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Title: The Story of the Great War, Volume VI (of VIII)
History of the European War from Official Sources
Author: Various
Editor: Francis J. Reynolds
Allen L. Churchill
Francis T. Miller
Release Date: July 12, 2009 [EBook #29385]
Language: English
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THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR
History of the European War from Official Sources
Complete Historical Records of Events to Date,
Illustrated with Drawings, Maps, and Photographs
Prefaced by
What the War Means to America
Major General Leonard Wood, U.S.A.
Naval Lessons of the War
Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight, U.S.N.
The World's War
Frederick Palmer
Theatres of the War's Campaigns
Frank H. Simonds
The War Correspondent
Arthur Ruhl
Edited by
Francis J. Reynolds
Former Reference Librarian of Congress
Allen L. Churchill
Associate Editor, The New International Encyclopedia
Francis Trevelyan Miller
Editor in Chieft, Photographic History of the Civil War
P. F. Collier & Son Company
New York
[Illustration: _Major General John J. Pershing, appointed to organize
and command the American forces in France, is shown landing in France
on June 12, 1917. French officers and officials of high rank are there
to welcome him. His arrival is recognized as an epoch-making date in
the war, for it foreshadows the creation of a great American Army in
France._]
THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR
SOMME · RUSSIAN DRIVE
FALL OF GORITZ · RUMANIA
GERMAN RETREAT · VIMY
REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA
UNITED STATES AT WAR
VOLUME VI
P · F · Collier & Son · New York
Copyright 1916
By P. F. Collier & Son
CONTENTS
PART I.--WESTERN FRONT--SOMME AND VERDUN
CHAPTER Page
I. French and British Advances 9
II. Further Successes--French Capture Maurepas 13
III. German Counterattacks 16
IV. Operations at Verdun--British Victories in the Somme 19
V. The "Tanks"--British Capture Martinpuich 21
VI. Capture of Combles--Air Raids 25
VII. British Capture Eaucourt L'Abbaye-Regina Trench 28
VIII. Continued Allied Advance 31
IX. French Retake Douaumont 34
X. Germans Lose Fort Vaux--French Take Saillisel 37
XI. British Successes in the Ancre 41
XII. Operations on the French Front--Further Fighting in
the Ancre 47
XIII. Weather Conditions--Movements Around Loos 51
XIV. French Win at Verdun 53
XV. Canadians at Arras--Nivelle in Command 55
XVI. German Attacks at Verdun--Result of Six Months' Fighting 58
XVII. German Attack on Hill 304--British Surprise Attack 61
PART II.--EASTERN FRONT
XVIII. The New Drive Against Lemberg 70
XIX. The Battle on the Stokhod River 76
XX. Renewed Drive Against Lemberg 81
XXI. The Fighting from Riga to Lutsk 86
XXII. Fighting in the Carpathians 90
XXIII. Winter at the Eastern Front 93
PART III.--THE BALKANS
XXIV. Rumania's Military Strength 95
XXV. Hostilities Begin 96
XXVI. Bulgaria Attacks 98
XXVII. The Germans Arrive 103
XXVIII. The Rumanian Raid Across the Danube 106
XXIX. Mackensen Pressed Back 111
XXX. The Rumanians Pressed Back 113
XXXI. The Battle of the River Argechu 117
XXXII. Bucharest Falls 119
XXXIII. Sarrail's Offensive 124
XXXIV. Unrest in Greece 126
XXXV. A Greek Army Surrenders to Germany 129
XXXVI. The Serbians Advance 132
XXXVII. The Greeks on the Firing Line 134
XXXVIII. Seizure of the Greek Fleet 136
XXXIX. The Bulgarians Driven Back 138
XL. Monastir Falls 140
XLI. Greek Fights Greek 143
XLII. Fighting in the Streets of Athens 145
XLIII. The Serbians Checked 148
PART IV.--AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT
XLIV. The Fall of Goritz 149
XLV. Fall and Winter on the Austro-Italian Front 153
XLVI. Fighting on Mountain Peaks 159
PART V.--WAR IN THE AIR AND ON THE SEA
XLVII. Aeroplane Warfare 168
XLVIII. Zeppelin Raids 176
XLIX. Submarine Warfare 182
PART VI.--THE UNITED STATES AND THE BELLIGERENTS
L. The Old Menace 189
LI. The U-53's Exploits 194
LII. Gathering Clouds 200
LIII. Rupture With Germany 205
LIV. Nothing Settled 212
PART VII.--WESTERN FRONT
LV. The German Retreat on the Ancre 217
LVI. The German Retreat Continues--French Recover 120 Towns 227
LVII. The British Troops Capture Vimy Ridge and Monchy--French
Victories on the Aisne 239
LVIII. French Victories in Champagne--The British Capture
Bullecourt 252
LIX. The Battle of Messines Ridge--British Smash the
German Salient South of Ypres 263
LX. The Germans Defeat British on Belgian Coast--Intense
Fighting in the Champagne and at Verdun 276
PART VIII.--THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY
LXI. The Interim 291
LXII. Berlin's Tactics 297
LXIII. Armed Neutrality 304
LXIV. Germany's Bid to Mexico 312
LXV. A State of War 317
LXVI. Building the War Machine 328
LXVII. Men and Money in Millions 344
LXVIII. Envoys from America's Allies 351
LXIX. In It at Last 356
PART IX.--THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
LXX. Foreshadowing Revolution 363
LXXI. The Rise of Nihilism 365
LXXII. Revolutionary Doctrines 367
LXXIII. Russian War Spirit Aroused 372
LXXIV. Rasputin, the Evil Spirit of Russia 374
LXXV. Treachery of the Autocracy 378
LXXVI. Party Intrigues 380
LXXVII. The Work of Traitors 383
LXXVIII. Threatening of the Storm 386
LXXIX. Revolution 389
LXXX. The Culmination 392
LXXXI. The New Government 395
LXXXII. The Czar Abdicates 400
LXXXIII. First Acts of the New Régime 404
LXXXIV. Socialism Supreme 406
LXXXV. Policies Proclaimed 409
LXXXVI. Kerensky Saves Russia from Herself 412
LXXXVII. The American Commissions 416
PART X.--EASTERN FRONT
LXXXVIII. The End of Winter at the Eastern Front 421
LXXXIX. Effects of the Russian Revolution 424
XC. The Beginning of Russian Rehabilitation 428
XCI. The Russian July Offensive 433
XCII. The Capture of Halicz and Kalusz 436
XCIII. The Collapse of the Russian Offensive 440
XCIV. The Russian Rout in Galicia and the Bukowina 445
PART XI.--AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT
XCV. Stalemate on the Italian Fronts 452
XCVI. Spring on the Austro-Italian Front 457
XCVII. The Italian Drive Against Trieste 462
XCVIII. The Height of the Italian Offensive 468
PART XII.--WAR ON THE SEA
XCIX. Submarine Warfare 475
C. Naval Operations 480
PART XIII.--WAR IN THE AIR
CI. Aerial Warfare 485
CII. Air Raids 492
INDEX 495
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
General Pershing Landing at Boulogne, France _Frontispiece_
Opposite Page
Sir Douglas Haig and Marshal Joffre 30
Notice Posted in French Munitions Works 62
General von Mackensen in Rumania 110
British Armored Motor Car, or "Tank" 222
Curtain or Barrage Fire 286
Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States 302
American Naval Gunners Fighting Submarines 350
A. F. Kerensky Addressing Russian Troops 430
LIST OF MAPS
Page
Battle Lines on All Fronts, August 1, 1917
(_Colored Map_) _Front Insert_
Verdun Front, February 1, 1917 38
Allies' Gain at the Somme, up to February, 1917 66
Attack in the Riga Sector 87
Teutonic Invasion of Rumania 104
New German Submarine War Zone of February 1, 1917 207
The Entire Western Front, August 1, 1917 220
The German Retreat on the Western Front, March 18, 1917 233
Taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadians, April 9 and 10, 1917 240
The French Offensive on the Craonne Plateau, Champagne 257
The Taking of Messines Ridge, June 7, 1917 266
The Somme Battle Front, August 1, 1917 283
The Russian Offensive and Retreat in Galicia 446
The Entire Eastern Battle Front, August 1, 1917 450
PART I--WESTERN FRONT--SOMME AND VERDUN
CHAPTER I
FRENCH AND BRITISH ADVANCES
The first month of the Allied offensive on the Somme front closed
quietly. The British and French forces had every reason to feel
encouraged over their successes. In the two thrusts since July 1,
1916, they had won from the Germans nearly twenty-four square miles of
territory. Considering the extent to which every fraction of a mile
was fortified and defended, and the thoroughness of the German
preparations to make the district impregnable, the Allied gains were
important. As a British officer said at the time, it was like digging
badgers out of holes--with the proviso that every badger had machine
guns and rifles at the hole's mouth, while the approach to each was
swept by the fire from a dozen neighboring earthworks.
It was estimated that in the first month of the Allied offensive on
the Somme the German casualties amounted to about 200,000 men, while
the Anglo-French forces lost less than a fourth of that number. The
Allies claimed to have captured about 13,000 prisoners and between
sixty and seventy field guns, exclusive of machine guns and the
smaller artillery.
With the capture of Pozières it might be said that the second phase of
the Battle of the Somme was concluded. The Allied forces were well
established on the line to which the second main "push" which began
July 14, 1916, was directed.
During the first three days of August, 1916, comparative quiet
prevailed along the Somme front, and no important offensive was
attempted by either side. Minor fighting continued, however, every
day, and during the nights the English positions were heavily
bombarded by the German guns.
On the night of August 4, 1916, the British assumed the offensive,
advancing from Pozières on a front of 2,000 yards. The attack, which
seems to have taken the Germans by surprise, was entirely successful,
as the British troops gained 1,000 yards of the German second line and
captured over 400 prisoners. This second line consisted of two
strongly fortified trenches running parallel, which were backed by a
network of supporting and intermediate trenches, all strongly
constructed, with deep dugouts and cunningly devised machinery of
defense. When the Australians made the thrust forward from Pozières
while the British cooperated on the left over the ground to the east
of the village, they found when going over the enemy trenches that in
many places the British guns had wrecked and almost obliterated the
German second lines. After the British advance the Germans launched
two spirited counterattacks, which were easily repulsed by the British
artillery. The British casualties were unimportant, but the troops
suffered intensely from the heat of the evening and from the gas masks
that they were forced to wear, as previous to the attack the Germans
had bombarded with gas shells.
Minor fighting and artillery duels continued intermittently until the
morning of August 6, 1916, when the Germans delivered two fierce
attacks on the ground gained by the British east of Pozières. The
Germans, employing liquid fire in one attack, forced the British back
from one of the trenches they had captured on August 4, 1916, but part
of this was later regained. The following day the Germans continued
their attacks north and northeast of Pozières on the new British
lines. After heavy bombardment of the British positions, the Germans
penetrated their trenches, but were forced out again, having suffered
some casualties and leaving a number of prisoners in British hands. In
front of Souchez the Germans exploded a mine, and here some of their
troops succeeded in entering the English trenches over the crater,
but were quickly bombed out again.
On the same date late in the afternoon the French forces to the north
of the Somme carried out a well-planned attack which resulted in the
capture of a line of German trenches between the Hem Wood and the
river. The French took 120 prisoners and a number of machine guns.
On August 8, 1916, the British positions north and east of Pozières
were heavily bombarded by German artillery. In the evening of the same
date British troops pushing forward engaged the enemy near the station
of Guillemont. A bomb attack made by the Germans on the eastern
portion of the Leipzig salient south of Thiepval was driven back with
some casualties. Two British raiding parties about the same time
succeeded in entering the German lines north of Roclincourt and blew
up some dugouts. On this date a squadron of ten German aeroplanes
endeavored to cross the British lines on a bombing expedition, but
were driven off by four British offensive patrols. Two of the German
aeroplanes were forced to descend behind their own lines, while the
others were scattered and did not return to attack. In the evening of
the same day the Germans made four attacks on the British lines to the
northwest of Pozières, and in one were successful in occupying a
portion of a British trench.
During this day the French north of the Somme, while the British were
fighting at Guillemont, advanced east of Hill 139, north of
Hardecourt, and took forty prisoners. The Germans, making two attempts
to recapture the trenches won from them by the French on the previous
day, were beaten back, leaving a great number of dead on the field. In
the evening French troops captured a small wood and a heavily
fortified trench to the north of the Hem Wood, making their gains for
the two days, an entire line of German trenches on a front of three
and three-quarter miles and a depth of from 330 to 350 yards.
In the battered and shell-pitted region to the northwest of Pozières
fighting between the British and German troops continued unceasingly.
The slight gains made by the British troops were won only by the
greatest risk and daring, for the whole plateau between Thiepval and
Pozières (about 3,000 yards) lay open to the German fire from the
former place. A great part of it could be reached by machine guns,
while German batteries at Courcelette and Grandcourt commanded the
ground at close range. A network of German trenches, well planned,
stretched in almost every direction. Flares and shell fire made the
region as bright as day during the night, and it was only by rushing a
trench from saps made within a few feet of the objectives or by
breaking into a trench and bombing along it that the British were able
to achieve any small gains. And gains were made on this terrible
terrain daily, though only a few yards might be won, and a dozen or
more prisoners captured.
The British attack on the Germans around Guillemont, which took place
as previously noted on August 8, 1916, was at first successful. A
section of the troops carried some trenches, and then pushing on
gained a useful piece of ground south of Guillemont with few
casualties. Another (the left) section of British troops were unable
to proceed farther on account of the darkness. Another section, owing
to miscalculation, swept through the German trenches straight into the
village of Guillemont, where they lost their direction amid the ruins
and confusion. Working their way through the shattered streets they
proceeded to dig themselves in when they had reached the far northeast
corner of the place. With enemies all around them, and the breadth of
the ruined village between them and their friends, the adventure could
have but one conclusion. A few of the men succeeded in getting back to
the British lines, but the remainder fell into the hands of the
enemy.
CHAPTER II
FURTHER SUCCESSES--FRENCH CAPTURE MAUREPAS
In the morning of August 11, 1916, after the usual preparatory
bombardment, French troops carried the whole of the third German
position north of the Somme from the river northeast of
Hardecourt--that is to say, on a front of about four miles and to an
average depth of about a mile. This third German position consisted of
three, and in some places of four, lines of trenches strongly defended
and with the usual trench blockhouses. The French attacked in force
along the whole front, and in eighty minutes, according to the
description given in French newspapers, carried the German position at
a small cost in casualties compared with results. The Germans fought
bravely and stubbornly, but the French artillery did such effective
work before the advance attack that in the hand-to-hand conflicts that
followed the French troops readily overcame the enemy. A Bavarian
battalion which garrisoned a blockhouse on Hill 109 offered such a
determined resistance that when the victorious French finally entered
the work they found only 200 of the garrison alive.
In the afternoon of the same day, August 11, 1916, French forces north
of the Somme took several German trenches by assault and established
their new line on the saddle to the north of Maurepas and along the
road leading from the village to Hem. A strongly fortified quarry to
the north of Hem Wood and two small woods were also occupied by the
French troops. During the course of the action in this district they
took 150 unwounded prisoners and ten machine guns.
British air squadrons numbering sixty-eight machines on August 12,
1916, bombed airship sheds at Brussels and Namur, and railway sidings
and stations at Mons, Namur, Busigny, and Courtrai. Of the British
machines engaged in these attacks, all but two returned safely. In
the evening of the same day the British forces attacked the third
German position which extended from the east of Hardecourt to the
Somme east of Buscourt. On this front of about four miles the British
infantry carried the trench and works of the Germans to a depth of
from 660 to 1,100 yards. To the northwest of Pozières the British
gained 300 to 400 yards on a front of a mile, and also captured
trenches on the plateau northwest of Bazentin-le-Petit.
The French continued to make appreciable gains south of the Somme,
carrying portions of trenches and taking some prisoners. The new
British front to the west of Pozières was repeatedly attacked and
bombarded by the Germans, and on August 15, 1916, they succeeded in
recapturing trenches they had lost two days before. But they were
unable to hold their gains for more than a day, when the British drove
them out and consolidated the position.
During the afternoon and evening of August 16, 1916, German and French
to the north and south of the Somme engaged in heavy bombardments. At
Verdun the German lines were forced back close to Fleury, the French
taking enemy trenches and smashing a counterattack with their
artillery.
On the afternoon of August 17, 1916, there was hard fighting along the
whole Somme front from Pozières to the river. The British gained
ground toward Ginchy and Guillemont and took over 200 prisoners,
including some officers. During the night the Germans delivered
repeated attacks against the positions the British had captured, but
only in one instance did they succeed in winning back a little ground.
On August 18, 1916, the British continued to add to their gains,
advancing on a front of more than two miles for a distance of between
200 and 600 yards. As a result of these operations carried out along
the British front from Thiepval to their right, south of Guillemont, a
distance of eleven miles, was the gain of the ridge southeast of
Thiepval commanding the village and northern slopes of the high ground
north of Pozières. The British also held the edge of High Wood and
half a mile of captured German trenches to the west of the wood.
Advances were also made to the outskirts of the village of
Guillemont, where the British occupied the railroad station and
quarry, both of some considerable military importance. As a result of
these operations the British captured sixteen officers and 780 of
other ranks.
German guns continued to shell the British positions throughout the
day and evening of August 18, 1916, but no infantry attacks were
attempted. On the following day after a heavy bombardment the Germans
made three vigorous bombing attacks on the British positions at High
Wood, all of which were repulsed, though the Germans succeeded in some
instances in gaining a foothold for a time in the British trenches. In
the aggregate the British successes in this region had in a week
resulted in the capture of trenches which, if put end to end, would
reach for a number of miles.
On August 24, 1916, the French completed the capture of Maurepas, for
which they had been battling for nearly two weeks, after seizing the
trenches to the south of the village. Maurepas was of great military
importance, for, with Guillemont on the British front, it formed
advanced works of the stronghold of Combles. The attack was launched
at five in the evening on a front of a mile and a quarter from north
of Hardecourt to southeast of Maurepas. The French troops captured the
German portion of Maurepas at the first dash, and a little later the
strong intrenchments made by the Germans to cover the Maurepas-Combles
road were in their possession. The victory was won over some of
Germany's best troops, the Fifth Bavarian Reserve Division and the
First Division of the Prussian Guard under Prince Eitel Frederick.
On the same day, August 24, 1916, the British troops on the north of
the Somme attacked the German positions in the Maurepas region and
carried with a rush that part of the village still held by the Germans
and the adjoining trenches, taking 600 prisoners and eighteen guns.
South of the village the Germans made a violent attack on the British
position at Hill 121, but owing to the concentrated fire of artillery
which mowed them down they were unable to reach the British lines at
any point.
CHAPTER III
GERMAN COUNTERATTACKS
Throughout the week the Germans attempted repeatedly to retake the
positions that had been won from them by the French and British
troops. One of the most desperate attacks made was against the British
positions between the quarry and Guillemont. After a heavy preparatory
bombardment the Germans launched an attack that took them to the edge
of the British trenches, where a desperate hand-to-hand struggle was
made in which the Germans fought with stubbornness and determination,
but were finally repulsed with heavy losses.
The new French positions gained at Maurepas were violently attacked on
August 26, 1916, but the French artillery wrought terrible havoc among
the German troops, and they withdrew in disorder. In two days the
French took over 350 prisoners in this sector.
On the evening of August 26, 1916, the British captured several
hundred yards of German trenches north of Bazentin-le-Petit and pushed
forward some distance north of Ginchy.
After gaining a trench of 470 yards south of Thiepval and taking over
200 prisoners, the British on August 24, 1916, joined up with the
French forces on the right, where important progress was made around
Maurepas. Continued hard fighting on the eastern and northern edges of
the Delville Wood advanced the British lines several hundred yards on
each side of the Longueville-Flers road. These operations resulted in
the British capturing eight officers and about 200 of other ranks.
West of Ginchy two German companies attacked the British trenches and
were driven off by machine-gun fire. Bombardment of British positions
continued during the night. Two aeroplane raids carried out by the
British airmen damaged trains on the German line of communications.
Important military points were also bombed with some success, but in
encounters with German aircraft the British lost one machine.
The importance of the Thiepval sector to the Germans was demonstrated
in their constant efforts to regain the positions there that had been
captured by the British. A great number of guns were concentrated by
the Germans in this sector. The bombardment which preceded the attack
was of unusual violence, but owing to the intrepid spirit of the men
from Wiltshire and Worcestershire, who defended the positions, the
Germans were unable to reach the trenches and withdrew in disorder.
According to an eyewitness of this attack, the first wave of German
soldiers advancing to attack was thrown in disorder by the intense
gunfire from the British positions. A second wave of men
started--swept a little farther over the shell-torn terrain than the
others had done, then faltered, broke apart, and fell back, having
failed to get through the British artillery fire or even to approach
their trenches.
In the area around Mouquet Farm and in the trenches south of Thiepval
the British captured during the day one German officer and sixty-six
of other ranks. British aircraft displayed great activity in this
sector, dropping five tons of bombs on points of military importance
behind the enemy lines. One hostile machine was brought down, while
two British machines failed to return. South of the Ancre the British
made slight advances, capturing four German officers and fifty-five of
other ranks.
A great battle developed north of the Somme on September 2, 1916, in
which the British and French forces took thousands of prisoners and
captured important territory. After intense artillery preparation the
French infantry cooperating with British troops attacked the German
positions on a front of about three and three-quarter miles between
the region north of Maurepas and the river. The strong German forces
engaged were unable to resist the onslaught of the Allied troops. The
villages of Forest, east of Maurepas, and Cléry-sur-Somme were
captured, as well as all the German trenches along the route from
Forest to Combles as far as the outskirts of the last place. The
Germans launched with heavy forces a counterattack against the
conquered positions, but were driven back by the heavy fire of the
French batteries. The French official reports gave the number of
unwounded prisoners captured in this battle as exceeding 2,000, and
the booty taken included twelve guns and fifty machine guns. German
aircraft which engaged British flyers during the progress of the
battle were driven off with a loss of three machines destroyed and
four badly injured. The British lost three.
Fighting on the Somme and Ancre was continued with increased severity
on September 3, 1916. The Germans stubbornly contested the British
advance, but were unable to gain any material advantage except at
Ginchy, occupied by the British, who were driven out of all but a
small portion of the place. As an offset to this loss the British
troops captured the strongly fortified village of Guillemont and the
German defenses on a front of one and two-third miles to an average
depth of about 800 yards. The British took during this battle over 800
prisoners.
The new French positions to the north of Combles were violently
attacked on this same date, but the German effort was broken by the
machine-gun and artillery barrage. The French captured over 500
prisoners and ten machine guns.
South of the Somme, on a front of about twelve miles, the French
troops attacked enemy organizations from Barleux to the region south
of Chaulnes and were entirely successful in gaining their objectives.
Southwest of Barleux the French infantry in a single push carried
three successive German lines and advanced over a mile, which brought
them to the outskirts of Berny and Deniécourt. To the south, by a
well-planned enveloping movement, the village of Soyécourt was
carried, and here a whole Prussian battalion was cut off and
surrendered after a short resistance. South of Vermandovillers, where
the Germans occupied a portion of the village, the French launched an
attack on the German front in the afternoon, but it was night before
they could break through north of Chilly. The French pushed on through
the breach, forcing the Germans to retire to their second line,
leaving 1,200 prisoners, guns and machine guns in French hands.
Desperate attempts were made by the German General von Hein to recover
the lost ground. Before the French had time to consolidate their
positions he launched six counterattacks, all of which failed under
the French barrage of fire. On September 4, 1916, the French made
2,700 prisoners between Barleux and Chilly.
CHAPTER IV
OPERATIONS AT VERDUN--BRITISH VICTORIES IN THE SOMME
The intense activity of the Allied forces in the Somme region in
August and during the first week in September, 1916, exceeded in
interest the happenings around Verdun. While only one building in the
town remained uninjured by the shells which the Germans poured into it
daily, the French, to whom the initiative had passed, continued to
harry the enemy daily along the Thiaumont-Vaux front. Their "nibbling"
process went on unceasingly, seizing some hundred yards of trenches,
or taking batches of 200 or 300 prisoners with such frequency as to
produce a decidedly depressing effect on the German commanders and on
their troops, who in this sector represented the pick of the German
army.
On September 6, 1916, a signal success was won by the French at Verdun
when they carried the German line on the Vaux-Chapître Wood-Le Chenois
front to a length of 1,000 yards, taking 250 prisoners and ten guns.
In the second week of September, 1916, the French and British forces
made important gains in the Somme region. On September 9, 1916,
British forces advancing on a front of 6,000 yards occupied Falfemont
Farm, Leuze Wood, Guillemont, and Ginchy, the area gained being more
than four square miles. The bravery displayed by the Irish troops from
Connaught, Leinster, and Munster in connection with the capture of
Guillemont was especially commended by headquarters. The same troops
fought with distinction in the capture of Ginchy, a village only in
name, for shell fire had reduced it to mere heaps of rubble and dust.
In an assault on the French front September 9, 1916, between
Belloy-en-Santerre and Barleux the Germans by using jets of flame
obtained a temporary footing in the French trenches, but were driven
out by a vigorous counterattack with the loss of four machine guns. On
the night of September 11, 1916, French forces north of the Somme took
the offensive and drove a broad wedge right in between the powerfully
defended German positions of Combles on the north and Péronne to the
south. Continuing their advance on the following day, in less than
half an hour they carried the German first line and, taking Hill 145
by the way, pressed on to the Bapaume road south of Rancourt, and held
it as far south as Bouchavesnes village which was captured by a
brilliant dash early in the evening. On September 13, 1916, the French
again advanced, carrying several positions and occupying in this
region the German third line. They also captured a trench system south
of Combles. In the two days' fighting 2,300 German prisoners were
captured.
On the night of Thursday, September 13, 1916, the British forces won
German trenches to the southeast of Thiepval and a heavily fortified
place known as Wunderwerk. This was the prelude to a series of
brilliant victories won by the British troops which had not been
surpassed during the entire fighting in the Somme area. At 6 a. m. on
September 15, 1916, the British attacked on a front of about six
miles, extending from Bouleaux Wood east of Guillemont to the north of
the Albert-Bapaume road. A tremendous bombardment of the enemy
positions continued for twenty minutes before the infantry advanced to
attack. The Germans were believed to have 1,000 guns concentrated in
this sector which had been shelling the British positions for several
days, but during this battle for some reason, perhaps lack of
ammunition, they played an unimportant part, and were far outclassed
by the British artillery.
CHAPTER V
THE "TANKS"--BRITISH CAPTURE MARTINPUICH
It was in this battle that the British for the first time introduced a
new type of armored cars which proved veritable fortresses on wheels,
and came to be popularly known as "tanks." These destructive engines
of warfare were from twenty to forty feet long and were painted a dull
drab, or some unassuming color calculated to blend with the tones of
the landscape. In a dim light they suggested the giant slugs of a
prehistoric age. Sliding along the ground on caterpillar wheels, with
armored cheeks on each side of the head, above which guns stuck out
like the stalked eyes of land crabs, their first appearance in this
sector may well have created consternation among the German troops who
saw them for the first time. There was something uncanny about these
steel-scaled monsters that slid over the ground as it were on their
stomachs, balanced by a flimsy tail supported on two wheels. Weighing
many tons, when the "tank" came to an obstacle, such as a house or
wall, it rammed the obstruction with its full weight, and then
climbing over the débris lumbered on its way. Through vast craters and
muddy shell holes and over trenches the monsters waddled along,
scattering death and destruction as they advanced. The German
soldiers, after the first consternation caused by the appearance of
these war engines in the field, bravely attacked them; swarming over
the sides of the "tanks" and seeking to batter in the steel scales and
armored plates and to silence the guns that spouted fire from the
head, but the daring efforts were useless and caused many casualties.
Machine-gun fire was also ineffectual. They could only be disabled by
a direct hit from a large gun. It is said that the Germans voiced
their disgust for this kind of warfare, and protested that the British
were not fighting fair!
At first the Germans thought they could rush a "tank" as they would a
fort, and lost heavily in such futile attacks; they could make no
impression on the steel "hide" of the monsters. Once astride a trench,
the guns of the tank could rake right and left, mowing down the
defenders whose volleys pattered harmlessly on the steel plates of the
war engine.
A young Australian who served in one of these new war machines
described "tanksickness" as being as bad as seasickness until you
became accustomed to the constant plunges and lurchings as the "tank"
encountered obstacles on its way. The Australian noted down his
impressions while cruising around the German lines in a "tank." A few
quotations from his diary may be of interest:
"Peppering begun at once. Thought old thing was going to be drowned in
a shower of bullets. Germans dashed up from all sides. We fired at
them point-blank. The survivors had another try. More of them went
down.... A rain of bullets resumed. It was like as if hundreds of
rivets were being hammered into the hide of the 'tank.' We rushed
through.... Got right across a trench. Made the sparks fly. Went along
parapet, routing out Germans everywhere. Tried to run, but couldn't
keep it up under our fire. Threw up the sponge and surrendered in
batches."
"One can hardly imagine any spectacle more terrifying," said an
eyewitness, "than these monsters must have presented to German eyes
when, after a hurricane bombardment, through the smoke and dust of
bursting shells, the great shapes came lumbering forward in the gray
light of dawn. The enemy evidently had no hint of what they were. They
emptied their rifles at them, and the things came rolling on. They
turned on their machine guns, and the bullets only struck sparks from
the great beasts' awful sides. In several places they sat themselves
complacently astride of the trench, and swept it in both directions
and all the ground beyond with their machine guns. Against strong
points they were invaluable, because they could thrust themselves,
secure in the toughness of their hide, in close quarters where
unprotected infantry could never get. In woods they trampled their way
through the undergrowth and climbed over or broke down barricades,
contemptuous of the machine guns and rifle fire which made the
approach of unarmored men impossible."
During this advance the British penetrated the third German line,
which was shattered at all points. Three new villages--Flers,
Martinpuich, and Courcelette--fell into British hands and more than
twenty miles of German trenches were taken. Over 100 officers and
4,000 other ranks were captured by the British.
Martinpuich, which was known to be strongly fortified by the Germans,
was the first trench to be carried by the British troops almost
without a check. Beyond this was a series of other trenches and
fortified positions in shell holes and the like. And here the "tanks"
did effective service, their appearance creating consternation among
the German troops, whose gunfire was powerless to injure or to impede
the triumphal progress of these ungainly forts on wheels. In one
instance a German battalion commander surrendered to a "tank" and was
taken on board as a passenger. Up to the outskirts of Martinpuich
there was stiff fighting and the village itself bristled with machine
guns. The Germans stubbornly and bravely contested the British advance
through the ruins. The British troops, however, continued to push
forward almost yard by yard until the whole place was in their hands,
and they had dug themselves in in a line on the farthest eastern and
northern sides of the village.
Before the hour set for the advance the British troops who took
Courcelette were strongly attacked by the Germans on the front just
north of the Bapaume road. The British front-line trench was broken by
the attack, and hard fighting was in progress when the hour set for
the British advance arrived. Then from support lines and other
positions to the rear of the trench the Germans had entered the
British troops swept forward. The Germans were overwhelmed as the
waves of khaki-clad, cheering men rushed forward and over them and out
beyond the objective points as originally planned. In front of
Courcelette there were formidable German positions; two trenches in
particular which had been strongly fortified and against which the
British troops for a time hurled themselves in vain. Twice the
British troops were driven back, but the third assault was entirely
successful, the British troops sweeping over the two trenches and into
the outskirts of Courcelette. By 8.10 o'clock the British forces had
worked clear through the village ruins and had carried two especially
strong positions on the farther side, a quarry on the north and a
cemetery on the northeast of the village.
In the High Wood area, to the right of the two attacks described, the
Germans had converted a large mine crater into a fortress of
formidable strength, for from this position they could sweep the
entire wood with machine guns so placed that the British were
powerless to reach them. The "tanks" were of great efficiency in
reducing this strong point on the eastern angle of the wood. The
British troops fighting every yard of the way, slowly encircled the
wood, which was still full of cunningly hidden machine guns, and then
went steadily through it. This wood, which was described as a horrible
place, with its heaps of dead and shattered defenses, was effectually
cleaned out by the British and occupied by them, and a line was
established due north of the farthest extremity for about 1,000 yards.
Flers was captured by the British by successive pushes in which the
"tanks" again demonstrated their value. Leading the way, these
monsters waddled through the village, shattering barricades, crushing
their way through masonry and creating general alarm among the German
troops, who saw these formidable war engines for the first time.
In the capture of Courcelette, Flers, and Martinpuich the British air
service successfully cooperated with the movements of the artillery
and infantry. During the day, September 15, 1916, thirteen German
aeroplanes and kite balloons were destroyed, and nine others were
driven down in a damaged condition. The British reported that four of
their machines were lost.
On the following day, September 16, 1916, the Germans attacked the
British positions around Flers and along the Les Boeufs road, and were
beaten off. The British line which had been held and lived in for a
day was now little more than a series of shell holes linked by a
shallow trench. Though "the air was stiff with bullets" as an officer
described it, the British troops climbed out of their shattered
position and pushing on took possession of a more satisfactory trench
ahead, where they consolidated and sat down. This last small advance
cost the British more casualties than all the other operations during
the two days' fighting.
CHAPTER VI
CAPTURE OF COMBLES--AIR RAIDS
Meanwhile the Allied troops--the French on the south, the British on
the north--made steady progress in hemming in Combles. The French
increased their gains by storming Le Priez Farm and against severe
attacks held their gains north and south of Bouchavesnes. In another
dashing attack they took by assault a group of German trenches south
of Rancourt, some of their troops pushing forward to the edge of the
village. South of the Somme they advanced east of Deniécourt and
northeast of Berny, taking several hundred prisoners and ten machine
guns. The closing-in process around Combles went steadily forward.
In the evening of September 17, 1916, the British forces in the
vicinity of Courcelette extended their gains on a front of 1,000
yards, captured a strong fortification known as the Danube Trench on a
mile front, and also the strongly defended work at Mouquet Farm which
had been fought over for several weeks. On the same date the French
made a spirited attack south of the Somme, wresting from the Germans
what portions they still held of the villages of Vermandovillers and
Berny, the ground between the two, and also between Berny and
Deniécourt, breaking up all counterattacks and taking 700 prisoners.
On September 18, 1916, the British on the Somme front continued to add
to their gains of the previous days. Northwest of Combles they
captured a strongly fortified German work and, beating off numerous
counterattacks north of Flers, took six howitzers, two field guns and
lighter pieces, as well as some prisoners. South of this the British
took another section of German trenches, and by a counterattack won
back trenches to the east beyond Mouquet Farm which they had lost on
previous days.
On the same date the French took the village of Deniécourt, making the
third village captured by them in two days. During these operations
over 1,600 prisoners were taken, including twenty-five officers.
Owing to the weather conditions, little progress was made by the
Allied forces on September 19, 1916. Raids were successful, however,
on enemy trenches northeast of Bethune, and the French made some
advance and took prisoners east of Berny. The Germans made five
spirited attacks against the French front in Champagne where the
Russian detachments were posted, all of which were repulsed with heavy
losses by the guns and machine guns. From 9 in the morning until
nightfall of the following day the Germans continued their assaults on
the French lines, but only here and there did they make even temporary
progress.
On Thursday, September 21, 1916, the British line in the west was
again advanced. A section of the German front about a mile long was
attacked between Martinpuich and Flers. Two lines of German trenches
were captured in this push. Meanwhile the French continued to develop
their hemming in of Combles, nibbling their way forward, taking
prisoners and guns, a slow but determined advance that the Germans
could not restrain.
British guns displayed great activity on Friday, September 22, 1916,
when they destroyed ten hostile gun pits, damaged severely fourteen
others, and blew up five ammunition pits. About the same time fifty
aeroplanes raided an important railroad junction, destroyed several
ammunition trains, and caused violent explosions and conflagrations.
September 25, 1916, was a notable day in the history of the Allied
advance in the west, when French and British forces again assumed the
offensive. The German positions were stormed on a front of about six
miles between Combles and Martinpuich to a depth of more than a mile.
The strongly fortified villages of Les Boeufs and Morval with several
lines of trenches were captured. Morval, standing on a height north of
Combles, with its subterranean quarries and maze of wire
entanglements, constituted a formidable citadel of defense. By the
capture of these villages German communication with Combles was cut
off. The British took a large number of prisoners and immense
quantities of war material.
About noon of the same date the French attacked the German positions
between Combles and Rancourt and the defenses from the latter village
to the Somme. Rancourt was taken after a sharp struggle, and the
French lines were advanced to the northeast of Combles as far as the
southern outskirts of Frégicourt. East of the Bethune road the French
positions were extended for half a mile, while farther south several
systems of German trenches were captured in the vicinity of the Cabal
du Nord.
On the second day of the Allied offensive the French and British
continued their successful advance. Combles, which the Allied troops
had been closing in on for some days, was captured. Here an enormous
quantity of booty, munitions, and supplies which the Germans had
stored away in the subterranean regions of the place fell to the
victors.
The subsequent capture of Gueudecourt by the French and British forces
completed the notable advance of the Allies on September 25, 1916.
They were now in possession of the ridge that dominates the valley of
Bapaume, having cleared a stretch of ground on the far side of the
crest to a distance of half a mile. In the night of September 26,
1916, the British troops captured Thiepval and the strongly fortified
ridge east of it, which included an important stronghold, the Zollern
Redoubt. The British reported the capture of over 1,500 prisoners
during the two days' fighting.
CHAPTER VII
BRITISH CAPTURE EAUCOURT L'ABBAYE-REGINA TRENCH
September 30, 1916, marked the close of the third month of Allied
fighting in the Somme region. Since September 15, 1916, seven new
German divisions were brought against the British and five against the
French. According to reports from British headquarters in France, the
British troops had engaged thirty-eight German divisions, of which
twenty-nine had been forced to withdraw in a broken and exhausted
state. During the three months' campaign the Allied forces captured
over 60,000 German prisoners, of which number the British claimed to
have taken 26,735. Besides other war material the Allies recovered
from the Somme battle fields 29 heavy guns and howitzers, 92 field
guns and howitzers, 103 trench artillery pieces, and 397 machine guns.
In the afternoon of October 1, 1916, the British troops assaulted the
double-trench system of the main German third line over a front of
about 3,000 yards from beyond Le Sars to a point 1,000 yards or so
east of Eaucourt l'Abbaye. The British troops in the center, directly
in front of Eaucourt l'Abbaye, were held up by the complicated
defenses there, but the troops on the right, carrying everything
before them, swept over the main lines of trench east of the place
until well beyond it they occupied positions on the north, which they
held against all German assaults. The center was meanwhile reenforced
by the arrival of "tanks," which accomplished useful work in clearing
the trenches; these were then occupied by the British troops. On
October 2, 1916, German forces succeeded in pressing through a gap in
the British line, and again occupied trenches before the village,
while the British continued to hold their positions on the farther
side, some of which were a thousand yards to the rear of the enemy.
The following day the British heavily bombarded Eaucourt l'Abbaye and
drew the cordon tighter around it. October 4, 1916, they assumed the
offensive, and driving the Germans out of their trenches, filled up
the gap and entered the town. Eaucourt l'Abbaye, with its old monastic
buildings furnished with immense cellars, crypts and vaults, offered
admirable conditions for prolonged defense. More important than the
occupation of this place was the capture by the British of the
positions around it with over 3,000 yards of the long-prepared German
third line. These gains were won by the British troops at considerable
cost in casualties, while the Germans also lost heavily.
The important part played by the "tanks" in this successful operation
is worthy of record. One of these machines becoming disabled,
continued for some time to operate as a stationary fortress. Later the
"tank" became untenable and the crew were forced to abandon it. While
this was being done the commanding officer of the "tank" was somewhat
severely wounded so that he could not proceed. Two unwounded members
of the crew refused to leave the wounded officer, and for more than
two days they stayed with him in a shell hole between the lines. While
hiding in this dangerous position the wounded officer was again struck
by a bullet, but it was found impossible to get him away until the
British captured the positions around the town.
There was intermittent shelling of the British front south of the
Ancre during the night of October 4, 1916. A successful raid was
carried out by a London territorial battalion in the Vimy area on the
following day, and an assault on the British trenches east of St. Eloi
was repulsed. October 6, 1916, was unmarked by any important offensive
on the part of the belligerents. The Germans continued to shell
heavily the British front south of the Ancre. Three British raiding
parties succeeded in penetrating German trenches in the Loos area and
south of Arras.
An important success was won by the British on the following day,
October 7, 1916, when Le Sars--their twenty-second village--was
captured. The Germans evidently anticipated the attack, for they had
massed a large number of troops on a short front. The town itself was
held by the Fourth Ersatz Division, and the ground behind Eaucourt
l'Abbaye by a Bavarian division. The place, though strongly
fortified, did not offer the resistance that the British troops
expected. Their first forward sweep carried them to a sunken road that
ran across the village at about its middle, and a second rush after
the barrage had lifted brought them through the rest of the place and
about 500 yards beyond on the Bapaume road. In Le Sars itself six
officers and between 300 and 400 other ranks were made prisoners by
the British. The Bavarians between Le Sars and Eaucourt fought with
stubborn valor and gave the British troops plenty of hard work. Owing
to the complication of fortified positions, trenches, and sunken
roads, the ground in this section of the fighting area presented many
difficulties. To the northeast of Eaucourt the determined pressure of
the British troops caused the Bavarian resistance to crumble and the
victors swept on and out along the road to Le Barque. At other points
the British pierced the German lines and occupied positions midway
between Eaucourt and the Butte de Warlencourt. To the left, a mile or
so back, in what was known as the Mouquin Farm region, the British
troops pushed forward in the direction of Pys and Miraumont, and all
that part of Regina Trench over which there had been much stiff
fighting was held by them. German troops had recovered a small portion
of the front-line trenches they had lost to the north of Les Boeufs.
In this sector on the night of October 7, 1916, the British guns
shattered two attempted counterattacks and gathered in three officers,
170 men, and three machine guns. To the north of the Somme the French
infantry cooperating with the British army attacked from the front of
Morval-Bouchavesnes and carried their line over 1,300 yards northeast
of Morval. During this advance over 400 prisoners, including ten
officers, were captured, and also fifteen machine guns. Large
gatherings of German troops reported north of Saillisel were caught by
the concentrated fire from the French batteries.
In the region of Gueudecourt the British advanced their lines and
beat off a furious attack made on the Schwaben Redoubt north of
Thiepval on October 8, 1916. This repulse of the Germans was
followed by the British troops winning some ground north of the
Courcelette-Warlencourt road. In two days they took prisoner
thirteen officers and 866 of other ranks.
[Illustration: General Sir Douglas Haig (left), commanding the
British armies in France and Belgium, and General Joffre, supreme
commander of the French armies. In December, 1916, Joffre was made a
Marshal of France.]
The British continued their daily policy of making raids on the German
trenches. Several were carried out on October 10, 1916, in the
Neuville-St. Vaast and Loos regions, where trenches were invaded,
three machine-gun emplacements destroyed, and a large number of
prisoners taken. On the same date there was intense artillery activity
on the Somme between the French and Germans. The French fought six air
fights and bombed the St. Vaast Wood. To the south of the river the
French troops took the offensive and attacked on a front of over three
miles between Berny-en-Santerre and Chaulnes. Here the French infantry
by vigorous fighting captured the enemy position and certain points
beyond it. They also captured the town of Bovent, and occupied the
northern and western outskirts of Ablaincourt and most of the woods of
Chaulnes. During this offensive more than 1,250 Germans were taken.
CHAPTER VIII
CONTINUED ALLIED ADVANCE
Unceasing activity on the part of the Germans on October 11, 1916,
showed that the recent successes of the Allies had by no means
dampened their ardor or impaired their morale. All day long they
shelled the British front south of the Ancre, especially north of
Courcelette. Here the Germans attempted an attack, but were caught on
their own parapets and stopped by the British barrage. Two German
battery positions were destroyed here by bombing from aeroplanes. Two
British aircraft engaged seven hostile machines, one of which was
destroyed and two others were severely damaged. Behind the German
front British aeroplanes bombed railway stations, trains, and billets,
losing during these air fights four machines.
In the afternoon of this date, October 11, 1916, the British troops by
a determined push gained 1,000 yards between Les Boeufs and Le
Transloy, having gained all the territory they set out to win. The
advance, which was won at a comparatively small cost, brought the
British lines within 500 yards of one of the few conspicuous landmarks
in this desolate region--a cemetery about half a mile from Le
Transloy.
The English continued to make night raids on the German trenches. Five
such raids undertaken October 11-12, 1916, in the Messines, Bois
Grenier, and Haisnes areas were all successful; heavy casualties were
inflicted on the Germans and a number of prisoners were taken. During
the day of October 12, 1916, the British attacked the low heights
between their front trenches and the Bapaume-Péronne road, where they
gained ground and made captures. On this date the French infantry
north of the Somme made progress to the west of Sailly-Saillisel.
South of the Somme French forces took the offensive on October 14,
1916, delivering an attack west of Belloy-en-Santerre, by which they
gained possession of the first German line on a front of about a mile
and a quarter. By another attack they captured the village of
Génermont and the sugar refinery to the northeast of Ablaincourt. In
these two attacks nearly 1,000 prisoners were taken, including
seventeen officers.
On the same date British forces in the neighborhood of the Stuff
Redoubt and Schwaben Redoubt cleared two lines of German communication
trenches for a distance of nearly 200 yards. During these operations,
which were carried out by a single company, the British took two
officers and 303 of other ranks. In the evening the British advanced
their lines northeast of Gueudecourt and made further captures of men
and material.
On Sunday, October 15, 1916, south of the Somme, the Germans made
desperate attempts to regain the trenches they had lost to the French
southeast of Belloy-en-Santerre, but the attacks were shattered by the
French artillery.
French assaults by the German troops were repulsed on the following
day when the French carried a wood between Génermont and Ablaincourt,
taking prisoner four officers and 110 of other ranks, as well as a
number of machine guns. The German aircraft were especially active on
this day and the French fought seven engagements. In the Lassigny
sector a German machine hit by French guns fell in flames behind its
own lines.
The clear weather which prevailed during the day of October 16, 1916,
tempted British airmen to renewed activity. They bombed successfully
railway lines, stations, and factories. During the numerous fights in
the air three German machines were destroyed and one was driven to
earth, while two kite balloons were forced down in flames. For these
successful exploits the British paid somewhat heavily. One of their
machines was brought down by German gunfire and six were missing at
the end of the day.
Heavy bombardments on both sides, trench raids, and counterattacks,
which resulted in some successes for the Allied troops, marked the
following days. On October 21, 1916, the Germans lost heavily in an
attempt to recover Sailly-Saillisel from the French. Three regiments
of the Second Bavarian Division recently arrived in this sector were
shattered one after the other by French curtain and machine-gun fire.
South of the Somme a brilliant little success was achieved by the
French north of Chaulnes. Early in the afternoon the French infantry
after a heavy bombardment of the enemy lines pushed forward and gained
a foothold in the Bois Étoile which was held by troops of Saxony.
The Chaulnes garrison attempted to come to the support of the Saxons,
but were driven back by the destructive fire from French batteries.
Generals Marchand and Ste. Clair Deville, who were wounded in fighting
in the Somme region, continued to hold their commands and to direct
the action of the French troops under them.
Early in the morning of October 21, 1916, German troops in
considerable force attacked the Schwaben Redoubt north of Thiepval
occupied by the British, and at several points succeeded in entering
the trenches. But in a short time the British troops by a vigorous
attack drove them out, capturing five officers and seventy-nine of
other ranks. A subsequent attack by the British, delivered on a front
of some 5,000 yards between Schwaben Redoubt and Le Sars, advanced the
British line from 300 to 500 yards. Sixteen officers and over 1,000
German prisoners were taken during this operation, while the British
losses were said to be slight. On this same date British aircraft
showed great activity, bombing German communications, an important
railroad junction, and an ammunition depot, while there were several
air duels in which the British destroyed three machines and drove
others behind their lines. Two British aeroplanes were not heard from
again.
In the afternoon of the following day, October 22, 1916, the British
right wing advanced east of Gueudecourt and Les Boeufs and captured
1,000 yards of German trenches. On the same day British airmen bombed
two railway stations behind the enemy's lines, hitting a train and
working great damage to buildings and rolling stock. The British
airmen in a series of engagements brought down seven German machines,
damaging others and forcing them to descend. At the close of the day
eight British machines were missing.
CHAPTER IX
FRENCH RETAKE DOUAUMONT
On October 24, 1916, on the Verdun front a great victory was won by
the French in the capture of Fort Douaumont. This stronghold, which
had been termed by the Germans "the main pillar of the Verdun
defenses," had been captured by the Brandenburgers in the last week of
February, 1916. The French lost the fort, but they clung desperately
to the approaches, which for weeks were the scenes of bloody
struggles. The fort was retaken by the Allied troops on May 22, 1916,
but after two days of furious bombardment and the attacks of fresh
German troops they were driven from the place. From that time until
the French recaptured it on October 24, 1916, it had remained in
German possession. Shortly before noon of the last date the French
launched their attack on the right bank of the Meuse after an intense
artillery preparation. The German line, attacked on a front of about
four and a half miles, was broken through everywhere to a depth which
attained at the middle a distance of two miles.
General Nivelle had intrusted the plans for the recapture of Fort
Douaumont to General Mangin. Artillery preparation began on October
21, 1916, when the air was clear and favored observation by captive
balloons and aeroplanes. For two days the fort and its approaches were
subjected to an almost continuous bombardment of French guns. On
October 23, 1916, the explosion of a bomb started a fire in Fort
Douaumont. The shelters covering the quarries of Haudromont were
destroyed and also the battery at Damloup, while the ravines were
blown to pieces. Owing to the wide extent of the French attacks the
Germans seemed to have been in doubt as to the point from which the
main assault would be launched. Gradually the French "felt out" the
positions of the 130 German batteries, a great number of which they
destroyed.
The troops selected by the French for their attack belonged to
divisions that had been fighting for some time in this sector.
According to the French official account of the storming of the fort,
from left to right was the division of General Guyot de Salins,
reenforced on the left by the Eleventh Infantry. This division was
made up of Zouaves and Colonial sharpshooters, among them the Moroccan
regiment which had previously been honored for heroic conduct at
Dixmude and Fleury, and to whom fell the honor of attacking Fort
Douaumont. Then came the division commanded by General du Passage,
consisting of troops from all parts of France. A division commanded by
General Bardmelle, composed of troops of the line and light infantry,
came next, and a battalion of Singhalese also took an equal part in
the attack.
At 11.40 a. m. the attack was launched in a heavy fog. It had been
planned that the first stroke should take in the quarries of
Haudromont, the height to the north of the ravine of La Dame, the
intrenchment north of the farm of Thiaumont, the battery of La
Fausse-Côte, and the ravine of Bazite. In the second phase, after an
hour's stop to consolidate the first gains, the French troops were to
press on to the crest of the heights to the north of the ravine of
Couleuvre, the village of Douaumont, the fort of Douaumont, the dam
and pond of Vaux, and on to the battery of Damloup.
The French attack succeeded in carrying out the first phase of the
plan with insignificant losses, and proceeded almost immediately to
advance to the second objective. "At 2.30 p. m.," said a French
eyewitness of the attack, "the fog lifted and the observers could see
a magic spectacle. It was our soldiers, filing like so many shadows
along the crest of Douaumont, approaching the fort from all sides.
Arriving at the fort, they quickly established themselves within, and
through field glasses could be seen the long column of prisoners as
they filed out.
"The French Fourth Regiment, charged with taking the quarries of
Haudromont, went beyond their objective, which was the trench of
Balfourier. The division under General Guyot de Salins had taken
Thiaumont and Douaumont, while that of General du Passage had seized
the wood of Caillette and advanced to the heights of La Fausse-Côte.
"Steadily foot by foot the French infantry pushed on, driving the
enemy before them and taking 3,500 prisoners on the way, till at last
after a severe struggle around Fort Douaumont they shot all of its
defenders who refused to surrender and won it back to France."
In the space of four hours the French had recaptured territory which
had taken the Germans eight months to conquer at a cost of several
hundred thousand of their best troops. The Germans explained their
defeat on the ground that the fog hampered their observation and
barrage, while the French artillery had set fire to a store of benzine
in the fort, which forced the garrison to evacuate.
In addition to the fort and village adjoining, the French forces
captured the Haudromont quarries which had been in possession of the
Germans since April 18, 1916.
CHAPTER X
GERMANS LOSE FORT VAUX--FRENCH TAKE SAILLISEL
On the Somme front the operations of the Allied troops were impeded by
heavy rains, but artillery duels continued daily; the British airmen
made many raids on enemy positions and were successful in bombing
depots and railways. October 27, 1916, an aerial combat took place in
which many machines were engaged. Five aeroplanes fell during the
fight, two of which were British.
On Saturday morning, October 28, 1916, the British troops carried out
a successful operation northeast of Les Boeufs, which resulted in the
capture of enemy trenches. The Germans driven from their position were
caught by the British rifle fire and lost two officers and 138 of
other ranks. On the following day the British won another trench from
the Germans to the northeast of Les Boeufs.
In summing up the gains of the Allies during the month of October,
1916, it will be noted that they had made steady progress. The British
forces had won the high ground in the vicinity of the Butte de
Warlencourt, which brought them nearer to the important military
position of Bapaume. The French had by ceaseless activity pushed
forward their lines toward Le Transloy. During four months from July 1
to November 1, 1916, the Franco-British troops in the course of the
fighting on the Somme had captured 71,532 German soldiers and 1,449
officers. The material taken by the Allies during this period included
173 field guns, 130 heavy guns, 215 trench mortars, and 981 machine
guns.
[Illustration: Verdun Front, February 1, 1917.]
After the French victory on October 24, 1916, when Fort Douaumont was
captured from the Germans, it was inevitable that Fort Vaux on the
same front must also fall, and this took place on November 2, 1916.
For some days Fort Vaux had been subjected to intense artillery fire
by the French, and the German commander ordered the evacuation of the
fortress during the night. It was in defending this stronghold against
overwhelming odds that the French Major Raynal and his garrison won
the praise of even their enemies. The German direct attack on the fort
began March 9, 1916, and for ninety days Major Raynal held it against
the ceaseless attacks of Germany's finest troops backed not by
batteries, but by parks of artillery. Only when the fort was in ruins
and the garrison could fight no longer were the German troops able to
occupy the work. The French Government marked its appreciation of
Major Raynal's heroic defense by publishing his name and by conferring
on him the grade of Commander of the Legion of Honor, a distinction
usually reserved only for divisional generals. The German Crown Prince
appreciating Major Raynal's heroic qualities permitted him on his
surrender to retain his sword.
North of the Somme, despite the persistent bad weather, the French
troops on November 1 and 2, 1916, captured German trenches northeast
of Les Boeufs and a strongly organized system of trenches on the
eastern outskirts of St. Pierre Vaast Wood. By these operations the
French took 736 prisoners, of whom twenty were officers, and also
twelve machine guns.
The British forces on the Somme on the night of November 2, 1916, by a
surprise attack captured a German trench east of Gueudecourt and
carried out a successful raid on German trenches near Arras. British
aircraft, which had been actively engaged in bombing German batteries,
in the course of several combats in the air destroyed two hostile
machines. On November 4, 1916, the Germans attempted by a
counterattack to regain the trenches won by the British near
Gueudecourt, but were driven off with heavy losses, considering the
number of troops engaged. The Germans left on the field more than a
hundred dead, and the British captured thirty prisoners and four
machine guns. British aircraft, which continued to operate despite the
heavy weather that prevailed, suffered heavily on November 4, 1916.
One of their machines which had attacked and destroyed a German
aeroplane was so badly damaged that it fell within German lines and
four other British aircraft did not return.
German attempts to wrest from the French the trenches they had won on
November 1, 1916, on the western edge of St. Pierre Vaast Wood were
unsuccessful, though at some points the German troops succeeded in
penetrating the lines. But their foothold in the French trenches was
only temporary, and they were driven out with considerable losses.
On Sunday, November 5, 1916, the French took the offensive south of
the village of Saillisel, attacking simultaneously on three sides the
St. Pierre Vaast Wood, which had been strongly organized by the German
troops. As a result of this spirited attack the French captured in
succession three trenches defending the northern horn of the wood, and
the entire line of hostile positions on the southwestern outskirts of
the wood. At this point the fighting was of the most desperate
description. The Germans fought with great bravery, making violent
counterattacks, which the French repulsed with bomb and bayonet, and
capturing during the operations on this front 522 prisoners, including
fifteen officers.
The British troops, which had won 1,000 yards of a position on the
high ground in the neighborhood of the Butte de Warlencourt on
November 5, 1916, were forced to relinquish a great part of their
gains when the Germans made a violent attack on the following day.
North of the Somme the French made important advances between Les
Boeufs and Sailly-Saillisel. To the south on November 6, 1916, in the
midst of a heavy rain they launched a dashing attack on a front of two
and a half miles. German positions extending from the Chaulnes Wood to
the southeast of the Ablaincourt sugar refinery were carried, and the
whole of the villages of Ablaincourt and Pressoir were occupied by the
French infantry. Pushing forward their lines they also captured the
cemetery to the east of Ablaincourt, which had been made into a
stronghold by the Germans. The French positions were farther carried
to the south of the sugar refinery as far as the outskirts of
Gomiécourt. In these successful operations the French captured over
500 prisoners, including a number of officers.
CHAPTER XI
BRITISH SUCCESSES IN THE ANCRE
In the Ancre region the British won some notable victories on November
12, 1916, when Beaumont-Hamel was taken, which the Germans considered
an even more impregnable stronghold than Thiepval. The British also
swept all before them on the south side of the Ancre, capturing the
lesser village of St. Pierre Divion. The defeats which the British had
suffered in this region during July of 1916 were amply atoned for by
these victories. Beaumont-Hamel lies in the fold of a ridge and was
honeycombed with dugouts and the defenses so cunningly prepared that
it was extremely difficult for the British artillery to destroy them.
Under Beaumont-Hamel there is an elaborate system of caves or cellars
dating from ancient days, and it was the emergence of the German
troops from the dugouts and these lairs that made the attack of the
Ulster troops in July unavailing. Attacking simultaneously northward,
down the nearer slope, and eastward directly against the face of the
main German line before Beaumont-Hamel, the British troops captured
the whole position at once.
The entire front on which the British attacked was over 8,000 yards.
On the right, or east, the advance began from the western end of
Regina Trench from the British position about 700 yards to the north
of Stuff Redoubt. From this point a German trench known as the Hansa
line ran northwestward to the Ancre, directly opposite the village of
Beaucourt. On the extreme right, north of Stuff Redoubt, to reach that
trench meant an advance of only a score or so of yards. To the
westward, above Schwaben Redoubt half a mile, the advance was nearly
1,000 yards. By St. Pierre Divion, along the valley of the Ancre
itself, the advance was over 1,500 yards. Everywhere in this sector
the British troops were successful. They gained in this offensive a
stretch of 3,000 yards north of the Ancre to an average depth of about
a mile. The victory of the British troops was especially notable,
because they had struck frontally at the main German first line with
tier upon tier of trenches which the Germans had strongly fortified
and wired for two years past. One English county battalion alone to
the south of Beaumont-Hamel took 300 prisoners, and in the village
itself 700 were captured, mostly soldiers from Silesia and East
Prussia. At the close of the day over 2,000 German prisoners had been
taken, and the ground won by the British amounted to about four square
miles. During the night of November 12, 1916, and during the day
following in the clean-up of the labyrinthian defenses which the
Germans had skillfully constructed 2,000 more prisoners were added to
the number already captured in this sector. The British advance had
brought them to the outskirts of Beaucourt-sur-Ancre, which was taken
on November 14, 1916. Pushing on through the village to the left of
it, the British troops advanced over the high ground to the northeast
of Beaumont-Hamel, on to the road from Serre to Beaucourt, having
gathered in another thousand prisoners on the way.
During the two days' fighting in this region no British troops won
greater distinction than the Scots and the Royal Naval Division. In
all the German lines in France there was no more formidable position
than the angle immediately above the Ancre, where Beaumont-Hamel lay
in a hollow of the hill. On the morning of November 13, 1916, the
Royal Naval Division attacked the stretch from just below the "Y"
ravine on the south of Beaumont-Hamel to the north side of the Ancre.
After a preliminary bombardment, which played havoc with the German
barbed-wire entanglements protecting their front line, the British
naval troops swept over the line with a rush as if the barriers had
been made of straw. The British right rested on the Ancre as they
swept across the valley bottom. Northwest, where there was a rise of
ground, the center of the line had to attack diagonally along the
slope of the hill. At the top of the slope there was a German redoubt
hidden in a curve, and invisible in front, composed of a triangle of
three deep pits with concrete emplacements for machine guns which
could sweep the slope in all directions. This formidable redoubt was
situated immediately behind the German front trench, reaching back to,
and resting on, the second. At all points the British naval troops
carried the front trench by storm. On the right they rushed along the
valley bottom and the lower part of the slope, carrying line after
line of trench on to the dip where a sunken road ran along their front
going up from the Ancre to Beaumont-Hamel on the left.
Here for a short space of time the British troops rested while others,
also of the Naval Division, came up and swept through them on and up
the slope until they had won a line beyond. After this the first line
caught up with them again, and they all swept on together in a
splendid charge that covered a good 1,500 yards and which brought them
to the very edge of Beaucourt. It was during this operation that a
British battalion commander was wounded, but continued to lead and
animate his men during the entire advance.
Meanwhile the British right center was held up by the redoubt. The
German machine guns, while checking the troops in front of them, also
swept the ground along the face of the slope to the left.
Here the troops of the Royal Naval Division suffered badly, but they
continued to advance under the withering fire, winning the first and
second line trenches, and then, as supports came up on the right,
braving the machine-gun fire, they pushed on across the dip and sunken
road up the slope toward Beaucourt. Here all the troops made a
junction, forming a line on the Beaucourt-Beaumont-Hamel road. Back of
this line the Germans still held the central parts of the trenches,
over the two ends of which the British troops had swept. The redoubt
still remained intact and other important positions were in German
hands.
On the night of the 13th the British battalion commander who had been
wounded during the advance gathered together 600 men, all that could
be spared, from established positions, and with these troops he
purposed to attempt a farther advance. It was while he was gathering
these men together that the officer received a second wound, but still
refused to retire from the field.
At early dawn of November 14, 1916, this officer led his 600 men
against the village of Beaucourt. In less than a quarter of an hour's
hand-to-hand fighting the British troops had won the village. When the
sun shone on the scene of the struggle the British troops were digging
themselves in on the farther side of Beaucourt. It was only then that
the brave battalion commander who had successfully led the attack with
four wounds in his body had to be taken to the rear.
It was on November 14, 1916, in the fighting on the Ancre that the
Scots won special distinction. Their line in the fighting was just
above that taken by the Naval Division, and included Beaumont-Hamel
itself and the famous "Y" ravine. This ravine was such a formidable
place that it merits a somewhat detailed description. Imagine a great
gash in the earth some 7,000 or 8,000 yards in total length. In form
like a great "Y" lying on its side, the prongs at the top projected
down to the German front line while the stem ran back connecting with
the road through the dip which goes from Beaumont-Hamel on the north
to the Ancre. At the forked or western end, projecting down to the
front, there is a chasm more than thirty feet deep, with walls so
precipitous that in some parts they overhang. The Germans had burrowed
into the sides of the earth and established lairs far below the thirty
feet level of the ravine, where they were practically out of reach of
shell fire coming from whatever direction. In some instances they had
hollowed out great caves large enough to contain fully a battalion and
a half of men. In addition, the thoroughgoing Germans had made a
tunnel from the forward end of the ravine to their own fourth line in
the rear. Altogether the position was admirably adapted to sustain a
long defense and it was owing to the darkness when the British
attacked, and which took the Germans by surprise, that the stronghold
was captured. The violent artillery bombardment by the British before
the attack had battered all the ordinary trenches and positions to
pieces without effecting any serious damage to the underground
shelters. Following the bombardment, the Scotch troops broke over the
German defenses, meeting their only check in the onward rush at the
ends of the "Y" ravine. On the south of this narrow point, keeping
step with the Naval Division on their right, they swept across the
first and second lines to the third. Here there was stiff fighting for
a time, and when the Scots had struggled forward they left behind a
trench full of German dead. On the north side every foot of ground was
contested before the third line was reached, and then from both sides
the ravine was attacked with bombs. At a point just behind the fork of
the "Y" the first breach was made, and down the sheer sides of the
ravine the British troops dropped with bayonet in hand. Then followed
a stubborn struggle, for the Germans filled both sides of the chasm.
Bombing, bayoneting, and grappling hand to hand continued for some
time, the Germans despite their bravery being slowly forced back. At
this stage of the fighting the British delivered a new frontal attack
against the narrow bit of the front line still unbroken at the forward
end of the "Y." As the Germans at that end turned to repel the assault
the Scotch troops in the ravine rushed forward to be joined presently
by other British troops that had by this time broken into the ravine,
when there followed a scene of indescribable confusion. The struggle,
however, was of short duration, when the Germans, at first singly and
then in groups, flung down their arms and surrendered. All the Germans
visible were made prisoners, but it was known that the tunnel and the
shelters and dugouts contained many men. A shrewd Scotch private who
had lived in Germany succeeded by strategy in drawing out most of the
Germans from their hiding places. The canny Scot took a German officer
who had surrendered, and leading him to suspected dugouts bade him
order the men inside to come out. This ruse worked happily and at one
dugout fifty Germans issued forth and surrendered.
While this struggle in the ravine was going on, other Scotch troops
had swarmed over the German lines higher up, and by noon had taken
possession of the site--there is no village--of Beaumont-Hamel. The
place is underlaid with many subterranean hiding places, and it was
during the process of gathering in the Germans concealed in these
underground shelters that some extraordinary incidents took place. One
example of personal bravery at this time must be cited. While the
fighting was still going on a man of the British Signal Corps was
running telephone lines up, and had just reached his goal in a
captured German trench when he was struck down before the mouth of a
dugout. Just as he collapsed a German officer appeared from the
depths, and "Signals" could see that there were a number of German
soldiers behind him. By a supreme effort the wounded man struggled to
his feet and ordered the officer to surrender. This the German was
quite ready to do. The Scot then pulled himself together and with his
remaining strength telephoned an explanation of the situation back
over the line which he had just laid. Having done this he stood guard
over the German officer in the opening of the dugout, keeping others
blocked behind him, until relieved of his charges by the arrival of
help. As a whole the Scots took over 1,000 prisoners and gathered in
fifty-four machine guns in the day's fighting.
No doubt the British successes in this area were gained by the
unexpectedness and dash of their attacks which took the Germans by
surprise. The foggy weather which prevailed had hampered the Germans
so that they were unable to observe the movements of British troops.
In the region to the south of the Ancre a relief was going on, so that
there was double the usual number of Germans in the trenches. The
relieving division, the Two Hundred and Twenty-third, one of the
Ludendorff's new formations and going into action for the first time
as a division, was caught within a few minutes after getting to the
trenches. Again the "tanks" were found of special service, though
owing to the heavy mud encountered during the advance they were
considerably hampered in their movements. At one point north of the
Ancre a "tank" was useful in clearing the German first-line trench,
and at another point south of the river one pushed forward and got
ahead of the British infantry into a position strongly held by the
Germans who swarmed around it and tried to blow it up with bombs. The
"tank" stood off the furious assaults until the British infantry came
up, when it became busy and helped the troops clean up the trenches
and dugouts in the vicinity.
CHAPTER XII
OPERATIONS ON THE FRENCH FRONT--FURTHER FIGHTING IN THE ANCRE
While the British were winning one of their most important victories
on the Somme on the French front both north and south there was
continued activity. The whole village of Saillisel, over which there
had been prolonged fighting, was now in French hands. Heavy attacks by
the German troops assisted by "flame throwers" were repulsed.
Southeast of Berny the Germans succeeded in penetrating the French
trenches, but were thrust out by a keen counterattack.
During the fighting in these sectors the French took 220 prisoners,
seven officers, and eight machine guns.
North of the Somme the Germans attacked from Les Boeufs to
Bouchavesnes, evidently with the purpose of forestalling a new French
offensive beyond Saillisel, which would endanger the left of the
German line opposed to the British, by the menace of being turned on
the south. Regiments of the Prussian Guard Infantry Division attacked
in the forenoon and in the afternoon along the six-mile front. But the
French forces remained firm and unwavering on both wings, and the
Germans could gain no headway against their curtain and machine-gun
fire. Around the St. Pierre Vaast Wood, in the center of the line, the
fighting reached the greatest intensity. The Germans displayed
unyielding bravery, and despite very heavy losses succeeded in
capturing outlying trenches along the western fringe, and in the
northern corner of the wood. These positions afforded them little
advantage while Saillisel and the southwest fringe of the wood were
firmly held by French troops.
South of the Somme from Ablaincourt to Chaulnes Wood, a distance of
two and a half miles, the Germans pounded the French positions almost
unceasingly for forty-eight hours. At 6 o'clock in the morning of
November 15, 1916, the Germans after a final shower of tear shells
endeavored to drive in their wedge. The main efforts of the attacking
contingent were concentrated on Ablaincourt and Pressoir. The French
were quite prepared for the onslaught and the oncoming waves of German
troops wavered and broke under the fiery storm of French shells.
Despite their heavy losses the Germans after repeated failures
succeeded about noonday in rushing the eastern portion of Pressoir.
Renewing the attack after a short interval, other portions of the
place were occupied by them. During the night, the small force of
French troops which had held the village all day against overwhelming
odds was reenforced, and in the early hours of November 16, 1916, by a
brilliant counterattack the Germans were swept out of the village and
the French line was once more solidified. The Germans during two days'
fighting had displayed conspicuous courage, but the twelve attacks
they made on Pressoir, where they gained a temporary advantage, cost
them heavily. Certain regiments, among others the One Hundred and
Eleventh Prussian, lost 60 per cent. of their effectives.
On November 15 and 16, 1916, the British continued to make gains north
of the Ancre. One division advanced a mile, and took over 1,000
prisoners at a cost of about 450 casualties. On November 16, 1916, Sir
Douglas Haig reported that in twenty-four hours the British had taken
six German officers and 297 of other ranks. In the afternoon of this
date the Germans launched a vigorous counterattack, and forced the
British to relinquish a part of the ground east of the Butte de
Warlencourt, which had been won on November 14, 1916. During the week
the British aeroplanes were constantly active and some important
successes were won over enemy aircraft. On November 16, 1916, two
junctions on the German lines of communication were bombed, and
railways and aerodromes were attacked with bombs and machine-gun fire
by day and night. German aircraft, which had displayed considerable
activity at this period, fought a number of aerial engagements with
British flyers with disastrous results to themselves. Three German
machines were brought down on the British side, and two fell within
the German lines. The British also drove down five more in a damaged
condition, while their own losses in these air combats amounted to
only three machines.
According to the British official report 6,190 Germans had been made
prisoner during four days' fighting in this sector.
On a front of about a mile and a half the British troops on November
18, 1916, again forged ahead for an average distance of 500 yards or
so on the south side of the Ancre. On the north of the river they
pushed on at daybreak through fast-falling snow until the British line
was now within three-quarters of a mile to the northeast of Beaucourt
and 500 yards beyond the Bois d'Holland, which was in British hands.
The last advance had brought them to the outskirts of Grandcourt and
here bomb fighting at close range went on throughout the day of
November 18, 1916.
To the west of this village ran the original main German second line,
which lower down passed through such famous places as the Stuff and
Zollern Redoubts. With its parallel lines of trenches and
complications it was quite as formidable as the main first line
constructed about the same time two years before. The British had
already broken through the line up to a point some 600 yards north of
Stuff Redoubt. On November 18, 1916, their troops again smashed the
line for a distance of more than 500 yards. The Germans still held
positions on the line to the south of Grandcourt, but the British had
penetrated so far to the right and to the left that the line could no
longer serve as a barrier to the village. The British advance was
begun about 6 a. m., preceded by a short but fierce bombardment of the
German line, and which according to the account afterward given by
prisoners caused the Germans to seek the shelter of their dugouts.
Troops from the British Isles and Canada who made the advance together
were among the Germans before the latter could issue from their
shelters after the withering storm of shells. At different places
savage hand-to-hand fighting went on in the trenches. On the sides of
the ravine below Grandcourt, where the slopes were swept by
machine-gun fire, the British were unable to advance. But for some two
miles to the right they swept all resistance away. Especially
important were the British gains on the extreme right, which gave them
possession of another stage of the descent along the minor spur
running in a northerly direction. The whole of the south side of the
Ancre to the edge of Grandcourt was now firmly held by British troops.
In the night of November 21, 1916, after a heavy preparatory
bombardment by trench mortars, the Germans carried out a successful
trench raid on British lines south of St. Elie. A considerable part of
the British front-line trench was demolished by German fire and
twenty-six British were taken prisoner by the raiders.
The clear weather that prevailed along the Somme front at this time
encouraged German, French, and British airmen to engage in raiding
expeditions. On November 24, 1916, British machines attacked and
routed a formation of twenty German aeroplanes, and held possession of
the field without losing one machine. At other points the British
flyers smashed eight German machines and drove several down to earth
in a damaged condition. In these encounters the British lost three
aircraft of various types.
In Lorraine three British aeroplanes fought an engagement with a
considerable number of German machines. The result was that the
British drove down an enemy machine in the forest of Gremecy,
remaining masters of the field without incurring any losses
themselves. On the Somme front there was incessant activity among the
French airmen, who fought about forty engagements, during which they
brought down five German machines. Quartermaster Sergeant Flachaire
destroyed his sixth machine near Manancourt and Lieutenant Doullin his
tenth south of Vaux Wood.
CHAPTER XIII
WEATHER CONDITIONS--MOVEMENTS AROUND LOOS
November, 1916, the fifth month of the Battle of the Somme, drew to an
end with fog and drizzling rain, the whole fighting area a drab
expanse of mud and pools of water. For two months there had not been
an interval of more than three or four days of fine weather at a time,
and the ground had grown steadily more and more water-logged, which
greatly hampered military operations. Except on the Ancre, where the
British had taken 7,000 prisoners, no other important victories had
been won by them, but each day marked some gain, and in the aggregate
the ground won, the casualties inflicted, and the slow but continuous
attrition of the enemy were of importance. The British claimed that in
November alone they had taken prisoner between 9,000 and 10,000
Germans and had put out of action fully four times as many.
The wastage of the Allies' aircraft in November, 1916, was
considerably less than in any of the previous four months. In the
official reports it was definitely stated that 148 British, German,
and French machines had been brought down. Of this total thirty-two
British machines were admitted by General Headquarters to have been
lost or were counted missing. As an offset to these losses the British
airmen had destroyed twenty-four, captured seven, and brought down
damaged twenty-six German machines. In addition to these the Royal
Naval Air Service operating under French military authorities had
brought down five hostile aeroplanes.
It was claimed by the French that they had destroyed, captured, and
driven to earth in a wrecked condition fifty German machines.
Lieutenant Guynemer continued to hold his lead among French airmen,
having scored in November, 1916, his twenty-third victory. In three
days of this month he brought down six German aeroplanes. Guynemer's
victories in the air had inspired other members of the French flying
corps to fresh deeds of daring, and during November, 1916, Lieutenant
Nungesser and Adjutant Dorme destroyed their fifteenth and sixteenth
hostile machines respectively. In the only reports published by the
Germans during this month it was claimed that they had destroyed or
put out of action thirty-six hostile machines.
On December 1, 1916, British troops successfully raided German
trenches south of Armentières. On the same date the Germans attempted
a trench raid northeast of Neuve Chapelle which was beaten off by the
British, who inflicted some losses on the raiders. On the French front
their airmen were active in bombing enemy positions.
A German attack was made in force on December 3, 1916, after a heavy
bombardment of the British trenches south of Loos. After a spirited
struggle the Germans were driven off, having suffered heavy
casualties. On this same day British aircraft won some important
successes inside the German lines, when they bombed among other
objectives a railway station and aerodrome. The British Naval Air
Squadron also engaged in a number of air combats on this date,
destroying two German machines and damaging four others.
Heavy bombardments of enemy positions by day and the usual trench
raids at night continued for more than a week, during which the Allied
troops registered minor successes, insignificant when considered
separately, but important in the aggregate. It was not until December
13, 1916, that any important engagement was fought, when a German
attack was made on Lassigny, that part of the French front nearest to
Paris. It was estimated by French headquarters that the Germans had
brought together for this attack 40,000 troops and had concentrated
corresponding quantities of artillery. After an intense bombardment of
the French lines that lasted for some hours the German troops pressed
forward. If they had hoped to take the French by surprise, they were
speedily undeceived. The assaulting waves were received by a withering
fire from the French 3-inch and machine guns that tore great gaps in
the German close-formed ranks. A barrier of fire thrown to the rear of
the Germans caught and ravaged the supporting reserves.
The French trenches were reached over a frontage of about 300 yards,
but an immediate counterattack enabled the French to recapture their
lines. Only a few survivors of the German attacking column escaped.
Most of them were killed after a determined resistance. An hour later
the Germans renewed the assault and again failed. As their reserves
came up they were easily dispersed by the heavy French artillery.
CHAPTER XIV
FRENCH WIN AT VERDUN
On December 15, 1916, the French troops won an important victory in
the region of Verdun, north of Douaumont, when they broke through the
German lines on a front of six and a quarter miles, extending from the
Meuse River to the plain of Woevre, penetrating to a depth of nearly
two miles. In this advance the French troops captured the villages of
Vacherauville and Louvemont, the fortified farm of Chambrettes, and
the fortified fieldworks of Hardaumont and Bezonvaux. The results
gained by the French in this advance compare favorably with General
Mangin's sensational exploit on October 24, 1916, when Fort Douaumont
was taken.
The battle began at 10 o'clock in the morning as the church clock near
by sounded the hour. Immediately every French gun started a storm of
steel, showering shells immediately behind the German front line.
While this intense bombardment was at its height, the French infantry
made a dashing advance and gained the village of Vacherauville, where
they encountered stubborn resistance. There was hand-to-hand fighting
from house to house until finally the Germans were driven out,
resisting every step of the way. Pressing on beyond the village the
French next attacked an important German trench known as "Bethmann's
Bowl," which they penetrated after a hard struggle and made the
defenders prisoners. Next Pepper Hill was attacked, and the two crests
of this height were won in exactly one hour after a start had been
made. During this time the Germans on the opposing slope were caught
in the rear by a French flank movement. Completely taken by surprise
they attempted to flee when French airmen, dropping their machines to
within 500 feet of the ground, brought their machine guns to bear on
the now disorderly crowd of fugitives, and those who escaped the
devastating fire sweeping down on them at once surrendered.
The French infantry now advanced along the valley behind Pepper Hill,
and with the aid of a French force that had fought its way through the
fortified fieldworks of Caurières Wood took Louvemont by a brilliant
assault.
In front of Douaumont the French troops made a rapid advance, but in
Hardaumont Wood their forward movement on the right flank encountered
stubborn opposition. Fighting continued there until late in the
afternoon, when the German garrison in Bezonvaux Redoubt, about five
kilometers beyond the original French line, surrendered.
It was especially encouraging to the Allies that in this impressive
victory only four French divisions participated, while it was known
from prisoners taken that the Germans had five divisions in the field.
The French owed much of their success to the daring work performed by
their aviators. Dozens of airmen dashed here and there, taking
observations, correcting artillery, and accompanying the infantry's
advance. At intervals they dashed back to headquarters with detailed
reports of what was going on, thus keeping the commander in chief in
close touch with the operations of the troops. The German gunners
seemed to have become unnerved by the rapidity of the French advance,
and fired almost at random. They had no assistance from their own
aviators, who were kept in subjection by the French airmen, of whom
not one was lost during the day.
The French did not overestimate the magnitude of the victory they had
won. It compelled the Germans to move back their artillery, which up
to that time was a source of danger to the French supply depots and
works on the other side of the Meuse, and also laid open the flanks of
the French position on Le Mort Homme.
Owing to the swiftness of the advance and the disorganization of the
German batteries the French losses were comparatively slight. As
stated in the French official report the total number of prisoners
taken on December 15, 1916, was 11,387, including 284 officers, and
115 cannon were captured, with 44 bomb throwers and 107 machine guns.
This great victory was the last act of General Nivelle before assuming
the chief command of the French armies on the western front. To this
officer belongs the credit of drawing up the plan of attack, in which
he was assisted by General Pétain, at that time his superior officer.
The assault proper was left to General Mangin. The four divisions
engaged were commanded by such leaders as General de Maud'huy and
General du Passage.
During the night of December 17, 1916, German troops delivered a
strong counterattack against the new French positions north of
Douaumont. By hard fighting they succeeded in forcing the French out
of the fortified position known as Chambrettes Farm, the farthest
point which the French attained in their advance on December 15, 1916.
The Germans were not allowed for long to enjoy their small success,
for on December 18, 1916, the French returned in force and reoccupied
the position which they now held intact.
CHAPTER XV
CANADIANS AT ARRAS--NIVELLE IN COMMAND
In the afternoon of December 20, 1916, Canadian troops made an
important raid on German trenches north of Arras on a front of 400
yards and succeeded in putting out of action, temporarily at least, an
entire battalion of German infantry.
The Canadian troops, after the first preparatory fire of the British
guns had ceased, advanced and occupied the German trenches in less
than two minutes. The Germans, who had not expected that the raid
would take place before Christmas Eve, were completely surprised. As
they hurried for the saps and dugouts leading to the rear trenches,
the Canadians showered hand grenades among them. Caught entirely
unprepared, the Germans in the first line offered but a feeble
resistance, the majority at once surrendering with cries of "Kamerad!"
Many others were taken as they fled for the second and third lines
while the Canadians pushed on to the second trenches. About twenty
dugouts were destroyed, some of them with bombs captured from the
Germans. In a few of these dugouts the occupants refused to surrender
and consequently their lairs were blown to pieces. It was estimated
that 150 Germans were killed during the raid. The Canadians took one
commissioned officer prisoner and fifty-seven of other ranks.
A British officer engaged in the raid thus describes the struggle
after the German line was penetrated:
"As we entered the trenches many Germans broke from the dugouts. All
who did were subsequently well cared for. Each of our men was given
definite instructions for his precise task and a map of the enemy's
trenches, which proved absolutely correct.
"Each man knew every detail of the proposed operation. They were
delighted at this and entered the fight with great cheers. When they
came out two hours later they were singing and as happy as schoolboys
on a holiday.
"The neatness and dispatch with which the raid was carried out were
unique. The artillery cooperation of the British guns was perfection.
Beautifully placed curtains of fire prepared our advance, and creeping
forward protected us as they proceeded to demolish absolutely the
enemy trenches and dugouts. The program had given the men an hour and
a half for their work, but the clean-up was accomplished in an hour
and ten minutes, when the raiders signaled that they were ready to
return to their own trenches."
The Germans did not attempt a counterattack until the following night,
when they mistakenly bombarded and raided their own first lines,
believing that the Canadians were still there. As it happened, the
Canadian troops who had carried out the successful raid were some
miles away. They were not a part of the fighting line, but on rest,
and had gone forward for this particular military operation planned
some weeks before.
During the night of December 19, 1916, British troops made a
successful raid on German lines in the neighborhood of Gommecourt,
where after doing considerable damage to the defensive works they
retired without any casualties. Early in the morning of the following
day the British made another successful raid on German trenches north
of Arras, where they captured a number of prisoners.
On the same date, December 19, 1916, a British contingent encountered
a hostile patrol north of Neuve Chapelle. After a brief, sharp fight
the leader of the patrol was killed and his men surrendered.
German official reports of this date stated that, west of
Villers-Carbonnel, Grenadiers of the Guard and East Prussian
Musketeers forced their way into a strong British position that had
been destroyed by effective fire, and after blowing up dugouts retired
to their own lines, bringing away with them four officers and
twenty-six men as prisoners. The Germans claimed that during various
air engagements about this time along the Somme they destroyed six
hostile aircraft.
During the night of December 20, 1916, a strong German raiding party
attacked the British line opposite Lens, but only a few succeeded in
penetrating the trenches. After a short struggle these were ejected by
the British troops and the raiding party was driven off.
Southwest of Armentières a British raiding party entered German
trenches and made some prisoners.
On December 21, 1916, the French Government made public the official
order summoning General Nivelle to the command of the armies of the
north and northeast and signed by General Joffre. General Castelnau,
General Joffre's Chief of Staff, having reached the age limit, was
retained on the active list by a special decree indorsed by the
President of France, which was preliminary to his appointment to the
command of an army group.
CHAPTER XVI
GERMAN ATTACKS AT VERDUN--RESULT OF SIX MONTHS' FIGHTING
During the night of December 28, 1916, German troops in considerable
force delivered a spirited attack on a three-kilometer front between
Hill 304 and Dead Man Hill, northwest of Verdun. The German advance
was made after an intense artillery preparation. According to the
official French reports the French infantry and machine-gun fire broke
the attack, but a trench south of Dead Man Hill was occupied by a few
German troops. In the account of the attack given out from Berlin it
was stated that German troops penetrated the third and second lines of
the French positions, from which 222 prisoners, of whom four were
officers, together with seven machine guns, were brought back. All
attempts made by the French troops to regain the captured trenches
were defeated, the German report stated.
Between the Aisne and the Oise French artillery carried out a
destructive fire on the German positions in the region of
Quennevières. French patrols penetrated the shattered German trenches
which had been hastily evacuated. All the afternoon of December 28,
1916, German guns on the left bank of the Meuse bombarded French
positions between the Meuse and Avocourt. At several points on the
French front in this sector the Germans made vigorous attacks with
grenades, but in every instance they were repulsed with considerable
losses.
During the night of December 28, 1916, a party of British troops made
a successful raid against German trenches to the east of Le Sars with
good results.
The closing days of the year were not marked by any important military
operations on either side. Though no great attacks were attempted, the
old business of trench warfare being resumed, the opposing forces
continued to harass and destroy each other at every opportunity. The
grim object of British, French, and German was to kill wherever shell
or machine-gun bullet could reach an enemy. This period of "peace" was
really one of ceaseless activity, and the British distinguished
themselves in keeping the Germans constantly on the alert. To prevent
the building of defenses, or smash them when built, to concentrate
gunfire on communication trenches so as to render them impassable, to
destroy reliefs coming in or going out, to carry death to the foe in
ditches and dugouts--in short, to injure him in any way that human
ingenuity and military science could devise--such were the tactics
employed by belligerents during the days and nights when in official
language there was "nothing to report."
Official announcement was made on New Year's Day by the British Prime
Minister's Department that General Sir Douglas Haig, commander in
chief of the British armies in France, had been promoted to the rank
of field marshal. His chief aids on the French front, Lieutenant
General Sir Henry Rawlinson and Major General Sir Hubert Gough,
commanding the Fourth and Fifth Armies respectively, were also
gazetted for promotion.
In reviewing the work of the Allies for the past six months Field
Marshal Haig made no secret of the fact that he had been forced by
circumstances to assume the offensive in July somewhat earlier than he
intended. Had he waited until his munitionment was complete and his
raw drafts had acquired more experience, the Battle of the Somme might
not have resulted so favorably to the Allies. The Germans were near
the outskirts of Verdun and striking hard, and the moral and political
consequences of the fall of Verdun would have been so serious that it
was impossible to delay the offensive. Field Marshal Haig stated in
his summing up that the Battle of the Somme was begun to save Verdun,
to prevent the transfer of further German reenforcements from the west
to the Russian or Italian fronts, and to wear down the strength of the
enemy forces, and that all these purposes were fulfilled.
The brief period of so-called "peace" which had prevailed along the
Somme during the closing days of 1916 was broken on New Year's Day,
when a strong German patrol attacked the British trenches north of
Vermelles. The British troops defending the position having
foreknowledge of the attack, were quite prepared for a vigorous
resistance and the Germans were driven off with sanguinary losses,
leaving a number of dead and wounded on the field. In the evening of
this date, under cover of a heavy bombardment, a German patrol
consisting of about forty men made an attempt to reach the British
lines to the north of Ypres. A few of the German troops succeeded in
gaining the British trenches, but were ejected after a brief struggle.
At other points on the front between the Somme and the Ancre the
British troops started the new year in spirited fashion by carrying
out effective counterbattery work and heavy bombardment of German
positions in the neighborhood of Neuve Chapelle and Armentières.
During the afternoon of January 6, 1917, British troops under cover of
a heavy bombardment successfully raided German positions southeast of
Arras, where advancing over a wide front they entered the enemy's
defenses and penetrated to the third line. Here they succeeded in
bombing and destroying a number of dugouts and wrought considerable
damage to the German defensive works. In minor engagements of this
character the British reported to have taken 240 prisoners since
Christmas.
French artillery on the Somme front was especially active during the
first days of the new year. On the night of January 4, 1917, French
aerial squadrons scattered projectiles on the German aviation field at
Grisolles and on the railway station and barracks at Guiscard.
A number of explosions and four incendiary fires resulted from these
attacks by French airmen.
Surprise attacks were attempted by German troops on the French
advance posts east of Butte du Mesnil in the region of Maisons de
Champagne. During the day of January 5, 1917, French artillery fire
dispersed the attackers, who fled from the field, leaving a number of
prisoners in French hands. The British troops along the Somme
continued their raids on German positions every night and frequently
during the day. In the afternoon of January 7, 1917, they attacked a
German trench south of Armentières, and after bombing the German
defenses retired in good order with nineteen prisoners. On the same
date a German contingent after a preliminary bombardment attempted to
penetrate British trenches southwest of Wytschaete. The attackers
evidently expected that their heavy gunfire had demoralized the
defenders and looked for an easy victory, but they were speedily
repulsed with considerable losses. Another attempt made under cover of
a heavy bombardment to seize British advance posts to the north of
Ypres also met with disaster.
CHAPTER XVII
GERMAN ATTACK ON HILL 304--BRITISH SURPRISE ATTACK
Early in the morning of January 10, 1917, small detachments of British
troops attacked the German lines to the north of Beaumont-Hamel. For
some days rain and sleet had been falling almost continuously, and the
battle field in this section of the fighting area largely consisted of
swamps and miniature lakes. The British troops following the barrage
fire penetrated the German position on a front of 500 yards. The
Germans had sought refuge from the withering fire of the British guns
in their dugouts, which rain and snow and sleet had converted into
mudholes. The German soldiers were wet and cold and miserable, and
offered but slight resistance. Three officers, nine non-coms., and 109
men surrendered to the British--a larger number than the raiding party
contained.
In the afternoon of January 10, 1917, the British carried out a
successful raid east of Loos which resulted in the capture of a number
of prisoners. Throughout the day British guns pounded German positions
in the neighborhood of Les Boeufs and on both sides of the Ancre
Valley. Destructive bombardment of German trenches opposite Le Sars,
and battery positions in the neighborhood of Gommecourt, produced good
results.
On the following day, January 11, 1917, British troops successfully
attacked German positions to the north of Beaumont-Hamel. The action
had some local importance, for the Germans occupied high ground from
which they had observation of the British trenches.
The British attack was begun shortly before dawn in a dark and heavy
mist. As the first glimmer of morning light appeared the snow began to
fall, hiding with a white mantle the miry battle field, in which the
British troops sank ankle deep as they struggled forward floundering
here and there in old shell holes. The Germans had not recovered from
the nerve-shattering bombardment that had preceded the attack when the
British soldiers were upon them and over their dugouts before they
could bring their machine guns into play. The majority of the Germans
did not attempt to fight, but surrendered at once. Some of the German
officers attempted to rally their men, and, fighting bravely rather
than surrender, were killed. In the two days' fighting in this sector
the British captured over 300 prisoners. The German version of this
attack stated that "an insignificant trench had been abandoned to the
enemy."
In the night on this date, January 11, 1917, British troops were
reported to have penetrated German trenches north of Arras, where a
number of prisoners were taken at the cost of a few casualties.
Early in the morning of January 13, 1917, German troops forced their
way into a British post northwest of Serre. By a hotly pressed
counterattack the British drove them out and again occupied the post.
Thirteen prisoners, including three officers, were captured in this
area. The British during the night also attacked German trenches west
of Wytschaete, where they were successful in attaining their
objectives and captured a number of prisoners.
[Illustration: This notice was posted in French munitions works by
order of the Minister of Munitions. It contains an aviator's pictures
of Fort Douaumont before and after the artillery bombardment and
proves the importance of immense munitions supplies.]
Owing to the almost continuous bad weather, heavy rains, and snowfall,
there was little fighting along the Somme during the succeeding days,
but the bombardment of enemy positions was continuous, and the British
took some prisoners in trench raids.
In the morning of January 17, 1917, British forces on the Ancre
launched the strongest attack that had been attempted for weeks on a
front of 600 yards north of Beaucourt. Preceded by a heavy bombardment
that shattered the German defenses British troops occupied a line of
enemy posts at the cost of a few casualties. The position won by the
British was especially valuable because it afforded them better
advantages than they possessed for observation in this area. In the
afternoon of this date the Germans attempted a counterattack which was
broken up with heavy losses by the British artillery barrage.
Another daylight raid was successfully carried out by the Canadian
troops northeast of Cité Calonne on the same morning. The Canadians
succeeded in penetrating German trenches on a front of 700 yards and
pushed forward to a depth of 300 yards, or as far as the enemy's
second line. The German dugouts were completely wrecked. The British
report stated that heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy. They
captured one officer and ninety-nine of other ranks, and several
machine guns and a trench mortar. In the evening of this date the
Germans, after three hours of intense artillery fire, delivered a
series of reconnoitering attacks in Chevaliers Wood on the height of
the Meuse (Verdun front). The British artillery and machine guns at
once became active and sent such a withering fire against the Germans
that they were scattered with heavy losses.
Violent artillery duels continued for several days following, but
there was no important fighting along the Somme. On January 20, 1917,
in the region south of Lassigny, the Germans were especially active in
shelling French positions. They attempted a surprise attack on one of
the advanced French trenches, but were beaten off. On this date the
French launched a successful attack against German lines in the Vingre
sector, where they captured a number of prisoners. In the sector of
Burnhaupt, in Alsace, the French won a victory in an encounter with
enemy patrols, and repulsed a strong German reconnaissance which
attempted to reach French lines in the region southwest of Altkirch.
During the night of January 20, 1917, and most of the following day,
German and French artillery fought an almost continuous duel on the
right bank of the Meuse, while patrols of the two armies engaged in
close and sanguinary encounters in Caurières Wood. It was during the
fighting in this region that the British took over twelve miles of the
French front. French troops, however, still held the line on the
northern bank of the Somme near Mont St. Quentin, the key to Péronne.
In the morning of January 21, 1917, the British forces made a
successful raid on German trenches southeast of Loos. It was a short
but spirited fight while it lasted. The British reported that they had
bombed and destroyed dugouts full of Germans, while their own losses
were slight. A number of Germans were made prisoner in this raid, but
the majority preferred to fight rather than yield, and fighting fell.
In the evening on this date the Germans on the right bank of the Meuse
(Verdun front) attacked on two different occasions the French trenches
to the northeast of Caurières Wood. They made the advance after an
intense preliminary bombardment, but were unable to reach the French
position. The accurate fire of the French artillery proved destructive
and drove them back, and the French were enabled to hold their lines
without a break. About the same time British troops repulsed a German
raid on their lines north of Arras. During the night and on the day
following, January 22, 1917, the British took a number of prisoners as
the result of patrol and bombing encounters in the neighborhood of
Grandcourt, Neuville-St. Vaast, Fauquisart, and Wytschaete.
German Army Headquarters reported that on this date the British
attacked their lines near Lens and in a hand-grenade engagement were
repulsed with some losses. Near Bezon one of their reconnoitering
detachments brought back several prisoners and one machine gun from
short excursions into hostile positions.
In the night of January 22, 1917, the Germans attempted two raids on
British positions between Armentières and Ploegsteert. In one instance
the Germans were driven back before they could reach the British
trenches. The second party of raiders succeeded in penetrating a
portion of the British position, but were quickly driven out. The
raiding party while advancing, and again on returning, came under
British machine-gun fire and left a number of dead on the field. On
this date the British lost one aeroplane and drove a hostile machine
down in the neighborhood of Aubigny. About the same time the French
reported the capture of a Fokker, which landed in their lines near
Fismes. Two other German machines were brought down in an aerial
engagement in the vicinity of Marchelpot, and another by the fire of
French antiaircraft guns in the direction of Amy.
A new division, and the sixth to enter the fight, was now flung
against the French with the purpose of cutting through the line and
covering the German occupation on the southern slope of Hill 304. "The
blackened stumps of the shell-swept wood," said an eyewitness,
"offered no protection to the kaiser's legions, and regardless of the
officers' shrill whistles and brandished revolvers the German soldiers
flung aside their equipment, rifles, and hand grenades and raced back
to their former trenches."
During the night of January 26, 1917, French artillery continued to
pound German lines in the sector of Hill 304. At Les Eparges a
surprise attack was attempted by German troops that was repulsed with
considerable losses to the attackers. During the day's fighting in
this sector the French aviators brought down five hostile aircraft,
Lieutenant Guynemer scoring his thirtieth victory.
[Illustration: Allies' Gain at the Somme, up to February, 1917.]
In the neighborhood of Transloy on the Somme front British forces
carried out a successful operation on January 27, 1917. Owing to the
blizzard weather the Germans evidently did not expect an attack,
perhaps thinking that the British would remain under shelter as they
were doing. No unusual preparation seemed to be going on within the
British lines that would suggest to an outside observer that an
important military operation was about to be launched. But in the
British trenches well prepared and organized troops were waiting the
order to attack. Suddenly the British batteries spoke in thunderous
tones, showering German trenches and defensive works with shells of
enormous destructive force. The barbed-wire obstructions before the
German positions were cut like packthread. The British troops at the
signal sprang out into no-man's-land following the curtain of fire.
Sweeping over and around the position, the Germans were trapped in
their dugouts before they could get up to bomb the invaders or fire
upon them with machine guns. The whole German garrison of this strong
position gave up the fight after making but slight resistance.
The prisoners, numbering six officers and 352 men of the Hundred and
Nineteenth and Hundred and Twenty-first Regiments, the Württembergers
of Königen Olga, who had hardly recovered from the surprise occasioned
by their capture, were packed into old London busses and were hurried
to their camp on the British side of the battle field.
The prisoners confessed that they had been caught napping. The British
gunfire they had believed was simply the usual morning salutation, and
remained in their dugouts until it was over. They said they would have
put up a fight if they had had any kind of chance, but taken by
surprise they could only surrender.
German gunners at other points had by this time observed the red
lights that went up, the signals of distress, and thus learned that
the position had been captured. But they were too late in getting
their guns into action, and the white haze that hung over the scene at
that early morning hour hindered their observation, so that the feeble
fire they could concentrate on the captured position did no harm.
The British had pressed on farther than the objective given to them to
a point 500 yards beyond the German first line, where they established
themselves, finding the deep warm dugouts much more comfortable than
the temporary shelters of their own which they had left. Later in the
day the British troops occupying the most advanced position were
withdrawn to the ground which had been assigned as the objective in
the attack. The Germans made different attempts to force them out of
this position, but all attacks broke down under fire, for the British
had perfect observation of their movements from the higher ground they
had won in recent battles in this sector.
On the French front there was active fighting all day long on January
27, 1917. On the left bank of the Meuse French troops engaged the
Germans with hand grenades on the eastern slopes of Hill 304. On the
right bank of the river they made a successful attack against German
positions between Les Eparges and the Calonne trench. The German
position was found to be strewn with dead, and a great quantity of
booty was taken. In Lorraine there were numerous artillery duels in
the sector of the forest of Bezange. Near Moulainville a German
aeroplane was brought down in flames by the fire of French guns.
The continued bad weather that prevailed along the Somme and on the
Verdun front did not hinder the Allies from assuming the offensive
whenever there appeared to be an opportunity to make even the
slightest gain. At daybreak on January 28, 1917, British forces
penetrated German trenches northeast of Neuville-St. Vaast, where they
successfully bombed the enemy in dugouts and brought away a number of
prisoners. All day British artillery was active north of the Somme in
the neighborhood of Beaumont-Hamel, Lens, and the Ypres sector.
Northeast of Festubert the British carried out a successful raid in
which they captured an officer and a number of other ranks. The
British raiders escaped without any casualties. The Germans after an
intense bombardment attempted to rush a British post east of
Fauquissart, but were repulsed in disorder.
On this date the French forces also displayed courage and activity in
carrying out successfully important minor operations at different
points along the Somme. During the night they entered German positions
in the sector of Hill 304 on the left bank of the Meuse; artillery
duels and grenade fighting were almost continuous. In the Champagne,
and at various places on the front in Alsace, there were numerous
patrol encounters between the Germans and French in which the latter
were generally victorious. A German attack made on a French trench at
Hartmannsweilerkopf was repulsed with heavy losses to the raiders. An
attempt made by German aviators to bomb the open town of Lunéville
proved abortive. No damage was done and no lives were lost.
The British forces in France did not attempt any offensive during the
day of January 29, 1917, but at night a successful raid was carried
out in the neighborhood of the Butte de Warlencourt north of
Courcelette.
The British penetrated the German trenches and bombed the dugouts,
destroying a gun and taking seventeen prisoners. East of Souchez
another British raiding party penetrated German lines and wrecked the
defenses.
The Germans continued their efforts to drive the French out of their
positions in the region of Hill 304. On this date, January 29, 1917,
they made a violent attack with grenades on an advanced French trench
in this sector, but were repulsed with losses by the French artillery.
Three German aeroplanes were brought down.
The 30th of January, 1917, was an unimportant day in the fighting in
France. The British bombarded German positions opposite Richebourg
l'Avoue, east of Armentières and Ypres. Between Soissons and Rheims
the French artillery dispersed two surprise attacks attempted by the
Germans, one in the sector of Soupir and the other in the region of
Beaulne (Aisne).
In Lorraine during the night a French detachment penetrated the first
and second line of German trenches at a point south of Leintrey. The
defenders of these positions were put out of action and the French
took about fifteen prisoners. In the region of Moncel another party of
French raiders successfully carried out a surprise attack on German
positions.
On this last day of the month the British headquarters in France
reported that during January they had captured 1,228 Germans,
including twenty-seven officers.
PART II--EASTERN FRONT
CHAPTER XVIII
THE NEW DRIVE AGAINST LEMBERG
Coincident with their attempt to recapture Kovel, the Russians
launched a new drive against Lemberg, the ancient capital of Galicia.
This movement was a result of the successes which they had gained in
the Bukowina and in eastern Galicia during July, 1916. By the end of
that month, as has been previously told, the Russians had reconquered
all of the Bukowina, overrun some of the most southern passes of the
Carpathians, and were in possession of that part of eastern Galicia
located north of the Pruth and Dniester Rivers and east of the Strypa
River.
Having gained these advantages, they now attempted to press them and
attacked Lemberg both from the north and from the south. In the former
direction they advanced from Brody and Tarnopol against the strongly
held Styr and Bug line. In the south Lemberg was defended by the
Dniester line. Before forcing this line it was necessary to capture
Stanislau, an important point on the Czernowitz-Lemberg railway.
Between the Bug and the Dniester lines of defense Lemberg was secured
in the east, and still farther by a third line of natural defenses.
This was formed by a series of northern tributaries of the Dniester,
of which the most important were the Sereth, Strypa, and Zlota Lipa
Rivers. The former two had already been crossed by the Russians, but
there still remained the very formidable and extremely strong line of
defenses along the last, which had more than once before proved very
difficult to overcome.
