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Title: America's War for Humanity

Author: Thomas Herbert Russell

Release Date: November 20, 2003 [EBook #10147]

Language: English

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AMERICA'S WAR FOR HUMANITY


Pictorial History _of the_ World War _for_ Liberty

_By_ THOMAS H. RUSSELL, A.M. LL.D.

_Noted Historical and Military Writer. Member American Historical
Association_




[Illustration: Giants of Democracy]


[Illustration:
_Above_--Machine-gun team of an American balloon company at work on the
French front, trying to get an enemy airplane. These anti-aircraft guns
are known as "Archies"

_Below_--Men of the 313th U.S. Field Artillery cleaning and polishing
75-millimeter shells, to be sent over to the Hun at night. Dirty
or rusted shells are dangerous to use. (_U.S. Official Photos_.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Scene in Chateau Thierry after the battle that
brought undying glory to American arms, and especially to the Marine
Corps. The effects of the heavy bombardment by the artillery of the
Third Division are plainly to be seen. (_Photo from I.F.S._)

_Below_--American and French soldiers looking over the town of Chateau
Thierry after the battle. This was the scene of America's first great
victory in the war. The town was stormed and the enemy routed by the
troops the Germans had chosen to belittle. (_Copyright by C.P.I.; Photo
from W.N.U._)]


[Illustration: _Above_--American automatic rifle team
making it hot for the Huns. Note the protective barricade of ammunition
boxes and sandbags.

_Below_--How hand grenades are thrown at the enemy in the trenches.
American soldiers soon became expert at this superlative kind of
baseball. (_U.S. Official Photos_.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Surrender
of the German high-seas fleet. A British warship, which towed an
observation balloon, leading the line of seventy German vessels into the
Firth of Forth. _(Copyright, U. & U.)_

_Below_--Surrendering the German submarines at the port of Harwich,
England. Note the listless attitude of this particular German crew.
_(Copyright, I.F.S.)_]


[Illustration: Drafting the armistice terms by
the Allied plenipotentiaries at Versailles. On the left side of
the table from left to right are shown: Gen. du Robilant; next man
unidentified; Italian Foreign Minister Sonnino; Italian Premier Orlando;
Col. E.M. House; Gen. Tasker H. Bliss; next man unidentified; Greek
Premier Venizelos; Serbian Minister Vesnitch. On the right side of the
table from left to right: Admiral Wemyss, with back to camera; Gen.
Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; Gen. Sackville West;
Andrew Bonar Law; Premier David Lloyd-George; French Premier Georges
Clemenceau; and French Foreign Minister Stephen Pichon. (_French
Official Photo, from I.F.S._)]


[Illustration: The American delegates to
the Peace Conference at Versailles: _From left to right_--Colonel E.
M. House, Secretary of State Robert Lansing, President Woodrow Wilson,
Henry White, General Tasker H. Bliss. The photograph was taken in
the Murat Mansion, residence of the President while in Paris.]
[Illustration: The Human Flag--A wonderful triumph of artistic military
formation and photography, showing 10,000 Jackies at Great Lakes,
Illinois, the largest naval training station in the world, with nearly
60,000 sailors in the making, and a naval band of over 1,000 pieces.
_(Copyright,_ _U. & U_.)]


[Illustration: A typical aerial battle.
Destruction of a Boche plane by dauntless American aviators, swooping
like eagles upon their prey, regardless of the anti-aircraft shells that
burst all about them, and helping by their intrepidity and skill to
clear the air of the Hun and maintain the supremacy gained by the Allies
in aerial warfare. Thousands of American flyers were trained and ready
to carry the war into Germany when the Teuton forces collapsed and cried
"Enough!" _(Photo from I. F. S_.)] [Illustration: _Above_--An American
supply train in the town of Esnes, seen from the cemetery. In the
background Hill 300, which was held by the Germans since early in the
war and has been the scene of many attacks and great slaughter. Note the
utter ruin of the town as it was found by the Americans.

_Below_--An American patrol arriving at the ruins of the house used as
an observatory by the German Crown Prince during the famous battle of
Verdun. It is said that he watched the operations in comfort while
seated before the eyepiece of a periscope carried up through the roof.
(_U. S. Official Photos_.)]


[Illustration: Departure of President Wilson
from New York, December 3. 1918, on the steamship George Washington,
formerly a German liner, on his voyage to France to attend the Peace
Conference. This event made a new record in American history, it being
the first time a President has ever left the country for any length of
time. A destroyer is seen escorting the President's ship down the harbor
to Staten Island, where the battleship Pennsylvania assumed the chief
escort duty. _(Copyright, I. F. S_.)]


[Illustration:
_Above_--General Pershing decorating Private Nick Connors, Infantry,
42nd Division, with the Distinguished Service Cross, for bravery at
Chateau Thierry.

_Below_--Y. M. C. A. Secretary H. F. Butterfield, with a volunteer
detail of the 104th Infantry, 26th Division, loaded with cigarettes,
chewing gum, and tobacco for the boys of the 104th, who were chasing the
retreating foe in France. _(U. S. Official Photos.)_]


[Illustration: The
United States battleship Pennsylvania, showing an unusual view of some
of her heavy guns. This vessel is the pride of the Navy and was selected
to escort President Wilson on his voyage to Europe to attend the Peace
Conference. She led the way across the Atlantic, steaming ahead of the
George Washington, on which the President and his party of 200 were
passengers. She carries twelve 14-inch and twenty-two 5-inch guns.]


[Illustration: _Above_--American observation balloon being brought down
to its anchorage. One of many similar balloons used to direct the fire
of artillery and observe the movements of the enemy, a service of
considerable danger as the balloonists are constantly exposed to airplane
attack. Each observer is harnessed to a parachute and jumps when the
balloon is attacked and in danger of destruction. (_Copyright by C. P.
I., from W. N. U_.)

_Below_--Canadian officers of a Royal Air Squadron, lined up with their
machines behind the front in France. It was the splendid work of these
gallant fellows and thousands more like them--British, French, and
Americans--that kept the supremacy of the air in the hands of
the Allies. _(Canadian Official Photo, copyright by U. & U_.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Remarkable photograph of a flame-throwing attack
by French troops. The "flammenwerfer" or flame-thrower was originated
by the Germans, like other diabolical methods of warfare. The Allies
perfected the machine and turned it on the enemy with great success, and
the Germans did not like their own medicine. Note the reservoir on the
soldier's back. _(Copyright. U. & U._)

_Below_--A Belgian scouting party in Flanders, making its way over a
pontoon bridge, and dressed in the new khaki uniform of the Belgian
army, which turned the tables on the Hun. _(Photo, U. & U._)]


[Illustration: Part of the American army of occupation on its way
to Germany. After celebrating for awhile the announcement that the
armistice had been signed, the American troops at the front realized
that there was still serious work, though of a different kind, ahead
of them, and started for the cities across the Rhine with a firm
determination to carry on till all the fruits of their victory
were obtained. An American dispatch rider is seen at the right,
fraternizing with a French soldier. _(French Official Photo, from U.
& U._)]


[Illustration: GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING, Commander American
Expeditionary Forces in France, in August, 1918, had an army of
1,500,000 Americans in France, doing glorious service with their allies
against the common enemy. His selection for command was approved by
all Americans; he is the idol of his men. _(Copyright, U. & U._)]


[Illustration: A divisional headquarters on the British front in France
during the progress of a battle, showing troops in reserve, German
prisoners, and stretcher-bearers at work. (Australian official
photograph)]


[Illustration: Canadians entering a wood just evacuated by the Germans
and passing an enemy gun which has been rendered useless and abandoned
by the Huns in their retreat. The Canadians are advancing in the face
of machine-gun fire. (Canadian official photograph.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Going over the top. Allied troops with full
equipment are seen leaving their trench and advancing to attack. This
is the moment that tried men's souls, and showed themselves and their
comrades the stuff that was in them. _(Photo from I. F. S._)

_Below_--Scene when Cambrai was captured by the British, showing large
numbers of British troops moving forward across the battlefield. In the
foreground the men are seen leaving a communication trench. _(British
Official Photo, from I. F. S._)]


[Illustration: Scene at Gen. Sir E. H. Allenby's historic entry on foot
into Jerusalem, December 11, 1917, after its capture by the British from
the Turks, who had held the Holy City under Moslem domination for
centuries. All Christendom hailed the event with rejoicing. Every sacred
building, shrine, and traditional holy spot will in future be
scrupulously maintained and protected. The Holy City was not bombarded
by the British, but was evacuated by the Turks and surrendered by the
leading inhabitants when Gen. Allenby's forces, after defeating the
Turkish troops repeatedly in the field, reached Gazara, three miles from
Jerusalem. Subsequently the entire Turkish army in Palestine was
captured or dispersed in disorder. _(Copyright, U. & U_.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Easing the pain of the wounded in an evacuation
hospital in France. The Red Cross nurses in the photo (two girls from
Aberdeen, S. D.), are giving wounded Yank a newspaper from God's country
and some chocolate, and he evidently appreciates their work.

_Below_--The first batch of American troops to return.from France after
the armistice. The photo shows the camouflage of S. S. Mauretania as
she arrived in New York harbor, bearing 5,000 men, of whom 1,100 were
wounded. _(U. S. Official Photos_)]


[Illustration: Homecoming of
American soldiers from Europe. An upper deck of the steamship
Mauretania, sister ship of the ill-fated Lusitania, as she steamed into
New York harbor, bringing back the first batch of returning troops.
These men were all of the aviation service who had been in training
in England. Their faces show how glad they were to see the Goddess of
Liberty once more. _(Copyright, I. F. S._)]


[Illustration: War Map Showing Naval and Military Forces of Europe at a
Glance.]


[Illustration: and Naval Bases. (_Specially drawn by G.
F. Morrell for the London Graphic_.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Company M and Company K, 336th U. S. Infantry,
82nd Division, advancing on the enemy's positions and driving out the
Huns, while the 307th Engineers of the 82nd Division clear the way by
blowing up wire entanglements. (_Official U.S. Photo_.)]


[Illustration: _Below_--Photo taken from the body of the German soldier
at the left (in gray sweater) near Chateau Thierry. The three women in
the picture were at the time operating a German machine-gun under
armed guard. (_Photo from U. & U_.)]


[Illustration: Resting after the
battle--a most unusual photo, reminiscent of the famous historical
painting, "The Bivouac." After a tremendous battle, in which these
Italian troops of the Florence regiment acquitted themselves with great
glory the men were so completely tired out that they threw themselves
on the ground to snatch a brief rest. This regiment was one of the
mainstays of the Italian defense when treachery aided the Teutons in
driving the Italians back across the Piave River _(Copyright, U. & U.)_]


[Illustration: Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the great strategist in supreme
command of the allied forces on the Western front, who wrested the
initiative from the Germans and sent them reeling back in 1918. (_French
Official Photo by U. & U._)]


[Illustration: Leaders of France and England
on the battle front. Left to right: M. Thomas of the French Cabinet;
Sir Douglas Haig, Marshal Joffre, and Premier Lloyd George. (_British
Official Photo from I.F.S._)]


[Illustration: _Top_--One of the fast
"Whippets," or small British tanks, that created havoc and terror in the
German ranks in 1918. They precede the Infantry and completely destroy
machine gun nests. (_British Official Photo from I.F.S_.)

_Bottom_--The first American-built tank, called the "America," biggest
of all, weighing 45 tons and propelled by steam. (_Copyright, U. & U._)]
[Illustration: Canadian and German wounded receiving first aid in a
village which only a few hours before was in the hands of the Germans
responsible for the scene of ruin and devastation which it presents.]


[Illustration: Canadian and Imperial troops helping themselves
to free coffee supplied by the Canadian Y.M.C.A. at a roadside
stand made of biscuit boxes. The Helpful work of the "Y" was highly
appreciated by the troops in France and Flanders. (Canadian official
photograph.)] [Illustration: How the news of the armistice of November
11, 1918, was received on the French front. The picture shows a scene
along the French lines immediately after hostilities ceased. Myriads of
men sprang into sight from the concealment of the trenches, exposing
themselves to the view of the enemy for the first time in more than four
years, without fear of consequences. Note the fleet of tanks ready
in the foreground, also the wire entanglements and No Man's Land.
(_Copyright, I.F.S._)]


[Illustration: _Top_--Close view of the first
Handley-Page bombing aeroplane built in America. It is proposed to fly
these planes across the Atlantic under their own power, driven by Twin
Liberty motors of 400 H.P. each.

_Bottom_--Submarines of United States Navy at base in an Atlantic
port awaiting orders for coast defense duty. (_Copyright, U. & U._)]
[Illustration: Wounded Canadians being carried to the rear by German
prisoners taken in the pursuit of the retreating Boche army in the fall
of 1918. (Canadian official photograph.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Field
dressing station on captured ground near Cambrai, during the last great
drive on the British front. The wounded are being brought in by German
prisoners taken during the drive, as seen in the foreground. A typical
scene at a dressing station, where first aid is given the wounded.
(_British Official Photo, from I.F.S._)

_Below_--A dashing attack by French poilus, advancing with full packs,
bayonets fixed, and typical daring and courage. The spirit of the
poilu is admirably illustrated in this snapshot. (_Photo by I.F.S._)]
[Illustration: _Top_--How British fighting men advance to attack after
going over the top, spread out in thin columns. Very different from
mass formations of the enemy and less costly to human life. (_British
Official Photo, from I.F.S._)]


[Illustration: _Bottom_--A remarkable actual war photograph of British
machine gunners operating from German second line; captured in the great
Cambrai drive. The men are coolly preparing mess. (_Copyright, U. &
U._)]


[Illustration: _Above_--Red Cross men tenderly caring for the
wounded. The services of the American Red Cross were invaluable to the
army in France and won the admiration of all the Allies.

_Below_--Wounded man making his way painfully back to the rear, with
grim determination to keep going and all the grit of the typical
American soldier. (_Official Photos by Signal Corps, U.S.A_.)]


[Illustration: The longest-range field gun in the world, produced by
the Ordnance Department, U.S. Army, for service in France, though the
hostilities ceased before they reached General Pershing. More than a
hundred of these guns are said to have been prepared for shipping to
France, and their range and power would probably have astonished the
Germans, as did the great naval guns, mounted on railway cars and manned
by American seamen, that did such effective work in the closing days
of the conflict. (_U.S. Official Photo_.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--A
company of American infantry enjoying a well-earned rest after capturing
the German second-line trenches in the forest of Argonne, the scene of
desperate and protracted fighting in the fall of 1918. (_Copyright by
C.P.I., Photo from U. & U._)]


[Illustration: _Below_--A party of Serbian officers trying the effects
of gas while on a visit to the Western front. They entered a British
trench filled with gas for practice purposes, and are seen adjusting
their gas masks for protection. (_British Official Photo, Copyright by
U. & U._)]


[Illustration: _Top_--A great Australian howitzer in action
in France under a camouflage screen. Note the size of shells, which
require four men to handle. (_Australian Official Photo; copyright, U. &
U._)

_Bottom_--American Army Postoffice in France on Mothers' Day, 1918.
Letters and packages from the folks back home are the American soldiers'
greatest comfort on the battle front. (_Copyright, Committee on Public
Information_.)]


[Illustration: An American battery of howitzers ready to
fire upon the Huns from the ruins of a town in France. This was one of
the first United States official photographs of the American advance
in the Argonne, a district that is not all forest by any means, but
comprises much cultivated territory and many towns and villages that
have been wrecked by ruthless German fire. (_Photo by Signal Corps,
U.S.A_.)]


[Illustration: CHARGE OF THE BRITISH 9TH LANCERS ON A GERMAN
BATTERY DURING THE BATTLE OF MONS

The battery had inflicted heavy losses on the British troops. All the
gunners were cut down and the guns put out of action.--Drawn by Dudley
Tennant for The Graphic, from notes by a trooper.]


[Illustration: German prisoners captured by Canadians during a French
raid, with one of their captors. The Canadians became noted for the
success of their raids by day and night and seldom failed to bring back
prisoners. (Canadian official photograph.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--American negro infantrymen advancing toward the
front in the Argonne along a screened highway. It can truly be said of
these American soldiers and their ilk in the campaign in France that
"the colored troops fought nobly."

_Below_--Men of the 132nd U.S. Infantry, 33rd Division, in a front line
trench, looking toward the valley of the Meuse, where it is estimated
70,000 men lie buried. (_U.S. Official Photos_.)]


[Illustration: THE FIRST NAVAL RESERVE UNIT TO LEAVE FOR SERVICE IN
THE WAR.

The First Battalion of the Naval Militia of New York passing in review
of Mayor Mitchell and other officials on stand at Union League Club, 39th
Street and Fifth Avenue. (_Copyright by U. & U., N.Y._)]


[Illustration: Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, England's famous Field
Marshal and Secretary of State for War, who lost his life at sea while
on a mission to Russia, June 5, 1916.

Gen. Sir E.H. Allenby, British commander in Palestine and Syria, who
defeated the Turks and captured Jerusalem, the Holy City, in December,
1917.]


[Illustration: Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.

Top: United States Warship North Dakota.

Bottom: New type of rapid-firing machine gun used by the United States
Army.]


[Illustration: _Top_--Inspection of Czecho-Slovaks at railroad
station, Vladivostok, before leaving for interior of Siberia in campaign
against the Bolsheviki; later aided by American troops. (_Copyright, U.
& U._)

_Bottom_--"Blue Devils of France"; battle-scarred veterans of the
fighting lines leaving the White House after their reception.
President Wilson shook hands with every one of these gallant soldiers.
(_Copyright, I.F.S._)]


[Illustration: British cavalry engaged against
German infantry driven out of shelter of the trees by fire and smoke
near Chantilly. The charge down the grassy glade of the flaming forest.
The woods had been set on fire by British infantry in order to smoke out
a large force of Germans who had secreted themselves in the forest. As
soon as they emerged they were charged with destructive effect by the
British and sustained heavy losses.--_Drawn by Frederic de Haenen from
a sketch by Frederic Villiers_. (_Sun Printing and Publishing Assn_.)]


[Illustration: _Above_--How a commanding general works while his troops
are fast asleep. A night scene in the tent headquarters of Maj.-Gen.
Adelbert Cronkhite, U.S.A., division commander on the front in France.
The general stands at the right and his chief of staff, Col. Wm. H.
Waldron, at the left.

_Below_--U.S. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker getting ready to try
on an American infantryman's pack at a rest camp in England. (_U.S.
Official Photos_.)] [Illustration: President Wilson and General Pershing
receiving American troops at Humas, near the front, on Christmas day,
1918. The President is seen wearing the fur coat made from trophies
of the hunt, presented by Southern friends. Mrs. Wilson stands at the
right.]


[Illustration: _Top_--American fighters in France, just out of
the trenches, are seen at a wayside station of the American Red Cross,
receiving welcome refreshments within gunfire of the battle front.
(_Photo from I.F.S._)]

[Illustration: _Bottom_--First aid given to a wounded German prisoner by
American soldiers near the front. An example of American fair play in
striking contrast to Boche methods. (_Copyright, Committee on Public
Information_.)]


[Illustration: King Albert I of Belgium, the beloved
sovereign who never lost the confidence of his stricken people during
the four years of their intense suffering.

Marshal Petain of France, the hero of Verdun, who led the victorious
French into Strassburg and heads the French army of occupation in
Germany.]


[Illustration: Canadian soldier examining the rifle and kit
of a German killed by Canadian cavalry a few minutes before, while
protecting the rear of the German retreat. (Canadian official
photograph.)]


[Illustration: Canadian troops resting in a trench on the
hard-won Wotan line of the Germans, which was captured on the previous
day after a desperate struggle that resulted in the rout of the enemy.
(Canadian official photograph.)]


[Illustration: ONE OF THE GREAT GERMAN 16-INCH SIEGE GUNS USED AT ANTWERP

The above photograph shows the gun train complete, ready for
transportation. The motive power is furnished by the powerful motor
truck at the right, which also carries most of the artillerymen forming
the gun crew. About thirty men are needed to manipulate the gun in
action. The huge shells and ammunition are conveyed in separate trucks
or caissons. As a fort-wrecker this powerful piece of ordnance is most
effective. Its total weight is nearly 100 tons. The gun proper is at the
left and its Krupp sliding breech can be plainly seen at the side. In
the center is the gun carriage, with its very powerful recoil apparatus.
When the gun is in action these two sections are joined, being so
constructed as to fit together readily. The bursting projectiles were
called by the British soldiers "Jack Johnsons," "Black Marias" and
"Coal-boxes," from the thick black smoke they produced. These epithets
ignored their awful death-dealing qualities. (_Copyright, U. & U._).]



[Illustration: _Above_--African troops of the French army en route to
the Riviera to enjoy a well-earned rest after the battle of Douaumont,
in which their ranks were considerably depleted. These colored fighters
of France are commanded entirely by white officers and have done
splendid service. (_Copyright, U. & U_).]


[Illustration: _Below_--Colored Canadians imitating the Germans that
they captured in this dugout near the Canal du Nord, as they put up
their hands and shouted "Kamerad!" (_Canadian Official Photo, from
U.S_).]


[Illustration: ONE OF THE HUGE KRUPP SIEGE MORTARS, GERMANY'S
MOST POWERFUL WEAPON AGAINST FORTS.] [Illustration: French Artillery on
the Firing Line--The Modern Field Guns of the French and the Krupp Guns
of the Germans Have Proved to be Terrible Weapons of Destruction.]


[Illustration: This French soldier, tempted by the payment to him of
a hundred francs, signaled a message to the Germans, giving them the
position of the French batteries near Rheims. He was the first French
traitor of the war, and being caught in the act, met an ignominious
death by the roadside. (_Copyright, U. & U._).]


[Illustration: 1. French
Cuirassier being fed by Belgian woman. 2. Major Richardson of the
British Army and two of his bloodhounds used to find wounded soldiers on
Belgian battlefields. (_International News Service_.)] [Illustration:
Canada's Premier on a visit to the Western front in Europe, with a
notable group of Canadian officers. Sir Robert Borden is the central
figure of the seated row, and the other civilian in the picture is Mr.
Calder. Between them is seen General Currie, in command of the Canadian
forces in Europe, who have earned undying fame for the great
Dominion during the war. (_Canadian Official Photo, from W.N.U._).]


[Illustration: French Cavalrymen Bivouacked in the Streets of Paris,
Sleeping on the Fodder of Their Mounts, Standing in the Background.]


[Illustration: FOUNDERING OF THE BRITISH CRUISER ABOUKIR

A few minutes after the Aboukir was struck by a torpedo from the German
submarine U-9 early on September 22, 1914, she listed to port at an
angle of 45 degrees and the captain sang out from the bridge: "Every man
for himself!" The drawing depicts the scene that followed, as described
by a survivor. Two-thirds of the crew of 650 were drowned or killed by
the explosion. The boats of the cruisers Hogue and Cressy, which were
soon after also torpedoed and sunk, are seen coming to the rescue. The
total loss was over 1,400 lives.--_Drawn by Charles Dixon, R.I., for The
Graphic_.]




"_LaFayette, we are here_"--_General Pershing_




THE OFFICIAL STORY OF AMERICAN OPERATIONS IN FRANCE

_By_ GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING _Commander-in-Chief_


WILLIAM DUNSEATH EATON CONTRIBUTING EDITOR _Author "The War in Verse and
Prose" "A Soldier of Navarre" etc._


SPECIAL CHAPTERS BY HON. JAMES MARTIN MILLER _Former United States
Consul to France Author "Spanish-American War" "Prussian-Japanese War"
etc._




DEDICATION

To the soldiers and sailors of the United States and Canada; to the men
of the armies and navies of nations allied with us; to the splendid
courage and devotion of American, French, British and Belgian women, who
have endured in silence the pain of losses worse than death, and never
faltered in works of mercy for which no thanks can ever pay; to all the
agencies of good that have helped save civilization and the world from
the most dreadful menace of all time, this volume is dedicated.

To the honor of those nations upon whom the laurel of victory has
descended. To those who have vouchsafed for us the permanence of the
higher ideals of humanity and civilization.

To those who have sheltered posterity from the dominance of barbarity,
brutality, serfdom, bigotry and degradation.

To those who have striven against the Teuton and the Turk that God-given
and God-ordained freedom may triumph.

To those noble stoics of Belgium, of France, of Serbia, of Roumania,
of Poland and all other peoples who have felt the mailed fist of the
ruthless oppressor; who have looked upon their devastated fields, their
dismantled cathedrals, their violated hearth-stones and the desecrated
graves of their kindred, and that peace, tranquillity, contentment and
prosperity may again be restored to them in bounteous meed.

To those heroes who by their valor, their vigor and their inspired
devotion to right and patriotism have so nobly fought and conquered.

To those martyrs whom God in his immutable manifestations has chosen
for the ultimate sacrifice of their lives upon the altar of freedom and
humanity's cause.

In honor to these who have attained this glorious victory. In honor to
the commingling flags of the allied nations reflecting in their rainbow
hues a covenant of everlasting peace in this their hour of triumph,
may we all consecrate our purposes and our lives to a brotherhood of
mankind, a spirit of broadest humanity and universal peace on earth.

--_L.J. Robinson_.




PREFACE


With the signing of an armistice November 11, 1918, by the
plenipotentiaries of the nations at war, active hostilities were halted
while the sweeping terms of the truce were being complied with by
Germany. The collapse of the Teutonic forces came with a suddenness that
was surprising, and the collapse was complete. The German army and navy
ceased to be a menace to the civilized world--and all civilization
rejoiced with an exceeding great joy.

Remarkable events in the world's history followed with amazing rapidity,
and are duly recorded in all their interesting details in these pages.
The flight and abdication of the Kaiser; the abject surrender of the
German high seas fleet and submarines to the British Grand Fleet and its
American associates; the withdrawal of the defeated German armies
from Belgium and France; the return of the French flag to Alsace and
Lorraine; the occupation of Metz, Strassburg, Cologne, and Coblentz by
Allied and American forces, and the memorable entry of Belgian troops as
conquerors into Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen); the sailing of the President
of the United States to take part in the Peace Conference--all these
events and many others form part of the marvelous record of the recent
past, furnishing material that has never been equaled for the use of the
historian.

Now the eyes of all America are turned to the eastern horizon, and
would fain scan the wide waters of the Atlantic, on the watch for the
home-coming heroes of the great conflict. A million young Americans are
coming home--but a million more will stay abroad awhile, to safeguard
the fruits of victory and insure the safety of the world. Truly the
story of their achievements, in permanent form, should find a place in
every American home, for in the words of General Pershing, their great
commander:

"Their deeds are immortal and they have earned the eternal gratitude of
their country."

T.H.R.


CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

PRESIDENT WILSON'S WAR MESSAGE

I WHY WE WENT TO WAR

Review of America's Good Reasons for Fighting--Memories of Beautiful
France--Why I Was Not Accepted as Consul to Germany--Why We Went to
War--Work or Fight--Rationing the Nations, by Hon James Martin Miller,
Former US Consul to France--What the Yankee Dude'll Do

II UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR

The President Proclaims War--Interned Ships Are Siezed--Congress Votes
$7,000,000,000 for War--Enthusiasm in the United States--Raising an
American Army--War to Victory, Wilson Pledge--British and French
Commission Reaches America--American Troops in France

III AMERICANS AT CHATEAU THIERRY

Personal Accounts of Battle--Gas and Shell Shock--Marines Under
Fire--Americans Can Fight and Yell--Getting to the Front Under
Difficulties--The Big Day Dawns--The Shells Come Fast--A Funeral at the
Front--Impression of a French Lieutenant--Keeping the Germans on the
Run

IV AMERICAN VICTORY AT ST MIHIEL

First Major Action by All American Army--Stories to Folks Back
Home--Huns Carry Off Captive Women--Hell Has Cut Loose--Major Tells
His Story--Enormous Numbers of Guns and Tanks--Over the Top at 5:
AM--Texas and Oklahoma Troops Fight in True Ranger Style--Our Colored
Boys Win Credit

V THE WAR IN THE AIR

Air Craft--Liberty Motors and Air Service--The Danger of Aviation--Air
Plane's Tail Shot Off--Champions of the Air--Lieut. Lehr's Personal
Stories of Air Fighting at the Front--American Aviator Grabs Iron Cross
as Souvenir--Eyes of the Army Always Open

VI CAUSES OF THE WORLD WAR AND HOW WAR WAS DECLARED

VII INVASION OF BELGIUM

Belgians Rush to Defense of Their Frontier--Towns Bombarded and Burned
--The Defense of Liege--Destruction of Louvain--Fall of Namur--German
Proclamation to Inhabitants--Belgian Capital Occupied by the Germans
Without Bloodshed--Important Part Played by American Minister Brand
Whitlock--March of the Kaiser's Troops Through the City--Belgian Forces
Retreat to Antwerp--Dinant and Termonde Fall

VIII BRITAIN RAISES AN ARMY

Earl Kitchener Appointed Secretary for War--A New Volunteer
Army--Expeditionary Force Landed in France--Field Marshal Sir John
French in Command--Colonies Rally to Britain's Aid--The Canadian
Contingent--Indian Troops Called For--Native Princes Offer Aid

IX EARLY BATTLES OF THE WAR

Belgian Resistance to the German Advance--The Fighting at Vise, Haelen,
Diest, Aerschot and Tirlemont--Mons and Charleroi the First Great
Battles of the War--Allies Make a Gallant Stand, but Forced to Retire
Across the French Border

X GERMAN ADVANCE ON PARIS

Allies Withdraw for Ten Days, Disputing Every Inch of Ground with the
Kaiser's Troops--Germans Push Their Way Through France in Three Main
Columns--Official Reports of the Withdrawing Engagements--Paris Almost
in Sight

XII BATTLE OF THE MARNE

German Plans Suddenly Changed--Direction of Advance Swings to the
Southeast When Close to the French Capital--Successful Resistance by
the Allies--The Prolonged Encounter at the Marne--Germans Retreat, with
Allies in Hot Pursuit for Many Miles

XII THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

Slow Mobilization of Troops--Invasion of German and Austrian
Territory--Cossacks Lead the Van--Early Successes in East Prussia--"On
to Berlin"--Heavy Losses Inflicted on Austrians--German Troops Rushed to
the Defense of the Eastern Territory

XIII THE AUSTRO-SERVIAN CAMPAIGN

Declaration of War by Austria--Bombardment of Belgrade---Servian
Capital Removed--Seasoned Soldiers of Servia Give a Good Account of
Themselves--Many Indecisive Engagements--Servians in Austrian Territory

XIV STORIES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

Thrilling Incidents of the Great War Told by Actual Combatants--Personal
Experiences from the Lips of Survivors of the World's Bloodiest
Battles--Tales of Prisoners of War, Wounded Soldiers, and Refugees
Rendered Homeless in the Blighted Arena of Conflict--Hand-to-Hand
Fighting--Frightful Mortality Among Officers--How It Feels to Be
Wounded--In the "Valley of Death"--A Belgian Boy Hero--A British Cavalry
Charge--Spirit of French Women--In the Paris Military Hospital--German
Uhlans as Scouts--How a German Prince Died--Fearful State of
Battlefields

XV THE MYSTERY OF THE FLEETS

Movements of British Battleships Veiled in Secrecy--German Dreadnoughts
in North Sea and Baltic Ports--Activity of Smaller Craft--English Keep
Trade Routes Open--Several Minor Battles at Sea

XVI SUBMARINES AND MINES

Battleships in Constant Danger from Submerged Craft--Opinions of Admiral
Sir Percy Scott--Construction of Modern Torpedoes--How Mines Are Laid
and Exploded on Contact

XVII AERO-MILITARY OPERATIONS

Aerial Attacks on Cities--Some of the Achievements of the Airmen in the
Great War--Deeds of Heroism and Daring--Zeppelins in Action--Their
Construction and Operation

XVIII BATTLE OF THE AISNE

Most Prolonged Encounter in History Between Gigantic Forces--A Far-Flung
Battle Line--Germans Face French and British in the Aisne Valley
and Fight for Weeks--Armies Deadlocked After a Desperate and Bloody
Struggle

XIX FALL OF ANTWERP

Great Seaport of Belgium Besieged by a Large German Force--Forts
Battered by Heavy Siege Guns--Final Surrender of the City--Belgian and
British Defenders Escape--Exodus of Inhabitants--Germans Reach the Sea

XX THE WOUNDED AND PRISONERS

Typical Precautions Used by the German Army--The Soldier's First-Aid
Outfit--System in Hospital Arrangements--How Prisoners of War Are
Treated--Regulations Are Humane and Fair to All Concerned CHAPTER PAGE

XXI HORRORS OF THE WAR

Plan to Send Santa Claus Gifts From America to War-Stricken Children of
Europe--A Widespread Response---Movement Endorsed by Press, Pulpit and
Leading Citizens--Approved by Governments of Contending Nations

XXII LATER EVENTS OF THE WAR

Results of the Battle of the Rivers--Fierce Fighting in Northern
France--Developments on the Eastern Battle Front--The Campaign in the
Pacific--Naval Activities of the Powers

XXIII SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA

Torpedoed by a Submarine--Crisis in German-American Relations--The
Diplomatic Exchanges

XXIV A SUMMER OF SLAUGHTER

Submarine Activities--Horrors in Serbia--Bloody Battles East and
West--Italy Declares War and Invades Austria--Russians Pushed Back in
Galicia

XXV SECOND WINTER OF THE WAR

XXVI CLIMAX OF THE WAR

XXVII WORLD'S GREATEST SEA FIGHT

XXVIII BATTLES EAST AND WEST

XXIX CONTINUATION OF WAR IN 1917

XXX GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STOBY

XXXI WHEN THE DAYS OF RECKONING DAWNED

XXXII HOME FOLLOWS THE FLAG

XXXIII TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE

XXXIV HONOR TO THE VICTORS

XXXV CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD WAR
INTRODUCTION




PRESIDENT WILSON'S EPOCHAL ADDRESS

CALLING FOR ACTION AGAINST GERMANY, DELIVERED BY HIM TO THE CONGRESS IN
EXTRAORDINARY SESSION, APRIL 3,

"Gentlemen of the Congress: I have called the congress into
extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices
of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right
nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility
of making.

"On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the
extraordinary announcement of the imperial German government that on
and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all
restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every
vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and
Ireland or the western coast of Europe or any of the ports controlled by
the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean.

HOPED FOR MODIFIED WARFARE

"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare
earlier in the war, but since April of last year the imperial government
had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in
conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should
not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels
which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was
offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given
at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats.

"The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved
in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and
unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed.

"The new policy has 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 area 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.

RELIED ON LAW OF NATIONS

"I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would be in
fact done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane
practices of civilized nations.

"International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law
which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation
had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By
painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meager enough
results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished,
but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience
of mankind demanded.

"This minimum of right the German government has swept aside under the
plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it
could use at sea except these which it is impossible to employ as it is
employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity
or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the
intercourse of the world.




_PRESIDENT WILSON'S WAR ADDRESS_

CHALLENGE TO ALL MANKIND

"I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and
serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of
the lives of noncombatants, men, women and children, engaged in pursuits
which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been
deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of
peaceful and innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine
warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.

"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. The choice we
make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a
temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as
a nation. We must put excited feelings away. Our motive will not be
revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation,
but only the vindication of right--of human right--of which we are only
a single champion.

"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. Because
submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have
been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend
ships against their attacks, as the law of nations has assumed that
merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers,
visible craft giving chase upon the open sea.

"It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity, indeed, to
endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own intentions.
They must be dealt with upon sight if dealt with at all.

"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 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.

MUST ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

"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.

COURSE WE MUST PURSUE

"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable
co-operation 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.

ARMY OF 500,000 MEN

"It will involve the immediate addition to the armed force of the United
States already provided for by law in case of war at least 500,000 men,
who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principal 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.

"I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems
to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now
be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most
respectfully urge, to protect our people, so far as we may, against the
very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of
the inflation which would be produced by vast loans.

MUST SUPPLY THE ALLIES

"In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be
accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering
as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of
our own military forces with the duty--for it will be a very practical
duty--of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the
materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They
are in the field, and we should help them in every way to be effective
there.

"I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive
departments of the government, for the consideration of your committees,
measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned.
I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them, as having been
framed after very careful thought by the branch of the government upon
which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the
nation will most directly fall.

SEEKS FREEDOM OF WORLD

"While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very
clear, and make very clear to all the world, what our motives and our
objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and
normal course by the unhappy events of the last months, and I do not
believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by
them.

"I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I
addressed the senate on the twenty-second of January last; the same that
I had in mind when I addressed the congress on the third of February
and on the twenty-sixth of February. "Our object now, as then, is to
vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world
as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really
free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose
and of action as will henceforth insure the observance of those
principles.

"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the
world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that
peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed
by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will--not by the
will of their people.

"We have seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at
the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same
standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be
observed among nations and their governments that are observed among the
individual citizens of civilized states.

NO QUARREL WITH GERMANS

"We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards
them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse
that their government acted in entering this war. It was not with their
previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars
used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were
nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in
the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were
accustomed to use their fellow-men as pawns and tools.

"Self-governed nations 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. Cunningly contrived plans
of deception or aggression, carried, it may be, from generation to
generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the
privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a
narrow and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public
opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the
nation's affairs.

MENACE OF INTRIGUES

"A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a
partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be
trusted to keep faith within or observe its covenants. It must be a
league of honor, a partnership of opinion.

"Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles
who could plan what they would and give account to no one, would be a
corruption seated at its very heart.

"Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a
common end and prefer the interest of mankind to any narrow interest of
their own.

WELCOME TO FREE RUSSIA

"Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope
for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things
that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia?

"Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact
democratic at heart in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the
intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct,
their habitual attitude toward life. The autocracy that crowned the
summit of her political structure, as long as it had stood and terrible
as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin,
character or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great,
generous Russian people have added in all their native majesty and might
to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice,
and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a league of honor.

"One of the things that has 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.

SOUGHT TO IGNORE PLOTS

"Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have
sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them
because we knew that their source lay not in any hostile feeling or
purpose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant
of them as we ourselves were) but only in the selfish designs of a
government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing.

"But they 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.

FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

"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, there can be no assured
security for the democratic governments of the world.

"We are now about to accept 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
people, the German people included; for the rights of nations, great and
small; the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and
of obedience.

SEEK NO SELFISH ENDS

"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 right 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.

"Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object,
seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all
free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as
belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio
the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.
SILENT AS TO AUSTRIA

"I have said nothing of the governments allied with the imperial German
government 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
endorsement 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.

"On these premises 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 rights.

"It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents
in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus,
not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or
disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible
government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of
right and is running amuck.

GERMANS IN AMERICA

"We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and
shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablishment of intimate
relations of mutual advantage between us, however hard it may be for
them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our
hearts.

"We have borne with their present government through all these bitter
months because of that friendship, exercising a patience and forbearance
which would otherwise have been impossible.

"We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship
in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women
of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our
life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact
loyal to their neighbors and to the government in the hour of test. They
are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never
known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with
us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind
and purpose. If there should be disloyalty it will be dealt with with a
firm hand of stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all it will
lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a
lawless and malignant few.

CIVILIZATION IN BALANCE

"It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the congress,
which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be,
many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful
thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most
terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be
in the balance.

"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the
things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy,
for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their
own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a
universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall
bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last
free.

"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything
that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who
know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood
and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness
and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no
other."




CHAPTER I

WHY WE WENT TO WAR

MEMORIES OF BEAUTIFUL FRANCE--WHY I WAS NOT ACCEPTED AS CONSUL TO
GERMANY

BY HON. JAMES MARTIN MILLER

FORMER UNITED STATES CONSUL IN FRANCE


To have lived on the principal battle ground of the world war was a
privilege the author did not appreciate at the time. As representative
of the United States Government in the Consular district of France that
includes the departments of the Aisne, Ardennes, Marne, Aube, Meuse,
Vosges, Haute-Marne and Meurthe-et-Moselle, he lived and had his
headquarters at Reims, some years before the war. Reims is (or rather
was) a beautiful city of 112,000 people. The story of the city goes
back to the days of the Roman empire, and bears the mark of many Gallic
insurrections. In comparatively later times Joan of Arc caused Charles
VII to be crowned in the great Cathedral there--one of the most
glorious and stately in all Europe, now a ruin. A history of the eight
departments (or small states) mentioned above would include a history
of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, and of the greatest and most
desperate of all wars, the one just brought to a close.

My Consular district bordered on Belgium, Luxemburg and Alsace-Lorraine.
The Marne, the Aisne, the Vesle, and other streams whose names adorn
with sad pride so many of America's battle-flags, flow through it. After
1914 Belgium saw very little fighting; but this district saw almost four
years of continuous and enormous battle. It was overrun time and again.
Neither Belgium nor any other country suffered such devastation, nor
such material destruction. Today it is a vast graveyard. Hundreds of
thousands of men dyed its soil with their lifeblood. All America and all
the world knows about Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel, and the gallantry
of American troops in those two brilliant and significant actions. It is
difficult to realize the stupendous tragedy that through all those years
hung over that beautiful country, whose fields were once as familiar to
me as any fields of home. I look back to that time with affection, in
the glow of happy memories.

Americans before this war had held the Monroe Doctrine in high
reverence. Presidents had strengthened it in their messages. Candidates
for office for more than half a century had argued as a campaign issue
that the United States must never be drawn into foreign entanglements;
that no European nation ever would be allowed to interfere in the
affairs of the American continents. This doctrine was so deeply
rooted that objectors everywhere rose up when we began to talk of
"preparedness" against the ultimate day when we could no longer keep
out of the fight. Many declared it would be "unconstitutional" for the
United States to send troops to Europe. The war lords of Germany took
advantage of this traditional sentiment among our people and felt sure
that the United States never would come in, no matter how many American
lives nor how much American property Germany might destroy, nor how many
of our ships German pirates might sink at sea, without warning. The
German government had built up a propaganda in this country that at one
time threatened to poison the minds of all our people. There were some
among us who hated England, and wanted to see Germany win for no other
reason than that. Others hated Russia, and so desired Germany to win.
Germany's secret intrigues in Mexico came near to getting us into a war
with that country. In the face of all these things there was a strong
sentiment among our people and even in Congress favorable to Germany. It
is easy now to say that we should have gone to war when the Lusitania
was sunk, but pro-German feeling was so noisy and so strong, even though
it was held by a minority, that the Congress itself was affected and
withheld its hand.

Public sentiment had to be crystalized so that it would stand back of
the administration. With our lack of a secret service capable of coping
with the German agents who were busy everywhere and all the time, we
were at a disadvantage in gathering evidence to convince our people that
the Germans were menacing our very existence. Even after the secret
service was built up it took many months of hard work and several
thousand government men to uncover and stamp out their organizations
and their ruthless plots. The slimy tracks of the German ambassador at
Washington had to be followed through devious underground channels that
no one had suspected. The embassy had filled the country with German
poison gas, and backed the German campaign of wholesale arson. Germans
living here, many of them American born, were busily counteracting
public opinion as the evidences accumulated.

Democracies are always at a disadvantage in dealing with monarchies; in
the initial stages of war at least. We have seen it demonstrated that
a democracy must become autocratic if it is to carry on a war
successfully. But an American autocracy takes the shape of a temporary
delegation of unusual power in conditions that cannot wait for the slow
action of ordinary times; and those who exercise it are put in power
by the people themselves, to do the people's will. It was necessary to
consolidate not only the direction of the nation itself, but of our
military affairs abroad. We soon got the home situation in hand, and
then the President of the United States threw his influence, backed by
all the American people, toward bringing the allied armies and those of
the United States under one head in the person of General Foch as
Field Marshal. This was not accomplished until after the great Italian
disaster, when it looked as though the Austro-Hungarian armies would
crush Italy. The same may be said of the threatened disaster to the
British army early in 1918, when von Hindenburg began his great drive
toward Calais and Paris. Here were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and
Bulgaria, four monarchies dominated by the German government, fighting
nearly all the democracies of the world, not considering Russia, which
dropped out shortly before the United States effectively entered the
war.

We will not consider Japan's position as a nominal member of the
entente, except for her action at the beginning of the war in capturing
Kiauchau, China, the German fortified port and naval base in the Orient,
and sweeping Germany out of the Pacific by taking the Marshall islands.
Beyond this, Japan sent soldiers to Eastern Siberia to help in police
duty, and in guarding the great stores of supplies accumulated by the
Russians at Vladivostok. These stores had been bought largely upon the
credit extended to Russia by the United States.

With Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary gone as monarchies, Japan is
the greatest of the remaining imperial states. We have seen more than a
dozen kings, emperors, princes and grand dukes pass into the discard as
a result of a war which they themselves brought on.

France tried to discard kings and princes in 1798. The sovereignty of
the people was proclaimed in that war, but the governments which have
ruled France since have been many, and presented wide differences. In
this present age, no doubt it will be much easier to establish a stable
democracy upon the wreck of a monarchy than it could have been a century
ago. Still, the construction of a democracy is a difficult ordeal for
people who have always been imperialists. The several monarchies, big
and little, that have fallen in this war, present most perplexing
problems. There are boundary and racial disputes of the most bitter kind
between some of their peoples. But the great democracies of the world
that won this war are taking the part of "big brothers" to these, and
are seeing to it that their petty quarrels and internal differences
are held in check. Each of these countries, even though they establish
democracies, will have strong royalist parties that will constitute
a standing threat. France even to this day has a royalist group of
considerable strength. Their persistent claim is that France will again
be a monarchy. The United States is really the only democracy without
such a party. It is the only republic that was not founded on the ruin
of a monarchy.

WHY I WAS NOT ACCEPTED AS CONSUL TO GERMANY

I have had some personal experience with the late German Imperial
Government. As a war correspondent it was my duty to give to the world
an account of the forcible deportation of King Mataafa from Samoa to the
Marshall Islands, where he was kept in exile six years. The Germans had
shoved him aside to make room for Malieto, an imbecile and a German
figurehead. I was there again when Mataafa, at the end of those six
years, returned to Samoa, to the great joy of his people.

A few years later I discovered that Germany's policy was to "mark" any
individual who wrote or spoke in criticism of anything German.

I was appointed United States Consul to Aix la Chapelle, Germany, four
years after those articles appeared. My appointment came from President
Roosevelt, and was confirmed by the United States Senate. When I arrived
in Germany I found I was United States Consul so far as the United
States Government was concerned, but I was put off in the matter of my
exequatur (certificate of authority) from the government to which I
was accredited; and without an exequatur, I could not act. I was kept
cooling my heels in the consulate several months before I found out what
was the matter. My newspaper articles describing what the Germans had
done in Samoa, published four years earlier, were being held against me.
My presence in Germany was not desired.

I had crossed the Atlantic with Prince Henry, the Kaiser's brother and
Admiral of the German Navy, in February, 1901, when the Prince brought
his party of a dozen or so militarists to this country to "further
cement the amity and good will" existing between the great republic
and the great empire. It later developed that this was a well planned
operation in German propaganda. As a representative of the Associated
Press, I had written of it. That was just after I had written the Samoan
articles.

Speck von Sternberg was the German Ambassador to Washington. He was
in Paris. I went there to see him and ascertain, if I could, why my
exequatur was withheld. The Government at Washington could get no
information on the subject. The whole affair was clothed in mystery.

After some conversation I suggested to Ambassador von Sternberg that
perhaps the foreign office at Berlin was withholding the document
because of my writings on German colonial matters. Then it came out--my
guess was true. Some underlings in the foreign office had the case in
charge. The Ambassador suggested that as I knew Prince Henry, I would
better write him at Kiel. I did this, with the result that the obstacle
was removed and the exequatur issued.




WHY WE WENT TO WAR

_German Propaganda in the United States and Mexico_--_Sinking of the
Lusitania_--_Unrestricted Submarine Warfare_.

WHY WE WENT TO WAR

During two years preceding our entrance upon war, Germany had been
carrying on open warfare against us, within our own borders. For more
than thirty years Germany's policy of preparatory penetration had been
in course. As we know now, every country, all round the globe, but
especially the United States in North America and Brazil and Venezuela
in South America, had been filled with Germans, ostensibly settlers,
business men and followers of the higher professions, but for the
greater part agents of Germany, in continuous contact with Potsdam and
under Potsdam direction. It was the business of these imported Germans
to foster the German idea, exalt Germany's leadership in military power
and in science and the arts, impress their language, their literature,
music and customs upon our people, and to do all those things which
might work for the day when Germany, having faked a partnership with
Almighty God, should reach out for world dominion.

The processes were pressed with that strange blend of industry,
stupidity, mendacity and cunning which characterize the Prussian and all
his acts. Under our noses a German solidarity was attempted here, and in
part achieved. Organizations having Prussian ends in view were numerous,
large, popular and unsuspected. Threading them through and through was
a spy system unbelievably thorough and amazingly adroit. Potsdam had
us marked as a nation of easy going money getters, to be bled white,
crammed with her muddy kultur and taught the goose-step, at her imperial
leisure, after France and England had fallen to her guns.

But her blend of qualities, no matter how strong in itself, was
nullified by just one lack: the total inability of the Prussian mind to
understand the mind of the world exterior to Germany. In the day of test
it failed.

Because of that inability, and knowing full well how readily the German
mind could be terrorized, the outbreak of war in Europe brought an
outbreak of blind German violence in the United States. We were to be
impressed by the German power to strike. Our soil was chosen as a garden
of domestic sedition, and of foreign conspiracy against powers with
which we were at peace. To keep us busy with troubles of our own, German
propaganda and German money in Mexico raised on our southern border a
threatening spectre of war. We were to have been rushed into conflict
with Mexico and kept employed there while being terrorized by wholesale
arson and sabotage at home, so that by no chance could any friendly
European power look to us for help. The scheme came near to succeeding,
for our people were aroused by Mexican aggression, and the flaunting
insults of Mexican authority, prompted by German agents. The policy of
our Government saved us from falling into a trap that might have held us
fast while Germany overran the whole of Europe and made ready to come
a-plundering here at her own time and convenience.

If the truth had been known by the people then as clearly as it was
known at Washington, nothing could have held us back: We would not have
bothered with Mexico at all. We would have joined the free nations of
Europe, and nobody may guess what would have happened. Certainly we
could not have assembled the men and the resources we actually and
swiftly did assemble later, when the real hour sounded. We would have
cut a sorry figure and gone into the mess confusedly. Washington knew.
The President knew so well that through 1915 and 1916 he and others in
high places never ceased crying a warning to "prepare." The President
himself toured the country and told the people everywhere that with a
world on fire we could not hope to escape unsinged.

