[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. Hyphenation and accentuation have been standardised, all otherinconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has beenmaintained. Page 382: Words are missing in the sentence "The genuine leaders ofthe Socialists should [. .. ] the labor organizations realizedimmediately the policy which the dark forces were initiating. " Theplace is marked with [see TN]. ] THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR History of the European War from Official Sources Complete Historical Records of Events to Date, Illustrated with Drawings, Maps, and Photographs Prefaced by What the War Means to America Major General Leonard Wood, U. S. A. Naval Lessons of the War Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight, U. S. N. The World's War Frederick Palmer Theatres of the War's Campaigns Frank H. Simonds The War Correspondent Arthur Ruhl Edited by Francis J. Reynolds Former Reference Librarian of Congress Allen L. Churchill Associate Editor, The New International Encyclopedia Francis Trevelyan Miller Editor in Chieft, Photographic History of the Civil War P. F. Collier & Son Company New York [Illustration: _Major General John J. Pershing, appointed to organizeand command the American forces in France, is shown landing in Franceon June 12, 1917. French officers and officials of high rank are thereto welcome him. His arrival is recognized as an epoch-making date inthe war, for it foreshadows the creation of a great American Army inFrance. _] THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR SOMME · RUSSIAN DRIVE FALL OF GORITZ · RUMANIA GERMAN RETREAT · VIMY REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA UNITED STATES AT WAR VOLUME VI P · F · Collier & Son · New York Copyright 1916 By P. F. Collier & Son CONTENTS PART I. --WESTERN FRONT--SOMME AND VERDUN CHAPTER Page I. French and British Advances 9 II. Further Successes--French Capture Maurepas 13 III. German Counterattacks 16 IV. Operations at Verdun--British Victories in the Somme 19 V. The "Tanks"--British Capture Martinpuich 21 VI. Capture of Combles--Air Raids 25 VII. British Capture Eaucourt L'Abbaye-Regina Trench 28 VIII. Continued Allied Advance 31 IX. French Retake Douaumont 34 X. Germans Lose Fort Vaux--French Take Saillisel 37 XI. British Successes in the Ancre 41 XII. Operations on the French Front--Further Fighting in the Ancre 47 XIII. Weather Conditions--Movements Around Loos 51 XIV. French Win at Verdun 53 XV. Canadians at Arras--Nivelle in Command 55 XVI. German Attacks at Verdun--Result of Six Months' Fighting 58 XVII. German Attack on Hill 304--British Surprise Attack 61 PART II. --EASTERN FRONT XVIII. The New Drive Against Lemberg 70 XIX. The Battle on the Stokhod River 76 XX. Renewed Drive Against Lemberg 81 XXI. The Fighting from Riga to Lutsk 86 XXII. Fighting in the Carpathians 90 XXIII. Winter at the Eastern Front 93 PART III. --THE BALKANS XXIV. Rumania's Military Strength 95 XXV. Hostilities Begin 96 XXVI. Bulgaria Attacks 98 XXVII. The Germans Arrive 103 XXVIII. The Rumanian Raid Across the Danube 106 XXIX. Mackensen Pressed Back 111 XXX. The Rumanians Pressed Back 113 XXXI. The Battle of the River Argechu 117 XXXII. Bucharest Falls 119 XXXIII. Sarrail's Offensive 124 XXXIV. Unrest in Greece 126 XXXV. A Greek Army Surrenders to Germany 129 XXXVI. The Serbians Advance 132 XXXVII. The Greeks on the Firing Line 134 XXXVIII. Seizure of the Greek Fleet 136 XXXIX. The Bulgarians Driven Back 138 XL. Monastir Falls 140 XLI. Greek Fights Greek 143 XLII. Fighting in the Streets of Athens 145 XLIII. The Serbians Checked 148 PART IV. --AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT XLIV. The Fall of Goritz 149 XLV. Fall and Winter on the Austro-Italian Front 153 XLVI. Fighting on Mountain Peaks 159 PART V. --WAR IN THE AIR AND ON THE SEA XLVII. Aeroplane Warfare 168 XLVIII. Zeppelin Raids 176 XLIX. Submarine Warfare 182 PART VI. --THE UNITED STATES AND THE BELLIGERENTS L. The Old Menace 189 LI. The U-53's Exploits 194 LII. Gathering Clouds 200 LIII. Rupture With Germany 205 LIV. Nothing Settled 212 PART VII. --WESTERN FRONT LV. The German Retreat on the Ancre 217 LVI. The German Retreat Continues--French Recover 120 Towns 227 LVII. The British Troops Capture Vimy Ridge and Monchy--French Victories on the Aisne 239 LVIII. French Victories in Champagne--The British Capture Bullecourt 252 LIX. The Battle of Messines Ridge--British Smash the German Salient South of Ypres 263 LX. The Germans Defeat British on Belgian Coast--Intense Fighting in the Champagne and at Verdun 276 PART VIII. --THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY LXI. The Interim 291 LXII. Berlin's Tactics 297 LXIII. Armed Neutrality 304 LXIV. Germany's Bid to Mexico 312 LXV. A State of War 317 LXVI. Building the War Machine 328 LXVII. Men and Money in Millions 344 LXVIII. Envoys from America's Allies 351 LXIX. In It at Last 356 PART IX. --THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION LXX. Foreshadowing Revolution 363 LXXI. The Rise of Nihilism 365 LXXII. Revolutionary Doctrines 367 LXXIII. Russian War Spirit Aroused 372 LXXIV. Rasputin, the Evil Spirit of Russia 374 LXXV. Treachery of the Autocracy 378 LXXVI. Party Intrigues 380 LXXVII. The Work of Traitors 383 LXXVIII. Threatening of the Storm 386 LXXIX. Revolution 389 LXXX. The Culmination 392 LXXXI. The New Government 395 LXXXII. The Czar Abdicates 400 LXXXIII. First Acts of the New Régime 404 LXXXIV. Socialism Supreme 406 LXXXV. Policies Proclaimed 409 LXXXVI. Kerensky Saves Russia from Herself 412 LXXXVII. The American Commissions 416 PART X. --EASTERN FRONT LXXXVIII. The End of Winter at the Eastern Front 421 LXXXIX. Effects of the Russian Revolution 424 XC. The Beginning of Russian Rehabilitation 428 XCI. The Russian July Offensive 433 XCII. The Capture of Halicz and Kalusz 436 XCIII. The Collapse of the Russian Offensive 440 XCIV. The Russian Rout in Galicia and the Bukowina 445 PART XI. --AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT XCV. Stalemate on the Italian Fronts 452 XCVI. Spring on the Austro-Italian Front 457 XCVII. The Italian Drive Against Trieste 462 XCVIII. The Height of the Italian Offensive 468 PART XII. --WAR ON THE SEA XCIX. Submarine Warfare 475 C. Naval Operations 480 PART XIII. --WAR IN THE AIR CI. Aerial Warfare 485 CII. Air Raids 492 INDEX 495 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS General Pershing Landing at Boulogne, France _Frontispiece_ Opposite Page Sir Douglas Haig and Marshal Joffre 30 Notice Posted in French Munitions Works 62 General von Mackensen in Rumania 110 British Armored Motor Car, or "Tank" 222 Curtain or Barrage Fire 286 Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States 302 American Naval Gunners Fighting Submarines 350 A. F. Kerensky Addressing Russian Troops 430 LIST OF MAPS Page Battle Lines on All Fronts, August 1, 1917 (_Colored Map_) _Front Insert_ Verdun Front, February 1, 1917 38 Allies' Gain at the Somme, up to February, 1917 66 Attack in the Riga Sector 87 Teutonic Invasion of Rumania 104 New German Submarine War Zone of February 1, 1917 207 The Entire Western Front, August 1, 1917 220 The German Retreat on the Western Front, March 18, 1917 233 Taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadians, April 9 and 10, 1917 240 The French Offensive on the Craonne Plateau, Champagne 257 The Taking of Messines Ridge, June 7, 1917 266 The Somme Battle Front, August 1, 1917 283 The Russian Offensive and Retreat in Galicia 446 The Entire Eastern Battle Front, August 1, 1917 450 PART I--WESTERN FRONT--SOMME AND VERDUN CHAPTER I FRENCH AND BRITISH ADVANCES The first month of the Allied offensive on the Somme front closedquietly. The British and French forces had every reason to feelencouraged over their successes. In the two thrusts since July 1, 1916, they had won from the Germans nearly twenty-four square miles ofterritory. Considering the extent to which every fraction of a milewas fortified and defended, and the thoroughness of the Germanpreparations to make the district impregnable, the Allied gains wereimportant. As a British officer said at the time, it was like diggingbadgers out of holes--with the proviso that every badger had machineguns and rifles at the hole's mouth, while the approach to each wasswept by the fire from a dozen neighboring earthworks. It was estimated that in the first month of the Allied offensive onthe Somme the German casualties amounted to about 200, 000 men, whilethe Anglo-French forces lost less than a fourth of that number. TheAllies claimed to have captured about 13, 000 prisoners and betweensixty and seventy field guns, exclusive of machine guns and thesmaller artillery. With the capture of Pozières it might be said that the second phase ofthe Battle of the Somme was concluded. The Allied forces were wellestablished on the line to which the second main "push" which beganJuly 14, 1916, was directed. During the first three days of August, 1916, comparative quietprevailed along the Somme front, and no important offensive wasattempted by either side. Minor fighting continued, however, everyday, and during the nights the English positions were heavilybombarded by the German guns. On the night of August 4, 1916, the British assumed the offensive, advancing from Pozières on a front of 2, 000 yards. The attack, whichseems to have taken the Germans by surprise, was entirely successful, as the British troops gained 1, 000 yards of the German second line andcaptured over 400 prisoners. This second line consisted of twostrongly fortified trenches running parallel, which were backed by anetwork of supporting and intermediate trenches, all stronglyconstructed, with deep dugouts and cunningly devised machinery ofdefense. When the Australians made the thrust forward from Pozièreswhile the British cooperated on the left over the ground to the eastof the village, they found when going over the enemy trenches that inmany places the British guns had wrecked and almost obliterated theGerman second lines. After the British advance the Germans launchedtwo spirited counterattacks, which were easily repulsed by the Britishartillery. The British casualties were unimportant, but the troopssuffered intensely from the heat of the evening and from the gas masksthat they were forced to wear, as previous to the attack the Germanshad bombarded with gas shells. Minor fighting and artillery duels continued intermittently until themorning of August 6, 1916, when the Germans delivered two fierceattacks on the ground gained by the British east of Pozières. TheGermans, employing liquid fire in one attack, forced the British backfrom one of the trenches they had captured on August 4, 1916, but partof this was later regained. The following day the Germans continuedtheir attacks north and northeast of Pozières on the new Britishlines. After heavy bombardment of the British positions, the Germanspenetrated their trenches, but were forced out again, having sufferedsome casualties and leaving a number of prisoners in British hands. Infront of Souchez the Germans exploded a mine, and here some of theirtroops succeeded in entering the English trenches over the crater, but were quickly bombed out again. On the same date late in the afternoon the French forces to the northof the Somme carried out a well-planned attack which resulted in thecapture of a line of German trenches between the Hem Wood and theriver. The French took 120 prisoners and a number of machine guns. On August 8, 1916, the British positions north and east of Pozièreswere heavily bombarded by German artillery. In the evening of the samedate British troops pushing forward engaged the enemy near the stationof Guillemont. A bomb attack made by the Germans on the easternportion of the Leipzig salient south of Thiepval was driven back withsome casualties. Two British raiding parties about the same timesucceeded in entering the German lines north of Roclincourt and blewup some dugouts. On this date a squadron of ten German aeroplanesendeavored to cross the British lines on a bombing expedition, butwere driven off by four British offensive patrols. Two of the Germanaeroplanes were forced to descend behind their own lines, while theothers were scattered and did not return to attack. In the evening ofthe same day the Germans made four attacks on the British lines to thenorthwest of Pozières, and in one were successful in occupying aportion of a British trench. During this day the French north of the Somme, while the British werefighting at Guillemont, advanced east of Hill 139, north ofHardecourt, and took forty prisoners. The Germans, making two attemptsto recapture the trenches won from them by the French on the previousday, were beaten back, leaving a great number of dead on the field. Inthe evening French troops captured a small wood and a heavilyfortified trench to the north of the Hem Wood, making their gains forthe two days, an entire line of German trenches on a front of threeand three-quarter miles and a depth of from 330 to 350 yards. In the battered and shell-pitted region to the northwest of Pozièresfighting between the British and German troops continued unceasingly. The slight gains made by the British troops were won only by thegreatest risk and daring, for the whole plateau between Thiepval andPozières (about 3, 000 yards) lay open to the German fire from theformer place. A great part of it could be reached by machine guns, while German batteries at Courcelette and Grandcourt commanded theground at close range. A network of German trenches, well planned, stretched in almost every direction. Flares and shell fire made theregion as bright as day during the night, and it was only by rushing atrench from saps made within a few feet of the objectives or bybreaking into a trench and bombing along it that the British were ableto achieve any small gains. And gains were made on this terribleterrain daily, though only a few yards might be won, and a dozen ormore prisoners captured. The British attack on the Germans around Guillemont, which took placeas previously noted on August 8, 1916, was at first successful. Asection of the troops carried some trenches, and then pushing ongained a useful piece of ground south of Guillemont with fewcasualties. Another (the left) section of British troops were unableto proceed farther on account of the darkness. Another section, owingto miscalculation, swept through the German trenches straight into thevillage of Guillemont, where they lost their direction amid the ruinsand confusion. Working their way through the shattered streets theyproceeded to dig themselves in when they had reached the far northeastcorner of the place. With enemies all around them, and the breadth ofthe ruined village between them and their friends, the adventure couldhave but one conclusion. A few of the men succeeded in getting back tothe British lines, but the remainder fell into the hands of theenemy. CHAPTER II FURTHER SUCCESSES--FRENCH CAPTURE MAUREPAS In the morning of August 11, 1916, after the usual preparatorybombardment, French troops carried the whole of the third Germanposition north of the Somme from the river northeast ofHardecourt--that is to say, on a front of about four miles and to anaverage depth of about a mile. This third German position consisted ofthree, and in some places of four, lines of trenches strongly defendedand with the usual trench blockhouses. The French attacked in forcealong the whole front, and in eighty minutes, according to thedescription given in French newspapers, carried the German position ata small cost in casualties compared with results. The Germans foughtbravely and stubbornly, but the French artillery did such effectivework before the advance attack that in the hand-to-hand conflicts thatfollowed the French troops readily overcame the enemy. A Bavarianbattalion which garrisoned a blockhouse on Hill 109 offered such adetermined resistance that when the victorious French finally enteredthe work they found only 200 of the garrison alive. In the afternoon of the same day, August 11, 1916, French forces northof the Somme took several German trenches by assault and establishedtheir new line on the saddle to the north of Maurepas and along theroad leading from the village to Hem. A strongly fortified quarry tothe north of Hem Wood and two small woods were also occupied by theFrench troops. During the course of the action in this district theytook 150 unwounded prisoners and ten machine guns. British air squadrons numbering sixty-eight machines on August 12, 1916, bombed airship sheds at Brussels and Namur, and railway sidingsand stations at Mons, Namur, Busigny, and Courtrai. Of the Britishmachines engaged in these attacks, all but two returned safely. Inthe evening of the same day the British forces attacked the thirdGerman position which extended from the east of Hardecourt to theSomme east of Buscourt. On this front of about four miles the Britishinfantry carried the trench and works of the Germans to a depth offrom 660 to 1, 100 yards. To the northwest of Pozières the Britishgained 300 to 400 yards on a front of a mile, and also capturedtrenches on the plateau northwest of Bazentin-le-Petit. The French continued to make appreciable gains south of the Somme, carrying portions of trenches and taking some prisoners. The newBritish front to the west of Pozières was repeatedly attacked andbombarded by the Germans, and on August 15, 1916, they succeeded inrecapturing trenches they had lost two days before. But they wereunable to hold their gains for more than a day, when the British drovethem out and consolidated the position. During the afternoon and evening of August 16, 1916, German and Frenchto the north and south of the Somme engaged in heavy bombardments. AtVerdun the German lines were forced back close to Fleury, the Frenchtaking enemy trenches and smashing a counterattack with theirartillery. On the afternoon of August 17, 1916, there was hard fighting along thewhole Somme front from Pozières to the river. The British gainedground toward Ginchy and Guillemont and took over 200 prisoners, including some officers. During the night the Germans deliveredrepeated attacks against the positions the British had captured, butonly in one instance did they succeed in winning back a little ground. On August 18, 1916, the British continued to add to their gains, advancing on a front of more than two miles for a distance of between200 and 600 yards. As a result of these operations carried out alongthe British front from Thiepval to their right, south of Guillemont, adistance of eleven miles, was the gain of the ridge southeast ofThiepval commanding the village and northern slopes of the high groundnorth of Pozières. The British also held the edge of High Wood andhalf a mile of captured German trenches to the west of the wood. Advances were also made to the outskirts of the village ofGuillemont, where the British occupied the railroad station andquarry, both of some considerable military importance. As a result ofthese operations the British captured sixteen officers and 780 ofother ranks. German guns continued to shell the British positions throughout theday and evening of August 18, 1916, but no infantry attacks wereattempted. On the following day after a heavy bombardment the Germansmade three vigorous bombing attacks on the British positions at HighWood, all of which were repulsed, though the Germans succeeded in someinstances in gaining a foothold for a time in the British trenches. Inthe aggregate the British successes in this region had in a weekresulted in the capture of trenches which, if put end to end, wouldreach for a number of miles. On August 24, 1916, the French completed the capture of Maurepas, forwhich they had been battling for nearly two weeks, after seizing thetrenches to the south of the village. Maurepas was of great militaryimportance, for, with Guillemont on the British front, it formedadvanced works of the stronghold of Combles. The attack was launchedat five in the evening on a front of a mile and a quarter from northof Hardecourt to southeast of Maurepas. The French troops captured theGerman portion of Maurepas at the first dash, and a little later thestrong intrenchments made by the Germans to cover the Maurepas-Comblesroad were in their possession. The victory was won over some ofGermany's best troops, the Fifth Bavarian Reserve Division and theFirst Division of the Prussian Guard under Prince Eitel Frederick. On the same day, August 24, 1916, the British troops on the north ofthe Somme attacked the German positions in the Maurepas region andcarried with a rush that part of the village still held by the Germansand the adjoining trenches, taking 600 prisoners and eighteen guns. South of the village the Germans made a violent attack on the Britishposition at Hill 121, but owing to the concentrated fire of artillerywhich mowed them down they were unable to reach the British lines atany point. CHAPTER III GERMAN COUNTERATTACKS Throughout the week the Germans attempted repeatedly to retake thepositions that had been won from them by the French and Britishtroops. One of the most desperate attacks made was against the Britishpositions between the quarry and Guillemont. After a heavy preparatorybombardment the Germans launched an attack that took them to the edgeof the British trenches, where a desperate hand-to-hand struggle wasmade in which the Germans fought with stubbornness and determination, but were finally repulsed with heavy losses. The new French positions gained at Maurepas were violently attacked onAugust 26, 1916, but the French artillery wrought terrible havoc amongthe German troops, and they withdrew in disorder. In two days theFrench took over 350 prisoners in this sector. On the evening of August 26, 1916, the British captured severalhundred yards of German trenches north of Bazentin-le-Petit and pushedforward some distance north of Ginchy. After gaining a trench of 470 yards south of Thiepval and taking over200 prisoners, the British on August 24, 1916, joined up with theFrench forces on the right, where important progress was made aroundMaurepas. Continued hard fighting on the eastern and northern edges ofthe Delville Wood advanced the British lines several hundred yards oneach side of the Longueville-Flers road. These operations resulted inthe British capturing eight officers and about 200 of other ranks. West of Ginchy two German companies attacked the British trenches andwere driven off by machine-gun fire. Bombardment of British positionscontinued during the night. Two aeroplane raids carried out by theBritish airmen damaged trains on the German line of communications. Important military points were also bombed with some success, but inencounters with German aircraft the British lost one machine. The importance of the Thiepval sector to the Germans was demonstratedin their constant efforts to regain the positions there that had beencaptured by the British. A great number of guns were concentrated bythe Germans in this sector. The bombardment which preceded the attackwas of unusual violence, but owing to the intrepid spirit of the menfrom Wiltshire and Worcestershire, who defended the positions, theGermans were unable to reach the trenches and withdrew in disorder. According to an eyewitness of this attack, the first wave of Germansoldiers advancing to attack was thrown in disorder by the intensegunfire from the British positions. A second wave of menstarted--swept a little farther over the shell-torn terrain than theothers had done, then faltered, broke apart, and fell back, havingfailed to get through the British artillery fire or even to approachtheir trenches. In the area around Mouquet Farm and in the trenches south of Thiepvalthe British captured during the day one German officer and sixty-sixof other ranks. British aircraft displayed great activity in thissector, dropping five tons of bombs on points of military importancebehind the enemy lines. One hostile machine was brought down, whiletwo British machines failed to return. South of the Ancre the Britishmade slight advances, capturing four German officers and fifty-five ofother ranks. A great battle developed north of the Somme on September 2, 1916, inwhich the British and French forces took thousands of prisoners andcaptured important territory. After intense artillery preparation theFrench infantry cooperating with British troops attacked the Germanpositions on a front of about three and three-quarter miles betweenthe region north of Maurepas and the river. The strong German forcesengaged were unable to resist the onslaught of the Allied troops. Thevillages of Forest, east of Maurepas, and Cléry-sur-Somme werecaptured, as well as all the German trenches along the route fromForest to Combles as far as the outskirts of the last place. TheGermans launched with heavy forces a counterattack against theconquered positions, but were driven back by the heavy fire of theFrench batteries. The French official reports gave the number ofunwounded prisoners captured in this battle as exceeding 2, 000, andthe booty taken included twelve guns and fifty machine guns. Germanaircraft which engaged British flyers during the progress of thebattle were driven off with a loss of three machines destroyed andfour badly injured. The British lost three. Fighting on the Somme and Ancre was continued with increased severityon September 3, 1916. The Germans stubbornly contested the Britishadvance, but were unable to gain any material advantage except atGinchy, occupied by the British, who were driven out of all but asmall portion of the place. As an offset to this loss the Britishtroops captured the strongly fortified village of Guillemont and theGerman defenses on a front of one and two-third miles to an averagedepth of about 800 yards. The British took during this battle over 800prisoners. The new French positions to the north of Combles were violentlyattacked on this same date, but the German effort was broken by themachine-gun and artillery barrage. The French captured over 500prisoners and ten machine guns. South of the Somme, on a front of about twelve miles, the Frenchtroops attacked enemy organizations from Barleux to the region southof Chaulnes and were entirely successful in gaining their objectives. Southwest of Barleux the French infantry in a single push carriedthree successive German lines and advanced over a mile, which broughtthem to the outskirts of Berny and Deniécourt. To the south, by awell-planned enveloping movement, the village of Soyécourt wascarried, and here a whole Prussian battalion was cut off andsurrendered after a short resistance. South of Vermandovillers, wherethe Germans occupied a portion of the village, the French launched anattack on the German front in the afternoon, but it was night beforethey could break through north of Chilly. The French pushed on throughthe breach, forcing the Germans to retire to their second line, leaving 1, 200 prisoners, guns and machine guns in French hands. Desperate attempts were made by the German General von Hein to recoverthe lost ground. Before the French had time to consolidate theirpositions he launched six counterattacks, all of which failed underthe French barrage of fire. On September 4, 1916, the French made2, 700 prisoners between Barleux and Chilly. CHAPTER IV OPERATIONS AT VERDUN--BRITISH VICTORIES IN THE SOMME The intense activity of the Allied forces in the Somme region inAugust and during the first week in September, 1916, exceeded ininterest the happenings around Verdun. While only one building in thetown remained uninjured by the shells which the Germans poured into itdaily, the French, to whom the initiative had passed, continued toharry the enemy daily along the Thiaumont-Vaux front. Their "nibbling"process went on unceasingly, seizing some hundred yards of trenches, or taking batches of 200 or 300 prisoners with such frequency as toproduce a decidedly depressing effect on the German commanders and ontheir troops, who in this sector represented the pick of the Germanarmy. On September 6, 1916, a signal success was won by the French at Verdunwhen they carried the German line on the Vaux-Chapître Wood-Le Chenoisfront to a length of 1, 000 yards, taking 250 prisoners and ten guns. In the second week of September, 1916, the French and British forcesmade important gains in the Somme region. On September 9, 1916, British forces advancing on a front of 6, 000 yards occupied FalfemontFarm, Leuze Wood, Guillemont, and Ginchy, the area gained being morethan four square miles. The bravery displayed by the Irish troops fromConnaught, Leinster, and Munster in connection with the capture ofGuillemont was especially commended by headquarters. The same troopsfought with distinction in the capture of Ginchy, a village only inname, for shell fire had reduced it to mere heaps of rubble and dust. In an assault on the French front September 9, 1916, betweenBelloy-en-Santerre and Barleux the Germans by using jets of flameobtained a temporary footing in the French trenches, but were drivenout by a vigorous counterattack with the loss of four machine guns. Onthe night of September 11, 1916, French forces north of the Somme tookthe offensive and drove a broad wedge right in between the powerfullydefended German positions of Combles on the north and Péronne to thesouth. Continuing their advance on the following day, in less thanhalf an hour they carried the German first line and, taking Hill 145by the way, pressed on to the Bapaume road south of Rancourt, and heldit as far south as Bouchavesnes village which was captured by abrilliant dash early in the evening. On September 13, 1916, the Frenchagain advanced, carrying several positions and occupying in thisregion the German third line. They also captured a trench system southof Combles. In the two days' fighting 2, 300 German prisoners werecaptured. On the night of Thursday, September 13, 1916, the British forces wonGerman trenches to the southeast of Thiepval and a heavily fortifiedplace known as Wunderwerk. This was the prelude to a series ofbrilliant victories won by the British troops which had not beensurpassed during the entire fighting in the Somme area. At 6 a. M. OnSeptember 15, 1916, the British attacked on a front of about sixmiles, extending from Bouleaux Wood east of Guillemont to the north ofthe Albert-Bapaume road. A tremendous bombardment of the enemypositions continued for twenty minutes before the infantry advanced toattack. The Germans were believed to have 1, 000 guns concentrated inthis sector which had been shelling the British positions for severaldays, but during this battle for some reason, perhaps lack ofammunition, they played an unimportant part, and were far outclassedby the British artillery. CHAPTER V THE "TANKS"--BRITISH CAPTURE MARTINPUICH It was in this battle that the British for the first time introduced anew type of armored cars which proved veritable fortresses on wheels, and came to be popularly known as "tanks. " These destructive enginesof warfare were from twenty to forty feet long and were painted a dulldrab, or some unassuming color calculated to blend with the tones ofthe landscape. In a dim light they suggested the giant slugs of aprehistoric age. Sliding along the ground on caterpillar wheels, witharmored cheeks on each side of the head, above which guns stuck outlike the stalked eyes of land crabs, their first appearance in thissector may well have created consternation among the German troops whosaw them for the first time. There was something uncanny about thesesteel-scaled monsters that slid over the ground as it were on theirstomachs, balanced by a flimsy tail supported on two wheels. Weighingmany tons, when the "tank" came to an obstacle, such as a house orwall, it rammed the obstruction with its full weight, and thenclimbing over the débris lumbered on its way. Through vast craters andmuddy shell holes and over trenches the monsters waddled along, scattering death and destruction as they advanced. The Germansoldiers, after the first consternation caused by the appearance ofthese war engines in the field, bravely attacked them; swarming overthe sides of the "tanks" and seeking to batter in the steel scales andarmored plates and to silence the guns that spouted fire from thehead, but the daring efforts were useless and caused many casualties. Machine-gun fire was also ineffectual. They could only be disabled bya direct hit from a large gun. It is said that the Germans voicedtheir disgust for this kind of warfare, and protested that the Britishwere not fighting fair! At first the Germans thought they could rush a "tank" as they would afort, and lost heavily in such futile attacks; they could make noimpression on the steel "hide" of the monsters. Once astride a trench, the guns of the tank could rake right and left, mowing down thedefenders whose volleys pattered harmlessly on the steel plates of thewar engine. A young Australian who served in one of these new war machinesdescribed "tanksickness" as being as bad as seasickness until youbecame accustomed to the constant plunges and lurchings as the "tank"encountered obstacles on its way. The Australian noted down hisimpressions while cruising around the German lines in a "tank. " A fewquotations from his diary may be of interest: "Peppering begun at once. Thought old thing was going to be drowned ina shower of bullets. Germans dashed up from all sides. We fired atthem point-blank. The survivors had another try. More of them wentdown. .. . A rain of bullets resumed. It was like as if hundreds ofrivets were being hammered into the hide of the 'tank. ' We rushedthrough. .. . Got right across a trench. Made the sparks fly. Went alongparapet, routing out Germans everywhere. Tried to run, but couldn'tkeep it up under our fire. Threw up the sponge and surrendered inbatches. " "One can hardly imagine any spectacle more terrifying, " said aneyewitness, "than these monsters must have presented to German eyeswhen, after a hurricane bombardment, through the smoke and dust ofbursting shells, the great shapes came lumbering forward in the graylight of dawn. The enemy evidently had no hint of what they were. Theyemptied their rifles at them, and the things came rolling on. Theyturned on their machine guns, and the bullets only struck sparks fromthe great beasts' awful sides. In several places they sat themselvescomplacently astride of the trench, and swept it in both directionsand all the ground beyond with their machine guns. Against strongpoints they were invaluable, because they could thrust themselves, secure in the toughness of their hide, in close quarters whereunprotected infantry could never get. In woods they trampled their waythrough the undergrowth and climbed over or broke down barricades, contemptuous of the machine guns and rifle fire which made theapproach of unarmored men impossible. " During this advance the British penetrated the third German line, which was shattered at all points. Three new villages--Flers, Martinpuich, and Courcelette--fell into British hands and more thantwenty miles of German trenches were taken. Over 100 officers and4, 000 other ranks were captured by the British. Martinpuich, which was known to be strongly fortified by the Germans, was the first trench to be carried by the British troops almostwithout a check. Beyond this was a series of other trenches andfortified positions in shell holes and the like. And here the "tanks"did effective service, their appearance creating consternation amongthe German troops, whose gunfire was powerless to injure or to impedethe triumphal progress of these ungainly forts on wheels. In oneinstance a German battalion commander surrendered to a "tank" and wastaken on board as a passenger. Up to the outskirts of Martinpuichthere was stiff fighting and the village itself bristled with machineguns. The Germans stubbornly and bravely contested the British advancethrough the ruins. The British troops, however, continued to pushforward almost yard by yard until the whole place was in their hands, and they had dug themselves in in a line on the farthest eastern andnorthern sides of the village. Before the hour set for the advance the British troops who tookCourcelette were strongly attacked by the Germans on the front justnorth of the Bapaume road. The British front-line trench was broken bythe attack, and hard fighting was in progress when the hour set forthe British advance arrived. Then from support lines and otherpositions to the rear of the trench the Germans had entered theBritish troops swept forward. The Germans were overwhelmed as thewaves of khaki-clad, cheering men rushed forward and over them and outbeyond the objective points as originally planned. In front ofCourcelette there were formidable German positions; two trenches inparticular which had been strongly fortified and against which theBritish troops for a time hurled themselves in vain. Twice theBritish troops were driven back, but the third assault was entirelysuccessful, the British troops sweeping over the two trenches and intothe outskirts of Courcelette. By 8. 10 o'clock the British forces hadworked clear through the village ruins and had carried two especiallystrong positions on the farther side, a quarry on the north and acemetery on the northeast of the village. In the High Wood area, to the right of the two attacks described, theGermans had converted a large mine crater into a fortress offormidable strength, for from this position they could sweep theentire wood with machine guns so placed that the British werepowerless to reach them. The "tanks" were of great efficiency inreducing this strong point on the eastern angle of the wood. TheBritish troops fighting every yard of the way, slowly encircled thewood, which was still full of cunningly hidden machine guns, and thenwent steadily through it. This wood, which was described as a horribleplace, with its heaps of dead and shattered defenses, was effectuallycleaned out by the British and occupied by them, and a line wasestablished due north of the farthest extremity for about 1, 000 yards. Flers was captured by the British by successive pushes in which the"tanks" again demonstrated their value. Leading the way, thesemonsters waddled through the village, shattering barricades, crushingtheir way through masonry and creating general alarm among the Germantroops, who saw these formidable war engines for the first time. In the capture of Courcelette, Flers, and Martinpuich the British airservice successfully cooperated with the movements of the artilleryand infantry. During the day, September 15, 1916, thirteen Germanaeroplanes and kite balloons were destroyed, and nine others weredriven down in a damaged condition. The British reported that four oftheir machines were lost. On the following day, September 16, 1916, the Germans attacked theBritish positions around Flers and along the Les Boeufs road, and werebeaten off. The British line which had been held and lived in for aday was now little more than a series of shell holes linked by ashallow trench. Though "the air was stiff with bullets" as an officerdescribed it, the British troops climbed out of their shatteredposition and pushing on took possession of a more satisfactory trenchahead, where they consolidated and sat down. This last small advancecost the British more casualties than all the other operations duringthe two days' fighting. CHAPTER VI CAPTURE OF COMBLES--AIR RAIDS Meanwhile the Allied troops--the French on the south, the British onthe north--made steady progress in hemming in Combles. The Frenchincreased their gains by storming Le Priez Farm and against severeattacks held their gains north and south of Bouchavesnes. In anotherdashing attack they took by assault a group of German trenches southof Rancourt, some of their troops pushing forward to the edge of thevillage. South of the Somme they advanced east of Deniécourt andnortheast of Berny, taking several hundred prisoners and ten machineguns. The closing-in process around Combles went steadily forward. In the evening of September 17, 1916, the British forces in thevicinity of Courcelette extended their gains on a front of 1, 000yards, captured a strong fortification known as the Danube Trench on amile front, and also the strongly defended work at Mouquet Farm whichhad been fought over for several weeks. On the same date the Frenchmade a spirited attack south of the Somme, wresting from the Germanswhat portions they still held of the villages of Vermandovillers andBerny, the ground between the two, and also between Berny andDeniécourt, breaking up all counterattacks and taking 700 prisoners. On September 18, 1916, the British on the Somme front continued to addto their gains of the previous days. Northwest of Combles theycaptured a strongly fortified German work and, beating off numerouscounterattacks north of Flers, took six howitzers, two field guns andlighter pieces, as well as some prisoners. South of this the Britishtook another section of German trenches, and by a counterattack wonback trenches to the east beyond Mouquet Farm which they had lost onprevious days. On the same date the French took the village of Deniécourt, making thethird village captured by them in two days. During these operationsover 1, 600 prisoners were taken, including twenty-five officers. Owing to the weather conditions, little progress was made by theAllied forces on September 19, 1916. Raids were successful, however, on enemy trenches northeast of Bethune, and the French made someadvance and took prisoners east of Berny. The Germans made fivespirited attacks against the French front in Champagne where theRussian detachments were posted, all of which were repulsed with heavylosses by the guns and machine guns. From 9 in the morning untilnightfall of the following day the Germans continued their assaults onthe French lines, but only here and there did they make even temporaryprogress. On Thursday, September 21, 1916, the British line in the west wasagain advanced. A section of the German front about a mile long wasattacked between Martinpuich and Flers. Two lines of German trencheswere captured in this push. Meanwhile the French continued to developtheir hemming in of Combles, nibbling their way forward, takingprisoners and guns, a slow but determined advance that the Germanscould not restrain. British guns displayed great activity on Friday, September 22, 1916, when they destroyed ten hostile gun pits, damaged severely fourteenothers, and blew up five ammunition pits. About the same time fiftyaeroplanes raided an important railroad junction, destroyed severalammunition trains, and caused violent explosions and conflagrations. September 25, 1916, was a notable day in the history of the Alliedadvance in the west, when French and British forces again assumed theoffensive. The German positions were stormed on a front of about sixmiles between Combles and Martinpuich to a depth of more than a mile. The strongly fortified villages of Les Boeufs and Morval with severallines of trenches were captured. Morval, standing on a height north ofCombles, with its subterranean quarries and maze of wireentanglements, constituted a formidable citadel of defense. By thecapture of these villages German communication with Combles was cutoff. The British took a large number of prisoners and immensequantities of war material. About noon of the same date the French attacked the German positionsbetween Combles and Rancourt and the defenses from the latter villageto the Somme. Rancourt was taken after a sharp struggle, and theFrench lines were advanced to the northeast of Combles as far as thesouthern outskirts of Frégicourt. East of the Bethune road the Frenchpositions were extended for half a mile, while farther south severalsystems of German trenches were captured in the vicinity of the Cabaldu Nord. On the second day of the Allied offensive the French and Britishcontinued their successful advance. Combles, which the Allied troopshad been closing in on for some days, was captured. Here an enormousquantity of booty, munitions, and supplies which the Germans hadstored away in the subterranean regions of the place fell to thevictors. The subsequent capture of Gueudecourt by the French and British forcescompleted the notable advance of the Allies on September 25, 1916. They were now in possession of the ridge that dominates the valley ofBapaume, having cleared a stretch of ground on the far side of thecrest to a distance of half a mile. In the night of September 26, 1916, the British troops captured Thiepval and the strongly fortifiedridge east of it, which included an important stronghold, the ZollernRedoubt. The British reported the capture of over 1, 500 prisonersduring the two days' fighting. CHAPTER VII BRITISH CAPTURE EAUCOURT L'ABBAYE-REGINA TRENCH September 30, 1916, marked the close of the third month of Alliedfighting in the Somme region. Since September 15, 1916, seven newGerman divisions were brought against the British and five against theFrench. According to reports from British headquarters in France, theBritish troops had engaged thirty-eight German divisions, of whichtwenty-nine had been forced to withdraw in a broken and exhaustedstate. During the three months' campaign the Allied forces capturedover 60, 000 German prisoners, of which number the British claimed tohave taken 26, 735. Besides other war material the Allies recoveredfrom the Somme battle fields 29 heavy guns and howitzers, 92 fieldguns and howitzers, 103 trench artillery pieces, and 397 machine guns. In the afternoon of October 1, 1916, the British troops assaulted thedouble-trench system of the main German third line over a front ofabout 3, 000 yards from beyond Le Sars to a point 1, 000 yards or soeast of Eaucourt l'Abbaye. The British troops in the center, directlyin front of Eaucourt l'Abbaye, were held up by the complicateddefenses there, but the troops on the right, carrying everythingbefore them, swept over the main lines of trench east of the placeuntil well beyond it they occupied positions on the north, which theyheld against all German assaults. The center was meanwhile reenforcedby the arrival of "tanks, " which accomplished useful work in clearingthe trenches; these were then occupied by the British troops. OnOctober 2, 1916, German forces succeeded in pressing through a gap inthe British line, and again occupied trenches before the village, while the British continued to hold their positions on the fartherside, some of which were a thousand yards to the rear of the enemy. The following day the British heavily bombarded Eaucourt l'Abbaye anddrew the cordon tighter around it. October 4, 1916, they assumed theoffensive, and driving the Germans out of their trenches, filled upthe gap and entered the town. Eaucourt l'Abbaye, with its old monasticbuildings furnished with immense cellars, crypts and vaults, offeredadmirable conditions for prolonged defense. More important than theoccupation of this place was the capture by the British of thepositions around it with over 3, 000 yards of the long-prepared Germanthird line. These gains were won by the British troops at considerablecost in casualties, while the Germans also lost heavily. The important part played by the "tanks" in this successful operationis worthy of record. One of these machines becoming disabled, continued for some time to operate as a stationary fortress. Later the"tank" became untenable and the crew were forced to abandon it. Whilethis was being done the commanding officer of the "tank" was somewhatseverely wounded so that he could not proceed. Two unwounded membersof the crew refused to leave the wounded officer, and for more thantwo days they stayed with him in a shell hole between the lines. Whilehiding in this dangerous position the wounded officer was again struckby a bullet, but it was found impossible to get him away until theBritish captured the positions around the town. There was intermittent shelling of the British front south of theAncre during the night of October 4, 1916. A successful raid wascarried out by a London territorial battalion in the Vimy area on thefollowing day, and an assault on the British trenches east of St. Eloiwas repulsed. October 6, 1916, was unmarked by any important offensiveon the part of the belligerents. The Germans continued to shellheavily the British front south of the Ancre. Three British raidingparties succeeded in penetrating German trenches in the Loos area andsouth of Arras. An important success was won by the British on the following day, October 7, 1916, when Le Sars--their twenty-second village--wascaptured. The Germans evidently anticipated the attack, for they hadmassed a large number of troops on a short front. The town itself washeld by the Fourth Ersatz Division, and the ground behind Eaucourtl'Abbaye by a Bavarian division. The place, though stronglyfortified, did not offer the resistance that the British troopsexpected. Their first forward sweep carried them to a sunken road thatran across the village at about its middle, and a second rush afterthe barrage had lifted brought them through the rest of the place andabout 500 yards beyond on the Bapaume road. In Le Sars itself sixofficers and between 300 and 400 other ranks were made prisoners bythe British. The Bavarians between Le Sars and Eaucourt fought withstubborn valor and gave the British troops plenty of hard work. Owingto the complication of fortified positions, trenches, and sunkenroads, the ground in this section of the fighting area presented manydifficulties. To the northeast of Eaucourt the determined pressure ofthe British troops caused the Bavarian resistance to crumble and thevictors swept on and out along the road to Le Barque. At other pointsthe British pierced the German lines and occupied positions midwaybetween Eaucourt and the Butte de Warlencourt. To the left, a mile orso back, in what was known as the Mouquin Farm region, the Britishtroops pushed forward in the direction of Pys and Miraumont, and allthat part of Regina Trench over which there had been much stifffighting was held by them. German troops had recovered a small portionof the front-line trenches they had lost to the north of Les Boeufs. In this sector on the night of October 7, 1916, the British gunsshattered two attempted counterattacks and gathered in three officers, 170 men, and three machine guns. To the north of the Somme the Frenchinfantry cooperating with the British army attacked from the front ofMorval-Bouchavesnes and carried their line over 1, 300 yards northeastof Morval. During this advance over 400 prisoners, including tenofficers, were captured, and also fifteen machine guns. Largegatherings of German troops reported north of Saillisel were caught bythe concentrated fire from the French batteries. In the region of Gueudecourt the British advanced their lines andbeat off a furious attack made on the Schwaben Redoubt north ofThiepval on October 8, 1916. This repulse of the Germans wasfollowed by the British troops winning some ground north of theCourcelette-Warlencourt road. In two days they took prisonerthirteen officers and 866 of other ranks. [Illustration: General Sir Douglas Haig (left), commanding theBritish armies in France and Belgium, and General Joffre, supremecommander of the French armies. In December, 1916, Joffre was made aMarshal of France. ] The British continued their daily policy of making raids on the Germantrenches. Several were carried out on October 10, 1916, in theNeuville-St. Vaast and Loos regions, where trenches were invaded, three machine-gun emplacements destroyed, and a large number ofprisoners taken. On the same date there was intense artillery activityon the Somme between the French and Germans. The French fought six airfights and bombed the St. Vaast Wood. To the south of the river theFrench troops took the offensive and attacked on a front of over threemiles between Berny-en-Santerre and Chaulnes. Here the French infantryby vigorous fighting captured the enemy position and certain pointsbeyond it. They also captured the town of Bovent, and occupied thenorthern and western outskirts of Ablaincourt and most of the woods ofChaulnes. During this offensive more than 1, 250 Germans were taken. CHAPTER VIII CONTINUED ALLIED ADVANCE Unceasing activity on the part of the Germans on October 11, 1916, showed that the recent successes of the Allies had by no meansdampened their ardor or impaired their morale. All day long theyshelled the British front south of the Ancre, especially north ofCourcelette. Here the Germans attempted an attack, but were caught ontheir own parapets and stopped by the British barrage. Two Germanbattery positions were destroyed here by bombing from aeroplanes. TwoBritish aircraft engaged seven hostile machines, one of which wasdestroyed and two others were severely damaged. Behind the Germanfront British aeroplanes bombed railway stations, trains, and billets, losing during these air fights four machines. In the afternoon of this date, October 11, 1916, the British troops bya determined push gained 1, 000 yards between Les Boeufs and LeTransloy, having gained all the territory they set out to win. Theadvance, which was won at a comparatively small cost, brought theBritish lines within 500 yards of one of the few conspicuous landmarksin this desolate region--a cemetery about half a mile from LeTransloy. The English continued to make night raids on the German trenches. Fivesuch raids undertaken October 11-12, 1916, in the Messines, BoisGrenier, and Haisnes areas were all successful; heavy casualties wereinflicted on the Germans and a number of prisoners were taken. Duringthe day of October 12, 1916, the British attacked the low heightsbetween their front trenches and the Bapaume-Péronne road, where theygained ground and made captures. On this date the French infantrynorth of the Somme made progress to the west of Sailly-Saillisel. South of the Somme French forces took the offensive on October 14, 1916, delivering an attack west of Belloy-en-Santerre, by which theygained possession of the first German line on a front of about a mileand a quarter. By another attack they captured the village ofGénermont and the sugar refinery to the northeast of Ablaincourt. Inthese two attacks nearly 1, 000 prisoners were taken, includingseventeen officers. On the same date British forces in the neighborhood of the StuffRedoubt and Schwaben Redoubt cleared two lines of German communicationtrenches for a distance of nearly 200 yards. During these operations, which were carried out by a single company, the British took twoofficers and 303 of other ranks. In the evening the British advancedtheir lines northeast of Gueudecourt and made further captures of menand material. On Sunday, October 15, 1916, south of the Somme, the Germans madedesperate attempts to regain the trenches they had lost to the Frenchsoutheast of Belloy-en-Santerre, but the attacks were shattered by theFrench artillery. French assaults by the German troops were repulsed on the followingday when the French carried a wood between Génermont and Ablaincourt, taking prisoner four officers and 110 of other ranks, as well as anumber of machine guns. The German aircraft were especially active onthis day and the French fought seven engagements. In the Lassignysector a German machine hit by French guns fell in flames behind itsown lines. The clear weather which prevailed during the day of October 16, 1916, tempted British airmen to renewed activity. They bombed successfullyrailway lines, stations, and factories. During the numerous fights inthe air three German machines were destroyed and one was driven toearth, while two kite balloons were forced down in flames. For thesesuccessful exploits the British paid somewhat heavily. One of theirmachines was brought down by German gunfire and six were missing atthe end of the day. Heavy bombardments on both sides, trench raids, and counterattacks, which resulted in some successes for the Allied troops, marked thefollowing days. On October 21, 1916, the Germans lost heavily in anattempt to recover Sailly-Saillisel from the French. Three regimentsof the Second Bavarian Division recently arrived in this sector wereshattered one after the other by French curtain and machine-gun fire. South of the Somme a brilliant little success was achieved by theFrench north of Chaulnes. Early in the afternoon the French infantryafter a heavy bombardment of the enemy lines pushed forward and gaineda foothold in the Bois Étoile which was held by troops of Saxony. The Chaulnes garrison attempted to come to the support of the Saxons, but were driven back by the destructive fire from French batteries. Generals Marchand and Ste. Clair Deville, who were wounded in fightingin the Somme region, continued to hold their commands and to directthe action of the French troops under them. Early in the morning of October 21, 1916, German troops inconsiderable force attacked the Schwaben Redoubt north of Thiepvaloccupied by the British, and at several points succeeded in enteringthe trenches. But in a short time the British troops by a vigorousattack drove them out, capturing five officers and seventy-nine ofother ranks. A subsequent attack by the British, delivered on a frontof some 5, 000 yards between Schwaben Redoubt and Le Sars, advanced theBritish line from 300 to 500 yards. Sixteen officers and over 1, 000German prisoners were taken during this operation, while the Britishlosses were said to be slight. On this same date British aircraftshowed great activity, bombing German communications, an importantrailroad junction, and an ammunition depot, while there were severalair duels in which the British destroyed three machines and droveothers behind their lines. Two British aeroplanes were not heard fromagain. In the afternoon of the following day, October 22, 1916, the Britishright wing advanced east of Gueudecourt and Les Boeufs and captured1, 000 yards of German trenches. On the same day British airmen bombedtwo railway stations behind the enemy's lines, hitting a train andworking great damage to buildings and rolling stock. The Britishairmen in a series of engagements brought down seven German machines, damaging others and forcing them to descend. At the close of the dayeight British machines were missing. CHAPTER IX FRENCH RETAKE DOUAUMONT On October 24, 1916, on the Verdun front a great victory was won bythe French in the capture of Fort Douaumont. This stronghold, whichhad been termed by the Germans "the main pillar of the Verdundefenses, " had been captured by the Brandenburgers in the last week ofFebruary, 1916. The French lost the fort, but they clung desperatelyto the approaches, which for weeks were the scenes of bloodystruggles. The fort was retaken by the Allied troops on May 22, 1916, but after two days of furious bombardment and the attacks of freshGerman troops they were driven from the place. From that time untilthe French recaptured it on October 24, 1916, it had remained inGerman possession. Shortly before noon of the last date the Frenchlaunched their attack on the right bank of the Meuse after an intenseartillery preparation. The German line, attacked on a front of aboutfour and a half miles, was broken through everywhere to a depth whichattained at the middle a distance of two miles. General Nivelle had intrusted the plans for the recapture of FortDouaumont to General Mangin. Artillery preparation began on October21, 1916, when the air was clear and favored observation by captiveballoons and aeroplanes. For two days the fort and its approaches weresubjected to an almost continuous bombardment of French guns. OnOctober 23, 1916, the explosion of a bomb started a fire in FortDouaumont. The shelters covering the quarries of Haudromont weredestroyed and also the battery at Damloup, while the ravines wereblown to pieces. Owing to the wide extent of the French attacks theGermans seemed to have been in doubt as to the point from which themain assault would be launched. Gradually the French "felt out" thepositions of the 130 German batteries, a great number of which theydestroyed. The troops selected by the French for their attack belonged todivisions that had been fighting for some time in this sector. According to the French official account of the storming of the fort, from left to right was the division of General Guyot de Salins, reenforced on the left by the Eleventh Infantry. This division wasmade up of Zouaves and Colonial sharpshooters, among them the Moroccanregiment which had previously been honored for heroic conduct atDixmude and Fleury, and to whom fell the honor of attacking FortDouaumont. Then came the division commanded by General du Passage, consisting of troops from all parts of France. A division commanded byGeneral Bardmelle, composed of troops of the line and light infantry, came next, and a battalion of Singhalese also took an equal part inthe attack. At 11. 40 a. M. The attack was launched in a heavy fog. It had beenplanned that the first stroke should take in the quarries ofHaudromont, the height to the north of the ravine of La Dame, theintrenchment north of the farm of Thiaumont, the battery of LaFausse-Côte, and the ravine of Bazite. In the second phase, after anhour's stop to consolidate the first gains, the French troops were topress on to the crest of the heights to the north of the ravine ofCouleuvre, the village of Douaumont, the fort of Douaumont, the damand pond of Vaux, and on to the battery of Damloup. The French attack succeeded in carrying out the first phase of theplan with insignificant losses, and proceeded almost immediately toadvance to the second objective. "At 2. 