History of the World War, Vol. 3 (2024)

E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Jennifer Zickerman,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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COMPLETE EDITION

HISTORY OF THE

VOLUME III

An Authentic Narrative of
The World's Greatest War

By FRANCIS A. MARCH, Ph.D.

In Collaboration with

RICHARD J. BEAMISH

Special War Correspondent

and Military Analyst

With an Introduction

By GENERAL PEYTON C. MARCH

Chief of Staff of the United States Army

With Exclusive Photographs by

JAMES H. HARE and DONALD THOMPSON

World-Famed War Photographers

and with Reproductions from the Official Photographs

of the United States, Canadian, British,

French and Italian Governments

MCMXIX

LESLIE-JUDGE COMPANY

NEW YORK

CONTENTS

VOLUME III

ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME III

CHAPTER I

NEUVE CHAPELLE AND WAR IN BLOOD-SOAKED TRENCHES

After the immortal stand of Joffre at the first battle of the Marne andthe sudden savage thrust at the German center which sent von Kluck andhis men reeling back in retreat to the prepared defenses along the lineof the Aisne, the war in the western theater resolved itself into a playfor position from deep intrenchments. Occasionally would come a suddenbig push by one side or the other in which artillery was massed untilhub touched hub and infantry swept to glory and death in waves of gray,or blue or khaki as the case might be. But these tremendous efforts andconsequent slaughters did not change the long battle line from the Alpsto the North Sea materially. Here and there a bulge would be made bythe terrific pressure of men and material in some great assault likethat first push of the British at Neuve Chapelle, like the German attackat Verdun or like the tremendous efforts by both sides on that bloodiestof all battlefields, the Somme.

Neuve Chapelle deserves particular mention as the test in which theBritish soldiers demonstrated their might in equal contest against theenemy. There had been a disposition in England as elsewhere up to thattime to rate the Germans as supermen, to exalt the potency of thescientific equipment with which the German army had taken the field.When the battle of Neuve Chapelle had been fought, although its losseswere heavy, there was no longer any doubt in the British nation thatvictory was only a question of time.

The action came as a pendant to the attack by General de Langle deCary's French army during February, 1915, at Perthes, that had been asteady relentless pressure by artillery and infantry upon a strongGerman position. To meet it heavy reinforcements had been shifted bythe Germans from the trenches between La Bassée and Lille. Theearthworks at Neuve Chapelle had been particularly depleted and only acomparatively small body of Saxons and Bavarians defended them. Oppositethis body was the first British army. The German intrenchments at NeuveChapelle surrounded and defended the highlands upon which were placedthe German batteries and in their turn defended the road towards Lille,Roubaix and Turcoing.

The task assigned to Sir John French was to make an assault with onlyforty-eight thousand men on a comparatively narrow front. There was onlyone practicable method for effective preparation, and this was chosen bythe British general. An artillery concentration absolutely unprecedentedup to that time was employed by him. Field pieces firing at point-blankrange were used to cut the barbed wire entanglements defending the enemyintrenchments, while howitzers and bombing airplanes were used to drophigh explosives into the defenseless earthworks.

Sir Douglas Haig, later to become the commander-in-chief of the Britishforces, was in command of the first army. Sir Horace Smith-Dorriencommanded the second army. It was the first army that bore the brunt ofthe attack.

No engagement during the years on the western front was more sudden andsurprising in its onset than that drive of the British against NeuveChapelle. At seven o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, March 10, 1915,the British artillery was lazily engaged in lobbing over a desultoryshell fire upon the German trenches. It was the usual breakfastappetizer, and nobody on the German side took any unusual notice of it.Really, however, the shelling was scientific "bracketing" of the enemy'simportant position. The gunners were making sure of their ranges.

At 7.30 range finding ended, and with a roar that shook the earth themost destructive and withering artillery action of the war up to thattime was on. Field pieces sending their shells hurtling only a few feetabove the earth tore the wire emplacements of the enemy to pieces andmade kindling wood of the supports. Howitzers sent high explosiveshells, containing lyddite, of 15-inch, 9.2-inch and 6-inch caliber intothe doomed trenches and later into the ruined village. It was eighto'clock in the morning, one-half hour after the beginning of theartillery action, that the village was bombarded. During this timeBritish soldiers were enabled to walk about in No Man's Land behind thecurtain of fire with absolute immunity. No German rifleman or machinegunner left cover. The scene on the German side of the line was likethat upon the blasted surface of the moon, pock-marked with shell holes,and with no trace of human life to be seen above ground.

An eye witness describing the scene said:

"The dawn, which broke reluctantly through a veil of clouds on themorning of Wednesday, March 10, 1915, seemed as any other to theGermans behind the white and blue sandbags in their long line oftrenches curving in a hemi-cycle about the battered village ofNeuve Chapelle. For five months they had remained undisputedmasters of the positions they had here wrested from the British inOctober. Ensconced in their comfortably-arranged trenches with buta thin outpost in their fire trenches, they had watched day succeedday and night succeed night without the least variation from themonotony of trench warfare, the intermittent bark of the machineguns—rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—and the perpetual rattle of rifle fire,with here and there a bomb, and now and then an exploded mine.

"For weeks past the German airmen had grown strangely shy. On thisWednesday morning none were aloft to spy out the strange doingswhich, as dawn broke, might have been descried on the desolateroads behind the British lines.

"From ten o'clock of the preceding evening endless files of menmarched silently down the roads leading towards the Germanpositions through Laventie and Richebourg St. Vaast, poor shatteredvillages of the dead where months of incessant bombardment havedriven away the last inhabitants and left roofless houses and rentroadways....

"Two days before, a quiet room, where Nelson's Prayer stands on themantel-shelf, saw the ripening of the plans that sent these sturdysons of Britain's four kingdoms marching all through the night. SirJohn French met the army corps commanders and unfolded to them hisplans for the offensive of the British army against the Germanline at Neuve Chapelle.

"The onslaught was to be a surprise. That was its essence. TheGermans were to be battered with artillery, then rushed before theyrecovered their wits. We had thirty-six clear hours before us. Thuslong, it was reckoned (with complete accuracy as afterwardsappeared), must elapse before the Germans, whose line before us hadbeen weakened, could rush up reinforcements. To ensure the enemy'sbeing pinned down right and left of the 'great push,' an attack wasto be delivered north and south of the main thrust simultaneouslywith the assault on Neuve Chapelle."

After describing the impatience of the British soldiers as they awaitedthe signal to open the attack, and the actual beginning of theengagement, the narrator continues:

"Then hell broke loose. With a mighty, hideous, screeching burst ofnoise, hundreds of guns spoke. The men in the front trenches weredeafened by the sharp reports of the field-guns spitting out theirshells at close range to cut through the Germans' barbed wireentanglements. In some cases the trajectory of these viciousmissiles was so flat that they passed only a few feet above theBritish trenches.

"The din was continuous. An officer who had the curious idea ofputting his ear to the ground said it was as though the earth werebeing smitten great blows with a Titan's hammer. After the firstfew shells had plunged screaming amid clouds of earth and dust intothe German trenches, a dense pall of smoke hung over the Germanlines. The sickening fumes of lyddite blew back into the Britishtrenches. In some places the troops were smothered in earth anddust or even spattered with blood from the hideous fragments ofhuman bodies that went hurtling through the air. At one point theupper half of a German officer, his cap crammed on his head, wasblown into one of our trenches.

"Words will never convey any adequate idea of the horror of thosefive and thirty minutes. When the hands of officers' watchespointed to five minutes past eight, whistles resounded along theBritish lines. At the same moment the shells began to burst fartherahead, for, by previous arrangement, the gunners, lengthening theirfuses, were 'lifting' on to the village of Neuve Chapelle so as toleave the road open for our infantry to rush in and finish what theguns had begun.

"The shells were now falling thick among the houses of NeuveChapelle, a confused mass of buildings seen reddish through thepillars of smoke and flying earth and dust. At the sound of thewhistle—alas for the bugle, once the herald of victory, nowbanished from the fray!—our men scrambled out of the trenches andhurried higgledy-piggledy into the open. Their officers were infront. Many, wearing overcoats and carrying rifles with fixedbayonets, closely resembled their men.

"It was from the center of our attacking line that the assault waspressed home soonest. The guns had done their work well. Thetrenches were blown to irrecognizable pits dotted with dead. Thebarbed wire had been cut like so much twine. Starting from theRue Tilleloy the Lincolns and the Berkshires were off the markfirst, with orders to swerve to right and left respectively as soonas they had captured the first line of trenches, in order to letthe Royal Irish Rifles and the Rifle Brigade through to thevillage. The Germans left alive in the trenches, half demented withfright, surrounded by a welter of dead and dying men, mostlysurrendered. The Berkshires were opposed with the utmost gallantryby two German officers who had remained alone in a trench serving amachine gun. But the lads from Berkshire made their way into thattrench and bayoneted the Germans where they stood, fighting to thelast. The Lincolns, against desperate resistance, eventuallyoccupied their section of the trench and then waited for theIrishmen and the Rifle Brigade to come and take the village aheadof them. Meanwhile the second Thirty-ninth Garhwalis on the righthad taken their trenches with a rush and were away towards thevillage and the Biez Wood.

"Things had moved so fast that by the time the troops were readyto advance against the village the artillery had not finished itswork. So, while the Lincolns and the Berks assembled the prisonerswho were trooping out of the trenches in all directions, theinfantry on whom devolved the honor of capturing the village,waited. One saw them standing out in the open, laughing andcracking jokes amid the terrific din made by the huge howitzershells screeching overhead and bursting in the village, the rattleof machine guns all along the line, and the popping of rifles. Overto the right where the Garhwalis had been working with the bayonet,men were shouting hoarsely and wounded were groaning as thestretcher-bearers, all heedless of bullets, moved swiftly to andfro over the shell-torn ground.

"There was bloody work in the village of Neuve Chapelle. Thecapture of a place at the Bayonet point is generally a grimbusiness, in which instant, unconditional surrender is the onlymeans by which bloodshed, a deal of bloodshed, can be prevented. Ifthere is individual resistance here and there the attackingtroops cannot discriminate. They must go through, slaying as theygo such as oppose them (the Germans have a monopoly of thefinishing-off of wounded men), otherwise the enemy's resistancewould not be broken, and the assailants would be sniped andenfiladed from hastily prepared strongholds at half a dozendifferent points.

"The village was a sight that the men say they will never forget.It looked as if an earthquake had struck it. The publishedphotographs do not give any idea of the indescribable mass of ruinsto which our guns reduced it. The chaos is so utter that the veryline of the streets is all but obliterated.

"It was indeed a scene of desolation into which the RifleBrigade—the first regiment to enter the village, I believe—racedheadlong. Of the church only the bare shell remained, the interiorlost to view beneath a gigantic mound of débris. The littlechurchyard was devastated, the very dead plucked from their graves,broken coffins and ancient bones scattered about amid the fresherdead, the slain of that morning—gray-green forms asprawl athwartthe tombs. Of all that once fair village but two things remainedintact—two great crucifixes reared aloft, one in the churchyard,the other over against the château. From the cross, that is theemblem of our faith, the figure of Christ, yet intact though allpitted with bullet marks, looked down in mute agony on the slain inthe village.

"The din and confusion were indescribable. Through the thick pallof shell smoke Germans were seen on all sides, some emerging halfdazed from cellars and dugouts, their hands above their heads,others dodging round the shattered houses, others firing from thewindows, from behind carts, even from behind the overturnedtombstones. Machine guns were firing from the houses on theoutskirts, rapping out their nerve-racking note above the noise ofthe rifles.

"Just outside the village there was a scene of tremendousenthusiasm. The Rifle Brigade, smeared with dust and blood, fell inwith the Third Gurkhas with whom they had been brigaded in India.The little brown men were dirty but radiant. Kukri in hand they hadvery thoroughly gone through some houses at the cross-roads on theRue du Bois and silenced a party of Germans who were makingthemselves a nuisance there with some machine guns. Riflemen andGurkhas cheered themselves hoarse."

Unfortunately for the complete success of the brilliant attack a greatdelay was caused by the failure of the artillery that was to havecleared the barbed wire entanglements for the Twenty-third Brigade, andbecause of the unlooked for destruction of the British field telephonesystem by shell and rifle fire. The check of the Twenty-third Brigadebanked other commands back of it, and the Twenty-fifth Brigade wasobliged to fight at right angles to the line of battle. The Germansquickly rallied at these points, and took a terrific toll in Britishlives. Particularly was this true at three specially strong Germanpositions. One called Port Arthur by the British, another at PietreMill and the third was the fortified bridge over Des Layes Creek.

Because of the lack of telephone communication it was impossible to sendreinforcements to the troops that had been held up by barbed wire andother emplacements and upon which German machine guns were pouring asteady stream of death.

As the Twenty-third Brigade had been held up by unbroken barbed wirenorthwest of Neuve Chapelle, so the Seventh Division of the Fourth Corpswas also checked in its action against the ridge of Aubers on the leftof Neuve Chapelle. Under the plan of Sir Douglas Haig the SeventhDivision was to have waited until the Eighth Division had reached NeuveChapelle, when it was to charge through Aubers. With the tragic mistakethat cost the Twenty-third Brigade so dearly, the plan affecting theSeventh Division went awry. The German artillery, observing theconcentration of the Seventh Division opposite Aubers, opened a vigorousfire upon that front. During the afternoon General Haig ordered acharge upon the German positions. The advance was made in short rushesin the face of a fire that seemed to blaze from an inferno. Inch by inchthe ground was drenched with British blood. At 5.30 in the afternoon themen dug themselves in under the relentless German fire. Further advancebecame impossible.

The night was one of horror. Every minute the men were under heavybombardment. At dawn on March 11th the dauntless British infantry rushedfrom the trenches in an effort to carry Aubers, but the enemy artillerynow greatly reinforced made that task an impossible one. The trenchesoccupied by the British forces were consolidated and the salient made bythe push was held by the British with bulldog tenacity.

The number of men employed in the action on the British side wasforty-eight thousand. During the early surprise of the action the losswas slight. Had the wire in front of the Twenty-third Brigade been cutby the artillery assigned to such action, and had the telephone systemnot been destroyed the success of the thrust would have been complete.The delay of four and a half hours between the first and second phasesof the attack caused virtually all the losses sustained by the attackingforce. The total casualties were 12,811 men of the British forces. Ofthese 1,751 officers and privates were taken prisoners and 10,000officers and men were killed and wounded.

The action continued throughout Thursday, March 11th, with little changein the general situation. The British still held Neuve Chapelle andtheir intrenchments threatened Aubers. On Friday morning, March 12th,the Crown Prince of Bavaria made a desperate attempt under cover of aheavy fog to recapture the village. The effort was made incharacteristic German dense formations. The Westphalian and Bavariantroops came out of Biez Wood in waves of gray-green, only to be blown topieces by British guns already loaded and laid on the mark. Elsewherethe British waited until the Germans were scarcely more than fifty pacesaway when they opened with deadly rapid fire before which the Germanwaves melted like snow before steam. It was such slaughter as theBritish had experienced when held up before Aubers. Slaughter thatstaggered Germany.

So ended Neuve Chapelle, a battle in which the decision rested with theBritish, a victory for which a fearful price had been paid but out ofwhich came a confidence that was to hearten the British nation and toput sinews of steel into the British army for the dread days to come.

The story of Neuve Chapelle was repeated in large and in miniature manytimes during the deadlock of trench warfare on the western front untilvictory finally came to the Allies. During those years the westernbattle front lay like a wounded snake across France and Belgium. Itwrithed and twisted, now this way, now that, as one side or the othergambled with men and shells and airplanes for some brief advantage. Itbent back in a great bulge when von Hindenburg made his famous retreatin the winter of 1916 after the Allies had pressed heavily against theTeutonic front upon the ghastly field of the Somme. The record is one ofgreat value to military strategists, to the layman it is only asuccession of artillery barrages, of gas attacks, of aerialreconnaissances and combats.

One day grew to be very much like another in that deadlock of pythons. Aplay for position here was met by a counter-thrust in another place.German inventions were out-matched and outnumbered by those coming fromthe Allied side.

Trench warfare became the daily life of the men. They learned to fightand live in the open. The power of human adaptation to abnormalconditions was never better exemplified than in those weary, drearyyears on the western front.

The fighting-lines consisted generally of one, two, or three lines ofshelter-trenches lying parallel, measuring twenty or twenty-five inchesin width, and varying in length according to the number they hold; thetrenches were joined together by zigzag approaches and by a line ofreinforced trenches (armed with machine guns), which were almostcompletely proof against rifle, machine gun, or gun fire. The ordinaryGerman trenches were almost invisible from 350 yards away, a distancewhich permitted a very deadly fire. It is easy to realize that if theenemy occupied three successive lines and a line of reinforcedintrenchments, the attacking line was likely, at the lowest estimate, tobe decimated during an advance of 350 yards—by rifle fire at a range of350 yards' distance, and by the extremely quick fire of the machineguns, each of which delivered from 300 to 600 bullets a minute withabsolute precision. In the field-trench, a soldier enjoyed far greatersecurity than he would if merely prone behind his knapsack in anexcavation barely fifteen inches deep. He had merely to stoop down alittle to disappear below the level of the ground and be immune frominfantry fire; moreover, his machine guns fired without endangering him.In addition, this stooping position brought the man's knapsack on alevel with his helmet, thus forming some protection against shrapneland shell-splinters.

At the back of the German trenches shelters were dug fornon-commissioned officers and for the commander of the unit.

Ever since the outbreak of the war, the French troops in Lorraine, aftersevere experiences, realized rapidly the advantages of the Germantrenches, and began to study those they had taken gloriously. Officers,non-commissioned officers, and men of the engineers were straightwaydetached in every unit to teach the infantry how to construct similarshelters. The education was quick, and very soon they had completed thework necessary for the protection of all. The tools of the enemy"casualties," the spades and picks left behind in deserted villages,were all gladly piled on to the French soldiers' knapsacks, to becarried willingly by the very men who used to grumble at being loadedwith even the smallest regulation tool. As soon as night had set in onthe occasion of a lull in the fighting, the digging of the trenches wasbegun. Sometimes, in the darkness, the men of each fightingnation—less than 500 yards away from their enemy—would hear the noiseof the workers of the foe: the sounds of picks and axes; the officers'words of encouragement; and tacitly they would agree to an armisticeduring which to dig shelters from which, in the morning, they would dashout, to fight once more.

Commodious, indeed, were some of the trench barracks. One French soldierwrote:

"In really up-to-date intrenchments you may find kitchens,dining-rooms, bedrooms, and even stables. One regiment has firstclass cow-sheds. One day a whimsical 'piou-piou,' finding a cowwandering about in the danger zone, had the bright idea of findingshelter for it in the trenches. The example was quickly followed,and at this moment the ——th Infantry possess an underground farm,in which fat kine, well cared for, give such quantities of milkthat regular distributions of butter are being made—and very goodbutter, too."

But this is not all. An officer writes home a tale of yet another oneof the comforts of home added to the equipment of the trenches:

"We are clean people here. Thanks to the ingenuity of ——, we areable to take a warm bath every day from ten to twelve. We call thisteasing the 'boches,' for this bathing-establishment of the latesttype is fitted up—would you believe it?—in the trenches!"

Describing trenches occupied by the British in their protracted"siege-warfare" in Northern France along and to the north of the AisneValley, a British officer wrote: "In the firing-line the men sleep andobtain shelter in the dugouts they have hollowed or 'undercut' in theside of the trenches. These refuges are slightly raised above the bottomof the trench, so as to remain dry in wet weather. The floor of thetrench is also sloped for purposes of draining. Some trenches areprovided with head-cover, and others with overhead cover, the latter, ofcourse, giving protection from the weather as well as from shrapnelballs and splinters of shells.... At all points subject to shell-fireaccess to the firing-line from behind is provided bycommunication-trenches. These are now so good that it is possible tocross in safety the fire-swept zone to the advanced trenches from thebillets in villages, the bivouacs in quarries, or the other places wherethe headquarters of units happen to be."

A cavalry subaltern gave the following account of life in the trenches:"Picnicking in the open air, day and night (you never see a roof now),is the only real method of existence. There are loads of straw to beddown on, and everyone sleeps like a log, in turn, even with shrapnelbursting within fifty yards."

One English officer described the ravages of modern artillery fire, notonly upon all men, animals and buildings within its zone, but upon thevery face of nature itself: "In the trenches crouch lines of men, inbrown or gray or blue, coated with mud, unshaven, hollow-eyed with thecontinual strain."

"The fighting is now taking place over ground where both sides have forweeks past been excavating in all directions," said another letter fromthe front, "until it has become a perfect labyrinth. A trench runsstraight for a considerable distance, then it suddenly forks in three orfour directions. One branch merely leads into a ditch full of water,used in drier weather as a means of communication; another ends abruptlyin a cul-de-sac, probably an abandoned sap-head; the third winds on,leading into galleries and passages further forward.

"Sometimes where new ground is broken the spade turns up thelong-buried dead, ghastly relics of former fights, and on all sidesthe surface of the earth is ploughed and furrowed by fragments ofshell and bombs and distorted by mines. Seen from a distance, thisapparently confused mass of passages, crossing and recrossing oneanother, resembles an irregular gridiron.
"The life led by the infantry on both sides at close quarters is astrange, cramped existence, with death always near, either by meansof some missile from above or some mine explosion from beneath—alife which has one dull, monotonous background of mud and water.Even when there is but little fighting the troops are kept hard atwork strengthening the existing defenses, constructing others, andimprovising the shelter imperative in such weather."