He said openly as much as he dared. Under the surface the Government
did much more. The rapid movement of events once we were declared
a combatant would have been impossible otherwise. That rapidity of
effective action surprised the world only because it had all been
planned before a word was said.

In the years of our neutrality our course as a nation was surely shaping
itself for war, without an outward sign or act. Ruthless destruction of
property and of life became too open, too frequent, too outrageous, for
the patience of even a long-suffering, tolerant people such as we. The
first impulse of genuine resentment was given when the Lusitania went
down with its neutral passengers, a defenseless ship on a peaceful
errand, drowning more than a hundred Americans of both sexes and all
ages without the slightest notice, or the faintest chance of escape.

Any nation other than ours would have gone to war in a moment over
such a blow in the face. We did not. Farther, we endured a sudden and
flagrant increase of German propaganda in high quarters and low, and of
German insolence openly and defiantly parading itself. The catalogue of
provocations grew daily, and daily bred anger, but our temper held until
in February of 1917, when Germany proclaimed unrestricted piracy by
submarines, and under the thin pretext of starving out the British
Isles, American and other ships were destroyed with all on board,
wholesale.

Even then our hand was withheld until Germany advised us that we might
send just one ship a week to Europe, one ship and no more, provided that
solitary ship were painted in a manner prescribed in the permission,
and then held strictly to a course laid down by the German admiralty.
Germany, a third rate naval power, had arbitrarily forbidden us the
freedom of the seas.

Then our patience broke. For this and all the other causes Germany had
given us, and for our own safety and the rescue of a world that without
us would have perished, the United States went to war.

WORK OR FIGHT

Back of every American soldier about fifty men and women were needed
in order that he be supplied with everything his physical, moral and
military well being might require. They were put there. The result was
a sweeping change, an immense expansion of energy in the United States
itself. The draft took care of the army. No time or trouble had to be
given to filling the ranks and keeping them full. The enormous sums of
money necessary to finance our allies as well as ourselves were promptly
oversubscribed in a series of loans, the first and least of which ran
into three billion dollars, the fourth into six billions, a sum larger
than any single loan ever floated by any other nation. Idleness was
abolished. The order to "work or fight" was strictly enforced upon all
the people, rich and poor alike, for any attempt to except any one or
any class would have been blown away in a gale of laughter. In a space
incredibly brief the United States became a nation of actual workers, in
which every individual did his or her share, submitting meanwhile, with
good grace and no murmuring, to being rationed. Interstate utilities
were taken over and operated by the government, including the railway,
telegraph and telephone lines; and government fixed prices on the
necessaries of life. Everything was subordinated to the one and only
purpose of winning the war. All that we were and all that we had was
thoroughly mobilized behind the fighting arms, the army and the navy.

RATIONING THE NATIONS

Almost immediately after the first military and naval preparations had
been set in operation the United States Government, taking no chance as
against the future, began to regulate the lives and living of Americans
at home. A policy of conservation, so well devised that it went into
effect without the slightest disturbance of daily living and daily
routine, was at once adopted.

England, France and Belgium had to be fed. Belgium had to be clothed and
housed as well as fed. Out of our abundance had to come the means to
those ends, as well as to equip and maintain vast armies of our own,
from bases three thousand miles away in Europe and twice as far in Asia.
The whole nation was mobilized for war.

Britain and France had come through more than three years of
close-lipped but bone-cracking effort, in which every aspect of domestic
life was changed, the final ounce of strength exerted, privations
unheard of endured in grim silence. America saved them, and not alone by
force of arms against the common enemy.

  WHAT THE YANKEE DUDE'LL DO

  BY TOM H. DEVEREAUX.

  Uncle Samuel blew the bugle call,
  For his boys to fall in line,
  And they came, yes, by the million,
  On the march at double time,
  With muskets on their shoulders
  They answered to the call
  To defend our nation's honor,
  And for Liberty of all.
  They buckled on their knapsacks,
  And they loaded up their guns,
  To the tune of Yankee Doodle,
  They whipped those Turks and Huns;
  For their hearts were with the colors
  Of the red, the white and blue,
  And they've shown those fiendish Prussians
  What the Yankee Dude'll Do.

  REFRAIN

  Singing rally round Old Glory, boys,
  And fight for freedom true,
  Rally to the Stars and Stripes
  As your fathers did for you.
  Oh! we sailed across the ocean deep,
  With the red, the white and blue,
  And we've shown that devilish Kaiser
  What the Yankee Dude'll Do.

  From our north land, and our east land,
  To our far-off Golden Gate,
  From our south way down in Dixie
  And the old Palmetto State,
  Bravest sons of all the nation came
  To fight our country's foe,
  Who would follow our Old Glory,
  Where her stars and stripes might go;
  To the battle cry of Freedom,
  All our men would surely come,
  And fight for world-wide Victory
  At the call of fife and drum.
  We have proved to all creation
  That our boys are real true blue,
  And we've shown those fiendish Prussians,
  What the Yankee Dude'll Do.




CHAPTER II.

UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR

_The President Proclaims War_--_Interned Ships Are Seized_--_Congress
Votes $7,000,000,000 for War_--_Raising an American Army_--_War to
Victory Wilson Pledge_--_British and French Commission Reaches America_.

On April 2, 1917, Congress having been called in special session,
President Wilson appeared before a joint session of both houses and
in an address worthy of its historical importance asked for a formal
declaration that a state of war existed with Germany, owing to the
ruthless and unrestricted submarine campaign. He recommended the utmost
practical co-operation with the Entente Allies in counsel and action;
the extension of liberal financial credit to them, the mobilization
of all the material resources of the United States for the purpose of
providing adequate munitions of war, the full equipment of the Navy,
especially in supplying it with means for dealing with submarines, and
the immediate enrollment of an army of 500,000 men, preferably by a
system of universal service, to be increased later by an additional army
of equal size. The President took pains to point out that in taking
these measures against the German government, the United States had
no quarrel with the German people, who were innocent, because kept in
ignorance of the lawless acts of their autocratic government, which had
become a menace not only to the peace of the world, but to the cause of
fundamental human liberty. The object of the United States, said the
President, was to vindicate the principles of peace and justice
as against selfish and autocratic power, and to insure the future
observance of these principles.

After due debate the following joint resolution, declaring war with
Germany was adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives and
signed by the President on April 6, 1917:

"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."

THE PRESIDENT PROCLAIMS WAR.

Immediately after signing the resolution of Congress, President Wilson
issued a formal proclamation of war, embodying in it an earnest appeal
to all American citizens "that they, in loyal devotion to their country,
dedicated from its foundation to the principles of liberty and justice,
uphold the laws of the land and give undivided and willing support to
those measures which may be adopted by the constitutional authorities in
prosecuting the war to a successful issue and in obtaining a secure and
just peace."

The President further enjoined all alien enemies within the United
States to preserve the peace and refrain from crime against the public
safety, and from giving information, aid, or comfort to the enemy,
assuring them of protection so long as they conducted themselves in
accordance with law and with regulations which might be promulgated
from time to time for their guidance. The great mass of German-American
citizens promptly avowed the utmost loyalty to the United States, but
numerous arrests of suspected spies followed all over the country.

INTERNED SHIPS ARE SEIZED.

Following the declaration of war all the German merchant vessels
interned in ports of the United States were seized by representatives of
the Federal authority, their crews removed and interned, and guardians
placed aboard. These ships in American waters numbered 99, of an
aggregate value of about $100,000,000, and included some of the finest
vessels of the German merchant marine; for instance, the Vaterland, of
54,283 tons, valued at $8,000,000, and numerous other Atlantic liners.
The disposition to be made of the German ships was left to the future
for decision, with great probability, however, that they would be used
to transport munitions and supplies to the Allies in Europe through the
German submarine blockade.

CONGRESS VOTES $7,000,000,000 FOR WAR.

Prompt action was taken by Congress to furnish the sinews of war.
By April 14 a bond and certificate issue of $7,000,000,000 had been
unanimously voted by both houses, and preparations were made to float
a popular subscription for the bonds. Three billions of the amount
was intended for loans to the Allies, and the remainder for active
prosecution of the war by the United States. The debates in Congress
indicated that the country stood solidly behind the President in a
determination to bring the military autocracy of Germany to a realizing
sense of its responsibility to civilization. RAISING AN AMERICAN ARMY.

Legislation was immediately presented by the War Department to the
military committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, to
provide for raising an army for active participation in the war. This
legislation was described by President Wilson as follows:

"It proposes to raise the forces necessary to meet the present emergency
by bringing the regular army and the National Guard to war strength and
by adding the additional forces which will now be needed, so that the
national army will comprise three elements--the regular army, the
National Guard and the so-called additional forces, of which at first
500,000 are to be authorized immediately and later increments of the
same size as they may be needed.

"In order that all these forces may comprise a single army, the term of
enlistment in the three is equalized and will be for the period of the
emergency.

"The necessary men will be secured for the regular army and the National
Guard by volunteering, as at present, until, in the judgment of the
President, a resort to a selective draft is desirable. The additional
forces, however, are to be raised by selective draft from men ranging
in age from 19 to 25 years. The quotas of the several states in all of
these forces will be in proportion to their population."

Recruiting for the army and navy became active as soon as war was
declared. On April 15 President Wilson issued an address to the nation,
calling on all citizens to enroll themselves in a vast "army of
service," military or industrial, and stating that the hour of supreme
test for the nation had come. The United States prepared to rise to its
full measure of duty, confident in the patent justice of its cause, and
echoing the sentiment of its President when he said:

"The hope of the world is that when the European war is over
arrangements will have been made composing many of the questions which
have hitherto seemed to require the arming of the nations, and that in
some ordered and just way the peace of the world may be maintained by
such co-operations of force among the great nations as may be necessary
to maintain peace and freedom throughout the world."

ENGLAND WELCOMES U.S. AS AN ALLY.

The news of the President's proclamation of war, following the action
of Congress, was received in England and France, Russia and Italy, with
enthusiasm. A great service of thanksgiving was held in St. Paul's
Cathedral, London, attended by the King and Queen, ministers of state,
and an enormous congregation that joined in singing "The Star-Spangled
Banner" and the national anthem, while the Stars and Stripes by official
order was flown for the first time in history from the tower of the
Parliament buildings at Westminster and on public buildings throughout
the British empire. A high commission was appointed to visit the United
States for a series of war conferences, and Premier Lloyd George
expressed the national satisfaction in glowing terms of welcome to the
United States as an ally against Germany, paying at the same time
an eloquent tribute to the masterly address of President Wilson to
Congress, which stated the case for humanity against military autocracy
in such an unanswerable manner, the British premier said, that it placed
the seal of humanity's approval on the Allied cause and furnished final
justification of the British attitude toward Germany in the war.

POPULAR DEMONSTRATION IN PARIS.

In France, the Stars and Stripes were flung to the breeze from the
Eiffel Tower on April 22, and saluted by twenty-one guns. This marked
the opening of the ceremonies of "United States day" in Paris.

The French tricolor and the star-spangled banner were at the same hour
unfurled together from the residence of William G. Sharp, the American
ambassador, in the Avenue d'Eylau, from the American Embassy, from the
city hall, and from other municipal government buildings.

It was a great day for the red, white and blue, 40,000 American flags
being handed out gratis by the committee and waved by the people
who thronged the vicinity of the manifestations, which included the
decoration of the statues of Washington and Lafayette.

Members of the American Lafayette flying corps, a delegation from the
American Ambulance at Neuilly and the American Field Ambulances were the
guard of honor before the Lafayette statue.

Ambassador Sharp and his escort were received at the city hall by the
members of the municipal council and other distinguished persons. Adrien
Mithouard, president of the municipal council, welcomed Ambassador
Sharp, who was greeted with great applause when addressing the people of
Paris. He said:

"Citizens of Paris: May I say to you, on this day you have with such
fine sentiment set apart to honor my country, that America remains no
longer content to express to France merely her sympathy. In a cause
which she believes as verily as you believe to be a sacred one, she
will consecrate all her power and the blood of her patriotic sons, if
necessary, to achieve a victory that shall for all time to come insure
the domination of right over wrong, freedom over oppression, and the
blessings of peace over the brutality of war."

The French Government also appointed a war commission to visit the
United States forthwith for conference.

Resolutions expressing the great satisfaction of the Allied nations at
the action of the United States were adopted by the British House of
Commons, the French Chamber of Deputies, the Russian Duma, and the
Italian Parliament. ENTHUSIASM IN THE UNITED STATES.

War being declared, the people of the United States were not slow in
letting the President know that they stood solidly behind him. From all
parts of the country came assurances that the action of the Government
was approved. Organizations of every conceivable kind passed resolutions
pledging their support to all war measures decided to be necessary to
carry the war to a successful issue. Recruiting was at once started for
both the Army and the Navy. The recruiting depots were thronged daily
and thousands were enrolled for active service while Congress was
debating the respective merits of the volunteer system and the
"selective draft" advocated by the general staff of the Army and
approved by the President and his cabinet.

The full quota of men desired for the Navy, to place the ships already
in commission in a high state of efficiency, was soon secured. More men
offered themselves for naval service, indeed, than could be accepted
pending the action of Congress. Volunteers for the aviation corps, the
marines, the field artillery, the engineer corps, and all the various
branches of the military establishments came forward freely, and a
general desire was expressed to send an American force to the trenches
in Europe at the earliest possible moment consistent with proper
training for the field.

As the reports of American diplomats from the war zone, freed from
German censorship, were given to the public, the martial spirit of
America grew apace. Ambassador Gerard's corroboration of German
atrocities in the occupied territory of France, and Minister Brand
Whitlock's report on the situation in Belgium and the illegal and
atrocious deportation of Belgian citizens for hard labor, ill treatment,
and starvation in Germany, added fuel to the flame of national
indignation, already running high as the result of continued destruction
of American merchant vessels and the loss of American lives by submarine
piracy and murder, continued almost without cessation since the infamous
sinking of the Lusitania, one of the never-to-be-forgotten crimes of
German ruthlessness.

One hundred million free-born people were at length aroused to action.
The Navy was ready for immediate service where it could do most good,
and promptly took over patrol duty in the western Atlantic, relieving
British and French men-of-war for service elsewhere. The raising of an
army of a million or more men for active participation in the war waited
only on the action of Congress.

American women responded nobly to the President's call for universal
service, flocking to the Red Cross headquarters in every city and
setting to work immediately in the preparation of comforts for the great
army gathering on the horizon. They were promptly organized, so that
their efforts might count to the best advantage. In August, 1916, the
United States Navy included 356 war craft of all kinds, as against
credited to Great Britain, 404 to France, and 309 to Germany, The latter
figure does not include an unknown number of submarines of recent
construction.

THE BRITISH COMMISSION ARRIVES.

On Sunday, April 22, the British war commission reached Washington,
headed by the Right Hon. Arthur James Balfour, secretary of state for
foreign affairs and former premier. The commission included Rear
Admiral Sir Dudley R.S. De Chair, naval adviser to the foreign office;
Major-General G.T.M. Bridges, representing the British army; Lord
Cunliffe of Headley, governor of the Bank of England; and a number of
other distinguished officials and naval and military officers, with
clerical assistants. The party met with an enthusiastic welcome in
Washington. Mr. Balfour was received by the President in private
conference next day, and after a round of receptions and social
functions of various kinds, arrangements were made for the business
meetings affecting war policies, which were the object of the visit.

Mr. Balfour informed the President that the British commission had come
to Washington not to ask favors, concessions, or agreements from the
United States, but to offer their services for the organization of the
stupendous undertaking of fighting Germany. He said that if the United
States was confronted by the same problems that confronted England at
the outset of the war, the British commission could be of service in
pointing out many grievous mistakes of policy and organization that
proved costly to the British cause. He was, in turn, assured by the
President that the United States would fight in conjunction with the
Allied until the Prussian autocracy was crushed and Americans at home
and abroad were safe from the ruthlessness of the Berlin government.

MARSHAL JOFFRE IN WASHINGTON

The French war commission soon followed the British envoys, arriving
in Washington on Wednesday, April 25, on board the presidential yacht
Mayflower from Hampton Roads. Headed by M. Rene Viviani, minister of
justice and former premier of France, the commission included the famous
hero of the Marne and idol of the French army and people, Marshal
Joffre; also Admiral Chocheprat, representing the French navy; the
Marquis de Chambrun (Lafayette's grandson), and other distinguished
Frenchmen. The fame of Marshal Joffre and the traditional friendship
for France secured for the party an enthusiastic popular greeting.
Its members were accorded similar official receptions to those of the
British commissioners, and they similarly expressed their desire to be
of service to the American people by giving the Washington government
the benefit of their costly experience in three years of war. ALLIES
CONTINUE THEIR WESTERN DRIVE

Following the spring drive of the Allies on the western front and the
retirement of the Germans to the so-called Hindenburg line, the British
and French continued their offensive during the months of May, June and
July, 1917, which concluded the third year of the great struggle. Great
battles in the Champagne and along the Aisne were fought by the French,
who in April had captured Auberive, and they advanced their forces
from one to five miles along a fifty-mile front, inflicting great and
continual losses on the enemy. At the end of the third year, the French
line ran from northwest of Soissons, through Rheims, to Auberive. French
troops also appeared in Flanders during this period and co-operated
with the British on the left of Field Marshal Haig's forces. The chief
command of the French armies was in the hands of General Petain, the
gallant defender of Verdun, who was appointed chief of staff after the
battle of Craonne.

The continuation of the British offensive northeast of Arras, following
the bloody battle of Vimy Ridge, which was firmly held by the Canadians
against desperate counter-attacks, placed the British astride the
Hindenburg line, and the Germans retired to positions a mile or two west
of the Drocourt-Queant line. These they held as the third year closed at
the end of July.

In June, 1917, the British began an attack on Messines and Wytschaete,
in an effort to straighten out the Ypres salient. By this time their
flyers dominated the air, and they had gained the immense advantage of
artillery superiority. By way of preparation, the British sappers and
miners had spent an entire year in mining the earth beneath the German
positions, and the offensive was begun with an explosion so terrific,
when the mines were sprung, that it was heard in London. Following
immediately with the attack, the British won and consolidated the
objective ground, capturing more than 7,500 German prisoners and great
stores of artillery. This victory placed them astride the Ypres-Commines
canal, having advanced three miles on an eight-mile front. Portuguese
and Belgian troops assisted in this offensive, which resulted in the
greatest gain the Allies had made in Belgium since the German invasion.
Fighting in this terrain had been confined for many months to
trench-raiding operations.

GERMAN LOSSES TO JULY

It is estimated that during April, May, and June the Germans suffered
350,000 casualties on the western front. The totals of the German
official lists of losses for the entire war to July 19, 1917, were as
follows: Killed or died of wounds, 1,032,800; died of sickness, 72,960;
prisoners and missing, 591,966; wounded, 2,825,581; making a grand total
of casualties of 4,523,307. The German naval and colonial casualties were
not included in this total.

FURTHER GAINS IN FLANDERS

Fighting continued almost steadily in Flanders during the month of
August, although the Allies were greatly hampered in their operations
by heavy rains and mud. On a nine-mile front east and north of Ypres, a
long drawn-out battle carried the advancing French and British troops
more than a mile into the intricate hostile trench system on August 16,
after successive advances on previous days. From Dreigrachten southward
the French surged across the River Steenbeke, capturing all objectives,
while at the same time the British occupied considerable territory in
the region of St. Julien and Langemarck, captured the latter town, and
carried the fighting beyond Langemarck. The main difficulty encountered
was the mud in the approaches to the town, the infantry plunging deep
into the bog at every step. Not infrequently the soldiers had to rescue
a comrade who had sunk to the waist in the morass, but they continued to
push forward steadily, facing machine-gun fire from hidden redoubts and
battling their way past with bombs and rifle fire. There were concrete
gunpits about the positions in front of the town, which was flooded from
the Steenbeke River, but the infantry divided and bombed their way about
on either side until they had encircled the town and passed beyond,
where the Germans could be seen running away. Little resistance was
offered in the town itself, but the Germans suffered severely from the
preliminary bombardment, which worked havoc in their ranks, according to
the prisoners taken in the Langemarck region. The contact between the
French and British forces was excellent throughout the fight; in fact,
the perfect co-operation of the two armies continued to be one of the
minor wonders of the war.

CANADIAN VICTORIES AT LENS

Canadian troops added to their laurels by the storming and capture of
Hill 70, dominating the important mining center of Lens, in northern
France, August 15, following up their victory by the occupation of the
fortified suburbs of the city and apparently insuring its redemption
from German hands, after a struggle that had lasted for two years.

The men of the Dominion swept the Germans from the famous hill, defeated
all counter-attacks, and thus gained command of the entire Loos salient.
It was on this hill that the British forces under Sir John French were
badly broken in their efforts to reach Lens in the first battle of Loos,
in September, 1915. Hill 70 was the last high ground held by the Germans
in the region of the Artois, and its fall menaced their whole line south
to Queant and north to La Bassee.

The Canadian attack began at 4:25 o'clock, just as the first hint of
dawn was appearing. All night the British big guns had been pouring a
steady stream of high explosive shells into the German positions,
great detonations overlapping one another like the rapid crackling of
machine-gun fire and swelling into a mighty volume of thunder that shook
the earth and stunned the senses. Then, a short time before the hour set
for the attack arrived, the batteries ceased abruptly and a strange,
almost oppressive stillness crept over the terrain which until then had
been an inferno of crashing noise and death. It had been raining and
gray clouds still hung over the trenches where crouched the Canadian
infantrymen, waiting eagerly for the arrival of the moment which would
summon them to attack.

Suddenly, ten minutes before the time set for the advance, every British
gun within range broke out with a hurricane of shelling, and solid lines
of crimson lightning belched from the German trenches as the explosives
broke about them. To this lurid picture was added the spectacle of
burning oil, which the British threw on the enemy lines. Great clouds of
pinkish colored smoke rolled across the country from the flaming liquid
and the murky sky threw back myriad colors from the conflagration below.

The moment of attack arrived, and as the British guns dropped their
protecting barrage fire in front of the Canadian trenches, the clouds
parted and the yellow crescent moon appeared. Under the light of this
beacon the Canadians leaped over the parapets and began their methodical
advance behind their barrage fire.

The British barrage was without a flaw, says an eyewitness. Behind it
the Canadians mounted Hill 70 and swept along the rest of the line. On
the crest of the hill, where so much blood had been, spilled before,
heavy fighting might have been expected, for the position was well
manned with machine guns. The resistance here, however, was not strong,
and it was not until the dwellings in the outskirts of the suburbs were
reached that vigorous fighting occurred. The ground over which the
infantry advanced was honeycombed with British shell holes and the
barbed wire defenses had been leveled, so that they gave little trouble.

FIGHT IN CELLARS AND DUGOUTS

The first serious resistance from the Germans was met at a point where
the enemy was strongly intrenched in connecting cellars and there
sanguinary fighting occurred. The place was a sample of many other
suburbs about Lens. The city is surrounded by colliery communities which
are so close together and so near the city proper that they really form
part of the town. Lens, before the war, had a population of 30,000, but
had become a mass of ruins.

Following their usual tactics, the Germans had carried out systematic
destruction of the houses and had constructed strong underground
defenses. The whole city was undermined with tunnels and dugouts, which
had been reinforced with concrete, and most of the ruined buildings had
been turned into machine-gun emplacements.

The effect of the preliminary British bombardment was most demoralizing
to the enemy. The first German prisoners taken were in a completely
dazed state as a result of the terrific bombardment they had undergone,
and other Germans were seen to flee to the rear, deserting their posts
as the attack began.

The result of this preliminary fire was shown in the speed of the
Canadian infantry's advance. The extreme depth reached in the first
stage was 1,500 yards, and this was achieved in ninety-three minutes.
This new front, taken into conjunction with positions secured previously
in the southwestern outskirts of Lens, established an angular line like
a pair of shears whose points reached out to the north and south of the
city.

As the Canadians pushed in on the northwest, a simultaneous advance
was started by the troops on the lower blade of the shears, and close
fighting began, with the Germans intrenched in their concreted cellars,
which were linked up with barbed wire and filled with hundreds of
machine guns. The capture of the entire city of Lens was then only a
matter of time, as Hill 70 insured the holding of the ground won by
the Canadians, German reinforcements being placed under the range of
irresistible fire from that dominating height. Among the prisoners taken
in the attack were many German lads apparently not more than 17 years of
age.

The German commander, Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, made frantic efforts
to recapture the lost positions around Lens. The taking of Hill
stirred the German high command as nothing else had done on the western
front for many months, and a grim battle was waged for several days.
On August 16 the enemy came on ten separate times, but they seldom got
close enough to the Canadians for fighting with bayonet or bomb. The
Prussian Guards participated in the counter-attacks and were subjected
to a terrible concentrated fire from the British artillery and Canadian
machine guns. Their losses were frightful and all German efforts to
retake Hill 70 came to naught, while their hold on the central portion
of the mining city became most precarious, as the Canadians consolidated
the advantageous positions their valor had finally won.

RUSSIAN VICTORIES AND COLLAPSE

After the Russian revolution in March, 1917, the military affairs of the
new nation entered upon a curious phase. At first the Russian army made
a feint to advance on Pinsk, to cover the actual operations resumed
in the month of July against Lemberg. This latter front extended for
eighteen and a half miles and was held by troops known as "Regiments
July First." These troops, reinvigorated by the consciousness of
political liberty, confounded German military prophets by the magnitude
and extent of the offensive which they began. Led by Alexander Kerensky,
the revolutionary minister of war, and observed by American army
officers, they forced the Teutons to evacuate Brzezany, and then
captured many important positions, including terrain west and south of
Halicz and strongly-defended positions northwest of Stanislau. On July
11 Halicz was taken, thus smashing the Austro-German front between
Brzezany and the Carpathians.

This Russian operation broadened by mid-July, so that it extended from
the Gulf of Riga to the Roumanian front, a distance of 800 miles. The
Germans were reported to be rushing troops from the Italian and French
fronts. Widespread enthusiasm was created throughout Russia, and the
moral effect on the other entente powers was tremendous.

Before the third year closed, at the end of July, however, Russia's
offensive suffered a collapse. German spies, anarchists, peace fanatics,
and other agitators succeeded in destroying the morale of some of the
Russian troops in Galicia, where a retreat became necessary when unit
after unit refused to obey orders. Brzezany, Halicz, Tarnopol, Stanislau
and Kaloma were lost, together with all the remaining ground gained
during the offensive. The Russians surrendered many prisoners, heavy
guns, and an abundance of supplies and ammunition.

The death penalty was invoked as a check to further insubordinations and
the provisional government introduced a policy of "blood and iron" in an
effort to avert disaster.

South of the Carpathians and in the Vilna region there was little
disaffection among the Russian troops, and Russia had not yet thrown up
her hands, although the situation on the eastern front was disappointing
to the Allies. Alexander Kerensky, a popular hero, became the strong man
of Russia. A counter-revolution was promptly and forcibly crushed in
Petrograd and an "extraordinary national council," meeting at
Moscow, August 25, took steps to end the crisis. All loyal Russians,
conservative and radical, were called to the aid of Kerensky, who
ignored factional and party lines and succeeded in bringing something
like order out of the political chaos in the new republic. Every effort
was made to restore the power as well as the will of Russia to gain
ultimate victory, and Elihu Root, head of a United States commission to
Russia, assured the American people on his return from Petrograd that
the ill effects of the revolution would soon pass away, leaving Russia
once more united for action against the Teuton foe.

On August 15, Nicholas Romanoff, the deposed czar of Russia, and his
entire family were removed from the palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, near
Petrograd, and transported to Tobolsk in Siberia. Fifty servants who
were devoted to him accompanied the ex-emperor into exile. Instead of
the gorgeous imperial train in which he was wont to travel, an ordinary
train composed of three sleeping cars, a dining car, and several
third-class coaches was used for the transportation of Nicholas and his
party, which included the former Empress Alexandra, whose pro-German
attitude was a prime cause of his downfall. On arrival at Tobolsk the
ex-czar and his entourage were received as political prisoners.

GERMAN SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN FAILS

The campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare, which was relied upon
by Germany to win the war by the extinction of the British mercantile
marine and the stoppage of transatlantic supplies, had proved a failure
by August, 1917, after six months' duration. While the tonnage destroyed
by the undersea instruments of frightfulness was sufficiently serious to
cause grave alarm on both sides of the Atlantic, it formed but a
small percentage of the ships actively and continually engaged in the
transportation of munitions and supplies, while it was practically
counterbalanced by the activities of Allied shipbuilders and by the
seizure for Allied service of interned German ships in the countries
that entered the war subsequent to February 1, 1917, when the campaign
of unrestricted destruction began. Determined efforts were made by the
British, French and United States navies to cope with the undersea
enemy, and these were increasingly successful. Many merchant ships and
transports were convoyed to safety by the destroyers of the three great
naval Allies, and by August the fear that Britain could be starved out
by means of German submarines had practically disappeared. The record of
sinkings of British vessels for the first twenty-four weeks after the
"unrestricted" warfare began was as follows:

  Over           Under
  1,600          1,600          Smaller
  Week                          tons.          tons.

  First............               14             9
  Second...........               13             4
  Third............               16             8
  Fourth ..........               19             7
  Fifth............               18            13
  Sixth ...........               17             2
  Seventh..........               19             9
  Eighth ..........               40            15
  Ninth............               38            13
  Tenth............               24            22
  Eleventh ........               18             5
  Twelfth..........               18             5
  Thirteenth ......               18             1
  Fourteenth ......               15             3
  Fifteenth........               22            10
  Sixteenth........               27             5
  Seventeenth .....               21             7
  Eighteenth ......               15             5
  Nineteenth ......               14             3
  Twentieth........               14             4
  Twenty-first.....               21             3
  Twenty-second ...               18             3
  Twenty-third.....               21             2
  Twenty-fourth ...               14             2

  Total............              474           164

  Grand total of ships sunk......



KING OF GREECE DEPOSED

King Constantine I of Greece was forced by the Allies to abdicate his
throne on June 12, 1917, in favor of his second son, Prince Alexander.
The kingdom remained, but not a pro-German one as before. In order to
block the designs of the King and court, who were doing their best to
deliver Greece to the Germans, the Entente powers were obliged to make
a succession of demands upon the Greek government, including the
demobilization of most of the army, the surrender of the fleet, and the
withdrawal of Greek troops from Thessaly. In an effort to enforce their
demands the Entente allies landed marines in Athens--who were fired
upon--and finally declared an embargo on imports into Greece. Turmoil
and intrigue continued, and pressure was brought to bear upon
Constantine which compelled him to abdicate the throne. Venizelos
returned as premier and Greece was announced as a belligerent on the
side of the Entente.

THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

In the Trentino the Italians took the offensive in June and after
terrible fighting captured the Austrian positions on Monte Ortigara and
Agnello Pass. These they were forced to relinquish, however, in the face
of Austrian counter-attacks.

The Italian campaign on the Isonzo and in the Trentino, continued
throughout the summer, was perhaps the most scientific of all the
campaigns, involving tremendous technical difficulties, which were
solved with amazing ingenuity and skill. The campaign was largely an
engineers' and an artilleryman's war, waged in the mountains, much of
it in regions of perpetual snow--highly picturesque and spectacular.
Finally, it was as little destructive as war well can be, because the
Italians were fighting in territories which they hoped to hold after the
conflict, and they spared the towns and villages to the greatest extent
possible.

BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST

The capture of Bagdad by the British in March, 1917, after a brilliant
campaign in Mesopotamia, had a deep moral effect in the Orient,
particularly in Arabia, where the natives revolted against Turkish rule
and established an independent government in Mecca.

In the Holy Land the British in 1917 opened a new era in the history of
the East. Their advance by August 1 had carried them nearly to Gaza.
Their objective was Jerusalem, which the Turks partly evacuated at their
approach, after doing untold damage in the holy city and inflicting many
atrocities upon the inhabitants.

WAR MISSIONS OF THE ALLIES

In cementing America's association with the nations which had become
her allies, numerous exchanges of missions were arranged. France, Great
Britain, Italy, Belgium, Russia, Japan and other entente belligerents
sent delegations to the United States as a step toward unification,
military, financial and otherwise. The United States sent missions to
Russia and other countries.

AERIAL ATTACKS ON LONDON

Cities from Bagdad to London were subject to aerial raids by the
Germans during the summer, notable attacks being those by Zeppelins and
aeroplanes on London and the eastern coast cities of England. In five
attacks on England in May, June and July, 298 persons were killed and
863 injured. Insistent demands were then made by the English people for
reprisals in kind.

AN ESTIMATE OP CASUALTIES

An estimate of the total war losses, made near the close of the third
year of the war and voiced by Arthur Henderson of the British War
Council, placed the number of men killed at 7,000,000 since August,
1914. French general headquarters on August 1 estimated that 1,500,
Germans had been killed up to March 1. Mr. Henderson estimated the total
casualties of the war at more than 45,000,000.

WHEN THE THIRD YEAR CLOSED

The third year of the world war closed in July, 1917, with the fortunes
of conflict favoring the Entente, except for uncertainty as to the
outcome of the Russian situation. On the western front in Europe the
Teutons found themselves on the defensive at the advent of the fourth
year. They were fighting on lines newly established after forced
retirement from terrain which they had won in earlier days at a
tremendous sacrifice.

Following the declaration of war by the United States, Cuba and Liberia
declared themselves on the side of the Allies. Panama pledged the United
States her aid in defending the Panama Canal. Costa Rica put her naval
bases at its disposal. China, Bolivia, Guatemala and Brazil severed
diplomatic relations with Germany. Uruguay expressed her sympathy with
the United States. Late in July Siam entered the war against the central
powers, and on August 14 China formally declared war against Germany
and Austria. This made a total of seventeen nations arrayed against the
central powers.

As to the prospects for the fourth year of the war, which opened in
August, 1917, American sentiment was expressed by the _New York Sun_,
which said editorially: "We expect today as at first that the end will
be catastrophic overthrow for the Kaiser and the military party of
Germany, and a dreary expiation by the German people of their sin in
allowing themselves to be dragooned into the most immoral enterprise of
the ages."

UNITED STATES WAR ACTIVITIES

The Army bill providing for raising a new national army by selective
draft duly passed the House of Representatives and the United States
Senate and was signed by President Wilson on May 18, 1917. The President
forthwith issued a proclamation calling on all male inhabitants of the
United States between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for the draft on
the following June 5. At the same time he formally declined the offer
of Col. Roosevelt to raise a volunteer army for immediate service in
France.

On June 5, the day of registration, 9,700,000 young men of all classes
registered in their home districts throughout the country. It was then
decided to call approximately 650,000 men to the colors as the first
national army. The formal drawing of the serial numbers allotted to
registrants occurred in Washington late in July. District boards were
appointed to examine the men drafted and receive applications for
exemption, also appeal boards in every State. The month of August
was largely occupied in preparing the quotas from each district and
meanwhile cantonments were made ready for the training of the new army,
while thousands of prospective officers received intensive training in
special camps at various points, east and west, and were commissioned in
due course. Orders were then issued for the men selected to report at
the cantonments in three divisions of 200,000 men each, at intervals of
fifteen days, beginning September 5. The National Guards of the various
States were also mobilized August 9, mustered into the Federal service,
and ordered to special training camps, mostly situated in the South. The
work of assembling equipment and supplies for the new army was rushed
and the whole country hummed with the task of preparation.

AMERICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE

France and Great Britain having joined in a request for the dispatch
of an American expeditionary force to France at the earliest possible
moment, the United States government on May 18 ordered 25,000 troops
to France under the command of Major-General John J. Pershing. A large
force of marines was subsequently ordered to join them, bringing the
strength of the expedition up to approximately 40,000 men. General
Pershing and his staff preceded the troops to Europe, reaching London
June 8 and Paris June 13, and being enthusiastically welcomed in both
the Allied capitals.

Convoyed by American warships, the first and second contingents of
American troops crossed the Atlantic in safety, despite two submarine
attacks on the transports in which at least one U-boat was sunk. Without
the loss of a ship or a man the troops were landed in France on June
and 27, to be received with outbursts of joy by the French populace,
who saw in their coming the assurance of final delivery from the German
invaders. Training camps awaited their coming and there, behind the
French lines they spent the months of July and August in active
preparation for service under the Stars and Stripes against the German
enemy on the western front.

U.S. WARSHIPS BUSY

America's destroyer flotilla arrived in British waters in May and
immediately co-operated with the British fleet in the patrol of its home
waters and the hunt for German submarines. The flotilla was commanded by
Vice-Admiral Sims and did effective work from the very start.

On August 11 it was announced in Washington that Admiral Sims had sent
to the Navy Department a series of reports detailing the work of the
American ships and men under his command. These were said to present
a thrilling story of accomplishment, telling of many encounters with
U-boats and also of the rescue of numerous crews of ships which had been
destroyed by submarines off the coasts of England and Ireland.

Soon after war was declared by the United States, American warships took
over from British and French vessels the patrol of American coasts,
while Brazil added her navy to that of the United States for the
protection of South American waters against the common enemy.

THE FIRST "LIBERTY LOAN"

On May 2, a few weeks after the United States entered the war,
subscriptions were opened for the first block of $2,000,000,000 of the
"Liberty loan" of $7,000,000,000 authorized by Congress in April. Great
popular interest was evinced and all classes of the American people
hastened to subscribe for the 3-1/2 per cent bonds, so that when the
books were closed on June 15 it was found that the loan had been
oversubscribed by $1,035,226,850 and the list of subscribers contained
no fewer than 4,000,000 names. Most of the amount raised was used
for loans to the Allies, to be expended in the United States for war
munitions and supplies.

A war budget appropriating $3,340,000,000 for current expenses of the
war was passed by Congress and signed by the President June 15; also an
Espionage bill which among other important provisions gave the President
power to place an embargo on all exports. On July 14 the House of
Representatives passed an Aviation bill appropriating the sum of
$640,000,000 for the construction and maintenance of an aerial fleet for
home and foreign service.

FOOD CONTROL BILL PASSED

On August 10 President Wilson signed the Food Control bill adopted by
Congress after prolonged debate, and he at once announced the
formal appointment of Mr. Herbert C. Hoover as United States food
administrator. Mr. Hoover, whose work as chief of the Belgian Relief
Commission had made him world famous, stated the threefold objects of
the food administration under the bill as follows:

"First, to so guide the trade in the fundamental food commodities as to
eliminate vicious speculation, extortion, and wasteful practices, and to
stabilize prices in the essential staples. Second, to guard our exports
so that against the world's shortage we retain sufficient supplies for
our own people, and to cooeperate with the Allies to prevent inflation of
prices; and, third, that we stimulate in every manner within our power
the saving of our food in order that we may increase exports to our
Allies to a point which will enable them to properly provision their
armies and to feed their peoples during the coming winter."

INTERNAL HANDICAPS IN AMERICA

While the United States was busily engaged in raising its new national
army, innumerable difficulties arose to be contended with by the Federal
and State governments and local authorities. Not the least of these was
caused by enemy propaganda of various kinds, designed to interfere with
the success of the selective draft. Active opposition to the draft
developed in many districts, especially in the Western states where
the organization calling itself the "Industrial Workers of the World,"
notorious as the "I.W.W.," had a considerable following, including many
aliens, and gave the State and municipal authorities much trouble.
Attacks on munition plants, strikes, and incipient riots were frequent,
until the Federal government declared its determination to meet all such
demonstrations with the strong arm of the law. Pacifists and pro-Germans
of various stripes did their utmost to retard war preparations, and
caused much annoyance, without, however, preventing the steady march of
the selected men to the training cantonments, where the first divisions
of the national army gradually assembled. The presence in the country
of so many aliens of enemy birth constituted a difficulty, but this had
been foreseen and partly provided against, and the true American spirit
of patriotism steadily prevailed over all obstacles to the successful
prosecution of the war for humanity. Uncle Sam prepared to strike--and
strike hard.

INTERNAL TROUBLES IN GERMANY

Meanwhile, internal troubles developed in the German empire. Weary of
the war, with hopes of final victory dwindling month by month, a strong
peace party arose in the Reichstag, committing itself to the policy of
a peace without annexations or indemnities, and for a brief time the
Reichstag refused to vote a war credit. This brought the Kaiser, Von
Hindenburg, and Von Ludendorff in hot haste to Berlin, to exert the
utmost possible pressure of the military party on the recalcitrants. For
the time being their power prevailed, but the German Chancellor, Von
Bethmann Hollweg, was sacrificed, together with the Foreign Minister and
other leading officials of the empire. The Chancellor was succeeded by
Dr. Georg Michaelis, a statesman of colorless and practically unknown
quality, suspected of being a mere mouthpiece of the Kaiser, appointed
to register his decrees and continue the policy of the autocracy in the
conduct of the war. But many peace proposals came out of Germany during
the summer and every possible German effort was made to break the
solidarity of the Allies.

THE POPE PROPOSES PEACE

On August 14 Pope Benedict addressed to all the belligerent nations
a proposal for a peace agreement, stating the general terms which he
believed might be found acceptable as a basis for the cessation
of hostilities. These included disarmament of the nations, mutual
condonation of damages, the establishment of the principle of
arbitration for the future, the evacuation of Belgian and French
territory by the Germans, reciprocal restoration of the German colonies,
and a peace-table agreement as to Alsace-Lorraine, Poland, the Trentino,
Armenia and the Balkan states.

Nothing being said as to the causes of the war and the criminal
responsibility attaching to the authors of the great conflict, and all
the nations at issue being classed as equally entitled to the benefits
of the condonation proposed, the message from the Vatican met with a
cool reception from the Allied nations, including the United States,
especially as they entertained grave suspicions that it was inspired
from Berlin, by way of Vienna. The answers of President Wilson and
the British and French governments were therefore awaited with little
expectation that the hour for peace had struck.

The British attitude toward peace proposals was expressed July 20 by Sir
Edward Carson, member of the war cabinet, who said:

"If the Germans want peace we are prepared tomorrow to treat not
with Prussianism, but with the best of the German nation, and as a
preliminary to such a treaty and as an earnest of their sincerity that
they don't want to acquire any territory or show violence towards
others, we tell them to come forward and offer to enter negotiations. We
make as the first condition of such a parley that they shall withdraw
their troops behind the Rhine.

"When they have shown something like contrition for the wrongs and
outrages against humanity which they have committed on poor little
Belgium, in northern France, in Serbia, and in those other regions which
they needlessly drenched with blood, we will be willing to enter into
negotiations to see what can be done for release of the world from the
terror of arms."

CANADIANS HOLD THEIR GAINS

On August 21 Canadian troops smashed their way with bombs and cold steel
farther into the German defenses of the ruins of Lens, and defeated a
desperate simultaneous attack by the enemy, which developed into one of
the most sanguinary hand-to-hand conflicts on this battle-scarred front.
The attack began at dawn with the capture of 2,000 yards of German
positions on the outskirts of the shell-torn mining center, the
Canadians driving their lines closer about the heart of the city and
gaining possession of many railway embankments and colliery sidings in
the northwest and southwest suburbs which had been strongly fortified
for defense with a series of shell-hole nests of machine guns. The
battle raged fiercely for twenty-four hours.

When the Canadians went "over the top" in the thick haze of early dawn
of the 21st, they saw masses of shadowy gray figures advancing toward
them. The Germans had planned an attack to be delivered at the same
moment, and sent in wave after wave of infantry in desperate efforts to
regain their lost positions. In the words of an eyewitness, the Germans
fought like cornered rats among the shell holes and wire incumbrances of
"No man's Land," where the struggle raged, bomb and bayonet being the
principal weapons. As the Canadian bayonet did its deadly work, in some
of the bitterest fighting of the war, the German officers tried in vain
to rally their men and the enemy infantry gradually fell back to the
trenches they had left. The Canadians followed closely and, leaping on
the parapets, hurled masses of bombs down among great numbers of troops
which had been collected for the attack. The Germans tried to flee
through the communication trenches, but the Canadians leaped among them
with bayonets and bombs, killing many and sparing few as prisoners.
Throughout the day the entire line was a seething caldron, but the new
Canadian positions were firmly held as night fell.

Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig after the battle sent a message of
congratulation to Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, commanding the
Canadian forces, and refuted the German claim that the Canadians had
attacked with four instead of two divisions when Hill 70 was captured by
the gallant fellows from the Dominion. The commander-in-chief also gave
the Canadians credit for having reached all their objectives in the
battles of the previous week.

Eight heavy assaults were delivered against the Canadians at Lens by the
Germans during the night of the 21st, but in each case the enemy was
thrown back at the point of the bayonet and by afternoon of August
the Canadians had consolidated all the new positions gained. During the
battle of Lens up to this time (from August 15 to 22) the Canadians took
1,378 prisoners, 34 machine guns and 21 trench mortars. The number of
prisoners taken bore only a small ratio to the losses inflicted on the
Germans, who appeared exhausted when the assaults ceased.

On August 22 the British launched another fierce attack on the enemy
in the Langemarck sector of the front and forced their way to a
considerable depth in the neighborhood of the ridge known as Hill 35,
strongly defended by Irish troops against Prince Rupprecht's Bavarians.
At the same time a new battle at Verdun was in progress, but the
French held all their gains against reserves massed by the Germans for
desperate counter-attacks.

ITALIANS IN A GREAT OFFENSIVE

On the Isonzo front the Italian commander, General Cadorna, launched a
great offensive while the British were active in Flanders and by August
23 had broken through the whole Austrian line, capturing the town of
Selo, which was the pivot of the Austrian defense, and considered
impregnable, and inflicting upon the enemy, in this eleventh battle of
the Isonzo, the greatest losses he had sustained since the capture of
Goritz. More than 13,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners were captured during
the battle, with thirty guns, and all counter-attacks were repulsed with
heavy losses. The whole Selo line fell before the heroic onslaught of
the Italians, and the loss of this important position was a serious blow
to the Austrians. On August 22 Italian warships were showering shells on
Trieste, the big Austrian port on the Adriatic which was the objective
of the Italian campaign.

HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN!

"In the welter of the conflict an emperor of Austria-Hungary has died,
full of years and of sorrow, a czar of Russia has stepped from his
throne, and a king of Greece has lost his crown," said a well-known
publicist, reviewing the war up to this time.

"Not one of the prime ministers or ministers of foreign affairs who
conducted the diplomatic maneuvers preceding of immediately following
the beginning of the war in the six most important countries of Europe
is still in power. In Russia, Goremykin and Sazonoff are forgotten
behind a line of successors, equally unstable. In France, Delcasse left
the foreign office and Viviani ceased to head the cabinet, following the
collapse of Serbia in the second autumn of the war.

"The tragedy of Roumania a year later contributed to the overthrow of
Asquith and his foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, in Great Britain.
San Giuliano of the Italian foreign office and Salandra, the
prime minister, have passed. Count Berchtold, foreign minister of
Austria-Hungary in 1914 (the empire has no prime minister), has passed
into oblivion, while Von Jagow gave up the management of Germany's
foreign affairs last autumn. Von Bethmann-Hollweg, the last of the group
to lose his grip, has just gone down, despite the fact that he was not
responsible to any elective body.

"Ministers of war in the belligerent countries have not been more
stable. Kerensky follows a long procession in Russia. France has had
four war ministers from Millerand to Painleve, inclusive, while Lord
Kitchener, organizer of Great Britain's most marvelous war achievement,
a volunteer army of some 4,000,000 men, sleeps below the waters of the
North Sea.

"History has as ruthlessly brushed aside most of the army commanders of
the early days. Von Kluck, who led the Germans on Paris, is retired.
Rennenkampf, with whom the Russians meanwhile swarmed into East Prussia,
is a memory only. Sir John French has been recalled to England. That
little group of generals who saved France and Europe at the Marne is
decimated. Foch and Castelnau, and Manoury are no longer in command,
while Gallieni, worn out in the service of his country, was borne on his
last journey through the streets of Paris on a sunny spring day in 1916.

"Even Joffre has been superseded in a military sense, though not as an
idol of the nation. France still holds him as close to her heart as
Germany possibly could hold Von Hindenburg--almost the only one of the
war's early commanders to retain his military power."

RUSSIAN CAPITAL IN PERIL

On August 23, Riga, the Russian seaport which is the gateway to
Petrograd, was reported in peril from the Germans, who were conducting a
determined advance on the north of the eastern front under the immediate
direction of Field Marshal Von Hindenburg. With a Japanese mission in
Washington, headed by Viscount Ishii, it was expected that steps might
be taken to send Japanese troops to the aid of the Russians.

Russia's critical internal situation, aggravated by the new German drive
against Riga, was watched by officials in Washington with the gravest
concern. While the taking of Riga would not necessarily be a decisive
blow, it would make the Baltic more than ever a German lake, leaving the
Russian fleet in the position of the mouse in the rathole to the German
cat, just as the Kaiser's fleet was the mouse to the English fleet
outside.

The outcome of the forthcoming extraordinary national council to be held
at Moscow was therefore awaited in Washington with the keenest interest,
scarcely less keen than in Russia itself. The immediate fate of Russia,
it was felt, depended upon the action of the council in its efforts to
throw off the demoralizing socialistic control of the Russian army and
workmen. German intrigues in Russia were known to be exerting powerful
influence to bring about anarchy within the new democracy.

CLOSING IN ON LENS

An advance by the Canadians in the neighborhood of the Green Grassier on
the southern edge of Lens added greatly to the strength of the British
line, which continued to tighten steadily about the heart of the city.

The Grassier is a great slag heap, and lies only about 300 yards south
of the central railway station of Lens, and overlooks it.

The Canadians made their assault before dawn this time, and the attack
was preceded by a protracted and exceedingly intense bombardment of the
German positions. The Germans, exhausted by the long strain of constant
counter-attacks, found the Canadians in their midst with little warning.
But the defenders did not give up without a struggle, and there was
fierce bayonet fighting.

The Grassier was an important buffer between the Canadians and the
defenses of the city proper, and the Germans reached it through tunnels
connected with the network of passages and dugouts beneath Lens.

Part of the ground about the Grassier was inundated, due to the waterway
near by having broken its banks, and this, in conjunction with the
great number of machine-gun emplacements on the elevation, made it a
particularly difficult position for attack.

An advance upon two German colliery positions adjoining the Grassier to
the northwest, earlier in the night, also involved stiff hand-to-hand
fighting. About the Grassier were numerous shell-shattered buildings,
many of which had been strongly fortified by the Germans. The Canadians
bombed their way systematically through these defenses, silencing the
machine guns and clearing out the defenders.

The fighting on August 23 was on the edge of the city proper, rather
than in the suburbs. Notwithstanding the tremendous strain upon the
Canadians during the previous week, there was no diminution in the
strength of their attacks. They worked steadily and methodically,
gradually weaving a net about the Germans, who were living miserably in
their underground positions within the great coal center.