On the Russian side there were engaged in this struggle three army
groups under Generals Sakharoff, Stcherbacheff, and Lechitsky. The
Austro-German forces were divided into four groups under Generals
Puhallo, Boehm-Ermolli, Von Bothmer, and Von Pfanzer-Ballin.
During the first few days of August, 1916, the fighting along this
entire line, though continuous and severe, was not particularly well
defined and was more or less split up into comparatively small and
local engagements. On August 1, 1916, engagements of this nature took
place southwest of Burkanoff and west of Buczacz. In the latter region
the ground offered great difficulties. A small but very marshy
river--the Moropiec--was strongly defended by the Austro-German
forces, and when these finally had to give way, they destroyed all
bridges. Nothing daunted, the Russians waded across in the face of
severe fire and frequently up to their necks in water, gained the
western bank, and after making some hundreds of prisoners, promptly
dug themselves in. Other engagements occurred on the same day in the
Dniester-Pruth sector--in the direction of Stanislau near Wisniowcza
and Molodgonow.
On August 2, 1916, the Russians developed a strong attack on both
sides of the railway near Brody against Ponikowica, but were
unsuccessful. However, the attacks were kept up and by the next day,
August 3, 1916, yielded not only considerable ground, but more than
1,000 prisoners. Fighting was kept up in this locality throughout the
following day. The Austro-Germans launched nine counterattacks, all of
which were repulsed. The losses on both sides were very severe. For,
though the Austro-German forces had to give way, they did so only
after the most stubborn resistance. Every little village had to be
fought for for hours, and each street had to be cleared at the point
of the bayonet. Especially severe encounters occurred near Meidzigory
and Tchistopady. By August 5, 1916, the Russians had registered some
important successes in this small sector. The number of their
prisoners had mounted to over 5,000, and a considerable number of
machine guns and bomb throwers had fallen into their hands. The
Austro-Germans tried to dislodge their opponents by means of violent
artillery fire and a series of strong counterattacks, but were
unsuccessful, and by the end of the fourth day, August 5, 1916, the
Russians were in possession of the west bank of the Sereth, near and
northwest of Zalocze, and of the villages of Zvyjin, Ratische,
Tchistopady, Gnidava, and Zalvoce, and the entire ridge of heights
between them.
Without let-up the Russians continued to hammer away at the
Austro-German lines on the Graberka and Sereth Rivers. On August 6,
1916, the Russian troops captured some more strongly fortified
positions in the vicinity of the villages of Zvyjin, Kostiniec, and
Reniuv. This region abounds with woods, and lends itself therefore
easily to the most determined defense. This resulted again in very
fierce bayonet encounters. The Austro-German forces attempted to stop
the Russian advance and launched a long series of very energetic
counterattacks, especially in the region of the river Koropiec. All of
these, however, were in vain. They were repulsed and resulted in
considerable losses. According to their official statement, the
Russians made about 8,500 prisoners in the Sereth sector on August 5
and 6, 1916, captured four cannon, nineteen machine guns, eleven
trench mortars, a large number of mine throwers and much war material
of all kinds. The amount of ground captured by August 7, 1916, was
claimed to have reached the considerable total of sixty-one and
one-half square miles.
Closer and closer the Russians were getting to their immediate
objective, Stanislau. On August 7, 1916, strong Russian forces
attacked along a front of about fifteen miles on a line between
Tlumach and Ottynia and succeeded in forcing back the Austro-Germans
along this entire front. They forced their way into the town of
Nizniow (about fifteen miles northeast of Stanislau), which was
captured, as also were the villages of Bratychuv, Palakhiche,
Nodworna, Charnolocza, Krovotula, Nove, and the small town of Ottynia,
and finally the town of Ilumach itself.
In spite of the gradual retirement of the Austro-Germans they
maintained their counterattacks, which, however, were not successful.
By April 8, 1916, they had been forced to take their line back to the
west of Nizinoff-Tysmienitsa-Ottynia, or within a few miles east of
Stanislau. The Russians on that day crossed the Koropiec, drove their
opponents out of their fortified positions, and themselves occupied
the left bank up to the point of its juncture with the Dniester. Late
on the same day the town of Tysmienitsa was taken as well as a ridge
of heights to the northeast as far as the right bank of the Dniester.
The fall of Stanislau now had become only a matter of days.
Throughout the next two days, August 9 and 10, 1916, the battle for
the possession of Stanislau continued to rage incessantly. One after
another the Russians overcame all the obstacles in their way. River
after river was crossed, trench after trench was stormed, and village
after village was captured. At last, about 8 o'clock in the evening of
August 10, 1916, the Russians under General Lechitsky entered
Stanislau from where the Austro-German troops had previously retired
in good order in a northerly direction against Halicz.
Farther north, in the region of Buczacz and Zalocze, the Russian
advance likewise progressed, though somewhat slower. Although by
August 11, 1916, the ground between the Zlota Lipa and the Horovanka
from the village of Kraseczuv up to the village of Usciezelione had
been captured, the Russian line had not been able to push quite as far
west toward Lemberg as in the region of Stanislau. In spite of this
fact, however, the Russians continued to push their advance. On August
12, 1916, they occupied Podhaytse on the Zlota Lipa, halfway between
Buczacz and Brzezany, and Mariampol on the Dniester.
The Austro-German forces continued their stubborn resistance all along
the line, and every bit of ground gained by the Russians had to be
fought for very hard. On August 13, 1916, fighting occurred along the
entire Galician front, from the Dniester up to the upper Sereth. The
Zlota Lipa was again crossed on that day at some of its numerous
turnings. After a very stubborn fight the village of Tustobaby,
northwest of the Dniester, strongly defended by fortifications and
machine guns, fell into the hands of the Russians. Russian attacks in
the region of Zboroff on the Tarnopol-Lemberg railroad were repulsed,
as were also attacks made west of Monasterzyska.
"In addition, there were taken a large number of rifles, 30 versts of
small-gauge railways, telegraphic materials, and several depots of
ammunition and engineering materials."
Throughout the next few days the Austro-Germans resumed the offensive
along the entire line. In spite of this the Russians managed to
advance at some points. At others they stubbornly maintained their
ground, and only in a few instances were they forced to yield
slightly. As the end of August approached the fighting along the
entire eastern front decreased very much in importance and violence.
Local engagements, it is true, took place at many points. But the
result of none of these had any important influence on the respective
positions of the Russians and Austro-Germans. The latter had lost
considerable ground during the Russian offensive and, if the Russian
reports were at all reliable, had suffered even more severe losses in
men and material. In this respect, however, the Russians had fared no
better, and possibly even worse. At any rate, neither Kovel nor
Lemberg, apparently the two chief objectives of the Russian
operations, had been reached, so that in spite of the Russian gains
the advantage seemed to rest with the Austro-Germans.
At the same time at which the Russians advanced against Kovel and
Lemberg the Austro-German forces renewed with increased vigor their
activities in the Carpathian Mountains, undoubtedly with the object to
reduce, if possible, the Russian pressure on their Bukowinian and
Galician positions. To a certain extent the Central Powers met with
success.
On August 4, 1916, a strong force of about one division, belonging to
the army group of the then Austrian heir-apparent, Archduke Charles
Francis Joseph, attacked the Russians in the mountain passes southwest
of Kutty on the Cheremosh, drove them back in a northeasterly
direction and captured some 400 men and a few machine guns. Again on
the next day, August 5, 1916, the Austro-Germans attacked in force,
this time somewhat farther west on the Pruth River in the vicinity of
Jablonitza south of Delabin, without gaining any noticeable ground.
On August 6, 1916, the Austro-German successes of August 4, 1916, were
somewhat extended by the capture of some additional heights on the
Cheremosh River. For the next few days there was little fighting in
these regions. But on August 11, 1916, an attack begun the day before
south of Zabie on the Cheremosh resulted in the capture of about 700
Russians and a few machine guns.
Gradually this movement spread until on August 14, 1916, the Russians
saw themselves forced to evacuate Jablonitza on the Pruth, which,
together with some near-by villages, was immediately occupied by the
Austro-Germans. Over 1,000 Russians were captured. Additional
territory was regained by the Austro-Germans in this vicinity on
August 15, 1916. During the next few days the Russian resistance
gradually stiffened. In spite of this fact, and in spite of some local
successes gained by the Russians on August 15, 1916, south of Delatyn
and north of Kimpolung and again on August 17, 1916, south of
Jablonitza near Korosmezo, the Austro-Germans continued to gain ground
and increased the number of their prisoners. On August 19, 1916, the
Russians reported some additional successes in the Jablonitza sector
as well as on the Cheremosh and in the neighborhood of Kirlibaba,
northwest of Kimpolung near the Hungarian-Bukowinian-Rumanian border.
On the same day, however, August 19, 1916, the Austro-Germans occupied
some heights south of Zabie, which they succeeded in holding against
strong Russian attacks launched on the same day, as well as on August
20 and 21, 1916. During the balance of August, 1916, the fighting in
the Carpathian Mountains deteriorated as a result of the new
developments farther south on the Rumanian border in a number of small
local engagements. The results of none of these had any particular
influence on the general position of either side, and in most
instances amounted to little more than fighting between outposts. The
only exception was the fighting in the neighborhood of Nadvorna, a
few miles south of Stanislau, where the Russians in the face of
stubborn resistance made some slight advance toward the Hungarian
border, from which they were, on August 29, 1916, still some twenty
miles distant.
CHAPTER XIX
THE BATTLE ON THE STOKHOD RIVER
In preceding chapters we have learned of the successful onslaught
which the Russians made against the Austro-German lines during the
months of June and July, 1916. Along the entire southern part of the
eastern front--from the southern base of the Pinsk salient down to the
Austro-Russo-Rumanian border--the troops of the Central Powers had
been pushed back many miles.
From June 4, 1916, to August 1, 1916, the Russians had regained some
15,000 square miles in Volhynia, Galicia, and the Bukowina. Lutsk,
Dubno, and Czernowitz were some of the valuable prizes which had
fallen into the hands of the czar's armies. At the beginning of
August, 1916, they now threatened the important railway centers of
Kovel and Lemberg, the latter the capital of Galicia.
In defending the former the Austro-German armies had made a determined
stand on the banks of the Stokhod River. This bit of water has its
origin some ten miles west of Lutsk, from which point it winds its
tortuous course for about one hundred miles in a northerly direction
toward the Pripet River, of which it is a tributary. Its northern part
flows through the Pripet Marshes. Its southern part, up to about the
village of Trojanovka, forms a salient, with its apex on an almost
straight line drawn between Kolki on the Styr and Kovel on the Turiya.
This salient, as well as the part of the Stokhod between the southern
base of the salient and its origin, formed a valuable and very
formidable natural line of defense for Kovel against any attacks from
the northeast, east, and southeast. Here the Austro-Germans had thrown
up strong defensive works and were resisting with all their might.
On August 1, 1916, the most furious kind of fighting took place in the
Stokhod sector. By that time the Russian attack, begun a few days
before, had made considerable progress, so that the Russians were at
some points some few miles west of the river. Time and again the
Russians heavily attacked the German-Austrian lines. In most places,
however, the latter not only held, but were even strong enough to
permit of repeated powerful counterattacks. This was especially true
in the region of the bend of the Stokhod near the villages of
Seletsie, Velitsk, and Kukhari. Very heavy fighting also developed at
many points north of the Kovel-Sarni railway. Near the village of
Smolary the Russians attacked three times, but were thrown back as
often, and between Witoniez and Kiselin six Russian attacks followed
each other in rapid succession, encountering the most stubborn
resistance.
Without abatement the Russians threw themselves against their
opponents' lines in this sector on the following day, August 2, 1916.
But the Germans protected themselves with such a well-directed and
furious curtain of artillery fire that the czar's troops could make no
further progress in spite of exceedingly heavy losses. Again Witoniez
and Kiselin were the center of desperate fighting which gradually
spread to the forest near Ostrow, north of Kiselin, and to the region
near the villages of Dubeschovo and Gulevitchie.
As the fighting progressed it became more and more evident that the
Austro-German command had determined to make a stand at the Stokhod at
any cost. The special correspondent of the London "Times," observing
the fighting from the Russian side, described its furiousness and the
ever-increasing resistance of the Austro-Germans as follows:
"From an observation point eighty feet above the ground in the swaying
foliage of a huge oak, a few versts distance from the battle field, I
obtained an extraordinary view of the country and of the Russian
artillery preparation. The country here is as flat as a board and
marshy, with the slow-flowing Stokhod oozing in the midst of beds of
water lilies. The difficulties of an advance are almost incredible,
yet our troops forded the river in places, passing mazes of barbed
wire sunk in the water.
"The cannonading continues day and night, at times reaching such
violence that it is impossible to distinguish sounds; it is simply a
continuous roar like thunder. At night the whole sky is illuminated by
bursting shells, searchlights, and star bombs. The town is filled with
wounded."
During the night of August 3 to 4, 1916, the stiffening of the
Austro-German defensive found expression in a series of very violent
German attacks against the village of Rudka-Miryanskaia, which formed
a very strong salient in the Russian positions. This little hamlet--it
is hardly more than that--is situated on the river Stavok, a tributary
of the Stokhod. Austro-German forces advanced from three sides.
Throughout the entire night the fighting for the possession of this
point was kept up. Attack after attack was repulsed by the Russians.
But in the early morning hours the latter were forced to evacuate the
village and to retreat more than 500 yards to the east. A few hours
later reenforcements arrived and the Russians once more gained
possession of the village, in the streets of which the sanguinary kind
of hand-to-hand fighting raged for hours. As a result the
Austro-German forces were finally thrown back beyond the river Stavok.
Before long, however, fresh Austro-German troops launched new
counterattacks and regained most of this territory, holding it
thereafter in the face of a number of violent Russian counterattacks.
Considerable fighting occurred likewise on August 3, 1916, both
somewhat farther north and south of this position. In the former
direction Russian detachments crossed the Stokhod at some points near
Lubieszow and occupied a series of heights, where they fortified
themselves strongly. To the south Ostrow again was the center of
bitter engagements, which, however, yielded no definite results.
By this time, August 10, 1916, it had become more or less evident that
the Russian drive against Kovel had been stopped by the
Austro-Germans. For a few days now a comparative reduction in the
violence of the fighting in the Stokhod sector set in.
Local attacks, however, as well as counterattacks continued even
during this period near Lubieszow and Zarecze, especially on August 11
and 12, 1916. Gradually, and concurrent with increased activity on
other parts of the eastern front, engagements in the Stokhod sector
became fewer and less important.
On August 18, 1916, however, the Russians somewhat renewed their
activity. The first sign was increased artillery fire at various
points. This was quickly followed by local attacks near
Rudka-Czerwiszce, Szelwow, and Zviniache. Especially noticeable was
the increase in Russian activity in the neighborhood of the first of
these three places, where the village of Tobol, after having changed
hands repeatedly, was finally occupied by the Russians. The latter
were successful on August 17, 1916, in crossing the Stokhod in this
vicinity at a point where they had previously been unable to make any
progress. On the other hand, they were forced to evacuate some of
their positions east of Kiselin.
Both on August 20 and 21, 1916, the Russians attempted to enlarge the
success which they had gained near Rudka-Czerwiszce. In this, however,
they were not successful, encountering the strongest kind of
determined resistance and suffering considerable losses. Local
engagements at various points on the Kovel-Sarni railroad and in the
neighborhood of Smolary likewise terminated in favor of the
Austro-German forces. During the balance of August, 1916, fighting on
the Stokhod was restricted to moderate artillery fire, local infantry
engagements, and extensive reconnoitering operations, carried on now
by one side, now by the other, without, however, yielding any
important results or changing to any extent the respective positions.
While the Russians were developing their attack against Kovel the
balance of the eastern front was comparatively inactive with the
exception of the Galician and Bukowinian sectors. The fighting which
occurred there had as its object the capture of Lemberg and developed
soon into a struggle of the first magnitude. It will be described in
detail in the following chapter.
North of the Stokhod occasional local engagements occurred from time
to time. Thus the Germans gained a slight local success on August 1,
1916, near Vulka on the Oginsky Canal to the northwest of Pinsk. On
the same day considerable fighting took place near Logischin and on
both sides of Lake Nobel, both in the same vicinity. The fighting on
the banks of the lake continued during the next few days, but bore no
important results.
Smorgon, the small but important railroad station on the Vilna-Minsk
railway, just southwest of the Vilia River, which so many times before
had been the center of furious fighting, again was made the scene of
attacks on the night of August 2, 1916. At that time the Germans
launched gas attacks on both sides of the railway. The attack opened
at 1 o'clock in the morning and the gas was released six times with
intervals between the waves. The gas attacks finished at 6 a. m. The
use of gas was discovered in good time, with the result that the
Germans, who were following the attacks, on attempting to advance,
were met with rifle and machine-gun fire and suffered severe losses.
On August 3, 1916, considerable activity was displayed in the vicinity
of Lakes Narotch and Wiszniew. The Russians there attempted to advance
against the German field positions near Spiagla, but were promptly
thrown back. Farther north the Germans gained some slight local
successes by capturing a few advanced Russian trenches northwest of
Postavy. At some other points, especially on the Shara, southeast of
Baranovitchy, the railway center east of Slonin, lively hand-grenade
battles occurred.
On the following day, August 4, 1916, the Russians made an attempt to
cross the Dvina near Deveten, a few miles northwest of Dvinsk, but
were repulsed. Another similar undertaking, attempted August 8, 1916,
east of Friedrichstadt, met the same fate. On that day German
batteries successfully bombarded Russian torpedo boats and other
vessels lying off the coast of Kurland and forced them to retire.
August 10 and 11, 1916, brought a series of small, local attacks
launched by the Russians south of Lake Wiszniew, near Smorgon and
Krevo. They were all repulsed. These attacks were renewed on August
12, 1916, bringing, however, no better results. On August 13, 1916,
considerable fighting took place in the region of Skrobiowa and along
the Oginsky Canal, south of Lake Wygonowskoie.
A lively local engagement developed on August 16, 1916, west of Lake
Nobel in the Pripet Marshes, about sixty miles northeast of Kovel. The
fighting lasted throughout August 17 and 18, 1916, and finally
resulted in a repulse for the Russians, who lost some 300 men and a
few machine guns.
A gas attack, launched by the Germans during the night of August 22,
1916, in the region south of Krevo, a little town north of the
Beresina River and about fifty miles southeast of Vilna, brought no
results of importance. The same was true of an attack against Russian
trenches south of Tsirin, northwest of Baranovitchy, made after
considerable artillery preparation on August 24, 1916.
Toward the end of August, 1916, the Russians again attempted at
various times to cross the Dvina. In no case, however, were they
successful. Even when they succeeded in launching their boats, as they
did on August 26, 1916, near Lenewaden east of Friedrichstadt, they
were driven back by the German fire.
CHAPTER XX
RENEWED DRIVE AGAINST LEMBERG
In spite of the temporary setback which the Russians experienced at
the end of August, 1916, in their attempt to reach and capture once
more Galicia's ancient capital, Lemberg, they were undaunted.
With the beginning of September, 1916, the vigor of their attacks
increased noticeably. On September 1, 1916, Russian attacks were
launched against the Austro-German lines east of Lemberg from all
directions. They were especially strong and violent in the vicinity of
Zlochoff and Halicz. In both these regions the Russian troops were
successful in advancing after capturing a number of positions. Without
abatement fighting continued on the next day, both before Halicz and
Zlochoff. In spite of the most fierce attacks, many of which were made
at the point of the bayonet, the Russians on September 2, 1916, were
unable to advance.
The fighting on September 3, 1916, was centered chiefly around
Brzezany and Zboroff. In both localities the Russians claimed
successes and reported large numbers of prisoners. Again, on September
4, 1916, Brzezany was the center of much fighting. Attack after attack
was launched by the Russians and thrown back by the Austro-Germans. On
the following day, September 5, 1916, the Russian persistency finally
found its reward. Although Russian attacks near Zlochoff broke down
under the Austro-German fire, other attacks between the Zlota Lipa and
the Dniester resulted in the pressing back of the Austro-German
center. Throughout the next few days the Russians continued to hurl
attack after attack against the Austro-German lines, stretching, to
the west of Lemberg, from Brody to Halicz. The regions near Zlochoff,
Zboroff, Brzezany, and Halicz, and especially that small strip of
country lying between the Zlota Lipa and the Dniester, were witnesses
of some of the most stubborn and sanguinary fighting which even this
blood-drenched corner of unhappy, war-swept Galicia had seen.
Again and again the Russian regiments would sweep up against the
strongly fortified and strongly held Austro-German lines, after
gunfire of unheard-of violence had attempted to prepare their task.
But though occasionally they made some advances, stormed some
trenches, or by the very violence of their attacks forced back the
Austro-Germans, the latter, generally speaking, held their ground.
Some very interesting sidelights are thrown on the fighting near
Halicz by the special correspondent of the London "Times," Stanley
Washburn, who writes from the Russian lines about the middle of
September, 1916, as follows:
"Our troops are now but a few hundred yards from Halicz railway
station, and just across the river from the town.
"Fighting has been going on on this army front almost without
intermission since August 31, and has resulted in the capture of
25,000 prisoners, of whom 8,000 are Germans, and twenty-two guns, some
of them heavy guns.
"The most significant, observation one makes on coming to this front
after two months with the more northern armies is the complete
reorganization of the Austrian front since the beginning of the
offensive in June. It was then held by six Austrian divisions and one
German. It is now held with a slightly extended front by fragments of
nine German divisions, two Turkish divisions, and three and a half
Austrian divisions. Of the Austrian divisions originally here three
have been completely destroyed, and two have departed, one for the
Rumanian front and another is missing.
"The composition of the German forces here shows the extraordinary
efforts the Germans are making to bolster up the Austrian cause and
preserve Lemberg. The only German division here at the inception was
the Forty-eighth Reserve Division. Last July there came from the
Balkans the Hundred and Fifth German Division, and at the same time
the Hundred and Nineteenth from our Riga front. Subsequently two
regiments of this division were sent to Kovel. Now one of these has
been hurried back here. The Ninety-fifth and the Hundred and
Ninety-ninth Divisions came in August, and within the past few days
the Hundred and Twenty-third Division arrived from the Aisne and the
Two Hundred and Eighth from the Somme. In addition there are present
here a fragment of the First Reserve Division and of the Third
Prussian Guard Division.
"The Turkish troops, which came several weeks ago, consist of the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Divisions, which last year opposed the Allies
at the Dardanelles. They have been fighting with extraordinary
fierceness.
"The immense efforts being made by the Germans to hold this front and
to make sweeping movements, become increasingly difficult, and the
campaign here promises to become similar to that in the west, where
the enemy's lines must be slowly digested mile after mile."
With the beginning of October, 1916, the Russians once more began
their drive against Lemberg. On the last day of September, 1916, the
Russians advanced short distances along both sides of the
Brody-Lemberg railroad, as well as farther south, near Zboroff, until
they were stopped by the curtain of fire directed against them from
the Austro-German lines. Still farther south, along both sides of the
Zlota Lipa, violent hand-to-hand encounters occurred. In the angle
between the Tseninoka and the Zlota Lipa the Russians also advanced
and gained a foothold in the first line of the Austro-Germans.
The latter immediately launched strong counterattacks on October 1,
1916, which resulted in the recapture of some of the lost ground,
especially along the Brody-Lemberg railroad. By October 2, 1916, the
battle for Lemberg was again in full swing all along the line from
Brody down to the Dniester, and the Russians succeeded in advancing at
some points on the Zlota Lipa. Without diminution the battle continued
on October 3, 1916. But so stubborn was the Austro-German resistance
that the Russians, in spite of the most violent assaults, were unable
to make any noticeable progress, except in the neighborhood of Brody
and Zboroff, as well as on the Zlota Lipa. Not only were infantry
attacks kept up for two full days, but the most lavish expenditure of
shells resulted in the most stunning artillery fire. No changes of any
importance, however, occurred in the positions of either side. The
same condition continued on October 6, 1916. On October 7 and 8, 1916,
the fighting in this region had slowed down to a considerable extent,
except in the vicinity of Brzezany where a series of attacks and
counterattacks took place without having any definite result for
either side.
Throughout the following week up to October 15, 1916, little of real
importance occurred in the Lemberg sector. Engagements, some of them
more nearly deserving the name "battles," were frequent at many
points, but barren of results. Gradually, however, the artillery fire
from both sides increased in violence, a sure sign of new attacks. On
October 14, 1916, coincident with the new Austro-German offensive in
the Carpathians, the Russians again attacked in force near Zboroff,
while the Germans attempted an advance south of Halicz. These
undertakings gradually developed, and by October 15, 1916, the battle
was again raging furiously all along the line east of Lemberg.
Especially on the western bank of the Narayuvka, a few miles north of
Halicz, strong Austro-German forces were employed and began to gain
ground slowly. This small success was gradually increased during the
following days, and on October 19, 1916, additional ground was gained
in this section. The Austro-Germans claimed to have captured over
2,000 men and held their newly regained positions against a number of
strong counterattacks. This success was again enlarged on October 20,
1916.
The fighting for complete control of the west bank of the Narayuvka
continued on October 21 and 22, 1916, and by that day the Russians had
been forced to give up all their positions. This greatly improved the
Austro-German positions before Halicz. This, in conjunction with the
severe losses, which the Russians had suffered, resulted in a
reduction of fighting and, at least for the time being, the Russian
attempts to reach Lemberg ceased. During the balance of October
nothing of importance happened in the Lemberg sector of the eastern
front, although the Russians attempted a number of times during the
last two days of the month to recapture the positions which they had
lost on the Narayuvka.
These attempts were renewed on November 1 and 2, 1916, with equal lack
of success. Engagements in this region which occurred on November 3,
1916, gave a few additional Russian positions to the Austro-Germans.
For the rest of November, 1916, the vicinity of the Narayuvka was
frequently the center of minor actions between comparatively small
detachments. Similar engagements occurred at various other points on
the Lemberg sector, and in some instances were preceded by heavy
artillery fire. The net result of all this fighting made practically
no change in the relative positions, except that it gave an
opportunity to the Austro-Germans to strengthen their positions near
Halicz and to bar the way to Lemberg more efficiently than ever.
CHAPTER XXI
THE FIGHTING FROM RIGA TO LUTSK
Just as the Russians maintained their attacks against Lemberg, they
continued their drive against Kovel, farther north, in September,
1916. On the first of that month fierce fighting occurred east and
south of Vladimir Volynsky, about twenty-five miles south of Kovel. On
the Stokhod Austro-German counterattacks near the village of Tobolo,
about forty miles northeast of Kovel, likewise resulted in fierce
engagements. On September 2, 1916, strong Russian attacks were
launched northeast and southeast of Sviniusky. At one time these
resulted in the capture of the village of Korytniza, which, however,
had to be given up again by the Russians when the Austro-Germans
commenced a dangerous outflanking counterattack.
The fighting in this region continued for that entire week, September
3 to 9, 1916. Neither side could gain any noticeable advantage. No
matter how often and how violently the Russians threw themselves
against the Austro-German lines on the Stokhod, the latter held as
they had done before so often. In isolated places the Austro-Germans
even assumed the offensive. But in that respect they were not any more
successful than their opponents.
[Illustration: Attack in the Riga Sector.]
On September 9, 10, and 11, 1916, the Russians launched a series of
very fierce attacks, carried out by strong forces against Bavarian
troops, holding part of the Stokhod line near Stara Czerwiszcze. Again
and again they came on in wave after wave. But neither great numbers
nor the most extensive artillery fire had any effect, as far as
gaining ground was concerned. The losses on both sides, however, were
appalling. By the middle of September, 1916, the fighting in the Kovel
sector lost noticeably in violence. On September 16, 1916, however,
the Russians again attacked west of Lutsk over a front of about twelve
miles. Though they suffered severe losses, they could not overcome the
Austro-German resistance, and for the balance of the month of
September, 1916, comparative quiet reigned along the Kovel sector of
the eastern front.
Simultaneously with their renewed efforts against Lemberg the Russians
began once more to drive against Kovel, with the beginning of October,
1916. On October 1 and 2, 1916, the most stubborn fighting developed
west of Lutsk in the neighborhood of Zaturze, Zola Savovskaia, and
Shelvov. In some places Russian troops stormed twelve times against
one and the same position, and at one point they made seventeen
attacks. These attacks were kept up for a number of days, but met with
little success, and by October 5, 1916, comparative calmness prevailed
on the Volhynian sector.
However, on October 8, 1916, the battle west of Lutsk, in the
direction of Vladimir Volynski, broke out once more in full fury. On
that day the Russians gained some slight successes at a few points,
which they lost, however, again on the following day. During the next
few days a number of smaller engagements occurred at many places west
of Lutsk, near Kiselin and along the Stokhod. These were only
forerunners of a new drive against Kovel which was begun on October
14, 1916.
On that day the Russians captured some trenches near Korytniza, forty
miles south of Kovel. These were held against many violent
Austro-German counterattacks, although the latter were kept up for a
number of days. By October 18, 1916, a new battle had developed in the
neighborhood of Kiselin, and fighting also was renewed more vigorously
on the Stokhod. In the latter region the Austro-Germans regained some
ground which they held against strong counterattacks. By October 20,
1916, activities on the Volhynian front had slowed down to an exchange
of artillery fire of varying intensity and to minor engagements of
local extent and little importance. This condition continued
throughout the balance of October, 1916, except that during the last
few days the Russian artillery fire along the entire Stokhod line,
especially just west of Lutsk, increased greatly in violence.
Throughout November, 1916, only a few actions of real importance took
place in the Kovel sector. Most of these occurred on the Stokhod,
where the Austro-Germans succeeded in improving their positions at
various points. The Russians seemed to be satisfied everywhere to
maintain their positions and to repulse as violently as possible all
Austro-German attempts to press them back. The most important
engagement in this sector most likely occurred on November 9, 1916, in
the region of Skrobova, near Baranovitchy, where the Central Powers
attacked along a front of about two and one-half miles and inflicted
heavy losses on the Russians.
Throughout the entire period of the Russian offensive against Kovel
and Lemberg comparative quiet reigned in the northern half of the
eastern front. Of course there, as well as everywhere else, continuous
engagements occurred. But they were almost all of a minor character,
and in most instances amounted to little more than clashes between
outposts or patrol detachments. On September 2, 1916, the Germans made
a somewhat more pretentious attack against some Lettish battalions of
the Russian army near Riga. The latter retorted promptly by a strong
counterattack which inflicted severe losses. On September 3, 1916, the
Russians repulsed a strong German gas attack.
During the balance of September, 1916, comparatively little of
importance occurred along the northern half of the eastern front
between Riga and the Styr. On September 6, 1916, the Russians crossed
to the western bank of the Dvina, north of Dvinsk, drove the Germans
out of their trenches along a short stretch and captured these
positions. On the next day the Germans promptly attacked these
positions, first with artillery and then with infantry, but were
unable to dislodge the Russians. On September 12, 1916, the Russians
made a number of attacks north of Dvetnemouth and near Garbunovka, but
were repulsed. A similar fate was suffered by a series of massed
attacks, preceded by a gas attack, which were undertaken by the
Germans on September 22, 1916, southwest of Lake Narotch.
The month of October, 1916, brought little of moment on the northern
half of the eastern front. Of course, local engagements occurred at
various places almost continuously, but most of them were little less
than fights between outposts of patrols. On October 12, 1916, the
Germans suddenly attacked Russian trenches near the village of
Goldovitchy, on the western bank of the Shara, north of the Pripet
Marshes. A few isolated gas attacks were attempted by the Russians in
the same vicinity on October 24 and 25, 1916. The latter was
reciprocated by an infantry attack, carried out by a small German
force on October 26, 1916, which had no result. A similar attack made
against the Russian positions just south of Riga was equally
unsuccessful.
During November, 1916, practically nothing of importance happened
anywhere along that part of the eastern front which stretches from
Riga to the Styr. Occasional attacks by small infantry groups were
made by both sides, but resulted in no actual change in the relative
positions. At other times artillery duels would take place, varying in
duration and intensity, and having likewise no result of real
importance.
CHAPTER XXII
FIGHTING IN THE CARPATHIANS
Accompanying the renewed Russian efforts against Lemberg and Kovel in
the beginning of September, 1916, fighting broke out again with
greater vigor in the Carpathians. Numerous local engagements took
place on September 1, 1916, none of which, however, brought any
successes to the attacking Russians. They were more successful on the
following day, September 2, 1916. South of Rafailov, in the region of
Kapul Mountain and also near Dorna Vatra, the Austro-Germans lost some
strongly fortified positions and the Russians thereby captured some
heights. Considerable fighting also occurred on both banks of the
Bystritza near the Rumanian border. These successes were somewhat
extended by the Russians on September 3, 1916. On the following day
small engagements developed southwest of Zabie and in the region of
Shypoth. Strong Russian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses
southwest of Fundul Moldowi. Finally, on September 5, 1916, these
continuous Russian attacks lasting day and night somewhat undermined
the Austro-German resistance and resulted in a slight Russian advance
along the entire line of attack.
On September 6, 1916, the Russians attacked southeast of Zielona,
about thirty-five miles southwest of Stanislau, and on the Bagaludova
west of the Kirlibaba Valley, on the border between the Bukowina and
Hungary. Both of these attacks were repulsed. The Austro-Germans
promptly replied with counterattacks near Zielona and west of Shypoth
on September 7, 1916. The Russians registered some successes on the
following day, September 8, 1916, west and southwest of Shypoth as
well as near Dorna Vatra. On the same day the Austro-Germans were also
forced to retreat northwest of Mount Kapul, a neighborhood in which
more or less fighting had been in progress ever since July, 1916. This
mountain peak is about 5,000 feet high. Again on September 9, 1916,
the Russians gained some ground west of Shypoth after attacking at
many points in the southern Carpathians. The heights east of the Cibo
Valley, about three miles west of Mount Kapul and just within the
Hungarian line, were also occupied by Russian forces.
Attacks again occurred in the Mount Kapul sector on September 10 and
11, 1916. On the latter day the Russians finally succeeded in
capturing Mount Kapul, after first having occupied a ridge to the
north of it. Almost 1,000 prisoners as well as some machine guns and
mortars fell into their hands. This success apparently encouraged the
Russians to other efforts in this territory.
On September 12, 1916, they attacked in the Carpathians along the
entire line from Smotrych, southwest of Zabie, to the Golden
Bystritza, without, however, making any headway.
Part of the position on Mount Kapul lost by the Austro-Germans on
September 11, 1916, was recovered on the fourteenth. To the west, in
the Cibo Valley, the fighting continued, but here too, as along the
balance of the eastern front, fighting gradually slowed down during
the rest of September, 1916.
During the first half of October, 1916, fighting in the Carpathians
was of a rather desultory nature. Neither side, though frequently
undertaking local engagements, registered any noticeable successes.
Suddenly on October 14, 1916, simultaneously with the increased vigor
shown by the Russians in Volhynia and Galicia, the Central Powers
launched a violent offensive movement along the entire Carpathian
front, from the Jablonica Pass down to the Rumanian border, on a front
of some seventy-five miles.
Especially heavy fighting occurred near Kirlibaba, in the Ludova
sector, and south of Dorna Vatra. In the latter region the Russians
were thrown back over the Negra Valley. These early successes,
however, led to nothing of importance. After October 15, 1916, up to
the end of the month only local engagements took place. By that time
weather conditions in the Carpathians had become too severe to permit
of any extensive operations.
Just as on the other parts of the eastern front the Carpathian sector
showed comparatively little activity during the month of November,
1916. Only at one point, in the region south of Dorna Vatra, did there
occur an action of somewhat greater importance. The Russians there had
gradually gained some ground by a series of small engagements. About
the middle of the month the Austro-Germans launched a strong
counterattack and regained all the ground, inflicting at the same
time heavy losses on the Russians. At other points occasional
artillery duels took place, and at many places small local engagements
between outposts and patrol detachments occurred almost daily.
CHAPTER XXIII
WINTER AT THE EASTERN FRONT
With the beginning of December, 1916, the severity of the cold weather
became so pronounced that activities at the eastern front had to be
reduced to a minimum by both sides. During the first week of December,
1916, considerable fighting, however, continued in that part of the
Carpathians just north of the Rumanian border, especially in the
vicinity of Dorna Vatra and Kirlibaba. This, too, gradually decreased
in violence, and during the second week of the month only minor
engagements between outposts and the usual trench activities occurred.
On December 17, 1916, the Germans, after considerable artillery
preparation, started a more extensive offensive movement in the
vicinity of Great and Little Porsk, about twenty-one miles southeast
of Kovel. After considerable fighting, lasting all afternoon,
nightfall put a temporary stop to this undertaking. It was, however,
renewed during the early morning hours of the following day, and as a
result the Germans occupied small portions of the Russian positions.
These were held against a number of Russian counterattacks made during
the following days. Minor engagements also occurred on December 16,
17, and 18, 1916, near Kabarowce, northwest of Tarnopol; in the
Jezupol region of the river Bystrzyca between Stanislau and the
Dniester; southwest of Vale Putna in the extreme south of the
Bukowina; on the Narajowka River near Herbutow, about ten miles north
of Halicz; and near Augustowka south of Zboroff.
During the balance of December, 1916, nothing of importance happened
at any part of the eastern front, except that on December 25, 1916,
the Germans violently bombarded the Russian positions in the region
between Brody and Tarnopol in Galicia and farther south on the
Narajowka south of Brzezany.
The first few days in January, 1917, brought little change on the
eastern front. Engagements between small detachments occurred daily at
a number of places. None of these was of any importance.
On January 23, 1917, the Germans after extensive artillery preparation
launched an attack with considerable forces against the positions
which the Russians had recently gained along the river Aa. Though
meeting with stubborn resistance they were successful, and captured
not only considerable ground, but also some 1,500 prisoners. The
Russians were forced to retire about a mile and a half toward the
north. During the next two days, January 24 and 25, 1917, they were
forced back still farther. These gains the Germans were able to hold
in the face of strong Russian counterattacks made on January 26 and
27, 1917, though they were unable to extend them.
During the last four days of January, 1917, engagements along the
entire front increased occasionally in number and violence. On January
28, 1917, Russian troops attacked positions held by Turkish troops
near the Galician village of Potutory, some seven miles south of
Brzezany. At the point of the bayonet the Turks were forced to yield,
and in spite of a number of counterattacks the Russians maintained
their success. Fighting on January 29, 1917, was restricted chiefly to
the vicinity of the river Aa, where the Germans again made some slight
gains. This was also the case on January 30, 1917, when the Germans
with the assistance of extensive artillery bombardments and a series
of gas attacks captured some more Russian positions as well as about
900 prisoners and fifteen machine guns.
On the last day of January, 1917, practically nothing of any
importance occurred at any point of the eastern front, the whole
length of which was that day in the grip of ever-increasing cold.
PART III--THE BALKANS
CHAPTER XXIV
RUMANIA'S MILITARY STRENGTH
Finally the military power of Rumania was of enough consequence to
warrant the greatest exertions on the part of diplomats to obtain its
active support. With a population of close to 7,000,000, the little
state could throw a respectable army into the field. In 1914 her
infantry numbered well over a quarter of a million, her cavalry close
up to 20,000, while her equipment included 600 modern cannon and 300
machine guns. Aside from this there was a considerable reserve to draw
from. By the middle of 1916, just before she entered the war, it was
estimated by good authorities that the Rumanian army numbered at least
600,000 men under arms and that about an equal number could still be
counted on in the reserves. In theory at least, it was a well-trained
army. The artillery of all classes numbered about 1,500 guns, but
there was a marked shortage of really powerful cannon. The horse and
field artillery were armed with Krupp quick-firers of 3-inch caliber,
and the heavy and the mountain guns were from the Creusot works in
France. The infantry was armed with the Austrian Mannlicher rifle, but
of these arms Rumania possessed barely enough to arm her 600,000 men.
Shortly before she definitely made her decision, this stock of arms
was considerably augmented by shipments from France and England, and
even from Russia, but on account of the fact that they must be shipped
by a dangerous sea route and then across Russia, the time of transit
covering six weeks, she was probably not very well supplied with
ammunition.
CHAPTER XXV
HOSTILITIES BEGIN
The first news of the actual fighting was given to the world through
an official Austrian communiqué, dated August 28, 1916, announcing
that, during the preceding night, the Rumanians had begun a determined
attack on the Austrian forces in the Red Tower Pass and the passes
leading to Brasso. On the following day another report added that the
attempted invasion had become general and that the Imperial troops
were resisting attacks in all the passes along the whole frontier.
But, added the report, everywhere the Rumanians had been successfully
repulsed, especially near Orsova, in the Red Tower Pass, and in the
passes south of Brasso. In spite of these successes, however, the
Austrians were compelled to retire their advanced detachments to a
position prepared in the rear, as planned long before, because
overwhelming forces of Rumanians were attempting a far-reaching
flanking movement. As a matter of fact, the Austrians, never very
determined fighters, and now especially demoralized by the recent
success of the Russian offensive under Brussilov, were giving way all
along the line before the Rumanians under General Averescu. On the
same day a Rumanian official report gave a long list of villages and
towns which the Rumanians had taken beyond the frontier, their Fourth
Army Corps also having taken 740 prisoners. Within two days Averescu
had advanced so rapidly that he was in possession of Petroseny, north
of the Vulkan Pass, and of Brasso, beyond Predeal Pass. His troops
were pouring through the Tolgyes and Bekas Passes up in the north in
steady streams, and were advancing on Maros Vasarhely, a military base
and one of the principal towns of central Transylvania. The Rumanians
advancing by way of Gyimes, after a sharp encounter with the
Austrians, had driven the latter back to the heights east of
Csikszereda, a point over twenty miles inside the Austrian frontier.
Finally, spirited fighting was taking place in the Varciorova Pass on
the Danube, and here too the Austrians made a very poor showing.
Then on the last day of the month came the announcement from Bucharest
that Russian forces had arrived on Rumanian soil and were already
crossing the Danube over into Dobrudja, their left wing on the Black
Sea coast being protected by ships of the Russian fleet. The commander
of this force was General Zaionchovsky, who, together with his staff,
had been welcomed in Bucharest by a throng of the enthusiastic
inhabitants, women and children hurling bouquets of flowers on the
Russians as they passed through the streets. Another peculiar feature
of this event was the organization of a brigade of Serbians, interned
soldiers who had escaped into Rumanian territory during the invasion
of their country the year previously. These now became a part of the
Russian contingent. Meanwhile in the north the Rumanians and the
Russians had also joined forces, and on August 29, 1916, Berlin
officially announced that the German-Austrian forces in that section
had been attacked by the Russo-Rumanians in the Carpathians.
On the Danube the Austrian river fleet showed some activity. A monitor
shelled Varciorova, Turnu Severin, and Giurgevo, situated on the
Rumanian bank, and some small craft were captured at Zimnita. On the
other hand, the Rumanians were reported to have begun a general
bombardment of Rustchuk, an important Bulgarian port on the river. And
on the night of the 28th the fact that the nation was at war was
brought home to the citizens of the capital by an aeroplane and a
Zeppelin, which sailed over the city dropping bombs, but doing very
little harm. During the following month such raids were to be almost
daily occurrences, and many were the women and children killed by the
bombs hurled down from above.
On the 1st of September, 1916, came the announcement of a really
striking victory for the Rumanians: Orsova, where heavy fighting had
been raging since the first hour of the war and in which the Austrians
were daily claiming success, was finally taken. Here the Austrians
held a strong position, against which the Rumanians had hurled one
assault after another, until they succeeded in taking two heights
overlooking the town, each over a thousand feet high and thus forced
the defeated enemy over the Cserna River, a northern branch of the
Danube. This success caused some sensation, for now it appeared that
the way was opening for an offensive across the southern portion of
Hungary which should sever the Teutons and the Magyars from their
Bulgarian and Turkish allies.
Badly beaten as they had been by Brussilov, the Hungarians and the
Austrians were now considerably shaken. Again, Germany was called on
to come to the rescue, as she had done before on the eastern front and
in Serbia. Nor could the Germans afford to overlook the call, for
there had been much agitation in Hungary for a separate peace. Indeed,
Germany had for some time been preparing to relieve the situation as
subsequent events conclusively proved. On the following day, September
2, 1916, her first blow was struck.
CHAPTER XXVI
BULGARIA ATTACKS
Up to this time the Rumanians had hoped, perhaps, even believed, that
Bulgaria would refrain from attacking in Dobrudja. Not a word had come
from Sofia indicating that Bulgaria intended to begin hostilities. But
on this day, September 2, 1916, a strong force composed of Bulgarians,
Turks, and Germans, which had been quietly mobilizing behind the
Bulgarian frontier, hurled itself over into Dobrudja and threw back
the weak Rumanian guards. The force with which this blow was delivered
was understood a few days later, when it was learned that Germany had
sent her best field commander, General Mackensen, to direct operations
in this zone.
This territory is of a nature entirely different from the scene of the
fighting along the eastern and northern borders of Rumania. Dobrudja
forms a square tract of level country, about a hundred miles long and
sixty broad, lying just south of the delta of the Danube and along the
Black Sea coast. The larger part of it is marshy or low, sandy plain.
Here the Danube splits into three branches, only one of which, the
Sulina, is navigable. Two railroads traverse this country; the one
running from Bucharest to Constanza, an important seaport; another
branching off from this line below Medgidia, running down to Dobric,
thence over the frontier into Bulgaria. The former was of special
importance to the Rumanians, as it was the only line of communication
between Rumania and any Rumanian force that might be operating in
Dobrudja. It crossed the Danube over a bridge and viaduct eleven miles
in length, forming the only permanent crossing over the river below
the bridge at Belgrade. This structure ranks as one of the big
engineering works in the world, its cost being close to $3,000,000. It
consists, first of a bridge of three spans, 500 yards in length, then
follows a viaduct eight miles in length, resting on piers built on
islands, and finally comes a bridge 850 yards in length, of five
spans, crossing the main channel of the river, which here is a hundred
feet deep in places. Such is the famous Cernavoda Bridge. Toward this
important point Mackensen's first move was obviously directed.
On September 3, 1916, a Rumanian dispatch announced that Mackensen was
attacking in full force along his front below Dobric and that he had
been repulsed. But as developed within twenty-four hours Mackensen was
not repulsed. On the contrary, he was advancing, as was shown the next
day when he had extended his lines to a point eight miles northwest of
Dobric, while the full length of the frontier was well within his
front. On the following day, the 4th, Dobric was attacked and easily
taken, and the combined forces of Bulgarians, Turks, and Germans
hurled themselves against the outer fortifications protecting the
south end of the bridge at Tutrakan. Fortunately for the Rumanians
they were now reenforced by a considerable body of Russians, and the
Bulgarians were temporarily checked, the heaviest fighting taking
place in the neighborhood of Dobric. But the Rumanians and the
Russians were plainly outnumbered, at Dobric they were gradually
pressed back, while at the bridgehead they were severely defeated. At
this latter point the enemy showed his vast superiority in artillery,
which he had concentrated here for the purpose of demolishing the
fortifications. After nearly a dozen assaults, each following a
furious artillery preparation, the Bulgarians finally, on September 6,
1916, drove the Rumanians back and took the fort. It was at this point
that the German and Bulgarian dispatches claimed that 20,000 Rumanians
were taken prisoner, but dispatches from Bucharest stoutly denied
this. However, as was admitted later, the total losses of the
Rumanians could not have been much less.
After the fall of Tutrakan the Russo-Rumanian forces, under the
command of General Aslan, retired northward, and a lull came in the
fighting on this front which lasted almost a week. On the 8th Silistra
too was evacuated by the Rumanians after a spirited defense by the
small garrison. When the news of these reverses became known to the
people of Bucharest little depression was shown, for the operations
against the Austro-Hungarians were continuing successfully for the
Rumanians.
In spite of the fact that the Austro-Hungarians had had two years'
experience of warfare, and that the Rumanians were new to actual
fighting, the former made very poor resistance. With comparative ease
the Rumanians advanced beyond Brasso and took Sepsiszentgyorgy and
forced the Austro-Hungarians to retreat west of Csikszereda. On the
8th the Rumanians announced themselves in possession of Toplicza, San
Milai, Delne, and Gyergyoszentmiklos, while in the sector between
Hatszeg and Petroseny they were pressing the enemy severely. Nowhere
did the Austrians make any serious resistance: they retreated, as
slowly as possible, under the protection of rear-guard actions,
yielding over 4,000 prisoners to the advancing Rumanians, as well as a
great deal of railroad rolling stock, cattle, and many convoys of
provisions. That they were expecting the assistance which was
presently to come to them from the Germans seems obvious from the
fact that they did not destroy the railroad or its tunnels or bridges
as they retired; they apparently felt certain of returning. The
peasantry, on the other hand, burned their houses and crops in those
sections where the population is Magyar, then fled toward Budapest,
which was beginning to fill with refugees. In those sections where the
Rumanians were numerous the people, according to the Rumanian
dispatches, welcomed the invaders with frantic enthusiasm.
The victorious Rumanians continued toward Hermannstadt, taking
Schellenberg on the way. Here a Hungarian army had been defeated in
1599 by Rumanians under Michael the Brave. Hermannstadt, however,
marked the high tide of Rumanian victory. At this point the resistance
of the enemy began suddenly to stiffen. And then came the report that
the Rumanians were observing German uniforms among the opposing
forces. Again Germany had come to the rescue. On September 13, 1916,
the first German troops to arrive on the scene came in contact with
the Rumanians southeast of Hatszeg near Hermannstadt. Within two days
the Rumanians were no longer able to gain ground, though for some time
longer they sorely pressed their enemies.
Meanwhile, Mackensen in Dobrudja was showing extreme activity. The
lull which followed the retirement of the Rumanians from Tutrakan was
suddenly terminated on the 12th, when the Bulgarians and their allies
attacked Lipnitza, fifteen miles east of Silistria. Here the Rumanians
resisted furiously, and after an all-night fight they severely
repulsed Mackensen's troops, taking eight German guns. However, this
was only a temporary advantage. Some days later the German kaiser, in
a telegram to his wife, announced that Mackensen had gained a decisive
victory in Dobrudja. While this phraseology is perhaps a little too
strong as a description of the situation at that date, the fact was
that the Rumanians and the Russians were again forced to retire
northward. According to the German reports the retreat was a
disorderly flight, but the absence of any reports indicating a large
capture of prisoners or material would indicate that the Germans
exaggerated their success. At this moment a new loan was being
launched in Germany, and it was natural that the military situation
should be somewhat warmly colored.
On September 17, 1916, the Rumanian dispatches indicated that the
Russo-Rumanian forces in Dobrudja had fallen back to a line reaching
from Rasova, south of Cernavoda some ten miles to Tuzla, twelve miles
south of Constanza. Thus the situation was quite grave enough.
Meanwhile, some days before, General Averescu, who seemed to have been
doing so well on the Hungarian front, was sent to Dobrudja, in the
hope apparently that his superior abilities would save the situation.
He arrived on the 16th, together with considerable reenforcements
which had been drawn from the northwest, where the Russians were
supporting the Rumanians. Further Russian contingents had also
arrived, and on the following day, the 17th, Averescu turned suddenly
on Mackensen and gave him determined battle. This was the heaviest
fighting which had so far taken place in this section. Again and again
Mackensen hurled his Bulgarians and Turks against the Russo-Rumanian
lines, first battering them with his huge cannon. At Rasova, on the
Danube, his attacks were especially heavy. Had he taken this point he
would have been able to flank the Rumanians at Cernavoda, capture the
bridgehead there and so cut all communication between the Rumanians in
Dobrudja with Rumania itself. The battle raged until the 19th all
along the line, with no definite advantage to either side. But on that
day reenforcements came to Averescu. That night he began to advance.
The mightiest efforts of Mackensen's forces were unable to check him.
At dawn the Bulgarians began to retreat, setting fire to the villages
through which they retired. In this battle the Rumanians were plainly
victorious. No doubt they were in superior numbers, for Sarrail's
offensive in Macedonia had grown extremely formidable and the
Bulgarians had been compelled to rush down reenforcements from the
Dobrudja front. At any rate, Mackensen was forced to retreat until he
established his re-formed lines from Oltina, on the Danube, to a
point southwest of Toprosari, thence to the Black Sea coast, south of
Tuzla. For the time being the Rumanians were much elated by their
success. But, as time was to show, it was merely temporary.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE GERMANS ARRIVE
The center of interest in the campaign now became the Hungarian front.
As has already been stated, by the middle of the month the arrival of
German reenforcements had checked the advance of the Rumanians, and
now the situation along this front assumed an aspect not quite so
encouraging to the Rumanians. Some little progress was still made in
this direction in the third week of the month; after a few slight
engagements the Rumanians occupied Homorod Almas and Fogaras, the
latter a town of some importance halfway between Brasso and
Hermannstadt. During these operations nearly a thousand prisoners were
taken. Finally, on the 16th, they reached Barot, dominating the
railroad between Brasso and Foeldvar, some thirty miles beyond the
frontier.
Meanwhile German troops had reenforced the Austrians at Hatszeg, in
the valley of the Streiu. Here on the 14th a pitched battle was begun
in a mountain defile, which lasted two days and resulted in the defeat
of a force of Magyars. On the 18th General von Staabs, commanding a
large force of German troops, attacked the Rumanians in the Hatszeg
sector, and after a very hot fight thrust them back. And at about the
same time German forces began attacking the Rumanians in the Gyergyoi
Havosok and Kalemen Hegyseg ranges of the Carpathians.
On the 21st a Berlin dispatch announced that the Teutonic forces had
carried the Vulkan Pass and cleared it of the enemy. On the following
day, however, the Rumanians were still fighting at this point and
three days later forced the Teutons back and reconquered the lost
territory, as well as the neighboring Szurduk Pass. By the 28th they
had recovered ten miles of lost ground within the Hungarian frontier,
driving the Austrians and the Germans before them.
[Illustration: Teutonic Invasion of Rumania.]
A month had now passed since the outbreak of hostilities and the
Rumanians were still holding a large conquered territory, nearly a
third of Transylvania, or about 7,000 square miles of country. They
were in complete occupation of four out of fifteen administrative
departments and a portion of five others. Up to this time 7,000
prisoners had been captured. Meanwhile large forces of Germans
continued arriving and reenforcing the enemy's lines, and now the
determination of the Germans to devote their best energies to the
punishment of Rumania was indicated by the fact that this northern
army was under the command of General von Falkenhayn, formerly chief
of the German General Staff.
On September 26, 1916, the Germans began their first really serious
advance, the point of attack falling on the Rumanians near
Hermannstadt, about fifty miles northeast of Vulkan Pass. For three
days the Rumanians made a heroic resistance against a great
superiority in men and heavy cannon on the part of the enemy. On the
third day the Rumanians found themselves entirely surrounded, their
retreat through the Red Tower Pass being cut off by a column of
Bavarian Alpine troops who had scaled the mountain heights and
occupied the pass in the rear. Rendered desperate by this situation,
the Rumanians now fought fiercely to escape through the ring that
encircled them, but only a comparatively few succeeded in reaching
Fogaras, from which town another Rumanian force had been trying to
make a diversion in their favor. In this action, according to German
accounts, the Rumanians lost 3,000 men, thirteen guns, ten
locomotives, and a quantity of other material. This battle, called by
the Germans the Battle of Hermannstadt, enabled them to occupy again
the Red Tower Pass. On October 1, 1916, they had continued beyond this
pass and were attacking a Rumanian force south of it, near Caineni, on
Rumanian territory. Thus, with the first of the new month the
Rumanians were on the defensive in this region.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE RUMANIAN RAID ACROSS THE DANUBE
On the following day general attention was again attracted toward the
Dobrudja by a feat on the part of the Rumanians which for the moment
gave the impression that she was about to strike the enemy an
unexpected and decisive blow. A day or two before a Turkish and a
Bulgarian division had been severely repulsed near Toprosari, south of
Tuzla. Immediately there succeeded a general assault along the entire
line to which Mackensen had retreated on the 20th, but though thirteen
guns were captured, he did not again give ground.
Suddenly, on the morning of October 2, 1916, the Rumanians threw a
pontoon bridge across the Danube at Rahova, about halfway between
Rustchuk and Tutrakan, and well in the rear of Mackensen's line.
Before the small Bulgarian forces stationed at this point were aware
of what had happened they were completely overwhelmed by the
Rumanians, who were streaming across the bridge. All the villages in
the neighborhood were seized and for twenty-four hours it was expected
that Mackensen was about to suffer a sensational repulse. But
apparently the Rumanians lacked the forces necessary for the
successful carrying out of what would have been a brilliant stroke, or
possibly the Bulgarian forces which appeared here against them were
larger than had been expected, for the next day they announced that
the force which had been thrown across the river had again retired,
unharmed, the object of its demonstration having been accomplished.
According to the Bulgarian accounts their retreat was forced because
of the appearance of an Austrian monitor, which began shelling and
destroying the pontoon bridge, and that before the retreat had been
completed the bridge had been destroyed and a large remnant of the
Rumanian force had been captured or killed. In general, however, the
fighting during these first few days of the month gave neither side
any advantage, and again the situation calmed down to comparative
inactivity.
That the retirement of the Rumanians was well ordered is shown by the
fact that even the Berlin dispatches claimed very few prisoners, in
addition to a thousand taken at Brasso, while the Austro-Germans had
lost considerably over a thousand. On the 6th Fogaras had been
relinquished. North and east of Brasso the Rumanians had also
retreated. On the 8th Berlin announced that "the entire eastern front
of the enemy was in retreat." This was, in general, quite true, except
that for a few days longer they still held their positions in the
valley of the Maros.
Aside from the advantage in his superiority of numbers, Falkenhayn
also had at his disposal the better railroad accommodations. A line
running parallel with almost the entire front enabled him to shift his
forces back and forth, wherever the contingencies of the situation
made them needed most. By the 12th he was facing the Rumanians in the
passes. Heavy fighting then began developing at Torzburg, Predeal, and
Buzau Passes. Finally the Rumanians were forced back toward Crasna on
the frontier. A critical moment seemed imminent. Averescu, who had
defeated Mackensen, was now recalled from the Dobrudja and sent to
take command of the Rumanian forces defending the passes behind
Brasso.
By the middle of the second week of October, 1916, the Rumanians had
lost all the territory they had taken, except a little in the
northeast. The German-Austrian pressure was now heaviest in two areas:
about the passes behind Brasso and before the Gyimes Pass in the
northeast.
In the latter region, on the 11th, the Rumanians had retired from
Csikszereda and from positions higher up on the circular strategic
railroad in the valley of the Maros. Before Oitoz Pass they resisted
fiercely, and for a time were able to hold their ground. But it was in
the passes behind Brasso that Falkenhayn's weight was being felt most
severely. On the 12th the following description of the general
situation was issued from Bucharest:
"From Mount Buksoi as far as Bran the enemy has attacked, but is being
repulsed."
On the following day came better news than the Rumanians had heard for
some weeks. The Germans had not only been checked in the Buzau and the
Predeal Passes, but they had suffered a genuine setback there, being
forced to retire. This victory was important in that Predeal Pass had
been saved, for not only was this pass close to Bucharest, but through
it ran a railroad and a good highway, crossing the mountains almost
due south of Brasso at a height of a little over 3,000 feet. On the
next day, however, the Rumanians were driven out of the Torzburg Pass
and forced to retire to Rucaru, a small town seven miles within
Rumanian territory. Falkenhayn's forces were now flowing through the
gap in the mountain chain and deploying among the foothills on the
Rumanian side of the chain. Here the situation was growing dangerous
to an extreme degree. Only ten miles farther south, over high, rolling
ground, was Campulung, the terminus of a railroad running directly
into Bucharest, only ninety miles distant.
But Falkenhayn made no further progress that day. In the neighboring
passes he was held back successfully while his left flank in the Oitoz
Pass and his right flank in the Vulkan Pass were each thrown back. All
during the 15th and the 16th the fighting in the passes continued
desperately, the battle being especially obstinate before the railroad
terminus at Campulung, up in the foothills. At about this same time
the Russians in the Dorna Vatra district, where they joined with the
Rumanians, began a strong offensive, in the hope of relieving the
pressure on the Rumanians farther down. This attempt was hardly
successful, as the German opposition in this sector developed to
unexpected strength. On the 17th Falkenhayn succeeded in squeezing
himself through Gyimes Pass and reaching Agas, seven miles inside the
frontier. At about the same time strong fighting began in the Red
Tower Pass. The battle was, indeed, raging at a tense heat up and down
the whole front. It was now becoming obvious that the Central Powers
had determined to make an example of Rumania and punish her
"treachery," as they called it, even though they must suspend activity
in every other theater of the war to do so. Not a little anxiety was
caused in the Allied countries. The matter was brought up and caused a
hot discussion in the British Parliament. In the third week France
sent a military mission to Bucharest under General Berthelot, while
England, France, and Russia were all making every effort to keep the
Rumanians supplied with ammunition, in which, however, they could not
have been entirely successful.
The Rumanians, on their part, continued defending every step forward
made by the enemy. On the 18th they won a victory in the Gyimes Pass
which cost the enemy nearly a thousand prisoners and twelve guns. At
Agas, in the Oitoz region, the Austro-Germans also suffered a local
defeat. Nor had they so far made very marked progress in the passes
behind Brasso. There seems to be no doubt that had the Rumanians been
able to devote all their forces and resources to the defense of the
Hungarian frontier, they would probably have been able to hold back
Falkenhayn's forces. But Mackensen had forced them to split their
strength.
On October 19, 1916, the situation in Dobrudja again began assuming an
unpleasant aspect. On that date Mackensen began a new offensive. Since
his retirement a month previous he had remained remarkably quiet,
possibly with the purpose of making the Rumanians believe that he had
been more seriously beaten than was really the case, so that they
might withdraw forces from this front for the Transylvania operations.
This, in fact, they had been doing, and when, on the 19th, he suddenly
began renewing his operations, the Russo-Rumanian forces were not in a
position to hold him back.
After a vigorous artillery preparation, which destroyed the
Russo-Rumanian trenches in several places, Mackensen began a series of
assaults which presently compelled the Russo-Rumanian forces to
retire in the center and on the right wing. On the 21st the Germans
reported that they had captured Tuzla and the heights northwest of
Toprosari, as well as the heights near Mulciova, and that they had
taken prisoner some three thousand Russians. This success now began to
threaten the railroad line from Cernavoda to Constanza. This line had
been Mackensen's objective from the beginning. On the 23d a dispatch
from Bucharest announced that the Rumanian lines had retired again and
were barely south of this railroad. Having captured Toprosari and
Cobadin, the Bulgarians advanced on Constanza, and on the 22d they
succeeded in entering this important seaport, though the Rumanians
were able to remove the stores there under the fire of the Russian
warships.
[Illustration: General von Mackensen and his staff in Rumania. Already
victorious in campaigns in Galicia and Serbia, Mackensen won new
laurels in the Dobrudja. His troops pushed on to Bucharest, which fell
December 6, 1916.]
On the same date Mackensen began an attack on Medgidia, up the
railroad about twenty-five miles from Constanza, and succeeded in
taking it. He also took Rasova, in spite of the fierce resistance
which the Rumanians made at this point. In these operations Mackensen
reported that he had taken seven thousand prisoners and twelve guns.
Next he attacked Cernavoda, where the great bridge crossed the Danube,
and on the morning of the 25th the defenders were compelled to retire
across the structure, afterward blowing it up. Thus the railroad was
now in the hands of Mackensen. The Russians and the Rumanians had been
driven across the river or up along its bank. But it would be no small
matter for the enemy to follow them. With the aid of so effective a
barrier as this broad river it now seemed possible that the Rumanians
might decrease their forces very considerably on this front, still
succeed in holding Mackensen back, and turn their full attention to
Falkenhayn in the north. Of course, there still remained the northern
section of Dobrudja, passing up east of southern Rumania to the head
of the Black Sea and the Russian frontier, along which Mackensen might
advance and get in behind the rear of the main Russian lines. But this
country in large part constitutes the Danube delta and is swampy, and
is certainly not fitted for operations involving heavy artillery.
Moreover, Mackensen was now at the narrowest part of Dobrudja, whose
shape somewhat resembles an hourglass, and a farther advance would
mean an extension of his lines. Aside from this, by advancing farther
north, he laid his rear open to a possible raid from across the river,
such as the Rumanians had attempted on October 2, 1916,
unsuccessfully, to be sure, but sufficiently to show that the whole
bank of the river must be guarded. The farther Mackensen advanced
northward the more men he would require to guard his rear along the
river. For the time being, at least, the river created a deadlock,
with the advantage to whichever side should be on the defensive. The
Rumanians might very well now have left a minimum force guarding the
river bank while they turned their main forces northward to stem the
tide of Teuton invasion through the passes.
For over a week this seemed exactly what the Rumanians were doing. On
November 4, 1916, the situation along the Rumanian front in the
mountains looked extremely well for King Ferdinand's armies. At no
point had the Teutons made any appreciable headway, while in two
regions, in the Jiul Valley and southeast of Kronstadt, Bucharest
reported substantial gains. Berlin and Vienna both admitted that the
Rumanians had recaptured Rosca, a frontier height east of the Predeal
Pass.
CHAPTER XXIX
MACKENSEN PRESSED BACK
On November 6, 1916, came the news from Bucharest that the Rumanian
and Russian forces in northern Dobrudja had again assumed the
offensive and that Mackensen's line was giving way; and that in
retiring his troops had burned the villages of Daeni, Gariot, Rosman,
and Gaidar. Full details of these operations were never issued, but as
day after day passed it became obvious that the Russo-Rumanian armies
were indeed making a determined effort to regain the ground lost in
Dobrudja.
On November 9, 1916, it was announced through London that the Russian
General Sakharov had been transferred from Galicia and was now in
command of the allied forces in Dobrudja; that he had succeeded in
pushing Mackensen's lines back from Hirsova on the Danube, where a
gunboat flotilla was cooperating with him, and that Mackensen was now
retreating through Topal, twelve miles farther south, and was only
thirteen miles north of the Cernavoda-Constanza railroad. On November
10, 1916, an official announcement from Petrograd stated that "on the
Danube front our cavalry and infantry detachments occupied the station
of Dunareav, three versts from Cernavoda. We are fighting for
possession of the Cernavoda Bridge. More than two hundred corpses have
been counted on the captured ground. A number of prisoners and machine
guns have also been captured. We have occupied the town of Hirsova and
the village of Musluj and the heights three versts south of Delgeruiv
and five versts southwest of Fasmidja." On the following day the
Russian ships began bombarding Constanza and set fire to the town
which, according to the Petrograd reports, was burned to the ground.
At the same time a Russian force advancing southward along the right
bank of the Danube occupied the villages of Ghisdarechti and Topal. On
that same date Sofia also reported heavy fighting and an enemy advance
near the Cernavoda Bridge. Two days later, on the 13th, an indirect
report through London stated that the Russians had crossed the Danube
south of the bridge, behind Mackensen's front. This was not officially
confirmed, but apparently another attempt was made to strike
Mackensen's rear from across the river.
Meanwhile the Russo-Rumanian line was pressing Mackensen's front back,
hammering especially on his left wing up against the river, until he
was a bare few miles north of the railroad and thirty miles south of
the point farthest north he had been able to reach. Here he seems to
have held fast, for further reports of fighting on the Danube front
become vague and contradictory. At any rate, the Russo-Rumanian
advance stopped short of victory, as the recapture of the
Cernavoda-Constanza railroad would have been. That Mackensen's
retreat may have been voluntary, to encourage the enemy to advance and
thereby weaken his front on the Transylvanian front, seems possible in
the light of later events. Also, it was possible that his forces had
been weakened by Bulgarian regiments being withdrawn and sent down to
the Macedonian front, where Monastir was in grave danger and was
presently to fall to the French-Russian-Serbian forces. From this
moment a silence settles over this front; when Mackensen again emerges
into the light shed by official dispatches, it is to execute some of
the most brilliant moves that have yet been made during the entire
war.
CHAPTER XXX
THE RUMANIANS PRESSED BACK
Meanwhile hard fighting had been going on on the Transylvanian front,
one day favoring one side and on the next day favoring the other. On
November 5, 1916, the Germans regained Rosca heights, which the
Rumanians had taken on the 3d. On the 7th the Russians were pressing
the Germans hard below Dorna Vatra, while southeast of Red Tower Pass
and near the Vulkan Pass the Rumanians suffered reverses, losing a
thousand men as prisoners, according to the Vienna and Berlin
dispatches. But before another week had passed it became evident that
the Teutons were gaining, whether because of superior artillery, or
because the Rumanians had weakened this front for the sake of the
Dobrudja offensive. For each step the Teutons fell back they advanced
two. Not unlike a skillful boxer Falkenhayn feinted at one point, then
struck hard at another unexpectedly. Without doubt skill and superior
knowledge, as well as superior organization, were on the side of the
invaders. By the middle of the month the Rumanians were being forced
back, both in the Alt and the Jiul valleys, facts which could not be
hidden by the dispatches from Bucharest announcing the capture of a
machine gun at one point or a few dozen prisoners at another. A few
days later the London papers were commenting on the extremely
dangerous situation in Rumania.
The Teutons had been pushing especially hard against the extreme left
of the Rumanian line in western Wallachia. On the 15th, after a week
of continuous hammering, the Austro-Germans forced their way down from
the summits after battering down the permanent frontier fortifications
with their heavy mortars. Pushed down into the foothills, the
Rumanians, who were now being reenforced by Russian forces, decided to
make a stand on the range of hills running east and west and lying
south of Turgujiulij, the first important town south of the mountains.
Foggy weather favored the Russo-Rumanians and enabled them to take up
a strong position at this point before being observed by the Germans.
The latter began launching a series of assaults. For three days these
frontal attacks were continued. Finally numbers told; the Rumanian
center was broken. Then the German cavalry, which had been held in
reserve, hurled itself through the breach and raced down through the
valley toward the railroad, thirty miles distant, preventing the
fleeing Russians and Rumanians from making any further stands. On the
following day, the 19th, the cavalry had reached the Orsova-Craiova
railroad and occupied it from Filliash, an important junction, to
Strehaia station, a distance of twelve miles.
Two days later came the announcement that Craiova itself had been
taken by the Teuton forces. This town is the center of an important
grain district on the edge of the Wallachian Plain. From a military
point of view the importance of its capture was in that it was a
railroad junction and that the Germans now held the line of
communication between the Orsova region, constituting the extreme
western portion of Wallachia, and the rest of Rumania. As a matter of
fact, as was to develop a few days later, the Teutons had broken
through the main Rumanian lines, and in doing so had clipped off the
tip of the Rumanian left wing. Some days later the capture of this
force was announced, though it numbered much less than had at first
been supposed--some seven thousand men.
But now a new danger suggested itself. The Teutonic invasion was
heading toward the Danube. Should it reach the banks of that river
there would be nothing to prevent a juncture between the forces of
Falkenhayn and those under Mackensen, thereby forming a net which
would be stretched clear across Rumania and swept eastward toward
Bucharest. Falkenhayn had only to clear the northern bank of the
Danube, and nothing could prevent Mackensen's crossing; as was
presently to develop, this fear was not without foundation. On the
24th came the announcement from Berlin that Falkenhayn had captured
Turnu-Severin on the Danube and that Mackensen's troops had crossed in
several places and effected a juncture with Falkenhayn's men. Farther
north the Rumanians were reported to be falling back to positions
along the Alt River, a swift, deep stream in its upper reaches which
broadens out into many arms down on the plain and forms a difficult
obstacle to an advancing army. At Slatina the bridge is over four
hundred yards in length. This, apparently, was to be the new line of
defense, running north and south. Still farther north, in the
Carpathians, in Moldavia, the Austro-Germans were developing another
strong offensive, and here, near Tulghes Pass, where the Russians held
the line, a pitched battle of unusual fury developed, bringing the
Austro-Germans to a standstill for the time being, at least. Again
there came reports from Petrograd of activity along the front in
Dobrudja, but this appears to have been at the most nothing but a
demonstration to distract Mackensen from effecting any crossing
farther up the Danube at a point where he might flank the Rumanian
lines along the Alt. Throughout the countries of the Allies it was now
generally recognized that Rumania was doomed, unless the Russians
could send enough forces to rescue her.
On the 26th official dispatches from both Berlin and Bucharest stated
that Mackensen had crossed the Danube at Zimnitza and was advancing
toward Bucharest. The German statement had him in the outskirts of
Alexandria, only forty-seven miles from the capital, and reported that
the Rumanians were retreating eastward from the lower Alt. On the
following day Berlin announced that the entire length of the Alt had
been abandoned by the Rumanians, which was confirmed by a dispatch
from Bucharest. This retreat had been forced by the crossing effected
by Mackensen's troops to the rear of the line, threatening its flank
and rear. That the danger to Bucharest was now being felt was obvious
from the fact that on the following day the Rumanian Government and
diplomatic authorities removed from Bucharest to Jassy, about two
hundred miles northeastward, near the Russian frontier. On this date,
too, it was reported that Mackensen had captured Giurgiu, which showed
that he had advanced thirty miles during the past twenty-four hours.
From Giurgiu there is direct rail connection with Bucharest: this line
Mackensen could use for transport service, thus increasing the danger
to the Rumanian main army that it might have its retreat cut off.
Having abandoned the Alt line, the next logical line that the
retreating Rumanians should have attempted to hold was the Vedea,
another river running parallel to the Alt and emptying into the
Danube. Here, too, there was a railroad running along the river bank,
or close to it, which would have served as a supply line. But it was
just this railroad which Mackensen had captured at Giurgiu. Once more
he threatened the Rumanian flank, and so a stand at the Vedea became
also impossible. Certainly the Teutons were now moving with
extraordinary rapidity, and there was undoubtedly some truth in the
Berlin statement that the Rumanians were fleeing eastward in a
panic-stricken mass. Great quantities of war material were abandoned
and captured by the advancing Teutons. It is significant, however,
that neither Berlin nor Vienna were able to report the capture of any
great amount of prisoners.
By the first of the month the Teutons had almost reached the Arges
River, the last large stream that ran between them and the outer
fortifications of Bucharest. Behind this river the Rumanians finally
came to a stand, and now Berlin, instead of describing the precipitate
flight of the enemy, spoke only of the hard fighting which was going
on. At this time the German War Office also announced the capture of
Campulung, which opened the road through the Torzburg Pass.
That Russia was now making strong efforts to relieve the pressure on
the Rumanians before Bucharest became obvious on December 1, 1916,
when it was reported from Petrograd that a Russian offensive had been
begun on the Bukowina border and was spreading down along the Rumanian
frontier south of Kirlibaba, along a front over two hundred miles in
length. Here, according to the report, the Rumanians, in cooperation
with the Russians, captured a whole range of heights in the Buzeu
Valley southeast of Kronstadt, while the Russians themselves reported
similar progress. At the same time Berlin, while also touching on the
severity of the fighting in the north, reported that the Russians were
hurling themselves against Mackensen's entire front in Dobrudja. The
German reports admitted that here and there the Russian attacks
effected slight local gains at tremendous cost. Whatever the actual
facts, this offensive movement came too late to have any material
results; Bucharest, at any rate, was doomed.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE BATTLE OF THE RIVER ARGECHU
On December 3, 1916, what appears to have been a desperate battle from
the German reports took place along the river Argechu in the region
before Bucharest. This is a mountain stream which, from Piteshti to
southwest of Titu, is sometimes a hundred yards in width and at some
points twenty meters deep, though fords are found at frequent
intervals. At this time, however, the river was well flooded and only
the bridges were available for crossing. At this point strong
detachments of Bulgarians, Austrians, and Germans coming together from
the north, east, and south met with resistance from the Rumanians on
the other side of the river. For an entire day the Rumanians held back
the enemy, then suddenly broke and fled so abruptly that they had not
time to destroy the bridges, over which the invaders streamed after
the retreating Rumanians, capturing several thousands of prisoners.
On the following day the left wing of the Austro-Germans captured
Tergovistea. At Piteshti the First Army of the Rumanians made another
brief stand, but was driven back beyond the Titu junction of railroads
from Bucharest to Campulung. South of Bucharest Russian and Rumanian
forces also offered a stout resistance, but were finally compelled to
retire when the enemy's cavalry cut around in their rear and
threatened their line of retreat. During this one day the Germans
claimed to have taken 8,000 prisoners, the Danube army capturing also
thirty-five cannon and thirteen locomotives and a great amount of
rolling stock.
It was not the battle along the Argechu, however, which was the cause
of the immediate danger to Bucharest. The blow which decided the fate
of the Rumanian capital came from the north. The real danger lay in
the German forces coming down from the passes south of Kronstadt.
Already Campulung was taken and the Argechu crossed in the north. Then
the invaders streamed down the Prahova Valley, which begins at the
passes and runs down southeast behind Bucharest. The Rumanians now had
the choice of evacuating their capital or having it surrounded and
besieged. Bucharest was a fortified city, but the Germans carried such
guns as no fortifications built by the hand of man could resist.
Antwerp had been the first demonstration of that fact.
The plan of holding the city had also several other objections. From a
military point of view the city was of little value. Its retention
would have had a certain moral value, in that it would have shown that
the Rumanians were by no means entirely defeated, but as practically
all the nations of Europe were now on one side or the other of the
fighting line, this political effect would have found few to
influence. To defend it, moreover, would have meant its complete
destruction, and sooner or later the defending force would have been
taken prisoners. There was no chance of saving the city from Teuton
occupation, such occupation might be delayed, nothing more. Rather
than waste a large force in a futile defense, the Rumanians decided
to evacuate the capital without any effort to stay the advancing enemy
at this point. This decision seems to have been taken some time before
the city was in actual danger. The civilian population was leaving the
city in a steady stream and every railroad carriage going eastward was
crowded to full capacity.
CHAPTER XXXII
BUCHAREST FALLS
On December 6, 1916, the German War Office announced the entry of
Teutonic troops into the Rumanian capital, and what was more important
still from a military point of view, the capture of Ploechti, an
important railroad junction thirty-five miles northwest of Bucharest,
famous for its oil wells and therefore of great value to the
Austro-Germans. As developed later, however, these wells were
destroyed by the retreating Rumanians, and for some time to come, at
least, rendered almost useless.
Whatever the value of Bucharest from a military point of view, there
can be no doubt that its capture was a heavy blow to the Allies. With
it went one-half of Rumania. The mightiest efforts of Russia had been
unable to save the kingdom from the hands of the invaders. Thereby she
had been forced to confess a certain degree of weakness. Nor had
Sarrail in Macedonia been able to divert the activities of the
Bulgarians from Dobrudja to any serious extent. This too constituted a
second confession of weakness.
Indeed the activities, or lack of activities, on the part of the
Allies in Macedonia, in spite of the capture of Monastir, had been
even more disappointing than the inability of the Russians to save
Rumania.
But the disaster to the cause of the Allies was more apparent than
real. As has been demonstrated on the Russian front more than once
during this war, the capture of territory alone has very little
influence on the final result of a campaign. It is not enough to
defeat an enemy; his forces must be destroyed, eliminated, wholly or
in part, and this can only be accomplished by the capture of his
forces. Though the Germans claimed that the Rumanians had lost 100,000
men to them as prisoners, an obvious exaggeration, the Rumanian
fighting forces remained comparatively intact after the fall of
Bucharest. The best of the Rumanian troops undoubtedly remained, for
by this time they were becoming seasoned veterans.
Having taken Bucharest, the German rush noticeably subsided; it lost
its force. This was in part due to the bad weather conditions which
now set in and lasted a week; rain fell in the plains in torrents and
made the passage of troops, and especially of artillery, very
difficult, even impossible. No doubt this also hindered the retreat of
the Rumanians, but the advantage was on their side.
On the 18th it was reported from Petrograd that the entire Rumanian
front was being held by Russian soldiers, the Rumanians having retired
to their rear beyond the Sereth River at Jassy and in Bessarabia,
where they were being reorganized for future operations. After the
Bucharest-Ploechti line had been lost, according to one unofficial
report, the Russians had sent some strong cavalry divisions to support
the Rumanian retreat. The Russians offered strong resistance in the
region of Buzeu so as to permit their engineers to construct a
defensive front between Rimnik Sarat and the marshes at the mouth of
the Danube. On that same date Berlin announced an advance of the
Teutonic forces in northern Dobrudja. It was in this latter section
that the Teutons now centered their activities. The Russo-Rumanians
still remained in Dobrudja, on the south side of the Danube. So long
as they had a footing here they remained a potential threat to the
Teutons, which might awaken into active danger at the first favorable
opportunity. To be ousted from this northern tip of Dobrudja would be
even more serious to the Russo-Rumanians than the loss of Wallachia.
From this point they might, at some future day, initiate an offensive
against Bulgaria which might become extremely dangerous. Once across
the river, however, it would be difficult for them to recross, for
reasons that have already been discussed: no line of fortifications,
no intrenched positions they might throw up, would be so effective a
defense to the Teutons as the mouth of the Danube.
In Rumania, west of the river, continuous and at times heavy fighting
continued, sometimes assuming almost the proportions of pitched
battles. During the last week of the month Mackensen apparently
realized the hopelessness, for the present at least, of driving the
enemy out of Dobrudja, and shifted some of his forces over to the west
bank of the river. The Russians had retired behind the Rimnik River, a
small stream which is about twenty-five miles north of the Buzeu and
parallel to it. On January 1, 1917, the Germans announced that the
Russians had been forced back against the bridgehead at Braila and
that in the Dobrudja they had advanced beyond Matchin. On the 5th,
Braila, the most important city left to the Rumanians, fell into the
hands of Mackensen, and at the same time the last of the Russians
retired from the northern tip of Dobrudja. This was the heaviest blow
that had fallen since the capture of Bucharest, and from a military
point of view was even more serious. Once driven across the broad
waters of the Danube mouth, the Russians and the Rumanians could not
recross in the future except in very strong force and with great
losses. At the same time it was now possible for Mackensen to reduce
his forces in Dobrudja to a minimum and reenforce the troops operating
over in Rumania proper.
During the rest of the month the fighting continued up and down the
line with unabated vigor, though without any sensational results. The
Germans were now hammering at the main line of the Russian defense and
could not expect any large gains. The defeat of the Rumanians had
been, after all, only the driving back of a salient. But in general
the fighting during the latter half of January, 1917, seemed to favor
the Teutons.
On the 15th Berlin reported that the Bulgarian artillery was
bombarding Galatz from across the Danube. On this date too the
Russians lost Vadeni, ten miles southwest of Galatz, their last
position south of the Sereth. On the other hand, Petrograd announced
on this same day that on the northern Rumanian front, in a violent
engagement on the Kasino River, the Rumanian troops forced the Germans
back, while the German attacks northeast of Fokshani were repulsed by
the Russians. By the following day these local attacks developed into
a general engagement, such as had not been fought since before
Bucharest had fallen. At Fundani, Berlin reported, the Russians hurled
one mass attack after another--waves of humanity as they were
termed--against the German lines and gained some temporary advantages.
On the 17th Petrograd announced the recapture of Vadeni. After a
prolonged artillery preparation the Russians rushed their infantry
against the position in the town and drove the Germans out. The
latter, after receiving reenforcements and assisted by an artillery
drumfire, made a powerful counterattack, but did not succeed in
driving the Russians back. Berlin admitted this defeat, incidentally
mentioning that Turkish troops were here engaged. Berlin also admitted
that "between the Kasino and Suchitza Valleys the Russians and
Rumanians made another mass attack and succeeded in regaining a height
recently taken from them." On the 20th, Mackensen's forces, as was
stated by Berlin and admitted by Petrograd, succeeded in taking
Nanesti and driving the Russians back to the Sereth.
On January 22, 1917, an Overseas News Agency dispatch stated that the
number of Rumanian prisoners taken during the entire campaign to date
now numbered 200,000. Describing the situation of the Rumanian army at
that time, the dispatch continued:
"The rest of the Rumanian army, part of which fought well, is
reorganizing in Moldavia and Bessarabia. The few Rumanian divisions
which still are engaged at the front are very much reduced in numbers.
According to the assertions of Rumanian prisoners, one division was
composed of only 2,800 men, while another numbered but 2,400. The
Rumanians suffered their heaviest losses from artillery fire. The
large number of dead in proportion to the wounded is remarkable. On
one square kilometer (about three-fifths of a square mile) of the
battle field of Campulung 6,000 Rumanian dead were counted. Some of
the Rumanian infantry regiments were composed of only four companies
of 150 men each. Because of the lack of sanitary organization, an
extraordinary large percentage of the wounded died in the hospitals,
which, however, afforded room only for the officers, while large
numbers of wounded soldiers were lodged in damp cellars, peasants'
huts, and barns, where they died miserably."
On January 20, 1917, the military critic of the Overseas News Agency
summed up the situation as follows:
"The Russo-Rumanian efforts to delay the advance of the Teutons
against the Sereth Plain are taking the form of fierce counterattacks,
launched to avert the danger that their position on the Putna and the
Sereth be outflanked. During the last few days especially violent
attacks have been directed against the position situated on the
Carpathian slopes north of the Suchitza. These developed no success
and cost the enemy heavy losses in casualties and prisoners.... On the
Carpathian front, in the Oituz district, the Teutonic forces have
pressed forward until they are in a position whence they can take the
circular valley of Ocna under their fire. As has been confirmed by the
Russian headquarters report, Bogdaneshti and Ocna were shelled. Ocna
is an important railroad station and a point of support for the
Russian defense in the upper Trotus Valley, while Bogdaneshti bars the
outlet to the great valley of the Trotus and Oituz. All the determined
attempts made by the Russians and Rumanians to extend the narrow
limits of their hold on the southern bank of the Sereth have been more
or less unsuccessful. The German troops, however, with their capture
of the village of Nanesti, tore the pillar from the wall of the
Russian defense. Nanesti forms the strategical center of the
bridgehead of Fundeni and covers the great iron bridge across the
Sereth, which is in the immediate vicinity of Nanesti. The entire
construction of the Nanesti-Fundeni bridgehead, which is a modern
field fortification, illustrates its importance as a central point of
support of the Sereth line. In the remaining sectors of the Sereth
snowstorms and mists have interfered with military activity."
During the middle of January, 1917, the French Admiral du Fournier of
the Entente fleet in Greek waters paid a visit to the Russo-Rumanian
front. On his return from this tour, which was taken on the way to
France, he wrote in the Paris "Matin":
"The Russian army was surprised by the rapid succession of Rumanian
reverses and had to suspend Brussilov's offensive in Galicia in order
to send large reenforcements to Rumania, but its position was such
that it could not cover its flank in Wallachia and its rear in
Dobrudja rapidly enough to stop the advance of the invaders. It was
only on the Sereth that it succeeded in forming with the first corps
that arrived from the army of General Sakharoff a front which was
lengthened by several good Rumanian divisions. A few weeks will
witness a change in the military situation. In my journey in a motor
car with the troops on the march I saw nothing but magnificent
soldiers, admirably equipped and in excellent form."
CHAPTER XXXIII
SARRAIL'S OFFENSIVE
The half year ending with February 1, 1917, was a period of almost
continuous activity before Saloniki, in sharp contrast to the previous
six months, which had been quite uneventful. Yet that interval between
the conquest of Serbia by the Austro-German and Bulgarian troops and
the renewal of fighting, beginning in August, 1916, were months of
furious preparation by General Sarrail and his colleagues. From what
was little more than a precarious footing in Saloniki itself they had
established a firm base protected by a wide circle of intrenchments,
while their forces had been augmented to something not far from
three-quarters of a million men under arms and a huge supply of
ordnance and munitions. From a mere expedition to keep a back door
open for the defeated Serbians, Sarrail's army had developed into what
was obviously going to be a gigantic campaign against the rear of the
Central Powers, an attempt to enter Austria through a back window.
Such, at least, was the supposition of military critics the world
over. Incidentally the presence of so large a force of the Allies in
Macedonia served various other purposes. Viewing the situation with a
retrospective eye, at the present moment, there can be no doubt that
Greece would by now have thrown her lot in with the Central Powers had
it not been for her fear of Sarrail's forces. Also, the Teutons and
the Bulgarians were compelled to devote a large force to holding a
front opposite Sarrail, and so weaken their other fronts. And finally,
without Sarrail in Saloniki, Rumania would never have decided to join
hands with the Allies, certainly not so early as she did. To be sure,
Rumania was defeated, but her defeat must have cost the Central Powers
grave losses which may eventually prove to have turned the tide in
favor of the Allies.
Already before August, 1916, it was becoming obvious that Sarrail was
beginning to feel strong enough to play a less passive part. Little by
little he had been pushing out his lines. The remnants of the Serbian
army, which had been recuperating at Corfu, were reorganized and
transported to Saloniki by sea, whence they were sent to take over a
portion of the front on the extreme left. Somewhere around August 1,
1916, Russian soldiers began landing at Saloniki, though this
significant fact was not reported till nearly three weeks afterward,
when about 80,000 of them had joined Sarrail's force and had been sent
out on the left front, west of the Serbians. During this interval a
large force of Italians also joined the Allied troops at Saloniki and
joined the British near Doiran. All the Allies except Japan were now
represented on this front by their contingents, though of course the
French and British were still in vastly preponderating majority. The
moral effect was strong, for it was the first time that troops of all
the Allies were camped side by side. The landing of the Russians, who
had come through France, thence by the sea route, was no doubt
effected in the hope of affecting the Bulgarians, who are not only
Slavs, but have a very strong feeling of affinity for the Russians,
who liberated them from the Turks. It was probably hoped that on being
brought face to face with them on the firing line many Bulgarians
would desert, or possibly even there would be an uprising in Bulgaria
against Czar Ferdinand's policy. That nothing of this sort did
actually happen, either in Macedonia or in Dobrudja and Rumania, where
the Russians also faced Bulgarians, may perhaps be ascribed to the
revulsion of feeling against the Russians which many Bulgarians had
begun experiencing of recent years, on account of the many black
intrigues which the Russian Government had hatched against the
independence of Bulgaria.
In the matter of Bulgaria, it is but fair to state that Russia,
Rumania, and Serbia had little right to complain; Bulgaria had just
scores to wipe off against all of them. Each was but paying the price
for some selfish policy in the past for which Bulgaria had had to
suffer.
CHAPTER XXXIV
UNREST IN GREECE
There was the intense racial hatred between Greeks and Bulgars, more
fully explained in previous volumes. Hatreds of this nature affect the
public more than governing bodies. On the public sentiment of Greece
this hatred seems to have been a more powerful influence than more
subtle political considerations. The detested Bulgar, the barbarian,
the "kondri-cephalous" (blockhead) was advancing into eastern
Macedonia, which the Greeks had gained at so much cost, and they were
taking possession of that section of the country where the population
really is preponderatingly Greek. In the north, in western Macedonia,
he was also invading Greek territory, taking Florina, approaching the
very boundaries of Greece proper; indeed, cavalry patrols of the
Bulgarians had descended as far as the plains of Thessaly.
Public indignation flamed to a white heat. On September 1, 1916, came
a press dispatch from Athens stating that the population was rising
against the Government and that the king had abdicated in fear. This
latter statement proved untrue, but in the Macedonia occupied by the
Allies a modified revolution was indeed taking place, no doubt
encouraged by the Allies. A provisional committee, or government, had
been organized, and to this authority the Greek garrisons at Vodena,
Port Karaburun, and Saloniki had surrendered. "Cretan gendarmes and
Macedonian volunteers," continued the report, "have surrounded the
barracks of the Greek infantry in Saloniki and exchanged shots with
the garrison after cutting the water main and electric-light wires and
shutting off food supplies. A detachment of sixty regulars attempted
to break its way out. Its surrender was demanded, and when the
regulars refused the volunteers fired shots in the air. The regulars
replied with a volley, whereupon the volunteers opened fire on them,
compelling them to return to the barracks. Altogether three men were
killed and two wounded. Before the garrison finally surrendered three
companies of French colonial infantry marched to the parade grounds.
They were soon followed by two battalions of infantry, which took up
positions on both sides of the parade grounds in the rear of the
barracks. Machine guns were posted at conspicuous points and armored
cars were stationed opposite the entrance of the barracks.... At 11
o'clock that night the Greek troops marched out unarmed and were
interned at Camp Keitinlek outside the city."
Apparently these incidents had a temporary influence on the Government
at Athens, for on September 3, 1916, it was reported that all parties
had agreed to give their support to the Zaimis cabinet, which was now
ready to reconsider its previous policy and give its full support to
the cause of the Allies. The German Ambassador, it was said, had left
Athens. How confident was Venizelos in the belief that the Government
had come around to his policy is obvious from the following statement,
which he made on that same date:
"The addition of one more nation to the long list of those fighting
against Prussian militarism for the liberty of Europe and the
independence of the smaller states cannot but give more strength to
the common confidence in a complete victory of the Allies. I deeply
grieve that my country has so much delayed in paying her due
contribution to the struggle for these most precious benefits of
humanity, and trust the influence caused by Rumanian intervention will
render it absolutely impossible for the existing Greek authorities any
further to persist in their policy of neutrality, and that at the
earliest moment Greece too will join the camp of her proved and
traditional friends for the purpose of accomplishing her own national
ideals."
Meanwhile the revolt in Greek Macedonia seemed to be spreading. A
provisional government was declared established with a Colonel
Zimorakakis at the head, and all the gendarmes and the cavalry had
gone over to the new régime.
What gave further color to the reports that Greece was definitely
deciding to go over to the Allies was the announcement that the
elections had been postponed indefinitely. The Zaimis cabinet, it will
be remembered by those who have read the previous volume, was merely
provisional to fill the interim until the next elections. These had at
first been fixed for August 7, 1916, then postponed for another month.
Now they were again postponed indefinitely. Truly it seemed that the
two big parties had come to an understanding. Added to this was the
report that Baron Schenk, the chief of the German propaganda, had been
arrested and brought a prisoner aboard one of the French warships.
Also the telegraph and telephone systems of the country had been given
over to the control of the Allies.
There now followed an interval of complete silence, broken only on the
10th, when it was reported from London that the Greek Premier, Zaimis,
had held a conference with the Entente ministers and had asked what
consideration Greece would receive should she join the Allies. The
ministers were reported to have replied that they would ask
instructions from their respective governments. On the following day
Zaimis suddenly offered his resignation. The king refused to accept it
and, on the ministers of the Entente expressing their confidence in
his sincerity, he withdrew his resignation. On the following day the
Entente Powers made their reply to Premier Zaimis, regarding what
reward Greece might expect should she join them. They were not
disposed, they stated, to enter into a discussion of this subject. If
Greece desired to join them, she must waive the question of
compensation for the present, though the Entente Powers stood ready to
assist her in equipping her with arms and munitions.
CHAPTER XXXV
A GREEK ARMY SURRENDERS TO GERMANY
Meanwhile an incident in eastern Macedonia occurred which aroused a
great deal of feeling against the Greek Government in the Entente
countries. It will be remembered that the Bulgarians had advanced
along the coast in this region, being unopposed there by Allied
troops, and that they had finally appeared before Kavala. In spite of
the vigorous shelling from the Allies' warships they occupied the
forts surrounding the city, which were immediately evacuated by the
Greek garrisons. These, together with the soldiers in the city and
other outlying garrisons, numbering between six and eight thousand,
constituted a part of the Fourth Army Corps of the Greek army. On
September 13, 1916, Germany suddenly issued the announcement that this
body of Greek soldiers had surrendered.
"After German and Bulgarian troops," continued the announcement, "had
found themselves compelled by General Sarrail's offensive to march as
a counterattack into Greek Macedonia, the Fourth Greek Army Corps
stood ready in Seres, Drama, and Kavala, behind the left Bulgarian
wing, which had advanced to the Struma. The measures of the Entente
aimed at forcing these Greek troops to its side or preparing for them
a fate similar to that which befell the overpowered portions of the
Eleventh Greek Division at Saloniki. Free communication with Athens
was interrupted and intercourse with the home authorities was
controlled by the Entente and refused arbitrarily by the Entente.
"The commanding general of the Fourth Greek Army Corps at Kavala,
faithful to the will of the chief commander and the legally
constituted Government's policy of maintaining neutrality, and in view
of the unsupportable situation of the troops under his command,
menaced by famine and disease, has been compelled to proceed on his
own authority. On September 12, 1916, he asked the German chief
commander to protect his brave troops, loyal to the king, to relieve
them of the pressure of the Entente and provide food and shelter for
them. In order to prevent any breach of neutrality, it has been agreed
with the commanding general to transport to lodging places in Germany
these Greek troops in the status of neutrals with their entire arms
and equipment. Here they will enjoy hospitality until their fatherland
is free of invaders."
There now arose the cry in the press of all the Entente countries that
the surrender of this force of Greek soldiers was only an act on the
part of the Greek Government to assist the Germans, whom it planned to
support actively when a propitious moment should come. In reply the
Greek Government published the telegrams that it had exchanged with
the Greek commander at Kavala. On the 11th he had telegraphed to
Athens, through the admiral of the British fleet:
"The Fourth Greek Army Corps at Kavala wishes to surrender immediately
to the British. The Bulgarians have threatened to bombard the city
to-morrow."
The British admiral thereupon sent the following message to General
Calaris, the War Minister in Athens:
"Do you wish me to permit the Greek troops to embark on Greek ships?"
In response the Greek War Minister wired:
"To the Fourth Army Corps at Kavala: Transport yourselves immediately
with all your forces to Volo, arranging with the British admiral. The
police and civil authorities must remain at Kavala."
Apparently the division that existed throughout the entire Greek
population appeared among these Greek soldiers, for not all
surrendered with their commander to the Germans; a large number
withdrew and escaped to Thaos. On the face of the telegraphic
correspondence, involving the British admiral, it would seem that the
Greek commander acted in accordance with his personal sympathies
rather than from instructions, but the incident nevertheless succeeded
in stirring strong feeling against Greece in France and England.
That matters were not running smoothly within the inner circle of the
Greek Government became evident on September 16, 1916, when it was
announced that Premier Zaimis had now definitely and absolutely
resigned, and that Nikolas Kalogeropoulos had been asked by the king
to form a new cabinet. He was one of the foremost lawyers of Greece,
had lived for many years in France, and was said to be in sympathy
with Venizelos and the Allies. In 1904 he had been Minister of Finance
for a brief period, and in 1908 and 1909 he had been Minister of the
Interior. The new premier was sworn into office under the same
conditions as surrounded his predecessor: his was merely a service
cabinet, to maintain control until the elections could be held in
accordance with the constitution.
In strange contrast to this event, which seemed to bode well for the
Allies, the "Saloniki movement," as the revolt in favor of
intervention was called by the British press and which had been lying
quiet for some time, now broke out afresh. On September 21, 1916, came
the report that the people on the island of Crete had risen and
declared a Provisional Government in favor of the Allies, and that the
new authorities had sent a committee to Saloniki to tender their
adherence to General Sarrail. Also it was rumored that Venizelos was
going to Saloniki to place himself at the head of the revolt. On the
20th he gave out an interview to the Associated Press correspondent
in which he certainly did not deny the possibility of his doing so:
"I cannot answer now," he said, "I must wait a short time and see what
the Government proposes to do.... As I said on August 27, if the king
will not hear the voice of the people, we must ourselves devise what
it is best to do."
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE SERBIANS ADVANCE
Having reviewed the situation in Greece during the month of September,
1916, we may now return to our narrative of the military activities
along the Macedonian front. At the end of August, 1916, a lull seemed
to settle down along the entire front, nothing being reported save
minor skirmishes and trench raids. On the 2d the Italians at Avlona in
Albania, said to number 200,000, were reported from Rome to be making
an advance. Here the Austrians were facing them, the only point along
the line in which Austrian troops were posted. The Italians made an
attack on Tepeleni on the Voyusa, and drove the enemy from that
position as well as from two neighboring villages. After this event
nothing further was heard from them, though, as will appear later, it
was obvious that they were making some headway. Apparently it was
their object to cooperate with the rest of the Allies in Macedonia by
turning the extreme right of the Bulgarian line.
On the 11th the silence was broken by the announcement from London
that an energetic offensive was being resumed along the entire front
on the part of the Allies. On that date the British made a crossing of
the Struma over to the east bank and attacked the Bulgarians
vigorously and, in spite of the counterattacks of the enemy, were able
to hold their advanced position. The French, too, began hammering the
foe opposite them west of Lake Doiran to the Vardar, and a few days
later reported that they had taken the first line of trenches for a
distance of two miles.
It was over on the extreme left, however, that the Allies were to
gain what seemed to be some distinct advantages. Near Lake Ostrovo the
Serbians hurled themselves up the rocky slopes toward Moglena and
stormed the well-intrenched positions of the Bulgarians, and succeeded
in dislodging them and driving them back. A few miles farther over, at
Banitza, a station on the railroad, they also centered on a determined
attack, and there a pitched battle developed, the Bulgarians having
the advantage of the bald but rocky hills behind them. Over in the
west, before Kastoria (Kostur, in Bulgarian dispatches), the Russians
advanced and succeeded in driving the Bulgarians back. Some miles
north of the town rise the naked crags and precipices of an extremely
difficult range of mountains; here the Bulgarians stood and succeeded
in preventing the Russians from making any further progress, their
right flank being protected by the two Prespa lakes.
For almost a week the battle raged furiously back and forth along this
section of the front. On the 15th the Bulgarian lines opposed to the
Serbians suddenly gave way and broke, and the triumphant Serbs made a
rapid advance, pursuing the enemy for nine miles and capturing
twenty-five cannon and many prisoners, according to dispatches of
Entente origin. For the next thirty-six hours the fighting was
intense, and then the whole Bulgarian right wing seemed to crumple and
swing backward. For a while the Bulgarians made a stand on the banks
of the Cerna, at the southern bend of the great loop made by the
river, but finally the Serbians effected a crossing and continued
driving the Bulgarians up along the ridges forming the eastern side of
the Monastir Valley. Farther to the left the French and Russians were
also succeeding in their efforts. The Bulgarians were driven out of
and beyond Florina (Lerin in Bulgarian dispatches) and General
Cordonnier, in command of the French, immediately established his
headquarters at this important point, commanding the whole Monastir
plain. Up this level country the Bulgarians fled. Reports did not
indicate to just what point up the valley the French were able to
advance, but it was quite obvious that the Bulgarians were able to
stay them some distance before Monastir, where the mountains approach
the city and offer excellent positions for artillery against troops
advancing up the railroad line toward the city. On the map at least
this important city seemed to be threatened, but it was still too
premature to pronounce it in serious danger, as did the Entente press.
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE GREEKS ON THE FIRING LINE
It was during these six days' hard fighting that the Greek volunteers
underwent their baptism of fire and the first of them shed their blood
for the cause of the Allies. These constituted the First Regiment of
Greek volunteers commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gravanis. He was
under the command of the French general at Fiorina, and he and his men
took a prominent part in the capture of the town. During the next few
days the fighting calmed down, except farther eastward above Ostrovo,
where the Serbians had succeeded in driving the Bulgarians from their
important positions along the Kaimakcalan ridges. Here the Bulgarians
counterattacked bitterly and continuously, but apparently with no
success. These assaults were repeated at intervals of several days
during the rest of the month, and though Sofia reported the recapture
of Kaimakcalan Heights and a general triumph along this whole section
of the front, the reports from both sides later indicated that these
dispatches were wholly false, probably issued to satisfy a restless
general public. On the other hand, the Allies made no further advance:
by the first day of the following month they held about the same
ground they had gained during the intensive fighting shortly after the
middle of September, 1916. As is usual after extreme military
activity, there followed a period of calm, during which both sides
were preparing for the next outburst of effort. But the end of
September, 1916, showed plainly that the Bulgarians and Teutons were
entirely on the defensive in Macedonia and were content to hold their
own.