CHAPTER II

ITALY DECLARES WAR ON AUSTRIA

For many years before the great war began the great powers of Europewere divided into two great alliances, the Triple Entente, composed ofRussia, France and England, and the Triple Alliance, composed ofGermany, Austria and Italy. When the war began Italy refused to joinwith Germany and Austria. Why? The answer to this question throws avivid light on the origin of the war.

Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance; she knew the facts, not onlywhat was given to the public, but the inside facts. According to theterms of the alliance each member was bound to stand by each other onlyin case of attack. Italy refused to join with Austria and Germanybecause they were the aggressors. The constant assertions of the Germanstatesmen, and of the Kaiser himself, that war had been forced uponthem were declared untrue by their associate Italy in the verybeginning, and the verdict of Italy was the verdict of the world. Notmuch was said in the beginning about Italy's abstention from war. TheGermans, indeed, sneered a little and hinted that some day Italy wouldbe made to regret her course, but now that the Teuton snake is scotchedthe importance of Italy's action has been perceived and appraised at itstrue value.

The Germans from the very beginning understood the real danger thatmight come to the Central Powers through Italian action. Every effortwas made by the foreign office to keep her neutral. First threats wereused, later promises were held out of addition to Italian territory ifshe would send her troops to Germany's assistance. When this failed themost strenuous efforts were made to keep Italy neutral, and a formerGerman premier, Prince von Bülow, was sent to Italy for this purpose.Socialist leaders, too, were sent from Germany to urge the ItalianSocialists to insist upon neutrality.

In July, 1914, the Italian Government was not taken by surprise. Theyhad observed the increase year by year of the German army and of theGerman fleet. At the end of the Balkan wars they had been asked whetherthey would agree to an Austrian attack upon Serbia. They hadconsequently long been deliberating as to what their course should be incase of war, and they had made up their minds that under nocirc*mstances would they aid Germany against England.

Quite independently of her long-standing friendship with England itwould be suicide to Italy in her geographical position to enter a warwhich should permit her coast to be attacked by the English and Frenchnavies, and her participation in the Triple Alliance always carried theproviso that it did not bind her to fight England. This was well knownin the German foreign office, and, indeed, in France where the writersupon war were reckoning confidently on the withdrawing of Italy from theTriple Alliance, and planning to use the entire forces of France againstGermany.

A better understanding of the Italian position will result from aconsideration of the origin of the Triple Alliance.

After the war of 1870, Bismarck, perceiving the quick recovery ofFrance, considered the advisability of attacking her again, and, to usehis own words, "bleeding her white." He found, however, that if thiswere attempted France would be joined by Russia and England and he gaveup this plan. In order, however, to render France powerless he plannedan alliance which should be able to control Europe. A league betweenGermany, Austria and Russia was his desire, and for some time everyopportunity was taken to develop friendship with the Czar. Russia,however, remained cool. Her Pan-Slavonic sympathies were opposed to theinterests of Germany. Bismarck, therefore, determined, without losingthe friendship of Russia, to persuade Italy to join in the continentalcombination. Italy, at the time, was the least formidable of the sixgreat powers, but Bismarck foresaw that she could be made good use ofin such a combination.

At that time Italy, just after the completion of Italian unity, foundherself in great perplexity. Her treatment of the Pope had brought aboutthe hostility of Roman Catholics throughout the world. She feared bothFrance and Austria, who were strong Catholic countries, and hardly knewwhere to look for friends. The great Italian leader at the time wasFrancesco Crispi, who, beginning as a Radical and a conspirator, hadbecome a constitutional statesman. Bismarck professed the greatestfriendship for Crispi, and gave Crispi to understand that he approved ofItaly's aspirations on the Adriatic and in Tunis.

The next year, however, at the Berlin Congress, Italy's interests wereignored, and finally, in 1882, France seized Tunis, to the greatindignation of the Italians. It has been shown in more recent times thatthe French seizure of Tunis was directly due to Bismarck's instigation.

The Italians having been roused to wrath, Bismarck proceeded to offerthem a place in the councils of the Triple Alliance. It was an easyargument that such an alliance would protect them against France, and nodoubt it was promised that it would free them from the danger of attackby Austria. England, at the time, was isolated, and Italy continued onthe best understanding with her.

The immediate result of the alliance was a growth of Italian hostilitytoward France, which led, in 1889, to a tariff war on France. MeanwhileGerman commercial and financial enterprises were pushed throughout theItalian peninsula. What did Italy gain by this? Her commerce wasweakened, and Austria permitted herself every possible unfriendly actexcept open war.

As time went on Germany and Austria became more and more arrogant.Italy's ambitions on the Balkan peninsula were absolutely ignored. In1908 Austria appropriated Bosnia and Herzegovina, another blow to Italy.By this time Italy understood the situation well, and that same year,seeing no future for herself in Europe, she swooped down on Tripoli. Indoing this she forestalled Germany herself, for Germany had determinedto seize Tripoli.

How the Powers Divided Northern Africa

Both Germany and Austria were opposed to this action of Italy, butItaly's eyes were now open. Thirty years of political alliance hadcreated no sympathy among the Italians for the Germans. Moreover, it wasnot entirely a question of policy. The lordly arrogance of thePrussians caused sharp antagonism. The Italians were lovers of liberty;the Germans pledged toward autocracy. They found greater sympathy inEngland and in France.

"I am a son of liberty," said Cavour, "to her I owe all that I am."That, too, is Italy's motto. When the war broke out popular sympathy inItaly was therefore strongly in favor of the Allies. The party in power,the Liberals, adopted the policy of neutrality for the time being, butthousands of Italians volunteered for the French and British service,and the anti-German feeling grew greater as time went on.

Finally, on the 23rd of May, 1915, the Italian Government withdrew itsambassador to Austria and declared war. A complete statement of thenegotiations between Italy and Austria-Hungary, which led to thisdeclaration, was delivered to the Government of the United States by theItalian Ambassador on May 25th. This statement, of which the followingis an extract, lucidly presented the Italian position:

"The Triple Alliance was essentially defensive, and designed solelyto preserve the status quo, or in other words equilibrium, inEurope. That these were its only objects and purposes isestablished by the letter and spirit of the treaty, as well as bythe intentions clearly described and set forth in official acts ofthe ministers who created the alliance and confirmed and renewed itin the interests of peace, which always has inspired Italianpolicy. The treaty, as long as its intents and purposes had beenloyally interpreted and regarded, and as long as it had not beenused as a pretext for aggression against others, greatlycontributed to the elimination and settlement of causes ofconflict, and for many years assured to Europe the inestimablebenefits of peace. But Austria-Hungary severed the treaty by herown hands. She rejected the response of Serbia which gave to herall the satisfaction she could legitimately claim. She refused tolisten to the conciliatory proposals presented by Italy inconjunction with other powers in the effort to spare Europe from avast conflict, certain to drench the Continent with blood and toreduce it to ruin beyond the conception of human imagination, andfinally she provoked that conflict.

"Article first of the treaty embodied the usual and necessaryobligation of such pacts—the pledge to exchange views upon anyfact and economic questions of a general nature that might arisepursuant to its terms. None of the contracting parties had theright to undertake without a previous agreement any step theconsequence of which might impose a duty upon the other signatoriesarising under the alliance, or which would in any way whatsoeverencroach upon their vital interests. This article was violated byAustria-Hungary, when she sent to Serbia her note dated July 23,1914, an action taken without the previous assent of Italy. Thus,Austria-Hungary violated beyond doubt one of the fundamentalprovisions of the treaty. The obligation of Austria-Hungary to cometo a previous understanding with Italy was the greater because herobstinate policy against Serbia gave rise to a situation whichdirectly tended toward the provocation of a European war.

"As far back as the beginning of July, 1914, the ItalianGovernment, preoccupied by the prevailing feeling in Vienna, causedto be laid before the Austro-Hungarian Government a number ofsuggestions advising moderation, and warning it of the impendingdanger of a European outbreak. The course adopted byAustria-Hungary against Serbia constituted, moreover, a directencroachment upon the general interests of Italy both political andeconomical in the Balkan peninsula. Austria-Hungary could not for amoment imagine that Italy could remain indifferent while Serbianindependence was being trodden upon. On a number of occasionstheretofore, Italy gave Austria to understand, in friendly butclear terms, that the independence of Serbia was considered byItaly as essential to the Balkan equilibrium. Austria-Hungary wasfurther advised that Italy could never permit that equilibrium tobe disturbed through a prejudice. This warning had been conveyednot only by her diplomats in private conversations withresponsible Austro-Hungarian officials, but was proclaimed publiclyby Italian statesmen on the floors of Parliament.

"Therefore, when Austria-Hungary ignored the usual practices andmenaced Serbia by sending her ultimatum, without in any waynotifying the Italian Government of what she proposed to do, indeedleaving that government to learn of her action through the press,rather than through the usual channels of diplomacy, whenAustria-Hungary took this unprecedented course she not only severedher alliance with Italy but committed an act inimical to Italy'sinterests....

"After the European war broke out Italy sought to come to anunderstanding with Austria-Hungary with a view to a settlementsatisfactory to both parties which might avert existing and futuretrouble. Her efforts were in vain, notwithstanding the efforts ofGermany, which for months endeavored to induce Austria-Hungary tocomply with Italy's suggestion thereby recognizing the proprietyand legitimacy of the Italian attitude. Therefore Italy foundherself compelled by the force of events to seek other solutions.

"Inasmuch as the treaty of alliance with Austria-Hungary had ceasedvirtually to exist and served only to prolong a state of continualfriction and mutual suspicion, the Italian Ambassador at Vienna wasinstructed to declare to the Austro-Hungarian Government that theItalian Government considered itself free from the ties arising outof the treaty of the Triple Alliance in so far as Austria-Hungarywas concerned. This communication was delivered in Vienna on May4th.

"Subsequently to this declaration, and after we had been obliged totake steps for the protection of our interests, theAustro-Hungarian Government submitted new concessions, which,however, were deemed insufficient and by no means met our minimumdemands. These offers could not be considered under thecirc*mstances. The Italian Government taking into considerationwhat has been stated above, and supported by the vote of Parliamentand the solemn manifestation of the country came to the decisionthat any further delay would be inadvisable. Therefore, on May 23d,it was declared, in the name of the King, to the Austro-HungarianAmbassador at Rome, that, beginning the following day, May 24th, itwould consider itself in a state of war with Austria-Hungary."

It was a closely reasoned argument that the Italian statesmen presented,but there was something more than reasoned argument in Italy's course.She had been waiting for years for the opportunity to bring under herflag the men of her own race still held in subjection by hated Austria.Now was the time or never. Her people had become roused. Mobs filled thestreets. Great orators, even the great poet, D'Annunzio, proclaimed aholy war. The sinking of the Lusitania poured oil on the flames, and thetreatment of Belgium and eastern France added to the fury.

Italian statesmen, even if they had so desired, could not have withstoodthe pressure. It was a crusade for Italia Irredenta, forcivilization, for humanity. The country had been flooded byrepresentatives of German propaganda, papers had been hired and, by allreport, money in large amounts distributed. But every German effort wasswept away in the flood of feeling. It was the people's war.

Amid tremendous enthusiasm the Chamber of Deputies adopted by vote of407 to 74 the bill conferring upon the government full power to makewar. All members of the Cabinet maintained absolute silence regardingwhat step should follow the action of the chamber. When the chamberreassembled on May 20th, after its long recess, there were present 482Deputies out of 500, the absentees remaining away on account of illness.The Deputies especially applauded were those who wore military uniformsand who had asked permission for leave from their military duties to bepresent at the sitting. All the tribunes were filled to overflowing. Norepresentatives of Germany, Austria or Turkey were to be seen in thediplomatic tribune. The first envoy to arrive was Thomas Nelson Page,the American Ambassador, who was accompanied by his staff. M. Barrere,Sir J. Bennell Rodd, and Michel de Giers, the French, British andRussian Ambassadors, respectively, appeared a few minutes later and allwere greeted with applause, which was shared by the Belgian, Greek andRoumanian ministers. George B. McClellan, one-time mayor of New York,occupied a seat in the President's tribune.

A few minutes before the session began the poet, Gabrielle D'Annunzio,one of the strongest advocates of war, appeared in the rear of thepublic tribune which was so crowded that it seemed impossible to squeezein anybody else. But the moment the people saw him they lifted himshoulder high and passed him over their heads to the first row.

The entire chamber, and all those occupying the other tribunes, rose andapplauded for five minutes, crying "Viva D'Annunzio!" Later thousandssent him their cards and in return received his autograph bearing thedate of this eventful day. Señor Marcora, President of the Chamber,took his place at three o'clock. All the members of the House, andeverybody in the galleries, stood up to acclaim the old follower ofGaribaldi. Premier Salandra, followed by all the members of the Cabinet,entered shortly afterward. It was a solemn moment. Then a delirium ofcries broke out.

"Viva Salandra!" roared the Deputies, and the cheering lasted for a longtime. After the formalities of the opening, Premier Salandra, deeplymoved by the demonstration, arose and said:

"Gentlemen, I have the honor to present to you a bill to meet theeventual expenditures of a national war."

The announcement was greeted by further prolonged applause. ThePremier's speech was continually interrupted by enthusiasm, and at timeshe could hardly continue on account of the wild cheering. The climax wasreached when he made a reference to the army and navy. Then the criesseemed interminable, and those on the floor of the House and in thegalleries turned to the military tribune from which the officersanswered by waving their hands and handkerchiefs.

At the end of the Premier's speech there were deafening vivas for theKing, war and Italy. Thirty-four Socialists refused to join the cheers,even in the cry "Viva Italia!" and they were hooted and hissed.

The action of the Italian Government created intense feeling. Anewspaper man in Vienna, describing the Austrian indignation, said:

"The exasperation and contempt which Italy's treacherous surprise attackand her hypocritical justification aroused here, are quiteindescribable. Neither Serbia nor Russia, despite a long and costly war,is hated. Italy, however, or rather those Italian would-be politiciansand business men who offer violence to the majority of peaceful Italianpeople, are unutterably hated." On the other hand German papers spokewith much more moderation and recognized that Italy was acting in anentirely natural manner.

On the very day on which war was declared active operations were begun.Both sides had been making elaborate preparations. Austria had preparedherself by building strong fortifications in which were employed thelatest technical improvements in defensive warfare. Upon the Garso andaround Gorizia the Austrians had placed innumerable batteries ofpowerful guns mounted on rails and protected by armor plates. They alsohad a great number of medium and smaller guns. A net of trenches hadbeen excavated and constructed in cement all along the edge of the hillswhich dominated the course of the Isonzo River.

These trenches, occupying a position nearly impregnable because somountainous, were defended by every modern device. They were protectedwith numerous machine guns, surrounded by wire entanglements throughwhich ran a strong electric current. These lines of trenches followedwithout interruption from the banks of the Isonzo to the summit of themountains which dominate it; they formed a kind of formidable staircasewhich had to be conquered step by step with enormous sacrifice.

During this same period General Cadorna, then head of the Italian army,had been bringing that army up to date, working for high efficiency andpiling up munitions.

The Army of Italy was a formidable one. Every man in Italy is liable tomilitary service for a period of nineteen years from the age of twentyto thirty-nine.

At the time of the war the approximate war strength of the army was asfollows: Officers, 41,692; active army with the colors, 289,910;reserve, 638,979; mobile militia, 299,956; territorial militia,1,889,659; total strength, 3,159,836. The above number of total menavailable included upward of 1,200,000 fully trained soldiers, withperhaps another 800,000 partially trained men, the remaining millionbeing completely untrained men. This army was splendidly armed, itsofficers well educated, and the men brave and disciplined.

The Italian plan of campaign apparently consisted first, in neutralizingthe Trentino by capturing or covering the defenses and cutting the twolines of communication with Austria proper, the railway which ran southfrom Insbruck, and that which ran southwest from Vienna and joined theformer at Fransensfets; and second, in a movement in force on theeastern frontier, with Trieste captured or covered on the right flank inthe direction of the Austrian fortress at Klagenfurt and Vienna.

The first blow was struck by Austria on the day that war was declared.On that day bombs were dropped on Venice, and five other Adriatic portswere shelled from air, and some from sea. The Italian armies invadedAustria on the east with great rapidity, and by May 27th a part of theItalian forces had moved across the Isonzo River to Monfalcone, sixteenmiles northwest of Trieste. Another force penetrated further to thenorth in the Crown land of Gorizia, and Gradisco. Reports from Italywere that encounters with the enemy had thus far been merely outpostskirmishes, but had allowed Italy to occupy advantageous positions onAustrian territory. By June 1st, the Italians had occupied the greaterpart of the west bank of the Isonzo, with little opposition. The leftwing was beyond the Isonzo, at Caporetto, fighting among the boulders ofMonte Nero, where the Austrian artillery had strong positions.Monfalcone was kept under constant bombardment.

A general Italian advance took place on June 7th across the Isonzo Riverfrom Caporetto to the sea, a distance of about forty miles. Monfalconewas taken by the Italians on June the 10th, the first serious blowagainst Trieste, as Monfalcone was a railway junction, and itselectrical works operated the light and power of Trieste.

Next day the center made a great blow against Gradisca and Sagrado, butthe river line proved too strong. The only success was won that night atPlava, north of Borrigia, which was carried by a surprise attack. TheIsonzo was in flood, and presented a serious obstacle to the onrush ofthe Italians. By June 14th the Italian eastern army had pushed forwardalong the gulf of Trieste toward the town of Nebrosina, nine miles fromTrieste.

Meanwhile, the Austrian armies were being constantly strengthened. Theinitial weakness of the Austrian defensive was due to the fact that thearmies normally assigned to the invaded region had been sent to defendthe Austrian line in Galicia against the Russians. When Italy began herinvasion the defenses of the country were chiefly in the hands ofhastily mobilized youths below the military age of nineteen, and menabove the military age of forty-two. From now on Austrian troops beganto arrive from the Galician front, some of these representing the finestfighting material in the Austrian ranks. The chance of an easy victorywas slipping from Italy's hands. The Italian advance was checked.

On the 15th of June the Italians carried an important position on MonteNero, climbing the rocks by night and attacking by dawn. But thisconquest did not help much. No guns of great caliber could be carried onthe mountain, and Tolmino, which had been heavily fortified, andcontained a garrison of some thirty thousand men, was entirely safe.The following week there were repeated counter-attacks at Plava and onMonte Nero, but the Italians held what they had won.

The position was now that Cadorna's left wing was in a strong position,but could not do much against Tolmino. His center was facing the greatcamp of Gorizia, while his right was on the edge of the Carso, and hadadvanced as far as Dueno, on the Monfalcone-Trieste Railroad. The armywas in position to make an attack upon Gorizia. On the 2d of July anattack on a broad front was aimed directly at Gorizia. The left was toswing around against the defenses of Gorizia to the north; the centerwas directed against the Gorizia bridge head, and the right was to swingaround to the northeast through the Doberdo plateau. If it succeeded theTrieste railway would be cut and Gorizia must fall.

Long and confused fighting followed. The center and the right of theItalian army slowly advanced their line, taking over one thousandprisoners. For days there was continuous bombardment andcounter-bombardment. The fighting on the left was terrific. In theneighborhood of Plava the Italian forces found themselves opposed byHungarian troops, unaccustomed to mountain warfare, who at first fellback. Austrian reserves came to their aid, and flung back three timesthe Italian charge.

Three new Italian brigades were brought up, and King Victor Emanuelhimself came to encourage his troops. The final assault carried theheights. On the 22d of July the Italian right captured the crest of SanMichele, which dominates the Doberdo plateau.

Meanwhile the Austrian armies were being heavily reinforced, and GeneralCadorna found himself unable to make progress. Much ground had been wonbut Gorizia was still unredeemed. Many important vantage points were inItalian hands, but it was difficult to advance. The result of the threemonths' campaign was a stalemate. In the high mountains to the northItaly's campaign was a war of defense. To undertake her offensive on theIsonzo it was necessary that she guard her flanks and rear. TheTyrolese battle-ground contained three distinct points where it wasnecessary to operate; the Trentino Salient, the passes of the Dolomites,and the passes of the Carnic Alps.

Early in June Italy had won control of the ridges of the mountains inthe two latter points, but the problem in the Trentino was moredifficult. It was necessary, because of the converging valleys, to pushher front well inland. On the Carnic Alps the fighting consisted ofunimportant skirmishes. The main struggle centered around the pass ofMonte Croce Carnico.

In two weeks the Alpini had seized dominating positions to the west ofthe pass, but the Austrians clung to the farther slopes. A great deal ofpicturesque fighting went on, but not much progress was made. Furtherwest in the Dolomite region there was more fighting. On the 30th of MayCartina had been captured, and the Italians moved north toward thePusterthal Railway. Progress was slow, as the main routes to the railwaywere difficult.

By the middle of August they were only a few miles from the railway,but all the routes led through defiles, and the neighboring heights werein the possession of the Austrians. To capture these heights was a mostdifficult feat, which the Italians performed in the most brilliant way;but even after they had passed these defiles success was not yet won.Each Italian column was in its own grove, with no lateral communication.The Austrians could mass themselves where they pleased. As a result theItalian forces were compelled to halt.