MANY GERMANS CAPTURED

In the three days' fighting on the western front from August 21 to 23,
the Entente Allies captured 25,000 German prisoners and by September
1 the total for August had reached more than 40,000, according to
Major-General Frederick B. Maurice, chief director of the British war
intelligence office. This topped the figure of prisoners which the
Germans claimed to have taken in a single month on the Russian front,
although their total undoubtedly was composed by at least half of mere
stragglers from the mutinous and disorganized Russian units.

On September 1, 1917, the positions recaptured by the French around
Verdun were safely consolidated in their possession, every German effort
being thrown back in disorder. The fighting had developed into a big-gun
duel, in which the French continued to maintain undoubted mastery, and
they were firmly established once more on the left bank of the Meuse,
which the Germans had intended to hold at all costs. Thus ended the last
hope of the Crown Prince of Germany, who apparently was obsessed with
the desire to conquer Verdun, in the neighborhood of which thousands of
the flower of the German army found only a burial place, without any
laurels of victory.

ALLIED GAINS IN THE WEST

The early autumn of 1917 witnessed steady gains by the British and
French forces co-operating in Flanders and to the South of the Belgian
border along the western front. The artillery on both sides was
constantly active, but with evident superiority on the part of the
Allies. Repeated German attacks were repulsed in the Champagne and along
the Meuse, while in the Ypres region the Allied troops made frequent
gains in spite of the concrete defenses established by the enemy to
strengthen their entrenched positions.

Repeated successes of the Allies along the Chemin des Dames finally
forced a German retreat along a fifteen-mile front which the Crown
Prince had made strenuous efforts to hold. The Germans were compelled to
retire because French victories on October 21-23 enabled French guns to
enfilade the Ailette Valley behind the German positions, exposing the
enemy to a series of disastrous flanking attacks and hampering the
German communications. On October 30-31 the French bombarded the German
lines vigorously. The enemy had already moved their artillery across the
Ailette to a ridge north of the river. On the night of November 1 they
completed their preparations for retreat and withdrew their infantry.
French patrols approaching the German lines on the morning of November
2 were fired upon at first, but on renewing their reconnoissance soon
after dawn found the German trenches empty.

It was impossible for the Germans to keep their front line supplied with
ammunition or food, the carriers of which were obliged to pass through a
tornado of shells and machine gun bullets while crossing the Valley of
the Ailette, where their every movement could be observed by the French.
Eventually the position became untenable and the Germans retired during
the night to the Northern side of the Ailette Valley. The best elements
of the Crown Prince's army had sustained severe losses and were
compelled to go to the rear to reconstitute their diminished ranks. The
evacuated territory North of the crest of Chemin des Dames included
several towns that had been pulverized by bombardment, and the retreat
brought the important city of Laon within range of the French guns.

The captures by the French in this sector from September 23 to November
1 included 12,000 prisoners, 200 heavy field guns, 220 trench mortars,
and 720 machine guns. In ten days, from September 21 to 30, twenty-three
German airplanes were destroyed and twenty-eight forced to descend badly
damaged.

THE FIRST AMERICAN CASUALTIES

The first list of Americans killed and wounded in combat with the enemy
reached Washington on October 17, in an official report from Rear
Admiral Sims of an encounter between a German submarine and an American
destroyer. One American sailor was killed and five sailors were wounded
when the submarine torpedoed the destroyer Cassin on patrol duty in
European waters. The destroyer was not sunk and after making a gallant
fight reached a British port.

Two days later Rear Admiral Sims reported that the American troop
transport Antilles, homeward bound from France, was torpedoed and sunk
by a German submarine on October 17. Seventy men of the 237 aboard lost
their lives, including four naval enlisted men, sixteen army enlisted
men, three ship's officers, and 47 members of the ship's crew. The
Antilles was under convoy of American patrol vessels at the time it was
sunk.

FRENCH TRIBUTE TO U.S. DEAD

At the burial on November 7 of the first three American soldiers killed
in the trenches in France by a raiding party of Germans, a guard of
French infantrymen, in their picturesque uniforms of red and horizon
blue, stood on one side and a detachment of American soldiers on the
other while the flag-wrapped coffins were lowered into the grave, as a
bugler blew taps and the batteries nearby fired minute guns. The French
officer commanding in the sector paid an eloquent tribute to the fallen
Americans, his words being punctuated by the roar of the guns and the
whistle of shells. In conclusion he said:

"In the name of the French army and in the name of France, I bid
farewell to Private Enright, Private Gresham and Private Hay of the
American army.

"Of their own free will they had left a prosperous and happy country to
come over here. They knew war was continuing in Europe; they knew that
the forces fighting for honor, love of justice and civilization were
still checked by the long-prepared forces serving the powers of brutal
domination, oppression and barbarity. They knew that efforts were still
necessary. They wished to give up their generous hearts and they had not
forgotten old historical memories while others forgot more recent ones.

"They ignored nothing of the circumstances and nothing had been
concealed from them--neither the length and hardships of war nor the
violence of battle, nor the dreadfulness of new weapons, nor the perfidy
of the foe. Nothing stopped them. They accepted the hard and strenuous
life; they crossed the ocean at great peril; they took their places on
the front by our side and they have fallen facing the foe in a hard and
desperate hand-to-hand fight. Honor to them! Their families, friends and
fellow-citizens will be proud when they learn of their deaths.

"Men! These graves, the first to be dug in our national soil and only a
short distance from the enemy, are as a mark of the mighty land we and
our Allies firmly cling to in the common task, confirming the will of
the people and the army of the United States to fight with us to a
finish, ready to sacrifice as long as is necessary until final victory
for the most noble of causes, that of the liberty of nations, the weak
as well as the mighty. Thus the deaths of these humble soldiers appeal
to us with extraordinary grandeur.

"We will therefore ask that the mortal remains of these young men be
left here, left with us forever. We inscribe on the tombs, 'Here lie the
first soldiers of the republic of the United States to fall on the soil
of France for liberty and justice.' The passer-by will stop and uncover
his head. Travelers and men of heart will go out of their way to come
here to pay their respective tributes.

"Private Enright! Private Gresham! Private Hay! In the name of France, I
thank you. God receive your souls! Farewell!"

ITALY INVADED BY TEUTONS

In the first week of October Austrian forces, heavily reinforced by
Germans, opened a gigantic drive in an effort to crush Italy. It soon
resulted in wiping out all the gains made by the Italians under General
Cadorna on the Isonzo and in the Trentino, and in a determined invasion
of Northern Italy by the enemy, with the city of Venice as its immediate
objective.

The Teuton attack began on the morning of October 24, after an intensive
artillery fire in which specially constructed gas shells were thrown at
various places. The offensive covered a 23-mile front, from Monte Rombon
Southeast through Flitsch and Tolmino and thence Southward to the
Bainsizza Plateau, about ten miles Northeast of Goritz, the scene of
desperate fighting in the drive by the Italians which wrested important
mountain positions from the Austrians.

The greatest shock came from the North, where the Isonzo was first
crossed by the enemy. At this point there occurred a weakening of
certain troops of the second Italian army, which gave the overwhelming
German contingents an opportunity to pass forward between a portion of
the army on the North and that on a line farther South. Then began the
double exposure of the Southern force to fire in the front and on the
flank which required a steady falling back until the entire Italian
army was moving towards newly-established positions farther West. The
commanding height of Monte Nero, which the Italians had occupied after
deeds of great valor, was defended against onslaughts from three
sides which gradually resulted in envelopment and the capture of many
thousands of Italian troops and hundreds of guns.

A general retreat of the Italian forces was then carried out, with
shielding operations by rear guards, and the main body of General
Cadorna's army retired to the Tagliamento. The Germans encountered
stubborn resistance on the Bainsizza Plateau and heaps of enemy dead
marked the lines of their advance. In one of the mountain passes a small
village, commanding the pass, was taken and retaken eight times during
desperate artillery, infantry and hand-to-hand fighting.

Goritz was shelled heavily and what remained of the city was further
reduced to a mass of debris. One of the main bridges from Goritz across
the Isonzo was blown up by the Italians and the enemy movement thus was
further impeded.

West of Goritz the town of Cormons also was shelled heavily. The great
German guns opened enormous craters and literally tore the towns to
pieces.

The heaviest pressure began to be felt on the Carso front on Friday,
October 26. The Teutons then increased their bombardment to deafening
intensity and supplemented this with huge volumes of poison gas and
tear-shells. The humid air and light winds permitted great waves of the
deadly gases to creep low toward the Italian lines, the rear guards
protecting themselves with gas masks and by hiding in caverns.

Amid the onslaught of overwhelming masses of the enemy, the Italians
fell back slowly. The retreat, as in other instances of the war, was
the most terrible for the civilian inhabitants. There was an enormous
movement Westward. All the roads were packed with dense traffic, with
four or five lines abreast of teams, automobiles, motor trucks, pack
mules, artillery wagons, and ox carts. The soldiers marched or rode,
singly, in groups, in regiments, in brigades, or in divisions.

"It was such a time as the world has seldom witnessed," said a Red Cross
spectator. "Even fields and by-roads were utilized for the colossal
migration. The only wonder was that the great army was able to withdraw
at all and establish itself along the new line of defense.

"Many heartrending scenes were witnessed along the route, as the
torrential rain and the vast zone of mud increased the misery of the
moving multitude. Food was scarce and many went without it for days,
while sleep was impossible as the throng trudged westward. The military
hospitals were evacuated, with all other establishments, and pale and
wounded patients obliged to join in the rearguard march or fall into the
hands of the enemy. The roads were strewn with dead horses.

"Families with eight or ten children, the youngest clinging tightly to
the grandfather, trudged amid ranks of soldiers of many descriptions."
The safe retirement of the Tagliamento was due to the unexampled heroism
of large bodies of Italians, of such spirit as the Alpine troops on
Monte Nero, who refused to surrender, and the regiments of Bersaglieri
at Monte Maggiore, the members of which perished to the last man rather
than yield ground. It was by such resistance in the face of overwhelming
forces of the enemy that the civil population was able to retire. And it
was owing to the valor of Italian aviators, combating the Austro-German
army of the air, that the fleeing women, children and old men, who
crowded the roads, were not struck down by bursting bombs.

By November 1 General Cadorna's forces had effected their retirement
behind the Tagliamento River line, but at the cost of tremendous losses,
aggregating 180,000 prisoners and 1,500 guns. It was soon seen, however,
that the Tagliamento line could not be successfully held against the
enemy and a further retirement was carried out, Southward through the
mountainous country to a shorter line along the Piave River East of
Venice and Northwesterly to the Trentino boundary. This gave French and
British reinforcements the opportunity to arrive in sufficient numbers
to aid in checking the invaders.

As one result of the Italian reverses, General Cadorna was relieved of
the chief command, though he was credited with a masterly retreat. He
was succeeded by General Diaz.

The Austro-German offensive continued steadily for three weeks and on
November 21 was being pressed on three main fronts: First, along the
Piave River; second, from the Piave to the Brenta; third, from the
Brenta across the Asiago Plateau. The Italian troops were holding firm
and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. The spirit of the Italian
people was calm and public opinion strongly supported the most stubborn
resistance to the invader. Although all the fruits of Italy's two years
of strife had been swept away in a single month and a dread enemy was
reaching ever forward, seeking her most treasured possessions of art and
industry, the internal dissensions which Germany probably hoped to start
had not appeared. The population of Venice, however, had been reduced
from 160,000 to 20,000.

ANARCHY RAMPANT IN RUSSIA

The Imperial government of Russia, headed by Premier Kerensky, was
ousted on November 7, when a period of practical anarchy set in. On the
evening of that day a congress of workmen's and soldiers' delegates
assembled in Petrograd, with 560 delegates in attendance. Without
preliminary discussion the congress elected officers pledged to make
"a democratic peace." They included fourteen so-called Maximalists
or members of the Bolsheviki (majority), the radical Socialist party
suspected of pro-German tendencies, headed by Nikolai Lenine and Leon
Trotzky; also seven revolutionary Socialists. These leaders at once
sent an ultimatum to the Kerensky government, demanding their surrender
within 20 minutes. The government replied indirectly, refusing to
recognize the Bolsheviki committee. Rioting then broke out and the
Winter Palace, headquarters of the provisional government, was besieged
by troops favorable to the rebels. The cruiser Aurora, firing from
the Neva River, and the guns of the St. Peter and St. Paul fortress
bombarded the palace and early next morning compelled the surrender of
the government forces defending it. Women of the "Battalion of Death,"
armed with machine guns and rifles, were among the defenders, who held
out for four hours. Soon the Bolsheviki were in complete control of
the city, Kerensky was in flight, several members of his cabinet were
arrested by the rebels, and the provisional government was no more.

Several weeks of political and industrial chaos in Russia followed
the Lenine coup d' etat, which was a triumph, probably temporary,
of extremists. A number of the commissioners appointed by the
Lenine-Trotzky faction to carry on the government, gave up their posts
within a few days, characterizing the Bolsheviki regime as "impossible"
and as inevitably involving "the destruction of the revolution and the
country."

On November 23, Leon Trotzky, styling himself "National Commissioner for
foreign affairs," addressed to the embassies of the Allies in Petrograd
a note proposing "an immediate armistice on all fronts and the immediate
opening of peace negotiations." An official announcement was also made
that the Bolsheviki government had decided to undertake without delay
the reduction of the Russian armies, beginning with the release from
their military duties of all citizen soldiers conscripted in 1899.

SECOND "LIBERTY LOAN" OVERSUBSCRIBED

The second "Liberty Loan" of the United States war bond issues was
largely oversubscribed by the patriotic citizens of the country. When
the books closed on October 27 it was announced that the subscriptions
received from approximately 9,000,000 persons amounted to over
$5,000,000,000, the amount of the bond issue being $3,000,000,000.

BRITISH SMASH HINDENBURG LINE

By a series of attacks on the morning of November 21 that took the
German enemy completely by surprise, the British Third army, under
command of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Julian Byng, broke through the Hindenburg
line on a front of 32 miles between St Quentin and the Scarpe. The
following day, when they consolidated the new positions gained, 10,
German prisoners were sent to the rear, with a large number of guns and
quantities of material abandoned by the astonished enemy, while at one
point the victorious troops were 6-1/2 miles in advance of their former
positions and the city of Cambrai was brought within easy range of their
guns.

It was the greatest and most successful surprise of the war. There was
no preliminary bombardment to warn the enemy, and the advance continued
steadily for two days, when the towns of Masnieres, Marcoing, Ribecourt,
Havrincourt, Graincourt, and Flesquieres, long occupied by the enemy,
all were behind the British lines.

Just before dawn on the 20th there was absolute quiet along the whole
line. A few minutes later British tanks were rumbling along over "No
Man's Land" flanked and followed by the infantry. The tanks smashed down
the barbed wire entanglements and were atop the trenches and, dugouts
before their German defenders were aware of their peril.

The German artillery could lay down no barrage, and line after line of
trenches had been captured before they got into action. Then the British
guns opened, but not for barrage purposes. They were shelling and
silencing the enemy artillery.

Following through the gaps made by the tanks, English, Scottish, and
Irish regiments swept over the enemy's outposts and stormed the first
defensive system of the Hindenburg line on the whole front.

The infantry and tanks then swept on in accordance with the program and
captured the German second system of defense, more than a mile beyond.
This latter was known as the Hindenburg support line.

English rifle regiments and light infantry captured La Vacquerie and
the formidable defense on the spur known as Welsh ridge. Other English
county troops stormed the village of Ribecourt and fought their way
through Coillet wood.

In severe hand-to-hand fighting at Flesquieres near Cambrai, on the
21st, British troops, preceded by tanks, stormed the town. The Germans
fired on the tanks with seven big guns at short range. The British
infantry charged the guns, captured them, and killed the crews. Three
other big guns were captured in a similar manner at Premy Chapelle.
British cavalry captured a battery at Rumilly, sabering the crews.

Highland territorial battalions crossed the Grand ravine and entered
Flesquieres, where fighting took place. West Biding terriorials captured
Havrincourt and the German trench, systems north of the village, while
the Ulster battalions, covering the latter's left flank, moved Northward
up the West bank of the Canal du Nord.

Later in the day the advance was continued and rapid progress was made
at all points, English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh battalions secured
the crossings on the canal at Masnieres and captured Marcoing and Neuf
Wood. On the following day, Wednesday, November 21, reinforcements which
the enemy hurried up to the battlefield to oppose the British advance
were driven out of a further series of villages and other fortified
positions.

Thousands of cavalry co-operated with the great army of tanks and
infantry in continuing the successful assault begun on November 20. Open
fighting went on at many places and the mounted troops, who long had
waited for a chance to vindicate their existence in this war, rendered
invaluable services in "mopping up".

AMERICAN COMMISSION IN EUROPE

A special American Commission, headed by Colonel Edward M. House,
personal friend and trusted adviser of President Wilson, arrived in
London on November 8, on its way to attend the Allies' conference which
met in Paris November 22, to perfect a system of co-ordination among the
nations at war with Germany and secure a better understanding of their
respective needs.

BRITISH NEAR JERUSALEM

On November 24 the British forces contending against the Turks in
Palestine had advanced to the suburbs of Jerusalem, after inflicting
a severe defeat upon the enemy at Askelon, with Turkish casualties of
10,000. More than seventy guns were captured at Askelon, and the British
subsequently occupied the ancient port of Jaffa (Poppa). The fall of
Jerusalem was then considered imminent and the end of Turkish dominion
in the Holy Land was plainly in sight.

[Illustration: ITALIAN BATTLE FRONT, MAY 4, 1918.

The Heavy Line Shows the Position of the Hostile Armies, When the
Austrians Threatened A New Drive in 1918. The Shaded Line Shows the
Italian Positions Before the Austro-German Offensive, in the Fall of
1917.]

WIN AND LOSE AT CAMBRAI

For the first time since the war began England celebrated on November
the victory of Field Marshal Haig and General Byng at Cambrai, in the
old-fashioned way, by the ringing of bells in London and other cities.
Heavy fighting continued for several days at the apex of the wedge
driven into the German line, especially at Bourlon Wood and the village
of Fontaine, where attacks and counter-attacks followed in rapid
succession.

Up to November 30 the British held their gains near Cambrai and that
city lay under their guns. Then the Germans in a determined attack
surprised the British in their turn, and forced them, back from
their new positions for a distance of about two miles, nearly to the
Bapaume-Cambrai road.

Next day, by fierce fighting, the British recaptured Gouzeau-court. The
battle then raged over a fifteen-mile front, desperate efforts being
made by the Germans to regain all the ground taken by the British west
and south of Cambrai. The British had had no chance to dig themselves in
and consolidate their positions in the ground won, and on December 1 and
2 the struggle was in the open, a fierce hand-to-hand conflict unlike
anything previously seen in the war. The British lost guns, for the
first time in more than thirty months. They also lost many men,
taken prisoner by the enemy, but soon succeeded in checking the
counter-offensive.

In their attempt to deliver a great simultaneous encircling attack,
to surround the victorious British in their new Cambrai salient, the
Germans sent forward great forces of infantry, supported by a terrific
bombardment. The British met the shock brilliantly, finally held their
own, and the German drive was declared to have missed its end, at
enormous sacrifice of life.

On the night of December 5 the British strengthened their line by
abandoning certain untenable positions near Cambrai, falling back
deliberately and successfully, unknown to the enemy, upon a well-chosen
line which ruled out the dangerous salient made by Bourlon Wood. Here
they prepared to maintain their hold upon the captured length of the
Hindenburg line against any pressure.

The German casualties in the battle of Cambrai were estimated at 100,
men, greatly exceeding those of the British in consequence of the nature
of the massed attacks made by infantry in the counteroffensive.

As the year 1917 closed there was a succession of German attacks and
counter-attacks by the British in the Cambrai sector, the British lines
holding firmly at all points and continuing to hold during the winter.
SOME RESULTS OP THE YEAR

The British War Office issued the following statement of captures and
losses during 1917: Captures--prisoners on all fronts, 114,544; guns,
781. Losses--prisoners, 28,379; guns, 166.

The following figures, obtained from reliable sources, tell the real
story of Germany's "ruthless" submarine campaign against British
shipping. Tonnage of British, ships of more than 1,600 tons in August,
1914--16,841,519; loss by enemy action in 3-1/2 years, less new
construction, purchase, and captures, 2,750,000; remaining tonnage
January I,1918--14,091,519.

On December 3, 1917, it was announced officially in London that East
Africa had been completely cleared of the enemy. Every German-colony was
then occupied by Allied forces.

DISASTER AT HALIFAX

As the result of a collision in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia,
between the French munition ship "Mont Blanc" and the Belgian relief
ship "Imo" on December 6, thousands of tons of high explosives blew up,
killing more than 1,260 persons, injuring thousands, and destroying
millions of dollars in property in the city.

JERUSALEM CAPTURED BY BRITISH

Advancing steadily upon Jerusalem in the Palestine campaign against the
Turks, the British forces under General Allenby finally, on December 10,
captured the Holy City and restored it to Christendom. The Turks were
driven to the north, with heavy losses, the port of Joppa was occupied,
and Palestine was slowly but surely freed from Mussulman dominion.
General Allenby formally entered and took possession of Jerusalem on
December 11 with a small representative force of British and colonial
troops, being received and welcomed with impressive ceremonies by the
inhabitants.

WAR DECLARED AGAINST AUSTRIA

The United Stages Congress on December 7, 1917, passed a resolution
declaring a state of war to exist with Austria-Hungary. Austrian aliens,
however, were permitted free movement in the United States, only Germans
being classed as alien enemies and subjected to restrictions as such.

It was announced by the Secretary of War during the winter that 500,
American troops would be on the fighting line in France in the spring of
1918 and that a total of 1,500,000 men would be available for the front
during the year.

A portion of the French front was taken over by the United States troops
under General Pershing early in 1918 and in a number of trench raids and
patrol engagements in the last weeks of winter they gave a good account
of themselves, receiving their baptism of enemy fire and gas with the
utmost gallantry and winning several minor engagements. A small number
of Americans were captured in German raids up to March 10, but the
losses inflicted upon the enemy more than counterbalanced those
sustained.

RUSSIA FORCED INTO "PEACE"

On November 28, a few days after German emissaries had been sent to
Petrograd to parley with the peace faction in disorganized Russia, the
Bolshevik _de facto_ government under Nicolai Lenine and Leon Trotzky
began negotiations for an armistice with Germany; and on December 3 an
armistice was arranged. The Cossacks under General Kaledines and General
Korniloff began a revolt against the Bolsheviki, who organized their
forces as Red Guards, and a virtual reign of terror was inaugurated in
Russia while negotiations for a separate peace with Germany proceeded
with numerous interruptions. The administration of Lenine and Trotzky
became an absolutely despotic regime, all forms of opposition, being
summarily dealt with, while crime was rampant and blood flowed freely in
Petrograd and Moscow. The Ukrainian provinces formed a separate republic
and proceeded to make peace with Germany and Austria.

Formal announcement of the armistice with the Petrograd government was
made at Berlin December 16, with the statement that peace negotiations
would begin immediately at Brest-Litovsk on the Eastern front. Russia
thus violated her pledge to the Allies not to make a separate peace.

The peace delegates of Russia and Germany began their sessions December
23. On Christmas Day Ensign Krylenko, the Bolshevik commander-in-chief,
reported that the Germans were transferring large numbers of troops to
the Western front against the Allies, contrary to one of the Russian
conditions of the armistice. Early in the new year, January 2. 1918, the
negotiations at Brest-Litovsk were suspended for several days, owing
to the nature of the German terms of peace, which demanded that Russia
surrender to Germany the territory including Poland, Courland, Esthonia
and Lithuania. Foreign Minister Trotzky declared that the Russian
workers would not accept the German terms.

Germany, however, stood pat and on January 10 negotiations were resumed,
continuing at intervals for several weeks. In the middle of February the
Bolshevik government announced that it had withdrawn Russia from the
war with the Central Empires and had ordered the demobilization of
the Russian armies, but refused to sign a formal treaty of peace with
Germany. Premature rejoicing ensued in Germany, and on February
Berlin announced a resumption of war with Russia. Two days later the
German armies began an advance into Russia along the whole front from
Riga south to Lutsk; occupying the latter city without fighting.

A complete surrender to Germany followed. Lenine and Trotzky stating
that they would sign the peace treaty on the German terms, which
included all the territory claimed by Germany along the eastern coast of
the Baltic Sea, comprising the western part of Esthonia, Courland with
the Moon Islands in the Gulf of Riga, most of the provinces of Kovno
and Grodno, and nearly all of Vilna, with a huge indemnity. Despite the
surrender, the Germans continued their invasion of Russia, with an
eye to booty, and captured without organized resistance of any kind
thousands of guns and vast quantities of rolling stock, motor trucks,
automobiles, and munitions of war. The invasion continued well into the
month of March in the general direction of Petrograd, while to the south
Austria, at first seemingly reluctant to join the German incursion
into helpless territory, also invaded the Ukraine on the pretense of
"restoring order."

SINKING OF THE "TUSCANIA."

The first serious disaster to American troops on the voyage to France
occurred on February 5, when the steamship "Tuscania," a British
transport with 2,179 United States troops on board, was torpedoed and
sunk by a German submarine off the north coast of Ireland. The close
proximity of British convoy and patrol boats enabled most of those on
board to be rescued, 1912 survivors being landed within a few hours at
Buncrana and Larne in Ireland. The lives lost included 267 American
soldiers besides a number of the crew. The attacking submarine is
believed to have been destroyed by the British patrol before the
"Tuscania" sank.

LONG-DISTANCE PEACE TALK

Early in 1918, while the Russian debacle complicated the war situation
in Europe and the United States hummed with war activities, a series of
speeches by statesmen of the powers at war resulted in demonstrating the
futility of all hopes of a general peace.

In an address to Congress on January 8 President Wilson, following and
indorsing a notable speech by the English premier, Mr. Lloyd-George,
laid down fourteen definite peace and war aims of the United States,
closely agreeing with the expressed aims of the European Allies; "and
for these," said Mr. Wilson, "we will fight to the death." Subsequently,
in February, Mr. Wilson stated four general principles on which the
nations at war should agree in seeking a satisfactory peace. The German
chancellor, Von Hertling, addressing the Reichstag, declared that
Germany could agree to Mr. Wilson's basic principles of peace, but
British and French statesmen promptly pointed out that the German
practices in Russia, and elsewhere as opportunity offered, failed to
agree with Von Hertling's profession of the Wilson principles. German
suggestions of an informal discussion of peace terms were therefore
declined by the allied powers, and in March, 1918, all eyes were turned
toward the Western front in anticipation of a long-threatened German
drive.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST BATTLE

All previous battles of the Great War paled into comparative
insignificance when the German offensive of 1918 opened on the Western
front, March 21, with a desperate and partially successful attempt of a
million men to break through the British line, attacking fiercely from
the Ailette to the Scarpe, along a front of sixty miles. For weeks the
battle raged over the territory of the Somme, and when a second German
drive occurred farther north, from Givenchy to Ypres, fully 3,000,
men were engaged on both sides, and all records of human combat were
broken.

The loss of life was appalling, but in the absence of official reports
while the fighting was in progress, could only be guessed at, though the
world knew that the rivers of France and Flanders ran with blood. The
Germans attacked in masses and successive waves, and paid the penalty of
their desperate strategy. For though the British, and later the French,
lines were bent backward for miles, and gaps were occasionally torn in
them by the foe's furious attack, the Allied defensive withstood the
onslaught and after a month of the most terrific struggle the world has
ever seen, both British and French forces presented an unbroken front to
the disappointed enemy.

The city of Amiens, one of the keys to Paris, had been a chief objective
of the German drive, but all efforts to capture that important railroad
center failed. True, Noyon, Peronne, Bapaume, Albert and Montdidier,
on the south, and Festubert, Neuve Chappelle, Armentieres, and
Paaschendaele, to the north, were successively captured from the Allies,
in spite of the most gallant and heroic resistance. But then the lines
held firmly, and all the Germans had to show for an awful sacrifice
of life and morale was a few miles of advance into territory already
devastated by war.

On April 21, when the Hun offensive had lasted a full month, not only
were the armies of the Allies intact, and better still, their spirit and
morale unbroken, but the utmost confidence prevailed among them. All the
Allied forces, British, French, Canadian, and American, on the Western
front, had been by this time placed under the supreme command of the
eminent French strategist, General Ferdinand Foch, an important step in
the co-ordination of effort that met with universal approval among the
Allied nations.

GENERAL PERSHING OFFERS AID

A magnanimous offer by General Pershing, approved by President Wilson,
to brigade the United States troops in France with the British and
French forces, was gratefully accepted by General Foch. While the
Americans bore only a minor part in the big battles, or rather the
continuous battle of March and April on the Somme, and had no part at
all in the fighting in Flanders, they held splendidly to their section
of the front-line trenches in the vicinity of Toul, and gave the enemy a
taste of their quality in many a trench raid. Several attacks by German
storm troops were also beaten off, the most important of these occurring
late in April, when the Americans defeated a force of some 1,200 picked
Hun troops, driving them back to their own lines with a loss of 400,
while the total losses of the Americans was about 200.

GERMANY PREPARES TO STRIKE

The great German drive had been in course of preparation for months
before it began. The Russian situation had been settled, and large
bodies of troops were thereby released for service on the Western front.
The Kaiser and his general staff then determined upon a final effort
to win a decisive victory in the west. Their plan was to vanquish
the British and French, if possible, before the United States could
transport a sufficient number of men to France to turn the tide of
numbers in favor of the Allies, and enable them to take the offensive
with good prospects of success.

German troops were therefore concentrated near the points chosen for
attack, and this was done with the utmost secrecy, the troop trains
running unlighted at night, so as to escape the observation of Allied
aviators. Two hundred divisions in all were gathered for the German
drive, and fully half of them were assembled near the British front
on the Somme. March 21 was set as the date for the attack and every
precaution was taken to render it a surprise to the British. The German
troops were led to believe that they would be irresistible, and that
Paris, their long-looked-for goal, would soon be won.

Meanwhile the Allies had not been idle. Expecting the drive, but not
knowing where it would strike first, preparations had been made all
along the line, not merely for strenuous defense of the positions held,
but also for eventualities in case of enforced retreat. New positions
back of the lines were prepared, reserves were distributed at strategic
points, and full co-operation between the Allied armies was arranged
for. The British took over the section of the French front between St.
Quentin and Chauny, in addition to their former front, and by so doing
relieved the strain on the far-flung French line.

The Germans counted for victory upon their concentration of vast bodies
of troops and the element of surprise, hoping to break through between
the British and French armies before Allied reserves could be brought up
in sufficient numbers to halt them.

OPENING DATS OF THE BATTLE

On the day set, Thursday, March 21, the great battle opened, after a
six-hour bombardment, the British 3rd and 5th armies being attacked
simultaneously. The German infantry advanced in waves, of which there
seemed no end, and these were followed by batteries of trench mortars,
until the front line of German trenches had been reached. Then, wave
after wave, the advance was continued, in the face of a furious British
fire, until the defenders were compelled to draw back through sheer
force and weight of numbers. The German waves moved forward at the
calculated rate of 200 yards every four minutes, wherever it was found
possible to do so. Each wave, on reaching its objective point, dropped
to the ground and opened fire with rifles and machine guns, placing a
barrage 2,000 yards ahead of them, under cover of which the succeeding
wave advanced. Thus each wave passed over the one ahead of it, and fresh
troops were constantly coming to the front. With such tactics, against a
spirited and determined foe, the losses of the attackers were naturally
enormous. In fact, it was estimated that the casualties suffered by the
Germans during the first few days of such fighting amounted to 250,
men. But, driven on by ruthless commanders, they continued to advance in
masses, though mowed down by the British at every successive step.

"All the German storm troops, including the guards, were in brand-new
uniforms," said the correspondent of the New York Times. "They advanced
in dense masses and never faltered until shattered by the machine-gun
fire. The supporting waves advanced over the bodies of the dead and
wounded. The German commanders were ruthless in the sacrifice of life,
in the hope of overwhelming the defense by the sheer weight of numbers.
* * * Still they came on, with most fanatical courage of sacrifice.
When the first lines fell, their places were filled by others, and the
British guns and machine-guns could not kill them fast enough." Two
batteries of field artillery at Epehy, it is said, "fired steadily with
open sights (that is, pointblank) at four hundred yards for four hours,
into the German masses swarming over No Man's Land."

On the first day, some field batteries aided the Germans, but these were
soon left behind in the advance over difficult and shell-torn ground,
and the battle became one of rifle and machine-gun fire and hand-to-hand
combat.

On the north the British 3rd army made a splendid resistance and
held its ground well, but the 5th army farther south, which bore the
principal brunt of the attack, under General Gough, was gradually forced
to retreat, though in good order, in a northwesterly direction, towards
Amiens. French troops were ordered from the southwest to reinforce the
British in the vicinity of Noyon. There the French stemmed the tide of
Germans, and the drive was soon turned northward, with Amiens as its
evident objective.

ALLIED LINES BEGIN TO HOLD FIRM

The battle continued along these lines, with the British still slowly
retiring, with their faces to the foe, until the 26th of March, the
French stretching their lines farther and farther to the left to keep in
touch with the British, and never failing to maintain connection between
the two armies. The Germans' fond hope of cutting them apart was doomed
to disappointment. French and British cavalry aided in keeping the line
intact, and for the second time since the early days of the war the
horsemen came into their own, doing valiant service in covering the
retreat of the British and impeding the enemy's advance at many points
where their aid proved invaluable.

On March 27 and 28, the situation began to improve. British
reinforcements arrived at the points of greatest danger, and the defense
stiffened, then held the lines firmly before Amiens, and at a distance
from that threatened city sufficiently great to prevent its successful
bombardment by all but the heaviest artillery of the enemy. The
devastated and shell-torn condition of the terrain taken over by the
Germans was unfavorable for bringing up the great guns to within
striking distance. From that time on, the Allies were supremely
confident of their ability to cope with any forces.

While the Allied armies, especially the British, lost heavily in men and
guns during the Hun advance, many of the German divisions engaged in the
drive were literally cut to pieces. The 88th division was reported by
prisoners to be practically annihilated. The same prisoners, taken in
counter-attacks, expressed the utmost surprise at the relatively small
number of dead whom they had found in the British and French trenches
as they advanced. They had been informed by their officers that the
offensive would be over in eight days, and that a complete victory over
the Allies would be won within three or four weeks.

GERMAN DRIVE IS HALTED

The eighth day of the German offensive, far from finding the Huns
victorious, resulted in tremendous attacks by the Germans being stopped
by the unbeatable British, while the French won a brilliant victory at
the south of the line. Meanwhile the Germans had begun another attack in
the Flanders sector, with the object of wresting from the British the
control of Messines Ridge, which dominated the lowlands of Flanders and
had been so gallantly won by the Canadians in the previous year. They
gained a partial footing on the ridge, but the greater part of it was
grimly held, and all efforts of the enemy to advance through Ypres
towards the Channel ports were frustrated.

Another sector was added to the north end of the battle line on the
eighth day, March 28, when the Germans attacked heavily on both sides of
the River Scarpe toward Arras. Here some of the fiercest fighting of
the offensive soon developed, but the ground gained by the Germans was
insignificant. Daily, however, they claimed to have captured thousands
of Allied troops and hundreds of guns; while, on the other hand,
enormously long ambulance trains were reported passing through Belgium
with the German wounded, the hospitals in northern France not having
sufficient accommodation for the sufferers. On every battlefield of the
100-mile front--for the fighting now covered that enormous stretch of
territory, in two sections, north of La Bassee and south of Arras--the
German dead lay literally in heaps.

On March 29, the ninth day of the great battle in France, the German
drive was practically halted, and both British and French reports noted
a decrease of the fighting, enemy activity being manifested only by
local attacks all along the front, which was being strengthened each day
by the arrival of Allied reinforcements.

PARIS BOMBARDED AT LONG RANGE

Soon after the great offensive opened, the city of Paris was surprised
by being bombarded from a distance of approximately 70 miles by a new
German long-range gun, which was discovered by French airmen to be
concealed in a concrete tunnel in a wood behind the German lines, A
number of persons were killed and wounded by the nine-inch shells from
this new weapon, 54 women being killed when a shell struck a church in
the suburbs of the city on Good Friday. The Allied commanders refused to
regard the long-range gun as of any great military importance except
as a means of spreading terror among the civilian population,--and
the population of Paris refused to be terrorized by such a method,
exhibiting the same spirit as that of the people of England with regard
to the futile aerial raids.

French estimates of the German losses for the first eleven days of the
offensive placed them at between 275,000 and 300,000 men. The Germans
claimed that during the same period they had captured 70,000 prisoners
and 1,000 field guns.

ANOTHER ATTACK ON AMIENS

Having been foiled in an attempt on March 31 to break through the valley
of the Oise, Paris ceased to be the German objective, and another
offensive against Amiens was undertaken on April 4. By this time a
French army had repaired the ragged line between the French on the south
and the remainder of the British army of General Gough, whose enforced
retirement had been conducted in good order. Though outnumbered two to
one, the British and French repulsed the attack on Amiens with heavy
losses to the Germans, who were effectually stopped at a distance of
fifteen kilometers (nine miles) from that city. This ended the first
phase of the great battle.

BATTLE RENEWED IN THE NORTH

The second phase of the battle which was expected to prove decisive
began April 9 with an attack on the British, aided by Portuguese troops,
on a front of fifteen miles, from La Bassee to Ypres. The center, held
by three Portuguese divisions, was broken through, and on April 12 the
situation seemed critical. Determined counterattacks by the British,
however, and reinforcements by the French, stopped the Germans in the
next few days, and this offensive, like that farther south in the valley
of the Somme, gradually died out, leaving the Germans with gains of only
a few square miles of devastated territory to show for their continued
heavy losses. And the reserve forces of the Allies were still intact,
the strategy of General Foch in this respect being universally applauded
as correct under the circumstances.

SHELLS FIRED BY THE MILLION

In the beginning of the offensive which thus failed to accomplish its
object, the most desperate means were employed by the Germans to break
down resistance; In the first six hours of bombardment on March 21, when
three great German armies were massed for the attack, under Generals Von
Bulow, Von Marwitz, and Von Hutier, commanding from the north to south
in the order named, it is estimated that at least 1,500,000 shells were
fired by one single army--that opposed to General Gough's forces on the
south, while the British 3rd army, under General Byng, to the north, was
similarly assailed. Most of the shells contained gas and were designed
to destroy the occupants of the trenches about to be stormed. Only the
utmost individual valor and persistency of the thin British line, as it
retired still fighting, prevented the desperate and over-confident foe
from turning the gradual retreat into a decisive defeat. As it was,
the Germans paid dearly for every yard of ground they gained, as their
successive waves of troops swept over the zone of trenches and then
engaged the groups of Allied forces in the open beyond.

All the German units were under orders to advance as far and as fast as
possible, being provided with three days' rations and two days' water.
After the first few days, the difficulty of bringing up supplies, with
the expected objectives far from being gained, aided in slowing up and
then halting their advance. Behind the German storm troops great numbers
of reserves were assembled, to fill up the gaps torn in the ranks and
restore the divisions to their normal strength as fast as they were
depleted by the defense. The German tactics took no account of human
life, but expended it in the most reckless manner, with appalling
results throughout the drive. The Allies, on the other hand, sought at
all times to conserve their forces by intrenching as fast as possible at
every point during the period of their retirement. Their artillery was
constantly in action, and aided greatly in checking the German. advance.

ALLIES CONTROL IN THE AIR

German aeroplanes played no great part in the advance, although they
bombed the British and French rear nightly, and the air service of the
Allies proved superior throughout the battle. For the first time in a
great battle British and French airmen attacked the enemy infantry from
low altitudes with their machine guns and bombs, and rendered invaluable
assistance in damming the swelling tide of the Hun hordes. Having gained
the mastery of the air, as they did prior to the British drive on
the Somme in 1916, they retained it until the foe was halted. To a
considerable extent they replaced the heavy guns of the Allies by their
constant bombing and gun fire.

Between March 21 and March 31, the French and British pilots shot down
more than 100 German planes, losing about one-third of that number in
the air battles. After the first few clays there were practically no
German machines in the air over the fighting front, as was the case
on the Somme in 1916, but at the end of March the Hun planes began to
reappear in mass formation patrols, sometimes consisting of as many as
fifty planes in a group of patrols. Then followed a period of intense
air fighting, of which a single day's record of the French may be cited
as an example. On April 12, the Allied aviation report shows that French
fighting scouts made 250 flights, fought 120 combats in the sky, shot
down eight Germans and damaged 23 others, burned five enemy balloons,
damaged five more, and bombarded German troops with 45 tons of
explosives.

GERMANS FAIL IN THEIR OBJECT

The last part of the month of April was marked by a succession of minor
attacks by the Germans along the entire front of the halted offensive,
and by the development of counter-attacks by the Allies at various
points where it was deemed necessary or advisable to strengthen their
defensive positions, but up to May 1 the Germans were as far as ever
from their main objectives in the west. Judged from the standpoint of
their confident expectations, and the promises of success held out as
an encouragement to their troops, the long-heralded and long-prepared
spring offensive of 1918 was a failure. Their much-vaunted strength of
numbers and of organization failed as completely to gain a decisive
result as their initial drive on Paris in 1914. Though they threw into
the fighting in March and April about 125 divisions, they failed to
separate the French and British armies, which was a prime object of
their strategy, and they sustained losses which, while not irreparable,
must have greatly affected the morale of their men. "Remember Verdun!"
said a famous French commander, commenting on the drive. "The Boche is
making this tremendous effort and sustaining these losses to effect
a complete rupture of our front, and if he does not do that he has
failed."

BRITISH LOSSES MADE GOOD

On April 25 the British minister of munitions announced in the House
of Commons that the losses of guns and ammunition sustained by Field
Marshal Haig's forces in France and Flanders during the big German drive
had been more than replaced. The losses were placed by Mr. Winston
Spencer Churchill at nearly 1,000 guns, between 4,000 and 5,000 machine
guns, and a quantity of ammunition "requiring from one to three weeks to
manufacture." More than twice the number of guns lost or destroyed had
been placed at the disposal of the British air and ground services, said
the minister.

GERMANS START ANOTHER ATTACK

Another determined attack in the Somme region was begun by the Germans
on April 24, after three weeks' further preparation. The enemy evidently
had not abandoned hope of capturing Amiens, and, he again began
hammering at the gateway to that city. The first onslaught was repulsed
by the British, but on the following day, April 25, the enemy succeeded
in gaining about a mile of ground. The combined British and French
armies were covering the roads to Amiens, with reserves close at hand,
and part of General Pershing's American forces were co-operating with
the French. The utmost confidence prevailed that the united forces under
General Foch, who was called by Marshal Joffre "the greatest strategist
in Europe," would not only meet and defeat this renewed drive by the
enemy, but that before long the tide of battle would turn strongly in
favor of the Allies, whose reserve armies were held in leash by their
supreme commander, awaiting the strategic hour to strike.

BOTTLING UP U-BOAT BASES

One of the most thrilling exploits of the war occurred on the night of
April 22, 1918, when British naval forces performed an almost incredible
feat, by entering the harbors of Ostend and Zeebrugge, German submarine
bases, and practically bottling them up. French destroyers co-operated
with the British in the daring undertaking.

At midnight, under cover of a remarkably developed smoke screen,
furnished by the raiders themselves, five old British cruisers were run
aground in the harbor channels, blown up, and abandoned by their crews.
The ships were loaded with concrete. An old submarine, loaded with
explosives, was also run under a bridge connecting the mole, or
breakwater, at Zeebrugge with the shore, and there blown up, so as to
prevent interruption of the raiders while they were doing their work
alongside the mole.

Facing dangerous and unknown conditions of navigation, the harbor was
rushed by British monitors and destroyers, under heavy fire from the
shore batteries. A storming party of volunteers, sailors and marines,
was landed under extreme difficulties from the cruiser Vindictive. This
party boarded a German destroyer lying alongside the mole, defeated her
crew, and sank the ship. The concrete-laden vessels were duly sunk with
a view to blocking both harbors, and every gun on the mole at Zeebrugge
was destroyed. The effects of the raid were not easily ascertainable. It
was soon learned that the submarine base at Zeebrugge at least had been
put out of business for a while. The gallantry and daring of the deed
were generally recognized as fully in keeping with the best traditions
of the British navy. The loss of life was quite heavy, but the British
lost only one destroyer and two coastal motor boats, many of the raiders
returning safely to the other side of the Channel. Even the men on the
exploded submarine succeeded in escaping. The officer who planned the
raid, however, was among the killed.

GERMAN ATTACK ON YPRES FAILS

On Monday, April 29, the German 4th army under General von Arnim, having
gained possession of Mount Kemmel, a dominating position, began a
general assault on the British hill positions on the Kemmel front,
southwest of Ypres. The intention was to capture Ypres forthwith, by the
overwhelming power of numbers, and the day's fighting was a crucial test
of the holding power of the Allies in the Ypres salient. The result of
the attack was a stunning defeat for the enemy, who was repulsed all
along the line and suffered frightful losses.

In the words of a French general, "It was a great day for the Allies!"
The repulse of the German attack was a real defeat, for it upset all the
confident calculations of the enemy, who from the height of Mount Kemmel
had seen, first Ypres, and then channel ports, within his grasp. It
brought disappointment and disillusion to his troops, who had been urged
on to their disastrous massed attacks by flamboyant promises of success.
The effect was seen in a renewal of German peace propaganda, which all
the Allies had learned by this time to disregard as unworthy of the
slightest serious attention.

"Extraordinary nervousness and depression prevail in Germany, owing to
the losses in the western offensive," said Reuter's correspondent at
Amsterdam on April 29, quoting a German military writer, Capt. von
Salzmann, who said: "Our losses have been enormous. The offensive in
the west has arrived at a deadlock. The enemy is much stronger than our
supreme command assumed. The region before Ypres is a great lake, and
therefore impassable. The whole country between our Amiens front and
Paris is mined and will be blown up should we attempt to pass."

The preliminary bombardment southwest of Ypres April 29 started in the
early morning and took in the ten-mile front from Meteren, west of
Bailleul, to Voormezeele, two miles south of Ypres. Infantry attacks in
this area followed with great fury, and sanguinary fighting continued
all day. The Germans at the outset advanced with fixed bayonets, but
they came under such an intense machine-gun fire that most of them were
never able to employ the steel. The French at Locre and the British at
Voormezeele repulsed every attack, thrusting the enemy back whenever he
gained a footing in advanced positions, and firmly holding every point
around Ypres at the end of the day.

General von Arnim's losses were particularly staggering at Locre, where
he used battalion after battalion in a vain attempt to hold the village,
a key to Mount Rouge. The previous German capture of Mount Kemmel did
the enemy little good, for the Allied artillery kept the crest of the
hill so smothered with shell fire that it was impossible for the Huns to
occupy it in force.

The attack, which was the fourth great battle of Ypres, was the biggest
effort the Germans had made in the Flanders offensive, the enemy
employing thirty fresh battalions of reserves, in addition to the large
number of divisions in position at the beginning of the battle. The
net result was a tremendous setback for the Germans, who paid an awful
price. Next morning the battlefield in front of the defenders' positions
was covered with the bodies of gray-uniformed men.

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ACTION

American units were in action in Picardy, east of Amiens, on April 28,
having reinforced the British and French in that sector, to aid in
keeping the foe from Amiens and Paris. Their baptism of fire in the
direct line of the German offensive made their previous experiences pale
into the insignificance of skirmishes. During the various engagements in
which they participated in the last days of April and the first week of
May they acquitted themselves with great credit.

After a preliminary bombardment of two hours, a heavy German attack
was launched against the Americans in the afternoon of April 30 in the
vicinity of Villers-Bretonneux, and was repulsed with heavy losses to
the enemy, who left dead and wounded on the field, while the American
losses were reported as "rather severe." There was hand-to-hand fighting
all along the line, and the violent struggle lasted for a considerable
time before the enemy was finally thrust back, leaving prisoners in the
American hands. Their French comrades were full of praise for the marked
bravery displayed throughout by the American troops, who were fighting
at one of the most difficult points on the whole battle front.

U.S. TROOPS BUSHED TO PRANCE

As a result of the great German offensive movements and territorial
gains in the spring of 1918, there was a tremendous increase in the
military activities of the United States, particularly in rushing troops
to Europe. After the selection of General Foch as generalissimo of the
Allied forces, the American troops in the war zone were brigaded with
the French and British all the way from the North Sea to Switzerland,
and their numbers steadily increased.

In the United States the training of the new National Army, national
guards, and officers in the numerous cantonments and training camps was
intensified and hurried. As fast as the men were brought into condition
they were shipped to France. At first much of the space on the
transports was devoted to supplies and materials for the camps and
depots in France, but as the situation became critical owing to
successful enemy offensives, fewer supplies and more men were sent.
Great Britain lent her ships and the number of transports was largely
increased, so that each month of 1918 showed a greater movement of
troops across the Atlantic.

The troop movement record for the spring and summer months of 1918 was
a wonderful one, in view of the submarine menace. In April, 117,
American troops were successfully transported; in May, 244,345; in
June, 276,382, and in July 300,000, The month of August found more than
1,500,000 Americans in France, England and Italy. This immense number of
men were carried over without the loss of a single eastbound American
transport.

AN ARMY OF 5,000,000 PLANNED

On August 5, 1918, plans were announced for increasing the effective
strength of the United States army to 5,000,000 forthwith, by an
extension of the draft age limits and rapid intensive training. Official
statements showed that the armed forces of the United States already
amounted to a total of 3,074,572 men, including 2,570,780 in the army
and 503,792 in the navy. The national army at this date contained
1,400,000 men, the regular army 525,741, the national guard 434,511 and
the reserve corps 210,528. The regular navy had 219,158 men, the marine
corps 58,463, the coast guard 6,605, and the reserve 219,566. On June
of this year 744,865 men reaching the age of 21 since June 5, 1917, were
registered for selective draft purposes.

DEFEATING THE SUBMARINE DANGER

Meanwhile giant strides were taken in the American program of
shipbuilding to offset the ravages of submarine warfare. The U.S.
Shipping Board was reorganized and galvanized into a high state of
efficiency. Under the leadership of Charles M. Schwab, director-general
of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and Edward M. Hurley, chairman of
the board, the work in the shipyards on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts,
and on the Great Lakes, was speeded up until ships were being built at
the rate of 5,000,000 tons a year. In the first three weeks of July,
1918, twenty-three ships of 122,721 deadweight tons were completed,
making a total of 223 new vessels built under the direction of the board
up to that time, the aggregate tonnage being 1,415,022 tons. On July
alone eighty-two vessels were launched, their splash being "heard around
the world."