30 p. M. , " said a Frencheyewitness of the attack, "the fog lifted and the observers could seea magic spectacle. It was our soldiers, filing like so many shadowsalong the crest of Douaumont, approaching the fort from all sides. Arriving at the fort, they quickly established themselves within, andthrough field glasses could be seen the long column of prisoners asthey filed out. "The French Fourth Regiment, charged with taking the quarries ofHaudromont, went beyond their objective, which was the trench ofBalfourier. The division under General Guyot de Salins had takenThiaumont and Douaumont, while that of General du Passage had seizedthe wood of Caillette and advanced to the heights of La Fausse-Côte. "Steadily foot by foot the French infantry pushed on, driving theenemy before them and taking 3, 500 prisoners on the way, till at lastafter a severe struggle around Fort Douaumont they shot all of itsdefenders who refused to surrender and won it back to France. " In the space of four hours the French had recaptured territory whichhad taken the Germans eight months to conquer at a cost of severalhundred thousand of their best troops. The Germans explained theirdefeat on the ground that the fog hampered their observation andbarrage, while the French artillery had set fire to a store of benzinein the fort, which forced the garrison to evacuate. In addition to the fort and village adjoining, the French forcescaptured the Haudromont quarries which had been in possession of theGermans since April 18, 1916. CHAPTER X GERMANS LOSE FORT VAUX--FRENCH TAKE SAILLISEL On the Somme front the operations of the Allied troops were impeded byheavy rains, but artillery duels continued daily; the British airmenmade many raids on enemy positions and were successful in bombingdepots and railways. October 27, 1916, an aerial combat took place inwhich many machines were engaged. Five aeroplanes fell during thefight, two of which were British. On Saturday morning, October 28, 1916, the British troops carried outa successful operation northeast of Les Boeufs, which resulted in thecapture of enemy trenches. The Germans driven from their position werecaught by the British rifle fire and lost two officers and 138 ofother ranks. On the following day the British won another trench fromthe Germans to the northeast of Les Boeufs. In summing up the gains of the Allies during the month of October, 1916, it will be noted that they had made steady progress. The Britishforces had won the high ground in the vicinity of the Butte deWarlencourt, which brought them nearer to the important militaryposition of Bapaume. The French had by ceaseless activity pushedforward their lines toward Le Transloy. During four months from July 1to November 1, 1916, the Franco-British troops in the course of thefighting on the Somme had captured 71, 532 German soldiers and 1, 449officers. The material taken by the Allies during this period included173 field guns, 130 heavy guns, 215 trench mortars, and 981 machineguns. [Illustration: Verdun Front, February 1, 1917. ] After the French victory on October 24, 1916, when Fort Douaumont wascaptured from the Germans, it was inevitable that Fort Vaux on thesame front must also fall, and this took place on November 2, 1916. For some days Fort Vaux had been subjected to intense artillery fireby the French, and the German commander ordered the evacuation of thefortress during the night. It was in defending this stronghold againstoverwhelming odds that the French Major Raynal and his garrison wonthe praise of even their enemies. The German direct attack on the fortbegan March 9, 1916, and for ninety days Major Raynal held it againstthe ceaseless attacks of Germany's finest troops backed not bybatteries, but by parks of artillery. Only when the fort was in ruinsand the garrison could fight no longer were the German troops able tooccupy the work. The French Government marked its appreciation ofMajor Raynal's heroic defense by publishing his name and by conferringon him the grade of Commander of the Legion of Honor, a distinctionusually reserved only for divisional generals. The German Crown Princeappreciating Major Raynal's heroic qualities permitted him on hissurrender to retain his sword. North of the Somme, despite the persistent bad weather, the Frenchtroops on November 1 and 2, 1916, captured German trenches northeastof Les Boeufs and a strongly organized system of trenches on theeastern outskirts of St. Pierre Vaast Wood. By these operations theFrench took 736 prisoners, of whom twenty were officers, and alsotwelve machine guns. The British forces on the Somme on the night of November 2, 1916, by asurprise attack captured a German trench east of Gueudecourt andcarried out a successful raid on German trenches near Arras. Britishaircraft, which had been actively engaged in bombing German batteries, in the course of several combats in the air destroyed two hostilemachines. On November 4, 1916, the Germans attempted by acounterattack to regain the trenches won by the British nearGueudecourt, but were driven off with heavy losses, considering thenumber of troops engaged. The Germans left on the field more than ahundred dead, and the British captured thirty prisoners and fourmachine guns. British aircraft, which continued to operate despite theheavy weather that prevailed, suffered heavily on November 4, 1916. One of their machines which had attacked and destroyed a Germanaeroplane was so badly damaged that it fell within German lines andfour other British aircraft did not return. German attempts to wrest from the French the trenches they had won onNovember 1, 1916, on the western edge of St. Pierre Vaast Wood wereunsuccessful, though at some points the German troops succeeded inpenetrating the lines. But their foothold in the French trenches wasonly temporary, and they were driven out with considerable losses. On Sunday, November 5, 1916, the French took the offensive south ofthe village of Saillisel, attacking simultaneously on three sides theSt. Pierre Vaast Wood, which had been strongly organized by the Germantroops. As a result of this spirited attack the French captured insuccession three trenches defending the northern horn of the wood, andthe entire line of hostile positions on the southwestern outskirts ofthe wood. At this point the fighting was of the most desperatedescription. The Germans fought with great bravery, making violentcounterattacks, which the French repulsed with bomb and bayonet, andcapturing during the operations on this front 522 prisoners, includingfifteen officers. The British troops, which had won 1, 000 yards of a position on thehigh ground in the neighborhood of the Butte de Warlencourt onNovember 5, 1916, were forced to relinquish a great part of theirgains when the Germans made a violent attack on the following day. North of the Somme the French made important advances between LesBoeufs and Sailly-Saillisel. To the south on November 6, 1916, in themidst of a heavy rain they launched a dashing attack on a front of twoand a half miles. German positions extending from the Chaulnes Wood tothe southeast of the Ablaincourt sugar refinery were carried, and thewhole of the villages of Ablaincourt and Pressoir were occupied by theFrench infantry. Pushing forward their lines they also captured thecemetery to the east of Ablaincourt, which had been made into astronghold by the Germans. The French positions were farther carriedto the south of the sugar refinery as far as the outskirts ofGomiécourt. In these successful operations the French captured over500 prisoners, including a number of officers. CHAPTER XI BRITISH SUCCESSES IN THE ANCRE In the Ancre region the British won some notable victories on November12, 1916, when Beaumont-Hamel was taken, which the Germans consideredan even more impregnable stronghold than Thiepval. The British alsoswept all before them on the south side of the Ancre, capturing thelesser village of St. Pierre Divion. The defeats which the British hadsuffered in this region during July of 1916 were amply atoned for bythese victories. Beaumont-Hamel lies in the fold of a ridge and washoneycombed with dugouts and the defenses so cunningly prepared thatit was extremely difficult for the British artillery to destroy them. Under Beaumont-Hamel there is an elaborate system of caves or cellarsdating from ancient days, and it was the emergence of the Germantroops from the dugouts and these lairs that made the attack of theUlster troops in July unavailing. Attacking simultaneously northward, down the nearer slope, and eastward directly against the face of themain German line before Beaumont-Hamel, the British troops capturedthe whole position at once. The entire front on which the British attacked was over 8, 000 yards. On the right, or east, the advance began from the western end ofRegina Trench from the British position about 700 yards to the northof Stuff Redoubt. From this point a German trench known as the Hansaline ran northwestward to the Ancre, directly opposite the village ofBeaucourt. On the extreme right, north of Stuff Redoubt, to reach thattrench meant an advance of only a score or so of yards. To thewestward, above Schwaben Redoubt half a mile, the advance was nearly1, 000 yards. By St. Pierre Divion, along the valley of the Ancreitself, the advance was over 1, 500 yards. Everywhere in this sectorthe British troops were successful. They gained in this offensive astretch of 3, 000 yards north of the Ancre to an average depth of abouta mile. The victory of the British troops was especially notable, because they had struck frontally at the main German first line withtier upon tier of trenches which the Germans had strongly fortifiedand wired for two years past. One English county battalion alone tothe south of Beaumont-Hamel took 300 prisoners, and in the villageitself 700 were captured, mostly soldiers from Silesia and EastPrussia. At the close of the day over 2, 000 German prisoners had beentaken, and the ground won by the British amounted to about four squaremiles. During the night of November 12, 1916, and during the dayfollowing in the clean-up of the labyrinthian defenses which theGermans had skillfully constructed 2, 000 more prisoners were added tothe number already captured in this sector. The British advance hadbrought them to the outskirts of Beaucourt-sur-Ancre, which was takenon November 14, 1916. Pushing on through the village to the left ofit, the British troops advanced over the high ground to the northeastof Beaumont-Hamel, on to the road from Serre to Beaucourt, havinggathered in another thousand prisoners on the way. During the two days' fighting in this region no British troops wongreater distinction than the Scots and the Royal Naval Division. Inall the German lines in France there was no more formidable positionthan the angle immediately above the Ancre, where Beaumont-Hamel layin a hollow of the hill. On the morning of November 13, 1916, theRoyal Naval Division attacked the stretch from just below the "Y"ravine on the south of Beaumont-Hamel to the north side of the Ancre. After a preliminary bombardment, which played havoc with the Germanbarbed-wire entanglements protecting their front line, the Britishnaval troops swept over the line with a rush as if the barriers hadbeen made of straw. The British right rested on the Ancre as theyswept across the valley bottom. Northwest, where there was a rise ofground, the center of the line had to attack diagonally along theslope of the hill. At the top of the slope there was a German redoubthidden in a curve, and invisible in front, composed of a triangle ofthree deep pits with concrete emplacements for machine guns whichcould sweep the slope in all directions. This formidable redoubt wassituated immediately behind the German front trench, reaching back to, and resting on, the second. At all points the British naval troopscarried the front trench by storm. On the right they rushed along thevalley bottom and the lower part of the slope, carrying line afterline of trench on to the dip where a sunken road ran along their frontgoing up from the Ancre to Beaumont-Hamel on the left. Here for a short space of time the British troops rested while others, also of the Naval Division, came up and swept through them on and upthe slope until they had won a line beyond. After this the first linecaught up with them again, and they all swept on together in asplendid charge that covered a good 1, 500 yards and which brought themto the very edge of Beaucourt. It was during this operation that aBritish battalion commander was wounded, but continued to lead andanimate his men during the entire advance. Meanwhile the British right center was held up by the redoubt. TheGerman machine guns, while checking the troops in front of them, alsoswept the ground along the face of the slope to the left. Here the troops of the Royal Naval Division suffered badly, but theycontinued to advance under the withering fire, winning the first andsecond line trenches, and then, as supports came up on the right, braving the machine-gun fire, they pushed on across the dip and sunkenroad up the slope toward Beaucourt. Here all the troops made ajunction, forming a line on the Beaucourt-Beaumont-Hamel road. Back ofthis line the Germans still held the central parts of the trenches, over the two ends of which the British troops had swept. The redoubtstill remained intact and other important positions were in Germanhands. On the night of the 13th the British battalion commander who had beenwounded during the advance gathered together 600 men, all that couldbe spared, from established positions, and with these troops hepurposed to attempt a farther advance. It was while he was gatheringthese men together that the officer received a second wound, but stillrefused to retire from the field. At early dawn of November 14, 1916, this officer led his 600 menagainst the village of Beaucourt. In less than a quarter of an hour'shand-to-hand fighting the British troops had won the village. When thesun shone on the scene of the struggle the British troops were diggingthemselves in on the farther side of Beaucourt. It was only then thatthe brave battalion commander who had successfully led the attack withfour wounds in his body had to be taken to the rear. It was on November 14, 1916, in the fighting on the Ancre that theScots won special distinction. Their line in the fighting was justabove that taken by the Naval Division, and included Beaumont-Hamelitself and the famous "Y" ravine. This ravine was such a formidableplace that it merits a somewhat detailed description. Imagine a greatgash in the earth some 7, 000 or 8, 000 yards in total length. In formlike a great "Y" lying on its side, the prongs at the top projecteddown to the German front line while the stem ran back connecting withthe road through the dip which goes from Beaumont-Hamel on the northto the Ancre. At the forked or western end, projecting down to thefront, there is a chasm more than thirty feet deep, with walls soprecipitous that in some parts they overhang. The Germans had burrowedinto the sides of the earth and established lairs far below the thirtyfeet level of the ravine, where they were practically out of reach ofshell fire coming from whatever direction. In some instances they hadhollowed out great caves large enough to contain fully a battalion anda half of men. In addition, the thoroughgoing Germans had made atunnel from the forward end of the ravine to their own fourth line inthe rear. Altogether the position was admirably adapted to sustain along defense and it was owing to the darkness when the Britishattacked, and which took the Germans by surprise, that the strongholdwas captured. The violent artillery bombardment by the British beforethe attack had battered all the ordinary trenches and positions topieces without effecting any serious damage to the undergroundshelters. Following the bombardment, the Scotch troops broke over theGerman defenses, meeting their only check in the onward rush at theends of the "Y" ravine. On the south of this narrow point, keepingstep with the Naval Division on their right, they swept across thefirst and second lines to the third. Here there was stiff fighting fora time, and when the Scots had struggled forward they left behind atrench full of German dead. On the north side every foot of ground wascontested before the third line was reached, and then from both sidesthe ravine was attacked with bombs. At a point just behind the fork ofthe "Y" the first breach was made, and down the sheer sides of theravine the British troops dropped with bayonet in hand. Then followeda stubborn struggle, for the Germans filled both sides of the chasm. Bombing, bayoneting, and grappling hand to hand continued for sometime, the Germans despite their bravery being slowly forced back. Atthis stage of the fighting the British delivered a new frontal attackagainst the narrow bit of the front line still unbroken at the forwardend of the "Y. " As the Germans at that end turned to repel the assaultthe Scotch troops in the ravine rushed forward to be joined presentlyby other British troops that had by this time broken into the ravine, when there followed a scene of indescribable confusion. The struggle, however, was of short duration, when the Germans, at first singly andthen in groups, flung down their arms and surrendered. All the Germansvisible were made prisoners, but it was known that the tunnel and theshelters and dugouts contained many men. A shrewd Scotch private whohad lived in Germany succeeded by strategy in drawing out most of theGermans from their hiding places. The canny Scot took a German officerwho had surrendered, and leading him to suspected dugouts bade himorder the men inside to come out. This ruse worked happily and at onedugout fifty Germans issued forth and surrendered. While this struggle in the ravine was going on, other Scotch troopshad swarmed over the German lines higher up, and by noon had takenpossession of the site--there is no village--of Beaumont-Hamel. Theplace is underlaid with many subterranean hiding places, and it wasduring the process of gathering in the Germans concealed in theseunderground shelters that some extraordinary incidents took place. Oneexample of personal bravery at this time must be cited. While thefighting was still going on a man of the British Signal Corps wasrunning telephone lines up, and had just reached his goal in acaptured German trench when he was struck down before the mouth of adugout. Just as he collapsed a German officer appeared from thedepths, and "Signals" could see that there were a number of Germansoldiers behind him. By a supreme effort the wounded man struggled tohis feet and ordered the officer to surrender. This the German wasquite ready to do. The Scot then pulled himself together and with hisremaining strength telephoned an explanation of the situation backover the line which he had just laid. Having done this he stood guardover the German officer in the opening of the dugout, keeping othersblocked behind him, until relieved of his charges by the arrival ofhelp. As a whole the Scots took over 1, 000 prisoners and gathered infifty-four machine guns in the day's fighting. No doubt the British successes in this area were gained by theunexpectedness and dash of their attacks which took the Germans bysurprise. The foggy weather which prevailed had hampered the Germansso that they were unable to observe the movements of British troops. In the region to the south of the Ancre a relief was going on, so thatthere was double the usual number of Germans in the trenches. Therelieving division, the Two Hundred and Twenty-third, one of theLudendorff's new formations and going into action for the first timeas a division, was caught within a few minutes after getting to thetrenches. Again the "tanks" were found of special service, thoughowing to the heavy mud encountered during the advance they wereconsiderably hampered in their movements. At one point north of theAncre a "tank" was useful in clearing the German first-line trench, and at another point south of the river one pushed forward and gotahead of the British infantry into a position strongly held by theGermans who swarmed around it and tried to blow it up with bombs. The"tank" stood off the furious assaults until the British infantry cameup, when it became busy and helped the troops clean up the trenchesand dugouts in the vicinity. CHAPTER XII OPERATIONS ON THE FRENCH FRONT--FURTHER FIGHTING IN THE ANCRE While the British were winning one of their most important victorieson the Somme on the French front both north and south there wascontinued activity. The whole village of Saillisel, over which therehad been prolonged fighting, was now in French hands. Heavy attacks bythe German troops assisted by "flame throwers" were repulsed. Southeast of Berny the Germans succeeded in penetrating the Frenchtrenches, but were thrust out by a keen counterattack. During the fighting in these sectors the French took 220 prisoners, seven officers, and eight machine guns. North of the Somme the Germans attacked from Les Boeufs toBouchavesnes, evidently with the purpose of forestalling a new Frenchoffensive beyond Saillisel, which would endanger the left of theGerman line opposed to the British, by the menace of being turned onthe south. Regiments of the Prussian Guard Infantry Division attackedin the forenoon and in the afternoon along the six-mile front. But theFrench forces remained firm and unwavering on both wings, and theGermans could gain no headway against their curtain and machine-gunfire. Around the St. Pierre Vaast Wood, in the center of the line, thefighting reached the greatest intensity. The Germans displayedunyielding bravery, and despite very heavy losses succeeded incapturing outlying trenches along the western fringe, and in thenorthern corner of the wood. These positions afforded them littleadvantage while Saillisel and the southwest fringe of the wood werefirmly held by French troops. South of the Somme from Ablaincourt to Chaulnes Wood, a distance oftwo and a half miles, the Germans pounded the French positions almostunceasingly for forty-eight hours. At 6 o'clock in the morning ofNovember 15, 1916, the Germans after a final shower of tear shellsendeavored to drive in their wedge. The main efforts of the attackingcontingent were concentrated on Ablaincourt and Pressoir. The Frenchwere quite prepared for the onslaught and the oncoming waves of Germantroops wavered and broke under the fiery storm of French shells. Despite their heavy losses the Germans after repeated failuressucceeded about noonday in rushing the eastern portion of Pressoir. Renewing the attack after a short interval, other portions of theplace were occupied by them. During the night, the small force ofFrench troops which had held the village all day against overwhelmingodds was reenforced, and in the early hours of November 16, 1916, by abrilliant counterattack the Germans were swept out of the village andthe French line was once more solidified. The Germans during two days'fighting had displayed conspicuous courage, but the twelve attacksthey made on Pressoir, where they gained a temporary advantage, costthem heavily. Certain regiments, among others the One Hundred andEleventh Prussian, lost 60 per cent. Of their effectives. On November 15 and 16, 1916, the British continued to make gains northof the Ancre. One division advanced a mile, and took over 1, 000prisoners at a cost of about 450 casualties. On November 16, 1916, SirDouglas Haig reported that in twenty-four hours the British had takensix German officers and 297 of other ranks. In the afternoon of thisdate the Germans launched a vigorous counterattack, and forced theBritish to relinquish a part of the ground east of the Butte deWarlencourt, which had been won on November 14, 1916. During the weekthe British aeroplanes were constantly active and some importantsuccesses were won over enemy aircraft. On November 16, 1916, twojunctions on the German lines of communication were bombed, andrailways and aerodromes were attacked with bombs and machine-gun fireby day and night. German aircraft, which had displayed considerableactivity at this period, fought a number of aerial engagements withBritish flyers with disastrous results to themselves. Three Germanmachines were brought down on the British side, and two fell withinthe German lines. The British also drove down five more in a damagedcondition, while their own losses in these air combats amounted toonly three machines. According to the British official report 6, 190 Germans had been madeprisoner during four days' fighting in this sector. On a front of about a mile and a half the British troops on November18, 1916, again forged ahead for an average distance of 500 yards orso on the south side of the Ancre. On the north of the river theypushed on at daybreak through fast-falling snow until the British linewas now within three-quarters of a mile to the northeast of Beaucourtand 500 yards beyond the Bois d'Holland, which was in British hands. The last advance had brought them to the outskirts of Grandcourt andhere bomb fighting at close range went on throughout the day ofNovember 18, 1916. To the west of this village ran the original main German second line, which lower down passed through such famous places as the Stuff andZollern Redoubts. With its parallel lines of trenches andcomplications it was quite as formidable as the main first lineconstructed about the same time two years before. The British hadalready broken through the line up to a point some 600 yards north ofStuff Redoubt. On November 18, 1916, their troops again smashed theline for a distance of more than 500 yards. The Germans still heldpositions on the line to the south of Grandcourt, but the British hadpenetrated so far to the right and to the left that the line could nolonger serve as a barrier to the village. The British advance wasbegun about 6 a. M. , preceded by a short but fierce bombardment of theGerman line, and which according to the account afterward given byprisoners caused the Germans to seek the shelter of their dugouts. Troops from the British Isles and Canada who made the advance togetherwere among the Germans before the latter could issue from theirshelters after the withering storm of shells. At different placessavage hand-to-hand fighting went on in the trenches. On the sides ofthe ravine below Grandcourt, where the slopes were swept bymachine-gun fire, the British were unable to advance. But for some twomiles to the right they swept all resistance away. Especiallyimportant were the British gains on the extreme right, which gave thempossession of another stage of the descent along the minor spurrunning in a northerly direction. The whole of the south side of theAncre to the edge of Grandcourt was now firmly held by British troops. In the night of November 21, 1916, after a heavy preparatorybombardment by trench mortars, the Germans carried out a successfultrench raid on British lines south of St. Elie. A considerable part ofthe British front-line trench was demolished by German fire andtwenty-six British were taken prisoner by the raiders. The clear weather that prevailed along the Somme front at this timeencouraged German, French, and British airmen to engage in raidingexpeditions. On November 24, 1916, British machines attacked androuted a formation of twenty German aeroplanes, and held possession ofthe field without losing one machine. At other points the Britishflyers smashed eight German machines and drove several down to earthin a damaged condition. In these encounters the British lost threeaircraft of various types. In Lorraine three British aeroplanes fought an engagement with aconsiderable number of German machines. The result was that theBritish drove down an enemy machine in the forest of Gremecy, remaining masters of the field without incurring any lossesthemselves. On the Somme front there was incessant activity among theFrench airmen, who fought about forty engagements, during which theybrought down five German machines. Quartermaster Sergeant Flachairedestroyed his sixth machine near Manancourt and Lieutenant Doullin histenth south of Vaux Wood. CHAPTER XIII WEATHER CONDITIONS--MOVEMENTS AROUND LOOS November, 1916, the fifth month of the Battle of the Somme, drew to anend with fog and drizzling rain, the whole fighting area a drabexpanse of mud and pools of water. For two months there had not beenan interval of more than three or four days of fine weather at a time, and the ground had grown steadily more and more water-logged, whichgreatly hampered military operations. Except on the Ancre, where theBritish had taken 7, 000 prisoners, no other important victories hadbeen won by them, but each day marked some gain, and in the aggregatethe ground won, the casualties inflicted, and the slow but continuousattrition of the enemy were of importance. The British claimed that inNovember alone they had taken prisoner between 9, 000 and 10, 000Germans and had put out of action fully four times as many. The wastage of the Allies' aircraft in November, 1916, wasconsiderably less than in any of the previous four months. In theofficial reports it was definitely stated that 148 British, German, and French machines had been brought down. Of this total thirty-twoBritish machines were admitted by General Headquarters to have beenlost or were counted missing. As an offset to these losses the Britishairmen had destroyed twenty-four, captured seven, and brought downdamaged twenty-six German machines. In addition to these the RoyalNaval Air Service operating under French military authorities hadbrought down five hostile aeroplanes. It was claimed by the French that they had destroyed, captured, anddriven to earth in a wrecked condition fifty German machines. Lieutenant Guynemer continued to hold his lead among French airmen, having scored in November, 1916, his twenty-third victory. In threedays of this month he brought down six German aeroplanes. Guynemer'svictories in the air had inspired other members of the French flyingcorps to fresh deeds of daring, and during November, 1916, LieutenantNungesser and Adjutant Dorme destroyed their fifteenth and sixteenthhostile machines respectively. In the only reports published by theGermans during this month it was claimed that they had destroyed orput out of action thirty-six hostile machines. On December 1, 1916, British troops successfully raided Germantrenches south of Armentières. On the same date the Germans attempteda trench raid northeast of Neuve Chapelle which was beaten off by theBritish, who inflicted some losses on the raiders. On the French fronttheir airmen were active in bombing enemy positions. A German attack was made in force on December 3, 1916, after a heavybombardment of the British trenches south of Loos. After a spiritedstruggle the Germans were driven off, having suffered heavycasualties. On this same day British aircraft won some importantsuccesses inside the German lines, when they bombed among otherobjectives a railway station and aerodrome. The British Naval AirSquadron also engaged in a number of air combats on this date, destroying two German machines and damaging four others. Heavy bombardments of enemy positions by day and the usual trenchraids at night continued for more than a week, during which the Alliedtroops registered minor successes, insignificant when consideredseparately, but important in the aggregate. It was not until December13, 1916, that any important engagement was fought, when a Germanattack was made on Lassigny, that part of the French front nearest toParis. It was estimated by French headquarters that the Germans hadbrought together for this attack 40, 000 troops and had concentratedcorresponding quantities of artillery. After an intense bombardment ofthe French lines that lasted for some hours the German troops pressedforward. If they had hoped to take the French by surprise, they werespeedily undeceived. The assaulting waves were received by a witheringfire from the French 3-inch and machine guns that tore great gaps inthe German close-formed ranks. A barrier of fire thrown to the rear ofthe Germans caught and ravaged the supporting reserves. The French trenches were reached over a frontage of about 300 yards, but an immediate counterattack enabled the French to recapture theirlines. Only a few survivors of the German attacking column escaped. Most of them were killed after a determined resistance. An hour laterthe Germans renewed the assault and again failed. As their reservescame up they were easily dispersed by the heavy French artillery. CHAPTER XIV FRENCH WIN AT VERDUN On December 15, 1916, the French troops won an important victory inthe region of Verdun, north of Douaumont, when they broke through theGerman lines on a front of six and a quarter miles, extending from theMeuse River to the plain of Woevre, penetrating to a depth of nearlytwo miles. In this advance the French troops captured the villages ofVacherauville and Louvemont, the fortified farm of Chambrettes, andthe fortified fieldworks of Hardaumont and Bezonvaux. The resultsgained by the French in this advance compare favorably with GeneralMangin's sensational exploit on October 24, 1916, when Fort Douaumontwas taken. The battle began at 10 o'clock in the morning as the church clock nearby sounded the hour. Immediately every French gun started a storm ofsteel, showering shells immediately behind the German front line. While this intense bombardment was at its height, the French infantrymade a dashing advance and gained the village of Vacherauville, wherethey encountered stubborn resistance. There was hand-to-hand fightingfrom house to house until finally the Germans were driven out, resisting every step of the way. Pressing on beyond the village theFrench next attacked an important German trench known as "Bethmann'sBowl, " which they penetrated after a hard struggle and made thedefenders prisoners. Next Pepper Hill was attacked, and the two crestsof this height were won in exactly one hour after a start had beenmade. During this time the Germans on the opposing slope were caughtin the rear by a French flank movement. Completely taken by surprisethey attempted to flee when French airmen, dropping their machines towithin 500 feet of the ground, brought their machine guns to bear onthe now disorderly crowd of fugitives, and those who escaped thedevastating fire sweeping down on them at once surrendered. The French infantry now advanced along the valley behind Pepper Hill, and with the aid of a French force that had fought its way through thefortified fieldworks of Caurières Wood took Louvemont by a brilliantassault. In front of Douaumont the French troops made a rapid advance, but inHardaumont Wood their forward movement on the right flank encounteredstubborn opposition. Fighting continued there until late in theafternoon, when the German garrison in Bezonvaux Redoubt, about fivekilometers beyond the original French line, surrendered. It was especially encouraging to the Allies that in this impressivevictory only four French divisions participated, while it was knownfrom prisoners taken that the Germans had five divisions in the field. The French owed much of their success to the daring work performed bytheir aviators. Dozens of airmen dashed here and there, takingobservations, correcting artillery, and accompanying the infantry'sadvance. At intervals they dashed back to headquarters with detailedreports of what was going on, thus keeping the commander in chief inclose touch with the operations of the troops. The German gunnersseemed to have become unnerved by the rapidity of the French advance, and fired almost at random. They had no assistance from their ownaviators, who were kept in subjection by the French airmen, of whomnot one was lost during the day. The French did not overestimate the magnitude of the victory they hadwon. It compelled the Germans to move back their artillery, which upto that time was a source of danger to the French supply depots andworks on the other side of the Meuse, and also laid open the flanks ofthe French position on Le Mort Homme. Owing to the swiftness of the advance and the disorganization of theGerman batteries the French losses were comparatively slight. Asstated in the French official report the total number of prisonerstaken on December 15, 1916, was 11, 387, including 284 officers, and115 cannon were captured, with 44 bomb throwers and 107 machine guns. This great victory was the last act of General Nivelle before assumingthe chief command of the French armies on the western front. To thisofficer belongs the credit of drawing up the plan of attack, in whichhe was assisted by General Pétain, at that time his superior officer. The assault proper was left to General Mangin. The four divisionsengaged were commanded by such leaders as General de Maud'huy andGeneral du Passage. During the night of December 17, 1916, German troops delivered astrong counterattack against the new French positions north ofDouaumont. By hard fighting they succeeded in forcing the French outof the fortified position known as Chambrettes Farm, the farthestpoint which the French attained in their advance on December 15, 1916. The Germans were not allowed for long to enjoy their small success, for on December 18, 1916, the French returned in force and reoccupiedthe position which they now held intact. CHAPTER XV CANADIANS AT ARRAS--NIVELLE IN COMMAND In the afternoon of December 20, 1916, Canadian troops made animportant raid on German trenches north of Arras on a front of 400yards and succeeded in putting out of action, temporarily at least, anentire battalion of German infantry. The Canadian troops, after the first preparatory fire of the Britishguns had ceased, advanced and occupied the German trenches in lessthan two minutes. The Germans, who had not expected that the raidwould take place before Christmas Eve, were completely surprised. Asthey hurried for the saps and dugouts leading to the rear trenches, the Canadians showered hand grenades among them. Caught entirelyunprepared, the Germans in the first line offered but a feebleresistance, the majority at once surrendering with cries of "Kamerad!"Many others were taken as they fled for the second and third lineswhile the Canadians pushed on to the second trenches. About twentydugouts were destroyed, some of them with bombs captured from theGermans. In a few of these dugouts the occupants refused to surrenderand consequently their lairs were blown to pieces. It was estimatedthat 150 Germans were killed during the raid. The Canadians took onecommissioned officer prisoner and fifty-seven of other ranks. A British officer engaged in the raid thus describes the struggleafter the German line was penetrated: "As we entered the trenches many Germans broke from the dugouts. Allwho did were subsequently well cared for. Each of our men was givendefinite instructions for his precise task and a map of the enemy'strenches, which proved absolutely correct. "Each man knew every detail of the proposed operation. They weredelighted at this and entered the fight with great cheers. When theycame out two hours later they were singing and as happy as schoolboyson a holiday. "The neatness and dispatch with which the raid was carried out wereunique. The artillery cooperation of the British guns was perfection. Beautifully placed curtains of fire prepared our advance, and creepingforward protected us as they proceeded to demolish absolutely theenemy trenches and dugouts. The program had given the men an hour anda half for their work, but the clean-up was accomplished in an hourand ten minutes, when the raiders signaled that they were ready toreturn to their own trenches. " The Germans did not attempt a counterattack until the following night, when they mistakenly bombarded and raided their own first lines, believing that the Canadians were still there. As it happened, theCanadian troops who had carried out the successful raid were somemiles away. They were not a part of the fighting line, but on rest, and had gone forward for this particular military operation plannedsome weeks before. During the night of December 19, 1916, British troops made asuccessful raid on German lines in the neighborhood of Gommecourt, where after doing considerable damage to the defensive works theyretired without any casualties. Early in the morning of the followingday the British made another successful raid on German trenches northof Arras, where they captured a number of prisoners. On the same date, December 19, 1916, a British contingent encountereda hostile patrol north of Neuve Chapelle. After a brief, sharp fightthe leader of the patrol was killed and his men surrendered. German official reports of this date stated that, west ofVillers-Carbonnel, Grenadiers of the Guard and East PrussianMusketeers forced their way into a strong British position that hadbeen destroyed by effective fire, and after blowing up dugouts retiredto their own lines, bringing away with them four officers andtwenty-six men as prisoners. The Germans claimed that during variousair engagements about this time along the Somme they destroyed sixhostile aircraft. During the night of December 20, 1916, a strong German raiding partyattacked the British line opposite Lens, but only a few succeeded inpenetrating the trenches. After a short struggle these were ejected bythe British troops and the raiding party was driven off. Southwest of Armentières a British raiding party entered Germantrenches and made some prisoners. On December 21, 1916, the French Government made public the officialorder summoning General Nivelle to the command of the armies of thenorth and northeast and signed by General Joffre. General Castelnau, General Joffre's Chief of Staff, having reached the age limit, wasretained on the active list by a special decree indorsed by thePresident of France, which was preliminary to his appointment to thecommand of an army group. CHAPTER XVI GERMAN ATTACKS AT VERDUN--RESULT OF SIX MONTHS' FIGHTING During the night of December 28, 1916, German troops in considerableforce delivered a spirited attack on a three-kilometer front betweenHill 304 and Dead Man Hill, northwest of Verdun. The German advancewas made after an intense artillery preparation. According to theofficial French reports the French infantry and machine-gun fire brokethe attack, but a trench south of Dead Man Hill was occupied by a fewGerman troops. In the account of the attack given out from Berlin itwas stated that German troops penetrated the third and second lines ofthe French positions, from which 222 prisoners, of whom four wereofficers, together with seven machine guns, were brought back. Allattempts made by the French troops to regain the captured trencheswere defeated, the German report stated. Between the Aisne and the Oise French artillery carried out adestructive fire on the German positions in the region ofQuennevières. French patrols penetrated the shattered German trencheswhich had been hastily evacuated. All the afternoon of December 28, 1916, German guns on the left bank of the Meuse bombarded Frenchpositions between the Meuse and Avocourt. At several points on theFrench front in this sector the Germans made vigorous attacks withgrenades, but in every instance they were repulsed with considerablelosses. During the night of December 28, 1916, a party of British troops madea successful raid against German trenches to the east of Le Sars withgood results. The closing days of the year were not marked by any important militaryoperations on either side. Though no great attacks were attempted, theold business of trench warfare being resumed, the opposing forcescontinued to harass and destroy each other at every opportunity. Thegrim object of British, French, and German was to kill wherever shellor machine-gun bullet could reach an enemy. This period of "peace" wasreally one of ceaseless activity, and the British distinguishedthemselves in keeping the Germans constantly on the alert. To preventthe building of defenses, or smash them when built, to concentrategunfire on communication trenches so as to render them impassable, todestroy reliefs coming in or going out, to carry death to the foe inditches and dugouts--in short, to injure him in any way that humaningenuity and military science could devise--such were the tacticsemployed by belligerents during the days and nights when in officiallanguage there was "nothing to report. " Official announcement was made on New Year's Day by the British PrimeMinister's Department that General Sir Douglas Haig, commander inchief of the British armies in France, had been promoted to the rankof field marshal. His chief aids on the French front, LieutenantGeneral Sir Henry Rawlinson and Major General Sir Hubert Gough, commanding the Fourth and Fifth Armies respectively, were alsogazetted for promotion. In reviewing the work of the Allies for the past six months FieldMarshal Haig made no secret of the fact that he had been forced bycircumstances to assume the offensive in July somewhat earlier than heintended. Had he waited until his munitionment was complete and hisraw drafts had acquired more experience, the Battle of the Somme mightnot have resulted so favorably to the Allies. The Germans were nearthe outskirts of Verdun and striking hard, and the moral and politicalconsequences of the fall of Verdun would have been so serious that itwas impossible to delay the offensive. Field Marshal Haig stated inhis summing up that the Battle of the Somme was begun to save Verdun, to prevent the transfer of further German reenforcements from the westto the Russian or Italian fronts, and to wear down the strength of theenemy forces, and that all these purposes were fulfilled. The brief period of so-called "peace" which had prevailed along theSomme during the closing days of 1916 was broken on New Year's Day, when a strong German patrol attacked the British trenches north ofVermelles. The British troops defending the position havingforeknowledge of the attack, were quite prepared for a vigorousresistance and the Germans were driven off with sanguinary losses, leaving a number of dead and wounded on the field. In the evening ofthis date, under cover of a heavy bombardment, a German patrolconsisting of about forty men made an attempt to reach the Britishlines to the north of Ypres. A few of the German troops succeeded ingaining the British trenches, but were ejected after a brief struggle. At other points on the front between the Somme and the Ancre theBritish troops started the new year in spirited fashion by carryingout effective counterbattery work and heavy bombardment of Germanpositions in the neighborhood of Neuve Chapelle and Armentières. During the afternoon of January 6, 1917, British troops under cover ofa heavy bombardment successfully raided German positions southeast ofArras, where advancing over a wide front they entered the enemy'sdefenses and penetrated to the third line. Here they succeeded inbombing and destroying a number of dugouts and wrought considerabledamage to the German defensive works. In minor engagements of thischaracter the British reported to have taken 240 prisoners sinceChristmas. French artillery on the Somme front was especially active during thefirst days of the new year. On the night of January 4, 1917, Frenchaerial squadrons scattered projectiles on the German aviation field atGrisolles and on the railway station and barracks at Guiscard. A number of explosions and four incendiary fires resulted from theseattacks by French airmen. Surprise attacks were attempted by German troops on the Frenchadvance posts east of Butte du Mesnil in the region of Maisons deChampagne. During the day of January 5, 1917, French artillery firedispersed the attackers, who fled from the field, leaving a number ofprisoners in French hands. The British troops along the Sommecontinued their raids on German positions every night and frequentlyduring the day. In the afternoon of January 7, 1917, they attacked aGerman trench south of Armentières, and after bombing the Germandefenses retired in good order with nineteen prisoners. On the samedate a German contingent after a preliminary bombardment attempted topenetrate British trenches southwest of Wytschaete. The attackersevidently expected that their heavy gunfire had demoralized thedefenders and looked for an easy victory, but they were speedilyrepulsed with considerable losses. Another attempt made under cover ofa heavy bombardment to seize British advance posts to the north ofYpres also met with disaster. CHAPTER XVII GERMAN ATTACK ON HILL 304--BRITISH SURPRISE ATTACK Early in the morning of January 10, 1917, small detachments of Britishtroops attacked the German lines to the north of Beaumont-Hamel. Forsome days rain and sleet had been falling almost continuously, and thebattle field in this section of the fighting area largely consisted ofswamps and miniature lakes. The British troops following the barragefire penetrated the German position on a front of 500 yards. TheGermans had sought refuge from the withering fire of the British gunsin their dugouts, which rain and snow and sleet had converted intomudholes. The German soldiers were wet and cold and miserable, andoffered but slight resistance. Three officers, nine non-coms. , and 109men surrendered to the British--a larger number than the raiding partycontained. In the afternoon of January 10, 1917, the British carried out asuccessful raid east of Loos which resulted in the capture of a numberof prisoners. Throughout the day British guns pounded German positionsin the neighborhood of Les Boeufs and on both sides of the AncreValley. Destructive bombardment of German trenches opposite Le Sars, and battery positions in the neighborhood of Gommecourt, produced goodresults. On the following day, January 11, 1917, British troops successfullyattacked German positions to the north of Beaumont-Hamel. The actionhad some local importance, for the Germans occupied high ground fromwhich they had observation of the British trenches. The British attack was begun shortly before dawn in a dark and heavymist. As the first glimmer of morning light appeared the snow began tofall, hiding with a white mantle the miry battle field, in which theBritish troops sank ankle deep as they struggled forward flounderinghere and there in old shell holes. The Germans had not recovered fromthe nerve-shattering bombardment that had preceded the attack when theBritish soldiers were upon them and over their dugouts before theycould bring their machine guns into play. The majority of the Germansdid not attempt to fight, but surrendered at once. Some of the Germanofficers attempted to rally their men, and, fighting bravely ratherthan surrender, were killed. In the two days' fighting in this sectorthe British captured over 300 prisoners. The German version of thisattack stated that "an insignificant trench had been abandoned to theenemy. " In the night on this date, January 11, 1917, British troops werereported to have penetrated German trenches north of Arras, where anumber of prisoners were taken at the cost of a few casualties. Early in the morning of January 13, 1917, German troops forced theirway into a British post northwest of Serre. By a hotly pressedcounterattack the British drove them out and again occupied the post. Thirteen prisoners, including three officers, were captured in thisarea. The British during the night also attacked German trenches westof Wytschaete, where they were successful in attaining theirobjectives and captured a number of prisoners. [Illustration: This notice was posted in French munitions works byorder of the Minister of Munitions. It contains an aviator's picturesof Fort Douaumont before and after the artillery bombardment andproves the importance of immense munitions supplies. ] Owing to the almost continuous bad weather, heavy rains, and snowfall, there was little fighting along the Somme during the succeeding days, but the bombardment of enemy positions was continuous, and the Britishtook some prisoners in trench raids. In the morning of January 17, 1917, British forces on the Ancrelaunched the strongest attack that had been attempted for weeks on afront of 600 yards north of Beaucourt. Preceded by a heavy bombardmentthat shattered the German defenses British troops occupied a line ofenemy posts at the cost of a few casualties. The position won by theBritish was especially valuable because it afforded them betteradvantages than they possessed for observation in this area. In theafternoon of this date the Germans attempted a counterattack which wasbroken up with heavy losses by the British artillery barrage. Another daylight raid was successfully carried out by the Canadiantroops northeast of Cité Calonne on the same morning. The Canadianssucceeded in penetrating German trenches on a front of 700 yards andpushed forward to a depth of 300 yards, or as far as the enemy'ssecond line. The German dugouts were completely wrecked. The Britishreport stated that heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy. Theycaptured one officer and ninety-nine of other ranks, and severalmachine guns and a trench mortar. In the evening of this date theGermans, after three hours of intense artillery fire, delivered aseries of reconnoitering attacks in Chevaliers Wood on the height ofthe Meuse (Verdun front). The British artillery and machine guns atonce became active and sent such a withering fire against the Germansthat they were scattered with heavy losses. Violent artillery duels continued for several days following, butthere was no important fighting along the Somme. On January 20, 1917, in the region south of Lassigny, the Germans were especially active inshelling French positions. They attempted a surprise attack on one ofthe advanced French trenches, but were beaten off. On this date theFrench launched a successful attack against German lines in the Vingresector, where they captured a number of prisoners. In the sector ofBurnhaupt, in Alsace, the French won a victory in an encounter withenemy patrols, and repulsed a strong German reconnaissance whichattempted to reach French lines in the region southwest of Altkirch. During the night of January 20, 1917, and most of the following day, German and French artillery fought an almost continuous duel on theright bank of the Meuse, while patrols of the two armies engaged inclose and sanguinary encounters in Caurières Wood. It was during thefighting in this region that the British took over twelve miles of theFrench front. French troops, however, still held the line on thenorthern bank of the Somme near Mont St. Quentin, the key to Péronne. In the morning of January 21, 1917, the British forces made asuccessful raid on German trenches southeast of Loos. It was a shortbut spirited fight while it lasted. The British reported that they hadbombed and destroyed dugouts full of Germans, while their own losseswere slight. A number of Germans were made prisoner in this raid, butthe majority preferred to fight rather than yield, and fighting fell. In the evening on this date the Germans on the right bank of the Meuse(Verdun front) attacked on two different occasions the French trenchesto the northeast of Caurières Wood. They made the advance after anintense preliminary bombardment, but were unable to reach the Frenchposition. The accurate fire of the French artillery proved destructiveand drove them back, and the French were enabled to hold their lineswithout a break. About the same time British troops repulsed a Germanraid on their lines north of Arras. During the night and on the dayfollowing, January 22, 1917, the British took a number of prisoners asthe result of patrol and bombing encounters in the neighborhood ofGrandcourt, Neuville-St. Vaast, Fauquisart, and Wytschaete. German Army Headquarters reported that on this date the Britishattacked their lines near Lens and in a hand-grenade engagement wererepulsed with some losses. Near Bezon one of their reconnoiteringdetachments brought back several prisoners and one machine gun fromshort excursions into hostile positions. In the night of January 22, 1917, the Germans attempted two raids onBritish positions between Armentières and Ploegsteert. In one instancethe Germans were driven back before they could reach the Britishtrenches. The second party of raiders succeeded in penetrating aportion of the British position, but were quickly driven out. Theraiding party while advancing, and again on returning, came underBritish machine-gun fire and left a number of dead on the field. Onthis date the British lost one aeroplane and drove a hostile machinedown in the neighborhood of Aubigny. About the same time the Frenchreported the capture of a Fokker, which landed in their lines nearFismes. Two other German machines were brought down in an aerialengagement in the vicinity of Marchelpot, and another by the fire ofFrench antiaircraft guns in the direction of Amy. A new division, and the sixth to enter the fight, was now flungagainst the French with the purpose of cutting through the line andcovering the German occupation on the southern slope of Hill 304. "Theblackened stumps of the shell-swept wood, " said an eyewitness, "offered no protection to the kaiser's legions, and regardless of theofficers' shrill whistles and brandished revolvers the German soldiersflung aside their equipment, rifles, and hand grenades and raced backto their former trenches. " During the night of January 26, 1917, French artillery continued topound German lines in the sector of Hill 304. At Les Eparges asurprise attack was attempted by German troops that was repulsed withconsiderable losses to the attackers. During the day's fighting inthis sector the French aviators brought down five hostile aircraft, Lieutenant Guynemer scoring his thirtieth victory. [Illustration: Allies' Gain at the Somme, up to February, 1917. ] In the neighborhood of Transloy on the Somme front British forcescarried out a successful operation on January 27, 1917. Owing to theblizzard weather the Germans evidently did not expect an attack, perhaps thinking that the British would remain under shelter as theywere doing. No unusual preparation seemed to be going on within theBritish lines that would suggest to an outside observer that animportant military operation was about to be launched. But in theBritish trenches well prepared and organized troops were waiting theorder to attack. Suddenly the British batteries spoke in thunderoustones, showering German trenches and defensive works with shells ofenormous destructive force. The barbed-wire obstructions before theGerman positions were cut like packthread. The British troops at thesignal sprang out into no-man's-land following the curtain of fire. Sweeping over and around the position, the Germans were trapped intheir dugouts before they could get up to bomb the invaders or fireupon them with machine guns. The whole German garrison of this strongposition gave up the fight after making but slight resistance. The prisoners, numbering six officers and 352 men of the Hundred andNineteenth and Hundred and Twenty-first Regiments, the Württembergersof Königen Olga, who had hardly recovered from the surprise occasionedby their capture, were packed into old London busses and were hurriedto their camp on the British side of the battle field. The prisoners confessed that they had been caught napping. The Britishgunfire they had believed was simply the usual morning salutation, andremained in their dugouts until it was over. They said they would haveput up a fight if they had had any kind of chance, but taken bysurprise they could only surrender. German gunners at other points had by this time observed the redlights that went up, the signals of distress, and thus learned thatthe position had been captured. But they were too late in gettingtheir guns into action, and the white haze that hung over the scene atthat early morning hour hindered their observation, so that the feeblefire they could concentrate on the captured position did no harm. The British had pressed on farther than the objective given to them toa point 500 yards beyond the German first line, where they establishedthemselves, finding the deep warm dugouts much more comfortable thanthe temporary shelters of their own which they had left. Later in theday the British troops occupying the most advanced position werewithdrawn to the ground which had been assigned as the objective inthe attack. The Germans made different attempts to force them out ofthis position, but all attacks broke down under fire, for the Britishhad perfect observation of their movements from the higher ground theyhad won in recent battles in this sector. On the French front there was active fighting all day long on January27, 1917. On the left bank of the Meuse French troops engaged theGermans with hand grenades on the eastern slopes of Hill 304. On theright bank of the river they made a successful attack against Germanpositions between Les Eparges and the Calonne trench. The Germanposition was found to be strewn with dead, and a great quantity ofbooty was taken. In Lorraine there were numerous artillery duels inthe sector of the forest of Bezange. Near Moulainville a Germanaeroplane was brought down in flames by the fire of French guns. The continued bad weather that prevailed along the Somme and on theVerdun front did not hinder the Allies from assuming the offensivewhenever there appeared to be an opportunity to make even theslightest gain. At daybreak on January 28, 1917, British forcespenetrated German trenches northeast of Neuville-St. Vaast, where theysuccessfully bombed the enemy in dugouts and brought away a number ofprisoners. All day British artillery was active north of the Somme inthe neighborhood of Beaumont-Hamel, Lens, and the Ypres sector. Northeast of Festubert the British carried out a successful raid inwhich they captured an officer and a number of other ranks. TheBritish raiders escaped without any casualties. The Germans after anintense bombardment attempted to rush a British post east ofFauquissart, but were repulsed in disorder. On this date the French forces also displayed courage and activity incarrying out successfully important minor operations at differentpoints along the Somme. During the night they entered German positionsin the sector of Hill 304 on the left bank of the Meuse; artilleryduels and grenade fighting were almost continuous. In the Champagne, and at various places on the front in Alsace, there were numerouspatrol encounters between the Germans and French in which the latterwere generally victorious. A German attack made on a French trench atHartmannsweilerkopf was repulsed with heavy losses to the raiders. Anattempt made by German aviators to bomb the open town of Lunévilleproved abortive. No damage was done and no lives were lost. The British forces in France did not attempt any offensive during theday of January 29, 1917, but at night a successful raid was carriedout in the neighborhood of the Butte de Warlencourt north ofCourcelette. The British penetrated the German trenches and bombed the dugouts, destroying a gun and taking seventeen prisoners. East of Souchezanother British raiding party penetrated German lines and wrecked thedefenses. The Germans continued their efforts to drive the French out of theirpositions in the region of Hill 304. On this date, January 29, 1917, they made a violent attack with grenades on an advanced French trenchin this sector, but were repulsed with losses by the French artillery. Three German aeroplanes were brought down. The 30th of January, 1917, was an unimportant day in the fighting inFrance. The British bombarded German positions opposite Richebourgl'Avoue, east of Armentières and Ypres. Between Soissons and Rheimsthe French artillery dispersed two surprise attacks attempted by theGermans, one in the sector of Soupir and the other in the region ofBeaulne (Aisne). In Lorraine during the night a French detachment penetrated the firstand second line of German trenches at a point south of Leintrey. Thedefenders of these positions were put out of action and the Frenchtook about fifteen prisoners. In the region of Moncel another party ofFrench raiders successfully carried out a surprise attack on Germanpositions. On this last day of the month the British headquarters in Francereported that during January they had captured 1, 228 Germans, including twenty-seven officers. PART II--EASTERN FRONT CHAPTER XVIII THE NEW DRIVE AGAINST LEMBERG Coincident with their attempt to recapture Kovel, the Russianslaunched a new drive against Lemberg, the ancient capital of Galicia. This movement was a result of the successes which they had gained inthe Bukowina and in eastern Galicia during July, 1916. By the end ofthat month, as has been previously told, the Russians had reconqueredall of the Bukowina, overrun some of the most southern passes of theCarpathians, and were in possession of that part of eastern Galicialocated north of the Pruth and Dniester Rivers and east of the StrypaRiver. Having gained these advantages, they now attempted to press them andattacked Lemberg both from the north and from the south. In the formerdirection they advanced from Brody and Tarnopol against the stronglyheld Styr and Bug line. In the south Lemberg was defended by theDniester line. Before forcing this line it was necessary to captureStanislau, an important point on the Czernowitz-Lemberg railway. Between the Bug and the Dniester lines of defense Lemberg was securedin the east, and still farther by a third line of natural defenses. This was formed by a series of northern tributaries of the Dniester, of which the most important were the Sereth, Strypa, and Zlota LipaRivers. The former two had already been crossed by the Russians, butthere still remained the very formidable and extremely strong line ofdefenses along the last, which had more than once before proved verydifficult to overcome. On the Russian side there were engaged in this struggle three armygroups under Generals Sakharoff, Stcherbacheff, and Lechitsky. TheAustro-German forces were divided into four groups under GeneralsPuhallo, Boehm-Ermolli, Von Bothmer, and Von Pfanzer-Ballin. During the first few days of August, 1916, the fighting along thisentire line, though continuous and severe, was not particularly welldefined and was more or less split up into comparatively small andlocal engagements. On August 1, 1916, engagements of this nature tookplace southwest of Burkanoff and west of Buczacz. In the latter regionthe ground offered great difficulties. A small but very marshyriver--the Moropiec--was strongly defended by the Austro-Germanforces, and when these finally had to give way, they destroyed allbridges. Nothing daunted, the Russians waded across in the face ofsevere fire and frequently up to their necks in water, gained thewestern bank, and after making some hundreds of prisoners, promptlydug themselves in. Other engagements occurred on the same day in theDniester-Pruth sector--in the direction of Stanislau near Wisniowczaand Molodgonow. On August 2, 1916, the Russians developed a strong attack on bothsides of the railway near Brody against Ponikowica, but wereunsuccessful. However, the attacks were kept up and by the next day, August 3, 1916, yielded not only considerable ground, but more than1, 000 prisoners. Fighting was kept up in this locality throughout thefollowing day. The Austro-Germans launched nine counterattacks, all ofwhich were repulsed. The losses on both sides were very severe. For, though the Austro-German forces had to give way, they did so onlyafter the most stubborn resistance. Every little village had to befought for for hours, and each street had to be cleared at the pointof the bayonet. Especially severe encounters occurred near Meidzigoryand Tchistopady. By August 5, 1916, the Russians had registered someimportant successes in this small sector. The number of theirprisoners had mounted to over 5, 000, and a considerable number ofmachine guns and bomb throwers had fallen into their hands. TheAustro-Germans tried to dislodge their opponents by means of violentartillery fire and a series of strong counterattacks, but wereunsuccessful, and by the end of the fourth day, August 5, 1916, theRussians were in possession of the west bank of the Sereth, near andnorthwest of Zalocze, and of the villages of Zvyjin, Ratische, Tchistopady, Gnidava, and Zalvoce, and the entire ridge of heightsbetween them. Without let-up the Russians continued to hammer away at theAustro-German lines on the Graberka and Sereth Rivers. On August 6, 1916, the Russian troops captured some more strongly fortifiedpositions in the vicinity of the villages of Zvyjin, Kostiniec, andReniuv. This region abounds with woods, and lends itself thereforeeasily to the most determined defense. This resulted again in veryfierce bayonet encounters. The Austro-German forces attempted to stopthe Russian advance and launched a long series of very energeticcounterattacks, especially in the region of the river Koropiec. All ofthese, however, were in vain. They were repulsed and resulted inconsiderable losses. According to their official statement, theRussians made about 8, 500 prisoners in the Sereth sector on August 5and 6, 1916, captured four cannon, nineteen machine guns, eleventrench mortars, a large number of mine throwers and much war materialof all kinds. The amount of ground captured by August 7, 1916, wasclaimed to have reached the considerable total of sixty-one andone-half square miles. Closer and closer the Russians were getting to their immediateobjective, Stanislau. On August 7, 1916, strong Russian forcesattacked along a front of about fifteen miles on a line betweenTlumach and Ottynia and succeeded in forcing back the Austro-Germansalong this entire front. They forced their way into the town ofNizniow (about fifteen miles northeast of Stanislau), which wascaptured, as also were the villages of Bratychuv, Palakhiche, Nodworna, Charnolocza, Krovotula, Nove, and the small town of Ottynia, and finally the town of Ilumach itself. In spite of the gradual retirement of the Austro-Germans theymaintained their counterattacks, which, however, were not successful. By April 8, 1916, they had been forced to take their line back to thewest of Nizinoff-Tysmienitsa-Ottynia, or within a few miles east ofStanislau. The Russians on that day crossed the Koropiec, drove theiropponents out of their fortified positions, and themselves occupiedthe left bank up to the point of its juncture with the Dniester. Lateon the same day the town of Tysmienitsa was taken as well as a ridgeof heights to the northeast as far as the right bank of the Dniester. The fall of Stanislau now had become only a matter of days. Throughout the next two days, August 9 and 10, 1916, the battle forthe possession of Stanislau continued to rage incessantly. One afteranother the Russians overcame all the obstacles in their way. Riverafter river was crossed, trench after trench was stormed, and villageafter village was captured. At last, about 8 o'clock in the evening ofAugust 10, 1916, the Russians under General Lechitsky enteredStanislau from where the Austro-German troops had previously retiredin good order in a northerly direction against Halicz. Farther north, in the region of Buczacz and Zalocze, the Russianadvance likewise progressed, though somewhat slower. Although byAugust 11, 1916, the ground between the Zlota Lipa and the Horovankafrom the village of Kraseczuv up to the village of Usciezelione hadbeen captured, the Russian line had not been able to push quite as farwest toward Lemberg as in the region of Stanislau. In spite of thisfact, however, the Russians continued to push their advance. On August12, 1916, they occupied Podhaytse on the Zlota Lipa, halfway betweenBuczacz and Brzezany, and Mariampol on the Dniester. The Austro-German forces continued their stubborn resistance all alongthe line, and every bit of ground gained by the Russians had to befought for very hard. On August 13, 1916, fighting occurred along theentire Galician front, from the Dniester up to the upper Sereth. TheZlota Lipa was again crossed on that day at some of its numerousturnings. After a very stubborn fight the village of Tustobaby, northwest of the Dniester, strongly defended by fortifications andmachine guns, fell into the hands of the Russians. Russian attacks inthe region of Zboroff on the Tarnopol-Lemberg railroad were repulsed, as were also attacks made west of Monasterzyska. "In addition, there were taken a large number of rifles, 30 versts ofsmall-gauge railways, telegraphic materials, and several depots ofammunition and engineering materials. " Throughout the next few days the Austro-Germans resumed the offensivealong the entire line. In spite of this the Russians managed toadvance at some points. At others they stubbornly maintained theirground, and only in a few instances were they forced to yieldslightly. As the end of August approached the fighting along theentire eastern front decreased very much in importance and violence. Local engagements, it is true, took place at many points. But theresult of none of these had any important influence on the respectivepositions of the Russians and Austro-Germans. The latter had lostconsiderable ground during the Russian offensive and, if the Russianreports were at all reliable, had suffered even more severe losses inmen and material. In this respect, however, the Russians had fared nobetter, and possibly even worse. At any rate, neither Kovel norLemberg, apparently the two chief objectives of the Russianoperations, had been reached, so that in spite of the Russian gainsthe advantage seemed to rest with the Austro-Germans. At the same time at which the Russians advanced against Kovel andLemberg the Austro-German forces renewed with increased vigor theiractivities in the Carpathian Mountains, undoubtedly with the object toreduce, if possible, the Russian pressure on their Bukowinian andGalician positions. To a certain extent the Central Powers met withsuccess. On August 4, 1916, a strong force of about one division, belonging tothe army group of