In the Trentino campaign the Italians soon captured the passes, andmoved against Trente and Roverito. These towns were heavily fortified,as were their surrounding heights. The campaign became a series of smallfights on mountain peaks and mountain ridges. Only small bodies oftroops could maneuver, and the raising of guns up steep precipices wasextremely difficult. The Italians slowly succeeded in gaining ground,and established a chain of posts around the heights so that often onewould see guns and barbed wire entrenchments at a height of more thanten thousand feet among the crevasses of the glaciers. The Alpiniperformed wonderful feats of physical endurance, but the plains ofLombardy were still safe.

CHAPTER III

GLORIOUS GALLIPOLI

If ever the true mettle and temper of a people were tried andexemplified in the crucible of battle, that battle was the naval andland engagement embracing Gallipoli and the Dardanelles and the peopleso tested, the British race. Separated in point of time but united inits general plan, the engagements present a picture of heroism foundedupon strategic mistakes; of such perseverance and dogged determinationagainst overwhelming natural and artificial odds as even the pages ofsupreme British bravery cannot parallel. The immortal charge of theLight Brigade was of a piece with Gallipoli, but it was merely a battlefragment and its glorious record was written in blood within the scopeof a comparatively few inspired minutes. In the mine-strewn Dardanellesand upon the sun-baked, blood-drenched rocky slopes of Gallipoli, deathalways partnered every sailor and soldier. As at Balaklava, virtuallyeveryone knew that some one had blundered, but the army and the navy asone man fought to the bitter end to make the best of a bad bargain, totear triumph out of impossibilities.

France co-operated with the British in the naval engagement, but thegreater sacrifice, the supreme charnel house of the war, the Britishrace reserved for itself. There, the yeomanry of England, the unsungcounty regiments whose sacrifices and achievements have been neglectedin England's generous desire to honor the men from "down under," theAustralians and New Zealanders grouped under the imperishable title ofthe Anzacs—there the Scotch, Welsh and Irish knit in one devotedBritish Army with the great fighters from the self-governing colonieswaged a battle so hopeless and so gallant that the word Gallipoli shallalways remind the world how man may triumph over the fear of death; howwith nothing but defeat and disaster before them, men may go to theirdeaths as unconcernedly as in other days they go to their nightly sleep.

On November 5, 1914, Great Britain declared war upon Turkey.Hostilities, however, had preceded the declaration. On November 3d thecombined French and British squadrons had bombarded the entrance forts.This was merely intended to draw the fire of the forts and make anestimate of their power. From that time on a blockade was maintained,and on the 13th of December a submarine, commanded by LieutenantHolbrook, entered the straits and torpedoed the Turkish warshipMessoudieh, which was guarding the mine fields.

By the end of January the blockading fleet, through constantreinforcement, had become very strong, and had seized the Island ofTenedos and taken possession of Lemnos, which nominally belonged toGreece, as bases for naval operations. On the 19th of February began thegreat attack upon the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles, whichattracted the attention of the world for nearly a year.

The expedition against the Dardanelles had been considered with thegreatest care, and approved by the naval authorities. That theirjudgment was correct, however, is another question. The history of navalwarfare seems to make very plain that a ship, however powerful, is at atremendous disadvantage when attacking forts on land. The badly servedcannon of Alexandria fell, indeed, before a British fleet, but Gallipolihad been fortified by German engineers, and its guns were the Kruppcannon. The British fleet found itself opposed by unsurmountableobstacles. Looking backward it seems possible, that if at the very startLord Kitchener had permitted a detachment of troops to accompany thefleet, success might have been attained, but without the army the navywas powerless.

The Peninsula of Gallipoli is a tongue of land about fifty miles long,varying in width from twelve to two or three miles. It is a mass ofrocky hills so steep that in many places it is a matter of difficulty toreach their tops. On it are a few villages, but there are no decentroads and little cultivated land. On the southern shore of theDardanelles conditions are nearly the same. Here, the entrance is a flatand marshy plain, but east of this plain are hills three thousand feethigh. The high ground overhangs the sea passage on both sides, and withthe exception of narrow bits of beach at their base, presents almost noopportunity for landing.

A strong current continually sifts down the straits from the Sea ofMarmora.

Forts were placed at the entrance on both the north and south side, butthey were not heavily armed and were merely outposts. Fourteen milesfrom the mouth the straits become quite narrow, making a sharp turndirectly north and then resuming their original direction. The channelthus makes a sharp double bend. At the entrance to the strait, known asthe Narrows, were powerful fortresses, and the slopes were studded withbatteries. Along both sides of the channel the low ground was lined withbatteries. It was possible to attack the forts at fairly long range,but there was no room to bring any large number of ships into actionat the same time.

At the time of the Gallipoli adventure there were probably nearly half amillion of men available for a defense of the straits, men well armedand well trained under German leadership. The first step wascomparatively easy. The operations against the other forts began at 8A.M. on Friday, the 19th of February. The ships engaged were theInflexible, the Agamemnon, the Cornwallis, the Vengeance and the Triumphfrom the British fleet, and the Bouvet, Suffren, and the Gaulois fromthe French, all under the command of Vice-Admiral Sackville Carden. TheFrench squadron was under Rear-Admiral Gueprette. A flotilla ofdestroyers accompanied the fleet, and airplanes were sent up to guidethe fire of the battleships.

At first the fleet was arranged in a semicircle some miles out to seafrom the entrance to the strait. It afforded an inspiring spectacle asthe ships came along and took up position, and the picture became mostawe-inspiring when the guns began to boom. The bombardment at first wasslow. Shells from the various ships screaming through the air at therate of about one every two minutes.

The Turkish batteries, however, were not to be drawn, and, seeing this,the British Admiral sent one British ship and one French ship close inshore toward the Sedd-el-Bahr forts. As they went in they sped rightunder the guns of the shore batteries, which could no longer resist thetemptation to see what they could do. Puffs of white smoke dotted thelandscape on the far shore, and dull booms echoed over the placid water.Around the ships fountains of water sprang up into the air. The enemyhad been drawn, but his marksmanship was obviously very bad. Not asingle shot directed against the ships went within a hundred yards ofeither.

At sundown on account of the failing light Admiral Carden withdrew thefleet. On account of the bad weather the attack was not renewed untilFebruary 25th. It appeared that the outer forts had not been seriouslydamaged on the 19th, and that what injury had been done had beenrepaired. In an hour and a half the Cape Helles fort was silenced. TheAgamemnon was hit by a shell fired at a range of six miles, which killedthree men and wounded five. Early in the afternoon Sedd-el-Bahr wasattacked at close range, but not silenced till after 5 P.M. At this timeBritish trawlers began sweeping the entrance for mines, and during thenext day the mine field was cleared for a distance of four miles up thestraits.

As soon as this clearance was made the Albion, Vengeance and Majesticsteamed into the strait and attacked Fort Dardanos, a fortification somedistance below the Narrows. The Turks replied vigorously, not only fromDardanos but from batteries scattered along the shore. Believing thatthe Turks had abandoned the forts at the entrance, landing parties ofmarines were sent to shore. In a short time, however, they met adetachment of the enemy and were compelled to retreat to their boats.The outer forts, however, were destroyed, and their destruction wasextremely encouraging to the Allies.

For a time a series of minor operations was carried on, meeting withmuch success. Besides attacks on forts inside of the strait, Smyrna wasbombarded on March the 5th, and on March the 6th the Queen Elizabeth,the Agamemnon and the Ocean bombarded the forts at Chanak on the Asiaticside of the Narrows, from a position in the gulf of Saros on the outerside of the Gallipoli Peninsula. To all of these attacks the Turksreplied vigorously and the attacking ships were repeatedly struck, butwith no loss of life. On the 7th of March Fort Dardanos was silenced,and Fort Chanak ceased firing, but, as it turned out, only temporarily.

Preparations were now being made for a serious effort against theNarrows. The date of the attack was fixed for March 17th, weatherpermitting. On the 16th Admiral Carden was stricken down with illnessand was invalided by medical authority. Admiral de Roebeck, second incommand, who had been very active in the operations, was appointed tosucceed him. Admiral de Roebeck was in cordial sympathy with thepurposes of the expedition and determined to attack on the 18th ofMarch. At a quarter to eleven that morning, the Queen Elizabeth,Inflexible, Agamemnon, Lord Nelson, the Triumph and Prince Georgesteamed up the straits towards the Narrows, and bombarded the forts ofChanak. At 12.22 the French squadron, consisting of the Suffren,Gaulois, Charlemagne, and Bouvet, advanced up the Dardanelles to aidtheir English associates.

Under the combined fire of the two squadrons the Turkish forts, which atfirst replied strongly, were finally silenced. All of the ships,however, were hit several times during this part of the action. A thirdsquadron, including the Vengeance, Irresistible, Albion, Ocean,Swiftshore and Majestic, then advanced to relieve the six oldbattleships inside the strait.

As the French squadron, which had engaged the forts in a most brilliantfashion, was passing out the Bouvet was blown up by a drifting mineand sank in less than three minutes, carrying with her most of her crew.At 2.36 P.M. the relief battleships renewed the attack on the forts,which again opened fire. The Turks were now sending mines down with thecurrent. At 4.09 the Irresistible quitted the line, listing heavily, andat 5.50 she sank, having probably struck a drifting mine. At 6.05 theOcean, also having struck a mine, sank in deep water. Practically thewhole of the crews were removed safely. The Gaulois was damaged bygunfire; the Inflexible had her forward control position hit by a heavyshell, which killed and wounded the majority of the men and officers atthat station and set her on fire. At sunset the forts were still inaction, and during the twilight the Allied fleet slipped out of theDardanelles.

Meantime, an expeditionary force was being gathered. The largest portionof this force came from Great Britain, but France also provided aconsiderable number from her marines and from her Colonial army. Bothnations avoided, as far as possible, drawing upon the armies destinedfor service in France.

In the English army there were divisions from Australia and New Zealandand there were a number of Indian troops and Territorials. The wholeforce was put under the command of General Sir Ian Hamilton. Thecommander-in-chief on the Turkish side was the German General Liman vonSanders, the former chief of the military mission at Constantinople. Thebulk of the expeditionary force, which numbered altogether about ahundred and twenty thousand men, were, therefore, men whose presence inthe east did not weaken the Allied strength in the west.

The great difficulty of the new plan was that it was impossible tosurprise the enemy. The whole Gallipoli Peninsula was so small that alanding at any point would be promptly observed, and the nature of theground was of such a character that progress from any point mustnecessarily be slow. The problem was therefore a simple one.

The expeditionary force gathered in Egypt during the first half ofApril, and about the middle of the month was being sent to Lemnos.Germany was well aware of the English plans, and was doing all that itcould to provide a defense.

On April 28d the movement began, and about five o'clock in the afternoonthe first of the transports slowly made its way through the maze ofshipping toward the entrance of Mudros Bay.

Immediately the patent apathy, which had gradually overwhelmed everyone,changed to the utmost enthusiasm, and as the liners steamed through thefleet, their decks yellow with khaki, the crews of the warships cheeredthem on to victory while the bands played them out with an unendingvariety of popular airs. The soldiers in the transports answered thislast salutation from the navy with deafening cheers, and no moreinspiring spectacle has ever been seen than this great expedition.

The whole of the fleet from the transports had been divided up into fivedivisions and there were three main landings. The 29th Divisiondisembarked off the point of the Gallipoli Peninsula near Sedd-el-Bahr,where its operations were covered both from the gulf of Saros and fromthe Dardanelles by the fire of the covering warships. The Australian andNew Zealand contingent disembarked north of Gaba Tepe. Further north anaval division made a demonstration.

Awaiting the Australians was a party of Turks who had been intrenchedalmost on the shore and had opened up a terrific fusillade. TheAustralian volunteers rose, as a man, to the occasion. They waitedneither for orders nor for the boats to reach the beach, but springingout into the sea they went in to the shore, and forming some sort of arough line rushed straight on the flashes of the enemy's rifles. In lessthan a quarter of an hour the Turks were in full flight.

While the Australians and New Zealanders, or Anzacs as they are nowgenerally known from the initials of the words Australian-New ZealandArmy Corps, were fighting so gallantly at Gaba Tepe, the British troopswere landing at the southern end of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Theadvance was slow and difficult. The Turk was pushed back, little bylittle, and the ground gained organized. The details of this progress,though full of incidents of the greatest courage and daring, need not berecounted.

On June the 4th a general attack was made, preceded by heavybombardments by all guns, but after terrific fighting, in which manyprisoners were captured and great losses suffered, the net result was anadvance of about five hundred yards. As time went on the generalimpression throughout the Allied countries was that the expedition hadfailed. On June 30th the losses of the Turks were estimated at not lessthan seventy thousand, and the British naval and military losses up toJune 1st, aggregated 38,635 officers and men. At that time the Britishand French allies held but a small corner of the area to be conquered.In all of these attacks the part played by the Australian and NewZealand army corps was especially notable. Reinforcements wererepeatedly sent to the Allies, who worked more and more feverishly astime went on with the hope of aiding Russia, which was then desperatelystruggling against the great German advance.

On August 17th it was reported that a landing had been made at SuvlaBay, the extreme western point of the Peninsula. From this point it washoped to threaten the Turkish communications with their troops at thelower end of the Peninsula. This new enterprise, however, failed to makeany impression, and in the first part of September, vigorous Turkishcounter, offensives gained territory from the Franco-British troops.According to the English reports the Turks paid a terrible price fortheir success.

It had now become evident that the expedition was a failure. The Germanswere already gloating over what they called the "failure of British seapower," and English publicists were attempting to show that, though theenterprise had failed, the very presence of a strong Allied force atSaloniki had been an enormous gain. The first official announcement offailure was made December 20, 1916, when it was announced that theBritish forces at Anzac and Suvla Bay had been withdrawn, and that onlythe minor positions near Sedd-el-Bahr were occupied. Great Britain'sloss of officers and men at the Dardanelles up to December 11th was112,921, according to an announcement made in the House of Commons bythe Parliamentary Under Secretary for War. Besides these casualties thenumber of sick admitted to hospitals was 96,688. The decision toevacuate Gallipoli was made in the course of November by the BritishGovernment as the result of the early expressed opinion of GeneralMonro, who had succeeded General Hamilton on October 28, 1915.

General Monro found himself confronted with a serious problem in theattempt to withdraw an army of such a size from positions not more thanthree hundred yards from the enemy's trenches, and to embark on openbeaches every part of which was within effective range of Turkish guns.Moreover, the evacuation must be done gradually, as it was impossibleto move the whole army at once with such means of transportation asexisted. The plan was to remove the munitions, supplies and heavy gunsby instalments, working only at night, carrying off at the same time alarge portion of the troops, but leaving certain picked battalions toguard the trenches. Every endeavor had to be made for concealment. Theplan was splendidly successful, and the Turks apparently completelydeceived. On December 20th the embarkation of the last troops at Suvlawas accomplished. The operations at Anzac were conducted in the sameway. Only picked battalions were left to the end, and these were carriedsafely off.

The success of the Suvla and Anzac evacuation made the position at CapeHelles more dangerous. The Turks were on the lookout, and it seemedalmost impossible that they could be again deceived. On January 7th anattack was made by the Turks upon the trenches, which was beaten back.That night more than half the troops had left the Peninsula. The nextday there was a heavy storm which made embarkation difficult, but it wasnevertheless accomplished. The whole evacuation was a clever andsuccessful bit of work.

CHAPTER IV

THE GREATEST NAVAL BATTLE IN HISTORY

Germany's ambition for conquest at sea had been nursed and carefullyfostered for twenty years. During the decade immediately preceding thedeclaration of war, it had embarked upon a policy of naval up-buildingthat brought it into direct conflict with England's sea policy.Thereafter it became a race in naval construction, England piling up ahuge debt in its determination to construct two tons of naval shippingto every one ton built by Germany.

Notwithstanding Great Britain's efforts in this direction, Germany'snaval experts, with the ruthless von Tirpitz at their head, maintainedthat, given a fair seaway with ideal weather conditions favoring the lowvisibility tactics of the German sea command, a victory for the Teutonicships would follow. It was this belief that drew the ships of theGerman cruiser squadron and High Seas Fleet off the coast of Jutland andHorn Reef into the great battle that decided the supremacy of the sea.

The 31st of May, 1916, will go down in history as the date of thistitanic conflict. The British light cruiser Galatea on patrol duty nearHorn Reef reported at 2.20 o'clock on the afternoon of that day, that ithad sighted smoke plumes denoting the advance of enemy vessels from thedirection of Helgoland Bight. Fifteen minutes later the smoke plumeswere in such number and volume that the advance of a considerable forceto the northward and eastward was indicated. It was reasoned byVice-Admiral Beatty, to whom the Galatea had sent the news by radio,that the enemy in rounding Horn Reef would inevitably be brought intoaction. The first ships of the enemy were sighted at 3.31 o'clock. Thesewere the battle screen of fast light cruisers. Back of these were fivemodern battle cruisers of the highest power and armament.

The report of the battle, by an eye-witness, that was issued uponsemiofficial authority of the British Government, follows:

First Phase, 3.30 P.M. May 31st. Beatty's battle cruisers, consistingof the Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary, Tiger, Inflexible, Indomitable,Invincible, Indefatigable, and New Zealand, were on a southeasterlycourse, followed at about two miles distance by the four battleships ofthe class known as Queen Elizabeths.

Enemy light cruisers were sighted and shortly afterward the head of theGerman battle cruiser squadron, consisting of the new cruiserHindenburg, the Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Lützow, Moltke, and possibly theSalamis.

Beatty at once began firing at a range of about 20,000 yards (twelvemiles) which shortened to 16,000 yards (nine miles) as the fleetsclosed. The Germans could see the British distinctly outlined againstthe light yellow sky. The Germans, covered by a haze, could be veryindistinctly made out by the British gunners.

The Queen Elizabeths opened fire on one after another as they camewithin range. The German battle cruisers turned to port and drew awayto about 20,000 yards.

Second Phase, 4.40 P.M. A destroyer screen then appeared beyond theGerman battle cruisers. The whole German High Seas Fleet could be seenapproaching on the northeastern horizon in three divisions, coming tothe support of their battle cruisers.

The German battle cruisers now turned right around 16 points and tookstation in front of the battleships of the High Fleet.

Beatty, with his battle cruisers and supporting battleships, therefore,had before him the whole of the German battle fleet, and Jellicoe wasstill some distance away.

The opposing fleets were now moving parallel to one another in oppositedirections, and but for a master maneuver on the part of Beatty theBritish advance ships would have been cut off from Jellicoe's GrandFleet. In order to avoid this and at the same time prepare the way sothat Jellicoe might envelop his adversary, Beatty immediately alsoturned right around 16 points, so as to bring his ships parallel to theGerman battle cruisers and facing the same direction.

As soon as he was around he increased to full speed to get ahead of theGermans and take up a tactical position in advance of their line. He wasable to do this owing to the superior speed of the British battlecruisers.

Just before the turning point was reached, the Indefatigable sank, andthe Queen Mary and the Invincible also were lost at the turning point,where, of course, the High Seas Fleet concentrated their fire.

A little earlier, as the German battle cruisers were turning the QueenElizabeths had in similar manner concentrated their fire on the turningpoint and destroyed a new German battle cruiser, believed to be theHindenburg.

Beatty had now got around and headed away with the loss of three ships,racing parallel to the German battle cruisers. The Queen Elizabethsfollowed behind engaging the main Seas Fleet.

Third Phase, 5 P.M. The Queen Elizabeths now turned short to port 16points in order to follow Beatty. The Warspite jammed her steeringgear, failed to get around, and drew the fire of six of the enemy, whoclosed in upon her.

The Germans claimed her as a loss, since on paper she ought to have beenlost, but, as a matter of act, though repeatedly straddled by shell firewith the water boiling up all around her, she was not seriously hit, andwas able to sink one of her opponents. Her captain recovered control ofthe vessel, brought her around, and followed her consorts.

In the meantime the Barham, Valiant and Malaya turned short so as toavoid the danger spot where the Queen Mary and the Invincible had beenlost, and for an hour, until Jellicoe arrived, fought a delaying actionagainst the High Seas Fleet.

The Warspite joined them at about 5.15 o'clock, and all four ships wereso successfully maneuvered in order to upset the spotting corrections oftheir opponents that no hits of a seriously disabling character weresuffered. They had the speed over their opponents by fully four knots,and were able to draw away from part of the long line of Germanbattleships, which almost filled up the horizon.

At this time the Queen Elizabeths were steadily firing on at the flashesof German guns at a range which varied between 12,000 and 15,000 yards,especially against those ships which were nearest them. The Germans wereenveloped in a mist and only smoke and flashes were visible.

By 5.45 half of the High Seas Fleet had been left out of range, and theQueen Elizabeths were steaming fast to join hands with Jellicoe.

To return to Beatty's battle cruisers. They had succeeded in outflankingthe German battle cruisers, which were, therefore, obliged to turn afull right angle to starboard to avoid being headed.

Heavy fighting was renewed between the opposing battle cruisersquadrons, during which the Derfflinger was sunk; but toward 6 o'clockthe German fire slackened very considerably, showing that Beatty'sbattle cruisers and the Queen Elizabeths had inflicted serious damageon their immediate opponents.