With the increased tonnage being put out by the British, French, and
Italian shipyards, and the output of neutral countries friendly to the
Allies, this practically put an end to the submarine peril. In addition
the United States requisitioned seventy-seven Dutch ships with an
aggregate tonnage of about 600,000, while arrangements were made with
Sweden for about 400,000 tons of shipping and contracts were let for the
building of a considerable number of ships in Japanese shipyards.

The knowledge that there were over a million American troops facing the
enemy on the battle fronts in Europe came as a decided shock to the
German army and people, who were forced to realize the failure of their
submarine campaign.

AMERICANS PROVE THEIR METTLE

After the American forces in France had their first serious encounter
with the Germans on April 20 at Seicheprey, a village near Renners
forest, which they recovered from the enemy in a gallant counter-attack,
the fighting was of a more or less local character throughout the rest
of the month and in May, with varying fortunes.

On May 27 the Germans began another great offensive, taking the Chemin
des Dames from the French and crossing the Aisne. On the following
day they crossed the Vesle river at Fismes. But on this day also the
Americans won their first notable victory, by capturing the village of
Cantigny and taking 200 prisoners. The United States marines added to
their laurels in this fight and held the position firmly against many
subsequent counter-attacks.

Continuing their drive toward Paris, the Germans occupied Soissons on
May 29, Fere-en-Tardenois May 30, and next day reached Chateau Thierry
and other points on the Marne, where they were halted by the French.

In the early days of June several towns and villages fell to the
Germans, but the French by counter-attacks recaptured Longpont, Corcy,
and some other places. On June 6 American marines by a spirited attack
gained two miles on a two and a half mile front, taking Hill 142 near
Torcy and entering Torcy itself. The following day, with French aid,
they completed the capture of Vilny, Belleau, and important heights
nearby. In another battle northwest of Chateau Thierry the Americans
advanced nearly two and a half miles on a six-mile front, taking about
300 prisoners.

These battles confirmed the impression that the American troops as
fighters were equal to their allies.

ANOTHER ENEMY OFFENSIVE

On June 9 the Germans began the fourth phase of their offensive, planned
by their high command to enforce peace. They attacked between Montdidier
and the Oise, advancing about four miles and taking several villages. On
the next day they claimed the capture of 8,000 French. The same day the
American marines took the greater part of Belleau Wood. On June 11 they
completed the capture of Belleau Wood, taking 300 prisoners, machine
guns and mortars. The French at the same time defeated the Germans
between Rubescourt and St. Maur, taking 1,000 prisoners. Other battles
followed on the 12th and 13th, but on the 14th the latest German
offensive was pronounced a costly failure.

From this time to the end of the month the fighting was of a less
serious character, though the Americans in the Belleau and Vaux region
gave the Germans no rest, attacking them continually and taking
prisoners at will.

JULY 4 CELEBRATED ABROAD

America's Independence day, 1918, was officially celebrated in England,
France, and Italy, as well as in the United States, making it a truly
historic occasion. On that day Americans assisted the Australians in
taking Hamel with many prisoners. On the 8th and 9th the French advanced
in the region of Longpont and northwest of Compiegne, taking Castel and
other strong points near the west bank of the Avre river. July 14, the
French national holiday, was generally observed in America and by the
American soldiers in France. Then, on July 15, the Germans began the
fifth and disastrous last phase of the offensive which they started in
the spring, on March 21.

STINGING DEFEAT FOR AUSTRIA

But Italy meanwhile had scored a great success against the Austrians.
French and British regiments, with some Americans, were helping to hold
the Italian line when, on June 15, the Austrians, driven by their German
masters, began an offensive along a 100-mile front, crossing the Piave
river in several places. For two days they continued violent attacks,
penetrating to within 20 miles of Venice, at Capo Silo. Then the
Italians, British, and French counter-attacked with great vigor and soon
turned the Austrian offensive into a great rout, killing thousands,
taking other thousands prisoner, and capturing a vast amount of war
material, including many of the Austrian heavy-caliber guns. The entire
Austrian, plan to advance into the rich Italian plains, where they hoped
to find great stores of food for their hungry soldiers, resulted in
miserable failure.

The defeat increased the discontent in Austria-Hungary and added to the
bad feeling entertained towards Germany. Peace feelers were thrown out
by Austrian statesmen, but the continued influence of German militarism
prevented them from receiving serious attention by the Allies.

A WATERLOO FOR THE CROWN PRINCE

When the German divisions of the Crown Prince of Prussia began their
last desperate offensive on July 15, they attacked from Chateau Thierry
on the west to Massiges, along a 65-mile front, crossing the Marne at
several places.

East and west of Reims the battle raged, with the Allies holding
strongly everywhere and the Germans suffering heavy losses. The enemy
aimed at Chalons and Epernay and hoped by turning the French flank at
Reims to capture the cathedral city without a direct assault upon its
formidable defenses. General Gouraud, the hero of Gallipoli, was in
command of the French forces on the right, while General Mangin and
General de Goutte held the left. Most of the Americans taking part in
the battle were under the command of these noted generals, and strong
Italian and British forces were with General Gouraud's army. The French
constituted about 70 per cent of the Allies engaged.

GENERAL FOCH STRIKES

In a single day the German offensive was effectually blocked at the
Marne. Despite the enemy's utmost efforts he could make no further
advance.

Then Foch, the great French strategist and Allied generalissimo, struck
the blow for which he had patiently bided his time!

Apparently having advance information of the German plans, or perhaps
surmising them, General Foch had been preparing a surprise for the Crown
Prince. In the forest of Villers-Cotterets on the German right flank,
he had quietly massed large forces, including some of the best French
regiments, together with the foreign legion, Moroccan and other crack
troops, and many Americans. Everything possible had been done to keep
these troop movements secret from the enemy.

On Thursday morning, July 18, 1918, a heavy attack was launched in force
at the Germans under General von Boehm all along the line from Chateau
Thierry on the Marne to the Aisne river northwest of Soissons.

The Germans were taken completely by surprise, and town after town was
captured from them with comparatively slight resistance. When the first
shock of surprise was over, their resistance stiffened, but the Allies
continued to advance. Mounted cavalry were once more used to assist the
infantry in the open, while tanks in large numbers were used to clear
out enemy machine-gun nests.

The American troops, fighting side by side with the French, did their
work in a manner to excite the admiration of their allies, and acquitted
themselves like veterans. Thousands of prisoners were taken, with large
numbers of heavy guns and great stores of ammunition, besides thousands
of machine guns, many of which were turned against the enemy. The
strategy of General Foch received world-wide applause. His master stroke
met with immediate success.

By the 20th of July Soissons was threatened by the Allies. The Germans,
finding themselves caught in a dangerous salient and attacked fiercely
on both flanks, hurriedly retreated to the north bank of the Marne and
were rapidly pressed back farther. Their condition was critical and the
German Crown Prince was obliged to call for assistance from Crown Prince
Rupprecht of Bavaria, commanding in the north. Taking advantage of this,
the British and French in the north made frequent attacks, gaining
ground and taking prisoners at numerous points.

For ten days the Allies continued their victorious progress on both
sides of the Soissons-Reims salient, the Germans continuing to retire
under strong pressure. They were forced back to the Oureq river, then
to the Vesle, where they made a determined stand. Fere-en-Tardenois and
Fismes fell into the hands of the victorious French and Americans, the
latter gaining a notable victory in the occupation of Fismes over the
vaunted Prussian guards, who had been brought up to endeavor to stay
their progress. The first week of August saw most of the Reims salient
wiped out by the German retreat, while rear-guard actions were being
fought along the Vesle as the Germans sought defensive positions farther
in the rear.

The prisoners captured by the Allies in their drive up to that time
numbered more than 35,000 and more than 700 heavy guns also fell into
their possession, with immense quantities of ammunition and stores. The
Germans, however, succeeded in destroying many of the ammunition dumps
and vast supplies which had been stored in the salient for their
expected drive on Paris.

As they retired the Germans burned many of the occupied French villages,
pursuing their usual policy. As many as forty fires were observed on the
horizon at one time as the Allies advanced.

Soissons was retaken on August 2, and the valley of the Crise was
crossed by the Allies, who dominated the plains in the German rear with
their big guns.

The German losses in the great battle and retreat from the Marne were
variously estimated at from 120,000 to 200,000. General von Boehm
avoided a first-class disaster, but his defeat was a serious one and had
far-reaching moral consequences among the enemy.

It was estimated that from the beginning of their offensive in March,
the German armies lost more than 1,000,000 men in killed, wounded and
prisoners. The Austrians in their ill-fated offensive of 1918 lost more
than 250,000 men.

FOCH A MARSHAL OF FRANCE

On August 6 General Ferdinand Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied
forces, was elevated by the French council of ministers to the rank of a
Marshal of France. In presenting his name Premier Clemenceau said:

"At the hour when the enemy, by a formidable offensive, counted on
snatching the decision and imposing a German peace upon us, General
Foch and his admirable troops vanquished him. Paris is not in danger,
Soissons and Chateau Thierry have been reconquered, and more than
villages have been delivered. The glorious Allied armies have thrown the
enemy from the banks of the Marne to the Aisne."

AMERICANS AT FISMES

The American troops covered themselves with glory at many points in the
Allied drive, notably in the hand-to-hand fighting in the streets of
Fismes on August 4, when they captured that German base. The fighting
was said to have been the bitterest of the whole war, the Prussian
guards asking no quarter and being bayoneted or clubbed to death as they
stood by their machine guns.

BRITISH VICTORY IN THE NORTH

On the Amiens front, in Picardy, the British Fourth Army, under General
Rawlinson, and the French First Army, under General Debentry, stormed
the German positions on August 8 on a front of over 20 miles, capturing
14,000 prisoners and 150 guns, and making an advance of over seven
miles.

ALLIED GAINS IN PICARDY

Before the Germans had time to recover from the surprise of Marshal
Foch's attack on the Marne, and while they were still retreating to
the Vesle, the Allies delivered another heavy blow, this time on the
Albert-Montdidier front in Picardy. Here the British and French suddenly
attacked in force on the morning of August 8, stormed the enemy
positions along a thirty-mile front and on the first day of the attack
penetrated to a depth of seven miles.

For several days the enemy retreated, closely pursued by allied cavalry
and tanks, which for the first time fought in a combination that proved
irresistible. The tanks used were of a new small variety, known as
"whippets," which rapidly wiped out the machine-gun nests with which the
enemy sought to stem the tide of the victorious onrush. Some American
troops fought with the British in their advance and gained high praise
from the Allied commanders.

By August 15 the total number of prisoners captured by the British
Fourth Army, under General Rawlinson, was 21,844. In the same period of
one week the prisoners taken by the French First Army amounted to 8,500,
making a total of 30,344 Germans captured in the operations of the
Allied armies on the Montdidier-Albert front, besides 700 heavy guns,
quantities of machine guns, and other important spoils of war.

North of the Somme, between Albert and Arras, the Germans continued to
fall back to the old Hindenburg line, where there were strong defensive
positions, with the British and French keeping in close touch with
their retreat. On August 15 they had definitely given up the towns of
Beaumont-Hamel, Serre, Bucquoy, and Puisieux-au-Mont, and at several
points had crossed the Ancre river.

Field Marshal Haig announced that the proportion of German losses to
those of the Allies in the Picardy offensive were greater than at any
other period of the war. The total Allied casualties were not as large
as the number of Germans taken prisoner.

JOY IN AMIENS AND PARIS

One important result of the British drive was that Amiens, the "dead
city of Picardy," began to come to life again. Its population of
150,000, including 40,000 refugees, had fled before the German offensive
in March, 1918, but the former inhabitants began to return when the
menace of the invader disappeared, as the invader himself was chased
back toward the Somme. A service of thanks to the Allied arms was held
in the Great Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens, August 15. Despite the
damage from German guns and bombs, the cathedral retained the title of
the most beautiful in all France.

The city of Paris, at the same time, quietly celebrated the great change
in the situation wrought in one short month. Just four weeks before, on
July 18, the residents of Paris had been awakened by the sounds of such
a cannonade as they never had heard before. It was General Mangin's
counter-preparation against the great German attack which the enemy
believed was to bring him to the gates of Paris. In the meantime the
Germans, who were at the gates of Amiens, Reims, and Compiegne, had been
soundly beaten and outgeneraled at every point, and the initiative had
been forced from them by the military genius of Marshal Foch. The effect
upon the Germans was apparent from the fact that General Hans von Boehm,
the German "retreat specialist" had been appointed to the supreme
command on the Somme front. The German withdrawal north of Albert was
looked upon as the first application of his tactics. It was General von
Boehm and his former command, the German Eighth Army, that stood the
brunt of the Allied pressure in the Marne salient previous to the
retreat of the Huns to the north of the Vesle river, where they were
still standing in the middle of August.

BOLSHEVIKI EXECUTE EX-CZAR

Former Czar Nicholas of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviki in July,
1918, having been held as a prisoner since his dethronement.

[Illustration: BATTLE LINE ON THE WESTERN FRONT AUGUST 21,

Shaded portions of map show territory gained by American and Allied
troops during July and August, 1918. Most of the territory gained by
the Germans in their 1918 offensive was recaptured by the Allies before
September 1, 1918.]




CHAPTER III

AMERICANS AT CHATEAU THIERRY

  _Personal Accounts of Battle--Gas and Shell Shock--Marines Under
  Fire--Americans Can Fight and Yell--Getting to the Front
  Under Difficulties--The Big Day Dawns--The Shells Come
  Fast--A Funeral at the Front--_Impression of a French Lieutenant--
  Keeping the Germans on the Run._

The name of Chateau Thierry will be long remembered in the United
States, for it was there the American fighting quality was for the first
time clearly impressed upon the Germans, to their immense astonishment,
and with far-reaching effect. The German people and the German army had
been told that the United States had no army, navy, or fighting quality;
that the talk of an American army in Europe was "Yankee bluff," and
nothing more; that even if we could raise an army we could not send it
across the ocean, first because we had no ships, second because if we
had ships the submarines of Germany would surely sink them. Yet here at
Chateau Thierry they were confronted by United States troops and soundly
beaten.

That effect upon the Germans was in itself of tremendous significance;
but the historic effect was greater, and will grow in importance with
the passage of time, for it is a fact, unperceived by onlooking nations
at the moment, that it was the turning point of the war; and that the
turning was accomplished by troops of a nation that hated war and was
supposed to be incapable of military development; and that these troops
had met and whipped the choicest troops of a power that above all things
was military, that had assumed proprietary rights in the art of war, and
believed itself invincible.

Late in February, 1918, General Ludendorff had told a Berlin newspaper
correspondent that on the first of April he would be in Paris. It was
inconceivable to the Germans that with the thorough preparation of a
mighty army for an offensive that by sheer weight of numbers should
drive through an opposition twenty times as strong as that which then
confronted them, they could not with ease push in between the French
and British forces, thrust straight through to Paris (as a spectacular
performance rather than a vital military operation), and then walk over
to the channel ports of France and bring both France and England to a
plea for mercy.

From the 21st of March until along in May, 1918, it looked as though
they might succeed. That is, to anyone unaware of the strategy of
Marshal Foch, who sold terrain by the foot for awful prices in German
lives, and held an unbroken front until such time as American forces
could be brought into action, instead of wearing out his reserves and
weakening his power for an offensive.

Unity of command had been accomplished by that time at the urgent demand
of the United States Government. Foch had saved France and the world at
the first battle of the Marne. Being given supreme authority over all
the allied forces, as soon as the arrival of American troops in great
numbers had been thoroughly established, he was ready; and the offensive
passed from German to allied hands.

The tremendous German drive, which Ludendorff had confidently promised
the German people would bring a smashing and decisive victory, was
stopped. Retrocession began. On the Marne again, in July, 1918, in the
sector held by Americans an action began at Chateau Thierry which
forced the German retreat that in a few weeks was to shake the heart of
Germany, scare out Bulgaria, Austria and Turkey, in the early autumn
bring Germany to a plea for peace, send Ludendorff himself into
retirement, dethrone the Kaiser, do away with the imperial form of
government, set up a republic, and create conditions that would quash
for all time the power of Prussia to disturb a decent world.

Floyd Gibbons, correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, a noncombatant who
wanted to see the combat he was there to report, was in that memorable
action. He lost his left eye there, and was otherwise severely
shattered, but he got his story through. His home paper some months
afterward gave Gibbons well earned credit for that contribution to
current history. It said he "helped to put the Marines where they belong
in the war's history, for he was with them in their early exploits and
fell in one of their battles. Six thousand out of 8,000 engaged was
their toll. They fought with the French through Belleau Wood, heartening
the brave, tired, discouraged poilus, and after they came out upon the
other side the name of the battlefield was changed to the 'Wood of the
American Marines.' Mr. Gibbons says that when Marshal Foch began his
great offensive, which in cosmic importance is second only to creation,
he selected the units in which he had the most faith. These units were
chosen not because they were braver nor more sacrificial, but because
they knew. They were the Foreign Legion of France, two divisions of
American Regulars, and the United States Marines."

From that day there was no change in the favorable fortunes of war on
the western front.

AMERICANS CAN FIGHT AND YELL

An eyewitness of the first days of the Chateau Thierry battle thus
describes the capture of the Beauleau wood:

"The Americans moved stealthily with fixed bayonet until they got into
the edge of the woods and atop of the German machine gun-tiers. Then
the farm boys cheered, and the lumberjacks shouted, and the Indians
yelled. They were where they could mix it at close range with the Boche,
and that was what they wanted.

"Their yells could be heard a mile away. They were up against two of the
Kaiser's redoubtable divisions, the Two Hundredth Jaegers and the Two
Hundred and Sixteenth reserve division. They fought with vim and joy.

"They had lost comrades at the hands of the Germans and now were to
avenge them. No quarter was asked or expected. The Germans had orders to
fight to the death and the Americans needed no such order.

"Without much artillery on either side and without gas, the Americans
fought the Germans through that woods, four kilometers (nearly three
miles) long, for six hours. At last we got through and took up a
position across the northern end of the woods.

"Perhaps the most sensational part of the fight was when about
Germans got around behind our men. They were chased into a clearing,
where the Americans went at them from all sides with the bayonet, and I
am told that three prisoners were all that were left of the Germans."

"How did you do it?" inquired a dazed Prussian officer, taken prisoner
at Chateau Thierry by an American soldier. "We are storm troops."

"Storm hell!" said the American. "I come from Kansas, where we have
cyclones."

That was and is the idea. This spirit enabled American soldiers to go
wherever they wanted to go. A European officer on observation duty
with the United States force at Chateau Thierry wanted to know how our
soldiers got through as they did.

"They seem to have been trained somewhere," he said, "for they fight all
right. But that doesn't explain to me the way they keep going."

The American officer with whom he was talking gave this explanation:

"They were thoroughly trained in our camps at home in all but one thing.
They were not trained to stop going."

It was a splendid exhibition, the first of many of its kind.


A PERSONAL ACCOUNT

The following is one of hundreds of thrilling experience stories that
could be told by officers and men who fought at that front.

Details of the participation of the United States Marines in the
counter-attack of the allies against German forces on the Marne, July
18, are given in a letter written shortly afterward by Major Robert L.
Denig, of the United States Marines, to his wife, in Philadelphia,
and which had been forwarded to Washington for the historical files of
the Marine Corps.

It is the best and truest form of war history, and important in that
it gives details of action during those July days when American troops
stopped the German drive.

It also establishes the fact that the Marines who helped stop the German
drive on Paris at Belleau wood early in June were honored by being
brought from this wood to Vierzy and Tigny, near Soissons, for
participation with a crack French division in the great counter-attack
which started the disintegration of the German front in the west.

Names that became familiar through the fighting in Belleau wood are
mentioned in Major Denig's letter as being prominent in the allied
counter-attack--Lieut. Col. Thomas Holcomb, Lieut. Col. Benton W.
Sibley, Lieut. Col. John A. Hughes, Capt Pere Wilmer and others who took
a prominent part in the fighting. The letter in substance follows:

"We took our positions at various places to wait for camions that were
to take us somewhere in France, when or for what purpose we did not
know. Our turn to enbus came near midnight.

GETTING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES

"We at last got under way after a few big 'sea bags' had hit near by.
We went at a good clip and nearly got ditched in a couple of new shell
holes. Shells were falling fast by now and as the tenth truck went
under the bridge a big one landed near with a crash and wounded the two
drivers, killed two Marines and wounded five more.

"We did not know it at the time and did not notice anything wrong till
we came to a crossroad, when we found we had only eleven cars all told.
We found the rest of the convoy after a hunt, but even then were not
told of the loss, and did not find it out till the next day.

"After twelve hours' ride we were dumped in a big field, and after a
few hours' rest started our march. It was hot as hades and we had had
nothing to eat since the day before. We at last entered a forest; troops
seemed to converge on it from all points. We marched some six miles in
the forest. A finer one I have never seen--deer would scamper ahead and
we could have eaten one raw.

"At 10 that night, without food, we lay down in a pouring rain to sleep.
Troops of all kinds passed us in the night--a shadowy stream, more than
a half-million men. Some French officers told us that they had never
seen such concentration since Verdun, if then.

THE BIG DAY DAWNS

"The next day, July 18, we marched ahead through a jam of troops,
trucks, etc., and came at last to a ration dump, where we fell to and
ate our heads off for the first time in nearly two days. When we left
there the men had bread stuck on their bayonets. I lugged a ham. All
were loaded down.

"We finally stopped at the far end of the forest, nearing a dressing
station. This station had been a big, fine stone farmhouse, but was now
a complete ruin--wounded and dead lay all about. Joe Murray came by with
his head all done up--his helmet had saved him. The lines had gone on
ahead, so we were quite safe.

"Late in the afternoon we advanced again. Our route lay over an open
field covered with dead.

"We lay down on a hillside for the night near some captured German guns,
and until dark I watched the cavalry, some 4,000, come up and take
positions.

"At 3:30 the next morning the regiment was soon under way to attack. We
picked our way under cover of a gas infected valley to a town where we
got our final instructions and left our packs.

GAS AND SHELL SHOCK

"We formed up in a sunken road on two sides of a valley that was
perpendicular to the enemy's front. We now began to get a few wounded;
one man with ashen face came charging to the rear with shell shock. He
shook all over, foamed at the mouth, could not speak. I put him under a
tent and he acted as if he had a fit.

MARINES ADVANCE UNDER FIRE

"At 8:30 we jumped off with a line of tanks in the lead. For two 'kilos'
the four lines of Marines were as straight as a die, and their advance
over the open plain in the bright sunlight was a picture I shall never
forget. The fire got hotter and hotter, men fell, bullets sung, shells
whizzed-banged and the dust of battle got thick.

"Lieut. Overton was hit by a big piece of shell and fell. Afterwards
I heard he was hit in the heart. He was buried that night and the pin
found, which he had asked to have sent to his wife.

"A man near me was cut in two. Others when hit would stand, it seemed,
an hour, then fall in a heap. I yelled to Wilmer that each gun in the
barrage worked from right to left, then a rabbit ran ahead and I watched
him, wondering if he would get hit. Good rabbit--it took my mind off the
carnage.

"About sixty Germans jumped up out of a trench and tried to surrender,
but their machine guns opened up, we fired back, they ran and our left
company after them. That made a gap that had to be filled, so Sibley
advanced one of his to do the job, then a shell lit in a machine gun
crew of ours and cleaned it out completely.

DIGGING IN

"At 10:30 we dug in--the attack just died out, I found a hole or old
trench and when I was flat on my back I got some protection Holcomb
was next me; Wilmer some way off. We then tried to get reports. Two
companies we never could get in touch with. Lloyd came in and reported
he was holding some trenches near a mill with six men.

"Gates, with his trousers blown off, said he had sixteen men of various
companies; another officer on the right reported he had and could see
some forty men, all told. That, with the headquarters, was all we could
find out about the battalion of nearly 800. Of the twenty company
officers who went in, three came out, and one, Cates, was slightly
wounded.

THE SHELLS COME FAST

"From then on to about 8 p. m. life was a chance and mighty
uncomfortable. It was hot as a furnace, no water, and they had our range
to a 'T.' Three men lying in a shallow trench near me were blown to
bits.

"You could hear men calling for help in the wheat fields. Their cries
would get weaker and weaker and die out. The German planes were thick in
the air; they were in groups of from three to twenty. They would look us
over and then we would get a pounding.

"We had a machine gun officer with us, and at 6 o'clock a runner came
up and reported that Sumner was killed. He commanded the machine gun
company with us. He was hit early in the fight, by a bullet, I hear. At
the start he remarked: 'This looks easy; they do not seem to have much
art.'

"Well, we just lay there all through the hot afternoon.

"It was great--a shell would land near by and you would bounce in your
hole.

"As twilight came we sent out water parties for the relief of the
wounded. At 9 o'clock we got a message congratulating us, and saying the
Algerians would take us over at midnight. We then began to collect our
wounded. Some had been evacuated during the day, but at that, we soon
had about twenty on the field near us.

"A man who had been blinded wanted me to hold his hand. Another, wounded
in the back, wanted his head patted; and so it went; one man got up on
his hands and knees; I asked him what he wanted. He said: 'Look at the
full moon,' then fell dead. I had him buried, and all the rest I could
find.

"The Algerians came up at midnight and we pushed out. They went over at
daybreak and got all shot up. We made the relief under German flares and
the light from a burning town.

"We went out as we came, through the gully and town, the latter by now
all in ruins. The place was full of gas. We pushed on to the forest and
fell down in our tracks and slept all day.

A FUNERAL, AT THE FRONT

"That night the Germans shelled us and got three killed and seventeen
wounded. We move a bit farther back to the cross road and after burying
a few Germans, some of whom showed signs of having been wounded before,
we settled down to a short stay.

"It looked like rain, and so Wilmer and I went to an old dressing
station to salvage some cover. We were about to go when we stopped to
look at a new grave. A rude cross made of two slats from a box had
written on it:

"Lester S. Wass, Captain U. S. Marines. July 18, 1918."

"The old crowd at St. Nazaire and Bordeaux--Wass and Sumner killed,
Baston and Capt. LeRoy T. Hunt wounded. We then moved further to the
rear and camped for the night. Dunlap came to look us over. A carrier
pigeon perched on a tree with a message. We decided to shoot him. It was
then quite dark, so the shot missed. I then heard the following remarks
as I tried to sleep: 'Hell! he only turned around!' 'Send up a flare!'
'Call for a barrage!' etc.

"The next day we were back in a town for some rest and to lick our
wounds."

IMPRESSION OF A FRENCH LIEUTENANT

A French lieutenant thus describes the American fighting quality:

"The finest thing in the combat was the dash of the Americans. It was
splendid to see those grand fellows, with their tunics thrown off and
their shirt sleeves rolled up above their elbows, wading the rivers with
the water to their shoulders and throwing themselves on the Boche like
bulldogs.

"Any one who has seen such a sight knows what the American army is good
for henceforth and to the end of the war. At the sight of these men,
magnificent in their youth, physical force, good temper and dash, the
Germans fled 'with every leg' or surrendered without awaiting the order
to throw away their arms and take off their suspenders, which is the
first thing a prisoner is told to do, in order that he may be compelled
to keep his hands employed and out of mischief.

"The Germans hurried toward our lines gripping their trousers, haggard
and mad with terror.

"Would that every mother in France who has lost a son in the war could
have seen that epic sight. They would have seen themselves revenged, and
it would have been some consolation to them in their sorrow."

KEEPING THE GERMANS ON THE RUN

The trench deadlock in northern France and Belgium was broken by
Ludendorff's fatuous drive in March, 1918. After the allies had stopped
it and inaugurated their counter-offensive all Europe made a startling
discovery. The Germans were tenacious enough in trench warfare; in
open fighting, known as war of maneouvre, they could not stand before
American and the allied troops. Incessant attacks, rapidly delivered at
the same time at many points on the long line between the North Sea and
the Swiss border, were more than they could withstand. The mechanically
trained troops of the central empires were futile before armies of men
who did their own thinking and delighted in fighting an enemy they could
see from the feet up. German armies had twice been almost at the gates
of Paris. The first time they were driven back they dug themselves in.
That was in 1915. The second time, in the spring of 1918, they were
allowed no time for digging in. From the July days of 1918, when
American soldiers at Chateau Thierry beat the best troops that ever
were trained in Prussia, they were kept going. How industriously may be
inferred from the story of the young corporal who was sitting on the
roadside trying to tie the soles of his shoes to the uppers, in a hurry.
Somebody asked him what was the matter.

"O, nothing much," said he. "Only I came over here to kill Germans, but
they never told me I'd have to run 'em to death."

A STRANGER TO HIS OWN CHILD

There never was a war so prolific of personal incident in every shade of
experience possible to human life. The devastated provinces of France
offer perhaps more of these happenings than any other part of the
steel-swept, shell-wrecked fronts of all Europe. An Associated Press
correspondent tells one that is especially touching.

He was motoring toward Denaen, one of the cities the Germans had
occupied through four hard years, when a French officer going in the
same direction asked him for a lift, explaining that he had lived there
but had neither seen nor heard from his wife during all that time.

Entering the city and turning into his street the officer saw the first
house was in ruins. He gave a nervous start. A few doors farther on was
his home. The officer climbed out with an effort, his eyes fixed on the
place.

There was no sign of life. The windows were shuttered and on the door
was a sign showing German officers had been living there. The officer
pulled the bell with shaking hand. No one answered. He backed away like
a man in a trance and leaned against the car, trembling.

Suddenly the door opened and an aged servant appeared, leading a
beautiful baby girl with a wealth of golden curls. The officer took one
step toward the child and halted. He was a stranger to his own flesh and
blood. The child hid behind the nurse, peering out in fright.

The half blind eyes of the old nurse had recognized her master and she
held out her hands, repeating, "Monsieur! Monsieur!" in ecstasy. He
crossed the road and grasped her hands, but the baby drew back.

A door opened end a comely young matron came to see what was going on.
She caught sight of her husband, then stopped. Her hands flew to her
breast. She swayed for a second. With a sob of joy she hurled herself
into his arms.

The correspondent moved away. And thus they were left, the nurse beaming
on the happy couple and the curly headed youngster looking with troubled
eyes at this strong man who had appropriated her mother so completely
without a word.

WHAT PERSHING THOUGHT OF HIS YANKS

An American newspaper man who returned from Europe about the time
hostilities ceased was informed that General Pershing suggested to
Marshal Foch in June 1918, that he thought it bad policy to stick around
waiting for the boche and that he felt the time had come to jump in and
attack--"But" he was told, "we have not got the troops."

"Whats the matter with the Americans?" Pershing asked.

"They are not yet trained" was Foch's reply.

"Try them and see" said General Pershing. "They will go, anywhere you
send them, and I will bet my life on it."

Pershing took the initiative in urging the offensive, supplied the
troops that gave Foch his mobile reserve enabling him to strike his
blow, and those American troops "delivered the goods."

HEALTH OF ARMY SURPRISING

Official reports to the war department show that the general health of
the American army during the war had been surprisingly good. The death
rate for all forces at home and abroad up to August 30th, 1918, was 5.
per 1,000 men per year, or little more than the civilian death rate for
men of the same age groups.

There were 316,000 cases of influenza among the troops in the United
States during the late summer and fall of 1918 and of 20,500 deaths,
between September 14th and November 8th, 19,800 were ascribed to the
epidemic.

ARMY REACHED TOTAL OF 3,664

An official report shows that on the day the Armistice was signed more
than twenty-five per cent of the male population of the United States
between the ages of 19 and 31 years, were in military service, the army
having reached a total of 3,664,000, with more than 2,000,000 of this
number in Europe. As compared with an army strength of 189,674 in March
1917, one week before war was declared by the United States.




CHAPTER IV.


AMERICAN VICTORY AT ST. MIHIEL

  _First Major Action by All American Army--Stories to Folks at
  Home--Huns Carry Off Captive Women--Hell Has Cut Loose--
  Major Tells His Story--Enormous Numbers of Guns and Tanks--
  Over the Top at 5:30 A. M.--Texas and Oklahoma Troops Fight
  in True Ranger Style--Our Colored Boys Win Credit._

The first major action by an all American army was that which began
before the St. Mihiel salient September 11, 1918. The Germans had
occupied that salient almost four years, and had built it into what they
believed to be an impregnable position. The Americans, under direct
command of General Pershing, reduced it in a three days' advance.

The salient was a huge bulge, almost twenty miles in depth, turning
southwest from Combres at the north base and Hattonville at the south
and looping down around the towns of St. Mihiel and Ailly. It was
powerfully held by masses of enemy troops.

General Pershing's army attacked from the west, south and east all the
way from Bouzee to Norroy, and by September 13th had pushed it back to a
straight line drawn from Combres to Hattonville. The French attacked at
Ailly, the apex of the salient as it was on September 11.

The entire operation was conducted with rapidity and with irresistible
energy. The dash and enthusiasm of the American soldiers astonished
and delighted the French and British as completely as it staggered the
Germans.

By September 13th the Americans had taken forty-seven towns and
villages, reduced the German front from forty miles to twenty, captured
the railway that connects Verdun with Commercy, opened the cities of
Nancy and Toul to the allies, and with the French and British on the
east, created a new battle front on a line running from Hattonville on
the west to Pagny on the east--Pagny being a town on the Moselle river,
at the German border.

The importance of this victory could hardly be overestimated. It opened
the way to and was followed up by the demolition of the whole German
line from the Swiss border to the North Sea, and hastened the great
German retreat. In the action itself, September 11 to 13, about 15,
Germans were taken prisoner by the Americans.

STORIES TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME

Sidelight stories of what happened in the St. Mihiel fight, mostly in
letters written home by men who were in it, go far toward showing how
completely the Germans were taken off their guard. Corp. Ray Fick of the
103d Infantry wrote home in this wise:

"We got into the woods and then kept on going until we reached a big
city where there was a brewery, but they had set fire to the whole city
before they left. We got some beer and wine just the same. It was a
little stale, but it was fine. The Huns' warehouses were all fixed for
the winter and the boys got cigars and cigarettes, but I was a little
too late to get in on it.

"The whole thing was very interesting all the way through. The Huns sure
did make themselves scarce in a hurry, but they kept many prisoners, a
troop train and an ammunition train.

"Cigarettes are scarce and we look for smokes all the time. The Red
Cross and the Salvation Army are the ones who look to our comforts. If
any one wants to give, tell them the Red Cross and the Salvation Army
are the ones to get it."

HUNS CARRY OFF CAPTIVE WOMEN

But Corporal Fick uncovers another Hun procedure that has no fun in it.
While the Huns lost no time in getting away from there, they took care
to carry off their captured women slaves.

"The women they have held captives for the last four years," he writes,
"were driven ahead of them, but they were brought back by the Americans.
Truckload after truckload passed us on the way, and they sure were happy
to be free again."

"HELL HAS CUT LOOSE"

Another soldier wrote to his father telling about the first day of
attack as he saw it:

"Hell has let loose. The woods are a mass of whistling shell and
shrapnel. Every time the big twelves go off the flash lights up the
entire camp like a flashlight picture, then the ground heaves and
tumbles like old Lake Michigan does on a stormy day.

"The infantry have cleared the top and have gone on far in advance,
almost outside of the range of fire. Our big objective has been wiped
off the map and our men are preparing to keep right on going after them
and backing up the doughboys who are doing such great work.

"I went up to the front last night on an ammunition caisson (which is
the only way to get up there) and saw the thing commence. It started
with one solitary gun of ours (a big one, too). Then the others joined
in on the chorus, and it has been steady ever since.

"When the doughboys were told that they were going over the top at the
zero hour, you never heard shouting to equal it; the Board of Trade on a
Monday morning was just a whisper in comparison.

"Dad, that is the general feeling of our boys over here--always waiting
to move up. I told a lad in one of the outfits that the artillery was
right back of them and would blow them through to the objective if they
did not make it, and he laughed and said, 'Hoboken by Christmas.' They
were all in the best of mood and roaring to go."

These letters are good specimens of the thousands that have come over
the sea. They not only give good sidelights on an event that will loom
large in history, but they show the indomitable cheer and high spirit of
our soldiers.

MAJOR TELLS HIS STORY

Concurrently with the action that originated at St. Mihiel on September
11, 1918, another great battle developed northwest of Verdun. It lasted
about three weeks, and is graphically described by Lt. Col. B.M.
Chipperfield (then a major) of the 23d Division. Lt. Col. Chipperfield
was a participant in as well as an eyewitness of the whole engagement.
Under date of September 29, 1918, the described it substantially as
follows, in a letter to a friend at home:

"For several days preparations had been in progress for the action that
began on Thursday, September 26th. The American troops were moved up
by night, jamming the roads with their advancing columns and transport
trains.

"Thousands and thousands of them," wrote Major Chipperfield, "trudged
along without a light and in almost quiet.

ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF GUNS

"Tanks and cannon and guns of all sorts, every kind of vehicle,
ambulance wagon, and transport passed in this continuous procession. It
seemed that there was no end to it, and one could not help but admire
the wonderful resources that had been gathered together by the United
States to help perform its part in this great struggle for freedom.

"I think the greatest collection of guns that has ever been gathered
together for participation in any conflict of the world was taken to the
front where the attack was about to be made. It is estimated there
were 6,000 of these guns, and the soldiers that were gathered together
numbered hundreds of thousands.

"These guns and soldiers were conducted to their places so secretly and
quietly that, although they marched many miles, the enemy did not even
know a small part of the strength and could only speculate what it all
meant.

UNDER ENFILADING FIRE

"In the arrangement of the plan of battle our division was on the
extreme right. Across the river was a German stronghold. Here there
were located a large quantity of artillery and many machine guns. Our
officers understood that it was going to be a difficult advance, for a
bridge had to be built across a creek, but everything in our division
went like clockwork. It had all been planned in advance, and the plan
was carried out exactly as made.

"It was arranged that at 11:30 o'clock on Thursday night the battle
was to begin. Before that time I had reached my destination at the
headquarters of the other division, and together with the rest of
the headquarters staff we were in a favorable place to watch the
commencement.

"At 11:25 it was silent as the grave, and the night was beautiful.
Precisely at 11:30 from every conceivable direction the great
bombardment commenced. In an instant the whole night was filled with a
roar and thunder and reverberation of the cannon from, every quarter.
The shriek and whistle and whine and clamor of the shells made a fearful
chorus as they were hurled in the direction of the field occupied by our
adversaries.

"From every quarter came the flash of the explosions, until the night
was lighted as bright as day. Signal rockets rose from every portion and
part of our lines and also from the enemy lines. It looked as though the
heavens were ablaze and raining fire. It was a scene which has probably
never been seen before upon any battlefield and may never be witnessed
again.

"Apparently this fierce bombardment took the enemy entirely by surprise
because our fire was so deadly and the extent so great that they could
only make uncertain reply. They seemed to be stupefied.

"For six hours this terrific bombardment continued. It is estimated
that each of the guns fired an average of three shots a minute and that
1,000,000 projectiles and charges of ammunition were used.

OVER THE TOP AT 5:30 A.M.

"As 5:30 approached the bombardment increased. The machine guns joined
in the chorus and a curtain of steel and fire was placed in front of our
troops and rained upon the guns and cannon of the enemy.

"After a brief period of this fire our men started over the top, and as
they did so they swept the enemy before them in their irresistible rush.
They advanced kilometer after kilometer. They could not be resisted or
stayed at any stage of the attack.

"Soon the prisoners commenced to come in, and they told of the terrific
effect that the great bombardment had upon the Germans. They said the
bombardment was so terrible that it disrupted their plans so that they
could not be carried out and that they could not resist the attack.

"Several times during the night I went out to witness the scene and as
long as life lasts it will be remembered.

ON DEAD MAN'S HILL

  "Once when two of our regiments came over a hill and saw the
  valley that lay before them being terrifically shelled by the cannon
  and assailed by hail from the machine guns, the whole column was
  seen to pause and a look of worry came over the faces of these men
  that for just an instant was pitiful. They knew that ahead of them lay
  death for many and it is not strange that for several seconds the
  lines were held up, but then a look of fierce determination and of
  courage took the place of the former expression and with a great
  resolve and courage, dash, and daring, the lines shot forward at a
  redoubled step and the determination to do or die was manifested in
  every action.

  "These machine guns were speedily put out of business, and
  then the attack would go on. That portion of the lines that the
  division of which I am a member was given for the purpose of the
  attack, it was thought would take the entire day, but our division
  was on its objective by early afternoon and had commenced to dig
  in, from which position they could defy the Germans with impunity.

  "While the attack was going on I went up to Dead Man's Hill.
  This hill is the last word in the destructiveness of war.

  "It is literally rent to atoms. Dugouts have been blown to
  pieces. Hundreds of thousands of men had been killed in the earlier
  battles before Verdun, and many of the bodies could not be reached
  for burial, the place was so torn up."


OTHER PERSONAL GLIMPSES

Many other personal glimpses of the fighting come from officers and men.
One division was made up largely of Illinois regiments, among others the
3d Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. John V. Clinnin. The position
held by these troops was vital to the entire advance, and it required
rapid action on the first day to reach the objective at the same time as
the other units.

Menomme creek is a little stream which is not shown on maps. It runs
eastward from the village of Septsarges to the Meuse. The stream holds
vivid memories for the Illinois infantry. It was there that it met the
most severe resistance, the Germans catching our men just as they were
relieving other young soldiers. The men fought their way down to the
creek. On the other side along the highway between Septsarge and
Dannevoux the Germans had entrenched themselves and were shelling the
road which the Americans had crossed. They were also using intrenched
machine guns at the edge of the woods.

  "I heard bullets whistling overhead," said a wounded soldier in
  a hospital. "We were lying near the edge of the creek at the time
and knew that a machine gun was shooting at us, so I just started out
and got it."

"Our colonel was right up there with us getting into line." said Private
Hiram E. Burnett. "One night when the shells were bursting all around
and several men were wounded the colonel went over the top just like any
of us."

The Bois des Forges has been a battle ground since the war began, with
trenches in front and miles of barbed wire, machine gun nests and
concrete pillboxes inside. A frontal attack on such a stronghold
apparently meant suicide, but the Illinois men, led by Col. Sanborn and
Col. Abel Davis, took it so neatly and quickly that they bagged nearly
1,000 soldiers, fifteen officers, twenty-six guns ranging from 105s
down, 126 machine guns, twenty-one flatcars, two rolling kitchens, an
ambulance and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

"We were looking for you in front," said a captured German officer. "We
did not expect that you would come through the swamp and outflank us. We
did not think that any Yankee outfit was so foxy."

"A GREAT SHOW"

"It was a great show when we crossed that river and rushed on through
the woods, cleaning up machine gun nests," said Private Gray McKindy of
Woodstock, "The machine guns in the woods started throwing bullets as
soon as we reached the river. They thought they could stop us from going
up the opposite hill, but we did it and got every gun there."

Private Kenneth W. Steiger was one of those who went in on the second
night when his captain called for volunteers to make up a patrol.
Steiger became separated from the others in the darkness and ran into a
party of three Germans. Quickly covering them with his rifle he brought
all three back.

Private Bernard Snyder returned with prisoners before dark on the first
day. Making use of his ability to speak German, he induced a dozen
Germans to lay down their arms, pick up stretchers and carry American
wounded back five kilometers (three miles) to where ambulances were
waiting.

A FIGHTING CHAPLAIN

Lieut. Jorgen R. Enger, the chaplain of a Kansas-Missouri outfit,
carried the wounded for three days from the Montfaucon woods two miles
to the ambulance. Searching in the woods in the darkness one night with
shells bursting and bullets whistling he found a husky sergeant wounded
in the foot and growing weaker and weaker from loss of blood. The
chaplain shouldered the man and carried him back to a dressing station,
saving his life.

"I didn't think a chaplain would do a thing like that," said the
sergeant. "I would rather save you than save a general," replied the
chaplain.

When not searching for wounded hidden in the tangle of under-brush the
chaplain was busy helping the surgeons at a first aid dressing station.

"I never thought any clergyman would have the opportunities for doing
good such as I am haying," he said when I saw him.

Col. Eugene Houghton, Wisconsin, who was a British major until America
entered the war, distinguished himself by personally leading a unit of
New York men. According to them he escaped death repeatedly as by a
miracle.

"DESERT? NO, WANTED TO FIGHT"

Capt. Carl F. Laurer while assisting in the examination of German
prisoners, was surprised when an American prisoner was brought before
him. "Where do you belong?" asked the captain. "I am with an aerial
squadron in the south of France" replied the prisoner. "I walked
fourteen days to get here." "Did you desert?" asked Captain Lauer. "No,"
the man replied, "I want to fight. That is what I came to France for.
When I get home the folks will ask what I did in the war and when I
answer 'worked' they will say 'Why the devil didn't you fight?'" The
boy's wish was gratified and he was sent forward.

"We have everything good and plenty--rations, ammunition and other
things. It looks like a regular Sunday."

TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA TROOPS SHOW GREAT FIGHTING FORM

In this district, the 36th Division, made up of troops from Texas and
Oklahoma, veterans and raw recruits together, showed splendid fighting
form. They were under terrific shell fire day after day, but they met
several murderous attacks firmly, and drove the boches back in brilliant
counter attack, chasing them in true Ranger style. All these men showed
the same spirit that animated Roosevelt's renowned Rough Riders in the
war with Spain, so many of whom were Texas and Oklahoma men.

Reporting this fight, General Naulin, commanding the Corps of which the
2d and 36th Divisions were parts, said "the 36th Division, a recent
formation not yet completely organized, was ordered into line on the
night of October 6-7 to relieve, under conditions particularly delicate,
the 2d Division, and to dislodge the enemy from the crest north of St.
Etienne and throw him back to the Aisne. Although being under fire for
the first time, the young soldiers of Maj. Gen. W. R. Smith, rivaling in
combative spirit and tenacity the old and valiant regiment of General
LeJeune, accomplished all the tasks set for them." Every American knows
full well the bright record of the 2d Division of Infantry, the regulars
of which were composed of the 5th and 6th Marines and the 9th and 23rd
Infantry. These are the boys who stopped the Germans up in Belleau Wood
when the boches were headed for Paris and cocksure of getting there,
blandly unaware that they were goose-stepping toward an American
knock-out.


OUR COLORED TROOPS WIN CREDIT

American negro troops had a considerable share in the last few months of
fighting, and acquitted themselves in a highly creditable manner. They
were great trench diggers and trench fighters, and their endurance on
the march was a marvel to the allied armies. They were very popular with
the French people, who were delighted with their good nature and their
never-ceasing songs. Regular negro melodies these songs were, nearly all
of them of the camp-meeting variety--and sung with that choral beauty
which especially distinguishes all of their musical performances. The
negro notion of war and indifference to death was instanced in the case
where a white officer overheard one of them at the zero hour call out,
"Good night ol' world! Good mawin,' Mistah Jesus!" as he went over the
top.

  "The colored boys," said Charles N. Wheeler, a distinguished
  correspondent with the American armies, "are great fighters, and
  are no better and no worse than any other group of American soldiers
  in France, whatever the blood strain. They do take pardonable pride
  in the fact that 'Mistah' Johnson, a colored boy, was the first American
  soldier in France to be decorated for extraordinary bravery under
  fire.

  THEY CAN FIGHT AND SING

  "The color line has about died out in the American army--in
  France. They play together, sing their songs together--the blacks
  and the white--and they go over the top together. They come back
  together, too, the wounded, and there is no thought of the color of a
  man's skin. They mix together on the convoy trains going up to the
  front, and all sing together, sharing each other's dangers and their
  joys. It is not an uncommon sight to see a crowd of white doughboys
  around a piano in some 'Y' or Red Cross hut, singing to beat the band,
  with a colored jass expert pounding the stuffing out of the piano. The
  white boys enjoy immensely the wit of the colored comrades, and
  many a bleak and drab day of privation and suffering is made a bit
  brighter by the humor that comes spontaneously to the lips of the
  'bronze boys.'

  "The children of France love them. I suppose that is because
  they wear American soldiers' uniforms. I have seen scores of white
  children holding the hands of colored boys and trudging along on
  the march with them or romping into their tents and sitting on their
  knees and just exuding the affection that all the children of France
  have for anything and everybody from the United States."




CHAPTER V.


THE WAR IN THE AIR

The Hughes report on air craft, submitted in October, 1918, contained a
full account of the difficulties, drawbacks and questionable management
that had held back the manufacture and shipment of airplanes to Europe.
In September there were on the French-Belgian front between 300 and
machines, all of which were in the scout and observation classes, with
no regulation combat planes of American build; but American airmen had
conducted many successful actions against German battle planes, and a
good many Americans were operating French and British battle planes in
action back of the German lines. The combined American, British, French
and Canadian planes had before that time cleared the air of German
observation and other machines in front of the allied lines, thereby
preventing hostile observation of allied camps and artillery positions
and movements of troops preparatory to attack.

The efficiency of this combined air service is credited with having
contributed in an important degree, first to retarding the movement of
supplies from the enemy rear to the enemy fighting line, and next
to disturbance of the enemy in retreat. The Americans especially
distinguished themselves by flying at high speed along the last of the
enemy trenches and clearing up the German troops therein by continuous
streams of machine gun fire. American flyers also made successful raids
across the German border, blowing up munitions works, railway centers,
and German troops at concentration points. Between early September and
late October, 1918, they dropped thousands of tons of high explosives
inside of Germany. At the same time, in association with British and
Canadian aviators, they put a definite end to German air raids upon the
British Isles and interior France. The Canadian air service during the
summer and early autumn of 1918 increased at the rate of 300 planes per
month, all manufactured in Canada.

LIBERTY MOTORS AND AIR SERVICE

After July, 1918, the output of Liberty motors for the Government caught
up with the immediate demand. It increased until in October it reached a
rate of about 5,000 a month. The Ford factory at Detroit alone reported
at the end of October an established monthly rate of increase of over
1,500.

AMERICAN FLYERS DOWN 473 PLANES IN TWO MONTHS

American flyers made a great record in the closing days of war. In the
period from September 12 to 11:00 o'clock on the morning of November 11,
American aviators claim they brought down 473 German machines. Of this
number, 353 have been confirmed officially. Day bombing groups from the
time they began operations dropped a total of 116,818 kilograms of bombs
within the German lines.

THE WAR IN THE AIR

Aviation is the most perilous of all services, calling for young bodies,
high spirit, quick wit, personal initiative, and unshakable nerve. Thus
it has drawn in the best and brightest of America's sons--brilliant,
clear-eyed, steady youths, who take the air and its perils with joyous
ardor.