During the month of October, 1916, little of a sensational aspect
occurred on the Macedonian front; the latter half of this period was,
however, one of hard fighting and steady hammering along the Serbian
sector. On the 2d the Serbians reported that they had not only
consolidated the positions they had taken on the important heights of
Kaimakcalan but they had advanced beyond this point three kilometers
and taken Kotchovie. At the end of the week Jermani, a village at the
base of a high ridge on the lower shore of Little Prespa Lake, was
taken by the French. Some days after came a rather detailed dispatch
from Rome, significant in the light of later events. The Italians from
Avlona were obviously making steady progress over a very difficult
territory--difficult on account of the poor communications. On the
10th it was reported that they had taken Klisura, about thirty-five
miles from Avlona, in the direction of Monastir. This was barely a
fourth of the distance; nevertheless they were advancing toward Lake
Ochrida, west of the Prespa Lakes, against which the Bulgarians rested
their right wing. It was evident that they had driven back the
Austrians who were supposed to hold this section.
On the 12th the British made an advance over on the right section of
the front; nothing of any real importance had occurred over here since
the supposed advance had begun, but there had been a great deal of
noise from the artillery on both sides. On this date the British
reached Seres, but were held back by the Bulgarians, who had
previously driven out the Greek garrison and occupied the forts in the
immediate neighborhood. These positions the British now began
hammering with great vigor, with their biggest guns, though without
any immediate result.
At the end of the third week of the month the Serbians, under General
Mischitch, made another drive ahead and succeeded in penetrating the
enemy's lines for a distance of two miles, taking Velyselo, and a day
later Baldentsi. At the beginning of this battle, which lasted two
days, the advantage rested with the Bulgarians. They held the higher
line beyond the Cerna River, whose slopes were so steep that they
could roll huge bowlders down on the attacking parties. After a two
hours' artillery preparation early in the morning, the Serbians
suddenly sprang forward with loud cheers and rushed the heights. From
the rear they could be recognized at a great distance, on account of
the large square of white calico which each man had sewn to the back
of his coat, and the leaders carried white and red flags with which to
indicate the farthest point reached, so that the artillery in the rear
could see and avoid shelling them. While the Serbians stormed one
crest, the artillery pounded the crest just beyond. Finally all the
crests were covered by little fluttering red and white flags, while
the Bulgarians fled headlong down the opposite slopes. On the
following day a period of very bad weather set in and drowned further
operations in a deluge of rain.
On the 21st came another report from Rome of some significance. In the
Iskeria Mountains east of Premeti an Italian detachment occupied
Lyaskoviki, on the road from Janina to Koritza. The latter town marks
the racial boundary between the Bulgarian and Albanian countries. To
the eastward was the rough country of Kastoria in which the Russians
were operating. In other words, the Italians were emerging from
Albania and were getting within reach of the Macedonian field of
operations. In fact, on the 29th it was reported that this Italian
expedition had linked up with the extreme left of the Allied wing, but
this report must have been quite premature; it still had some very
rough country to traverse before this could be accomplished. The end
of the month saw a lull in the operations in the entire Macedonian
theater on account of the bad weather.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
SEIZURE OF THE GREEK FLEET
On October 11, 1916, the patience of the Allies seems to have been
again exhausted with the wavering policy of the Greek monarch. On that
date Admiral du Fournier came to Athens and demanded the surrender of
the entire Greek fleet, except the cruiser _Averoff_ and the
battleships _Lemnos_ and _Kilkis_ (the latter two formerly the
American ships _Idaho_ and _Mississippi_). He further demanded the
transfer of control to the Allies of the Piræus-Larissa railroad and
that the shore batteries should all be dismantled. These demands were
complied with at once, and all but the three vessels named were
surrendered and their crews landed. The ships so handed over consisted
of three battleships, one protected cruiser, four gunboats, three mine
layers, one torpedo depot ship, sixteen destroyers, twelve torpedo
boats, four submarines, and the royal yacht. The rest of the Greek
navy had already gone over to the Allies, as was mentioned, and was
now in Saloniki. The Piræus-Larissa railroad, which the Allies also
demanded, runs for a distance of 200 miles in a winding course from
Piræus, the seaport of Athens, to Larissa. The cause of this sudden
action, as explained by the British press, was that for some time
Greek troops had been concentrating in the interior near Larissa,
while other troops were gathering in Corinth, from whence they could
easily reach the force in Larissa.
An Athens division had been quietly moving along the railroad line,
leaving a regiment to intrench themselves before the king's palace at
Tatoi. Apparently the fear was that King Constantine was preparing, at
a favorable moment, to retire with his army and intrench himself in
the plains of Thessaly until he could there join hands with the
Bulgarians and the Germans and perhaps attack the Allies on their left
flank. The surrender of the railroad now made this impossible.
The result of this action was that large street demonstrations began
at once, supposed to have been instigated by the Reservists' League.
The French admiral thereupon landed a large force of marines and
occupied a number of public buildings whence he could control the main
streets with machine guns. By the 16th all Athens seemed to be in an
uproar, but the violence which took place was directed against
Venizelist sympathizers, while in their demonstrations against the
Allies the rioters contented themselves with jeering and hurling
insulting remarks. In these disorders the police remained absolutely
passive, and on some occasions joined with the rioters. This caused
the French admiral to demand that the command of the police force
should be practically turned over to him. A French officer was at once
established as chief inspector at the Ministry of the Interior.
Transfers or dismissals in the force could now not be made without his
consent, while he himself had arbitrary power in dismissing and
transferring. He was also empowered to appoint inspectors throughout
the rest of the kingdom. Naturally, the royalist press came out in
strong denunciations, but these were terminated when the French
established a press censorship.
On the 22d the Allied governments demanded that the Greek force
concentrated at Larissa be withdrawn from that point and scattered
throughout the southern part of the country, and this demand was also
promised. During the rest of the month there were reports of
conferences between King Constantine and the French admiral and the
representatives of the Entente, all tending to show that he was again
becoming intensely pro-Ally.
CHAPTER XXXIX
THE BULGARIANS DRIVEN BACK
The quiet which prevailed in the field of military effort in Macedonia
toward the end of October, 1916, continued well into November, 1916,
save for local artillery activity and trench raids. But on the 11th
fighting broke out again in the bend of the Cerna River on the sector
held by the Serbians and French. That the Allies here made serious
gains was proved by the fact that for the first time Sofia dispatches
admitted an enemy advance, though they minimized it to trifling
significance. On that date the Serbians began a series of attacks
which resulted in the capture of Polog and 600 prisoners. During all
of the following day the battle continued, and again the Serbians
advanced, supported by the French, this time penetrating the enemy's
lines for a distance of seven miles, enabling them to take the village
of Iven and another 1,000 prisoners. On this date the Serbians
announced that since September 14, 1916, when the offensive began,
they had taken 6,000 prisoners, 72 cannon, and 53 machine guns. Again
the Sofia dispatch admitted that the Serbians had succeeded in "making
a salient before our positions northeast of Polog."
The Serbians had now broken through the range of hills intervening
between themselves and the eastern edge of the Monastir Plain. For a
day there was a lull, and then the Serbians and French resumed their
attacks. Northeast of Iven the Bulgarians and Germans were compelled
to fall back, close pressed by the Serbians, who occupied the village
of Cegal. North of Velyeselo the French and Serbians also advanced;
the fighting spread westward as far as Kenali. The prisoners taken
during the past few days now numbered 2,200, among whom were 600
Germans. But more important still, the Allies were now almost due east
of the city of Monastir. That city was now in imminent danger.
On the 16th the entire line of formidable frontier defenses centered
on Kenali had to be abandoned by the German and Bulgarian troops, in
which operation they lost heavily. They then retreated across the Viro
River, west of the railroad and across the Bistritza River to the east
of the line, so that the Russians, following them up closely,
succeeded in arriving within four miles of the city. Meanwhile the
Serbians, in the mountains east of the swamps which protected the
plain along the Cerna, were rushing rapidly on in their effort to
swing around to the northeast of the city before the enemy should be
able to intrench himself among the rolling hills that bound the
northern extent of the plain. It was significant that among the
prisoners were a number of members of regiments which had been
fighting, only a week previously, upon the Dobrudja front under
Mackensen.
CHAPTER XL
MONASTIR FALLS
A glance at the map will show that Monastir was now practically in the
hands of the Allies, that it would be impossible for the Germans and
Bulgarians to hold it any longer. As has already been explained, the
plain or valley near whose head it stands is a broad, level region
which here penetrates the mountainous interior of this portion of the
Balkan Peninsula. To the eastward it is bounded by low, rolling
foothills, which gradually rise into high, rocky mountains or heights.
On the west there are no foothills: the mountains rise abruptly,
stretching south almost to Kastoria. The railroad, after leaving
Banitza, in the foothills, swings around into the plain, but under the
shadows of the high ridges on the western side. Up toward the head of
the plain these mountains curve slightly inward. About ten or fifteen
miles below the point where they meet the rolling foothills, thus
forming the head of the valley, the city of Monastir lies, some of its
outlying suburbs being plastered up against the base of the mountains.
An army occupying the heights above would absolutely dominate the
city; its artillery could pound it to a wreck within a few hours.
It was along these heights on the western edge of the plain that the
French and the Serbians had advanced, driving the Bulgarians and
Germans before them. Just at Monastir these heights are especially
high and jagged, and the Bulgarians and Germans might very well have
held out here against the enemy for a much longer period. But the
foothills over on the eastern side of the plain had been passing into
the hands of the Serbians operating in that region. These forces were
now passing to the northward of the city, though the marshy plain
still intervened. They were advancing toward the head of the valley.
Should they succeed in reaching this point, where the highway to
Prilep passed, they would cut off the retreat of the Bulgarians.
But there was still another road by which the Bulgarians might have
retreated: the highway leading through Resna to the upper part of Lake
Ochrida. Had this been open they might have risked the blocking of the
Prilep road. But, as was later indicated by the reports, the Italians
had by this time advanced above Koritza and were not only in touch
with the Russians operating around Kastoria and the lower part of the
Prespa and Ochrida lakes, but they were skirting the western shore of
Ochrida and threatening to advance on Monastir by this very highway.
Thus the Bulgarians were threatened from two directions--by the
Italians, who were turning their right flank, and by the Serbians, who
had broken through their lines in the foothills east of the Monastir
plain. There is probably no doubt that they could have held off all
frontal attacks from the heights above Monastir. Thus they were
squeezed, rather than driven, out of the city.
On the night of the 18th the German and Bulgarian forces in the city
quietly withdrew and retreated along the Prilep road to the head of
the valley. At 8 o'clock the following morning, on November 19, 1916,
exactly a year since the Serbians had been driven out of the city by
the Austrians and Bulgarians, the Allied forces marched into the
Macedonian city, and an hour later the flag of King Peter once more
floated above the roofs. Apparently the Bulgarian retreat had been too
long delayed, for before reaching the head of the valley they were cut
off by the Serbians and only escaped after heavy losses, both in
killed, wounded, prisoners, and materials. At the same time the
Serbians effectually closed the road, taking several villages and all
the dominating heights.
From a military point of view the fall of Monastir was not of vast
importance; it was of about the same significance from a tactical
aspect as Bucharest. But from a moral and political aspect it was of
immense importance. Though only populated by some 50,000 of mixed
Turks, Vlachs (Rumanians), Greeks, a few Serbs and Bulgarians, the
latter predominating, it was the center of the most Bulgarian portion
of Macedonia. Throughout the outlying districts down to Kastoria, over
to Albania, and up to Uskub, the population is purely and aggressively
Bulgar. Here the simple peasants were persecuted by the Greek Church
for fifteen years preceding the First Balkan War and by the Serbians
afterward; by the one on account of their religion, by the other on
account of their nationality. Here, too was the center of the
revolutionary movement against the Turks, and here the people rose
time and time again in open insurrection, only to be quenched by fire
and blood. Nowhere in the Balkan Peninsula has there been so much
oppression and bloodshed on account of nationality. For these reasons
Monastir has a deep sentimental significance to every Bulgarian. No
part of Macedonia means so much to him. Its possession by the Serbians
after the Balkan Wars did more, probably, to reconcile the country to
King Ferdinand's otherwise hateful pro-German policy than anything
else. As is now well known, Ferdinand stipulated that this city should
not only be taken from the Serbians, but that it should belong to
Bulgaria, before he entered the war on the side of the Germans and
Austrians. Otherwise it is quite likely that the Teutons would not
have considered it worth while to advance so far south. Its recapture
by the Serbians and their allies must, therefore, have had a
corresponding depressing effect in Bulgaria.
On the day following the evacuation of Monastir the Italians appear
for the first time in the reports of the fighting in this region. They
had obviously come in contact with the Bulgarians on their extreme
right and were pressing them back, thus forcing the whole line to
retire. The French, too, made some advance along the eastern shore of
Lake Prespa, while the Serbians took five villages in the foothills at
the head of the plain. The main forces of the Bulgarians and Germans
were making their stand about twelve miles north of the city, well up
in the hills and crossing the Prilep highway.
For some days following bad weather again settled down over the
Monastir section of the Macedonian front, and though it did not stop
the fighting, it rendered further progress on the part of the Allies
very difficult. But in spite of the brilliant victories announced by
the dispatches from Berlin and Sofia, these very reports indicated, by
the changing localities of the skirmishes that the Germans and
Bulgarians were still being pressed back. By the end of the month the
Serbians northeast of Monastir had advanced as far as Grunishte. In
the northwest the Italians were fighting in the mountains about
Tcervena Stana. Reporting on the last day of the month, Berlin
announces that "this was the day of hardest fighting." The Germans and
the Bulgarians had now reached their next line of defense and were
making desperate efforts to hold it.
Meanwhile, over on the right of the Allied front, between Doiran and
the Vardar, violent fighting had been going on during the past few
weeks, and though the Allies seemed to make some slight progress here
and there, none of these gains were of a significant nature. Here the
Bulgarians seemed to be holding their own completely. Possibly it was
not Sarrail's object to attempt any real advance over in this section;
merely to keep the enemy engaged there and prevent his rendering too
much aid to the harried Bulgarian right wing. His main offensive, if
he really had contemplated a real advance, had evidently been planned
for the Monastir route into Serbia. That all the Slavic troops, the
Russians and Serbians, were placed over in this section gives,
besides, some little color to this supposition.
CHAPTER XLI
GREEK FIGHTS GREEK
In Greece the same old situation continued. In the beginning of the
month there had come the first clash between the volunteer soldiers
of the Provisional Government and the troops of the king. The Greek
troops at Larissa had not yet had time to remove to southern Greece,
in accordance with the demands of the Allies, when on November 2,
1916, a body of volunteers of the Provisional Government marched
overland to Katerina, a town twenty-five miles northeast of Larissa,
where a garrison of royalist troops was stationed. Whether the
insurgents really attacked the garrison, or whether the royalist force
withdrew peacefully, was not made clear, but the fact was that the
volunteers entered the town and took possession. Following this
incident, it was stated from Athens on the 12th that King Constantine
had given his permission that any of his officers in either the army
or navy might join the forces of the Provisional Government, provided
they first resigned from the regular establishment. On this date
Germany entered her official protest against Greece handing over her
ships and much war material to the French admiral. In connection with
this report it was stated that Germany herself, on taking the forts
and towns in eastern Macedonia, had seized 350 cannon, 60,000 rifles
and $20,000,000 worth of ammunition. In the light of these facts,
naturally Germany's protest was not taken very seriously. Indeed, it
seems only to have suggested to the Allies that they complete what
Germany had so well begun, for on the 18th Admiral Fournier presented
a demand to the Greek Government that it surrender all arms,
munitions, and artillery of the Greek army, with the exception of some
50,000 rifles. The reason given was that the equilibrium had been
disturbed by Germany's seizure of so much war material. This demand
the Greek Government refused to concede five days later. Admiral
Fournier thereupon declared that the Greek Government had until
December 1, 1916, in which to make its decision.
On the 26th the Provisional Government, through President Venizelos,
formally declared war against Germany and Bulgaria. On this same date
the Allied representatives protested to the Greek Government against
the continued persecution of the adherents of the Provisional
Government, and warned it that these must stop. At the same time
several prominent Venizelists in Athens were advised that they would
be fully protected, among them the mayor of the city.
On December 1, 1916, when the ultimatum regarding the surrender of the
arms and ammunition of the Greek forces expired, a crisis was again
precipitated. The day before a transport with French troops appeared
in Piræus Harbor and preparations were made to land them. At the same
time the Greek Government took control of the telegraphs and the post
office, expelling the French officers in charge. During the day
Admiral du Fournier notified the Greek Government that the first
installment of war material must be delivered that day. The reply was
a definite refusal. Thereupon troops and marines were landed from the
transport and ships at Piræus. Again large mobs assembled in the
streets, and on the Allied troops marching into Athens a number of the
demonstrators fired on them with revolvers. It was even reported that
royalist troops took part in these disorders and made organized
attacks on the French troops. Three Greek officers and twenty-six
soldiers were reported killed, while the Allies lost two officers and
forty-five marines. Apparently the Venizelists also took part in the
rioting and the street fighting against the royalists, for General
Corakas, head of the recruiting bureau for the Provisional Government
in Athens, was arrested on a charge of inciting guerrilla warfare in
Athens and using his room in the Hotel Majestic as a point from which
to fire upon Greek soldiers. Mayor Benakas of Athens, a sympathizer of
the Provisional Government, was also removed from office.
On the following day, the disorders still continuing, the Entente
Powers declared an embargo on all Greek shipping in their ports.
CHAPTER XLII
FIGHTING IN THE STREETS OF ATHENS
On December 4, 1916, Lord Robert Cecil, War Trade Minister, said in
the British House of Commons that the situation was more serious than
it had ever been before. Despite assurances from the Greek king that
no disturbances would be permitted, a "most treacherous and unprovoked
attack was made on the Allies' detachments landed by the French
admiral on Friday." The British Government, Lord Cecil continued,
considered the responsibility of the king and Greek Government to be
deeply involved in this matter and Great Britain was considering, in
conjunction with her Allies, immediate steps to secure a radical
solution of the situation which had arisen. During these troubles the
Greek ministers at Paris and London and the consuls at London and
Manchester resigned, stating that they could no longer identify
themselves with the present Government of Greece.
By the following day the Allied forces had been compelled to withdraw
under the protection of their ships at Piræus. Meanwhile, it was said,
the Greeks were intrenching on all the heights around the city. All
the citizens of the Allied nations had left the city and had taken
refuge in Piræus. The diplomatic representatives of the United States,
Holland, and Spain entered a protest against the treatment being
accorded the Liberals. To this the Greek Government replied as
follows:
"The Royal Government from the first day had in view only the
reestablishment and maintenance of order in the trouble on Friday and
Saturday caused by revolutionary elements. This was done completely
with as little damage as possible.
"If, contrary to the orders given, there was some excess of tension
and indignation on the part of the population and the troops, who saw
in a movement so tragic for the fatherland agitators taking advantage
of the unhappy events of the day to take up arms against the country
and try to overthrow the established government, this must be taken
into consideration. This exasperation was particularly aroused by the
bombardment of the Royal Palace and the neighborhood thereof, in this,
an open city, at the very moment when, an armistice having been
concluded, it was hoped that peace would finally reign. Nevertheless,
the Royal Government is decided to punish every person guilty of
committing illegal acts and exceeding instructions, and a severe
investigation will be begun to this end so soon as acts of this nature
are brought to the attention of the Royal Government. In this
connection the Foreign Minister considers it his duty to recall to
your attention that by his note of November 28 he warned the neutral
powers of the tragic position in which the Greek nation was placed as
a result of measures taken against Greece and of the consequences
which the French admiral's insistence on obtaining Greek war material
might well have."
A further explanation of the Greek point of view, with special
reference to the street fighting in which the Allied troops were
engaged, was contained in a note sent to the United States Government,
on December 9, 1916. This communication was, in part, as follows:
"Please bring to the knowledge of the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs that the Royal Government, with two letters and several oral
declarations, had informed the French admiral of the impossibility of
delivering the war material they were summoned to give away. Despite
these warnings the admiral decided to land a certain number of
detachments which in several columns proceeded from Piræus to the
capital, which was under military control. The detachments occupied
some of the outskirts and repulsed the royal army, which only at that
moment decided to defend themselves without any orders. After the
morning skirmishes between the Allied detachments and our troops, a
truce was decided upon, at the request of the admiral. Despite the
armistice, however, and after firing had ceased, the Allied warships
bombarded several parts of the city and fired not less than
thirty-eight shells, seven of which were directed against the Royal
Palace. There can, under these conditions, be no question of treachery
or of an unprovoked attack."
After the fighting and rioting had continued for some forty-eight
hours, quiet and order seem to have been reestablished in Athens. Then
followed a period of secret conferences between members of the Greek
Government, the king and the representatives of the Entente Powers,
the details of which were not made public. On December 16, 1916, it
was announced from Paris that Greece had accepted unreservedly the
conditions of the Allies. Regarding the disorders of the first few
days of the month, the Greek Government declared its desire to give
every legitimate satisfaction and proposed arbitration. A hope was
expressed, at the same time, that the Allies would lift the blockade
which had been in force ever since the disorders. Further details were
not given out; until the end of the month calm again prevailed in
Greece. But as yet there was no indication that permanent settlement
of the difficulties was in sight.
CHAPTER XLIII
THE SERBIANS CHECKED
With regard to the military activities of the Allies along the
Macedonian front, little more need be said for the period ending with
February 1, 1917. Having been ousted out of the Monastir Plain, the
German-Bulgarian troops were now defending a new line which seemed
more advantageous to them. Apparently fighting continued, sometimes
with furious determination on both sides, but the results were
negligible. The terrain was now somewhat similar to that in France,
and the situation seemingly became similar. The opposing lines faced
each other deeply intrenched. Neither side could seriously drive the
other back. By this time the Serbian capital had been reestablished in
Monastir and the Serbians could make the claim that they were again
fighting on native soil, though the Monastir district outside the city
never gave birth to one Serbian.
Considering the whole period covering the half year ending with
February 1, 1917, it may well be said that, whatever his reasons,
General Sarrail's activities have deeply disappointed the friends of
the Entente. Reviewing the results of the entire half year's fighting
along the Macedonian front, no results worthy of mention are visible
save the capture of Monastir, and even this is almost entirely limited
to its political value. From a military point of view, the Bulgarians
have held their own with forces obviously inferior in numbers to those
of the Allies. Naturally, in such a country the advantage is always
with the defensive. It is significant that throughout the half year
there are few dispatches indicating strong counterattacks on the part
of the Bulgarians.
PART IV--AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT
CHAPTER XLIV
THE FALL OF GORITZ
Next to the Trentino the Isonzo was the part of the Austro-Italian
front which had seen most fighting in the past. From the very
beginning of the war it was there that the Italians had made their
most elaborate efforts. Not only did the territory, difficult though
it was ever there, allow the use of larger numbers and make possible
more extensive operations, but success on the Isonzo front held out a
greater promise than anywhere else--possession of Trieste.
In spite of heroic efforts on the part of the Italian troops, however,
so far not a great deal had been accomplished. It was time that the
Italian lines were well in Austrian territory. But in midsummer, 1916,
they were still not much farther advanced than soon after the outbreak
of hostilities between Italy and Austria. The Austrians so far had
resisted all Italian attempts to take Goritz, an important town on the
Isonzo, about twenty-two miles northwest of Trieste. With Goritz in
the hands of the Austrians Trieste was safe. For it could not be
approached by the Italians as long as this important position
threatened the flank and rear of any army attacking Trieste along the
seashore.
For considerable time little activity had been reported from the
Isonzo front. In fact, during the beginning of August, 1916, nothing
but occasional artillery engagements occurred anywhere on the
Austro-Italian front. On August 4, 1916, however, signs of renewed
Italian activity on the Isonzo front became noticeable. On that day a
vigorous attack was launched against Austrian positions on the
Monfalcone sector, the most southern wing of the Isonzo front. This
sector was about ten miles southwest of Goritz and fifteen miles
northwest of Trieste.
Goritz was protected by three strong positions, Monte Sabotino to the
north, Podgora to the west, and Monte San Michele to the south. The
second of these had been in possession of the Italians for some time,
but was of little use, though only just across the river from Goritz,
because it was exposed to murderous fire from the Austrian positions
on Monte Sabotino. To the south of Monte San Michele and north and
east of Monfalcone there stretched the Doberdo and Carso Plateaus.
These were elevated flatlands of a rocky character, very much exposed.
They were bounded on all sides by hills, the western slopes of which
rose almost directly out of the Gulf of Trieste. Before Trieste itself
could be reached these plateaus had to be crossed.
Following their initial successes of August 4 and 5, 1916, the
Italians extended their operations on August 6, 1916. Stubborn
fighting took place in the region of the Goritz bridgehead, on Monte
Sabotino and Monte San Michele, as well as near Monfalcone and the
Doberdo Plateau. The Italians, as may be seen from the following
description of the special correspondent of the London "Times" who
observed the attack, preceded the general attack with an elaborate
artillery bombardment.
"From 7 o'clock yesterday morning until 3.30 in the afternoon a
fearful bombardment swept the Austrian positions from Monte Sabotino
to Monfalcone such as has never been equaled even in this desolate
zone. Gray-green clouds veiled the entire front, contrasting with the
limpid atmosphere of a perfect day. All the hillsides on this side of
the Isonzo were covered with new batteries, which belched forth an
unceasing rain of projectiles on the surprised Austrians on the rocks
of Sabotino, whose summit (2,030 feet) completely dominates Goritz.
The Carso, the possession of which by the Austrians has been a
deciding factor in many memorable struggles, was completely hidden by
smoke until 3.30 in the afternoon. The general attack had been
arranged for 4 o'clock, but the waiting troops on the Sabotino by 3.30
could endure restraint no longer. Their commander ordered the
cessation of the bombardment and ordered the advance.
"Since October 23 last year the Italian line on the Sabotino remained
unchanged. The southern side of the mountain sloping down to the
Pevmica was honeycombed with elaborately constructed caverns, drilled
out of the solid rock by the Italians. During these months each cavern
was made to contain an entire company of infantry.
"Recently, unknown to the enemy, a tunnel 850 feet long, which reached
to within 90 feet of the Austrian trenches had been added to the
engineering exploits of the Italians; 800 men were assembled in this
tunnel. At a given signal they led the attack, supported by first-line
troops and strong reserves, thanks to this intricate system of
galleries on Sabotino's crest. The attack was watched by countless
observers, who, on other mountains, were hanging breathless on the
result of this hour's work. Innumerable patches of scrubby undergrowth
had been set on fire by the Italians to prevent their serving Austrian
snipers and were now wrapped in low-hanging clouds of black smoke.
Between these black patches the Italians crept ahead when the signal
came. The assault of the Austrian positions was of incredible
rapidity. So much so that the first positions were carried by the time
the enemy turned on his curtain of fire. The first, second, and third
lines of trenches were carried in twenty minutes, after which the
Austrians began a terrific bombardment of their old positions. The
redoubt on the summit fell within an hour and the chase went on along
the crest and down the sides, straight to the Isonzo, the pursuers
everywhere gathering up prisoners in droves. San Mauro (one and
one-fourth miles south of Sabotino) was taken by 6 o'clock, after
which the work of intrenchment began."
In spite of the most stubborn resistance the Austrians had to give way
gradually. On August 7, 1916, the Austrian troops on Monte Sabotino
were withdrawn to the eastern bank of the Isonzo. At the same time the
positions on Monte San Michele were evacuated and the Italians thereby
were put in full possession of the Goritz bridgehead. Their attacks of
August 5, 6, and 7, 1916, had netted them territory for which they had
been fighting for months, besides about 10,000 prisoners, some 20 guns
and 100 machine guns and considerable war material of all description.
Without loss of time they brought in heavy artillery and opened a
devastating fire on unfortunate Goritz. Strong resistance was offered
by the Austrians at many points, not so much now in the hope of
preventing the fall of Goritz as in order to protect their retreat. In
spite of this resistance small detachments of Italians crossed the
Isonzo at nightfall of August 8, 1916, while their engineers threw
bridges over the river at various points.
On August 9, 1916, the bridge over the Isonzo leading directly into
Goritz was stormed after one of the most sanguinary battles of the
entire attack. This removed the last obstacle, and Italian troops
immediately occupied the city. At the same time other troops took up
the pursuit of the retreating Austrians. The latter delayed these
operations as much as possible by rear-guard actions and by
counterattacks against the new Italian positions on Monte San Michele
and against the village of San Martino, just south of the mountain.
On August 10, 1916, the Third Italian Army continued with increased
pressure the attack on the San Michele and San Martino sectors, which
had begun on the 9th instant, and succeeded in capturing very strong
Austrian defenses between the Vippacco and Monte Cosich. The Austrians
were routed completely and retired east of Vallone, leaving, however,
strong rear guards on Cima Debeli and on Hill 121, east of Monfalcone.
The Italians also occupied Rubbia and San Martino del Carso and the
whole of the Doberdo Plateau, reaching the line of the Vallerie. East
of Goritz the Austrians were holding out in trenches on the lines of
Monte San Gabriele and Monte San Marto.
The Vallone was crossed by Italian troops on August 11, 1916. The
same detachments stormed the western slopes of Monte Nadlogern and the
summit of Crn-Hrid and occupied Opacchiasella, on the northern edge of
the Carso Plateau.
By this time the Austrians had recovered their breath to some extent.
They had taken up strong positions previously prepared for them in the
hills to the east of Goritz and there resisted successfully all
Italian attacks. Occasional counterattacks against the new Italian
positions, however, brought no results.
To the south of Goritz, too, the Italian advance came to a standstill
after the Vallone Valley, separating the Doberdo from the Carso
Plateau, had been crossed. Continuous fighting, however, went on along
the northern edge of the Carso Plateau throughout the balance of the
month of August, 1916, much of it being done by the artillery of both
sides. The end of August, 1916, then, saw the Italians in possession
of Goritz and their lines at some points as much as five miles nearer
to Trieste. The latter, however, seemed at least for the time being
safely in the hands of the Austrians, who by this time had received
reenforcements and appeared to be determined to stop the Italian
advance across the Carso Plateau at all odds.
CHAPTER XLV
FALL AND WINTER ON THE AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT
With the beginning of fall and the slowing down of the Italian drive
against Trieste after the capture of Goritz, activities on the various
parts of the Austro-Italian front were reduced almost exclusively to
artillery duels. Occasionally attacks of small bodies of infantry were
made on both sides. They yielded, however, hardly ever results of any
importance and had practically no influence on the relative positions
of the Austrians and Italians.
On September 1, 1916, the Austrians made an unsuccessful attack
against Italian positions on Monte Civarone in the Sugana Valley
(Dolomite Mountains). Italian attacks south of Salcano and west of
Lokvicza were equally unsuccessful. Especially heavy artillery
engagements occurred on that day on the Trentino front and along the
coast of the Gulf of Trieste near Monte Santo.
On September 2, 1916, along the coast of the Gulf of Trieste artillery
and mine-throwing engagements continued in various sectors with
intermittent violence. Fighting also spread to the Plava sector. On
the Ploecken sector the Italians after a very violent artillery fire
attacked unsuccessfully on a small front. Several attempts made by
minor Italian detachments to advance on the Tyrol front were repulsed.
Two attacks on Civaron failed.
On the Trentino front Austrian artillery activity continued. Villages
of the Astico Valley and the Italian positions on Cauriol in the
Avisio Valley in particular were shelled. On the northern slopes of
Cauriol Italian Alpine troops engaged the Austrians, inflicting
considerable losses. In the hilly area east of Goritz some detachments
of Italian infantry pierced two wire entanglements and bombed the
Austrian lines, causing supports to be rushed up. These were
effectively shelled by batteries.
At the head of the Rio Felizon Valley, in the upper Bovi, during the
night of September 3, 1916, detachments of infantry, Alpini, and
volunteers succeeded by a daring surprise attack in capturing several
commanding positions on the Punta del Forane. A violent Austrian
counterattack was decisively repulsed.
On September 4, 1916, the usual artillery activity took place on the
Trentino front. The Austrian artillery fire was especially intense
against Italian positions on Mount Civaron in the Sugana Valley, and
on Mount Cauriol in the Fiemme Valley.
A more violent attack was attempted by the Austrians on the evening of
September 6, 1916, against the Italian lines on Monte Civarone in the
Sugana Valley. After brisk fighting the Austrians had to withdraw,
abandoning their arms and ammunition and leaving some dead on the
ground.
In the Vallarsa, Adige Valley, on the evening of September 7, 1916,
strong Austrian detachments after an intense bombardment attacked
Italian positions between Monte Spil and Monte Corno. They succeeded
in breaking through some trenches. A counterattack recaptured for the
Italians the greater part of the ground lost.
On September 8, 1916, in the Tofana zone Italian troops repulsed an
attack against the position in the Travenanzes Valley which their
troops had taken on September 7, 1916.
On the Trentino front the activity of the artillery was more
pronounced on September 9, 1916. Unimportant attacks on Italian
positions on Malga Sugna, in the Vallarsa, on the Asiago Plateau, and
on Monte Cauriol and Avisio, were repulsed. At Dolje, in the Tolmino
sector, after preparation with hand grenades, the Austrians attempted
to break through the Italian line, but were driven back immediately.
On the next day, September 10, 1916, between the Adige and Astico
Valleys the Italians developed increased activity. Austrian hill
positions in this sector were subjected to strong artillery and mine
fire. On the Monte Spil-Monte Testo sector the advance of several
Italian battalions was repulsed.
On the same day the coast front, the Carso Plateau, and the Tolmino
bridgehead were shelled strongly by Italian artillery. On some sectors
of the Tyrol front there was continued activity on the part of patrols
and the artillery. In the zone between Vallarsa and the head of the
Posina Valley Italian infantry captured a strong intrenchment at the
bottom of the Leno Valley. Between Monte Spil and Monte Corno they
completed capture of the trenches still left in Austrian hands after
the fighting of September 7, 1916. Progress was made by the Italians
on the ground north of Monte Pasubio and on the northern slopes of
Corno del Coston, in the upper Posina Valley. Italian batteries
destroyed military depots near St. Ilanio north of Rovereto. The
Austrians shelled Caprile, in Cordevole Valley, and Cortina d'Ampezzo.
On September 12, 1916, Italian Alpine troops, north of Falzarego
gained possession of a position which not only commanded Travenanzes
Pass, but also interrupted communications between the Travenanzes
Valley and the Lagazuoi district.
This success was extended on the next day, September 13, 1916, when
Italian detachments by a daring climb succeeded in taking some
positions in the Zara Valley in the Posina sector and on Monte
Lagazuoi in the Travenanzes-Boite Valley.
Once more, on September 14, 1916, the Italians opened a new offensive
in the region of the Carso Plateau. Artillery and mine fire increased
there with the greatest violence. In the afternoon strong infantry
forces in dense formation advanced to the attack. Along the whole
front between the Wippach River and the sea fierce fighting developed,
and the Italians in some places succeeded in penetrating the Austrian
first-line trenches and in maintaining themselves there. North of the
Wippach, as far as the region of Plava, artillery fire was very
lively, but no infantry engagements worth mentioning developed. In the
Fiemme Valley artillery duels continued. Several attacks delivered by
Italian detachments about a battalion strong against the Bassano ridge
were repulsed.
A second attack on the Carso Plateau in the evening of September 14,
1916, carried the Italian lines forward a few more miles and enabled
them to surround the height and village of San Grado. After bombarding
the Austrian positions for eight hours, this height and the village
were stormed on the following day, September 15, 1916.
During the balance of the month of September, 1916, only minor
engagements and artillery duels occurred in the various parts of the
Austro-Italian front. The only exception was a successful Austrian
attack against the summit of Monte Cimone on the Trentino front
southeast of Rovereto. Early in the morning of September 23, 1916, the
entire summit was blown up by an Austrian mine and the entire Italian
force of about 500 men was either killed or captured. Later that day
the Italians captured the summit of the Cardinal (8,000 feet) at the
northeast of Monte Cauriol south of the Avisio after overcoming the
most stubborn Austrian resistance.
During the first half of October, 1916, activities on the
Austro-Italian front presented much the same picture as during the
preceding month. Outside of artillery duels and local engagements
there happened little of interest or importance to the general
positions. However, there were of course a few exceptions. Thus on
October 2, 1916, Italian troops captured two high mountains, the Col
Bricon (7,800 feet), at the head of the Cismon-Brenta Valley, and an
unnamed peak more than 8,000 feet high, in Carnia between Monte
Cogliano and Pizzocollima.
Various other successes of a similar nature were gained by the
Italians during the next few days in this region, between the Avisio
and the Vayol Cismon Valleys.
In the meantime a heavy artillery bombardment had been started by the
Italians on the Carso Plateau. From day to day the intensity of the
artillery fire increased. At last on October 10, 1916, the Italians
launched their attack against the Austrian lines south of Goritz and
on the Carso. The battle lasted all day and night. After practically
all the intricate Austrian defenses had been destroyed Italian
infantry captured almost the whole of the line, composed of several
successive intrenchments between the Vippacco (Wippach) River and Hill
208, and advanced beyond it. Novavilla and the adjoining strong
position around the northern part of Hill 208 also fell into their
hands after brisk fighting. Prisoners to the number of 5,034,
including 164 officers, were taken and also a large quantity of arms
and ammunition.
These successes were considerably extended on the following day,
October 11, 1916. Strong Austrian counterattacks availed nothing.
The Italians maintained their new positions and continued to push
their advance on the Carso Plateau and southeast of Goritz, even if
slowly, throughout October 12 and 13, 1916. For the balance of the
month there was little activity on the Isonzo front beyond extremely
heavy artillery fire, most of which had its origin on the Italian
side. Occasional attempts on the part of the Italians to push their
lines still farther had little success. Equally unsuccessful were
Austrian endeavors to regain some of the lost ground.
On the balance of the Austro-Italian front there was a great deal of
local fighting in the various mountain ranges. The heaviest of this
was centered around Monte Pasubio (7,000 feet), where many attacks and
counterattacks were carried out during October 17, 18, 19, and 20,
1916, under the most difficult conditions and frequently during very
severe blizzards.
With the beginning of November, 1916, the Italians once more resumed
their drive against Trieste. On the last day of October, 1916, the
Italian artillery and mine fire had reached again great violence east
of Goritz and on the Carso Plateau. It became even more extensive and
vigorous early in the morning of November 1, 1916. A few hours later
the Italians began their infantry attacks against the Austrian lines,
many of which had been destroyed previously by the bombardment.
South of the Opacchiasella-Castagnievizza road the Austrian line was
occupied at several points and held against incessant counterattacks,
as were likewise trenches on the eastern slopes of Tivoli and San
Marco and heights east of Sober. On the Carso, the wooded hills of
Veliki, Kribach, and Hill 375 east and above Monte Pecinka, and the
Height 308 east of the latter, were stormed and occupied.
From Goritz to the sea heavy fighting which resulted in further
Italian successes along the northern brow of the Carso Plateau
continued on November 2, 1916. Here troops of the Eleventh Army Corps,
which repulsed violent counterattacks during the night, took strong
defenses on difficult ground east of Veliki, Kribach, and Monte
Pecinka.
On the next day, November 3, 1916, the offensive on the Carso was
prosecuted successfully by the Italian troops. In the direction of the
Vippacco (Wippach) Valley the heights of Monte Volkovnjak, Point 126,
and Point 123 a little east of San Grado were stormed. An advance of
almost a mile eastward brought Italian troops to Point 291 and along
the Opacchiasella-Castagnievizza road to within 650 feet of the latter
place. On the rest of the front to the sea the Austrians kept up a
bombardment of great intensity with artillery of all calibers. A
massed attack was directed against Point 208, but was broken up by
concentrated fire.
By November 4, 1916, the Austrian resistance had stiffened to such an
extent that a lull became noticeable in the Italian enterprises east
of Goritz and on the Carso Plateau. In spite of this, however, the
Italians had succeeded again in advancing their lines, inflicting at
the same time heavy losses to the Austrians and making almost 10,000
prisoners in four days' fighting. Their own losses were also very
heavy, and undoubtedly were partly responsible for the cessation of
this new drive against Trieste.
This was practically the last Italian effort during 1916 to reach
Trieste. Weather conditions now rapidly became so severe that any
actions beyond artillery bombardments and minor attacks by small
detachments had become impossible. During the balance of November,
1916, artillery duels were frequent and sometimes very severe on
various parts of the Isonzo front, especially on the Carso Plateau.
Beyond that neither side attempted anything of importance, though here
and there small engagements resulted in slight adjustments of the
respective lines. On the other parts of the Austro-Italian front much
the same condition prevailed during all of November, 1916; indeed even
artillery activity was frequently interrupted for days by the severity
of the weather.
CHAPTER XLVI
FIGHTING ON MOUNTAIN PEAKS
Much of the fighting on the Austro-Italian front which has been
narrated in the preceding pages has been going on in territory with
which comparatively few are acquainted. A great part of the front is
located in those parts of northern Italy and the Austrian Tyrol and
Trentino which for generations have been known and admired all over
the world for their scenic beauty and natural grandeur. People from
many countries of the world have used this ground which now is so
bitterly fought over as their playground, and have carried away from
it not only improved health, but also the most pleasant of memories.
Though much of its beauty undoubtedly will survive the ravages of even
this most destructive of wars, a great deal of damage has been
inflicted. For in order to achieve some military ends the sky line of
entire mountain ranges has been changed. Summits have been blown up,
and contours of mountains which have been landmarks for centuries have
been changed.
Pleasant though life is in these regions when peace reigns, they offer
particularly great and severe difficulties to the fighting men. The
dangers and hardships which these courageous soldiers of Italy and
Austria have been called upon to undergo are not easily appreciated
unless one has been on the very ground on which they do some of their
fighting. The following extracts from descriptive articles from the
pen of Lord Northcliffe, Mr. Hilaire Belloc, and some special
correspondents of the London "Times" give a most vivid picture of
actual conditions in the Austro-Italian mountains in war times.
Speaking of his visit to the Cadore front, Lord Northcliffe says in
part:
"In discussing the peculiarities of the hill fighting as contrasted
with the fighting on the road to Trieste his Majesty the King of
Italy, who has a fine sense of words, and who has spoken English from
childhood, said: 'Picture to yourself my men 9,000 feet up in the
clouds for seven months, in deep snow, so close to the Austrians that
at some points the men can see their enemies' eyes through the
observation holes. Imagine the difficulties of such a life with
continued sniping and bomb throwing!'
"The illustrated newspapers have from time to time published
photographs of great cannon carried up into these Dolomite Alps, but I
confess to having never realized what it means. It never occurred to
me what happens to the wounded men or to the dead. How do supplies and
ammunition reach these lonely sentinels of our Allies?
"Here food for the men and food for the guns go first by giddy,
zigzag roads, especially built by the Italians for this war. They are
not mere tracks, but are as wide as the road that runs between Nice
and Mentone, or the Hog's Back between Guilford and Farnham. When
these have reached their utmost possible height, there comes a whole
series of 'wireways,' as the Italian soldiers call them. Steel cables
slung from hill to hill, from ridge to ridge, span yawning depths and
reach almost vertically into the clouds. Up these cables go guns and
food, as well as timber for the huts in which the men live, and
material for intrenchments. Down these come the wounded. The first
sensation of a transit down these seemingly fragile tight ropes is
much more curious than the first trip in a submarine or aeroplane, and
tries even the strongest nerves.
"Man is not fighting man at these heights, but both Italians and
Austrians have been fighting nature in some of her fiercest aspects.
The gales and snowstorms are excelled in horror by avalanches. Quite
lately the melting snow revealed the frozen bodies, looking horribly
lifelike, of a whole platoon which had been swept away nearly a year
ago.
"While there have been heavy casualties on both sides from sniping,
bombing, mountain and machine guns, and heavy artillery, there has
been little sickness among the Italians. The men know that doctors'
visits are practically impossible. Therefore they follow the advice of
their officers. Yet the men have all the comforts that it is humanly
possible to obtain. The cloud fighters are extremely well fed. Huts
are provided, fitted with stoves similar to those used in Arctic
expeditions.
"Higher yet than the mountain fighting line stand the vedettes,
sentinels and outposts whose work resembles that of expert Alpine
climbers. They carry portable telephones with which they can
communicate with their platoon. The platoon in turn telephones to the
local commander."
Of some of the fighting and of life in the Dolomites he says:
"Of the three peaks of the Colbricon only the third, known as the
Picolo Colbricon, remains to the enemy. The action which is now being
developed on the Colbricon is especially interesting from the fact
that the Italian advance there is not due to trained mountain troops,
but to the light arm of Bersaglieri, who have there proved themselves
equal to their best traditions. In the advance from the first to the
second summit of Colbricon the Bersaglieri had to climb a gully at an
angle of 70 degrees. At two points the wall rises perpendicularly, and
the enemy was able to defend his positions by simply rolling down
rocks, which carried in their train avalanches of pebbles.
"In no region of the Italian front is there greater difficulty in the
matter of supply, transport, and the care of the wounded. Every
stretcher bearer here finds himself continually exposed to the peril
of falling over a precipice together with his wounded.
"As the sun rose the great peaks of the Dolomites stood out like pink
pearls, set here and there in a soft white vapor. Coming through a
Canadian-looking pine forest, with log-house barracks, kitchens, and
canteens beneath one such peak, I was reminded of Dante's lines:
'Gazing above, I saw her shoulders, clothed already with the planet's
rays.' But poetic memories soon faded before a sniper's bullet from a
very near Austrian outlook.
"At one spot the Austrian barbed-wire entanglements were clearly
visible through glasses on a neighboring summit at a height of over
10,000 feet. A few yards below in an open cavern protected by an
overhanging rock the little gray tents of Italy's soldiers were
plainly seen. It may be a consolation to our men on the Somme and in
Flanders that the war is being waged here in equally dangerous
conditions as theirs.
"The Italians have driven back the Austrians foot by foot up the
almost vertical Dolomite rock with mountain, field, and heavy guns,
and especially in hand-to-hand and bomb fighting. Sniping never ceases
by day, but the actual battles are almost invariably fought by night.
"The only day fighting is when, as in the famous capture of Col di
Lana and more recently at Castelletto, the whole or part of a mountain
top has to be blown off, because it is impossible to turn or carry it
by direct assault. Then tunnels sometimes 800 yards long are drilled
by machinery through the solid rock beneath the Austrian strongholds,
which presently disappear under the smashing influence of thirty or
forty tons of dynamite. Then the Alpini swarm over the débris and
capture or kill the enemy survivors and rejoice in a well-earned
triumph.
"One needs to have scaled a mountainside to an Italian gun's
emplacement or lookout post to gauge fully the nature of this warfare.
Imagine a catacomb, hewn through the hard rock, with a central hall
and galleries leading to gun positions, 7,000 feet up. Reckon that
each gun emplacement represents three months' constant labor with
drill, hammer, and mine. Every requirement, as well as food and water,
must be carried up by men at night or under fire by day. Every soldier
employed at these heights needs another soldier to bring him food and
drink, unless as happens in some places the devoted wives of the
Alpini act nightly under organized rules as porters for their
husbands.
"The food supply is most efficiently organized. A young London Italian
private, speaking English perfectly, whom I met by chance, told me,
and I have since verified the information, that the men holding this
long line of the Alps receive a special food, particularly during the
seven months' winter. Besides the excellent soup which forms the
staple diet of the Italian as of the French soldiers, the men receive
a daily ration of two pounds of bread, half a pound of meat, half a
pint of red wine, macaroni of various kinds, rice, cheese, dried and
fresh fruit, chocolate, and thrice weekly small quantities of cognac
and Marsala.
"Members of the Alpine Club know that in the high Dolomites water is
in summer often as precious as on the Carso. Snow serves this purpose
in winter. Then three months' reserve supplies of oil fuel, alcohol,
and medicine must be stored in the catacomb mountain positions, lest,
as happened to an officer whom I met, the garrisons should be cut off
by snow for weeks and months at a time."
Mr. Hilaire Belloc vividly pictures some mountain positions and
observation posts in the high Dolomites as follows:
"There stands in the Dolomites a great group of precipitous rock
rising to a height of over 9,000 feet above the sea and perhaps 6,000
feet above the surrounding valleys, one summit of which is called the
Cristallo. It is the only point within the Italian lines from which
direct and permanent observations can be had of the railway line
running through the Pusterthal. In the mass of this mountain, up to
heights of over 8,000 feet, in crannies of the rock, up steep couloirs
and chimneys of snow, the batteries have been placed and hidden quite
secure from the fire of the enemy, commanding by the advantage of the
observation posts the enemy's line with their direct fire. One such
observation post I visited.
"A company of men divided into two half companies held, the one half
the base of the precipitous rock upon a sward of high valley, the
other the summit itself, perhaps 3,000 feet higher; end the
communication from one to the other was a double wire swung through
the air above the chasm, up and down which traveled shallow cradles of
steel carrying men and food, munitions, and instruments. Such a device
alone made possible the establishment of these posts in such
incredible places, and the perilous journey along the wire rope swung
from precipice to precipice and over intervening gulfs was the only
condition of their continued survival. The post itself clung to the
extreme summit of the mountain as a bird's nest clings to the cranny
of rock in which it is built; while huts, devised to the exact and
difficult contours of the last crags and hidden as best they might be
from direct observation and fire from the enemy below, stood here
perched in places the reaching of which during the old days of peace
was thought a triumph of skill by the mountaineers. And all this
ingenuity, effort, and strain stood, it must be remembered, under the
conditions of war. The snow in the neighborhood of this aerie was
pitted with the shell that had been aimed so often and had failed to
reach this spot, and the men thus perilously clinging to an extreme
peak of bare rock up in the skies were clinging there subject to all
the perils of war added to the common perils of the feat they had
accomplished.
"Marvelous as it was, I saw here but one example of I know not how
many of the same kind with which the Italians have made secure the
whole mountain wall from the Brenta to the Isonzo and from Lake Garda
to the Orther and the Swiss frontier. Every little gap in that wall is
held. You find small posts of men, that must have their food and water
daily brought to them thus, slung by the wire; you find them crouched
upon the little dip where a collar of deep snow between bare rocks
marks some almost impassable passage of the hills that must yet be
held. You see a gun of 6 inches or even of 8 inches emplaced where,
had you been climbing for your pleasure, you would hardly have dared
to pitch the smallest tent. You hear the story of how the piece was
hoisted there by machinery first established upon the rock; of the
blasting for emplacement; of the accidents after which it was finally
emplaced; of the ingenious thought which has allowed for the chance of
recoil or of displacement; you have perhaps a month's journeying from
point to point of this sort over a matter of 250 miles."
A special correspondent of the London "Times" describes the fighting
around Monte Pasubio in the Trentino, which has already been mentioned
in the preceding pages, as follows:
"When the tide of the Austrian invasion rolled back at the end of
June, 1916, its margin became fixed on the crest of the Pasubio, an
enormous and irregular group of mountains, of which the Italians
remained in possession of the highest peak, but all the northern
summits and the top of the whole central ridge called the Cosmagnon
Alps remained to the enemy. It was from this ridge that they dominated
the Vallarsa, and their first-line trenches were on its edge. Fifteen
yards below them the Italians had burrowed in somehow and had hung on
until now.
"With the oncoming of winter, however, and the avalanches their
hanging on became altogether too problematic. For weeks the weather
prevented action through some meteorological phenomenon. When it is
fair below in the plain Pasubio is crowned with dense fogs, and vice
versa. Finally, the summits revealed themselves clear against the sky.
The careful preparation had passed unobserved of the enemy, and during
the night of the 8th inst., with increased intensity at dawn of the
9th inst., the artillery attacked on the whole line for several miles.
"Bombs were employed in great number, and are found to be even more
effective here than on the Carso, the friable rock breaking into
millions of fragments under the explosion.
"In the afternoon a demonstrative attack in the Vallarsa carried the
line ahead some 400 yards, and at half past 3 the principal attack
carried the trenches of the crest (Cosmagnon Alps), together with the
summit called Lora. The arduous mountaineering feat of arriving on the
mountain's overhanging brow was accomplished on rope ladders by
infantry Alpini and Bersaglieri.
"The line once brought over the crest, the battle raged furiously on
the mountain top. The Austrians had constructed magnificent caverns
and dugouts, and made them as impregnable as their long residence
permitted. Their resistance was specially keen around the fearful
natural fortifications called the Tooth, consisting of spires and
slender ledges and abounding in caverns. The Tooth still remains in
part to the Austrians. From the first day, the Alpini have scaled part
of it and still stick there.
"One of the spectacular sights of the day was an Alpini perched on his
spire of the Tooth, who kept the Austrian machine gunners from their
task, pelting them with rocks every time they set to work.
"The fighting all took place on the rolling surface of the Cosmagnon
Alps--closed in by the barrage fire on both sides under the dazzling
sky, but with the world below completely shut off by Monte Pasubio's
crown of clouds. Shrapnel and shell disappeared in the ocean of
clouds."
More so than in any other war theater, fighting on the Austro-Italian
front was influenced by weather conditions during December, 1916, and
January, 1917. For practically its entire extent it was located in
mountainous territory, most of it indeed, as we have seen, being among
mountain peaks thousands of feet high.
No wonder then that there was little to report at any time during
December, 1916, and January, 1917, except artillery activity of
varying frequency and violence. Occasionally engagements would take
place between small detachments. These, however, were hardly ever
little more than clashes between outposts or patrols. These and quite
frequently even artillery activity were stopped entirely for days at a
time by the severity of the blizzards and gales that prevailed
throughout most of December, 1916.
In January, 1917, much the same condition prevailed. Batteries
everywhere were shelling each other and whatever positions of the
enemy were within reach as often as the weather was clear enough to do
so. On January 1, 1917, Goritz was subjected to a particularly heavy
bombardment from the Austrian guns, which caused considerable material
damage.
On January 4, 1917, two attacks carried out by small Austrian
detachments--one between the Adige and Lake Garda and the other in the
Plava sector--were repulsed. An Italian attack on the Carso Plateau
resulted in an advance of about 600 feet along a narrow front. Similar
small advances were made in the same region by the Italians at various
times. In most instances they were maintained in the face of frequent
Austrian counterattacks, though some of the latter occasionally were
successful.
On January 18, 1917, the Austrians attempted, after especially violent
artillery preparation, an attack against the Italian positions between
Frigido and the Opacchiasella-Castagnievizza road on the Carso, south
of Goritz. Italian gun and rifle fire, however, stopped the Austrian
attack before it had fully developed. A few days later, on January 22,
1917, a similar Austrian attack, launched southeast of Goritz, was
somewhat more successful and resulted in the temporary penetration of
a few Italian positions. The same success accompanied a like
undertaking in the vicinity of Goritz near Kostanjeoica on January 30,
1917.
On practically every day through January, 1917, there was
considerable artillery activity in the various sectors of the entire
front. This increased in violence in accordance with weather
conditions, but generally speaking had little result on general
conditions, which at the end of January, 1917, were practically the
same as had been established after the fall of Goritz.
PART V--WAR IN THE AIR AND ON THE SEA
CHAPTER XLVII
AEROPLANE WARFARE
During the six months, covering the period from August 1, 1916, to
February 1, 1917, aeroplane warfare at the various fronts was as
extensive, varied, and continuous as at any time during the war, if
indeed not more so. The efficiency of machines and operators alike
became higher and higher developed. Atmospheric conditions became less
and less of a factor in flying. If in spite of these facts the number
of machines and flyers lost continued to be comparatively huge, this
was due to the fact that the development of flying made fairly equal
progress in the flying corps of the various belligerents, and that
increased efficiency and independence from atmospheric conditions
rather had the tendency of increasing the daring of aviators.
It is of course evident that it would be impossible within the limits
of these chapters to narrate every flying enterprise undertaken.
Hundred, perhaps thousands, of flights made, are never reported either
officially or unofficially. The largest number of these of course had
as their object chiefly the gathering of information or the more
accurate direction of artillery fire.
In the following pages, however, will be found an account of all the
more important independent aeroplane enterprises undertaken at the
various fronts, as well as aeroplane raids made into the interior of
some of the countries at war.
On August 1, 1916, an Italian aerial squadron attacked with
considerable success an Austro-Hungarian plant for making Whitehead
torpedoes and submarine works located west of Fiume on one of the
Croatian bays of the Adriatic.
Two German aeroplanes, coming from the Dardanelles, on August 4, 1916,
dropped bombs on the aerodrome of the Entente Allies, located on the
island of Lemnos in the Ægean Sea, but were promptly driven off by
gunfire from British ships.
On the same day, August 4, 1916, Turkish or German aeroplanes
attempted a bombardment of shipping on the Suez Canal. The attack was
carried out by two machines over Lake Timsah, forty-five miles south
of Port Said. The town of Ismailia, on the lake border, also was
bombarded. No damage was done.
Again on August 6, 1916, a bomb attack by aeroplanes over Port Said
and Suez inflicted little material damage and caused slight
casualties.
On the following day, August 7, 1916, an Austrian squadron made up of
twenty-one aeroplanes attacked Venice. They claimed to have dropped
three and one-half tons of explosives and to have caused great damage
and many fires; the Italian Government, however, stated that the
damage caused was comparatively small and that only two people were
killed.
On September 5, 1916, two British aeroplanes raided the Turkish
aerodrome and aeroplane repair section at El Arish, ninety miles east
of the Suez Canal, dropping twelve bombs with good results. Turkish
aeroplanes attacked the British machines but ultimately gave up the
fight, and the latter returned to camp undamaged.
Again on September 8, 1916, three British machines bombed El Mazaar
and the Turkish camp near by.
Early in the morning of September 13, 1916, a group of Austrian
seaplanes attacked Venice once more. Incendiary and explosive bombs
struck the church of San Giovanni Paola, the Home for the Aged, and a
number of other buildings, inflicting some damage, although no
casualties were reported. Chioggra also was attacked by the same
machines; but here, too, the damage was rather slight.
On the same day in the afternoon an Italian air squadron of eighteen
Capronis under the protection of three Nieuport antiaircraft
aeroplanes attacked Trieste. Six Italian torpedo boats and two motor
boats assisted them in the gulf. Numerous bombs were dropped, but
these caused only slight damage, and none of military importance. One
man was slightly wounded.
Austrian aeroplanes and antiaircraft batteries obtained hits on the
Italian torpedo boats. At the same time an Italian air squadron
appeared over Parenzo, dropping twenty bombs in a field. No damage was
done.
Still another attack was reported on this day, this time by the
Russians. A squadron of four Russian giant aeroplanes of the
Slyr-Murometz type bombarded the German seaplane station on Lake
Angern in the Gulf of Riga. The Russians claimed to have dropped about
seventy-five bombs and to have started a great conflagration. They
also claimed that eight German seaplanes counterattacked, but were
repulsed by machine-gun fire, and that as the result of the bombing
and the air fight not fewer than eight German machines were destroyed
or put out of action. None of the Russian machines were reported
either lost or damaged.
A German aerodrome, located at St. Denis-Westrem in Belgium, was
attacked on September 22, 1916, by British machines who claimed to
have killed forty Germans and to have burned two sheds and three
aeroplanes. On October 1, 1916, bombs were dropped by British
aeroplanes on the Turkish camp at Kut-el-Amara.
Three days later, on October 4, 1916, British aeroplanes carried out a
successful bombing attack on Turkish camps in the neighborhood of El
Arish. It was claimed then that recent aerial attacks on the Turkish
aerodrome at El Arish had had the effect of compelling the Turks to
move their machines and hangars from that place.
An Austro-German air squadron on October 12, 1916, was reported to
have dropped bombs on Constanza, the principal Rumanian Black Sea
port.
On October 20, 1916, a British naval aeroplane attacked and brought
down a German kite balloon near Ostend. A similar machine engaged a
large German double-engined tractor seaplane, shooting both the pilot
and the observer. The seaplane side-slipped and dived vertically into
the sea two miles off Ostend. The remains later were seen floating on
the water. Both the British machines were undamaged.
Two days later, October 21, 1916, a German aeroplane approached the
fortified seaport of Sheerness at the mouth of the Thames, flying very
high. Four bombs were dropped, three of which fell into the harbor.
The fourth fell in the vicinity of a railway station and damaged
several railway carriages. British aeroplanes went up and the raider
made off in a northeasterly direction. No casualties were reported.
A German seaplane was shot down and destroyed later that day by one of
the British naval aircraft. The German machine fell into the sea.
Judging by time, it was probably the seaplane which visited Sheerness.
Margate, a resort on the southeast coast of England, was attacked on
October 22, 1916, by a German aeroplane, which succeeded in inflicting
slight material damage and injuring two people before it was driven
off.
The French made a strong attack on the Metz region on the same day,
October 22, 1916, employing twenty-four machines. They claimed that
these dropped 4,200 kilograms of bombs on blast furnaces at Hagodange
and Pussings north of Metz, and also on the railway stations at
Thionville, Mezures-les-Betz, Longwy, and Metz-Sablons. On the same
day another French aerial squadron bombarded the ammunition depot at
Monsen road (Somme). German aeroplanes dropped several bombs on
Lunéville. There were no victims and the material damage was
insignificant. On the Somme front two German aeroplanes were brought
down and three others were forced down in a damaged condition.
Finally, good results were achieved by a French bombing expedition
against factories of Rombach and the railway station at Mars-la-Tour.
The Germans, however, claimed that the French air raids did no damage
to Metz and other points, but that five civilians were killed and
seven made ill by inhaling poisonous gases from the bombs. They
further claimed that twenty-two French aviators had been shot down by
aerial attacks and antiaircraft fire and that eleven aeroplanes were
lying behind the German lines. Captain Boelke conquered his
thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth foes.
On October 27, 1916, French aeroplanes dropped forty bombs on the
railway station at Grand Pré, eight on the railway station at
Challerange, and thirty on enemy bivouacs at Fretoy-le-Château and
Avricourt, north of Lassigny, where two fires were seen to break out.
On the same night ten other French machines dropped 240 bombs on the
railway station at Conflans and thirty on the railway station at
Courcelles. Another French machine dropped six shells on the railway
line at Pagny-sur-Moselle.
The British report for the same day likewise announced that aerial
engagements took place between large numbers of machines on both
sides. It was reported that five machines fell during a fight, two of
which were British. On another occasion one British pilot encountered
a formation of ten German machines, attacked them single handed and
dispersed them far behind their own lines.
On October 28, 1916, it was announced that Captain Boelke, the famous
German aviator, had been killed in a collision, with another
aeroplane. He was credited with having brought down forty aeroplanes.
Not until almost the middle of November, 1916, did aeroplane warfare
develop its usual activity.
On the night of November 9-10, 1916, British aeroplanes dropped bombs
without success on Ostend and Zeebrugge. One British machine was
forced down and captured and the aviator, a British officer, made
prisoner.
On the morning of November 10, 1916, a German battleplane attacked
two British biplanes between Nieuport and Dunkirk. It shot down one
and forced the other to retreat. In the forenoon three German
battleplanes met a superior British aerial squadron off Ostend and
attacked it. After a combat the British were forced to withdraw. The
German machines returned to their base, having suffered insignificant
damages.
Between 10 and 11 o'clock on the morning of November 10, 1916, a group
of seventeen British aeroplanes bombarded the steel works at
Völklingen, northwest of Saarbrücken. One thousand kilograms of
projectiles were dropped on the buildings, which were damaged
seriously. In the course of the operations British machines fought
several actions against German machines, three of which were felled.
On the following night between 8 and 9 o'clock eight British
aeroplanes executed a fresh bombardment of these works, dropping 1,800
kilograms of projectiles. Several fires were observed. All British
machines returned safely.
During the night of November 10-11, 1916, British squadrons drenched
with projectiles the stations of Ham, St. Quentin, Tergnier, and
Nesle, in the Somme region, and the aerodrome at Dreuze, the blast
furnaces of Ramsbach, the aeroplane sheds of Frescati (near Metz), and
the blast furnaces of Hagodange (north of Metz). These operations
caused great damage, and several explosions and fires were observed.
A German aeroplane during the night of November 10-11, 1916, bombarded
several French towns. Nancy and Lunéville received projectiles which
caused damage or casualties. Amiens was also bombarded on various
occasions during the same night. Nine persons of the civilian
population were killed and twenty-seven injured.
On November 11, 1916, five German machines were claimed to have been
brought down by the British.
The following day, November 12, 1916, a squadron of British naval
aeroplanes attacked the harbor of Ostend. A considerable number of
bombs was dropped on the dockyards and on the war vessels in the
harbor. On the same day it was also reported that two successful air
raids had been carried out by aircraft operating with the British
forces in Egypt. The points raided were Maghdaba and Birsaba. A ton
of high explosives was dropped. Two Fokker machines were brought down
by the raiding aeroplanes, all of which returned safely.
Near Saloniki two aeroplanes belonging to the Central Powers were
forced to descend behind their own lines. During the night of November
14, 1916, ten British machines at various points in France carried out
a series of successful raids on railway stations and rolling stock.
On the same day a Turkish aeroplane flying very high dropped several
bombs in and about Cairo, Egypt, killing and wounding a number of
civilians. No military damage was done and only one military casualty
was incurred.
On November 17, 1916, it was reported that a French aviator had
succeeded in flying across the Alps after dropping bombs upon the
station at Munich, the capital of Bavaria. He landed near Venice,
having flown 435 miles in one day.
London was again attacked on November 28, 1916. An aeroplane, flying
very high, dropped six bombs which injured nine people and did
considerable damage. A German machine, brought down a few hours later
near Dunkirk, was supposed to have been the one returning from the
attack on London.
On November 30, 1916, in Lorraine, three British aeroplanes fought an
engagement with several German machines. One German machine was
brought down in the forest of Gremecy.
On the same day on the Somme front French airmen fought about forty
engagements, in the course of which five German machines were brought
down.
Six French machines dropped fifteen bombs on Bruyères. Another French
air squadron carried out a bombardment of the aerodrome of Grisolles
(north of Château-Thierry). Between 3.45 p. m. and 7 p. m. 171 bombs
of 120 mm. were dropped.
That night between 9.30 p. m. and 1.10 a. m. four French machines
bombarded the blast furnaces and factories of Völklingen (northwest of
Saarbrücken).
On December 1, 1916, a group of aeroplanes of the British Naval Air
Service bombarded the blast furnaces of Dillingen, northwest of
Saarbrücken. During this expedition one ton of explosives was dropped.
A German aeroplane was brought down during the return journey.
During December 2, 1916, Italian aeroplanes bombed Austrian positions
at Dorimbergo (Fornberg) and Tabor, in the Frigido (Vippacco) Valley.
On the following day, December 3, 1916, another Italian air squadron
bombed the railway station for Dottogliano and Scoppo on the Carso
(seven and one-half miles northeast of Trieste). Notwithstanding bad
weather conditions and the violent fire of the Austrian artillery, the
aviators came down low to drop a ton and half of high explosives.
Numerous air flights took place and one Austrian machine was brought
down; one of the Italian machines was reported missing.
Austrian seaplanes dropped bombs at several points on the Carso
without causing casualties or damage. An Italian aeroplane dropped
five large bombs on the floating hangars at Trieste, with excellent
results.
On December 4, 1916, Austrian aircraft dropped a few bombs on Adria
and Monfalcone without doing any damage.
On the Tigris front, during the same day, December 4, 1916, Turkish
aeroplanes bombed successfully British camps. Six British machines
immediately made an equally successful counterattack.
On December 14, 1916, a British squadron of naval aeroplanes carried
out a bombardment of the Kuleli-Burges bridge, south of Adrianople.
Throughout the balance of December, 1916, there was a great deal of
local air activity at many points on all the fronts. Comparatively
speaking, however, no major actions occurred.
The same condition existed during the early part of January, 1917.
On January 11, 1917, an Austrian air squadron dropped a considerable
number of bombs in the neighborhood of Aquieleja, southwest of
Monfalcone. One Austrian seaplane was brought down by Italian
antiaircraft batteries. At the same time two aeroplanes bombarded the
aviation ground at Propecto and the seaplane base in the harbor of
Trieste.
The Russian front reported increased aerial activity on the following
day, January 12, 1917. A German aerial squadron, consisting of
thirteen airplanes, dropped about forty bombs on the station and town
of Radzivilov. Russian aeroplanes bombarded with machine-gun fire a
German battery near the village of Krukhov.
Similar exploits were reported from many different points on the
various fronts during the following week. Especially was this true of
the western front. However, there nowhere occurred any major actions.
CHAPTER XLVIII
ZEPPELIN RAIDS
During the night of July 31 to August 1, 1916, a squadron of
Zeppelins, reported to have numbered at least six, raided the eastern
and southeastern counties of England. Sixty bombs were dropped,
causing considerable material damage, but, as far as was ascertained,
no casualties.
Again the following day, August 2, 1916, six Zeppelins appeared over
the east coast of England. According to German claims, London, the
naval base at Harwich, and various industrial establishments in the
county of Norfolk were covered with a total of about eighty bombs,
which caused, of course, considerable loss. Although English
authorities claimed that antiaircraft guns registered a number of hits
against one, or possibly two, of the Zeppelins, and that another,
flying during its return trip over Dutch territory, was fired at and
hit, all of the six were later reported to have returned to their home
base undamaged.
Another squadron visited the east coast again one week later, August
9, 1916. There were reported to have been between seven and ten
machines which dropped about 160 bombs, caused extensive damage, and
killed twenty-three people. English batteries finally forced the
withdrawal of the Zeppelins.
About twenty-four hours after Rumania's entrance into the war on the
side of the Allies a Zeppelin, accompanied by an aeroplane, appeared
during the night of August 28, 1916, over Rumania's capital,
Bucharest. After a short bombardment, which caused but little damage,
they were both forced to withdraw by the fire of antiaircraft guns.
Before returning to their bases they bombarded three other unnamed
Rumanian cities without causing much damage.
Shortly after 11 o'clock in the evening of September 2, 1916, the
eastern coasts of England were again attacked, this time by a fleet of
thirteen airships, the most formidable attack that had so far been
launched against England.
The measures taken by the English authorities for the reduction or
obscuration of lights proved most efficacious, for the raiding
squadrons, instead of steering a steady course as to the raids of the
spring and of last autumn, groped about in darkness looking for a safe
avenue to approach their objectives.
Three airships only were able to approach the outskirts of London. One
of them, the _L-21_, appeared over the northern district about 2.15 in
the morning of September 3, 1916, where she was picked up by
searchlights and heavily engaged by antiaircraft guns and aeroplanes.
After a few minutes the airship was seen to burst into flames and fall
rapidly toward the earth.
The ship was destroyed, the wreckage, engines, and half-burned bodies
of the crew being found at Cuffley, near Enfield. The other two ships
which approached London were driven off by the defenses without being
able to approach the center of the city. A great number of bombs were
dropped promiscuously over the east Anglian and southeastern counties,
causing considerable but not very serious damage. Two people were
reported killed and thirteen injured.
The funeral of the sixteen members of the German Zeppelin took place
on September 6, 1916, at Potter's Bar Cemetery, and was carried out
under the direction of the British Royal Flying Corps. A young member
of the latter, Lieutenant William Robinson, who had been responsible
for the Zeppelin's destruction, received later the Victoria Cross as
well as a number of monetary rewards and civic honors. The site at
Cuffley, which had been the scene of the airship's destruction, was
presented to the English nation by its owner.
During the night of September 23, 1916, twelve Zeppelins again made
their appearance over the eastern counties of England and the
outskirts of London. Although the material damage was widespread, it
was borne chiefly by small homes and shops. The toll in human life was
greater than at any other raid, amounting to thirty-eight killed and
125 injured. However, two of the Zeppelins were forced down in Essex;
one of them was destroyed together with its crew; the other managed to
make a landing and its crew of twenty-one were made prisoners.
Two days later, during the night of September 25, 1916, a smaller
squadron of about six airships attacked the northeastern and southern
counties of England. Bombs did considerable damage, most of which,
however, was inflicted on privately owned property. Thirty-six people
were killed and twenty-seven more injured.
With the advance of autumn Zeppelin raids became less frequent. Only
once during October, 1916, on the night of October 1 to 2, did a
squadron of Zeppelins appear over English territory. At that time ten
airships attacked the eastern coast and London. The damage again was
principally to private property. Only one person was reported killed
and one injured. One of the Zeppelins, however, was brought down in
flames near Potter's Bar, and from its wreckage the bodies of nineteen
members of its crew were recovered.
Not until the end of November, 1916, was another Zeppelin attack
reported. At that time, during the night of November 27 to 28, 1916,
two airships raided Yorkshire and Durham. They did considerable
damage, killed one and injured sixteen persons. Both Zeppelins were
brought down and destroyed and the entire crews of both perished.
One airship was attacked by an aeroplane of the British Royal Flying
Corps and brought down in flames into the sea off the coast of Durham.
Another airship crossed the North Midland counties and dropped bombs
at various places. On her return journey she Was repeatedly attacked
by aeroplanes of the British Royal Flying Corps and by guns. She
appeared to have been damaged, for the last part of her journey was
made at very slow speed, and she was unable to reach the coast before
day was breaking.
Near the Norfolk coast she apparently succeeded in effecting repairs,
and, after passing through gunfire from the land defenses, which
claimed to have made a hit, proceeded east at high speed and at an
altitude of over 8,000 feet. She was attacked nine miles out at sea by
four machines of the British Royal Naval Air Service, while gunfire
was opened from an armed British trawler, and the airship was finally
brought down in flames.
During December, 1916, no Zeppelins were apparently used actively. As
far as it was possible to determine definitely, the number of German
airships wrecked from the outbreak of the war up to January 1, 1917,
was nineteen. Of these twelve were lost during 1916 as follows:
_L-19._ Wrecked in the North Sea on February 3.
_L-77._ Shot down by French guns near Brabant-le-Roi on February 21.
_L-15._ Shot down in raid on eastern counties, and sank off Thames
estuary on April 1.
_L-20._ Wrecked near Stavanger on May 3.
Unnamed airship. Destroyed by British warships off Schleswig on May 4.
Unnamed airship. Brought down by Allied warships at Saloniki on May 5.
_L-21._ Burned and wrecked near Enfield, September 3.
_L-32_ and _L-33_. Brought down in Essex, September 24.
Airship brought down at Potter's Bar, October 1.
Two airships brought down in flames off the east coast, November
27-28.
Another list, based on an article published in the "Journal of the
Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute," yields a total of
thirty-eight Zeppelins as having been destroyed since the outbreak of
the war. Of this number the loss of thirty was said to have been
authenticated.
Of the larger total (38) 5 were destroyed in 1914, 17 in 1915, and 16
in 1916. Of these 4 were lost in France, 6 in Russia, 7 in Belgium, 7
in England, 1 in Denmark, 1 in Norway, 1 in the Balkans, 5 in the
East, and 6 in Germany.
No further activities of Zeppelins were reported during January, 1917,
except that it was announced unofficially on January 3, 1917, that two
Zeppelins had been destroyed at Tondern, Schleswig, by a fire due to
defective electric wiring in a recently constructed double shed.
To sum up the losses in aeroplanes incurred by the various
belligerents during the six months' period, August, 1916, to February,
1917, is practically impossible. Figures are available for a few
months only, and they are not only unofficial, but come from all kinds
of different sources, most of them very much biased.
Furthermore, there always is a wide discrepancy between figures
published by adherents of the Allies and those published by the
friends of the Central Powers.
As an example of this condition the following may well serve: At the
end of January, 1916, an unofficial statement claimed that the Germans
lost during 1916 on the western front a total of 221 aeroplanes. The
French authorities immediately claimed that they had knowledge of 417
German aeroplanes which had been shot down by their aviators, and that
195 more machines were brought down damaged, of which undoubtedly a
number finally were to be considered lost to the Germans. Neither
statement, however, is supported by sufficient data to allow any kind
of checking up. The truth, therefore, must be sought somewhere around
the average between these two figures.
Equally difficult is it to arrive at any definite figures regarding
the losses in man power incurred by the various aviation corps. No
official figures are available except the lists of casualties
published in aviation papers. These, however, cover only the French
and English organizations, and even in these two cases they contain a
large number of men who lost their lives not at the front, but in
aviation camps in England or France while being trained.
However, that section of the French Aviation Corps containing American
volunteers has been more liberal in publishing statistics. On November
3, 1916, it was announced that the flying unit of the French Corps,
consisting entirely of American volunteers, had brought down between
May and November a total of twenty-one German machines. At that time
it consisted of twelve American members. Unfortunately it had lost
previously to this date two of its members.
Kiffin Rockwell of Atlanta, Ga., had been killed in an air battle over
Thame in Alsace on September 23, 1916. He had joined the Foreign
Legion of the French army in May, 1915, had been severely wounded,
received the Military Medal, and after his recovery had been
transferred to the Flying Corps. He had participated in thirty-four
air battles, and a few hours before his death had been promoted to be
a second lieutenant.
Norman Prince, Harvard graduate and native of Hamilton, Mass., was
severely wounded early in October, 1916. He died a week later on
October 14, 1916, in a hospital after first having been decorated with
the cross of the Legion of Honor. He had also received some time
before the Military Medal.
On November 2, 1916, it was announced that Anthony H. Jannus, a young
Washington aviator, had been killed in Russia on October 12, 1916,
while flying for the Russian army.
Another young American, Ruskin Watts of Westfield, N. J., who was
serving in the English Aviation Corps on the western front, was on
November 2, 1916, reported as missing since September 22, 1916. No
further news of his fate was known.
This meant that, as far as was known definitely, four Americans had
lost their lives fighting for the Allies as members of their aviation
service.
CHAPTER XLIX
SUBMARINE WARFARE
The totals of the damage inflicted by submarines of the Central Powers
on the merchant fleets of the Entente Allies during July, 1916, was
not officially announced until August 16, 1916. On that day an
official statement was published in Berlin to the effect that German
and Austrian submarines and mines had destroyed during July, 1916, 74
merchantmen belonging to England and her allies. These ships had a
total tonnage of 103,000 tons.
The activity of German and Austrian submarines increased considerably
during August, 1916. According to an official German statement
submarines or mines sunk 126 merchant ships, belonging to England and
her allies, totaling 170,679 tons gross, as well as 35 neutral
merchant ships, totaling 38,568 tons. These figures, however, did not
agree with figures compiled in this country. The New York "Journal of
Commerce" records only 93 ships of a total tonnage of 123,397 as
having been sunk in August, 1916. The same authority also announced
that in the period from August 1, 1914, to September 1, 1916, there
had been destroyed, 1,584 merchant ships, aggregating 2,939,915 tons.
Among the ships sunk in August, 1916, was the Italian mail steamer
_Letimbro_. She went to the bottom of the Mediterranean on August 4,
1916, and it was claimed that many of her 1,100 passengers were lost.
Other ships of more than 2,000 tons which were lost in August, 1916,
were:
British: _Tottenham_, 3,106 tons; _Favonian_, 3,049 tons; _Mount
Coniston_, 3,018 tons; _Aaro_, 2,603 tons; _Trident_, 3,129 tons; _San
Bernardo_, 3,803 tons; _Antiope_, 2,793 tons; _Whitgift_, 4,397 tons;
_Britannic_, 3,487 tons; _Heighington_, 2,800 tons; and _Newburn_,
3,554 tons.
Italian: _Citta di Messina_, 2,464 tons; _Hermerberg_, 2,824 tons;
_Siena_, 4,372 tons; _Teti_, 2,868 tons; _Nereus_, 3,980 tons;
_Angelo_, 8,609 tons; _Sebastiano_, 3,995 tons; _Stampalia_, 9,000.
Other nations: _Ivar_, Danish, 2,139 tons; _Kohina Maru_, Japanese,
3,164 tons; _Tenmei Maru_, Japanese, 3,360 tons; _Tricoupis_, Greek,
2,387 tons; _Ganekogorta Mendi_, Spanish, 3,061 tons; _Pagasarri_,
Spanish, 3,287 tons.
Of vessels smaller than 2,000 tons the losses to the various nations
were as follows: Great Britain, 23; France, 6; Italy, 10; Russia, 4;
Norway, 9; Sweden, 6; Holland, 2; Denmark, 3; Greece, 3.
A large discrepancy regarding the total number and tonnage of Allied
and neutral merchantmen sunk by mines and submarines was again
noticeable in the figures published in the United States newspapers
and in official statements of the German admiralty.
The latter on October 26, 1916, announced that 180 ships with a total
tonnage of 254,600 had been sunk, of which 141 of 182,000 tons
belonged to Great Britain and her allies, and 39 of 72,600 tons to
neutral nations. The New York "Journal of Commerce," on October 5,
1916, published a summary of merchantmen lost during September, 1916,
which accounted only for 70 vessels of 150,317 tons, of which 25 were
said to have belonged to Great Britain and 18 to neutral Norway, while
France lost 4, Italy 4, Sweden 5, Denmark 4, Spain, Greece, and
Holland each 2, and Belgium 1. Of all these the following were more
than 2,000 tons:
British: _Duart_, 3,108 tons; _Strathalian_, 4,404 tons; _Swift
Wings_, 4,465 tons; _Kelvinia_, 3,140 tons; _Torridge_, 5,036 tons;
_Strathtay_, 4,428 tons; _Heathdene_, 3,541 tons; _Llangorse_, 3,841
tons; _Butetown_, 2,466 tons; _Bronwen_, 4,250 tons; _Strathe_, 2,500
tons; _Newby_, 2,168 tons; _Counsellor_, 4,958 tons; _Lexie_, 3,778
tons; _Swedish Prince_, 3,712 tons; _Roddam_, 3,218 tons; _Lord
Tredegar_, 3,856 tons; _Dewa_, 3,802 tons.
Norwegian: _Elizabeth IV_, 4,182 tons; _Polynesia_, 4,064 tons;
_Bufjord_, 2,284 tons; _Qvindeggen_, 2,610 tons; _Furu_, 2,029 tons;
_Isdalen_, 2,275 tons.
Other nations: _Antwerpen_, Dutch, 11,000 tons; _Benpark_, Italian,
3,842 tons; _Gamen_, Swedish, 2,617 tons; _Luis Vives_, Spanish, 2,394
tons; _Assimacos_, Greek, 2,898 tons.
For the month of October, 1916, the New York "Journal of Commerce"
placed its total figures of Allied and neutral merchantmen sunk by
mines or submarines at 127 vessels of 227,116 tons, according to a
compilation published on November 3, 1916. No official figures of the
German Government for October, 1916, were available. Of the
above-mentioned 127 vessels, Great Britain lost 38; Norway, 56;
Sweden, 10; Denmark, 8; Greece, 5; Russia, 4; Holland, 3; France,
Belgium, and Rumania, each 1. Of these the following were of more than
2,000 tons:
British: Franconia, 18,150 tons; _Alaunia_, 13,405 tons; _Welsh
Prince_, 4,934 tons; _Rowanmore_, 10,320 tons; _Astoria_, 4,262 tons;
_Cabotia_, 4,309 tons; _Midland_, 4,247 tons; _Cluden_, 3,166 tons;
_Barbara_, 3,740 tons; _Framfield_, 2,510 tons; _Ethel Duncan_, 2,510
tons; _Sidmouth_, 4,045 tons; _Crosshill_, 5,002 tons; _Sebek_, 4,601
tons; _Renylan_, 3,875 tons; _Strathdene_, 4,321 tons; _West Point_,
3,847 tons; _Stephano_, 3,449 tons.
Norwegian: _Christian Knudsen_, 4,224 tons; _Risholm_, 2,155 tons;
_Snestadt_, 2,350 tons; _Edam_, 2,381 tons; _Sola_, 3,057 tons;
_Bygdo_, 2,345 tons.
Russian: _Tourgai_, 4,281 tons; _Mercator_, 2,827 tons.
Dutch: _Bloomersdijk_, 4,850 tons.
Greek: _George M. Embiricos_, 3,636 tons; _Massalia_, 2,186 tons;
_Germaine_, 2,573 tons.
Rumanian: _Bistritza_, 3,668 tons.
More interest than ever before in submarine warfare was aroused in
this country when the German war submarine _U-53_ unexpectedly made
its appearance in the harbor of Newport, R. I., during the afternoon
of October 7, 1916. About three hours afterward, without having taken
on any supplies, and after explaining her presence by the desire of
delivering a letter addressed to Count von Bernstorff, then German
Ambassador at Washington, the _U-53_ left as suddenly and mysteriously
as she had appeared.
This was the first appearance of a war submarine in an American port.
It was claimed that the _U-53_ had made the trip from Wilhelmshaven in
seventeen days. She was 213 feet long, equipped with two guns, four
torpedo tubes, and an exceptionally strong wireless outfit. Besides
her commander, Captain Rose, she was manned by three officers and
thirty-three men.
Early the next morning, October 8, 1916, it became evident what had
brought the _U-53_ to this side of the Atlantic. At the break of day
she made her reappearance southeast of Nantucket. The American steamer
_Kansan_ of the American Hawaiian Company bound from New York by way
of Boston to Genoa was stopped by her, but after proving her
nationality and neutral ownership was allowed to proceed. Five other
steamships, three of them British, one Dutch, and one Norwegian, were
less fortunate. The British freighter _Strathend_, of 4,321 tons, was
the first victim. Her crew were taken aboard the Nantucket Shoals
Lightship. Two other British freighters, _West Point_ and _Stephano_,
followed in short order to the bottom of the ocean. The crews of both
were saved by United States torpedo-boat destroyers which had come
from Newport as soon as news of the _U-53's_ activities had been
received there. This was also the case with the crews of the Dutch
ship _Bloomersdijk_ and the Norwegian tanker _Christian Knudsen_.
On December 20, 1916, the German admiralty announced that the total
losses inflicted on Allied and neutral merchantmen by submarines and
mines during November, 1916, amounted to 191 vessels of 408,500 tons.
Of these 138 ships of 314,500 belonged to Great Britain and her
allies, and 53 ships of 94,000 tons to neutral countries.
On November 13, 1916, the Norwegian steamship _Older_, on passage from
Newport to Gibraltar, was captured by a German submarine, which placed
a prize crew on board her. For a time the submarine remained in
company. Eventually, however, the _Older_ separated from the
submarine, apparently with the intention of making for a German port.
She was intercepted by a British ship of war, recaptured, and brought
into a British port, and the prize crew were made prisoners of war.
The losses of Allied and neutral merchantmen sunk by submarines and
mines during the month of December, 1916, according to the New York
"Journal of Commerce," totaled 134 vessels of 251,750 tons, of which
53 vessels of 157,217 tons belonged to Great Britain and her allies,
and 81 vessels of 84,533 tons to neutrals.
Among the largest of these were the following British boats: _King
Malcom_, 4,351 tons; _Reapwell_, 3,417 tons; _Luciston_, 2,948 tons;
_Moeraki_, 4,392 tons; _King Bleddyn_, 4,387 tons; _Couch_, 5,620
tons; _Tanfield_, 4,358 tons; _Avristan_, 3,818 tons; _Strathalbyn_,
4,331 tons; _Ursula_, 5,011 tons; _Bretwalda_, 4,037 tons;
_Westminster_, 4,342 tons.
The French merchant marine, in addition to a number of smaller boats,
lost: _Kangaroo_, 2,493 tons; _Emma Laurans_, 2,152 tons. One Belgian
steamer of 2,360 tons, the _Keltier_, also was sunk.
Of neutrals, the Dutch lost the _Kediri_, 3,781 tons; the Norwegians
the _Rakiura_, 3,569 tons; _Modum_, 2,942 tons; _Meteor_, 4,211 tons;
_Manpanger_, 3,354 tons; the Greeks, _Salamis_, 3,638 tons; and the
Danish, _Michail Ontchonkoff_, 2,118 tons.
The balance of the boats destroyed in December, 1916, was made up of
vessels of less than 2,000 tons, among which there were Russian,
Swedish, and Portuguese boats as well as ships belonging to the
nations already mentioned. One American-owned was also included, the
_John Lambert_, of 1,550 tons, owned by the Great Britain & St.
Lawrence Transportation Company.
On December 4, 1916, a German submarine sank in the Mediterranean the
former Anchor liner _Caledonia_, a steamer of 9,223 tons. The German
version of this occurrence was as follows:
"On December 4, 1916, in the Mediterranean, the British liner
_Caledonia_ attempted to ram one of our submarines without having
previously been attacked by the latter.
"Just before the submarine was struck by the steamer's bows it
succeeded in firing a torpedo, which hit and sank the _Caledonia_. The
submarine was only slightly damaged.
"The captain of the steamer, James Blaikie, was taken prisoner by the
submarine."
In January, 1917, the toll exacted by mines and submarines was
especially large. The New York "Journal of Commerce" gave on February
6, 1917, the following figures: 154 vessels of 336,997 tons. Of these
87, of 229,366 tons, belonged to Great Britain and her allies, and 67,
of 107,631 tons, to neutrals. No American boats were included.
On January 1, 1917, a German submarine sank the British transport
_Ivernia_ in the Mediterranean while carrying troops. Four officers
and 146 men as well as 33 members of the crew were reported missing.
The British battleship _Cornwallis_ was sunk on January 9, 1917,
likewise in the Mediterranean. Thirteen members of the crew were
reported missing. The _Cornwallis_, which was launched at Blackwell in
1901 and completed in 1904, had a displacement of 14,000 tons, length
of 405 feet, beam of 75-1/2 feet, and draft of 26-1/2 feet. Her
indicated horsepower was 18,238, developing a speed of 18.9 knots. She
carried four 12-inch, twelve 6-inch, ten 12-pounder, and two 3-pounder
guns, as well as four torpedo tubes. The complement of the
_Cornwallis_ was about 750.
Two days later, January 11, 1917, the British seaplane carrier
_Ben-Machree_ was sunk by gunfire in Kasteloxizo Harbor (Asia Minor).
There were no casualties.
Among the larger boats (above 2,000 tons) sunk during January, 1917,
were the following:
British: _Apsleyhall_, 3,882 tons; _Holly Branch_, 3,568 tons;
_Baycraig_, 3,761 tons; _Lesbian_, 2,555 tons; _Andoni_, 3,188 tons;
_Baynesk_, 3,286 tons; _Lynfield_, 3,023 tons; _Manchester Inventor_,
4,247 tons; _Wragby_, 3,641 tons; _Garfield_, 3,838 tons;
_Auchencrag_, 3,916 tons; _Port Nicholson_, 8,418 tons; _Matina_,
3,870 tons; _Toftwood_, 3,082 tons; _Mohacsfield_, 3,678 tons;
_Tremeadow_, 3,653 tons; _Neuquen_, 3,583 tons; _Tabasco_, 2,987 tons;
_Matheran_, 7,654 tons; _Jevington_, 2,747 tons.
French: _Tuskar_, 3,043 tons.
Japanese: _Taki Maru_, 3,208 tons; _Chinto Maru_, 2,592 tons;
_Misagatu Maru_, No. 3, 2,608 tons.
Russian: _Egret_, 3,185 tons.
Norwegian: _Britannic_, 2,289 tons; _Older_, 2,256 tons; _Fama_, 2,147
tons; _Esperança_, 4,428 tons; _Bergenhus_, 3,606 tons; _Jotunfjell_,
2,492 tons; _Myrdal_, 2,631 tons.
Dutch: _Salland_, 3,657 tons; _Zeta_, 3,053 tons.
Greek: _Evangelos_, 3,773 tons; _Demetrios Goulandris_, 3,744 tons;
_Aristotelis C. Ioannow_, 2,868 tons; _Demetrios Inglessis_, 2,088
tons; Tsiropinas, 3,015 tons.
Spanish: _Valle_, 2,365 tons; _Manuel_, 2,419 tons; _Parahyba_, 2,537
tons.
Toward the end of January, 1917, the severity of submarine warfare was
noticeably increased. Day by day the number of vessels sunk grew
larger, and some of them were of especially large tonnage. On January
28, 1917, a French transport, carrying 950 soldiers to Saloniki, the
_Amiral Magon_, was sunk in the Mediterranean with a loss of about 150
men.
Then came on January 29, 1917, the official announcement that the
British Government had decided to lay new mine fields in the North Sea
in order to cope more successfully with the ever-growing submarine
menace. According to this announcement the British Government warned
all neutrals that from this date the following area in the North Sea
was to be considered dangerous to shipping:
The area comprising all the waters, except the Netherlands and Danish
territorial waters, lying southwestward and eastward of a line
commencing four miles from the coast of Jutland in latitude 56 degrees
N., longitude 8 degrees E.
As a result of this new policy it was announced by Lloyd's that eleven
vessels of about 15,000 tons were sunk on the first day of the
blockade. During the first week of the blockade, February 1 to 8,
1917, according to British figures, which, however, were claimed by
German officials to be much lower than the actual figures, there were
sunk 58 vessels of 112,043 tons, of which 1 was American, 20 belonged
to other neutrals, 32 to Great Britain, and 5 to the other
belligerents.
PART VI--THE UNITED STATES AND THE BELLIGERENTS
CHAPTER L
THE OLD MENACE
A welcome period of quiet in the submarine controversy with Germany
followed the settlement of the _Sussex_ case recorded in the previous
volume. But neither the Administration nor the country was deluded
into resting in any false security. The dragon was not throttled; it
merely slumbered by the application of a diplomatic opiate. While the
war lasted the menace of its awaking and jeopardizing German peace
with the United States was always present.
The achievements of the _Deutschland_, a peaceful commercial submarine
which inaugurated an undersea traffic between the United States and
Germany, provided an interesting diversion from the tension created by
the depredations of her armed sisters. After safely crossing the
Atlantic and finding a safe berth in an American port in the summer of
1916, she showed such hesitation in setting out on the return trip
that doubts were general as to whether the dangers of capture by alert
Allied cruisers were not too great to be risked. The attempt
nevertheless was finally made on August 2, 1916, when she darted under
water after passing out of the three-mile limit at the Virginia Capes
and was successful. She arrived at Bremen on August 23, 1916, with a
cargo of rubber and metal, and apparently found no difficulty in
eluding the foes supposedly in wait for her on the high seas. When she
left her Baltimore berth, so the story went, eight British warships
awaited her, attended by numerous fishing craft hired to spread nets
to entangle her. Near the English coast dense fogs aided by obscuring
the vision of her foes' naval lookouts, and in rounding Scotland to
reach the North Sea she had to evade a long line of warships and
innumerable auxiliary craft extended far north.
Germany found occasion for exultation in her return without mishap.
The blockade was broken. Berlin was bedecked with flags and the whole
country celebrated the event as though Marshal von Hindenburg had won
another victory. The _Deutschland_ again left Bremen on October 10,
1916, and found her way into New London, Conn., on November 1, 1916,
leaving for Germany three weeks later with a rubber and metal cargo
said to be worth $2,000,000 and a number of mail pouches. She was
reported to have arrived safely off the mouth of the Weser on December
10, 1916.
A repetition of the _Deutschland's_ exploits was looked for from her
sister undersea craft, the _Bremen_, about whose movements the widest
speculation was centered. She was reported to have left Germany for
the United States on September 1, 1916, but did not appear, nor was
any trace of her seen en route. She never arrived, and became a
mystery of the sea. A story circulated that she had been captured by a
British patrol boat in the Straits of Dover and thirty-three of her
crew of thirty-five made prisoners, the remaining two having been
killed when the boat was caught in a steel net. The British admiralty
preserved its customary silence as to the truth of this report. Her
German owners finally acknowledged their belief that she had been lost
probably through an accident to her machinery. At any rate a life
preserver bearing the name _Bremen_ was picked up off the Maine coast
about the end of September, 1916.
As the summer of 1916 advanced American contemplation of this
agreeable trade relation with blockaded Germany by means of a
commercial submarine service was abruptly switched to a review of the
manner in which that country was observing its undertaking not to sink
unresisting vessels without warning. A certain communication credited
to Admiral von Tirpitz was circulated in Germany urging a return to
his discarded sea policy. This was nothing more nor less than the
pursuit of unrestricted and ruthless submarine warfare, the espousal
of which by him as Minister of Marine, in conflict with the milder
methods favored by the German Chancellor, forced his resignation
earlier in the year. Of course such a change would mean an immediate
clash with the United States and the ending of diplomatic relations.
President Wilson had been watching Germany's behavior since May, 1916,
when she pledged her submarine commanders to safeguard the lives on
board doomed vessels. Three months' probation, according to American
reports, failed to show any evidence that she was not living up to her
promise; but British reports cited a number of instances pointing to
an absolute disregard of her undertaking with the United States. She
had hedged this promise with a condition reserving her liberty of
action should a "new situation" develop necessitating a change in her
sea policy, and the question arose whether she was not trying to
create a new situation to justify such a change. Concurrent with the
new Von Tirpitz propaganda, at any rate, came a recrudescence of
submarine destruction without warning, mainly in the Mediterranean.
This activity lent weight to a fear that the kaiser and Von
Bethmann-Hollweg were yielding to the pressure exercised by the Von
Tirpitz party. Germany regarded her submarines as her chief weapons
for damaging the Allies; but she was embarrassed by the problem of how
to operate them without clashing with American interests. Her policy
at length shaped itself to a careful discrimination in raiding
Atlantic traffic and avoiding attacks on liners altogether.
The leader of the German National Liberals, Dr. Ernest Bassermann,
echoed the Von Tirpitz cry, in an address to his constituents at
Saarbrücken. The most ruthless employment of all weapons, he urged,
was imperative. Besides Von Tirpitz, High Admiral Koester, Count
Zeppelin, and Prince von Bülow shared this view. He told the world,
which he was really addressing, that the submarine campaign had not
been abandoned, but only suspended solely on account of the American
protest. It was not clear that there had really been any cessation of
submarine activity, though some abatement had undoubtedly followed the
undertaking with the United States.
The manifest unrest in Germany provoked by the curb placed upon her
submarines by President Wilson caused the eyes of Washington to be fixed
anxiously on the uncertain situation. It was solely a psychological and
mental condition, but of a character that seemed premonitory of an
outbreak on Germany's part. Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, in a cryptic
remark to the Reichstag on September 28, 1916, succeeded in aggravating
American concern, though he may not have so intended. "A German
statesman," he said, "who would hesitate to use against Britain every
available instrument of battle that would really shorten this war should
be hanged."
There was no obvious reference to the United States in this utterance;
but the German press seized upon it as a pretext for an attack on
American neutrality. The connection was provided by the coincidental
death of an American aviator named Rockwell, who, with a number of
compatriots, had served the Allies on the French front. The point made
was that the active part American airmen were taking in the ranks of
the Allies, combined with the enormous supply of war materials
furnished by American firms, indicated the futility of abiding by
concessions made to the United States controlling the submarine war.
The United States was charged with taking advantage of restricted
submarine activity to cover the participation of American citizens as
aids to the Entente and to expand its war trade. Being simultaneous
and couched in the same key, the press outbursts bore every indication
of a common inspiration, probably official.
"Moderation in the use of Germany's undersea craft," said one group of
journals in effect, "merely serves to further American assistance to
the Entente Allies in men and munitions."
Another paper, the "Tageszeitung," characterized the American policy
as one in the pursuance of which President Wilson Was making a
threatened use of a "wooden sword," and called for a policy of the
utmost firmness against that country.
It was intimated from Washington that if any faction in Germany--in
this case the Pan-Germans--succeeded in reviving submarine methods
whereby ships were sunk without warning or without safeguards against
loss of American lives, the submarine crisis with Germany would be
reopened with all its possibilities. At the same time no serious
importance was attached by official Washington to the German clamor
for more frightfulness.
It was true that the Pan-Germans were making a powerful onslaught for
the overthrow of the German Chancellor, Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, who
was the only obstacle to a return to ruthless submarine warfare.
Moreover, as perceived by the "Berliner Tageblatt," "tension in the
atmosphere of imperial politics has reached such a high point that a
discharge must follow if the empire is not to suffer lasting damage."
But Washington looked for development on the high seas, not in the
political arena of Berlin, where the sound and fury of words did not
afford a safe barometer of governmental action.
By the end of September, 1916, a "lull" in German submarine activity
was reported, due, according to Lord Robert Cecil, to a shortage in
submarines. But reports showed that between June 1, 1916, and
September 24, 1916, 277 vessels, sixty-six of which were neutral, had
been sunk by submarines, fifteen of them without warning, and with the
loss of eighty-four lives. The abatement really took place in June and
July, 1916, following the American agreement with Germany in May,
1916. The "lull" may therefore be measured by these figures: Vessels
sunk in June, 57; in July, 42; in August, 103; in September (to the
24th), 75.
The only real lull was a cessation in attacks on liners. The British
view, based on the allegation that fifteen vessels had been sunk
without warning causing a loss of eighty-four lives, was that German
frightfulness was already in full swing despite Berlin's promise to
the United States. The American attitude, however, was that so long as
American lives were not lost on ships sunk without warning the United
States had no ground for intervention. Hence Germany could apparently
sink vessels with impunity so long as the noncombatant victims
belonged to other nationalities.
The agitation in Germany to break the undertaking with the United
States was thrashed out between the adherents of Chancellor von
Bethmann-Hollweg and the Pan-Germanists without shaking the
Chancellor's strength. He had the support of Field Marshal von
Hindenburg and the navy chiefs, who, in frowning on an unbridled
submarine warfare, successfully imposed the weight of their authority
against any change. The subject divided the Budget Committee of the
Reichstag, the question being whether its discussion should be
permitted in open session. The outcome was that the committee decided,
by a vote of 24 to 4, to smother the agitation by refusing to permit
its ventilation in the open Reichstag.
CHAPTER LI
THE U-53'S EXPLOITS
While the German Budget Committee was thus occupied a new and
startling turn was given to the situation by the unheralded appearance
at Newport, R. I., on October 7, 1916, of a German submarine, the
_U-53_. Rising out of the water in the afternoon, it remained long
enough for its captain to deliver a missive for Count von Bernstorff,
the German Ambassador, pay a call on Admiral Knight, the American
commander there, ask for news of the missing _Bremen_, and obtain a
sheaf of New York newspapers for information regarding Allied
shipping. Then it left the port, whither it had been piloted, and
disappeared under the waves. The visit, standing by itself, was an
interesting episode; but it proved to be much more than a mere social
call.
The next day revealed the real object of the submarine's presence in
American waters. Off Nantucket it appeared in its true guise as a
raider of shipping and sank five vessels--three British, one Dutch,
and one Norwegian. Having thus brought the submarine war to the very
threshold of the United States, causing a reign of terror among
held-up shipping along the Atlantic seaboard--a state of mind which,
while it lasted, meant a virtual blockade of American ports--it
disappeared and was not again heard of.
There was no doubt that the exploits of the _U-53_ were intended as a
demonstration to test American feeling as to whether Germany could
attack on this side of the water munition and other vessels bound for
Allied ports. It appeared a bold attempt to create a new precedent by
overriding one laid down in 1870 by President Grant, who ruled that
American waters must not be used by other nations for belligerent
purposes. Outside the three-mile limit, however, German submarines
could operate with the same impunity as in the Arctic Ocean, so long
as they observed the requirement of giving warning and allowing people
on board the intercepted vessels time to save their lives. But the
manifest point was that the waters outside the three-mile limit were
contiguous to the American coast, and provided highways for American
shipping, coastwise and foreign. The proximity of German submarines,
even though they confined their attention to Allied shipping to and
from American ports, constituted too great a menace to the free
movement of the American mercantile marine.
A wolf at a man's door is none the less dangerous because the wolf is
lying in wait for the appearance of an inmate of the man's house and
not for the man himself. Informal intimations persuaded Germany that
she could not safely repeat the experiment of carrying the war to
America's door.