the then Austrian heir-apparent, Archduke CharlesFrancis Joseph, attacked the Russians in the mountain passes southwestof Kutty on the Cheremosh, drove them back in a northeasterlydirection and captured some 400 men and a few machine guns. Again onthe next day, August 5, 1916, the Austro-Germans attacked in force, this time somewhat farther west on the Pruth River in the vicinity ofJablonitza south of Delabin, without gaining any noticeable ground. On August 6, 1916, the Austro-German successes of August 4, 1916, weresomewhat extended by the capture of some additional heights on theCheremosh River. For the next few days there was little fighting inthese regions. But on August 11, 1916, an attack begun the day beforesouth of Zabie on the Cheremosh resulted in the capture of about 700Russians and a few machine guns. Gradually this movement spread until on August 14, 1916, the Russianssaw themselves forced to evacuate Jablonitza on the Pruth, which, together with some near-by villages, was immediately occupied by theAustro-Germans. Over 1, 000 Russians were captured. Additionalterritory was regained by the Austro-Germans in this vicinity onAugust 15, 1916. During the next few days the Russian resistancegradually stiffened. In spite of this fact, and in spite of some localsuccesses gained by the Russians on August 15, 1916, south of Delatynand north of Kimpolung and again on August 17, 1916, south ofJablonitza near Korosmezo, the Austro-Germans continued to gain groundand increased the number of their prisoners. On August 19, 1916, theRussians reported some additional successes in the Jablonitza sectoras well as on the Cheremosh and in the neighborhood of Kirlibaba, northwest of Kimpolung near the Hungarian-Bukowinian-Rumanian border. On the same day, however, August 19, 1916, the Austro-Germans occupiedsome heights south of Zabie, which they succeeded in holding againststrong Russian attacks launched on the same day, as well as on August20 and 21, 1916. During the balance of August, 1916, the fighting inthe Carpathian Mountains deteriorated as a result of the newdevelopments farther south on the Rumanian border in a number of smalllocal engagements. The results of none of these had any particularinfluence on the general position of either side, and in mostinstances amounted to little more than fighting between outposts. Theonly exception was the fighting in the neighborhood of Nadvorna, afew miles south of Stanislau, where the Russians in the face ofstubborn resistance made some slight advance toward the Hungarianborder, from which they were, on August 29, 1916, still some twentymiles distant. CHAPTER XIX THE BATTLE ON THE STOKHOD RIVER In preceding chapters we have learned of the successful onslaughtwhich the Russians made against the Austro-German lines during themonths of June and July, 1916. Along the entire southern part of theeastern front--from the southern base of the Pinsk salient down to theAustro-Russo-Rumanian border--the troops of the Central Powers hadbeen pushed back many miles. From June 4, 1916, to August 1, 1916, the Russians had regained some15, 000 square miles in Volhynia, Galicia, and the Bukowina. Lutsk, Dubno, and Czernowitz were some of the valuable prizes which hadfallen into the hands of the czar's armies. At the beginning ofAugust, 1916, they now threatened the important railway centers ofKovel and Lemberg, the latter the capital of Galicia. In defending the former the Austro-German armies had made a determinedstand on the banks of the Stokhod River. This bit of water has itsorigin some ten miles west of Lutsk, from which point it winds itstortuous course for about one hundred miles in a northerly directiontoward the Pripet River, of which it is a tributary. Its northern partflows through the Pripet Marshes. Its southern part, up to about thevillage of Trojanovka, forms a salient, with its apex on an almoststraight line drawn between Kolki on the Styr and Kovel on the Turiya. This salient, as well as the part of the Stokhod between the southernbase of the salient and its origin, formed a valuable and veryformidable natural line of defense for Kovel against any attacks fromthe northeast, east, and southeast. Here the Austro-Germans had thrownup strong defensive works and were resisting with all their might. On August 1, 1916, the most furious kind of fighting took place in theStokhod sector. By that time the Russian attack, begun a few daysbefore, had made considerable progress, so that the Russians were atsome points some few miles west of the river. Time and again theRussians heavily attacked the German-Austrian lines. In most places, however, the latter not only held, but were even strong enough topermit of repeated powerful counterattacks. This was especially truein the region of the bend of the Stokhod near the villages ofSeletsie, Velitsk, and Kukhari. Very heavy fighting also developed atmany points north of the Kovel-Sarni railway. Near the village ofSmolary the Russians attacked three times, but were thrown back asoften, and between Witoniez and Kiselin six Russian attacks followedeach other in rapid succession, encountering the most stubbornresistance. Without abatement the Russians threw themselves against theiropponents' lines in this sector on the following day, August 2, 1916. But the Germans protected themselves with such a well-directed andfurious curtain of artillery fire that the czar's troops could make nofurther progress in spite of exceedingly heavy losses. Again Witoniezand Kiselin were the center of desperate fighting which graduallyspread to the forest near Ostrow, north of Kiselin, and to the regionnear the villages of Dubeschovo and Gulevitchie. As the fighting progressed it became more and more evident that theAustro-German command had determined to make a stand at the Stokhod atany cost. The special correspondent of the London "Times, " observingthe fighting from the Russian side, described its furiousness and theever-increasing resistance of the Austro-Germans as follows: "From an observation point eighty feet above the ground in the swayingfoliage of a huge oak, a few versts distance from the battle field, Iobtained an extraordinary view of the country and of the Russianartillery preparation. The country here is as flat as a board andmarshy, with the slow-flowing Stokhod oozing in the midst of beds ofwater lilies. The difficulties of an advance are almost incredible, yet our troops forded the river in places, passing mazes of barbedwire sunk in the water. "The cannonading continues day and night, at times reaching suchviolence that it is impossible to distinguish sounds; it is simply acontinuous roar like thunder. At night the whole sky is illuminated bybursting shells, searchlights, and star bombs. The town is filled withwounded. " During the night of August 3 to 4, 1916, the stiffening of theAustro-German defensive found expression in a series of very violentGerman attacks against the village of Rudka-Miryanskaia, which formeda very strong salient in the Russian positions. This little hamlet--itis hardly more than that--is situated on the river Stavok, a tributaryof the Stokhod. Austro-German forces advanced from three sides. Throughout the entire night the fighting for the possession of thispoint was kept up. Attack after attack was repulsed by the Russians. But in the early morning hours the latter were forced to evacuate thevillage and to retreat more than 500 yards to the east. A few hourslater reenforcements arrived and the Russians once more gainedpossession of the village, in the streets of which the sanguinary kindof hand-to-hand fighting raged for hours. As a result theAustro-German forces were finally thrown back beyond the river Stavok. Before long, however, fresh Austro-German troops launched newcounterattacks and regained most of this territory, holding itthereafter in the face of a number of violent Russian counterattacks. Considerable fighting occurred likewise on August 3, 1916, bothsomewhat farther north and south of this position. In the formerdirection Russian detachments crossed the Stokhod at some points nearLubieszow and occupied a series of heights, where they fortifiedthemselves strongly. To the south Ostrow again was the center ofbitter engagements, which, however, yielded no definite results. By this time, August 10, 1916, it had become more or less evident thatthe Russian drive against Kovel had been stopped by theAustro-Germans. For a few days now a comparative reduction in theviolence of the fighting in the Stokhod sector set in. Local attacks, however, as well as counterattacks continued evenduring this period near Lubieszow and Zarecze, especially on August 11and 12, 1916. Gradually, and concurrent with increased activity onother parts of the eastern front, engagements in the Stokhod sectorbecame fewer and less important. On August 18, 1916, however, the Russians somewhat renewed theiractivity. The first sign was increased artillery fire at variouspoints. This was quickly followed by local attacks nearRudka-Czerwiszce, Szelwow, and Zviniache. Especially noticeable wasthe increase in Russian activity in the neighborhood of the first ofthese three places, where the village of Tobol, after having changedhands repeatedly, was finally occupied by the Russians. The latterwere successful on August 17, 1916, in crossing the Stokhod in thisvicinity at a point where they had previously been unable to make anyprogress. On the other hand, they were forced to evacuate some oftheir positions east of Kiselin. Both on August 20 and 21, 1916, the Russians attempted to enlarge thesuccess which they had gained near Rudka-Czerwiszce. In this, however, they were not successful, encountering the strongest kind ofdetermined resistance and suffering considerable losses. Localengagements at various points on the Kovel-Sarni railroad and in theneighborhood of Smolary likewise terminated in favor of theAustro-German forces. During the balance of August, 1916, fighting onthe Stokhod was restricted to moderate artillery fire, local infantryengagements, and extensive reconnoitering operations, carried on nowby one side, now by the other, without, however, yielding anyimportant results or changing to any extent the respective positions. While the Russians were developing their attack against Kovel thebalance of the eastern front was comparatively inactive with theexception of the Galician and Bukowinian sectors. The fighting whichoccurred there had as its object the capture of Lemberg and developedsoon into a struggle of the first magnitude. It will be described indetail in the following chapter. North of the Stokhod occasional local engagements occurred from timeto time. Thus the Germans gained a slight local success on August 1, 1916, near Vulka on the Oginsky Canal to the northwest of Pinsk. Onthe same day considerable fighting took place near Logischin and onboth sides of Lake Nobel, both in the same vicinity. The fighting onthe banks of the lake continued during the next few days, but bore noimportant results. Smorgon, the small but important railroad station on the Vilna-Minskrailway, just southwest of the Vilia River, which so many times beforehad been the center of furious fighting, again was made the scene ofattacks on the night of August 2, 1916. At that time the Germanslaunched gas attacks on both sides of the railway. The attack openedat 1 o'clock in the morning and the gas was released six times withintervals between the waves. The gas attacks finished at 6 a. M. Theuse of gas was discovered in good time, with the result that theGermans, who were following the attacks, on attempting to advance, were met with rifle and machine-gun fire and suffered severe losses. On August 3, 1916, considerable activity was displayed in the vicinityof Lakes Narotch and Wiszniew. The Russians there attempted to advanceagainst the German field positions near Spiagla, but were promptlythrown back. Farther north the Germans gained some slight localsuccesses by capturing a few advanced Russian trenches northwest ofPostavy. At some other points, especially on the Shara, southeast ofBaranovitchy, the railway center east of Slonin, lively hand-grenadebattles occurred. On the following day, August 4, 1916, the Russians made an attempt tocross the Dvina near Deveten, a few miles northwest of Dvinsk, butwere repulsed. Another similar undertaking, attempted August 8, 1916, east of Friedrichstadt, met the same fate. On that day Germanbatteries successfully bombarded Russian torpedo boats and othervessels lying off the coast of Kurland and forced them to retire. August 10 and 11, 1916, brought a series of small, local attackslaunched by the Russians south of Lake Wiszniew, near Smorgon andKrevo. They were all repulsed. These attacks were renewed on August12, 1916, bringing, however, no better results. On August 13, 1916, considerable fighting took place in the region of Skrobiowa and alongthe Oginsky Canal, south of Lake Wygonowskoie. A lively local engagement developed on August 16, 1916, west of LakeNobel in the Pripet Marshes, about sixty miles northeast of Kovel. Thefighting lasted throughout August 17 and 18, 1916, and finallyresulted in a repulse for the Russians, who lost some 300 men and afew machine guns. A gas attack, launched by the Germans during the night of August 22, 1916, in the region south of Krevo, a little town north of theBeresina River and about fifty miles southeast of Vilna, brought noresults of importance. The same was true of an attack against Russiantrenches south of Tsirin, northwest of Baranovitchy, made afterconsiderable artillery preparation on August 24, 1916. Toward the end of August, 1916, the Russians again attempted atvarious times to cross the Dvina. In no case, however, were theysuccessful. Even when they succeeded in launching their boats, as theydid on August 26, 1916, near Lenewaden east of Friedrichstadt, theywere driven back by the German fire. CHAPTER XX RENEWED DRIVE AGAINST LEMBERG In spite of the temporary setback which the Russians experienced atthe end of August, 1916, in their attempt to reach and capture oncemore Galicia's ancient capital, Lemberg, they were undaunted. With the beginning of September, 1916, the vigor of their attacksincreased noticeably. On September 1, 1916, Russian attacks werelaunched against the Austro-German lines east of Lemberg from alldirections. They were especially strong and violent in the vicinity ofZlochoff and Halicz. In both these regions the Russian troops weresuccessful in advancing after capturing a number of positions. Withoutabatement fighting continued on the next day, both before Halicz andZlochoff. In spite of the most fierce attacks, many of which were madeat the point of the bayonet, the Russians on September 2, 1916, wereunable to advance. The fighting on September 3, 1916, was centered chiefly aroundBrzezany and Zboroff. In both localities the Russians claimedsuccesses and reported large numbers of prisoners. Again, on September4, 1916, Brzezany was the center of much fighting. Attack after attackwas launched by the Russians and thrown back by the Austro-Germans. Onthe following day, September 5, 1916, the Russian persistency finallyfound its reward. Although Russian attacks near Zlochoff broke downunder the Austro-German fire, other attacks between the Zlota Lipa andthe Dniester resulted in the pressing back of the Austro-Germancenter. Throughout the next few days the Russians continued to hurlattack after attack against the Austro-German lines, stretching, tothe west of Lemberg, from Brody to Halicz. The regions near Zlochoff, Zboroff, Brzezany, and Halicz, and especially that small strip ofcountry lying between the Zlota Lipa and the Dniester, were witnessesof some of the most stubborn and sanguinary fighting which even thisblood-drenched corner of unhappy, war-swept Galicia had seen. Again and again the Russian regiments would sweep up against thestrongly fortified and strongly held Austro-German lines, aftergunfire of unheard-of violence had attempted to prepare their task. But though occasionally they made some advances, stormed sometrenches, or by the very violence of their attacks forced back theAustro-Germans, the latter, generally speaking, held their ground. Some very interesting sidelights are thrown on the fighting nearHalicz by the special correspondent of the London "Times, " StanleyWashburn, who writes from the Russian lines about the middle ofSeptember, 1916, as follows: "Our troops are now but a few hundred yards from Halicz railwaystation, and just across the river from the town. "Fighting has been going on on this army front almost withoutintermission since August 31, and has resulted in the capture of25, 000 prisoners, of whom 8, 000 are Germans, and twenty-two guns, someof them heavy guns. "The most significant, observation one makes on coming to this frontafter two months with the more northern armies is the completereorganization of the Austrian front since the beginning of theoffensive in June. It was then held by six Austrian divisions and oneGerman. It is now held with a slightly extended front by fragments ofnine German divisions, two Turkish divisions, and three and a halfAustrian divisions. Of the Austrian divisions originally here threehave been completely destroyed, and two have departed, one for theRumanian front and another is missing. "The composition of the German forces here shows the extraordinaryefforts the Germans are making to bolster up the Austrian cause andpreserve Lemberg. The only German division here at the inception wasthe Forty-eighth Reserve Division. Last July there came from theBalkans the Hundred and Fifth German Division, and at the same timethe Hundred and Nineteenth from our Riga front. Subsequently tworegiments of this division were sent to Kovel. Now one of these hasbeen hurried back here. The Ninety-fifth and the Hundred andNinety-ninth Divisions came in August, and within the past few daysthe Hundred and Twenty-third Division arrived from the Aisne and theTwo Hundred and Eighth from the Somme. In addition there are presenthere a fragment of the First Reserve Division and of the ThirdPrussian Guard Division. "The Turkish troops, which came several weeks ago, consist of theNineteenth and Twentieth Divisions, which last year opposed the Alliesat the Dardanelles. They have been fighting with extraordinaryfierceness. "The immense efforts being made by the Germans to hold this front andto make sweeping movements, become increasingly difficult, and thecampaign here promises to become similar to that in the west, wherethe enemy's lines must be slowly digested mile after mile. " With the beginning of October, 1916, the Russians once more begantheir drive against Lemberg. On the last day of September, 1916, theRussians advanced short distances along both sides of theBrody-Lemberg railroad, as well as farther south, near Zboroff, untilthey were stopped by the curtain of fire directed against them fromthe Austro-German lines. Still farther south, along both sides of theZlota Lipa, violent hand-to-hand encounters occurred. In the anglebetween the Tseninoka and the Zlota Lipa the Russians also advancedand gained a foothold in the first line of the Austro-Germans. The latter immediately launched strong counterattacks on October 1, 1916, which resulted in the recapture of some of the lost ground, especially along the Brody-Lemberg railroad. By October 2, 1916, thebattle for Lemberg was again in full swing all along the line fromBrody down to the Dniester, and the Russians succeeded in advancing atsome points on the Zlota Lipa. Without diminution the battle continuedon October 3, 1916. But so stubborn was the Austro-German resistancethat the Russians, in spite of the most violent assaults, were unableto make any noticeable progress, except in the neighborhood of Brodyand Zboroff, as well as on the Zlota Lipa. Not only were infantryattacks kept up for two full days, but the most lavish expenditure ofshells resulted in the most stunning artillery fire. No changes of anyimportance, however, occurred in the positions of either side. Thesame condition continued on October 6, 1916. On October 7 and 8, 1916, the fighting in this region had slowed down to a considerable extent, except in the vicinity of Brzezany where a series of attacks andcounterattacks took place without having any definite result foreither side. Throughout the following week up to October 15, 1916, little of realimportance occurred in the Lemberg sector. Engagements, some of themmore nearly deserving the name "battles, " were frequent at manypoints, but barren of results. Gradually, however, the artillery firefrom both sides increased in violence, a sure sign of new attacks. OnOctober 14, 1916, coincident with the new Austro-German offensive inthe Carpathians, the Russians again attacked in force near Zboroff, while the Germans attempted an advance south of Halicz. Theseundertakings gradually developed, and by October 15, 1916, the battlewas again raging furiously all along the line east of Lemberg. Especially on the western bank of the Narayuvka, a few miles north ofHalicz, strong Austro-German forces were employed and began to gainground slowly. This small success was gradually increased during thefollowing days, and on October 19, 1916, additional ground was gainedin this section. The Austro-Germans claimed to have captured over2, 000 men and held their newly regained positions against a number ofstrong counterattacks. This success was again enlarged on October 20, 1916. The fighting for complete control of the west bank of the Narayuvkacontinued on October 21 and 22, 1916, and by that day the Russians hadbeen forced to give up all their positions. This greatly improved theAustro-German positions before Halicz. This, in conjunction with thesevere losses, which the Russians had suffered, resulted in areduction of fighting and, at least for the time being, the Russianattempts to reach Lemberg ceased. During the balance of Octobernothing of importance happened in the Lemberg sector of the easternfront, although the Russians attempted a number of times during thelast two days of the month to recapture the positions which they hadlost on the Narayuvka. These attempts were renewed on November 1 and 2, 1916, with equal lackof success. Engagements in this region which occurred on November 3, 1916, gave a few additional Russian positions to the Austro-Germans. For the rest of November, 1916, the vicinity of the Narayuvka wasfrequently the center of minor actions between comparatively smalldetachments. Similar engagements occurred at various other points onthe Lemberg sector, and in some instances were preceded by heavyartillery fire. The net result of all this fighting made practicallyno change in the relative positions, except that it gave anopportunity to the Austro-Germans to strengthen their positions nearHalicz and to bar the way to Lemberg more efficiently than ever. CHAPTER XXI THE FIGHTING FROM RIGA TO LUTSK Just as the Russians maintained their attacks against Lemberg, theycontinued their drive against Kovel, farther north, in September, 1916. On the first of that month fierce fighting occurred east andsouth of Vladimir Volynsky, about twenty-five miles south of Kovel. Onthe Stokhod Austro-German counterattacks near the village of Tobolo, about forty miles northeast of Kovel, likewise resulted in fierceengagements. On September 2, 1916, strong Russian attacks werelaunched northeast and southeast of Sviniusky. At one time theseresulted in the capture of the village of Korytniza, which, however, had to be given up again by the Russians when the Austro-Germanscommenced a dangerous outflanking counterattack. The fighting in this region continued for that entire week, September3 to 9, 1916. Neither side could gain any noticeable advantage. Nomatter how often and how violently the Russians threw themselvesagainst the Austro-German lines on the Stokhod, the latter held asthey had done before so often. In isolated places the Austro-Germanseven assumed the offensive. But in that respect they were not any moresuccessful than their opponents. [Illustration: Attack in the Riga Sector. ] On September 9, 10, and 11, 1916, the Russians launched a series ofvery fierce attacks, carried out by strong forces against Bavariantroops, holding part of the Stokhod line near Stara Czerwiszcze. Againand again they came on in wave after wave. But neither great numbersnor the most extensive artillery fire had any effect, as far asgaining ground was concerned. The losses on both sides, however, wereappalling. By the middle of September, 1916, the fighting in the Kovelsector lost noticeably in violence. On September 16, 1916, however, the Russians again attacked west of Lutsk over a front of about twelvemiles. Though they suffered severe losses, they could not overcome theAustro-German resistance, and for the balance of the month ofSeptember, 1916, comparative quiet reigned along the Kovel sector ofthe eastern front. Simultaneously with their renewed efforts against Lemberg the Russiansbegan once more to drive against Kovel, with the beginning of October, 1916. On October 1 and 2, 1916, the most stubborn fighting developedwest of Lutsk in the neighborhood of Zaturze, Zola Savovskaia, andShelvov. In some places Russian troops stormed twelve times againstone and the same position, and at one point they made seventeenattacks. These attacks were kept up for a number of days, but met withlittle success, and by October 5, 1916, comparative calmness prevailedon the Volhynian sector. However, on October 8, 1916, the battle west of Lutsk, in thedirection of Vladimir Volynski, broke out once more in full fury. Onthat day the Russians gained some slight successes at a few points, which they lost, however, again on the following day. During the nextfew days a number of smaller engagements occurred at many places westof Lutsk, near Kiselin and along the Stokhod. These were onlyforerunners of a new drive against Kovel which was begun on October14, 1916. On that day the Russians captured some trenches near Korytniza, fortymiles south of Kovel. These were held against many violentAustro-German counterattacks, although the latter were kept up for anumber of days. By October 18, 1916, a new battle had developed in theneighborhood of Kiselin, and fighting also was renewed more vigorouslyon the Stokhod. In the latter region the Austro-Germans regained someground which they held against strong counterattacks. By October 20, 1916, activities on the Volhynian front had slowed down to an exchangeof artillery fire of varying intensity and to minor engagements oflocal extent and little importance. This condition continuedthroughout the balance of October, 1916, except that during the lastfew days the Russian artillery fire along the entire Stokhod line, especially just west of Lutsk, increased greatly in violence. Throughout November, 1916, only a few actions of real importance tookplace in the Kovel sector. Most of these occurred on the Stokhod, where the Austro-Germans succeeded in improving their positions atvarious points. The Russians seemed to be satisfied everywhere tomaintain their positions and to repulse as violently as possible allAustro-German attempts to press them back. The most importantengagement in this sector most likely occurred on November 9, 1916, inthe region of Skrobova, near Baranovitchy, where the Central Powersattacked along a front of about two and one-half miles and inflictedheavy losses on the Russians. Throughout the entire period of the Russian offensive against Koveland Lemberg comparative quiet reigned in the northern half of theeastern front. Of course there, as well as everywhere else, continuousengagements occurred. But they were almost all of a minor character, and in most instances amounted to little more than clashes betweenoutposts or patrol detachments. On September 2, 1916, the Germans madea somewhat more pretentious attack against some Lettish battalions ofthe Russian army near Riga. The latter retorted promptly by a strongcounterattack which inflicted severe losses. On September 3, 1916, theRussians repulsed a strong German gas attack. During the balance of September, 1916, comparatively little ofimportance occurred along the northern half of the eastern frontbetween Riga and the Styr. On September 6, 1916, the Russians crossedto the western bank of the Dvina, north of Dvinsk, drove the Germansout of their trenches along a short stretch and captured thesepositions. On the next day the Germans promptly attacked thesepositions, first with artillery and then with infantry, but wereunable to dislodge the Russians. On September 12, 1916, the Russiansmade a number of attacks north of Dvetnemouth and near Garbunovka, butwere repulsed. A similar fate was suffered by a series of massedattacks, preceded by a gas attack, which were undertaken by theGermans on September 22, 1916, southwest of Lake Narotch. The month of October, 1916, brought little of moment on the northernhalf of the eastern front. Of course, local engagements occurred atvarious places almost continuously, but most of them were little lessthan fights between outposts of patrols. On October 12, 1916, theGermans suddenly attacked Russian trenches near the village ofGoldovitchy, on the western bank of the Shara, north of the PripetMarshes. A few isolated gas attacks were attempted by the Russians inthe same vicinity on October 24 and 25, 1916. The latter wasreciprocated by an infantry attack, carried out by a small Germanforce on October 26, 1916, which had no result. A similar attack madeagainst the Russian positions just south of Riga was equallyunsuccessful. During November, 1916, practically nothing of importance happenedanywhere along that part of the eastern front which stretches fromRiga to the Styr. Occasional attacks by small infantry groups weremade by both sides, but resulted in no actual change in the relativepositions. At other times artillery duels would take place, varying induration and intensity, and having likewise no result of realimportance. CHAPTER XXII FIGHTING IN THE CARPATHIANS Accompanying the renewed Russian efforts against Lemberg and Kovel inthe beginning of September, 1916, fighting broke out again withgreater vigor in the Carpathians. Numerous local engagements tookplace on September 1, 1916, none of which, however, brought anysuccesses to the attacking Russians. They were more successful on thefollowing day, September 2, 1916. South of Rafailov, in the region ofKapul Mountain and also near Dorna Vatra, the Austro-Germans lost somestrongly fortified positions and the Russians thereby captured someheights. Considerable fighting also occurred on both banks of theBystritza near the Rumanian border. These successes were somewhatextended by the Russians on September 3, 1916. On the following daysmall engagements developed southwest of Zabie and in the region ofShypoth. Strong Russian attacks were repulsed with heavy lossessouthwest of Fundul Moldowi. Finally, on September 5, 1916, thesecontinuous Russian attacks lasting day and night somewhat underminedthe Austro-German resistance and resulted in a slight Russian advancealong the entire line of attack. On September 6, 1916, the Russians attacked southeast of Zielona, about thirty-five miles southwest of Stanislau, and on the Bagaludovawest of the Kirlibaba Valley, on the border between the Bukowina andHungary. Both of these attacks were repulsed. The Austro-Germanspromptly replied with counterattacks near Zielona and west of Shypothon September 7, 1916. The Russians registered some successes on thefollowing day, September 8, 1916, west and southwest of Shypoth aswell as near Dorna Vatra. On the same day the Austro-Germans were alsoforced to retreat northwest of Mount Kapul, a neighborhood in whichmore or less fighting had been in progress ever since July, 1916. Thismountain peak is about 5, 000 feet high. Again on September 9, 1916, the Russians gained some ground west of Shypoth after attacking atmany points in the southern Carpathians. The heights east of the CiboValley, about three miles west of Mount Kapul and just within theHungarian line, were also occupied by Russian forces. Attacks again occurred in the Mount Kapul sector on September 10 and11, 1916. On the latter day the Russians finally succeeded incapturing Mount Kapul, after first having occupied a ridge to thenorth of it. Almost 1, 000 prisoners as well as some machine guns andmortars fell into their hands. This success apparently encouraged theRussians to other efforts in this territory. On September 12, 1916, they attacked in the Carpathians along theentire line from Smotrych, southwest of Zabie, to the GoldenBystritza, without, however, making any headway. Part of the position on Mount Kapul lost by the Austro-Germans onSeptember 11, 1916, was recovered on the fourteenth. To the west, inthe Cibo Valley, the fighting continued, but here too, as along thebalance of the eastern front, fighting gradually slowed down duringthe rest of September, 1916. During the first half of October, 1916, fighting in the Carpathianswas of a rather desultory nature. Neither side, though frequentlyundertaking local engagements, registered any noticeable successes. Suddenly on October 14, 1916, simultaneously with the increased vigorshown by the Russians in Volhynia and Galicia, the Central Powerslaunched a violent offensive movement along the entire Carpathianfront, from the Jablonica Pass down to the Rumanian border, on a frontof some seventy-five miles. Especially heavy fighting occurred near Kirlibaba, in the Ludovasector, and south of Dorna Vatra. In the latter region the Russianswere thrown back over the Negra Valley. These early successes, however, led to nothing of importance. After October 15, 1916, up tothe end of the month only local engagements took place. By that timeweather conditions in the Carpathians had become too severe to permitof any extensive operations. Just as on the other parts of the eastern front the Carpathian sectorshowed comparatively little activity during the month of November, 1916. Only at one point, in the region south of Dorna Vatra, did thereoccur an action of somewhat greater importance. The Russians there hadgradually gained some ground by a series of small engagements. Aboutthe middle of the month the Austro-Germans launched a strongcounterattack and regained all the ground, inflicting at the sametime heavy losses on the Russians. At other points occasionalartillery duels took place, and at many places small local engagementsbetween outposts and patrol detachments occurred almost daily. CHAPTER XXIII WINTER AT THE EASTERN FRONT With the beginning of December, 1916, the severity of the cold weatherbecame so pronounced that activities at the eastern front had to bereduced to a minimum by both sides. During the first week of December, 1916, considerable fighting, however, continued in that part of theCarpathians just north of the Rumanian border, especially in thevicinity of Dorna Vatra and Kirlibaba. This, too, gradually decreasedin violence, and during the second week of the month only minorengagements between outposts and the usual trench activities occurred. On December 17, 1916, the Germans, after considerable artillerypreparation, started a more extensive offensive movement in thevicinity of Great and Little Porsk, about twenty-one miles southeastof Kovel. After considerable fighting, lasting all afternoon, nightfall put a temporary stop to this undertaking. It was, however, renewed during the early morning hours of the following day, and as aresult the Germans occupied small portions of the Russian positions. These were held against a number of Russian counterattacks made duringthe following days. Minor engagements also occurred on December 16, 17, and 18, 1916, near Kabarowce, northwest of Tarnopol; in theJezupol region of the river Bystrzyca between Stanislau and theDniester; southwest of Vale Putna in the extreme south of theBukowina; on the Narajowka River near Herbutow, about ten miles northof Halicz; and near Augustowka south of Zboroff. During the balance of December, 1916, nothing of importance happenedat any part of the eastern front, except that on December 25, 1916, the Germans violently bombarded the Russian positions in the regionbetween Brody and Tarnopol in Galicia and farther south on theNarajowka south of Brzezany. The first few days in January, 1917, brought little change on theeastern front. Engagements between small detachments occurred daily ata number of places. None of these was of any importance. On January 23, 1917, the Germans after extensive artillery preparationlaunched an attack with considerable forces against the positionswhich the Russians had recently gained along the river Aa. Thoughmeeting with stubborn resistance they were successful, and capturednot only considerable ground, but also some 1, 500 prisoners. TheRussians were forced to retire about a mile and a half toward thenorth. During the next two days, January 24 and 25, 1917, they wereforced back still farther. These gains the Germans were able to holdin the face of strong Russian counterattacks made on January 26 and27, 1917, though they were unable to extend them. During the last four days of January, 1917, engagements along theentire front increased occasionally in number and violence. On January28, 1917, Russian troops attacked positions held by Turkish troopsnear the Galician village of Potutory, some seven miles south ofBrzezany. At the point of the bayonet the Turks were forced to yield, and in spite of a number of counterattacks the Russians maintainedtheir success. Fighting on January 29, 1917, was restricted chiefly tothe vicinity of the river Aa, where the Germans again made some slightgains. This was also the case on January 30, 1917, when the Germanswith the assistance of extensive artillery bombardments and a seriesof gas attacks captured some more Russian positions as well as about900 prisoners and fifteen machine guns. On the last day of January, 1917, practically nothing of anyimportance occurred at any point of the eastern front, the wholelength of which was that day in the grip of ever-increasing cold. PART III--THE BALKANS CHAPTER XXIV RUMANIA'S MILITARY STRENGTH Finally the military power of Rumania was of enough consequence towarrant the greatest exertions on the part of diplomats to obtain itsactive support. With a population of close to 7, 000, 000, the littlestate could throw a respectable army into the field. In 1914 herinfantry numbered well over a quarter of a million, her cavalry closeup to 20, 000, while her equipment included 600 modern cannon and 300machine guns. Aside from this there was a considerable reserve to drawfrom. By the middle of 1916, just before she entered the war, it wasestimated by good authorities that the Rumanian army numbered at least600, 000 men under arms and that about an equal number could still becounted on in the reserves. In theory at least, it was a well-trainedarmy. The artillery of all classes numbered about 1, 500 guns, butthere was a marked shortage of really powerful cannon. The horse andfield artillery were armed with Krupp quick-firers of 3-inch caliber, and the heavy and the mountain guns were from the Creusot works inFrance. The infantry was armed with the Austrian Mannlicher rifle, butof these arms Rumania possessed barely enough to arm her 600, 000 men. Shortly before she definitely made her decision, this stock of armswas considerably augmented by shipments from France and England, andeven from Russia, but on account of the fact that they must be shippedby a dangerous sea route and then across Russia, the time of transitcovering six weeks, she was probably not very well supplied withammunition. CHAPTER XXV HOSTILITIES BEGIN The first news of the actual fighting was given to the world throughan official Austrian communiqué, dated August 28, 1916, announcingthat, during the preceding night, the Rumanians had begun a determinedattack on the Austrian forces in the Red Tower Pass and the passesleading to Brasso. On the following day another report added that theattempted invasion had become general and that the Imperial troopswere resisting attacks in all the passes along the whole frontier. But, added the report, everywhere the Rumanians had been successfullyrepulsed, especially near Orsova, in the Red Tower Pass, and in thepasses south of Brasso. In spite of these successes, however, theAustrians were compelled to retire their advanced detachments to aposition prepared in the rear, as planned long before, becauseoverwhelming forces of Rumanians were attempting a far-reachingflanking movement. As a matter of fact, the Austrians, never verydetermined fighters, and now especially demoralized by the recentsuccess of the Russian offensive under Brussilov, were giving way allalong the line before the Rumanians under General Averescu. On thesame day a Rumanian official report gave a long list of villages andtowns which the Rumanians had taken beyond the frontier, their FourthArmy Corps also having taken 740 prisoners. Within two days Averescuhad advanced so rapidly that he was in possession of Petroseny, northof the Vulkan Pass, and of Brasso, beyond Predeal Pass. His troopswere pouring through the Tolgyes and Bekas Passes up in the north insteady streams, and were advancing on Maros Vasarhely, a military baseand one of the principal towns of central Transylvania. The Rumaniansadvancing by way of Gyimes, after a sharp encounter with theAustrians, had driven the latter back to the heights east ofCsikszereda, a point over twenty miles inside the Austrian frontier. Finally, spirited fighting was taking place in the Varciorova Pass onthe Danube, and here too the Austrians made a very poor showing. Then on the last day of the month came the announcement from Bucharestthat Russian forces had arrived on Rumanian soil and were alreadycrossing the Danube over into Dobrudja, their left wing on the BlackSea coast being protected by ships of the Russian fleet. The commanderof this force was General Zaionchovsky, who, together with his staff, had been welcomed in Bucharest by a throng of the enthusiasticinhabitants, women and children hurling bouquets of flowers on theRussians as they passed through the streets. Another peculiar featureof this event was the organization of a brigade of Serbians, internedsoldiers who had escaped into Rumanian territory during the invasionof their country the year previously. These now became a part of theRussian contingent. Meanwhile in the north the Rumanians and theRussians had also joined forces, and on August 29, 1916, Berlinofficially announced that the German-Austrian forces in that sectionhad been attacked by the Russo-Rumanians in the Carpathians. On the Danube the Austrian river fleet showed some activity. A monitorshelled Varciorova, Turnu Severin, and Giurgevo, situated on theRumanian bank, and some small craft were captured at Zimnita. On theother hand, the Rumanians were reported to have begun a generalbombardment of Rustchuk, an important Bulgarian port on the river. Andon the night of the 28th the fact that the nation was at war wasbrought home to the citizens of the capital by an aeroplane and aZeppelin, which sailed over the city dropping bombs, but doing verylittle harm. During the following month such raids were to be almostdaily occurrences, and many were the women and children killed by thebombs hurled down from above. On the 1st of September, 1916, came the announcement of a reallystriking victory for the Rumanians: Orsova, where heavy fighting hadbeen raging since the first hour of the war and in which the Austrianswere daily claiming success, was finally taken. Here the Austriansheld a strong position, against which the Rumanians had hurled oneassault after another, until they succeeded in taking two heightsoverlooking the town, each over a thousand feet high and thus forcedthe defeated enemy over the Cserna River, a northern branch of theDanube. This success caused some sensation, for now it appeared thatthe way was opening for an offensive across the southern portion ofHungary which should sever the Teutons and the Magyars from theirBulgarian and Turkish allies. Badly beaten as they had been by Brussilov, the Hungarians and theAustrians were now considerably shaken. Again, Germany was called onto come to the rescue, as she had done before on the eastern front andin Serbia. Nor could the Germans afford to overlook the call, forthere had been much agitation in Hungary for a separate peace. Indeed, Germany had for some time been preparing to relieve the situation assubsequent events conclusively proved. On the following day, September2, 1916, her first blow was struck. CHAPTER XXVI BULGARIA ATTACKS Up to this time the Rumanians had hoped, perhaps, even believed, thatBulgaria would refrain from attacking in Dobrudja. Not a word had comefrom Sofia indicating that Bulgaria intended to begin hostilities. Buton this day, September 2, 1916, a strong force composed of Bulgarians, Turks, and Germans, which had been quietly mobilizing behind theBulgarian frontier, hurled itself over into Dobrudja and threw backthe weak Rumanian guards. The force with which this blow was deliveredwas understood a few days later, when it was learned that Germany hadsent her best field commander, General Mackensen, to direct operationsin this zone. This territory is of a nature entirely different from the scene of thefighting along the eastern and northern borders of Rumania. Dobrudjaforms a square tract of level country, about a hundred miles long andsixty broad, lying just south of the delta of the Danube and along theBlack Sea coast. The larger part of it is marshy or low, sandy plain. Here the Danube splits into three branches, only one of which, theSulina, is navigable. Two railroads traverse this country; the onerunning from Bucharest to Constanza, an important seaport; anotherbranching off from this line below Medgidia, running down to Dobric, thence over the frontier into Bulgaria. The former was of specialimportance to the Rumanians, as it was the only line of communicationbetween Rumania and any Rumanian force that might be operating inDobrudja. It crossed the Danube over a bridge and viaduct eleven milesin length, forming the only permanent crossing over the river belowthe bridge at Belgrade. This structure ranks as one of the bigengineering works in the world, its cost being close to $3, 000, 000. Itconsists, first of a bridge of three spans, 500 yards in length, thenfollows a viaduct eight miles in length, resting on piers built onislands, and finally comes a bridge 850 yards in length, of fivespans, crossing the main channel of the river, which here is a hundredfeet deep in places. Such is the famous Cernavoda Bridge. Toward thisimportant point Mackensen's first move was obviously directed. On September 3, 1916, a Rumanian dispatch announced that Mackensen wasattacking in full force along his front below Dobric and that he hadbeen repulsed. But as developed within twenty-four hours Mackensen wasnot repulsed. On the contrary, he was advancing, as was shown the nextday when he had extended his lines to a point eight miles northwest ofDobric, while the full length of the frontier was well within hisfront. On the following day, the 4th, Dobric was attacked and easilytaken, and the combined forces of Bulgarians, Turks, and Germanshurled themselves against the outer fortifications protecting thesouth end of the bridge at Tutrakan. Fortunately for the Rumaniansthey were now reenforced by a considerable body of Russians, and theBulgarians were temporarily checked, the heaviest fighting takingplace in the neighborhood of Dobric. But the Rumanians and theRussians were plainly outnumbered, at Dobric they were graduallypressed back, while at the bridgehead they were severely defeated. Atthis latter point the enemy showed his vast superiority in artillery, which he had concentrated here for the purpose of demolishing thefortifications. After nearly a dozen assaults, each following afurious artillery preparation, the Bulgarians finally, on September 6, 1916, drove the Rumanians back and took the fort. It was at this pointthat the German and Bulgarian dispatches claimed that 20, 000 Rumanianswere taken prisoner, but dispatches from Bucharest stoutly deniedthis. However, as was admitted later, the total losses of theRumanians could not have been much less. After the fall of Tutrakan the Russo-Rumanian forces, under thecommand of General Aslan, retired northward, and a lull came in thefighting on this front which lasted almost a week. On the 8th Silistratoo was evacuated by the Rumanians after a spirited defense by thesmall garrison. When the news of these reverses became known to thepeople of Bucharest little depression was shown, for the operationsagainst the Austro-Hungarians were continuing successfully for theRumanians. In spite of the fact that the Austro-Hungarians had had two years'experience of warfare, and that the Rumanians were new to actualfighting, the former made very poor resistance. With comparative easethe Rumanians advanced beyond Brasso and took Sepsiszentgyorgy andforced the Austro-Hungarians to retreat west of Csikszereda. On the8th the Rumanians announced themselves in possession of Toplicza, SanMilai, Delne, and Gyergyoszentmiklos, while in the sector betweenHatszeg and Petroseny they were pressing the enemy severely. Nowheredid the Austrians make any serious resistance: they retreated, asslowly as possible, under the protection of rear-guard actions, yielding over 4, 000 prisoners to the advancing Rumanians, as well as agreat deal of railroad rolling stock, cattle, and many convoys ofprovisions. That they were expecting the assistance which waspresently to come to them from the Germans seems obvious from thefact that they did not destroy the railroad or its tunnels or bridgesas they retired; they apparently felt certain of returning. Thepeasantry, on the other hand, burned their houses and crops in thosesections where the population is Magyar, then fled toward Budapest, which was beginning to fill with refugees. In those sections where theRumanians were numerous the people, according to the Rumaniandispatches, welcomed the invaders with frantic enthusiasm. The victorious Rumanians continued toward Hermannstadt, takingSchellenberg on the way. Here a Hungarian army had been defeated in1599 by Rumanians under Michael the Brave. Hermannstadt, however, marked the high tide of Rumanian victory. At this point the resistanceof the enemy began suddenly to stiffen. And then came the report thatthe Rumanians were observing German uniforms among the opposingforces. Again Germany had come to the rescue. On September 13, 1916, the first German troops to arrive on the scene came in contact withthe Rumanians southeast of Hatszeg near Hermannstadt. Within two daysthe Rumanians were no longer able to gain ground, though for some timelonger they sorely pressed their enemies. Meanwhile, Mackensen in Dobrudja was showing extreme activity. Thelull which followed the retirement of the Rumanians from Tutrakan wassuddenly terminated on the 12th, when the Bulgarians and their alliesattacked Lipnitza, fifteen miles east of Silistria. Here the Rumaniansresisted furiously, and after an all-night fight they severelyrepulsed Mackensen's troops, taking eight German guns. However, thiswas only a temporary advantage. Some days later the German kaiser, ina telegram to his wife, announced that Mackensen had gained a decisivevictory in Dobrudja. While this phraseology is perhaps a little toostrong as a description of the situation at that date, the fact wasthat the Rumanians and the Russians were again forced to retirenorthward. According to the German reports the retreat was adisorderly flight, but the absence of any reports indicating a largecapture of prisoners or material would indicate that the Germansexaggerated their success. At this moment a new loan was beinglaunched in Germany, and it was natural that the military situationshould be somewhat warmly colored. On September 17, 1916, the Rumanian dispatches indicated that theRusso-Rumanian forces in Dobrudja had fallen back to a line reachingfrom Rasova, south of Cernavoda some ten miles to Tuzla, twelve milessouth of Constanza. Thus the situation was quite grave enough. Meanwhile, some days before, General Averescu, who seemed to have beendoing so well on the Hungarian front, was sent to Dobrudja, in thehope apparently that his superior abilities would save the situation. He arrived on the 16th, together with considerable reenforcementswhich had been drawn from the northwest, where the Russians weresupporting the Rumanians. Further Russian contingents had alsoarrived, and on the following day, the 17th, Averescu turned suddenlyon Mackensen and gave him determined battle. This was the heaviestfighting which had so far taken place in this section. Again and againMackensen hurled his Bulgarians and Turks against the Russo-Rumanianlines, first battering them with his huge cannon. At Rasova, on theDanube, his attacks were especially heavy. Had he taken this point hewould have been able to flank the Rumanians at Cernavoda, capture thebridgehead there and so cut all communication between the Rumanians inDobrudja with Rumania itself. The battle raged until the 19th allalong the line, with no definite advantage to either side. But on thatday reenforcements came to Averescu. That night he began to advance. The mightiest efforts of Mackensen's forces were unable to check him. At dawn the Bulgarians began to retreat, setting fire to the villagesthrough which they retired. In this battle the Rumanians were plainlyvictorious. No doubt they were in superior numbers, for Sarrail'soffensive in Macedonia had grown extremely formidable and theBulgarians had been compelled to rush down reenforcements from theDobrudja front. At any rate, Mackensen was forced to retreat until heestablished his re-formed lines from Oltina, on the Danube, to apoint southwest of Toprosari, thence to the Black Sea coast, south ofTuzla. For the time being the Rumanians were much elated by theirsuccess. But, as time was to show, it was merely temporary. CHAPTER XXVII THE GERMANS ARRIVE The center of interest in the campaign now became the Hungarian front. As has already been stated, by the middle of the month the arrival ofGerman reenforcements had checked the advance of the Rumanians, andnow the situation along this front assumed an aspect not quite soencouraging to the Rumanians. Some little progress was still made inthis direction in the third week of the month; after a few slightengagements the Rumanians occupied Homorod Almas and Fogaras, thelatter a town of some importance halfway between Brasso andHermannstadt. During these operations nearly a thousand prisoners weretaken. Finally, on the 16th, they reached Barot, dominating therailroad between Brasso and Foeldvar, some thirty miles beyond thefrontier. Meanwhile German troops had reenforced the Austrians at Hatszeg, inthe valley of the Streiu. Here on the 14th a pitched battle was begunin a mountain defile, which lasted two days and resulted in the defeatof a force of Magyars. On the 18th General von Staabs, commanding alarge force of German troops, attacked the Rumanians in the Hatszegsector, and after a very hot fight thrust them back. And at about thesame time German forces began attacking the Rumanians in the GyergyoiHavosok and Kalemen Hegyseg ranges of the Carpathians. On the 21st a Berlin dispatch announced that the Teutonic forces hadcarried the Vulkan Pass and cleared it of the enemy. On the followingday, however, the Rumanians were still fighting at this point andthree days later forced the Teutons back and reconquered the lostterritory, as well as the neighboring Szurduk Pass. By the 28th theyhad recovered ten miles of lost ground within the Hungarian frontier, driving the Austrians and the Germans before them. [Illustration: Teutonic Invasion of Rumania. ] A month had now passed since the outbreak of hostilities and theRumanians were still holding a large conquered territory, nearly athird of Transylvania, or about 7, 000 square miles of country. Theywere in complete occupation of four out of fifteen administrativedepartments and a portion of five others. Up to this time 7, 000prisoners had been captured. Meanwhile large forces of Germanscontinued arriving and reenforcing the enemy's lines, and now thedetermination of the Germans to devote their best energies to thepunishment of Rumania was indicated by the fact that this northernarmy was under the command of General von Falkenhayn, formerly chiefof the German General Staff. On September 26, 1916, the Germans began their first really seriousadvance, the point of attack falling on the Rumanians nearHermannstadt, about fifty miles northeast of Vulkan Pass. For threedays the Rumanians made a heroic resistance against a greatsuperiority in men and heavy cannon on the part of the enemy. On thethird day the Rumanians found themselves entirely surrounded, theirretreat through the Red Tower Pass being cut off by a column ofBavarian Alpine troops who had scaled the mountain heights andoccupied the pass in the rear. Rendered desperate by this situation, the Rumanians now fought fiercely to escape through the ring thatencircled them, but only a comparatively few succeeded in reachingFogaras, from which town another Rumanian force had been trying tomake a diversion in their favor. In this action, according to Germanaccounts, the Rumanians lost 3, 000 men, thirteen guns, tenlocomotives, and a quantity of other material. This battle, called bythe Germans the Battle of Hermannstadt, enabled them to occupy againthe Red Tower Pass. On October 1, 1916, they had continued beyond thispass and were attacking a Rumanian force south of it, near Caineni, onRumanian territory. Thus, with the first of the new month theRumanians were on the defensive in this region. CHAPTER XXVIII THE RUMANIAN RAID ACROSS THE DANUBE On the following day general attention was again attracted toward theDobrudja by a feat on the part of the Rumanians which for the momentgave the impression that she was about to strike the enemy anunexpected and decisive blow. A day or two before a Turkish and aBulgarian division had been severely repulsed near Toprosari, south ofTuzla. Immediately there succeeded a general assault along the entireline to which Mackensen had retreated on the 20th, but though thirteenguns were captured, he did not again give ground. Suddenly, on the morning of October 2, 1916, the Rumanians threw apontoon bridge across the Danube at Rahova, about halfway betweenRustchuk and Tutrakan, and well in the rear of Mackensen's line. Before the small Bulgarian forces stationed at this point were awareof what had happened they were completely overwhelmed by theRumanians, who were streaming across the bridge. All the villages inthe neighborhood were seized and for twenty-four hours it was expectedthat Mackensen was about to suffer a sensational repulse. Butapparently the Rumanians lacked the forces necessary for thesuccessful carrying out of what would have been a brilliant stroke, orpossibly the Bulgarian forces which appeared here against them werelarger than had been expected, for the next day they announced thatthe force which had been thrown across the river had again retired, unharmed, the object of its demonstration having been accomplished. According to the Bulgarian accounts their retreat was forced becauseof the appearance of an Austrian monitor, which began shelling anddestroying the pontoon bridge, and that before the retreat had beencompleted the bridge had been destroyed and a large remnant of theRumanian force had been captured or killed. In general, however, thefighting during these first few days of the month gave neither sideany advantage, and again the situation calmed down to comparativeinactivity. That the retirement of the Rumanians was well ordered is shown by thefact that even the Berlin dispatches claimed very few prisoners, inaddition to a thousand taken at Brasso, while the Austro-Germans hadlost considerably over a thousand. On the 6th Fogaras had beenrelinquished. North and east of Brasso the Rumanians had alsoretreated. On the 8th Berlin announced that "the entire eastern frontof the enemy was in retreat. " This was, in general, quite true, exceptthat for a few days longer they still held their positions in thevalley of the Maros. Aside from the advantage in his superiority of numbers, Falkenhaynalso had at his disposal the better railroad accommodations. A linerunning parallel with almost the entire front enabled him to shift hisforces back and forth, wherever the contingencies of the situationmade them needed most. By the 12th he was facing the Rumanians in thepasses. Heavy fighting then began developing at Torzburg, Predeal, andBuzau Passes. Finally the Rumanians were forced back toward Crasna onthe frontier. A critical moment seemed imminent. Averescu, who haddefeated Mackensen, was now recalled from the Dobrudja and sent totake command of the Rumanian forces defending the passes behindBrasso. By the middle of the second week of October, 1916, the Rumanians hadlost all the territory they had taken, except a little in thenortheast. The German-Austrian pressure was now heaviest in two areas:about the passes behind Brasso and before the Gyimes Pass in thenortheast. In the latter region, on the 11th, the Rumanians had retired fromCsikszereda and from positions higher up on the circular strategicrailroad in the valley of the Maros. Before Oitoz Pass they resistedfiercely, and for a time were able to hold their ground. But it was inthe passes behind Brasso that Falkenhayn's weight was being felt mostseverely. On the 12th the following description of the generalsituation was issued from Bucharest: "From Mount Buksoi as far as Bran the enemy has attacked, but is beingrepulsed. " On the following day came better news than the Rumanians had heard forsome weeks. The Germans had not only been checked in the Buzau and thePredeal Passes, but they had suffered a genuine setback there, beingforced to retire. This victory was important in that Predeal Pass hadbeen saved, for not only was this pass close to Bucharest, but throughit ran a railroad and a good highway, crossing the mountains almostdue south of Brasso at a height of a little over 3, 000 feet. On thenext day, however, the Rumanians were driven out of the Torzburg Passand forced to retire to Rucaru, a small town seven miles withinRumanian territory. Falkenhayn's forces were now flowing through thegap in the mountain chain and deploying among the foothills on theRumanian side of the chain. Here the situation was growing dangerousto an extreme degree. Only ten miles farther south, over high, rollingground, was Campulung, the terminus of a railroad running directlyinto Bucharest, only ninety miles distant. But Falkenhayn made no further progress that day. In the neighboringpasses he was held back successfully while his left flank in the OitozPass and his right flank in the Vulkan Pass were each thrown back. Allduring the 15th and the 16th the fighting in the passes continueddesperately, the battle being especially obstinate before the railroadterminus at Campulung, up in the foothills. At about this same timethe Russians in the Dorna Vatra district, where they joined with theRumanians, began a strong offensive, in the hope of relieving thepressure on the Rumanians farther down. This attempt was hardlysuccessful, as the German opposition in this sector developed tounexpected strength. On the 17th Falkenhayn succeeded in squeezinghimself through Gyimes Pass and reaching Agas, seven miles inside thefrontier. At about the same time strong fighting began in the RedTower Pass. The battle was, indeed, raging at a tense heat up and downthe whole front. It was now becoming obvious that the Central Powershad determined to make an example of Rumania and punish her"treachery, " as they called it, even though they must suspend activityin every other theater of the war to do so. Not a little anxiety wascaused in the Allied countries. The matter was brought up and caused ahot discussion in the British Parliament. In the third week Francesent a military mission to Bucharest under General Berthelot, whileEngland, France, and Russia were all making every effort to keep theRumanians supplied with ammunition, in which, however, they could nothave been entirely successful. The Rumanians, on their part, continued defending every step forwardmade by the enemy. On the 18th they won a victory in the Gyimes Passwhich cost the enemy nearly a thousand prisoners and twelve guns. AtAgas, in the Oitoz region, the Austro-Germans also suffered a localdefeat. Nor had they so far made very marked progress in the passesbehind Brasso. There seems to be no doubt that had the Rumanians beenable to devote all their forces and resources to the defense of theHungarian frontier, they would probably have been able to hold backFalkenhayn's forces. But Mackensen had forced them to split theirstrength. On October 19, 1916, the situation in Dobrudja again began assuming anunpleasant aspect. On that date Mackensen began a new offensive. Sincehis retirement a month previous he had remained remarkably quiet, possibly with the purpose of making the Rumanians believe that he hadbeen more seriously beaten than was really the case, so that theymight withdraw forces from this front for the Transylvania operations. This, in fact, they had been doing, and when, on the 19th, he suddenlybegan renewing his operations, the Russo-Rumanian forces were not in aposition to hold him back. After a vigorous artillery preparation, which destroyed theRusso-Rumanian trenches in several places, Mackensen began a series ofassaults which presently compelled the Russo-Rumanian forces toretire in the center and on the right wing. On the 21st the Germansreported that they had captured Tuzla and the heights northwest ofToprosari, as well as the heights near Mulciova, and that they hadtaken prisoner some three thousand Russians. This success now began tothreaten the railroad line from Cernavoda to Constanza. This line hadbeen Mackensen's objective from the beginning. On the 23d a dispatchfrom Bucharest announced that the Rumanian lines had retired again andwere barely south of this railroad. Having captured Toprosari andCobadin, the Bulgarians advanced on Constanza, and on the 22d theysucceeded in entering this important seaport, though the Rumanianswere able to remove the stores there under the fire of the Russianwarships. [Illustration: General von Mackensen and his staff in Rumania. Alreadyvictorious in campaigns in Galicia and Serbia, Mackensen won newlaurels in the Dobrudja. His troops pushed on to Bucharest, which fellDecember 6, 1916. ] On the same date Mackensen began an attack on Medgidia, up therailroad about twenty-five miles from Constanza, and succeeded intaking it. He also took Rasova, in spite of the fierce resistancewhich the Rumanians made at this point. In these operations Mackensenreported that he had taken seven thousand prisoners and twelve guns. Next he attacked Cernavoda, where the great bridge crossed the Danube, and on the morning of the 25th the defenders were compelled to retireacross the structure, afterward blowing it up. Thus the railroad wasnow in the hands of Mackensen. The Russians and the Rumanians had beendriven across the river or up along its bank. But it would be no smallmatter for the enemy to follow them. With the aid of so effective abarrier as this broad river it now seemed possible that the Rumaniansmight decrease their forces very considerably on this front, stillsucceed in holding Mackensen back, and turn their full attention toFalkenhayn in the north. Of course, there still remained the northernsection of Dobrudja, passing up east of southern Rumania to the headof the Black Sea and the Russian frontier, along which Mackensen mightadvance