The danger, the romance, the thrill of air fighting, are things that
never were known in war until this one called into being vast aerial
navies that grappled in the sky and rained upon the earth below "a
ghastly dew" of blood.

There are no tales of this war more fascinating than those that have
been told by these men. Courage and modesty being inseparable, our
aviators avoid print and cannot be interviewed with any satisfaction.
But sometimes they write home to a mother, a sweetheart or a pal, and
these letters now and then come to light.

CHANCE OF LIVING NOW

"I cannot describe my feelings, right off the bat," said Eddie
Rickenbacker, the ace of American aces, the day following the signing of
the armistice. "But I can say I feel ninety-nine per cent better. There
is a chance of living now and the gang is glad." Rickenbacker became a
captain during the last phase of the war and has twenty-four victories
over enemy airmen to his credit. To Rickenbacker, whose home is in
Columbus, Ohio, the allied command gave the honor of making the last
flight over the German front and firing the last shot from the air on
the morning of November 11, 1918.

AIR PLANE'S TAIL SHOT OFF

In reporting this most remarkable occurrence Edward Price Bell, an
American correspondent, wrote as follows from the front:

A British observer, flying a powerful machine at 16,000 feet over
Ostend, had the machine's tail shot off by the direct hit of a shell--a
very unusual occurrence. The machine turned upside down, out of control,
and the pilot was thrown out of his seat. By some inexplicable maneuver
he managed to clamber on to the bottom of the fuselage of the machine,
astride of which he sat as if he was riding a horse.

Though the machine was out of control, owing to the loss of its tail
planes, yet by moving forward and backward he so managed to balance it
that it glided fairly steadily downward, although upside down.

He successfully brought it across the German lines, and came safely
to within a few hundred feet of the ground. Then he crashed and was
injured, but is now recovering in a hospital.

When it is considered that this incident occurred at a height of 16,
feet, over hostile territory, and that during the airman's terribly
precarious ride he was subject to antiaircraft fire, and liable to the
attack of hostile scouts, it is not too much to say that his was a
record achievement.

Recently, another airman was shot down, out of control, from 13,
feet, and fell fluttering like a leaf, toward the ground. At a height of
9,000 feet he fainted. Shortly afterward he came to and found himself in
the machine upside down, in a marsh, absolutely unhurt. Many airmen, of
course, have been through several "crashes" without sustaining so much
as a broken collar bone.


JOINS THE SKY FIGHTERS

This story of Lieut. Manderson Lehr, who refused a transfer home and
shortly after died in combat, is taken (by permission) from his personal
letters written to a friend in this country. It is typical of many that
might be told by or about brilliant young Americans who would not wait
for America's participation in the war, but went voluntarily, with high
hearts and eager hands, to help those other boys of France and the
British Empire to whom had fallen so large and so momentous a part in
the world's salvation.

Nearly all of these American lads, the choicest spirits of our nation,
took up whatever work they could find--anything, so long as it was
useful, or contributed in any way to winning out against the German
hordes, or stem the flood of German crime that was sweeping over Europe,
that would later, if it were not stopped, cover our continent with an
inundation of blood and desolation. Most of them, like Lieutenant Lehr,
went into ambulance service; and afterward when the air planes were
ready and needed men to fly them, took to the air. These were the men
who "put out the eyes" of the German armies and piloted the allies
to many a victory. And alas! Many of them, like Lehr, gave up their
lives--though not in vain, nor without having sent down to crashing
death, each one, his share of the flyers of the foe.

LEHR'S STORY

Lieutenant Lehr's story begins with a letter from France just after
his arrival in Paris on May 15, 1917, when he joined the Ambulance
Corps--later entering the air service. It covered a period of more than
a year's experiences at the front.

The last letter from Lieut. Lehr was dated June 14th, 1918, when the big
German drive was about at its climax. According to news reports from the
front Lehr had a period of intense activity up to July 15th, when he
was reported missing. "Bud" was regarded as one of the most adept of
American fliers.

One of the last news reports from the front told of him still flying
under French colors and having twice returned from raids with his
passenger killed by enemy attacks and of his being awarded the war
cross. The same report told of a 150 mile raid into Germany with eight
other French Machines--when a patrol of twelve German planes were
attacked and three of them sent down in flames, while all the nine
French machines returned safely.

The following are a few of Lehr's later letters from the front:

FLYING AT THE FRONT

Sector----at the Front, Oct. 12, 1917.--It's blowing terrifically,
wind and rain. You can't imagine how I picture you people at home, warm,
happy and safe. I've been out here a week now. Three days of it has been
flying weather. Up 25,000 feet and ten miles into Germany is my record
so far and I've actually had one combat with a boche. He was below me,
at first, far in the distance. I was supposed to be protecting a bombing
expedition of ten machines. I saw this spot, started away from the rest
and through excitement, anticipation and the goodness knows what, I
climbed, went faster and faster until I had the sun between us and the
German below me. Then I dived; he heard me and "banked"; we both looped
and then came head on, firing incessantly.

My machine gun was empty and the boche had more, for he got in behind
me and "Putt! Putt! Putt!" past my ear he came, so I dove, went into a
"vrille" with him on top, came out and squared off, and he let me have
it again. All I could do was to maneuver, for I had no shells left and
I did not want to beat it, so I stuck. We both came head on again and
I said a little prayer, but the next time I looked Mr. Boche was going
home. I "peaked" straight down, made my escadrille, accompanied them
home and when I got out of my furs I was wringing wet in spite of the
fact it was cold as ice where I had done my fighting.

CONSIDERS HIS OWN TACTICS

I looked my machine over and found five holes in it, but nothing
serious. Tomorrow is going to be bad and no one will fly unless they
call for volunteers, and then I think most of us will go. I'd like to
figure out what I did wrong. First of all, I was so excited that I fired
all my shots at the German and he maneuvered out of my way and then came
at me as I was helpless. My captain gave me "harkey" for staying when
out of bullets, so I guess the rest was O.K., but I'd hate to run from
any boche.

MEN DIE IN FAULTY PLANES

The machine I've been flying has been condemned, so I expect to be sent
back to get another one, a brand new one that has never been on the
front. Twenty-five pilots in the last month have been killed by wings
dropping off. I've seen twelve go and it surely takes the old pep out of
you. I was above one and saw his wing crumple, then fall. A man is so
utterly helpless he must merely sit there and wait to be killed, and
when you're flying the same type of machine it doesn't help your
confidence any. I was glad they condemned mine, for I've put my old
"cuckoo" through some awful tests and it's about ready to fall apart.

We expect to change soon and go up to a new offensive in F----. If I get
through that I'm going to change over to the American army. They have
offered me a commission and I think I'll take it. My fingers are cramped
and my feet have long since been numb. Now I'm going to wrap up in my
fur leathers and go to bed. This is war.

FIGHTS WITH FLYING CIRCUS

Feb. 1, 1918.--Had a great time this last week, and made six long
bombardments. For the first three times we had no trouble getting
across whatsoever. Coming out the last three times we got some real
competition. It was in the form of the flying circus or "tangoes," which
consists of fifteen of the best pilots in Germany, commanded by Baron
von Richthofen, who seems a good sort, for when you fight him and you
both miss he waves and we wave back. We had been at it consistently for
four days, and so they sent these birds down opposite us to stop us. We
had been in Germany for some distance and had reached our objective and
bombed it. There was a heavy fog below us, so I took a couple of turns
to make sure we could see our objective. We dropped our bombs and then I
turned to the right to see the damage. I had to take a large turn, for
the "archies" were shooting pretty close. I looked for my escadrille,
and saw these machines way off in the distance. I started for them and
soon caught up with them. Then I swerved and dipped up to them, for I
thought them a little strange. I got up closer, and, wow! all three
dived at me like a rock and bullets flew by me, cutting my plane, so I
pulled up at them, fired, swerved so my gunner could let them have it
also and then saw the iron cross flash by, so I knew it was the Huns. I
started getting altitude and went up high and then the boches got the
sun between them and my plane and came again, but I thought this would
happen and "peaked." They went under me and that left me on top, so I
gave them about 120 bullets, and one went for home. The other two came
by again and I went into a tight spiral so my gunner could pump at
them--but nothing doing. They beat it home and so did I, for it had been
three to one. When I landed I had five holes in my machine. One of the
wires had been shot away and gave me some trouble in landing.

Feb. 10, 1918.--We have been pretty busy and had some exciting times. I
almost got mine day before yesterday and feel pretty lucky to be here.
We started out on a long trip into Germany and all the way over we had
no trouble at all. After we bombed, my observer and I dived down on
some villages and used our own guns on them. We got so low that the
anti-aircraft guns were popping too close, so we beat it. We soon saw a
bunch of hangars below us and we dived down on them and shot at them. In
a few minutes a bunch of Huns came up from the hangars after us and we
beat it to catch up with the others. We got up with them and looked
behind us and there were a number of Germans sneaking down on us.

Then the battle commenced and for forty minutes we had a hot fight. We
picked off (censored) of them and they went plunging down in flames.
Then the others went back and we all returned safely, but I noticed that
my machine worked queerly, and when I landed I had a hard time, and
barely got to the ground without smashing to pieces.

I looked the machine over, and you should have seen it. From top
to bottom it was one mass of holes. One bullet passed through my
combination and hit a can of tobacco. Another cut a main spar on one of
my wings, and another hit my stabilizer, tearing it half in two. One
other hit my gas tank and put a hole clear through it. Luckily my gas
was low and it did not explode, but, believe me, I was lucky.

IN THE BIG GERMAN DRIVE

April 20, 1918.--The orderly has just tapped on my window to put down my
shade, which means the Gothas are on their way. The guns are starting.
This attack has been frightful--day after day long lines of ambulances
roll by our camp carrying large numbers of wounded. Tomorrow we shall
continue our work of knocking down their batteries and bombing their
railroads. To-night, now, they are trying to get us.

I started on a "permission" about three weeks ago and had beautiful
visions of peace and content for a week, but was called back immediately
at the beginning of this horrible attack. Things look bad, and in a few
days we are moving farther up.

Our work here has been hard and exciting and always working in any kind
of weather. While our loss has been heavy we have accomplished wonders.
Going over on cloudy days when the heavy black clouds hang down to
within fifty meters of the ground, spotting a group of trucks, a line of
cars, or a battery of troops, then bombing them, shooting them up with
your machine guns and shooting back up into the clouds midst a rain of
luminous machine gun bullets from the ground is interesting work. But
the terror of those on the ground, poor devils! Yet it's got to be
brought home. Out of twenty-four trips we lost eight machines.
Poor Chuck Kerwood was among them. Chuck is an American boy from
Philadelphia, and he has been with us for five months.

I had a chance to go back to the states as an instructor, and almost
took it, but when the time came around to leave this band of men who
have been in it for almost four years, I couldn't do it. They are men,
and have pulled me out of tight holes when I was green at this game, and
they did it at the risk of their lives. Now I've seen them drop off one
at a time, fine young Frenchmen, and I guess the least I can do is to
stay right by them and I feel my work is here.

In Hospital, May 3, 1918.--Well, here I am at last, but I fooled them
for six months. Finally one slipped up behind me. I never saw him, but
felt him. Only got it in the leg, so it isn't very serious, except that
the bullet was incendiary. They have oodles of sulphur on them and I'm
afraid of complications. This is a nice hospital in a nice location;
only thing that I hate about it is that I may not be able to get back to
my escradrille for fifteen or twenty days.

SEVERE BOMBING BY GERMANS

May 16, 1918--Going to have another operation tomorrow and then I think
I'll be well. And, believe me, if I am I am going back and get somebody
for this. We are now on the Somme, near Rouen. I suppose you know Baron
von Richthofen has been brought down. I'm sorry, for he was a game,
clean scrapper, and I know, for I've had several brushes with him. The
Huns came over here last night and dropped sixty bombs, killing
people and wounding I don't know how many. Several of the bombs hit
about 300 meters from here and our beds shook like the dickens.

COMMENTS ON HIS WAR CROSS

At the Front, June 14, 1918.--I've been back here from the hospital for
several days and we are having beautiful weather, doing lots of work and
losing lots of men, but getting results. I think by now you have all my
letters explaining the change into the American army and the croix de
guerre, which doesn't signify a great deal. Things look pretty bad now,
but the French are holding strong with the constant arrival of Americans
and I think the Hun advance is stopped. We have been working at very
low altitudes and while we have lost men heavily the work was extremely
effective. We have been shifted from one part of the front to another so
that one hardly has time to unpack before we go to a new attack. Our car
has a broken piston, so we have had to walk more than usual and my leg
gets so worn out in a short time that it is slow going.

GREAT FRENCH FLYER BRINGS DOWN

At the beginning of the year, Lieut. Rene Fonck, the great French
flyer and ace of aces of all the belligerent forces, had only nineteen
successes to his credit, but during the last days of fighting the wily
Lieutenant scored many victories bringing his totals up to seventy five
enemy airplanes officially destroyed, with forty more probable successes
awaiting official verification. The final list of Lieut Fonck is all the
more astonishing when it is considered that he made flights only when
he thought himself in the fittest condition, and every time he flew he
triumphed over the German Aviators. His wonderful success is accredited
to his incomparable tactics, keen eyesight and most remarkable skill.

OTHER CHAMPIONS OF THE AIR

Among other champion flyers of the allied forces Major Bishop of the
British is credited with seventy-two victories; Lieutenant Coppens of
Belgium, wounded during the late fighting, and with a leg amputated,
holds the record of thirty-six victories; Lieutenant Baracchini the
Italian flyer has thirty victories to his credit; Eddie Rickenbacker the
American ace is responsible for twenty-four enemy victims, and Edward
Parsons, another American flyer is credited with eight official
victories and seven more unconfirmed. Captain Kosakoff the Russian ace
held seventeen successes to his credit at the close of Russias fighting.

ENEMY ACES ALSO SCORE

Lieutenant Udet of Germany is the ace of enemy aces and holds the record
of sixty victories; Captain Brunmwsky of the Austrian forces is next
with thirty-four to his credit; Sergeant Fiselier the German flyer
serving for Bulgaria is credited with seven victims, and Captain Schults
also a German serving for Turkey had eleven victories.

QUENTIN ROOSEVELT LOSES HIS LIFE

On Sunday July 14th, 1918, a violent encounter took place between German
battleplanes and American Air forces trying to break through the German
defense over the Marne. In this engagement Lieut, Quentin Roosevelt was
brought down and killed near Chambry, then behind the German lines. He
was buried with military honors by German airmen, at the spot where he
fell. His grave was located later by one of his fellow air scouts.

AMERICAN AVIATOR GETS IRON CROSS

One of the remarkable feats performed by Yankee air men, was that of
Lieut. Wm. T. Webb Jr. of Buffalo, a member of an American squadron
which encountered a German battleplane while flying over the German
lines. The American flyers surrounded the German Fokker like a flock of
birds, and instead of shooting it down, which would have been easy,
they maneuvered their planes so the boche machine was forced toward the
American lines. The German airmen fought desperately, but in vain,
to break through, and was forced lower and lower to the ground. Upon
reaching the ground he refused to stop his motor until, after bumping
over two fields, a bullet was fired through his gas tank setting it
afire. The two Germans jumped from the machine to the ground uninjured.
Both wore iron crosses. Lieut. Webb landed his machine, jumped out,
grabbed an iron cross from one of the terrified Germans, and rose again
to join his companions.

EYES OF THE ARMY ALWAYS OPEN

Few civilians have any idea of the intense, close watch that was kept
upon the enemy throughout the struggle. Soldiers on "listening post"
would crawl out every night to and sometimes into the enemy lines and on
their return report what they had heard. By day, aviators came back from
flights over enemy positions and gave details of what they had seen.
Every hill, tree-top, church spire, tall building and captive balloon
watched every move of the enemy and reported it. These reports by the
ears and eyes of the armies enabled American and allied commanders to
plan their infantry and artillery attacks.

AMERICAN INFORMATION SERVICE CHART

Knowledge of conditions in Germany during the war was so accurate that
the American general staff had computed many weeks in advance almost
the exact date on which the breaking point would be reached. A chart in
Secretary Baker's office shows the fluctuations in the "morale of the
German nation" from August, 1914, to the month of November, 1918.

The chart shows how German morale fell and rose under the influence
of the military situation, the results of the submarine campaign, the
unanimity of purpose evidenced by the different groups in the reichstag,
and the economic condition of the country. So accurate was the
information that the "morale line" reached the zero point between Nov.
10 and 15.

The chart indicates clearly that practically every major operation of
the German military forces was inaugurated when the morale line showed
dangerous slumps.

A big map in the war office locates not only every allied unit but the
composition of the opposition forces, their commanders, and, in most
cases, their headquarters.

Opposite each German army unit the map shows a list of the "used" and
reserve organizations. On Nov. 11, when the armistice was signed, long
lists of divisions which had been entirely used up were noted, but the
reserves had disappeared entirely, with the single exception of two
fresh German divisions in Belgium.




CHAPTER VI. CAUSES OF THE WAR

_National and Race Prejudices--The Triple Alliance--The Triple
Entente--Teuton vs. Slav--Influence of Russian Diplomacy--Russia vs.
Austria--Control of Balkan Seaports--England's Commercial Supremacy
Challenged by Germany--Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of
Austria by a Serb_.

Within the space of less than a week from August 1, 1914, five of the
six "great powers" of Europe became involved in a war that quickly
developed into the greatest and most sanguinary struggle of all time.
The European conflagration, long foreseen by statesmen and diplomats,
and dreaded of all alike, had broken out.

Beginning with the thunder of Austrian guns at Belgrade, the
reverberations of war were heard in every capital of the Old World.
Austria's declaration of war against Servia was followed by the
alignment of Germany with its Teuton neighbor against the forces of
Russia, France and England. Italy alone, of the six great powers,
declined to align itself with its formal allies and made a determined
effort at the outset to maintain its neutrality.

Soon the highways of Europe resounded with the hoof-beats and the tramp
of marching hosts, with the rattle of arms and the rumble of artillery.
Of such a war, once begun, no man could predict the end. But the world
realized that it was a catastrophe of unparalleled proportions, a
failure of civilization in its stronghold, a disaster to humanity.

For more than forty years the great powers of Europe had been at peace
with one another. Though war had threatened now and then, diplomacy
had avoided the actual outbreak. But that the dreaded conflict was
inevitable had long been recognized. For its coming immense armaments
had been prepared, until the burdens of taxation laid upon the people
had become in themselves a source of danger. But behind it all lay the
sinister influence of the "junker" element of Germany--the military
party, swollen with pride in the development of the German army by more
than forty years of preparation for conflict, and the naval party, eager
for "der Tag" which should bring a trial of the new German navy
against the battle fleets of an enemy. Fostering and encouraging these
militaristic sentiments was the growing desire of Germany for "a
place in the sun," which was translatable only as a desire for world
domination. Greater and wider markets for German commerce were urgently
demanded, and visions of Germany as mistress of the seas, with a great
colonial empire, and of the Kaiser as the undisputed military overlord
of Europe, already filled and fired the Teuton imagination.

The political alignment of the great powers prior to the war was as
follows: On the one side was the Triple Alliance, including Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and Italy; while on the other was the Triple Entente,
comprising Great Britain, France and Russia. As the event proved, the
uncertain element in this line-up was Italy, which had a real grievance
against Austria in the latter's possession of the former Italian
territory known as the Trentino, and which was not consulted by Germany
and Austria prior to the outbreak of hostilities. She therefore declined
to enter the war as a member of the Triple Alliance, but was later found
in the field against Austria, and thenceforth rendered powerful aid to
the cause of "the Allies," as the members of the Triple Entente and
their supporters soon came to be known.

It was in the Balkans, long regarded as the zone of danger to European
peace, that the war-clouds gathered and darkened rapidly. For
generations Austria and Russia had struggled diplomatically for the
control of Balkan seaports, with the Balkan states acting as buffers in
the diplomatic strife. Servia acted as a bar to Austria's commercial
route to the AEgean, by way of the Sanjak of Novi Bazar to Saloniki,
while Russia was Servia's great ally and stood stoutly behind the little
Slav kingdom in its opposition to Austrian aggression.

AMBITIONS OF SERVIA

Then came the recent Balkan Wars, and their outcome was viewed with
alarm. Austria uneasily watched the approach of Servia to the Adriatic
and the Aegean. The formation of the new new autonomous state of
Albania, between Servia and the Adriatic, was all that prevented Austria
from attacking Servia during that crisis. The terms of peace left the
situation, as it concerned Austria and Russia, practically as it had
been. Austria made no further progress toward the sea, and Russia
remained the ally of Servia. Bulgaria had failed in its efforts to reach
Salonica.

At this stage another element exerted its influence. Servia awoke to the
possibility of a Greater Servia. An Empire of the Slavs had long been
dreamed of. In Austria-Hungary itself millions of Slavs were dreaming of
it and awaiting the disruption of Austria-Hungary, held together now,
as they argue, only by the indomitable will of the old Emperor, Franz
Joseph. The hatred between the Slavs and the Teutonic Austrians is
intense. The annexation by Austria of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which
Servians predominate, increased the Servian hatred and the indignation
of the whole Slav world to the point of violence. A conflict was avoided
with difficulty. These principalities had hoped to form part of a
Greater Servia. Had not Russia been exhausted by the war with Japan,
Servia would have called upon her ally and the crisis would have come
then. As it was, the Balkans teemed with plots and counterplots against
the Austrians, culminating in the assassination of the Arch-Duke and
heir-apparent to the Austrian throne, Francis Ferdinand, known for his
anti-Slav principles, and therefore feared and hated as the king to
be. The assassination occurred at Serajevo in Bosnia, where Servian
disaffection was seething. Austria immediately laid the crime on the
Servian government.

AUSTRIA DECLARES WAR

Failing in her peremptory demands for satisfaction, Austria declared
war, July 28, 1914, apparently for revenge, but behind her righteous
indignation she still held in view her traditional ambition, a port on
the Mediterranean, to be secured by the complete control of the
Novi Bazar route to Salonica, a route which, besides its commercial
importance, is of tremendous strategic value to the nation which
commands it. The treaty of Berlin of 1878, after the Russo-Turkish War,
had given Austria the military, political, and commercial control of the
route within the Sanjak of Novi Bazar, then a part of Turkey.

But now, in the division of spoils following the Balkan Wars, Servia
gained control of Novi Bazar, Pristina, Uskub, and Istip, or practically
the entire route to a short distance north of Salonica, where the new
boundaries of Greece had been extended. This meant that Austria saw
herself shut out from the Sanjak, and only by the destruction and
subsequent occupation of Servia could Austria regain her ascendancy over
the route. Victory would mean a long step by Austria toward the sea.

PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS

The "balance of power" among European nations has hitherto been
maintained because the formation of a single nation out of the Balkan
States has not been possible. Although the people of these states
have similar pursuits, and live much alike in all regions, they have
preserved their original racial differences. A village of Albanians may
be within a few miles of a village of Greeks. Yet through centuries both
have remained racially distinct. Here and there the barriers have given
way somewhat, but in general the races persist side by side, sometimes
peaceably, more often in mutual distrust or open feud. Such division has
been fostered by the great nations, and new states have been created, as
recently Albania, since the formation of a great state in the Balkans by
the union of all or the absorbing greatness of one, would overthrow
the balance of power, and besides interpose an insurmountable obstacle
between Austria and Russia, and the sea.

Thus the states have been played against each other. Sometimes the game
has been one of diplomacy, or one of force, hurling the states at each
other's throats.

HOW WAR WAS DECLARED

  _Ultimatum, by Austria to Servia--War Declared by Austria--
  Russia Mobilizes--Germany Declares War on Russia
  August 1--France and England Involved--Germans
  Enter Belgium--Scenes in European Capitals_.

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, a Servian student named Prinzep shot
and killed the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the thrones of
Austria-Hungary, and his morganatic wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, in
the streets of Serajevo, a town in Bosnia which the royal couple were
visiting.

Nearly four weeks later, on July 23, the Austro-Hungarian government,
fixing responsibility for the assassination upon Servian intrigues,
presented to Servia a number of demands which formed a very drastic
ultimatum, requiring compliance within forty-eight hours, with the
alternative of war. Servia was required to condemn "the propaganda
directed against Austria" and to take proceedings against all
accessories to the plot against the Archduke Francis Ferdinand who were
in Servia. Austrian delegates were to supervise the proceedings, and
Servia was also to arrest certain Servian officials whose guilt was
alleged. These exorbitant conditions made it quite obvious that no
concessions on Servians part would be accepted. It was a plain prelude
to war.

Nevertheless, a virtual acceptance by Servia followed. Acting on the
advice of Russia, Servia acceded to all that was required of her,
making only two reservations of the most reasonable character. These
reservations were found enough to serve as an excuse for war. Austria at
once declared herself dissatisfied and though the actual declaration of
war was delayed for a brief period, a state of war practically existed
between the two countries from Saturday evening, July 25.

EFFORTS TO LOCALIZE THE WAR

Then began efforts on the part of Great Britain to localize the war.
Sir Edward Grey, the able foreign secretary in Mr. Asquith's cabinet,
repeated solemn warnings in every chancellery of Europe. According to
the English "white book," the very day that he was notified of the
violent tone of Austria's note to Servia--the day it was presented--he
warned the Austrian Ambassador in London that if as many as four of
the Great Powers of Europe were to engage in war, it would involve the
expenditure of such a vast sum of money and such interference with
trade, that a complete collapse of European credit and industry would
follow. The reply of Russia to this warning was quite conciliatory. The
Russian foreign minister, M. Sazonoff, assured the British minister that
Russia had no aggressive intentions, and would take no action unless
forced. Austria's action, M. Sazonoff added, in reality aimed at
over-throwing Russia's influence in the Balkans.

Thus, on Monday, July 27, Sir Edward Grey was able to state in the House
of Commons that his suggestion of a joint conference, composed of the
Ambassadors of Germany, France and Italy, and himself, with a view to
mediation between Austria and Russia, had been accepted by all except
Germany, which power had expressed its concurrence with the plan in
principle, but opposed the details on the ground that there was a
prospect of direct "conversations" (diplomatic exchanges) between
Austria and Russia. This statement was believed in England to lack
sincerity. On that Monday afternoon the Russian Ambassador at Vienna
warned Austria that Russia would not give way and expressed his hope
that some arrangement might be arrived at before Servia was invaded.

Austria's reply came next day in the shape of a formal declaration of
war against Servia.

GERMANY'S ATTITUDE PRO-AUSTRIAN

On July 30 Sir M. de Bunsen, British Ambassador at Vienna, made the
following statement to Sir Edward Grey regarding the attitude of Germany
in the crisis: "Although I am not able to verify it, I have private
information that the German Ambassador (at Vienna) knew the text of the
Austrian ultimatum to Servia before it was dispatched, and telegraphed
it to the German Emperor. I know from the German Ambassador himself that
he endorses every line of it."

Naturally enough the Russian foreign minister complained that
"conversations" with Austria were useless in the face of such facts.
Russia then declared that her forces would be mobilized the day that
Austria crossed the Servian frontier. The attitude of Germany at once
stiffened and it became evident that Germany meant to regard even the
partial mobilization of Russia as a ground for war, not only against
Russia, but also against the latter's ally, France.

In vain Russia protested that her partial mobilization was merely a
precaution. In vain did the Czar himself offer to give his word that no
use would be made of any of his forces. Germany was aware, as subsequent
facts have proved, that her own state of mobilization was very much
further advanced than that of Russia.


GERMAN ULTIMATUM TO RUSSIA

By Friday, July 31, Germany was ready for the fray and a final ultimatum
to St. Petersburg was launched. On the same day Russia declared war
against Austria. By six o'clock on Saturday evening, August 1, war
between Germany and Russia began, when Germany dismissed the Russian
Ambassador, and by Sunday morning Germany was invading France. The
next day, August 3, the German Ambassador left Paris and the French
Ambassador at Berlin was ordered to demand his passports.

At this point Great Britain passed from the position of general
peacemaker to that of a principal. In the House of Commons on Monday,
August 3, Sir Edward Grey stated that the question whether Austria
or Russia should dominate the Southern Slav races was no concern of
England, nor was she bound by any secret alliance to France. She was
absolutely free to choose her course with regard to the crisis which had
overtaken her. But there were two cardinal points in the situation
which had arisen which ultimately concerned Great Britain. The first
essential feature of British diplomacy, said Sir Edward, was that France
should not be brought into such a condition in Europe that she became
a species of vassal state to Germany. On the morning of July 31,
therefore, he had informed the German Ambassador that if the efforts to
maintain peace failed and France became involved Great Britain would be
drawn into the conflict.

In his speech of August 3 the British foreign minister also stated that
he had given France on the previous day the written assurance that if
the German fleet came into the English Channel or through the North Sea
to assail her, the British fleet would protect her to the uttermost.

TO PROTECT BELGIAN AUTONOMY

On the same afternoon, in the same place, Sir Edward Grey reiterated the
other dominant principle of British foreign policy--that England can
never look with indifference on the seizure by a great continental power
of any portion of Belgium and Holland. More than a hundred years ago it
was declared by Napoleon, who was a master of political geography, that
Antwerp was "a pistol leveled at the head of London."

When on July 31 the British foreign minister inquired by telegraph both
at Paris and Berlin whether the two governments would engage to respect
the neutrality of Belgium, France replied with an assurance that she was
resolved to do so unless compelled to act otherwise by reason of the
violation of Belgium's neutrality at the hands of another power. The
German secretary of state, Herr von Jagow, replied that he could give no
such assurance until he had consulted the Emperor and Chancellor, and
doubted whether he could give any answer without revealing the German
plan of campaign. He furthermore alleged the commission of hostile acts
by Belgium.

Developments quickly followed. The German government proposed that
Belgium should grant its armies free passage through Belgian territory.
The proposal was accompanied by an intimation that Belgium would be
crushed out of existence if it refused to comply. In fact, it was an
ultimatum presented at 7 o'clock on Sunday evening, August 2, to expire
within twelve hours.

Then came Sir Edward Grey's speech in parliament on August 3, when it
was fully realized that Germany and England were on the verge of war.
What followed was related in the House of Commons next day.

SCENES IN PARLIAMENT

Germany's reply to the speech by Sir Edward Grey, the British foreign
secretary, indicating the attitude of Great Britain in regard to the
contemplated violation of Belgian territory by Germany was a second
ultimatum from Berlin to Brussels, saying Germany was prepared to carry
through her plans by force of arms if necessary.

The British government was officially informed by Belgium on August
that German troops had invaded Belgium and that the violation of that
country's neutrality, which the British, foreign secretary had intimated
must be followed by action on the part of the British, had become an
accomplished fact.

Definite announcement of Great Britain's intentions under these
circumstances was expected in the house of commons that afternoon.

TELEGRAM SENT TO BERLIN

On the assembly of the house the premier, Mr. Asquith, said that a
telegram had been sent early in the morning to Sir Edward Goschen,
British ambassador in Berlin, to the following effect:

"The king of the Belgians has appealed to His Britannic Majesty's
government for diplomatic intervention on behalf of Belgium. The British
government is also informed that the German government has delivered to
the Belgian government a note proposing friendly neutrality pending a
free passage of German troops through Belgium and promising to maintain
the independence and integrity of the kingdom and its possessions on the
conclusion of peace, threatening in case of refusal to treat Belgium as
an enemy." Sir Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary, had requested
an answer within twelve hours.

Premier Asquith then read a telegram from the German foreign minister,
which the German ambassador in London had sent to Sir Edward Grey. It
was as follows:

  "Please dispel any distrust that may subsist on the part
  of the British government with regard to our intentions by
  repeating most positively the formal assurance that even in
  case of armed conflict with Belgium, Germany will under no
  pretensions whatever annex Belgian territory."

The reading of this telegram was greeted with derisive laughter by the
members of the house.

Premier Asquith continued:

  "We understand that Belgium categorically refused to
  assent to a flagrant violation of the law of nations.

  "His majesty's government was bound to protest against
  this violation of a treaty to which Germany was a party in
  common with England and must request an assurance that
  the demand made upon Belgium by Germany be not proceeded
  with and that Belgium's neutrality be respected by Germany
  and we have asked for an immediate reply.

  "We received this morning from our minister in Brussels
  the following telegram:

  "'The German minister has this morning addressed a
  note to the Belgian minister for foreign affairs stating that as
  the Belgian government has declined a well intentioned proposal
  submitted to it by the imperial German government
  the latter, deeply to its regret, will be compelled to carry out,
  if necessary by force of arms, the measures considered indispensable
  in view of the French menace.'"

ENGLAND AND GERMANY AT WAR

By 11 o'clock that evening England and Germany were at war. Their
respective ambassadors were handed their passports and Great Britain
braced herself for a conflict that was felt to threaten her very
existence as a nation.




CHAPTER VII.


THE INVASION OF BELGIUM

  _Belgians Rush to Defense of Their Frontier--Towns Bombarded
  and Burned--Defense of Liege--Fall of Liege--
 --Fall of Namur--Peasants and Townspeople Flee--
  Destruction of Louvain_.

At 10 o'clock on the night of August 2 German troops crossed the Belgian
frontier, coming from Aix-la-Chapelle, or Aachen, temporary headquarters
of the general staff, and the bloody invasion of Belgium, involving the
violation of its neutral treaty rights, began. Simultaneously the German
forces entered the independent duchy of Luxemburg to the south, en route
to the French border, and also came in touch with French outposts in the
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.

The events that followed in Belgium furnished a genuine surprise to
the world. Instead of finding the Belgian people indifferent to the
violation of their territory and the Belgian army only a slight obstacle
in the road to Paris, as was probably expected by the German general
staff, a most gallant and determined resistance was offered to the
progress of the German hosts. The army of the little State was quickly
mobilized for defense and its operations, while ineffectual in stopping
the Kaiser's irresistible force, delayed its advance for three
invaluable weeks, giving time for the complete mobilization of the
French and for the landing of a British expeditionary force to
co-operate with the latter in resisting the German approach to Paris.

Just across the Belgian border lay the little towns of Vise and
Verviers, and these were the first objects of German attack and Belgian
defense. Both were occupied after desperate resistance by the Belgians
and Vise was partly demolished by fire in reprisal, it was claimed,
for the firing by civilians on the German invaders. The subsequent
bombardment and burning of towns and villages by the Germans were
explained in every case as measures of revenge for hostile acts on the
part of non-combatants and intended to prevent their occurrence
elsewhere by striking terror into the hearts of the Belgian populace.
Whatever the pretext or the excuse, the historical fact remains that the
result of the German progress toward the Franco-Belgian frontier
constituted a martyrdom for Belgium and gained for the plucky little
kingdom the fullest sympathy of the civilized world.


[Illustration:--From the Literary Digest BELGIUM--THE FIRST BATTLEFIELD OF THE WAR

The map shows the more important railroad lines connecting the cities of
Brussels, Antwerp and Namur and those of Northern France. Paris is
200 miles by rail from Brussels and 190 from Namur.]

THE ATTACK ON LIEGE

The ancient city of Liege was attacked by the German artillery on August
4. The town itself was occupied, five days later, but the modern forts
surrounding it continued for some time longer to hold out against the
fierce German attack. It became necessary to bring up the heaviest
modern Krupp siege guns in order to reduce them.

Amidst all the plethora of events which crowded themselves into the
first few days following the outbreak of the war, none was more
remarkable than the Belgian stand at Liege against the German advance.

The struggle round Liege bids fair to become historic, and the garrisons
of the Liege forts when they looked out fearlessly from the banks of the
Meuse on the vanguard of the German host, and took decision to block
its further progress, proved their claim once again to Julius Caesar's
description of their ancestors, "The Belgians are the bravest of the
Gauls."

THE FALL OF LIEGE

News of the fall of Liege and the occupation of the city by German
troops was received with great rejoicing in Berlin on August 8th.
Dispatches received at Amsterdam from the German capital said:

The news of the fall of Liege spread with lightning rapidity throughout
Berlin and created boundless enthusiasm. The Emperor sent an
aide-de-camp to announce the capture of the city to crowds that
assembled outside the palace.

Policemen on bicycles dashed along Unter den Linden proclaiming the
joyful tidings. Imperial Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg drove to the castle
to congratulate the Emperor on the victory and was enthusiastically
cheered along the way.

PEASANTS AND TOWNSPEOPLE FLEE

Following the fall of Liege came a number of sanguinary engagements in
northern Belgium; the unopposed occupation of Brussels on August 20, and
a four days' battle beginning on August 23, in which the Germans forced
back the French and British allies to the line of Noyon-LaFere across
the northern frontier of France. In the northern engagements the
Belgians gave a good account of themselves, but were everywhere forced
to give way before the innumerable hosts of the Kaiser, though not
without inflicting tremendous losses on the invaders.

The retirement of the civilian population before the advancing masses of
the German army was a pathetic spectacle. It was a flight in terror and
distress.

On Tuesday, August 18, the German troops surged down upon Tirlemont,
a town twenty miles southeast of Louvain, around which they had been
massing for some days, presumably by rail and motor cars. The stories
which had reached the inhabitants of Tirlemont of the happenings at
surrounding towns and villages had not added to their peace of mind,
and soon the moment for flight arrived. All kinds of civilians set out
towards Brussels and Ghent for refuge. At times the road was full of
carts bearing entire families, with pots and pans swaying and banging
against the sides as the vehicles bumped over the roadway. The younger
women, boys and menfolk who had been left in the towns and villages
fled on foot. Priests, officials and Red Cross helpers mingled with the
crowd. This stream of unfortunates uprooted from their homes was thus
described by an eyewitness:

  "These masses of broken-hearted people moved silently
  along, many weeping, few talking. With them they brought
  a few of their possessions, as pathetically miscellaneous as
  the effects one might seize in the panic haste of a hotel fire.
  Ox wagons, bundles and babies on dog-drawn carts or on men's
  backs, bicycles and handcarts laden with kitchen utensils, all
  mingled with the human stream. Here were to be seen sewing
  machines, beds, bedding, food, and there a little girl or boy
  with some toy clasped uncomprehendingly in a dirty hand;
  they also knew that danger threatened and that they must
  save what they held most dear. And even among these unhappy
  people there were some more unfortunate than the
  others--men and women who had no bundle, children who
  had no doll. All the way to Louvain there flowed this human
  stream of misery. Back along the Tirlemont road rifle firing
  could be heard and entrenchments were to be seen in the town
  itself."


These scenes between Tirlemont and Louvain were typical of those on
every road leading to the larger cities of Belgium as the inhabitants
fled before the approach of the dreaded Uhlans.

FALL OF NAMUR

On the afternoon of Sunday, August 23, the fortress of Namur was
evacuated by the Belgians, and the town was later occupied by the
Germans.

The fortress was said to be as strong as Liege and it owed its
importance in the present war to the fact that it was the apex of the
two French flanks. One ran from Namur to Charleroi and the other by
Givet to Mezieres.

Warned by their experiences at Liege, the Germans made most determined
efforts against Namur. From the north, south and east they were able to
bring up their big guns unhindered, and by assaults at Charleroi and
Dinant they endeavored to break the sides of the French triangle. Namur
finally collapsed but clever strategy enabled the French to fall back
upon their main lines.

The fall of Namur, nevertheless, was a decided blow to the allies. This
was admitted by the French minister of war, who said at midnight Monday,
August 24, of the failure of the "Namur triangle":

"It is, of course, regrettable that owing to difficulties of execution
which could not have been foreseen our plan of attack has not achieved
its object. Had it done so it would have shortened the war, but in any
case our defense remains intact in the face of an already weakened
enemy. Our losses are severe. It will be premature to estimate them or
to estimate those of the German army, which, however, has suffered so
severely as to be compelled to halt in its counterattack and establish
itself in new positions."

The object of the French triangle, having its apex at Namur, was to
break the German army in two. The British troops, as related in another
chapter, were cooperating with the French at Mons. When the Belgians
evacuated Namur the Germans had knocked to pieces three of the forts to
the northeast of the town with howitzer fire. Between these forts they
advanced and bombarded the town, which was defended by the Belgian
Fourth Division. Namur was evacuated when the defenders found themselves
unable to support a heavy artillery fire.

The Germans attacked in a formation three ranks deep, the front rank
lying down, the second kneeling, and the third standing. They afforded a
target which was fully used by the men behind the Belgian machine guns.
Some fifty or sixty howitzers were brought into action by the Germans,
who concentrated several guns simultaneously on each fort and smothered
it with fire.

DESTRUCTION OF LOUVAIN

At this stage of the war in Belgium an event occurred that riveted
universal attention upon the German operations. On Tuesday, August 25,
the beautiful, historic, scholastic city of Louvain, containing 42,
inhabitants, was bombarded by the Germans and later put to the torch.
The fire, which burned for several days, devastated the city. Many
artistic and historical treasures, including the priceless library of
Louvain University and several magnificent churches, centuries old,
were totally destroyed. Only the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), one of the
finest examples of Gothic architecture in Europe, was spared and left
standing in the midst of ruins.

The Rotterdam Telegraf, a neutral newspaper, declared that in the
devastation of Louvain "a wound that can never be healed" was inflicted
"on the whole of civilized humanity." Frank Jewett Mather, the
well-known American art critic, bitterly denounced the act as one of
wanton destruction, saying that Louvain "contained more beautiful works
of art than the Prussian nation has produced in its entire history."

Thus when the first month of war ended, the Germans had made good with
their plan of seizing Belgium as a base of operations against France and
had arrived in full force at the first line of French defenses, well on
the way to the coveted goal, Paris.

But poor little Belgium, the "cockpit of Europe," ran red with blood.

SURRENDER OP BRUSSELS

_Belgian Capital Occupied by the Germans Without Bloodshed--Important
Part Played by American Minister Brand Whittock---Belgian Forces Retreat
to Antwerp--Dinant and Termonde Fall_.

After the usual reconnaissances by Uhlans and motorcycle scouts, the van
of the German army arrived at Brussels, the capital city of Belgium, on
August 20. The seat of government had been removed three days before to
Antwerp. The French and Russian ministers also moved to Antwerp, leaving
the affairs of their respective countries in the hands of the Spanish
legation. Brand Whitlock, United States minister to Belgium, remained at
Brussels and played an important part in negotiations which led to the
unresisted occupation and march through the city by the Germans in force
on August 21 and the consequent escape of Brussels from bombardment and
probable ruin.

At the approach of the German army the inhabitants of the capital were
stricken with fear of the outcome. When the Belgian civic guards and
refugees began pouring into the city from the direction of Louvain, they
brought stories of unspeakable German atrocities, maltreatment of old
men and children, and the violation of women.

"The Belgian capital reeled with apprehension," said an American
resident. "Within an hour the gaiety, the vivacity, and brilliancy of
the city went out like a broken arclight. The radiance of the cafes
was exchanged for darkness; whispering groups of residents broke up
hurriedly and locked themselves into their homes, where they put up
the shutters and drew in their tricolored Belgian flags. "The historic
Belgian city went through a state of morbid consternation, remarkably
like that from which it suffered on June 18,1815, when it trembled with
the fear of a French victory at Waterloo.

"In less than twenty-four hours the Belgian citizens were chatting
comfortably with the German invaders and the allegations of German
brutality and demoniacal torture dissolved into one of the myths which
have accompanied all wars.

"Neither in Brussels nor in its environs was a single offensive act, so
far as I know, committed by a German soldier. In a city of over half
a million people, invaded by a hostile army of perhaps a quarter of a
million soldiers, no act, sufficiently flagrant to demand punishment or
to awaken protest came to my attention."

SURRENDER OF CITY DEMANDED

Prior to the occupation the German commander had sent forward a flag
of truce demanding the surrender of the city. This was at midnight of
Wednesday, August 19. The Belgian commandant replied that he was bound
in honor to defend the town.

Brand Whitlock, the United States minister, then came to the fore. He
recommended to the commandant and to Burgomaster Max the unconditional
surrender of the city, pointing out how resistance might bring increased
misfortune on the citizens. But the military commander remained adamant
until orders arrived from King Albert consenting to the surrender of the
city.

Mr. Whitlock was later congratulated officially by the king for his
action. Undoubtedly he had a great deal to do with saving Brussels.

HISTORIC TREASURES OF BRUSSELS

The city of Brussels, thus occupied by the Germans, contains art
treasures that are priceless. The museum and public galleries are filled
with masterpieces of the Flemish and old Dutch school, while the royal
library comprises 600,000 volumes, 100,000 manuscripts and 50,000 rare
coins. Unquestionably the Brussels Museum is one of the most complete on
the Continent. A prominent historic landmark of Brussels is the King's
House (also called the Dreadhouse), an ancient structure, recently
renovated. Within its walls both the Counts Egmont and Hoorn spent the
last night before their execution, in 1567, by the hirelings of the Duke
of Alva, the Spanish Philip II's tyrannical governor of the Netherlands,
who, by means of the sword and the Inquisition, sought to establish the
Catholic religion in those countries. Brussels boasts another historic
relic known the world over--the equestrian statue of Godfrey of
Bouillon, who led the Crusaders to the Holy Land. It stands upon the
Place Royale, and was unveiled in 1848.

The magnificent Town Hall of Brussels would probably have suffered
destruction, together with the city's other beautiful buildings, had not
the government yielded without a struggle.

HEAVY WAR TAX LEVIED

General von der Goltz, appointed by the Kaiser military governor of
Belgium, levied a war tax of $40,000,000 on the capture of the capital.
Other cities occupied by the Germans were also assessed for large
sums, which in several instances had to be paid immediately on pain of
bombardment. It was announced September 1 that the four richest men in
Belgium had guaranteed the payment to Germany of the war tax. The four
men were Ernest Solvay, the alkali king; Baron Lambert, the Belgian
representative of the Rothschilds; Raoul Warocque, the mine owner, and
Baron Empain, the railway magnate.

BELGIANS RETREAT TO ANTWERP

After the German occupation almost normal conditions were soon restored
in Brussels, so far as civic life was concerned. It was speedily
announced that the Germans intended to regard the whole of Belgium as
a German province and to administer it as such, at least during the
continuance of the war. The Belgian army retired to the north within the
fortifications of Antwerp, where they were joined by French troops, but
desultory fighting against the German invader continued at many points
and the Franco-British allies soon came into contact with the advancing
German army.

THE CITY AND PORT OF ANTWERP

Antwerp is one of the largest, most modernly equipped and efficient
ports in Europe. It is only a short distance across the English Channel,
and is the head of 1,200 miles of canals in Belgium which connect with
the canal systems of Holland, France and Germany. On the harbor alone
over $100,000,000 has been spent and extensions are in progress which
will cost $15,000,000 more.

For the prosperity of Belgium, Antwerp is many times more important than
Brussels, the capital. While the country has an enormous amount of coal
and many factories and other industries, these would be of little value
without the imports which enter through Antwerp.

The city has about 360,000 inhabitants. Although located fifty-three
miles inland on the Scheldt River, it has natural advantages for harbor
purposes which have been recognized since the seventh century. Napoleon
looked over the spot and started large harbor construction.

[Illustration: ANTWERP AND ITS FORTIFICATIONS]

Ever since that time, according to popular belief, Antwerp has
encouraged commerce. Over eighty different steamboat lines use the docks
and quays. The passenger lines include boats to New York and Boston, New
Orleans, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Grimsby, South American ports,
Cuba, the Congo, East and South Africa and the far East.

In 1912 a total of 6,973 ocean-going vessels entered the port, and
41,000 other vessels.

Antwerp in 1870 ranked fifth in the ports of the world. Today it is
believed to be second or third. Ten years ago the freight received from
the inland was principally by the canals. Approximately 2,300,000 tons
were received by rail and 5,500,000 tons by canal boats.

This ratio has not been maintained, but the canal traffic now is much
larger than the rail tonnage. This gives an idea of the extensive use to
which the European countries put their canals, and the reader may guess
the value of the city at the head of the canal system to the Germans.

BLOODLESS CAPITULATION OF GHENT

Historic Ghent, with its quarter of a million inhabitants, was also
surrendered peaceably to the Germans, and again the energy and
initiative of an American, United States Vice-Consul J. A. Van Hee, had
much to do with the avoidance of tragedy and destruction.

Learning that the advance guard of the German army was only a few miles
outside the city, the burgomaster went out on the morning of September
to parley with Gen. von Boehn--in the hope of arranging for the German
forces not to enter. An agreement finally was reached whereby the
Germans should go around Ghent on condition that all Belgian troops
should evacuate the city, the civic guard be disarmed, their weapons
surrendered, and the municipal authorities should supply the Germans
with specified quantities of provisions and other supplies.

The burgomaster was not back an hour when a motor car driven by two
armed German soldiers appeared in the streets.

At almost the same moment that the German car entered the city from the
south a Belgian armored car, armed with a machine gun, with a crew of
three men, entered from the east on a scouting expedition.

The two cars, both speeding, encountered each other at the head of the
Rue Agneau, directly in front of the American consulate. Vice-consul Van
Hee, standing in the doorway, was an eyewitness to what followed.

The Germans, taken completely by surprise at the sight of the foe's grim
war car in its coat of elephant gray, bearing down upon them, attempted
to escape, firing with their carbines as they fled. Notwithstanding the
fact that the sidewalks were lined with onlookers, the Belgians opened
on the fleeing Germans with their machine guns, which spurted lead as a
garden hose spurts water.

The driver, fearing the Germans might escape, swerved his powerful car
against the German motor precisely as a polo player "rides off" his
opponent. The machine gun never ceased its angry snarl.

The Germans surrendered, both being wounded.

Appreciating that Ghent stood in imminent danger of meeting the terrible
fate of its sister cities, Aerschot and Louvain, sacked and burned for
far less cause, Mr. Van Hee hurriedly found the burgomaster and urged
him to go along instantly to German headquarters.

They found General von Boehn and his staff at a chateau a few miles
outside the city. The German commander at first was furious with anger
and threatened Ghent with the same punishment he had meted out to the
other places where Germans were fired on. Van Hee took a very firm
stand, however. He told the general the burning of Ghent would do
more than anything else to lose the Germans all American sympathy. He
reminded him that Americans have a great sentimental interest in Ghent
because the treaty of peace between England and the United States was
signed there just a century ago.

The general finally said: "If you will give me your word that there
will be no further attacks upon Germans in Ghent, and that the wounded
soldiers will be taken under American protection and returned to
Brussels by the consular authorities when they have recovered, I will
agree to spare Ghent and will not even demand a money indemnity."

The news that Mr. Van Hee had succeeded in his mission spread through
the city like fire in dry grass and when he returned he was acclaimed by
cheering crowds as the saviour of Ghent.

