; + with Germany, III, 318-365 + +Pershing, General John J., offers army to Foch for Picardy battle, + III, 249; + report on American Army in Europe, III, 242-270; + sent to France, II, 339 + +Persia, British and Russian interests in, II, 174-176 + +_Persis_, sunk, II, 282 + +Petain, General, congratulates French at Verdun, II, 19; + uses 40,000 motor trucks, II, 17 + +Petrograd, refugees in, II, 116, 118-120 + +_Petrolite_, sunk, II, 282 + +Piave, Italians stand on, III, 99-100 + +Picardy, Battle of, III, 153-169; + fighting in Lens-Arras sector, III, 167; + French extend to join British at the Oise. III, 163; + German infantry advances, III, 162; + Germans bring divisions from Russia, III, 156; + Germans checked at Villers-Bretonneux, III, 164; + Germans take Albert, II, 164; + Germans take Messines Ridge, III, 167-168; + German objectives in the North, III, 168; + Montdidier falls, III, 164; + number of German divisions, III, 162; + opens, III, 153; + plan to drive through Amiens, III, 162; + Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette, III, 166; + why attack was made here, III, 159-162 + +Plec Line, taken, III, 77 + +Plunkett, Rear Admiral, commands railway battery, III, 285-286 + +Poland, refugees from, II, 115 + +_President Lincoln_, torpedoed, III, 290-296 + +Press, German opinion misled, I, 23-24; + public opinion on peaceful settlement I, 15; + Serajevo tragedy, I, 10; + warning in New York papers, I, 284 + +Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 208-211 + +Pringle, Captain, commands destroyers at Queenstown, III, 276 + +Proclamation of War, II, 238-243 + + +R + +Radio, Bordeaux station, III, 285 + +Radoslavov, Premier of Bulgaria, resigns, III, 178 + +Railways, Balkan, II, 179; + Berlin to Bagdad, I, 129; + British and Belgian routes in Africa, III, 44; + in Africa, III, 43-44; + in Asia Minor, II, 179 + +Ramscapelle, destruction of, I, 117-118; + recaptured, I, 103 + +Rawlinson, General, commands Fourth Army at the Somme, II, 75; + commended by Haig, II, 83 + +Read, Major General, commands Second Corps, III, 251 + +Red Cross, establishes hospital bases, II, 341 + +Refugees, I, 46; II, 114-123 + +Regular Army, II, 318 + +Relief ships, attacks on, II, 292 + +Retreat of Allies, I, 62-72 + +Rheims, capture of, I, 82 + +Robertson, General, cited, I, 72 + +Rodgers, Rear Admiral, commands Division Six, III, 276 + +Rodman, Rear Admiral, commands Battleship Division Nine, III, 278 + +Roubaix, France, under German rule, II, 159 + +Rovuma River, III, 37 + +Rumania, Allied plan for operation in, II, 133; + army well drilled, II, 140; + danger in entering war, II, 124; + failure of defense in Dobrudia, II, 134 + +Rumania, King of, a Hohenzollern, II, 126; + personality, II, 126-127; + views, II, 127-131 + +Rumanians, withdraw from Transylvania, II, 134 + +Russia, American troops in, III, 268; + declares war on Austria, I, 21-23; + defends Serbia, I, 14; + desires control of Constantinople, I, 126-127; + general mobilization, I, 38; + interests in Persia, II, 175-176; + likely to defend Serbia, I, 14; + partial mobilisation, I, 24-25; + receives ultimatum, I, 34-35; + revolution in, II, 258-270 + +Russian Army, effect of collapse on Italian situation, III, 74 + +Russian Campaign, 1916, II, 68; + in Caucasia, II, 183-186 + +Russian Refugees, children emaciated, II, 115; + in freight train in Moscow, II, 114-116; + number of, II, 116-117 + +Russian Revolution, barricade on the Litenie, II, 264; + Cossacks in, II, 253, 259-261; + Czar dissolves Duma, II, 255; + Duma takes command, II, 286; + people charged by police, II, 254; + soldiers join revolutionists, II, 267 + + +S + +Sailly-Saillisel, French attacks on, II, 102-105 + +St. Julien, fighting at, I, 262-264; + penetration of, I, 244-246 + +St. Mihiel, Battle of, III, 254-257 + +Saloniki, British operations at, II, 248, 250 + +Sambuks, cruise in, I, 191-193 + +Samson, air adventure at Gallipoli, I, 232 + +Sand Dunes, I, 119-120 + +Sazanoff, M., receives German ambassador, I, 27 + +_Scharnhorst_, in Falkland fight, I, 147-170; + in Pacific, I, 