The innovation, even in its most innocuous form, was contrary to good
international usage. Great Britain had previously offended in this
respect by permitting her patrolling cruisers to intercept and examine
merchant vessels off the port of New York. She desisted at
Washington's request. But a waiting cruiser, plain to the eye,
interfering with shipping to prevent communication with Germany, was
a mild offender compared with an unseen submarine crossing the paths
of ships and liable to err in its indiscriminate destructiveness.
Fortunately, no American lives were lost. But this was not the fault
of the submarine. No question could be raised of its behavior in
sinking four of the five ships, namely, the _Strathdene_ (British
freighter), bound from New York to Bordeaux; the _West Point_ (British
freighter), bound from London to Newport News; the _Bloomersdijk_
(Dutch freighter), bound from New York to Rotterdam; and the
_Christian Knudsen_ (Norwegian freighter), bound from New York to
London. The danger, happily averted, to American-German relations lay
in the sinking of the fifth vessel, the _Stephano_, a British
passenger liner plying regularly between New York, Halifax, N. S., and
St. John's, Newfoundland. Among the _Stephano's_ passengers were a
number of Americans, who, like their companions in misfortune, had to
seek the doubtful safety of small boats miles offshore.
The situation was saved by the presence of American destroyers in the
vicinity. Their commanders and crews were actual witnesses of the
sinking, and afterward interposed as life savers of the shipwrecked
victims. The _Balch_ rescued the passengers and crew of the
_Stephano_, numbering 140, and other destroyers took on board the
crews of the four freighters. The American navy in saving Germany's
victims had saved Germany from facing the consequences of her behavior
in jeopardizing the lives of Americans on board the _Stephano_. German
diplomacy was even capable of pointing to the fact that the prompt
relief afforded the _Stephano's_ passengers by American destroyers was
proof that the submarine commander had safeguarded their lives by
relying upon the American navy as a rescuer. The irony of such a
contention lay in the implication that if American destroyers had not
been on the scene the vessels might have been spared.
It was a short-lived panic. The _U-53_ came and went in a flash; but
amid the scare created by its presence President Wilson found it
necessary to assure the country that "the German Government will be
held to the complete fulfillment of its promise to the Government of
the United States. I have no right now," he added, "to question its
willingness to fulfill them."
The Administration's deliberations on the subject produced the
decision that the _U-53_ had not ignored the German pledges. It came,
saw, and conquered according to formula. It had first warned the
vessels, gave enough time for the people on board to be "safely"
transferred to boats, and there were American naval eyewitnesses to
testify as to the regularity of its proceedings. The incident passed
as one on which no action could be taken by the United States. But
Germany saw that it could not well be repeated. American sensibilities
had to be respected as much as international proprieties. The reproof
conveyed to the British Ambassador by Secretary Lansing that "the
constant and menacing presence of cruisers on the high seas near the
ports of a neutral country may be regarded according to the canons of
international courtesy as a just ground for offense, although it may
be strictly legal," applied with double force to the presence of
German submarines because of their greater danger.
Tart comments on the incident came from Great Britain, though its
Government did not appear to have protested to the United States
against the view that the _U-53's_ proceedings were lawful and
regular.
Lord Robert Cecil, an official spokesman, saw a ruse in the
submarine's visit:
"German public opinion appears to be obsessed with the idea that the
way to deal with the Allied blockade is to have a succession of sudden
crises with neutrals, which may be used for striking diplomatic
bargains. These bargains, in the mind of Germany, always take one
form--that Germany is to refrain from violating international law and
humanity in return for the abandonment by Great Britain as toward
neutrals of the legitimate military and naval measures of the Allies."
In the House of Lords the United States was accused of a breach of
neutrality by Lords Beresford and Sydenham. Referring to "the
activities of the _U-53_ under the very eyes of the American navy"
and to President Wilson's ultimatum which resulted in the German
pledge, Lord Sydenham said:
"Even before the exploits of the _U-53_ that pledge was torn to
shreds. Yet the Government of the United States has made no sign
whatever that the sinking of neutral ships goes on almost every day.
What must small neutrals think of their powerful representative?"
No life, he said, was lost because of the presence of American
warships. Lord Sydenham took the position that the presence of
American warships actually enabled Germany to defy what President
Wilson had described as a sacred and indisputable rule of
international law.
Lord Beresford expressed a similar view:
"The United States are really aiding and abetting this rather serious
state of affairs. If the United States had not sent their ships, which
for some extraordinary reason happened to be on the spot, to save
life, the Germans would no doubt have broken the pledge to which their
attention had been called. I think we are bound to take notice of a
fact which does not appear to be quite within the bounds of neutrality
as far as the United States are concerned."
Lord Grey, Foreign Secretary, declined to commit the Government to
such an attitude. He held that the American-German undertaking was no
affair of Great Britain's.
It was left for the spectator to be truly prophetic, as the later
peace movement showed, in seeking a motive for the _U-53's_
proceedings. It considered that Germany sought to force the United
States to propose peace terms, regardless of whether the Entente
Allies were agreeable or not:
"Thus, with unrestricted submarine warfare as a settled policy,
Germany gives America warning of what is likely to happen unless the
United States is prepared to declare that the war has reached a point
where it is dangerous for neutrals. If the United States is willing to
play this rôle, the Germans will hold their hands from an extra dose
of unlimited submarine frightfulness."
The _U-53_ had no sooner gone when an exchange of communications
between the American and Allied governments regarding the status of
foreign submarines in neutral ports became public. The question
related to the hospitality accorded the _Deutschland_ in Baltimore and
New London; but as it arose in the midst of the hubbub occasioned by
the _U-53_, the American view appeared to determine that such craft
could call at an American port like any other armed vessel, so long as
it did not stay beyond the allotted time.
The Allied governments besought neutrals, the United States among
them, to forbid belligerent submarine vessels, "whatever the purpose
to which they are put," from making use of neutral waters, roadsteads,
and ports. Such craft could navigate and remain at sea submerged,
could escape control and observation, avoid identification and having
their national character established to determine whether they were
neutral or belligerent, combatant or noncombatant. The capacity for
harm inherent in the nature of such vessels therefore required, in the
view of the Allied governments, that they should be excluded from the
benefit of rules hitherto recognized by the laws of nations governing
the admission of war or merchant vessels to neutral waters and their
sojourn in them. Hence if any belligerent submarine entered a neutral
port it should be interned. The point was further made that grave
danger was incurred by neutral submarines in the navigation of regions
frequented by belligerent submarines.
The American answer was brusque, and resentful of the attempt of the
Allies to dictate the attitude neutrals should take toward submarines
which visited their harbors. The governments of France, Great Britain,
Russia, and Japan were informed that they had not "set forth any
circumstances, nor is the Government of the United States at present
aware of any circumstances, concerning the use of war or merchant
submarines which would render the existing rules of international law
inapplicable to them." Moreover, "so far as the treatment of either
war or merchant submarines in American waters is concerned, the
Government of the United States reserves its liberty of action in all
respects and will treat such vessels as, in its opinion, becomes the
action of a power which may be said to have taken the first steps
toward establishing the principles of neutrality."
Finally, as to the danger to neutral submarines in waters frequented
by belligerent submarines, it was the duty of belligerents to
distinguish between them, and responsibility for any conflict arising
from neglect to do so must rest upon the negligent power.
This caustic exchange of views on harboring submarines took place
before the appearance of the _U-53_. Had the Allies deferred
approaching the United States until after that event, the situation
favored the belief that the submarine's behavior would have dictated a
different reply from Washington. Indeed, there was a strong
presumption that if another German armed submarine had the temerity to
visit an American port it might have been promptly interned, not under
international law, but at the behest of public opinion.
CHAPTER LII
GATHERING CLOUDS
The conduct of the country's foreign policy became hampered by the
presidential campaign. President Wilson was frankly uncertain of
reelection and embarrassed by the feeling that any determination he
made of a policy toward Germany might be overturned by his successful
opponent. So American domestic politics perceptibly intruded at this
stage in the country's foreign policy.
In fact, that policy was practically in suspension. Germany eagerly
availed herself of the hiatus, and, satisfying herself that President
Wilson would be defeated, and that his successor would adopt a
different attitude to her (she had no real ground for this
supposition), embarked upon a submarine activity that was in strange
contrast to the moderation which the German Chancellor had stubbornly
fought for in its conduct.
The point to be remembered was that Germany's pledge to President
Wilson was the only curb on frightfulness. Germany rashly assumed that
the defeat of President Wilson would nullify it. At any rate, his
uncertain outlook in the preelection period opened the way for a
submarine outbreak which would be extended with impunity owing to the
Administration's hesitation in taking action that might not be
sustained by the President's presumed successor, on the theory that
Mr. Wilson's defeat would be tantamount to a popular repudiation of
his policies.
Light was thrown on the German submarine policy by a Berlin dispatch,
dated October 26, 1916, which indicated that the submarines were at
least placating the extremists:
"While the silence of the German press and public on the subject of
sharpened submarine warfare may be attributed in some measure to the
stand of Hindenburg and Ludendorff against it, much more significant
is the growing popular realization that sharpened submarine warfare is
actually in force. And the public is beginning to regard it as
efficient and highly satisfactory. The fact is that it is successful
as never before, for it is sharpened not qualitatively, but
quantitatively."
The British admiralty later reported that between May 4 (the date of
the German pledge) and November 8, 1916, thirty-three vessels had been
sunk by German submarines without warning, resulting in the loss of
140 lives. In the same period 107 ships, all of British registry, had
been sunk and "the lives of the crews and passengers imperiled through
their being forced to take to the sea in open boats while their ships
were a target for the enemy's guns."
President Wilson's success at the polls, which hung in the balance
several days after the election, was the signal for a change of
attitude on Germany's part. The Berlin Government realized that his
foreign policy had received the indorsement of a majority of American
citizens, and the assurance was communicated that the German admiralty
was again on its good behavior.
But many depredations had been committed which Germany would be hard
put to explain satisfactorily. No less than ten pressing American
inquiries regarding sunk ships were sent to the Berlin Foreign Office
as soon as the President, assured that his tenure of office was no
longer in doubt, returned to the consideration of foreign affairs. The
submarine outbreak showed an undoubted disposition on Germany's part
to violate her pledge, and if the Administration was satisfied that
she had done so, its expressed attitude was that no more protests
would be sent. The American answer to Germany's defiance could only be
the dismissal of Count von Bernstorff from Washington and the recall
of Ambassador Gerard from Berlin.
The outstanding cases on which the United States called for an
adequate defense from Germany were:
The _Rowanmore_, British freighter, bound from Baltimore to Liverpool,
sunk off Cape Clear on October 25, 1916. Two Americans and five
Filipinos were on board. No lives were lost.
The _Marina_, a British horse carrier, bound from Glasgow to Newport
News, sunk without warning off the southwest coast of Ireland on
October 29, 1916. She carried a mixed crew of British and Americans.
Six Americans lost their lives.
The _Arabia_, a Peninsular and Oriental passenger liner, sunk in the
Mediterranean without warning on November 6, 1916. One American was on
board. No lives were lost.
The _Columbian_, an American steamer, sunk off the Spanish coast on
November 8, 1916, after being held up for two days under surveillance
by the submarine during a storm.
Germany charged that the _Rowanmore_ attempted to escape on being
ordered to stop. Her steering gear was shot away after an hour's
chase, when the captain hove to and lifeboats were lowered. The crew
complained that the submarine shelled the boats after they had cleared
the ship. This the commander denied. The flight of the _Rowanmore_
appeared to deprive her of the consideration due to an unresisting
vessel under cruiser warfare.
The _Marina_ carried a defensive gun, as did the _Arabia_. This fact
alone, Germany contended, entitled her submarines to sink both vessels
without warning, in addition to the commander's belief in each case
that the vessel was a transport in the service of the British
admiralty. The American Government was satisfied that neither vessel
was engaged in transport service on the voyage in question. In the
_Arabia's_ case, 450 passengers were on board, including women and
children, who were only saved because the Administration had already
held that the gun's presence on a vessel did not deprive her of the
right to proper warning before being sunk. Germany admitted liability
for sinking the _Columbian_ and agreed to pay for the value of the
vessel and the contraband cargo she carried.
The _Marina_ case stood out, in the view of the State Department, as a
"clear-cut" violation of Germany's pledges to the United States. Her
gun was not used, and no opportunity was afforded for using it. The
"presumption" on the part of a German submarine commander that a
vessel was a transport was a favorite defense of Germany's and
disregarded the American ruling on armed merchantmen, which held that
"the determination of warlike character must rest in no case upon
presumption, but upon conclusive evidence."
Berlin was looking for trouble. A period of complications in
American-German relations was frankly predicted. The Administration
was plainly concerned by the situation; but no decision to take action
was forthcoming. Its hesitation appeared to be due to the apparent
need for a further note to dispose of new interpretations Germany had
ingeniously woven in her various excuses by way of evading the letter
and spirit of the _Sussex_ agreement. One view of her submarine
"rights" which Germany insisted on upholding was that armed
merchantmen were not legally immune from attack on sight.
Herr Zimmermann, the German Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, defined
anew his Government's attitude:
"As the armament of several British ships has been used for attack,
and has therefore endangered the lives of crew and passengers, of
course armed ships cannot be considered as peaceful trade boats."
The cases of the _Marina_ and _Arabia_ put the German pledges to a
test. Neither vessel attempted to escape nor offered resistance,
though armed with a solitary gun. The issue therefore resolved itself
into these considerations:
First. Since the German submarine commanders have pleaded extenuating
circumstances on which they based their presumption that the _Marina_
and _Arabia_, were transports, and not passenger vessels, were these
circumstances sufficient to have justified the commanders in mistaking
the two steamers for transports?
Second. If there were such extenuating circumstances, were they such
as to warrant the commanders in departing from the general rule laid
down by the American Government in the _Sussex_ note, calling forth
the pledges given by Germany in May, 1916, in which it was guaranteed
that "in accordance with the general principles of visit and search
and destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law,
such vessels, both within and without the area declared as naval war
zone, shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human
lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance?"
Whatever intimation was made to Germany by the United States did not
become public. By December, 1916, the whole question appeared to have
been suddenly shelved by the peace proposals Germany hurled at the
Allies in loud tones of victory, coupled with an invitation to the
United States to interpose as a mediator. Peace, of course, would
dispose of further friction with the United States. While the
proposals were pending, moreover, American action on German violations
of her submarine agreement was suspended. What was the use of a
diplomatic rupture with Germany on the eve of peace? But Germany knew
that her official "peace kite" was making an abortive flight. Peace
she really did not expect, knowing it was not within reach; but she
was anxious to preserve friendly relations with the United States,
although daily flouting it in her conduct of the submarine war. Her
peace move was therefore shown to have had a double edge. It
postponed, but did not avert, a final crisis with the United States,
and that, indeed, might well have been its initial aim in view of the
foredoomed futility of its ostensible object. Certainly President
Wilson espoused the peace proposal for the same reason; but, as shown
in the following chapter, the efforts of both were in vain. The real
climax was to come after all.
CHAPTER LIII
RUPTURE WITH GERMANY
The movement for peace was at its crest, and President Wilson was
apparently sanguine that his efforts in furthering it were on the eve
of bearing fruit, when Great Britain planned to extend her blockade of
the German coast in the North Sea. She enlarged the dangerous area
which hitherto only barred the entry of German naval forces south into
the Straits of Dover and the English Channel by cutting off the German
North Sea coast altogether, in order to prevent the egress and ingress
of German sea raiders by the northward route and to curtail the
chances of the kaiser's warships making successful forays on the
English coast. The significance of this action was not seen until it
became known that Great Britain had discovered that Germany, while
seemingly occupied with peace, was preparing a warning to neutrals of
her intention to establish a deep-sea blockade of the entire British
and French coasts. By extending the mined area round the German coast
Great Britain sought to counteract and anticipate the new German
project, the aim of which was to starve the British Isles by a bitter
and unrestrained submarine war on all ships. The British warning of
the extended dangerous area came on January 27, 1917. Germany
announced her new policy four days later, proclaiming that it was in
retaliation of Great Britain's latest attempt to tighten her strangle
hold on German food supplies. But there was overwhelming evidence--the
German Chancellor himself provided it--that the German plan had been
matured long in advance of Great Britain's course, and that the peace
overtures had really been made by Germany in order that their certain
rejection could be seized upon as a justification for the ruthless
sea warfare projected.
The Wilson Administration, round whose horizon mirages of peace still
appeared to linger, was not prepared for the blow when it came. The
President could scarcely credit the news brought by a note from
Germany on January 31, 1917, that she had withdrawn her pledges to the
United States not to sink ships without warning. But the situation had
to be faced that a crisis confronted the country in its relations with
the German Empire.
Germany found occasion in her note of renunciation to link its purport
with that of the President's address delivered to the Senate nine days
previously. (See Part VI, Chapter LVIII, "Peace Without Victory.") In
its exalted sentiments she gave a perfunctory and manifestly insincere
acquiescence by way of prefacing familiar reproaches to the Allies for
refusing to accept her peace overtures. In rejecting them, she said,
the Allies had disclosed their real aims, which were to "dismember and
dishonor Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria."
Germany was poignantly grieved by the continuance of the war, not
solely because of fear of this supposititious dismemberment, but
because "British tyranny mercilessly increases the sufferings of the
world, indifferent to the laws of humanity, indifferent to the
protests of the neutrals whom they severely harm, indifferent even to
the silent longing for peace among England's own allies. Each day of
the terrible struggle causes new destruction, new sufferings. Each day
shortening the war will, on both sides, preserve the lives of
thousands of brave soldiers and be a benefit to mankind."
Anything to end the war, was Germany's slogan. Because of the
sufferings of the German people "a new situation" had been created
which forced her to "new decisions." Because of the sufferings of
other nations, and the Entente Powers' refusal to make peace at her
bidding, she thus announced her resolve: "... The Imperial Government,
in order to serve the welfare of mankind in a higher sense and not to
wrong its own people, is now compelled to continue the fight for
existence, again forced upon it, _with the full employment of all the
weapons which are at its disposal_."
The Imperial Government furthermore hoped that the United States
would "view the new situation from the lofty heights of impartiality,
and assist on their part to prevent further misery and unavoidable
sacrifice of human life."
[Illustration: New German Submarine War Zone of February 1, 1917.]
The "new situation" as presented to the United States was that within
a barred zone Germany had drawn round the British and French coasts,
extending from the Shetlands as far south as Cape Finisterre, and to
the west some 700 miles into the Atlantic, and also in the
Mediterranean, all sea traffic would be stopped on and after February
1, 1917, and that neutral vessels navigating the proscribed waters
would do so at their own risk. The only exception made was a "safety
lane" permitted for one American vessel a week with identifiable
markings to sail to and from Falmouth through the Atlantic zone (the
United States Government to guarantee that it did not carry
contraband) and another safety lane admitting sea traffic through the
Mediterranean to Athens. All other vessels would be sunk without
regard to the pledges Germany made to the United States. Germany thus
practically shut off American traffic with Europe in pursuance of her
new sea warfare against her enemies.
The edict was extended to hospital ships on the charge that the Allies
used them for the transportation of munitions and troops. The charge
was denied by the British and French Governments; but frightfulness
admitted of no truth nor acceptance of denials of German charges,
obviously made deliberately to justify barbarities, and so hospital
ships, with their medical and nursing staffs and wounded, were to be
sunk whenever found by submarines.
The real attitude of Germany toward her withdrawn pledges to the
United States was betrayed by the German Chancellor in addressing the
Reichstag Committee on Ways and Means. He revealed that the pledges
were merely a temporary expedient, made to fill up a gap until more
submarines were available. It appeared that in March, May (when
Germany surrendered to the American demands), and in September, 1916,
the question of unrestricted warfare was not considered ripe for
decision--that is, Germany was not ready to defy the United States.
Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg thus defined the situation:
"I have always proceeded from the standpoint of whether U-boat war
would bring us nearer victorious peace or not. Every means, I said in
March, that was calculated to shorten the war constitutes the most
humane policy to follow. When the most ruthless methods are considered
best calculated to lead us to victory, and swift victory, I said then
they must be employed. This moment has now arrived.... The moment has
come when, with the greatest prospect of success, we can undertake the
enterprise."
What changes, he asked, had come into the situation? A firm basis for
success had been established by a considerable increase in submarines;
poor harvests confronted England, France, and Italy, who would find
their difficulties unbearable by an unrestricted submarine war; France
and Italy also lacked coal, and the submarines would increase its
dearth; England lacked ore and timber, her supplies of which would be
diminished by the same means; and all the Entente Powers were
suffering from a shrinkage in cargo space due to the submarines. With
the bright prospect of success afforded by the supposed plight of the
Allied Powers, Germany, he indicated, was prepared to accept all the
consequences that would flow from the unrestricted submarine warfare
decided upon.
So was President Wilson. The German Chancellor made it clear that
after Germany gave her solemn pledge on May 4, 1916, not to sink ships
without warning, she had occupied the intervening months in feverish
preparations to break it and to tear up the pledge like a scrap of
paper and throw it to the winds. On the Chancellor's own words Germany
had been convicted of a breach of faith.
The President considered the crisis for three days. There was no
question of the United States tolerating Germany's disavowal of her
unlawful blockade of American trade with the belligerent countries.
The only questions to be decided were whether to warn Germany that a
rupture would follow her first act hurtful to American life or
property; to demand the withdrawal of her decree by an ultimatum; to
wait until she committed some "overt act" before taking action; or
whether to cease diplomatic relations without any parley at all.
The last-named course was determined upon. On February 3, 1917,
President Wilson addressed the two Houses of Congress in joint
session, informing them that the United States had severed its
relations with Germany. The President reviewed the circumstances which
led to the giving of the German undertaking to the United States
following the sinking of the _Sussex_ on March 24, 1916, without
warning. He reminded Congress that on the April 18 following the
Administration informed the German Government that unless it "should
now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present
methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying
vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to
sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether." The
German Government consented to do so with reservations. These the
United States brushed aside, and committed Germany to the plain pledge
that no ships should be sunk without warning unless they attempted to
escape or offered resistance. In view of Germany's new declaration
deliberately withdrawing her solemn assurance without prior
intimation, the President told Congress that the Government had no
alternative consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States
but to hand Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador, his
passports, and to recall Ambassador Gerard from Berlin. But the
President refused to believe that the German authorities intended to
carry out the decree.
"I cannot bring myself to believe," he said, "that they will indeed
pay no regard to the ancient friendship between their people and our
own or to the solemn obligations which have been exchanged between
them and destroy American ships and take the lives of American
citizens in the willful prosecution of the ruthless naval program they
have announced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt acts on
their part can make me believe it even now."
But in the event of such overt acts the duty of the United States was
clear:
"If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety and prudent
foresight of their purpose should unhappily prove unfounded, if
American ships and American lives should in fact be sacrificed by
their naval commanders in a heedless contravention of the just and
reasonable understanding of international law and the obvious dictates
of humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again before the
Congress to ask that authority be given me to use any means that may
be necessary for the protection of our seamen and our people in the
prosecution of their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas.
I can do nothing less. I take it for granted that all neutral
governments will take the same course."
Should Germany compel the United States to declare war, the President
repudiated that any aggressive attitude would dictate such a course:
"We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial German
Government. We are the sincere friends of the German people, and
earnestly desire to remain at peace with the Government which speaks
for them. We shall not believe that they are hostile to us unless and
until we are obliged to believe it, and we purpose nothing more than
the reasonable defense of the undoubted rights of our people. We wish
to serve no selfish ends. We seek merely to stand true alike in
thought and in action to the immemorial principles of our people which
I have sought to express in my address to the Senate only two weeks
ago--seek merely to vindicate our right to liberty and justice and an
unmolested life. These are the bases of peace, not war. God grant that
we may not be challenged to defend them by acts of willful injustice
on the part of the Government of Germany!"
War was apparently inevitable. Submarine warfare on Atlantic shipping
made certain some "overt act" offensive to the United States. The
German attitude was that the new decree would be remorselessly acted
upon; it could not and would not be modified; it was absolute and
final; and the only security for American shipping was to avoid the
prohibited zone by abandoning its trade with Europe.
Germany frankly discounted the effect of the entrance of the United
States, as a belligerent opposed to her. Measuring her estimated gains
from the pursuit of an unbridled sea war, she decided that they would
more than outweigh the disadvantage of American hostility.
CHAPTER LIV
NOTHING SETTLED
With the Allied Powers the American Government's relations continued
to be friendly under certain diplomatic difficulties, due to a group
of unadjusted issues relating to the blockade of German ports, mail
seizures, and the blacklist. Popularly, overwhelming pro-Ally
sympathies and an enormous trade due directly to the war more than
offset commercial irritation arising from Allied infractions of
American rights; but while they continued they intruded as obstacles
to the preservation of official amity. If the Administration was
content to enter its protests and then let matters rest, its inaction
merely meant that the Allies' sins were magnanimously tolerated, not
condoned. The Allies, on the other hand, maintained that they were not
sinning at all, that they were only doing what the United States
itself had done when engaged in war and would do again if it ever
became a belligerent. Diplomacy failed to reconcile the differences,
and so nothing was settled.
Great Britain, as the chief offender in trampling roughshod over
American privileges of trade in war time, added to her manifold
transgressions, in August, 1916, by placing further curbs on neutral
trade with the Netherland Overseas Trust. Under a scheme to ration the
neutral countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland--that is,
restricting their imports to their estimated domestic needs--further
licenses granted to British exporters to trade with these countries
were discontinued. Here was a check on British exports for fear of the
surplus reaching Germany through neutral channels. A check on
American exports followed by Great Britain forbidding the Overseas
Trust to accept further consignments of certain commodities from the
United States for Holland, and by her refusal to grant letters of
assurance safeguarding the delivery of American shipments destined for
the three other countries. By these devices Great Britain controlled
supplies to these countries at the source. The effect was that certain
American consignments predestined for Holland were stopped altogether,
while the shipping companies trading between the United States and
Scandinavia could not take cargoes without British assurances of safe
discharge at their ports of destination. The British official view was
that excessive exports from Great Britain to these countries could not
very well be forbidden while permitting them from the United States
and other neutral sources. The veto had to be general to be effective.
One measure passed by Congress, providing for the creation of a
Shipping Board, empowered the Secretary of the Treasury to forbid
clearance to any vessel whose owner or agents refused to accept
consignments offered for transport abroad by an American citizen for
reasons other than lack of space or inadaptability of the vessel to
carry the cargo offered. Another measure, the Omnibus Revenue Law,
made similar provisions in a more drastic form, aiming specifically at
retaliation for the Allies' blacklist of German-American firms, and
the various blockades and embargoes in operation against American
products. It provided that the owners or agents of vessels affiliated
with a belligerent engaged in a war to which the United States was not
a party must neither discriminate in favor of nor against any citizen,
product, or locality of the United States in accepting or refusing
consignments on pain of clearance being refused.
The same penalty attached to vessels of any belligerent which denied
to American ships and citizens the same privileges of commerce which
the offending belligerent accorded to its own vessels or to those of
any other nationality. An alternative penalty, to be exercised by the
President in his discretion, denied to such offending belligerents'
ships and citizens the privileges of commerce with the United States
until reciprocal liberty of trade was restored. A third provision
aimed at penalizing a belligerent who prohibited the importation at
its ports of any American product, not injurious to health or morals,
by barring importation into the United States from the offending
country similar or other articles.
The prevailing view was that the exercise of such reprisals by the
President would virtually mean nonintercourse in trade and involve
serious international complications. An isolated English impression,
only of moment because it placed the aspects of the legislation in a
nutshell, recognized that while it might be merely a "flourish" having
a special virtue on the eve of a presidential election, the reprisals
were aimed at the Allies, primarily against Great Britain, and were
popular in the United States as a commercial club that could be
wielded instead of having recourse to the threats that brought Germany
to respect American demands. But the British official attitude as
taken by Lord Robert Cecil was unmoved. "It is not likely," he said,
"that Great Britain will change her blacklist policy at the request of
the United States. The idea that Great Britain is adopting a
deliberate policy with which to injure American trade is the purest
moonshine, since outside of our own dominions our trade with the
United States is the most important. Of course, natural trade rivalry
exists, but no responsible statesman in this country would dream of
proposing an insane measure designed to injure American commerce."
The blacklist was the last straw which provoked the retaliatory
legislation. But, alone of the seemingly unadjustable disputes pending
between the United States and Great Britain, it was on the blacklist
issue that the latter had an unanswerable defense. The British stand
left official Washington's complaint bereft of foundation under
international law. The only ground on which the American protest could
be justified was by contending that the blacklist violated
international comity. In other words, if it was not illegal--there was
no doubt of its legality--it was an incivility.
There had been the usual diplomatic exchange between the two
governments on the subject prefacing a lengthy communication sent by
Lord Grey--the new title of the British Foreign Secretary upon his
promotion to the peerage--on October 10, 1916. Therein he repeated
that the blacklist was promulgated in pursuance of the Trading with
the Enemy Act (a war measure explained in a previous volume), and was
a piece of purely municipal legislation. Moreover, the American
Government was assured, "the Government of Great Britain neither
purport nor claim to impose any disabilities or penalties upon neutral
individuals or upon neutral commerce. The measure is simply one which
enjoins those who owe allegiance to Great Britain to cease having
trade relations with persons who are found to be assisting or
rendering service to the enemy."
Nor were the steps taken confined to the United States:
"With the full consent of the Allied Governments, firms even in Allied
countries are being placed on the statutory list, if they are firms
with whom it is necessary to prevent British subjects from trading.
These considerations may, perhaps, serve to convince the Government of
the United States that the measures now being taken are not directed
against neutral trade in general. Still less are they directed against
American trade in particular; they are part of the general belligerent
operations designed to weaken the enemy's resources."
The burden of the note was that Great Britain maintained the right,
which in the existing crisis she also deemed a duty, to withhold
British facilities from those who conducted their trade for the
benefit of her foes. This right Lord Grey characterized as so obvious
that he could not believe the United States Government seriously
contested the inherent privilege of a sovereign state to exercise it
except under a misconception of the scope and intent of the measures
taken. It would appear that the American Government gracefully
surrendered, by default, its earlier contention that Great Britain had
no right to forbid her subjects from trading with American firms
having Teutonic affiliations.
The American objections to detentions and censorship of mails by the
Allied Powers, which were bent on preventing German sympathizers from
using the postal service to neutral countries as a channel for
transmitting money, correspondence, and goods for the Central Powers,
brought a further communication from Lord Grey on October 12, 1916. It
threw no new light on the subject, the bearings of which were dealt
with in a previous volume. The American contentions, so far from being
conceded, were themselves attacked in an argument intended to refute
them. The Allied governments were only prepared to give assurances
that they would continue to lessen the annoyances caused by the
practice and were "ready to settle responsibility therefor in
accordance with the principles of law and justice, which it never was
and is not now their intention to evade."
Lord Grey thus defined the Allied position:
"The practice of the Germans to make improper use of neutral mails and
forward hostile correspondence, even official communications, dealing
with hostilities, under cover of apparently unoffensive envelopes,
mailed by neutrals to neutrals, made it necessary to examine mails
from or to countries neighboring Germany under the same conditions as
mails from or to Germany itself; but as a matter of course mails from
neutrals to neutrals that do not cover such improper uses have nothing
to fear."
Germany's treatment of mails, Lord Grey pointed out, went much further
than mere interception:
"As regards the proceedings of the German Empire toward postal
correspondence during the present war, the Allied governments have
informed the Government of the United States of the names of some of
the mail steamers whose mail bags have been not examined, to be sure,
but purely and simply destroyed at sea by the German naval
authorities. Other names could very easily be added. The very recent
case of the mail steamer _Hudikswall_ (Swedish), carrying 670 mail
bags, may be cited."
The discussion was as profitless as that arising from the blacklist.
As to the blockade issue, involving interference with American
commerce on the high seas, both sides appeared to epistolarily bolt,
and the question remained in suspended animation. The blacklist and
mail disputes acquired a similar status.
PART VII--WESTERN FRONT
CHAPTER LV
THE GERMAN RETREAT ON THE ANCRE
In January, 1917, the British forces in France captured 1,228 Germans,
of whom twenty-seven were officers. The first month of the new year
passed unmarked by any striking gains for either side. The Allies had
maintained and strengthened their old positions, made slight advances
at some points, and continued to harass and destroy the enemy in
trench raids, artillery duels, and in battles in the air.
Some record of the principal minor operations in France and Belgium at
this time is necessary, as every offensive movement had a set purpose
and was a part of the Germans' or Allies' plans.
On February 1, 1917, in the neighborhood of Wytschaete, parties of
Germans dressed in white attempted two surprise assaults on British
trenches, but were rolled back with severe losses before they could
get within striking distance. In these encounters the British took
prisoners without losing a man or incurring the slightest casualty.
On the same date the French were engaged in lively artillery actions
at Hartmannsweilerkopf and east of Metzeral. Around Altkirch and to
the east of Rheims they were successful in spirited encounters with
enemy patrols. In Lorraine during the night the Germans attacked
trenches south of Leintrey, but were shattered by French fire. In the
sector of St. Georges in Belgium a surprise attack also failed.
On the British front in the course of the same night a dashing raid
was carried out against German trenches northeast of Guèdecourt (Somme
sector) in which two officers and fifty-six men were taken prisoners.
The British carried out another successful operation on February 3,
1917, north of the Ancre, pushing forward their line east of Beaucourt
some 500 yards on a front of about three-quarters of a mile. Over a
hundred prisoners and three machine guns were captured. On the same
night southeast of Souchez German trenches were penetrated and
twenty-one prisoners and some guns were taken. Several dugouts
containing Germans were bombed and an enemy shaft was destroyed.
While the British continued to make slight gains and to harass the
enemy, the French were engaged in minor operations no less successful.
A surprise attack in the region of Moulin-sous-Toutvent resulted in
the capture of a dozen prisoners. A similar operation in the region of
Tracy-le-Val between the Oise and the Aisne was also a victory for
French arms. The Germans fought with determination, but were unable to
make any headway against the indomitable French spirit. The number of
casualties incurred by the Germans was not known, but the French took
twenty-two prisoners.
During February 4, 1917, the Germans displayed intense activity, as if
determined to retrieve their frequent failures since the month opened.
Three hostile raids were attempted by strong German forces during the
night and early morning of February 4-5, 1917, on the British lines on
the Somme front. The Germans in each attack were thrown back in
disorder, leaving a number of prisoners in British hands.
Northeast of Guèdecourt during the night of the 4th the British
occupied 500 yards of a German trench, capturing a machine gun and
seventy prisoners, including two officers.
In the space of twenty-four hours (February 4-5, 1917) the Germans
made four successful counterattacks against the new British front east
of Beaucourt. The British continued the work of consolidating their
new positions undisturbed by the frantic efforts of the Germans to
oust them, and in raids and counterattacks captured forty prisoners,
including one officer.
British airmen registered a number of victories during February 4,
1917. Three German machines were destroyed and six others driven to
earth seriously damaged. Only one British machine was counted missing.
During the evening on this date the French south of the Somme defeated
a German raid near Barleux, inflicting heavy casualties and taking
some prisoners. Incursions into German lines in Alsace and the
Chambrette and Pont-à-Mousson sectors were carried out with
satisfactory results. They captured a considerable amount of war
material and brought back one officer and a number of prisoners.
The British on the Somme front were now determined to push on to the
capture of Grandcourt. On February 6, 1917, they occupied 1,000 yards
of German trench in the neighborhood of that place. Artillery activity
on both sides of the Somme front and in the Ypres sector continued
during the day and night. The British brought down ten German machines
in aerial battles and lost two of their own flyers.
On February 5-6, 1917, the French continued to raid German lines with
good results. In Alsace near Anspach they penetrated three German
positions, wrecking enemy works and bombing shelters and returned to
their own lines without losing a man.
The continuous pressure which the British brought to bear on both
sides of the Ancre River forced the Germans to evacuate Grandcourt on
February 6, 1917. The capture of the village was regarded as
important, marking a notable advance for the British on the forts of
Miraumont and Grandcourt, which covered Bapaume from the west.
In Lorraine on this date the Germans succeeded in piercing a salient
in the French lines, but were driven out by a spirited counterattack.
Three German planes were brought down during the night, Lieutenant
Huerteaux scoring his twentieth victory.
[Illustration: The Entire Western Front, August 1, 1917.]
The British followed up their success in capturing Grandcourt by
advances on both sides of the Ancre. On the morning of February 8,
1917, they drove the Germans out of a position of importance on the
highest point of Sailly-Saillisel hill, gaining all their objectives
and capturing seventy-eight prisoners, of whom two were officers. In
the operations along the Ancre a German officer and eighty-two men
were made prisoner.
South of Dixmude a strong German raiding party attempted to attack a
Belgian outpost. They were received by such a hurricane of infantry
and machine-gun fire that the field was strewn with dead, and few of
the raiders succeeded in making their escape.
During February 9-10, 1917, the French and British continued to
register minor successes in daring raids, bombarding enemy positions
and capturing in one way or another several hundred prisoners.
An advance worthy of special note was made by British troops in the
night of February 10, 1917, when they captured a strong system of
German trenches on a front of more than three-quarters of a mile in
the Somme line. This was on the southern front just north of Serre
Hill. The German prisoners taken during this operation numbered 215,
including some officers.
On the same date French raiders penetrated German trenches in the
Forest of Apremont, destroying defenses and capturing prisoners. In
the neighborhood of Verdun a German plane was shot down, and in other
sectors French aviators during fiercely fought combats in the air
brought down in flames two other machines.
North of the Ancre the British continued to make progress, occupying
without difficulty a German trench some 600 yards long and taking a
good number of prisoners. The Germans tried to force the British out
of their recently won positions south of Serre Hill, but, caught in
artillery barrage and machine-gun fire, were driven off with serious
losses. On this date also the French carried out successful raids
during the night on the Verdun front in the neighborhood of the
famous Hill 304, and another in the Argonne which resulted in the
destruction of enemy works and the capture of a number of prisoners.
The small gains made by the French and British during the first weeks
of February, 1917, were not especially important in themselves, but
each slight advance brought the Allies nearer to important German
positions. The daily trench raids served to harass and bewilder the
common enemy, and while the number of prisoners taken were few in each
instance, in the aggregate the number was impressive. The British and
French were not disposed to squander lives recklessly in these minor
exploits, and it was only when they were within striking distance of
an important objective that they operated with strong forces and the
most powerful guns at their command.
The Canadians, who always displayed a special liking for trench raids,
and were uncommonly successful in such operations, engaged in one on
the morning of February 13, 1917, which merits description in some
detail. The attack was made on a 600-yard front between Souchez and
Givenchy. The Germans under the shell storm that shattered their
trenches had retreated to the depths of their dugouts, and while it
lasted few ventured forth to oppose the raiders. The British
bombardment had been so effective that the German machine-gun
emplacements must have been destroyed or were buried under débris, for
only a few guns spoke out as the Canadians "went over." The Germans in
the dugouts could not be coaxed out. Explosives thrown into their
hiding places must have produced appalling consequences. The sturdy
Canadians did not relish this kind of work, but there was no
alternative. For an hour they searched the mine shafts and galleries
around Givenchy and destroyed them. Some Germans in the depths were
killed before they could explode certain mines they had prepared under
British positions. About fifty prisoners of the Eleventh Bavarian
Regiment were captured who had fought in Russia, at Verdun, and on the
Somme.
Five hours later the same Canadian troops, unwearied by this strenuous
experience, were carrying out another raid farther south, where they
obtained good results.
On this date, February 14, 1917, the steady pressure maintained by
the British forced the Germans to abandon advanced positions between
Serre and the Somme and to fall back on their main fighting position.
[Illustration: One of the strange armoured automobiles or "tanks" with
which the British surprised the Germans in September, 1916. Their
caterpillar trucks and peculiar form make it possible for them to
advance easily over obstructions and trenches.]
On the following day, February 15, 1917, the troops of the German
Crown Prince achieved a success of some importance. After intense
artillery fire they stormed four French lines south of Ripont in the
Champagne, on a front of about a mile and a half, gaining ground to a
depth of half a mile. They captured twenty-one officers and 837 men of
other ranks, and a considerable quantity of war material. On the same
date the British carried out a successful raid southeast of Souchez,
penetrating enemy positions and taking prisoners. In air combats in
different sectors British airmen disposed of nine German machines and
lost four of their own.
The British made important gains on both banks of the Ancre when in
the morning of February 17, 1917, they attacked German positions
opposite the villages of Miraumont and Petit Miraumont on a front of
about two miles. North of the river a commanding German position on
high ground north of Baillescourt Farm was carried on a front of about
1,000 yards. In these operations along the Ancre the British captured
761 prisoners, including twelve officers.
During the preliminary bombardment of the German positions a British
artillery sergeant slipped out of the trenches with a telephone, and,
establishing himself in a shell hole in a forward position, directed
the gunfire which shattered the German barbed-wire defenses.
The Germans made a courageous attempt to oust the British from their
newly won positions on the spur above Baillescourt Farm in the morning
of February 18, 1917. Their infantry, advancing in three waves with
bodies of supporting troops in the rear, were swept by the
concentrated fire of the British artillery. The storm of fire
shattered the attack and the German forces were rolled back in
confusion. At no point were they able to reach the British lines.
During the night the British carried out four successful raids on
German positions southwest and northwest of Arras, south of
Fauquissart and north of Ypres, during which nineteen prisoners were
taken and great damage was wrought to hostile defenses.
The British continued their successful minor operations during the
succeeding days. On February 20, 1917, New Zealand troops penetrated
German lines south of Armentières to a depth of 300 yards, where they
wrecked dugouts and trench works. The intense preliminary bombardment
which preceded the raid had proved so destructive that the New
Zealanders found the German support lines filled with dead. The raid
resulted in the capture of forty-four prisoners. In an attack
southeast of Ypres the British, advancing on a front of 500 yards,
reached the German support line after desperate fighting. They
destroyed dugouts and mine shafts and took 114 prisoners, including an
officer and a number of machine guns.
The steady pressure of the British on the German positions along the
Ancre since the beginning of the month brought results that surpassed
Field Marshal Haig's most sanguine expectations. The Germans were
forced to abandon their front on the Ancre, escaping to a new line of
defenses along the Bapaume ridge. Their retreat covered about three
miles and the British were able to occupy a number of German
strongholds which they expected to win by hard fighting. Serre, the
two Miraumonts, and Pys were occupied without a struggle. The Germans
succeeded in saving their guns during the retirement, but were forced
to destroy ammunition dumps and military stores. In the night of
February 24, 1917, British troops, advancing south of Irles and toward
Warlencourt, occupied the famous butte which had been the scene of
intense fighting in the previous month.
The foggy, misty weather which prevailed at the time in this region
had greatly facilitated the German retreat, as the keen eyes of the
British airmen were unable to study their movements. It was surmised
that some important operation was under way owing to the reckless
expenditure of shells which had been going on for some days. The
Germans were shooting up stores of ammunition which they found
impossible to take with them in their retreat.
During February 25-26, 1917, the British continued to harass the
retiring Germans, pressing forward over the newly yielded ground and
forcing back the rear guards of the enemy. In these actions the
Germans depended chiefly on their heavy guns mounted on railway
trucks, which in case of necessity could be rushed away at the last
moment.
Early in the morning of February 26, 1917, heavy explosions were heard
in the direction of Bapaume, where the Germans were engaged in
destructive work to prevent the British entry. Along their lines of
retreat large trees had been felled across the roads, forming lofty
barriers, on the other side of which great mine craters had been
opened up.
Despite desperate rear-guard actions, and the strenuous efforts made
by the Germans to hinder the advance, the British continued to press
forward. The village of Ligny about a mile and a half west of Bapaume
was occupied, as well as the village of Le Barque. North of the Ancre
the western and northern defenses of Puisieux were wrested from the
Germans.
On February 27, 1917, the British pushed forward all along the
eleven-mile line stretching from south of Gommecourt to west of Le
Transloy. The British objective at this time was a crest overlooking
the high ground running between Achiet-le-Petit and Bapaume. At every
stage of the British advance fresh evidences were found of the German
destructive methods before retiring. The carefully built dugouts which
they had so long occupied had been reduced by explosives to heaps of
rubbish.
The Germans had left certain bodies of men behind with machine guns to
hinder the British pursuit. As they had carefully chosen their
positions they were enabled to work considerable damage. The British
had encounters with some of these outposts on the 27th in the
neighborhood of Box and Rossignol Woods. The Germans, having found
that their machine-gun fire did not restrain the advance, tried a
shrapnel barrage which proved more effective, but only delayed the
pursuers for a short time.
The British troops were so elated over the fact that the Germans were
retreating that they made light of the ingenious obstacles thrown in
their way. The great advance continued, the British occupying
Rossignol Wood, Rossignol Trench, and considerable ground to the
northeast of Puisieux. The latter place was partly occupied by Germans
who fought as if determined that the British should pay a high cost
for possession of the village. The British had worked their way into a
corner of the line, and other parties were engaged in driving out the
defenders, who fought from house to house.
Southeast of the village the British line was being pushed out above
Miraumont and Beauregard Dovecote. The Germans in the Gommecourt
salient shelled Miraumont and bombarded the neighborhood with high
explosives in reckless fashion as if eager to consume their supplies.
During the night of February 27, 1917, the German troops abandoned
Gommecourt and the British took possession. Here on July 1, 1916, the
Londoners had fought with desperate valor in assaulting an almost
impregnable position, and in the storm of massed gunfire were
threatened with annihilation.
To the northeast of Gommecourt the British advanced their line more
than half a mile, and also captured the villages of Thilloy and
Puisieux-le-Mont. A successful raid carried out in the night by the
British in the neighborhood of Cléry resulted in the capture of
twenty-two prisoners.
There was sharp fighting among the ruins of Puisieux, where the
Germans had to be hunted from their hiding places. After this
clearing-out process the British line now ran well beyond Gommecourt
on the left and down to Irles on the right. The Germans concentrated
heavy shell fire on Irles, and showered high explosives on Miraumont
and upon other places on the front from which they had withdrawn. The
British were now less than a mile from Bapaume, in the rear of which
the German guns on railway mountings were firing incessantly on
British positions.
On March 1, 1917, British headquarters in France, summarizing the
operations during February, stated that the British had captured 2,133
German prisoners and occupied either by capture or the withdrawal of
the Germans eleven villages. Some of the positions captured were of
the highest importance, to which the Germans had clung as long as they
could with desperate energy, and from which the British had tried
vainly to conquer. The Germans had retired on the Ancre on a front of
twelve miles to a depth of two miles.
The first stage of the German retirement plan was completed on March
2, 1917, when they made a definite stand, their line now running from
Essarts through Achiet-le-Petit to about 1,000 yards southeast of
Bapaume. The Loupart Wood occupying high ground along this line had
been transformed into a strong field fortress after German methods,
and here it was evident every preparation was made for a stiff
defense.
The British had an enormous task before them in building roads through
the recovered ground. The Germans had carefully timed their retirement
when the ground was hard, but now owing to a week's thaw most of the
Somme and Ancre area was transformed into liquid mud. In addition to
the difficulties presented by the terrain, the British patrols in the
evacuated territory constantly encountered isolated bodies of German
defensive troops who, obedient to their instructions, fought bravely
to hold the positions they had been assigned to. Everything that
cunning could devise was resorted to to delay the British advance. An
Australian patrol discovered in one place a chain stretched across a
ravine which was connected with a mine at either end.
CHAPTER LVI
THE GERMAN RETREAT CONTINUES--FRENCH RECOVER 120 TOWNS
The British troops continued to advance in the Ancre area in spite of
the difficult terrain and the desperate defense of the Germans who had
been left behind in the retirement and who occupied positions where
they might work the greatest damage to the pursuers. East of
Gommecourt on March 3, 1917, the British gained two-thirds of a mile
along a two-mile front. They were also successful east of
Bouchavesnes, where they captured the enemy's front and support lines
on a front of two-thirds of a mile. In these operations they captured
190 prisoners and five machine guns.
On March 4, 1917, the Germans made a violent attack on the Verdun
front which was repulsed by the French. North of Caurières Wood the
Germans gained a footing in French advanced positions. They were
driven out on the following day in a spirited counterattack, leaving
many of their comrades dead on the field.
Thaws, fogs, and snows continued to hamper military operations in all
sectors of the fighting area. On March 8, 1917, the French won a
decided victory over the Germans in Champagne. Notwithstanding the
snow, which rendered any military movement difficult, French troops
operating between Butte du Mesnil and Maisons de Champagne carried
German positions on a front of 1,680 yards to a depth varying from 650
to 865 yards. As the French crossed no-man's-land, preceded by a
complete curtain of fire which raised and dropped mechanically, the
German artillery was everywhere active, but their massed fire could
not check the attackers' steady advance. As the French reached the
first lines of German trenches the occupants offered little
resistance, but came running out with uplifted hands in token of
surrender. At some points, however, the Germans had converted their
positions into regular fortresses, and here there was desperate
fighting with grenade and rifle. The French cleared out these
strongholds and made their way slowly up the slopes toward the
objective. During the fight French aeroplanes circled overhead
watching the movements of the Germans behind the points attacked. Not
a German machine was visible, but some were hidden among the snow
clouds, for the rattle of machine guns, heard at times, denoted their
presence above the battle field.
On the following day, March 9, 1917, the Germans launched three
violent attacks in this sector in an attempt to force the French out
of their newly won positions. The Germans did not lack bravery, and
pressed forward in the face of a strong barrage and machine-gun fire.
The French guns, however, wrought such destruction in their ranks that
they were finally forced to retire, their number shattered and
depleted. In the two days' fighting in this sector the French took 170
prisoners, of whom four were officers.
The British captured Irles in the morning of March 10, 1917. Previous
to the attack their howitzers had deluged the place with shells. The
infantry followed closely, one force advancing from the south and
another turning north, to head off any attempt of the Germans to
retreat. In a sunken ravine the British found a small garrison of old
men with machine guns. Here thirty prisoners were taken and the rest
killed. The British swept on over the German trenches, meeting with
very little opposition. About 150 Germans were taken in this main
attack and quite as many more were gathered in by troops working west
and north. The prisoners were all Prussians, belonging chiefly to the
Second Guards Reserve. The Germans succeeded in withdrawing without
very heavy losses, leaving their rear guard to bear the brunt of the
British attack. The evacuation of Irles, which had become untenable,
had been fixed by the Germans for the 10th at 7.30 a. m., but the
British caught them napping by striking two hours earlier, with the
result that they captured three officers and 289 men.
In the night of March 10, 1917, the French carried out successful
surprise attacks on the German trenches in the Lassigny and
Canny-sur-Matz regions, and in the neighborhood of the Woevre north of
Jury Wood, destroying defensive works in these operations and taking
fifteen prisoners and some machine guns.
In the afternoon of March 12, 1917, the French troops operating on the
Champagne front recaptured all the trenches on Hill 185. These lines
lay west of the Maisons de Champagne Farm which the Germans had won
in the previous month. The attack was made over a front of nearly a
mile. During the night of March 11, 1917, French troops had crawled
forward and by the use of grenades prepared the way for the general
assault on the German positions which were carried on the following
day. All the German trenches were taken on the hill and a fortified
work on the slopes north of Memelon. In the course of the action the
French captured about 100 prisoners and a considerable number of
machine guns.
On March 12, 1917, the British advance was resumed on a front of
nearly four miles to the west of Bapaume. The Germans, retreating,
left only a strong screen of rear guards to oppose, but they avoided
contact with British patrols as far as possible. It was evident that
the Germans were reserving their strength for some important
operation.
The British, pushing onward, advanced their line north of Ancre Valley
on a front of over one and a half miles southwest and west of Bapaume.
South of Achiet-le-Petit the British made important progress and
occupied 1,000 yards of German trenches west of Essarts. On March 13,
1917, Haig's troops had won the coveted ridge overlooking Bapaume from
the northwest. For the first time since the struggle began on this
front the British had the advantage of the highest ground. Bapaume,
which the Germans had been blasting and piling up with the wreckage of
stores and the trunks of fallen trees, was now within easy striking
distance and the next point to be captured in the British advance.
Grévillers was occupied by the British during the night, their line
now stretching along the ridge which runs northwest from that point to
the outskirts of Achiet-le-Petit, where the Germans were in
possession.
In the course of this latest advance Loupart Wood was occupied. It is
situated on the shoulder of a high ridge which overlooks the entire
Somme battle front. The British were highly elated over the capture of
the wood, where for eight months German batteries had rained shells
upon the British positions. It was regarded as one of the strongest
artillery posts which the Germans held on the western front.
The Germans had made desperate efforts to hold this strong position,
but thirty hours of incessant bombardment by British guns leveled
their defenses and crushed in the dugouts, and they withdrew, a
shattered remnant.
In the Champagne region the Germans continued their attacks during
March 13-14, 1917, on the French positions on Hill 185. The loss of
the hill a few days before, and of positions around Maisons de
Champagne were regarded as important by the Germans, for they
persisted in their attacks though every attempt made was repulsed with
appalling losses. They were unable to reach the French line at any
point, though concentrating strong artillery fire on the lost
positions and attacking with grenades throughout the night. The French
continued to hold their own despite these desperate onslaughts and
were even able to increase their gains in this sector.
In the region of St. Mihiel the French by a dashing operation captured
Romainville Farm with its garrison of thirty Germans. At four
different points French detachments penetrated German trenches between
the Meuse and Apremont Forest, pushing as far as the second line of
defenses and bringing back a number of prisoners.
On March 15, 1917, French forces south of the Somme in the
neighborhood of Roye after an intense shelling of the German lines
penetrated east of Canny-sur-Matz to a depth of about half a mile.
British troops between Péronne and Bapaume made important gains about
this date. Pushing forward on a front of two and a half miles they
occupied German trenches running from the south of St. Pierre Vaast
Wood to the north of the village of Saillisel, a stretch of about
3,000 yards.
On March 17, 1917, the Germans were forced to abandon the whole line
of about fifteen miles between the Oise and Andechy, owing to the
pressure of French forces. These lines were strongly fortified and had
been occupied by the Germans for about two years. The French continued
their advance movement on the following day. Their advance guard
entered Roye in pursuit of a German contingent that had blown up
streets in the interior of the town. About 800 of the civil population
which the Germans had not had time to remove received their
liberators with a wild enthusiasm that was pathetic to witness.
North and northeast of Lassigny the French made further gains,
occupying the town and a number of points beyond, and pushing forward
past the road between Roye and Noyon. During the night of March 17,
1917, French air squadrons bombarded German organizations in the
region of Arnaville, and the factories and blast furnaces at
Völkingen, where a great fire was seen to break out. Stations and
roads in the region of Ham and St. Quentin were also bombarded with
good results, and all the French aeroplanes returned undamaged.
On March 18, 1917, the Germans were in retreat over a front of
approximately eighty-five miles from south of Arras on the north to
Soissons on the Aisne. They evacuated scores of villages, and the
important towns of Péronne, Chaulnes, Nesle, and Noyon. Evidently the
Germans had been forced to leave somewhat hurriedly, for many of the
places evacuated were only slightly damaged as the result of military
operations.
British and French troops, keeping in close touch with the German rear
guard during the advance, pushed forward to a depth of from ten to
twelve miles, and their cavalry entered Nesle about the same time. The
occupation of Noyon on the Oise was of special importance, as the
nearest point to Paris held by the Germans. The famous Noyon elbow or
salient, from which it was expected the Germans would launch an attack
on the French capital, now ceased to be a source of anxiety and
apprehension to the French fighting forces in this region.
Péronne, for which the French had fought desperately for nearly two
years, was entered by the British on March 18, 1917, after a brief
action with the German rear guard. East of the place the Germans had
fired a number of villages as they retreated. Athies, a town of some
importance, was reduced to a smoldering ruin and the smoke of its
burning buildings could be seen for miles. The Germans displayed their
"thoroughness" as they retired by poisoning the wells with arsenic,
and setting high-explosive traps into which they hoped the British
advance guards would blunder. Bridges over all the waterways were
burned and the crossroads carefully mined.
[Illustration: The German Retreat on the Western Front, March 18,
1917.]
The capture of Bapaume, that quaint Picardy town which the Germans had
transformed into an almost impregnable stronghold and fortress, was a
special cause for rejoicing by the British troops. It was a prize they
had longed for through many weary months. There was no waving of flags
or beating of drums when the British patrols entered the town, for
there was stiff fighting ahead, and the place was filled with
underground strongholds. Soon the welcome message came over the wire
that all the enemy rear guard had been accounted for, and the British
were free to survey their new acquisition. Fires were smoldering in
many parts and not a house was left intact. Shells had wrought a great
deal of the ruin, but it was evident that many of the buildings had
been dynamited. The statue of General Louis Faldeherbe, who defended
Bapaume against the Germans in 1870, was missing, and had evidently
been carried off by the kaiser's troops.
The defensive works around Bapaume were of the most elaborate
description, and the highest ingenuity had been employed in making the
place impregnable. In addition to a splendid trench system forming a
network around the place, there were acres of barbed wire stretched
upon iron posts firmly planted in the earth, and intricate systems of
wires spread over the ground to hamper an enemy attack. In addition to
strong redoubts at different points fitted up with every defensive
device, the cellars under the houses had been consolidated in many
places, forming great underground galleries that could shelter
thousands of German troops.
The British were not permitted to occupy Bapaume in peace, for while
the enemy could no longer be seen, he was heard from constantly and
destructively. All day long and during the night the town was shelled
and great damage was wrought in such sections which the enemy had
registered before leaving.
The German forces were still retiring, hastened on their way by the
British troops, who were pressing them closely. From captured Germans
it was learned that fresh divisions, including one that had fought in
Rumania, had been thrown in as a screen to shield the retiring troops.
The Germans had devised so many traps to catch the Allies and delay
the pursuit that the advance was necessarily slow. The French found
less opposition than the British, and were able to push forward more
rapidly, covering twenty-two miles in the three days since the
retirement began. Over 120 towns and villages were recovered by the
French alone. The joy of the inhabitants who had been for thirty-two
months in the hands of the Germans was a deeply moving spectacle.
Every French soldier was embraced amid smiles and tears. Many of the
women declared that they owed their own lives as well as the lives of
their children to American relief in the occupied territory.
The mayors, assistant mayors, and other officials of Candor and Lagny
had been carried off by the Germans, but owing to the rapidity of
retirement many women and children had been left behind. All over
thirteen were compelled to work without payment. Boys were driven to
dig ditches or small trenches for telephone wires under fire. Those
who refused for religious reasons to work on Sunday were fined. The
Germans had closed all schools during their occupation of the French
towns. The destruction of property was carried out in the most
thorough fashion and according to systematized plans. Captured orders
on the subject directed the blowing up of houses, wells, and cellars
except those held by rear-guard outposts. Farm implements were burned
and destroyed. Orders were given to collect filth in the neighborhood
of wells to contaminate the water. All the fruit trees with rare
exception in the evacuated territory were girdled or otherwise killed.
The use of cavalry by the French and British seemed to have taken the
Germans by surprise and interfered with their plans. In one village
they were forced to hurriedly depart without touching the supper which
was laid out on the table. In other places the Allies found newly
opened boxes of explosives with which the Germans had planned to
destroy the villages before leaving.
The famous castle and stone village of Coucy-le-Château on the road
from Paris to Namur, and one of the show places of the Laon region,
were reduced to ruins. The village and castle date back to the
thirteenth century and were regarded by art critics as architectural
gems of medieval France. The castle had been spared from destruction
during the French Revolution, and millions had been expended since on
its preservation. This splendid monument of feudal Europe is no more.
The German retreat was continued more slowly on March 19, 1917, when
all northern France was swept by fierce equinoctial gales, and rain
squalls were frequent in the battle area. Despite weather conditions,
which hampered military operations, the British troops made good
progress, and on the 20th held the line of the Somme in strength from
Péronne southward to Canizy. British patrols were active as far east
as Mons-en-Chaussée, and in several sectors between Bapaume and Arras
British cavalry were engaged in skirmishes with the enemy.
In the course of the following week the British forces restored eleven
villages to France, and the whole department of the Somme was now
cleared of invaders. The capture of Savy, which was held by a garrison
of 600 Prussians of the Twenty-ninth Siegfried Division, brought the
British within four miles of St. Quentin, and near to the Hindenburg
line, where the Germans were strongly concentrated. St. Quentin had in
part been destroyed and its picture galleries and museums looted of
their contents. The outer bastion of the Hindenburg or Siegfried line
was protected by barricades of tree trunks and swathed about with
barbed wire. The Siegfried division holding the new German line of
defense was busy during the last days of March, 1917, in building
concrete emplacements, trenches, and dugouts.
On April 1, 1917, the British troops were within three miles of St.
Quentin, while the French threatened the place from the south.
During the month of March, 1917, the British captured 1,239 Germans,
of whom sixteen were officers, and large quantities of war material,
including twenty-five trench mortars and three field guns. During the
first three months of the year they had taken prisoner a total of
seventy-nine officers and 4,600 of other ranks.
On April 2, 1917, General Haig's troops drove a wedge into the German
line on the ridge protecting St. Quentin on the west, capturing the
villages of Holnon, Francilly, and Selency. With the occupation of the
last village the British had a footing on the ridge overlooking St.
Quentin, which lies in a hollow. If they could maintain their hold on
this position the capture of St. Quentin was certain.
At the northern end of the British line of advance their success was
no less important. Attacking on a front of about ten miles they
captured an important series of German positions defending the
Arras-Cambrai highroad. Six villages were occupied by the British
after heavy fighting. A town of some importance, Croisilles, was also
captured during the course of these operations. This was considered a
valuable gain, as a section of the Hindenburg line lies behind it.
Longatte and Ecourt St. Mien, two villages below Croisilles also fell
to the British. The Germans defended themselves with reckless bravery
acting on Hindenburg's orders that the position must be saved at all
costs.
The French launched a concerted attack on the following day, April 3,
1917, over a front of eight miles on both sides of the Somme, storming
the heights south and southwest of St. Quentin and advancing within
two miles of the city, General Nivelle's forces were now in a position
to begin the final attack on the place.
Haig's troops on the British front west of St. Quentin had extended
their hold on Holnon Ridge and occupied Ronssoy Wood farther to the
north, while in the region of Arras they captured after stiff fighting
the village of Henin.
South of the Ailette River the French fought their way forward foot by
foot. On the 3rd they drove the Germans out of their positions around
Laffaux and brought increasing pressure to bear against the enemy's
line south of Laffaux Mill.
On this date the Germans threw more than 2,000 shells into the open
city of Rheims, killing several of the civilian population.
General Nivelle's troops continued to advance on April 4, 1917,
through violent snow squalls and over sodden ground, and the Germans
were pushed back along the whole front from the Somme to the Oise.
A dashing attack carried out near La Folie Farm, about a mile and a
half north of Urvillers, threw the Germans in such disorder that they
fled precipitately, abandoning three lines of strongly fortified
trenches, leaving behind the wounded and much war material, including
howitzers. The French had now gained the foot of a ridge 393 feet high
on the southern outskirts of St. Quentin. By the capture of La Folie
they cut the railroad connecting St. Quentin with the Oise, leaving
only one line on the north by which the Germans could escape from the
doomed city. On the west bank of the Somme French patrols had pressed
forward to the outskirts of St. Quentin. On the British front west of
the city the Germans made a violent attack, but were driven off with
heavy losses. Farther to the north the British succeeded in
straightening their line between the Bapaume and Péronne highway
converging on Cambrai.
The most important event during April 5, 1917, was a powerful attack
made against the French by picked German troops to the northwest of
Rheims along a mile and a half front. The purpose was to clear the
left bank of the Aisne Canal. They succeeded in gaining a foothold at
certain points in the French first-line trenches, but were thrust out
later by counterattacks.
The only other important event on this date was the strong
bombardment by the Germans of the new French positions south of St.
Quentin. The British and French troops, despite occasional checks
occasioned by the frantic efforts of the Germans to stay their
victorious progress, continued to steadily advance their lines, which
now extended in a semicircle two miles from St. Quentin.
CHAPTER LVII
THE BRITISH TROOPS CAPTURE VIMY RIDGE AND MONCHY--FRENCH VICTORIES ON
THE AISNE
The steady pressure maintained by the Allied troops on German
positions culminated on April 9, 1917, when the British launched a
terrific offensive on a twelve-mile front north and south of Arras.
German positions were penetrated to a depth of from two to three
miles, and many fortified points, including the famous Vimy Ridge,
were captured. The line of advance extended from Givenchy, southwest
of Lens, to the village of Henin, southwest of Arras. For a week
British guns had been bombarding this sector without cessation, and
during the night preceding the attack the fire had increased in
intensity to a degree that surpassed any previous bombardments. The
British literally blasted their way through the German front and
rearward positions. Vimy Ridge, dominating the coal fields of Lens,
where thousands of French had fallen in the previous year, was
captured by the Canadians. The terrific bombardment by British guns
during many days had not depressed the Germans' spirit and the advance
was hotly contested. The British, however, were in excellent fighting
trim, and forced their way onward in spite of the fiercest opposition.
They took a famous redoubt known as "The Harp," virtually an entire
battalion defending it. Here three battalion commanders were captured.
Over 6,000 prisoners were taken by the British, including 119
officers. The majority of these belonged to Bavarian regiments, which
since the fighting began in France had suffered the most heavily.
Württembergers and Hamburgers were also represented. An enormous
quantity of war material fell into British hands, including guns,
trench mortars, and machine guns.
[Illustration: Taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadians, April 9 and 10,
1917.]
In making their retreat in the Somme sector the Germans had announced
that they had completely disarranged by so doing the British offensive
plans. The smashing blow delivered on April 9, 1917, was the answer.
At other points on the line the British had also made substantial
gains, capturing by storm, on the road to Cambrai, Boursies,
Demicourt, and Hermies. Progress was also made in the Havrincourt Wood
south of the Bapaume-Cambrai railway. To the south, in the
neighborhood of St. Quentin, General Haig's troops captured three
villages, bringing forward their lines to within two miles of the St.
Quentin Canal.
As a result of the first two days' fighting in the Arras region the
number of German prisoners captured by the British had increased to
over 11,000, including 235 officers, 100 guns of large caliber, 60
mortars, and 163 machine guns.
The British troops did not rest to enjoy their first day's victories,
but pushed on along the greater part of the twelve-mile front from
Givenchy to Henin. They penetrated as far as the outskirts of
Monchy-le-Preux, five miles east of Arras. On the way they captured a
high hill which protects Monchy, thus threatening the entire German
line south of the Arras-Cambrai highroad.
More to the north the British troops took Fampoux and its defenses on
both sides of the Scarpe River. The fiercest fighting on April 10,
1917, was on the northern part of Vimy Ridge, where from isolated
positions to which they still clung, the Germans attempted a
counterattack. They were driven out of these positions and from the
slopes of the ridge which was now strongly held by the British.
Vimy village was one of the vaunted German field fortresses, and was
strongly defended. Here the Canadians gathered in over 3,000 prisoners
garrisoning the stronghold and 100 officers. The final British
bombardment had sent most of the German defenders into the deepest of
the dugouts from which they did not venture forth until the British
called upon them to surrender. Among the officers captured on the
ridge were seven lieutenant colonels and several doctors, who
surrendered with all their staffs. They blamed their predicament to
the failure of supports to come up as promised.
The British had carried out their successful onward sweep in the face
of unfavorable weather conditions. During April 10, 1917, when the
last German was being cleared out of the Vimy area, the snow fell
heavily.
Throughout the day following the weather continued unfavorable,
impeding the operation of troops and making observation impossible. In
the morning the Germans attempted two counter attacks on the new
British positions in the neighborhood of Monchy-le-Preux, but were
beaten off with heavy losses. Prisoners reported that they had been
ordered to hold the village at all costs.
To the south bodies of British troops penetrated a German position
near Bullecourt, where they gained a number of prisoners and damaged
the enemy's defenses. This small success was forfeited at midday when
the Germans, attacking with strong forces, drove the British back to
their lines.
The village of Monchy was captured by the British in the morning of
April 12, 1917. Throughout the previous day this tiny village perched
on a hill had been the storm center around which the battle raged.
The attack was made by British and Scottish troops, who fought for
three hours to clear the Germans out of the railway triangle. Having
dispersed the enemy, they fought on to the Feuchy Redoubt, only to
find that the entire German garrison there had been buried by the
British bombardment so that not a man escaped alive.
At 5 o'clock in the morning of April 12, 1917, British troops on the
right, linking up with the Scots and supported by cavalry on the left,
with Hotchkiss and machine guns swept forward to the capture of
Monchy.
The cavalry dashed into the village on the north side, meeting with
few Germans, for as they pressed forward the enemy was retreating on
the southern side, hoping to escape that way. Here they encountered
Scots and Midlanders and fierce fighting ensued. The Germans were well
provided with machine guns, and from windows and roofs sent a
withering fire upon the British as they swarmed into the streets of
the village. The Germans made a brave resistance, but the British
continued to press them hard, fighting their way into houses and
courtyards and capturing or killing the defenders. Some of the
garrison of the place succeeded in escaping to a trench in the valley
below, where they had a redoubt and machine guns.
By 8 o'clock in the morning the British had a number of guns in
position for the defense of the village against counterattacks which
were sure to follow. It was found that the Germans had prepared in the
village an elaborate system of dugouts that could provide shelter from
the heaviest shell fire. Under the château there were great rooms
luxuriously furnished and provided with electric lights, where British
and Scotch officers regaled themselves with German beer.
An hour after the occupation of the village it was heavily shelled by
big German guns, German airmen from above directing the fire. The
British held on determinedly in spite of heavy losses, and their
courage never flagged. In the afternoon the Germans made some
determined counterattacks, but their advancing waves were mowed down
by the British machine guns and eighteen pounders, and finally they
were thrown back in confusion. The British now advanced beyond the
village, while the Germans were forced to retreat from the trench
below.
In the opinion of the German press the battle of Arras was an event of
only local importance which did not affect in any degree the strategic
situation. The plan of the Anglo-French command to deliver a
shattering blow on the Somme front and roll up the new Hindenburg line
by assaults on both flanks at Soissons and Arras, they contended, had
been foiled.
With better weather conditions the British were able to push forward
more rapidly and to make further breaches in the Hindenburg line.
Advancing over a wide front, they were drawing nearer to the coveted
line of German communications running north and south through Douai
and Cambrai. On the northern horn the British captured Liévin, the
southwest suburb of Lens, and Cité St. Pierre, northwest of that
place. On the southern horn they advanced within 400 yards of St.
Quentin. Some idea of the extent of the British advance within a week
may be gained from the fact that the British were now three miles
beyond the famous Vimy Ridge.
It was expected that the Germans would stubbornly defend St. Quentin
and Lens, which were now the British objectives, and on which the
heaviest British gunfire was now concentrated. In the course of the
day advances were made south and east of Fayet to within a few hundred
yards of St. Quentin. On the way the village of Gricourt was carried
at the point of the bayonet and over 400 Germans were captured.
Lens, an important mining center, had been in possession of the
Germans since the autumn of 1914. It stretches for several miles and
the surrounding district is rich in mineral wealth. Throughout the day
of April 14, 1917, the British poured heavy high-explosive shells into
the city, using for the first time guns that had been recently
captured from the Germans. The continued bombardment caused fires and
explosions in the city. It was believed that some of these
conflagrations were the work of the enemy, who were preparing to
abandon the place.
In the course of the day, April 14, 1917, the British pushed their way
through Liéven, a straggling suburb of Lens, meeting with stubborn
defense in every street, where the Germans had posted machine guns at
points of vantage and rear-guard posts that gave the British
considerable trouble. Soon a body of British troops had penetrated
Lens itself and were working their way slowly forward. From the
western side other troops were advancing through Liévin, slowly and
cautiously. The main German forces were in retreat, but the
machine-gun redoubts, skillfully manned, were a constant source of
danger and wrought considerable destruction.
From prisoners captured the British learned of wild scenes that had
taken place in Lens while the Germans were attempting to get away
their stores and guns and begin the retreat. Frantic efforts were made
to blow up roads and to carry out orders to destroy the mine shafts
and flood the galleries, so that property of enormous value should not
be left to France. The occasion for this mad hurry was because the
Germans believed that the British might be upon them at any moment.
During the evening they had sufficiently recovered from their first
panic to send supporting troops back into Lens to hold the line of
trenches and machine-gun forts on the western side and check the
British advance while they prepared for themselves positions on the
Drocourt-Queant line, the Wotan end of the Hindenburg line, from which
the British were forcing them to withdraw. It was learned from German
prisoners that there were still about 2,000 persons, principally old
men, women, and children, still in the Lens district waiting for a
chance to break through to the British lines. The condition of these
poor creatures can be imagined, surrounded by destruction from all
sides and hiding in holes in the ground with death always hovering
near.
The British continued to close in around Lens from three directions,
their progress being slow owing to the stubborn attacks made by German
rear guards and the fierce fire of cunningly placed machine guns.
Field Marshal Haig's chief purpose in advancing on Lens was to turn La
Bassée from the south. La Bassée and Lens form the principal outworks
of Lille, which is the key to the whole German position in Flanders.
If the British succeeded in capturing these two places, Lille would be
seriously threatened.
On the 15th the British continued to gain ground in the direction of
St. Quentin and east and north of Gricourt, to the north of the city.
In the morning the Germans delivered a powerful attack over a front of
six miles against the new British position, which extended from
Hermies to Noreuil. In the face of a terrific fire from British
artillery they forged ahead, but lost so many men that they were at
last forced to retreat, gaining no advantage except at Lagnicourt
village, to one part of which they clung tenaciously. Immediately the
British organized a counterattack, which was carried out with dash and
spirit. The Germans were driven out of the village and 300 prisoners
were taken. Some 1,500 dead were left in front of the British
positions.
April 16, 1917, was a day of glory for French arms, when General
Nivelle launched a great attack on a front of about twenty-five miles
between Soissons and Rheims. The French were everywhere successful,
capturing the German first-line positions along the entire front and
in some places penetrating and holding second-line positions.
The scene of General Nivelle's great victory was the historic line of
the Aisne, to which the Germans had retreated after the battle of the
Marne. Ever since that epoch-making event in the history of the Great
War the Germans had held the line despite every effort of the Allies
to dislodge them. The Germans had ample warning that a great offensive
was in preparation, for the French had been bombarding their positions
for ten days before. On their part they had made every effort to repel
the threatened attack, and had massed a great number of men and guns
in that region. In justice to the Germans it must be said that they
fought with courage and desperation along the whole front. They
realized the importance of holding the line at all costs, for if the
French advance proved successful, it would mean the isolation of Laon,
upon which the Hindenburg line depended.
North of Berry-au-Bac, where the old line of battle swings to the
southeast toward Rheims, the French forces gained their greatest
advance. To the south of Juvincourt they succeeded in penetrating the
German second-line positions and held on. Every effort made by the
Germans during the day failed, the French artillery literally tearing
their ranks to pieces. Further advances were made by the French to the
banks of the Aisne Canal at the villages of Courcy and Loivre.
General Nivelle reported that over 10,000 prisoners were captured
during this offensive together with a vast amount of war material.
Meanwhile the British in the Lens area were constantly engaged with
the Germans, who again and again launched counterattacks to recover
lost positions, to impede the advance and to gain time to strengthen
their defenses on the line of retreat.
During the night of April 15, 1917, the British captured Villeret,
southeast of Hargicourt, which served to further widen the second gap
in the Hindenburg line north of St. Quentin. The British were
successful in all these minor struggles in making prisoners, and owing
to the Germans' hurried retreat vast quantities of military stores
fell into their hands. Since April 9, 1917, the British had captured
over 14,000 prisoners and 194 guns.
In the midst of a driving rain and flurries of snow that hampered
military operations the French struck another blow on the 17th, on a
new eleven-mile stretch of front east of Rheims from Prunay to
Auberive. They carried the entire front-line German positions. From
Mt. Carnillet to Vaudesincourt support positions seven miles in extent
also were captured. During this push 2,500 German prisoners were
taken.
The French advance on both sides of Rheims now left that city in a
salient that would prove a great source of danger to the Germans. The
French having captured the German second-line position northwest of
Rheims, smoothed the way for an advance that might force the enemy out
of the forts that held the cathedral city in subjection.
The French continued their offensive with undiminished vigor and dash
on April 18, 1917, driving the Germans in disorder from their
positions north of the Aisne and securing a firm hold on high ground
commanding the river. The number of German prisoners had now increased
to 20,730. Great quantities of war material fell to the French,
including 175 guns, 412 machine guns, and 119 trench mortars.
On the front from Soissons to Rheims General Nivelle's troops captured
four villages, which brought them to the outskirts of Courteçon, an
advance of about two miles for the day.
Another successful French attack was delivered to the west, where the
old German line stood on the south bank of the Aisne, which resulted
in the capture of the important town of Vailly and a strong bridgehead
near by. On the western leg of the German salient, whose apex was at
Fort Condé on the Aisne, the French struck another decisive blow which
gave them the village of Nanteuil-le-Fosse, and endangered the Germans
in the fort, who were now in the position of being cut off.
East of Craonne a French contingent surrounded the forest of La
Ville-au-Bois and forced the surrender of 1,300 Germans.
In the afternoon of April 18, 1917, the Germans delivered a strong
counterattack in which 40,000 men were employed, in an attempt to
recover their lost second-line positions to the east of Craonne which
had been seized by the French in the first onslaught. Though vastly
outnumbered in man power, the French were well supplied with
artillery, and the attackers were rolled back in confusion with heavy
losses before they could reach the French lines at any point. During
the day's fighting in this area the French captured three cannon and
twenty-four guns, together with a number of shell depots. Most of the
guns were immediately turned against the Germans and proved effective
in assisting in their destruction.
Undeterred by heavy losses and constant failure the Germans with
stubborn courage continued to press counterattacks south of St.
Quentin. One of these was successful in seizing a number of French
positions. But the gain was only temporary, when the French came
dashing back in force, regained the positions, and captured or killed
the occupants to the last man.
The double offensive of the British north of Arras and of the French
on the Aisne had disarranged the German plans, according to reliable
information that reached the Allied command. Hindenburg was preparing
an offensive against Riga and another against Italy; attempts on Paris
and on Calais were also projected, but the Allied western offensive
forced him to bring back the greater part of his forces intended for
these fronts.
For several days the fighting in the Arras region slowed down. The
Germans had brought forward new batteries and stationed them around
Lens and Loos, replacing those captured by the British during the
first day's battle. These guns were now constantly active, sending
heavy shells into Liévin, Bois de Riaumont, and into the suburbs of
Lens and Monchy. The neighboring ridge and slopes were also subjected
to machine-gun fire.
Beyond bombarding German positions, the British made no important
advance, though preparations were going forward for the next stage in
the great battle of Arras.
The French continued to make gains along the Oise, pressing back the
Germans toward the Chemin-des-Dames, which runs along the top of the
heights north of the river. On April 20, 1917, General Nivelle's
troops occupied Sancy village and gained ground east of Laffaux. The
French front in this sector now faced the fort of Malmaison, which
crowns a range of high hills protecting the highroad from Soissons to
Laon. The Germans launched a heavy attack on April 19, 1917, in which
large forces of troops were employed in the region of Ailles and
Hurtebise Farm. The French artillery and machine guns delivered such a
withering fire against the attackers that they were thrown back in
disorder with appalling losses.
In Champagne the French continued to make progress, capturing
important points in Moronvilliers Wood.
British troops south of the Bapaume-Cambrai road slowly advanced on
Marcoing, a place of considerable importance and an outpost to
Cambrai. In this push, begun on April 20, 1917, they captured the
southern portion of the village of Trescault, which lies about nine
miles from Cambrai. They also surrounded on three sides Havrincourt
Wood, which from its high position constitutes a formidable barrier in
the way of advance, and which the Germans will eventually be forced to
evacuate. Ground was also gained by the British between Loos and Lens,
and every attempt made by the Germans to regain lost positions was
repulsed.
On the French front in western Champagne the Germans on the 21st made
desperate efforts to recapture the positions on the heights which they
had lost in the previous week. Mont Haut, the dominating position in
this region, was the principal objective against which they launched
repeated attacks, all of which came to naught. There were numerous
minor operations on the Rheims-Soissons front during the night of the
21st. Rheims was repeatedly bombarded, the Germans paying particular
attention to the cathedral, which received further damage from
shells.
What might be termed the second phase of the battle of Arras was begun
in the morning of April 23, 1917, when the British resumed the
offensive. At 5 o'clock in the morning the British advance started
east of Arras on a front of about eight miles, capturing strong
positions and the villages of Gavrelle and Guémappe. The occupation of
these places and of strongholds south of Gavrelle as far as the river
Scarpe broke the so-called Oppy line, defending the Hindenburg
positions before Douai. The British were successful in clearing the
enemy out of the neighborhood of Monchy, which commands the region for
forty miles. The Germans appreciating the value of this position had
launched twenty counterattacks against it in the ten previous days. It
proved to them the bloodiest spot in all this war-ravaged region, and
when the British advanced at early dawn on the 23d, thousands of dead
in field-gray uniforms littered the approaches to the position. During
the day the British took over 1,500 prisoners.
On this date, April 23, 1917, the Germans attacked the French lines in
Belgium at several points in the course. Bodies of Germans succeeded
in penetrating some French advanced positions, but after spirited
hand-to-hand struggles were killed, captured, or driven off. In most
cases the Germans never got in touch with the French, but were rolled
back by the concentrated fire of the French artillery. Fighting
continued in the Champagne, where the Germans renewed again and again
their efforts to capture the new French positions on Mont Haut.
On the second day of the offensive the British had made gains east of
Monchy, and had pushed on between that village and the river Sensée to
within a short distance of Cherisy and Fontaine-les-Croisilles,
holding all their newly won positions against attack.
It was noted by the British command that the Germans during this
second phase of the battle of Arras had fought with exceptional
ferocity, which even the heavy losses they incurred did not weaken. On
the front of about eight miles seven German divisions were employed.
British guns were effective in shattering massed counterattacks, and
there was considerable hand-to-hand fighting in which the British were
sometimes badly handled, but at the close of the day the British had
recovered all the positions they had been forced out of temporarily.
The fighting continued on the 24th, but was less ferocious, the
opponents having exhausted themselves in the previous day's efforts.
In the second and third day of the offensive the British captured
2,000 prisoners.
During the night of April 23, 1917, the British advancing on a wide
front south of the Arras-Cambrai road captured the villages of
Villers-Plouich and Beaucamp and pressed forward as far as the St.
Quentin Canal in the vicinity of Vendhuille.
The second phase of the offensive in the Arras region was especially
notable for the victories won by the British in the air. In one day
forty German machines were brought down, while the British lost only
two.
The British advance was now necessarily slow, for they were no longer
engaged in rear-guard actions as in the first phase of the offensive,
but faced strong bodies of troops whose valor was unquestioned. Thus,
as in the first days of fighting in the Somme, there was desperate
fighting to gain or regain a few hundred yards of trenches. With
varying fortunes the opponents fought back and forth over the same
ground without either side gaining any distinct advantage, though both
were losers in precious lives. By early morning of April 25, 1917,
Scottish and British troops had reestablished the line on the Bois
Vert and Bois de Sart.
A striking incident in connection with the fighting in this area was
the recovery of parties of British soldiers who had been given up as
lost. They had been cut off from rejoining their regiments and had
come through the most ghastly perils, being swept by a British barrage
that preceded an infantry attack and subjected to the deadly and
constant shelling of the German guns. They had clung to their isolated
positions in the face of all these terrors and not a man was killed.
CHAPTER LVIII
FRENCH VICTORIES IN THE CHAMPAGNE--THE BRITISH CAPTURE BULLECOURT
During the night of April 25, 1917, the Germans renewed their attempts
to recover lost positions on the high ground near the Chemin-des-Dames,
and especially west of Cerny. West of Craonne they hurled masses of men
against Hurtebise Farm with disastrous results. Eastward in the vicinity
of Ville-aux-Bois the French artillery dropped shells with mathematical
precision on the German lines. The regiment that was detailed to capture
the village of Ville-aux-Bois, which formed with Craonne one of the
pillars of the German line in this area, carried out the difficult
operation with complete success. It was necessary to capture two heavily
garrisoned woods before the place could be assaulted. At the end of the
first day's fighting the French had taken hundreds of prisoners and
several dozen machine guns. The prisoners alone numbered more than the
French troops who made the attack.
Fighting continued in this region during the 26th. The French repulsed
all attempts made by the Germans to recover lost ground, and extended
their gains.
During the desperate fighting along the Aisne in this offensive the
French captured about 20,000 prisoners and 130 guns. The German losses
in killed, wounded, and prisoners were estimated at over 200,000--one
of the most formidable totals of the Great War.
North of the Scarpe River and in the vicinity of Catelet the British
continued to improve their positions. Thirteen German aeroplanes and
one balloon were brought down on the 26th by British aviators.
On April 28, 1917, the British attacked on a front extending in an
easterly direction from Vimy Ridge at its northern hinge and southward
to the Scarpe River. Gains were made at all points attacked, and the
so-called Oppy-Mericourt line which protects the Drocourt switch to
the Hindenburg line was pierced again. An eyewitness stated that he
saw no less than five gray waves of Germans blindly facing the British
fire in an attempt to regain the lost positions. Torrents of British
shells tore gaps in the German ranks, and those who succeeded in
forcing their way through the barrage were mowed down by sprays of
machine-gun bullets. Under this storm the German attack broke down.
There was bayonet fighting at different points, and many Germans were
killed by blows from rifle butts.
The Canadians, who had been resting since their brilliant work on
Easter day, when they swept the Germans from Vimy Ridge, were in fine
fighting trim. By a brilliant assault they captured Arleux-en-Gobelle
and held the village securely against all attempts made by the Germans
to recapture it.
Southeast of Oppy, the British took Greenland Hill, which overlooks
the Scarpe Valley. There was fierce fighting north of the village of
Roeux, at the chemical works on the Arras-Douai railway, which changed
hands several times. The character of the fighting on the 28th did not
result in the taking of many prisoners, for almost everywhere it was a
struggle to the death.
The loss to the Germans of Monchy-le-Preux was regarded by them as a
serious matter, and they were prepared to sacrifice any number of men
to retake it. Late in the night of April 28, 1917, they launched two
violent attacks against the British positions east of the town. Two
new divisions had been brought up and were hurled into the struggle
only to be literally torn to fragments before they could reach even an
outpost. On this date also Gavrelle was violently attacked from the
north. This was the fourteenth or fifteenth counterattack the Germans
had made against the village, which failed as all the previous ones
had done.
On the same date there were violent outbursts in the Champagne and
Aisne regions on the French front, in which the Germans made no
progress. The French gained ground and prisoners near Ostel in the
Chemin-des-Dames area. German lines were invaded in the sector of Hill
304 on the left bank of the Meuse and a considerable number of
prisoners were taken. At Auberive after a violent bombardment the
Germans attacked in force, but were repulsed by the French artillery.
South of the village of Oppy, where the fighting had raged for several
days, the British captured a German trench system on a front of about
a mile. Here the Germans offered the most stubborn resistance, and
after the position was won they launched furious counterattacks in the
hope of smashing the British before they had opportunity to organize
their gains.
The results of the fighting in this region could not be estimated by
the number of prisoners taken or the amount of ground gained. The
British had a difficult task to perform in assaulting positions
protected by natural defenses, and held in strength with quantities of
machine guns. After forcing the enemy out of the positions, and when
their strength was well-nigh spent, the British troops were forced to
beat off repeated counterattacks preceded by barrage fire and to
destroy the enemy again and again. They encountered no more formidable
conditions in the course of the war than in this region, for the
Germans had machine redoubts on the slopes commanding fields of fire
on both sides of the Scarpe River, and each advance made by the
British exposed their flanks to enfilading fire. In the face of such
deadly opposition the British still continued to press onward, forcing
the Germans to pay a fearful price for Hindenburg's strategic plans.
On the last day of the month French troops in the Champagne made a new
attack on both sides of Mont Carnillet, a commanding peak southeast of
Mauroy. To the west the French captured several fortified lines of
trenches from the heights as far south as Beine. East of the mount
General Nivelle's men forced their way up the northern slopes of Mont
Haut; and northeast of this position to the approaches of the road
from Mauroy and Moronvilliers. This advance widened on the west and
deepened the salient driven into the German lines between Prunay and
Auberive, rendering exceedingly precarious their hold on ground east
of Rheims.
There was no important fighting on the British front on April 30,
1917, and General Haig's troops were not ungrateful for the brief
respite afforded them. The Germans did not attempt any important
attacks owing to a shortage of ammunition and military supplies. From
documents found on prisoners the British learned that there was a
dearth in all war material and that the supply of new guns to replace
those worn out was very limited. During the night General Haig's
troops improved their positions between Monchy-le-Preux and the Scarpe
River, repulsing a feeble German attack on the new positions.
While comparative quiet reigned in the fighting area on the last day
of April, 1917, British airmen were active, and in the course of
twenty-four hours a number of highly dramatic battles were fought in
which the British brought down twenty German aeroplanes and lost
fifteen machines themselves.
During the night of May 1, 1917, the French consolidated their new
positions on the wooded hills east of Rheims. In the course of the
following day the Germans delivered two strong attacks against French
lines northeast of Mont Haut, but were rolled back by the French
barrage fire and machine-gun fire which broke the waves of assault and
scattered the attackers.
The report for the month of April, 1917, issued by the British War
Office stated that in the course of the offensive operations in France
19,343 prisoners had been taken, including 393 officers. In the same
period the British had captured 257 guns and howitzers, 227 trench
mortars, and 470 machine guns. The French during the same period had
captured over 20,000 prisoners. It was estimated that the Germans had
143 divisions in France, but only ninety-nine of these were in the
actual line, the rest being held in strategic reserve.
During the month of April, 1917, more aeroplanes were lost by the
combatants than in any month since the fighting began. A careful
compilation from British, French, and German communiqués shows a
total loss of 717 during this period. The Germans lost 369, the French
and Belgians 201, and the British 147.
On May 2, 1917, the French in the Champagne began to push their way
slowly through the great forest south of Beine, which covers
considerable territory from south of Mont Carnillet to La Pompelle
Fort, the most easterly fortification of Rheims.
On May 3, 1917, General Haig's troops struck a fourth blow against the
German front east and southeast of Arras, penetrating the Hindenburg
line west of Queant. The British push toward Cherisy, Bullecourt, and
Queant was at the southern end of the day's major operation, which
covered a range of nearly eighteen miles. At the north Fresnoy was the
chief objective. It lies just east of Arleux, taken a few days before
by the Canadians.
These two villages were strongly organized for defense with
complicated trench fortifications, forming one of the strongest points
on the Mericourt-Oppy-Gavrelle line. Fresnoy was carried by the
Canadians after the most furious fighting, in which the German
positions changed hands a number of times, but at last remained
securely in possession of the troops from oversea. North and south of
Fresnoy a two-mile front was won by the British, who also secured a
grip on the German trench system north of Oppy.
While the British were dealing hammer blows on the enemy's lines the
French had been preparing another coup, which was carried out on May
4, 1917. By this operation they captured the village of Craonne on the
Soissons-Rheims front, several fortified points north and east of the
village, and German first-line positions on a front of about two and a
half miles.
Craonne was an especially valuable capture, for it stands on a height
at the east end of the Chemin-des-Dames, protecting not only the
plateau north of the Aisne, but the low ground between it and
Neufchâtel. The Germans had held the place since the first battle of
the Aisne, and against its cliffs many gallant French troops had
vainly flung themselves, only to be thrown back with heavy losses. The
possession of Craonne gave the French command of an open road through
the valley of Miette where a few weeks before they had captured the
German second line south of Juvincourt. They could now, advancing
through this corridor, outflank the entire German position depending
on Laon as its center.
[Illustration: The French Offensive on the Craonne Plateau,
Champagne.]
Throughout May 4, 1917, the British were occupied in organizing and
strengthening the new positions they had won in and around Fresnoy
and in the sectors of the Hindenburg line near Bullecourt. Repeated
German counterattacks were repulsed at all points, except in the
neighborhood of Cherisy and the Arras-Cambrai road, where the British
were forced to abandon some of their new positions. In the day's
fighting the British captured over 900 prisoners. During the night
General Haig's troops made considerable progress northwest of St.
Quentin and northeast of Hargicourt, where the Malakoff Farm was
captured.
By May 5, 1917, the French army was in sight of Laon, and had begun to
shell the German positions on the steep hill on which the city stands.
The position of the French was decidedly favorable for important
operations against the enemy. If they moved up the Rheims-Laon road,
and pushed north from Cerny with a strong force, it would be possible
to outflank from the south the whole German line, which here turns to
the northwest in a wide sweep from Laon, through La Fère to St.
Quentin and Cambrai. This operation if successful would compel the
Germans to retire to the Belgian frontier.
The Germans were not satisfied with the way things were going, so the
Allied command learned from prisoners. It was estimated that they had
lost thus far in the Anglo-French drive on this front no less than
216,000 men, of whom the British took 30,000 prisoners and the French
23,000; about 47,000 were killed on the field and 160,000 were put out
of action. The British and French casualties had also been very
heavy--the former numbering about 80,000 and the latter 93,000
including killed, wounded, and prisoners.
On the British front the Germans continued to make the most desperate
efforts to regain a section of the Hindenburg line east of
Bullecourt, which the Australians had won in the advance of May 3,
1917. From three sides day and night the sturdy defenders were
assailed by the Germans, but their attacks by day were killed by the
British artillery, and at night were driven off by bomb and bayonet.
The Germans had good reason to value this wedge bitten into the
Hindenburg line, for its possession by the Australians weakened an
otherwise strong position that ran formerly from Arras to Queant. The
British were now in touch with the Hindenburg line all the way from
Queant south to St. Quentin, and were pressing the Germans toward the
Drocourt switch in the north.
On the new lines east of Mont Haut held by the Germans a position
garrisoned by 200 men was captured by the French during the night of
May 5, 1917.
The French continued to make progress, slowly but firmly pressing the
Germans back from many points, and gaining more ground than they lost
through counterattacks. By the 6th of May, 1917, they had captured all
the unconquered positions on the Chemin-des-Dames and were masters of
the crest over which it runs for more than eighteen miles. The moral
effect of this victory was to give the French the assurance that they
could beat the Germans on their chosen battle ground and force them
out of their deepest defenses into the open field. German
invincibility had become a shattered myth.
For some days General Haig's troops had been tightening their grip
around Bullecourt, which lies in the original Hindenburg line due east
of Croisilles. The Australians who held this front had surrounded the
village on three sides and its fall was imminent.
On May 8, 1917, Bavarian troops stormed Fresnoy village and wood and
wrested some ground from the British on the western side. During the
night the Germans had concentrated large forces for an attack north of
Fresnoy which were dispersed by British fire. By a strong
counterattack the British recovered all the ground on the west that
they had lost on the previous day.
Some idea of the intense fighting in northern France may be gained
from the fact that since April 1, 1917, over thirty-five German
divisions (315,000 men) were withdrawn from this front owing to their
exhausted condition. The French and British had lost heavily, but
their casualties were from 50 to 75 per cent fewer than they incurred
in the Battle of the Somme.
Fresnoy, which was held by the Canadians, and which jutted into the
German lines, was subjected to intense fire and showers of high
explosives and shrapnel throughout the night of the 7th, and in the
morning of the following day the Germans attacked in force. The
British were overwhelmed, but served their machine guns to the last,
and only fell back from their advanced lines when the village was no
longer tenable. The greater part of the ground lost by them was
recovered on the following day.
The French captured first-line German trenches over a front of
three-quarters of a mile northeast of Chevreux near Craonne, during
the night of May 8, 1917, capturing several hundred prisoners.
Vigorous counterattacks made about the same time by the Germans to
regain lost positions on the plateau of Chemin-des-Dames and on the
Californie Plateau were shattered by the French artillery. The Germans
here displayed the most intrepid bravery, sending forward successive
waves of men again and again until the battle area was strewn with
dead. Northwest of Rheims the French carried 400 yards of German
trench, taking prisoner 100 men and two officers.
Severe and continuous fighting went on during May 9, 1917, in the
neighborhood of Bullecourt, where the Germans tried vainly to shake
the British hold on the position. East of Gricourt a portion of the
German front and support lines were captured by the British, also a
considerable number of prisoners. Counterattacks on the French front
along the Chemin-des-Dames and in the region of Chevreux resulted in
heavy losses to the Germans in men and guns.
Toward the close of the day, May 11, 1917, the British after the
hardest and most sanguinary fighting won two positions at Roeux just
north of the Scarpe, and at Cavalry Farm beyond Guémappe. The loss to
the Germans was serious, for these were observation posts of the
highest value. The British captured about 350 prisoners, mostly of
Brandenburg regiments, who were found crouching in tunnels waiting for
a pause in the storm of shell fire to rush out and meet the attackers
with machine guns. But they waited too long, and Haig's troops were
upon them before they could use their weapons. At Roeux the Bavarian
garrison in the tunnels fought ferociously, and being unwilling to
yield were destroyed.
Around Guémappe, by the Cavalry Farm, which the Scottish troops had
been forced to abandon in the previous month, the fighting was less
intense. The Scots went about their task in a businesslike way and
routed the garrison and took ten guns and a number of prisoners.
Bullecourt, which had been the scene of some of the hottest fighting
since the offensive began, and where the Australians had repulsed a
dozen strong counterattacks, was in large part occupied by the British
on May 12, 1917. North of the Scarpe, British troops established
themselves in the western part of the village of Roeux, and improved
their positions on the western slopes of Greenland Hill.
Along the Aisne and south of St. Quentin the French continued to
bombard enemy lines. A violent attack made by the Germans on the 12th
against French positions on the Craonne Plateau north of Rheims broke
down under French artillery and machine-gun fire.
The British continued to hold their own in Bullecourt and to improve
their position there and at Cavalry Farm and Roeux. In the three days'
operations the British had captured 700 prisoners, including eleven
officers and a considerable number of guns and war material.
May 14, 1917, was a successful day for the Germans when they captured
Fresnoy. Early in the morning they succeeded by strong counterattacks
in gaining a foothold in the British trenches northeast of the
village. At a later hour the British attacked and regained the lost
ground, but were forced to withdraw when the Germans brought forward
two fresh divisions. The Germans continued their violent attempts to
regain Roeux and that part of Bullecourt which was firmly held by the
British. The struggle around these two places which had been raging
for four weeks grew daily more intense, and the ground around the
British positions was heaped with dead.
All of Roeux was by the 15th in British hands: the château with its
great dugouts and gun emplacements, the cemetery from which a large
tunnel ran westward to Mount Pleasant Wood, and the village itself.
After a terrible shell fire during the night of the 15th the Germans
launched a strong assault in dense numbers, and the ruins were strewn
with new dead beside the old dead. Despite the intense fire from
British machine guns some German troops penetrated advanced posts and
barricades and desperate fighting with bomb and bayonet followed. The
British fiercely counterattacked, driving the enemy back, and gained
more ground than they had held before.
At Bullecourt there was the same story to tell. This place, to use the
expression of an eyewitness, "had become a flaming hell." In twelve
counterattacks the Germans had only succeeded in destroying a few of
the British advanced positions. They had only been able to maintain a
hold on the southwest corner of the village owing to the tunnels in
which they were protected from the heaviest fire.
A German counterattack of unusual strength was delivered in the
morning of May 16, 1917. No bloodier struggle was fought during the
Allied offensive in 1917 than here at Bullecourt. From shell crater
and from behind bits of broken wall the British with bombs and
bayonets hung on until relieved by the arrival of fresh troops. In the
orchards and gardens and in shallow trenches the opponents struggled
in close combat, springing at each other's throat when the supply of
bombs was exhausted. The British obtained a grip on Bullecourt for the
time being, but they knew the respite would be brief, when the Germans
would return and renew the bloody struggle.
The old Hindenburg line having been breached at Bullecourt and
Wancourt, the Germans were now busy strengthening their new line of
defense which ran through Montigny, Drocourt, and Queant.
The British had improved their defenses to the east, and had pushed
forward a little nearer to Lens. Here the Germans continued to wreck
and destroy buildings and machinery, so that the great mining center
would prove of little value to the Allies when they occupied it.
Early in the morning of May 20, 1917, a British attack broke into the
Hindenburg line between Fontaine-les-Croisilles and Bullecourt,
southeast of Arras. The Germans made several violent attempts to
recover their lost positions, but were unable to make any gains during
the day. The purpose of the British attacks in this sector was to
capture the last salient on the front southeast of Arras. With this
accomplished the German support line from Drocourt to Queant would be
seriously endangered.
The French lines on the Chemin-des-Dames north of the Aisne continued
to be subjected to attack, the Germans throwing great masses of troops
against the positions on the heights.
After very heavy artillery bombardment that lasted the greater part of
the night the Germans in the early morning of the 20th made
preparations for a general assault, but the French counterfire was so
heavy that over the greater part of the front the attack could not be
developed. Northeast of Cerny the Germans succeeded in occupying
French trenches on a 216-yard front, but at all other points where
they advanced the French counterattacks and barrage fire rolled them
back and wrought disaster among their ranks.
During the last week of May, 1917, the French forces along the
Chemin-des-Dames only fought on the defensive. The Germans attempted
to regain lost positions, but were unsuccessful in obtaining the
slightest advantage, while their losses must have been considerable.
CHAPTER LIX
THE BATTLE OF MESSINES RIDGE--BRITISH SMASH THE GERMAN SALIENT SOUTH
OF YPRES
After an intense bombardment that lasted all day of June 1, 1917, and
part of the night the Germans on the 2d, employing large forces,
hurled five attacks on the French Craonne position; three against the
eastern face of Californie Plateau and two against Vauclerc Plateau.
It seemed as if the Germans hoped to win the coveted position on the
heights by sheer weight of numbers. Advancing in dense masses shoulder
to shoulder they formed an impressive spectacle. But not for long.
Soon great gaps were torn in the solid lines by the famous French
artillery.
The ranks quickly closed up and again surged onward in dense gray
waves, only to be shattered again and again by the splendidly served
French guns. The same process was repeated, the Germans advancing,
their ranks depleting, and then as the French fire became even more
destructive they fell back, leaving the battle ground littered with
dead.
The French rightly called this a victory, for they maintained all
their positions and the Germans had not succeeded in gaining a
foothold at any point. The German headquarters was silent concerning
the fight on this date.
While the French continued to hold their position on the eastern
extremity of the Chemin-des-Dames they threatened to turn the right
flank of the Laon bastion by an advance over the open ground north of
Berry-au-Bac. For this reason the Germans were desperately anxious to
recover the Craonne position, which was the key to the whole tactical
situation in this part of the front.
For about two weeks the British had been bombarding the strong German
salient south of Ypres. On June 7, 1917, they delivered against this
position or series of fortifications an overwhelming blow. It was one
of the most spectacular military operations carried out during the war
and marked a brilliant victory for the Allied arms. By this startling
coup the Germans were forced out of one of the strongest positions
they held on the western front. As far as human ingenuity and military
skill could make it so, the position was impregnable. From its
commanding situation the Germans were able to observe with ease all
the preparations that were in progress in the British lines and
arrange to checkmate them. The value of the position to the Germans in
this area was therefore of supreme value.
For two and a half years the Allied armies in this little corner of
Belgium had held the Germans in check, and during that time they were
almost at the mercy of the German guns on the Messines-Wytschaete
Ridge.
The German front defenses of this position consisted of the most
elaborate trench systems and fortifications, forming a belt of about a
mile deep. Farms and woods around were garrisoned and machine-gun
emplacements were set up in every available corner. Concrete dugouts
of the strongest description were provided for the protection of
garrisons and machine gunners, and nothing that labor and skill could
devise was neglected to make the position indestructible. Yet all this
laboriously constructed defense work that had taken many months to
complete and the strength and skill of thousands were swept away in a
few hours' time.