THE BURGOMASTER'S APPEAL

Blazoned on the front of the Town Hall suddenly appeared a great
black-lettered document. It was a manly and inspiring proclamation by
the burgomaster, similar to the splendid proclamation issued by M.
Adolphe Max, burgomaster of Brussels, just before the German entry.
He assured the inhabitants that he and all the town officials were
remaining in their places, and that so long as life and liberty remained
to him he would do all in his power to protect their honor and their
interests. He reminded them that under the laws of war they had the
right to refuse all information and help to the invaders; and called
upon each citizen, or his wife, to refuse such information and help.
Finally, he urged the citizens to remain calm, and stay in their homes.

"Vive la Belgique! Vive Ghent!" The proclamation ended in great capitals
with this patriotic cry.

DINANT AND TERMONDE FALL

But other cities and towns of Belgium were not as fortunate as Brussels
and Ghent in escaping damage and destruction.

Dinant, a town of 8,000 inhabitants, fifteen miles south of Namur, and
dating back to the sixth century, was partially destroyed by the Germans
in their advance on September 3 and 4. Early reports stated that a
number of the most prominent citizens had been executed, including Mr.
Humbert, owner of a large factory, who was slain in the presence of his
wife and children.

The Germans alleged that citizens had fired on them from the heights
about the city. They then drove all of the inhabitants out, shot some of
the men as examples, took the gold from the branch of the National Bank
and burned the business section. On September 4 the town of Termonde met
a similar fate. This town, 16 miles from Ghent, was fired in several
places before the Kaiser's troops passed on. They also blew up a bridge
over the River Escaut to the north, seeming to renounce for the moment
their intrusion into the country of the Waes district. Afterward they
directed an attack against the southwest front position of the Antwerp
army and were repulsed with great losses.

Describing the burning of Termonde by the Germans, a Ghent correspondent
said:

"By midday Sunday the blaze had assumed gigantic proportions and by
Sunday evening not a house stood upright. This was verified at Zele,
where there were thousands of refugees from Termonde. The Germans also
pillaged Zele. The suburb of St. Giles also suffered from bombardment
and fire."

A courier who knew Termonde as a flourishing town with fine shops,
an ancient town hall of singular beauty and a number of churches of
historic interest, found the place on September 11 a smoldering ruin,
except for the town hall and one church, on a stone of which he saw the
inscription "1311." These two structures were left intact, without so
much as a broken window.

Termonde was burned for much the same reason as Louvain. On September
4 a German force came back from the field after having been severely
handled by the Belgians, and the German commander, it is said,
exclaimed:

"It is our duty to burn them down!"

The inhabitants were given two hours' grace, and German soldiers filed
through the town, breaking windows with their rifles. They were followed
by other files of troops, who sprayed kerosene into the houses, others
applied lighted fuses and the town was systematically destroyed.

BOMBARDMENT OF MALINES

On Thursday night, August 27, the German artillery bombarded the ancient
Belgian town of Malines. During the bombardment many of the monuments
in the town were hit by shells and destroyed. When the artillery had
ceased firing the inhabitants of Malines were advised to leave the town.




CHAPTER VIII BRITAIN RAISES AN ARMY

_Earl Kitchener Appointed Secretary for War--A New Volunteer
Army--Expeditionary Force Landed in France--Marshal Sir John French
in Command--Colonies Rally to Britain's Aid--The Canadian
Contingent--Indian Troops Called For--Native Princes Offer Aid_.

After the declaration of war by Great Britain against Germany on August
4, the first important development in England was the appointment of
Earl Kitchener of Khartoum as secretary of state for war. This portfolio
had been previously held by the Rt. Hon. H.H. Asquith, premier and first
lord of the treasury. Lord Kitchener being the idol of the British army
and most highly esteemed by the nation generally for his powers of
organization and administration, as well as for his military fame,
the appointment increased the confidence of the British people in the
Liberal Government and awakened their enthusiasm for war. Parliament
unanimously passed a vote of credit for $500,000,000 on August 6.

Lord Kitchener immediately realized the serious nature of the task
confronting his country as an ally of France against the military power
of Germany. His first step was to increase the regular army. The first
call was for 100,000 additional men. This was soon increased to 500,000.
Within a month there were 439,000 voluntary enlistments and then a
further call was made for 500,000 more, bringing the strength of the
British army up to 1,854,000 men, a figure unprecedented for Great
Britain.

The war fever grew apace in England. All classes of society furnished
their quota to the colors for service in Belgium and France. The period
of enlistment was "for the war" and a wave of patriotic fervor swept
over the British Isles and over all the colonies of Britain beyond the
seas. Political differences were forgotten and the empire presented
a united front, as never before. If Germany had counted on internal
dissension keeping England out of the fray, the expectation proved
unfounded. Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen stood shoulder to shoulder.
The Irish Home Rule controversy was dropped by common consent. The men
of Ulster and the Irish Nationalists struck hands and agreed to forget
their differences in the presence of national danger.

Trade resumed normal conditions and the Bank of England rate, which
earlier in the week had mounted to 10 per cent, was reduced on August
to 5 per cent.

There were some panicky conditions and a disquieting collapse on the
London Stock Exchange during the last days of feverish diplomacy, and it
was due to the financial solidity of the British nation, no less than to
its level-headedness and the promptness of government measures, that the
declaration of war, instead of precipitating worse conditions, cleared
the atmosphere.

BRITISH TROOPS LAND IN FRANCE

While the British army was being mobilized, the utmost secrecy was
observed regarding all movements of troops. The newspapers refrained
from publishing even the little they knew and an expeditionary force,
composed of the flower of the British army and numbering approximately
94,000 men of all arms of the service, was assembled, transported across
the English Channel and landed at Boulogne and other French ports behind
a veil of deepest mystery, so far as the British public and the world at
large were concerned.

The old town of Plymouth, on the Channel, was the chief port of
embarkation for the troops and the main concentration point in England,
but troops embarked also at Dublin, Ireland; Liverpool; Eastbourne;
Southampton, and other cities. Not a mention of the midnight sailings of
transports carrying troops, horses, automobiles, artillery, hospital
and commissary equipment and supplies was allowed to be printed in the
newspapers, nor was it known how many troops were being sent across the
Channel.

The landing in France was effected between the 10th and the 20th of
August without the loss of a single man, and on the 23d, having joined
forces with the French army under General Joffre, commander-in-chief,
the British found themselves in touch with the German enemy at Mons in
Belgium.

FIELD-MARSHAL FRENCH IN COMMAND

The expeditionary force was in supreme command of Field Marshal Sir John
D. P. French, a veteran officer of high military repute, with Maj.-Gen.
Sir A. Murray as chief of staff. Other noted officers were Lieut.-Gen.
Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the First Corps; Lieut.-Gen. Sir James
Grierson, commander of the Second Corps; Maj.-Gen. W. P. Pulteney,
commander of the Third Corps, and Maj.-Gen. Edmund Allenby, in command
of the Cavalry Division. The home army was left in command of Gen. Sir
Ian Hamilton.

Hardly had the expedition landed in France when the death was reported
of the commander of the Second Corps, Sir James Grierson, who succumbed
to heart disease while on his way to the front, dropping dead on a
train. He was given a notable military funeral in London. Gen. Sir H.
L. Smith-Dorrien was appointed to succeed him in command of the Second
Corps.

The British troops were received in France with loud acclaim and Field
Marshal French, on visiting Paris for a conference at the French
war office before proceeding to the front, was greeted by a popular
demonstration that showed how welcome British aid was to the French in
their critical hour.

The British field force was composed of three army corps, each
comprising two divisions, and there was also an extra cavalry division.

Each army corps consists of twenty-four infantry battalions of about
one thousand men each on a war footing; six cavalry regiments, eight
batteries of horse artillery of six guns each, eighteen batteries of
field artillery, two howitzer batteries, and troops of engineers, signal
corps, army service corps and other details.

Thus the first British field force landed in France aggregated about
94,000 men, including the extra Cavalry division. These were added to
almost daily during the following weeks, until by September 20 the
British had probably 200,000 men co-operating with the French army north
and east of Paris.

COLONIES RALLY TO BRITAIN

At the prospect of war with Germany the dominions of the British Empire
overseas eagerly offered their aid. Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
India, all came forward with offers of men, money, ships and supplies.
The Australian premier issued a statement to the people in which he
said: "We owe it to those who have gone before to preserve the great
fabric of British freedom and hand it on to our children. Our duty is
quite clear. Remember we are Britons."

CANADA OFFERS MEN

A formal offer of military contingents was cabled to England by the
Canadian government August 1. A meeting of the cabinet was presided over
by Premier Borden. It was called to deal with the situation in which
Canada found herself as the result of the European war.

The government unanimously decided to make England an offer of men.
Infantry, cavalry and artillery would be included in any force sent
forward and it would number 20,000 men if transportation could be
obtained for that number. It was estimated that within two weeks it
would be possible to dispatch 10,000 efficient soldiers, and within
three months this number could be increased to 50,000.

Many offers for foreign service arrived from the commandants of militia
corps throughout the dominion. In all 40,000 Canadian troops were
tendered to and accepted by the British Government in the early days of
the war; also 20,000 men from Australia and 8,000 from New Zealand, a
total of 68,000 men.

By the request of the Dominions in each case, the cost of the
equipment, maintenance and pay of the forces was defrayed by the three
governments--in itself a generous and patriotic additional offer. The
Dominions at the same time declared their readiness to send additional
contingents if required, as well as drafts from time to time to maintain
their field forces at full strength.

TROOPSHIPS SAIL UNDER CONVOY

The first intimation that Canadian troops had been dispatched to the
front from Valcartier Camp came on September 24, when the Hon. T. W.
Crothers, the Dominion minister of labor, announced in a speech before
the Canadian Trades and Labor Congress, assembled in convention at St.
John, New Brunswick, that 32,000 Canadian volunteers "left for the front
a day or two ago." It was understood that the troops had sailed from
Quebec in twenty armed transports, convoyed by a fleet of British
warships, which had been collected at convenient ports for the purpose.

There were two army divisions in the force that sailed, each comprising
three brigades of infantry (12,000 men), 27 guns, 500 cavalry, and 2,
staff, signallers, medical corps and supermimaries.

THE FINAL REVIEW AT VALCARTIER

Before they sailed away the Canadian army marched past the reviewing
stand at the Valcartier Camp, Quebec, under the eyes of 10,
civilians. There were 32,000 soldiers equipped for active service and
everyone was impressed with the serious scene.

The Duke and Duchess of Connaught, the Princess Patricia, Col. Sam
Hughes, the Canadian minister of militia, and Col. V. H. C. Williams,
commandant of the camp, looked on with pride as the great parade, almost
a full army corps, passed the royal standard. They marched in column of
half battalions, and took a full hour to go by. Officers commanding the
four infantry brigades: Lieut.-Col. R.E.W. Turner, V.C., D.S.O., of
Quebec, a veteran of the South African war, mentioned in dispatches for
especially gallant service; Lieut.-Col. S.M. Mercer, Toronto, Commanding
Officer of the Queen's Own Rifles; Lieut.-Col. A.W. Currie of Victoria,
Commanding Officer of the 50th Fusiliers; Lieut.-Col. J.E. Cohoe of St.
Catharines, Commanding Officer of the 5th Militia Infantry Brigade.

The officer appointed to command the artillery brigade was Lieut.-Col.
H.E. Burstall of Quebec, of the Artillery Headquarters Staff.

Officer in command of the Strathcona Horse, Lieut.-Col. A.C. Macdonnell,
D.S.O., of Winnipeg, a South African veteran.

Officer in command of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Lieut-Col. C.M.
Nelles of Toronto, Inspector of Cavalry for Militia Headquarters.

The commanding officer of the whole army division was an English general
selected by the British War Office.

It was understood that the Canadian troops would land in the south of
England and march through London to training quarters at Aldershot and
Salisbury Plains, the infantry going to Aldershot and the artillery
to Salisbury Plains, for several weeks' training under active service
conditions before going to the firing line.

CANADA FIGHTS AGAINST AUTOCRACY

"Canada will spend its last dollar and shed its last drop of blood
fighting for the principle of democracy, against that of autocracy, as
exemplified in the present European conflict."

This was the emphatic statement made by Sir Douglas Cameron,
lieutenant-governor--chief executive--of the province of Manitoba,
passing through Chicago on September 28.

"Great Britain is not fighting for empire," he said. "It is not fighting
for greater commercial gains. We are fighting for the annihilation of
autocracy and it is the sentiment of the people of Canada that they will
fight against Germany's domination to the bitter end.

"England does not want more commerce, except as it can be gained through
the paths of peace. We would not draw the sword to increase it, but we
will fight to the last drop of blood to protect it.

"The men of Canada have responded nobly to the call to arms. We have
sent about 31,800 provincial troops, every one a volunteer, and we have
that many more already enlisted if they are needed. Our trouble is to
equip them as fast as they enlist.

"In Canada we are turning our attention to agricultural pursuits. Wheat
is at a premium; a farmer can get from $1 to $1.10 per bushel in cash
for wheat on his wagon. All Europe will be in dire need of foodstuffs
next year and for some years to come and we in Canada hope to profit by
the opportunity.

"Economic conditions in the dominion received a terrible blow when the
war came; we were shocked, staggered, and business has received a hard
setback; finances are depressed. The government has offered help to the
banks, but they do not need it yet.

"We want immigrants in our country--Germans or any other good, strong,
virile nationality. We have no quarrel with the German people. We like
them; they are used to a high standard of living and are the finest kind
of citizens.

"To my mind, this war cannot be of long duration. Germany, with all
its preparedness, could not lay by stores enough to support 65,000,
people for any great length of time when there is no raw material coming
in. The country will be starved out, if not beaten in the field, for I
do not believe Germany can gain control of the high seas and cover the
world with its merchantmen."

INDIAN TROOPS CALLED FOR

The announcement by Lord Kitchener in the House of Commons late in
August that native troops from India were to be summoned to the aid of
the British army in France "came like a crash of thunder and revealed a
grim determination to fight the struggle out to a successful finish."

There was some talk in England of increasing the army by temporary
conscription, but Premier Asquith declined to consider any such
proposal.

In the House of Commons on September 9 a message was read from the
Viceroy of India, which said that the rulers of the Indian native
states, nearly 700 in number, had with one accord rallied to the defense
of the empire with personal offers of services as well as the resources
of their states.

Many of the native rulers of India also sent cables to King George
offering him their entire military and financial resources, while the
people of India by thousands offered to volunteer.

Conditions in India were indeed so satisfactory, from the British
standpoint, that Premier Asquith was able to announce that two divisions
(40,000) of British (white) soldiers were to be removed from India.

The aid that India could offer was not lightly to be considered. The
soldiery retained by the British and the rajahs, constituting India's
standing army, amount to about 400,000, not taking into consideration
the reserves and the volunteers. The rajahs maintain about 23,
soldiers, who are named Imperial Service Troops, expressly for purposes
of Imperial defense, and these have served in many wars. They served
with British, German, French, and United States troops in China from
September, 1900, to August, 1901, and gained the highest laurels for
efficiency and good conduct.

The first Indian troops called for by Lord Kitchener included two
divisions of infantry and a brigade of cavalry, adding about 70,
combatants to the allied armies in France, with approximately 130 pieces
of artillery, both light and heavy, and howitzers.

Twelve Indian potentates were selected to accompany this expeditionary
force. These included the veteran Sir Pertab Singh, regent of Jodhpur;
Sir Ganga Bahadur, Maharajah of Bikanir, and Sir Bhupindra Singh,
Maharajah of Patiala.

The expeditionary force contained units of the regular army and
contingents of the Imperial Service Troops in India, From twelve states
the viceroy accepted contingents of cavalry, infantry, sappers and
transport, besides a camel corps from Bikanir.

The Maharajah of Mysore placed $1,600,000 at the disposal of the
Government in connection with the expenditure for the expeditionary
force. In addition to this gift, the Maharajahs of Gwalior and Bhopal
contributed large sums of money and provided thousands of horses as
remounts. Maharajah Repa offered his troops and treasure, even his
privately-owned jewelry, for the service of the British King and Emperor
of India. Maharajah Holkar of Indore made a gift of all the horses in
the army of his state.

A similar desire to help the British Government was shown by committees
representing religious, political, and social associations of all
classes and creeds in India.

In the House of Lords on August 28 Earl Kitchener announced that the
first division of the troops from India was already on the way to the
front in France. At the same time the Marquis of Crewe, secretary of
state for India, said: "It has been deeply impressed upon us by what we
have heard from India that the wonderful wave of enthusiasm and loyalty
now passing over that country is to a great extent based upon the desire
of the Indian people that Indian soldiers should stand side by side with
their comrades of the British army in repelling the invasion of our
friends' territory and the attack made upon Belgium. We shall find our
army there reinforced by native Indian soldiers--high-souled men of
first-rate training and representing an ancient civilization; and we
feel certain that if they are called upon they will give the best
possible account of themselves side by side with our British troops in
encountering the enemy."

KING GEORGE PRAISES COLONIES

On September 9 a message from King George to the British colonies,
thanking them for their aid in Britain's emergency, was published as
follows:

"During the last few weeks the peoples of my whole empire at home and
overseas have moved with one mind and purpose to confront and overthrow
an unparalleled assault upon the continuity of civilization and the
peace of mankind.

"The calamitous conflict is not of my seeking. My voice has been cast
throughout on the side of peace. My ministers earnestly strove to allay
the causes of the strife and to appease differences with which my empire
was not concerned. Had I stood aside when in defiance of pledges to
which my kingdom was a party, the soil of Belgium was violated and
her cities made desolate, when the very life of the French nation was
threatened with extinction, I should have sacrificed my honor and given
to destruction the liberties of my empire and of mankind.

"I rejoice that every part of the empire is with me in this decision.

"Paramount regard for a treaty of faith and the pledged word of rulers
and peoples is the common heritage of Great Britain and of the empire.
My peoples in the self-governing dominions have shown beyond all doubt
that they whole-heartedly indorse the grave decision it was necessary
to take, and I am proud to be able to show to the world that my peoples
oversea are as determined as the people of the United Kingdom to
prosecute a just cause to a successful end.

"The Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion
of New Zealand have placed at my disposal their naval forces, which
have already rendered good service for the empire. Strong expeditionary
forces are being prepared in Canada, Australia and New Zealand for
service at the front, and the Union of South Africa has released all
British troops and undertaken other important military responsibilities.

"Newfoundland has doubled the number of its branch of the royal naval
reserve, and is sending a body of men to take part in the operations at
the front. From the Dominion and Provincial governments of Canada, large
and welcome gifts of supplies are on their way for use both by my naval
and military forces.

"All parts of my oversea dominions have thus demonstrated in the most
unmistakable manner the fundamental unity of the empire amidst all its
diversity of situation and circumstance."

A message similar to the foregoing was addressed by King George to the
princes and the people of India.

The King's eldest son, the young Prince of Wales, volunteered for active
service at the outset of the war and was gazetted as a second lieutenant
in the First Battalion, Grenadier Guards. He also inaugurated and acted
as treasurer of a national fund for the relief of sufferers by the war.
This fund soon grew to $10,000,000 and steadily climbed beyond that
amount.




CHAPTER IX

EARLY BATTLES OF THE WAR

_Belgian Resistance to the German Advance_--_The Fighting at Vise,
Haelen, Diest, Aerschot and Tirlemont_--_Mons and Charleroi the First
Great Battles of the War_--Make a Gallant Stand, but Forced to Retire
Across the French Border_.

From the first day of the German entry into Belgium brief and hazy
reports of battles between the patriotic Belgians and the invaders came
across the Atlantic. Many absurd and mischievous reports of repeated
Belgian "victories" were received throughout the month of August. These
were for the most part rendered ridiculous by the steady advance of
the German troops. The resistance of the Belgians was gallant and
persistent, but availed only to hinder and delay the German advance
which it was powerless to stop. Up to August 23, there were no
"victories" possible for either side, because never until then were the
opposing armies definitely pitted against each other in an engagement in
which one or the other must be broken.

All the time these Belgian "victories," which were no more than
resistances to German reconnoissances, were being reported, the German
line was not touched, and behind that line the Germans were methodically
massing.

When they were ready they came on. The Belgian army retired from the
Diest-Tirlemont line, from Aerschot and Louvain, from Brussels, because
to have held these positions against the overwhelming force opposed to
them would have meant certain destruction. The rearguards held each of
these points with the greatest heroism so long as that was necessary,
and then retired in good order on the main force.

VISE ATTACKED AND FIRED

The first fighting of any severity in Belgium occurred at Vise, near
the frontier, early in the German advance. German troops crossed the
frontier in motors, followed by large bodies of cavalry, but the
Belgians put up a stubborn resistance. The chiefs of the Belgian staff
had foreseen the invasion and had blown up the bridges of the River
Meuse outside the town, as well as the railway tunnels. Time after time
the Belgians foiled with their heavy fire the attempts of the Germans to
cross by means of pontoons. Vise itself was stubbornly defended. Only
after a protracted struggle did the Germans master the town, which they
fired in several places on entering.

BATTLES OF HAELEN-DIEST

At the end of the first week of the Belgian invasion it was estimated
that the Germans had concentrated most of their field troops, probably
about 900,000 combatants, along a 75-mile line running from Liege to the
entrance into Luxemburg at Treves. With this immense army it was said
there were no less than 5,894 pieces of artillery. This was only the
first-line strength of the Germans, the reserves being massed in the
rear. Part of the right wing was swung northward and westward in the
direction of Antwerp, and swept the whole of northern Belgium to the
Dutch frontier.

On August 10 the Belgian defenders fought a heavy engagement with the
Germans at Haelen, which was described in the dispatches as the first
battle of the war. A Belgian victory was claimed as the result, the
German losses, it was said, being very heavy, especially in cavalry,
while the Belgian casualties were reported relatively small. But the
German advance was merely checked. The covering troops were speedily
reinforced from the main body of the army and the advance swept on.

The result of the Haelen engagement was thus described in the dispatches
of August 13:

"The battle centered around Haelen, in the Belgian province of Limbourg,
extending to Diest, in the north of the province of Brabant, after
passing round Zeelhem.

"At 7 o'clock last evening all the country between the three towns
mentioned had been cleared of German troops, except the dead and
wounded, who were thickly strewn about the fire zone. Upward of 200 dead
German soldiers were counted in a space of fifty yards square.

"A church, a brewery and some houses in Haelen. were set afire, and two
bridges over the Denier were destroyed by Belgian engineers.

"Great quantities of booty were collected on the battlefield, and this
has been stacked in front of the town hall of Diest. Many horses also
were captured.

"The strength of the German column was about 5,000 men."

Another report said of the encounter:

"A division of Belgian cavalry, supported by a brigade of infantry and
by artillery, engaged and defeated, near the fortress of Diest, eighteen
miles northeast of Louvain, a division of German cavalry, also supported
by infantry and by artillery.

"The fighting was extremely fierce and resulted in the Germans being
thrown back toward Hasselt and St. Trond."

Meanwhile the forts at Liege, to the southeast, still held out, though
fiercely bombarded by German siege guns. The fortress of Namur was also
being attacked. The Germans had bridged the river Meuse and were moving
their crack artillery against the Belgian lines. French troops had
joined the Belgian defenders and the main battle line extended from
Liege on the north to Metz on the south.

A visit to Haelen and other towns by a Brussels correspondent August
17, "showed the frightful devastation which the Germans perpetrated in
Belgian territory.

"For instance, at Haelen itself houses belonging to the townspeople have
been completely wrecked. Windows were broken, furniture destroyed, and
the walls demolished by shell fire. Even the churches have not been
respected. The parish church at Haelen has been damaged considerably
from shrapnel fire, "On the battlefield there are many graves of Germans
marked by German lances erected in the form of a cross."

ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF DIEST

A correspondent of the New York Tribune said:

"Across the battlefield of Diest there is a brown stretch of harrowed
ground half a furlong in length. It is the grave of twelve hundred
Germans who fell in the fight of August 11. All over the field there are
other graves, some of Germans, some of Belgians, some of horses. When I
reached the place peasants with long mattocks and spades were turning in
the soil. For two full days they had been at the work of burial and they
were sick at heart. Their corn is ripe for cutting in the battlefield,
but little of it will be harvested. Dark paths in their turnip fields
are sodden with the blood of men and horses."

The Belgians, in contempt of German markmanship, had forced the enemy
to the attack, which had been made from three points of the field
simultaneously. The fighting had been fierce, but now that both sides
had swept on, no one seemed to know how those in the fight had really
fared. Only by the heaps of dead could one make estimate:

"At least, there were most dead on the side toward the bridge. A charge
of 300 Uhlans, who were held in check for a short time by seventeen
Belgians at a corner, seems, however, to have come near success. The
derelict helmets and lances that covered the fields show that the charge
pressed well up to the guns and to the trenches in the turnip fields
where the Belgian soldiers lay. On the German left mitrailleuses got in
their work behind, and in the houses on the outskirts of the villages.
Five of these houses were burned to the ground, and two others farther
out broken all to pieces and burned. In a shed was a peasant weeping
over the dead bodies of his cows.

"It would be easy now at the beginning of this war to write of its
tragedy. The villages have each a tale of loss to tell. All of the
twelve hundred men in the long grave were men with wives, sweethearts,
and parents. All the Belgian soldiers and others who were buried where
they fell have mourners. A LETTER FROM THE GRAVE

"A letter which I picked up on the field and am endeavoring to have
identified and sent her for whom it is intended will speak for all. It
is written in ink on half a sheet of thin notepaper. There is no date
and no place. It probably was written on the eve of battle in the hope
that it would reach its destination if the writer died. This is the
translation:

"'Sweetheart: Fate in this present war has treated us more cruelly than
many others. If I have not lived to create for you the happiness of
which both our hearts dreamed, remember my sole wish now is that you
should be happy. Forget me and create for yourself some happy home that
may restore to you some of the greater pleasures of life. For myself, I
shall have died happy in the thought of your love. My last thought has
been for you and for those I leave at home. Accept this, the last kiss
from him who loved you.'

"Postcards from fathers with blessings to their gallant sons I found,
too, on the field, little mementos of people and of places carried by
men as mascots. Everywhere were broken lances of German and Belgian,
side by side; scabbards and helmets, saddles and guns. These the
peasants were collecting in a pile, to be removed by the military.
High up over the graves of twelve hundred, as we stood there, a German
biplane came and went, hovering like a carrion crow, seeking other
victims for death.

"In the village itself death is still busy. A wounded German died as we
stood by his side and a Belgian soldier placed his handkerchief over his
face. Soldiers who filled the little market-place may be fighting for
life now as I write. The enemy is in force not a mile away from them,
and in a moment they may be attacked. It is significant that all German
prisoners believed they were in France. The deception, it appears, was
necessary to encourage them in their attack, and twelve hundred dead
in the harrowed field died without knowing whom or what they were
fighting."

THOUGHT THEY WERE IN FRANCE

A number of German prisoners were taken by the Belgians during the
fighting at Haelen-Diest. From these it was learned that the German
soldiers really believed they were fighting in France. At Diest it is
said that 400 surrendered the moment they lost their officers and were
surprised to learn that they were in Belgium.

King Albert of Belgium was constantly in the field during the early
engagements of the war, moving from point to point inside the Belgian
lines by means of a high-powered automobile, in which he was slightly
wounded by the explosion of a shell. He was thus enabled to keep in
touch with the field forces, as well as with his general staff, and
speedily endeared himself to the Belgian soldiery by his personal
disregard of danger.

The Belgians by their gallant fight against the trained legions of
Germany quickly won the admiration even of their foes. The army
of Belgium was brought up to its full strength of 300,000 men and
everywhere the soldiers of the little country battled to halt the
invaders. Often their efforts proved effective. The losses on both sides
were truly appalling, the Germans suffering most on account of their
open methods of attack in close order. But their forces were like the
sands of the sea and every gap in the ranks of the onrushing host was
promptly filled by more Germans.

TIRLEMONT AKD LOUVAIN

The fighting at Tirlemont and Louvain was described by a citizen of
Ostend, who says he witnessed it from a church tower at Tirlemont first
and later proceeded to Louvain. He says:

"Until luncheon time Tuesday, August 18, Tirlemont was quiet and normal.
Suddenly, about 1 o'clock, came the sound of the first German gun. The
artillery had opened fire.

"From the church tower it was possible to see distinctly the position of
the German guns and the bursting of their shells. The Belgians replied
from their positions east of Louvain. It was a striking sight, to the
accompaniment of the ceaseless thud-thud of bursting shells with their
puffs of cottonlike smoke, tearing up the peaceful wheat fields not far
away.

BELGIANS RETIRE AT LOUVAIN

"Gradually working nearer, the shells began to strike the houses in
Tirlemont. This was a signal for the populace, which had been confident
that the Belgian army would protect them, to flee. All they knew was
that the Germans were coming. From the tower the scene was like the
rushing of rats from a disturbed nest. The people fled in every
direction except one.

"I moved down to Louvain, where everything seemed quiet and peaceful.
The people sat in the cafes drinking their evening beer and smoking.
Meanwhile the Belgian troops were retiring in good order toward Louvain.

TOWN IN PANIC WITH REFUGEES

"By midnight the town was in the throes of a panic. Long before midnight
throngs of refugees had begun to arrive, followed later by soldiers. By
11 o'clock the Belgian rear guard was engaging the enemy at the railroad
bridge at the entrance to the town.

"The firing was heavy. The wounded began to come in. Riderless horses
came along, both German and Belgian. These were caught and mounted by
civilians glad to have so rapid a mode of escape.

TROOPS HINDERED BY CIVILIANS

"I remember watching a black clad Belgian woman running straight down
the middle of a road away from the Germans. Behind her came the retiring
Belgian troops, disheartened but valiant. This woman, clad in mourning,
was the symbol of the Belgian populace.

"At some of the barricades along the route the refugees and soldiers
arrived simultaneously, making the defense difficult. All about
Tirlemont and Louvain the refugees interfered with the work of the
troops. The road to Brussels always was crowded with refugees and many
sorrowful sights were witnessed among them as they fled from the homes
that had been peaceful and prosperous a few days before. BRUSSELS FILLED
WITH REFUGEES

"Brussels is filled with refugees from surrounding towns, despite the
large numbers who left the city for Ghent and Ostend during the last few
days," said a correspondent, writing from Ghent on August 20.

"The plight of most of the refugees is pitiable. Many are camped in
the public square whose homes in the suburbs have been fired by the
Prussians. The roads leading into Brussels have been crowded all day
with all kinds of conveyances, many drawn by dogs and others by girls,
women and aged peasants.

"Most of these people have lost everything. Few of them have any money.
The peasant is considered lucky who succeeded in saving a single horse
or a cow.

"Military men characterize the German force which is moving across
Belgium as overwhelming, saying it consists of at least two or three
army corps. The advance of this huge force is covered over the entire
thirty-mile front by a screen of cavalry. The Germans had no difficulty
in taking Louvain, which was virtually undefended.

"In the high wooded country between Louvain and Brussels the Germans
found an excellent defensive position. Having occupied Louvain, the
Kaiser's troops pushed forward with great celerity, the cavalry opening
out in fan-shaped formation, spreading across country.

"At one point they ran into a strong force of Belgian artillery, which
punished them severely. Later in the day a Belgian scouting force
reached Louvain and found it unoccupied, but received imperative
orders to fall back, because of the danger of being outflanked and
annihilated."

ALLIES MEET THE INVADERS

By August 20 the Germans were in touch with the French army that had
advanced into Belgium and occupied the line Dinant-Charleroi-Mons, the
right of the French resting on Dinant and the left on Mons, where they
were reinforced by the British expeditionary force under Field Marshal
French. There was a heavy engagement at Charleroi, and a four days'
battle was begun at Mons August 23. Slowly but surely the Franco-British
army was forced back across the French border, to take up a new position
on the line, Noyon-Chant-La Fere, which constituted the second line of
the French defense.

The German right, opposing the British, was under command of General von
Kluck; General von Buelow and General von Hausen commanded the German
center opposing the Franco-Belgian forces between the Sambre and Namur
and the Meuse. The Grand Duke Albrecht of Wuerttemberg operated between
Charleroi and the French border fortress of Maubeuge. The German Crown
Prince led an army farther east, advancing toward the Meuse. The Crown
Prince of Bavaria commanded the German forces farther south toward
Nancy, and General von Heeringen was engaged in repulsing French attacks
on Alsace-Lorraine, in the region of the Vosges mountains, where the
French had met with early successes.

Meanwhile on August 18 the town of Aerschot had been the scene of a
bloody engagement and was occupied and partly destroyed by the Germans.
The occupation of Brussels followed on August 20-21 and the German line
of communications was kept open by a line of occupied towns.

After overwhelming the Belgians the Kaiser's great advance army swept
quickly into deadly conflict with the allies. The first mighty shock
came at Charleroi, where the French were forced back, and on August
came the first battle with the British at Mons.

THE BATTLE OF MONS----FOUR DAYS OF FIGHTING----RETREAT OF THE ALLIES

All England was thrilled on the morning of September 10 when the British
government permitted the newspapers to publish the first report from
Field Marshal Sir John D.P. French, commander-in-chief of the British
army allied with the French and Belgians on the continent, telling of
the heroic fight made by the British troops, August 23-26, to keep from
being annihilated by the Germans. The withdrawal of the British army
before the German advance was compared to the pursuit of a wildcat by
hounds, the English force backing stubbornly toward the River Oise,
constantly showing its teeth, but realizing that it must reach the river
or perish. The report of Field Marshal French created much surprise in
England, as it was not known until his statement was made public just
how hard pressed the British army had been.

The communication was addressed to Earl Kitchener, the secretary for
war, and its publication indicated that the government was responding to
the public demand for fuller information on the progress of operations,
so far as the British forces in France were concerned.

The report, as published in the London Gazette, the official organ, was
as follows:

FIELD MARSHAL FRENCH'S REPORT

"The transportation of the troops from England by rail and sea was
effected in the best order and without a check. Concentration was
practically completed on the evening of Friday, August 21, and I was
able to make dispositions to move the force during Saturday to positions
I considered most favorable from which to commence the operations which
General Joffre requested me to undertake. The line extended along the
line of the canal from Conde on the west, through Mons and Binche on the
east.

"During August 22 and 23 the advance squadrons did some excellent work,
some of them penetrating as far as Soignies (a town of Belgium ten miles
northeast of Mons) and several encounters took place in which our troops
showed to great advantage.

"On Sunday, the 23d, reports began to come in to the effect that the
enemy was commencing an attack on the Mons line, apparently in some
strength, but that the right of the position from Mons was being
particularly threatened.

"The commander of the First Corps had pushed his flank back to some high
ground south of Bray and the Fifth Cavalry evacuated Binche, moving
slightly south. The enemy thereupon occupied Binche. "The right of
the third division under General Hamilton was at Mons, which formed a
somewhat dangerous salient and I directed the commander of the Second
Corps if threatened seriously to draw back the center behind Mons.

"In the meantime, about five in the afternoon, I received a most
unexpected message from General Joffre by telegraph, telling me that at
least three German corps were moving on my position in front and that
a second corps was engaged in a turning movement from the direction of
Tournai. He also informed me that the two reserve French divisions and
the Fifth French Army Corps on my right were retiring.

CHOSE A NEW POSITION

"In view of the possibility of my being driven from the Mons position, I
had previously ordered a position in the rear to be reconnoitered.

"This position rested on the fortress of Maubeuge on the right and
extended west to Jenlain, southeast of Valenciennes on the left. The
position was reported difficult to hold because standing crops and
buildings limited the fire in many important localities.

"When the news of the retirement of the French and the heavy German
threatening on my front reached me, I endeavored to confirm it by
aeroplane reconnaissance, and as a result of this I determined to effect
a retirement to the Maubeuge position at daybreak on the 24th.

"A certain amount of fighting continued along the whole line throughout
the night and at daybreak on the 24th the second division from the
neighborhood of Harmignies made a powerful demonstration as if to retake
Binche. This was supported by the artillery of both the first and the
second divisions while the first division took up a supporting position
in the neighborhood of Peissant. Under cover of this demonstration The
Second Corps retired on the line of Dour, Quarouble and Frameries. The
third division on the right of the corps suffered considerable loss in
this operation from the enemy, who had retaken Mons.

"The Second Corps halted on this line, where they intrenched themselves,
enabling Sir Douglas Haig, with the First Corps, to withdraw to the new
position.

NIGHT ATTACK ON THE LEFT

"Toward midnight the enemy appeared to be directing his principal effort
against our left. I had previously ordered General Allenby with the
cavalry to act vigorously in advance of my left front and endeavor to
take the pressure off.

"About 7:30 in the morning General Allenby received a message from Sir
Charles Fergusson, commanding the fifth division, saying he was very
hard pressed and in urgent need of support. On receipt of this message
General Allenby drew in his cavalry and endeavored to bring direct
support to the fifth division.

"During the course of this operation General DeLisle of the Second
Cavalry Brigade thought he saw a good opportunity to paralyze the
further advance of the enemy's infantry by making a mounted attack on
his flank. He formed up and advanced for this purpose, but was held up
by wire about 500 yards from his objective.

GENERAL SMITH-DORRIEN IN RETREAT

"The Nineteenth Infantry Brigade was brought by rail to Valenciennes on
the 22d and 23d. On the morning of the 24th, they were moved out to a
position south of Quarouble to support the left flank of the Second
Corps. With the assistance of cavalry Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien was
enabled to effect his retreat to a new position.

"At nightfall a position was occupied by the Second Corps to the west
of Bavay, the First Corps to the right. The right was protected by the
fortress of Maubeuge, the left by the Nineteenth Brigade in position
between Jenlain and Bavay and cavalry on the outer flank. The French
were still retiring and I had no support except such as was afforded by
the fortress of Maubeuge.

ARMY IN GEEAT PERIL

"I felt that not a moment must be lost in retiring to another position.
I had every reason to believe that the enemy's forces were somewhat
exhausted and I knew that they had suffered heavy losses. The operation,
however, was full of danger and difficulty, not only owing to the very
superior forces in my front, but also to the exhaustion of the troops.
"The retirement was recommenced in the early morning of the 25th to
a position in the neighborhood of Le Catean and the rear guard were
ordered to be clear of Maubeuge and Bavay by 5:30 a. m.

"The fourth division commenced its detrainment at Le Cateau on Sunday,
August 23, and by the morning of the 25th eleven battalions and a
brigade of artillery with the divisional staff were available for
service. I ordered General Snow to move out to take up a position with
his right south of Solesmes, his left resting on the Cambrai-Le Cateau
road south of La Chapriz. In this position the division rendered great
help.

"Although the troops had been ordered to occupy Cam-brai-Le
Cateau-Landrecies position and ground had, during the 25th, been
partially prepared and entrenched, I had grave doubts as to the wisdom
of standing there to fight.

"Having regard to the continued retirement of the French right, my
exposed left flank, the tendency of the enemy's western corps to envelop
me, and, more than all, the exhausted condition of the troops, I
determined to make a great effort to continue the retreat till I could
put some substantial obstacle, such as the Somme or the Oise between my
troops and the enemy.

RETREAT IS ORDERED

"Orders were therefore sent to the corps commanders to continue their
retreat as soon as they possibly could toward the general line of
Vermand, St. Quentin and Ribemont, and the cavalry under General Allenby
were ordered to cover the retirement. Throughout the 25th and far into
the evening the First Corps continued to march on Landrecies, following
the road along the eastern border of the forest of Mormal, and arrived
at Landrecies about 10 o'clock. I had intended that the corps should
come further west so as to fill up the gap between Le Cateau and
Landrecies, but the men were exhausted and could not get further in
without a rest.

"The enemy, however, would not allow them this rest and about 9:
that evening the report was received that the Fourth Guards brigade
in Landrecies was heavily attacked by troops of the Ninth German army
corps, who were coming through the forest to the north of the town.

FRENCH AID IS GIVEN

"At the same time information reached me from Sir Douglas Haig that his
first division was also heavily engaged south and east of Marilles. I
sent urgent messages to the commander of two French reserve divisions
on my right to come up to the assistance of the First Corps, which they
eventually did.

"By about 6 in the afternoon the Second Corps had got Into position,
with their right on Le Cateau, their left in the neighborhood of Caudry,
and the line of defense was continued thence by the fourth division
toward Seranvillers.

"During the fighting on the 24th and 25th the cavalry became a good
deal scattered, but by early morning of the 26th General Allenby had
succeeded in concentrating two brigades to the south of Cambrai.

"On the 24th the French cavalry corps, consisting of three divisions
under General Sordet, had been in billets, north of Avesnes. On my
way back from Vavay, which was my _paste de commandemente_ during the
fighting of the 23d and the 24th, I visited General Sordet and earnestly
requested his cooperation and support. He promised to obtain sanction
from his army commander to act on my left flank, but said that his
horses were too tired to move before the next day.

"Although he rendered me valuable assistance later on in the course of
the retirement, he was unable for the reasons given to afford me any
support on the most critical day of all--namely, the 26th.

GERMANS USE HEAVY GUNS

"At daybreak it became apparent that the enemy was throwing the bulk of
his strength against the left of the position occupied by the Second
Corps and the fourth division. At this time the guns of four German
army corps were in position against them, and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien
reported to me that he judged it impossible to continue his retirement
at daybreak.

"I sent him orders to use his utmost endeavors to break off the action
and retire at the earliest possible moment, as it was impossible for me
to send him support.

"The French cavalry corps under General Sordet was coming up on our left
rear early in the morning, and I sent him an urgent message to do his
utmost to come up and support the retirement of my left flank, but owing
to the fatigue of his horses he found himself unable to intervene in any
way.

"There had been no time to intrench the position properly, but the
troops showed a magnificent front to the terrible fire which confronted
them.

ARMY FACED ANNIHILATION

"At length it became apparent that if complete annihilation was to
be avoided retirement must be attempted, and the order was given to
commence it about 3:30 in the afternoon. The movement was covered with
most devoted intrepidity and determination by the artillery, which had
itself suffered heavily, and the fine work done by the cavalry in
the further retreat from the position assisted materially the final
completion of this most difficult and dangerous operation.

"I cannot close the brief account of this glorious stand of the British
troops without putting on record my deep appreciation of the valuable
services rendered by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien. I say without hesitation
that the saving of the left wing of the army under my command on
the morning of the 26th could never have been accomplished unless a
commander of rare and unusual coolness, intrepidity and determination
bad been present to personally conduct the operations.

"The retreat was continued far into the night of the 26th and through
the 27th and the 28th, on which date the troops halted on the line from
Noyon, Chauny and LeFere.

PRAISES SORDET'S HELP

"On the 27th and 28th I was much indebted to General Sordet and the
French cavalry division which he commands for materially assisting my
retirement and successfully driving back some of the enemy on Cambrai.
General d'Amade also, with the Sixty-first and Sixty-second Reserve
divisions, moved down from the neighborhood of Arras on the enemy's
right flank and took much pressure off the rear of the British forces.

"This closed the period covering the heavy fighting which commenced at
Mons on Sunday afternoon, August 23, and which really constituted a four
days' battle.

"I deeply deplore the very serious losses which the British forces
suffered in this great battle, but they were inevitable, in view of
the fact that the British army--only a few days after concentration by
rail--was called upon to withstand the vigorous attack of five German
army corps.

"It is impossible for me to speak too highly of the skill evinced by the
two general officers commanding army corps, the self-sacrificing and
devoted exertions of their staffs, the direction of troops by the
divisional, brigade and regimental leaders, the command of small units
by their officers and the magnificent fighting spirit displayed by the
noncommissioned officers and men.

[Signed] "J. D. P. FRENCH, "Field Marshal."

TOLD BY A WOUNDED SOLDIER

A British soldier, who was wounded in the fight during the retreat from
Mons, told the following story of the battle there:

"It was Sunday, August 23, and the British regiments at Mons were
merry-making and enjoying themselves in leisure along the streets.
Belgian ladies, returning from church, handed the soldiers their prayer
books as souvenirs, while the Belgian men gave the men cigarettes and
tobacco.

"About noon, when the men were beginning to think about dinner, a German
aeroplane appeared overhead and began throwing out a cloud of black
powder, which is one of their favorite methods of assisting batteries to
get the range.

"No sooner had the powder cloud appeared than shrapnel began to burst
overhead and in a moment all was confusion and uproar. But it didn't
take the regiments long to get into fighting trim and race through the
city to the scene of operations, which was on the other side of the
small canal, in the suburbs. "Here our outposts were engaging the enemy
fiercely. The outposts lost very heavily, most of the damage being done
by shells. The rifle fire was ineffective, although at times the lines
of contenders were not more than 300 yards apart.

"The first reinforcements to arrive were posted in a glass factory, the
walls of which were loop-holed, and we doggedly held that position until
nightfall, when we fixed bayonets and lay in wait in case the enemy made
an attempt to rush the position in the darkness.

DESTROY BRIDGES BEHIND THEM

"About midnight orders came to retire over the canal and two companies
were left behind to keep the enemy in check temporarily. After the
main body had crossed the bridge was blown up, leaving the two outpost
companies to get across as best they could by boats or swimming. Most of
them managed to reach the main body again.

"The main body retired from the town and fell back through open country,
being kept moving all night. When daylight arrived it was apparent from
higher ground that Mons had been practically blown away by the German
artillery.

"Throughout the morning we continued to fight a rearguard action, but
the steady march in retreat did not stop until 6 o'clock in the evening,
when the British found themselves well out of range of the German
artillery in a quiet valley.

"Here all the troops were ordered to rest and eat. As they had been
without food since the previous morning's breakfast it was rather
amusing to see the soldiers going into the turnip fields and eating
turnips as though they were apples.

"At 8 o'clock all lights were extinguished, the soldiers were ordered
to make no noise and the pickets pushed a long distance backward. Long
before dawn the troops were hastily started again and continued the
retirement.

"By noon the enemy was again heard from and a large detachment was
assigned the task of fighting to protect our rear.

WATCH DUEL IN AIR

"During the afternoon both the German and British armies watched a duel
in the air between French and German aeroplanes. The Frenchman was
wonderfully clever, and succeeded in maneuvering himself to the upper
position, which he gained after fifteen minutes of reckless effort. Then
the Frenchman began blazing away at the German with a revolver.

"Finally he hit him, and the wounded German attempted to glide down into
his own lines. The glide, however, ended in the British lines near my
detachment, the West Kent Infantry. We found the aviator dead when we
reached the machine. We buried him and burned the aeroplane.

"At dusk a halt was made for food, and as the Germans had fallen behind
the English spent a quiet night. At dawn, however, we found the Germans
close to our heels, and several regiments were ordered to prepare
intrenchments. This is tedious and tiresome work, especially in the heat
and without proper food, but we quickly put up fortifications which were
sufficient to protect us somewhat from the artillery fire.

"It was not long before the German gunners found the range and began
tearing up those rough fortifications, concentrating their fire on the
British batteries, one of which was completely demolished. Another found
itself with only six men. Both these disasters bore testimony to the
excellent markmanship of the German gunners.

OFFICER, SPIKES THE GUNS

"As it became evident that we must leave these guns behind and continue
the retreat, an officer was seen going around putting the guns out of
action, so that they would be of no use to the Germans. His action
required cool bravery, because the Germans, having found the range,
continued firing directly at these batteries.

"Things rapidly got hotter, and the commanding officer ordered a
double-quick retreat. We were not long in doing the retiring movement to
save our own skins.

"I was wounded at this time by a Maxim bullet. For a moment I thought
my head had been blown off, but I recovered and kept on running until
I reached a trench, where I had an opportunity to bandage the wound. I
rushed off to the ambulances, but found the doctors so busy with men
worse off than I that I went back to my place in the line."

THE BATTLE AT CHABLEROI

The loss of life in the Franco-German battle near Charleroi was
admittedly the greatest of any engagement up to that time. It was at
Charleroi that the Germans struck their most terrific blow at the
allies' lines in their determination to gain the French frontier. Though
the tide of battle ebbed and flowed for awhile the French were finally
forced to give way and to retreat behind their own frontier, while the
British were being forced back from their position at Mons. The fighting
along the line was of the fiercest kind. It was a titanic clash of
armies in which the allies were compelled to yield ground before the
superior numbers of the German host.

One of the wounded, who was taken to hospital at Dieppe, said of the
fighting at Charleroi:

"Our army was engaging what we believed to be a section of the German
forces commanded by the crown prince when I was wounded. The Germans at
one stage of the battle seemed lost. They had been defending themselves
almost entirely with howitzers from strongly intrenched positions. The
Germans were seemingly surrounded and cut off and were summoned to
surrender. The reply came back that so long as they had ammunition they
would continue to fight.

"The howitzer shells of the Germans seemed enormous things and only
exploded when they struck the earth. When one would descend it would dig
a hole a yard deep and split into hundreds of pieces. Peculiarly enough
the howitzer shells did much more wounding than killing. The other
shells of the Germans, like cartridges, the supply of which they seemed
to be short of, did only little damage.

AEROS CONSTANTLY ABOVE

"The German aeroplane service was perfect. An aircraft was always
hovering over us out of range. We were certain within an hour after we
sighted an aeroplane to get the howitzers among us. Whenever we fired,
however, we did terrific execution with our seventy-five pieces of
artillery. I counted in one trench 185 dead. Many of them were killed as
they were in the act of firing or loading.

"The ground occupied by the Germans was so thick with dead that I
believe I saw one soldier to every two yards. You might have walked for
a mile on bodies without ever putting foot to the ground. They buried
their dead when they had time, piling fifteen or twenty in a shallow
pit."

THE FRENCH IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

On August 9 the advance guard brigade of the French right wing, under
General Pau, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, invaded
Alsace, fought a victorious action with an intrenched German force of
equal numbers and occupied Muelhausen and Kolmar. The news of the French
entry into the province lost in 1871 was received all over France with
wild enthusiasm. The mourning emblems on the Strasburg monument in Paris
were removed by the excited populace and replaced by the tricolor flag
and flowers in token of their joy. Muelhausen was soon after retaken by
the German forces, only to be recaptured later by the French and then
evacuated once more.

On the day of the first French occupation of Muelhausen France declared
war against Austria in consequence of the arrival of two Austrian army
corps on the Rhine to assist the main German army.

After the French occupation of Muelhausen a large German army was sent
to the front in Alsace-Lorraine and succeeded in dislodging the French
from that city, but not without severe fighting.

Two weeks after the war began the French defeated a Bavarian corps in
Alsace and for awhile General Pau more than held his own in that former
province of France. On August 21 the Germans drove back the French who
had invaded Lorraine, and occupied Luneville, ten miles inside the
French border.