and get in behind the rear of the main Russian lines. But thiscountry in large part constitutes the Danube delta and is swampy, andis certainly not fitted for operations involving heavy artillery. Moreover, Mackensen was now at the narrowest part of Dobrudja, whoseshape somewhat resembles an hourglass, and a farther advance wouldmean an extension of his lines. Aside from this, by advancing farthernorth, he laid his rear open to a possible raid from across the river, such as the Rumanians had attempted on October 2, 1916, unsuccessfully, to be sure, but sufficiently to show that the wholebank of the river must be guarded. The farther Mackensen advancednorthward the more men he would require to guard his rear along theriver. For the time being, at least, the river created a deadlock, with the advantage to whichever side should be on the defensive. TheRumanians might very well now have left a minimum force guarding theriver bank while they turned their main forces northward to stem thetide of Teuton invasion through the passes. For over a week this seemed exactly what the Rumanians were doing. OnNovember 4, 1916, the situation along the Rumanian front in themountains looked extremely well for King Ferdinand's armies. At nopoint had the Teutons made any appreciable headway, while in tworegions, in the Jiul Valley and southeast of Kronstadt, Bucharestreported substantial gains. Berlin and Vienna both admitted that theRumanians had recaptured Rosca, a frontier height east of the PredealPass. CHAPTER XXIX MACKENSEN PRESSED BACK On November 6, 1916, came the news from Bucharest that the Rumanianand Russian forces in northern Dobrudja had again assumed theoffensive and that Mackensen's line was giving way; and that inretiring his troops had burned the villages of Daeni, Gariot, Rosman, and Gaidar. Full details of these operations were never issued, but asday after day passed it became obvious that the Russo-Rumanian armieswere indeed making a determined effort to regain the ground lost inDobrudja. On November 9, 1916, it was announced through London that the RussianGeneral Sakharov had been transferred from Galicia and was now incommand of the allied forces in Dobrudja; that he had succeeded inpushing Mackensen's lines back from Hirsova on the Danube, where agunboat flotilla was cooperating with him, and that Mackensen was nowretreating through Topal, twelve miles farther south, and was onlythirteen miles north of the Cernavoda-Constanza railroad. On November10, 1916, an official announcement from Petrograd stated that "on theDanube front our cavalry and infantry detachments occupied the stationof Dunareav, three versts from Cernavoda. We are fighting forpossession of the Cernavoda Bridge. More than two hundred corpses havebeen counted on the captured ground. A number of prisoners and machineguns have also been captured. We have occupied the town of Hirsova andthe village of Musluj and the heights three versts south of Delgeruivand five versts southwest of Fasmidja. " On the following day theRussian ships began bombarding Constanza and set fire to the townwhich, according to the Petrograd reports, was burned to the ground. At the same time a Russian force advancing southward along the rightbank of the Danube occupied the villages of Ghisdarechti and Topal. Onthat same date Sofia also reported heavy fighting and an enemy advancenear the Cernavoda Bridge. Two days later, on the 13th, an indirectreport through London stated that the Russians had crossed the Danubesouth of the bridge, behind Mackensen's front. This was not officiallyconfirmed, but apparently another attempt was made to strikeMackensen's rear from across the river. Meanwhile the Russo-Rumanian line was pressing Mackensen's front back, hammering especially on his left wing up against the river, until hewas a bare few miles north of the railroad and thirty miles south ofthe point farthest north he had been able to reach. Here he seems tohave held fast, for further reports of fighting on the Danube frontbecome vague and contradictory. At any rate, the Russo-Rumanianadvance stopped short of victory, as the recapture of theCernavoda-Constanza railroad would have been. That Mackensen'sretreat may have been voluntary, to encourage the enemy to advance andthereby weaken his front on the Transylvanian front, seems possible inthe light of later events. Also, it was possible that his forces hadbeen weakened by Bulgarian regiments being withdrawn and sent down tothe Macedonian front, where Monastir was in grave danger and waspresently to fall to the French-Russian-Serbian forces. From thismoment a silence settles over this front; when Mackensen again emergesinto the light shed by official dispatches, it is to execute some ofthe most brilliant moves that have yet been made during the entirewar. CHAPTER XXX THE RUMANIANS PRESSED BACK Meanwhile hard fighting had been going on on the Transylvanian front, one day favoring one side and on the next day favoring the other. OnNovember 5, 1916, the Germans regained Rosca heights, which theRumanians had taken on the 3d. On the 7th the Russians were pressingthe Germans hard below Dorna Vatra, while southeast of Red Tower Passand near the Vulkan Pass the Rumanians suffered reverses, losing athousand men as prisoners, according to the Vienna and Berlindispatches. But before another week had passed it became evident thatthe Teutons were gaining, whether because of superior artillery, orbecause the Rumanians had weakened this front for the sake of theDobrudja offensive. For each step the Teutons fell back they advancedtwo. Not unlike a skillful boxer Falkenhayn feinted at one point, thenstruck hard at another unexpectedly. Without doubt skill and superiorknowledge, as well as superior organization, were on the side of theinvaders. By the middle of the month the Rumanians were being forcedback, both in the Alt and the Jiul valleys, facts which could not behidden by the dispatches from Bucharest announcing the capture of amachine gun at one point or a few dozen prisoners at another. A fewdays later the London papers were commenting on the extremelydangerous situation in Rumania. The Teutons had been pushing especially hard against the extreme leftof the Rumanian line in western Wallachia. On the 15th, after a weekof continuous hammering, the Austro-Germans forced their way down fromthe summits after battering down the permanent frontier fortificationswith their heavy mortars. Pushed down into the foothills, theRumanians, who were now being reenforced by Russian forces, decided tomake a stand on the range of hills running east and west and lyingsouth of Turgujiulij, the first important town south of the mountains. Foggy weather favored the Russo-Rumanians and enabled them to take upa strong position at this point before being observed by the Germans. The latter began launching a series of assaults. For three days thesefrontal attacks were continued. Finally numbers told; the Rumaniancenter was broken. Then the German cavalry, which had been held inreserve, hurled itself through the breach and raced down through thevalley toward the railroad, thirty miles distant, preventing thefleeing Russians and Rumanians from making any further stands. On thefollowing day, the 19th, the cavalry had reached the Orsova-Craiovarailroad and occupied it from Filliash, an important junction, toStrehaia station, a distance of twelve miles. Two days later came the announcement that Craiova itself had beentaken by the Teuton forces. This town is the center of an importantgrain district on the edge of the Wallachian Plain. From a militarypoint of view the importance of its capture was in that it was arailroad junction and that the Germans now held the line ofcommunication between the Orsova region, constituting the extremewestern portion of Wallachia, and the rest of Rumania. As a matter offact, as was to develop a few days later, the Teutons had brokenthrough the main Rumanian lines, and in doing so had clipped off thetip of the Rumanian left wing. Some days later the capture of thisforce was announced, though it numbered much less than had at firstbeen supposed--some seven thousand men. But now a new danger suggested itself. The Teutonic invasion washeading toward the Danube. Should it reach the banks of that riverthere would be nothing to prevent a juncture between the forces ofFalkenhayn and those under Mackensen, thereby forming a net whichwould be stretched clear across Rumania and swept eastward towardBucharest. Falkenhayn had only to clear the northern bank of theDanube, and nothing could prevent Mackensen's crossing; as waspresently to develop, this fear was not without foundation. On the24th came the announcement from Berlin that Falkenhayn had capturedTurnu-Severin on the Danube and that Mackensen's troops had crossed inseveral places and effected a juncture with Falkenhayn's men. Farthernorth the Rumanians were reported to be falling back to positionsalong the Alt River, a swift, deep stream in its upper reaches whichbroadens out into many arms down on the plain and forms a difficultobstacle to an advancing army. At Slatina the bridge is over fourhundred yards in length. This, apparently, was to be the new line ofdefense, running north and south. Still farther north, in theCarpathians, in Moldavia, the Austro-Germans were developing anotherstrong offensive, and here, near Tulghes Pass, where the Russians heldthe line, a pitched battle of unusual fury developed, bringing theAustro-Germans to a standstill for the time being, at least. Againthere came reports from Petrograd of activity along the front inDobrudja, but this appears to have been at the most nothing but ademonstration to distract Mackensen from effecting any crossingfarther up the Danube at a point where he might flank the Rumanianlines along the Alt. Throughout the countries of the Allies it was nowgenerally recognized that Rumania was doomed, unless the Russianscould send enough forces to rescue her. On the 26th official dispatches from both Berlin and Bucharest statedthat Mackensen had crossed the Danube at Zimnitza and was advancingtoward Bucharest. The German statement had him in the outskirts ofAlexandria, only forty-seven miles from the capital, and reported thatthe Rumanians were retreating eastward from the lower Alt. On thefollowing day Berlin announced that the entire length of the Alt hadbeen abandoned by the Rumanians, which was confirmed by a dispatchfrom Bucharest. This retreat had been forced by the crossing effectedby Mackensen's troops to the rear of the line, threatening its flankand rear. That the danger to Bucharest was now being felt was obviousfrom the fact that on the following day the Rumanian Government anddiplomatic authorities removed from Bucharest to Jassy, about twohundred miles northeastward, near the Russian frontier. On this date, too, it was reported that Mackensen had captured Giurgiu, which showedthat he had advanced thirty miles during the past twenty-four hours. From Giurgiu there is direct rail connection with Bucharest: this lineMackensen could use for transport service, thus increasing the dangerto the Rumanian main army that it might have its retreat cut off. Having abandoned the Alt line, the next logical line that theretreating Rumanians should have attempted to hold was the Vedea, another river running parallel to the Alt and emptying into theDanube. Here, too, there was a railroad running along the river bank, or close to it, which would have served as a supply line. But it wasjust this railroad which Mackensen had captured at Giurgiu. Once morehe threatened the Rumanian flank, and so a stand at the Vedea becamealso impossible. Certainly the Teutons were now moving withextraordinary rapidity, and there was undoubtedly some truth in theBerlin statement that the Rumanians were fleeing eastward in apanic-stricken mass. Great quantities of war material were abandonedand captured by the advancing Teutons. It is significant, however, that neither Berlin nor Vienna were able to report the capture of anygreat amount of prisoners. By the first of the month the Teutons had almost reached the ArgesRiver, the last large stream that ran between them and the outerfortifications of Bucharest. Behind this river the Rumanians finallycame to a stand, and now Berlin, instead of describing the precipitateflight of the enemy, spoke only of the hard fighting which was goingon. At this time the German War Office also announced the capture ofCampulung, which opened the road through the Torzburg Pass. That Russia was now making strong efforts to relieve the pressure onthe Rumanians before Bucharest became obvious on December 1, 1916, when it was reported from Petrograd that a Russian offensive had beenbegun on the Bukowina border and was spreading down along the Rumanianfrontier south of Kirlibaba, along a front over two hundred miles inlength. Here, according to the report, the Rumanians, in cooperationwith the Russians, captured a whole range of heights in the BuzeuValley southeast of Kronstadt, while the Russians themselves reportedsimilar progress. At the same time Berlin, while also touching on theseverity of the fighting in the north, reported that the Russians werehurling themselves against Mackensen's entire front in Dobrudja. TheGerman reports admitted that here and there the Russian attackseffected slight local gains at tremendous cost. Whatever the actualfacts, this offensive movement came too late to have any materialresults; Bucharest, at any rate, was doomed. CHAPTER XXXI THE BATTLE OF THE RIVER ARGECHU On December 3, 1916, what appears to have been a desperate battle fromthe German reports took place along the river Argechu in the regionbefore Bucharest. This is a mountain stream which, from Piteshti tosouthwest of Titu, is sometimes a hundred yards in width and at somepoints twenty meters deep, though fords are found at frequentintervals. At this time, however, the river was well flooded and onlythe bridges were available for crossing. At this point strongdetachments of Bulgarians, Austrians, and Germans coming together fromthe north, east, and south met with resistance from the Rumanians onthe other side of the river. For an entire day the Rumanians held backthe enemy, then suddenly broke and fled so abruptly that they had nottime to destroy the bridges, over which the invaders streamed afterthe retreating Rumanians, capturing several thousands of prisoners. On the following day the left wing of the Austro-Germans capturedTergovistea. At Piteshti the First Army of the Rumanians made anotherbrief stand, but was driven back beyond the Titu junction of railroadsfrom Bucharest to Campulung. South of Bucharest Russian and Rumanianforces also offered a stout resistance, but were finally compelled toretire when the enemy's cavalry cut around in their rear andthreatened their line of retreat. During this one day the Germansclaimed to have taken 8, 000 prisoners, the Danube army capturing alsothirty-five cannon and thirteen locomotives and a great amount ofrolling stock. It was not the battle along the Argechu, however, which was the causeof the immediate danger to Bucharest. The blow which decided the fateof the Rumanian capital came from the north. The real danger lay inthe German forces coming down from the passes south of Kronstadt. Already Campulung was taken and the Argechu crossed in the north. Thenthe invaders streamed down the Prahova Valley, which begins at thepasses and runs down southeast behind Bucharest. The Rumanians now hadthe choice of evacuating their capital or having it surrounded andbesieged. Bucharest was a fortified city, but the Germans carried suchguns as no fortifications built by the hand of man could resist. Antwerp had been the first demonstration of that fact. The plan of holding the city had also several other objections. From amilitary point of view the city was of little value. Its retentionwould have had a certain moral value, in that it would have shown thatthe Rumanians were by no means entirely defeated, but as practicallyall the nations of Europe were now on one side or the other of thefighting line, this political effect would have found few toinfluence. To defend it, moreover, would have meant its completedestruction, and sooner or later the defending force would have beentaken prisoners. There was no chance of saving the city from Teutonoccupation, such occupation might be delayed, nothing more. Ratherthan waste a large force in a futile defense, the Rumanians decidedto evacuate the capital without any effort to stay the advancing enemyat this point. This decision seems to have been taken some time beforethe city was in actual danger. The civilian population was leaving thecity in a steady stream and every railroad carriage going eastward wascrowded to full capacity. CHAPTER XXXII BUCHAREST FALLS On December 6, 1916, the German War Office announced the entry ofTeutonic troops into the Rumanian capital, and what was more importantstill from a military point of view, the capture of Ploechti, animportant railroad junction thirty-five miles northwest of Bucharest, famous for its oil wells and therefore of great value to theAustro-Germans. As developed later, however, these wells weredestroyed by the retreating Rumanians, and for some time to come, atleast, rendered almost useless. Whatever the value of Bucharest from a military point of view, therecan be no doubt that its capture was a heavy blow to the Allies. Withit went one-half of Rumania. The mightiest efforts of Russia had beenunable to save the kingdom from the hands of the invaders. Thereby shehad been forced to confess a certain degree of weakness. Nor hadSarrail in Macedonia been able to divert the activities of theBulgarians from Dobrudja to any serious extent. This too constituted asecond confession of weakness. Indeed the activities, or lack of activities, on the part of theAllies in Macedonia, in spite of the capture of Monastir, had beeneven more disappointing than the inability of the Russians to saveRumania. But the disaster to the cause of the Allies was more apparent thanreal. As has been demonstrated on the Russian front more than onceduring this war, the capture of territory alone has very littleinfluence on the final result of a campaign. It is not enough todefeat an enemy; his forces must be destroyed, eliminated, wholly orin part, and this can only be accomplished by the capture of hisforces. Though the Germans claimed that the Rumanians had lost 100, 000men to them as prisoners, an obvious exaggeration, the Rumanianfighting forces remained comparatively intact after the fall ofBucharest. The best of the Rumanian troops undoubtedly remained, forby this time they were becoming seasoned veterans. Having taken Bucharest, the German rush noticeably subsided; it lostits force. This was in part due to the bad weather conditions whichnow set in and lasted a week; rain fell in the plains in torrents andmade the passage of troops, and especially of artillery, verydifficult, even impossible. No doubt this also hindered the retreat ofthe Rumanians, but the advantage was on their side. On the 18th it was reported from Petrograd that the entire Rumanianfront was being held by Russian soldiers, the Rumanians having retiredto their rear beyond the Sereth River at Jassy and in Bessarabia, where they were being reorganized for future operations. After theBucharest-Ploechti line had been lost, according to one unofficialreport, the Russians had sent some strong cavalry divisions to supportthe Rumanian retreat. The Russians offered strong resistance in theregion of Buzeu so as to permit their engineers to construct adefensive front between Rimnik Sarat and the marshes at the mouth ofthe Danube. On that same date Berlin announced an advance of theTeutonic forces in northern Dobrudja. It was in this latter sectionthat the Teutons now centered their activities. The Russo-Rumaniansstill remained in Dobrudja, on the south side of the Danube. So longas they had a footing here they remained a potential threat to theTeutons, which might awaken into active danger at the first favorableopportunity. To be ousted from this northern tip of Dobrudja would beeven more serious to the Russo-Rumanians than the loss of Wallachia. From this point they might, at some future day, initiate an offensiveagainst Bulgaria which might become extremely dangerous. Once acrossthe river, however, it would be difficult for them to recross, forreasons that have already been discussed: no line of fortifications, no intrenched positions they might throw up, would be so effective adefense to the Teutons as the mouth of the Danube. In Rumania, west of the river, continuous and at times heavy fightingcontinued, sometimes assuming almost the proportions of pitchedbattles. During the last week of the month Mackensen apparentlyrealized the hopelessness, for the present at least, of driving theenemy out of Dobrudja, and shifted some of his forces over to the westbank of the river. The Russians had retired behind the Rimnik River, asmall stream which is about twenty-five miles north of the Buzeu andparallel to it. On January 1, 1917, the Germans announced that theRussians had been forced back against the bridgehead at Braila andthat in the Dobrudja they had advanced beyond Matchin. On the 5th, Braila, the most important city left to the Rumanians, fell into thehands of Mackensen, and at the same time the last of the Russiansretired from the northern tip of Dobrudja. This was the heaviest blowthat had fallen since the capture of Bucharest, and from a militarypoint of view was even more serious. Once driven across the broadwaters of the Danube mouth, the Russians and the Rumanians could notrecross in the future except in very strong force and with greatlosses. At the same time it was now possible for Mackensen to reducehis forces in Dobrudja to a minimum and reenforce the troops operatingover in Rumania proper. During the rest of the month the fighting continued up and down theline with unabated vigor, though without any sensational results. TheGermans were now hammering at the main line of the Russian defense andcould not expect any large gains. The defeat of the Rumanians hadbeen, after all, only the driving back of a salient. But in generalthe fighting during the latter half of January, 1917, seemed to favorthe Teutons. On the 15th Berlin reported that the Bulgarian artillery wasbombarding Galatz from across the Danube. On this date too theRussians lost Vadeni, ten miles southwest of Galatz, their lastposition south of the Sereth. On the other hand, Petrograd announcedon this same day that on the northern Rumanian front, in a violentengagement on the Kasino River, the Rumanian troops forced the Germansback, while the German attacks northeast of Fokshani were repulsed bythe Russians. By the following day these local attacks developed intoa general engagement, such as had not been fought since beforeBucharest had fallen. At Fundani, Berlin reported, the Russians hurledone mass attack after another--waves of humanity as they weretermed--against the German lines and gained some temporary advantages. On the 17th Petrograd announced the recapture of Vadeni. After aprolonged artillery preparation the Russians rushed their infantryagainst the position in the town and drove the Germans out. Thelatter, after receiving reenforcements and assisted by an artillerydrumfire, made a powerful counterattack, but did not succeed indriving the Russians back. Berlin admitted this defeat, incidentallymentioning that Turkish troops were here engaged. Berlin also admittedthat "between the Kasino and Suchitza Valleys the Russians andRumanians made another mass attack and succeeded in regaining a heightrecently taken from them. " On the 20th, Mackensen's forces, as wasstated by Berlin and admitted by Petrograd, succeeded in takingNanesti and driving the Russians back to the Sereth. On January 22, 1917, an Overseas News Agency dispatch stated that thenumber of Rumanian prisoners taken during the entire campaign to datenow numbered 200, 000. Describing the situation of the Rumanian army atthat time, the dispatch continued: "The rest of the Rumanian army, part of which fought well, isreorganizing in Moldavia and Bessarabia. The few Rumanian divisionswhich still are engaged at the front are very much reduced in numbers. According to the assertions of Rumanian prisoners, one division wascomposed of only 2, 800 men, while another numbered but 2, 400. TheRumanians suffered their heaviest losses from artillery fire. Thelarge number of dead in proportion to the wounded is remarkable. Onone square kilometer (about three-fifths of a square mile) of thebattle field of Campulung 6, 000 Rumanian dead were counted. Some ofthe Rumanian infantry regiments were composed of only four companiesof 150 men each. Because of the lack of sanitary organization, anextraordinary large percentage of the wounded died in the hospitals, which, however, afforded room only for the officers, while largenumbers of wounded soldiers were lodged in damp cellars, peasants'huts, and barns, where they died miserably. " On January 20, 1917, the military critic of the Overseas News Agencysummed up the situation as follows: "The Russo-Rumanian efforts to delay the advance of the Teutonsagainst the Sereth Plain are taking the form of fierce counterattacks, launched to avert the danger that their position on the Putna and theSereth be outflanked. During the last few days especially violentattacks have been directed against the position situated on theCarpathian slopes north of the Suchitza. These developed no successand cost the enemy heavy losses in casualties and prisoners. .. . On theCarpathian front, in the Oituz district, the Teutonic forces havepressed forward until they are in a position whence they can take thecircular valley of Ocna under their fire. As has been confirmed by theRussian headquarters report, Bogdaneshti and Ocna were shelled. Ocnais an important railroad station and a point of support for theRussian defense in the upper Trotus Valley, while Bogdaneshti bars theoutlet to the great valley of the Trotus and Oituz. All the determinedattempts made by the Russians and Rumanians to extend the narrowlimits of their hold on the southern bank of the Sereth have been moreor less unsuccessful. The German troops, however, with their captureof the village of Nanesti, tore the pillar from the wall of theRussian defense. Nanesti forms the strategical center of thebridgehead of Fundeni and covers the great iron bridge across theSereth, which is in the immediate vicinity of Nanesti. The entireconstruction of the Nanesti-Fundeni bridgehead, which is a modernfield fortification, illustrates its importance as a central point ofsupport of the Sereth line. In the remaining sectors of the Serethsnowstorms and mists have interfered with military activity. " During the middle of January, 1917, the French Admiral du Fournier ofthe Entente fleet in Greek waters paid a visit to the Russo-Rumanianfront. On his return from this tour, which was taken on the way toFrance, he wrote in the Paris "Matin": "The Russian army was surprised by the rapid succession of Rumanianreverses and had to suspend Brussilov's offensive in Galicia in orderto send large reenforcements to Rumania, but its position was suchthat it could not cover its flank in Wallachia and its rear inDobrudja rapidly enough to stop the advance of the invaders. It wasonly on the Sereth that it succeeded in forming with the first corpsthat arrived from the army of General Sakharoff a front which waslengthened by several good Rumanian divisions. A few weeks willwitness a change in the military situation. In my journey in a motorcar with the troops on the march I saw nothing but magnificentsoldiers, admirably equipped and in excellent form. " CHAPTER XXXIII SARRAIL'S OFFENSIVE The half year ending with February 1, 1917, was a period of almostcontinuous activity before Saloniki, in sharp contrast to the previoussix months, which had been quite uneventful. Yet that interval betweenthe conquest of Serbia by the Austro-German and Bulgarian troops andthe renewal of fighting, beginning in August, 1916, were months offurious preparation by General Sarrail and his colleagues. From whatwas little more than a precarious footing in Saloniki itself they hadestablished a firm base protected by a wide circle of intrenchments, while their forces had been augmented to something not far fromthree-quarters of a million men under arms and a huge supply ofordnance and munitions. From a mere expedition to keep a back dooropen for the defeated Serbians, Sarrail's army had developed into whatwas obviously going to be a gigantic campaign against the rear of theCentral Powers, an attempt to enter Austria through a back window. Such, at least, was the supposition of military critics the worldover. Incidentally the presence of so large a force of the Allies inMacedonia served various other purposes. Viewing the situation with aretrospective eye, at the present moment, there can be no doubt thatGreece would by now have thrown her lot in with the Central Powers hadit not been for her fear of Sarrail's forces. Also, the Teutons andthe Bulgarians were compelled to devote a large force to holding afront opposite Sarrail, and so weaken their other fronts. And finally, without Sarrail in Saloniki, Rumania would never have decided to joinhands with the Allies, certainly not so early as she did. To be sure, Rumania was defeated, but her defeat must have cost the Central Powersgrave losses which may eventually prove to have turned the tide infavor of the Allies. Already before August, 1916, it was becoming obvious that Sarrail wasbeginning to feel strong enough to play a less passive part. Little bylittle he had been pushing out his lines. The remnants of the Serbianarmy, which had been recuperating at Corfu, were reorganized andtransported to Saloniki by sea, whence they were sent to take over aportion of the front on the extreme left. Somewhere around August 1, 1916, Russian soldiers began landing at Saloniki, though thissignificant fact was not reported till nearly three weeks afterward, when about 80, 000 of them had joined Sarrail's force and had been sentout on the left front, west of the Serbians. During this interval alarge force of Italians also joined the Allied troops at Saloniki andjoined the British near Doiran. All the Allies except Japan were nowrepresented on this front by their contingents, though of course theFrench and British were still in vastly preponderating majority. Themoral effect was strong, for it was the first time that troops of allthe Allies were camped side by side. The landing of the Russians, whohad come through France, thence by the sea route, was no doubteffected in the hope of affecting the Bulgarians, who are not onlySlavs, but have a very strong feeling of affinity for the Russians, who liberated them from the Turks. It was probably hoped that on beingbrought face to face with them on the firing line many Bulgarianswould desert, or possibly even there would be an uprising in Bulgariaagainst Czar Ferdinand's policy. That nothing of this sort didactually happen, either in Macedonia or in Dobrudja and Rumania, wherethe Russians also faced Bulgarians, may perhaps be ascribed to therevulsion of feeling against the Russians which many Bulgarians hadbegun experiencing of recent years, on account of the many blackintrigues which the Russian Government had hatched against theindependence of Bulgaria. In the matter of Bulgaria, it is but fair to state that Russia, Rumania, and Serbia had little right to complain; Bulgaria had justscores to wipe off against all of them. Each was but paying the pricefor some selfish policy in the past for which Bulgaria had had tosuffer. CHAPTER XXXIV UNREST IN GREECE There was the intense racial hatred between Greeks and Bulgars, morefully explained in previous volumes. Hatreds of this nature affect thepublic more than governing bodies. On the public sentiment of Greecethis hatred seems to have been a more powerful influence than moresubtle political considerations. The detested Bulgar, the barbarian, the "kondri-cephalous" (blockhead) was advancing into easternMacedonia, which the Greeks had gained at so much cost, and they weretaking possession of that section of the country where the populationreally is preponderatingly Greek. In the north, in western Macedonia, he was also invading Greek territory, taking Florina, approaching thevery boundaries of Greece proper; indeed, cavalry patrols of theBulgarians had descended as far as the plains of Thessaly. Public indignation flamed to a white heat. On September 1, 1916, camea press dispatch from Athens stating that the population was risingagainst the Government and that the king had abdicated in fear. Thislatter statement proved untrue, but in the Macedonia occupied by theAllies a modified revolution was indeed taking place, no doubtencouraged by the Allies. A provisional committee, or government, hadbeen organized, and to this authority the Greek garrisons at Vodena, Port Karaburun, and Saloniki had surrendered. "Cretan gendarmes andMacedonian volunteers, " continued the report, "have surrounded thebarracks of the Greek infantry in Saloniki and exchanged shots withthe garrison after cutting the water main and electric-light wires andshutting off food supplies. A detachment of sixty regulars attemptedto break its way out. Its surrender was demanded, and when theregulars refused the volunteers fired shots in the air. The regularsreplied with a volley, whereupon the volunteers opened fire on them, compelling them to return to the barracks. Altogether three men werekilled and two wounded. Before the garrison finally surrendered threecompanies of French colonial infantry marched to the parade grounds. They were soon followed by two battalions of infantry, which took uppositions on both sides of the parade grounds in the rear of thebarracks. Machine guns were posted at conspicuous points and armoredcars were stationed opposite the entrance of the barracks. .. . At 11o'clock that night the Greek troops marched out unarmed and wereinterned at Camp Keitinlek outside the city. " Apparently these incidents had a temporary influence on the Governmentat Athens, for on September 3, 1916, it was reported that all partieshad agreed to give their support to the Zaimis cabinet, which was nowready to reconsider its previous policy and give its full support tothe cause of the Allies. The German Ambassador, it was said, had leftAthens. How confident was Venizelos in the belief that the Governmenthad come around to his policy is obvious from the following statement, which he made on that same date: "The addition of one more nation to the long list of those fightingagainst Prussian militarism for the liberty of Europe and theindependence of the smaller states cannot but give more strength tothe common confidence in a complete victory of the Allies. I deeplygrieve that my country has so much delayed in paying her duecontribution to the struggle for these most precious benefits ofhumanity, and trust the influence caused by Rumanian intervention willrender it absolutely impossible for the existing Greek authorities anyfurther to persist in their policy of neutrality, and that at theearliest moment Greece too will join the camp of her proved andtraditional friends for the purpose of accomplishing her own nationalideals. " Meanwhile the revolt in Greek Macedonia seemed to be spreading. Aprovisional government was declared established with a ColonelZimorakakis at the head, and all the gendarmes and the cavalry hadgone over to the new régime. What gave further color to the reports that Greece was definitelydeciding to go over to the Allies was the announcement that theelections had been postponed indefinitely. The Zaimis cabinet, it willbe remembered by those who have read the previous volume, was merelyprovisional to fill the interim until the next elections. These had atfirst been fixed for August 7, 1916, then postponed for another month. Now they were again postponed indefinitely. Truly it seemed that thetwo big parties had come to an understanding. Added to this was thereport that Baron Schenk, the chief of the German propaganda, had beenarrested and brought a prisoner aboard one of the French warships. Also the telegraph and telephone systems of the country had been givenover to the control of the Allies. There now followed an interval of complete silence, broken only on the10th, when it was reported from London that the Greek Premier, Zaimis, had held a conference with the Entente ministers and had asked whatconsideration Greece would receive should she join the Allies. Theministers were reported to have replied that they would askinstructions from their respective governments. On the following dayZaimis suddenly offered his resignation. The king refused to accept itand, on the ministers of the Entente expressing their confidence inhis sincerity, he withdrew his resignation. On the following day theEntente Powers made their reply to Premier Zaimis, regarding whatreward Greece might expect should she join them. They were notdisposed, they stated, to enter into a discussion of this subject. IfGreece desired to join them, she must waive the question ofcompensation for the present, though the Entente Powers stood ready toassist her in equipping her with arms and munitions. CHAPTER XXXV A GREEK ARMY SURRENDERS TO GERMANY Meanwhile an incident in eastern Macedonia occurred which aroused agreat deal of feeling against the Greek Government in the Ententecountries. It will be remembered that the Bulgarians had advancedalong the coast in this region, being unopposed there by Alliedtroops, and that they had finally appeared before Kavala. In spite ofthe vigorous shelling from the Allies' warships they occupied theforts surrounding the city, which were immediately evacuated by theGreek garrisons. These, together with the soldiers in the city andother outlying garrisons, numbering between six and eight thousand, constituted a part of the Fourth Army Corps of the Greek army. OnSeptember 13, 1916, Germany suddenly issued the announcement that thisbody of Greek soldiers had surrendered. "After German and Bulgarian troops, " continued the announcement, "hadfound themselves compelled by General Sarrail's offensive to march asa counterattack into Greek Macedonia, the Fourth Greek Army Corpsstood ready in Seres, Drama, and Kavala, behind the left Bulgarianwing, which had advanced to the Struma. The measures of the Ententeaimed at forcing these Greek troops to its side or preparing for thema fate similar to that which befell the overpowered portions of theEleventh Greek Division at Saloniki. Free communication with Athenswas interrupted and intercourse with the home authorities wascontrolled by the Entente and refused arbitrarily by the Entente. "The commanding general of the Fourth Greek Army Corps at Kavala, faithful to the will of the chief commander and the legallyconstituted Government's policy of maintaining neutrality, and in viewof the unsupportable situation of the troops under his command, menaced by famine and disease, has been compelled to proceed on hisown authority. On September 12, 1916, he asked the German chiefcommander to protect his brave troops, loyal to the king, to relievethem of the pressure of the Entente and provide food and shelter forthem. In order to prevent any breach of neutrality, it has been agreedwith the commanding general to transport to lodging places in Germanythese Greek troops in the status of neutrals with their entire armsand equipment. Here they will enjoy hospitality until their fatherlandis free of invaders. " There now arose the cry in the press of all the Entente countries thatthe surrender of this force of Greek soldiers was only an act on thepart of the Greek Government to assist the Germans, whom it planned tosupport actively when a propitious moment should come. In reply theGreek Government published the telegrams that it had exchanged withthe Greek commander at Kavala. On the 11th he had telegraphed toAthens, through the admiral of the British fleet: "The Fourth Greek Army Corps at Kavala wishes to surrender immediatelyto the British. The Bulgarians have threatened to bombard the cityto-morrow. " The British admiral thereupon sent the following message to GeneralCalaris, the War Minister in Athens: "Do you wish me to permit the Greek troops to embark on Greek ships?" In response the Greek War Minister wired: "To the Fourth Army Corps at Kavala: Transport yourselves immediatelywith all your forces to Volo, arranging with the British admiral. Thepolice and civil authorities must remain at Kavala. " Apparently the division that existed throughout the entire Greekpopulation appeared among these Greek soldiers, for not allsurrendered with their commander to the Germans; a large numberwithdrew and escaped to Thaos. On the face of the telegraphiccorrespondence, involving the British admiral, it would seem that theGreek commander acted in accordance with his personal sympathiesrather than from instructions, but the incident nevertheless succeededin stirring strong feeling against Greece in France and England. That matters were not running smoothly within the inner circle of theGreek Government became evident on September 16, 1916, when it wasannounced that Premier Zaimis had now definitely and absolutelyresigned, and that Nikolas Kalogeropoulos had been asked by the kingto form a new cabinet. He was one of the foremost lawyers of Greece, had lived for many years in France, and was said to be in sympathywith Venizelos and the Allies. In 1904 he had been Minister of Financefor a brief period, and in 1908 and 1909 he had been Minister of theInterior. The new premier was sworn into office under the sameconditions as surrounded his predecessor: his was merely a servicecabinet, to maintain control until the elections could be held inaccordance with the constitution. In strange contrast to this event, which seemed to bode well for theAllies, the "Saloniki movement, " as the revolt in favor ofintervention was called by the British press and which had been lyingquiet for some time, now broke out afresh. On September 21, 1916, camethe report that the people on the island of Crete had risen anddeclared a Provisional Government in favor of the Allies, and that thenew authorities had sent a committee to Saloniki to tender theiradherence to General Sarrail. Also it was rumored that Venizelos wasgoing to Saloniki to place himself at the head of the revolt. On the20th he gave out an interview to the Associated Press correspondentin which he certainly did not deny the possibility of his doing so: "I cannot answer now, " he said, "I must wait a short time and see whatthe Government proposes to do. .. . As I said on August 27, if the kingwill not hear the voice of the people, we must ourselves devise whatit is best to do. " CHAPTER XXXVI THE SERBIANS ADVANCE Having reviewed the situation in Greece during the month of September, 1916, we may now return to our narrative of the military activitiesalong the Macedonian front. At the end of August, 1916, a lull seemedto settle down along the entire front, nothing being reported saveminor skirmishes and trench raids. On the 2d the Italians at Avlona inAlbania, said to number 200, 000, were reported from Rome to be makingan advance. Here the Austrians were facing them, the only point alongthe line in which Austrian troops were posted. The Italians made anattack on Tepeleni on the Voyusa, and drove the enemy from thatposition as well as from two neighboring villages. After this eventnothing further was heard from them, though, as will appear later, itwas obvious that they were making some headway. Apparently it wastheir object to cooperate with the rest of the Allies in Macedonia byturning the extreme right of the Bulgarian line. On the 11th the silence was broken by the announcement from Londonthat an energetic offensive was being resumed along the entire fronton the part of the Allies. On that date the British made a crossing ofthe Struma over to the east bank and attacked the Bulgariansvigorously and, in spite of the counterattacks of the enemy, were ableto hold their advanced position. The French, too, began hammering thefoe opposite them west of Lake Doiran to the Vardar, and a few dayslater reported that they had taken the first line of trenches for adistance of two miles. It was over on the extreme left, however, that the Allies were togain what seemed to be some distinct advantages. Near Lake Ostrovo theSerbians hurled themselves up the rocky slopes toward Moglena andstormed the well-intrenched positions of the Bulgarians, and succeededin dislodging them and driving them back. A few miles farther over, atBanitza, a station on the railroad, they also centered on a determinedattack, and there a pitched battle developed, the Bulgarians havingthe advantage of the bald but rocky hills behind them. Over in thewest, before Kastoria (Kostur, in Bulgarian dispatches), the Russiansadvanced and succeeded in driving the Bulgarians back. Some milesnorth of the town rise the naked crags and precipices of an extremelydifficult range of mountains; here the Bulgarians stood and succeededin preventing the Russians from making any further progress, theirright flank being protected by the two Prespa lakes. For almost a week the battle raged furiously back and forth along thissection of the front. On the 15th the Bulgarian lines opposed to theSerbians suddenly gave way and broke, and the triumphant Serbs made arapid advance, pursuing the enemy for nine miles and capturingtwenty-five cannon and many prisoners, according to dispatches ofEntente origin. For the next thirty-six hours the fighting wasintense, and then the whole Bulgarian right wing seemed to crumple andswing backward. For a while the Bulgarians made a stand on the banksof the Cerna, at the southern bend of the great loop made by theriver, but finally the Serbians effected a crossing and continueddriving the Bulgarians up along the ridges forming the eastern side ofthe Monastir Valley. Farther to the left the French and Russians werealso succeeding in their efforts. The Bulgarians were driven out ofand beyond Florina (Lerin in Bulgarian dispatches) and GeneralCordonnier, in command of the French, immediately established hisheadquarters at this important point, commanding the whole Monastirplain. Up this level country the Bulgarians fled. Reports did notindicate to just what point up the valley the French were able toadvance, but it was quite obvious that the Bulgarians were able tostay them some distance before Monastir, where the mountains approachthe city and offer excellent positions for artillery against troopsadvancing up the railroad line toward the city. On the map at leastthis important city seemed to be threatened, but it was still toopremature to pronounce it in serious danger, as did the Entente press. CHAPTER XXXVII THE GREEKS ON THE FIRING LINE It was during these six days' hard fighting that the Greek volunteersunderwent their baptism of fire and the first of them shed their bloodfor the cause of the Allies. These constituted the First Regiment ofGreek volunteers commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gravanis. He wasunder the command of the French general at Fiorina, and he and his mentook a prominent part in the capture of the town. During the next fewdays the fighting calmed down, except farther eastward above Ostrovo, where the Serbians had succeeded in driving the Bulgarians from theirimportant positions along the Kaimakcalan ridges. Here the Bulgarianscounterattacked bitterly and continuously, but apparently with nosuccess. These assaults were repeated at intervals of several daysduring the rest of the month, and though Sofia reported the recaptureof Kaimakcalan Heights and a general triumph along this whole sectionof the front, the reports from both sides later indicated that thesedispatches were wholly false, probably issued to satisfy a restlessgeneral public. On the other hand, the Allies made no further advance:by the first day of the following month they held about the sameground they had gained during the intensive fighting shortly after themiddle of September, 1916. As is usual after extreme militaryactivity, there followed a period of calm, during which both sideswere preparing for the next outburst of effort. But the end ofSeptember, 1916, showed plainly that the Bulgarians and Teutons wereentirely on the defensive in Macedonia and were content to hold theirown. During the month of October, 1916, little of a sensational aspectoccurred on the Macedonian front; the latter half of this period was, however, one of hard fighting and steady hammering along the Serbiansector. On the 2d the Serbians reported that they had not onlyconsolidated the positions they had taken on the important heights ofKaimakcalan but they had advanced beyond this point three kilometersand taken Kotchovie. At the end of the week Jermani, a village at thebase of a high ridge on the lower shore of Little Prespa Lake, wastaken by the French. Some days after came a rather detailed dispatchfrom Rome, significant in the light of later events. The Italians fromAvlona were obviously making steady progress over a very difficultterritory--difficult on account of the poor communications. On the10th it was reported that they had taken Klisura, about thirty-fivemiles from Avlona, in the direction of Monastir. This was barely afourth of the distance; nevertheless they were advancing toward LakeOchrida, west of the Prespa Lakes, against which the Bulgarians restedtheir right wing. It was evident that they had driven back theAustrians who were supposed to hold this section. On the 12th the British made an advance over on the right section ofthe front; nothing of any real importance had occurred over here sincethe supposed advance had begun, but there had been a great deal ofnoise from the artillery on both sides. On this date the Britishreached Seres, but were held back by the Bulgarians, who hadpreviously driven out the Greek garrison and occupied the forts in theimmediate neighborhood. These positions the British now beganhammering with great vigor, with their biggest guns, though withoutany immediate result. At the end of the third week of the month the Serbians, under GeneralMischitch, made another drive ahead and succeeded in penetrating theenemy's lines for a distance of two miles, taking Velyselo, and a daylater Baldentsi. At the beginning of this battle, which lasted twodays, the advantage rested with the Bulgarians. They held the higherline beyond the Cerna River, whose slopes were so steep that theycould roll huge bowlders down on the attacking parties. After a twohours' artillery preparation early in the morning, the Serbianssuddenly sprang forward with loud cheers and rushed the heights. Fromthe rear they could be recognized at a great distance, on account ofthe large square of white calico which each man had sewn to the backof his coat, and the leaders carried white and red flags with which toindicate the farthest point reached, so that the artillery in the rearcould see and avoid shelling them. While the Serbians stormed onecrest, the artillery pounded the crest just beyond. Finally all thecrests were covered by little fluttering red and white flags, whilethe Bulgarians fled headlong down the opposite slopes. On thefollowing day a period of very bad weather set in and drowned furtheroperations in a deluge of rain. On the 21st came another report from Rome of some significance. In theIskeria Mountains east of Premeti an Italian detachment occupiedLyaskoviki, on the road from Janina to Koritza. The latter town marksthe racial boundary between the Bulgarian and Albanian countries. Tothe eastward was the rough country of Kastoria in which the Russianswere operating. In other words, the Italians were emerging fromAlbania and were getting within reach of the Macedonian field ofoperations. In fact, on the 29th it was reported that this Italianexpedition had linked up with the extreme left of the Allied wing, butthis report must have been quite premature; it still had some veryrough country to traverse before this could be accomplished. The endof the month saw a lull in the operations in the entire Macedoniantheater on account of the bad weather. CHAPTER XXXVIII SEIZURE OF THE GREEK FLEET On October 11, 1916, the patience of the Allies seems to have beenagain exhausted with the wavering policy of the Greek monarch. On thatdate Admiral du Fournier came to Athens and demanded the surrender ofthe entire Greek fleet, except the cruiser _Averoff_ and thebattleships _Lemnos_ and _Kilkis_ (the latter two formerly theAmerican ships _Idaho_ and _Mississippi_). He further demanded thetransfer of control to the Allies of the Piræus-Larissa railroad andthat the shore batteries should all be dismantled. These demands werecomplied with at once, and all but the three vessels named weresurrendered and their crews landed. The ships so handed over consistedof three battleships, one protected cruiser, four gunboats, three minelayers, one torpedo depot ship, sixteen destroyers, twelve torpedoboats, four submarines, and the royal yacht. The rest of the Greeknavy had already gone over to the Allies, as was mentioned, and wasnow in Saloniki. The Piræus-Larissa railroad, which the Allies alsodemanded, runs for a distance of 200 miles in a winding course fromPiræus, the seaport of Athens, to Larissa. The cause of this suddenaction, as explained by the British press, was that for some timeGreek troops had been concentrating in the interior near Larissa, while other troops were gathering in Corinth, from whence they couldeasily reach the force in Larissa. An Athens division had been quietly moving along the railroad line, leaving a regiment to intrench themselves before the king's palace atTatoi. Apparently the fear was that King Constantine was preparing, ata favorable moment, to retire with his army and intrench himself inthe plains of Thessaly until he could there join hands with theBulgarians and the Germans and perhaps attack the Allies on their leftflank. The surrender of the railroad now made this impossible. The result of this action was that large street demonstrations beganat once, supposed to have been instigated by the Reservists' League. The French admiral thereupon landed a large force of marines andoccupied a number of public buildings whence he could control the mainstreets with machine guns. By the 16th all Athens seemed to be in anuproar, but the violence which took place was directed againstVenizelist sympathizers, while in their demonstrations against theAllies the rioters contented themselves with jeering and hurlinginsulting remarks. In these disorders the police remained absolutelypassive, and on some occasions joined with the rioters. This causedthe French admiral to demand that the command of the police forceshould be practically turned over to him. A French officer was at onceestablished as chief inspector at the Ministry of the Interior. Transfers or dismissals in the force could now not be made without hisconsent, while he himself had arbitrary power in dismissing andtransferring. He was also empowered to appoint inspectors throughoutthe rest of the kingdom. Naturally, the royalist press came out instrong denunciations, but these were terminated when the Frenchestablished a press censorship. On the 22d the Allied governments demanded that the Greek forceconcentrated at Larissa be withdrawn from that point and scatteredthroughout the southern part of the country, and this demand was alsopromised. During the rest of the month there were reports ofconferences between King Constantine and the French admiral and therepresentatives of the Entente, all tending to show that he was againbecoming intensely pro-Ally. CHAPTER XXXIX THE BULGARIANS DRIVEN BACK The quiet which prevailed in the field of military effort in Macedoniatoward the end of October, 1916, continued well into November, 1916, save for local artillery activity and trench raids. But on the 11thfighting broke out again in the bend of the Cerna River on the sectorheld by the Serbians and French. That the Allies here made seriousgains was proved by the fact that for the first time Sofia dispatchesadmitted an enemy advance, though they minimized it to triflingsignificance. On that date the Serbians began a series of attackswhich resulted in the capture of Polog and 600 prisoners. During allof the following day the battle continued, and again the Serbiansadvanced, supported by the French, this time penetrating the enemy'slines for a distance of seven miles, enabling them to take the villageof Iven and another 1, 000 prisoners. On this date the Serbiansannounced that since September 14, 1916, when the offensive began, they had taken 6, 000 prisoners, 72 cannon, and 53 machine guns. Againthe Sofia dispatch admitted that the Serbians had succeeded in "makinga salient before our positions northeast of Polog. " The Serbians had now broken through the range of hills interveningbetween themselves and the eastern edge of the Monastir Plain. For aday there was a lull, and then the Serbians and French resumed theirattacks. Northeast of Iven the Bulgarians and Germans were compelledto fall back, close pressed by the Serbians, who occupied the villageof Cegal. North of Velyeselo the French and Serbians also advanced;the fighting spread westward as far as Kenali. The prisoners takenduring the past few days now numbered 2, 200, among whom were 600Germans. But more important still, the Allies were now almost due eastof the city of Monastir. That city was now in imminent danger. On the 16th the entire line of formidable frontier defenses centeredon Kenali had to be abandoned by the German and Bulgarian troops, inwhich operation they lost heavily. They then retreated across the ViroRiver, west of the railroad and across the Bistritza River to the eastof the line, so that the Russians, following them up closely, succeeded in arriving within four miles of the city. Meanwhile theSerbians, in the mountains east of the swamps which protected theplain along the Cerna, were rushing rapidly on in their effort toswing around to the northeast of the city before the enemy should beable to intrench himself among the rolling hills that bound thenorthern extent of the plain. It was significant that among theprisoners were a number of members of regiments which had beenfighting, only a week previously, upon the Dobrudja front underMackensen. CHAPTER XL MONASTIR FALLS A glance at the map will show that Monastir was now practically in thehands of the Allies, that it would be impossible for the Germans andBulgarians to hold it any longer. As has already been explained, theplain or valley near whose head it stands is a broad, level regionwhich here penetrates the mountainous interior of this portion of theBalkan Peninsula. To the eastward it is bounded by low, rollingfoothills, which gradually rise into high, rocky mountains or heights. On the west there are no foothills: the mountains rise abruptly, stretching south almost to Kastoria. The railroad, after leavingBanitza, in the foothills, swings around into the plain, but under theshadows of the high ridges on the western side. Up toward the head ofthe plain these mountains curve slightly inward. About ten or fifteenmiles below the point where they meet the rolling foothills, thusforming the head of the valley, the city of Monastir lies, some of itsoutlying suburbs being plastered up against the base of the mountains. An army occupying the heights above would absolutely dominate thecity; its artillery could pound it to a wreck within a few hours. It was along these heights on the western edge of the plain that theFrench and the Serbians had advanced, driving the Bulgarians andGermans before them. Just at Monastir these heights are especiallyhigh and jagged, and the Bulgarians and Germans might very well haveheld out here against the enemy for a much longer period. But thefoothills over on the eastern side of the plain had been passing intothe hands of the Serbians operating in that region. These forces werenow passing to the northward of the city, though the marshy plainstill intervened. They were advancing toward the head of the valley. Should they succeed in reaching this point, where the highway toPrilep passed, they would cut off the retreat of the Bulgarians. But there was still another road by which the Bulgarians might haveretreated: the highway leading through Resna to the upper part of LakeOchrida. Had this been open they might have risked the blocking of thePrilep road. But, as was later indicated by the reports, the Italianshad by this time advanced above Koritza and were not only in touchwith the Russians operating around Kastoria and the lower part of thePrespa and Ochrida lakes, but they were skirting the western shore ofOchrida and threatening to advance on Monastir by this very highway. Thus the Bulgarians were threatened from two directions--by theItalians, who were turning their right flank, and by the Serbians, whohad broken through their lines in the foothills east of the Monastirplain. There is probably no doubt that they could have held off allfrontal attacks from the heights above Monastir. Thus they weresqueezed, rather than driven, out of the city. On the night of the 18th the German and Bulgarian forces in the cityquietly withdrew and retreated along the Prilep road to the head ofthe valley. At 8 o'clock the following morning, on November 19, 1916, exactly a year since the Serbians had been driven out of the city bythe Austrians and Bulgarians, the Allied forces marched into theMacedonian city, and an hour later the flag of King Peter once morefloated above the roofs. Apparently the Bulgarian retreat had been toolong delayed, for before reaching the head of the valley they were cutoff by the Serbians and only escaped after heavy losses, both inkilled, wounded, prisoners, and materials. At the same time theSerbians effectually closed the road, taking several villages and allthe dominating heights. From a military point of view the fall of Monastir was not of vastimportance; it was of about the same significance from a tacticalaspect as Bucharest. But from a moral and political aspect it was ofimmense importance. Though only populated by some 50, 000 of mixedTurks, Vlachs (Rumanians), Greeks, a few Serbs and Bulgarians, thelatter predominating, it was the center of the most Bulgarian portionof Macedonia. Throughout the outlying districts down to Kastoria, overto Albania, and up to Uskub, the population is purely and aggressivelyBulgar. Here the simple peasants were persecuted by the Greek Churchfor fifteen years preceding the First Balkan War and by the Serbiansafterward; by the one on account of their religion, by the other onaccount of their nationality. Here, too was the center of therevolutionary movement against the Turks, and here the people rosetime and time again in open insurrection, only to be quenched by fireand blood. Nowhere in the Balkan Peninsula has there been so muchoppression and bloodshed on account of nationality. For these reasonsMonastir has a deep sentimental significance to every Bulgarian. Nopart of Macedonia means so much to him. Its possession by the Serbiansafter the Balkan Wars did more, probably, to reconcile the country toKing Ferdinand's otherwise hateful pro-German policy than anythingelse. As is now well known, Ferdinand stipulated that this city shouldnot only be taken from the Serbians, but that it should belong toBulgaria, before he entered the war on the side of the Germans andAustrians. Otherwise it is quite likely that the Teutons would nothave considered it worth while to advance so far south. Its recaptureby the Serbians and their allies must, therefore, have had acorresponding depressing effect in Bulgaria. On the day following the evacuation of Monastir the Italians appearfor the first time in the reports of the fighting in this region. Theyhad obviously come in contact with the Bulgarians on their extremeright and were pressing them back, thus forcing the whole line toretire. The French, too, made some advance along the eastern shore ofLake Prespa, while the Serbians took five villages in the foothills atthe head of the plain. The main forces of the Bulgarians and Germanswere making their stand about twelve miles north of the city, well upin the hills and crossing the Prilep highway. For some days following bad weather again settled down over theMonastir section of the Macedonian front, and though it did not stopthe fighting, it rendered further progress on the part of the Alliesvery difficult. But in spite of the brilliant victories announced bythe dispatches from Berlin and Sofia, these very reports indicated, bythe changing localities of the skirmishes that the Germans andBulgarians were still being pressed back. By the end of the month theSerbians northeast of Monastir had advanced as far as Grunishte. Inthe northwest the Italians were fighting in the mountains aboutTcervena Stana. Reporting on the last day of the month, Berlinannounces that "this was the day of hardest fighting. " The Germans andthe Bulgarians had now reached their next line of defense and weremaking desperate efforts to hold it. Meanwhile, over on the right of the Allied front, between Doiran andthe Vardar, violent fighting had been going on during the past fewweeks, and though the Allies seemed to make some slight progress hereand there, none of these gains were of a significant nature. Here theBulgarians seemed to be holding their own completely. Possibly it wasnot Sarrail's object to attempt any real advance over in this section;merely to keep the enemy engaged there and prevent his rendering toomuch aid to the harried Bulgarian right wing. His main offensive, ifhe really had contemplated a real advance, had evidently been plannedfor the Monastir route into Serbia. That all the Slavic troops, theRussians and Serbians, were placed over in this section gives, besides, some little color to this supposition. CHAPTER XLI GREEK FIGHTS GREEK In Greece the same old situation continued. In the beginning of themonth there had come the first clash between the volunteer soldiersof the Provisional Government and the troops of the king. The Greektroops at Larissa had not yet had time to remove to southern Greece, in accordance with the demands of the Allies, when on November 2, 1916, a body of volunteers of the Provisional Government marchedoverland to Katerina, a town twenty-five miles northeast of Larissa, where a garrison of royalist troops was stationed. Whether theinsurgents really attacked the garrison, or whether the royalist forcewithdrew peacefully, was not made clear, but the fact was that thevolunteers entered the town and took possession. Following thisincident, it was stated from Athens on the 12th that King Constantinehad given his permission that any of his officers in either the armyor navy might join the forces of the Provisional Government, providedthey first resigned from the regular establishment. On this dateGermany entered her official protest against Greece handing over herships and much war material to the French admiral. In connection withthis report it was stated that Germany herself, on taking the fortsand towns in eastern Macedonia, had seized 350 cannon, 60, 000 riflesand $20, 000, 000 worth of ammunition. In the light of these facts, naturally Germany's protest was not taken very seriously. Indeed, itseems only to have suggested to the Allies that they complete whatGermany had so well begun, for on the 18th Admiral Fournier presenteda demand to the Greek Government that it surrender all arms, munitions, and artillery of the Greek army, with the exception of some50, 000 rifles. The reason given was that the equilibrium had beendisturbed by Germany's seizure of so much war material. This demandthe