Fourth Phase, 6 P.M. The Grand Fleet was now in sight, and, coming upfast in three directions, the Queen Elizabeths altered their course fourpoints to the starboard and drew in toward the enemy to allow Jellicoeroom to deploy into line.

The Grand Fleet was perfectly maneuvered and the very difficultoperation of deploying between the battle cruisers and the QueenElizabeths was perfectly timed.

Jellicoe came up, fell in behind Beatty's cruisers, and followed by thedamaged but still serviceable Queen Elizabeths, steamed right across thehead of the German fleet.

The first of the ships to come into action were the Revenue and theRoyal Oak with their fifteen-inch guns, and the Agincourt which firedfrom her seven turrets with the speed almost of a Maxim gun.

The whole British fleet had now become concentrated. They had beenperfectly maneuvered, so as to "cross the T" of the High Seas Fleet,and, indeed, only decent light was necessary to complete their work ofdestroying the Germans in detail. The light did improve for a fewminutes, and the conditions were favorable to the British fleet, whichwas now in line approximately north and south across the head of theGermans.

During the few minutes of good light Jellicoe smashed up the first threeGerman ships, but the mist came down, visibility suddenly failed, andthe defeated High Seas Fleet was able to draw off in ragged divisions.

Fifth Phase, Night. The Germans were followed by the British, who stillhad them enveloped between Jellicoe on the west, Beatty on the north,and Evan Thomas with his three Queen Elizabeths on the south. TheWarspite had been sent back to her base.

During the night the torpedo boat destroyers heavily attacked the Germanships, and, although they lost seriously themselves, succeeded insinking two of the enemy.

Co-ordination of the units of the fleet was practically impossible tokeep up, and the Germans discovered by the rays of their searchlightsthe three Queen Elizabeths, not more than 4,000 yards away.Unfortunately they were then able to escape between the battleships andJellicoe, since the British gunners were not able to fire, as thedestroyers were in the way.

So ended the Jutland battle, which was fought as had been planned andvery nearly a great success. It was spoiled by the unfavorable weatherconditions, especially at the critical moment, when the whole Britishfleet was concentrated and engaged in crushing the head of the Germanline.

Commenting on the engagement, Admiral Jellicoe said: "The battle cruiserfleet, gallantly led by Vice-Admiral Beatty, and admirably supported bythe ships of the fifth battle squadron under Rear Admiral Evan-Thomas,fought the action under, at times, disadvantageous conditions,especially in regard to light, in a manner that was in keeping with thebest traditions of the service."

His estimate of the German losses was: two battleships of thedreadnought type, one of the Deutschland type, which was seen to sink;the battle cruiser Lützow, admitted by the Germans; one battle cruiserof the dreadnought type, one battle cruiser seen to be so severelydamaged that its return was extremely doubtful; five light cruisers,seen to sink—one of them possibly a battleship; six destroyers seen tosink, three destroyers so damaged that it was doubtful if they would beable to reach port, and a submarine sunk. The official German reportadmitted only eleven ships sunk; the first British report placed thetotal at eighteen, but Admiral Jellicoe enumerated twenty-one Germanvessels as probably lost.

The Admiral paid a fine tribute to the German naval men: "The enemy," hesaid, "fought with the gallantry that was expected of him. Weparticularly admired the conduct of those on board a disabled Germanlight cruiser which passed down the British line shortly after thedeployment under a heavy fire, which was returned by the only gun leftin action. The conduct of the officers and men war entirely beyondpraise. On all sides it is reported that the glorious traditions of thepast were most worthily upheld; whether in the heavy ships, cruisers,light cruisers, or destroyers, the same admirable spirit prevailed. Theofficers and men were cool and determined, with a cheeriness that wouldhave carried them through anything. The heroism of the wounded was the'admiration' of all. I cannot adequately express the pride with whichthe spirit of the fleet filled me."

At daylight on the 1st of June the British battle fleet, beingsouthward of Horn Reef, turned northward in search of the enemy vessels.The visibility early on the first of June was three to four miles lessthan on May 31st, and the torpedo-boat destroyers, being out of visualtouch, did not rejoin the fleet until 9 A.M. The British fleet remainedin the proximity of the battlefield and near the line of approach to theGerman ports until 11 A.M., in spite of the disadvantage of longdistances from fleet bases and the danger incurred in waters adjacentto the enemy's coasts from submarines and torpedo craft.

The enemy, however, made no sign, and the admiral was reluctantlycompelled to the conclusion that the High Sea Fleet had returned intoport. Subsequent events proved this assumption to have been correct. TheBritish position must have been known to the enemy, as at 4 A.M. thefleet engaged a Zeppelin about five minutes, during which time she hadample opportunity to note and subsequently report the position andcourse of the British fleet.

The Germans at first claimed a victory for their fleet. The test, ofcourse, was the outcome of the battle. The fact that the German fleetretreated and nevermore ventured forth from beneath the protecting gunsand mine fields around Helgoland, demonstrates beyond dispute that theBritish were entitled to the triumph. The German official report makesthe best presentation of the German case. It follows in full:

[A] These figures are given for what they are worth, but no oneoutside of Germany doubted but that their losses were very much greaterthan admitted in the official report.

While the world was still puzzling over the conflicting reports of theBattle of Jutland came the shocking news that Field Marshal Lord HoratioHerbert Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, had perishedoff the West Orkney Islands on June 5th, through the sinking of theBritish cruiser Hampshire. The entire crew was also lost, except twelvemen, a warrant officer and eleven seamen, who escaped on a raft. EarlKitchener was on his way to Russia, at the request of the RussianGovernment, for a consultation regarding munitions to be furnished theRussian army. He was intending to go to Archangel and visit Petrograd,and expected to be back in London by June 20th. He was accompanied byHugh James O'Beirne, former Councillor of the British Embassy atPetrograd, O.A. Fitz-Gerald, his military secretary, Brigadier-GeneralEllarshaw, and Sir Frederick Donaldson, all of whom were lost.

The cause of the sinking of the Hampshire is not known. It is supposedthat it struck a mine, but the tragedy very naturally brought intoexistence many stories which ascribe his death to more direct Germanaction.

Seaman Rogerson, one of the survivors, describes Lord Kitchener's lastmoments as follows: "Of those who left the ship, and have survived, Iwas the one who saw Lord Kitchener last. He went down with the ship, hedid not leave her. I saw Captain Seville help his boat's crew to clearaway his galley. At the same time the Captain was calling to LordKitchener to come to the boat, but owing to the noise made by the windand sea, Lord Kitchener could not hear him, I think. When the explosionoccurred, Kitchener walked calmly from the Captain's cabin, went up theladder and on to the quarter deck. There I saw him walking quitecollectedly, talking to two of the officers. All three were wearingkhaki and had no overcoats on. Kitchener calmly watched the preparationsfor abandoning the ship, which were going on in a steady and orderlyway. The crew just went to their stations, obeyed orders, and did theirbest to get out the boats. But it was impossible. Owing to the roughweather, no boats could be lowered. Those that were got out weresmashed up at once. No boats left the ship. What people on the shorethought to be boats leaving, were rafts. Men did get into the boats asthese lay in their cradles, thinking that as the ship went under theboats would float, but the ship sank by the head, and when she went sheturned a somersault forward, carrying down with her all the boats andthose in them. I do not think Kitchener got into a boat. When I sprangto a raft he was still on the starboard side of the quarter deck,talking with the officers. From the little time that elapsed between myleaving the ship and her sinking I feel certain Kitchener went down withher, and was on deck at the time she sank."

The British Admiralty, after investigation, gave out a statementdeclaring that the vessel struck a mine, and sank about fifteen minutesafter.

The news of Lord Kitchener's death shocked the whole Allied world. Hewas the most important personality in the British Empire. He had builtup the British army, and his name was one to conjure by. His efficiencywas a proverb, and he had an air of mystery about him that made him asort of a popular hero. He was great before the World War began; he wasthe conqueror of the Soudan; the winner of the South African campaign;the reorganizer of Egypt. In his work as Secretary of War he had metwith some criticism, but he possessed, more than any other man, thepublic confidence. At the beginning of the war he was appointedSecretary of War at the demand of an overwhelming public opinion. Herealized more than any one else what such a war would mean. When othersthought of it as an adventure to be soon concluded, he recognized thatthere would be years of bitter conflict. He asked England to give up itscherished tradition of a volunteer army; to go through arduous militarytraining; he saw the danger to the Empire, and he alone, perhaps, hadthe authority to inspire his countrymen with the will to sacrifice. Buthis work was done. The great British army was in the field.

CHAPTER V

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

In the very beginning Russia had marked out one point for attack. Thiswas the city of Cracow. No doubt the Grand Duke Nicholas had not hopedto be able to invest that city early. The slowness of the mobilizationof the Russian army made a certain prudence advisable at the beginningof the campaign. But the great success of his armies in Lembergencouraged more daring aims. He had invested Przemysl, and Galicia laybefore him. Accordingly, he set his face toward Cracow.

Cracow, from a military point of view, is the gate both of Vienna andBerlin. A hundred miles west of it is the famous gap of Moravia, betweenthe Carpathian and the Bohemian mountains, which leads down intoAustria. Through this gap runs the great railway connecting Silesia withVienna, and the Grand Duke knew that if he could capture Cracow hewould have an easy road before him to the Austrian capital. Cracow alsois the key of Germany.

Seventy miles from the city lies the Oder River. An army might enterGermany by this gate and turn the line of Germany's frontier fortresses.The Oder had been well fortified, but an invader coming from Cracowmight move upon the western bank. The Russian plan no doubt was tothreaten both enemy capitals. Moreover, an advance of Russia from Cracowwould take its armies into Silesia, full of coal and iron mines, and oneof the greatest manufacturing districts in the German Empire. This wouldbe a real success, and all Germany would feel the blow.

Another reason for the Russian advance in Galicia was her desire tocontrol the Galician oil wells. To Germany petrol had become one of theforemost munitions of war. Since she could not obtain it from eitherAmerica or Russia she must get it from Austria, and the Austrian oilfields were all in Galicia. This, in itself, would explain the Galiciancampaign. Moreover, through the Carpathian Mountains it was possible tomake frequent raids into Hungary, and Russia understood well the feelingof Hungary toward her German allies. She hoped that when Hungaryperceived her regiments sacrificed and her plains overrun by Russiantroops, she would regret that she had allowed herself to be sacrificedto Prussian ambition. The Russians, therefore, suddenly, moved towardCracow.

Then von Hindenburg came to the rescue. The supreme command of theAustrian forces was given to him. The defenses of Cracow werestrengthened under the direction of the Germans, and a German armyadvanced from the Posen frontier toward the northern bank of theVistula. The advance threatened the Russian right, and, accordingly,within ten days' march of Cracow, the Russians stopped. The Germanoffensive in Poland had begun. The news of the German advance came aboutthe fifth of October. Von Hindenburg, who had been fighting in EastPrussia, had at last perceived that nothing could be gained there. Thevulnerable part of Russia was the city of Warsaw. This was the capitalof Poland, with a population of about three-quarters of a million. If hecould take Warsaw, he would not only have pleasant quarters for thewinter but Russia would be so badly injured that no further offensivefrom her need be anticipated for a long period. Von Hindenburg had withhim a large army. In his center he probably had three-quarters of amillion men, and on his right the Austrian army in Cracow, which musthave reached a million.

Counting the troops operating in East Prussia and along the Carpathians,and the garrison of Przemysl, the Teuton army must have had two and ahalf million soldiers. Russia, on the other hand, though hermobilization was still continuing, at this time could not have had asmany as two million men in the whole nine hundred miles of her battlefront.

The fight for Warsaw began Friday, October 16th, and continued for threedays, von Hindenburg being personally in command. On Monday the Germansfound themselves in trouble. A Russian attack on their left wing hadcome with crushing force. Von Hindenburg found his left wing thrownback, and the whole German movement thrown into disorder. Meanwhile anattempt to cross the Vistula at Josefov had also been a failure. TheRussians allowed the Germans to pass with slight resistance, waiteduntil they arrived at the village Kazimirjev, a district of low hillsand swampy flats, and then suddenly overwhelmed them.

Next day the Russians crossed the river themselves, and advanced alongthe whole line, driving the enemy before them, through great woods ofspruce out into the plains on the west. This forest region was wellknown to the Russian guides, and the Germans suffered much as theRussians had suffered in East Prussia. Ruzsky, the Russian commander,pursued persistently; the Germans retreating first to Kielce, whencethey were driven, on the 3d of November, with great losses, and thenbeing broken into two pieces, with the north retiring westward and thesouth wing southwest toward Cracow.

Rennenkampf's attack on the German left wing was equally successful, andvon Hindenburg was driven into full retreat. The only success won duringthis campaign was that in the far south where Austrian troops weresweeping eastward toward the San. This army drove back the Russiansunder Ivanov, reoccupied Jaroslav and relieved Przemysl. This was awelcome relief to Przemysl, for the garrison was nearly starved, and itwas well for the garrison that the relief came, for in a few days theRussians returned, recaptured Jaroslav and reinvested Przemysl. As vonHindenburg retreated he left complete destruction in his wake, roads,bridges, railroad tracks, water towers, railway stations, all weredestroyed; even telegraph posts, broken or sawn through, and insulatorsbroken to bits.

It was now the turn of Russia to make a premature advance, and to payfor it. Doubtless the Grand Duke Nicholas, whose strategy up to thispoint had been so admirable, knew very well the danger of a new advancein Galicia, but he realized the immense political as well as militaryadvantages which were to be obtained by the capture of Cracow. Hetherefore attempted to move an army through Poland as well as throughGalicia, hoping that the army in Poland would keep von Hindenburg busy,while the Galician army would deal with Cracow.

The advance was slow on account of the damaged Polish roads. It waspreceded by a cavalry screen which moved with more speed. On November10th, the vanguard crossed the Posen frontier and cut the railway on theCracow-Posen line. This reconnaissance convinced the Russian generalthat the German army did not propose to make a general stand, and itseemed to him that if he struck strongly with his center along theWarta, he might destroy the left flank of the German southern army,while his own left flank was assaulting Cracow. He believed that even ifhis attack upon the Warta failed, the Russian center could at anyrate prevent the enemy from interfering with the attack further southupon Cracow.

The movement therefore began, and by November 12th, the Russian cavalryhad taken Miechow on the German frontier, about twenty miles north ofCracow. Its main forces were still eighty miles to the east. About thistime Grand Duke Nicholas perceived that von Hindenburg was preparing acounter stroke. He had retreated north, and then, by means of hisrailways, was gathering a large army at Thorn. Large reinforcements weresent him, some from the western front, giving him a total of about eighthundred thousand men. In his retreat from Warsaw, while he had destroyedall roads railways in the south and west, he had carefully preservedthose of the north already planning to use them in another movement. Henow was beginning an advance, once again, against Warsaw. On account ofthe roads he perceived that it would be difficult for the Russians toobtain reinforcements. Von Hindenburg had with him as Chief of StaffGeneral von Ludendorff, one of the cleverest staff officers in theGerman army, and General von Mackensen, a commander of almost equalrepute.

The Russian army in the north had been pretty well scattered. TheRussian forces were now holding a front of nearly a thousand miles, withabout two million men. The Russian right center, which now protectedWarsaw from the new attack could hardly number more than two hundredthousand men. Von Hindenburg's aim was Warsaw only, and did not affectdirectly the Russian advance to Cracow, which was still going on.Indeed, by the end of the first week in December, General Dmitrieff hadcavalry in the suburbs of Cracow, and his main force was on the line ofthe River Rava about twelve miles away. Cracow had been stronglyfortified, and much entrenching had been done in a wide circle aroundthe city.

The German plan was to use its field army in Cracow's defense ratherthan a garrison. Two separate forces were used; one moving southwest ofCracow along the Carpathian hills, struck directly at Ivanov's left;the other, operating from Hungary, threatened the Russian rear. Thesetwo divisions struck at the same time and the Russians found itnecessary to fight rear actions as they moved forward. They were doingthis with reasonable success and working their way toward Cracow, when,on the 12th of December, the Austrian forces working from Hungarycarried the Dukla Pass. This meant that the Austrians would be able topour troops down into the rear of the Russian advance, and the Russianarmy would be cut off. Dmitrieff, therefore, fell rapidly back, untilthe opening of the Dukla Pass was in front of his line, and the Russianarmy was once more safe.

Meanwhile the renewed seige of Przemysl was going on with great vigor,and attracting the general attention of the Allied world. The Austriansattempted to follow up their successes at the Dukla Pass by attemptingto seize the Lupkow Pass, and the Uzzok Pass, still further to the east,but the Russians were tired of retreating. New troops had arrived, andabout the 20th of December a new advance was begun.

With the right of the army swinging up along the river Nida, northeastof Cracow, the Russian left attacked the Dukla Pass in great force,driving Austrians back and capturing over ten thousand men. On ChristmasDay all three great western passes were in Russian hands. The Austrianfighting, during this period, was the best they had so far shown, thebrunt of it being upon the Hungarian troops, who, at this time, weresaving Germany.

Meantime von Hindenburg was pursuing his movement in the direction ofWarsaw. The Russian generals found it difficult to obtain information.Each day came the chronicle of contests, some victories, some defeats,and it soon appeared that a strong force was crushing in the Russianoutposts from the direction of Thorn and moving toward Warsaw. Ruzskyfound himself faced by a superior German force, and was compelled toretreat. The Russian aim was to fall back behind the river Bzura, whichlies between the Thorn and Warsaw. Bzura is a strong line of defense,with many fords but no bridges. The Russian right wing passed by thecity of Lowicz, moved southwest to Strykov and then on past Lodz. Westof Lowicz is a great belt of marshes impossible for the movement ofarmies.

The first German objective was the city of Lodz. Von Hindenburg knewthat he must move quickly before the Russians should get up reserves.His campaign of destruction had made it impossible for aid to be sent tothe Russian armies from Ivanov, far in the south, but every momentcounted. His right pushed forward and won the western crossings of themarshes. His extreme left moved towards Plock, but the main effort wasagainst Piontek, where there is a famous causeway engineered for heavytransport through the marshes.

At first the Russians repelled the attack on the causeway, but onNovember 19th the Russians broke and were compelled to fall back. Overthe causeway, then, the German troops were rushed in great numbers,splitting the Russian army into two parts; one on the south surroundingLodz, and the other running east of Brezin on to the Vistula. TheRussian army around Lodz was assailed on the front flank and rear. Itlooked like an overwhelming defeat for the Russian army. At the verylast moment possible, Russian reinforcements appeared—a body ofSiberians from the direction of Warsaw. They were thrown at once intothe battle and succeeded in re-establishing the Russian line. This leftabout ninety thousand Germans almost entirely surrounded, as if theywere in a huge sack. Ruzsky tried his best to close the mouth of thesack, but he was unsuccessful. The fighting was terrific, but by the26th the Germans in the sack had escaped.

The Germans were continually receiving reinforcements and still largelyoutnumbered the Russians. Von Hindenburg therefore determined on a newassault. The German left wing was now far in front of the Russian cityof Lodz, one of the most important of the Polish cities. The populationwas about half a million. Such a place was a constant danger, for it wasthe foundation of a Russian salient.

When the German movement began the Russian general, perceiving howdifficult it would have been to hold the city, deliberately withdrew,and on December 6th the Germans entered Lodz without opposition.

The retreat relieved the Russians of a great embarrassment. Its capturewas considered in Germany as a great German victory, and at this timevon Hindenburg seems to have felt that he had control of the situation.His movement, to be sure, had not interfered with the Russian advance onCracow, but Warsaw must have seemed to him almost in his power. Hetherefore concentrated his forces for a blow at Warsaw. His first newmovement was directed at the Russian right wing, which was then north ofthe Bzura River and east of Lowicz. He also directed the German forcesin East Prussia to advance and attempted to cut the main railway linebetween Warsaw and Petrograd. If this attempt had been successful itwould have been a highly serious matter for the Russians. The Russians,however, defeated it, and drove the enemy back to the East Prussianborder. The movement against the Russian right wing was more successful,and the Russians fell back slowly. This was not because they weredefeated in battle, but because the difficult weather interfered withcommunications. There had been a thaw, and the whole country waswaterlogged. The Grand Duke was willing that the Germans should fight inthe mud.

This slow retreat continued from the 7th of December to Christmas Eve,and involved the surrender of a number of Polish towns, but it left theRussians in a strong position. They were able to entrench themselves sothat every attack of the enemy Was broken. The Germans tried hard. VonHindenburg would have liked to enter Warsaw on Christmas. The citizensheard day and night the sound of the cannon, but they were entirelysafe.

The German attack was a failure. On the whole, the Grand Duke Nicholashad shown better strategy than the best of the German generals.Outnumbered from the very start, his tactics had been admirable. Twicehe had saved Warsaw, and he was still threatening Cracow. The Russianarmies were fighting with courage and efficiency, and were continuallygrowing in numbers as the days went by.

During the first weeks of 1915 while there were a number of attacks andcounter attacks both armies had come to the trench warfare, so familiarin France. The Germans in particular had constructed a most elaboratetrench system, with underground rooms containing many of the ordinarycomforts of life. Toward the end of the month the Russians began to movein East Prussia in the north and also far south in the Bukovina. Theobject of these movements was probably to prevent von Hindenburg fromreleasing forces on the west. Russia was still terribly weak inequipment and was not ready for a serious advance. An attack on sacredEast Prussia would stir up the Germans, while Hungary would be likewisedisturbed by the advance on Bukovina. Von Hindenburg, however, was stillfull of the idea of capturing Warsaw. He had failed twice but the oldField Marshal was stubborn and moreover he knew well what the capture ofWarsaw would mean to Russia, and so he tried again.