About the same time the French reoccupied Muelhausen, after three days'
fighting around the city. Another French army was reported to be within
nineteen miles of Metz, But before the end of the month the French had
been compelled to evacuate both their former provinces. They continued
during September, however, to make frequent assaults on the German
frontier positions, but without regaining a sure foothold on German
soil, the bulk of their efforts being devoted to the defense of their
own frontier strongholds.

FIGHTING AROUND NANCY

An official dispatch from the foreign office in Paris, dated August 28,
said:

  "Yesterday the French troops took the offensive in the
  Vosges mountains and in the region between the Vosges and
  Nancy, and their offensive has been interrupted, but the German
  loss has been considerable.

  "Our forces found, near Nancy, on a front of three kilometers,
  2,500 dead Germans, and near Vitrimont, on a front
  of four kilometers, 4,500 dead. Longwy, where the garrison
  consisted of only one battalion, has capitulated to the Crown
  Prince of Germany after a siege of twenty-four days."

FRENCH TRAPPED IN ALSACE

The German view of early operations in Alsace-Lorraine was given in the
following dispatch September 2 from the headquarters of the general
staff at Aix-la-Chapelle:

  "The French forces were trapped in Alsace-Lorraine.
  Realizing that the French temperament was more likely to be
  swayed by sentiment than by stern adherence to the rules
  of actual warfare, the German staff selected its own battle
  line and waited. The French did not disappoint. They
  rushed across the border. They took Altkirch with little opposition.
  Then they rushed on to Muelhausen. Through the
  passes in the Vosges mountains they poured, horse, artillery,
  foot--all branches of the service. Strasburg was to fall and
  so swift was the French movement that lines of communication
  were not guarded.

  "Then the German general staff struck. Their troops
  from Saarburg, from Strasburg and from Metz, under the
  command of General von Heeringen, attacked the French all
  along the line. They were utterly crushed. The Germans
  took 10,000 Frenchmen prisoners and more than one hundred
  guns of every description. Alsace-Lorraine is now reported
  absolutely cleared of French troops.

  "The armies of Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm and of
  Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria are moving in an irresistible
  manner into France. In a 3-day battle below Metz
  the French were terribly cut up and forced to retreat in almost
  a rout. It is declared that in this engagement the French
  lost 151 guns and were unable to make a stand against the victorious
  Germans until they had passed inside of their secondary
  line of defense."

THE GERMAN "SPY POSTERS"

Just prior to the declaration of war, cable dispatches from Paris told
of a remarkable series of posters dotting the countryside of France.
These posters, innocently advertising "Bouillon Kub," a German soup
preparation, were so cleverly printed by the German concern advertising
the soup, that they would act as signals to German army officers leading
their troops through France.

In one of our photographic illustrations, one of these "spy posters" is
seen posted on the left of an archway past which the French soldiers are
marching en route to meet the Germans near the Alsace frontier.

The ingenuity of the signs was remarkable. Thus a square yellow poster
would carry the information, "Food in abundance found here," while a
round red sign would advertise, "This ground is mined." Many geometrical
figures and most of the colors were utilized, and animal forms, flowers
and even the American Stars and Stripes were employed to convey their
messages of information.

The French Minister of the Interior got wind of the system, and orders
were telegraphed throughout France to destroy these posters. Bouillon
Kub, therefore, is no longer advertised in France.

A SOLDIER'S EXPERIENCE UNDER FIRE

A wounded French soldier described his experiences under fire during
the Alsace campaign. He said in part: "There! A blow in the breast, a
tearing in the body, a fall with a loud cry and a terrible pain; there
I lay one of the victims of this terrible day. My first sensation was
anger at the blow, my second an expectation of seeing myself explode,
for, judging by the sound of the ball, I believed I had a grenade in my
body; then came the pain, and with it helplessness and falling.

"Oh, how frightful are those first moments! Where I was hit, how I was
wounded, I could form no idea; I only felt that I could not stir, saw
the battalion disappear from sight and myself alone on the ground, amid
the fearful howling and whistling of the balls which were incessantly
striking the ground around me.

"With difficulty could I turn my head a little, and saw behind me two
soldiers attending on a third, who was lying on the ground. Of what
happened I can give no account except that I cried for help several
times as well as I could, for the pain and burning thirst had the upper
hand. At last both of them ran to me, and with joy I recognized the
doctor and hospital attendant of my company.

"'Where are you wounded?' was the first question. I could only point.
My blouse was quickly opened, and in the middle of the breast a bloody
wound was found. The balls still constantly whizzed around us; one
struck the doctor's helmet, and immediately I felt a violent blow on the
left arm. Another wound! With difficulty I was turned round, to look for
the outlet of the bullet; but it was still in my body, near the spine.
At last it was cut out. They were going away--'The wound in the arm,
doctor.' This, fortunately, was looked for in vain; the ball had merely
caused a blue spot and had sunk harmlessly into the ground.

"I extended my hand to the doctor and thanked him, as also the
attendant, whom I commissioned to ask the sergeant to send word to my
family. The doctor had carefully placed my cloak over me, with my helmet
firmly on my head, in order in some measure to protect me from the
leaden hail.

"Thus I lay alone with my own thoughts amid the most terrible fire
for perhaps an hour and a half. All my thoughts, as far as pain and
increasing weakness allowed, were fixed on my family. Gradually I got
accustomed to the danger which surrounded me, and only when too much
sand from the striking bullets was thrown on my body did I remember
my little enviable position. At last, after long, long waiting, the
sanitary detachment came for me."

THE REAL TRAGEDY OF WAR

It is not a pleasant picture--this story of the French soldier. It has
little in it of the grandeur, the beat of drums, the sound of martial
music, which is supposed to accompany war. The tread of marching feet
has died away, the excitement is gone, and man the demon is supplanted
by man the everyday human creature of suffering and home folks and fear.

It is only a personal account of an individual experience, yet in it may
be found the real significance and the real tragedy of war; for, after
the fighting is over, after the intoxication of legalized murder has
gone, after nations turn their attention from victories to men, it is
the aggregate of individual experiences which counts the costs of war.

Thousands of German, French, Belgian, Austrian, Russian, and British men
in the prime of life have been miserably slain and lie in obscure graves
of which the enemy now is the guardian, while others writhe in the
agony of lingering wounds or sullenly brood over their fate in the dull
routine of military prisons. In every part of the warring countries
mothers weep over the sons they shall see no more, and wives over the
husbands snatched from them forever. In many a mansion, in many a
comfortable home, in many a peasant's cottage, the empty chair is
eloquent of the absent father, brother, husband or son who shall be
absent forever.




CHAPTER X


GERMAN ADVANCE ON PARIS

  _Allies Withdraw for Ten Days, Disputing Every Inch of
  Ground With the Kaiser's Troops--Germans Push
  Their Way Through France in Three Main Columns--
  Reports of the Withdrawing Engagements--
  Paris Almost in Sight_.

Flushed with their successes over the Allies at Mons and Charleroi,
the Germans pushed their advance toward the French capital with great
celerity and vigor. During the last week of August and the first few
days of September, it appeared inevitable that the experience of Paris
in 1870-71 was to be repeated and that a siege of the city by the German
forces would follow immediately.

It was conceded that the armies of the Allies had been forced back and
that Paris was endangered. The German advance was general, all along the
line. The flower of the Kaiser's army had marched through Belgium
and pushed back the lines of the Allies to the formidable rows of
fortifications that surround Paris. The Germans advanced in three main
columns, constantly in touch with one another, from the right, passing
through Mons, Cambrai and Amiens, to the extreme left in Lorraine. The
center threatened Verdun, and from that point the right advance swept
through Northern France like an opening fan, with the fortress of Verdun
as the pivot.

Three million men were engaged in the main struggle. When the Germans
first reached the Franco-Belgian frontier near Charleroi they were
opposed by 700,000 French and 150,000 British troops. After being driven
back the Allies began assembling 1,000,000 men between the frontier and
Paris, The Allies hoped to hold the whole German army in check while
the Russians pursued their successes in eastern Germany. French troops
guarded the entire frontier, battling to check the other German invading
columns. The holding of the Germans, once they broke through the
fortifications that formed the chief reliance of the French, would
be impossible. The next stand would be around Paris, which was well
fortified. The invaders were, of course, attempting to get through where
there were no forts.

ALLIES MAKE STRENUOUS RESISTANCE

Strenuous resistance to the onward movement of the German enemy was made
by the Allies from day to day, but for a period of ten days there was an
almost continual retirement of the French and British upon Paris. It was
in fact a masterly retreat, but a retreat nevertheless. From the line of
La Fere and Mezieres, occupied by the Allies after the battles at Mons
and Charleroi, they fell back 70 miles in seven days, disputing every
step of the way, but withdrawing gradually to the line of defenses
around the French capital. From Cambrai the Germans pushed through
Amiens to Beauvais; from Peronne to Roye, Montdidier, Creil, and on to
the forest of Chantilly. From the region of Le Cateau and St. Quentin
the German advance was by Noyon to Compiegne (famous for its memories of
Joan of Arc's famous sortie), at which point the Allies made a desperate
stand and the Germans had to fight for every inch of ground. They then
passed through Senlis, which was first bombarded, down to Meaux, almost
within sight of Paris, the head of the German army resting on a line
between Beaumont, Meaux and La Ferte, at which point the resistance of
the Allies finally forced a change in German plans.

Other German forces passed through Laon, Soissons and Chateau Thierry.
Farther to the east, the road from Mezieres led the Germans to Rheims,
Mourmelon, and opposite Chalons on the River Marne.

Another German army from the direction of Longwy, under the command
of the Crown Prince, was operating through Suippes and on the wooded
Argonne plateau, with its five passes, famous in the action of
which preceded the battle of Valmy. At the entrance to this hilly
country stands the little town of Sainte Menehould, where there was
severe fighting with the French. Here the German Crown Prince made his
headquarters.

The great plain of the Argonne is full of most wonderful ecclesiastical
buildings and many magnificent cathedrals, townhalls and ancient
fortresses were passed by the warring armies in their advance and
withdrawal, some of these historic structures sustaining irreparable
damage.

The German advance continued southward toward Paris until September 4.

RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF THE BRITISH

All reports agree that during the retirement of the Allies, the Germans
pursued the British headquarters staff with uncanny precision throughout
the ten days from Mons back to Compiegne. After fierce street fighting
in Denain and Landrecies Sir John French withdrew his headquarters to Le
Cateau, which was at once made the target of a terrific bombardment.
The town caught fire, burning throughout one night, and the British
headquarters had to be evacuated, this time in favor of St. Quentin, in
the local college. Here the same thing happened and Field Marshal French
was compelled once more to retire, to the neighborhood of Compiegne.

In an official report issued on Sunday, September 6, it is stated that,
"The 5th French army on August 29 advanced from the line of the Oise
River to meet and counter the German forward movement and a considerable
battle developed to the south of Guise. In this the 5th French army
gained a marked and solid success, driving back with heavy loss and in
disorder three German army corps, the 10th, the Guard, and a reserve
corps. In spite of this success, however, and all the benefits which
flowed from it, the general retirement to the south continued and the
German armies, seeking persistently after the British troops, remained
in practically continuous contact with the rearguards.

"On August 30 and 31 the British covering and delaying troops were
frequently engaged, and on September 1 a very vigorous effort was made
by the Germans, which brought about a sharp action in the neighborhood
of Compiegne. This action was fought principally by the 1st British
Cavalry Brigade and the 4th Guards Brigade and was entirely satisfactory
to the British. The German attack, which was most strongly pressed, was
not brought to a standstill until much slaughter had been inflicted upon
them and until ten German guns had been captured. The brunt of this
affair fell upon the Guards Brigade, which lost in killed and wounded
about 300 men."

This affair was typical of the numerous rearguard engagements fought by
both the British and the French forces during their retirement.

MASTERLY TACTICS IN RETIRING

Pressing hard upon the rear of the Allies for ten days was the greatest
military machine that has ever been assembled in one cohesive force.
Through Belgium had poured nearly 2,000,000 German troops, made up of
about 800,000 first-line soldiers and more than 1,000,000 reserves. The
twenty-six-hour march of part of the German army through Brussels was
stunning evidence of the might of the "war machine," and despite fierce
fighting all the way, the great army had never faltered in its 150-mile
advance in Belgium.

But the numerical might of the German advance was matched by the
masterly tactics of the Allies in retiring. By these tactics, in which
General Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, co-operated with the
British field-marshal, Sir John French, the Allies prevented their lines
being overwhelmed by the superior numbers of their foe, but the German
right flank and center, strung out over a line more than 150 miles long,
northeast of Paris, kept smashing on. Losses were frightfully heavy, but
the Kaiser's order was "Take Paris!"

It was believed certain that the German general staff had staked
everything on investing Paris immediately, by completely breaking down
the opposition massed between the German lines and the city. Paris
had therefore prepared for the siege, with her great circles of forts
strengthened and her food supply replenished. Many of the residents fled
the city in panic, fearing a repetition of the dread days of 1871, with
their privation and distress, but the spirit of the French people
generally remained unshaken and General Gallieni, military governor of
Paris, assumed complete control of the situation in the city.

GOVERNMENT MOVED TO BORDEAUX

On August 26 the French cabinet had resigned in a body and it was
reconstructed on broader lines under Premier Viviani to meet the demands
of the national emergency.

German troops were reported within 40 miles of Paris on September 3, and
at 3 A. M. of that day a proclamation was issued by President Poincare,
announcing that the seat of government would be temporarily transferred
from Paris to Bordeaux. The minister of the interior stated that
this decision had been taken "solely upon the demand of the military
authorities because the fortified places of Paris, while not necessarily
likely to be attacked, would become the pivot of the field operations of
the two armies."

The text of President Poincare's proclamation was as follows:

"ENDURE AND FIGHT!"

"FEENCHMEN: For several weeks our heroic troops have been engaged in the
fierce combat with the enemy. The courage of our soldiers has won for
them a number of marked advantages. But in the north the pressure of the
German forces has constrained us to retire. This situation imposes on
the president of the Republic and the government a painful decision.

"To safeguard the national safety the public authorities are obliged to
leave for the moment the city of Paris. Under the command of its eminent
chief, the French army, full of courage and spirit, will defend the
capital and its patriotic population against the invader. But the war
must be pursued at the same time in the rest of the French territory.

"The sacred struggle for the honor of the nation and the reparation of
violated rights will continue without peace or truce and without a stop
or a failure. None of our armies has been broken.

"If some of them have suffered only too evident losses, the gaps in the
ranks have been filled up from the waiting reserve forces, while the
calling out of a new class of reserves brings us tomorrow new resources
in men and energy.

"Endure and fight! Such should be the motto of the allied army, British,
Russians, Belgians and French.

"Endure and fight! While on the sea our allies aid us to cut the enemy's
communications with the world.

"Endure and fight! While the Russians continue to carry a decisive blow
to the heart of the German empire.

"It is for the government of this republic to direct this resistance to
the very end and to give to this formidable struggle all its vigor and
efficiency. It is indispensable that the government retain the mastery
of its own actions. On the demand of the military authorities the
government therefore transfers its seat momentarily to a point of the
territory whence it may remain in constant relations with the rest of
the country. It invites the members of parliament not to remain distant
from the government, in order to form, in the face of the enemy, with
the government and their colleagues, a group of national unity.

"The government does not leave Paris without having assured a defense of
the city and its entrenched camp by all means in its power. It knows it
has not the need to recommend to the admirable Parisian population a
calm resolution and sangfroid, for it shows every day it is equal to its
greatest duties.

"Frenchmen, let us all be worthy of these tragic circumstances. We shall
gain a final victory and we shall gain it by untiring will, endurance
and tenacity. A nation that will not perish, and which, to live,
retreats before neither suffering nor sacrifice, is sure to vanquish."

The removal of the French government departments to Bordeaux was
accomplished within twenty-four hours and the southern city became at
once a center of remarkable activity. Ambassador Herrick, representing
the United States, remained in Paris to render aid to his
fellow-countrymen who were seeking means of returning to America and
were more than ever anxious to get away when a state of siege became
imminent. A radical change in the French military operations was put in
effect after the Germans had swept in from Belgium, and had taken the
cities of Lille, Roubaix, and Longwy. The French army had attempted to
strike and shatter the Germans at their weakest point, and failed.

Paris prepared for the worst when the Kaiser's conquering army reached
La Fere, about seventy miles away. From Amiens to La Fere the Germans
pressed their attack hardest. As the Allies were seen to be gradually
falling back, reserve troops were assembled in Paris and the forts put
in readiness for siege.

THE FORTIFICATIONS OP PARIS

Paris has one of the strongest fortification systems of any city in the
world. The siege of the giant city would be a much greater undertaking
than forty-four years ago, as the fortifications have been essentially
augmented and strengthened since the Franco-Prussian war.

[Illustration: MAP OF FRENCH CAPITAL WITH STARS INDICATING POSITION
OF FORTIFICATIONS]

The fortifications consist of the old city walls, the old belt of forts
and the new enceinture of the fortified camps, which have been advanced
far outside of the reach of the old forts. The main wall, ten meters
(33 feet) high, consists of ninety-four bastions and is surrounded by a
ditch fifteen meters wide. Behind the wall a ringroad and a belt line
run around the city.

The belt of old forts surrounds this main fortification of the city at
a little distance and consists of not less than sixteen forts. Those
farthest advanced are hardly half a mile distant from the main wall. The
experiences of the last war, the immense progress of the artillery, and
especially the wider reach of the modern siege guns induced the French
army authorities to build a belt of still stronger forts, which
surrounds the old fortress of 1870 like a protective net. The forts,
redoubts and batteries belonging to this last belt of fortifications
are situated at least two miles from the city limits proper, and even
Versailles is taken into this belt of fortifications.

The circumference of the circle formed by them is 124 kilometers
(nearly 77 miles) and the space included in it amounts to 1,200 square
kilometers. This new belt of fortifications consists of seven forts of
the first class, sixteen forts of the second class and fifty redoubts or
batteries, which are connected with each other by the "Great Belt Line,"
of 113 kilometers (71 miles).

FORM LARGE FORTIFIED CAMPS

The strongest of these forts form fortified camps, large enough to
give protection to strong armies and also the possibility for a new
reconcentration. There are three of these camps. The northern camp
includes the fortifications from the Fort de Cormeilles on the left to
the Fort de Stains on the right wing, with the forts of the first class,
Cormeilles and Domont, and the forts of the second class, Montlignon,
Montmorency, Ecouen and Stains, and it is protected in the rear by the
strong forts in the vicinity of St. Denis. The eastern camp goes from
the Ourcq canal and the forest of Bondy to the Seine, and its main
strongholds are the forts of Vaujours and Villeneuve-St. Georges, with
the smaller forts of Chelles, Villiers, Champigny and Sully.

On the left bank of the Seine the southwestern camp is situated,
including Versailles, whose main forts are those of St. Cyr, Haut-Bue,
Villeras and Palaiseau, to which the large redubt of Bois d'Arey and the
forts of Chatillon and Hautes-Bruyeres, situated a little to the rear,
belong likewise.

To invest this strongest fortress of the world the line of the Germans
ought to have a length of 175 kilometers and to its continuous
occupation, even if the ring of the investing masses were not very deep,
a much greater number of troops would be necessary than were used in
1870 for the siege of Paris.

GERMAN AMMUNITION CAPTURED

A correspondent at Nanteuil, September 12, thus described the capture
of a German ammunition column while the Germans were feeling their way
toward Paris:

"The seven-kilometer column was winding its way along Crepy-en-Valois
when General Pan sent cavalry and artillery to intercept it. The column
was too weakly guarded to cope with the attack, and so was captured
and destroyed. This capture had an important bearing on the subsequent
fighting.

"A noticeable feature of the operations has been the splendid marching
qualities of the French troops. This was displayed especially when two
divisions, which were sent to intercept the expected attempt of the
Germans to invest Paris, covered eighty kilometers (491/2 miles) in two
stages."

ALLIES PLAN TO PROTECT PARIS

The plan of the Allies on September 1 was to make a determined stand
before Paris, in the effort to protect the city from the horrors of a
siege. With their left wing resting on the strongly fortified line of
the Paris forts and with their right wing strengthened by the defensive
line from Verdun to Belfort, they would occupy a position of enormous
military strength. If the Germans concentrated to move against their
front the French reserve armies could assemble west of the Seine, move
forward and attack the German invading columns in flank. If in their
effort to continue the great turning movement the Germans pushed forward
across the Seine and attempted by encircling Paris to gain the rear of
the allied armies, the French could mass their reserve corps behind
their center at Reims, push forward against the weakened German center
in an attack that if successful would cut off the German invading
columns and expose them to annihilation.

Such were the conditions and the possibilities when the German advance
reached its climax on September 4.

[Illustration: POSITION OF HOSTILE ARMIES, SEPTEMBER 4, 1914 Heavy
dotted line denotes battle front of the Allies; lighter line the
position of the German Troops.]




CHAPTER XI

BATTLE OF THE MARNE

  _German Plans Suddenly Changed--Direction of Advance
  Swings to the Southeast When Close to the French
  Capital--Successful Resistance by the Allies--The
  Prolonged Encounter at the Marne--Germans Retreat
  With Allies in Hot Pursuit for Many Miles_.

Suddenly the German plans were changed. With Paris almost in sight,
almost within the range of their heavy artillery, the German forces on
the right of the line on September 4 changed the direction of their
advance to a southeasterly course, which would leave Paris to the west.
The people of the gay capital, who for several days had been preparing
themselves once more for the thunder of the Prussian guns, began to
breathe more freely, while all the world wondered at the sudden and
spectacular transformation in the conditions of the conflict.

What had happened? Why was the advance thus checked and the march on
Paris abandoned? Was it a trick, designed to lead the Allies into a
trap? Or were the German troops too exhausted by forced marches and lack
of rest to face the determined resistance of the allied forces before
Paris?

These were the questions on every tongue, on both sides of the Atlantic,
while the military experts sought strategic reasons for the change in
German plans.

When the movement towards the east began the right of the German forces
moved through Beaumont and L'Isle towards Meaux, apparently with the
intention of avoiding Paris. Their front some twenty-four hours later
was found to be extending across the River Marne as far south as
Conlommiers and La Ferte-Gaucher, the two opposing lines at that time
stretching between Paris on the left flank and Verdun on the right.

On Monday, September 7, there came news that the southward movement of
the German army had been arrested, and that it had been forced back
across the Marne to positions where the German right wing curved
back from La Ferte-sous-Jouarre along the bank of the River Ourcq, a
tributary of the Marne, to the northward of Chateau Thierry. All this
territory forms part of the district known as the "Bassin de Paris."


Then came a turn in the tide of war and the German plans were
temporarily lost sight of when the Allies assumed the offensive along
the Marne and the Ourcq and the Germans began to fall back. For four
days their retreat continued. Ten miles, thirty miles, forty-five miles,
back toward the northeast and east the invaders retired and Paris was
relieved. The tide of battle had thrown the Germans away from the French
capital and Frenchmen believed their retirement was permanent.

BATTLE OF THE MARNE

Important and interesting details of the battle of the Marne and the
movements that preceded it are given in an official report compiled from
information sent from the headquarters of Field Marshal Sir John French
(commander-in-chief of the British expeditionary forces), under date of
September 11. This account describes the movements both of the British
force and of the French armies in immediate touch with it. It carries
the operations from the 4th to the 10th of September, both days
inclusive, and says:

"The general position of our troops Sunday, September 6, was south of
the River Marne, with the French forces in line on our right and left.
Practically there had been no change since Saturday, September 5, which
marked the end of our army's long retirement from the Belgian frontier
through Northern France.

"On Friday, September 4, it became apparent that there was an alteration
in the advance of almost the whole of the first German army. That army
since the battle near Mons on the 23d of August had been playing its
part in a colossal strategic endeavor to create a Sedan for the Allies
by out-flanking and enveloping the left of their whole line so as to
encircle and drive both the British and French to the south.

THE CHANGE IN GERMAN STRATEGY

"There was now a change in its objective and it was observed that
the German forces opposite the British were beginning to move in a
southeasterly direction instead of continuing southwest on to the
capital, leaving a strong rear guard along the line of the River Ourcq
(which flows south of and joins the Marne at Lizy-sur-Ourcq) to keep
off the French Sixth Army, which by then had been formed and was to the
northwest of Paris. They were evidently executing what amounted to a
flank march diagonally across our front.

"Prepared to ignore the British as being driven out of the fight, they
were initiating an effort to attack the left flank of the main French
army, which stretched in a long curved line from our right toward the
east, and so to carry out against it alone an envelopment which so far
had failed against the combined forces of the Allies.

"On Saturday, the 5th, this movement on the part of the Germans was
continued and large advance parties crossed the Marne southward at
Trilport, Sammeron, La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and Chateau Thierry. There was
considerable fighting with the French Fifth Army on the French left,
which fell back from its position south of the Marne toward the Seine.

"On Sunday large hostile forces crossed the Marne and pushed on through
Coulommiers and past the British right, farther to the east. They were
attacked at night by the French Fifth, which captured three villages at
the point of bayonets.

ALLIES TAKE THE OFFENSIVE

"On Monday, September 7, there was a general advance on the part of the
Allies. In this quarter of the field our forces, which had now been
reinforced, pushed on in a northeasterly direction in co-operation with
the advance of the French Fifth Army to the north and of the French
Sixth Army to the eastward against the German rearguard along the River
Ourcq.

"Possibly weakened by the detachment of troops to the eastern theater
of operations and realizing that the action of the French Sixth Army
against the line of Ourcq and the advance of the British placed their
own flanking movement in considerable danger of being taken in the rear
and on its flank, the Germans on this day commenced to retire toward the
northeast.

"This was the first time that these troops had turned back since their
attack at Mons a fortnight before and from reports received the order to
retreat when so close to Paris was a bitter disappointment. From letters
found on dead soldiers there is no doubt there was a general impression
among the enemy's troops that they were about to enter Paris.

GERMAN RETREAT IS HASTENED

"On Tuesday, September 8, the German movement north-eastward was
continued. Their rear guards on the south of the Marne were being
pressed back to that river by our troops and by the French on our right,
the latter capturing three villages after a hand-to-hand fight and the
infliction of severe loss on the enemy.

"The fighting along the Ourcq continued on this day and was of the
most sanguinary character, for the Germans had massed a great force of
artillery along this line. Very few of their infantry were seen by the
French. The French Fifth Army also made a fierce attack on the Germans
in Montmirail, regaining that place.

"On Wednesday, September 9, the battle between the French Sixth Army and
what was now the German flank guard along the Ourcq continued.

"The British corps, overcoming some resistance on the River Petit Morin,
crossed the Marne in pursuit of the Germans, who now were hastily
retreating northwest. One of our corps was delayed by an obstinate
defense made by a strong rear guard with machine guns at La
Ferte-sous-Jouarre, where the bridge had been destroyed.

"On Thursday, September 10, the French Sixth Army continued its pressure
on the west while the Fifth Army by forced marches reached the line of
Chateau Thierry and Dormans on the Marne. Our troops also continued the
pursuit on the north of the latter river and after a considerable amount
of fighting captured some 1,500 prisoners, four guns, six machine guns
and fifty transport wagons.

"Many of the enemy were killed or wounded and the numerous thick
woods which dot the country north of the Marne are filled with German
stragglers. Most of them appear to have been without food for at least
two days.

"Indeed, in this area of the operations, the Germans seem to be
demoralized and inclined to surrender in small parties. The general
situation appears to be most favorable to the Allies.

"Much brutal and senseless damage has been done in the villages occupied
by the enemy. Property has been wantonly destroyed. Pictures in chateaus
have been ripped up and houses generally have been pillaged.

"It is stated on unimpeachable authority also that the inhabitants have
been much ill-treated.

TRAPPED IN A SUNKEN ROAD

"Interesting incidents have occurred during the fighting. On the 10th of
September part of our Second Army Corps, advancing into the north,
found itself marching parallel with another infantry force some little
distance away. At first it was thought this was another British unit.
After some time, however, it was discovered that it was a body of
Germans retreating.

"Measures promptly were taken to head off the enemy, who were surrounded
and trapped in a sunken road, where over 400 men surrendered.

"On September 10 a small party under a noncommissioned officer was cut
off and surrounded. After a desperate resistance it was decided to go
on fighting to the end. Finally the noncommissioned officer and one man
only were left, both of them being wounded.

"The Germans came up and shouted to them: 'Lay down your arms!' The
German commander, however, signed to them to keep their arms and then
asked to shake hands with the wounded noncommissioned officer, who was
carried off on his stretcher with his rifle by his side.

"Arrival of reinforcements and the continued advance have delighted our
troops, who are full of zeal and anxious to press on.

SUCCESS OF THE FLYING CORPS

"One of the features of the campaign on our side has been the success
obtained by the Royal Flying Corps. In regard to the collection of
information it is impossible either to award too much praise to
our aviators for the way they have carried out their duties or to
overestimate the value of the intelligence collected, more especially
during the recent advance.

"In due course certain examples of what has been effected may be
specified and the far-reaching nature of the results fully explained,
but that time has not arrived.

"That the services of our Flying Corps, which, has really been on trial,
are fully appreciated by our allies is shown by the following message
from the commander-in-chief of the French armies, received September
by Field Marshal Lord Kitchener:

  "'Please express most particularly to Marshal French
  my thanks for the services rendered on every day by the
  English flying corps. The precision, exactitude and regularity
  of the news brought in by its members are evidence of
  their perfect organization and also of the perfect training
  of the pilots and the observers.--JOSEPH JOFFRE, General,'

"To give a rough idea of the amount of work carried out it is sufficient
to mention that during a period of twenty days up to the 10th of
September a daily average of more than nine reconnaissance flights of
over 100 miles each has been maintained.

FIVE GERMAN PILOTS SHOT

"The constant object of our aviators has been to effect an accurate
location of the enemy's forces and, incidentally, since the operations
cover so large an area, of our own units. Nevertheless, the tactics
adopted for dealing with hostile air craft are to attack them instantly
with one or more British machines. This has been so far successful that
in five cases German pilots or observers have been shot while in the air
and their machines brought to ground.

"As a consequence the British Flying Corps has succeeded in establishing
an individual ascendancy which is as serviceable to us as it is
dangerous to the enemy.

"How far it is due to this cause it is not possible at present to
ascertain definitely, but the fact remains that the enemy have recently
become much less enterprising in their flights. Something in the
direction of the mastery of the air already has been gained in pursuance
of the principle that the main object of military aviators is the
collection of information.

"Bomb dropping has not been indulged in to any great extent. On one
occasion a petrol bomb was successfully exploded in a German bivouac at
night, while from a diary found on a dead German cavalry soldier it has
been discovered that a high explosive bomb, thrown at a cavalry column
from one of our aeroplanes, struck an ammunition wagon, resulting in an
explosion which killed fifteen of the enemy."

LOSSES AT THE MARNE ENORMOUS

Some idea of the terrific character of the fighting at the Marne and
of the great losses in the prolonged battle may be gained from the
following story, telegraphed on September 14 by a correspondent who
followed in the rear of the allied army:

"General von Kluck's host in coming down over the Marne and the Grand
Morin rivers to Sezanne, twenty-five miles southwest of Epernay, met
little opposition, and I believe little opposition was intended. The
Allies, in fact, led their opponents straight into a trap. The English
cavalry led the tired Germans mile after mile, and the Germans believed
the Englishmen were running away. When the tremendous advance reached
Provins the Allies' plan was accomplished, and it got no farther.

"Fighting Sunday, September 6, was of a terrible character, and began
at dawn in the region of La Ferte-Gaucher. The Allies' troops, who were
drawn up to receive the Germans, understood it would be their duty to
hold on their very best that the attacking force at Meaux might achieve
its task in security. The battle lasted all night and until late Monday.

"The Germany artillery fire was very severe, but not accurate. The
French and English fought sternly on and slowly beat the enemy back.

"Attempts of the Germans to cross the Marne at Meaux entailed terrible
losses. Sixteen attempts were foiled by the French artillery fire
directed on the river and in one trench 600 dead Germans were counted.

COUNTRY STREWN WITH DEAD

"The whole country was strewn with the dead and dying. When at last
the Germans retired they slackened their rifle fire and in once place
retired twelve miles without firing a single shot. One prisoner declared
that they were short of ammunition and had been told to spare it as much
as possible.

"Monday saw a tremendous encounter on the Oureq. In one village, which
the Germans hurriedly vacated, the French in a large house found a
dinner table beautifully set, with candles still burning on the table,
where evidently the German staff had been dining. A woman occupant said
they fled precipitately.

"There was a great deal of hand-to-hand fighting and bayonet work on
the Ourcq, which resulted in the terrible Magdeburg regiment beating a
retreat.

"Monday night General von Kluck's army had been thrown back from the
Marne and from the Morin and to the region of Sezanne and his position
was serious. Immediate steps were necessary to save his line of
communications and retreat. To this end reinforcements were hurried
north to the Meaux district and the Ourcq and tremendous efforts were
made to break up the French resistance in this section.

GERMAN GUNS ARE SILENCED

"The second attempt on the Oureq shared the fate of the first. Though
all Monday night and well on into Tuesday the great German guns boomed
along this river, the resistance of the allies could not be broken.
'Hold on!' was the command and every man braced himself to obey. While
the Ourcq was being held the struggle of Sezanne was bearing fruit.

"The German resistance on Thursday morning was broken. I heard the news
in two ways: from the silence of the German guns and from the wounded
who poured down to the bases.

"The wounded men no longer were downhearted, but eager to rejoin the
fray. On every French lip was the exclamation that 'They are in full
retreat!' and 'They are rushing back home!' and in the same breath came
generous recognition of the great help given by the British army.

"The number of wounded entailed colossal transportation work. I counted
fifteen trains in eight hours. A fine, grim set of men, terribly weary
but amiable, except for the officers.

GERMANS LEAVE SPOILS BEHIND

"The enemy crossed the Marne on the return journey north under great
difficulties and beneath a withering fire from the British troops, who
pursued them hotly. The German artillery operated from a height. There
was again much hand-to-hand fighting and the river was swollen with
dead.

"Tuesday night the British were in possession of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre
and Chateau Thierry and the Germans had fallen back forty miles, leaving
a long train of spoils behind them.

"On the same day, in the neighborhood of Vitry-le-Francois, the French
troops achieved a victory. Incidentally they drove back the famous
Imperial Guard of Germany from Sezanne, toward the swamps of Saint Cond,
where, a century ago, Napoleon achieved one of his last successes. The
main body of the guard passed to the north of the swamps, but I heard of
men and horses engulfed and destroyed.

"'It is our revenge for 1814,' the French officers said. 'If only the
emperor were here to see.'

BRITISH KEEP UP PURSUIT

"Wednesday the English army continued the pursuit toward the north,
taking guns and prisoners.

"On that day I found myself in a new France. The good news had spread.
Girls threw flowers at the passing soldiers and joy was manifested
everywhere.

"The incidents of Wednesday will astound the world when made known in
full. I know that two German detachments of 1,000 men each, which were
surrounded and cornered but which refused to surrender, were wiped
out almost to the last man. The keynote of these operations was the
tremendous attack of the Allies along the Ourcq Tuesday, which showed
the German commander that his lines were threatened. Then came the
crowning stroke.

"The army of the Ourcq and of Meaux and the army of Sezanne drew
together like the blades of a pair of shears, the pivot of which was in
the region of the Grand Morin. The German retreat was thus forced toward
the east and it speedily became a rout."

RETREAT SEEN FROM THE SKY

The best view of the retreating German armies was obtained, according to
a Paris report, by a French military airman, who, ascending from a point
near Vitry, flew northward across the Marne and then eastward by way of
Rheims down to the region of Verdun and back again in a zigzag course to
a spot near Soissons.

He saw the German hosts not merely in retreat, but in flight, and in
some places in disorderly flight.

"It was a wonderful sight," the airman said, "to look down upon these
hundreds and thousands of moving military columns, the long gray lines
of the Kaiser's picked troops, some marching in a northerly, others in a
northeasterly direction, and all moving with a tremendous rapidity.

"The retreat was not confined to the highways, but many German soldiers
were running across fields, jumping over fences, crawling through
hedges, and making their way through woods without any semblance of
order or discipline.

"These men doubtless belonged to regiments which were badly cut up in
the fierce fighting which preceded the general retreat. Deprived of the
majority of their officers, they made a mere rabble of fugitives, Many
were without rifles, having abandoned their weapons in their haste to
escape their French and British pursuers."

GERMANS ABANDON GUNS

The London Times correspondent describes the German retreat in a
hurricane, with rain descending in torrents, the wayside brooks swollen
to little torrents.

  "The gun wheels sank deep in the mud, and the soldiers,
  unable to extricate them, abandoned the guns," he said.

  "A wounded soldier, returned from the front, told me
  that the Germans fled as animals flee which are cornered and
  know it.

  "Imagine the roadway littered with guns, knapsacks, cartridge
  belts, Maxims and heavy cannon. There were miles of
  roads like this.

  "And the dead! Those piles of horses and those stacks
  of men I have seen again and again. I have seen men shot so
  close to one another that they remained standing after death.

  "At night time the sight was horrible beyond description.
  They cannot bury whole armies.

  "In the day time over the fields of dead carrion birds
  gathered, led by the gray-throated crow of evil omen with a
  host of lesser marauders at his back. Robbers, too, have
  descended upon these fields.

  "Trainload after trainload of British and French troops
  swept toward the weak points of the retreating host.

  "The Allies benefited by this advantage of the battle-ground;
  there is a network of railways, like the network of a
  spider's web."

FIGHTING DESCRIBED BY U.S. OFFICERS

Two military attaches of the United States embassy at Paris, Lieut.-Col.
H. T. Allen and Capt. Frank Parker, both of the Eleventh cavalry,
U.S.A., returned on September 15 from an automobile trip over the
battlefield where from September 8 until the night of September 11 the
French and Germans were fiercely engaged. This battle was the one which
assured the safety of Paris.

On September 1 the German left and center were separated, but like a
letter "V" were approaching each other, with Paris as their objective.
Had the Allies attacked at that time they would have had to divide their
forces and, so weakened, give battle to two armies. By retreating they
drew after them the two converging lines of the V and when the Germans
were in wedge-shaped formation, attacked them on the flank and center at
Meaux and made a direct attack at Sezanne.

The four days' battle at Meaux ended with the Germans crossing the river
Aisne and retreating to the hills north and west of Soissons. Col. Allen
and Capt. Parker saw the end of the battle north of Sezanne, which
resulted in the retreat of the Germans to Rheims.

The battles, as Col. Allen and Capt. Parker describe them, were as
follows:

On the 8th the Germans advanced from a line stretching from Epernay and
Chalons, a distance of twenty-five kilometers (sixteen miles). In this
front, counting from the German right, were the Tenth, the Guards, the
Ninth and Twelfth Army Corps. The presence of the Guards, the _corps
d'elite_ of the German army, suggested that this was intended to be a
main attack upon Paris and that the army at Meaux was to occupy the
center. The four combined corps numbered over 200,000. The French met
them, they assert, with 190,000.

The Germans advanced until their left was at Vitry-le-Francois and their
right rested at Sezanne, making a column 15 miles long, headed west
toward Paris. The French butted the line six miles east of Sezanne, in
the forests of La Fere and Champenoise. It was here that the greater
part of the fight occurred. It was fighting at long distance with
artillery and from trench to trench with the bayonet.

THIRTY THOUSAND MEN KILLED

During the four days in which fortune rested first on one flag and then
on another 30,000 men of both armies are said to have been killed and a
considerable number of villages were wiped from the map by the artillery
of both armies.

Two miles from Sezanne a French regiment was destroyed by an ambush.
The Germans had thrown up conspicuous trenches and with decoys sparsely
filled them. From the forest in the rear the mitrailleuse was trained on
the French. The French infantry charged this trench and the decoys fled,
making toward the flanks, and as the French poured over the trenches the
hidden guns swept them.

In another trench the American attaches counted the bodies of more than
900 German guards, not one of whom had attempted to retreat. They had
stood fast with their shoulders against the parapet and taken the cold
steel. Everywhere the loss of life was appalling. In places the dead lay
across each other three and four deep.

TURCOS FIERCEST FIGHTERS OF ALL

"The fiercest fighting of all seems to have been done by the Turcos and
Senegalese. In trenches taken by them from the guards and the famous
Death's Head Hussars, the Germans showed no bullet wounds. In nearly
every attack the men from the desert had flung themselves upon the
enemy, using only the butt or the bayonet. Man for man no white man
drugged for years with meat and alcohol is a physical match for these
Turcos, who eat dates and drink water," said Richard Harding Davis,
who saw the end of the fighting at Meaux. "They are as lean as starved
wolves. They move like panthers. They are muscle and nerves and they
have the warrior's disregard of their own personal safety in battle, and
a perfect scorn of the foe.

"As Kipling says, 'A man who has a sneaking desire to live has a poor
chance against one who is indifferent whether he kills you or you kill
him.'"

NIGHT BATTLE DESCRIBED BY SOLDIER

The following narrative of a night engagement during the prolonged
battle of the Marne is quoted from a French soldier's letter to a
compatriot in London:

"Our strength was about 400 infantrymen. Toward midnight we broke up our
camp and marched off in great silence, of course not in closed files,
but in open order. We were not allowed to speak to each other or to make
any unnecessary noise, and as we walked through the forest the only
sound to be heard was that of our steps and the rustling of the leaves.
It was a perfectly lovely night; the sky was so clear, the atmosphere so
pure, the forest so romantic, everything seemed so charming and peaceful
that I could not imagine that we were on the warpath, and that perhaps
in a few hours this forest would be aflame, the soil drenched by human
blood, and the fragrant herbs covered with broken limbs.

"Yet all those silent, armed men, marching in the same direction as I
did, were ever so many proofs that no peace meeting or any delightful
romantic adventure was near, and I wondered what thoughts were stirring
all those brains. Suddenly a whisper passed on from man to man. It was
the officer's command. A halt was made, and in the same whisper we
were told that part of us had to change our direction so that the two
directions would form a V. A third division proceeded slowly in the
original direction.

COMMANDS ARE WHISPERED

"I belonged to what may be called the left leg of the V. After what
seemed to be about half an hour, we reached the edge of the forest, and
from behind the trees we saw an almost flat country before us, with here
and there a tiny little hill, a mere hump four or five feet high. On the
extreme left-hand side the land seemed to be intersected by ditches and
trenches.

"Another whispered command was passed from man to man, and we all had to
lie down on the soil. A moment afterward we were thus making our way to
the above-mentioned ditches and trenches. It is neither the easiest nor
the quickest way to move, but undoubtedly the safest, for an occasional
enemy somewhere on the hills at the farther end of the field would not
possibly be able to detect us. I don't know how long it took us to reach
the ditches, which were, for the greater part, dry; nor do I know how
long we remained there or what was happening. We were perfectly hidden
from view, lying flat down on our stomachs, but we were also unable to
see anything. Everybody's ears were attentive, every nerve was strained.
The sun was rising. It promised to be a hot day.

FIRST SHOT IS HEARD

"Suddenly we heard a shot, at a distance of what seemed to be a mile or
so, followed by several other shots. I ventured to lift my body up in
order to see what was happening. But the next moment my sergeant, who
was close by me, warned me with a knock on my shoulder not to move, and
the whispered order ran, 'Keep quiet! Hide yourself!' Still, the short
glance had been sufficient to see what was going on. Our troops,
probably those who had been left behind in the forest, were crossing the
plain and shooting at the Germans on the crest of the hill, who returned
the fire.

"The silence was gone. We heard the rushing of feet at a short distance;
then, suddenly, it ceased when the attacking soldiers dropped to aim and
shoot. Some firing was heard, and then again a swift rush followed. This
seemed to last a long time, but it was broken by distant cries, coming
apparently from the enemy. I was wondering all the time why we kept
hidden and did not share in the assault.

"The rifle fire was incessant. I saw nothing of the battle. Would, our
troops be able to repulse the Germans? How strong were the enemy! They
seemed to have no guns, but the number of our soldiers in that field was
not very large.

ATTACKED WITH BAYONETS

"A piercing yell rose from the enemy. Was it a cry of triumph? A short
command rang over the field in French, an order to retreat. A swift rush
followed; our troops were being pursued by the enemy. What on earth were
we waiting for in our ditches? A bugle signal, clear and bright. We
sprang to our feet, and 'At the bayonet!' the order came. We threw
ourselves on the enemy, who were at the same time attacked on the other
side by the division which formed the other 'leg' of the V, while the
'fleeing' French soldiers turned and made a savage attack.

"It is impossible to say or to describe what one feels at such a moment.
I believe one is in a state of temporary madness, of perfect rage. It is
terrible, and if we could see ourselves in such a state I feel sure we
would shrink with horror.

"In a few minutes the field was covered with dead and wounded men,
almost all of them Germans, and our hands and bayonets were dripping
with blood. I felt hot spurts of blood in my face, of other men's blood,
and as I paused to wipe them off, I saw a narrow stream of blood running
along the barrel of my rifle.

"Such was the beginning of a summer day."

SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Writing from Sezanne a few days after the battle of the Marne a visitor
to the battlefield described the conditions at that time as follows:

"The territory over which the battle of the Marne was fought is now
a picture of devastation, abomination and death almost too awful to
describe.

"Many sons of the fatherland are sleeping their last sleep in the open
fields and in ditches where they fell or under hedges where they crawled
after being caught by a rifle bullet or piece of shell, or where they
sought shelter from the mad rush of the franc-tireurs, who have not
lost their natural dexterity with the knife and who at close quarters
frequently throw away their rifles and fight hand to hand.

"The German prisoners are being used on the battlefield in searching
for and burying their dead comrades. Over the greater part of the huge
battlefield there have been buried at least those who died in open
trenches on the plateaus or on the high roads. The extensive forest
area, however, has hardly been searched for bodies, although hundreds
of both French and Germans must have sought refuge and died there.
The difficulty of finding bodies is considerable on account of the
undergrowth.

"Long lines of newly broken brown earth mark the graves of the victims.
Some of these burial trenches are 150 yards long. The dead are placed
shoulder to shoulder and often in layers. This gives some idea of the
slaughter that took place in this battle.

"The peasants, who are rapidly coming back to the scene, are marking the
grave trenches with crosses and planting flowers above or placing on
them simple bouquets of dahlias, sunflowers and roses.

FOUGHT ON BEAUTIFUL CHATEAU LAWNS

"Some of the hottest fighting of the prolonged battle took place around
the beautiful chateau of Mondement, on a hill six miles east of Sezanne.
This relic of the architectural art of Louis XIV occupied a position
which both sides regarded as strategically important.

"To the east it looked down into a great declivity in the shape of
an immense Greek lamp, with the concealed marshes of St. Sond at
the bottom. Beyond are the downs and heaths of Epernay, Rheims and
Champagne, while the heights of Argonne stand out boldly in the
distance. To the west is a rich agricultural country.

"The possession of the ridge of Mondement was vital to either the
attackers or the defenders. The conflict here was of furnace intensity
for four days. The Germans drove the French out in a terrific assault,
and then the French guns were brought to bear, followed by hand-to-hand
fighting on the gardens and lawns of the chateau and even through the
breached walls.

"Frenchmen again held the building for a few hours, only to retire
before another determined German attack. On the fourth day they swept
the Germans out again with shell fire, under which the walls of the
chateau, although two or three feet thick, crumpled like paper."

The same correspondent described evidences on the battlefields of how
abundantly the Germans were equipped with ammunition and other material.
He saw pyramid after pyramid of shrapnel shells abandoned in the rout,
also innumerable paniers for carrying such ammunition. These paniers are
carefully constructed of wicker and hold three shells in exactly fitting
tubes so that there can be no movement.

The villages of Oyes, Villeneuve, Chatillon and Soizy-aux-Bois were all
bombarded and completely destroyed. Some fantastic capers were played by
the shells, such as blowing away half a house and leaving the other half
intact; going through a window and out by the back wall without damaging
the interior, or going a few inches into the wall and remaining fast
without exploding.

Villeneuve, which was retaken three times, was, including its fine old
church, in absolute ruins.

A SERIES OF BATTLES

The battle line along the Marne was so extended that the four-days'
fighting from Sunday, September 6, to Thursday morning, September 10,
when the Germans were in full retreat, comprised a series of bloody
engagements, each worthy of being called a battle. There were hot
encounters south of the Marne at Crecy, Montmirail and other points. At
Chalons-sur-Marne the French fought for twenty-four hours and inflicted
heavy losses on the enemy. General Exelmans, one of France's most
brilliant cavalry leaders, was dangerously wounded in leading a charge.

There was hard fighting on September 7 between Lagny and Meaux, on the
Trilport and Crecy-en-Brie line, the Germans under General von Kluck
being compelled to give way and retire on Meaux, at which point their
resistance was broken on the 9th.

General French's army advanced to meet the German hosts with forced
marches from their temporary base to the southeast of Paris.

The whole British army, except cavalry, passed through Lagny, and
the incoming troops were so wearied that many of them at the first
opportunity lay down in the dust and slept where they were.

But a few hours' rest worked a great change, and a little later the
British troops were following the German retreat up the valley with
bulldog tenacity.

The British artillery did notable work in those days, according to the
French military surgeons who were stationed at Lagny. At points near
there the bodies of slain Germans who fell before the British gunners
still littered the ground on September 10, and the grim crop was still
heavier on the soil farther up the valley, where the fighting was more
desperate.

As far as possible the bodies were buried at night, each attending to
its own fallen.

MANY SANGUINARY INCIDENTS

Sanguinary incidents were plentiful in the week of fighting to the south
of the Marne. In an engagement not far from Lagny the British captured
thirty Germans who had given up their arms and were standing under guard
when, encouraged by a sudden forward effort of the German front, they
made a dash for their rifles. They were cut down by a volley from their
British guards before they could reach their weapons.

"Among dramatic incidents in the fighting," according to an English
correspondent, "may be mentioned the grim work at the ancient fishponds
near Ermenonville. These ponds are shut in by high trees. Driving the
enemy through the woods, a Scotch regiment hustled its foes right into
the fishponds, the Scotchmen jumping in after the Germans up to the
middle to finish them in the water, which was packed with their bodies."
This scene is illustrated on another page.

VAST GRAVEYARD AT MEAUX

Some idea of how the Germans were harassed by artillery fire during
their retreat was obtained on a visit to the fields near Meaux, the
scene of severe fighting. The German infantry had taken a position in a
sunken road, on either side of which were stretched in extended lines
hummocks, some of them natural and some the work of spades in the hands
of German soldiers.

The sunken road was littered with bodies. Sprawling in ghastly fashion,
the faces had almost the same greenish-gray hue as the uniforms worn.
The road is lined with poplars, the branches of which, severed by
fragments of shells, were strewn among the dead. In places whole tops of
trees had been torn away by the artillery fire.