Greek Government refused to concede five days later. AdmiralFournier thereupon declared that the Greek Government had untilDecember 1, 1916, in which to make its decision. On the 26th the Provisional Government, through President Venizelos, formally declared war against Germany and Bulgaria. On this same datethe Allied representatives protested to the Greek Government againstthe continued persecution of the adherents of the ProvisionalGovernment, and warned it that these must stop. At the same timeseveral prominent Venizelists in Athens were advised that they wouldbe fully protected, among them the mayor of the city. On December 1, 1916, when the ultimatum regarding the surrender of thearms and ammunition of the Greek forces expired, a crisis was againprecipitated. The day before a transport with French troops appearedin Piræus Harbor and preparations were made to land them. At the sametime the Greek Government took control of the telegraphs and the postoffice, expelling the French officers in charge. During the dayAdmiral du Fournier notified the Greek Government that the firstinstallment of war material must be delivered that day. The reply wasa definite refusal. Thereupon troops and marines were landed from thetransport and ships at Piræus. Again large mobs assembled in thestreets, and on the Allied troops marching into Athens a number of thedemonstrators fired on them with revolvers. It was even reported thatroyalist troops took part in these disorders and made organizedattacks on the French troops. Three Greek officers and twenty-sixsoldiers were reported killed, while the Allies lost two officers andforty-five marines. Apparently the Venizelists also took part in therioting and the street fighting against the royalists, for GeneralCorakas, head of the recruiting bureau for the Provisional Governmentin Athens, was arrested on a charge of inciting guerrilla warfare inAthens and using his room in the Hotel Majestic as a point from whichto fire upon Greek soldiers. Mayor Benakas of Athens, a sympathizer ofthe Provisional Government, was also removed from office. On the following day, the disorders still continuing, the EntentePowers declared an embargo on all Greek shipping in their ports. CHAPTER XLII FIGHTING IN THE STREETS OF ATHENS On December 4, 1916, Lord Robert Cecil, War Trade Minister, said inthe British House of Commons that the situation was more serious thanit had ever been before. Despite assurances from the Greek king thatno disturbances would be permitted, a "most treacherous and unprovokedattack was made on the Allies' detachments landed by the Frenchadmiral on Friday. " The British Government, Lord Cecil continued, considered the responsibility of the king and Greek Government to bedeeply involved in this matter and Great Britain was considering, inconjunction with her Allies, immediate steps to secure a radicalsolution of the situation which had arisen. During these troubles theGreek ministers at Paris and London and the consuls at London andManchester resigned, stating that they could no longer identifythemselves with the present Government of Greece. By the following day the Allied forces had been compelled to withdrawunder the protection of their ships at Piræus. Meanwhile, it was said, the Greeks were intrenching on all the heights around the city. Allthe citizens of the Allied nations had left the city and had takenrefuge in Piræus. The diplomatic representatives of the United States, Holland, and Spain entered a protest against the treatment beingaccorded the Liberals. To this the Greek Government replied asfollows: "The Royal Government from the first day had in view only thereestablishment and maintenance of order in the trouble on Friday andSaturday caused by revolutionary elements. This was done completelywith as little damage as possible. "If, contrary to the orders given, there was some excess of tensionand indignation on the part of the population and the troops, who sawin a movement so tragic for the fatherland agitators taking advantageof the unhappy events of the day to take up arms against the countryand try to overthrow the established government, this must be takeninto consideration. This exasperation was particularly aroused by thebombardment of the Royal Palace and the neighborhood thereof, in this, an open city, at the very moment when, an armistice having beenconcluded, it was hoped that peace would finally reign. Nevertheless, the Royal Government is decided to punish every person guilty ofcommitting illegal acts and exceeding instructions, and a severeinvestigation will be begun to this end so soon as acts of this natureare brought to the attention of the Royal Government. In thisconnection the Foreign Minister considers it his duty to recall toyour attention that by his note of November 28 he warned the neutralpowers of the tragic position in which the Greek nation was placed asa result of measures taken against Greece and of the consequenceswhich the French admiral's insistence on obtaining Greek war materialmight well have. " A further explanation of the Greek point of view, with specialreference to the street fighting in which the Allied troops wereengaged, was contained in a note sent to the United States Government, on December 9, 1916. This communication was, in part, as follows: "Please bring to the knowledge of the Secretary of State for ForeignAffairs that the Royal Government, with two letters and several oraldeclarations, had informed the French admiral of the impossibility ofdelivering the war material they were summoned to give away. Despitethese warnings the admiral decided to land a certain number ofdetachments which in several columns proceeded from Piræus to thecapital, which was under military control. The detachments occupiedsome of the outskirts and repulsed the royal army, which only at thatmoment decided to defend themselves without any orders. After themorning skirmishes between the Allied detachments and our troops, atruce was decided upon, at the request of the admiral. Despite thearmistice, however, and after firing had ceased, the Allied warshipsbombarded several parts of the city and fired not less thanthirty-eight shells, seven of which were directed against the RoyalPalace. There can, under these conditions, be no question of treacheryor of an unprovoked attack. " After the fighting and rioting had continued for some forty-eighthours, quiet and order seem to have been reestablished in Athens. Thenfollowed a period of secret conferences between members of the GreekGovernment, the king and the representatives of the Entente Powers, the details of which were not made public. On December 16, 1916, itwas announced from Paris that Greece had accepted unreservedly theconditions of the Allies. Regarding the disorders of the first fewdays of the month, the Greek Government declared its desire to giveevery legitimate satisfaction and proposed arbitration. A hope wasexpressed, at the same time, that the Allies would lift the blockadewhich had been in force ever since the disorders. Further details werenot given out; until the end of the month calm again prevailed inGreece. But as yet there was no indication that permanent settlementof the difficulties was in sight. CHAPTER XLIII THE SERBIANS CHECKED With regard to the military activities of the Allies along theMacedonian front, little more need be said for the period ending withFebruary 1, 1917. Having been ousted out of the Monastir Plain, theGerman-Bulgarian troops were now defending a new line which seemedmore advantageous to them. Apparently fighting continued, sometimeswith furious determination on both sides, but the results werenegligible. The terrain was now somewhat similar to that in France, and the situation seemingly became similar. The opposing lines facedeach other deeply intrenched. Neither side could seriously drive theother back. By this time the Serbian capital had been reestablished inMonastir and the Serbians could make the claim that they were againfighting on native soil, though the Monastir district outside the citynever gave birth to one Serbian. Considering the whole period covering the half year ending withFebruary 1, 1917, it may well be said that, whatever his reasons, General Sarrail's activities have deeply disappointed the friends ofthe Entente. Reviewing the results of the entire half year's fightingalong the Macedonian front, no results worthy of mention are visiblesave the capture of Monastir, and even this is almost entirely limitedto its political value. From a military point of view, the Bulgarianshave held their own with forces obviously inferior in numbers to thoseof the Allies. Naturally, in such a country the advantage is alwayswith the defensive. It is significant that throughout the half yearthere are few dispatches indicating strong counterattacks on the partof the Bulgarians. PART IV--AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT CHAPTER XLIV THE FALL OF GORITZ Next to the Trentino the Isonzo was the part of the Austro-Italianfront which had seen most fighting in the past. From the verybeginning of the war it was there that the Italians had made theirmost elaborate efforts. Not only did the territory, difficult thoughit was ever there, allow the use of larger numbers and make possiblemore extensive operations, but success on the Isonzo front held out agreater promise than anywhere else--possession of Trieste. In spite of heroic efforts on the part of the Italian troops, however, so far not a great deal had been accomplished. It was time that theItalian lines were well in Austrian territory. But in midsummer, 1916, they were still not much farther advanced than soon after the outbreakof hostilities between Italy and Austria. The Austrians so far hadresisted all Italian attempts to take Goritz, an important town on theIsonzo, about twenty-two miles northwest of Trieste. With Goritz inthe hands of the Austrians Trieste was safe. For it could not beapproached by the Italians as long as this important positionthreatened the flank and rear of any army attacking Trieste along theseashore. For considerable time little activity had been reported from theIsonzo front. In fact, during the beginning of August, 1916, nothingbut occasional artillery engagements occurred anywhere on theAustro-Italian front. On August 4, 1916, however, signs of renewedItalian activity on the Isonzo front became noticeable. On that day avigorous attack was launched against Austrian positions on theMonfalcone sector, the most southern wing of the Isonzo front. Thissector was about ten miles southwest of Goritz and fifteen milesnorthwest of Trieste. Goritz was protected by three strong positions, Monte Sabotino to thenorth, Podgora to the west, and Monte San Michele to the south. Thesecond of these had been in possession of the Italians for some time, but was of little use, though only just across the river from Goritz, because it was exposed to murderous fire from the Austrian positionson Monte Sabotino. To the south of Monte San Michele and north andeast of Monfalcone there stretched the Doberdo and Carso Plateaus. These were elevated flatlands of a rocky character, very much exposed. They were bounded on all sides by hills, the western slopes of whichrose almost directly out of the Gulf of Trieste. Before Trieste itselfcould be reached these plateaus had to be crossed. Following their initial successes of August 4 and 5, 1916, theItalians extended their operations on August 6, 1916. Stubbornfighting took place in the region of the Goritz bridgehead, on MonteSabotino and Monte San Michele, as well as near Monfalcone and theDoberdo Plateau. The Italians, as may be seen from the followingdescription of the special correspondent of the London "Times" whoobserved the attack, preceded the general attack with an elaborateartillery bombardment. "From 7 o'clock yesterday morning until 3. 30 in the afternoon afearful bombardment swept the Austrian positions from Monte Sabotinoto Monfalcone such as has never been equaled even in this desolatezone. Gray-green clouds veiled the entire front, contrasting with thelimpid atmosphere of a perfect day. All the hillsides on this side ofthe Isonzo were covered with new batteries, which belched forth anunceasing rain of projectiles on the surprised Austrians on the rocksof Sabotino, whose summit (2, 030 feet) completely dominates Goritz. The Carso, the possession of which by the Austrians has been adeciding factor in many memorable struggles, was completely hidden bysmoke until 3. 30 in the afternoon. The general attack had beenarranged for 4 o'clock, but the waiting troops on the Sabotino by 3. 30could endure restraint no longer. Their commander ordered thecessation of the bombardment and ordered the advance. "Since October 23 last year the Italian line on the Sabotino remainedunchanged. The southern side of the mountain sloping down to thePevmica was honeycombed with elaborately constructed caverns, drilledout of the solid rock by the Italians. During these months each cavernwas made to contain an entire company of infantry. "Recently, unknown to the enemy, a tunnel 850 feet long, which reachedto within 90 feet of the Austrian trenches had been added to theengineering exploits of the Italians; 800 men were assembled in thistunnel. At a given signal they led the attack, supported by first-linetroops and strong reserves, thanks to this intricate system ofgalleries on Sabotino's crest. The attack was watched by countlessobservers, who, on other mountains, were hanging breathless on theresult of this hour's work. Innumerable patches of scrubby undergrowthhad been set on fire by the Italians to prevent their serving Austriansnipers and were now wrapped in low-hanging clouds of black smoke. Between these black patches the Italians crept ahead when the signalcame. The assault of the Austrian positions was of incrediblerapidity. So much so that the first positions were carried by the timethe enemy turned on his curtain of fire. The first, second, and thirdlines of trenches were carried in twenty minutes, after which theAustrians began a terrific bombardment of their old positions. Theredoubt on the summit fell within an hour and the chase went on alongthe crest and down the sides, straight to the Isonzo, the pursuerseverywhere gathering up prisoners in droves. San Mauro (one andone-fourth miles south of Sabotino) was taken by 6 o'clock, afterwhich the work of intrenchment began. " In spite of the most stubborn resistance the Austrians had to give waygradually. On August 7, 1916, the Austrian troops on Monte Sabotinowere withdrawn to the eastern bank of the Isonzo. At the same time thepositions on Monte San Michele were evacuated and the Italians therebywere put in full possession of the Goritz bridgehead. Their attacks ofAugust 5, 6, and 7, 1916, had netted them territory for which they hadbeen fighting for months, besides about 10, 000 prisoners, some 20 gunsand 100 machine guns and considerable war material of all description. Without loss of time they brought in heavy artillery and opened adevastating fire on unfortunate Goritz. Strong resistance was offeredby the Austrians at many points, not so much now in the hope ofpreventing the fall of Goritz as in order to protect their retreat. Inspite of this resistance small detachments of Italians crossed theIsonzo at nightfall of August 8, 1916, while their engineers threwbridges over the river at various points. On August 9, 1916, the bridge over the Isonzo leading directly intoGoritz was stormed after one of the most sanguinary battles of theentire attack. This removed the last obstacle, and Italian troopsimmediately occupied the city. At the same time other troops took upthe pursuit of the retreating Austrians. The latter delayed theseoperations as much as possible by rear-guard actions and bycounterattacks against the new Italian positions on Monte San Micheleand against the village of San Martino, just south of the mountain. On August 10, 1916, the Third Italian Army continued with increasedpressure the attack on the San Michele and San Martino sectors, whichhad begun on the 9th instant, and succeeded in capturing very strongAustrian defenses between the Vippacco and Monte Cosich. The Austrianswere routed completely and retired east of Vallone, leaving, however, strong rear guards on Cima Debeli and on Hill 121, east of Monfalcone. The Italians also occupied Rubbia and San Martino del Carso and thewhole of the Doberdo Plateau, reaching the line of the Vallerie. Eastof Goritz the Austrians were holding out in trenches on the lines ofMonte San Gabriele and Monte San Marto. The Vallone was crossed by Italian troops on August 11, 1916. Thesame detachments stormed the western slopes of Monte Nadlogern and thesummit of Crn-Hrid and occupied Opacchiasella, on the northern edge ofthe Carso Plateau. By this time the Austrians had recovered their breath to some extent. They had taken up strong positions previously prepared for them in thehills to the east of Goritz and there resisted successfully allItalian attacks. Occasional counterattacks against the new Italianpositions, however, brought no results. To the south of Goritz, too, the Italian advance came to a standstillafter the Vallone Valley, separating the Doberdo from the CarsoPlateau, had been crossed. Continuous fighting, however, went on alongthe northern edge of the Carso Plateau throughout the balance of themonth of August, 1916, much of it being done by the artillery of bothsides. The end of August, 1916, then, saw the Italians in possessionof Goritz and their lines at some points as much as five miles nearerto Trieste. The latter, however, seemed at least for the time beingsafely in the hands of the Austrians, who by this time had receivedreenforcements and appeared to be determined to stop the Italianadvance across the Carso Plateau at all odds. CHAPTER XLV FALL AND WINTER ON THE AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT With the beginning of fall and the slowing down of the Italian driveagainst Trieste after the capture of Goritz, activities on the variousparts of the Austro-Italian front were reduced almost exclusively toartillery duels. Occasionally attacks of small bodies of infantry weremade on both sides. They yielded, however, hardly ever results of anyimportance and had practically no influence on the relative positionsof the Austrians and Italians. On September 1, 1916, the Austrians made an unsuccessful attackagainst Italian positions on Monte Civarone in the Sugana Valley(Dolomite Mountains). Italian attacks south of Salcano and west ofLokvicza were equally unsuccessful. Especially heavy artilleryengagements occurred on that day on the Trentino front and along thecoast of the Gulf of Trieste near Monte Santo. On September 2, 1916, along the coast of the Gulf of Trieste artilleryand mine-throwing engagements continued in various sectors withintermittent violence. Fighting also spread to the Plava sector. Onthe Ploecken sector the Italians after a very violent artillery fireattacked unsuccessfully on a small front. Several attempts made byminor Italian detachments to advance on the Tyrol front were repulsed. Two attacks on Civaron failed. On the Trentino front Austrian artillery activity continued. Villagesof the Astico Valley and the Italian positions on Cauriol in theAvisio Valley in particular were shelled. On the northern slopes ofCauriol Italian Alpine troops engaged the Austrians, inflictingconsiderable losses. In the hilly area east of Goritz some detachmentsof Italian infantry pierced two wire entanglements and bombed theAustrian lines, causing supports to be rushed up. These wereeffectively shelled by batteries. At the head of the Rio Felizon Valley, in the upper Bovi, during thenight of September 3, 1916, detachments of infantry, Alpini, andvolunteers succeeded by a daring surprise attack in capturing severalcommanding positions on the Punta del Forane. A violent Austriancounterattack was decisively repulsed. On September 4, 1916, the usual artillery activity took place on theTrentino front. The Austrian artillery fire was especially intenseagainst Italian positions on Mount Civaron in the Sugana Valley, andon Mount Cauriol in the Fiemme Valley. A more violent attack was attempted by the Austrians on the evening ofSeptember 6, 1916, against the Italian lines on Monte Civarone in theSugana Valley. After brisk fighting the Austrians had to withdraw, abandoning their arms and ammunition and leaving some dead on theground. In the Vallarsa, Adige Valley, on the evening of September 7, 1916, strong Austrian detachments after an intense bombardment attackedItalian positions between Monte Spil and Monte Corno. They succeededin breaking through some trenches. A counterattack recaptured for theItalians the greater part of the ground lost. On September 8, 1916, in the Tofana zone Italian troops repulsed anattack against the position in the Travenanzes Valley which theirtroops had taken on September 7, 1916. On the Trentino front the activity of the artillery was morepronounced on September 9, 1916. Unimportant attacks on Italianpositions on Malga Sugna, in the Vallarsa, on the Asiago Plateau, andon Monte Cauriol and Avisio, were repulsed. At Dolje, in the Tolminosector, after preparation with hand grenades, the Austrians attemptedto break through the Italian line, but were driven back immediately. On the next day, September 10, 1916, between the Adige and AsticoValleys the Italians developed increased activity. Austrian hillpositions in this sector were subjected to strong artillery and minefire. On the Monte Spil-Monte Testo sector the advance of severalItalian battalions was repulsed. On the same day the coast front, the Carso Plateau, and the Tolminobridgehead were shelled strongly by Italian artillery. On some sectorsof the Tyrol front there was continued activity on the part of patrolsand the artillery. In the zone between Vallarsa and the head of thePosina Valley Italian infantry captured a strong intrenchment at thebottom of the Leno Valley. Between Monte Spil and Monte Corno theycompleted capture of the trenches still left in Austrian hands afterthe fighting of September 7, 1916. Progress was made by the Italianson the ground north of Monte Pasubio and on the northern slopes ofCorno del Coston, in the upper Posina Valley. Italian batteriesdestroyed military depots near St. Ilanio north of Rovereto. TheAustrians shelled Caprile, in Cordevole Valley, and Cortina d'Ampezzo. On September 12, 1916, Italian Alpine troops, north of Falzaregogained possession of a position which not only commanded TravenanzesPass, but also interrupted communications between the TravenanzesValley and the Lagazuoi district. This success was extended on the next day, September 13, 1916, whenItalian detachments by a daring climb succeeded in taking somepositions in the Zara Valley in the Posina sector and on MonteLagazuoi in the Travenanzes-Boite Valley. Once more, on September 14, 1916, the Italians opened a new offensivein the region of the Carso Plateau. Artillery and mine fire increasedthere with the greatest violence. In the afternoon strong infantryforces in dense formation advanced to the attack. Along the wholefront between the Wippach River and the sea fierce fighting developed, and the Italians in some places succeeded in penetrating the Austrianfirst-line trenches and in maintaining themselves there. North of theWippach, as far as the region of Plava, artillery fire was verylively, but no infantry engagements worth mentioning developed. In theFiemme Valley artillery duels continued. Several attacks delivered byItalian detachments about a battalion strong against the Bassano ridgewere repulsed. A second attack on the Carso Plateau in the evening of September 14, 1916, carried the Italian lines forward a few more miles and enabledthem to surround the height and village of San Grado. After bombardingthe Austrian positions for eight hours, this height and the villagewere stormed on the following day, September 15, 1916. During the balance of the month of September, 1916, only minorengagements and artillery duels occurred in the various parts of theAustro-Italian front. The only exception was a successful Austrianattack against the summit of Monte Cimone on the Trentino frontsoutheast of Rovereto. Early in the morning of September 23, 1916, theentire summit was blown up by an Austrian mine and the entire Italianforce of about 500 men was either killed or captured. Later that daythe Italians captured the summit of the Cardinal (8, 000 feet) at thenortheast of Monte Cauriol south of the Avisio after overcoming themost stubborn Austrian resistance. During the first half of October, 1916, activities on theAustro-Italian front presented much the same picture as during thepreceding month. Outside of artillery duels and local engagementsthere happened little of interest or importance to the generalpositions. However, there were of course a few exceptions. Thus onOctober 2, 1916, Italian troops captured two high mountains, the ColBricon (7, 800 feet), at the head of the Cismon-Brenta Valley, and anunnamed peak more than 8, 000 feet high, in Carnia between MonteCogliano and Pizzocollima. Various other successes of a similar nature were gained by theItalians during the next few days in this region, between the Avisioand the Vayol Cismon Valleys. In the meantime a heavy artillery bombardment had been started by theItalians on the Carso Plateau. From day to day the intensity of theartillery fire increased. At last on October 10, 1916, the Italianslaunched their attack against the Austrian lines south of Goritz andon the Carso. The battle lasted all day and night. After practicallyall the intricate Austrian defenses had been destroyed Italianinfantry captured almost the whole of the line, composed of severalsuccessive intrenchments between the Vippacco (Wippach) River and Hill208, and advanced beyond it. Novavilla and the adjoining strongposition around the northern part of Hill 208 also fell into theirhands after brisk fighting. Prisoners to the number of 5, 034, including 164 officers, were taken and also a large quantity of armsand ammunition. These successes were considerably extended on the following day, October 11, 1916. Strong Austrian counterattacks availed nothing. The Italians maintained their new positions and continued to pushtheir advance on the Carso Plateau and southeast of Goritz, even ifslowly, throughout October 12 and 13, 1916. For the balance of themonth there was little activity on the Isonzo front beyond extremelyheavy artillery fire, most of which had its origin on the Italianside. Occasional attempts on the part of the Italians to push theirlines still farther had little success. Equally unsuccessful wereAustrian endeavors to regain some of the lost ground. On the balance of the Austro-Italian front there was a great deal oflocal fighting in the various mountain ranges. The heaviest of thiswas centered around Monte Pasubio (7, 000 feet), where many attacks andcounterattacks were carried out during October 17, 18, 19, and 20, 1916, under the most difficult conditions and frequently during verysevere blizzards. With the beginning of November, 1916, the Italians once more resumedtheir drive against Trieste. On the last day of October, 1916, theItalian artillery and mine fire had reached again great violence eastof Goritz and on the Carso Plateau. It became even more extensive andvigorous early in the morning of November 1, 1916. A few hours laterthe Italians began their infantry attacks against the Austrian lines, many of which had been destroyed previously by the bombardment. South of the Opacchiasella-Castagnievizza road the Austrian line wasoccupied at several points and held against incessant counterattacks, as were likewise trenches on the eastern slopes of Tivoli and SanMarco and heights east of Sober. On the Carso, the wooded hills ofVeliki, Kribach, and Hill 375 east and above Monte Pecinka, and theHeight 308 east of the latter, were stormed and occupied. From Goritz to the sea heavy fighting which resulted in furtherItalian successes along the northern brow of the Carso Plateaucontinued on November 2, 1916. Here troops of the Eleventh Army Corps, which repulsed violent counterattacks during the night, took strongdefenses on difficult ground east of Veliki, Kribach, and MontePecinka. On the next day, November 3, 1916, the offensive on the Carso wasprosecuted successfully by the Italian troops. In the direction of theVippacco (Wippach) Valley the heights of Monte Volkovnjak, Point 126, and Point 123 a little east of San Grado were stormed. An advance ofalmost a mile eastward brought Italian troops to Point 291 and alongthe Opacchiasella-Castagnievizza road to within 650 feet of the latterplace. On the rest of the front to the sea the Austrians kept up abombardment of great intensity with artillery of all calibers. Amassed attack was directed against Point 208, but was broken up byconcentrated fire. By November 4, 1916, the Austrian resistance had stiffened to such anextent that a lull became noticeable in the Italian enterprises eastof Goritz and on the Carso Plateau. In spite of this, however, theItalians had succeeded again in advancing their lines, inflicting atthe same time heavy losses to the Austrians and making almost 10, 000prisoners in four days' fighting. Their own losses were also veryheavy, and undoubtedly were partly responsible for the cessation ofthis new drive against Trieste. This was practically the last Italian effort during 1916 to reachTrieste. Weather conditions now rapidly became so severe that anyactions beyond artillery bombardments and minor attacks by smalldetachments had become impossible. During the balance of November, 1916, artillery duels were frequent and sometimes very severe onvarious parts of the Isonzo front, especially on the Carso Plateau. Beyond that neither side attempted anything of importance, though hereand there small engagements resulted in slight adjustments of therespective lines. On the other parts of the Austro-Italian front muchthe same condition prevailed during all of November, 1916; indeed evenartillery activity was frequently interrupted for days by the severityof the weather. CHAPTER XLVI FIGHTING ON MOUNTAIN PEAKS Much of the fighting on the Austro-Italian front which has beennarrated in the preceding pages has been going on in territory withwhich comparatively few are acquainted. A great part of the front islocated in those parts of northern Italy and the Austrian Tyrol andTrentino which for generations have been known and admired all overthe world for their scenic beauty and natural grandeur. People frommany countries of the world have used this ground which now is sobitterly fought over as their playground, and have carried away fromit not only improved health, but also the most pleasant of memories. Though much of its beauty undoubtedly will survive the ravages of eventhis most destructive of wars, a great deal of damage has beeninflicted. For in order to achieve some military ends the sky line ofentire mountain ranges has been changed. Summits have been blown up, and contours of mountains which have been landmarks for centuries havebeen changed. Pleasant though life is in these regions when peace reigns, they offerparticularly great and severe difficulties to the fighting men. Thedangers and hardships which these courageous soldiers of Italy andAustria have been called upon to undergo are not easily appreciatedunless one has been on the very ground on which they do some of theirfighting. The following extracts from descriptive articles from thepen of Lord Northcliffe, Mr. Hilaire Belloc, and some specialcorrespondents of the London "Times" give a most vivid picture ofactual conditions in the Austro-Italian mountains in war times. Speaking of his visit to the Cadore front, Lord Northcliffe says inpart: "In discussing the peculiarities of the hill fighting as contrastedwith the fighting on the road to Trieste his Majesty the King ofItaly, who has a fine sense of words, and who has spoken English fromchildhood, said: 'Picture to yourself my men 9, 000 feet up in theclouds for seven months, in deep snow, so close to the Austrians thatat some points the men can see their enemies' eyes through theobservation holes. Imagine the difficulties of such a life withcontinued sniping and bomb throwing!' "The illustrated newspapers have from time to time publishedphotographs of great cannon carried up into these Dolomite Alps, but Iconfess to having never realized what it means. It never occurred tome what happens to the wounded men or to the dead. How do supplies andammunition reach these lonely sentinels of our Allies? "Here food for the men and food for the guns go first by giddy, zigzag roads, especially built by the Italians for this war. They arenot mere tracks, but are as wide as the road that runs between Niceand Mentone, or the Hog's Back between Guilford and Farnham. Whenthese have reached their utmost possible height, there comes a wholeseries of 'wireways, ' as the Italian soldiers call them. Steel cablesslung from hill to hill, from ridge to ridge, span yawning depths andreach almost vertically into the clouds. Up these cables go guns andfood, as well as timber for the huts in which the men live, andmaterial for intrenchments. Down these come the wounded. The firstsensation of a transit down these seemingly fragile tight ropes ismuch more curious than the first trip in a submarine or aeroplane, andtries even the strongest nerves. "Man is not fighting man at these heights, but both Italians andAustrians have been fighting nature in some of her fiercest aspects. The gales and snowstorms are excelled in horror by avalanches. Quitelately the melting snow revealed the frozen bodies, looking horriblylifelike, of a whole platoon which had been swept away nearly a yearago. "While there have been heavy casualties on both sides from sniping, bombing, mountain and machine guns, and heavy artillery, there hasbeen little sickness among the Italians. The men know that doctors'visits are practically impossible. Therefore they follow the advice oftheir officers. Yet the men have all the comforts that it is humanlypossible to obtain. The cloud fighters are extremely well fed. Hutsare provided, fitted with stoves similar to those used in Arcticexpeditions. "Higher yet than the mountain fighting line stand the vedettes, sentinels and outposts whose work resembles that of expert Alpineclimbers. They carry portable telephones with which they cancommunicate with their platoon. The platoon in turn telephones to thelocal commander. " Of some of the fighting and of life in the Dolomites he says: "Of the three peaks of the Colbricon only the third, known as thePicolo Colbricon, remains to the enemy. The action which is now beingdeveloped on the Colbricon is especially interesting from the factthat the Italian advance there is not due to trained mountain troops, but to the light arm of Bersaglieri, who have there proved themselvesequal to their best traditions. In the advance from the first to thesecond summit of Colbricon the Bersaglieri had to climb a gully at anangle of 70 degrees. At two points the wall rises perpendicularly, andthe enemy was able to defend his positions by simply rolling downrocks, which carried in their train avalanches of pebbles. "In no region of the Italian front is there greater difficulty in thematter of supply, transport, and the care of the wounded. Everystretcher bearer here finds himself continually exposed to the perilof falling over a precipice together with his wounded. "As the sun rose the great peaks of the Dolomites stood out like pinkpearls, set here and there in a soft white vapor. Coming through aCanadian-looking pine forest, with log-house barracks, kitchens, andcanteens beneath one such peak, I was reminded of Dante's lines:'Gazing above, I saw her shoulders, clothed already with the planet'srays. ' But poetic memories soon faded before a sniper's bullet from avery near Austrian outlook. "At one spot the Austrian barbed-wire entanglements were clearlyvisible through glasses on a neighboring summit at a height of over10, 000 feet. A few yards below in an open cavern protected by anoverhanging rock the little gray tents of Italy's soldiers wereplainly seen. It may be a consolation to our men on the Somme and inFlanders that the war is being waged here in equally dangerousconditions as theirs. "The Italians have driven back the Austrians foot by foot up thealmost vertical Dolomite rock with mountain, field, and heavy guns, and especially in hand-to-hand and bomb fighting. Sniping never ceasesby day, but the actual battles are almost invariably fought by night. "The only day fighting is when, as in the famous capture of Col diLana and more recently at Castelletto, the whole or part of a mountaintop has to be blown off, because it is impossible to turn or carry itby direct assault. Then tunnels sometimes 800 yards long are drilledby machinery through the solid rock beneath the Austrian strongholds, which presently disappear under the smashing influence of thirty orforty tons of dynamite. Then the Alpini swarm over the débris andcapture or kill the enemy survivors and rejoice in a well-earnedtriumph. "One needs to have scaled a mountainside to an Italian gun'semplacement or lookout post to gauge fully the nature of this warfare. Imagine a catacomb, hewn through the hard rock, with a central halland galleries leading to gun positions, 7, 000 feet up. Reckon thateach gun emplacement represents three months' constant labor withdrill, hammer, and mine. Every requirement, as well as food and water, must be carried up by men at night or under fire by day. Every soldieremployed at these heights needs another soldier to bring him food anddrink, unless as happens in some places the devoted wives of theAlpini act nightly under organized rules as porters for theirhusbands. "The food supply is most efficiently organized. A young London Italianprivate, speaking English perfectly, whom I met by chance, told me, and I have since verified the information, that the men holding thislong line of the Alps receive a special food, particularly during theseven months' winter. Besides the excellent soup which forms thestaple diet of the Italian as of the French soldiers, the men receivea daily ration of two pounds of bread, half a pound of meat, half apint of red wine, macaroni of various kinds, rice, cheese, dried andfresh fruit, chocolate, and thrice weekly small quantities of cognacand Marsala. "Members of the Alpine Club know that in the high Dolomites water isin summer often as precious as on the Carso. Snow serves this purposein winter. Then three months' reserve supplies of oil fuel, alcohol, and medicine must be stored in the catacomb mountain positions, lest, as happened to an officer whom I met, the garrisons should be cut offby snow for weeks and months at a time. " Mr. Hilaire Belloc vividly pictures some mountain positions andobservation posts in the high Dolomites as follows: "There stands in the Dolomites a great group of precipitous rockrising to a height of over 9, 000 feet above the sea and perhaps 6, 000feet above the surrounding valleys, one summit of which is called theCristallo. It is the only point within the Italian lines from whichdirect and permanent observations can be had of the railway linerunning through the Pusterthal. In the mass of this mountain, up toheights of over 8, 000 feet, in crannies of the rock, up steep couloirsand chimneys of snow, the batteries have been placed and hidden quitesecure from the fire of the enemy, commanding by the advantage of theobservation posts the enemy's line with their direct fire. One suchobservation post I visited. "A company of men divided into two half companies held, the one halfthe base of the precipitous rock upon a sward of high valley, theother the summit itself, perhaps 3, 000 feet higher; end thecommunication from one to the other was a double wire swung throughthe air above the chasm, up and down which traveled shallow cradles ofsteel carrying men and food, munitions, and instruments. Such a devicealone made possible the establishment of these posts in suchincredible places, and the perilous journey along the wire rope swungfrom precipice to precipice and over intervening gulfs was the onlycondition of their continued survival. The post itself clung to theextreme summit of the mountain as a bird's nest clings to the crannyof rock in which it is built; while huts, devised to the exact anddifficult contours of the last crags and hidden as best they might befrom direct observation and fire from the enemy below, stood hereperched in places the reaching of which during the old days of peacewas thought a triumph of skill by the mountaineers. And all thisingenuity, effort, and strain stood, it must be remembered, under theconditions of war. The snow in the neighborhood of this aerie waspitted with the shell that had been aimed so often and had failed toreach this spot, and the men thus perilously clinging to an extremepeak of bare rock up in the skies were clinging there subject to allthe perils of war added to the common perils of the feat they hadaccomplished. "Marvelous as it was, I saw here but one example of I know not howmany of the same kind with which the Italians have made secure thewhole mountain wall from the Brenta to the Isonzo and from Lake Gardato the Orther and the Swiss frontier. Every little gap in that wall isheld. You find small posts of men, that must have their food and waterdaily brought to them thus, slung by the wire; you find them crouchedupon the little dip where a collar of deep snow between bare rocksmarks some almost impassable passage of the hills that must yet beheld. You see a gun of 6 inches or even of 8 inches emplaced where, had you been climbing for your pleasure, you would hardly have daredto pitch the smallest tent. You hear the story of how the piece washoisted there by machinery first established upon the rock; of theblasting for emplacement; of the accidents after which it was finallyemplaced; of the ingenious thought which has allowed for the chance ofrecoil or of displacement; you have perhaps a month's journeying frompoint to point of this sort over a matter of 250 miles. " A special correspondent of the London "Times" describes the fightingaround Monte Pasubio in the Trentino, which has already been mentionedin the preceding pages, as follows: "When the tide of the Austrian invasion rolled back at the end ofJune, 1916, its margin became fixed on the crest of the Pasubio, anenormous and irregular group of mountains, of which the Italiansremained in possession of the highest peak, but all the northernsummits and the top of the whole central ridge called the CosmagnonAlps remained to the enemy. It was from this ridge that they dominatedthe Vallarsa, and their first-line trenches were on its edge. Fifteenyards below them the Italians had burrowed in somehow and had hung onuntil now. "With the oncoming of winter, however, and the avalanches theirhanging on became altogether too problematic. For weeks the weatherprevented action through some meteorological phenomenon. When it isfair below in the plain Pasubio is crowned with dense fogs, and viceversa. Finally, the summits revealed themselves clear against the sky. The careful preparation had passed unobserved of the enemy, and duringthe night of the 8th inst. , with increased intensity at dawn of the9th inst. , the artillery attacked on the whole line for several miles. "Bombs were employed in great number, and are found to be even moreeffective here than on the Carso, the friable rock breaking intomillions of fragments under the explosion. "In the afternoon a demonstrative attack in the Vallarsa carried theline ahead some 400 yards, and at half past 3 the principal attackcarried the trenches of the crest (Cosmagnon Alps), together with thesummit called Lora. The arduous mountaineering feat of arriving on themountain's overhanging brow was accomplished on rope ladders byinfantry Alpini and Bersaglieri. "The line once brought over the crest, the battle raged furiously onthe mountain top. The Austrians had constructed magnificent cavernsand dugouts, and made them as impregnable as their long residencepermitted. Their resistance was specially keen around the fearfulnatural fortifications called the Tooth, consisting of spires andslender ledges and abounding in caverns. The Tooth still remains inpart to the Austrians. From the first day, the Alpini have scaled partof it and still stick there. "One of the spectacular sights of the day was an Alpini perched on hisspire of the Tooth, who kept the Austrian machine gunners from theirtask, pelting them with rocks every time they set to work. "The fighting all took place on the rolling surface of the CosmagnonAlps--closed in by the barrage fire on both sides under the dazzlingsky, but with the world below completely shut off by Monte Pasubio'scrown of clouds. Shrapnel and shell disappeared in the ocean ofclouds. " More so than in any other war theater, fighting on the Austro-Italianfront was influenced by weather conditions during December, 1916, andJanuary, 1917. For practically its entire extent it was located inmountainous territory, most of it indeed, as we have seen, being amongmountain peaks thousands of feet high. No wonder then that there was little to report at any time duringDecember, 1916, and January, 1917, except artillery activity ofvarying frequency and violence. Occasionally engagements would takeplace between small detachments. These, however, were hardly everlittle more than clashes between outposts or patrols. These and quitefrequently even artillery activity were stopped entirely for days at atime by the severity of the blizzards and gales that prevailedthroughout most of December, 1916. In January, 1917, much the same condition prevailed. Batterieseverywhere were shelling each other and whatever positions of theenemy were within reach as often as the weather was clear enough to doso. On January 1, 1917, Goritz was subjected to a particularly heavybombardment from the Austrian guns, which caused considerable materialdamage. On January 4, 1917, two attacks carried out by small Austriandetachments--one between the Adige and Lake Garda and the other in thePlava sector--were repulsed. An Italian attack on the Carso Plateauresulted in an advance of about 600 feet along a narrow front. Similarsmall advances were made in the same region by the Italians at varioustimes. In most instances they were maintained in the face of frequentAustrian counterattacks, though some of the latter occasionally weresuccessful. On January 18, 1917, the Austrians attempted, after especially violentartillery preparation, an attack against the Italian positions betweenFrigido and the Opacchiasella-Castagnievizza road on the Carso, southof Goritz. Italian gun and rifle fire, however, stopped the Austrianattack before it had fully developed. A few days later, on January 22, 1917, a similar Austrian attack, launched southeast of Goritz, wassomewhat more successful and resulted in the temporary penetration ofa few Italian positions. The same success accompanied a likeundertaking in the vicinity of Goritz near Kostanjeoica on January 30, 1917. On practically every day through January, 1917, there wasconsiderable artillery activity in the various sectors of the entirefront. This increased in violence in accordance with weatherconditions, but generally speaking had little result on generalconditions, which at the end of January, 1917, were practically thesame as had been established after the fall of Goritz. PART V--WAR IN THE AIR AND ON THE SEA CHAPTER XLVII AEROPLANE WARFARE During the six months, covering the period from August 1, 1916, toFebruary 1, 1917, aeroplane warfare at the various fronts was asextensive, varied, and continuous as at any time during the war, ifindeed not more so. The efficiency of machines and operators alikebecame higher and higher developed. Atmospheric conditions became lessand less of a factor in flying. If in spite of these facts the numberof machines and flyers lost continued to be comparatively huge, thiswas due to the fact that the development of flying made fairly equalprogress in the flying corps of the various belligerents, and thatincreased efficiency and independence from atmospheric conditionsrather had the tendency of increasing the daring of aviators. It is of course evident that it would be impossible within the limitsof these chapters to narrate every flying enterprise undertaken. Hundred, perhaps thousands, of flights made, are never reported eitherofficially or unofficially. The largest number of these of course hadas their object chiefly the gathering of information or the moreaccurate direction of artillery fire. In the following pages, however, will be found an account of all themore important independent aeroplane enterprises undertaken at thevarious fronts, as well as aeroplane raids made into the interior ofsome of the countries at war. On August 1, 1916, an Italian aerial squadron attacked withconsiderable success an Austro-Hungarian plant for making Whiteheadtorpedoes and submarine works located west of Fiume on one of theCroatian bays of the Adriatic. Two German aeroplanes, coming from the Dardanelles, on August 4, 1916, dropped bombs on the aerodrome of the Entente Allies, located on theisland of Lemnos in the Ægean Sea, but were promptly driven off bygunfire from British ships. On the same day, August 4, 1916, Turkish or German aeroplanesattempted a bombardment of shipping on the Suez Canal. The attack wascarried out by two machines over Lake Timsah, forty-five miles southof Port Said. The town of Ismailia, on the lake border, also wasbombarded. No damage was done. Again on August 6, 1916, a bomb attack by aeroplanes over Port Saidand Suez inflicted little material damage and caused slightcasualties. On the following day, August 7, 1916, an Austrian squadron made up oftwenty-one aeroplanes attacked Venice. They claimed to have droppedthree and one-half tons of explosives and to have caused great damageand many fires; the Italian Government, however, stated that thedamage caused was comparatively small and that only two people werekilled. On September 5, 1916, two British aeroplanes raided the Turkishaerodrome and aeroplane repair section at El Arish, ninety miles eastof the Suez Canal, dropping twelve bombs with good results. Turkishaeroplanes attacked the British machines but ultimately gave up thefight, and the latter returned to camp undamaged. Again on September 8, 1916, three British machines bombed El Mazaarand the Turkish camp near by. Early in the morning of September 13, 1916, a group of Austrianseaplanes attacked Venice once more. Incendiary and explosive bombsstruck the church of San Giovanni Paola, the Home for the Aged, and anumber of other buildings, inflicting some damage, although nocasualties were reported. Chioggra also was attacked by the samemachines; but here, too, the damage was rather slight. On the same day in the afternoon an Italian air squadron of eighteenCapronis under the protection of three Nieuport antiaircraftaeroplanes attacked Trieste. Six Italian torpedo boats and two motorboats assisted them in the gulf. Numerous bombs were dropped, butthese caused only slight damage, and none of military importance. Oneman was slightly wounded. Austrian aeroplanes and antiaircraft batteries obtained hits on theItalian torpedo boats. At the same time an Italian air squadronappeared over Parenzo, dropping twenty bombs in a field. No damage wasdone. Still another attack was reported on this day, this time by theRussians. A squadron of four Russian giant aeroplanes of theSlyr-Murometz type bombarded the German seaplane station on LakeAngern in the Gulf of Riga. The Russians claimed to have dropped aboutseventy-five bombs and to have started a great conflagration. Theyalso claimed that eight German seaplanes counterattacked, but wererepulsed by machine-gun fire, and that as the result of the bombingand the air fight not fewer than eight German machines were destroyedor put out of action. None of the Russian machines were reportedeither lost or damaged. A German aerodrome, located at St. Denis-Westrem in Belgium, wasattacked on September 22, 1916, by British machines who claimed tohave killed forty Germans and to have burned two sheds and threeaeroplanes. On October 1, 1916, bombs were dropped by Britishaeroplanes on the Turkish camp at Kut-el-Amara. Three days later, on October 4, 1916, British aeroplanes carried out asuccessful bombing attack on Turkish camps in the neighborhood of ElArish. It was claimed then that recent aerial attacks on the Turkishaerodrome at El Arish had had the effect of compelling the Turks tomove their machines and hangars from that place. An Austro-German air squadron on October 12, 1916, was reported tohave dropped bombs on Constanza, the principal Rumanian Black Seaport. On October 20, 1916, a British naval aeroplane attacked and broughtdown a German kite balloon near Ostend. A similar machine engaged alarge German double-engined tractor seaplane, shooting both the pilotand the observer. The seaplane side-slipped and dived vertically intothe sea two miles off Ostend. The remains later were seen floating onthe water. Both the British machines were undamaged. Two days later, October 21, 1916, a German aeroplane approached thefortified seaport of Sheerness at the mouth of the Thames, flying veryhigh. Four bombs were dropped, three of which fell into the harbor. The fourth fell in the vicinity of a railway station and damagedseveral railway carriages. British aeroplanes went up and the raidermade off in a northeasterly direction. No casualties were reported. A German seaplane was shot down and destroyed later that day by one ofthe British naval aircraft. The German machine fell into the sea. Judging by time, it was probably the seaplane which visited Sheerness. Margate, a resort on the southeast coast of England, was attacked onOctober 22, 1916, by a German aeroplane, which succeeded in inflictingslight material damage and injuring two people before it was drivenoff. The French made a strong attack on the Metz region on the same day, October 22, 1916, employing twenty-four machines. They claimed thatthese dropped 4, 200 kilograms of bombs on blast furnaces at Hagodangeand Pussings north of Metz, and also on the railway stations atThionville, Mezures-les-Betz, Longwy, and Metz-Sablons. On the sameday another French aerial squadron bombarded the ammunition depot atMonsen road (Somme). German aeroplanes dropped several bombs onLunéville. There were no victims and the material damage wasinsignificant. On the Somme front two German aeroplanes were broughtdown and three others were forced down in a damaged condition. Finally, good results were achieved by a French bombing expeditionagainst factories of Rombach and the railway station at Mars-la-Tour. The Germans, however, claimed that the French air raids did no damageto Metz and other points, but that five civilians were killed andseven made ill by inhaling poisonous gases from the bombs. Theyfurther claimed that twenty-two French aviators had been shot down byaerial attacks and antiaircraft fire and that eleven aeroplanes werelying behind the German lines. Captain Boelke conquered histhirty-seventh and thirty-eighth foes. On October 27, 1916, French aeroplanes dropped forty bombs on therailway station at Grand Pré, eight on the railway station atChallerange, and thirty on enemy bivouacs at Fretoy-le-Château andAvricourt, north of Lassigny, where two fires were seen to break out. On the same night ten other French machines dropped 240 bombs on therailway station at Conflans and thirty on the railway station atCourcelles. Another French machine dropped six shells on the railwayline at Pagny-sur-Moselle. The British report for the same day likewise announced that aerialengagements took place between large numbers of machines on bothsides. It was reported that five machines fell during a fight, two ofwhich were British. On another occasion one British pilot encountereda formation of ten German machines, attacked them single handed anddispersed them far behind their own lines. On October 28, 1916, it was announced that Captain Boelke, the famousGerman aviator, had been killed in a collision, with anotheraeroplane. He was credited with having brought down forty aeroplanes. Not until almost the middle of November, 1916, did aeroplane warfaredevelop its usual activity. On the night of November 9-10, 1916, British aeroplanes dropped bombswithout success on Ostend and Zeebrugge. One British machine wasforced down and captured and the aviator, a British officer, madeprisoner. On the morning of November 10, 1916, a German battleplane attackedtwo British biplanes between Nieuport and Dunkirk. It shot down oneand forced the other to retreat. In the forenoon three Germanbattleplanes met a superior British aerial squadron off Ostend andattacked it. After a combat the British were forced to withdraw. TheGerman machines returned to their base, having suffered insignificantdamages. Between 10 and 11 o'clock on the morning of November 10, 1916, a groupof seventeen British aeroplanes bombarded the steel works atVölklingen, northwest of Saarbrücken. One thousand kilograms ofprojectiles were dropped on the buildings, which were damagedseriously. In the course of the operations British machines foughtseveral actions against German machines, three of which were felled. On the following night between 8 and 9 o'clock eight Britishaeroplanes executed a fresh bombardment of these works, dropping 1, 800kilograms of projectiles. Several fires were observed. All Britishmachines returned safely. During the night of November 10-11, 1916, British squadrons drenchedwith projectiles the stations of Ham, St. Quentin, Tergnier, andNesle, in the Somme region, and the aerodrome at Dreuze, the blastfurnaces of Ramsbach, the aeroplane sheds of Frescati (near Metz), andthe blast furnaces of Hagodange (north of Metz). These operationscaused great damage, and several explosions and fires were observed. A German aeroplane during the night of November 10-11, 1916, bombardedseveral French towns. Nancy and Lunéville received projectiles whichcaused damage or casualties. Amiens was also bombarded on variousoccasions during the same night. Nine persons of the civilianpopulation were killed and twenty-seven injured. On November 11, 1916, five German machines were claimed to have beenbrought down by the British. The following day, November 12, 1916, a squadron of British navalaeroplanes attacked the harbor of Ostend. A considerable number ofbombs was dropped on the dockyards and on the war vessels in theharbor. On the same day it was also reported that two successful airraids had been carried out by aircraft operating with the Britishforces in Egypt. The points raided were Maghdaba and Birsaba. A tonof high explosives was dropped. Two Fokker machines were brought downby the raiding aeroplanes, all of which returned safely. Near Saloniki two aeroplanes belonging to the Central Powers wereforced to descend behind their own lines. During the night of November14, 1916, ten British machines at various points in France carried outa series of successful raids on railway stations and rolling stock. On the same day a Turkish aeroplane flying very high dropped severalbombs in and about Cairo, Egypt, killing and wounding a number ofcivilians. No military damage was done and only one military casualtywas incurred. On November 17, 1916, it was reported that a French aviator hadsucceeded in flying across the Alps after dropping bombs upon thestation at Munich, the capital of Bavaria. He landed near Venice, having flown 435 miles in one day. London was again attacked on November 28, 1916. An aeroplane, flyingvery high, dropped six bombs which injured nine people and didconsiderable damage. A German machine, brought down a few hours laternear Dunkirk, was supposed to have been the one returning from theattack on London. On November 30, 1916, in Lorraine, three British aeroplanes fought anengagement with several German machines. One German machine wasbrought down in the forest of Gremecy. On the same day on the Somme front French airmen fought about fortyengagements, in the course of which five German machines were broughtdown. Six French machines dropped fifteen bombs on Bruyères. Another Frenchair squadron carried out a bombardment of the aerodrome of Grisolles(north of Château-Thierry). Between 3. 45 p. M. And 7 p. M. 171 bombsof 120 mm. Were dropped. That night between 9. 30 p. M. And 1. 10 a. M. Four French machinesbombarded the blast furnaces and factories of Völklingen (northwest ofSaarbrücken). On December 1, 1916, a group of aeroplanes of the British Naval AirService bombarded the blast furnaces of Dillingen, northwest ofSaarbrücken. During this expedition one ton of explosives was dropped. A German aeroplane was brought down during the return journey. During December 2, 1916, Italian aeroplanes bombed Austrian positionsat Dorimbergo (Fornberg) and Tabor, in the Frigido (Vippacco) Valley. On the following day, December 3, 1916, another Italian air squadronbombed the railway station for Dottogliano and Scoppo on the Carso(seven and one-half miles northeast of Trieste). Notwithstanding badweather conditions and the violent fire of the Austrian artillery, theaviators came down low to drop a ton and half of high explosives. Numerous air flights took place and one Austrian machine was broughtdown; one of the Italian machines was reported missing. Austrian seaplanes dropped bombs at several points on the Carsowithout causing casualties or damage. An Italian aeroplane droppedfive large bombs on the floating hangars at Trieste, with excellentresults. On December 4, 1916, Austrian aircraft dropped a few bombs on Adriaand Monfalcone without doing any damage. On the Tigris front, during the same day, December 4, 1916, Turkishaeroplanes bombed successfully British camps. Six British machinesimmediately made an equally successful counterattack. On December 14, 1916, a British squadron of naval aeroplanes carriedout a bombardment of the Kuleli-Burges bridge, south of Adrianople. Throughout the balance of December, 1916, there was a great deal oflocal air activity at many points on all the fronts. Comparativelyspeaking, however, no major actions occurred. The same condition existed during the early part of January, 1917. On January 11, 1917, an Austrian air squadron dropped a considerablenumber of bombs in the neighborhood of Aquieleja, southwest ofMonfalcone. One Austrian seaplane was brought down by Italianantiaircraft batteries. At the same time two aeroplanes bombarded theaviation ground at Propecto and the seaplane base in the harbor ofTrieste. The Russian front reported increased aerial activity on the followingday, January 12, 1917. A German aerial squadron, consisting ofthirteen airplanes, dropped about forty bombs on the station and townof Radzivilov. Russian aeroplanes bombarded with machine-gun fire aGerman battery near the village of Krukhov. Similar exploits were reported from many different points on thevarious fronts during the following week. Especially was this true ofthe western front. However, there nowhere occurred any major actions. CHAPTER XLVIII ZEPPELIN RAIDS During the night of July 31 to August 1, 1916, a squadron ofZeppelins, reported to have numbered at least six, raided the easternand southeastern counties of England. Sixty bombs were dropped, causing considerable material damage, but, as far as was ascertained, no casualties. Again the following day, August 2, 1916, six Zeppelins appeared overthe east coast of England. According to German claims, London, thenaval base at Harwich, and various industrial establishments in thecounty of Norfolk were covered with a total of about eighty bombs, which caused, of course, considerable loss. Although Englishauthorities claimed that antiaircraft guns registered a number of hitsagainst one, or possibly two, of the Zeppelins, and that another, flying during its return trip over Dutch territory, was fired at andhit, all of the six were later reported to have returned to their homebase undamaged. Another squadron visited the east coast again one week later, August9, 1916. There were reported to have been between seven and tenmachines which dropped about 160 bombs, caused extensive damage, andkilled twenty-three people. English batteries finally forced thewithdrawal of the Zeppelins. About twenty-four hours after Rumania's entrance into the war on theside of the Allies a Zeppelin, accompanied by an aeroplane, appearedduring the night of August 28, 1916, over Rumania's capital, Bucharest. After a short bombardment, which caused but little damage, they were both forced to withdraw by the fire of antiaircraft guns. Before returning to their bases they bombarded three other unnamedRumanian cities without causing much damage. Shortly after 11 o'clock in the evening of September 2, 1916, theeastern coasts of England were again attacked, this time by a fleet ofthirteen airships, the most formidable attack that had so far beenlaunched against England. The measures taken by the English authorities for the reduction orobscuration of lights proved most efficacious, for the raidingsquadrons, instead of steering a steady course as to the raids of thespring and of last autumn, groped about in darkness looking for a safeavenue to approach their objectives. Three airships only were able to approach the outskirts of London. Oneof them, the _L-21_, appeared over the northern district about 2. 