The Russian front now followed the west bank of the Bzura for a fewmiles, changed to the eastern bank following the river until it met withthe Rawka, from there a line of trenches passed south and east, ofBalinov and from there to Skiernievice. Von Mackensen concentrated aconsiderable army at Balinov and had on the 1st of February about ahundred and forty thousand men there. That night, with the usualartillery preparation, he moved from Balinov against the Russianposition at the Borzymov Crest. The Germans lost heavily but droveforward into the enemy's line, and by the 3d of February had almost madea breach in it. This point, however, could be readily reinforced andtroops were hurried there from Warsaw in such force that on February 4ththe German advance was checked. Von Mackensen had lost heavily, and bythe time it was checked he had become so weak that his forces yieldedquickly to the counter-attack and were flung back.

This was the last frontal attack upon Warsaw. Von Hindenburg thendetermined to attack Warsaw by indirection. Austria was instructed tomove forward along the whole Carpathian front, while he himself, withstrong forces, undertook to move from East Prussia behind the Polishcapital, and cut the communications between Warsaw and Petrograd. IfAustria could succeed, Przemysl might be relieved, Lemberg recaptured,and Russia forced back so far on the south that Warsaw would have to beabandoned. On the other hand if the East Prussia effort were successful,the Polish capital would certainly fall. These plans, if they haddeveloped successfully, would have crippled the power of Russia for atleast six months. Meantime, troops could be sent to the west front, andperhaps enable Germany to overwhelm France. By this time almost all ofPoland west of the Vistula was in the power of the Germans, whilethree-fourths of Galicia was controlled by Russia.

Von Hindenburg now returned to his old battle-ground near the MasurianLakes. The Russian forces, which, at the end of January, had made aforward movement in East Prussia, had been quite successful. Their rightwas close upon Tilsit, and their left rested upon the town ofJohannisburg. Further south was the Russian army of the Narev. VonHindenburg determined to surprise the invaders, and he gathered an armyof about three hundred thousand men to face the Russian forces which didnot number more than a hundred and twenty thousand, and which were underthe command of General Baron Sievers. The Russian army soon found itselfin a desperate position. A series of bitter fights ensued, at some ofwhich the Kaiser himself was present. The Russians were driven steadilyback for a week, but the German stories of their tremendous losses areobviously unfounded They retreated steadily until February 20th,fighting courageously, and by that date the Germans began to findthemselves exhausted.

Russian reinforcements came up, and a counter-attack was begun. TheGerman aim had evidently been to reach Grodno and cut the main line fromWarsaw to Petrograd, which passes through that city. They had nowreached Suwalki, a little north of Grodno, but were unable to advancefurther, though the Warsaw-Petrograd railway was barely ten miles away.The southern portion of von Hindenburg's army was moving against therailway further west, in the direction of Ossowietz. But Ossowietz putup a determined resistance, and the attack was unsuccessful. By thebeginning of March, von Hindenburg ordered a gradual retreat to the EastPrussian frontier.

While this movement to drive the Russians from East Prussia was underway, von Hindenburg had also launched an attack against the Russian armyon the Narev. If he could force the lower Narev from that point, too, hecould cut the railroad running east from the Polish capital. He hadhoped that the attacks just described further east would distract theRussian attention so that he would find the Narev ill guarded. Theadvance began on February 22d, and after numerous battles capturedPrzasnysz, and found itself with only one division to oppose itsprogress to the railroad. On the 23d this force was attacked by theGerman right, but resisted with the utmost courage. It held out for morethan thirty-six hours, until, on the evening of the 24th, Russianreinforcements began to come up, and drove the invaders north throughPrzasnysz in retreat.

It was an extraordinary fight. The Russians were unable to supply alltheir troops with munitions and arms. At Przasnysz men fought withoutrifles, armed only with a bayonet. All they could do was to charge withcold steel, and they did it so desperately that, though they wereoutnumbered, they drove the Germans before them. By all the laws of warthe Russians should have been defeated with ease. As it was, the Germanattempt to capture Warsaw by a flank movement was defeated. While thestruggle was going on in the north, the Austrian armies in Galicia werealso moving, Russia was still holding the three great passes in theCarpathian Mountains, but had not been able to begin an offensive inHungary.

The Austrians had been largely reinforced by German troops, and weremoving forward to the relief of Przemysl, and also to drive Brussilovfrom the Galician mountains. Brussilov's movements had been partlymilitary and partly political. From the passes, in those mountainsHungary could be attacked, and unless he could be driven away there wasno security for the Hungarian cornfields, to which Germany was lookingfor food supplies. Moreover, from the beginning of the Russian movementin Galicia, northern Bukovina had been in Russian hands. Bukovina wasnot only a great supply ground for petrol and grain, but she adjoinedRoumania which, while still neutral, had a strong sympathy with theAllies, especially Italy. The presence of a Russian army on her bordermight encourage her to join the Allies. Austria naturally desired tofree Roumania from this pressure. The leading Austrian statesmen, atthis time, were especially interested in Hungary. The Austrian Ministerof Foreign Affairs was Baron Stephen Burian, the Hungarian diplomatist,belonging to the party of the Hungarian Premier, Count Tisza. It was hisown country that was threatened. The prizes of a victorious campaignwere therefore great.

The campaign began in January amid the deepest snow, and continuedduring February in the midst of blizzards. The Austrians were dividedinto three separate armies. The first was charged with the relief ofPrzemysl. The second advanced in the direction of Lemberg, and the thirdmoved upon Bukovina. The first made very little progress, after a numberof lively battles. It was held pretty safely by Brussilov. The secondarmy was checked by Dmitrieff. Further east, however, the army of theBukovina crossed the Carpathian range, and made considerable advances.This campaign was fought out in a great number of battles, the mostserious of which, perhaps, was the battle of Koziowa. At that pointBrussilov's center withstood for several days the Austrian second armywhich was commanded by the German General von Linsengen. The Russiansuccess here saved Lemberg, prevented the relief of Przemysl and gavetime to send reinforcements into Bukovina.

The Austrian third army, moving on Bukovina, had the greatest Austriansuccess. They captured in succession Czernowitz, Kolomea, and Stanislau.They did not succeed, however, in driving the Russians from theprovince. The Russians retired slowly, waiting for reinforcements. Thesereinforcements came, whereupon the Austrians were pushed steadily back.The passes in the Carpathians still remained in Austrian hands, butPrzemysl was not relieved or Lemberg recaptured. On March 22d Przemyslfell.

The capture of Przemysl was the greatest success that Russia had so farattained. It had been besieged for about four months, and the taking ofthe fortress was hailed as the first spectacular success of the war. Itscapture altered the whole situation. It released a large Russian army,which was sent to reinforce the armies of Ivanov, where the Austrianswere vigorously attacked.

By the end of March the Russians had captured the last Austrian positionon the Lupkow pass and were attacking vigorously the pass of Uzzok,which maintained a stubborn defense. Brussilov tried to push his way tothe rear of the Uzzok position, and though the Austrians delivered avigorous counter-attack they were ultimately defeated. In fire weeks offighting Ivanov captured over seventy thousand prisoners.

During this period there was considerable activity in East Prussia, andthe Courland coast was bombarded by the German Baltic squadron. Therewas every indication that Austria was near collapse, but all the timethe Germans were preparing for a mighty effort, and the secret was keptwith extraordinary success. The little conflicts in the Carpathians andin East Prussia were meant to deceive, while a great army, with anenormous number of guns of every caliber, and masses of ammunition,were being gathered. The Russian commanders were completely deceived.There had been no change in the generals in command except that GeneralRuzsky, on account of illness, was succeeded by General Alexeiev. Thenew German army was put under the charge of von Hindenburg's formerlieutenant, General von Mackensen. This was probably the strongest armythat Germany ever gathered, and could not have numbered less than twomillions of men, with nearly two thousand pieces in its heavy batteries.

On April 28th, the action began. The Austro-German army lay along theleft of the Donajetz River to its junction with the Biala, and along theBiala to the Carpathian Mountains. Von Mackensen's right moved in thedirection of Gorlice. General Dmitrieff was compelled to weaken hisfront to protect Gorlice and then, on Saturday, the 1st of May, thegreat attack began. Under cover of artillery fire such as had never beenseen before bridges were pushed across the Biala and Ciezkowice wastaken. The Russian positions were blown out of existence. The Russianarmies did what they could but their defense collapsed and they weresoon in full retreat.

The German armies advanced steadily, and though the Russians made abrave stand at many places they could do nothing. On the Wisloka theyhung on for five days, but they were attempting an impossibility. Fromthat time on each day marked a new German victory, and in spite of themost desperate fighting the Russians were forced back until, on the11th, the bulk of their line lay just west of the lower San as far asPrzemysl and then south to the upper Dniester. The armies were inretreat, but were not routed. In a fortnight the army of Dmitrieff hadfallen back eighty-five miles.

The Grand Duke Nicholas by this time understood the situation. Heperceived that it was impossible to make a stand. The only thing to dowas to retreat steadily until Germany's mass of war material should beused up, even though miles of territory should be sacrificed. It shouldbe a retreat in close contact with the enemy, so that the Austro-Germantroops would have to fight for every mile. This meant a retreat not fordays, but perhaps for weeks. It meant that Przemysl must be given up,and Lemberg, and even Warsaw, but the safety of the Russian army was ofmore importance than a province or a city.

On May 18th the German War Office announced their successes in thefollowing terms: "The army under General von Mackensen in the course ofits pursuit of the Russians reached yesterday the neighborhood ofSubiecko, on the lower Wisloka, and Kolbuezowa, northeast of Debica.Under the pressure of this advance the Russians also retreated fromtheir positions north of the Vistula. In this section the troops underGeneral von Woyrach, closely following the enemy, penetrated as far asthe region northwest of Kielce. In the Carpathians Austro-Hungarian andGerman troops under General von Linsingen conquered the hills east ofthe Upper Stryi, and took 8,660 men prisoners, as well as capturing sixmachine guns. At the present moment, while the armies under General vonMackensen are approaching the Przemysl fortresses and the lower San, itis possible to form an approximate idea of the booty taken. In thebattles of Tarno and Gorlika, and in the battles during the pursuit ofthese armies, we have so far taken 103,500 Russian prisoners, 69 cannon,and 255 machine guns. In these figures the booty taken by the Alliedtroops fighting in the Carpathians, and north of the Vistula, is notincluded. This amounts to a further 40,000 prisoners. Przemyslsurrendered to the German's on June 3, 1915, only ten weeks after theRussian capture of the fortress, which had caused such exultation."

General von Mackensen continued toward Lemberg, the capital of Galicia.On June 18th, when the victorious German armies were approaching thegates of Lemberg, the Russian losses were estimated at 400,000 dead andwounded, and 300,000 prisoners, besides 100,000 lost before Marshal vonHindenburg's forces in Poland and Courland. On June 23d Lemberg fell.The weakness of Russia in this campaign arose from the exhaustion of herammunition supplies, but great shipments of such supplies were beingconstantly forwarded from Vladivostock.

When the German army crossed the San, Wilhelm II, then German Emperor,was present. It is interesting to look back on the scene. Here is aparagraph from the account of the Wolff Telegraphic Bureau: "The Emperorhad hurried forward to his troops by automobile. On the way he wasgreeted with loud hurrahs by the wounded, riding back in wagons. On theheights of Jaroslav the Emperor met Prince Eitel Friedrich, and then,from several points of observation, for hours followed with keenattention the progress of the battle for the crossing."

While the great offensive in Galicia was well under way, the Germanswere pushing forward in East Prussia. Finding little resistance theyultimately invaded Courland, captured Libau, and established themselvesfirmly in that province. The sweep of the victorious German armiesthrough Galicia was continued into Poland. On July 19th William the WarLord bombastically telegraphed his sister, the Queen of Greece, to theeffect that he had "paralyzed Russia for at least six months to come"and was on the eve of "delivering a coup on the western front that willmake all Europe tremble."

It would be futile to recount the details of the various Germanvictories which followed the advance into Poland. On July 24th, theGerman line ran from Novogard in the north, south of Przasnysz, thenceto Novogeorgievsk, then swinging to the southeast below Warsaw it passedclose to the west of Ivangorad, Lublin, Chelm, and then south to a pointjust east of Lemberg. Warsaw at that time was in the jaws of the Germannutcracker.

On July 21st, the bells in all the churches throughout Russia clanged acall to prayer for twenty-four hours' continual service of intercessionfor victory. In spite of the heat the churches were packed. Hour afterhour the people stood wedged together, while the priests and choirschanted their litanies. Outside the Kamian Cathedral an open-air masswas celebrated in the presence of an enormous crowd. But the Germanvictories continued.

On August 5th Warsaw was abandoned. Up to July 29th hope was entertainedin military quarters in London and Paris that the Germans would stand asiege in their fortresses along the Warsaw salient, but on that dateadvices came from Petrograd that in order to save the Russian armies aretreat must be made, and the Warsaw fortresses abandoned. For some timebefore this the Russian resistance had perceptibly stiffened, and manyvigorous counter-attacks had been made against the German advance, butit was the same old story, the lack of ammunition. The armies werecompelled to retire and await the munitions necessary for a newoffensive.

The last days of Russian rule in Warsaw were days of extraordinaryinterest. The inhabitants, to the number of nearly half a million,sought refuge in Russia. All goods that could be useful to the Germanswere either removed or burned. Crops were destroyed in the surroundingfields. When the Germans entered they found an empty and deserted city,with only a few Poles and the lowest classes of Jews still left. Warsawis a famous city, full of ancient palaces, tastefully, adorned shops,finely built streets, and fourscore church towers where the bells areaccustomed to ring melodiously for matins and vespers. In the UjazdowskeAvenue one comes to the most charming building in all Warsaw, theLazienki Palace, with its delicious gardens mirrored in a lovely lake.It is a beautiful city.

The fall of Warsaw meant the fall of Russian Poland, but Russia was notyet defeated. Von Hindenburg was to be treated as Napoleon was in 1812,The strategy of the Grand Duke was sound; so long as he could save thearmy the victories of Germany would be futile. It is true that theGerman armies were not compelled, like those of Napoleon, to live on theland. They could bring their supplies from Berlin day by day, but everymile they advanced into hostile territory made their task harder. The Germanline of communication, as it grew longer, became weaker and the troopsneeded for garrison duty in the captured towns, seriously diminished thestrength of the fighting army. The Russian retreat was good strategy andit was carried on with extraordinary cleverness.

It is unnecessary to describe the events which succeeded the fall ofWarsaw in great detail. There was a constant succession of Germanvictories and Russian defeats, but never one of the Russian armiesenveloped or destroyed. Back they went, day after day, always fighting;each great Russian fortress resisted until it saw itself in danger, andthen safely withdrew its troops. Kovno fell and Novogeorgievsk, andIvangorad, then Ossowietz was abandoned, and Brest-Litovsk and Grodno.On September 5th the Emperor of Russia the following order:

Today I have taken supreme command of all the forces of the sea and
land armies operating in the theater of war. With firm faith in the
clemency of God, with unshakable assurance in final victory, we
shall fulfil our sacred duty to defend our country to the last. We
will not dishonor the Russian land.

The Grand Duke Nicholas was made Viceroy of the Caucasus, a post whichtook him out of the main theater of fighting but gave him a great fieldfor fresh military activity. He had been bearing a heavy burden, and hadshown himself to be a great commander. He had outmaneuvered vonHindenberg again and again, and though finally the Russian armies underhis command had been driven back, the retreat itself was a proof of hismilitary ability, not only in its conception, but in the way in which itwas done.

The Emperor chose General Alexieff as his Chief of General Staff. He wasthe ablest of the great generals who had been leading the Russian army.With this change in command a new spirit seemed to come over Russia. TheGerman advance, however, was not yet completely checked. It wasapproaching Vilna.

The fighting around Vilna was the bitterest in the whole long retreat.On the 18th of September it fell, but the Russian troops were safelyremoved and the Russian resistance had become strong. Munitions werepouring into the new Russian army. The news from the battle-front beganto show improvement. On September 8th General Brussilov, further in thesouth, had attacked the Germans in front of Tarnopol, and defeated themwith heavy loss. More than seventeen thousand men were captured withmuch artillery. Soon the news came of other advances. Dubno was retakenand Lutsk.

The end of September saw the German advance definitely checked. TheRussian forces were now extended in a line from Riga on the north, alongthe river Dvina, down to Dvinsk. Then turning to the east along theriver, it again turned south and so on down east of the Pripet Marshes,it followed an almost straight line to the southern frontier. Its twostrongest points were Riga, on the Gulf of Riga, which lay under theprotection of the guns of the fleet, and Dvinsk, through which ran thegreat Petrograd Railway line. Against these two points von Hindenburgdirected his attack. And now, for the first time in many months, he metwith complete failure. The German fleet attempted to assist him on theGulf of Riga, but was defeated by the Russian Baltic fleet with heavylosses. A bombardment turned out a failure and the German armies werecompelled to retire.

A more serious effort was made against Dvinsk but was equallyunsuccessful and the German losses were immense. Again and again theattempt was made to cross the Dvina River, but without success; theGerman invasion was definitely stopped. By the end of October there wascomplete stagnation in the northern sector of the battle line, andthough in November there were a number of battles, nothing happened ofgreat importance.

Further south, however, Russia become active. An army had been organizedat her Black Sea bases, and for political reasons it was necessary thatthat army should move. At this time the great question was, what wasRoumania about to do? To prevent her from being forced to join theCentral Powers she must have encouragement. It was determined thereforethat an offensive should be made in the direction of Czernowitz. Thistown was the railway center of a wide region, and lay close toRoumania's northern frontier.

The Russian aggressive met with great success. It is true that it neverapproached the defenses of Czernowitz, but Brussilov, on the north, hadbeen able to make great gains of ground, and the very fact that such apowerful movement could be made so soon after the Russian retreat was anencouragement to every friend of the Allied cause. This offensivecontinued till up to the fourth week of January when it came to anabrupt stop. A despatch from Petrograd explained the movement asfollows: "The recent Russian offensive in Bessarabia and Galicia wascarried out in accordance with the plan prepared by the Entente Allies'War Council to relieve the pressure on the Entente forces while theywere fortifying Saloniki and during the evacuation of the GallipoliPeninsula." Russia had sacrificed more than seventy thousand soldiers forher Allies.

During the year 1916 the Russian armies seemed to have had a new birth.At last they were supplied with guns and munitions. They waited untilthey were ready. In March a series of battles was fought in theneighborhood of Lake Narotch, and eight successive attacks were madeagainst the German army, intrenched between Lake Narotch and LakeVischenebski. The Germans at first were driven back and badly defeated.Later on, however, the Russian artillery was sent to another section,and the Germans were able to recover their position. During June theRussians attacked all along the southern part of their line. In threeweeks they had regained a whole province. Lutsk and Dubno had beenretaken; two hundred thousand men and hundreds of guns, had beencaptured, and the Austrian line had been pierced and shattered. Furthersouth the German army had been compelled to retreat and the Russianarmies were in Bukovina and Galicia. On the 10th of August Stanislaufell.

By this time two Austrian armies had been shattered, over three hundredand fifty thousand prisoners taken, and nearly a million men put out ofaction. Germany, however, was sending reinforcements as fast aspossible, and putting up a desperate defense. Nevertheless everythingwas encouraging for Russia and she entered upon the winter in a verydifferent condition from her condition in the previous year. Then shehad just ended her great retreat. Now she had behind her a series ofsuccesses. But a new difficulty had arisen in the loss of the politicalharmony at home which had marked the first years of the war. Dark dayswere ahead.

CHAPTER VI

HOW THE BALKANS DECIDED

For more than half a century the Balkans have presented a problem whichdisturbed the minds of the statesmen of Europe. Again and again, duringthat period, it seemed that in the Balkan mountains might be kindled ablaze which might set the world afire. Balkan politics is a labyrinth inwhich one might easily be lost. The inhabitants of the Balkans representmany races, each with its own ambition, and, for the most part,military. There were Serbs, and Bulgarians, and Turks, and Roumanians,and Greeks, and their territorial divisions did not correspond to theirnationalities. The land was largely mountainous, with great gaps thatmake it, in a sense, the highway of the world. From 1466 to 1878 theBalkans was in the dominion of the Turks. In the early days while theTurks were warring against Hungary, their armies marched through theBalkan hills. The natives kept apart, and preserved their language,religion and customs.

In the nineteenth century, as the Turks grew weaker, their subjectpeople began to seek independence. Greece came first, and, in 1829,aided by France, Russia and Great Britain, she became an independentkingdom. Serbia revolted in 1804, and by 1820 was an autonomous state,though still tributary to Turkey. In 1859, Roumania became autonomous.The rising of Bulgaria in 1876, however, was really the beginning of thesuccession of events which ultimately led to the World War of 1914-18.The Bulgarian insurrection was crushed by the Turks in such a way as tostir the indignation of the whole world. What are known as the"Bulgarian Atrocities" seem mild today, but they led to theRusso-Turkish War in 1877.