Beside many bodies were forty or fifty empty cartridge shells, while
fragments of clothing, caps and knapsacks were scattered about. This
destruction was wrought by batteries a little more than three miles
distant. Straggling clumps of wood intervened between the batteries
and their mark, but the range had been determined by an officer on an
elevation a mile from the gunners. He telephoned directions for the
firing and through glasses watched the bursting shells.

THE BATTLE AT CRECY

A graphic picture of the fight in Crecy wood was given by a
correspondent who said: The French and English in overwhelming numbers
had poured in from Lagny toward the River Marne to reinforce the
flanking skirmishers. One of the smaller woods southeast of Crecy
furnished cover for the enemy for a time, but led to their undoing. The
Allies' patrols discovered them in the night as the Germans were moving
about with lanterns.

Suddenly the invaders found their twinkling glow-worms the mark for a
foe of whom they had been unaware. Without warning a midnight hail storm
from Maxims screamed through the trees. The next morning scores of
lanterns were picked up in the wood, with the glasses shattered. A
dashing cavalry charge by the British finally cleared the tragic wood of
the Germans.

BRITISH BLOW UP A BRIDGE

At Lagny one of the sights of the town was a shattered bridge, which was
blown up by General French as soon as he got his army across it. At that
time British infantry and artillery had poured through the town and over
the bridge for several days. General French's idea was to keep raiding
detachments of German cavalry from incursions into the beautiful villas
and gardens of the western suburbs.

Fifteen minutes after the bridge had been reduced to a twisted mass
of steel and broken masonry a belated order came to save it, but the
British engineers who had received the order to destroy it had done
their work well.

The inhabitants were cleared out of all the neighboring houses, which
were shaken by the terrific explosion when the charge was set off. Every
window in the nearby houses was shattered.

The people of Lagny took the destruction of their beautiful bridge in
good part. They were too grateful for their deliverance from the Germans
to grumble about the wrecked bridge.

GERMAN LOSSES AT THE MARNE

There is no doubt that the German losses in the engagements at the Marne
far exceeded those of the Allies and were most severe, in both men and
material. The Germans made incredible efforts to cross the Marne. The
French having destroyed all the bridges, the Germans tried to construct
three bridges of boats. Sixteen times the bridges were on the point of
completion, but each time they were reduced to matchwood by the French
artillery.

"There is not the slightest doubt," said a reliable correspondent, "that
but for the superb handling of the German right by General von Kluck, a
large part of Emperor William's forces would have been captured at the
Marne. The allied cavalry did wonders, and three or four additional
divisions of cavalry could have contributed towards a complete rout of
the Germans."

The general direction of the German retirement was northeast, and it was
continued for seventy miles, to a line drawn between Soissons, Rheims
and Verdun.

A week after the battle the field around Meaux had been cleared of dead
and wounded, and only little mounds with tiny crosses, flowers and
tricolored flags recalled the terrible struggle.

The inhabitants of neighboring villages soon returned to their homes and
resumed their ordinary occupations.

FALL OF MAUBEUGE

While the fighting at the Marne was in progress, German troops achieved
some successes in other parts of the theater of war. Thus, the fortified
French town of Maubeuge, on the Sambre river midway between Namur in
Belgium and St. Quentin, France, fell to the Germans on September 7. The
investment began on August 25. More than a thousand shells fell in one
night near the railway station and the Rue de France was partially
destroyed. The loss of life, however, was comparatively slight.

At 11:50 o'clock on the morning of September 7 a white flag was hoisted
on the church tower and trumpets sounded "cease firing," but the firing
only ceased at 3:08 o'clock that afternoon. In the meantime the greater
part of the garrison succeeded in evacuating the town. The German forces
marched in at 7:08 o'clock that evening.

The retreat of the German forces from the Marne ended the second stage
of the great war.




CHAPTER XII


THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

  _Slow Mobilization of Troops--Invasion of German and Austrian
  Territory--Cossacks Lead the Van--Early Successes
  in East Prussia--"On to Berlin"--Heavy
  Losses Inflicted on Austrians--German Troops Rushed
  to the Defense of the Eastern Territory_.

When at 7:30 o'clock on the evening of August 1, 1914, the German
Ambassador at St. Petersburg handed the declaration of war to the
Russian foreign minister, the immediate reason was that Russia had
refused to stop mobilizing her army, as requested by Germany on July 30.

The general mobilization of the Russian army and fleet was proclaimed
on July 31 and martial law was proclaimed forthwith in Germany. The
government of the Kaiser had given Russia twenty-four hours in which
to reply to its ultimatum of the 30th. Russia paid no attention to the
ultimatum, but M. Goremykin, president of the Council of the Russian
Empire, issued a manifesto which read:

"Russia is determined not to allow Servia to be crushed and will fulfill
its duty in regard to that small kingdom, which has already suffered so
much at Austria's hands."

Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia on August 6. From that
time on the Russian army had two main objectives--first, the Austrian
province of Galicia, and second the eastern frontier of Germany, across
which lay the territory known as East Prussia. And while the early days
of the great conflict saw a German host pouring into Belgium, animated
by the battle-cry, "On to Paris!" the gathering legions of the Czar
headed to the west and crossed the Prussian frontier with hoarse,
resounding shouts of "On to Berlin!"

MOBILIZATION WAS SLOW

The mobilization of the Russian army was slow compared with that
of Germany, France and Austria, and some weeks elapsed after the
declaration of war before Russia was prepared to attack Germany with
the full force of which it was capable. The immense distances to be
traversed by troops proceeding to the frontier and by the reserves to
their respective depots caused delays that were unavoidable but were
minimized by the eagerness of the Russian soldiery to get to the front.
In Russia, as in all the other great countries engaged in the conflict,
with the probable exception of Austria, the war was popular and a wave
of patriotic enthusiasm and martial ardor swept over the land, from the
Baltic to the Black Sea, from St. Petersburg to Siberia.

In Russia military service is universal and begins at the age of 20,
continuing for twenty-three years. There are three divisions of the
Russian army--the European, Caucasian and Asiatic armies. Military
service of the Russian consists of three years in the first line,
fourteen years in the reserve (during which time he has to undergo two
periods of training of six weeks each) and five years in the territorial
reserve. The Cossacks, however, hold their land by military tenure and
are liable to serve at any time in the army. They provide their own
horses and accouterments. The total strength of the Russian army is
about 5,500,000 men; the field force of the European army consists of
1,000,000 soldiers with about the same number in the second line. There
were besides at the beginning of the war over 5,000,000 men unorganized
but available for duty.

ARMY REORGANIZED RECENTLY

Since the disastrous war with Japan the Russian army has been
reorganized and it has profited largely by the harsh experience of the
Manchurian campaign.

The physique of the Russian infantryman is second to none in Europe. The
Russian "moujik" (peasant) is from childhood accustomed to cover long
distances on foot, so that marches of from 30 to 40 miles are covered
without fatigue by even the youngest recruits. They wear long boots,
which are made of excellent soft leather, so that sore feet were quite
the exception even in Manchuria, where very long marches were undergone
by many of the units.

Each regiment of infantry contains four battalions commanded by a major
or lieutenant-colonel. The battalion consists of four companies of
men, commanded by a captain, so that each regiment on a war footing
numbers upwards of 2,000 men.

The Russian cavalry is divided into two main categories. There are the
heavy regiments of the Guard, which consist mainly of Lancer regiments,
and there are also numberless Cossack or irregular cavalry regiments,
which are recruited chiefly from the districts of the River Don and the
highlands of the Caucasus.

The horses of the Russian horse and field artillery are distinctly poor
and very inferior to those of the cavalry. The artillery is
therefore somewhat slow in coming into action. But the horses, while
weedy-looking, are very hardy and pull the guns up steep gradients.
The Russian gunners prefer to take up "indirect" rather than "direct"
positions. Batteries are also rather slow in changing positions and in
moving up in support of their infantry units.

THE RUSSIAN COSSACKS

What the Uhlans are to the German army, the Cossacks of the Don and the
Caucasus are to the Russians--scouts, advance guards and "covering"
cavalry. They are good all-round fighters, capable of long-continued
effort and tireless in the saddle; they are also trained to fight in
dismounted action.

As a soldier the Cossack is altogether unique; his ways are his own and
his confidence in his officers and himself is perfect. His passionate
love of horses makes his work a pleasure. The Cossack seat on horseback
is on a high pad-saddle, with the knee almost vertical and the heel well
drawn back. Spurs are not worn, and another remarkable thing is that
he has absolutely no guard to his sword. The Russian soldier scorns
buttons; he says, "They are a nuisance; they have to be cleaned, they
wear away the cloth, they are heavy, and they attract the attention of
the enemy."

The Cossack pony is a quaint little beast to look at, but the finest
animal living for his work, and very remarkable for his wonderful powers
of endurance. The Cossack and his mount have been likened to a clever
nurse and a spoilt child--each understands and loves the other, but
neither is completely under control. The Cossack does not want his horse
to be a slave, and recognizes perfectly that horses, like children, have
their whims and humors and must be coaxed and reasoned with, but rarely
punished. The famous knout (whip) is carried by the Cossacks at the end
of a strap across the left shoulder. Most of the men are bearded and in
full dress, with the high fur cap stuck jauntily on the head of square
cut hair, the Cossack presents a picturesque and martial figure. The
appearance of these men is quite different from that of the clean-shaven
regular infantryman of the Russian army.

RUSSIAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN

"While the direct objective of the Russians was Berlin, there were
many reasons why a bee-line course could not be followed. Germany had
prepared an elaborate defense system to cover the direct approaches to
Berlin, and the fortresses of Danzig, Graudenz, Thorn, and Posen were
important points in this scheme. The nature of the country also adapts
itself to these defensive works and would make progress slow for an
attacker.

Moreover, as Austria and her forces mobilized before Russia, a diversion
was created by the Austrian invasion of south Poland, in which the
Germans also took the offensive. Under these circumstances the Russian
plan of campaign resolved itself into three parts:--

(1) A northern movement from Kovno and Grodno on Insterburg and
Koenigsberg as a counter-attack.

(2) A central movement from Warsaw towards Posen with supporting
movements north and south.

(3) A southern movement on Lublin in Poland to repulse the invaders
combined with a movement from the east on Lemberg in order to turn the
Austrian flank.

The first purpose of Russia was to clear Poland of enemies, as they
threatened the Russian left flank. At the same time Russia took the
offensive by an invasion of Prussia in the north. This latter movement
led to a victory at Gumbinnen and the investment of Koenigsberg. Later
came victory at Lublin, rolling back the Austrians, and the capture of
Lemberg, which signalized the Russian invasion of Austrian territory.
Thus Russia was for awhile clear of the enemy, while she established a
strong footing in both Prussia and Austria.

[Illustration: THE RUSSIAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN In the above view the German
lines of defense are shown black, the Austrian lines of defense are
indicated by crossed lines, and the Russian advances are shown by
arrows.]

We can now understand the main Russian plan a little better. In the
north the army was to advance from Koenigsberg and endeavor to cut off
Danzig and break the line of defenses between that place and Thorn, thus
leaving this fortress in the rear. In the south the Austrians, already
heavily punished, would be driven back on the Carpathian passes to
the south, and westward also toward Cracow, which is the key to the
situation. If Cracow fell Russia would have a good route into Germany,
and the move would be supported by advances from Warsaw, thus
threatening Breslau from two sides.

GERMAN TROOPS HURRIED EAST

Early in September, however, the danger of the Russian advance into
Germany, which apparently had given the German general staff but little
concern at first, was fully realized and large bodies of German troops
were detached from the western theater of war and hurried to the eastern
frontier. Germany had evidently reckoned on Austria being able to hold
its ground better, and was badly prepared for a flanking move on Breslau
so early in the campaign. But the Servian and Russian defeats of Austria
left Germany to bear the full force of the terrific Russian onslaught,
and her forces proved equal to the occasion. Under General von
Hindenberg the German army of the east soon repelled the Russian
invaders and forced them to retire from East Prussia across their own
border, where they were followed by the Germans. A series of engagements
on Russian soil followed, in which the advantage lay as a rule with the
Germans. The losses on both sides were heavy, but the Germans captured
many thousands of Russian prisoners and considerable quantities of arms
and munitions of war. The immense resources of the Russian empire in men
and material made the problem of Russian invasion a very serious one for
Germany. This was fully realized by the Kaiser, who about October 1,
at the end of the second month of the war, proceeded in person to his
eastern frontier to direct the defensive operations against Russia.

CZAR NICHOLAS AT THE FRONT

About the same time the Czar, Nicholas II, also took the field in
person, arriving at the front on October 5, accompanied by General
Soukhomlinoff, the Russian minister of war.

"I am resolved to go to Berlin itself, even if it causes me to lose my
last moujik (peasant)," the Czar is reported as saying in September. The
spirit and temper of the Russian government may be judged by the fact
that before the war was many days old the name of the Russian capital
was officially changed from "St. Petersburg," which was considered to
have a German flavor, to "Petrograd," a purely Russian or Slavic form of
nomenclature.

RUSSIA PREPARES TO STRIKE AUSTRIA

By the third week of August, according to an announcement from
Petrograd, Russian troops had checked an attempt by the Austrians to
enter Poland from the Galician frontier and were preparing to invade
Austria on a large scale. At that time Russia was said to have 2,000,
men under arms for the invasion of Germany and Austria, also 500,000 on
the Roumanian and Turkish borders, and 3,000,000 men in reserve. (The
latter were called out by imperial ukase before Czar Nicholas started
for the front.) The Poles had been promised self-government and had been
called on to support Russia. The Jews throughout the Russian empire were
also promised a greater measure of protection, freedom of action and
civil rights. These measures inaugurated an era of better feeling in
Russia and Poland and were strongly approved by the allies of Russia.

Most of the Austrian reserves were mobilized by August 15 and Germany's
ally announced that she would soon have her total war strength of
2,000,000 men in the field. Austria sent some troops to join the German
forces in Belgium and an army of several hundred thousand men was
gathered along the Austro-Russian frontier under command of the Archduke
Frederick. General Rennenkampf was in command of the Russian forces for
the invasion of East Prussia, while General Russky led the Russian army
operating against Galicia.

INVASION OF PRUSSIA

Within a week the Russian movement in eastern Germany assumed menacing
proportions, the great army of invasion having moved rapidly,
considering the natural obstacles. More than 800,000 men were sent over
the border into Prussia. The Germans evacuated a number of towns, after
setting them afire, and a considerable part of the Kaiser's eastern
field forces was bottled up in military centers. Germany's active field
force was at this time inferior in numbers to the invading army.

By the capture of Insterberg the Russians paralyzed one of the main
German strategic centers and gained control of an important railroad.
The German Twentieth Army Corps was reported to have been routed near
Lyck. At the start the Russian forces extended from Insterberg to
Goldapp, a distance of about thirty-two miles. Seventy-five
miles further on was the first of the two strong German lines of
fortifications.

Early victories were claimed by the Russians in their advance into
Austria, which was made slowly. Austria then turned to fight the Russian
invasion. It was forced to gather all its forces for this principal
struggle and hence retired from offensive operations against the
Servians. Unless she could halt the Russians pouring in from the north,
a success against Servia could do her no good.

By the first of September the Russian advance into East Prussia was
well under way and the strong fortress of Koenigsberg was in danger of a
siege, German troops were being rushed to its defense. In Galicia there
were fierce encounters between the Russian invaders and the Austrians.
Several victories were claimed by the Russians all along the line and
whole brigades of Austrian troops were reported destroyed, while the
Russian losses were also admittedly heavy. The fiercest fighting
occurred in the vicinity of Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, which was
soon to fall to General Russky. The Austrian attack on Russian Poland
failed and the Austrians were driven back across their own frontier. The
Russians were seeking to destroy the hope of the Kaiser for help from
Austria in Eastern Germany, where the Russian advance, ridiculed or
belittled by Germany before it began, became more menacing every day.
The German war plans had contemplated a quick, decisive blow in France
and then a rapid turn to the East to meet the Russians with a tremendous
force. But the belligerency of the Belgians and the cooperation of the
British balked these plans, while the Russians moved faster than was
expected by their foe. Austria had failed everywhere to stop the Czar's
forces, and then came a crushing blow to Austrian hopes in a ruinous
defeat near Lemberg and the loss of that fortress.

THE FALL OF LEMBERG

The capture of Lemberg from the Austrians early in September after a
four days' battle was one of the striking Russian successes of the war.
Details reached the outer world on September 10th from Petrograd (St.
Petersburg) as follows, the story being that of an eyewitness:

"The commencement of the fighting which resulted in the capture of
Lemberg began August 29th, when the Russians drove the enemy from
Zisczow (forty-five miles east of Lemberg) and moved on to Golaya
Gorka--a name which means 'the naked hill.'

"We spent the night on Naked Hill, and the actual storming of the town
was begun at 2:30 o'clock in the morning. Then followed a four days'
battle. A virtually continuous cannonade continued from dawn to darkness
without cessation.

"Even in the darkness the weary fighters got little sleep. Whenever a
single shot was heard the men dashed for their places and the battle
boiled again with renewed fury.

"The enemy's counter attacks were delivered with great energy and a
dense hail of lead and iron was poured over our ranks. The Russian
advance was greatly impeded by the hilly nature of the ground and
the great number of extinct craters, which formed splendid natural
fortifications for the enemy, which held them doggedly. Out of these,
however, the enemy was driven in succession.

"We suffered much from thirst, for the stony, country was devoid of
springs. The days were oppressively hot and the nights bitterly cold.

RUSSIAN ARTILLERY SUPERIOR

"Both sides fought with great obstinacy, but the nearer we approached
Lemberg the harder the struggle became. However, it soon was evident
that we were superior in artillery.

"At length the enemy was driven from all sides beneath the protection of
the Lemberg forts. Our troops were very weary, but in high spirits.

"For two days the fight raged around the forts, but we were always
confident of the prowess of our artillery. The big guns of both sides
rained a terrific hail down on the armies, which suffered terrific
losses.

"At last we noticed that the resistance of the forts was growing weaker.
A charge at double quick was ordered, and we carried the first line of
works.

"It was evident from that point that many of the enemy's guns had been
destroyed. Not enough of them had been left to continue an effective
defense, but the enemy was undiscouraged and tried to make up with rifle
fire what it lacked in artillery.

LOSSES BECOME HEAVIER

"Between the first and second lines our losses were heavier than before,
but under bayonet charges the enemy broke and fled in panic.

"Our troops entered the town at the enemy's heels. We ran into the town,
despite our fatigue, with thunderous cheering.

"An episode which had much to do with ending the enemy's dogged
resistance occurred during the fighting between the first and second
lines. The Austrians in the hope of checking the Russian effort to
encircle the town had thrown out a heavy screen of Slav troops with a
backing of Magyars who had been ordered to shoot down the Slavs from
behind if they showed any hesitation.

"This circumstance became known to the Russian commander, who ordered a
terrific artillery fire over the heads of the Slavs and into the ranks
of the Magyars. This well-directed fire set the whole line in panic."

More than 35,000 Austrians and Russian wounded were abandoned on the
field of battle between Tarnow, Lemberg and Tarnopol owing to lack of
means of transportation, according to reliable reports. Both armies
declined to ask for an armistice for the burial of the dead and the
collection of the wounded, each fearing to give an advantage to the
other.

THE BATTLE BEFORE LEMBERG

The immense superiority of the Austrian forces east of Lemberg enabled
the Austrians at first to adopt the offensive. As soon, however, as
the Austrians realized the impossibility of an advance on Warsaw they
concentrated their large and overwhelming forces in an attempt to
outflank the right wing of the Russian army, which was drawing slowly
but surely towards Lemberg, On the other Russian flank the two
Russian army corps, after crossing the River Zlota Lipa without much
opposition, continued their advance to the River Knila Lipa, where they
found the bridges had all been destroyed by the Austrian advance guards.
Two bridges were constructed on the Rogarten-Halicz line, which enabled
a crossing to be effected in spite of heavy and incessant artillery fire
from the Austrian 24-centimeter guns.

Once across the river, the two Russian corps crossed the upper reaches
of the River Boog and so approached the town of Lemberg from the east.
The main Austrian army, however, had by this time moved up to bar the
further advance of the Russian forces, and the whole of their armies on
the left bank of the River Vistula being in front of the three Russian
corps, the latter were compelled to adopt a defensive role for three or
four days, after which, having received large reinforcements, the
Russian force moved forward and drove the Austrian troops out of their
entrenchments outside Lemberg at the point of the bayonet. A desperate
attempt was made by means of a counter-attack to arrest the advance of
the Russian troops, but this only resulted in the capture of 6,000
Austrian prisoners.

[Illustration: WHERE RUSSIA FIGHTS.
Battle grounds of Eastern Prussia and of Galicia, where the Austrians
were repeatedly defeated with heavy losses.]

Lemberg was not a fortress but was recently converted into a
semi-fortified place, as a series of lunettes, redoubts, etc., had been
hastily prepared. It was the headquarters of the 11th Austrian Corps,
which consisted of the famous 43rd Landwehr infantry division, and was
further divided into three Landwehr brigades. There was also a Landwehr
Uhlan regiment, together with a howitzer division of field artillery.
These batteries were armed with 10.5-centimeter guns, fitted with the
German or Krupp eccentric breech action. The forts outside the town were
said to be armed with the 15-centimeter siege gun made of steel, also
with a Krupp action. The ammunition for these guns is chiefly high
explosive shell and shrapnel; one of the forts is also said to have had
a battery of three 24-centimeter heavy siege guns of quite a modern
pattern.

GERMANY RUSHES REINFORCEMENTS

When Lemberg fell the Russian advance covered a line extending from far
up in Eastern Prussia, near Tilsit, across the frontier and on down
south into Austrian Galicia. Koenigsberg was hearing the sound of the
Russian guns and its besiegers seemed on the verge of victory. A central
column of mighty strength was pushing its way into Germany, despite a
stubborn resistance. Then the tide turned. German reinforcements were
brought up and under General von Hindenberg the Germans administered a
severe defeat to General Rennenkampf's army near Allenstein, in which
it was claimed that 60,000 prisoners were taken. Other reverses were
suffered by the Russians and soon after the middle of September they had
been forced to retire from German territory, the German troops following
them into Russia, where a series of minor engagements occurred near the
frontier.

GENERAL RENNENKAMPF'S DEFEAT

The operations leading to the defeat of General Rennenkampf's Russian
army by the Germans were as follows:

From September 7 to 13 the Russians took a strong position on the line
from Angerburg to Gerdauen, Allenburg, and Kehlau, the left wing resting
on the Mazurian lakes and the right wing protected in the rear and flank
by the forest of Frisching, whose pathless woods and swamps furnished
an almost impregnable position. The Russians devoted great efforts to
intrenching their position and brought up besides their heavy artillery.
Russian cavalry scouted far to the west and south, but otherwise the
army-undertook no offensive operations in the days following a battle at
Tannenberg.

The German forces, according to the German official account, were
composed of the Second, Third, Fourth and Twentieth corps, two reserve
divisions and five cavalry divisions.

General von Hindenburg, the German commander, meanwhile was assembling
every available man, depriving the fortresses of their garrisons and
calling in all but a bare remnant of the force protecting the southern
frontier in the vicinity of Soldau, adding them to reinforcements
received from the west.

General von Hindenburg again resorted to the customary German flanking
movement, and since the German right, protected by the forest and
marshes, seemed too strong, he adopted the daring strategy of sending
the flanking force to the lake region to the south, the same character
of movement by which the Russian Narew army had been defeated on August
28, in the vicinity of Ortelsburg, and which in case of failure might
have been equally as disastrous for the Germans.

STRATEGY IS SUCCESSFUL

The strategy, however, succeeded, although General Rennenkampf offered a
desperate resistance to the frontal attacks. After three days' fighting
the Russians were forced back slightly in the center. When the flank
movement of the Germans was discovered already threatening the flank,
a counter-movement was launched with a new army collected at Lyck,
including the Twenty-second corps and parts of the Third Siberian corps,
just arriving from Irkutsk, and the balance of the defeated army. The
counter-attacks failed and on September 10 the Russians began to fall
back on their main position, retreating in good order and well covered.

The Russian artillery on the right wing appears to have made a good
retreat owing to a timely start, while the left wing was hard pressed by
the enveloping German infantry. From this wing the Russians retreated
across the border in two columns, while the main body went northward
and the others in an easterly direction, pursued by the Germans, who
advanced far from the border.

The German government appointed Count von Merveldt as governor of the
Russian province of Suwalki and other points occupied by them.

The University of Koenigsberg on September 18 conferred upon General von
Hindenburg honorary doctors' degrees from all four of the departments of
philosophy, theology, law and medicine, in recognition of his success
against the Russian invader.

AUSTRIA STRUGGLING FOR EXISTENCE

In Galicia, however, Russian successes continued. The important fortress
of Mikolajoff, 25 miles south of Lemberg, was captured and this cleared
away every Austrian stronghold east of Przemysl, which was then invested
by the Russians.

Austria was now struggling for her very existence as a monarchy.
Following the crushing defeats administered to the Austrian troops and
with the Czar's forces sweeping Galicia, Vienna was hurriedly fortified.
All reports indicated that the large Austrian force, nearly 1,000,
men in all, opposing the main Russian invasion had proved ineffective.
Help from Germany did not arrive in time. Official dispatches reported
the main Austrian army retreating, pursued and harassed by the Russians.
The other important Austrian army was surrounded near Lublin.

While the Muscovite host went smashing through Galicia, chasing the
Austrian army before it, the Russian staff belittled the retreat from
East Prussia, saying that the Russian army was merely falling back on
a new defensive position. The German artillery had been getting in its
deadly work and the pressure on Koenigsberg was soon to be relieved.

There were many reports at this time of a popular demand in Austria that
an end be made to the struggle. Peace talk was a marked feature of the
sixth week of the war, but there were no definite results in any part of
the immense theater of war.

The third week of September found the Germans, greatly reinforced,
making a strong resistance to Russian progress, with the aid of the
heavy German artillery. The shattered Austrian armies, under Generals
von Auffenberg and Dankl, were making desperate endeavors to concentrate
in the vicinity of Rawaruska, but were apparently surrounded by the
Russians, who continued to capture Austrian prisoners by the thousand.
Fears were entertained for Cracow, one of the strongest fortresses in
Austria, if not in Europe, which seemed likely soon to fall into the
hands of Russia.

It was stated in Rome, and said to be admitted in Vienna, that the
Archduke Frederick, commanding the Austrian forces in Galicia, had
lost 120,000 men, or one-fourth of his entire army. German troops were
reported marching south toward Poland to assist the Austrians.

The Russian successes in Galicia gave them command of the Galician
oil-fields, upon which Germany largely depended for her supply of
gasoline, which is a prime necessary in modern war.

RUSSIANS AT PRZEMYSL

On September 21 the Russians began the bombardment of Przemysl, having
previously occupied Grodek and Mosciska, west of Lemberg. The shattered
second Austrian army was evidently incapable of staying the Russian
advance, and took refuge in Przemysl. A part of this Galician stronghold
was soon captured by the Russians, forcing the Austrians to take refuge
in the eastern forts, where the entire garrison was concentrated at the
end of September, preparing to make a final resistance. The situation of
the garrison was critical, as it was entirely surrounded by the enemy.
On September 21 also the Russian troops took by storm the fortifications
of Jaroslav, on the river San, and captured many guns.

The German offensive from East Prussia was apparently halted October
by the almost impassable condition of the Russian roads in the north.
Germany was said to have at this time thirty army corps of the line and
the first reserve prepared to operate against Russia and to resist the
Russian advance upon Cracow.

The German main defenses against Russia extended in a general line from
Koenigsberg to Danzig, thence south along the Vistula to the great
fortress of Thorn. From there the fortified line swung to the southwest
to Posen, thence south to Breslau, the main fortress along the Oder, and
from there to Cracow.

Early in October the Russian invasion of Hungary began. The Russian
armies continued to sweep through Galicia and that province was reported
clear of Austrian troops. The German successes claimed against the Czar
farther north included victories at Krasnik and Zamoso, in Russian
Poland; Insterburg and Tannenburg, in East Prussia.

ESTIMATE OF AUSTRIAN LOSSES

A Russian estimate places the Austrian losses in Galicia at 300,
in killed, wounded and prisoners, or nearly one-third of their total
forces. They also lost, it was claimed at Petrograd, 1,000 guns, more
than two-thirds of their available artillery.

The Russian newspaper correspondents described horrible scenes on the
battlefields abandoned by the Austro-German forces in Galicia.

"Streams," said one eyewitness, "were choked full with slain men,
trodden down in the headlong flight till the waters were dammed and
overflowing the banks. Piles of dead are awaiting burial or burning.
Hundreds of acres are sown with bodies and littered with weapons and
battle debris, while wounded and riderless horses are careering madly
over the abandoned country. The trophies captured comprise much German
equipment. An ammunition train captured at Janow (eleven miles northwest
of Lemberg) was German, while the guns taken included thirty-six of
heavy caliber bearing Emperor William's initials and belonging to the
German Sixth army corps.

"The line of retreat of the Austro-German forces was blocked with debris
of every kind--valuable military supplies, telephone and telegraph
installations, light railway and other stores, bridging material--in
fact, everything needed by a modern army was flung away in flight. Over
1,000 wagons with commissariat supplies alone were captured."

Forty-five thousand Austro-German prisoners were reported to have
arrived at Lublin. Russian correspondents with the armies in Galicia
asserted that German troops were interspersed with Austrian troops in
the intrenchments in order to raise the morale of the Austrians. One
correspondent declared that while the Austrians often took flight the
Germans were ready, to the last man, to perish.

ON THE FIRING LINE IN RUSSIAN POLAND--VIVID DESCRIPTION BY AN AMERICAN
EYEWITNESS

The first American permitted to witness actual battles near the eastern
frontier of Germany was Karl H. von Wiegand, who wrote as follows from
the firing line near East Wirballen, Russian Poland, October 9:


"The German artillery today beat back, in a bloody, ghastly smear of
men, the Russian advance.

"Yesterday I saw an infantry engagement. Today it was mostly an
artillery encounter. The infantry attack is the more ghastly, but the
artillery the more awe-inspiring. This was the fifth day of constant
fighting and still the German trenches hold.

"Today's battle opened at dawn. With two staff officers assigned as my
chaperons, I had been attached overnight to the field headquarters. I
slept well, exhausted by the excitement of my first sight of modern war,
but when dawn once again revealed the two long lines of the Russian and
German positions the Russian guns began to hurl their loads of shrapnel
at the German trenches.

"We had breakfast calmly enough despite the din of guns. Then we went
to one of the German batteries on the left center. They were already
in action, though it was only 6 o'clock. The men got the range
from observers a little in advance, cunningly masked, and slowly,
methodically, and enthusiastically fed the guns with their loads of
death.

"The Russians didn't have our range. All of their shells flew screaming
1,000 yards to our left. Through my glasses I watched them strike.
The effect on the hillock was exactly as though a geyser had suddenly
spurted up. A vast cloud of dirt and stones and grass spouted up, and
when the debris cleared away a great hole showed.

RUSSIANS TRY NEW RANGE

"While we watched the Russians seemed to tire of shooting holes in an
inoffensive hill. They began to try chance shots to the right and to the
left. It wasn't many minutes before I realized that, standing near a
battery, the execution of which must have been noted on the Russian
side, I had a fine chance of experiencing shrapnel bursting overhead. It
was a queer sensation to peer through field glasses and see the Russian
shells veer a few hundred feet to the right. I saw one strike a
windmill, shattering the long arms and crumpling it over in a slow
burning heap. Then we beat a retreat, further toward the center.

"We had been standing behind a slight declivity. I hadn't caught a
glimpse of the enemy. Shells were the only things that apprised us
of the Russian nearness. But as we passed out on an open field,
considerably out of range of the field guns, I could see occasional
flashes that bespoke field pieces, a mile or so away.

RUSSIAN INFANTRY CHARGES

"Back behind us, on the extreme left, I was told the Russians were
attacking the German trenches by an infantry charge, the German field
telephone service having apprised the commanders along the front. With
glasses we could see a faint line of what must have been the Russian
infantry rushing across the open fields.

"We passed on to the center, going slightly to the rear for horses. As
we arrived at the right wing we witnessed the last of a Russian infantry
advance at that end. The wave of Russians had swept nearly to the German
trenches, situated between two sections of field artillery, and there
had been repulsed. Russians were smeared across in front of these pits,
dead, dying, or wounded--cut down by the terrible spray of German
machine guns.

"I got up to the trenches as the German fire slackened because of the
lack of targets. The Russians had gone back. Strewn in the trenches
were countless empty shells, the bullets of which had, as it looked to
inexpert eyes, slain thousands. As a matter of fact, there were hundreds
of dead in the field ahead.

GUN BARRELS SIZZLING HOT

"German infantrymen spat on their rapid firers as we reached the trench
and delightedly called our attention to the sizzle that told how hot the
barrels were from the firing.

"The men stretched their cramped limbs, helped a few wounded to the
rear, and waited for breakfast. It was not long forthcoming. Small lines
of men struggling along tinder steaming buckets came hurrying up to the
accompaniment of cheers and shouts. They bore soup that the men in the
trenches gulped down ravenously. Meanwhile men with the white brassard
and the red Geneva cross were busy out in the open, lending succor to
the Russian wounded. The battle seemed to have come to a sudden halt.

"But even as I was getting soup, the artillery fusillade broke forth
again. From 9 o'clock to noon the Russians hurled their heavy shells at
the German trenches and the German guns. The German batteries replied
slowly.

"There was mighty little fuss and feathers about this business of
dealing death from guns. The crews at each piece laughed among
themselves, but there were none of the picturesque shouts of command,
the indiscriminate blowing of bugles, and the flashy waving of battle
flags that the word battle usually conjures up. It was merely a deadly
business of killing.

"Over to the right, a scant 300 yards away, the Russians had apparently
succeeded in getting the range. As I watched through the glasses I saw
shrapnel burst over the battery there and watched a noncommissioned
soldier fall with three of his comrades. I was told that one had been
killed and three wounded. The Red Cross crew came up and bore away the
four--the dead and the live--and before they were gone the gun was
speaking away with four fresh men working it.

"But the shrapnel kept bursting away over it and soon an orderly came
riding furiously back on his horse, saluted the officers with me, and
shouted as he hurried back to the artillery reserve: 'Six inch shells to
the front; more ammunition.'

"I went back to see the wounded, but the surgeon wouldn't let me. I
expressed to him my wonder at the few wounded. I had seen only a few in
the trenches, and no German dead until I saw the artilleryman killed.
He explained that the losses on the German side were light because
the trenches were well constructed and because there had been no
hand-to-hand, bayonet to bayonet fighting.

ATTACKS BY RUSSIAN INFANTRY

"Yesterday, my first day at Wirballen, I saw the third attempt of the
Russians to carry the German center by storm. Twice on Wednesday their
infantry had advanced under cover of their artillery, only to be
repulsed. Their third effort proved no more successful.

"The preliminaries were well under way, without my appreciating their
significance, until one of my officer escorts explained.

"At a number of points along their line, observable to us, but screened
from the observation of the German trenches in the center, the Russian
infantry came tumbling out, and, rushing forward, took up advanced
positions, awaiting the formation of the new and irregular battle
line. Dozens of light rapid-firers were dragged along by hand. Other
troops--the reserves--took up semi-advanced positions. All the while the
Russian shrapnel was raining over the German trenches.

"Finally came the Russian order to advance. At the word hundreds of
yards of the Russian fighting line leaped, forward, deployed in open
order, and came on. Some of them came into range of the German trench
fire almost at once. These lines began to wilt and thin out.

MEN PAUSE ONLY TO FIRE

"But on they came, all along the line, protected and unprotected alike,
rushing forward with a yell, pausing, firing, and advancing again.

"From the outset of the advance the German artillery, ignoring for the
moment the Russian artillery action, began shelling the onrushing mass
with wonderfully timed shrapnel, which burst low over the advancing
lines and tore sickening gaps.

"But the Russian line never stopped. For the third time in two days
they came tearing on, with no indication of having been affected by the
terrible consequences of the two previous charges. As a spectacle the
whole thing was maddening.

"On came the Slav swarm, into the range of the German trenches, with
wild yells and never a waver. Russian battle flags--the first I had
seen--appeared in the front of the charging ranks. The advance line
thinned and the second line moved up.

"Nearer and nearer they swept toward the German positions. And then came
a new sight. A few seconds later came a new sound. First I saw a sudden,
almost grotesque melting of the advancing line. It was different from
anything that had taken place before. The men literally went down like
dominoes in a row. Those who kept their feet were hurled back as though
by a terrible gust of wind. Almost in the second that I pondered,
puzzled, the staccato rattle of machine guns reached us. My ear answered
the query of my eye.

MACHINE GUN FIRE TELLS

"For the first time the advancing line hesitated, apparently bewildered.
Mounted officers dashed along the line, urging the men forward. Horses
fell with the men. I saw a dozen riderless horses dashing madly through
the lines, adding a new terror. Another horse was obviously running away
with his officer rider. The crucial period for the section of the charge
on which I had riveted my attention probably lasted less than a minute.
To my throbbing brain it seemed an hour. Then, with the withering fire
raking them even as they faltered, the lines broke. Panic ensued. It was
every man for himself. The entire Russian charge turned and went tearing
back to cover and the shelter of the Russian trenches.

"I swept the entire line of the Russian advance with my glasses--as far
as it was visible from our position. The whole advance of the enemy was
in retreat, making for its intrenched position.

DEAD MEN COVER ACRES

"After the assault had failed and the battle had resumed its normal
trend I swept the field with my glasses. The dead were everywhere. They
were not piled up, but were strewn over acres. More horrible than the
sight of the dead, though, were the other pictures brought up by the
glasses. Squirming, tossing, writhing figures everywhere! The wounded!
All who could stumble or crawl were working their way back toward their
own lines or back to the friendly cover of hills or wooded spots.

"After the charge we moved along back of the German lines at a safe
distance and found the hospital corps bringing back the German wounded.

"The artillerymen had resumed their duel and as we came up in the lee of
the outbuildings of a deserted farmhouse a shell struck and fired the
farmhouse immediately in front of us. As we paused to see if the shot
was a chance one, or if the Russian gunners had actually gotten the
range, a regiment of fresh reserves, young men who had just come up from
the west, passed us on their way to get their baptism of fire.

"Their demeanor was more suggestive of a group of college students going
to a football game than the serious business on which they were bent.
They were singing and laughing, and as they went by a noncommissioned
officer inquired rather ruefully whether there were any Russians left
for them.

"Throughout the day we watched the fight waged from the opposing
trenches and by the artillery.

"Suddenly at sundown the fighting ceased as if by mutual agreement. As I
write this I can see occasional flashes of light like the flare of giant
fireflies out over the scene of the Russian charge--the flashes of small
electrical lamps in the hands of the Russian hospital corps.

"I'm glad I don't have to look at what the flashes reveal out there in
the night."




CHAPTER XIII

THE AUSTRO-SERVIAN CAMPAIGN

  _Declaration of War by Austria--Bombardment of Belgrade--
  Servian Capital Removed--Seasoned Soldiers of Servia
  Give a Good Account of Themselves--Many Indecisive
  Engagements--Servians in Austrian Territory_.

Formal declaration of war against Servia was proclaimed by Austria on
Tuesday, July 28. The text of the official announcement was as follows:

"The Royal Government of Servia not having given a satisfactory reply to
the note presented to it by the Austro-Hungarian Ministry in Belgrade
on July 23, 1914, the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary
finds it necessary itself to safeguard its rights and interests and to
have recourse for this purpose to the force of arms. Austria-Hungary,
therefore, considers itself from this moment in a state of war with
Servia."

This declaration was signed by Count Berchtold, the Austrian minister
for foreign affairs.

The events that immediately preceded the declaration of war, as
summarized in a previous chapter, were as follows:

On June 28 a Slav student who thought he was a patriot killed the
Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, at Serajevo,
the capital of Bosnia, which had been lately made a province of Austria.
An inquiry was begun in which evidence was introduced to show that the
assassin's work was part of a plot for the revolt of the Southern Slav
provinces of Austria, and that it was instigated by Servians, if not by
the Servian Government. On July 23, however, before the investigation
was completed, Austria sent an ultimatum to Servia demanding that it use
every means in its power to punish the assassins and also to stop all
further anti-Austrian propaganda. Austria demanded that she be permitted
to have representatives in the work of investigation in Servia.

The next day, July 24, Russia joined the little Slav country in asking
for a delay. Austria refused to grant this.

On July 25, ten minutes before 6 p.m., the hour at which the ultimatum
expired, the Servian premier, M. Pashitch, gave his reply to the
Austrian ambassador at Belgrade. Servia agreed to all the conditions
and apologies demanded by Austria, except the requirement that Austrian
officials should be allowed to participate in the inquiry to be
conducted in Servia into the assassination of the Archduke. Even this
was not definitely refused.

On July 27 the Austrian foreign office issued a statement in which
appeared these words:

"The object of the Servian note is to create the false impression that
the Servian Government is prepared in great measure to comply with our
demands.

"As a matter of fact, however, Servians note is filled with the spirit
of dishonesty, which clearly lets it be seen that the Servian Government
is not seriously determined to put an end to the culpable tolerance
it hitherto has extended to intrigues against the Austro-Hungarian
monarchy."

Russia at once notified Austria that it could not permit Servian
territory to be invaded. It was then realized in Europe that the great
Slav nation would support its little brother. Germany let it be known
that no other country must interfere with the Austro-Servian embroglio,
which meant that Germany was prepared to back Austria.

An eleventh-hour proposal by the British foreign secretary, Sir Edward
Grey, that mediation between Servia and Austria be undertaken by a
conference of the Ambassadors in London, was accepted by France and
Italy, but declined by Germany and Austria. Then next day, July 28, came
Austria's declaration of war, which soon made Europe the theater of the
bloodiest struggle of all the ages.

SERVIA AND ITS ASPIRATIONS

Servians reply to the declaration of war was to concentrate a strong
division of its forces in the Sanjak of Novi-Bazar, from which they
would be in a position to threaten Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two
Balkan provinces that Austria had lately annexed. It was also reported
that Servia intended to invade Bosnia with the object of enlisting
further support from the Bosnian Serbs, who were said to be on the point
of rising against Austria-Hungary.

The country of the Servians being well suited for defense, they were
never completely overrun by the Turks, as other Balkan states were,
and as a consequence they still retain, like the Greeks, a native
aristocracy of culture. Physically, they are fairer than most of the
Balkan Slavs and more refined in appearance. By temperament they are
light-hearted, joyous, frivolous, and charming to deal with.

In Servia itself, including territory acquired in recent wars, there
are about 4,500,000 Serbs. In Austria there are about 3,500,000 Serbs,
including Croats who belong to the Servian race.

The Servians have long dreamed and talked and written of a greater
Servia, that should take in all the Servian race. They look back to the
time of King Stephen Dushan, in the fourteenth century, when Servia was
supreme in the Balkans and was nearly as advanced in civilization as the
most advanced nations of Europe. The re-establishment of this ancient
kingdom had become a passion with the Serbs--not only with those in
Servia, but with many in Hungary as well. Hence, their animus against
Austria and Austrian rule, while Austria's fight was, primarily, for
the preservation and solidification of her heterogeneous dominions;
secondarily, for revenge for the Archduke's death. Incidentally, it may
be mentioned that the Archduke Francis Ferdinand was a close personal
friend of the German Kaiser.

THE SERVIAN ARMY

The Servian forces under General Radumil Putnik, consist of ten
divisions, divided into four army corps, with a peace footing of 160,
and a war strength of over 380,000. Most of the men called to arms
against Austria were veterans of the two recent Balkan wars, and hence
probably the most seasoned troops in Europe.

The rifle of the Servian army is the Mauser, model of 1899, with a
caliber of 7 millimeters, but it is doubtful if Servia possessed enough
of them to arm the reserves. The Servian field piece is a quick-firing
gun of the French Schneider-Canet system. The army has some 350 modern
guns.

At the outbreak of the war Servia had ten of the most modern aircraft,
but she had not developed their efficiency to a degree at which they
would be of much material benefit to her in the struggle.

The extremely mountainous nature of Servia and of the adjacent territory
of Bosnia make military movements somewhat slow and difficult,
especially for troops unaccustomed to mountain warfare. Compared with
this mountainous region, the district of Agram, where one Austrian army
corps had its headquarters, is easy country to operate in, while the
plain of Hungary on the opposite side of the Danube made the task of
concentrating troops an easy one for the Austrians.

Another Austrian army corps had its base at Serajevo in Bosnia. A
railway to the northeast from this Bosnian capital touches the Servian
border at Mokragora. To the north of this point lies Kragujevac, the new
capital of Servia, to which King Peter, his court and the Government
repaired from Belgrade just before the declaration of war. Southeast of
the new capital is the important Servian city of Nish.

The western frontier of Servia follows the windings of the Biver Drina,
a tributary of the Danube. The Danube itself forms part of the northern
boundary and the former capital. Belgrade, is picturesquely situated
on the south bank of the Danube at its junction with a tributary. Two
Austrian fortresses command the city from across the Danube. On the
plain of Hungary to the north is Temesvar, an important point at which
another Austrian army corps was located.

CHANCES AGAINST SERVIA

At the outset the chances of war were heavily against Servia. Such
artificial defenses as she possessed were on the Bulgarian frontier.
Many of her troops were engaged in endeavoring to establish Servian rule
among the neighboring peoples in her new Albanian possessions. Austria
was prepared to bring against her immediately the three army corps from
Temesvar, Serajevo and Agram, and four more corps, from Hermanstadt,
Budapest, Graz, and Kaschau, within a fortnight. Servians one hope
appeared to be the difficulty of the country, otherwise she could not
oppose for a moment the advance of 250,000 troops supported by
pieces of artillery. Then, too, Austria had warships on the Danube and
it was partly through this fact that it was decided by the Servian
Government to evacuate Belgrade and to retire to Kragujevac, sixty miles
southeast.

In spite, however, of the seeming futility of opposition, Servia,
encouraged by Russian support, prepared for a strenuous campaign against
the Austrian forces, and the first two months of the war ended without
any decisive advantage to Austria. The Servians, on the other hand,
claimed numerous successes. Their task was lightened by the Russian
invasion of Austrian territory and the determined advance of the Czar's
host, which demanded the fullest strength of the Austrian forces to
resist. As the Russians hammered their enemy in Galicia the spirits of
the Servians rose and their seasoned soldiers gave a good account of
themselves in every encounter with Austrian troops. They crossed the
Drina and carried the war into Bosnia, putting up a stiff fight wherever
they encountered the enemy, and while they sustained severe losses
in killed and wounded during August and September, the losses they
inflicted upon the Austrians were still heavier.

AUSTRIANS BOMBARD BELGRADE

The Austrian troops on the banks of the Danube became active soon after
war was declared. In the first few days they seized two Servian steamers
and a number of river boats. Belgrade was bombarded from across the
river and many of its public buildings, churches and private residences
suffered damage.

The hostile armies came into contact for the first time on the River
Drina, between Bosnia and Servia, and Vienna was compelled to admit
defeat in this preliminary engagement of the war. The Servians forced a
passage through the Austrian ranks, but only at the cost of many killed
and wounded.

When Crown Prince Alexander of Servia began the invasion of Bosnia
in earnest, in the middle of August, Austria found herself at a
disadvantage because of the necessity of massing most of her forces
against the Russians. Roumania and Montenegro were then preparing to
join the Servians in the field against Austria.

Later in August the Servians captured several of the enemy's strongholds
in Bosnia. After a four-day battle on the banks of the Drina the
Austrians were defeated with heavy loss, a large number of guns and
prisoners being captured by the Servians. The Montenegrin troops
repulsed an Austrian invading force and took several hundred prisoners
in an all-day battle on the frontier.

Early in September a heavy engagement was fought by the Servian and
Austrian armies near Jadar, resulting in Servian victory. It was claimed
that the Austrians left 10,000 dead on the field of battle. The Servians
also successfully defended Belgrade, which had been bombarded on several
occasions. Fifteen or twenty miles west of Belgrade on the Save River,
an Austrian force was decisively defeated by the Servians, who then
seemed to be duplicating the successes of the Russian army against
Austria.

The attitude of Turkey was being closely watched at this time, Greece
and Bulgaria being prepared to enter the war against the Ottoman Empire
if the latter decided on belligerency, but on September 5 Turkey again
declared her intention to remain neutral.

SERVIANS CAPTURE SEMLIN

Crossing the Save River into Hungary, the Servians scored a brilliant
stroke in the capture of Semlin, an important Austrian city. They also
reported continued successes in Bosnia. Reports of wholesale desertions
of Slavs from the Austrian army were received daily and probably had
considerable foundation in fact. It was said that the Servians were
being received enthusiastically by the people of Hungary.

These Servian triumphs led to the reorganization of the Balkan League,
including Servia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece.

On September 20 the Servian Government announced that an Austrian
attacking army which attempted to cross the frontier near the Sabatz
Mountains had been routed with a loss of 15,000 killed and wounded. The
Servian losses in this and other engagements were claimed to have been
small in comparison with those of the enemy.

Continuing their forward movement into Hungary, the Servians inflicted
further losses on the Austrians near Noviapazow, while the Montenegrins
reported a victory in the mountain slopes over their border.

On October 1 it was reported that the Servians had again repulsed an
Austrian attempt at invasion and had driven the Austrians back across
the Drina with loss. They had also checked another Austrian attempt
to take Belgrade. The Servian war office claimed that the combined
Servian-Montenegrin armies had made material progress in their invasion
of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and that they were within striking distance of
Serajevo, which they expected to capture. This, however, was denied by
the Vienna ministry of war, which claimed that the Servian situation was
entirely satisfactory to Austria.

On October 5 Servian troops were reported to have begun a northeast
advance from Semlin, to effect a junction with two Russian columns
advancing southward in Hungary. One of these columns was then assaulting
a fortress in Northwest Hungary, sixty-six miles southeast of Olmutz,
while the other was descending the valley of the Nagyan against Huszt
in the province of Marmaros. This latter province or county, which the
Russians invaded through the Carpathian passes, lies in the northeast of
Hungary, bordering on Galicia, Bukowina and Transylvania. There was a
legend that the eastern Carpathians are impregnable, but this legend was
destroyed by the Russian invasion.

Before attaining Uzsok pass, in the Carpathians, the Russians
successively captured by a wide flanking movement three well-masked
positions which were strongly defended by guns. Each time the Russians
char