15 inthe morning of September 3, 1916, where she was picked up bysearchlights and heavily engaged by antiaircraft guns and aeroplanes. After a few minutes the airship was seen to burst into flames and fallrapidly toward the earth. The ship was destroyed, the wreckage, engines, and half-burned bodiesof the crew being found at Cuffley, near Enfield. The other two shipswhich approached London were driven off by the defenses without beingable to approach the center of the city. A great number of bombs weredropped promiscuously over the east Anglian and southeastern counties, causing considerable but not very serious damage. Two people werereported killed and thirteen injured. The funeral of the sixteen members of the German Zeppelin took placeon September 6, 1916, at Potter's Bar Cemetery, and was carried outunder the direction of the British Royal Flying Corps. A young memberof the latter, Lieutenant William Robinson, who had been responsiblefor the Zeppelin's destruction, received later the Victoria Cross aswell as a number of monetary rewards and civic honors. The site atCuffley, which had been the scene of the airship's destruction, waspresented to the English nation by its owner. During the night of September 23, 1916, twelve Zeppelins again madetheir appearance over the eastern counties of England and theoutskirts of London. Although the material damage was widespread, itwas borne chiefly by small homes and shops. The toll in human life wasgreater than at any other raid, amounting to thirty-eight killed and125 injured. However, two of the Zeppelins were forced down in Essex;one of them was destroyed together with its crew; the other managed tomake a landing and its crew of twenty-one were made prisoners. Two days later, during the night of September 25, 1916, a smallersquadron of about six airships attacked the northeastern and southerncounties of England. Bombs did considerable damage, most of which, however, was inflicted on privately owned property. Thirty-six peoplewere killed and twenty-seven more injured. With the advance of autumn Zeppelin raids became less frequent. Onlyonce during October, 1916, on the night of October 1 to 2, did asquadron of Zeppelins appear over English territory. At that time tenairships attacked the eastern coast and London. The damage again wasprincipally to private property. Only one person was reported killedand one injured. One of the Zeppelins, however, was brought down inflames near Potter's Bar, and from its wreckage the bodies of nineteenmembers of its crew were recovered. Not until the end of November, 1916, was another Zeppelin attackreported. At that time, during the night of November 27 to 28, 1916, two airships raided Yorkshire and Durham. They did considerabledamage, killed one and injured sixteen persons. Both Zeppelins werebrought down and destroyed and the entire crews of both perished. One airship was attacked by an aeroplane of the British Royal FlyingCorps and brought down in flames into the sea off the coast of Durham. Another airship crossed the North Midland counties and dropped bombsat various places. On her return journey she Was repeatedly attackedby aeroplanes of the British Royal Flying Corps and by guns. Sheappeared to have been damaged, for the last part of her journey wasmade at very slow speed, and she was unable to reach the coast beforeday was breaking. Near the Norfolk coast she apparently succeeded in effecting repairs, and, after passing through gunfire from the land defenses, whichclaimed to have made a hit, proceeded east at high speed and at analtitude of over 8, 000 feet. She was attacked nine miles out at sea byfour machines of the British Royal Naval Air Service, while gunfirewas opened from an armed British trawler, and the airship was finallybrought down in flames. During December, 1916, no Zeppelins were apparently used actively. Asfar as it was possible to determine definitely, the number of Germanairships wrecked from the outbreak of the war up to January 1, 1917, was nineteen. Of these twelve were lost during 1916 as follows: _L-19. _ Wrecked in the North Sea on February 3. _L-77. _ Shot down by French guns near Brabant-le-Roi on February 21. _L-15. _ Shot down in raid on eastern counties, and sank off Thamesestuary on April 1. _L-20. _ Wrecked near Stavanger on May 3. Unnamed airship. Destroyed by British warships off Schleswig on May 4. Unnamed airship. Brought down by Allied warships at Saloniki on May 5. _L-21. _ Burned and wrecked near Enfield, September 3. _L-32_ and _L-33_. Brought down in Essex, September 24. Airship brought down at Potter's Bar, October 1. Two airships brought down in flames off the east coast, November27-28. Another list, based on an article published in the "Journal of theProceedings of the United States Naval Institute, " yields a total ofthirty-eight Zeppelins as having been destroyed since the outbreak ofthe war. Of this number the loss of thirty was said to have beenauthenticated. Of the larger total (38) 5 were destroyed in 1914, 17 in 1915, and 16in 1916. Of these 4 were lost in France, 6 in Russia, 7 in Belgium, 7in England, 1 in Denmark, 1 in Norway, 1 in the Balkans, 5 in theEast, and 6 in Germany. No further activities of Zeppelins were reported during January, 1917, except that it was announced unofficially on January 3, 1917, that twoZeppelins had been destroyed at Tondern, Schleswig, by a fire due todefective electric wiring in a recently constructed double shed. To sum up the losses in aeroplanes incurred by the variousbelligerents during the six months' period, August, 1916, to February, 1917, is practically impossible. Figures are available for a fewmonths only, and they are not only unofficial, but come from all kindsof different sources, most of them very much biased. Furthermore, there always is a wide discrepancy between figurespublished by adherents of the Allies and those published by thefriends of the Central Powers. As an example of this condition the following may well serve: At theend of January, 1916, an unofficial statement claimed that the Germanslost during 1916 on the western front a total of 221 aeroplanes. TheFrench authorities immediately claimed that they had knowledge of 417German aeroplanes which had been shot down by their aviators, and that195 more machines were brought down damaged, of which undoubtedly anumber finally were to be considered lost to the Germans. Neitherstatement, however, is supported by sufficient data to allow any kindof checking up. The truth, therefore, must be sought somewhere aroundthe average between these two figures. Equally difficult is it to arrive at any definite figures regardingthe losses in man power incurred by the various aviation corps. Noofficial figures are available except the lists of casualtiespublished in aviation papers. These, however, cover only the Frenchand English organizations, and even in these two cases they contain alarge number of men who lost their lives not at the front, but inaviation camps in England or France while being trained. However, that section of the French Aviation Corps containing Americanvolunteers has been more liberal in publishing statistics. On November3, 1916, it was announced that the flying unit of the French Corps, consisting entirely of American volunteers, had brought down betweenMay and November a total of twenty-one German machines. At that timeit consisted of twelve American members. Unfortunately it had lostpreviously to this date two of its members. Kiffin Rockwell of Atlanta, Ga. , had been killed in an air battle overThame in Alsace on September 23, 1916. He had joined the ForeignLegion of the French army in May, 1915, had been severely wounded, received the Military Medal, and after his recovery had beentransferred to the Flying Corps. He had participated in thirty-fourair battles, and a few hours before his death had been promoted to bea second lieutenant. Norman Prince, Harvard graduate and native of Hamilton, Mass. , wasseverely wounded early in October, 1916. He died a week later onOctober 14, 1916, in a hospital after first having been decorated withthe cross of the Legion of Honor. He had also received some timebefore the Military Medal. On November 2, 1916, it was announced that Anthony H. Jannus, a youngWashington aviator, had been killed in Russia on October 12, 1916, while flying for the Russian army. Another young American, Ruskin Watts of Westfield, N. J. , who wasserving in the English Aviation Corps on the western front, was onNovember 2, 1916, reported as missing since September 22, 1916. Nofurther news of his fate was known. This meant that, as far as was known definitely, four Americans hadlost their lives fighting for the Allies as members of their aviationservice. CHAPTER XLIX SUBMARINE WARFARE The totals of the damage inflicted by submarines of the Central Powerson the merchant fleets of the Entente Allies during July, 1916, wasnot officially announced until August 16, 1916. On that day anofficial statement was published in Berlin to the effect that Germanand Austrian submarines and mines had destroyed during July, 1916, 74merchantmen belonging to England and her allies. These ships had atotal tonnage of 103, 000 tons. The activity of German and Austrian submarines increased considerablyduring August, 1916. According to an official German statementsubmarines or mines sunk 126 merchant ships, belonging to England andher allies, totaling 170, 679 tons gross, as well as 35 neutralmerchant ships, totaling 38, 568 tons. These figures, however, did notagree with figures compiled in this country. The New York "Journal ofCommerce" records only 93 ships of a total tonnage of 123, 397 ashaving been sunk in August, 1916. The same authority also announcedthat in the period from August 1, 1914, to September 1, 1916, therehad been destroyed, 1, 584 merchant ships, aggregating 2, 939, 915 tons. Among the ships sunk in August, 1916, was the Italian mail steamer_Letimbro_. She went to the bottom of the Mediterranean on August 4, 1916, and it was claimed that many of her 1, 100 passengers were lost. Other ships of more than 2, 000 tons which were lost in August, 1916, were: British: _Tottenham_, 3, 106 tons; _Favonian_, 3, 049 tons; _MountConiston_, 3, 018 tons; _Aaro_, 2, 603 tons; _Trident_, 3, 129 tons; _SanBernardo_, 3, 803 tons; _Antiope_, 2, 793 tons; _Whitgift_, 4, 397 tons;_Britannic_, 3, 487 tons; _Heighington_, 2, 800 tons; and _Newburn_, 3, 554 tons. Italian: _Citta di Messina_, 2, 464 tons; _Hermerberg_, 2, 824 tons;_Siena_, 4, 372 tons; _Teti_, 2, 868 tons; _Nereus_, 3, 980 tons;_Angelo_, 8, 609 tons; _Sebastiano_, 3, 995 tons; _Stampalia_, 9, 000. Other nations: _Ivar_, Danish, 2, 139 tons; _Kohina Maru_, Japanese, 3, 164 tons; _Tenmei Maru_, Japanese, 3, 360 tons; _Tricoupis_, Greek, 2, 387 tons; _Ganekogorta Mendi_, Spanish, 3, 061 tons; _Pagasarri_, Spanish, 3, 287 tons. Of vessels smaller than 2, 000 tons the losses to the various nationswere as follows: Great Britain, 23; France, 6; Italy, 10; Russia, 4;Norway, 9; Sweden, 6; Holland, 2; Denmark, 3; Greece, 3. A large discrepancy regarding the total number and tonnage of Alliedand neutral merchantmen sunk by mines and submarines was againnoticeable in the figures published in the United States newspapersand in official statements of the German admiralty. The latter on October 26, 1916, announced that 180 ships with a totaltonnage of 254, 600 had been sunk, of which 141 of 182, 000 tonsbelonged to Great Britain and her allies, and 39 of 72, 600 tons toneutral nations. The New York "Journal of Commerce, " on October 5, 1916, published a summary of merchantmen lost during September, 1916, which accounted only for 70 vessels of 150, 317 tons, of which 25 weresaid to have belonged to Great Britain and 18 to neutral Norway, whileFrance lost 4, Italy 4, Sweden 5, Denmark 4, Spain, Greece, andHolland each 2, and Belgium 1. Of all these the following were morethan 2, 000 tons: British: _Duart_, 3, 108 tons; _Strathalian_, 4, 404 tons; _SwiftWings_, 4, 465 tons; _Kelvinia_, 3, 140 tons; _Torridge_, 5, 036 tons;_Strathtay_, 4, 428 tons; _Heathdene_, 3, 541 tons; _Llangorse_, 3, 841tons; _Butetown_, 2, 466 tons; _Bronwen_, 4, 250 tons; _Strathe_, 2, 500tons; _Newby_, 2, 168 tons; _Counsellor_, 4, 958 tons; _Lexie_, 3, 778tons; _Swedish Prince_, 3, 712 tons; _Roddam_, 3, 218 tons; _LordTredegar_, 3, 856 tons; _Dewa_, 3, 802 tons. Norwegian: _Elizabeth IV_, 4, 182 tons; _Polynesia_, 4, 064 tons;_Bufjord_, 2, 284 tons; _Qvindeggen_, 2, 610 tons; _Furu_, 2, 029 tons;_Isdalen_, 2, 275 tons. Other nations: _Antwerpen_, Dutch, 11, 000 tons; _Benpark_, Italian, 3, 842 tons; _Gamen_, Swedish, 2, 617 tons; _Luis Vives_, Spanish, 2, 394tons; _Assimacos_, Greek, 2, 898 tons. For the month of October, 1916, the New York "Journal of Commerce"placed its total figures of Allied and neutral merchantmen sunk bymines or submarines at 127 vessels of 227, 116 tons, according to acompilation published on November 3, 1916. No official figures of theGerman Government for October, 1916, were available. Of theabove-mentioned 127 vessels, Great Britain lost 38; Norway, 56;Sweden, 10; Denmark, 8; Greece, 5; Russia, 4; Holland, 3; France, Belgium, and Rumania, each 1. Of these the following were of more than2, 000 tons: British: Franconia, 18, 150 tons; _Alaunia_, 13, 405 tons; _WelshPrince_, 4, 934 tons; _Rowanmore_, 10, 320 tons; _Astoria_, 4, 262 tons;_Cabotia_, 4, 309 tons; _Midland_, 4, 247 tons; _Cluden_, 3, 166 tons;_Barbara_, 3, 740 tons; _Framfield_, 2, 510 tons; _Ethel Duncan_, 2, 510tons; _Sidmouth_, 4, 045 tons; _Crosshill_, 5, 002 tons; _Sebek_, 4, 601tons; _Renylan_, 3, 875 tons; _Strathdene_, 4, 321 tons; _West Point_, 3, 847 tons; _Stephano_, 3, 449 tons. Norwegian: _Christian Knudsen_, 4, 224 tons; _Risholm_, 2, 155 tons;_Snestadt_, 2, 350 tons; _Edam_, 2, 381 tons; _Sola_, 3, 057 tons;_Bygdo_, 2, 345 tons. Russian: _Tourgai_, 4, 281 tons; _Mercator_, 2, 827 tons. Dutch: _Bloomersdijk_, 4, 850 tons. Greek: _George M. Embiricos_, 3, 636 tons; _Massalia_, 2, 186 tons;_Germaine_, 2, 573 tons. Rumanian: _Bistritza_, 3, 668 tons. More interest than ever before in submarine warfare was aroused inthis country when the German war submarine _U-53_ unexpectedly madeits appearance in the harbor of Newport, R. I. , during the afternoonof October 7, 1916. About three hours afterward, without having takenon any supplies, and after explaining her presence by the desire ofdelivering a letter addressed to Count von Bernstorff, then GermanAmbassador at Washington, the _U-53_ left as suddenly and mysteriouslyas she had appeared. This was the first appearance of a war submarine in an American port. It was claimed that the _U-53_ had made the trip from Wilhelmshaven inseventeen days. She was 213 feet long, equipped with two guns, fourtorpedo tubes, and an exceptionally strong wireless outfit. Besidesher commander, Captain Rose, she was manned by three officers andthirty-three men. Early the next morning, October 8, 1916, it became evident what hadbrought the _U-53_ to this side of the Atlantic. At the break of dayshe made her reappearance southeast of Nantucket. The American steamer_Kansan_ of the American Hawaiian Company bound from New York by wayof Boston to Genoa was stopped by her, but after proving hernationality and neutral ownership was allowed to proceed. Five othersteamships, three of them British, one Dutch, and one Norwegian, wereless fortunate. The British freighter _Strathend_, of 4, 321 tons, wasthe first victim. Her crew were taken aboard the Nantucket ShoalsLightship. Two other British freighters, _West Point_ and _Stephano_, followed in short order to the bottom of the ocean. The crews of bothwere saved by United States torpedo-boat destroyers which had comefrom Newport as soon as news of the _U-53's_ activities had beenreceived there. This was also the case with the crews of the Dutchship _Bloomersdijk_ and the Norwegian tanker _Christian Knudsen_. On December 20, 1916, the German admiralty announced that the totallosses inflicted on Allied and neutral merchantmen by submarines andmines during November, 1916, amounted to 191 vessels of 408, 500 tons. Of these 138 ships of 314, 500 belonged to Great Britain and herallies, and 53 ships of 94, 000 tons to neutral countries. On November 13, 1916, the Norwegian steamship _Older_, on passage fromNewport to Gibraltar, was captured by a German submarine, which placeda prize crew on board her. For a time the submarine remained incompany. Eventually, however, the _Older_ separated from thesubmarine, apparently with the intention of making for a German port. She was intercepted by a British ship of war, recaptured, and broughtinto a British port, and the prize crew were made prisoners of war. The losses of Allied and neutral merchantmen sunk by submarines andmines during the month of December, 1916, according to the New York"Journal of Commerce, " totaled 134 vessels of 251, 750 tons, of which53 vessels of 157, 217 tons belonged to Great Britain and her allies, and 81 vessels of 84, 533 tons to neutrals. Among the largest of these were the following British boats: _KingMalcom_, 4, 351 tons; _Reapwell_, 3, 417 tons; _Luciston_, 2, 948 tons;_Moeraki_, 4, 392 tons; _King Bleddyn_, 4, 387 tons; _Couch_, 5, 620tons; _Tanfield_, 4, 358 tons; _Avristan_, 3, 818 tons; _Strathalbyn_, 4, 331 tons; _Ursula_, 5, 011 tons; _Bretwalda_, 4, 037 tons;_Westminster_, 4, 342 tons. The French merchant marine, in addition to a number of smaller boats, lost: _Kangaroo_, 2, 493 tons; _Emma Laurans_, 2, 152 tons. One Belgiansteamer of 2, 360 tons, the _Keltier_, also was sunk. Of neutrals, the Dutch lost the _Kediri_, 3, 781 tons; the Norwegiansthe _Rakiura_, 3, 569 tons; _Modum_, 2, 942 tons; _Meteor_, 4, 211 tons;_Manpanger_, 3, 354 tons; the Greeks, _Salamis_, 3, 638 tons; and theDanish, _Michail Ontchonkoff_, 2, 118 tons. The balance of the boats destroyed in December, 1916, was made up ofvessels of less than 2, 000 tons, among which there were Russian, Swedish, and Portuguese boats as well as ships belonging to thenations already mentioned. One American-owned was also included, the_John Lambert_, of 1, 550 tons, owned by the Great Britain & St. Lawrence Transportation Company. On December 4, 1916, a German submarine sank in the Mediterranean theformer Anchor liner _Caledonia_, a steamer of 9, 223 tons. The Germanversion of this occurrence was as follows: "On December 4, 1916, in the Mediterranean, the British liner_Caledonia_ attempted to ram one of our submarines without havingpreviously been attacked by the latter. "Just before the submarine was struck by the steamer's bows itsucceeded in firing a torpedo, which hit and sank the _Caledonia_. Thesubmarine was only slightly damaged. "The captain of the steamer, James Blaikie, was taken prisoner by thesubmarine. " In January, 1917, the toll exacted by mines and submarines wasespecially large. The New York "Journal of Commerce" gave on February6, 1917, the following figures: 154 vessels of 336, 997 tons. Of these87, of 229, 366 tons, belonged to Great Britain and her allies, and 67, of 107, 631 tons, to neutrals. No American boats were included. On January 1, 1917, a German submarine sank the British transport_Ivernia_ in the Mediterranean while carrying troops. Four officersand 146 men as well as 33 members of the crew were reported missing. The British battleship _Cornwallis_ was sunk on January 9, 1917, likewise in the Mediterranean. Thirteen members of the crew werereported missing. The _Cornwallis_, which was launched at Blackwell in1901 and completed in 1904, had a displacement of 14, 000 tons, lengthof 405 feet, beam of 75-1/2 feet, and draft of 26-1/2 feet. Herindicated horsepower was 18, 238, developing a speed of 18. 9 knots. Shecarried four 12-inch, twelve 6-inch, ten 12-pounder, and two 3-pounderguns, as well as four torpedo tubes. The complement of the_Cornwallis_ was about 750. Two days later, January 11, 1917, the British seaplane carrier_Ben-Machree_ was sunk by gunfire in Kasteloxizo Harbor (Asia Minor). There were no casualties. Among the larger boats (above 2, 000 tons) sunk during January, 1917, were the following: British: _Apsleyhall_, 3, 882 tons; _Holly Branch_, 3, 568 tons;_Baycraig_, 3, 761 tons; _Lesbian_, 2, 555 tons; _Andoni_, 3, 188 tons;_Baynesk_, 3, 286 tons; _Lynfield_, 3, 023 tons; _Manchester Inventor_, 4, 247 tons; _Wragby_, 3, 641 tons; _Garfield_, 3, 838 tons;_Auchencrag_, 3, 916 tons; _Port Nicholson_, 8, 418 tons; _Matina_, 3, 870 tons; _Toftwood_, 3, 082 tons; _Mohacsfield_, 3, 678 tons;_Tremeadow_, 3, 653 tons; _Neuquen_, 3, 583 tons; _Tabasco_, 2, 987 tons;_Matheran_, 7, 654 tons; _Jevington_, 2, 747 tons. French: _Tuskar_, 3, 043 tons. Japanese: _Taki Maru_, 3, 208 tons; _Chinto Maru_, 2, 592 tons;_Misagatu Maru_, No. 3, 2, 608 tons. Russian: _Egret_, 3, 185 tons. Norwegian: _Britannic_, 2, 289 tons; _Older_, 2, 256 tons; _Fama_, 2, 147tons; _Esperança_, 4, 428 tons; _Bergenhus_, 3, 606 tons; _Jotunfjell_, 2, 492 tons; _Myrdal_, 2, 631 tons. Dutch: _Salland_, 3, 657 tons; _Zeta_, 3, 053 tons. Greek: _Evangelos_, 3, 773 tons; _Demetrios Goulandris_, 3, 744 tons;_Aristotelis C. Ioannow_, 2, 868 tons; _Demetrios Inglessis_, 2, 088tons; Tsiropinas, 3, 015 tons. Spanish: _Valle_, 2, 365 tons; _Manuel_, 2, 419 tons; _Parahyba_, 2, 537tons. Toward the end of January, 1917, the severity of submarine warfare wasnoticeably increased. Day by day the number of vessels sunk grewlarger, and some of them were of especially large tonnage. On January28, 1917, a French transport, carrying 950 soldiers to Saloniki, the_Amiral Magon_, was sunk in the Mediterranean with a loss of about 150men. Then came on January 29, 1917, the official announcement that theBritish Government had decided to lay new mine fields in the North Seain order to cope more successfully with the ever-growing submarinemenace. According to this announcement the British Government warnedall neutrals that from this date the following area in the North Seawas to be considered dangerous to shipping: The area comprising all the waters, except the Netherlands and Danishterritorial waters, lying southwestward and eastward of a linecommencing four miles from the coast of Jutland in latitude 56 degreesN. , longitude 8 degrees E. As a result of this new policy it was announced by Lloyd's that elevenvessels of about 15, 000 tons were sunk on the first day of theblockade. During the first week of the blockade, February 1 to 8, 1917, according to British figures, which, however, were claimed byGerman officials to be much lower than the actual figures, there weresunk 58 vessels of 112, 043 tons, of which 1 was American, 20 belongedto other neutrals, 32 to Great Britain, and 5 to the otherbelligerents. PART VI--THE UNITED STATES AND THE BELLIGERENTS CHAPTER L THE OLD MENACE A welcome period of quiet in the submarine controversy with Germanyfollowed the settlement of the _Sussex_ case recorded in the previousvolume. But neither the Administration nor the country was deludedinto resting in any false security. The dragon was not throttled; itmerely slumbered by the application of a diplomatic opiate. While thewar lasted the menace of its awaking and jeopardizing German peacewith the United States was always present. The achievements of the _Deutschland_, a peaceful commercial submarinewhich inaugurated an undersea traffic between the United States andGermany, provided an interesting diversion from the tension created bythe depredations of her armed sisters. After safely crossing theAtlantic and finding a safe berth in an American port in the summer of1916, she showed such hesitation in setting out on the return tripthat doubts were general as to whether the dangers of capture by alertAllied cruisers were not too great to be risked. The attemptnevertheless was finally made on August 2, 1916, when she darted underwater after passing out of the three-mile limit at the Virginia Capesand was successful. She arrived at Bremen on August 23, 1916, with acargo of rubber and metal, and apparently found no difficulty ineluding the foes supposedly in wait for her on the high seas. When sheleft her Baltimore berth, so the story went, eight British warshipsawaited her, attended by numerous fishing craft hired to spread netsto entangle her. Near the English coast dense fogs aided by obscuringthe vision of her foes' naval lookouts, and in rounding Scotland toreach the North Sea she had to evade a long line of warships andinnumerable auxiliary craft extended far north. Germany found occasion for exultation in her return without mishap. The blockade was broken. Berlin was bedecked with flags and the wholecountry celebrated the event as though Marshal von Hindenburg had wonanother victory. The _Deutschland_ again left Bremen on October 10, 1916, and found her way into New London, Conn. , on November 1, 1916, leaving for Germany three weeks later with a rubber and metal cargosaid to be worth $2, 000, 000 and a number of mail pouches. She wasreported to have arrived safely off the mouth of the Weser on December10, 1916. A repetition of the _Deutschland's_ exploits was looked for from hersister undersea craft, the _Bremen_, about whose movements the widestspeculation was centered. She was reported to have left Germany forthe United States on September 1, 1916, but did not appear, nor wasany trace of her seen en route. She never arrived, and became amystery of the sea. A story circulated that she had been captured by aBritish patrol boat in the Straits of Dover and thirty-three of hercrew of thirty-five made prisoners, the remaining two having beenkilled when the boat was caught in a steel net. The British admiraltypreserved its customary silence as to the truth of this report. HerGerman owners finally acknowledged their belief that she had been lostprobably through an accident to her machinery. At any rate a lifepreserver bearing the name _Bremen_ was picked up off the Maine coastabout the end of September, 1916. As the summer of 1916 advanced American contemplation of thisagreeable trade relation with blockaded Germany by means of acommercial submarine service was abruptly switched to a review of themanner in which that country was observing its undertaking not to sinkunresisting vessels without warning. A certain communication creditedto Admiral von Tirpitz was circulated in Germany urging a return tohis discarded sea policy. This was nothing more nor less than thepursuit of unrestricted and ruthless submarine warfare, the espousalof which by him as Minister of Marine, in conflict with the mildermethods favored by the German Chancellor, forced his resignationearlier in the year. Of course such a change would mean an immediateclash with the United States and the ending of diplomatic relations. President Wilson had been watching Germany's behavior since May, 1916, when she pledged her submarine commanders to safeguard the lives onboard doomed vessels. Three months' probation, according to Americanreports, failed to show any evidence that she was not living up to herpromise; but British reports cited a number of instances pointing toan absolute disregard of her undertaking with the United States. Shehad hedged this promise with a condition reserving her liberty ofaction should a "new situation" develop necessitating a change in hersea policy, and the question arose whether she was not trying tocreate a new situation to justify such a change. Concurrent with thenew Von Tirpitz propaganda, at any rate, came a recrudescence ofsubmarine destruction without warning, mainly in the Mediterranean. This activity lent weight to a fear that the kaiser and VonBethmann-Hollweg were yielding to the pressure exercised by the VonTirpitz party. Germany regarded her submarines as her chief weaponsfor damaging the Allies; but she was embarrassed by the problem of howto operate them without clashing with American interests. Her policyat length shaped itself to a careful discrimination in raidingAtlantic traffic and avoiding attacks on liners altogether. The leader of the German National Liberals, Dr. Ernest Bassermann, echoed the Von Tirpitz cry, in an address to his constituents atSaarbrücken. The most ruthless employment of all weapons, he urged, was imperative. Besides Von Tirpitz, High Admiral Koester, CountZeppelin, and Prince von Bülow shared this view. He told the world, which he was really addressing, that the submarine campaign had notbeen abandoned, but only suspended solely on account of the Americanprotest. It was not clear that there had really been any cessation ofsubmarine activity, though some abatement had undoubtedly followed theundertaking with the United States. The manifest unrest in Germany provoked by the curb placed upon hersubmarines by President Wilson caused the eyes of Washington to be fixedanxiously on the uncertain situation. It was solely a psychological andmental condition, but of a character that seemed premonitory of anoutbreak on Germany's part. Dr. Von Bethmann-Hollweg, in a crypticremark to the Reichstag on September 28, 1916, succeeded in aggravatingAmerican concern, though he may not have so intended. "A Germanstatesman, " he said, "who would hesitate to use against Britain everyavailable instrument of battle that would really shorten this war shouldbe hanged. " There was no obvious reference to the United States in this utterance;but the German press seized upon it as a pretext for an attack onAmerican neutrality. The connection was provided by the coincidentaldeath of an American aviator named Rockwell, who, with a number ofcompatriots, had served the Allies on the French front. The point madewas that the active part American airmen were taking in the ranks ofthe Allies, combined with the enormous supply of war materialsfurnished by American firms, indicated the futility of abiding byconcessions made to the United States controlling the submarine war. The United States was charged with taking advantage of restrictedsubmarine activity to cover the participation of American citizens asaids to the Entente and to expand its war trade. Being simultaneousand couched in the same key, the press outbursts bore every indicationof a common inspiration, probably official. "Moderation in the use of Germany's undersea craft, " said one group ofjournals in effect, "merely serves to further American assistance tothe Entente Allies in men and munitions. " Another paper, the "Tageszeitung, " characterized the American policyas one in the pursuance of which President Wilson Was making athreatened use of a "wooden sword, " and called for a policy of theutmost firmness against that country. It was intimated from Washington that if any faction in Germany--inthis case the Pan-Germans--succeeded in reviving submarine methodswhereby ships were sunk without warning or without safeguards againstloss of American lives, the submarine crisis with Germany would bereopened with all its possibilities. At the same time no seriousimportance was attached by official Washington to the German clamorfor more frightfulness. It was true that the Pan-Germans were making a powerful onslaught forthe overthrow of the German Chancellor, Dr. Von Bethmann-Hollweg, whowas the only obstacle to a return to ruthless submarine warfare. Moreover, as perceived by the "Berliner Tageblatt, " "tension in theatmosphere of imperial politics has reached such a high point that adischarge must follow if the empire is not to suffer lasting damage. "But Washington looked for development on the high seas, not in thepolitical arena of Berlin, where the sound and fury of words did notafford a safe barometer of governmental action. By the end of September, 1916, a "lull" in German submarine activitywas reported, due, according to Lord Robert Cecil, to a shortage insubmarines. But reports showed that between June 1, 1916, andSeptember 24, 1916, 277 vessels, sixty-six of which were neutral, hadbeen sunk by submarines, fifteen of them without warning, and with theloss of eighty-four lives. The abatement really took place in June andJuly, 1916, following the American agreement with Germany in May, 1916. The "lull" may therefore be measured by these figures: Vesselssunk in June, 57; in July, 42; in August, 103; in September (to the24th), 75. The only real lull was a cessation in attacks on liners. The Britishview, based on the allegation that fifteen vessels had been sunkwithout warning causing a loss of eighty-four lives, was that Germanfrightfulness was already in full swing despite Berlin's promise tothe United States. The American attitude, however, was that so long asAmerican lives were not lost on ships sunk without warning the UnitedStates had no ground for intervention. Hence Germany could apparentlysink vessels with impunity so long as the noncombatant victimsbelonged to other nationalities. The agitation in Germany to break the undertaking with the UnitedStates was thrashed out between the adherents of Chancellor vonBethmann-Hollweg and the Pan-Germanists without shaking theChancellor's strength. He had the support of Field Marshal vonHindenburg and the navy chiefs, who, in frowning on an unbridledsubmarine warfare, successfully imposed the weight of their authorityagainst any change. The subject divided the Budget Committee of theReichstag, the question being whether its discussion should bepermitted in open session. The outcome was that the committee decided, by a vote of 24 to 4, to smother the agitation by refusing to permitits ventilation in the open Reichstag. CHAPTER LI THE U-53'S EXPLOITS While the German Budget Committee was thus occupied a new andstartling turn was given to the situation by the unheralded appearanceat Newport, R. I. , on October 7, 1916, of a German submarine, the_U-53_. Rising out of the water in the afternoon, it remained longenough for its captain to deliver a missive for Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador, pay a call on Admiral Knight, the Americancommander there, ask for news of the missing _Bremen_, and obtain asheaf of New York newspapers for information regarding Alliedshipping. Then it left the port, whither it had been piloted, anddisappeared under the waves. The visit, standing by itself, was aninteresting episode; but it proved to be much more than a mere socialcall. The next day revealed the real object of the submarine's presence inAmerican waters. Off Nantucket it appeared in its true guise as araider of shipping and sank five vessels--three British, one Dutch, and one Norwegian. Having thus brought the submarine war to the verythreshold of the United States, causing a reign of terror amongheld-up shipping along the Atlantic seaboard--a state of mind which, while it lasted, meant a virtual blockade of American ports--itdisappeared and was not again heard of. There was no doubt that the exploits of the _U-53_ were intended as ademonstration to test American feeling as to whether Germany couldattack on this side of the water munition and other vessels bound forAllied ports. It appeared a bold attempt to create a new precedent byoverriding one laid down in 1870 by President Grant, who ruled thatAmerican waters must not be used by other nations for belligerentpurposes. Outside the three-mile limit, however, German submarinescould operate with the same impunity as in the Arctic Ocean, so longas they observed the requirement of giving warning and allowing peopleon board the intercepted vessels time to save their lives. But themanifest point was that the waters outside the three-mile limit werecontiguous to the American coast, and provided highways for Americanshipping, coastwise and foreign. The proximity of German submarines, even though they confined their attention to Allied shipping to andfrom American ports, constituted too great a menace to the freemovement of the American mercantile marine. A wolf at a man's door is none the less dangerous because the wolf islying in wait for the appearance of an inmate of the man's house andnot for the man himself. Informal intimations persuaded Germany thatshe could not safely repeat the experiment of carrying the war toAmerica's door. The innovation, even in its most innocuous form, was contrary to goodinternational usage. Great Britain had previously offended in thisrespect by permitting her patrolling cruisers to intercept and examinemerchant vessels off the port of New York. She desisted atWashington's request. But a waiting cruiser, plain to the eye, interfering with shipping to prevent communication with Germany, wasa mild offender compared with an unseen submarine crossing the pathsof ships and liable to err in its indiscriminate destructiveness. Fortunately, no American lives were lost. But this was not the faultof the submarine. No question could be raised of its behavior insinking four of the five ships, namely, the _Strathdene_ (Britishfreighter), bound from New York to Bordeaux; the _West Point_ (Britishfreighter), bound from London to Newport News; the _Bloomersdijk_(Dutch freighter), bound from New York to Rotterdam; and the_Christian Knudsen_ (Norwegian freighter), bound from New York toLondon. The danger, happily averted, to American-German relations layin the sinking of the fifth vessel, the _Stephano_, a Britishpassenger liner plying regularly between New York, Halifax, N. S. , andSt. John's, Newfoundland. Among the _Stephano's_ passengers were anumber of Americans, who, like their companions in misfortune, had toseek the doubtful safety of small boats miles offshore. The situation was saved by the presence of American destroyers in thevicinity. Their commanders and crews were actual witnesses of thesinking, and afterward interposed as life savers of the shipwreckedvictims. The _Balch_ rescued the passengers and crew of the_Stephano_, numbering 140, and other destroyers took on board thecrews of the four freighters. The American navy in saving Germany'svictims had saved Germany from facing the consequences of her behaviorin jeopardizing the lives of Americans on board the _Stephano_. Germandiplomacy was even capable of pointing to the fact that the promptrelief afforded the _Stephano's_ passengers by American destroyers wasproof that the submarine commander had safeguarded their lives byrelying upon the American navy as a rescuer. The irony of such acontention lay in the implication that if American destroyers had notbeen on the scene the vessels might have been spared. It was a short-lived panic. The _U-53_ came and went in a flash; butamid the scare created by its presence President Wilson found itnecessary to assure the country that "the German Government will beheld to the complete fulfillment of its promise to the Government ofthe United States. I have no right now, " he added, "to question itswillingness to fulfill them. " The Administration's deliberations on the subject produced thedecision that the _U-53_ had not ignored the German pledges. It came, saw, and conquered according to formula. It had first warned thevessels, gave enough time for the people on board to be "safely"transferred to boats, and there were American naval eyewitnesses totestify as to the regularity of its proceedings. The incident passedas one on which no action could be taken by the United States. ButGermany saw that it could not well be repeated. American sensibilitieshad to be respected as much as international proprieties. The reproofconveyed to the British Ambassador by Secretary Lansing that "theconstant and menacing presence of cruisers on the high seas near theports of a neutral country may be regarded according to the canons ofinternational courtesy as a just ground for offense, although it maybe strictly legal, " applied with double force to the presence ofGerman submarines because of their greater danger. Tart comments on the incident came from Great Britain, though itsGovernment did not appear to have protested to the United Statesagainst the view that the _U-53's_ proceedings were lawful andregular. Lord Robert Cecil, an official spokesman, saw a ruse in thesubmarine's visit: "German public opinion appears to be obsessed with the idea that theway to deal with the Allied blockade is to have a succession of suddencrises with neutrals, which may be used for striking diplomaticbargains. These bargains, in the mind of Germany, always take oneform--that Germany is to refrain from violating international law andhumanity in return for the abandonment by Great Britain as towardneutrals of the legitimate military and naval measures of the Allies. " In the House of Lords the United States was accused of a breach ofneutrality by Lords Beresford and Sydenham. Referring to "theactivities of the _U-53_ under the very eyes of the American navy"and to President Wilson's ultimatum which resulted in the Germanpledge, Lord Sydenham said: "Even before the exploits of the _U-53_ that pledge was torn toshreds. Yet the Government of the United States has made no signwhatever that the sinking of neutral ships goes on almost every day. What must small neutrals think of their powerful representative?" No life, he said, was lost because of the presence of Americanwarships. Lord Sydenham took the position that the presence ofAmerican warships actually enabled Germany to defy what PresidentWilson had described as a sacred and indisputable rule ofinternational law. Lord Beresford expressed a similar view: "The United States are really aiding and abetting this rather seriousstate of affairs. If the United States had not sent their ships, whichfor some extraordinary reason happened to be on the spot, to savelife, the Germans would no doubt have broken the pledge to which theirattention had been called. I think we are bound to take notice of afact which does not appear to be quite within the bounds of neutralityas far as the United States are concerned. " Lord Grey, Foreign Secretary, declined to commit the Government tosuch an attitude. He held that the American-German undertaking was noaffair of Great Britain's. It was left for the spectator to be truly prophetic, as the laterpeace movement showed, in seeking a motive for the _U-53's_proceedings. It considered that Germany sought to force the UnitedStates to propose peace terms, regardless of whether the EntenteAllies were agreeable or not: "Thus, with unrestricted submarine warfare as a settled policy, Germany gives America warning of what is likely to happen unless theUnited States is prepared to declare that the war has reached a pointwhere it is dangerous for neutrals. If the United States is willing toplay this rôle, the Germans will hold their hands from an extra doseof unlimited submarine frightfulness. " The _U-53_ had no sooner gone when an exchange of communicationsbetween the American and Allied governments regarding the status offoreign submarines in neutral ports became public. The questionrelated to the hospitality accorded the _Deutschland_ in Baltimore andNew London; but as it arose in the midst of the hubbub occasioned bythe _U-53_, the American view appeared to determine that such craftcould call at an American port like any other armed vessel, so long asit did not stay beyond the allotted time. The Allied governments besought neutrals, the United States amongthem, to forbid belligerent submarine vessels, "whatever the purposeto which they are put, " from making use of neutral waters, roadsteads, and ports. Such craft could navigate and remain at sea submerged, could escape control and observation, avoid identification and havingtheir national character established to determine whether they wereneutral or belligerent, combatant or noncombatant. The capacity forharm inherent in the nature of such vessels therefore required, in theview of the Allied governments, that they should be excluded from thebenefit of rules hitherto recognized by the laws of nations governingthe admission of war or merchant vessels to neutral waters and theirsojourn in them. Hence if any belligerent submarine entered a neutralport it should be interned. The point was further made that gravedanger was incurred by neutral submarines in the navigation of regionsfrequented by belligerent submarines. The American answer was brusque, and resentful of the attempt of theAllies to dictate the attitude neutrals should take toward submarineswhich visited their harbors. The governments of France, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan were informed that they had not "set forth anycircumstances, nor is the Government of the United States at presentaware of any circumstances, concerning the use of war or merchantsubmarines which would render the existing rules of international lawinapplicable to them. " Moreover, "so far as the treatment of eitherwar or merchant submarines in American waters is concerned, theGovernment of the United States reserves its liberty of action in allrespects and will treat such vessels as, in its opinion, becomes theaction of a power which may be said to have taken the first stepstoward establishing the principles of neutrality. " Finally, as to the danger to neutral submarines in waters frequentedby belligerent submarines, it was the duty of belligerents todistinguish between them, and responsibility for any conflict arisingfrom neglect to do so must rest upon the negligent power. This caustic exchange of views on harboring submarines took placebefore the appearance of the _U-53_. Had the Allies deferredapproaching the United States until after that event, the situationfavored the belief that the submarine's behavior would have dictated adifferent reply from Washington. Indeed, there was a strongpresumption that if another German armed submarine had the temerity tovisit an American port it might have been promptly interned, not underinternational law, but at the behest of public opinion. CHAPTER LII GATHERING CLOUDS The conduct of the country's foreign policy became hampered by thepresidential campaign. President Wilson was frankly uncertain ofreelection and embarrassed by the feeling that any determination hemade of a policy toward Germany might be overturned by his successfulopponent. So American domestic politics perceptibly intruded at thisstage in the country's foreign policy. In fact, that policy was practically in suspension. Germany eagerlyavailed herself of the hiatus, and, satisfying herself that PresidentWilson would be defeated, and that his successor would adopt adifferent attitude to her (she had no real ground for thissupposition), embarked upon a submarine activity that was in strangecontrast to the moderation which the German Chancellor had stubbornlyfought for in its conduct. The point to be remembered was that Germany's pledge to PresidentWilson was the only curb on frightfulness. Germany rashly assumed thatthe defeat of President Wilson would nullify it. At any rate, hisuncertain outlook in the preelection period opened the way for asubmarine outbreak which would be extended with impunity owing to theAdministration's hesitation in taking action that might not besustained by the President's presumed successor, on the theory thatMr. Wilson's defeat would be tantamount to a popular repudiation ofhis policies. Light was thrown on the German submarine policy by a Berlin dispatch, dated October 26, 1916, which indicated that the submarines were atleast placating the extremists: "While the silence of the German press and public on the subject ofsharpened submarine warfare may be attributed in some measure to thestand of Hindenburg and Ludendorff against it, much more significantis the growing popular realization that sharpened submarine warfare isactually in force. And the public is beginning to regard it asefficient and highly satisfactory. The fact is that it is successfulas never before, for it is sharpened not qualitatively, butquantitatively. " The British admiralty later reported that between May 4 (the date ofthe German pledge) and November 8, 1916, thirty-three vessels had beensunk by German submarines without warning, resulting in the loss of140 lives. In the same period 107 ships, all of British registry, hadbeen sunk and "the lives of the crews and passengers imperiled throughtheir being forced to take to the sea in open boats while their shipswere a target for the enemy's guns. " President Wilson's success at the polls, which hung in the balanceseveral days after the election, was the signal for a change ofattitude on Germany's part. The Berlin Government realized that hisforeign policy had received the indorsement of a majority of Americancitizens, and the assurance was communicated that the German admiraltywas again on its good behavior. But many depredations had been committed which Germany would be hardput to explain satisfactorily. No less than ten pressing Americaninquiries regarding sunk ships were sent to the Berlin Foreign Officeas soon as the President, assured that his tenure of office was nolonger in doubt, returned to the consideration of foreign affairs. Thesubmarine outbreak showed an undoubted disposition on Germany's partto violate her pledge, and if the Administration was satisfied thatshe had done so, its expressed attitude was that no more protestswould be sent. The American answer to Germany's defiance could only bethe dismissal of Count von Bernstorff from Washington and the recallof Ambassador Gerard from Berlin. The outstanding cases on which the United States called for anadequate defense from Germany were: The _Rowanmore_, British freighter, bound from Baltimore to Liverpool, sunk off Cape Clear on October 25, 1916. Two Americans and fiveFilipinos were on board. No lives were lost. The _Marina_, a British horse carrier, bound from Glasgow to NewportNews, sunk without warning off the southwest coast of Ireland onOctober 29, 1916. She carried a mixed crew of British and Americans. Six Americans lost their lives. The _Arabia_, a Peninsular and Oriental passenger liner, sunk in theMediterranean without warning on November 6, 1916. One American was onboard. No lives were lost. The _Columbian_, an American steamer, sunk off the Spanish coast onNovember 8, 1916, after being held up for two days under surveillanceby the submarine during a storm. Germany charged that the _Rowanmore_ attempted to escape on beingordered to stop. Her steering gear was shot away after an hour'schase, when the captain hove to and lifeboats were lowered. The crewcomplained that the submarine shelled the boats after they had clearedthe ship. This the commander denied. The flight of the _Rowanmore_appeared to deprive her of the consideration due to an unresistingvessel under cruiser warfare. The _Marina_ carried a defensive gun, as did the _Arabia_. This factalone, Germany contended, entitled her submarines to sink both vesselswithout warning, in addition to the commander's belief in each casethat the vessel was a transport in the service of the Britishadmiralty. The American Government was satisfied that neither vesselwas engaged in transport service on the voyage in question. In the_Arabia's_ case, 450 passengers were on board, including women andchildren, who were only saved because the Administration had alreadyheld that the gun's presence on a vessel did not deprive her of theright to proper warning before being sunk. Germany admitted liabilityfor sinking the _Columbian_ and agreed to pay for the value of thevessel and the contraband cargo she carried. The _Marina_ case stood out, in the view of the State Department, as a"clear-cut" violation of Germany's pledges to the United States. Hergun was not used, and no opportunity was afforded for using it. The"presumption" on the part of a German submarine commander that avessel was a transport was a favorite defense of Germany's anddisregarded the American ruling on armed merchantmen, which held that"the determination of warlike character must rest in no case uponpresumption, but upon conclusive evidence. " Berlin was looking for trouble. A period of complications inAmerican-German relations was frankly predicted. The Administrationwas plainly concerned by the situation; but no decision to take actionwas forthcoming. Its hesitation appeared to be due to the apparentneed for a further note to dispose of new interpretations Germany hadingeniously woven in her various excuses by way of evading the letterand spirit of the _Sussex_ agreement. One view of her submarine"rights" which Germany insisted on upholding was that armedmerchantmen were not legally immune from attack on sight. Herr Zimmermann, the German Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, definedanew his Government's attitude: "As the armament of several British ships has been used for attack, and has therefore endangered the lives of crew and passengers, ofcourse armed ships cannot be considered as peaceful trade boats. " The cases of the _Marina_ and _Arabia_ put the German pledges to atest. Neither vessel attempted to escape nor offered resistance, though armed with a solitary gun. The issue therefore resolved itselfinto these considerations: First. Since the German submarine commanders have pleaded extenuatingcircumstances on which they based their presumption that the _Marina_and _Arabia_, were transports, and not passenger vessels, were thesecircumstances sufficient to have justified the commanders in mistakingthe two steamers for transports? Second. If there were such extenuating circumstances, were they suchas to warrant the commanders in departing from the general rule laiddown by the American Government in the _Sussex_ note, calling forththe pledges given by Germany in May, 1916, in which it was guaranteedthat "in accordance with the general principles of visit and searchand destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law, such vessels, both within and without the area declared as naval warzone, shall not be sunk without warning and without saving humanlives, unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance?" Whatever intimation was made to Germany by the United States did notbecome public. By December, 1916, the whole question appeared to havebeen suddenly shelved by the peace proposals Germany hurled at theAllies in loud tones of victory, coupled with an invitation to theUnited States to interpose as a mediator. Peace, of course, woulddispose of further friction with the United States. While theproposals were pending, moreover, American action on German violationsof her submarine agreement was suspended. What was the use of adiplomatic rupture with Germany on the eve of peace? But Germany knewthat her official "peace kite" was making an abortive flight. Peaceshe really did not expect, knowing it was not within reach; but shewas anxious to preserve friendly relations with the United States, although daily flouting it in her conduct of the submarine war. Herpeace move was therefore shown to have had a double edge. Itpostponed, but did not avert, a final crisis with the United States, and that, indeed, might well have been its initial aim in view of theforedoomed futility of its ostensible object. Certainly PresidentWilson espoused the peace proposal for the same reason; but, as shownin the following chapter, the efforts of both were in vain. The realclimax was to come after all. CHAPTER LIII RUPTURE WITH GERMANY The movement for peace was at its crest, and President Wilson wasapparently sanguine that his efforts in furthering it were on the eveof bearing fruit, when Great Britain planned to extend her blockade ofthe German coast in the North Sea. She enlarged the dangerous areawhich hitherto only barred the entry of German naval forces south intothe Straits of Dover and the English Channel by cutting off the GermanNorth Sea coast altogether, in order to prevent the egress and ingressof German sea raiders by the northward route and to curtail thechances of the kaiser's warships making successful forays on theEnglish coast. The significance of this action was not seen until itbecame known that Great Britain had discovered that Germany, whileseemingly occupied with peace, was preparing a warning to neutrals ofher intention to establish a deep-sea blockade of the entire Britishand French coasts. By extending the mined area round the German coastGreat Britain sought to counteract and anticipate the new Germanproject, the aim of which was to starve the British Isles by a bitterand unrestrained submarine war on all ships. The British warning ofthe extended dangerous area came on January 27, 1917. Germanyannounced her new policy four days later, proclaiming that it was inretaliation of Great Britain's latest attempt to tighten her stranglehold on German food supplies. But there was overwhelming evidence--theGerman Chancellor himself provided it--that the German plan had beenmatured long in advance of Great Britain's course, and that the peaceovertures had really been made by Germany in order that their certainrejection could be seized upon as a justification for the ruthlesssea warfare projected. The Wilson Administration, round whose horizon mirages of peace stillappeared to linger, was not prepared for the blow when it came. ThePresident could scarcely credit the news brought by a note fromGermany on January 31, 1917, that she had withdrawn her pledges to theUnited States not to sink ships without warning. But the situation hadto be faced that a crisis confronted the country in its relations withthe German Empire. Germany found occasion in her note of renunciation to link its purportwith that of the President's address delivered to the Senate nine dayspreviously. (See Part VI, Chapter LVIII, "Peace Without Victory. ") Inits exalted sentiments she gave a perfunctory and manifestly insincereacquiescence by way of prefacing familiar reproaches to the Allies forrefusing to accept her peace overtures. In rejecting them, she said, the Allies had disclosed their real aims, which were to "dismember anddishonor Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. " Germany was poignantly grieved by the continuance of the war, notsolely because of fear of this supposititious dismemberment, butbecause "British tyranny mercilessly increases the sufferings of theworld, indifferent to the laws of humanity, indifferent to theprotests of the neutrals whom they severely harm, indifferent even tothe silent longing for peace among England's own allies. Each day ofthe terrible struggle causes new destruction, new sufferings. Each dayshortening the war will, on both sides, preserve the lives ofthousands of brave soldiers and be a benefit to mankind. " Anything to end the war, was Germany's slogan. Because of thesufferings of the German people "a new situation" had been createdwhich forced her to "new decisions. " Because of the sufferings ofother nations, and the Entente Powers' refusal to make peace at herbidding, she thus announced her resolve: ". .. The Imperial Government, in order to serve the welfare of mankind in a higher sense and not towrong its own people, is now compelled to continue the fight forexistence, again forced upon it, _with the full employment of all theweapons which are at its disposal_. " The Imperial Government furthermore hoped that the United Stateswould "view the new situation from the lofty heights of impartiality, and assist on their part to prevent further misery and unavoidablesacrifice of human life. " [Illustration: New German Submarine War Zone of February 1, 1917. ] The "new situation" as presented to the United States was that withina barred zone Germany had drawn round the British and French coasts, extending from the Shetlands as far south as Cape Finisterre, and tothe west some 700 miles into the Atlantic, and also in theMediterranean, all sea traffic would be stopped on and after February1, 1917, and that neutral vessels navigating the proscribed waterswould do so at their own risk. The only exception made was a "safetylane" permitted for one American vessel a week with identifiablemarkings to sail to and from Falmouth through the Atlantic zone (theUnited States Government to guarantee that it did not carrycontraband) and another safety lane admitting sea traffic through theMediterranean to Athens. All other vessels would be sunk withoutregard to the pledges Germany made to the United States. Germany thuspractically shut off American traffic with Europe in pursuance of hernew sea warfare against her enemies. The edict was extended to hospital ships on the charge that the Alliesused them for the transportation of munitions and troops. The chargewas denied by the British and French Governments; but frightfulnessadmitted of no truth nor acceptance of denials of German charges, obviously made deliberately to justify barbarities, and so hospitalships, with their medical and nursing staffs and wounded, were to besunk whenever found by submarines. The real attitude of Germany toward her withdrawn pledges to theUnited States was betrayed by the German Chancellor in addressing theReichstag Committee on Ways and Means. He revealed that the pledgeswere merely a temporary expedient, made to fill up a gap until moresubmarines were available. It appeared that in March, May (whenGermany surrendered to the American demands), and in September, 1916, the question of unrestricted warfare was not considered ripe fordecision--that is, Germany was not ready to defy the United States. Dr. Von Bethmann-Hollweg thus defined the situation: "I have always proceeded from the standpoint of whether U-boat warwould bring us nearer victorious peace or not. Every means, I said inMarch, that was calculated to shorten the war constitutes the mosthumane policy to follow. When the most ruthless methods are consideredbest calculated to lead us to victory, and swift victory, I said thenthey must be employed. This moment has now arrived. .. . The moment hascome when, with the greatest prospect of success, we can undertake theenterprise. " What changes, he asked, had come into the situation? A firm basis forsuccess had been established by a considerable increase in submarines;poor harvests confronted England, France, and Italy, who would findtheir difficulties unbearable by an unrestricted submarine war; Franceand Italy also lacked coal, and the submarines would increase itsdearth; England lacked ore and timber, her supplies of which would bediminished by the same means; and all the Entente Powers weresuffering from a shrinkage in cargo space due to the submarines. Withthe bright prospect of success afforded by the supposed plight of theAllied Powers, Germany, he indicated, was prepared to accept all theconsequences that would flow from the unrestricted submarine warfaredecided upon. So was President Wilson. The German Chancellor made it clear thatafter Germany gave her solemn pledge on May 4, 1916, not to sink shipswithout warning, she had occupied the intervening months in feverishpreparations to break it and to tear up the pledge like a scrap ofpaper and throw it to the winds. On the Chancellor's own words Germanyhad been convicted of a breach of faith. The President considered the crisis for three days. There was noquestion of the United States tolerating Germany's disavowal of herunlawful blockade of American trade with the belligerent countries. The only questions to be decided were whether to warn Germany that arupture would follow her first act hurtful to American life orproperty; to demand the withdrawal of her decree by an ultimatum; towait until she committed some "overt act" before taking action; orwhether to cease diplomatic relations without any parley at all. The last-named course was determined upon. On February 3, 1917, President Wilson addressed the two Houses of Congress in jointsession, informing them that the United States had severed itsrelations with Germany. The President reviewed the circumstances whichled to the giving of the German undertaking to the United Statesfollowing the sinking of the _Sussex_ on March 24, 1916, withoutwarning. He reminded Congress that on the April 18 following theAdministration informed the German Government that unless it "shouldnow immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its presentmethods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carryingvessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but tosever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether. " TheGerman Government consented to do so with reservations. These theUnited States brushed aside, and committed Germany to the plain pledgethat no ships should be sunk without warning unless they attempted toescape or offered resistance. In view of Germany's new declarationdeliberately withdrawing her solemn assurance without priorintimation, the President told Congress that the Government had noalternative consistent with the dignity and honor of the United Statesbut to hand Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador, hispassports, and to recall Ambassador Gerard from Berlin. But thePresident refused to believe that the German authorities intended tocarry out the decree. "I cannot bring myself to believe, " he said, "that they will indeedpay no regard to the ancient friendship between their people and ourown or to the solemn obligations which have been exchanged betweenthem and destroy American ships and take the lives of Americancitizens in the willful prosecution of the ruthless naval program theyhave announced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt acts ontheir part can make me believe it even now. " But in the event of such overt acts the duty of the United States wasclear: "If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety and prudentforesight of their purpose should unhappily prove unfounded, ifAmerican ships and American lives should in fact be sacrificed bytheir naval commanders in a heedless contravention of the just andreasonable understanding of international law and the obvious dictatesof humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again before theCongress to ask that authority be given me to use any means that maybe necessary for the protection of our seamen and our people in theprosecution of their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas. I can do nothing less. I take it for granted that all neutralgovernments will take the same course. " Should Germany compel the United States to declare war, the Presidentrepudiated that any aggressive attitude would dictate such a course: "We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial GermanGovernment. We are the sincere friends of the German people, andearnestly desire to remain at peace with the Government which speaksfor them. We shall not believe that they are hostile to us unless anduntil we are obliged to believe it, and we purpose nothing more thanthe reasonable defense of the undoubted rights of our people. We wishto serve no selfish ends. We seek merely to stand true alike inthought and in action to the immemorial principles of our people whichI have sought to express in my address to the Senate only two weeksago--seek merely to vindicate our right to liberty and justice and anunmolested life. These are the bases of peace, not war. God grant thatwe may not be challenged to defend them by acts of willful injusticeon the part of the Government of Germany!" War was apparently inevitable. Submarine warfare on Atlantic shippingmade certain some "overt act" offensive to the United States. TheGerman attitude was that the new decree would be remorselessly actedupon; it could not and would not be modified; it was absolute andfinal; and the only security for American shipping was to avoid theprohibited zone by abandoning its trade with Europe. Germany frankly discounted the effect of the entrance of the UnitedStates, as a belligerent opposed to her. Measuring her estimated gainsfrom the pursuit of an unbridled sea war, she decided that they wouldmore than outweigh the disadvantage of American hostility. CHAPTER LIV NOTHING SETTLED With the Allied Powers the American Government's relations continuedto be friendly under certain diplomatic difficulties, due to a groupof unadjusted issues relating to the blockade of German ports, mailseizures, and the blacklist. Popularly, overwhelming pro-Allysympathies and an enormous trade due directly to the war more thanoffset commercial irritation arising from Allied infractions ofAmerican rights; but while they continued they intruded as obstaclesto the preservation of official amity. If the Administration wascontent to enter its protests and then let matters rest, its inactionmerely meant that the Allies' sins were magnanimously tolerated, notcondoned. The Allies, on the other hand, maintained that they were notsinning at all, that they were only doing what the United Statesitself had done when engaged in war and would do again if it everbecame a belligerent. Diplomacy failed to reconcile the differences, and so nothing was settled. Great Britain, as the chief offender in trampling roughshod overAmerican privileges of trade in war time, added to her manifoldtransgressions, in August, 1916, by placing further curbs on neutraltrade with the Netherland Overseas Trust. Under a scheme to ration theneutral countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland--that is, restricting their imports to their estimated domestic needs--furtherlicenses granted to British exporters to trade with these countrieswere discontinued. Here was a check on British exports for fear of thesurplus reaching Germany through neutral channels. A check onAmerican exports followed by Great Britain forbidding the OverseasTrust to accept further consignments of certain commodities from theUnited States for Holland, and by her refusal to grant letters ofassurance safeguarding the delivery of American shipments destined forthe three other countries. By these devices Great Britain controlledsupplies to these countries at the source. The effect was that certainAmerican consignments predestined for Holland were stopped altogether, while the shipping companies trading between the United States andScandinavia could not take cargoes without British assurances of safedischarge at their ports of destination. The British official view wasthat excessive exports from Great Britain to these countries could notvery well be forbidden while permitting them from the United Statesand other neutral sources. The veto had to be general to be effective. One measure passed by