147-148 + +Second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in drive for Soissons, III, 252; + takes St. Etienne, III, 262; + takes Beau Repaire Farm, and Vierzy, III, 252; + with French near Rheims, III, 261-262 + +Seicheprey, Twenty-sixth in battle, III, 249 + +Selective Draft, classes exempt, II, 309; + liability to service, II, 304; + physical examination of men, II, 308; + registration, II, 305-312 + +Serajevo, assassination at, I, 10 + +Serbia, announcement of expedition against, I, 19; + defended by Russia, I, 14; + demands from, I, 11; + replies to ultimatum, I, 22-23; + ultimatum to, I, 14 + +Sergy, taken by Forty-second Division, III, 253 + +Seventy-eighth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Seventy-ninth Division in Argonne, III, 259 + +_Shark_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Shipping Board, II, 340 + +Sixtus, Prince, emperor's letter to, III, 155-156 + +Smith-Dorrien, Sir Horace, services of, I, 69-70 + +Smuts, General Jan Christiaan, III, 32-53 + +Soissons, American First and Second Divisions in drive toward, III, + 252; + Franco-American drive toward, III, 224-226; + entered by Allies, III, 226 + +Solf, Dr., opinion on German colonies, III, 47 + +Somme, Battle of the, II, 67-113 + +Somme and Ancre, lines between, II, 71 + +_Sparrowhawk_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Spee, Graf von, commands cruisers in the Pacific, I, 147-155; + in Falkland light, I, 162-170; + wins Coronel fight, I, 148-156 + +Struma River, bridged by British engineers, II, 250; + British positions on, II, 245; + rise hinders operations, II, 248 + +Subchasers at Corfu, III, 286 + +Submarine War Zone proclaimed, II, 219 + +Submarine Warfare, American lives lost, II, 279; + American vessels sunk, II, 200; + in the Mediterranean, II, 282; + American ships, II, 269-384; + proclaimed by Germany, II, 194, 196-197; + the _Sussex_ case, II, 194-196 + +Submarines, hunt each other in the dark, II, 135-136 + +Submarines, American, III, 119-137; + cross the Atlantic, III, 119-124; + go out on patrol, III, 126-134; + how it feels to be depth-bombed, III, 131-132; + the mother ship, III, 124-125 + +Suez Canal, control of the, I, 138; + importance, I, 138 + +Summerall, Major General Charles P., III, 263 + +_Sussex_, torpedoed without warning, II, 283 + +_Sussex_ Case, II, 194-196 + + +T + +Tagliamento, importance of bridges, III, 91 + +Taurus Mountains, Armenian, II, 184; + frontier of Egypt, II, 178 + +_Thetis_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107 + +Thiaucourt, taken by Americans, III, 256 + +Thiaumont, II, 23-25 + +Thiepval, British advance on, II, 98-99; + in Somme battle, II, 76 + +Third Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + on Marne, III, 251-252 + +Thirtieth Division, with British, III, 261 + +Thirty-fifth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255 + +Thirty-second Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, 259; + takes Hill 230, III, 253 + +Thirty-seventh Division, in Belgium, III, 264 + +Thirty-sixth Division, with French near Rheims, III, 261-262 + +Thirty-third Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, 255; + in Argonne, III, 258 + +Tigris, British on, II, 181 + +_Tipperary_, sunk, II, 52 + +Torcy, taken by Twenty-sixth Division, III, 253 + +Townshend, General, advances on Bagdad, II, 182 + +Treaty of Peace, with Austria, III, 366; + with Germany, III, 318-365 + +Trebizond, Turks flee toward, II, 183 + +_Triumph_, attacks Fort Bismarck, I, 216 + +Trones Wood, British troops in the, II, 78 + +Trucks, used at Verdun, II, 17 + +Tsing-tao, capture of, I, 198-220; + importance of, I, 200-201; + siege of, I, 207-220 + +_Turbulent_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52 + +Turkey, Anglo-Russian campaign in, II, 174-187; + dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179; + imperialistic designs, I, 129-130; + economic and strategic position of, I, 131-132; + military situation hopeless, III, 180; + reason for joining Germany, I, 132-133; + reorganizing army, I, 134-135 + +Twenty-eighth Division, east of Rheims, III, 251; + relieves Thirty-second, III, 253 + +Twenty-ninth Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, 259 + +Twenty-seventh Division, with British in attack on Hindenburg line, + III, 261 + +Twenty-sixth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; + pivot of Soissons movement, III, 252-253 + + +U + +Udine, before the war, III, 69-70; + in war, III, 69-70; + evacuated by Italians, III, 81 + +United States, holds Germany responsible, II, 284; + neutrality endangered, II, 208; + prepares for war, II, 298-343; + protests to England, I, 281; + protests to Germany on submarine proclamation, I, 281 + +United States, military preparations of, II, 298-343; + Act to Increase Military Establishment, II, 300-301; + cantonment sites chosen, II, 319-320; + construction and supplies, II, 324-325; + Council of National Defense, II, 331; + Council of National Defense organized, II, 334; + delayed by neutrality, II, 298; + labor assembled, II, 325; + labor conditions adjusted, II, 326; + Medical Reserve, II, 313; + navy transports troops to Europe, II, 340; + Officers' Reserve Corps, II, 313; + Officers' Training Camps, II, 314-315; + organizes mines, agriculture and factories, II, 299; + Pershing goes to France, II, 328; + plan to operate railways in France, II, 328; + Quartermaster General's problems, II, 329-334; + Red Cross hospital bases, II, 341; + Regular Army and National Guard increased, II, 304; + Selective Draft, II, 304, 305-312; + training of engineers, II, 337; + voluntary enlistment, II, 301 + + +V + +Van Deventer, General, in East Africa, III, 38 + +Vaux, fight for possession of, II, 18; + Germans gain at, II, 19; + taken by Second Division, III, 251 + +Vaux, Fort, captured by French, II, 23; + French victory at, II, 27 + +Venice, endangered in Italian retreat, III, 99-100 + +Venizelists, in Greece, III, 54-58 + +Venizelos, interview with, III, 54-67 + +Verdun, plateaus on either side the Meuse, II, 10; + relief map of, II, 10; + value of, II, 10 + +Verdun, Battle of, II, 7-29 + +Vierzy, taken by Second Division, III, 252 + +Vigneulles, taken by Americans, III, 256 + +Villers-Bretonneux, Germans checked at, III, 164 + +Vimy, in Picardy battle, III, 166 + +Vimy Ridge, German attacks on, II, 68 + +_Vindictive_, at Ostend, III, 111, 113-117; + in Ostend Harbor, III, 101; + work of, at Zeebrugge, III, 102-110 + + +W + +Walthamstow, air raid, I, 375-383 + +War, causes of, I, 7-40; + formally declared by the United States, II, 298 + +War Messages, II, 226-243 + +_Warrior_, sunk, II, 52 + +_Warwick_, at Zeebrugge, III, 110 + +Welland Canal, attack on, II, 291 + +Western Battle Front, August, 1916, Map of, II, 66 + +William II, Kaiser, eager to act, I, 28-30; + influence of, I, 16; + returns to Berlin, I, 23; + trip to Norway, I, 13; + ultimatum to Russia, I, 34-35 + +Wilson, Major General, cited for admirable work, I, 72 + +Wilson, President, addresses Congress on break with Germany, II, + 192-204; + ideas on peace, II, 216; + note regarding peace, II, 214-215; + War Message of, II, 226-241 + +Wilson, Vice Admiral H.B., commands U.S. Naval forces in France, + III, 281 + + +Y + +_Yarrowdale_, prisoners from, II, 294-296 + +Ypres, air battles at, I, 265, 266-275; + First Battle of, I, 104-106; + Canadians at, I, 248-276; + Germans use gas projectiles, I, 242; + second battle of, I, 240-276; + in battle of Picardy, III, 168 + +_Ysaka Maru_, sunk, II, 282 + +Yser, Germans trying to cross the, I, 116-117; + last ditch, I, 108 + + +Z + +Zeebrugge and Ostend, bottled up by British, III, 101-118 + +Zeppelins, raid England, I, 375-383 + +Zimmermann, Herr von, I, 35; + views of, I, 21-22 + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's World's War Events, Volume III, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S WAR EVENTS, VOLUME III *** + +***** This file should be named 16513.txt or 16513.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/1/16513/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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