The treaty of Berlin, by which that war was settled in 1878, was one ofthose treaties which could only lead to trouble. It deprived Russia ofmuch of the benefit of her victory, and left nearly every racialquestion unsettled. Roumania lost Bessarabia, which was mainly inhabitedby Roumanians. Bosnia and Herzegovina were handed over to theadministration of Austria. Turkey was allowed to retain Macedonia,Albania and Thrace. Serbia was given Nish, but had no outlet to the sea.Greece obtained Thessaly, and a new province was made of the countrysouth of the Balkans called Eastern Rumelia. From that time on, quarrelafter quarrel made up the history of the Balkan peoples, each of whomsought the assistance and support of some one of the great powers.Russia and Austria were constantly intriguing with the new states, inthe hope of extending their own domains in the direction ofConstantinople.

The history of Bulgaria shows that that nation has been continually thecenter of these intrigues. In 1879 they elected as their sovereignPrince Alexander of Battenburg, whose career might almost be calledromantic. A splendid soldier and an accomplished gentleman, he standsout as an interesting figure in the sordid politics of the Balkans. Heidentified himself with his new country. In 1885 he brought about aunion with Eastern Rumelia, which led to a disagreement with Russia.

Serbia, doubtless at Russian instigation, suddenly declared war, but wasoverwhelmed by Prince Alexander in short order. Russia then abductedPrince Alexander, but later was forced to restore him. However, Russianintrigues, and his failure to obtain support from one of the greatpowers, forced his abdication in 1886.

In 1887 Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became the Prince ofBulgaria. He, also, was a remarkable man, but not the romantic of hispredecessor. He seems to have been a sort of a parody of a king. He wasfond of ostentation, and full of ambition. He was a personal coward, butextremely cunning. During his long reign he built up Bulgaria into apowerful, independent kingdom, and even assumed the title of Czar ofBulgaria. During the first days of his reign he was kept safely on thethrone by his mother, the Princess Clementine, a daughter of LouisPhillippe, who, according to Gladstone, was the cleverest woman inEurope, and for a few years Bulgaria was at peace. In 1908 he declaredBulgaria independent, and its independence was recognized by Turkey onthe payment of an indemnity. During this period Russia was the protectorof Bulgaria, but the Bulgarian fox was looking also for the aid ofAustria. Serbia more and more relied upon Russia.

The Austrian treatment of the Slavs was a source of constant irritation toSerbia. Roumania had a divided feeling. Her loss of Bessarabia to Russiahad caused ill feeling, but in Austria's province of Transylvania therewere millions of Roumanians, whom Roumania desired to bring under herrule. Greece was fearful of Russia, because of Russia's desire for thecontrol of Constantinople. All of these nations, too, were deeplyconscious of the Austro-German ambitions for extension of their powerthrough to the East. Each of these principalities was also jealous ofthe other. Bulgaria and Serbia had been at war; many Bulgarians were inthe Roumanian territory, many Serbians, Bulgarians and Greeks inMacedonia. There was only one tie in common, that was their hatred ofTurkey. In 1912 a league was formed, under the direction of the Greekstatesman, Venizelos, having for its object an attack on Turkey. Bysecret treaties arrangements were made for the division of the land,which they hoped to obtain from Turkey.

War was declared, and Turkey was decisively defeated, and then thetrouble began. Serbia and Bulgaria had been particularly anxious for anoutlet to the sea, and in the treaty between them it had been arrangedthat Serbia should have an outlet on the Adriatic, while Bulgaria was toobtain an outlet on the Ægean. The Triple Alliance positively refusedSerbia its share of the Adriatic coast. Serbia insisted, therefore, on arevision of the treaty, which would enable her to have a seaport on theÆgean.

An attempt was made to settle the question by arbitration, but KingFerdinand refused, whereupon, in July, 1913, the Second Balkan Warbegan. Bulgaria was attacked by Greece and Serbia, and Turkey took achance and regained Adrianople, and even Roumania, which had beenneutral in the First Baltic War, mobilized her armies and marched towardSofia. Bulgaria surrendered, and on the 10th of August the Treaty ofBucharest was signed by the Balkan States.

As a result of this Bulgaria was left in a thoroughly dissatisfied stateof mind. She had been the leader in the war against Turkey, she hadsuffered heavy losses, and she had gained almost nothing. Moreover shehad lost to Roumania, a territory containing a quarter of a millionBulgarians, and a splendid harbor on the Black Sea. Serbia and Greecewere the big winners. Such a treaty could not be a final settlement. TheBalkans were left seething with unrest. Serbia, though she had gainedmuch, was still dissatisfied. Her ambitions, however, now turned in thedirection of the Jugoslavs under the rule of Austria, and it was heragitation in this matter which directly brought on the Great War. ButBulgaria was sullen and ready for revenge. When the Great War began,therefore, Roumania, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece were strongly insympathy with Russia, who had been their backer and friend. Bulgaria, inspite of all she owed to Russia in the early days, was now ready to findprotection from an alliance with the Central Powers. Her feeling waswell known to the Allies, and every effort was made to obtain herfriendship and, if possible, her aid.

Viviani, then Premier of France, in an address before the French Chamberof Deputies, said:

The Balkan question was raised at the outset of the war, even
before it came to the attention of the world. The Bucharest Treaty
had left in Bulgaria profound heartburnings. Neither King nor
people were resigned to the loss of the fruits of their efforts and
sacrifices, and to the consequences of the unjustifiable war they
had waged upon their former allies. From the first day, the Allied
governments took into account the dangers of such a situation, and
sought a means to remedy it. Their policy has proceeded in a spirit
of justice and generosity which has characterized the attitude of
Great Britain, Russia and Italy as well as France. We have
attempted to re-establish the union of the Baltic peoples, and in
accord with them seek the realization of their principal national
aspirations. The equilibrium thus obtained by mutual sacrifices
really made by each would have been the best guarantee of future
peace. Despite constant efforts in which Roumania, Greece and
Serbia lent their assistance, we have been unable to obtain the
sincere collaboration of the Bulgarian Government. The difficulties
respecting the negotiations were always at Sofia.

At the beginning of the war it appears, therefore, that Bulgaria wasentering into negotiations with the Allies, hoping to regain in thisway, some of the territory she had lost in the Second Baltic War. Manyof her leading statesmen and most distinguished generals favored thecause of Russia, but in May came the great German advance in Galicia,and the Allies' stalemate in the Dardanelles, and the king, and hissupporters, found the way clear for a movement in favor of Germany.Still protesting neutrality they signed a secret treaty with Berlin,Vienna and Constantinople on July 17th. The Central Powers had promisedthem not only what they had been asking, in Macedonia, but also theGreek territory of Epirus. This treaty was concealed from thoseBulgarian leaders who still held to Russia, and on the 5th of OctoberBulgaria formally entered into war on the side of Germany, and began anattack on Serbia.

The full account of the intrigue which led to this action has never beentold. It is not improbable that King Ferdinand himself never had anyother idea than to act as he did, but he dissembled for a long time. Heset forth his claims in detail to the Allies, who used every effort toinduce Roumania, Greece and Serbia to make the concessions that would benecessary. Such concessions were made, but not until it was too late. Ina telegram from Milan dated September 24th, an account is given of aninterview between Czar Ferdinand and a committee from those Bulgarianswho were opposed to the King's policy.

"Mind your own head. I shall mind mine!" are the words which the Kingspoke to M. Stambulivski when he received the five opposition memberswho had come to warn him of the danger to which he was exposing himselfand the nation.

The five members were received by the King in the red room at the RoyalPalace and chairs had been placed for them around a big table. The Kingentered the room, accompanied by Prince Boris, the heir apparent, andhis secretary, M. Boocovitch.

"Be seated, gentlemen," said the King, as he sat down himself, as if fora very quiet talk. His secretary took a seat at the table, a littleapart to take notes, but the conversation immediately became so heatedand rapid that he was unable to write it down.

The first to speak was M. Malinoff, leader of the Democratic party, whosaid: "The policy adopted by the Government is one of adventure, tendingto throw Bulgaria into the arms of Germany, and driving her to attackSerbia. This policy is contrary to the aspirations, feeling andinterests of the country, and if the Government obstinately continues inthis way it will provoke disturbances of the greatest gravity." It wasthe first allusion to the possibility of a revolution, but the Kinglistened without flinching. M. Malinoff concluded: "For these reasons webeg your Majesty, after having vainly asked the Government, to convokethe Chamber immediately, and we ask this convocation for the preciseobject of saving the country from dangerous adventures by the formationof a coalition Ministry."

The King remained silent, and, with a nod, invited M. Stambulivski tospeak. M. Stambulivski was a leader of the Agrarian party, a man ofsturdy, rustic appearance, accustomed to speak out his mind boldly, andexceedingly popular among the peasant population. He grew up himself asa peasant, and wore the laborer's blouse up till very recently. He stoodup and looking the King straight in the face said in resolute tones: "Inthe name of every farmer in Bulgaria I add to what M. Malinoff has justsaid, that the Bulgarian people hold you personally responsible morethan your Government, for the disastrous adventure of 1913. If asimilar adventure were to be repeated now its gravity this time would beirreparable. The responsibility would once more fall on your policy,which is contrary to the welfare of our country, and the nation wouldnot hesitate to call you personally to account. That there may be nomistake as to the real wishes of the country I present to your Majestymy country's demand in writing."

He handed the King a letter containing the resolution voted by theAgrarians. The King read it and then turned to M. Zanoff, leader of theRadical Democrats, and asked him to speak. M. Zanoff did so, speakingvery slowly and impressively, and also looking the King straight in theface: "Sire, I had sworn never again to set foot inside your palace, andif I come today it is because the interests of my country are abovepersonal questions, and have compelled me. Your Majesty may read what Ihave to say in this letter, which I submit to you in behalf of ourparty."

He handed the letter and the King read it and still remained silent.Then he said, turning to his former Prime Minister and ablestpolitician: "Gueshoff, it is now your turn to speak."

M. Gueshoff got up and said: "I also am fully in accord with what M.Stambulivski has just said. No matter how severe his words may have beenin their simple unpolished frankness, which ignores the ordinaryformalities of etiquette, they entirely express our unanimous opinion.We all, as representing the opposition, consider the present policy ofthe Government contrary to the sentiments and interests of the country,because by driving it to make common cause with Germany it makes us theenemies of Russia, which was our deliverer, and the adventure into whichwe are thus thrown compromises our future. We disapprove most absolutelyof such a policy, and we also ask that the Chamber be convoked, and aMinistry formed with the co-operation of all parties."

After M. Gueshoff, the former Premier, M. Daneff also spoke, andassociated himself with what had already been said.

The King remained still silent for a while, then he, also, stood up andsaid: "Gentlemen, I have listened to your threats, and will refer themto the President of the Council of Ministers, that he may know anddecide what to do."

All present bowed, and a chilly silence followed. The King had evidentlytaken the frank warning given him as a threat to him personally, and hewalked up and down nervously for a while. Prince Boris turned aside totalk with the Secretary, who had resumed taking notes. The Kingcontinued pacing to and fro, evidently very nettled. Then, approachingM. Zanoff, and as if to change the conversation, he asked him for newsabout this season's harvest.

M. Zanoff abruptly replied: "Your Majesty knows that we have not comehere to talk about the harvest, but of something far more important atpresent, namely, the policy of your Government, which is on the point ofruining our country. We can on no account approve the policy that isanti-Russian. If the Crown and M. Radoslavoff persist in their policywe shall not answer for the consequences. We have not desired to seekout those responsible for the disaster of 1913, because other graveevents have been precipitated. But it was a disaster due to criminalfolly. It must not be repeated by an attack on Serbia by Bulgaria, asseems contemplated by M. Radoslavoff, and which according to allappearances, has the approval of your Majesty. It would be apremeditated crime, and deserve to be punished."

The King hesitated a moment, and then held out his hand to M. Zanoff,saying: "All right. At all events I thank you for your frankness." Then,approaching M. Stambulivski, he repeated to him his question about theharvest.

M. Stambulivski, as a simple peasant, at first allowed himself to be ledinto a discussion of this secondary matter, and had expressed the hopethat the prohibition on the export of cereals would be removed, when hesuddenly remembered, and said: "But this is not the moment to speak ofthese things. I again repeat to your Majesty that the country does notwant a policy of adventure which cost it so dear in 1913. It was yourown policy too. Before 1913 we thought you were a great diplomatist, butsince then we have seen what fruits your diplomacy bears. You tookadvantage of all the loopholes in the Constitution to direct the countryaccording to your own views. Your Ministers are nothing. You alone arethe author of this policy and you will have to bear the responsibility."

The King replied frigidly, "The policy which I have decided to follow isthat which I consider the best for the welfare of the country."

"It is a policy which will only bring misfortune," replied the sturdyAgrarian. "It will lead to fresh catastrophes, and compromise not onlythe future of our country, but that of your dynasty, and may cost youyour head."

It was as bold a saying as ever was uttered before a King, and Ferdinandlooked astonished at the peasant who was thus speaking to him. He said,"Do not mind my head; it is already old. Rather mind your own!" headded with a disdainful smile, and turned away.

M. Stambulivski retorted: "My head matters little, Sire. What mattersmore is the good of our country."

The King paid no more attention to him, and took M. Gueshoff and M.Danoff apart, who again insisted on convoking the Chamber, and assuredhim that M. Radoslavoff's government would be in a minority. They alsoreferred to the Premier's oracular utterances.

"Ah!" said the King. "Has Radoslavoff spoken to you, and what has hesaid?"

"He has said—" replied the leaders, "that Bulgaria would march withGermany and attack Serbia."

The King made a vague gesture, and then said: "Oh, I did not know."

This incident throws a strong light upon the conflict which was going onin the Balkan states, between those Kings who were of German origin, andwho believed in the German power, and their people who loved Russia.King Ferdinand got his warning. He did not listen, and he lost histhrone. All this, however, took place before the Bulgarian declarationof war. Yet much had already shown what King Ferdinand was about to do.The Allies, to be sure, were incredulous, and were doing their best tocultivate the good will of the treacherous King, On September 23rd theofficial order was given for Bulgaria's mobilization. She, however,officially declared that her position was that of armed neutrality andthat she had no aggressive intentions. As it has developed, she wasacting under the direction of the German High Command.

It was at this period that Germany had failed to crash Russia in thestruggle on the Vilna, and, in accordance with her usual strategy whenone plan failed, another was undertaken. It seemed to her, therefore,that the punishment of Serbia would make up for other failures, andmoreover would enable her to assist Turkey, which needed munitions,besides releasing for Germany supplies of food and other material whichmight come from Turkey.

They therefore entrusted an expedition against Serbia to Field Marshalvon Mackensen, and had begun to gather an army for that purpose, northof the Danube.

This army of course was mainly composed of Austrian troops, but wasstiffened throughout by some of the best regiments from the German army.To assist this new army they counted upon Bulgaria, with whom they hadalready a secret treaty, and in spite of the falsehoods issued fromSofia, the Bulgarian mobilization was meant for an attack on Serbia. Thecondition of affairs was well understood in Russia.

On October 2, 1915, M. Sazonov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs,issued the following statement: "The situation in the Balkans is verygrave. The whole Russian nation is aroused by the unthinkable treacheryof Ferdinand and his Government to the Slavic cause. Bulgaria owes herindependence to Russia, and yet seems willing now to become a vassal ofRussia's enemies. In her attitude towards Serbia, when Serbia isfighting for her very existence, Bulgaria puts herself in the class withTurkey. We do not believe that the Bulgarian people sympathize with theaction of their ruler therefore, the Allies are disposed to give themtime for reflection. If they persist in their present treacherous coursethey must answer to Russia." The next day the following ultimatum fromRussia was handed the Bulgarian Prime Minister:

Events which are taking place in Bulgaria at this moment give
evidence of the definite decision of King Ferdinand's Government to
place the fate of its country in the hands of Germany. The presence
of German and Austrian officers at the Ministry of War and on the
staffs of the army, the concentration of troops in the zone
bordering on Serbia, and the extensive financial support accepted
from her enemies by the Sofia Cabinet, no longer leave any doubt as
to the object of the present military preparations of Bulgaria. The
powers of the Entente, who have at heart the realization of the
aspirations of the Bulgarian people, have on many occasions warned
M. Radoslavoff that any hostile act against Serbia would be
considered as directed against themselves. The assurances given by
the head of the Bulgarian Cabinet in reply to these warnings are
contradicted by facts. The representative of Russia, bound to
Bulgaria by the imperishable memory of her liberation from the
Turkish yoke, cannot sanction by his presence preparations for
fratricidal aggression against a Slav and allied people. The
Russian Minister has, therefore, received orders to leave Bulgaria
with all the staffs of the Legation and the Consulates if the
Bulgarian Government does not within twenty-four hours openly break
with the enemies of the Slav cause and of Russia, and does not at
once proceed to send away the officers belonging to the armies of
states who are at war with the powers of the Entente.

Similar ultimatums were presented by representatives of France and GreatBritain. Bulgaria's reply to these ultimatums was described as bold tothe verge of insolence. In substance she denied that German officerswere on the staffs of Bulgarian armies, but said that if they werepresent that fact concerned only Bulgaria, which reserved the right toinvite whomsoever she liked. The Bulgarian Government then issued amanifesto to the nation, announcing its decision to enter the war on theside of the Central Powers. The manifesto reads as follows:

The Central Powers have promised us parts of Serbia, creating an
Austro-Hungarian border line, which is absolutely necessary for
Bulgaria's independence of the Serbians. We do not believe in the
promises of the Quadruple Entente. Italy, one of the Allies,
treacherously broke her treaty of thirty-three years. We believe in
Germany, which is fighting the whole world to fulfill her treaty
with Austria. Bulgaria must fight at the victor's side. The Germans
and Austro-Hungarians are victorious on all fronts. Russia soon
will have collapsed entirely. Then will come the turn of France.
Italy and Serbia. Bulgaria would commit suicide if she did not
fight on the side of the Central Powers, which offer the only
possibility of realizing her desire for a union of all Bulgarian
peoples.

The manifesto also stated that Russia was fighting for Constantinopleand the Dardanelles; Great Britain to destroy Germany's competition;France for Alsace and Lorraine, and the other allies to rob foreigncountries; the Central Powers were declared to be fighting to defendproperty and assure peaceful progress. The manifesto filled sevencolumns in the newspapers, and discussed at some length Bulgaria's tradeinterests. It attacked Serbia most bitterly, declaring that Serbia hadoppressed the Bulgarian population of Macedonia in a most barbarousmanner; that she had attacked Bulgarian territory and that the Bulgariantroops had been forced to fight for the defense of their own soil. Infact it was written in quite the usual German manner.

Long before this M. Venizelos, the Greek Premier, had perceived what wascoming. Greece was bound by treaty to assist Serbia if she were attackedby Bulgaria. On September 21st, Venizelos asked France and Britain for ahundred and fifty thousand troops. On the 24th, the Allies agreed tothis and Greece at once began to mobilize. His policy was received withgreat enthusiasm in the Greek Chamber, and former Premier Gounaris, amidapplause, expressed his support of the government.

On October 6th an announcement from Athens stated that Premier Venizeloshad resigned, the King having informed him that he was unable to supportthe policy of his Minister. King Constantine was a brother-in-law of theGerman Emperor, and although professing neutrality he had steadilyopposed M. Venizelos' policy. He had once before forced M. Venizelos'resignation, but at the general elections which followed, the Greekstatesman was returned to power by a decisive majority.

Intense indignation was caused by the King's action, though the King wasable to procure the support of a considerable party. Venizelos'resignation was precipitated by the landing of the Allied troops inSaloniki. They had come at the invitation of Venizelos, but theopposition protested against the occupation of Greek territory byforeign troops. After a disorderly session in which Venizelos explainedto the Chamber of Deputies the circ*mstances connected with the landing,the Chamber passed a vote of confidence in the Government by 142 to 102.The substance of his argument may be found in his conclusion:

"We have a treaty with Serbia. If we are honest we will leave nothingundone to insure its fulfillment in letter and spirit. Only if we arerogues may we find excuses to avoid our obligations."

Upon his first resignation M. Zaimis was appointed Premier, and declaredfor a policy of armed neutrality. This position was sharply criticisedby Venizelos, but for a time became the policy of the Greek Government.Meantime the Allied troops were arriving at Saloniki. On October 3d,seventy thousand French troops arrived. A formal protest was made by theGreek commandant, who then directed the harbor officials to assist inarranging the landing. In a short time the Allied forces amounted to ahundred and fifty thousand men, but the German campaign was movingrapidly.

The German Balkan army captured Belgrade on the 9th of October, and bythat date two Bulgarian armies were on the Serbian frontier. Serbiafound herself opposed by two hundred thousand Austro-Germans and aquarter of a million Bulgarians. Greece and Roumania fully mobilized andwere watching the conflict, and the small allied contingent at Salonikiwas preparing to march inland to the aid of Serbia.

The conduct of Greece on this occasion has led to universal criticism.The King himself, no doubt, was mainly moved by his German wife and theinfluence of his Imperial brother-in-law. Those that were associatedwith him were probably moved by fear. They had been much impressed bythe strength of the German armies. They had seen the success of thegreat German offensive in Russia, while the French and British werebeing held in the West. They knew, too, the strength of Bulgaria. Thenational characteristic of the Greeks is prudence, and it cannot bedenied that there was great reason to suppose that the armies of Greecewould not be able to resist the new attack. With these views Venizelos,the greatest statesman that Greece had produced for many years, did notagree, and the election seemed to show that he was supported by themajority of the Greek people.