Congress, providing for the creation of aShipping Board, empowered the Secretary of the Treasury to forbidclearance to any vessel whose owner or agents refused to acceptconsignments offered for transport abroad by an American citizen forreasons other than lack of space or inadaptability of the vessel tocarry the cargo offered. Another measure, the Omnibus Revenue Law, made similar provisions in a more drastic form, aiming specifically atretaliation for the Allies' blacklist of German-American firms, andthe various blockades and embargoes in operation against Americanproducts. It provided that the owners or agents of vessels affiliatedwith a belligerent engaged in a war to which the United States was nota party must neither discriminate in favor of nor against any citizen, product, or locality of the United States in accepting or refusingconsignments on pain of clearance being refused. The same penalty attached to vessels of any belligerent which deniedto American ships and citizens the same privileges of commerce whichthe offending belligerent accorded to its own vessels or to those ofany other nationality. An alternative penalty, to be exercised by thePresident in his discretion, denied to such offending belligerents'ships and citizens the privileges of commerce with the United Statesuntil reciprocal liberty of trade was restored. A third provisionaimed at penalizing a belligerent who prohibited the importation atits ports of any American product, not injurious to health or morals, by barring importation into the United States from the offendingcountry similar or other articles. The prevailing view was that the exercise of such reprisals by thePresident would virtually mean nonintercourse in trade and involveserious international complications. An isolated English impression, only of moment because it placed the aspects of the legislation in anutshell, recognized that while it might be merely a "flourish" havinga special virtue on the eve of a presidential election, the reprisalswere aimed at the Allies, primarily against Great Britain, and werepopular in the United States as a commercial club that could bewielded instead of having recourse to the threats that brought Germanyto respect American demands. But the British official attitude astaken by Lord Robert Cecil was unmoved. "It is not likely, " he said, "that Great Britain will change her blacklist policy at the request ofthe United States. The idea that Great Britain is adopting adeliberate policy with which to injure American trade is the purestmoonshine, since outside of our own dominions our trade with theUnited States is the most important. Of course, natural trade rivalryexists, but no responsible statesman in this country would dream ofproposing an insane measure designed to injure American commerce. " The blacklist was the last straw which provoked the retaliatorylegislation. But, alone of the seemingly unadjustable disputes pendingbetween the United States and Great Britain, it was on the blacklistissue that the latter had an unanswerable defense. The British standleft official Washington's complaint bereft of foundation underinternational law. The only ground on which the American protest couldbe justified was by contending that the blacklist violatedinternational comity. In other words, if it was not illegal--there wasno doubt of its legality--it was an incivility. There had been the usual diplomatic exchange between the twogovernments on the subject prefacing a lengthy communication sent byLord Grey--the new title of the British Foreign Secretary upon hispromotion to the peerage--on October 10, 1916. Therein he repeatedthat the blacklist was promulgated in pursuance of the Trading withthe Enemy Act (a war measure explained in a previous volume), and wasa piece of purely municipal legislation. Moreover, the AmericanGovernment was assured, "the Government of Great Britain neitherpurport nor claim to impose any disabilities or penalties upon neutralindividuals or upon neutral commerce. The measure is simply one whichenjoins those who owe allegiance to Great Britain to cease havingtrade relations with persons who are found to be assisting orrendering service to the enemy. " Nor were the steps taken confined to the United States: "With the full consent of the Allied Governments, firms even in Alliedcountries are being placed on the statutory list, if they are firmswith whom it is necessary to prevent British subjects from trading. These considerations may, perhaps, serve to convince the Government ofthe United States that the measures now being taken are not directedagainst neutral trade in general. Still less are they directed againstAmerican trade in particular; they are part of the general belligerentoperations designed to weaken the enemy's resources. " The burden of the note was that Great Britain maintained the right, which in the existing crisis she also deemed a duty, to withholdBritish facilities from those who conducted their trade for thebenefit of her foes. This right Lord Grey characterized as so obviousthat he could not believe the United States Government seriouslycontested the inherent privilege of a sovereign state to exercise itexcept under a misconception of the scope and intent of the measurestaken. It would appear that the American Government gracefullysurrendered, by default, its earlier contention that Great Britain hadno right to forbid her subjects from trading with American firmshaving Teutonic affiliations. The American objections to detentions and censorship of mails by theAllied Powers, which were bent on preventing German sympathizers fromusing the postal service to neutral countries as a channel fortransmitting money, correspondence, and goods for the Central Powers, brought a further communication from Lord Grey on October 12, 1916. Itthrew no new light on the subject, the bearings of which were dealtwith in a previous volume. The American contentions, so far from beingconceded, were themselves attacked in an argument intended to refutethem. The Allied governments were only prepared to give assurancesthat they would continue to lessen the annoyances caused by thepractice and were "ready to settle responsibility therefor inaccordance with the principles of law and justice, which it never wasand is not now their intention to evade. " Lord Grey thus defined the Allied position: "The practice of the Germans to make improper use of neutral mails andforward hostile correspondence, even official communications, dealingwith hostilities, under cover of apparently unoffensive envelopes, mailed by neutrals to neutrals, made it necessary to examine mailsfrom or to countries neighboring Germany under the same conditions asmails from or to Germany itself; but as a matter of course mails fromneutrals to neutrals that do not cover such improper uses have nothingto fear. " Germany's treatment of mails, Lord Grey pointed out, went much furtherthan mere interception: "As regards the proceedings of the German Empire toward postalcorrespondence during the present war, the Allied governments haveinformed the Government of the United States of the names of some ofthe mail steamers whose mail bags have been not examined, to be sure, but purely and simply destroyed at sea by the German navalauthorities. Other names could very easily be added. The very recentcase of the mail steamer _Hudikswall_ (Swedish), carrying 670 mailbags, may be cited. " The discussion was as profitless as that arising from the blacklist. As to the blockade issue, involving interference with Americancommerce on the high seas, both sides appeared to epistolarily bolt, and the question remained in suspended animation. The blacklist andmail disputes acquired a similar status. PART VII--WESTERN FRONT CHAPTER LV THE GERMAN RETREAT ON THE ANCRE In January, 1917, the British forces in France captured 1, 228 Germans, of whom twenty-seven were officers. The first month of the new yearpassed unmarked by any striking gains for either side. The Allies hadmaintained and strengthened their old positions, made slight advancesat some points, and continued to harass and destroy the enemy intrench raids, artillery duels, and in battles in the air. Some record of the principal minor operations in France and Belgium atthis time is necessary, as every offensive movement had a set purposeand was a part of the Germans' or Allies' plans. On February 1, 1917, in the neighborhood of Wytschaete, parties ofGermans dressed in white attempted two surprise assaults on Britishtrenches, but were rolled back with severe losses before they couldget within striking distance. In these encounters the British tookprisoners without losing a man or incurring the slightest casualty. On the same date the French were engaged in lively artillery actionsat Hartmannsweilerkopf and east of Metzeral. Around Altkirch and tothe east of Rheims they were successful in spirited encounters withenemy patrols. In Lorraine during the night the Germans attackedtrenches south of Leintrey, but were shattered by French fire. In thesector of St. Georges in Belgium a surprise attack also failed. On the British front in the course of the same night a dashing raidwas carried out against German trenches northeast of Guèdecourt (Sommesector) in which two officers and fifty-six men were taken prisoners. The British carried out another successful operation on February 3, 1917, north of the Ancre, pushing forward their line east of Beaucourtsome 500 yards on a front of about three-quarters of a mile. Over ahundred prisoners and three machine guns were captured. On the samenight southeast of Souchez German trenches were penetrated andtwenty-one prisoners and some guns were taken. Several dugoutscontaining Germans were bombed and an enemy shaft was destroyed. While the British continued to make slight gains and to harass theenemy, the French were engaged in minor operations no less successful. A surprise attack in the region of Moulin-sous-Toutvent resulted inthe capture of a dozen prisoners. A similar operation in the region ofTracy-le-Val between the Oise and the Aisne was also a victory forFrench arms. The Germans fought with determination, but were unable tomake any headway against the indomitable French spirit. The number ofcasualties incurred by the Germans was not known, but the French tooktwenty-two prisoners. During February 4, 1917, the Germans displayed intense activity, as ifdetermined to retrieve their frequent failures since the month opened. Three hostile raids were attempted by strong German forces during thenight and early morning of February 4-5, 1917, on the British lines onthe Somme front. The Germans in each attack were thrown back indisorder, leaving a number of prisoners in British hands. Northeast of Guèdecourt during the night of the 4th the Britishoccupied 500 yards of a German trench, capturing a machine gun andseventy prisoners, including two officers. In the space of twenty-four hours (February 4-5, 1917) the Germansmade four successful counterattacks against the new British front eastof Beaucourt. The British continued the work of consolidating theirnew positions undisturbed by the frantic efforts of the Germans tooust them, and in raids and counterattacks captured forty prisoners, including one officer. British airmen registered a number of victories during February 4, 1917. Three German machines were destroyed and six others driven toearth seriously damaged. Only one British machine was counted missing. During the evening on this date the French south of the Somme defeateda German raid near Barleux, inflicting heavy casualties and takingsome prisoners. Incursions into German lines in Alsace and theChambrette and Pont-à-Mousson sectors were carried out withsatisfactory results. They captured a considerable amount of warmaterial and brought back one officer and a number of prisoners. The British on the Somme front were now determined to push on to thecapture of Grandcourt. On February 6, 1917, they occupied 1, 000 yardsof German trench in the neighborhood of that place. Artillery activityon both sides of the Somme front and in the Ypres sector continuedduring the day and night. The British brought down ten German machinesin aerial battles and lost two of their own flyers. On February 5-6, 1917, the French continued to raid German lines withgood results. In Alsace near Anspach they penetrated three Germanpositions, wrecking enemy works and bombing shelters and returned totheir own lines without losing a man. The continuous pressure which the British brought to bear on bothsides of the Ancre River forced the Germans to evacuate Grandcourt onFebruary 6, 1917. The capture of the village was regarded asimportant, marking a notable advance for the British on the forts ofMiraumont and Grandcourt, which covered Bapaume from the west. In Lorraine on this date the Germans succeeded in piercing a salientin the French lines, but were driven out by a spirited counterattack. Three German planes were brought down during the night, LieutenantHuerteaux scoring his twentieth victory. [Illustration: The Entire Western Front, August 1, 1917. ] The British followed up their success in capturing Grandcourt byadvances on both sides of the Ancre. On the morning of February 8, 1917, they drove the Germans out of a position of importance on thehighest point of Sailly-Saillisel hill, gaining all their objectivesand capturing seventy-eight prisoners, of whom two were officers. Inthe operations along the Ancre a German officer and eighty-two menwere made prisoner. South of Dixmude a strong German raiding party attempted to attack aBelgian outpost. They were received by such a hurricane of infantryand machine-gun fire that the field was strewn with dead, and few ofthe raiders succeeded in making their escape. During February 9-10, 1917, the French and British continued toregister minor successes in daring raids, bombarding enemy positionsand capturing in one way or another several hundred prisoners. An advance worthy of special note was made by British troops in thenight of February 10, 1917, when they captured a strong system ofGerman trenches on a front of more than three-quarters of a mile inthe Somme line. This was on the southern front just north of SerreHill. The German prisoners taken during this operation numbered 215, including some officers. On the same date French raiders penetrated German trenches in theForest of Apremont, destroying defenses and capturing prisoners. Inthe neighborhood of Verdun a German plane was shot down, and in othersectors French aviators during fiercely fought combats in the airbrought down in flames two other machines. North of the Ancre the British continued to make progress, occupyingwithout difficulty a German trench some 600 yards long and taking agood number of prisoners. The Germans tried to force the British outof their recently won positions south of Serre Hill, but, caught inartillery barrage and machine-gun fire, were driven off with seriouslosses. On this date also the French carried out successful raidsduring the night on the Verdun front in the neighborhood of thefamous Hill 304, and another in the Argonne which resulted in thedestruction of enemy works and the capture of a number of prisoners. The small gains made by the French and British during the first weeksof February, 1917, were not especially important in themselves, buteach slight advance brought the Allies nearer to important Germanpositions. The daily trench raids served to harass and bewilder thecommon enemy, and while the number of prisoners taken were few in eachinstance, in the aggregate the number was impressive. The British andFrench were not disposed to squander lives recklessly in these minorexploits, and it was only when they were within striking distance ofan important objective that they operated with strong forces and themost powerful guns at their command. The Canadians, who always displayed a special liking for trench raids, and were uncommonly successful in such operations, engaged in one onthe morning of February 13, 1917, which merits description in somedetail. The attack was made on a 600-yard front between Souchez andGivenchy. The Germans under the shell storm that shattered theirtrenches had retreated to the depths of their dugouts, and while itlasted few ventured forth to oppose the raiders. The Britishbombardment had been so effective that the German machine-gunemplacements must have been destroyed or were buried under débris, foronly a few guns spoke out as the Canadians "went over. " The Germans inthe dugouts could not be coaxed out. Explosives thrown into theirhiding places must have produced appalling consequences. The sturdyCanadians did not relish this kind of work, but there was noalternative. For an hour they searched the mine shafts and galleriesaround Givenchy and destroyed them. Some Germans in the depths werekilled before they could explode certain mines they had prepared underBritish positions. About fifty prisoners of the Eleventh BavarianRegiment were captured who had fought in Russia, at Verdun, and on theSomme. Five hours later the same Canadian troops, unwearied by this strenuousexperience, were carrying out another raid farther south, where theyobtained good results. On this date, February 14, 1917, the steady pressure maintained bythe British forced the Germans to abandon advanced positions betweenSerre and the Somme and to fall back on their main fighting position. [Illustration: One of the strange armoured automobiles or "tanks" withwhich the British surprised the Germans in September, 1916. Theircaterpillar trucks and peculiar form make it possible for them toadvance easily over obstructions and trenches. ] On the following day, February 15, 1917, the troops of the GermanCrown Prince achieved a success of some importance. After intenseartillery fire they stormed four French lines south of Ripont in theChampagne, on a front of about a mile and a half, gaining ground to adepth of half a mile. They captured twenty-one officers and 837 men ofother ranks, and a considerable quantity of war material. On the samedate the British carried out a successful raid southeast of Souchez, penetrating enemy positions and taking prisoners. In air combats indifferent sectors British airmen disposed of nine German machines andlost four of their own. The British made important gains on both banks of the Ancre when inthe morning of February 17, 1917, they attacked German positionsopposite the villages of Miraumont and Petit Miraumont on a front ofabout two miles. North of the river a commanding German position onhigh ground north of Baillescourt Farm was carried on a front of about1, 000 yards. In these operations along the Ancre the British captured761 prisoners, including twelve officers. During the preliminary bombardment of the German positions a Britishartillery sergeant slipped out of the trenches with a telephone, and, establishing himself in a shell hole in a forward position, directedthe gunfire which shattered the German barbed-wire defenses. The Germans made a courageous attempt to oust the British from theirnewly won positions on the spur above Baillescourt Farm in the morningof February 18, 1917. Their infantry, advancing in three waves withbodies of supporting troops in the rear, were swept by theconcentrated fire of the British artillery. The storm of fireshattered the attack and the German forces were rolled back inconfusion. At no point were they able to reach the British lines. During the night the British carried out four successful raids onGerman positions southwest and northwest of Arras, south ofFauquissart and north of Ypres, during which nineteen prisoners weretaken and great damage was wrought to hostile defenses. The British continued their successful minor operations during thesucceeding days. On February 20, 1917, New Zealand troops penetratedGerman lines south of Armentières to a depth of 300 yards, where theywrecked dugouts and trench works. The intense preliminary bombardmentwhich preceded the raid had proved so destructive that the NewZealanders found the German support lines filled with dead. The raidresulted in the capture of forty-four prisoners. In an attacksoutheast of Ypres the British, advancing on a front of 500 yards, reached the German support line after desperate fighting. Theydestroyed dugouts and mine shafts and took 114 prisoners, including anofficer and a number of machine guns. The steady pressure of the British on the German positions along theAncre since the beginning of the month brought results that surpassedField Marshal Haig's most sanguine expectations. The Germans wereforced to abandon their front on the Ancre, escaping to a new line ofdefenses along the Bapaume ridge. Their retreat covered about threemiles and the British were able to occupy a number of Germanstrongholds which they expected to win by hard fighting. Serre, thetwo Miraumonts, and Pys were occupied without a struggle. The Germanssucceeded in saving their guns during the retirement, but were forcedto destroy ammunition dumps and military stores. In the night ofFebruary 24, 1917, British troops, advancing south of Irles and towardWarlencourt, occupied the famous butte which had been the scene ofintense fighting in the previous month. The foggy, misty weather which prevailed at the time in this regionhad greatly facilitated the German retreat, as the keen eyes of theBritish airmen were unable to study their movements. It was surmisedthat some important operation was under way owing to the recklessexpenditure of shells which had been going on for some days. TheGermans were shooting up stores of ammunition which they foundimpossible to take with them in their retreat. During February 25-26, 1917, the British continued to harass theretiring Germans, pressing forward over the newly yielded ground andforcing back the rear guards of the enemy. In these actions theGermans depended chiefly on their heavy guns mounted on railwaytrucks, which in case of necessity could be rushed away at the lastmoment. Early in the morning of February 26, 1917, heavy explosions were heardin the direction of Bapaume, where the Germans were engaged indestructive work to prevent the British entry. Along their lines ofretreat large trees had been felled across the roads, forming loftybarriers, on the other side of which great mine craters had beenopened up. Despite desperate rear-guard actions, and the strenuous efforts madeby the Germans to hinder the advance, the British continued to pressforward. The village of Ligny about a mile and a half west of Bapaumewas occupied, as well as the village of Le Barque. North of the Ancrethe western and northern defenses of Puisieux were wrested from theGermans. On February 27, 1917, the British pushed forward all along theeleven-mile line stretching from south of Gommecourt to west of LeTransloy. The British objective at this time was a crest overlookingthe high ground running between Achiet-le-Petit and Bapaume. At everystage of the British advance fresh evidences were found of the Germandestructive methods before retiring. The carefully built dugouts whichthey had so long occupied had been reduced by explosives to heaps ofrubbish. The Germans had left certain bodies of men behind with machine guns tohinder the British pursuit. As they had carefully chosen theirpositions they were enabled to work considerable damage. The Britishhad encounters with some of these outposts on the 27th in theneighborhood of Box and Rossignol Woods. The Germans, having foundthat their machine-gun fire did not restrain the advance, tried ashrapnel barrage which proved more effective, but only delayed thepursuers for a short time. The British troops were so elated over the fact that the Germans wereretreating that they made light of the ingenious obstacles thrown intheir way. The great advance continued, the British occupyingRossignol Wood, Rossignol Trench, and considerable ground to thenortheast of Puisieux. The latter place was partly occupied by Germanswho fought as if determined that the British should pay a high costfor possession of the village. The British had worked their way into acorner of the line, and other parties were engaged in driving out thedefenders, who fought from house to house. Southeast of the village the British line was being pushed out aboveMiraumont and Beauregard Dovecote. The Germans in the Gommecourtsalient shelled Miraumont and bombarded the neighborhood with highexplosives in reckless fashion as if eager to consume their supplies. During the night of February 27, 1917, the German troops abandonedGommecourt and the British took possession. Here on July 1, 1916, theLondoners had fought with desperate valor in assaulting an almostimpregnable position, and in the storm of massed gunfire werethreatened with annihilation. To the northeast of Gommecourt the British advanced their line morethan half a mile, and also captured the villages of Thilloy andPuisieux-le-Mont. A successful raid carried out in the night by theBritish in the neighborhood of Cléry resulted in the capture oftwenty-two prisoners. There was sharp fighting among the ruins of Puisieux, where theGermans had to be hunted from their hiding places. After thisclearing-out process the British line now ran well beyond Gommecourton the left and down to Irles on the right. The Germans concentratedheavy shell fire on Irles, and showered high explosives on Miraumontand upon other places on the front from which they had withdrawn. TheBritish were now less than a mile from Bapaume, in the rear of whichthe German guns on railway mountings were firing incessantly onBritish positions. On March 1, 1917, British headquarters in France, summarizing theoperations during February, stated that the British had captured 2, 133German prisoners and occupied either by capture or the withdrawal ofthe Germans eleven villages. Some of the positions captured were ofthe highest importance, to which the Germans had clung as long as theycould with desperate energy, and from which the British had triedvainly to conquer. The Germans had retired on the Ancre on a front oftwelve miles to a depth of two miles. The first stage of the German retirement plan was completed on March2, 1917, when they made a definite stand, their line now running fromEssarts through Achiet-le-Petit to about 1, 000 yards southeast ofBapaume. The Loupart Wood occupying high ground along this line hadbeen transformed into a strong field fortress after German methods, and here it was evident every preparation was made for a stiffdefense. The British had an enormous task before them in building roads throughthe recovered ground. The Germans had carefully timed their retirementwhen the ground was hard, but now owing to a week's thaw most of theSomme and Ancre area was transformed into liquid mud. In addition tothe difficulties presented by the terrain, the British patrols in theevacuated territory constantly encountered isolated bodies of Germandefensive troops who, obedient to their instructions, fought bravelyto hold the positions they had been assigned to. Everything thatcunning could devise was resorted to to delay the British advance. AnAustralian patrol discovered in one place a chain stretched across aravine which was connected with a mine at either end. CHAPTER LVI THE GERMAN RETREAT CONTINUES--FRENCH RECOVER 120 TOWNS The British troops continued to advance in the Ancre area in spite ofthe difficult terrain and the desperate defense of the Germans who hadbeen left behind in the retirement and who occupied positions wherethey might work the greatest damage to the pursuers. East ofGommecourt on March 3, 1917, the British gained two-thirds of a milealong a two-mile front. They were also successful east ofBouchavesnes, where they captured the enemy's front and support lineson a front of two-thirds of a mile. In these operations they captured190 prisoners and five machine guns. On March 4, 1917, the Germans made a violent attack on the Verdunfront which was repulsed by the French. North of Caurières Wood theGermans gained a footing in French advanced positions. They weredriven out on the following day in a spirited counterattack, leavingmany of their comrades dead on the field. Thaws, fogs, and snows continued to hamper military operations in allsectors of the fighting area. On March 8, 1917, the French won adecided victory over the Germans in Champagne. Notwithstanding thesnow, which rendered any military movement difficult, French troopsoperating between Butte du Mesnil and Maisons de Champagne carriedGerman positions on a front of 1, 680 yards to a depth varying from 650to 865 yards. As the French crossed no-man's-land, preceded by acomplete curtain of fire which raised and dropped mechanically, theGerman artillery was everywhere active, but their massed fire couldnot check the attackers' steady advance. As the French reached thefirst lines of German trenches the occupants offered littleresistance, but came running out with uplifted hands in token ofsurrender. At some points, however, the Germans had converted theirpositions into regular fortresses, and here there was desperatefighting with grenade and rifle. The French cleared out thesestrongholds and made their way slowly up the slopes toward theobjective. During the fight French aeroplanes circled overheadwatching the movements of the Germans behind the points attacked. Nota German machine was visible, but some were hidden among the snowclouds, for the rattle of machine guns, heard at times, denoted theirpresence above the battle field. On the following day, March 9, 1917, the Germans launched threeviolent attacks in this sector in an attempt to force the French outof their newly won positions. The Germans did not lack bravery, andpressed forward in the face of a strong barrage and machine-gun fire. The French guns, however, wrought such destruction in their ranks thatthey were finally forced to retire, their number shattered anddepleted. In the two days' fighting in this sector the French took 170prisoners, of whom four were officers. The British captured Irles in the morning of March 10, 1917. Previousto the attack their howitzers had deluged the place with shells. Theinfantry followed closely, one force advancing from the south andanother turning north, to head off any attempt of the Germans toretreat. In a sunken ravine the British found a small garrison of oldmen with machine guns. Here thirty prisoners were taken and the restkilled. The British swept on over the German trenches, meeting withvery little opposition. About 150 Germans were taken in this mainattack and quite as many more were gathered in by troops working westand north. The prisoners were all Prussians, belonging chiefly to theSecond Guards Reserve. The Germans succeeded in withdrawing withoutvery heavy losses, leaving their rear guard to bear the brunt of theBritish attack. The evacuation of Irles, which had become untenable, had been fixed by the Germans for the 10th at 7. 30 a. M. , but theBritish caught them napping by striking two hours earlier, with theresult that they captured three officers and 289 men. In the night of March 10, 1917, the French carried out successfulsurprise attacks on the German trenches in the Lassigny andCanny-sur-Matz regions, and in the neighborhood of the Woevre north ofJury Wood, destroying defensive works in these operations and takingfifteen prisoners and some machine guns. In the afternoon of March 12, 1917, the French troops operating on theChampagne front recaptured all the trenches on Hill 185. These lineslay west of the Maisons de Champagne Farm which the Germans had wonin the previous month. The attack was made over a front of nearly amile. During the night of March 11, 1917, French troops had crawledforward and by the use of grenades prepared the way for the generalassault on the German positions which were carried on the followingday. All the German trenches were taken on the hill and a fortifiedwork on the slopes north of Memelon. In the course of the action theFrench captured about 100 prisoners and a considerable number ofmachine guns. On March 12, 1917, the British advance was resumed on a front ofnearly four miles to the west of Bapaume. The Germans, retreating, left only a strong screen of rear guards to oppose, but they avoidedcontact with British patrols as far as possible. It was evident thatthe Germans were reserving their strength for some importantoperation. The British, pushing onward, advanced their line north of Ancre Valleyon a front of over one and a half miles southwest and west of Bapaume. South of Achiet-le-Petit the British made important progress andoccupied 1, 000 yards of German trenches west of Essarts. On March 13, 1917, Haig's troops had won the coveted ridge overlooking Bapaume fromthe northwest. For the first time since the struggle began on thisfront the British had the advantage of the highest ground. Bapaume, which the Germans had been blasting and piling up with the wreckage ofstores and the trunks of fallen trees, was now within easy strikingdistance and the next point to be captured in the British advance. Grévillers was occupied by the British during the night, their linenow stretching along the ridge which runs northwest from that point tothe outskirts of Achiet-le-Petit, where the Germans were inpossession. In the course of this latest advance Loupart Wood was occupied. It issituated on the shoulder of a high ridge which overlooks the entireSomme battle front. The British were highly elated over the capture ofthe wood, where for eight months German batteries had rained shellsupon the British positions. It was regarded as one of the strongestartillery posts which the Germans held on the western front. The Germans had made desperate efforts to hold this strong position, but thirty hours of incessant bombardment by British guns leveledtheir defenses and crushed in the dugouts, and they withdrew, ashattered remnant. In the Champagne region the Germans continued their attacks duringMarch 13-14, 1917, on the French positions on Hill 185. The loss ofthe hill a few days before, and of positions around Maisons deChampagne were regarded as important by the Germans, for theypersisted in their attacks though every attempt made was repulsed withappalling losses. They were unable to reach the French line at anypoint, though concentrating strong artillery fire on the lostpositions and attacking with grenades throughout the night. The Frenchcontinued to hold their own despite these desperate onslaughts andwere even able to increase their gains in this sector. In the region of St. Mihiel the French by a dashing operation capturedRomainville Farm with its garrison of thirty Germans. At fourdifferent points French detachments penetrated German trenches betweenthe Meuse and Apremont Forest, pushing as far as the second line ofdefenses and bringing back a number of prisoners. On March 15, 1917, French forces south of the Somme in theneighborhood of Roye after an intense shelling of the German linespenetrated east of Canny-sur-Matz to a depth of about half a mile. British troops between Péronne and Bapaume made important gains aboutthis date. Pushing forward on a front of two and a half miles theyoccupied German trenches running from the south of St. Pierre VaastWood to the north of the village of Saillisel, a stretch of about3, 000 yards. On March 17, 1917, the Germans were forced to abandon the whole lineof about fifteen miles between the Oise and Andechy, owing to thepressure of French forces. These lines were strongly fortified and hadbeen occupied by the Germans for about two years. The French continuedtheir advance movement on the following day. Their advance guardentered Roye in pursuit of a German contingent that had blown upstreets in the interior of the town. About 800 of the civil populationwhich the Germans had not had time to remove received theirliberators with a wild enthusiasm that was pathetic to witness. North and northeast of Lassigny the French made further gains, occupying the town and a number of points beyond, and pushing forwardpast the road between Roye and Noyon. During the night of March 17, 1917, French air squadrons bombarded German organizations in theregion of Arnaville, and the factories and blast furnaces atVölkingen, where a great fire was seen to break out. Stations androads in the region of Ham and St. Quentin were also bombarded withgood results, and all the French aeroplanes returned undamaged. On March 18, 1917, the Germans were in retreat over a front ofapproximately eighty-five miles from south of Arras on the north toSoissons on the Aisne. They evacuated scores of villages, and theimportant towns of Péronne, Chaulnes, Nesle, and Noyon. Evidently theGermans had been forced to leave somewhat hurriedly, for many of theplaces evacuated were only slightly damaged as the result of militaryoperations. British and French troops, keeping in close touch with the German rearguard during the advance, pushed forward to a depth of from ten totwelve miles, and their cavalry entered Nesle about the same time. Theoccupation of Noyon on the Oise was of special importance, as thenearest point to Paris held by the Germans. The famous Noyon elbow orsalient, from which it was expected the Germans would launch an attackon the French capital, now ceased to be a source of anxiety andapprehension to the French fighting forces in this region. Péronne, for which the French had fought desperately for nearly twoyears, was entered by the British on March 18, 1917, after a briefaction with the German rear guard. East of the place the Germans hadfired a number of villages as they retreated. Athies, a town of someimportance, was reduced to a smoldering ruin and the smoke of itsburning buildings could be seen for miles. The Germans displayed their"thoroughness" as they retired by poisoning the wells with arsenic, and setting high-explosive traps into which they hoped the Britishadvance guards would blunder. Bridges over all the waterways wereburned and the crossroads carefully mined. [Illustration: The German Retreat on the Western Front, March 18, 1917. ] The capture of Bapaume, that quaint Picardy town which the Germans hadtransformed into an almost impregnable stronghold and fortress, was aspecial cause for rejoicing by the British troops. It was a prize theyhad longed for through many weary months. There was no waving of flagsor beating of drums when the British patrols entered the town, forthere was stiff fighting ahead, and the place was filled withunderground strongholds. Soon the welcome message came over the wirethat all the enemy rear guard had been accounted for, and the Britishwere free to survey their new acquisition. Fires were smoldering inmany parts and not a house was left intact. Shells had wrought a greatdeal of the ruin, but it was evident that many of the buildings hadbeen dynamited. The statue of General Louis Faldeherbe, who defendedBapaume against the Germans in 1870, was missing, and had evidentlybeen carried off by the kaiser's troops. The defensive works around Bapaume were of the most elaboratedescription, and the highest ingenuity had been employed in making theplace impregnable. In addition to a splendid trench system forming anetwork around the place, there were acres of barbed wire stretchedupon iron posts firmly planted in the earth, and intricate systems ofwires spread over the ground to hamper an enemy attack. In addition tostrong redoubts at different points fitted up with every defensivedevice, the cellars under the houses had been consolidated in manyplaces, forming great underground galleries that could shelterthousands of German troops. The British were not permitted to occupy Bapaume in peace, for whilethe enemy could no longer be seen, he was heard from constantly anddestructively. All day long and during the night the town was shelledand great damage was wrought in such sections which the enemy hadregistered before leaving. The German forces were still retiring, hastened on their way by theBritish troops, who were pressing them closely. From captured Germansit was learned that fresh divisions, including one that had fought inRumania, had been thrown in as a screen to shield the retiring troops. The Germans had devised so many traps to catch the Allies and delaythe pursuit that the advance was necessarily slow. The French foundless opposition than the British, and were able to push forward morerapidly, covering twenty-two miles in the three days since theretirement began. Over 120 towns and villages were recovered by theFrench alone. The joy of the inhabitants who had been for thirty-twomonths in the hands of the Germans was a deeply moving spectacle. Every French soldier was embraced amid smiles and tears. Many of thewomen declared that they owed their own lives as well as the lives oftheir children to American relief in the occupied territory. The mayors, assistant mayors, and other officials of Candor and Lagnyhad been carried off by the Germans, but owing to the rapidity ofretirement many women and children had been left behind. All overthirteen were compelled to work without payment. Boys were driven todig ditches or small trenches for telephone wires under fire. Thosewho refused for religious reasons to work on Sunday were fined. TheGermans had closed all schools during their occupation of the Frenchtowns. The destruction of property was carried out in the mostthorough fashion and according to systematized plans. Captured orderson the subject directed the blowing up of houses, wells, and cellarsexcept those held by rear-guard outposts. Farm implements were burnedand destroyed. Orders were given to collect filth in the neighborhoodof wells to contaminate the water. All the fruit trees with rareexception in the evacuated territory were girdled or otherwise killed. The use of cavalry by the French and British seemed to have taken theGermans by surprise and interfered with their plans. In one villagethey were forced to hurriedly depart without touching the supper whichwas laid out on the table. In other places the Allies found newlyopened boxes of explosives with which the Germans had planned todestroy the villages before leaving. The famous castle and stone village of Coucy-le-Château on the roadfrom Paris to Namur, and one of the show places of the Laon region, were reduced to ruins. The village and castle date back to thethirteenth century and were regarded by art critics as architecturalgems of medieval France. The castle had been spared from destructionduring the French Revolution, and millions had been expended since onits preservation. This splendid monument of feudal Europe is no more. The German retreat was continued more slowly on March 19, 1917, whenall northern France was swept by fierce equinoctial gales, and rainsqualls were frequent in the battle area. Despite weather conditions, which hampered military operations, the British troops made goodprogress, and on the 20th held the line of the Somme in strength fromPéronne southward to Canizy. British patrols were active as far eastas Mons-en-Chaussée, and in several sectors between Bapaume and ArrasBritish cavalry were engaged in skirmishes with the enemy. In the course of the following week the British forces restored elevenvillages to France, and the whole department of the Somme was nowcleared of invaders. The capture of Savy, which was held by a garrisonof 600 Prussians of the Twenty-ninth Siegfried Division, brought theBritish within four miles of St. Quentin, and near to the Hindenburgline, where the Germans were strongly concentrated. St. Quentin had inpart been destroyed and its picture galleries and museums looted oftheir contents. The outer bastion of the Hindenburg or Siegfried linewas protected by barricades of tree trunks and swathed about withbarbed wire. The Siegfried division holding the new German line ofdefense was busy during the last days of March, 1917, in buildingconcrete emplacements, trenches, and dugouts. On April 1, 1917, the British troops were within three miles of St. Quentin, while the French threatened the place from the south. During the month of March, 1917, the British captured 1, 239 Germans, of whom sixteen were officers, and large quantities of war material, including twenty-five trench mortars and three field guns. During thefirst three months of the year they had taken prisoner a total ofseventy-nine officers and 4, 600 of other ranks. On April 2, 1917, General Haig's troops drove a wedge into the Germanline on the ridge protecting St. Quentin on the west, capturing thevillages of Holnon, Francilly, and Selency. With the occupation of thelast village the British had a footing on the ridge overlooking St. Quentin, which lies in a hollow. If they could maintain their hold onthis position the capture of St. Quentin was certain. At the northern end of the British line of advance their success wasno less important. Attacking on a front of about ten miles theycaptured an important series of German positions defending theArras-Cambrai highroad. Six villages were occupied by the Britishafter heavy fighting. A town of some importance, Croisilles, was alsocaptured during the course of these operations. This was considered avaluable gain, as a section of the Hindenburg line lies behind it. Longatte and Ecourt St. Mien, two villages below Croisilles also fellto the British. The Germans defended themselves with reckless braveryacting on Hindenburg's orders that the position must be saved at allcosts. The French launched a concerted attack on the following day, April 3, 1917, over a front of eight miles on both sides of the Somme, stormingthe heights south and southwest of St. Quentin and advancing withintwo miles of the city, General Nivelle's forces were now in a positionto begin the final attack on the place. Haig's troops on the British front west of St. Quentin had extendedtheir hold on Holnon Ridge and occupied Ronssoy Wood farther to thenorth, while in the region of Arras they captured after stiff fightingthe village of Henin. South of the Ailette River the French fought their way forward foot byfoot. On the 3rd they drove the Germans out of their positions aroundLaffaux and brought increasing pressure to bear against the enemy'sline south of Laffaux Mill. On this date the Germans threw more than 2, 000 shells into the opencity of Rheims, killing several of the civilian population. General Nivelle's troops continued to advance on April 4, 1917, through violent snow squalls and over sodden ground, and the Germanswere pushed back along the whole front from the Somme to the Oise. A dashing attack carried out near La Folie Farm, about a mile and ahalf north of Urvillers, threw the Germans in such disorder that theyfled precipitately, abandoning three lines of strongly fortifiedtrenches, leaving behind the wounded and much war material, includinghowitzers. The French had now gained the foot of a ridge 393 feet highon the southern outskirts of St. Quentin. By the capture of La Foliethey cut the railroad connecting St. Quentin with the Oise, leavingonly one line on the north by which the Germans could escape from thedoomed city. On the west bank of the Somme French patrols had pressedforward to the outskirts of St. Quentin. On the British front west ofthe city the Germans made a violent attack, but were driven off withheavy losses. Farther to the north the British succeeded instraightening their line between the Bapaume and Péronne highwayconverging on Cambrai. The most important event during April 5, 1917, was a powerful attackmade against the French by picked German troops to the northwest ofRheims along a mile and a half front. The purpose was to clear theleft bank of the Aisne Canal. They succeeded in gaining a foothold atcertain points in the French first-line trenches, but were thrust outlater by counterattacks. The only other important event on this date was the strongbombardment by the Germans of the new French positions south of St. Quentin. The British and French troops, despite occasional checksoccasioned by the frantic efforts of the Germans to stay theirvictorious progress, continued to steadily advance their lines, whichnow extended in a semicircle two miles from St. Quentin. CHAPTER LVII THE BRITISH TROOPS CAPTURE VIMY RIDGE AND MONCHY--FRENCH VICTORIES ONTHE AISNE The steady pressure maintained by the Allied troops on Germanpositions culminated on April 9, 1917, when the British launched aterrific offensive on a twelve-mile front north and south of Arras. German positions were penetrated to a depth of from two to threemiles, and many fortified points, including the famous Vimy Ridge, were captured. The line of advance extended from Givenchy, southwestof Lens, to the village of Henin, southwest of Arras. For a weekBritish guns had been bombarding this sector without cessation, andduring the night preceding the attack the fire had increased inintensity to a degree that surpassed any previous bombardments. TheBritish literally blasted their way through the German front andrearward positions. Vimy Ridge, dominating the coal fields of Lens, where thousands of French had fallen in the previous year, wascaptured by the Canadians. The terrific bombardment by British gunsduring many days had not depressed the Germans' spirit and the advancewas hotly contested. The British, however, were in excellent fightingtrim, and forced their way onward in spite of the fiercest opposition. They took a famous redoubt known as "The Harp, " virtually an entirebattalion defending it. Here three battalion commanders were captured. Over 6, 000 prisoners were taken by the British, including 119officers. The majority of these belonged to Bavarian regiments, whichsince the fighting began in France had suffered the most heavily. Württembergers and Hamburgers were also represented. An enormousquantity of war material fell into British hands, including guns, trench mortars, and machine guns. [Illustration: Taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadians, April 9 and 10, 1917. ] In making their retreat in the Somme sector the Germans had announcedthat they had completely disarranged by so doing the British offensiveplans. The smashing blow delivered on April 9, 1917, was the answer. At other points on the line the British had also made substantialgains, capturing by storm, on the road to Cambrai, Boursies, Demicourt, and Hermies. Progress was also made in the Havrincourt Woodsouth of the Bapaume-Cambrai railway. To the south, in theneighborhood of St. Quentin, General Haig's troops captured threevillages, bringing forward their lines to within two miles of the St. Quentin Canal. As a result of the first two days' fighting in the Arras region thenumber of German prisoners captured by the British had increased toover 11, 000, including 235 officers, 100 guns of large caliber, 60mortars, and 163 machine guns. The British troops did not rest to enjoy their first day's victories, but pushed on along the greater part of the twelve-mile front fromGivenchy to Henin. They penetrated as far as the outskirts ofMonchy-le-Preux, five miles east of Arras. On the way they captured ahigh hill which protects Monchy, thus threatening the entire Germanline south of the Arras-Cambrai highroad. More to the north the British troops took Fampoux and its defenses onboth sides of the Scarpe River. The fiercest fighting on April 10, 1917, was on the northern part of Vimy Ridge, where from isolatedpositions to which they still clung, the Germans attempted acounterattack. They were driven out of these positions and from theslopes of the ridge which was now strongly held by the British. Vimy village was one of the vaunted German field fortresses, and wasstrongly defended. Here the Canadians gathered in over 3, 000 prisonersgarrisoning the stronghold and 100 officers. The final Britishbombardment had sent most of the German defenders into the deepest ofthe dugouts from which they did not venture forth until the Britishcalled upon them to surrender. Among the officers captured on theridge were seven lieutenant colonels and several doctors, whosurrendered with all their staffs. They blamed their predicament tothe failure of supports to come up as promised. The British had carried out their successful onward sweep in the faceof unfavorable weather conditions. During April 10, 1917, when thelast German was being cleared out of the Vimy area, the snow fellheavily. Throughout the day following the weather continued unfavorable, impeding the operation of troops and making observation impossible. Inthe morning the Germans attempted two counter attacks on the newBritish positions in the neighborhood of Monchy-le-Preux, but werebeaten off with heavy losses. Prisoners reported that they had beenordered to hold the village at all costs. To the south bodies of British troops penetrated a German positionnear Bullecourt, where they gained a number of prisoners and damagedthe enemy's defenses. This small success was forfeited at midday whenthe Germans, attacking with strong forces, drove the British back totheir lines. The village of Monchy was captured by the British in the morning ofApril 12, 1917. Throughout the previous day this tiny village perchedon a hill had been the storm center around which the battle raged. The attack was made by British and Scottish troops, who fought forthree hours to clear the Germans out of the railway triangle. Havingdispersed the enemy, they fought on to the Feuchy Redoubt, only tofind that the entire German garrison there had been buried by theBritish bombardment so that not a man escaped alive. At 5 o'clock in the morning of April 12, 1917, British troops on theright, linking up with the Scots and supported by cavalry on the left, with Hotchkiss and machine guns swept forward to the capture ofMonchy. The cavalry dashed into the village on the north side, meeting withfew Germans, for as they pressed forward the enemy was retreating onthe southern side, hoping to escape that way. Here they encounteredScots and Midlanders and fierce fighting ensued. The Germans were wellprovided with machine guns, and from windows and roofs sent awithering fire upon the British as they swarmed into the streets ofthe village. The Germans made a brave resistance, but the Britishcontinued to press them hard, fighting their way into houses andcourtyards and capturing or killing the defenders. Some of thegarrison of the place succeeded in escaping to a trench in the valleybelow, where they had a redoubt and machine guns. By 8 o'clock in the morning the British had a number of guns inposition for the defense of the village against counterattacks whichwere sure to follow. It was found that the Germans had prepared in thevillage an elaborate system of dugouts that could provide shelter fromthe heaviest shell fire. Under the château there were great roomsluxuriously furnished and provided with electric lights, where Britishand Scotch officers regaled themselves with German beer. An hour after the occupation of the village it was heavily shelled bybig German guns, German airmen from above directing the fire. TheBritish held on determinedly in spite of heavy losses, and theircourage never flagged. In the afternoon the Germans made somedetermined counterattacks, but their advancing waves were mowed downby the British machine guns and eighteen pounders, and finally theywere thrown back in confusion. The British now advanced beyond thevillage, while the Germans were forced to retreat from the trenchbelow. In the opinion of the German press the battle of Arras was an event ofonly local importance which did not affect in any degree the strategicsituation. The plan of the Anglo-French command to deliver ashattering blow on the Somme front and roll up the new Hindenburg lineby assaults on both flanks at Soissons and Arras, they contended, hadbeen foiled. With better weather conditions the British were able to push forwardmore rapidly and to make further breaches in the Hindenburg line. Advancing over a wide front, they were drawing nearer to the covetedline of German communications running north and south through Douaiand Cambrai. On the northern horn the British captured Liévin, thesouthwest suburb of Lens, and Cité St. Pierre, northwest of thatplace. On the southern horn they advanced within 400 yards of St. Quentin. Some idea of the extent of the British advance within a weekmay be gained from the fact that the British were now three milesbeyond the famous Vimy Ridge. It was expected that the Germans would stubbornly defend St. Quentinand Lens, which were now the British objectives, and on which theheaviest British gunfire was now concentrated. In the course of theday advances were made south and east of Fayet to within a few hundredyards of St. Quentin. On the way the village of Gricourt was carriedat the point of the bayonet and over 400 Germans were captured. Lens, an important mining center, had been in possession of theGermans since the autumn of 1914. It stretches for several miles andthe surrounding district is rich in mineral wealth. Throughout the dayof April 14, 1917, the British poured heavy high-explosive shells intothe city, using for the first time guns that had been recentlycaptured from the Germans. The continued bombardment caused fires andexplosions in the city. It was believed that some of theseconflagrations were the work of the enemy, who were preparing toabandon the place. In the course of the day, April 14, 1917, the British pushed their waythrough Liéven, a straggling suburb of Lens, meeting with stubborndefense in every street, where the Germans had posted machine guns atpoints of vantage and rear-guard posts that gave the Britishconsiderable trouble. Soon a body of British troops had penetratedLens itself and were working their way slowly forward. From thewestern side other troops were advancing through Liévin, slowly andcautiously. The main German forces were in retreat, but themachine-gun redoubts, skillfully manned, were a constant source ofdanger and wrought considerable destruction. From prisoners captured the British learned of wild scenes that hadtaken place in Lens while the Germans were attempting to get awaytheir stores and guns and begin the retreat. Frantic efforts were madeto blow up roads and to carry out orders to destroy the mine shaftsand flood the galleries, so that property of enormous value should notbe left to France. The occasion for this mad hurry was because theGermans believed that the British might be upon them at any moment. During the evening they had sufficiently recovered from their firstpanic to send supporting troops back into Lens to hold the line oftrenches and machine-gun forts on the western side and check theBritish advance while they prepared for themselves positions on theDrocourt-Queant line, the Wotan end of the Hindenburg line, from whichthe British were forcing them to withdraw. It was learned from Germanprisoners that there were still about 2, 000 persons, principally oldmen, women, and children, still in the Lens district waiting for achance to break through to the British lines. The condition of thesepoor creatures can be imagined, surrounded by destruction from allsides and hiding in holes in the ground with death always hoveringnear. The British continued to close in around Lens from three directions, their progress being slow owing to the stubborn attacks made by Germanrear guards and the fierce fire of cunningly placed machine guns. Field Marshal Haig's chief purpose in advancing on Lens was to turn LaBassée from the south. La Bassée and Lens form the principal outworksof Lille, which is the key to the whole German position in Flanders. If the British succeeded in capturing these two places, Lille would beseriously threatened. On the 15th the British continued to gain ground in the direction ofSt. Quentin and east and north of Gricourt, to the north of the city. In the morning the Germans delivered a powerful attack over a front ofsix miles against the new British position, which extended fromHermies to Noreuil. In the face of a terrific fire from Britishartillery they forged ahead, but lost so many men that they were atlast forced to retreat, gaining no advantage except at Lagnicourtvillage, to one part of which they clung tenaciously. Immediately theBritish organized a counterattack, which was carried out with dash andspirit. The Germans were driven out of the village and 300 prisonerswere taken. Some 1, 500 dead were left in front of the Britishpositions. April 16, 1917, was a day of glory for French arms, when GeneralNivelle launched a great attack on a front of about twenty-five milesbetween Soissons and Rheims. The French were everywhere successful, capturing the German first-line positions along the entire front andin some places penetrating and holding second-line positions. The scene of General Nivelle's great victory was the historic line ofthe Aisne, to which the Germans had retreated after the battle of theMarne. Ever since that epoch-making event in the history of the GreatWar the Germans had held the line despite every effort of the Alliesto dislodge them. The Germans had ample warning that a great offensivewas in preparation, for the French had been bombarding their positionsfor ten days before. On their part they had made every effort to repelthe threatened attack, and had massed a great number of men and gunsin that region. In justice to the Germans it must be said that theyfought with courage and desperation along the whole front. Theyrealized the importance of holding the line at all costs, for if theFrench advance proved successful, it would mean the isolation of Laon, upon which the Hindenburg line depended. North of Berry-au-Bac, where the old line of battle swings to thesoutheast toward Rheims, the French forces gained their greatestadvance. To the south of Juvincourt they succeeded in penetrating theGerman second-line positions and held on. Every effort made by theGermans during the day failed, the French artillery literally tearingtheir ranks to pieces. Further advances were made by the French to thebanks of the Aisne Canal at the villages of Courcy and Loivre. General Nivelle reported that over 10, 000 prisoners were capturedduring this offensive together with a vast amount of war material. Meanwhile the British in the Lens area were constantly engaged withthe Germans, who again and again launched counterattacks to recoverlost positions, to impede the advance and to gain time to strengthentheir defenses on the line of retreat. During the night of April 15, 1917, the British captured Villeret, southeast of Hargicourt, which served to further widen the second gapin the Hindenburg line north of St. Quentin. The British weresuccessful in all these minor struggles in making prisoners, and owingto the Germans' hurried retreat vast quantities of military storesfell into their hands. Since April 9, 1917, the British had capturedover 14, 000 prisoners and 194 guns. In the midst of a driving rain and flurries of snow that hamperedmilitary operations the French struck another blow on the 17th, on anew eleven-mile stretch of front east of Rheims from Prunay toAuberive. They carried the entire front-line German positions. FromMt. Carnillet to Vaudesincourt support positions seven miles in extentalso were captured. During this push 2, 500 German prisoners weretaken. The French advance on both sides of Rheims now left that city in asalient that would prove a great source of danger to the Germans. TheFrench having captured the German second-line position northwest ofRheims, smoothed the way for an advance that might force the enemy outof the forts that held the cathedral city in subjection. The French continued their offensive with undiminished vigor and dashon April 18, 1917, driving the Germans in disorder from theirpositions north of the Aisne and securing a firm hold on high groundcommanding the river. The number of German prisoners had now increasedto 20, 730. Great quantities of war material fell to the French, including 175 guns, 412 machine guns, and 119 trench mortars. On the front from Soissons to Rheims General Nivelle's troops capturedfour villages, which brought them to the outskirts of Courteçon, anadvance of about two miles for the day. Another successful French attack was delivered to the west, where theold German line stood on the south bank of the Aisne, which resultedin the capture of the important town of Vailly and a strong bridgeheadnear by. On the western leg of the German salient, whose apex was atFort Condé on the Aisne, the French struck another decisive blow whichgave them the village of Nanteuil-le-Fosse, and endangered the Germansin the fort, who were now in the position of being cut off. East of Craonne a French contingent surrounded the forest of LaVille-au-Bois and forced the surrender of 1, 300 Germans. In the afternoon of April 18, 1917, the Germans delivered a strongcounterattack in which 40, 000 men were employed, in an attempt torecover their lost second-line positions to the east of Craonne whichhad been seized by the French in the first onslaught. Though vastlyoutnumbered in man power, the French were well supplied withartillery, and the attackers were rolled back in confusion with heavylosses before they could reach the French lines at any point. Duringthe day's fighting in this area the French captured three cannon andtwenty-four guns, together with a number of shell depots. Most of theguns were immediately turned against the Germans and proved effectivein assisting in their destruction. Undeterred by heavy losses and constant failure the Germans withstubborn courage continued to press counterattacks south of St. Quentin. One of these was successful in seizing a number of Frenchpositions. But the gain was only temporary, when the French camedashing back in force, regained the positions, and captured or killedthe occupants to the last man. The double offensive of the British north of Arras and of the Frenchon the Aisne had disarranged the German plans, according to reliableinformation that reached the Allied command. Hindenburg was preparingan offensive against Riga and another against Italy; attempts on Parisand on Calais were also projected, but the Allied western offensiveforced him to bring back the greater part of his forces intended forthese fronts. For several days the fighting in the Arras region slowed down. TheGermans had brought forward new batteries and stationed them aroundLens and Loos, replacing those captured by the British during thefirst day's battle. These guns were now constantly active, sendingheavy shells into Liévin, Bois de Riaumont, and into the suburbs ofLens and Monchy. The neighboring ridge and slopes were also subjectedto machine-gun fire. Beyond bombarding German positions, the British made no importantadvance, though preparations were going forward for the next stage inthe great battle of Arras. The French continued to make gains along the Oise, pressing back theGermans toward the Chemin-des-Dames, which runs along the top of theheights north of the river. On April 20, 1917, General Nivelle'stroops occupied Sancy village and gained ground east of Laffaux. TheFrench front in this sector now faced the fort of Malmaison, whichcrowns a range of high hills protecting the highroad from Soissons toLaon. The Germans launched a heavy attack on April 19, 1917, in whichlarge forces of troops were employed in the region of Ailles andHurtebise Farm. The French artillery and machine guns delivered such awithering fire against the attackers that they were thrown back indisorder with appalling losses. In Champagne the French continued to make progress, capturingimportant points in Moronvilliers Wood. British troops south of the Bapaume-Cambrai road slowly advanced onMarcoing, a place of considerable importance and an outpost toCambrai. In this push, begun on April 20, 1917, they captured thesouthern portion of the village of Trescault, which lies about ninemiles from Cambrai. They also surrounded on three