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diff --git a/75487-0.txt b/75487-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed3fae8 --- /dev/null +++ b/75487-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23420 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75487 *** + + + + + + Transcriber’s Note + Italic text displayed as: _italic_ + + + + +DEEDS OF HEROISM AND BRAVERY + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +[Illustration: + + By J. F. Bouchor + +Honor to the Brave] + + + + + DEEDS OF HEROISM + AND BRAVERY + + _The Book of Heroes and + Personal Daring_ + + INTRODUCTION BY + RUPERT HUGHES + + EDITED BY + ELWYN A. BARRON + + _Profusely Illustrated_ + + [Illustration: Decoration] + + + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + Established 1817 + + + + + DEEDS OF HEROISM AND BRAVERY + + Copyright, 1920, by Harper & Brothers + Printed in the United States of America + + E-V + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + I. FIELD AND TRENCH ORDEALS + + “And a Few Marines” 1 + + Forward Lancers 10 + + An Unparalleled Hero 13 + + The Nemesis of Flame 18 + + He Jests at Scars 20 + + Epic of the Foreign Legion 27 + + “Doc” of the Fifth 32 + + Couldn’t Stop Them 35 + + One of Our Boys 41 + + Guthrie of the Kilties 44 + + Not So Unspeakable 47 + + The Medical Corps 48 + + Some Red Cross Weaklings 49 + + “Eh! Men, ’Twas Grand!” 55 + + One Survived 57 + + Tank Man Talks 58 + + The Garibaldi Code 62 + + The Bald Facts 65 + + O’Leary Stepped In 71 + + When the Yanks Went In 74 + + Humor and Heroism 79 + + England’s Indian Warriors 85 + + A Lively Introduction 92 + + A Valiant Gentleman 95 + + Where Denominations End 100 + + Buckeyes or Spearheads 103 + + Corporal Holmes’ Way 106 + + Not Dead But Fighting 109 + + When the Light Failed 114 + + The Cloud of Blacks 116 + + Hubbell Bagged ’Em 121 + + Was He a Coward? 123 + + Two Heroes of Hill 60 128 + + Colonel Freyberg, V. C. 131 + + One of the D. S. C. Men 133 + + Colored Troops Reach the Rhine 135 + + Good Old Potts 138 + + It Was Up to Bill 139 + + The Rendezvous 142 + + Staying to the End 146 + + Without the Glamour 147 + + Big Adam’s Hare Soup 156 + + A Blue Grass Canadian 158 + + Mistress “Razzle Dazzle” 165 + + The Painter Soldier 169 + + + II. WOMEN WHO DARED + + Edith Cavell Martyr Heroine 172 + + A Picardy Heroine 181 + + Girls of the Battalion 183 + + Her Ambulance Unit 186 + + A True Heroine 188 + + A Heroine of Humanity 190 + + + III. ADVENTURE IN THE AIR + + One of the Great “Aces” 191 + + The Lafayette Escadrille 196 + + A Legendary Hero 202 + + Worthy Citation 207 + + A Challenge Duel 209 + + An American Wonder 211 + + One to Twenty-two 215 + + From Saddle to CockPit 215 + + Dodging “Jack Death” 221 + + Warneford’s Triumph 223 + + One Minute Plus 227 + + “The Pictures Are Good” 232 + + Subduing the Turk 235 + + A Daring Pursuit 237 + + The Roosevelt Boys 238 + + Just What He Wanted 249 + + “The Red Battle Flyer” 253 + + Pat O’Brien Outwits the Hun 257 + + The Track and Trackless Winner 259 + + The Gunboat (Poem) 264 + + + IV. SEA AND SUB-SEA STORIES + + Captain Fryatt’s Murder 265 + + Jules Verne Vindicated 271 + + Weddigen’s Wonder Feat 274 + + Torpedoed 281 + + The Valleys of the Blue Shrouds 288 + + Rizzo Sinks the _Wien_ 290 + + Edith Cavell (Poem) 291 + + As of Old 293 + + Death in a Submarine 295 + + A Notable Exploit 297 + + Rescue Extraordinary 304 + + I Have a Rendezvous with Death (Poem) 315 + + Tricking the Turk 317 + + Canadians (Poem) 318 + + First of Its Kind 318 + + Not to Be Forgotten 322 + + Christmas in the Trenches 324 + + + V. ESPIONAGE AND SPIES + + Spying at Its Worst 326 + + As to Spies in England 348 + + Edith Cavell’s Betrayer 352 + + Edith Cavell 354 + + The Spy Mill 355 + + Alois the Silent 357 + + Eye of the Morning 360 + + Better Wrecker than Spy 363 + + Delicate Scruples 368 + + Frustrated Diabolism 369 + + Here’s to Constable Richings 378 + + What Gilles Brought In 379 + + + VI. AMERICA AT THE FRONT + + The Rock of the Marne 381 + + America’s Highest War Honor 388 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR + + + Honors to the Brave _Frontispiece_ + + The Sister of Mercy _Facing page_ 48 + + Sergeant George E. Burr ” 102 + + Captain Douglass Campbell ” 152 + + Corporal Walter E. Gaultney ” 200 + + Sergeant Herman Korth ” 254 + + Master Signal Electrician E. J. Moore ” 304 + + Corporal John J. O’Brien ” 354 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +_Bravery_ + +By RUPERT HUGHES + +Formerly Major United States Army + + +Bravery is the beautiful, impatient gesture of the soul at its highest +reach, baring its own breast to a fatal wound in its eagerness to deal +a fatal blow at something it abhors. + +Bravery is poetry, drama in deed instead of word. It has always been +lovable and beloved. + +There is distinguished valor as there is distinguished art, for there +are degrees of courage as of intelligence and talent. Many people think +beautiful thoughts: a few express them. Someone frames an old idea with +an exquisite twist of phrase and a universal proverb results. So some +one citizen expresses in one felicitous act an ideal of his people and +is accepted as their national hero. + +Conspicuous bravery always owes part of its success to good fortune. +At the cry of a leader—or in this war at the arrival of “zero hour” +on the wrist watches—a whole regiment went forward, nearly every man +doing his duty with complete courage. Some heroes were dogged and +unimaginative; some revealed ingenuity or invention. But to a single +man fell the opportunity and the inspiration to do some extra task +with a certain picturesque felicity. His unluckier companions and his +generals rejoiced to celebrate him, diminishing their own prestige to +enhance his. And the story of his happy thought becomes the delight of +his nation, and perhaps of many nations. + +There is a kind of injustice in it as there generally is in awards +and preferments. Where all have forgotten selfishness and comfort and +cast their lives into the furnace, it seems a pity that only a few +should emerge with fame. And yet since we can no more remember all our +heroes than we can call the roll of the stars in our sky, it would be a +mistake to favor no one, to have no crosses of war. + +The schoolboys cherish the name of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at +Thermopylæ. But they ignore the 700 Platæans who perished also, and as +bravely. This is regrettable, and yet it is better to make a watchword +of the name Leonidas than to forget the whole event because it is more +than the brain will carry. + +Fame is a lottery with a few capital prizes. The winners show perhaps +no more wisdom, no more courage than all the other gamblers. In the +baseball phrase they simply “luck in.” Yet they will get their names in +the papers, people will boast of knowing them; prestige and fortune +will be theirs and oblivion will absorb the others. But if you are +going to have lotteries succeed, you must offer capital prizes and pay +them. And war is the lottery of lotteries. + +There have always been wars and, unless hope shall triumph over +experience at last, there always will be wars; and there will always be +an appetite for tales of heroism. The earliest literature records them +and so must the latest. + +Since no man has any more lives to give for his country than our +schoolteacher spy had, all heroisms are in a sense equal; for, since a +man risks the only life he has, it matters little how, whether from a +cave-man’s axe or a shell that shoots eighty miles. + +Bravery is no new thing. It cannot be listed as one of the inventions +of this war. It is matter for enough pride that there was no failure +of it in quality, but rather an unheard-of versatility in it, and +an unequaled quantity; for never before was there a war in which so +many soldiers were engaged, or so incessantly engaged or under such +hardships, or such varied dangers. To an extent unapproached hitherto, +nations were mobilized _en masse_. For the first time they settled +down at grips in continuous lines from frontier to frontier with no +relaxation of vigilance or activity through long years of sun, snow, +rain, and mud. + +It is curious to note that in this war, innumerable hosts of brave men +were dragged into glory—one might say “kicked upstairs”—by conscription. + +In America we had the small Regular Army, the slightly larger and very +irregular National Guard; then armies of volunteers, followed by armies +recruited willy-nilly through the exemption boards. Not only did the +draft compel enlistment, but the very prospect of it drove many men to +volunteer before they were drawn. This is said in no derogation, for +obligations vary and many a man who could not find the way to volunteer +was glad to be coerced. And some of the men who volunteered at once +would better have stayed at home. + +Though the American Armies began in various strata, in a very short +time all distinctions were abolished and everybody was “U. S.” + +The glory was similarly shuffled. In the records of achievements in +ground gained, prisoners taken, casualties endured, the Regular Army, +the National Guard divisions and the draft divisions were rivals +of such close conclusion that disputes continue as to the actual +priorities. In any case the margins are narrow. Here also luck played +its part, for the morale of the enemy and the ground to be taken varied +enormously from day to day and from place to place. + +Curiously, the most successful American hero of the war, judging by the +score, was a “conscientious objector,” Sergeant York. His conscience +did not lead him to the fanatic lengths of many others who defied the +government and refused to obey any commands whatever; strange perverse +creatures who were such lovers of liberty that they would do nothing +to defend it, men who abhorred the thought of killing their fellow +creatures so utterly that they would not lift a finger to put a stop to +slaughter and disarm the German butchers. Sergeant York’s religious +scruples did not carry him so far, yet he was a reluctant and a tardy +entrant into the war, and he was with difficulty persuaded to accept +the immortal fame awaiting him. + +Sergeant York was a straight-shooting open-living mountaineer. Yet +there were city-bred heroes whose impetuosity led them to plunge into +the war long before it spread to America. One of these was an actor and +a dancer. Wallace McCutcheon, who pretended to British citizenship, got +in at the start, and by sheer bravery and persistence rose from private +to major. He would indeed have been a colonel if his second wound had +caught him fifteen minutes later, for his colonel was killed then and +he would have been automatically promoted. + +There were sons of wealthy parents and sons of humble parents who +joined the French, the Canadian or the British forces and fought in +the skies, or on land or sea for years before the rest of the nation +decided to follow them overseas. + +This was a world war indeed, a universal struggle, and there was no +race, color, condition, creed, or trade that was not represented and +brilliantly represented. Clergymen, priests, waiters, polo-players, +convicts, negroes, musicians, ditch-diggers, gunmen, farmers, +chorusmen, gamblers—the entire list of heroes would exhaust any +classification of the human race or its activities. A complete beadroll +of heroes would fill a city directory, and make the most dismal reading. + +The only way in which justice can be done to anybody at all, is by +omitting even to mention the vast majority, and to select a few at +random, like a clutch of sample red apples from an enormous harvest. + +It is not feasible to attempt internationalism or non-partisanship. We +must ignore the splendid heroism of other nations and leave them to the +celebration of their own heroes and the neglect of ours. + +Of our own there remains too great a multitude to permit a systematic +selection of examples. Some are here because they had the luck to +be observed by skillful observers and recorders, as many kings are +remembered because their historians or poets were superior to those of +other kings. + +This volume, then, has all the faults of any other anthology. Yet +the most imperfect anthology is better than no bouquet at all; and a +bouquet is the happiest representative of a garden, as a framed canvas +is the best memorial of a sunset. + +In this connection, there is a quaint poem of Emily Dickinson’s; she +attached it to some flowers she selected from her garden: + + I send two sunsets— + Day and I in competition ran. + I finished two, and several stars, + While He was making one. + His own is ample— + But as I was saying to a friend, + Mine is the more convenient + To carry in the hand. + +So it may be said of this volume: it does not contain the entire +star-crowded firmament of the War of Wars, but it is “more convenient +to carry in the hand.” + +It would be belittling the bravery of our own men and the men of the +Allies to pretend that the enemy lacked courage. The Germans and +Austrians fought brilliantly, scientifically, ruthlessly. Individuals +displayed the purest heroism and chivalry. But since it is impossible +to catalogue everybody, I imagine that this omission, at least, will be +indulgently regarded. + +America entered the war late but at a time of peculiar desperation. Her +appearance on the field changed the whole balance of power. + +Before this time, the _generalissimo_, Foch, was like a gambler trying +to break the bank with his last remaining gold pieces. Immediately +after, he was a man with an inexhaustible supply of remittances. What +would have been insane recklessness before now became good strategy, +and he could at last follow out his life-motto: “Attack, attack, +attack!” + +On the other hand the Germans, having entered the war as cold-blooded +business men, and conducted it with all the soullessness of the +proverbial corporation, realized speedily that the investment was a +failure and made every effort to get out as cheaply as possible. + +The Allies realized that their victory would be wasted if Germany were +permitted to retire with any prestige. A crushing and undeniable defeat +was of the utmost importance. Hence the Americans were called upon to +attack with human sledgehammers the hinges of the German defense and +the strong points of rearguard action. Their losses were therefore huge +for the brief time of engagement, since they ran to meet danger with an +amazing fire. + +Heroes sprang up, as from sown dragon’s teeth; so fast that there was +no recording them. In air, on land and sea, and under the land and the +sea, our men wrought so godlike well that it is pitiful to leave any of +them without his meed of praise. + +A word ought to be said also, for the prevented heroes, the unwilling +absentees from the battle, those who ate their hearts out in America as +instructors in camps, as dealers in supplies, plodders in paper work. + +Of the Regular Army officers, who had dedicated their lives to valor, +made bravery their profession, hardly more than one-third were even +enabled to cross the sea, and a large mass of the small portion that +got across was never permitted to come within earshot of the fighting +line. War has no bitterer cruelties than the fate of such men. + +There were National Guard men and officers, too, who had given a large +part of their leisure to military training only to find themselves +condemned to inaction. There was a vast amount of plucking by surgeons, +for disabilities that had not prevented men from earning success in +civil life. But trench life was so searching a test of strength that +youth was almost as essential as in the prize ring. + +Many of the stay-at-homes had a rightful share in the glory of the men +they trained and sent as their delegates to the victory. Conspicuously +absent were Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, who did so much to inspire his +countrymen with battle-ardor, and General Leonard Wood, who built up +the whole system of officers’ training camps, advancing us incalculably +along the road to preparedness. + +Then there was the thwarted courage of the countless men who tried to +volunteer from civil life and were refused in droves, or furnished with +an almost ironical uniform to emphasize their domesticity. This was the +swivel-chair army, and the badge of service was the silver chevron. At +first granted as an honor, it proved so unwelcome that it had to be +enforced by order. + +Uniforms of a sort were worn also by Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., Knights +of Columbus, Jewish Welfare Board, Salvation Army, and other +semi-civilians, thousands of whom reached the battle front and many of +whom displayed perfect gallantry. + +Women to an extraordinary degree took part in this war. The Russian +Battalion of Death was the most startling verification of the Amazonian +myths, but in every country there were women unnumbered who courted +danger with a superb consecration to duty. + +There is no stranger or more persistent falsehood than the claim that +women are less belligerent than men. It has been constantly reiterated +that if women had the vote, or even the say, there would be no more +wars. As if history had not abounded in women whose native ferocity or +patriotism inspired them to frenzies of wrath, or self-sacrifice! + +In this war as in all wars, mothers surrendered their boys with +fortitude, or compelled them into the ranks. Mothers without sons to +give envied their luckier sisters. Women made speeches, posters, wrote +articles, poems, songs, did office work, drove ambulances, trucks, and +toiled in munitions factories where danger was more unceasing than on +the battle front. + +The Red Cross women and their untrained aids, many of them women of +noble birth or of the most delicate heritages, shared the hardships of +the men. The Salvation Army women made doughnuts and pies in the front +line trenches. The Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., and numerous other +organizations crowded to the front. Actors and actresses faced death in +order to make cheer for the soldiers about to die. + +The difficulty was always to keep the throngs back from the +fighting-lines rather than to whip them forward. + +The fighting-line was indeed a vague term, for children were killed in +their cradles in cities far distant from the battle front. Worshipers +in a Paris church were killed on a Good Friday by a shot from a German +cannon fired eighty miles away. + +The raids by Zeppelins and aeroplanes, the planting of explosives in +factories, the sowing of mines in seas, the activities of spies and +_saboteurs_ made it uncertain just where danger was. There was courage +everywhere. + +The variety of dangers was beyond anything hitherto recorded, and a +certain supremacy in dauntlessness might be claimed by our generation; +for men are most easily frightened by risks they are not used to, and +every month seemed to bring some new astonishment. The submarine and +the flying machine had never been employed in wars before. They were as +terrifying to their passengers as to their targets. They brought remote +civilians and non-combatants into their field of fire by intention or +indifference. + +The air-raids over London and Paris and the sinking of the _Lusitania_ +and various hospital ships horrified the world. The first gas attacks +added a new shudder to war. The prolonged and hideous imprisonment +in the trenches where men stood to arms in icy mud kept the soul and +the body on the rack. The hand grenade came again into fashion with +a new deadliness. The machine-gun literally sprayed the field with +bullets, mowing men down as with the scythe of death. The tanks were +such a prodigy as the first elephants brought into battle. Depth bombs +for submarines, land-mines, cannon on railroad tracks, trench-knives, +incendiary bullets, barbed wire charged with lightning—it would be +impossible to enumerate the new devices for inflicting wounds and death. + +Yet science could not invent a way to frighten men out of their wits or +out of their patriotism. The men in danger simply took what came and +held on while the scientists in the rear devised some new defense for +the new offense. + +Nothing was more spectacular than the development of the air-duel and +the air-battle by whole fleets of airships. The penalty for bad luck in +such an encounter was to fall thousands of feet in a blazing machine. +But candidates for these super-chivalrous jousts were innumerable. + +Naval warfare had its novelties in frightfulness as well. Vessels were +subject to destruction by a planted or a drifting mine or by a torpedo +shot from an unseen submersible. The destruction of a populous ship +was like the cataclysm that annihilates a city. The tortures of patrol +duty, the management or the pursuit of submarines, the combats with +airships, the protection of convoys, and numberless new-fangled terrors +were all superimposed on the ancient dangers of seafaring. + +Besides the fighting navy there was the mercantile marine charged with +the transportation of incredible amounts of supplies and millions of +soldiers. With these ships the submarine worked fearful havoc, filling +the Seven Seas with hulks and corpses. + +Yet in spite of all the surprises of science, this war, like all other +wars of the past—and it is safe to say of the future—was waged upon +the most ancient lines, and its battle-technic was reducible to simple +terms. + +A, B and C attack D, E and F. A superiority in weapons must be met by +a superiority in morale or a superiority in tactics. Ability to attack +and to endure attack are the proofs of fitness to survive. The victor +will be the latter one to quit fighting. While the war must be won by +masses of men, the quality of the mass is the algebraic total of the +individual qualities. + +A hero is a man plus. A coward is a man minus. A few heroes will +counteract the influence of many cowards or even lend them strength +enough to become heroes also. + +In its individual heroes, moral, spiritual and physical, lies therefore +the prosperity of a nation. It is well that a nation should keep its +eye on its heroes, and reward them well, at least with fame. + +This volume devoted to accounts of individual achievements is something +more than picturesque. It is as important to the record as the +consideration of any of the larger aspects of war. It strikes the human +note, and the human note is vital in so human a thing as a war; since +war gives humanity its widest and fiercest vibration from the utmost +baseness to the supreme nobility. + + + + +THE SOLDIER + +_By_ + +Rupert Brooke + + + If I should die, think only this of me: + That there’s some corner of a foreign field + That is for ever England. There shall be + In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; + A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, + Gave once her flowers to love, her ways to roam, + A body of England’s, breathing English air, + Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. + + And think this heart, all evil shed away, + A pulse in the eternal mind, no less + Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; + Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; + And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, + In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. + + From _The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke_, Copyright, 1915, by John + Lane Company. + + + + +Deeds of Heroism and Daring + + + + +“AND A FEW MARINES” + +Eye-witness Account of the Belleau Wood Action in the Marne Salient +Beginning June 6th, 1918 + + +It has been insisted that more than their share of glory was bestowed +upon the Marines for their work at Château-Thierry, other units of +the A.E.F. being entitled to share the honors of those terrible but +wonderful days when the barbarians were stopped. That is of course +true, for the battle generally described as Château-Thierry had to do +with a region, not merely a town, and it was in Belleau Wood and at +Bouresches that the Marines fought so splendidly and so successfully to +save Paris. Honors conferred in the early and censored dispatches have +since been more properly distributed, and the various divisions—the 1st +and 2d, the 3d, the 26th and the 42d—engaged at different points and +at different times, have had the just recognition of the honors due +them. But the distribution has not in any degree diminished the proud +record of the Marines in maintaining the place of honor to which they +were assigned June 6th. A very voluminous and authoritative account of +the 6th Regiment, 2d Division, and its service in France was written by +its commander, Brig. Gen. A. W. Catlin under the title _With the Help +of God and a Few Marines_. In that volume one may find the authentic +details of the heroic exploits of the Marines. But we are now concerned +only with the incidents and events that caused the French to change +the name of Belleau Wood (Bois de Belleau) to “Bois de la Brigade de +Marine.” + +The first spring drive of the Germans began March 21, 1918. It swept +across the Somme and over the plains of Picardy irresistibly. Foch +seemed unable to check the advance and there was consternation among +the Allied nations, and the men in the trenches were anxious and +restless. The enemy were sweeping everything before them. “With forty +divisions, including some 400,000 of their best troops, and with +the greatest auxiliary force of tanks, machine guns and poison gas +projectiles ever mobilized,” says Gen. Catlin, “they rolled on for +thirty miles in spite of enormous losses, advancing at the rate of six +or eight miles a day, capturing men and guns by the wholesale, and +occupying 650 square miles of territory. There were simply not enough +French and British to stop them. The Allies resisted heroically, but +they were forced to yield to the unanswerable argument of superior +weight. And where was the American aid that the French people had been +building their failing hopes upon? + +“Held at Rheims and west of Soissons, the Germans thrust a U-shaped +salient clear down to the Marne, its rounded apex resting on a +contracted six-mile front between Château-Thierry and Dormans, but +thirty-five scant miles from Paris. + +“Then the harried soldiers of France arose in their might for a last +grim stand. The name of the Marne was a rallying cry for them. ‘They +shall not,’ they muttered between gritted teeth; and they did not pass.” + +Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the French on the Marne at +Château-Thierry was the 3rd Division of Regular troops who had +arrived on May 31st in the nick of time in support of the French. On +this occasion the 7th Machine Gun Battalion defended the bridge at +Château-Thierry with the greatest heroism, suffering very heavy losses, +and to them especially belongs the credit of checking the enemy’s +attempt to cross the river. + +To the northwest of the town lay Belleau Wood, a natural fortress which +was full of Germans. Although the enemy had been checked in the attempt +to cross the Marne, his position in Belleau Wood was a very strong one, +constituting an excellent point of vantage for a sudden thrust against +the Allied line along the river. Foch now decided to call upon American +troops and the Marines of the 2nd Division were ordered up and sent +into the line to capture Belleau Wood. + + +IN THE AMERICAN WAY + +The delay occasioned by the French-American resistance at +Château-Thierry gave time for the organization of the defensive +strategy which culminated in the battle of Belleau Wood. It is +interesting to know in connection with Château-Thierry that the +Americans entered under the direction of the French. General Catlin +says apropos of the Belleau Wood preparation: + +“I think the French hesitated to trust us too far in this crisis. We +were without tanks, gas shells, or flame projectors. We were untried in +open warfare. But General Harbord begged to be allowed to tackle the +job. + +“‘Let us fight in our own way,’ said he, ‘and we’ll stop them.’ + +“The situation was acute; there seemed to be no alternative. General +Harbord was given free rein, and in that moment we passed out from our +French tutelage and acted as an American army fighting side by side +with our hard-pressed Allies. The battle of Belleau Wood was fought by +American troops, under American officers, supported by American guns, +in a typically American manner. And the battle was won.” + +The details of this battle in the wood are not to be given here. One +or two of the facts that stand out must serve as illustrative of the +whole splendid performance. The advance began with the 5th Battalion +under Major Berry and the 6th Battalion under Major Holcomb holding +the center, the French on the left and the 23d Infantry on the right, +Sibley’s battalion supporting. + + +FACING THE MYSTERY + +“We stood facing the dark, sullen mystery of Belleau Wood. It was +a mystery, for we knew not what terrible destruction the Hun might +be preparing for us within its baleful borders, nor at what moment +it might be launched in all its fury against us. That the wood was +strongly held we knew, and so we waited. + +“No one knows how many Germans were in those woods. I have seen the +estimate placed at 1,000, but there were certainly more than that. It +had been impossible to get patrols into the woods, but we knew they +were full of machine guns and that the enemy had trench mortars there. +We captured five of their minenwerfers later. So far as we knew, there +might have been any number of men in there, but we had to attack just +the same, and with but a handful. Sibley and Berry had a thousand men +each, but only half of these could be used for the first rush, and as +Berry’s position was problematical, it was Sibley’s stupendous task to +lead his 500 through the southern end of the wood clear to the eastern +border if the attack was not to be a total failure. Even to a Marine it +seemed hardly men enough. + +“Orders had been given to begin the attack at 5 o’clock. The men knew +in a general way what was expected of them and what they were up +against, but I think only the officers realized the almost impossible +task that lay before them. I knew, and the knowledge left me little +comfort. But I had perfect confidence in the men; that never faltered. +That they might break never once entered my head. They might be wiped +out, I knew, but they would never break. + +[Illustration: + + © _Leslie’s Weekly._ + +Where the Marines Made Their Début + +This is the road where the Marines in the name of America served notice +on the German war lords that they could not capture Paris.] + +“It was a clear, bright day. At that season of the year it did not +get dark till about 8.30, so we had three hours of daylight ahead of us. + +“As soon as I received the orders I got Holcomb and Sibley together at +the former’s headquarters, some 500 yards back of the line. + +“With map in hand, I explained the situation to them without trying to +gloss over any of its difficulties, and gave them their orders. The men +seemed cool, in good spirits and ready for the word to start. Some one +has asked me what I said, what final word of inspiration I gave those +men about to face sudden death. + +“I am no speech maker. If the truth must be told, I think what I +said was, ‘Give ’em Hell, boys!’ It was the sort of thing the Marine +understands. And that is about what they did. + + +A BULLET THROUGH THE LUNG + +“Just about the time Sibley’s men struck the woods a sniper’s bullet +hit me in the chest. It felt exactly as though some one had struck me +heavily with a sledge. It swung me clear around and toppled me over +on the ground. When I tried to get up I found that my right side was +paralyzed. + +“Beside me stood Captain Tribot-Laspierre, that splendid fellow who +stuck to me through thick and thin. He had been begging me to get back +to a safer place, but I was obstinate and he never once thought of +leaving me. When I fell he came out of his cover and rushed to my side. +He is a little man and I am not, but he dragged me head first back to +the shelter trench some twenty or twenty-five feet away. My life has +been spared and I owe much to that Frenchman. + +[Illustration: + + © _Leslie’s Weekly._ + +The Bridge Across the Marne at Château-Thierry + +Where the 7th Machine Gun Battalion of the 3rd Division Checked the +German Drive.] + +“I have heard of men getting wounded who said that it felt like a +red-hot iron being jammed through them before the world turned black. +None of these things happened to me. I suffered but little pain and I +never for a moment lost consciousness. Nor did any thought of death +occur to me, though I knew I had been hit in a vital spot. I was merely +annoyed at my inability to move and carry on. + +“The bullet went clean through my right lung, in at the front and out +at the back, drilling a hole straight through me. + +“No orders as to the adjustment of rifle sights had been given, as +the range was point blank. Watches had been synchronized and no +further orders were given. As the hands touched the zero hour there +was a single shout, and at exactly 5 o’clock the whole line leaped up +simultaneously and started forward, Berry’s 500 and Sibley’s 500, with +the others in support. + +“Instantly the beast in the wood bared his claws. The Boches were ready +and let loose a sickening machine gun and rifle fire into the teeth of +which the Marines advanced. The German artillery in the woods increased +the fury of its fire, and the big guns at Belleau and Torcy, a mile and +a half away, pounded our advancing lines. + +“On Berry’s front there was the open wheat field, 400 yards or more +wide—winter wheat, still green but tall and headed out. Other cover +there was none. On Sibley’s left there was open grass land perhaps 200 +yards wide; his right was close to the woods. + +“Owing to the poor communications, the two battalions engaged in what +were virtually independent actions, and, as I had feared, Berry got the +worst end of it. He had to face that wide open space, swept by machine +gun fire, with a flanking fire from the direction of Torcy. + + +AS SIBLEY’S MEN ADVANCED + +“My eyes were on what Sibley’s men were doing, and I only knew in a +general way what was happening to the battalion of the 5th. But Floyd +Gibbons, the correspondent of the Chicago _Tribune_, was with Berry and +saw it all. He was, in fact, seriously wounded himself, and has lost an +eye as a result. Gibbons says that the platoons started in good order +and advanced steadily into the field between clumps of woods. It was +flat country with no protection of any sort except the bending wheat. +The enemy opened up at once and it seemed, he says, as if the air were +full of red-hot nails. The losses were terrific. Men fell on every hand +there in the open, leaving great gaps in the line. Berry was wounded in +the arm, but pressed on with the blood running down his sleeve. + +“Into a veritable hell of hissing bullets, into that death-dealing +torrent, with heads bent as though facing a March gale, the shattered +lines of Marines pushed on. The headed wheat bowed and waved in that +metal cloudburst like meadow grass in a summer breeze. The advancing +lines wavered, and the voice of a Sergeant was heard above the uproar: + +“‘Come on, you —— — ——! Do you want to live forever?’ + +“The ripping fire grew hotter. The machine guns at the edge of the +woods were now a bare hundred yards away, and the enemy gunners could +scarcely miss their targets. It was more than flesh and blood could +stand. Our men were forced to throw themselves flat on the ground or +be annihilated, and there they remained in that terrible hail till +darkness made it possible for them to withdraw to their original +position. + +“Berry’s men did not win that first encounter in the attack on Belleau +Wood, but it was not their fault. Never did men advance more gallantly +in the face of certain death; never did men deserve greater honor for +valor. + +“Sibley, meanwhile, was having better luck. I watched his men go in +and it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever witnessed. +The battalion pivoted on its right, the left sweeping across the open +ground in four waves, as steadily and correctly as though on parade. +There were two companies of them, deployed in four skirmish lines, +the men placed five yards apart and the waves fifteen to twenty yards +behind each other. + +“I say they went in as if on parade, and that is literally true. There +was no yell and wild rush, but a deliberate forward march, with the +lines at right dress. They walked at the regulation pace, because a man +is of little use in a hand-to-hand bayonet struggle after a hundred +yards dash. My hands were clenched and all my muscles taut as I +watched that cool, intrepid, masterful defiance of the German spite. +And still there was no sign of wavering or breaking. + + +THE RIGHT QUALITIES THERE + +“Oh, it took courage and steady nerves to do that in the face of the +enemy’s machine gun fire. Men fell there in the open, but the advance +kept steadily on to the woods. It was then that discipline and training +counted. Their minds were concentrated not on the enemy’s fire but on +the thing they had to do and the necessity for doing it right. They +were listening for orders and obeying them. In this frame of mind the +soldier can perhaps walk with even more coolness and determination than +he can run. In any case it was an admirable exhibition of military +precision and it gladdened their Colonel’s heart. + +“The Marines have a war cry that they can use to advantage when there +is need of it. It is a blood-curdling yell calculated to carry terror +to the heart of the waiting Hun. I am told that there were wild +yells in the woods that night, when the Marines charged the machine +gun nests, but there was no yelling when they went in. Some one has +reported that they advanced on those woods crying, ‘Remember the +_Lusitania_!’ If they did so, I failed to hear it. Somehow that doesn’t +sound like the sort of things the Marine says under the conditions. So +far as I could observe not a sound was uttered throughout the length +of those four lines. The men were saving their breath for what was to +follow. + +[Illustration: + + © _Leslie’s Weekly._ + +What American Artillery Fire Did to Vaux + + Captured German officers declared that the American fire was the most + deadly and concentrated they had ever faced.] + +[Illustration: + + © _Leslie’s Weekly._ + +American Soldiers in Vaux + +The capture of Vaux, situated on the Château-Thierry-Paris highway, +marked the beginning of the check to the Germans in their drive to the +Marne in 1918. One of the big guns which fired on Paris was situated +near here.] + +“I am afraid I have given but a poor picture of that splendid advance. +There was nothing dashing about it like a cavalry charge, but it was +one of the finest things I have ever seen men do. They were men who had +never before been called upon to attack a strongly held enemy position. +Before them were the dense woods effectively sheltering armed and +highly trained opponents of unknown strength. Within its depths the +machine guns snarled and rattled and spat forth a leaden death. It was +like some mythical monster belching smoke and fire from its lair. And +straight against it marched the United States Marines, with heads up +and the light of battle in their eyes. + +“Well, they made it. They reached the woods without breaking. They +had the advantage of slightly better cover than Berry’s men and the +defensive positions at the lower end of the woods had not been so well +organized by the Germans as those on the western side. The first wave +reached the low growth at the edge of the woods and plunged in. Then +the second wave followed, and the third and the fourth, and disappeared +from view.” + +About an hour later Catlin had the attention of a surgeon, but while he +lay there gas shells began bursting nearby and they put the gas mask on +him. “I never knew before how uncomfortable one of those things could +be. It is hard enough for a man to breathe with a lung full of blood +without having one of those smothering masks clapped over his face.” He +was got to Lucy for treatment and then taken to Paris, where quarts of +blood were drawn from his pleural cavity. The wonder is that he came +through it at all. + + +IN THE BELLEAU WOOD + +“The action was all in the hands of the platoon officers. Success or +failure rested on their shoulders. It is not the general who wins such +a battle as that, but the captain, the sergeant, the private. + +“It has been called an exaggerated riot, that desperate conflict in the +wood. It was hand-to-hand fighting from the first, and those Germans, +hating cold steel as they do, soon learned what American muscle and +determination are like. From tree to tree fought our Marines, from rock +to rock, like the wild Indians of their native land. It is the sort of +fighting the Marine has always gloried in. And in that fighting they +beat the Germans on two points—initiative and daring, and accuracy +of rifle fire. They picked the German gunners out of the trees like +squirrels, and in innumerable fierce onslaughts that took place at the +machine gun nests the Marines always struck the first blow and it +was usually a knock-out. It was a wild, tempestuous, rough-and-tumble +scrap, with no quarter asked or given. Rifles grew hot from constant +firing and bayonets reeked with German gore. It was man to man, there +in the dark recesses of the woods, with no gallery to cheer the +gladiators, and it was the best man that won. + +“The thick woods made the fighting a matter of constant ambuscades +and nerve-racking surprises, but the Marines tore on. With Sibley at +their head nothing could stop them. Machine gun nests whose crews held +out formed little islands in the welter about which the Marine flood +swept, eventually to engulf them. Some of the Germans turned and fled, +abandoning their guns; others waited till caught in the rear and then +threw up their hands and surrendered; some waited in huddled groups in +the ravines till the gleaming-eyed devil dogs should leap upon them; +some stuck to their guns till an American bullet or an American bayonet +laid them low. One by one the guns were silenced or were turned in the +opposite direction. + +“They started in at 5 o’clock. At 6:45 the report was sent to +headquarters that the machine gun fire at the lower end of the woods +had been practically silenced. At 7:30 German prisoners began to come +in. + +“Night fell with the fighting still going on and only the flash of +shooting to see by. But at 9 o’clock word came from Sibley by runner +that he had got through and had attained the first objective, the +eastern edge of the wood. In four hours he and his men had passed clear +through the lower quarter of Belleau Wood, traversing nearly a mile, +and had cleaned things up as they went. And only 500 of them started; I +hesitate to mention the number that finished. + +“At 10 o’clock reinforcements were sent in with orders to consolidate +the position.” + + +THE TAKING OF BOURESCHES + +In the meantime other Marines, the 96th Company of Major Holcomb’s +battalion and one of Sibley’s reserve companies, were engaged with the +task of ejecting the Germans from Bouresches, the town just east of the +woods, as necessary to be cleared as Belleau Wood itself. Holcomb’s +men got to Bouresches first and went in. + +“Half of this little force was under Captain Duncan and the other half +under Lieutenant Robertson. The enemy’s fire, as they neared the town, +was frightful, and more men fell than kept going. Duncan was shot down +while coolly advancing with his pipe in his mouth. Robertson, who, by +the way, was afterward shot through the neck near Soissons, led the +remnant on and entered the town. + +“There were probably 300 to 400 Germans in that town and the place +bristled with machine guns. There were guns at the street corners, +behind barricades, and even on the housetops, but the Marines kept on. +They attacked those machine guns with rifle, bayonet, and grenade in +their bitter struggle for a foothold. They were outnumbered when they +started, and one by one they were put out of the fighting. But they +kept going, taking gun after gun, until the Germans, for all their +numbers and advantage of position, began to fall back. And Lieutenant +Robertson took Bouresches with twenty men! + +“He sent back word at 9:45 that he had got in and asked for +reinforcements, but he did not wait for them. Those twenty men started +in to clean up that town in the approved Marine fashion, and he was +well on his way when Captain Zane’s company of Holcomb’s battalion +arrived to support him. Then Engineers were sent in to help consolidate +the position. + +“But the town was not yet fully won. The Germans began displaying +counter-activity, and the Marines sent back word that they were running +short of ammunition. Lieutenant William B. Moore, the Princeton +athlete, and Sergeant Major John Quick (of whom more anon) volunteered +to take in a truck load. With a small crew chosen from fifty who wanted +to go, they started with their precious, perilous freight, over a torn +road under a terrific fire. The whole way was brilliantly lighted by +enemy flares and the solitary truck offered a shining mark to the +German gunners. It rolled and careened fearfully over the gullies and +craters, shells shrieked and whistled over their heads and burst on +every hand, and as they neared the town they drove straight into the +fire of the spouting machine guns. But John Quick bears a charmed life +and they got through unscathed. + +“That ammunition truck saved the day at Bouresches, for after it got +in, Zane’s men proceeded to clean up the town. At 11 o’clock that night +the report was sent in to headquarters to the effect that the Germans +had been driven out of Bouresches. At 2:30 a.m. they made an attempt to +get in again, but the counter-attack was smothered by our machine gun +fire. + +“The next day, with the help of the Engineers, our position in the town +was made secure. + + +GERMAN TREACHERY + +“There were evidences everywhere, during this fighting, of German +treachery. Those Prussians were nasty fighters. The following is quoted +from the letter of a quartermaster’s sergeant who talked with a number +of our wounded in the hospital: + +“‘If evidence were lacking of ingrained German untrustworthiness and +treachery, the following from the lips of three men, one an officer, +would be ample. During the progress of a hot engagement a number of +Germans, hands aloft and crying “Kamerad!” approached a platoon of +Marines who, justifiedly assuming it meant surrender, waited for the +Germans to come into their lines as prisoners. When about three hundred +yards distant, the first line of Germans suddenly fell flat upon their +faces, disclosing that they had been dragging machine guns by means of +ropes attached to their belts. + +“‘With these guns the rear lines immediately opened fire and nearly +thirty Marines went down before, with a yell of rage, their comrades +swept forward, bent upon revenge. I am happy to state that not a German +survived, for those who would have really surrendered when their +dastardly ruse failed were bayoneted without mercy. + +“‘As stated, I talked separately with three different Marines at +different times, and have no doubt of the truth of the story. When it +spreads through the Corps, it will be safe to predict that the Marines +will never take a prisoner. + +“‘Can they be blamed? As one man remarked, “A good German is a dead +German.” Another said, “They are like wolves and can only hunt in +packs. Get one alone, and he is easy meat.” + +“‘Little of this sounds uplifting, and smacks of calloused +sensibilities. But the business that brought these men to France is not +a refined one. It is kill or be killed, perhaps both, and the duty of +each man in the American army is to kill as many of the enemy as may +be, before he, in turn, is killed. + +“‘I will not deny that my nerves are tense with horror at what I have +seen, and with pride at what our boys have done, even while my soul is +sick with this closer view of the red monster, War.’” + +The Marine brigade was cited by the French army for its work in the +capture of Bouresches and Belleau Wood and the regimental colors have +the Croix de Guerre with the palm; but, let it be recorded as evidence +of what the Marines were that there were 518 individual citations +for conspicuous valor and extraordinary heroism in action, including +officers and privates. + + + + +“FORWARD, LANCERS!” + +And Captain Grenfell’s Cavalry Troops Lived Over “the Charge of the +Light Brigade” + + +The first officer in the British Army to win the Victoria Cross in +the great war was Captain Francis O. Grenfell. He gained the coveted +reward on August 24, 1914, almost at the commencement of the British +fighting in Belgium, it was at the time of the great battle at Mons and +the perhaps more momentous retreat that followed. The gallant little +English army was struggling desperately to escape from the superior +force of Germans, who gave it no rest. The cavalry was ordered to +charge the enemy—to delay, head off and harass him as much as possible. +Foremost among the Lancers—mounted soldiers carrying lances—who were +always to the front in this dangerous and difficult undertaking, was +Captain Grenfell of the 9th. + +The German guns caused terrible execution. The German infantry came +on in dense columns—like peas thrown out of a sack, as one soldier +described it. They pressed hard on the whole of the main body of the +army but especially dangerous was the position of the 5th Division. To +relieve this section the 9th Lancers were ordered to charge. + +“Although all knew they might be going to certain death,” as the story +is told by G. A. Leask, “not one of the gallant men faltered. They +sang and shouted like schoolboys as their horses thundered over the +ground. They treated the charge in the spirit of sport. These dashing +cavalrymen, as they rode straight at the German guns, presented one of +the finest sights of the whole war. There has been little opportunity +to engage in cavalry charges since. Grenfell rode at the head of his +men, encouraging them by his coolness. One who took part in the charge +has said that he was the life and soul of the squadron, shouting the +loudest, always in the front, setting an example to his comrades by his +fearless riding. + +“At first all went well. Few of the Lancers had fallen, and the dashing +cavalrymen were looking forward to a real fight at close quarters with +the German gunners, who were playing such havoc among our troops. The +men were in excellent spirits, although they knew their danger. + + +“INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH” + +“Suddenly a murderous fire from the enemy pulled them up. Grenfell’s +cheery voice rose above the awful din of bursting shells, urging his +men to continue the charge. They recovered, and followed their leader. +Then the enemy’s fire became hotter. It was like riding into the +jaws of death. Twenty concealed German machine guns rained death on +the horsemen at a distance of not more than 150 yards. Even then the +gallant 9th did not waver, for they were led by a hero. Standing up +in the stirrups and brandishing his sword Captain Grenfell called to +his men to ride straight on. They cheered and obeyed. It now seemed as +though nothing could stop this wild charge. Both men and horses had +become infuriated. + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +The Rifle Brigade Fighting Its Way Through Neuve Chapelle + +This brigade is the youngest of regiments in the regular British Army. +It was the first to enter the village of Neuve Chapelle.] + +“Grenfell himself seemed to bear a charmed life, while all around him +empty saddles told their terrible tale. He did not come through the +charge unscathed, but his wounds were not serious. + +“The Lancers continued to sweep forward until finally held up by the +enemy’s barbed wire, cunningly concealed in the long grass. The German +trap had succeeded. To proceed farther was impossible, and in order to +escape total annihilation the gallant horsemen reluctantly turned their +horses’ heads and rode back. Of the 9th Lancers not more than forty +came out of the ordeal. + +“The charge of the Lancers had failed, but it will live forever in +military annals. It proved to the world that the British cavalry was as +dashing and brave as in the days of old.” + + +GRENFELL RESCUES THE GUNS + +Grenfell’s second great exploit came on the same day. It was equally +daring. When the survivors of the 9th Lancers rode off the field the +Captain, although not seriously wounded, was greatly in need of rest. +That, however, was not yet to be. He had espied a railway embankment, +and quickly made for it with the men under his charge. When they +arrived at the shelter they found a number of men of the 119th Field +Battery, which had been put out of action and abandoned. There was the +danger of the guns being captured by the enemy and turned against the +English. It had been a great day for the artillery, no less than for +the cavalry. + +“This battery had been in action earlier in the day with the object of +delaying the German advance and relieving the terrible pressure on the +harassed infantry, who were being driven back from Mons by superior +forces. The 119th Battery had given and received a terrific fire. One +Germany battery had been silenced by the gunners, who were afterward +attacked by three of the enemy’s batteries from different directions. +The unequal contest was very fierce while it lasted. All the gunners +had been killed by shrapnel, and the survivors of the battery were +ordered to seek safety. + +“Up till now it had been found impossible to attempt the rescue of +the guns. They remained exposed to the German shells and would have +been captured but for the gallantry of Captain Grenfell. An officer of +the 119th Battery, Lieutenant Geoffrey Blemell Pollard, who had been +trying to devise means to save his guns, came to where the Lancers were +resting, and put the matter before them. Would they assist him to get +the guns away?” + +Captain Grenfell heard the lieutenant’s request. He carefully climbed +to the top of the embankment, surveyed the position, and returned. He +had seen that the Germans had now captured the guns. + +Grenfell determined to get the guns, regardless of the cost. He asked +for volunteers and before he had done speaking two dozen Lancers had +given in their names. They did not need to be told that Grenfell would +lead—they had been in the charge with him and knew that he would not +send others to do his work. They would have followed him anywhere. + +Grenfell led his little party of troopers into the open. Bullets were +flying around, shrapnel was bursting near. “He was as cool as if he was +on parade,” said a corporal who took part. + +He led his men right into the hurricane of shot and shell. Every few +minutes they stopped for breath, then on again. Advancing at a rapid +rate they reached the guns. + +“So unexpected was the charge of Grenfell’s squadron that the Germans, +taken by surprise, fled in panic. Grenfell gave quick directions; +rapidity of action was essential, for the Germans in the rear of the +guns were pouring in a rapid fire. One gun was safely man-handled out +of action. Grenfell was not the man to leave a task half-finished, +and, braving the shells, he galloped back to the guns. By the time he +reached them some of the battery’s horses had been brought up, and +Grenfell assisted to hitch them to the guns. This done, the latter were +galloped off the field. Not one gun of the 119th Battery was lost, and +most of the wagons were recovered. Only three men were hit during the +rescue operations. Thus ended one of the quickest and most gallant +gun-saving exploits of the war. + +“Later in the day Captain Grenfell was wounded. A bullet struck him in +the thigh, and two of his fingers were injured. He was brought back +from the firing-line, and an ambulance was sent for. + +“While awaiting the ambulance a motor-car dashed along. ‘That’s what I +want,’ said Captain Grenfell. ‘What’s the use of an ambulance to me? +Take me back to the firing-line.’ He entered the motor-car and went +back to fight.... + +“Captain Grenfell was twice invalided home, but on each occasion +curtailed his rest in order to get back to the firing-line. He was +killed while in command of the left section of the 9th Lancers on May +24, 1915. The Germans had broken through the line, but Grenfell held, +and in the words of his Commanding Officer, Major Beale Browne, ‘saved +the day.’” + +Thus died one of the greatest heroes of the war, a soldier to his +fingertips, a born leader, a true gentleman. His men loved him because +they knew his worth. In his will he left his Victoria Cross—the most +honorable decoration England bestows—to the men of his regiment, “to +whom the honor of my gaining it was entirely due.” + + + + +AN UNPARALLELED HERO + +The Church Elder and Champion Turkey-Shooter Who Killed 25 Germans and +Captured a Machine Gun Battalion + + +Six feet tall, weighing a trifle over two hundred pounds, brawny as +becomes a man whose time was divided between blacksmithing and farming, +clear-cut and strong of feature, kindly of disposition but positive and +resolute by the testimony of keen blue eyes and flaming red hair—that +is the general description of Alvin C. York, native of the Tennessee +Mountains, extraordinary hero of the Argonne Battle, and modest withal. + +There is no story of the great war that reads more like an extravagant +fiction; but it is thoroughly attested, its truth unquestionably +established by official investigation and by the sworn statements of +fellow soldiers as one of the most amazing individual achievements in +the four years crowded with deeds of almost incredible heroism and +daring. + +In a sentence: On Oct. 8, 1918, less than a year after he joined the +army, Alvin C. York, as Corporal York, Company G, 328th Infantry, 82d +Division, A. E. F., during operations in the Argonne sector, killed +twenty-five Germans, captured 132 prisoners, including a major and +several lieutenants, and put out of commission thirty-five machine +guns—and did it by his “lonesome,” subduing the machine gun battalion +with his rifle and automatic pistol. + +Now, the thing that gives vivid additional interest to the thrilling +story is the fact that its hero was an elder of the Church of Christ +and Christian Union—a sect scrupulously opposed to any kind of fighting +and firm as conscientious objectors to war—and was one of the most +devout and earnest members of his home church, in Pall Mall, Tennessee. +And thereby hangs a romance! + +He had been one of the young bucks of the region, a typical +mountaineer; a dead shot with rifle or pistol; champion of the +turkey-shooting matches; breezy, jovial, liberal of oath, free +with the demijohn, and not averse to a fight. He was one of eleven +children, having seven brothers and three sisters, and when his father +(blacksmith and farmer) died in 1911, Alvin, then twenty-four years +old, took on the two occupations as head of the family; the older +brothers married and went away. But in hours not demanded by smithy or +farm he followed the bent of his old habits for the next two or three +years, when, yielding to his mother’s entreaties, he gave up drinking +and settled into sobriety. The “girl of all the world” urged him +to join the church. So he waited a year, thinking the thing over. +Convinced that it was the right course to pursue, he joined the church +in 1915. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Sergeant Alvin C. York + +As Corporal York of the 328th Infantry he captured 132 prisoners, +killed twenty-five German machine-gunners and put out of operation +thirty-five machine guns.] + +When the United States declared war and conscription came, York was +second elder of his church and, naturally, pastor and congregation +urged him to abide by the doctrine of the church and claim exemption +as a conscientious objector. He was sorely troubled. He believed in +his religion, was soulfully committed to it, but he loved his country +too—and patriotism is also a religion. He refused to claim exemption, +and went with the draft to Camp Gordon in Georgia, but was obviously +unhappy in his divided duty. He talked many times on the subject with +Captain Danforth and Major Buxton. In addition to much reasoning +they cited scriptural passages from the Old and New Testaments, that +convinced him there are times when the sword is the instrument of +divine justice, and before the 82d Division sailed for France, the +conscientious objector declared himself satisfied that he was on the +right course, and gave himself wholeheartedly to the duties of the +soldier. + +And a good soldier he was, cheerfully, promptly obedient to orders, +quick in mastering details, and distinguished by the cool, positive +conduct of the self-reliant by habit and of the fearless by nature. +He was made Corporal of Company G, 328th Infantry, 82d Division, a +division made up of representatives of every state in the Union, hence +the A. A. (All-America) in its insignia. + + +EARLY INTO ACTION + +Over the sea went the 82d and was speedily in action, doing valorously +in the Meuse-Argonne battles. And then, Oct. 8, at 6 o’clock in the +morning, the 2d Battalion of the 328th, Corporal York with Company G, +set off from Hill 223 with the Decauville railroad as its objective, +two kilometers to the west. They had to cross a valley of several +hundred yards and climb the ridges of a hill, all the time under +machine gun fire from three directions. The guns from one hill had the +Americans enfiladed, and Acting Sergt. Bernard Early was ordered to +take two squads, and put the guns out of action. Early had sixteen men +under him, one of whom was Corporal York. + +They set out to climb the hill with a heavy fire from a ridge at +their backs, but the density of the trees and brush permitted them to +get beyond observation without loss, though bullets continued to cut +through the trees as they struggled and stumbled upward through the +tangle. They crossed the crest and began the descent of the opposite +slope, and suddenly, on the farther side of a little stream they came +upon a group of Germans, twenty to thirty in number, seated on the +ground for a meal. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood, and Underwood._ + +Home, Sweet Home + +Back home again in the Tennessee mountains.] + +The Americans fired and there were a few return shots, but the majority +of the surprised Germans threw down their guns and held up their hands +in sign of surrender, and the others followed suit promptly, including +the major in command of the battalion. They were amazed to find that +their captors were American. + +Sergt. Early had them line up and was just ready to take them out +when, in the expressive words of a survivor, “all hell broke loose.” +Machine-guns placed in “fox-holes” that had been pointed the other way +were swung round, and from the slope above Early’s detachment, began a +fusillade. The German prisoners at once dropped down and lay on their +bellies as did some of the Americans, others seeking the shelter of +trees. Six of the little detachment were killed outright. Early was +shot three times through the body and Corporal Cutting and Private +Muzzi were wounded. On one side of York was Private Wareing, on the +other Private Dymowski, both shot to pieces, York untouched. This fire +reduced the party to eight, York and seven privates. Of the latter, one +was pinned behind a tree, the others were guarding the prisoners. That +is the testimony of the men themselves. They did no shooting. + + +“ALL THE TIME I WAS A-USING MY RIFLE” + +York, when he dropped at the first fire of the machine-guns, found +himself in a little path by a clump of bushes; the machine-guns were +peppering from a distance of less than thirty yards, cutting off the +tops of the bushes about York. On his return to the United States May +22, 1919, York said to a reporter: “I sat right where I was, and it +seemed as if every gunner was a-firing straight at me. All this time, +though, I was a-using my rifle, and the enemy he was a feeling the +effects of it. One of our boys yelled that it was impossible to get the +best of the situation, but I yelled back ‘Shut up!’ I knew one American +was better than ten Germans if he kept his wits.” + +He had no thought of surrender and “Somehow, I knew I wouldn’t be +killed.” Aiming as he used to when shooting off the heads of the +turkeys, he spotted Germans in the “fox-holes,” those firing from +behind trees or over logs, with deadly precision, himself lying low to +have the protection of the German prisoners prostrate between him and +the machine-guns. He was not the man to miss a mark at that range. One +boche had the indiscretion to rise in order to fling a small bomb at +the rifleman. The bomb missed its object; not so the responsive bullet. +“I got him square,” said York. + + +“I WHIPPED OUT MY AUTOMATIC” + +“I turned in time to see a Heinie Lieutenant rise up from near one of +them machine-guns and with six or seven men come charging toward me +with fixed bayonets. They were only twenty yards away from me when I +whipped out my automatic and I potted them off one after another.” +(This man York, by the way, in a contest with an automatic pistol, hit +a penny match-box every shot at forty paces.) + +“As soon as the Germans saw the Lieutenant drop, most of the +machine-guns stopped firing and the battle sort of quieted down, but +I kept on shooting until the Major with the first batch of Germans we +had come across, and who was lying on his stomach to avoid being hit +by his own gunners, called to me in perfect English that if I would +stop shooting he would make them all surrender, so I did. Then I called +all our boys, and their affidavits show they came, and we herded the +Germans in front of us and started toward our lines. I walked among +four German officers and had our wounded bring up the rear. The Major +asked me how many men I had, and I just told him, ‘I have a-plenty.’” + +On the way they stirred up several more machine-gun nests, one of which +put up a fight and York felt it a regrettable necessity to “shoot a man +there.” After that when a nest was flushed the Major touched him on the +arm and said, “Don’t kill any more, and I’ll make them surrender.” This +was done and the hill was pretty well cleared up before they got to +the other side and York’s herd of prisoners numbered 132, counted and +certified to by Lieutenant Joseph A. Woods, Asst. Division Inspector, +as they were reported to the P. C. of the 2d Battalion, 328 Infantry, +that same Oct. 8. + + +PROMOTED AND DECORATED + +Now what should be done with a corporal who, with rifle and automatic +pistol, outfought a machine-gun battalion and took 132 prisoners in +addition to killing twenty-five of the enemy? First they made him a +Sergeant. Then somewhat later, after his amazing story was officially +examined and verified by affidavits, in the presence of all the +officers of the 82d Division, Major General C. P. Summerall decorated +him with the Distinguished Service Cross, and said to him: “Your +conduct reflects great credit not only upon the American Army, but +upon the American people. Your deeds will be recorded in the history +of the Great War, and they will have an inspiration not only to your +comrades but to the generations that will come after us. I wish to +commend you publicly and in the presence of the officers of your +division.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Committee of Public Information from Underwood and Underwood._ + +Major-General R. L. Bullard and His Entire Divisional Staff + +Major-General Robert Lee Bullard saw far more actual fighting than many +of his colleagues in the old regular Army establishment. He led the +First Division in France and later received the honor of being put in +command of the Second Army Corps, many of his troops distinguishing +themselves at Château-Thierry.] + +Then the French, to whom valor is a thing of divine sanctity, awarded +him that enviable soldier’s treasure, the Croix de Guerre, and in +presenting it to him Marshal Foch, who knows right well what brave +deeds are, told him that his was the greatest act of bravery and +presence of mind under great stress performed by any soldier of the +Allied Armies. Add to this that badge of nobility, the Congressional +Medal of Honor. + +But with the two crosses on his breast and the medal in prospect, +Sergeant York had a light in his eyes and a hesitant smile on his lips +when he spoke of a Tennessee girl, “the prettiest in the state,” that +rather suggested the idea that in his opinion his proudest distinction +would be when Miss Grace Williams became Mrs. Alvin York. + + +“I FEEL A HEAP STRONGER SPIRITUALLY” + +And what could he say to the Church of Christ and Christian Union +Pastor and members waiting to welcome him home to Pall Mall and into +renewed fellowship? Probably what he said to the reporter who asked +him a leading question. When he was drafted he had no real idea what +the fighting was about. “But when I got to camp,” he said, “and my +officers told me we were fighting for democracy and peace on earth and +for the protection of the small nations, then I knew it was no sin to +kill. In fact, I feel a heap stronger spiritually than before I went +over to fight. No man could go through what I did without the help of +God. I feel He gave us our great victory because we were in the right. + +At a reception given York by the Tennessee Society of New York, Major +General Duncan, who commanded the 82d Division, said this: + +“It is a unique distinction for me to have on one side of me the +Admiral who safely conducted all of our troops overseas and on the +other side one of the most distinguished soldiers the world has ever +produced. His deeds are of the character that will go down in history +for our boys and girls to read of and admire. + +“York was awarded his medals for having been the leader of a small +party which brought in a large number of prisoners after he had killed +twenty-five. When I heard of his feat I ordered a full investigation, +which resulted in the award of the Congressional Medal. I am happy to +see your society doing honor to a man who so thoroughly deserves it. + +“I hope your unprecedented policy of banqueting a non-commissioned +officer will be forever followed and honor done to the man who carries +the gun—the man who goes over the top.” + + + + +THE NEMESIS OF FLAME + +A Vision of Inferno from which Even a Dante Would Have Shrunk——“What +Hell Must Be Like” + + +[Illustration: + + © _International Film Service._ + +Liquid Fire—The War’s Most Terrible Weapon + +It was introduced by the Germans and later adopted by the French. The +inflammable liquid was carried in tanks on the backs of soldiers and +the flames were expelled through a nozzle at the end of a short hose.] + +As a rule the experience of one “caught in his own trap” is regarded +with a good deal of satisfaction by human nature in general. The +spectacle of anyone “hoist with his own petard” seems quite in the line +of poetic justice, and there is not much sympathy with the victim. But +there are instances when the merited recoil punishment is too ghastly, +too appalling to permit of any other sensation than that of horror, and +a French correspondent on the Somme has recorded such an instance. One +detachment of the French line was under heavy and concentrated fire, +and the commanding officer thought it advisable to withdraw the men to +a better position, about fifty yards in the rear. The correspondent +quotes the statement of the soldier left behind to watch and signal +the movements of the enemy. He says: + +“I fixed myself about fifteen feet up in the crotch of a big tree and +seized a telephone which was connected with the nearest battery. From +there I could see a German trench at the edge of a little wood, about +eighty yards from the trench my comrades had vacated. + +“For nearly an hour nothing happened. Occasionally I noticed heads +peering from the Boche trench, trying to see into the empty trench +which was hidden from them by a slight rise of the ground just before +it. They would have been a splendid mark for a sniper, but I had other +work this time. Suddenly a group of about forty Boches crept from the +wood, rapidly followed by the best part of a company. I telephoned: +‘Enemy advancing led by a detachment of flamenwerfer,’ for I had +recognized the devilish apparatus carried by the foremost group. When +the latter were about eighty feet from the empty trench, they halted +in a hollow just below the rise of ground, and then, with appalling +suddenness, a dozen jets of white and yellow flames darted up to fall +plumb into the trench. The dense smoke hid the Germans from me for a +time, but, thanks to my mask, I was able to gasp information to the +battery. + +“A few moments later I had a glimpse of what hell must be like. Our +gunners had the range to an inch, and a torrent of shells burst right +among the flame-throwers, exploding the containers. Great sheets of +flame shot up, one jet from a container just grazing me, burning +my clothes so that my ribs were scorched rather badly. But it was +impossible to escape. The ground was a sea of fire. In the midst of it +the Germans, like living torches, were dying horribly. One man spun +round like a top, not even trying to run away, until he fell in a pool +of flame. Others rolled on the ground, but the blazing liquid ran over +them everywhere, and I could smell the sickening odor of burning flesh. + +“I don’t think any of the fire-throwers escaped. Their screams, heard +despite the cannonade and rifle fire, seemed to continue terribly long. +The company behind them was panic-stricken. As the smoke lifted, I +saw them moving back to the wood, and our _mitrailleuse_ did severe +execution, spreading added slaughter over that scene of horror. + +“I was nearly fainting with the fumes and the pain of my burns. The +Captain sent a patrol, which found me hanging limply in the tree fork. +They had trouble getting me, but luckily the Germans were too staggered +to interfere.” + + + + +HE JESTS AT SCARS + +A Bomb Thrower and Tank Master Who “Paid His Way in Huns” + + +It is very hard to pick out definitely any single name and exclaim +“Here is the Hero!” Not that that man would not be a hero, but that he +is not the only hero, and definite naming of some seems to exclude all +the rest. If this book shows anything, it shows that in the horrors of +the vast conflagration—in the terrible, awe-inspiring strain of the +fighting on earth and on water, and underneath, and above—practically +all the millions involved proved themselves heroes. Many of them found +no chance to show their valor in lone ventures, and not all of them +lost the lives they were so ready to give up. But they were heroes—all +of them—though no papers heralded in brave headlines their deeds of +glory, and no medals shine forth the commendation of the superior +officers. All we need to see is the mud-stained uniform—and that look +in the eye. This book is really a dedication to the innumerable heroes +we do not name—heroes to be perhaps ever nameless in human documents. + +It is hard even where men were given the opportunity for individual +bravery to pick them out. Official records are brief, and, in the +main, the men themselves refuse to tell. But _Scribner’s Magazine_ has +uncovered one of these hard-to-get heroes. He calls himself Lieutenant +“Z.,” and it is only between the lines that we read of his endless +sacrifice, courage, and death-defying accomplishments. + +The story is taken from letters written by him in the trenches. At +the very beginning of the war he had enlisted as a trooper in a +newly-formed cavalry regiment. All winter they waited to be called +to action. Spring came—and yet no call or need for horsemen. They +therefore volunteered to dismount, and were sent to Flanders. He +himself joined the “Bombing Squad.” + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +Forward With Hand Grenades + +A strong arm, a keen eye, and a disregard for danger are the requisites +for the man who throws grenades or bombs.] + +Bomb throwing, he soon found, is “quite a ticklish business, needing +care and accuracy. A badly thrown bomb may kill one’s own men +remarkably easily, and in the hands of inexperienced men I should call +them good allies for the Germans.” But his own efficiency speaks +for itself. In some ten days the records named him as wounded, and he +writes a hasty letter home to say that he is well. “My wound is only a +scratch on the arm,” he complains, “and I did not show it to the doctor +until our return to these billets. It is ridiculous to return me as +‘wounded.’ + + +LIVING NINE PINS + +“We went into the trenches on Saturday night last, and came out +Thursday morning just before dawn. Four days and five nights +practically without sleep, and being shelled by Jack Johnsons more or +less the whole time. It is a one-sided game, with the odds with the +artillery. We sit and hold a trench, being the nine pins while the guns +roll the ball at you. You can do nothing but swear softly. No Germans +actually attacked our trench, but they tried to do so on each side of +us. But on Tuesday afternoon about 6.30 p.m. I got a little of my own +back from them. I had just returned with a sack full of water bottles +from a stream near by behind our trench, where we dodge snipers, when +the call suddenly came for ‘Bomb throwers to the front’ and the rifles +and machine guns started a terrific popping. I was in shirt sleeves, +and just slammed on my ammunition equipment and skedaddled off with my +rifle up the trench towards the racket, incited by a great eagerness to +get into the thick of it. + +“After a long time, as it was a long way, crouching and running and +crawling I got to where I could see our men throwing bombs into the +Germans. You could hear nothing for the noise, for it seemed as if +every German rifle, Maxim, and big gun was turned on that spot; their +shrapnel was going ‘Brrangg’ overhead and their shells going ‘Whangg’ +all about. I took a few shots at the devils with my rifle, by way of +resting and getting my breath, and then I got hold of a box of bombs +and started to crawl and drag it up there. The box was heavy and, to +my delight, another young chap, a Strathcona, came and helped me. We +dragged and humped it along, over bumps and across shell holes and over +our dead, until we got to the extreme point where the Germans were +retreating up their trench and being bombed by our men unmercifully. +There I found my own Sergeant of our bomb throwing squad, to my great +relief. + +“I had never thrown a live bomb in my life but soon found out, as it is +quite a simple affair and they were lovely bombs for working. You could +see a clump of German bayonets huddled like sheep, over their parapet +top, and you chucked a bomb into it and prayed for the explosion. When +it came the bayonets wavered and wabbled and then disappeared. If the +bomb did not explode you waited and backed up because those plucky +Germans lighted it again and threw it back. And so on and so on. I +_know_ I got 3 bombs into them fairly and squarely and heard them +explode and saw the bayonets flop down. We finally got to a place at a +turn in the trench, an angle, and our men, the —— something or other, +were firing directly across us, excitedly of course, and they killed +about 12 of our men there, two of them being of my squad and within a +few feet of me, and two more were wounded. I was by that time about +played out and the bombs were all exhausted, so we sat down to wait +for more, and when they came I could not get up, for I had cramp in +both of my legs and had to be rubbed and rubbed. That must have been +about 8 p.m. But I could drag around, so I dressed two wounded men and +helped to fill sand bags and pass them along until 10 p.m. I should +judge. About 10.30 p.m. the only officer present told us the thing was +over for the time and no more could be done, and we crawled back, as +the rifles and Maxims and shrapnel and Jack Johnsons were just as busy +all the time. The Sergeant and I got back to our own trench after 11 +p.m. and I was more than tired. Never have I been so played out in my +whole life. We lost three killed, two wounded, and another who went off +his head later, out of nine, including the Sergeant, out of our bomb +throwing squad. And I had not a scratch. Just a bump on the breast bone +from something kicked up by a Jack Johnson. It was a bad thing for the +Germans but we lost a lot of good men there. + +“Our troop was 38 strong but now only 26 are left. We were in the +foremost British trench of the British front here and our Troop had the +post of honor. So we ought not to mind anything.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant John F. Nugent + +_42nd Division, 165th Infantry, 83rd Brigade_ + +He was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross for three days’ +fighting in the Château-Thierry Sector. He was mentioned for having +maintained liaison under heavy bombardment, as well as having performed +first-aid work.] + + +“PAID HIS WAY IN HUNS” + +Our bomb thrower was twice promoted for bravery, and finally was +offered a commission in his regiment “for setting traps for Fritz when +he goes a-sniping.” A bomber is called on to do a lot of work besides +bombing, such as crawling about at night sniffing trouble, and likely +points where Huns may be blown sky high. He would like to get a quick +promotion but “at any rate,” he writes, “I can truthfully say that +I have already blotted out enough Huns to pay for my scalp, if that +business deal comes to the point of record. And it is a most cheerful +and fortifying sensation. I would like my epitaph to read ‘He paid his +way in Huns.’” + +Wounds, yes, and minor disabilities, but he writes, “I don’t need my +left side to throw bombs and the Lord has spared my right side for a +special purpose. I have got more than my share of Huns as it is and I +firmly intend to get some more. Three of us, with sufficient bombs, +accounted for 46 dead Huns, 26 wounded and 22 prisoners in one single +afternoon. This was a redoubt which they surrendered, after they had +had enough.” + +He was finally sent away to an Officers’ Training Camp and after six +weeks came back to the front as first lieutenant. In the meantime, +though, his regiment had been remounted and was doing patrol duty. +Patrol duty did not suit Lieutenant Z. He therefore joined the Machine +Gun Corps, and spent several months in a “Tank Menagerie.” At Messines +Ridge he led a division of the “Rhinos” into battle. The Military +Cross he won there is only small evidence to the steadfast heroism he +displayed that day. + +He was well acquainted with conditions by that time. His description of +a battle at the Somme shows that: + +“I was only fifteen hundred yards from our front line, and the place +taken was on an upward slope, so all was in full sight. At the given +moment, 4.45 p.m. of a lovely summer evening, up they went, ‘over the +top,’ famous Celtic regiments, all together, a long and gallant line. +Bayonets sparkling in the sun, up the slope they go! Behind me our +massed batteries are making one great crashing roar till your temples +throb and throb, and ahead of our men the very earth is heaving and +moving amidst a fog of green and black and yellow and gray smoke. +Now, No Man’s Land, so long a desert, is full of life and death and +joy and misery. White vicious balls of shrapnel puff above; or deadly +black and green ones, and below the great spouts and mushroom columns +of jet-black smoke spring up like fungoid growths here and there. +The shrill rat-tat of machine guns and the pop-pop-pop of rifles can +be heard. On the little figures run and jump, and the bayonets gleam +and sparkle, and the first line disappears into the trench ahead, and +you are left to imagine what follows. Still, No Man’s Land is well +populated. Wave after wave is speeding straight ahead. The ground +is dotted with immovable dots, and others which can crawl. A bright +magnesium star shoots up well ahead, and the batteries lift their +fire without checking. The waves all surge forward and out of sight +at last, and No Man’s Land is left to its misery. Then you see the +stretcher-bearers out there among the great grinding ‘crumps’ and the +shrapnel, calmly picking up their men, and back they come slowly. You +watch one group of five. Four bearers and a mangled something which +is alive. A monster spout and cloud springs up near. They swerve and +crouch for a few seconds and on they come. Another black death entirely +hides them from view, and you wonder. No! Here they come. So slowly and +steadily through the cloud, and you say to yourself: ‘Hurry, hurry; for +God’s sake run!’ But they don’t. They walk slowly and carefully with +their burden, straight and the shortest way. Some win home and some +do not. Other men are carrying others, and some hobble and limp and +stagger by themselves. And all the while the big shells burst and the +shrapnel sprays the ground. + +“No Man’s Land is again a desert, dotted with dots of death.” + + +A GO WITH A TANK + +On June 6th he was given orders to lead a tank through battle. He must +have had brave folks at home to write: + +[Illustration: _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Grady Parrish + +_42nd Division, 167th Infantry, Company “G”_ + +He reorganized his platoon and personally led it in the attack on +Côte de Chatillon. By his daring acts he broke up a heavy enemy +counter-attack on his front, thereby setting to his men an example of +exceptional heroism and devotion to duty.] + +“When you get this, I shall have been through the mill and either all +right, in hospital, or blotted out, so don’t worry. As soon as I can I +will write and let you know the news; if I can’t, some one else will. +We hope to make a page of history, and go into it with light hearts and +great confidence. This place is Bedlam, the lions about to be fed, the +parrot-house at the Zoo, and a few other noisy places combined. I went +through gas last night near dawn, and had no respirator (forgot it). +Held my breath till I nearly burst and blew up, and made record time. +Beyond a harmless whiff picked up when I exploded for air, which has +made smoking less of a pleasure, no harm done. + +“Good-by. I have had a long run out here, and I must not complain, and +I have thoroughly enjoyed it and would repeat it, every bit of it, if +it were necessary.” + +The next letter speaks for itself: + + “IN BELGIUM, June 10th, 1917. + + “DEAR M.: + + “Your letter found me in hospital and was most delightful company. + My trouble is not much, just a bullet through fleshy part of right + forearm and a graze in the side, and I am up and about and going + back to my lot in a day or two. We were an active part in the great + drama of the 7th, and what with the bursting mine-earthquakes and the + tempestuous bombardment, one was lucky to be left with one’s senses. + I, personally, was very successful, reaching all my objectives and + getting slap into the blue-gray devils, Bavarians, and blazing away + like a dreadnought. Oh! The sights which were seen! Luck, good and + bad, was with me, for my bus caught on fire in action just where + the thing was thickest, and I ordered the whole crew out, with + fire-extinguishers, to put it out. Out we went and got busy. I left my + crew on the sheltered side (more or less), but my corporal, without + orders, got on top, while I went to the exposed side, vociferously + ordering the corporal down, and we got the blaze out between us. + + “Meantime one of my crew was bowled over. We got him back inside and + later he came to and is recovering. Where I was the bullets were + splattering around me and hitting old ‘Squash ’em Flat’ and splashing + me with fine sprays of broken metal, and there it was I got my + trifling wound and scratches, but it was only bad Bavarian shooting + that kept me and my corporal (who was untouched) from being turned + into human sieves. After that, we carried on, and as I had finished my + job to the last letter, we came on home, and I brought the old thing + back safely. + + + SOMETHING OF A MYTH + + “Our game sounds comfortable and protected, but that is a myth. It + is a mystery how ever any of us got there or got back. You feel + very important because you are heralded, followed and encircled by + miniature geysers of earth, smoke and biff-bang! Your own infantry + flees from you as if you bore the plague. A good many of our lot got + into serious trouble, and quite a few faces of chums are missing + to-day. The day for the British Army was a veritable howling success, + and the Boche fought here with no spirit at all. They bolted like + rabbits, throwing away rifles and equipment, some back to Berlin and + some to us, hands up, and Kamerading. Our casualties were very light, + indeed, owing to the absolutely artistic work of the artillery; and + with our airmen the combination is unbeatable. These wonderful airmen! + Like meteors in the sky, they swoop and fly, entirely regardless of + everything but the job on hand. + + “Our men fight so cheerfully and whimsically and sarcastically. There + is no vestige of hate toward the Boche, only an abiding disgust and + hearty contempt—a feeling as toward a mongrel who has fairly gone and + got hydrophobia and must be killed to save valuable human life. We are + really most jubilant over the past three days’ work, and every one is + smiling and happy and cracking jokes. Gramophones are whirling at top + speed, bands are playing in the camps, pipes are skirling and moaning + and quickening the pulse, and the Hun is licking his wounds in silence + over there to the east, in silence and afraid.” + +The War Office took cognizance of the little affair: + + “LONDON, July 12th, 1917. + + “TO ——: + + “Beg to inform you that Lieutenant Z., Heavy Branch Machine-Gun Corps, + was wounded June 7th, but remained at duty. + + “SECRETARY, WAR OFFICE.” + +On June 20th the Military Cross was awarded to Lieutenant Z. + + + + +EPIC OF THE FOREIGN LEGION + +Its Wonderful Story Will Stand as One of the Vital Things of the War + + +The self-redeemed have always had the world’s sympathy—sometimes they +have won the world’s acclaim. Visitors to that shrine of French honor +and glory, the famous Hôtel des Invalides, may now see the battleflag +of the Foreign Legion, draped between the flag of the Cuirassiers who +fell at Reichshofen, and the standard borne by the Garibaldians in +1870-1871—not only draped in that honorable association, but wearing +on its folds the cross of the Legion of Honor. And those who know will +tell visitors that that flag was the flag of the redeemed. + +It was said with shame and contempt at first that the Foreign Legion +was composed of the riff-raff, scalawags and murderous upstarts of the +nether world. So it was, but events proved that “there is a spirit in +man” that can throw off degraded conditions and rise to the performance +of nobly heroic deeds and sacrifices. This Legion, made up of renegades +and social outcasts from all quarters of the globe, men beyond the pale +of the law speaking a various language, tendered its services to France +in 1915, was recognized by the President of the Republic, accepted by +the Commander-in-Chief and admitted to the army on an equal footing +with the regular regiments of the line. The pariahs became soldiers of +France. + +It was an extraordinarily nondescript assembly—all nationalities, all +colors, from the black of the negro to the blonde of the Saxon, having +but two things in common, their former outlawry and the “spirit that +quickeneth,” and through the quality of that spirit they squared their +debt to life,—for the Legion dissolved in the fire that met the “drive” +in September, 1915, so soon after it entered the service. As one of the +few survivors wrote: “War did its worst thoroughly with the Legion. We +had the place of honor in the attack, and we paid for it.” Right good +words. + +There is all the material for an epic in the glory of the Foreign +Legion. A great deal has been written about it, but the best is yet +to be written—some time when the war is further away, and out of its +horror the things that glow will rise into clearer view. Really, it +is a great thing when the reject of the social order spring from +their fugitive haunts and rush to death in defense of the higher +civilization. In the meantime there is the moving story, graphically +yet simply told, by Legionary Morlae, a survivor, published in the +_Atlantic Monthly_ for March, 1916. + +The Legion was placed in the van, and Morlae’s company formed the front +line of the extreme left flank. + +Infinite care had been taken with the preparations, every detail +provided for, even to the extent of arming twelve men from each company +with long knives and hand grenades for use in their assigned duty as +“trench-cleaners”; this duty was to enter the German trenches and caves +and bomb-proofs and “dispose of such of the enemy as were still hidden +therein after we had stormed the trench and passed on to the other +side.” + + +JUST BEFORE GOING INTO ACTION + +“One hour before the time set for the advance, we passed the final +inspection and deposited our last letters with the regimental +postmaster. Those letters meant a good deal to all of us, and they were +in our minds during the long wait that followed. One man suddenly began +to intone the _Marseillaise_. Soon every man joined in singing. It was +a very Anthem of Victory. We were ready, eager, and confident: for us +to-morrow held but one chance—Victory. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Scribners._ + +A Platoon of the Foreign Legion + +The legion of adventurous spirits who fought for France, made up of +renegades and social outcasts from all quarters of the globe. It had +the right of honor in an attack and went through the bitterest fighting +on the Western front.] + +“I had written to my friends at home. I had named the man in my +company to whom I wished to leave my personal belongings. Sergeant +Velte was to have my Parabellum pistol; Casey my prismatics; Birchler +my money-belt and contents; while Sergeant Jovert was booked for my +watch and compass. Yet, in the back of my mind, I smiled at my own +forethought. I knew that I should come out alive. + +“I recalled to myself the numerous times that I had been in imminent +peril: in the Philippines, in Mexico, and during the thirteen months of +this war: I could remember time and again when men were killed on each +side of me and when I escaped unscratched. Take the affair of Papoin, +Joly, and Bob Scanlon. We were standing together so near that we could +have clasped hands. Papoin was killed, Joly was severely wounded, and +Scanlon was hit in the ankle—all by the same shell. The fragments +which killed and wounded the first two passed on one side of me, while +the piece of iron that hit Bob went close by my other side. Yet I was +untouched! Again, take the last patrol. When I was out of cover, the +Germans shot at me from a range of 10 meters—and missed! I felt certain +that my day was not to-morrow. + +“Just the same, I was glad that my affairs were arranged, and it +gave me a sense of conscious satisfaction to think that my comrades +would have something to remember me by. There is always the chance of +something unforeseen happening. + +“The strain was beginning to wear off. From right and left there came +a steady murmur of low talk. In our own column men were beginning +to chaff each other. I could distinctly hear Subiron describing in +picturesque detail to Capdevielle how he, Capdevielle, would look, +gracefully draped over the German barbed wire; and I could hear +Capdevielle’s heated response that he would live long enough to spit +upon Subiron’s grave; and I smiled to myself. The moment of depression +and self-communication had passed. The men had found themselves and +were beginning their usual chaffing. And yet, in all their chatter +there seemed to be an unusually sharp note. The jokes all had an edge +to them. References to one another’s death were common, and good wishes +for one another’s partial dismemberment excited only laughter. Just +behind me I heard King express the hope that if he lost an arm or a leg +he would at least get the _médaille militaire_ in exchange. By way of +comfort, his chum, Dowd, remarked that, whether he got the medal or +not, he was very sure of getting a permit to beg on the street-corners.” + +Here is a significant touch to be remembered. An hour before midnight +as they passed down to the front trenches the men in the supporting +trenches regarded them enviously in the darkness, demanding to know +why these men should be going into battle ahead of themselves. And the +answer came, “Nous sommes la Légion.” “A-a-a-a-h la Légion!” That was +the satisfactory explanation. “Our right to the front rank seemed to be +acknowledged. It did every man of us good.” + +It was the recognition of the right to redemption! + + +OVER THE TOP AT DOUBLE-QUICK + +There had been heavy artillery fire through the night, increasing +in intensity as the hour of the morning appointed for the attack +approached. The Germans, informed by their airmen of an unusual +commotion in the enemy first line, began shelling that point, and the +uproar was terrific when the signal was given for the Legion to go over +the top. Says Morlae: + +“I felt my jaws clenching, and the man next to me looked white. It was +only for a second. Then every one of us rushed at the trench-wall, each +and every man struggling to be the first out of the trench. In a moment +we had clambered up and out. We slid over the parapet, wormed our way +through gaps in the wire, formed in line, and, at the command, moved +forward at march-step straight toward the German wire.” + +As they moved forward at double-quick, men fell right and left under +bursting shell, and the rain of bullets from the machine guns; but +through all the appalling uproar Morlae could hear the clear, high +voice of his captain shouting “_En avant! Vive la France!_” + + +STEADILY ON ACROSS A WALL OF FIRE + +They went steadily on, supported by the fire of the rows of “75’s,” +the fire-curtain in front outlining the whole length of the enemy’s +line clearly, accurately. But above them was blackness, the low-flying +clouds mingling with the smoke curtain; and out of that blackness +“fell a trickling rain of pieces of metal, lumps of earth, knapsacks, +rifles, cartridges and fragments of human flesh. The scene was horrible +and terrifying. Across the wall of our own fire, poured shell after +shell from the enemy, tearing through our ranks. From overhead the +shrapnel seemed to come down in sheets, and from behind the stinking, +blinding curtain came volleys of steel-jacketed bullets, their whine +unheard and their effect almost unnoticed.... With me it was like a +dream as we went on, ever on. Of a sudden our fire curtain lifted. In a +moment it had ceased to bar our way and jumped like a living thing to +the next line of the enemy. We could see the trenches in front of us +now, quite clear of fire, but flattened almost beyond recognition. The +defenders were either killed or demoralized. Calmly, almost stupidly, +we parried or thrust with the bayonet at those who barred our way. +Without a backward glance we leaped the ditch and went on straight +forward toward the next trench, marked in glowing outline by our fire. +I remember now how the men looked. Their eyes had a wild, unseeing look +in them. Everybody was gazing ahead, trying to pierce the awful curtain +which cut us off from all sight of the enemy. Always the black pall +smoking and burning appeared ahead—just ahead of us—hiding everything +we wanted to see.” And so on to the next trench ahead, what was left +of it, where bayonet and gun-butt did their work speedily and then on, +leaving the finishing touches to the “trench cleaners.” + +[Illustration: Placing the Stars and Stripes in St. Paul’s Cathedral, +London + +The American Legion—men who were serving in the Canadian Army—presented +to the Cathedral the flag of the United States and the flag of Canada. +They were first placed on the altar and after a short service were +carried to the north transept.] + +Later of a sudden the German artillery in front ceased fire, and +from the trench ahead the German troops “were pouring out in black +masses and advancing toward us at a trot.” They thought it was a +counter-attack and set themselves to meet it. But then the French +artillery suddenly stopped firing and the supposed counter-attack was +seen to be a surrender, the enemy coming forward in columns of four, +officer leading, with hands up. As the prisoners were being escorted +to the rear, the German artillery, aware of its mistake, resumed fire, +viciously throwing shells among the masses of prisoners. + +At last they gained the communication trench that led to their +objective, the Navarin Farm. The trench was filled with dead or +wounded Germans; and when they got to the final trench, it was wholly +unoccupied. The French gunmen had done their work thoroughly. The men +advanced into open position and dug in separately, smoked, chaffed each +other, now and then made a dash to a neighbor’s hole, taking cheer in +the fact that the charge was over and the object won. + +But of the Legion such a pitiful few were left that it passed as a +fact, surviving only as a memory; its war-sealed flag with the cross +of the Legion of Honor, hanging in the Hôtel des Invalides, being the +testimony of its service well done. + + +DARE-DEVIL FIGHTERS FROM THE PARIS SLUMS + +As an addendum to this account of the final action of the Foreign +Legion, brief reference to the _Bataillon d’Afrique_ is quite +appropriate. This battalion was organized by the French government in +1832 for the purpose of bringing under indefinite military discipline +the city roughs, Apaches, sneak-thieves, pickpockets, swindlers, +forgers and other offenders of the lower world. All the social +refuse whom the authorities despaired of making useful to civil life +were sent to join this battalion, which differed from the ordinary +battalion consisting of 1,000 men, in having no numerical limit. +It was maintained in Africa. These soldiers were young daredevils, +keen, brave, daring, and veritable terrors in a fight. This was so +characteristic of them that the best French officers were eager to have +command of them, especially as they were devotedly obedient to their +officers. + +When France was forced to defend herself against Germany at the +outbreak of the Great War, there were 5,000 of the Bataillon d’Afrique, +3,000 garrisoned in Tunis and 2,000 in Morocco. They were summoned +to France, and the first detachment of several thousand landed at +Marseilles early in August and were at once hurried north and into +Belgium. One battalion was surrounded at Charleroi by a detachment of +the Prussian Guards, and the situation looked very black and desperate. +But that did not affect the fighting spirit of the battalion (the +Joyeux) except to give it intensity. The Joyeux buried their flag +that it might be in no danger of falling into the hands of the enemy +and, with fixed bayonets, by sheer force and will-power cut their way +through the encircling guardsmen. This battalion was part of the heroic +rearguard in the retreat from Belgium. At the battle of the Marne it +took terrible revenge for its discomfiture by the Guards at Charleroi, +when the Joyeux in their turn surrounded a regiment of the Prussian +Guards, which did not cut a way out. + +They gave a fine account of themselves, that is, those who had survived +the earlier campaigns in the final grand offensive of the Allies. + +Captain Cecaldi, who led the Joyeux in many campaigns, said of them: + +“The place of the Joyeux is where the powder talks, face to danger. +They ever give proof of a calm energy, devilish courage, attentive +obedience. They fight always with a good humor. In the midst of shells +and bullets, in the hardest part of the struggle, they make droll +and witty remarks. And when the end comes the Joyeux know how to die +nobly.” + + + + +“DOC OF THE FIFTH” + +The Conversion of the Rev. J. H. Clifford, “Y” Worker, into A Hero +Among Marines + + +Not every one understands that a soldier of the Lord has in him the +material out of which to make a very effective soldier where shot and +shell play havoc. The young men of the Army, Navy and Marines who went +over to France to offer their lives in defense of their country’s +ideals, discovered, in the experiences of the trenches, a something +that rather cheapened in their estimation the forms and didactic +solemnity of conventional religion. They had learned a more intimate +thing, and it is the testimony of many clergymen that the “boys” found +words only too cheap where works were in order. They had no hankering +for sermons. They had caught an intimate understanding from the +Unknown. They did not want to be preached to. + +Therein lies the secret of the affectionate familiar devotion of the +men of the regiment to “Doc of the Fifth.” It is a story that has +been told widely in the press, and has been requoted in numerous +periodicals, but it is a delightful instance of what may be called the +quiet heroisms of life. + +The Rev. John H. Clifford, minister of the Baptist Church in Tucson, +Arizona, felt the urge to service on the other side when the United +States began sending its boys to the fighting front. He promptly +tendered himself as a “Y” worker, was accepted and sent abroad. His +assignment carried him to the 5th Regiment of Illinois in the Vosges. +He went prepared to do his duties as a minister of the Gospel and a +servant of man. + +He wore the blouse and tunic of the chaplain, insignia that indicated +to some of the “Boys” that superior altitude of moral pretension and +holier-than-thouness they were unwilling to acknowledge too cordially. +So when he tried to begin his work with the men of the 5th, he was +greeted by the declaration, “We don’t want any damned parsons around +here,” and for two weeks they held aloof, ignoring the efforts to +establish religious services. + +But the Rev. John H. Clifford wasn’t a clergyman merely, he was a +man—and he understood men. And this valuable asset incited a course +of action destined to win the confidence and affection of those under +his care. Instead, therefore, of standing on dignity and attempting to +command the respect supposedly “due to the cloth,” he went to the men. +He joined them in their hikes. He entered into their interests. He was +ever ready to do his share and bear the equal hardships with them. They +began to warm toward him, and finally, as one of the Marines put it, he +was “adopted as a Leatherneck,” and he became to them “Doc”—“Doc of the +Fifth.” + +[Illustration: Rev. J. H. Clifford of the Fifth Marines + + Entering the service as a “Y” worker, Rev. Clifford later became + attached to the Fifth Marines and remained with that organization + throughout its fighting. The men became so fond of him that they named + him “Doc of the Fifth” and attached the Globe, Anchor and Eagle to his + collar.] + + +SO THEY MADE HIM A MARINE + +Then one night the boys of the 45th Company sat reasoning together +and came to the flattering conclusion that “Doc” was still a trifling +distance from them in the matter of regimental distinction, and needs +must be brought into more intimate harmony with them. _The Marine’s +Magazine_ tells us that they secretly removed his blouse and tunic and +had the company tailor sew on Marine buttons and attach the Globe, +Anchor and Eagle to his collar. When “Doc” appeared at chow with his +new decorations the officers were aghast, but later General (then +Colonel) Doyen authorized him to wear them and there they have remained. + +“I am prouder to wear the Globe, Anchor and Eagle than I am to wear +the Croix de Guerre which was given me after I had the opportunity of +helping General Catlin when he was wounded,” said Dr. Clifford. “Any +one of the boys would have done anything he could for the general in +similar circumstances, but not everyone is awarded an emblem by the +Marines themselves. A token of affection from such men as those is the +greatest honor.” + + +IN THE THICK OF IT AT BELLEAU WOOD + +He was with the 5th Regiment through that fame-winning Belleau Wood +battle, and has endless stories to tell of experiences in that terrible +fight, some of them amusing as an afterthought, though they were not +so regarded at the time. For example, the experience when he and a +stretcher bearer were crawling through the grass toward the trench +where General Catlin lay seriously wounded. Shells were dropping and +machine-gun bullets were slashing all about. + +“Keep closer down, Doc,” was the constant admonition of the stretcher +bearer, “closer down.” + +“The lad didn’t realize, I guess,” Doc says, “that I was perfectly +willing to get closer to the earth but my stomach prevented my doing +so.” + +He says of the awful days in Belleau Wood, where his life was +repeatedly in danger: + +“It was glorious to be with the boys there, as they saved Paris and +made history. Out of the 1,600 men in the 3rd Battalion, there were +only 200 left after ten days in Belleau Wood. Many a time the rosary I +carried was covered with blood as one of those brave boys grasped it +for the last time.” (Creed made no difference at a time like that.) + +“I could relate instances of individual heroism for hours at a time. +I lay by the side of Top Sergeant Grant of the 20th Company while he +picked off nine Germans consecutively at 400 yards; that’s Marine Corps +marksmanship for you. + +“‘Anything I can do for you, boy?’ I asked him. + +“‘No, Doc,’ he said, ‘but you might pray while I aim.’ + +“‘I’ve been doing that,’ I told him, ‘every time you squeeze the +trigger.’ Later I saw him blown to pieces by a shell. + +“Then there was the chap named Young who saw Major Berry wounded and +threw himself in front of him as a shield from the bullets that were +flying like hail. Later, when I spoke to him about his act, he merely +said, ‘I’ve done nothing.’ A few days afterward when he had volunteered +to perform a dangerous mission in the town of Lucy and was doing what +he would probably have called ‘nothing,’ he, too, was killed by a bit +of shell. + +“One of the boys saved me when I was stunned by shrapnel and in my +stupor started to walk toward the German line. He saw where I was +headed and got Doc out of that pretty quick. Then I was paralyzed by +another piece of shrapnel and was taken to a Paris hospital. But I was +lucky. I was out again in five weeks and got back at the front just +in time to be with my boys when the great drive opened on July 18 at +Soissons.” + +During that intense fighting he was again at the side of the men of the +5th to lend a hand whenever possible. One wounded Marine asked him for +a smoke, which was forthcoming, but the lad was unable to take it, his +hands were both shot. + +“Light it for me, will you, Doc?” he said, and Doc did, although he +hadn’t had any practice for more than thirty years. + +Another story he tells is of a runner who, before one of the battles, +asked him to lead a prayer meeting. Although somewhat astonished by the +request, Doc complied and the meeting was duly held in a dugout. Later +an officer was questioning the runner concerning his whereabouts. + +“I was in the dugout at a prayer meeting,” said the boy. + +“A prayer meeting?” demanded the officer. + +“Yes, sir,” persisted the lad, “and it was a damned good prayer +meeting.” + +Besides the Croix de Guerre, Dr. Clifford proudly wears the blue Cross +of Lorraine, given him by an officer in that province. + + + + +COULDN’T STOP THEM + +Thro’ Turkish Shells and Barbed-Wired Sea They Landed at Gallipoli + + +Twenty transports of Australians under General Birdwood, arriving at +Gallipoli. In any circumstances, landing through rough seas and narrow +beaches, under defiant cliffs and then climbing those cliffs is not +nerve soothing for either impatient commanders or restless soldiers. +But in war time with cannon belching at you—well, it costs. + +It was planned to surprise the Turks—those surprisingly +straight-shooting Turks, with their infernal German guns and German +officers. The men tried to hope, but it was really absurd to think +the enemy would be surprised. In January the Allied troops had tried +to force the Dardanelles. That had been sufficient warning. The enemy +would not be caught napping only a few months later. Even the most +hopeful of the men set about writing the letters which might contain +their very last wishes, fears, bequests, expressions of love. Then the +gloom passed and jokes and laughter came. + +At about two o’clock in the morning they dropped anchor. Each man stood +at parade on the decks, and each was ordered to look to his supplies—a +rifle, a bayonet, 150 rounds of ammunition, three days’ rations, a +first-aid kit. It was weird contemplating this stretch of the Ægean and +that bit of coast so soon to be washed by blood. + +Captain David Fanlon in his story of _The Big Fight_ says: “The long +procession of transports and their grim battleship escorts had stolen +up in the night, a widely spread yet organized, concrete group of +slowly-moving, black, gloomy monsters. Every light aboard each ship had +been ordered out. Not even the pin-head flame of a cigarette might show +on any deck. + +“The only light we had was the faint green gleam that filtered over the +smooth waters from a moon that had begun to wane and had, indeed, at +this hour of three in the morning, nearly fallen behind the ragged jaw +of the black cliffs.” + +That moon may have been very picturesque, but the men on those boats +hated it, feared it, wished it in—any place but in the heaven above +them. Its beam might act as a spotlight on the surprise attack. It +looked like the evil _eye_ of the _enemy_. + +“I wonder,” said some one, “what that old green eye of a moon is +looking at back of those dark, old cliffs? I wonder if he sees the big +guns drowsing and the garrisons asleep or——” + +“What he’s seeing,” came a grumbling answer, “is the heathen blighters +getting ready to bang hell out of us!” + + +THE GREAT ADVENTURE BEGINS + +“And now the men had assembled on the decks as soft-footedly as they +might. They had gathered in the darkness into orderly rows like big +companies of phantoms. The ship’s crews worked as spectrally and +nearly as silently as the lowering of ladders and the launching of +the boats would permit. Small steamboats, each with a swerving tail +made up of barges and small boats, panted alongside the transports and +battleships. With wonderful precision and swiftness the great ships +spawned hundreds on hundreds of smaller craft, thousands on thousands +of men, crowding the waters with them for as far as you could make out +whichever way you looked in the faint moonlight.” + +[Illustration: + + _© New York Herald._ + +A Night Attack on the Dardanelles + +British warships bombarding Turkish forts to protect the Allied landing +parties. The fire that was returned was both accurate and deadly.] + +Of a sudden, the moon dipped and blinked out behind the cliffs. There +was a sigh of relief. “God bless that damned old moon.” A moment before +there had been just enough light to see the battleships coming on +slowly in the rear with the obvious purpose of covering the attack. +“Then you couldn’t see a blessed thing. The green waters had turned to +ink. You only knew your comrades were with you in the same boat by the +press of their swaying bodies against your shoulders and your ribs.” + +They were within two hundred yards of the shore. + +“Shouldn’t wonder,” whispered some one, “if we’re to surprise them +after all.” + +“Then suddenly out of that weird darkness, that curious silence that +had been disturbed only by the rapid, half-choked panting of the steam +tugs, the surge of the water against the sides of the barges, the +whispers, the occasional smothered laughs—all soft sounds—there came +hell—veritable hell if ever hell comes to men on earth! And it came +with a tremendous roar!” + +Captain Dave Fanlon was not an observer at the time. He was a +participant. He gives a most thrilling account of the ghastly landing: + +“There was a swift, sharp lightening of the sky back of the gaunt, +black cliffs, and our boats seemed thrown out of the water, thrown up +into the air by the rocking thunder of the heavy guns of the Turkish +batteries behind those cliffs. The water that had been so smooth an +instant before, that was, in fact, so treacherously smooth, as had been +the silence, was stabbed and chopped and sent into wild spume by a +great rain of shells. Blinding blasts flared as suddenly, as here and +there a boat with its living load was struck and shattered. Screams and +hoarse, impulsive cries began to mingle with the explosions.” + +The Turks had the range as surely as if they were only ten feet away +from the Australians. The English battleships began an angry, heavy +retort. Whether they found their mark among the Turks or not, it seemed +to make no difference. The enemy fire became more and more intense. +Boat after boat was being smashed. Scores and scores of men, unable to +swim, or weak swimmers, died right there. + + +CAUGHT IN BARBED-WIRE NETS + +Most of the men struggled. They tried to throw off their encumbrances. +They helped one another to get rid of their knapsacks. They let go +their ammunition belts—everything but their bayonets. They knew that +even if they could make the shore there would be small hope for them +without the bayonets. All the time came that devilish fire from the +cliffs. The shore was not far off now. They swam. They were within +fifty feet of it. Then they hit against a terrible snare. + +“The enemy had constructed on stakes in eight feet of water a +barbed-wire entanglement along more than two miles of the beach.” Men +ran their faces full tilt against the barbed wire’s fangs. They cursed +and moaned. They hung on to the wire, but ducked every instant, for a +scream of bullets was all around. Hundreds drowned. Hundreds were held +like netted fish in the entangling wires. Many were lost in trying to +get through that wire. But the attack went on. There was some space +between the wire and the sea bottom. They crawled through! The enemy’s +own shells smashed some of the wire. Bombing parties in battleship +launches tore more sections open. + +Men did get through. They lay gasping on the beach. But bullets came +thicker. They rose. Officers tried to organize the torn forces. The +bombardment from the forts was ceaseless. The English ships roared +back with thundering fire. Machine gun fire and rifle fire from Turks, +concealed in mounds of sand and the clefts of the cliffs, were tearing +down the brave Australians—ever dauntless. + +“The landing party was grotesque and wavering under the frightful +storm. Shouts, yells, screams of pain, cries of alarm merged into a +great clamor. The most heartening thing, somehow, in the darkness had +become the Australian cry of ‘Coo-ee!’—sharp and musical, in which men +had called themselves together into groups. + +“There was no living on the beach. The only way out of that immediate +hell was to charge across the sands and get into the shelter of the +dunes, to fight our way to the base of the cliffs and get away from the +shells of the cliffs, and to fight a way into the enemy trenches in the +table-lands.” + +Amidst the horror and confusion that reigned impossible deeds were +performed. How it was ever done no one can tell. It was terrible. But +it had to be done. Many of the English hadn’t a thing to fight with +but the cold steel of their bayonets. The warships, of course, helped +tremendously. The hills of sand and the stony cliffs were rent by +merciless fire. You could see “the bodies of the enemies, clusters of +them, spouting from the places of their concealment. Legs, arms, heads +were flying wildly in the air.” + + +GOT THERE ANY OLD WAY + +Captain Fanlon says: + +“We got up those sand ridges any old way—by digging in our bayonets +like Alpine staffs, clawing with our free hands, scrambling with +toe-holds and fighting up on all fours. + +“We had just gained a knoll of sand and bush and taken protection +behind it for a minute’s breathing when one of my men, one of those +sturdy cattlemen who had made their way out of the wilderness to get +into the war for civilization, went down with a bullet in his leg. + +“‘Nothing much,’ he said, as I bent over him to examine the wound, ‘and +don’t stop for me. Go on and come back for me later or maybe the Red +Cross lads will find me. A little thing like this isn’t going to—’ + +“He was smiling as he talked, but suddenly his head fell back, his +smile widening into a horrible grin. A bullet had taken him in the +neck. He was done for. + +“Of course, and luckily, there were only a few of our thousands that +had been blown out of their boats and most of the lusty fighters of the +landing force had their ammunition in hand. They were going after the +Turks with the rifle volleys of deadly accuracy. + +“Having come alive through the terrible ordeal of that shell and bullet +strand of open beach, the Australians and New Zealanders were fired to +the highest fighting pitch. Companies of them sang as they climbed and +pushed and struggled along—sang or rather yelled snatches of all manner +of songs though they didn’t sound much like songs. More like strange, +sustained savage war cries. + +“There was no staying the impetuosity of some of them.” + + +SOME WOULDN’T “DIG IN” + +At last the Turks began to give way. They were on the run. But their +forts two and three miles away were still pouring their fire. The men +were ordered to dig in. Despite orders, however, “hundreds of our +warriors refused to stop. They charged right on through the pathways +and tunnels in the cliffs. We never saw them again. Those that were not +killed were captured by the Turks. We used to say in speaking of them +afterward that they had ‘gone on to Constantinople.’” + +The Australians had proved their mettle in this terrible adventure. +Everlasting glory was theirs—soldiers so recently recruited. The +soldiers, though, were not the only ones to be elevated to higher +sacrifice in these soul-straining demands. “There was the work done by +the Australian Army Service Corps—landing a steady procession of boats +with medical and food supplies as well as ammunition, fleets on fleets +of these boats from the transports and battleships moving to shore +with the coolest regularity, with the waters around every one of them +constantly thrashed by tons of falling shells. Scores of the boats were +blown up. But the others never stopped.” + +“The stretcher-bearers and the doctors we could also see working calmly +among the sand dunes, ignoring snipers’ bullets as though they had been +harmless flakes of snow. Slow and painful files of the wounded—those +who could walk or stagger along were being guided to protected places +until the coming of night might enable their removal to the hospital +ships. + +“As for the dead whose countless prone bodies were strewn upon the +beach with curious pitiful inertness, so different from that of sleep +that you know instinctively it means death—there was no use then +risking live men to give the dead the attention, to award them such +decencies of care and burial as were their due. This also would be the +work of the night. Yes, and many a man as he worked over the graves +of his fallen comrades pitched into that grave, himself become a dead +man—betrayed to a sniper by the moonlight’s gleam. + +“Twilight veiled the sun and then very suddenly black night came.” + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +British Troops Meeting a Charge by the Turks + +Their fighting equipment reduced to machine guns and rifles, a small +British unit at Gallipoli met the onrushing Turks in the open and drove +them back.] + +The Australians had done the thing men in authority had thought it +impossible to do. Lord Kitchener later declared this one of the most +brilliant feats of bravery and soldiering of the war. + +There were 20,000 men who landed at Gallipoli. Perhaps 1,000 of them +are alive to-day. + + +THE KIND OF MEN THEY WERE + +And here is a tribute to the men who stormed the heights that may be +found in the London _Times’_ account of the campaign: + +“The most moving part in the Gallipoli story will ever be the splendid +feelings it called forth in the breasts of young Australians. To them +it was no ordinary adventure in warfare. These single-minded, loyal +youths had different conceptions of God. But every conception fitted +into the sublime conception that this work for their race and country +was God’s work. Upon the tissue of their natures, the warm affections, +the cleanliness and the liberty among which they had been brought up, +this fighting call in Gallipoli precipitated something that seemed to +them the highest thing possible. What they knew was that they wished to +go to Anzac, that they were prepared to die there, that the Australian +army had become for them a sacred institution. Their hearts were +touched by the death of comrades, their eyes took fire at the sight of +the distinctive Australian uniform. Gallipoli proved, if it did not in +itself go far to produce, a warmth and generosity in the Australian +character. The difficulty experienced by the commanders was not to get +men to this shell-torn place of hardship, but to keep them from it. +Half the members of the Light Horse Brigades and all the drivers of +artillery and ambulances had been left behind in Cairo or Alexandria, +to attend to the horses. But it was impossible to keep them there. They +decided amongst themselves who could be spared. Everyone wished to go, +those chosen were thought lucky. They boarded transports at Alexandria, +stowed away until the ships were at sea, and then reported themselves +to the officers commanding. One artillery brigade lost 39 of its men in +this manner. General Hamilton could never find it in his heart to send +back men who came with tears in their eyes and asked for nothing better +than to be given privates’ work in Anzac. There were cases in which +sergeants gladly forfeited stripes and pay for the chance. Men could +not bear to go back to their homes and say they had not done their +share at Anzac.” + + +UNORTHODOX BUT STANCH + +“And of their discipline, which was attacked because it was sometimes +unorthodox, what better can be said than what was told in the undying +story of the _Southland_? The _Southland_ was torpedoed by a German +submarine in the Ægean Sea, when conveying the 21st Australian Infantry +Battalion and part of the 23rd, 1,500 strong, from Alexandria to +Mudros. They were Victorian country boys, recruited for the most +part from the farms and stations of the Wimmera and the Goulburn +Valley. Panic ensued among the ill-assorted crew of this converted +German liner. Three of the four holds filled with water, the hatches +of the hold first damaged were blown out and in the water there the +Australians could see the dead bodies floating of their comrades +killed by the explosion. No one thought that the ship could keep for +long above water. But the soldiers stood at their stations. They +waited for their turn. One went to the piano, and played favorite +airs. Others, when volunteers were asked for, jumped into the water to +right overturned boats. When at last all the men were off the stricken +vessel, standing on half-submerged rafts, clinging to the edges of +boats, swimming alongside improvised supports, volunteers were called +for to stoke the ship into port, all the men within hearing offered +for the hazardous task. Six officers and seventeen men climbed the +rope ladders again, and with her bows under water and her stern low +down, the ship was brought into Mudros and beached. It was a triumphant +vindication of the discipline of Dominion troops. ‘The discipline was +perfect,’ wrote Captain C. E. W. Bean, official reporter at Anzac. ‘The +men turned out immediately. There had been boat drill on the voyage and +the men ran straight to their proper places and lined up.’” + +This praise of discipline which, though “unorthodox,” meets and never +fails to meet the required end, reads quite as if it had been written +of the boys of the United States’ expeditionary force. + + + + +ONE OF OUR BOYS + +A California Youth of Heroic Soul Who Gave His Life to England + + +We are constantly hearing of the hundreds of Americans who laid down +their lives under the French colors. It was part of the debt we owed +France. England, too, when she joined in the war for liberty, found +many Americans hastening to her aid, and among the lives that were +taken under her flag in the “great venture” was that of Harry Butters, +a young Californian whose death in France called forth nation-wide +eulogies in Great Britain. + +Young Butters, after a preliminary education at San Francisco, went to +England and entered Beaumont College at Windsor. There amid England’s +rural charms and the spell of England’s old traditions, he learned to +love the country which sheltered him. + +At the outbreak of the war, Butters went back to America. He could not +stay, however. There was a call to rise and to go. He went back to +England and enlisted. It was as an officer of the British Army that he +died. + +The London _Observer_ voices England’s praise and love of the American: + +“This American boy—and what a straight, upstanding pattern of youth +and strength he was—owed us no duty and he gave us all. He gave it +not impulsively nor in adventurous recklessness, but with a settled +enthusiasm belonging to the ‘depth and not the tumult of the soul.’ +How much he gave is worth considering. His personal endowments +and opportunities were such that when he made up his mind to quit +everything in his bright California and to come into the war, his +choice was heroic in the fullest sense of that word. + +“When he went back to America after leaving college, he was a young +man of mark, framed to excel both in sport and affairs. He was very +tall, supple, active, frank, and comely of face, as gay as he was +good-looking. You saw by a glance at his hands that he had a born +instinct for management and technique. He had been a good deal at +sea. He knew all about horses and motor-cars. He was a crack shot +and a fine polo-player. His business ability was shown as soon as he +took over the management of his father’s estates. With this practical +talent that could turn itself to anything he had other qualities. One +remembers what a delightful, level, measuring glance he used to give +suddenly from under his brows when he had finished rolling a cigarette +and went on with his keen questioning about men and things. To talk +with him was to receive a new and promising revelation of the mind of +young America. Like so many of our own young soldiers in their attitude +toward politics, he was not content with either of the old parties +in the United States. He thought that his own generation, if it was +earnest enough, might make a better hand both of social problems and +world-relations. He hoped to play his part. Although he always thought +of himself in a fine spirit as “an American citizen,” he wanted the +United States to take a full share in the wider life of the world, and +especially to work as far as possible for common ideals with the whole +English-speaking race. + + +WARM HEARTED AND FEARLESS + +“So when the news of the war came to San Francisco, he put aside as +fair a prospect of wealth, success, happiness, and long life as could +well open before a young man, and determined to throw in his lot with +the old country and the Allies in the fight for civilization against +all the armed might of lawless iniquity which had flung itself on +Belgium. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Harry J. Adams + +_89th Division, 353rd Infantry, Company “K”_ + +Following a retreating German into a house in the town of Boullonville +on September 12, 1918, he fired the remaining two shots in his pistol +through the door and ordered the surrender of the occupants. By his +bravery, coolness and confidence he captured, single-handed, 375 +prisoners.] + +“He was then twenty-two. He arrived in England in the early part of +1915 to join the British Army, and no military eye could doubt that +the British Army had got a rare recruit. Harry Butters got his first +commission in the 11th Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Afterward his +technical faculty found more congenial scope when he transferred to +the Royal Field Artillery. While training, he stayed a good deal at +the rectory, Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos. The rector writes: ‘He was a +warm-hearted, fearless young officer, as fine an American gentleman as +ever crossed the Atlantic.’ It is much to say, but it is true.” + +“His captain writes that, ‘He was with his guns, and no one could have +died in a nobler way. He was one of the brightest, cheeriest boys I +have ever known, and always the life and soul of the mess.... We all +realized his nobility in coming to the help of another country entirely +of his own free will, and understood what a big heart he had. He was +loved by all.’ + +“He is in it to the finish, indeed, with comrades of his adoption, +who have passed with him. He takes his last sleep out there with so +many of the brave and true where none was braver and truer than he, +and among the recollections of the great war, his name will not be +forgotten. Beaumont will take care of that. In his old college we doubt +not he will have his permanent memorial. In our thoughts the flags of +Britain and America cover his heart with double honor. We shall never +see them entwined again without thinking of him. No American can read +these lines without being proud of him. No Briton can read them without +feelings deeper, more moved than can be said in any words. We are +grateful, as he would have liked, to his America that bred him.” + +Mrs. Denis O’Sullivan, the widow of the famous Irish singer who was so +eulogized by Mark Twain in his “Memoirs,” wrote to friends about the +boy she affectionately called “stepson,” though there was no such tie +between them: + +“Do you remember in poor Synge’s ‘Riders to the Sea’—the old mother +says that now her last son is drowned, she will be able to sleep o’ +nights? + +“The harrowing anxiety of every day in this time of war is over for me, +too. On July 22, as you know, Gerard, my first stepson, was killed. +And on August 31, at night, too, my last—Harry Butters—they were both +as dear to me as my own—but Gerard had his own people here—he was not +dependent on me, while in a way, Harry had only me—his sister was +six thousand miles away. I haven’t been able to say much of him these +last months as he had been getting the carbon copies of my letters to +you. Yet it was so often on the tip of my fingers to enlarge upon the +boy—his charm, his capabilities. + +“More still upon the drama of his last experiences—from the moment when +he burst into Aldwych his first day in uniform, so big, so startlingly +handsome—above all, so gay—a shout of ‘stepmother!’ that raised the +dust in that crowded, smoky refuge where the hundreds of tired Belgians +looked around in astonishment that anyone left in the world could be so +fresh, so dazzling—through those months of his watch beside his guns or +directing fire from his exposed shell-swept hillside—that awful moment +when the enemy found the range and poured death down upon the shelter +that was no shelter—when all the other officers within call took refuge +there, fourteen in all, Harry, the youngest, but the one who dashed +out under fire to carry what was left of one of his telephonists to +the first-aid station—a poor mangled mass of humanity, still breathing +and crying out, a deed that in a smaller war would have meant the +Victoria Cross, but in this, only one of a thousand such daily—after +it his sudden collapse from the shock—(‘No one knew it, stepmother! I +managed to bluff it through!’) But his colonel had been through the +same experience and backed the doctor up in sending him to the base for +a few days. + +“Then his June leave, luckily due anyway, brought him over to No. 7 +where he could be petted and taken care of—but it was a quiet Harry—no +less clear-eyed and vigorous, but so, _so_ tired. + +“Then Winston Churchill and Garvin trying to make him take three weeks’ +extra leave, the boy’s refusal, his return to France, some weeks in the +ammunition column, where, knowing him to be comparatively safe, I could +carry an easier heart, then a hasty line: ‘Just going up to one of the +batteries to replace a casualty. It’s too bad it comes while I’m in +bad shape, but it can’t be helped, and it surely is what I’m here for, +after all. Don’t worry any more than you can help.’ + +“That was August 22, only short notes after that, though he could find +time to write, ‘I’m going to try to get over to Gerard’s grave. If I +can find some flowers I’ll decorate it for you.’ + +“His friend, Captain Zamora, to whom he’d given my address, could not +have been with him at the last, for he had also had shell-shock and was +with the ammunition column, but he wrote on the 1st of September that +Harry had been with his guns the night before, when the call came, had +gone in apparently the best of spirits—and the same shell killed him +and his battery commander. + +“It has been so beautiful this week. I’ve never seen a harvest-moon +more wonderful. One can only think what a world it is—and Harry and +Gerard both out of it.” + + + + +GUTHRIE OF THE “KILTIES” + +The First Canadian to Enlist Came Back with Scars of Twenty-two Wounds + + +Colonel Guthrie must have been born a fighter. Certainly ever since +he was seventeen he showed the disposition of the warrior. His +military career began with the outbreak of the South African War, when +he proceeded to enlist in the Transvaal as a member of the famous +Fourth Canadian Mounted Rifles. Guthrie made just one complaint about +the campaign: “It ended too soon.” His adventurous spirit was not +satisfied. He enlisted in the naval police. That, however, was not +exactly what he wanted. + +He returned to Canada in 1903. If civil pursuits were in order he would +take them in the same spirit as an army campaign in the Transvaal. He +studied law. When only twenty-seven he was elected a member of the +legislature of New Brunswick. He was a success. + +Perhaps he would have lived his life without further intensive physical +experiences. The war saved him. + +“It was August 4, 1914,” says the London _Telegraph_, “that fateful day +upon which England declared war against Germany, closely following on +the invasion of neutral Belgium. In a little theater up in the city of +Fredericton, capital of the Province of New Brunswick, a large audience +sat enjoying an interesting program. The second act had just ended. +From the left wing of the stage walked the house-manager. A raised +hand cut short the orchestra’s selection. Almost everybody knew what +was coming. They had been expecting it for the last thirty hours. A +silence fell over the entire house while nine words were pronounced by +the house-manager: + +“‘Our mother country has to-day declared war against Germany.’ + +“For a second—only a second—a lull fell over the audience. Then, as if +prearranged, the orchestra struck up the strain of ‘God Save the King.’ +From top to bottom the house was in uproar. Cheer after cheer rent the +air. The audience as one stood singing the national anthem. + +“Seated well up in front in the orchestra as the manager’s announcement +was made was a man about forty-four years old. The audience, with +the exception of this particular man, began to settle back in their +chairs as the singing of ‘God Save the King’ was concluded. With a +stride which was noticeably military he walked toward the rear of +the theater and left the building. Less than two blocks away was a +telegraph-office. The lone night operator, half dosing, jumped to his +feet as the door opened, and the man who a few seconds ago had left the +theater entered. He addressed a telegraph-blank to ‘Sir Sam Hughes, +Canadian Minister of Militia,’ and then followed an offer to raise a +company of soldiers for an overseas expedition. + + +HE RAISES A COMPANY + +“‘Captain Percy Guthrie, Seventy-first York Infantry,’ the message +which he handed the operator was signed. The first Canadian had +volunteered his services to the King. + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +The Charge of the London Scottish + +Subjected to a withering fire, the Scots were driven back from Messines +three times. They finally rallied and took the position with the +bayonet.] + +“Captain Guthrie returned at once to the theater, joined his wife, and +witnessed the rest of the performance. The curtain came down, and with +his wife, Captain Guthrie again headed to the telegraph-office. This +time the operator was not thinking about sleep. He had just received +a reply to Captain Guthrie’s telegram and was anxiously awaiting his +return. The answer read: ‘Offer accepted. Proceed to recruit volunteers +forthwith.’” + +Guthrie raised his company and went to the front. He soon rose in rank, +and at last was given command of a regiment of Scots. + +Guthrie is said to possess almost a boyish exuberance of spirit, but +of some things he will not jest. He will not even talk about them. +Evidently the horror he has met with at the front has left a permanent +impression. The following incident is told by a close friend of the +Colonel’s, Charles K. Howard, representative of the Canadian Government +Railway: + +“On a night in the battle of Festubert the Tenth Canadians went over +the trenches. The flares from the machine guns made the line as light +as day. A piece of the German trenches was taken. The only injury +that the Colonel at this portion of the scrap received were some +tears in the legs from barbed wire entanglements, although he lost in +three-quarters of an hour two-thirds of his battalion. The piece that +was taken must be held until reinforcements came. These were a little +slow in arriving. A captain held one end of the line while the Colonel, +leading his men down the trenches, with his bombers cleared out another +section. The German line began to give slowly. Step by step, they slid +back around the traverses toward Givenchy. The Canadians gathered their +strength and started to press forward. A brave Westphalian officer +tried to hold his men and stem the tide. He stood up to his knees in +mud, fighting until his last bomb was gone. The Colonel, at the head of +his men, rushed upon the officer, who, weighing perhaps forty pounds +less than the Colonel, was not daunted. He grasped the Colonel by both +arms, holding him for a moment, and then, with the strength borne of +despair, lifted him bodily into the air, holding him rigid so that he +could not move.” + + +TAKES A MUD BATH + +“The Canadians, dashing on behind, overbalanced the struggling pair, +so that the Westphalian officer fell backward into the mud, with +the Colonel on top. In the dark the Canadian soldiers did not know +whether their leader had been killed or not. They did not take time to +investigate. They rushed over the two struggling men, trampling them +deeper and deeper into the mire of the trench. The Colonel found the +throat of the German officer. The struggle was soon over, so that he +could catch up to his men.” + +During the attack on Ypres Guthrie resigned his position and asked to +be sent to the Tenth. Of that engagement, Mr. Howard says: + +“The Tenth had been badly battered in taking back from the woods +four British guns that had been captured. The gallant Colonel Boyle, +with seven machine-gun bullets in his body, had for two hours in the +darkness of the night lain in a shell-hole surrounded by his men and in +true Western style, with a revolver in each hand, had repelled repeated +attacks. Then he was carried away to die, and Major MacLarinthe, +second in command, leading the charge, was shot through the knee. +After crawling forward with his men to a little clump of woods which +he helped to capture he was shot through the head and killed. Major +Ormand, too, fell wounded. Four officers of the thirty-one were left +when it fell to the lot of Junior Lieutenant Guthrie, as he had become +in order to go to the Tenth, to lead the battalion. + +“During the succeeding days the fighting surged back and forth over +Ypres’s hillsides, during which time the battalion suffered greatly +from the gas-clouds that were let loose now and then. + +“One time, when leading his men, the Colonel fell with a bayonet wound +in the chin. On another occasion his nose was broken, but this did +not put him out of action. He suffered from the concussion of a shell +on another occasion and was knocked out for five hours. On another +day he was put out of business by a gas-shell which exploded near him +and he was dragged out of a ditch full of water by a British general, +who forced him to emit the gas by thrusting his fingers down his +throat. A scar on the knee shows where the Colonel was punctured with +a bayonet-point. His hand has been ripped open by a bayonet which he +held while grappling with an assailant. The outcome of it was that the +Canadians held the line at Ypres until reinforcements came.” + + + + +NOT SO UNSPEAKABLE + +A Turk Whose Sense of Humor Made the Tommies His Friends at Gallipoli + + +War has its humor. Even though it appear arms locked with death, there +is a laugh on the side. It is probably true, as an old soldier once +said, that if there were not a funny side to war an army could never +get through its hell. The British troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula +did not find the situation teeming with the hilarious, but there were +moments of relief from the grim monster of trench fighting. Oddly +enough one of the provoking causes of much mirth, seasoned with a due +amount of vexation, was a rotund Turk in whom a sense of humor and +an impudent daring mingled in a way to win the regard of the Tommies +fighting in the trench opposite him. He alternated between tossing a +bunch of dates and hurling a bomb into the trench of the Tommies with +whom he exchanged laughter daily. Some of the Australians detected in +him reminders of an eccentric “publican” who dispensed beer at home. So +the Turk was dubbed “Fatty” Burns, the sobriquet of the keeper of the +“pub.” + +A correspondent of the New York _Globe_ tells the story as he got it +from Trooper Clancy, one of the men in the trench opposite the merry +Turk, at Russell’s Top, on Gallipoli, the two trenches being separated +by less than twenty-five yards. + +“One old topper in the trench opposite me was a fair treat,” said +Clancy. “He was so. My word! Used to pop up his head above the trenches +and laugh at us. Then he’d pop down again. All along our side the boys +would be taking shots at him, and they never hit. Then we could hear +him laugh. We got so we liked him. + +“‘Don’t shoot at the old orphan,’ the boys would say. ‘He looks like +“Fatty” Burns.’” + +One morning the Light Horse had made a demonstration in order to keep +the Turks from thinking of what was going on somewhere else. They were +chased back to the trenches when they had done their part, but they +left two men behind them. The sun was cruel hot, Clancy says. His +rifle-barrel fair blistered his fingers. These poor chaps were lying +there with their faces in the grizzling sand. The Australians could not +reach them. It would have been suicide to try. + +“Here comes ‘Fatty’ Burns,” said some one. + +The Australians in stupefaction watched the old Turk. He had thrown +aside his rifle and stood up at full length on the parapet of the +trench. Anyone could have potted him at that range. Clancy doesn’t +understand yet why no one did, except that they were all fond of the +old blighter. “Fatty” Burns crawled into the open in a lazy sort of way +and walked over to the two wounded men. + +“Gave them a drink of water, he did,” said Clancy, “and wiped their +lips and then lugged them over to a bit of cover so we could go out +and get them after night came. We gave a cheer for old ‘Fatty’ and he +laughed at us before he went back into his hole. My word! How his white +teeth did shine.” + +The Australians had more bully-beef than they needed. The cans got to +be a nuisance. They were not permitted to refuse the stated allowance +of bull each day. Until lately a British ration has been a fixed and +immutable thing. One day it occurred to some one that “Fatty” Burns +might like some meat. So they tossed three cans into his trench. + +“There was a terrible hullaballo, when they landed,” said Clancy. “I +suppose they thought it was some new-fangled kind of bomb. But an hour +or so later some Turk threw us a lot of fine, fresh dates. We always +reckoned it was ‘Fatty’ Burns.” + +Three or four days afterward “Fatty” Burns thrust head and shoulders +above the trench-top again and laughed like sin. Then he threw +something into Clancy’s trench. + +“I just had time to get my overcoat down on it before it went off,” +said he. “‘Fatty’ had scooped out the meat from one of our tins and +filled it up with melinite and pieces of scrap-iron. It fair murdered +my coat. I held it up above the parapet and shook it at ‘Fatty.’ He +laughed until he choked.” + +“A bully old sport was ‘Fatty’ Burns.” + + + + +THE MEDICAL CORPS + +Though the Reports Are all Too Few Every Doctor Was a Hero + + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Telephone Review._ + +Decorating American Soldiers with the Legion of Honor + +Colonel Carty of the U. S. Signal Corp receiving the insignia from +General Berdoullat.] + +“If there be degrees of chivalry the highest award should be accorded +to the medical profession,” was said in the London _Times_ in 1916. +People didn’t know whether that was meant quite seriously. Soon they +found out. Medical men were figuring heavily in the casualty lists, +and more and more stories were coming over of exceptional courage and +devotion to duty among the doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers. +Usually, also, no one but the wounded on the fields of battle knew how +to appreciate the deeds of the non-combatants. There was in general +no thrill attached to the records. They were simply records of steady +self-sacrifice in the face of the greatest danger. + +The Times instanced a number of heroic doctors. Captain Chavasse was +one of them. Utterly regardless of heavy firing he would time and +again rush across the open to dress the wounded. He kept this up all +through the engagement and then he himself was wounded in the side by a +shell splinter. This injury he sustained while carrying an urgent case +into safety, the journey being over 500 yards of shell-swept ground. +Afterwards at night he took up a party of twenty volunteers, rescued +three wounded men from a shell hole only twenty-five yards from the +enemy trench, buried the bodies of two officers, and collected many +identity discs—and these things he did although he was fired on by +machine guns and bombs. + +[Illustration: + + By J. F. Bouchor + +The Sister of Mercy] + +The Captain finally met his death while at such work. The official +record gives only brief details: “Though severely wounded early +in action, while carrying a wounded soldier to the dressing station, +Chavasse refused to leave his post, and for two days he not only +continued to perform his duties but also went out repeatedly under +heavy fire to search for and attend the wounded who were lying out. +During these searches Chavasse was practically without food, he was +worn with fatigue and faint with his wound, yet he helped to carry in +a number of badly wounded men, over heavy and difficult ground. It was +due to his extraordinary energy and inspiring example that many wounded +were rescued who would otherwise undoubtedly have succumbed to the bad +weather conditions.” + +“There had been many displays,” adds the London _Times_, “of almost +superhuman courage and endurance in the war, displays which had been +recognized by the bestowal of the greatest of all naval and military +distinctions; but standing out prominently even amongst these proofs of +highest bravery and duty was the heroism of Chavasse.” + +It seemed almost as if such action became a tradition with the +profession, for another hero was soon announced—Lieutenant George Allan +Maling. During the heavy fighting near Fauquissart, Maling worked hard +and incessantly under the unceasing shell fire. “He began his task at +6:15 in the morning, collecting and treating more than 300 men in the +open and exposed to merciless fire. Throughout the whole of that day, +during the evening, all through the night, without a break till eight +o’clock next morning—twenty-six unbroken hours—he worked, reckless of +shell and bullet. It seemed impossible that human strength could endure +more. Eleven o’clock came, then a large high explosive shell burst +and did dreadful havoc. It killed several of his patients, it wounded +his only assistant, and it flung Maling down and temporarily stunned +him. Yet no sooner did he regain consciousness than he pulled himself +together and resumed his work. A second shell exploded, covering +both Maling and his instruments with débris; yet even so, he had not +finished—he extricated himself and continued his work single-handed.” + + + + +SOME RED CROSS WEAKLINGS + +Captain Bobo and His Buddies Weren’t Good Enough for the Doctors + + +There is a reminder of the stone which the builders rejected in the +story breezily told by Frank Ward O’Malley in the _Red Cross Magazine_ +for July, 1919. It records the heroism of Bobo—Captain Stephen N. Bobo, +whose ancestors long ago undoubtedly spelled their name Beaubeaux. +Steve was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and began early to react against +southern ease. Anyway, as soon as he was graduated from college he made +straight for Honduras. “Thence,” says O’Malley, “Steve went to Chile, +where he started for Sidney on a trading schooner, but liked the little +ship so well that he bought a controlling interest in her en route. At +the Christmas Islands, Skipper Steve Bobo converted his schooner into +a trader instanter—and made a little money on her. He was wrecked off +Easter Island and, with five companions, had to swim seven miles to +land. Skipper Bobo and four of his friends were compelled during that +swim to help keep afloat betimes a sixth, whose swimming technique was +poor. + +“He returned to Chile aboard a passing convict ship. He made a short +visit home, then was off to the interior of China, where he made a +little money. In turn he went to India; to the Philippines; to Hawaii, +where he bought swamp lands, parceled the property and sold it to the +Chinese tara farmers, and made a little money on that; to the State of +Washington on a hydro-electric venture and made a little money on that; +to the San Joaquín Valley of California, and made a little money at +ranching.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Private Carl W. Dasch + +_42nd, Division, 167th Infantry, Headquarters Company_ + + On July 26th-August 1, 1918, near Croix Rouge Farm, he carried + messages between the firing lines and battalion headquarters, at the + same time picking up wounded men and carrying them out of the barrage + to the first-aid station. During the whole series of engagements he + did not sleep and his physical energy was taxed to the utmost.] + +Captain Bobo was resting up in April, 1917, and contemplating his next +venture when Uncle Sam decided that this world had not been made +for Germany and advised the Kaiser of our intention to prove it. Bobo +hurried to the first recruiting station. And then the San Francisco +army doctors played their trick. + +They turned him down. + + +“THE JOLLY OLD RED CROSS” + +“The way the army doctors talked to him made the young man wish +ardently that instead of being a poor little anemic lad, who could do +nothing but swim seven miles and sail schooners through typhoons and +knock over tigers, he were one of those brawny athletes who had trained +indoors on stenography, dress-goods salesmanship, and cigarettes and +therefore were being uproariously welcomed into a selective service +army by local draft boards. + +“‘But,’ cried young Mr. Bobo in effect, ‘I’m telling the world fair +that I want to go to France. And I want what I want when I want it. Now +what other speedy way is there of getting to France besides the—Holy +mackerel! I’ve got it! The jolly old Red Cross.’” + +Bobo wondered, when he was going across, if the Red Cross would ever +allow him to sneak close enough to the front “to get gassed or shot or +something.” + +When Bobo landed in France with the First Division he was assigned to +the very humble task of serving soldiers with cocoa and sandwiches. +He took up the task seriously, and did his work well, but then he got +tired. Finally he got enough courage to suggest a plan to General +O’Ryan. + +The army doctors were constantly sending men back from the front line +because of some physical defects. Steve Bobo wanted the General to give +him permission to establish a “Divisional Rest Camp” and fill it with +those “darn fine fellows” whom the surgeons were throwing out. “Most +of those men,” he said, “are volunteers, and all of them are the best +sort of fighters. Instead, then, of sending them back to the rear for +reclassification, turn them over to me, sir, we’ll show you something.” + +“That was done. Day by day into the Bobo ‘Divisional Rest Camp’ came +the men, sad beyond measure because the surgeons had found something +in their anatomical architecture which was slightly out of kilter. +Daily Captain Bobo put his unpromising material through a series of +setting-up exercises. Thus it was that in next to no time he had +surrounded himself with a Red Cross unit of husky youngsters who, as +Lieut. Colonel J. Leslie Kincaid, Judge-Advocate of the Division, since +has phrased it, ‘preferred to live in that part of hell which has no +fire escapes.’ By the time Captain Bobo had completed his organization +he had forty-seven men in his Red Cross unit, with every man-jack in +the outfit carrying papers to prove that the only reason he was not +carrying a rifle was that an army surgeon had got the fool notion the +man was not physically able to stand the gaff. + +“Cried Captain Bobo, when all had been made ship-shape, ‘We’re set, +men: Let’s up and at ’em.’ And forward went the fightingest band of +Red Cross ‘invalids’ that ever slapped a German dead and then piled +him into an ambulance to try to save his life. Up with the front line +fighting men, the little Red Cross band found themselves in no time, +and, on occasions, hundreds of yards in advance of the front line +trenches, out in a sunlit No Man’s Land.” + + +KNEW HOW TO GET ’EM + +Lieutenant-Colonel Kincaid remembers a little something about Bobo and +“his Rough-necks” on a particular occasion. + +“I merely want to say,” he remarked, “that in the middle of the +Hindenburg show Captain Bobo said ‘Presto!’ and ten ambulances appeared +from nowhere at a moment when, believe me, ambulances were needed. + +“Colonel Montgomery, weeping for ambulances, thought of Captain Bobo. +He gave the Red Cross man the high sign, and Captain Bobo just brushed +aside a lot of flying metal and stepped close enough to Colonel +Montgomery to ask the Colonel what was on his system. ‘Ambulances,’ +shouted the Colonel, ‘but I don’t know where to get ’em.’ ‘I do,’ +answered Captain Bobo. ‘If you’ll give me a fast car I’ll flush a whole +covey of ambulances, sir.’ + +“Colonel Montgomery commandeered General O’Ryan’s racing car and +Captain Bobo climbed in. The Captain stepped on the accelerator and +exploded toward Paris, a trip of 158 miles. And toward the middle of +the next afternoon back came Bobo hellbent with ten ambulances in his +wake. We were too busy then to ask him where he had got them, but +when things had quieted down for a moment some days later we made +inquiries. And we got this Bobo person’s number. Let me tell you in +confidence—don’t repeat this to a soul, remember—this Bobo is an +ambulance stealer. He and his gang were out and out Red Cross crooks. +He had crashed into Paris, grabbed up every ambulance standing along a +curb, bamboozled the drivers into believing that they were to take his +orders, and had crashed out of Paris again at the head of his string of +sputtering booty; and made straight for the front again at a time when +I don’t know what we would have done if it hadn’t been for Captain Bobo +and his ambulances.” + +O’Malley takes up the story again: “Bobo and his associates had had no +sleep for almost thirty-six hours. + +“They were dirty, unshaven, haggard; nevertheless, they spent that +night and all the next day picking up the white-faced, shattered boys +who lay among the shell holes groaning with the thirst horrors which +only those who have lost pints of blood know. Back to the ‘battalion +aid post’ the lads were brought by Captain Bobo and his buddies, or +variously to ‘first stations,’ which sometimes were within 200 yards +of the front line trenches—to dressing stations, or to the main +dressing station back at ‘railhead.’ And there the sufferers received +attentions, which sometimes meant a merciful anesthetic and sometimes +the grimy but gentle fingers of Captain Bobo on cold, white eyelids as +he closed the staring eyes forever.” + +Bobo and his daredevils became an institution with their division. +Where danger lay, so long as there were wounded there, Bobo’s squad +gloried. + +“One day, the Captain and his Red Cross crew learned that if they +wanted to get their ambulances out to where the wounded lay they would +have to circle the toe of a wooded knoll over an open road on which +rained machine gun bullets every time anything alive showed itself to +the Huns concealed in the woods on the hill. But they wanted to get to +the wounded. + +“They started their engines and ‘stepped on ’em’ so hard that the +little ambulances would bang out into the open and whiz around the +marked turn joyously, while the phut-phut-phut-phut of the Hun machine +guns whipped the atmosphere into ribbons and the splinters from the +racing ambulances flew high in air. Then they had to come back around +that open turn again, and they went out again and back, and out and +back, their ambulances looking a bit worm-eaten when the day was over +but the Captain and each of the other Red Cross drivers still ‘all in +one piece.’” + + +PRETTY GOOD MEN TOO + +O’Malley tells the story of two of the Captain’s drivers—Privates +Freddy Schroeder and Leo Smith, both from New York City—who were +engaged in their customary hilarious sport when word came to the little +Red Cross band that a medical detachment was out beyond the hindside +of No Man’s Land and that it had been marooned there for thirty hours +without food or water. “Zipp went Red Cross rowdies Freddy and Leo +in their tawney ambulances decorated with the big Red Cross—fairest +of targets for a German gentleman. And this time when the drivers, +their ambulances loaded with grub and water, came to an open stretch +of road they got not only machine gun bullet storms but Hunnish high +explosives. And as they were sailing along through the metal storm on a +straight stretch of open highway, a German shell exploded just ahead of +them, so close that they barely had time to come to a stop on the edge +of the crater. They were about to reverse and back off to where they +had come from when another shell bit the road just behind them and made +another crater. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Private Fred Carney + +_1st Division, 26th Infantry, Company “G”_ + + He was cited for extraordinary heroism in action between the Argonne + and the Meuse. With great coolness and bravery under machine-gun and + shell fire, he maintained liaison between his battalion and company + and assisted in reorganizing his platoon after the platoon commander + was wounded.] + +“There were Freddy Schroeder and Leo Smith on an ‘island platform’ +of the road, with seemingly nothing left to do but to abandon their +ambulances and crawl to safety the best they could. They didn’t do +anything of the kind. Right out in the open they tugged at every +sizable chunk of débris in sight and built a sort of bridge across the +forward shell hole and went onward and brought welcome food and water +to the marooned detachment. And in their own good time they came +back over their ‘bridge’ again, jumped out and built another ‘bridge’ +of the same kind over the second shell hole, and about dusk, sailed +victoriously to their Red Cross quarters unharmed. + +“Finally there was another day that must be told of. It was the day +at St. Souplet when two of the stricken residents of the little town +crawled back to our lines and told the Mayor of Busigny (which had +just been captured from the Huns) that many civilians, dozens of whom +were wounded, were hiding in the cellars of St. Souplet. None of them +dared show himself. The German patrols were still poking about the town +and their machine guns were sweeping the village streets. Shells were +dropping and death threatened the hidden ones in the cellars in other +ways, especially in the form of gassing, the poisonous gas naturally +tending to work downward to the cellars and other subterranean passages +where the men, women, and children of St. Souplet lay hidden. + + +RESCUES A VILLAGE + +“Somebody would have to do something about it. Who was always doing +something or other about something? Battling Bobo and his Red Cross +band! + +“To dash into the streets of St. Souplet would not help much because +the dash would end in a patter of lead and a bouquet of whiz-bangs +that would leave nothing but a shell hole where ambulances an instant +before had been. Nevertheless young Captain Bobo and his men ‘had’ +to get there. The Captain called together his Red Cross band, which +that day numbered only thirty-five huskies, the others being absent on +other work or ill. Captain Bobo explained the situation and asked the +thirty-five how many of them would care to volunteer to go into St. +Souplet with him—to go up to our front line trenches in the broad light +of day and beyond, on into the buildings of a town still thoroughly +held by the Germans. Pause a moment, reader, and guess how many of the +thirty-five Red Crossers volunteered.... Reader, you’re a wonder: you +guessed the exact number the very first time! + +“And so the thirty-five started forward with Captain Bobo, scooting +along in their ambulances parallel to the fighting lines for a little +distance and then making a dash across lots to a grove which stood at +an advanced spot where, up to that time, no American soldier had set +his foot. And while an amazed American Army looked on, the little band +made the woods and disappeared among the trees while hell cracked all +around them. + +“Providence and Steve Bobo were with them. In the heart of the little +clump of trees they found an old road which ran through a ravine to the +nearest back alleys of St. Souplet. When they had come to a place where +the old road climbed out of the ravine preparatory to entering the +town, Captain Bobo jumped off the leading ambulance, gave his followers +the high sign, and again gathered them about him for final directions. +And Bobo and his band left their ambulances in the protecting ravine +and began to crawl on their bellies across the last of the fields and +into the town. + +“They followed by preference the backdoor route when they had wormed +across the last field and straightened up to find themselves in St. +Souplet. Even so it was necessary at times to make a dash for it across +open streets, a dash that must be completed before the astonished +German gentry at far ends of the streets could begin to pepper the +thoroughfare with the machine gun bullets. Always, however, Battling +Bobo and his band beat the bullets to it. + +“In the black cellars of the village they rooted around. Old women lay +huddled in the underground gloom; one of them, a very old lady, had +been shot through both thighs three days before and, quite unattended, +lay cowering in her cellar until Captain Bobo dragged her forth and +carried her back to where his ambulances lay hidden. There were old +men, little children, young girls for whom the horror of their nights +of hiding in the Boche infested village had a terror greater even than +gas and the shriek of shells. One by one Bobo and his men carried +the sufferers into back yards, through the winding alleys, back of +protecting buildings, and so to the wooded ravine, where the ambulances +were filled with the stricken villagers of St. Souplet and the bundles +of scant belongings which they hugged to their trembling bosoms. Then +the dash back through the grove and across the sunlit No Man’s Land +to final safety—not final for the Red Cross band, for as soon as they +had carried their first load of refugees behind the American lines they +turned around and did it all over again, and again, and again. For four +hours at one stretch they worked like beavers to save the villagers of +St. Souplet, then organized a second series of trips and put in eight +hours more darting to and from the town or squirming into its alleys +and cellars. And Battling Bobo and his band got the villagers finally +to safety without the loss of a Red Cross man, despite the fact that +the ‘Jerries’ were systematically shelling the village from the first +moment the Red Cross rescuers entered it until the last villager had +been saved.” + +There were forty-seven Red Cross men in Bobo’s band. To this day the +Captain is trying to find out why only twenty of them were cited for +exceptional heroism. + + + + +“EH! MON, ’TWAS GRAND!” + +A Braw Hieland Laddie’s Impressions of What Happened When “We Were Over +the Top Like a Lot of Dogs Let Loose” + + +The powerful British thrust along the Somme will take its place in +history as one of the striking instances of sheer courage fighting +against frightful odds and winning out. In that “push” there were +hundreds of thrilling individual adventures, but it is impossible to +give each man his due, so splendid was the concerted action. But a +representative of the London _Telegraph_ talked in a hospital with +a Scotsman wounded at Pozieres, and this excerpt from the published +article throws an illuminating gleam over the whole battle front, and +one feels that Scotty was but the mouthpiece burring out the spirit of +his fellows as they plunged forward: + +“Eh, mon, it was hell, but it was grand. We’ve got a move on at last, +and are paying the Huns out. For over a week our guns have been letting +rip at them. Talk about the German guns in the early days of the war, +they are not in it now. I was in the retreat from Mons, so I reckon +I’ve seen some of the fighting. + +“I got my packet Friday night,” he added, referring to his wounds. +“We were pushed up to our front line trenches early Friday morning. +Long before daybreak the guns were at it worse than ever. The noise +fair drove some fellows daft, but the worst of all was waiting in the +trenches for the order to charge. When that came we were over the top +like a lot of dogs let loose. The ground was churned up for miles, and +the front of the German trenches simply smashed to bits. We got there +under cover of smoke, and fairly rolled in. I shall never forget the +sight. The Germans were lying heaped up in all directions, and those +who were alive showed no fight, but appeared to have gone ‘clean potty.’ + +“Further on we got into the supports, which had received a terrific +smashing about, and it was there we had the scrap. At the last moment +it seemed the Germans had rushed a crowd of chaps in, and they had +hidden themselves in shell holes and were taking pot-shots at us. We +rushed them with the bayonet and bombs, and some of them put up a good +fight. I had one fellow in front of me, and felt myself a ‘goner,’ for +I tumbled over some wire, when one of our chaps got his bayonet into +him. The next second a German ‘outed’ my chum. ‘Never fear, Jock,’ he +said, ‘you did the same trick for me once.’ That chap’s left a wife and +six bairns away up north,” added the Scot. + +Asked how he received his wounds, the Scot became somewhat bashful. +“Oh, one of the Huns got in at me,” he replied. Another wounded hero, +however, took up the narrative. “He fair tumbled into a hole where +there was half a dozen of ’em hiding,” said the second man. “Jock comes +of a fighting race, and he gave the Huns a bit for hiding.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Western Newspaper Union._ + +The Black Watch on the Flanders Front + +The Black Watch of the British Army is the most famous of perpetuated +regiments. Few of its original members survived the fierce fighting of +the early days.] + + + + +ONE SURVIVED + +An Episode of the Gallipoli Campaign Typical of the Fighting + + +This account of a desperate engagement is brief, but it tells a +wondrous story. It appeared in the London _Times_: + +The first capture of a Turkish trench and its retention deserve special +notice because this brilliant exploit fired the whole of Anzac, after +fifteen weeks of monotonous trench fighting, for the great aggressive +operations of August and September. The work was known as Northern +Turkish Despair Trench, or Tasman Post, and it was stormed under severe +fire on July 31, by a composite company of the 11th Battalion (West +Australia) of General E. G. Sinclair-MacLagan’s Third Brigade, under +Captain R. L. Leane. After two days a heavy counter-attack was launched +by a battalion of Turks, who regained a section of the work, but were +again driven out. The episode cost Anzac 300 casualties, but showed +what could be done. Near the close of the series of attacks which this +success began was another charge, the simple truth of which was worth +accomplishing, even at the cost. It was the charge of the First and +Third Light Horse Brigades, differing from the charge of the Light +Brigade at Balaclava only in that it was made by horsemen who had +volunteered to fight on foot, and that it succeeded in one object—that +of holding large bodies of Turks who would otherwise have been used +against the new British landing at Suvla Bay. + +The Eighth and Tenth Regiments of the Third Brigade went out from +Walker’s Ridge. It was a charge into death from the first moment, +and before the men of the second line leaped from their trenches they +shook hands, knowing that they could not survive. They were met by a +fusillade that became a continuous roaring tempest of machine gun and +rifle fire, and out of the 300 men in the first line only one returned. +The Second Regiment of the First Brigade was sent out from Quinn’s +Post, charging into so impossible a fire that the first line had to be +left to its fate, and the second, third, and fourth lines held in the +trenches. The First Regiment of the First Brigade charged up the slopes +of Dead Man’s Ridge and found a similar fate. It was all over within +ten minutes—in the case of the charge from Quinn’s Post within a few +seconds. “The Turkish machine guns drew a line across that place which +none could pass,” wrote Captain C. E. W. Bean, official observer with +the Australian Division, “and the one man who went out and returned +unwounded put his escape down to the fact that he noticed the point on +our sandbags on which the machine gun bullets were hitting, and jumped +clear over the stream of lead. The guns were sweeping low, and a man +who was hit once by them was often hit again half a dozen times as he +fell through the stream which caught him. The whole of the first line +was either killed or wounded within a few seconds of their leap from +our trenches.” But though the charges shattered four regiments of as +good fighting men as the Empire possessed, they created an imperishable +impression. + + Approximately 23,709,000 males in the United States, between the ages + of 18 and 45, inclusive, registered under the terms of the Selective + Draft Law. + + Returns on casualties in the American Expeditionary Force up to + November 18, 1917, include deaths from disease as well as battle + casualties, slightly as well as severely wounded. Deaths from battle + alone would be about 36,000. Compared with the reported British + battle deaths of 659,000 for the period of the war, our losses were + astonishingly light. + + + + +TANK-MAN TALKS + +He Found the Little Fellows to His Taste But Didn’t Care for Heavies + + +The general impression of the war tank is that of a huge juggernaut +going, solemn and irresistible, over any sort of obstacle; but there +seem to have been tank crews who did not regard the lumbering monsters +worshipfully. They pinned their faith and devotion to the lighter and +nimbler type of machine that could jaunt along at eight miles an hour +and revolve on its own axis. The _Scientific American_ had a special +correspondent in France who reports somewhat jerkily the talk of an +American tank-man who had a working acquaintance with the small, and to +him decidedly preferable, type of fighter. The tank-man is quoted: + +“Yes, you read a lot in newspapers about tanks. But no American tanks +saw any action in France. There were three battalions of American tank +troops that saw action; one with heavy tanks, with the British, and +two, with light tanks, operating in the Argonne and the St. Mihiel +actions. Some troops, too, if I do say it who shouldn’t! No, you’ll +have to get some one else to talk about the heavy tanks; don’t know +anything about them and don’t want to. Light tanks for me, every time. +Yes, I’ll tell you about them if you are interested. + +“We used Renault tanks—light ones. Whiffet tanks some people call them. +Weigh about seven tons and have two men for a crew. Fast? Too fast; +faster than there’s any use of them to be, really. That was one of our +troubles, running away from our infantry. No sense in having tanks that +can get out of touch with the men they are supposed to precede and +blaze a trail for! Those little Renaults can go eight miles an hour +over good ground, and infantry is lucky if it goes two! + +“Two men, one of them is the engineer and the other the pilot. Some of +the tanks have machine guns and some one-pounders; only one gun to a +tank you know—those little fellows aren’t battleships. We started in +with 216 tanks. They cost about $10,000 each. Motor not unlike a good +automobile motor; four-cylinder, about 40 horsepower. Indeed the tank +has a lot of automobile mechanism about it. Those Renaults have four +speeds forward and reverse. + + +GRENADES JUST EGGS + +“You spin around in your own length. It’s astonishing how fast those +little tanks can turn when they have to. Fast enough to cut a man in +two if he’s in the way. Yes, it happened more than once. Some Boches +had an idea they could do something to a Renault with a hand grenade +and tried it at close quarters. Might just as well have thrown eggs +at us, unless some splinters got in the slits. And if they were close +enough and we whirled her round they were out of luck sure—broken legs, +you know, or mashed ribs. + +“No, the Boche anti-tank gun never hurt us to amount to anything. Ever +see one? It weighs about 50 pounds and shoots a whale of a bullet, +but unless it strikes sharp at right angles it doesn’t go through. +Pretty hard steel, you know, that tank armor. What did stop us, when we +were stopped, was the 77. Even that took a direct hit. A 77 could go +off right beside us and we’d hardly know it. But if it made a direct +hit—well, you don’t expect to run a war without any casualties, of +course. I recall one case where a 77 made a hit and set off all the +ammunition in the tank. The tank was scrap steel and the men—well, we +found a hand, and a shoe. Just literally blown to nothing. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Leslie’s Weekly._ + +The British Juggernaut of the Battlefield + +The Americans started in with 216 light tanks, a year after the British +had used them in smashing the German defenses.] + +“Of course there are places a tank can’t go. You read a lot about how a +tank loves mud. Don’t you believe it. A tank can slither around in mud +just like an automobile. Of course it can go, but it can’t climb at the +same angle on mud as on dry ground and somehow we always did fight in +the mud. Mud didn’t stop us of course, but it made it more difficult. +On dry ground we can climb 45 degrees, and 51 degrees in reverse. + +“You hear a lot about the way a tank can crawl over trenches. But +that’s the big heavy tank. The little fellow can’t run over a trench +the way it can down and up a shell crater. The Renault is tail heavy, +you see. It gets its nose across a trench all right, but if the trench +is a little too wide the heavy tail drops back into it. Then you have +to get out and dig or get another tank to come and pull you out. +That’s why two tanks together are worth four separately. They can jam +themselves up and still get along by doing the brother act with chains. +Once that I know of a tank got stuck and the second tank couldn’t pull +it out. So the officer outside signals another tank and it comes up—all +this under fire, mind—and he hooks that on, too, and the two of them +pull the helpless one up and over. He got the D. S. C. for it, that +officer. + +“It’s not nice when you’re stalled, you know. As long as you can move +around, the 77 has a hard time getting you. But if you get stuck +somewhere it doesn’t take a Boche gunner so very long to get your +range. That’s why we were so anxious to have self-starters put on the +American tanks, when we thought we were going to have American tanks. +If there had been any self-starters on our Renaults we’d probably be +shy about twenty casualties. Engine stalls, Boche gets busy, chap +inside struggles with a crank, takes time, 77 lands, signal back +for a reserve tank to come on into action. No, they didn’t put the +self-starters on. Don’t ask me why; I don’t know. + + +TOO MUCH INGENUITY + +“Sure, the American tanks were good tanks. We never used them in +action that I know of. Those I saw got to France, or got where they +might have been used, after the Armistice. But they were sure American +all over—too much American, if you know what I mean. It’s a national +failing, I guess, this business of being ingenious. There was so much +ingenuity about those tanks there wasn’t always room for the crew. For +instance, machine gun belts. When you use them, they are rolled up and +in a carrier. Some wise tank builder decided all the ammunition in a +machine gun tank ought to be in carriers, rolled up ready for use. When +he got through, there wasn’t any room inside for the crew! No sense to +it, of course; the same amount of ammunition stores flat, and leaves +plenty of room, and it only takes a few seconds to roll up a belt and +put it in a carrier. + +“Then there was the compass. Some one must have read that British tanks +carried compasses. So they did, until the tank crew could throw it +away. So our American tanks came over with the handsomest compasses +inside you ever saw; regular ship affairs, gimbals and all! Now, of +course, that’s all foolishness. In the first place there wasn’t room +for the compass and the crew. In the second place, when you start the +engine, the compass does a fox trot, and keeps on whirling; it’s no +good as a compass. And if it was, there wouldn’t be any sense in it; +there’s a map stuck up right under your nose and that’s all you need, +not to mention a few officers with flags telling you where to go, if +they are not sitting on top going with you. + +“Then there was the speedometer. Why any one should imagine a tank crew +needed a speedometer I don’t know. But there it was, ready to tell us +just how fast we were going. Maybe they thought, down in Washington, we +were going to establish a tank speed record or something. + +“And the hook—I mustn’t forget the hook. It’s so typically American—a +device born of our national tendency to economise time. To put a hook +in at the top of the tank meant at least two hours’ work. In 100 tanks +that was 200 hours or 24 working days, slowing up production. The idea +of the hook was that it would be so convenient when a crane had to lift +the tank. Now the average tank gets lifted by a crane just four or six +times; on a car at the factory, off the car, on the ship, off the ship, +and maybe on and off a car again. So to save the six or twelve minutes +it would take a crew to slip a chain around the tanks, they put a hook +at the top, because it was efficient! + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Ralph M. Atkinson + +_42nd Division, 167th Infantry, Headquarters Company_ + + While in command of a Stokes mortar platoon October 16, 1918, near + Landres-et-St. Georges, Argonne, Sergeant Atkinson with three soldiers + was advancing with the first wave of the assault, when on nearing + the objective, he discovered about 250 of the enemy forming for a + counter-attack. He advanced with the Stokes mortar under fire, and + opened a murderous fire on the approaching enemy, dispersing them.] + +“Oh, well, I oughtn’t to grouch. We never used the tanks. And no one +that I know minds much. Those Renault tanks were little dandies. You +have no idea how easily they run. You can crawl over a telegraph pole +and hardly feel it, so well worked out has been the spring suspension, +the relation of rollers, chariots and treads. And they didn’t go in for +any fancy touches, the Renaults. No armor for the guns nor fancy locks +on the door to keep some one from crawling up and throwing a grenade +inside, nor deflection armor at odd angles which never did anything +but stop bullets and make splinters that otherwise would never have +endangered any one’s eyes. + + +SNIFFS AT HUN TANKS + +“German tanks? Punk. Too slow, mechanism too exposed, too many slits. +Oh, very well made, but poor design. Nor do I think very much of German +tank men. + +“We had about 44 per cent. casualties, and that covers 22 actions. Ten +per cent. of the casualties were deaths. But I don’t recall many men +dying without doing something first. + +“I recall that there was one tank got stuck in a trench and nothing +handy to rescue it. Captured, of course. Well, we captured it back two +days later. Every round of ammunition was fired. Every pistol cartridge +had been fired. And both men had been wounded long before they were +killed; there was plain evidence of it in blood where no blood would be +if they had just been snuffed out right at first. They must have put up +a beautiful scrap. Americans don’t like to surrender, somehow.” + + + + +THE GARIBALDI CODE + +“To Be Ready Ever to Fight for the Cause They Think is Right” + + +Italy at war without a Garibaldi somewhere in the fighting columns is +unthinkable. Even before the days of the famous Liberator, Giuseppe +himself, there were Garibaldi who had arms and hearts ready to strike +for freedom; but since the days when the great patriot and lover of +liberty made romance as well as history out of his revolutionary +spirit, arms and the defense of freedom are tenets of religion with +the Garibaldi. With the exception of the Russian-Japanese War, it is +said there has been no conflict of powers or revolutionary struggle +without its Garibaldi bearing gun or sword. It goes _sans dire_, then, +that the outbreak of war which arrayed western democracy against the +encroachments of German autocracy was like a clarion call to the blood +of the Garibaldi. They did not wait for Italy to speak—France was +calling and that sufficed. + +The son of the Great Garibaldi wrote letters to five of his seven sons +scattered about the world. Two of them were in New York (Giuseppe, +named for his grandfather, and Ricciotti, on his way to South America), +one (Merotti) was in China, and one (Bruno) was in Cuba, and one +(Sante) was in Upper Egypt. The two youngest, Costante and Ezio, were +pursuing their studies in Italy. There was a sister, Italia, in Rio de +Janeiro, who devoted herself to Red Cross organization. In the letters +the sons were told to hold themselves in readiness for the receipt of a +telegram appointing a rendezvous for which they were to start at once. + +The cablegram came; the rendezvous was Paris. Giuseppe and Ricciotti +sailed from New York by the next available steamer. They found Costante +and Ezio awaiting them. Bruno and Sante arrived a few days later. But +Merotti could not come from China until several months later, when +Italy had entered the war. Other Italians were there also to tender +their services to France and they organized an Italian Legion that was +incorporated with that famous multiple battalion, the Foreign Legion. +The Italians were soldiers of fortune all, and the brothers had hoped +to be sent to the Balkans, Giuseppe frankly confessing that guerrilla +warfare was his preference. But Ezio, who was sent to drive a camion at +Salonika, was the only Garibaldi who got to the Balkans. + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +Sticking to Their Guns + +A drawing by F. Matania picturing a valiant group of Italians who, +although overwhelmed by the enemy, remained with their battery until +the last man was killed.] + +The Foreign Legion, as everyone knows, was made up of all sorts of +adventurers, many of whom knew the meaning of grated windows and ankle +chains, but “it isn’t where you come from in the battle-line but what +you do that counts.” The world pretty well understands what the Foreign +Legion did and how it was honored by grateful France. Elsewhere is told +how they were given the place of honor in the attack on the Prussian +Guard which they drove back, but with a loss that wrecked them as a +legion. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +General and Captain Garibaldi] + +In a talk with Lewis R. Freeman, published in _The World’s Work_, +Giuseppe Garibaldi is quoted as saying: + +“I don’t recall anything that was actually said between us on the +subject, but it seemed to be generally understood among us brothers +that the shedding of some Garibaldi blood—or, better still, the +sacrificing of a Garibaldi life—would be calculated to throw a great, +perhaps a decisive, weight into the wavering balance in Italy, where +a growing sympathy for the cause of the Allies only needed a touch to +quicken it to action. Indeed, I am under the impression that my father +said something to that effect to the two younger boys before he sent +them on to France. At any rate, all three of the youngsters behaved +exactly as though their only object in life was to get in the way of +German bullets. Well—Bruno got his in the last week in December, ten or +twelve days ahead of Costante, who fell on the 5th of January. Ezio—the +youngest of the three fire-eaters—though through no fault of his own, +had to wait and take his bullet from the Austrians on our own front. + +“The attack in which Bruno fell was one of the finest things I have +ever seen. General Gouraud sent for me in person to explain why a +certain system of trenches, which we were ordered to attack, must be +taken and held, no matter what the price. We mustered for mass at +midnight—it was Christmas, or the day after, I believe—and the memory +of that icicle-framed altar in the ruined, roofless church, with the +flickering candles throwing just light enough to silhouette the tall +form of Gouraud, who stood in front of me, will never fade from my mind. + +“We went over the parapet before daybreak, and it was in the first +light of the cold winter dawn that I saw Bruno—plainly hit—straighten +up from his running crouch and topple into the first of the German +trenches, across which the leading wave of our attack was sweeping. He +was up before I could reach him, however (I don’t think he ever looked +to see where he was hit), and I saw him clamber up the other side, and, +running without a hitch or stagger, lead his men in pursuit of the +fleeing enemy. I never saw him alive again. + +“They found his body, with six bullet wounds upon it, lying where the +gust from a machine gun had caught him as he tried to climb out and +lead his men on beyond the last of the trenches we had been ordered to +take and hold. He had charged into the trench, thrown out the enemy, +and made—for whatever it was worth—the first sacrifice of his own +generation of Garibaldi. We sent his body to my father and mother in +Rome, where, as you will remember, his funeral was made the occasion of +the most remarkable patriotic demonstration Italy has known in recent +years. From that moment the participation of our country in the war +became only a matter of time. Costante’s death a few days later only +gave added impulse to the wave of popular feeling which was soon to +align Italy where she belonged in the forefront of the fight for the +freedom of Europe.” + +After Italy came into the war, Giuseppe Garibaldi fought with his +own countrymen, having the name of Colonel with those soldiers whose +Herculean feats in the Alps made one of the most striking chapters in +the war’s history of unprecedented achievements. + + + + +THE BALD FACTS + +A Story of the Trenches by One Who Knew Them at Their Worst + + +He has a very illusory view of life who knows only its sunny phases; +and his is worse than a deceptive impression of war—especially the +monstrous war of 1914-18—who has vision only of its valorous deeds and +heroisms, its thrilling tales of daring and achievement, of splendid +adventure and fearless sacrifices. + +Here is a revelation of the side of war seldom more than glanced at by +those who tell of the moving exploits. It wears none of the trappings +of romance; it is without allure; but it is terribly true. _The New +York Times History of the War_ made certain of that before publishing +what it rightly described as one of the most thrilling human documents +produced during that awful four years. The grim record of the young +soldier’s experience is necessarily curtailed here, enough being given, +however, to picture the grisly reality of war as millions of youths +encountered it. It is not the stirring tale of a hero. + +Roméo Houle, French parentage, was born in New Bedford, Mass., in 1893. +He was the son of a local barber, Zacharie Houle. In 1912 he removed +to Montreal, where he was employed as a barber, having followed his +father’s calling. He had a grammar school education. He enlisted in +the Sixty-first Regiment, First Canadian Division, Aug. 1, 1914, eager +to serve in the war. He went with the Division to France, and was +soon in the front trenches. During his service he made notes of his +experiences. With the assistance of the editor of a French paper in +New Haven, these notes were put into narrative form after young Houle, +through the efforts of his father, was discharged from the army in 1916. + +The narrative begins: “The true story of the trenches has never been +told. I know, because for many months I lived in trenches. I have +slept daily in dread of bullet, shrapnel, mine and deadly gas; and +nightly in fear of mine and gas—and the man-eating rats. I am one of +the few soldiers living who entered the front trenches at the opening +of the war and lived to fight the Germans in the front trenches in +February, 1916. Of my original company (the Fourth of the Fourteenth +Battalion, Third Brigade, First Canadian Division) which so gayly +marched away to that hell at Laventie and Ypres—500 brave boys—I am +one of the sixteen who survived. And returning unexpectedly, snatched +by the American Government (as an American citizen who had enlisted +under age) out of the very jaws of death, with the mud of the trenches +still upon my clothing, I discovered how much American people have been +talking of the trenches and how little, after all, they know about +them.” + + +AGONIES OF BODY AND MIND + +And during that trench existence, there was, he thinks, no conceivable +agony of body or mind which he did not see and experience. There was +the gas—“a crawling yellow cloud that pours in upon you, that gets you +by the throat, and shakes you as a huge mastiff might shake a kitten, +and leaves you burning in every nerve and vein of your body with pain +unthinkable, your eyes starting from their sockets, your face turned +yellow green.” There were the rats—“I see them still, slinking from new +meals on corpses, from Belgium to the Swiss Alps. Rats, rats, rats, +tens of thousands of them, crunching between battle lines while the +rapid fire guns mow the trench edge, crunching their hellish feasts. +Full fed, slipping and sliding down into the wet trenches they swarm +at night—and more than one poor wretch has had his face eaten off by +them attacking him in his sleep.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Corporal Whitney D. Sherman + +_2nd Division, 5th Regiment, 18th Company, U. S. M. C._ + + This soldier is a fine type of Marine and showed himself to be a brave + and valiant soldier at the Battle of Belleau Woods, now known as the + Bois de la Brigade de Marine. He was wounded in action June 10, 1918, + in this engagement.] + +There was the stink from decaying bodies, the filth of days and weeks +of unmarked accumulation. “Ah! you would say ‘Roméo, Houle, you are +lying’ were I to tell you some unbelievable things that I have really +lived through. We go mad over there. My God! I am sick of adventure, +for the adventures I have had will plague my sleep until I die.” + +His first acquaintance with the trench under fire was at Richebourg. +“There Charles Lapointe, the first of our company to die, looked over +the edge of the trench. That is death. Machine guns all the day sweep +the trench edges. If you raise your hand your fingers will be cut off +as by a knife. Well, Lapointe looked over the trench; and nobody knows +what he saw. His brother was there to lay him down. He buried him (as +we ever must the dead) in a hollow pit in our trench. And the brother +had for a time the agony of having to fight and feel the earth over +Charley’s breast give under his feet.” + +He fought in the first line again at Laventie, and there got his first +taste of gas. It came while he was trying for a little rest after a +turn at guard duty. Some one having stolen the two empty sandbags he +had been using for bedding, he spread his overcoat on the ground and +pulled a blanket over him. “The sun meantime was shining hotly on the +heaps of dead bodies which lay not far outside the trench, and I was +glad to cover my head with the blanket to shut out some of the awful +stink. And that is how the smell of decaying bodies saved my life. +Arthur Robillard, a car conductor back in Montreal, was on guard duty. +I was roused by his falling over me. As I sat up something got me by +the throat and I began to strangle for my life. The air was rent with +awful cries. Many of my comrades lay dying and dead about me. I hurled +myself in semi-madness into a huge crater near by in which there was a +little water, and I fell in it face down. + + +BLOWN FROM THE TRENCH + +“The water relieved me a little and I wet my handkerchief in it and +covered my face. I crawled out and half blindly sought my chum, who +was unconscious, and dragged him to the crater where the water was. I +laid him there face downward, and he, too, revived a little, and then +we lay waiting for death.” + +Ten minutes later there was a shouting that announced the approach of +the Germans on a charge. Houle, followed by Robillard, ran back into +the trench, got his gun and began firing. When the rifle became so hot +that it burned his hands he threw it down and began hurling bombs. +They were ordered to retreat to the next trench and the Germans began +pouring into the vacated one. Houle and his fellows got hold of two +machine guns, good for from 560 to 700 shots a minute. + +“I shall never forget those Germans. When our guns suddenly spoke their +front line melted; their second crumpled before this destruction; +but on, on, on they came, unflinching, marching with even steps into +certain death. We were like lions at bay. It was our lives or the +Germans’. Then, as fourteen of us fought together, a bomb dropped amid +us, and killed eleven. I came to consciousness, lying in the bottom of +a trench, with Roy leaning over me. + +“‘Are you living yet, Roméo!’ he exclaimed in amazement. I rose +dizzily. He and I and one other stood alone among our eleven dead +friends. + +“Then Roy told me that I had been blown clear of the trench, twenty +feet from where I stood, and that he had braved death to secure, as +he supposed, my dead body. A careful examination showed that my only +injury was a terrible bruise on the calf of my leg, where the round +surface of a flying shard had struck me, but without breaking the skin. +Miracles are but small matters when you fight in the presence of death. + +“‘I’m not afraid now,’ I told Roy. And from then on I and all my +soldier friends believed my life was charmed and that the Germans could +not kill me.” + +The defenders were driven back to the fourth trench which they were +almost immediately ordered to leave, which they did with all speed as +it had been mined by the engineers and was ready to give the Germans a +warm reception as they came surging in. Houle describes the explosion. +“The whole earth seemed to leap skyward, and through and through the +black mountain of earth and stones shot heads and arms and legs, torn +fragments of what were once heroic men. Next to the gas which they gave +us, I think our blowing them up was surely the worst thing men could do +to men.” + +He describes mining operations, which are a big part of trench warfare, +as one of the most dismaying features of trench life. Apparently the +mines were more feared than anything else. “It was more terrible +than gas poisoning to think that at any moment you would be thrown a +thousand ways at once.... The soldier in the trench never knows when he +may be blown into small pieces,—and that is why we are always prepared +to risk uncertain dangers between the lines at night, instead of lying +down in the wet trench hopelessly waiting for death. + + +FELT SAFEST WHEN ON GUARD + +“I never felt so secure, indeed, as when I was on guard between the +trenches. Through all the night I could hear the bullets go over me. +Men go crazy there. And the insane are sent to England. Sometimes men +go mad and become a menace to their own comrades and officers. They +sometimes have to be killed. And there have been times when I crouched +in some first line trench, where no communication trench joined us to +the second or third line, where no doctor could reach us. And I have +seen men so terribly wounded, enduring such agonies, and screaming +so heart-breakingly for somebody to kill them, that our boys have +done what they asked, to save them the unnecessary horror of living +dismembered. And I have seen men of good health grow so weary of the +trenches that they have simply stood up at noonday. Some machine guns +swiftly ended them. And others, as I have written, simply stick their +hands above the trench top and bullets trim off their fingers.” + +Fingerless hands are unprofitable in the trenches, and not very useful +elsewhere in the activities of war. Getting rid of one’s fingers is a +comparatively cheap exchange for release from the dangers and maddening +anguish of long periods in the trenches. Houle did not think these +men were cowards. “But only men who have lived in the trenches can +understand.” Though he makes no claim to heroism for himself, Houle’s +record shows that he was a resolute soldier doing valiant things that +he sets down in his story quite as matters of routine experience—such +as going out under fire to bring in the wounded. + +He names Ypres the “graveyard of the old Sixty-first.” They were +carried to within six miles of the place in London buses, twenty-five +men to a bus. The remaining distance they tramped. At Ypres they first +met “the gallant French troops,” and his company of French-Canadians +being at the left of the English line acted as interpreters. Here the +trenches were but forty yards from the Germans and in bad condition; +they were raked terribly by German machine guns on a height. There were +dead bodies of Germans and French lying between that had been there +three months, neither side having the chance to bury its dead. These +were to be seen through the periscopes—but one did not need to see to +know they were there. The Battle of Ypres was one of the greatest of +the war, one of the most desperate, one of the most deadly in human +toll, but out of it all comes the memory of the gas attacks to which +the men were then so helplessly exposed. + +“There comes a sudden stinging in your nose. Your eyes water. You +breathe fire. You suffocate. You burn alive. There are razors and +needles in your throat. It is as if you drank boiling hot tea. Your +lungs flame. You want to tear your body. You become half wild. Your +head aches beyond description. You vomit, you drop exhausted, you die. +It is a frightful thing to see your friends like that. Every other +man seemed to fall. As I fought I marveled that I was spared. Again +and again came to me the belief that my life was charmed. An ecstatic +confidence bore me up. I was brave because I was so sure of life, while +all my companions seemed groveling in death.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Captain Richard T. Smith + +_42nd Division, 117th Field Battalion, Signal Corps_ + + Before daylight on the morning of March 17, 1918, while constructing + communication lines in the vicinity of Fort de Manonviller, France, + Captain Smith conducted his men to a place of safety, and while the + fire was still intense returned and carried a wounded soldier to the + dugout, where he fell exhausted.] + +They left the trench for a charge, under a withering fire, but they +pressed forward, and came to the enemy’s trench and leaped in. He saw +four Germans trying to escape on the further side. “I did not fire, +intending to make them prisoners. But the only thing I took was a great +blow on the side of my head, and away went my prisoners.” That night +he was one of twenty of his comrades who volunteered to attempt the +recovery of four field guns the English had lost. They joined men +from the Tenth and Sixteenth Battalions. They were to storm the wood +where the guns were. There were forty yards of open ground to traverse. +The Germans worked havoc among them, but the remnant made the wood. In +the darkness it was almost impossible to distinguish foe from friend. + +“I ran in and out among the trees and asked every one I met who he was. +I came upon one big fellow. My mouth opened to ask him who he was, when +his fist shot out and took me between the eyes. I went down for the +count, but I knew who he was—he was a German. I got up as quickly as I +could, you may be sure, and swung my rifle to hit him in the head, but +the stock struck a tree and splintered. I thought I had broken all my +fingers. + +“I found three wounded men, French, I thought they were, in that gloom. +So I carried them into our trench. As I brought in the last one, the +officer said, ‘You are doing good work, Houle.’ I asked him why he +thought so, and he answered: ‘You have brought in three wounded men +and when we put the light on them we found they were Germans.’ Well, I +am glad I saved them. I would have done so anyhow, had I known their +nationality. For we were all trained to give a wounded man help, +whether he were friend or foe. + + +NOT SAFE TO HELP THE HUN + +“Yet it is dangerous work, helping a wounded German. I never helped +another, after the experience I had. It was one of the two occasions +when I knew with certainty that I killed a man. He was a wounded German +soldier. We found him suffering and weak. But we knew we could save +his life and were dressing his wound. My back was turned. He took a +revolver out of his tunic pocket and fired pointblank at me. + +“I do not know how I escaped death. Perhaps it was because his hand +shook from weakness; perhaps my guardian saint turned aside that death +bullet. Anyhow, he had his revolver in his hand. We had to act quickly. +My officer spoke a quick word, and I made sure that he would never fire +another shot. + +“Well, we got our machine guns. But the Germans had blown them up, and +all our sacrifice of men was in vain.” + +The Battle of Ypres was a twenty-one day affair, and the toll exacted +was appalling. Of the 500 boys of Houle’s company who left Canada only +20 survived. Then came other engagements until in May, 1915, he was +again in Richebourg, and the next day an assault was made on the German +first line trenches. The first two lines of trenches were taken without +difficulty, but there was a counter attack at the third and out of +Houle’s company (now reinforced to 365 men) 75 were killed, 100 wounded +and 20 taken prisoners. + +“We were obliged to leave our wounded in the trench with the dead. I +lay until night in the German second line trench among the dead and +wounded,” for of course there were no communications and no means of +getting medical help for the men “writhing in agony all around us.” At +night Highlanders from the 13th and 14th Battalions came to the relief. +Three days later there was an attack at a point near Lacouture, where +the Germans were entrenched in a hilly vantage. The French Canadians +had been reinforced again, this time to 420. The Scots Grays and the +Cold Stream Guards engaged in the assault. The artillery cleared +the way for the charge. “On the third tussle we got into the German +trenches. It was a close fight. We used even our fists. My bayonet was +broken, and I used my gun as a club. There we remained until we got +reinforcements. Out of 420 men my company was reduced to eighty. No, I +could not be killed.” + +Then the French Canadians fought at Cuinchy and at La Basse—repetitions +of the same story. He had fought in the front lines from almost the +very opening of the war, “until all the bed I knew was wet earth, and +all the rest I knew was snatches of sleep obtained during lulls in the +roaring tumult. And long since I had had my fill of the fighting.” + +Then Jan. 10, 1916, he was summoned to headquarters to receive his +discharge. He frankly rejoiced in the fact that he was free, free from +the trenches, their fevers, their wounded and dead, their noxious +odors, their deadly gases, their man-eating rats; free to go home to +relatives and friends neither maimed nor wounded. Not that he had gone +unscathed. There was a dent in his skull made by a spent bullet, and +a very bad bruise on the leg made by a piece of shell, but these were +trifles. + + +NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE IT + +“I take no credit for any special courage in the field. If I was brave +it was because I had to be so. We were all brave who kept our senses. +We became accustomed to a large degree to the incessant intimacy with +dangers and death. We could look at frightful things without wincing.” + +He knows no word with which to describe war as he saw it. Hell is far +too weak a word. “It is more horrible than the slaughter house, because +the forms of death planned are more cruel, more mad, more devilish. We +fight underground and under sea. We fight with fire, with steel, with +lead, with poison, with burning oil, with gases. We are lower than the +brutes, lower than the most degraded forms of life.... I am only Roméo +Houle, a barber. But I have lived—God! I have lived. All the slaughter +of heroes by the Meuse and on the Belgian border and in Northern France +has passed before my eyes. And I, Roméo Houle, am forced to write +this: ‘We cannot make ourselves better nor the world more worth while +by killing each other like beasts gone mad.... I hope never to fight +again.’” + +And here is a final reflection of the soldier who confesses “I do not +know why we fought.” + +“No Archduke’s little life was worth the titanic butchery of the world +war. The beginning was petty and small. And I, looking back at horror, +horror, horror, cannot forget the extraordinary friendships we made +with the men in the enemy’s trenches. We were both only human beings, +after all, Fritz and I. We had no wish to kill each other. We had much +rather sit at the same table, with our wives and children around us, +and talk of gardens, of fair pictures, and of great books. But for +our officers and the nations which they represented peace would have +been declared right there in the trenches—and that by the soldiers +themselves.” + + + + +O’LEARY STEPPED IN + +And Faith, Never a Dumas Hero was a Marker to This Sergeant of the +Irish Guards + + +He got the habit and trick of it early they say. He played outside +the home cottage in Macroom, about forty miles from the city of Cork, +charging imaginary foes, stick in hand, with so much vigor that the +plump hens scuttled to cover. His mother at the door of the cottage +demanded, + +“An’ what is it ye are doin’ now, Mike?” + +And the curly-haired youngster replied: + +“I’m a sodger.” + +Twenty years later the same mother stood outside the same cottage door +in Macroom listening to the almost unbelievable story of a messenger +who had dashed from Cork city by motor-car. Her son—her Mike—had won +the great war medal. She heard how the world was ringing with the +immortal exploit of Sergeant Michael O’Leary, V.C. Poems were being +written about him. He had received an ovation in London such as kings +might envy. And all this was no more than the brave Irish Guardsman +deserved, for with his unaided strong right arm he captured an enemy +position, and of ten Germans who stood in his path he killed eight and +took the remaining two prisoners.... + +O’Leary was sent to the front in November, 1914. Mr. Leask has told the +story. + +All around the La Bassée district fierce fighting had raged since +October. The 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards, in common with other +regiments, now experienced the severities of trench warfare. At the end +of January they were stationed near the La Bassée brickfield, and the +Germans were subjecting them to a withering fire. + +[Illustration: + + _Copyrighted in U. S. A. by New York Herald._ + +How Sergeant O’Leary of the Irish Guards Won the Victoria Cross + + “He rushed on like one possessed, never looking behind to see if his + comrades were following. A railway bank rose in front of him. He + cleared it, and went on, heedless of risks....”] + +The last night of January the enemy’s fire was particularly hot. It +was decided that the trenches were too expensive to hold. But before +evacuating them the men were ordered to storm the enemy’s position. + +In order to prepare the way for the assault, the artillery commenced +one of the fiercest bombardments of the war up till then. The boom of +the big pieces and the detonation of their shells were audible twenty +miles away. The guns fired with such intensity in order to demolish +what had become a regular bastion in the German lines, also to break +down the barbed wire entanglements in front of the German trenches, and +thoroughly to demoralize the enemy before the men stormed the positions. + +No. 2 Company of the Irish Guards was ordered to keep up a hot rifle +fire. This was to make the Germans keep under cover, no matter how much +they wished to escape from the artillery. The diversion also caused the +enemy to expect an attack from this direction, with the result that he +concentrated his fire on the trench occupied by No. 2 Company. + +Then No. 1, O’Leary’s Company, which was on the left of No. 2 Company’s +trench, was ordered to charge. The Irish dashed over the parapet with a +yell, their bayonets fixed, and rushed at the enemy in fine style. The +distance they had to cover to reach the German positions was from 100 +to 150 yards. The men were very eager to be at the enemy after their +long spell in the trenches, and went for their foe at racing speed. + +O’Leary soon outstripped his comrades. His Irish blood was up. “You +would laugh if you saw us chasing the Huns and mowing them down,” he +wrote to his parents. + + +CHARGE OF THE “MAD IRISHMAN” + +He rushed on like one possessed, never looking behind to see if his +comrades were following. A railway bank rose in front of him. He +cleared it, and went on, heedless of risks, toward a strong barricade +held by the Germans. + +O’Leary paused at a little mound and looked around. In front of him +was a deadly machine gun, trained on the trench occupied by the second +company of Irish Guards. As already explained, their work was to +deceive the enemy and the maneuver had proved successful. Their rifle +fire had prevented the Germans from showing their faces, and they had +not seen that the British were racing toward them. + +When O’Leary reached the mound the Germans became aware of their danger +and immediately prepared to turn the machine gun upon the advancing +First company. It was a critical moment. O’Leary did not hesitate; he +took deliberate aim with his rifle at the gun’s crew, five in number, +and one by one they dropped as his unerring finger pressed the trigger. +His bold move in a supremely dangerous situation had been successful. +The machine gun was his. The lives of his comrades were saved. For an +ordinary man this brave deed would have sufficed. But what O’Leary had +just performed whetted his appetite for more. + +Another barricade farther on had caught his eye. With daredevil +audacity, he bounded toward it. The Germans then were prepared for him, +but he “got his blows in first,” and killed three more Germans. The two +remaining had no stomach for the “mad Irishman.” They promptly raised +their hands, and O’Leary secured them as his prisoners. + +He confessed afterward that his second exploit was a hazardous one. He +had no bayonet at the time and had to trust solely to his marksmanship. +His rifle was loaded with ten rounds, and eight of the bullets found +a human billet. When the last two Germans surrendered he had no +ammunition left, and had they not been demoralized by his sudden and +audacious attack single-handed, the issue would have been different. + +Sergeant O’Leary had killed eight Germans, captured a machine gun, +taken two Germans prisoner, and carried two strong positions, from +which the rest of the attacking party would have been heavily fired +upon. Some one has said that this exploit was thoroughly Irish in +method and execution, and that O’Leary deserves to rank as one of the +greatest heroes of modern warfare. + +Describing what happened afterward, Company-Quartermaster-Sergeant J. +G. Lowry, of the Irish Guards, says: + +“O’Leary came back from his killing as cool as if he had been for +a walk in the park, accompanied by two prisoners he had taken. He +probably saved the lives of the whole company. Had that machine gun +got slewed round, No. 1 Company might have been nearly wiped out. We +all quickly appreciated the value of O’Leary’s sprinting and crack +shooting, and when we were relieved that night, dog-tired as we were, +O’Leary had his arm nearly shaken off by his comrades.” + +When on furlough O’Leary was fêted and cheered as no V.C. hero has +been. He received a splendid welcome in Cork and in his native +village. The greatest day in his life, however, was June 26, 1915, +when Londoners turned out in tens of thousands to acclaim him in the +streets. To honor him the London Irish organized a demonstration in +Hyde Park, at which over 60,000 persons were present. O’Leary drove +from the Strand to the Park in an open carriage, cheered all along +the route by an admiring throng. O’Leary was a proud man but, as he +afterward protested, he “didn’t know what all this fuss was about. +Faith, a bit of a shindy is no great matter at all, at all!” + + + + +WHEN THE “YANKS” WENT IN + +The Story of the First American Soldiers to Go It Alone in Banging the +Huns + + +Because they were recruited in the New England States, the boys of the +26th Division were known as “Yankees” or the “Yankee Division” and they +set up pretty good claim to the distinction by acts of unit heroism not +excelled for dash, daring and effective service by any troops opposed +to the Huns. The “Yankee Division” was the first of the A.E.F. to +take part in a great offensive in France. It was organized under the +command of Maj. Gen. C. R. Edwards, Aug. 13, 1917; arrived in France +in September, and in January, 1918, was undergoing special training +on the Chemin des Dames front. It was assigned to the Toul sector and +was in position by the end of March. Ten days later the enemy struck +its first serious blow at the line, “a blow which turned out to be +far more serious to the Germans than to the New Englanders.” It was +the beginning of the five days fight known as the battle of Apremont, +though it really was the battle of Bois Brulé, the worst of the fight +being in the “burned wood” on the hill top where the 104th Regiment was +stationed. In an article in the Boston _Globe_ devoted to the 26th, +Willard F. De Lue says: + +“From the very first day there had been artillery-action; in fact, the +Boche set up a row while the Yankees were coming into the line, before +they got their packs off. Now, at five o’clock in the morning of April +10, the Germans sent over a body of seven hundred or eight hundred +picked shock-troops against Colonel Shelton’s boys. + +“But the Yankee artillery got the jump on them, and opened up with a +barrage that couldn’t have been better. It smashed the Germans’ attack +so badly that it broke down, and for the rest of that day, and for two +more, the Boches were content to throw over a heavy artillery fire. + +“On the 13th, however, they were at it again. This time they planned +a little better. The center of the assault was directed against the +French units on the left of the 104th, and it wasn’t long before they +sent over a hurry call for a counter-attack by the Yanks. The 104th +responded handsomely. They swept through Bois Brulé right on to the +German flank, and relieved the pressure on the French line. But by that +time their own flank was threatened. So the Yanks suddenly changed +direction, and attacked by their own flank—a difficult maneuver, but +beautifully executed. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy World’s Work._ + +Cantigny—The First American Offensive + + Here it was that our soldiers confirmed the confidence placed in + them and won the admiration of the Allied High Command. Two days + later Americans were ordered to hold the road to Paris and the + crossing of the Marne at Château-Thierry.] + +“The fighting kept up stubbornly. By one o’clock in the afternoon the +Germans had broken through and grabbed some of the advanced points held +by the 104th, and were filtering in through communication trenches. It +was apparent this was no mere raid. So the reserves were ordered up. +But before they arrived the enemy had been hurled back again, and by +six that night the heaviest of the fighting was over. On the 14th there +was further action; but the Boche had been licked, and he knew it. His +losses were tremendous; ours comparatively light. + +“Many an act of heroism took place that day. The flags of the 104th +Infantry were later decorated by the French for the gallantry +displayed by its men. And the individual awards of American and French +decorations are eloquent. + +“That was the first battle fought by Americans—any Americans—in France +in which they were not supported by French infantry.” + + +IN EVERY AFTER BATTLE + +Having been inducted into the firing line, the 26th had no surcease, +but took part in every subsequent battle up to the signing of the +armistice, missing the promised rest, time after time, owing to the +exigencies of the campaigns. And according to the complaint of a +captured German lieutenant, they did not always play the game right. On +one occasion the moment an enemy barrage was lifted, a body of Yankees +darted ahead and actually nabbed some of the advancing Huns, the +lieutenant included. He sputteringly said in reproach of these tactics, +“They should not have been where they were. They were coming right +through our own barrage, and might have been wiped out.” + +That the Americans were so apt to be “where they shouldn’t have been” +was greatly disconcerting to the Huns more than once. They did things +in such an unconventional way, acting so much on individual initiative +that they frequently spoiled the precise calculations of the German +machine. The French had greater appreciation of the Yankee method. The +commanding officer of the 32nd French said this of the 26th: + +“I salute its colors and thank it for the splendid services it has +rendered here to the common cause. Under the distinguished command of +their chief, General Edwards, the high-spirited soldiers of the Yankee +Division have taught the enemy some bitter lessons at Bois Brulé, +at Seicheprey, at Xivray Marvoisin; they have taught him to realize +the staunch vigor of the sons of the great republic fighting for the +world’s freedom.” + +The division was also in the Château-Thierry battle. Mr. Le Due writes: + +“On the 9th the fighting on this new field began. The Boche, in the +early morning, swept down into Vaux and established machine-gun posts. + +“‘You’ve got to drive those (censored) out of there or we’ll be the +laughing-stock of the division,’ was the word sent out by Colonel +Logan. And so the driving began. + +“That fight for Vaux will be long remembered—a picturesque fight, +with groups of men rushing here and there, cleaning up snipers and +machine-gunners, rushing hostile positions; overhead the roar of the +American barrage, below the hum of countless machine guns. The clean-up +was thorough. + +“Three days later Foch’s famous counter-offensive began—on July 18, at +4:25 in the morning. + +“The night before, at ten o’clock, a terrific thunder-storm had broken. +Lightning flashed and rain fell in sheets. But in the morning there +came a clearing, and when the fated hour approached there was a rosy +flush on the morning sky. Commanders wore an anxious look. A surprise +had been planned, and a clear day was not to their liking. But just +before the time set a heavy mist began to descend. All was well. + +“A gun spoke; then the roar from a hundred, a thousand iron-throated +messengers of death. The creeping barrage had opened. The infantry was +to attack simultaneously. + +“The Yanks moved forward on the left, pivoting upon their own right, +held by the 101st, in front of Vaux. The 102d came next; but it was the +boys of the 103d and 104th, on the left, that did the early fighting. + +“‘We are in Torcy,’ was the first message sent back. Then came a delay. +A hitch had taken place; but by nine o’clock Bouresches, Belleau, and +Givry were in the hands of the Yankees. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Dugald E. Ferguson + +_32nd Division, 126th Infantry, Machine-Gun Company_ + + When the infantry on his right was held up by fire from an enemy + machine gun at Cierges, northeast of Château-Thierry, August 1, 1918, + he seized a rifle, rushed around the flank of the enemy’s position, + bayoneted two of the machine-gun crew and shot three of them, enabling + the infantry to advance.] + +“The first objectives taken, preparations were at once made for a +further advance. But the French, to the north, had been held up. On +the 19th there was no forward movement until three in the afternoon. +Hill 193, above Givry, where the French were held up, was passed on +the flank, causing the Germans to fall back. Etrepilly and Etrepilly +Woods were reached, taken, and passed. So, too, Genetrie Farm and the +woods close by La Halmadière. + +“In the night of the 19th there was another halt. Then forward again +at daybreak, with the 101st and 102d Infantry getting into action late +this day, and sweeping forward, through Vaux and the woods close to +Bouresches, they crossed the Soissons-Château-Thierry road, and by the +22d found themselves in front of Epieds and Trugny. + + +WINNING MORE FRENCH PRAISE + +“It was here that the severest fighting of the drive took place. In +Epieds the Germans planted machine guns every seven yards. In Trugny +and in the woods that lie on the hillsides to the east of both towns +they had done likewise. + +“The 101st tackled the Trugny proposition. Colonel Logan’s men were +in and out of the town twice. But the German artillery had the range +just right, and whenever the Yankees went in flooded the place with +mustard-gas. On July 23 Colonel Logan borrowed a little ground on his +right from the French, encircled Trugny on the south, and started up +behind it, through Trugny Wood. It was a terrible fight, but that night +the 101st broke through the German defenses and forced a retreat. +Meantime, the three other infantry regiments were making constant +frontal attacks. The 102d got into Trugny and captured the gun now on +Boston Common. + +“On the 23d the 103d and 104th Infantry Regiments were relieved; and on +the 25th the 101st and 102d were relieved. But the artillery brigade +kept on, supporting three other American divisions, until the Vesle +River was reached, August 5. It was in this drive particularly that +Sherburne’s outfit earned the name of the best field artillery in +France. A regular Army officer, watching the guns in action, said: ‘I +have been in the Army thirty years and never have seen field artillery +until this day.’ + +“By August 7 the whole division, including the artillery, was back in +villages along the Marne, between Château-Thierry and Paris. + +“The people of the countryside hailed the men of the 26th as ‘saviors +of Paris.’ Those who went into the French capital were greeted with +enthusiasm. Men and women embraced them and kissed them. + +“General Degoutte, famed commander of the French 6th Army, with which +the Americans fought, wrote to General Edwards: + +“‘The operations carried out by the 26th American Division from July +18 to July 24 demonstrated the fine soldierly qualities of this unit, +and the worth of its fine leader, General Edwards. The 26th Division +fought brilliantly ... advancing more than fifteen kilometers in depth +in spite of the desperate resistance of the enemy. + +“‘I take pleasure in communicating to General Edwards and his valiant +division this expression of my esteem, together with my heartiest +congratulations for the manner in which they have served the common +cause.’” + + +THE LAST SHOT + +And so on until, drawn from temporary reserve at Verdun, the 26th was +ordered into the Argonne battle. The _Globe_ chronicler continues: + +“On October 15 the 104th was fighting in conjunction with the French +and a squadron of fifteen French tanks. What the fighting was like may +be judged from the fact that only one of those fifteen tanks came back. + +“On the 16th other units went in, and by October 18 command passed +to General Edwards. The new position in line was on the east side of +the Meuse River, facing generally east. Ahead lay the scrubby woods +of Haumont, Chenes, Ormont, Belleau, and the skirt of the Bois de +Wavrille, and of Samogneux, the latter to the extreme left, nearer to +Verdun. + +“The attack on these positions began on the 23d and continued until the +27th. The woods, so far as trees went, consisted of a few dead, blasted +stumps, standing out like skeletons, in the midst of thick, deadly +underbrush. The whole ground had been fought over recently. Bodies +of dead French and Germans lay there. And in one place was a valley +full of skeletons of the Crown Prince’s men who had made the desperate +attack on the forts of Verdun. + +“These woods were taken and lost again, taken and lost, taken and +lost. Four times did the 101st battle through Belleau, only to be +blasted back by artillery. The enemy had sworn to stick it out, for an +attack here threatened the lines of communication. And stick they did. + +“Of those last days a volume might well be written: of the desperate +charges, the hell of shell-fire, the deluges of gas, the hum of +millions of machine-gun death-messengers—death-messengers that brought +their messages home. And through it all, partly over ground they had +won before, they plunged in the dull desperation of despair. In the +previous days they had been robbed of the officers they knew and loved. +Edwards had been relieved October 25. Others had preceded him, and +others followed—Cole, Logan, Hume. + +“Desperately these boys fought and paid the price. On the 9th the line +was drawn back a little, the accompanying units couldn’t keep pace. And +still the battle raged—a bloody, maddening, disheartening battle—raged +despite reports that an armistice had been agreed upon. Even at ten in +the morning of November 11, one hour before the fighting was to stop, +the 26th was ordered forward again ‘to straighten out the line.’ In +that hour hundreds were lost. + +“The Yankee division fought up to the last shot. That shot fired, the +division remained a wreck. Gen. Frank E. Bamford, the new commander, +reported that the division was in no condition to go to the Rhine. That +day, the 11th, 1,200 replacements were received, and more were on their +way. When the last hour’s fight began one regiment, normally 3,000 +strong, had only 240 rifles.” + + + + +HUMOR AND HEROISM + +Glimpses of the Sunnier Side of the Men Who Played with Death + + +After relating many pitiful, tear-compelling incidents of wounded +and dying soldiers in trench and in the temporary hospitals back of +the front, an English Chaplain turned from the saddening episodes to +some of the humorous phases of his experience among the men—humorous +by contrast, that is, for some of the touches are more than prods to +laughter; this for example: + +“Once, in a hospital train, where a crowd of helpless men were +being loaded in at a siding, I saw one man, groaning in agony from +rheumatism, carried in. ‘Where are you wounded, old chap?’ asked the +orderly. ‘Hoots!’ he replied, ‘I’m na wounded at a’; fling me onywhere, +an’ luk after the rest.’” The Chaplain continues: + +“There are countless streaks of humor and gleams of laughter even +amid the sorrow-clouds of war. The mysterious diseases from which the +soldier thinks he suffers sometimes puzzle you. He will proudly, and +with a majestic solemnity, tell you that his illness has developed into +‘gasteria’—perhaps a more accurately descriptive name than science +recognizes. More than one is sorry for his wife, who is distracted and +harrowed by the ‘insinuendoes’ of her neighbors, a word almost worthy +of a place in the dictionary. And many will tell you of chums who have +broken down, and who were not really fit to serve, having been always +of a ‘historical’ tendency. One almost feels a plea for heredity there. + +“How grateful we were when we found occasions like these! For, though +we were not downhearted, we were often war-weary. And frequently the +good cheer of those whom we were there to comfort and strengthen really +strengthened and comforted us. + + +MICKY FREE REVIVED + +“I remember an Irishman, quite of the type of Micky Free in Lever’s +novel, a rollicking, jolly child of the Emerald Isle, pretty badly +battered, but with a sparkle in his eye at which you could have lit +a candle. He was from Dublin. I thought I should speak cheerfully to +him, so I said, ‘Well, now, aren’t you lucky to be here, instead of +home yonder, getting your head broken in a riot?’ ‘Troth, I am, sir,’ +said he. ‘Lucky to be here, anyway. And lucky is anny man if he’ll only +get a grave to lie in, let alone a comfortable bed like this. Glory +be! it’s myself that’s been the lucky one all the time.’ Near him lay +another. ‘Don’t spake to him, your honor,’ said the first man with a +laugh. ‘Sure, he’s a Sinn Feiner.’ But both of them were of opinion +that the loyalty of the rebels might be awakened by contact with German +shells. ‘Bring them out here, sir,’ said they, ‘and they won’t be +Irishmen if they don’t get their dander riz with a whiz-bang flung at +them. That would settle their German philandering. Sure, isn’t it too +bad what we’ve been enduring to enable the spalpeens to stay at home, +upsetting the State, flinging Home Rule back maybe a generation, with +their foolishness, and we as good Irishmen as themselves can be?’ + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Private Albert Fritz + +_1st Division, 16th Infantry, Company “I”_ + + Cited for extraordinary heroism in action south of Soissons, France, + July 18-23, 1918. While attached to a machine-gun company as an + ammunition carrier, he was wounded twice, but continued to carry + ammunition while exposed to heavy shell fire.] + +“The infinite variety of classes that make up our present army is +astonishing. I told once of a Gordon Highlander landing in Havre with +a copy of the Hebrew Psalms in the pocket of his khaki apron to read +in the trenches. I saw, among our own Gordons, an Aberdeen divinity +student, as a private reading in the mud the Greek Testament and the +Sixth Book of Homer’s _Iliad_. Anything, from that to the _Daily Mail_, +represents the reading of our men. This variety is also very noticeable +among our officers. We had the lumberman from the vast forests of the +West beside the accountant from San Francisco; the tea-planter from +Bengal; the lawyer from the quiet Fife town beside the Forth; the +artist; the architect; and the journalist. And it was this mixture that +made possible episodes of irresistible comicality. + + +GLAD TO MEET HAIG + +“For instance, to prevent waste of petrol in ‘joy-riding,’ a French +barrier at one place near us had guards set upon it under a British +officer. One day a young northern subaltern, entirely fresh to military +work, was in charge; and the tale goes that he stopped Sir Douglas +Haig’s car, asking him to show his permit and declare his business. +When the general did tell who he was, the boy was so taken aback that +he is said to have stammered, ‘So pleased to meet you!’ + +“Again, a young officer told me that he was leading a well-known +general around some trenches in the dark. They came to a traverse. +‘We’ll go round here,’ said the general, and the young fellow led the +way. But a watchful Gordon leaped up suddenly with fixed bayonet, +and, ‘Who goes there?’ The youth replied, ‘General Blank.’ ‘Ay, lad,’ +whimsically replied the Scot, ‘ye’d better try again. That cock ’ll no +fecht wi’ the Cock o’ the North.’ + +“Another, a verdantly green soldier of the King, almost freshly off the +ploughed haughs of home, met an officer of high rank. He was carrying +his rifle, but he huddled it under his arm, and awkwardly saluted with +the open hand as though he had it not. The officer said, very kindly, +‘Here, my man, is the way to salute your superior with your rifle’; and +he went through the proper regulation field-officer’s salute. But Jock, +after coolly watching him, as coolly replied, ‘Ay, ay; maybe that’s +your way o’t; but I hae my ain way, and I’m no jist sure yet whilk’s +the richt gait o’t.’ + +“It would be worth while seeing this man after a few months’ training +has brought him into the ‘richt gait o’t.’ In fact, the way in which +the men have fallen into the habit of discipline is as wonderful as +the way they leaped into the line of service for their country’s sake +when they were not forced to go. I recall one, who was only a type of +many. Up in the mouth of a West Highland glen is a little cottage on a +croft. And the man there was the last of his race. When others passed +out to the world-wide conflict, his mother, who was very old, opposed +his going. But she died. And then he drew his door to, locked it, and +went to share the battle for liberty which to-day is shaking the earth. +There are far more men of peace than men of quarrel fighting for the +soul-compelling things that are of value beyond this dying world, and +these are made of the true victory stuff. + + +THEY ARE NOT TALKERS + +“None are less given to talk of what they have done than the very men +whose deeds thrill others. They just saw the thing that was needed; +they seized the flying moment, and did the deed that makes men’s +hearts stand still. They came out of it with something akin to the +elation of the sportsman who has scored a goal. They saved their side +in the game. That was what they aimed at, and they were satisfied. + +“In my last battalion were two men who, working together, did +breathless things without themselves being breathless. They enjoyed +them. After one ‘stunt’ our people in the trench observed a man hanging +on the enemy’s wire. His hand was slowly moving to and fro. They +watched carefully, and saw clearly that he was signaling to them. A +little group of officers gathered and considered the matter. But it +was entirely impossible, they thought, to dream of attempting a rescue +before darkness. So they resolved to get together a rescue party in the +night and save. Meanwhile, however, these two worthies slipped away, +crawled over No Man’s Land, and brought the poor fellow in. Rebuked +for their temerity, their reply was, ‘We couldna thole the sicht o’ a +chum oot yonder like that.’ Another time, after a bitter struggle in +a patch of woodland between our line and the enemy’s, they came and +reported that a man in khaki was to be seen moving from tree-stump +to tree-stump, evidently in distress. ‘I think he’s daft,’ said one. +And in the gloaming over they went, found him, and brought him in to +safety. He had been wounded in the head and side, and left behind. The +first day he had kept himself alive by drinking from the water-bottles +of the dead; but he had lost his reason and his bearings, and was in +despair when our brave fellows got him. And these men were killed later +on by a slight accident down behind the lines. + +“It was difficult to get away from the touch of one’s environment and +to overcome that unwelcome realization of the grim surroundings. One +morning we had a weird reminder. When we opened the door of our hut, +there, on the threshold, lay an unexploded ‘dud’ shell which had fallen +in the night. Had it done what had been intended, we should have been +very suddenly off somewhere among the stars. It made one think a little +of solemn and strange things, and feel more than a little thankful to +behold again the light of the sun. + +“People speak a good deal about the lust for blood and the +fever-passion of battle. But our boys are not bloodthirsty. + + +NOT THE HUN TYPE + +“A friend of mine, after a ‘scrap,’ saw a proof of this which almost +cost him his life, as he had to resist the tendency to laugh, for he +had been shot through the lungs. A big Scotsman, in a muddy kilt, and +with fixed bayonet, had in his charge a German prisoner, who was very +unwilling to get a move on. And Sandy shouted out to a companion on +ahead, ‘Hey, Jock, he winna steer. What’ll I dae wi’ him?’ But Jock, +busy driving his own man forward, just answered over his shoulder, +‘Bring him wi’ ye.’ Both of these men had the sweat of conflict not dry +upon them. But they never for a moment thought of driving the bayonet +into that reluctant foe, as the German would have done most readily. Of +course, one does occasionally find the old grim warrior still, quite +contented under hard circumstances, finding indeed the conditions a +kind of real relief after the rust of peaceful days. + +“This same friend, going one night along the trenches, almost +thigh-deep in mud, came upon a grizzled Irishman, O’Hara, cowering in +the rain. ‘Isn’t this a damnable war, O’Hara?’ said he. ‘Thrue for you, +sir,’ was the unexpected reply. ‘But, sure, isn’t it better than having +no war at all?’ + +“A campaign like this brings one into touch with strange bedfellows. +A man I know told me, ‘In one place, during the early terrible days, +we crept into a cellar, and I lay down to try to sleep. But I soon +found this to be impossible, for I became aware of somebody that kept +running to and fro in the dark, driving all the rest away. I went out, +and spoke to the doctor, whom I met. “Oh,” he replied, “that’s only +our lunatic.” It was, indeed, a poor fellow who had gone mad in the +retreat; and they could meanwhile do nothing but carry him along with +them.’ Perhaps the weirdest of all the strange mixtures whom I met +out at the front was a young fellow at a mechanical transport camp. +His father was a Russian Jew, his mother was English, his grandfather +Dutch, and he himself was born in London and brought up in Glasgow. In +a world of such widely international disturbance you almost expected +him to go off into effervescence, like a seidlitz powder. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Major Henry E. Bunch + +_42nd, Division, 168th Infantry, M. C._ + + On October 13-16, 1918, he went out in advance of the front line + near the Bois de Chatillon, France, to reconnoiter a site for an aid + station and an ambulance route. Seeing a wounded officer lying about + 300 meters from the enemy’s line, he went to his rescue and carried + him through terrific machine-gun and rifle fire to a shell hole, where + he administered first-aid.] + + +DID NOT MERIT MERCY + +“Amid the sorrows and the weariness of the times out there it was +remarkable how closely laughter followed at the heels of tears. We had +great fun over a colonel—not in our division—who was very unpopular. He +did not know the depths of his unpopularity, but, deeming himself the +best-beloved among his contemporaries, he was perfectly happy. One day, +while he was sitting in front of his dugout reading an old newspaper, +a sniper’s bullet passed quite close, and went ‘pip’ into the parados. +He paid no attention, of course, for that was only a bit of the day’s +work. But when another came, he thought it was an attention which +carried civility a little too far. So he called a Scotsman to him, and +said, ‘Go out, Jock, and nail that beggar.’ Jock crawled out, glad of +the diversion, stalked the enemy, ‘winged’ him, and was running up to +‘feenish’ him, when the German held up his hands and cried, ‘Mercy, +Englishman!’ But Jock replied, ‘Mercy? Ye dinna deserve nae mercy. +Ye’ve missed oor colonel twice!’ I often wonder if Jock told the +colonel how he had put it! Or is he still as happy as ever? + +“It is told of Jock that, on another occasion, when a German held up +his hands, after a good deal of dirty work with them, and said, ‘Mercy, +Englishman. I’ll go to England with you!’ Jock replied, grimly and +coolly, ‘Ay, maybe. But, ye see, that’s no exactly whaur I was gaun to +send ye.’ + +“I was always much impressed by the Wesleyans, whom I often met in +painful circumstances. I had never had anything to do with them till I +came in contact with them wounded and suffering, but always most brave, +patient, and truly religious. They bore their distresses without a +murmur, and they died without fear. For they knew what they believed +in. They had the gift of religion and the secret of a faith stronger +than death. They were true mystics. I remember one day standing +beside one of them who had been very dangerously stricken. His eyes +were closed, and he was whispering continuously. I stooped down and +listened. He was saying, over and over again, ‘Oh, God, remember me, +and help me to get well, for the sake of those I love at home.’ + + +SPEAKING TO GOD + +“I was turning to slip away quietly, when he opened his eyes and said, +‘Whoever you are, don’t go, sir, I was only speaking to God.’ His +religion was so intimate a possession that he did not need to apologize +for knocking at the door of love with his prayer. + +“Nothing could be more touching, and often at the same time funnier, +than meeting men past military age who, sometimes for the sake of +their boys serving, had slipped into the ranks, mentally folding +down a corner of their birth-certificate over the date, and salving +their consciences, as did one, who said to me, ‘I told them I was +thirty-four—but I did not say on what birthday!’ I remember one old +Scot, who could scarcely move, telling me, ‘I doot I’ll hae to get oot +o’ this, an’ awa’ hame. Thae rheumatics is no good in the trenches; +and they’re girnin’ at me again.’ Of course, he had ‘a laddie lyin’ +up yonder,’ and a nephew, and ‘a guid-sister’s brither,’ and so on, +like the rest. And, of course, if it were not for these pains he would +be as good as ever he was! Some time later I met him in the rain, and +asked how he felt now. ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘I’m just fine the day. I seen my +youngest laddie gaun up, and I’d a word or twa wi’ him. I’ll be writin’ +his mither the nicht aboot it. He was lookin’ grand. It was fine to get +a roar frae him in the by-gaun.’ + +“I called on one old woman at home, and she told me that her husband +had only the previous day, which was his birthday, gone off to France. +‘Eh,’ said she with unction, ‘he’s a good man, my man. I often think +I was a lucky woman to have sic a man. D’ye ken—he never told a lie!’ +‘And yesterday was his birthday?’ I inquired. ‘And how old was he?’ +‘He was fifty-eight,’ was her answer. But when I asked how this modern +rival of George Washington had got into the army with such an age, she +innocently replied, ‘Ye see, he said he was thirty-twa.’ + +“How these elderly men endured for any length of time all the +discomforts at the front was beyond understanding. They were, of +course, frequently caught, when youth was more able to skip nimbly out +of the way of death. The little, shell-swept graveyards at the front +got many of them very soon. + + +RUNNERS AND M.P.’S + +“I spoke elsewhere, some time ago, of some of the forgotten and +overlooked departments of our army. There are plenty such, of course. +But one cannot help recalling amongst them the battalion runners, who +carry messages over No Man’s Land, or anywhere, from post to post, +when air and earth are filled with hissing death, and who also act as +guides up to the trenches. They are absolutely fearless. This type +varies from the gaunt, silent figure, that stalks before you like an +Indian through the dark, to the garrulous youth who talks all the +time over his shoulder as he goes. One of the latter was leading up +our men, and the colonel said to him, ‘I hear that these dugouts are +wretched water-logged holes.’ ‘Deed, they are that,’ replied the guide. +And then, gently, as if on a tender afterthought, ‘D’ye ken, sir, I’m +often vexed for you; for I’m perfectly sure that you’re accustomed to +something better than yon at home!’ + +“Another is the military policeman, who controls and guides the traffic +at the cross-roads, and where there is danger of shells falling, in +such places as the square at Ypres. There, amongst evidences of steady +peril, stands this quiet man with the red band on his arm; and he steps +forward to warn you that it is not safe to be there! I cannot forget +one road, when we were moving up to the front. The stream of life +flowing on towards the fighting area was like the Strand in London at +its busiest. The policeman with uplifted hand was as powerful there +as at home. In a moment, at the signal, limbers, guns, motor-lorries, +ambulances, mounted men, and marching infantry stood motionless till +permitted to go on again. + +“The directions we got one day from an Irish policeman were +unforgettable. He said, ‘It’s quite easy, your honor. You see, when you +go into Albert, you don’t go into it at all. But you turn to the right, +keeping well to the left all the way.’ We thanked him, and trusted to +Providence, as we are apt to do where there is nothing else that can be +done; and, following our directions in a general way, we reached our +place in safety! + +“Again, you will find, right up behind the front, the roadman busy, +coolly filling up holes that shells have made, and behaving just as +though he were working on a stretch of the Trossachs, or patching up +the rut-worn tracks that the rain has damaged along by Loch Hourn.” + +Of the airmen flying their graceful, birdlike craft, he says: “There +can be no braver hearts than those. Many a time we looked up at them, +sailing overhead, and wondered; and the roughest Tommy sends something +like a prayer with them as they go.” + + + + +ENGLAND’S INDIAN WARRIORS + +Who Made Up the Indian Army; And Some V. C. Heroes + + +In December of the first year of the war, a letter came to the Indian +post-office in London with this address, written in the topknotted +Marathi character, and hence perfectly incomprehensible to every one +but the Jat orderly who read it: + + “In the land of the European War + The country of the King of France + For my beloved son, the Sepoy Khundadad Khan + And the hand of any who bears this to him shall be that of a + gentleman.” + +It was an extraordinary epistle to look at, very thick, and its +envelope was an old official one that had been carefully ungummed +and refolded wrong side out. And it had come from a tiny village on +the banks of the Jhelum River, far away in India. But what was more +extraordinary still, its owner received it that very day. For Khundadad +Khan had become a very great man indeed, and his name was fully as +well known in London then, as ever it had been in his native village. +Lying in the Kensington hospital, he stroked his long black curly +beard, the exact color of his hair, and murmured, as he fingered the +bulky contents of the letter (a parchment verse from the _Koran_ tied +up in silk with a dried serpent’s fang), “Oh, yes, it is a very good +tawíz—charm—as such things go, and will no doubt keep off many demons. +But the King-Emperor has given me a better one, is it not so, my +friend?” + +[Illustration: + + © _American Press Association._ + +Second-Line Gurkhas Coming Up + + From whatever tribe they came they proved themselves worthy to + fight in any army of Europe, as the “V. C.’s” awarded to the + members of the Indian army show. The photograph shows the second + line advancing amid shell fire to the reinforcement of the first + line at captured German trench.] + +“Undoubtedly, oh son of a most high excellence,” replied the little +brown orderly respectfully, in Hindustanie. And it was so. For the king +had given him the highest military honor of Great Britain, the V. C., +the first ever bestowed upon a member of the Indian Army. What he had +done to win it sounds like many another brave deed recounted of the men +in the Great War. There is a similarity even in brave deeds. He had +remained in a trench, firing a Maxim, after his British captain and all +the men with him were killed or wounded, holding back the Germans until +he, too, fell, severely wounded, and they passed on over his body. But +the Germans had been held back, and that was the important point. + + +THE BROWN MEN + +It was in August that the brown men first took ship at Calcutta +and Bombay, and, leaving the sound of temple bell and muezzin, and +commending themselves, no doubt, to Ava Ardu Sur Jasan, the angel +presiding over the sea and great voyages, sailed away under the British +Jack to fight for the Empire in a land they had never seen. They +reached the Western front in September, and after a scant two weeks’ +rest, were thrown in beside the almost exhausted British in the flat +mud-country between Givenchy and Neuve Chapelle. The force consisted of +about 50,000 British and 65,000 native Indians, led by white officers, +and with native officers to act as go-betweens. It was the first time, +since the Moors had conquered Spain, long before Columbus sailed for +America, that brown men and white had engaged in a death-grapple on +European soil. But these brown men were from a continent, not a single +nation. + +There were little Gurkhas from around Nepal, stout and muscular, with +high topknotted and slant eyes like Chinamen, grinning like terriers +from behind British steel. Their great friends, the Scotch, say they +can see objects and detect sounds which are imperceptible to other +people. And though they trot along contentedly enough with their rifles +in trenches that are sometimes too high for them, their favorite +weapon is their own sickle-shaped knife, the _khukri_. This they can +either hurl or use at close range, in which latter case, we are told, +it makes a sound like the cutting of fresh lettuce. Their friendship +with the huge Scotchmen seems to come from a certain like-mindedness +on the battlefield. It was a regiment of Gurkhas (the 4th) that on the +terrible night of the nineteenth of December supported the Highland +Light Infantry in gaining the foremost trench along the Bethune-La +Bassée Road. But the little brown men held the trench, while the +gallant Lieutenant Anderson, not content with this, rushed on with his +Highlanders, shouting, “We are going to take Chapelle St. Roch!” He and +his men passed on into the darkness—and were never seen again. + +There were long, athletic Sikhs from the land of the Five Rivers. The +Sikhs’ knives are straight, for they are tall, brave men who let their +hair grow, and who usually pray before fighting. Their knives are +two-edged, and they carry on their other side a comb, as is likewise +enjoined by their religion. Under Ranjut Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, +they once carved for themselves an empire from the Sutlej to the Kabul +River, and their greatest ambition even now is for one of them to be +known as “Singh” (“Lion”) among his countrymen. This high honor one of +them attained, together with the Indian Order of Merit, in the spring +drive around Ypres. It happened that a young English lieutenant, J. +Smyth, was ordered to supply ammunition to a company farther forward. +In the course of the fighting, he found himself in an unconnected +trench. Therefore, selecting fifteen Sikhs, he started forward with +bombs in boxes, which they carried among them. Only three Sikhs were +left unwounded, when finally, still under heavy direct fire, they +conceived the idea of breaking up the boxes and carrying the bombs the +rest of the way in their arms. One more Sikh fell dead before they +reached their objective and delivered the bombs to their hard-pressed +companions. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +First Lieutenant James M. Symington + +_2nd Division, 23d Infantry, 1st Battalion._ + + On June 6, 1918, near Château-Thierry, he voluntarily and outside of + his regular duty rushed in front of the firing line and reorganized + his men, leading toward the proper objective in the face of a barrage, + changing a small reverse into a success.] + +The great bravery of the English officers of the Indian Army, and the +enormous casualties among them—Captain Paris, Lieutenant Hayes-Saddler, +Major Graham White, good English names innumerable—is part of the story +of the Indian Army. It is said that their white skins among the dark +faces of their men rendered them an easy mark to the German gunners. +And their loss was graver for their troops than that of most officers, +for each Englishman in command is obliged to know several of the +innumerable dialects of India, and as there remained fewer and fewer +men in command who could speak both English and the native tongues, the +Indian troops became at times almost isolated. + +And there were men from tribes less well known: the Gurhwals, a +comparatively new regiment, who proved their mettle at “the Indian +Neuve Chapelle.” This was an engagement in November, not to be confused +with the later battle of Neuve Chapelle, where the Indian troops +actually gained the town, but were obliged to fall back, because of +the lack of adequate support. Then there were the Pathans, who shoot +like the Leatherstockings, and look, it is said, not unlike him, with +their blue eyes and brown hair and their muscular frames. They are the +fairest of the native Indians. Then there were the Rajputs, who have +been the great gentlemen of the hills for many hundreds of years. Some +of them were not subjects of the King of England at all, but citizens +of the Feudatory States of India, who came down from their mud huts and +mountain fastnesses to make the grand tour, as it were, and fight with +the cunning implements of the white man. + + +WINNERS OF V. C.’s + +From whatever tribe they came, however, they proved themselves worthy +to fight in any army of Europe, as the V. C.’s awarded in the course of +the war to the members of the Indian army will show. From G. A. Leask’s +book, _Heroes of the Great War_, we summarize a few of their exploits, +but many must go unnoticed here: + +The second Indian V. C. hero of the first year of the war, says Mr. +Leask, was also one of the bravest. Naik Darwan Sing Negi, 1st +Battalion 39th Gurhwal Rifles, gained his reward for great gallantry on +the night of November 23-24, 1914, near Festubert. + +The 1st Battalion 39th Gurhwals are recruited from that portion of the +Himalayas lying within territory immediately west of Nepal, known as +Gurhwal; and Naik, like most of the sturdy recruits drawn from this +neighborhood, spent his boyhood herding his father’s sheep and goats on +the bleak uplands and glacier valleys, often alone for weeks on end. + +One of the fiercest battles of the war took place around Festubert in +the La Bassée district. On November 23rd the Germans made a determined +attack upon some trenches near Festubert, held by the Indian corps. +A counter-attack was organized during the night of the 23rd-24th, +as our men were very hard pressed. In this great onslaught the 39th +Gurhwal Rifles, all hardy warriors like Darwan Sing Negi from the +northern hills, took a leading part. They leaped over the parapet with +fixed bayonets, their faces set and grim. With irresistible dash they +advanced to the captured trenches and drove the enemy off with terrible +loss. + +Darwan Sing Negi received two severe wounds in the head and in the arm, +but refused to give in. He led the way round each successive traverse, +and we can imagine the terror he inspired in the hearts of the Germans +when they saw this tall, fierce Indian hero, with white turban gleaming +in the darkness, his eyes afire, advancing upon them with the bayonet. +Although fired at by bombs and rifles at the closest range, nothing +could daunt this fearless fighter. By his splendid courage and powerful +arm he practically cleared the trench himself and so saved a serious +situation. The fighting went on all the next day, but the heroic deed +of Darwan Sing Negi on the previous night had averted the worst of +the danger. He was decorated by the King just before his Majesty left +France on December 5, 1914. + + +THE JEMADAR + +The next month, April, saw the winning of another V. C. by an Indian +officer. He was Jemadar Mir Dast, of the 55th (Coke’s) Rifles, though +he won his distinction when he was attached to the 57th (Wilde’s) +Rifles, both belonging to Indian Frontier Force. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Joseph H. Stowers + +_42nd Division, 167th Infantry, Machine-Gun Company_ + + He was cited for rushing into the open under fire January 2, 1918, + through an area flooded with poisonous gas, to the assistance of a + wounded comrade who was lying in an exposed position. He brought the + wounded man back safely in his arms.] + +The jemadar—corresponding to our lieutenant—had already distinguished +himself before coming to Europe to fight for his King-Emperor. He +possesses the coveted Indian Order of Merit for gallant services on the +Indian frontier while acting as guardian of the northern boundary. + +During both battles of Ypres the Indians fought magnificently. After +the enemy’s poison-gas attack had made a temporary dent in the British +line in the Ypres area, Sir John French ordered the Lahore Division +of the Indian Corps, to which Mir Dast’s regiment was attached, to be +moved up and placed at the disposal of the Second Army. + +A few days later, this corps, supported by the British cavalry, was +pushed up into the front firing-line. The time had come for the British +to assume the offensive. Fighting with the French on one of their +wings, the Indians were successful in pushing the enemy back some +little distance toward the north. Again the Germans let loose their +poison gas, and rendered further advance impossible. Such was the +position on April 26th. + +The Indians fought with determination to carry the German positions. A +formidable series of trenches had to be assaulted in order to dislodge +the enemy and so relieve the pressure on the rest of the line. Jemadar +Mir Dast got his men ready and was waiting to advance. When the order +was given to dash from the trenches, Mir Dast found himself detailed +off to remain with his platoon in reserve. The others, advancing by +short rushes, reached the crest of the first slope without a check, +although a number fell by shell fire. On reaching the crest, however, +the line came under a terrific machine gun and rifle fire. Whole +swathes of men fell as if a scythe had been drawn across their legs. In +spite of this, the line pressed on. + +Then came the dramatic sequel. The Germans suddenly released their gas. +Although the French Colonials were the chief sufferers, the Indian +troops were affected by it. The poor fellows were totally unprovided +with any form of protection against this devilish device, and were +falling fast, being at the same time under a hail of machine gun fire. +No troops could have withstood the terrible conditions, and the line +was forced to give way. + +Jemadar Mir Dast, from his trench, had seen the oncoming poison cloud, +and noticed the retirement of a part of the line. He had one of two +alternatives presented to him. Either he must retire in conformity with +the rest of the troops, or endeavor to get his men to stand firm and +resist the attack. Mir Dast decided to remain. + + +STOOD THE BRUNT + +Behind the dense volumes of gas and with ceaseless pointblank fire, the +Germans approached nearer and nearer. Undaunted in the trying ordeal, +Mir Dast remained firm, and collected all the men available, among +whom were many who were recovering from the effects of gas. So many +British officers had been killed that there was no one left to lead but +himself. He therefore assumed command of the forces he had collected, +and kept the men together until ordered to retire, all the while +holding up the oncoming Germans with rifle fire. + +After dusk, Mir Dast left the trench with his small force. During this +retirement, he picked up many men who were in the successive lines of +trenches by which he passed, and brought them back to safety. + +Throughout the attack, the resolute conduct of Mir Dast was beyond +praise. As the little band wended its way to the rear he encouraged +each man individually by his cheery words and courageous example. He +saw an officer lying wounded, and at great risk went and brought him +to cover. A few yards farther on he made out the writhing figure of +a gassed Indian officer. In spite of a hot rifle fire the intrepid +jemadar made for him, and, with assistance, got the suffering officer +out of the zone of fire. Then a second British officer was observed. +The jemadar, knowing every minute was precious if he himself was to +escape the fire and gas, stopped once again to perform his heroic work +of rescue. + +In this way during the retirement the gallant Indian soldier brought in +no less than eight wounded British and Indian officers. He was exposed +in doing so to a very heavy fire, and was himself slightly wounded. +Had he not shown such conspicuous bravery these eight men would have +died on the field. Mir Dast not only received bullet wounds, but was +rendered very weak through the effects of the German poison gas. + +The gallantry of Mir Dast, as well as the behavior of the whole +division at the second battle of Ypres, added yet another proud page to +the record of the Indian army. + +The jemadar, when well enough to be moved, was sent to England, and +there received from the hands of the King-Emperor the V. C. he had so +deservedly won. + +He was much affected by the King’s praise and said afterwards, +“What did I do?—nothing, only my duty; and to think that the great +King-Emperor should shake me by the hand and praise me. I am his child.” + +It must be remembered that India’s service in the war was entirely +voluntary. + + + + +A LIVELY INTRODUCTION + +An Ambulance Man’s First Twenty-four Hours at the Front Well Diversified + + +In a letter to his father, Dr. John B. Sullivan of Brooklyn, N. Y., +an aid with the American Ambulance Field Service in France, Eugene +Sullivan, who got quickly into the thick of things, tells the incidents +of his first day where the Germans were busy. The letter appeared in +the Brooklyn _Eagle_ as follows: + +“Well, after being assigned to section ... we went immediately to +the front by going to ..., base of sector, and arriving there were +picked up by section chief and then brought to section headquarters. +Next morning, at eight, was sent out as aid to learn roads, stations, +_postes de secours_, etc. First station at.... Arriving there I +expressed my disappointment, because everything looked so quiet, +except for the village, which, by the way, at one time must have been +lovely, but Germans had destroyed everything—every single house and +building—only a few houses had walls standing. At the improvised relay +station, or _poste de secours_, I left the ambulance and strolled to +the top of a hill. + +“Here I could see and was in plain sight of a German observation +balloon, and the German must have taken a dislike to my position, +physique or otherwise, because before long some nice big high +explosive shells started to come my way—so much so I had to postpone +my sight-seeing tour and retire to the _poste de secours_ and join +the others who were in an _abri_, which is an enlarged rat-hole in +the ground. While there an ambulance from a station nearer the first +line of trenches came in with some _blessés_ (wounded) and left word +that he was going to ... to the first hospital. It was then up to us +to go forward to Pont ... to take the place of this ambulance, who on +his return would take our place at ... Well, all went well and we hid +the ambulance at Pont ... in some bushes to wait for some poor fellow +to get his ‘ticket’ for the hospital. Very little happened that day, +except for the shells flying over our heads and a few airplane scraps, +but no wounded. Toward evening an extra ambulance arrived, and we in +the first ambulance got word to go still further to the front, to where +they have never had an ambulance before, but on account of shell-fire +had to wait until darkness. + +“This was like preparing me for the inevitable, but finally we got a +French soldier to guide us, and the driver, Harry Dunn, the soldier, +and yours truly, aid, started. All went well until about half over the +rocky and muddy road to Dublin I noticed the soldiers running like mad +for the trenches. For a few seconds I didn’t realize what it meant, +until a shell burst right near us and pieces went hissing right over +the top of the ambulance. Right then yours truly grabbed his steel +helmet from the guide, who was holding it, and just planted it on +his head, and, believe me, thought of home, mother, etc., said a few +prayers, and finally landed under the cover of the French dressing +station. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant August Steidl + +_1st Division, 26th Infantry, Company “A”_ + + He showed exceptional bravery and control over his platoon while + advancing through enemy machine-gun and artillery fire before he + reached his final objective, which he took with great daring.] + +“Got well located and fixed a stretcher in lieu of a bed, and just +about settled down to rest and sleep while waiting for candidates for +ride in ambulance when the French batteries started up. They were +a couple of hundred yards in rear of us and were firing over our +heads, and I got up and stood at the door to see the fire of belching +batteries, etc. Joe, each time one of those blame things went off my +steel (crown) helmet just naturally rose off my head, but in a few +minutes I got used to it and got well used to my surroundings and +looked over everything. It seems all the fire of a couple of hours +was just a small preliminary to an attack by a small company to jump +into the German trenches, grab about a dozen prisoners and then back +again—all so they could give the poor Boches the third degree for +general information, etc. + + +WITNESSES AN AIR DUEL + +“Finally, after all the firing, got a French soldier who had the good +portion of his head left to take to the hospital, and as it was getting +near daybreak we were ordered to ‘beat it’ under cover of darkness, +or the little that was left of it. Got out all right, except that we +darn near rode on top of a French battery, just as it was firing, +only 100 feet in front of us, and, believe me, we hit only the high +spots for about five miles. Got to hospital at ... O. K. and returned +to ..., taking up our order of relief and settled down to enjoy some +rest. Nothing doing for a couple of hours until just about 8 a.m., +when our tour of duty (twenty-four hours) was finished, when a lot of +machine-gun fire attracted our attention to the sky. + +“There we saw—in my opinion—the most wonderful and yet most horrible +duel between two airplanes, French and German. Saw every move they +made, until finally the German—or Boche, we call them—machine broke +into flames and immediately the observer of the German machine jumped +7,000 feet to his death, leaving his pilot to finish the struggle; but +although the poor wretch made a grand effort to right his plane after a +fall like a rocket for 1,000 feet, the tail of his machine and one wing +broke off and just dropped. + +“While dropping, the flames must have got to him, for he finally +jumped, too, and his machine fell one way and he, all in flames, a +little farther away. All the while the Frenchman in his victorious +machine was flying—really dropping—and followed him down, making a +spiral dive, and landed almost as quick. We jumped into our ambulance +and hurried to the spot, and the sight which greeted us was horrible. +I had my camera with me, but just couldn’t snap the picture. The +victorious aviator then reached the spot and stood smilingly over the +body while various ones took the picture. + +“The German balloon observers took it all in and when the crowd of us +gathered they had their artillery just drop some shells among us, so we +‘beat it,’ and that was the end of my first twenty-four hours on the +front. Some baptism. + +“A chap who came over with me—Osborn, of Dartmouth College—was only +four days in active service with Section 28, and in going to the aid of +one of his section ambulances got stalled himself and while repairing +his car the Germans located him by a star shell which illuminates +everything, and in this way they got a line on him and his ambulance. +They paid no heed to red cross on ambulance, but let him have a shell, +with the result that one leg was shattered and a piece of a shell went +through his body and lung. The poor chap didn’t realize how seriously +he was hurt or that he lost his leg later by amputation, but was +apparently O. K., for on the morning of the day he died he was chatting +merrily with every one, shaved himself and had a smoke. He even wrote a +most wonderful and pathetic letter to his parents, and yet that night +he died. Some say, or try to say, we don’t get under fire. I at least +know what shell-fire is.” + + At the date of the signing of the Armistice over 25 per cent. of the + entire male population of the United States, between the ages of 18 + and 31, were in military service. This represents a growth in the size + of the American Army in 19 months of nearly twenty-fold, namely, from + 189,674 in March, 1917, to 3,664,000 in November, 1918. + + + + +“A VALIANT GENTLEMAN” + +So Comrades Named Dick Hall, One of the First of Ours to Die + + +Speaking at the Lafayette Day banquet given in New York the evening of +Sept. 6, 1916, M. Jusserand, the French Ambassador, referring to the +service of Americans in France before the United States entered the +war, said: + +“Serving in the ambulances, serving in the Legion, serving in the +air, serving Liberty, obeying the same impulse as that which brought +Lafayette to these shores, many young Americans leaving home and family +have offered to France their lives. Those lives many have lost, and +never, even in antique times, was there shown such abnegation and +generosity, such firmness of character: men like that Victor Chapman, +who died to rescue American and French co-aviators nearly overcome by a +more numerous enemy, and whose father, so justly admired for his gifts +of mind and heart, decided that his son’s remains should be buried +where he had fallen: ‘Let him rest with his comrades’; or that Richard +Hall, killed by a shell while on the search for our wounded and whose +mother hesitated to accept a permit to visit his flower-wreathed tomb +at the front, because French mothers are not allowed to do so; or that +Harvard graduate, the poet of the Legion, Alan Seeger, who felt that +his hour could not be far remote and in expectation of it had written +from the blood-soaked battlefield where he had fought for Liberty. +The Frenchman who goes up is possessed with a passion beside which +any of the other forms of experience that are reckoned to make life +worth while seem pale in comparison. It is a privilege to march at his +side—so much so that nothing the world could give could make me wish +myself anywhere else than where I am.” + +And Emory Pottle, in telling for the _Century_ the story of a +“Christmas at Pont-à-Mousson” (1915) when he and his fellows of +the American Ambulance Service in that sector had a “bonne fête,” +superintended by Mme. Marion and pretty little thirteen-year-old +Jeanne, says: + +“It was a gay meal, recklessly, happily so. No one in the sector to +which we were attached was wounded that day. That, maybe, was the real +holiday note. Though it may seem incredible, the meal ended with a huge +plum pudding. + +“It ended, too, with something very grave and as I now think of it, +very beautiful. The festival meal and the gifts were forgotten in the +face of it. For it was, oh! not strangely, one of those events which +lift men, if ever so briefly, out of their daily selves into unseen +things. Our chief of Section was called to the telephone. He came +back—we all saw it—with saddened face. ‘Fellows,’ he said slowly, +‘Richard Hall of Section III has been killed, blown off his car by a +stray shell in the Vosges. He is the first of us all to go.’ + +“We stood very silently and soberly about the table. Such news drove +home abruptly, cruelly by reason of our Christmas gaieties—just +what being there involved to us, to those who loved us. Very often +we had jested and joked about death. None of us was a coward, I +think; but—Hall dead—the first of the lot of us—dead—so far from +home—Christmas! + +“‘Boys, let’s drink to him, the first of us to lay down his life for +France. Here’s to Dick Hall, good old scout!’ + +“So we drank, and I think no man there that night, where danger and +death were always brooding darkly, failed to feel the dignity and honor +of his calling. + + +A MOTHER’S GIFT TO THE CAUSE + +“A long time after, the mother of Richard Hall said to a friend of +mine—said with clear, sad, gentle eyes—‘I am glad to give my boy to so +great a cause!’ And we on the edge of the sinister Bois le Pretre, when +the news of the boy’s death came to us that Christmas day, felt, too, +somehow, somewhere within us, that the cause was great, was ours. + +“Late that night I stood alone for a time under the starry sky of +that strange hell we inhabited. Oddly enough, I felt, so I recall, a +calmness and a courage, even a sort of happiness, new and strange. +Though its approaches might be loud and frightening, I knew again that +‘the ways of death are silent and serene;’ an honorable death, a death +of one’s own choosing for an ideal, for a cause.” + +An extract from a letter written to his parents on Decoration Day, +1916, by Louis P. Hall, Jr., next older brother of Richard—he, too, +valiant in the Ambulance Service—gives an intimate glimpse of the +qualities of heart and mind that endeared Richard Hall to his fellows +and to all who knew him: + +“To-day at two I attended a beautiful memorial exercise. It was held at +the monument to Washington and Lafayette in the Place des États-Unis, +here in Paris. And during these exercises I took a little part when +my officers and myself placed a great floral tribute at the base of +the monument among the many others. On the tri-color ribbons of this +tribute from the American Ambulance were these words: ‘To Richard Hall +and the other Americans who gave their lives for France.’ + +“And so it is, as you well know, that I have thought a great deal of +Dick to-day. I believe I can recall almost every time I saw him during +our last three months together in Alsace with the circumstances of each +meeting. I can even remember many of the times and places we passed +each other on the road. He invariably smiled as we waved to each other +in passing, just as if he were as pleased to see me as I was to see +him. And I wonder if that really could be true! How I did admire and +love him as I knew him there in a life which brought forth all the best +from a boy who had no worst. And coupled with his splendid character, +indeed a part of it, was that fine reserve which never courted an +open show of devotion from me. But he was my own brother and always +must be my brother, what more could I have asked?... Though we were +often miles apart for days at a time, each was doing his little share +in alleviating that endless physical pain and bitter human suffering +which made our own hardships seem as nothing. And there was always our +next meeting, sometimes down in the valley, sometimes at a post in the +mountains, when we would talk things over; but even then neither told +the other all his inmost thoughts, for in such work our very depths +were touched and stirred as they never had been touched and stirred +before.” + + +FROM DARTMOUTH TO FRANCE + +Richard Nelville Hall, less than 21 years old when killed, was the +youngest son of Dr. and Mrs. Louis P. Hall, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. +In June, 1915, he was a senior at Dartmouth College and with other +members of that class he enlisted with the American Ambulance Corps for +a period of three months, and was assigned to Section Three. When his +term was up there was such urgent need of men and the new enlistments +were so few that Dick volunteered to remain in service until he could +be spared more easily. About that time Louis P. Hall, Jr., his next +older brother, enlisted and surprised Dick by appearing in the yard of +the American Ambulance Corps in Paris. Dick had just driven in from +the firing line. The meeting can be appreciated only by those who know +what a bond of affectionate devotion united the brothers, and which is +expressed in the foregoing quotation from Louis’ letter to his parents +dated Decoration Day, 1916. + +But even when recruits came the work of the Ambulance Corps was such +that the need of men was increased, and Dick continued to drive his +ambulance, postponing a little further his expected return home. There +was terribly fierce fighting in the Vosges in that period, it will +be remembered, and the demands upon the ambulance driver were almost +incessant, the peril of it constant, gathering up the wounded from the +battle front and hurrying them to a place of safety. For five months +he had made those hazardous trips from battle front to safety station, +unhesitatingly, devoted, inspired by the consciousness that he was +engaged in saving, not in destroying life, his work not for France +alone but for humanity. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant David U. Binkley + +_42nd Division, 168th Infantry, Company “I”_ + + While a private, Sergeant Binkley, on July 28, 1918, sought and + obtained permission to rescue his corporal who was lying severely + wounded in the open near Sergy, northeast of Château-Thierry, France. + He crossed an open area that was swept for more than 50 yards by enemy + machine guns, reached the corporal and carried him safely back into + the lines.] + +Lovering Hill, the chief of the section, says of him: “I have never +known any one who always showed so much _dévouement_ in his work. He +was the steadiest of all, and the most reliable. He never slacked up in +times when work was dull, when day in and day out was the same grinding +monotony; and in times of activity after many hours without rest or +sleep, he was always cheerful and stuck to the work with a tenacity +which was astounding. His frankness and straightforwardness, his +cheerfulness and good nature, his kindness—for he was always the first +to help his comrades—made him beloved by all of us, and by most of the +French with whom he came in touch, who admired the wholehearted way in +which he worked. In the technical matter of the upkeep of his car he +was my special delight, for both his car and his equipment were always +in perfect order.” + +The incidents of the days preceding the death of Hall have been +indicated briefly in a tribute written soon after the fatality. There +had been something of a respite from fighting, but on December 21 “the +mountains spoke” and all the cars rolled upwards toward the post of +Hartmanns-Weilerkopf—taken and retaken a score of times, a bare, brown, +blunt shell-ploughed top where before the forest stood—up, elbowing +and tacking their way through battalions of men and beasts. From +one mountain slope to another roared all the lungs of war. For five +days and five nights, scraps of days—the shortest of the year—nights +interminable—the air was shredded with shrieking shells—intermittent +lulls for slaughtering after the bombardment—then again the roar of the +counter-attack. + + +THE TRAVELED ROAD + +“All this time, as in all the past months, Richard Nelville Hall calmly +drove his car up the winding shell-swept artery of the mountain of +war—past crazed mules, broken-down artillery carts, swearing drivers, +stricken horses, wounded stragglers still able to hobble; past long +convoys of Boche prisoners, silently descending in twos guarded by a +handful of men; past all the personnel of war, great and small (for +there is but one road on which to travel, one road for the enemy’s +shell); past abris, bomb-proof, to arrive at the _Poste de Secours_; +where silent men moved mysteriously under the great trees, where the +cars were loaded with an ever ready supply of still more quiet figures +(though some made sounds), mere bundles in blankets. Hall saw to it +that these quiet bundles were carefully and rapidly installed, then +rolled down into the valley where little towns bear stolidly their +daily burden of shells thrown wantonly from somewhere in Bocheland +over the mountain to somewhere in France—the bleeding bodies in the +car, a mere corpuscle in the full crimson stream, the ever-rolling +tide from the trenches to the hospital, of the blood of life and the +blood of death. Once there, his wounded unloaded, Dick Hall filled his +gasoline tank and calmly rolled again on his way. Two of his comrades +had been wounded the day before, but Dick Hall never faltered. He slept +when and where he could, in his car, at the _poste_, on the floor of +our temporary kitchen at Moosch—dry blankets or wet blankets of mud, +blankets of blood—contagion was pedantry, microbes a myth.” + +It was over this shell-swept, torturous road that Dick Hall was driving +his car on its final errand of mercy when, in the first hours of the +Christmas morning, death made friends with him. Some three hours later +he was found by Matter, one of his comrades, the first to pass along +the mountain road. It was between 3 and 4 o’clock of the morning. +Matter and Jennings, who came a little later, bore the body back in +Matter’s car to Moosch, where his brother, Louis Hall, learned what +had happened. Death had been instantaneous. A fragment of shell had +penetrated his brain. Though he had other injuries (the car was utterly +demolished), we have the testimony of Abbé Klein, the chaplain, that +“even in death his face preserved the expression of smiling radiance, +that frank and kindly nature that his comrades had learned to love in +the months he had been with them.” + +“There in the small hours of Christmas morning where mountain fought +mountain—on that hard bitter pass under the pines of the Vosgian sweep, +there fell a very modest and valiant gentleman,” says the memorial from +his comrades of Section Three, adding: + +“Dick Hall, we knew you, worked with you, played with you, ate with +you, slept with you, we took pleasure in your company, in your modesty, +in your gentle manner, in your devotion and in your youth—we still +pass that spot, and we salute. Our breath comes quicker, and our eyes +grow dimmer, we grip the wheel a little tighter—we pass better and +stronger.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Private George W. Langham + +_32nd Division, 128th Infantry, Company “H”_ + + Though he was severely gassed near Juvigny, north of Soissons, France, + August 20-September 2, 1918, he remained on duty with his company + while it was in the front line. Later he aided in the work of carrying + wounded men across the area covered by artillery and machine-gun fire.] + + +THE LIVING DEAD + +The funeral services were held in the little Protestant Chapel five +miles down the valley while the guns roared in a fierce battle raging +for the possession of Hartmanns-Weilerkopf. At the conclusion of the +ceremony Hall’s citation was read and the _Croix de Guerre_ was pinned +to a fold of the tri-color that wrapped his coffin. At the head of the +grave was placed a wooden cross with the simple but all sufficient +inscription, “Richard Hall, an American who died for France, December +25, 1915.” The Alsatian women heaped flowers on the grave, and after +kept it decorated and cared for. When the United States formally +entered the war there was a further ceremony, when a French General +laid a palm on the grave in the presence of Louis Hall and the American +Corps. + +But Richard Hall was one of those fortunate servants whose service and +humanity did not end with death. Very soon after he was killed, as a +tribute to his memory a new ambulance car was sent to France to be +driven by Louis Hall. It was the gift of a lady. Another followed, the +gift of a New York gentleman, and a third ambulance was sent by Dr. +and Mrs. Louis P. Hall, who also kept a memorial bed in the American +Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly until the end of the war. In addition +to that they established a Loan Fund of $2,000 in the University of +Michigan (Ann Arbor was Dick’s birthplace, his father a professor in +the University) and $500 was given to Dartmouth. In the same spirit of +carrying on Dick’s work his parents’ efforts resulted in the sending +of $18,000 to the “Fatherless Children of France” and ten thousand +garments to the children of the Frontier. + +An editorial in the Philadelphia _Press_ had this to say of Richard +Hall: + +“Much more glorious is the death of this man than is that of the +fighting soldier. His was a devotion, not to country and fireside +and altar, but to an abstract conception of duty. There can be a +selfishness, of a refined kind, to be sure, in even the greatest +bravery shown by the soldier who is fighting for the preservation +of his native land. Thoughts of his near and dear ones in that land +inspire his actions and nerve his body and will for them. To the alien +nurse, physician, hospital attendant there is no such inspiration. +For them the inspiration must come from the depth of their humanity, +and cannot be tinged with the slightest touch of self. German or Hun, +Briton or Serb or Frenchman are all the same in their eyes if they are +suffering from wounds or disease. Americans have a right to be proud of +a fellow countryman like Richard Hall.” + + + + +WHERE DENOMINATIONS END + +A Christian Priest Who Was a Hero too Found They Vanished at the Front + + +Though we did not see much about them in the dispatches, those soldiers +of the Most High, the army chaplains who went to the front, were often +as heroic and self-sacrificing in attending to their duties as were the +doughboys themselves. Among the many was Father John J. Brady of New +York, the young Catholic chaplain of the 5th Regiment, U. S. Marines, +who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for things he did in +the Château-Thierry region in the deadly period of June, 1918. Some of +the zealous folk who wish to put a ban on tobacco in all of its forms +will hardly understand the quality of heroism that prompted Father +Brady to risk his life on several occasions to carry cigarettes to men +of the fighting line who could not otherwise have had the “soldier’s +solace” after the perils and fatigues of long hours of trench service. +Nevertheless, that generous and courageous act was among the valiant +things for which his country officially honored him. In the big fight +that turned back the Germans, this free-souled chaplain made two +complete tours of the front line under severe fire, ministering in +unusually trying circumstances to the wounded and dying men of his +regiment. Right well the men of that regiment loved him—not because he +was their chaplain but because he was the chaplain who understood. A +wonderful thing is understanding. We recall that the wise Solomon rated +it above all things else. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Patrick Walsh + +_1st Division, 18th Infantry_ + + He captured a nest of enemy machine gunners who were doing particular + damage to his unit and as a result he was decorated with the Croix de + Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross. He is said to be the first + American soldier to receive the former decoration.] + +The _Stars and Stripes_ in an article about Chaplain Brady has the key +to the man in the opening paragraph, which quotes him as saying: + +“’Tis all one great church, the front line is. In all Christendom, in +all the rest of the world you will not find so much unselfishness, +so much Christian charity, so much loving kindness, as you find at +the front. There, if anywhere, the men are brothers. We feel it. +Denominations or sects are pretty much forgotten. Faith, war makes +strange bunkies, and ’tis me and my pal, the Presbyterian minister, +have been shelled out of the same quarters together.” + +The article continues: + +“Father Brady ought to know, for he penetrated the farthermost American +position and has crawled beyond the front lines to hear confessions of +Marines in the outpost. He was decorated for extraordinary heroism at +the battle of Château-Thierry where his unfailing ministrations were a +big factor in conserving the morale of the men. + +“The true spirit of the Marines is Father Brady’s. He laughs at +obstacles and perils, and his indomitable will carries him through +the most difficult tasks. Often he has accomplished the seemingly +impossible and he is honored by Protestant and Jew as he is by those of +his own faith. Regardless of creed, the Devil Dogs of the 5th Regiment +are proud of their chaplain.” + + +HIS LEATHERNECKS + +“There was to be an attack the next morning in the gray hours before +the sun was up, when Father Brady reached the wooded country between +Soissons and Château-Thierry where his Leathernecks crouched under +the Hun bombardments. He crawled and stumbled along the lines to hear +confessions from his warriors. Hard-bitten old-timers who had not +seen the interior of a church in years bared their souls and went +light-hearted into the hell that followed the opening barrage. + +“Reaching the final outpost, the young priest spied a shallow trench +from which a sentry peeped. In spite of warnings he slipped out among +the shadows and wormed his way forward and rolled into the ditch. He +heard the confession as he and the outpost lay side by side looking +up at the stars, and as he crept back to cover he knew that he had +never granted absolution in stranger places. He has said mass for the +faithful with his altar cloth on the shattered stump of a tree during +the last lull before the attack. + +“Friend and foe alike received the sacrament from the young Catholic +priest. His enmity for the Germans ceased when he went among the young +wounded Bavarians left on the field and gave them the last consolation +of the church. Often he bent over young Germans, scarcely able to speak +as they groped for their rosaries, and left them facing death more +bravely. + +“One of his most dangerous tasks was the burial of the dead, which must +be done at night, and frequently under shell fire. It is work that must +be done in the open, for digging is almost impossible where the woods +fill the soil with interlacing roots. It was on such a mission that +personal tragedy touched him. Making his way to the crest of a hill, +where he had been told a man lay dead, he found the face of one of his +closest friends turned up to the moonlight. + +“In spite of the horrors he has witnessed and the sorrows he has +shared, those who have met Father Brady recently say he is unchanged. +Many men would have shrunk from his work, much of which was done alone +with no comrade to speak a steadying word. Yet his spirit is still +buoyant and his mind is unoppressed.” + + +A BIT OF A MISTAKE + +“Many of his stories deal with the changes in spirit and practice that +have followed the sharing of hardships. All the Marines were ‘his +boys.’ + +“‘What a pother they’d have made in the old days of peace back home if +they had caught me at a mistake I made the other night,’ he said. ‘In +the confusion just before the attack I heard the confession of one old +sinner of a sergeant. He got half-way through before I discovered that +he was not a Catholic.’ + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +First-Class Sergeant George Burr + +_32nd Division, 107th Field Signal Battalion, Company C_ + +Sergeant Burr, in charge of a detachment near Cierges, France, August +2, 1918, strung wire far in advance of the front lines, working through +heavy artillery fire to the point where the regimental post of command +was to be situated. When ordered to leave one man at the instrument, he +himself remained.] + +“‘Why, you’re no Catholic!’ I told him. + +“‘No, Padre, I’m a Presbyterian,’ said he, ‘but they say confession is +good for the soul. Believe me, mine feels none the worse now.’ + +“Once Father Brady received $2,000 from America to buy himself an +automobile. He spent it on a club for the boys in his regiment. Later +they found that the young priest could box and wrestle, and that he was +the best referee that could be got for their fights. He built up trust +and affection for himself during the weary months at the front. + +“He has been day and night with his regiment during the long period +when they were in the midst of things. For a month at a time he has +snatched what sleep he could wherever he might throw himself down, +under hedges, in roadside barns and even in shell holes. But he has +always had a word of cheer for the men, and in the most terrible days +he has made both living and dying more bearable for the 5th Marines.” + + + + +“BUCKEYES” OR “SPEARHEADS” + +How the Ohio Doughboys Managed to Pick Up a New Nickname in France + + +The “Buckeye Division,” the 37th Ohio, got a new nickname for itself +at Montfaucon in September, 1917. It was called “Spearheads” because +of its ability to start a drive and carry on until its objectives were +reached and captured. In a history of the Division Jack Koons (of the +Cincinnati _Inquirer_), who was one of the Spearheads, tells in a +breezily entertaining manner of the first experience of the boys going +“over the top.” + +Montfaucon had been held for over three years by the Germans, and was +one of the so-called “invulnerables.” + +The division historian says: + +“Just before dusk on the night of September 25 the men began to enter +the trenches. Blankets, overcoats, packs, and all unnecessary equipment +were piled in large salvage heaps. Behind the lines, crouched beneath +leafy screens of camouflage, was the artillery. At 10.25 o’clock the +first gun spoke and all along the line great splotches of red seared +the sky and the boom, screech, and crack of the gigantic pieces echoed +and reëchoed through the hills. Far across the landscape, rising +from the plain and standing out upon the horizon, was Montfaucon. +The white walls of the city could be seen distinctly in the daytime. +A church steeple, long ago deserted by worshipers, stood, a vacant +monument to the ravages of the foe. In the advance against Montfaucon +it was necessary to advance approximately twelve kilometers, through +two dense woods, a marshy land, up a sharp slope, another plain, and +then a sharp ascent into the town. It was later learned that a German +Division Headquarters was located in the town.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Committee Public Information._ + +Machine Gun in Action] + + +AT THE ZERO HOUR + +“Patrols advanced into No Man’s Land as the artillery cut away +barbed-wire entanglements. The great guns rose into a rumble and +death rode through the night on shells—bound toward Germany. At 2.25 +o’clock in the morning of September 26 the barrage rose and thundered +in volume. Like the roll of a mighty drum the sound could be heard +for more than a hundred miles. At 5.05 o’clock the barrage rested on +the German front lines—rested there for twenty-five minutes, cutting +forests to the ground and demoralizing the enemy who fled into the +deepest dugouts. At 5.30 o’clock, the zero hour, the boys from +Ohio went over the top. Every county and village in the State was +represented in that attack. + +“On and on they went. Machine-gun nests, carefully camouflaged with the +hellishness shown only by the German, were discovered and destroyed. +Here and there in the woodland Hun snipers were busy—but not for long. +Men fell by the wayside in agony, refused assistance from comrades, and +urged the men to go forward. That was the true Ohio spirit. The spirit +that drove the Germans back mile after mile, that resulted in the +capture of not only Montfaucon, twenty-four hours later, but Cierges +and Ivoiry. These towns had been held by the Germans for four long +years and were wrested away and liberated by Ohioans in forty-eight +hours. In the prisoner cage were huddled approximately 1,100 prisoners, +many officers among them. + +“Relief came to the tired, fighting crew on September 30. Back they +came a laughing, joking, dirty, sleepy division of fighting men—no +longer boys. Behind them, buried in the fields of eastern France, +slept those sons of Ohio who had given their lives, their all.” + + +NOW THE FINAL EPISODES + +“At 5.25 o’clock on the morning of October 31 ‘Fritzie’ on watch along +the Lys River was rudely awakened from his dreams of German beer and +sauerkraut to face a typical go-get-’em barrage. It was a typical +American barrage. Five minutes of drumfire. Five minutes of hell, +fire, and damnation. Five minutes of terror. Across the Lys River +scurried the Ohioans. Paddling in the icy water on logs and planks, +the ‘doughboys’ went over, carrying rifles and machine guns. Engineers +began to build bridges. For a few minutes the Germans hesitated, but +it didn’t take them long to decide. Back they went to previously +arranged positions. Here they planned to stop the infantry, but they +were mistaken. In twenty minutes the Ohioans had reached their first +objective. Three hours later they passed their second objective and dug +in for the night. As they dug in the Germans dug out and started for +the Escaut River. On the second day members of the 37th Division drove +on through Cruyshautem and Huysse to the banks of the Scheldt (Escaut) +River. Here, under a veritable rain of shrapnel and machine-gun fire, +they established and held the only bridgeheads to be erected over this +river during the war.” + + +THEIR LAST OVER + +“In this drive through the fertile fields and populated country +which had grown dormant under the four years of iron-hand rule of +the Hohenzollern, more than twenty towns were liberated. Hundreds of +men, women, and children, laughing, crying, cheering, greeted the men +as they advanced and entered towns. The yellow, red, and black flags +of Belgium appeared mysteriously from hiding places and swayed in +the breeze. Apples and bottles of wine were resurrected and slipped +down the throats of the boys in olive drab. Up ahead at Heurne, near +Audenarde, the Americans were raising Cain with the Germans, who were +falling back along the river. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeants Eggers and Latham + +_27th Division, 107th Infantry, Machine-Gun Company_ + + In action against the enemy near La Catelet, France, on September + 29, 1918, Eggers and Latham separated from their platoon in a smoke + barrage, and took shelter in a shell-hole within the enemy’s line + where an American tank was disabled with three men inside; it was in + a heavy fire from enemy guns; but the two sergeants rescued the men + in the tank, one, an officer, was wounded, and conveyed them all to a + nearby trench—returned to the abandoned tank which was in a violent + rain of artillery fire—dismounted the Hotchkiss gun and returned with + it to the trench, where the wounded men were and there effectively + protected themselves from the enemy until night time, when they were + able to take the wounded officer and tank crew to their own trenches.] + +“On November 4, 1918, the Division was relieved by a French division +and hiked thirty kilometers to Thielt, the largest town they had been +in since leaving Montgomery, Ala. Here they brushed away the dirt and +dust, waxed and grew fat until November 9. On that date the Division +advanced again past Deynze to Synghem. With peace rumors flashing +through the air, on the morning of November 10, the 37th Division went +over the top again, crossing the Escaut River north of their first +sector, and drove the Prussian Guards before them. It was here that +news of the armistice arrived on the morning of November 11. Orders had +been received to suspend hostilities at eleven o’clock. At ten o’clock +the men were prepared to follow another barrage. + +“Squatting in ‘funk’ holes, the men carelessly rolled cigarettes +and waited for the hour to tick around. The announcement was made. +‘Hostilities had ceased.’ Calmly, confidently they clambered to the +ground. Across the fields the Germans were moving away. There was no +exchange of shots. Another cigarette. The war was over.” + + + + +CORPORAL HOLMES’S WAY + +And a Right Good Way to Win the V.C. and the Hearts of Men + + +Fred Holmes, corporal in the Yorkshire Light Infantry, was awarded +France’s chief military decoration, the _Médaille Militaire_, for +gallantry during the fight on the Aisne. The official account of the +exploit is quite brief: Holmes saw a platoon of French struggling +against heavy odds, whereupon he dashed over the river for a machine +gun, carried it to the platoon, and turned it on the enemy, with such +effect that the German pressure was immediately relieved. However, when +Corporal Holmes’ name is mentioned men usually think of the thrilling +record at Le Cateau which brought him the V.C. + +The Yorkshire Light Infantry were in the very thickest of the fighting +at Mons. At the little colliery town at Warmb they received a severe +shaking from the enemy, but gave as good as they got. It was after the +engagement at this place that the brave fellows, footsore and tired, +but still cheerful, tramped many weary miles to the famous battlefield +of Le Cateau. + +It is not necessary to describe the stand made there, but only to +mention a few facts, as recorded by G. A. Leask in his _Heroes of +the Great War_, without knowledge of which Holmes’s feat would be +unintelligible. + +Orders were given to entrench, and the men set to work with zest, glad +of the change from the continuous retreating. The task accomplished, +the regiment lay down in the trenches, while the booming of the German +guns grew ever louder. + +At dawn of August 26 there was suddenly a fierce bombardment from the +enemy’s artillery. According to Holmes, “We could feel the breath +from their guns. It was awful.” The Yorks stuck to their trenches, +firing incessantly. They had been told that French troops would +reinforce them, but as the day dragged on no French appeared. The +British artillery kept up a hot fire from behind Holmes’s trench, which +suffered the proverbial discomfort of the unlucky victim between two +fires. + +Late in the afternoon the Yorks received orders to retire; to have +remained longer would have meant annihilation. The troops retired in +small sections, Holmes remaining with five men to the last to cover the +retreat of the others. + +Holmes was actually the last man to leave the trench. No sooner had +he climbed over the parapet than he met the full brunt of the enemy’s +fire, which by this time had become fiercer than ever. He had seen many +of his comrades drop to earth, but his heart was undaunted. Suddenly, +when he had proceeded a few yards from the trench, he felt his boot +clutched and heard his name called. + +“For God’s sake, save me, Fred!” said a feeble voice. + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +Firing at Close Range + +A British fieldpiece, in an exposed position and without cover of +camouflage, firing point blank at the enemy.] + + +TAKES UP HIS FRIEND + +Holmes paused. There at his feet, unable to move, was one of his chums, +his knees shattered by shrapnel. Holmes had only a brief moment for +reflection. To delay meant certain death. The problem was how best +to help the poor fellow. To take him back into the trench was the +quickest way out of the difficulty, and the easiest. Had he done this, +the Germans would soon have discovered the wounded man, and in all +probability would have put an end to him. Holmes quickly dismissed +this plan and decided upon the nobler and more dangerous course. He +determined to make a dash with the wounded man, trusting to Providence +to reach his lines in safety. + +He took the poor fellow in his stalwart arms, no light task, as his +chum weighed twelve stone. Exerting his full strength, Holmes slung +the man across his back. His only thought now was how to escape the +bullets. All around him were the British dead and dying, heroes who had +done their bit in the great battle. + +A slight drizzling rain was falling; it made the ground slippery, +so that when Holmes resumed his dangerous journey he had the utmost +difficulty in avoiding treading on the men who were at his feet. With +infinite care he succeeded in reaching more open ground. + +After proceeding about one hundred yards he paused to take breath, for +the burden on his back was a heavy load. At this stage his companion +began to complain that Holmes’s equipment hurt him. Holmes laid the man +down and removed the equipment. Knowing that he might have to make a +long journey before he could reach assistance, he decided at the same +time to drop his pack and rifle. + +The next few hundred yards were the most difficult, for a hailstorm of +bullets and shells raged around. Holmes could hear them whistling as +he staggered painfully along. Had he not been possessed of a splendid +constitution he must have given in, but he was determined at all costs +not to give in. So he continued on and went doggedly forward, with +clenched teeth and grim countenance. + +On the way he came upon a wounded officer seated on the ground, his +head between his hands. The officer looked up as he heard Holmes +approach, and when he saw what the hero was doing suggested to him +to leave the man with him and look after himself. This Holmes could +not bring himself to do. Yard by yard he plodded steadily along. The +poor fellow he was carrying began to lose heart. Holmes, although in +terrible mental anguish himself, had to cheer him all the weary and +dangerous way. + +Slowly but surely he made progress. Half a mile, then a mile was +passed. Holmes took another rest. Then on again, until he came to a +church flying the Red Cross. The Germans were shelling this, so he +picked up his chum once more and proceeded to another village, where at +length he was able to deposit his charge in the careful keeping of the +British Red Cross. + +In all, Holmes carried his chum three miles, and every inch of the way +was attended by danger from the enemy’s fire. It was certainly one of +the most unselfish of the many courageous deeds which it is the purpose +of this book to record. + +In order to rejoin his battalion Holmes had now to make another +dangerous journey across a fire-swept zone. His road lay past a hill, +at the bottom of which was a British 18-pounder quick-firing gun. The +horses were quietly grazing; the gunners and drivers lay around dead. +Nearby was a trumpeter, a lad of seventeen, who was wounded. This lad +shouted that the Germans were coming. Holmes looked round and saw that +the enemy were surrounding the gun. Now, the true soldier has ever had +a fondness for guns, and will die rather than let one fall into the +enemy’s hands. It was in this spirit that Holmes now performed his +second act of heroism. + +Placing the trumpeter on one of the horses, he hitched the team to the +gun, then thwacked them with a bayonet he had picked up, and swung into +the saddle. The Germans were all around; some actually grasped at the +reins. Holmes shouted to the horses, and they rushed madly forward. One +after another he bayoneted the nearest Germans, while bullets whistled +by his ears. The horse Holmes rode had its right ear shot off. For +eight miles the ride went on until the rear of a British column was +reached and all danger passed. The poor trumpeter had fallen off in the +furious rush. + + + + +NOT DEAD BUT FIGHTING + +Jim Gardener Quit the Trolley to Do His Bit and Did It Thoroughly + + +“When we went to war,” said James C. Gardener, “I figured it out this +way: ‘I’m single and healthy and lots of other fellows are going over, +and doggone me if I don’t go along and do my bit.’” + +So he went down to the Marines’ recruiting office, in Baltimore, and +enlisted. He was sent to Philadelphia and on June 6, 1917, he was one +of 250 men put aboard the _Hancock_ which went to New York for orders +and on June 13 sailed for France. + +Gardener had been a motorman on the Baltimore trolley, and when some +months after he went to France the War Department, which did not then +publish addresses, reported “J. C. Gardener killed in action” the +_Trolley Topics_ wrote an obituary of the motorman esteemed of his +fellows; but as there was some uncertainty whether the J. C. Gardener +killed was really the Baltimore boy, the obituary was withheld for more +definite information. “Jimmie,” however, was mourned by his pals until +there began to trickle through from one source and another rumors and +reports that confirmed the doubt that the J. C. Gardener killed was +really their “Jimmie.” + +Then one day, the war over, there walked into a group of trolley-men at +the Baltimore car barns a strapping fellow, six feet three, weighing +195, wearing a khaki uniform with three gold service chevrons and three +gold wound stripes, a division citation cord for bravery on his left +shoulder and the Croix de Guerre with palm on his breast, and the boys +were doggone certain that Jimmie Gardener, motorman, was very much +alive and able to give an account of himself. The _Trolley Topics_ lost +no time in possessing itself of that account, and to that semi-monthly +organ of the United Railways and Electric Company we are indebted for +some of the details of the fighting experience of this trolley hero +whom the great Foch kissed on either cheek. + +The _Hancock_, says Gardener was his twice by torpedoes on the way +over, which “messed up both ends without crippling her very much.” He +first saw action in a position “down below” St. Mihiel. He is quoted: + +“It was about 4 a.m. of March 31st that they opened up with artillery. +Right ahead of us was a graveyard. The shells first fell on the far +side of the graveyard. Then they fell in the graveyard and tore up +graves and generally ruined it. Then the shells began to crawl closer +to us. + +“There were four of us on guard and we reported the coming of the +Germans to the officers, and the men were routed out of the dugouts. +One little fellow named Roach—we called him the boy scout—was so +excited that he put his trousers on backward and got his shoes on the +wrong feet. + +“He started with a box of ammunition for a gun and ran into another +fellow with another box. The collision knocked him down and he rolled +clear down a hill to the very place the gun crew was waiting for the +ammunition. + +“Some of us had been joking and I remember a fellow named Clark who +said he wondered which of us would live to take the story back home. A +buddy of mine named Hanky said, ‘You fellows write your notes to your +mothers and sweethearts and I’ll take ’em back to them.’ Poor Hanky was +killed in that fight. + +“The fight lasted two hours. The point where I was had thirteen men to +defend it. We had two Stokes guns. + +“There were five hundred men in the party that attacked this point, or, +to be exact, 498, according to the officers. We cleaned up the whole +business. Seven of our thirteen men were killed.” + + +THAT LITTLE FELLOW ROACH + +Gardener’s next serious engagement was in the Belleau Wood battle. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Color Sergeant Hardy C. Dougherty + +_1st Division, 18th Infantry, Headquarters Company_ + + He was cited July 18-23, 1918, as a non-commissioned officer + of splendid courage, energy and ability. When in command of + reinforcements for the first line, he carried out his mission with + complete success. Upon being relieved he returned to bring to safety + on his back one of the seriously wounded of his detachment.] + +“We moved up to the woods gradually. We met Algerian troops belonging +to the French Army. These Algerians claimed that they had been kept +at the front too long. They were never taken to rest-camps or had any +relief. Many of them committed suicide. They said they were tired +of fighting. We met some that were running wild, shooting in all +directions, and had to take shelter to keep from being hit by stray +shots. + +“We met many French moving back, too. They said that the Germans were +very numerous in the woods. + +“That little fellow, Roach, crawled out in a field, dug into a haystack +and climbed to the top. From there he could see that Germans were +hiding behind bushes farther on. + +“He came back and said he was going to raid ’em. The officers said he +didn’t have any right to do this without orders. ‘Well,’ said Roach, +‘this ain’t a regular battle, you know. This is just a little private +party of my own.’ He said he wanted a dozen men to volunteer to go +with him, and the dozen volunteered at once. I never saw a time when +volunteers were called for among the marines that any one wanted to +stay back. Everybody wanted to go. + +“Well, Roach got his men as quick as he could count ’em. ‘Come on, +fellows,’ he said: ‘I’m going to have them Germans for supper.’ + +“We cleaned up fifty of ’em. + +“‘Did Roach or any of his dozen men get the _Croix de Guerre_ for +that?’ we asked. + +“‘Oh, no,’ answered ‘Jimmie,’ ‘as I said, that wasn’t a regular affair. +It was only Roach’s own party and there wasn’t nothing official about +it.’ It was funny to see our bunch. Roach was a little fellow about +five feet seven, and he chose as the second in command of his party a +lanky artilleryman who was six feet eleven. The rest of us were just +ordinary size, like me.’ (‘Jimmie’ Gardener is six feet three in his +stocking feet and weighs 195 pounds!) + +“That artilleryman had just drifted into our bunch somehow. They had +put him out of the artillery because he had flat feet, and told him to +go home. He said he didn’t want to go home. He wanted to fight, and he +was going to stay with us whether he belonged with us or not, and he +did. + +“In a day or two we were put in trucks and hurried forward. We knew now +that the Germans were pressing hard in their attempt to reach Paris. +The French were falling back. We were run in those trucks directly +between the retreating Frenchmen and the advancing Germans, and we got +mixed up with the enemy so quickly that we simply tumbled out of the +trucks oftentimes to engage in hand-to-hand fighting with the Huns. + +“We went right at ’em, and this thing kept up for four days. We had +nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing to smoke—and everybody longed +for a smoke, even fellows who never smoked before they entered the +service—and we had no sleep in all those four days and nights. + +“A great deal of the time we were in close fighting. There was where +the Germans failed. They were all right when they were twenty-five or +thirty yards away and could use their rifles, but when it came to the +bayonet they turned and fled. + +“Sometimes we fought so close that it was impossible to use the +bayonet. We had to knock ’em down with our fists first. + +“Everybody said the odds were against us in this fighting. While we had +some reserves there were only two regiments of us fighting and we were +against three German divisions, including the Prussian Guards. But in +four days we advanced one and a half miles. + +“We suffered terrible losses. When we reached the town of Lucy, where +we halted to be reorganized, there were only 150 men left in my company +of 335 men.” + + +THE MAJOR SAID IT + +“There was another company whose commander was killed and a major took +charge. In the middle of the fighting he had lost so many men that a +French officer advised him to retreat. ‘Retreat hell!’ he cried: ‘I’m +going on as long as I and one man are left.’ It came near coming true, +for when he reached Lucy he had just three men left with him out of an +entire company. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Brave to the Very End + +Though physically wounded—often mortally—the spirit of the French +soldiers never perished, but immortalized their efforts in conflict.] + +“We saw some horrible things in Lucy, At one house we found an old +French woman, She said she was with her three daughters—16, 18, and 20 +years old—when the Germans came, and they had remained there without +any protection from the Huns who took charge of the house. We asked +where her daughters were and she said they were upstairs and she +guessed they were asleep. + +“Several of us went to learn the fate of the girls and we found all +three stretched out with their throats cut from ear to ear, and their +bodies horribly slashed. The Germans had deliberately butchered them +when they were forced out of the town. + +“When we told the old lady of the fate of her daughters she was +stricken with heart trouble and died in a few minutes, but before she +died she asked that we bury her with the three girls in the little +grove near her home. We did it although we were under fire the whole +time, and eight of our men were killed while burying those French women. + +“The next day we pushed on and got through the woods. That was the +hottest fighting of all. The Germans used more artillery, and when the +day was over the number of men in my company had again been reduced to +about 150. Some companies had only a dozen or fifteen men left. + +“One of the fellows killed that day was a fellow from South Baltimore +who used to be a chum of mine before we went to war. His name was +Halle. He said to me that morning: ‘Jim, I feel I’m going to get +knocked off to-day. Never tell my people that I was killed. Just tell +them that I am somewhere in France.’ He was killed and I haven’t told +his people and never will, but they found it out through the War +Department. + +“We next went to the Marne. There we fought in the river. It was tough +luck for a fellow to be wounded there, for as he sank down he was +drowned. It was often close fighting, bayonet to bayonet in midstream, +and must have been a pretty sight for people to look at if there’d been +any spectators there, but it wasn’t very pretty for those in the fight. + +“After the Marne battle our company’s ranks had to be filled again. +Once more we had been reduced to about 150. + +“Next we went to Château-Thierry and fought there for nine days, which +was followed by a three-day hike to Soissons, which we reached on July +18, 1918. The next day we went over the top at 3 a.m. + +“Ten minutes later I went down with a wound that crippled my ankle. +I was gassed, too, and suffered shock. When I came to my senses in a +hospital I had two other wounds that I didn’t know anything about. They +told me that as the ambulance was carrying me to the rear it was struck +by a shell which killed some of the other wounded men and presented me +with a couple more wounds for good measure. + +“Outside of having been in a bunch of hospitals in France and America +that’s about all I know about the war,” concluded “Jimmie” Gardener. + +“You haven’t told why you got the Croix de Guerre and the palm branch,” +we suggested. + +“Oh,” said “Jimmie.” “I was awarded the Croix with the six other +fellows for cleaning up that bunch of 498 Germans in the quiet sector +I told you about. The affair they gave me the palm for was rescuing a +lieutenant who was wounded in the Belleau Wood fighting. + +“I don’t know who the lieutenant was, but he was a newspaper man who +had entered the fighting forces and he was out in advance of the line +when he was wounded. Several of us volunteered to go out and bring him +in, but we did not know exactly where he was. It was during the night +and very dark. Along about four o’clock, as I was crawling along, I +fell plumb into a shell-hole, and there he was with his leg shot off.” + + +“SORT OF SWIMMING-LIKE” + +“I put my coat around him and bandaged his leg up as well as I could. +Then he got his arms around my neck and I held on to him with one hand +and dragged myself, sort of swimming-like, along the ground with the +other. + +“I had only an hour and a half before daybreak when the Germans would +be able to see us, and in that time I managed to make about twenty +yards to another shell-hole. We lay in that all day. The lieutenant +suffered a great deal. I gave him what water I had in my canteen. + +“When night came on we started again and before morning had made the +rest of the distance—about sixty yards—to our trenches. The lieutenant +got well. They say he is a great writer of books and things. He +belongs in New York State somewhere.” + +“Were you kissed when the Croix was presented to you?” we asked. + +“Yes, General Foch pinned the badge on our coats and then kissed us on +both cheeks. We were all smiling when the kissing was going on.” + + + + +WHEN THE LIGHT FAILED + +One Soldier Tells What It Is Like to Have Eyes Shot Out + + +You may not think this a story of heroism; but if it does not fall into +that class we do not know where to place it. There is no attacking a +plane in mid-air and sending it crashing to earth; no leaping into +trench and gathering a score or so of prisoners with the tilt of a +bayonet; no running to stand on a parapet and hurl hand grenades +against a rain of bullets; nothing to set your blood into a gallop to +grip you and make you take off your hat to the man about whom Private +Jesse A. Whaley, Co. K, 310th Inf., A. E. F., is writing. And this is +what Whaley wrote as it appeared in the New York _Sunday Times_: + +“It is dark, the ground is damp and cold. There are men stirring about +cleaning their rifles and there is a queer look on their faces. One +private is sitting huddled in the trench; he is cold, he is hungry +with that gnawing feeling in his stomach which comes from lack of +food for many hours. He moves restlessly, thousands of things pass +through his mind; home, loved ones. Suddenly a whistle sounds at our +right and there is a rushing of men. There is but a second’s wait; it +is the signal for the fight. It is now midnight, the men move to and +fro, they disappear. When we come upon them again they are all lined +up waiting for the barrage to start just outside of the wood. Does it +seem possible that these men are the same who just a few minutes ago +were sitting in the trench back in the wood? The barrage starts and +the scene is lit with the strangest light our eyes ever saw. There is +a roar in our cars, and suddenly all is dark with a blackness the eye +cannot pierce. A flare breaks in the sky, lighting the strange scene +which lies before us. To our right lies a valley in which are many more +men. We see flashes of rifles, and now and again a flare shoots up, +disclosing a clump of bushes which means almost certain death to those +who approach it.” + + +A DASH STRAIGHT AHEAD + +“The line moves steadily forward and a man from the back of the line +rushes forward and breaks through with his rifle at the charge. It is +the private who sat huddled in the trench. He makes a dash for the +bushes, followed by other men. Men drop all along the line, but the +clump of bushes is reached, and the men who made it are hidden from our +view. Between us and the bushes men are lying where they fell, never to +be walking mortals again. + +“Suddenly the roar grows louder, and we can hardly hear each other +shout, although we are standing side by side. The ground trembles and +great holes are dug up by the flying shells. We hear the whine of the +deadly fragments and the whiz of machine-gun bullets as they pass us on +all sides. It seems death to move, but we go forward so we can see what +is happening on the other side of the bushes. As we go we stumble over +the bodies of men lying where they fell, some partly blown to pieces. +At last we come upon the men again, and the lines are very thin. The +private we have been following is still untouched, but something has +happened to his rifle and he is down on one knee working fast and +furiously until he has fixed it and loaded it. Just as he fixes it we +notice another man less than a hundred feet away, and by the light of +a flare we see that his uniform is not like that of our private. He +is a German, and holds in his hands something that looks strangely +like a small soup can with a stick attached to it. It is a deadly hand +grenade. Before the American can dodge he throws it, the American +starts forward to make another dash, and then the grenade explodes with +a roar which shakes the earth, and the American falls, hit in the head. +Slowly he rises to his feet in a dazed way and reaches for his rifle. +He gropes for it without seeming to realize that it has been blown far +out of his reach. He stands up straight and wipes his face, which is +running with blood; he pushes his hair back, then takes a step to the +left and falls over the body of a dead comrade, killed perhaps by the +same grenade and at the same instant. + +[Illustration: + + © _National Service Magazine._ + +Remembering Their Fallen Comrades + +Members of the United States Marine Corps carving stones with which to +mark the graves of their former brothers in arms.] + +“But that soldier was not killed—he was blinded for life. He is myself.” + +That is the story of Jesse A. Whaley, told by himself while an inmate +of the Red Cross Institute for the Blind, where the blinded soldiers +are aught trades and occupations in which the sense of touch serves for +the lost eyes. To grip gun in a charge against the foe is possibly no +more heroic than to grip life, resolutely to serve though blind. + + + + +THE “CLOUD OF BLACKS” + +Terrible Effect of a Charge of Senegals Upon German Officer’s +Sensibilities + + +Perhaps the most vivid and ecstatic description of a fight for trenches +that was written in the course of the war or has been written since was +from the pen of Rheinhold Eichacker, a German officer on the Western +front. It was published in one of the German papers from which it was +translated for the benefit of the New York _Times_. It deserves a +permanent place in the historic record of desperate deeds of courage as +an example of thoroughly adequate treatment, in literary form, of what +may be styled “compound heroism.” The passionate frenzy of a personal +experience could not be made more graphic with mere words as tools. + +The occasion was less feelingly covered by the German Army report, +which said: + +“After a lengthy artillery preparation, white and colored Frenchmen +attacked our positions in heavy force. They succeeded in getting +a foothold in some of our most advanced trenches. A furious +counter-attack drove them back again in a hand-to-hand encounter. +Nothing else of importance.” + +But let us have Rheinhold Eichacker: + +“At 7.15 in the morning the French attacked. The black Senegal negroes, +France’s cattle for the shambles. After a seven-hour suffocating +drumfire that, according to all human reckoning, should not have left +a mortal man alive. But we still lived—and waited. Six meters under +the sod lay our ‘waiting rooms.’ Burrowed into the ground on a slant. +‘Courage bracers,’ they call them out there. + +“At 7.15 the enemy shifted his fire backward upon our reserves. Our +pickets sounded the alarm. We sprang to arms, with our gas masks in +place. For a few seconds the trenches resembled an antheap. There was +feverish hurrying, running, shouting, and shoving. Just for seconds. +Then everybody was at his post. Everybody who was alive. Every one a +rock in the seething waves. Every one determined to hold his position +against hell itself.” + + +“LET THEM COME” + +“A gas attack! Several hundred pairs of wide-open warriors’ eyes fixed +their glances upon the ugly, smoking cloud that, lazy and impenetrable, +rolled toward us. Hundreds of fighting eyes, fixed, threatening, +deadly. Let them come, the blacks! And they came. First singly, at wide +intervals. Feeling their way, like the arms of a horrible cuttlefish. +Eager, grasping, like the claws of a mighty monster. Thus they rushed +closer, flickering and sometimes disappearing in their cloud. Entire +bodies and single limbs, now showing in the harsh glare, now sinking +in the shadows, came nearer and nearer. Strong, wild fellows, their +log-like, fat, black skulls wrapped in pieces of dirty rags. Showing +their grinning teeth like panthers, with their bellies drawn in and +their necks stretched forward. Some with bayonets on their rifles. +Many only armed with knives. Monsters all, in their confused hatred. +Frightful their distorted, dark grimaces. Horrible their unnaturally +wide-opened, burning, bloodshot eyes. Eyes that seem like terrible +beings themselves. Like unearthly, hell-born beings. Eyes that seemed +to run ahead of their owners, lashed, unchained, no longer to be +restrained. On they came like dogs gone mad and cats spitting and +yowling, with a burning lust for human blood, with a cruel dissemblance +of their beastly malice. Behind them came the first wave of the +attackers, in close order, a solid, rolling black wall, rising and +falling, swaying and heaving, impenetrable, endless. + +“‘Close range! Individual firing! Take careful aim!’ My orders rang +out sharp and clear and were correctly understood by all the men. +They stood as if carved out of stone, their lips tightly pressed, +the muscles of their cheeks swollen, and took aim. Just like rifle +range work. The first blacks fell headlong in full course in our wire +entanglements, turning somersaults like the clowns in a circus. Some of +them half rose, remained hanging, jerked themselves further, crawling, +gliding, like snakes—cut wires—sprang over—tumbled—fell. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Spahis Winding Their War Bonnets + +Famed for their fierce charges, these French colonial troops were +helpless in the face of prolonged shelling.] + +“Nearer and nearer rolled the wall. Gaps opened and closed again. +Lines halted and rolled on again. Whrr rratt—tenggg—ssstt—crack! Our +artillery sent them its greeting! Whole groups melted away. Dismembered +bodies, sticky earth, shattered rocks, were mixed in wild disorder. +The black cloud halted, wavered, closed its ranks—and rolled nearer +and nearer, irresistible, crushing, devastating! And the rifles were +flashing all the time. A dissonant, voiceless rattle. The men still +stood there and took aim. Calmly, surely, not wasting a single shot. +The stamping and snorting of thousands of panting beasts ate up the +ground between us.” + + +“HELL SEEMED LET LOOSE” + +“Now the wave was only 300 paces from our defenses—from their +remnants—now only 200—100—irresistible, seething and roaring—50 +paces!—‘Rapid fire!’ I roared, I shrieked, through the swelling +cracking of the rifles. A hurricane swallowed my voice! Hell seemed +let loose at a single blow, raging, storming, obliterating all +understanding! Shoving and stamping, shrieking and shouting, cracking +and rattling, hissing and screeching. A heavy veil hung over the wall. +In this cloud pieces of earth, smoke spirals, black, red, white, yellow +flashes, quivered and flared. Rattling, rapping, pounding, hammering, +crackling. And the shots fell unceasingly. Clear and shrill the rifles, +heavy and roaring the shells. + +“And now came the gruesome, inconceivable horror! A wall of lead and +iron suddenly hurled itself upon the attackers and the entanglements +just in front of our trenches. A deafening hammering and clattering, +cracking and pounding, rattling and crackling, beat everything to earth +in ear-splitting, nerve-racking clamor. Our machine guns had flanked +the blacks! + +“Like an invisible hand they swept over the men and hurled them to +earth, mangling and tearing them to pieces! As an autumn storm roars +over the fields they swept in full flood over the ranks and snuffed +out life! Like hail among the ears of grain, their missiles flew and +rattled and broke down the enemy’s will! Singly, in files, in rows and +heaps, the blacks fell. Next to each other, behind each other, on top +of each other. Hurled in heaps, in mounds, in hillocks. Fresh masses +charged and fell back, charged and stumbled, charged and fell. And +there were always fresh forces! They seemed to spring from the very +earth! + +“We had losses; heavy losses. Here a man suddenly put his hand to his +forehead and swayed. There another sprang gurgling to one side and +fell, as flat and heavy as a block of stone. S-s-s-t—it went above our +heads. The French were throwing shrapnel against our trenches, hissing, +cracking, and in volleys. + +“Hell still rages. The blacks get reinforcements. Finally the whites +themselves charge, a jerky, rolling, bluish-green mass! In a powerful +drive they get over the first rise in the ground. Now they have +disappeared. Now they bob up, as out of a trap door. Here and there +the ranks shoot forward in great leaps, the officers ahead of all, +with their swords swinging high in the air, just as in the pictures! +A splendid sight. Now they reach the bodies of the blacks. They halt +for a few seconds, as if in horror, then on they roll over the dead, +jumping, wallowing, dozens falling.” + + +“WE STILL STAND FIRMLY” + +“Our nerves are strained to the snapping point, gasping, bleeding, +feverish! We dare not waver. ‘Steady, men! Steady!’ We must calmly let +them come as far as the wire entanglements, as the blacks did. The +blacks? Where are they? Disappeared! Only they left their dead behind. +The same thing will happen to the whites. We are waiting for them. +The death-spewing machine guns are lying over there. They lie there +and wait until their time comes. Steady, steady! They lie there and +wait impatiently—but yet they are silent— Now!—No—I am raving! ‘Rapid +fire!’—I hiss—My neighbor staggers—I only listen and wait, wait and +listen, for only one thing. Something that has to come, must finally +come, has to come! Great God, otherwise we are lost! Be calm, be calm! +Now they will begin reaping! Now they must begin to rattle, our machine +guns, our faithful rescuers—now—at once! What can they be waiting for? +Why, they are there in the wires already. Hell and Satan! No man can +endure that! They are hesitating too long—the enemy is almost in the +trenches! Ah! At last! A rattling—a hoarse crackling—Heaven help us, +what is that? + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Private M. B. Ellis + +_1st Division, 28th Infantry, Company “C”_ + + Cited for extraordinary heroism in action. When south of Soissons, + July 18-22, 1918, as a member of the 1st Division he showed unusual + courage in carrying supplies and in attacking strong points at Breuil, + Plaisy, and Berzy-le-Sec.] + +“A devilish howling rises hoarsely from over there, lacerating, +bestial, shrieking! The blacks, the devils! How did they reach our +flank over there? That’s where our machine guns are. It cannot be. +There! Hell! They are carrying hand grenades, are in their rear! Heaven +help us! And the whites! They are at our breastworks. Already they are +in the trenches, fighting like wild beasts. Horror makes them crazy. +Help is coming to us from the left. The second company has fallen upon +their flank. The French run like hunted animals. A shell bursts in +their midst, catches twenty or thirty of them and throws them in the +air like toys. They run still further, through the air, bowling along +on their heads, gruesomely—and fall in heaps to the ground. Heads, +legs, twitching bodies! The French run until back of the bodies. The +rest of them are cut to pieces, or made prisoners. But now our men must +come back. + +“We struggle for breath. Wounded men writhe around and moan and groan +heavily. The trench is bathed in blood. Far more than half of the +company has been slain. We are only a handful. I assemble the valiant +men and distribute them among the trenches. They stand resolutely, +breathing hard and gasping. + +“A furious rattling and buzzing and hissing calls us again to our +posts. They are charging anew. Now the whites again, in front, on the +side. They are on our flank! Back of them the blacks in frightful +clusters. ‘Bring the sandbags!’ The sandbags fly from hand to hand. +A wall rises in the midst of the trench. The other half was overrun +long ago and is a knot of struggling men. A piece of wood hits me +on the shoulder—crack—I cry out! A shot lands in the midst of our +ammunition—it was our last. This way with the hand grenades! We have +got to smoke them out! + +“A roaring hurrah! Heaven help us, aid is at hand! The Fourth, and the +Fifth—I know the men—and some of the First, too—all mixed up—dispersed +troops rallied again. Now, up and at them! The French defend themselves +furiously. They hold the trench. The dead are heaped up before their +ramparts—but keep it up! A wild passion takes possession of me. My +revolver and my dagger have been lost in the fighting. I seize a +bottle. Hell sends it to me at the right moment. Like an animal mad +with hate I rush forward. My bottle lands, crashing and splintering, +on a wooly skull, with a distorted grimace. A hot shock rushes through +my shoulder—a shock—a wrench—I grasp at the air—grasp something +convulsively—throw myself in the air—and fall in a heap. A confused +mist dances before my eyes.” + + On November 11, 1918. the American Army had 80 fully equipped + hospitals in the United States with a capacity of 120,000 patients. + + There were 104 base hospitals and 31 evacuation hospitals in the + American Expeditionary Force, and one evacuation hospital in Siberia. + + Army hospitals in the United States cared for 1,407,191 patients + during the war; those with the American Expeditionary Force cared for + 755,354—a total of 2,162,545. + + Up to the end of July about 15 per cent, of the entire civilian + medical profession of the United States went into active duty as + medical officers of the army. + + + + +HUBBELL BAGGED ’EM + +A Lone Corporal Captures 31 of the Enemy in a Morning Frolic + + +One of the most spectacular of the valorous deeds in the Champagne +engagement was the single-handed performance of Corporal Fred D. +Hubbell, a Marine, from Toledo, Ohio. He captured and brought in for +delivery nine German officers and twenty-two privates as the result of +a morning’s pastime. It was during the attack on Blanc Mont, and in +some way Hubbell got separated from his company, and in casting about +to recover ground he saw the head of a German soldier pop from a dugout +entrance and promptly duck down again. Hubbell felt a keen interest and +determined to explore. But let him tell his own story, as he did in an +interview reproduced by the _Marine’s Magazine_. + +“It was in the morning that the —th Company went forward and had +almost obtained their objective when they ran into a series of dugouts +occupied by German artillery officers. A few prisoners were taken from +one of the dugouts and one of them said that there were no more there. +About half an hour later, the company having been under machine-gun +fire from our left, I happened to be crouching alone behind the +entrance to a dugout waiting for a counter-attack that was reported to +be coming, when I saw a Heinie stick his head out of a dugout. + +“I immediately told him to put up his hands, but he jumped back down +the doorway and I heard him speak a few words of English and so +called to him to come out, which he did. He said that there were at +least thirty men in the dugout beside himself, whom he thought would +surrender also, and a couple of officers. I told him that there were +plenty of Americans around and that they might as well surrender +because there was no chance for them to get away, and for them to leave +their firearms all in the dugout and come out at once and they would +not be harmed. He returned to the dugout and said he would go down and +get them to come out. He went down but did not return. + +“After a considerable length of time I yelled down and threatened to +throw a hand grenade and waited for them to come up but none came. As +there were several entrances to the series of dugouts I was afraid +that they would catch me from behind, so I moved off to the left under +some shelter where I could get a different view of the entrance and I +had only been there a short time when another Heinie stuck his head up +and I yelled at him, thinking they were all coming out. After waiting +several minutes I became leary that I would be caught from behind and +started for help. + +“While on the way I passed another entrance to the series of dugouts +and came upon one of the officers with his pistol in his hand evidently +coming out looking for me. I yelled at him to throw up his hands, but +he did not, instead, fell backward down the stairs in his haste to get +away. Then I ran to the dugout entrance with a grenade in my hand and +ordered them to come out or I would throw it down, and they came up at +once. The German private who spoke English, whom I first caught showing +his head out of the doorway, came up and stood by and passed on the +orders to the officers and men to leave their firearms below and hold +up their hands. Then they all filed out and gave themselves up. There +was one major, one captain and seven lieutenants and twenty-two men in +the party. + +“The private told me on the way to the rear that when he told the +officers there was only one American outside they were furious and +refused to surrender, and therefore would not come up, and ordered +the private to sneak out of one of the dugouts and shoot me, but the +private refused. All the privates were willing to give up, but the +officers were not so anxious. They evidently had been caught in their +dugout by the barrage and could not get away without a great deal of +risk.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Corporal Sidney E. Manning + +_42nd Division, 167th Infantry, Company “G”_ + +While in charge of an automatic rifle squad near Croix Rouge Farm, +northeast of Château-Thierry, July 27, 1918, he was wounded nine times +before he rejoined his platoon. He prevented the enemy from closing in +and continued to advance in the face of the most terrific fire by enemy +machine guns.] + + +OTHER DOUGHTY CHAPS + +But there were numerous single-handed exploits in that thrilling +Champagne campaign, and among them are the following instances of the +courage and initiative that characterized the American boys on the +front. + +Private John J. Kelley, of Chicago, Illinois, during the same attack as +that in which Hubbell took part, crossed through the barrage of his own +artillery, killed the operator of a machine gun which was firing into +his line, wounded another with his pistol and took eight prisoners. +Private Samuel S. Simmons, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with Private +Lambert Bos, of Granite, Idaho, and Private Joe N. Viera, of New +Bedford, Massachusetts, volunteered and attacked a machine-gun nest in +advance of their front line. They killed the crew, then descended into +an enemy dugout and captured forty prisoners. + +Another instance is that of Corporal Horace P. Frye, of San Francisco, +California. The position of his company on the hill east of St. Etienne +was being continually swept by enemy machine-gun fire at apparently +close range. Acting entirely upon his own initiative he determined to +locate the source of the enemy fire and accordingly crawled forward +unnoticed through 150 yards of open field, located the enemy guns and +after throwing several hand grenades into their position he charged +them and captured two machine guns and eleven men, with which he +returned to his own lines through machine-gun fire. + + + + +WAS HE A COWARD? + +The Singular Confessions of a Hollander Who Gave His Life for France + + +What is a coward? Is there any such thing as absolute bravery or +absolute cowardice? When we characterize a particular person as a +coward for failing to do, or refraining from doing, some specific +thing are we quite sure that in the circumstances we would have acted +differently? These are questions that suggest themselves when one +reads what purport to be excerpts from the diary and letters of a +confessed—or rather self-stigmatized coward, one Jan R——, a Hollander. +He had lived in France some years, and soon after the outbreak of war +became a naturalized citizen in order that he might join the French +Army as a volunteer—not because he wanted to, but because he was +ashamed to stay out. + +The _Atlantic Monthly_ published all that was suitable of the available +material in a long and intensely interesting article which is a curious +record of psychological study and introspection. It is highly probable +that the experience was by no means unique. A candid statement by the +most daring of our heroes possibly would contain the admission that +there were moments when the reflections of the Hollander were similar +to his own. + +Jan R—— tells of morning awakenings from troubled sleep with “the +oppression that something horrible was about to enter into his +existence.” He felt a pang in his breast that he “should have to take +part in the fighting. There was no escape.” He suffered a fear, a +shifting fear that he “could sometimes suppress but never drive out.” +The life in the training camp somewhat eased his emotions as he mingled +with so many others, and at times he even got “flickerings of a desire +to fight,” but it was not the real thing, he assumed; it was “more in +the nature of artistic imagination.” In the distance was the rumbling +and thudding of heavy gun fire, and as he heard it he felt “a strange +respect and admiration, mingled with fear for the men in the first line +of trenches.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Kadel & Herbert._ + +American and French Aviation Officers at an American Hangar + +American aviators were among the first from the United States to do +their part in the great war. There were a great many things that the +French could tell our boys, and the men of the two countries coöperated +in this as well as many other branches of the service.] + +“Before long our turn for the trenches will come. Most of the fellows +are wishing for the time to come. At least that is what they say. I +am dreading it. I am in earnest when I say that my life is of little +value, even to myself. Yet I fear the trenches. Yesterday evening +transports of wounded soldiers came past us repeatedly. Hearing the +wailing and the groaning, seeing all the bloodiness made me sick.... +The fear of the front suddenly overtook me. I violently reproached +myself for having been so stupid as to enlist. There I was in the midst +of this insane murder! And by my own free will!” + + +HE GOES TO THE FRONT + +Finally his turn came for the front. One of his comrades was a youth +named Gaston. + +“The dear boy has become very much attached to me. He believes that +I am a strong support for him! Must I weep at this, or laugh? Gaston +has told me in great confidence that he gets occasional attacks of +cowardice. And he asked me whether I did not despise him. He is +terribly afraid that the fellows will notice it, but he did not mind +confiding in me. Why in me? He says it is because he admires my +imperturbable calmness so much. What could I reply? It seemed best not +to tell him how things stood with me. Apart from the difficulties such +a confession would cause me, I concluded that it would also be better +for him to believe in my courage.” + + +THE BOY REGARDED HIM AS A HERO + +“A hero! But there are real heroes and make-believe heroes; and they +are not always easily distinguishable. I do not hide from myself that +I belong to the make-believes. And yet, it is remarkable that I did +not find the second week at the front as terrible as the first. It is +not as bad there as it seems. When once you get accustomed to the idea +that you may be dead in a day, or in an hour, or in a minute, and when +you are clear as to your future, your mood is relieved from constant +depression. Involuntarily you become kind and helpful to those about +you, you do not get vexed over trifles, you are ready to make all +sorts of sacrifices. Of course, if, in the midst of such a condition, +a grenade suddenly drops into your trench, if you see three or four of +your comrades getting killed, your misery returns, no matter how good +an outward appearance you may keep up. At least, for a while. But then +again the thought comes that getting wounded means rest and safety, +and good care. And death? that is still less terrible. One boasts of +reaching one’s destination along the shortest road! Is not death every +one’s final destination?... + +“It is peculiar that one can get so accustomed to danger. + +“I have tried to account for it, and it appears to be like this: at +first our thoughts are almost incessantly occupied with the frightful +things that are about to happen. Then moments come—only a single one at +first—in which our thoughts wander away, involuntarily, and dwell on +something else. Suddenly fear returns. But the periods of repose become +more frequent and of longer duration. And when they are disturbed by +fear the painful shock becomes gradually less violent. Neither does +fear itself ache so hard. And then the time approaches when one is +conscious of fear only on occasions when there is a violent fire, +or when men fall. That is my present condition. There seems to be a +further stage in which one is rid of fear for good. So far I shall not +get.” + +One day he got a wound in the hip and was sent to the hospital. The +nurses have gotten the idea that he is a hero. He accounts for it thus: + +“A friend of Gaston’s is a distant cousin of one of the nurses. Gaston +inquired after me, and apparently used that occasion to do a good +deal of boasting. At any rate, some greatly embellished stories of my +_sangfroid_ have been going the rounds here. Without having to lie, I +could say that all this was invented, or at least highly exaggerated. +The consequence was that I was looked upon, not only as a hero, but as +a giant of modesty as well. It is very annoying. However, to be honest, +I must confess that now and then this undeserved praise gives me a +feeling of satisfaction; I have always known that I was weak-minded.” + + +HE IS PROMOTED + +“Back to the trenches and made a Corporal. A small thing, eh? Just the +same, it made me happy. I was touched by the friendly spirit of the +fellows. Gaston shook my hand at least six times, muttering, ‘Ah, _mon +vieux_, _mon vieux_, how I have missed you!’ This does one good. And +I had better not get lost in the question as to how much of all this +attachment I deserve.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Charles S. Hoover + +_32nd Division, 158th Field Artillery Brigade_ + + During the offensive action near Brabant-sur-Meuse, Sergeant Hoover + was in charge of two trench mortars. Wounded by shrapnel and knocked + down by the explosion of bombs, he fired the one mortar that was + undamaged until it was destroyed.] + +Finally comes the touchstone of character. Jan R—— wrote: + +“In the early morning of the 13th the cannonading was resumed, and +again we had hours of exhausting expectation. Toward noon we noticed +that an unusual event was coming. The captain shouted something. I +could not understand a word. Gaston understood: the wire entanglements +in front of the first line of trenches had been shot to pieces. We had +to hold ourselves ready. There was incessant telephoning. + +“‘They are coming!’ some one yelled. + +“I could not restrain myself any longer and looked over the edge of the +trench. + +“They were coming indeed; I saw them. In broad, irregular rows they +were running toward us. Straight toward me, it seemed. And behind them, +there came others, and still others, evermore. The German guns were +silent now. And then suddenly ours began to roar with redoubled vigor. + +“Holes, narrow clefts, and fissures were torn in the massive gray +billows that came rolling toward us. + +“‘Not a single one will get through!’ I heard some one shout. + +“But behind the first wave came a second one, and a third one behind +that. I saw them approach, losing in vigor, yet remaining strong. + +“We were ready. In that moment I felt no fear! Like the others, I was +burning to fly out of the trenches. Suddenly a strange silence came, +and then the call: ‘_Attaquez! Attaquez!_’ + +“We clambered up, jumped over the edge of the trench, and ran forward. +In front, to the left, to the right, everywhere there were French +soldiers, storming forward. + +“I saw the Germans coming nearer, in their dirty gray uniforms, in +rows, in heaps, and in smaller groups, some even singly. I saw the +glistening and flickering of their bayonets. I heard them yell and +shout. My heart thumped so hard that I had difficulty in breathing. +Around me our men were shouting loudly. I was shouting too, and felt +relieved when I heard my own voice, however indistinctly. Now and +then a rifle-shot could be heard. We were running fast. ‘_En avant! En +avant!_’ + +“Suddenly I became aware of a desire to hold back a little, and thereby +to postpone, if only for a single second, the terrible moment of the +clash. I happened to be pushed by a comrade behind me and I flew +forward again. + +“At last we had reached the Germans. Six steps in front of me I saw +Gaston bayoneting an officer. Not a second later the poor chap fell +himself—hit by a rifle shot, as I learned later.” + + +“BRAVO, CAPORAL” + +“Suddenly a big German stood before me, a deathly pallor on his face, +his mouth drawn, his eyes crazed with fear. His terror gave me courage +and a feeling of superiority. I jumped on him. He tried to defend +himself, but, with all my strength, I plunged my bayonet into his body. +‘_Bravo, caporal!_’ I heard some one call. Scores of my comrades ran +past. I tried to catch up with them, stumbled over a body, and fell, +with my head to the ground. But immediately I got up again and ran +forward, more slowly however; my legs felt weak and powerless. Forward +again! The attack had been repulsed. The German guns began thundering +again; we had to return to our trenches. + +“I took the death of Gaston (and of many others) more calmly than I had +feared. This is not so surprising after all. Death may strike any one +of us at any moment. We have accepted that chance. But if that is our +attitude toward ourselves, why should we not have it toward our friends? + +“But it still seems strange to me that I can not reach a definite +judgment on my action in this last fight. Certain it is that the +circumstances absolutely required my doing what I did, even leaving +entirely out of consideration the fact that to every one his own life +is dearer than that of a stranger. I can not hesitate in the choice +between a French soldier and a German soldier. But it is equally +certain that killing men runs counter to my nature and is absolutely +irreconcilable with ideas which I had always accepted without question. +Efforts to remove the contradiction between these thoughts must +inevitably fail. It is in this way that I seek to explain the fact +that at one moment I am cheerful, and sing with the rest—that I am +invariably rejoicing over my good luck in the last fight, not merely +having escaped without even the slightest scratch, but having had +besides the good fortune of killing two Germans; while the next moment +I sit worrying silently, asking myself, ‘How did it come to be possible +that you are taking part in this frightful war—as a volunteer?’” + +He was to receive an answer on another plane. The story of Jan R—— +seems to have concluded with the three words, “Fell at Souchez.” + + + + +TWO HEROES OF HILL 60 + +Oxford Graduate and Green-Grocer’s Assistant Win Their Spurs in the +Same Crisis + + +Sir John French has described the fight for Hill 60 as “the fiercest +fight in which British troops have ever been engaged.” The hill is +southeast of Ypres. Its possession was essential to the British, for +it dominated the surrounding country. The Germans held it, commanding +excellent artillery observation toward the west and northwest. For +months the British had been working to mine it. After much hard work +the sapping was complete and one hundred tons of explosives placed in +position. + +Saturday, April 17, 1915, was the appointed day for the great event. +The explosion was timed for seven o’clock in the evening, and, +according to program, up went the hill—Germans and all. It was like an +earthquake. Simultaneously the artillery opened on the spot and poured +in shells at the rate of five a minute. At a quarter past seven the +infantry attack was launched, and the British were in possession of the +ruins. + +Then came the second phase—the holding of Hill 60, which was the +hardest task of all, for the German reinforcements came to the assault +by the thousands; but as fast as they came rifle and gun fire mowed +them down. + +During the next few days the Germans continued to attack ferociously, +so much importance did they attach to the position. + +A private in the East Surreys, writing in the London _Evening News_, +gave the following vivid word-picture of the battle: + +“The fight on Hill 60 was awful. The Germans used every kind of +explosive, from small bombs to shells that shook the ground like an +earthquake. + +“This went on from four o’clock in the afternoon to about four the next +morning. Every German gun for miles around was trained on that hill. + +“Some of the German shells were filled with a stinking acid, which +blinded one. I would rather take my chance in half-a-dozen bayonet +charges than face such an awful bombardment again. The enemy charged +four times, but we beat them back each time, and kept the hill until we +were relieved next morning.” + +It was in these nerve-racking engagements that Second Lieutenant +Geoffrey Harold Woolley and Corporal Edward Dwyer were awarded their +honors for distinguished service. + + +FROM CURATE TO SOLDIER + +Lieutenant Woolley is the youngest son of Rev. G. H. Woolley, Danbury, +Essex. He was educated at St. John’s School and Queen’s College, +Oxford. While at the University he joined the Officers’ Training Corps. +He studied for Holy Orders, and is all but a curate, inasmuch as he +was on the eve of being ordained when, at the age of twenty-three, he +decided to give his first service to his country. + +Lieutenant Woolley has been described as a typical specimen of muscular +Christianity. He excels at cricket, tennis, and football, and played +the greater game of war with all his heart and soul. + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +Directing the Fire of a British Battery + +In the foreground the officer in charge of the battery is receiving +information from observers who are able to trace the course of each +shot.] + +He received his commission in the 9th Battalion London Regiment, +popularly known as the Queen Victoria Rifles. With the experience of +the Officers’ Training Corps to help him, the young lieutenant soon +made himself very efficient, and when, in November, 1914, the Queen +Victoria Rifles embarked at Southampton for the front, he had already +become very popular with his men, and shown high promise as a leader. +Soon after landing in France the regiment was at the front, near Ypres, +where it was usefully employed, chiefly in trench work. + +G. A. Leask in _Heroes of the Great War_ says: + +“On the very first day that he went into the trenches, Lieutenant +Woolley showed his mettle. A hand grenade was flung into his trench; +without a moment’s hesitation the young officer picked it up, and +before the fuse had burned to the charge, flung it out. His prompt and +plucky act saved not only his own life, but the lives of at least six +or seven of his men. + +“On the night of April 20-21 the Germans made a desperate attack on +the trench held by Lieutenant Woolley’s regiment. The Queen Victoria +Rifles fought with dogged determination not to be excelled by the most +seasoned Regulars. Every German gun for miles around was trained on the +hill. Again and again the Germans charged with the ferocity of despair. + +“One by one Lieutenant Woolley’s superior officers—a major, captain, +and a lieutenant—had been killed. + +“The force under Lieutenant Woolley numbered at the start 150, +including some Regulars. As the German attack grew fiercer, he noted +how his little company was being thinned. The young officer did not +despair. He was in sole command of Hill 60, and he realized that a hard +and terrible time awaited them before relief came, but he summoned up +all his courage and made up his mind to hold on at all costs. He went +up and down the line calling to his brave men to ‘stick it’ and he +infused all with his dauntless spirit. + +“A particularly fierce onslaught by the Germans commenced. Guns raked +the trench with shells, enemy troops swarmed up, throwing bombs. +Lieutenant Woolley moved among his men, giving orders as coolly as if +on parade. The already diminished band of heroes dwindled more and +more. Lieutenant Woolley knew that the situation was perilous, but he +had no thought of giving in. The knowledge that so much depended upon +him stirred his blood, and called forth every ounce of his fighting +spirit and powers of leadership.” + + +A DETERMINED BOMBER + +“He organized counter-attacks and led his men in throwing bombs at the +vastly superior force of the enemy. Standing on the parapet of the +trench, fully exposed to the enemy, Woolley hurled bomb after bomb. +His men urged him to seek shelter, but he refused. For some time this +amazing contest continued, a handful of British against thousands of +Germans. But this little band of heroes by their superb bravery, led +by a hero, kept the enemy at bay. When welcome relief eventually came, +the company of 150 men had been thinned to 20-14 Territorials and 6 +Regulars, a pathetic proof of the dauntless fight put up by those men.” + +The second hero of Hill 60 is one of the most popular medal winners +of the war. Lance-Corporal Edward Dwyer at the time he obtained +the coveted decoration was only eighteen years old, and had been a +green-grocer’s assistant before the war. + +“This boy hero took the public imagination by storm, and with the +possible exception of Sergeant O’Leary, no V.C. was more noticed on his +return to England. He received enough hero-worship to last a lifetime. +When home on leave Dwyer was bombarded by the attentions of admirers, +kissed by women in the streets, and, as he confessed, subjected to +greater trials than on the bomb-swept slopes of Hill 60.” + + +TOO MUCH FUSS FOR HIM + +“There was something romantic about the slim boy of eighteen who proved +himself so heroic in the field, and his handsome appearance and jolly +ways captivated every one. As his father confessed, with no little +humor, ‘They’re making such a fuss that Ted wants to get back to the +battlefield for a rest.’” + +Dwyer had been fighting in France for nine months when the struggle at +Hill 60 provided his great opportunity. + +“During a particularly fierce attack on the morning of the 20th, +Lance-Corporal Dwyer was in a trench on the side of Hill 60, about +fifteen yards distant from where the Germans had entrenched themselves. +So close were they, in fact, that Dwyer says he could actually hear +them ‘talking their lingo.’ His section had suffered severely, and +Dwyer risked his life by tending many of them as best he could. Some +he brought from the open to the side of the trench, leaving the +comparative safety of his position in order to save their lives. + +“Then, later on, he heard some one call out: ‘The Germans are coming!’ + +“He looked through a spy-hole in the parapet and saw a number of the +enemy creeping silently and stealthily across the intervening space +between the trenches. + +“Like the methodical soldier he is, Dwyer had kept a number of hand +grenades, some fifty, all ready to fire. + +“Thus provided, he gallantly sprang on to the parapet of the trench. +The Germans were creeping forward, thinking to surprise the British, +but they had reckoned without Lance-Corporal Dwyer. He stood fully +exposed to their fire, and threw his deadly missiles steadily and with +excellent effect. For five minutes this eighteen-year-old hero stood +all alone hurling grenade after grenade at the oncoming foe. + +“The Germans, led by an officer, showed great stubbornness. Had they +known that a lad of eighteen alone was guarding the trench, they would +have doubtless redoubled their efforts to capture it. Young Dwyer kept +throwing his grenades. He had now sent twenty into the ranks of the +enemy; now he had used up thirty. At this juncture the officer who was +leading the Germans was hit, and this loss seemed to damp the ardor of +the attackers. + +“Dwyer, however, began to show the first signs of uneasiness. His +stock of grenades was fast running out. He had only half a dozen +left, soon these had each found a target. Then in the nick of time +reinforcements arrived, and the trench was saved. Dwyer alone had saved +the situation.” + + + + +COLONEL FREYBERG, V.C. + +A New Zealand Soldier with the Qualities of a Fenimore Cooper Hero + + +Colonel Freyberg is another winner of England’s highest military +honor—the Victoria Cross. “For enduring courage and brilliant +leadership his achievement,” writes the London _Times_, “was +unsurpassed by any act for which the Cross was conferred.” + +To begin with he carried an initial attack straight through the enemy’s +front system of trenches, but after the capture of the first objective +his command was much disorganized owing to mist and a heavy fire of all +descriptions. The Colonel himself rallied and reformed his own men, +as well as men from other units who had become intermixed. His own +contempt of danger inspired the troops. He was finally able to lead +them to the successful attack of the second objective. Colonel Freyberg +had by this time been wounded twice, but he again rallied his men and +reformed them, and, although under heavy artillery and machine-gun +fire in a very advanced position and unsupported, still he held his +ground for the rest of the day and throughout the night. On the +following morning, having been reinforced, he organized an attack on a +strongly fortified village, and such was his dash and enterprise that +the village was captured and 500 prisoners were taken. For the third +time the officer was wounded, and later in the afternoon he was again +wounded, this time seriously, but he refused to leave the line until he +had issued final instructions. + +[Illustration: + + _Brown & Dawson._ + +Getting the Range + +A range-finding station at a coast fortification. To the layman it is +a combination of engineer’s office, telephone exchange, and telegraph +office where soldiers work out the distance from the muzzle of their +cannon to the enemy. In coast-defense work three range-finding stations +usually coöperate in working out the distance.] + +“The personality, valor, and utter contempt of danger on the part of +this single officer enabled the lodgment in the most advanced objective +of the Corps to be permanently held, and on this _point d’appui_ the +line was eventually formed.” So closed the official version of the +gallant colonel’s performance. + +Colonel Freyberg was by birth a New Zealander. He was not yet +twenty-eight years of age. Born in Wellington, he developed both the +physique and resourcefulness that were essential for the success of +some of the enterprises which he undertook in the war. He won fame +throughout Australasia as an exceptionally fine swimmer; he grew to be +six feet in height, and broad and powerful in proportion; he achieved +renown as an oarsman, a footballer and a boxer, and his physique won +for him the affectionate nickname of “Tiny.” Leaving New Zealand he +went to America, and drifting to Mexico found full scope for his +adventurous aspirations; he fought in Mexico’s Civil War. + +In 1914, the London _Times_ says, Freyberg came home, joined the Royal +Naval Division, and was wounded in the hand at Antwerp. With good +service to his record he went to Gallipoli with his battalion, being +already a lieutenant-commander. In Gallipoli he again distinguished +himself. General Paris was in charge of a force which was to make a +feint landing at Bulair, the narrow neck of the Peninsula. Freyberg was +given charge of the party, but, while prizing the honor, he proposed an +alternative scheme which, he believed, would protect the lives of the +men. This idea was that he should take colored flares and swim ashore, +that he should then light the flares, as if a landing was anticipated, +and then swim out again to a waiting destroyer. This he did, stripping, +and painting his face and shoulders a dark color, so that he should not +be seen swimming. Freyberg landed on the beach, lit the flares, made a +reconnaissance, and swam off again, but owing to the darkness and the +current he missed the boat which was to pick him up, and it was almost +two hours before he was hauled on to the deck of the destroyer, more +dead than alive. This remarkable feat of endurance and resourcefulness, +more suggestive of an adventure from Mayne Reid or Fenimore Cooper than +a sober act of modern war, won for the young officer the D. S. O. + + + + +ONE OF THE D. S. C. MEN + +An Act of Heroism and Martyrdom that Hardly May be Matched + + +A Distinguished Service Cross is a proud possession. It is at once a +token of bravery and an evidence that bravery has been displayed in +valiant service for the good or the saving of others. It implies a +great risk taken, a danger faced, a sacrifice made—a something done +that, however creditable to the man, is of special value because of +its benefit or advantage to many besides the man. For that reason one +Distinguished Service Cross differs from another in proud significance +to the winner or to the relative to whom the cross comes as an after +death testimony to the winner’s worth. The formal official paragraph +that announces the award of the cross to this one or that one tells +nothing or little of the service that gained the distinction, because +the official estimate makes no discrimination between the sentimental +values of the respective services, distinguished service being +distinguished service. + +But there are varying qualities of bravery, different kinds of +incitement to heroism, different elements in the acts of sacrifice; +and one might like to know the varying values of the instant motives +behind the acts—say, of a man who, in the heat and excitement of an +engagement, rushes through a withering fire of shell and bullet to +perform a serviceable act of desperate valor, with one chance in a +thousand of coming safely off; or, of a man, without the stimulus +of brain aflame and with the absolute certainty of death, who +unhesitatingly, immediately lays down his life for his friends. Which +is the higher courage? + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Private Harold J. Devereaux + +_32nd Division, 125th Infantry, Company “M”_ + + While crossing the River Ourcq near Sergy, July 31, 1918, the corporal + of his squad was wounded by machine-gun fire. The enemy continued to + fire on the wounded man and Private Devereaux, alone, with the fire of + his rifle, attacked the machine-gun and put it out of action.] + +In the great list, the never fully-to-be-completed list of heroic +deeds in the four years’ war, is there any deed more sublime in +essential quality than that of Sergt. Willard D. Purdy, Company A, +127th Infantry, A. E. F.? You never heard of it? That’s the amazing +thing—that this splendid exhibition of the highest character of devoted +courage is hardly known at all! Really, it was so great a heroism that +it seemed a commonplace in the telling. Here is the story. It reads +very simply in the bald despatch of a newspaper man reporting the facts +from Washington. + + +THE MARTYR HERO + +“Washington, D. C., May 30.—[Special.]—The heroism of a Wisconsin +sergeant, who deliberately sacrificed his own life to save those of +his men in the fight at Hegenbach, Alsace, July 4, 1917, is told with +official brevity and skeletonized simplicity in to-day’s war department +report announcing the award of distinguished service crosses for +bravery in action. + +“The martyr hero was Sergt. Willard D. Purdy, a member of Company A, +127th Infantry. During the engagement at Hegenbach, Sergt. Purdy, after +returning with his patrol from a reconnaissance of the enemy’s line, +was engaged in calling the roll of his men and collecting their hand +grenades when the pin of one of the grenades became disengaged. + +“Seeing the grenade could not be thrown away without making certain the +wounding of American troops—most probably some of his own men—Sergt. +Purdy instantly commanded his men to run. Then he himself seized three +of the grenades and, bending over, held them against his stomach. The +grenades exploded, killing Sergt. Purdy instantly, but his presence of +mind and self-sacrificing action had saved the lives of his companions. + +“When the pin of a grenade becomes disengaged nothing can be done to +prevent the bomb from exploding within six or eight seconds. + +“Sergt. Purdy’s home address was Box 632, Marshfield, Wis., and his +next of kin was given as Mrs. Esther Purdy, his mother.” + +No grand adventure; no risk with cheering comrades in a mad assault; +no thrill with the consciousness of perils to be met and with luck +avoided; no taking of hazards with the hope of an achieved success. Not +like a flight into the air to shoot down, after vivid combat, an enemy +plane. Not much of a story for the press. But think about it. Match it. + + + + +COLORED TROOPS REACH THE RHINE + +Though They Had More Than Their Share of Trouble to Get to France + + +Everybody knows what a record the 15th New York Colored Regiment made +in the war, how splendidly it fought, the heroism it displayed and the +honors it received, but not everyone knows what adversities it had +to contend with before it could get to France. The Colonel of that +remarkable regiment (which revived the memory of the Civil War military +reports that “the colored troops fought nobly”), Col. William D. +Hayward, has given a humorous account of those difficulties. This was +in one of the many talks Hayward—who has put off the title of Colonel +and returned to the civilian simplicity of “Mister”—has been compelled +to make in response to public requests. He said, broadly smiling: + +“The first thing I ever did in my life that anybody approved of was +getting up that regiment. After I gathered my crowd of Harlem waiters, +bellhops, indoor chauffeurs, and elevator boys I thought I’d never get +them across. When the minute finally came for sailing I think every +elevator on Riverside Drive stopped automatically. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Second Lieutenant Carl C. Mayhew + +_26th Division, 101st Infantry._ + + Cited for skill and courage displayed May 8, 1918, while making a + daring patrol in the enemy’s front line trenches resulting in the + death of 2 German officers and the gathering of valuable information. + He participated in 44 raids, receiving 3 citations.] + +“When our ship left in 1917 we sailed a little way, then broke down, +came back, and tied up at Hoboken with our cargo of Thanksgiving +turkeys and black troops. We got fixed up and started again. We didn’t +get quite as far as before when the ship caught fire. I sneaked back +and reported the mishap to General Shanks at the port of embarkation. +Our ship was overhauled and a third time we set out full of hope, but +the machinery broke down again. When I reported to General Shanks this +time, he said: ‘Goodness gracious, Colonel, are you ever going to get +those coons and turkeys to France?’ + +“When at last we reached the French front in the Argonne Forest I +reported to the French officer in command that I had arrived with the +15th New York Infantry and would place myself and men at his disposal. +‘It is impossible!’ exclaimed the officer. ‘There’s no such American +unit due here.’ Finally he said in surprise, ‘Are you the 369th +Infantry Regiment of the United States?’ and I replied, ‘I are.’ + + +GAVE THEM BOLOS + +“Then they took all our American ordnance away and gave us bolos, +which are knives modeled after those used by the Cubans. I was glad +afterward, although I think my boys would have done better with razors. +When we were leaving France I was told that the regiment would be +presented with three thousand razors by the French. When we received +the gift we found they were safety-razors. The regiment was insulted. + +“From March, 1918, until the following January we were with the Fourth +French Army, under General Gouraud. On July 15 I wrote Governor Whitman +that the German Army was licked. They were at maximum strength and we +at minimum, but ten American divisions were arriving monthly. + +“My boys had a sublime faith that they would win. The idea of defeat +never entered their heads. No private or officer had any doubt about +our ability to break through. One day I found a number of the men +buying German money that had been taken from the dead. I asked why they +wanted it, and they answered, ‘We’ll be needin’ this here money soon.’ +In five months they were spending it in the Rhine towns and talking +Harlem German with a Yiddish accent. They were the advance guard of the +Allied armies. The French gave them the honor of carrying the Stars and +Stripes to the Rhine. And I was the first man to scoop water from the +river. Can you beat that for Allied generosity? + +“The boys all had a keen sense of humor. When we docked at Hoboken +they were eager to get ashore. One of them said to me: ‘Colonel, the +Generals is goin’ over the gangplank and the rats is goin’ over the +hawsers. We hope you’ll tell us when it’s time for the regiment to go +ashore!’ + +“I remember one little negro on the other side who was carrying shells +from an ammunition-dump to a train. He was so loaded down with 3-inch +shells that he was sunk ankle-deep in the mud. He said to his officer, +‘How you got my name on dat sheet?’ + +“‘Your name is Simpson,’ replied the officer. + +“‘Yas, sir, dass right; only I thought maybe you had “Sampson” by +mistake.’” + +He jested about them freely, did Colonel Hayward, but the jests were of +a kind to betray the intense pride he felt in the soldierly character +and spirited daring of the men under him. The Hun learned to regard +with wholesome fear a charge of Hayward’s “bellhops and waiters,” as he +styled them. + + At the beginning of the war there were only 750 officers, 393 nurses, + and 3,619 enlisted men belonging to the Medical Department of the + American Army. In November, 1918, the corresponding figures were + 39,363 officers, 21,344 nurses, and 245,652 enlisted men. + + In the 19 months elapsing from the declaration of the war to the + signing of the armistice the American Army created an embarkation + service which succeeded in shipping overseas 2,075,834 men, and + 5,153,000 tons of cargo. + + During the whole period of active hostilities the American Army lost + at sea only 200,000 deadweight tons of transports. Of this total, + 142,000 tons were sunk by torpedoes. No American transport was lost on + its eastward voyage. + + + + +GOOD OLD POTTS + +One of the Men the British Took to Gallipoli to Show Their Grit + + +Private Frederick Potts did a V. C. bit at Gallipoli. An attack was +being made on a very strongly fortified Turkish position, a sector +stretching from Hill 70 to Hill 112. Potts was in the advance on +Hill 70. It was a terrible day. The heat was intense. The country +was uncommonly difficult, largely sand and scrub, the scrub being so +parched that it took fire in many places from the shell fire, and in +crossing these patches some of the men who fell wounded were burned to +death. Potts’ section was ascending Hill 70 in short spurts, making +occasional halts. After taking shelter in a little gulley, it was +ordered to charge. Potts rushed forward with his comrades; but he +had not gone more than twenty yards when he was shot down, a bullet +having entered the left thigh. Potts was then about a quarter of a mile +from the top of the hill. He was lucky enough to be lying in a little +thicket formed of the scrub, and this gave him some sort of shelter and +hid him from view. Not long after he fell there crawled towards him a +fellow-townsman, who was badly wounded. Potts recognized him. + +“Is that you, Andrews?” he said. + +“Yes,” came the feeble answer. + +“I’m jolly pleased you’ve come,” said Potts. + +Then Andrews dragged himself as close as he could get—he had been shot +through the groin—and the two lay perfectly still for some minutes +fully expecting that the Turks would find and kill them. + +Very soon a third trooper who had been wounded made his way to the +thicket. With great difficulty, room was found for him. Andrews had +hardly moved his position so that the newcomer could be accommodated +when a bullet mortally wounded the stranger. He cried piteously for +water, but there was not a drop to be had, and the three wounded +soldiers endured the agonies of thirst that whole afternoon of intense +heat. The night came bitterly cold, increasing the suffering of the +three. Moreover, a full moon made the night as clear as day, and every +movement in the thicket was followed by a bullet from the Turks. A +bullet grazed Potts’ left ear as he lay flat on the ground, face down. +The morning brought death to the stranger. He had kept on murmuring +wearily, “Water! Water!” + +The whole of the next day the two survivors lay hidden in the hot +scrub, not daring to move, tortured by thirst, suffering from their +wounds, and trying to get relief by sucking bits of stalks which they +managed to pick from the shrubs. That night, as the only hope of +salvation was to get away, they began to crawl off, Potts leading and +Andrews following. They lay perfectly flat, and literally wriggled. +From six at night—when darkness fell—till three in the morning they +dragged themselves, dust-choked, a distance of about three hundred +yards—as Potts calculated afterwards, thirty-three yards an hour. A +bit of burnt scrub near at hand afforded slight protection; this was +taken, and the troopers tried to sleep, but the extreme cold made rest +impossible. When daylight came, some water was obtainable, but only by +crawling to men who had been killed and whose bottles could be reached. +This dreadful day passed, Potts doing his best to stanch his comrade’s +bleeding wounds. The third night on the hill came. + + +A SHOVEL TO THE RESCUE + +The two men tried once more to get away and reach the British lines. +Potts attempted to carry Andrews, but he was too weak and the effort +failed. Then, says the London _Times_, when hope itself seemed to be +abandoned, an inspiration came, suggested by an ordinary entrenching +shovel, one of many which were lying on the hill. Potts wriggled to +the shovel, managed to support Andrews on it, stood up, and dragged +desperately—all the more so because as soon as he rose the Turks opened +fire. Famished and exhausted, he could not do more than pull his burden +over the rough ground for about six yards; then he collapsed. Andrews, +too, had suffered severely under the strain. But the next night Potts +resumed his forlorn hope. He had his comrade on the shovel, lying flat; +he supported him as best he could, and Andrews held grimly on to his +rescuer’s wrists. For more than three hours, in the bright moonlight, +down the scrub-infested, stony, dusty hillside, Private Potts dragged +his helpless burden on the shovel; then came a sentry’s challenge, +“Halt!” Inexpressibly joyful was the sound of the British voice to the +two worn-out troopers; grimly humorous was the sentry’s question: + +“What are you doing? Are you burying the dead?” + +Potts explained: “I have a chap here wounded, and I’ve dragged him down +the hill on a shovel. Could you not give me a hand?” + +Give a hand! Many a willing hand was given that night at the foot of +that fatal hill, the scene of much tragedy, yet relieved by the bravery +and resource of the twenty-two year old trooper, who might easily have +saved himself by abandoning his wounded fellow; but he was not of that +breed. + + + + +IT WAS UP TO BILL + +And in Spite of Regulations and Red Tape the Old Sergeant Got to France +and Into the Front Lines + + +Let no one dare deny the heroism of Bill Davidson. His name may not be +found among those cited for distinguished service, but that is because +distinguished services are not enumerated in the military code. If +there is an instance of more determined valor or of more successful +triumph over the impossible it does not appear in the chronicles. +Nevertheless it is necessary to introduce Bill Davidson, and the +greatest distinction that can be conferred upon him in the estimation +of Bill Davidson himself is to say he was orderly to Lieutenant Colonel +John C. Greenway, First Division, A. E. F. He hailed from out Arizona +way. In the days when the United States was engaged with Spain in the +discussion of matters more or less serious, Jack Greenway was a Captain +of Rough Riders, and Bill was his Sergeant, and by the testimony of +that Captain, now Lieutenant-Colonel, Bill was the best first Sergeant +in Cuba. There Bill took into his spiritual system an affection of +devotion to Greenway that time and circumstances can never diminish. + +Therefore, when the United States declared war against Germany, Bill, +who was in the employ of the New Cornelia at Ajo, straightway thought +of Jack Greenway. He said to himself, “All hell can’t keep Jack +Greenway from going to the front, and it’s me for Jack Greenway.” He +foresaw a great experience “over there,” the doing of extraordinary +things, and he wanted to be with Greenway in the performance. + +Greenway, of course, tendered his services to the Government at once +and was given a commission as Major of Engineers. Now let the Bisbee +_Review_ continue the story as it got it direct from Colonel Greenway +in Bisbee town. + +One day Bill walked into the Captain’s office in Warren just as he was +preparing to close his desk and quit the office. + +“Well, Captain, I’ve quit over yonder,” Bill remarked, after the +salutations. + +“What did you quit for, Bill?” + +“I’m going into the army with you.” + +“Have you enlisted?” + +“Hell, no. I’m no fool. If I enlisted over here I might not go to +France for months, perhaps not at all. I’m going with you, and shall +enlist in your regiment after I get to France,” was the way Bill +figured it out. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Munseys._ + +Lieutenant Arthur McKeogh + + He brought relief to a battalion by making a daring journey through + the German lines with two other men. On the way to the American lines + he killed one German officer, fell into a trench with two others and + killed them, and was under fire all the time.] + +Greenway couldn’t make Bill see the futility of the idea of getting +over to France without enlisting in the service, so there was nothing +to do but let Bill come along. They took the train together at Osborn, +Bill carrying his bed rolled up in a slicker, and together they made +the trip to New York. + +Bill met some of his old comrades of the Cuban campaign and confided +to them his plans. They told him how impossible it was, and that he +could not even get on the dock at Hoboken without a pass. Bill’s urbane +confidence may have been a little shaken but not his determination. He +went to Washington to see Senator Ashurst, and the Senator tried to get +Bill a passport but without success, as there was no way for the War +Department to act in the circumstances. Bill came back to New York with +more determination than ever. + +“I got my sailing orders,” said Greenway, “and with my sister, +sister-in-law and Bill went to the Hoboken pier and found that I was +to sail on the _Agamemnon_, which was formerly the German steamship +_Kaiser Wilhelm II_. I went aboard and found that I had a large and +comfortable stateroom and came ashore and told Bill. + +“Bill declared that he was going to get aboard of that boat, although I +pointed out the guards to him and told him how impossible it was. Bill +was not disconcerted in the least. After sizing up the situation to his +own satisfaction he said: + +“‘Just you get somebody to talk to that guard over there to distract +his attention while you are going through the gate.’ + +“I got an officer friend of mine to talk to the guard, and Bill picked +up my bags and followed me. To my surprise he got through the gate +without being seen by the guard, and we proceeded to the gangplank. +There we ran into a snag. The captain called out to stop that civilian, +and Bill was held up. It was only momentarily, however. I stepped up +and told the captain that he was a friend of mine, carrying my bags +aboard for me, and the captain permitted him to pass. + +“When Bill got into that stateroom of mine he was the happiest man I +ever saw. ‘If you get me off this boat they will have to throw me and +hog-tie me and carry me off,’ was the way Bill put it as he sank into a +chair and wiped his forehead. + +“We sailed that night at high tide, and Bill stayed secreted in my +room. I would smuggle food from the dining-room to him, but after two +days of this Bill rebelled at having to live on cold food and declared +that he intended having regular meals like the others on board. I +told him that if he were discovered the chances were that he would +find himself in the brig, but he said he would risk it, and out of my +stateroom he went. + + +ON THE WAY TO FRANCE + +“Bill had just one chance. There were 150 civilians on board, going +over for employment on government work in France. It was possible, but +not at all probable, for Bill to mingle with them and get by. I went on +to dinner in the first cabin, and after dinner concluded that I would +look about for Bill. I expected to find him in the brig, but he was not +there. I made my way to the dining-saloon where the civilian passengers +had their meals and looked in. + +“At the extreme end of a very long table I saw Bill. He was engrossed +in a menu and was ordering the most delectable things to be found on +it. Everybody on the vessel got to know Bill and he was in his element. +He needed no further guidance by me while on board. Arguments were +referred to Bill for settlement and he was looked to among the civilian +passengers as a general source of information, being consulted as to +when we would arrive in the submarine zone, when we would land, and +about everything else that came up. + +“How to get Bill ashore at Brest was a problem that loomed large before +me, but it did not worry Bill to any great extent. Power Conway was on +board and I enlisted his services, and between us we managed to smuggle +Bill aboard the tug and get him ashore. Now the question was to get +Bill to Paris, and in this I was assisted by General Harbord, U. S. M. +C. + + +BILL ACCEPTED FOR SERVICE + +“We arrived in Paris, where I was kept for several weeks at +headquarters. One night I returned home in Paris and informed Bill +that I had been assigned to the First Division and ordered up to the +front. Bill was delighted and ready to put off at once, and, although +it seemed impossible to me, it never feazed him. + +“It never occurred to Bill that he was a civilian in France, with no +military connection whatever, and that it would be impossible for a +civilian to accompany me to the front. In this dilemma I placed the +situation before Colonel Malin Craig. He is a general now, and it made +a strong appeal to him. He wanted to make Bill a captain of military +police, but Bill would have none of that. He wanted to get to the +front, and to the front we started. + +“Together we arrived within seven miles of the front line before Bill +was finally held up. He had come 7,000 miles on his own responsibility, +without one line of authority from any one, and was now actually at the +front and in the face of the enemy, and was still a civilian. And it +was there in the Toul sector that Bill enlisted and became officially +what he had been at heart and in fact for many weeks—one of the +American Expeditionary Force. + +“From then on Bill and I were together without danger of being +separated by army regulations. He became my orderly and remained so +throughout. The only time we were separated was when Bill was in the +hospital recovering from shell-wounds. We came back together and +Bill went with me to Hot Springs, Ark., where we both took baths. We +separated at Fort Worth, Bill going on to Ajo by another route, while I +came on to Bisbee.” + +And that is the story of Bill Davidson, whose devotion to his chief is +unlimited. It causes him to “do the impossible” and to override all of +the regulations of the War Department. It is a story in the telling of +which Colonel Greenway takes the greatest pride and in which a spirit +of affection is dominant. + +Bill quit his job to go to war with Jack Greenway, and he did. + + The original Selective Service Law of May 18, 1917, with its + subsequent amendments, mobilized the man-power of the United States, + between the ages of 18 and 45 inclusive. Under the original and later + acts, approximately 23,709,000 men were registered and slightly over + 2,800,000 were inducted into the military service. + + + + +THE RENDEZVOUS + +One of America’s Young Poets Keeps a Tryst While Fighting for France + + I have a rendezvous with Death + At some disputed barricade, + When Spring comes back with rustling shade + And apple-blossoms fill the air— + I have a rendezvous with Death + When Spring brings back blue days and fair. + + * * * * * + + And I to my pledged word am true— + I shall not fail that rendezvous. + + —_Alan Seeger._ + + +The poem from which the above opening and closing lines are taken was +read for the first time by the majority of those who knew it after the +poet had kept the rendezvous—only a little late of the appointed time, +like a traveler who has missed a train. + +Alan Seeger loved France, and when he saw her in peril and his own +America not likely to be brought into the conflict he went to France as +a volunteer. Being an alien he was not eligible to the regular army, +but the Foreign Legion welcomed him to fight for France under its flag. +Among the men of the Legion was Rif Bear, a brilliant and traveled +young Egyptian, and he became the close, the intimate friend of the +poet with whom he found himself entirely in sympathy. + +Seeger was under fire in a series of engagements without suffering +hurt, but he seems to have foreboded the end that came in the Champagne +campaign. He was a fatalist as well as a dreamer—and there are those +who believe that we bring to ourselves the fruit of our thoughts. + +After Seeger’s death Rif Bear wrote the facts and an appreciation in a +personal letter to a lady in Boston. The letter was in French, but a +translation of it has been published. There is a melancholy interest +in the circumstances that a clerical error in the date of a temporary +leave of absence cheated Seeger of one of the chief joys that could +have come to him as a poet. The letter tells us that he ran one day to +his friend in the triumph of happiness to show him a telegram which +asked him to compose a poem to be read in public at a French-American +demonstration—the memorial day ceremony. He was to have 48 hours leave +in which to write the poem and attend the ceremony. But the promised +leave did not come. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Century Company._ + +Alan Seeger + + The young and gifted American poet who fought in the Foreign Legion. + He was killed in action in the Champagne campaign.] + +“The eve of the ceremony arrived—I can not recall the date—but no leave +came. We were in the trenches and chance had placed me near Seeger in +_petit poste_ (the small outlook-post, some yards in advance of the +first line trench). He confessed that he had lost all hope of going, +and I tried to find all sorts of arguments to encourage him, that his +leave might come at dawn, and that by taking the train at Ressons at 7 +a. m. he could still reach Paris by noon and would have plenty of time, +as the ceremony was at two. + +“The morning came, and instead of bringing the much-desired permission +to leave, it brought a terrible downpour of rain, and the day passed +sadly. He found consolation in the thought that it was only a +postponement and that July 4 would soon arrive, when the Americans with +the Foreign Legion might hope for forty-eight hours’ leave, as last +year.” + +The explanation came later. It was a clerical error that cheated him; +the forty-eight hours’ leave granted for the event was made out for +June 30, instead of for May 30. Continuing the letter: + + +A MARCHING ORDEAL + +“On June 21, we left the sector of the Thiescourt Woods for an unknown +destination, which proved to be the Somme. We took the train at Estrées +St. Denis, and on June 22 about 10 a. m. reached Boves. Under a blazing +sun, in heat that seemed to have escaped from the furnace of hell, we +started for Bayonviller. We had undergone no such march since the war +began. + +“Weighed down by their sacks, prostrated by the heat, men fell by +hundreds along the road. Hardly twenty of the two hundred forming the +company arrived without having left the column. Seeger was one of +these few. He told me afterward of the terrible effort that he had to +make not to give up. At every halt he drank a drop of _tafia_ (rum and +coffee) to ‘give himself heart,’ and when he reached the end of the +march he was worn out, but proud—he had not left the ranks. + +“We passed the eight days of repose at Bayonviller, almost always +together, seeking the greatest possible enjoyment in our life at +the moment and making dreams for the future after the war. Alan +confided to me that ‘after the war’ caused him fear—that he could +not tell what destiny reserved for him, but that if the fates +smiled on him it was toward the Orient that he would make. He loved +the Orient—Constantinople, Cairo, Damascus, Beirut had a powerful +fascination for him; their names would plunge him into profound reverie. + +“‘It is in the mysterious frame of the Orient,’ he used to say, ‘in its +dazzling light, in its blue, blue nights, among the perfumes of incense +and hashish, that I would live, love, and die.’ + +“And then the talk would turn again on the war and he would say: ‘My +only wish now is to make a bayonet charge. After that I shall see. +Death may surprise me, but it shall not frighten me. It is my destiny. +“_Mektoub_”’ (it is written). He was a real fatalist and drew courage +and resignation from his fatalism. + +“During the night of June 30-July 1 we left Bayonviller to move nearer +the firing-line. We went to Proyart as reserves. + +“At 8 o’clock on the morning of July 1 there was roll-call for the +day’s orders and we were told that the general offensive would begin at +nine without us, as we were in reserve, and that we would be notified +of the day and hour that we were to go into action. + +“When this report was finished we were ordered to shell fatigue, +unloading 8-inch shells from automobile-trucks which brought them up to +our position. + +“All was hustle and bustle. The Colonial regiments had carried the +first German lines and thousands and thousands of prisoners kept +arriving and leaving. Ambulances filed along the roads continuously. As +news began to arrive we left our work to seek more details, everything +we could learn seemed to augur well. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Private Charles Cameron + +_1st Division, 3rd Machine Gun Battalion, Company “B”_ + + Decorated for extraordinary heroism in action near Soissons, France, + July 19, 1918. When the infantry was held up by a trench occupied by + Germans he voluntarily circled the trench and from the rear shot and + killed one of the enemy and captured the others.] + +“About 4 p.m. we left Proyart for Fontaine-les-Capy and in the first +line. Alan was beaming with joy and full of impatience for the order +to join in the action. Everywhere delirious joy reigned at having +driven the enemy back without loss for us. We believed that no further +resistance would be met and that our shock attack would finish the +Germans. After passing the night at Fontaine-les-Capy we moved in the +morning toward what had been the German first lines. I passed almost +all the day with Alan. He was perfectly happy. + +“‘My dream is coming true,’ he said to me, ‘and perhaps this evening +or to-morrow we shall attack. I am more than satisfied, but it’s too +bad about our July 4 leave. I can not hope to see Paris again now +before the 6th or 7th, but if this leave is not granted me _“Mektoub! +Mektoub”!’_ he finished with a smile. + +“The field of battle was relatively calm, a few shells fell, fired by +the enemy in retreat, and our troops were advancing on all sides. The +Colonials had taken Assevillers and the next day we were to take their +place in first line.” + + +WHEN THE HOUR CAME + +“On July 3, about noon, we moved toward Assevillers to relieve the +Colonials at nightfall. Alan and I visited Assevillers, picking up +souvenirs, post-cards, letters, soldiers’ notebooks, and chattering all +the time, when suddenly a voice called out, ‘The company will fall in +to go to the first line.’ + +“Before leaving one another we made each other the same promise as we +had made before the Champagne battle (September 25, 1915), that if one +of us fell so severely wounded that there was no hope of escape the +other would finish him off with a bullet in the heart, rather than +let him await death in lingering torture. He showed me his revolver, +saying, ‘I have more luck than you. If I can still use one arm I shall +have no need of any one,’ and then we rejoined our different sections.” + +The order for attack came at 4 o’clock and the troops went forward, the +flash and glitter of bayonets above the tall corn through which the men +pressed making a curious spectacle against the going down of wave after +wave of men under the terrific gun fire. + +“The losses were heavy and the enemy made a desperate resistance. The +company of reserves was ordered to advance with the second wave of +assault. ‘Forward!’ cried the captain, and the company deployed ‘in +files of squadron,’ advancing slowly but surely under the enemy’s +intense and murderous fire. + +“The first section (Alan’s section) formed the right and vanguard of +the company, and mine formed the left wing. After the first bound +forward, we lay flat on the ground, and I saw the first section +advancing beyond us and making toward the extreme right of the village +of Belloy-en-Santerre. I caught sight of Seeger and called to him, +making a sign with my hand. + +“He answered with a smile. How pale he was! His tall silhouette +stood out on the green of the corn-field. He was the tallest man in +his section. His head erect and pride in his eye, I saw him running +forward, with bayonet fixed. Soon he disappeared and that was the last +time I saw my friend. + +“‘Forward!’ And we made a second bound, right to the wave of assault, +which we left behind a little, and down we threw ourselves again. +The fusillade became more and more intense, reaching a paroxysm. The +mitrailleuses mow men down and the cannons thunder in desperation. +Bodies are crushed and torn to fragments by the shells, and the wounded +groan as they await death, for all hope of escaping alive from such a +hell has fled. + +“The air is saturated with the smell of powder and blood, everywhere +the din is deafening; men are torn with impatience at having to remain +without moving under such a fire. We struggle even for breath and +cries resound from every side. Suddenly a word of command, an order of +deliverance, passes from mouth to mouth. ‘Forward! With bayonets!’—the +command that Seeger had awaited so long. + +“In an irresistible sublime dash we hurl ourselves to the assault, +offering our bodies as a target. It was at this moment that Alan Seeger +fell heavily wounded in the stomach. His comrades saw him fall and +crawl into the shelter of a shell-hole. Since that minute nobody saw +him alive. + +“I will spare you an account of the rest of the battle. As soon as the +enemy was driven back and Belloy-en-Santerre won I searched for news of +Seeger. I was told of his wound and was glad of it, for I thought he +had been carried away and henceforth would be far from the dangers of +bullets and shells. + +“Thus ended this Fourth of July that Seeger had hoped to celebrate in +Paris. On the next day we were relieved from the first lines and went +into reserve lines. A fatigue party was left to identify the dead. + +“Seeger was found dead. His body was naked, his shirt and tunic being +beside him and his rifle planted in the ground with the butt in the +air. He had tied a handkerchief to the butt to attract the attention of +the stretcher-bearers. He was lying on his side with his legs bent. + +“It was at night by the light of a pocket electric lamp that he was +hastily recognized. Stretcher-bearers took the body and buried it +next day in the one big grave made for the regiment, where lie 3 +hundred bodies. This tomb is situated at the Hill 76 to the south of +Belloy-en-Santerre. + +“As I think of the circumstances of his death I am convinced that after +undressing to bandage himself he must have risen and been struck by a +second bullet.” + + + + +STAYING TO THE END + +How a Handful of Russian “Madmen” Held the Fort Until They Were Wiped +Out + + +Here is a weird story of unavailing heroism on the part of a Russian +officer and the remaining few of his company who held one of the forts +in the siege of the Novogeorgievsk fortress. It is laconically told by +the reporter but it needs no flourish: + +Several forts pass through the last hours of their life. All the +fortifications are swept away; most of the guns are silent; the men +are nowhere in sight. German infantry floods the plain. Columns of +soldiers advance from the right and from the left. Their front seems +impenetrable. + +In one of the forts, however, are still a few men. It is one limb of +the stricken animal, with claws unsheathed, still throbbing with life. +For these men there is a road of escape behind the fort, making their +return to the fortress possible, but the “brave ones’ madness” asserts +itself. The commanding officer gathers his men together and says: + +“Boys, it’s for you to say. If you speak the word, we’ll all go back, +though I’m for staying here.... Remember if we stay, the chances are +that not one of us will escape. Which shall it be?” + +“Of course, we’ll stay. What difference does it make? It’s just the +same in the fortress.... We’ll stay and have our fun here.” + +They bared their heads, made the sign of the cross, and kissed each +other like brothers. The officer informed the fortress, through +underground telephone, of the decision of his men. + +“We stay here to the end. And maybe you’ll come and get us out.” + +A few moments later, the struggle between this handful of men and +several German columns began. The Germans, encircling the silent fort, +never expected to find amid its ruins a handful of “madmen.” The +advancing columns were rolling on. Suddenly the ruins burst into life. +Machine guns splashed their hail of lead, and a shell or two fell into +the midst of the German columns. + +The Germans became furious. They rushed to the remains of the fort, and +turned back, met by a living wall of lead and fire. The heavy German +guns began their booming.... Clouds of dust and broken stone surround +the fort, which still speaks its language of fire. The officer reports +the operations to the fortress through the telephone: + +“We are surrounded. Firing incessantly. They’re falling fast. They’ve +turned back. They are hammering our covers with heavy guns. The Germans +are beginning their attack. Firing, firing, firing. We’re mowing them +down. How are things with you? We are waiting for you....” + +A half-hour later, the officer reports again: “They’re hammering +hard. The arches seem to hold out. Attacking us again. We’ve lots of +ammunition. We are waiting for you....” + +Another hour goes by. “Everything around is strewn with bodies of +Germans. They are all mad. Throw themselves on us like starved rats, +and we shoot. Every shot tells.” + +A little later, the voice speaks excitedly: “The Germans are flooding +everything. We’ve no time to fire.... We cut down ten, and twenty +take their places.... We mow down the twenty, and forty others are +there already.... The Germans are in the fort. We are still firing at +those in the field.... They’re trying to break through the roof.... +Can’t hear anything.... The Germans are piling rocks against our +gun-openings.... We are still firing.... Fire....” + +The voice stopped short. The Germans were in full possession of the +fort. + + + + +WITHOUT THE GLAMOUR + +A Lieutenant of the Royal Irish Fusiliers That Stormed Ginchy Paints +War’s Horrors in Vivid Language + + +It is well, once in a while, to take a square look at the grim, the +ghastly, the repellent aspects of war, the reality stripped of the +glamour, and realize that heroism is not always manifest in valiant +deeds, but is often expressed in endurance, in patient suffering, in +the play or poise of the inner forces in terrible circumstances. + +The experiences at the storming of Ginchy through which Lieut. Arthur +C. Young of the Seventh Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers, passed and +which he embodied in a letter to a relative some days afterward, were +not perhaps exceptional,—but his description of them is. It is very +doubtful if a more literal, faithful yet graphically vivid picture +of war in its actuality has come from the battle front. In simple +direct language we get the horror, the awfulness of it—but we also get +reflectively the quality of manhood that produces heroes. + +Lieut. Young was, at the outbreak of the war, a resident of Kobe, +Japan, and he promptly volunteered, returned to England and joined +the Fusiliers. He had had his share of fighting, knew right well what +it meant to go over the top, before the day at Ginchy which was the +subject of his letter. + +The storming of Ginchy described by Lieut. Young occurred Sept. 9, +1916. He says: + +“It had been taken once or twice before, I believe (some say four +times), but even out here it is so difficult to get authentic news +about things which are happening quite close to us that you will +have to make allowances for my possible inaccuracies. Each time, +however, it was recaptured by the Germans, for to them it was a most +important stronghold, particularly from their artillery’s point of +view. A gunner officer told me why this was. You must remember that +artillery fire is not very effective unless there is good observation, +for atmospheric conditions affect shooting considerably. Now, the best +sort of observation is that obtained from high ground in a forward +position—it is better even than airplane or balloon observation, so I +am told. Well, Ginchy was the last bit of high ground which the Germans +held, and now that they have lost it, they are dependent on their less +certain aerial observations, or, failing that, they must shoot by the +map, which is no better than guesswork. Hence the vital importance to +the Germans of Ginchy. + +“On the night previous to the taking of Ginchy, my battalion had +to take up a position on the further slope of the valley. We were +some distance in rear at the time where the shells did not fall so +plentifully. We had had nearly a week of it already, and a more +horrible five days I have never passed in my life. We had been over the +top from Falfemont Farm on the Tuesday, and had been thanked for our +services in a special divisional order, but the price we had to pay for +that feat was a big one, as the casualty list printed by this time only +too well shows. + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +Treeing a Linesman Behind the Western Front] + +“I was sent out to find a habitable trench for my company. We moved in +there at dusk. We faced half-right, as it were, looking up the slope +toward Ginchy. It was like being near the foot of Parliament Hill, +with the village on top. Our right flank was down near the bottom of +the valley; our left extended up to the higher ground toward the ruins +of Waterlot Farm. The trench was very shallow in places, where it had +been knocked in by shell-fire. I had chosen it as the only one suitable +in the neighborhood, but it was a horrible place. British dead were +lying about everywhere. Our men had to give up digging in some places, +because they came down to bodies which were buried there when the +parapet blew in. The smell turned us sick. At last in desperation I +went out to look for another trench, for I felt sure the Germans must +have the range of the trench we were in, and that they would give us +hell when dawn broke. To my joy I found that a very deep trench some +distance back had just been vacated by another regiment, so we went in +there. + +“The night was bitterly cold. I have felt hunger and thirst and fatigue +out here to a degree I have never experienced them before, but those +torments I can endure far better than I thought I could. But the +cold—my word! It is dreadful. I suppose life in the Far East does not +harden one’s constitution against that torture. Many a night have I +slept out in the open, in narrow, wet trenches, with the rain pouring +down, and almost groaned with the agony of cold. If two can huddle +together, you can get some warmth, but the trenches are frequently too +narrow for that. I think I feel the cold more than any one. + +“However, dawn broke at last. It was very misty. All night we had +been trying to get into touch with the unit on our left, but without +success. So the Captain sent me out with an orderly to see whether +I could manage it. We two stumbled along, but the mist was so dense +we could see nothing. We came to one trench after another, but not a +living thing could we see—nothing but dead, British and German, some +of them mangled beyond recognition. Bombs and rifles and equipment +were lying all over the place, with here and there a great-coat, khaki +or gray according to the nationality of their one-time owners, but of +living beings we could see no sign whatsoever. There was a horrible +stench in places which nearly turned our stomachs. + + +A DANGEROUS RECONNAISSANCE + +“To make matters more wretched, we could not make sure of our +direction, and were afraid of running into a German patrol, or even +a German trench, for such accidents are by no means uncommon in this +region. However, we managed to find our way back and report that up +to such and such a point on the map (approximately) there was no +one on our left. The Captain was not content with this, so I went +out again, this time with another officer. Having a compass on this +second occasion, I felt far more self-confidence, and to our mutual +satisfaction we discovered that the unit on our left was the right +flank of an English division. Captain —— was very bucked when we +brought back this information. As the mist continued for some time +afterward, we were able to light fires and make breakfast. + +“Now, I have forgotten to tell you that we were in reserve. The front +line was some five or six hundred yards higher up the slope nearer +Ginchy. We knew that a big attack was coming off that day, but did not +think we should be called upon to take part. Accordingly, we settled +down for the day, and most of the men slept. I felt quite at home, as I +sat in the bottom of the deep trench, reading the papers I had received +the previous day from England. + + +“OVER THE TOP” + +“It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon when we first learned that we +should have to take part in the attack on Ginchy. Now, you probably +expect me to say at this point in my narrative that my heart leaped +with joy at the news and that the men gave three rousing cheers, for +that’s the sort of thing you read in the papers. Well, I had been +over the top once already that week, and knew what it was to see men +dropping dead all around me, to see men blown to bits, to see men +writhing in pain, to see men running round and round, gibbering, +raving mad. Can you wonder, therefore, that I felt a sort of sickening +dread of the horrors which I knew we should all have to go through? How +the others felt I don’t exactly know, but I don’t think I am far wrong +when I say that their emotions were not far different from mine. + +“You read no end of twaddle in the papers at home about the spirit +in which men go into action. You might almost think they reveled in +the horror and the agony of it all. I saw one account of the battle +of Ginchy in which the correspondent spoke of the men of a certain +regiment in reserve as ‘almost crying with rage’ because they couldn’t +take part in the show. All I can say is that I should like to see such +superhuman beings. It is rubbish like this which makes thousands of +people in England think that war is great sport. As a famous Yankee +General said, ‘War is hell,’ and you have only got to be in the Somme +one single day to know it. The man who says he loves being in a charge +is a liar, and an adjective liar at that. + +“But to get on with the story. We were ordered to move up into the +front line to reinforce the Royal Irish Rifles. None of us knew for a +certainty whether we were going over the top or not, but everything +seemed to point that way. Guides were sent down by the Rifles to lead +us up. We wended our way up slowly, keeping as much as possible to the +trenches, which were so shallow that the deepest part of them did not +conceal more than our waists, but they were something to duck into if +we heard a shell coming. The bombardment was now intense. Our shells +bursting in the village of Ginchy made it belch forth smoke like a +volcano. The German shells were bursting on the slope in front of us. +The noise was deafening. I turned to my servant O’Brien, who has always +been a cheery, optimistic soul, and said, ‘Well, O’Brien, how do you +think we’ll fare?’ and his answer was for once not encouraging. ‘We’ll +never come out alive, Sir!’ was his reply. Happily, we both came out +alive, but I never thought we should at the time. + + +A CHARGE BY THE IRISH + +“It was at this moment, just as we were debouching on to the scragged +front line of trench, that we beheld a scene which stirred and +thrilled us to the bottommost depths of our souls. The great charge of +the Irish division had begun, and we had come up in the nick of time. +Mere words must fail to convey anything like a true picture of the +scene, but it is burned into the memory of all those who were there +and saw it. Let me employ the simile of Parliament Hill. You are more +than half way up it now. The flat top, where the village lies a heap +of ruins, surrounded by a fence of shattered trees, is about 400 yards +away. Between the outer fringe of Ginchy and the front line of our own +trenches is No Man’s Land—a wilderness of pits, so close together that +you could ride astraddle the partitions between any two of them. As +you look half-right, obliquely along No Man’s Land, you behold a great +host of yellow-coated men rise out of the earth and surge forward and +upward in a torrent—not in extended order, as you might expect, but in +one mass—I almost said a compact mass. The only way I can describe the +scene is to ask you to picture five or six columns of men marching up +hill in fours, with about a hundred yards between each column. Now, +conceive those columns being gradually disorganized, some men going +off to the right and others to the left to avoid shell holes. There +seems to be no end to them. Just when you think the flood is subsiding, +another wave comes surging up the beach toward Ginchy. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Lieutenant-Colonel George L. Watson + + Wounded three times and mentioned in orders five times, he was awarded + many decorations, French, English, Belgium, Portuguese and American. + He carried out the first American gas-projector attack.] + +“We joined in on the left. There was no time for us any more than the +others to get into extended order. We formed another stream converging +on the others at the summit. By this time we were all wildly excited. +Our shouts and yells alone must have struck terror into the Germans, +who were firing their machine guns down the slope. But there was no +wavering in the Irish host. We couldn’t run. We advanced at a steady +walking pace, stumbling here and there, but going ever onward and +upward. That numbing dread had now left me completely. Like the others, +I was intoxicated with the glory of it all. I can remember shouting and +bawling to the men of my platoon, who were only too eager to go on. The +German barrage had now been opened in earnest, and shells were falling +here, there, and everywhere in No Man’s Land. They were mostly dropping +on our right, but they were coming nearer and nearer, as if a screen +were being drawn across our front. I knew that it was a case of ‘now +or never’ and stumbled on feverishly. We managed to get through the +barrage in the nick of time, for it closed behind us, and after that we +had no shells to fear in front of us. + + +THE MENTAL SIDE OF FIGHTING + +“I mention, merely as an interesting fact in psychology, how in a +crisis of this sort one’s mental faculties are sharpened. Instinct told +us when the shells were coming gradually closer to crouch down in the +holes until they had passed. Acquired knowledge, on the other hand—the +knowledge instilled into one by lectures and books (of which I have +only read one, namely, Haking’s ‘Company Training’)—told us that it was +safer in the long run to push ahead before the enemy got the range, and +it was acquired knowledge that won. And here’s another observation I +should like to make by the way: I remember reading somewhere, I think +it was in a book by Winston Churchill, that of the battle of Omdurman +the writer could recollect nothing in the way of noise; he had an +acute visual recollection of all that went on about him, but his aural +recollection was nil; he could only recall the scene as if it were a +cinematograph picture. Curiously, this was my own experience at Ginchy. +The din must have been deafening (I learned afterward that it could +be heard miles away), yet I have only a confused remembrance of it. +Shells, which at any other time would have scared me out of my wits, I +never so much as heard—not even when they were bursting quite close to +me. One landed in the midst of a bunch of men about seventy yards away +on my right; I have a most vivid recollection of seeing a tremendous +burst of clay and earth go shooting up into the air—yes, and even parts +of human bodies—and that when the smoke cleared away there was nothing +left. I shall never forget that horrifying spectacle as long as I live, +but I shall remember it as a sight only, for I can associate no sound +with it. + + +“IT WAS HELL LET LOOSE” + +“How long we were in crossing No Man’s Land I don’t know. It could +not have been more than five minutes, yet it seemed much longer. We +were now well up to the Boche. We had to clamber over all manner of +obstacles—fallen trees, beams, great mounds of brick and rubble—in +fact, over the ruins of Ginchy. It seems like a nightmare to me now. +I remember seeing comrades falling round me. My sense of hearing +returned, for I became conscious of a new sound, namely, the pop, pop, +pop of machine guns and the continuous crackling of rifle fire. I +remember men lying in shell holes holding out their arms and beseeching +water. I remember men crawling about and coughing up blood, as they +searched round for some place in which they could shelter until help +could reach them. By this time all units were mixed up. But they were +all Irishmen. They were cheering and cheering and cheering like mad. It +was hell let loose. There was a machine gun playing on us near by, and +we all made for it. + +“At this moment we caught our first sight of the Germans. They were in +a trench of sorts, which ran in and out among the ruins. Some of them +had their hands up. Others were kneeling and holding their arms out to +us. Still others were running up and down the trench distractedly as if +they didn’t know which way to go, but as we got close they went down on +their knees, too. To the everlasting good name of the Irish soldiery, +not one of these Germans, some of whom had been engaged in slaughtering +our men up to the very last moment, was killed. I did not see a single +instance of a prisoner being shot or bayoneted. When you remember that +our men were now worked up to a frenzy of excitement, this crowning act +of mercy to their foes is surely to their eternal credit. They could +feel pity even in their rage. + + +ONLY TWO OFFICERS LEFT + +“By this time we had penetrated the German front line, and were on +the flat ground where the village once stood, surrounded by a wood +of fairly high trees. There was no holding the men back. They rushed +through Ginchy, driving the Germans before them. The German dead were +lying everywhere, some of them having been frightfully mangled by our +shell-fire. As I was clambering out of the front trench, I felt a +sudden stab in my right thigh. I thought I had got a ‘blighty’ [a +wound serious enough to send him back to Britain], but found it was +only a graze from a bullet, and so went on. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Captain Douglass Campbell + +_Pilot, Air Service_ + +On May 19, 1918, Captain Campbell shot down an enemy biplane east +of Flirey. On May 27th, at Montsec, he shot down one German machine +and drove two others behind their lines. On May 28th he brought down +a German Albatros and drove five others back. On May 31st, over +Lironville, he shot down an enemy plane and routed another. On June +5th, though shot through the back, he destroyed another German machine +over Eply.] + +“I managed to find my men without difficulty. They had rushed through +the ruins of the village and were almost a hundred yards beyond the +wood, where the ground dips down slightly into a shallow valley and +mounts up gradually to a ridge about half a mile away. We were facing +south here, having Delville Wood away to our left and Leuze Wood on +our right. —— and I were the only two officers left in the company, so +it was up to us to take charge. There were not more than half a dozen +officers in this part of the line, and so we had a great deal of work +to do. We could see the Germans hopping over the distant ridge like +rabbits, and we had some difficulty in preventing our men from chasing +them, for we had orders not to go too far. + +“We got them—Irish Fusiliers, Inniskillings, and Dublins—to dig in +by linking up the shell craters, and though the men were tired (some +wanted to smoke and others to make tea), they worked with a will, and +before long we had got a pretty decent trench outlined. + + +SCENES AMONG PRISONERS + +“While we were at work a number of Germans who had stopped behind, and +were hiding in shell holes, commenced a bombing attack on our right. +But they did not keep it up long, for they hoisted a white flag (a +handkerchief tied to a rifle), as a sign of surrender. I should think +we must have made about twenty prisoners. They were very frightened. +Some of them bunked into a sunken road or cutting which ran straight +out from the wood in a southerly direction, and huddled together, +with hands upraised. They began to empty their pockets and hand out +souvenirs—watches, compasses, cigars, pen-knives—to their captors, and +even wanted to shake hands with us! There was no other officer about +at the moment, so I had to find an escort to take the prisoners down. +Among the prisoners was a tall, distinguished-looking man, and I asked +him in my broken German whether he was an officer. ‘Ja! mein Herr!’ +was the answer I got. ‘Sprechen sie English?’ ‘Jah!’ ‘Good,’ I said, +thankful that I didn’t have to rack my brains for any more German +words; ‘please tell your men that no harm will come to them if they +follow you quietly.’ He turned round and addressed his men, who seemed +to be very grateful that we were not going to kill them! I must say the +officer behaved with real soldierly dignity, and, not to be outdone in +politeness, I treated him with the same respect that he showed me. I +gave him an escort for himself and told off three or four men for the +remainder. I could not but rather admire his bearing, for he did not +show anything like the terror that his men did. + +“I heard afterward that when Captain ——’s company rushed a trench +more to our right, round the corner of the wood, a German officer +surrendered in great style. He stood to attention, gave a clinking +salute, and said in perfect English, ‘Sir, myself, this other officer +and ten men are your prisoners.’ Captain —— said, ‘Right you are, old +chap!’ and they shook hands, the prisoners being led away immediately. +So you see there are certain amenities which are observed even on the +bloodiest of battlefields. I believe our prisoners were all Bavarians, +who are better mannered from all accounts than the Prussians. They +could thank their stars they had Irish chivalry to deal with. + +“There were a great many German dead and wounded in the sunken road. +One of them was an officer. He was lying at the entrance to a dugout. +He was waving his arms about. I went over and spoke to him. He could +talk a little English. All he could say was, ‘Comrade, I die, I die.’ +I asked him where he was hit and he said in the stomach. It was +impossible to move him, for our stretcher bearers had not yet come up, +so I got my servant to look for an overcoat to throw over him, as he +was suffering terribly from the cold. Whether or not he survived the +night I do not know. + +“Our line was now extended across the sunken road and beyond the corner +of the wood to our right. Darkness was coming on. Airplanes were +hovering overhead, and shortly afterward our shells began to form a +barrage in front. The Germans had evidently rallied, for we could see a +long line of them coming up on our right, evidently from the direction +of Leuze Wood. Our machine guns opened fire. The counter-attack was +hung up, but the Germans must have dug themselves in for the night, +for in the morning they gave us a good deal of trouble. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by Fairchild, New York._ + +Lieutenant George H. Pendleton + + With two other officers and twenty men he was sent by the Belgian + command to get information about the enemy. In a fight with a German + patrol he was wounded, but returned to headquarters with the desired + information. He is a great-grandson of Francis Scott Key.] + +After the counter-attack had subsided, I was ordered to take my men and +join up with the rest of the battalion on our right. There we spent the +night in a trench. We must have been facing south. It was a miserable +night we passed, for we were all very cold and thirsty. We had to +keep digging. When morning broke it was very misty. We expected to be +relieved at two in the morning, but the relief did not come till noon. +Never shall I forget those hours of suspense. We were all hungry. The +only food we could get was German black bread, which we picked up all +over the place; also German tinned sausages and bully-beef. We had to +lift up some of the dead to get at these things. Some of them had water +bottles full of cold coffee, which we drank. + +“We all craved a smoke. Fortunately, the German haversacks were pretty +well stocked with cigarettes and cigars. I got a handful of cigars off +a dead German, and smoked them all morning. Also a tin of cigarettes. +His chocolates also came in handy. Poor devil, he must have been a +cheery soul when living, for he had a photograph of himself in his +pocket, in a group with his wife and two children, and the picture +made him look a jolly old sport. And here he was dead, with both legs +missing! The trench (between ours and the wood) was stacked with +dead. It was full of débris—bombs, shovels, and what not—and torn +books, magazines, and newspapers. I came across a copy of Schiller’s +‘Wallenstein.’ + + +FORGETTING ENMITY + +“Hearing moans as I went along the trench, I looked into a shelter or +hole dug in the side and found a young German. He could not move, as +his legs were broken. He begged me to get him some water, so I hunted +round and found a flask of cold coffee, which I held to his lips. He +kept saying ‘Danke, Kamerad, danke, danke.’ However much you may hate +the Germans when you are fighting them, you can only feel pity for +them when you see them lying helpless and wounded on the ground. I saw +this man afterward on his way to the dressing station. About ten yards +further on was another German, minus a leg. He, too, craved water, but +I could get him none, though I looked everywhere. Our men were very +good to the German wounded. In fact, kindness and compassion for the +wounded, our own and the enemy’s, is about the only decent thing I +have seen in war. It is not at all uncommon to see a British and German +soldier side by side in the same shell hole nursing each other as best +they can and placidly smoking cigarettes. A poor wounded German who +hobbled into our trench in the morning, his face badly mutilated by a +bullet—he whimpered and moaned as piteously as a child—was bound up by +one of our officers, who took off his coat and set to work in earnest. +Another German, whose legs were hit, was carried in by our men and +put into a shell hole for safety, where he lay awaiting the stretcher +bearers when we left. It is with a sense of pride that I can write this +of our soldiers. + +“There was a counter-attack on our left in the morning, and for a +few minutes the machine guns were very active, but the Germans were +beaten off. At last we were relieved, and made our way back, behind +Guillemont, to be taken out of the line. We spent one night in a +camp and next day came on here. I am writing this in a picturesque +French village. You can see green fields and trees and stacks of corn +and cattle when you look through the window. Here, at all events, +‘grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front’. I am not alone in +hoping that we shall not have to go back to that hellish place. + +“Well, now, that’s the story of the great Irish charge at Ginchy, so +far as I can tell it. I suppose by this time the great event has been +forgotten by the English public. But it will never be forgotten by +those who took part in it, for it is an event we shall remember with +pride to the end of our days. + +“Need I tell you how proud we officers and men are of the Royal Irish +Fusiliers who played as big a part as any in the storming of that +stronghold, and who went into action shouting their old battle cry of +‘Faugh-a-Ballagh’—‘Clear the way!’” + + * * * * * + +The estimated total war bill of the United States is 30 billions, which +is equal to approximately $330 apiece for every man, woman and child in +this country. The sum includes the 10 billions loaned to the Allies, +and is estimated on the appropriations made by the first and second +sessions of the 65th Congress, including the appropriations that were +authorized, but were not expected to be expended before the fiscal year +1919. + + + + +BIG ADAM’S HARE SOUP + +How the Scotch Snipers Fortified Themselves Against a German Attack at +Dawn + + +What may be described as a domestic scene in a dugout was presented +with a flavor of humor by a correspondent in the mid-year of 1917. It +was at a strategic point just behind the British first line trench. +Though the men were ignorant of the reasons for a recent move, the fact +was that officers were preparing to meet a German attack. The occupants +of the dugout were snipers of Scotch nativity and not over fond of +“blatherin’.” Unlike the usual failings and infirmities of the dugout, +flooded or swampy, this was dry and comfortable. There were shelves +on which their rifles were stacked, along with telescope sights and +other instruments important to snipers, who are invariably the crack +shots of the riflemen. There were pegs—bayonets thrust in between the +sandbags—for the equipment of the men. Conveniences and advantages not +a few; and room for comfortable grouping. + +We are introduced to the scene as preparations for a substantial meal +are under way. Though the battalion had been hurried up from a village +behind the lines where it had enjoyed a month’s rest, the rations had +arrived, and moreover the careful purveyors of the sniper squad had +brought along two plump hares shot the day before, and these were being +devotionally fitted to the service of the inner man on the principal +brazier. Another brazier was assigned to the less honorable office of +heating water for tea. A few tallow dips feebly lighted the place and +gave curious, half-substantial aspects to the men under the wavering +canopy of smoke from pipes and cigarettes. + +A huge Scot is hanging solicitously over the cooking hares, wholly +absorbed in the delightful occupation. He gives no heed to the men +surrounding him in critical inspection of his performance, eagerly +expectant of the result. These critical watchers are exceedingly +careful, however, to make no comment to reflect upon the culinary +skill of the man sedulously stirring the savory contents of the “dixie” +over the brazier. The group reminded the correspondent of the gnomes +Rip Van Winkle found in the Catskill mountains; solemn they were, grave +with a sense of their responsibility. The Scots are not over given to +gaiety, however sensitive to humor of their own conceiving. + +Gravest of all the assembly are those seated nearest the brazier, where +the hare soup is stewing, and it is not difficult to infer that they +are the veterans, the supersnipers, of the section. Their age, the +manner in which the younger snipers defer to them and give them place, +the cool confidence of their every look and movement, all mark them out +as leaders among men. + +A notable group it was. Says the correspondent: + +“Each a man of distinct personality, yet collectively the deadliest +unit on the whole battle-line; each of a name known outside the +division and of a skill which has brought the section success in the +trenches and credit on the test rifle-ranges behind the lines. Yet no +trace of arrogance shows itself in their demeanor, and the careless +observer might possibly have only caught a hint of the great reserve +strength embodied in each of them. And all sit gravely and watch big +Adam, who wields the spoon, stir the soup.” + +Suddenly there is a diversion from the other end of the dugout. Here +two or three younger men have been sitting, and their conversation, +gradually rising in key, has been slowly breaking in as a disturbing +factor to the solemnity of their elders round the brazier. The noise +now reaches a climax and an indignant voice exclaims: + +“Ye’re just a blether, Jimmy Duffus; just a big, bletherin’ eediot.” + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +The Scots in the Village of Loos + +A Highlander Is Rescuing a Little French Girl from a Danger Alley.] + +“But I tell ye, Wullie, I heard the officer sayin’ so,” says Jimmy +aggrievedly. + +“Well, even tho ye did,” rejoins Willie, “what richt hae ye to be +turnin’ ower what the officer says in public?” + +“He didna tell me to keep it quate, Wullie Black.” + +“He didna tell ye onything at a’. It was jist thae big lugs o’ yours +happened by at the time. And noo, like the big mooth ye are, ye goun +clyping it a’ ower the place.” + +Jimmy rose threateningly, and Willie was not a whit behind him. Both +were prepared for an immediate settlement. Another second and they +would have come to blows, but the sergeant intervened. + +“Come ower here, baith o’ ye,” he said sternly, and the two slunk up to +him. + +“It was Duffus here, sairgeant, was sayin’ that the officer was sayin’ +that the Germans wud attack——” + +“Be quate, Black,” broke in the sergeant. “Ye’re but a poor, ignorant +boy, Wullie,” he continued, speaking with great deliberation, “only +good to hold the horse by the head. Go and clean that rifle or I’ll tak +it from ye a’thegither.” + +Completely subdued by so dire a threat, Willie went off to this task +with alacrity. Not only did he love his rifle, but he feared his +sergeant’s eloquence. “And as for you, Duffus,” said the latter, +turning to the other culprit, “if you do not keep your mooth shut aboot +what your betters say, ye’ll be oot o’ the section the morn’s mornin’. +Jist mind in future that onything the officer wants the section to +know, I’ll tell ye.” + +Jimmy subsided discreetly, abashed but not extinguished, and still +bursting to blab. The sergeant adjusted himself to some bags of +charcoal and dozed off. When the muffled sounds of impending snores +assured Jimmy that the sergeant was asleep, he leaned eagerly forward +and in a momentous whisper heard by the others discharged his +high-tensioned information: + +“The officer said the Germans will attack at dawn!” + +Big Adam leaned forward and roused the sergeant. The younger man looked +up inquiringly, expecting some authoritative statement on the subject. +But as the sergeant lifted his head attentively, Big Adam, taking +appreciative sips from the spoon, said only: + +“This is grand hare soup! Will ye tak’ a sup, Andra?” + + + + +A “BLUE GRASS” CANADIAN + +Sergeant McClintock Was Brave Enough to Confess War Has Its Scare + + +While the war was at its worst one of our boys, a Lieutenant, who had +done trench service from “support” to going “over the top,” was, after +serious wounds, invalided home as a training officer. He wore a medal +on his breast that attested his bravery, but in a little talk at a club +dinner he said, “If you hear any fellow say he was not scared when +going ‘over the top’ or when scuttling around under shell and gun fire, +you may safely set him down as a darned liar or as a mental defective. +We do get scared a plenty—but we keep on fighting. It is true a man may +forget his scare in the excitement of action, and generally does; but +he has moments when the red goes out of his face.” + +Some of the coolest, bravest men taking part in desperate engagements +have made similar statements. The thing in war is not a question of +“to be scared or not to be scared,” but of unfailing obedience to +orders in spite of colorless cheeks and tremblings of the flesh. +That is an impression one gets from such accounts of war as that of +Sergeant Alexander McClintock, a Kentucky boy, who felt the lure so +keenly that in October, 1915, he hurried over to Canada and as soon +thereafter as formalities permitted he joined the Canadian Grenadier +Guards. In due course the Guards were sent across and were dropped +into the front trenches in Belgium. From that time onward until he was +invalided home wearing a Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous +bravery young McClintock had adventures not a few, enough and varied to +make fascinating the book he wrote, _Best o’ Luck_, which the George +Doran Company published early in 1918. The Sergeant tells his story +capitally, whether recounting experiences with those formidable and +ghoulish beasts, the trench rats, or encounters with the not altogether +admirable trench Hun. For a long time the life in the trenches was dull +monotony, about the only relief in the way of amusement being found in +shooting rats as they scurried along the parapet. He says: + + +A COMFORTING STAFF OFFICER + +“At last came the night when we were to go ‘over the top,’ across No +Man’s Land, and have a frolic with Fritz in his own bailiwick. I am +endeavoring to be as accurate and truthful as possible in these stories +of my soldiering, and I am therefore compelled to say that there +wasn’t a man in the sixty who didn’t show the strain in his pallor +and nervousness. Under orders, we discarded our trench-helmets and +substituted knitted skull-caps or mess tin covers. Then we blackened +our hands and faces with ashes from a camp-fire. After this they loaded +us into motor-trucks and took us up to ‘Shrapnel Corner,’ from which +point we went in on foot. Just before we left, a staff officer came +along and gave us a little talk. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo, by Western Newspaper Union._ + +Lieutenant Benjamin E. Turner (Right) and His Brother, Private Robert +I. Turner + + A man in American uniform appeared among the United States troops + in the Vesle sector, shouted that resistance was useless, and that + American officers had advised everybody to surrender; but Lieut. + Turner ordered his men to stand fast. The alarmist was later + identified as a German spy.] + +“‘This is the first time you men have been tested,’ he said. ‘You’re +Canadians. I needn’t say anything more to you. They’re going to be +popping them off at a great rate while you’re on your way across. +Remember that you’d better not stand up straight, because our shells +will be going over just six and a half feet from the ground—where +it’s level. If you stand up straight you’re likely to be hit in the +head, but don’t let that worry you, because if you do get hit in the +head you won’t know it. So why in hell worry about it?’ That was his +farewell. He jumped on his horse and rode off. + +“The point we were to attack had been selected long before by our +scouts. It was not, as you might suppose, the weakest point in +the German line. It was, on the contrary, the strongest. It was +considered that the moral effect of cleaning up a weak point would be +comparatively small, whereas to break in at the strongest point would +be something really worth while. And, if we were to take chances, it +really wouldn’t pay to hesitate about degrees. The section we were to +raid had a frontage of 150 yards and a depth of 200 yards. It had been +explained to us that we were to be supported by a ‘box barrage,’ or +curtain fire from our artillery, to last exactly twenty-six minutes. +That is, for twenty-six minutes from the time when we started ‘over +the top,’ our artillery, several miles back, would drop a ‘curtain’ of +shells all around the edges of that 150-yard by 200-yard section. We +were to have fifteen minutes in which to do our work. Any man not out +at the end of the fifteen minutes would necessarily be caught in our +own fire, as our artillery would then change from a ‘box’ to pour a +straight curtain fire, covering all of the spot of our operations. + + +THE AGONY OF WAITING + +“Our officers set their watches very carefully with those of the +artillery officers before we went forward to the front trenches. We +reached the front at 11 p. m., and not until our arrival there were we +informed of the ‘zero hour’—the time when the attack was to be made. +The hour of 12:10 had been selected. The waiting from eleven o’clock +until that time was simply an agony. Some of our men sat stupid and +inert. Others kept talking constantly about the most inconsequential +matters. One man undertook to tell a funny story. No one listened to +it, and the laugh at the end was emaciated and ghastly. The inaction +was driving us all into a state of funk. I could actually feel my +nerve oozing out at my fingertips, and if we had had to wait fifteen +minutes longer I shouldn’t have been able to climb out of the trench.” + +Finally the moment for the attack arrived. + +“We sneaked out, single file, making our way from shell-hole to +shell-hole, nearly all the time on all-fours, crawling quickly over +the flat places between the holes. The Germans had not sighted us, +but they were squirting machine-gun bullets all over the place like +a man watering a lawn with a garden-hose, and they were bound to get +some of us. Behind me I heard cries of pain and groans, but this made +little impression on my benumbed intelligence. From the mere fact that +whatever had happened had happened to one of the other sections of ten +and not to my own, it seemed, some way or other, no affair to concern +me. Then a man in front of me doubled up suddenly and rolled into a +shell-hole. That simply made me remember very clearly that I was not +to stop on account of it. It was some one else’s business to pick that +man up. Next, according to the queer psychology of battle, I began to +lose my sensation of fear and nervousness. After I saw a second man +go down, I gave my attention principally to a consideration of the +irregularities of the German parapet ahead of us, picking out the spot +where we were to enter the trench. It seems silly to say it, but I +seemed to get some sort of satisfaction out of the realization that we +had lost the percentage which we might be expected to lose going over. +Now, it seemed, the rest of us were safe until we should reach the next +phase of our undertaking. + + +ALMOST CALM + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Captain Thomas H. Fallow + + When heavy machine-gun fire held up his advance, Capt. Fallow led + his men in an attack on the woods in which the enemy was situated, + captured many prisoners, cleared the woods, and inflicted severe + losses.] + +“I heard directions given and I gave some myself. My voice was firm, +and I felt almost calm. Our artillery had so torn up the German barbed +wire that it gave us no trouble at all. We walked through it with only +a few scratches. When we reached the low, sandbag parapet of the enemy +trench we tossed in a few bombs and followed them right over as soon +as they had exploded. There wasn’t a German in sight. They were all in +their dugouts. But we knew pretty well where every dugout was located, +and we rushed for the entrances with our bombs. Everything seemed to +be going just as we had expected it to go. Two Germans ran plump into +me as I rounded a ditch angle, with a bomb in my hand. They had their +hands up and each of them yelled: + +“‘Mercy, _Kamerad_!’ + +“I passed them back to be sent to the rear, and the man who received +them from me chuckled and told them to step lively. The German trenches +were practically just as we had expected to find them, according to our +sample. They were so nearly similar to the duplicate section in which +we had practiced that we had no trouble finding our way in them. I was +just thinking that really the only tough part of the job remaining +would be getting back across No Man’s Land, when it seemed that the +whole earth behind me rose in the air. For a moment I was stunned and +half blinded by dirt blown into my face. When I was able to see, I +discovered that all that lay back of me was a mass of upturned earth +and rock, with here and there a man shaking himself or scrambling out +of it, or lying still. + +“The philosophy of the British Tommies and the Canadians and the +Australians on the Somme was a remarkable reflection of their fine +courage through all that hell. They go about their work, paying no +attention to the flying death about them. + +“‘If Fritz has a shell with your name and number on it,’ said a British +Tommy to me one day, ‘you’re going to get it, whether you’re in the +front line or seven miles back. If he hasn’t, you’re all right.’ + +“Fine fighters, all. And the Scotch kilties, lovingly called by the +Germans ‘the women from hell,’ have the respect of all armies. We +saw little of the _poilus_, except a few on leave. All the men were +self-sacrificing to one another in that big melting-pot from which so +few ever emerge whole. The only things it is legitimate to steal in +the code of the trenches are rum and ‘fags’ (cigarettes). Every other +possession is as safe as if it were under a Yale lock.” + + +FIRE CURTAINS + +The method in which “curtains of fire” are laid down is very clearly +described. + +“While I was at the front I had opportunity to observe three distinct +types of barrage-fire, the ‘box,’ the ‘jumping,’ and the ‘creeping.’ +The ‘box,’ I have already described to you, as it is used in a raid. +The ‘jumping’ plays on a certain line for a certain interval and then +jumps to another line. The officers in command of the advance know +the intervals of time and space and keep their lines close up to the +barrage, moving with it on the very second. The ‘creeping’ barrage +opens on a certain line and then creeps ahead at a certain fixed rate +of speed, covering every inch of the ground to be taken. The men of +the advance simply walk with it, keeping within about thirty yards +of the line on which the shells were falling. Eight-inch shrapnel +and high-explosive shells were used exclusively by the British when +I was with them in maintaining barrage-fire. The French used their +‘seventy-fives,’ which are approximately of three-inch caliber. Of +late, I believe, the British and French have both added gas-shells for +this use when conditions make it possible. The Germans, in establishing +a barrage, used their ‘whiz-bangs,’ slightly larger shells than ours, +but they never seemed to have quite the same skill and certitude in +barrage bombardment that our artillerymen had. + +“To attempt to picture the scene of two barrage-fires, crossing, is +quite beyond me. You see two walls of flame in front of you, one where +your own barrage is playing, and one where the enemy guns are firing, +and you see two more walls of flame behind you, one where the enemy +barrage is playing, and one where your own guns are firing. And amid it +all you are deafened by Titanic explosions which have merged into one +roar of thunderous sound, while acrid fumes choke and blind you. To use +a fitting if not original phrase, it’s just ‘Hell with the lid off.’” + +The wound that ended McClintock’s career with the Canadian forces was +received at the battle of the Somme. Major Lewis, in command of that +section, sent for him: + +“‘McClintock,’ said he, ‘I don’t wish to send you to any special +hazard, and so far as that goes we’re all going to get more or less of +a dusting. But I want to put that machine gun which has been giving us +so much trouble out of action.’ + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Lieutenant-Colonel John W. Stewart + + He carried out special operations, for the infantry and heavy + artillery. Practically all of his work was done under fire and he was + many times mentioned in orders for his extraordinary efficiency.] + +“I knew very well the machine gun he meant. It was in a concrete +emplacement, walled and roofed, and the devils in charge of it seemed +to be descendants of William Tell and the prophet Isaiah, They always +knew what was coming and had their guns accurately trained on it before +it came. + +“‘If you are willing,’ said Major Lewis, ‘I wish you to select +twenty-five men from the company and go after that gun the minute the +order comes to advance. Use your own judgment about the men and the +plan for taking the gun position. Will you go?’ + +“‘Yes, sir,’ I answered. ‘I’ll go and pick out the men right away. I +think we can make those fellows shut up shop over there.’ + +“Good boy!’ he said. ‘You’ll try, all right.’ + +“I started away. He called me back. + +“‘This is going to be a bit hot, McClintock,’ he said, taking my hand. +‘I wish you the best of luck, old fellow—you and the rest of them.’ In +the trenches they always wish you the best of luck when they hand you a +particularly tough job. + + +THE SAME TO YOU + +“I thanked him and wished him the same. I never saw him again. He was +killed in action within two hours after our conversation. Both he and +my pal, Macfarlane, were shot down dead that morning. + +“When they called for volunteers to go with me in discharge of Major +Lewis’s order the entire company responded. I picked out twenty-five +men, twelve bayonet men and thirteen bombers. They agreed to my plan, +which was to get within twenty-five yards of the gun emplacement +before attacking, to place no dependence on rifle fire, but to bomb +them out and take the position with the bayonet. We followed that +plan and took the emplacement quicker than we had expected to do, but +there were only two of us left when we got there—Private Godsall, No. +177,063, and myself. All the rest of the twenty-five were dead or down. +The emplacement had been held by eleven Germans. Two only were left +standing when we got in. + +“When we saw that the gun had been silenced and the crew disabled, +Godsall and I worked round to the right about ten yards from the +shell-hole where we had sheltered ourselves while throwing bombs into +the emplacement and scaled the German parapet. Then we rushed the gun +position. The officer who had been in charge was standing with his +back to us, firing with his revolver down the trench at our men who +were coming over at another point. I reached him before Godsall and +bayoneted him. The other German who had survived our bombing threw +up his hands and mouthed the Teutonic slogan of surrender, ‘Mercy, +_Kamerad_,’ My bayonet had broken off in the encounter with the German +officer, and I remembered that I had been told always to pull the +trigger after making a bayonet thrust, as that would usually jar the +weapon loose. In this case I had forgotten instructions. I picked up a +German rifle with bayonet fixed, and Godsall and I worked on down the +trench. + +“The German who had surrendered stood with his hands held high above +his head, waiting for us to tell him what to do. He never took his +eyes off us, even to look at his officer, lying at his feet. As we +moved down the trench he followed us, still holding his hands up and +repeating, ‘Mercy, _Kamerad_!’ At the next trench angle we took five +more prisoners, and as Godsall had been slightly wounded in the arm, +I turned the captives over to him and ordered him to take them to +the rear. Just then the men of our second wave came over the parapet +like a lot of hurdlers. In five minutes we had taken the rest of the +Germans in the trench section prisoners, had reversed the fire steps, +and had turned their own machine guns against those of their retreating +companies that we could catch sight of.” + + * * * * * + +Badly wounded in the knee a little later, the sergeant took refuge +in a shell-hole. Four German prisoners on their way to the rear were +requisitioned as stretcher-bearers and carried him in on an improvised +litter. + + +KNICKERBOCKER WAITER + +“It was a trip which was not without incident. Every now and then +we would hear the shriek of an approaching ‘coal-box,’ and then my +prisoner stretcher-bearers and I would tumble in one indiscriminate +heap into the nearest shell-hole. If we did that once, we did it +a half-dozen times. After each dive, the four would patiently +reorganize and arrange the improvised stretcher again, and we would +proceed. Following every tumble, however, I would have to tighten my +tourniquets, and despite all I could do the hemorrhage from my wound +continued so profuse that I was beginning to feel very dizzy and weak. +On the way in I sighted our regimental dressing station and signed to +my four bearers to carry me toward it. The station was in an old German +dugout. Major Gilday was at the door. He laughed when he saw me with my +own special ambulance detail. + +“‘Well, what do you want?’ he asked. + +“‘Most of all,’ I said, ‘I think I want a drink of rum.’ + +“He produced it for me instantly. + +“‘Now,’ said he, ‘my advice to you is to keep on traveling. You’ve got +a fine special detail there to look after you. Make ’em carry you to +Poizers. It’s only five miles, and you’ll make it all right. I’ve got +this place loaded up full, no stretcher-bearers, no assistants, no +adequate supply of bandages and medicines, and a lot of very bad cases. +If you want to get out of here in a week, just keep right on going now.’ + +“As we continued toward the rear we were the targets for a number of +humorous remarks from men coming up to go into the fight. + +“‘Give my regards to Blighty, you lucky beggar,’ was the most frequent +saying. + +“‘Bli’ me,’ said one cockney Tommy, ‘there goes one o’ th’ Canadians +with an escort from the Kaiser.’ + +“Another man stopped and asked about my wound. + +“‘Good work,’ he said. ‘I’d like to have a nice clean one like that +myself.’ + +“I noticed one of the prisoners grinning at some remark and asked him +if he understood English. He hadn’t spoken to me, though he had shown +the greatest readiness to help me. + +“‘Certainly I understand English,’ he replied. ‘I used to be a waiter +at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York.’ That sounded like a voice from +home, and I wanted to hug him. I didn’t. However, I can say for him he +must have been a good waiter. He gave me good service.” + + + + +MISTRESS “RAZZLE DAZZLE” + +A Rampageous, Self-Willed Old Thing Fondly Remembered by Her +Non-Commander + + +Captain David Fallon is a young Irishman, but an old soldier. Before +1914 he had fought against the hillmen in India, and had won the Indian +Field Medal. At the opening of the war he was physical instructor and +bayonet drill master at the Royal Military College. So expert a teacher +was he that the authorities decided to keep him at his post training +new officers. Dave Fallon couldn’t “see it” that way. He remonstrated +strenuously. There were other men—older men—professional soldiers, he +insisted, just as capable of training men as he was. Anyway he couldn’t +stay out of the “big fight.” He pointed to his long service record, his +Frontier Medal. He would be more valuable at the front. The authorities +finally gave in. + +Fallon had no wild dreams of glory and distinction. “It is your amateur +soldier,” he says, “who is most filled with such aspirations. Not that +he hasn’t a right to entertain them, and try to act on them, for they +have led many new-made soldiers into great and brave accomplishments. +I don’t mean that such dreams are bad for a man. They are distinctly +good. I only mean that with regulars soldiering is a cold, hard +business and one isn’t given to enhancing it with romantic imaginings.” + +Little did Fallon think when he was urging himself on the military +authorities for active duty that when the war was over there would be +few soldiers with adventures more thrilling and perilous than fell to +his lot. + +He went through the entire terrible campaign at Gallipoli. He was in +numerous fierce trench battles. He served as an aerial observer, and +fought enemy planes. On the road to Thiepval he had a shoulder smashed +by shrapnel, but he remained in command of his men behind barricades +made of the dead bodies around them in “No Man’s Land.” For twenty-two +hours they kept the Germans off. Then reinforcements came. On scout +duty he frequently penetrated German trenches and gun positions in +the night. At last he was detected in the enemy trenches. A bomb duel +ensued. He was frightfully injured but managed to escape. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo, by International Film Service_ + +Sergeant Clyde Graham + + In company with an American officer he manned a tank and charged two + towns under heavy German fire. The tank scattered a German battery and + accumulated seventy prisoners. In peace time he is a college professor.] + +These incidents and many others Captain Fallon relates in his book _The +Big Fight_ (W. J. Watt & Company). One of his most interesting chapters +is devoted to his experience in command of a tank. It was an amazing +adventure. + +The Captain has fond memories of that good, old tank. “The dear girl +was named ‘Razzle Dazzle,’” he says. + +“She was very young, having been in service only three months, but +rather portly. She weighed something over thirty tons. And in no way +could you call the dear little woman pretty. She was a pallid gray +and mud splashed when I got her and there was no grace in the bulging +curves of her steel shape; or of her conical top; or her ponderous +wheels. + +“She showed every aspect of being a bad, scrappy, old dearie. The +minute I saw her in her lovely ugliness I knew she would like trouble +and lots of it. She carried a six hundred horsepower motor. And out of +her gray steel hoods protruded eight guns. + + +SHE GOES INTO ACTION + +“The order had come to me about one in the morning, and it was nearly +three when we started lumbering out toward the enemy trenches. We had +about six hundred yards to cover. I knew little or nothing of her +motor power or speed. My concern was with the efficiency of the guns. +She pumped and swayed across ‘No Man’s Land’ at about four miles an +hour. She groaned and tossed a great deal. And in fact, made such poor +progress that my regiment, the Oxfords and Bucks, beat the old dearie +to the enemy lines. Our men were among the barbed wire of the first +line, fighting it, cutting it, knocking it down before the old ‘Razzle +Dazzle’ got into action. + +“But she ‘carried on’ just the same. And when she smote the barbed-wire +obstacles, she murdered them. She crushed those barriers to what looked +like messes of steel spaghetti. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant William A. Hartman + +_32nd Division, 107th Engineers, Company “F”_ + + He was a member of a patrol sent out from the battalion post of + command August 4, 1918, to reconnoiter the Vesle River front near + Fismes for the location of possible sites for pontoon bridges. The + patrol separated, but he continued to work alone, starting the + construction of the bridges without orders.] + +“Instead of sinking into trenches as I feared she would, she crushed +them and continued to move forward. Of course, we were letting go +everything we had, and from my observation hole, I could see the +Germans didn’t like it. They had put up something of a stand against +the infantry. But against the tank they were quick to make their +farewells. It was a still black night, but under the star-shells we +could see them scurrying out of our way. + +“This was very sensible of them because we were certainly making a +clean sweep of everything in sight and had the earth ahead throwing up +chocolate showers of spray as if the ground we rode was an angry sea of +mud. + +“Every man in the tank was shouting and yelling with the excitement of +the thing and we were tossed up against each other like loosened peas +in a pod. + +“Suddenly out of a very clever camouflage of tree branches and +shrubbery a German machine gun emplacement was revealed. The bullets +stormed and rattled upon the tank. But they did themselves a bad turn +by revealing their whereabouts, for we made straight for the camouflage +and went over that battery of machine guns, crunching its concrete +foundation as if it were chalk. + +“Then we turned about and from our new position put the Germans under +an enfilade fire that we kept up until every evidence was at hand +that the Oxfords and Bucks and supporting battalions were holding the +trenches. + +“But this was only preliminary work cut out for the tank to do. I had +special instructions and a main objective. This was a sugar refinery. +It was a one-storied building of brick and wood with a tiled roof. It +had been established as a sugar refinery by the Germans before the war +and when this occasion arose blossomed as a fortress with a gun aimed +out of every window. + +“To allow it to remain standing in hostile hands would mean that the +trenches we had won could be constantly battered. Its removal was most +desirable. To send infantry against it would have involved huge losses +in life. The tank was deemed the right weapon. + +“It was. + +“And largely because ‘Razzle Dazzle’ took matters into her own hands. +The truth is she ran away. + +“We rocked and ploughed out of the trenches and went swaying toward the +refinery. I ordered the round-top sealed. And we beat the refinery to +the attack with our guns. But they had seen us coming and every window +facing our way developed a working gun. There were about sixteen such +windows. They all blazed at us. + +“My notion had been to circle the ‘sugar mill’ with ‘Razzle Dazzle’ and +shoot it up from all sides. We were getting frightfully rapped by the +enemy fire, but there was apparently nothing heavy enough to split the +skin of the wild, old girl. Our own fire was effective. We knocked out +all the windows and the red-tiled roof was sagging. As I say, my notion +was to circle the ‘mill’ and I gave orders accordingly. But the ‘Razzle +Dazzle’s’ chauffeur looked at me in distress. + +“‘The steering gear’s off, sir,’ said he. + +“‘Stop her then and we’ll let them have it from here,’ I ordered. + +“He made several frantic motions with the mechanism and said: + +“‘I can’t stop her, either.’ + +“And the ‘Razzle Dazzle’ carried out her own idea of attack. She banged +head-on into the ‘mill.’ She went right through a wide doorway, making +splinters of the door; she knocked against concrete pillars, supports +and walls, smashing everything in her way and bowled out of the other +side just as the roof crashed in and apparently crushed and smothered +all the artillery men beneath it. + +“On the way through, the big, powerful old girl bucked and rocked and +reared until we men and the black cat inside her were thrown again and +again into a jumble, the cat scratching us like a devil in her frenzy +of fear. + +“Closed up in the tank as we were, we could hear the roar and crash of +the falling ‘mill,’ and from my observation port-hole I could observe +that it was most complete. The place had been reduced to a mere heap. +Not a shot came out of it at us. + + +SHE DEFIES CONTROL + +“But still the ‘Razzle Dazzle’ was having her own way. Her motorist +was signaling me that he had no control of her. This was cheerful +intelligence because right ahead was a huge shell crater. She might +slide into it and climb up the other side and out. I hoped so. But she +didn’t. She hit the bottom of the pit, tried to push her way up and +out, fell back, panted, pushed up again, fell back and then just stuck +at the bottom of the well, throbbing and moaning and maybe penitent +for her recklessness. + +“Penitence wasn’t to do her any good. It wasn’t five minutes later when +the Germans had the range of her and began smashing us with big shells. +I ordered my men to abandon her and led them in a rush out of the +crater and into small shell holes until the storm of fire was past. + +“When it was, ‘Razzle Dazzle’ was a wreck. She was cracked, distorted +and shapeless. But the runaway engine was still plainly to be heard +throbbing. Finally a last big shell sailed into the doughty tank and +there was a loud bang and a flare. Her oil reservoir shot up in an +enormous blaze. + +“‘Razzle Dazzle’ was no more. But she had accounted for the ‘refinery.’ +And our infantry had done the rest. The German position was ours. + +“I was all enthusiasm for fighting ‘tanks.’ But my superiors squelched +it. For when I asked for command of a sister of ‘Razzle Dazzle’ next +day, a cold-eyed aide said to me: + +“‘One tank, worth ten thousand pounds, is as much as any bally young +officer may expect to be given to destroy during his lifetime. Good +afternoon.’” + + + + +THE PAINTER SOLDIER + +Though Exempt by Age the Love Art Deepened Bade Him Fight for France + + +Elsewhere in this volume is told how an American poet, Alan Seeger, +gave his life for France. Here is the story of a French painter who, +freely offering his life, gave what was even more precious to him than +life. You may know the name Lemordant, and you may know the work signed +by that name; if not, what pleasanter introduction to both than some +words by Mary Fanton Roberts in the _Touchstone_? She says: + +“Perhaps all unconsciously, this heroic French artist-soldier has +found the truth about democracy, and he tells it to us with lightning +strokes and splendid color. In all of his pictures he is a painter +of the simple people: of the workmen, the peasants, the sailors, the +fishermen, and women. And he paints them working joyously with strength +and exhilaration and interest. He paints them running in the meadows +and dancing on the shore and laughing into each other’s faces. He +paints them as great workmen, great lovers. They seem, these men and +women, in their bright-colored clothes and their vivid faces, as much +a part of the essential beauty of life as white clouds racing over the +blue sky on a windy day, as the amethyst water through which the women +splash bringing in the nets; they are as genuine as the yellow shore +where the brilliant fishing-boats lie, as the poppies in the field, and +the tulips in the home-gardens.” + + +WOULD NOT REMAIN BEHIND + +He was 37 years old when the war began, an age that entitled him to +remain behind in the Home Defense Corps, but he chose to go to the +front. Mr. Charles LeGoffic relates, in the _Touchstone_, the war +experiences of painter Lemordant, the experiences of a veritable hero, +hero exceptional. His first engagement of consequence was at Charleroi, +where he was wounded and where he won a lieutenant’s commission. + +One night during the battle of the Marne, on the outskirts of the +forest of Guebarre, his attention was attracted by some suspicious +movements on the right. He crawled out, revolver in hand, followed by +four men of his section, to investigate. + +[Illustration: + + © _Brown Bros._ + +Victor Chapman + +Another American who gave his life as a flyer in the Lafayette +Escadrille.] + +[Illustration: + + © _Paul Thompson._ + +Norman Prince + +One of the organizers of the Lafayette Escadrille, who was killed in +action in France.] + +“He was not mistaken; at that spot, between two companies, our line +showed a slight opening, a ‘break’ which the Germans were trying to +enter. Lemordant sent one of his men to alarm the nearest company, and +was making a half-circle toward his own company when a huge Boche +ruffian appeared in the darkness and fired at him pointblank. The +bullet shaved his cheek; other bullets whistled about. The little troop +had been winded, and there was only one way to get out of it, that +was to reply by a general fire that would give the impression of an +attack in force. The enemy would perhaps be impressed by it, and in +any event this volley would put companies out on the alert. In fact, +on both sides the firing became general, even the artillery took part +in it; a seventy-seven burst near Lemordant, wounded him in his right +side and threw him into the air with his full equipment. The wound +was not serious, but Lemordant fell in such a way as to dislocate his +hip-bones and to tear his muscles. Fainting, he was carried away to a +field-hospital, where he remained until the ninth. The enemy was now +in full retreat. On the eighth we had crossed Le Petit Morin, on the +ninth we lay at Montmirail and at Champaubert, on the battlefields of +the Napoleonic epic, and the birth of victory came to the armies of the +Republic in the same cradle where the Imperial star had shed its last +rays. + +“Lemordant refused to be sent to a base hospital. He was not yet +strong. He could scarcely walk, the two wooden splints which they had +placed over his pelvis came out of position at each sudden movement; +but the splendid conscience of a leader of men had awakened in this +idealist, this dreamer who but yesterday was so highly prejudiced +against the military profession. He knew that in war-time an officer +only holds his men by his own example and moral authority.” + + +AN OFFICER’S OBLIGATION + +“‘An officer,’ he said to me, ‘literally must give all his existence, +all his life-blood to his country; he must not spare a drop; less than +any other is he allowed to invoke the relief of the “slightly wounded,” +which permits him to go to some luxurious hospital in the Côte d’Azur +and there appeal to the tender hearts of the Sisters of Charity. +Wounded, sick, limping, he must be able to say to his soldiers who are +complaining, “But do I not march, too?” Then they will follow him.’ + +“On the morning of October 4, 1914, the 41st attacked near +Monchy-le-Preux.... All went well at first. From time to time, whenever +the ground was uneven, they rushed forward; a few unlucky ones are +dropped out on the way. With the rest, Lemordant, although himself +wounded in the hand, reached the enemy trench and carried it. + +“A second bullet at this moment grazes his right temple; a third, a +little while after, wounds him on the top of his skull. It is now broad +day, but it is northern weather, gray, cheerless, dark, uncertain. In +the four great stages of his military life this painter soldier knew +different climates; he has run the tone-scale from the burning blue of +Charleroi to the bottomless night of Craonnelle, with the clear starlit +heaven of the Marne between. + +“Is it of that he thinks, if it be that, in such a moment, he can think +of anything except the safety of his men? + +“Confused movement on the plain—on his right frantic silhouettes which +stand bolt upright, whirl about, collapse; another section of his +company engaged on the same side is caught on the flank by machine +guns set up in a sort of blockhouse behind a mound, in front of a pile +of ruined huts. Without hesitating, with the firmness of decision +which never abandons him in the most critical circumstances, Lemordant +gets his men together, rallies the fugitives, and throws himself on +the blockhouse—the battery of machine guns is put out of action. But +Lemordant, climbing the slope, receives a bullet pointblank which goes +through his right knee. + +“It is his fourth wound of the day, and his men wish to carry him +off; he refuses, feeling that his presence is more necessary than +ever. In spite of the pain he merely had his leg set in splints, then, +fortifying the positions on the side toward the enemy, he sends a +runner to Major Bernard to keep him in touch with his advance and to +call for supports. The man is killed on the way. Another meets the same +fate, and in the interim the German counter-attack breaks loose. + +“It is launched by a whole company, and it is terrifying to see this +gray wave rolling over the plain, rising, sinking, rising again, and +growing at each rush which brings it nearer the mound. Lemordant, by +rigid demand, compels his men not to fire, to control their nerves. The +charge gets within twenty meters of the mound, where it gathers itself +up to come over in a single mass with the cry ‘_Vorwärts!_’ + +“‘... Rapid fire—fire at will!’ roars Lemordant. + +“The charge vacillates, stops. Our men leap out of the trench to charge +in turn. Lemordant, though wounded in the hand, in the forehead, on +the head, and in the knee, charges with them, supported by a young +soldier of his section. Chance brings him face to face with the +_Oberst-leutnant_, who commands the counter-attack and whom he seizes +by the throat; just then a fifth bullet strikes him over the right eye, +breaking the frontal bone. It seems to him that his head has burst and +that his eyes have spurted out into space. He falls heavily. It is all +over!” + + +WHY THE NIGHT SO LONG + +“How was he finally saved? He does not know yet. Wounded within the +enemy’s lines, left for dead, he lay there four full days without care +and for forty-eight hours he was unconscious. When he came to himself +it was difficult to collect his thoughts. He did not know where he was. +Around him was total darkness, and it did not pass away. He heard the +groans, the death-rattle of the dying, the voices of the wounded who +called to him. He dragged himself in their direction and asked them +questions. Why did the night last so long? They answered that it was +broad daylight—and he understood. + +“‘... I had thought of everything,’ he said to me. ‘Of death, of the +most horrible wounds, but not of that! + +“‘... But as long as that too was necessary!’ + +“Yet his martyrdom was not finished, and the worst of all perhaps +remains. How shall I tell of that fearful suffering in wretched +lazarettos, in the dung-heaps where the Germans laid our wounded in the +villages behind the front! Most of them stayed there forever. He, with +greater vitality, was carried to Cambrai, and from there stage by stage +was transported to a hospital in Bavaria. + +“Melancholy journey! If he saw nothing, at least in the +railway-stations he heard the yells of the mobs which crowded on +the passage of the French wounded to gloat over their sufferings. +Eventually his condition improved a little; his eyes, one pushed out +of its socket, the other driven back in his head by the breaking of +his frontal bone, had been put back in place; he began to see, he +could even draw a few lines and make out large characters. But the +idea of escape mastered him; two unsuccessful efforts had sent him +to the guardhouse; on the third he was ordered to a reprisal camp; +his departure was fixed for the next day. Calm and serene as ever, he +wished before going to finish the series of addresses on the history +of painting which he had undertaken for his fellow prisoners. In the +course of the conference Lemordant wished to run over his notes; he +could no longer make them out! A halo danced in front of him, obscuring +everything! He had such a sense of anguish that he had to stop. But +by a concentration of the will he mastered himself and improvised the +rest of his address in a voice in which there was only the slightest +trembling. At the end of the address the battalion chief leaped to the +platform and took Lemordant in his arms.” + + +FOR THE LAST LOOK + +“‘... What has happened to you?’ Then when he learned: ‘Ah, my poor +friend, surely in your condition they can not send you to a reprisal +camp; courage, you shall go to France!’ + +“The commander of the guardhouse himself, feeling a sense of pity +when he learned what had happened, offered to telephone to the camp +commander and ask for a cancellation of the order. Lemordant refused; +he wished to owe nothing to the destroyers of his country. He started +for the reprisal camp. But there his blindness classified him almost +immediately among the severely wounded who were listed for exchange. +Switzerland received him for a time. At last arrived the moment when he +could cross the French frontier. + +“He had waited for that moment with a sort of religious ecstasy. Blind, +wounded in the back and side, with a broken knee, and a high fever, +he hoped for a miracle, but expected one only from himself, from the +power of his own will. He had asked the Red Cross nurses who had charge +of him to tell him the moment when the train crossed the frontier. He +would see it—see at least something belonging to it, no matter what—a +hedge, a length of rail, a pebble, a tuft of grass. They did what he +asked, took him to the door of the compartment, and there he exerted +all his strength, all his will-power. It was not to be! + +“The frontier was left behind; he fell back fainting—totally blind!” + + + + +EDITH CAVELL—MARTYR-HEROINE + +The English Nurse Whose Tragic Heroism and Secret Execution Made +Germany’s Defeat More Certain + + +The penitence of generations cannot suffice to erase from the world’s +judgment of German character the black stigma of the infamies +perpetrated in Belgium. The implacable, brutal wantonness with which +they were committed makes those crimes unforgettable. Ever conspicuous +among them will be the conscienceless execution of Edith Cavell, the +ministering angel, the merciful nurse murdered by military order,—with +the subsequent deliberate approval of Imperial Germany. A military +technicality was invoked in the attempted justification of the +execution of this brave and devoted woman, who was secretly tried, by a +German court-martial, on the charge of having aided English, French and +German soldiers to escape from Belgium, and hurriedly done to death. +The savagery of the event, which occurred in Brussels, Oct. 12, 1915, +sent a wave of horror and resentment throughout the civilized world +equaled only by the universal indignation aroused by the sinking of the +_Lusitania_. + +Miss Cavell was the daughter of an English clergyman, the Rev. +Frederick Cavell, for forty years vicar of Swardeston, Norfolk. In +1896 she entered the London Hospital to qualify as a trained nurse +and later became staff nurse. In 1900 she went to Brussels on the +invitation of Dr. Depage, a distinguished physician who had established +in a suburb of Brussels a training school for Belgian nurses. Miss +Cavell entered into the work so enthusiastically and furthered the +plans of Dr. Depage with such success that the institution, whose +influence was felt throughout Belgium, became the center of a large +nursing organization of scientifically trained nurses. She had won the +confidence of Dr. Depage so entirely that when, on the outbreak of the +war, he was called to military service, she was left to continue the +work in Brussels. All who came in contact with her agree that she was a +woman of fine character and a capable leader, worthy of a high place in +the list of great nurses of whom Florence Nightingale was the first. + +When the Germans occupied Brussels in 1914 Miss Cavell was permitted +to remain in the service to which she was so single-heartedly devoted, +and it is a memorable fact, the more honorable to her for the +ingratitude that rewarded her benevolent disinterestedness, that she +and her assistants nursed with equal care and fidelity the wounded +German soldiers and the Belgian victims of war. Her mission was one of +beneficence to the maimed, the sick and the unfortunate, a humanitarian +work that discriminated against none whose needs demanded her sympathy +and aid. + + +HER DUTY TO HER COUNTRY + +In the retreat of the French and British armies in late summer of 1914 +a number of English and French soldiers cut off from their companies +hid themselves in the woods, in trenches and in deserted houses, hoping +to escape capture. Many were caught, and some of them were summarily +shot. Others were sheltered and protected by farmers who provided them +with civilian clothes and gave them employment until they could find +means of escape into Holland. Similarly Belgian soldiers were given +the chance to evade the Germans; but those who were captured were, in +many instances if not usually, shot. It was because of this severity +in the treatment of captured men that Miss Cavell the more readily +yielded to her natural inclinations to aid the unfortunate who sought +her help. That was her statement to the military court before which she +was arraigned. She was asked why she had helped English soldiers to +escape; she replied firmly that it was because she believed that if she +had not done so the Germans would have shot them and that she thought +she only did her duty to her country in trying to save men’s lives. Her +prominence and her fame as nurse and comforter to the wounded attracted +the soldiers to her as a sympathetic woman disposed to help, and it is +not denied that she did help many. The Germans charged that she had +assisted one hundred and thirty to get out of Belgium. + + +MISS CAVELL A PRISONER + +Suspicion having been directed against her,—how is not clearly +known—she was subjected to espionage and in consequence she was +arrested August 15, 1915, and thrown into prison at St. Giles. This did +not cause her any apprehension as she anticipated no more than a short +imprisonment. She did not imagine, in fact, no one dreamed that the +German authorities would with premeditation shoot a woman for pitying +and showing mercy to the helpless. + +Mr. Brand Whitlock, the American Minister to Belgium, who at that time +represented (and until the United States entered the war continued +to represent) British interests in Belgium, felt an intense sympathy +with Miss Cavell and at once took up the matter of securing for her +a fair and proper trial. He wrote a letter to Baron von der Lancken, +the German Civil Governor of Belgium, stating that he had been urged +by telegraph to take charge of the defense and requested that Mr. +de Leval, councilor for the American Embassy, be allowed to see and +confer with Miss Cavell. This letter was not answered. Mr. Whitlock +again wrote more urgently. None too promptly the German Civil Governor +finally made reply, refusing to permit anyone to see Miss Cavell as the +Department of the Governor General “as a matter of principle does not +allow an accused person to have any interviews whatever,” stating also +that Miss Cavell had confessed her guilt and that her defense would be +conducted by Mr. Braun. + + +THE GERMAN WAY + +For some reason not ascertained, Braun could not undertake the defense, +and it was turned over to Mr. Kirschen, a Rumanian, practising law in +Brussels. Mr. de Leval thereupon wrote to Mr. Kirschen, as he stated in +his narrative later: + + “I put myself in communication with Mr. Kirschen, who told me that + Miss Cavell was prosecuted for having helped soldiers to cross the + frontier. I asked him whether he had seen Miss Cavell and whether + she had made any statement to him, and to my surprise found that the + lawyers defending prisoners before the German Military Court were not + allowed to see their clients before the trial, and were not shown + any document of the prosecution. This, Mr. Kirschen said, was in + accordance with the German military rules. He added that the hearing + of the trial of such cases was carried out very carefully, and that + in his opinion, although it was not possible to see the client before + the trial, in fact the trial itself developed so carefully and so + slowly, that it was generally possible to have a fair knowledge of all + the facts and to present a good defense for the prisoner. This would + especially be the case for Miss Cavell, because the trial would be + rather long, as she was prosecuted with thirty-four other prisoners. + + “I informed Mr. Kirschen of my intention to be present at the trial + so as to watch the case. He immediately dissuaded me from taking such + attitude, which he said would cause a great prejudice to the prisoner, + because the German judges would resent it and feel it almost as an + affront if I was appearing to exercise a kind of supervision on the + trial. He thought that if the Germans would admit my presence, which + was very doubtful, it would in any case cause prejudice to Miss Cavell. + + “Mr. Kirschen assured me over and over again that the Military Court + of Brussels was always perfectly fair, and that there was not the + slightest danger of any miscarriage of justice. He promised that he + would keep me posted on all the developments which the case would take + and would report to me the exact charges that were brought against + Miss Cavell and the facts concerning her that would be disclosed at + the trial, so as to allow me to judge by myself about the merits + of the case. He insisted that, of course, he would do all that was + humanly possible to defend Miss Cavell to the best of his ability.” + +The trial began Thursday, Oct. 7. Some opinion of the value of Mr. +Kirschen’s assurance made “over and over again that the military court +of Brussels was always perfectly fair,” etc., may be formed from the +facts that Miss Cavell was not allowed to have a defender of her +friends’ choosing, that she had no record of the evidence, oral or +documentary, to study in preparation for her defense, that she was +kept in solitary confinement for over nine weeks without opportunity +to consult even with her legal advisers, during which time she was +subjected to repeated cross examinations, and statements said to have +been made by her confessing guilt were transmitted by the German +authorities to the lawyer who subsequently was to defend her. + +The trial was conducted in German, a language she did not understand +and which had to be interpreted to her. As a commentator said, “It +obviously was impossible to place any adequate scheme of defense +with a lawyer whom she saw for the first time when the trial began, +a lawyer who had had no opportunity of studying the documents of +the prosecution. That Mr. Kirschen did the best he could under the +conditions is possible, though his subsequent conduct did not give +assurance of the devotion and profound interest to be expected of a +conscientious lawyer charged with an obligation that appealed at once +to his humanity and his chivalry.” + + +SENTENCED TO DEATH + +The fullest account of the trial was that given in M. de Leval’s report +to Mr. Whitlock. It was as follows: + + “Miss Cavell was prosecuted for having helped English and French + soldiers, as well as Belgian young men, to cross the frontier and to + go over to England. She had admitted by signing a statement before + the day of the trial, and by public acknowledgment in Court, in the + presence of all the other prisoners and the lawyers, that she was + guilty of the charges brought against her, and she had acknowledged + not only that she had helped these soldiers to cross the frontier, but + also that some of them had thanked her in writing when arriving in + England. This last admission made her case so much the more serious, + because if it only had been proved against her that she had helped the + soldiers to traverse the Dutch frontier, and no proof was produced + that these soldiers had reached a country at war with Germany, she + could only have been sentenced for an attempt to commit the ‘crime’ + and not for the ‘crime’ being duly accomplished. As the case stood the + sentence fixed by the German military law was a sentence of death. + + “Paragraph 58 of the German Military Code says: + + “‘Will be sentenced to death for treason any person who, with the + intention of helping the hostile Power, or of causing harm to the + German or allied troops, is guilty of one of the crimes of paragraph + 90 of the German Penal Code.’ + + “The case referred to in above said paragraph 90 consists in— + + “... conducting soldiers to the enemy....’ + + “The penalties above set forth apply, according to paragraph 160 of + the German Code, in case of war, to foreigners as well as to Germans. + + “In her oral statement before the Court Miss Cavell disclosed almost + all the facts of the whole prosecution. She was questioned in German, + an interpreter translating all the questions in French, with which + language Miss Cavell was well acquainted. She spoke without trembling + and showed a clear mind. Often she added some greater precision to her + previous depositions. + + “When she was asked why she helped these soldiers to go to England, + she replied that she thought that if she had not done so they would + have been shot by the Germans, and that therefore she thought she only + did her duty to her country in saving their lives. + + “The Military Public Prosecutor said that argument might be good for + English soldiers, but did not apply to Belgian young men whom she + induced to cross the frontier, and who would have been perfectly free + to remain in the country without danger to their lives. + + “Mr. Kirschen made a very good plea for Miss Cavell, using all + arguments that could be brought in her favor before the Court. + + “The Military Public Prosecutor, however, asked the Court to pass a + death sentence on Miss Cavell and eight other prisoners among the + thirty-five. The Court did not seem to agree, and the judgment was + postponed.” + + +WHITLOCK ATTEMPTS TO SAVE HER + +The duplicity of the German authorities was later demonstrated. The +political departments of the Governor-General of Belgium had given the +American Legation positive assurance that it would be fully informed +of developments in the case. As late as 6.30 o’clock on Monday evening, +three days after the trial, the Legation was positively informed by +Conrad, of the political department, in answer to direct inquiries, +that sentence had not been pronounced. Conrad renewed his previous +assurances that he would not fail to inform the American officials as +soon as there was any news. _At this time sentence of death already had +been pronounced._ + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood & Underwood._ + +Mr. Brand Whitlock, + +American Ambassador to Belgium during the war.] + +At 8 o’clock that evening M. de Leval learned through private but +reliable sources that Miss Cavell had been sentenced to death at 5 +o’clock that afternoon, and that she would be shot at 2 o’clock the +next morning. Thus the fact of her sentence was kept as secret as +possible, the officials denying it, and her accusers were evidently +so fearful that even at the eleventh hour a plea for mercy might +prevail that they had her shot, in the night, within nine hours of her +conviction. + +When, at 8 o’clock, M. de Leval was informed of the sentence and +impending execution, there remained but six hours in which to attempt +to save Miss Cavell’s life. He hurried to Mr. Whitlock, who was ill, +unable to leave the house, but who wrote an impassioned note to Baron +von der Lancken, the Civil Governor: + + My dear Baron:—I am too ill to present my request to you in person, + but I appeal to the generosity of your heart to support it and save + this unfortunate woman from death. Have pity on her. + + Yours sincerely, + BRAND WHITLOCK. + + +THE LAST PLEA FAILS + +With this letter and a plea for clemency addressed to the +Governor-General, M. de Leval and Mr. Hugh Gibson, First Secretary of +the Legation, went to the Marquis de Villalobar, the Spanish Minister, +to beg his coöperation. He most heartily joined them and the three went +to the house of the Civil Governor. Mr. Gibson reported the interview +and its negative results to the American Minister: + + “Baron von der Lancken and all the members of his staff were absent + for the evening. We sent a messenger to ask that he return at once + to see us in regard to a matter of utmost urgency. A little after 10 + o’clock he arrived, followed shortly after by Count Harrach and Herr + von Falkenhausen, members of his staff. The circumstances of the case + were explained to him and your note presented, and he read it aloud + in our presence. He expressed disbelief in the report that sentence + had actually been passed, and manifested some surprise that we should + give credence to any report not emanating from official sources. He + was quite insistent on knowing the exact source of our information, + but this I did not feel at liberty to communicate to him. Baron von + der Lancken stated that it was quite improbable that sentence had been + pronounced, that even if so, it would not be executed within so short + a time, and that in any event it would be quite impossible to take + any action before morning. It was, of course, pointed out to him that + if the facts were as we believed them to be, action would be useless + unless taken at once. We urged him to ascertain the facts immediately, + and this, after some hesitancy, he agreed to do. + + “He telephoned to the presiding judge of the court-martial and + returned in a short time to say that the facts were as we had + represented them, and that it was intended to carry out the sentence + before morning. We then presented, as earnestly as possible, your + plea for delay. So far as I am able to judge, we neglected to present + no phase of the matter which might have had any effect, emphasizing + the horror of executing a woman, no matter what her offense, pointing + out that the death sentence had heretofore been imposed only for + actual cases of espionage and that Miss Cavell was not even accused + by the German authorities of anything so serious. I further called + attention to the failure to comply with Mr. Conrad’s promise to inform + the Legation of the sentence. I urged that inasmuch as the offences + charged against Miss Cavell were long since accomplished, and that as + she had been for some weeks in prison, a delay in carrying out the + sentence could entail no danger to the German cause. I even went so + far as to point out the fearful effect of a summary execution of this + sort upon public opinion, both here and abroad, and, although I had no + authority for doing so, called attention to the possibility that it + might bring about reprisals. + + + THERE COULD BE NO APPEAL + + “The Spanish Minister forcibly supported all our representations and + made an earnest plea for clemency. + + “Baron von der Lancken stated that the Military Governor was the + supreme authority (‘Gerichtsherr’) in matters of this sort; that + appeal from his decision could be carried only to the Emperor, the + Governor-General having no authority to intervene in such cases. He + added that under the provisions of German martial law the Military + Governor had discretionary power to accept or to refuse acceptance of + an appeal for clemency. After some discussion he agreed to call the + Military Governor on the telephone and learn whether he had already + ratified the sentence, and whether there was any chance for clemency. + He returned in about half an hour, and stated that he had been to + confer personally with the Military Governor, who said that he had + acted in the case of Miss Cavell only after mature deliberation; + that the circumstances in her case were of such a character that he + considered the infliction of the death penalty imperative; and that in + view of the circumstances of this case he must decline to accept your + plea for clemency or any representation in regard to the matter. + + “Even after Baron von der Lancken’s very positive and definite + statement that there was no hope, and that under the circumstances + ‘even the Emperor himself could not intervene,’ we continued to appeal + to every sentiment to secure delay, and the Spanish Minister even led + Baron von der Lancken aside in order to say very forcibly a number of + things which he would have felt hesitancy in saying in the presence of + the younger officers and of M. de Leval, a Belgian subject. + + “His Excellency talked very earnestly with Baron von der Lancken + for about a quarter of an hour. During this time M. de Leval and I + presented to the younger officers every argument we could think of. + I reminded them of our untiring efforts on behalf of German subjects + at the outbreak of war and during the siege of Antwerp. I pointed out + that, while our services had been rendered gladly and without any + thought of future favors, they should certainly entitle you to some + consideration for the only request of this sort you had made since + the beginning of the war. Unfortunately, our efforts were unavailing. + We persevered until it was only too clear that there was no hope of + securing any consideration for the case.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood & Underwood._ + +The Final Tribute to Edith Cavell + +The funeral procession entering Westminster Abbey before being taken to +the Cathedral in Norwich for interment.] + + +EDITH CAVELL’S LAST HOURS + +M. de Leval had made application on Sunday evening that he and the +British chaplain, the Rev. H. Sterling Gahan, might be permitted to see +Miss Cavell in jail. This was at first refused, but on Monday evening, +after the sentence of death had been passed, Mr. Gahan was allowed to +visit her. Mr. Gahan subsequently wrote a simple and moving statement +of what took place: + + “To my astonishment and relief I found my friend perfectly calm and + resigned. But this could not lessen the tenderness and intensity of + feeling on either part during that last interview of almost an hour. + + “Her first words to me were upon a matter concerning herself + personally, but the solemn asseveration which accompanied them was + made expressly in the light of God and eternity. She then added that + she wished all her friends to know that she willingly gave her life + for her country, and said: ‘I have no fear nor shrinking; I have seen + death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me.’ She further + said: ‘I thank God for this ten weeks’ quiet before the end.’ ‘Life + has always been hurried and full of difficulty.’ ‘This time of rest + has been a great mercy.’ ‘They have all been very kind to me here. + But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, + I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or + bitterness towards anyone.’ + + “We partook of the Holy Communion together, and she received the + Gospel message of consolation with all her heart. At the close of the + little service I began to repeat the words ‘Abide with me,’ and she + joined softly in the end. + + “We sat quietly talking until it was time for me to go. She gave me + parting messages for relations and friends. She spoke of her soul’s + needs at the moment and she received the assurance of God’s Word as + only the Christian can do. + + “Then I said ‘Good-bye,’ and she smiled and said, ‘We shall meet + again.’ + + “The German military chaplain was with her at the end and afterwards + gave her Christian burial. + + “He told me: ‘She was brave and bright to the last. She professed her + Christian faith and that she was glad to die for her country.’ ‘She + died like a heroine.’” + + +VON BISSING’S DEFENSE + +It is not surprising that the secrecy, the precipitate haste and the +early morning hour of the execution gave rise to many sensational +reports, among others that Miss Cavell fainted on the way, and was shot +to death by the commanding officer as she lay unconscious. But it seems +to be certain that the execution was carried out in the usual military +way and without any aggravating incident. It was, however, quite in +keeping with the brutal and conscienceless procedure throughout that +the place of burial was kept secret, so that none of the friends of the +martyred nurse could pay even the tribute of a tear at her grave. One +needs but to look at the photographed face of von Bissing, the German +Governor-General of Belgium responsible for the vindictive killing of +Miss Cavell, to see the outward signs of a despicable soul. The only +charitable thought with which one can review his acts is that his mind +was already diseased and corrupted by the illness that not long after +sent him to the final accounting for his Belgian infamies which—with +the exception of Germany—roused the whole world to execration. + +It is worthy of note in this connection that in a talk with Mr. Karl +Kitchen, a writer for the New York _World_, Von Bissing expressed great +astonishment that an American newspaper man thought it worth while +paying a visit to Brussels over “such an affair.” He was unable to +understand “why the world is interested in the case. When thousands +of innocent people have died in the war, why should anyone become +hysterical over the death of one guilty woman?” And he admitted in the +talk that the authorities had hurried on the execution not because Miss +Cavell had helped fugitives to escape, but because they wanted to make +her an example to awe the Belgians. He said: + +“A few years in prison is not sufficient punishment for an offense +of this kind. For punishment in a case of this nature is meted out +to deter others from committing the same offense. If the Cavell +woman had been sent to prison she would have been released in two or +three years—at the end of the war. Amnesty is usually granted to all +prisoners convicted of offenses of this nature, espionage, and so +forth, when peace is made. + +“The Cavell woman was not charged with espionage. The charge of +aiding the enemy’s soldiers to escape which was made against her was +sufficiently serious. Her death was deplorable—but I do not see why it +should occasion such hysteria in America.” + +That was von Bissing’s self-justification. Baron von der Lancken’s plea +was more _naïve_. As the execution was purely a military affair, he, +the Civil Governor, did not interfere. “It would have been a breach of +etiquette if he had done so!” It counted nothing with these official +exponents of Kultur that Miss Cavell had been the compassionate and +skillful nurse of numbers of wounded German soldiers in the Brussels +hospitals. That offered them no reason for treating her with leniency. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +1st Lieut. George W. Puryear + + The first American officer to escape from a German prison. While + making his escape he was shot at six times, but by running directly + at the guard who was shooting at him, and thus confusing his aim, + he avoided being hit. He was captured July 26, 1918, and reached + Switzerland, after swimming the Rhine.] + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + + Memorial in Norwich, England, Dedicated to Edith Cavell] + +It was the worse for Germany that etiquette and native savagery put +clemency aside in this case. As the London _Times_ declared, “The late +Miss Cavell’s death came like a trumpet call to the British nation. It +showed once again the real character of the enemy this country is +fighting. To the soldiers in Flanders it gave a fresh battle-cry and to +civilians at home it served to re-emphasize the need of greater effort +and great sacrifice. Before leaping for the trenches for a charge the +soldiers shouted: ‘For Miss Cavell.’” + +The King and Queen of England wrote to the aged mother of Miss Cavell +expressing their sympathy with her and their horror of the deed that +took her daughter from her. There was a great memorial service in St. +Paul’s, the church itself and the churchyard around it being crowded by +every class. The nation was thrilled. The French also made the cause +their own. From Allies and neutrals the world over came messages of +sympathy and indignation. Nowhere, perhaps, was the emotion deeper than +in the United States. The American people were aroused in many ways. +Their national dignity was offended, because their representatives +had been slighted when attempting to save the Englishwoman. But this +resentment counted for little as compared with the genuine wrath at an +act of barbarous inhumanity to a woman. + +Her name has been honored in every possible way—in sculpture, in +painting, in verse, in prose, in the sermons of the clergy, in the +oratory of statesmen, and after the armistice England received home her +body with such ceremonies as are reserved for those who have served +the country greatly. An imposing ceremony in the ancient Westminster +Abbey was attended by royalty and nobility, and the throng within and +without the Abbey represented every class of English life. The funeral +procession, in which marched hundreds of nurses, was witnessed by vast +throngs along the route, and was in itself a memorable spectacle. The +body of the martyr-heroine was taken to her native town for burial, +where a monument portrait of herself, in the town square, will +perpetuate to the eye a memory that will never perish from the English +heart. + +[Illustration: Bombed metal bridge in the river] + + + + +A PICARDY HEROINE + +The Story of Marcelle Semmer, Who Held Up the Advance of a German Army +Corps + + +French heroines were not few; indeed to be a woman of France was to +be a heroine in those slow grinding years of the war that tired the +soul, as it trampled the life of that country. But none of them was of +greater courage or of more resolutely self-sacrificing purpose than +a young woman of Picardy, a mere girl, Marcelle Semmer. She was the +daughter of a phosphate factory owner, an Alsatian, who had quitted +Alsace in 1871 rather than remain as a subject of Germany. + +The story of her deeds was first given to the public by a lecturer at +the Sorbonne, Paris, and was repeated by the Paris correspondent of the +_Times_, but her fame had already run throughout the armies of France, +and the Republic had honored her. + +After the defeat of the Allies at Charleroi, the French tried to make +a stand along the Somme, but being unable to resist the overwhelming +mass of the invaders, they fell back across a canal in the vicinity +of Marcelle Semmer’s home. The enemy were in close pursuit. As the +last group of the French crossed the bridge, Marcelle rushed forward +and raising the drawbridge, threw into the canal the control key, +without which the draw could not be lowered. This remarkable evidence +of presence of mind and coolness was hardly to have been expected from +a girl in such terrifying circumstances. The act was a daring one, as +the advancing Germans did not hesitate to fire at her as well as at the +retreating soldiers; but realizing that it would hold up the advance of +the Germans she unhesitatingly confronted the danger. It was the saving +grace for the French, for it was not until the next morning that the +Germans were able to get together boats enough to form a pontoon across +the canal. The retreat had the advantage of those precious hours of the +hold-up. + +Though the risks were great, Marcelle remained in the village during +the German occupation in order to be of possible assistance to the +French. And she did render assistance. There was near the village +Eclusier a subterranean passage used in the working of a phosphate +mine, and in this passage Marcelle managed to conceal at different +times sixteen French soldiers who had got separated from their command +in the retreat from Charleroi and Mons. There she fed them, furnished +them with civilian clothes and aided their escape into the French +lines. It was not until she was helping the seventeenth to escape that +she was caught and dragged, with a French soldier, before the local +commandant. Asked if she meant deliberately to aid the soldier to +escape, she replied firmly: + +“Yes. He is not the first. I helped sixteen others to get away. Do what +you please with me. I am not afraid to die.” + +With little ceremony she was ordered to be shot. She was taken out for +the purpose. The firing squad was drawn up and only waited the order +to fire when suddenly there was a roar of French artillery bombarding +the town and the position of the Germans around Eclusier. It was +an unexpected French advance, and without thought of the girl the +firing squad joined the confusion of men hurrying to the shelter of +their defenses. Marcelle made her escape to the friendly subterranean +passage. The French occupied Eclusier. + + +TWICE SAVED FROM THE GERMANS + +The Somme lay between the opposing armies, and in the vicinity of +Eclusier it forms a marshy lake. At flood the water covered the lines +so that soldiers often lost their way, and here Marcelle found another +means of serving France. + +The correspondent says: + +“Being thoroughly acquainted with the neighborhood, she used to pilot +parties of soldiers. This brought her again close to death. While +leading a squad of men who wanted to dig an advanced trench in the +village of Frise she fell into the hands of a party of Germans. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Corporal Fred C. Stein + +_32nd Division, 125th Infantry, Company “F”_ + + Close to Romagnes, on October 9, 1918, Stein captured a strong enemy + machine-gun nest. He received two wounds while endeavoring to operate + the machine gun, and then received another wound which was in the arm + and almost disabled him.] + +“They locked her up in the little village church of Frise. On the +morrow, she felt sure, they would shoot her. + +“But once more luck and the French artillery were her salvation. The +French across the Somme began a lively bombardment of Frise. One shell +blew a large hole in the church wall. Through this hole, unperceived +by her captors, Marcelle crawled. Creeping past the Germans scattered +through Frise, she soon tumbled, safe and sound, into the nearest +French trench. + +“By this time her fame had spread and rewards began to shower upon +her. She got the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and some time later +the War-Cross. In spite of all she had gone through, she persisted in +staying in the Somme country and continued to work for the cause of +France. For fifteen months she remained, despite shot and shell, in +her little Somme village, taking care of wounded soldiers. Also among +her charges was a woman of 90, too feeble to travel to a safer place. +Marcelle looked out for her night and day with unflagging devotion. + +“Everywhere soldiers knew and admired her. One English General ordered +his soldiers to salute when she passed and refrain from addressing her +unless she spoke first.” + +Under the strain of her volunteer work she finally came near to a +breakdown and was persuaded to go to Paris. There she entered a nurses’ +school to qualify for the care of the wounded, work being necessary to +her to shut away her personal sorrows, as everything she possessed or +held dear the war had taken from her. + +All this and more was told at the Sorbonne Conference, and then, says +the _Times_ correspondent, the narrator made a dramatic gesture and +exclaimed: + +“‘This little heroine of Picardy, this admirable girl, this incarnation +of the qualities of the woman of France, this girl of simple origin, +flawless dignity, of serious mind, and gentle ways, this girl of +indomitable will-power, is here, ladies and gentlemen, here among you, +in this room! And I feel that I am the spokesman for every one of you +when I now extend to her the expression of our respect, our gratitude, +our admiration!’ + +“The auditors, every man, woman and child of them, leaped to their +feet, mad with enthusiasm. They craned their necks to catch a glimpse +of the heroine. Unable to escape them, the young girl stood up, +blushing. Through the great hall of the Sorbonne, where the most famous +people of the world had been honored by France, swept a storm of +cheers. A reward more splendid than the Cross of the Legion of Honor, +than the War-Cross, than the salutes of soldiers at the front, had come +to Marcelle Semmer.” + + + + +GIRLS OF THE “BATTALION” + +Russian Women Who Gave Splendid Proof That Soldierly Valor Knows No Sex + + +When first reports of the Battalion of Death—the regiment of Russian +women—were read in the western world they were regarded as the fiction +of correspondents hard pressed for material. Fighting Amazons belonged +to the legendary past. But the authentic confirmations of the story and +the official recognition of the battalion’s services presently roused +a curious interest in these women doing heroes’ work, and there was +demand for information concerning the redoubtable “Madam Butchkareff” +and the circumstances leading to the organization of the regiment of +which she was given command. + +The story when told more than gratified the expectant interest. The +London _Daily Telegraph_ was the first to give the particulars as they +are here presented. + +“Vera Butchkareff, or simply Yashka, as she has been christened by the +men of the regiment to which she belonged, got much of her war-like +spirit from her father, who fought through the whole of the Turkish war +and was left a cripple for life. Her mother was a hard-working woman, +with five children, of whom Yashka was the eldest, and she had to go +out washing and cooking to earn enough to clothe and feed this flock. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood & Underwood._ + +Marie Botchkareva, Commander of the Battalion of Death] + +“At the age of five Yashka was sent out as nurse to a baby of three. +And from that time she has never stopped working. She looks none the +worse for it. Finely yet strongly built, with broad shoulders and +healthy complexion, she can lift 200 pounds with the greatest of ease. +She has never known what fear is. + +“Not long ago she remarked that during the last two years she had lived +through so much that there remained but one danger yet to experience, +that of flying. Just as she was saying that an aviator came up and +offered to take her for a flight, and before the day was out she had +exhausted her list of perils. + + +MARRIED AN UNKNOWN + +“When she was sixteen years old her parents seized the first +opportunity of getting her married. She never knew the man, but luckily +as time wore on they grew very fond of each other, and were very happy. +At first they both served in a shop, and thanks to their perseverance +and frugality they were soon able to open a small shop of their own. +But just as they began to prosper the war broke out, and he was one of +the first to be called up. + +“She was very keen on accompanying him as a soldier, but he begged her +to stay behind and work for her parents, whom they had been keeping. + +“She was always ready for any daring venture, and it was with great +reluctance that she stayed at home in compliance with her husband’s +wish. Time passed, and after long waiting she got the news that he had +been killed in action in May, 1915. At once she went to her parents and +said: ‘I have decided to go to the front, and you will either hear of +my death or I shall return to you in honor and glory. I trust in God.’ +And no persuasions were of any use. + +“For two years she lived in the trenches and fought like a man. She +was wounded three times—in her arm, leg, and back. In the Lake Naroch +battles there was a time when all the officers were killed and the men +lost courage and lay down, too frightened to attack. Then she rose up +and dashed forward calling on them to follow her. Every one obeyed her +command, and the trench was captured. She has received two St. George’s +medals and two St. George’s crosses for various feats of bravery. At +the end of the two years she was legally admitted into the 28th Polozk +Regiment. + + +RAISES HER BATTALION + +“She was presented to Mr. Kerensky for her bravery, and after hearing +all her experiences, the Minister of War asked what wish she would +like to have granted. She straightway said: ‘I want to form a woman’s +volunteer battalion, which is to lead men into battle if they will not +go of themselves.’ The idea was approved by Kerensky, and, with the +sanction of the commander-in-chief, the battalion was formed.” + +There were 300 girls, most of them being recruits from the higher +educational academies and secondary schools, with a few peasants, +factory girls and servants. There were a few married women, but none +with children were accepted. They ranged from 18 to 28 years in age and +were of good physique, most of them pretty and of refined appearance. +They wore their hair short, or their heads entirely shaved. They wore +as uniform a soldier’s khaki blouse, short breeches, stockings, heavy +soled shoes and forage cap. It was a mixed battalion in the matter of +class; with the peasant and the factory girl marched the daughters +of noble families, society women, writers, etc., for it was in the +universities and schools that the Russian revolution found its most +earnest advocates. + +These were the women who in action near Vilna that terrible July day +exhibited great courage and coolness, and did such heroic service +in the midst of a wavering and weakening, cowardly, panic-stricken +body of troops that they have hardly a parallel in all history. Marie +Golokbyova, a member of the battalion but eighteen years old, who +enlisted from the high school, has told of the first engagement of the +fighting girls. + + +THEIR FIRST ENGAGEMENT + +“We went into action a fortnight after our arrival at the front under +heavy German cannon fire. Given the order to advance, we rushed out of +our trench. Feeling no sense of danger, we dashed toward the enemy in +the wood. The machine guns began knocking over my companions. We were +ordered to lie down. I noticed those at the front with me were all +women. The men were further back. + +“I began shooting, the gun kicking my shoulder so hard that it is still +blue and stiff. I was glad when we were ordered to charge the machine +guns in the woods. We paid dearly, but we held on, and by night our +scouts discovered the machine gunners and we shelled them out. + +“After the first attack I was attached to a machine gun, carrying +ammunition to an advanced position under the fire of hidden German +machine guns. We were advancing and constantly in danger of capture +by the Germans. On one trip over newly captured ground I saw what I +considered a wounded German officer lying on the ground. I went to help +him with my gun in my right hand and the machine gun ammunition in my +left. + +“Seeing me, he jumped to his knees and pulled out his revolver, but +before he could shoot I dropped the ammunition and killed him. + +“How did I feel on taking a human life? I had no sensation except to +rid my country of an enemy. There was no sentimentality. We were trying +to kill them and they were trying to kill us—that is all. Any Russian +girl or any American girl in the same position would have the same +feeling.” + +Mme. Butchkareff—Commander Butchkareff—the peasant born leader of +the heroic girls, was not only endowed with the highest quality of +courage but she seemed to have an instinct for military command. She +was, as her soldiers testified, “here, there, everywhere,” directing +the action, adding the fire of her own spirit to the enthusiasm of +the members of the battalion, urging them to “fight like real Russian +soldiers,” and they met the demand. Said one of them: + +“None of us was afraid once we got started. We were in the midst of +a great fusillade of shots. Then terrific big shells began bursting +around us. We were again frightened a little when we first saw the dead +about, but before very long we were jumping over the dead and quickly +forgot all about them. We just forgot ourselves entirely. We were +simply Russia fighting for her life. + +“As we ran forward we suddenly came upon a bunch of Germans immediately +ahead of us. It was only a second until we were all around them. + +“They saw they were caught and threw down their rifles, holding up +their hands. They were terribly frightened. + +“‘Good God! Women!’ they exclaimed.” + +It might have been better for Russia had all her soldiers been women. + + + + +HER AMBULANCE UNIT + +An English Woman’s Contribution Was Her Fortune and the Daily Risk of +Her Life + + +Among the decorations worn by Mrs. Hilda Wynne are the French Croix +de Guerre, the Belgian order of Leopold, and the Russian Order of St. +George—certificates of preëminent service in circumstances of danger +that demand the high courage of utter self-devotion. Mrs. Wynne is +a young English woman who gave her fortune to organize an ambulance +unit and risked her life driving an ambulance on the firing line. Her +organization was known as the Bevan-Wynne Unit, and it cared for some +40,000 wounded soldiers in the course of the war. Mrs. Wynne visited +this country in the Autumn of 1917 for the purpose of arousing interest +in the public in the needs of soldiers in France. Happily her mission +was a successful one. + +While she was in Denver the _Post_ of that city induced Mrs. Wynne to +tell some of her experiences, which are here reproduced. + +“Looking upon the human courage I have witnessed, from this distance +and in the little breathing space I have taken from service I can +recall thousands of heroic acts, but the bravest happened on the +Russian front. + +“I saw two aviators go up to certain death. They were a Russian and a +Frenchman. Both were little men. They went up to meet twenty German +aeroplanes. It was suicidal. But they had been ordered to go—and theirs +was the spirit of the gallant six hundred. I stood near them as they +made ready to go. They said nothing. That is one of the lessons you +learn in war—not to waste time nor words. + +[Illustration: Women Ambulance-Drivers Served With All the Allied Armies + +Many of them received decorations for conspicuous bravery while under +fire.] + +“They got their machines ready as a rider tests his saddle-straps +and stirrups before starting for his morning gallop through the park. +A little pothering and fixing of the machinery and they had gone. +They went straight up and began blazing away at the German planes. I +watched and the cords of my heart tightened, for the German planes, +looking like great gray birds with wings widespread, came closer and +closer. They surrounded them. They formed a solid double circle about +them. Then they began to fire. And I turned and covered my eyes with +my hands. A few seconds later what had been aeroplanes were splintered +wood and what had been men a broken mass covered by smoking rags. + +“While this was the bravest act I saw in two and a half years on the +firing line, I readily recall the most pathetic. It was the second line +of men in the Russian trenches. They were unarmed soldiers. There were +no guns for them. They took their places there expecting that the man +in front might drop, and the second-line man could pick up his gun and +take his place. + +“I have seen many of the Allies die. They all die bravely. At Dixmude +when the fusiliers arrived 8,000 and went out 4,000 there was +magnificent courage in death. The Frenchman dies calling upon his God. +The Englishman says nothing or feebly jests; just turns his face to the +wall and is still. The Russian is mystic and secretive. The Russian +lives behind a veil of reserve. You never fully know him. In the last +moments you know by his rapt look that his soul is in communion with +his God. + + +AN IMPLACABLE BREED + +“One of the deepest, unalterable truths of the war is the German power +of hatred. It is past measuring. An example occurred at Dixmude. When +we had been there three days we were driven out. I took my car filled +with the wounded across a bridge just in time. A second after we had +crossed there was a roar, then a crash. A shot had torn the bridge to +pieces. Three weeks later to our hospital was brought a wounded German. + +“‘I know you,’ he said. ‘We nearly got you at the bridge at Dixmude.’ + +“‘I remember,’ I said. + +“That man’s eyes used to follow me in a strange way. Build no +beautiful theories of his national animosity disappearing, or being +swallowed up in his gratitude. There was no such thought in his mind. +The eyes said: ‘I wish I had killed you. But since I didn’t I wish I +might have another chance.’ + +“This, after I had driven away a group of zouaves who had taken +everything from him, including his iron cross, and who were debating +whether to toss him into the canal then or that night. + +“Shells have a disturbing way about them, more disturbing to your plans +than your equanimity. Shells prevented my having a nice comfortable +illness. In southern Russia one can get little to eat. Coarse black +bread is the chief food. It causes various disorders. I, afflicted +with one of them, arranged a table in the corner of my tent, placed +remedies on the table, undressed, and turned in, intending to have +a cozy illness of a few days. But as I lay came an angry buzzing. A +shell hissed through, carrying away a corner of my tent. That ended my +illness. I had no more time to think of it. + +“The greatest peril I encountered was not from shells. One becomes +used to them. One of the greatest dangers I faced was on a dark night +drive along a precipice in the Caucasus. It was while the plan to +bring troops through Persia to Russia was expected to be successful. I +went ahead with some ambulances. It was necessary to take two Russian +officers across the mountain. I offered my services. The road was +an oddly twisting one. On one side was a high wall, on the other a +precipice whose depth no one calculated. But as I allowed myself to +look into it at twilight I could see no bottom to it. We started on the +all-night drive at dusk. The precipice remained with us, a foot away, +most of the distance. Had my car skidded twelve inches the story would +have been different. + +“Then, too, I wandered once within the Turkish lines, mistaking them +for our own. But amid a courteous silence I was allowed to discover my +mistake and escape without harm. + + +TOO BUSY TO REFUSE HER + +“I think I owe my opportunity to do my bit, in the way I have, to the +fact that I arrived in Flanders a few hours before the fight and +the officers were too busy to send me back. I had seven automobiles, +and knew how to use them. I took them to Dixmude and offered the +automobiles and my services to the cause. I established headquarters +at Furnes, which is seven miles from Nieuport, eight from Dixmude, and +twenty from Ypres. I drove along the Yser Canal to the parts of the +field that were under the heaviest fire, for there, I knew, my cars +and I would be most needed. For a year I worked for the relief of the +wounded of the French armies. Then I went to Russia, where I found the +need of help and the sacrifice of life because of lack of that help +almost inconceivable. The French armies have 6,000 ambulances. The +Germans have 6,200. Russia, with a firing line of 6,000 miles, has only +600 motor-ambulances. + +“I established dressing-stations in the mountains. Some of these were +10,000 feet above the sea-level. There, on the canvas stretched between +two horses, the wounded were brought, or so they started. For many of +them died in the long journey, every step of which was torture to a +wounded man. + +“The most exciting experience I ever had was on the Galician border. +We could approach the battle-line only along the Tarnopol road, which +ran for fifteen miles directly under German guns. I was speeding along +it with an ambulance full of wounded soldiers when a shell struck the +roadside and exploded, tearing a great hole in the earth fifty feet +away. The concussion stopped us. Then we went on. I travel on my luck. +Some time, I suppose, I shall travel too far.” + + + + +A TRUE HEROINE + +The Type of Woman from Which Fate Fashions Jeannes D’Arc + + +Had there been a Myra Ivanovna in every sector of the Russian front in +the wavering days, it is not extravagant to think the troops of the +Czar might have resisted the propaganda as well as the guns of the +Germans and pushed on—perhaps to Berlin. Myra was but twenty years of +age, a Russian Sister of Mercy. She accompanied her brother, a military +doctor, to the front. She was small, and weak and nervous, but she +had a resolute will, an indomitable soul, and these gave energy and +endurance to her body. She was one of the most active and tireless in +ministering to the sick and wounded. The soldiers marveled to see so +frail a creature perform such tasks as mark the duties of an ambulance +nurse. Naturally, she inspired the devotion of those she served. + +It was in 1915. There had been heavy and dogged fighting and there +were many wounded. The ambulances and the nurses were kept busy. Then +the Germans succeeded in outflanking the regiment to which Myra was +attached, and poured a deadly fire into the trenches. M. Kupchinsky, +correspondent at the front for a Petrograd paper, told her story. The +London _Morning Post_ translated it. Here it is: + +“The ambulance near the 10th Regiment was not brought to the rear, +despite the instructions of the commander. It was discovered that +Sister Ivanovna was employed there in bandaging the wounded. + +“‘Let the ambulance station go back,’ she said; ‘I shall stay here, +where my hands are wanted.’ + +“The doctors and the wounded officers appealed in vain—she would not +retreat until her brother ordered her to do so. No sooner, however, +was the ambulance posted in a new situation than she moved back to +her former position with a few volunteers. At this time the enemy’s +reinforcements with machine guns opened a deadly fire from some heights +commanding the position, and Ivanovna was slightly wounded by a bullet +in the left arm. She bandaged the wound herself, and, without saying a +word, continued her work. + +[Illustration: Women in the Salvation Army Followed the American Army +Wherever It Went and They Served Doughnuts to Men in the Front Trenches] + +“The position of the regiment was a perilous one. Every moment the +strength of the enemy was increasing, and the Russian ranks were +decimated by their long exposure to heavy fire. It was necessary to +strike a rapid blow, sharp and decisive; but officer after officer was +brought in wounded, and at last word came that the commander himself +had been killed. Men began to drop back from the front trenches. +Indecision in the ranks threatened a panic. + + +SWORD IN HAND, SHE LED THE ATTACK + +“Seeing that the men were wavering, and actuated by indignant horror at +the unequal fight, Sister Myra Ivanovna drew a sword from the sheath of +a dead officer and ran from the station. She was followed by some of +the wounded soldiers, who, with tears in their eyes, implored her to +return, and even tried to detain her by holding her arms, but she freed +herself. + +“Then, her eyes burning with excitement, she went forward. She was not +alone, for the soldiers were anxious to defend this frail woman who was +leading them back to the trenches, her sword raised in the air. + +“The soldiers of the 10th Regiment were wavering in the trenches when, +at the critical moment, Sister Myra, surrounded by a group of wounded +soldiers, with uplifted sword, rushed toward the trench. At once there +was a resounding ‘Hurrah!’ and the rifles of the exhausted soldiers +commenced once more their deadly clicking. + +“For a moment Sister Myra bent toward the occupants of the trench, +and they heard the word ‘_Golubebiki!_’ (Dear ones). Then, rising +to her feet, she ran forward, her sword flashing in the air. All +the men followed her. But all the time the enemy machine-guns were +steadily spitting forth their leaden pellets of death, and, though +losing men with every step, the remnants of the company made a wild +dash for the enemy’s trench, which they occupied after furious work +with the bayonet. The enemy fled precipitately, but in the recesses +of the trench, on the bloody ground trodden by the feet of the eager +combatants, lay Sister Myra Ivanovna. + +“Rough soldiers bent over her, and now that the excitement of the fray +was over they wept as they tried vainly to arrest the flow of blood +from a wound in her throat. She was carried out of the fire, but before +she had proceeded far another bullet struck her, and she fell dead +among the group of soldiers.” + +“A true heroine,” writes Mr. Kupchinsky, “a type of the Russian woman +who is guiding us to victory.” + +Alas! that was in 1915. + + + + +A HEROINE OF HUMANITY + +This Young Englishwoman Risked Death in a Hideous Form to Save the +Lives of Others + + +The serene courage of self-devotion to the service of humanity does +not have the acclaim of the world very often. We have not learned how +to measure the values of quiet heroism—the heroism that works in the +solitude. We thrill to feats of daring, we are rather complacent to the +bravery of scientific experiment, though the risk of life be great. + +There is the story of a young Englishwoman, Miss Mary Davies, who, +far behind the front with its stimulating excitement and without the +inspiration of approving and emulous comrades, calmly, deliberately +challenged death in one of its most horrible forms. She had seen +the victims of one of the most terrible of war scourges—gaseous +gangrene—suffering a loathsome death, and knew how hopelessly the +surgeons in the laboratories of the American Ambulance where she +served, worked to combat the plague. She realized that if inoculation +with the bacilli of the disease could be successfully employed, +thousands of wounded men would be saved, and she resolved to make the +experiment. + +She had seen many examples of the horrible results of this infection +and had observed the invariably fatal course of the disease in +animals inoculated with the bacilli. She watched and assisted in the +experiments in which guinea-pigs were inoculated with gangrene bacilli. +She had become convinced of the efficacy of injections with quinine +hydrochlorid and had concluded that the experiments on small animals +had given all the results of which they were capable and that the time +had come for an experiment on a normal human body, and not one from +the battlefield, fatigued and wounded and possibly infected by other +bacilli. + +Well aware that her plan would be prevented if it became known, she +determined without a word to any one, to risk her life in an attempt +to demonstrate the efficacy of the treatment, which she was convinced +would cure the victims of this dread disease. + +Her preparations deliberately and completely made, she waited until she +was about to leave for a holiday, so that her absence would not disturb +the work in the laboratory. She chose the deadliest strain of bacilli +in the laboratory, obtained from the latest fatal case, of which two +drops of culture sufficed to kill a guinea-pig. Then she inoculated +herself in a manner most certain to produce the disease in animals, +injecting fifty times the amount used to kill a guinea-pig, making one +injection deep into the muscles of her thigh, the other just beneath +the skin. Two hours later she quietly came to the laboratory and asked +to be treated in the same manner as the animals under experiment. + +The surgeons and attendants were greatly alarmed for her. Their +experience had taught them the rapidity and horribleness of the effects +of gangrene, the most dreaded and the most baffling of the diseases +produced by the war. They began treatment of her at once, apprehensive +and doubtful of results. + +Injections with a quinine solution were made at the points where she +had inoculated the deadly bacilli. She was sent to the nearest hospital +for observation and further treatment. Quinine injections were given +a second time. Symptoms of a slight degree of infection developed +within twenty-four hours, but they subsided without operation becoming +necessary, and it is more than gratifying to know that recovery was +rapid and complete. + +Miss Davies has been named a “heroine of science” and her brave and +self-sacrificial deed will be properly recognized in medical science; +but surely she has won a place in the world’s esteem and memory as a +heroine of humanity. + + + + +ONE OF THE GREAT “ACES” + +Raoul Lufbery, the Connecticut Boy Who Roamed the World to Die a Hero +in France + + +The Great War brought into bold relief no more romantic figure or +daring spirit than that of Major Raoul Lufbery, from Wallingford, Conn. +The bare facts of his life have the flavor of incidents taken from the +adventure story of a highly imaginative fiction writer. There is no +need of invention or added color to make his history a thrilling tale. +No presentation of it, however bald and commonplace the narrative, can +cheat it of its romance and heroism. That he was one of the chief of +the American “Aces” is in itself an epitome of adventure that might +easily be elaborated into a volume. + +Lufbery was an adventurer in the dashing sense of the word. His blood +was filled with the essence of unrest, the energy of motion that would +not let him stay fixed to place. When he was seventeen years old +Wallingford held him too much cabined and confined. He ran away from +home as an explorer of the unknown world. Drawn, perhaps, by the spell +of ancestral affinities, he made his way to France and wandered from +place to place in the land of legend and romance, working at any job +that would provide his keep and supply him with funds for his next +excursion. + +From France he sailed to Algiers, where he remained till he had +satisfied his interest, when he set off for other scenes—Egypt, the +Balkans, Germany, South America and then back to Wallingford for a peep +at the home folks. He chuckled appreciatively on learning that his +father was off doing a bit of globe-vagabonding on his own account. + +[Illustration: + + © _Press Illustrating Service._ + +Major Raoul Lufbery, an American, Who Was Loved by Fellow-Flyers] + +He stopped at home for a year, when the wander-bubbles of his blood got +into ferment again, and trotting down to New Orleans he was tempted by +military possibilities and enlisted in the Regular Army. He was sent to +the Philippines, where he displayed such proficiency as rifleman that +he won all the regimental prizes for the best marksmanship. That skill +in getting bullets into the right spot was one of his great assets when +he came to battling in the air over the fields of France. + +But even the Army waxed tame for Lufbery, and when his term of +enlistment expired he was ready and eager to nose out what the still +strange parts of the world had to offer him. He sailed for Japan, +sampled the beauties and novelties of that country and then dipped into +China. From China he went into India. A characteristic anecdote is +told of him as ticket-seller in one of the railway stations of India. +It has been said that he sustained himself with any kind of odd job as +he roamed the world, and ticket-selling was one of the tedious sort of +occupations least to his liking. A pompous type of native one day stood +at the wicket. + +“Want a ticket?” Lufbery asked. + +“Say ‘Sir’ when you speak to me,” said the native, loftily. + + +THE PRICE OF A JOB + +With never a wink, Lufbery left his place, approached the offended +person, took him by the back of the neck and with neatness and +dispatch ejected him from the station. Under English civil law one is +promptly summoned for assault, and as the person Lufbery had treated +so summarily in accord with his own ideas of fitness chanced to be the +richest and most influential merchant of Bombay, the summons cost the +ticket-seller his place. Cochin-China was his resort, Saigon his haven, +and there, if you please, he viewed with envious admiration the aerial +antics of Marc Pourpe, the famous trick flyer. + +There came a day when Pourpe lost his mechanic, and his exhibitions +came to a stop while he made vain quest among the natives for a +substitute. None cared for the office, preferring infinitely the +understood foundation of Mother Earth to antics in the air. Quite +right—Lufbery applied for the job. Was he a mechanic? No. Did he know +anything about an aeroplane motor? Not a thing. + +“Why the deuce, then, do you come bothering me?” demanded the irritated +Pourpe. + +“I don’t know the job now,” Lufbery said, “but I can learn. You only +have to show me once. Take me on. You won’t regret it. I’m not afraid +of work.” + +Marc Pourpe is quoted as saying to some friends later in relating the +incident: + +“His reasoning was full of logic. His method was original. I agreed, +and I will say that never have I seen a person more devoted, more +intelligent and more useful. He is already better informed about a +motor than most of the so-called mechanics of Paris. Moreover, this boy +has hung his hat in every country in the world. He is not a man, he is +an encyclopedia. He can tell you what the weather is in a given season +in Japan, in Egypt, in America, or in France. He observes everything +and once he has noticed it, it is engraved on his memory. + +“He told me that in all his travels he had never been more than a week +without working. He was hospital interne at Cairo, a stevedore in +Calcutta, station master in India, a soldier in America. I am glad he +is now a mechanic. + +“If he likes it, I will take him back with me at the end of my tour and +will keep him with me. It is rare to find a good mechanic. His name is +_Raoul Lafberg_, and he spent his childhood in the vicinity of Bourges. +If I return with him, you will see what a sympathetic character chance +has thrown in my way. So once more in my life everything goes well.” + +This shift of name on the sudden from Lufbery to Lafberg was due to +a hope that the Frenchified turn would the more favorably determine +Pourpe to engage his services, especially as Lufbery spoke French +fluently, having learned it in his three years’ stay in France. + + +JOINS THE FOREIGN LEGION + +So it was that Lufbery, as Pourpe’s mechanic, found himself in France +when the war storm burst. Pourpe, who had a new type of plane, promptly +enlisted as a flyer for his beloved France. As an American Lufbery +could not be accepted except as a member of the Foreign Legion, which +he hastened to join in the expectation that he could be transferred +thence to service with his friend, which was done. But they were not +long together at the front. Pourpe was killed the first or second of +December, 1914. + +Thereupon Lufbery applied for admission to the regular French air +service, which was granted and in a short time he was on the front +with the Escadrille of bombardment, V. 102. + +But it was not until he joined the newly organized Escadrille Lafayette +that his career of distinction began. His first victim was brought +down, over Etain, July 30, 1916, the second five days later. He was +cited by the French Government thus: + +“A model of address, of coolness, of courage. He has distinguished +himself by numerous long distance bombardments and by the daily combats +he has had with enemy aeroplanes. On July 30 he unhesitatingly attacked +at close range four enemy machines. He shot one of them down near our +own lines. He successfully brought down a second on the 4th of August, +1916.” + +His record grew apace. He got his third August 8, his fourth August +12, his fifth October 12, and became an “Ace.” In December he brought +down two in one day after a fight that nearly cost him his life as his +jacket was torn with bullets. That victory gained him the award of the +Legion of Honor. Incidentally, he was the first American to receive +from England the British Military Cross which was conferred on him June +12, 1917, when his record had mounted to ten enemy planes. + +That tenth plane exploit, by the way, was memorable. Lufbery was alone +at an altitude of 18,000 feet when, at a distance, he saw a formation +of seven Boche machines. Two of them were two-seater observation +machines, the others were the protective escort. He flew into the sun +to wait for a chance to attack. Soon one of the seven cut loose from +the others, and immediately Lufbery dived for it and began firing, +taking the enemy by surprise. After thirty shots or so his gun jammed, +but no more shots were necessary. The enemy machine wobbled, shifted +and began its downward plunge, and as Lufbery volplaned away he saw the +wrecked machine crash into the German trenches. + +In an article written for the French publication _La Guerre Aérienne_, +Lufbery describes an encounter he had one day when he was sent scouting +over the Vosges, the panoramic beauty of which had so enthralled him +he flew in sheer delight of the vision, nevertheless “all the time on +guard.” + +Suddenly an enemy appeared a little below and behind him. He wrote: + +“It is a little one-seater biplane of the Fokker or Halberstadt +type. A glance around assures me that he is alone. I am surprised at +this, for it is certainly the first time that a machine of this sort +has deliberately placed itself in a position so disadvantageous for +fighting. Perhaps it is a trap. One never knows! If it only may prove +to be a beginner, lacking experience, who listens to nothing but his +courage in his purpose to become one of the great Aces of his country.” + + +ATTACKS A MASTER OF HIS ART + +“However that may be, the wind keeps blowing from the west and carries +me farther and farther into the lines. It will not do to allow the +Boche to have this advantage too long: I decide to begin the attack +without losing another second. + +“An about face, followed by a sudden double spin, carries me a little +behind my adversary. Profiting by this advantage I dive upon him, but +with a remarkable skill he gets out of range of my machine gun. He has +anticipated my maneuver and parried the blow before it was struck. I +am now aware that I have to do with a master of his art. This first +encounter has proved it to me. + +“Making my machine tango from right to left, I saw him again below me +but much nearer than before by at least forty yards. + +“Suddenly he noses up as if to begin a looping, and in this awkward +position fires a volley at me which I dodge by a half turn to the +right. A second time I attack but with no more success. The wind +carries us to the north of Mulhouse, and I begin to ask myself if I am +not playing my adversary’s game for him in delaying longer. + +“At this moment I chanced to glance in the direction of Belfort, which +was about twelve miles within our lines. I perceived in the air little +white flakes. Evidence of the presence of a Boche. + +“A lucky chance! I had now an excuse for abandoning without loss of +honor the match, which I confess I am not at all sorry to leave. +Only before leaving my adversary I feel that I must show him that I +appreciate that he is a valiant foe and respect him as such. Drawing +my left arm out of the fuselage I wave him a sign of adieu. He +understands and desires to show courtesy on his part, for he returns my +farewell. + +“All my attention is turned toward him whom I already consider as my +new prey, a big white two-seater of very substantial appearance. + +“I draw nearer and nearer to him. Good luck! For the first time since +I have been a chaser I am going to have the good fortune to battle +within our lines. Also this increases my confidence until it makes me +disregard measures of caution, even the science of tactics. + +“Another motive impels me to take more than ordinary risks. I am +determined that he shall not escape me, and I make up my mind to shoot +at him until I have won the victory. + +“What joy if I can only lodge a ball in his motor, or in his gasoline +tank, which would oblige him to make a landing on French soil! Then +I should be able to speak with the conquered and ask them their +impressions of the aerial duel in which they had just taken part. But +there is an old French proverb which says ‘You must not sell the skin +of the bear before you have killed him.’ I had occasion that day to +prove the wisdom of this as you shall soon see.” + + +“POOR COUCOU” + +“Enough of dreaming! The moment for action has arrived. Quickly I place +myself in the rear and on the tail of my enemy from whom I am separated +by a distance of about fifty yards. Then I open fire with my machine +gun, and continue firing up to the moment when my plane, his superior +in speed, arrives so near the big two-seater that a collision seems +inevitable. + +“Quickly I pull up, leap over the obstacle, and fall in a glide on +the right wing. Increasing my speed I re-establish my equilibrium and +prepare to tempt fortune a second time. + +“Curse the luck! It is of no use. The motor, the soul of my aeroplane, +has received a mortal wound and is about to draw its last breath. + +“Turning my head I discover that the ailerons are also seriously +injured. My enemy fortunately does not seem to wish to profit by +the situation. He continues his flight in the direction of his own +lines. Perhaps I have wounded him very seriously. I hope so. Anyway, +his flight leaves me master of the field. But that is a very small +consolation. And also of short duration; for I am coming down faster +and faster. At last I safely take the ground on the nearest flying +field within gliding distance. + +“Pilots, observers, mechanics surround me and besiege me with +questions. They have seen the fight and want the details. For the +moment I do not explain much but that I have encountered a Boche who +does not understand joking! Besides, I was in a hurry to examine +the wounds of my little aeroplane. It is very ill, poor thing! +Three bullets in the motor, the gasoline tank ruined, a strut out +of commission, many holes in the hood, finally the left aileron was +cut and broken off by the bullets. It had made its last flight! Poor +Coucou!” + +An admirable story of Lufbery in _Heroes of Aviation_ says in +conclusion: + +“To recount all the aerial successes of this American champion is but +to repeat the usual details of his sober inspection of his aeroplane +and his arms before dawn; his calm scrutiny of the skies for the black +crosses of the enemy planes; his adroit maneuvering for the best +position from which to surprise the foe; his determined and patient +attack; his exactness in machine gun marksmanship; his jubilant return +to his comrades with another certain victory on his score. + +“During months of his service in France Lufbery suffered from acute +seizures of rheumatism which frequently necessitated his return to +the hospital. Quiet and unassuming in his conversation, Lufbery won +universal respect from the mechanics and affectionate loyalty from his +comrades. Every one who met him felt as Marc Pourpe wrote, ‘He is not a +man, he is an encyclopedia.’ + +“When America entered the war and began her preparations for her own +Air Service in France, certain of the experienced fighting pilots who +had been fighting for France were given charge of the new American +escadrilles. Lufbery and William Thaw, both original members of N. 124, +the Escadrille Lafayette, were commissioned Majors. To them fell the +task of organizing the eager youths who were to assist in clearing from +the skies of France the invading Huns. + +“Possessed of all the honors that his army could bestow upon a noble +Soldier, and wracked with physical pains that were daily increased by +inclement weather, an ordinary man would have been satisfied to seek +his ease and fill his required duties with the instructions to his +pilots. But Major Lufbery instructed by example, not by speech. Not +unmindful of his value to his comrades as their mentor and commander +and impelled by an ardor that knew no rest, Lufbery continued his +active patrolling, exposed himself to every risk.” + + +THE LAST FLIGHT + +“On Sunday, May 19th, the American Ace went aloft over Toul with +his fighting squadron. Enemy fighting machines were flying over the +American line. The latest designed Fokker aeroplane, a single-seater +triplane, appeared deep enough within our territory to be cut off +before he could escape. Lufbery darted swiftly to the attack. + +“Exact details of any air combat are known only to the combatants. +Fighting machines of to-day move with a speed of 140 miles per hour. +Approaching each other they lessen the distance between them at the +rate of over 400 feet each second. Let some one calculate the fraction +of an instant given to the pilot in which he plans his maneuver, alters +his position, takes his aim, and presses the trigger! + +“Lufbery’s machine fell in flames. He was seen to jump from the blazing +mass when 2,000 feet from the ground. A parachute attachment might have +saved his life as his body was found to be uninjured from the enemy’s +fire. A non-inflammable fuel tank might have permitted him to continue +his attack until the Fokker triplane dropped as his nineteenth victory. + +“Deprived of these improvements, Lufbery died. With his lamented loss +the title of the American Ace of Aces passed to Sergeant Frank L. +Baylies, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who after eight months at the +front, had amassed a total of twelve enemy machines. Upon the gallant +death of Baylies, Lieutenant Putnam of Brookline, Massachusetts, with +ten official victories, headed the American list of Aces.” + +Though officially credited with only eighteen planes brought down in +single combat, Lufbery was, in fact, the victor over twice that number +of enemy planes. The rule for official recognition requires that a fall +must be attested by eye-witnesses in addition to the flyer. Many of +Lufbery’s “downs” were inside the enemy lines beyond the observation of +any of his comrades, and others fell in such a way that it could not be +said positively that they were destroyed. + + + + +THE LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE + +An Air Squadron Made Famous by American Youth Before America Entered +the War + + +In the first years of the war, when the war was yet a European War, +when America as a nation was not ready to act, a group of American +boys—roused by the righteousness of the war against Germany, and +longing to help France—finally enlisted in the French aviation service. +They had come to repay the debt America owed to the people who had +sent Lafayette in her time of need. Therefore their section was given +the name of Lafayette Escadrille. Americans glory in the homage paid +to the daring deeds of Kiffin Rockwell, Victor Chapman, Norman Prince +and Jim McConnell, of Thaw, Lufbery, Hall, Masson and Cowdin. Jim +McConnell wrote a little book called _Flying for France_ (Doubleday, +Page & Company), in which he describes with a vividness born of the +gallant affection he felt for his friends and comrades the deeds of +that glorious group, and the deaths of three of them. Then he too fell. + +McConnell first joined the American ambulance service in the Vosges, +and was mentioned several times for conspicuous bravery in saving +wounded under fire. It was in the ambulance service that he won the +Croix de Guerre. + +Gradually, however, this heroism drew on a deeper feeling. The spirit +of adventure gave way to the spirit of liberty. France’s struggle took +on a new aspect. McConnell gave up the ambulance service and enlisted +in the French flying corps. + +Immediately he began to feel something more than the mere bond of +common danger drawing him to the members of the Escadrille. They were +like brothers who had managed to grow up friends as well as kinsmen. +They were a picked lot. There was William Thaw, of Pittsburgh, the +pioneer of them all; Norman Prince, of Boston; Elliot Cowdin, of +New York; Bert Hall, of Texas, and his chum James Bach—the first to +fall into German hands. Bach had smashed into a tree in going to the +assistance of a companion who had broken down in landing a spy in the +German lines. Both he and his French companion had been captured. The +last of the original six was Didier Masson. Soon Lufbery came, and +Kiffin Rockwell of Asheville, N. C., and Victor Chapman of New York. +Rockwell and Chapman had both been wounded in other branches of the +service. + +It was Rockwell who brought down the Escadrille’s first plane in his +initial aerial combat. “He was flying alone, when, over Thann, he +came upon a German on reconnaissance. He dived and the German turned +toward his own lines, opening fire from a long distance. Rockwell kept +straight after him. Then, closing to within thirty yards, he pressed on +the release of his machine gun, and saw the enemy gunner fall backward +and the pilot crumple up sideways in his seat. The plane flopped +downward and crashed to earth just behind the German trenches. Swooping +close to the ground Rockwell saw its débris burning away brightly. He +had turned the trick with but four shots and only one German bullet had +struck his Nieuport.” + +The section was soon transferred to more dangerous territory. They +were needed at Verdun. Fighting there came thick and fast. McConnell +describes the activity of almost every one there. And every one was +active. “Hall brought down a German observation craft. Thaw dropped a +Fokker in the morning, and on the afternoon of the same day there was +a big combat far behind the German trenches. Thaw was wounded in the +arm, and an explosive bullet detonating on Rockwell’s wind-shield tore +several gashes in his face. Despite the blood which was blinding him +Rockwell managed to reach an aviation field and land. Thaw, whose wound +bled profusely, landed in a dazed condition just within our lines. +He was too weak to walk, and French soldiers carried him to a field +dressing station, whence he was sent to Paris for further treatment. +Rockwell’s wounds were less serious and he insisted on flying again +almost immediately.” + + +HOW CHAPMAN FOUGHT + +“A week or so later Chapman was wounded. Considering the number of +fights he had been in and the courage with which he attacked it was a +miracle he had not been hit before. He always fought against odds and +far within the enemy’s country. He flew more than any of us, never +missing an opportunity to go up, and never coming down until his +gasoline was giving out. His machine was a sieve of patched-up bullet +holes. His nerve was almost superhuman and his devotion to the cause +for which he fought sublime. The day he was wounded he attacked four +machines. Swooping down from behind, one of them, a Fokker, riddled +Chapman’s plane. One bullet cut deep into his scalp, but Chapman, a +master pilot, escaped from the trap, and fired several shots to show +he was still safe. A stability control had been severed by a bullet. +Chapman held the broken rod in one hand, managed his machine with the +other, and succeeded in landing on a nearby aviation field. His wound +was dressed, his machine repaired, and he immediately took the air in +pursuit of some more enemies. He would take no rest, and with bandaged +head continued to fly and fight.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood & Underwood._ + +Distinguished Aviators of the Lafayette Escadrille. + +From the left: Lufbery, Hinkle, Thenault, Bigelow, and Thaw.] + +Balsley, a newcomer, managed to get wounded in the meantime. He had +started out with a party of four that had met a German squadron. +Balsley attacked the nearest German, “only to receive an explosive +bullet in his thigh. Extra cartridge rollers, dislodged from their +case, hit his arms. He was tumbling straight toward the trenches, but +by an effort he regained control, righted the plane, and landed without +disaster. + +“Soldiers carried him to shelter, and later he was taken to a field +hospital, where he lingered for days between life and death. Ten +fragments of the explosive bullet were removed from his stomach. He +bore up bravely and became the favorite of the wounded officers in +whose ward he lay. When we flew over to see him they would say: ‘Il +est un brave petit gars, l’aviateur américain.’ [He’s a brave little +fellow, the American aviator.] On a shelf by his bed, done up in a +handkerchief, he kept the pieces of bullet taken out of him, and under +them some sheets of paper on which he was trying to write to his +mother, back in El Paso. + +“Balsley was awarded the Médaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre, +but the honors scared him. He had seen them decorate officers in the +ward before they died. + + +THE FIRST OF THEM TO DIE + +“Then came Chapman’s last fight. Before leaving, he had put two bags +of oranges in his machine to take to Balsley, who liked to suck them +to relieve his terrible thirst, after the day’s flying was over. There +was an aerial struggle against odds, far within the German lines, and +Chapman, to divert their fire from his comrades, engaged several enemy +airmen at once. He sent one tumbling to earth, and had forced the +others off when two more swooped down upon him.” The wings of his plane +suddenly buckled and the machine dropped like a stone. + +Chapman had only started the list of deaths. He was to be followed +by perhaps the most beloved of all the section. Kiffin Rockwell had +started off with Lufbery one morning. Just before he reached the lines +he “spied a German machine under him flying at 11,000 feet.” Rockwell +had fought more combats, than the rest of the Escadrille put together, +says McConnell. “He had shot down many German machines that had fallen +in their lines, but this was the first time he had had an opportunity +of bringing down a Boche in our territory.” + +Rockwell approached so close to the enemy plane that it seemed there +would be a collision. The German aeroplane carried two machine guns. +When Rockwell started his dive the enemy opened a rapid fire. “Rockwell +plunged through the stream of lead and only when very close to his +enemy did he begin shooting. For a moment it looked as if the German +was falling, but then the French machine turned rapidly nose down, the +wings of one side broke off and fluttered in the wake of the airplane, +which hurtled earthward in a rapid drop. It crashed into the ground +in a small field—a field of flowers—a few hundred yards back of the +trenches. It was not more than two and a half miles from the spot where +Rockwell, in the month of May, brought down his first enemy machine. +The Germans immediately opened up on the wreck with artillery fire. In +spite of the bursting shrapnel, gunners from a nearby battery rushed +out and recovered poor Rockwell’s broken body.” + +“Lufbery engaged a German craft but before he could get to close range +two Fokkers swooped down from behind and filled his aeroplane full of +holes. Exhausting his ammunition, he landed at Fontaine, an aviation +field near the lines. There he learned of Rockwell’s death and was told +that two other French machines had been brought down within the hour. +He ordered his gasoline tank filled, procured a full band of cartridges +and soared up into the air to avenge his comrade. He sped up and down +the lines, and made a wide détour to Habsheim, where the Germans have +an aviation field, but all to no avail. Not a Boche was in the air.” + +[Illustration: The Marines’ Watch on the Rhine + +General Neville decorating the Colors of the 6th Regiment with the +Croix de Guerre at Coblenz, Germany.] + +No greater blow could have befallen the Escadrille than Rockwell’s +death. “The bravest and best of us all is no more,” said the French +Captain. “Kiffin was the soul of the Escadrille,” writes Jim McConnell. +“He was loved and looked up to by not only every man in our flying +corps, but by every one who knew him. Kiffin was imbued with the spirit +of the cause for which he fought and gave his heart and soul to the +performance of his duty. He said: ‘I pay my part for Lafayette and +Rochambeau,’ and he gave the fullest measure. The old flame of chivalry +burned brightly in this boy’s fine and sensitive being. With his death +France lost one of her most valuable pilots. When he was over the lines +the Germans did not pass—and he was over them most of the time.” + +“Rockwell had been given the Médaille Militaire and the Croix de +Guerre, on the ribbon of which he wore four palms, representing the +four magnificent citations he had received in the order of the army.” + +Kiffin was given a funeral worthy of a general. “His brother, Paul, who +had fought in the Legion with him, and who had been rendered unfit for +service by a wound, was granted permission to attend the obsequies. +Pilots from all nearby camps flew over to render homage to Rockwell’s +remains. Every Frenchman in the aviation at Luxeuil marched behind the +bier. The British pilots, followed by a detachment of five hundred of +their men, were in line, and a battalion of French troops brought up +the rear. As the slow moving procession of blue and khaki-clad men +passed from the church to the graveyard, airplanes circled at a feeble +height above and showered down myriads of flowers.” + +The fates seemed to be envious of the American section in France. +Rockwell had fallen September 23. On the 15th of October Norman Prince +died. “It was hard to realize that poor old Norman had gone, but I do +not think he minded going,” writes McConnell. “He wanted to do his part +before being killed, and he had more than done it.” + + +JIM’S TURN CAME + +[Illustration: + + © _International News._ + +A Few Members of the Lafayette Escadrille] + +[Illustration: + + Painting by Joseph Cummings Chase. + +Corporal Walter E. Gaultney + +He was selected by his commander as an example of his finest type of +soldier, being “alert, ingenious, speedy,” and “heedless of personal +danger.”] + +Thus did Jim McConnell—honest, tender, courageous Jim, Irish Jim—glory +in the glory of his friends and mourn their loss. His good humor +and native wit remained to the last, but the deaths of those so dear +to him were deepening his character. There are touches of tense +seriousness in the book—a tragic note at times. It was hard to see +those brave fellows go one by one, and so steadily. And you never +could tell which of your remaining friends was to go next. Then of +a sudden came Jim’s turn. There are a few letters which describe +Jim’s death as tenderly as Jim wrote about Chapman and Rockwell and +Prince. The affection, loyalty, and undying gallantry of the group is +quite evident. In one of these letters, dated March 21, 1917, to Paul +Rockwell, Edmond Genet tells of the last flight: + +“On Monday morning, Mac, Parsons, and myself went out at nine o’clock +on the third patrol of the Escadrille. We had orders to protect +observation machines along the new lines around the region of Ham. Mac +was leader, I came second and Parsons followed me. Before we had gone +very far Parsons was forced to go back on account of motor trouble. + +“Mac and I kept on, and up to ten o’clock were circling around +the region of Ham, watching out for the heavier machines doing +reconnoitering work below us. We went higher than a thousand meters. +About ten, for some reason or other of his own, Mac suddenly headed +into the German lines toward Saint Quentin—perhaps for observation +purposes—and I naturally followed close to his rear and above him. At +any rate we had gotten north of Ham and quite inside the hostile lines, +when I saw two Boche machines crossing toward us from the region of +Saint Quentin at an altitude higher than ours—we were then about 1,600 +meters up. I supposed Mac saw them too. One Boche was far ahead of the +other, and was in position to dive at any moment on Mac. I saw the +direction Mac was taking, and pulled back climbing up, in order to gain +an advantageous height over the nearest Boche. It was cloudy and misty +and I had to keep my eyes on him all the time, so naturally I lost +track of Mac.” + +The letter goes on to tell how the writer got back—to find Mac had not +returned. + +“The one hope that we have is that some news of Mac will be brought by +civilians who might have witnessed his flight over the lines north of +Ham. We likewise hope that Mac was merely forced to land inside the +enemy lines on account of a badly damaged machine, or a bad wound, and +is well, but a prisoner. I wish, Paul, that I had been able to help +Mac during his combat. The mists were thick, and consequently seeing +any distance was difficult. I would have gone out that afternoon to +look for him, but my machine was so damaged it took until yesterday +afternoon to be repaired. Lieutenant de Laage and Lufbery did go out +with their Spads, around the region north of Ham, toward Saint Quentin, +but saw nothing of a Nieuport grounded or anything else to give news of +what had occurred.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood & Underwood._ + +Captain James Norman Hall, + +An American ace who was captured and made a prisoner of war by the +Germans.] + +Four days later Genet wrote: + +“The evening before last definite news was brought to us that a badly +smashed Nieuport had been found by French troops. Beside it was the +body of a sergeant-pilot which had been there at least three days +and had been stripped of all identification papers, flying clothes +and even the boots. They got the number of the machine, which proved +without further question that it was poor Mac. + +“Mac has been buried right there beside the road, and we will see that +the grave is decently marked with a cross. The Captain brought back a +square piece of canvas cut from one of the wings, and we are going to +get a good picture we have of Mac enlarged and placed on this with a +frame. I suppose that Thaw or Johnson will attend to his belongings +which he had asked to be sent to you. In the letter which he had left +in case of his death he concludes with the following words: ‘Good luck +to the rest of you. Vive la France!’ + +“All honor to him, Paul. The world, as well as France, will look up to +him just as it is looking up to your fine brother and the rest who have +given their lives so freely and gladly for this big cause. + +“The Captain has already put in a proposal for a citation for Mac, and +also one for me. Mac surely deserved it, and lots more, too.” + +McConnell was awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm. + + + + +A “LEGENDARY HERO” + +The Place in Fame to Which the French Assign Their Miracle “Ace” + + +In that charming French style of which he is a known master, Henry +Bordeaux tells the story of a frail little boy, delicate as a girl and +having the general appearance of one, with his long curls, his too +pretty face, his pale complexion, his gentle manners. Because he was so +frail of body and so uncertain of health he was closely looked after by +the women of the household, which means, among other things, that he +was quite thoroughly spoiled. The child looked like a little princess, +as though adapted more to a future of effeminate surroundings, not like +a boy in whose infant breast waited a great spirit. + +One day, when the child was about six years old, it suddenly occurred +to the father that they were taking a wrong course with the boy. After +reflection he took the boy on his knee and said to him: + +“I’ve a great mind to take you with me where I am going.” + +“Where are you going, papa?” + +“Where I am going only men go.” + +“I wish to go with you.” + +The father hesitated, but finally said: + +“After all, it is better to be too soon than too late. Get your hat. +I’ll take you.” + +He took him to the hair-cutter’s. + +“I’m going to have my hair cut,” said the father. “How about yours?” + +“I wish to do as the men do,” the boy answered. And the beautiful +curls were shorn. + +There were tears when the mother folded her transformed darling to her +breast, but the child stiffening proudly declared: “Je suis un homme!” + +Bordeaux says here: “Il sera un homme, mais il restera longtemps un +gamin aussi. Longtemps? Presque jusqu’à la fin—à ses heurs, jusqu’à la +fin.” + +It was Georges Guynemer, who not so very long after flamed out a boy +hero of France, doing deeds that struck the world with wonderment, and +while the world marveled vanished mysteriously, leaving no trace behind. + +Small and feminine, educated chiefly by governesses and his sisters, +later a day student at the Lyceum, afterwards for a time at Stanislas, +he was not the stuff for a soldier, yet soldier he wished to be when +France set out to repel the German horde. He was twenty years old then. +He hastened to his father. + +“I’m going to enlist.” + +“You are in luck.” + +“Ah! you authorize me!” + +“I envy you.” + +“Then as an old soldier you can help me. You can speak for me.” + +“I will.” + +But it was to no avail. He was not able to carry the equipment and +endure the fatigue of a private, and the effects of a childhood’s +illness made it impossible for him to serve in the cavalry. He was +rejected—laughed at by some, be it said. + +He made a second attempt to enlist with no better result. Says M. +Bordeaux: “He returned with his father to Biaritz, pale, silent, +mournful, in such a state of rage and bitterness that his face was +distorted.” He wrote to his old preceptor at Stanislas: “If I have to +lie at the bottom of an auto-camion I wish to go to the front; and I +will go. I mean to serve, it doesn’t matter where nor how, it doesn’t +matter in what branch, but go to the front, serve I will.” + +That sort of spirit is not to be denied. Fate and circumstances make +way for it. + +He met the pilot of an airplane one day and in conversation with him +asked: “How can one get into the air service?” + +“See the Captain; you’ll find him at Pau.” + + +A SMALL BEGINNING + +His parents, or rather his father, consenting, he was on his way to Pau +next morning. He rushed to Captain Bernard-Thierry with his plea. The +Captain objected. Georges pleaded, passionately, tearfully, begging +even as a child for a desired object. The troubled captain made the +only practicable concession—he would receive the youth as a mechanician +student. The heavens opened. “That’s the thing! That’s the thing! I +know automobiles.” And so it began, with hard work to the like of which +he had never been accustomed, his endurance of which was problematical. +But January 26, 1915, he was named as pilot student; March 10, 1915, he +made his veritable first flight. In a letter to his father about this +time he said: “I believe I am not making a reputation for prudence, but +I hope this will come. I shall know soon.” + +That reputation never came, on the contrary it was said of him: +“Returning almost daily from his chases with his aeroplane and often +his clothing riddled with bullets, hurling himself with absolute +abandon against three, ten, fifteen or twenty enemy machines in +formation, among which he usually succeeded in bringing down one or +more; exulting in the number of wounds which his faithful planes +brought home as if to bear witness to his charmed life, and encircling +them with red paint to make them more conspicuous; on two occasions +shooting down an enemy plane with a single bullet; on May 25, 1917, +bringing down four enemy aeroplanes in one day—these extraordinary +exploits coupled with the very extraordinary energy of this slim +boy soon placed him upon a pedestal which raised him high above his +comrades; and by reason of his many miraculous escapes from certain +death, eventually surrounded him with a halo of fame unknown to the +French populace since the day of Jeanne d’Arc. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood & Underwood._ + +Captain Guynemer, France’s immortal knight of the air.] + +“Conqueror in fifty-three aerial combats wherein the result was +officially established by the verification of three or more +eye-witnesses, Guynemer brought down as many more German aeroplanes +quite as effectively if less officially. His comrades in the escadrille +knew this and respected their chief accordingly. + +“Possessed of every decoration that a grateful nation could officially +bestow upon him, conscious of a position in the public esteem that, +tinctured as it was with the legendary, illumined him with more glory +and worship than was accorded even to a Joffre or a Foch, Georges +Guynemer fulfilled the expectations of his fellow-countrymen, when on +September 11, 1917, he disappeared from the eyes of the world while in +the full exercise of his duty. The heavens swallowed him up, and to +this day no reliable clue to his disappearance has been discovered. +Small wonder then that the people of France in contemplation of this +last exploit of their adored hero place his memory with one acclaim +alongside the niche so long occupied by the heroic Jeanne d’Arc!” + + +MIRACULOUS ESCAPES + +His fellows and the soldiers in general were devoted to him; and that +their devotion was something profounder than lip-service one incident +of his career, one of his narrow escapes, will attest. It was in +September, 1916. He was far within the enemy lines combating seven +machines when a shot penetrated the radiator of his engine and the +motor stopped. He was then quite fifteen miles distant from his own +lines and about twelve thousand feet in the air. There was nothing for +it but to point his machine for home, with the least practicable slant, +and trust to the glide sustaining him until he could reach home lines. +The turn made, he gave all his attention to his pursuers, who, not +suspecting his plight and having a lively respect for the generalship +of the redoubtable “Ace,” seemed to think discretion the better part of +valor, did not continue the chase but dived for their own quarters. The +machine on its glide fell lower and lower as he approached the trenches +and finally the German gunners recognized the craft as that of the +dreaded young champion and the guns were leveled at him, and he was +gliding through a veritable shower of bursting shrapnel. His machine +was riddled and it was a grave question if it could reach the French +lines. It crossed the German trenches a scant fifty feet above the +heads of the enemy who stood up in the trenches in their eagerness to +send a shot into the tattered plane that would bring it down. + +[Illustration: + + © _International Film Service._ + +A Duel Above the Clouds + +A German plane falling in flames after a fight with a French plane.] + +The French soldiers, who had watched the coming of the Cigogne through +the rain of bullets and realized the helplessness of their idol, were +recklessly and excitedly hanging over their trenches raging that +they were powerless to help. Almost simultaneously with Guynemer’s +consciousness of his inability to reach his lines the poilus perceived +the fact and with yells they leaped to the rescue, scrambling from +their trenches in a wild charge against the Huns. + +The aeroplane fell into a shell hole some forty yards short of the +French lines and was smashed to pieces, but the charmed pilot was +thrown free of the wreck and was absolutely without injury when his +rescuing comrades picked him up and surrounding him carried him +hurriedly to their protecting trenches. He is credited with saying, +when they marveled at his escape, “I was born on Christmas Eve. They +cannot hurt me.” + +M. Bordeaux, who is a loving biographer, devotes over three hundred +pages to the events and deeds of the amazing hero, and there is not +with it all an event recorded that is not worthy the record. Among them +is an instance of the irony of fate that occasionally turns intended +service into serious hurt. It was in September, 1916, in the Somme +battle. Guynemer had shot down two Boche machines and was after a third +at an altitude of 10,000 feet when a foolishly fired French shell meant +for the enemy machine caught him in full flight, breaking a wing and +taking off part of his radiator. Of course the machine began falling to +the earth. By energetic efforts with the controls and the swing of his +body Guynemer succeeded in checking the fall and establishing a glide, +but he could not lessen the velocity with which he was approaching +the ground. The catastrophe was witnessed by the troops and when the +Spad crashed head first they ran to take up the remains of the doomed +pilot. But when they reached the spot there stood Guynemer unharmed +regarding mournfully the wreck of his machine. An idea of the force of +the impact may be had from the fact that the nose of the machine was +driven so deep that it could not be budged. + +The jubilant soldiers lifted Guynemer to their shoulders and bore him +to the General’s quarters. The General embraced him and ordered the +troops to form for review. Then the adored aviator was led by the +General down the lines. One can imagine the enthusiasm, the emotions of +the French. + + +WON WITHOUT ARMS + +Guynemer kept a diary of all his doings day by day, and his biographer +makes free use of it. His method of entry was laconic. He never +stressed a point. Take as an example of the style and as a character +sketch of the man his entry of January 26, 1917, when he did that +incredible thing, brought down and captured a two-seater enemy machine +when he himself was without offensive arms. He went up in a borrowed +machine of which he was sufficiently contemptuous. The day before he +had not gone up. His only diary entry for that day was “Je regarde +voler les autres et ronge.” + +The translation of his entry for the 26th is as follows: + +“Bucquet lends me his taxi. Gun sights nothing, simply an emptiness. +What a layout! Line of aim worse than pitiful. + +“12 o’clock saw a Boche at 12,000 feet. Up went the lift. Arrived in +the sun. In tacking about was caught in nasty tail spin. Descending, +I see the Boche 400 yards behind, firing at me. Recovering I fire ten +shots. Gun jams completely. But the Boche seemed to feel some emotion +and dived away full south with his motor wide open. Let’s follow him! + +“But I do not get too close to him, for fear he will see that I can’t +shoot. Altimeter drops to 5,000 feet above Estrées-Saint-Denis. I +maneuver my Boche as nicely as I can, and suddenly he redresses and +sets off towards Rheims. + +“I essay a bluff. I mount to 2,000 feet over him and drop on to him +like a stone. Made an impression on him but was beginning to believe +it did not take when he suddenly began to descend. I put myself 10 +yards behind him; but every time I showed my nose around the edge of +his tail the gunner took aim at me. + +“We take the road towards Compiègne—3,000 feet—2,000 feet again I show +my nose, and this time the gunner stands up, takes his hands from his +machine gun and motions to me that he surrenders. _All Right!_ + +“I see underneath his machine the four bombs in their resting place. +1,500 feet. The Boche slows down his windmill. 600 feet. 300 feet. I +swerve over him while he lands. I make a round or two at 300 feet and +see that I am over an airdrome. But not having any gun or cartridges +I cannot prevent them from setting fire to their taxi, a 200 H. P. +Albatross, magnificent. + +“When I see they are surrounded I come down and show the two Boches my +disabled machine gun. Some headpiece! + +“They had fired 200 shots at me. My ten bullets that I fired before I +jammed had struck their altimeter and the revolution counter, hence +their emotion! The pilot told me that my aeroplane I shot down day +before yesterday at Goyancourt had gunner killed and pilot wounded +in the knee. Hope this unique confirmation will be accepted by +authorities. It will make my 30th.” + + +THE FLIGHT INTO THE UNKNOWN + +But after he had brought down his fiftieth, for some unaccountable +reason a change came over Guynemer. He became nervous and irritable. +He lost his old vivacity, nerve, dash, and with them his instincts +of the air seemed to desert him. Friends urged him to rest, to give +over fighting and direct his genius to teaching others to fly. But he +answered: “They would say I would fight no more because France has no +more decorations to give me”; and he had a jealous pride to work harder +than ever, do even more valiant deeds. And he did work harder. He did +take greater risks. He engaged in combats but was unable to win. Luck +had turned and his chums, his comrades, knew him to be a sick man +in no condition to fly. They ’phoned to their commanding officer in +Paris begging him to come and take Guynemer away for a recuperative +rest. Captain Brocard responded promptly. He arrived at the Dunkerque +aerodrome at nine o’clock the next morning. But Guynemer had ordered +his machine and taken flight half an hour before, accompanied, in +another machine, by Lieut. Bozon-Verduras. + +It was Sept. 11, 1918. It was Guynemer’s last flight. All that is known +of it Bozon-Verduras tells. Somewhat northeast of Ypres, at an altitude +of 12,000 feet, a two-seater enemy machine was discovered. Directing +Lieut. Bozon-Verduras to take a position above to guard against rescue, +Guynemer rushed to the attack. While on guard the Lieutenant detected a +distant enemy formation and drove forward to intercept its course. But +without seeing him the formation changed its course and the Lieutenant +returned to position. He did not, however, see Guynemer’s machine, nor +did several hours of extended search lead to any trace above or below +of the vanished aviator. His fuel exhausted, the Lieutenant returned to +the aerodrome hoping Guynemer might be there. But he was not. All day +they waited for his return. He never returned. “Undoubtedly,” said some +one of the men, “he has been taken prisoner.” + +Says M. Bordeaux: + +“Guynemer a prisoner! He had said one day, laughingly, ‘The Boche +will never have me alive’—but his laugh was terrible. No one believed +Guynemer to be a prisoner. What then?” + +Nothing more is known. The Germans made contradictory and unreliable +reports about his death. The simple minded among the French believe +their hero an immortal, taken up into his native heaven. The lofty +minded French name him “Héros légendaire, tombé en plein ciel de +gloire, après trois ans de lutte ardente,” and this they have inscribed +on a marble plaque in the crypt of the Panthéon, that temple which the +French hold sacred as the “Sepulcher of Great Men.” + + + + +WORTHY CITATION + +A Distinguished Service on the Battle Front for Which No Honors +Provision Has Been Made + + +There is a kind of heroism that never gets tagged. Many would not +think it heroism. But when you come to analyze heroism into its +elemental parts you find that it is a spiritual energy with myriad +forms of expression, though these forms always have the character of +self-dedication to an altruistic service. By that definition Capt. E. +W. Zinn takes place in the ranks of war heroes; but if you have not +seen what _The Stars and Stripes_—the official newspaper of the A. E. +F., published in France—has said about him you probably never have +heard of Capt. Zinn and his self-appointed mission. It is well to know +about him; so here is the story as it appeared in the official organ: + +“It was Captain Zinn, a veteran of the French Foreign Legion and the +Lafayette Escadrille, who, when eager young American aviators, fresh +from their training-camps, reported for duty where the fighting was, +assigned them to squadrons and each to a particular airplane. Thus it +was that he came to know them all. He sent them to their stations. +He knew what ships they would pilot in combat in the air, on bombing +expeditions, on reconnaissances over the lines. + +“And now he seeks for those he sent out and who never returned. He +asked that he might do it. If you talk to Captain Zinn about it, you +know why he made the request. You know how he feels about that which he +is doing. There is no mawkish sentiment about Captain Zinn. + +“But deep down within him Captain Zinn feels that he and no other +should go out on the mission that now engages him. He has an interest +that is intimate and personal. + +[Illustration: + + © _International News._ + +Athletes Among French Airmen + +Georges Carpentier, heavyweight boxer (the second figure from the +left).] + +“Already, Captain Zinn’s quest has led him over the greater part of +northern France and into Belgium and Germany. Through the torn fields +and woods in the Verdun, Château-Thierry, St. Mihiel, and Meuse +sectors he has gone. He has tramped through the Argonne to Sedan and +sought in the mountains that encircle Metz and hide the valley of the +Moselle. Wherever there was fighting in which the American Air Service +participated, there has gone, or will go, Zinn. + +“Out of 150 missing American aviators, Captain Zinn already has +definitely located and identified the spots where seventy fell and were +buried. It has required many days of painstaking search and inquiry to +attain this result. + +“Captain Zinn has found that in a great many cases American fliers +were buried either by the Germans or by civilians with no mark of +identification left on them. + + +THE UNIDENTIFIED + +“Many times he has come upon a grave with a rude cross on which was +scrawled: ‘Unidentified American Aviator’ or ‘Two Unidentified American +Aviators.’ He has had to obtain positive identification by careful +examination of air-service records, questioning of peasants and +civilians who saw American machines brought down and deductions based +on the information he gathered. In some instances it has been necessary +to open graves to make sure. + +“To start out with, Captain Zinn has the records of squadrons, which +show, for instance, on what date a missing pilot went out, what his +mission was, over what country he naturally would go, and what kind +of machine he had. Perhaps an attack by an overwhelming force or an +accident or other circumstances forced the pilot off the course marked +out for him. When he failed to return, only speculation as to where he +fell could be indulged in. Unless the Germans notified his squadron of +his death and the location of his grave, he became one of the men for +whom Captain Zinn now seeks. + +“There was the case of young Kenyon Roper, of the 91st Aero Squadron. +By a process of elimination of facts gathered, it was fairly definitely +established that Roper had come down in the night between the lines. +Captain Zinn questions scores of peasant folk. But the search appeared +to be hopeless. And then Captain Zinn heard that a small boy had a +handkerchief that the dead flier had possessed. He found the boy and +the handkerchief. And written in indelible ink on the little piece of +linen was the name ‘Kenyon Roper.’ It was easy then to learn from the +boy where the grave was and to be sure that Kenyon Roper lay sleeping +there.” + + +A LAST AUTOGRAPH + +“Then there was the case of Lester Harter, of the 11th Squadron. He +went out and his machine caught fire. Harter jumped, just as Major +Lufbery did and as other aviators have done, and fell many thousand +feet to his death. When awe-stricken peasants ran from the fields to +his crushed body they found in his hand a scrap of paper, and on it was +written in hurried, jerky letters, ‘Lester Harter.’ + +“Fearing lost identity among the dead, Lester Harter must have written +his name on that piece of paper before he jumped from his machine. + +“Then there were Kinne and McElroy, of the 99th Aero Squadron. Only a +piece of the tail of their machine was found. Their plane came down +in flames between Cunel and Nantillois. Both jumped. One day their +squadron commander joined in the search for their bodies. He hunted for +hours in a thick wood. And he gave up. He was standing on the edge of +a covered shell-hole, discouraged. Some impulse caused him to stir the +earth in the shell-hole with his foot. And there he found the body of +young McElroy. Near by they later found Kinne. + +“There are many such stories that Captain Zinn can tell. + +“From the information he gathers, Captain Zinn writes personal letters +to the relatives of the dead aviators, telling in simple words how and +where they went to their deaths. His letters usually give the first +true account of the manner in which the fighters of the air met their +ends. Sometimes those letters destroy cherished hopes that the aviators +reported as ‘missing’ by the War Department might some time, somehow, +turn up. But it is better so, says Captain Zinn.” + + + + +A CHALLENGE DUEL + +The Guns of Both Armies Suspend Fire as Captains Ball and Immelman +Fight in Air + + +It was often said in the early months of the war that the air combats +revived the spirit of ancient chivalry. It was true for a time, but +German treachery and ruthlessness soon changed the character of the +upper warfare. When the raider and the dastard entered, gallantry +necessarily gave way to grim and merciless antagonism. + +There were many, though, on both sides who felt that no glory came +to aviation from methods of frightfulness and reprisals for such +frightfulness and to the last there were instances of clean, brave +fights. One of the last duels on the knightly lines of conduct was +that in which Captain Immelman, “The Falcon” of the German army, met +Captain Ball, one of the most brilliant airmen of the British Royal +Flying Corps. Immelman had a record of some fifty-one British airplanes +downed. Captain Ball wanted to wipe out this record, and the daring +German at the same time; so one day he flew over the German lines and +dropped the following note: + + “Captain Immelman: + + I challenge you to a man-to-man fight to take place this afternoon + at two o’clock. I will meet you over the German lines. Have your + anti-aircraft guns withhold their fire, while we decide which is the + better man. The British guns will be silent. + + “Ball.” + +Ball was by that time quite renowned. The Germans were aware of his +official record. He had taken part in twenty-six combats, had destroyed +eleven hostile machines, driven two out of control, and forced several +others to land. + +In these combats Captain Ball had gone up alone. On one occasion he had +fought six hostile machines, twice he had fought five machines, and +once four. When leading two other British aeroplanes he had attacked +an enemy formation of eight. On each of these occasions he had brought +down at least one enemy. + +The Germans knew all that, but evidently Ball had picked an opponent +worthy of him not only in skill but in courage and chivalry, for that +day the answer to the note was dropped from a German machine: + + “Captain Ball: + + Your challenge is accepted. The guns will not interfere. I will meet + you promptly at two. + + “Immelman.” + + +CHEERS FROM OPPOSING TRENCHES + +Far and wide along the trenches the word was spread. Firing stopped +as though a flag of truce had been hoisted. Germans and English left +covers and sought positions of vantage from which to watch the battle +royal. At the appointed time both flyers rose promptly and made their +way over “No Man’s Land.” + +“Cheering arose,” relates an eye-witness. + +“There were wild cheers for Ball. The Germans yelled just as vigorously +for Immelman. + +“The cheers from the trenches continued; the Germans’ increased in +volume; ours changed into cries of alarm.” + +Immelman was known to have a method of attack peculiar to himself. +Instead of approaching his adversary from the side, he maneuvered to +get squarely behind him. His study was to hold the nose of his machine +almost on the tail of the aircraft he was pursuing. This gave him, +Abbot points out, what used to be called in the Navy a raking position, +for his shots would rake the whole body of the enemy airplane from +tail to nose with a fair chance of hitting either the fuel tank, the +engine, or the pilot. Failing to secure the position he coveted, this +daring German would surrender it with apparent unconcern to the enemy, +who usually fell into a trap. For just as the foeman’s machine came up +to the tail of Immelman’s craft the latter would suddenly turn his nose +straight to earth, drop like a stone, execute a backward loop and come +up behind his surprised adversary, who thus found the tables suddenly +turned....” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +1st Lieut. Philip Benson + + Volunteered for night bombing and was particularly efficient in + “chassi” work. He gave the Germans a taste of their own medicine—by + dropping bombs on German towns and firing upon German supply trains.] + +We have left the description of the duel with the English in alarm. + +“Ball,” continues the eye-witness, “thousands of feet above us and only +a speck in the sky, was doing the craziest things imaginable. He was +below Immelman and was apparently making no effort to get above him and +thus gaining the advantage of position. Rather he was swinging around, +this way and that, attempting, it seemed, to postpone the inevitable. + +“We saw the German’s machine dip over preparatory to starting the +nose-dive. + +“‘He’s gone now,’ sobbed a young soldier at my side, for he knew +Immelman’s gun would start its raking fire once it was being driven +straight down. + +“Then in a fraction of a second the tables were turned. Before +Immelman’s plane could get into firing position, Ball drove his machine +into a loop, getting above his adversary and cutting loose with his +gun and smashing Immelman by a hail of bullets as he swept by. + + +A WREATH FOR HIS VICTIM + +“Immelman’s airplane burst into flames and dropped. Ball from above +followed for a few hundred feet and then straightened out and raced +for home. He settled down, rose again, hurried back, and released a +huge wreath of flowers, almost directly over the spot where Immelman’s +charred body was being lifted from a tangled mass of metal. + +“Four days later Ball too was killed.” + +Shortly before his death Ball wrote to a friend: “You will be pleased +to hear that I have ten more Huns, and that my total is now 40—two in +front of my French rival. Oh, I’m having a topping time! To-day or +to-morrow I’m being presented to Sir Douglas Haig. Am very pleased. I +just want to get a few more if I can.” + +Ball’s wish was gratified. He got more than a few more and then—died as +he had so often lived—fighting against great odds, for when last seen, +on the evening of May 7, 1917, he was high above the enemy’s lines +engaging three German machines at once. + +What slender hope had been left for him was shattered by the War Office +intimation that Ball had been killed. The brave young officer lost his +life at a village 5½ miles east of La Bassée. + + + + +AN AMERICAN WONDER + +The Brief but Greatly Achieving Career of Lieut. Frank Luke, Jr.—His +Mysterious End + + +Innumerable are the instances, never to be reckoned, of the sudden +meteoric flame of splendid daring—the sudden flash of the courageous +soul in achievement, and the equally sudden extinction—that a thousand +attested circumstances assure us characterized the terrible passing +of the Great War. Happily for the world, always the better for new +evidence that “divinity still lives in the hearts of men,” very many of +those deeds of devoted heroism have been written into history for the +inspiration of high-minded youth. + +There was no experience more aptly described as meteoric than that of +Frank Luke, Jr., who joined the 27th Aero Squadron near Château-Thierry +late in July, 1918, did brilliant service in that connection, and +before the end of September had utterly disappeared from the knowledge +of men—one of the missing never definitely accounted for. + +Frank was a Phoenix, Arizona, boy, barely twenty when he entered the +service. After a period of training in Texas he was sent to France and +had further training at Issoudun and was then sent to join the squadron +near Château-Thierry. He was an enthusiast for flying, never getting +enough of it. It was like second nature to him, and he adhered to no +rules but his own, apparently indifferent to safety regulations when +in the air, and so impatient of restrictions that he almost invariably +got lost from his flight when it went out in formation. This gave rise +among his fellows to the belief that he was afraid to follow, his +getting lost being the deliberate result of “funk.” In course of time, +however, they came to understand that Frank Luke held no acquaintance +with fear. He simply had a method—method and initiative—and put +his abilities to their most effective use. It was so good a method, +so wisely reasoned and so admirably executed that in the space of +seventeen days he shot down eighteen enemy balloons and planes. + +[Illustration: Lieutenant Frank Luke + +He joined an Aero Squadron near Château-Thierry, late in July, 1918, +and before the end of September he disappeared without being heard from +again.] + +Lieut. Col. Harold E. Hartney, Chief of Gunnery in the Air Service, at +that time Commander of the Squadron to which Luke belonged, gave an +account of the young aviator’s first exploit. August 6, 1918, the First +Pursuit Group, which included the 27th Squadron, was operating on the +Château-Thierry sector. The work was seriously interfered with by heavy +barrages of pursuit planes maintained by the enemy to prevent Allied +reconnaissance over the territory being evacuated. Col. Hartney says: + + +HIS FIRST EXPLOIT + +“Lieut. Luke believed that if he could get across the opposing +lines unobserved and far enough, he would be able to take the enemy +formations unaware and swoop down upon the unsuspecting rear man, shoot +him down and get away in safety. Accordingly one day he went off on his +own at great altitude and crossed over into enemy territory. Far below +him he spied an enemy formation of six machines dropping down to land +on their own aerodrome. Perfectly aware of the odds against him, he +swooped from 15,000 feet to 3,000 feet in one long dive, speeding at +approximately 200 miles an hour, closed in on the rear man, and from a +distance of no more than twenty yards sent him crashing down. + +“The enemy formation had been taken completely by surprise. Before they +could realize what had happened or engage Luke in combat the latter +dropped to an elevation of less than 400 feet, and, zigzagging, made +his way home, dodging anti-aircraft fire and machine-gun nests until he +crossed the lines. By then he was completely out of gasoline and was +compelled to make a forced landing near the front line. He had seen +the enemy machine crash to earth, but was unable to give the location, +and therefore he could not get from eye-witnesses on the ground the +confirmation required to make the victory official.” + +That feat indicated the man. It was very soon apparent that on the +occasions when he was “lost” he was off on adventures of his own, +planning actions and studying the means to execute them,—qualifying +himself for what he conceived to be his most valuable and effective +service. He was a veritable hunter. + +The morning set for the opening of the St. Mihiel offensive, Sept. 12, +1918, the clouds hung low and the weather was such that ordinarily it +would have been regarded as altogether unfit for flying. But Luke was +not to be deterred by it. He was off at dawn in quest of enemy planes +or balloons and after many vain explorations he finally discovered +a German balloon at the extreme right of the American sector, but +operated against a portion of the line allotted to other flyers. He +returned to his aerodrome, and on reporting the balloon learned that +it had been doing great damage by an enfilading fire, but that it had +been attacked repeatedly without success both by American and French +aviators. Luke offered to destroy the balloon and set off with Lieut. +Fritz Wehner, his flying partner. The statement of eye-witnesses from +the ground was that Luke dived suddenly out of the clouds taking the +balloon wholly by surprise, but the balloon-gun which he was handling +for the first time jammed when he attempted to discharge it. He rose +into the clouds, got the gun free, immediately dived again and fired +the heavy incendiary bullet that sent the balloon down in flames. + + +DOWNED THREE BALLOONS IN ONE DAY + +Two days later he sent another balloon flaming down in somewhat more +exciting circumstances. While he was speeding with an escort of other +pilots, to attack three enemy balloons operating at an unusually low +altitude, his escort became engaged with a formation of Fokkers. This +would have made it seem to many pilots unwise to proceed with the +attack; but Luke took advantage of the fight above to dive down and +begin the assault on one of the balloons which, after several attempts, +he succeeded in shooting down, though machine bullets and anti-aircraft +shells and flaming onions were showered about him. As the balloon fell +burning, Luke flew down to close range and turned loose his machine gun +on the Huns on the ground with the desired result of many casualties. +When he got back home he found that his machine was so full of bullet +holes that a very few more taps would have weakened it enough to bring +it down in collapse. But within five minutes he was in another machine +and begging leave to go on a further quest. + +At 5 o’clock that afternoon he sent down the second balloon in flames. +Later he discovered attempts being made to send up another balloon +north of Verdun; he hastened back to his squadron and asked to be +ordered out at dusk to surprise and destroy the big bag. + +He left with instructions not to descend on the balloon until 7.50 +(that being for the benefit of his protective escort who would follow +him down a few moments later). Precisely at 7.50 the watchers on the +aerodrome saw the balloon flare in the darkness and fall to the ground. + +And so the story runs; each new adventure a companion thriller to the +others, every machine in which he flew being more or less riddled +with bullets, and the miracle is that the daring youth passed so many +hazards unscathed. Col. Hartney is authority for the statement that +balloon strafing is in reality “the most dangerous exploit any man in +any branch of the service can undertake.” + +Frank Luke in seventeen days accounted for eighteen enemy balloons and +planes. He was the first American flyer to win the Congressional Medal +of Honor. + + +HIS END A MYSTERY + +But there is an end to successful adventures as to other things, and +the brilliant career of this Arizona lad came to abrupt conclusion, +leaving the shadow of mystery as to just how the hero passed on. Here +is the story of the last exploit as Col. Hartley tells it: + +“His next official victory was on Sept. 28, when he shot down a German +Hanoveraner airplane which was being escorted by a single-seater Fokker. + +“That evening he did not return to his own aerodrome, but remained +all night with the French squadron and went out the next day for the +express purpose of destroying three balloons. The wonderful story of +his exciting fight against hopeless odds and of his glorious death need +not be dwelt upon. For his work on Sept. 29 he was awarded the Medal +of Honor. + +“Briefly, what happened was that he flew over an American aerodrome +and dropped a weighted message. The message asked that a lookout be +kept for three drachens over on the German side. He was next seen to go +over in that direction at a very high altitude, and when very nearly +over the drachens was attacked by ten enemy machines. He engaged all +of them single-handed and crashed two of the ten. Then he dropped—out +of control, as it seemed, but most likely only pretending to be so. +When he reached the level of the balloons he shot them down one after +another in flames—all three of them. The anti-aircraft guns were very +busy about the second balloon. After that he disappeared.” + +Beyond this all that is known is more or less speculative. Jan. 3, +1919, the Graves Registration officer of Neufchateau reported to the +Chief of the A. E. F. Air Service on the subject of the grave of an +unknown American aviator, killed Sept. 29, 1918, in the village of +Murvaux (Meuse), and asked for possible information to identify the +body. “Reported as having light hair, young, of medium height and +rugged physique. Reported by the inhabitants that previous to being +killed this man brought down three German balloons, two German planes +and dropped hand bombs, killed eleven German soldiers and wounded a +number of others. He was wounded himself in the shoulder and evidently +had to make a forced landing, and upon landing opened fire with his +automatic and fought until he was killed. It is also reported that the +Germans took his shoes, leggings and money, leaving his grave unmarked.” + +Supporting the report is an affidavit (Jan. 15, 1919) signed by twelve +inhabitants of the village that gives the foregoing facts in detail and +adds this: + +“Certify equally to have seen the German Commandant of the village +refuse to have straw placed on the cart carrying the dead aviator to +the village cemetery. This same officer drove away some women bringing +a sheet to serve as a shroud for the hero, and said, kicking the body, +‘Get that out of my way as quick as possible.’” + +Two of the villagers placed the body on the cart. + + + + +ONE TO TWENTY-TWO + +The Formidable Odds Against Which a Young English Pilot Daringly +Battled, Only to Fall 14,000 Feet Into the Sea + + +German air-raids on London which were entirely without military +justification, being a part of the scheme of frightfulness, resulted in +the death of relatively few persons; but they roused British resentment +to a pitch that had a tremendous influence upon the fighting spirit of +the soldiers at the front and the aviators summoned to the defense of +London. + +In one of the later raids, Lieutenant I. E. R. Young, of the Royal +Flying Corps, lost his life in highly dramatic circumstances that +proved his heroic quality. The event is best recorded, perhaps, in +a letter written by Young’s commanding officer to the father of the +daring aviator. The letter was as follows: + +“Your son, as you know, had only been in my squadron for a short time, +but quite long enough for me to realize what a very efficient and +gallant officer he was. He had absolutely the heart of a lion and was +a very good pilot. Your son had been up on every raid of late, and had +always managed to get in contact with the enemy machines. The last +raid, which unfortunately resulted in his death, shows what a very +gallant officer we have lost. + +“Almost single-handed he flew straight into the middle of the +twenty-two machines, and both himself and his observer at once opened +fire. All the enemy machines opened fire also, so he was horribly +outnumbered. The volume of fire to which he was subjected was too awful +for words. To give you a rough idea: There were twenty-two machines, +each machine had four guns, and each gun was firing about 400 rounds +per minute. Your son never hesitated in the slightest. He flew straight +on until, as I should imagine, he must have been riddled with bullets. +The machine then put its nose right up in the air and fell over, and +went spinning down into the sea from 14,000 feet. + +“I, unfortunately, had to witness the whole ghastly affair. The machine +sank so quickly that it was, I regret, impossible to save your son’s +body, he was so badly entangled in the wires, etc. H. M. S. —— rushed +to the spot as soon as possible, but only arrived in time to pick up +your son’s observer, who, I regret to state, is also dead. He was +wounded six times, and had a double fracture in the skull.” + + + + +FROM SADDLE TO COCKPIT + +It Was a Problem of Mud That Turned Trooper Bishop Into an “Ace” of the +Royal Flying Corps + + +It was not unnatural that intrepidity in the air should have commanded +more of public attention and enthusiasm during the war than did the +courage, daring and amazing fortitude of the men in the trenches. The +sensation of novelty makes stronger appeal to the curious interest +of humanity than do deeds and events no less masterful though more +familiar to experience. So it was that the invaders of the air, who +fought their duels or delivered their assaults above the clouds, came +in for the lion’s share of the popular plaudits,—the miracles of the +flyers having the advantage of the romantic and picturesque over the +miracles of the men who kept their feet on the earth. That is why there +are more stories of the one than of the other. But are they not wonder +stories? The career of any of the “Aces,” American, French, British, +Italian, German, compels an affirmative answer. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Colonel William A. Bishop, a Canadian “Ace” of the Royal Flying Corps] + +Among the many is that of Col. William A. Bishop, a Canadian member of +the British Royal Flying Corps, his story rather the more interesting +by reason of his living to tell it himself after the battles of the air +had ceased. He had a record of forty-nine German planes and balloons +actually destroyed. In addition to this, he was the victor in eighty +to a hundred other fights high in air, the enemy engaged being driven +from the field, either because of wounds or of that discretion said to +be the better part of valor. In recognition of these achievements he +received the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, twice +bestowed, and the Military Cross—all in a single fighting season and +before he was twenty-three years of age. Perhaps the most remarkable +thing about it all was that the hero of these officially honored +achievements was little known, until the war ended, to the public at +large. But that was due to the fact that the British policy was not to +emphasize the performances of one branch of the service more than those +of another. It is claimed that there were about forty “aces” of the +British Royal Flying Corps of whom the world has never heard. Only when +there was repeated mention of a name in _The Official Gazette_ was the +public made aware that a flyer had won exceptional title to honors. + +Bishop went to England as a cavalry officer in a unit of the Second +Canadian Division, and expected that his services would be in the +saddle, not in the cockpit. That was in July, 1915, in a period of +torrential rains and consequent mud—cheer-despoilers of a cavalry +camp. It was while wallowing in knee-deep mud that he viewed with envy +a pilot gliding overhead in a trim little aeroplane, and the sudden +desire possessed him to follow that airy mind-free branch of the +service. He talked with a friend in the Royal Flying Corps who approved +his purpose, and assured him the transfer could be made quite easily. +He got the transfer and was soon training as an observer, his first +lessons being flights in a ponderous training “bus” (as the airmen name +their planes) that was not equal to a speed of more than fifty miles +an hour. In a few months he got the observer’s badge or insignia, an O +with a spread wing attached to one side, and within a little while was +making observations and taking photographs in France over the enemy +lines. + +This useful work, so highly important to the men fighting on the +ground, was drudgery to him because he was burning to become a fighter. +Some six months later his longing was gratified; he returned to England +and set about acquiring the knowledge and skill to fly “on his own.” +He had the usual experience of the beginner,—elation over his first +“solo”; uncertainties, anxieties as to how to get back to earth safely; +a somewhat humiliating landing, etc.; but he suffered no misadventure. +The first week in March, 1917, he landed in Boulogne with ten or twelve +other flying men for his second experience on the fighting front. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy Red Cross Magazine._ + +In Formation + +These airplanes have ascended early in the morning for battle +formation. The range of vision is interesting from this altitude.] + + +KEEPING UP WITH THE FORMATION + +The first time he was to go over the lines his orders were to bring +up the rear of a flight of six machines, and he found keeping up with +the formation such a busying task that he could be conscious of little +else. “Every time the formation turned or did anything unexpected,” he +says, “it took me two or three minutes to get back in my proper place. +But I got back every time as fast as I could. I felt safe when I was +with the formation and scared when I was out of it, for I had been +warned many times that it is a fatal mistake to get detached and become +a straggler. And I had heard of German ‘head hunters’ too. They are +German machines that fly very high and avoid combat with anything like +an equal number, but are quick to pounce down upon a straggler, or an +Allied machine that has been damaged and is bravely struggling to get +home. Fine sportsmanship that! + +“The way I clung to my companions that day reminded me of the little +child hanging to its mother’s skirts while crossing a street. I +remember I also felt as a child does when it is going up a dark pair +of stairs and is sure something is going to reach out somewhere and +grab it. I was so intent on the clinging part that I paid very little +attention to anything else.” + +Some distance off was another formation on patrol that became engaged +with a Hun formation and he saw the young flyer of one of the machines, +“one of our own,” going down in flames, but his reflections on that +incident were suddenly interrupted by a “bang” of terrifying violence +close to his ears. The tail of his machine shot up in the air and he +fell three or more hundred feet before he could recover control. It was +a shot from an “Archie” (an anti-aircraft gun), and Colonel Bishop says +of it: “That shot, strange to relate, was the closest I have ever had +from anti-aircraft fire.” + + +THE GERMAN “FLYING PIG” + +In his highly entertaining book, _Winged Warfare_, Colonel Bishop +introduces an amusing incident as the finish of this night’s patrol. He +says: + +“We continued to patrol our beat, and I was keeping my place so well +I began to look about a bit. After one of these gazing spells, I was +startled to discover that the three leading machines of our formation +were missing. Apparently they had disappeared into nothingness. I +looked around hastily, and then discovered them underneath me, diving +rapidly. I didn’t know just what they were diving at, but I dived, +too. Long before I got down to them, however, they had been in a short +engagement half a mile below me, and had succeeded in frightening off +an enemy artillery machine which had been doing wireless observation +work. It was a large white German two-seater, and I learned after we +landed that it was a well-known machine and was commonly called ‘the +flying pig.’ Our patrol leader had to put up with a lot of teasing that +night because he had attacked the ‘pig.’ It seems that it worked every +day on this part of the front, was very old, had a very bad pilot and a +very poor observer to protect him. + +“It was a sort of point of honor in the squadron that the decrepit old +‘pig’ should not actually be shot down. It was considered fair sport, +however, to frighten it. Whenever our machines approached, the ‘pig’ +would begin a series of clumsy turns and ludicrous maneuvers, and would +open a frightened fire from ridiculously long ranges. The observer was +a very bad shot and never succeeded in hitting any of our machines, so +attacking this particular German was always regarded more as a joke +than a serious part of warfare. The idea was only to frighten the +‘pig,’ but our patrol leader had made such a determined dash at him the +first day we went over that he never appeared again. For months the +patrol leader was chided for playing such a nasty trick upon a harmless +old Hun.” + +As Colonel Bishop’s story is that of one thrilling and perilous +adventure following fast upon another, it is impossible to give his +career in detail or recount even the chief of his many engagements. The +fight in which he won the Military Cross is a good illustration of the +clear judgment and fearlessness which characterized his exploits in +general. + +The Allies had been preparing for the great offensive that began with +the battle of Arras, and for a week in advance of the date set for the +initiative (April 9th, 1917) the airmen had been carrying out orders +to keep the sky free from prying eyes of men in planes and to attack +and destroy enemy observation balloons. The balloons flew from the +same places every day because there were batteries of anti-aircraft +guns stationed below that area. Bishop was assigned to the destruction +of a particularly annoying balloon that went up daily in contempt of +scouting planes. The balloon, because of cloudy weather, did not go up +the first day after the assignment. The character of the fighting may +be determined from the fact that in two days, April 6 and 7, the Allies +lost twenty-eight machines as against fifteen German machines accounted +for. But, says Bishop, “We considered this a small price to pay for the +amount of work accomplished and the number of machines engaged (every +class of machine was thrown into the clearing process) coupled with the +fact that all our work was done within the German lines.” + + +HOW HE WON THE MILITARY CROSS + +“My own experiences on the seventh of April brought me my first +decoration—the Military Cross. The thrills were all condensed into a +period of two minutes for me. In that time I was fortunate enough to +shoot down an enemy machine and destroy the ‘sausage’ I had started for +two days before. This should have been excitement enough, but I added +to it by coming within fifteen feet of being taken a German prisoner +and becoming an unwilling guest of the Huns for the ‘duration.’ + +“I was ordered after my particular balloon and had climbed to about +5,000 feet before heading for the lines. On my way there I had to pass +over one of our own observation balloons. I don’t know what it was that +attracted my attention, but looking down I saw what appeared to be two +men descending in parachutes. A moment later the balloon below me burst +into flames. I saw the enemy machine which had set it on fire engaged +with some of ours, but as I had definite orders to proceed straight to +the lines and destroy the hostile balloon which had been allotted to +me, I was unable to join in the fighting. + +“Just about this time an amusing incident was in progress at our +aerodrome. A Colonel of the Corps was telephoning my squadron +commander, informing him that one of our balloons had just been +destroyed. + +“Well, if it is any consolation, young Bishop, of my squadron, has just +gone over to get one of theirs,’ replied my commander. + +“‘Good God,’ said the Colonel, ‘I hope he has not made a mistake in the +balloon and set ours on fire.’ + +[Illustration: + + © _Western Newspaper Union._ + +Colonel Bishop Inspecting a Lewis Aircraft Gun] + +“At this moment I was serenely sailing over the enemy trenches +keeping a sharp lookout for some sign of my own balloon. After flying +five miles over the lines I discovered it and circled around as a +preliminary to diving down upon it. But just then I heard the rattle of +machine guns directly behind me and saw bullet holes appear as if by +magic in the wings of my machine. I pulled back as if to loop, sending +the nose of my machine straight up into the air. As I did so the enemy +scout shot by underneath me. I stood on my tail for a moment or two, +then let the machine drop back, put her nose down and dived after the +Hun, opening fire straight behind him at very close range. He continued +to dive away with increasing speed and later was reported to have +crashed just under where the combat had taken place. This victory I +put down entirely to luck. The man flew directly in line with my gun +and it would have been impossible to have missed him. + +“I proceeded now to dive for the balloon, but having had so much +warning, it had been pulled down to the ground. I would have been +justified in going home when I saw this, for our orders were not to go +under 1,000 feet after the sausages. But I was just a bit peevish with +this particular balloon, and to a certain extent my blood was up. So I +decided to attack the ungainly monster in its ‘bed.’ I dived straight +for it and when about 500 feet from the ground, opened fire. Nothing +happened. So I continued to dive and fire rapid bursts until I was only +fifty feet above the bag. Still there were no signs of it catching +fire. I then turned my machine gun on the balloon crew who were working +frantically on the ground. They scattered and ran all about the field. +Meantime a ‘flaming onion’ battery was attempting to pelt me with those +unsavory missiles, so I whirled upon them with a burst of twenty rounds +or more. One of the onions had flared within a hundred yards of me.” + + +“SUDDENLY MY ENGINE HAD FAILED” + +“This was all very exciting, but suddenly, with a feeling of faintness, +I realized that my engine had failed. I thought that again, as during +my first fight, the engine had oiled up from the steep diving I had +done. It seemed but a moment before that I was coming down at a speed +that must have been nearly 200 miles an hour. But I had lost it all in +turning my machine upon the people on the ground. + +“There was no doubt in my mind this time as to just where I was, +and there appeared no alternative but to land and give myself up. +Underneath me was a large open field with a single tree in it. I glided +down, intending to strike the tree with one wing just at the moment of +landing, thus damaging the machine so it would be of little use to the +Huns, without injuring myself. + + +A MIRACULOUS RECOVERY + +“I was within fifteen feet of the ground, absolutely sick at heart +with the uselessness of it all, my thoughts having turned to home and +the worry they would all feel when I was reported in the list of the +missing, when without warning one of my nine cylinders gave a kick. +Then a second one miraculously came to life, and in another moment the +old engine—the best old engine in all the world—had picked up with a +roar on all the nine cylinders. Once again the whole world changed for +me. In less time than it takes to tell it I was tearing away for home +at a hundred miles an hour. My greatest safety from attack now lay in +keeping close to the ground, and this I did. The ‘Archies’ cannot fire +when you are so close to earth, and few pilots would have risked a +dive at me at the altitude which I maintained. The machine guns on the +ground rattled rather spitefully several times, but worried me not at +all. I had had my narrow squeak for this day and nothing could stop me +now. + +“I even had time to glance back over my shoulder, and there, to my +great joy, I saw a cloud of smoke and flames rising from my erstwhile +_bête noir_—the sausage. We afterward learned it was completely +destroyed. + +“It was a strange thing to be skimming along just above the ground +in enemy territory. From time to time I would come on groups of Huns +who would attempt to fire on me with rifles and pistols, but I would +dart at them and they would immediately scatter and run for cover. I +flew so low that when I would come to a clump of trees I would have +to pull my nose straight up toward the sky and ‘zoom’ over them. Most +of the Germans were so startled to see me right in their midst, as +it were, they either forgot to fire or fired so badly as to insure +my absolute safety. Crossing the three lines of German trenches was +not so comfortable, but by zigzagging and quick dodging I negotiated +them safely and climbed away to our aerodrome. There I found that no +bullets had passed very close to me, although my wingtips were fairly +perforated. + +“That evening I was delighted to get congratulations not only from my +Colonel, but my Brigadier as well, supplemented later by a wire from +the General commanding the Flying Corps. This I proudly sent home the +same evening in a letter.” + + +“LIKE SHOOTING CLAY PIGEONS” + +There seems to be a general feeling among airmen that theirs is not a +business or profession, but a game. Colonel Bishop declares that it did +not seem to him to be killing a man to bring down a machine; “it was +more as if I were destroying a mechanical target, with no human being +in it. Once or twice the idea that a live man had been piloting the +machine would occur to me, and it would worry me a bit. My sleep would +be spoiled perhaps for a night. I did not relish the idea of killing +even Germans, yet, when in a combat in the air, it seemed more like +any other kind of sport, and to shoot down a machine was very much +the same as if one were shooting down clay pigeons. One has the great +satisfaction of feeling that he had hit the target and brought it down; +that one was victorious again.” The fascination that such a game has +for the airman is easily understood. + +Bishop brought down his fortieth enemy plane six miles within the enemy +lines, and escaped in spite of a hail of shells from anti-aircraft +guns for five miles of the return trip, his machine being fairly well +riddled; and, one day just at that time, his cup of happiness filled +and overflowed with the award of the Victoria Cross. + + + + +DODGING “JACK DEATH” + +A German Aviator’s Perils and Escapes On An Observation Tour + + +In the early days of the war, the value of the flying machine as a +weapon was not by any means appreciated. It was used for observation +and bomb-dropping purposes almost exclusively. The Germans were the +first to realize its possibilities as a gunning as well as bombing or +spying craft. They began carrying rifles and pistols with which to pot +enemy aviators, and the chivalry of the air, so excellent a feature of +the initial period, disappeared, for, necessarily the Allied aviators +were not slow to follow the lead. It was, however, in the early stage, +September, 1914, that the duel occurred of which the following is an +account. The narrative was written by the German aviator, the chief +figure in the adventure. + +The story, the truth of which is unquestioned, was published originally +in the Berlin _Tageblatt_ from which the New York _Evening Post_ made +the translation. It is of special interest as a report of one of the +first, if not the first of the armed encounters between belligerent +planes. + + +OBSERVING THE RETREAT OF THE BRITISH + +God be thanked! After a veritable Odyssey I am at last joined again +this noon to my division. To be sure, my wanderings were not much to +be wondered at, for, during my absence, my troop had advanced about +sixty-five kilometers in a southwesterly direction. All the more +joyfully, however, was I greeted on all sides, for I had already been +given up after an absence of more than four days; and, indeed, I myself +wondered, as I made my report to my commander, that Jack Death had so +allowed me to slip through his fingers. + +On the morning of the 6th of September, I had ascended from D—— with +the commission to report the positions of the enemy at S—— and F—— and +to make charts of the opposing forces which I observed. First Lieut. +K—— went with me as a guest on the flight, and my brave biplane soon +bore us at an altitude of about 800 meters above the hostile positions, +which were repeatedly sketched and photographed from aloft. As we had +expected, we were soon the objective of a lively bombardment, and +several times I felt a trembling of the machine, already well known +to me, a sign that a shot had struck one of the wings. After a three +hours’ flight we were able to give our report at the office of the +General Staff of the —— army at M——, and earned for it the warmest +praise and half of a broiled chicken and an excellent Havana. + +As I was making my “Kiste” ready for flight again in the afternoon, +with the help of several drivers of the General Staff auto—that is to +say, refilling the benzine tank and carefully patching with linen the +places where shots had pierced—I counted four of them, one in the body +and three in the wings—a Bavarian officer of the General Staff informed +me that he would be glad to observe the retreat of the English along +the great military road toward M——. I prepared the machine at once, and +ascended at about four o’clock in the afternoon with Major G——, the +aforementioned General Staff officer. + +Following the road, it was at once obvious that the retreat of the +English was a disorderly one, absolutely without plan, that it had +apparently occurred to the troops to reach the fortified positions at +Paris as soon as possible, and there to make their stand. + +At Paris! My flying companion shouted something into my face. Although +the noise of the motor drowned it out, I believed that I nevertheless +understood what he meant. I glanced at the benzine indicator. I had +sufficient fuel. Then I held a direct course to the south, and after a +period of about half an hour we saw ahead of us in the gray distance, +far, far below, the gray, immeasurable sea of stone that was the chief +city of France. At a speed of a hundred kilometers an hour we rushed +toward it. It became clearer and plainer. The chain of forts, St. +Denis, Montmartre, stood out; from the haze there raised itself the +filigree framework of the Eiffel tower. And now—now we hover over the +mellow panorama of Paris. + + +THE “CONQUEROR” AT PARIS + +There lay the white church of Sacré Cœur, there the Gare du Nord, from +which the French thought to leave for across the Rhine; there Notre +Dame, there the old “Boul Mich,” the Boulevard St. Michel, in the Latin +Quarter, where I Bohemianized so long as an art student, and over +which I now flew as a conqueror. Unprotected beneath me lay the heart +of the enemy, the proud glittering Babel of the Seine. The thought of +everything hateful, always attached to the great city, was swallowed +up; an emotion of possession, of power, alone remained. And doubly +joyful we felt ourselves. Doubly conquerors! In a great circle I swept +over the sea of houses. In the streets raised itself a murmuring of the +people, whom the bold “German bird” astonished, who cannot understand +how the Germans are turning the French discovery to their own service +more cleverly and advantageously than the French themselves. + + +THE RETURN FROM PARIS + +For nearly an hour we had been flying in swoops and had been shot at +vainly from here and there below us, when there approached in extremely +rapid flight from the direction of Juvisy a French monoplane. Since +it was much faster than my biplane, I must turn and seek to escape, +while the major made ready my rifle and reached for his revolver. +The monoplane came steadily closer and closer; I sought to reach an +altitude of 2,000 meters, in order to reach the protecting clouds, but +my pursuer, on whom we constantly kept an eye, climbed more rapidly +than we. And came always closer and closer. And suddenly I saw at a +distance of only about 500 meters still a second biplane, attempting to +block my way. + +Now it was time to act. In an instant my companion had grasped the +situation. I darted at the flyer before us; then a turn—the major +raised the rifle to his cheek. Once, twice, thrice, he fired. Then +the hostile machine, now beside us, and hardly a hundred meters away, +quivered and then fell like a stone. Our other pursuer had in the +meantime reached a position almost over us, and was shooting at us +with revolvers. One bullet struck in the body close beside the fuel +controller. Then, however, impenetrable mist enfolded us protectingly; +and the clouds separated us from the enemy, the sound of whose motor +grew ever more distant. + +When we came out again from the sea of clouds, it was toward seven +o’clock. In order to get our position, we descended, but suddenly there +began to burst before us and behind us and beside us roaring shrapnel +shells. I found myself still always over hostile positions and exposed +to French artillery. “The devil to pay again!” Ever madder grew the +fire! I noticed that the machine received blow after blow, but held +cold-bloodedly to my course; at the time, it did not come into my +mind at all that these little pointed pieces of steel meant death and +destruction. Something in mankind remains untouched by knowledge and +logic! + +There—suddenly before me, a yellow-white burst of flame! The machine +bounds upward; at the same time the major shrinks together, blood runs +from his shoulder, the wiring of one of the wings is shattered. To be +sure, the motor still booms and thunders as before, but the propeller +fails. An exploding grenade had knocked it to pieces, torn one of the +wings to shreds, and smashed the major’s shoulder. Steeply my machine +sinks to the ground. By calling up all my power, I succeed in getting +the machine into a gliding flight, and I throw the biplane down into +the tops of the forest trees. I crash through the branches and tree +crowns. I strike heavily, and know no more what goes on around me. + +When I wake again from my unconsciousness, I find Major G. lying beside +me on the ground, in the midst of a group of Landwehr men. German +outposts had recognized me as a friend, and had forced their way into +the woods, although only in small numbers, to protect me. Major G. +had suffered a severe injury to his shoulder, which made it necessary +to transfer him to the nearest field hospital. I, however, had only +sustained a bruise on my leg, and after the application of an emergency +bandage remained with the outpost, later to find my way, by all +possible—and some impossible—means of transportation, back to my troop. + + + + +WARNEFORD’S TRIUMPH + +The Brilliant Exploit That Marked the First “Down” of a “Zepp” by +Airplane + + +The air raids on the coast towns of England were regarded as the most +brutally wanton of the cowardly “frightfulness” tactics of the Germans +employed against England. The killing of non-combatants, chiefly women +and children, and the destruction of private property were the only +material results of those raids, but the moral indignation of the world +was aroused. After a period of suspension of this sort of warfare the +Germans once more, in June, 1915, began raiding the East and Northeast +Coast, the most serious of any that had happened being the raid of June +6. + +The raiders sailed over a town on the East Coast during the night and +bombed it at their leisure. One large drapery house was struck and was +completely wrecked, the entire building—a somewhat old one—collapsing. +Adjoining these premises, with only a narrow roadway between, there was +one of the most beautiful Norman churches in England. The church was +wholly uninjured save a few of the panes in the glass windows. A rumor +was spread over the country, and was generally believed, that a large +number of girls and women “lived in” on the draper’s premises, and were +killed when the house was struck. This rumor was false. The drapery +firm had ceased to house its attendants on the premises for a couple +of years before the raid. Some working-class streets were very badly +damaged, a number of houses destroyed, and many people injured. It was +one of the peculiarities of this raid that, unlike results from most of +the others, all the people injured were struck while indoors. The total +casualties here were twenty-four killed, about sixty seriously injured, +and a larger number slightly injured. + +The outrage was quickly avenged by a young British naval airman, Flight +Sub-Lieutenant R. A. J. Warneford, in one of the most brilliant aerial +exploits of the war—the first Zeppelin brought down by an aeroplane. + +Mr. Warneford, who was only 22 years of age, was the son of an +Anglo-Indian railway engineer, and before the war was in the mercantile +marine. He went home to “do something” for his country, enlisted in +the 2nd Sportsman’s Battalion, was transferred to the Royal Naval Air +Service, passed the tests for a pilot’s certificate within a few days, +and was given a commission. He was noted at the flying school as one of +the most brilliant pupils the instructors had ever known. A month after +obtaining his commission he went to France, where his reckless daring +soon made him conspicuous in a service where venturesomeness is the +general rule. On the morning of June 7, 1915, at 3 a.m., he encountered +a Zeppelin returning from the coast of Flanders to Ghent, and chased +it, mounting above it and sailing over it at a height of 6,000 feet. +Zeppelin and aeroplane exchanged shots, and when the Zeppelin was +between one and two hundred feet immediately below him he dropped six +bombs on it. One bomb hit the Zeppelin fairly, causing a terrific +explosion, and setting the airship on fire from end to end. + +[Illustration: + + © _Leslie Weekly._ + +The Tragic Death of Lieut. Warneford + +A few days after he had destroyed a Zeppelin, he fell to his death +while making a flight near Paris. With him Henry Beach Needham, an +American writer, was also killed.] + +Warneford’s aeroplane was caught by the force of the explosion +and turned upside down, but he succeeded in righting it before it +touched the ground. He was forced to alight within the German lines. +Nevertheless he restarted his engine, though not without great +difficulty, and in due course returned to his station without damage. +Only the framework of the Zeppelin was left, the crew being all burned +or mangled, and the body of the machine being completely destroyed. +The flaming framework dropped on the Convent School of St. Amandsberg, +killing one nun and burning two Sisters who had rushed into the street +with children in their arms. The machine on which Warneford made this +attack was a Morane “Parasol,” a little monoplane with a pair of +wings raised well above the pilot’s head. This construction gives the +aviator full view on either side below, thus enabling him to take good +aim for bomb dropping. The Morane of that type was also noted as a +quick-climbing machine, a very decided advantage in attacking Zeppelins. + +The story of Warneford’s triumph sent a thrill through England. The +King promptly sent a personal telegram of congratulation to him, and +conferred upon him the Victoria Cross. The telegram ran as follows: + + “I most heartily congratulate you upon your splendid achievement of + yesterday, in which you single-handed destroyed an enemy Zeppelin. + + “I have much pleasure in conferring upon you the Victoria Cross for + this gallant act. + + “GEORGE R.I.” + +Next day the French War Minister, on the recommendation of General +Joffre, awarded Warneford the Cross of the Legion of Honor. It was +known that he was returning on a visit to England. A splendid public +welcome was prepared for him. He went first, however, to Paris, and +there in company with Henry Needham, an American journalist, he set +out on a new Henry Farman biplane, which he proposed to take by air +to Dunkirk. Warneford and his passenger had risen to 700 feet when +the machine wobbled violently for a few seconds, and then overturned, +throwing them both out. They were both killed instantly. The return to +England was different from that which had been anticipated. In the late +evening of June 21, a fortnight after the deed which won him fame, the +train carrying Warneford’s body came into Victoria Station. Thousands +of people had assembled there to pay their final tributes to the hero, +and the little procession of the coffin covered by the Union Jack, +mounted on a gun-carriage, and guarded by seamen of the Royal Naval +Division, moved out amid the bared heads of the silent crowd. Warneford +was buried in Brompton Cemetery. + + The strictly American aviation operations started in the + middle of March, 1918, with the patrolling of the front from + Villeneuve-les-Vertus by an American pursuit squadron using planes of + the French-built Nieuport-28 type. These operations were in the nature + of a tryout of the American trained aviators, and their complete + success was followed by an immediate increase of the aerial forces at + the front, with enlargement of their duties and field of action. By + the middle of May, 1918, squadrons of all types—pursuit, observation, + and bombing—as well as balloon companies were in operation over a wide + front. These squadrons were equipped with the best available types of + British and French-built service planes. + +[Illustration: + + © _New York Herald._ + +The Pilot in the Forward Gondola of a Zeppelin + +The front gondola of a Zeppelin is screened to protect the pilot and +assistants. Searchlights and other means of illumination are carried on +board to be used when necessary.] + + + + +ONE MINUTE PLUS + +Three Attacking Hun Machines Downed by “Ricky” in About Seventy Ticks + + +No one has succeeded better than Boyd Cable, in the _Red Cross +Magazine_, in conveying an impression of what “Quick Work” means in the +war combats between aeroplanes when the fighting machines are in expert +hands. But after all it is doubtful if one can realize in reading how +quick the action was, inasmuch as the fight took less time than you +will require to read one of these columns aloud. As Mr. Cable says: + +“It is difficult, if not indeed impossible, to convey in words what +is perhaps the most breath-catching wonder of air fighting work, the +furious speed, the whirling rush, the sheer rapidity of movement of +the fighting machines, and the incredible quickness of a pilot’s +brain, hand, and eye to handle and maneuver a machine, and aim and +shoot a gun under these speed conditions. I can only ask you to try to +remember that a modern fast scout is capable of flying at well over a +hundred miles an hour on the level, and at double that (one may not +be too exact) in certain circumstances, and that in such a fight as I +am going to try to describe here the machines were moving at anything +between these speeds. If you can bear this in mind, or even realize +it—I am speaking to the non-flying reader—you will begin to understand +what airmen-o’-war work is, to believe what a pilot once said of air +fighting: ‘You don’t get time to think. If you stop to think, you’re +dead.’ + +“When the flight of half a dozen scout machines was getting ready to +start on the usual ‘offensive patrol’ over Hunland, one of the pilots, +‘Ricky-Ticky’ by popular name, had some slight trouble with his engine. +It was nothing much, a mere reluctance to start up easily, and since he +did get her going before the flight was ready to take off, he naturally +went up with it. He had a little more trouble in the upward climb to +gain a height sufficient for the patrol when it crossed the line to +stand the usual respectable chance of successfully dodging the usual +‘Archie’ shells. + +“Ricky, however, managed to nurse her up well enough to keep his place +in the formation, and was still in place when they started across the +lines. Before they were far over Hunland he knew that his engine was +missing again occasionally, and was not pulling as she ought to, and +from a glance at his indicators and a figuring of speed, height, and +engine revolutions was fairly certain that he was going almost full out +to keep up with the other machines, which were flying easily and well +within their speed.” + + +FOLLOWING THE CHANCE + +“This was where he would perhaps have been wise to have thrown up and +returned to his ’drome. He hung on in the hope that the engine would +pick up again—as engines have an unaccountable way of doing—and even +when he found himself dropping back out of place in the formation he +still stuck to it and followed on. He knew the risk of this; knew that +the straggler, the lame duck, the unsupported machine is just exactly +what the Hun flyer is always on the lookout for; knew, too, that his +Flight-Commander before they had started had warned him (seeing the +trouble he was having to start up) that if he had any bother in the +air or could not keep place in the formation to pull out and return. +Altogether, then, the trouble that swooped down on him was his own +fault, and you can blame him for it if you like. But if you do you’ll +have to blame a good many other pilots who carry on, and in spite of +the risk, do their best to put through the job they are on. He finally +decided—he looked at the clock fixed in front of him to set a time and +found it showed just over one minute to twelve—in one minute, at noon +exactly, if his engine had not steadied down to work, he would turn +back for home. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy Red Cross Magazine._ + +Airplanes in Battle Formation + +When the first light of day appeared enemy and allied airplanes both +ascended and fought for the supremacy of the air.] + +“At that precise moment—and this was the first warning he had that +there were Huns about—he heard a ferocious rattle of machine gun fire, +and got a glimpse of streaking flame and smoke from the tracer bullets +whipping past him. The Huns, three of them and all fast fighting +scouts, had seen him coming, had probably watched him drop back out of +place in the flight, had kept carefully between him and the sun so that +his glances round and back had failed to spot them in the glare, and +had then dived headlong on him, firing as they came. + +“They were coming down on him from astern and on his right side, or, +as the Navals would put it, on his starboard quarter, and they were +perhaps a hundred to a hundred and fifty yards off when Ricky first +looked round and saw them. His first and most natural impulse was to +get clear of the bullets that were spitting round and over him, and in +two swift motions he had opened his engine full out, thrust his nose +a little down, and was off full pelt. Promptly the three astern swung +a little, opened out as they wheeled, dropped their noses, and came +after Ricky, still a little above him, and so fairly astern that only +the center one could keep a sustained accurate fire on him. (A scout’s +gun being fixed and shooting between the blades of the propeller—gun +and engine being synchronized so as to allow the bullet to pass out as +the blade is clear of the muzzle—means that the machine itself must be +aimed at the target for the bullets to hit, and two outer machines of +the three could only so aim their machines by pointing their noses to +converge on the center one—a risky maneuver with machines traveling at +somewhere about a hundred miles an hour.) + +“But the fire of that center one was too horribly close for endurance, +and Ricky knew that although his being end-on made him the smaller +target, it also made his machine the more vulnerable to a raking shot +which, piercing him fore and aft, could not well fail to hit petrol +tank, or engine, or some other vital spot. He could do nothing in the +way of shooting back, because, being a single-seater scout himself, +his two guns were trained one to shoot straight forward through the +propeller, the other, mounted on the top plane on a curved mount +allowing the gun to be grasped by the handle above him and pulled back +and down, to shoot from direct ahead to straight up? Neither could +shoot backward. + +“Ricky, the first shock of his surprise over, had gauged the situation, +and, it must be admitted, it was + + +“DANGEROUS IF NOT DESPERATE + +“He had dropped back and back from the flight, until now they were +something like a mile ahead of him. A mile, it is true, does not take +a modern machine long to cover, but then, on the other hand, neither +does an air battle take long to fight, especially with odds of three to +one. With those bullets sheeting past him and already beginning to rip +and crack through his wings, any second might see the end of Ricky. It +was no use thinking longer of running away, and even a straight-down +nose-dive offered no chance of escape, both because the Huns could +nose-dive after him and continue to keep him under fire, and because he +was well over Hunland, and the nearer he went to the ground the better +target he would make for the anti-aircraft gunners below. He must act, +and act quickly. + +“A thousand feet down and a quarter of a mile away was a little patch +of cloud. Ricky swerved, dipped, and drove ‘all out’ for it. He was +into it—400 yards remember—in about the time it takes you to draw three +level quiet breaths, and had flashed through it—five or six hundred +feet across it might have been—in a couple of quick heart-beats. The +Huns followed close, and in that half-dozen seconds Ricky had something +between fifty and a hundred bullets whizzing and ripping past and +through his wings. As he leaped clear of the streaming wisps of the +cloud’s edge he threw one look behind him and pulled the joy-stick hard +in to his stomach. Instantly his machine reared and swooped up in the +loop he had decided on, up and over and round. At the first upward zoom +Ricky had pulled down the handle of his top gun and brought it into +instant action. The result was that as he shot up and over in a perfect +loop the center machine, which had been astern of him, flashed under +and straight through the stream of his bullets. + +“Ricky whirled down in the curve of his loop with his gun still +shooting, but now that he had finished his loop and flattened out, +shooting up into the empty air while his enemy hurtled straight on and +slightly downward ahead of him. Instantly Ricky threw his top gun out +of action, and having now reversed positions, and having his enemy +ahead, steadied his machine to bring his bow gun sights to bear on +her. But before he could fire he saw the hostile’s left upper plane +twist upward, saw the machine spin side on, the top plane rip and flare +fiercely back and upward, the lower plane buckle and break, and the +machine turning over and over plunge down and out of his sight. One of +his bullets evidently had cut some bracing wires or stays, and the wing +had given to the strain upon it. So much Ricky just had time to think, +but immediately found himself in a fresh danger. + + +CLEVER WORK + +“The two remaining hostiles had flashed past him at the same time +as the center one, while he threw his loop over it, but realizing +apparently on the instant what his maneuver was, they both swung out +and round while he passed in his loop over the center machine. It was +smart work on the part of the two flanking hostiles. They must have +instantly divined Ricky’s dodge to get astern of them all, and their +immediate circle out and round counteracted it, and as he came out of +his loop brought them circling in again on him. In an instant Ricky was +suddenly roused to the fresh danger by two following short bursts of +fire which flashed and flamed athwart him, and caught a glimpse of the +other two closing in and again astern of him and ‘sitting on his tail.’ + +“Both were firing as they came, and again Ricky felt the sharp rip +and crack of explosive bullets striking somewhere on his machine, and +an instant later knew that the two were following him and hailing +lead upon him. He cursed savagely. He had downed one enemy, but here +apparently he was little if any better off with two intact enemies in +the worst possible position for him, ‘on his tail,’ and both shooting +their hardest. A quick glance ahead showed him the white glint of +light on the wheeling wings of his flight, attracted by the rattle of +machine guns, circling and racing to join the fight. + +“But fast as they came, the fight was likely to be over before they +could arrive, and with the crack and snap of bullets about him and his +own two guns powerless to bear on the enemy, it looked uncomfortably +like odds on the fight ending against him. Another loop they would +expect and follow over—and the bullets were crippling him every +instant. Savagely he threw his controls over, and his machine slashed +out and down to the right in a slicing two-hundred-foot side-slip. + +“The right-hand machine whirled past him so close that he saw every +detail of the pilot’s dress—the fur-fringed helmet, dark goggles, +black sweater. He caught his machine out of her downward slide, drove +her ahead, steadied her, and brought his sights to bear on the enemy +a scant twenty yards ahead, and poured a long burst of fire into her. +He saw the bullets break and play on and about the pilot and fuselage. +Then came a leaping flame, and a spurt of black smoke whirling out +from her; Ricky had a momentary glimpse of the pilot’s agonized +expression as he glanced wildly around, and next instant saw a trailing +black plume of smoke and the gleam of a white underbody as the enemy +nose-dived down in a last desperate attempt to make a landing before +his machine dissolved in flames about him. + +“With a sudden burst of exultation Ricky realized his changed position. +A minute before he was in the last and utmost desperate straits, three +fast and well-armed adversaries against his single hand. Now, with two +down, it was man to man—no, if he wished, it was all over, because the +third hostile had swung left, had her nose down, and was ‘hare-ing’ +for home and down toward the covering fire of the German anti-aircraft +batteries. Already she was two to three hundred yards away, and the +first German Archie soared up and burst with a rending ‘Ar-rrgh’ well +astern of him. But Ricky’s blood was up and singing songs of triumph in +his ears. Two out of three downed; better make a clean job of it and +bag the lot.” + + +MAKING A CLEAN JOB + +“His nose dipped and his tail flicked up, and he went roaring down, +full out, after his last Hun. A rapid crackle of one machine gun +after another struck his ear before ever he had the last hostile fully +centered in his sights. Ricky knew that at last the flight had arrived +and were joining in the fight. But he paid no heed to them; his enemy +was in the ring of his sights now, so with his machine hurling down at +the limit of speed of a falling body plus all the pull of a hundred and +odd horsepower, the whole fabric quivering and vibrating under him, the +wind roaring past and in his ears, Ricky snuggled closer in his seat, +waited till his target was fully and exactly centered in his sights, +and poured in a long, clattering burst of fire. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Major James A. Meissner + +He was decorated for bravery in action in the Toul sector. He attacked +many enemy observation balloons. He was shot down in his plane several +times.] + +“The hostile’s slanting nose-dive swerved into a spin, an uncontrolled +side-to-side plunge, back again into a spinning dive that ended in a +straight-downward rush and a crash end on into the ground. + +“Whether it was Ricky or some other machine of the flight that got +this last hostile will never be known. Ricky himself officially +reported having crashed two, but declined to claim the third as his. +On the other hand, the rest of the flight, after and always, with +enthusiastic unanimity, insisted that she was Ricky’s very own, that +he had outplayed, outfought, and killed three Huns in single combat +with them—one down and t’other come on. If Ricky himself could not +fairly and honestly claim all rights to the last Hun, the flight did. +‘_Three!_’ they said vociferously in mess that night, and would brook +no modest doubts from him. + +“As the last Hun went reeling down, Ricky, in the official language +of the combat reports, ‘rejoined formation and continued the patrol.’ +He pulled the stick toward him and rose buoyantly, knowing that he +was holed over and over again, that bullets, and explosive bullets at +that, had ripped and rent and torn the fabrics of his machine, possibly +had cut away some strut or stay or part of the frame. But his engine +appeared to be all right again, had never misbehaved a moment during +the fight, was running now full power and blast; his planes swept +smooth and steady along the wind levels, his controls answered exactly +to his tender questioning touch. He had fought against odds of three to +one and—he had won out. He was safe, barring accident, to land back in +his own ’drome; and there were two if not three Huns down on his brazen +own within the last—how long? + +“At the moment of his upward zoom on the conclusion of the fight he +glanced at his clock which had not been hit by the enemy fire, could +hardly believe what it told him, was only convinced when he recalled +that promise to himself to turn back at the end of that minute, and had +his belief confirmed by the flight’s count of the time between their +first hearing shots and their covering the distance to join him. His +clock marked exactly noon. The whole fight, from the firing of the +first shot to the falling away of the last Hun, had taken bare seconds +over the one minute. That pilot was right; in air fighting ‘you don’t +get time to think.’” + + + + +“THE PICTURES ARE GOOD” + +That’s All That Observation Pilot Miller Cared About When the End Came + + +Among the men killed at Château-Thierry was John Q. Miller, of +Fairview, N. C., first lieutenant of the air service, shot down July +24, 1918. He was one of the airmen of whom the public had probably +not heard, for his courage and daring were not as spectacular as the +bravery of Luke, Rickenbacker or Lufbery. At the time of his death he +was the greatest observation pilot on the front, according to the story +of Major Elmer R. Haslett in an issue of _United States Air Service_, +the official publication of the Army and Navy Air Service Association. + +[Illustration: At the Tomb of Napoleon + +In this historic spot a hero of the World War is being decorated for +bravery.] + +The unsung, silent heroes of the air are the observation pilots, who +at the risk of life go forward into impossible places to get pictures +of enemy positions and come back with their machines riddled with +shrapnel from “archie” fire. At the outset Miller, says Major Haslett, +attracted attention for the serious way in which he took his work. He +took assignment after assignment when he might have stayed back in the +barracks, and never failed to complete his mission. Momentarily driven +off by hostile aircraft or by too heavy “archie,” he would return to +the job and come back with his pictures or observations, and his plane +so full of holes that it had to be salvaged. + + +IN SPITE OF WOUNDS + +Six Germans finally brought Miller and his observer down on his last +trip over the lines, but not until the photographs had been made. Badly +wounded, Miller pulled his plane out of a spin and landed his observer +with the pictures. Major Haslett says: + +“He gave the plane the gun, and they took off on Johnny’s last ride. +The plane accompanying was piloted by Lieut. Baker and an observer by +the name of Lieut. Jack Lumsden, both of whom were the very finest +of our personnel. On this mission Thompson, I believe, was taking +photographs—oblique views—which must be taken very low, in fact, +dangerously low, in order that the advancing troops may see from the +photographs exactly what is in front of them. It was a very poor day, +and the clouds were low. + +“As they were just finishing this perilous work, a drove of eleven Huns +swooped out of the clouds and made for them. Five attacked Lumsden and +Baker, and six attacked Thompson and Miller. Our boys were about two or +three kilometers within the enemy’s lines, and, with such a superiority +of numbers, of course, were immediately outclassed. + +“The Hun planes surrounded Thompson and Miller, pouring in lead from +all sides. Thompson, who had shot down a Boche before and had been +in a number of scraps, was giving them the fight of his life. Miller +was heading toward No Man’s Land. It is hard in such a fight to know +exactly one’s location, and it is better to pick out one’s general +direction when at such a low altitude, and be sure the plane is on the +friendly side of the line before hitting the ground. + +“While still about a kilometer within German territory, a bullet struck +Miller in the chest and another in the arm. Thompson told me that +Miller put his hand over the fuselage as if semi-conscious, then the +plane started to go from right to left, climb and dive as if partly +under control. + +“As Thompson described it, it seemed as if Miller were doing his +best to keep up his strength to go on with the flight. They crossed +the lines, and as they did so Miller motioned to him in one of his +conscious moments as if to point to home. He then put the plane into a +dive. + +“One of the German planes had dropped out of the combat, but the +others were determined upon putting the plane down in flames or out +of control. In these last few seconds they closed in with every gun +concentrated on Miller. This fighting was so close that Thompson was +aiming point blank. Miller was shot again; he made some sort of a +motion as if falling forward. + + +MILLER’S RALLYING FEAT + +“In a moment Thompson scored a direct burst into one of the planes; it +made a sudden climb, then went into a tail spin from which it never +recovered. Thompson swung his tourrelle round to get the one coming up +on his tail. While himself falling, by sheer good fortune Thompson, +fighting to the end, turned loose all he had, and the plane underneath +his tail ceased firing, dived and fell within a hundred yards of the +other he had just got. + +“The three remaining Huns followed Miller down. One of them got +Thompson in the arm and leg with an explosive bullet. The plane was +out of control. By some miracle, Thompson says, as they were about to +strike earth, Miller came out of his forward position, pulled the stick +back, and the plane landed without a crash. + +“Thompson had enough strength to jump out of the cockpit and run around +to Miller, who, with a strength that was superhuman, was climbing out +of the cockpit, bleeding profusely, his face ghostly white. + +“He reached his arms up, man-like, and let them rest limply on +Thompson’s shoulders. With closed eyes, and with a voice barely +audible, he mumbled: ‘Thompson, God bless you! They got me, but I got +you home, boy—and we brought the pictures back. Get a motorcycle, +Tommy, and take them to headquarters. You write a report—I can’t, +Tommy; you see I can’t, Tommy. And be sure to put in it that the +pictures are good—that the mission was successful.’ + +“These were his last words, and he fell over unconscious. His wounds +were of a hopeless nature, and he died without regaining consciousness +a few minutes later in a sort of improvised dressing station in the +front lines. + +“Well, those are incidents in the life of the observation game. + +“The official records credit Johnny Miller with the destruction of +two enemy planes, and the French Government has bestowed upon him +posthumously the Croix de Guerre with Palm, but those of us who had +the pleasure of serving with him and who have lived to tell the tale +credit Johnny Miller with having been just a plain, ordinary, brave +fellow, who gave his life with all willingness to insure the successful +completion of the mission to which his country assigned him.” + + + + +SUBDUING THE TURK + +When Captain Butt, the British Ace, Found Bakshish a Cure of Captivity + + +When the war broke out, Alan Bott was one of the younger set of +newspaper men in London. Soon after England cast in her lot with +France, Bott was training with the airmen. Right speedily he became +a fighting flyer and anon an Ace, with seven German planes to his +credit. He won the Victoria Cross, and the rank of Captain. Readers may +remember having heard him lecture when he made a tour of this country +early in 1919, and gave very impressive pictures of adventures in the +air. Not many aviators had the varied experiences that fell to the +fortune of Captain Bott, for though he was for a time with his fellows +of the Royal British Air Force operating in France, he was transferred +to the East later and many of his thrilling adventures were in the Holy +Land. He gave an account of one of these soon after his arrival in this +country. He said: + +“It all began when I fell out of the clouds from a height of six +thousand feet and bumped my nose after a fight with a Boche plane. It +wasn’t exactly a fight with one plane, either. I was chasing a Boche +who had a machine nearly as fast as mine, and by the time I caught up +with him we were forty miles behind the enemy lines and above some +rough, rocky, partly wooded hills. + +“I was just beginning to pepper the Boche when two enemy scout planes +I had not seen literally dropped from the clouds right above and shot +me up, especially the petrol tank. I whirled and crashed down, and the +next thing I knew it was moonlight and my leg was paining like the +deuce, held down by part of my engine. It was a very lonely, desert +spot, and I figured that hill would be my last resting-place. I figured +they would name it after me. + +“Whether fortunately or not a bunch of Arabs came along, sort of +bandits, I suppose, and found me. As far as I could make out, after +they lifted the engine off me they were tossing up whether they should +kill me or turn me over to the Turks and get some bakshish, which is a +popular pastime in that part of the country. They used to say that with +£1,000 you could bribe the Grand Vizier himself. + +“While they were drawing lots to see whether I would live or die, a +party of Turkish soldiers came along and chased the Arabs off, but +detained me. In fact, they were decent enough to take me to an Austrian +hospital at Afion-Kara-Hisson, about seventy miles from our base at +Jaffa. It was three weeks before I could get around much, and then I +foolishly tried to escape. My leg was so bad that the attempt was a +foozle, as the guards caught me up before I had gone very far. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Pearl J. Wines + +_90th Division, 358th Infantry, Company “E”_ + +While fighting in the St. Mihiel sector on September 12, 1918, Wines +was wounded in his side by a party of Germans. Becoming infuriated he +engaged the entire party: killed three of them, and captured the other +two without aid of any kind.] + + +IN JAIL AT NAZARETH + +“Finally, I was taken to Nazareth and put in a criminal jail with +murderers and brigands, all filthy brutes. At first I was put in an +underground dungeon, with one other man, an Arab, whose great penchant +was chasing cooties. There were other English prisoners there, and we +were all treated pretty badly. Our food consisted of a bowl of soup and +a loaf of bread each day. It was some bread! + +“Several of us planned to escape and tried several stunts, none of +which appealed to the Turks, until I selfishly hit on the scheme of +becoming temporarily insane. I was very crazy, for a few days, and then +the highly ornate boss of the jail shook his head seriously and said he +would have to send me to Constantinople. + +“We finally began to rumble across the desert in a very slow train, +and I decided to drop off at the first convenient way-station and cut +across lots for Jaffa. We were quite near Constantinople before an +opportunity came, and then, at the psychological moment, there was a +very opportune train wreck, and I walked away and hid in among some +rocks. + +“When night came I met a Turkish officer dressed in a German uniform, +and then worked the popular game of bakshish, which is really the +national game of Turkey. + +“I gave the officer a couple of Turkish pounds and he peeled the +uniform. He put on mine and I have no doubt he was duly captured by the +guards. I went to Constantinople and was saluted very regularly by +Turkish and German soldiers. It took a lot of dodging to keep clear of +the Germans in Constantinople, but I managed to get along, having a lot +of fun sometimes in the cafés, listening to the gossip and plotting. + + +A STOWAWAY ON A “HELL SHIP” + +“It appeared at that time that Turkey had been ready for quite a while +to sign a separate peace, but the Allies couldn’t get the idea. My +greatest desire was to get out of Constantinople, and I finally stowed +away on a little rusty cargo-steamer bound for Odessa. We were rolling +around the Black Sea one day when the crew were seized with Bolshevism +and went on strike. + +“It was great on that ship with the engines dead. We rolled and rolled +for days on end. I had bought a Russian sailor’s uniform by that time +and so could go about without fear of capture. The main thing was +to get a crust of bread and cup of water. It was a hell ship and no +mistake, with the sun beating down all day and the officers and crew in +continual fights. + +“Finally they patched up a truce and we made Odessa, the trip taking +almost three weeks. It was bad in Odessa and when we heard that +Bulgaria had made a separate peace I decided to make a try for the +Bulgarian coast. I stowed away aboard another cargo steamship and +finally reached Bulgaria and my British countrymen.” + + + + +A DARING PURSUIT + +In An Ordinary Plane Aviator Bone Chased a German Sea-Plane Over Sea + + +On Sunday, March 19, 1916, four German sea-planes sailed over East +Kent, England, in a bombing raid upon defenseless towns—Deal, Margate, +Ramsgate—and arrived over Dover about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and +dropped more than a dozen bombs, doing a considerable amount of damage. +One bomb went through the roof of a Home where there were a large +number of children; fortunately, the children, at the first sound of +the raiders, had been taken to the shelter of the basement. Several +children going to Sunday school were killed or injured. A woman walking +along the street was blown into a doorway of a shop and badly hurt. +The invaders were given very little time to do their work. British +aeroplanes rose in pursuit. A sharp fight followed, both attackers +and defenders using their machine guns freely in the air. One British +airman particularly distinguished himself. Flight Commander R. J. Bone, +R. N., pursued one of the German sea-planes out to sea for nearly +30 miles, in a small single-seater land machine. There, after an +engagement lasting about a quarter of an hour, he forced it to descend, +the German machine having been hit many times, and the observer +disabled or killed. For this, Flight Commander Bone received the D. S. +O. + +The commander left the aerodrome while the enemy machine was still in +sight, and making no attempt to climb steeply, kept the enemy in view. +After a pursuit of nearly 30 miles he rose to 9,000 feet, 2,000 feet +above the enemy. Rapidly overhauling the other machine, he attempted +to make a vertical dive for it, both sides firing vigorously. Then he +maneuvered ahead of the other and steered straight at him, diving below +him and turning with a vertical right-hand bank immediately under him. + + +BROUGHT HIM DOWN + +The German pilot swerved his machine to the left before they met, and +the Englishman as he passed could see the German observer hanging over +the right side of the fuselage, apparently dead or severely wounded. +The gun was cocked at an angle of 45 degrees. Continuing his courageous +maneuvers, Flight-Commander Bone brought his machine within 15 or 20 +feet of the enemy, and poured in five or six bursts of six rounds +until the enemy dived deeply, with smoke pouring from his machine. The +propeller stopped, but the pilot kept control and succeeded in landing +safely on the water. Here the English airman had to leave him, as he +could not come down on a land machine, and his engine showed signs of +giving out. + +One machine apparently escaped from the fight at Dover and rapidly +made its way to Deal, where it dropped seven bombs, doing considerable +damage to property, but not killing or injuring any persons. A second +pair of sea-planes appeared over Ramsgate at 2.10 p.m. and dropped +bombs on the town. Four children on their way to Sunday school were +killed, and a man driving a motor-car near by was also killed. A +hospital for Canadian troops was damaged, but no one in the building +was hurt, and the nurses went out in the streets to assist in the work +of tending the injured. One of the sea-planes traveled on from Ramsgate +to Margate, where it dropped a bomb, damaging a house. The German +aircraft were now all pursued by British machines and driven out to +sea. + + + + +THE ROOSEVELT BOYS + +Four Sons of a Famous Fighter Gather Their Own Laurels of War + + +The Roosevelts are not the only family to have given four sons to the +cause of their country, and those other sons have fought as bravely as +Archibald and Theodore and Kermit, and died as daringly as Quentin. It +isn’t, then, because the sacrifices of the Roosevelts are unique that +they have become so dear to the hearts of Americans. The Roosevelts +would be the first to decry any attempt to single out their deeds as +any nobler than the deeds of their millions of comrades in arms. It +seems only fair, however, to the traditions of our democracy that +having recounted so many exploits by heroes who before the war were not +known outside their little towns, we should include a few of the many, +many names which proved that connection with more noted families did +not make them any slower to welcome the dangers which war brought alike +to rich and poor. + + +ARCHIE GOES TO FRANCE + +Back in June, 1917, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., went across with Archie. +Theodore was a Major then; Archie a Captain. Both were assigned to +General Pershing’s staff. In August it was reported that the two, +anxious for real action, had been transferred to the 26th Infantry. So +anxious was Archie to get into line duty that he accepted a reduction +to Second Lieutenancy in order to get into the trenches. + +[Illustration: + + © _Pirie MacDonald._ + +Theodore Roosevelt + +The late Ex-President of the United States, and great American Patriot.] + +All this had happened quickly. It was only in April that Archie had +been engaged to Grace Lockwood. Some five days after that he had passed +his examination for the Officers’ Reserve Corps. By April 15 he had +married. June 20 he left Plattsburg with confidential orders. June 25 +his father announced that Archie and Theodore had left for France. + +Archie did not stay long as a Second Lieutenant. By Christmas, +following distinguished service in leading patrols in No Man’s Land, +General Pershing recommended that Archie be promoted. In February +Archie was made a Captain. One month later Captain Archie was wounded +in the arm and leg by shrapnel. He received the French War Cross +while lying on the operating table. “He lay wounded for fourteen hours +unattended,” writes an American surgeon in a letter home. In May Archie +was reported able to walk again. + +His wounds did not make Archie callous to the suffering of others. In +July (1918) we read that “Archie’s request for aid for Sergeant F. A. +Ross whose hand was amputated will be heeded by Colonel Roosevelt.” + +A shrapnel wound of its nature usually results in more serious +complications than an ordinary bullet wound. On July 13 the Captain had +to undergo another operation for partial paralysis of the left arm. His +spirit never wavered. When wounded he had directed that the wounded men +in his command be attended first. Archie was hurt worse than he knew. +It would take eight months, at least, for him to recover. In September +he was brought back to the United States for special treatment. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Theodore Roosevelt and Family at the Time He Was Governor of the State +of New York] + + +THEODORE, THE IDOL OF HIS MEN + +In the meantime Theodore was making himself feared, loved and famous. +He was a Major, we said. He had been a Major once before, but under +what different conditions—a Major in the Connecticut National Guards. +He got into action from the very start. You could find him at the head +of the most dangerous charges. In June (1918) he was cited for bravery +after he had been gassed in the fight at Cantigny. + +Theodore, too, retained his tenderness despite war’s horrors. In July +we read of his paying homage to Lieut. G. Gustofson, Jr. In September +he writes to the widow of Lieut. Newbold telling her that he would be +proud to have his two little sons grow up to live and die like the +Lieutenant. Theodore’s men made an idol of him. That, however, did not +save him a second wound—this time (July 24) it was in the left knee. He +received it while leading a battalion in a charge at Ploisy. It was the +same fearlessness which a month before had called forth the official +citation. + +“On the day of our attack on Cantigny, although gassed in the lungs and +gassed in the eyes to blindness, Major Roosevelt refused to be removed +and retained the command of his battalion under a heavy bombardment +throughout the engagement.” + +After his second operation Major Roosevelt was promoted once more, +and it was as Lieutenant-Colonel that in November he occupied the +headquarters of von Hindenburg’s son at Luxemburg. + + +KERMIT IN MESOPOTAMIA AND FRANCE + +The Major’s younger brother Kermit had, like the rest, come in from the +very start, but fortune kept at least this one member of the family +a little safer. He had left Plattsburg to accept a position in the +British Army as early as July, 1917. In September he was made Temporary +Honorary Captain. After being rewarded with the Distinguished Service +Order for bravery with the British in Mesopotamia, Kermit, through the +aid of Lord Derby, obtained a transfer to the American Army. In April +he was appointed Captain. By June he had received the British Military +Cross. + + +QUENTIN + +[Illustration: _© Underwood and Underwood._ + +Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Junior. + + He was gassed in the fight at Cantigny, and wounded when making a + charge at Ploisy.] + +Kermit, Archibald, Theodore—all have done their duty, but, of course, +death has made the youngest of the Roosevelts dearest to American +hearts. Perhaps, indeed, the death of no other man at the front +has so touched the people as that of young Lieutenant Quentin. He +stands almost like the symbol of young America giving itself up for +freedom. “In the sorrow of his parents,” writes the _Outlook_, “his +fellow-countrymen have felt the sorrow of all who have lost sons in +this struggle. In the pride his parents have simply expressed his +fellow-countrymen have been able to understand in part the pride of +all those who have learned that for his purpose of making mankind +free God has had need of their dearest. In honoring Quentin Roosevelt +Americans honor all those young men who have rendered to their country +their full measure of devotion.” + +Part of the special glory of the Roosevelts comes from the fact that +they were watched so closely. Quentin, especially, was known to the +nation from his very childhood. The nation knew him, and it watched +him. Quentin died fighting against odds—a symbol of young American +manhood. + +When we think of what Colonel Roosevelt and his sons stood for in this +war there is something soul-stirring in the fact that the father and +his youngest boy have both so suddenly passed away, and in the light of +all this there is a pathetic significance in the answer which Colonel +Roosevelt gave to the man who at a public meeting asked the Colonel why +he himself had not gone across: + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Quentin Roosevelt’s Entrance Card Into the Ecole de Tir Aerien] + +“I asked not only to go over there, but I came with one hundred +thousand more men in my hands to help. And I will tell you, you man +over there, that I have sent my four sons. I have sent over my four +boys, for each of whose lives I care a thousand times more than I care +for my own.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Dr. Richard Derby, + +Lieutenant Colonel, Medical Corps, Army of the United States.] + +Of these four sons Kermit received his cross for bravery. Archibald +and Theodore rose steadily from rank to rank—wounds and honor marking +their path. And Quentin gave his life. There is something more than +fortitude in the words of the proud, strong, old man bearing up against +the saddest of tidings: + +“Quentin’s mother and I are very glad he got to the front and had the +chance to render some service to his country, and to show the stuff +there was in him before his fate befell him.” + +Quentin Roosevelt was not yet twenty-one. He was born in Washington, +November 19, 1897, while his father was Assistant Secretary of the +Navy. After 1901 Quentin, starting out as the “White House baby,” kept +Washington interested and amused for seven years. + +Sturdy, impetuous, frank, and democratic, he was friends with +everybody. He rode locomotives between Washington and Philadelphia with +his chums, the engineers and firemen of the Baltimore & Ohio and the +Pennsylvania. + +Meantime, he was captain also of a crew of warrior Indians recruited +from members of his classes in a public school. + +One day, during an illness of his brother Archie, Quentin decided that +a sight of a pet pony might prove better than the White House doctor’s +prescriptions. + +Without waiting for permission he went out to the stables, introduced +the Shetland into one of the private elevators, and had the little +horse on the way into his sick brother’s room before he was stopped. + +As recorded by the New York _Times_: “Quentin’s life while in +Washington—he was running around here in kilts and afterward in short +trousers when his father was President—was just the adventurous +childhood of the boy who later slammed his motor cycle into a tree +at Oyster Bay when he was trying to establish a new speed record +and smiled when a home-assembled automobile took a corner under his +guidance on one wheel. He was not afraid for himself and worried only +about the expense of rebuilding the motor cycle.” + +Quentin was sent to Harvard. He took a prominent part in athletics. He +inherited his father’s pluck and determination. Like his father, too, +Quentin suffered from a defect of vision. That is why when the first +officers training-camp was organized and Archie was admitted and won a +commission, Quentin, on account of his eyes, was rejected. + +He thereupon applied for enlistment in the Canadian Flying Corps. That +was in April, 1917. When the United States decided to send troops +to Europe he was transferred to the United States Signal Corps as a +private. + +He underwent a brief period of training at Mineola. He reached France a +few weeks after Archie, who, we remember, was then a Captain. Theodore, +Jr., was already commanding one of the first American battalions to go +under fire. Kermit also had by that time sailed for the war zone. + + +HE MAKES A DOWN + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Captain Kermit Roosevelt] + +Quentin became known to his fellow flyers as “Q.” Before the fatal +day he had been fighting in the air five weeks. A few days before +that last fight Quentin had a very narrow escape. He was cut off by a +cloud from his fellows and coming out of the clouds saw three aviators +whom he took for Americans. When he got quite close he found they +were Boches, and coolly opened fire on them. All three attacked him. +Quentin “did” for one of them and got home safe. An account of this is +included in Captain McLanahan’s description of Quentin’s last days. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt] + + “Our airdrome was north of Verdun, about twenty miles back of the + American front line. Quentin had joined us June 1. He had been + instructor at the aviation school at Issoudun, and I had formed his + acquaintance there. I left Issoudun for patrol work at the front about + two months before Quentin was allowed to join us. They liked his work + at the aviation school so well that he had a hard time to obtain leave + to get into the more perilous work at the front, for which he was + always longing. + + “Our regular occupation in the patrol service consisted of two flights + a day, each lasting from an hour and a half to two hours. As this + involved the necessity of going over the enemy lines, it was, of + course, extremely trying upon the nerves. I doubt whether anybody, + except perhaps the most foolhardy, ever performed this sort of work + without feeling greatly exhausted after a few hours of so tense a + strain. Nevertheless, we were often required, when circumstances + demanded it, to go aloft four or even more times in the course of + a day. This was of rare occurrence and only when the enemy showed + extreme activity and every resource at our command had to be called + into service in opposition. + + “Usually a patrol consisted of three squads of from six to eight + planes, one squad going to a height of 20,000 feet, the second 12,000, + and the third 4,000 feet. They would fly in V formation, the leader + about a hundred feet below the level of the next two, these 100 feet + lower than those next after them, and so on to the last ones of the + squad, who were always the highest.” + +July 14 was an exceptionally fine day for the sort of work the squadron +was doing. “We went up at eleven o’clock in the forenoon,” says Captain +McLanahan, and describes the flight and the fatal fight that followed: + + “There were eight of us, all, at that time, Lieutenants—Curtis, of + Rochester, N. Y.; Sewall, of Bath, Me.; Mitchell, of Manchester, + Mass.; Buford, of Nashville, Tenn.; Roosevelt, Hamilton, Montague, + and I. As was customary, we chatted together before we went up, and + of course, planned what we were going to do. It was arranged that + Lieutenant Hamilton was to lead, and in case of any hitch to his motor + Lieutenant Curtis was to take his place in the van. + + + [Illustration: + + © _Western Newspaper Union._ + + Captain Archie Roosevelt + + on Fifth Avenue in New York. He was wounded in action.] + + [Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + + Facsimile of Quentin Roosevelt’s record card in the Ecole de Aerien de + Casuaz. + + The captain’s remarks at the bottom of the card: “Very good pilot; + regular landings; very good shot; excellent military spirit, and very + daring.” + ] + + “There was a rather stiff wind blowing in the direction of the German + lines, and when we reached an altitude of about 10,000 feet we began + to be carried with great rapidity toward them. We had not yet sighted + any enemy airplanes after we had been aloft an hour. Hamilton’s motor + went wrong about that time and he had to glide back home. In a few + minutes he was followed by Montague, whose motor also had gone back on + him. + + +MEETING THE ENEMY + +“Half an hour after this, when we were five miles inside the German +lines, we saw six of their Fokker planes coming toward us. They had +been concealed until then by clouds between them and us, they flying +on the under side of the clouds. Our planes were of the Nieuport +type, of the lightest pursuing kind, and in almost every respect like +the type the Germans approaching us were using. The chief difference +was that they carried stationary motors while ours were rotary ones, +which gave us a trifle the advantage in turning. But this was more +than neutralized by the very much greater inflammable material in our +machines. + +“When we got to within 500 feet of each other both sides began firing. +The weapons on each side were virtually identical, each Nieuport and +each Fokker carrying two machine guns. As each plane had but one +occupant, upon whom, of course, devolved the work not only of steering +his craft but firing the guns, there was an arrangement by which these +two duties could be executed with, so to speak, one movement. The +steering gear and the firing and aiming devices were adjusted to a +stick in front of the aviator, in such a manner that his hand could +clutch all three levers at once and work each by a slight pressure. + +“Each of the machine guns carried about 250 rounds of ammunition, and +unless it got jammed it was capable of firing the entire lot in half a +minute. In order to determine whether the aim is accurate some of the +bullets are so constructed that they emit smoke and can thus be seen. +These are called tracers. Without them it would be well-nigh impossible +to gage one’s range so far up in the air, remote from anything by which +comparisons could be made to rectify the judgment in aiming. + +“From the moment that I singled out the enemy whom I was to engage in +duel I naturally lost sight of everything else and kept my eyes pretty +well glued upon him alone. Now and then, of course, I would, when I got +a chance, look backward, too. For one can never tell but that another +enemy plane, having disposed of its opponent, may pay his respects to +another one. + +“But if anybody imagines that an aviator engaged in battle with an +active opponent gets a chance to help along an associate, or even +to pay attention to what is happening to any of the others, he is +mistaken. One has to be on the alert for every move the enemy makes, +and even do a lot of correct guessing as to what would be the most +logical next move for him to make. For it is upon that next move that +the entire fortunes of the war for those particular two aviators may +hinge. + +“After I had fired every round of ammunition, which seemed to be about +the same time as my adversary discovered himself to be in the same +plight, we drew away from each other and flew toward our respective +bases. During our duel my airplane had become separated from the others +of our unit and I could see no trace of them. I assumed, however, +that they were either still fighting or had also finished and were on +their way back home. Somehow I did not think of the third alternative, +namely, that anything serious had happened to any of them. + +“Indeed, one’s thoughts are so completely directed toward the business +in hand, especially during a fight, that there is not a moment’s time +that can be devoted to other matters, even those of the dearest, +tenderest, or most sacred nature. To divert the mind even for an +instant from the grim business of battle itself would be scarcely short +of suicidal. And the home-bound journey after the battle is enlivened +by so continuous a gauntlet of bursting enemy anti-aircraft shells that +they suffice to keep the mind engaged in ways and means of dodging +them until the home base is finally reached. During an air-battle, of +course, the anti-aircraft guns are silent, for their shells would be +equally dangerous for friend and foe.” + + +ALL BUT QUENTIN RETURNED + +Lieutenants Buford and McLanahan arrived after all of the others, +except Lieutenant Roosevelt, had returned to the field. They were not +worried about him at the time, but when hours went by and he failed to +return, they knew that something had gone wrong. Still, they did not +think he had been killed. As Captain McLanahan explains: + + “We were encouraged to hope for the best by the fact that Quentin had + remained out a considerable time longer than the rest of us three days + before. On that occasion he had become separated from the squad, I + don’t just know in what way, and when we saw him again he jumped out + of his airplane in great excitement and so radiant with elation and + with so broad a smile that his teeth showed exactly in the same famous + way as his father’s used to do. He never reminded us so much of his + father as on that occasion. + + “He told us that after losing track of us he sighted a group of + airplanes which he believed to be ours and headed his airplane toward + them. He was too cautious, however, to take anything for granted, and + so in steering toward the group he kept himself in the rear of them, + and when he got closer he discovered that they had the cross of the + Germans painted on them. + + “His first impulse was to get away as fast as possible; but then the + hero in him spoke up and he decided to avail himself of the chance to + reduce the number of our enemies by at least one. And so, flying quite + close to the last one of the airplanes, he fired quickly and with such + good aim that the plane immediately went down, spinning around, with + its nose pointed to the ground. + + “‘I guess I got that one all right,’ he said; but he did not wait to + see what the final outcome might be, for aviators are full of tricks + and, by feigning disaster to their own machine, often succeeded in + drawing an overconfident enemy to destruction. Quentin knew this; and + moreover, he had another big contract on his hands, namely, to get + away from the associates of the man whom he had attacked. They all + turned upon him, firing from a dozen machine guns; but in firing his + own gun he had wheeled about at the same instant, and in that way had + a big handicap over the pursuers. He kept far enough in advance of + them to get back within the American lines before they were able to + lessen the distance sufficiently to make their shells effective. The + rate of speed, by the way, was 140 miles an hour. + + “Despite his excitement and the really exceptional achievement, + Quentin modestly refrained from declaring positively that he had + bagged his man. It was only afterward, when we learned through an + artillery observation-balloon that the airplane brought down by + Quentin had been seen to strike the earth with a crash, that he + himself felt satisfied that he was entitled to be regarded the victor. + This was the occasion which brought him the Croix de Guerre.” + +When the day passed and Quentin failed to return, his associates +still remained hopeful that he had landed in the enemy lines, and had +been taken prisoner. But there was further news, bad news, as Captain +McLanahan relates: + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood, and Underwood._ + +Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.] + + “Even this forlorn hope was dispelled the following day, when news + was received that an observation-balloon’s crew had seen a Nieuport + machine fall at Chamery, east of Fère-en-Tardenois, the place where + Quentin had gone into the battle. + + + GERMANS REPORT DEATH + + “A few days after that German aviators flying over the American lines + dropped notes announcing that Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt had been killed + by two bullet wounds in the head and had been buried with military + honors by the Germans. + + “After the armistice was signed, we saw the aviator who had killed + Quentin. He was a non-commissioned officer and one of the most expert + flyers in the enemy’s air service. After the armistice he was acting + as an inspector in the surrender of German airplanes to the Allies. + + “This man said that when he learned that the officer whom he had + brought down belonged to so prominent a family in America he felt + sorry. + + “‘He was identified by a metal identification-plate fastened by a + little chain to his wrist,’ said the German, ‘and I was then told of + the young man’s prominence and his own personal popularity. Of course, + even if I had known during the battle who he was, I would not have + hesitated to try my best to down him; because, if I hadn’t, he surely + would have downed me. + + “‘He made a gallant fight, although I recognized almost from the + beginning of our duel that he was not as experienced as some others I + had encountered and won out against. + + “‘As it was, he dipped and circled and looped and tried in a variety + of ways to get above and behind me. It was not at all an easy task for + me to get the upper hand and down him.’” + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +When the Great American Patriot Died Flyers Dropped Wreaths from the +Air Over the Roosevelt Home at Sagamore Hill] + +Simple praise this is, but sincere we feel. The German felt sorry for +our boy-hero. “He made a gallant fight,” he said. And he was not the +only German who was forced to give due admiration to the dauntless +American. The enemy buried him with military honors, and marked his +grave. The German Cross, however, has been removed from the grave of +Quentin. The grave is now simply fenced with stones. The French strew +flowers over it. It bears a soldier’s inscription: + +“Here rests on the field of honor First Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, +killed in action July, 1918.” + +A memorial just as eloquent in its simplicity is the letter from +General Pershing to the father of Quentin: + +“Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt during his whole career in the air +service both as a cadet and as a flying officer was a model of the best +type of young American manhood.” + +Quentin is a hero—a soldier—an officer—yet most of all he remains to +our memory as our ex-President’s youngest boy. Eleanor Reed expresses +this lasting appeal in her poem to Quentin, in the New York _Times_: + + “Young Roosevelt is dead—and I whose son + Is just a little boy, too young to go, + Read with bewildered eyes the tales recalled + Of pranks the little White House boy had played.” + + + + +JUST WHAT HE WANTED + +A Restless Seeker After Excitement, the War Filled the Bill for +Lieutenant Roberts + + +Few young men enlisted for the war more frankly in the spirit of +adventure than did Lieutenant E. M. Roberts, an American boy, born +in Duluth, and seemingly born with the unrest of the winds of the +Northwest in his blood. When he was but ten years old he ran away from +home in obedience to the restless longing to fare for himself, go +whither he listed, and taste the ruggedness of nature in experience. He +tried lumbering in the Northwest. He crossed the border into Canada and +successively turned his hand to many things—mining, automobile repair, +railroad construction, cow-punching, sheep-raising, etc.—getting a +liberal education in the “University of Hard Knocks,” as he expressed +it, but never finding just the excitement he vaguely yearned for. + +He was in Calgary in October, 1914, and by chance learned from a +newspaper in which he had wrapped a purchase, that there was war doing +in Europe. It struck him that the thing sought, the desired excitement, +was now ready to hand. He met an old friend and talked the news with +him. The friend told him that there had been a call that morning for +men for service in Europe. “Let’s join!” Both were of the same mind; +both were ready for adventure. Next morning he enlisted as a member +of the 10th Canadian Infantry Battalion. But the officer in charge +of the barracks knew Roberts, and recalling that he was familiar with +mechanics, transferred him to a mechanical transport section, not at +all to his liking, mechanics being but a tame affair. + +In time he went with the battalion to France as driver of a lorry. He +got a dose of gas at Ypres and was sent back to England for hospital +treatment. On recovery he was returned to France as Section Sergeant, +his duty being to scout the roads ahead on a motor cycle. He found +that he was getting very little out of the war but hard work, plodding +knee deep in mud much of the time while up there the flyers were +having a jolly, enviable time. Ambition to get into the Royal Flying +Corps seized him and never let go of him, but it was long before the +opportunity to join came to him. Much experience of many kinds came +his way, despatch riding among the rest, before the happy day when he +was attached to an air squadron as gunner on probation, the getting of +which position was in itself an adventure, as is duly set forth in _A +Flying Fighter_, the intensely interesting story of his career told by +Roberts himself. + +Though on the way he was yet far from his goal. He had first to go +into the trenches to learn what infantrymen had to go through. He got +a thorough lesson, which included prowls in No Man’s Land, charging +enemy trenches and plunging in to prod with the bayonet and fling hand +grenades and much like matter rather adapted, one would imagine, to +disqualify an aspirant for service in the air, for rising above ground. +But he arrived in due time at the dignity of an accepted aviator, and +made his first flight. Then came the excitement of shooting down his +first Hun, but we pass that and many other arresting incidents and +exploits of his apprenticeship to come to his account of an exceptional +sort of encounter with hostile planes that has in it all the elements +of dramatic surprise. + +He was assigned to pilot duty with a scout and fighting squadron doing +service in France, and his first turn of service consisted of patrol +duty for three days running. It was an uneventful start, nothing +occurring in the three days. On the fourth day he went up again on +patrol to 20,000 feet. He was looking for Huns up there but found none. +As it was very cold he decided to go down a way, and shut off power. He +says: + +“At the level of 18,000 feet, I found myself sweeping along a very +large peak of cloud. Intending to spoil its pretty formation I dived +into it, and coming out on the other side, found myself along side of +a Hun plane of the Albatross type. [Roberts was in a Spad.] I had no +intimation at all that a Hun was present, and I guess he was in the +same position. + + +“THE HUN WAVED AT ME AND I WAVED AT HIM” + +“I suppose he was as much surprised as I was when he saw me emerging +from the cloud. Neither of us could shoot at the other for the reason +that the guns of the machines we were flying were fixed to the machine +so that the machine itself has to be pointed. + +“We were so close together that this could not be done without our +ramming one another, which both of us had to avoid if we did not wish +to crash to the earth together. + +“The Hun waved at me and I waved at him. + +“We found ourselves in a very peculiar situation. I was so close to him +that I could see with the naked eye every detail of his machine. His +face also I could see quite clearly, even to the wrinkles around his +mouth. + +“There was something odd in our position. I had to smile at the thought +that we were so close together and yet dared not harm one another. The +Hun also smiled. Then I reached down to feel the handle on my pressure +reservoir to make sure that it was in its proper place, for I knew that +one of us would soon have to make a break. + +“I had never before met a Hun at such close quarters in the air and +though we flew parallel to one another for only a few minutes, the time +seemed like a week. I remembered some of the tactics told me by some of +the older and best fighters in the corps, and was wondering how I could +employ them. Finally a thought occurred to me. Two machines flying at +the same height are not necessarily on exactly the same level, as they +keep going up and down for about 20 feet. + +“I was flying between the Hun and his own lines and I had fuel for +another hour and a quarter anyway. I wanted to make sure of this bird, +but decided to play a waiting game. We continued our flight side by +side. + +“After a while, however, much sooner than I expected, the Hun began +to get restless and started to maneuver for position; like myself he +was utilizing the veriest fraction of every little opportunity in his +endeavor to out-maneuver the antagonist. Finally, the Hun thought he +had gotten the lead. + +“I noticed that he was trying to side-slip, go down a little, evidently +for the purpose of shooting me from underneath, but not far enough for +me to get a dive on him. I was not quite sure as yet that such was +really his intention, but the man was quick. Before I knew what had +happened he had managed to put five shots into my machine, but all of +them missed me. + + +THE HUN SPINS EARTHWARD + +“I maneuvered into an offensive position as quickly as I could, and +before the Hun could fire again I had my machine gun pelting him. My +judgment must have been fairly good. + +“The Hun began to spin earthward. I followed to finish him, keeping +in mind, meanwhile, that it is an old game in flying to let the +other man think you are hit. This bit of strategy will often give an +opportunity to get into a position that will give you the drop on your +antagonist. The ruse is also sometimes used to get out of a fight when +in trouble with gun jam, or when bothered by a defective motor. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant James B. Lepley + +_42nd Division, 168th Infantry, Company “M”_ + + On the night of July 14 and 15, 1918, to the northeast of + Châlons-sur-Marne, near Souain, Lepley left his trench in a dense gas + attack, and made his way to a wood through a rain of shrapnel. He went + in search of two men lost from his platoon. He found them and guided + them back to the trenches. A few days later, near Sergy, he led his + platoon in a charge upon six machine-gun emplacements, which they + captured, together with over thirteen prisoners of the Prussian Guards.] + +“I discovered soon that this precaution was not necessary, for the Hun +kept spinning down to the ground. He landed with a crash. + +“A few minutes later I landed two fields away from the wreck and ran +over to see the kill I had made. + +“I had hit the Hun about fifty times and had nearly cut off both his +legs at the hips. + +“There was nothing left in the line of souvenirs, as the Tommies had +gotten to the wreck before I did. I carried off a piece of his props +and had a stick made of it. That night we had a celebration over the +first Hun I had brought down behind our own line since I became a pilot. + +“Next day I went out to get another Hun to add to my collection. I was +in the act of crossing the Hun lines when, bang! to the right of me +came a thud, and my engine stopped. Revenge, I thought. I volplaned to +the ground, made a good landing in a field just behind our lines, and, +’phoning up the squad, I then had another engine brought out to replace +mine. + + +AVIATOR PRICE DOWNS THREE PLANES + +“On my way to the squadron I witnessed one of the greatest air fights I +have ever seen. It took place above the cemetery of P——. + +“Three Huns were aloft behind their own lines, and back of them was one +of our patrolling scouts. + +“The Hun does not believe in coming over our lines if he can possibly +help it, and generally he will maneuver so that any engagement will +have to be waged over German territory. + +“One of our men named Price, who was coming in from patrol, was pilot +of the scout, which was flying at the same height as the Hun aircraft, +about 12,000 feet. Price was well behind the Hun lines when they saw +him, and all three of them made for him at once. I happened to be at an +artillery observation post, which I had to pass on my way home, and so +was able to get a good view of the combat. + +“The foremost of the Huns made straight for Price, and for a minute +it looked as though he intended ramming him. The combatants separated +again and began to fire upon one another, as the tut-tut-tut of the +machine guns told me. Of a sudden one Hun volplaned, while another made +straight for Price. I wondered what Price would do, but saw the next +moment that he had ‘zoomed’ over the second Hun machine, which just +then swooped down upon him. While Price was ‘zooming’ I noticed that +the first Hun was falling to the ground, having either been disabled or +killed by Price’s machine gun. + +“Yet within a few moments the second Hun also crashed to earth, and the +third was now making for home as fast as his motor would carry him; but +Price chased and quickly caught up with him. It was an exciting race. +Price was working his machine gun for all the thing was worth, and +before long the third Hun went down. + +“Just five minutes had been required for the fight. When I met Price +later I congratulated him. I remember wishing him all the good luck a +fellow could have. But that did not help, for within a month he, too, +came down in a heap.” + +Roberts won his lieutenant’s commission and achieved the distinction of +Ace before he returned home. He was four times wounded in mid-air. + + In April, 1918, the American forces just going into active sectors + had three squadrons, two for observation and one for pursuit. Their + strength totaled 35 planes. In May, 1918, the squadrons were increased + to nine. The most rapid growth occurred after July, 1918, when + American De Haviland planes were becoming available in quantity for + observation and day bombing service, and by November, 1918, the number + of squadrons increased to 45, with a total of 740 planes in action. + + + + +“THE RED BATTLE FLYER” + +Von Richthofen’s Brilliant Career in the Air an Offset to His Failure +as a Uhlan + + +The cheery egotism of a man fully assured within himself that he merits +his own good opinion is the dominant note of Captain Baron Manfred +Freiherr von Richthofen’s account of his experiences as a flyer. It is +not an offensive egotism; you do not resent it; though you may smile, +wondering that a spirit so entirely valiant could so lock arms with +that quality of juvenile vanity commonly described as “cockiness.” +Von Richthofen was a remarkable fellow, the most debonair as well as +the most redoubtable of the German aviators and really entitled to +exemption from the opprobrious terms of “Hun” and “Boche.” Though a +resolute foe he did not forget that he was a gentleman, an aristocrat, +and he played the game on that level. He was easily the foremost of +aviators—as far as official recognition can determine priority—at the +time of his death, April 21, 1918. He then had a record of 80 downs—70 +aeroplanes and 10 observation balloons. His nearest rival at that time +was Major Raymond Collishaw, the British Ace, with a record of 77. + +Von Richthofen was shot down on the Amiens front, over the Somme, April +21st, and his machine, a new and elaborate triplane of the Fokker type, +recently presented to him—its speed was 140 miles an hour and it could +climb 15,000 feet in 17 minutes—fell in the British lines. The esteem +in which he was held by those who had so often sought to shoot him down +was attested in his burial with full military honors and the tributes +of genuine admiration heaped on his grave. In the fifteen months of his +active flying he became the favorite of the Kaiser and the idol of the +Germany Army. Some one has said, perhaps not too extravagantly, that +the fall of Amiens, then besieged, would not have compensated Germany +for the loss she sustained in the death of the greatest and most +beloved of her heroes of the air. + +Von Richthofen belonged to the country gentry, of noble family. He +entered the Cadet Corps when he was eleven years old. In 1911 he +entered the Army. At the outbreak of the war he was a lieutenant of +Uhlans. He went to the Western front with his regiment. His first +experience with whistling bullets was when he and his company of +Uhlans, out to ascertain the strength of the enemy in the forest +near Virton, were caught in a trap. They fled in wild disorder, not +without casualties. He was in the trenches before Verdun and found +it “boresome.” When off duty he sought amusement shooting game in +the forest of La Chaussée. So passed several months. Then one day he +rebelled against inactivity. It was not the thing for which he went to +war. He made his plea to the higher powers. With much grumbling his +prayer was granted. He joined the Flying Service in May, 1915. He made +his first flight the next day as an observer. Of that experience he +wrote in his book: + + +HIS FIRST FLIGHT + +“The draft from the propeller was a beastly nuisance. I found it quite +impossible to make myself understood by the pilot. Everything was +carried away by the wind. If I took up a piece of paper it disappeared. +My safety helmet slid off. My muffler dropped off. My jacket was not +sufficiently buttoned. In short, I felt very uncomfortable. Before I +knew what was happening, the pilot went ahead at full speed and the +machine started rolling. We went faster and faster. I clutched the +sides of the car. Suddenly, the shaking was over, the machine was in +the air and the earth dropped away from under me. + +“I had been told the name of the place to which we were to fly. I was +to direct my pilot. At first we flew right ahead, then my pilot turned +to the right, then to the left, but I had lost all sense of direction +above our own aerodrome. I had not the slightest notion where I was!” + +He continued—with steadily increasing knowledge of aircraft—to serve as +an observer until October 10, 1915, when, having passed his examination +and been accepted as a pilot, he had the ecstasy of his first +solo-flight. In his book (_The Red Battle Flyer_, translated by T. +Ellis Barker, published by Robert M. McBride & Company), he describes +that flight: + + “I started the machine. The aeroplane went at the prescribed speed and + I could not help noticing that I was actually flying. After all I did + not feel timorous but rather elated. I did not care for anything. I + should not have been frightened no matter what happened. With contempt + of death I made a large curve to the left, stopped the machine near a + tree, exactly where I had been ordered to, and looked forward to see + what would happen. Now came the most difficult thing, the landing. I + remembered exactly what movements I had to make. I acted mechanically + and the machine moved quite differently from what I had expected. I + lost my balance, made some wrong movements, stood on my head and I + succeeded in converting my aeroplane into a battered school ’bus. I + was very sad, looked at the damage which I had done to the machine, + which after all was not very great, and had to suffer from other + people’s jokes. + + “Two days later I went with passion at the flying and suddenly I could + handle the apparatus.” + + +THE BOELCKE CIRCUS + +It was not, however, until September 17, 1915, when he was a member +of the newly organized Boelcke flying squadron that came to be known +as the Circus, that he scored his “first English victim.” It was “a +gloriously fine day, and therefore only to be expected that the English +would be very active,” so under the leadership of Boelcke the squadron +took the air. As they approached the front, Boelcke discovered an +Allied squadron going in the direction of Cambrai. There were seven +of the Allies to five of the Germans. They came within range. Here is +a sample of that “cockiness” with which von Richthofen described his +various and manifold encounters: + +“The Englishman nearest to me was traveling in a large boat painted +with dark colors. I did not reflect very long but took my aim and +shot. He also fired and so did I, and both of us missed our aim. A +struggle began and the great point for me was to get to the rear of +the fellow because I could only shoot forward with my gun. He was +differently placed, for his machine gun was movable. It could fire in +all directions. + +“Apparently he was no beginner, for he knew exactly that his last hour +had arrived at the moment when I get at the back of him. At that time +I had not yet the conviction ‘He must fall!’ which I have now on such +occasions, but, on the contrary, I was curious to see whether he would +fall. There is a great difference between the two feelings. When one +has shot down one’s first, second or third opponent, then one begins to +find out how the trick is done. + +“My Englishman twisted and turned, going criss-cross. I did not think +for a moment that the hostile squadron contained other Englishmen who +conceivably might come to the aid of their comrade. I was animated by +a single thought: ‘The man in front of me must come down, whatever +happens.’ At last a favorable moment arrived. My opponent had +apparently lost sight of me. Instead of twisting and turning he flew +straight along. In a fraction of a second I was at his back with my +excellent machine. I gave a short series of shots with my machine gun. +I had gone so close that I was afraid I might dash into the Englishman. +Suddenly, I nearly yelled with joy, for the propeller of the enemy +machine had stopped turning. I had shot his engine to pieces; the enemy +was compelled to land, for it was impossible for him to reach his own +lines. The English machine was curiously swinging to and fro. Probably +something had happened to the pilot. The observer was no longer +visible. His machine gun was apparently deserted. Obviously I had hit +the observer and he had fallen from his seat. + + +HIS FIRST VICTIMS + +“The Englishman landed close to the flying ground of one of our +squadrons. I was so excited that I landed also and my eagerness +was so great that I nearly smashed up my machine. The English flying +machine and my own stood close together. I rushed to the English +machine and saw that a lot of soldiers were running towards my enemy. +When I arrived I discovered that my assumption had been correct. I +had shot the engine to pieces and both the pilot and observer were +severely wounded. The observer died at once and the pilot while being +transported to the nearest dressing station. I honored the fallen enemy +by placing a stone on his beautiful grave. + +[Illustration: + + Painting by Joseph Cummings Chase. + +Sergeant Herman Korth + +_32nd Division, 121st Machine Gun Battalion, Company D_ + + Under heavy fire from machine guns and artillery. Sergeant Korth + crawled to the crest of a hill, near Juvigny, north of Soissons, + August 31, 1918, setting stakes to line the American artillery on + enemy machine-gun emplacements. He remained in observation in this + perilous position for half an hour, signaling back when American + troops were endangered by the fire of the batteries.] + +“When I came home Boelcke and my other comrades were already at +breakfast. They were surprised that I had not turned up. I reported +proudly that I had shot down an Englishman. All were full of joy, for +I was not the only victor. As usual, Boelcke had shot down an opponent +for breakfast and every one of the other men also had downed an enemy +for the first time. + +“I would mention that since that time no English squadron ventured as +far as Cambrai as long as Boelcke’s squadron was there.” + +“Still,” said von Richthofen, in his airily patronizing way, “the +Englishman is a smart fellow. That we must allow. Sometimes the English +came down to the very low altitude and visited Boelcke in his quarters +upon which they threw bombs. They absolutely challenged us to battle +and never refused fighting.” + + +BOELCKE’S FINISH + +But October 28, 1916 (when the squadron had 40 downs to its credit), +Boelcke, von Richthofen and four others flying in formation saw at a +distance “two impertinent Englishmen in the air who actually seemed +to be enjoying the terrible weather.” The struggle began. “Boelcke +tackled one, I the other. I had to let go because one of the German +machines got in my way.” All that seems to have interested him further +in the fight was the fact that Boelcke’s machine suffered a sort of +collision with one of the other German machines, a part of his planes +was broken off, his machine was no longer steerable and it fell. +Boelcke was killed. + +Some little time after he had brought down his sixteenth victim von +Richthofen was given the _Ordre pour le Mérite_ and appointed commander +of the Eleventh Chasing Squadron. It was then that the idea seized him +to paint his machine a flaming red, which became afterward the personal +identification of the Captain, who became famous through the adventures +and success he had with his machine—_Le Petit Rouge_, as “everyone got +to know my red bird.” + +French, English, and American airmen who gained wisdom at the front may +find an amusing flavor in a sage remark of von Richthofen about the +time he became captain of the squadron. “In my opinion, the aggressive +spirit is everything and that spirit is very strong in us Germans. +Hence we shall always retain the domination of the air.” Events did not +altogether sustain the boast. + +But it is not necessary to object strongly to the complacency of a +man who fought with undiminished valor throughout his flying career, +accounted for 80 enemy machines, and died at last, shot down over the +enemy’s lines. If he was self-confident to the degree of vanity, his +audacity was truly admirable. He lacked just ten days of attaining his +twenty-sixth birthday when he fell. The English grudged him no honors. + + +THE WORLD’S GREATEST LAUNCHING + + American shipbuilders established a world’s record on July 4, 1918, by + launching 92 ships of 450,000 deadweight tonnage—one third more than + the tonnage produced during the fiscal year, 1915-16. The previous + year’s record of total tonnage was 398,000 tons in 1901. American + Labor’s answer to Germany’s unrestricted warfare was the launching on + one day of 54,000 tons more shipping than had been constructed in any + previous year. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Lieutenant Pat O’Brien + + An American youth who, in the early part of the war, joined the + Canadian Royal Flying Corps. Shot down from a height of 8,000 feet, he + was captured by the Germans. Afterwards making his escape, he passed + through 72 days of harrowing ordeal leading finally to safety.] + + + + +PAT O’BRIEN OUTWITS THE HUN + +The Remarkable Story of an American Boy in a Seventy-two Days’ Ordeal +of Escape from the Germans + + +The publishers of his book, _Outwitting the Hun_, were not extravagant +when they advertised Lieut. Pat O’Brien’s story as “one of the +strangest and most thrilling since the outbreak of the war.” No one +else had quite such an experience, and that he lived to tell of +it was due to indomitable Irish pluck rather than to any favor of +circumstances. You get the flavor of the capital book he wrote and +the tone of the man from the name he transferred to the title page. +There is no Lieut. Patricius, or even Lieut. Patrick O’Brien; but +straightforward character-delivery in plain “Lieut. Pat. O’Brien.” and +you get from it an odd sort of subconscious assurance that the very +extraordinary story he tells of his escape from the Germans is every +whit true. Yet, between his being shot down from a height of 8,000 feet +and the last item of his seventy-two days of anguish and adventure in +escaping the Huns there is many a challenge to credulity. There can be +but little of his story reproduced here. + + +AS A FIGHTING SCOUT + +Pat started flying, in Chicago, in 1912. “I was then eighteen years +old,” he says, “but I had had a hankering for the air ever since I can +remember.... + +“In the early part of 1916, when trouble was brewing in Mexico, I +joined the American Flying Corps. I was sent to San Diego, where the +Army flying school is located, and spent about eight months there, but +as I was anxious to get into active service and there didn’t seem much +chance of America ever getting into the war, I resigned and, crossing +over to Canada, joined the Royal Flying Corps at Victoria, B. C. + +“I was sent to Camp Borden, Toronto, first to receive instruction and +later to instruct. While a cadet I made the first loop ever made +by a cadet in Canada, and after I had performed the stunt I half +expected to be kicked out of the service for it. Apparently, however, +they considered the source and let it go at that. Later on I had the +satisfaction of introducing the loop as part of the regular course of +instruction for cadets in the R. F. C., and I want to say right here +that Camp Borden has turned out some of the best fliers that have ever +gone to France. + +“In May, 1917, I and seventeen other Canadian fliers left for England +on the _Megantic_, where we were to qualify for service in France.... + +“Within a few weeks after our arrival in England all of us had won our +‘wings’—the insignia worn on the left breast by every pilot on the +western front. + +“We were all sent to a place in France known as the Pool Pilots’ Mess. +Here men gather from all the training squadrons in Canada and England +and await assignments to the particular squadron of which they are to +become members.” + +He was soon “called” to a squadron stationed about eighteen miles back +of the Ypres Line. There were eighteen pilots. The routine was two +flights a day, each of two hours’ duration. He presently found that +his squadron “was some hot squadron,” the fliers being assigned to +special-duty work, “such as shooting up trenches at a height of fifty +feet from the ground.” + + +CAPTURED BY THE HUN + +Pat holds August 17, 1917, as a day he will “not easily forget.” He has +fairly good reason for thinking the day a fixity in his memory, for, as +he says: + +“I killed two Huns in a double-seated machine in the morning, another +in the evening, and then I was captured myself. I may have spent more +eventful days in my life, but I can’t recall any just now.” + +Considering the fact that he had been shot down from a height of 8,000 +feet the miracle is that he became “a prisoner of war.” His fellows of +the squadron who had seen the fight took it as a matter of fact that +he had been killed outright. One realizes that a chap who could come +through that sort of juggle with death was quite equal to his later +adventures. + +Convalescent, after some time spent in a hospital, O’Brien was sent +to the officers’ prison camp at Courtrai, preparatory to transfer to +a prison in the interior of Germany. He remained there nearly three +weeks, to which he devotes an interesting chapter. He had many fellow +prisoners, and, of course, one frequent topic of conversation was +“what were the chances of escape?” There were many ingenious plans but +O’Brien did not remain to attempt to carry out any of them. September +9th he and six other officers were marked off for transfer into +Germany, and later were marched to the train that was to convey them. +They were objects of derision to the crowd gathered at the station. +There were twelve coaches, eleven of them containing troops going home +on leave, the twelfth, fourth class, filthy, being reserved for the +prisoners, eight of them under four guards. + +He proposed to the other officers that if the eight of them would at a +given signal jump on the four guards and overpower them, they could, +when the train slowed down on approaching a village, leap to the ground +and take to flight. But the others turned the plan down on the ground +that if they did get free they would be recaptured speedily. O’Brien +therefore resolved to make a try on his own account by a leap from a +window when the train was in motion. After long self-debate, as they +were getting nearer and nearer to their destination he successfully put +his resolution into effect. + + +MAKING HIS ESCAPE + +Then began one of the most remarkable series of perils, hardships, +struggles and curious adventures that fell to the lot of any individual +in the course of the war. With the aid of a map, which he had stolen +from a guard’s room at Courtrai, he set out with the distant +Holland frontier as his objective. It is a narrative that loses by +condensation, for there is hardly an adventure or experience that +has not novel interest as O’Brien relates it. To avoid detection and +capture he had to secrete himself by day, all his travel being by +night. His guide was the Pole Star. “But for it I wouldn’t be here +to-day.” + +About the ninth night he crossed into Luxemburg, but though the +principality was officially neutral it offered no safer haven than +Belgium would. Discovery would have been followed by the same +consequences as capture in Germany proper. In the nine nights he had +traveled perhaps seventy-five miles. + +He was nine or ten days getting across Luxemburg, a task that could +have been accomplished in two days of normal travel, but swollen feet +and knees, aching body and a hunger-griping stomach together with the +necessity of stealth to avoid discovery, German guards, workmen and +others often having to be widely circled are not conducive to speed. +About the eighteenth day after his leap from the train he entered +Belgium, and some days later brought up at the Meuse between Namur and +Huy, where it was at least half a mile wide. There he came nearest +of all to giving up the struggle. But he must get across. There was +nothing to do but swim. + +There were adventures in Belgium, some amusing, some harrowing, all of +them perilous to an English officer escaped from captivity. When, after +narrow escapes not a few he reached the Holland frontier, one of the +greatest of his herculean tasks presented itself. He had to pass the +triple barbed-wire barrier with its electrically charged nine-foot-high +fence. With hands and sticks he resolutely set to work to dig under the +deadly barrier—hard work and most dangerous. He was forced to stop from +time to time to escape detection. At last, on November 19, 1917, the +hole was finished. He writhed through and into Holland territory. + +A few more difficulties to surmount, then on board train for Rotterdam, +a run to London, a presentation to the King, some banquet pleasures in +London and, crowning all, home again, “in the little town of Momence, +Illinois, on the Kankakee River.” + + + + +A TRACK AND TRACKLESS WINNER + +Eddie Rickenbacker, Who Won Popularity as an Auto Racer, Snatched +Lasting Glory from the Void. + + +The spirit of adventure had won for Eddie Rickenbacker a wide +popularity long before he began plucking laurels from the skies. His +performances as an automobile racer had made him the idol of lovers of +that perilous sport and taught him the cool judgment and generalship +in dealing with velocities which served him to such good purpose when +he exchanged automobiles for aeroplanes. When America entered the +war Rickenbacker was in England on automobile business, but hastened +back to America with the intention of organizing a flying squadron +of motor drivers for service in France. His plan was not possible at +the time from the government point of view, and Rickenbacker accepted +the position of chauffeur to General Pershing and sailed with that +officer. It was not long after, however, that the loftier ambition +found its channel and at Villeneuve, March 4, 1918, he became a +member of Squadron 94, the so-called “Hat-in-the-Ring” squadron of +which Major Lufbery was the commander. Lufbery was then America’s top +ace, his service of more than three years in the French Air Service +and with the Lafayette Escadrille having netted him seventeen Huns, +omitting those not officially recorded. A little over two months later, +May 19, 1918, Major Lufbery was killed by a leap from his flaming +machine. The title of American Ace of Aces passed from Lufbery to +Lieutenant Paul Baer, who, with a record of nine victories, had not +gotten over his repugnance to shooting down an enemy aviator. Two +days later Baer was shot down and captured. Lieutenant Frank Baylies +succeeded to the title. He was killed June 12th with 13 victories +to his credit. Then David Putnam, with 12 victories, took the lead. +He was shot down in flames. Rickenbacker, who in the period between +March and July had accounted for seven enemy machines, next was ace +of aces for a brief time, but Frank Luke took the title from him +in a single day’s stunning exploit, as told in the special story of +that amazing young man. In due course, however, the Rickenbacker +record grew becomingly and in addition to attaining the highest score +on downs he conspicuously distinguished himself in the service as +Squadron Commander. Some of his eulogists do not hesitate to give him +preëminence as a commander because of the judgment he exercised in +protecting himself and guarding the safety of less competent pilots. + +Not a few aviators have written books descriptive of their experiences +and there is quite a library of these high adventure stories; but +it is probable that the uncommonly voluminous book Rickenbacker has +contributed to the long list is one of the most valuable because of +the great variety of interesting matter it comprises. Indeed _Fighting +the Flying Circus_ has historic importance as well as storied interest +and is not by any means a glorification of its author. That fact makes +it rather difficult to take from the book the material wanted for a +personal sketch without including attractive matter that would speedily +exceed our limits of space—for example, the complete narrative of the +exploit with “Rumpler Number 16”; or the story of Douglas Campbell, +America’s first ace; or the story of Jimmy Meissner, who piloted his +machine with the canvas gone; and others. + + +CHAGRIN A SAVING GRACE + +Before Rickenbacker scored a victory he suffered many disappointments, +and felt the chagrin of seeing his expected quarry escape. There was +serviceable virtue in it all nevertheless, as he admits in his account +of downing his first Hun. He says: + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Captain “Eddie” Rickenbacker with His Mother and Sister] + +“My preparation for combat fighting in the air was a gradual one. As I +look back upon it now, it seems that I had the rare good fortune to +experience almost every variety of danger that can beset the war pilot +before I ever fired a shot at an enemy from an aeroplane. + +“This good fortune is rare, it appears to me. Many a better man than +myself has leaped into his stride and begun accumulating victories from +his very first flight over the lines. It was a brilliant start for him +and his successes brought him instant renown. But he had been living on +the cream at the start and was unused to the skim-milk of aviation. One +day the cream gave out and the first dose of skim-milk terminated his +career. + +“So despite the weeks and weeks of disappointment that attended my +early fighting career, I appreciated even then the enormous benefit +that I would reap later from these experiences. I can now most solemnly +affirm that had I won my first victory during my first trips over the +lines I believe I would never have survived a dozen combats. Every +disappointment that came to me brought with it an enduring lesson that +repaid me eventually tenfold. If any one of my antagonists had been +through the same school of disappointments that had so annoyed me it is +probable that he, instead of me, would now be telling his friends back +home about his series of victories over the enemy.” + +It was April 29, 1918, that he had his turn of luck. He was in +the air with Captain James Norman Hall following a course towards +Pont-à-Mousson, as that experienced flyer led the way. + +“Whether or not he knew all along that a German craft was in that +region I could not tell. But when he began to change his direction and +curve up into the sun I followed close behind him knowing that there +was a good reason for this maneuver. I looked earnestly about me in +every direction. + +“Yes! There was a scout coming towards us from north of Pont-à-Mousson. +It was at about our altitude. I knew it was a Hun the moment I saw +it, for it had the familiar lines of their new Pfalz. Moreover, my +confidence in James Norman Hall was such that I knew he couldn’t make +a mistake. And he was still climbing into the sun, carefully keeping +his position between its glare and the oncoming fighting plane. I clung +as closely to Hall as I could. The Hun was steadily approaching us, +unconscious of his danger, for we were full in the sun. + +“With the first downward dive of Jimmy’s machine I was by his side. We +had at least a thousand feet advantage over the enemy and we were two +to one numerically. He might outdive our machines, for the Pfalz is a +famous diver, while our faster climbing Nieuports had a droll little +habit of shedding their fabric when plunged too furiously through the +air. The Boche hadn’t a chance to outfly us. His only salvation would +be in a dive towards his own lines. + +“These thoughts passed through my mind in a flash and I instantly +determined upon my tactics. While Hall went in for his attack I would +keep my altitude and get a position the other side of the Pfalz, to cut +off his retreat. + +“No sooner had I altered my line of flight than the German pilot saw +me leave the sun’s rays. Hall was already half-way to him when he +stuck up his nose and began furiously climbing to the upper ceiling. I +let him pass me and found myself on the other side just as Hall began +firing. I doubt if the Boche had seen Hall’s Nieuport at all. + +“Surprised by discovering this new antagonist, Hall, ahead of him, the +Pfalz immediately abandoned all idea of a battle and banking around +to the right started for home, just as I had expected him to do. In a +trice I was on his tail. Down, down we sped with throttles both full +open. Hall was coming on somewhere in my rear. The Boche had no heart +for evolutions or maneuvers. He was running like a scared rabbit, as I +had run from Campbell. I was gaining upon him every instant and had my +sights trained dead upon his seat before I fired my first shot. + + +WITHOUT A RETURN SHOT + +“At 150 yards I pressed my triggers. The tracer bullets cut a streak +of living fire into the rear of the Pfalz tail. Raising the nose of +my aeroplane slightly the fiery streak lifted itself like a stream +of water pouring from a garden hose. Gradually it settled into the +pilot’s seat. The swerving of the Pfalz course indicated that its +rudder no longer was held by a directing hand. At 2,000 feet above +the enemy’s lines I pulled up my headlong dive and watched the enemy +machine continuing on its course. Curving slightly to the left the +Pfalz circled a little to the south and the next minute crashed onto +the ground just at the edge of the woods a mile inside their own lines. +I had brought down my first enemy aeroplane and had not been subjected +to a single shot!” + +So capital a beginning had an appropriate sequence of performances and +honors to match, among them, as early as May 15th, the Croix de Guerre. +That day, too, Lieutenant Jimmy Meissner, the merriest, most reckless +member of the squadron, took to his breast the Croix de Guerre, +and much ado the two had to keep their elation within the limits +of decorum, which stunt flying for the entertainment of the French +officials did not diminish. Rickenbacker says: + +“Suddenly Jimmy Meissner stood by my side, grinning his most winsome +grin. ‘Rick,’ said he, ‘I feel that “Hate-the-Hun” feeling creeping +over me. What do you say to going up and getting a Boche?’ + +“‘Right!’ I called back over my shoulder. ‘Come along. We’ll take a +real ride.’ + +“As luck would have it, we had hardly left the ground when we saw a Hun +two-seater, probably a Rumpler machine, very high above us. The Rumpler +has the highest ceiling of any of the German two-seaters and frequently +they sail along above us at an elevation quite impossible for the +Nieuport to reach. It is maddening to attain one’s maximum height and +see the enemy still sailing imperturbably along, taking his photographs +and scorning even to fire an occasional burst at one. We climbed at +our fastest to overtake this fellow before he could reach his safety +spot. Evidently he got ‘wind up,’ for after a few minutes climbing he +sheered off towards Germany and disappeared from our view. We completed +our patrol of the lines without finding another enemy in the sky and +returned to our field, where we landed with the mutual vow that on the +morrow we would begin seriously our palm collecting shows until we +might dangle our new Croix de Guerre well down below our knees. + +“Jimmy looked contemplatively down at my long legs. + +“‘Have a heart, Rick!’ he said softly, ‘think of the cost of the red +tape!’” + +As combats in the air, however varied in the performance, have a great +similarity in narrative, it were bootless to follow the captain through +the many experiences that earned his distinction. The earlier incidents +were when the squadron was confined to the use of Nieuports because +more satisfactory machines were not available. He dwells with some +pride of possession on the later equipment of Spads. Soon after getting +them he had become Flight Commander, and relates an unusual experience +to illustrate the extent to which the Flight Leader of a squadron feels +himself morally bound to go. + +“Six of my Spads were following me in a morning’s patrol over the +enemy’s lines in the vicinity of Rheims. We were well along towards +the front when we discovered a number of aeroplanes far above us and +somewhat behind our side of the lines. While we made a circle or two, +all the while steadily climbing for higher altitude, we observed the +darting machines above us exchanging shots at one another. Suddenly +the fracas developed into a regular free-for-all. + +“Reaching a slightly higher altitude at a distance of a mile or two +to the east of the mêlée, I collected my formation and headed about +for the attack. Just then I noticed that one side had evidently been +victorious. Seven aeroplanes remained together in compact formation. +The others had streaked it away, each man for himself. + + +SEVEN TO SEVEN + +“As we drew nearer we saw that the seven conquerors were in fact +enemy machines. There was no doubt about it. They were Fokkers. Their +opponents, whether American, French or British, had been scattered and +had fled. The Fokkers had undoubtedly seen our approach and had very +wisely decided to keep their formation together rather than separate to +pursue their former antagonists. They were climbing to keep my squad +ever a little below them, while they decided upon their next move. + +“We were seven and they were seven. It was a lovely morning with clear +visibility, and all my pilots, I knew, were keen for a fight. I looked +over the skies and discovered no reason why we shouldn’t take them on +at any terms they might require. Accordingly I set our course a little +steeper and continued straight on towards them. + +“The Spad is a better climber than the Fokker. Evidently the Boche +pilots opposite us knew this fact. Suddenly the last four in their +formation left their line of flight and began to draw away in the +direction of Soissons—still climbing. The three Fokkers in front +continued towards us for another minute or two. When we were separated +by less than a quarter of a mile the three Heinies decided that they +had done enough for their country, and putting down their noses, they +began a steep dive for their lines. + +“To follow them was so obvious a thing to do that I began at once to +speculate upon what this maneuver meant to them. The four rear Fokkers +were well away by now, but the moment we began to dive after the +three ahead of us they would doubtless be prompt to turn and select a +choice position behind our tails. Very well! We would bank upon this +expectation of theirs and make our plans accordingly! + +“We were at about 17,000 feet altitude. The lines were almost directly +under us. Following the three retreating Fokkers at our original level, +we soon saw them disappear well back into Germany. Now for the wily +four that were probably still climbing for altitude! + +“Arriving over Fismes I altered our course and pointed it towards +Soissons, and as we flew we gained an additional thousand feet. Exactly +upon the scheduled time we perceived approaching us the four Fokkers +who were now satisfied that they had us at a disadvantage and might +either attack or escape, as they desired. They were, however, at +precisely the same altitude at which we were now flying. + +“Wigwagging my wings as a signal for the attack, I sheered slightly to +the north of them to cut off their retreat. They either did not see my +maneuver or else they thought we were friendly aeroplanes, for they +came on dead ahead like a flock of silly geese. At two hundred yards I +began firing. + +“Not until we were within fifty yards of each other did the Huns show +any signs of breaking. I had singled out the flight leader and had him +nicely within my sights, when he suddenly piqued downwards, the rest of +his formation immediately following him. At the same instant one of my +guns—the one having a double feed—hopelessly jammed. And after a burst +of twenty shots or so from the other gun it likewise failed me! There +was no time to pull away for repairs! + +“Both my guns were useless. For an instant I considered the +advisability of withdrawing while I tried to free the jam. But the +opportunity was too good to lose. The pilots behind me would be thrown +into some confusion when I signaled them to carry on without me. And +moreover the enemy pilots would quickly discover my trouble and would +realize that the flight leader was out of the fight. I made up my mind +to go through with the fracas without guns and trust to luck to see the +finish. The next instant we were ahead of the quartet and were engaged +in a furious dog-fight. + +“Every man was for himself. The Huns were excellent pilots and seemed +to be experienced fighters. Time and again I darted into a good +position behind or below a tempting target, with the sole result of +compelling the Fritz to alter his course and get out of his position of +supposed danger. If he had known I was unarmed he would have had me at +his mercy. As it was I would no sooner get into a favorable position +behind him than he would double about and the next moment I found +myself compelled to look sharp to my own safety. + +“In this manner the whole revolving circus went tumbling across the +heavens—always dropping lower and steadily traveling deeper into the +German lines. Two of my pilots had abandoned the scrap and turned +homewards. Engines or guns had failed them. When at last we had fought +down to 3,000 feet and were some four miles behind their lines, I +observed two flights of enemy machines coming up from the rear to +their rescue. We had none of us secured a single victory—but neither +had the Huns. Personally I began to feel a great longing for home. I +dashed out ahead of the foremost Spad and frantically wigwagging him to +attention I turned my little ’bus towards our lines. With a feeling of +great relief I saw that all four were following me and that the enemy +reënforcements were not in any position to dispute our progress. + +“On the way homeward I struggled with my jammed guns—but to no result. +Despite every precaution these weapons will fail a pilot when most +needed. I had gone through with a nerve-racking scrap, piquing upon +deadly opponents with a harmless machine. My whole safety had depended +upon their not knowing it.” + + +AS SQUADRON COMMANDER + +The night of September 24th Rickenbacker received the order promoting +him to the command of the 94 Squadron, his pride and pleasure being +greater than he could find words to express. He had been with the +squadron since the first day at the front; but three of the original +members were left—Reed Chambers, Thorn Taylor, and himself. He took +counsel for himself that night and formulated rules for himself. He +would never ask a pilot to go on a mission he would not undertake +himself. He would lead by example as well as by precept. He would +accompany the new pilots to watch their errors and give them more +confidence by showing their dangers. He would work harder than ever +he did as a pilot. Full of enthusiasm to carry out his purpose he +started out the next morning on a lone, voluntary patrol and within +half an hour returned to the aerodrome with two more victories to his +credit—“the first double-header I had so far won.” He discovered a pair +of L. V. G. two-seater machines, above which was a formation of five +Fokkers. From a position well up in the sun Rickenbacker drove down at +the nearest Fokker and sent it crashing with the first volley. The Huns +were so surprised by the suddenness of the attack and the drop of one +of them that their only thought was of escape. Before they recovered +their wits and renewed their formation, one of the L. V. G. two-seaters +was shot down in flames, and quite content with his morning’s work +Rickenbacker put on gas and piqued for home. + +October 30th Rickenbacker won his 25th and 26th victories, the last +that were added to his score. But on November 9th Major Kirby, who had +just joined the 94 Squadron for a little air fighting experience, was +one of a party of four who flew off for a try at the retreating Huns, +and shot down an enemy plane across the Meuse. This was the last +plane shot down in the war. Rather exultingly, pardonably so, Captain +Rickenbacker says: + +“Our old 94 Squadron had won the first American victory over enemy +aeroplanes when Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell had dropped two +biplane machines on the Toul aerodrome. 94 Squadron had been first to +fly over the lines and had completed more hours flying at the front +than any other American organization. It had won more victories than +any other—and now, for the last word, it had the credit of bringing +down the last enemy aeroplane of the war!” + +And this word from Laurence Driggs: + +“After having visited some sixty-odd British flying squadrons at +the front, many of the French escadrilles and all of the American +squadrons, I was given the pleasure of entering Germany, after the +armistice was signed, as the guest of the Hat-in-the-Ring Squadron, of +which Captain Rickenbacker was and is the commanding officer. In no +other organization in France did I find so great a loyalty to a leader, +such true squadron fraternalism, such subordination of the individual +to the organization. In other words, the commander of 94 Squadron had +perfected the finest flying corps I have ever seen.” + + + + +THE GUNBOAT + +_By_ + +Dana Burnet + + + Out in the good, clean water where it’s blue and wide and deep, + The pride of Britain’s navy lies with thunders all asleep, + And the men they fling their British songs along the open sky, + But the little modest gunboat, she’s a-creepin’ in to die! + + The First Line’s swingin’ lazy on the purple outer ring, + The proudest ships that ever kept the honor of a King! + But nosin’ down the roadway past the bones of other wrecks + Goes the doughty little gunboat with her manhood on her decks! + + Oh, the First Line’s in the offing, with its shotted lightnings pent, + The proudest fleet that ever kept the King in his sacrament! + But down the death-sown harbor where a ship may find her grave, + The plucky little gunboat is a-sinkin’ ’neath the wave! + + Then sing your British chanteys to the ends of all the seas, + And fling your British banners to the Seven Oceans’ breeze— + But when you tell the gallant tale beneath the open sky + Give honor to the gunboat that was not too small to die! + + + + +CAPTAIN FRYATT’S MURDER + +A Court-Martial in Which Vengeful Malice Mocked Justice and the Rules +of Naval War In the Lust of Blood + + +Brutal blundering was a German characteristic throughout the war. +Indeed it has been declared more than once that her abandonment of +moral restraints and obligations, imposed by international codes +and the laws of humanity, is responsible for Germany’s overthrow. +Without entering into that question it is admitted that two of the +German blunders—both of which were subjects of diplomatic efforts at +prevention—which incensed the world and roused the United States from +its dream of neutrality were the murders of Edith Cavell and Capt. +Charles Fryatt. We have told the story of Miss Cavell; that of Capt. +Fryatt is no less a testimony to German turpitude if less revolting to +sentiment in that the first was a nurse, a ministering angel to the +sick and wounded (German soldiers included) whose offense was due to +her compassion for the helpless and hunted. + +Capt. Fryatt, an Englishman, was master of the Great Eastern Railway +Company’s steamer _Brussels_, a merchant vessel. June 23, 1916, the +_Brussels_ was captured by German warships. (The circumstances of the +capture are presented in the report of First Officer Hartwell, which +follows later.) The steamer, its officers and the crew were taken to +Zeebrugge and searched. On Capt. Fryatt was found a gold watch that had +been presented to him by the Mayor of Harwich at a public demonstration +in his honor, the inscription commemorating an incident of March +20, 1915, when Capt. Fryatt attempted to ram the German submarine +_U-33_, to avoid capture or destruction. After a brief imprisonment at +Zeebrugge he was transferred to Bruges, where, July 27th, he was tried +by court-martial, was condemned to be shot as a _franc-tireur_ and was +executed that same afternoon. + +June 28th the English Government first learned of the Germans’ +intention to try Fryatt by court-martial, and immediately undertook +to arrange for his proper defense. Sir Edward Grey telegraphed to the +American Ambassador at Berlin requesting his efforts in this behalf and +that he would convey to the German authorities the contention of the +English Government that “in committing the act impugned Capt. Fryatt +acted legitimately and in self-defense for the purpose of evading +capture or destruction, and that the act of a merchant ship in steering +for an enemy submarine and forcing her to dive is essentially defensive +and precisely on the same footing as the use by a defensively armed +vessel of her defensive armament in order to resist capture, which both +the United States and His Majesty’s Government hold to be the exercise +of an undoubted right.” + +In spite of possible influence and efforts, Ambassador Gerard’s +intervention was unavailing, and on July 27th, the very day of the +execution, he telegraphed to London that his efforts to secure a +postponement of the trial were futile because the German Government +insisted that “the German submarine witnesses could not be further +detained.” In other words, the men whose business it was to conduct a +sea campaign of lawlessness and “frightfulness” could not be delayed +from their destructive work by anything so paltry as a consideration of +justice and honor in the trial of a prisoner. + + +GERMAN EXULTATION + +Neither Sir Edward Grey and Ambassador Gerard, nor others interested +in securing a fair trial for the accused, imagined that his trial and +execution would be the hurried work of an afternoon, and there was +consternation when a Reuter despatch of July 28th gave the first news +of the shooting and made public the German _communiqué_ as follows: + + “The accused was condemned to death because although he was not a + member of a combatant force, he made an attempt on the afternoon + of March 20, 1915, to ram the German submarine _U-33_ near the + Maas Lighthouse. The accused as well as the first officer and the + chief engineer of the steamer received at the time from the British + Admiralty a gold watch as a reward of his brave conduct on that + occasion, and his action was mentioned with praise in the House of + Commons. + + “On the occasion in question, disregarding the U-boat’s signal to stop + and show his national flag, he turned at a critical moment at high + speed on the submarine, which escaped the steamer by a few meters only + by immediately diving. He confessed that in so doing he had acted in + accordance with instructions from the Admiralty. + + “One of the many nefarious _franc-tireur_ proceedings of the British + Merchant Marine against our war vessels has thus found a belated but + merited expiation.” + +This report aroused intense indignation in England, and hardly less +resentful feelings in neutral countries, especially in the United +States, whose Ambassador in Berlin was the intermediary of the English +protest against the basis of the court-martial. At once the British +Foreign Office addressed a note to Ambassador Page in London in which +was the statement: + +“His Majesty’s Government finds it difficult to believe that a master +of a merchant ship who, after German submarines adopted the practice +of sinking merchant vessels without warning and without regard to the +lives of passengers or crew, took the only means at his disposal of +saving not only the vessel but the lives of all on board can have been +deliberately shot in cold blood for that action”; and the request was +made that urgent inquiry be made by the United States Embassy at Berlin. + +The inquiry made it only too clear that the report was authoritative. +Premier Asquith, in the House of Commons, July 31st, said: “I deeply +regret that it appears to be true that Captain Fryatt has been +murdered by the Germans.” That he was not speaking extravagantly in +using the word “murdered” is evidenced by the fact that naval and +military experts, including those of Holland, strongly suspected of +more than a casual sympathy with the Germans, concurred in denouncing +the execution as a “judicial murder,” and insisting that Fryatt was +entitled to be regarded as a prisoner of war. In the subsequent +review of the case it was demonstrated conclusively by many citations +from German legal and military naval sources in declarations and +regulations made in 1914 and earlier that “Capt. Fryatt was well +within his rights in attempting to ram a hostile marine.” Had he sent +the submarine with her crew to the bottom by shell fire in avoiding +capture or destruction, he would have been held as a prisoner of war +if subsequently captured, but because he used the only weapon at +his command to escape the enemy vessel itself, “he was condemned to +execution by a court of German naval officers as a _franc-tireur_.” + +August 15th, in the House of Commons, Premier Asquith declared: “This +country will not tolerate a resumption of diplomatic relations with +Germany after the war until reparation is made for the murder of Capt. +Fryatt.” + + +THE FIRST OFFICER’S REPORT + +The first officer of the _Brussels_, referred to in the German +_communiqué_ quoted, was William Hartwell. He was interned in Holland +and from there sent the following report to Mr. C. Busk, one of the +officials of the Great Eastern Railway. It gives all the particulars +known of the arrest and execution of Capt. Fryatt: + + “Sir: This being the first opportunity since the capture of the + _Brussels_ in 1916, I will endeavor to give you details of the capture + and happenings up to July 27th, this being the date of Capt. Fryatt’s + death. I beg to report that on June 22d the steamship _Brussels_ + left Rotterdam with cargo and passengers for Tilbury, stopping at + the Hook of Holland. She left the Hook Quay at 11 p. m. on that day, + the weather being very fine and clear. All saloon and cabin lights + were extinguished before passing the North Pier Light. Directly after + passing it, a very bright light was shown from the beach, about four + miles north of the Hook, followed by a bright star, such as a rocket + would throw. After a lapse of ten minutes this was repeated. On both + occasions Capt. Fryatt and myself remarked upon it, as we had never + seen similar lights on any previous occasions. After passing the Maas + Light Vessel, all Board of Trade Regulation Lights were darkened. + Five miles west of the light vessel a very small craft, probably + a submarine not submerged, commenced Morseing the letter ‘S’ at + intervals. No other lights were visible. + + “After running for one hour and thirty minutes, an extra sharp + lookout was kept for a steamer that was going in the same direction + and without lights, the port and starboard lights of the _Brussels_ + being put on for the time being. At 12:46 craft without lights were + seen at a point on the starboard bow, traveling at a great speed in + the opposite direction. These proved to be German destroyers of the + latest type, five in all. Two came alongside on the starboard side, + and one on the port side, the other two following close behind. + During the time the destroyers were approaching their commanders were + shouting orders to stop, asking the name of the ship, and threatening + to fire on us. No firing occurred, however. As soon as Capt. Fryatt + was assured that the destroyers were German, he gave orders for all + passengers to be ready to take to the boats if necessary, and quietly + instructed me to destroy all dispatches and official papers. His + instructions were carried out, and as the last bag was destroyed + German seamen, armed with pistols and bombs, appeared on the starboard + alleyway. I passed through the saloon to the deck and met more German + seamen, who were driving all the crew they could find over the rail on + to the destroyers. I was ordered over the rail, but refused to go, and + then met the officer who came on board to take charge. He requested me + to show him to the bridge, which I did. He greeted Capt. Fryatt, and + congratulated himself over the great prize. + + + GERMAN INTELLIGENCE + + “Satisfied that all was well, the destroyers left and made for + Zeebrugge. The course was given for the Schouwenbank light vessel, + and the order was given for full speed ahead, but no reply came from + the engine room, as the engineers had been driven over the side with + the majority of the crew. This greatly excited the German officer, + who drew his revolver and threatened to shoot Capt. Fryatt and myself + if we failed to assist him, and to blow up the ship if the orders to + the engine room were not complied with at once. It was some minutes + before the German officer could be convinced that the engineers and + most of the crew were on the destroyers. He then ordered his own men + to the engine room, and instead of going full speed ahead, the engines + were put on full speed astern. This also angered the officer, and + matters became very unpleasant on the bridge. I was ordered to go to + the engine room to inform the Germans of their mistake. By this time + the steam was greatly falling back, owing to the stokers being away, + and the order was given that all on board, except Capt. Fryatt and + myself, should maintain steam till the ship arrived at Zeebrugge. On + reaching the Schouwenbank light vessel the German flag was hoisted, + and directly after the Flushing mail boat for Tilbury passed quite + close. + + [Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + + Naval Honors for Captain Fryatt + + The body received from Belgium is being escorted in lengthy procession + through the streets of Dover.] + + “Capt. Fryatt was assured that soon after her arrival at Tilbury the + capture of the _Brussels_ would be reported. The _Brussels_ was met + and escorted by several airplanes to Zeebrugge, where the destroyers + were already moored. On arrival at Zeebrugge the _Brussels_ was moored + alongside the Mole. The engineers and crew all returned. The crew were + sent to their quarters and kept under armed guard. The officers and + engineers were placed under a guard in the smokeroom, and Captain the + same in his room. The Belgian refugees were closely searched, and + landed at Zeebrugge. After a stay of about five hours the _Brussels_ + left and proceeded to Bruges under her own steam. + + [Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + + Memorial Service to Captain Fryatt at St. Paul’s, London] + + “For some reason Capt. Fryatt was kept in his cabin, and I was sent + to the bridge, not to assist or officiate in any way, but simply to + stand under guard and to be questioned at intervals by the Germans if + they could get the right answers. During the passage from Zeebrugge + to Bruges both sides of the canal were thronged in places, and both + the soldiers and the marine Landsturm were greatly excited. On + reaching Bruges the crew were taken off and sent to a waiting shed. + Only Capt. Fryatt and myself, with many German officers, remained on + board. After we had been questioned at lunch Capt. Fryatt and I were + photographed, and we then joined the crew in the shed, being afterward + taken to a building in the town. All of us, including stewardesses and + twenty-five Russians, were packed in, leaving scarcely standing room. + + + SHIPPED LIKE CATTLE + + “After some hours, following a request to the prison commandant, + the stewardesses were allowed separate quarters in the top of the + building. Otherwise they were treated in the same way as male + prisoners until they were separated to go to a different camp. At 3 + a. m., on June 25th, orders came for all to be ready for the train to + Germany, the stewardesses joining us at the station. At 5 a. m. we all + left, closely packed, in cattle trucks, and on arrival at Ghent we + were escorted to very dirty and unhealthful quarters underground. At + 5 a. m. on the following day we left Ghent for Germany, via Cologne, + where the stewardesses and Russians were separated to go to other + camps. After being exhibited at Berlin, as at Hanover and other + stations, the rest went to Ruhleben, where they arrived at 5 p. m., + June 28th. Two days later Capt. Fryatt and I received orders to the + effect that we were to be prepared to leave the camp at 8 p. m. for + Bruges on ship’s business. + + “We arrived at Bruges at 7 a. m., on July 2d, after visiting Ostend + by mistake on the part of the escort. We reported to the port + commandant at 9 a. m., and were taken from him to the town prison and + put in cells. From then onward we were treated as criminals. We were + occasionally visited by German officials and questioned as to the + submarine and other subjects, on which Capt. Fryatt made a clear and + open statement to the Germans, with nothing condemning to himself. + From the time of being placed in the prison at Bruges to July 15th I + saw Capt. Fryatt and spoke to him on several occasions, after which I + never spoke to him until one hour before he was shot. + + “I will endeavor to make you understand the so-called tribunal or + trial. On July 24th Capt. Fryatt and myself were questioned and + cross-questioned in the prison, and, so far as I could learn, Capt. + Fryatt never added to or departed from his opening statement. It was + then that we were first informed of the tribunal that was to follow. + On July 26th we were told to be ready for the tribunal, which was to + take place at Bruges Town Hall on the 27th at 11 a. m. On July 27th at + 9 a. m. the door of the cell was opened, and an escort was waiting. To + my surprise, four of the crew were in the waiting cell. Each man was + escorted to the Town Hall, Capt. Fryatt and I being the last to go, + and placed under a strong guard until the trial began. + + “At 12 noon Capt. Fryatt was called into his place before the + so-called bench, and repeated his previous statement. I followed and + answered questions that appeared to be ridiculous, not appearing + either to defend or condemn Capt. Fryatt. At the same time an officer + in uniform appeared, and, approaching Capt. Fryatt and myself, + informed us in broken English that he was for the defense. The + Naval Commandant of the port conducted the trial, and also acted as + interpreter. At 4 p. m. the Naval Commandant informed us that all was + over so far, and that the decision, resting with the naval officers, + would be made known to us in our cells. + + + SIXTEEN BULLETS + + “After being again placed in the cells, the chief warder of the prison + came to me at 5:30 p. m. and told me I was to go and stop with Capt. + Fryatt, as that was his last night. I then met Capt. Fryatt, who was + very much distressed, not so much because of the verdict, but of the + unfair and cowardly manner in which everything was done. He told me + himself that he was to be shot on the next morning, and after having + a talk for about an hour—it was then 6:30 p. m.—the prison official + took his watch from his pocket and said that in a short time the + escort would be there, and Capt. Fryatt would be shot at 7 p. m. The + last twenty-five minutes I spent with him were appalling. At 6:55 + p. m. I wished him good-bye, and promised I would deliver his last + messages, which were many, and returned to my cell. + + “Punctually at 7 p. m., a very short distance from the prison walls, + a band commenced to play, and poor Fryatt was no more. Late the same + evening an official came to my cell and described to me, in the best + way he could, how Fryatt died. He was shot by sixteen rifles, the + bullets of which penetrated through his heart, carrying with them the + clothes he was wearing through the body and out at the back. + + “Sir, I was and am still proud of Capt. Fryatt’s manly conduct right + up to the last, and I may add that there was not a German present at + the trial who could face him.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Captain Fryatt’s Grave] + +The Germans made a long official statement in an impotent attempt to +justify this vengeful murder. + +[Illustration: + + © _D. Davison._ + +The _Deutschland_ Arriving at Baltimore + +The _Deutschland’s_ maiden trip was a trans-Atlantic voyage from +Bremen. Its cargo was worth over two hundred thousand dollars in +dyestuffs and medicines of German manufacture.] + + + + +JULES VERNE VINDICATED + +How Capt. Paul Koenig of the _Deutschland_ Turned Incredible Fiction +Into Practical Reality + + +There was a very positive thrill throughout the world when the +startling report was published that a German submarine had crossed the +Atlantic and, on July 10, 1915, entered an American port. It had not +been believed possible at that time for a submarine to make so great +and perilous a voyage, and the first news of the unique achievement was +somewhat sceptically received. But when there was no remaining doubt +that the _Deutschland_, dodging and evading British hostile craft, had +actually voyaged from Bremen to Baltimore, Capt. Paul Koenig, commander +of the U-boat, was prominently head-lined in the press. + +This historic event was interesting not only as something new and +wonderful in marine annals, but there was a graver interest in the +demonstration of the fact that distance from the base of operations +was no sure protection from submarine warfare. No little alarm was +manifested in the United States for a time. But this subsided, and the +romantic side of the exploit appealed to the dullest imagination. + +When Capt. Koenig returned to Germany he wrote his experiences in book +form, parts of which have been translated into several languages. No +more absorbing story than Koenig’s own could easily be written, and +from an American version of it the following excerpts were made. + +After leaving port the _Deutschland_ traveled submerged until they +were far out in the North Sea on their westerly course. It was about +two o’clock in the morning. Capt. Koenig thought it safe to rise to +the surface and gave orders for the emptying of the tanks. But as the +boat approached the surface it began to toss and plunge in a way that +gave warning of a storm above. The nearer the surface the wilder the +antics of the boat, which occasionally indulged in regular leaps. The +emptying of the tanks went calmly on nevertheless, Capt. Koenig being +of the order of men not to be moved from a purpose by so inconsiderable +a thing as an ill-mannered sea. They got to the surface without too +much disorder. Then says Capt. Koenig: + +“I was just about to give orders to put on the oil-engines—when—what +was that? That dark stripe over there—wasn’t that a smoke-flag? +_Donnerwetter!_ It’s a destroyer! + +“With one leap I am back in the turret and have closed the tower-hatch. +‘Alarm—submerge quickly—depth rudder—go to twenty meters.’ + +“The whole boat trembles and shakes under the increased pressure and +makes a couple of real jumps; it literally reels in the wild sea. Will +it not go down pretty soon? With a sudden jerk the _Deutschland_ darts +below the surface and now, bending her bow lower and lower, rapidly +descends into the depths. The light of the just dawning day disappears +from the turret windows, the manometer shows in quick succession, two, +three, six, ten meters. But the bow drops lower and lower. + +“The boat had bent forward in an angle of 36 degrees and stood on its +head, as it were. Its bow rested on the sea’s bottom and its stern +was violently swinging back and forth. The manometer showed a depth +of about fifteen meters. I quickly realized our situation. It was +something less than comfortable. + +“We were revealing our position by a peculiar buoy, and we expected +momentarily to hear the crashing blow of a shell in the stern. But +everything remained quiet. The screws could no longer betray us. Also +it probably was still too dark up there, and the destroyer perhaps had +enough of its own troubles in the wild sea. + +“There must have been a combination of several causes. Aside from the +fact that only in the most extraordinary and rare cases is it possible +for a big boat to submerge against a high sea, it is conceivable that +in the haste which was forced upon us by the destroyer the tanks were +not completely emptied of air. + +“But, above all, I recall that my first thought was the cargo. ‘Is the +cargo safely stored? Can it lose its equilibrium?’ Curious as it may +sound in retrospect, that is what I instinctively thought of. A ‘big +steamer’ captain doesn’t easily get rid of his second nature, even on a +U-boat. + + +A WASH, A FEAST AND A NIGHT’S REST ON THE OCEAN BOTTOM + +“We have submerged and placed ourselves on the bottom. We are in no +hurry. Why should we not for once give ourselves a little rest? Our +resting-place was rather deep, but therefore safer and calmer. + +“This night on the bottom of the sea was truly a recreation for us all. +One could for once take a good wash and go to bed in peace, without +fearing to be frightened at the next moment with a ‘Hey-a’ in the +speaking-tube. + +“But before resting we had a regular banquet. Both the phonographs were +playing and the glasses were raised, filled with French champagne. + +“Our good Stücke, who was our steward, kitchen boy, and maid of all +work, at the same time served us in such a dignified manner as if he +were still a steward in the dining-room of the _Kronprinzessin Cecile_, +as if he had never been in French captivity for nearly a whole year, in +order to develop his ability in our company at the bottom of the sea. + +“Again we come to the surface the next morning. The pump is working +with a hissing noise as we climb upward. On the twenty-meter depth the +boat loses its stability. + +“First, we can see it on the manometer, then it is noticed on the depth +rudder, which becomes more difficult to handle. And as the boat at +times moves in unexpected jumps we realize there must be a considerable +sea above. + + +RISING TO THE SURFACE + +“I now carefully rise to the periscope depth and proceed for a time +in this position and am looking around. Nothing can be seen except a +stormy army of white wave-crests. This weather suits me exactly, as we +need not be on our guard so very closely. + +“I decided therefore to rise to the surface. But before this is done +the boat must be placed across the wind, as the long heavy hull would +not otherwise be able to climb out of the water. + +“At slow speed, we place the _Deutschland_ right across the seas. The +boat rolls fearfully. It feels just as if the soul would shake out of +its body, and now it obeys the deep rudder and its nose rises slowly +out of the water. + +“When we are completely out of the water the ship makes the alarming +motions of a pendulum all around the compass. Then comes the unpleasant +moment when we have to turn the ship slowly into its course. + +“Protected by the thick conning tower windows, which the heavy seas are +continually washing over and streaming down, with arms and legs ready +to withstand the sharp twistings of our craft, I keep watch on all +sides.” + +They were getting out of the North Sea into the Atlantic currents, in +an increasing storm. The boat plunged and tossed sickeningly and the +navigation was hard work. Finally they were free of the turbulent sea +and rode into the ocean proper and its less angry motion. + + +OUT INTO THE BROAD ATLANTIC + +“The reception of the Atlantic can not be called cordial. We +undoubtedly had got accustomed to much during the past days, but I +decide as far as possible to save my men’s nerves so that they will be +able to withstand that which was about to come. I therefore selected +the southerly course, hoping to get better weather, but I was not +entirely successful. The seas continually sweep over the boat from stem +to stern, because it is too heavy to be lifted out of them as other +steamers are. + +“It certainly was not pleasant in the conning-tower, but it was a +thousand times better than below deck, where the crew, because of the +unbroken rolling of the ship, began to suffer on account of seasickness +in the close and stagnant air. Many an old sailor offered himself on +the altar of Neptune for the first time. + +“On the third day the storm begins to abate, the sea becomes calmer, +and we can open all the hatches in order to get air and dry out. All +who were off duty came up to stretch themselves on the deck in the +sunshine and pull themselves together again after their confinement and +suffering during the rough weather, which certainly was necessary. With +pale faces, worn out by sleepless nights, they came out of the hatches, +but hardly had they reached the fresh air and had felt the beautiful +sea-wind blowing on their cheeks refreshingly before the dear cigars or +pipes were produced.” + +Following days were fair for a time and the boat rode the surface. It +was the daily practice on fair days to put the _Deutschland_ through +her diving exercises so important to efficiency in a sudden emergency. +A very considerable part of the westward trip was made on the surface, +though storms and the prospect of unfriendly encounters often enough +sent them below. + + +A DUMMY SMOKE-STACK + +“During the calm days we had prepared a clever disguise which would +change us from a submarine to a regular steamer. Out of sail-cloth we +had made a smoke-stack which, with steel rings, we could fasten to +the periscope and raise it up. To cover the conning-tower we had a +dressing of sail-cloth so that it would look like the deck-house on a +small freight-steamer. In this way we made ready for any possibility +and directed our course through the beautiful sunshine until one +evening at half-past seven a steamer appeared ahead of us on the port +bow. We knew at once that he would pass close if we continued on our +course. We changed it a little, swinging off a few points in order to +test our disguise. + +“The smoke-stack is hoisted on the periscope and bellies out in the +wind. In order to make it more real we build a fire in the lower +opening, using cotton soaked in oil for fuel. At the same moment +the conning-tower disappears under the cover, which trembles in the +breeze. The oily cotton loses its honor and only stinks. There is no +smoke coming from it. Every one is standing blowing with cheeks puffed +out until our ‘tradelose,’ a foxy Berliner, fetches an air-pump and +gets a big flame in our fake stoke-hole. With one hurrah his trick is +rewarded; above the smoke-stack’s upper opening we could see a slender +stream of smoke only to diminish to nothing in the next minute. We +roar with laughter and again make ready to proceed with our dummy +smoke-stack minus smoke. + +[Illustration: + + © _International Film Service._ + +The _Deutschland_ Arriving at Bremen, Having Returned from a +Trans-Atlantic Voyage] + +“When our boatswain, Humke, comes with a jar filled with tar, the +air-pump again starts to work, and at last big clouds of smoke pour +out of the funnel. The effect was great. The steamer, which was at a +distance, suddenly changes its course and comes straight for us. + +“This we had never expected. I therefore order the mast taken down +and make ready for diving. Our canvas covering disappears from the +conning-tower and with a deep bow the smoke-stack comes down. + +“As soon as the steamer sees this change in our make-up, fear fills his +heart. He changes his course and flees, throwing thick, black clouds of +smoke which we admire not without a feeling of jealousy. + +“Without hindrance we again hoist our funnel. The masts are raised. And +while our steamer speeds away in her wild flight we laugh so the tears +run down our cheeks. + +“Our fine disguise which was intended to let us pass unnoticed had +instead attracted the steamer’s attention to us. He undoubtedly took +us for a wreck or a ship in distress and came toward us with the kind +intentions to save us. When he could suddenly see himself the target +for the devilish cunning of a foxy U-boat he fled precipitately. + +“What did the people of the steamer think when they recovered from +their scare? Maybe they felt proud to have been able to escape from +the heartless ‘pirate.’ And we, who would have been so proud if our +disguise had worked a little better, were preparing to sink below the +surface to avoid him. + +“Well, we thought, ‘better luck next time,’ and we improved our +invention with the result that two days later, while throwing off solid +clouds of smoke, we passed by a steamer which we met without causing +the least suspicion.” + +And so without mishap or misadventure the _Deutschland_ fared to her +destination, tarried some while in the American port where officers +and men were discreetly entertained, the United States being a neutral +country then. Suddenly, mysteriously she put to sea again. Many were +the rumors of disaster to her—for the return trip was long and beset +with peril from paroling and watchful destroyers eager to catch sight +of her; but in due course and in triumphant contradiction of reports of +her destruction the first authentic news was of her safe return to the +home harbor. + + + + +WEDDIGEN’S WONDER FEAT + +The Dramatic Sinking of Three British Cruisers by U-boat in the Early +Days of the War + + +Early on the morning of September 22, 1914, three 12,000-ton armored +cruisers of the British Navy—the _Aboukir_, the _Cressy_, and the +_Hogue_—were torpedoed in the North Sea and sunk by a German submarine, +with a loss of 1,433 men. The news startled the whole world. It was +as if three Goliaths, imposing, formidable, on parade in panoply, +challenging the stoutest, had succumbed impotently to the assault of +the diminutive David—for it was a solitary submarine that sank the +naval giants in less than an hour. So adroit, rapid and precise had +been the maneuvers of the submarine that the officers of the attacked +warships were of the belief that there were several of the invisible +devil-boats, and that the guns of the _Cressy_ sank one of them. Nor +did they become the wiser until Captain Lieutenant Otto Weddigen, +commander of _U-9_, made report of his exploit on his return to +Wilhelmshaven, whence he had set forth for the enterprise. Conditions, +be it said, were entirely favorable to him, for the sea was calm, and +the weather clear. The three cruisers, unsuspicious, were steaming +along in close formation, patrolling the silent sea, and they gave him +a famous victory—the destruction of the first warships by the U-boat. + +There follow three separate accounts of the event as related by three +different sources, the first being that of an officer of the _Cressy_, +published in the _Manchester Guardian_. + +[Illustration: + + © _Press Photo Syndicate._ + +Crew Quarters Aboard a German Submarine + +The vast machinery leaves but little room for the crew. They enjoy none +of the conveniences found on vessels that ply above water.] + + +EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT BY AN OFFICER OF THE _Cressy_ + +“I was awakened about 6:15 by the increase of our speed, and, thinking +it was nothing more than just a slight spurt to take up our day patrol +position, I lay quiet. However, about ten minutes later I felt the +engines going full speed astern, so, guessing at once that something +out of the ordinary was happening, I sat up, and, opening my scuttle, +looked out. Conceive the jump I gave when I saw the _Aboukir_, about +half a mile away, heeling over to port so that the starboard copper +plates were plainly visible glistening red in the sun. I could also see +considerable commotion on board her, and one of her starboard sea boats +was lowered half-way, but seemed to have stuck there. + +“While I watched she seemed to heel over still more, so I leapt from my +bunk, and, running into the next cabin, I found —— jumping out of his +bunk, and together we ran up on to the quarterdeck. From there we could +see that in the short time we had taken getting up on deck she turned +over much more, and was down by the head, and while we watched we could +see the sun shining on pink, naked men walking down her sides inch by +inch as she heeled over, some standing, others sitting down and sliding +into the water, which was soon dotted with heads. All this time we were +hard at it lowering boats. + +“Both the sea-boats had gone, manned by nucleus crews, and Lieutenant +——’s voice could be heard as he directed the hands working the main +derrick, which was hoisting up the launch—a boat capable of holding +two or three hundred men. Other men under the direction of another +lieutenant were busily throwing overboard every bit of wood that they +could find for the swimming men to clutch—an act which materially aided +in our escape afterward. I then ran along to the sick-bay and ordered +the stewards to get hot blankets and coffee ready, and went below to +get into some clothes. + + +“THE SHIP LIFTED, QUIVERING ALL OVER” + +“I had only been in my cabin about a minute when there was a terrific +crash, and the ship lifted up, quivering all over. A second or two +later another and duller crash, and a great cloud of smoke, followed by +a torrent of water, came pouring in through my open scuttle. The noise +for a second or two was deafening; everything seemed to be breaking, +and somewhere or other I could hear dishes and glass being crashed to +pieces on the deck, and, in addition, all the lights in the ship went +out. I ran out of my cabin and along to the first ladder, the aft deck +being in darkness and full of smoke; conceive my dismay when I found +that it had fallen down.” + +However, he found another ladder, farther on. On the deck was worse +confusion than before. There was nothing left to do but make escape in +the shortest possible order. He climbed down into the sea. + +“The first piece I clung to had sharp edges which hurt, so I left +that and swam to a table floating near. Then another man came up and +climbed on to my table, so I left it to him and struck out for a large +spar which I caught sight of some little distance off. This afforded a +very comfortable hold, and I lay over it, kicking gently with my legs +to keep them warm, and I looked about me. Both the _Aboukir_ and the +_Hogue_ had gone, and the _Cressy_ was in front of me, about a quarter +of a mile away. Then she began to fire her guns, and, hearing the +shells going over my head, I looked behind, and there, about 300 yards +off, I saw the periscope of a submarine. + +“For some time the firing continued, several of the shells bursting +most unpleasantly near, and then the men on the _Cressy_ started +cheering, and I heard after that they were unanimously of the +opinion—true or not, I don’t know—that they had sunk one of the +submarines. However, the firing continued for some time, till there was +a sudden explosion, and a great column of smoke, black as ink, flew +up as high as the _Cressy’s_ funnels, while she heeled over about ten +degrees. Nothing much further seemed to happen, however, and, looking +about me, I caught sight of —— hanging on to a large fender of twigs, +which kept revolving and ducking him under, so, calling to him, I +started to push my spar toward him till I got near enough, and then, +giving it a vigorous shove, pushed it alongside him and swam after it. + +“The two of us clung to that for some time, till the sound of an +explosion made us look round to see the spray and smoke disappearing, +and as we watched another torpedo struck, and the _Cressy_ heeled right +over and almost entirely disappeared in a very short space of time, the +last few feet of ‘island,’ however, taking a very long time to go. Soon +after this I realized the wonderful fact that as the _Hogue_ sank she +must have righted herself, for the picket boat and steam pinnace had in +some miraculous way floated clear quite undamaged, though half full of +water, and were now about one hundred yards from us. Turning the spar +so that it lay pointing toward the boats, and slipping the fingers of +my left hand into a notch that seemed made for the purpose, I turned on +my side and started to tow the spar toward the boats. + +“These were soon reached, and we found that some four or five people +had already boarded them. With their help we scrambled on board, having +been in the water about an hour and a quarter. After this there is not +much to tell. The _Flora_ hove in sight when we had been in the boat +about an hour, followed by the _Titan_, and in an hour more we naked, +shivering mortals were all taken off to the former.” + + +THE OFFICIAL REPORT + +In the official report to the Admiralty made by Commander Bertram W. L. +Nicholson we find the expression of the belief that there were several +submarines, and that one was sunk. The report is quoted: + +“The _Aboukir_ was struck at about 6.25 a.m. on the starboard beam. The +_Hogue_ and _Cressy_ closed and took up a position, the _Hogue_ ahead +of the _Aboukir_, and the _Cressy_ about 400 yards on her port beam. As +soon as it was seen that the _Aboukir_ was in danger of sinking all the +boats were sent away from the _Cressy_, and a picket boat was hoisted +out without steam up. When cutters full of the _Aboukir’s_ men were +returning to the _Cressy_, the _Hogue_ was struck, apparently under the +aft 9.2 magazine, as a very heavy explosion took place immediately. +Almost directly after the _Hogue_ was hit we observed a periscope on +our port bow about 300 yards off. + +“Fire was immediately opened and the engines were put full speed ahead +with the intention of running her down. Our gunner, Mr. Dougherty, +positively asserts that he hit the periscope and that the submarine +sank. An officer who was standing alongside the gunner thinks that the +shell struck only floating timber, of which there was much about, but +it was evidently the impression of the men on deck, who cheered and +clapped heartily, that the submarine had been hit. This particular +submarine did not fire a torpedo at the _Cressy_. + +“Captain Johnson then maneuvered the ship so as to render assistance +to the crews of the _Hogue_ and _Aboukir_. About five minutes later +another periscope was seen on our starboard quarter and fire was +opened. The track of the torpedo she fired at a range of 500 to 600 +yards was plainly visible and it struck us on the starboard side just +before the after-bridge. + +“The ship listed about 10 degrees to the starboard and remained steady. +The time was 7.15 a.m. All the watertight doors, deadlights and +scuttles had been securely closed before the torpedo struck the ship. +All the mess stools and table shores, and all available timber below +and on deck had been previously got up and thrown over side for the +saving of life. + +“A second torpedo fired by the same submarine missed and passed about +10 feet astern. About a quarter of an hour after the first torpedo had +hit a third torpedo fired from a submarine just before the starboard +beam hit us under the No. 5 boiler room. The time was 7.30 a.m. The +ship then began to heel rapidly, and finally turned keel up, remaining +so for about twenty minutes before she finally sank, at 7.55 a.m. + +“A large number of men were saved by casting adrift on Pattern 3 +target. The steam pinnace floated off her clutches, but filled and sank. + +“The second torpedo which struck the _Cressy_ passed over the sinking +hull of the _Aboukir_, narrowly missing it. It is possible that the +same submarine fired all three torpedoes at the _Cressy_. + +“The conduct of the crew was excellent throughout. I have already +remarked on the bravery displayed by Captain Phillips, master of the +trawler _L. T. Coriander_, and his crew, who picked up 156 officers and +men.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Press Photo Syndicate._ + +The Daily Wash Aboard a German Torpedo Boat + +Germany’s torpedo boats were outclassed by her U-boats. In the battle +of Jutland the world first heard of the torpedo boats’ extensive use.] + + +CAPT. WEDDIGEN’S OWN STORY + +And here is the story of the daring enterprise, one of the most +extraordinary of naval exploits, told by Captain Lieutenant Otto +Weddigen, Commander of _U-9_. He was 32 years old at the time, and for +the five years preceding had been attached to the submarine flotilla. +He was married but twenty-four hours to his boyhood sweetheart, a Miss +Prete of Hamburg, before he set out on the adventure that offered more +than an even chance of making the bride a widow. Besides himself there +were twenty-five men in the _U-9_ and they were a picked crew. + +Weddigen’s own story of the cruise, first published in the United +States by the New York _World_, was in part as follows: + +“I set out from a North Sea port on one of the arms of the Kiel Canal +and set my course in a southwesterly direction. The name of the port I +cannot state officially, but it has been guessed at; nor am I permitted +to say definitely just when we started, but it was not many days before +the morning of Sept. 22, when I fell in with my quarry. + +“When I started from home the fact was kept quiet and a heavy sea +helped to keep the secret, but when the action began the sun was bright +and the water smooth. + +“I had sighted several ships during my passage, but they were not what +I was seeking. English torpedo boats came within, my reach, but I felt +there was bigger game further on, so on I went. I traveled on the +surface except when we sighted vessels, and then I submerged, not even +showing my periscope, except when it was necessary to take bearings. It +was ten minutes after 6 on the morning of Tuesday when I caught sight +of one of the big cruisers of the enemy. + +“I was then eighteen sea miles northwest of the Hook of Holland. I had +then traveled considerably more than 200 miles from my base. My boat +was one of an old type, but she had been built on honor, and she was +behaving beautifully. I had been going ahead partly submerged, with +about five feet of my periscope showing. Almost immediately I caught +sight of the first cruiser and two others. I submerged completely and +laid my course so as to bring up in the center of the trio, which held +a sort of triangular formation. I could see their gray-black sides +riding high over the water. + +“When I first sighted them they were near enough for torpedo work, +but I wanted to make my aim sure, so I went down and in on them. I +had taken the position of the three ships before submerging, and I +succeeded in getting another flash through my periscope before I began +action. I soon reached what I regarded as a good shooting point.” + +[The officer was not permitted to give this distance, but it is +understood to have been considerably less than a mile, although the +German torpedoes had an effective range of four miles.] + + +THE SHOT WENT STRAIGHT AND TRUE + +“Then I loosed one of my torpedoes at the middle ship. I was then +about twelve feet under water, and got the shot off in good shape, my +men handling the boat as if she had been a skiff. I climbed to the +surface to get a sight through my tube of the effect, and discovered +that the shot had gone straight and true, striking the ship, which I +later learned was the _Aboukir_, under one of her magazines, which in +exploding helped the torpedo’s work of destruction. + +“There was a fountain of water, a burst of smoke, a flash of fires +and part of the cruiser rose in the air. Then I heard a roar and felt +reverberations sent through the water by the detonation. She had +been broken apart, and sank in a few minutes. The _Aboukir_ had been +stricken in a vital spot and by an unseen force; that made the blow all +the greater. + +“Her crew were brave, and even with death staring them in the face kept +to their posts, ready to handle their useless guns, for I submerged at +once. But I had stayed on top long enough to see the other cruisers, +which I learned were the _Cressy_ and the _Hogue_, turn and steam full +speed to their dying sister, whose plight they could not understand, +unless it had been due to an accident. + +“The ships came on a mission of inquiry and rescue, for many of the +_Aboukir’s_ crew were now in the water, the order having been given, +‘Each man for himself.’ + +“But soon the other two English cruisers learned what had brought about +the destruction so suddenly. + +“As I reached my torpedo depth I sent a second charge at the nearest of +the oncoming vessels, which was the _Hogue_. The English were playing +my game, for I had scarcely to move out of my position, which was a +great aid, since it helped to keep me from being detected. + +“The attack on the _Hogue_ went true. But this time I did not have the +advantageous aid of having the torpedo detonate under the magazine, so +for twenty minutes the _Hogue_ lay wounded and helpless on the surface +before she heaved, half turned over and sank. + +“But this time, the third cruiser knew that the enemy was upon her and +she sought as best she could to defend herself. She loosed her torpedo +defense batteries on boats, starboard and port, and stood her ground as +if more anxious to help the many sailors who were in the water than to +save herself. In common with the method of defending herself against +a submarine attack, she steamed in a zigzag course, and this made it +necessary for me to hold my torpedoes until I could lay a true course +for them, which also made it necessary for me to get nearer to the +_Cressy_. I had come to the surface for a view, and saw how wildly the +fire was being sent from the ship. Small wonder that was when they did +not know where to shoot, although one shot went unpleasantly near us. + + +THE CRESSY TURNS TURTLE + +“When I got within suitable range, I sent away my third attack. This +time I sent a second torpedo after the first to make the strike doubly +certain. My crew were aiming like sharpshooters and both torpedoes +went to their bullseye. My luck was with me again, for the enemy was +made useless and at once began sinking by her head. Then she careened +far over, but all the while her men stayed at the guns looking for +their invisible foe. They were brave and true to their country’s +sea traditions. Then she eventually suffered a boiler explosion and +completely turned turtle. With her keel uppermost, she floated until +the air got out from under her and then she sank with a loud sound, as +if from a creature in pain. + +“The whole affair had taken less than one hour from the time of +shooting off the first torpedo until the _Cressy_ went to the bottom. +Not one of the three had been able to use any of its big guns. I knew +the wireless of the three cruisers had been calling for aid. I was +still quite able to defend myself, but I knew that news of the disaster +would call many English submarines and torpedo-boat destroyers, so, +having done my appointed work, I set my course for home. + +“My surmise was right, for before I got very far some British cruisers +and destroyers were on the spot, and the destroyers took up the chase. +I kept under water most of the way, but managed to get off a wireless +to the German fleet that I was heading homeward and being pursued. I +hoped to entice the enemy, by allowing them now and then a glimpse +of me, into the zone in which they might be exposed to capture or +destruction by German warships; but, although their destroyers saw me +plainly at dusk on the 22nd, and made a final effort to stop me, they +abandoned the attempt, as it was taking them too far from safety, and +needlessly exposing them to attack from our fleet and submarines. + +“How much they feared our submarines and how wide was the agitation +caused by my good little _U-9_ is shown by the English reports that a +whole flotilla of German submarines had attacked the cruisers, and that +this flotilla had approached under cover of the flag of Holland. + +“These reports were absolutely untrue. + +“I reached the home port on the afternoon of the 23rd and on the +24th went to Wilhelmshaven to find the news of my effort had become +public. My wife, dry-eyed when I went away, met me with tears. Then I +learned that my little vessel and her brave crew had won the plaudits +of the Kaiser, who had conferred upon my co-workers the Iron Cross of +the second class and upon me the Iron Cross of the first and second +classes.” + + + + +TORPEDOED! + +A Nurse’s Graphic Personal Narrative of the Wanton Destruction of the +_Sussex_ + + +On a clear day with the sea a perfect mirror reflecting the blue sky, +the French Channel Steamer _Sussex_ left Folkstone harbor on its +fateful trip for Dieppe, March 24, 1916. Among the passengers was an +English nurse attached to a French hospital, who was returning to +duty from a month’s leave of absence in England. The _Sussex_ was a +small but finely built, stout passenger boat, unarmed. She left harbor +at 1.30 in the afternoon, and in a short time encountered in the +Channel thousands of floating bags of a jettisoned cargo. A group of +passengers, standing by the rail, began to discuss the possibilities +of torpedoing. A British officer, who had braved dangers at Undros, +laughed, saying that it was not submarine weather, the Germans being +afraid to show themselves in a calm sea. Soon the others of the group +strolled off leaving the nurse alone watching a Belgian officer +exercising his dog on the deck. Presently they went away, and the +nurse turned to look out at the sea and watch for a periscope. + +What followed the nurse tells, as her personal experience, in an +article published in _Blackwood’s Magazine_: + +“It grew cold, and I was beginning to think of going back to my +sheltered chair to roll myself up in my rug, when in a moment the whole +earth and heaven seemed to explode in one head-splitting roar. In the +thousandth part of a second my mind told me ‘Torpedoed—forward—on my +right’—and then the sensation of falling, with my limbs spread-eagle, +through space. + +[Illustration: The _Sussex_ Beached + +This channel ferryboat was torpedoed at night while carrying a large +number of distinguished passengers. The force of the explosion broke +her amidships.] + +“When I came to myself again I was groping amid a tangle of broken +wires with an agonizing pain in my back and the fiercest headache I +had ever known. My hair was down, and plastered to my chin with blood +that seemed to be coming from my mouth. There was more blood on my +coat-sleeve. I was conscious that I was bleeding freely internally +with every movement. My first definite thought was, ‘If only it is +all a ghastly nightmare!’ But I remembered. My next thought was a +passionately strong desire not to die by drowning—then. I crawled free +of the wires that were coiled all about me and stood up. + + +DEAFENED AND UNABLE TO SPEAK + +“In one unsteady glance I took in a number of things. Near me a +horrible piece of something, and a dead woman. (Afterwards I wondered +why I was so sure she was dead and never stooped to make sure.) _Below +me, on the quarterdeck and second-class promenade deck_, numbers of +people moving to and fro, many with lifebelts on. I never heard a +sound from them, but it did not strike me as odd then. Now I know I +was deafened. So I had been blown up on to the top deck, to the other +end of the ship. I swayed to and fro, and looked for a stairway, but +could find none, and began to be aware that I had only a few moments of +consciousness left me. + +“Something must be done if I was not to drown. I forced my will to +concentrate on it, and came to the side, where I found three men +looking down on a lowered boat. I also saw a lifebelt on the ground. I +picked it up and, not having the strength to put it on, I tried to ask +the men to tie it for me. Then I found I could not speak. So I held it +up, and one, an American, understood, and hastily tied it. Then I saw +one of them catch hold of a loose davit rope and swarm down it to the +boat. There was my one chance, I decided. My arms were all right, but +would my legs work? I took hold, and made a mighty effort to cross my +knees round the rope: I succeeded. Then I slid down till I was just +above the water. + + +INTO ONE LIFEBOAT + +“I waited till the roll of the ship brought me near enough to the boat +to catch, with my right hand, another rope that I saw hanging plumb +above it, while I hung on with my left. It came within reach: I caught +it, let go with my left, and lowered myself into the boat. Then I +wanted to sink down in her bottom and forget everything, but I dared +not, for men were pouring into her. I saw a man’s knee hooked over the +side of the boat where I sat. I could not see his body, but it was in +the water, between us and the side of the _Sussex_. As in a dream I +held on to his knee with my left hand with all the grip I had left, and +with my right held on to the seat on which I sat. I could do nothing to +help him in, but on the other hand, so long as I remained conscious, +his knee-hold should not be allowed to slip. No one took any notice of +either of us. Gradually I began to hear again. The men in the boat were +shouting that there was no more room, that the boat was full. One last +man tumbled in and then the people in the boat pushed away, and men +on the _Sussex_ helped. Others continually threw gratings and planks +overboard. + + +ALMOST SWAMPED + +“Our boat was dangerously overcrowded. Already she was half swamped. +I wondered when she would upset. A man on either side seized gratings +and towed them alongside. One made a herculean effort and pulled the +man whose knee I had been holding into our boat, and nearly upset her. +No one said a word. He was an elderly man, and his fat face was white +and piteous. His hands never ceased trembling. He had had a terrible +fright. Some one suggested getting out the oars, and others said it was +impossible, as they were underneath us all. However, it was managed, +and several men stood up and changed places. Again we nearly upset. +I joined with the others in commanding these wild folk to sit still. +Three oars were produced. One was given to a young and sickly looking +Frenchman opposite to me. He did not know how to use it. Everyone +shouted to get away from the steamer. The water had now reached my +knees, and I began to notice how cold it was. + +“I saw three other women in the boat. They sat together, white and +silent, in the stern, nor ever moved. They were French women. Some one +noticed that the water was increasing and there was a wild hullabaloo +of alarm. A Belgian—the man who had pulled into the boat the man whose +knee I held—called for hats with which to bale, setting the example +with his. But we were so tightly packed that no one could get at +the water, whereupon the Belgian climbed overboard on to one of the +gratings I have already mentioned, and a young Belgian soldier followed +his example on the other side. They held on to our gunwale with their +fingers. This somewhat relieved the congestion, enabling us to bail. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Brigadier-General Leroy Eltinge + +Deputy Chief of Staff, G. H. Q., A. E. F.] + +“Sometimes the people in the boat bailed furiously, sometimes they +stopped and stared stupidly about them. Some shouted ‘Ramez! Ramez!’ +Others equally excited yelled ‘Mais non! Videz l’eau! Videz l’eau!’ I +apologized to my immediate neighbors for that I had no hat to lend, and +for that I was too hurt to stoop, but I put my hands on the erring oar +the young Frenchman was feebly moving across my knees, and did my best +to guide his efforts. As often as not he put it flat on the water, and +sometimes he merely desisted altogether, and gazed vacantly in front of +him. The Belgian asked for a handkerchief, and groping in the water at +the bottom of the boat, found a hole and caulked it as best he could. +Thereafter the bailers kept the water from increasing, but did little +to reduce it. + + +THE _SUSSEX_ STILL AFLOAT + +“Looking around I saw our steamer riding quite happily on the water +with her bows clean gone. Afterwards I learned that the torpedo had +cut off her fore-part, to within an inch or two of where I had been +standing, and that it had sunk. I saw another full boat being rowed +away from the ship, and an overturned one with two people sitting on +her keel. I saw a man seated on a grating. All were convinced that +help would be forthcoming speedily. And still the _Sussex_ floated. +Four times I remarked—by way of a _ballon d’essai_—that it seemed as +if she were not going to sink, and always there was an outcry to row, +and get away from her. The Belgian and the Belgian soldier evidently +thought as I did. They proposed that we should return before we were +swamped ourselves. Once again a hysterical outburst. One man jumped to +his feet and shrieked, and asked us if it were to hell that we intended +returning? I began to be afraid that he and those who thought as he +did would throw us others into the sea, but common-sense told me that +to remain all night in that overcrowded half-swamped boat would be to +court death. + +“We saw at last that the other boat was returning. This was our chance. +Example is a wonderful thing in dealing with mob hysteria. Tentatively +the two Belgians and I proposed that we should go as close to the +steamer as prudence permitted, and ask the Captain if she were going +to sink. If his answer were favorable, those who desired should go on +board, and any who liked could go off again in the boat. If his answer +were unfavorable, we would stand off again. The maniac still shrieked +his protests, but the rest of the boat was with us. But no one seemed +to know how to turn the boat. As soon as we told one to backwater, the +other two did likewise. It seemed hopeless. Finally, we let the other +two oars pull, and I myself tried to induce my _vis-à-vis_ to ‘ramez +au sens contraire,’ which was the nearest approach I could get to +‘backwater’ in French. He was too dazed to understand, so I simply set +my teeth and pulled against him, and in about fifteen minutes the boat +gradually came round in a wide circle. How I longed to be whole again +so that I could take his oar right away and cox that mad boat! With my +injured back and inside I could only just compass what I did. The pain +kept me from collapsing, and the exertion from freezing. + +“It looked as though we were to be swamped, after all, within ten yards +of the _Sussex’s_ gaping bows, for our crew, in their excitement, had +forgotten to bail for some minutes. As we floated in under her sides +I made a final appeal, which a young Belgian put into more forcible +French, for everybody to keep calm and not upset the boat at the last. + + +BACK TO THE SHIP + +“The women now spoke for the first time—and it was to appeal to the +excited boat’s load to let me be taken off first, since I was injured. +I found I could not stand, so sat in the middle of the seat trying to +trim the boat while the men scrambled out. I was left alone at last; +and the water that came over the gunwale poured over my legs to my +waist, some of it soaking through my thick great-coat and chilling me +to the bone. The boat was floating away. Some one shouted to me to get +up. I got on to my hands and knees on the seat and tried to crawl +along the side, but the change of position nearly caused me to faint +with pain. Then the Belgian managed to get hold of the boat and hold +her, and some sailors leaned out of the hatchway in the _Sussex’s_ side +and grasped me by the arms and pulled me up and in as though I had been +a sack. There were many far worse hurt than I, and they left me propped +against a wall. The Belgian again came to the rescue, and half dragged +me to the top of the second saloon stairway. I got down by levering +myself on my hands on the rails, while he supported me under the arms. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Leslies._ + +Searching for U-Boats in the North Sea + +A fleet of torpedo boats combing the seas for German raiders. The +Allied Fleets maintained their vigil until the German Navy was +surrendered at Scapa Flow.] + +“Once in the saloon, he and the young Belgian soldier took off my +loosely fixed lifebelt and laid me on a couch. One forced a glass +of whisky down my throat, which burned and gave me back renewed +consciousness, while the other ran for brandy. I was terribly cold, and +the good Belgian took off my boots and puttees and stockings and chafed +my feet till one was warm. The other had no sensation for over twelve +hours, and five days later, when it was radiographed, proved to be +sprained and fractured. + + +“WHAT IS IT TO DIE?” + +“After that, long hours of waiting. A woman shrieked incessantly up on +deck. A man with a wounded head came and sat patiently in a corner. A +girl, complaining of a pain in her chest, came down the stairs and lay +down on a corner couch. She never moved nor spoke again. By midnight +she was dead. None of us guessed, none of us knew. She died bravely +and silently, quite alone. Another woman showed signs of approaching +hysteria. A young Belgian officer, who had been attending her, suddenly +ceased his gallantry, and standing sternly before her, said brusquely, +‘After all, if the very worst comes, you can only die. What is it to +die?’ The words acted on her like a douche of cold water. She became +herself again and never murmured. We others, perhaps, benefited too. +It is nerve-racking work lying helpless in a damaged vessel, wondering +whether the rescue ship or another enemy submarine will appear first on +the scene. And no ship came. At intervals the Belgian boy soldiers came +down to reassure us: ‘The wireless had been repaired. Forty vessels +were searching for us. There was a light to starboard. We were drifting +towards Boulogne. The “Phares” of the coast were in sight.’ But no ship +came. The light to starboard faded. Another appeared, and faded too. + +“Then we heard the regular boom of a cannon or a rocket. We all knew +that something must have blocked our wireless, but no one said so. The +Belgian came down to sleep, fixing his lifebelt first. With him came a +good French-woman, who was very kind to me and washed the blood from my +face and rinsed out my bleeding mouth. She was very hungry, and all I +could do to help her was to hold her jewels while she went on deck to +search for her hand baggage, and, later, to give her some soaked food +out of my pocket. There was no food left anywhere. She said some brave +words, too, about death coming to all, only coming once, and being +soon over. How much one person’s courage can help others at such a +time! Then she tied on a lifebelt and went to sleep beside me. The ship +was rolling now, and the seas slapped noisily against her somewhere, +jarring her all through her frame. But the Captain had said she would +not sink for eighteen hours, and we all believed his word implicitly. +Still, it was an ugly noise, and seemed to betoken her helplessness. + + +“WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST” + +“And then at last the news of rescue! A French fishing-boat was coming! +‘Women and children first,’ the young Belgians cried. My Belgian +succorer roused himself and fetched my stockings and boots. My right +boot would not go on. My puttees he could not manage, and so he tied +them round me. He was always cool and practical and matter-of-fact. +‘I have been in the Belgian Congo,’ he explained, ‘and in shipwrecks +before. I know what to do, and I am not alarmed. You can trust entirely +to me.’ And I did. There was a great bump as the fishing-boat came +alongside, and a rush upstairs. Once more I was left alone, for my +Belgian friend had gone up to see about getting me helped on board. He +came back to say that the crush was so great that he would wait till +it was over and then take me. It seemed a long time, but he came back +at last, only to find he could not lift me. Then he went away calling +for an ‘homme de bonne volonté’ to help. A young Chinese responded, +and together they staggered up the heaving stairway with me. When +they reached the ship’s rail it was to hear that the boat had gone! A +British torpedo boat was coming, we were told, and so the fisherman had +gone off with as many as he could safely carry to Boulogne. With her +went my hope of reaching my own hospital in France. I had been sure the +destroyer would take her load to England. + +[Illustration: + +_Courtesy of Leslies._ + +Sinking of the _Falaba_ + +After torpedoing the ship, the U-boat came to the surface and gave +the command “Abandon ship.” Shortly afterward the _Falaba_ broke into +flames and was destroyed.] + +“Perhaps half an hour passed, and then the destroyer came. This time +one of the French sailors helped him to carry me, and I was placed on +my back, across the ship’s rail, and when the roll brought her near +enough to the destroyer, British sailors grasped my arms and pulled me +over. For one sickening second my legs dangled between the two ships, +but the sailors hauled me in just before the impact came. They carried +me to the chart-house and laid me on the couch, and before long the +Belgian joined me, and, utterly exhausted, lay down on the floor. From +that moment I felt entirely safe. We English are brought up to feel +complete confidence in the British Navy, much as they teach us to trust +in Providence. And the Navy deserves our confidence. + +“It took a long time to transfer all the remaining passengers of the +_Sussex_ to H. M. S. ——, for the sea was becoming restless, and the two +ships hammered and thumped at each other’s sides to such purpose that +the rescuing destroyer had to go into dock for repairs when her labors +were over and she had landed us all safely.” + + + + +THE VALLEYS OF THE BLUE SHROUDS + +(_Where the Valiant Poilus Were Buried in Their Blue Uniforms_) + +_By_ + +John Finley + + + O shards of walls that once held precious life, + Now scattered, like the bones the Prophet saw + Lying in visioned valleys of the slain + Ere One cried: “Son of Man, can these bones live?” + + O images of heroes, saints, and Christs, + Pierced, broken, thrust in hurried sepulture + In selfsame tombs with tinsel, dross, and dreg, + And without time for either shrift or shroud! + + O smold’ring embers of Love’s hearthstone fires, + Quenched by the fiercer fires of hellish hate, + That have not where to kindle flames again + To light succeeding generations on! + + O ghost-gray ashes of cathedral towers + That toward the sky once raised appealing hands + To beg the God of all take residence + And hold communion with the kneeling souls! + + O silent tongues of bells that once did ring + Matin and Angelus o’er peaceful fields, + Now shapeless slag that will to-morrow serve + To make new engines for still others’ woe! + + O dust that flowered in finial and foil + And bright in many-petaled windows bloomed, + Now unto dust returned at cannon’s breath + To lay thy faded glories on the crypt! + + O wounded cities that have been beloved + As Priam’s city was by Hecuba,— + Sad Hecuba, who ere in exile borne, + Beheld her Hector’s child Astyanax + Spitted on spears (as if a Belgian babe) + And saw the walls in smoke and flame ascend + To hover heav’nward with wide-brooding wings + Above the “vanished thing” that once was Troy! + + O shards of sanctuaries and of homes! + O embers, ashes gray, and glinting dust! + Ye who were tile or tower in Laon or Ypres, + A village by the Somme, a church in Roye, + A bit of glass in Reims, a convent bell + In St. Dié, a lycée in Verdun, + A wayside crucifix in Mézières, + Again I hear a cry: “Can these bones live?” + + Yes! As the bones, o’er which the Prophet cried + And called the breath from Heav’n’s four winds to breathe. + Sprang straightway, bone to bone, each to its place, + To frame in flesh the features and the forms + They still remembered and still loved to hold + Once more on earth—so shall ye rise again! + + Out of their quarries, cumulus, the clouds + Will furnish back your flame in crystal stone; + The cirrus dawns in Parsee tapestries + With azure broiderings will clothe your walls; + The nimbus noons will shower golden rain + And sunset colors fill each Gothic arch; + + For o’er thy stricken vales, O valiant France, + Our love for thee shall prophesy anew, + And Heav’n’s Four Winds of Liberty, allied, + Shall breathe unpoisoned in thy streets till they + Shall pulse again with life that laughs and sings, + And yet remembers, singing through its tears + The music of an everlasting song— + Remembers, proudly and undyingly, + _The hero dust that lies in shrouds of blue + But rises as thy soul, immortal France!_ + + Dr. Finley and _The Yale Review_. + + + + +RIZZO SINKS THE _WIEN_ + +An Italian Lieutenant Braves Batteries and Mines and Harbor Wire in +Novel Feat + + +The Germans and Austrians, knowing that it would be folly for them +to risk a naval battle, kept their navies cooped up in harbors and +rivers to the intense disgust of real jackies, who thought it quite +unbearable at times that while the Allied fleets were roaming about +the high seas begging for a fight the enemy was shutting itself up. +English and French and American sailors were so hungry for action that +they occasionally took unwarranted chances for the sake of getting at +the enemy, and more than once these daring leaders were at the same +time rebuked for their recklessness and rewarded for their bravery and +success. + +One of the most brilliant and picturesque of naval adventures fell to +the credit of a young Italian who achieved a plan that startled the +Austrians and Germans as much as it delighted the Allies. + +Lieut. Rizzo is really a Sicilian, strong and handsome. He is about +thirty years old—young enough to go through with a daring feat, old +enough to be careful. Moreover, there were two boats that carried +out the plan, and the second boat was in charge of an elderly man, +sixty-two years old, a fire-eater though. + +The task was quite definite. In the Trieste harbor the Austrians kept +several ships which were a source of great annoyance to the Italians. +Especially hateful was the _Wien_ and her sister the _Monarch_. She +carried four 10-inch guns and six 6-inch guns and a crew of 441 +officers and men. A month before the _Wien_ had shelled the lower Piave +line and Italian motor boats had tried their torpedoes on her. She had +a narrow escape. Then she was stored at Trieste. She must have felt +herself quite safe with her sister ship, the _Monarch_, drawing by her. +They were behind steel nets fringed with mines. And all day and all +night sentries watched. + +Lieutenant’s Rizzo’s plans were all laid. But he had no false hopes. +He knew of the Austrian combination of nets and mines, and knew that +at best he had great chances of being blown to pieces. He started out, +though, with his two little launches—really not much bigger than a +ship’s lifeboat. + + +DUMBFOUNDED AUSTRIANS + +There was a mist on the sea. It was after midnight when they crawled in +toward the coast. It was in December, and they could just about make +out the white city of Trieste. The two boats stole toward the harbor. +One of the chief problems of Rizzo was that of the huge steel cables +attached to the nets; but these he managed to cut apart, thus making +his way through the nets. + +They came nearer the harbor. It is an affair of three piers, making +two channels. These channels were closed by booms and nets. Mines were +linked to the piers by great steel hawsers. + +The boats crept up to one pier. Rizzo climbed up and took in the +situation. There was nobody on that pier. On the middle pier, however, +was a guardroom. There could be heard the sound of voices in that room, +and the barking of dogs, and the monotonous rhythms of the sentry +patrolling the middle pier. + +“Lieutenant Rizzo,” Percival Gibbon wrote to the New York _Times_, +“crawled back and gave the order, and up came his men, crawling on +hands and knees over the concrete, passing the big cutting tools from +hand to hand, groping their way to the cables. Some set to work to cut +them, while two men scanned the shore lest some sentry should arrive. + +“The cutting instruments worked well. It needed only a strong jar to +set the mines exploding, but the cutters bit their way through strand +after strand of twisted steel wire. Three cables above water were +severed without trouble; the five more below; water were grappled and +hauled to the surface and cut in their turn. + +“At last the weight of the net and its attachments tore the last steel +strands asunder, the whole great cobweb of metal and explosives sank, +and the harbor lay open. Rizzo and his men crawled back to their boats. +Those boats moved like shadows toward the _Wien_ and the _Monarch_. +Rizzo backed off till he had his enemy at 150 yards. His second boat, +commanded by the old petty officer, shifted out upon his beam to get a +line which cleared the _Wien’s_ bow and commanded the _Monarch’s_ great +steel flank. Rizzo raised his arm in that gloom and saw the answering +gesture of the petty officer. It was the moment to let her go. In a +second four long steel devils were sliding through the water for the +enemy. + +“A roar, a blast of flame, a waterspout raining on them, and a second +roar as the _Monarch_, too, got her dose. + +“A searchlight flashed out from the _Wien_ and sawed at the darkness. +A scream sounded over the water: _Wer da?_ (Who’s there?) There +were shoutings and stampings along the deck of the wounded ship, +searchlights waking along the shore and on the breakwaters, and +anti-aircraft guns arousing everywhere. No one in Trieste knew whence +the attack had come, whether from air or sea. The sky was festooned +with bursting shell, while the ships in the harbor opened with their +guns toward the harbor mouth, shelling the mist of the Adriatic at +random. By the light of that furious illumination the Italian sailors +saw the great bulk of the _Wien_ listing toward them. + +“By this time they were making for the harbor mouth. Shells spouted all +around them, but not one hit them, and both boats saw before they left +that last subsidence, that wriggle and resignation with which a great +ship goes under.” + + + + +EDITH CAVELL + +_By_ + +Laurence Binyon + + + She was binding the wounds of her enemies when they came— + The lint in her hand unrolled. + They battered the door with their rifle-butts, crashed it in: + She faced them gentle and bold. + + They haled her before the judges where they sat + In their places, helmet on head. + With question and menace the judges assailed her, “Yes, + I have broken your law,” she said. + + “I have tended the hurt and hidden the hunted, have done + As a sister does to a brother, + Because of a law that is greater than that you have made, + Because I could do none other. + + “Deal as you will with me. This is my choice to the end, + To live in the life I vowed.” + “She is self-confessed,” they cried; “she is self-condemned. + She shall die, that the rest may be cowed.” + + In the terrible hour of the dawn, when the veins are cold, + They led her forth to the wall. + “I have loved my land,” she said, “but it is not enough: + Love requires of me all. + + “I will empty my heart of the bitterness, hating none.” + And sweetness filled her brave + With a vision of understanding beyond the hour + That knelled to the waiting grave. + + They bound her eyes, but she stood as if she shone. + The rifles it was that shook + When the hoarse command rang out. They could not endure + That last, that defenseless look. + + And the officer strode and pistoled her surely, ashamed + That men, seasoned in blood, + Should quail at a woman, only a woman,— + As a flower stamped in the mud. + + And now that the deed was securely done, in the night + When none had known her fate, + They answered those that had striven for her, day by day: + “It is over, you come too late.” + + And with many words and sorrowful-phrased excuse + Argued their German right + To kill, most legally; hard though the duty be, + The law must assert its might. + + Only a woman! yet she had pity on them, + The victim offered slain + To the gods of fear that they worship. Leave them there, + Red hands, to clutch their gain! + + She bewailed not herself, and we will bewail her not, + But with tears of pride rejoice + That an English soul was found so crystal-clear + To be triumphant voice + + Of the human heart that dares adventure all + But live to itself untrue, + And beyond all laws sees love as the light in the night, + As the star it must answer to. + + The hurt she healed, the thousands comforted—these + Make a fragrance of her fame. + But because she stept to her right on through death + It is Victory speaks her name. + + From _The Cause_. Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company. + + + + +AS OF OLD + +An Engagement When Pistol and Cutlass Revived Memories of Notable Sea +Fights of the Past + + +A friendly ghost of the old grappling and boarding days at sea came to +give the color of romance to one of the encounters between British and +German ships in the latter part of April, 1917. And a touch of ancient +charm is given to the experience in the fact that the hero of the +engagement was a gallant and daring midshipman, for the honors really +fall to Midshipman Donald Gyles of the good ship _Broke_—a British +destroyer. + +Appropriately too, it was a dark and calm night. The _Broke_ (whose +commander was Capt. Evans, the antarctic explorer) and the sister +destroyer _Swift_ were steaming leisurely in a westerly course on +patrol duty. Suddenly, quite in the vein of romance, the lookout of the +_Swift_ made out, not more than six hundred yards distant, a flotilla +of six German destroyers. Here was a how-d’ye-do, when you consider +that a distance of a thousand yards is a disagreeably close range in +these days of far-speaking guns. The Germans were the first to fire, +but the _Swift_ lost no time in making reply and also put on steam +in an attempt to ram the foremost enemy destroyer. She failed of her +purpose and ran beyond the enemy line, but turning about she sent a +torpedo into one of the enemy ships and made a second dash at the +leader, which again escaped a ramming and took to flight. The _Swift_ +gave chase. + +The _Broke_ was giving excellent account of herself meanwhile. She had +torpedoed one of the enemy and then opened fire with every gun. The +other enemy destroyers were frantically working for full speed. The +_Broke_ swung around and rammed one of them square abreast the after +funnel, so that the two boats were locked. Then began the desperate +hand-to-hand conflict reminiscent of ancient days. The _Broke_ raked +the enemy’s decks point blank with fire from big guns, maxims, rifle +and pistol. Two other German destroyers came to the rescue and poured +a furious fire on the _Broke_, killing twelve of the eighteen men of +the gun crew. + + +A HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT ON DECK + +It might have been that at such a disadvantage the _Broke_ would fall +speedy victim to superior numbers. But something more than numbers and +preponderance of force enter into the audit of the militant; and the +“something more” in this instance was the spirit and understanding of +Midshipman Gyles. Although wounded in the eye he kept all the foremost +guns in action, himself helping the sorely reduced crew to load. While +he was occupied in this way Germans began swarming over the _Broke’s_ +forecastle from the rammed destroyer, and to escape the blinding +flashes of the forecastle guns began pushing aft, roaring and shouting +like a frenzied mob. A graphic account of what happened was published +right after the event: + +“The midshipman, amid the dead and wounded of his own gun-crews, and +half blinded himself by blood, met the onset single-handed with an +automatic revolver. He was grappled by a German, who tried to wrest the +revolver away. Cutlasses and bayonets being among the British equipment +in anticipation of such an event, the German was promptly bayoneted by +Seaman Ingleson. The remainder of the invaders, except two who feigned +death, were driven over the side, the two being taken prisoner. + +“Two minutes after ramming, the _Broke_ wrenched herself free from her +sinking adversary and turned to ram the last of the three remaining +German boats. She failed in this object but, in swinging around, +succeeded in hitting the boat’s consort on the stem with a torpedo. +Hotly engaged with the two fleeing destroyers, the _Broke_ attempted to +follow the _Swift_ in the direction she was last seen, but a shell +struck the _Broke’s_ boiler-room, disabling her main engines.” + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Hunter._ + +Through the North Sea + +Night and day the Allied Fleets patrolled the North Sea, watching for +U-boats and waiting for the German Navy to act.] + +Thus freed from pursuit the enemy ships made off swiftly and +disappeared in the darkness. In spite of her disability the _Broke_ +made such headway as her crippled engines were capable of in quest +of the _Swift_. Soon a burning German destroyer was sighted and +immediately its crew saw the _Broke_ they rushed to the rails shouting +for mercy and begging to be saved. Disregarding the danger and +unsuspicious of treachery the _Broke_ steered slowly toward the burning +ship. The German crew redoubled their plea, “Save, Save,” and then +suddenly opened fire on the vessel coming to their rescue. + +The _Broke_ in her crippled condition was not able to maneuver for +safety, but she had her guns and happily they served her. She silenced +the German with four shots and then, the desert of baseness, torpedoed +the German amidships. + +The _Swift_ had a somewhat different experience. She had, owing to +impaired speed, abandoned the pursuit of the first destroyer, and began +a search for other quarry. After a time she sighted a motionless +destroyer from which came calls for help. She approached cautiously +with guns ready for instant action and presently made out that it was +the destroyer that the _Broke_ had rammed. The Germans were shouting, +“We surrender,” but the _Swift_ was wary, suspecting treachery, and +waited. In a little while the destroyer keeled and went down stem +first, the crew jumping into the water. + +The _Swift_ switched on her searchlights and there being no enemy ship +visible, lowered her boats and rescued the Germans swimming toward her. +Then the _Broke_ and the _Swift_ reported to each other on the details +of the engagement and those who remained of the two crews cheered each +other well nigh as long a time as the thrilling engagement itself had +lasted. + +And let not be forgotten, when quiet heroisms are remembered, the +conduct of Seaman William Rowles, helmsman of the _Broke_. Though hit +four times by shell fragments he stuck to the wheel during the entire +action and only betrayed the fact that he was wounded by fainting as he +reported to his captain, “I’m going off now, Sir.” + + + + +DEATH IN A SUBMARINE + +One of a Crew That Was Saved Tells of the Thrilling Moments Just Before +the Final Plunge + + +Many submarines, rammed or shot, were sent to the bottom with their +crews, and for the most part the world has been left to imagine how the +doomed men met their fate. There is always a desire, deeper than mere +curiosity, to know how men behave in such circumstances; now and then +the desire is gratified, and we have learned that brave men go down +to death cooped in a submarine with the same resolute calm with which +brave men meet death in any guise. That the spirit of man is a wondrous +thing the war has given new proof in myriad ways. + +A survivor tells the story of the crew of the _Monge_, a French +submarine commanded by Lieutenant Morillot, rammed by an Austrian +warship and sunk in the Adriatic, Dec. 29, 1915. It was more than a +year after that date before any of the details became known. Then the +letter of one of the crew released from an Austrian military prison +was published, giving the thrilling particulars. After telling how the +warship smashed into the submarine the letter continued: + +“The water enters in torrents. The safety hatch is closed, but the +_Monge_ descends very swiftly; it reaches a depth of 200 feet, and the +plates crack under the pressure of the water. We give ourselves up as +forever lost. Our vessel is being crushed; we feel it flattening in +upon us. No one says a word, but everybody works. Orders are executed +as in ordinary times; no panic, not a cry. + +“We are facing the most certain and perhaps the most hideous death, +yet our commander is superb in his coolness, and he has a crew that is +worthy of him. The steel braces supporting the hull—bars as thick as +my fist—are twisted like so many wires. The accumulators fall down on +each other; the electric current is intensified, the fuses burn out, +the acid decomposes—it is the second phase; after the crushing comes +asphyxiation. + +“‘Courage! Courage! We are rising!’ That is the cry of the second +torpedo master, for to him belongs the most delicate and certain of all +our remedies. In fact, we feel that we are rising, and in a minute or +two we have gone from a depth of 200 feet to the surface. We are saved! + +“Alas! A third ordeal! The Austrians have seen us and begin shelling us +at short range. A single shell pierces our hull. The commandant orders +for the third time: ‘To your posts for the dive!’ This time all is +indeed ended; the motors no longer act, none of the machinery runs, +and the water keeps pouring in. Everybody goes to his post without a +murmur, and yet we all know that this time death awaits us—and what +a death! The commandant changes his mind. Our vessel is lost; why +sacrifice the crew? He lets his arms drop, and two big tears roll down +his cheeks, tears of pride and of impotence. + +“In a calm voice, however, he tells us to save ourselves. The +impossible had been attempted; we could give up with a light heart. + +[Illustration: The Conning Tower of a New British Submarine of the “L” +Type] + +“Before rising to the surface the commandant asks us to cry three +times, ‘_Vive la France!_’ and to sing the ‘_Marseillaise_.’ Such +were the last words and orders of the man who was and remained the +commandant of the _Monge_, for he chose not to leave his beloved +boat. As soon as we reached the deck we complied with his request +and thrice shouted ‘_Vive la France!_’ and sang the refrain of the +‘_Marseillaise_.’ When the water rose to our waists we had only time +to throw ourselves into the sea. The _Monge_ sank on Dec. 29, 1915, at +2:30 in the morning. There were three deaths—the commandant and two +mechanician quartermasters.” + +Afterward the French Government honored Lieutenant Morillot by giving +his name to a ship captured from the enemy; but one wonders why so +gallant an officer should have been so unprofitably sacrificed to a +naval tradition. Captains go down with their ships because tradition +and court-martials have made it more honorable than living to serve +their country in new duties and responsibilities. + + + + +A NOTABLE EXPLOIT + +Two Italian Naval Officers Destroy an Austrian Dreadnought in a Novel +Way + + +Lieut. Col. R. Rossetti of the Italian Naval Construction Corps and +his friend, Dr. Paolucci, also of the Navy, on the night of October +31-Nov. 1, 1918, destroyed an Austrian dreadnought in circumstances as +thrilling as they were exceptional. They struck an entirely new note in +marine warfare. + +The Austrian warship _Viribus Unitis_, having a displacement of 20,010 +tons, and an armament of twelve 12-inch guns, and representing a cost +of $13,000,000, was moored in the harbor of Pola, about as secure a +place as she could possibly have been at rest in. The entrance of the +harbor was formidably fortified; it was a most important naval base +and was guarded accordingly. Obstacles and obstructions, however, did +not dismay Col. Rossetti, who was of a mind to blow up the greatest +and newest of Austrian dreadnoughts of the super variety. He was of an +inventive faculty, this daring Genoese, and he devised an apparatus, a +curious motor, the especial purpose of which was to enable a swimmer to +get a mine safely over the obstructions that closed Pola harbor. + +With this device supporting the necessary mine, Col. Rossetti and +Dr. Paolucci swam into the harbor in the night. They had approached +as near as was expedient in the chaser _M. A. S. 95_ which towed the +apparatus. They left the chaser with the parting whisper “_Vive il +Re!_” and steered their course between two lighthouses until they came +to the obstruction at the extreme end of the jetty. The obstruction +consisted of long beams bound together at the ends by wire rope. Buoys +at intervals kept the obstruction in position. The apparatus was put in +a line with the beams and dragged slowly forward for about a quarter of +an hour. At a certain point the beams were submerged and the men could +no longer guide themselves by them, so the motor was put into action +to reach the inner edge of the obstruction. In his official report +Col. Rossetti gave in detail by hours the incidents and events that +followed. The report is quoted: + +“On our left (that is, toward the open sea) I have noticed a submarine +with one tower. She is on the surface, and passes, darkened and +noiseless, between the harbor obstruction and the chaser which had +brought us. I can see her like a shadow against the sky, and point her +out to Dr. Paolucci. + +“About 11.15 p.m.—We can distinctly see a red light shining at +intervals and moving up and down along the jetty. Probably it is on a +patrol boat stationed between the jetty and the outside obstructions. +This will not affect us, however, for here we shall be keeping to the +outer side of the obstructions. + + +PAOLUCCI EXPLORES + +“About 11.45 p.m.—We are nearing the jetty and are about 100 meters +from it after passing rapidly through the second diagonal. At my +request Dr. Paolucci swims off to explore in the direction of the +jetty, and returns in a few minutes to say that we can proceed. +During this pause I notice that a rather strong current runs northward +along the coast. We move on until we reach the jetty, and then work +along parallel with it, placing ourselves between our apparatus +and the jetty. We have a good hand hold, as the jetty is made of +blocks of cement, piled one on another. The current, too, is in our +favor. Everything is going smoothly, but we are losing far too much +time, so I venture to start the motor once more. This is not really +imprudent—notwithstanding the phosphorescence produced by increased +speed—for the breakwater, with large intervals between the cement +masses, surely cannot be patrolled at night by a sentry. We are in a +dead sector as far as sentries are concerned. + +[Illustration: The _Viribus Unitis_, an Austrian Dreadnought Ready for +an Engagement in the Adriatic] + +“12.30 a.m.—Still clinging to the jetty, we reach a group of chains +that are fastened to the top of the jetty and hang down toward the +water. I judge this may be the end of the last diagonal of the first +observation, and conclude, therefore, that we must be about 200 meters +from the small opening of the jetty. Dr. Paolucci again goes alone +to explore the opening. He soon returns with the report that we may +advance. We are under way again by about 12.45. When the opening is +clearly visible I silence the motor and we proceed hand-over-hand. + + +AVOIDS A SENTRY BOAT + +“About 1 a.m.—We have reached the edge of the opening, always sticking +close to the jetty, which now slopes down to the opening and is guarded +by a small gun (of about fifty millimeters), which is silhouetted +against the sky as we pass under it at a distance of about five meters. + +“A strong current coming from the interior of the roadstead meets +the current flowing along the coast and drives us—despite all our +efforts—out to sea in the direction of the northern extremity of the +jetty. The motor is started into full action and we manage to make a +wide loop toward the left, returning to the small opening. + +“Here, too, we find an obstruction formed by several sections of +floating beams, joined with wire ropes. Here and there points project +above the water. Having satisfied ourselves that the obstruction has no +submerged nets, we decide to climb over it while passing our apparatus +underneath, and the plan is carried out without accident. We follow the +inner side of this obstruction back to the jetty—easily recognized +by the cannon and sentry-post which we had already seen from the +other side. Still creeping along the jetty for a few meters, we find +ourselves near the bow of a tug, moored there, and can hear the hissing +noise of a jet of steam. A little further off, stern toward the jetty, +is a large boat that guards the port. This is indicated on our chart, +so we decide to turn toward the inner harbor. + +“About 2 a.m.—We reach the third obstruction, which runs parallel +to the jetty, without encountering that running from the jetty on +the right of the guard boat to the large opening of the port. The +obstruction now to be overcome is made up of a row of metal cylinders, +with tops projecting about twenty centimeters above the water, +supporting, about sixty centimeters below the water level, a metal +cable to which a net is attached. Given the distance between buoys, and +the depth at which the net begins, it is easy to pass this barrier. +About ten meters behind it is a second, and then a third, all parallel +and of the same type. These are passed without real difficulty, though +we have lost time between the second and third series. A boat was +moored not more than thirty meters from us, and we had to move with +extreme caution and very slowly. + +“It is easy to know where we are. Ahead and to our left, I can +recognize Valmaggiore and the rocky mass near the curve toward the +interior of the port. We consult the pocket compass, but it is full +of water and will not work. Once past the third section of this +obstruction, I steer in an oblique line to the right, the direction in +which I believe we shall find the last series of obstructions—those +projecting from the north coast and running perpendicular to the jetty. + +“The first big ships—dark, shadowy forms—are barely visible on our +right. Going forward, we can see three other ships, further in, that +show lighted cabins and portholes, and that have white deck-lights. + + +NEARING THE SHIP + +“About 3 a.m.—We reach and pass, without trouble, a triple series of +obstructions similar to the preceding ones. Sure of our position, I +steer so as to pass between the north coast and the line of big ships, +along which we move for about 200 meters, now always fighting against +the current. + +“It is late, and we fear that the air pressure of 120 atmospheres +will not be sufficient to insure our return to the chaser. After +consultation, we agree to continue as far as the flagship, which had +been pointed out to us as of special importance. After sinking this +we will endeavor to land on the north coast, sink our apparatus and +dispose of our waterproof suits. Then, in the uniform of Italian naval +officers, which we wear underneath the waterproof, we will try to reach +a place called Fontaine, near Rovigno, where it has been agreed that +a motor boat will wait for us each night from the 2d to the 7th of +November. + +“As we move toward the ship I detach a small device that had been +added at the last moment. It is supposed to insure an easy mooring for +the propelling apparatus, but fails to work. To rid ourselves of this +incumbrance I unsheathe my knife, lose the sheath, and am obliged to +stick the knife into the wooden cover of the apparatus. (I mention this +merely because it will explain why, later, I was so long under the +_Viribus Unitis_.) + +“At this time an incident occurs that very nearly puts an end to the +whole business. We find that, with no apparent cause, our apparatus is +gradually, unmistakably, sinking—especially at the stern, where I am. +Greatly disturbed, I endeavor to counteract this sinking by crossing +my legs beneath the stern, and by accelerating the motor, at the same +time working to open the little valve that lets air into the balance +tank at the stern. After a hurried examination, I find that the valve +for flooding the afterpart is open; how it happened I cannot imagine. +The valve is finally closed, and when air is readmitted the apparatus +returns to its normal condition. Without doubt these were the most +exciting moments of the trip. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Corporal F. H. McKaig + +_2nd Division, 6th Marines, 83rd Company_ + +He was acting as battalion runner. The Germans were counter-attacking +around Jaulny; but Corporal McKaig with truest heroism carried the +messages through the most dense enemy artillery and machine-gun fire.] + +“We continue slowly and cautiously until 4.30 when we find ourselves +at the bow of the _Viribus Unitis_, the last of the six ships that are +drawn up in line. At about 100 meters from the ship’s bow the motor is +stopped, and I move to the head of our apparatus and prepare the first +weapon of offense. The time for the explosion must be calculated from +4.30 a.m., and the mine is so regulated that it will go off four +hours from that time. This, however, is changed before finally sinking +the mine. + +“It takes from 4.30 until 4.45 to detach the mine from our propelling +apparatus. Meanwhile the current carries us along parallel to the right +side of the ship at a distance of sixty meters. We have drifted too far +toward the stern so, by using our arms as in swimming, and by putting +the propeller very gently into action, we succeed in turning our +apparatus and in getting back toward the bow of the ship near the lower +boom, at a distance of about twenty-five meters from the right side. +After another slight change of position toward the rear, on account of +the current, I detach the mine, and, swimming, push it before me until +it touches the hull. + + +ALL LIGHTED UP + +“The ship is lighted up and shows all the movement that is usual +during the night. Some one speaks on the bridge (also lighted); some +one is walking the deck. The spot toward which I am swimming is +between the second and third of the 150-millimeter guns—counting from +the stern—which corresponds roughly to the position of the principal +motors. It is a convenient position for the sure sinking of the ship. + +“On the weapon of offense is a contrivance for fixing the machine to +the hull of the ship. It is connected by a small rope that must be +loosened or cut. I set to work, but the knot is intricate and my knife +is sticking in the wooden cover of the apparatus. Consequently, as the +rope is wet and my hands numb with cold, it takes a long time to untie +that knot. Finally, after about twenty minutes, the knot yields. I then +attach the device to the hull, and also fasten it to a rope that I find +secured to the ship at this point. During the operation (it is about +5.15) I hear the morning bugle—it is sounded repeatedly—soon followed +by the noise of all hands on board awake and moving. Ashes are thrown +out close to me, and more steps sound on the deck. I must hasten and +complete the work. I change the clockwork regulating the explosion from +4 to 2; consequently the explosion should take place at 6.30. I detach +the bandage of linen and cork that has floated the mine, and sink it. +It is now 5.30. + +“I swim away from the ship as quickly as possible; the sky is cloudy, +but in the east are signs of dawn. It is a question whether I can +succeed in reaching our apparatus or whether I must swim ashore and try +to make my way to the point where they will be waiting for us. Happily, +on my right I soon see Dr. Paolucci and the apparatus about fifty +meters from the ship, and I soon reach them. + +“Again taking command, I send the apparatus as rapidly as possible +toward the bow of the ship, and parallel to it, hoping to get away +from her and to gain the north coast as we had planned. The ship’s +crew is now awake, and they must have discovered us by the excessive +natural phosphorescence, which was increased by the more rapid movement +of our apparatus. Suddenly a searchlight is operated upon the bridge +and the light is thrown on us. We remain breathlessly still for a few +moments, hoping against hope that we may not be seen. The light remains +stationary on us and we move very slowly, for, although no shot has +been fired, we understand that we have been discovered and that a boat +will now be sent out to us. + +“Dr. Paolucci, at the bow, now prepares the second mine, while I open +the valves that will sink the apparatus. In this way, while a motor +boat is leaving the ship and approaching, we abandon our apparatus +which drifts slowly forward—sinking—with the mine that will destroy it. +Our mission is ended. + + +TAKEN ON BOARD + +“The motor boat reaches us, paying no attention to our apparatus, and +they take us on board. It is 5.45. We are recognized as Italians and +they take us to the ladder on the port side of the ship. A crowd of +sailors receives us at the top of the ladder. We feel it our duty to +shout ‘_Viva l’Italia!_’ This demonstration, contrary to what might be +expected, is received in a spirit rather more cordial than hostile. +To our surprise we notice the new Jugoslav insignia on the caps. We +are asked, in Venetian dialect, how we come to be here. We answer +(as Commander Ciano had suggested) that we lighted on the water in a +hydroplane which we had afterward sunk. In the meantime they are +escorting us aft. The friendly reception and the changed nationality +of the fleet cause us to hesitate a bit; we consult and come to a +decision, asking to speak with the Captain on a very important and +urgent matter. The Captain is called, and it is 6 o’clock when he +receives me in his cabin. I give him Dr. Paolucci’s knife, which I find +myself still holding, and inform him that his ship is in immediate and +very serious danger. The Captain inquires the nature of the serious +danger and asks if other ships are in the same peril. I answer that +I cannot disclose the nature of the danger and that no other ship is +involved. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Stacy A. Lewis + +_1st Division, 2nd Machine-Gun Battalion, Company “A”_ + +On July 22, 1918, near Soissons, with great daring Sergeant Lewis +killed an entire machine-gun crew and captured their guns. He +voluntarily organized a machine-gun crew, with which in the hottest +shell fire he advanced and gave battle to the enemy.] + +“The Captain picks up his lifebelt and leaves the cabin at once, giving +loud orders in German that all should leave the ship. We follow him up +on deck, where he repeats the order—obeyed, scatteringly, by all. I ask +the Captain to permit Dr. Paolucci and myself to leave the ship. He +consents, and we go down the ladder at the right and swim off toward +the ship’s stern with the current, but impeded by the great weight of +our clothing. Numbers of swimming sailors pass us, as well as boats +loaded with members of the crew. Searchlight signals are flashed to the +nearest ship, _Tegethoff_, which sends boats to our assistance. + +“About 6.20 a boat picks us up and takes us back to the ladder on the +right of the _Viribus Unitis_, where a large boat is waiting for the +remainder of the crew. When we reach the deck we are received with +threats, though the men are not especially violent. I lose sight of +Dr. Paolucci in the crowd. It seems that they no longer believe in our +warning or in the danger. A sailor begins to rip up my waterproof suit +with his knife; others go through my pockets. + +“There is a short, smothered thunderclap; the ship shivers violently, +while a crest of foam is thrown up all along her starboard side. +External damage is very slight, but the ship heels over to the right, +at first very rapidly, then more slowly, but steadily. Most of the +crowd has left us; a few, however, now close in, threatening to shut +us up on board. The Captain, who stands a few meters off, shows no +interest in our fate. I appeal to him, reminding him that we are +prisoners of war; that what we have done, as belligerents, gives us +the right to have our persons respected; that the threatened treatment +is contrary to rules of war. The Captain acknowledges the justice of +my protest, again gives permission for us to leave, and gives orders +in German for a boat within hailing distance on the left of the stern +to return and take us off the ship. I succeed meanwhile, with the help +of Dr. Paolucci, in ridding myself of my waterproof suit, which had +hampered me in swimming and which the sailors had ripped open. + +“Dr. Paolucci and I let ourselves down into the water on the port side +of the stern. We are both pulled into the boat and can watch the end +of the _Viribus Unitis_. She is still settling on the right. When the +water almost reaches the deck—although the ship is still high out of +the water—she suddenly heels over with remarkable rapidity. In a few +seconds nothing is visible save the flat bottom of the keel and the +four screws—encircled by smoke, flames, and fragments of shattered +wood—while the sea all around is lashed up into frothy waves. One +sailor in our boat gives vent to his grief in a most touching manner; +all the others appear indifferent. If my calculations are correct not +ten minutes elapsed between the explosion and the end. + +“I have learned with sincere grief that Captain Ianko Vukovic de +Podkapelski of the _Viribus Unitis_ was wounded by a fragment of the +sunken ship while swimming to a place of safety. He was picked up +and carried to the hospital in Pola but died a few hours afterward. +Throughout, he was most chivalrous, and treated us with all the +consideration that one could expect from an honorable enemy. + + +FREED AFTER THE ARMISTICE + +“We were landed on the neighboring shore and taken, under escort, on +board the _Hapsburg_. There we were despoiled of our clothing and +given Austrian uniforms. Then we were removed to the arsenal, where we +arrived at 8. From that moment we became prisoners of war, but for four +days only. On the signing of the armistice with Austria, Italian naval +forces entered Pola—and we were free.” + + + + +RESCUE EXTRAORDINARY + +The Impossible Done in Saving Fifty Lives from the Flooded and Sunken +Submarine _K-13_ + + +One of the most dramatic episodes of the war, one in which the tragedy +of suspense was exemplified with thrilling intensity, had nothing to +do with siege or battlefield, though it partook of the nature and +perils of both. It was the salving of the _K-13_. The story was first +made public in its completeness, two years after the event, by Bennet +Copplestone, who presented the facts, as he obtained them at first +hand, in a vivid article contributed to the _Cornhill Magazine_. + +The story, which could not be released until the war ended, is of such +absorbing interest that it is here reproduced with little abbreviation. +Mr. Copplestone begins: + +“I was in Scotland when this happened that I write of, and I took the +details in all their intimate simplicity from the mouths of the chief +actors—from the salvors who sweated blood that they might be in time +to pluck live men out of a steel coffin; from those who lay below and +who, drugged by poisoned air, remained throughout indifferent to the +issue, whether of life or death. It was a queer paradox of a fight in +which the salvors, not those saved, got all the excitement and all the +thrills. + +“_K-13_ was a fleet submarine of a new type, more like a submersible +destroyer than an ordinary underwater boat. Fairfields of Govan built +her, and even now it were unwise to be too explicit in description. +But some few details are necessary for an understanding of my story. +She was over three hundred feet long and displaced two thousand tons +when submerged. Unlike most submarines, which are driven on the surface +by internal combustion engines, _K-13_ was a turbine-engined steamer +with two funnels fitted with watertight covers for closing when she +dived. The ventilators which fed air to her boiler room were also +equipped for rapid closing down. A bulkhead cut off the boiler and +engine rooms from the central control room, and another bulkhead +forward divided the control room from the foc’sle. Thus, like Cæsar’s +Gaul, _K-13_ was divided into three parts. Of her armament, which does +not concern us here, I will observe a discreet silence, though to me +it was of absorbing interest. But I must say something of her upper +works. The conning tower was large and humped forward, so that a man +could stand upright under the hump yet needed to stoop to reach the +hatch, which was on the lower unhumped portion. Above the conning tower +was a chart-house and bridge, and, of course, a mast stayed in the +usual fashion. For a submarine, therefore, the _K-13_ had a lot of top +hamper, and a passage from the conning-tower hatch, when the submarine +was under water, towards the upper air was thickly studded with perils +from the chart-house roof and the stays of the bridge and the mast. +Yet two men did pass out; one was caught and killed; the other’s luck +held—he was not killed. + +“At noon on Monday, January 29, 1917, _K-13_ left her builders’ yard to +carry out diving trials in the Gareloch. A large party was on board. +In charge of her was Commander Herbert—‘Baralong’ Herbert—and with him +went Commander Goodheart, who had been appointed skipper of another K +of similar type. Many of Fairfields’s staff were there, for _K-13_ had +not yet been taken over by the Admiralty. There were Percy Hillhouse, +the yard’s Naval Architect, Bullen, the draughtsman in charge of +submarine construction—a man who knew every nut and bolt that went +to her—Searle, the Admiralty overseer, and McLean, the yard manager +of the K submarines. It was no complement of amateurs which manned +the _K-13_ upon her fatal trip. While steaming down the Clyde she +grounded slightly at Whiteinch, but suffered no hurt. No harm was done, +and _K-13_ went on to the Gareloch, and there passed successfully +through her trials. She was accepted for the Royal Navy by the +Admiralty officials. + +[Illustration: + + Painting by Joseph Cummings Chase. + +Master Signal Electrician E. J. Moore + +_89th Division, 314th Field Signal Battalion, Company C_ + +On November 5th Moore aided in extending and maintaining a line of +communication to the assaulting battalion of the 355th Infantry between +Beauclair and Lauencille. On the night of November 10th he rendered +invaluable aid to the 356th Infantry in Pouilly, extending a telephone +line to them, and thence to La Pignepp Farm.] + + +“ONE MORE DIVE”—THEN SUNK + +“Then it was that the unexpected happened, as it always does at sea. +Herbert decided to take one more dive—perhaps just for luck, perhaps to +satisfy himself upon some nicety of trim. He gave the order to close +down and dive and the _K-13_ dived. Though the order had been given to +close down, and the reply received that the order had been carried out, +the ventilators had been left open. Instantly the water poured into the +engine and boiler rooms, drowning those within, and _K-13_ sank by the +stern. The water flowing towards the control room bulkhead compressed +the air in the room and indicated immediately what had happened to the +alert senses of Commander Herbert. ‘Our ears began to sing’ say those +who were within the belly of the ship. + +“All this occupied a space of time measured in seconds. In a few more +seconds Herbert had all compartments closed tight and the forward tanks +blown. The hydroplanes, too, were set to rise, but the resources of +seamanship could not overcome the loss of buoyancy. Overweighted by her +flooded boiler and engine rooms _K-13_ sank to the bottom, grounding +upright on the mud in twelve fathoms of water. No blowing of ballast +tanks could bring her up, for the calculations of her builders showed +that with all tanks empty she would still be too heavy by four hundred +tons to float. There is very little reserve of buoyancy about even the +biggest of submarines. + +“While Herbert in _K-13_ had been struggling to rise, his efforts +were detected and understood by skilled seamen above. An E submarine +had been attending the trials, and her officers saw at once from the +surging mass of air-bubbles that Herbert was blowing his tanks and was +in grave difficulties. Submarines dive when trimmed to float awash, +and descend or ascend by delicate movements of the horizontal rudders +(hydroplanes). In this trim when diving they are lighter than the water +displaced, and do not need to blow tanks in order to rise. Much time +was saved by the presence of the E-boat, for, when _K-13_ did not rise, +and quite evidently could not rise, she dashed off at once to gather +assistance. Had Herbert and Goodheart down below known how quickly +help was being summoned above they might not have made that fatal +though most gallant effort to pass out through the conning-tower hatch. + + +HURRYING TO THE RESCUE + +“It was at 3.30 in the afternoon that _K-13_ came to rest upon the +bottom of the Gareloch, and the short winter’s day in the North +was drawing towards sunset. As soon as the commander of the E-boat +had marked the spot where _K-13_ lay, he pressed at full speed for +Greenock, flashing as he went aerial signals to the Senior Naval +Officer in Glasgow. A salvage steamer, which was lying at Greenock, +went off at once and picked up two hoppers and two tugs as consorts. +Telegrams were dispatched to Fairfields and to Glasgow, and the news +spread quickly through those circles whose business it is to be well +informed. Not a moment was lost by those upon whose shoulders rested +the responsibility of the salvage operations. By the early hours of +Tuesday, long before daylight, a fleet of seven vessels had collected +at the spot below which, seventy feet down, _K-13_ rested motionless +in the mud. There were the Greenock salvage steamer, the two tugs, +the two hoppers, and two E-boats. With them, in charge of everything +and responsible for everything, was the S. N. O., Captain (now +Rear-Admiral) Brian Barttelot, and with him was his naval assistant, +Captain Corbett. + +“The problem before the salvors bristled with novel difficulties. In +peace and war we had lost many submarines, but never had a live man +been taken out of one which had sunk. Barttelot was limited by what +was mechanically possible. He had not—as I confess now that I had +when composing ‘The Last of the Grenvillas’—the guiding light of a +precedent. First he had to get into continuous communication with the +survivors of _K-13’s_ company, for without their coöperation he was +helpless to aid them. Then he had to devise a rapid and effective means +to supply them with air and food for a period which might stretch into +days. And, lastly, he had to get them out. That was the worst of his +problems—how to get them out. For remember _K-13_ was a great bulky +double-skinned lump of a vessel of two thousand solid tons and of more +than three hundred feet in length. She was not the kind of craft which +could easily be raised. + +“But although Barttelot’s difficulties were great his advantages were +greater. He had nothing to fear from bad weather—the Gareloch is narrow +and well sheltered. He had within reach the incalculable resources of +the biggest shipbuilding center in the world. And there in Glasgow he +had, too, just round the corner, the builders of _K-13_, who knew the +work of their own hands as a man knows the picture which he has painted +or the book which he has written. There was yet another advantage, and +one which was not small. There inside _K-13_, if they could be got +at, were four of Fairfields’s experts who would supply that intimate +technical knowledge of the craft which the salvors themselves could not +possess. Once communication had been established, Fairfields in Glasgow +and Fairfields in _K-13_ would be linked to the chain of salvage, and +would lift success from the barely possible up to the almost probable. + + +TUBES FOR AIR AND FOOD + +“Meanwhile Fairfields in Glasgow were hard at work. A special staff +of draughtsmen and mechanics were put on to the construction of two +flexible tubes, one designed for the passage of air and food, and +the other for bringing up the men one by one, if no other and better +means was found to be possible. The first tube, in comparison with +the second, was easy of construction. It was seven inches in diameter +and fitted with a screw union to connect with the circular ammunition +hoist beside one of the deck guns of _K-13_. The other, built of steel +sections, was designed to fit tightly over the torpedo hatch by means +of a connecting frame. The first was the more immediately urgent, for +until it was completed and fixed in place the survivors in the sunken +submarine must remain coffined. Both were put in hand long before +communication had been established between the salvors and _K-13_, +and here one sees how completely the lives of all the imprisoned men +depended upon Fairfields’s exact knowledge. Both tubes would have been +useless unless their dimensions had been precisely correct. There +was no need to press Fairfields’s workmen not to waste a moment; by +night as well as by day they threw into their pious task every ounce +of energy and every refinement of skill which they possessed. To lay +hand to the work was an honor for which all eagerly competed. Though +both tubes were completed in an astonishingly short time, and the first +proved to be invaluable, the efficiency of the second—the man-saver—was +not tested. Other means were successfully employed to get the men out. +But this does not detract in any way from the merits of its design +and of its rapid accomplishment. Battles may be won without calling +upon the reserves, but he would be a very poor general who had not the +reserves ready, if need be, at his call. + +“For the time being the salvage party could do little except to send +divers down and to open up communications with the men whom they had +come to save. Until the first tube, which I have just described, was +ready to their hands, they could take few active measures. The vessels +and plant at Barttelot’s disposal were quite incapable of raising the +great hull which lay below them, and the famous Ranger, for which he +had telegraphed to Liverpool, could not arrive till the following +day. The Ranger, owned by the Liverpool Salvage Association, had been +requisitioned by the Admiralty early in the war, and had proved as +powerfully effective in war as she had been in peace. She is worthy +of her name, for under Captain Young—the most accomplished of living +salvage officers—she has ranged over the world, picking up wrecks a +dozen times her size with an ease which looks almost miraculous. + + +A JOB THAT CALLED FOR FINESSE + +“I have seen her at work. She is a little old composite steamer built +of iron and teak—incredibly old, fifty years at least; she knocks about +among wreckage as indifferent to hard blows as was Nansen’s Fram; +and she brings to her never-ending jobs gear and brains which make +their incredible accomplishment seem easy. _K-13_, emptied of men, +would soon have been lightened and raised by the Ranger’s tremendous +steam pumps—she will lift a dreadnought if it be not damaged beyond +possibility of patching up by her divers—but _K-13_, with fifty living +men inside, called for finesse rather than power. It was the men, not +the ship, that Barttelot and Young were out to save. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by Paul Thompson._ + +The Result of a Depth-Charge Explosion + +The depth charge was the most efficacious means in dealing with the +submarine. The charges varied from one to over six hundred pounds of +TNT—trinitrotoluol.] + +“And while in the cold pale light of that Tuesday morning in the North +the salvors sent down divers to call in friendly Morse upon their +comrades below, and to cheer them with the assurance of rescue, the +unexpected happened again, as it always does at sea. Suddenly before +the astonished eyes of the salvage party up shot a column of foam +and bubbles, and in the center of an artificial whirlpool gyrated +stern upwards a human body. And a very live body it proved to be when +up-ended and pulled clear of the water. Involuntarily, without the +smallest intention of quitting, Commander Herbert had been boosted by +the ill-mannered high-pressure air out of his own ship, and flung, a +bedraggled, gasping figure, in shirt and trousers, almost into the arms +of his would be rescuers. How he came out I will now tell, and in doing +so will return to 3.30 p.m. on the Monday when _K-13_ settled down in +the mud of the Gareloch. + + +INSIDE THE SUNKEN SHIP + +“She lay upon an even keel in seventy feet of water. In her flooded +after-compartment, shut off from the control room by a strong closed +bulkhead, were twenty-eight dead bodies, including that of Engineer +Lieutenant Lane. The engine room and boiler room staffs—twenty-three +men of the navy and five of Fairfields—had all been instantly +drowned when the submarine dived with her ventilators open. The fore +bulkhead had also been closed, and in the control room were gathered +the fifty-one survivors of the disaster. The air pressure in the +compartment, raised by the inflow of water to about two atmospheres, +dulled the sense of all and induced an apathy which increased into +hopeless fatalism as the slow hours passed. Among the men there was +little talking. One heard at first an almost careless comment, ‘Rotten +way to die. We would sooner go under fighting Germans.’ That was all; +no complaints and no trace of panic. No one expected to be saved, and +no one cared very much. With Herbert and Goodheart, his guest, it was, +of course, different. Upon them and on Fairfields’s officials rested a +nerve-racking responsibility. + +“At first there appeared to be little danger that the survivors would +lack for air. The high-pressure bottles were far from empty, and the +bodies and minds of those within _K-13_ were suffering from too much +air, not from too little. Food they could do without for a long while, +for no one wanted to eat, and even after supplies came from above few +ate. The men were not hungry, but thirst devoured them, a thirst little +appeased by copious draughts of water. + + +DANGER OF POISONOUS GASES + +“The real dangers lay unseen below and around. Behind the +after-bulkhead stood a wall of water at a pressure of thirty-one pounds +to the square inch, against which the strength of the steel, supported +by the air pressure in the control room, was a sufficient barrier. +But though the bulkhead might have been in little danger of collapse, +it could not prevent water from leaking through. Those leaks were the +deadly peril. If the oozing salt water had reached the fully charged +electric batteries of the vessel poisonous chlorine gas would have been +given off and the control room turned into a mortuary. The batteries +never were reached, but the risk, even the probability that they would +be, was always present to the subconscious minds of officers and men. +Perhaps it was this, as much as the air pressure, which caused that +disbelief in rescue which remained with them up to the moment of actual +safety. + +“But though the salt water did not turn the batteries into ministers +of death, it did its best to suffocate the unhappy men who crowded +_K-13’s_ control room. It reached and short-circuited the switch, +causing some of the cables to fuse. Fumes of stinking smoke from the +burning insulation befouled the air, and the fire was put out with +the greatest difficulty. The switch could not be touched and the +current cut off, so no method of extinction remained except to beat +out the fire with lumps of wood wrapped in cloth. In this way it was +extinguished but the stink remained. + + +THROUGH THE CONNING-TOWER HATCH—A DARING IDEA + +“It was on Tuesday morning that Goodheart obtained permission from +Herbert to go out through the conning-tower hatch and to carry news +of the disaster to the world outside. No one in the sunken vessel knew +anything of the work of salvage which had begun within a few minutes +of the _K-13’s_ fatal last dive. To the officers and men of _K-13_ it +seemed that they were isolated and already dead to the human family. +The risks of the issue from the conning tower were beyond experience, +but the attempt at any rate was accepted by the gallant Goodheart as a +sacred duty. If he could get out alive, then the survivors of _K-13_ +would no longer be dead to the world and might conceivably be saved. +If he were killed, well, he would be killed in the way of business. +While it was Herbert’s plain duty to stick to his ship, it was equally +Goodheart’s duty to clear out and to be jolly quick about it. So he +argued, and Herbert, a man of the same fine quality, accepted his +arguments as palpably sound. Nothing remained except to devise means +and methods of exit. + +“It was decided to go forth by way of the conning-tower hatch and to +use high-pressure air from the bottles to speed the passage. I have +explained how one part of the conning tower was humped. The general +idea was for Goodheart and Herbert to climb up into the conning tower +and to take station together under this hump, where they had head room +to stand upright. They would then close the lower hatch which gave upon +the control room and have nothing between them and the upper outside +water except a bolted sheet of steel. The density of the air cooped up +with them would be roughly two atmospheres (twenty-eight pounds to the +square inch) and the water pressure outside about thirty-one pounds. +If, then, the sea-cocks were opened the water would flow in not too +furiously and would fill the lower part of the tower, but would be +prevented by the imprisoned air from rising very high in the hump. +There the men could stand in extreme discomfort, no doubt, and under +severe pressure, but, nevertheless, alive and active. Then those inside +would turn on high-pressure air in large quantities so as to expel the +water and to give Goodheart a handsome lift from behind when he sought +to be gone through the upper hatch. Herbert went with Goodheart to help +him and to wish him Godspeed in his passing, but with no intention +of following in his path. His place was with his men. It was a path +both tortuous and full of unknown dangers. Above the conning tower was +a chart-house, of which the roof opposed a formidable obstacle to a +vertical ascent. There was a large manhole in this roof, but, unluckily +for Goodheart’s bold scheme, it was not cut directly above the hatch. +This inclination of the passage out caused Goodheart’s death. + + +“DIED A MOST GALLANT OFFICER” + +“The two officers made their way to the conning tower, secured the +lower hatch, then through the opened sea-cocks in rushed the water, +but standing in security under the hump the heads and shoulders of +the men remained uncovered. A moment later, according to plan, the +high-pressure air from below was driven in and the bolts of the upper +hatch withdrawn. ‘Good-bye, sir,’ said Goodheart; I’ll try now,’ and +stooping under the open hatch he was carried forth. Those were his last +words, for, missing the aperture above, he was caught under the roof of +the chart-house and drowned. + +“There died a most gallant young officer, to whose memory, months +afterwards, a posthumous award was made of the Albert Medal in gold. +The powerful air, forced in by the pressure from the bottles, continued +to surge into the conning tower, driving the water before it and +tearing the helpless Herbert from his retreat under the hump. He was +whirled out in the center of a column of air and water, carried safely +through the manhole in the roof of the chart-house and clear of the +mast stays, and delivered at the surface like a scrap of wreckage. He +went up with both hands before his face, and declares, according to my +authorities, that he breathed all through his ascent. He was picked +up immediately and insisted upon giving all possible information and +guidance to the salvors before accepting any of their kind offices for +himself. + + +MORSE CODE CONVERSATIONS + +“We have reached noon on Tuesday and the survivors of _K-13_ have +been entombed for more than twenty hours. No word had yet come to +them from outside of the efforts which were actively in progress for +their rescue. But they were not destined to remain much longer in +ignorance. Even while Herbert and Goodheart were making that effort at +communication, which had been so grievously costly, the leaden soles +of a diver were planted on the submarine’s deck. At first attempts +were made to flash signals through the periscope, but the surer and +simpler method of tapping Morse dots and dashes on the steel plating +was quickly substituted. Between the inner and outer skins of _K-13_ +were interposed five feet of water, admitted through flap valves in +order to distribute the pressure when she penetrated the depths of the +sea. Linked together by stays and trusses, these two skins formed an +encircling girder of immense strength. Water is an excellent conductor +of sound, and the Morse taps of the divers without could have been +readily heard and interpreted by those within had their senses not been +dulled by the thick bad atmosphere. Conduction was indeed so good that +the replies of _K-13_, struck on the frames of the ship, were picked +up and read without difficulty by the salvors on the surface of the +loch. It happened, therefore, that though outside talked to inside +and replies were received, it was by no means easy to get inside, to +grasp and to carry out precisely what outside wanted done. And it was +found to be particularly difficult to secure the exact and essential +coöperation of those within _K-13_ when that flexible tube arrived +which had been designed by Fairfields to be screwed into an ammunition +hoist upon the deck. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant Clarence W. Dawson + +_168th Infantry, Company “B”_ + + Near Badonville, on March 5, 1918, a small group of combatants had + survived a bombardment on their front line. They were wounded and + entirely surrounded. Sergeant Dawson was the Corporal of the group, + and when the Germans attempted to mop them up, he bravely resisted + them and succeeded in repelling their attempts to raid the position + until assistance came to them.] + + +“THE LIMITS OF HUMAN ENDURANCE” + +“This was in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and by that time +the unhappy men imprisoned within the submarine were approaching the +limits of human endurance. Though no chlorine gas actually had been +given off by the electric batteries, the air in the control room was so +foul as to be almost unbreathable. Fresh air from the bottles, without +means to expel the poisonous atmosphere of the ship, would only have +increased a density which was already unbearable. Many in drugged sleep +forgot their troubles, and even those few upon whose alertness hung +the lives of all, had become drowsy and sluggish. Vitality was ebbing; +the love of life, and with it the expectation of rescue, had passed +from all. The company of _K-13_ may be divided during this period of +imprisonment into sleepers and somnambulists, and it was only because +trained minds retained some small part of their habitual control over +exhausted bodies that the somnambulists were able to understand and +to coöperate sufficiently with the salvors to bring this story to its +happy conclusion. + +“The long flexible tube, seven inches in diameter, which was to open up +a clear passage between _K-13_ and the upper air, arrived at 4. a.m. on +Wednesday morning, but it was not until four hours later that it was in +place and in effective operation. To the eager salvers the delays were +exasperating; there were many more delays, even more exasperating, to +be suffered, before their job was finished. They had to explain to the +enfeebled folk within precisely where the tube was to be fixed up and +how they were themselves to complete the open passage. The tube was +designed to screw, by means of an adaptor, into an ammunition hoist, +and, when this was done, it needed but the removal of the retaining +plate inside to put the device to immediate use. + + +FRESH AIR AT LAST! + +“When the salvors had done their part it was for the prisoners to do +the rest—to remove the inner plate as quickly as they pleased. But +when it came to explaining this not very complicated operation by +tapping out messages in Morse on the deck it was by no means easy to +get _K-13’s_ survivors to take it in. By patient repetition that was +done at last, and then the divers busied themselves with fixing up the +tube. They had to measure the screw threads, so that the adaptor might +be made to fit accurately and to prepare a packing of tow soaked in +tallow to exclude the water. A salvage steamer is a traveling workshop +and divers are skilled mechanics, so that this part of the job, though +it might consume time, presented no difficulties. By eight o’clock on +the Wednesday morning the tube had been screwed firmly into place, the +inner plate of the hoist had been removed, and the men, who had for +forty and a half hours lain buried in a steel coffin, were at length +enabled to draw into their impoverished lungs air which was free from +pollution. It was scarcely the fresh air of heaven, for it came out of +an E-boat’s bottles, but though tinned it was a draught of infinite +refreshment. The pumps of _K-13_ were at once set working and the two +days’ accumulations of foul smells and gases were thankfully expelled. +A pipe run down the now open tube brought blasts of high-pressure air +which were allowed to expand and to blow away all festering impurities; +this pipe also brought replenishment to _K-13’s_ bottles. With the +power of her charged batteries and her refilled air-bottles, she was +now ready to play her part in the work of salvage. + +“The salvors had got through in time to save, but the margin was +small. At 6 a.m., two hours before the tube was opened into the +sunken submarine, the water leaking through the after-bulkhead had +short-circuited the lighting cables, and _K-13_ was utter darkness. To +the men imprisoned it must have seemed the darkness of the tomb. Even +the strongest among them could not have borne up very much longer. They +were so little capable of excitement that not a man cheered when the +air-tube was opened. + + +LEAKS IN THE BULKHEAD + +For the salvors the worst had passed, but for the prisoners the worst +had yet to come. Fourteen more hours of suffering had to be endured +before the rescue was completed, and they were hours more full of +perils than those which had passed. The devils of the sea were not +willing to yield their prey to the efforts of man. One of these perils +was the old haunting threat of chlorine gas intensified. Of the others +I will tell in their place. When the control room was opened up to the +outer air by the tube which had been fitted the pressure within fell to +the normal. It had been raised when the submarine sank by the intrusion +of hundreds of tons of water into the enclosed space of the hull. But +the pressure in the flooded compartments and upon the bulkhead, which +alone stood between the survivors and death by drowning, remained at +thirty-one pounds to the square inch. The leaks in this bulkhead at +once increased and the water gushed through in greater volume. It +looked as if the means which had saved the men from a slow death from +suffocation would hand them over to a quick death from poison gas. + +“If the salt water had reached the powerful batteries it must have been +decomposed into its constituents and given off gas in deadly volumes. +The expedient was adopted of pumping the incoming water into the bilge, +but this could not continue indefinitely. Time was now an even more +urgent factor in the rescue than it had been during the previous two +days. This was fully understood by the salvors, who furiously yet +with orderly precision redoubled their efforts. It was decided not to +attempt the removal of the men one by one through Fairfields’s big +steel tube which had been made to fit over the torpedo hatch. The +method was too uncertain and, even if feasible, too slow. Instead of +risking all upon this doubtful means of egress, Barttelot determined +to throw all the energies of his plant and staff into raising the +bows of _K-13_ above the water and cutting a hole through her double +skin. The _Ranger_ was on the way and would soon arrive; what he could +not do without her would become comparatively easy with her powerful +assistance. + + +TILTING UP THE BOW + +“In the afternoon she came, and Barttelot, though he remained +responsible, gladly handed over the entire direction of the critical +operations to Captain Young. They could not have passed into better +hands. No experience in salvage in any part of the world counts beside +that of Young and his _Ranger_. Sunset was approaching, and night would +soon overshadow the Gareloch. But this mattered little. The _Ranger_, +accustomed to work at all hours of the night and day, was equipped +with arc lights which could shatter any darkness. It was easy now to +communicate with _K-13_ through the tube and to make clear how she was +to help herself. She was over three hundred feet long—three hundred and +forty feet, to be precise—and did not need to be tilted very steeply to +bring her nose and upper bow plates clear of the surface. But to be got +up into a working position she must be lightened forward. This was done +by blowing all the forward oil tanks. The heavily loaded stern held +tight in the Gareloch mud, but the bows were free and, as the tanks +were blown, they lifted rapidly. They heaved up through ten degrees, +and the salvors who were watching for the movement instantly whipped +steel hawsers under the fore-part of the submarine and secured the ends +to bollards on tugs alongside. _K-13_ was up, but would she remain up? +It seemed most unlikely, and remained most unlikely until the end. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Captain Maurice W. Howe + +_42nd Division, 167th Infantry_ + +In the early hours of September 22, 1918, Captain Howe with his company +successfully raided the village of Haumont; causing decimating losses +among the enemy and taking seventeen prisoners. Then alone he went to +Haumont a second time to make sure that none of his men were left there +wounded.] + +“The hawsers—six-inch—were too light for the job, but none stronger +were at hand. No sooner were the bows of _K-13_ up and secured than +her stern began to slip backwards into the mud. Before she brought up +against hard ground she had gone back thirty feet. More hawsers were +whipped under her and held, but there was no security that they would +continue to hold. There was no security for anything. It was a fight +for life against the ruthless chances and devilries of the sea. + + +CUTTING A HOLE IN THE SIDE + +“The supreme risk had to be taken of cutting a big hole through the +outer and inner skins. If when it was cut the hawsers parted, or _K-13_ +by burying her stern still more deeply escaped from their embrace, all +would be over. The men remaining in the vessel, forty-nine of them, +would follow into the shades their dead messmates whose bodies lay in +the boiler and engine rooms. But whatever the risk the hole had to be +cut, and that quickly. + +“Inside the submarine, hope, which may have flickered a little when +the air-tube was first opened, had given place to the old dull apathy. +Food and drink had been passed down the tube, but appetite for them +had vanished. They struggled mechanically, as trained British seamen +always will so long as life is in them; they struggled mechanically +like automata against the incoming water. It was difficult to move +about upon the most urgent duties. The wet and slippery floor of the +control room lay now on a long upward slant upon which the half-dazed +seamen stumbled and fell. There was no lack of courage; no one grumbled +or lamented; but frail human bodies have their limits of endurance, and +those limits had been reached. + +“Yet the men worked on and did their utmost to carry out the directions +of those who led them. The place where the hole was about to be cut +lay far towards the bows, and to reach it from within the fore bulkhead +must be opened. But when it was sought to unclose the bulkhead which +divided the control room from the foc’sle, it was found that the door +had jammed and would not slide back. For hours this miserable shut +door stood between these men and freedom. Somehow at last it was +got open, but no one has clearly told me how. It was not until the +survivors of _K-13_ had for a long time been above water that they +became voluble—and untrustworthy. At the moment of rescue, or shortly +afterwards, they remembered as little as one on awakening in the +morning remembers the details of a dream. Yet they remembered that +door, how it stood there obdurate for hours and at last yielded. Though +how it had stuck or why it yielded they could not say. + + +“A DEVIL OF A LOT OF WATER” + +“Meanwhile the hole in the bows was being cut, and the cutting of this +holes supplies me with one pleasing bit of comedy with which to round +off this rather grim story. Any acetylene plant makes butter of steel +plates, and it was very rapid work to draw the spouting white flame, +fed from the _Ranger’s_ plant, round a rough circle marked out on +_K-13’s_ bows. The outer skin was quickly cut through. Within lay water +filling up the space honeycombed with cross ties between the inner and +outer skins. Before the inner hole could be cut, this water must be +pumped out. The place selected for the hole could not be reached by +the steam salvage pumps, so the men working upon the submarine’s hull +were compelled to fit gear for pumping the water out by hand. They knew +that it was no more than five feet deep, so they bent their backs to +it cheerfully. But they were less cheerful when they found that their +efforts produced no appreciable result. ‘There must be a devil of a lot +of water between these skins,’ said they, and bent to the task once +more. Shift followed shift, and the pumping went on. It was a tiresome, +backwearying business, but precious lives were at stake, and they would +get that water down and the inner hole cut if they died of disgust in +the doing of it. But the water showed no sign of going down. How long +this pumping went on I cannot say with precision. Admittedly it was +hours, probably as many hours as it took to pry open that obtrusive +bulkhead door, for some of the survivors of _K-13_ had got through +their job and arrived under the pumpers’ feet while they were still +pumping. + +“It then occurred to the slaves of the hand-pump to seek after +enlightenment from those whom they were pumping to save. ‘How long is +it going to take,’ asked they, ‘to get rid of this damned water between +the skins?’ They were asked by one of Fairfields’s experts how long +they had been pumping. The reply was ‘Hours.’ ‘Have you closed the flap +valves?’ dryly asked the man of Fairfields. They hadn’t; the water was +coming in just as fast as they pumped it out; they had been trying with +hand-gear to pump out the ocean! + + +SAVED AFTER 54½ HOURS + +“After this little discovery progress became rapid. The valves, which +admitted water between the skins, were closed and it did not take +long then to get through. A hole was cut by acetylene flame in the +inner skin and the way out was opened at last. It was ten o’clock on +Wednesday evening, January 31, fifty-four and a half hours after _K-13_ +had sunk, that her forty-nine survivors emerged into the blazing arc +lights which shone from the _Ranger’s_ masts. They could not speak; +many of them could scarcely walk. One by one they were helped by kindly +hands along a gangway to a tug and thence to the shore. They stumbled +ashore, unconscious of the cheers which greeted them, gazing without +recognition upon the friends who welcomed them. And so to Shandon, +where they were put straight into hot baths and lifted thence into +bed. For they were dumb and perished with cold. It is always cold in +a deep-diving submarine even in high summer; in the bowels of _K-13_, +lying seventy feet deep in the Northern mid-winter, the cold, though +little noticed at the time, had been paralyzing. Forty hours of bad and +poisonous air, fifty-four hours of bitter cold, had brought the bright +flame of these men’s life down to a poor flicker. But recovery was +rapid, and not one of the survivors disappointed by dying those who had +saved him. + +“Twenty hours after the last man had been plucked out of _K-13_ the +hawsers which held her up parted, and she sank to the bottom of the +Gareloch. + +“The world did not ring with news of the story which I have told, for +the censor forbade. But His Majesty, who was a sailor before he was +a King and remains first and always a sailor, sent to Barttelot a +telegram of which the purport, rendered in the language of the naval +signal book, ran ‘Maneuver Well Executed.’” + + + + +I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH + +_By_ + +Alan Seeger + + + I have a rendezvous with Death + At some disputed barricade, + When Spring comes back with rustling shade + And apple-blossoms fill the air— + I have a rendezvous with Death + When Spring brings back blue days and fair. + + It may be he shall take my hand + And lead me into his dark land + And close my eyes and quench my breath— + It may be I shall pass him still. + I have a rendezvous with Death + On some scarred slope of battered hill, + When Spring comes round again this year + And the first meadow-flowers appear. + + God knows ’twere better to be deep + Pillowed in silk and scented down, + Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep + Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath, + Where hushed awakenings are dear.... + But I’ve a rendezvous with Death + At midnight in some flaming town, + When Spring trips north again this year, + And I to my pledged word am true, + I shall not fail that rendezvous. + + From _Poems_. Copyrighted 1916 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. By + permission of the Publishers. + +[Illustration: A Poster Used for the Marine Recruiting Campaign] + + + + +TRICKING THE TURK + +Lieutenant-Commander Holbrook’s Perilous Adventure to Surprise and Blow +Up a Warship at the Dardanelles + + +It hardly need surprise any one that each of a multiplicity of +deeds and feats of daring and heroic adventure should, by different +writers, correspondents, or official observers, be described as the +most notable, the most brilliant, or the most courageous undertaking +or achievement of the war. The simple fact is that the unparalleled +war called for the souls and spirit and mental qualities of men as +never did war before, and so many things were done that amounted to +triumphs over the impossible, each one of which taken by itself seemed +to overtop all others, that it would require a concourse of Solomons +to determine which was the supreme excellence. They were all striking +enough to command the superlatives of description. And some of these +great accomplishments need but a few lines for their recital. It is not +the volume of words that determines the value. + +One of these briefly recorded deeds was that of Lieutenant-Commander +Norman D. Holbrook, of the British submarine _B-11_, which “all his +brother officers concur in regarding as one of the finest individual +feats performed during the war.” + +In the Dardanelles the old Turkish battleship _Messudiyeh_ lay +in guard of the mine fields, and, acting on his own initiative, +Lieutenant-Commander Holbrook set out to sink the old ship by +torpedoing her at her anchorage where she idled under the protecting +guns of the land forts. It was, from the viewpoint of the conservative +minded, a mad enterprise. Even under the most favorable conditions +the underwater navigation of the Dardanelles is most perilous, beset +with forbidding difficulties, so swift are the currents that never +cease racing through the straits, producing swift whirlpools and +strong eddies as they strike projections. But when to these natural +obstructions and dangers are added five distinct rows of mines it +would seem that running the Dardanelles in a submarine would prove +a feat quite impossible of accomplishment. That is what many said +dissuasively; but Lieutenant Holbrook is apparently one of those who +hold the opinion that nothing conceivable is impossible. He set out +with Lieutenant Sydney Thornton Winn, his second in command, and his +regular crew. Cautiously, slowly the _B-11_ stole along toward its +objective, fairly crawling to avoid the rows of mines and beat the +swirling currents. Arrived clear of the mines, but uncertain of the +exact location of the _Messudiyeh_, Lieutenant Holbrook deliberately +came to the surface in the bay, took an informing survey, submerged +again and a little while later rose in perfect position for a shot and +sent a torpedo crashing into the side of the astonished old warship +that immediately proceeded about the business of sinking to the bottom +of the sea. + + +A COMPASSLESS RETURN + +But the shot that settled the _Messudiyeh_ aroused the forts and +started the torpedo boats, and the _B-11_ became the target of the +guns. She promptly sought refuge by a dive and had to lie submerged +for several hours to elude her hunters. The object of the hazardous +excursion accomplished, there was the problem of getting back, which +was now gravely complicated by the fact that the compass of _B-11_ went +wrong in the commotion and was not dependable. The Lieutenant had to +find his way out without it. But he did it; passing again the five rows +of mines, escaping the swirl of the currents that seemed rushing to +slam the submarine against the rocks, returning to station safely and +without casualty or mishap. + +That was Dec. 14 and Dec. 26 the London _Gazette_ published the +announcement that the King had approved the grant of the Victoria +Cross to Lieutenant Holbrook, and that Lieutenant Winn had been made +a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. A writer at that time +said: + +“That the torpedoed battleship was guarding the mine field adds a touch +of comedy to the proceedings that must have been singularly gratifying +to Lieutenant Holbrook and his gallant companions who crept along the +sea floor with him that eventful day.” + + + + +CANADIANS + +_By_ + +W. H. Ogilvie + + + With arrows on their quarters and with numbers on their hoofs, + With the trampling sound of twenty that re-echoes in the roofs, + Low of crest and dull of coat, wan and wild of eye, + Through our English village the Canadians go by. + + Shying at a passing cart, swerving from a car, + Tossing up an anxious head to flaunt a snowy star, + Racking at a Yankee gait, reaching at the rein, + Twenty raw Canadians are tasting life again! + + Hollow-necked and hollow-flanked, lean of rib and hip, + Strained and sick and weary with the wallow of the ship, + Glad to smell the turf again, hear the robin’s call, + Tread again the country road they lost at Montreal! + + Fate may bring them dule and woe; better steeds than they + Sleep beside the English guns a hundred leagues away; + But till war hath ned of them, lightly lie their reins, + Softly fall the feet of them along the English lanes. + + Author and _Country Life_. + + + + +FIRST OF ITS KIND + +Eye-witness Account of a Duel at Sea between Great Steamers Built for +Passenger Traffic + + +Early in the war the Cunard trans-Atlantic steamer _Carmania_ was +converted into an auxiliary cruiser. Painted black from stem to stern +(that was before the art of “camouflage” was introduced), and mounted +with eight 4.7 guns, she left Liverpool for a reconnoitering cruise +in the South Atlantic. Between 600 and 700 miles east of the coast of +Brazil there is a small island of rock known as Trinidad (not to be +confused with the West Indian Island of that name). The _Carmania_ came +in sight of this island one morning toward the end of September and +discovered three steamers in the vicinity. As soon as these steamers +caught sight of the piratical looking _Carmania_ they moved about +uncertainly for a time and then made off. But when it was apparent +that the black intruder was alone, the largest of the three steamers +turned back. This ship proved to be the _Cap Trafalgar_, a magnificent +steamer, the chief of the Hamburg-South American Line, built for the +special purpose of successful competition with the British Royal Mail +in securing the South American passenger traffic and shipping trade. +She too was equipped as an auxiliary cruiser, with eight 4.1 guns, up +to date, their newness offsetting the extra caliber of the _Carmania’s_ +older guns. + +The tonnage of the _Carmania_ was 19,524, that of the _Cap Trafalgar_, +18,710. Splendid targets, both “so colossal,” said a writer, “as to +be beyond the possibility of a failure to hit with any gun-layer.” +A well-matched pair—ocean-going palaces, taken from their peaceful +pursuits, transformed into war machines, neither having any appreciable +advantage over the other as a belligerent, and now ranged against each +other for a decisive duel. There was a fair field, too, for the two +steamers seen with the _Cap Trafalgar_ continued their retreat and +disappeared across the horizon, though one returned later. + +It was the first sea duel of its kind. Never before had two floating +hotels played at gun fire with each other, each intent on sending the +other to Davy Jones’s locker if possible. When the action began the +vessels were separated by about 8,000 yards, and their nearest approach +was about 4,000 yards. As the sinking of its enemy was the aim, the +guns of each combatant were directed at the water line of the other. +Of the first few shells fired by the _Cap Trafalgar_, three made holes +in the _Carmania_ at and above the water line, one tore through the +stewards’ quarters, one smashed the lower deck galley and carried away +the fire main leading to the bridge and fore-part of the ship, the +latter the most serious damage. + +A report of the engagement written two hours after, by one who took +part in it was published in the _War Album De-Luxe_, from which the +following is taken: + + +A DISTURBED LUNCHEON + +“One never saw such a scatter as when we sat down to lunch and +‘Action!’ was sounded! Feeling ran high that this time we were in +earnest; everyone was at his post in the twinkling of an eye. Ten +minutes afterwards the conflict started, at a range of about six miles, +both ships closing rapidly. The din that followed was unnatural and +terrifying, and men’s hearts leaped to their mouths, for here was +death amongst us. But the heat of work changed white faces to red. +Blood once seen revives savagery in the human breast, and all our +thoughts, after those first few moments, were concentrated in the grim +work at hand, which was to sink as speedily as possible the monster +that was vomiting red and steaming arrogantly towards us. + +“By a clever maneuver our captain turned the ship round just as the +enemy was bringing his pom-poms into play as well as the big guns, and +brought our starboard battery, fresh and eager, to bear. Then we turned +into demons, in a scene that had turned diabolical. Screaming shrapnel, +returned by salvos of common shell, splinters everywhere, lumps of +iron, patches of paint, a hurricane of things flying, hoarse shouting, +and unintelligible sounds from dry throats, men discarding garments, +and laughing with delirium—over all a white pall hiding the ghastly +work. + +“What matter that a shot cannoned down the after companion and laid low +three of the whip party? Volunteers were not wanting to close in the +breach and keep up a brisk supply of ammunition to the hungry guns. +Or that a shot glanced off the shield of No. 1 gun, past the officer +in charge, and blew away the neck of a corporal of Marines passing +projectiles along the deck, leaving him leaning over the magazine +hatchway, head dangling down, and dripping blood on to the madmen +working below? Or that a shell burst by the feet of a man carrying +another one in his hands? + +“Word went round that we were on fire forward—the bridge, in fact, +was blazing. A shell had torn through the cabins below, setting them +alight, and the flames by this time reached and enveloped the bridge, +since water could not be turned on in the first instance, as the main +on the lower deck had been shot away. But the ill news was more than +compensated for by the frenzied announcement that the enemy was also on +fire and listing, moreover, on his side. So our main control was gone. +The captain, first lieutenant, and navigating party had to leave the +bridge to the flames—not before gaining us victory, however, by the +splendid way they handled the ship in heading off the enemy, preventing +him from turning round and bringing his idle guns on the port side to +bear, and by keeping him on our starboard quarter so we were able to +use five of our guns to his four. + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Major William A. Snow + +_2nd Division, 2nd Engineers, Company “E”_ + +He was cited four times in Division orders and twice recommended for +the Distinguished Service Cross. He went into the first line at Verdun +March, 1918. When the British were attacked by the Germans in the +vicinity of Beauvais, in April, he received his majority in time to be +in command of a battalion at Château-Thierry.] + +“The enemy listed a little more, and our work was done; his shooting +became higher and more erratic, then stopped altogether. We ceased +firing, and turned our attention to fighting the flames roaring up +on high in the fore part of the ship. Luckily, we were able to stop +the engines and keep the ship before the wind. The bridge and all its +precious fittings and contents were doomed, as also the cabins below +it; the officers who occupied them lost all their effects. A fireproof +door in the staircase leading to the lower cabins effectually kept the +fire from spreading in this direction, otherwise there might not have +been very much left of the _Carmania_. The action raged hotly for an +hour; after that, desultory firing was continued until the end. + +“Of the two colliers that accompanied the enemy, one steamed away at +the commencement of the action and was never seen again. The other, +and smaller of the two, followed suit until he noticed the plight of +his escort, and returned to pick up the survivors. Anon, an order went +round the decks: ‘All firemen down below.’ The firemen had been doing +yeoman service, running hoses and buckets of water to the scene of +the fire, just as the stewards had distinguished themselves by taking +round water and limejuice to the guns’ crews under shell fire, and +also helping with carrying away the wounded. The reason for this order +was ominous. The yeoman of signals had sighted smoke on the horizon to +the north, and made out a bunch of funnels. It could not but be the +_Dresden_, or whatever German cruiser the armed merchantman we fought +was in company with, returning to the assistance of her consort, who +had been signaling to her during the action. A great pity, indeed, one +of our cruisers was not in touch with us at the time. What a fine haul +it would have been! + + +_Vale_, CAP TRAFALGAR! + +“Just as we got the fire well in hand, and were starting to run to the +American coast, we beheld the most awe-inspiring sight of our lives—the +last moments of an ocean leviathan. The wounded ship, distant from us +about five miles, suddenly lurched over on the starboard beam-ends, +looking for all the world as if she were about to turn turtle. Lower +and lower she went, until her huge funnels were level with the water, +pointing in our direction like two tunnels side by side, and dense +clouds of smoke and steam escaped from all parts of her as from a +volcano in a high state of activity. As quickly again, the mammoth +righted herself; down, down went her bows; up and up her stern, till +quite one-third of the hull stood upright to the sky; then, with a +majestic plunge, she slid beneath the waves, game to the end, for the +last to disappear was the German flag. + +“A ring of foam and half a dozen boats crowded with dark forms were all +that were left at 2 p.m. of the brave _Cap Trafalgar_ and her ornate +saloons and winter gardens, the ship that conveyed Prince Henry of +Prussia on his triumphant tour of the South American Republics.” + +The casualties of the _Carmania_ are reported to have amounted to nine +men killed and twenty-six wounded out of four hundred and twenty-one +hands all told, a low percentage owing to the wide distribution of the +various parties. The survivors of the _Cap Trafalgar_ landed at Buenos +Ayres consisted of eighteen officers and two hundred and ninety-two +men, which would give her casualties at about eight officers and one +hundred men if she carried the same number of men as the _Carmania_. + +Seventy-nine direct hits were counted on the _Carmania_, and +innumerable small holes from splinters; her boats were riddled, as also +masts and ventilators; her rigging and wireless aerial were shot away. + + + + +NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN + +The Men Who Captained the Merchant Ships Are Among the Heroes of the War + + +By telling the story of Captain Frank M. Custance, of the Royal Navy +Reserve, as typical of the stories of a coterie of merchant ship men in +the service, Mr. Ralph E. Cropley most interestingly reminds the public +that the war was not altogether won by the men in the trenches. The +merchant ship commanders played some small part in the winning. Indeed, +Mr. Cropley goes somewhat further. He concludes his story of Captain +Custance, which appeared in the New York _Evening Post_, with this +paragraph: + +“Without their valor this war would have been over long ago and Germany +would have won. I say this without reserve, for it is the truth. It has +only been by their untiring sacrifices that the soldiers have gotten to +the trenches at all and been kept supplied with munitions and food. The +merchant ship men have done work which gold cannot pay for and never +have thought of themselves—simply of the great cause which to them has +meant the end of cruelty.” + +Though Captain Custance is an English seaman he is familiarly known to +Americans who have sailed between New York and Bermuda in the winter or +to the Land of the Midnight Sun in summer, for he was Captain of the +tourist boat _Arcadian_ that made those trips in the different seasons. +He was up among the Norwegian fords when England entered the war, +and it was a question whether he could save his ship by evading the +Germans. Not that he personally had any question about it. He proceeded +to act with the calm assurance characteristic of his conduct in normal +sailings, quietly determined to get safely away. So, excellent seaman +that he was, “in the darkness of that famous Monday night of Aug. 4, +1914, without a pilot, he took her through the dangerous ford to sea. +’Twas indeed a feat.” + +But there were dangers at sea, too, for it was necessary to avoid +any ship or craft that heaved in sight, and constant vigilance, with +much dodging, was necessary before he got into Liverpool with his +American passengers saved from anything so unpleasant and perilous as +drifting in open boats on the high seas. With equal success he landed +them in New York some days later, their number having been added to by +Americans stranded in England. + + +TURNED TO MINE-SWEEPING + +Then the _Arcadian_ was dismantled and turned into a transport, and +Captain Custance took her back to England filled with Canadian troops. +But wanting a more war-like job he appealed to the Admiralty and +eventually was assigned to the perilous duty of mine-sweeping, to keep +the sea about the Orkneys free from the floating or sunk mines, to the +sowing and planting of which the Germans were devoting their devilish +activities. When it is borne in mind that Captain Custance was then +46 years old, with wife and several children, one may appreciate the +patriotic zeal that kept him in this dangerous employ for two years. +During that time he stuck at it with never a glimpse at his family +until he was called to London to have the King confer on him the D. S. +O. + +Those broad-beamed boats known as trawlers in which the fishermen ply +their calling were the instruments employed in mine-sweeping, and +admirable they were for the business, but comfortless enough for other +purposes. Said the Captain in a letter: “It’s no joke monkeying about +in a tiny craft hunting ‘tin fishes.’ In daylight it’s bad enough, but +at night it’s extremely dangerous, as one can’t see the sea, and one +is liable to half swamp oneself in turning. And as far as any comfort +below goes, there isn’t any. Everything is damp and cold, and the +steward loses the greater part of your food in bringing it to you, +and what you finally receive is a cold, unpalatable mess. Yet, by God! +it’s something to be out here having a chance to bag a bally German +swine.” + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant William Herren + +_58th Infantry, Machine-Gun Company_ + +His company was fighting near Villa Savage. The majority of their +machine guns were destroyed. On the morning of April 7, 1918, +Sergeant Herren went through a deathly artillery bombardment in order +to get more machine guns and ammunition for his company. With his +reinforcements and bravery he enabled the right flank of his company +to advance, and capture a German machine-gun position and repulse +counter-attacks.] + +Besides the danger from mines there was the excitement of submarine +shelling of the fleet every now and then. In one attack of that kind +Custance’s trawler struck a mine and sank. After that the Captain was +given a steam yacht, no longer at her best, the _Mingary_, in which +he did patrol work, visited and overhauled neutral ships, and kept a +weather eye out for submarines and mines. + +The performance that gained him the D. S. O. was the day after the +Jutland naval fight, when the German fleet had fled, leaving only +the submarines to prowl and finish off the wounded if possible. The +dreadnought _Warspite_ was one of the wounded and poorly protected +by destroyers as she toiled along with deranged steering gear. The +Captain saw three submarines maneuvering against the _Warspite_, and +despite the fact that the chances were all against him in an attempt +to beat off three submarines with his little yacht and its tiny guns +Custance rushed the _Mingary_ pell mell to the rescue, acting with such +suddenness that he took one submarine by surprise and was able to ram +it, got so close that he could use his guns on the next one and sink +it and so thoroughly scared the third one that it submerged instantly +without an offer of fight. + +Later the Captain was in command of the _Maid of Honor_ in convoying +colliers across the English Channel by night. There were no lights, +there was no signaling by whistle, there was traffic both ways, troop +ships, darkness everywhere. Skilled navigators were necessary—men of +the merchant ship sort. Out of all his convoys going or coming, only +three ships were torpedoed, only two being lost. + +In the final part of the war he crossed and recrossed the Atlantic in +convoy. It was then that the _Justicia_ was torpedoed. “She remained +afloat for twenty-four hours, and Custance would have saved her if a +German had not dived under the ring of patrol boats that surrounded her +and fired a finishing torpedo.” + +In getting off the dying _Justicia_ Custance nearly lost his life, yet, +says Mr. Cropley, “I received a very apologetic letter saying he was +sorry he hadn’t been able to save the cigarettes he was bringing over +to me.” + + + + +CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES + +(_An Incident_) + +_By_ + +Dan Burnet + + +I + + Still the guns! + There’s a ragged music on the air, + A priest had climbed the ruined temple’s stair, + Ah, still the guns! + It’s Christmas morning. Had ye all forgot? + Peace for a little while, ye battle-scarred— + Or do ye fear to cool those minds grown hot? + Up the great lovely tower, wracked and marred, + An old priest toils— + Men of the scattered soils, + Men of the British mists, + Men of France! + Put by the lance. + Men of Irish fists, + Men of heather, + Kneel together— + Men of Prussia, + Great dark men of Russia, + Kneel, kneel! + Hark how the slow bells peal. + A thousand leagues the faltered music runs, + Ah, still the wasting thunder of the guns, + Still the guns! + + +II + + Out of the trenches lifts a half-shamed song, + “Holy Night” + Here, where the sappers burrowed all night long + To bring the trench up for the morrow’s fight, + A British lad, with face unwonted white, + Looks at the sky and sings a carol through, + “God rest you merry, gentlemen!” + It was the only Christmas thing he knew. + And there were tears wrung out of hard-lipped men, + Tears in the strangest places, + Tears on troopers’ faces! + + +III + + They had forgotten what a life was for, + They had been long at suffering and war, + They had forgot old visions, one by one, + But now they heard the tolling bell of Rheims, + Tolling bell of Rheims; + They saw the bent priest, white-haired in the sun, + Climb to the hazard of the weakened spire, + They saw, and in them stirred their hearts’ desire + For Streets and Cities, Shops and Homes and Farms, + They only wanted space to love and live; + They felt warm arms about them—women’s arms, + And such caresses as a child might give + Coming all rosy in the early day + To kiss his world awake.... + The British lad + Broke off his carol with a sob. The play + Of churchly musics, solemn, strange, and sad, + Fluttered in silver tatters down the wind, + Flung from the tower where the guns had sinned + Across the black and wounded fields.... The bell + Sang on—a feeble protest to the skies, + Until the world stood like a halted hell, + And men with their dead brothers at their feet + Drew dirty sleeves across their tired eyes, + Finding the cracked chimes overwhelming sweet. + + +IV + + Aye, still the guns! + And heed the Christmas bell, + Ye who have done Death’s work so well, + Ye worn embattled ones, + Kneel, kneel! + Put by the blood-stained steel, + Men from the far soils and the scattered seas, + Go down upon your knees, + While there lives one with peace upon his eyes, + While hope’s faint song is fluttered to the skies, + In that brief space between the Christmas suns, + Still the guns! + + + + +SPYING AT ITS WORST + +The German Secret Service System the Scrap Basket of Official Honor + + +Though the knowledge of an enemy’s plans, purposes and preparatory +measures is of the highest importance in military campaigning, and +though the utmost of courage and daring are often necessary to obtain +the required information, the office of the spy has, from time +immemorial, been contemned of men. There was but one fate for the +captured spy under military rule. Even when the bravery and devotion +of the adventuring spy have been admitted to admiration there has +remained the instinctive aversion to the office. The reason for the +almost universal mental attitude is that spying usually, if not +invariably, involves treachery, the betrayal of trust and confidence +gained by professions of friendship and sympathetic opinion. The word +“spies” stirs the spleen of wholesome minded persons. It implies craft, +duplicity, perversity. Few men have been willing to confess themselves +spies. However greedily the sensational or adventure-loving reader +may follow the narrative of the experiences, the desperate chances, +the hazards, the daring risks, the narrow escapes of the successful +spy, there is nevertheless a regretful wish that the valor, the +intelligence, had found a nobler medium of expression. + +But because there is such a thing as fearless, generous self-sacrifice +in the performance of undertakings or obligations that come under the +general classification of spying, it is perhaps unfortunate that no +attempt has been made to discriminate what may be termed honorable (in +a military sense) espionage from ignoble spying. Surely there is a vast +distinction between the soldier who volunteers to penetrate an enemy’s +lines to ascertain particular facts and the person who under the +protection of social or official privilege wins trust only to betray +it. In the second class there probably is no more despicable violation +of moral responsibility recorded in the history of nations than the +German intrigue against the United States when this country was still +at peace with Germany. The indictment is clearly drawn in a few words +in the Flag Day address of President Wilson, June 14, 1917. He said +speaking of the German Government: + +“They filled our unsuspecting communities with vicious spies and +conspirators and sought to corrupt the opinion of our people in their +own behalf. When they found they could not do that, their agents +diligently spread sedition amongst us and sought to draw our own +citizens from their allegiance—and some of these agents were men +connected with the official embassy of the German Government itself +here in our own capital.” + + +ITS DIPLOMATIC AIDS + +Their Ambassador, Count Johann von Bernstorff; their military attaché, +Capt. Franz von Papen; their naval attaché, Capt. Karl Boy-Ed; their +financial agent, Dr. Heinrich Albert, were the diplomatic and social +spies who engineered and supplied with necessary information the +vicious under-agents of the spy system of which sedition and violence +were the shameful instruments. + +With patient diligence, John Price Jones, a newspaper man, attached to +the New York _Sun_, collected—from documentary evidence, from Secret +Service officials and by means of his own investigation over a period +of eighteen months—a vast amount of valuable and exact information, the +vital part of which Small, Maynard and Company subsequently published +in book form, under the title _The German Secret Service in America_. +The information in that book, substantiated by governmental and other +evidence, is authoritative, and we are indebted to it for much of the +matter in this article. + +Of the organization of the spy system he says: + +“Count von Bernstorff, once his nation had declared war upon France and +England, went to war with the United States. As ambassador, diplomatic +courtesy gave him a scope of observation limited only by the dignity of +his position. A seat in a special gallery in the Senate and House of +Representatives was always ready for his occupancy; he could virtually +command the attention of the White House; and senators, congressmen +and office-holders from German-American districts respected him. +Messengers kept him in constant touch with the line-up of Congress +on important issues, and two hours later that line-up was known in +the Foreign Office in Berlin. As head and front of the German spy +system in America, he held cautiously aloof from all but the most +instrumental acquaintances: men and women of prominent political and +social influence who he knew were inclined, for good and sufficient +reasons, to help him. One woman, whose bills he paid at a Fifth Avenue +gown house, was the wife of a prominent broker and another woman of +confessedly German affiliations who served him lived within a stone’s +throw of the Metropolitan Museum and its nearby phalanx of gilded +dwellings (her husband’s office was in a building at 11 Broadway, +of which more anon); a third, woman intimate lived in a comfortable +apartment near Fifth Avenue—an apartment selected for her, though she +was unaware of it, by secret agents of the United States. + + +BAIT FOR INGÉNUES + +“During the early days of the war the promise of social sponsorship +which any embassy in Washington could extend proved bait for a number +of ingénues of various ages, with ambition and mischief in their minds, +and the gracious Ambassador played them smoothly and dexterously. +Mostly they were not German women, for the German women of America were +not so likely to be useful socially, nor as a type so astute as to +qualify them for von Bernstorff’s delicate work. To those women whom +he chose to see he was courteous, and superficially frank almost to +the point of naïveté. The pressure of negotiation between Washington +and Berlin became more and more exacting as the war progressed, yet he +found time to command a campaign whose success would have resulted +in disaster to the United States. That he was not blamed for the +failure of that campaign when he returned to Germany in April, 1917, is +evidenced by his prompt appointment to the court of Turkey, a difficult +and important post, and in the case of Michaelis, a stepping-stone to +the highest post in the Foreign Office. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Count Johann von Bernstorff. + +German ambassador to the United States at the time the _Lusitania_ +was torpedoed. One of his many acts of duplicity was the sending of +a secret message to Germany asking for funds to be used to influence +members of the United States Congress.] + +“Upon the shoulders of Dr. Heinrich Albert, privy counselor and +fiscal agent of the German Empire, fell the practical execution of +German propaganda throughout America. He was the American agent of +a government which has done more than any other to coöperate with +business towards the extension of influence abroad, on the principle +that ‘the flag follows the constitution.’ As such he had had his +finger on the pulse of American trade, had catalogued exhaustively +the economic resources of the country, and held in his debt, as his +nation’s treasurer in America, scores of bankers, manufacturers and +traders to whom Germany had extended subsidy. As such also he was the +paymaster of the Imperial secret diplomatic and consular agents. + +[Illustration: + + © _Bain._ + +Dr. Dumba + +Austrian Ambassador] + +“You could find him almost any day until the break with Germany in a +small office in the Hamburg-American Building (a beehive of secret +agents) at No. 45 Broadway, New York. He was tall and slender, and +wore the somber frock coat of the European business man with real +grace. His eyes were blue and clear, his face clean-shaven and faintly +saber-scarred, and his hair blond. He impressed one as an unusual young +man in a highly responsible position. His greeting to visitors, of whom +he had few, was punctilious, his bow low, and his manner altogether +polite. He encouraged conversation rather than offered it. He had none +of the ‘hard snap’ of the energetic, outspoken, brusque American man of +business. Dr. Albert was a smooth-running, well-turned cog in the great +machine of Prussian militarism. + + +CORRUPTION FUND OF MILLIONS + +“Upon him rested the task of spending between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000 +a week for German propaganda. He spent thirty millions at least in +secret agency work, also known by the uglier names of bribery, +sedition and conspiracy. He admitted that he wasted a half million. + +“His methods were quiet and successful, and his participation in the +offenses against America’s peace might have passed unproven had he not +been engaged in a too-absorbing conversation one day in August, 1915, +upon a Sixth Avenue elevated train. He started up to leave the train +at Fiftieth Street, and carelessly left his portfolio behind him—to +the tender care of a United States Secret Service man. It contained +documents revealing his complicity in enterprises the magnitude of +which beggars the imagination. The publication of certain of those +documents awoke the slumbering populace to a feeling of chagrin and +anger almost equal to his own at the loss of his dossier. And yet he +stayed on in America, and returned with the ambassadorial party to +Germany only after the severance of diplomatic relations in 1917, +credited with expert generalship on the economic sector of the American +front. + +“Germany’s military attaché to the United States was Captain Franz +von Papen. His mission was the study of the United States army. In +August, 1914, it may be assumed that he had absorbed most of the useful +information of the United States army, which at that moment was no +superhuman problem. In July of that year he was in Mexico, observing, +among other matters, the effect of dynamite explosions on railways. +He was quite familiar with Mexico. According to Admiral von Hintze he +had organized a military unit in the lukewarm German colony in Mexico +City, and he used one or more of the warring factions in the southern +republic to test the efficacy of various means of warfare. + +[Illustration: + + © _Bain._ + +Captain von Papen + +German Military Attaché] + +“Von Papen operated from New York after the outbreak of war. “German +reservists who had been peaceful farmers, shopkeepers or waiters, +all over the United States, were mobilized for service, and paraded +through Battery Park in New York shouting ‘Deutschland, Deutschland +über alles!’ to the strains of the Austrian hymn, while they waited +for Papen’s orders from a building near by, and picked quarrels with a +counter procession of Frenchmen screaming the immortal ‘Marseillaise.’ +Up in his office sat the attaché, summoning, assigning, despatching his +men on missions that were designed to terrorize America as the spiked +helmets were terrorizing Belgium at that moment. + +“... Although von Papen marshaled his consuls, his reservists, his +thugs, his women, and his skilled agents, for a programme of violence +the like of which America had never experienced, the military phase +of the war was not destined for decision here, and there is again +something ironical in the fact that the arrogance of Captain von +Papen’s outrages hastened the coming of war to America and the decline +of Captain von Papen’s style of warfare in America. + + +BOY-ED, A TURKISH HALF-BREED + +“The Kaiser’s naval attaché at Washington was Karl Boy-Ed, the child +of a German mother and a Turkish father, who had elected a naval +career and shown a degree of aptitude for his work which qualified him +presently for the post of chief lieutenant to von Tirpitz. He was one +of the six young officers who were admitted to the chief councils of +the German navy, as training for high executive posts.... His duties +took him all over the world as naval observer, and he may be credited +more than casually with weaving the plan-fabric of marine supremacy +with which Germany proposed in due time to envelop the world. + +“He impressed diplomatic Washington in 1911 as a polished cosmopolite. +Polished he was, measured by the standards of diplomatic Washington, +for rare was the young American of Boy-Ed’s age who had his +cultivation, his wide experience, and his brilliant charm. He was +sought after by admiring mothers long before he was sought after by the +Secret Service; he moved among the clubs of Washington and New York +making intimates of men whose friendship and confidence would serve +the Fatherland, cloaking his real designs by frivolity and frequent +attendances at social functions. His peace-time duties had been to +study the American navy; to familiarize himself with its ship power and +personnel, with its plans for expansion, its theories of strategy, its +means of supply, and finally, with the coast defenses of the country. +He had learned his lesson, and furnished Berlin with clear reports. +On those reports, together with those of his colleagues in other +countries, hinged Germany’s readiness to enter war, for it would have +been folly to attempt a war of domination with America an unknown, +uncatalogued naval power. (It will be well to recall that the submarine +is an American invention, and that Germany’s greatest submarine +development took place in the years 1911-14.) + +“And then, suddenly, he dropped the cloak. The Turk in him stood at +attention while the German in him gave him sharp orders—commands to +be carried out with Oriental adroitness and Prussian finish. Then +those who had said lightly that ‘Boy-Ed knows more about our navy than +Annapolis itself’ began to realize that they had spoken an alarming +truth. His war duties were manifold. Like von Papen, he had his corps +of reservists, his secret agents, his silent forces everywhere ready +for active coöperation in carrying out the naval enterprises Germany +should see fit to undertake in Western waters. + +“America learned gradually of the machinations of the four executives, +Bernstorff, Albert, Papen and Boy-Ed. America had not long to wait +for evidences of their activity, but it was a long time before the +processes of investigation revealed their source. It was inevitable +that they could not work undiscovered for long, and they seem to have +realized that they must do the utmost damage at top speed. Their own +trails were covered for a time by the obscure identities of their +subordinates. The law jumps to no conclusions. Their own persons were +protected by diplomatic courtesy. It required more than two years +of tedious search for orthodox legal evidence to arraign these men +publicly in their guilt, and when that evidence had finally been +obtained, and Germany’s protest of innocence had been deflated, it was +not these men who suffered, but their country, and the price she paid +was war with America. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Leslie’s Weekly._ + +A Deadly Torpedo Leaving the Tube of an American Destroyer + +A Whitehead torpedo at the instant it leaves the tube. This tube is +above the water line. Torpedo-boat destroyers carry both this kind +of tubes and submerged ones. The torpedo, when fired from above the +water, submerges itself to a depth determined by the adjustment of its +horizontal steering gear, and thereafter runs its course at an even +depth beneath the surface.] + + +GERMANY’S SECRET ARMY + +“A hundred or more of their subordinates have been convicted of +various criminal offenses and sent to prison. Still more were promptly +interned in prison camps at the outbreak of war in 1917. The secret +army included all types, from bankers to longshoremen. Many of them +were conspicuous figures in American public life, and of these no small +part were allowed to remain at large under certain restrictions—and +under surveillance. Germany’s army in the United States was powerful +in numbers; the fact that so many agents were working destruction +probably hastened their discovery; the loyalty of many so-called +German-Americans was always questionable. The public mind, confused +as it had never been before by the news of war, was groping about for +sound fundamentals, and was being tantalized with false principles by +the politicians. Meanwhile Count von Bernstorff was watching Congress +and the President, Dr. Albert was busy in great schemes, Captain von +Papen was commanding an active army of spies, and Captain Boy-Ed was +engaged in a bitter fight with the British navy.” + +But long after the departure of the principals for their native land +the enterprises they had inaugurated persisted. + +Among the pre-war activities the German government made a contract with +Dr. Karl Buenz, American head of the Hamburg-American Line, for the +provisioning, during war, of German ships at sea, the contract being +jealously guarded in the German Embassy at Washington. Merchant ships +were to be used for the purpose. July 31, 1914, a cablegram from Berlin +called on Dr. Buenz to begin filling his contract. The first ship to +be loaded (with coal) was the _Berwind_, and the question arose as +to who among the conspirators should apply for the clearance papers. +Finally G. B. Kulenkampff, a banker and exporter, was directed to do +so. He swore to a false manifest of the cargo and got the papers. +The _Berwind_ carried food as well as coal for the provisioning of +German warships to be found at secretly designated points, and her +destination was not Buenos Ayres as the clearance papers declared, so +the United States was unwittingly a party to German naval operations, +on the third day of the war, by German mendacity. The _Berwind_ sailed +for a little island known as Trinidad (not the British West Indian +island) about 70° east of Brazil, and there her cargo was transferred +to five German ships, one of which was the _Kap-Trafalgar_, presently +sunk by the British auxiliary cruiser, the _Carmania_, which steamed +into view while the _Trafalgar_, the _Berwind_ and one other of the +vessels were still at Trinidad. + +It is interesting to know that most of the ships chartered for this +lawless purpose did not carry out the intention. The _Unita_ was one of +them and we are told: + +“Her skipper was Eno Olsen, a Canadian citizen born in Norway. +Urhitzler, the German spy placed aboard, made the mistake of assuming +that Olsen was friendly to Germany. He gave him his ‘orders,’ and the +skipper balked. ’“Nothing doing,” I told the supercargo,’ Captain Olsen +testified later, with a Norwegian twist to his pronunciation. ‘She’s +booked to Cadiz, and to Cadiz she goes!’ So the supercargo offered me +$500 to change my course. “Nothing doing—nothing doing for a million +dollars,” I told him. The third day out he offered me $10,000. Nothing +doing. So,’ announced Captain Olsen with finality, ‘I sailed the +_Unita_ to Cadiz and after we got there I sold the cargo and looked up +the British consul.’” + +Under the Buenz contract twelve ships were either purchased or +chartered at a total cost of $1,419,394, and it is said that of their +shiploads of supplies less than $30,000 worth were ever transferred to +German war vessels. Buenz, after much delay in the proceedings, was +sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment in the Federal penitentiary +at Atlanta. + + +THE WIRELESS TREACHERIES + +The Sayville Wireless Station on Long Island was for a long time a +successfully controlled medium for the direction of spy and propaganda +work in this country as well as for communication with wireless +stations in Germany, in Central and South America, with wireless ships +interned, etc., etc. To this and the other German-owned commercial +plants in the United States Capt. Boy-Ed added amateur stations of +more or less extended radius as auxiliaries. But owing to complaints +of frequent interference with regular messages, the “United States +presently ordered the closing of all private wireless stations, and +those amateurs who had been listening out of sheer curiosity to the +air conversation cheerfully took down their antennæ. Not so, however, +a prominent woman in whose residence on Fifth Avenue lay concealed +a powerful receiving apparatus. Nor did the interned ships obey the +order: apparatus apparently removed was often rigged in the shelter +of a funnel, and operated by current supplied from an apparently +innocent source. And the secret service discovered stations also in +the residences of wealthy Hoboken Germans, and in a German-American +‘mansion’ in Hartford, Connecticut.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood, and Underwood._ + +German Spies in France + +After living for ten years in France, they were discovered giving +information to the Germans by telephone. They confessed and were shot.] + +Later suspicions were aroused by the activities of the German wireless, +but the German operators were not at once removed. The United States +began taking down the seemingly meaningless jargon that came every +morning from the Nauen Station near Berlin. It was two years later, +however, that a key to the jumble was discovered and the code revealed. +Two codes in fact were found. + +“The chief significance of the discovery of the two codes is their +conclusive proof that while von Bernstorff was protesting to the +American government that he could not get messages through to Berlin, +nor replies from the Foreign Office, he was actually in daily, if +not hourly, communication with his superiors. Messages were sent out +by his confidential operators under the very eyes of the American +naval censors. After the break of diplomatic relations with Berlin, +in February, 1917, the authorities set to work decoding the messages, +and the State Department from time to time issued for publication +certain of the more brutal proofs of Germany’s violation of American +neutrality. The Ambassador and his Washington establishment had served +for two years and a half as the ‘central exchange’ of German affairs in +the western world. After his departure communication from German spies +here was handicapped only by the time required to forward information +to Mexico; from that point to Berlin air conversation continued +uninterrupted.” + +It may be noted in passing that Captain Karl Grasshof of the cruiser +_Geier_, that took refuge from the British by tying up in Honolulu +harbor, gave high proof of the German nice sense of honor in respect +of hospitality. He instituted a series of afternoon concerts by the +ship’s band, that the music might drown out the noise of the wireless +apparatus as he sent messages to raiders at sea or threw off false +reports in English, the purpose of which was to make trouble between +the United States and Japan. He said at one time that von Papen +inspired this peculiar treachery, but afterwards denied it. + + +TO INVADE CANADA + +On the military side, one of von Papen’s brilliant projects was to +organize the German reservists in the United States into an army for +the invasion of Canada. The plan was to transport men and guns by night +from ports of the Great Lakes by means of powerful motor boats and +attack defenseless lake cities, the object being to arouse such fear +in the Canadians that they would keep their troops for home defense +instead of sending them to the aid of England. This, however, was a +project from which the craftier Bernstorff recoiled as smacking too +much of open violence. Then von Papen proposed a scheme to blow up +the Welland Canal as a terrorizing job. The plot was ascribed to “two +Irishmen, prominent members of Irish associations, both of whom had +fought in the Irish rebellion.” + +The spy, Horst von der Goltz, was the active agent in the preliminary +steps, such as recruiting men for the job, securing explosives, etc., +Papen, in the name of Steffens, supplying the money and giving the +necessary instructions. But after being carried forward almost to +the point of action the Welland enterprise was, for some unknown +reason, suddenly abandoned and the dynamite (three hundred pounds in +suitcases), which had been taken to Niagara Falls, was left with an +aviator, and Goltz, with his immediate associate, Constance Covani, a +private detective, returned to New York. Von Papen was much provoked by +the failure of his second plan to terrorize Canada. Goltz was sent on +some commission to Germany in October, sailing on a forged passport, +got safely to Berlin and, on his return trip in November, was arrested +in England, spy fashion. After a protracted imprisonment, Goltz agreed +to turn State’s evidence against his fellow conspirators. A number of +arrests resulted, and the plots against Canada were fully revealed. + +As more and more precise rules for the issue of passports were made by +the government the difficulties of the conspirators in making direct +communication with Berlin increased correspondingly. It devolved upon +von Papen to provide for the supply of passports to meet the needs of +couriers and others who could not get passports in their own names. + +“The military attaché selected Lieutenant Hans von Wedell, who had +already made a trip as courier to Berlin for his friend, Count von +Bernstorff. Von Wedell was married to a German baroness. He had been +a newspaper reporter in New York, and later a lawyer. He opened an +office in Bridge Street, New York, and began to send out emissaries to +sailors on interned German liners, and to their friends in Hoboken, +directing them to apply for passports. He sent others to the haunts of +tramps on the lower East Side, to the Mills Hotel, and other gathering +places of the down-and-outs, offering ten, fifteen or twenty dollars to +men who would apply for and deliver passports. And he bought them! He +spent much time at the Deutscher Verein, and at the Elks’ Club in 43rd +Street where he often met his agents to give instructions and receive +passports. His bills were paid by Captain von Papen.” + + +MANUFACTURING PASSPORTS + +The passports secured in this way by von Wedell and by his successor, +Carl Ruroede, Sr., in the employ of Oelrichs & Co., were supplied to +reservist officers whom the General Staff had ordered back to Berlin, +and also to spies whom von Papen wished to send to England, France, +Italy or Russia. Among the latter was Anton Kuepferle, who was captured +in England, confessed and killed himself in Brixton jail. + +[Illustration: + + © _International News._ + +Anti-German Riots in Britain + + The destruction of the _Lusitania_ by a German submarine caused + anti-German riots in many parts of the world. These started in + Liverpool when the bodies of dead members of the crew were brought to + their homes there, and spread rapidly to other parts of the United + Kingdom. The photograph shows the looting of a German’s residence in + High Street, London.] + +When it became obvious that passports must be serving the ends of +persons other than those to whom they were issued the government +demanded that each passport should have the photograph of the bearer. +But this did not disconcert the conspirators, as _The German Secret +Service in America_ tells us. It says: “The Germans found it a simple +matter to give a general description of a man’s eyes, color of hair, +and age to fit the person who was actually to use the document; then +forwarded the picture of the applicant to be affixed. The applicant +receiving the passport would sell it at once. Even though the official +seal was stamped on the photograph the Germans were not dismayed. + +“Adams [Albert G. Adams, a United States Secret Service agent, who had +insinuated himself into Ruroede’s confidence] rushed into Ruroede’s +office one day waving a sheaf of five passports issued to him by the +government. Adams was ostensibly proud of his work, Ruroede openly +delighted. + +“‘I knew I could get these passports easily,’ he boasted to Adams. +‘Why, if Lieutenant von Wedell had kept on here he never could have +done this. He always was getting into a muddle.’ + +“‘But how can you use these passports with these pictures on them?’ +asked the agent. + +“‘Oh, that’s easy,’ answered Ruroede. ‘Come in the back room. I’ll +show you.’ And Ruroede, before the observant eyes of the Department +of Justice, patted one of the passports with a damp cloth, then with +adhesive paste fastened a photograph of another man over the original +bearing the imprint of the United States seal. + +“‘We wet the photograph,’ said Ruroede, ‘and then we affix the picture +of the man who is to use it. The new photograph also is dampened, but +when it is fastened to the passport there still remains a sort of +vacuum in spots between the new picture and the old because of ridges +made by the seal. So we turn the passport upside down, place it on a +soft ground—say a silk handkerchief—and then we take a paper-cutter +with a dull point, and just trace the letters on the seal. The result +is that the new photograph dries exactly as if it had been stamped by +Uncle Sam. You can’t tell the difference.’ + + +NABBED AT SEA + +“Through Adams’ efforts Ruroede and four Germans, one of them an +officer in the German reserves, were arrested on January 2, on the +Scandinavian-American liner _Bergensfjord_ outward bound to Bergen, +Norway. They had passports issued through Adams at Ruroede’s request +under the American names of Howard Paul Wright, Herbert S. Wilson, +Peter Hanson and Stanley F. Martin. + +“Von Wedell himself was a passenger on the _Bergensfjord_, but when he +was lined up with the other passengers, the Federal agents, who did +not have a description of him, missed him and left the vessel. He was +later (January 11) taken off the ship by the British, however, and +transferred to another vessel for removal to a prison camp. She struck +a German mine and sank, and von Wedell is supposed to have drowned.” + +An explicit letter from von Wedell to von Bernstorff dispelled any +possibility of doubt that the German Ambassador was fully cognizant of +the false passport frauds. + +“Ruroede was sentenced to three years in Atlanta prison. The four +reservists, pleading guilty, protested they had taken the passports out +of patriotism and were fined $200 each. + +“The arrest of Ruroede exposed the New York bureau, and made it +necessary for the Germans to shift their base of operations, but did +not put an end to the fraudulent passport conspiracy. Capt. Boy-Ed +assumed the burden, and hired men to secure passports for him.” + +But the increased vigilance and thoroughness of the British reduced +this service to a negligible quantity before the entrance of the United +States into the war squelched it entirely. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +From the Fighting Top of the Battleship _Wyoming_ + +The _Wyoming_ is 562 feet in length, of 26,000 tons displacement, and +carries twelve 12-inch and twenty-one 5-inch guns.] + +An incident in connection with the arrest of Ruroede is related by +French Strother in his story “Fighting German Spies” published in _The +World’s Work_. Ruroede “was being urged by the Assistant United States +District Attorney to ‘come across’ with the facts about his activities +in the passport frauds, and he had stood up pretty well against the +persuasions and hints of the attorney and the doubts and fears of his +own mind. About eleven o’clock at night, as he was for the many’th time +protesting his ignorance and his innocence, another agent of the Bureau +of Investigation walked across the far end of the dimly lit room—in one +door and out another—accompanied by a fair-haired lad of nineteen. + +“‘My God!’ exclaimed Ruroede, ‘have they got my son, too? The boy knows +nothing at all about this.’ + +“This little ghost-walking scene, borrowed from _Hamlet_, broke down +Ruroede’s reserve, and he came out with pretty much all the story, +ending with the melancholy exclamation ‘I thought I was going to get an +Iron Cross; but what they ought to do is to pin a little tin stove on +me.’” + + +A SENSATIONAL CAPTURE + +In addition to von Papen, Dr. Albert and Boy-Ed, one of Bernstorff’s +effective agents was Wolf von Igel, who was the leader of the dynamite +men of the conspiracy. He set up at 60 Wall Street ostensibly in the +“advertising” business. Attention was attracted to him by the fact that +his visitors during the two years he was undisturbed were Germans who +had nothing whatever to do with advertising. Moreover, conspicuous in +his office was a large safe bearing the insignia of the German Imperial +Government. Suspicions were aroused and by degrees these suspicions +were strengthened by circumstances and incidents that indicated von +Igel as a German agent. Therefore, as the New York _Times_ reported, +one morning in April, 1916, while von Igel was engaged preparing a +mass of papers taken from the safe for transfer to Washington, the +office was entered by four United States Secret Service agents from the +Department of Justice, who made their way past the guardians always on +duty, put von Igel under arrest, and undertook to seize the papers. +The German was powerful and brave. With the aid of one associate he +stubbornly fought the officers, striving to rescue the papers, to close +the safe, to get to the telephone and communicate with his superiors. +Revolvers were drawn by the Secret Service men. They produced no +effect upon the intrepid von Igel. + +“This is German territory,” he shouted. “Shoot me and you will bring on +war.” + +There was no shooting. But after a protracted struggle the defenders +were overpowered and the papers seized. The German Embassy at once +entered its protest. These were official papers. They were sacrosanct. +The diplomatic prerogative of a friendly nation had been overridden and +the person of its representative insulted. To this the State Department +replied that the invaded premises at 60 Wall Street were described +in the contract as a private business office for the carrying on of +advertising, and that von Igel had not been formally accredited as a +German representative. + +When the papers were examined by the Department of Justice the reason +for von Igel’s determined fight became apparent. Here, in the form of +letters, telegrams, notations, checks, receipts, ledgers, cashbooks, +cipher codes, lists of spies, and other memoranda and records were +found indications—in some instances of the vaguest nature, in others of +the most damning conclusiveness—that the German Imperial Government, +through its representatives in a then friendly nation, was concerned +with— + +Violation of the laws of the United States. + +Destruction of lives and property in merchant vessels on the high seas. + +Irish revolutionary plots against Great Britain. + +Fomenting ill-feeling against the United States in Mexico. + +Subornation of American writers and lecturers. + +Financing of propaganda. + +Maintenance of a spy system under the guise of a commercial +investigation bureau. + +Subsidizing of a bureau for the purpose of stirring up labor troubles +in munition plants. + +The bomb industry and other related activities. + +One of the most significant papers in the von Igel collection was a +letter directly convicting von Papen of paying money to a plotter (Paul +Koenig, manager of an alleged Bureau of Investigation established by +the Hamburg-American Steamship Company for secret service purposes) +designing to blow up merchant ships sailing from the port of New York. +Koenig had reported the make of the bombs which it was proposed to use. +They were made to look like lumps of coal, to be concealed in the coal +laden on steamers of the Allies. By this or other means thirty ships +carrying munitions to the Allies were sunk. + + +MORE BERNSTORFF CRAFT + +Closely related to and to some extent under the guidance of von Igel +was the German and Austro-Hungarian Labor Information and Relief +Bureau, with central headquarters at 136 Liberty Street, New York +City, and branches in Cleveland, Detroit, Bridgeport, Pittsburgh, +Philadelphia, and Chicago. The head of the enterprise was Hans +Liebau, from whom it took its familiarly accepted name of the “Liebau +Employment Agency.” During the trying days which followed the arrest +of the Welland Canal conspirators it was unwaveringly asserted that +the Liebau concern was a bona fide employment agency and nothing else, +with no object other than to secure positions for German, Austrian, or +Hungarian workmen seeking employment. That was for publication only. In +von Igel’s papers the truth appears, brought out by the refusal of the +Austro-Hungarian Embassy to continue its subsidies to the bureau. + +That the Austro-Hungarian Embassy had taken official cognizance of the +bureau previously, however, is disclosed in the letter written by the +Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, which +was found in the possession of James F. J. Archibald by the British +authorities August 30, 1915. In this letter the Ambassador stated: + +“It is my impression that we can disorganize and hold up for months, if +not entirely prevent, the manufacture of munitions in Bethlehem and the +Middle West, which, in the opinion of the German Military Attaché, is +of importance and amply outweighs the comparatively small expenditure +of money involved.” + +Representations on behalf of the bureau’s efficiency were made, under +date of March 24, 1916, in a letter to the German Ambassador, von +Bernstorff: + +“Engineers and persons in the better class of positions, and who had +means of their own, were persuaded by the propaganda of the bureau to +leave war material factories.” + +The report comments with unconcealed amusement upon the fact that +munitions concerns innocently wrote the bureau for workmen (which, of +course, were not furnished) and continues in reviewing later conditions +in the munitions industry: + +“The commercial employment bureaus of the country have no supply of +unemployed technicians.... Many disturbances and suspensions which war +material factories have had to suffer, and which it was not always +possible to remove quickly, but which on the contrary often led to +long strikes, may be attributed to the energetic propaganda of the +employment bureau.” + +The captured documents contained letters and communications that +established intimate relations between the German Diplomatic Service +and the Irish revolutionary movement. Among others was the letter +concerning a Justice of the New York Supreme Court, Daniel F. Cohalan, +beginning, “Judge Cohalan requests the transmission of the following +remarks.” The remarks are then quoted as follows: + +“The revolution in Ireland can only be successful if supported from +Germany, otherwise England will be able to suppress it, even though it +be only after hard struggles. Therefore help is necessary. This should +consist, primarily, of aerial attacks in England and a diversion of +the fleet simultaneously with Irish revolution. Then, if possible, a +landing of troops, arms, and ammunition in Ireland, and possibly some +officers from Zeppelins. This would enable the Irish ports to be closed +against England and the establishment of stations for submarines on the +Irish coast and the cutting off of the supply of food for England. The +services of the revolution may therefore decide the war.” + +“He asks that a telegram to this effect be sent to Berlin,” the letter +continues. It is but fair to say that Judge Cohalan has denied making +the request. + +[Illustration: Poster for the Fourth Liberty Loan] + +Other documents revealed the German Secret Service dealings with Sir +Roger Casement, subsequently executed by the British for treason, but +though the Department of Justice had this incriminating evidence, it +did not reach the Attorney General until the afternoon following the +arrest of Casement. The cause of Casement’s arrest was not, therefore, +information furnished by the Department, as was loosely charged at the +time. + + +LANSING’S REVELATION + +The most sensational of the revelations of German plotting in the +United States was made by Secretary Lansing on September 21, 1916, +when he published without comment a telegram written by Ambassador +Bernstorff himself and asking his government for $50,000 to be used +in influencing Congress. This was not one of the papers taken from +von Igel, but was of much later date, and Mr. Lansing stated that the +cablegram had not been sent to Germany through the State Department, +leaving it to be implied that it went by way of some neutral legation. + +There was a veritable storm of excitement in Congress over the +imputation of bribery, some Congressmen in the heat of the moment +intimating that they knew what members had benefited from the fund. +But later it was made evident that Bernstorff had no idea of bribery +but of starting a volume of letters and telegrams from various parts +of the country to influence Congressmen against a declaration of war. +Some time afterwards Secretary Lansing made public the fact that when +Bernstorff asked for the $50,000 to influence the American Congress +he was already aware that Germany was about to resume her ruthless +submarine warfare which she had assured the United States would be +abandoned. + + +THE BOLO PASHA FOLLY + +The most amazing instance thus far discovered of the German +government’s lavish waste of the German people’s money for useless +intrigues in other countries is that revealed after the arrest of Paul +Bolo, alias Bolo Pasha, in Paris, Sept. 29, 1917. The following account +is taken from the _New York Times Current History_: + +“Bolo had long been under suspicion and had been temporarily under +arrest several weeks before, but only upon receipt of important +evidence from the United States was he imprisoned without bail. He is +a Frenchman, born at Marseilles, and, according to an article in the +Paris _Matin_, is a brother of an eloquent French prelate of that +name. He has had an adventurous career in various countries, including +Egypt, and at the beginning of the war he was penniless; but when +in Switzerland in March, 1915, he met Abbas Hilmi, former Khédive +of Egypt, and apparently concluded an arrangement by which he was +to receive $2,500,000 to be used in influencing the French press in +favor of a German peace. The plan was approved by Gottlieb von Jagow, +German Foreign Minister, who was to pay the money partly through the +ex-Khédive and partly through Swiss and American banks. + +“In accordance with this arrangement $1,000,000 was paid by roundabout +methods through Swiss banks, to avert suspicion. Abbas Hilmi and an +associate are said to have collected $50,000 as a commission. After +that time Bolo Pasha and Abbas Hilmi seemed to have fallen out, for +their relations ceased. At the time of his arrest Bolo was said to have +received $8,000,000 from Germany, of which $2,500,000 had been traced +to the Deutsche Bank. Large portions of this sum were said to have been +paid through an American channel. The actual facts, now proved by the +documents, go far toward confirming those original estimates. + +“Bolo arrived in New York on February 22, 1916, and left on March 17 +following. He had rooms at the Plaza Hotel, and was careful not to +be seen in public with German agents. He saw Bernstorff secretly in +Washington. + +“When the French government got an inkling of his traitorous activities +it appealed to Governor Whitman of New York for evidence, and ten days’ +work by Merton E. Lewis, the Attorney General of the State, assisted +by an expert accountant, resulted in sensational disclosures which +were made public on the evening of October 3. The evidence, which +included photographic reproductions of many telltale checks, letters, +and telegrams, revealed the fact that Count Bernstorff, then German +Ambassador at Washington, had eagerly fallen in with Bolo’s proposition +to betray France by corrupting the press in favor of a premature +peace and had advanced him the enormous sum of $1,683,500 to finance +the plot. The State Department and Ambassador Jusserand examined the +evidence and attested its genuineness. + +[Illustration: + + From _Punch_, Sept. 9, 1914. + +India for the King + +The man on horseback is a Hindu. To his right is a Mohammedan, to his +left a Parsee. This cartoon from _Punch_ depicts the loyalty of the +natives of India in the World War.] + +“Many banks had been used to confuse and hide the transaction, but +the persons and agencies who figured knowingly in it are Bolo Pasha, +Ambassador von Bernstorff, and two bankers—Hugo Schmidt, former New +York agent of the Deutsche Bank of Berlin, who acted as Bernstorff’s +financial agent, and Adolph Pavenstedt, former head of the New York +banking house of G. Amsinck & Co. + +“Of the mass of documents exhibited by Attorney General Lewis, the +most important was a letter written by Bolo Pasha to the New York City +branch of the Royal Bank of Canada on March 14, 1916, three days before +he sailed to return to France. That letter reads: + + “‘New York, March 14, 1916. + + “‘The Royal Bank of Canada, New York, N. Y. + + “‘Gentlemen: You will receive from Messrs. G. Amsinck & Co. deposits + for the credit of my account with you, which deposits will reach the + aggregate amount of about $1,700,000, which I wish you to utilize in + the following manner: + + “‘First—Immediately on receipt of the first amount on account of this + sum pay to Messrs. J. P. Morgan & Co., New York City, the sum of + $170,068.03, to be placed to the credit of the account with them of + Senator Charles Humbert, Paris. + + “‘Second—Establish on your books a credit of $5,000, good until the + 31st of May, in favor of Jules Bois, Biltmore Hotel, this amount to be + utilized by him at the debit of my account according to his needs, and + the unused balance to be returned to me. + + “‘Third—Transfer to the credit of my wife, Mme. Bolo, with agency T of + Comptoir National d’Escompte de Paris a sum of about $524,000, to be + debited to my account as such transfers are made by you at best rate + and by small amounts. + + “‘Fourth—You will hold, subject to my instructions, when all payments + are complete, a balance of not less than $1,000,000. + + “‘Yours truly, + + “‘BOLO PASHA.’ + +“That is how the $1,683,500, which was the exact amount Bernstorff +ordered Schmidt to place at the service of Bolo, came into the latter’s +actual possession. + + +BERNSTORFF THE MASTER MIND + +“Direct evidence that Count Bernstorff was the master mind behind the +plot on this side of the Atlantic came to light in five dispatches that +were made public by Secretary Lansing on October 5. These messages were +exchanged in the Spring of 1916: + + “‘_The Department of State communicates to the press the following + telegrams bearing upon the case of Bolo Pasha, exchanged between Count + von Bernstorff and Herr von Jagow, German Minister of Foreign Affairs._ + + * * * * * + + “‘Number 679, Feb. 26. I have received direct information from an + entirely trustworthy source concerning a political action in one + of the enemy countries which would bring peace. One of the leading + political personalities of the country in question is seeking a loan + of one million seven hundred thousand dollars in New York, for which + security will be given. I was forbidden to give his name in writing. + The affair seems to me to be of the greatest possible importance. + Can the money be provided at once in New York? That the intermediary + will keep the matter secret is entirely certain. Request answer by + telegram. A verbal report will follow as soon as a trustworthy person + can be found to bring it to Germany. + + “‘BERNSTORFF.’ + + * * * * * + + “‘Number 150, Feb. 29. Answer to telegram Number 679. Agree to + the loan, but only if peace action seems to you a really serious + project, as the provision of money in New York is for us at present + extraordinarily difficult. If the enemy country is Russia have nothing + to do with the business, as the sum of money is too small to have any + serious effect in that country. So, too, in the case of Italy, where + it would not be worth while to spend so much. + + “‘JAGOW.’ + + * * * * * + + “‘Number 685, March 5. Please instruct Deutsche Bank to hold nine + million marks at disposal of Hugo Schmidt. The affair is very + promising. Further particulars follow. + + “‘BERNSTORFF.’ + +[Illustration: + + _Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._ + +Sergeant William M. Butterfield + +_32nd Division, 125th Infantry, Company “G”_ + + A descendant of the famous Rebel general, Milo J. Butterfield. He was + made a corporal and requested to be reduced to the rank of private, + in order to get to the front more quickly. He participated in three + drives: Château-Thierry, Soissons, and Argonne. He was made a Sergeant + in Company “G” as a reward for his splendid fighting in the latter + offensive.] + + * * * * * + + “‘Number 692, March 20. With reference to telegram Number 685, please + advise our Minister in Berne that some one will call on him who + will give him the passport Sanct Regis and who wishes to establish + relations with the Foreign Office. Intermediary further requests that + influence may be brought to bear upon our press to pass over the + change in the inner political situation in France so far as possible + in silence, in order that things may not be spoiled by German approval. + + “‘BERNSTORFF.’ + + * * * * * + + “‘Number 206, May 31. The person announced in Telegram 692 of March 20 + has not yet reported himself at the legation at Berne. Is there any + more news on your side of Bolo? + + “‘JAGOW.’ + +“In France the most sensational feature of the case was Bolo’s payment +of $170,000 to Senator Charles Humbert, owner of _Le Journal_. The +money was in part payment for 1,100 bonds of that newspaper. Senator +Humbert immediately came out with a statement to prove that he was +entirely unaware of the treasonable purpose of the purchases. He gave +facts showing that Bolo Pasha had used his contract with _Le Journal_ +to extract money from Germany. On Oct. 12, the French Military Court +appointed a sequestrator for the money advanced to Senator Humbert. It +amounted in all to $1,200,000 and was handed over to the care of the +Deposit and Consignment office, a section of the Ministry of Finance. + +“Whatever the total number of millions extracted from the German +government by Bolo Pasha, the utter futility of the expenditure, so far +as Germany is concerned, must remain one of the most striking features +of the case.” + + +A CONTINUING EVIL + +The exposures of German intrigue and the departure from this country of +the official representatives of Germany who had so grossly abused their +diplomatic privileges did not by any means put an end to pro-German +activities and expenditures. They were uninterrupted though necessarily +transferred to channels of less commanding importance. What was true +late in 1917, was practically true of the major part of 1918, before +the armistice. Societies as well as individuals continued to distribute +German money and carry on pro-German or anti-English propaganda. The +_New York Times_ said in October, 1917: + +“The thing needs no proof. She is paying every man who will accept pay +for the same purpose for which, before the war began, she was paying +every man who would accept pay to handicap and weaken the arm of the +American government. + +“How are we to recognize the trail of her money? Before the war she was +organizing strikes, blowing up factories, and purchasing the creation +of a false public opinion against trading with the Allies. The outbreak +of war somewhat altered her aims; there have been no purchased strikes +lately and no dynamiting of factories. Her aim, which is always the +same—the weakening of the government’s arm—can now be best attained by +creating a false public opinion in favor of laying down our arms and +consenting to peace before the objects of the war are attained. All her +own moves from Berlin are now directed to that end, and when we find a +movement in the United States which duplicates the moves from Berlin +it is safe to assume that Germany is backing it in the same way in +which she backed other movements, to quote von Bernstorff, ‘on former +occasions.’ + +“It makes no difference that some of the men who are engaged in this +movement may be merely foolish or deluded and not in receipt of money +from Wilhelmstrasse. There are others who are, and these dupes are +merely their tools. One and all they are doing the work for which +Germany pays those who get the pay and those who do not. The ignorant +zealot goes where the paid traitor sends him. That the ignorant zealot +does not know the paid traitor is paid does not alter in the slightest +the deadly effect of his action, the deadly effect calculated on and +purposed by the German paymaster.” + +The _New York Tribune_, commenting on the facility of espionage and +propaganda by Germans, said: + +“Conditions are incredible. These enemy aliens, acting as spies and +carriers of information, are everywhere. + +“They are going freely to and fro. + +“They are in the Army and Navy. + +“They occupy hundreds of observation posts. + +“They are in possession of hundreds of sources of information of +military value. + +“They are in factories producing war-materials. + +“They are in all the drug and chemical laboratories. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Tribitsch Lincoln + + The man in the middle, exmember of parliament, is hand-cuffed to a + detective. He confessed that he was a spy for the German government.] + +“‘If you discharge the Germans,’ says Herman A. Metz, a manufacturer +of drugs and chemicals, ‘you will close every chemical plant in the +country.’” + + +ORGANIZED PROPAGANDA + +To quote again from _The German Secret Service in America_: + +“Many of the peace movements which were set going during the first +three years of the war were sincere, many were not. A mass meeting held +at Madison Square Garden in 1915 at which Bryan was the chief speaker, +was inspired by Germany. In the insincere class falls also the ‘Friends +of Peace,’ organized in 1915. Its letterhead bore the invitation: +‘Attend the National Peace Convention, Chicago, Sept. 5 and 6,’ and +incidentally betrayed the origin of the society. The letterhead stated +that the society represented the American Truth Society (an offshoot +of the National German-American Alliance), The American Women of +German Descent, the American Fair Play Society, the German-American +Alliance of Greater New York, the German Catholic Federation of New +York, the United Irish-American Societies and the United Austrian and +Hungarian-American Societies. Among the ‘honorable vice-chairmen’ +were listed Edmund von Mach, John Devoy, Justices Goff and Cohalan (a +trinity of Britonophobes), Colquitt of Texas, ex-Congressman Buchanan +(of Labor’s National Peace Council fame), Jeremiah O’Leary (a Sinn +Feiner, mentioned in official cables from Zimmermann to Bernstorff as a +good intermediary for sabotage), Judge John T. Hylan, Richard Bartholdt +(a congressman active in the German political lobby), and divers +officers of the Alliance. + +“The American Truth Society, Inc., the parent of the Friends of Peace, +was founded in 1912 by Jeremiah O’Leary, a Tammany lawyer later +indicted for violation of the Espionage Act, who disappeared when his +case came up for trial in May, 1918; Alphonse Koelble, who conducted +the German-American Alliance’s New York political clearing house; +Gustav Dopslaff, a German-American banker, and others interested in +the German cause. In 1915 the Society, whose executives were well and +favorably known to the German embassy, began issuing and circulating +noisy pamphlets, with such captions as ‘Fair Play for Germany,’ and ‘A +German-American War.’ O’Leary and his friends also conducted a mail +questionnaire of Congress in an effort to catalogue the convictions of +each member on the blockade and embargo questions. Their most insidious +campaign was an effort to frighten the smaller banks of the country +from participating in Allied loans, by threats of a German ‘blacklist’ +after the war, to organize a ‘gold protest’ to embarrass American +banking operations, and in general to harass the Administration in its +international relations. + +[Illustration: Prize Winning War Savings Poster] + +“So with their newspapers, rumor-mongers, lecturers, peace societies, +alliances, bunds, vereins, lobbyists, war relief workers, motion +picture operators and syndicates, the Germans wrought hard to +avert war. For two years they nearly succeeded. America was under +the narcotic influence of generally comfortable neutrality, and a +comfortable nation likes to wag its head and say ‘there are two sides +to every question.’ But whatever these German agents might have +accomplished in the public mind—and certainly they were sowing their +seed in fertile ground—was nullified by acts of violence, ruthlessness +at sea, and impudence in diplomacy. The left hand found out what the +right hand was about.” + + +PAUL KOENIG, THE ATLAS LINE’S MAN + +One of the delectable agents of the Bernstorff-von Papen intrigues was +a “bull-headed Westphalian” named Paul Koenig, who had been one of +the Hamburg-American Line’s detectives in service with the subsidiary +company, the Atlas Line. His duties brought him into close relations +with sailors, tug-captains, wharf-rats, longshoremen and keepers of +dives of the lowest sort. That experience, coupled with the fact that +he was, as his apelike countenance suggests, crafty and brutal, made +him an ideal man for von Papen’s more dastardly purposes, especially as +Koenig had under him the company’s police force of ten or twelve men, +obedient to his will. Here was a nice little organization ready to hand. + +On von Papen’s request the Atlas Line put Koenig entirely at his +disposal, and no time was lost in making use of his service. Under +von Papen, Koenig became the chief of a majority of the German Secret +Service groups in the eastern part of the country. Gradually his +work extended to the execution of commissions for the higher-ups, +Bernstorff, Dr. Albert, the curious Austrian Ambassador, Dr. Dumba, +as well as the orders of von Papen. He was a sort of factotum to +them on various occasions, guard, messenger, investigator, etc. But +to preserve the air of unsuspicious employment the Line continued to +pay his wages, his work for the conspirators being covered by special +bills and von Papen’s special checks. Koenig kept a book in which were +listed the names of hundreds of persons—German-Americans and Americans, +clerks, army reservists, scientists, city and federal employees, +etc.—indicating his wide range of sources of information and the +effectiveness of his system of poisonous propaganda. + +His staff had numbers and special initials as well as aliases for +identification in correspondence and telephone or other communications. +He provided against the tapping of his telephone wires by talking in +code. His code seems to have been devised with some sense of humor in +the possibility of sending listeners-in on wild-goose chases, which was +often the result. Then to prevent being shadowed he had one or two of +his own men trail him, ready to notify him by signal if he seemed to be +the object of too persistent attention. It is said he had the trick, +when being followed, of suddenly turning a corner and waiting until the +detective came up, when, taking a good look to identify the follower, +he would go on with a boisterous laugh. By this trick he came to know +quite a number of the agents of the Department of Justice. Such a +cunning and cautious fellow of course gave the police a deal of trouble +to keep tabs on him. Mr. John Price Jones says in his book: + + +A SUPERSUBTLE KNAVE + +“So elusive did he become that it was necessary to evolve a new system +of shadowing him in order to keep him in sight without betraying +that he was under surveillance. One detective, accordingly, would be +stationed several blocks away and would start out ahead of Koenig. The +‘front shadow’ was signaled by his confederates in the rear whenever +Koenig turned a corner, so that the man in front might dart down a +cross-street and maneuver to keep ahead of him. If Koenig boarded a +street car the man ahead would hail the car several blocks beyond, thus +avoiding suspicion. In more than one instance detectives in the rear, +guessing that he was about to take a car, would board it several blocks +before it got abreast of Koenig. + +“It was impossible to overhear direct conversation between Koenig and +any man to whom he was giving instructions. Some of his workers he +never permitted to meet him at all, but when he kept a rendezvous it +was in the open, in the parks in broad daylight, or in a moving-picture +theater, or in the Pennsylvania Station, or the Grand Central +Terminal. There he could make sure that nobody was eavesdropping. If +he met an agent in the open for the first time he gave him some such +command as this: + +“‘Be at Third Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street at 2:30 to-morrow afternoon +beside a public telephone booth there. When the telephone rings answer +it.’ + +“The man would obey. On the minute the telephone would ring and the +man would lift the receiver. A strange voice told him to do certain +things—either a definite assignment, or instructions to be at a similar +place on the following day to receive a message. Or he might be told +to meet another man, who would give him money and further orders. The +voice at the other end of the wire spoke from a public telephone booth +and was thus reasonably sure that the wire he was talking over was not +tapped.” + +But cunning, like vaulting ambition, sometimes “doth o’erleap itself,” +and Koenig’s fall into the clutches of the law was due to that excess +of caution that forbade him to trust any of his men or assistants. His +rule was to employ no one man more than once in any service that gave +him a “hold” on Koenig sufficient to warrant blackmail or threaten +exposure. The detectives found this out, by observation. Then they +noticed that one George Fuchs, a young relative with whom Koenig had +been quite chummy at first, came to be seen less and less in his +company. The detectives thereupon set about making the acquaintance of +Fuchs and getting into his good grace. It did not take them long to +learn that he was resentful of his unappreciative relative, and they +gave sympathetic ear to his complaints. The desired result was the +betrayal of Koenig to the authorities. + + + + +AS TO SPIES IN ENGLAND + +A Dozen Were Shot, Hundreds Were Imprisoned, But “Cherished Spies” Were +Allowed To Go Free Because Their Work Was So Bad. + + +There has never been a war since the one in which the daughter of +Jupiter and Leda, the inconstant Helen, figured so conspicuously, that +has not had its fact or fiction of “beautiful” women. Whether it be +Homer or Timothy Tubbmutton who wields the recording pen, there is +always the woman beautiful to flavor the narrative. And usually the +“beautiful” is a clever spy who casts a seductive spell over diplomats, +statesmen, generals or, if need be, corporals of the guard. Inevitably +a war of a magnitude to take in every clime and nation offered alluring +field for the play of the reportorial or literary imagination, and we +have had—in novel, movie and magazine as well as in the columns of the +press—stories unlimited about beautiful women spies. + +It goes without saying that, with the rarest possible exception, beauty +is not a feature of the type of person whose mentality delights in +“treasons, stratagems and spoils.” But we seldom have an authoritative +pronouncement on the subject, and for that reason it is particularly +interesting to reproduce in part an interview Miss Gertrude Lynch +had with an English secret service official in 1917 while the war +was still very much on. Miss Lynch was one of the “Vigilantes,” an +association of American writers whose object was to “help win the war” +by the dissemination of educative information. The interview with the +English official was to get some light on the German espionage system +as applied to England. Though not named, the official is described as +the spy expert of England. A great many spies, of one and another sort, +were nabbed in England. The article says: + + +ONLY A DOZEN SHOT + +“There have only been twelve spies shot since the beginning of the war, +but hundreds are either in penal servitude for life or serving shorter +sentences. The actual number was not known to the official who talked +with me on this topic—with the distinct understanding that I should +not mention his name or title. He is the acknowledged authority on the +spy evil. Not far from where we sat, in a formidable cabinet which +looked as if it held other interesting documents, the papers taken from +von Papen were carefully locked. + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Leslie’s Weekly._ + +French and German Soldiers as Comrades in Death + +Clearing a battlefield after the advance of the French armies in +September, 1915. The fallen of both armies were loaded together on +wagons and hauled to convenient places for interment. Their identity +was learned from numbered metal tags on cords around the neck, or sewn +into the clothing.] + +“‘No woman spies have been shot in England and only one among the +feminine lot—a bad lot—who are serving sentence could possibly +lay claim to being a “beautiful lady” spy. This woman had all the +hall-marks of the fiction and cinema character, charming in manner, +well gowned, having plenty of money, traveling about luxuriously, +and was finally nabbed with the incriminating papers on her. But the +popular conception of the feminine secret agent rarely exists outside +of sensational stories because only women without moral sense can take +up this profession, and when a woman is devoid of moral sense she is +sure to be devoid of the other qualities that might make her work +efficacious. + +“‘There are, of course, numberless men and women who would be spies if +they had not been interned, and, among the 30,000 Germans who are at +this moment so confined, there are doubtless several who treasure the +belief that they would have been of inestimable use to their country; +but as they will never get a chance to prove themselves wrong that poor +solace is permitted them. + +“‘We have,’ continued my informant, ‘a great number of “cherished +spies” with us. These are the spies who go about plying their +profession and believing themselves the personification of that +cleverness the Germans demand for this work. That is why we have dubbed +them “Our Cherished Ones.” They are carefully watched. We let them go +on doing bad work because it is much better to keep a bad spy doing bad +work than it is to take him and perhaps have a spy who might do good +work sent in his place. + +“‘We would hate to lose our “cherished spies.” We don’t intend to! + +“‘America has the job of the century. I wouldn’t know where to tell her +to begin. Spies that were there and have left had plenty of time to lay +their plans before the unrestricted submarine warfare began. + +“‘With 8,000,000 Germans in America, what you have to find out is +whether or not a German has been denationalized, a process that +can only be gone through in Germany. It is not enough to know that +he has been naturalized and that he claims to be a good citizen to +your country. The fact that he has become a naturalized citizen +does not free him from the call to fight for his own land. If he is +denationalized as well as naturalized you are then safe, but not +before. In England we had only a very small number who were found to be +denationalized, a fairly negligible unit. + +“‘I should say that the rush by foreigners immediately after the +declaration of war in America was not because before they had been +indifferent or hostile, but because they feared to be called upon to +fight for their own countries. You will probably find that many of the +Germans had been denationalized and were finishing up the process.’” + + +AMERICA’S HIGH-CLASS SPIES + +America had a monopoly of the so-called high-class spies, according +to this authority. The average German spy was described as a man who +has one or more convictions hanging over his head—an unsentenced +criminal—and these men were paid only about $250 a month. The statement +continues: + +“‘The last spy we caught was only a day or so ago. We had been after +him for some time and he was traveling with a perfectly good American +passport. + +“‘The high-class spies with you are responsible for the sabotage, for +the strikes on the docks and in the factories. They are pacifists, +anticonscriptionists. It is a situation terribly serious for you. They +are going to delay what they can not prevent. Don’t flatter yourselves +that the important spies have been driven out. If I had been a spy in +America and the warning had been given to me so long in advance, I +would have laid my lines very well. Look out for those lines; you may +trip. + +“‘What should be done with a spy in America? He should be shot as soon +as his espionage has been proved. No weakness should be permitted +because he has many affiliations there. + +[Illustration: French Peasants Sent to the Front by Germans + + In certain areas in France the German commanders feared that the + inhabitants would give information to the French armies, and so moved + all the population either into concentration camps near the front or + to points a long way in the rear of the lines. Here is shown a wagon + train filled with peasants who had been forced to leave their homes + with only the few necessities these civilian heroes could carry.] + +“‘I was in Germany eight years ago. Everywhere I was asked, “Are you +ready to fight America?” That was the pretty little German game. +Even then they were dying to rub into us the fact that America was our +enemy. In the beginning, when the commercial party—Herr Ballin and +his clique—were in power, they pretended a great affection for you. +It was contrary to their desire that the submarine warfare became so +terrible—not because they hated its brutalities, don’t make any mistake +about that, but because they thought it a diplomatic blunder. Then and +now they have a press which harps on the unfriendly feeling that exists +between you and us. That often reiterated phrase that “America is +fighting Great Britain’s battles for her” was made in Germany. + +“‘I’m not such a fool as to think that America loved us in the past, +but that she ever hated us as the Germans have said and that we have +hated her as they still say in subtle, indefinable ways in some of your +papers, is unbelievable by either of the parties concerned. Nations +have faults as do individuals. We’ve made mistakes. We may have talked +a little too much about the _Shannon_ and _Chesapeake_ and you too much +about Bunker Hill and that tea-party in Boston Harbor. Let’s have an +end to it—it all helps Germany too much. Take away the text-books from +your children which teach them to hate us. If you try it, the German +school-teachers will try to keep them, see if they don’t. + +“‘America ought to love us now if she has not in the past, if national +love is founded on respect, as it should be. We can point to ourselves +with pride. We have given up in this war the thing we most believed +in—personal freedom. We have made untold sacrifices and we are ready to +give up everything—everything. Anything in your press that makes you +see these facts in a distorted way is false, spy-work of the subtle, +underground, submarine mentality sort that the Germans excel in. + +“‘Look out for it. It isn’t the work of the “lovely lady spy” or that +of the man with a conviction suspended while he does their dirty work +that you are in danger from. It is just where I have pointed out. + +“‘You asked me a while ago what England would do in case Germany won. +I will tell you and you can draw from it the lesson of spy—and other +German effort. + +“‘If Germany should win, there won’t be any one here when it happens to +know anything about it.’” + + + + +EDITH CAVELL’S BETRAYER + +A Traitor of Belgium Posing as an Allied Soldier Served the Germans + + +The basest of the spies in the German Service of whom there is any +account probably was Gaston Quien, the betrayer of Edith Cavell. He was +a degraded moral type, and had been convicted of various minor offenses +before the war, being a “bad citizen.” He was at St. Quentin when the +Germans arrived there, and according to testimony he at once placed +himself on familiar terms with them. He was nicknamed “Doublemetre” +(Two-yarder) because of his great stature. The Germans saw that they +could make use of him, and proceeded to do so. + +The circumstances of his employment were about as follows: + +In 1915 the German commanders in Northern France and Belgium were +angered at the fact that hundreds of Belgian and Allied soldiers hidden +in various villages were eventually smuggled through the lines into +Holland or France by an organization known to have its headquarters in +Brussels. + +[Illustration: A Loan Poster] + +Quien opportunely arrived in Brussels and posed as an Allied aviator +who had been obliged to alight behind the German lines, and, after +burning his plane, had evaded capture. Along with several French +soldiers, he was hidden for a time at the château of Prince and +Princess Crouy. There Louise Thuliez, the school teacher decorated +early in 1919 with the Legion of Honor, secretly passed him on to +Brussels, by way of Mons. At Brussels he was lodged for several days +in Miss Cavell’s nursery. Finally an engineer named Capiau and Mme. +Bodart accompanied him and a group of Allied soldiers to the Dutch +frontier, where, by payment of $15 a head to smugglers, they were +conducted into Dutch territory. + +Once at The Hague, Quien made no further effort to get into France. +Instead, he returned to Brussels and betrayed to the Germans the entire +organization for helping Allied soldiers out of Belgium. + +Miss Cavell was tried and executed soon afterward. Miss Thuliez also +was sentenced to death, but pardoned. Princess Crouy, Mme. Bodart and +Capiau were sentenced to twelve years at hard labor. An architect named +Bauco, also betrayed by Quien, was shot at the same time Miss Cavell +met her fate. Quien continued in the employ of the Germans in various +capacities, finally establishing himself in Interlaken, where he worked +with their most noted spies. After the armistice he was arrested and +tried for treason in a Belgian court. He was found guilty, but was not +executed, pending an appeal. + + + + +EDITH CAVELL + +_By_ + +George Edward Woodberry + + + The world hath its own dead; great motions start + In human breasts, and make for them a place + In that hushed sanctuary of the race + Where every day men come, kneel, and depart. + + Of them, O English nurse, henceforth thou art, + A name to pray on, and to all a face + Of household consecration; such His grace + Whose universal dwelling is the heart. + + O gentle hands that soothed the soldier’s brow, + And knew no service save of Christ the Lord! + Thy country now is all humanity! + How like a flower thy womanhood doth show + In the harsh scything of the German sword, + And beautifies the world that saw it die! + + By permission of _Scribner’s Magazine_ and author. + +[Illustration: + + Painting by Joseph Cummings Chase. + +Corporal John R. O’Brien + +_Second Division, 23rd Infantry, Company K_ + +After his platoon commander had been severely wounded and his sergeant +had been killed on June 6, 1918, he assumed command, kept the men +on the line, controlled their fire, and by good advice and judgment +conserved life.] + + + + +THE SPY MILL + +It Did Not Wait for Winds to Swing Its Arms for German Guidance + + +In a book, recently published, called _Espions, Espionnage_, one +story has to do with a windmill: “Celebrated along the whole Aisne +front, there existed at Craonne a mill boldly designated, ‘Mill of +the Spy.’... The miller, devoted to the interests of our enemies, had +found the means of informing them of the movements of our troops by +disposing the arms of the mill in different positions.” The French has +a beautifully final sound—“the miller, devoted to the interests of our +enemies.” “But to tell the truth, neither the miller himself nor the +actual information which he was able to impart, made a great deal of +difference in the fighting. What it was, that made, or almost made, +the difference, I believe, has never been satisfactorily ascertained. +The miller at least was not there, then. Of course he may have had +confederates, but if so, the destruction of the mill was so sudden, so +complete, that there was left no trace of them.” + +The information given by the mill to the Germans was almost entirely +negligible, and would have penetrated to them anyway through the medium +of the spies with which both lines were always swarming. Of course, +at first, before they realized the agency of the mill, the French +were not a little troubled and disconcerted by the amount of data the +Germans seemed to possess, and the speed with which it was acquired. +For instance, for a while the Boches amused themselves with knowingly +greeting each regiment as it moved up to take its turn in the front +line trench. There was a measure of clairvoyance implied in the big +white board with black lettering that would go up on top of the German +barbed wire as surely as there was a change of guard on the French +side: “Bonjour, 77e!” or the number of French trench casualties: “Morts +——,” “Blessés ——.” And so it went on day after day. + +A week of this, in dull, rainy weather, was enough to set nerves on +edge, but then they caught the miller, whose execution put, it was +thought, the quietus on the mill. And upon the morning of the 27th of +November, they moved forward stealthily to the surprise attack. + +Then a poilu looked back. It was a miserable, gray, shrouded morning, +when the shadow cast by any object is merely a blur around that +object—the whole a blot upon a cloudy plain. The mill stood, a black, +spectral shape in the fog, on a slight eminence, the most commanding +point in the surrounding country. As he looked, suddenly a long, black +arm fell, abruptly, while the corresponding one, lighter in color, +rose a foot or two. Besides the troops, it was the only moving thing +in that breathless landscape. “Sacré-bleu!” a poilu exclaimed. As one +and another began to gape behind them at his sudden start of surprise, +slowly the whole motion was reversed. Light arm down, black arm up. +Nothing more occurred. The mill was as motionless as they, though +afterwards some of them declared that they had been able to see Tom +Bene himself, hanging, with a ghastly face, athwart the arms, as men +are sometimes hung to the spokes of a wheel. Then, as a sound came +from the German trenches, as with one impulse, the men rushed—back +toward the mill, which they literally, by means of fire and bombs, tore +shred from shred. Then they turned to meet the Germans, who, warned +by this extraordinary wigwagging, by whatever agency or agencies, had +instituted a counter-attack. The French were not driven, but they stood +the attack in their own trenches. “Afterwards, to those who had been +there to see, more vivid than the angels at Mons, more vivid than the +vision of the Little Corporal, to those who thought they saw it, was +that gray morning, the foiled attack, and this malevolent motion of a +secret intelligence in a dream landscape.” + +[Illustration: + + © _Century._ + +Belfry of the Cathedral at Ypres + + No city had more bombardments than Ypres during the World War. The + Germans used heavy siege-guns which made great holes often 50 feet + across and 30 feet deep. This picture shows the effect of the great + shells on the great cathedral of Ypres.] + + + + +ALOIS THE SILENT + +He Planned to End the War by Slaying Its Instigator and Failing—Died + + +One of the hero-martyrs of Belgium was Alois Van Keirsbilk, a +well-to-do citizen of Thielt, beloved of his townspeople, a man of +family, and a zealous patriot. He did what he might to serve, and many, +they say in Thielt, were the services rendered. But there came a day +when the rumor went round that the German Kaiser and his entourage were +to visit Thielt, and Van Keirsbilk suddenly conceived a great project +for the salvation of Belgium, for the liberation of the world from the +nightmare of war. Egbert Hans tells the story of Alois Van Keirsbilk +and it was first published in its completeness in the _New York +Times_ of Sunday, June 22, 1919. But a little abbreviated, it is here +reproduced as Hans told it: + +“Thielt was the headquarters of the Fourth German Army and sheltered +the Commander-in-Chief with a staff of hundreds of officers. Alois Van +Keirsbilk was chief conductor on the railway between Thielt and Bruges. +Also he was the chief of a secret organization which had only one +object—‘help to our boys and death to the enemy.’ The organization was +in communication with the Belgian army through spies who made regular +trips into Holland across the ‘cable of death,’ and many a German plan +originated at headquarters in Thielt failed, thanks to the activity of +Alois and his men. + +“It was not long before Alois saw his chance for a big stroke. The +Kaiser was coming to Thielt on the first of November. A desperate +attack was to be made against the Belgian forces along the Yser and +from there on against Ypres and Dunkirk, and Wilhelm II in person was +to inspect the preparations. + +“Kill the Kaiser and the war will be over, was the firm conviction of +Alois and his friends, and they set to work. Alois acquired all the +information that his organization could procure as to the movements +and schedule of the imperial visitor, and sent all the details to his +agents in the Belgian army, with the request that airmen be sent at the +opportune moment ‘to kill the Kaiser!’ + +“Only one of the three messengers who were sent out reached the other +side of the electric cable, for at that time the guards were doubled. +But one was sufficient, and when the first of November came Alois felt +confident that something would happen. + + +“THE BEST LAID PLANS” + +“The big dinner at which the Kaiser and his staff were to gather +around the table, and for which all the best silver in town had been +requisitioned, was to begin at 2 o’clock. At that moment anxious eyes +watched the sky toward the west. Would they come, the airmen with their +bombs to do the deed that would finish the war? Would they be in time? + +“At 2.15 there was a speck in the blue sky. It grew bigger and bigger, +and bigger, and soon the watchers distinguished three flying machines. +In haste Alois communicated with his friends. Barely had those who were +warned taken shelter when the first explosion was heard. Then for a few +minutes the town of Thielt shuddered as bomb after bomb exploded. + +“It was a well-managed raid and the daring airmen escaped in safety, +but it was all in vain. There had been a sudden change in the Kaiser’s +schedule and the war lord had left Thielt at 2 o’clock sharp. During +the bombardment his motor cars were speeding along the road to Bruges +and his life was safe. + +“But the commander of the Fourth German Army raged in his private +office at the _kommandatur_. The secret of the visit had plainly got +out. The Kaiser, the idol of 70,000,000 Germans, had barely escaped +death. The guilty had to be found and punished. + +“A contra-spy system was organized at once and large sums were promised +for any bit of information. Slowly but surely Alois was drawn into the +net woven by a most minute and complete investigation. On Feb. 2 he was +summoned to the _kommandatur_ and taken prisoner. Already three of his +coöperators were there. + +“It was then that Alois Van Keirsbilk showed the courage which won for +him the name of ‘the Silent Hero.’ He knew that one word spoken lightly +might betray the whole of his organization, and his last word to his +friends who were still free had been, ‘Do not let my absence or death +scare you; but keep up the work that we have been doing.’ After his +arrest nothing could induce him to speak even a word. All devices, old +and new, were tried by the _kommandatur_—tortures as well as promises, +the menaces of a cruel death, and the promise of life in luxury. It +was all in vain. Perhaps Alois thought of the many lives he had in his +hands. Anyway, he remained silent. + +“He was condemned to death on Feb. 25, and then the Germans created and +applied as devilish a scheme of mental torture for a human being as +could be devised. Alois had two children, and a third was to be born +soon. + +“‘On the day that new life enters your home your life will end unless +you speak,’ said the German inquisitor. Undoubtedly Alois thought of +his wife, who would be calling for him that day more than ever. Perhaps +he thought of the new baby also. Nevertheless he was still true to his +name, ‘the Silent.’ + +“On the 5th of April a little girl was born in the Van Keirsbilk home. +It might seem unbelievable, but evidently the Germans had waited for +the event. On the same day they sent official word to ‘Madame Van +Keirsbilk’ that if she desired to see her husband still alive, she +could see him that day at 3 o’clock in the prison at Ghent. A merciful +neighbor nurse saw to it that the message did not reach the mother, +then nursing her day-old baby. Instead the eldest girl, 10 years old, +was sent to the prison to see her father. Full of joy, in her happy +ignorance, she exclaimed: + +“‘Oh, father, you must come home with me. We have a little sister, and +mother wants to show it to you. Come, father!’ + +“But father could not come. He pressed his little girl in his arms. +He could not tell her she would never see him again, for he wanted to +spare the mother, who had to live for the children. Not a word did he +say. One kiss, and the big prison gate closed after the child, while +her father prepared himself to die. + + +FACED DEATH A HERO + +“His end came next morning at half-past five in the _cour_ of the +prison. Four Belgians were to fall that day. When Van Keirsbilk arrived +at the place of execution three were already lying dead against the +wall. For some unknown reason he went to the muzzles of twelve German +rifles alone. + +“He refused to be blindfolded. ‘Let not a German hand touch me in +this solemn moment when I die for my country. I have no fear of your +bullets,’ the Belgians heard that he said, and erect he waited for the +moment when his agony would come to an end. A few seconds later his +body, with those of his comrades in death, was thrown into the ditch. + +“In the afternoon of the same day a German soldier knocked at the door +of the ‘Widow Van Keirsbilk’ and delivered a parcel to the devoted +neighbor who was caring for the new baby and its mother. The woman +opened it, and with horror found that it contained the suit of clothes +of the unhappy master of the house. That was the German announcement of +his death. + +“Loving friends managed to keep the news from the widow for several +days, although the continual absence of her husband plainly made her +fear. But one morning she was looking through the window into the +street, when the church bells began to ring for a funeral service. +The people attending looked up at her and nodded with sympathy. None +told her, but perhaps the unhappy woman read the pity that was in the +eyes of the passers-by. Nobody knows, but suddenly a terrible look of +suspicion came into her eyes. She rushed downstairs, where the neighbor +nurse was preparing the meal for the children, and, seizing her by the +arms, cried out: + +“‘Who is dead? For whom are the bells ringing? Is it for Alois? Tell +me, or I will run out into the street and find out. I must know where +Alois is. I must know it if he is dead.’ Then and there the sad news +had to be broken, and the widow of Alois began a time of lonely misery +only broken by the struggle to keep her three children fed and clothed.” + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Red Cross Magazine._ + +A Long-Range Bombardment + +Italian artillery bombarding Austrian trenches on a distant +mountain-side, preparatory to a general attack.] + +Egbert Hans concludes his story of Alois the Silent: + +“To-day the Belgian flag flows again from the tower of Thielt and the +thrifty people of Flanders are busy rebuilding their homes. Many of the +men are missing; some died on the battlefield, others in prison, but +all died fighting for the small strip of land they called their own, +and those who remain cherish the memory of their heroes. They will tell +their stories to their children and grandchildren, thus adding another +page to the glorious history of Flanders, and among those stories will +be that of Alois Van Keirsbilk, who tried to end the war by ending its +instigator, and who failed and died, silent.” + + + + +EYE OF THE MORNING + +The Popular Dutch Dancer Who Played the Rôle of German Spy to Her Cost + + +A story redolent of intrigue, adventure and a kind of romance is that +of “Mata-Hari”—which is Japanese for “Eye-of-the Morning,” and is +the name by which a Dutch dancer was known in the rendezvous of the +light world of the European capitals before the war. Her real name is +Marguerite Gertrude Zelle McLeod, and in 1917 her public and dashing +career of art and adventure came to an abrupt stop by her arrest, +trial, condemnation, and imprisonment, under sentence of death, in +the prison of St. Lazare, Paris. She was condemned as a German spy, +the specific offense being the betrayal to the Germans of the secret +of the new, carefully guarded war weapon, the Tank. Reams have been +written about this woman since her arrest, but nothing probably that +would have anything like the interest for the public that will attach +to the “memoirs,” the writing of which, reporters say, was her prison +occupation. + +Among the stories published at the time was one in the New York _World_ +in October, 1917, that presented what was known of her connection with +the leak of the tank secret. The success of the tank depended largely +on the element of surprise when it was put into the fighting front. +Therefore the planning, construction and shipment of tanks to the Somme +were conducted with the utmost possible secrecy. Necessarily, however, +a certain number of persons in France and England were in a position +to know; but, as it took a good many months to get the machines in +readiness and habituate a crew to their rolling, pitching, sickening +motion, the circle of those who knew more or less about it increased, +and in some way not yet explained, Mata-Hari learned something of +the secret. It is rumored that a member of the Chamber of Deputies +inadvertently gave her her first information. The _World_ said the +rumor was strengthened by the fact that Mata-Hari had plenty of coal +for her apartment during the fuel famine that winter. That in itself +is proof enough to everybody of her intimacy with some high official, +as few people, short of Deputies, had influence enough to obtain a +hundredweight of coal during the bitter months of January, February, +and March. + +“In any event, Mata-Hari learned vaguely of tanks early in 1916, when +the Krupp guns of the Crown Prince were daily booming nearer and nearer +to Verdun in that terrific struggle which was to mark the turning-point +of the war. Mata-Hari also learned that the tanks were being +constructed in England, and would be shipped to France via certain +ports—and she got the names of the ports, too.” + +[Illustration: Zeppelin _L-15_ Sinking Off the Kentish Coast + +The airship was brought down April 1, 1916, by British anti-aircraft +guns.] + +Suddenly, Mata-Hari, then in Paris, decided to return to Holland, her +native land, explaining to curious inquirers that she married a Dutch +army officer with a Scotch name (McLeod) who had divorced her and +that she was going to arrange a settlement. + + +SHE ACQUIRES A DRAGON + +“The dancer proceeded to Rotterdam. Investigation there has since +proved that she had no ‘communal rights property’ to settle with any +one, and further that Captain MacLeod of the Dutch Army was known among +his fellow officers as pronouncedly pro-German. + +“Soon Mata-Hari returned to Paris. She was seen at the Café de Paris +and at Maxim’s, and at Armenonville in the Bois with an English officer +who wore on the lapel of his collar, as insignia denoting his branch +of service, a little twisted brass dragon. Months later, when more of +these badges were seen on British officers passing through Paris, it +became known that the dragon was of the official insignia denoting +service with the tanks. + +“Mata-Hari sported a new bauble soon after taking up with the +Englishman—a jeweled replica of his gold insignia—her dragon had real +emeralds for eyes, and a carrot-shaped ruby for a tongue darting from +its opened fangs. + +“In May, 1916, a little more than a month before the Somme offensive +opened and tanks were first used, Mata-Hari appeared before the police +magistrate of her district and requested a safe conduct to visit a +certain port in France. The reason she gave was that her fiancé, an +English officer, was seriously wounded and in hospital there. He had +sent for her to come to see him. Perhaps they would be married at his +death-bed if he could not recover, she volunteered, dabbing at her eyes +with a lace handkerchief. The safe conduct was made out, and Mata-Hari +arrived at a certain French port almost simultaneously with the first +consignment of tanks shipped over from England.” + +She spent the greater part of her time for a week strolling about the +town making frequent excursions by night, and then just a month before +Foch and Haig began their drive along the Somme she appeared again in +Paris. + +“The first thing she did was to apply for a visé on her passport +permitting her to go to Spain. San Sebastian was the place she +mentioned, as she explained she wished to attend the horse-races +there. Her papers were stamped and sealed and she left almost +immediately for the fashionable winter resort in the south. + +“Madrid, Spain, and Nauen, Germany, are in constant wireless +communication. There are other radio stations, privately owned, +in Spain which can flash messages to Germany, according to Allied +intelligence officers who have investigated. And of course there +are innumerable German agents, spies, and propaganda disseminators +infesting the land of the Dons. + +“Secret service reports disclose the fact that Mata-Hari was seen much +in company at San Sebastian race-track with a man long looked upon +with suspicion by the French government. He was a frequent caller upon +her at the hotel where she stopped, and it was reported that he made +many of the big bets she placed on horses that did not materialize as +winners. + + +AGAIN THE DEPUTY + +“Soon Mata-Hari came back to Paris and the apartment near the Bois de +Boulogne. And once more the limousine owned by the individual whom +rumor has branded a Deputy began rolling up to her door twice a week +and sometimes oftener. + +“Then came the simultaneous Franco-British offensive at the Somme. +Tanks went into action for the first time, and according to General +Haig’s official _communiqué_ his ‘Land ships achieved satisfactory +results.’” + +But, notwithstanding the “satisfactory results,” several of the tanks +were surprisingly put out of action and the investigation of the how +and the wherefore revealed the fact that they had been disabled by a +peculiar, small-caliber penetrating shell unlike anything known before. +They were fired by guns of a special manufacture. + +Instantly it became evident that the enemy had become aware of what +was in store for him and had constructed an “anti-tank” gun. And when +the booty in the captured German positions was examined, the British +found they had several good specimens of Krupps’ newest weapon. Several +German officers of higher rank taken prisoners confirmed suspicions by +explaining they had received description of the tanks several weeks +before, and had been instructed how to combat them. + +Suspicion aroused, items of information, curious circumstances in +accountable movements, bits of gossip were put together and military +law took charge of Mata-Hari. + +For some reason the finish of her memoirs is not yet; but the +fictionist, attempting to forecast a sensation, has written this: + +“So Mata-Hari writes feverishly, and all Paris waits eagerly!—except +the one who waits apprehensively—to see if she will name the _ami_ who +gave her the first inkling of the tanks. + +“Pinned to the corsage of the Empire-cut black silk dress which +Mata-Hari wears in her narrow cell in St. Lazare prison is a curious +gold brooch. It is shaped like a twisted dragon, and its eyes are +emeralds!” + + + + +BETTER WRECKER THAN SPY + +Scion of a Noble Prussian Family Who Failed to Deliver the Goods + + +Though he may not have been a conspicuous success as a spy, Gustav +Constantin Alvo von Alvensleben had a very decided record as a wrecker. +Through his directive genius many concerns, industrial and financial, +went to utter smash, involving the loss of an unknown but huge number +of millions of dollars and causing a suicide or two. In the brief span +of years between 1904 and 1911 Alvo rose from the precarious state of a +hobo to the lofty plane of millionairedom. That is a performance that +requires some doing, and indicates a mental aptitude for the peculiar +office of “playing your fellow man” considerably above the ordinary. + +And Gustav, or, as he was more commonly named, Alvo, played with no +mean counters. Among his clients was Kaiser Wilhelm himself, who, +through Alvo, invested two and a half million dollars in British +Columbia timber. Other clients were the ex-Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, +Gen. von Mackensen, the conqueror of Rumania; Emma von Mumm, the +champagne queen; Bertha Krupp, the gun woman, and others of equal +prominence in Germany. The companies he organized or coupled up +with his enterprises—nearly all of which collapsed when the shadow +of war blighted Alvo’s golden prospects—included the Alvensleben +Canadian Finance and General Investment Company, the Standard Fish and +Fertilizer Co., the Vancouver Timber and Trading Co., the Piercite +Powder Co., the German-Canadian Trust Co., etc. Also with these +went several of the Pacific Coast’s largest financial and industrial +concerns, including the Bank of Vancouver, the Issaquah and Superior +Coal Mining Company of Seattle, and the Dominion Trust Company, whose +failure following the alleged suicide of its managing director, W. R. +Arnold, was one of the greatest scandals in the history of the Dominion +of Canada. + +Two private banks of Seattle closed their doors as a result of their +connection with the I. and S. Coal Company, one of the projects of the +gambler-financier. The final liquidation of his original real estate +and financial company in Vancouver disclosed liabilities of over one +and a half millions, with assets of about $3,000, insufficient to +satisfy the liquidator’s fees. + + +NOT A NONDESCRIPT + +It is assumed that Alvo would have been able to extricate himself from +his difficulties and avert the bankruptcy into which he was forced but +for the outbreak of war. The fatality lay in the fact that all his +investments were in countries with which the Kaiser was or was about to +be at war. + +But to begin at the beginning, as we find it in an issue of the +_Canadian Courier_ of October, 1917, when Alvo’s career came to a +conclusion, temporarily at least, by his internment as a spy. + +[Illustration: + + © _National Service._ + +Protecting French Works of Art + +A scaffolding built around the statue of “Flore” at Versailles to +protect it from enemy air raids.] + +He was not a mere nondescript adventurer. He was the youngest son +of Count Werner Alvo von Alvensleben, erstwhile German Ambassador to +Russia, when Nicholas was Czar. The young man had a taste for the +livelier side of life, gaily dissipated his allowance and seemed +to regard college life not so much as an educational purpose as a +convenience to the sowing of wild oats. This was not at all to the +liking of Papa von Alvensleben and in an hour of unsuppressed wrath and +resentment he cast the young man off and bade him shift for himself. +This was an unexpected climax to his pleasure quest, and rather +shocked Alvo. He remembered that the Kaiser was an intimate friend of +his father’s, of the family indeed, and it jarred his pride to be an +outcast from a circle of such distinction. He felt under obligation to +reëstablish himself in the good graces of his father and the august +personage whom he had so often familiarly _hoched_. So he set out to +subdue some fraction of the world to his service and credit. He did not +immediately find a field of action. + +It was in the rôle of a hobo that he drifted into Western America and +began casting about for the horn of plenty from which he hoped to +shake substantial advantage. Two inches above six feet in stature, two +years under forty years of age, he was typically Prussian, stubborn, +unreasonable, of violent temper. But he was a good talker and not +without imagination. Behold him arrived in Seattle. The _Canadian +Courier_ says: + + +HOBO TO MILLIONAIRE + +“He was practically dead broke. An employment office extracted from +him the usual $2 fee—all he had—and sent him to a job in a lumber-mill +some distance from the city. Alvo tramped many miles to the mill only +to be refused employment upon his ticket. He could scarcely speak any +English, but he knew how to use his fists. Walking all the way back +to Seattle, he proceeded to beat up the employment agent in thorough +and picturesque fashion. Afterward he secured temporary rough work at +various mills along Puget Sound. + +“His first job in British Columbia was the whitewashing of a +salmon-cannery at the little village of Ladner, near the mouth +of the Fraser River. His wardrobe included overalls and a dozen +dress-shirts—the latter relics of his grander days—but he had no socks. +From wielding the whitewash-brush to hauling the nets was the next +step, and it was not long before the Prussian Junker’s son was engaged +in partnership with a rough-neck fisherman making nightly trips out +into the Gulf of Georgia, and doing his share in one of the hardest and +most dangerous callings in the world, that of a deep-sea salmon-fisher. + +“In two months, with the money obtained from his salmon fishing, he was +enabled to purchase an ancient mare and a light wagon. Over night he +blossomed out as a produce-dealer, buying poultry and dairy products +from the farmers in the vicinity of Ladner. These he brought to the +city of Vancouver and sold them from house to house in opposition to +the Chinamen. Business increased, and the staid old Vancouver Club, a +hoary and the most exclusive institution, in which only the most elect +held membership, became his best customer. + +“But Alvo did not stay long in the business; but went up by leaps and +bounds. Real-estate clerk, then curb-broker, then large independent +dealer were some of his upward steps, until two years after he had sold +his last load of produce to the Vancouver Club he was himself a member.” + +There was one little incident of the club life which pleasantly reminds +us that Alvo was not an upstart and therefore not a snob. He was +entertaining a German baron soon after having become a member, and he +noticed that the waiter eyed him very curiously. Presently divining the +reason, Alvo suddenly looked up at the waiter and said: “Yes, by jingo, +I’m the man who used to deliver chickens at the back door. Now go on +serving dinner, and stop staring.” + + +PLAYS THE GAME WELL + +“When the real-estate boom struck Vancouver in 1905,” continues the +_Courier_, “Alvensleben was quick to see the opportunities in land. +The old wild gambling spirit of his youthful days was still strong +upon him. He was the man for the moment, reckless, willing to take +chances, and a born mixer. He cabled relatives in Berlin, who had +heard of his early successes, and induced them to invest large sums +of money. His first investment yielded enormous and quick profit, and +thus established his prestige in Germany, for he promptly repaid the +investors with a 1,000 per cent. on their money. In the next three +years he made several visits to Germany, brought men of royal blood to +the Pacific coast, and was given several audiences with the Kaiser, +whose accredited representative he became. In all probability, at a +very conservative estimate, Alvensleben caused $20,000,000 of German +capital to be invested in British Columbia and Washington State. + +“In 1908, after a very romantic courtship, he married Edith Mary +Westcott, a popular Vancouver girl, daughter of one of the leading +society matrons. Following the marriage the financier purchased the +largest private estate in Vancouver’s most select residential district, +Point Grey, where he erected a magnificent home. His name, high foreign +connections, and expenditure on entertainment that set a hitherto +unknown high mark in the very British city of Vancouver, quickly +brought him valuable social connections. + +“His business ventures broadened with astounding rapidity, but most of +his purchases for himself and clients were made on ‘agreements,’ with +the expectations of making big margins in the prevalent boom. A good +salesman himself, he was also the easiest mark for wildcat schemes +who ever came out of Europe, owing to his gambling mania. Soon his +companies became loaded up with timberlands, bought at inflated prices, +wild lands, doubtful mining leases, Alberta oil shares, and other +unproductive assets. Some of his wealthy clients thrust upon him their +useless sons, whom he was forced to maintain in his office at high +salaries. + + +SHY ON DIVIDENDS + +“In 1912 the first trouble arose over dividends not being forthcoming +from his investments. He was still strong in Berlin and went there +and raised fresh capital with which he succeeded in placating some of +his investors. Then he was attacked in a Vancouver German paper which +charged him with unscrupulous methods in handling foreign capital. +Copies of this were mailed to Berlin to members of the Reichstag by the +Vancouver editors, and the matter was brought up for discussion by +that body. Alvo was game. He sued the local paper and secured judgment +in a criminal action against the editors. But the fat was in the fire +as far as his German clients were concerned, though he managed to keep +his affairs afloat. + +“In the early part of 1914 the financier’s creditors, both in Europe +and Canada, were pressing him. He was tied up in such a mass of deals, +counter-deals, and trades of property with Arnold and the Dominion +Trust Company that an army of auditors has never as yet succeeded in +untangling them. He owed over $10,000 to one of Vancouver’s chartered +banks on some Victoria Island timber deals, which he had anticipated +selling to the British Columbia government for a park reserve. The +Vancouver manager and a dozen of the staff were dismissed through their +connection with this loan.” + +He doubtless had advance notice of the outbreak of war, for he suddenly +left Canada. + +Later interviewed by a New York paper he said he could “best serve his +country and his clients by returning to the Pacific Coast,” and from +the outbreak of the war until his arrest on the suspicion that he was +implicated in a plot to steal the plans of the Puget Sound Navy Yard +of Bremerton, he remained in Seattle and other American Pacific Coast +cities. + + +THE WIND-UP + +“Rumors were afloat several times that he had visited Vancouver in +disguise. After one of these reports appearing in the local papers, +Alvensleben wrote to a friend in Vancouver, saying: ‘You can tell the +good people of Vancouver I have something better to do than visit their +city in the disguise of a Hindu or any other of their numerous allies.’ + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +Exhausted French Soldiers Resting in a Farmyard + +A pile of straw was a welcome couch to men who had been for days in +the trenches near the Yser. Men under artillery fire were often unable +to get any sleep for several days. Sometimes their nerves were so +shattered that they were unable to sleep after they were relieved. +Deafness from the concussion of their own heavy artillery was also a +frequent occurrence.] + +“Alvensleben’s brother, Bodo, who was in charge of the Victoria branch +of the Alvensleben Canadian Finance and General Investment Company, +left hurriedly a few days before the outbreak of war to join his unit. +The wildest rumors were circulated as to the spying operations of the +brothers. It was said that Bodo had been taken off a ship by a British +man-of-war, and when searched had in his possession the plans of the +Canadian navy-yard at Esquimalt, and for this he was shot. Alvo +denied the report, but whatever happened to this escaping brother, +British censorship has never let out. Joachim von Alvensleben, an elder +brother, well known from his various visits to Vancouver, was killed +early in the war.” + +The third and most brilliant of the brothers, the gambler-financier +Alvo, was arrested at Portland and taken to Seattle, where he was +interned “till the end of the war.” Concerning his subsequent +proceedings there is no important information; at all events his +meteoric career made a chapter of life which Vancouverites will never +tire of discussing. + + + + +DELICATE SCRUPLES + +One of Von Papen’s Dynamiters More Conscientious than His Chief + + +“Porter, boss?” The remark was an entirely facetious one, but the +brakeman did not like to have his humor disregarded. Therefore when he +got home he told his wife about the rum party he had met in the cut +above the Vanceboro railroad bridge—a six-footer, carrying a suitcase. +The brakeman would have been rather more than disgruntled, if Werner +Horn had closed with his offer—that is, he would have been, had he +known that the suitcase contained dynamite, and that its owner was an +_Oberleutnant_ in the German army. The man with the suitcase had passed +for a Swede in the hotel at Vanceboro, and his appearance warranted it. +But his recent experience as manager of a coffee plantation in Moka, +Guatemala, had not effaced the imprint of ten years in the service. He +marched out upon the bridge, the brakeman having disappeared, as if he +were taking a town. He was going into the enemy’s territory and fire +his single shot. He was going to blow up the bridge, over whose rails +flowed a tide of death to the Germans—cargoes of guns and shells bound +for St. John and Halifax. + +He would have preferred to join his regiment and fight, but von Papen +had been unable to get him passage when he reported, at the time of +the outbreak of the war, and told him that this affair was equally his +duty. The Kaiser’s agent had likewise informed him, to soothe him, +for Horn had refused to endanger innocent human lives—that there were +no more passenger trains after eleven. It was now nearly midnight. +Suddenly a whistle shrieked behind him, and in a moment the glaring +lights of an express train’s locomotive shone upon him. Horn clutched +with one hand at a steel rod of the bridge, and swung out over the +river, holding the suitcase safe behind him with the other. The train +thundered by, and left him to recover his footing on the ice-coated +bridge. Once more, this time from the Canadian side, an express +thundered past, and again he went through the same painful process. + +He might have blown up the bridge comfortably, from the American side, +but this he had refused to do. America was a neutral country. Germany +was not at war with America, therefore to blow up the American side of +the bridge was an outrage, a crime. He struggled on, the biting wind in +his face. Past the middle now—a spy, liable to the penalty of death. + +There was a fifty-minute fuse with his dynamite, but when he saw that +the passenger-trains continued to run (von Papen’s schedules must have +been out-of-date), Horn decided that what he was to do must be done at +once, before another train started across. Feeling with his benumbed +fingers in his pocket for a knife, he cut off the fuse and with it the +long half-hour that was his chance of escape from capture. A very slim +chance, if you like, through the Maine woods knee-deep in snow, but +still a chance. + + +THE EXPLOSION + +He fixed the dynamite against a girder of the bridge above the Canadian +bank of the river, adjusted the explosive cap, and touched his cigar +to the end of the three-minute fuse. Then he stumbled back across the +gale-swept icy bridge, and back into the hotel at Vanceboro, just as +the dynamite exploded with a report that broke half the windows in +the town, and twisted rods and girders on the bridge. Everybody in +Vanceboro was aroused, but Horn, after a futile attempt to rub his +hands and feet with snow, turned in and went to sleep. He had seen +all he wanted to of dynamite. In a town turned out of doors with +excitement, sleeping was in itself an act to arouse suspicion. + +People remembered the tall Swede who had been hanging around Vanceboro +for a couple of days, and the suitcase which he had been seen to hide +in a wood-pile near the tracks. After some delay, during which Horn +slept peacefully, the sheriff and a couple of Canadian constables were +got on the job, and they took him at about noon in Teague’s Hotel. He +was wearing German colors on both sleeves, for he had been told that +they would be regarded, were he caught, in the light of a uniform. He +offered little resistance, but in telling his story, he interpolated +an innocent lie that caused the Canadian officials a good deal of +anxiety. He had not brought the dynamite in his suitcase, he said, +but had carried the empty suitcase to the bridge, where an Irishman +from Canada, in response to the pass-word “Tommy,” had given him the +dynamite. This detail he afterwards cleared up, when asked to set his +name to a paper concluding, “I certify on my honor as a German officer +that the foregoing statements are true.” He would not sign a lie and +set his name to it as the truth. + +“Too scrupulous for a spy,” one of the newspapers called him, in the +perplexities awakened by this early manifestation of the afterwards +famous bomb-plot, “and too thickheaded for an honest man.” Werner Horn +was extradited to Canada, and everybody joined in congratulating the +man, whoever he might have been, who slept in the lower berth the night +Horn took an upper for Vanceboro. It had developed during the trial +that the big German, to disencumber himself, had chucked the suitcase +under the lower berth, against the shoes and the hot-water pipes, then +had climbed into the upper, to sleep peacefully through the night as +was his wont. The evil effects of dynamite were comparatively novel at +that time, even to bomb-plotters. + + + + +FRUSTRATED DIABOLISM + +A Ruthless Tool of German Duplicity Fails Only Because He Trusted the +Wrong Man with His Secret + + +One of the most nefarious of the schemes formulated in Germany and +financed by the German government for operation in this country in +the period of our neutrality, and of which von Papen was aware, was +that which one Robert Fay undertook to carry out in 1915. This man had +invented an infernal machine, the purpose of which was to blow up ships +at sea to prevent the transportation of munitions and food supplies +from this country to France and England. The story was well told in the +_World’s Work_ after Fay and his accomplices had been jailed. + +The device was a box containing forty pounds of trinitrotoluol, to +be fastened to the rudder post of a vessel, and so geared to the +rudder itself that its oscillations would slowly release the catch +of a spring, which would then drive home the firing pin and cause +an explosion that would instantly tear off the whole stern of the +ship, sinking it in midocean in a few minutes. Experts in mechanics +and experts in explosives and experts in shipbuilding all tested the +machine, and all agreed that it was perfect for the work which Fay had +planned that it should do. + +[Illustration: The Hand-to-Hand Fight on Board the Destroyer _Broke_] + +Fay had three of these machines completed, he had others in course +of construction, he had bought and tested the explosive to go into +them, he had cruised New York harbor in a motor boat and proved by +experience that he could attach them undetected where he wished, and +he had the names and sailing dates of the vessels that he meant to +sink without a trace. Only one little link that broke—and the quick +and thorough work of American justice—robbed him of another Iron Cross +besides the one he wore. + + +A PLOT HATCHED IN GERMANY + +Fay and his device came straight from the heart of the German Army, +with the approval and the money of his government behind him. He, like +Werner Horn, came originally from Cologne; but they were very different +men. Where Horn was almost childishly simple, Fay’s mind was subtle +and quick to an extraordinary degree. Where Horn had been humane to +the point of risking his life to save others, Fay had spent months in +a cold-blooded solution of a complex problem in destruction that he +knew certainly involved a horrible death for dozens, and more likely +hundreds, of helpless human beings. Horn refused to swear to a lie even +where the lie was a matter of no great moment. Fay told at his trial +a story so ingenious that it would have done credit to a novelist and +would have been wholly convincing if other evidence had not disproved +the substance of it. The truth of the case runs like this: + +Fay was in Germany when the war broke out and was sent to the Vosges +Mountains in the early days of the conflict. Soon men were needed in +the Champagne sector, and Fay was transferred to that front. Here +he saw some of the bitterest fighting of the war, and here he led +a detachment of Germans in a surprise attack on a trench full of +Frenchmen in superior force. His success in this dangerous business +won him an Iron Cross of the second class. During these days the +superiority of the Allied artillery over the German caused the Germans +great distress, and they became very bitter when they realized, from +a study of the shells that exploded around them, how much of this +superiority was due to the material that came from the United States +for use by the French and British guns. Fay’s ingenious mind formed a +scheme to stop this supply, and he put his plan before his superior +officers. The result was that, in a few weeks, he left Germany, armed +with passports and $3,500 in American money, bound for the United +States on the steamer _Rotterdam_. He reached New York on April 23, +1915. + +One of Fay’s qualifications for the task he had set for himself +was his familiarity with the English language and with the United +States. He had come to America in 1902, spending a few months on a +farm in Manitoba and then going on to Chicago, where he had worked +for several years for the J. I. Case Machinery Company, makers of +agricultural implements. During these years, Fay was taking an extended +correspondence school course in electrical and steam engineering, so +that altogether he had a good technical background for the events of +1915. In 1906, he went back to Germany. + +What he may have lacked in technical equipment, Fay made up by the +first connection he made when he reached New York in 1915. The first +man he looked up was Walter Scholz, his brother-in-law, who had been +in this country for four years and who was a civil engineer and had +studied mechanical engineering on the side. When Fay arrived, Scholz +had been out of a job in his own profession and was working on a rich +man’s estate in Connecticut. Fay, armed with plenty of money and his +big idea, got Scholz to go into the scheme with him, and the two +were soon living together in a boarding house at 28 Fourth Street, +Weehawken, across the river from uptown New York, + + +A SHAM GARAGE + +To conceal the true nature of their operations they hired a small +building on Main Street and put a sign over the door announcing +themselves in business as “The Riverside Garage.” They added +verisimilitude to this scheme by buying a second-hand car in bad +condition and dismantling it, scattering the parts around the room +so that it would look as if they were engaged in making repairs. +Every once in a while they would shift these parts about so as to +alter the appearance of the place. However, they did not accept any +business—whenever a man took the sign at its face value and came in +asking to have work done, Fay or Scholz would take him to a nearby +saloon and buy him a few drinks and pass him along by referring him to +some other garage in the neighborhood. + +The most of their time they spent about the real business in hand. +They took care to have the windows of their room in the boarding house +heavily curtained to keep out prying eyes, and here under a student +lamp, they spent hours over mechanical drawings which were afterward +produced in evidence at the trial of their case. The mechanism that +Fay had conceived was carefully perfected on paper, and then they +confronted the task of getting the machinery assembled. Some of the +parts were standard—that is, they could be bought at any big hardware +store. Others, however, were peculiar to this device and had to be +made to order from the drawings. They had the tanks made by a sheet +metal worker named Ignatz Schiering, at 344 West 42nd Street, New +York. Scholz went to him with a drawing, telling him that it was for a +gasoline tank for a motor boat. Scholz made several trips to the shop +to supervise some of the details of the construction and once to order +more tanks of a new size and shape. + +At the same time Scholz went to Bernard McMillan, doing business under +the name of McMillan & Werner, 81 Center Street, New York, to have him +make a special kind of wheels and gears for the internal mechanism of +the bomb, from sketches which Scholz supplied. At odd times between +June 10th and October 20th McMillan was working on these things and +delivered the last of them to Scholz just a few days before he was +arrested. + +In the meanwhile Fay was taking care of the other necessary elements +of his scheme. Besides the mechanism of the bomb, he had to become +familiar with the shipping in the port of New York, and he had to get +the explosive with which to charge the bomb. For the former purpose he +and Scholz bought a motor boat—a 28-footer—and in this they cruised +about New York harbor at odd times, studying the docks at which ships +were being loaded with supplies for the Allies and calculating the +best means and time for placing the bombs on the rudder posts of these +ships. Fay finally determined by experience that between two and +three o’clock in the morning was the best time. The watchmen on board +the ships were at that hour most likely to be asleep or the night +dark enough so that he could work in safety. He made some actual +experiments in fastening the empty tanks to the rudder posts, and found +that it was perfectly feasible to do so. His scheme was to fasten them +just above the water line on a ship while it was light, so that when +it was loaded they were submerged and all possibility of detection was +removed. + + +THE ROAD TO BETRAYAL + +The getting of explosives was, however, the most difficult part of +Fay’s undertaking. This was true not only because he was here most +likely to arouse suspicion, but also because of his relative lack +of knowledge of the thing he was dealing with. He did know enough, +however, to begin his search for explosives in the least suspicious +field, and it was only as he became ambitious to produce a more +powerful effect that he came to grief. + +The material he decided to use at first was chlorate of potash. This +substance in itself is so harmless that it is an ingredient of tooth +powders and is used commonly in other ways. When, however, it is mixed +with any substance high in carbons, such as sugar, sulphur, charcoal, +or kerosene, it becomes an explosive of considerable power. Fay set +about to get some of the chlorate. + +Fay’s fellow conspirators were Germans—some of them +German-Americans—and each in his own way was doing the work of the +Kaiser in this country. Herbert Kienzle was a dealer in clocks with a +store on Park Place, in New York. He had learned the business in his +father’s clock factory deep in the Black Forest in Germany and had come +to this country years ago to go into the same business, getting his +start by acting as agent for his father’s factory over here. + +One of the first things in Fay’s carefully worked out plan was to +locate a place to which he could quietly retire when his work of +destruction should be done—a place where he felt he could be safe from +suspicion. After a talk with Kienzle he decided that Lusk’s Sanatorium, +at Butler, N. J., would serve the purpose. This sanatorium was run by +Germans and Kienzle was well known there. Acting on a prearranged plan +with Kienzle, Fay went to Butler and was met at the station by a man +named Bronkhorst, who was in charge of the grounds at the sanatorium. +They identified each other by prearranged signals and Fay made various +arrangements, some of which are of importance later in the story. + +Another friend of Kienzle’s was Max Breitung, a young German employed +by his uncle, E. N. Breitung, who was in the shipping business in New +York. Breitung supplied Fay with the information he needed regarding +munitions-laden ships which Fay should elect to destroy. + +[Illustration: + + © _Underwood and Underwood._ + +German Prisoners Recaptured After an Escape from Fort McPherson] + +Fay asked Kienzle how he could get some chlorate of potash, and Kienzle +asked his young friend Breitung if he could help him out. Breitung +said he could, and went at once to another German who was operating in +New York ostensibly as a broker in copper under the name of Carl L. +Oppegaard, though his real name was Paul Siebs, and for the purpose of +this story he might as well be known by that name. Siebs had also been +in this country in earlier days, and during his residence in Chicago, +from 1910 to 1913, he had become acquainted with young Breitung. He, +too, had gone back to Germany before the war, but soon after it began +he had come back to the United States under his false name, ostensibly +as an agent of an electrical concern in Gothenburg, Sweden, for the +purpose of buying copper. He frankly admitted later that this copper +was intended for reëxport to Germany to be used in the manufacture +of munitions of war. He did not have much success in his enterprise +and he was finally forced to make a living from hand to mouth by +small business transactions of almost any kind. He could not afford a +separate office, so he rented desk room in the office of the Whitehall +Trading Company, a small subsidiary of the Raymond-Hadley Corporation. +His desk was in the same room with the manager of the company, Carl L. +Wettig. + +When Breitung asked Siebs to buy him some chlorate of potash Siebs +was delighted at the opportunity to make some money and immediately +undertook the commission. He had been instructed to get a small amount, +perhaps 200 pounds. He needed money so badly, however, that he was very +glad to find that the smallest kegs of the chlorate of potash were 112 +pounds each, and he ordered three kegs. He paid for them with money +supplied by Breitung and took a delivery slip for it. Ultimately this +delivery slip was presented by Scholz, who appeared one day with a +truck and driver and took the chemical away. + + +POTASH TOO WEAK + +Fay and Scholz made some experiments with the chlorate of potash and +Fay decided it was not strong enough to serve his purpose. He then +determined to try dynamite. Again he wished to avoid suspicion and +this time, after consultation with Kienzle, he recalled Bronkhorst +down at the Lusk Sanatorium in New Jersey. Bronkhorst, in his work +as superintendent of the grounds at the sanatorium, was occasionally +engaged in laying water mains in the rocky soil there, and for this +purpose kept dynamite on hand. Fay got a quantity of dynamite from +him. Later, however, he decided that he wanted a still more powerful +explosive. + +Again he applied to Kienzle, and this time Kienzle got in touch +with Siebs direct. By prearrangement, Kienzle and Siebs met Fay +underneath the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge, and there Siebs +was introduced to Fay. They walked around City Hall Park together +discussing the subject; and Fay, not knowing the name of what he was +after, tried to make Siebs understand what explosive he wanted by +describing its properties. Siebs finally realized that what Fay had in +mind was trinitrotoluol, one of the three highest explosives known. +Siebs finally undertook to get some of it for him, but pointed out to +him the obvious difficulties of buying it in as small quantities as he +wanted. It was easy enough to buy chlorate of potash because that was +in common commercial use for many purposes. It was also easy to buy +dynamite because that also is used in all kinds of quantities and for +many purposes. But trinitrotoluol is too powerful for any but military +use, and it is consequently handled only in large lots and practically +invariably is made to the order of some government. However, Siebs had +an idea and proceeded to act on it, and without any delay. + +He went back to the Whitehall Trading Company, where he had desk room, +and saw his fellow occupant, Carl Wettig. Wettig had been engaged in a +small way in a brokerage business in war supplies, and had even taken a +few small turns in the handling of explosives. He agreed to do what he +could to fill the order. + +Carl Wettig was the weak link in Fay’s chain of fortune. He did +indeed secure the high explosive that Fay wanted, and was in other +ways obliging. But he got the explosive from a source that would have +given Fay heart failure if he had known of it, and he was obliging for +reasons that Fay lived to regret. Siebs made his inquiry of Wettig on +the 19th of October. The small quantity of explosives that he asked +for aroused Wettig’s suspicions, and as soon as he promised to get it +he went to the French Chamber of Commerce near by and told them what +he suspected and asked to be put in touch with responsible police +authorities under whose direction he wished to act in supplying the +trinitrotoluol. + +From that moment Fay, Siebs, and Kienzle were “waked up in the morning +and put to bed at night” by detectives from the police department +of New York City and operatives of the Secret Service of the United +States. By arrangement with them Wettig obtained a keg containing +twenty-five pounds of trinitrotoluol, and in the absence of Fay +and Scholz from their boarding house in Weehawken, he delivered it +personally to their room and left it on their dresser. He told Siebs he +had delivered it and Siebs promptly set about collecting his commission +from Fay. + + +TAKEN INTO CUSTODY + +Siebs had some difficulty in doing this, because Fay and Scholz, being +unfamiliar with the use of the explosive, were unable to explode a +sample of it and decided that it was no good. They had come home in the +evening and found the keg on their dresser and had opened it. Inside +they found the explosive in the form of loose white flakes. To keep it +more safely, they poured it out into several small cloth bags. They +then took a sample of it and tried by every means they could think of +to explode it. They even laid some of it on an anvil and broke two or +three hammers pounding on it, but could get no result. They then told +Siebs that the stuff he had delivered was useless. Siebs repeated their +complaint to Wettig, and Wettig volunteered to show them how it should +be handled. Accordingly, he joined them the following day at their +room in Weehawken and went with them out into the woods behind Fort +Lee, taking along a small sample of the powder in a paper bag. In the +woods the men picked up the top of a small tin can, built a fire in +the stump of a tree, and melted some of the flake TNT in it. Before it +cooled, Wettig embedded in it a mercury cap. When cooled after being +melted, TNT forms a solid mass resembling resin in appearance, and is +now more powerful because more compact. + +However, before the experiment could be concluded, one of the swarm of +detectives who had followed them into the woods stepped on a dry twig, +and when the men started at its crackling, the detectives concluded +they had better make their arrests before the men might get away; and +so all were taken into custody. A quick search of their boarding house, +the garage, a storage warehouse in which Fay had stored some trunks, +and the boathouse where the motor boat was stored resulted in rounding +up the entire paraphernalia that had been used in working out the +whole plot. All the people connected with every phase of it were soon +arrested. + +Out of the stories these men told upon examination emerged not only +the hideous perfection of the bomb itself, but the direct hand that +the German government and its agents in this country had in the scheme +of putting it to its fiendish purpose. First of all appeared Fay’s +admission that he had left Germany with money and a passport supplied +by a man in the German Secret Service. Later, on the witness stand, +when Fay had had time enough carefully to think out the most plausible +story, he attempted to get away from this admission by claiming to have +deserted from the German Army. He said that he had been financed in +his exit from the German Empire by a group of business men who had put +up a lot of money to back an automobile invention of his, which he had +worked on before the war began. These men, so he claimed, were afraid +they would lose all their money if he should happen to be killed before +the invention was perfected. This tale, ingenious though it was, was +too fantastic to be swallowed when taken in connection with all the +things found in Fay’s possession when he was arrested. Beyond all doubt +his scheme to destroy ships was studied and approved by his military +superiors in Germany before he left, and that scheme alone was his +errand to this country. + + +EXPLAINED TOO MUCH + +Far less ingenious and equally damning was his attempt to explain away +his relations with von Papen. The sinister figure of the military +attaché of the German Embassy at Washington leers from the background +of all the German plots; and this case was no exception. It was known +that Fay had had dealings with von Papen in New York, and on the +witness stand he felt called upon to explain them in a way that would +clear the diplomatic service of implication in his evil doings. He +declared that he had taken his invention to von Papen and that von +Papen had resolutely refused to have anything to do with it. This would +have been well enough if Fay’s explanation had stopped here. + +But Fay’s evil genius prompted him to make his explanation more +convincing by an elaboration of the story, so he gave von Papen’s +reasons for refusal. These were not because the Fay device was +calculated to do murder upon hundreds of helpless men, nor because to +have any part in the business was to play the unneutral villain under +the cloak of diplomatic privilege. Not at all. At the first interview, +seeing only a rough sketch and hearing only Fay’s description of +preliminary experiments, von Papen’s sole objection was: + +“Well, you might obtain an explosion once, and the next ten apparatuses +might fail.” + +To continue Fay’s explanation: + +“He casually asked me what the cost of it would be and I told him in my +estimation the cost would not be more than $20 apiece. [$20 apiece for +the destruction of thirty lives and a million-dollar ship and cargo!] +As a matter of fact in Germany I will be able to get these things made +for half that price. ‘If it is not more than that,’ von Papen said, +‘you might go ahead, but I cannot promise you anything whatever.’” + +[Illustration: + + _Courtesy of Leslie’s Weekly._ + +The French Nation Celebrates + +One of the most impressive features of the national holiday observances +in Paris on July 14th, 1918, was the parade by Russian troops led by a +giant color-bearer marching along the Grand Boulevard amid the applause +of enormous crowds. These were a portion of the army sent by the Czar, +to fight for the Allies in France. Persistent rumors that thousands of +Russians were landed in England to fight on the Western front proved a +hoax.] + +Fay then went back to his experiments and when he felt that he had +practically perfected his device he called upon von Papen for the +second time. This time von Papen’s reply was: + +“Well, this thing has been placed before our experts and also we have +gone into the political condition of the whole suggestion. Now in the +first place our experts say this apparatus is not at all seaworthy; but +as regards political conditions I am sorry to say we cannot consider it +and, therefore, we cannot consider the proposition any further.” + +In other words, with no thought of the moral turpitude of the scheme, +with no thought of the abuse of diplomatic freedom, but only with +thoughts of the practicability of this device, and of the effect upon +political conditions of its use, von Papen had put the question before +technical men and before von Bernstorff, and their decision had been +adverse solely on those considerations—first, that it would not work, +and second, that it would arouse hostility in the United States. At no +stage, according to Fay’s best face upon the matter, was any thought +given to its character as a hideous crime. + + +PERFECTED DEVILRY + +The device itself was studied independently by two sets of military +experts of the United States government with these results: + +First, that it was mechanically perfect; second, that it was practical +under the conditions of adjustment to a ship’s rudder which Fay had +devised; and third, that the charge of trinitrotoluol for which the +container was designed, was nearly half the quantity which is used on +our own floating mines and which is calculated upon explosion twenty +feet from a battleship to put it out of action, and upon explosion +in direct contact, absolutely to destroy and sink the heaviest +superdreadnought. In other words, beyond all question the bomb would +have shattered the entire stern of any ship to which it was attached, +and would have caused it to sink in a few minutes. + +A brief description of the contrivance reveals the mechanical ingenuity +and practical efficiency of Fay’s bomb. A rod attached to the rudder, +at every swing the rudder gave, turned up, by one notch, the first +of the beveled wheels within the bomb. After a certain number of +revolutions of that wheel, it in turn gave one revolution to the next; +and so on through the series. The last wheel was connected with the +threaded cap around the upper end of the square bolt, and made this +cap slowly unscrew, until at length the bolt dropped clear of it and +yielded to the waiting pressure of the strong steel spring above. This +pressure drove it downward and brought the sharp points at its lower +end down on the caps of the two rifle cartridges fixed below it—like +the blow of a rifle’s hammer. The detonation from the explosion of +these cartridges would set off a small charge of impregnated chlorate +of potash, which in turn would fire the small charge of the more +sluggish but stronger dynamite, and that in turn would explode the +still more sluggish but tremendously more powerful trinitrotoluol. + +The whole operation, once the spring was free, would take place in a +flash; and instantly its deadly work would be accomplished. + + +WHAT FAY PICTURED + +Picture the scene that Fay had in his mind as he toiled his six +laborious months upon this dark invention. He saw himself, in +imagination, fixing his infernal box upon the rudder post of a ship +loading at a dock in New York harbor. As the cargo weighed the ship +down, the box would disappear beneath the water. At length the ship +starts on its voyage, and, as the rudder swings her into the stream, +the first beat in the slow, sure knell of death for ship and crew is +clicked out by its very turning. Out upon the sea the shift of wind and +blow of wave require a constant correction with the rudder to hold the +true course forward. At every swing the helmsman unconsciously taps out +another of the lurking beats of death. Somewhere in midocean, perhaps +at black midnight, in a driving storm, the patient mechanism hid below +has turned the last of its calculated revolutions. The neck piece from +the bolt slips loose, the spring drives downward, there is a flash, a +deafening explosion, and five minutes later a few mangled bodies and +a chaos of floating wreckage are all that is left above the water’s +surface. + + + + +HERE’S TO CONSTABLE RITCHINGS + +It Is Probable that His Record is Unique in the Annals of War Since +Spartan Days + + +Few men have the modest estimate of duty in relation to self that has +given an unsought celebrity to Arthur Ritchings of Cardiff, Wales. +If his conduct may be taken as evidence of his philosophy of life, +doing one’s duty in the world confers no particular distinction on +the individual—the discharge of a moral obligation establishing no +title to swank, swagger or puffed-upness. Possibly it is necessary to +be a Welshman to appreciate Ritchings’ mental attitude, for it seems +that the people of Cardiff saw nothing abnormal or eccentric in the +behavior of their townsman, regarding it quite as a matter of course. +Indeed it was a London paper that acquainted the Cardiffians that they +had in their midst a hero deserving of especial respect. We get the +particulars from the same source. + +When Germany fell foul of Belgium, Arthur Ritchings was a member of the +Cardiff Constabulary, in plain terms, a policeman. As soon as England +declared war in 1914, Ritchings threw aside his truncheon, and other +police insignia, and enlisted in the Army as a private. He served +in that capacity for three years, doing the job with thoroughness, +having an eye single to duty. Though unobtrusive in all his doings, +not in the least inclined to celebrate in canticles of self-praise his +deeds in trench or field, he nevertheless came to the notice of his +superiors finally, and in November, 1917, his bravery won him promotion +on the field. He was made second lieutenant. But he went right ahead +in his normal way, yet, having once attracted their attention, he +could not keep out of the view of his superiors, and so in February, +1918, they called him up and gave him to understand that in their +opinion he measured up to a captaincy. But Ritchings just went right +on being Ritchings, and so they made him a major. Then they made him +a lieutenant colonel, and there is no conjecturing what they would +have had to do with him had the war continued a little longer. As it +was they made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, pinned on his +breast the Croix de Guerre with palms, gave him the Military Cross, and +did what they could to persuade him that as he had been a gallant and +daring soldier so also had he been an able and decisive officer. In the +meantime the Germans had done what they could to further his interests +by wounding him on six different occasions. + +Now, the war having been fought and won, his duty no longer commanding +the wear of khaki, Lieutenant Colonel Ritchings retired from the +Army and returned to his native Cardiff. His townsmen welcomed him, +congratulating him that he had managed to escape death for a further +enjoyment of the unemotional serenity of the sturdy Welsh town. The +Chairman of the Municipal Bench publicly declared that he was glad to +see Ritchings back, and spoke approvingly of the fact that his war +record was a credit to the town. + + +HIS HOME HONORS + +Then Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Ritchings—with four years of active +military service to his credit and field rank worn at the front, with a +breast-load of decorations and the proved ability to command over 3,000 +fighting men—stepped over to police headquarters, took up his truncheon +and resumed his familiar duties as a common policeman in a mining town, +where the care of drunks and disorderlies alone taxed his military +genius. + +There the matter might have ended but for the interests of a person who +had no particular business to come fussing around in Cardiff affairs. +This person happened to be one of those ordinary mortals who hold the +notion that certain honors attached to heroism and military achievement +are not sufficiently represented by mere medals and things, and this +person thought it in high degree outrageous that a man who had lifted +himself by valor from private to lieutenant colonel should be permitted +to walk a beat and swing a club as a means of serving the Crown. This +indignant person wrote a passionate letter to the London _Times_, with +the result that Cardiff took a second view of the situation, and the +Watch Committee (a sort of police commissioner) took the ex-lieutenant +colonel off his beat and gave him the lofty job of training the police +to the proper dignity of constabulary service. + +This, however, did not entirely satisfy outside admirers of Ritchings, +honorable as it might seem to Cardiffians, so the Lord Mayor was +pressed for information whether there was any intention of appointing +the distinguished officer to a higher and more responsible position on +the force. That dignitary (and a Lord Mayor truly esteems himself a +dignitary in England) went to the extent of admitting that he thought +that he might say that all the members of the Watch Committee were +in sympathy with the idea, and that he had no doubt that when the +opportunity occurred Colonel or Constable Ritchings would be given a +place better suited to his merits. + +And what said Ritchings concerning himself? Why, merely this, that +he “recognized as every right-thinking man would that he had a moral +obligation to return to the Cardiff police force for the reason that +the ratepayers had been contributing during his absence to the support +of his dependents at home.” + +Well, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Ritchings, here’s hats off to you! + + + + +WHAT GILLES BROUGHT IN + +Driving His Automobile over a Shell-Swept Road a French Lad Braved +Death to Deliver the Dead + + +It was during the dreadful few days when the Germans came closest to +Paris, a French writer tells us. Gilles Thurmand—sixteen years old, +whose mother kept the _Côte d’Or_—had got hold of an old motor-car +which had been smashed up in the first days of the rush to the front, +had tinkered with it until it ran again, and then had driven it out +to see what he could pick up. He went in the direction of Givres, for +he heard that there were a good many wounded along the roads, and the +French were yielding. He had come as far as a little coppice, where he +slowed down at the sight of a couple of French uniforms. The Germans +began suddenly to shell the part of the road over which he had just +driven. He did not pay much attention to this at the time, for he +was so engrossed with the French officers, of whom there were three +standing, and a fourth badly wounded. They had been cut off from their +regiment, and were left in this little patch of wood either to be +killed by one of the enemy’s shells, or to be taken prisoner. “Get in,” +Gilles told them, “and we’ll make a run for it. I’m game if you are.” +He was extremely proud of having to do with so many officers at once, +and besides, he thought, it might be the means of getting him admitted +into the Army. Just as they were lifting the wounded man onto the floor +of the vehicle, which was about the size of a Ford limousine, Gilles’ +sharp eyes spied another blue coat through the trees at a little +distance away, and he ran over to the man, who wore the uniform of a +captain. He was squatting over something in the denser underbrush, and +raised up hastily as Gilles came toward him. + +“Let me get you out of this,” said Gilles, “along with these others.” + +“Yes, come with us,” said Major Hervé, the senior officer of the party, +limping toward them to find out the cause of the delay. The strange +officer responded rather thickly that he couldn’t—that he had his duty +to perform, and would prefer to remain at his post. The major, finding +that arguing with him was of no avail, commanded him rather shortly to +follow the rest, and when he still demurred, ordered the other three to +bring him. They did so, gently enough, believing him to be a little +unbalanced by shell-fire. Then they all climbed into the crazy vehicle, +shut the door, and Gilles, mounting to the front seat, set out to drive +them through a quarter of a mile of fire and brimstone, which was as +near to hell as anything he had ever imagined. + +Shells whizzed past, and bullets hailed upon the roof. Once or twice +Gilles heard a faint cry in the back of the motor, and he knew some +one was hit, but he bent doggedly to his wheel, and didn’t once look +round, for fear, as he phrased it, that he would “lack courage to go +on again.” Though a bomb ripped off the fender and nearly capsized +the car, Gilles himself was not touched, and presently he drove into +a silence as deafening as the noise had been. It was the outskirts +of a camp, and there were a few simple little everyday noises like +the rattling of dishes and the chopping of wood. But it was like the +cemetery of Père La Chaise to Gilles. He could not hear a sound. Two +or three Frenchmen in khaki came running toward him as he slid off the +box and opened the rear door. Three dead bodies tumbled out. The two +left inside were those of the last-found officer and the badly wounded +man. They, too, were dead. How had they been killed? Not by shell fire, +certainly. Examination proved that they had died by pistol shots. +Gilles, taken into custody, his teeth chattering with fear, pointed out +the officer who had forcibly been made a member of their party. The +man was searched. There were found upon him a spare telephone receiver +and a map of the district, together with other evidence proving him +a German spy. He had probably been directing the German fire at the +moment when Gilles had so inopportunely come upon him. His great +reluctance to join the party was explained. During their wild ride he +had apparently found time to put a bullet through the head of each of +his unsuspecting captors. Whether one of them or he himself had caused +his own death, could not be discovered. + +[Illustration: + + +“Tell Her Not to Worry” + + “Dear Father, guard our gallant men + Within whose hearts is love enshrined, + And bring them safely home again + To those they cannot leave behind!” + + Arthur Guiterman.] + + + + +THE ROCK OF THE MARNE + +The Story of Col. U. G. McAlexander and the Heroic 38th Infantry, +Defender’s of the Surmelin Valley, the “Gateway to Paris” + +By CAPTAIN J. W. WOOLRIDGE, U. S. Infantry + + +When two divisions of German shock troops pile up on a regiment of +American fighting men, one does not need to be gifted in imagination to +see war in all its ramifications and vicissitudes. + +I admit that to those of us who participated the picture as a whole is +blurred by proximity while spots are multicolored and accentuated into +sheets of concentrated lightning. + +The historian of the future will view the battle from afar and do much +better, particularly as he will not be hampered by individual facts. +Therefore we shall tell you the story and not the history of the 38th’s +recent unpleasantness. + +The scene is laid in that erstwhile heavenly little valley of the +Surmelin which finds its resting place on the banks of the River Marne. +The semi-mountainous ridges that flank this little valley are wooded +with what the French call trees; they are tangled with shrubs and +second growths that make for ideal machine-gun nests, as we shall see. + +Down in the bosom of the valley meanders the Surmelin river, so called +we presume because the French do not know our word “crick.” It is +heavily foliaged creek; its value we first recognized in its production +of trout through the agency of the festive “OF” grenade tossed into its +tiny pools. + +This valley is a series of golden wheat fields and garden patches. +Not fields as you know them but as the French crofter laboriously +cultivates by hand to the limits of one man’s activities—small, though +profuse, spots of shining cereal decorated resplendently with carmine +red poppies. * * * * * + +The maps show this valley to be the gateway to Paris—that is, from the +farthest point of the second German drive to the Marne. Would you call +it the 38th’s good fortune to be given this gateway to defend? Anyway, +the fates so decreed and we were rushed by the fastest means possible +from our training billets, with French beds five feet high, at Arc, +Cour le Vecque, and Comprey, to stem the tide and thereby block the way +to Paris. + +The 38th had made some marches before and has since, but none of us +will forget when we pulled into the woods back of St. Eugene that last +day of our trek. We had revised the tables of field equipment on the +way so that when we got there we didn’t bother to spread our blankets. +We simply laid down and hoped in a maudlin, disconnected way one of the +shells the Germans welcomed us with would make a direct hit and end it +all. + +The Colonel was right there ahead of us. Nobody ever knows how he does +it but he is always ahead of us and we have gotten used to a confident +feeling of knowing it’s all right to go anywhere the Colonel is ahead. +He warned us about aeroplane observation and gas shells and said, “Be +ready for orders to move up!” + +Our position was taken without delay on the south bank of the Marne, +which is about fifty yards wide and which at that time separated us +from the enemy. The Colonel gave orders directly opposite to the “live +and let live” principle. “Don’t let anything alive show itself on the +other side except those you go over and get for information!” + +So we gave them some lessons in rifle fire. + + * * * * * + +With the French opposite them the Germans had an insulting and cocky +way of strolling about their business in plain view at a few hundred +yards. The French custom of running themselves ragged trying to hit the +enemy with a hand grenade did not appeal to us, so we became, in the +German opinion, disgustingly belligerent with our rifles. + +Their movements soon after our advent became surreptitious and +reptilian. So at night we paddled over in various nondescript +flotillas, dug them out of their holes or chased their patrols around +a bit—and sometimes got chased back again somewhat the worse for wear. +They sprinkled us with H. E.’s and gas and we likewise sprinkled them. +It was a great game and we thrived on it. + +One dark night a patrol of theirs came over right at the point of a +sentry post of ours. As they reached for the bank with a boat-hook a +Yank accommodatingly took hold and pulled them in. He said, “Come on +over, Fritz. We are waiting for you,” and our men proceeded to pacify +one boat load of misdirected Huns. + +That sort of thing was our daily, or rather nightly, ration, until +prisoners and intelligence officers began to tell a new story. The +Boche were preparing for another grand offensive and this time their +objective was Paris with no stops. + +The French on our right were generous with their warnings and made +feverish arrangements for something or other—we thought at the time +it was for battle. Aeroplanes and scouts verified this rumor and it +looked like business. So the whole thing so far as our sector was +concerned—the Gateway to Paris, the Valley of the Surmelin—was put up +to the Colonel, U. G. McAlexander, who at once proceeded to make hay +while the making was good. + +“Rowe, you hold the front line with two companies of your battalion, +don’t you?” + +“Yes, sir, with two companies in their immediate support,” answered +Major Rowe, commander of the 2nd Battalion. + +“Very well,” said the Colonel. “Thicken the lines by moving one company +up. This will give you three company fronts on our sector and your +remaining company will entrench themselves in echelon formation, so,” +indicating on map with pencil marks the exact position he wished them +in. “They will act in close support on the extreme right and also as a +right flank rearguard. The weak point on this line is on our right. I +don’t believe the French will hold and I shall arrange my regiment to +meet that contingency.” + +This was a direct statement as usual; no equivocation in the Colonel’s +remarks. But we were all greatly surprised, as everybody else had +complete confidence in the gallantry of the French division on our +right. It was our first introduction to the depth of the man in his +preparation for battle. But for his judgment on their instability this +would be a requiem, not a story. + +The regiment was arranged on advanced and original principles of +“formation in depth.” The 2nd Battalion, Major Rowe, as above; then +the 1st Battalion, Major Keeley, and the 3rd, Major Lough. The Colonel +looked us over individually and collectively, took a rifle to a point +near the river in broad daylight, sniped a while as though to challenge +the enemy, and said, “Let ’em come.” + + * * * * * + +The evening of July 14th (1918) came with a darkness you could feel. +French crickets cricked in a language we could not understand. Night +birds winged their uncertain way in pursuit of life, liberty, and +happiness. Frogs croaked and walked—not hopped—after the manner of no +other frogs on earth. The Y.M.C.A.—God bless them!—sent chocolates +and cigarettes down to the men in the very front lines. The rolling +kitchens steamed up in preparation of the boys’ one hot meal per day +to be delivered by carrying parties to the front. Company commanders +made the usual night reconnaissance of their positions, chatted with +the lieutenants and again learned that a plebiscite of the men would +produce a reiteration of the Colonel’s “Let ’em come.” + +Our artillery lugged over the usual intermittent harrassing fire, but +the murmuring pines and whispering hemlocks went A.W.O.L.[1] so far as +looking out for the Germans was concerned. For all the noise they made +you could hear your eyelashes meet. Their quiet finally became ominous +and there was a general stiffening of our cerebral vertebra. + +At exactly 12 o’clock it happened. + +All the demons of hell and its ally, Germany, were unleashed in a +fierce uproar that transcended all bombardments of the past. It +thundered and rained shells, H.E.’s shrapnel and gas. They swept our +sector as with a giant scythe, and as far back as their guns would +reach. + +For hours that seemed weeks we huddled in our tiny splinter proofs or +open slit trenches in the horrible confusion of it all, but we lovingly +patted our, as yet, cold steel and awaited the second shock we knew +would come—the shock of bodies, material bodies that we could see, feel +and fight—something tangible, so that we could release our mad lust to +kill this great snake that was slowly coiling around us, this furious +beast that was volcanically tearing at our vitals. + +God, what hallucinations under a pounding like that! + +Yes, we wanted them to come. We wanted anything to come that we could +see, feel, and fight. We wanted to fight, I tell you. Not to lie there +on the rocking ground with hell crashing and the devils snatching at +our guts, our eyes, our lungs. + +What was that in our lungs? + +Yes, Damn them, Gas! + +They are not satisfied to drench us at long distances with all the +steel they can crowd into space but the dirty, ghoulish, primeval Hun +racks his warped and tortured brain for a method more becoming the +slime and filth of his rotten being. + +Well, so be it. We fight him back with his weapons, so on with the gas +masks, it’s only a bluff. He can’t come himself in his poison—and he’s +coming, he’s coming! It became a song in our hearts—“He’s Coming! He’s +Coming!” + + * * * * * + +We began to brighten perceptibly. Instead of the earth rocking it +became the gentle tossing of a languorous, moonlit sea. We leaned our +heads in genuine affection against the dirt sides of our little slit +trench and began to marvel at its motherly shelter. How they could +churn up the whole world and never drop one in! Of course they could +not drop one in. They had no brain, the swine. + +If a chemist could run them through a Pasteur filter, he would +get a trace of intellectual process about the mental grade of the +Pithecanthropus erectus! + +That’s it. He is shooting away his fireworks in the vain hope of +something. Wonder what it is. Anyway, he shot it away for eight hours +on our support and reserve lines, but at about 4 o’clock on the morning +of the 15th he lifted his general bombardment on the front line and +started a rolling barrage, one hundred meters in three minutes. + +Behind it, almost hugging it, they came! + +God, weren’t we glad to see the grayness of them! + +This was more like. Something we could see, feel and fight. And when we +say they came we mean two divisions of them. + +“When two divisions of German shock troops pile up on a regiment of +American fighting men”—Do you remember what we told you! + +Well! they piled up, at first with excellent formation and a +distribution of machine guns, as bumble bees distribute themselves +after the small boy wallops their nest with his handful of switches—all +over everywhere. + +On the river bank where they came in crowds, boats, and pontoon +bridges, it was eye to eye, tooth to tooth, and hand-to-hand. It was +a strange silence after the barrage had passed. The tack-tack-tack of +machine guns, mounted and firing from boats as they came, and the clash +of steel as the bayonets met sounded like a death stillness compared to +it. + +The lines on the river were fought out completely. The barrage had not +reached the railway bank and reënforcements could not be sent to them. +They paid the supreme price, but the action delayed the enemy advance +so that the organizations in depth could unlimber and meet the advance +with the result as stated above—this is a story, not a requiem. + +Their barrage got away from them, an unpardonable crime in military +science but humanly pardonable when one learns they thought it +impossible to be met and fought on the river bank. + + * * * * * + +Our line of resistance was the Metz-Paris Railway. The embankment is +some nine feet high with tiny slit trenches on the forward edge but +not sufficiently forward to be on the military crest. When the Boche +started their advance across the wheat fields intervening, some five +hundred yards, this embankment became a living thing and American +Springfields began to laugh in their faces. + +That wasn’t fair. They had been assured with all German sangfroid that +there would be no resistance after their barrage. But those were shock +troops brought from afar with orders. “To Paris. No Stop-overs.” + +Though their brains became loose-leaf ledgers with no index and the +Kaiser became a more ghastly figure, they were fighters. I should say, +professional soldiers. So they came on. We admit they looked like the +whole German army and we had to wonder if the little old Springfield +would keep on laughing. We had been warned of a big offensive, but we +did not know the Boche thought our front was like a city park, free for +all. + +The Springfield did keep on laughing and after covering about half the +distance they were transferred from a soldiers’ maneuver column into +a German military omelet. However, their machine guns had infiltrated +through the high wheat and covered our front as flies cover spilled +molasses. + +The rest hit the ground and continued their advance in a more becoming +manner, like a mole. They wriggled themselves, many of them to the very +foot of the railway embankment, where they were safe from our fire for +the above mentioned reason. They rested, then charged the crest, were +hurled back; rested, threw stick grenades and charged some more, but +never successfully, until the splendid heroes of that line joined their +comrades of the river bank, joined them on that long journey to that +land which knows no war. + +Then came the supporting troops from their immediate rear in a charge +to which history will never do justice. They couldn’t come before, as +there is only room for a certain number to fight on the forward edge. +To the Germans on the embankment the Kaiser must have taken on a more +material aspect; they saw visions of Paris, but visions only, which +disappeared like mist in the sunshine. + +It was not sunshine that hit them. No. It was an earthquake. San +Francisco one April morning of 1906 had nothing on that shock which +must have been felt back in the Reichstag. Bayonets, rifle butts, fists +and teeth. Our boys in khaki were overwhelmed by numbers in gray. + +But the McAlexander spirit; that is God-given and Heaven-sent! + +The Colonel had said, “Let ’em come.” Well, here they are, and God, the +joy of it all! + + * * * * * + +Did you ever turn yourself loose in a mad passion that knew no limit? +Were you ever blinded by blood and lust to kill and let yourself go +in a crowd where you could feel their bodies crumble and sink to the +depths below you, then brace yourself on them, and destroy, destroy, +destroy! + +I hope not, but we did—and what do numbers amount to against spirit? In +San Francisco the earthquake subsided and we were left to contemplate +and ponder. There was no subsiding of these seismic demons of Colonel +Ulysses Grant McAlexander, once they had their orders. We were to hold +that railroad. Did we hold it, Go down there and count the German +graves. Six hundred before one company alone. Ask the prisoners, pens +of them, why they didn’t fulfil their mission. They don’t know just +what happened, but whatever it was, it was awful, colossal. + +Sir, they did not even take the first line of resistance of the +38th. An officer, later captured, stated that only twelve of the 6th +Grenadiers, the Kaiser’s favorite Prussian shock troops, returned to +their side of the Marne. + +Yes, back they went, and they stood not upon the manner of their +going, although I will say their machine guns covered their retreat +to the limit of their ability. Without their usual “nest” arrangement +they were comparatively easy picking for us. For instance, during the +retreat Corporal Newell with his squad augmented by two men went down +into the field and captured five guns, killing or capturing their crews. + + * * * * * + +During the heat of battle one lone private crawled down the embankment +through the wheat to the flank of a machine-gun crew who were too busy +on their front to know where his shots were coming from. He picked off +seven Germans and dragged the gun back with him. These incidents are +not typical, but they serve to illustrate the many, many remarkable +individual feats of heroism of the 38th, under the stress of battle. + +No grander man lived than Lieutenant Kenneth P. Murray, killed in a +flank attack which started in a line from the railway to the church in +Mézy, drove in one hundred and eighty-five prisoners, but from which +only three returned, the company commander and two privates. Lieutenant +Mercer M. Phillips died on the railway with a blood-dripping bayonet +on the rifle in his hands. Lieutenant David C. Calkins, whose troops +blocked the enemy’s progress at the river edge until the barrage passed +and those in his support could get into action, made the supreme +sacrifice. + +Many, many other splendid souls, born leaders of brave men, joined the +great majority with a smile on their lips and pistols empty. + +Lieutenant Colonel Frank H. Adams, that great soldier with a lion’s +heart, and yet who led his command by an irresistible personal +magnetism, by precept and example and never an unkind word—that big, +handsome, he-fighter won the Distinguished Service Cross by standing in +the way of a whole regiment, not one that he had any direct connection +with, but one nearby that was practically routed by the shock the 38th +stood and fought back. He brought comparative order out of chaos and +succeeded in getting them in a support position. + +We could mention hundreds of great deeds by great men on that day, but +this is a story of the 38th, not of the indomitable spirits that go to +make it up, or we would never reach the end. + + * * * * * + +At 10 o’clock, on the 15th, our front was fairly cleared and we +were beginning to feel that it was a great day, when something else +happened. Can you, who were not with us, imagine how a prohibitionist +feels on a yachting party? Completely surrounded by hell and damnation +and can’t get off. + +The enemy had penetrated to our left like the boll weevil through a +Southerner’s cotton patch and fortified himself with minenwerfers, +machine guns and barbed wire. They did not penetrate to our right. No, +they simply walked over and wondered how much of a hike it was to +Paris. We were then aware of the reason for “Feverish preparations on +the part of the French on our right.” + +Do you remember what we told you? We thought it was to fight, but +evidently no such idea ever marred the sweet thoughts of the 131st. +Say what you please, make any defense you like. They weren’t there. +And that’s the business we have in hand just now. They weren’t there. +Whence they came or whither they went we know not. A. W. O. L. most +likely, but that is neither here nor there. + +On the morning of July 15, 1918, when Colonel McAlexander was hurling +battalion after battalion of the 38th into the Surmelin valley, the +Gateway to Paris, and out-fighting, out-maneuvering, out-generaling the +Kaiser’s favorites, there were no friendly troops on our right where +they had been on the evening of the 14th. + +However, thank God for a real soldier’s instinct. The Colonel had +anticipated and was prepared to meet a right flank attack. Good old +Captain Reid was there to meet them when they tried to consolidate +their line through our regiment. He met them first with rifle fire, +then with the bayonet, and finally with butts. He fought them all over +the ridge and down on every side except our side. He never let them +set foot on our sector of the Marne and though it cost him nearly his +entire command he was there when fresher troops could get to him for +relief. + +On the left we repulsed a heavy rear attack and a light flank attack +with a handful of the most exhausted troops in France—old “G” company +reduced to fifty-two men from two hundred and fifty-one—taking up new +positions and fighting off ten to one is a picture that will ever live +in the memory of the 38th. + +Major Rowe made desperate efforts to reinforce, but the Boche, just at +that place, had us under direct fire of Austrian 88’s, German 77’s, and +one pounders. You know what direct fire means. Effective forces can’t +be sent against it, that’s all. + + * * * * * + +So, for three days we fought on our flanks, for three days the German +high command gave us all they had in their desperation to open the +gateway. The Colonel received an order. “Fall back if you think best.” + +[Illustration: “THE DAY IS DONE.” + +After a long, hard day, the voice of the bugle was a welcome sound to +the ears of the tired soldiers.] + +He answered, “Is it up to my decision?” + +The answer: “Yes.” + +The Colonel’s answer: “Then I hold my lines!” + +God, what a world of torture and yet solace in that answer! What a +world of pain and joy! We were shot to ribbons, cut to small sections, +unfed, and oh, so tired; but the drive would never have stopped once +they consolidated their lines through the 38th. + +It was Paris for them and a terrible defeat for us if we withdrew and +gave them the little Surmelin valley. The Colonel had been studying the +attack orders taken from captured German officers and knew as no one +else knew what it meant to fall back. + +He was there for a soldier’s purpose and did a soldier’s duty. He paid +an awful price, made sacrifices of officers and men that tore his heart +to pieces. But he held the Gateway to Paris and not only that, drove +them back across the Marne and _followed them across_. + +Believe it or not, it was an absolute physical impossibility, but we +went right on after them and fought them again at Jaulgonne—still +nobody on our right, mind you—where for several days and several nights +it steadily rained and where for the same length of time we hammered +them with shot and bayonet until they fell back with such impetus that +our next big battle was at Fismes on the River Vesle. + +One soldier was heard to remark: “I don’t see any more prisoners coming +in. I wonder what can be the matter?” + +Second soldier: “Didn’t you hear the Colonel say he had all the +information he needed?” + +There are not many of us left of the old 38th. There has been +considerable talk in French circles about “Regiment d’elite,” +“unconquerable tenacity,” and the like. Yes, our flag is to be +decorated with the Croix de Guerre and it is generally recognized in +high French command that “McAlexander’s defense was peculiarly American +in conception, plan and execution.” You see we have been under French +command and our deeds have not been recounted at home. All the glory +goes to the High Command. + +Things like this though, we keep close to our hearts: + + 27 July, 1918. + + General Order I. + (From the Field.) + To the Officers and Men of the + 38th U. S. Infantry. + + The Colonel commanding the regiment wishes to praise you for the + heroic manner in which you took your baptism of fire on July 15, 1918, + upon the banks of the Marne. No regiment in the history of our nation + has ever shown a finer spirit or performed a greater deed. + + Let us cherish within our hearts the memory of our fallen comrades. + Salute them! Then forward! + + MCALEXANDER. + +And look at this for an official report and try to remember if in all +history such a feat was ever before accomplished: + + Headquarters, 38th U. S. Infantry. + A. P. O. 740, France, 8 August, 1918. + + From: Commanding Officer, 38th U. S. Infantry. + To: The Adjutant General, U. S. Army. + (Through Military Channels.) + Subject: Capture of Prisoners from Three German + Divisions. + + 1. In the second battle of the Marne, July 15-23, 1918, the 38th U. + S. Infantry was attacked on the south bank of the Marne, July 15-18, + by two German divisions, and it captured prisoners from each of their + regiments, namely: + + { 6th Grenadier Guards + 10th Division { 47th Infantry + { 398th Infantry + + { 5th Grenadier Guards + 36th Division { 128th Infantry + { 175th Infantry + + 2. On July 22, 1918, this regiment attacked the 10th Division Landwehr + on the north bank of Marne and captured prisoners from its three + regiments, namely: + + { 372nd Infantry + 10th Division Landwehr { 377th Infantry + { 378th Infantry + + 3. It is believed that the capture of prisoners from nine enemy + regiments during nine days of battle constitutes a record justifying a + report to the War Department. + + 4. Identification of twenty-one separate and distinct regimental + and other units were secured from enemy positions in front of this + regiment. + + U. G. MCALEXANDER, + Colonel, 38th U. S. Infantry. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Military abbreviation for “absent without leave.” + + + + +AMERICA’S HIGHEST WAR HONOR + +The 78 Soldiers Who Won the Congressional Medal of Honor for an Act of +Supreme Courage + + +England’s most coveted reward for heroism in battle is the Victoria +Cross. France gives her _Médaille Militaire_; Germany, her Iron Cross. + +There has been little need of war medals in the United States, but with +the entrance of this country into the war Congress established its +medal of honor—called by its full title, The Congressional Medal of +Honor. + +This decoration is given only to those who achieve an act of supreme +courage, or, as “General Orders” have it, to those who in action “have +fought with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the +call of duty.” + +Seventy-eight of the 1,200,000 men in the A. E. F. received these +awards. Fifty-seven of this number were enlisted men, twenty-one were +officers. Nineteen awards were posthumous. For every 15,400 soldiers +who were in action one received the Congressional Medal. + +The best showing was made by the 30th Division, the National Guard +organization of the Carolinas and Tennessee. Second honors go to the +89th Division, which is the selective draft unit of Western Missouri, +Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, and New Mexico. The third +largest is the 33rd or National Guard Division of Illinois. Fourth +honors go to the famous 2nd Division of Regulars, which includes the +Marines, while fifth place is shared by the two New York divisions, the +27th and 77th. The list follows: + + +1ST DIVISION + +_Colyer, Wilbur E., Sergeant_, Co. A, 1st Engineers, 1st Division, +Ozone Park, L. I.—Verdun, France, Oct. 9, 1918. Volunteering with two +other soldiers to locate machine-gun nests, Sergeant Colyer advanced on +the hostile positions to a point where he was half surrounded by the +nests, which were in ambush. He killed the gunner of one gun with a +captured German grenade and then turned this gun on the other nests, +silencing all of them before he returned to his platoon. He was later +killed in action. + + * * * * * + +_Ellis, Michael B., Sergeant_, Co. C, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, East +St. Louis, Ill.—Exermont, France, Oct. 5, 1918. During the entire day’s +engagement he operated far in advance of the first wave of his company, +voluntarily undertaking most dangerous missions and single-handed +attacking and reducing machine-gun nests. Flanking one emplacement, +he killed two of the enemy with rifle fire and captured seventeen +others. Later he single-handed advanced under heavy fire and captured +twenty-seven prisoners, including two officers and six machine guns, +which had been holding up the advance of the company. The captured +officers indicated the locations of four other machine guns, and he in +turn captured these, together with their crews, at all times showing +marked heroism and fearlessness. + + +2ND DIVISION + +_Bart, Frank J., Private_, Co. C, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division, Newark, +N. J.—Médéah Farm, France, Oct. 3, 1918. Private Bart, being on duty +as a company runner, when the advance was held up by machine-gun fire +voluntarily picked up an automatic rifle, ran out ahead of the line, +and silenced a hostile machine-gun nest, killing the German gunners. +The advance then continued, and, when it was again hindered shortly +afterward by another machine-gun nest, this courageous soldier repeated +his bold exploit by putting the second machine gun out of action. + + * * * * * + +_Cukela, Louis, First Lieutenant_, 5th Regiment Marines, 2nd Division, +Minneapolis, Minn.—Villers-Cotterets, France, July 18, 1918. When his +company, advancing through a wood, met with strong resistance from +an enemy strong point, Lieutenant Cukela (then Sergeant) crawled out +from the flank and made his way toward the German lines in the face of +heavy fire, disregarding the warnings of his comrades. He succeeded in +getting behind the enemy position and rushed a machine-gun emplacement, +killing or driving off the crew with his bayonet. With German hand +grenades he then bombed out the remaining portion of the strong point, +capturing four men and two damaged machine guns. + + * * * * * + +_Hoffman, Charles F., Gunnery Sergeant_, 5th Regiment Marines, Second +Division, Brooklyn, N. Y.—Château-Thierry, France, June 6, 1918. +Immediately after the company to which he belonged had reached its +objective on Hill 142, several hostile counter-attacks were launched +against the line before the new position had been consolidated. +Sergeant Hoffman was attempting to organize a position on the north +slope of the hill when he saw twelve of the enemy, armed with five +light machine guns, crawling toward his group. Giving the alarm, +he rushed the hostile detachment, bayoneted the two leaders, and +forced the others to flee, abandoning their guns. His quick action, +initiative, and courage drove the enemy from a position from which +they could have swept the hill with machine-gun fire and forced the +withdrawal of our troops. + + * * * * * + +_Kocak, Matej, Sergeant_, Co. C, 5th Regiment Marines, 2nd Division, +Albany, N. Y.—Soissons, France, July 18, 1918. When the advance of his +battalion was checked by a hidden machine-gun nest he went forward +alone, unprotected by covering fire from his own men, and worked in +between the German position in the face of fire from an enemy covering +detachment. Locating the machine-gun nest, he rushed it, and with his +bayonet drove off the crew. Shortly after this he organized twenty-five +French colonial soldiers who had become separated from their company, +and led them in attacking another machine-gun nest, which was also put +out of action. + +[Illustration: American Troops on Parade in Paris on July 4, 1919 + +Immediately after the ceremonies incident to the naming of the “Avenue +du President Wilson.”] + + * * * * * + +_Kelly, John Joseph, Private_, 6th Regiment Marines, 2nd Division, +Chicago, Ill.—Blanc Mont Ridge, France, Oct. 3, 1918. Private Kelly ran +through our own barrage 100 yards in advance of the front line, and +attacked an enemy machine-gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, +shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returned +through the barrage with eight prisoners. + + * * * * * + +_Van Iersal, Louis, Sergeant_, Co. M, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division, +Newark, N. Y.—Mouzon, France, Nov. 9, 1918. While a member of the +reconnoissance patrol sent out at night to ascertain the condition of a +damaged bridge, Sergeant Van Iersal volunteered to lead a party across +the bridge in the face of heavy machine-gun and rifle fire from a range +of only 75 yards. Crawling alone along the débris of the ruined bridge, +he came upon a trap, which gave away and precipitated him into the +water. In spite of the swift current, he succeeded in swimming across +the stream, and found a lodging place among the timbers on the opposite +bank. Disregarding the enemy fire, he made a careful investigation of +the hostile position by which the bridge was defended and then returned +to the other bank of the river, reporting this valuable information to +the battalion commander. + + * * * * * + +_Pruitt, John H., Corporal_, 78th Co., 6th Regiment of Marines, 2nd +Division, Phoenix, Ariz.—Blanc Mont Ridge, France, Oct. 3, 1918. +Corporal Pruitt single-handed attacked two machine guns, capturing them +and killing two of the enemy. He then captured forty prisoners in a +dugout near by. This gallant soldier was killed soon afterward by shell +fire while he was sniping at the enemy. + + +3RD DIVISION + +[Illustration: Made in France + +American locomotive builders assembling an engine in shops behind the +battle lines.] + +_Barkley, John L., Private, first class_, Company K, 4th Infantry, +3rd Division, Blairstown, Mo.—Cunel, France, Oct. 7, 1918. Private +Barkley, who was stationed in an observation post half a kilometer +from the German line, on his own initiative repaired a captured enemy +machine gun and mounted it in a disabled French tank near his post. +Shortly afterward, when the enemy launched a counter-attack against +our forces, Private Barkley got into the tank, waited under the +hostile barrage until the enemy line was abreast of him, and then +opened fire, completely breaking up the counter-attack and killing +and wounding a large number of the enemy. Five minutes later an enemy +77-millimeter gun opened fire on the tank point blank. One shell struck +the driver wheel of the tank, but this soldier, nevertheless, remained +in the tank; and after the barrage ceased broke up a second enemy +counter-attack, thereby enabling our forces to gain and hold Hill 253. + + * * * * * + +_Hays, George Price, First Lieutenant_, 10th Field Artillery, 3rd +Division, Okarchee, Okla.—Grèves Farm, France, July 14-15, 1918. At +the very outset of the unprecedented artillery bombardment by the +enemy of July 14-15, 1918, his line of communication was destroyed +beyond repair. Despite the hazard attached to the mission of runner, he +immediately set out to establish contact with the neighboring post of +command; and, further established liaison with two French batteries, +visiting their position so frequently that he was mainly responsible +for the accurate fire therefrom. While thus engaged, seven horses were +shot under him and he was severely wounded. His activity, under most +severe fire was an important factor in checking the advance of the +enemy. + + +5TH DIVISION + +_Allworth, Edward S., Captain_, 60th Infantry, 5th Division, Crawford, +Wash.—Cléry-le-Petit, France, Nov. 5, 1918. While his company +was crossing the Meuse River and Canal at a bridgehead opposite +Cléry-le-Petit, the bridge over the canal was destroyed by shell fire +and Captain Allworth’s command became separated, part of it being on +the east bank of the canal and the remainder on the west bank. Seeing +his advance units making slow headway up the steep slope ahead, this +officer mounted the canal bank and called for his men to follow. +Plunging in, he swam across the canal under fire from the enemy, +followed by his men. Inspiring his men by his example of gallantry, +he led them up the slope, joining his hard-pressed platoons in front. +By his personal leadership he forced the enemy back for more than +a kilometer, overcoming machine-gun nests and capturing a hundred +prisoners, whose number exceeded that of the men in his command. The +exceptional courage and leadership displayed by Captain Allworth made +possible the reëstablishment of a bridgehead over the canal and the +successful advance of other troops. + + * * * * * + +_Woodfill, Samuel, First Lieutenant_, 60th Infantry, 5th Division, +Fort Thomas, Ky.—Cunel, France, Oct. 12, 1918. While he was leading +his company against the enemy his line came under heavy machine-gun +fire, which threatened to hold up the advance. Followed by two soldiers +at 25 yards, this officer went out ahead of his first line toward a +machine-gun nest and worked his way around its flank, leaving the two +soldiers in front. When he got within 10 yards of the gun it ceased +firing, and four of the enemy appeared, three of whom were shot by +Lieutenant Woodfill. The fourth, an officer, rushed at Lieutenant +Woodfill, who attempted to club the officer with his rifle. After a +hand-to-hand struggle, Lieutenant Woodfill killed the officer with +his pistol. His company thereupon continued to advance until shortly +afterward another machine-gun nest was encountered. Calling his men +to follow, Lieutenant Woodfill rushed ahead of his line in the face +of heavy fire from the nest; and when several of the enemy appeared +above the nest he shot them, capturing three other members of the crew +and silencing the gun. A few minutes later this officer for the third +time demonstrated conspicuous daring by charging another machine-gun +position, killing five men in one machine-gun pit with his rifle. He +then drew his revolver and started to jump into the pit, when two other +gunners only a few yards away turned their gun on him. Failing to kill +them with his revolver, he grabbed a pick lying near by and killed +both of them. Inspired by the exceptional courage displayed by this +officer, his men pressed on to their objective under severe shell and +machine-gun fire. + + +26TH DIVISION + +_Dilboy, George, Private, first class_, Co. H, 103rd Infantry, 26th +Division, Boston, Mass.—Belleau, France, July 18, 1918. After his +platoon had gained its objective along a railroad embankment, Private +Dilboy, accompanying his platoon leader to reconnoiter the ground +beyond, was suddenly fired upon by an enemy machine gun from 100 yards. +From a standing position on the railroad track, fully exposed to +view, he opened fire at once, but, failing to silence the gun, rushed +forward with his bayonet fixed through a wheat field toward the gun +emplacement, falling within twenty-five yards of the gun with his right +leg nearly severed above the knee and with several bullet holes in his +body. With undaunted courage he continued to fire into the emplacement +from a prone position, killing two of the enemy and dispersing the rest +of the crew. + + * * * * * + +_Perkins, Michael J., Private, first class_, Company D, 101st Infantry, +26th Division, Boston, Mass.—Belieu Bois, France, Oct. 27, 1918. He, +voluntarily and alone, crawled to a German “pillbox” machine-gun +emplacement, from which grenades were being thrown at his platoon. +Awaiting his opportunity, when the door was again opened and another +grenade thrown, he threw a bomb inside, bursting the door open; and +then, drawing his trench knife, rushed into the emplacement. In a +hand-to-hand struggle he killed or wounded several of the occupants and +captured about twenty-five prisoners, at the same time silencing seven +machine guns. + + +27TH DIVISION + +_Eggers, Alan Louis, Sergeant_, M. G. Company, 107th Infantry, 27th +Division, Summit, N. J.—Le Catelet, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Becoming +separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, Sergeant Eggers, +Sergeant John C. Latham, and Corporal Thomas E. O’Shea took cover in +a shell hole well within the enemy’s lines. Upon hearing a call for +help from an American tank which had become disabled 30 yards from +them, the three soldiers left their shelter and started toward the +tank under heavy fire from German machine guns and trench mortars. In +crossing the fire-swept area Corporal O’Shea was mortally wounded; but +his companions, undeterred, proceeded to the tank, rescued a wounded +officer, and assisted two wounded soldiers to cover in a sap of a +nearby trench. Sergeant Eggers and Sergeant Latham then returned to +the tank in the face of the violent fire, dismounted a Hotchkiss gun, +and took it back to where the wounded men were, keeping off the enemy +all day by effective use of the gun, and later bringing it, with the +wounded men, back to our lines under cover of darkness. + +[Illustration: + + Two Officers of the United States Army Aviation Section, Lieutenant + Morrow and Lieutenant Holliday, making a flight in a Burgess Tractor.] + + * * * * * + +_Gaffney, Frank, Private, first class_, 108th Infantry, 27th Division, +Lockport, N. Y.—Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Private Gaffney, an +automatic rifleman, pushed forward alone with his gun, after all the +other members of his squad had been killed, discovered several Germans +placing a heavy machine gun in position. He killed the crew, captured +the gun, bombed several dugouts, and, after killing four more of the +enemy with his pistol, held the position until reinforcement came up, +when eighty prisoners were captured. + + * * * * * + +_Latham, John Cridland, Sergeant_, M. G. Co., 107th Infantry, 27th +Division, Westmoreland, England.—Le Catelet, France, Sept. 29, 1918. +Becoming separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage, Sergeant +Latham, Sergeant Alan L. Eggers, and Corporal Thomas E. O’Shea took +cover in a shell hole well within the enemy’s lines. Upon hearing a +call for help from an American tank, which had become disabled thirty +yards from them, the three soldiers left their shelter and started +toward the tank under heavy fire from German machine guns and trench +mortars. In crossing the fire-swept area Corporal O’Shea was mortally +wounded, but his companions, undeterred, proceeded to the tank, rescued +a wounded officer, and assisted two wounded soldiers to cover in the +sap of a nearby trench. Sergeant Latham and Sergeant Eggers then +returned to the tank, in the face of the violent fire, dismounted a +Hotchkiss gun, and took it back to where the wounded men were, keeping +off the enemy all day by effective use of the gun and later bringing +it, with the wounded men, back to our lines under cover of darkness. + + * * * * * + +_Luke, Frank, Jr., Lieutenant_, 27th Aero Squadron, Phoenix, +Ariz.—Murvaux, France, Sept. 29, 1918. After having previously +destroyed a number of enemy aircraft within seventeen days, he +voluntarily started on a patrol after German observation balloons. +Though pursued by eight German planes, which were protecting the enemy +balloon line, he unhesitatingly attacked and shot down in flames three +German balloons, being himself under heavy fire from ground batteries +and the hostile planes. Severely wounded, he descended to within fifty +meters of the ground; and flying at this low altitude near the town of +Murvaux, opened fire upon enemy troops, killing six and wounding as +many more. Forced to make a landing and surrounded on all sides by the +enemy, who called upon him to surrender, he drew his automatic pistol +and defended himself gallantly until he fell dead from a wound in the +chest. + + * * * * * + +_O’Shea, Thomas E., Corporal_, M. G. Co., 107th Infantry, 27th +Division, Summit, N. J.—Le Catelet, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Becoming +separated from their platoon by a smoke barrage. Corporal O’Shea, +with two other soldiers, took cover in a shell hole well within the +enemy’s lines. Upon hearing a call for help from an American tank, +which had become disabled thirty yards from them, the three soldiers +left their shelter and started toward the tank under heavy fire from +German machine guns and trench mortars. In crossing the fire-swept area +Corporal O’Shea was mortally wounded and died of his wounds shortly +afterward. + + * * * * * + +_Waalker, Reider, Sergeant_, Co. A, 105th Infantry, 27th Division, +Noretrand, Norway.—Ronssoy, France, Sept. 27, 1918. In the face of +heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, he crawled forward in a burning +British tank in which some of the crew were imprisoned, and succeeded +in rescuing two men. Although the tank was then burning fiercely and +contained ammunition which was likely to explode at any time, this +soldier immediately returned to the tank, and, entering it, made a +search for the other occupants, remaining until he satisfied himself +that there were no more living men in the tank. + + * * * * * + +_Turner, William S., First Lieutenant_, 105th Infantry, 27th Division, +Dorchester, Mass.—Ronssoy, France, Sept. 27th, 1918. He led a small +group of men to the attack, under terrific artillery and machine-gun +fire, after they had become separated from the rest of the company +in the darkness. Single-handed he rushed an enemy machine gun which +had suddenly opened fire on his group and killed the crew with his +pistol. He then pressed forward to another machine-gun post, 25 yards +away, and had killed one gunner himself by the time the remainder of +his detachment arrived and put the gun out of action. With the utmost +bravery he continued to lead his men over three lines of hostile +trenches, cleaning up each one as they advanced, regardless of the fact +that he had been wounded three times, and killed several of the enemy +in hand-to-hand encounters. After his pistol ammunition was exhausted, +this gallant officer seized the rifle of a dead soldier, bayoneted +several members of a machine-gun crew, and shot the others. Upon +reaching the fourth-line trench, which was his objective, Lieutenant +Turner captured it with the nine men remaining in his group, and +resisted a hostile counter-attack until he was finally surrounded and +killed. + + +28TH DIVISION + +_Mestrovitch, James I, Sergeant_, Co. C, 111th Infantry, 28th Division, +Fresno, Cal.—Fismette, France, Aug. 10, 1918. Seeing his company +commander lying wounded thirty yards in front of the line after his +company had withdrawn to a sheltered position behind a stone wall, +Sergeant Mestrovitch voluntarily left cover and crawled through heavy +machine-gun and shell-fire to where the officer lay. He took the +officer upon his back and crawled back to a place of safety, where he +administered first-aid treatment, his exceptional heroism saving the +officer’s life. + + +29TH DIVISION + +[Illustration: “Listening In” + + An American Signal Battalion outpost “listening in” on a suspicious + wire somewhere in France. Complete telephone units including women + operators went over with the American troops.] + +_Costin, Henry G., Private_, Co. H, 115th Infantry, 29th Division, Cape +Charles, Va.—Bois de Consenvoye, France, Oct. 8, 1918. When the advance +of his platoon had been held up by machine-gun fire and a request was +made for an automatic-rifle team to charge the nest, Private Costin was +the first to volunteer. Advancing with his team under terrific fire +of enemy artillery, machine guns, and trench mortars, he continued +after all his comrades had become casualties, and he himself had been +seriously wounded. He operated his rifle until he collapsed. His act +resulted in the capture of about 100 prisoners and several machine +guns. He succumbed from the effects of his wounds shortly after the +accomplishment of his heroic deed. + + * * * * * + +_Gregory, Earl D., Sergeant_, H. Q. Co., 116th Infantry, 29th Division, +Chase City, Va.—Boise de Consenvoye, north of Verdun, France, Oct. 8, +1918. With the remark, “I will get them,” Sergeant Gregory seized a +rifle and a trench-mortar shell which he used as a hand grenade, left +his detachment of the trench-mortar platoon, and, advancing ahead of +the infantry, captured a machine gun and three of the enemy. Advancing +still further from the machine-gun nest, he captured a 7.5-centimeter +mountain howitzer, and, entering a dugout in the immediate vicinity, +single-handed captured nineteen of the enemy. + + * * * * * + +_Regan, Patrick, Second Lieutenant_, 115th Infantry, 29th Division, Los +Angeles, Cal.—Bois de Consenvoye, France, Oct. 8, 1918. While leading +his platoon against a strong enemy machine-gun nest which had held up +the advance of two companies, Lieut. Regan divided his men into three +groups, sending one group to either flank, and he himself attacking +with an automatic-rifle team from the front. Two of the team were +killed outright, while Lieut. Regan and the third man were seriously +wounded, the latter unable to advance. Although severely wounded, +Lieut. Regan dashed with empty pistol into the machine-gun nest, +capturing thirty Austrian gunners and four machine guns. This gallant +deed permitted the companies to advance, avoiding a terrific enemy +fire. Despite his wounds, he continued to lead his platoon forward +until ordered to the rear by his commanding officer. + + +30TH DIVISION + +_Adkinson, Joseph B., Sergeant_, Co. C, 119th Infantry, 30th Division, +Atoka, Tenn.—Bellicourt, France, Sept. 29, 1918. When murderous +machine-gun fire at a range of fifty yards had made it impossible for +his platoon to advance, and had caused the platoon to take cover, +Sergeant Adkinson alone, with the greatest intrepidity, rushed across +the fifty yards of open ground directly into the face of the hostile +machine gun, kicked the gun from the parapet into the enemy trench, and +at the point of the bayonet captured the three men manning the gun. The +gallantry and quick decision of this soldier enabled the platoon to +resume its advance. + + * * * * * + +_Blackwell, Robert L., Private_, 119th Infantry, 30th Division, Hurdles +Mills, N. C.—Saint Souplet, France, Oct. 11, 1918. When his platoon +was almost surrounded by the enemy and his platoon commander asked +for volunteers to carry a message calling for reinforcements, Private +Blackwell volunteered for this mission, well knowing the extreme danger +connected with it. In attempting to get through the heavy shell and +machine-gun fire this gallant soldier was killed. + + * * * * * + +_Dozier, James C., First Lieutenant_, Co. G, 118th Infantry, 30th +Division, Rock Hill, S. C.—Montbrehain, France, Oct. 8, 1918. In +command of two platoons, Lieutenant Dozier was painfully wounded in +the shoulder early in the attack, but he continued to lead his men, +displaying the highest bravery and skill. When his command was held +up by heavy machine-gun fire he disposed his men in the best cover +available, and with a soldier continued forward to attack a machine-gun +nest. Creeping up to the position in the face of intense fire, he +killed the entire crew with hand grenades and his pistol; and a little +later captured a number of Germans who had taken refuge in a dugout +nearby. + + * * * * * + +_Foster, Gary Evans, Sergeant_, Co. F, 118th Infantry, 30th Division, +Inman, S. C.—Montbrehain, France, Oct. 8, 1918. When his company was +held up by violent machine-gun fire from a sunken road Sergeant Foster, +with an officer, went forward to attack the hostile machine-gun nests. +The officer was wounded, but Sergeant Foster continued on alone in the +face of heavy fire and by effective use of hand grenades and his pistol +killed several of the enemy and captured eighteen. + + * * * * * + +_Hall, Thomas Lee, Sergeant_, Co. G, 118th Infantry, 30th Division, +Fort Hill, S. C.—Montbrehain, France, Oct. 8, 1918. Having overcome +two machine-gun nests under his skillful leadership, Sergeant Hall’s +platoon was stopped 800 yards from its final objective by machine-gun +fire of particular intensity. Ordering his men to take cover in a +sunken road, he advanced alone on the enemy machine-gun post and killed +five members of the crew with his bayonet and thereby made possible the +further advance of the line. While attacking another machine-gun nest +later in the day this gallant soldier was mortally wounded. + + * * * * * + +_Heriot, James D., Corporal_, Co. I, 118th Infantry, 30th Division, +Providence, S. C.—Vaux-Andigny, France, Oct. 12, 1918. Corporal Heriot, +with four other soldiers, organized a combat group and attacked an +enemy machine-gun nest which had been inflicting heavy casualties on +his company. In the advance two of his men were killed, and because +of the heavy fire from all sides the remaining two sought shelter. +Unmindful of the hazard attached to his mission, Corporal Heriot, with +fixed bayonet, alone charged the machine gun, making his way through +the fire for a distance of thirty yards and forcing the enemy to +surrender. During his exploit he received several wounds in the arm, +and later in the same day, while charging another nest, he was killed. + + * * * * * + +_Hilton, Richmond H., Sergeant_, Co. H, 118th Infantry, 30th Division, +Westville, S. C.—Brancourt, France, Oct. 11, 1918. While Sergeant +Hilton’s company was advancing through the village of Brancourt it was +held up by intense enfilading fire from a machine gun. Discovering +that this fire came from a machine-gun nest among shell holes at the +edge of the town, Sergeant Hilton, accompanied by a few other soldiers +but well in advance of them, pressed on toward this position, firing +with his rifle until his ammunition was exhausted, and then with his +pistol killing six of the enemy and capturing ten. In the course of +this daring exploit he received a wound from a bursting shell, which +resulted in the loss of his arm. + + * * * * * + +_Karnes, James E., Sergeant_, Co. D, 117th Infantry, 30th Division, +Knoxville, Tenn.—Estrées, France, Oct. 8, 1918. During an advance his +company was held up by a machine gun which was enfilading the line. +Accompanied by another soldier, he advanced against this position and +succeeded in reducing the nest by killing three and capturing seven of +the enemy and their guns. + + * * * * * + +_Lemert, Milo, First Sergeant_, Co. H, 119th Infantry, 30th Division, +Grossville, Tenn.—Bellicourt, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Seeing that the +left flank of his company was held up, he located the enemy machine-gun +emplacement which had been causing heavy casualties. In the face of +heavy fire he rushed it single-handed, killing the entire crew with +grenades. Continuing along the enemy trench in advance of the company, +he reached another emplacement which he also charged, silencing the +gun with grenades. A third machine-gun emplacement opened upon him +from the left, and, with similar skill and bravery, he destroyed this +also. Later, in company with another sergeant, he attacked a fourth +machine-gun nest, being killed as he reached the parapet of the +emplacement. His courageous action in destroying in turn four enemy +machine-gun nests prevented many casualties among his company and very +materially aided in achieving the objective. + + * * * * * + +_Talley, Edward R., Sergeant_, Co. L, 117th Infantry, 30th Division, +Russellville, Tenn.—Ponchaux, France, Oct. 7, 1918. Undeterred +by seeing several comrades killed in attempting to put a hostile +machine-gun nest out of action, Sergeant Talley attacked the position +single-handed. Armed only with a rifle, he rushed the nest in the face +of intense enemy fire, killed or wounded at least six of the crew, and +silenced the gun. When the enemy attempted to bring forward another gun +and ammunition, he drove them back by effective fire from his rifle. + + * * * * * + +_Villepigue, John C., Corporal_, Co. M, 118th Infantry, 30th Division, +Camden, S. C.—Vaux-Andigny, France, Oct. 15, 1918. Having been sent out +with two other soldiers to scout through the village of Vaux-Andigny, +he met with strong resistance from enemy machine-gun fire, which killed +one of his men and wounded the other. Continuing forward without +aid, 500 yards in advance of his platoon and in the face of enemy +machine-gun and artillery fire, he encountered four of the enemy in +a dugout, whom he attacked and killed with a hand grenade. Crawling +forward to a point 150 yards in advance of his first encounter, he +rushed a machine-gun nest, killing four and capturing six of the enemy +and taking two light machine guns. After being joined by his platoon he +was severely wounded in the arm. + + * * * * * + +_Ward, Calvin, Private_, Co. D, 117th Infantry, 30th Division, +Morristown, Tenn.—Estrées, France, Oct. 8, 1918. During an advance +Private Ward’s company was held up by a machine gun, which was +enfilading the line. Accompanied by a non-commissioned officer, he +advanced against this post and succeeded in reducing the nest by +killing three and capturing seven of the enemy and their guns. + + +31ST DIVISION + +_Slack, Clayton K., Private_, Co. E, 124th Infantry, 31st Division, +Lampson, Wis.—Consenvoye, France, Oct. 8, 1918. Observing German +soldiers under cover fifty yards away on the left flank, Private +Slack, upon his own initiative, rushed them with his rifle, and, +single-handed, captured ten prisoners and two heavy-type machine guns, +thus saving his company and neighboring organizations from heavy +casualties. + + +33RD DIVISION + +_Allex, Jake, Corporal_, Co. H, 131st Infantry, 33rd Division, +Chicago.—At Chipilly Ridge, France, Aug. 9, 1918. At a critical point +in the action, when all the officers with his platoon had become +casualties, Corporal Allex took command of the platoon and led it +forward until the advance was stopped by fire from a machine-gun nest. +He then advanced alone for about thirty yards in the face of intense +fire and attacked the nest. With his bayonet he killed five of the +enemy, and when it was broken used the butt end of his rifle, capturing +fifteen prisoners. + + * * * * * + +_Anderson, Johannes S., Sergeant_, Co. B, 132d Infantry, 33rd Division, +Chicago, Ill.—Consenvoye, France, Oct. 8, 1918. While his company was +being held up by intense artillery and machine-gun fire, Sergeant +Anderson, without aid, voluntarily left the company and worked his way +to the rear of the nest that was offering the most stubborn resistance. +His advance was made through an open area and under constant hostile +fire; but the mission was successfully accomplished, and he not only +silenced the gun and captured it, but also brought back with him +twenty-three prisoners. + + * * * * * + +_Gumpertz, Sydney G., First Sergeant_, Co. E, 132nd Infantry, 33rd +Division, New York City.—Bois de Forges, France, Sept. 26, 1918. When +the advancing line was held up by machine-gun fire, Sergeant Gumpertz +left the platoon of which he was in command, and started with two +other soldiers through a heavy barrage toward the machine-gun nest. +His two companions soon became casualties from bursting shell, but +Sergeant Gumpertz continued on alone in the face of direct fire from +the machine gun, jumped into the nest and silenced the gun, capturing +nine of the crew. + + * * * * * + +_Hill, Ralyn, Corporal_, Co. H, 129th Infantry, 33rd Division, Oregon, +Ill.—Dannevoux, France, Oct. 7, 1918. Seeing a French aeroplane fall +out of control on the enemy side of the Meuse River with its pilot +injured, Corporal Hill voluntarily dashed across the footbridge to the +side of the wounded man, and, taking him on his back, started back to +his lines. During the entire exploit he was subjected to murderous fire +of enemy machine guns and artillery, but he successfully accomplished +his mission and brought his man to a place of safety, a distance of +several hundred yards. + + * * * * * + +_Loman, Berger, Private_, Co. H, 132nd Infantry, 33rd Division, +Chicago.—Consenvoye, France, Oct. 9, 1918. When his company had reached +a point within 100 yards of its objective, to which it was advancing +under terrific machine-gun fire, Private Loman, voluntarily and +unaided, made his way forward, after all others had taken shelter from +the direct fire of an enemy machine gun. He crawled to a flank position +of the gun, and, after killing or capturing the entire crew, turned the +machine gun on the retreating enemy. + + * * * * * + +_Mallon, George H., Captain_, 132nd Infantry, 33rd Division, Kansas +City, Mo.—Bois de Forges, France, Sept. 26, 1918. Becoming separated +from the balance of his company because of a fog, Captain Mallon, with +nine soldiers, pushed forward and attacked nine active hostile machine +guns, capturing all of them without the loss of a man. Continuing +on through the woods, he led his men in attacking a battery of four +155-millimeter howitzers, which were in action, rushing the position +and capturing the battery and its crew. In this encounter Captain +Mallon personally attacked one of the enemy with his fists. Later, when +the party came upon two more machine guns, this officer sent men to the +flanks while he rushed forward directly in the face of the fire and +silenced the guns, being the first one of the party to reach the nest. +The exceptional gallantry and determination displayed by Captain Mallon +resulted in the capture of 100 prisoners, eleven machine guns, four +155-millimeter howitzers, and one anti-aircraft gun. + + * * * * * + +_Pope, Thomas A., Corporal_, Co. E, 131st Infantry, 33rd Division, +Chicago.—Hamel, France, July 4, 1918. His company was advancing behind +the tanks when it was halted by hostile machine-gun fire. Going forward +alone, he rushed a machine-gun nest, killed several of the crew with +his bayonet, and, standing astride of his gun, held off the others +until reinforcements arrived and captured them. + + * * * * * + +_Sandlin, Willie, Private_, Co. A, 132nd Infantry, 33rd Division, +Hayden, Ky.—Bois de Forges, France, Sept. 26, 1918. He showed +conspicuous gallantry in action by advancing alone directly on a +machine-gun nest which was holding up the line with its fire. He killed +the crew with a grenade and enabled the line to advance. Later in the +day he attacked alone and put out of action two other machine-gun +nests, setting a splendid example of bravery and coolness to his +comrades. + + +35TH DIVISION + +_Skinker, Alexander R., Captain_, 138th Infantry, 35th Division, St. +Louis, Mo.—Cheppy, France, Sept. 26, 1918. Unwilling to sacrifice his +men when his company was held up by terrific machine-gun fire from +iron “pill boxes” in the Hindenburg line, Captain Skinker personally +led an automatic rifleman and a carrier in an attack on the machine +guns. The carrier was killed instantly, but Captain Skinker seized the +ammunition and continued through an opening in the barbed wire, feeding +the automatic rifle until he, too, was killed. + + * * * * * + +_Wold, Nels, Private_, Co. I, 138th Infantry, 35th Division, McIntosh, +Minn.—Cheppy, France, Sept. 26, 1918. He rendered most gallant service +in aiding the advance of his company, which had been held up by +machine-gun nests, advancing with one other soldier and silencing the +guns, bringing with him upon his return eleven prisoners. Later the +same day he jumped from a trench and rescued a comrade who was about to +be shot by a German officer, killing the officer during the exploit. +His actions were entirely voluntary, and it was while attempting to +rush a fifth machine-gun nest that he was killed. The advance of his +company was mainly due to his great courage and devotion to duty. + + +36TH DIVISION + +_Sampler, Samuel H., Sergeant_, Co. M, 142nd Infantry, 36th Division, +Mangum, Okla.—St. Etienne, France, Oct. 8, 1918. His company having +suffered severe casualties during an advance under machine-gun fire, +was finally stopped. Sergeant Sampler, then a Corporal, detected +the position of the enemy machine guns on an elevation. Armed with +German hand grenades, which he had picked up, he left the line and +rushed forward in the face of heavy fire until he was near the hostile +nest, where he grenaded the position. His third grenade landed among +the enemy, killing two, silencing the machine guns and causing the +surrender of twenty-eight Germans, whom he sent to the rear as +prisoners. As a result of his act the company was immediately enabled +to resume the advance. + + * * * * * + +_Turner, Harold L., Corporal_, Co. F, 142nd Infantry, 36th Division, +Seminole, Okla.—St. Etienne, France, Oct. 8, 1918. After his platoon +had started the attack, Corporal Turner assisted in organizing a +platoon consisting of the battalion scouts, runners, and a detachment +of the Signal Corps. As second in command of this platoon, he +fearlessly led them forward through heavy enemy fire, continually +encouraging the men. Later he encountered deadly machine-gun fire which +reduced the strength of his command to but four men, and these were +obliged to take shelter. The enemy machine-gun emplacement, twenty-five +yards distant, kept up a continual fire from four machine guns. After +the fire had shifted momentarily, Corporal Turner rushed forward with +fixed bayonet and charged the position alone, capturing the strong +point, with a complement of fifty Germans and four machine guns. +His remarkable display of courage and fearlessness was instrumental +in destroying the strong point, the fire from which had blocked the +advance of his company. + +[Illustration: American Troops at the Double-Quick + +This picture shows our boys charging on snow-covered ground.] + + +42ND DIVISION + +_Manning, Sidney E., Corporal_, Co. C, 167th Infantry, 42nd Division, +Flomaton, Ala.—Breuvannes, France, July 28, 1918. When his platoon +commander and platoon sergeant had both become casualties soon after +the beginning of an assault on strongly fortified heights overlooking +the Ourcq River, Corporal Manning took command of his platoon, which +was near the center of the attacking line. Though himself severely +wounded, he led forward the thirty-five men remaining in the platoon, +and finally succeeded in gaining a foothold on enemy position, during +which time he had received more wounds, and all but seven of his men +had fallen. Directing the consolidation of the position, he held off +a large body of the enemy only fifty yards away by fire from his +automatic rifle. He declined to take cover until the line had been +entirely consolidated with the line of the platoon on the flank, when +he dragged himself to shelter, suffering from nine wounds in all parts +of the body. + + * * * * * + +_Neibaur, Thomas C., Private_, Co. M, 167th Infantry, 42nd Division, +Sumner City, Idaho.—Landers, St. Georges, France, Oct. 16, 1918. On +the afternoon of Oct. 16, 1918, when the Côte de Chatillon had just +been gained after bitter fighting and the summit of that strong bulwark +in the Kriemhilde Stellung was being organized, Private Neibaur was +sent out on patrol with his automatic-rifle squad to enfilade enemy +machine-gun nests. As he gained the ridge he set up his automatic +rifle and was directly thereafter wounded in both legs by fire from a +hostile machine gun on his flank. The advance wave of the enemy troops +counter-attacking had about gained the ridge; and, although practically +cut off and surrounded, the remainder of his detachment being killed or +wounded, this gallant soldier kept his automatic rifle in operation to +such effect that by his own efforts and by fire from the skirmish line +of his company, at least 100 yards in his rear, the attack was checked. +The enemy wave being halted and lying prone, four of the enemy attacked +Private Neibaur at close quarters. These he killed. He then moved along +among the enemy lying on the ground about him. In the midst of the fire +from his own lines, and by coolness and gallantry, he captured eleven +prisoners at the point of his pistol, and, although painfully wounded, +brought them back to our lines. The counter-attack in full force was +arrested, to a large extent, by the single efforts of this soldier, +whose heroic exploits took place against the sky line in full view of +his entire battalion. + + +77TH DIVISION + +_Kaufman, Benjamin, First Sergeant_, Co. K, 308th Infantry, 77th +Division, Brooklyn, N. Y.—Forest d’Argonne, France, Oct. 4, 1918. He +took out a patrol for the purpose of attacking an enemy machine gun +which had checked the advance of his company. Before reaching the +gun he became separated from his patrol, and a machine-gun bullet +shattered his right arm. Without hesitation he advanced on the gun +alone, throwing grenades with his left hand and charging with an empty +pistol, taking one prisoner and scattering the crew, bringing the gun +and prisoner back to the first-aid station. + + * * * * * + +_McMurtry, George G., Captain_, 308th Infantry, 77th Division, New +York City.—Forest d’Argonne, France, Oct. 2-8, 1918. Captain McMurtry +commanded a battalion which was cut off and surrounded by the enemy; +and, although wounded in the knee by shrapnel on Oct. 4th and suffering +great pain, he continued throughout the entire period to encourage his +officers and men with a resistless optimism that contributed largely +toward preventing panic and disorder among the troops who, without +food, were cut off from communication with our lines. On Oct. 4th, +during a heavy barrage, he personally directed and supervised the +moving of the wounded to shelter before himself seeking shelter. On +Oct. 6th, he was again wounded in the shoulder by a German grenade, +but continued personally to organize and direct the defense against +the German attack on the position until the attack was defeated. He +continued to direct and command his troops, refusing relief, and after +assistance arrived personally led his men out of the position before +permitting himself to be taken to the hospital on Oct. 8th. During this +period the successful defense of the position was due largely to his +efforts. + + * * * * * + +_Miles, L. Wardlaw, Captain_, 308th Infantry, 77th Division, Princeton, +N. J.—Révillon, France, Sept. 14, 1918. Captain Miles volunteered to +lead his company in a hazardous attack on a commanding trench position +near the Aisne Canal, which other troops had previously attempted +to take without success. His company immediately met with intense +machine-gun fire, against which it had no artillery assistance, but +Captain Miles preceded the first wave and assisted in cutting a passage +through the enemy’s wire entanglements. In so doing he was wounded five +times by machine-gun bullets, both legs and one arm being fractured, +whereupon he ordered himself placed on a stretcher and had himself +carried forward to the enemy trench in order that he might encourage +and direct his company, which by this time had suffered numerous +casualties. Under the inspiration of this officer’s indomitable spirit +his men held the hostile position and consolidated the front line +after an action lasting two hours, at the conclusion of which Captain +Miles was carried to the aid station against his will. + + * * * * * + +_Peck, Archie A., Private_, Co. A, 307th Infantry, 77th Division, +Hornell, N. Y.—Forest d’Argonne, France, Oct. 6, 1918. While engaged +with two other soldiers on patrol duty he and his comrades were +subjected to the direct fire of an enemy machine gun, at which time +both his companions were wounded. Returning to his company, he obtained +another soldier to accompany him to assist in bringing in the wounded +men. His assistant was killed in the exploit, but he continued on, +twice returning, and safely bringing in both men, being under terrific +machine-gun fire during the entire journey. + + * * * * * + +_Smith, Frederick E., Lieutenant Colonel_, 308th Infantry, 77th +Division, Portland, Ore.—Binarville, France, Sept. 28, 1918. When +communication from the forward regimental post of command to the +battalion leading the advance had been interrupted temporarily by the +infiltration of small parties of the enemy armed with machine guns, +Lieut. Col. Smith personally led a party of two other officers and +ten soldiers, and went forward to re-establish runner posts and carry +ammunition to the front line. The guide became confused and the party +strayed to the left flank beyond the outposts of supporting troops, +suddenly coming under fire from a group of enemy machine guns only +fifty yards away. Shouting to the other members of his party to take +cover, this officer, in disregard of his own danger, drew his pistol +and opened fire on the German gun crew. About this time he fell, +severely wounded in the side; but, regaining his footing, he continued +to fire on the enemy until most of the men in his party were out of +danger. Refusing first-aid treatment, he then made his way in plain +view of the enemy to a hand grenade dump and returned under continued +heavy machine-gun fire for the purpose of making another attack on +the enemy emplacements. As he was attempting to ascertain the exact +location of the nearest nest, he again fell, mortally wounded. + + * * * * * + +_Whittlesey, Charles W., Lieutenant Colonel_, 308th Infantry, 77th +Division, Pittsfield, Mass.—Binarville, in the Forest d’ Argonne, +France, Oct. 2-7, 1918. Although cut off for five days from the +remainder of his division, Major Whittlesey maintained his position +which he had reached under orders received for an advance; and held his +command, consisting originally of 463 officers and men of the 308th +Infantry and of Company K of the 307th Infantry together, in the face +of superior numbers of the enemy during the five days. Major Whittlesey +and his command were thus cut off, and no rations or other supplies +reached him, in spite of determined efforts which were made by his +division. On the fourth day Major Whittlesey received from the enemy +a written proposition to surrender, which he treated with contempt, +although he was at that time out of rations and had suffered a loss +of about 50 percent. in killed and wounded of his command and was +surrounded by the enemy. + + +78TH DIVISION + +_Sawelson, William, Sergeant_, Co. —, 312th Infantry, 78th Division, +Harrison, N. J.—Grandpré, France, Oct. 26, 1918. Hearing a wounded +man in a shell hole some distance away calling for water, Sergeant +Sawelson, upon his own initiative, left shelter and crawled through +heavy machine-gun fire to where the man lay, giving him what water he +had in his canteen. He then went back to his own shell hole, obtained +more water and was returning to the wounded man when he was killed by a +machine-gun bullet. + + +82ND DIVISION + +_Pike, Emory J., Lieutenant Colonel_, Division Machine Gun Officer, +82nd Division, Des Moines, Iowa.—Vandières, France, Sept. 15, 1918. +Having gone forward to reconnoiter new machine-gun positions, Colonel +Pike offered his assistance in reorganizing advance infantry units, +which had become disorganized during a heavy artillery shelling. +He succeeded in locating only about twenty men, but with these he +advanced; and when later joined by several infantry platoons rendered +inestimable service in establishing outposts, encouraging all by +his cheeriness, in spite of the extreme danger of the situation. +When a shell had wounded one of the men in the outpost, Colonel Pike +immediately went to his aid and was severely wounded himself when +another shell burst in the same place. While waiting to be brought +to the rear, Colonel Pike continued in command, still retaining his +jovial manner of encouragement, directing the reorganization until +the position could be held. The entire operation was carried on under +terrific bombardment; and the example of courage and devotion to duty, +as set by Colonel Pike, established the highest standard of morale and +confidence to all under his charge. The wounds he received were the +cause of his death. + + * * * * * + +_York, Alvin C., Sergeant_, Co. G, 328th Infantry, 82nd Division, Pall +Mall, Tenn.—Châtel-Chéhéry, France, Oct. 8, 1918. After his platoon had +suffered heavy casualties and three other non-commissioned officers had +become casualties, Corporal York assumed command. Fearlessly leading +seven men, he charged, with great daring, a machine-gun nest which was +pouring deadly and incessant fire upon his platoon. In this heroic feat +the machine-gun nest was taken, together with four officers and 128 men +and several guns. + + +89TH DIVISION + +_Barger, Charles D., Private, first class_, Co. L, 354th Infantry, 89th +Division, Stotts City, Mo.—Bois de Bantheville, France, Oct. 31, 1918. +Learning that two daylight patrols had been caught out in No Man’s Land +and were unable to return, Private Barger and another stretcher bearer, +upon their own initiative, made two trips 500 yards beyond our lines, +under constant machine-gun fire, and rescued two wounded officers. + + * * * * * + +_Barkeley, David B., Private_, Co. A, 356 Infantry, 89th Division, San +Antonio, Texas.—Pouilly, France, Nov. 9, 1918. When information was +desired as to the enemy’s position on the opposite side of the River +Meuse, Private Barkeley, with another soldier, volunteered without +hesitation and swam the river to reconnoiter the exact location. +He succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, despite the evident +determination of the enemy to prevent a crossing. Having obtained his +information, he again entered the water for his return, but before his +goal was reached he was seized with cramps and drowned. + + * * * * * + +_Chiles, Marcellus H., Captain_, 356th Infantry, 89th Division, Denver, +Col.—Le Champy-Bas, France, Nov. 3, 1918. When his battalion, of which +he had just taken command, was halted by machine-gun fire from the +front and left flank he picked up the rifle of a dead soldier and, +calling on his men to follow, led the advance across a stream, waist +deep, in the face of the machine-gun fire. Upon reaching the opposite +bank this gallant officer was seriously wounded in the abdomen by a +sniper; but before permitting himself to be evacuated he made complete +arrangements for turning over his command to the next senior officer; +and under the inspiration of his fearless leadership his battalion +reached its objective. Captain Chiles died shortly after reaching the +hospital. + + * * * * * + +_Forrest, Arthur J., Sergeant_, Co. D, 354th Infantry, 89th Division, +Hannibal, Mo.—Rémonville, France, Nov. 1, 1918. When the advance of +his company was stopped by bursts of fire from a nest of six enemy +machine guns, he worked his way single-handed without being discovered +to a point within fifty yards of the machine-gun nest. Charging, +single-handed, he drove out the enemy in disorder, thereby protecting +the advance platoon from annihilating fire, and permitting the +resumption of the advance of his company. + + * * * * * + +_Funk, Jesse N., Private, first class_, 354th Infantry, 89th Division, +Calnan, Col.—Bois de Bantheville, France, Oct. 31, 1918. Learning that +two daylight patrols had been caught out in No Man’s Land and were +unable to return, Private Funk and another stretcher bearer, upon +their own initiative, made two trips 500 yards beyond our lines, under +constant machine-gun fire, and rescued two wounded officers. + + * * * * * + +_Furlong, Richard A., First Lieutenant_, 353rd Infantry, 89th Division, +Detroit, Mich.—Bantheville, France, Nov. 1, 1918. Immediately after the +opening of the attack in the Bois de Bantheville, when his company was +held up by severe machine-gun fire from the front, which killed his +company commander and several soldiers, Lieutenant Furlong moved out in +advance of the line with great courage and coolness, crossing an open +space several hundred yards wide. Taking up a position behind the line +of machine guns, he closed in on them, one at a time, killing a number +of the enemy with his rifle, putting four machine-gun nests out of +action, and driving twenty German prisoners into our lines. + + * * * * * + +_Hatler, M. Waldo, Sergeant_, Co. B, 356th Infantry, 89th Division, +Neosho, Mo.—Pouilly, France, Nov. 8, 1918. When volunteers were called +for to secure information as to the enemy’s position on the opposite +bank of the Meuse River, Sergeant Hatler was the first to offer his +services for this dangerous mission. Swimming across the river, he +succeeded in reaching the German lines after another soldier who had +started with him had been seized with cramps and drowned in midstream. +Alone he carefully and courageously reconnoitered the enemy’s +positions, which were held in force, and again successfully swam the +river, bringing back information of great value. + + * * * * * + +_Johnston, Harold I., Sergeant_, Co. A, 356th Infantry, 89th Division, +Denver, Col.—Pouilly, France, Nov. 9, 1918. When information was +desired as to the enemy’s position on the opposite side of the River +Meuse, Sergeant Johnston, with another soldier, volunteered without +hesitation and swam the river to reconnoiter the exact location of the +enemy. He succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, despite the evident +determination of the enemy to prevent a crossing. Having obtained +his information, he again entered the water for his return. This was +accomplished after a severe struggle, which so exhausted him that he +had to be assisted from the water, after which he rendered his report +of the exploit. + + * * * * * + +_Wickersham, J. Hunter, Second Lieutenant_, 353rd Infantry, 89th +Division, Denver, Col.—Limey, France, Sept. 12, 1918. Advancing with +his platoon during the St. Mihiel offensive, he was severely wounded +in four places by the bursting of a high-explosive shell. Before +receiving any aid for himself he dressed the wounds of his orderly who +was wounded at the same time. Then, although weakened by the loss of +blood, he ordered and accompanied the further advance of his platoon. +His right hand and arm being disabled by wounds, he continued to fire +his revolver with his left hand, until, exhausted by loss of blood, he +fell and died from his wounds before aid could be administered. + + +91ST DIVISION + +_Katz, Philip C., Sergeant_, Co. C, 363rd Infantry, 91st Division, +San Francisco, Cal.—Eclis-fontaine, France, Sept. 26, 1918. After his +company had withdrawn for a distance of 200 yards on a line with the +units on its flanks, Sergeant Katz learned that one of his comrades had +been left wounded in an exposed position at the point from which the +withdrawal had taken place. Voluntarily crossing an area swept by heavy +machine-gun fire, he advanced to where the wounded soldier lay and +carried him to a place of safety. + + * * * * * + +_Miller, Oscar F., Major_, 361st Infantry, 91st Division, Los Angeles, +Cal.—Gesnes, France, Sept. 28, 1918. After two days of intense physical +and mental strain, during which Major Miller had led his battalion +in the front line of the advance through the forest of Argonne, the +enemy was met in a prepared position south of Gesnes. Though almost +exhausted, he energetically reorganized his battalion and ordered an +attack. Upon reaching open ground, the advancing line began to waver +in the face of machine-gun fire from the front and flanks, and direct +artillery fire. Personally leading his command group forward between +his front line companies, Major Miller inspired his men by his personal +courage; and they again pressed on toward the hostile position. As +this officer led the renewed attack he was shot in the right leg, but +he nevertheless staggered forward at the head of his command. Soon +afterward he was again shot in the right arm, but he continued the +charge, personally cheering his troops on through the heavy machine-gun +fire. Just before the objective was reached he received a wound in the +abdomen which forced him to the ground, but he continued to urge his +men on, telling them to push on to the next ridge and leave him where +he lay. He died from his wounds a few days later. + + * * * * * + +_Seibert, Lloyd M., Sergeant_, Co. F., 364th Infantry, 91st Division, +Salinas, Cal.—Epinonville, France, Sept. 26, 1918. Suffering from +illness, Sergeant Seibert remained with his platoon and led his +men with the highest courage and leadership under heavy shell and +machine-gun fire. With two other soldiers he charged a machine-gun +emplacement in advance of their company, he himself killing one of the +enemy with a shotgun and captured two others. In this encounter he was +wounded, but he nevertheless continued in action; and when a withdrawal +was ordered he returned with the last unit, assisting a wounded +comrade. Later in the evening he volunteered and carried in wounded +until he fainted from exhaustion. + + * * * * * + +_West, Chester H., First Sergeant_, Co. D, 363rd Infantry, 91st +Division, Idaho, Falls, Idaho.—Bois de Cheppy, France, Sept. 26, 1918. +While making his way through a thick fog with his automatic-rifle +section, his advance was halted by direct and unusual machine-gun +fire from two guns. Without aid he at once dashed through the fire, +and attacking the nest killed two of the gunners, one of whom was an +officer. This prompt and decisive hand-to-hand encounter on his part +enabled his company to advance further without the loss of a man. + + +93RD DIVISION + +_Robb, George S., First Lieutenant_, 369th Infantry, 93rd Division, +Saline, Kan.—Séchault, France, Sept 29-30, 1918. While leading his +platoon in the assault on Séchault, Lieutenant Robb was severely +wounded by machine-gun fire; but rather than go to the rear for proper +treatment he remained with his platoon until ordered to the dressing +station by his commanding officer. Returning within forty-five minutes, +he remained on duty throughout the entire night, inspecting his lines +and establishing outposts. Early the next morning he was again wounded, +once again displaying his remarkable devotion to duty by remaining in +command of his platoon. Later the same day a bursting shell added two +more wounds, the same shell killing his commanding officer and two +officers of his company. He then assumed command of the company and +organized its position in the trenches. Displaying wonderful courage +and tenacity at the critical times, he was the only officer of his +battalion who advanced beyond the town; and by clearing machine-gun +and sniping posts, contributed largely to the aid of his battalion in +holding their objective. His example of bravery and fortitude and his +eagerness to continue with his mission despite severe wounds set before +the enlisted men of his command a most wonderful standard of morale and +self-sacrifice. + + +TANK CORPS + +_Call, Donald M., Second Lieutenant_, Tank Corps, Larchmont, N. +Y.—Varennes, France, Sept. 26, 1918. During an operation against enemy +machine-gun nests west of Varennes, Lieutenant Call, then Corporal, was +in a tank with an officer, when half of the turret was knocked off by a +direct artillery hit. Choked by gas from the high-explosive shell, he +left the tank and took cover in a shell hole thirty yards away. Seeing +that the officer did not follow, and thinking that he might be alive, +Corporal Call returned to the tank under intense machine-gun and shell +fire and carried the officer over a mile under machine-gun and sniper +fire to safety. + + * * * * * + +_Roberts, Garold W., Corporal_, Tank Corps, San Francisco, +Cal.—Montrebeau Woods, France, Oct. 4, 1918. Corporal Roberts, a tank +driver, was moving his tank into a clump of bushes to afford protection +to another tank which had become disabled. The tank slid into a +shell hole ten feet deep and filled with water, and was immediately +submerged. Knowing that only one of the two men in the tank could +escape, Corporal Roberts said to the gunner, “Well, only one of us can +get out, and out you go.” Whereupon he pushed his companion through the +back door of the tank and was himself drowned. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + pg 37 Changed: They let go their ammuntion belts + to: They let go their ammunition belts + + pg 50 Changed: Colonel Montgomery commandered General O’Ryan’s + racing car + to: Colonel Montgomery commandeered General O’Ryan’s + racing car + + pg 64 Changed: generally understod among us brothers + to: generally understood among us brothers + + pg 75 Changed: The comandming officer of the 32nd + to: The commanding officer of the 32nd + + pg 78 Changed: into the French capital were greeted with enthsuiasm + to: into the French capital were greeted with enthusiasm + + pg 82 Changed: Had is done what had been intended + to: Had it done what had been intended + + pg 106 Changed: a fierce bombardment from the enemy’s adtillery + to: a fierce bombardment from the enemy’s artillery + + pg 127 Changed: I could not restrtain myself any longer + to: I could not restrain myself any longer + + pg 277 Changed: picked up 156 offcers and men + to: picked up 156 officers and men + + pg 309 Changed: Involntarily, without the smallest intention of + quitting + to: Involuntarily, without the smallest intention of + quitting + + pg 345 Changed: (an offishoot of the National German-American + Alliance) + to: (an offshoot of the National German-American + Alliance) + + pg 383 Changed: awaited the second shock we knew would some + to: awaited the second shock we knew would come + + pg 390 Changed: further established liason with two French batteries + to: further established liaison with two French batteries + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75487 *** |