For nearly two years companies of sappers--British, Australians, and
New Zealanders--had been busily engaged in tunneling under the low
range of hills upon which the German position stood. In these
underground passages engineers had planted nineteen great mines,
containing more than a million tons of ammonite, a new and enormously
destructive explosive. The secret of the mines was so well kept during
the time they were preparing that the Germans seemed to have had no
suspicion of the great surprise in store for them.
At exactly 3.10 in the morning of June 7, 1917, all the nineteen mines
were discharged by electric contact and the hilltops were blown off
amid torrents of spouting flames with a roaring sound like many
earthquakes that could be heard distinctly farther away than London.
Large sections of the German front, supporting trenches, and dugouts
went up in débris amid thick clouds of smoke. To add to the terror of
the defenders of the position the British guns after the explosions
shelled the salient steadily until preparations were completed for
attack. Then the British infantry under Field Marshal Haig and General
Sir Herbert Plumer advanced with a rush to the assault and the German
front line for ten miles was captured in a few minutes.
[Illustration: The Taking of Messines Ridge, June 7, 1917.]
Less than three hours after the first attack the Messines-Wytschaete
Ridge was stormed. The British pushed their advance along the entire
sector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to Ploegsteert Wood to
the north of Armentières. Later in the day the German rear defenses,
which ran across the base of the salient, were assaulted. Here the
Germans had concentrated strong forces and the British encountered
stiff opposition, but by nightfall the whole rear German position
along a five-mile front to a depth of three miles was secure in
British hands. The Canadians, who were in the forefront of all the
fighting, had an enjoyable day of it, unsurpassed since they swept the
Germans from Vimy Ridge.
In the course of the day's fighting the British captured over 7,000
prisoners and a large number of guns of all calibers. The Germans, it
was estimated, had about 30,000 casualties, and the British less than
a third of that number.
Eyewitnesses to this spectacular and dramatic operation have described
the shattering effect the terrific explosions had on the Germans
defending the positions, especially on those protecting the ill-famed
Hill 60, where so many brave British soldiers had perished in previous
fights.
When this hill burst open and a dense mass of fiery clouds and smoking
rocks shot skyward, the British troops assigned to take the position
and while still some distance away were thrown down by the violence of
the concussion. But no one was injured, and finding their footing they
dashed on in the direction of the hill. Below Mount Sorrel and in
Armagh Wood they encountered groups of Jägers and Württembergers, who
crawled out of holes in the still quivering earth, and, shaking with
terror, weakly raised their hands in token of surrender. There was no
desire to fight left in these men, but where the dugouts had not been
shattered by British fire and were partly intact hundreds crouched in
the dark and could only be persuaded to come into the open when bombs
were hurled among them.
In other places the explosions had not produced such terrifying
effects on the Germans, and the British met with stubborn resistance.
This was the case in the neighborhood of the Château Matthieu, to the
west of Hollebeke, which was strongly held and where the Londoners who
engaged the Germans had a strenuous time of it before they gained the
upper hand.
The British had looked for stout resistance from the enemy in a street
of fortresslike houses built of huge blocks of concrete six feet
thick, but their shell fire had done its work so thoroughly that most
of the structures were in ruins, while the occupants of those that
remained intact were too cowed and panic-stricken to make any but the
feeblest defense.
For the first time on anything like a large scale the British leveled
woodlands by spraying them with drums of burning oil, thus laying bare
hidden trenches and gun emplacements and clearing the way for their
infantry to advance.
In Dead Wood some German troops of the Thirty-fifth Division attempted
a counterattack on a body of British South Country troops. It was a
fierce, close struggle, when bayonets were the favorite weapon. The
Germans, who are not generally fond of cold steel and hand-to-hand
fighting, on this occasion did their share in the general thrusting
and stabbing, and certainly displayed no lack of courage. But the men
of Kent, who were eager to be on their way, fought with such wild fury
that the Germans, after they had incurred very heavy losses, were
eager to drop their rifles and surrender.
The part the armored tanks played in the battle of Messines Ridge was
not very important, but they would have been missed if they had not
been present in emergencies to help out the infantry. When there was
no particular business for the monsters, pilots and crews sallied
forth and joined in the fight.
Military critics award the principal honors in the battle of Messines
Ridge to the guns and the gunners who served them. For about a
fortnight the gunners had worked incessantly with scarcely any sleep
in the midst of nerve-racking noises and with death constantly
hovering around them. The number of shells used in this battle by the
British was incredible. One division alone fired over 180,000 shells
with their field batteries and over 46,000 with their heavies.
It was a joyous hour for the British in the course of the day's
fighting when they were able to abandon the old gun positions after
two and a half years of stationary warfare. They had no longer to fear
that any more shells would be fired by the Germans from the commanding
position on the ridge. All danger from that quarter had ceased.
The cheering British troops made way for the gunners, as shouting
joyously they went up the ridge on a run, the infantry trailing along
after them. Arrived near the top, the gunners unlimbered and went into
action for the second phase of the fighting.
British aviators, who performed important scout work for the gunners,
were deserving of a liberal share in the honors of the day. Some of
the Royal Flying Corps seemed to have gone battle-mad in the course of
the fighting, for they engaged in such death-defying adventures as no
wholly sane person would have attempted.
There was one British aviator in particular whose reckless daring
shone conspicuously even above that of his fellows, and who on the
occasion showed an utter disregard for life. One of his major
operations was to fly over a body of German troops on the march.
Hovering at a short distance above them, he sprayed the astonished
troops with machine-gun fire until they scattered and fled. Passing
joyously on his way, the aviator encountered a convoy and flying low
poured volleys into the Germans and was gone before they had time to
recover from their astonishment and retaliate. Near Warneton a large
force of German troops was massing to attack when down among them
dashed the aviator, his machine gun crackling, when they dispersed in
all directions, leaving dead and wounded on the field.
Another daring young flyer belonging to the Royal Flying Corps
attacked and silenced four machine-gun teams in strong emplacements.
Other British aviators were active in clearing out trenches of their
German occupants, and when they ran out of ammunition for their Lewis
guns hurled down on the enemy bombs, explosives, and anything that
injures or destroys.
By the British capture of Messines Ridge the Germans lost their last
natural position that commanded the British lines. The victory came as
a fitting climax to the British achievements in France during the
preceding three months' campaign. By the capture during that period of
Bapaume, Vimy Ridge, Monchy Plateau, and now Messines Ridge, the
British had completely changed the military situation on the western
front.
The area gained in this vast operation was a front nine miles long to
an extreme depth of five miles. Owing to strong German pressure
exerted at this point the advance was checked, but the British
continued to engage and harass the enemy in minor operations.
During the night of June 8, 1917, the British resumed activities in
the neighborhood of the great mining center of Lens. An attack was
launched south of the Souchez River on a front of two miles,
penetrating to a depth of half a mile.
On the following day the Germans with strong forces delivered a
determined assault on British lines on a front of six miles east of
Messines. The attack failed. South of Lens the Canadians on the same
date pierced the German lines on a front of two miles, destroying
defensive works and taking a number of prisoners.
Artillery and heavy guns were busy on both sides during the night of
June 10, 1917, east of Epehy. The Germans assembled strong forces of
troops in this area to attack, but were scattered by the intense fire
of British guns. Southeast of La Bassée the British carried out a
dashing raid on enemy lines, during which they destroyed elaborate
trench systems and mine galleries and captured eighteen prisoners.
Successful raids were also made on German positions east of Vermelles
and south of Armentières on the same night. The British continued
these dashing exploits on the following day on both sides of Neuve
Chapelle, east of Armentières, and north of Ypres. In each operation
the German defenses were smashed and a considerable number of
prisoners were taken.
In the Champagne the French had to defend themselves against
persistent German assaults made to regain lost positions at Mont Blond
and Mont Carnillet. The Germans had never renounced the hope of
recovering these invaluable observation points, and sacrificed
thousands of men in the vain hope of wearing down the French
resistance. The region of the Californie Plateau was also subjected to
furious attacks and violent artillery engagements, and while the
French lost heavily the Germans were unable to gain the slightest
advantage.
Early in the morning of June 12, 1917, the British won new and
valuable positions astride the Souchez River. In the night the Germans
in force delivered a counterattack to regain the lost ground,
displaying a disregard for safety and stolid bravery as they pushed on
in spite of heavy losses. But the British were in a situation where
they could rake the German lines with their artillery and machine-gun
fire, and made the most of their advantage. The Germans could not make
any headway against this storm of fire, and at last when their ranks
were shattered they gave up hope and retired.
Owing to the British advance east of Messines, and to the continued
pressure of their troops south of the front of attack, the Germans
were forced to abandon large and important sections of their
first-line defensive system in the region between the river Lys and
St. Yves. Following closely the retreating enemy, the British made
important advances east of Ploegsteert Wood and also in the
neighborhood of Gaspard.
While their allies were gaining ground and hastening the German
retreat on their front, the French in the regions of Braye, north of
Craonne, northwest of Rheims, and on the left bank of the Meuse, near
Cumières, were being hammered continuously by German guns. It seemed
that defenses and defenders must be destroyed by this hurricane of
fire and shell. But the soldiers of the Republic had learned many
lessons concerning German methods of warfare since the fighting began
in this region and knew how to conserve their strength, and were
prepared to out-fight the enemy whenever the odds were anything like
equal. The concentrated fire of the German guns damaged the French
defenses, but were ineffective in crushing French spirit, so that the
attacks that followed the bombardments failed in every instance to
gain any advantage.
Positions the British had captured earlier in the week south of the
Ypres-Commines Canal were attacked by the Germans on June 15, 1917,
following heavy artillery preparations. In the first dash a few
Germans succeeded in approaching the British front trenches, but they
were killed or driven out and the attack collapsed at all points.
In the night of the 15th the sorely tried French forces continued to
bear the brunt of German fury around Craonne and Mont Carnillet. Raids
they made in the region of Hill 304, on the heights of the Meuse,
broke down with heavy losses. East of Rheims the French were
successful in minor operations in which they captured a good number of
prisoners. Artillery duels were almost continuous on the following day
north and south of the Ailette River, in the Champagne, and in the
region of the heights of Carnillet and Blond. The Germans won a
section of trench in neighborhood of Courcy, but later were driven out
or destroyed by the French in a counterattack.
East of Monchy-le-Preux the Germans after a heavy bombardment of
British positions made an attack in force that was entirely successful
in gaining the first-line defenses. The British were driven back with
considerable losses to their main new position on Infantry Hill.
After the disastrous experience of the German airmen during the battle
of Messines Ridge their flying forces adopted the familiar tactics of
mass formation. The British air pilots seldom encountered in these
June days squadrons of less than fifteen machines, and occasionally
they met aerial armies of as many as sixty planes. In some battles in
the second week of June, 1917, between seventy and eighty machines
were involved. Most of these air fights took place inside German
territory, and despite superior numbers the British Royal Flying Corps
continued to prove their superiority in the air over the Teutons. In
one of these aerial battles, when a large number of planes were
engaged, the British pilots smashed ten German machines, while only
two British flyers were compelled to withdraw from the fight, one of
them making a successful landing within his own lines.
Of the reckless bravery displayed by some of the younger members of
the Royal Flying Corps many authentic stories are told. One intrepid
British pilot coolly took up a position over a German aerodrome at a
considerable distance within the enemy lines. There were seven
machines in the aerodrome when the British flyer took up his position
above, and as they issued forth first one and then two at a time he
attacked and in every instance was successful in smashing or in
driving out of control the German machine.
On the Arras battle front on June 19, 1917, the British gained some
ground south of the Cojeul River, capturing during the operation
thirty-five prisoners.
French positions between the Ailette River and Laffaux Hill in the
Champagne and northwest of Rheims were on this date the special marks
for the concentrated fire of German guns. French outposts were
attacked at Mont Teton and Mont Carnillet (an almost daily occurrence
this summer), but the Germans were unable to gain any advantage and
were driven back to their trenches with heavy losses.
The British were successful on June 20, 1917, in regaining the Monchy
position which had been lost some days before. It was of utmost value
that this point should be wrested from German hands if the advance was
to continue, and the British were correspondingly elated that they had
possession of it again.
South of La Fère the French attacked during the night following the
21st, and penetrating German lines in the region of Beauton, destroyed
large numbers of the enemy and brought back prisoners. In the
Champagne after severe artillery preparation the Germans attacked
French trenches on Teton Height and to the east of this position on a
front of 400 yards. The Germans employed strong forces in the
operation, and in a daring push in which they sacrificed large numbers
of men they succeeded in penetrating advanced positions. But they were
unable to hold them long, when the French came back in a dashing
assault that swept them out and back to their own lines. On the
following day the French in a brilliant movement made on a 600-yard
front advanced their line 600 yards nearer to Mont Carnillet.
It was in this region that a unit consisting of only sixty-two French
Grenadiers and portable machine guns occupied a position that the
Germans coveted. The Germans attacked with a strong force, but the
stout-hearted defenders, though vastly outnumbered, not only drove
them back, but pressed on in pursuit, capturing a considerable length
of German trenches and killing more than 200.
In the Chemin-des-Dames on June 22, 1917, the Germans launched a
number of attacks, which led to some desperate engagements. In the
vicinity of La Royère Farm the ground was covered with the bodies of
German dead, according to the statements of correspondents on the
field. The Germans at a heavy cost only succeeded in gaining
possession of a short section of a French front trench.
Rheims continued to be the mark on which the Germans vented their
anger when things went wrong, and on the 22d they threw 1,200 shells
into the cathedral city.
The British had made no sensational advances in France for some time,
but along the entire 120-mile front occupied they continued to
maintain strong pressure on the enemy positions. During the night of
the 24th they carried out a number of successful local operations. One
of these enterprises was of importance, as it increased the British
grip around Lens. Attacking by starlight the British troops stormed
and captured 400 yards of front-line trenches east of Riaumont Wood,
in the western outskirts of Lens, thus drawing closer the ring of iron
with which they were hemming in the French mining center.
In numerous raids carried out in the night on enemy trenches in the
vicinity of Bullecourt, Roeux, Loos, and Hooge, much damage was
wrought to German defenses and a considerable number of prisoners were
captured. One daring body of British troops remained for two hours in
German trenches, blowing up dugouts and inflicting serious casualties
on the garrison.
In the general advance on Lens the Canadians occupied the strongest
outpost in the defense of that place and had pushed forward to La
Coulotte. The object of the British command was to exert extreme
pressure on the enemy and at the same time keep down the casualties,
and this they were successful in doing.
Patrols sent out reached the crown of Reservoir Hill without meeting
opposing forces and pressed on down the eastern slope to occupy the
strong Lens outpost. South of the Souchez River the Canadians were
pressing on the very heels of the retreating Germans. Railway
embankments southeast of the Lens electric station were occupied, and
the advance was then continued toward La Coulotte.
For several days the Germans had been destroying houses in the western
part of the mining center, in order to secure a wider area of fire for
their guns. This movement suggested to the British command that they
intended to cling as long as possible to the eastern side of the city
and to prolong the fight to the bitter end by house-to-house fighting.
In the night of June 25, 1917, the French made a brilliant attack
northwest of Hurtebise on a strongly organized German position. They
gained all their objectives and the rapidity with which the attack was
carried out proved a crushing surprise to the Germans who lost in the
fight and in counterattacks ten officers and over 300 of other ranks.
Among the positions captured by the French in the operations in this
region was the "Cave of the Dragon," which was more than 100 yards
wide and 300 yards deep, and had been converted into a strong
fortress. The cavern had numerous exits and openings through which
machine guns could be fired. Here the French captured a vast amount of
war material, including nine machine guns in good condition,
ammunition depots, and a hospital relief outpost.
In the morning of June 27, 1917, the Canadians, encouraged by their
recent successes, which had been won at slight cost, decided to attack
across the open ground sloping upward to Avion and the village of
Leauvette near the Souchez River. The assaulting troops consisted of
men from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, and the
British army contained no more daring fighters. The attack was a
success, except at one point, where the Germans were strong in machine
guns, and were surrounded by barbed-wire entanglements of a peculiarly
complicated sort. Here the sturdy men from overseas were unable to
gain their objectives, but at other points they gained valuable
ground.
In the following night, during a heavy rainstorm, the British attacked
a number of the southwesterly suburbs of Lens, including the one known
as Avion. They won all their first objectives, and captured over 200
prisoners. The fighting was in and out of ruined buildings,
collieries, pit derricks, and the usual structures of a mining
settlement. It was continued on the following day, advance being made
on a total front of about four miles to a depth of over a mile. The
result of these attacks was to give the British a series of strongly
organized defensive systems on both banks of the river Souchez
covering Lens.
On the same night the suburbs of the mining center were attacked, the
British captured German forward positions south and west of Oppy in
the Arras sector on a front of about 2,000 yards.
On the 28th and 29th of June, 1917, the Germans launched by night
powerful attacks in the Verdun sector near Hill 304 and Avocourt Wood.
They succeeded in piercing French first lines over the whole front
attacked, but were subsequently driven out, except at one point, on
the slope of Dead Man Hill, where they clung tenaciously, defying
every attempt made by the French to regain the position.
CHAPTER LX
THE GERMANS DEFEAT BRITISH ON BELGIAN COAST--INTENSE FIGHTING IN THE
CHAMPAGNE AND AT VERDUN
In the first days of July, 1917, the Verdun sector became the scene
of some of the heaviest fighting on the western front. The Germans
seemed determined to redeem their failures in this area in the
previous year and engaged in daily assaults with large numbers of
picked forces. The German High Command had circulated so many stories
regarding the declining strength of the French troops and of their
weakened morale that they must have come to believe their own
inventions. The soldiers of the Republic certainly did their best to
convince the German command that they were very much alive and in good
fighting trim. Most of the German attacks in the Verdun sector were
repulsed, but they succeeded in retaining some conquered ground on the
west slope of Dead Man Hill. On the Aisne front during the night of
June 30, 1917, the Germans attacked near Cerny and Corbeny, when their
storming detachments were almost annihilated by the devastating fire
of the French artillery. To the northeast of Cerny the Germans
succeeded in gaining a small salient which had first been leveled by
their guns.
South of Lens the British continued to make progress, capturing a good
portion of the German trench system in this area and taking a number
of prisoners. British aviators on this front maintained successfully
their supremacy of the air. In the space of twenty-four hours they
brought down five German aeroplanes, and four others were driven out
of control, while only one British machine was missing.
Heavy artillery fighting continued during July 1, 1917, in the sector
between Cerny and Ailles on the French front. At a late hour French
troops carried out a spirited attack on both sides of the
Ailles-Paissy road and ejected the Germans from the trenches they had
captured in the previous week. In the night of July 2, 1917, the
Germans made a strong counterattack in an endeavor to oust the French
from their regained position, but were repulsed. In the course of the
night several more attacks were made by the Germans, who, thrown back
in every instance, finally abandoned the effort when day was breaking.
On the left bank of the Meuse, on the Verdun front, violent artillery
fighting continued the greater part of the night on the same date
between Hill 304 and Avocourt Wood. Early in the morning following
the Germans attacked on a front of 500 yards at the southeast corner
of the wood. The assaults broke down under the devastating French fire
and no attempt was made to renew the effort.
On the British front no important actions were fought during the first
week of July, 1917, but everywhere defenses were strengthened and the
pressure on the German positions became unceasingly intense. Southwest
of Hollebeke in Belgium the British advanced their lines on a front of
about 600 yards during the night of July 4, 1917. Successful raids in
the vicinity of Wieltje and Nieuport resulted in the capture of a good
number of prisoners.
On the Verdun front the Germans renewed their offensive without
obtaining any important progress. Heavy artillery fighting continued
near Moronvilliers in the Champagne and around Hill 304.
German positions west and north of this hill were subjected to a
destructive fire of French batteries during the day of July 5, 1917,
and with such good effect that the enemy guns only feebly replied.
Near Louvemont, on the left bank of the Meuse, the French were
successful in several encounters with German patrols, which they
dispersed after sharp fighting, killing a number and taking prisoners.
In the Champagne, especially at Le Casque and Le Teton, there was
active artillery fighting throughout the day. In the region between
the Miette and the Aisne the Germans attacked three French posts, but
were driven off by the French artillery fire.
The British now took the offensive and advanced their line on a
600-yard front south of Ypres, near Hollebeke, and continued to exert
pressure on the German lines. On the 7th a further push forward was
made east of Wytschaete in Belgium.
The French sector of the Chemin-des-Dames to the south of Filain was
menaced at all times because it was dominated by the ancient fort of
Malmaison in possession of the enemy. In the early morning of July 9,
1917, the Germans began an intense bombardment of this sector and then
attempted to rush ten or twelve infantry battalions into the French
positions. A brigade of the famous Chasseurs-à-pied holding the line
were forced back by overwhelming numbers. The Germans evidently
thought that success was certain, for they had brought with them
quantities of barbed wire, boxes of grenades, and trench mortars, and
everything that was needed to organize the position whose capture
would give them the command of a considerable section of
Chemin-des-Dames.
They failed, however, to consider the indomitable French spirit. The
Chasseurs had only retreated a short distance when they gathered
together engineers and reservists who had been working on roads in the
rear and rushed back, and by a series of brilliant counterattacks
ejected or killed most of the Germans in spite of their heroic
resistance, capturing large quantities of their war material and
reoccupying the line almost to its fullest extent.
The Germans having obtained reenforcements, fought furiously to regain
the lost position, but the French elated by their success redoubled
their efforts to destroy the enemy and the shell craters, and
communication trenches were soon encumbered with German dead. The
French losses in the fighting here were severe, but as they occupied
safer positions the Germans' casualties were far greater. The fighting
was so intense throughout the action that very few prisoners were
taken by either side. A group of French soldiers who had been made
prisoners and brought to the German second line attacked their guard
and fled to their own lines, escaping without hurt the intense fire
directed against them.
On this date, July 10, 1917, the Germans delivered a smashing blow
against the British lines north of Nieuport on the Belgian coast. For
twenty-four hours the Germans had maintained an intense bombardment
which lasted from 6 o'clock in the morning of the 10th up to midnight
and was renewed again at dawn on the following day. The firing was on
such a huge scale that it could be distinctly heard as far as London.
The effect of this bombardment was to level all the British defenses
in the dune sector and to destroy their bridges over the Yser.
According to the Berlin reports 1,250 men were captured by the Germans
in this battle.
To the southward, in the region, of Lombaertzyde, the Germans only
obtained a temporary success, the British in a strong counterattack
driving them out of the positions they had won before they had time to
organize for defense.
That the Germans were enabled to succeed in this coup was largely
owing to the weather conditions. A heavy gale was blowing on the
Belgian coast and British naval support was impossible. The Germans
enjoyed the advantage of having strong coast batteries all along the
dunes which they could move about at will from one point to another.
There was, however, no blinking the fact that a weak point existed in
the British defenses. Such success as the Germans won was attributed
by some critics to their superiority in the air, the British at the
time being short of machines.
The net gains to the Germans in this battle was the capture of British
positions on a front of 1,400 yards to a depth of 600 yards. The
British losses in the shelled terrain between the river Yser and the
sea were estimated at 1,800.
During the night of July 11, 1917, British naval aeroplanes carried
out successful raids in Flanders in and near five towns, when several
tons of bombs were dropped with good results. Railway lines and an
electric power station at Zarren were attacked by gunfire from the
air, and bombs were dropped on a train near St. Denis-Westrem. The
British airmen's bombs caused a fire near Ostend, and heavy explosions
at the Varssenaere railway dump followed by an intense conflagration
which was still flaming fiercely when the British returned safely to
their own lines.
On the French front there was increasing aerial activity on July 12,
1917, on both sides from daybreak to midnight. In some cases as many
as thirty machines were actively engaged. As a result of these
encounters fourteen German aeroplanes were brought down and sixteen
others were driven out of control. Nine British machines were counted
missing.
Fighting continued daily in the Champagne and at frequent intervals.
The Germans were paying a high price for every foot of ground gained
and learned at the cost of heavy sacrifices that the French were as
strong as ever, notwithstanding a report to the contrary was
circulated by the German High Command that they were short of men and
would be unable to fight much longer.
On July 14, 1917, the French scored a double victory when they
occupied five heights among a clump of hills known as the
Moronvilliers Massif to the east of Rheims. The positions won were of
the first importance whereby the Germans lost their principal
observatories in this region. The French occupied all the crests of
the hills, but some of the slopes were held by the Germans, from which
points of vantage they were able to watch the movements of their
opponents.
The net gains to the French during the day included a network of
German trenches on a front of over 800 yards to a depth of 300 yards,
while the prisoners captured numbered 360, including nine officers.
On the left bank of the Meuse, in the Verdun sector, around Hill 304
and Dead Man Hill, artillery duels were continuous during the night of
July 13, 1917.
The loss of the strong positions on the Moronvilliers hills, the chief
observation posts in the region, spurred the Germans on to make
frequent and frenzied attempts to force the French out. In the night
of July 15, 1917, the hills were subjected to sustained and violent
bombardment. It was followed by German attacks on Mont Haut and a
height known as the Teton. At Mont Haut the Germans succeeded in
penetrating French positions, but were driven out by a brilliant
counterattack. The fighting lasted throughout the night, and was of
the most violent description. By morning the French had thrust the
Germans back and held all positions on the hills securely. The Germans
had gained only a short stretch of trench near Mont Haut, which for
the time they were able to hold possession.
On the left bank of the Meuse, in the Verdun sector, to the west of
Hill 304, the French carried out a dashing operation early in the
morning of July 17, 1917. After strong artillery preparation that had
lasted all through the previous night the French attacked, and
notwithstanding the stubborn and energetic resistance of the enemy,
recaptured in a few minutes all the positions that the Germans had
occupied since June 29, 1917. Following up the advantage thus gained
the French carried German positions beyond their objectives to a depth
of 2,000 yards on both sides of the road between Esnes and Malancourt.
All the first German line was captured, and a little later after the
most intense fighting the second line was carried. The French gained
ground in this advance to a depth of over a mile. The number of
unwounded prisoners captured reached 425, of whom eight were officers.
The loss of such important positions in the Verdun sector stimulated
the Germans to make repeated endeavors to recapture them, and during
the night of July 17, 1917, they delivered furious counterattacks
preceded by intense artillery preparations. The assaults were all
repulsed by the French, and at no point were the Germans enabled to
gain even a temporary footing.
In the evening of July 18, 1917, the Germans attacked the French lines
south of St. Quentin over a front of about half a mile. They succeeded
in penetrating the first line, and held it for a brief period, when
they were driven out. A few hours later the Germans made another
strong attack over a front of about four miles, their objective being
the same--the hillock known as Moulin-sous-Toutvent. This attack was
broken up by the French artillery and machine-gun fire.
Throughout the day of July 19, 1917, French and German artillery were
active along the whole French front, but beyond inflicting some
casualties for which they paid heavily the Germans gained no
advantage.
A general assault was launched by the Germans with important forces
during the night of July 19, 1917, on the line along the plateau
between Craonne and Vauclerc. Over the whole extent of the front there
was hand-to-hand fighting, but everywhere the French succeeded in
holding their positions. An energetic counterattack made between the
Californie and Casemates Plateaus enabled the French to regain a
trench line which the Germans had penetrated and held since the
previous day. Fighting continued in the Hill 304 region, and in the
Champagne, but the Germans failed to make any progress.
[Illustration: The Somme Battle Front, August 1, 1917.]
During these days of intense fighting on the French front the British
had not been marking time, but they had far less to contend against
than their valorous allies. The French had to bear the brunt of German
fury throughout the week. The whole French line from Verdun to St.
Quentin in this period had been subjected to almost continuous
attacks. At the cost of enormous losses that had not been exceeded
during the war, save at Verdun in the previous year, the Germans had
only gained a slight advance on a front of 2,000 feet, at the foot of
the slope leading to the Chemin-des-Dames between Vauclerc and
Craonne. The French now held all the important heights of the Aisne
which Hindenburg had declared were impregnable.
The German High Command had given orders that the French positions on
the heights must be captured at all hazards. Throughout the night of
July 21, 1917, the high plateaus north of Craonne were shelled by
German guns of the heaviest caliber. An attack was made at daybreak
from Hurtebise to the east of Craonne. The two plateaus to the north,
called the Casemates and Californie positions, are three-cornered in
shape, projecting toward the north and joined by a narrow saddle. The
approach to this is not so abrupt from the north as that to the
plateaus themselves. The French artillery fire broke up the attack
between Hurtebise and the Casemates Plateau before it could develop.
Assemblages of German troops north of Ailette were dispersed with
heavy losses by the concentrated fire from French batteries. German
attacks east of the plateaus led to violent hand-to-hand conflicts in
which the Germans fought with great courage, but were unable to make
gains. Throughout the day the battle raged, the Germans hurling great
masses of men against the French lines, and, thrown back with heavy
losses, again and again renewed the attacks. On the Californie Plateau
after repeated repulses they succeeded in gaining a foothold, but
were only able to hold it for a short time, when the French threw them
back in an assault that laid many a German low.
Since the 10th of the month the British had done little but repel
counterattacks, but they had won a little useful ground east of
Monchy, close to the coast, and around Ypres and Lens theirs and the
German batteries were busy day and night. From prisoners captured by
the British it was learned that the Germans were suffering from the
great wastage of men. Out of one division west of Lens it was stated
that between seventy and eighty men had been buried every day for some
weeks past. The British losses were also considerable, but their guns
did more shooting, and the enemy's casualties were consequently much
heavier. The British continued to hold the upper hand in air combats,
few German machines being encountered. During July 23-24, 1917,
British airmen dropped between four and five tons of bombs on enemy
aerodromes, ammunition depots, and railway junctions with good
results. North and east of Ypres the British made several raids during
the 24th, capturing 114 prisoners, including two officers.
On the French front General Pétain, commander in chief of the French
armies, found time while the battle was still raging to review the
famous division whose four regiments had won the highest honors at
Verdun, Nieuport, on the Somme, and in the Champagne. The troops which
had been fighting for three years showed outwardly no sign of the
terrible ordeals they had undergone, holding themselves proudly erect
as they passed the saluting base amid the strains of military music
and flying colors. General Pétain, who believed in treating his men as
if they were his own sons, commended their bravery and thanked them in
the name of the Republic for the brilliant example they had set to the
other soldiers of France.
The loss of the plateaus north of Craonne continued to rankle in the
mind of the German command, and repeated efforts were made to recover
these precious positions. In the night of July 25, 1917, a ferocious
attack was made on the French lines on a front of about two miles
from La Bovelle Farm to a point east of Hurtebise. In the face of a
murderous fire from the French artillery that wrought havoc in the
advancing masses the Germans pressed on and succeeded in occupying
portions of French first-line trenches south of Ailles. Repeated
attacks made on Hurtebise Farm broke down under French artillery fire.
Attacks on Mont Haut, following an intense bombardment that lasted all
night long, failed to make any progress. North of Auberive the French
carried out a successful operation during which they penetrated German
trenches and continued their advance.
In Flanders in the night of the 25th the town of Nieuport, which had
been in ruins since the first year of the war, was bombarded by the
Germans with guns of every caliber. The British guns replied with
equal violence, so that for miles around the air vibrated day and
night and the ground shook with tremors.
East of Monchy the Germans resumed action, 400 attacking with flame
throwers the line of British trenches that had already been smashed by
artillery fire, and succeeded in occupying some posts of no great
importance.
In the Champagne the sorely tried French troops were allowed no
respite by the Germans, who would not renounce their hope of regaining
the important positions on the heights. In the night of July 26, 1917,
no less than five attacks were made by the Germans in the vicinity of
the height south and west of Moronvilliers, but all broke down under
fire of the French artillery. East of Auberive, several groups of
Germans led by an officer tried a surprise attack which led to close
fighting and from which hardly one German soldier escaped unwounded.
The ground around the French position was strewn with dead, including
that of the officer who led the attack.
[Illustration: Barrage or curtain fire used to protect and clear the
way for an infantry advance. Here the fire is being used to protect
French troops for an advance on Fort Vaux.]
From the Flemish coast southward past Lens the great gun duel
between the British and Germans continued without ceasing. The
Germans had brought up vast stores of ammunition and poured shells
into Nieuport, Ypres, and Armentières, and for miles around sprayed
the country at large with the hope of smashing hidden British
batteries. To this wide sweeping storm of fire the British were
replying with far greater violence, sending two shells to the
enemy's one, a rivalry of destruction that had not been surpassed on
any previous occasion since the war began. Except for occasional
raids the infantry remained quiescent under this gunnery. North of
Arras and east of Ypres the British raids netted a considerable
number of prisoners and machine guns. The fury of the British fire
was not without effect on the generally stolid and imperturbable
Germans, for at Fontaine-les-Croisilles they ran away without
firing a shot when a British raiding party rushed forward to attack.
The three weeks' bombardment in Belgium closed on the morning of July
31, 1917, when British and French troops launched an attack on a
gigantic scale along a front of nearly twenty miles from Dixmude on
the north to Warneton on the south. The Allies won a notable victory,
capturing in the first day of the battle ten towns and over 5,000
prisoners, including ninety-five officers. The attack began a little
before 4 o'clock in the morning, just when the first faint light of
dawn was breaking, German trenches had been either leveled or were
completely wiped out by the preceding bombardment. The shelling
increased in violence as the troops of the Allies left their positions
and rushed forward to attack. The first and second German lines were
carried almost without opposition, but at some points the Germans held
up the advance with machine guns from their rear positions. These the
British stormed, and lost considerable men in the operation, but they
were comforted with the thought that the German losses were much
heavier.
As a result of the day's operations the British had advanced their
line on a front of over fifteen miles from La Basse Ville, on the
river Lys, to Steenstraete on the river Yser.
The French troops on the extreme left and protecting the left flank of
the British forces captured the village of Steenstraete, and rushing
on penetrated the German defenses to a depth of nearly two miles.
Having won all their objectives at an early hour in the day, the
French continued to advance, occupying Bixschoote and capturing German
positions to the southeast and west of the village on a front of
nearly two and a half miles. In the center and on the left British
divisions swept the enemy from positions to a depth of two miles, and
secured crossings at the river Steenbeek, thus gaining all their
objectives. In carrying out this attack British troops captured two
powerful defensive systems by assault, and won against fierce
opposition the villages of Verlorenhoek, Frezenberg, St. Julien, and
Pilken, together with farms that had been transformed into fortresses
and other strongholds in neighboring woods.
The victory of the Allies was more remarkable because of unfavorable
weather conditions. The day was marked by heavy rain and the sky was
full of heavy sodden clouds, so that observation was well nigh
impossible for the airmen and kite balloons. Fortunately on the night
before the attack the rain held off and the many thousands of British
troops who occupied mudholes and shell holes close to the enemy lines
had reason to bless the dark since they had a better chance of
escaping observation. But this was not always possible, for the German
flares and rockets often revealed their position and a shell would
pass over them or smash among them, killing some and maiming others.
Those who escaped these death-dealing visitors were forced to maintain
silence, lest they betray their position. During the night the German
aviators were more active than during the day and many times their
bombs found a mark among the British soldiers crouching on the ground.
It was a terrible ordeal through which these brave fellows had to
pass, the forced inaction was maddening, and they were all the more
eager to fight when at last the welcome signal came in the early dawn
to go forward to attack.
Despite the discouraging weather conditions, which hindered
observation, large squadrons of British planes led the advance against
the German lines and not only maintained constant contact with the
infantry, but flying low carried on a destructive warfare with their
machine guns.
There were many air battles fought at a few hundred feet above the
ground, but the Germans were decidedly outclassed and had to retire
after they had lost six machines.
One British aviator doing patrol duty, and flying at a height of not
more than thirty feet, came upon a German aerodrome on which he
dropped a bomb with careful precision. As the Germans in the sheds
came tumbling out, the aviator turned his machine gun on them, and
circling around the field poured such a stream of fire into the
kaiser's men that they scattered, leaving a number of dead on the
ground.
The Germans having presently recovered, from their astonishment got a
machine gun into action and came back to attack the airman, who made a
dive, and when not more than twenty feet from the ground silenced
their gun with his own. Then he circled the field, firing through the
doors of every building he passed on the groups of men within. Leaving
this scene the British airman next came upon two German officers, and
his machine-gun working steadily put them to flight. A column of
several hundred troops encountered after this were dispersed when he
swept along the line, leaving a number of dead and wounded on the
field. It was now time to return to the British lines for more
ammunition and some slight repairs, but the gallant aviator
encountered two German war planes that engaged him in battle. One he
disabled by a well-directed shot and the other seized the opportunity
to hurry from the scene.
On the Aisne front during July 31, 1917, there was violent artillery
fighting south of La Royère; the French had won all their objectives
and more. The German advanced trenches were filled with dead and the
French captured 210 prisoners.
On the same date the Germans after heavily bombarding French lines at
Cerny and Hurtebise, attacked positions east of Cerny on a front of
1,500 meters with three regiments. French counterattacks immediately
carried out, drove the Germans back, their ranks seriously depleted,
and the French were now enabled to advance along the whole front.
The day was calm on both sides of the Meuse, but farther south, in the
right center of the French attack, after gaining Hooge village and
Sanctuary Wood, their first objectives, they fought their way forward
and carried the village of Westhoek, against very obstinate
resistance from the enemy. In this neighborhood there was stiff
fighting throughout the day, and still continued. The French had
penetrated the German defenses to a depth of about a mile. A number of
violent counterattacks were repulsed. South of the Zillebeke-Zandvoord
road, on the extreme right, French troops at an early hour in the day
had succeeded in winning all of their objectives, capturing the
villages of La Basse Ville, and Hollebeke. The French claimed to have
suffered few casualties in these important operations, and by
nightfall of July 31, 1917, over 3,500 German prisoners had been
passed behind the lines.
The German Government having industriously circulated reports that
the French armies had suffered such a wastage of men that in a short
time they would prove a negligible factor in the war, the French War
Office announced that there were a million more troops in the fighting
zone than were mustered to stem the German flood tide at the Battle of
the Marne. It was also declared that the Republic had more men under
arms than at any time in her history. Nearly 3,000,000 troops were in
France alone, exclusive of the interior and in the colonies.
PART VIII--THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY
CHAPTER LXI
THE INTERIM
The cessation of diplomatic relations between the American and German
Governments was an inevitable consequence of the latter's submarine
decree abrogating the undertaking it gave in the _Sussex_ case. The
world knew it. Germany knew it. Her ambassador at Washington, Count
von Bernstorff, knew it best of all, and accepted his dismissal in a
fatalistic spirit. The rupture had to come. He had done his best to
avert it, and his best had availed nothing.
The long-feared break having become a reality, the American people
looked wide-eyed at the unexampled international situation. What now?
When two parties enter into a bargain and one breaks it, there is
usually a parting of the ways, a personal conflict perhaps, when there
is not also a lawsuit. But no court could settle the differences
between the United States and Germany. The nation squarely faced the
fact that the two countries were officially not on speaking terms;
they were on the dangerous ground of open enmity, when the least
provocation would be as a spark to a powder magazine. Sparks there
were in plenty; but the explosion waited. President Wilson guarded the
magazine. He waited an "overt act" before giving up his vigil and
letting events take their course.
Germany began her announced ruthless submarine warfare against neutral
shipping with caution. Apparently she was loath to precipitate matters
by acting in the letter and spirit of the new decree which warned that
any neutral vessel found in the new danger zone "perished." On
February 3, 1917, when the decree was in operation, one of her
submarines encountered an American freighter, the _Housatonic_, off
the Scilly Isles, which came within the proscribed area. It sank her,
but first gave warning, permitted the crew to take to the boats, and
actually towed the boats ninety miles toward land. A British patrol
vessel then appeared; the submarine fired a signal to attract its
attention and vanished under water, leaving the patrol vessel to
rescue the _Housatonic's_ crew. According to the new order given the
submarines the _Housatonic_ ought to have been sunk without warning.
This unwonted chivalry looked promising; but it was deemed to be
merely an act of grace extended to neutral vessels on the high seas
which had left their home ports before the date (February 1, 1917)
when the new policy of ruthlessness went into effect. It was not
repeated.
No such shrift was accorded British vessels, whether Americans were on
board them or not. About the same time the merchantman _Eavestone_ was
sunk by a submarine, which also shelled the crew as they took to the
boats. The captain and three seamen--one an American--were killed by
the gunfire. This action was debated as an "overt act," but apparently
the Administration did not regard isolated fatalities of this
character as providing ground for a _casus belli_.
What came nearer to a flagrant violation of the _Sussex_ agreement was
the destruction by submarine torpedoes of the Anchor passenger liner
_California_ without warning off the Irish coast with 230 persons on
board. The vessel sailed from New York for Glasgow on January 28,
1917, and its crew and passengers included a sprinkling of Americans.
There were no American casualties; but attacks on passenger liners
without warning, regardless of the menace to American life, formed the
crux of the various crises between the United States and Germany, and
the sinking of the _California_, as an "overt act," therefore brought
the breaking point nearer and nearer. The loss of life was forty-one,
thirteen passengers and twenty-eight of the crew being drowned. The
vessel sank in nine minutes and the submarine made no effort to save
the lives of its victims.
The loss of two British steamers, the _Japanese Prince_ and the
_Mantola_, sunk without warning, added to the growing indictment
against Germany in the consequent jeopardizing of American lives.
There were thirty American cattlemen on board the _Japanese Prince_.
With the remainder of the crew they took to the boats, and after
drifting about for several hours were saved by a passing ship. An
American doctor on board the _Mantola_ was among the latter's
survivors.
The next attack on American shipping was the sinking of the _Lyman M.
Law_, a sailing vessel loaded with lumber from Maine to Italy, by a
submarine off the coast of Sardinia in the Mediterranean. The crew,
seven of whom were American, were saved. There was no warning; the
crew were ordered to debark, a bomb was placed on board, and the
vessel was blown up and sank in flames.
The destruction of the Cunard liner _Laconia_, without warning,
followed. Three American passengers were lost, two of them women,
mother and daughter, who died from exposure in one of the boats. The
vessel was torpedoed in the Irish Sea at 10.30 p. m. on February 25,
1917, and it was not until 4 o'clock the next morning that the
survivors, scantily clad, were rescued in a heavy sea.
All these outrages were readily chargeable as overt acts, any single
one of which could have constituted a cause for war, if the
Administration was looking for one. But Germany's offenses, viewed
singly, were passed over; it was their cumulative force that was
providing the momentum to hostilities.
Two American freighters, the _Orleans_ and the _Rochester_, left New
York on February 9, 1917, without guns or contraband, bound for
Bordeaux, France, and were the first craft to leave an American port
after Germany issued her terrifying order condemning all neutral
vessels found in the new danger zone.
Meantime the barometer at Washington was ominous. The _California_
sinking, then the _Laconia_, proved how slender was the thread that
held the sword of Damocles over the heads of the American people.
Tension increased. "We are hoping for the best and preparing for the
worst," came one official view early in the crisis. The President
became detached and uncommunicative.
Germany indirectly sought to avert the consequences of her conduct. A
week after the rupture in diplomatic relations Dr. Paul Ritter, the
Swiss Minister, to whom she had delegated the charge of her interests
in the United States, approached the State Department with an informal
proposal to reopen negotiations. Secretary Lansing required him to put
his request in writing, and the following memorandum was thereupon
presented by Dr. Ritter on February 11, 1917:
"The Swiss Government has been requested by the German Government to
say that the latter is now, as before, willing to negotiate, formally
or informally, with the United States, provided that the commercial
blockade against England will not be broken thereby."
Secretary Lansing's answer, made the next day, was short and to the
point. He notified Dr. Ritter, under instructions from the President,
that "the Government of the United States would gladly discuss with
the German Government any questions it might propose for discussion
were it to withdraw its proclamation of the 31st of January [1917], in
which, suddenly and without previous intimation of any kind, it
canceled the assurances which it had given this Government on the 4th
of May last [1916], but that it does not feel that it can enter into
any discussion with the German Government concerning the policy of
submarine warfare against neutrals which it is now pursuing unless and
until the German Government renews its assurances of the 4th of May
and acts upon the assurance."
No further interchanges took place on the subject. The answer
clarified the situation and disposed of doubts caused by the veil the
President had thrown about the workings of his mind. It told the
country that its Executive was not wavering and would brook no
compromise.
Little hope prevailed in Berlin that war with the United States could
be avoided, since the bait offered with a view to formulating a _modus
vivendi_ for reconciling the divergent attitudes of the two
governments had failed. It was said that behind Dr. Ritter's overtures
was a proposal that American vessels would be spared in order to avoid
actual war if the United States assented to the continuance of the
extended blockade against England. This implied that all other
vessels, neutral or belligerent, were marked for destruction. However
that might be, Berlin, finding its approaches repulsed, boldly denied
that the German Government had been a party to initiating any
overtures at all. No recession of the submarine program was thought of
or proposed; no change of policy was possible In fact, this denial
brought with it tidings that the periods of grace Germany granted to
neutral ships entering the prohibited zones had expired and that all
immunity from attack and destruction had therefore ceased. Then it
developed that Dr. Ritter's overtures had been traced to pacific
elements in the United States, represented by William J. Bryan, who
was said to have been in league with the ex-ambassador, Count von
Bernstorff, and the Washington correspondent of a Cologne newspaper,
in a plan to avert hostilities. Part of this propaganda was the
transmission of dispatches from Washington to the German press stating
that the President's message to Congress must not be construed
literally, and that there was no desire for war with Germany. The
purpose of these dispatches was to prevail on Germany to abate her
submarine warfare by way of convincing the United States that her new
policy was not so ruthless as had been described. The pacifists knew
very well that the President had no intention of yielding to half
measures, and that the only course Germany could take to obtain a
resumption of negotiations was the absolute withdrawal of her order
revoking the _Sussex_ pledge. The Administration resented the
pacifists' activities as an attempt to undermine the uncompromising
position it had taken. Their dealings with a foreign government were
actually unlawful; but no action was taken.
A subsequent announcement from Berlin stated that Dr. Ritter (inspired
by American pacifists) had telegraphed the German Government offering
to mediate, whereupon he was told that Germany was agreeable on the
terms named in the interchanges Dr. Ritter had with the State
Department. As to a belief which had arisen from Dr. Ritter's action
that the marine barrier maintained against Great Britain by submarines
and mines had been or would be weakened out of regard for the United
States or for other reasons, official Berlin (February 14, 1917) had
this to say:
"Regard for neutrals prompts the clearest declaration that
unrestricted war against all sea traffic in the announced barred zones
is now in full effect and will under no circumstances be restricted."
The United States had spoken: "Withdraw your new submarine decree
before making any proposal," it had demanded of Berlin. Germany had
spoken: "Our course cannot be changed."
The situation in Washington drifted along without any definite program
of future action being disclosed; but the President was not idle. He
decided--though he held the power himself--to ask Congress for
authority to protect American shipping on the high seas by providing
merchantmen with naval guns and gunners. There was a freight
congestion in Atlantic ports, due to the reluctance of American
shipowners to sail their vessels without defensive armament. The
President's decision was a step nearer war, for armed American
vessels, on encountering German submarines, would be bound to cause
hostilities, and war would be a reality. Berlin took this view. If the
United States armed its merchant ships, German opinion was that the
considerate submarines would be unable to save passengers and crews of
the vessels they sank. Were the vessels unarmed the submarines could
perform this kindly service. This sardonic hint was construed as an
official warning from Germany that the arming of American vessels
meant war. The Administration, however, was no longer concerned with
Germany's viewpoint. It realized that so long as it permitted American
ships to be held in port in fear of attack by submarines if they
ventured out, its inaction would in effect be viewed as acquiescing in
the German policy. Such a state of affairs, it was decided, could not
be allowed to continue indefinitely.
CHAPTER LXII
BERLIN'S TACTICS
Before the armed neutrality stage of the prewar period was reached
certain events transpired in Berlin which call for inclusion in the
record.
Immediately upon the rupture of diplomatic relations the State
Department notified Ambassador Gerard, who was requested to ask for
his passports. About the same time the German Government acceded to a
demand made by Secretary Lansing for the release of a number of
Americans captured from ships sunk by a German raider in the South
Atlantic and taken to a German port on board one of them, the British
steamer _Yarrowdale_. Germany had no right to hold these men as
prisoners at all, since they were neutrals. Yet there was an attempt
to interject their release into the international crisis as an olive
branch and a concession to American feeling. The two issues were
distinct; but Germany, by her subsequent action, managed to link them
together.
Ambassador Gerard requested his passports on February 5, 1917, while
the release of the _Yarrowdale_ prisoners was pending. Meantime
dispatches which came to Berlin from Washington via London were
blamed for misleading the German Government into thinking that the
United States was detaining Count von Bernstorff, and had seized the
German ships, with their crews, lying in American ports. Until it
received assurances regarding the "fate" of the ex-ambassador and
learned what treatment was to be meted out to the "captured" crews of
the German vessels, the kaiser's government detained Ambassador
Gerard, his staff, a number of Americans, including newspaper
correspondents, as well as the _Yarrowdale_ men. It practically held
all Americans in Germany as prisoners for a week.
In view of the readiness of the German Government to seize upon the
flimsiest excuses for its manifold disgraceful deeds, permissible
doubts arose as to whether it was willingly or willfully misled by the
dispatches. Every courtesy was shown to the departing German
Ambassador by the Washington Government; safe conduct across the ocean
was obtained for him from Great Britain; and he publicly expressed his
acknowledgments. As to the German vessels, there were no seizures, and
the only restraints imposed on the crews were those required by the
immigration laws. Whatever the motive, the detention of Ambassador
Gerard was so wanton a violation of law and usage as to constitute in
itself an act of war.
While Ambassador Gerard was held incommunicado in Berlin, his mail
intercepted, his telephone cut off, and telegraphic facilities denied
him, the German Government actually sought to parley with him by way
of revising an old treaty to apply to existing conditions. Mr. Gerard,
having ceased to hold ambassadorial powers after the breaking of
relations, could not enter into any such negotiations; but then the
German Government had never been concerned with legalities. It blandly
asked him to sign a protocol, the main purpose of which was to protect
Germans and their interests in the United States in the event of war.
The proposed protocol, besides containing a formal reratification of
the American-Prussian treaties of 1799 and 1828 regarding mutual
treatment of nationals caught in either belligerent country in case of
war, provided for some remarkable additions as a "special
arrangement" should war be declared.
Germans in the United States and Americans in Germany were to be
entitled to conduct their businesses and continue their domicile
unmolested, but could be excluded from fortified places and other
military areas. Or if they chose, they were free to leave, with their
personal property, except such as was contraband. If they remained
they were to enjoy the exercise of their private rights in common with
neutral residents. They were not to be transferred to concentration
camps nor their property sequestered except under conditions applying
to neutral property. Patent rights of the respective nationals in
either country were not to be declared void nor be transferred to
others. No contracts between Germans and Americans were to be canceled
or suspended, nor were citizens of either country to be impeded in
fulfilling their obligations arising thereunder. Finally Germany
required that enemy merchant ships in either country should not be
forced to leave port unless allowed a binding safe conduct by all the
enemy sea powers.
In short, Germany asked that in the event of war her nationals and her
ships and commercial interests in the United States be regarded as on
a neutral footing and exempt from all military law. They were to be as
free and unrestricted as in peace time.
Mr. Gerard refused to sign the protocol after he had ceased to
exercise ambassadorial functions. Thereupon Count Montgelas, chief of
the American department of the Foreign Office, hinted that his refusal
to sign it might affect the status of Americans in Germany and their
privilege of departure. The reference was to American press
correspondents in Berlin, whose fate was apparently thought to weigh
with American public opinion. This threat to detain newspaper
representatives as supposedly important pieces on the diplomatic
chessboard before war was declared brought a firm refusal from Mr.
Gerard to yield to such pressure. He also expressed doubt whether the
newspaper representatives could be utilized to urge acceptance of the
protocol under pain of detention. Thenceforth nothing further was
heard of the protocol. Germany was undoubtedly exercising duress in
requiring Mr. Gerard to sign it, since his passports were withheld and
a needless guard had been placed round the American Embassy.
It appeared that the protocol had also been submitted to the State
Department by the Swiss Minister in Washington. Secretary Lansing
finally disposed of it. In a communication to Dr. Ritter he said the
United States Government refused to modernize and extend the treaties
as Germany proposed, and indicated that the Government held the
treaties null and void since Germany herself had grossly violated her
obligations under them. The treaty of 1828, for example, contained
this clause governing freedom of maritime commerce of either of the
contracting parties when the other was at war:
"The free intercourse and commerce of the subjects or citizens of the
party remaining neuter with the belligerent powers shall not be
interrupted.
"On the contrary, in that case, as in full peace, the vessels of the
neutral party may navigate freely to and from the ports and on the
coasts of the belligerent parties, free vessels making free goods,
insomuch that all things shall be adjudged free which shall be on
board any vessel belonging to the neutral party, although such things
belong to an enemy of the other.
"And the same freedom shall be extended to persons who shall be on
board a free vessel, although they should be enemies to the other
party, unless they be soldiers in actual service of such an enemy."
Secretary Lansing pointed out another clause of equal import in the
treaty of 1799, providing:
"All persons belonging to any vessels of war, public or private, who
shall molest or insult in any manner whatever the people, vessel, or
effects of the other party, shall be responsible in their persons and
property for damages and interests, sufficient security for which
shall be given by all commanders of private armed vessels before they
are commissioned."
Germany was reminded of her violations of these stipulations in strong
terms. Said Secretary Lansing:
"Disregarding these obligations, the German Government has proclaimed
certain zones of the high seas in which it declared without
reservation that all ships, including those of neutrals, will be sunk,
and in those zones German submarines have in fact, in accordance with
this declaration, ruthlessly sunk merchant vessels and jeopardized or
destroyed the lives of American citizens on board.
"Moreover, since the severance of relations between the United States
and Germany certain American citizens in Germany have been prevented
from removing from the country. While this is not a violation of the
terms of the treaties mentioned, it is a disregard of the reciprocal
liberty of intercourse between the two countries in times of peace and
cannot be taken otherwise than as an indication of the purpose on the
part of the German Government to disregard, in the event of war, the
similar liberty of action provided for in Article 23 of the treaty of
1799--the very article which it is now proposed to interpret and
supplement almost wholly in the interests of the large number of
German subjects residing in the United States and enjoying in their
persons or property the protection of the United States Government."
In addition to declining to enter into the special protocol Germany
proposed, Secretary Lansing significantly added:
"The Government is seriously considering whether or not the treaty of
1828 and the revised articles of the treaties of 1785 and 1799 have
not been in effect abrogated by the German Government's flagrant
violations of their provisions, for it would be manifestly unjust and
inequitable to require one party to an agreement to observe its
stipulations and to permit the other party to disregard them.
"It would appear that the mutuality of the undertaking has been
destroyed by the conduct of the German authorities."
The meaning of this passage was that as Germany was deemed to have
abrogated the treaties by sinking American ships, the German vessels
immured in American harbors would be under no treaty protection should
war be declared, and would be immediately seized by the American
Government. Germany had thus destroyed the protection they would have
received in case of war.
The intimidation exercised on Ambassador Gerard to obtain his
signature to the protocol and its submission by Dr. Ritter to
Secretary Lansing showed that Germany was nervously concerned about
safeguarding her interests in the United States and feared for the
safety of her nationals in the pending crisis. Ample assurances
presently came to Berlin, however, that, during the diplomatic break
at any rate, the American Government would not resort to Teutonic
methods. Count von Bernstorff was safe; no ships had been seized; no
crews arrested; no other German persons or interests molested.
Thereupon Ambassador Gerard and an entourage of some 120 Americans
received their passports and left the German capital on February 10,
1917, for the United States via Switzerland and Spain.
Germany was less ready to release the Americans known as the
_Yarrowdale_ prisoners. Her Government still appeared to fear that the
crews of German warships in American ports were in danger, and
evidently wanted hostages at hand lest any trouble befell them at the
hands of the American military authorities. Secretary Lansing demanded
their release on February 3, 1917, when relations were broken. Germany
assented, then withdrew her assent. A second request for their freedom
and for an explanation of their continued detention was made on
February 13, 1917. At this date the men had been held as prisoners of
war for forty-four days contrary to international law. After being
captured from Allied vessels sunk by the German raider, they were
taken before a prize court at Swinemunde, when their status was
determined. Neutral merchant seamen, according to Germany, must be
held as prisoners of war because they had served and taken pay on
armed enemy vessels. Germany disclosed for the first time that she was
treating armed merchantmen as ships of war and regarded neutral seamen
found on such vessels as combatants. The German raider had captured
altogether 103 subjects of neutral states. They were not imprisoned
because they had committed hostile acts, which would have justified
their detention. They were penalized for being on enemy vessels. The
American Government insisted that Germany had no right to hold any
Americans as war prisoners unless they committed hostile acts. Germany
had no answer to make to that contention. But she did not free them.
"They will be released just as soon as we learn of the fate of the
German crews in American ports," said Herr Zimmermann, Foreign
Secretary.
[Illustration: Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated President of the United
States, March 4, 1913; was reelected and began his second term March
4, 1917. He signed the Declaration of War, April 6, 1917.]
Germany had already been assured that the crews were in no danger. The
conviction grew that she meant to detain the _Yarrowdale_ seamen as
hostages pending a determination of the crisis as to peace or war. The
Administration had been inclined to subordinate all collateral issues
between the two countries to the major and vital one created by the
submarine peril; but the plight of these seamen caused their case to
become one of the chief factors in the crisis. Germany seemed to
conclude that their continued detention, in view of the indignation
roused in Washington by such a wanton violation of international law,
to say nothing of the open insult hurled at the dignity and good faith
of the United States, would only precipitate war. On February 16,
1917, came a report that the men had been released. This proved to be
a false alarm. On February 26, 1917, Berlin notified that their
release, although ordered "some time ago," had been deferred because
an infectious disease had been discovered in their concentration camp
at Brandenburg. They were consequently placed in quarantine "in the
interest of neutral countries." On March 2, 1917, Dr. Ritter informed
Secretary Lansing that the transfer of the American sailors to the
frontier had been arranged but delayed until the quarantine ended. On
March 8, 1917, they were finally released from quarantine and sent to
the Swiss frontier. Members of other neutral crews were sent home
through various frontier towns. All were said to have been penniless
and in rags. Apart from the necessary quarantine (a Spanish doctor
found typhus in the camp), the record stands as an example of
Germany's gift for unscrupulous temporizing and for using
procrastination as a club to hold the United States at bay when on the
brink of war.
The Reichstag met shortly after Germany had compulsorily disposed of
her connections with the United States. An expected address by the
kaiser's Chancellor, Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, had been deferred until
February 27, 1917, when a tardy official recognition was made of the
American action.
The most deliberate official notice of the course the United States
would take was served on the German Government in the President's
ultimatum arising out of the torpedoing of the _Sussex_ early in 1916.
If Germany continued her ruthless sea warfare, the President warned
her, "the Government of the United States can have no choice but to
sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether." Now the
time had come for the President to go even beyond that step. The day
before the Reichstag listened to the Chancellor's complaint the voice
of the American President was again heard in the Capitol at
Washington.
CHAPTER LXIII
ARMED NEUTRALITY
President Wilson addressed Congress in joint session, February 26,
1917, asking authority to use the armed forces of the United States to
protect American rights on the high seas. He desired to establish a
state of "armed neutrality." This was not a request for a declaration
of war, nor was it an act of war. It was to prepare the United States
to resist what might be warlike acts by Germany.
Reviewing the maritime conditions caused by Germany's submarine order
of January 31, 1917, which produced the diplomatic rupture, the
President disclosed an unexpected view--that Germany's misdeeds in
carrying out her new decree had not, in his opinion, so far provided
the "overt act" for which the United States was waiting.
"Our own commerce has suffered, is suffering," he said, "rather in
apprehension than in fact, rather because so many of our ships are
timidly keeping to their home ports, than because American ships have
been sunk....
"In sum, therefore, the situation we find ourselves in with regard to
the actual conduct of the German submarine warfare against commerce
and its effects upon our own ships and people is substantially the
same that it was when I addressed you on February 3, except for the
tying up of our shipping in our own ports because of the unwillingness
of our shipowners to risk their vessels at sea without insurance or
adequate protection, and the very serious congestion of our commerce,
which has eventuated, a congestion which is growing rapidly more and
more serious every day.
"This in itself might presently accomplish, in effect, what the new
German submarine orders were meant to accomplish, so far as we are
concerned. We can only say, therefore, that the overt act which I have
ventured to hope the German commanders would in fact avoid has not
occurred."
But he felt that American immunity thus far had been more a matter of
happy accident than due to any consideration of German submarine
commanders. Nevertheless, he pointed out, it would be foolish to deny
that the situation was fraught with the gravest possibilities and
dangers. Hence he sought from the Congress "full and immediate
assurance of the authority which I may need at any moment to
exercise."
"No doubt," he proceeded, "I already possess that authority without
special warrant of law, by the plain implication of my constitutional
duties and powers, but I prefer in the present circumstances not to
act upon general implication. I wish to feel that the authority and
the power of the Congress are behind me in whatever it may become
necessary for me to do. We are jointly the servants of the people and
must act together and in their spirit, so far as we can divine and
interpret it....
"I am not now proposing or contemplating war or any steps that need
lead to it. I merely request that you will accord me by your own vote
and definite bestowal the means and the authority to safeguard in
practice the right of a great people who are at peace and who are
desirous of exercising none but the rights of peace to follow the
pursuit of peace in quietness and good will--rights recognized time
out of mind by all the civilized nations of the world.
"I believe that the people will be willing to trust me to act with
restraint, with prudence, and in the true spirit of amity and good
faith that they have themselves displayed throughout these trying
months, and it is in that belief that I request that you will
authorize me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms should
that become necessary, and with the means of using them, and to employ
any other instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary and
adequate to protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and
peaceful pursuits on the seas."
Even before the President addressed Congress the "overt act" had been
committed by Germany. News of the sinking of the _Laconia_, already
mentioned, was published synchronously with the delivery of his
message and subjected to correction his allusion to the noncommittal
of any overt act by German submarines. The President, in fact, decided
later that the destruction of the Cunarder without warning and at
night, in rough seas, with the loss of American lives, constituted a
"clear-cut" violation of the pledge the German Government gave to the
United States after the _Lusitania_ and _Sussex_ sinkings. But it was
felt that the next step in meeting the situation now rested with
Congress.
The Senate and House immediately set about framing bills conforming,
as far as the President's opponents permitted, to his request. There
was no time to be lost. Congress expired on March 4, 1917, by
constitutional limitation and the President had delayed submitting his
message until the last moment, so that Congress had only eight days to
debate and agree to a measure that excited the pacifists' bitter
animosity in both Houses, as well as the opposition of other
legislators who feared that the authority the President sought would
encroach on Congress's war-making prerogative.
In the House of Representatives the opposition dwindled to negligible
proportions. Public sentiment had been stirred by the sinking of the
_Laconia_ and by certain revelations the Administration published
disclosing German overtures to Mexico in the event of war, the
character of which will be chronicled later. Sensitive to the public
pulse, the House was eager to receive the Armed-Ship Bill when it was
reported on February 28, 1917, by the Foreign Affairs Committee, which
had occupied a couple of days in shaping it. A stirring debate on the
bill took place the next day (March 1) under cloture rule, and before
the House adjourned that night it had passed the measure by a
substantial vote of 403 to 13. The bill was at once sent to the
Senate, and was substituted for the Senate Committee's bill, whose
provisions conferred larger powers on the President. Expecting the
Senate to pass its own bill as a substitute, it was the intention of
the House leaders to accept the Senate's measure when it came to them
for passage. The measure, however, never passed the Senate. Through
the wide latitude allowed for unlimited debate a handful of Senators
opposed to any action against Germany succeeded in effectually
blocking the bill. The Senate sat late into the night of February 28,
1917, and took up the Armed-Ship Bill the next day. Senator La
Follette, who led the successful filibuster against the bill, objected
to its consideration, and, under the rule of unanimous consent, would
only allow the bill to proceed on condition that no attempt was made
to pass it before the next day. A precious day was lost, which sealed
the fate of the measure. The bill came before the Senate for
continuous debate on March 2, 1917, when it got into a parliamentary
tangle. Debate was resumed on Saturday, March 3, 1917. Only a day and
a half of the session now remained. Senator Stone who, though in
charge of the bill, was opposed to it, found his position untenable
and surrendered its conduct to Senator Hitchcock. This course enabled
him to join the opponents of the bill openly by contending for an
amendment excluding munition ships from armed protection--a revival of
the arms embargo he had urged before. But the main obstruction to the
bill came from a group of Western senators, who balked every effort
for limiting debate or setting a time for a vote. As midnight neared
the Administration's supporters saw that its chances of passing before
Congress expired at noon the next day, Sunday, March 4, 1917, were of
the slightest, and, anxious that the country should know where they
stood, these senators, to the number of seventy-five, signed a
manifesto reading as follows:
"The undersigned, United States senators, favor the passage of Senate
bill 8322, to authorize the President of the United States to arm
American merchant vessels.
"A similar bill already has passed the House of Representatives by a
vote of 403 to 13.
"Under the rules of the Senate, allowing unlimited debate, it now
appears to be impossible to obtain a vote prior to noon March 4, 1917,
when the session of Congress expires.
"We desire the statement entered in the record to establish the fact
that the Senate favors the legislation and would pass it if a vote
could be obtained."
The Senate continued sitting until the stroke of twelve noon on March
4, 1917. The President was in the Capitol receiving reports of the
course of his opponents' tactics. A vote not having been reached, the
Armed-Ship Bill went down to defeat, having been talked to death, and
the Senate automatically adjourned with the expiration of the last
session of the Sixty-fourth Congress. The bill was assured of passage,
had a vote been permitted, by 75 to 12. The twelve obstructionists
were Senators La Follette of Wisconsin, Norris of Nebraska, Cummins of
Iowa, Stone of Missouri, Gronna of North Dakota, Kirby of Arkansas,
Vardaman of Mississippi, O'Gorman of New York, Works of California,
Jones of Washington, Clapp of Minnesota, Lane of Oregon--seven
Republicans and five Democrats.
The situation produced an indignant protest from the President, who,
in a public statement, described the termination of the session by
constitutional limitation as disclosing "a situation unparalleled in
the history of the country, perhaps unparalleled in the history of any
modern government. In the immediate presence of a crisis fraught with
more subtle and far-reaching possibilities of national danger than any
other the Government has known within the whole history of its
international relations, the Congress has been unable to act either to
safeguard the country or to vindicate the elementary rights of its
citizens."
"The Senate," he proceeded, "has no rules by which debate can be
limited or brought to an end, no rules by which dilatory tactics of
any kind can be prevented. A single member can stand in the way of
action, if he have but the physical endurance. The result in this case
is a complete paralysis alike of the legislative and of the executive
branches of the Government.
"Although, as a matter of fact, the nation and the representatives of
the nation stand back of the Executive with unprecedented unanimity
and spirit, the impression made abroad will, of course, be that it is
not so and that other governments may act as they please without fear
that this Government can do anything at all. We cannot explain. The
explanation is incredible. The Senate of the United States is the only
legislative body in the world which cannot act when its majority is
ready for action. A little group of willful men, representing no
opinion but their own, have rendered the great Government of the
United States helpless and contemptible.
"The remedy? There is but one remedy. The only remedy is that the
rules of the Senate shall be so altered that it can act. The country
can be relied upon to draw the moral. I believe that the Senate can be
relied on to supply the means of action and save the country from
disaster."
The new Senate of the Sixty-fifth Congress met in extraordinary
session at noon on March 6, 1917, when both parties took steps to
frame a revision of the rules for preventing filibustering. Both
caucuses agreed upon a cloture rule empowering the Senate to bring the
debate on any measure to an end by a two-thirds vote, limiting
speeches to one hour each, but sixteen senators must first make the
request in the form of a signed motion presented two days previously.
After several hours' discussion this rule passed the Senate on March
8, 1917. Thus the right to unlimited debate, which had been regarded
as the most characteristic prerogative of senators, was at last
restrained after enjoying a freedom of nearly one hundred and ten
years.
The recalcitrant senators who prevented the passage of the Armed-Ship
Bill were the subject of bitter criticism from the press and public
throughout the country, which echoed, but in much stronger terms, the
President's denunciation of them. There was none to do them reverence
in the United States. The only meed of praise they received came from
Germany. The essence of editorial opinion in that country regarding
their action, according to a Berlin message, was that "so long as
there are men in the American Congress who boldly refuse to have their
country involved in the European slaughter merely for the sake of
gratifying Wilson's vainglorious ambition, there is hope that the
common sense of the American people will assert itself and that they
will not permit the appalling insanity to spread to the new world that
holds the old world in a merciless grip."
The German press, like the senators whom it eulogized, was mistaken in
supposing that the President had been thwarted by the failure of the
Armed-Ship Bill. Certainly he remained in doubt as to his next course.
He had told Congress that he believed he had the power to arm merchant
ships without its authority, but did not care to act on general
implication. Now he was faced with the duty of ascertaining definitely
where his freedom of action lay, since Congress had impeded, instead
of facilitating, his conduct of the crisis with Germany. An old act,
passed in 1819, governing piracy at sea, had been unearthed, and at
first sight its terms were read as preventing the President from
arming merchant ships. The law advisers of the Government, Secretary
Lansing and Attorney General Gregory, examined this act and decided
that it was obsolete. They were of opinion that it did not apply to
the existing situation. The statute forbade American merchantmen from
defending themselves against the commissioned vessels of a nation with
which the United States was at "amity"; but they could resist by force
any attacks made on them by any other armed vessels. In short, it
legalized resistance to pirates. The word "amity" pre-supposed
friendly diplomatic relations as well as a normal condition of
traffic and commerce on the high seas in its application to the armed
vessels of other nations. The provision forbidding conflict with them
by American traders was intended primarily to prevent private citizens
from embarrassing the Government's foreign relations. Now it was held
that Germany's denial to Americans of the rights of the high seas was
inconsistent with true amity, and caused her war vessels to lose, so
far as the United States was concerned, their right to immunity from
attack, both under international law and under this municipal act,
which was viewed as superseded and void in its application to German
war craft.
This decision disposed of an obstacle which had placed the President
in a dilemma. It was true he could go to Congress again; but immediate
action was imperative. Armed neutrality, under the President's powers
as commander in chief of the army and navy, was thereupon determined.
Every merchant ship which so desired would be provided with guns and
naval gunners to operate them. Foreign governments were notified of
this action in an executive memorandum which read:
"In view of the announcement of the Imperial German Government on
January 81, 1917, that all ships, those of neutrals included, met
within certain zones of the high seas, would be sunk without any
precaution taken for the safety of the persons on board, and without
the exercise of visit and search, the Government of the United States
has determined to place upon all American merchant vessels sailing
through the barred areas an armed guard for the protection of the
vessels and the lives of the persons on board."
The President meantime was also confronted with the necessity of
calling the new Congress into extra session, not so much to gain its
assent to armed neutrality (since he had determined to act without
it), but as a war expedient to support the measures projected against
Germany. Owing to the Senate filibuster the previous Congress had been
unable to pass appropriations exceeding $500,000,000, more than half
of which was needed for the army. The new Congress was accordingly
convened, to meet on April 16, 1917.
CHAPTER LXIV
GERMANY'S BID TO MEXICO
While Congress was in the midst of its consideration of the Armed-Ship
Bill, the Administration amazed the country by revealing through the
press that Germany had made overtures to Mexico for an alliance with
that country in the event of war with the United States, and also
sought to involve Japan.
This disclosure was due to American secret service agents, who had
intercepted a communication addressed by Herr Zimmermann, the German
Foreign Secretary, to Herr von Eckhardt, the German Minister at Mexico
City, reading as follows:
"BERLIN, January 19, 1917.
"On the 1st of February we intend to begin submarine warfare
unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor
to keep neutral the United States of America.
"If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the
following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and
together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and
it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory
in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details are left to you
for settlement.
"You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the
above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that
there will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and
suggest that the President of Mexico, on his own initiative,
should communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to
this plan. At the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and
Japan.
"Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the
employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel
England to make peace in a few months.
"ZIMMERMAN."
The Administration was in possession of this document, and achieved a
dramatic coup in exposing its contents just as important war
legislation was pending in Congress. The immediate effect of the
revelation was that the Armed-Ship Bill passed the House of
Representatives by the overwhelming majority recorded in the previous
chapter. The Senate was no less astonished; but its attitude was one
of incredulity and produced a demand to the State Department vouching
for the document's authenticity and demanding other information.
Secretary Lansing assured it that the letter was _bona fide_, but
declined to say more.
The letter was transmitted to Von Eckhardt through Count von
Bernstorff, then German Ambassador at Washington, and now homeward
bound to Germany under a safe conduct obtained from his enemies by the
country against which he was plotting war. It came into the
President's hands a few days before it was published on March 1, 1917,
and provided a telling comment on Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg's
declaration that the United States had placed an interpretation on the
new submarine decree "never intended by Germany" and that Germany had
promoted and honored friendly relations with the United States "as an
heirloom from Frederick the Great." Its disclosure was viewed as a
sufficing answer to the German Chancellor's plaint that the United
States had "brusquely" broken off relations without giving "authentic"
reasons for its action.
The bearings of the proposal to Mexico were admirably stated by the
Associated Press as follows:
"The document supplies the missing link to many separate chains of
circumstances which, until now, have seemed to lead to no definite
point. It sheds new light upon the frequently reported but indefinable
movements of the Mexican Government to couple its situation with the
friction between the United States and Japan.
"It adds another chapter to the celebrated report of Jules Cambon,
French Ambassador in Berlin before the war, for Germany's world-wide
plans for stirring up strife on every continent where they might aid
her in the struggle for world domination which she dreamed was close
at hand.
"It adds a climax to the operations of Count von Bernstorff and the
German Embassy in this country, which have been colored with passport
frauds, charges of dynamite plots, and intrigue, the full extent of
which never has been published.
"It gives new credence to persistent reports of submarine bases on
Mexican territory in the Gulf of Mexico. It takes cognizance of a fact
long recognized by American army chiefs, that if Japan ever undertook
to invade the United States it probably would be through Mexico, over
the border and into the Mississippi Valley to split the country in
two.
"It recalls that Count von Bernstorff, when his passports were handed
to him, was very reluctant to return to Germany, but expressed a
preference for an asylum in Cuba. It gives a new explanation to the
repeated arrests on the border of men charged by American military
authorities with being German intelligence agents.
"Last of all, it seems to show a connection with General Carranza's
recent proposal to neutrals that exports of food and munitions to the
Entente Allies be cut off, and an intimation that he might stop the
supply of oil, so vital to the British navy, which is exported from
the Tampico fields."
A series of repudiations followed. The Mexican Government, through
various officials except President-elect Carranza himself, denied all
knowledge of Germany's proposal. The German Minister at Mexico City
protested that he had never received any instructions from Secretary
Zimmermann, which appeared to be the case, since they were
intercepted. From Tokyo came the assurance of Viscount Motono,
Japanese Foreign Minister, that Japan had received no proposal from
either Germany or Mexico for an alliance against the United States. He
scouted the idea as ridiculous, since it was based on the "outrageous
presumption that Japan would abandon her allies." Secretary Lansing
did not believe Japan had any knowledge of Germany's overtures to
Mexico, nor that she would consider approaches made by any enemy, and
was likewise confident that Mexico would not be a party to any
agreement which affected her relations with the United States.
The Berlin Government impenitently admitted the transmission of the
Eckhardt letter and justified the alliance with Mexico it proposed.
The Budget Committee of the Reichstag, unequivocally and by a
unanimous vote, indorsed the initiation of the ill-starred project as
being within the legitimate scope of military precautions. Addressing
the Reichstag, Herr Zimmermann thus defended his action:
"We were looking out for all of us, in the event of there being the
prospect of war with America. It was a natural and justified
precaution. I am not sorry that, through its publication in America,
it also became known in Japan.
"For the dispatch of these instructions a secure way was chosen which
at present is at Germany's disposal. How the Americans came into
possession of the text which went to America in special secret code we
do not know. That these instructions should have fallen into American
hands is a misfortune, but that does not alter the fact that the step
was necessary for our patriotic interests.
"Least of all are they in America justified in being excited about our
action. It would be erroneous to suppose that the step made a
particularly deep impression abroad. It is regarded as what it
is--justifiable defensive action in the event of war."
The Mexican Government, despite its denials, remained under the
suspicion that it had secret dealings with Germany. Toward the close
of 1916 circumstantial rumors were afloat that German sea raiders,
who were then roaming the South Atlantic, had a base somewhere on the
coast of Mexico. The Allied Powers were persuaded that if this was
true the raiders could not obtain supplies from such a source without
the knowledge or connivance of the Mexican authorities. The British
chargé at Mexico City thereupon presented a note to the Carranza
Government stating that if it was discovered that Mexican neutrality
had thus been violated, the Allies would take "drastic measures" to
end the situation. The retort of the Mexican Foreign Minister, Señor
Aquilar, almost insolent in tone, was to the effect that it was the
business of the Allies to keep German submarines out of western
waters, and that if they were not kept out Mexico would adopt whatever
course the circumstances might dictate.
An allusion has previously been made to a peace proposal submitted by
General Carranza. Its character was such as to point to the presence
of German influences in Mexico, and the impression was created that it
was made solely to embarrass the United States. Shortly after the
American severance of relations with Germany, General Carranza
circulated an identical note to the neutral powers, including the
United States, asking them to join Mexico in an international
agreement to prohibit the exportation of munitions and foodstuffs to
the belligerents in Europe. Such an embargo, General Carranza piously
pointed out in florid terms, would compel peace. The inference was
plain. Only the Central Powers would benefit by such a step. If the
note was not directly inspired by German intrigue it certainly
suggested to the other neutrals a practical union against the Entente
Allies. The proposal was contrary to international law and to the
principles of neutrality as laid down by the United States to the
German and Austro-Hungarian Governments.
The suspected complicity of Mexico as a tool of Germany, however,
faded before the inconceivable folly of the latter in gravely
proposing that Mexico should attempt to regain the "lost territories"
of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The American press was almost
united in declaring that Germany had committed an act of war against
the United States. Certainly her exposed machinations brought
hostilities perceptibly nearer.
CHAPTER LXV
A STATE OF WAR
Armed neutrality proved to be a passing phase in a rapidly developing
situation. When the President on March 9, 1917, called on the new
Congress to assemble on April 16, his course was solely dictated by
existing conditions, which required legislative support, by the
passage of adequate appropriations, for carrying out the defensive
measures decided upon. But armed neutrality never became a reality. As
a certain foretoken of war it could not be sustained. Not a naval gun
had found its way on to the bow or stern of a merchant ship before the
depredations of Germany forced the United States to reconsider its
predetermined course of defensive armament.
"We make absolutely no distinction in sinking neutral ships within the
war zone," Herr Zimmermann had warned. "Our determination is
unshakable since that is the only way to end the war."
This was an intimation that American vessels, like those of other
neutrals, must comply with the U-boat rulings or take the
consequences. Hence more American vessels were sunk, Germany pursuing
her evil way regardless of the American attitude.
On March 12, 1917, the unarmed steamer _Algonquin_, with a crew of
twenty-seven, of whom ten were Americans, was shelled and sunk without
warning by a German submarine. The crew succeeded in escaping.
A few days later the sinking of three unarmed American vessels, the
_City of Memphis_, _Illinois_, and _Vigilancia_, was announced. The
first and second named ships were returning to the United States in
ballast; hence their destruction could not be justified on the ground
that they were carrying freight for the Allies. The _City of Memphis_
was first shelled and then torpedoed off the Irish coast on March 17,
1917. Her crew of fifty-seven escaped in five boats and were picked up
by a steamer. The _Illinois_ was torpedoed the next day. The
_Vigilancia_ was similarly sunk on March 16, 1917, by a submarine
which did not appear on the surface. Fifteen of the crew, including
five Americans, were lost.
These sinkings occasioned gratification in Germany. Count Reventlow, a
notable German publicist, thus welcomed them in the "Deutsche
Tageszeitung":
"It is good that American ships have been obliged to learn that the
German prohibition is effective, and that there is no question of
distinctive treatment for the United States. In view of such losses,
there is only one policy for the United States, as for the small
European maritime powers, namely, to retain their ships in their own
ports as long as the war lasts."
Another German press comment was that the sinkings were certain to
produce special satisfaction throughout the empire.
German contempt for American feeling could no further go. A cabinet
meeting held on March 20, 1917, disclosed that the President's
colleagues, even reputed pacifists like Secretaries Daniels and Baker,
were a unit in regarding a state of armed neutrality as inadequate to
meet the serious situation. The President was confronted with the
necessity of immediately taking more drastic action rather than
continuing to pursue measures of passive defense against the submarine
peril represented by arming ships. The cabinet's demand was for an
earlier convocation of Congress and a declaration that a state of war
existed between the United States and Germany. The President listened,
and that evening attended a theater supposedly to divert and prepare
his mind for coping with the gravest of problems. Events proved that
he had already determined his course.
Armed neutrality was a delusive phrase and misrepresented actual
conditions; it merely glozed over a state of undeclared hostility and
deceived no one. Yet it had its adherents; they wanted to give it a
fair trial before discarding the pretense that it existed. The
Government, they said, should wait and see how armed ships fared at
the hands of German submarines. If they proved equal to encounters
with U-boats, or, better still, if the U-boats did not dare to attack
them, there would be no occasion for further action. The proposal
would not bear scrutiny since it was now known that Germany regarded
armed merchantmen as ships of war and their crews as combatants.
The next day, March 21, 1917, the President issued a proclamation
calling upon Congress to assemble on April 2, instead of April 16, "to
receive a communication concerning grave matters of national policy."
The national emergency which had been in existence since Germany began
sinking American ships in pursuance of her unrestricted submarine
policy was now acknowledged. It would be the function of Congress, if
the President so advised, to declare that a state of war existed
between the Government of the United States and that of the German
Empire. And a waiting and willing nation was left in no doubt that war
there would be. The cabinet had become a war cabinet and the country
warlike, goaded to retaliatory action by the wanton deeds of the most
cruel government of this or any other age.
As the spokesman of an imperialistic régime preserving its accustomed
rôle of a wolf in sheep's clothing, the German Chancellor addressed
the Reichstag on March 29, 1917, and took cognizance of the critical
situation in the United States in these terms:
"Within the next few days the directors of the American nation will be
convened by President Wilson for an extraordinary session of Congress
in order to decide the question of war or peace between the American
and German nations.
"Germany never had the slightest intention of attacking the United
States of America, and does not have such intention now. It never
desired war against the United States of America, and does not desire
it to-day. How did these things develop?
"Why, England declined to raise her blockade, which had been called
illegal and indefensible even by President Wilson and Secretary
Lansing," said the Chancellor. "Worse than that, she had intensified
it. Worse than all, she had rejected Germany's 'peace' offers and
proclaimed her war objects, which aimed at the annihilation of the
Teutonic Powers. Hence unrestricted sea warfare followed.
"If the American nation considers this," concluded the Chancellor, "a
cause for which to declare war against the German nation, with which
it has lived in peace for more than one hundred years, if this action
warrants an increase of bloodshed, we shall not have to bear the
responsibility for it. The German nation, which feels neither hatred
nor hostility against the United States of America, shall also bear
and overcome this."
The march of events went on irresistibly. At 8.35 o'clock on the
evening of Monday, April 2, 1917, President Wilson appeared before a
joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. He had
addressed the Congress in person several times during his terms of
office, but never under circumstances or in a setting more dramatic.
The streets leading to the Capitol were packed with vast throngs.
White searchlights etched the dome and the pillars against the sky,
revealing the Stars and Stripes waving in the breeze on the flagstaff
above the dome. Two troops of United States cavalry in dress uniform,
with sabers drawn, formed a guard round the House approaches. Hundreds
of police, in uniform and in plain clothes, were scattered along the
route followed by the President's automobile from the White House.
Inside the House, which had been in almost continuous session all day,
the members assembled to receive the President. The senators appeared
carrying little American flags. The Diplomatic Corps, the whole
Supreme Court--in fact, the entire personnel of the Government,
legislative, judicial, and executive--gathered to hear the head of the
American nation present its indictment against the Imperial Government
of Germany.
The President was visibly nervous. He was pale. His voice was neither
strong nor clear. He appeared to be deeply affected by the epochal and
awesome character of his task. His distinguished audience listened in
profound silence as he stated America's case without bluster and
without rancor. The burden of his address was a request that the House
and Senate recognize that Germany had been making war on the United
States and that they agree to his recommendations, which included a
declaration that a state of war existed, that universal military
service be instituted, that a preliminary army of 500,000 be raised,
and that the United States at once cooperate with the Allied Powers as
a belligerent in every way that would operate to effect the defeat of
Germany as a disturber of the world's peace.
In adopting ruthless submarine warfare, the President told Congress,
Germany had swept every restriction aside:
"Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their
cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to
the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for
those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of
belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the
sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were
provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German
Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of
identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or
of principle.
"It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk,
American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to
learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly
nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way.
There has been no discrimination.
"The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself
how it will meet it."
Here the President referred to the short-lived expedient of armed
neutrality adopted to meet the challenge:
"When I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February last I thought
that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our
right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep
our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it
now appears, is impracticable.
"The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all
within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the
defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned
their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed
guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as
beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would
be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such
circumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than
ineffectual; it is likely only to produce what it was meant to
prevent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without
either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one
choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will not choose
the path of submission--"
The President's audience had listened in silence up to this point.
There was more of the sentence; but Congress did not wait to hear it.
At the word "submission," Chief Justice White of the Supreme Court
raised his hands in a resounding clap, which was the signal for a
deafening roar of approval alike from congressmen, senators, and the
occupants of the crowded galleries.
"We will not choose the path of submission," repeated the President,
"and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be
ignored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves
are no common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life."
Then came the presentation of the only alternate course the United
States could take:
"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of
the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it
involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my
constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent
course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less
than war against the Government and people of the United States, that
it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been
thrust upon it, and that it take immediate steps not only to put the
country in a more thorough state of defense, but also to exert all its
power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the
German Empire to terms and end the war."
Now what did this involve? The President thus answered the question:
"It will involve the utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and
action with the governments now at war with Germany, and, as incident
to that, the extension to those governments of the most liberal
financial credits, in order that our resources may so far as possible
be added to theirs.
"It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material
resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the
incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most
economical and efficient way possible.
"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all
respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of
dealing with the enemy's submarines.
"It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the
United States, already provided for by law in case of war, of at least
500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle
of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of
subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be
needed and can be handled in training.
"It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to
the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be
sustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation."
The President asked his countrymen to undertake a herculean task. But
it was a necessary task--he deemed it an imperative one, and he knew
it would be borne by willing shoulders. Without any object of gain, it
was to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the world as
against selfish and autocratic power.
Neutrality was no longer feasible when the menace to the world's peace
and freedom lay in the existence of autocratic governments backed by
organized force and controlled solely by their own will, not by the
will of their peoples. The United States had seen the last of
neutrality in such circumstances. The age demanded that the standards
of conduct and responsibility for wrong done which were respected by
individual citizens of civilized states should also be observed among
nations and their governments.
He acquitted the German people of blame. The United States had no
quarrel with them. They were the pawns and tools of their autocratic
rulers.
"Self-governed nations," said the President, "do not fill their
neighbor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring
about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an
opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be
successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the
right to ask questions."
What hope was there of a steadfast concert of peace with an autocratic
government which could not be trusted to keep faith within it or
observe its covenants? The President pointed out the futility of
looking for any enduring concord with Germany as she was now governed:
"One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian
autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very
outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities,
and even our offices of government, with spies and set criminal
intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our
peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed, it
is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and
it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our
courts of justice, that the intrigues which have more than once come
perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries
of the country, have been carried on at the instigation, with the
support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of
the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United
States.
"The selfish designs of a government that did what it pleased and told
its people nothing," continued the President, "have played their part
in serving to convince us at last that that government entertains no
real friendship for us, and means to act against our peace and
security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against
us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister at
Mexico City is eloquent evidence."
The President then delivered the most striking passage of an oration
that will rank as one of the greatest ever addressed to a listening
world:
"We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know
that in such a Government, following such methods, we can never have a
friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying
in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, can be no assured
security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about
to accept the gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty and
shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and
nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see
the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus for
the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples,
the German peoples included; for the rights of nations, great and
small, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life
and of obedience.
"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted
upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish
ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no
indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices
we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of
mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as
secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them."
The following morning, April 3, 1917, the Foreign Affairs Committees
of both houses met at 10 o'clock to consider war resolutions
introduced the previous evening in the House and Senate immediately
after the President's address. They were identical in form and were
submitted to textual alterations by the committees. That adopted by
the Senate committee, and accepted by the House leaders, read as
follows:
"_Whereas_, The Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts
of war against the Government and the people of the United States of
America, therefore be it
"_Resolved_, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, that the state of war between
the United States and the Imperial German Government, which has thus
been thrust upon the United States, is hereby formally declared and
that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to
employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and
the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial
German Government; and, to bring the conflict to a successful
termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by
the Congress of the United States."
Senator Stone, chairman of the Senate committee, alone opposed its
adoption. It was at once reported to the Senate, only to meet
objection from Senator La Follette, who demanded the "regular order,"
that is, that the resolution, under the rule any member could invoke
in order to postpone the consideration of important legislation, be
withheld for one day. His objection came when Senator Hitchcock, who
was in charge of the resolution, asked for unanimous consent to a
suspension of the rules for its immediate consideration. The Senate
was obliged to submit to the Wisconsin senator's obstructive tactics;
but Senator Martin, the Senate Democratic leader, rather than permit
any other business to be transacted, promptly obtained an adjournment
till the next day. It was determined that the Senate, on reassembling,
should sit without rest, recess or intermission, and without
considering any other matter until the war resolution was passed.
Senator La Follette and other pro-German pacifists in the chamber were
barred from interposing further obstacles, especially as the new
cloture rule was now operative.
The Senate assembled on April 4, 1917, in serious mien to carry out
its task of passing the resolution before it could adjourn. It was a
day of speechmaking and of historic utterances characterized by a
moving earnestness of conviction. Orators of patriotic fervor came
from senators who had before condemned any declaration of war as the
greatest blunder the United States could commit. Others recounted the
crimes of Germany against civilization, and, in face of these deeds,
condemned any national unwillingness and cowardice to retaliate as
showing a national degeneracy that was much worse than war.
The debate ended shortly after 11 o'clock that night, having lasted
thirteen hours. The resolution was thereupon put to the vote and
passed by 82 to 6. The actual alignment was 90 to 6, as eight absent
senators favored the resolution. The six opponents were Senators La
Follette of Wisconsin, Gronna of North Dakota, Norris of Nebraska,
Stone of Missouri, Lane of Oregon, and Vardaman of Mississippi. They
all belonged to the group of twelve who had prevented a vote on the
Armed-Ship Bill. Three of this group, Senators O'Gorman, Clapp, and
Works, had already retired into private life. The remaining three,
chastened by the contumely their attitude had occasioned, deserted the
pacifists and voted for the resolution.
The House had been waiting for the Senate's action and immediately
proceeded to debate the resolution when it came before it on April 5,
1917, at 10 o'clock a. m. Following the Senate's example, it resolved
to remain in session without any interval until a vote was taken.
There was a strong band of pacifists in the House, some with
pronounced pro-German sympathies, and they occupied much of the day
with their outgivings. The House floor leader, Representative Kitchin
of North Carolina, was one of their number. The debate extended
through the night without cessation until 3.15 the next morning, April
6, 1917, when, after a wearisome discussion exceeding seventeen hours,
the resolution passed amid resounding cheers by the overwhelming vote
of 373 to 50.
The President signed the resolution in the afternoon of the same day,
at the same time issuing a proclamation notifying the world that a
state of war existed between the United States and the Imperial
Government of Germany, and outlining regulations for the conduct of
"alien enemies" resident within American jurisdiction.
American relations with Germany's allies--Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and
Bulgaria--remained to be determined. In his war address to Congress
the President made this allusion to them:
"I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial
Government of Germany, because they have not made war upon us or
challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian
Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and
acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare, adopted now
without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has
therefore not been possible for this Government to receive Count
Tarnowski, the ambassador recently accredited to this Government by
the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that
Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the
United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at
least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the
authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly
forced into it, because there are no other means of defending our
right."
Under German dictation, however, Austria-Hungary and Turkey broke
relations with the United States on April 9 and April 21, 1917,
respectively. Bulgaria took no action. The American war declaration
thus solely applied to Germany.
CHAPTER LXVI
BUILDING THE WAR MACHINE
The United States entered the war as a member of the Allied
belligerents in their fight for civilization against Germany at 1.18
on the afternoon of April 8, 1917, at which time President Wilson
signed the resolution empowering him to declare war as passed by
Congress.
The nation set about girding on its armor. A message was flashed to
the great naval radio station at Arlington, Va., which repeated it to
the extent of its carrying radius of 3,000 miles, notifying all
American ships at foreign stations and the governors and military
posts of American insular possessions in the Pacific and in the
Antilles.
Orders were issued by the Navy Department for the mobilization of the
fleet, and the Naval Reserve was called to the colors. The navy also
proceeded to seize all radio stations in the country.
An emergency war fund of $100,000,000 was voted by Congress for the
use of the President at his discretion.
The Allied warships which had been patrolling the Atlantic coast
outside American territorial waters since the war began, to prevent
the German ships in American ports from escaping, were withdrawn.
There was no need of further vigilance, as one of the first acts of
the Government was to seize every German and Austrian vessel which had
lain safe under the protection of the Stars and Stripes. There were
ninety-one German ships, several of them interned men-o'-war,
aggregating 629,000 gross tonnage. The largest group were moored in
New York Harbor, numbering 27, and included leviathans like the
_Vaterland_, (54,282 gross tons), _George Washington_ (25,570 tons),
and _Kaiser Wilhelm II_ (19,361 tons). Six were in Boston Harbor,
among them the _Amerika_ (22,622 tons), and the _Kronprinzessin
Cecile_ (19,503 tons). Others were held in the Philippines and Hawaii.
Seven Austrian vessels were seized, but subject to payment, the United
States not being at war with the Dual Monarchy.
All the German officers and crews were taken in charge by the
immigration authorities and held in the status of intending immigrants
whose eligibility for entering the country was in question until the
end of the war. This decision meant internment.
The machinery of most of the German ships was found to be damaged to
prevent the Government making immediate use of them as transports, for
which the larger ones were admirably fitted. The damage dated from the
severance of relations on February 3, 1917, and was a preconcerted
movement undertaken by the various captains and officers upon
instructions from Berlin to cripple the machinery when war seemed
imminent. Captain Polack of the North German Lloyd liner
_Kronprinzessin Cecile_, held in Boston, admitted that he had received
orders to make his vessel unseaworthy from the German Embassy at
Washington three days before the rupture with Germany took place.
Congress later authorized the President to take title to the German
ships for the United States and to put them into service in the
conduct of the war. Payment or any other method of return for their
seizure was to wait until the war ended. In a short time more than
half of the seized vessels had been repaired and put upon the seas
under the American flag with new names. Fifteen were fitted for
transports. The Stars and Stripes was duly hoisted on the great German
liner _Vaterland_.
Simultaneous with the seizure of these vessels came wholesale arrests
of Germans suspected of being spies. Federal officers swooped down on
them in various parts of the country as soon as war was declared. They
could not now safely be at large. Several had already been convicted
of violating American neutrality by hatching German plots and were at
liberty under bond pending the result of court appeals; others were
under indictment for similar offenses and waiting trial; the remainder
were suspects who had long been under Federal surveillance. It was a
war measure taken without regard to the civil law to circumvent
further machinations of German conspirators, who had now become alien
enemies.
Bearing upon these precautions was a proclamation issued by the
President warning citizens and aliens against the commission of
treason, which was punishable by death or by a heavy fine and
imprisonment. The acts defined as treasonable were: The use of force
or violence against the American army and navy establishment; the
acquisition, use, or disposal of property with the knowledge that it
was to be utilized for the service of the nation's enemies; and the
performance of any act and the publication of statements or
information that would give aid and comfort to the enemy.
The Government had previously assured Germans and German reservists
domiciled on American soil that they would be free from official
molestation so long as they conducted themselves in accordance with
American law. A general internment of German aliens was deemed to be
both impracticable and impolitic.
Precautions taken against internal uprisings by Teutonic sympathizers
proved to be sufficient without corralling the great number of German
citizens established among the populace--a step which would not only
be costly but inflict great hardships on many unoffending and orderly
aliens. The Administration held by its previous determination not to
resort to reprisals in its treatment of Germans nor to lose its head
in the periodic waves of spy fever which spread throughout the
country.
The President and his advisers, while taking all these preliminary
measures of war, were deeply conscious of the enormous field of other
activities, calling for leadership and statesmanship of a high order,
which the war situation had opened out. Without being daunted by the
prospect, the President took the step of appealing to the people at
large for cooperation. There were so many things to be done besides
fighting--things without which mere fighting would be fruitless. The
President thus stated them:
"We must supply abundant food for ourselves and for our armies and our
seamen, not only, but also for a large part of the nations with whom
we have now made common cause, in whose support and by whose sides we
shall be fighting.
"We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our shipyards to carry to
the other side of the sea, submarines or no submarines, what will
every day be needed there, and abundant materials out of our fields
and our mines and our factories with which not only to clothe and
equip our own forces on land and sea, but also to clothe and support
our people, for whom the gallant fellows under arms can no longer
work; to help clothe and equip the armies with which we are
cooperating in Europe, and to keep the looms and manufactories there
in raw material; coal to keep the fires going in ships at sea and in
the furnaces of hundreds of factories across the sea; steel out of
which to make arms and ammunition both here and there; rails for
worn-out railways back of the fighting fronts; locomotives and rolling
stock to take the place of those every day going to pieces; mules,
horses, cattle for labor and for military service; everything with
which the people of England and France and Italy and Russia have
usually supplied themselves, but cannot now afford the men, the
materials, or the machinery to make."
The President's specific appeal was to the agricultural and industrial
workers of the country to put their shoulder to the wheel to help
provision and equip the armies in Europe. On the farmers and their
laborers, he said, in large measure rested the issue of the war and
the fate of the nations. To the middlemen of every sort the President
was bluntly candid: "The eyes of the country are especially upon you,"
he said. "The country expects you, as it expects all others, to forego
unusual profits, to organize and expedite shipments of supplies of
every kind, but especially of food," in a disinterested spirit. He
asked railroad men of all ranks not to permit the nation's arteries to
suffer any obstruction, inefficiency, or slackened power in carrying
war supplies. To the merchant he suggested the motto: "small profits
and quick service" to the shipbuilder the thought that the war
depended on him. "The food and the war supplies must be carried across
the seas, no matter how many ships are sent to the bottom." The miner
he ranked with the farmer--the work of the world waited upon him.
Finally, every one who created or cultivated a garden helped to solve
the problem of feeding the nation; and every housewife who practiced
economy placed herself in the ranks of those who served.
Legislative tasks which confronted Congress were overwhelming and not
a little confusing. They embraced measures for authorizing huge issues
of bonds to finance the Allies and provide funds for the American
campaign; new taxation; food control; the provision of an enormous
fleet of airships; forbidding trading with the enemy; an embargo on
exports to neutral countries to prevent their shipment to Germany; an
espionage bill; and chiefly, a measure of compulsory military service
by selective draft to raise a preliminary army of 500,000 men, to be
followed by a second draft of the same number, to enable 1,000,000
Americans to help the Allies defeat Germany.
The Bond Bill passed both houses of Congress without a dissentient
vote within eleven days of the war declaration and five days of the
bill's submission. The Administration sought authority for an issue of
$5,000,000,000 bonds, to be raised by public subscription, and
$2,000,000,000 bonds in Treasury certificates of indebtedness, the
latter to be redeemed in a year by the aid of new war taxation then
expected to be available. Both bonds and certificates bore 3-1/2 per
cent interest. The main portion of the five-billion issue, or three
billions, was apportioned as a loan to the Allies, in the disposition
of which the President was to be wholly unhampered. Securities at par
to that amount were to be acquired from the various foreign
governments to cover the loan. Representative Kitchin, in presenting
the bill to the House, described it as representing "the most
momentous project ever undertaken by our Government and carried the
greatest authorization of bonds ever contained in a bill submitted to
any legislative body in the world." The only material amendments made
limited the loans and the acquisition of foreign securities as
collateral to the period of the war. The House passed the measure
after two days' debate on April 14, 1917, by a vote of 889 to 0. The
Senate vote, three days later, after a day's debate, was 84 to 0. The
various factions in both Houses, which were hostile to the
Administration's policy before war was declared, dropped all
partisanship in their eagerness to support measures for prosecuting
the war now that the die had been cast.
The War Revenue Bill was less easily disposed of. It bristled with
contentious points bearing upon the most equitable ways and means of
raising supplementary imposts to meet the first year's war outlays. As
submitted to the House it was designed to raise a revenue of
$1,800,000,000; but the barometer of the Treasury's needs kept rising
and presently stood at $2,250,000,000 as the amount needed to be
raised by the bill. The House hurriedly passed a loosely constructed
measure, taxing practically every industry and individual, especially
the incomes of corporations and men of wealth. It raised all tariff
duties and abolished the free list by making the exempted articles
subject to a duty of 10 per cent. The House accepted it as a war
measure, full of inequalities that would never be tolerated in times
of peace. It threw upon the Senate the onus of repairing the defects
of the bill. It passed it largely as it stood, a hasty piece of
patchwork, in order to get some kind of legislation before Congress to
meet the Treasury's requirements. The measure was discussed in a cloud
of confusion, and so perplexed the members that, in disposing of it,
they relied upon the Senate to return it in better shape for
adjustment in conference. The Senate was inclined to confine the
measure's revenue scope to $1,250,000,000, leaving the balance needed
by the Government to be raised by authorized bond issues. But in
redrafting the bill the Senate committee, after vainly succeeding in
paring the imposts below $1,670,000,000, was eventually obliged to
raise them $500,000,000. The conferees' report further enhanced them
to yield approximately $2,500,000,000. In this shape the bill finally
passed the Senate October 2, 1917.
A simple named bill "to increase temporarily the military
establishment of the United States," which was early presented to
Congress after the declaration of April 6, 1917, stood out as the
Administration's chief war measure. It became known as the Selective
Draft Bill because of its chief provisions, which authorized the
President to institute a modified form of conscription for raising a
new army. It also authorized him to raise the regular army and the
National Guard to their maximum strength and officer and equip them.
These latter enlistments were to be voluntary, under existing laws,
unless the required number was not forthcoming by that means, in
which case the regular military establishment was to be replenished
from recruits obtained by the selective draft. This latter method the
President was empowered to use for creating two forces of 500,000 men
each, one immediately, the other later, as deemed expedient. All men,
citizens and intended citizens, between the ages of 21 and 30, were
subject to call under the selective draft and were required to
register their names for possible enrollment. The census showed that
some 10,000,000 men between the ages named could be located by
registration, from which number the Government could select the
million of men required in two divisions. The House and Senate adopted
the measure on April 28, 1917, by substantial majorities, the voting
being respectively 397 to 24 and 81 to 8. A vain attempt was made in
both Houses to raise the new army by voluntary enlistments.
There was a popular demand for sending former President Roosevelt to
France as head of a volunteer force of four infantry divisions, and
the Senate adopted an amendment authorizing the project. The House had
rejected the proposal. When the bill reached the Conference Committee,
the Senate amendment authorizing the Roosevelt expedition was deleted.