This was another case where the Allies, faced by a dangerous situation,were acting with too great caution. In Gallipoli they had failed,because at the very beginning they had not used their full strength.Now, again, knowing as they did all that depended upon it, bound as theywere to the most loyal support of Serbia, the aid they sent was toosmall to be more than a drop in the bucket. It must be remembered,however, that the greatest leaders among the Allies were at all timesopposed to in any way scattering their strength. They believed that thewar was to be won in France. Military leaders in particular yieldedunder protest to the political leaders when expeditions of thischaracter were undertaken.

Certainly this is true, that the world believed that Serbia had a rightto Allied assistance. The gallant little nation was fighting for herlife, and public honor demanded that she should be aided. It was thisstrong feeling that led to the action that was taken, in spite of themilitary opinions. It was, however, too late.

In the second week of October Serbia found herself faced by an enemywhich was attacking her on three sides. She herself had been greatlyweakened. Her losses in 1914, when she had driven Austria from herborder, must have been at least two hundred thousand men. She hadsuffered from pestilence and famine. Her strength now could not havebeen more than two hundred thousand, and though she was fairly wellsupplied with munitions, she was so much outnumbered that she couldhardly hope for success. On her west she was facing the Austro-Germanarmies; on her east Bulgaria; on the south Albania. Her source ofsupplies was Saloniki and this was really her only hope. If the Alliesat Saloniki could stop the Bulgarian movement, the Serbians might faceagain the Austro-Germans. They expected this help from the Allies.

At Nish the town was decorated and the school children waited outsidethe station with bouquets to present to the coming reinforcements. Butthe Allies did not come.

Von Mackensen's plan was simple enough. His object was to win a way toConstantinople. This could be done either by the control of the Danubeor the Ottoman Railroad. To control the Danube he had to seizenortheastern Serbia for the length of the river. This was comparativelyeasy and would give him a clear water way to the Bulgarian railwaysconnected with Constantinople. The Ottoman railway was a harder routeto win. It meant an advance to the southeast, which would clear theMoravo valley up to Nish, and then the Nishava valley up to Bulgaria.The movements involved were somewhat complex, but easily carried out onaccount of the very great numerical superiority of von Mackensen'sforces.

On September 19th Belgrade was bombarded. The Serbian positions weregradually destroyed. On the 7th of October the German armies crossed theDanube, and on the 8th the Serbians began to retreat. There was greatdestruction in Belgrade and the Bulgarian General, Mish*tch, was forcedslowly back to the foothills of the Tser range.

For a time von Mackensen moved slowly. He did not wish to drive theSerbians too far south. On the 12th of October the Bulgarian army beganits attack. At first it was held, but by October 17th was pushingforward all along the line. On the 20th they entered Uskub, a centralpoint of all the routes of southern Serbia. This practically separatedthe Allied forces at Saloniki from the Serbian armies further north.Disaster followed disaster. On Tuesday, October 26th, a junction ofBulgarian and Austro-German patrols was completed in the Dobravodomountains. General von Gallwitz announced that a moment of worldsignificance had come, that the "Orient and Occident had been united,and on the basis of this firm and indissoluble union a new and mightyvierbund comes into being, created by the victory of our arms."

The road from Germany, through Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria to Turkeylay open. On October 31st, Milanovac was lost, and on November 2nd,Kraguyevac surrendered, the decisive battle of the war. On November7th, Nish was captured. General Jecoff announced: "After fierce andsanguinary fighting the fortress of Nish has been conquered by our bravevictorious troops and the Bulgarian flag has been hoisted to remainforever."

The Serbian army continued steadily to retreat, until on November 8th,advancing Franco-British troops almost joined with them, presenting aline from Prilep to Dorolovo on the Bulgarian frontier. At this time theBulgarian army suffered a defeat at Izvor, and also at Strumitza. TheAllied armies were now reported to number three hundred thousand men.The Austro-Germans by this time had reached the mountainous region ofSerbia, and were meeting with strong resistance.

On November 13th, German despatches from the front claimed the captureof 54,000 Serbian prisoners. The aged King Peter of Serbia was in fullflight, followed by the Crown Prince. The Serbians, however, were stillfighting and on November 15th, made a stand on the western bank of theMorava River, and recaptured the town of Tatova.

At this time the Allied world was watching the Serbian struggle withinterest and sympathy. In the House of Lords, Lord Lansdowne in adiscussion of the English effort to give them aid said: "It isimpossible to think or speak of Serbia without a tribute to the wondrousgallantry with which that little country withstood two separateinvasions, and has lately been struggling against a third. She repelledthe first two invasions by an effort which I venture to think formed oneof the most glorious chapters in the history of this Great War."

Serbia, however, was compelled once more to retreat, and their retreatsoon became a rout. Their guns were abandoned and the roads were strewnwith fainting, starving men. The sufferings of the Serbian people duringthis time are indescribable. Men, women, and children struggled along inthe wake of the armies without food or shelter. King Peter himself wasable to escape, with the greatest difficulty. By traveling on horsebackand mule back in disguise he finally reached Scutari and crossed toBrindisi and finally arrived at Saloniki on New Year's Day, crippled andalmost blind, but still full of fight.

"I believe," he said, "in the liberty of Serbia, as I believe in God. Itwas the dream of my youth. It was for that I fought throughout manhood.It has become the faith of the twilight of my life, I live only to seeSerbia free. I pray that God may let me live until the day of redemptionof my people. On that day I am ready to die, if the Lord wills. I havestruggled a great deal in my life, and am tired, bruised and broken fromit, but I will see, I shall see, this triumph. I shall not die beforethe victory of my country."

The Serbian army had been driven out of Serbia. But the Allies who hadcome up from Saloniki were still unbeaten. On October 12th, the FrenchGeneral Serrail arrived and moved with the French forces, as has alreadybeen said, to the Serbian aid. They met with a number of successes. OnOctober 19th they seized the Bulgarian town of Struminitza, andoccupied strong positions on the left bank of the Vardar. On October27th they occupied Krivolak, with the British Tenth Division, which hadjoined them on their right. They then occupied the summit ofKarahodjali, which commanded the whole section of the valley. This theBulgarians attacked in force on the 5th of November, but were badlyrepulsed. They then attempted to move toward Babuna Pass, twenty-fivemiles west of Krivolak, where they hoped to join hands with the Serbiancolumn at that point.

They were being faced by a Bulgarian army numbering one hundred andtwenty-five thousand men, and found themselves in serious danger. Theywere compelled to fall back into what is called the "Entrenched Camp ofKavodar" without bringing the aid to the Serbian army that they hadhoped. The Allied expedition to aid Serbia had failed. It was hopelessfrom the start, and, if anything, had injured Serbia by raising falseexpectations which had interfered with their plans.

During the whole of this disastrous campaign a desperate politicalstruggle was going on in Greece. On November 3rd, the Zaimis Cabinettendered its resignation to King Constantine. The trouble was over abill for extra pay to army officers, but it led to an elaboratediscussion of the Greek war policy, M. Venizelos made two long speechesdefending his policy, and condemning the policy of his opponents inregard to the Balkan situation. He said that he deplored the fact thatSerbia was being left to be crushed by Bulgaria, Greece's hereditaryenemy, who would not scruple later to fall on Greece herself. He spokeof the King in a friendly way, criticizing, however, his position. Hehad been twice removed from the Premiership, although he had a majoritybehind him in the Greek Chamber.

"Our State," he said, "is a democracy, presided over by the King, andthe whole responsibility rests with the Cabinet. I admit that the Crownhas a right to disagree with the responsible Government if he thinks thelatter is not in agreement with the national will. But after the recentelection, non-agreement is out of the question, and now the Crown hasnot the right to disagree again on the same question. It is not aquestion of patriotism but of constitutional liberty."

When the vote was taken the Government was defeated by 147 to 114.Instead of appointing Venizelos Premier, King Constantine gave theposition to M. Skouloudis, and then dissolved the Greek Chamber by royaldecree. Premier Skouloudis declared his policy to be neutrality with thecharacter of sincerest benevolence toward the Entente Powers. Thegeneral conditions at Athens during this whole time were causing greatanxiety in the Allied capitals, and the Allied expedition were incontinual fear of an attack in the rear in case of reverse. Theyendeavored to obtain satisfactory assurances on this point, and whileassurances were given, during the whole period of King Constantine'sreign aggressive action was prevented because of the doubt as to whatcourse King Constantine would take.

In the end Constantine was compelled to abdicate. Venizelos becamePremier, and Greece formally declared war on the Central Powers.

It was not till August 27th, 1916, that Roumania cast aside her rôle ofneutral and entered the war with a declaration of hostilities onAustria-Hungary. Great expectations were founded upon the supposedlywell-trained Roumanian army and upon the nation which, because of itsalertness and discipline, was known as "the policeman of Europe." Thebelief was general in Paris and London that the weight of men andmaterial thrown into the scale by Roumania would bring the to a speedy,victorious end.

Germany, however, was confident. A spy system excelling in its detailedreports anything that had heretofore been attempted, made smooth thepath of the German army. Scarcely had the Roumanian army launched adrive in force into Transylvania on August 30th, when the message spreadfrom Bucharest "von Mackensen is coming. Recall the army. Draft allmales of military age. Prepare for the worst."

And the worst fell upon hapless Roumania. A vast force of militaryengineers moving like a human screen in front of von Mackensen's array,followed routes carefully mapped out by German spies during the periodof Roumanians neutrality. Military bridges, measured to the inch, hadbeen prepared to carry cannon, material and men over streams andravines. Every Roumanian oil well, mine and storehouse had been locatedand mapped. German scientists had studied Roumanian weather conditionsand von Mackensen attacked while the roads were at their best and theweather most favorable. As the Germans swept forward, spies met themgiving them military information of the utmost value. A swarm ofairplanes spied out the movements of the Roumanians and no Roumanianairplanes rose to meet them.

General von Falkenhayn, co-operating with von Mackensen, smashed his waythrough Vulkan Pass, and cut the main line running to Bucharest atCraiova. The Dobrudja region was over-run and the central Roumanianplain was swept clear of all Roumanian opposition to the German advance.The seat of government transferred from Bucharest to Jassy on November28, 1916, and on December 6th Bucharest was entered by von Mackensen,definitely putting an end to Roumania as a factor in the war.

The result of the fall of Roumania was to release immense stores ofpetroleum for German use. British and Roumanian engineers had donetheir utmost by the use of explosives to make useless the greatRoumanian oil wells, but German engineers soon the precious fluid infull flow. This furnished the fuel which Germany had long and ardentlydesired. The oil-burning submarine now came into its own. It waspossible to plan a great fleet of submersibles to attempt execution ofvon Tirpitz's plan for unrestricted submarine warfare. This was decidedupon by the German High Command, the day Bucharest fell. It was realizedthat such a policy would bring the United States into the war, but theKaiser and his advisers hoped the submarine on sea and a great westernfront offensive on land would force a decision in favor of Germanybefore America could get ready. How that hope failed was revealed atChâteau-Thierry and in the humiliation of Germany.

CHAPTER VII

CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA

In our previous discussion of the British campaign in Mesopotamia weleft the British forces intrenched at Kurna, and also occupying Basra,the port of Bagdad. The object of the Mesopotamia Expedition wasprimarily to keep the enemy from the shores of the Gulf of Persia. Ifthe English had been satisfied with that, the misfortune which was tocome to them might never have occurred, but the whole expedition wasessentially political rather than military in its nature.

The British were defending India. The Germans, unable to attack theBritish Empire by sea, were hoping to attack her by land. They hadalready attempted to stir up a Holy War with the full expectation thatit would lead to an Indian revolution. In this they had failed, for themillions of Mohammedans in India cared little for the Turkish Sultan orhis proclamations. Through Bagdad, however, they hoped to strike a blowat the English influence on the Persian Gulf. The English, therefore,felt strongly that it was not enough to sit safely astride the Tigris,but that a blow at Bagdad would produce a tremendous political effect.It would practically prevent German communication with Persia, and theIndian frontier.

As a matter of fact the Persian Gulf and the oil fields were safe solong as the English held Kurna and Basra, and the Arabs were of nospecial consequence. The real reason for the expedition was probablythat about this time matters were moving badly for the Allies. Serbiawas in trouble in the Balkans, Gallipoli was a failure, something itseemed ought to be done to restore the British prestige. Up to this timethe Mesopotamia Expedition had been a great success, but it had made nogreat impression on the world. The little villages in the hands of theBritish had unknown names, but if Bagdad should be captured GreatBritain would have something to boast of; something would keep up itsprestige among its Mohammedan subjects.

Before the expedition to Bagdad was determined on, there had beenseveral lively fights between the English forces and the Turks. On March3d a Turkish force numbering about twelve thousand appeared at Ahwazwhere the British had placed a small garrison to protect the pipe lineof the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The British retirement led to heavyfighting, with severe losses.

A number of lively skirmishes followed, and then the serious attackagainst Shaiba. The Turkish army numbered about eighteen thousand men,of whom eleven thousand were regulars. The fighting lasted for severaldays, the Turks being reinforced. On the 14th of April, however, theEnglish attacked in turn and put the whole enemy force to flight. TheBritish lost about seven hundred officers and men, reported a Turkishloss of about six thousand. In their retreat the Turks were attacked bytheir Arab allies, and suffered additional losses. From that time tillsummer there were no serious contests, although there were occasionalskirmishes which turned out favorably to the British.

By this time the Turks had collected a considerable army north of Kurna,and on May 31st an expedition was made to disperse it. On June 3d theBritish captured Amara, seventy-five miles above Kurna, scattering theTurkish army. Early in July a similar expedition was sent againstNasiriyeh, which led to serious fighting, the Turks being badly defeatedwith a loss of over two thousand five hundred men.

Kut-el-Amara still remained, and early in August an expedition wasdirected against that point. The Turks were found in great force, wellintrenched, and directed by German officers. The battle lasted for fourdays. The English suffered great hardship on account of the scarcity ofwater and the blinding heat, but on September 29th they drove the enemyfrom the city and took possession. More than two thousand prisoners weretaken. The town was found thoroughly fortified, with an elaboratesystem of trenches extending for miles, built in the true Germanfashion. Its capture was the end of the summer campaign.

The British now had at last made up their minds to push on to Bagdad.General Townshend, whose work so far had been admirable, protested, butSir John Nixon, and the Indian military authorities, were strongly infavor of the expedition. By October, Turkey was able to gather a largearmy. She was fighting in Transcaucasia, Egypt, Gallipoli andMesopotamia. Little was going on in the first three of these fronts,and she was able therefore to send to Mesopotamia almost a quarter of amillion men.

To meet these, General Townshend had barely fifteen thousand men, ofwhom only one-third were white soldiers. He was backed by a flotilla ofboats of almost every kind,—river boats, motor launches, paddlesteamers, native punts. The British army was almost worn out by thefighting during the intense heat of the previous summer. But theirsuccess had given them confidence.

In the early days of October the advance began. For some days itproceeded with no serious fighting. On the 23d of October it reachedAzizie, and was halted by a Turkish force numbering about four thousand.These were soon routed, and the advance continued until GeneralTownshend arrived at Lajj, about seven miles from Ctesiphon, where theTurks were found heavily intrenched and in great numbers. Ctesiphon wasa famous old city which had been the battle ground of Romans andParthians, but was now mainly ruins. In these ruins, however, the Turksfound admirable shelter for nests of machine guns. On the 21st ofNovember General Townshend made his attack.

The Turks occupied two lines of intrenchments, and had about twentythousand men, the English about twelve thousand. General Townshend'splan was to divide his army into three columns. The first was to attackthe center of the first Turkish position. A second was directed at theleft of that position, and a third was to swing widely around and comein on the rear of the Turkish force. This plan was entirely successful,but the Turkish army was not routed, and retreated fighting desperatelyto its second line. There it was reinforced and counter-attacked withsuch vigor that it drove the British back to its old first trenches. Thenext day the Turks were further reinforced and attacked again. TheBritish drove them back over and over, but found themselves unable toadvance. The Turks had lost enormously but the English had lost aboutone-third of their strength, and were compelled to fall back. Theytherefore returned on the 26th to Lajj, and ultimately, after continualrear guard actions, to Kut. There they found themselves surrounded, andthere was nothing to do but to wait for help. By this time the eyes ofthe world were upon the beleaguered British army. Help was being hurriedto them from India, but Germany also was awake and Marshal von DerGoltz, who had been military instructor in the Turkish army, was sentdown to take command of the Turkish forces. The town of Kut lies in theloop of the Tigris, making it almost an island. There was an intrenchedline across the neck of land on the north, and the place could resistany ordinary assault. The great difficulty was one of supplies. However,as the relieving force was on the way, no great anxiety was felt. Forsome days there was constant bombardment, which did no great damage. Onthe 23d an attempt was made to carry the place by assault, but this toofailed. The relieving force, however, was having its troubles. Thesewere the days of floods, and progress was slow and at times almostimpossible. Moreover, the Turks were constantly resisting.

The relief expedition was composed of thirty thousand Indian troops, twoAnglo-Indian divisions, and the remnants of Townshend's expedition, atotal of about ninety thousand men. General Sir Percy Lake was incommand of the entire force. The march began on January 6th. By January8th the British had reached Sheikh Saad, where the Turks were defeatedin two pitched battles. On January 22d he had arrived at Umm-el-Hanna,where the Turks had intrenched themselves.

After artillery bombardment the Turkish positions were attacked, butheavy rains had converted the ground into a sea of mud, rendering rapidmovement impossible. The enemy's fire was heavy and effective,inflicting severe losses, and though every effort was made, the assaultfailed.

For days the British troops bivouacked in driving rain on soaked andsodden ground. Three times they were called upon to advance over aperfectly flat country, deep in mud, and absolutely devoid of coveragainst well-constructed and well-planned trenches, manned by a braveand stubborn enemy, approximately their equal in numbers. They showed aspirit of endurance and self-sacrifice of which their country may wellbe proud.

But the repulse at Hanna did not discourage the British army. It wasdecided to move up the left bank of the Tigris and attack the Turkishposition at the Dujailah redoubt. This meant a night march across thedesert with great danger that there would be no water supply and that,unless the enemy was routed, the army would be in great danger.

General Lake says: "On the afternoon of March 7th, General Aylmerassembled his subordinate commanders and gave his final instructions,laying particular stress on the fact that the operation was designed toeffect a surprise, and that to prevent the enemy forestalling us, it wasessential that the first phase of the operation should be pushed throughwith the utmost vigor. His dispositions were, briefly, as follows: Thegreater part of a division under General Younghusband, assisted by navalgunboats, controlled the enemy on the left bank. The remaining troopswere formed into two columns, under General Kemball and General Kearyrespectively, a reserve of infantry, and the cavalry brigade, being heldat the Corps Commander's own disposal. Kemball's column covered on theouter flank by the cavalry brigade was to make a turning movement toattack the Dujailah redoubt from the south, supported by the remainderof the force, operating from a position to the east of the redoubt. Thenight march by this large force, which led across the enemy's front to aposition on his right flank, was a difficult operation, entailingmovement over unknown ground, and requiring most careful arrangement toattain success."

Thanks to excellent staff work and good march discipline the troopsreached their allotted position apparently undiscovered by the enemy,but while Keary's column was in position at daybreak, ready to supportKemball's attack, the latter's command did not reach the point selectedfor its deployment in the Dujailah depression until more than an hourlater. This delay was highly prejudicial to the success of theoperation.

When, nearly three hours later, Kemball's troops advanced to the attack,they were strongly opposed by the enemy from trenches cleverly concealedin the brushwood, and were unable to make further ground for some time,though assisted by Keary's attack upon the redoubt from the east. Thesouthern attack was now reinforced, and by 1 P.M. had pushed forward towithin five hundred yards of the redoubt, but concealed trenches againstopped further progress and the Turks made several counter-attacks withreinforcements which had by now arrived from the direction of Magasis.

It was about this time that the Corps Commander received from hisengineer officers the unwelcome news that the water supply contained inrain-water pools and in Dujailah depression, upon which he had reckoned,was insufficient and could not be increased by digging. It was clear,therefore, that unless the Dujailah redoubt could be carried that daythe scarcity of water would, of itself, compel the troops to fall back.Preparations were accordingly made for a further assault on the redoubt,and attacks were launched from the south and east under cover of a heavybombardment.

The attacking forces succeeded in gaining a foothold in the redoubt. Buthere they were heavily counter-attacked by large enemy reinforcements,and being subjected to an extremely rapid and accurate shrapnel firefrom concealed guns in the vicinity of Sinn After, they were forced tofall back to the position from which they started. The troops who hadbeen under arms for some thirty hours, including a long night march,were now much exhausted, and General Aylmer considered that a renewal ofthe assault during the night could not be made with any prospect ofsuccess. Next morning the enemy's position was found to be unchanged andGeneral Aylmer, finding himself faced with the deficiency of orderalready referred to, decided upon the immediate withdrawal of his troopsto Wadi, which was reached the same night.