But upon the bill's return the House reversed itself by refusing to
accept it, and sent it back to the Conference Committee with the
instruction to restore the section permitting Colonel Roosevelt to
organize a volunteer force for service in Europe. The bill went to the
President for signature with this provision restored; but the
President declined, in his discretion, to avail himself of the
authority to permit the dispatch of the Roosevelt division, and it
never went.
The Food Control Bill which conferred large powers on the Government
for safeguarding the food supplies of the country for war purposes
proved as difficult to pass as the War Revenue Bill, but succeeded in
reaching the President. Its presentation to Congress was heralded by a
public statement from the President, who sought to impress upon the
country the immediate need of legislation to conserve and stimulate
the country's food production. He sought authority to appoint a food
administrator, and named Herbert C. Hoover, who had creditably
directed the feeding of the Belgians as head of the Relief Committee,
for the post. The President drew a sharp line of distinction between
the work of the Government as conducted by the Department of
Agriculture in its ordinary supervision of food production and the
emergencies produced by the war.
"All measures intended directly to extend the normal activities of the
Department of Agriculture," he said, "in reference to the production,
conservation, and the marketing of farm crops will be administered, as
in normal times, through that department, and the powers asked for
over distribution and consumption, over exports, imports, prices,
purchase, and requisition of commodities, storing, and the like which
may require regulation during the war, will be placed in the hands of
a commissioner of food administration, appointed by the President and
directly responsible to him.
"The objects sought to be served by the legislation asked for are:
Full inquiry into the existing available stocks of foodstuffs and into
the costs and practices of the various food producing and distributing
trades; the prevention of all unwarranted hoarding of every kind and
of the control of foodstuffs by persons who are not in any legitimate
sense producers, dealers, or traders; the requisitioning when
necessary for the public use of food supplies and of the equipment
necessary for handling them properly; the licensing of wholesome and
legitimate mixtures and milling percentages, and the prohibition of
the unnecessary or wasteful use of foods.
"Authority is asked also to establish prices, but not in order to
limit the profits of the farmers, but only to guarantee to them when
necessary a minimum price which will insure them a profit where they
are asked to attempt new crops and to secure the consumer against
extortion by breaking up corners and attempts at speculation, when
they occur, by fixing temporarily a reasonable price at which
middlemen must sell.
"Although it is absolutely necessary that unquestionable powers shall
be placed in my hands, in order to insure the success of this
administration of the food supplies of the country, I am confident
that the exercise of those powers will be necessary only in the few
cases where some small and selfish minority proves unwilling to put
the nation's interests above personal advantage."
A sweeping bill was thereupon presented to the House empowering the
President, under the war clause of the Constitution, to take the
measures he named whenever, in his opinion, the national emergency
called for their exercise.
The mere conferring of such extreme powers on the President, it was
hoped, would suffice. The Government view was that armed with the
effective weapons the bill provided, no difficulty would be
encountered in enlisting on the side of the public interest all
recalcitrant private agencies without legal action.
The House, in passing the measure, made it more drastic by inserting
an amendment prohibiting the further manufacturing of alcoholic
liquors during the war, and authorizing the President, in his
discretion, to commandeer existing stocks of distilled spirits. The
President was unwilling to countenance such a drastic curb on the
liquor industry, and the Senate Agriculture Committee, on his
recommendation, restricted the veto on the manufacture of liquor to
whisky, rum, gin, and brandy, removing the ban on light wines and
beer, but retained the clause empowering him to acquire all distilled
spirits in bond, as above named, should the national exigency call for
such action. The Senate approved the bill as thus amended.
The antiwhisky provisions, which were due to the Prohibitionists, were
denounced as unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the House vote on the
bill was 365 to 5. The Senate vote was as emphatic, being 81 to 6.
A more direct contest with the President over his war powers was waged
around the Espionage Bill. Though primarily framed to make spying and
its attendant acts treasonable offenses punishable by death or heavy
fines and imprisonment, it was projected more as a measure aimed at
news censorship, on account of a section forbidding the pursuit and
publication of information on the war. A violent and persistent
agitation by the press of the country against such a restriction,
echoed in both Houses in the course of lengthy debates, finally won
the day. All control of the publication of war news was denied the
Administration, despite the President's appeals to Congress for the
provision of a press censorship. The newspapers demanded to be placed
on their good behavior and scouted the idea that any law was needed to
restrain them from publishing information likely to give aid and
comfort to the enemy. Thwarted by Congress, the President had to be
content to forego the authority he sought for placing a veto on war
news except such as the Government permitted to be disclosed. He was
reminded that when relations were broken with Germany and war neared,
the press readily responded to the Administration's request--made in
the absence of legal authority to establish a press censorship--to
suppress the publication and transmission of information concerning
the movements of American merchant craft, then about to be armed
against German submarines. Since then announcements of arrivals at and
sailings from American ports of all vessels were excluded from the
newspapers.
The Espionage Bill had an inherent importance of its own, but its
purposes had been so overshadowed by the prominence given to the
censorship provision that they were lost sight of. It empowered the
President to place an embargo on exports when public safety and
welfare so required; provided for the censoring of mails and the
exclusion of matter therefrom deemed to be seditious and anarchistic,
and making its transmission punishable by heavy fines; the punishment
of espionage; the wrongful use of military information; circulation of
false reports designed to interfere with military operations; attempts
to cause disaffection in the army and navy, or obstruction of
recruiting; the control of merchant vessels on American waters; the
seizure of arms and ammunition and prohibition of their exportation
under certain conditions; the penalizing of conspiracies designed to
harm American foreign relations; punishment for the destruction of
property arising from a state of war; and increased restrictions on
the issue of passports.
The measure acquired a conspicuous place in the war legislation by
reason of the embargo provision. It appeared an inconsequential
clause, judging from the little public attention paid to it; but the
President saw a weapon in it that might have more effect in bringing
Germany to her knees than Great Britain's blockade of her coasts,
stringent as the latter had proved. It developed into a measure for
instituting a blockade of Germany from American ports. It had long
been known that the maritime European neutrals--Holland, Denmark,
Norway, and Sweden--had flourished enormously by supplying Germany
with various necessities--mainly obtained from the United States on
the pretense that the huge increase of their American trade was due to
enlarged domestic consumption, the same being due, in its turn, to the
cutting off of needed supplies from other countries by the British
blockade and the war situation on land. The design of the embargo
provision was to stop these neutrals from receiving any American goods
until it was clearly established, _before_ leaving an American port,
that they would not be transhipped to Germany. With this object the
President was authorized to stop any or all exports to any or all
countries in his discretion. This was a sweeping blanket instruction
from Congress aimed at placing a barrier on transhipment trade with
Germany from the port of departure. "Satisfy us that your goods are
not going to Germany via neutral countries," the Government told
exporters, "and your ships can get clearance. Otherwise they cannot."
The embargo was even aimed at neutral countries that permitted their
own goods to cross the German frontier by threatening to cut those
countries off from any trade with the United States. But it was not
clear how it could be made effective in this respect. Its chief aim
was rather to make it impossible for the neutrals to replenish with
American goods such of their domestic stocks which had been depleted
by exports to German customers.
The subject raised a stormy debate during a secret session of the
Senate. Senator Townsend, in an assault upon the embargo proposal,
took the view that the Administration wished to use the embargo to
force small neutral nations into the war as American allies.
"I am not willing," he said, "to vote for the very German methods we
have condemned. I understand that this provision is not to be used for
the protection of American produce or to protect the American supply,
but to coerce neutral countries. We stood for neutrality, and urged
the nations of the world to support neutrality. Now that we are
engaged in war we ought not to coerce other nations and force them to
enter the struggle."
The Administration found a supporter from an unexpected quarter--from
Senator Stone, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who
opposed the war and all its works. He thus defended the embargo:
"If we were still neutral I should join readily in opposing such
legislation. But we are now belligerent. If it is true that any
neutral country, contiguous to Germany, which is now our enemy, is
supplying Germany with food, munitions, and other materials out of its
own productions, and then comes to the United States to purchase here
and transport there a sufficient quantity to replenish its supply,
doesn't the senator think the United States is within its belligerent
rights to say that the United States doesn't consent?"
"It is true we are no longer neutral," insisted Mr. Townsend, "and we
don't intend that any other country shall remain neutral. We are in
trouble and want everybody else to be in trouble if we are strong
enough to put them in."
The admitted purpose of the embargo was to force neutral countries
contiguous to Germany to suspend trade with her as an enemy of the
United States. The sentiment of the Senate, barring the objections of
a few members like Senator Townsend, who protested against the
embargo's "injustice," was that the United States had full control
over its own trade, and, especially in time of war, could restrict it
as its foreign interests required. No international law was involved
in American legislation which determined the disposition of American
exports, even if that legislation had a direct bearing on the
prosecution of the war. The Administration refused to see any analogy
between this embargo policy and the questions raised by the blockade
controversy between the United States and Great Britain when the
former was a neutral. American belligerency had necessitated a change
of basis in the Government's attitude.
The President went to some pains to explain to the country what the
export embargo meant. He created a Board of Exports Control, or
Exports Council, composed of Herbert C. Hoover, the selected head of
the food administration body, and a number of leading Government
officials. This board's duty was to prevent a single bushel of wheat
or the smallest quantity of any other commodity from leaving an
American port without the board's license and approval. This check on
exports, the President pointed out, regulated and supervised their
disposition, and was not really an embargo, except on consignments to
Germany.
"There will, of course, be no prohibition of exports," he said. "The
normal course of trade will be interfered with as little as possible,
and, so far as possible, only its abnormal course directed. The whole
object will be to direct exports in such a way that they will go first
and by preference where they are most needed and most immediately
needed, and temporarily to withhold them, if necessary, where they can
best be spared.
"Our primary duty in the matter of foodstuffs and like necessaries is
to see to it that the peoples associated with us in the war get as
generous a proportion as possible of our surplus, but it will also be
our wish and purpose to supply the neutral nations whose peoples
depend upon us for such supplies as nearly in proportion to their need
as the amount to be divided permits."
Nevertheless the proclamation that came from the White House on July
9, 1917, disclosed an exercise of presidential authority without
precedent in American history in that it contemplated, with British
cooperation, the virtual domination of the country's trade with the
whole world. It provided for the absolute governmental control, by
license, of the exports of essential war commodities to fifty-six
nations and their possessions, including all the Allied belligerents,
all the neutrals, as well as the enemy countries. These commodities
embraced coal, coke, fuel, oils, kerosene and gasoline, including
bunkers, food grains, flour and meal, fodder and feeds, meats and
fats, pig iron, steel billets, ship plates and structural shapes,
scrap iron and scrap steel, ferromanganese, fertilizers, arms,
ammunition and explosives. By the control of coal and other fuels the
Government was bent on obtaining a firm grasp on shipping. And the
point was, as stated in the preamble of the proclamation, "the public
safety requires that succor shall be prevented from reaching the
enemy."
Europe hailed the establishment of the American embargo as signalizing
a "real blockade" against Germany. The Paris "Temps" succinctly
expressed the prevailing view in the Allied countries:
"The Allies, despite the patience of their diplomats and the vigilance
of their navies, have failed to make the blockade sufficiently tight.
A new measure was needed; the United States has now supplied it. By
forbidding indirect assistance the United States has introduced a new
and efficient condition. If the Allies firmly apply the principle, as
public opinion strongly demands, President Wilson's proclamation will
have been one of the decisive acts of the war."
The need for sending foodstuffs and like necessaries to the Allies, as
pointed out by the President in explaining the embargo, called for
shipping facilities of a magnitude that demanded the immediate
attention of Congress. Exports there would be in unexampled
quantities, but their destination must largely be to the Entente
countries, consigned in armed ships. Coastwise craft were drafted for
transatlantic trade; ships under construction for private concerns
were subject to acquisition by the Government; every craft afloat
adaptable to war service--ferryboats, private yachts, motor boats and
the like--were listed for contingent use; and the thousand or more
merchant ships of American registry demanded an equipment of guns and
ammunition to enable them to run the submarine blockade.
The seized German and Austrian ships helped to supply the needed
tonnage, but they did not go far. War conditions, created by the
recognition that the United States would practically win the war for
the Allies by keeping their countries generously supplied with all
necessities required the construction of a huge trade fleet of steel
or wooden ships at a cost of a billion dollars. The Government,
through the Shipping Board, reserved the right of preempting the
products of every steel mill in the country and of canceling all their
existing contracts with private consumers, so as to divert the use of
steel products for the trade fleet. The acquisition of every shipyard
in the country was also contemplated as a contingency. Tentative
estimates provided for the construction of thousands of steel and
wooden cargo ships aggregating between five and six million tonnage
within the coming two years.
The shipbuilding program was undertaken by General Goethals, builder
of the Panama Canal, as general manager of a new Government body
called the Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, and William
Denman, its president. Conflict immediately arose between them
regarding the expediency of building steel or wooden ships to meet the
emergency, and the whole project was imperiled by their personal
differences. General Goethals favored a steel fleet and planned to
apply the available balance of an appropriation of $550,000,000 to the
construction of fabricated steel ships of standard pattern. Early in
July contracts for 348 wooden ships, aggregating 1,218,000 tons, and
costing some $174,000,000, had been made or agreed upon and contracts
for a further 100 were under negotiation. Of steel ships seventy-seven
had been contracted for or agreed upon, amounting to 642,800 tons, at
a cost of $101,660,356. This was a good beginning, as it represented a
program under way for providing 525 ships of all sorts. The remainder
of the Goethals program called for steel ships, of which he promised
3,000,000 tons in eighteen months. Another feature of the Goethals
policy was the immediate commandeering of private ships in the stocks,
whether owned by Americans, Allies, or neutrals. Acute friction arose
between General Goethals and Mr. Denman, mainly over the question of
the former's negotiations and plans with the steel interests. In the
end President Wilson intervened by accepting the invited resignations
of both, and placing the shipbuilding in the hands of Admiral
Washington L. Capps, a naval ship constructor of renown, and Edward
N. Hurley, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.
By now the foundations of a huge war machine had been laid by
legislative and executive action; but it was discovered that a vital
factor in modern wars had been overlooked. An enormous air fleet was
necessary to provide further eyes for the Allies. Congress repaired
this omission by voting $640,000,000 for building 22,000 airships and
for raising and equipping an American corps of 100,000 aviators.
CHAPTER LXVII
MEN AND MONEY IN MILLIONS
The country early realized the practical effect of the legislation
passed by Congress enabling the President to call on the national
resources in men, money, and material for conducting the war with
Germany.
The Administration's first nation-wide appeal was for money. Under the
Bond Bill it was empowered to raise war funds, and proceeded to do so
by floating the first issue of the "Liberty loan of 1917," this being
a demand for $2,000,000,000 from the popular purse. The money raised
was to provide credits to the Allied governments to meet the enormous
war purchases they were making in the United States, and, like
previous accommodations to them, this provision of funds was not so
much a loan as a transfer or exchange of credits. American money was
lent to the Allies, deposited in American banks, to enable them to buy
American products. Not a cent of the Liberty loan went out of the
country.
It was the largest single financial transaction ever undertaken by the
United States Government. It greatly exceeded all previous bond issues
and squarely brought the country to face the necessities of war
finance on a huge scale. But the prewar period, which produced a high
tide of prosperity, due to the unexampled calls on American industries
by the Allied Powers, had revealed the enormous wealth and economic
strength of the American investing community, as well as a
flourishing condition of the working population. The Government
entered upon the financial operation with no misgivings and the result
proved its confidence in the success of the loan. Bank subscriptions
were discouraged. National loans hitherto issued in war time were
floated as a basis of national currency and were taken up by the banks
in large amounts. But the Liberty loan was an appeal to the
million--to several millions; to the man in the street, the small
tradesman, the salaried class. Workers realized that in subscribing to
the loan they were not only securing an absolutely safe investment,
but were providing funds for wages and profits. The money they
invested as a loan to the Allies was applied by them to buying
American goods.
The Liberty loan was floated on May 14, 1917, in denominations as low
as $50, rising to $100,000, at 3-1/2 per cent. interest, redeemable in
fifteen or thirty years. The banks of the country, national and State,
the trust companies, newspapers, department stores, express companies,
and numerous corporations and firms placed their establishments and
staffs at the national service for receiving applications, which came
from all classes. The response flagged as the date for closing the
subscription lists neared (June 15, 1917), but there was a rally at
the last moment by small investors, and the lists closed with the loan
greatly oversubscribed.
Germany had been watching its progress. There were lulls during the
month in which the loan was under issue and Germany was eager to see
in a passing slowness of response a popular unwillingness to shoulder
the burden of war and an apathy that she welcomed. The people had no
spirit for the war and it was largely a bankers' loan, said her
spokesmen. Anticipating this criticism the Government, aided by the
press, publicists, and bankers, conducted a propaganda which
successfully impressed the country that a large popular
oversubscription could not be misconstrued by Germany, as it would
convince her that there would be no stinting of national resources by
the United States to aid the Allies in encompassing her defeat. The
result showed that a request for $2,000,000,000 had been met by a
response of $3,035,226,850 from over 4,000,000 investors, mainly for
small amounts. The success of the loan, especially in its appeal to
modest purses, was imposing. Secretary McAdoo of the Treasury thus
expressed the Government's gratification:
"The widespread distribution of the bonds and the great amount of the
oversubscription constitute an eloquent and conclusive reply to the
enemies of the country who claimed that the heart of America was not
in this war. The result, of which every citizen may well be proud,
reflects the patriotism and the determination of the American people
to fight for the vindication of outraged American rights, the speedy
restoration of peace, and the establishment of liberty throughout the
world.
"The Congress pledged all the resources of America to bring the war to
a successful determination. The issue just closed will serve as an
indication of the temper and purpose of the American people and of the
manner in which they may be expected to respond to future calls of
their country for the necessary credits to carry on the war."
The operation of the Selective Draft law provided a simultaneous
opportunity for a display of patriotism. Acting under its provisions,
the President in a stirring proclamation issued on May 18, 1917,
called upon every man in the country between the age of 21 and 30 to
register his readiness to be called upon for army service at the
designated registration place within the precinct where he permanently
resided. It was a call to the nation to arm.
"The power against which we are arrayed," the President said, "has
sought to impose its will upon the world. To this end it has increased
armament until it has changed the face of war. In the sense in which
we have been wont to think of armies, there are no armies in this
struggle, there are entire nations armed. Thus, the men who remain to
till the soil and man the factories are no less a part of the army
that is in France than the men beneath the battle flags. It must be so
with us. It is not an army that we must shape and train for war; it is
a nation.
"To this end our people must draw close in one compact front against a
common foe. But this cannot be if each man pursues a private purpose.
All must pursue one purpose. The nation needs all men; but it needs
each man, not in the field that will most pleasure him, but in the
endeavor that will best serve the common good. Thus, though a
sharpshooter pleases to operate a trip hammer for the forging of great
guns and an expert machinist desires to march with the flag, the
nation is being served only when the sharpshooter marches and the
machinist remains at his levers.
"The whole nation must be a team, in which each man shall play the
part for which he is best fitted. To this end, Congress has provided
that the nation shall be organized for war by selection; that each man
shall be classified for service in the place to which it shall best
serve the general good to call him.
"The significance of this cannot be overstated. It is a new thing in
our history and a landmark in our progress. It is a new manner of
accepting and vitalizing our duty to give ourselves with thoughtful
devotion to the common purpose of us all. It is in no sense a
conscription of the unwilling; it is, rather, selection from a nation
which has volunteered in mass. It is no more a choosing of those who
shall march with the colors than it is a selection of those who shall
serve an equally necessary and devoted purpose in the industries that
lie behind the battle line."
The President had strongly espoused the selective draft in preference
to the voluntary system of raising an army organization. He had
pointed out that many forms of patriotic service were open to the
people, and emphasized that the military part of the service,
important though it was, was not, under modern war conditions, the
most vital part. The selective draft enabled the selection for service
in the army of those who could be most readily spared from the pursuit
of other industries and occupations. There being a universal
obligation to serve in time of war, the Administration felt the need
of being empowered to select men for military service and select
others to do the rest of the nation's work, either by keeping them in
their existing employment, if that employment was useful for war
purposes, or utilizing their services in a like field.
"The volunteer system does not do this," he said. "When men choose
themselves they sometimes choose without due regard to their other
responsibilities. Men may come from the farms or from the mines or
from the factories or centers of business who ought not to come but
ought to stand back of the armies in the field and see that they get
everything that they need and that the people of the country are
sustained in the meantime."
Registration day, which was fixed for June 5, 1917, partook of the
character of an election day. The young manhood of the country of the
prescribed ages trooped to the registration places of their districts
like voters depositing ballots at polling booths. It was a national
roll call of the pick of civilian manhood available for military duty,
and yielded an enrollment of 9,649,938 from which the first army was
to be drafted.
"The registration," reported the Government, "was accomplished in a
fashion measuring up to the highest standards of Americanism. The
young men came to the registration places enthusiastic; there was no
hint of a slacking spirit anywhere, except in a few cases where
misguided persons had been prevailed upon to attempt to avoid their
national obligation."
The machinery for the selective draft had merely been started. Only
the groundwork had been laid. The principal operation--the draft
itself--had to be undertaken, and the process was a slow one. Half the
men who registered claimed exemption from military service for a
multitude of reasons, but as not more than 6 per cent were to be
chosen to compose the first citizen army, this was not important even
if most of the exemption claims were justified and allowed.
The outstanding fact was that the registrants were all on an equal
footing and that their mustering brought nearer the realization of the
President's dream of a "citizenry trained" without favoritism or
discrimination. The son of the millionaire and of the laborer, the
college-bred man and the worker forced to earn his living from early
youth, were to march side by side in the ranks and practice
marksmanship and trench digging together. Great Britain and France had
democratized their armies; the United States did the same.
The President increased the number of men to be drafted for the first
army from 500,000 to 687,000 in order to use drafted men to bring the
regular army and the National Guard to their full strength. Thus there
were 687,000 men to be selected from a registration of 9,649,938. The
quota required from each State, based upon each State's number of
registrants, was determined in that proportion.
The draft, which was practically a great lottery to establish the
order in which the registrants were to be called into war service,
took place on July 20, 1917, in Washington. As it was anticipated that
fully half of the men called would either be exempted or rejected
after medical examination, the exemption boards appointed throughout
the country, located in 4,557 districts, were required to call double
the number of their quota for examination in the order in which the
men's numbers appeared on the district list after the drawing. This
meant a call of 1,374,000 men.
The drawing itself was based on a system of master-key numbers in two
groups, written on slips of paper. These slips were rolled and placed
in a bowl, from which they were drawn one at a time by blindfolded
men. The picking of a single number out of one set of a thousand
numerals, or out of another set of eleven numerals, drafted each man
in the 4,557 districts whose registration card bore the serial number
picked. The method fixed with absolute equality of chance the order in
which all registrants--if called upon--were to report to their local
boards for examination and subsequent exemption, discharge, or
acceptance for military service. The local boards at once organized
for the examination and enrollment of the men called.
The new citizen force became known as the National Army, in
contradistinction to the regular army and the National Guard, and was
organized into sixteen divisions, grouped by States as under:
First--Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont,
and New Hampshire.
Second--Lower New York State and Long Island.
Third--Upper New York State and northern Pennsylvania.
Fourth--Southern Pennsylvania.
Fifth--Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and District
of Columbia.
Sixth--Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Seventh--Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
Eighth--Ohio and West Virginia.
Ninth--Indiana and Kentucky.
Tenth--Wisconsin and Michigan.
Eleventh--Illinois.
Twelfth--Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Thirteenth--North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota,
and Iowa.
Fourteenth--Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri.
Fifteenth--Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Sixteenth--Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California,
Nevada, and Utah.
Huge cantonments, or concentration camps--army cities--were put under
construction in the various sections of the country where the drafted
men could be expeditiously massed for mobilization and training before
proceeding to the European battle ground. In all, thirty-two of these
camp cities were required, the regular army and National Guard
providing another sixteen divisions for which such training grounds
were needed. The camp sites were chosen for spaciousness, absence of
marshes, natural drainage situations, and proximity to lines of
transport and a good water supply. Each army camp called for vast
building supplies, as each was designed to constitute a complete town,
with sewerage, water works, lighting system, and streets.
[Illustration: United States naval gunners defending the troop
transport ships from submarine attack. The troop ships of the first
contingent to cross the sea were twice attacked by submarines on the
way.]
The volunteer system was largely depended upon to recruit the regular
army and the National Guard to their required strength; but in the
draft call a provision of 187,000 men had been made for service in
these two branches to fill up gaps caused by failure of volunteer
enlistments or by the detailing of regulars or guardsmen to aid in
training the draft recruits. The President pointed out that there was
ample scope for the volunteer system in augmenting the two established
services, which needed as many men as the draft army. On April 1,
1917, before war was declared, the regular army and National Guard
numbered about 225,000 men. These branches needed augmenting to a
strength of 293,000 and 400,000 respectively, making a combined force
of 693,000. There was thus a call for 468,000 men, which was mainly
responded to by volunteers. The draft citizen army of 500,000 and this
force of 693,000 made an army approaching 1,200,000 men which the
Government organized for field service in Europe in the first year of
America's participation in the war. Adding to this an augmented naval
force of 150,000, and the Marine Corps, numbering 30,000, a grand
total approximating 1,400,000 men appears as the first American
contribution to the forces fighting Germany.
CHAPTER LXVIII
ENVOYS FROM AMERICA'S ALLIES
What perhaps most vividly brought home to the nation that it was now
one of the belligerents of the Allied Powers was the visit of a number
of special commissioners from the governments of the latter countries,
following the American declaration of war. The presence of the British
and French missions in particular made a deep impression, not only
because of the importance and magnitude of their errand, but because
of their personnel. The British mission was headed by Arthur James
Balfour, a former Conservative premier, and now Foreign Secretary in
the Lloyd-George cabinet. The French mission included René Viviani, a
predecessor of Premier Ribot and a member of his cabinet, and Marshal
Joffre, the victor of the Battle of the Marne and an idol of France.
The commanding personalities of Mr. Balfour and Marshal Joffre caught
the American imagination and the visits they paid to several cities
during their brief stay partook of the character of state events,
marked by an imposing welcome and sumptuous hospitality.
A reception no less generous was accorded the members of the other
missions--the Italian, headed by the Prince of Udine, son of the Duke
of Genoa and nephew of King Victor Emmanuel, and including Signor
Marconi, the inventor of wireless telegraphy; the Russian, headed by
Boris Bakhmetieff, the new Russian Ambassador; and the Belgian, headed
by Baron Moncheur. Other missions came from Ireland, Rumania, and
Japan.
The reception of these various missions formed the occasion for a
number of state functions which placed the Administration in the rôle
of a national host to many distinguished guests from foreign countries
with which the United States was now allied for the first time in a
devastating war. The honors paid to them produced remarkable
proceedings in Congress without parallel in that body's deliberations;
but then the great world war had shattered precedents wherever it
touched. The spectacle was witnessed of a British statesman, in the
person of Mr. Balfour, addressing the House and Senate, an event which
became an enduring memory. Congress also heard addresses from M.
Viviani, Baron Moncheur, and the Prince of Udine. They told why their
countries were in the war--a familiar story whose repetition within
the halls of Congress had considerable point in that the national
legislature itself had sanctioned war on Germany for the same reasons.
American and Allied statesmen thus met on common ground in a common
cause. The numerous conferences between the various sections of the
Allied missions and American officials--beginning with that between
the President and Mr. Balfour--were councils of war. They symbolized
the joining of hands across the sea in a literal sense--across a sea
infested with German submarines, which the envoys, incidentally,
escaped both in coming and returning.
In the public ceremonials that marked their visit the leading envoys
freely and repeatedly expressed their grateful recognition to the
United States for unselfishly entering the war at last on the side
which was fighting for civilization--a disinterested action without
parallel in the history of wars, as Mr. Asquith had called it. Their
gratitude might well be taken for granted; but, like the Allies' aims
in the war, it bore repetition, because American aid was sorely
needed, and they had, in fact, come to accept as much assistance as
the United States had to give.
The immediate need was money, food, ships--all the accessories of war
outside the fighting zone. Funds for loans having become available,
the American Treasury proceeded to distribute its largesse generously.
Great Britain received $200,000,000 as the first installment of a
number of loans; France and Italy received $100,000,000 each; Serbia
got $3,000,000; Russia $175,000,000; France another $60,000,000; and
Great Britain $300,000,000 more. Further credits to the various
countries brought the amount loaned to $1,525,000,000 by the close of
July, 1917, or more than half of the $3,000,000,000 sanctioned by
Congress for financing the Allies.
By these transactions the United States Government displaced the
banking firm of J. P. Morgan & Co., who had been acting as fiscal
agent for the Allies since they began to purchase huge supplies in
America on American credits.
Great Britain, as the bulwark of her allies, had many weighty matters
to lay before the United States. Her mission sought an understanding
regarding the conduct of the blockade, naval operations, munition
supplies, military dispositions and resources, and the shipment of
foodstuffs. There was no driving of bargains, since neither was a
competitor of the other, and hence could have no radical difference of
view on questions to the settlement of which they had been drawn in
union against a common foe. The attitude of the British mission
invited American cooperation, reciprocal service, and expressed
gratitude for the American partnership. They had no policies to
suggest to the Administration. They had much information on the
conduct of the war to lay before the United States--specially
blunders to be avoided; but they did not presume to teach Americans
how to make war. The United States, on its part, eagerly wanted to
know all that could be known, and to be guided accordingly.
A week of conferences clarified the situation. Both the British and
French missions revealed with surprising frankness the status of the
Allied resources and the military situation. Great Britain was
especially candid in disclosing the extent of her losses by
submarines. She needed ships, as many as America could build. France
needed an American army at once to augment her man power. Italy wanted
coal and grain. Most of all, the collapse of Russia's military
organization had brought the Allies to the pass of relying on American
aid as imperative if Germany was to be defeated.
The personal contact between American Government officials and the
various missions, especially the British, produced a mutual confidence
and sympathy not to be measured by words. Resources and needs were
frankly stated. The United States disclosed what it could do and how.
The way, in short, was cleared for the United States to enter the
Grand Alliance on a basis making for efficient cooperation in the
conduct of the war.
A gentleman's agreement was effected with neither side committed to
any binding policy. The United States retained a free hand, and was
not controlled, formally or informally, by any entangling undertaking
as to any future course it might elect to take in its relations with
Germany. But one enlightening point emerged. It was that while the
United States was free to enter into any peace it chose, it would not
enter into a separate peace. No action in that direction was
imaginable in the circumstances without consulting the Entente Allies.
This injection of peace considerations into the war situation, before
the United States had really entered the lists with troops and guns,
was taking time by the forelock. But it was needful to clear the air
early, as one of the reasons ascribed to Germany's apparent
complacence to the entrance of America as a belligerent was that she
counted on the United States as a balance wheel that might restrain
the Entente's war activities and hasten peace, or later operate to
curtail the Entente's demands at the peace conference. On these
assumptions America's participation was supposed to be not wholly
unwelcome to Berlin.
American freedom of action was unlikely to confuse the war issues in
the manner Germany looked for. Whatever hopes Germany built upon that
freedom did not deter Secretary Lansing and Mr. Balfour from hastening
to counteract misleading impressions current that America would be
embarrassed in its postwar foreign policy by becoming involved in
European territorial questions, from which, for more than a century,
it had remained aloof.
The French mission also achieved an incontestable popular triumph, due
to the presence of Marshal Joffre and to memories of French assistance
in the Revolutionary War. France's heroic resistance to German
invasion of her territory, specially in thwarting the advance on
Paris, had also attached American sympathies to her cause. M. Viviani
and Marshal Joffre did not hesitate to avail themselves of this
feeling by plainly requesting the immediate dispatch of American
troops to France. While this course conflicted with the early plans of
the American General Staff, the latter had to recognize the immense
moral effect which the flying of the Stars and Stripes would have on
the Allied troops in the Franco-Belgian trenches, and the request did
not go unheeded. The country realized that the French importunity for
troops was born of an equally importunate need.
All the missions, except the British, were birds of passage, who
departed upon fulfilling their errands of securing American aid in
directions where it was most required. There was more permanency to
the British mission, owing to Great Britain's rôle of general provider
to her Allies, which called for the establishment of several British
organizations in New York and Washington as clearing houses. Mr.
Balfour and his suite left, to be succeeded by Lord Northcliffe, chief
proprietor of the London "Times," London "Daily Mail," and many other
British publications, who was commissioned by Lloyd-George to continue
the work Mr. Balfour had begun and to coordinate the ramifications
produced by extensive scope of the Allies' calls on American
industries for war equipment.
In the same direction the American Government consolidated its
energies in a War Industries Board, which it created to supervise the
expenditure of millions of dollars on equipping the American armies.
CHAPTER LXIX
IN IT AT LAST
The Administration decided to send an American expeditionary force to
France as an advance guard of the huge army in process of preparation.
Major General John J. Pershing was placed in command of this
expedition, which was believed to embrace an army division, a force of
the Marine Corps, and nine regiments of engineers. A veil of official
secrecy (religiously respected by the press in pursuance of the
voluntary censorship it imposed upon itself) was thrown over the
dispatch of the preliminary force, and nothing further was heard of it
until tidings came of the unheralded arrival of General Pershing in
England on June 8, 1917, and of the appearance of a number of American
warships off the French coast about the same time.
This latter event proved to be the safe arrival of a convoyed naval
collier, the _Jupiter_, which served as a harbinger of the fleet of
transports conveying the American troops. It carried a cargo of army
provisions, including over 10,000 tons of wheat.
The arrival of the first division of transports at an unnamed French
seaport was reported on June 26, 1917. They were signaled from the
deserted quays of the town at 6 o'clock in the morning, and as they
steamed toward port in a long line, according to an eloquent
eyewitness, they appeared a "veritable armada," whose black hulls
showed clearly against the horizon, while the gray outlines of their
escorting destroyers were almost blotted out in the lead-colored sea.
Dominating all was an enormous American cruiser with its peculiar
upper basket works. The warships went to their allotted moorings with
clockwork precision, while tugs took charge of the transports and
towed them to their berths. Resounding cheers were exchanged between
the troops which lined the rails of the incoming ships and the
populace which lined the quays.
The next day came a formal intimation from Paris that the first
expeditionary unit of American troops, in command of Major General
William L. Sibert, had safely reached their destination. Rear Admiral
Gleaves, commanding the destroyer force which accompanied the
transports, telegraphed the Navy Department to the same effect. But it
subsequently transpired that all had not been plain sailing in passing
through the submarine zone.
The expedition was divided into contingents, each contingent including
troopships and a naval escort designed to hold off any German raiders
that might be sighted. An ocean rendezvous had also been arranged with
the American destroyer flotilla under Admiral Sims, which had been
operating in European waters since May 4, 1917, in order that the
passage of the danger zone might be attended by every possible
protection. Frequent indications pointing to the presence of
submarines in the expedition's course were observed as the transports
neared European waters. The passage through the infested zone was
therefore made at high speed; the men were prepared for any emergency;
boats and life belts were at hand for instant use; and watches at
every lookout were heavily reenforced.
These precautions were timely and more than warranted. The first
contingent of transports was attacked twice by German U-boats. Admiral
Gleaves, describing these incidents in reporting to Admiral Mayo,
commander in chief of the Atlantic fleet, said the first attack was
made at 10.15 p. m. on June 22. The location, formation, and names of
the transports and the convoys, the speed they made, and the method
of proceeding, were suppressed in the account made public by the Navy
Department.
It appeared that the destroyers' flagship, which led the transport
fleet, was the first to encounter the submarine. At least the officer
on deck and others on the bridge saw a white streak about fifty yards
ahead of the ship, crossing from starboard to port at right angles to
the ship's course. The ship was sharply turned 90 degrees to starboard
at high speed, a general alarm was sounded, and torpedo crews were
ordered to their guns. One of the destroyers called _A_ and one of the
transports astern opened fire, the destroyer's shell being fitted with
tracers. Other members of the convoying destroyers turned to the right
and left. At first it was thought on board the flagship that the white
streak was caused by a torpedo, but later reports from other ships
warranted the conclusion that it was the wake of the submarine itself.
At 10.25 the wake of a torpedo was sighted directly across the bow of
the destroyer called _A_, about thirty yards ahead. The ship's course
was swung to the left, and shots were fired from port batteries in
alarm, accompanied by blasts from the siren. The destroyer then passed
through a wake believed to be from the passing submarine. A second
torpedo passed under the destroyer _A's_ stern ten minutes later.
Another destroyer known as _D_ was also the target of a torpedo which
passed it from starboard to port across the bow about forty yards
ahead of the ship, leaving a perceptible wake visible for about four
or five hundred yards.
The submarine sighted by the flagship immediately engaged the
attention of destroyer _B_. In fact it darted under the latter and
passed the flagship's bows, disappearing close aboard on the
flagship's port bow between the destroyer columns. The _B_ followed
the wake between the columns and reported strong indications of two
submarines astern, which grew fainter. The _B_ afterward guarded the
rear of the convoy.
So much for the ghostly movements of the submarine or submarines which
crossed the tracks of the first contingent of American transports on
the night of June 22. In the absence of more tangible proof of their
presence beyond that provided by white streaks and wakes on the sea
surface, the incident might well have been a false alarm. It only
occasioned much excitement and activity. But its interest lay in the
alertness of the destroyers to danger. The officers on board the
flotilla had no doubt at all that the danger was real. Admiral
Gleaves, indeed, saw circumstantial evidence of the menace in alluding
to a bulletin of the French General Staff which referred to the
activities of a German submarine off the Azores. This U-boat, the
bulletin said, was ordered to watch in the vicinity of those islands,
"at such a distance as it was supposed the enemy American convoy would
pass from the Azores."
The second contingent of transports, which arrived in France a week
later, had a similar experience, with the important difference that
their encounters with submarines took place in broad daylight, and
that the firing at one of them produced material traces of the enemy's
proximity. Two submarines were met on the morning of June 26, 1917,
one at 11.30, when the ships were about a hundred miles off the coast
of France, the other an hour later. The destroyer _H_, which was
leading, sighted the first U-boat, and the _I_ pursued the wake, but
without making any further discovery. The second episode was more
convincing of the actual presence of a submarine. The destroyer _J_
saw the bow wave of one at a distance of 1,500 yards and headed for it
at a rapid speed. The pointers at the destroyer's gun sighted its
periscope several times for several seconds; but it disappeared each
time before they could get their aim, which the zigzagging of the ship
impeded. Presently the _J_ passed about twenty-five yards ahead of a
mass of bubbles which obviously came from the submarine's wake. A deep
charge was fired just ahead of these bubbles. Several pieces of
timber, quantities of oil and débris then came to the surface. Nothing
more was seen of the submarine. There was plain evidence that it had
been sunk.
Two days later--on the morning of June 28, 1917, at 10 o'clock--the
destroyer _K_ opened fire at an object, about three hundred yards
ahead, which appeared to indicate a submarine. Admiral Gleaves
described it as a small object rising a foot or two high out of the
water, and leaving a small wake. Through binoculars he made out a
shape under the water, too large to be a blackfish, lying diagonally
across the _K's_ course. The port bow gun fired at the spot, and the
ship veered to leave the submarine's location astern. Then the port
aft gun crew reported sighting a submarine on the port quarter, and
opened fire. The lookouts also reported seeing the submarine under the
water's surface. The ship zigzagged and the firing continued. Not only
was the submarine seen but the lieutenant in charge of the firing on
the _K_ destroyer, as well as the gun crews and lookouts aft,
testified that it fired two torpedoes in the direction of the convoy.
The latter, however, had sheered off from its base course well to the
right when the alarm was sounded. The _K_ continued to zigzag until
all danger had passed, and duly joined the other escorts. The convoy
then formed into column astern.
No submarine ambuscades awaited the third group of transports. Their
voyage was quite uneventful. Apart from the probability that much of
the commotion marking the passage of the first and second contingents
might well have been due to groundless fears, the success of the
American expedition in safely landing in France registered Germany's
first defeat at the hands of the United States. It was her boast that
her submarines would never permit any American army to reach its
destination.
General Pershing was in Paris when the first transport contingent
arrived, and immediately set out for the French port to get in touch
with his troops. They were debarking in long lines when he arrived,
making their way to their temporary camp, which was situated on high
ground outside the town. Their debarkation signalized the actual
beginning of General Pershing's command in the European theater of war
of an army in being, as yet small, but composed of seasoned troops
from the Mexican border and marines from Haiti and Santo Domingo, all
fit and ready for immediate trench service. He had been greeted in
England as America's banner bearer, was immediately received by King
George on his arrival in London, while Paris accorded him, as London
did, the royal welcome which a sister democracy knows how to extend
to the representative of a democracy bound to the Anglo-French Entente
by the grimmest of ties. The landing of the vanguard of his army
disposed of further hospitalities and brought him squarely to the
business in hand, which was to get his troops in the fighting zone.
A section of the French battle front for eventual occupancy by the
American forces was early selected after General Pershing had
inspected the ground under the guidance of the British and French
military authorities. Its location, being a military secret, was not
disclosed. Meantime the troops were dispatched to training bases
established for affording them the fullest scope to become familiar
with trench operators. The bases also included aviation, artillery,
and medical camps. Further tidings of them thenceforth came from the
"American Training Camp in France," wherever that was. Toward the
close of July, 1917, actual intensive work was under way and pursued
with an enthusiasm which warranted hopes that the troops would soon
reach a stage of efficiency fitting them for the firing zone. Trenches
were dug with the same spirit as that animating soldiers digging
themselves in under artillery fire. The trenches were of full depth
and duplicated those of certain sections of the front line, consisting
of front or fire trenches, support trenches, and reserve trenches,
with intricate communicating passages between them.
The marines--those handy men who apply themselves to every service
in warfare, as to the manner born, whenever the occasion
requires--cheerfully bent their ardent energies to spade work, which
was probably a new task even for that many handed corps. Thereafter
they wired themselves in their trenches behind barriers of
barbed-metal entanglements.
All this intensive work was performed under conditions approximating
to actual warfare. Both offensive and defensive tactics were employed,
including lively sham battles with grenades, bayonets, and trench
mortars. For bayonet practice dummies were constructed and the men
were taught the six most vital points of attack. The troops were
entertained by stories telling how the French decorated and painted
their dummies to resemble the kaiser, Von Hindenburg, and other enemy
notables, and each company searched its ranks for artists who could
paint similar effigies.
Practice in trench warfare did not displace route marching. The
hardening process in that direction continued as part of the
operations. The men's packs increased in weight until they neared
fifty pounds. Duly the men would be equipped with steel helmets and an
extra kit, when their packs would weigh eighty pounds, like the burden
carried by the British troops. Accordingly the Americans were drilled
to bear this burden without undue fatigue. This was the stage American
operations in France had reached by the beginning of August, 1917.
Little was disclosed regarding naval movements--beyond the activities
of American destroyers, which were not only occupied in convoying
transports and passenger liners through the submarine zone, but
cooperated with British patrols in checking submarine destruction in
other lanes of travel. The British recognized them as a formidable
part of the grand Allied fleet.
As to the navy itself, its personnel was increased to 150,000 men.
Where the main American fleet was--whether with the British fleet at
the Orkneys, or stationed in some other zone--no event transpired to
give any clue. But patrol of the South Atlantic, as well as of the
American coast, was assumed by the Pacific coast fleet under Admiral
Caperton, the remaining French and British warships in those waters
acting under his authority.
Sea warfare conditions, outside the useful work of the American
destroyers provided by the German submarines, gave little scope for
naval operations, and it was assumed that the main American fleet,
like the British, was lying quiescent, with its finger on the trigger,
awaiting its opportunity. The Navy Department meantime busied itself
arming scores of American merchant vessels to brave the submarines,
and in carrying out an extensive building program, which included the
construction of hundreds of submarine chasers--a new type of swift,
powerfully armed small craft--as well as of many new destroyers.
PART IX--THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
CHAPTER LXX
FORESHADOWING REVOLUTION
Without danger of overstatement or exaggeration, it may be said that
the most dramatic feature of the Great War's history during the period
February-August, 1917, was the revolution in Russia. To outsiders,
acquainted with Russian conditions only superficially, it was
startlingly unexpected. A revolution, usually, is merely the climax of
a long series of events of quiet development, the result of a long
period of propaganda and preparation, based on gradually changing
economic conditions. The overthrow of the Russian autocracy seems to
have been an exception to this general rule--at least in part. For
even to close observers nothing seemed more dead than the
revolutionary organizations in Russia on the outbreak of the Great War
in the summer of 1914. To be sure, when the opportunity came, they
sprang into life again and were able to place themselves in control of
the situation. But the great climax certainly did not come about
through their conscious efforts.
For this reason a detailed description of the early revolutionary
movements directed against the czar's government is not necessary to a
thorough understanding of the events which so startled the world in
March, 1917. The causes which brought them about originated after the
outbreak of the war.
We were in the habit of describing the two great governments, that of
the German Empire and that of the Russian Empire, with the word
"autocracies." And in that each was, and one still is, controlled
absolutely by a small group of men, responsible to nobody but
themselves, this was true. Aside from that, no further comparison is
possible.
The German autocracy is the result of the conscious effort of highly
capable men who built and organized a system with thoughtful and
intelligent deliberation. With a deep knowledge of human psychology
and the conditions about them, they have guided their efforts with
extreme intelligence, knowing when to grant concessions, knowing how
to hold power without being oppressive.
The Russian autocracy was a survival of a former age, already growing
obsolete, rarely able to adapt itself to changing conditions, blindly
fighting to maintain itself in its complete integrity against them.
Change of any sort was undesirable to those controlling its machinery,
even though the change might indirectly benefit it. It had been
crystallized in a previous epoch, even as the tenets of its church
were the crystallized superstitions of a barbaric age. It was, in
fact, a venerable institution which certain men wished to perpetuate
not so much from self-interest as from a blind veneration for its age
and traditions. To them even the interests of the people were of far
less importance than the maintenance of this anachronism in its
absoluteness. Where the German rulers had the intelligence to divert
opposing forces and even to utilize them to their own benefit, the
Russian autocrats fought them and attempted to suppress them.
The chief of those forces which oppose autocracies are, naturally, the
growing intelligence of the people and the resulting knowledge of
conditions in other countries which they acquire. Realizing this fact,
at least, the Russian rulers were bitterly opposed to popular
education and made every effort to suppress the craving of the common
people for knowledge of any kind.
These facts considered, it is not surprising that the first
revolutionary movements in Russia should have been generated among the
educated classes, even among the aristocracy itself. As far back as a
century ago a revolutionary society was formed among the young army
officers who had participated in the Napoleonic Wars, and who, in
their contact with the French, imbibed some of the latters' democratic
ideas, though they were then fighting them. Failing in their efforts
to impregnate these ideas among the czar and his ruling clique, they
finally, in 1825, resorted to armed violence, with disastrous results.
Nicholas I had just ascended the throne, and with furious energy he
set about stamping out the disaffection which these officers had
spread in his army, and for the time being he was successful.
CHAPTER LXXI
THE RISE OF NIHILISM
The first agitators for democracy among the civil population were the
Nihilists, those long-haired, mysterious individuals whose
bomb-throwing propensities and dark plottings have furnished so many
Western fiction writers with material for romances. The Nihilists, so
well described as a type in Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons," were the
sons and daughters of the landed aristocracy, the provincial gentry,
who went abroad and studied in foreign universities, or, studying at
home, imbibed revolutionary ideas through foreign literature. Coming
together in small groups, they began to formulate ideas of their own
especially adapted to Russian conditions. At first these ideas were of
a nonpolitical character and extremely abstract. They wished to go
among the ignorant peasants and educate them in the Western sciences.
"Going among the people" was a phrase among them which assumed the
significance of a program. But with its antipathy toward all forms of
learning the Government soon showed its determination to suppress all
these efforts at educating the common people, and the youthful
agitators were arrested and thrown into prison by the hundreds.
As a matter of fact their abstract ideas had made little impression on
the ignorant mujiks, and had the Government ignored the Nihilists it
is probable that their organization would have died a natural death
from lack of success. But the opposition of the police only roused the
fighting spirit of the young aristocrats, and they not only became
more enthusiastic, but added recruits to their ranks more than enough
in numbers to fill the gaps made by those in prison. The persecution
by the police, furthermore, forced them to make a secret organization
of their loosely knit groups, and this too fired the romantic
imaginations of the young people.
The fight between the agitators and the police waxed stronger and more
bitter. Then one day all Russia was shocked by the news that a
Petrograd police chief had had a young woman in prison as a Nihilist
suspect disrobed and flogged.
Hitherto the Nihilists had been entirely peaceful in their methods;
violence had formed no part of their tactics. The indignation roused
within their ranks by the outrage to the young woman resulted in a
change. They decided to instill terror into the hearts of the
Government officials by a systematic policy of assassination, whereby
the most oppressive of the officials should be removed from their
field of activity by death. The first of these assassinations, not
quite successful, took place in Kiev in 1878. From then on violence on
both sides increased and the bitterness intensified until in 1881 it
culminated in the assassination of Alexander II. This so enraged the
Government officials and vitalized their energy that soon after all
the most active Nihilists had been captured or driven abroad, and for
some years there came a lull in the agitation for democracy in Russia.
But it was, after all, lack of success which had killed Nihilism
rather than the violent measures of the Government. Practically all of
the Nihilists had imbibed the radical doctrines of Karl Marx and
Michael Bakunin, especially those of the latter, himself a Russian and
more inclined toward violent anarchism than toward political
socialism. These doctrines were far too abstruse for the untutored and
practical minds of the peasants, and in most cases they had shown
animosity rather than sympathy toward the agitators.
Yet the Nihilist doctrines and program formed the basis for later
efforts toward creating a revolutionary spirit among the Russian
people. To this day the few surviving Nihilists of the early days,
notably Katherine Breshkovskaya, "the grandmother of the Russian
Revolution," are venerated by the people as the last representatives
of the heroic age.
It was not until the middle of the last decade of the nineteenth
century, after the succession of Nicholas II to the throne in 1894,
that revolutionary organization was revived in Russia. These modern
efforts were concentrated into two forms of organization. The largest
of these was the Social Democratic party, whose program consisted
mainly of organizing the working people in the large cities and
industrial centers. Its leaders were made up largely of recruits from
the educated middle classes and from the Jewish elements.
Second in size, though quite as important in influence, was the Social
Revolutionary organization. Though smaller in regard to membership,
its leaders and most active members were those same students from the
aristocratic classes which had made up the Nihilist groups. It was
interested in injecting its doctrines into the peasantry, rather than
propagating them among the working classes. And a certain branch of
the organization, known as the Fighting Branch, still practiced
assassination as a means to gaining its ends. As a result of its
activities some of the highest officials of the Government and the
most important dignitaries of the ruling clique lost their lives.
CHAPTER LXXII
REVOLUTIONARY DOCTRINES
As members of both these organizations are at present in power in
revolutionary Russia, it may be quite appropriate to enunciate their
fundamental principles.
The Russian Social Democrats, together with all the Socialist parties
of the world, stand for a democracy that shall be economic or
industrial as well as political. They contend that a nation, such as
the United States, which is democratic in its political organization,
but whose industries and natural resources are in private hands, is
democratic only in appearance. They stand for the socialized state
which, being controlled by the universal suffrage of its people, shall
in its turn own and control the natural resources and the industries
through which the people are supplied with their daily needs. Their
first aim is to gain control of the political machinery of the state,
then reorganize industry on a socialistic basis.
The aims of the Social Revolutionists are not so easily defined, for
the reason that there is more diversity of opinion among the
membership. Most of them are undoubtedly Socialists, and many again
are Anarchists of the Kropotkin school. Temperamentally the Russian is
much more an Anarchist than a State Socialist, more an individualist
than a collectivist. It is the Jewish element which gives the Social
Democrats their numerical superiority. As compared to the Social
Democrat it may be said that the Social Revolutionist, taking the
average, is opposed to the strongly centralized state and bases his
scheme of reconstruction on the local autonomy of the small community.
It is the same difference that may be found, or is supposed to exist,
between the principles of the Republican and the Democratic parties of
the United States. The Social Revolutionist is the Democrat of
Socialistic Russia; the Social Democrat is the Republican.
The failure of the war with Japan proved a strong stimulus to the
revolutionary movements in Russia. In fact, their activities compelled
the Government to conclude a peace when further hostilities might
have brought about the defeat of the Japanese. To bring this domestic
unrest to a head before it should gain too wide a volume, the
Government sent its own agitators among the workingmen and incited
them to make demonstrations and other forms of disturbance, which
should serve the police as a pretext for violent suppression. The
first of these demonstrations occurred on January 21, 1905, a date
which remains in: scribed in the pages of Russian history as "Red
Sunday." The workingmen, some thousands in number, were led by Father
Capon, a priest, who was at least under the influence of the
Government, if not in its pay. Against the wishes of the Social
Democrats, with whom his organization cooperated, he decided to lead a
great army of his followers to the gates of the palace and petition
the czar for constitutional government. When the unarmed demonstrators
arrived at the palace they were shot down by the hundreds and trampled
into the mud by the hoofs of the cavalry horses.
The outrage stirred the Russian people profoundly. The revolutionary
elements now began to act in earnest, though they were not quite as
prepared as they had wished to be. A general strike was organized, and
so effectively was it maintained that the czar and his clique promised
the people a constitution. But when the strike had been called off and
the disturbances subsided, it soon became evident that the promises
were not to be fulfilled. More than that, the police now began such a
series of repressive measures that again the fires on the revolution
were lighted. Most notable of these was the uprising in Moscow in
December, 1905, when the people and the soldiers fought bloody battles
in the streets. But the revolutionary forces lacked proper
organization, and were finally crushed. Of all the promises which had
been made only the Duma remained, amounting to little more than a
debating club with absolutely no independent legislative power.
The first Duma at least served to give some conception of the coloring
of public opinion in Russia. The majority of the deputies belonged to
the Constitutional Democrats, a political party which appeared and
represented the moderate progressives, those who wished a
constitutional monarchy and progressive reforms. Their leader was
Paul Milukov, a professor in the University of Moscow and at one time
professor in the University of Chicago.
The Duma, though the restrictive election laws had minimized the
revolutionary elements within it, clamored for the promised reforms
until it was finally dissolved by the Government. A number of deputies
went to Finland and there issued a manifesto with the object of
rousing a general demonstration, but without success. The second Duma
proved quite as progressive as the first and was also dissolved
arbitrarily. Then the electoral laws were made still more restrictive,
so that the landed nobility and the clergy should be more represented.
The third Duma, as a result, proved quite innocuous, and for five
years it sat, never attempting to initiate any changes, attracting
very little attention.
During this period reaction regained all its former ascendency, within
the Social Revolutionary organization it was discovered that the chief
of the fighting organization, Eugene Azev, was nothing more than the
paid agent of the secret police and that he had been delivering the
members of the organization into the hands of his masters as they
proved themselves most dangerous. The agent through whom the exposure
had been made, by an ex-police chief, was an obscure Russian
journalist, Vladimir Bourtsev, who at once rose to international
prominence as the "Sherlock Holmes of the Russian Revolution." To
maintain his reputation he began with much publicity further
investigations and discovered a great number of smaller-fry spies in
the organization, with the result that all mutual confidence of the
members was broken and the organization went completely to pieces.
After this, 1907, little more was heard in foreign countries of
Russian revolution. Within Russia itself the university students who
had formed the best material for the working committees turned their
energies in other directions, degenerating into the notorious
"candle-light clubs" and other somewhat depraved practices with free
love as a basis.
Nor had anything occurred to revive the hopes of the friends of
Russian freedom when hostilities broke out between Russia and Germany
in 1914, and the greatest of all wars was precipitated. Certainly not
within revolutionary circles. Among the peasantry and the working
classes, indeed, and of spontaneous origin, there had appeared a great
economic movement, more directly revolutionary in character than the
more picturesque terrorist organizations. This was the cooperative
societies. In the towns and cities and the industrial centers they
took the form of consumers' organizations in which the people combined
their purchasing power and conducted their own stores for the supply
of their daily needs. These local societies again federated into the
Moscow Wholesale Society, which purchased in bulk for its
constituents. In the rural districts the peasants organized for the
purpose of marketing their produce jointly; this form of cooperation
was especially marked in Siberia among the dairy farmers. Then there
were the credit societies, cooperative banks which federated in the
Moscow Narodni (People's) Bank, and so had millions of rubles at its
disposal with which to finance more cooperative organizations. All
these societies were much restricted by the police, but they gained
enough headway to play an important part in the economic life of the
nation after the outbreak of hostilities and to become a big element
in the final revolutionary movement.
Closely akin to the cooperatives, and of much older origin, were the
Zemstvos. These local governing organizations were established in 1864
by Alexander II to satisfy the desire of the peasants to express
themselves in local politics. The local Zemstvo is charged with the
administration of education, sanitation, medical relief for the poor,
maintenance of highways, and other local matters outside the sphere
of the central government. Naturally the Zemstvo was not intrusted
with any power that was likely to prove dangerous to the Petrograd
Government, but as the members were elected by popular suffrage,
restricted by certain qualifications demanding the ownership of
property on the part of the electors. The Zemstvos proved highly
effective training schools in which the peasants could learn
self-government and parliamentary procedure. The local Zemstvos, like
the cooperative societies, federated into district Zemstvos, which
sometimes had the control of large affairs on their hands.
CHAPTER LXXIII
RUSSIAN WAR SPIRIT AROUSED
With the declaration of war against Germany, slumbering Russia seemed
suddenly to awaken, and elements which had hitherto been antagonistic
joined together for the common purpose of repelling the German
invasion. Keenly patriotic, even to the point of fanaticism, in spite
of his ready acceptance of radical doctrines, the Russian is ever
ready to present a solid front against outside interference. Thus it
was that when the war began revolutionists who had fled from Russia,
or who had been exiled abroad, flocked home in great numbers and
offered their services to the autocracy to fight the Germans. Never
has Russia shown such unanimity of spirit and such solidarity of
purpose. The Japanese War had been so plainly one of aggression, and
in so distant a part of the world, that this same spirit had not been
manifested in 1904. But now the Germans, always hated by the Slavs,
were actually crossing the Russian frontier, close to the national
capital. All Russia rallied to the call for action. As a matter of
fact, it was the Russian autocracy itself which presently began
realizing that it had unintentionally and illogically arrayed itself
on the side of the forces which it had always fought, as the
revolutionary elements in Russia also presently began realizing that
they had followed their truest instincts in supporting the war against
Germany.
For within a few weeks after the outbreak of hostilities the war
assumed an entirely different character. In its first aspect it was a
quarrel between various autocracies over greed for influence and
territory. The Russian autocracy went into the fight because of its
pretensions in the Balkans. Then France and Great Britain, the two big
democracies of Europe, threw themselves into the conflict. They fought
to oppose the ambition of the German rulers to Prussianize the whole
of Europe. It soon became obvious that the Teutonic Powers wanted
something of immensely more importance than territorial gains in
Serbia; they wanted to become the masters of all Europe. And so the
initial character of the war changed within a few weeks: it developed
into a conflict between international democracy on the one hand and
international autocracy on the other hand. It was then when the
question of Serbia sank into comparative insignificance that the
Russian autocrats realized that they had enlisted on the wrong side.
But with the whole populace of the country enthusiastically united
behind it, the Government was swept onward; it was too late to make an
abrupt change of front.
Undoubtedly all the members of the ruling class of Russia realized
this fact. But in full justice to them it must be said that the large
majority of them, those who previously had supported the Government
against the revolutionary and progressive elements, decided to accept
the situation and support the war against Germany to a finish,
whatever the results might be in internal affairs after the war.
Within the governing clique, comprising some of the most influential
individuals, was a small group, later known as "the dark forces,"
which quickly came to the conclusion that democracy must be defeated
at all costs.
First of all came the czar himself. Nicholas, however, played a very
small figure as a personality in all the later intrigues. Weak of
character, almost to the point of being mentally defective, he
reflected only the personalities of those about him. Yet he was by
blood seven-eighths German.
Next came the czarina, entirely German, with not a drop of Russian
blood. Of a stronger personality, though scarcely more intelligent,
she formed the real power behind the throne, in so far as direct
control was concentrated in any one person. By persons of more
intelligence than herself she could be used in manipulating the will
of the czar to their own purposes. Behind her, or rather to one side
of her, stood a group of the Russian nobility of German origin,
descendants of the courtiers and officials brought into Russian court
circles by the German wives of Russian czars. These still retained
enough of their German sympathies to counteract any consideration they
might otherwise have felt for the interests of Russia itself,
especially as this was further strengthened by their realization that
the defeat of Germany would also mean the doom of Russian autocracy,
of which they were a part.
CHAPTER LXXIV
RASPUTIN, THE EVIL SPIRIT OF RUSSIA
The dominating figure of this dark circle of pro-Germans within the
Russian court was the monk Rasputin--Rasputin the peasant, the
picturesque, the intriguing, the evil medium through which the agents
of Germany manipulated the Russian Government toward their own ends,
the interests of the German autocracy. Such a figure could have played
a part in no other than a court of Oriental pattern, and such the
Russian court was.
Gregory Novikh was a Siberian by birth, the son of a common,
illiterate mujik, as illiterate and as ignorant as his father. Early
in life, while still a common fisherman, he showed abnormal qualities.
Degenerate, unrestrained in all his appetites, he possessed a magnetic
personality sometimes found in persons of that type. It was said that
no woman, even of the highest culture and quality, could resist his
advances. So loose was his behavior that he acquired the nickname of
Rasputin, which means a rake, a person of bad morals. And by this name
he gradually became notorious all over the land.
From fishing Rasputin turned toward easier ways of making a living.
He became an itinerant monk, a holy man, a mystic. A rôle he was able
to play on account of his peculiar hypnotic powers. As a religious
fakir he acquired influence over women of high degree, though his
manners were coarse and his person was decidedly unclean.
Eventually Rasputin made the acquaintance of Madame Virubova, the
favorite lady-in-waiting of the czarina. With the credulity of a
superstitious woman of her class, the czarina was a patroness of many
occult cults and had a firm belief in the influence of invisible
spirits. Rasputin was presented to her by the lady-in-waiting as an
occult healer and a person of great mystic powers. Immediately he was
asked to show his powers on the young czarevitch, Alexis, heir to the
throne, who was constitutionally weak and at that moment was suffering
especially from attacks of heart weakness. Rasputin immediately
relieved the sufferings of the child and so permanently established
himself with the czarina and even with the czar. As has been explained
since, Madame Virubova had previously administered a drug to the young
czarevitch, and by applying the antidote Rasputin had obtained
immediate results. Whether this story be true, or whether Rasputin
really did possess those peculiar healing powers which certain
abnormal persons undoubtedly do possess, the fact was that he remained
in court as a permanent attachment and acquired an influence there
which was equaled by no other person. He became, in actual fact, the
real ruler of all the Russias, for the prime minister who incurred his
displeasure did not long remain in power. Such a man, naturally, would
have many enemies, even within court circles, and efforts were made to
bring about the downfall of Rasputin. Once his enemies did actually
succeed in having him expelled from Petrograd for a while, but
immediately the czarevitch became critically ill and during his
absence the czarina was almost continuously hysterical. Again he was
invited back to court and then he set about building up his influence
into a political machine that was never again to be broken, even after
his death, until it became necessary for the reactionaries themselves
to help destroy the autocracy itself in order to purge Russia of the
spirit of Rasputin.
Rasputin, not the revolutionary movement, brought about the downfall
of czarism.
Yet up until after the outbreak of the war Rasputin had been
intelligent enough to refrain from interfering in matters of state
importance. His influence had thus far been wielded only to secure his
own position. Perhaps his keen instincts, rather than his
intelligence, warned him against too deep an interference in political
matters. To this self-restraint he owed his long continuance in power,
for though the situation was well known all over Russia, it was
regarded rather in the light of a joke. Rasputin's power was
underestimated, perhaps; he was more or less regarded as the pet
poodle of the czarina.
It was after the war that he suddenly changed his attitude. He was one
of the first to realize the danger to the autocracy that a German
defeat would mean; that the Russian court was ranged against the
forces which would perpetuate it. Whether it was this realization
which determined Rasputin to wield his powerful influence in favor of
Prussianism, or whether he had been bought by German gold, the fact
remains that he became the central figure about which revolved all
those "dark forces" which were working for either a separate peace
with Germany or the utter military defeat of Russia in the war. In
this object Rasputin and his allies nearly succeeded. It was to avert
this that practically all the social elements, both liberal and
reactionary, united with the revolutionists in overturning czarism.
What the plans of the dark forces were during the first year of the
war cannot now of course be definitely known. Perhaps they realized
that the utter inefficiency of the Russian autocracy would soon decide
the issue on the eastern front. And had there not appeared other
elements to guide and support the Russian soldiers at the front,
Russia would undoubtedly have been overrun by the German-Austrian
armies before the end of the first year.
But the patriotic enthusiasm which German aggression had awakened
also brought into life powerful social organizations created for the
purpose of supporting the army in its fight against the Germans. Five
days after war was declared a congress of all the Zemstvos met in
Moscow and organized the Russian Union of Zemstvos. A Central
Committee was appointed and, with almost unlimited funds at its
disposal, raised through subscriptions, set to work to supplement the
work of the Red Cross and the commissary department of the army, both
of which were obviously unable to meet the needs of the situation.
This organization practically took the place of the two other
departments of the Government, establishing hundreds of hospitals and
supplying their equipment, caring for the wounded soldiers, supplying
the soldiers at the front not only with their necessities, but with
tobacco, bathing facilities, laundries, and many other minor luxuries.
During the first two years of the war the Central Committee disbursed
over half a billion dollars. At the head of this organization,
democratic in form, as its president was Prince George Lvov, who was
later destined to play an important part in the organization of the
revolutionary government.
Another spontaneous and democratic organization which came into
existence to support the army against the Germans was the Union of
Towns, representing 474 municipalities in Russia and Siberia. It, too,
carried on a work similar to that of the Zemstvos, raising and
spending vast sums of money. Then came the cooperative societies,
supplying the army with food. In the towns and cities the consumers'
societies combated the intrigues of the food speculators, which were
even more active in Russia than they are in this country, and
stabilized prices. In some of the cities the local municipal
administrations turned over the whole problem of food supply to the
local cooperatives, doing nothing more than foot the bills. During the
war the membership of these societies rose to thirteen million. They,
too, were democratic in form.
It would seem that the Government could have done no less than accept
the cooperation of these social organizations thankfully and done all
in its power not to handicap them in their efforts. But this did not
happen. On the contrary, from the beginning they were hampered as
though they were dangerous revolutionary organizations. This policy
became even more pronounced later on, when the success of the Allies
made the dark forces desperate.
CHAPTER LXXV
TREACHERY OF THE AUTOCRACY
On the outbreak of the war the premier was Ivan L. Goremykin, a
typical autocrat, who had served under four czars, and who was now
well past seventy. As though utterly unconscious of the war situation,
he carried his administration on as he had done previous to the war.
First of all, he began a determined campaign of persecution of the
Jews, at a moment when the most violent anti-Semites would be
irritated by such a course. He even went so far as to have a number of
pogroms perpetrated and he spread persistent rumors that the Jews were
betraying the cause of Russia, in spite of the fact that they were
playing a leading part in the social organizations and were more than
proportionately represented in the army. Then he instituted similar
persecution among the Ruthenians and the Poles, and when Galicia was
occupied by the Russian military forces Goremykin sent there a number
of petty officials whom he instructed to make the inhabitants into
Russians according to old methods. Then when the commander in chief,
Grand Duke Nicholas, issued his manifesto promising the Poles liberty,
the Goremykin ministry completely ignored the promise. And finally, a
number of political refugees, who had returned from abroad to offer
their services, either in the army or in the social organizations,
were imprisoned or sent to Siberia.
Even the reactionaries who had previously supported all that the
Government stood for were indignant. This feeling became most manifest
in the Duma. In 1914 the Duma had been a reactionary body, the
majority of the deputies being in favor of trusting entirely to the
Government. In August, 1915, a most astonishing thing happened, the
Duma, with a large majority, which included Conservatives, Liberals
and Radicals alike, drew up a demand for a series of reforms,
including the institution of a cabinet responsible to the people
through itself. Another demand was for a general amnesty for all
political prisoners. This was the famous Progressive Bloc. Goremykin
refused even to discuss the program. Instead, he hurried to the czar
to get his signature to a decree proroguing the Duma, in which he
succeeded. The result was that the whole population rose in
threatening revolution, and this time the threat was not from the
revolutionary elements. Even former leaders of the Black Hundreds were
among the protestants. It was then that Rodzianko, the president of
the Duma, addressed a letter to the premier, placing the
responsibility of Russia's recent defeats squarely on him and added:
"You are obviously too old to possess the vigor to deal with so
difficult a situation. Be man enough to resign and make way for some
younger and more capable man." Then Goremykin resigned.
But the change was for the worse, rather than for the better, for the
next premier was a close friend and associate of Rasputin, a younger
man, to be sure, and more capable, but whose capabilities were to be
turned in the wrong direction. Boris Sturmer, a German by blood and
sympathies, former governor of Tver, one of the blackest of
reactionaries, was appointed to fill the vacant premiership.
Sturmer, where his predecessor had perhaps been merely incompetent,
now set about consciously to make a separate peace with Germany, and
this object he hardly took the trouble to hide. Through the censorship
he suppressed the loyal press and encouraged a number of papers which
openly denounced Russia's allies and demanded a separate peace with
the kaiser. Then he sent agents to Switzerland, there to confer with
representatives of the German Government, so openly that it was known
all over Russia, even among the peasants, that a separate peace was
being prepared.
CHAPTER LXXVI
PARTY INTRIGUES
Again the popular protest checked the machinations of the dark forces.
Then Sturmer turned deliberately to suppress the democratic
organizations. Early in 1916 he issued an order forbidding any of
these societies, which were keeping the armies in the field, from
holding meetings. Next the headquarters of all these organizations
were placed in charge of the police. And then came the removal from
the Cabinet of Sazonov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the one man
in whose loyalty to Russia the people had confidence. Sazonov had
always been a keen admirer of the British and the French, and was in
close touch with the embassies of these countries in Petrograd. To the
Russians he had seemed at least some sort of a guarantee against being
surprised with a sudden separate peace. Nor can there be any doubt
that he was a serious obstacle in the way of the dark forces in their
efforts to bring about their object. Sazonov's removal acquired still
deeper significance when it was announced that Sturmer himself would
take charge of foreign affairs, business of which he had absolutely no
experience.
Of a deep significance, though this was not obvious at the time, was
the appointment of Alexander D. Protopopoff as Minister of the
Interior. This was the man who was finally to kick aside the last
wedge shoring up the tottering walls of the Russian autocracy.
Protopopoff, who had for the first time entered politics in 1908,
being a cloth manufacturer of Simbirsk, was in that year elected a
deputy to the Duma by the moderate Octobrists, a conservative body
which usually sided with the Government. But when the Octobrists
joined the Progressive Bloc against the Government, Protopopoff had
shown himself quite radical and supported it. Quite unexpectedly, by
the resignation of a vice president of the Duma, he rose to prominence
by being elected to the vacant office. In the summer of 1916 he was
one of a delegation which visited England, France, and Italy. On his
return to Russia, through Stockholm, he there met and held a
conversation with a German agent, but at the time, though the matter
was taken up by the Duma for investigation, he managed to exonerate
himself. But, as became known, the incident caused him to attract the
attention of Rasputin, and he and the court favorite came together and
to an understanding. The result was his appointment to the cabinet.
At first it was hoped that Protopopoff would prove the sign of
surrender of the autocracy; that a liberal element was to be
introduced into the administration through him. But the new minister
showed himself in close harmony with Sturmer, and presently this last
hope was destroyed.
With Protopopoff a new idea was introduced into the Government. It was
he undoubtedly who conceived the idea of staging a revolution in
Russia, of creating or precipitating a premature uprising, as had been
done so successfully in 1905, but for a different purpose. The idea
now was to create such internal disorders as to give the Government a
pretext for making separate peace with the Central Powers. This might
deceive everybody; the revolutionary elements, which would be used as
the medium for the disorder, and the liberals and conservatives who
were now strongly anti-Government. In the midst of the turmoil the
separate peace could be effected; then the soldiers could be recalled
from the front and used in suppressing the revolution, a task that
could be easily accomplished with the vast number of men under arms.
As was later to be demonstrated, the dark forces did not reckon with
the psychological changes which the army was also undergoing.
Mysterious placards now began to appear in the factories and munition
shops calling on the workingmen to go out on strike and organize
demonstrations. Police agents, disguised as workingmen, went into the
industrial plants and began to preach revolution. It was easy enough
to utilize Socialist philosophy for this purpose. Why should the
workers of Russia fight the workers of Germany, when their interests
were identical? Why should they shed their blood for the ruling
classes, when the ruling classes were the only ones who could gain
through the war? The German Socialists were even then rising against
their masters; the Russian Socialists were urged to do likewise and so
join their German comrades in paving the way to the cooperative
commonwealth.
Fortunately the Social Democratic party had already issued a detailed
manifesto explaining why the Russian Socialists should stand by the
war. The genuine leaders of the Socialists should [see TN] the labor
organizations realized immediately the policy which the dark forces
were initiating. For once they came together with the liberals and
even with the conservative elements, and prepared to combat this
underhanded propaganda. Placards were posted and proclamations were
issued by the real leaders denouncing the impostors and explaining
their tactics. This underground fight among the laboring classes was
of long duration, however. In instituting this policy the dark forces
were indeed playing with the fire which was eventually to consume
them.
Throughout the war the food supply had been very bad, not on account
of any real scarcity of foodstuffs, but because of the inefficient
handling of the inadequate transportation facilities. In some
localities provisions rotted in the warehouses while in the large
cities the people were starving, on the verge of famine. Instead of
handling the food situation as the other belligerent countries were
doing, Sturmer encouraged a group of dishonest financiers to acquire
control of the food supplies, thereby making big financial profits
himself. This greediness on his part was, however, to cause his own
downfall before that of his associates. A traitor to his country, he
was also a thief.
CHAPTER LXXVII
THE WORK OF TRAITORS
Such were the tactics the dark forces had fully adopted in the fall of
1916, only a few months before the revolution. They deliberately set
about disorganizing the machinery of the nation to facilitate a
Russian defeat. As has been proved, they did not stop short of actual
treachery in the military field. The failure of the Rumanian defense
was the result of actual betrayal by those higher even than the
generals in the field. The Germans and Austrians had known every
detail of the campaign plans of the Rumanians and the Russian army
supporting them, and this information they had obtained directly from
Petrograd.
Had it not been for the fact that the whole nation was awaiting the
opening of the Duma to take place on November 14, 1916, it is more
than probable that the revolution would have taken place in the fall
of 1916 instead of four months later. It would then, however, have
been a far bloodier event, for then the disintegration of the
autocracy had not yet reached such a complete stage as it did in the
following spring, and it might have offered a far more serious,
perhaps a successful, resistance. But the last hope of the people was
in the Duma, and they awaited its session in that spirit.
The Duma convened on the date set, and then was witnessed the
remarkable spectacle of the conservative members denouncing the
Government with the fiery oratory of Socialist agitators. The
president himself, Michael Rodzianko, who hitherto had always been a
stanch supporter of the autocracy, being a prosperous landowner and
the father of two officers in a crack regiment, arraigned Sturmer as
once he had arraigned the revolutionary agitators. But it was left to
Professor Paul Milukov, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats, to
create the sensation of the meeting. He not only denounced Sturmer as
a politician, but he produced the evidence which proved beyond a doubt
that Sturmer was receiving bribes from the food speculators; the
specific case he brought up showed that Sturmer, through his
secretary, had offered to shield certain bankers under indictment for
a substantial consideration. Sturmer immediately took steps to
dissolve the Duma. But the czar, whose signature he needed, was at the
front. For the moment he was delayed.
During this interval another sensation occurred. General Shuvaiev,
Minister of War, and Admiral Grigorovitch, Minister of Marine,
appeared in the Duma, and declared themselves on the side of the Duma
and the people. This settled the fate of Sturmer. On his way to the
front to procure the signature of the czar to the proclamation
dissolving the Duma he was handed his dismissal.
His successor was Alexander Trepov, also an old-time bureaucrat, but
known not to be affiliated with the dark forces. It was hoped that he
would conciliate the angry people. But Trepov never played an
important part in later developments; the fight was now between the
Duma and the people on the one hand and the Minister of the Interior,
Protopopoff, on the other. This battle now began in earnest and was
destined to be fought out to a bitter finish.
With a brazen fearlessness which must be credited to him, Protopopoff
now arraigned himself openly against the whole nation and the Duma,
with only the few hundreds of individuals constituting the dark forces
behind him. But these sinister forces included Rasputin, the
all-powerful, the czarina, and, unconscious though he himself may have
been of the part he played, the czar himself.
Protopopoff now began persecuting the members and the leaders of the
social forces as though they were the veriest street agitators for
Socialism. Next he endeavored to have Paul Milukov assassinated, but
the assassin repented at the last moment and revealed the plot. Then
he gathered together former members of the Black Hundreds and
recruited them into the police force and trained them in machine-gun
practice. And finally he renewed the energy with which he had begun to
organize revolutionary disorders among the workers.
All Russia was against him, even to the great majority of the members
of the Imperial family. His own mother had warned the czar that
disaster threatened him. As early as December, 1916, the Grand Duke
Nicholas Michailovitch had held a long interview with the czar in
which he had openly denounced the czarina and Rasputin in such strong
terms that when he had finished, having realized he had gone extremely
far, he remarked:
"And now you may call in your Cossacks and have them kill me and bury
me in the garden." In reply the czar only smiled and offered the grand
duke a light for the cigarette which he had been fingering in his
nervous rage. It was by a member of the Imperial family that the first
vital blow was struck at the dark forces. In the early morning hours
of December 30, 1916, a dramatic climax was precipitated.
It was then that a group of men drove up in two motor cars to the
residence of Prince Felix Yusupov, a member of the Imperial family
through his having married a cousin of the czar. Among the men in the
two cars were Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch, ex-Minister of the
Interior, A. N. Khvostov, also an ex-Minister of the Interior, and
Vladimir Purishkevitch, at one time a notorious leader of Black
Hundred organizations, but since the beginning of the war an active
worker in the social organizations and a deputy in the Duma, where he
formed one of the Progressive Bloc.
A few minutes later the policeman on duty in the neighborhood heard
shots within the house and cries of distress. On making an
investigation he obtained no satisfaction, nor did he dare to continue
his inquiry on account of the high rank of the owner of the house.
Again the men came out of the house and carried between them a large
bundle resembling a human form, which they hustled into one of the
automobiles and rode off.
Next morning blood spots were found in the street where the motor cars
had stood. Then a hole was discovered in the ice covering the river
Neva, beside which were found two bloody goloshes. Further search
revealed a human body, which proved to be the corpse of no less a
person than the notorious monk Rasputin himself.
CHAPTER LXXVIII
THREATENING OF THE STORM
Thus was Rasputin finally removed from his sphere of evil influence by
men who before the war had been of the very inner circles of the
autocracy, but who had gradually undergone a great change of opinion.
They believed that even the autocracy itself was only secondary in
importance to Russia herself, and they had taken it upon themselves,
after doing all in their power to circumvent the traitors through
legitimate means, to remove the archconspirator as such creatures
usually were removed in the days when they were more common. Rasputin
had been lured to the house of Prince Felix and there killed.
It was said that the czarina was hysterical for days after the
sensational news had swept over all Russia and Protopopoff fainted
upon being informed of the death of his dark ally and master. The
czar, who was at headquarters at the front, hurried home to Tsarskoe
Selo. And then, as though to insult the nation, the dead mujik was
buried with such pomp as was accorded only to members of the Imperial
family, the emperor and Protopopoff being among the pallbearers.
The people treated the event as though it were a great military
victory, rejoicing unrestrainedly. The premier, Trepov, who though a
mere figurehead, was still loyal to Russia and secretly an enemy of
Rasputin and Protopopoff, allowed all the details of the assassination
to be published in the papers, even to the names of those concerned in
the actual killing. These latter were of too high a rank to be
punished, besides which popular sentiment stood solidly behind them.
Trepov himself did not prosecute them because of his sympathy with
their deed.
Now that Rasputin, the undoubted leader and master mind of the dark
forces was dead, there was universal hope that the pro-German
conspiracy was killed with him. But the machine he had built up for
his own protection and medium through which to accomplish his ends was
too well organized to be broken even by his removal. Into Rasputin's
place stepped Protopopoff. He maintained his hold over the czar by
means of spiritualistic séances in which he pretended to have
communication with the spirit of the dead monk. The conspiracy
continued unabated, only now Protopopoff worked with the fury of
desperation. And so the crisis soon came to a head.
All Russia, save for the small palace group, was against him. At the
new year reception held in the palace he was most severely humiliated
by Rodzianko, the president of the Duma, who, when Protopopoff
approached him with extended hand, swung his back to him, causing a
sensation all over the country. At another time, when he entered the
rooms of the aristocratic club in Petrograd, of which he was a member,
all the other members present walked out. Yet he had the courage of
his evil convictions; with the desperate fury of a tortured bull in
the ring he faced all his enemies and continued on his path, the whole
nation against him.
Trepov, who had shown his sympathy for the executioners of Rasputin,
was removed. So were the Ministers of War and Marine, who had declared
themselves for the people. Black reactionaries and pro-Germans were
placed in their posts. Then he began arresting all the labor leaders
who were agitating against strikes and demonstrations and in favor of
prosecuting the war, leaving his own hirelings, who were preaching
strikes and revolution, to continue their efforts unharmed. This was
about the most obviously significant act he had yet committed. Then
the food-supply trains arriving daily in Petrograd were deliberately
halted in the provinces and the population drifted on to the verge of
actual famine.
Then Protopopoff's efforts, in the early days of March, 1917, began to
bear fruit. In spite of the warnings of the few loyal labor leaders
still at liberty, the workers began to grumble and to talk revolt.
Their stomachs were empty. On February 27, 1917, when the Duma went
into session again, 300,000 workingmen had gone out on strike in
Petrograd. The air was charged with electricity. Everybody realized
that the critical moment was approaching: the final battle between the
dark forces and the people.
On March 1, 1917, the only two leaders of the labor organizations
which supported the Duma issued an appeal exhorting the workers to
return to work.
And this appeal in favor of order and law was censored by the
Government.
Further proof of the treachery of Protopopoff were not needed; this
was the most convincing which had yet appeared.
During the first week of March, 1917, the unrest among the populace
continued growing, and the Duma and the labor leaders felt themselves
regarding the situation helplessly. Small riots occurred and martial
law was immediately declared. Food was so scarce that even the wealthy
were starving.
But Protopopoff had made one mistake: he was also starving the troops
garrisoning Petrograd.
On March 9, 1917, the street railways ceased running on account of a
strike of the street railway men. The streets were full of excited
crowds, though as yet no violence had been committed. Cossacks and
soldiers also patrolled the thoroughfares, while squads of police were
on the housetops, covering the street corners with machine guns.
Protopopoff wanted revolution, but he did not mean to allow it to
succeed. All he wanted was a few days of violent disorder, a prolonged
Red Sunday, during which a separate peace with Germany and Austria
might be proclaimed.
But the violence did not break out so soon as he desired. The strike
was spreading; by the 10th it had become practically universal. But
meanwhile the workingmen were quietly organizing. Electing delegates,
they formed the Council of Workingmen's Deputies, which immediately
took over the control of their movements. It was this fact which
caused what might have been a blind uprising of desperate people to
assume the character of an organized revolution. On this date the
Duma, which had been in continual session, broke off relations with
the Government with a resolution stating that "with such a Government
the Duma forever severs its connections." In response to this act the
czar issued a decree ordering the dissolution of the Duma.
On the following day, Sunday the 11th, the members of the Duma
unanimously decided to ignore the decree of the czar and to hold what
was to prove the first session of the Duma as the representative body
of the Russian democracy.
Meanwhile the street demonstrations continued, augmented by those
workers who had not yet gone out on strike and were simply out on
their weekly day of rest. A proclamation had been issued by the
military authorities forbidding gatherings, adding that the severest
measures would be resorted to in breaking them up. But no notice was
taken of this order. The Cossacks were riding through the crowded
streets, but, in sharp contrast to their behavior of former times,
they took great care not to jostle the people even, guiding their
horses carefully among the moving people.
CHAPTER LXXIX
REVOLUTION
The first actual violence was begun by the police, who opened fire on
the crowds in certain sections of the city from the housetops with
their machine guns. A number of demonstrators were killed and wounded,
but still the disorders did not yet become general. Where the police
opened fire the more resolute elements of the crowds rushed in to
attack them and killed them. And now came Protopopoff's pretext for
ordering the soldiers to fire and to begin such a massacre as had
squelched the premature uprising on Red Sunday twelve years before.
It was at this point that one of the most vital arrangements of
Protopopoff's scheme snapped.
There were 35,000 soldiers in Petrograd at this time, more than
sufficient to suppress any uprising. Neither Protopopoff nor the most
radical members of the Duma doubted that the soldiers would obey the
orders of their officers, and shoot down the crowds on the streets.
When had Russian soldiers ever refused to suppress demonstrations of
the people? "The revolution is on," cried Milukov, "but it will be
drowned in blood!" In this supposition both sides were to prove
greatly mistaken.
The Russian army of March, 1917, was a very different organization
from the Russian army of March, 1914. First of all, it was now
composed of men who three years before had been part of the Russian
people. The regular professional army, the standing establishment,
which had been the support of the autocracy, had been practically
drowned in the vast influx of recruits. Furthermore, the old,
well-trained regiments constituting the regular army had been
decimated in the fierce battles along the Russian front, some of
them being annihilated. They had been eliminated. Of still more
importance there had been a change in the minds of the highest army
leaders themselves. Whatever might have been their attitude toward
the autocracy and the people in the days of old, like their
colleagues, the civilian reactionaries, they had seen the autocracy
and the social organizations contrasted; they were profoundly
patriotic and they realized what Rasputin and his dark forces had
stood for, what Protopopoff stood for; they had personally, most of
them, pleaded with the czar to clean the court of the sinister
pro-German influences--with absolutely no success. They realized
that the country must choose between the autocracy as it was and a
government of the people if Prussianism was to be defeated, and they
did not hesitate in their choice.
Among these army leaders, who had undergone such a change of
psychology, was no less a person than the Grand Duke Nicholas
Nicholaievitch himself, who had been removed from his command of the
armies facing the Austro-Germans and transferred to the minor field of
operations against Turkey, only because he had protested against the
influence of an illiterate Siberian mujik.
With very few exceptions, the army leaders, from the commander in
chief down to the regimental commanders, stood arrayed on the side of
the Duma. So clever an intriguer as Protopopoff should have realized
this.
One of the first regiments to be called out to fire on the people
after the first encounters between the machine-gun squads of the
police and the demonstrators was the famous Volynski Regiment,
notorious in Russian revolutionary history. Never had it failed its
masters. A noncommissioned officer of this crack regiment,
Kirpitchnikov, immediately made the round of the soldiers and the
other noncommissioned officers. They organized a committee which
approached the officers. The latter, with the single exception of the
colonel, stood with the committee. When the order came to fire on the
people, they shot the colonel, formed, shouldered their pieces, and
marched out on the streets as the first organized body of soldiers to
fight for the awakening Russian democracy.
Persuading several other guard regiments to join them, they attacked
Protopopoff's police squads. This event occurred at 5 o'clock in the
afternoon of the 11th, and marked the beginning of the actual
revolution. The fighting begun by the mutinied soldiers now became
general. One by one other regiments were called out, but with very few
exceptions all refused to fire on the people and joined the
revolutionists. Then the Cossacks came over in a body. As twilight
approached the firing in the streets became general and continuous.
Meanwhile Michael Rodzianko, president of the Duma, made one more
effort to avert the great crisis. The czar, having been assured by
Protopopoff several days previous that all danger was over and the
situation well in hand, had gone to army headquarters at the front. To
him Rodzianko sent a telegram worded as follows:
"The situation is extremely serious. Anarchy threatens in the capital,
transportation of provisions is completely disorganized, and fighting
has begun in the streets. It is of vital importance that a new cabinet
be formed by some person enjoying the confidence of the people. Each
moment of delay adds to the disaster. May the responsibility for a
great national calamity not fall upon your head."
To this telegram the czar made no answer.
CHAPTER LXXX
THE CULMINATION
Meanwhile the deputies sat in session, helpless, regarding the
situation with growing alarm. After all, the majority were naturally
conservatives and feared revolution. As a matter of fact, they allowed
themselves to lose grip of the situation.
As has already been said, the uprising was not a blind force giving
vent to elemental feeling, but a thoroughly organized revolutionary
movement. The old revolutionary forces had awakened in time to take
control of the developing situation. It was the leaders of the Social
Democrats, the Social Revolutionists, the successors of the old-time
Nihilists and the labor leaders, who were proving themselves masters
of the situation. The Duma sat quiet, inert, and so lost its
opportunity. It hated the dark forces on the one hand, it feared the
revolution on the other, and at the critical moment helped neither.
What saved it from being completely discredited was the fact that a
number of the revolutionary leaders, such as Alexander Kerensky and
Tcheidze, both Socialists, were also deputies in the Duma, and, being
of well-balanced minds, realized that they must have the support of
those elements which the Duma represented to succeed. The real center
of government of the new democracy, then rising out of the birth pangs
of the nation, was the Council of Workingmen's Deputies.
This organization on the part of the active revolution was largely
completed during the night of the 11th, even while heavy firing swept
up and down the streets of the city. When Monday morning dawned the
various radical and labor leaders had knit themselves together in the
Council of Workingmen's Deputies and were in control of the
revolutionary forces through a great number of subcommittees. An
intelligent plan of campaign for the actual military or fighting
operations had been drawn up and was followed with an efficiency that
would have done credit to organized troops. Undoubtedly the officers
of the mutinied regiments who had gone over to the side of the people
helped, but the revolutionary commanders did not for a moment allow
them to take control of the situation. The red flag of International
Socialism was raised that Monday morning as the emblem of the new
régime, and to the present moment it continues flying.
The dominating brain, the vital moral force, behind the revolution was
Alexander Kerensky, the young Socialist lawyer.
On Monday morning the revolutionary column headed by a regiment of the
mutineers delivered an attack on the Arsenal, after dispersing the
police groups in the neighborhood. The commandant, General Matusov,
proved loyal to Protopopoff and offered resistance, but after some
sharp fighting the garrison was overcome and Matusov killed. The
capture of the Arsenal gave the revolutionists possession of a supply
of rifles, small arms, machine guns, and ammunition more than ample to
equip all their fighting forces. The artillery depot was also taken,
and now the revolutionary soldiers, most of them students and
workingmen, organized into flying detachments which scoured the city
in automobiles and hunted down the police as though they were wild
animals. The jails and prisons too were broken into and all the
political prisoners liberated. And so fell the notorious Peter and
Paul Fortress, the Bastille of Russia, in which some of the finest
minds of the Russian revolutionary movement, both men and women, had
been done to death with horrible torture. In the confusion some
criminals also escaped, but in spite of their presence in the fighting
crowds, there was very little looting or disorder, such as invariably
attends violent uprisings. Schlusselburg Prison, another monument to
martyred advocates of freedom, also fell. Then, headed by one of the
old revolutionists, just released from a long imprisonment, the people
turned on the most hated of all the old institutions, the headquarters
of the secret police. This building was stormed, its defenders killed
and then burned to its foundations, together with all its records.
Everywhere the revolutionary forces were successful, meeting
comparatively little resistance.
Meanwhile the Duma continued inactive, except that Rodzianko sent a
second telegram to the czar and also a telegram to each of the
prominent army commanders, begging them to make their personal appeals
to the czar, that he might be persuaded to take some action which
would at least save him his throne nominally.
"The last hour has struck," wired the Duma president. "To-morrow will
be too late if you wish to save your throne and dynasty."
And again the czar, misled by a false adviser, refused to heed.
Various accounts would seem to indicate that he was drunk at the time.
By this time 25,000 soldiers of the garrison had joined Kerensky's
revolutionary army under the red flag. Then came a committee from
these soldiers to the doors of the Duma with the demand:
"We have risen and helped the people overturn the autocracy. Down with
czarism! Where do you stand?"
President Rodzianko, speaking for the Duma, showed them his telegrams
demanding a ministry of the czar responsible to the people, and said
that they stood for a constitutional democracy. The soldiers were
satisfied. Then soldiers began arriving at the Taurida Palace, the
meeting place of the Duma, to acknowledge their recognition of its
authority. This was done under the influence of deputies Kerensky,
Tcheidze, and Skobelev, all Socialists, who felt the need of having
the cohesion of the Duma to the revolution. At about this time the
newly appointed premier, Golitzin, who had succeeded Trepov,
telephoned his resignation to the Duma. The other members of the
cabinet had disappeared.
That afternoon the Duma appointed a committee of twelve members,
representing all parties, which should represent its authority and
should assist the revolutionary organizers in maintaining order. These
latter held a separate meeting in another room of the palace and
issued an appeal to the populace to refrain from excesses. An election
of deputies to the Council of Workingmen's Deputies was then called
for that evening, the name of the council being now changed to the
Council of Workingmen and Soldiers' Deputies.
CHAPTER LXXXI
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
By this time the firing in the streets had died down. Desultory
fighting still continued in the outskirts of the city between patrols
of the revolutionary forces and policemen, but by evening calm once
more settled down over the city. The autocracy was dead; the
revolution had been won. The dead and wounded had been collected and
the latter were being cared for. The dead amounted to slightly less
than two hundred.
The two committees--the one representing the Duma and the one
representing the red radicals--were in joint session all that night
working with a harmony that would have seemed incredible only a week
before. On the following morning they issued two proclamations. The
first simply appealed to the people to remain calm and commit no
excesses. The other announced the establishment of a new government
for Russia, which should be based on universal suffrage. Then the Duma
committee issued a special appeal to army officers to support the new
régime. All day delegations from various organizations of both social
and military life of the capital appeared before the doors of the Duma
to offer allegiance, and again and again Milukov and Kerensky, each
the popular hero of their separate elements, the one of the liberal
middle classes and the other of the radical working classes, were
called out to deliver addresses to crowds of enthusiastic people.
Despite their differences of opinion, these two and their fellows
worked together with an ideal harmony, each supporting the other with
his constituency. Perhaps no greater anomaly was ever presented in
history than the spectacle of Rodzianko, ultraconservative, and
Kerensky, radical Socialist, each addressing a large crowd, the one in
one courtyard the other in another courtyard, exhorting their
audiences to stand shoulder to shoulder for a common purpose. Nothing
but the knowledge that on the morrow the Prussians might be thundering
at the gates of the city could have produced such harmony of action
between two such differing types.
Another picturesque incident of the actual revolution occurred when
the Imperial Guards at the palace revolted and, having disposed of
their commanders, sent a committee in to arrest the czarina, who was
attending her children, all of whom were ill with the measles.
"Do not hurt me or my children," she appealed, "I am only a poor
Sister of Charity." A guard was left over her while the main body of
the regiment went over to Taurida Palace to place itself at the
disposal of the Provisional Government.
Meanwhile other notorious members of the dark forces were apprehended.
Ex-Premier Boris von Sturmer, the traitor whom Milukov had denounced
as a thief, and who had since his downfall been a member of the court
camarilla, was arrested and put in a cell lately occupied by a
political prisoner. Next came the metropolitan of the church, Pitirim,
an appointee of Rasputin, a feeble old man in a white cap and a black
cassock, tottering in the midst of a crowd of laughing and jesting
soldiers and workingmen, showing him, however, no other violence than
with their tongues. One by one all the members of the old régime were
brought in, or they came of themselves. Finally the archconspirator,
Protopopoff himself, was the only one of note still at large. For two
days his whereabouts remained unknown. As developed later, he was
hiding in the house of a relative.
On the evening of the 13th an old man in civilian dress appeared
before the main doorway of the Duma headquarters. A civilian guard, a
student, stood there.
"I am Protopopoff," said the man to the astonished guard; "I have come
to surrender myself to the Duma and to recognize its authority. Take
me to the right person."
The guard shouted the ex-minister's name in his excitement and a crowd
quickly gathered. Even the perennial good humor of a Russian crowd
forsook this gathering and it began to assume the aspect of a Western
vigilance committee. There were angry shouts; the archtraitor,
Protopopoff, was before them in person. But before actual violence
could be offered the old man, Kerensky, the Socialist leader, leaped
into the crowd and allayed the excitement, thus saving Protopopoff's
life.
Another strange feature of the day's events was the appearance of
Grand Duke Cyril on the balcony of his own house, uttering a
revolutionary speech to the crowds on the pavement below. He declared
himself unequivocally for the new government, wherever it might lead,
and appealed to the people to support it. Meanwhile the Duma committee
sent telegrams to all the commanders along the various fronts and to
the admirals of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, stating the bare
facts and asking their adhesion to the Provisional Government. From
all came ready professions of loyalty and adhesion. Similar telegrams
were sent to all the towns and cities throughout the provinces. And
all the country responded similarly. With very little violence the old
régime was upset all over Russia and local councils elected to work in
harmony with and under the authority of the Provisional Government in
Petrograd. The French and British ambassadors too hastened to inform
the president of the Duma that their respective governments recognized
its authority and were prepared to enter into diplomatic relations
with the Duma committee.
On the 14th the streets of Petrograd had assumed their normal quiet,
if not their normal appearance, for it was somewhat unusual not to
observe a single policeman in sight. Every member of the police was
either in prison, in the hospital, or dead. The maintenance of order
was given over to a civilian police, or city militia, under the
command of Professor Yurevitch, the first time in Russian history that
a college professor had ever undertaken such a function. On this day
the garrison of the fortress of Kronstadt and the sailors of the fleet
stationed there mutinied, killed their commanders and came over to the
cause of the revolution. That evening the Duma committee issued a
proclamation worded as follows:
"Citizens! The wonderful event has transpired! Old Russia is dead. The
Committee of Safety of the Duma and the Council of Workingmen's and
Soldiers' Deputies are bringing back order into the city and the
country.... The most pressing need now is food supplies for the people
and the army. Assist with bread and your labor."
Until now since the last of the fighting the control of affairs had
been in the hands of the two committees, one representing the radical
revolutionists and the other the middle class and aristocratic Duma.
Each committee appealed to its constituency to respect the authority
of the other.
During all of the next morning, the 15th, the two committees were in
continuous joint session, planning the formation of a cabinet or set
of officers for the Provisional Government. Early in the afternoon
this labor was concluded and the members of the new government were
announced. Prince George Lvov, he who had organized the Zemstvo Union
and served so efficiently as its president, was Premier and Minister
of the Interior. Though an aristocrat of the bluest blood, he was
extremely liberal in his views. Never had he been an autocrat, even
in sympathy. Paul Milukov, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats,
was Minister of Foreign Relations. He represented the middle-class
liberals or progressives, constituting what in this country would be
called the business men and professional class, as Lvov represented
the broad-minded country gentry. Alexander Kerensky, the radical
Socialist, an old member of the Social Revolutionists, the
organization of many assassinations, was named Minister of Justice.
Less fanatical and more balanced than many of his associates, he
represented the connecting link between the two sharply contrasting
elements which constituted the new government. To him the red flag of
International Socialism meant more than the flag of national
patriotism, but he, as some of his associates did not, realized that
national patriotism must not be destroyed until the spirit of
international brotherhood was an established fact; that world
federation must rest first on national unity. He proved then, though
still a man in his early thirties, the dominant figure of the
situation, a position which he has retained to an increasing degree
ever since.
The other members of the new cabinet were: M. A. I. Gutchkov, chairman
of the War Industries Committee, Minister of War and Marine. In
earlier life he had been a soldier of fortune, having fought under
many flags, for many causes, including that of the Boers in South
Africa. In politics he was conservative. Andrei Shingarev, a
Constitutional Democrat, was made Minister of Agriculture, an
important post, for under his charge came the complicated problem of
food supply, to be solved by means of a transportation all too
inadequate in its lack of rolling stock to supply both army and people
together. A physician by profession, he was also an expert on finance.
Neither Rodzianko, president of the Duma, nor Tcheidze, the president
of the Council of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies, was represented
in the cabinet, though both had taken important and leading parts in
the revolution and the organization following.
The policy agreed upon was a compromise between the two elements in
the new government. The Duma party could not yet face the possibility
of a pure republic, and desired a constitutional monarchy under the
czar, reducing him to a mere figurehead, to be sure. The radicals
wanted a clear-cut democracy. Between them, by mutual compromise, they
agreed that the czar should be deposed and his brother Grand Duke
Michael should be proclaimed regent, with the Czarevitch Alexis as
heir apparent. The new constitution, which was to be as liberal as the
most progressive in the world, must, it was decided, be worked out in
detail by a national congress or constituent assembly which should be
elected by universal suffrage as soon as possible. The more important
and pressing task before the nation, it was realized by both elements,
was the organization of transportation that both the people and the
army might be supplied with food and that munitions and other military
supplies might be sent to the front. The armies of two great empires
were still to be defeated before there could be any detailed
discussion of forms of government.
CHAPTER LXXXII
THE CZAR ABDICATES
Meanwhile where was the czar? As yet not a word had been heard from
him. He seemed to have been lost in the confusion. And as a matter of
fact he was as though he were the lost soul of the dead autocracy
wandering about in space, mournfully looking for some spot on which he
might alight.
As has already been stated, Nicholas was at the general headquarters
of General Alexiev, the commander in chief, when the crisis was
precipitated in Petrograd. With him were a number of his personal
toadies, among them Baron Fredericks, the Court Minister, said to have
been responsible for most of the evil influences during past years.
Another of his companions was General Voyeykov.
The two telegrams from Rodzianko had been received, but it seems
probable that they had been intercepted by either one of these two
attendants. At any rate, they must have counteracted whatever
influence the telegrams might have had on the weak-willed man's
decisions. General Alexiev, too, in response to Rodzianko's telegram
to himself had attempted to bring the czar to a realization of the
seriousness of the situation. Nevertheless he did nothing. Of the many
personal pictures of the czar which have been painted by those who
have known him personally one stands out predominantly: a little man
with a weak face, twirling his mustache with one hand and alternately
looking out of the window or fixing the speaker with a semi-vacant
stare.
Nicholas stood so when Alexiev explained to him the situation in the
capital and then pleaded with him to grasp his last opportunity. But
this last opportunity he allowed to slip by. Undoubtedly he could then
have saved himself. Had he been a man of broad intelligence he might
have come forward and averted the rising storm by granting even less
than the autocracy of Germany has conceded to the German masses. Thus
he might have emerged more firmly fixed in his high position than ever
before. There are those who assert that Nicholas is mentally
defective. Certainly the facts bear them out.
Finally there came an urgent appeal from his wife to return to
Tsarskoe Selo, and this, a purely domestic matter, he understood.
Together with his suite he started on a train, his escort under the
command of General Tsabel. All had been drinking heavily, and when
finally the news of the uprising came through in full detail, they
were all inclined to minimize the importance of what had happened. On
the morning of the 14th General Voyeykov briefly summarized the
situation to the czar, then added that General Ivanov, the one
commander at the front who still remained faithful to the autocracy,
was advancing on Petrograd with a regiment of picked men and he would
soon restore order. General Tsabel overheard this conversation. He
thereupon showed a telegram which he had just received from Petrograd
in which he was ordered to bring the czar's train direct to the city
instead of to Tsarskoe Selo.
"How dare they give such orders!" demanded Nicholas.
"This order," replied General Tsabel, "is backed by sixty thousand
officers and soldiers, who have gone over to the revolutionists."
Nicholas was now finally impressed by actual fact.
"Very well," he said, suddenly, "if it must be so, it must. I will go
to my estate in Livadia and spend the rest of my days among my
flowers."
But even that was not a final decision. On approaching Petrograd and
Tsarskoe Selo the news came through that the garrison at the latter
place had gone over to the revolutionists. The czar now insisted that
he would go to Moscow, which he believed still remained loyal. But
presently there came a telegram announcing that the Moscow garrison
had also revolted.
All day the train rolled back and forth from point to point, with no
destination in view, the czar and his suite hoping to find some break
in the wall about them. At Dno General Ivanov joined the party and
advised the czar to go to the army. It was later said that he and
General Voyeykov suggested that the Russian lines be thrown open at
Minsk and the Germans be allowed to come in to suppress the
revolution. To his credit be it said, however, that Nicholas refused
to consider this last resort.
He next went to Pskov, the headquarters of General Russky, in command
of the army nearest to Petrograd, hoping to persuade that commander to
send a large enough force to Petrograd to suppress the revolution. At
8 o'clock in the evening he arrived. But Russky, together with all the
other army leaders, including the Grand Duke Nicholas, who had
conferred together by means of telegrams, had decided to support the
Duma.
At 2 o'clock next morning, on the 15th, the czar met Russky. The
latter explained to him his position, and then called up Rodzianko by
telephone. Rodzianko told Russky that the Duma and the Council of
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies had mutually agreed that the czar
must abdicate and two deputies--Gutchkov, the War Minister, and
Shulgin--were on their way to demand a document to this effect from
Nicholas. Before seeing the czar again Russky communicated with all
the commanders and explained the new situation, namely, that the czar
must be eliminated entirely. All replied immediately that they agreed
to this as the best course. Then Russky went to the czar again and
told him there was no other way open to him, he must vacate his
throne. The czar agreed and went to his private apartment on the train
to prepare the document.
At 8 o'clock that evening the two deputies from the Provisional
Government arrived and were taken directly to the czar. They
immediately explained to the fallen monarch the full details of the
situation in Petrograd. The one incident that seemed to make an
impression on him was the defection of his own body guard.
"What shall I do, then?" demanded Nicholas finally.
"Abdicate," replied Gutchkov briefly.
It will be remembered that the Provisional Government had decided that
it would demand of the czar that he abdicate in favor of his son and
of his brother, the Grand Duke Michael, as regent.
"I have already signed my abdication," said Nicholas, "but on account
of his health I have decided that I cannot part with my son. Therefore
I wish to abdicate in favor of Michael."
The two deputies asked leave to consult together for a few minutes
over this change. Finally they agreed to this form of abdication. The
czar then withdrew and presently returned with the document. The two
deputies read it through, approved it, shook hands with Nicholas
Romanoff, no longer czar, and returned to Petrograd.
Still unrestrained in regard to his freedom of action, Nicholas went
to Moghiliev, the general headquarters, to bid his staff farewell, but
his reception there was cool at least; nobody took the slightest
notice of him, no more than if he had been some minor subaltern
officer. Then his mother, the Dowager Empress Marie, appeared and in
the evening he dined with her in her private car.
Meanwhile public opinion in Petrograd had begun to make itself
strongly felt in regard to the outward form of the future Russian
Government. Many organizations passed resolutions and street
demonstrations took place, all protesting against a monarchical form
of government. Before the Provisional Government needed to take any
special action in response to this expression of popular sentiment,
Grand Duke Michael, the new czar, hastened to abdicate in his turn.
Favoring the principle of democracy, he added, he was not willing to
assume the responsibilities of such a high office without the formal
assent of the Russian people expressed by an election "based on the
principle of universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage." Finally,
he urged the people to give their loyal support to the Provisional
Government, until such a time as an election could be held.
Czar Nicholas abdicated on March 15, 1917. His brother, Czar Michael,
abdicated within twenty-four hours.
CHAPTER LXXXIII
FIRST ACTS OF THE NEW RÉGIME
The Provisional Government then made no further steps toward filling
the vacant throne and Russia remained a republic.
Then on the following day came a telegram from General Alexiev,
stating that the people of Moghiliev were growing impatient over the
freedom allowed ex-Czar Nicholas and requested the Provisional
Government to have him removed from headquarters. Alexiev did not wish
him wandering about headquarters.
Four deputies were dispatched to Moghiliev to arrest the ex-emperor.
The four were received with a popular demonstration of enthusiasm,
which contrasted sharply with the coldness with which Nicholas had
been received. Nicholas was in his mother's train when the four
deputies arrived. He immediately emerged, crossed the platform and
stood before the four representatives of the new republic like a
school child about to be punished; with one hand he came to a salute,
recognizing their authority; with the other he twirled his mustache.
He was shown his carriage and quietly placed under guard. The deputies
took places in another carriage, and then the train steamed out of the
station with Nicholas a prisoner. Arriving at the palace at Tsarskoe
Selo, Nicholas was taken over by the commandant and marched through
the gates of his old residence. And so he disappeared completely from
Russian public life.
Meanwhile the czarina had also been arrested and confined to her suite
of rooms in the palace. All the telephone and telegraph wires were
cut. Most of the palace servants were dismissed and all the doors
except three were locked and barred. A battalion of soldiers now
mounted guard over him who had made more political prisoners than any
other man in the world.
Now began the troubled career of the new Russian republic. The Council
of Workingmen and Soldiers, under whose direct supervision the
fighting forces of the old régime had been overcome and the revolution
organized, and which represented just those elements which the Duma
did not represent on account of the restrictive election laws, felt
its right to exist beside the Duma, possessing at least an equal
authority. Thus the new governing forces started under very peculiar
conditions, with a double head. The Council immediately issued a
proclamation inviting the communities all over Russia to elect local
councils, which might send their delegates to Petrograd to associate
themselves with the deputies elected by the workingmen and soldiers of
the capital.
Another of the first acts of the Provisional Government was to order
the liberation of all the political prisoners of the old régime,
especially those in Siberia, and to invite all exiles abroad to return
home. The return of some of these political exiles roused quite as
much enthusiasm and popular demonstration as had the overthrow of the
autocracy itself. The progress of Catherine Breshkovskaya, the
"grandmother of the Russian revolution," from Siberia to Petrograd was
almost like the progress of a conquering general. She had been one of
the original Nihilists in the seventies and since then had spent most
of her life in Siberia. All Petrograd turned out to welcome the
popular heroine, now a feeble old woman, and she was officially
received at the railroad station by Kerensky and other members of the
Government in the old Imperial waiting rooms, where formerly only
members of the Imperial family had been permitted to enter. Outside in
the streets surged crowds of fur-capped people as far as the eye could
reach, waving red banners and revolutionary emblems. Now and again a
roar of voices chanting the Marseillaise would sweep back and forth
over the throngs. Within the station the walls were banked with
flowers and festooned with red bunting and inscriptions addressed to
the returning heroine. However, this incident occurred later, already
a great deal had been accomplished.
The emancipation of the Jews had been one of first acts of the new
cabinet. All restrictions were removed and the Jews were recognized as
Russian citizens, and as such to be distinguished from all other
citizens in no way. Then the constitution of Finland was restored and
its full autonomy recognized. The same recognition was granted all the
other minor nationalities. Next the death penalty was abolished, and
finally the Provisional Government declared itself in favor of the
equal suffrage of women with men, a principle which is innate in the
revolutionary movement of Russia, to which as many women as men have
sacrificed themselves. The vast possessions of the ex-czar and most of
his munificent income were confiscated. At the same time the grand
dukes and other members of the Imperial family voluntarily gave up
their landed possessions and at the same time expressed their loyalty
to the new order.
CHAPTER LXXXIV
SOCIALISM SUPREME
Within the church the same overturning of old authorities took place.
The new procurator caused to be thrown out the gilded emblems of the
autocracy, and priests known to be in sympathy with the revolution
were elevated to the offices vacated by the reactionaries. Most of the
vast landed estates of the church were confiscated, and the church was
relegated to a position in which it could no longer interfere in
matters of state. Probably a majority of the radicals would have liked
to abolish the church altogether, but even they must have realized
that the great body of Russia's population, the peasantry, had not yet
arrived at this state of mind, corrupt though they knew the
institution to be.
For some weeks while these reforms, in which the vast majority of the
people believed, were being promulgated the most enthusiastic harmony
prevailed between the two elements constituting the Provisional
Government. But those realizing the wide gulf lying between these two
elements, the constitutionalists and the revolutionary radicals, were
every day expecting the inevitable dissensions to arise. Eventually
they came. They would have come much sooner had it not been for the
fact that the nation was at war.
The friction which presently began between the two contrasting
elements sharing the power of government has undoubtedly been much
magnified and distorted by the press in Great Britain and this
country, not through malicious intent, but through ignorance of the
aims of one of these elements and of Russian character. The two
elements in question are, of course, found in all countries, and the
dissensions in Petrograd probably caused more bitterness in other
countries between these opposing elements than existed in Russia
itself. The conservative press of England and America exaggerated to
absurdity the program and aims of the radical forces in Russia, while
the Socialist press of these same countries was equally unreliable in
its partisanship, and would have had its readers believe Prince Lvov
and Milukov hardly any improvement on Protopopoff, a view in which it
would not have been supported by the most radical Russians. For the
true story of this period we must wait yet a while until dispassionate
witnesses have had time to present their experiences and observations
in permanent form.
Nevertheless, there seems to be no doubt that the wine of freedom did
rise to the heads of the ultraradicals, and the Russian radical's
ideas often do approach the borders of absurdity. Having obtained
democracy in civil life, the extremists among the deputies of the
Workingmen's and Soldier's Council wished to extend it in full to the
army. Though this army was face to face with the best organized
military machine in the world, they demanded the resignation of all
the officers, that their places might be filled by the votes of the
common soldiers. This rank absurdity the commanders on the front
naturally resisted, and it was not allowed to come into practice, but
the spirit behind the suggestion did begin to permeate the ignorant,
peasants of the rank and file and caused endless demoralization.
Animated by the same spirit, many of the workingmen in the factories
supplying the army grew restless under the discipline of work and
struck for impossible wages. They had always thought that under a
Socialist system they would have little work and plenty to eat. Now
the social revolution had been accomplished, and these improvements
did not materialize. If more disorder and fighting were needed to
bring them about, they would supply these deficiencies.
What added to this spirit was the arrival in Russia, early in April,
1917, of the extreme radical Socialist, Lenine. He is generally
credited in this country with being an agent of Germany, but men of
his type are not easily subsidized, nor would it have been necessary
for the Germans to do so. Utterly idealistic, a wild fanatic,
unpractical to the point of being unbalanced, he represented that wing
of radicalism which lives in Utopias and will give no consideration to
things as they are. They preach the doctrine of the brotherhood of man
with the same bitterness that many religious sects preach the
salvation of the soul. Lenine began his propaganda, together with
thirty or more of his followers who arrived with him. They preached
an immediate separate peace with Germany and Austria; it was not to
the interest of the Russian working classes to fight the Teuton
working classes when both were slaves under the same masters, the
capitalists of the world. Let the Germans fight their capitalists and
the Russians theirs. And even if the Germans did conquer Russia, what
did it matter? They would not prove any worse masters than the Russian
capitalists. All the working classes of the world should unite and
attack the capitalists simultaneously, etc. Undoubtedly Lenine made
some impression on the more ignorant workingmen of Petrograd and
soldiers of the army, but his significance has been much overestimated
in this country. In Russia his influence corresponds somewhat to the
influence of Emma Goldman in this country: their followers are more
noisy than numerous.
CHAPTER LXXXV
POLICIES PROCLAIMED
The first important cause for dissension between the Council of
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies and the Provisional Government
occurred on April 7, 1917, when Professor Milukov, speaking as
Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that the occupation of
Constantinople and the Dardanelles was essential to the economic
prosperity of Russia. Either he underestimated the strength of the
Socialist elements, or he did not understand their point of view, for
here he proclaimed a principle to which even the mildest Socialist
would be opposed: the holding of territory occupied by people of one
nationality by a nation whose people are of another nationality.
There was a rising storm of protest, in which even Kerensky joined
against his associate in the ministry. The result was that the
Provisional Government was compelled to issue the famous statement of
its aims in the war, in which it renounced all indemnities and the
desire to conquer any foreign territories, at the same time
enunciating the rights of all small nationalities to decide their own
separate destinies. President Wilson had expressed a very similar
formula before the entrance of the United States into the war in the
words "peace without victory." Unfortunately this general statement of
Socialistic principle lacked the detail necessary to make it
applicable to the war situation; nor have the radical forces ever been
unanimous enough in their opinions since then to supply these details.
There remained, and there still remains, the question as to whether
liberating Alsace and Lorraine from the Germans would be the conquest
of foreign territory, or whether reparation on the part of Germany for
the damage done in Belgium would constitute an indemnity. Must the
Armenians remain forever under Turkey, or must armed force be employed
to take Armenia away from Turkey, that the Armenians might settle
their own destiny? Either course might be interpreted as against or in
accordance with the principle enunciated.
Nevertheless, this manifesto had a powerful influence in the Allied
countries, and the justice of the principles in question have been,
broadly speaking, generally recognized.
The Germans made the most of the proclamation and suggested a separate
peace through countless agencies, in which Russia should not lose any
territory inhabited by Russians and need not pay any indemnities. At
this bait the Leninites and dupes of the numerous agitators in German
pay, which undoubtedly began infesting Petrograd, bit readily. But
here the Provisional Government responded by a clever stroke of
diplomacy, and in this it had the support of the council; if the
German and Austrian Socialists were really in sympathy with the
Russian ideals of democracy and wished to make peace with them, let
them then also overturn their autocracies. If they would do this, then
they might expect peace with Russia and undoubtedly with the other
Allies, for France, Great Britain, and the United States had each
declared that it was fighting the Teutonic autocracies and not the
people they ruled.
The German Socialist is entirely a different type from the Russian
Socialist. He believes in iron discipline. He believes in strong
centralization. The German autocracy in many of its features
approaches something not far from the ideal of the German Socialist,
especially in its care of the working classes through state insurance,
workingmen's compensation legislation, and its many state and
municipal enterprises. In this lies the strength of the German
autocracy; with all its imperialistic features, it has cared for the
welfare of the working classes.
The German Socialists did not respond to this appeal. And from that
moment all danger of a separate peace between the Russian democracy
and Germany was past, if danger it may be called. The real danger to
the cause of the Allies and to Russia itself was the internal danger,
the disorganization in army discipline which the radicalism of the
revolution naturally spread among the soldiers, augmented, as it was,
by every power and agency which the enemy could bring to bear.
In the second week of April, 1917, a convention or congress of the
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council was held, all parts of Russia being
represented. By a vote of 325 against 57 the continuance of the war
was declared necessary. The council also issued various appeals to the
soldiers, both in Petrograd and at the front, asking their support of
the Provisional Government, which seemed at least to indicate that
there were radical influences at work even too advanced for the
council.
In Petrograd General Kornilov, the famous Cossack commander, who had
once been a prisoner of the Austrians and had escaped, and who had
personally placed the czarina under arrest, was placed in command of
the Petrograd garrison. His task was especially difficult, as his men
were in closer contact with the demoralizing influences of the radical
debating clubs of the capital.
The Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council probably had no deliberate
intention of undermining the military discipline necessary to maintain
the efficiency of a body of troops, but it could not entirely give up
its idea of "democratizing the army." The result of these efforts, as
the members of the council themselves admitted, went far beyond
anything they had intended. On the 1st of May a number of political
demonstrations on the part of the soldiers took place in Petrograd.
Socialistic in nature, some of them directed against policies of the
Provisional Government. The council immediately disclaimed all
responsibility for the demonstrations and appealed to the soldiers to
remain in their barracks.
This disintegration in army organization nevertheless made continual
progress during the early part of May, 1917, and was fast
precipitating a crisis. The fact was that the Provisional Government,
though nominally at the head of affairs, had no material power behind
it. This power, the army, was organized in the council and was
self-conscious. Naturally it could not resist the temptation of
attempting to exercise its judgment, though it realized that it was
not fitted to assume the entire responsibility of government. It felt,
too, a right to assert itself because the Duma, on account of the
restrictive election laws which had created it years before during the
old régime did not represent those classes to which the soldiers
belonged.
The members of the Provisional Government did not deny the justice of
this claim, and early in May, 1917, they suggested as a remedy that
the cabinet be reorganized and the radical elements be given fuller
representation. But here again the council was faced by the obstacle
in the Socialist principle that Socialist organizations must never
fuse with so-called capitalist organizations. The offer was refused.
CHAPTER LXXXVI
KERENSKY SAVES RUSSIA FROM HERSELF
On May 9, 1917, the situation was intensified when the council issued
an appeal to the working classes of the world to come together in a
general congress to discuss terms of peace. This meant naturally an
international Socialist conference. There was really no disloyalty
behind this move. The majority of the deputies no doubt considered it
a means of forcing the hands of the Socialists of the Central
Empires, perhaps to force them to overthrow their autocracies. The
idea was to formulate a peace program which would come close to
demanding universal democracy the world over and, by having the Teuton
Socialists subscribe to it, force them to bring pressure to bear on
their governments which might even develop into revolution. But this
was not understood abroad, and created much ill feeling.
On May 13, 1917, General Kornilov, commanding the Petrograd garrison,
gave up his efforts in despair and handed in his resignation, on
account of "the interference of certain organizations with the
discipline of his troops." Generals Gurko and Brussilov also sent in
their resignations, and a few days later Minister of War and Marine
Gutchkov, wishing to precipitate the impending crisis, also resigned.
Complete anarchy now threatened, for the council still insisted on its
right to guard the interests of democracy in the army as well as among
the civil population. It was then that Minister of Justice Kerensky
rose and saved the situation with an impassioned speech, in which he
declared that he wished he had died two months before when democracy
seemed such a promising dream. He then appealed to his associates in
the council, of which he was a vice president, to set aside their
Utopian fantasies for the time being and consider the needs of the
present. His oratory carried the day. The council agreed to a
coalition cabinet which should have full control of affairs.
After a joint session between the executive committee of the council
and the Duma committee, the new cabinet was formed on May 19, 1917.
Paul Milukov retired as Foreign Minister, for his nationalistic
utterances in regard to Constantinople had aroused against him all the
radicals. Prince Lvov remained as premier. Kerensky became Minister of
War. The Minister of Finance, Terestchenko, became Minister of Foreign
Affairs. Shingarev, a Social Revolutionist, became Minister of
Finance. Altogether the new cabinet included six radicals. Immediately
afterward the council passed a resolution of confidence in the new
government and urged all its constituents to support it. Kerensky
then stated that he would immediately leave for a tour of the front
for the purpose of exhorting the soldiers to submit to military
organization and that an iron discipline would be instituted. The
generals at the front now withdrew their resignations, which had not
been accepted, and returned to their posts.
During this period two important conventions were held in Petrograd; a
national congress of the Cossacks and a national congress of peasants.
The former declared itself for a strong offensive against the enemy
but passed no political resolutions other than to support the
Provisional Government. The peasants' congress did likewise and also
showed itself strongly Socialistic in its election of officers.
Lenine, however, who was one of the candidates, received only 11
votes, as against 810 polled by Tchernov, a Social Revolutionist, and
809 by Catherine Breshkovskaya, the "grandmother of the revolution."
During the month of June, 1917, the Provisional Government made
distinct progress, considering the almost insurmountable obstacles
inherent in such a situation as it had to face. From now on there was
very little friction between the cabinet and the council; they worked
together with comparative harmony. The fact that the radical elements
were now so well represented in the ministry probably was the chief
reason, but the personality of Kerensky was now beginning to rise as
the dominating figure of the new Russia. A fairly extreme radical
himself, with the confidence of his associates, he was also respected
by the more conservative elements on account of his sanity and
practical abilities. On June 1, 1917, A. I. Konovalov, Minister of
Commerce and Trade, resigned on account of friction with his
associates over what he considered the Government's interference with
private industries, but this incident passed quietly.
On this same date there occurred another incident which, on account of
its highly dramatic aspect, attracted wide attention in the press of
the Allied countries, and was therefore considered more significant
than it has since proved to be. The local council of the Workingmen's
and Soldiers' Council of Deputies in Kronstadt, the location of the
naval arsenal and the headquarters of the Baltic fleet, declared
Kronstadt an independent republic. The president of this council, a
young student by the name of Anatole Lamanov, was apparently an
anarchist of the extreme type; extreme in that he believed that
anarchist principles could be put into immediate practice, and he at
once issued a proclamation calling on all other communities in Russia
to declare their independence. His idea was that all the communities
should be knit together very loosely for specific purposes, such as
the war against the Germans, of which he was still heartily in favor.
Later dispatches, if true, would indicate that the real instigator of
this comic-opera scene was a woman, possibly in the pay of the German
Government, since she was the companion of Robert Grimm, a Swiss
Socialist, later expelled from Russia by the Socialists themselves on
account of pro-German activities.
With its usual tolerance the Provisional Government made no attempt to
suppress this act of secession by armed force. The council itself in
Petrograd, representing the whole country, immediately denounced the
Kronstadt proclamation, and sent two deputies to Kronstadt to reason
with Lamanov and his associates. The whole incident seemed to be
largely a matter of paper proclamations, since no violence on either
side ever occurred, and the Kronstadt situation finally faded from
public attention. Nevertheless it caused Kerensky to cut short his
tour of the various fronts and return to Petrograd two days later.
In the public speeches which he then made he spoke very encouragingly
of the situation on the firing lines, but two days later it was
announced that General Alexiev's resignation as commander in chief had
been accepted and that Brussilov had been appointed in his place.
On the 10th President Wilson issued his famous note, prepared in
response to the radical formula of the council, declaring for a peace
"without annexation and without indemnities." In spirit it was in
perfect accord with what the council had demanded: that no people
should be annexed against their will, that democracy should be the
guiding principle, etc. Certainly it was in accord with his previous
declaration made before the war; a "peace without oppressive
victories," a principle quite as radical as anything the Petrograd
radicals had ever formulated. There was then, and has been ever since,
every indication that the Provisional Government and the big majority
of the members of the council accepted this declaration as being in
harmony with their own sentiments. Nevertheless, it became the object
of a very noisy attack by those extreme elements known as the
Maximalists, best represented by Lenine and his type.
CHAPTER LXXXVII
THE AMERICAN COMMISSIONS
To the members of the German Government the Russian revolution
undoubtedly came as a great surprise, placing their faith, as they
did, in the efforts of Protopopoff and his machinations. It is
extremely unlikely that Petrograd was infested with German agents
disguised as radicals in the earlier days after the overthrow of the
autocracy. But by this time, in June, 1917, Germany had had time to
meet the new conditions, and obviously the German agents had arrived
and were busy.
The only fertile ground available was that occupied by the Leninites.
While the genuine Maximalists may have been, and in all probability
really were, unconscious of the spies in their midst, they accepted
the cooperation of the dark elements, and together they set to work to
create disorder. The Kronstadt affair was their initial success.
In the early days of June, 1917, armed bands of these disturbers began
parading the streets of the capital, haranguing the crowds. The
Provisional Government followed the policy of noninterference. One
party of the armed propagandists entered and took possession of a
large residential building in the Viborg section of the city and held
this position until late in July, 1917.
These activities culminated in an attempt on the part of the
Maximalist leaders to organize a giant demonstration in the streets
on June 23, 1917. Placards were posted all over the city denouncing
the war, calling upon the soldiers to refuse to fight for the
capitalist governments, etc.
The action taken by the Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council, itself so
often denounced as being under pro-German influence, and even in
German pay, by the press of the Allied countries, was extremely
significant. It immediately placarded the city with appeals to the
soldiers and workingmen to ignore the call of the Maximalists. All
that night until daybreak not only Kerensky himself, but N. C.
Tcheidze, the president of the council, and his associates, spent in
making the rounds of the barracks, addressing the soldiers, appealing
to them against participating in the demonstration. Their efforts were
a complete success; on the following day there was no demonstration.
And apparently in the last hour the Maximalist leaders themselves
realized that foreign influences were at work, for when their organ,
"Pravda," appeared, its front page was covered with an appeal to their
followers not to demonstrate.
On June 16, 1917, a convention of newly elected deputies to the
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council, representing all Russia, convened
in Petrograd. One of its first acts was to pass a resolution of
approval of the Provisional Government's expulsion of Grimm, the Swiss
Socialist, who had attempted pro-German activities in the capital, the
vote being 640 against 121.
In the middle of the month the two American commissions, one under
Root and the other under Stevens, arrived in Russia, and it was
notable that the reported utterances of their members were sharply in
contrast to the press dispatches in their optimism. The conclusion
must be obvious that German influences were at work with our sources
of news. The Stevens Commission, whose mission was of a technical
nature, expressed surprise and pleasure over the progress which had
been made in straightening out the transportation tangle and the good
condition in which they found railroad facilities, the only handicaps
being lack of locomotives and rolling stock.
Meanwhile, during June, 1917, a special council of sixty members was
at work drafting new legislation for the civil government of the
country. One law prepared by this body, as an illustration, was making
the judges of petty courts subject to the election of the people on
the American principle. This council was also intrusted with the task
of formulating the groundwork for the new constitution for the Russian
democracy, to be approved by the General Assembly when elected.
During the first half of July, 1917, the sudden offensive of the
Russian armies, so brilliantly begun, seemed to engross every element
of Russian society. Kerensky himself had gone to the front and was
said to be leading the advancing troops himself. But even his magnetic
personality and stupendous vitality proved insufficient to accomplish
a task evidently begun too prematurely.
On July 15, 1917, five members of the Provisional Government
resigned--Shingarev, Minister of Finance; Manuilov, of Education;
Nekrasov, of Ways and Communications; Prince Shakovsky, of Social
Welfare; and Acting Minister of Trade and Commerce, Steganov. Their
reasons for this action was their inability to agree with their
associates in the cabinet over the demands made just then by the
Ukraine elements in southern Russia, who wanted complete independence.
The dissenting ministers held that to grant such a demand would open
the way to similar action on the part of Finns, Ruthenians, Poles, and
other minor nationalities, which would mean the disintegration of
Russia.
On July 18, 1917, there was a sudden outburst of Maximalist activity,
the most violent which had yet occurred. A body of sailors from
Kronstadt appeared and, together with the Anarchists who had
previously made armed demonstrations, they began parading the streets.
A body of Cossacks, armed only with sabers, which was advancing up one
of the streets conveying some wagon loads of material was fired upon
and several Cossacks were killed. The cavalrymen retired, being unable
to return the fire. This first bloodshed roused the indignation of the
troops supporting the Provisional Government, and they at once set
about clearing the streets. Some severe fighting followed, in which a
number of men on both sides were killed and several hundreds were
wounded. The demonstrators were finally driven away and within
forty-eight hours order had been reestablished. On this occasion, as
before, the Council of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies cooperated
with the members of the Government in making the rounds of the
barracks and the workingmen's quarters to quiet the soldiers and the
people. The disturbance on this occasion was obviously of traitorous
origin, as the leaflets which had been used in furthering the
disorders accused both the Provisional Government and the council of
planning a counter-revolution in favor of the autocracy.
The Provisional Government and the council now together appointed a
special commission for the purpose of keeping in touch with the
commandant of the Petrograd garrison and cooperate with him in
counteracting the efforts of the Maximalist agitators.
Of special significance is the fact that these disorders occurred
almost simultaneously with the mutinous behavior of the regiments at
the front, whose treachery at a critical moment broke the Russian
offensive. Another result of the disturbances was a more energetic
policy against the Anarchists. Troops were now detailed to dislodge
the armed bands of Anarchists who had been occupying several large
residences in the city. On seeing that the Government was in earnest
the Anarchists surrendered unconditionally.
On July 20, 1917, it was announced that Prince Lvov had resigned from
the premiership and that Kerensky had taken his place. Prince Lvov
gave as his reason for retiring his inability to agree with his
Socialist associates in their determination to declare Russia a
republic, since he believed that this decision was essentially the
right of the Constituent Assembly yet to be elected. The recent
disorders and the unfortunate situation at the front, however,
probably had much to do with the new ministerial crisis, for it was
also announced that Kerensky would be granted unlimited powers in
suppressing further disorders and an "iron discipline" in the army
would be instituted. At a joint conference held between the
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council and the Executive Committee of the
Peasants' Congress, it was decided by a large majority to give the new
government, to be known as the "Government of National Safety,"
absolute support.
On the following day Kerensky announced that sterner measures would
immediately be taken: the death penalty would be reestablished, both
in civil life and in the army. Deserters and traitors would be shot.
Though the radical elements were behind the change in the government
personnel, the new cabinet was not by any means a Socialist body. Five
non-Socialists still remained: Nekrasov, Vice Minister President,
without portfolio; Terestchenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Efremov,
Minister of Justice; Nicholas Lvov, Procurator of the Holy Synod; and
Godniev, Controller of State. The radicals were Kerensky, the Premier,
who also retained the War portfolio; Terestelli, Minister of Posts and
Telegraphs; Skobeliev, Minister of Education; Tchernov, Minister of
Agriculture; and Pieschiehonov, Minister of Supplies.
For some days there were reports that further changes were still to be
made, giving the Constitutional Democratic party more definite
representation in the cabinet, on condition that these representatives
would be free from party dictation. Milukov, the party chief, showed
himself very much opposed to this suggestion, as he was to the
granting of such absolute power to the Government. On the last day of
the month further changes had not been made. Already Russia's armies
on the front were stiffening up against the German onslaughts. For
this full credit was given to Kerensky. He stands now as the
dominating figure in Russia, with the eyes not only of all Russians,
but all the peoples of the Allied nations, turned on him as the man
most capable of guiding the Russian republic through the difficulties
lying before it. Beginning with only the confidence of the radical
elements, he has gradually acquired a similar confidence in his
abilities and integrity from the Russian conservatives and all the
peoples of the countries aligned with Russia against the common enemy.
PART X--EASTERN FRONT
CHAPTER LXXXVIII
THE END OF WINTER AT THE EASTERN FRONT
Various similar local enterprises were carried out on February 19,
1917. The Germans, about a battalion strong, attacked in close
formation in the region of Slaventine, northwest of Podgaste, but were
met by concentrated fire and forced to return to their own
intrenchments. In the Carpathians during a snowstorm a Russian
blockhouse south of Smotreo was successfully raided. The blockhouse
was blown up after the capture of its defenders. North of the Slanio
Valley, after driving away Russian forces and repulsing counterattacks
by outposts, Austro-German forces advanced their fighting position on
a ridge of heights.
East of Lipnicadolna, on the Narayuvka River (Galicia), the Russians
exploded a mine under some German trenches and occupied the crater.
The Germans, however, reconquered the position in a counterattack.
South of Brzezany a Russian attack, made after mine-throwing
preparations, was repulsed.
On February 22, 1917, near Smorgon, west of Lutsk and between the
Zlota Lipa and the Narayuvka, fighting with artillery and mine
throwing became more violent. Near Zvyzyn, east of Zlochoff, German
thrusting detachments entered a Russian position and after blowing up
four mine shafts returned with 250 prisoners, including three officers
and two machine guns. A successful reconnoitering advance was made
southeast of Brzezany by another German detachment.
Similar enterprises, frequently accompanied by increased artillery
activity, were carried out in various parts of the front toward the
middle of March, 1917. Thus on March 12, 1917, north of the
Zlochoff-Tarnopol railroad, German reconnoitering detachments made an
attack during which three Russian officers, 320 men, and thirteen
machine guns were captured. Advances into the Russian lines near
Brzezany and on the Narayuvka also brought gains in prisoners and
booty.
Again on March 14, 1917, near Vitoniez, on the Stokhod, and near
Yamnica, south of the Dniester, enterprises of German thrusting
detachments were carried out with success. More than 100 prisoners and
several machine guns and mine throwers were brought back from the
Russian positions.
In the meantime there had occurred one of the most momentous events of
the war. The great Russian nation had risen in a comparatively
bloodless revolution against its former masters, the autocratic
government headed by Czar Nicholas. Though these events took place
March 8-11, 1917, news of them did not get to the outside world until
March 16, 1917. By then the czar had abdicated both for himself and
for his son. He, as well as his immediate family, had been made
prisoners. A new democratic though temporary government had been set
up by the guiding spirits who had directed the upheaval.
Of course, the Germans and Austrians were not slow in taking advantage
of these new conditions. Fortunately for Russia the spring thaw was
beginning to set in and made really extensive operations impossible
for the time being.
The last week of March, 1917, however, saw some determined attempts
on the part of the Germans to take as great an advantage of the
Russian disorganization as circumstances permitted.
On March 21, 1917, in the direction of Lida, on the river Beresina, in
the region of the villages of Saberezyna and Potaschnia, German
thrusting detachments after a bombardment of long duration attacked
Russian positions and occupied them. By a counterattack they were
driven out of Potaschnia. The other part of the positions remained in
their hands.
Northwest of Brody (Galicia) after artillery preparation the Germans
attacked Russian positions in the region of Baldur. After a stubborn
battle they were driven back to their trenches.
The Russian forces were still active in some sections. On March 23,
1917, Russian reconnoitering detachments, advancing after artillery
preparation near Smorgon and Baranovitchy and on the Stokhod, were
driven away by the Germans; however, severe fire by artillery and mine
throwers preceded attacks, in which Austro-German troops south of the
Trotus Valley in the Carpathians near the Rumanian frontier took by
storm and in hand-to-hand fighting Russian positions on the frontier
ridge between the Sueta and Csobonyos valleys and brought in 500
prisoners. A Russian advance north of Magyaros that followed soon
after failed.
On March 26, 1917, the Germans again registered a success. Southeast
of Baranovitchy an energetically carried out attack was successful.
Russian positions situated on the west bank of the Shara between
Darovo and Labuzy were taken by storm and in hand-to-hand fighting.
More than 300 Russians were made prisoner and four machine guns and
seven mine throwers captured. West of Lutsk and north of the railroad
from Zlochoff to Tarnopol and near Brzezany, Russian battalions
attacked after violent artillery fire. They were repulsed with heavy
losses.
Considerable fighting occurred during the following night and day,
March 27, 1917. This, in spite of the fact that the spring thaw was
officially announced to have set in. On the night of March 26-27,
1917, after artillery preparation the Germans attacked in the region
of Boguchy, northeast of Krevo, and occupied some Russian trenches.
Immediate counterattacks restored the situation. On the Stokhod River,
in the region of Borovo, the Russians delivered a mass attack. East of
Brzezany (Galicia), following a mine explosion, Russian patrols raided
German trenches and took twenty men prisoners. A German armored train
bombarded Russian positions east of Korosmezo. During a raid on the
northeast slope of Coman, in the wooded Carpathians, German raiding
detachments worked their way into a Russian position, blew up several
dugouts and returned with some prisoners and booty. A Russian attack
on Magyaros failed. South of the Uzul Valley, near the Rumanian
frontier, a strongly intrenched ridge was taken by storm and in
hand-to-hand fighting by German troops, who maintained it against
repeated counterattacks. One hundred prisoners and some machine guns
and mine throwers remained in German hands.
CHAPTER LXXXIX
EFFECTS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
By this time, however, the disorganization of the Russian forces which
had resulted from the revolution made itself everywhere felt to a much
greater extent. The Germans apparently were either taken by surprise
by the suddenness of the revolution or else decided to wait for some
time before undertaking any important operations and to determine
first to what extent the revolution and change of government would
affect the Russian armies. Another factor in the delay of the German
attack which everyone expected almost as soon as news of the Russian
revolution became known was the successful battles which had been
fought by the British and French forces at the western front.
On April 3, 1917, however, signs began to multiply, indicating that
the Germans had decided to begin more extensive operations. On that
day they opened a heavy artillery fire against Russian munition depots
on the left bank of the river Stokhod, in the region of the
Stchervitche-Helenin station, and on the river passages. The fire was
delivered partly with chemical shells. Simultaneously the Germans
discharged thirteen gas waves from the Helenin-Borovno sector.
Under cover of the artillery fire the Germans took the offensive on
the Toboly-Helenin front and pressed back the Russian troops. Part of
the Germans succeeded in crossing the Stokhod in the region northeast
of Helenin. The Russian left flank detachments, which were defending
the munition dumps, found themselves in a serious position owing to
the pressure of the Germans and were forced to cross to the right bank
of the Stokhod. Some of the Russian detachments suffered heavy losses.
After strongly bombarding Russian positions south of Illukst the
Germans, attacked and occupied field posts and trenches in the region
south of the Poniewesch railway line, but were expelled and driven
back by a Russian counterattack.
During the same night the Germans also directed a violent fire with
artillery and mine throwers against Russian trenches in the region of
the village of Novoselki, south of Krevo. At daybreak a German column
in strength of about a company forced its way into first-line trenches
near Novoselki, but as the outcome of a counterattack by Russian
scouts was dislodged and driven back.
Russian raiding troops attacked the Austrians as they were attempting
to fortify positions in the region six miles west of Rafailova. Having
penetrated the barbed-wire entanglements the Russian troops occupied
three rows of trenches and bayoneted the Austrians. On the remainder
of the front rifle firing and reconnoitering operations occurred.
The German success on the Stokhod, according to German reports,
developed almost into a rout. It was claimed that almost 10,000 men
and officers and fifteen guns and 150 machine guns and mine throwers
fell into the hands of the Germans.
On April 5, 1917, after heavy artillery preparation, partly with
shells charged with chemicals, the Germans took the offensive and
occupied part of the Russian trenches to the east of Plakanen,
thirteen miles south of Riga. They were driven out as the result of a
Russian counterattack.
On the following day, April 6, 1917, a number of local engagements
were reported. North of Brzezany, in the region of Angostoveka and
Koniuchy, after artillery preparation, the Germans attacked Russian
positions, but were repulsed. Southwest of Brzezany, in the region of
Lipnica Dolna, the Russians exploded a mine, destroying some German
trenches which the patrols immediately captured. The Russians repulsed
all counterattacks at this point and also took prisoners. In the same
region they attacked with gas. West of the town of Tomnatik strong
German detachments, supported by the fire of artillery, bomb throwers
and mine throwers, entered Russian trenches, but were immediately
ejected by counterattacks.
Again on April 7 and 8, 1917, the Germans on the Galician front made
minor attacks in the Carpathians, in the region west of Dzemdron, in
the direction of Marmaroch and Siguet and to the west of the town of
Tomnatik. All of these were repulsed, however.
Similar unimportant activities occupied the next few weeks. In the
meantime the disorganization of the Russian forces apparently
continued to increase. The Germans, however, apparently had decided by
this time not to attempt to make any military use of this condition,
but to improve the opportunity to come to an understanding with the
Russians. Almost daily reports appeared from various sources
indicating that a certain amount of fraternizing was going on in many
places on the eastern front. Though these reports varied very much, it
became quite clear that generally speaking the Russian lines still
held. In some places, undoubtedly, Russian detachments of varying size
laid down their arms and refused to continue to fight. There were even
isolated reports of some military groups having entered into peace
negotiations with their opponents. It is almost impossible to sift the
truth from these reports. It appears, however, that for some weeks a
more or less unofficial truce had been established almost everywhere
on the eastern front. The majority of the Russian soldiers at that
time undoubtedly were strongly in favor of immediate cessation of
hostilities. The Germans, on the other hand, seemed to be acting under
orders to treat their opponents with a minimum of severity and to
await further political developments before undertaking any important
military operations.
The Russians, though of course glad enough to notice this cessation of
military activity, apparently were frequently not willing to let the
enemy get too close to their lines, even though he pretended to come
with friendly intentions. The official Russian report occasionally
indicates this, as for instance that for April 15, 1917, which says
that "attempts to approach Russian positions at various sectors of our
front by small enemy groups, the members of which carried flags in
their hands, were discovered. These groups, on coming under our fire,
returned rapidly to their trenches."
Only very rarely, however, did the Russians attempt any offensive
movements during this period. On April 16, 1917, they made a gas
attack in the region of Konkary, but were met by strong machine-gun
fire. On the next day, April 17, 1917, the Germans started a slight
diversion of a similar nature north of Zboroff in Galicia.
At that reports began to appear concerning the massing of troops by
the Germans in the northern sector of the line, indicating an attempt
to take Riga and possibly to march against Petrograd.
Throughout May, 1917, the disorganization of the Russian army
continued. In the early part of the month the Council of Workingmen's
and Soldiers' became more and more radical in its demands, both as to
the share it was to have in the control of the army and as to the
disciplinary measures under which soldiers were to live. So serious
became the crisis that Minister of War General Gutchkov, as well as
Generals Kornilov, Brussilov, and Gurko resigned their commands. A. F.
Kerensky, then Minister of Justice, assumed the War portfolio, and it
was primarily due to his sagacity that the government and the council
finally agreed on May 16, 1917, on a basic program including the
continuation of the war.
While these serious events were happening at Petrograd nothing of any
importance occurred at the front. The Germans still were playing their
waiting game and, according to reports, were exerting all their
influence toward a separate peace with Russia, both in Petrograd and
at the front.
Military operations during May, 1917, were practically negligible.
Here and there skirmishes would occur between outposts and other small
detachments, and occasionally artillery duels would be fought for
short periods. Only a few times throughout the entire month were the
engagements important enough to be mentioned specifically in the
official reports. Thus on May 6, 1917, in the region of the village of
Potchne, on the Beresina River (western front), Russian artillery
dispersed a German attempt to approach the Russian trenches. In the
direction of Vladimir Volynski, south of Zubilno, after an intense
fire with grenades and bombs, a German company left their trenches and
began to attack the Russian trenches with hand grenades. Russian
artillery drove them back to their own trenches. On the
Kabarovce-Zboroff front the Germans carried out an intense
bombardment.
Again on May 8, 1917, German artillery was active in the direction of
Vilna, in the Smorgon and Krevo sectors, in the direction of Vladimir
Volynski, and in the Zatorchy-Helvov sector. In the region of Zwyjene,
to the east of Zlochoff, the Germans exploded two mines which damaged
Russian trenches. Northeast of Brzezany Russian artillery caused
explosions among the German batteries. "Elsewhere on the front there
were the usual fusillades and scouting operations," continued the
Russian official report.
CHAPTER XC
THE BEGINNING OF RUSSIAN REHABILITATION
The beginning of June, 1917, saw the first signs of a decided change
in Russian military conditions. It became clear that those political
forces at Petrograd who were demanding a separate peace and an
immediate cessation of hostilities were losing ground. Strong as the
cry of the soldiers was for peace and sincere as their belief had been
that the revolution had freed them not only from czarism and all that
went with it, but also from the awful business of killing and maiming
in which they had been engaged for almost three years, it gradually
dawned on them that this was not yet time.
As early as June 1, 1917, reports came of increased firing at many
points of the eastern front. A few days later, however, it again
seemed as if Russia's military establishment was near to complete
collapse. General Alexiev, appointed commander in chief of all the
Russian armies as recently as April 15, 1917, resigned. He had been
forced out as a result of the opposition on the part of the Council of
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies to his frankly pronounced belief
that adherence to most prerevolution conditions in the army was
essential if the army's discipline and effectiveness were to be
retained. General Brussilov, then commanding on the southeastern
front, was made commander in chief. Though this quick change in the
supreme command necessarily was for discipline, it augured well in all
other respects for a reconstruction of the Russian armies. The new
supreme commander was known to be an efficient general, a keen
fighter, and a sincere adherent of the Allied cause. His own command
at the southeastern front was assumed by General Gurko.
On June 20, 1917, it was announced that the Congress of Soldiers' and
Workingmen's Delegates from the whole of Russia which was then in
session in Petrograd had voted confidence in the Provisional
Government and unanimously passed a resolution demanding an immediate
resumption of the offensive and the reorganization of the army. It was
also reported that a war cabinet was formed including the leaders of
the Russian army and navy and technical representatives.
On the same day it was reported that near Lutsk (Kovel region), on
the Zlota Lipa, and Narayuvka (Lemberg region) and south of the
Dniester the artillery of both sides was more active than it had been
before. Russian raiding detachments, however, were driven off at
several points by the Germans.
Again on June 21, 1917, in some sectors of the Galician and Volhynian
fronts Russian artillery activity increased, heavy guns cooperating.
Aerial activity was also livelier.
The first signs of a possible Russian drive against Lemberg and Kovel
became evident on June 22, 1917. On the mountain front and in Volhynia
Russian artillery fire was revived. The Russian artillery's continuous
bombardment of the region south of Brzezany (Galicia) was
energetically returned by Austrian batteries. Increased fighting
activity also prevailed, especially between the Lemberg-Tarnopol
railway (Galicia) and the Dniester, a front of about forty miles.
Additional proof of the revival of the Russian fighting spirit was
furnished by the detailed report of a small engagement on the historic
Stokhod River. The Russian statement described how, near the village
of Pozog (Volhynia), Russian scouts prepared an ambush, and,
surrounding the approaching Germans, showered hand grenades on them.
In the bayonet fighting that followed some Germans were killed. Owing
to the approach of German reenforcements, however, the Russian scouts
were forced to return to their own trenches.
On the rest of the front fusillades became more intense in the region
of Krevo.
Apparently all thoughts of fraternizing with the enemy had left by
that time the minds of the Russian soldiers. This was shown by the two
occurrences reported on June 23, 1917. In Galicia, in the region of
Grabkovce, an Austrian scouting party attempted to gain information of
a Russian position, but was dispersed by a Russian company.
In the region of Presovce an Austrian company surrounded a Russian
scouting party. The commander of the party assembled his men and by
means of bayonet fighting and the use of hand grenades succeeded in
breaking through and returning to their trenches without losing a
single man.
June 24, 1917, brought very lively artillery activity at many
points in the eastern theater. In the Narayuvka-Zboroff sector the
Russian fire appreciably increased and continued with systematic
regularity. In the Carpathians north of Kirlibaba fighting also
increased in strength and frequency.
[Illustration: When revolutionary Russia seemed likely to revert to
chaotic conditions, A. F. Kerensky, the Minister of War, rallied the
armies. He succeeded Prince Lvoff as Premier.]
The following day, June 25, 1917, the Austro-Germans apparently
decided to follow the Russian lead and renew military operations to a
considerable extent. In the direction of Zlochoff and in the region of
Perpelniki (Galicia) a strong Austro-German party, supported by
artillery, endeavored to approach the Russian trenches, but was
repulsed by rifle fire. South of Brzezany, in the region of the
village of Svistelniki, on the Narayuvka, German infantry forced their
way into Russian trenches, but a counterattack compelled them to
retire. The German heavy artillery conducted an intense fire in the
region of Potuary, Ribney, and Kotov.
On June 26, 1917, south of the Lemberg-Tarnopol railway line and on
the Narayuvka the artillery and mine-throwing fire was lively. On the
Zlota Lipa more German forces made some Russian prisoners as the
result of a successful reconnoitering advance.
On the last day of June, 1917, came at last news of renewed fighting
on the part of the Russians on a larger scale. After a destructive
fire lasting all day against Austro-German positions on the upper
Stripa as far as the Narayuvka River there followed in the afternoon
powerful attacks by the Russian infantry on a front of about eighteen
and a half miles. The storming troops, who suffered heavy losses, were
compelled everywhere to retire by the defensive fire of the
Austro-Germans.
On the same day, after several days of violent fire from the heaviest
guns, the Russians in the afternoon commenced an infantry attack south
and southeast of Brzezany and near Koniuchy. Strong fire from Austrian
batteries stopped this attack and inflicted heavy losses on the
Russians. Another very strong attack, started late in the afternoon
west of Zalocz, broke down under artillery fire. Toward midnight the
Russians, without artillery preparation, endeavored to advance south
of Brzezany. They were repulsed. During the night the artillery fire
declined, but it revved the next morning. The artillery duel extended
northward as far as the middle Stokhod and south as far as Stanislau.
Then came on July 1, 1917, the news that the Russians had successfully
attacked in force on a front about thirty-five miles wide to the west
of Lemberg. Not until then did it become known that Prime Minister
Kerensky, the guiding spirit of the Provisional Government, had been
at the front for four days and had by his fiery eloquence stirred up
the Russian armies to such an extent that all talk of peace and all
thought of sedition disappeared for the time being. Press reports
stated that Kerensky having told the soldiers that if they would not
attack he would march toward the enemy's trenches alone, was embraced
and kissed by soldiers.
The Russian attacks were made at various points. In the direction of
Kovel (Volhynia), in the region of Rudkasitovichskaya, Russian scouts
under command of four officers, after destroying the wire
entanglements by mines, penetrated the Austrian trenches, killed some
of the occupants, and captured a number of prisoners. According to the
testimony of prisoners, the Austrians knew of the attack from two
deserters. In the direction of Zloczow, after two days' artillery
preparation, Russian troops attacked the Austro-German positions on
the Koniuchy-Byshki front. After a severe engagement they occupied
three lines of trenches and the fortified village of Koniuchy and
advanced to the Koniuchy stream, to the south of the village of the
same name.
Farther south, southeast of Brzezany, after artillery preparation,
Russian troops attacked the strongly fortified positions of the
Germans and after stubborn fighting occupied them at places. Germans
and Turks made counterattacks, and formidable positions changed hands
constantly. Along the Stokhod and on the Dniester the lively artillery
activity of the Russians continued. As a result of these attacks the
Russians claimed to have captured 164 officers, 8,400 men, and seven
guns. On the other hand, the Germans claimed that sixteen Russian
divisions constantly employing fresh troops assaulted their positions,
which were completely maintained or recaptured by counter attacks by
Saxon, Rhineland, and Ottoman divisions. The Russian losses surpassed
any hitherto known. Some units were said to have been entirely
dispersed. The Germans apparently considered these attacks very
serious, for it was announced officially that Field Marshal von
Hindenburg and General von Ludendorff, quartermaster general, had
arrived at headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian army to visit the
Austrian field marshal, Artur Arz von Straussenburg.
CHAPTER XCI
THE RUSSIAN JULY OFFENSIVE
It soon became clear that the gradual increase in fighting activity
was not simply an impulsive response to Prime Minister Kerensky's
eloquence or the result of isolated local conditions. Gradually the
fighting spread over more and more ground. It became more efficient
and less spasmodic. Undoubtedly this was partly due to the fact that
matters behind the front began to settle down somewhat and that
supplies of ammunition and food again flowed more regularly and
abundantly. Then too the new commander in chief seemed to be more
capable of controlling his troops and to have a more definite plan for
his operations than his predecessor. Where formerly only small
detachments of Russians apparently could be persuaded or forced to
undertake military operations, now regiments, brigades, and even whole
divisions, went again at the business of fighting. Thus the Russians
were able to gain nice successes at many points. Especially in the
direction of Zlochoff, the Russians continued their offensive
successfully. In the afternoon of July 2, 1917, after a stubborn
battle, the Zoraisky regiment occupied the village of Presovce, while
the troops of the Fourth Finnish Division and the Cheshskoslovatsky
brigade occupied the strongly fortified German positions on the
heights to the west and southwest of the village of Zboroff and the
fortified village of Korshiduv. Three lines of trenches were
penetrated. The troops of the Central Powers then retired across the
Little Stripa. The Finns took 1,560 officers and soldiers prisoner,
while their captures included four trench mortars, nine machine guns,
and one bomb thrower. The Cheshskoslovatsky brigade captured sixty-two
officers and 3,150 soldiers, fifteen guns and many machine guns. Many
of the captured guns were turned against the former owners. Positions
to the west of the Uzefuvka also were taken.
Altogether in that day's battle in the neighborhood of Zlochoff the
Russians took 6,300 prisoners, officers and soldiers, twenty-one guns,
sixteen machine guns, and several bomb throwers. Southeast of Brzezany
the battle continued with less intensity. In that region the Russians
captured fifty-three officers and 2,200 men. Between the Baltic and
the Pripet the activity of the fighting increased only at Riga and
Smorgon; there was heavy artillery fighting on the middle course of
the Stokhod, where, however, Russian local attacks on the Kovel-Lutsk
railway line failed with heavy losses, and also on the Zlota Lipa.
During the night following there was lively artillery fighting from
the Stokhod to the Narayuvka. New strong attacks of the Russians took
place at Brzezany, which failed with heavy losses.
South of Zboroff the Russians, with the use of superior forces,
succeeded in pushing back a limited portion of the Austrian front
toward the prepared supporting position. In engagements involving
heavy sacrifices the Austro-Hungarians were forced to retire step by
step against the pressure of superior forces, but did this so easily
that they enabled the reserves to intervene for the restoration of the
situation.
Unsuccessful attempts were made by the Germans in eastern Galicia on
July 4, 1917, to regain some of the lost ground. East of Brzezany the
Germans attacked advanced Russian posts, but were compelled by
artillery fire to retire. East of Lipnicadolna on the eastern bank of
the Narayuvka, after artillery preparation, they twice attacked
Russian positions, but were repulsed on both occasions.
The next day, July 5, 1917, the violence of the fighting again
increased. In Galicia, between Zboroff and Brzezany, an artillery
battle of great violence developed. It diminished during the night and
increased again after daybreak. Also at Zwyzyn, Brody, and Smorgon the
artillery activity was very lively at intervals. On that part of the
Galician front, held chiefly by Turkish troops intermingled with some
Germans and Austro-Hungarian forces, the Russians made an unsuccessful
attack which cost them, according to German claims, 200 prisoners and
500 dead.
Some more successes were gained by the Russian forces on July 6, 1917.
In the direction of Zlochoff, after artillery preparation, Russian
infantry attacked strongly fortified positions of the enemy. They
occupied three lines of trenches, but later the Germans succeeded in
pressing back the Russian detachments.
In the sector of the heights northwest of Presovce and in the wood
west of Koniuchy Russian detachments conducted an offensive and
engaged in a stubborn battle throughout July 6, 1917. The Germans
executed counterattacks and at certain places pressed back the Russian
detachments. Toward evening, however, there remained in Russian hands
the heights northwest of Presovce and the villages of Lavrikovce and
Travotloki and the heights east of Dodov, as well as seventeen
officers and 672 men.
In the region northwest of Stanislau to the south of the Dniester,
after artillery preparation, Russian advance detachments pressed back
the Austrians in the Jamnica-Pasechna sector and occupied their
trenches. South of Bohorodszany Russian advance detachments defeated
an advanced post of the Austrians. The Russians also occupied
Sviniuchy and repulsed the enemy's counterattack. Altogether in the
engagement the Russians took 360 prisoners.
By now the Russian attack had spread so that Halicz, only sixty miles
southwest of Lemberg, Galicia's capital, and its chief protection from
the southeast, was practically in reach of the Russian guns. In this
sector the front was somewhat more than thirty miles long and ran
along the Narayuvka River. The newly organized Russian forces had been
formed into three armies and were continuing to pound away at their
adversaries. There was considerable fighting near Stanislau on July 7,
1917. Austro-Hungarian regiments in hand-to-hand encounters repulsed
several Russian divisions whose storming waves, broken by destructive
fire, had pushed forward as far as the Austrian position. Near Huta,
in the upper valley of the Bystritza Solotvina, another Russian attack
was repulsed. Between the Stripa and the Zlota Lipa the Russians were
apparently unable to renew their attacks in spite of their gains of
the previous days. Near Zboroff a Russian attack without artillery
preparation broke down with heavy losses.
Farther north, in the Brzezany-Zlochoff sector, in the direction of
Zlochoff the Germans launched energetic counterattacks on the front at
Godov and the wood west of Koniuchy in an attempt to dislodge Russian
troops. All these attacks were repelled. Assaults west of Bychka by
troops in dense columns, supported by armored motor cars, were also
repulsed.
Not until then did it become known that the Russians, in the beginning
of their offensive, had had the support of some of their allies.
The Russian offensive had now been under way for more than a week. As
so often in the past, it had been launched against that part of the
front which was held chiefly by Austro-Hungarians, and also, as many
times before, the troops of the Dual Monarchy had been forced to give
way under the Russian pressure. German reenforcements, however, now
began to arrive and the defense began to stiffen, bringing at the same
time more frequent and stronger counterattacks.
CHAPTER XCII
THE CAPTURE OF HALICZ AND KALUSZ
The surmise that Halicz, the important railroad point on the Dniester,
was soon to fall into the hands of the Russians, provided they were
able to keep up the strength and swiftness of their offensive, was
proved correct on July 10, 1917. Late that day the news that Halicz
had fallen on July 9, 1917, into Russian hands came from Petrograd.
The Russians were fighting under General Kornilov and their attacks
were so strong that the Austrians under General Kirchbach were unable
to resist. In two days Austro-German positions seven miles deep and
strongly fortified during a period of two years were overrun by the
victorious Russians. More than 1,000 prisoners, seven guns, many
trench mortars and machine guns, and a large booty of engineering
materials and other military stores fell into the hands of the
victors. The Austro-Hungarians were forced to retire behind the lower
course of the Lomnitza River, and at the end of the day the road to
Lemberg, only sixty-three miles northwest of Halicz, seemed seriously
threatened from the south.
Earlier in the day sanguinary battles occurred on the road to Halicz
in the region of the villages of Huciska, Pacykov, and Pavelone. In
the streets of Pavelone there was bayonet fighting, which ended in a
complete rout of the Austrians. Toward evening the Russian troops
reached the village of Bukovica, having occupied the villages of
Viktarov, Majdan, Huciska, and Pacykov.
South of Brzezany there was intense artillery fighting. In the
direction of Dolina the army of General Kornilov continued its
offensive in the region west of Stanislau. The Austro-Germans
displayed energetic resistance which developed into stubborn
counterattacks. Farther north, too, near Riga, Dvinsk, and Smorgon,
the fighting activity increased.
The Russians maintained their successes on the following day, July 10,
1917. In the direction of Dolina they continued the pursuit
northwestward toward Lemberg of the retreating enemy, who had been
broken by General Kornilov's army on the Jezupol-Stanislau-Borgordchan
front--a front of almost twenty miles.
At midday troops led by General Tcheremisoff, who had accomplished the
capture of Halicz, were thrown across to the left bank of the Dniester.
Toward evening they reached the valley of the river Lomnitza on the
front from the mouth of the river to Dobrovlany, and advance
detachments, crossing over after a short engagement to the left bank of
the river, occupied the villages of Bludniki and Babin. Russian troops
advancing on the Borgordchan-Zolotvin front, having broken down the
resistance of the enemy, reached the line of Posiecz-Lesiuvka-Kosmocz.
This was a success in a new sector south of Halicz and threatened the
approaches to the northern Carpathians.
In the course of the day the Russians captured more than 2,000
prisoners and about thirty guns. Altogether in the three days' battle
from the 8th to the 10th in the direction of Dolina they took more
than 150 officers and 10,000 men. Their captures also included about
eighty guns, twelve of them of heavy caliber, and a large number of
trench mortars and machine guns and a large quantity of engineering
material and military stores. On the remainder of the front there was
artillery firing, which was more intense in the direction of Zlochoff
and south of Brzezany.
These various operations continued to develop on July 11, 1917,
especially among the rivers Dniester and Lomnitza. After a stubborn
and sanguinary battle the Austrians were forced out of the town of
Kalusz, which was occupied by the Russians. Kalusz, a town of about
8,000 population previous to the war, is on the west bank of the
Lomnitza and on the important railroad that runs from Stanislau to
Lemberg south of the Dniester. Until the development of the Russian
offensive it served as Austrian headquarters in this sector. To the
west of Bohorodszany, on the Grabovka-Rosolna-Krivicz front, the
Austrians taking advantage of the extremely intricate terrain,
succeeded in holding back the Russian advance. Near Riga, Smorgon and
Baranovitchy the artillery fighting was again spirited. Near Lutsk and
in the East Galicia fighting area the firing also reached a point of
considerable intensity at times. On the Ochtschara Russian chasseur
troops were repulsed, as were local Russian attacks on the Stokhod.
On July 12, 1917, the firing activity between the Zlota Lipa and the
Narayuvka increased. Engagements developed also on the Honika River,
northwest of Halicz. Russian troops crossed to the left bank of the
river confluence and captured heights on the line of the river
Dniester-Bukazowice-Bludniki. After a stubborn battle the Austrians
were driven back from the heights to the northeast of Ehilus. The
Russians occupied the villages of Studzianka and Podhorki.
In the region of Kalusz a Bohemian regiment by means of a daring
cavalry attack captured four heavy guns. Southeast of Kalusz, on the
Landstru-Lazianya-Kraisne front, Russian troops engaged in battle with
Austrian detachments who were protecting the crossings of the river
Lomnitza on the road to Kornistov and Dolina. The crossings of the
river at Perehinsko west of Bohorodszany were captured.
In the region of Vladimir Volynski (Volhynia) southeast of Kiselin
German detachments under cover of artillery fire attacked Russian
positions and entered Russian trenches, but were expelled by reserves
which came forward, immediately restoring the situation. On the Dvina
near Smorgon and on the Shara there was spirited fighting, and also
west of Lutsk there was a temporary revival of activity in consequence
of reconnoitering thrusts.
In describing the capture of Kalusz the "Russky Slovo" says that the
Russian cavalry entered the town at noon and found it abandoned by the
garrison. The Russians were soon attacked, however, by fresh enemy
forces, which were rushed from the fortress. After a stiff fight the
Russians were compelled to fall back. Reenforced, they returned and
drove the Germans out. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the Germans,
supported by an armored train, counterattacked and again occupied
Kalusz. But they were once more expelled with heavy losses. Sanguinary
house-to-house fighting, mostly with the bayonet, ensued until 6
o'clock in the evening.
On July 13, 1917, it was reported that there was considerable rifle
firing on the lower Lomnitza, between the confluence with the Dniester
River and Kalusz. In the neighborhood of the town of Kalusz the
Austrians made two attacks from the direction of Mosciska and near
Gartenel and attempted to dislodge the Russian troops occupying
Kalusz, but were repulsed. The Russians occupied, after fighting, the
village of Novica, southwest of Kalusz. Heavy rains prevented
extensive fighting at other points south of the Dniester. Near Dvinsk
and Smorgon lively fighting activity continued. In eastern Galicia the
gunfire was lively only in the Brzezany sector.
Heavy rains continued and swelled the rivers Lomnitza and Dniester and
the small streams running into them. Naturally this also affected the
condition of the roads. In spite of the unfavorable weather there was
considerable fighting on July 14, 1917. Southwest of Kalusz the
Austrians several times attacked troops which were occupying the
Dobrovdiany-Novica front. All the attacks were repulsed. As a result
of the battles in this region the Russians captured sixteen officers
and more than 600 of the rank and file. In the region of Lodziany
(eighteen miles southwest of Kalusz) as the final result of a series
of stubborn attacks Russian troops drove the Austrians from their
positions and took more than 1,000 prisoners and a number of guns. At
the crossing of the river Lomnitza, near Perehinsko, the Austrians
launched an offensive with the object of throwing Russian detachments
back to the right bank of the Lomnitza. The Russian offensive on the
Slivkiasen front met with stubborn resistance.
CHAPTER XCIII
THE COLLAPSE OF THE RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE
The accomplishments of the Russian armies during the first two weeks
of July, 1917, were little short of marvelous. Not only had they
captured such important points as Halicz and Kalusz and had forced
back the Austrian lines in southeastern Galicia for miles and miles,
but they had also taken large numbers of prisoners and captured
valuable booty. From July 1 to July 13, 1917, 834 officers and 35,809
men were captured by the Russians, with ninety-three heavy and light
guns, twenty-nine trench mortars, 493 machine guns, forty-three mine
throwers, forty-five bomb mortars, three fire throwers, two
aeroplanes, and much equipment.
By the middle of July, 1917, however, the first fury of the Russian
onslaught had spent itself, and then too, as so often before, the
Central Powers had recovered from their first surprise and had
succeeded, thanks to their superior transportation facilities, in
bringing up strong reserves. For the first time since the beginning of
the Russian offensive on July 15, 1917, there appeared definite signs
that the German defensive was stiffening. On the lower Lomnitza there
were fusillades and artillery bombardments. Northeast of Kalusz the
Germans made energetic attempts to throw back the Russian troops on
the Lomnitza. The battle on the Landes-Reuldzian-Kraisne front
continued all day. After a severe engagement the Austrians were driven
out of the village of Lodziany and pressed hard to the river Lomnitza,
but owing to attacks made by their newly arrived reserves from the
direction of Rozniazov, and in view of the great losses, the Russian
troops were compelled to retire a short distance and intrench
themselves in the eastern end of the Lodziany.
Then on July 16, 1917, came the news that the Russians had been forced
to evacuate Kalusz. Northeast of Kalusz the Germans had conducted
persistent attacks which at first had been repulsed by the Russians.
Finally, however, Russian troops occupying the left bank of the lower
course of the river Lomnitza were transferred to the right bank,
leaving Kalusz in Austrian hands and securing behind them the
important crossing of the Lomnitza.
In the Novica-Lodziany-Kraisne section the Russian troops continued
their attacks, with the object of throwing the enemy back across the
Lomnitza. The Germans made stubborn resistance. With the approach of
evening, they counterattacked in dense waves from the direction of
Selohy-Kagnka, and, pressing the Russians back, occupied the village
of Novica, but were driven out again upon the arrival of fresh
reserves. Farther north, too, the lively fighting activity at Riga,
Dvinsk, and Smorgon continued. With the clearing of the weather the
firing on the Narayuvka front became heavier than it had previously
been.
Once again on the following day, July 17, 1917, the Russians had to
yield ground under the ever-increasing pressure from the Germans. In
the north there was a still more noticeable increase in the fighting
activity at Riga, south of Dvinsk, and at Smorgon. In eastern Galicia
the firing was strong at Brzezany.
In the Carpathian foothills Bavarian and Croatian troops in a combined
attack captured the heights to the east of Novica, which were
stubbornly defended by the Russians, and repulsed Russian
counterattacks in the captured positions. At other points on the
Lomnitza line also the Russians were forced back in local engagements.
As the result of a night attack Russian detachments reoccupied the
village of Novica to the south of Kalusz, but, suffering great losses
in this operation, withdrew to the eastern end of the village. Two
German attacks on these detachments were repulsed. Northwest of Lutsk
and on the East Galician front operations carried out by Austro-German
forces brought about an increase in artillery activity and resulted in
the capture of numerous prisoners.
The artillery activity south of Dvinsk and Smorgon, which had been
lively for some days, continued.
During the next few days fighting everywhere became more violent. Near
Jacobstadt, Dvinsk, and Smorgon, along the Stokhod, and from the Zlota
Lipa to south of the Dniester, the artillery activity increased
considerably. Advances and reconnoitering operations often led to
local engagements. Near Novica, on the Lomnitza front, new strong
Russian attacks were repulsed with sanguinary losses.
On July 19, 1917, east of Brzezany, to the south of Szybalin,
Austro-German troops made repeated attacks and occupied a portion of
the Russian first-line trenches. Austrian efforts to attack south of
Brzezany were repelled by gun and rifle fire. West of Halicz
detachments occupying the village of Bludniki retired, whereupon the
Austrians, profiting by this movement, occupied the place. An effort
to win back this village was unsuccessful. In the direction of Vilna
there was animated artillery fighting throughout the day. After strong
artillery preparation the Germans persistently attacked the Russian
detachments on the Pieniaki-Harbuzov front, twenty miles south of
Brody. At first all these attacks were repulsed. At 10 o'clock the Six
Hundred and Seventh Mlynov Regiment, stationed between Bathov and
Manajov, in the same region, left its trenches voluntarily and
retired, with the result that neighboring units also had to retire.
This gave the Germans opportunity for developing their success.
The Russians explained this occurrence officially in the following
statement:
"Our failure south of Brody is explained to a considerable degree by
the fact that under the influence of the Bolsheviki extremists
(Anarchists) several detachments, having received a command to support
the attacked detachments, held meetings and discussed the advisability
of obeying the order; whereupon some regiments refused to obey the
military command. Efforts of commanders and committees to arouse the
men to fulfillment of the commands were fruitless."
A similar incident, indeed, had happened during the German attacks
against Novica on July 17, 1917. On that day when the Germans early in
the evening had taken the offensive and had seized the height south of
Novica, to the south of Kalusz, one of the Russian regiments began to
leave. Major General Prince Gargarin, commander of the military
district, perceiving that the situation was critical, at once moved
forward a battalion of the Ukhnov regiment commanded by Second Captain
Burishen, which had only recently arrived in the district. This
battalion conducted an energetic attack. Simultaneously General Prince
Gargarin threw troops into the attack on both flanks, advancing
infantry and native cavalry regiments of Daghestanians on the right
and Circassians and Kabardians on the left. The Ukhnov regiment and
the natives rushed forward in a furious onslaught, carrying with them
also the Russian regiment which had retired. The general assault soon
changed the situation in favor of the Russians.
These two occurrences were typical of many others of a like nature at
various points of the entire front. The affected groups varied in
extent, sometimes only small detachments would refuse to fight, while
at other times entire companies or battalions and even whole regiments
were affected.
It now became quite evident that the Russian offensive had to come to
a standstill, and that Russian disorganization not only set in again,
but came much nearer to a total collapse than it had been previous to
the beginning of the Russian offensive. At the same time the new
German offensive developed in strength and extent. Even then it was
likely that the Russians not only were to lose the territory which
they had gained so recently, but possibly a large portion of East
Galicia that had been occupied by them for a long time. Whether the
Central Powers would be able to follow up their offensive in Galicia
with similar undertakings at other points of the eastern front, of
course, was a matter that depended not only on conditions at the
eastern front, but also on how things were going in the west.
The Austro-German forces made good use of the opportunity created for
them by the defection rampant in the Russian armies. In East Galicia,
on July 20, 1917, behind the hastily retreating Russian forces, of
which only parts made a stand for rear-guard purposes, German troops
in impetuous pursuit crossed the Zlochoff-Tarnopol road on both sides
of Jezierna on a width of twenty-five miles. Wherever the Russians
made a stand they were defeated in swift assaults; burning villages
and great destruction showed the route of the retiring Russians.
Again the Russians had to admit officially that their army
organization was going to pieces. They did this, in regard to their
retreat toward Tarnopol, in the following words:
"Our troops on the whole did not show the necessary stability, and at
some points did not fulfill military commands; consequently they
continued to retire, and toward evening they paused on the line
Renov-Hlatiki-Pokropuvia-Vybudow."
North of Brzezany Austro-Hungarian troops after hard fighting
recaptured positions they lost on July 1, 1917. North of the Dniester
Russian attacks broke down before the Austrian lines. South of the
river the Russians were driven out of Babin. At Novica German and
Austro-Hungarian troops stormed the Russian height positions in spite
of a stubborn defense. From the Stokhod to the Baltic the activity of
the artillery increased occasionally. It reached special intensity
between Krevo and Smorgon and at Dvinsk.
At this critical point the Provisional Government again decided to
make a change in the command of the Russian armies fighting in
Galicia. Early in June, 1917, General Gouter had been placed in
supreme command in this section. Lieutenant General L. G, Kornilov,
then commander of the Eighth Russian Army, with which he had gained in
the first part of July, 1917, the successes on the Halicz-Stanislau
line, was now intrusted with the chief command of all Russian troops
fighting in Galicia.
CHAPTER XCIV
THE RUSSIAN ROUT IN GALICIA AND THE BUKOWINA
Day by day the Russians' disorganization became worse. Instances of
defection became more frequent as the German offensive movement
increased in violence. With their usual thoroughness, and with almost
incredible swiftness, the forces of the Central Powers struck. Again
the Russian Government was forced to admit officially that Russian
commanders had lost control over their troops.
By July 21, 1917, the Germans and Austrians in the region west of
Tarnopol managed to reach the Brzezany-Tarnopol railway at several
points. Near Brzezany the Seventh Russian Army also began to yield to
increasing pressure on its flanks. The number of prisoners and the
amount of booty were large. At Jezierna rich supplies of provisions,
munitions, and other war stores fell into German hands.
[Illustration: The Russian Offensive and Retreat in Galicia.]
Late in the afternoon the Germans forced their way forward from
Tarnopol to as far as the Sereth bridgehead. During the fight the
railway line from Kozowa to Tarnopol was reached at several points.
The Russian masses southeast of Brzezany began to yield. The town of
Tarnopol and numerous villages east of the Sereth soon were in flames.
On the lower Narayuvka River the artillery duel increased to
considerable intensity. On the river Lomnitza after a bombardment the
Germans took the offensive in the regions of the villages of Babino
and Studzianka and forced Russian troops to evacuate Babino and cross
the right bank of the Lomnitza. By the end of the day the whole
Russian front from the Zlota Lipa close up to the Dniester was
wavering under the pressure of the German-Austrian attack on the
Sereth.
In the north, however, the Russians were still fighting back, though
unsuccessfully. Between Krevo and Smorgon the Russians after a strong
artillery preparation attacked with a strong force. Their assaults
broke down with heavy losses on the German troops. After an agitated
night fresh fighting broke out at that point. Northward as far as
Naroz Lake and also between Drysviaty Lake and Dvinsk increased
artillery fighting continued.
The offensive movements undertaken by the Russians in the northern
sector were continued on July 22, 1917. In the direction of Vilna, in
the neighborhood of Krevo, Russian troops attacked and occupied German
positions in the district of Tsary-Bogushi, penetrating to a depth of
two miles in places. Over one thousand Germans were taken prisoner.
However, the spirit of disobedience was gradually spreading among the
Russian troops. "The development of a further success is being
jeopardized by the instability and moral weakness of certain
detachments. Particularly noteworthy was the gallant conduct of the
officers, great numbers of them perishing during the fulfillment of
their duties," says the official Russian statement. On the upper
course of the Sereth, from Zalovce to Tarnopol, there was considerable
rifle firing. South of Berezovica-Velka the Germans conducted an
intense artillery fire. Between the rivers Sereth, Stripa, and Zlota
Lipa they continued their offensive, occupying the villages of
Nastasov, Beniave (on the Stripa), Uvse, and Slavintin. The strategic
effect of the German operations in East Galicia was continually
becoming more powerful. The Russians began retreating from the
northern Carpathian front. From the Sereth to the wooded Carpathians
the Germans were pressing forward over a front of 155 miles wide.
By July 23, 1917, the victorious German army corps had forced their
way over the Sereth, crossing to the south near Tarnopol. Near
Trembowla desperate Russian mass attacks were repulsed. The Germans
advanced beyond Podhaytse, Halicz, and the Bystritza Solotvina River.
The booty was large. Several divisions reported 3,000 prisoners each.
Numerous heavy guns, including those of the largest calibers, railway
trucks filled with foodstuffs and fodder, munitions, armored cars and
motor lorries, tents, articles left on the field, and every kind of
war material were captured.
Archduke Joseph's north wing now joined in a movement which had
commenced to the south of the Dniester. There was strong Russian
firing activity along that whole front.
In the north the fighting, too, was severe. In some places the
Russians made decided gains, only to lose them again by the refusal of
certain troops to obey their commanders. Southwest of Dvinsk Russian
detachments, after strong artillery preparation, occupied German
positions on both sides of the Dvinsk-Vilna railway. After this
success entire units, without any pressure on the part of the Germans,
voluntarily returned to their original trenches. A number of these
units refused to carry out military commands during the battle.
Detachments of the Twenty-fourth Division, the Tulsk, Lovitsky, and
Saraosky regiments, and the "Battalion of Death," consisting of women,
acted especially heroically, and as at other points the gallantry of
the officers was noteworthy. Their losses were large. In the direction
of Vilna and in the region north of Krevo the Germans delivered a
number of counterattacks, and succeeded in occupying one of the
heights north of Bogush, which had been captured by the Russians on
the previous day, July 22, 1917. Heroic exertion by the Russian
officers was required to restrain the men from withdrawing to the rear
in great numbers.
The German successes became more and more important and the Russian
route more and more complete. Stanislau and Nadvorna were now in
German hands and German forces were rapidly approaching Buczacz.
In the Carpathians, too, the Russians began to give way.
Prime Minister Kerensky had rushed to the Galician front as soon as
news had reached him of the Russian débâcle. However, even his
presence could not stem the Austro-German advance and the Russian
flight. It was reported that he had even risked his life in this
attempt.
On July 25, 1917, the Austro-German successes were still farther
extended. During stubborn engagements Austro-German divisions gained
heights west of Tarnopol and the Gniza River sector to the
Trembowla-Husiatyn road. Farther southwest Buczacz, Tiumacz, Ottynia,
and Delatyn were taken.
The Russian Carpathian front, owing to the pressure on the north of
the Dniester, now commenced to weaken to the south of the Tartar Pass.
The Russians were retreating there in the direction of Czernowitz.
In the north, south of Smorgon, concentrated German artillery fire
partly closed up the breach in the German lines made by the Russians.
The latter were compelled to retreat, and the Germans regained almost
all of their former positions.
July 26, 1917, brought still further defeats to the Russian forces in
Galicia. In a bitter struggle near Tarnopol, German divisions extended
their gains by a powerful attack at the bridgehead on the eastern bank
of the Sereth, which recently had been contested hotly. Farther
south, in spite of stubborn resistance of Russians, who were sent
forward regardless of the fact that thousands upon thousands of them
were being mowed down under destructive German fire, the Germans
captured the Gniza and Sereth crossings from Trembowla to Skomorocze.
They were also advancing rapidly on both sides of the Dniester.
Kolomea was captured by Bavarian and Austro-Hungarian troops. In the
northeastern portion of the wooded Carpathians Austrian troops were
following on the heels of the Russians who retreated in the direction
of the Pruth.
[Illustration: The Entire Eastern Battle Front, August 1, 1917.]
Without let-up the Germans and Austrians continued to press back the
disorganized Russian armies. By July 27, 1917, the Austro-German
divisions under General von Boehm-Ermolli had crossed the
Jablonica-Horodenka-Zablowow line. Austrian troops on the northern
wing were drawing close to the Pruth Plateau below Kolomea. West of
Seletyn-Fundul, on the Moldavian Road in the wooded Carpathians,
German and Austro-Hungarian troops wrested some heights positions from
the still resisting Russians.
By July 28, 1917, the Russians on both sides of Husiatyn had retired
behind the frontier. German corps had reached Zbrocz. Others
approached the confluence of the northern Sereth and the Dniester.
Between the Dniester and the Pruth the Russian rear guard made a
stand. The Germans in a powerful attack broke through their positions
and pursued the Russians on both banks of the Dniester. In the
Cheremosh Valley Kuty was taken. Above and below the town a crossing
of the river was effected by the Austrians.
In the last days of July, 1917, the Russian resistance stiffened
slightly. Still the Teutonic forces gained new successes in eastern
Galicia and Bukowina. The river Zbrocz was crossed at many points by
German and Austro-Hungarian divisions from above Husiatyn to south of
Skala, on a front of thirty-one miles, in spite of the bitter
resistance of the Russians. Between the Dniester and the Pruth the
allied Teutonic troops captured Werenocanka and Sniatyn, in the
direction of Czernowitz.
In a strong assault German chasseurs broke through Russian rear-guard
positions near Visnitz. The Russians were thereby forced to evacuate
the Cheremosh line and retired toward the east. Also in the wooded
Carpathians, on the upper course of the southern Sereth, and on both
sides of the Moldava and the Suczawa, the Austro-Germans gained ground
in an attack toward the east. Under pressure of this success the
Russians abandoned their first-line positions in the Meste-Canaste
sector.
That the Russian rout was not worse, and that they managed to save a
large part of their armies, was due largely to the assistance rendered
by Belgian and British armored cars.
PART XI--AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT
CHAPTER XCV
STALEMATE ON THE ITALIAN FRONTS
On February 1, 1917, on the northern slopes of Monte Maso, along the
Posina Torrent, and in the Astico Valley Italian patrols destroyed
Austrian outposts, taking eleven prisoners. In the Sugana Valley
Austrian artillery bombarded Italian positions on Monte Lebre and
Ospedaletto and in Pesino Hollow with gas shells. On the Julian front
there were minor artillery actions and activity by patrol. At one
point a bombardment of the Austrian lines resulted in a small
ammunition dump being blown up.
On the Trentino front even the artillery was handicapped by snowfall
on February 3, 1917. In the upper Comelico Valley Italian troops
repulsed a surprise attack. On the Julian front there was the usual
artillery firing.
On February 6, 1917, on the Trentino front the artillery fighting was
more intense in the Astico Valley. In the Sugana Valley an Austrian
detachment which attempted to attack advanced Italian positions on
Monte Maso was put to flight, leaving arms and ammunition on the
ground. On the Julian front artillery fighting occurred, during which
the Austrians bombarded Goritz for a short time.
In the Sugana Valley, after a violent bombardment, the Austrians at
dawn on February 7, 1917, attempted another attack on one of the
Italian positions on the right bank of the Brenta. It failed in its
inception, however, owing to the combined action of Italian infantry
and field batteries. A similar operation attempted by the Austrians on
the Freikofel had a like result. In the Posina Valley, at Astico, in
the Plezza sector, before Sagora, and in the vicinity of Boscomalo and
Hudilog, the activity of Italian reconnoitering patrols led to minor
skirmishes.
During the next few days there were desultory artillery actions in the
Trentino. Italian batteries shelled Austrian positions on Monte Creino
and dispersed supply columns on the northern slopes of Monte Pasubio.
On the Julian front the Austrian artillery showed increased activity.
In the area east of Goritz on the night of February 10, 1917, after
heavy artillery and trench mortar preparations, the Austrians in
considerable forces attacked the Italian positions on the western
slopes of Santa Caterina, northwest of San Marco, and east of
Vertoibizza, between Sober and the Goritz-Dornberg railway. After
heavy fighting the Austrians were repulsed nearly everywhere. However,
the Austrians succeeded in entering several portions of Italian
trenches, inflicted heavy losses upon the Italians and captured
fifteen officers and 650 men, ten machine guns, two mine throwers and
much other war material.
This slight success gained by the Austrians resulted in an intense
bombardment and violent counterattacks on the part of the Italian
forces during February 11, 1917. The latter entirely reestablished
their lines and completely repulsed the Austrians, inflicting upon
them serious losses and taking more than a hundred prisoners, among
whom were a few officers. In the Trentino there was moderate
artillery activity. Detachments of Austrian ski runners attempted to
approach the Italian lines on the Pasubio. They were repulsed and
dispersed by a few well-directed shots. In the upper valleys of the
But and Fella there were continuous artillery duels. The Italians
reached the station of Tarvia with their fire. In the Vedel zone,
after throwing hand grenades, an Austrian detachment attacked. It was
speedily repulsed in violent hand-to-hand fighting. The detachment was
pursued and decimated by Italian fire. The few survivors were
captured.
On the Trentino front the activity of the artillery increased again on
February 12, 1917, especially in the Tonale Pass, on the western
slopes of Monte Zugna, in the Lagarina Valley, in the upper
Travignola, and in the Cordevole Valley. In the Arsa Valley and on the
upper Coalba Torrent, on the right bank of the Brenta, Austrian raids
were repulsed. In the upper But Valley the artillery was active.
Italian batteries set fire to some Austrian barracks behind Val
Piccolo.
The following day, February 13, 1917, Italian artillery fire again
reached and hit the station at Tarvia. In the zone north of Sober, in
the Goritz district, an Austrian attack was repulsed. In the Wippach
Valley lively artillery engagements continued. The Italians fired
numerous gas grenades. Italian attacks from the district of St. Peter
were repulsed. Near Tonale Pass Austrian troops surprised an Italian
point of support and took twenty-three Italian prisoners.
Similar events of minor local importance occurred during the next few
days. Thus, on February 16, 1917, the Adige Valley was the scene of
considerable activity by the artillery. Italian batteries caused fires
to break out on the Austrian Zugna line. Minor encounters favorable to
the Italian forces were reported from various places. On the Julian
front there were the usual artillery actions. The railway station at
Santa Lucia di Tolmino was hit by Italian fire.
Increased activity of reconnoitering parties led to small successful
encounters during February 17, 1917, at Cavento Adamello Pass, near
Forcellina di Montozzo, at Valcamonica in Vallaria, in the upper
Posina at Astico, and at Felizon in the Boite Valley, and in Frigido
Valley. In the upper But and on the Carso considerable artillery
actions were reported. During the next few days the Italian artillery
was again lively on several sectors of the mountain front. Tarvia was
repeatedly shelled. On February 19, 1917, Austrian patrols made
twenty-two prisoners as the result of an enterprise against Italian
positions east of Monte Zebio and north of Assio.
During the following night Austrian detachments entered through
galleries dug under the snow one of the Italian trenches near Casere
Zebio Pastorile. After heavy hand-to-hand fighting they were repulsed
with considerable loss, leaving some prisoners in the hands of the
Italians.
On February 20, 1917, the Austrians attempted attacks on the left bank
of the Maso Torreni and east of the Vertoibizza Torrent in the Frigido
Valley. There were desultory artillery actions. They became especially
intense in the south Loppio Valley in the upper Vanol, and on the
Carso.
Other raids attempted by the Austrians during February 21 and 22,
1917, against the Italians on the Zugna in the Adige Valley, between
Strigne and Spera in the Sugana Valley, and on the slopes of Monte
Cadini in the upper Boite Valley, failed owing to firm resistance. In
the Col di Lana area an Austrian detachment by a sudden attack
occupied one of the Italian outposts. The detachment was at once
counterattacked and driven off.
Again on February 23 and 24, 1917, the usual artillery actions took
place, particularly in the Sugana Valley, in the Plava sector, and
east of Goritz. Raids attempted by the Austrians against Italian
positions on the northern slopes of Col Bricon, in the Travignola
Valley, at Navagiust in the upper Degano, and on the slopes of Monte
Nero were repulsed. In the area southeast of Goritz Austrian
detachments, after a violent bombardment, attacked one of the advanced
Italian positions south of Vertoiba. They were driven back and
dispersed.
During the last few days of February, 1917, the weather cleared up
somewhat and brought increased artillery activities. The artillery
duel was more intense in the zone east of Goritz. Some shells fell on
the town. At the confluence of the Vertoibizza and Frigido the
Italians repulsed Austrian detachments that were attempting to
approach their lines. On the northern slopes of San Marco an Italian
detachment made a surprise attack and penetrated into the Austrian
trenches, which were destroyed and the occupants driven out.
The month of March, 1917, opened in the same manner in which February,
1917, had closed. There were intermittent artillery actions all along
the front. Italian batteries destroyed advanced Austrian posts on
Marmolado Mountain, near the upper Avisio River (Trentino front),
causing fires at various places. Detachments of Italian infantry on
March 2, 1917, successfully raided Austrian trenches at different
points, destroyed defensive works, and captured ammunition and other
war material. Austrian patrols made several similar raids.
On March 4, 1917, artillery activity increased noticeably on the
Trentino front from the Travignola Valley to the upper Cordevole. In
the upper part of the San Pellegrino Valley, in the Avisio district, a
brilliant attack by Italian troops resulted in the occupation of a
strong position at an altitude of almost 9,000 feet on the Costabella
group. The Italians captured sixty-one men and one machine gun. On the
Julian front there were again intermittent artillery actions. Italian
batteries caused explosions and fires in the Austrian lines near
Castagnievizza on the middle Isonzo. Austrian detachments that
attempted to approach the Italian positions southeast of Vertoiba were
repulsed.
During the night of March 9, 1917, Austrian detachments, in the midst
of a violent snowstorm, entered advanced positions on the southern
slopes of Cima di Bocche. They were driven out by a counterattack.
There were also the usual artillery duels. Italian batteries shelled
the station at Santa Lucia di Tolmino and the Austrian lines in the
Castaomavilla sector with good results. Not even minor engagements
were reported on the following day, March 10, 1917. But on March 11,
1917, an Austrian detachment, in the Concei-Ledro Valley, in the
Westerdak, after violent artillery and trench-mortar bombardment
against Bezzecoa and Mount View, attacked the Italian position in the
small valley of Vai, northeast of Lenzumo. The Austrians were repulsed
and a few prisoners were taken. On the remainder of the Trentino front
there were patrol encounters and increased artillery activity. In the
Travignola Valley of the Avisio, after trench-mortar preparation
against the southern slopes of Cima di Bocche, the Austrians attacked
toward Peneveggio. They were driven off. There were the usual
artillery actions along the Julian front. In the Castagnievizza
sector, on the Carso, the Italians surrounded an outpost and captured
the garrison, comprising nine men and one officer.
On March 12, 1917, there was the usual artillery activity in the
Trentino. The Austrian batteries showed increased activity in the
Tolmino Basin on the Julian front. On the Carso an Italian detachment
raided the Austrian lines southwest of Lucati and destroyed the works.
The dugouts were burned and twenty-four prisoners and one machine gun
captured. An Austrian counterattack failed.
CHAPTER XCVI
SPRING ON THE AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT
With the approach of spring, which of course comes late in the
mountainous regions in which the Austrians and Italians were fighting,
a quickening of all fighting activities became noticeable. Artillery
duels became more frequent and violent, scouting expeditions more
extensive and daring, and air reconnaissances an almost daily
occurrence. All this pointed to the coming of a new offensive. Rumors
were flying around almost as thickly as shells and bullets and they
credited equally both sides with making preparations. However, for
quite some time conditions continued very much in the same way in
which they had been running along during the winter.
In the Monte Forno zone, on the Asiago Plateau, an Austrian detachment
during the night of March 15, 1917, made a surprise irruption into
one of the Italian trenches, but was promptly repulsed by a
counterattack. In the upper Cordevole Valley small patrol engagements
occurred on the slopes of Monte Sief. On the Julian front there were
lively actions by both the artillery and by small infantry
detachments.
In the Adige Valley zone there was intense artillery activity on both
sides on March 16, 1917. Italian artillery bombarded the railway
station at Calliano and Austrian cantonments in the environs of Villa
Lagarina. Minor encounters of infantry occurred at Serravalle, Val
Lagarina, on the slopes of Monte Sief, in the upper Cordevole, near
the lower Studena, at Ponteblana Fella, and on the heights of Hill 126
on the borders of the Carso Plateau. Artillery and mine-throwing
engagements on the Carso Plateau and in the Wippach Valley went on day
and night. On the Cima di Costabella a minor Italian attack was
repulsed.
East of Monte Forno, at the north of the Asiago Plateau, detachments
of an Austrian regiment, advancing through snow tunnels, penetrated
into the Italian trenches, destroyed the dugouts, and inflicted
considerable losses upon the Italians.
On March 17, 1917, after violent artillery preparation the Austrians
attacked Italian positions at the head of the small valley of Coalbo,
in the Sugana, but were driven off with heavy losses. On the preceding
night the Austrians destroyed, by heavy artillery fire, the defensive
works of the position gained by the Italians in the San Pellegrino
Valley on March 4, 1917, and succeeded in occupying the upper portion
of it. On the Julian front increased artillery and trench-mortar
fighting was reported. In the Plava sector the Italians repulsed an
Austrian detachment which attempted to raid positions near Pallioca.
East of Vertoiba an Italian patrol entered the Austrian lines, which
were set afire. Ammunition and war material were taken. In the
district of Kostanjevica an Italian attack preceded by strong
artillery fire was repulsed before the village. On the Tyrolean front
Italian long-range cannon shelled Arco and Villa Lagarina.
On the whole front there was increased activity of the artillery on
March 18, 1917. It was most marked in the Lagarina Valley. Italian
field hospitals at Goritz and Ronchi were struck, causing a few
casualties. The Austrians attempted raids in the Giumella Valley and
in the Lucati sector, but were checked.
On March 19 and 20, 1917, there was again considerable artillery
activity in the Trentino. On Costabella Massif, after a violent
bombardment with gas shells, the Austrians repeatedly attacked
advanced Italian positions. They were repulsed with heavy loss. The
usual artillery actions and patrol encounters were reported on the
Julian front. Two Italian patrols entered the enemy lines in the Goritz
area and destroyed them.
Comparative inactivity was the rule during the following week. But
during the night of March 27, 1917, Austrian detachments in the Sugana
Valley attempted to approach Italian positions on the left bank of the
Maso Torrent west of Samone. They were driven off and dispersed by the
Italian fire.
There was also considerable artillery activity on the Julian front. At
dusk the bombardment was extremely severe in the section between the
Frigido and Dosso Faiti. After destroying the Italian defenses the
Austrians launched two attacks in force, one against Hill 126, where
they succeeded in occupying some advanced trenches, and the other
toward Dosso Faiti, which was repulsed.
Nothing of any importance occurred anywhere on the Austro-Italian
front during the last few days of March, 1917.
April brought somewhat warmer weather, resulting in the beginning of
the spring thaws. This made military operations even more difficult
and brought about a very noticeable reduction in all activities on
both sides. Not until April 6, 1917, was there anything of any
importance whatsoever to report, and even then the operations were
only of minor importance. On that day there were desultory artillery
actions along the front, although the prevailing bad weather greatly
interfered with operations.
During the afternoon the Austrians exploded a large mine in the
vicinity of advanced Italian positions on the second summit of Monte
Colbricon. The Italians suffered no serious damage and no casualties.
On the Carso a small detachment of Italian troops surprised and
occupied an advanced Austrian post north of Boscomalo, capturing the
entire garrison.
On April 10, 1917, the artillery activity, normal on the remainder of
the front, was more lively west of Lake Garda and in the Lagarina
Valley. The Austrians having renewed their attack with medium-caliber
guns on Limone Garda, Italian batteries replied by shelling the
Austrian lines in the vicinity of Arco and Rovereto. On the Carso
Italian patrols pushed back advanced positions of the Austrians at
many points.
During the night of April 11, 1917, the Austrians, after violent
artillery and trench-mortar preparations, succeeded momentarily in
entering one of the advanced Italian trenches to the east of Vertoiba,
but were immediately driven off on the arrival of Italian reserves.
Artillery was again active on April 12, 1917, on the Trentino front
between the Adige and San Pellegrino Valleys. Italian medium-caliber
batteries employed effective bursts of fire against the railway
station of Calliano, where an unusual movement of trains had been
observed. On the Colbricon Massif, in the upper Cismon Valley, the
Austrians had been mining toward Italian advanced positions. During
the night the Italians exploded a countermine, which destroyed the
Austrian gallery. The edge of the crater was occupied by Italian
troops and the position established. On the Julian front artillery
duels were reported in the Plava area, to the east of the Vertoibizza
Torrent and in the northern sector of the Carso. The Italians repulsed
minor attacks in the vicinity of Della Tolmino, and against the
position which they had captured on April 7, 1917, north of Boscomalo.
On April 13, 1917, the railway station at Calliano and moving trains
in the neighborhood were repeatedly hit, an ammunition depot was blown
up, and a fortified position destroyed in the Zugna area. On the
remainder of the Trentino front bad weather interfered with all
operations.
On the Colbricon Massif, in the upper Cismon, Austrian detachments
attempted to attack the position which the Italians had captured on
the preceding night after the explosion of their mine. They were
repulsed with loss. On the Julian front artillery duels took place in
the Goritz Basin.
Again on April 16, 1917, Italian artillery in the Lagarina Valley
renewed the bombardment of the station at Calliano, damaging the
building, putting trains and motor lorries to flight and dispersing
troops. Encounters among small groups of infantry were reported.
In the upper part of the Aravionodo Valley in the midst of a heavy
storm an Austrian detachment made a surprise attack and penetrated one
of the advanced Italian positions west of Lake Bocete. They were
driven back to their own lines. On the Julian front the artillery
fighting was more intense in the vicinity of Goritz.
Bad weather once more interfered seriously with all operations for a
few days. On April 20, 1917, however, there was again lively artillery
fire on the whole front. Italian batteries shelled Austrian camps in
the Lagarina Valley, dispersed Austrian detachments on the northern
slopes of Monte Pasubio and at various points on the Carnia front, and
checked Austrian fire in the Goritz area and on the Carso.
For the next two days only artillery duels were reported. These were
continued on April 23, 1917, in the Sugana Valley, where extensive
movements of troops behind the Austrian lines were reported. In the
upper Cordevole Valley an Austrian detachment, which attempted to
penetrate one of the Italian positions in the Campo zone, was
counterattacked and dispersed, abandoning some arms and munitions. An
Austrian attack at Gabria, northwest of Tolmino, had a like result,
the Austrians suffering appreciable losses.
On April 29, 1917, an Austrian detachment entered one of the advanced
Italian positions at Tonale Pass in the Camonica Valley.
Notwithstanding a violent barrage fire from the Austrian batteries,
Italian reenforcements at once reoccupied the position. The artillery
activity was continued in a desultory way. It was somewhat more
lively, however, in the Travignola Valley, at the head of the
Costeana stream, and in the Goritz area. Reconnaissance patrols were
active along the entire front.
The first definite signs of an impending Italian drive on the Julian
front appeared on May 12, 1917. Along the whole front between Tolmino
and the sea the Italians were active with artillery and mine throwers.
The fire lasted through the entire night. It caused explosions and
fires in the Austrian lines and was continued with unabated vigor in
spite of prompt response from the Austrian guns during May 13, 1917.
CHAPTER XCVII
THE ITALIAN DRIVE AGAINST TRIESTE
It now became quite evident that the Italians once more were ready to
attempt to reach their goal, Trieste. More and more violent became
their bombardment of the Austrian lines on the Isonzo front. On May
14, 1917, on the Julian front from Tolmino to the sea the destructive
fire of the Italian artillery, directed against strong Austrian
positions, reached great intensity and was vigorously answered by
numerous Austrian batteries of all calibers. Toward noon Italian
infantry made several raids on various points along the front, which
led to considerable progress in the Plava area, on the slopes of Monte
Cucco, and on the hills east of Goritz and Vertoibizza. At the same
time other Italian troops made a thrust in the northern sector of the
Carso and reached the wrecked Austrian lines east of Dosso Faiti,
capturing prisoners. The infantry actions continued during the entire
day, supported by artillery and trench mortars, which were keeping the
Austrian artillery in check.
On the remainder of the front the Austrians attempted various attacks
in force on advanced positions northwest of Tolmino and on the Asiago
Plateau. All were unsuccessful and resulted in severe casualties to
the assailants.
This offensive action, it now appeared, had really begun on May 12,
1917, when, in the morning, fire was opened along the whole line from
Tolmino to the sea. It was maintained with a regularly quickened
rhythm until the morning of May 14, 1917, when it was intensified to a
powerful drum fire. During the first part of the bombardment the
Austrians reacted but feebly. It seemed as though the Austrians had
been taken by surprise, but their reply was more vigorous on May 13,
1917, and extremely violent on the morning of the 14th. Austrian
batteries then opened a heavy curtain of fire, pouring thousands of
projectiles on the trenches in the Italian line.
Undeterred by this tempest of fire, the Italian infantry, toward noon,
leaped over the parapets and dashed forward toward the objectives
previously assigned. These positions were almost all difficult ones,
and some of them hitherto had been regarded as impregnable; such, for
instance, as the heights on the left bank of the Isonzo, from Plava to
Salcano Pass. The steep slopes, covered with rocks and dotted here and
there with thick clumps of brush, constituted a formidable obstacle to
an infantry advance. Successive lines of trenches, prepared months
before above deep caverns, well supplied with defensive and offensive
material, were defended by seasoned troops and protected by batteries
placed so as to flank attacks with their fire. Notwithstanding these
conditions, the Italian infantry advanced.
This vigorous offensive movement was continued by the Italian troops
on May 15, 1917. Ably supported by artillery, they succeeded in
establishing themselves on the steep and wooded heights along the
eastern bank of the Isonzo, north of Goritz, which had been
transformed by the Austrians into a formidably fortified defensive
position. On the left wing one of the Italian columns, after forcing a
passage across the river between Loga and Bombrez, captured the
last-named village and fortified itself there.
In the center the heights of Hill 383, northeast of Plava, were
captured, while the Florence infantry brigade and the Vaellino
brigade, after taking by assault the villages of Zagora and Zagomila,
which were infested by machine guns, carried the crests of Monte Cucco
and Monte Vodice with great dash.
On the right wing the other Italian columns made considerable progress
on the steep slopes of Monte Santo. Fierce Austrian counterattacks,
prepared and supported by a bombardment of exceptional violence, were
all repulsed.
In the area east of Goritz the Messina brigade conquered Hill 174
north of Tivoli, which was strongly fortified and stubbornly held by
the Austrians, whose insistent counterattacks were beaten back.
The city of Goritz suffered a heavy bombardment from Austrian
batteries, and some buildings were seriously damaged.
On the remainder of the front down to the sea there were lively
artillery actions. The Austrian rear lines were again effectively
bombed by air squadrons and during the night by airships.
In the first two days of their advance the Italians made 3,375
prisoners, among them ninety-eight officers. They also captured a
mountain battery, about thirty machine guns, and much war material,
including arms and ammunition.
On the following day, May 16, 1917, the Austrian resistance stiffened
somewhat. In spite of this the Italian advance continued. Fighting in
the zone between Monte Cucco and Vodice was bitter and lengthy.
Considerable Austrian masses, supported by the fire of numerous
batteries, were repeatedly launched against Italy's new positions.
Each time they were repulsed, and the Fochux bastion of Monte Cucco
from Height 611 to Height 525 remained firmly in Italian hands.
Moreover, the Italians made appreciable progress toward the important
summit of Height 652, on the Vodice.
In the zone east of Goritz Austrian counterattacks, directed
particularly against the summit of Height 174 and to the east of the
Vertoibizza Torrent, broke down under Italian fire. Afterward Italian
infantry, assuming a counteroffensive, occupied the important height
to the south of Grazigna after a desperate conflict.
On the Carso Plateau the Austrians, with the evident object of
lessening the Italian pressure in the region of Goritz, attempted a
powerful effort against positions at Monte Vuocgnacco and Monte Faiti,
on the northern sector of the plateau. Successive waves of Austrian
infantry were broken down by well-directed fire, or rolled back in
disorder after having suffered serious losses.
On the whole front from Tolmino to the sea there were continuous
actions by artillery of all calibers. The Austrian artillery continued
its work of devastation on the city of Goritz.
On May 17, 1917, the Italian troops were engaged in fortifying the
important position captured east of Goritz and organizing
communication with the rear. The Austrians attempted but failed to
hinder the work of the Italian forces.
During the night the Austrians under cover of darkness attempted
surprise attacks upon positions on the bridgehead of Bodrez (on the
Isonzo seven miles southwest of Tolmino), on the Vodice, Hill 592, and
at Grazigna. In the morning the Austrians brought up strong
reenforcements and renewed their attack, which was particularly
violent in the Vodice region and south of Grazigna. Shattered by
Italian battery fire the Austrian masses were counterattacked and
repulsed by infantry, who at several points surrounded their
assailants and forced them to surrender.
The number of prisoners by now had increased to 6,432, including 143
officers.
All along the front from Tolmino to the sea the artillery continued
very active. Goritz again suffered very heavy damage.
Surprise attacks during the night of May 17, 1917, on Italian
positions on the heights of Hill 592 on Monte Vodice were repulsed. In
the morning of May 18, 1917, Italian troops opened a vigorous attack,
with the object of capturing the heights of Hill 652 on Monte Vodice,
the key to the Austrian defenses north of Monte Santo. The stubborn
resistance of the Austrians, supported by numerous batteries of all
calibers, which kept up a continuous fire from the rear, rendered the
action long and severe. Advancing from rock to rock, expelling the
Austrians from trench and cavern, destroying their machine guns,
Italian infantry by evening succeeded in reaching the crest of the
long-contested heights and maintaining the position against the
concentrated fire of Austrian batteries.
With the capture of the ridge between Monte Cucco and Monte Vodice,
the task of diverting the Austrian attention, which was assigned to
the troops in the sector between Bodrez and Loga, was completed, and
they withdrew to the right bank of the Isonzo without molestation from
the Austrians.
In the region east of Goritz the Italians maintained all their
positions against persistent attacks, which were particularly violent
south of Grazigna and on the heights of Hill 174 south of Tivoli.