For the next month the English were held in their positions by theTigris floods. On April 4th the floods had sufficiently receded topermit of another attack upon Umm-el-Hanna, which this time wassuccessful. On April 8th the Turkish position at Sanna-i-yat wasattacked, but the English were repulsed. They then determined to makeanother attempt to capture the Sinn After redoubt. On April 17th thefort of Beit-Aiessa, four miles from Es Sinn, on the left bank, wascaptured after heavy bombardment, and held against seriouscounter-attacks. On the 20th and 21st the Sanna-i-yat position wasbombarded and a vigorous assault was made, which met with some success.The Turks, however, delivered a strong counter-attack, and succeeded inforcing the British troops back.

General Lake says: "Persistent and repeated attempts on both banks havethus failed, and it was known that at the outside not more than sixdays' supplies remained to the Kut garrison. The British troops werenearly worn out. The same troops had advanced time and again to assaultpositions strong by art and held by a determined enemy. For eighteenconsecutive days they had done all that men could do to overcome, notonly the enemy, but also exceptional climatic and physical obstacles,and this on a scale of rations which was far from being sufficient inview of the exertions they had undergone but which the shortage of rivertransports, had made it impossible to augment. The need for rest wasimperative."

On April 28th the British garrison at Kut-el-Amara surrenderedunconditionally, after a heroic resistance of a hundred and forty-threedays. According to British figures the surrendered army was composed of2,970 English and 6,000 Indian troops. The Turkish figures are 13,300.The Turks also captured a large amount of booty, although GeneralTownshend destroyed most of his guns and munitions.

During the period in which Kut-el-Amara was besieged by the Turks, theBritish troops had suffered much. The enemy bombarded the town almostevery day, but did little damage. The real foe was starvation. At firstthe British were confident that a relief expedition would soon reachthem, and they amused themselves by cricket and hockey and fishing inthe river. By early February, however, it was found necessary to reducethe rations, and a month later they were suffering from hunger. Somelittle help was given them by airplanes, which brought tobacco and somesmall quantities of supplies. Soon the horses and the mules wereslaughtered and eaten. As time went on the situation grew desperate;till almost the end, however, they did not lose hope. Through thewireless they were informed about the progress of the relief expeditionsand had even heard their guns in the distance. They gradually grew,however, weaker and weaker, so that on the surrender the troops in thefirst lines were too weak to march back with their kits.

The Turks treated the prisoners in a chivalric manner; food and tobaccowas at once distributed, and all were interned in Anatolia, exceptGeneral Townshend and his staff, who were taken to Constantinople. Lateron it was General Townshend who was to have the honor of carrying theTurkish plea for an armistice in the closing days of the war.

The surrender of Kut created a world-wide sensation. The loss of eightthousand troops was, of course, not a serious matter, and the road toIndia was still barred, but the moral effect was most unfortunate. Thatthe great British nation, whose power had been so respected in theOrient, should now be forced to yield, was a great blow to its prestige.In England, of course, there was a flood of criticism. It was very plainthat a mistake had been made. A commission was appointed to inquire intothe whole business. This committee reported to Parliament on June 26,1917, and the report created a great sensation. The substance of thereport was, that while the expedition was justifiable from a politicalpoint of view, it was undertaken with insufficient forces and inadequatepreparation, and it sharply criticized those that were responsible.

It seems plain that the military authorities in India under-estimatedtheir opponent. The report especially criticized General Sir John EcclesNixon, the former commander of the British forces in Mesopotamia, whohad urged the expedition, in spite of the objection of GeneralTownshend. Others sharing the blame were the Viceroy of India, BaronHardinge, General Sir Beauchamp Duff, Commander-in-Chief of the Britishforces in India, and, in England, Major-General Sir Edmund Barrow,Military Secretary of the India office, J. Austin Chamberlain, Secretaryfor India, and the War Committee of the Cabinet. According to thereport, beside the losses incurred by the surrender more thantwenty-three thousand men were lost in the relieving expedition. Thegeneral armament and equipment were declared to be not onlyinsufficient, but not up to the standard.

In consequence of this report Mr. Chamberlain resigned as secretary forIndia. In the House of Commons, Mr. Balfour, Secretary of ForeignAffairs, supported Lord Hardinge, who, at the time of the report, wasUnder Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He declared the criticism of BaronHardinge to be grossly unjust. After some discussion the House ofCommons supported Mr. Balfour's refusal to accept Baron Hardinge'sresignation, by a vote of 176 to 81. It seems to be agreed that thecivil administration of India were not responsible for the blunders ofthe expedition. Ten years before, Lord Kitchener, after a bittercontroversy with Lord Curzon, had made the military side of the IndianGovernment free of all civilian criticism and control. The blunders herewere military blunders.

The English, of course, were not satisfied to leave the situation insuch a condition, and at once began their plans for a new attempt tocapture Bagdad. The summer campaign, however, was uneventful, though onMay 18th a band of Cossacks from the Russian armies in Persia joined theBritish camp. A few days afterwards the British army went up the Tigrisand captured the Dujailah redoubt, where they had been so badly defeatedon the 8th of March. They then approached close to Kut, but the weatherwas unsuitable, and there was now no object in capturing the city.

In August Sir Percy Lake was succeeded by Lieutenant-General SirFrederick Stanley Maude, who carefully and thoroughly proceeded toprepare for an expedition which should capture Bagdad. A dispatch fromGeneral Maude dated July 10, 1917, gives a full account of thisexpedition. It was thoroughly successful. This time with a sufficientarmy and a thorough equipment the British found no difficulties, and onFebruary 26th they captured Kut-el-Amara, not after a hard-foughtbattle, but as the result of a successful series of small engagements.The Turks kept up a steady resistance, but the British blood was up.They were remembering General Townshend's surrender, and the Turks weredriven before them in great confusion.

The capture of Kut, however, was not an object in itself, and theBritish pushed steadily on up the Tigris. The Turks occasionally made astand, but without effect. On the 28th of February the English hadarrived at Azizie, half way to Bagdad, where a halt was made. On the 5thof March the advance was renewed. The Ctesiphon position, which haddefied General Townshend, was found to be strongly intrenched, butempty. On March 7th the enemy made a stand on the River Diala, whichenters the Tigris eight miles below Bagdad. Some lively fightingfollowed, the enemy resisting four attempts to cross the Diala. However,on March 10th the British forces crossed, and were now close to Bagdad.The enemy suddenly retired and the British troops found that their mainopponent was a dust storm. The enemy retired beyond Bagdad, and on March11th the city was occupied by the English.

The fall of Bagdad was an important event. It cheered the Allies, andproved, especially to the Oriental world, the power of the British army.Those who originally planned its capture had been right, but those whowere to carry out the plan had not done their duty. Under General Maudeit was a comparatively simple operation, though full of admirabledetails, and it produced all the good effects expected. The British, ofcourse, did not stop at Bagdad. The city itself is not of strategicimportance. The surrounding towns were occupied and an endeavor was madeto conciliate the inhabitants. The real object of the expedition wasattained.

CHAPTER VIII

IMMORTAL VERDUN

France was revealed to herself, to Germany and to the world as theheroic defender of civilization, as a defender defying death in thevictory of Verdun. There, with the gateway to Paris lying open at itsback, the French army, in the longest pitched battle in all history,held like a cold blue rock against the uttermost man power and resourcesof the German army.

General von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff and militarydictator of the Teutonic allies, there met disaster and disgrace. Therethe mettle of the Crown Prince was tested and he was found to be merelya thing of straw, a weak creature whose mind was under the domination ofvon Falkenhayn.

For the tremendous offensive which was planned to end the war by oneterrific thrust, von Falkenhayn had robbed all the other fronts ofeffective men and munitions. Field Marshal von Hindenburg and his craftyChief of Staff, General Ludendorff, had planned a campaign againstRussia designed to put that tottering military Colossus out of the war.The plans were upon a scale that might well have proved successful. TheKaiser, influenced by the Crown Prince and by von Falkenhayn, decreedthat the Russian campaign must be postponed and that von Hindenburg mustsend his crack troops to join the army of the Crown Prince frontingVerdun. Ludendorff promptly resigned as Chief of Staff to von Hindenburgand suggested that the Field Marshal also resign. That grim old warriordeclined to take this action, preferring to remain idle in East Prussiaand watch what he predicted would be a useless effort on the westernfront. His warning to the General Staff was explicit, but von Falkenhayncoolly ignored the message.

Why did Germany select this particular point for its grand offensive?The answer is to be found in a demand made by the great Junkerassociations of Germany in May, 1915, nine months before the attack wasundertaken. That demand was to the effect that Verdun should be attackedand captured. They declared that the Verdun fortifications made amenacing salient thrust into the rich iron fields of the Briey basin.From this metalliferous field of Lorraine came the ore that suppliedeighty per cent of the steel required for German and Austrian guns andmunitions. These fields of Briey were only twenty miles from the greatguns of Verdun. They were French territory at the beginning of the warand had been seized by the army of the Crown Prince, co-operating withthe Army of Metz because of their immense value to the Germans in warmaking.

As a preliminary to the battle, von Falkenhayn placed a semicircle ofhuge howitzers and rifles around the field of Briey. Then assembling thevast forces drained from all the fronts and having erected ammunitiondumps covering many acres, the great battle commenced with a surpriseattack upon the village of Haumont on February 21, 1916.

The first victory of the Germans at that point was an easy one. Thegreat fort of Douaumont was the next objective. This was taken onFebruary 25th after a concentrated bombardment that for intensitysurpassed anything that heretofore had been shown in the war.

Von Falkenhayn, personally superintending the disposition of guns andmen, had now penetrated the outer defenses of Verdun. The tide wasrunning against the French, and shells, more shells for the guns of allcaliber; men, more men for the earthworks surrounding the devoted citywere needed. The narrow-gauge railway connecting Verdun with the greatFrench depots of supplies was totally inadequate for the transportationburdens suddenly cast upon it. In this desperate emergency a transportsystem was born of necessity, a system that saved Verdun. It was fleetupon fleet of motor trucks, all sizes, all styles; anything that couldpack a few shells or a handful of men was utilized. The backbone of thesystem was a great fleet of trucks driven by men whose average dailyrest was four hours, and upon whose horizon-blue uniforms the stains ofsnow and sleet, of dust and mud, were indelibly fixed through thewinter, spring, summer and fall of 1916, for the glorious engagementcontinued from February 21st until November 2d, when the Germans wereforced into full retreat from the field of honor, the evacuation of FortVaux putting a period to Germany's disastrous plan and to vonFalkenhayn's military career.

Lord Northcliffe, describing the early days of the immortal battle,wrote:

"Verdun is, in many ways, the most extraordinary of battles. The mass ofmetal used on both sides is far beyond all parallel; the transformationon the Douaumont Ridge was more suddenly dramatic than even the battleof the Marne; and, above all, the duration of the conflict already looksas if it would surpass anything in history. More than a month haselapsed since, by the kindness of General Joffre and General Pétain, Iwas able to watch the struggle from various vital viewpoints. The battlehad then been raging with great intensity for a fortnignt, and, as Iwrite, four to five thousand guns are still thundering round Verdun.Impossible, therefore, any man to describe the entire battle. The mostone can do is to set down one's impressions of the first phases of aterrible conflict, the end of which cannot be foreseen.

"My chief impression is one of admiration for the subtle powers of mindof the French High Command. General Joffre and General Castelnau are menwith especially fine intellects tempered to terrible keenness. Alwaysthey have had to contend against superior numbers. In 1870, when theywere subalterns, their country lost the advantage of its numerouspopulation by abandoning general military service at a time when Prussiawas completely realizing the idea of a nation in arms. In 1914, whenthey were commanders, France was inferior to a still greater degree inpoint of numbers to Prussianized Germany. In armament, France wasinferior at first to her enemy. The French High Command has thus beentrained by adversity to do all that human intellect can against almostoverwhelming hostile material forces. General Joffre, GeneralCastelnau—and, later, General Pétain, who at a moment's noticedisplaced General Herr—had to display genius where the Germans wereexhibiting talent, and the result is to be seen at Verdun. They therecaught the enemy in a series of traps of a kind hitherto unknown inmodern warfare—something elemental, and yet subtle, neo-primitive,and befitting the atavistic character of the Teuton. They caught him ina web of his own unfulfilled boasts.

"The enemy began by massing a surprising force on the western front.Tremendous energy and organizing power were the marks of his supremeefforts to obtain a decision. It was usually reckoned that the Germansmaintain on all fronts a field army of about seventy-four and a halfarmy corps, which at full strength number three million men. Yet, whileholding the Russians from Riga to the south of the Pripet Marshes, andmaintaining a show of force in the Balkans, Germany seems to havesucceeded in bringing up nearly two millions and a half of men for hergrand spring offensive in the west. At one time her forces in France andFlanders were only ninety divisions. But troops and guns were withdrawnin increasing numbers from Russia and Serbia in December, 1915, untilthere were, it is estimated, a hundred and eighteen divisions on theFranco-British-Belgian front. A large number of six-inch and twelve-inchAustrian howitzers were added to the enormous Krupp batteries. Then alarge proportion of new recruits of the 1916 class were moved intoRhine-land depots to serve as drafts for the fifty-nine army corps, andit is thought that nearly all the huge shell output that had accumulatedduring the winter was transported westward.

"The French Staff reckoned that Verdun would be attacked when the groundhad dried somewhat in the March winds. It was thought that the enemymovement would take place against the British front in some of thesectors of which there were chalk undulations, through which the rainsof winter quickly drained. The Germans skilfully encouraged this idea bymaking an apparent preliminary attack at Lions, on a five-mile frontwith rolling gas-clouds and successive waves of infantry. During thisfeint the veritable offensive movement softly began on Saturday,February 19, 1916, when the enormous masses of hostile artillery west,east, and north of the Verdun salient started registering on the Frenchpositions. Only in small numbers did the German guns fire, in order notto alarm their opponents. But even this trial bombardment by shifts wasa terrible display of power, calling forth all the energies of theoutnumbered French gunners to maintain the artillery duels thatcontinued day and night until Monday morning, February 21st.

"The enemy seems to have maintained a bombardment all round GeneralHerr's lines on February 21, 1916, but this general battering was donewith a thousand pieces of field artillery. The grand masses of heavyhowitzers were used in a different way. At a quarter past seven in themorning they concentrated on the small sector of advanced intrenchmentsnear Brabant and the Meuse; twelve-inch shells fell with terribleprecision every few yards, according to the statements made by theFrench troops. I afterwards saw a big German shell, from at least sixmiles distant from my place of observation, hit quite a small target. SoI can well believe that, in the first bombardment of French positions,which had been photographed from the air and minutely measured andregistered by the enemy gunners in the trial firing, the great,destructive shots went home with extraordinary effect. The trenches werenot bombarded—they were obliterated. In each small sector of thesix-mile northward bulge of the Verdun salient the work of destructionwas done with surprising quickness.

"After the line from Brabant to Haumont was smashed, the main fire powerwas directed against the other end of the bow at Herbebois, Ornes, andMaucourt. Then when both ends of the bow were severely hammered, thecentral point of the Verdun salient, Caures Woods, was smothered inshells of all sizes, poured in from east, north and west. In this manneralmost the whole enormous force of heavy artillery was centered uponmile after mile of the French front. When the great guns lifted over thelines of craters, the lighter field artillery placed row after row infront of the wreckage, maintained an unending fire curtain over thecommunicating saps and support intrenchments.

"Then came the second surprising feature in the new German system ofattack. No waves of storming infantry swept into the battered works.Only strong patrols at first came cautiously forward, to discover if itwere safe for the main body of troops to advance and reorganize theFrench line so as to allow the artillery to move onward. There was thusa large element of truth in the marvelous tales afterwards told byGerman prisoners. Their commanders thought it would be possible to doall the fighting with long-range artillery, leaving the infantry to actas squatters to the great guns and occupy and rebuild line after line ofthe French defenses without any serious hand-to-hand struggles. All theyhad to do was to protect the gunners from surprise attack, while theguns made an easy path for them and also beat back any counter-attack inforce.

"But, ingenious as was this scheme for saving the man-power of Germanyby an unparalleled expenditure of shell, it required for full successthe co-operation of the French troops. But the French did notco-operate. Their High Command had continually improved their system oftrench defense in accordance with the experiences of their own hurricanebombardments in Champagne and the Carency sector. General Castelnau, theacting Commander-in-Chief on the French front, was indeed the inventorof hurricane fire tactics, which he had used for the first time inFebruary, 1915, in Champagne. When General Joffre took over the conductof all French operations, leaving to General Castelnau the immediatecontrol of the front in France, the victor of the battle of Nancyweakened his advance lines and then his support lines, until his troopsactually engaged in fighting were very little more than a thin coveringbody, such as is thrown out towards the frontier while the main forcesconnect well behind.

"We shall see the strategical effect of this extraordinary measure inthe second phase of the Verdun battle, but its tactical effect was toleave remarkably few French troops exposed to the appalling tempest ofGerman and Austrian shells. The fire-trench was almost empty, and inmany cases the real defenders of the French line were men with machineguns, hidden in dug-outs at some distance from the photographedpositions at which the German gunners aimed. The batteries of lightguns, which the French handled with the flexibility and continuity offire of Maxims, were also concealed in widely scattered positions. Themain damage caused by the first intense bombardment was the destructionof all the telephone wires along the French front. In one hour theGerman guns plowed up every yard of ground behind the observing postsand behind the fire trench. Communications could only be slowlyre-established by messengers, so that many parties of men had to fighton their own initiative, with little or no combination of effort withtheir comrades.

"Yet, desperate as were their circ*mstances, they broke down the Germanplan for capturing trenches without an infantry attack. They caught thepatrols and annihilated them, and then swept back the disillusioned andreluctant main bodies of German troops. First, the bombing parties werefelled, then the sappers as they came forward to repair the line fortheir infantry, and at last the infantry itself in wave after wave offield-gray. The small French garrison of every center of resistancefought with cool, deadly courage, and often to the death.

"Artillery fire was practically useless against them, for though theirtunnel shelters were sometimes blown in by the twelve-inch shells, whichthey regarded as their special terror by reason of their penetrativepower and wide blast, even the Germans had not sufficient shells tosearch out all their underground chambers, every one of which have twoor three exits.

"The new organization of the French Machine-gun Corps was a fine factorin the eventual success. One gun fired ten thousand rounds daily for aweek, most of the positions selected being spots from which each Germaninfantry advance would be enfiladed and shattered. Then the French 75'swhich had been masked during the overwhelming fire of the enemyhowitzers, came unexpectedly into action when the German infantryattacks increased in strength. Near Haumont, for example, eightsuccessive furious assaults were repulsed by three batteries of 75's.One battery was then spotted by the Austrian twelve-inch guns, but itremained in action until all its ammunition was exhausted. The gunnersthen blew up their guns and retired, with the loss of only one man.

"Von Falkenhayn had increased the Crown Prince's army from the fourteendivisions—that battled at Douaumont Fort—to twenty-five divisions.In April he added five more divisions to the forces around Verdun byweakening the effectives in other sectors and drawing more troops fromthe Russian front. It was rumored that von Hindenburg was growingrestive and complaining that the wastage at Verdun would tell againstthe success of the campaign on the Riga-Dvinsk front, which was to openwhen the Baltic ice melted.

"Great as was the wastage of life, it was in no way immediatelydecisive. But when the expenditure of shells almost outran the highestspeed of production of the German munition factories, and the wear onthe guns was more than Krupp and Skoda could make good, there was dangerto the enemy in beginning another great offensive likely to overtax hisshellmakers and gunmakers."

Immortal and indomitable France had won over her foe more power than shehad possessed even after the battle of the Marne. If her Allies, withthe help of Japan and the United States, could soon overtake theproduction of the German and Austrian munition factories, it waspossible that Verdun, so close to Sedan, might become one of the turningpoints of the war.

Throughout the entire summer Verdun, with the whole population of Franceroused to the supreme heights of heroism behind it, held like a rock.Wave after wave of Germans in gray-green lines were sent against thetwenty-five miles of earthworks, while the French guns took their tollof the crack German regiments. German dead lay upon the field untilexposed flesh became the same ghastly hue of their uniforms. No Man'sLand around Verdun was a waste and a stench.

General Joffre's plan was very simple. It was to hold out. As wasafterwards revealed, much to the satisfaction of the French people, SirDouglas Haig had placed himself completely at the service of the FrenchCommander-in-Chief, and had suggested that he should use the Britisharmy to weaken the thrust at Verdun. But General Joffre had refused theproffered help. No man knew better than he what his country, with itsexceedingly low birthrate, was suffering on the Meuse. He had but tosend a telegram to British Headquarters, and a million Britons, withthousands of heavy guns, would fling themselves upon the German linesand compel Falkenhayn to divide his shell output, his heavy artillery,and his millions of men between Verdun and the Somme. But GeneralJoffre, instead of sending the telegram in question, merely dispatchedofficers to British Headquarters to assure and calm the chafing Scotsmancommanding the military forces of the British Empire.

Throughout that long summer the battle cry of Verdun, "Ne passerontpas!" ("They shall not pass!"), was an inspiration to the French armyand to the world. Then as autumn drifted its red foliage over theheights surrounding the bloody field, the French struck back. GeneralNivelle, who had taken command at Verdun under Joffre, commenced aseries of attacks and a persistent pressure against the German forces onboth sides of the Meuse. These thrusts culminated in a sudden sweepingattack which on October 24th, resulted in the recapture by Nivelle'sforces of Fort Douaumont and on November 2d, in the recapture of FortVaux.

Thus ended in glory the most inspiring battle in the long and honorablehistory of France.