On the remainder of the front incessant artillery duels occurred. The
Austrian fire was especially violent against Goritz and the
surrounding villages.
In the area north of Goritz the Italian troops on May 19, 1917,
extended their positions on Hill 652, on the Vodice (a ridge which
links captured Monte Cucco with Monte Santo, the immediate Italian
objective in this region). Dense masses of Austrians preceded by a
heavy barrage fire counterattacked in an attempt to stop the Italian
progress, but each time were driven back with heavy loss. In the
evening the Austrians withdrew their infantry, and concentrated a
strong artillery fire on the lost positions. These the Italians firmly
maintained. They captured two 4-inch guns, two 6-inch mortars, trench
mortars and machine guns, and a large quantity of arms and ammunition.
In the area east of Goritz Italian troops broke into the Austrian line
and took some prisoners. On the Trentino front the Austrians attempted
a diversion by a heavy bombardment and by local infantry attacks
without success.
These attempts were resumed on May 20, 1917, in the Trentino, in the
Campo area, in the Daone Valley, southeast of Lake Loppio, at Rio
Cameras, in the Adige Valley, and on the Maso Torrent line in the
Sugana Valley. Late in the evening masses of Austrian troops
vigorously assaulted Italian positions on the Pasubio, west of Monte
Dente. After heavy hand-to-hand fighting, the Austrians, suffering
severe loss, were completely driven back all along the line of attack.
On the Julian front, Austrian attacks on the northern slopes of San
Marco, east of Goritz, between Monte Vuocgnacco and Monte Faiti, and
in the neighborhood of Hill 268 were repulsed. The Italians took Hill
363, between Palieva and Britof, east of Plava, and extended their
positions still more on the Vodice.
On May 21, 1917, the Austrians on the Trentino front, notwithstanding
the repulse so far suffered, persisted in making desultory and
fruitless attempts to divert the Italians from their main objectives.
Raids were made in force against the advanced Italian line at Caventro
Pass, Adamello, Pluberga Bridge, in the Chiesa, and in the Giumella
Valley, at Rio Pionale. All were repulsed. Between Lake Garda and the
Adige the Austrians, after an intense and prolonged bombardment with
artillery of all calibers, attacked positions on Monte Dosso Alto,
southwest of Loppio Lake, and on Monte Zugna. They were driven back
with heavy loss. Other local attacks which were attempted in the
Posina Valley, on the Asiago Plateau, and in Carnia failed. On the
Julian front, in the sector north of Goritz, the artillery duel,
already spirited, became more intense, but was not followed by
infantry action. The position which the Italians captured on Hill 363,
east of Plava, was consolidated.
East of Goritz the Austrians attempted repeatedly to recapture Hill
126, south of Grazigna, but failed on account of the effective action
of Italian artillery reserves.
A slight lull set in on May 22, 1917, except that the Italians opened
a very heavy fire against the Austrian positions on the Carso Plateau.
This bombardment continued on May 23, 1917, and after ten hours of
violent bombardment, the troops of the Third Italian Army assaulted
and broke through the well-organized Austrian lines from
Castagnievizza to the sea. While they were heavily engaging the
Austrians on the left, other troops, after carrying trenches in the
center and on the right, occupied part of the area south of the
Castagnievizza-Boscomalo road, passed Boscomalo and captured Jamiano,
the important and strongly fortified heights of Hill 92 east of
Pietrarossa, Hill 77, Hill 58, Bagni, and Hill 21. The Austrians, at
first surprised by the sudden onslaught, toward evening
counterattacked in force, supported by an exceptionally heavy
bombardment. They were repulsed with severe loss.
During the day the Italians captured more than 9,000 prisoners,
including more than 300 officers. In the Goritz area Italian troops
repulsed heavy attacks, captured a strong point on the northwest
slopes of San Marco, and after severe fighting made considerable gains
in the Monte Santo and Vodice areas.
It was also announced officially that ten British batteries assisted
in the fighting of these days.
On May 24, 1917, the battle continued to rage along the Julian front
from the sea to Plava. Italian troops, advancing over very difficult
and intricate ground, fought their way, yard by yard, through a deep
labyrinth of fortifications stubbornly defended by strong,
well-trained forces.
In the sector between the sea and the Jamiano-Brestovizza road large
Italian forces, supported by some field batteries which advanced with
the infantry, drove the Austrians back as far as Foce Timavo, Flondar,
and Hill 31, a line south of Jamiano.
North of Jamiano, after heavy fighting, the strongly fortified heights
Hills 235 and 247 were carried and the Italian positions extended as
far as the outlying houses of Versic.
The Austrians attempted to lighten the Italian pressure on the
southern Carso by violent counterattacks from Castagnievizza to
Frigido. All these efforts failed. East of Goritz persistent Austrian
raids were repulsed during the night on Hill 174, north of Tivoli, and
at Grazigna. In the region of Monte Cucco and Monte Vodice the
Austrians vainly made every effort to retake captured positions. An
Austrian column attempted a surprise attack against Italian lines east
of Hill 652 on the Vodice. It was counterattacked and driven back to
its point of departure, which was then carried and held by Italian
troops. East of Plava the Italians extended their occupation on Hill
363.
CHAPTER XCVIII
THE HEIGHT OF THE ITALIAN OFFENSIVE
The struggle which had now been raging for almost a fortnight
continued with unabated strength. Although the Austrians put up a most
gallant and determined resistance, they could not keep back the
Italian advance, which apparently was made with superior infantry and
artillery forces.
On May 25, 1917, heavy fighting continued on the Carso. After intense
artillery preparation lasting until 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
infantry of the Seventh Italian Army Corps vigorously attacked and
carried the network of trenches extending from the mouth of the Timavo
River to a point east of Jamiano and took possession of the heights
between Flondar and Medeazza.
Farther north, after severe hand-to-hand fighting, the Austrian
defenses at the labyrinth east of Boscomalo were broken and Hill 220,
southeast of the village, and trenches around Castagnievizza were
taken. The operations on the northern sector of the Carso were
confined almost exclusively to artillery actions. The Italians
extended their positions on Hill 174, north of Tivoli.
The fighting was very heavy in the Vodice area, where the Austrians
made every effort to dislodge the Italians from the important point
Hill 652, which, however, remained firmly in Italian possession. After
violent artillery preparation dense masses of Austrian troops
attempted repeatedly and stubbornly to attack the Italian lines.
In the Plava zone the Italians made farther progress on the slopes of
Hill 363 in the Rogat Valley. The total number of prisoners captured
so far on the Julian front from May 14 to 25, 1917, was 22,419,
including 487 officers.
It was now the fourth day of this new Carso battle. Still the Italians
extended their positions. On May 26, 1917, artillery action all along
the line continued fiercely from sunrise until evening. In the
afternoon between the coast and Jamiano Italian infantry by a
brilliant assault succeeded in reaching a point beyond the railway
from Monfalcone to Duino, northeast of San Giovanni, and carried the
strongly fortified Hill 145 southwest of Medeazza. They established
themselves a few hundred yards from the village.
North of Jamiano violent attacks and counterattacks followed in
succession all day, supported by artillery fire. Castagnievizza also
was reached and passed, but the persistent and concentrated shelling
by a number of Austrian batteries compelled the Italians to evacuate
ground there. The latter maintained a hold on the western boundary,
however.
In the area east and north of Goritz the artillery action was intense.
The Italians shelled the basins of Cargaro and Britof, in which the
Austrian supplies centered.
In the Plava sector Italian infantry carried the heights at the head
of the Palieva Valley, thus connecting their Monte Cucco lines with
those on Hill 363.
Weather conditions on May 27, 1917, slowed down the fighting
everywhere, but did not prevent the Italians from extending their
various successes slightly in all directions.
On May 28, 1917, however, the Isonzo battle was resumed for the third
time. A new and large Italian attacking wave was directed against the
heights of Vodice and Monte Santo. An Italian attack launched at noon
against the north slope was preceded by powerful artillery fire. It
extended along the entire sector.
During the afternoon it resulted many times in severe hand-to-hand
fighting, which also raged during the night. Especially violent
fighting occurred in the region of Hill 652. The entire extent of the
Austrian front, however, now offered iron resistance to all Italian
efforts.
South of Jamiano the Italians attacked Austrian positions four times,
losing, besides heavy casualties, fifteen officers and 800 men as
prisoners. The number of prisoners brought in by the Austrians since
the commencement of the Isonzo battle amounted to 14,500 men,
according to their official statements.
The Italian offensive now began to come to a stop. The hard fighting
naturally had exhausted the Italian forces and munitions and by now
strong Austrian reserves had come up and made the resistance
sufficiently strong to stop further advances. On May 29 and 30, 1917,
artillery was not very active on the Trentino front and in the Carnia,
but was very heavy on the Julian front, particularly in the sector
from Monte Cucco to Vodice and east of Goritz.
On May 31, 1917, considerable artillery activity developed in the
northern sector of the Carso and on the line from Goritz to Plava. In
the Vodice area numerous massed troops of the Austrians made a violent
attack upon Italian positions on Hills 592 and 652. The attack,
prepared by intense artillery fire and carried out with stubbornness,
failed.
On June 1 and 2, 1917, the activity on the whole front was confined
for the most part to the artillery, which was especially active
against Italian positions east of Plava, in the Vodice area, and in
the northern sector of the Carso.
On the Carso, after several days of violent artillery preparation, the
Austrians attacked in mass on June 4, 1917, from Dosso Faiti to the
sea. Although the Dosso Faiti positions were completely destroyed,
they were strenuously defended by the Italians. The latter also
resisted determined attacks from Castagnievizza to the ridges north of
Jamiano and by counterattacks and heavy hand-to-hand fighting
succeeded in maintaining their positions and even in occupying new
advanced positions near Castagnievizza and Versic.
South of Jamiano, while maintaining their wing positions, the Italians
were obliged to rectify somewhat the center of their new line to avoid
the Austrian fire, at the same time carrying out frequent
counterattacks, effectively stopping the Austrians.
It apparently was now the Austrians' turn. The Italians began to
report slight withdrawals. On June 5, 1917, lively artillery duels
continued on the front from the Monte Nero area to the heights of
Goritz. On the Carso the violent shelling of Italian positions from
Versic to Jamiano was resumed, provoking an energetic reply from their
batteries.
South of Jamiano the fighting was less intense. The new Italian line
fronting Flondar, however, was withdrawn slightly to a position more
advantageous tactically.
The struggle continued during the next few days, especially near
Jamiano. Positions changed hands frequently, but the advantage now
seemed to be slightly with the Austrians, though neither side
registered any extensive successes. The fighting gradually slowed down
to the type which had been employed previous to the Italian drive.
Most of the positions which the Italian forces had gained, remained,
however, securely in their hands.
On June 10, 1917, there was a slight revival of more extensive
operations, especially in the Trentino. Throughout the whole of the
mountain zone of operations there was more fighting than usual,
especially between the Adige and Brenta Rivers. In the night the
Austrians were driven back and followed up at the Tonale Pass, in the
upper Chiesa Valley, on the slope of Dosso Casino, and in the Posina
Valley.
On the Asiago Plateau Italian artillery destroyed the Austrians'
complex system of defenses at several points. Italian infantry,
attacking during a violent storm in the direction of Monte Zebio and
Monte Forno, carried the pass of Agnello, and captured nearly the
whole of Monte Ortigara, 6,924 feet high, east of Cima Undice.
On the remainder of the front there were desultory concentrations of
fire on the part of the Austrian batteries, to which the Italians
replied. On the Carso attacks on the Italian line south of
Castagnievizza were completely repelled.
During the balance of June, 1917, only isolated actions of importance
occurred. On June 15, 1917, east of the Adamello Massif in the eastern
Trentino, Italian Alpine detachments and skiers advanced over very
difficult ground, notwithstanding furious resistance, and attacked the
strongly fortified positions of Corno Cavento, at an altitude of 3,400
meters. The position was carried. The Italians captured what was left
of the enemy garrison and two 75-mm. guns, one trench mortar, four
machine guns, and a large quantity of supplies and ammunition. On the
front of the Asiago Plateau the Austrian artillery continued to show
great activity. Patrol attacks on Italian positions on Monte Zebio
were repulsed.
On the Ortigara at dawn Italian positions on Hill 2,101 were again
attacked with extreme violence. From 2.30 o'clock onward the
Austrians, continually reenforced, redoubled their efforts, but they
all failed.
In the San Pellegrino Valley an attack upon advanced Italian positions
on the massif of Costabella was repulsed.
On the southern slopes of Monte Rombon the Italians occupied by
surprise advanced posts, and maintained the same in spite of the
concentrated fire of the Austrians.
On the Julian front the artillery fire was especially noticeable in
the Tolmino sector, and on the heights northeast of Goritz. Columns of
Austrian motor lorries were dispersed, and troops assembled east of
Castagnievizza were shelled.
Again on June 20, 1917, the Italians renewed their activity in the
Trentino. After twenty-four hours of artillery preparation, an Italian
infantry attack on Sette Communi Plateau began early in the morning,
and was carried out with the greatest display of effort, especially on
the northern wing in the region of Monte Forno and the frontier ridge.
All the assaults failed. A local success which gave the Italians a
gain of about 100 yards was nullified by a counterattack. Nothing of
importance occurred on the Isonzo front.
On the Asiago Plateau fighting was resumed on June 25, 1917. All night
Italian troops opposed the desperate efforts of the Austrians, who,
notwithstanding heavy losses, were attempting to retake the positions
recently lost in the Monte Ortigara sector. Attacks and counterattacks
were continuously made on the contested positions. Diversions at the
same time by the Austrians on other portions of the front were
completely stopped.
On June 28, 1917, the artillery struggle was fairly active on the
whole front. In answer to the fire directed by the Austrians against
Ala the Italians repeatedly shelled the railway station at Calliano.
On the Asiago Plateau the Austrians concentrated a violent fire on
Agnello Pass. Near Santa Lucia, in the Tolmino region, traffic was
interrupted repeatedly by Italian fire.
Throughout the last few days of June, 1917, and all of July, 1917,
only minor operations were undertaken by either side. Artillery
activity varied in extent and frequency from day to day, and so did
the operations of outposts and patrols. In a general way, however,
there was no readjustment of the positions which had been established
by the latest Italian drive.
On March 10, 1917, Austria-Hungary issued a proclamation, ostensibly
to the Albanians, but obviously addressed to the whole world, that
Albania was to enjoy local autonomy under an Austro-Hungarian
protectorate. In June, 1917, Italy responded with a similar
proclamation, granting Albania independence under Italian protection.
At the time the announcement was made a semiofficial interview was
granted to the representative of a London newspaper by Deputy Eugenio
Chiesa, who had recently returned from a tour of inspection of the
parts of Albania held by the Italian army:
"The Italian occupation in Albania and northern Epirus," he said,
"extends well into the Greek kingdom. Not only have the Italians
occupied Valona and its hinterland, but they have passed a long way to
the south of the boundary between Greece proper and northern Epirus at
Cape Stylos and have extended in a northern direction as far as the
river Kalamas, opposite the south end of Corfu, which was intended by
the thirteenth protocol of the Berlin Congress of 1878, and by the
Berlin Conference of 1880, to have been the northwestern frontier of
Greece, but which, since the last Balkan wars, has been well within
the enlarged northwestern boundary. I am opposed," continued Signor
Chiesa, "to the permanent occupation of these places, nor do I believe
the Italian Government intends to retain them. I consider as sincere
the manifesto of the commandant of Valona, but Valona Kanina, north
of Valona, the surrounding districts, and the isle of Saseto must
remain Italian, not only for strategic but for sanitary reasons, owing
to the necessity of draining the pestilential marshes which affect the
health of Valona. Venizelos, with whom I spoke at Saloniki, frankly
recognized this occupation of Valona, Saseto, and the territory about
Valona. The Italians have already constructed over 400 kilometers of
roads and opened over 125 schools, where both Italian and Albanian are
taught.... Corfu cannot remain Italian, it ought to be Greek."
PART XII--WAR ON THE SEA
CHAPTER XCIX
SUBMARINE WARFARE
The six months' period from February 1, 1917, to August 1, 1917,
covers a more intensified submarine activity than any other period
since the beginning of the war. It was on February 1, 1917, that the
so-called unrestricted submarine warfare was initiated by the German
Government. As was to be expected, losses resulting from this new type
of "frightfulness" quickly became very large. As time went on,
however, it became evident that the Germans were unable to maintain
their submarine sinkings on an equal basis at all times. Losses varied
greatly from week to week. However, even at that they soon became so
severe as to cause grave difficulties to the countries fighting
against Germany and her allies, which before long were joined by the
United States as a result of Germany's new submarine policy.
Difficult as it had been in the past to compile an accurate account of
submarine losses, such an attempt became even more impossible now.
All the governments involved soon followed Great Britain's lead and
stopped the publication of detailed data concerning their respective
maritime losses. Figures, it is true, were published, at least by
England, at regular intervals. But they were far from complete or
accurate. It is now next to impossible to give even an approximate
idea of the total losses.
The following data come as close to being correct as a careful
consultation of official statements permits. They must, however, not
be considered complete.
Up to the date of writing the United States had not published any
official figures covering the losses incurred by the American merchant
marine. From newspaper and other accounts, however, it appears that
between February 1, 1917, and July 16, 1917, from thirty to forty
American ships of more than 100,000 tons were lost. The first of these
was the steamer _Housatonic_, sunk on February 3, 1917, near the
Scilly Islands without loss of life. The sailing schooner _Lyman M.
Law_ was sent to the bottom of the sea on February 12, 1917, off the
coast of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, also without loss of life.
Next on the list was the steamer _Algonquin_, sunk on March 12, 1917,
near the Scilly Islands without loss of life. Four days later, March
16, 1917, the steamer _Vigilancia_ went down with a loss of fifteen
men. On March 17, 1917, the _City of Memphis_ was torpedoed, and on
March 18, 1917, the _Illinois_, both without loss of life. The sinking
of the steamer _Healdon_ in the North Sea on March 21, 1917, however,
brought about the loss of twenty-one members of her crew, seven of
whom were Americans. On April 2, 1917, the sinking of the armed
steamer _Aztec_ was reported. With her twenty-eight of the crew,
including a U. S. N. boat-swain's mate, perished. The _Missourian_
went down on April 4, 1917, and the _Seward_ on April 7, 1917, both in
the Mediterranean. On April 24, 1917, the sinking of the schooner
_Percy Birdsall_ was reported. The crew was rescued. Later that month
another small schooner, the _Woodward Abrahams_ was sent to the
bottom. On April 28, 1917, off the north coast of Ireland, the oil
tanker _Vacuum_ was sunk. As a result of exposure in lifeboats,
seventeen of her crew, including some naval gunners, died. On May 2,
1917, the loss of the steamer _Rockingham_ was reported, two of her
crew being lost. During May, 1917, the following American-owned boats
were sunk: _Hilonian_, _Harpagus_, _Dirigo_, _Frances M._, _Barbara_,
and _Margaret B. Rouss_. Between June 12, 1917, and July 16, 1917, the
American merchant marine lost, besides some small boats, the following
eight vessels with a total tonnage of over 38,000: _Hansau_,
_Haverford_, _Bay State_, _Moreni_, _Petrolite_, _Massapequa_,
_Orleans_, and _Grace_.
The following list shows the losses of the British merchant marine
during the period from February 25, 1917, to July 22, 1917. The
figures are those published weekly by the British admiralty. During
the month of February, 1917, 110 British ships of varying size and of
a total tonnage of 316,204 were sunk:
Week Ending Over Under Fishing
1,600 Tons 1,600 Tons Vessels
March 4 14 9 3
March 11 13 4 3
March 18 16 8 21
March 25 18 17 10
April 1 18 13 3
April 8 17 2 6
April 15 19 9 12
April 22 40 15 9
April 29 38 13 8
May 6 24 22 16
May 13 18 5 3
May 20 18 9 3
May 27 18 1 2
June 3 15 3 5
June 10 22 10 6
June 17 27 5 0
June 24 21 7 0
July 1 15 5 11
July 8 14 3 7
July 15 14 4 8
July 22 21 3 1
July 29 18 3 0
These figures show that in twenty-two weeks England lost 438 vessels
over 1,600 tons, 170 vessels under 1,600 tons, and 187 fishing
vessels. The average tonnage of vessels over 1,600 tons has been said
to be 4,500. On that basis the loss in this class alone would amount
to about 2,000,000 tons. If we add to this the total loss during
February, 1917, and an approximate figure representing the loss of
vessels under 1,600 tons and of fishing vessels, it is safe to assume
that the total loss suffered by the British merchant marine between
February 1, 1917, and July 29, 1917, was about 2,650,000 tons.
On June 30, 1917, the German admiralty claimed that since the
beginning of the war more than 5,500,000 tons of shipping available
for Great Britain's supply of food, munitions, and materials had been
destroyed up to June 1, 1917, and that, on that date, there was
available for this purpose from all sources only about 4,500,000 tons
which, it was claimed, could be destroyed at the rate of from 800,000
to 1,000,000 tons a month.
Of the other Allied countries only France supplied from time to time
definite figures. During February, March, and April, 1917, seventeen
French vessels were sunk while nine others were attacked, but escaped.
During May, 1917, twenty-eight French vessels were attacked. Of these
eighteen escaped and ten were sunk. In June, 1917, fourteen French
boats were sunk and twenty escaped. During the early part of July,
1917, two more French steamers were reported sunk having a tonnage of
almost 10,000. On June 22, 1917, a debate in the French Chamber of
Deputies developed the fact that the French merchant fleet was
2,500,000 tons at the beginning of the war and since that time had
lost 560,000 tons, 460,000 by acts of war. During the same period
680,000 tons had been built or bought and another 140,000 was on the
stocks, so that the fleet was actually greater now than before the
war.
The grand total of submarine operations during February, 1917,
according to figures compiled by the British admiralty, showed the
following results:
Number of ships sunk--British, 110; American, 2; other belligerents,
20; neutrals, 51.
Total tonnage destroyed--British, 316,204; American, 3,322; other
belligerents, 44,272; neutrals, 93,019. Grand total February 1-28,
456,817 tons.
On the other hand the German admiralty made the following official
announcement on March 19, 1917; "In February 368 merchant ships of an
aggregate gross tonnage of 781,500 were lost by the war measures of
the Central Powers. Among them were 292 hostile ships, with an
aggregate gross tonnage of 644,000 and seventy-six neutral ships of an
aggregate gross tonnage of 137,500."
The State Department in Washington on April 10, 1917, gave out the
following official figures regarding neutral losses inflicted by
submarines:
"Information has been received by the department that since the
beginning of the war, including April 3, a total of 686 vessels have
been sunk by German submarines, as follows: Norwegian, 410; Swedish,
111; Dutch, 61; Greek, 50; Spanish, 33; American, 10; Peruvian, 1;
Argentine, 1; total, 686. Neutral vessels attacked and escaped:
Norwegian, 32; Swedish, 9; Danish, 5; Greek, 8; Spanish, 2; Argentine,
1; Brazilian, 1; American, 8; total, 66."
On May 8, 1917, a debate in the Reichstag brought out the fact that
the German admiralty claimed to have sunk during February, March, and
April, 1917, 1,325 vessels of all sizes and nationalities with a
tonnage of 2,800,000.
Denmark on May 22, 1917, announced that since the beginning of the war
150 ships had been lost and 210 Danish seamen had perished.
On May 28, 1917, the Athens newspaper "Patris" printed a list of 102
Greek ships of a total tonnage of 300,000 which had been sunk by
submarines, leaving 149 Greek ships with a displacement of 500,000
tons still afloat.
Norway during March, 1917, lost sixty-four ships, during April, 1917,
seventy-five; and during May, 1917, forty-nine.
On June 25, 1917, it was announced that from the beginning of the war
up to that date Norway had lost 572 vessels of 815,000 tons, 431 of
these of 680,000 tons being steamers. This made Norway by far the
heaviest loser among all neutrals.
From all various sources it appears that the total tonnage sunk during
the six months from February 1, 1917, to July 31, 1917, amounted to
somewhere between five and six millions.
Of course the submarine fleet of the Central Powers suffered severe
losses during the six months' period, February to August, 1917. The
means employed to put submarines out of business were manifold. Large
flotillas of small but swift patrol boats, squadrons of destroyers,
guns mounted forward and aft on merchantmen, dragnets, mine fields,
and last but not least aeroplanes, all contributed their share toward
the combating of submarine warfare. Just how many submarines have been
sunk or captured is not even approximately known. From good
authorities, however, it appears that the Germans up to now have been
able to put new submarines into commission at a greater rate than the
Allies have been able to maintain in destroying them.
Only one case of a submarine fighting and destroying another submarine
became known. This occurred on June 2, 1917, when a French submarine
sank a hostile submarine just as it was sailing out of the harbor of
Cattaro on the Dalmatian (Austro-Hungarian) coast of the Adriatic Sea.
CHAPTER C
NAVAL OPERATIONS
The principal feature of naval warfare, aside from that conducted by
and against submarines, was the absence of major engagements. Such
engagements as occurred were of a minor nature and confined to
meetings between patrol units or to local raids.
On February 25, 1917, German destroyers bombarded Broadstairs and
Margate on the English coast. Two deaths but no material damage
resulted.
About the same time it was announced that on February 15, 1917, a
British cruiser had fought a successful engagement against three
German raiders off the coast of Brazil, damaging two of them. The
third escaped.
Not until March 22, 1917, did the German Government announce that the
raider _Moewe_ had returned to her home port from a very successful
second raiding trip in the Atlantic Ocean which had yielded
twenty-seven captured vessels, most of which of course had been sunk.
Still another German raider was heard of on March 30, 1917. On that
day the French bark _Cambronne_ arrived at the Brazilian port of Rio
de Janeiro, having on board the crews of eleven vessels which had been
captured and sunk by the raider. The latter was said to have been the
former American bark _Pass of Balmaha_ which had been captured by the
Germans in August, 1915, and at that time had been taken into
Cuxhaven. She had been renamed _Seeadler_ and was a three-master of
about 2,800 tons, square rigged, with a speed of about twelve knots,
and was equipped with a powerful wireless plant. Her armament was said
to have consisted of two 105-mm. guns and sixteen machine guns, and a
crew of sixty-four men. The boat apparently had left Germany in
December, 1916, escorted by a submarine, and had successfully evaded
the British patrol, not mounting her guns until she had run the
British blockade. The eleven ships known to have been sunk by the
_Seeadler_ were:
_Antonin_, French sailing vessel, 3,071 tons, owned in Dunkirk; 31 men
on board.
_British Yeoman_, British sailing vessel, 1,963 tons, owned in
Victoria, B. C.; 21 men.
_Buenos Ayres_, Italian sailing vessel, 1,811 tons, owned in Naples;
21 men.
_Charles Gounod_, French sailing vessel, 2,199 tons, owned in Nantes;
24 men.
_Dupleix_, French sailing vessel, 2,206 tons, owned in Nantes; 22 men.
_Gladys Royle_, British steamship, 3,268 tons, owned in Sunderland; 26
men.
_Horngarth_, British steamship, 3,609 tons gross, owned in Cardiff;
33 men.
_Lady Island_ (or _Landy Island_), 4,500 tons; 25 men.
_La Rochefoucauld_, French sailing vessel, 2,200 tons; owned in
Nantes; 24 men.
_Perce_, British schooner, 364 tons, owned in Halifax; 6 men, 1 woman.
_Pinmore_, British sailing vessel, 2,431 tons, owned in Greenock, 29
men.
_The Cambronne_, which on her arrival at Rio de Janeiro had on board
263 men, had been brought up by the raider on March 7, 1917, in the
Atlantic Ocean in latitude 21 south, longitude 7 west, or almost on a
straight line with Rio, but twenty-two days east.
During March, 1917, the British Government announced an extension of
the danger area in the North Sea, which affected chiefly the protected
area off Holland and Denmark. On March 28, 1917, German warships,
cruising off the south coast of England, attacked and sank the British
patrol boat _Mascot_.
On April 8, 1917, an engagement occurred between British boats and
German destroyers off Zeebrugge on the Belgian coast. One of the
German destroyers was sunk and another was seriously damaged.
Various raids were carried out during April, 1917, against the English
coast. On April 21, 1917, six German destroyers attempted an attack on
Dover. Two of them were sunk by British destroyers. The Germans also
claimed to have sunk two British patrol boats. Six days later, on
April 27, 1917, another German destroyer squadron attacked Ramsgate,
killing two civilians before they were driven off by land batteries.
During another engagement a few days later between British light
cruisers and destroyers and eleven German destroyers off Holland, one
German boat was damaged.
Both Calais and Dunkirk were bombarded by German destroyers. In the
former town some civilians were killed. As a result of the attack on
Dunkirk one French destroyer was sunk.
On May 10, 1917, a squadron of eleven German destroyers about to sail
out of Zeebrugge was attacked by a British naval force and forced back
into the former Belgian harbor, then serving as a German naval base.
Two days later, May 12, 1917, the same British force assisted by an
air squadron successfully attacked Zeebrugge, destroying two submarine
sheds and killing sixty-three persons.
During May, 1917, it was also announced that American warships had
arrived safely in British waters and had begun patrol operations in
the North Sea. At about the same time Japanese warships made their
appearance at Marseilles to assist in the war against submarines
operating off the French coast.
On May 15, 1917, Austrian light cruisers operating in the Adriatic
Sea, sunk fourteen British mine sweepers, torpedoed the British light
cruiser _Dartmouth_, and sunk an Italian destroyer.
An engagement occurred between a French and a German torpedo-boat
flotilla on May 20, 1917, during which one of the French boats was
damaged. A few days later British warships bombarded Ostend and
Zeebrugge. Six German destroyers engaged in a running fight with a
British squadron, as a result of which one German destroyer was sunk
and another damaged. On May 29, 1917, a Russian squadron, operating
along the Anatolian (south) coast of the Black Sea bombarded four
Turkish-Armenian ports and destroyed 147 sailing vessels carrying
supplies.
Thirteen Bulgarian ships successfully bombarded the Greek port of
Kavala, then occupied by Allied forces.
Fort Saliff on the Red Sea was captured by British warships. Fort
Saliff is a Turkish fortress on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea.
Nothing of importance happened during June, 1917.
Early in July, 1917, a German submarine bombarded Ponta Delgada in the
Azores, but was beaten off by ships lying in the harbor, including an
American transport.
On July 17, 1917, it was announced that British destroyers had
attacked a flotilla of German merchant ships on their way from the
Dutch port of Rotterdam to Germany, sinking four and capturing four
others.
Mines, submarines, and explosions also made inroads on the naval
establishments of the various belligerents. During February, 1917, the
Russian cruiser _Rurik_ was damaged by a mine in the Gulf of Finland.
On February 28, 1917, a French torpedo destroyer was sunk by a
submarine in the Mediterranean.
On March 19, 1917, the French warship _Danton_ was torpedoed in the
Mediterranean, 296 of her crew having perished.
A mine was responsible for the sinking of a British destroyer on May
4, 1917, causing the loss of one officer and sixty-one men.
Mines also were responsible for the sinking of the French armored
cruiser _Kleber_ off Point St. Mathieu on June 27, 1917, with a loss
of thirty-eight men, of a British destroyer and of a German torpedo
boat in the North Sea, and, on June 30, 1917, of a Russian torpedo
boat in the Black Sea.
A torpedo sent the British auxiliary cruiser _Hilary_ to the bottom of
the North Sea with the loss of four men, while a collision was the
cause of the loss of a British torpedo boat.
On July 9, 1917, the British battleship _Vanguard_ of the dreadnought
class, 19,250 tons, was destroyed by an internal explosion while at
anchor in a British port.
According to figures compiled by the New York "Times" the naval losses
at the end of the third year of the war (August 1, 1917) had reached
approximately the following figures: Allied navies, 120 ships with a
total tonnage of 662,715; Central Powers, 122 ships with a total
tonnage of 387,911.
PART XIII--WAR IN THE AIR
CHAPTER CI
AERIAL WARFARE
As the war progressed the use of aeroplanes of all kinds became more
and more extensive. This was due chiefly to the wonderful progress
which had been made in aeronautics, the full story of which will not
be told until the end of the war has come. Not only have aeroplanes,
since the beginning of the war, become safer, but they have also
become marvelously swifter and more powerful. As this is being written
news comes from Washington that some recently imported very big and
powerful Italian aeroplanes have made successfully a flight from
Newport News to the Federal capital--a distance of some 150 miles--at
the rate of 135 miles per hour and carrying ten passengers. This is
typical of the recent development in the science of flying.
The result of this development has been the more varied uses to which
aeroplanes are now being put. Not only do they continue to act as
observers of hostile positions and movements and as guides to
artillery operations, but they have also come into vogue as offensive
weapons. With increased carrying capacity and extended radius of
action it has become possible to utilize aeroplanes extensively for
the bombardment of important positions or localities far behind
hostile lines. Even for the purpose of hunting down and destroying
submarines aeroplanes are being used to-day, and frequently they
cooperate with naval forces in strictly offensive operations.
The six months' period covering February, 1917 to August, 1917,
therefore, shows the greatest activity of the various aerial forces
since the beginning of the war. On the other hand there has been a
greater lack of news and an extreme scarcity of details concerning
aerial operations than ever before. However, in spite of this latter
condition, it is possible to state that aeroplanes were used more
frequently and more extensively than ever before on all fronts,
especially the western front. From such reports as are available it
appears that the combined English and French aerial forces have become
superior, both in number and in efficiency, to those of Germany. The
latter, however, have maintained a remarkably high standard.
It is impossible from the reports which are available to give anything
like a complete history of aerial warfare during the period from
February to August, 1917. Throughout February, 1917, English, French,
German, Italian, Russian, and Austrian aeroplanes were extensively
employed wherever and whenever conditions permitted. Furnes in
Flanders was one of the places frequently bombed by German aeroplanes,
while British planes with even greater frequency visited the harbor of
Bruges (Zeebrugge) where heavy damage was inflicted on German torpedo
boats, docks, and railway lines. Zeebrugge is the German submarine
base in Belgium.
On February 10, 1917, aeroplanes were especially active on the western
front. German machines unsuccessfully attacked Nancy and Pont St.
Vincent. During the same night French air squadrons visited many
places in Lorraine and bombed factories at Hauts Fourreaux, La Sarre,
Hagodange, Esch, and Mezières-les-Metz. A fire was caused in the
neighborhood of the Arnaville station. The aviation ground at Colmar
and the fort of Zeebrugge were likewise bombarded.
February 13, 1917, was an especially active day for Russian aeroplanes
on the eastern front. They dropped bombs on the Povursk railway
station, east of Kovel, and on the depots north of the Povursk
station. Bombs were dropped on the station at Rodenrois, east of Riga;
on the little town of Lihinhof, in the vicinity of Friedrichstadt; on
Valeika, the village of Sviatica, north of Vygonov Lake, south of
Kiselin; on Radzivilov, and in the regions south of Brody.
On the same day French and German aviators were busily attacking many
places on the western front. A German aviator dropped bombs on
Dunkirk. There were no victims and no damage was done. In the vicinity
of Pompey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, bombs were dropped. Two civilians were
killed and two were wounded. Nancy, too, was visited. During the night
French air squadrons dropped projectiles on aviation grounds at
Etreillers (Aisne), and Rancourt (Somme), on the railway stations at
Athies, Hombleux, Voyenne, Curchy, St. Quentin, and Ham; and also on
manufactories east of Tergnier, where several explosions occurred.
Similar activities were reported almost daily, and of course
observation flights were made continuously by the aerial forces of all
the belligerents.
On February 25, 1917, a French dirigible was shot down by German
antiaircraft guns near Weelferdingen, west of Saargemund, in Lorraine.
It was completely destroyed and its entire crew of fourteen perished.
On February 28, 1917, the German admiralty made the following
announcement:
"In the northern Ægean Sea a German seaplane successfully dropped
bombs on a hostile transport. Notwithstanding the fact that it was
fired on by artillery and pursued by two enemy aeroplanes, the
seaplane returned safely."
This well illustrates the superiority which aeroplanes had achieved
when they could, far from their base, successfully attack steamships
guarded in every possible way.
During the great advance of the Allied troops in France in March,
1917, unusual activity in the air played an important part. This was
especially the case on March 17, 1917, when the British either
destroyed or damaged sixteen German planes, the French ten, and the
Germans accounted for a total of twenty-two British and French
machines. At this time aeroplanes were active not only in
reconnaissance work, but even attacked with bombs and machine guns
smaller units of the retreating Germans. The British official report
covering March 18, 1917, for instance, contains the following passage:
"Our aeroplanes did much valuable work yesterday in cooperation with
our infantry. Enemy troops were engaged successfully with machine
guns, and bombs were dropped on a number of places behind the enemy
lines," while the French report says: "During the evening of March 17
and the following night a French air squadron bombarded the factories
and blast furnaces at Thionville and in the Briey Valley, as well as
certain convoys of enemy troops which were marching in the region of
Guiscard."
The same kind of aerial activity was an almost daily occurrence during
April, 1917. The last days of that month, however, were red-letter
days for military aeronautics. On April 29, 1917, the British claimed
to have winged twenty German machines, while the Germans stated that
they had shot down during April 28 and 29, 1917, a total of
thirty-four British and French planes.
Again on May 7, 1917, the British accounted for fifteen German
machines, while the French claimed to have brought down during the
week May 1 to 7, 1917, seventy-six German aeroplanes, of which
twenty-five were known to have been destroyed.
During the last days of May, 1917, Allied aeroplanes were especially
active in Belgium. On May 26 and 30, 1917, Hest, Blankenberghe,
Zeebrugge, and Ghent were attacked and considerable damage was
inflicted on railway stations, docks, and other buildings of military
value.
Again on June 4, 1917, British aeroplanes attacked and severely
damaged German vessels in Zeebrugge.
French airmen were busy, too, in June, 1917. The French War Office on
June 21, 1917 published the following statement covering their
activities:
"Fourteen aeroplanes and a German captive balloon were destroyed on
our front in the period from June 8 to 20. Eleven of these machines
were brought down by our pilots during aerial combats, and three of
them by the fire of our machine or antiaircraft guns. In addition,
seven enemy machines seriously damaged fell in our lines.
"In the same period our squadrons effected numerous sorties. They
bombarded notably the railroad station at Bensdorf, factories at
Hayatge-Jesuf at Moyeuvre, blast furnaces at Burbach and in the Saar
Valley, railroad stations at Bethienville, Châtelet-sur-Retourne,
Bethel, Mezières, Charleville, and Molshelm; the bivouacs in Suippes
Valley, and munitions depots in the region of Laon, etc. Thirteen
thousand kilograms of projectiles were dropped during the expeditions,
which caused serious damage to enemy establishments."
British, French, and German air squadrons continued their activities
throughout June and July, 1917. July 12, 1917, was particularly
successful for the British airmen, who claimed to have brought down
near Ypres thirty-one German planes without loss to their own forces.
On the Russian and Italian fronts and in the Balkans and the Near East
aerial activities were slightly fewer and less extensive than on the
western, due to the difference in conditions, such as the greater
scarcity of machines and the greater distance from the source of
supplies.
A novel use of aeroplanes was made after the entrance of the United
States into the war. On April 4, 1917, it was stated that British and
French aviators dropped large numbers of German translations of
President Wilson's war message over the German lines and Italian
aviators did the same over the Austrian lines.
On a few occasions aircraft violated the neutrality of countries
adjoining belligerent territory. In one case a French aeroplane
dropped bombs on a Swiss town. A prompt and complete apology on the
part of the French Government followed. On March 13, 1917, Dutch
troops shot down a German plane which had flown over Sluis in Holland,
ten miles northeast of Burges. Before they could capture the aviator,
he succeeded in restarting his machine and in making his escape to
the German lines. On June 1, 1917, a Zeppelin appeared first over
Swedish territory near Malmö and then over Danish territory south of
Copenhagen. Swedish torpedo boats and Danish troops fired on it
successively and it quickly disappeared in a southerly direction.
One remarkable enterprise of Russian airmen was reported officially on
April 3, 1917, from Petrograd and deserves, on account of its highly
adventurous nature, detailed repetition. The statement read: "On the
Black Sea on March 27, 1917, during a raid by our seaplanes on Derkas,
one of them was hit by the enemy. The petrol tank being punctured, the
machine was compelled to descend.
"The aviators, Lieutenant Sergeev and Sublieutenant Thur, seeing a
Turkish schooner, attacked it by opening machine-gun fire. The crew
thereupon left the schooner. Our aviators, having sunk their machine
after taking from it the compass, machine gun, and valuable
belongings, boarded the schooner and set sail for our shores.
"They encountered a heavy storm during their adventure, but arrived
with the schooner at the Duarlidatch Peninsula, west of Perekop, on
Sunday. From this place our aviators returned to Sebastopol on a
torpedo boat. The only provisions available on the schooner consisted
of a few pieces of bread and a little fresh water."
Naturally interest in the activities of American airmen in the French
service continued unabated. They continued to cover themselves with
glory. During the second half of May, 1917, members of the Lafayette
Escadrille engaged in twenty-five combats with German machines.
Adjutant Raoul Lufbery was engaged five times, Sergeant Willis
Haviland (Minneapolis) twice, Sergeant Dovell three times, Corporal
Thomas Hewitt (New York) twice, and Corporal Kenneth Marr (San
Francisco) twice.
As a result of these activities an official report announced the
decoration of Adjutant Lufbery with the Military Medal by the King of
England, and cited the meritorious conduct of this aviator and also of
Sergeant Haviland, Sergeant Charles Johnson (St. Louis), and
Lieutenant William Thaw (Pittsburgh).
In June, 1917, the American aviators flying under the French flag
were even more active. In the short period from June 10 to 16, 1917,
they made fifty-four patrol flights and fought nine air battles, of
which Adjutant Raoul Lufbery, Edwin Parsons, and Sergeant Robert
Soubiran each fought two, and Stephen Bigelow, Sergeant Walter Lowell
and Thomas Hewitt each fought one.
Unfortunately death claimed two American flyers. On April 16, 1917,
Pilot Edmond C. C. Genet of Ossining, N. Y., was killed during a fight
with a German aeroplane over French territory. Genet was twenty years
old and was the great-great-great-grandson of Governor Clinton and the
great-great-grandson of Citizen Genet, who was French Minister in the
days of Washington. He had originally fought in the Foreign Legion,
but had later been transferred to the aviation service.
In March, 1917, Sergeant J. R. McConnell, also a member of the
Escadrille, had been killed in action. On May 24, 1917, it was
announced that the commander of the Escadrille, Captain de Laage of
the French army, had been killed while flying near Ham on the Somme
front.
Another death of interest to this country and caused by aerial
operations was that of H. E. M. Suckley of Rhinebeck, N. Y., who was
in charge of a unit of the American Ambulance Field Service. He was
wounded while on duty near Saloniki by an aeroplane bomb and died the
following day. He was thirty years old and had been with the Ambulance
Service almost from the beginning of the war, first in the Vosges,
then at Pont-à-Mousson, and finally with General Sarrail's army.
Regarding the losses suffered by the various aerial forces, authentic
information available is very scant and incomplete. Up to February 1,
1917, the Germans claimed to have destroyed 1,002 Allied aeroplanes
and to have put out of commission a total of 1,700, valued at
$12,500,000. During April, 1917, according to the London "Times," a
total of 714 machines was brought down on the western front. These
were distributed as follows: German machines, 366; British, 147;
French and Belgian, 201. Of the 366 German aeroplanes brought down 269
fell to the British, ninety-five to the French, and two to the
Belgians. British airmen accounted for 263 German aeroplanes and
antiaircraft gunners for six. On the other hand the Germans admitted
the loss of only seventy-four machines, but claimed to have brought
down 362 Allied aeroplanes and twenty-nine captive balloons.
During May, 1917, according to London newspapers, 713 aeroplanes were
brought down on the western front. Of these 442 were said to have been
German and 271 French and British.
CHAPTER CII
AIR RAIDS
The second phase of aerial warfare was represented by the raids
carried out by the various belligerents over enemy territory at a
considerable distance from the actual theaters of war. In these
operations the Germans, as in the past, were the most active and
England was the greatest sufferer. But unlike their previous custom,
the Germans, during the period from February to August, 1917, used
aeroplanes more frequently than Zeppelins.
On February 25, 1917, British naval aeroplanes raided iron-works near
Saarbrücken in Rhenish Prussia, about fifty miles beyond the border.
On March 1, 1917, one German plane bombed Broadstairs, an English
watering place on the island of Thanet off the Kentish coast.
During the night of March 4-5, 1917, French aeroplanes bombed
Freiburg-im-Breisgau (Black Forest) and Kehl near Strassburg.
German airships bombed the southeastern counties of England during the
night of March 16-17, 1917. Margate was attacked by a German seaplane
at the same time. One of the Zeppelins was brought down later by
French antiaircraft guns near Compiègne, northeast of Paris, its
entire crew being killed.
A French aeroplane bombed Frankfort-on-the-Main on March 17, 1917,
causing only little damage.
On April 5, 1917, a German aeroplane again bombed the Kentish coast
town without causing any damage.
Freiburg-im-Breisgau was once more the object of an attack by English
aeroplanes, made, as announced later, in reprisal for the torpedoing
of British hospital ships. Ten civilians and one soldier were killed,
and twenty-seven civilians, mostly women and children, wounded. Three
of the British aeroplanes were shot down. Considerable damage to
public buildings was caused.
On May 5, 1917, Odessa, the Russian port on the north shore of the
Black Sea, was visited for the first time by a German aeroplane.
On May 14, 1917, British naval forces detected a Zeppelin in the act
of approaching the English coast. The alarm was given immediately and
a squadron of British seaplanes was sent after the invader. The fire
from the machine gun of one of these soon reached the big airship, and
before long the latter was seen to burst into flames and disappeared.
During the night of May 23, 1917, four or five Zeppelins appeared over
East Anglia and penetrated some distance inland. Bombs were dropped in
a number of country districts. One man was killed, but otherwise the
damage was negligible.
Two days later, May 25, 1917, early in the evening, seventeen
aeroplanes appeared over Folkestone on the southeast coast of England.
They dropped about fifty bombs. As a result seventy-six persons were
killed and 174 injured, most of them civilians, and a large percentage
of these women and children. The returning German aeroplanes were
pursued by machines of the British Naval Air Service from Dunkirk and
attacked. Three German machines were shot down.
Again on June 5, 1917, sixteen German aeroplanes appeared over Essex
and the Medway. They succeeded in dropping a large number of bombs
which caused two casualties and considerable material damage and
injured twenty-nine persons before antiaircraft guns and British
planes drove them off. At least four German machines were shot down.
On June 11, 1917, a British patrol boat sighted five German
aeroplanes off Dover. Attacking them at once, the British craft
destroyed two of the machines and captured their pilots. The remaining
three German machines fled.
At noon of June 13, 1917, London was subjected to the most extensive
and destructive raid in its experience. In the middle of a beautiful
summer day fifteen German aeroplanes appeared over London and
dispatched their death-dealing burden of explosives on England's
capital; 157 men, women, and children were killed, and 432 injured.
Considerable material damage was caused, although the raid lasted only
fifteen minutes. All but one of the German planes escaped. The East
End, London's tenement district, inhabited chiefly by the poor, was
the principal sufferer.
On the same day British naval forces attacked and brought down a
Zeppelin in the North Sea. The airship was a total loss and apparently
the entire crew perished.
On June 16, 1917, two Zeppelins attacked the East Anglian and Kentish
coast. Considerable damage was done by the bombs dropped. Three deaths
and injuries to about twenty people resulted. A British aeroplane
succeeded in bringing down one of the Zeppelins, which, with its crew,
was destroyed completely.
Three times in July, 1917, German aeroplane squadrons appeared in
England. On July 4, 1917, about twelve attacked Harwich, a port in
Essex; two of the planes were shot down, but not until the attackers
had inflicted considerable damage, killed eleven people and injured
thirty-six. Three days later, July 7, 1917, twenty aeroplanes bombed
London, forty-three people were killed and 197 injured, while three of
the German planes were destroyed. Again on July 22, 1917, fifteen to
twenty German aeroplanes reached the English coast. Felixstowe and
Harwich were raided. Eleven persons were killed and twenty-six
injured. On the way back to their base one of the German planes was
brought down off the Belgian coast.
During the third year of the war, that is from August, 1916, to
August, 1917, air attacks on England caused death to 393 people and
injuries to 1,174, according to figures compiled by the New York
"Times." The same source claims that from the beginning of the war up
to August 1, 1917, or during a period of practically three years, 751
people were killed and 2,007 injured in England as a result of German
air raids, of which there were officially recorded eighteen in 1915,
twenty-two in 1916, and eleven in the first seven months of 1917.
A fitting end to this chapter is the record of the deaths at the age
of seventy-nine of the Zeppelin's inventor, Count Ferdinand von
Zeppelin, which occurred at Charlottenburg on March 8, 1917, as a
result of an attack of pneumonia.
INDEX
Abyssinia, Italian defeat in, I, 192
Adige River, fighting along, V, 280
Adige Valley, operations in, VI, 460
Admiral Sims, commanding American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357
Aerial combats, number of, V, 426
Aerial maneuvering, French, IV, 55
Aerial raids, VI, 492
Aerodromes, attacks on, IV, 473
Aerodromes, German, IV, 470
Aeroplane attack by Germans on Lemnos, VI, 169
Aeroplane coast battle, IV, 471
Aeroplanes, losses in, VI, 255
Aeroplanes, number of, V, 420
Aeroplanes, western front, VI, 486
Aeroplanes and submarines, I, 23
Aeroplane warfare, VI, 168-181
Aeroplane warfare on submarines, V, 414
Africa, British possessions in, I, 181
African coast, operations on, III, 493
Agadir, I, 140
Agar Khan, III, 24
Aircraft, losses in, IV, 479; VI, 51
Air fighting, strategy and tactics of, IV, 459
Air fights along the Somme, VI, 50
Air raids on England, IV, 16
Air raids on Paris, IV, 19
Aisne, battle of, II, 130-135
Aisne, counterattacks on the, VI, 248
Alaska, garrisons in, I, 11
Albania, Austrian advance, IV, 336
Albania, Serbian retreat, IV, 303
Albania, withdrawal of Serbian forces from, IV, 337
Albanian uprising, I, 247
Albanians, racial characteristics, I, 220
_Alcantara_, merchantman, V, 59
Alexander II, assassination, I, 152
Alexander III and France, I, 152
Alexandretta, III, 503
Alexiev, General, commander in chief Russian army, VI, 429
_Algonquin_, sinking of, by German submarine, VI, 317
Allenstein, capture of, II, 437
Allied aviators, work of, V, 421
Allied commands in Champagne, IV, 80
Allied demands on Greece, V, 224-227
Allied nations, policy of, I, 105
Allied offensive, March, 1915, IV, 45
Allied raid, Houlthulst Forest, IV, 56
Allies, withdrawal of, into Greece, IV, 308
Alsace, French in, IV, 40
Alsace-Lorraine, conditions in, I, 138
Alsace and Lorraine, campaign in, II, 38-45
Altkirch, capture of, IV, 40
American airmen in France, VI, 490
American army, I, 11
American aviators, VI, 181, 490
American citizens, rights of, defended by President Wilson, IV, 503
American Commission to Russia, VI, 416
American Congress, resolution on sinking armed merchantmen, IV, 502
American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357
American expedition in France, VI, 357
American Government's assertion of neutral rights at sea, IV, 480
American merchant marine, VI, 476
American navy, strength of, I, 11
American navy, work of, in foreign waters, VI, 357
American negotiations over _Ancona_ sinking, IV, 490-496
American note to Austria on _Ancona_ issue, character of, IV, 492
American war preparations, VI, 328
American Prussian treaties, VI, 298
American response to German note on _Sussex_, V, 458
American second note on _Ancona_ issue, IV, 494
American training camp in France, VI, 361
American troops, transportation of, to France, VI, 358
American vessels sunk, VI, 202
American warships in European waters, VI, 482
Anafarta Ridge, attack on, IV, 352
_Ancona_, destruction of, IV, 490
_Ancona_, yielding of Austria-Hungary on issue, IV, 494
Ancre, British gains in, VI, 223
Anglo-American trade balance, V, 52
Anglo-Chinese conference, I, 184
Anglo-French agreement, I, 136
Anglo-Russian agreement, I, 136
Anti-Catholic movement in France, I, 163
Anti-Serbian riots, I, 260
Antwerp, Belgian withdrawal to, IV, 40
Antwerp, fall of, II, 167
Anzacs, heroism of, III, 460, 462
_Appam_, capture of, IV, 160
_Arabic_, sinking of, IV, 150, 480-490
_Arabic_, German version, IV, 483
Arabs, assistance given British in Mesopotamia, IV, 423
Arabs, confederation of, IV, 429
Arbitration, failure of, I, 14
Archibald papers, V, 11
Area of British Empire, I, 286
Area of France, I, 286
Area of German Empire, I, 286
Area of Russia, I, 286
Argechu River, VI, 117
Argonne, activity in, III, 158
Argonne, campaign in, II, 193-194
Argonne Forest, fighting in, IV, 48
Argonne, German attacks in, in September, 1915, IV, 55
Argonne, operations in, V, 375
_Argyll_, loss of, IV, 154
Armed-merchantman resolution, final form of, in Congress, V, 439
Armed-merchantmen resolutions, debate in Congress, V, 434-435
Armed neutrality, address of President Wilson, VI, 304
Armed-shipping resolution in Congress, V, 436
Armenian atrocities, III, 472
Armenians, massacre of, IV, 378
Army, American, strength of, I, 11
Arras, Canadian victories at, VI, 56
Arras, fourth blow by Haig, VI, 256
Arras, operations around, IV, 127
Arras, operations around, VI, 39
Arras, second phase of, VI, 249
Artillery, II, 366
Artillery activity on the western front in September, 1915, IV, 55
Artois, British successes in, IV, 85
Artois, fighting in, III, 121-128
Artois, French campaign in, IV, 85
Artois sector, V, 373
Asia Minor, Germany in, I, 50
Asiago, Austrian advance, V, 256
Asiatic Turkey, disorders in, IV, 377
Asphyxiation from gas, I, 53
Assassination of crown prince, Austrian report on, I, 350
Athens, street fighting in, VI, 147
Atkutur, battle at, III, 474
Aubers Ridge, attacks on, III, 128
Augustovo, Battle of, II, 444
Ausgleich, I, 146
Australians at Suvla Bay, IV, 356
Australian troops at Pozières, V, 409
Austria and Prussia, I, 127
Austria-Hungary, American relations with, VI, 328
Austria-Hungary, area of, I, 286
Austria-Hungary, explanation of sinking of _Ancona_, IV, 465
Austria-Hungary, position of, I, 142
Austria-Hungary, request for recall of Dr. Dumba, V, 10
Austrian air attacks on Italian cities, V. 291
Austrian army, I, 309
Austrian armies in Poland and Galicia, command of, IV, 181
Austrian army in Serbia, IV, 259
Austrian and Balkan nationality, I, 258-259
Austrian captures of Durazzo, IV, 338
Austrian note, July 27, 1914, I, 270
Austrian counterattack, repulsed by Italians, V, 269
Austrian defenses in Alps, IV, 394
Austrian demands on Serbia, I, 261-265
Austrian fleet in the Danube, VI, 97
Austrian forces along the Italian front, increase of, V, 245
Austrian-Italian aviators, V, 428
Austrian-Italian front, V, 229
Austrian losses at Lutsk, V, 159
Austrian losses in Serbia, II, 343
Austrian naval strength, II, 206
Austrian note to Serbia, I, 261
Austrian offensive in Trentino, V, 246
Austrian offensive in Trentino, increase of, V, 235
Austrian offensive in Volhynia, V, 138
Austrian press, accusations, I, 353
Austrian proposals to Rumania, III, 377
Austrian raids on Italian coast, III, 394
Austrian rupture with the United States, VI, 328
Austrian squadron shells Italian coast cities, IV, 168
Austro-German capture of Bucharest, VI, 119
Austro-Hungarians defeated near Kuty, V, 190
Austro-German invasion of Serbia, IV, 263
Austro-German resistance to the Russians, VI, 73
Austro-Hungarian press, I, 351
Austro-Hungarian reply to _Ancona_ note, IV, 492
Austro-Italian line, V, 233, 234
Austro-Russian front, III, 236
Austro-Russian operations, resumption of, V, 133-141
Aviators, loss among, V, 425-426
Avlona, battle between Austrians and Italians near, V, 220
Avlona, Italians at, IV, 327
Avocourt Wood, German occupation of, V, 351
Aylmer, General, IV, 446
Azerbayan, failures in, III, 477
Babuna Pass, resistance of Serbians, IV, 283
Bagdad, British at, IV, 419-425
Bagdad, expedition against, I, 62
Bagdad, Russian advance, V, 330
Baiburt, capture of, by Russians, V, 337
Balfour, Arthur J., reply to Churchill, V, 61
Balkan League, I, 248
Balkans, conditions in, 1916, V, 212
Balkans, countries, II, 275-286
Balkans, diplomacy in, I, 59
Balkans, summary of first year's conditions, IV, 255
Baltic Sea, operations in, III, 191
Ban-de-Sapt, attacks on, III, 164
Bapaume, capture of, VI, 232
Basra, capture of, II, 508
Battle cruisers, British, lost in Jutland naval battle, V, 90-91
Battle cruisers, importance of, I, 21
Battle line on eastern front, II, 262
Battle line on the eastern front in the spring of 1916, V, 116
Battleships and fortifications, I, 24
Battleships, advantages of, I, 21
Battleships at Jutland battle, V, 80
Bavarians, bravery of, at Eaucourt, VI, 30
Beatty, Admiral, movements at Jutland naval battle, V, 75-78
Beaucourt, attacks on, VI, 218
Beaumont, abandonment of, by French, IV, 142
Belgian coast, bombardment of, by British fleet, IV, 60, 112
Belgian neutrality, I, 276
Belgian neutrality, unity of powers, I, 476
Belgian territory, alleged violation of, I, 283
Belgian envoys, visit of, to United States, VI, 352
Belgian withdrawal, IV, 40
Belgium, American lessons from, I, 12
Belgium appealed to powers guaranteeing neutrality, I, 384
Belgium, area of, I, 287
Belgium, location of, I, 197
Belgium, attacks in, July, VI, 279
Belgium, German attacks on the French lines in, VI, 250
Belgium, operations in, VI, 61
Belgium, German proposals to, I, 281
Belgrade, bombardment of, IV, 265
Belgrade, capture of, II, 347, 353
Belgrade, riot following assassination of crown prince, I, 346
Benckendorff, A., I, 320
Berchtold, L., I, 324
Berlin, Treaty of, I, 228
Bernhardi, I, 83
Bertie, Sir Francis, I, 317
Bethlehem, efforts to start munition strikes in, V, 9
Bethmann-Hollweg, I, 323
Bethmann-Hollweg, circular letter to powers, I, 368
Bethmann-Hollweg's statement in Reichstag, I, 498
Beyers, General, III, 70
Bieberstein, Marshal von, II, 496
Bight, Battle of, II, 208
Bismarck Archipelago, II, 243
Bismarck, growth of power of, I, 127
Bismarck, retirement of, I, 134
Bitlis, massacre at, IV, 378
Bitlis, occupation of, by Russians, V, 293
Blockade against Germany, III, 181
_Blücher_, sinking of, II, 255
Bolimow, fighting around, II, 470
Bombs in trenches, I, 74
Bosnia, annexation of, I, 147
Bosnia, fighting in, II, 360
Botha, General, III, 74
Boy-Ed, Karl, activities, V, 14
Brabant, abandonment of, by French, IV, 140
Bregalnitza, battle of, I, 257
_Bremen_, exploits of, VI, 190
Brenta River, fighting along, V, 278
Brescia, bombardment of, IV, 468
Breslau, II, 494
Brest-Litovsk, II, 447
Brest-Litovsk, capture of, IV, 196
Briand, resignation of, I, 170
British in Macedonia, VI, 135
British advance on Arras, VI, 251
British aerodromes, IV, 473
British air raids, IV, 18
British, mobilization of, I, 304
British attack around Lens, IV, 82
British attacks on the Stuff Redoubt, VI, 49
British attacks on Zeebrugge, VI, 482
British cabinet declaration, I, 473
British declaration of war against Germany, I, 283
British East Africa, I, 180
British Empire, area of, I, 286
British expeditionary force, II, 34
British expeditionary force landing in France, IV, 40
British fleet shells Zeebrugge, V, 67
British forces, disposition of, V, 380
British and French offensive, VI, 27
British and French successes, VI, 17
British gains on the Somme, VI, 14
British guns at Gallipoli, IV, 359
British losses at Jutland naval battle, V, 94-98
British losses to 1916, IV, 117
British navy, effect on war, I, 18
British offensive in Artois, IV, 82
British operations south of the Ancre, VI, 39
British policy of isolation, I, 42
British position, August 1, 1915, IV, 46
British position in Persia, IV, 419
British prize court, proceedings, effect of, in United States, V, 32
British raids on the German trenches, VI, 32, 39, 57
British reverses in Belgium, VI, 281
British seizure of ships of American registry, V, 49
British shipping, loss to, IV, 170
British squadron bombards Belgian coast in November, 1915, IV, 112
British statement in regard to Greece, IV, 312-313
British successes in Artois, IV, 85
British successes near Ypres, VI, 264
British at Jutland battle, V, 98-104
British troops on the Ancre, successes of, VI. 224
British troops, suffering of, at Kut-el-Amara, V, 320
British use of tanks, VI, 21
Brody, battle near, IV, 204
Bruges, occupation of, II, 168
Brussels, surrender of, II, 31
Brussilov, in Galicia, V, 167
Bryan, William Jennings, connection with peace propaganda, VI, 295
Buchanan, Sir George, interview with Sazonof, I, 376
Bucharest, capture of, VI, 119
Buczacz, capture of, by Russians, V, 160
Bukoba, capture of, III, 494
Bukowina, operations in, IV, 227
Bukowina, Russian occupation, III, 238
Bukowina, Russian reconquest of, V, 162-172
Bulgar attacks on Rumania, VI, 98-102
Bulgaria, after second Balkan war, I, 257
Bulgaria, conditions for neutrality, IV, 257
Bulgaria, position of, III, 370
Bulgarian army, IV, 270
Bulgarian bombardment of Galatz, VI, 121
Bulgarian declaration of war on Serbia, IV, 269
Bulgarian demands, III, 378
Bulgarian movements in Serbia, IV, 305
Bulgarian pursuit of Serbians, IV, 209
Bulgarians cross Greek frontier, V, 221
Bulgarians, defeat of, in November, 1916, VI, 138
Bullecourt, occupation of, VI, 261
Burian, Baron, letter of Ambassador Dumba proposing munition
strikes in United States, V, 9
Bzura, battle along, II, 492
Cadorna, General, III, 404
Caillette Wood, German repulse at, V, 354
Calais, air raids on, IV, 24
Calais, bombardment of, by destroyer flotilla, VI, 482
_California_, destruction of, VI, 292
Cambon, J., I, 328-330
Cameroons campaign, III, 62, 481
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir, I, 185
Canadians at Arras, VI, 56
Canadians' capture of Vimy, VI, 241
Canadians, raids by, VI, 222
Candler, Edmund, description of operations in Mesopotamia, IV, 448
_Canopus_, sinking of, II, 223
Carency, surrender of, III, 125
Carinthian front, bombardment by Italian artillery, V, 230
Carlos I, murder of, I, 204
Carnic Alps, conditions in, V, 289
Carpathian fighting, VI, 91, 442
Carpathian Mountain passes, advance of Russians toward. V, 207
Carpathian Mountains, II, 275
Carpathians, campaign in, III, 235-241
Carso Plateau, attack on, by Italian artillery, VI, 155, 464
Castelnau, General de, II, 43
Catholics, movement against, in France, I, 163
Cattaro, bombardment of, II, 359
Caucasus, campaign in, IV, 380
Caucasus, operations in, III, 9
Caucasus, reasons for Russian offensive against, IV, 382
Caucasus, the, II, 286
Cavell, Edith, case of, IV, 98-101
Central powers, area of, I, 286
Central powers, homogeneity of, I, 291
Central powers, military plans of, I, 33
Central powers, position of, on the eastern front, V, 117-121
Champagne campaign, IV, 62
Champagne, French in, VI, 249
Champagne, German attacks in, March, 1917, VI, 230
Champagne offensive, IV, 61
Charleroi, battle of, II, 54-59; IV, 40
Charles Francis Joseph, Archduke, V, 249
Chemistry in war, I, 11
Chicago meat packers' cases, V, 47
Chino-Russian treaty, I, 154
Church and State, separation of, I, 168
Churchill, Winston Spencer, V, 61
"Circular Note" to powers, I, 270
Citizen soldiery, training of, I, 12
_City of Memphis_, sinking of, VI, 317
Climate in Mesopotamia as a factor in war, IV, 421
Col di Lana, attack on, V, 231
Collo, Italian successes in, IV, 413
Colonial beginnings of Germany, I, 133
Colonial possessions of Great Britain, I, 174
Combes, I, 167
Combles, British attack on, VI, 26
Combles, repulse of German attack on, VI, 18, 25
Concentration camps, VI, 350
Confederation of North German States, I, 128
Congress, American, McLemore resolution in, IV, 505
Congress, opposition of, to President Wilson's policies, VI, 306
Congress, war discussion in, V, 433-438
Constantine of Greece, IV, 341
Constantinople, operations in, IV, 475
Constanza, attacks on, VI, 110
Contalmaison, capture of, V, 397
Cossacks, II, 383
Cossacks, repulse of Turkish troops by, V, 303
Cotes de Meuse, attack at, V, 348
Council of Workingmen and Soldiers, VI, 405-410
Courcelette, capture of, by the British, VI, 23
Courland coast, bombardment of, by Russian torpedo boats, V, 194
Courland, invasion of, III, 337
Courland, operations in, IV, 185
Cracow, attack on, II, 414-416
Craiova, capture of, VI, 114
Craonne, capture of, VI, 256
Craonne, German attacks on, VI, 252
Craonne sector, operations around, July, 1917, VI, 282
Ctesiphon, battle of, IV, 437-443
Cumières, German attempts to retake, V, 347
Curtain of fire, I, 74
Cyril, Grand Duke, II, 486
Czar of Russia, escape from aeroplane bomb, V, 429
Czarina, influence of, VI, 373
Czernowitz, capture of, V, 169
Czernowitz, retreat at, II, 413
Dankl, retreat of, II, 392
Danube, Rumanian raid across the, VI, 102-111
Dardanelles, aeroplanes at, I, 23
Dardanelles campaign, abandonment of, reasons for, IV, 363
Dardanelles, naval attacks, III, 174-179
Dates, important, I, 325-329
Death's Head Hussars, II, 154
Delarey, General, III, 73
Delcassé, Théophile, I, 319
Deniécourt, capture of, VI, 26
Denman, William, controversy with General Goethals, VI, 343
Destroyers, achievements of, I, 17
_Deutschland_, V, 111-112
De Wet, General, III, 70
Diarbekr, struggle for, V, 299-306
Diplomacy in the Balkans, I, 59
Diplomatic exchanges, first, I, 322
Diplomatic papers, I, 313
Disraeli, I, 179
Dixmude, III, 166
Dixmude, British and French attacks at, VI, 287
Dixmude, German attack on, IV, 87
Djemel Pasha, II, 500
Doberdo, operations along, V, 232
Dobrudja, operations in, VI, 101
Dobrudja, situation in, October, 1916, VI, 109, 112
Dolomite district, Italian successes in, IV, 397
Dolomite passes, fighting in, III, 393
Dolomites, operations in, V, 243
Douai, aeroplane attack on, IV, 474
Douaumont, French attempts to retake, V, 363
Douaumont, French recapture of, VI, 34
Douaumont, German attack at, V, 344
_Dresden_, German raider, III, 182
Dreyfus affair, I, 165
Dubno, fortress, capture of, V, 161
Dubno, fortress, strength of, IV, 210-211
Dukla Pass, fighting at, III, 261
Duma, defiance of czar by, VI, 389
Duma, disturbance in, VI, 394
Duma, inability of, to meet crisis, VI, 392
Duma, meeting of, in 1916, VI, 383
Dumba, Dr., explanation of efforts to V, 9
Dumba, Dr., recall of, by Austro-Hungarian government, V, 11
Dunajec, battle of, III, 267, 273
Dunkirk, bombardment of, by German destroyers, VI, 482
Durazzo, Austrian capture of, IV, 328
Durazzo, evacuation of, IV, 414
Dvina, crossing, by Russians, VI, 89
Dvina, Russian attempt to cross, VI, 80
Dvinsk, fighting around, IV, 213
Dvinsk, fortress, strength of, IV, 214
Dvinsk, Russian bombardment around, V, 143
_E-13_, British submarine, IV, 153
Eastern battle front, conditions in spring of 1916, V, 116
Eastern front, winter on the, IV, 250-254
Eastern front, winter on the, VI, 93, 121-124
East Prussia, devastation in, winter battles in, III, 313, 317
Eaucourt l'Abbaye, British capture of, VI, 28
Edea, capture of, III, 67
Edward VII, I, 182
Effectiveness, naval, I, 19
Egypt, attack on, III, 15
Egypt, Turkish attack on, III, 507
El Kantara, fighting at, IV, 10
_Emden_, career of, II, 226
_Emden_, story of, III, 193-205
Emmich, General von, II, 18
England, air raids on, IV, 21
England, east coast, attacked by German Zeppelins, II, 460
Enver Pasha, II, 499
Epine de Vedegrange sector, movements in, IV, 68-70
Erzerum, beginning of Russian advance toward, IV, 383
Erzerum, evacuation of, IV, 389
Erzerum, operations around, III, 9
Erzerum, Turkish losses at, IV, 391
Erzerum, Turkish plan for defense of, IV, 387
Erzingan, capture of, by Russians, V, 339
Erzingan, Russian advance, V, 294
Espionage Bill, divisions of, VI, 338
Explosions at Messines, VI, 267
Explosives, quantity of, I, 68
Exports, embargo on, VI, 341
Eydtkuhnen, attack on, III, 317
Falkenhayn, stroke of, VI, 113
Falklands, battle off, II, 230
Fallières, M., I, 168
Far eastern problem in 1910, I, 140
Farman speed plane, V, 421
Fashoda, I, 166
Faure, Felix, death of, I, 166
Fay, Robert, activities of, V, 15
Federal control for militia, I, 13
Ferdinand, King, decision to join central powers, IV, 257
Festubert, battle of, III, 128-134
Fighting on western front, August, 1915, character of, IV, 47
Finland, disturbances in, I, 156
Fire, curtain of, I, 74
Fire of machine guns, I, 67
First Ontario regiment, III, 143
First year's operations on eastern front, summary of, IV, 174-178
First year's operations on the western front, summary of, IV, 39-46
Fisher, Sir John, V, 61
Flags, neutral use of, III, 173
Flame jets, German use of, on the Somme, VI, 20
Flame projectors, German use of, IV, 58
Flanders, extensive operations in, VI, 286
Flanders sector, operations in, V, 376
Flers, capture of, by British, VI, 23
Fleury, German repulse at, V, 368
Floods on the eastern front, effect of, V, 141
Foch, General, II, 122
Ford peace expedition, V, 53
Ford permanent peace board, V, 55
Foreign policy of Russia, I, 151
Foreign trade of Germany, I, 49
Forges, German occupation of, V, 345
Fortifications, land, and battleships, I, 24
France, declaration of war, I, 281
Francis Ferdinand, assassination of, I, 260
Franco-Bulgarian operations, IV, 317-318
Franco-Prussian War, I, 128-129
Franco-Russian friendship, I, 154
Franz Ferdinand, diplomatic exchanges in regard to
assassination, I, 341
Frederick III, accession of, I, 134
French, Sir John, II, 34
French, Sir John, relieved of command, IV, 115
French advance in the Champagne VI, 231
French aerial maneuvering, IV, 55
French and British envoys, visit of, VI, 351
French armies, mobilization of, I, 297-303
French attack on Douaumont, account of, V, 342-344
French attacks in the Vosges in July and August, 1915, IV, 51
French attack on Souchez, IV, 84
French aviators, activity in December, 1915, and January, 1916, IV, 475
French aviators bombard Saarbrücken, IV, 48
French battle plane, V, 429
French campaign in Artois, IV, 46
French colonial expansion, I, 164
French fleet at Kronstadt, I, 154
French General Staff, V, 355
French in Alsace, IV, 40
French indemnity to Germany, I, 130
French in North Africa, I, 136
French influence on Dardanelles campaign, IV, 365
French occupation of Tunis, I, 163
French offensive, VI, 13
French progress in 1917, VI, 248
French strength in 1917, VI, 290
French troops in Serbia, IV, 279
Fresnoy, German success at, VI, 259
Fricourt, British attack upon, V, 393
Galatz, bombardment of, VI, 121
Galicia, operations in, IV, 185
Gallipoli, concentration of Turkish troops at, IV, 357
Gallipoli, conditions in, August, 1915, IV, 345
Gallipoli, landing on, III, 429-469
Gallipoli, Peninsula of, II, 285
Gallipoli, withdrawal from, IV, 366
Garua, capture of, III, 483
Gas, use and effects of, I, 53
Gas attack at Hooge, III, 148
Gastein Alliance, I, 132
George V, accident to, IV, 102-103
Gerard, Ambassador, request for passport from German
Government, VI, 297
German achievement in two years of war;
statement by Mumm von Schwarzenstein, V, 508-509
German aeroplanes, VI, 488
German airdrome, VI, 170
German and Austrian merchandise prohibited in Italy, IV, 410
German answer to American note on _Sussex_, V, 447
German armies in Poland, IV, 181
German armies, I, 292
German army in Belgium, II, 10
German artillery, II, 264
German attacks at Verdun, VI, 58
German attacks in Rumania, cessation of, VI, 120
German attacks near Dvinsk, V, 184
German capture of Craiova, VI, 114
German casualties in the Somme offensive, VI, 9
German claims of losses by submarines, VI, 478
Germans on the Aisne, VI, 248
German counterattacks on the Somme, VI, 16
Germans before Kovel, V, 178-183
German declaration of intentions toward Belgium, I, 487
German declaration of war, I, 278
German defenses of Messines Ridge, VI, 265
German edict against armed merchantmen, V, 50
German Empire, creation of, I, 130
German forces, disposition of, in the Somme sector, V, 378
German forces in Serbia, IV, 259
German foreign policy, I, 136
German foreign trade, I, 49
German intrigues in Mexico, VI, 312
German invasion of Luxemburg, I, 33
German losses, IV, 79-80
German losses at Jutland, V, 94-98
German losses in Russo-German campaign, II, 482
German merchant ships, V, 60
German naval policy, I, 46
German Navy League, I, 141
German offensive, IV, 79
German plots, in United States, in autumn and winter of 1915, V, 12
German position in 1915, IV, 46
German prisoners, VI, 217
German proposals to Belgium, I, 280
German raiders, damage by, III, 183
German raids on England, VI, 482
German rupture with the United States, VI, 205-216
German Samoa, II, 242
German Southwest Africa, III, 68
German steamers, requisition by Italian government, IV, 412
German submarines, VI, 202
German submarine campaign, IV, 166
German submarine decree on the United States, VI, 291
German submarine war zone, VI, 205
German tactics at Jutland, V, 104
German trenches, raids on, VI, 32
German version of the sinking of the _Arabic_, IV, 484
German vessels interned, VI, 329
Germany yielding to America, V, 451
Germany in Asia Minor, I, 50
Germany, Japanese declaration of war against, I, 284
Germany's declaration of war on Russia, I, 282
Ghent, air raids on, IV, 34
Ginchy, German operations, VI, 16
Givenchy, operations around, III, 187
Gladstone, I, 179
_Goeben_, German cruiser, II, 494
Gore, Senator, V, 436
Goritz bridgehead, V, 231
Goritz, capture of, VI, 149
Goritz, operations around, VI, 466
Gorizia, attacks on, III, 408
Gorringe, General, V, 314
Goschen, Sir Edward, I, 431
Gough, Sir Hubert, VI, 59
Gouraud, General, succeeded by General Sarrail, IV, 52
Government in Russia, VI, 395
Grand Duke Sergius, murder of, I, 157
Great Britain in Persia, I, 185
Greece, attitude of, IV, 280
Greek forces, V, 223
Greek frontier, V, 214
Greek government, attacked by Venizelos, IV, 311
Greek fleet, seizure of, VI, 137
Greek Macedonia, revolt in, VI, 128
Greek provisional government declares war on Germany, VI, 144
Greek troops surrender of, VI, 129
Grévillers, capture of, by British, VI, 230
Grey, Sir Edward, I, 281, 316
Grey, Sir Edward, note to American government, V, 30
Grodno, fall of, IV, 187
Guillemont, British attack on, VI, 12
Haig, Sir Douglas, promoted to commander in chief, VI, 59
Haig, Sir Douglas, succeeds Sir John French, IV, 116
Haldane, R. B., I, 315
Halicz, battle of, III, 249
Halicz, capture of, by Russians, VI, 437
Hamilton, Sir Ian, plans of, III, 437
Hamilton, Sir Ian, report of Gallipoli operations, IV, 362
_Hampshire_, cruiser, loss of, V, 108
Harrington, German raids on, IV, 149
Hartmannsweilerkopf, III, 115
Hartmannsweilerkopf, IV, 123
Haucourt-Malancourt, V, 351
Haumont, capture of, IV, 137
Herbecourt, capture of, V, 390
Hermannstadt, attack on, VI, 105
Herzegovina, annexation of, I, 147
Hill 304, battle of, V, 361-371
Hill 185, capture of, VI, 229
Hill 304, German attacks on, VI, 61
Hindenburg, General von, II, 439
Hindenburg, Von, offensive, V, 164
Hohenzollern, redoubt, V, 373
"Holy War," III, 21
Home Rule Bill in Ireland, I, 43
Hooge, operations at, III, 146-151
Hoover, Herbert C, named food administrator, VI, 335
Hostages at Gallipoli, French and British, IV, 359
_Housatonic_, sunk, VI, 292
House of Commons, Sir E. Grey's statement, I, 490
Hulluch, operations around, IV, 92
Humin, battle of, II, 470
Hungarian frontier, VI, 103
_Illinois_, sunk by submarine, VI, 317
Illuxt, Russian offensive near, V, 186
India, Russian invasion of, I, 62
Internal policy of Bismarck, I, 133
Ireland, situation in, I, 43
Irles, capture of by British, VI, 229
Isolation, British, I, 42
Isonzo, battles of, VI, 470
Isonzo front, Italian activity, V, 267
Isonzo frontier, battle on, IV, 394
Isonzo front, operation on, VI, 149
Ispaha, capture of, V, 334
Isvolsky, A. P., I, 320
Italian aeroplane service, IV, 469
Italian Alpine troops, V, 268
Italian army, strength of, III, 388
Italian cities shelled, IV, 168
Italian front, VI, 452
Italian landing at Avlona, IV, 327
Italian losses, offensive, V, 257
Italian navy, operations of, IV, 168
Italian objective in Istria, IV, 417
Italian offensive, VI, 468-473
Italian retreat in Trentino, V, 253
Italian strategy, III, 382
Italian Third Army, IV, 393
Italian war loans, IV, 411
Italo-Turkish War, I, 195
Italy, neutrality of, I, 281
Ivangorod, capture of, III, 365
Ivangorod, fighting around, II, 458
Jablonica, Russian advance against, V, 206
Jablonitza, evacuation of, by Russians, VI, 75
Jacobstadt, Russian attack on, V, 126
Jagow, von G., I, 323
Japan and Russia, friendly relations between, V, 61
Japanese declaration of war against Germany, I, 283
Jaroslov, recapture of, II, 411
Jellicoe, Admiral, V, 78-94
Jellicoe, Admiral, report by, V, 90
Jewish persecutions in Russia, I, 153
Joffre, General, II, 38
Joffre, General, IV, 41, 61, 115
Joffre, General, order before Champagne offensive, IV, 61
Joffre, plan of retreat, IV, 41
Judenich, General, IV, 385
Julian front, battles along, VI, 462
Jusserand, J. J., statement in regard to second anniversary
of the war, V, 504
Jutland Bank, battle of, V, 70-108
Jutland, engagement off, IV, 150
Kaiser and King of Belgium, I, 341
Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, I, 135
Kalkfield, capture of, III, 489
Kalusz, capture of, VI, 439
Kantara, aeroplane raid on, V, 431
Kara-Urgau, battle of, III, 12
Kars, attacks on, III, 471
Kasr-i-Shirin, capture of, V, 334
Katshanik Pass, IV, 293
Kerensky, Alexander, assumption of supreme command in Russia, VI, 412
Kermanshah, capture of, V, 332
_Kheyr-ed Din Barbarossa_, IV, 148
Kiao-chau, I, 285
_King Edward VII_, loss of, IV, 164
King Humbert, I, 192
King of Montenegro, IV, 330
Kitchener, Earl, II, 34
Kitchener, Earl, death of, V, 108
Kluck, Von, retreat of, II, 12
Knight, Rear Admiral, I, 17
Kolomea, capture of, V, 192
Königsberg, fighting around, II, 479
Kossovo plain, IV, 297-298
Kovel, resistance near, V, 167
Kovel, Russian attacks on, VI, 86
Kovno, capture of, IV, 183
Koziowa, attacks on, III, 246
Kragujevatz, capture of, IV, 280
Krasnik, battle of, III, 348
Krithia, attacks on, III, 454
_Kronprinz Wilhelm_, cruiser, II, 226
_Kronprinz Wilhelm_, raider, III, 187
Kronstadt, French fleet at, I, 154
Kronstadt, mutiny, VI, 414
Kuropatkin, General, V, 120
Kut-el-Amara, V, 307
Kut-el-Amara, British stand at, IV, 444
Kut-el-Amara, surrender of, III, 502
Kuty, capture of, V, 185
La Bassée, attacks on, II, 178-192
La Boisselle, attack upon, V, 385
Labor Peace Council, organization of, V, 24
Labyrinth, attacks on, III, 122-123
Labyrinth, IV, 108
_Laconia_, destruction of, VI, 293
Lafayette Escadrille, VI, 490
Lake Nyassa, battle on, II, 243
Lansing, Secretary, VI, 294
_La Provence_, sinking of, IV, 172
Ledro Valley, operations in, V, 237
Leman, General, II, 15
Lemberg, capture of, II, 387
Lemberg, drive against, VI, 70-76
Lemberg, V, 163
Lenine, influence of, in Russia, VI, 408
Le Mesnil, German attacks, IV, 107
Lens, attack around, IV, 82
Lens, conditions in, VI, 245
Les Eparges, fighting at, III, 118
Liberty Bond Loan, VI, 344
Lichnowsky, K. M., I, 323
Liege, capture of, II, 22
Liege forts, fall of, IV, 39
Linievka, capture of, V, 190
Lipa River, crossing of, V, 207
Lloyd-George, David, I, 185
Lombaertzyde, III, 156
London, air attacks on, VI, 174
London, Zeppelin raids, IV, 29, 463
Longueval, British recapture of, V, 408
Loos, capture of, IV, 83
Lorraine front, IV, 57-58
Lorraine, German successes in, VI, 219
Loubet, President, I, 166
Louvain, capture of, II, 28
Lowestoft, air raid on, IV, 22
Lowitz, fighting around, II, 465-467
Lukoff, capture of, IV, 194
Lunéville, bombardment of, IV, 54
_Lusitania_, crisis, IV, 502-503
_Lusitania_ deadlock, IV, 496
_Lusitania_, sinking of, III, 185, 222
Lutsk, capture of, IV, 202
Lutsk, capture of, V, 158
Lutsk fortress, strength of, IV, 210
Lutsk, Russian attacks on, VI, 86
Lvov, Prince George, VI, 398
_Lyman M. Law_, VI, 293
Luxemburg, bombardment of, by aeroplanes, IV, 466
Luxemburg, invasion of, I, 280
McLemore resolution, in House of Representatives, IV, 505;
V, 440
McNeely, Robert N., IV, 157
Macedonia, invasion of, IV, 277
Macedonia, conditions in, V, 214
Macedonia, reforms in, I, 238
Macedonian Bulgars, II, 282
Macedonia, Allied forces in, VI, 124
Macedonia, Serbian advance in, VI, 132
Mackensen, in Dobrudja, VI, 109, 115
Madagascar, I, 164
Maldon, air raid on, IV, 22
Malines, Belgian control of, II, 32
Mama Khatum, V, 335
Mangin, General, plans of, VI, 35
Manoury, General, II, 134
Margate, air attack on, VI, 171
Mariakerke, V, 431
Maritz, Colonel, III, 70
Marne, battle of the, II, 88-138
Martinpuich, capture of, VI, 23
Massiges, German attack at, IV, 124
Massiges sector, IV, 76
_Matoppo_, British ship, V, 65
Maurepas, French capture of, VI, 15
Maximalists, in Russia, VI, 418
Mazurian Lakes, battles of, II, 439
Mazurian Lakes, battles of, III, 313
Memel, raid on, III, 334
Merchantmen, armed, V, 60
Merchantmen, submarine warfare on, IV, 499
Messines Ridge, attack on, VI, 264
Metzeral, capture of, III, 165
Meuse, battles on the left bank of, V, 345-348
Meuse, French successes, VI, 64
Microphone, I, 21
Milan, demonstrations in, III, 379
Military operations in the Balkans, V, 214
Military plans of Central powers, I, 33
Military training, I, 14
Militia under Federal control, I, 13
Milukov, Paul, VI, 398, 413
_Minneapolis_, sinking of, V, 64
Mitrovitza, capture of, IV, 300
Mlawa, movements before, III, 324
_Moewe_, German raider, achievements of, IV, 159
Monastir, capture of, VI, 141-143
Monchy, capture of, VI, 242
_Monmouth_, cruiser, II, 223
Monro, Sir Charles, IV, 366
Mons, battle of, II, 60-68
Monte Adamello zone, V, 243
Monte Altissimo, IV, 396
Monte Ancora, attack on, V, 243
Monte Barro, capture of, V, 258
Montenegrin surrender, IV, 336
Montenegro in the war, II, 358-361
Montenegro, conquest of, IV, 329
Monte Rombon, attacks on, V, 230
Mont St. Elio, III, 121
Morgenthau, Henry, IV, 359
Mort Homme, battles of, V, 345, 354, 360, 362
Motor-Zeppelins, V, 418
Mountain fighting, VI, 159-166
Mount Lovcen, effect of capture of, on Italian campaign, IV, 399
Mülhausen, capture of, IV, 40
Müller, Captain von, II, 229
Mush, massacre at, IV, 378
Mush, Russian capture of, III, 479
Namur, capture of, II, 53
Narotch Lake, V, 124
_Natal_, British cruiser, destruction of, IV, 163
National growth in Balkans, I, 258
Nationality in Serbia, I, 259
Naval battle of Jutland, V, 70-108
Naval lessons of the war, I, 17
Naval losses, IV, 143-144;
V, 113-115;
VI, 484
Naval policy, German, I, 44
Naval strength of Austria, II, 206
Naval strength of Germany, II, 204
Naval strength of Great Britain, II, 197
Naval warfare, I, 26; VI, 480
Navy, American, strength of, I, 11
Navy, British, effect on war, I, 18
Navy, increase in personnel, VI, 362
Navy League, German, I, 141
Near East and Russia, I, 153
Near Eastern question, I, 131
Neutral shipping, loss of, IV, 170
Neutrality of Belgium, I, 276
Neutrality terms refused, I, 281
Neuve Chapelle, battle of, III, 83-92
Neuville St. Vaast, capture, III, 127
New Zealanders, gallantry of, at Suvla Bay, IV, 356
Nicholas II assumes command of Russian army, IV, 188
Nicholas, Grand Duke, II, 373;
IV, 189;
VI, 490
Nicholas, Grand Duke, transferred to the Caucasus, IV, 382
Nicholas, King of Montenegro, IV, 330
Nicholas II, abdication of, VI, 403
Nicholas II, indifference to conditions, VI, 385
Nicholas II, reply to kaiser's message, I, 440
Niemen, operations along, III, 330
Nieuport, attack on, III, 269
Nihilism in Russia, I, 153;
VI, 365
Nish, fall of, IV, 288
Nivelle, General, victories, VI, 246
Nixon, Sir John, available forces for capturing Bagdad, IV, 421
North Sea, battle of, II, 252
Notre Dame de Lorette, attacks on, III, 155;
IV, 88
Novo Georgievsk, capture of, III, 364;
IV, 184
Nuredin Pasha, IV, 426
_Nürnberg_, II, 224
Nyassaland, fighting in, III, 495
Odessa, bombardment of, VI, 493
Olti, battle of, III, 478
Ortelsburg, capture of, II, 437
Oslavia Heights, capture, IV, 408
Ossowitz, bombardment of, III, 328
Ostend, raids on, IV, 56;
VI, 173
Otavi, battle of, III, 490
_Palembang_, Dutch steamer, V, 62
Palmer, Frederick, the world's war, I, 31
Pan-Slavism, I, 153
Paris, air raids on, IV, 19, 462
Paris, arrival of American troops in, VI, 360
Paris, siege of, I, 129
Pashitch, N. P., I, 321;
IV, 289
Passes, battle of, III, 241-244
Peace of Tilsit, I, 84
Pégoud, Alfonse, IV, 50
Pepper Hill, successes at, V, 358
Persia, interests in, I, 185
Persia, British position in, IV, 419
Péronne, V, 390;
VI, 232
Pershing, General John J., commander of the American expeditionary
force, VI, 356
_Persia_, destruction of, negotiations over, IV, 500
_Persia_, British steamship, sinking of, IV, 157
Persian Gulf, importance of, II, 505
Perthes, III, 79; IV, 72
Pétain, General, report on operations at Verdun, V, 358
Peter, King of Serbia, IV, 290, 302
Pinsk, IV, 205, 207
Pinsk marshes, Russian successes in, V, 197
Poland, campaigns in, II, 462;
III, 345
Poland, Austrian, II, 272
Political situation in Ireland, I, 43
Political conditions in Germany, I, 53
_Portugal_, sinking of, V, 64
Portuguese seizure of German merchant ships, V, 60
Power of Bismarck, growth of, I, 127
Powers, Central, military plans of, I, 33
Pourtalès, F., I, 323
Pozières, bombardment of, VI, 11
Pozières Wood, advance on, V, 407
_Prinz Eitel Friedrich_, German raider, III, 179
Prinzip, Gabrilo, I, 260
Pripet Marshes, IV, 209
Pripet Marshes, operations in, V, 152;
VI, 81
Pro-German propaganda in United States, IV, 505
Protopopoff, treason of, VI, 388
Provisional Government in Russia, VI, 398
Prussian alliance with Italy, I, 127
Przasnysz, battles of, III, 324
Przemysl, II, 249, 405;
III, 324
Radautz, capture of, V, 183
Radoslavov, Premier of Bulgaria, III, 372
Ramsgate, air raids on, IV, 26
Rancourt, capture of, VI, 27
Rasputin, VI, 374-377, 385
Rawa-Russka, battle of, II, 395
Régime, new, in Russia, VI, 404
Reichstag, Bethmann-Hollweg's statement in, I, 502
Rennenkampf, General, II, 443
Revolution in Russia, VI, 390
Rheims, bombardment of, II, 146-153;
III, 152-154;
VI, 237
Rhodesia, border fighting in, III, 495
Rifles used in different armies, I, 26
Riga-Dvinsk sector, V, 125, 128, 204
Riga, Gulf of, Russian torpedo boats in, V, 151
Rockwell, Kiffin, death of, VI, 181
Rodzianko, Michael, VI, 391
Roosevelt, Theodore, efforts to take troops to France, VI, 335
Root, Elihu, arrival of, in Russia as American Commissioner, VI, 417
Rovereto, Italian attack on, IV, 396;
V, 244
Rovno fortress, strength of, IV, 212
Royal British Corps, loss in, V, 425
_Royal Edward_, sunk, IV, 149
Rozau, capture of, III, 361
Ruhl, Arthur, the war correspondent, I, 113
Rumania, III, 370;
VI, 93-96
Rumania, neutrality of, IV, 256
Rumanian raid across the Danube, VI, 106-110
Russia and Great Britain in Persia, I, 185
Russia and Japan, V, 61
Russia and the Near East, I, 153
Russia in European politics, I, 148
Russian advance on the eastern front, V, 120
Russian mobilization, I, 306
Russian army, rehabilitation of, VI, 428
Russian artillery activity, V, 134
Russian attempts to extend time limit for hostilities, I, 385
Russian autocracy, VI, 364
Russian defeat, effect of, IV, 364
Russian disorganization, VI, 422
Russian fleet, mutiny, VI, 414
Russian foreign policy, I, 151
Russian internal troubles, I, 155
Russian losses in August, 1915, IV, 202-203
Russian mobilization, I, 405
Russian offensive, VI, 431, 440
Russian offensive in the East, V, 154
Russian offensive, temporary lull in, V, 188-192
Russian people and German diplomacy, I, 56
Russian persecution of Jews, I, 153
Russian Poland, II, 268
Russian pursuit of Turks, V, 292
Russian retreat, IV, 229-239
Russian revolution, foreshadowing of, VI, 363-365
Russian rout in Galicia, VI, 445-447
Russian troops in Rumania, VI, 97
Russian troops on the Black Sea coast, V, 61
Russia's attitude on Serbia, I, 377
Russia's strategy in East, II, 433
Russky, General, II, 377
Russo-German treaty, I, 319
Russo-Japanese War, I, 155
Russo-Turkish War, I, 132
Saarbrücken, bombardment, IV, 48
St. Julien, assaults on, III, 102
St. Mihiel, salient, attacks on, III, 116
Sakharoff, General, V, 205
Salandra, I, 322
Salisbury, Marquis of, I, 179
Saloniki, II, 284;
IV, 261, 321;
V, 215, 429
Saloniki, German air raid on, V, 216
Saloniki, importance of, I, 61
Saloniki, Allies at, IV, 261
Samogneux, abandonment of, by French, IV, 137
Samsonoff, General, II, 436
San, battle of, III, 297-301
San, battles of the, II, 398
San Stefano, treaty of, I, 227
Sarafoff, Boris, I, 242
Sarajevo, I, 260;
II, 277
Sari Bair, attack on, IV, 348
Sarrail, General, commands French troops in Balkans, IV, 279;
V, 215
Sazonov, Russian Minister, VI, 380
Scarpe River, operations on, VI, 253
Scarborough, raids on, II, 247
Schiller, Ernest, V, 65
Schleswig-Holstein, war for, I, 127
Sea command and troop transportation, I, 24
Selective Draft Law, VI, 346
Semendria, bombardment of, IV, 269
Serbia, invasion of, II, 301;
IV, 177
Serbia, offers of peace, III, 376
Serbian retreat to Albania, IV, 303
Serbian army, strength of, in November, 1915, IV, 293-294
Serbian nationality, I, 258
Serbian reply to Austrian note, I, 265-270
Serbian resistance at Babuna Pass, IV, 283
Serbian troops, transport across Greek territory, V, 218
Serbians in Macedonia, VI, 132
Sereth River, crossing by Russian forces, V, 178
Servetsch region, V, 146
Sette Comuni Plateau, Italian successes on, V, 270
Shabatz, battle of, II, 317
Shevket Pasha, I, 244
Shipbuilding program, VI, 343
Shipping Board, creation of, VI, 213
Shipping, neutral loss of, IV, 170
Ships of American registry, seizure by British, V, 49
Shumadia division of Serbian army, heroism of, IV, 275
Sibert, General, with American expeditionary force, VI, 357
Siege of Paris, I, 129
Simonds, Frank H, summary of two years of war, V, 461-502
Simonds, F. H., the theatres of the wars' campaigns, I, 83
Sims, Admiral, commander of American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357
Smith-Dorrien, General, II, 60
Smoke screen, I, 74
Smorgon, fighting around, V, 179
Smorgon, operations around, VI, 80
Soissons, operations around, V, 376
Soldau, capture of, II, 437
Somme, British, and French offensive on the, VI, 27
Somme, battles of, beginning, V, 377
Somme, conditions in situation south of, on July 9, V, 399
Somme front, French and British gains, VI, 19
Somme offensive, German casualties in the, VI, 9
Somme offensive, object of Allies in, V, 377
Somme offensive, spring of 1916, VI, 9
Somme, second phase, V, 401
Souain sector, IV, 71-72
Souchez, attacks on, III, 124-125
Souchez, Canadian raids at, VI, 222
Souchez, French attack on, IV, 84
Southwest Africa, British conquest of, III, 484-493
Souville, attacks on, V, 368
Spee, Admiral von, II, 230
Speed plane, in warfare, V, 421
Stambuloff, I, 233
Stanislau, operations around, VI, 435
Stanislau, advance on, V, 193;
VI, 72
Steenstraete, capture of, VI, 287
Stokhod River, V, 198-207;
VI, 76-81, 423
Strikes in munitions factories, planned by Germans, V, 10
Strypa River, fighting along, IV, 223-229
Strypa River, Russian artillery attacks along, V, 138
St. Mihiel, French gains, VI, 231
St. Quentin, VI, 236
Stuff Redoubt, VI, 32, 49
Sturmer Boris, VI, 379
Stuttgart, bombardment of, by French aviators, IV, 60
Styr River, IV, 223-229;
V, 178
Submarine attacks on American transports, VI, 358
Submarine campaign, IV, 116
Submarine campaign against merchant ships, V, 59
Submarine, detecting, I, 21
Submarine, effectiveness of, I, 19
Submarine, efficiency of, IV, 145
Submarine negotiations, VI, 193
Submarine warfare, III, 209-222
Submarine warfare, VI, 182-188
Submarine warfare in 1917, VI, 475
Submarine warfare on armed merchantmen, IV, 499
Submarines, aeroplane warfare on, V, 414
Suchomlinof, V. A., I, 320
Suez Canal, defenses of, III, 18-19;
IV, 11
Summary of first year's operation on western front, IV, 39-46
_Sussex_, sinking of, V, 63, 443
Suvla Bay, IV, 346-356
Suwalki, occupation of, II, 448
Talaat Bey, II, 499
Tanks, VI, 21, 46
Tannenberg, battle of, II, 438
Tarnow, battles around, III, 286
Tergovistea, capture of, by Austro-Germans, VI, 117
Terrorism in Russia, I, 153
Thiepval, British successes around, VI, 17
Tigris River, IV, 426;
V, 326-330
Tigris valley, campaign in, V, 307
Tilsit, peace of, I, 84
Togoland, campaign in, III, 62
Townshend, General, V, 311
Trade, foreign, of Germany, I, 49
Transloy, British successes at, VI, 65
Transportation of troops, I, 24
Transports, protection of, I, 18
Trans-Siberian Railway, I, 153
Trebizond-Erzerum road, V, 299
Trebizond, occupation of, V, 297
Trench bombs, I, 76
Trench fighting, I, 68
Trentino, Austrian offensive in, V, 244-255
Trentino front, VI, 154, 455
Trieste, Italian drive, VI, 159, 452
Triple Alliance, I, 133, 141
Triple Entente, formation of, I, 158
Trônes Wood, V, 402-403
Troops, transportation of, I, 24
Tsing-tau, defenses, attacks on, capture, III, 48, 52, 60
_Tubantia_, Dutch steamer, V, 62
Turkey, American relations with, VI, 328
Turkish navy, operations of, IV, 170
Turkish troops on the eastern front, VI, 83
Typhus, epidemic of, II, 356;
III, 475
Uganda, protectorate, I, 180
Undersea warfare, IV, 155
Unification of Germany, I, 130
Union of South Africa, rebellion in, III, 70
United States, development of pro-German propaganda in, IV, 505
_U-53_, exploits of, VI, 194
Union of Towns in Russia, VI, 377
Van, concentration of Armenians in, IV, 378
Van, Russian successes in, III, 477
Vaux, French defense of, V, 351, 367
Vaux Fort, French recapture of, VI, 37, 39
Veles, resistance at, by Serbians, IV, 278
Venice, air raids on, III, 426;
VI, 169
Venizelos, attacks of, on Greek Government, IV, 311
Venizelos, E., I, 60;
V, 217
Verdun, attack on, I, 64
Verdun, effect of five months' siege, V, 371
Verdun, French victories at, VI, 54
Verdun, operations around, VI, 19, 53, 281
Verdun, struggle for, IV, 131-142
Victor Emmanuel, address to army, V, 254
Victor Emmanuel III, I, 194
Vienna, congress of 1814, I, 260
_Vigilancia_, sunk, VI, 318
Vilna, campaign against, IV, 187, 192
Vimy Ridge, capture of, VI, 239
Viviani, René, I, 318
Viviani, instruction to French ambassador at Vienna, I, 379
Volhynia, Austrians in, V, 138
Von Bernstorff, note to Secretary Lansing in reply to _Lusitania_
protest in Germany, IV, 485
Von Bethmann-Hollweg, IV, 485
Von Bülow, Prince, I, 136
Von Caprivi, General, I, 134
Von Jagow, interviews with, I, 33, 502
Von Mackensen, commands German forces in Serbia, IV, 258
Von Papen, recalled, V, 26
Von Plehve, murder of, I, 156
Von Rintelen, Franz, V, 22-28
Von Tirpitz, Grand Admiral, attitude toward submarine warfare, IV, 484
Vosges, German activities in, IV, 51, 108
Vulkan Pass, capture of, by Germans, VI, 103
War, German declaration of, I, 278
War, declaration of, between United States and Germany, VI, 325
War Revenue Bill, VI, 333
War zone, establishment of, III, 170
Warsaw, attack on, II, 450
Warsaw, capture of, III, 366-368
Warsaw, movements upon, III, 346
Warsaw, occupation of, IV, 178
Washburn, Stanley, on conditions on eastern front, V, 180-183
Western front, summary of first year's operations on, IV, 39-46
Western front on February 1, 1916, IV, 126
What the war means to America, I, 9
Whitby, raids on, II, 247
Whitlock, Brand, efforts to aid Miss Cavell, IV, 100-101
William II, accession of, I, 134
Wilson, President, address before Congress, April, 1917, VI, 320-326
Wilson, President, on armed neutrality before Congress, VI, 304
Wilson, President, and British blockade of Germany, V, 457
Wilson, President, and Congress, V, 434
Wilson, President, denouncement of unpatriotism, V, 26
Wilson, President, letter to Congress, IV, 503
Wilson, President, note to Russia, VI, 415
Wilson, President, proclamation convening Congress, VI, 319
Wilson's address on relations with Germany, VI, 210
Windhoek, capture of, III, 489
Wood, Major General Leonard, what the war means to America, I, 9
Yarmouth, raids on, II, 246
_Yarrowdale_, prisoners, VI, 297
Younghusband, General, IV, 446
Yperlee Canal, III, 107
Ypres, attack on, II, 171, 172, 174
Ypres, bombardment of, III, 95
Ypres, British successes south of, VI, 264
Ypres, first battle of, IV, 44
Ypres, German success at, in February, 1916, IV, 122
Ypres, second battle of, III, 99-106
Ypres sector, operations in, in March, 1916, V, 372, 375
Yser, II, 169;
III, 167;
IV, 122
Yser region, flood in, IV, 117
Zanzibar, I, 180
Zeebrugge shelled, V, 67; VI, 482
Zeppelin attack on Warsaw, IV, 19
Zeppelin, Count Ferdinand, death of, VI, 494
Zeppelin raids on England, IV, 16, 466;
V, 422;
VI, 494
Zeppelin, value of, V, 412
Zeppelins, loss of, IV, 468;
V, 430;
VI, 179
Zugan Torta, V, 247
Zungar Valley, V, 247
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