sides HavrincourtWood, which from its high position constitutes a formidable barrier inthe way of advance, and which the Germans will eventually be forced toevacuate. Ground was also gained by the British between Loos and Lens, and every attempt made by the Germans to regain lost positions wasrepulsed. On the French front in western Champagne the Germans on the 21st madedesperate efforts to recapture the positions on the heights which theyhad lost in the previous week. Mont Haut, the dominating position inthis region, was the principal objective against which they launchedrepeated attacks, all of which came to naught. There were numerousminor operations on the Rheims-Soissons front during the night of the21st. Rheims was repeatedly bombarded, the Germans paying particularattention to the cathedral, which received further damage fromshells. What might be termed the second phase of the battle of Arras was begunin the morning of April 23, 1917, when the British resumed theoffensive. At 5 o'clock in the morning the British advance startedeast of Arras on a front of about eight miles, capturing strongpositions and the villages of Gavrelle and Guémappe. The occupation ofthese places and of strongholds south of Gavrelle as far as the riverScarpe broke the so-called Oppy line, defending the Hindenburgpositions before Douai. The British were successful in clearing theenemy out of the neighborhood of Monchy, which commands the region forforty miles. The Germans appreciating the value of this position hadlaunched twenty counterattacks against it in the ten previous days. Itproved to them the bloodiest spot in all this war-ravaged region, andwhen the British advanced at early dawn on the 23d, thousands of deadin field-gray uniforms littered the approaches to the position. Duringthe day the British took over 1, 500 prisoners. On this date, April 23, 1917, the Germans attacked the French lines inBelgium at several points in the course. Bodies of Germans succeededin penetrating some French advanced positions, but after spiritedhand-to-hand struggles were killed, captured, or driven off. In mostcases the Germans never got in touch with the French, but were rolledback by the concentrated fire of the French artillery. Fightingcontinued in the Champagne, where the Germans renewed again and againtheir efforts to capture the new French positions on Mont Haut. On the second day of the offensive the British had made gains east ofMonchy, and had pushed on between that village and the river Sensée towithin a short distance of Cherisy and Fontaine-les-Croisilles, holding all their newly won positions against attack. It was noted by the British command that the Germans during thissecond phase of the battle of Arras had fought with exceptionalferocity, which even the heavy losses they incurred did not weaken. Onthe front of about eight miles seven German divisions were employed. British guns were effective in shattering massed counterattacks, andthere was considerable hand-to-hand fighting in which the British weresometimes badly handled, but at the close of the day the British hadrecovered all the positions they had been forced out of temporarily. The fighting continued on the 24th, but was less ferocious, theopponents having exhausted themselves in the previous day's efforts. In the second and third day of the offensive the British captured2, 000 prisoners. During the night of April 23, 1917, the British advancing on a widefront south of the Arras-Cambrai road captured the villages ofVillers-Plouich and Beaucamp and pressed forward as far as the St. Quentin Canal in the vicinity of Vendhuille. The second phase of the offensive in the Arras region was especiallynotable for the victories won by the British in the air. In one dayforty German machines were brought down, while the British lost onlytwo. The British advance was now necessarily slow, for they were no longerengaged in rear-guard actions as in the first phase of the offensive, but faced strong bodies of troops whose valor was unquestioned. Thus, as in the first days of fighting in the Somme, there was desperatefighting to gain or regain a few hundred yards of trenches. Withvarying fortunes the opponents fought back and forth over the sameground without either side gaining any distinct advantage, though bothwere losers in precious lives. By early morning of April 25, 1917, Scottish and British troops had reestablished the line on the BoisVert and Bois de Sart. A striking incident in connection with the fighting in this area wasthe recovery of parties of British soldiers who had been given up aslost. They had been cut off from rejoining their regiments and hadcome through the most ghastly perils, being swept by a British barragethat preceded an infantry attack and subjected to the deadly andconstant shelling of the German guns. They had clung to their isolatedpositions in the face of all these terrors and not a man was killed. CHAPTER LVIII FRENCH VICTORIES IN THE CHAMPAGNE--THE BRITISH CAPTURE BULLECOURT During the night of April 25, 1917, the Germans renewed their attemptsto recover lost positions on the high ground near the Chemin-des-Dames, and especially west of Cerny. West of Craonne they hurled masses of menagainst Hurtebise Farm with disastrous results. Eastward in the vicinityof Ville-aux-Bois the French artillery dropped shells with mathematicalprecision on the German lines. The regiment that was detailed to capturethe village of Ville-aux-Bois, which formed with Craonne one of thepillars of the German line in this area, carried out the difficultoperation with complete success. It was necessary to capture two heavilygarrisoned woods before the place could be assaulted. At the end of thefirst day's fighting the French had taken hundreds of prisoners andseveral dozen machine guns. The prisoners alone numbered more than theFrench troops who made the attack. Fighting continued in this region during the 26th. The French repulsedall attempts made by the Germans to recover lost ground, and extendedtheir gains. During the desperate fighting along the Aisne in this offensive theFrench captured about 20, 000 prisoners and 130 guns. The German lossesin killed, wounded, and prisoners were estimated at over 200, 000--oneof the most formidable totals of the Great War. North of the Scarpe River and in the vicinity of Catelet the Britishcontinued to improve their positions. Thirteen German aeroplanes andone balloon were brought down on the 26th by British aviators. On April 28, 1917, the British attacked on a front extending in aneasterly direction from Vimy Ridge at its northern hinge and southwardto the Scarpe River. Gains were made at all points attacked, and theso-called Oppy-Mericourt line which protects the Drocourt switch tothe Hindenburg line was pierced again. An eyewitness stated that hesaw no less than five gray waves of Germans blindly facing the Britishfire in an attempt to regain the lost positions. Torrents of Britishshells tore gaps in the German ranks, and those who succeeded inforcing their way through the barrage were mowed down by sprays ofmachine-gun bullets. Under this storm the German attack broke down. There was bayonet fighting at different points, and many Germans werekilled by blows from rifle butts. The Canadians, who had been resting since their brilliant work onEaster day, when they swept the Germans from Vimy Ridge, were in finefighting trim. By a brilliant assault they captured Arleux-en-Gobelleand held the village securely against all attempts made by the Germansto recapture it. Southeast of Oppy, the British took Greenland Hill, which overlooksthe Scarpe Valley. There was fierce fighting north of the village ofRoeux, at the chemical works on the Arras-Douai railway, which changedhands several times. The character of the fighting on the 28th did notresult in the taking of many prisoners, for almost everywhere it was astruggle to the death. The loss to the Germans of Monchy-le-Preux was regarded by them as aserious matter, and they were prepared to sacrifice any number of mento retake it. Late in the night of April 28, 1917, they launched twoviolent attacks against the British positions east of the town. Twonew divisions had been brought up and were hurled into the struggleonly to be literally torn to fragments before they could reach even anoutpost. On this date also Gavrelle was violently attacked from thenorth. This was the fourteenth or fifteenth counterattack the Germanshad made against the village, which failed as all the previous oneshad done. On the same date there were violent outbursts in the Champagne andAisne regions on the French front, in which the Germans made noprogress. The French gained ground and prisoners near Ostel in theChemin-des-Dames area. German lines were invaded in the sector of Hill304 on the left bank of the Meuse and a considerable number ofprisoners were taken. At Auberive after a violent bombardment theGermans attacked in force, but were repulsed by the French artillery. South of the village of Oppy, where the fighting had raged for severaldays, the British captured a German trench system on a front of abouta mile. Here the Germans offered the most stubborn resistance, andafter the position was won they launched furious counterattacks in thehope of smashing the British before they had opportunity to organizetheir gains. The results of the fighting in this region could not be estimated bythe number of prisoners taken or the amount of ground gained. TheBritish had a difficult task to perform in assaulting positionsprotected by natural defenses, and held in strength with quantities ofmachine guns. After forcing the enemy out of the positions, and whentheir strength was well-nigh spent, the British troops were forced tobeat off repeated counterattacks preceded by barrage fire and todestroy the enemy again and again. They encountered no more formidableconditions in the course of the war than in this region, for theGermans had machine redoubts on the slopes commanding fields of fireon both sides of the Scarpe River, and each advance made by theBritish exposed their flanks to enfilading fire. In the face of suchdeadly opposition the British still continued to press onward, forcingthe Germans to pay a fearful price for Hindenburg's strategic plans. On the last day of the month French troops in the Champagne made a newattack on both sides of Mont Carnillet, a commanding peak southeast ofMauroy. To the west the French captured several fortified lines oftrenches from the heights as far south as Beine. East of the mountGeneral Nivelle's men forced their way up the northern slopes of MontHaut; and northeast of this position to the approaches of the roadfrom Mauroy and Moronvilliers. This advance widened on the west anddeepened the salient driven into the German lines between Prunay andAuberive, rendering exceedingly precarious their hold on ground eastof Rheims. There was no important fighting on the British front on April 30, 1917, and General Haig's troops were not ungrateful for the briefrespite afforded them. The Germans did not attempt any importantattacks owing to a shortage of ammunition and military supplies. Fromdocuments found on prisoners the British learned that there was adearth in all war material and that the supply of new guns to replacethose worn out was very limited. During the night General Haig'stroops improved their positions between Monchy-le-Preux and the ScarpeRiver, repulsing a feeble German attack on the new positions. While comparative quiet reigned in the fighting area on the last dayof April, 1917, British airmen were active, and in the course oftwenty-four hours a number of highly dramatic battles were fought inwhich the British brought down twenty German aeroplanes and lostfifteen machines themselves. During the night of May 1, 1917, the French consolidated their newpositions on the wooded hills east of Rheims. In the course of thefollowing day the Germans delivered two strong attacks against Frenchlines northeast of Mont Haut, but were rolled back by the Frenchbarrage fire and machine-gun fire which broke the waves of assault andscattered the attackers. The report for the month of April, 1917, issued by the British WarOffice stated that in the course of the offensive operations in France19, 343 prisoners had been taken, including 393 officers. In the sameperiod the British had captured 257 guns and howitzers, 227 trenchmortars, and 470 machine guns. The French during the same period hadcaptured over 20, 000 prisoners. It was estimated that the Germans had143 divisions in France, but only ninety-nine of these were in theactual line, the rest being held in strategic reserve. During the month of April, 1917, more aeroplanes were lost by thecombatants than in any month since the fighting began. A carefulcompilation from British, French, and German communiqués shows atotal loss of 717 during this period. The Germans lost 369, the Frenchand Belgians 201, and the British 147. On May 2, 1917, the French in the Champagne began to push their wayslowly through the great forest south of Beine, which coversconsiderable territory from south of Mont Carnillet to La PompelleFort, the most easterly fortification of Rheims. On May 3, 1917, General Haig's troops struck a fourth blow against theGerman front east and southeast of Arras, penetrating the Hindenburgline west of Queant. The British push toward Cherisy, Bullecourt, andQueant was at the southern end of the day's major operation, whichcovered a range of nearly eighteen miles. At the north Fresnoy was thechief objective. It lies just east of Arleux, taken a few days beforeby the Canadians. These two villages were strongly organized for defense withcomplicated trench fortifications, forming one of the strongest pointson the Mericourt-Oppy-Gavrelle line. Fresnoy was carried by theCanadians after the most furious fighting, in which the Germanpositions changed hands a number of times, but at last remainedsecurely in possession of the troops from oversea. North and south ofFresnoy a two-mile front was won by the British, who also secured agrip on the German trench system north of Oppy. While the British were dealing hammer blows on the enemy's lines theFrench had been preparing another coup, which was carried out on May4, 1917. By this operation they captured the village of Craonne on theSoissons-Rheims front, several fortified points north and east of thevillage, and German first-line positions on a front of about two and ahalf miles. Craonne was an especially valuable capture, for it stands on a heightat the east end of the Chemin-des-Dames, protecting not only theplateau north of the Aisne, but the low ground between it andNeufchâtel. The Germans had held the place since the first battle ofthe Aisne, and against its cliffs many gallant French troops hadvainly flung themselves, only to be thrown back with heavy losses. Thepossession of Craonne gave the French command of an open road throughthe valley of Miette where a few weeks before they had captured theGerman second line south of Juvincourt. They could now, advancingthrough this corridor, outflank the entire German position dependingon Laon as its center. [Illustration: The French Offensive on the Craonne Plateau, Champagne. ] Throughout May 4, 1917, the British were occupied in organizing andstrengthening the new positions they had won in and around Fresnoyand in the sectors of the Hindenburg line near Bullecourt. RepeatedGerman counterattacks were repulsed at all points, except in theneighborhood of Cherisy and the Arras-Cambrai road, where the Britishwere forced to abandon some of their new positions. In the day'sfighting the British captured over 900 prisoners. During the nightGeneral Haig's troops made considerable progress northwest of St. Quentin and northeast of Hargicourt, where the Malakoff Farm wascaptured. By May 5, 1917, the French army was in sight of Laon, and had begun toshell the German positions on the steep hill on which the city stands. The position of the French was decidedly favorable for importantoperations against the enemy. If they moved up the Rheims-Laon road, and pushed north from Cerny with a strong force, it would be possibleto outflank from the south the whole German line, which here turns tothe northwest in a wide sweep from Laon, through La Fère to St. Quentin and Cambrai. This operation if successful would compel theGermans to retire to the Belgian frontier. The Germans were not satisfied with the way things were going, so theAllied command learned from prisoners. It was estimated that they hadlost thus far in the Anglo-French drive on this front no less than216, 000 men, of whom the British took 30, 000 prisoners and the French23, 000; about 47, 000 were killed on the field and 160, 000 were put outof action. The British and French casualties had also been veryheavy--the former numbering about 80, 000 and the latter 93, 000including killed, wounded, and prisoners. On the British front the Germans continued to make the most desperateefforts to regain a section of the Hindenburg line east ofBullecourt, which the Australians had won in the advance of May 3, 1917. From three sides day and night the sturdy defenders wereassailed by the Germans, but their attacks by day were killed by theBritish artillery, and at night were driven off by bomb and bayonet. The Germans had good reason to value this wedge bitten into theHindenburg line, for its possession by the Australians weakened anotherwise strong position that ran formerly from Arras to Queant. TheBritish were now in touch with the Hindenburg line all the way fromQueant south to St. Quentin, and were pressing the Germans toward theDrocourt switch in the north. On the new lines east of Mont Haut held by the Germans a positiongarrisoned by 200 men was captured by the French during the night ofMay 5, 1917. The French continued to make progress, slowly but firmly pressing theGermans back from many points, and gaining more ground than they lostthrough counterattacks. By the 6th of May, 1917, they had captured allthe unconquered positions on the Chemin-des-Dames and were masters ofthe crest over which it runs for more than eighteen miles. The moraleffect of this victory was to give the French the assurance that theycould beat the Germans on their chosen battle ground and force themout of their deepest defenses into the open field. Germaninvincibility had become a shattered myth. For some days General Haig's troops had been tightening their griparound Bullecourt, which lies in the original Hindenburg line due eastof Croisilles. The Australians who held this front had surrounded thevillage on three sides and its fall was imminent. On May 8, 1917, Bavarian troops stormed Fresnoy village and wood andwrested some ground from the British on the western side. During thenight the Germans had concentrated large forces for an attack north ofFresnoy which were dispersed by British fire. By a strongcounterattack the British recovered all the ground on the west thatthey had lost on the previous day. Some idea of the intense fighting in northern France may be gainedfrom the fact that since April 1, 1917, over thirty-five Germandivisions (315, 000 men) were withdrawn from this front owing to theirexhausted condition. The French and British had lost heavily, buttheir casualties were from 50 to 75 per cent fewer than they incurredin the Battle of the Somme. Fresnoy, which was held by the Canadians, and which jutted into theGerman lines, was subjected to intense fire and showers of highexplosives and shrapnel throughout the night of the 7th, and in themorning of the following day the Germans attacked in force. TheBritish were overwhelmed, but served their machine guns to the last, and only fell back from their advanced lines when the village was nolonger tenable. The greater part of the ground lost by them wasrecovered on the following day. The French captured first-line German trenches over a front ofthree-quarters of a mile northeast of Chevreux near Craonne, duringthe night of May 8, 1917, capturing several hundred prisoners. Vigorous counterattacks made about the same time by the Germans toregain lost positions on the plateau of Chemin-des-Dames and on theCalifornie Plateau were shattered by the French artillery. The Germanshere displayed the most intrepid bravery, sending forward successivewaves of men again and again until the battle area was strewn withdead. Northwest of Rheims the French carried 400 yards of Germantrench, taking prisoner 100 men and two officers. Severe and continuous fighting went on during May 9, 1917, in theneighborhood of Bullecourt, where the Germans tried vainly to shakethe British hold on the position. East of Gricourt a portion of theGerman front and support lines were captured by the British, also aconsiderable number of prisoners. Counterattacks on the French frontalong the Chemin-des-Dames and in the region of Chevreux resulted inheavy losses to the Germans in men and guns. Toward the close of the day, May 11, 1917, the British after thehardest and most sanguinary fighting won two positions at Roeux justnorth of the Scarpe, and at Cavalry Farm beyond Guémappe. The loss tothe Germans was serious, for these were observation posts of thehighest value. The British captured about 350 prisoners, mostly ofBrandenburg regiments, who were found crouching in tunnels waiting fora pause in the storm of shell fire to rush out and meet the attackerswith machine guns. But they waited too long, and Haig's troops wereupon them before they could use their weapons. At Roeux the Bavariangarrison in the tunnels fought ferociously, and being unwilling toyield were destroyed. Around Guémappe, by the Cavalry Farm, which the Scottish troops hadbeen forced to abandon in the previous month, the fighting was lessintense. The Scots went about their task in a businesslike way androuted the garrison and took ten guns and a number of prisoners. Bullecourt, which had been the scene of some of the hottest fightingsince the offensive began, and where the Australians had repulsed adozen strong counterattacks, was in large part occupied by the Britishon May 12, 1917. North of the Scarpe, British troops establishedthemselves in the western part of the village of Roeux, and improvedtheir positions on the western slopes of Greenland Hill. Along the Aisne and south of St. Quentin the French continued tobombard enemy lines. A violent attack made by the Germans on the 12thagainst French positions on the Craonne Plateau north of Rheims brokedown under French artillery and machine-gun fire. The British continued to hold their own in Bullecourt and to improvetheir position there and at Cavalry Farm and Roeux. In the three days'operations the British had captured 700 prisoners, including elevenofficers and a considerable number of guns and war material. May 14, 1917, was a successful day for the Germans when they capturedFresnoy. Early in the morning they succeeded by strong counterattacksin gaining a foothold in the British trenches northeast of thevillage. At a later hour the British attacked and regained the lostground, but were forced to withdraw when the Germans brought forwardtwo fresh divisions. The Germans continued their violent attempts toregain Roeux and that part of Bullecourt which was firmly held by theBritish. The struggle around these two places which had been ragingfor four weeks grew daily more intense, and the ground around theBritish positions was heaped with dead. All of Roeux was by the 15th in British hands: the château with itsgreat dugouts and gun emplacements, the cemetery from which a largetunnel ran westward to Mount Pleasant Wood, and the village itself. After a terrible shell fire during the night of the 15th the Germanslaunched a strong assault in dense numbers, and the ruins were strewnwith new dead beside the old dead. Despite the intense fire fromBritish machine guns some German troops penetrated advanced posts andbarricades and desperate fighting with bomb and bayonet followed. TheBritish fiercely counterattacked, driving the enemy back, and gainedmore ground than they had held before. At Bullecourt there was the same story to tell. This place, to use theexpression of an eyewitness, "had become a flaming hell. " In twelvecounterattacks the Germans had only succeeded in destroying a few ofthe British advanced positions. They had only been able to maintain ahold on the southwest corner of the village owing to the tunnels inwhich they were protected from the heaviest fire. A German counterattack of unusual strength was delivered in themorning of May 16, 1917. No bloodier struggle was fought during theAllied offensive in 1917 than here at Bullecourt. From shell craterand from behind bits of broken wall the British with bombs andbayonets hung on until relieved by the arrival of fresh troops. In theorchards and gardens and in shallow trenches the opponents struggledin close combat, springing at each other's throat when the supply ofbombs was exhausted. The British obtained a grip on Bullecourt for thetime being, but they knew the respite would be brief, when the Germanswould return and renew the bloody struggle. The old Hindenburg line having been breached at Bullecourt andWancourt, the Germans were now busy strengthening their new line ofdefense which ran through Montigny, Drocourt, and Queant. The British had improved their defenses to the east, and had pushedforward a little nearer to Lens. Here the Germans continued to wreckand destroy buildings and machinery, so that the great mining centerwould prove of little value to the Allies when they occupied it. Early in the morning of May 20, 1917, a British attack broke into theHindenburg line between Fontaine-les-Croisilles and Bullecourt, southeast of Arras. The Germans made several violent attempts torecover their lost positions, but were unable to make any gains duringthe day. The purpose of the British attacks in this sector was tocapture the last salient on the front southeast of Arras. With thisaccomplished the German support line from Drocourt to Queant would beseriously endangered. The French lines on the Chemin-des-Dames north of the Aisne continuedto be subjected to attack, the Germans throwing great masses of troopsagainst the positions on the heights. After very heavy artillery bombardment that lasted the greater part ofthe night the Germans in the early morning of the 20th madepreparations for a general assault, but the French counterfire was soheavy that over the greater part of the front the attack could not bedeveloped. Northeast of Cerny the Germans succeeded in occupyingFrench trenches on a 216-yard front, but at all other points wherethey advanced the French counterattacks and barrage fire rolled themback and wrought disaster among their ranks. During the last week of May, 1917, the French forces along theChemin-des-Dames only fought on the defensive. The Germans attemptedto regain lost positions, but were unsuccessful in obtaining theslightest advantage, while their losses must have been considerable. CHAPTER LIX THE BATTLE OF MESSINES RIDGE--BRITISH SMASH THE GERMAN SALIENT SOUTHOF YPRES After an intense bombardment that lasted all day of June 1, 1917, andpart of the night the Germans on the 2d, employing large forces, hurled five attacks on the French Craonne position; three against theeastern face of Californie Plateau and two against Vauclerc Plateau. It seemed as if the Germans hoped to win the coveted position on theheights by sheer weight of numbers. Advancing in dense masses shoulderto shoulder they formed an impressive spectacle. But not for long. Soon great gaps were torn in the solid lines by the famous Frenchartillery. The ranks quickly closed up and again surged onward in dense graywaves, only to be shattered again and again by the splendidly servedFrench guns. The same process was repeated, the Germans advancing, their ranks depleting, and then as the French fire became even moredestructive they fell back, leaving the battle ground littered withdead. The French rightly called this a victory, for they maintained alltheir positions and the Germans had not succeeded in gaining afoothold at any point. The German headquarters was silent concerningthe fight on this date. While the French continued to hold their position on the easternextremity of the Chemin-des-Dames they threatened to turn the rightflank of the Laon bastion by an advance over the open ground north ofBerry-au-Bac. For this reason the Germans were desperately anxious torecover the Craonne position, which was the key to the whole tacticalsituation in this part of the front. For about two weeks the British had been bombarding the strong Germansalient south of Ypres. On June 7, 1917, they delivered against thisposition or series of fortifications an overwhelming blow. It was oneof the most spectacular military operations carried out during the warand marked a brilliant victory for the Allied arms. By this startlingcoup the Germans were forced out of one of the strongest positionsthey held on the western front. As far as human ingenuity and militaryskill could make it so, the position was impregnable. From itscommanding situation the Germans were able to observe with ease allthe preparations that were in progress in the British lines andarrange to checkmate them. The value of the position to the Germans inthis area was therefore of supreme value. For two and a half years the Allied armies in this little corner ofBelgium had held the Germans in check, and during that time they werealmost at the mercy of the German guns on the Messines-WytschaeteRidge. The German front defenses of this position consisted of the mostelaborate trench systems and fortifications, forming a belt of about amile deep. Farms and woods around were garrisoned and machine-gunemplacements were set up in every available corner. Concrete dugoutsof the strongest description were provided for the protection ofgarrisons and machine gunners, and nothing that labor and skill coulddevise was neglected to make the position indestructible. Yet all thislaboriously constructed defense work that had taken many months tocomplete and the strength and skill of thousands were swept away in afew hours' time. For nearly two years companies of sappers--British, Australians, andNew Zealanders--had been busily engaged in tunneling under the lowrange of hills upon which the German position stood. In theseunderground passages engineers had planted nineteen great mines, containing more than a million tons of ammonite, a new and enormouslydestructive explosive. The secret of the mines was so well kept duringthe time they were preparing that the Germans seemed to have had nosuspicion of the great surprise in store for them. At exactly 3. 10 in the morning of June 7, 1917, all the nineteen mineswere discharged by electric contact and the hilltops were blown offamid torrents of spouting flames with a roaring sound like manyearthquakes that could be heard distinctly farther away than London. Large sections of the German front, supporting trenches, and dugoutswent up in débris amid thick clouds of smoke. To add to the terror ofthe defenders of the position the British guns after the explosionsshelled the salient steadily until preparations were completed forattack. Then the British infantry under Field Marshal Haig and GeneralSir Herbert Plumer advanced with a rush to the assault and the Germanfront line for ten miles was captured in a few minutes. [Illustration: The Taking of Messines Ridge, June 7, 1917. ] Less than three hours after the first attack the Messines-WytschaeteRidge was stormed. The British pushed their advance along the entiresector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to Ploegsteert Wood tothe north of Armentières. Later in the day the German rear defenses, which ran across the base of the salient, were assaulted. Here theGermans had concentrated strong forces and the British encounteredstiff opposition, but by nightfall the whole rear German positionalong a five-mile front to a depth of three miles was secure inBritish hands. The Canadians, who were in the forefront of all thefighting, had an enjoyable day of it, unsurpassed since they swept theGermans from Vimy Ridge. In the course of the day's fighting the British captured over 7, 000prisoners and a large number of guns of all calibers. The Germans, itwas estimated, had about 30, 000 casualties, and the British less thana third of that number. Eyewitnesses to this spectacular and dramatic operation have describedthe shattering effect the terrific explosions had on the Germansdefending the positions, especially on those protecting the ill-famedHill 60, where so many brave British soldiers had perished in previousfights. When this hill burst open and a dense mass of fiery clouds and smokingrocks shot skyward, the British troops assigned to take the positionand while still some distance away were thrown down by the violence ofthe concussion. But no one was injured, and finding their footing theydashed on in the direction of the hill. Below Mount Sorrel and inArmagh Wood they encountered groups of Jägers and Württembergers, whocrawled out of holes in the still quivering earth, and, shaking withterror, weakly raised their hands in token of surrender. There was nodesire to fight left in these men, but where the dugouts had not beenshattered by British fire and were partly intact hundreds crouched inthe dark and could only be persuaded to come into the open when bombswere hurled among them. In other places the explosions had not produced such terrifyingeffects on the Germans, and the British met with stubborn resistance. This was the case in the neighborhood of the Château Matthieu, to thewest of Hollebeke, which was strongly held and where the Londoners whoengaged the Germans had a strenuous time of it before they gained theupper hand. The British had looked for stout resistance from the enemy in a streetof fortresslike houses built of huge blocks of concrete six feetthick, but their shell fire had done its work so thoroughly that mostof the structures were in ruins, while the occupants of those thatremained intact were too cowed and panic-stricken to make any but thefeeblest defense. For the first time on anything like a large scale the British leveledwoodlands by spraying them with drums of burning oil, thus laying barehidden trenches and gun emplacements and clearing the way for theirinfantry to advance. In Dead Wood some German troops of the Thirty-fifth Division attempteda counterattack on a body of British South Country troops. It was afierce, close struggle, when bayonets were the favorite weapon. TheGermans, who are not generally fond of cold steel and hand-to-handfighting, on this occasion did their share in the general thrustingand stabbing, and certainly displayed no lack of courage. But the menof Kent, who were eager to be on their way, fought with such wild furythat the Germans, after they had incurred very heavy losses, wereeager to drop their rifles and surrender. The part the armored tanks played in the battle of Messines Ridge wasnot very important, but they would have been missed if they had notbeen present in emergencies to help out the infantry. When there wasno particular business for the monsters, pilots and crews salliedforth and joined in the fight. Military critics award the principal honors in the battle of MessinesRidge to the guns and the gunners who served them. For about afortnight the gunners had worked incessantly with scarcely any sleepin the midst of nerve-racking noises and with death constantlyhovering around them. The number of shells used in this battle by theBritish was incredible. One division alone fired over 180, 000 shellswith their field batteries and over 46, 000 with their heavies. It was a joyous hour for the British in the course of the day'sfighting when they were able to abandon the old gun positions aftertwo and a half years of stationary warfare. They had no longer to fearthat any more shells would be fired by the Germans from the commandingposition on the ridge. All danger from that quarter had ceased. The cheering British troops made way for the gunners, as shoutingjoyously they went up the ridge on a run, the infantry trailing alongafter them. Arrived near the top, the gunners unlimbered and went intoaction for the second phase of the fighting. British aviators, who performed important scout work for the gunners, were deserving of a liberal share in the honors of the day. Some ofthe Royal Flying Corps seemed to have gone battle-mad in the course ofthe fighting, for they engaged in such death-defying adventures as nowholly sane person would have attempted. There was one British aviator in particular whose reckless daringshone conspicuously even above that of his fellows, and who on theoccasion showed an utter disregard for life. One of his majoroperations was to fly over a body of German troops on the march. Hovering at a short distance above them, he sprayed the astonishedtroops with machine-gun fire until they scattered and fled. Passingjoyously on his way, the aviator encountered a convoy and flying lowpoured volleys into the Germans and was gone before they had time torecover from their astonishment and retaliate. Near Warneton a largeforce of German troops was massing to attack when down among themdashed the aviator, his machine gun crackling, when they dispersed inall directions, leaving dead and wounded on the field. Another daring young flyer belonging to the Royal Flying Corpsattacked and silenced four machine-gun teams in strong emplacements. Other British aviators were active in clearing out trenches of theirGerman occupants, and when they ran out of ammunition for their Lewisguns hurled down on the enemy bombs, explosives, and anything thatinjures or destroys. By the British capture of Messines Ridge the Germans lost their lastnatural position that commanded the British lines. The victory came asa fitting climax to the British achievements in France during thepreceding three months' campaign. By the capture during that period ofBapaume, Vimy Ridge, Monchy Plateau, and now Messines Ridge, theBritish had completely changed the military situation on the westernfront. The area gained in this vast operation was a front nine miles long toan extreme depth of five miles. Owing to strong German pressureexerted at this point the advance was checked, but the Britishcontinued to engage and harass the enemy in minor operations. During the night of June 8, 1917, the British resumed activities inthe neighborhood of the great mining center of Lens. An attack waslaunched south of the Souchez River on a front of two miles, penetrating to a depth of half a mile. On the following day the Germans with strong forces delivered adetermined assault on British lines on a front of six miles east ofMessines. The attack failed. South of Lens the Canadians on the samedate pierced the German lines on a front of two miles, destroyingdefensive works and taking a number of prisoners. Artillery and heavy guns were busy on both sides during the night ofJune 10, 1917, east of Epehy. The Germans assembled strong forces oftroops in this area to attack, but were scattered by the intense fireof British guns. Southeast of La Bassée the British carried out adashing raid on enemy lines, during which they destroyed elaboratetrench systems and mine galleries and captured eighteen prisoners. Successful raids were also made on German positions east of Vermellesand south of Armentières on the same night. The British continuedthese dashing exploits on the following day on both sides of NeuveChapelle, east of Armentières, and north of Ypres. In each operationthe German defenses were smashed and a considerable number ofprisoners were taken. In the Champagne the French had to defend themselves againstpersistent German assaults made to regain lost positions at Mont Blondand Mont Carnillet. The Germans had never renounced the hope ofrecovering these invaluable observation points, and sacrificedthousands of men in the vain hope of wearing down the Frenchresistance. The region of the Californie Plateau was also subjected tofurious attacks and violent artillery engagements, and while theFrench lost heavily the Germans were unable to gain the slightestadvantage. Early in the morning of June 12, 1917, the British won new andvaluable positions astride the Souchez River. In the night the Germansin force delivered a counterattack to regain the lost ground, displaying a disregard for safety and stolid bravery as they pushed onin spite of heavy losses. But the British were in a situation wherethey could rake the German lines with their artillery and machine-gunfire, and made the most of their advantage. The Germans could not makeany headway against this storm of fire, and at last when their rankswere shattered they gave up hope and retired. Owing to the British advance east of Messines, and to the continuedpressure of their troops south of the front of attack, the Germanswere forced to abandon large and important sections of theirfirst-line defensive system in the region between the river Lys andSt. Yves. Following closely the retreating enemy, the British madeimportant advances east of Ploegsteert Wood and also in theneighborhood of Gaspard. While their allies were gaining ground and hastening the Germanretreat on their front, the French in the regions of Braye, north ofCraonne, northwest of Rheims, and on the left bank of the Meuse, nearCumières, were being hammered continuously by German guns. It seemedthat defenses and defenders must be destroyed by this hurricane offire and shell. But the soldiers of the Republic had learned manylessons concerning German methods of warfare since the fighting beganin this region and knew how to conserve their strength, and wereprepared to out-fight the enemy whenever the odds were anything likeequal. The concentrated fire of the German guns damaged the Frenchdefenses, but were ineffective in crushing French spirit, so that theattacks that followed the bombardments failed in every instance togain any advantage. Positions the British had captured earlier in the week south of theYpres-Commines Canal were attacked by the Germans on June 15, 1917, following heavy artillery preparations. In the first dash a fewGermans succeeded in approaching the British front trenches, but theywere killed or driven out and the attack collapsed at all points. In the night of the 15th the sorely tried French forces continued tobear the brunt of German fury around Craonne and Mont Carnillet. Raidsthey made in the region of Hill 304, on the heights of the Meuse, broke down with heavy losses. East of Rheims the French weresuccessful in minor operations in which they captured a good number ofprisoners. Artillery duels were almost continuous on the following daynorth and south of the Ailette River, in the Champagne, and in theregion of the heights of Carnillet and Blond. The Germans won asection of trench in neighborhood of Courcy, but later were driven outor destroyed by the French in a counterattack. East of Monchy-le-Preux the Germans after a heavy bombardment ofBritish positions made an attack in force that was entirely successfulin gaining the first-line defenses. The British were driven back withconsiderable losses to their main new position on Infantry Hill. After the disastrous experience of the German airmen during the battleof Messines Ridge their flying forces adopted the familiar tactics ofmass formation. The British air pilots seldom encountered in theseJune days squadrons of less than fifteen machines, and occasionallythey met aerial armies of as many as sixty planes. In some battles inthe second week of June, 1917, between seventy and eighty machineswere involved. Most of these air fights took place inside Germanterritory, and despite superior numbers the British Royal Flying Corpscontinued to prove their superiority in the air over the Teutons. Inone of these aerial battles, when a large number of planes wereengaged, the British pilots smashed ten German machines, while onlytwo British flyers were compelled to withdraw from the fight, one ofthem making a successful landing within his own lines. Of the reckless bravery displayed by some of the younger members ofthe Royal Flying Corps many authentic stories are told. One intrepidBritish pilot coolly took up a position over a German aerodrome at aconsiderable distance within the enemy lines. There were sevenmachines in the aerodrome when the British flyer took up his positionabove, and as they issued forth first one and then two at a time heattacked and in every instance was successful in smashing or indriving out of control the German machine. On the Arras battle front on June 19, 1917, the British gained someground south of the Cojeul River, capturing during the operationthirty-five prisoners. French positions between the Ailette River and Laffaux Hill in theChampagne and northwest of Rheims were on this date the special marksfor the concentrated fire of German guns. French outposts wereattacked at Mont Teton and Mont Carnillet (an almost daily occurrencethis summer), but the Germans were unable to gain any advantage andwere driven back to their trenches with heavy losses. The British were successful on June 20, 1917, in regaining the Monchyposition which had been lost some days before. It was of utmost valuethat this point should be wrested from German hands if the advance wasto continue, and the British were correspondingly elated that they hadpossession of it again. South of La Fère the French attacked during the night following the21st, and penetrating German lines in the region of Beauton, destroyedlarge numbers of the enemy and brought back prisoners. In theChampagne after severe artillery preparation the Germans attackedFrench trenches on Teton Height and to the east of this position on afront of 400 yards. The Germans employed strong forces in theoperation, and in a daring push in which they sacrificed large numbersof men they succeeded in penetrating advanced positions. But they wereunable to hold them long, when the French came back in a dashingassault that swept them out and back to their own lines. On thefollowing day the French in a brilliant movement made on a 600-yardfront advanced their line 600 yards nearer to Mont Carnillet. It was in this region that a unit consisting of only sixty-two FrenchGrenadiers and portable machine guns occupied a position that theGermans coveted. The Germans attacked with a strong force, but thestout-hearted defenders, though vastly outnumbered, not only drovethem back, but pressed on in pursuit, capturing a considerable lengthof German trenches and killing more than 200. In the Chemin-des-Dames on June 22, 1917, the Germans launched anumber of attacks, which led to some desperate engagements. In thevicinity of La Royère Farm the ground was covered with the bodies ofGerman dead, according to the statements of correspondents on thefield. The Germans at a heavy cost only succeeded in gainingpossession of a short section of a French front trench. Rheims continued to be the mark on which the Germans vented theiranger when things went wrong, and on the 22d they threw 1, 200 shellsinto the cathedral city. The British had made no sensational advances in France for some time, but along the entire 120-mile front occupied they continued tomaintain strong pressure on the enemy positions. During the night ofthe 24th they carried out a number of successful local operations. Oneof these enterprises was of importance, as it increased the Britishgrip around Lens. Attacking by starlight the British troops stormedand captured 400 yards of front-line trenches east of Riaumont Wood, in the western outskirts of Lens, thus drawing closer the ring of ironwith which they were hemming in the French mining center. In numerous raids carried out in the night on enemy trenches in thevicinity of Bullecourt, Roeux, Loos, and Hooge, much damage waswrought to German defenses and a considerable number of prisoners werecaptured. One daring body of British troops remained for two hours inGerman trenches, blowing up dugouts and inflicting serious casualtieson the garrison. In the general advance on Lens the Canadians occupied the strongestoutpost in the defense of that place and had pushed forward to LaCoulotte. The object of the British command was to exert extremepressure on the enemy and at the same time keep down the casualties, and this they were successful in doing. Patrols sent out reached the crown of Reservoir Hill without meetingopposing forces and pressed on down the eastern slope to occupy thestrong Lens outpost. South of the Souchez River the Canadians werepressing on the very heels of the retreating Germans. Railwayembankments southeast of the Lens electric station were occupied, andthe advance was then continued toward La Coulotte. For several days the Germans had been destroying houses in the westernpart of the mining center, in order to secure a wider area of fire fortheir guns. This movement suggested to the British command that theyintended to cling as long as possible to the eastern side of the cityand to prolong the fight to the bitter end by house-to-house fighting. In the night of June 25, 1917, the French made a brilliant attacknorthwest of Hurtebise on a strongly organized German position. Theygained all their objectives and the rapidity with which the attack wascarried out proved a crushing surprise to the Germans who lost in thefight and in counterattacks ten officers and over 300 of other ranks. Among the positions captured by the French in the operations in thisregion was the "Cave of the Dragon, " which was more than 100 yardswide and 300 yards deep, and had been converted into a strongfortress. The cavern had numerous exits and openings through whichmachine guns could be fired. Here the French captured a vast amount ofwar material, including nine machine guns in good condition, ammunition depots, and a hospital relief outpost. In the morning of June 27, 1917, the Canadians, encouraged by theirrecent successes, which had been won at slight cost, decided to attackacross the open ground sloping upward to Avion and the village ofLeauvette near the Souchez River. The assaulting troops consisted ofmen from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, and theBritish army contained no more daring fighters. The attack was asuccess, except at one point, where the Germans were strong in machineguns, and were surrounded by barbed-wire entanglements of a peculiarlycomplicated sort. Here the sturdy men from overseas were unable togain their objectives, but at other points they gained valuableground. In the following night, during a heavy rainstorm, the British attackeda number of the southwesterly suburbs of Lens, including the one knownas Avion. They won all their first objectives, and captured over 200prisoners. The fighting was in and out of ruined buildings, collieries, pit derricks, and the usual structures of a miningsettlement. It was continued on the following day, advance being madeon a total front of about four miles to a depth of over a mile. Theresult of these attacks was to give the British a series of stronglyorganized defensive systems on both banks of the river Souchezcovering Lens. On the same night the suburbs of the mining center were attacked, theBritish captured German forward positions south and west of Oppy inthe Arras sector on a front of about 2, 000 yards. On the 28th and 29th of June, 1917, the Germans launched by nightpowerful attacks in the Verdun sector near Hill 304 and Avocourt Wood. They succeeded in piercing French first lines over the whole frontattacked, but were subsequently driven out, except at one point, onthe slope of Dead Man Hill, where they clung tenaciously, defyingevery attempt made by the French to regain the position. CHAPTER LX THE GERMANS DEFEAT BRITISH ON BELGIAN COAST--INTENSE FIGHTING IN THECHAMPAGNE AND AT VERDUN In the first days of July, 1917, the Verdun sector became the sceneof some of the heaviest fighting on the western front. The Germansseemed determined to redeem their failures in this area in theprevious year and engaged in daily assaults with large numbers ofpicked forces. The German High Command had circulated so many storiesregarding the declining strength of the French troops and of theirweakened morale that they must have come to believe their owninventions. The soldiers of the Republic certainly did their best toconvince the German command that they were very much alive and in goodfighting trim. Most of the German attacks in the Verdun sector wererepulsed, but they succeeded in retaining some conquered ground on thewest slope of Dead Man Hill. On the Aisne front during the night ofJune 30, 1917, the Germans attacked near Cerny and Corbeny, when theirstorming detachments were almost annihilated by the devastating fireof the French artillery. To the northeast of Cerny the Germanssucceeded in gaining a small salient which had first been leveled bytheir guns. South of Lens the British continued to make progress, capturing a goodportion of the German trench system in this area and taking a numberof prisoners. British aviators on this front maintained successfullytheir supremacy of the air. In the space of twenty-four hours theybrought down five German aeroplanes, and four others were driven outof control, while only one British machine was missing. Heavy artillery fighting continued during July 1, 1917, in the sectorbetween Cerny and Ailles on the French front. At a late hour Frenchtroops carried out a spirited attack on both sides of theAilles-Paissy road and ejected the Germans from the trenches they hadcaptured in the previous week. In the night of July 2, 1917, theGermans made a strong counterattack in an endeavor to oust the Frenchfrom their regained position, but were repulsed. In the course of thenight several more attacks were made by the Germans, who, thrown backin every instance, finally abandoned the effort when day was breaking. On the left bank of the Meuse, on the Verdun front, violent artilleryfighting continued the greater part of the night on the same datebetween Hill 304 and Avocourt Wood. Early in the morning followingthe Germans attacked on a front of 500 yards at the southeast cornerof the wood. The assaults broke down under the devastating French fireand no attempt was made to renew the effort. On the British front no important actions were fought during the firstweek of July, 1917, but everywhere defenses were strengthened and thepressure on the German positions became unceasingly intense. Southwestof Hollebeke in Belgium the British advanced their lines on a front ofabout 600 yards during the night of July 4, 1917. Successful raids inthe vicinity of Wieltje and Nieuport resulted in the capture of a goodnumber of prisoners. On the Verdun front the Germans renewed their offensive withoutobtaining any important progress. Heavy artillery fighting continuednear Moronvilliers in the Champagne and around Hill 304. German positions west and north of this hill were subjected to adestructive fire of French batteries during the day of July 5, 1917, and with such good effect that the enemy guns only feebly replied. Near Louvemont, on the left bank of the Meuse, the French weresuccessful in several encounters with German patrols, which theydispersed after sharp fighting, killing a number and taking prisoners. In the Champagne, especially at Le Casque and Le Teton, there wasactive artillery fighting throughout the day. In the region betweenthe Miette and the Aisne the Germans attacked three French posts, butwere driven off by the French artillery fire. The British now took the offensive and advanced their line on a600-yard front south of Ypres, near Hollebeke, and continued to exertpressure on the German lines. On the 7th a further push forward wasmade east of Wytschaete in Belgium. The French sector of the Chemin-des-Dames to the south of Filain wasmenaced at all times because it was dominated by the ancient fort ofMalmaison in possession of the enemy. In the early morning of July 9, 1917, the Germans began an intense bombardment of this sector and thenattempted to rush ten or twelve infantry battalions into the Frenchpositions. A brigade of the famous Chasseurs-à-pied holding the linewere forced back by overwhelming numbers. The Germans evidentlythought that success was certain, for they had brought with themquantities of barbed wire, boxes of grenades, and trench mortars, andeverything that was needed to organize the position whose capturewould give them the command of a considerable section ofChemin-des-Dames. They failed, however, to consider the indomitable French spirit. TheChasseurs had only retreated a short distance when they gatheredtogether engineers and reservists who had been working on roads in therear and rushed back, and by a series of brilliant counterattacksejected or killed most of the Germans in spite of their heroicresistance, capturing large quantities of their war material andreoccupying the line almost to its fullest extent. The Germans having obtained reenforcements, fought furiously to regainthe lost position, but the French elated by their success redoubledtheir efforts to destroy the enemy and the shell craters, andcommunication trenches were soon encumbered with German dead. TheFrench losses in the fighting here were severe, but as they occupiedsafer positions the Germans' casualties were far greater. The fightingwas so intense throughout the action that very few prisoners weretaken by either side. A group of French soldiers who had been madeprisoners and brought to the German second line attacked their guardand fled to their own lines, escaping without hurt the intense firedirected against them. On this date, July 10, 1917, the Germans delivered a smashing blowagainst the British lines north of Nieuport on the Belgian coast. Fortwenty-four hours the Germans had maintained an intense bombardmentwhich lasted from 6 o'clock in the morning of the 10th up to midnightand was renewed again at dawn on the following day. The firing was onsuch a huge scale that it could be distinctly heard as far as London. The effect of this bombardment was to level all the British defensesin the dune sector and to destroy their bridges over the Yser. According to the Berlin reports 1, 250 men were captured by the Germansin this battle. To the southward, in the region, of Lombaertzyde, the Germans onlyobtained a temporary success, the British in a strong counterattackdriving them out of the positions they had won before they had time toorganize for defense. That the Germans were enabled to succeed in this coup was largelyowing to the weather conditions. A heavy gale was blowing on theBelgian coast and British naval support was impossible. The Germansenjoyed the advantage of having strong coast batteries all along thedunes which they could move about at will from one point to another. There was, however, no blinking the fact that a weak point existed inthe British defenses. Such success as the Germans won was attributedby some critics to their superiority in the air, the British at thetime being short of machines. The net gains to the Germans in this battle was the capture of Britishpositions on a front of 1, 400 yards to a depth of 600 yards. TheBritish losses in the shelled terrain between the river Yser and thesea were estimated at 1, 800. During the night of July 11, 1917, British naval aeroplanes carriedout successful raids in Flanders in and near five towns, when severaltons of bombs were dropped with good results. Railway lines and anelectric power station at Zarren were attacked by gunfire from theair, and bombs were dropped on a train near St. Denis-Westrem. TheBritish airmen's bombs caused a fire near Ostend, and heavy explosionsat the Varssenaere railway dump followed by an intense conflagrationwhich was still flaming fiercely when the British returned safely totheir own lines. On the French front there was increasing aerial activity on July 12, 1917, on both sides from daybreak to midnight. In some cases as manyas thirty machines were actively engaged. As a result of theseencounters fourteen German aeroplanes were brought down and sixteenothers were driven out of control. Nine British machines were countedmissing. Fighting continued daily in the Champagne and at frequent intervals. The Germans were paying a high price for every foot of ground gainedand learned at the cost of heavy sacrifices that the French were asstrong as ever, notwithstanding a report to the contrary wascirculated by the German High Command that they were short of men andwould be unable to fight much longer. On July 14, 1917, the French scored a double victory when theyoccupied five heights among a clump of hills known as theMoronvilliers Massif to the east of Rheims. The positions won were ofthe first importance whereby the Germans lost their principalobservatories in this region. The French occupied all the crests ofthe hills, but some of the slopes were held by the Germans, from whichpoints of vantage they were able to watch the movements of theiropponents. The net gains to the French during the day included a network ofGerman trenches on a front of over 800 yards to a depth of 300 yards, while the prisoners captured numbered 360, including nine officers. On the left bank of the Meuse, in the Verdun sector, around Hill 304and Dead Man Hill, artillery duels were continuous during the night ofJuly 13, 1917. The loss of the strong positions on the Moronvilliers hills, the chiefobservation posts in the region, spurred the Germans on to makefrequent and frenzied attempts to force the French out. In the nightof July 15, 1917, the hills were subjected to sustained and violentbombardment. It was followed by German attacks on Mont Haut and aheight known as the Teton. At Mont Haut the Germans succeeded inpenetrating French positions, but were driven out by a brilliantcounterattack. The fighting lasted throughout the night, and was ofthe most violent description. By morning the French had thrust theGermans back and held all positions on the hills securely. The Germanshad gained only a short stretch of trench near Mont Haut, which forthe time they were able to hold possession. On the left bank of the Meuse, in the Verdun sector, to the west ofHill 304, the French carried out a dashing operation early in themorning of July 17, 1917. After strong artillery preparation that hadlasted all through the previous night the French attacked, andnotwithstanding the stubborn and energetic resistance of the enemy, recaptured in a few minutes all the positions that the Germans hadoccupied since June 29, 1917. Following up the advantage thus gainedthe French carried German positions beyond their objectives to a depthof 2, 000 yards on both sides of the road between Esnes and Malancourt. All the first German line was captured, and a little later after themost intense fighting the second line was carried. The French gainedground in this advance to a depth of over a mile. The number ofunwounded prisoners captured reached 425, of whom eight were officers. The loss of such important positions in the Verdun sector stimulatedthe Germans to make repeated endeavors to recapture them, and duringthe night of July 17, 1917, they delivered furious counterattackspreceded by intense artillery preparations. The assaults were allrepulsed by the French, and at no point were the Germans enabled togain even a temporary footing. In the evening of July 18, 1917, the Germans attacked the French linessouth of St. Quentin over a front of about half a mile. They succeededin penetrating the first line, and held it for a brief period, whenthey were driven out. A few hours later the Germans made anotherstrong attack over a front of about four miles, their objective beingthe same--the hillock known as Moulin-sous-Toutvent. This attack wasbroken up by the French artillery and machine-gun fire. Throughout the day of July 19, 1917, French and German artillery wereactive along the whole French front, but beyond inflicting somecasualties for which they paid heavily the Germans gained noadvantage. A general assault was launched by the Germans with important forcesduring the night of July 19, 1917, on the line along the plateaubetween Craonne and Vauclerc. Over the whole extent of the front therewas hand-to-hand fighting, but everywhere the French succeeded inholding their positions. An energetic counterattack made between theCalifornie and Casemates Plateaus enabled the French to regain atrench line which the Germans had penetrated and held since theprevious day. Fighting continued in the Hill 304 region, and in theChampagne, but the Germans failed to make any progress. [Illustration: The Somme Battle Front, August 1, 1917. ] During these days of intense fighting on the French front the Britishhad not been marking time, but they had far less to contend againstthan their valorous allies. The French had to bear the brunt of Germanfury throughout the week. The whole French line from Verdun to St. Quentin in this period had been subjected to almost continuousattacks. At the cost of enormous losses that had not been exceededduring the war, save at Verdun in the previous year, the Germans hadonly gained a slight advance on a front of 2, 000 feet, at the foot ofthe slope leading to the Chemin-des-Dames between Vauclerc andCraonne. The French now held all the important heights of the Aisnewhich Hindenburg had declared were impregnable. The German High Command had given orders that the French positions onthe heights must be captured at all hazards. Throughout the night ofJuly 21, 1917, the high plateaus north of Craonne were shelled byGerman guns of the heaviest caliber. An attack was made at daybreakfrom Hurtebise to the east of Craonne. The two plateaus to the north, called the Casemates and Californie positions, are three-cornered inshape, projecting toward the north and joined by a narrow saddle. Theapproach to this is not so abrupt from the north as that to theplateaus themselves. The French artillery fire broke up the attackbetween Hurtebise and the Casemates Plateau before it could develop. Assemblages of German troops north of Ailette were dispersed withheavy losses by the concentrated fire from French batteries. Germanattacks east of the plateaus led to violent hand-to-hand conflicts inwhich the Germans fought with great courage, but were unable to makegains. Throughout the day the battle raged, the Germans hurling greatmasses of men against the French lines, and, thrown back with heavylosses, again and again renewed the attacks. On the Californie Plateauafter repeated repulses they succeeded in gaining a foothold, butwere only able to hold it for a short time, when the French threw themback in an assault that laid many a German low. Since the 10th of the month the British had done little but repelcounterattacks, but they had won a little useful ground east ofMonchy, close to the coast, and around Ypres and Lens theirs and theGerman batteries were busy day and night. From prisoners captured bythe British it was learned that the Germans were suffering from thegreat wastage of men. Out of one division west of Lens it was statedthat between seventy and eighty men had been buried every day for someweeks past. The British losses were also considerable, but their gunsdid more shooting, and the enemy's casualties were consequently muchheavier. The British continued to hold the upper hand in air combats, few German machines being encountered. During July 23-24, 1917, British airmen dropped between four and five tons of bombs on enemyaerodromes, ammunition depots, and railway junctions with goodresults. North and east of Ypres the British made several raids duringthe 24th, capturing 114 prisoners, including two officers. On the French front General Pétain, commander in chief of the Frencharmies, found time while the battle was still raging to review thefamous division whose four regiments had won the highest honors atVerdun, Nieuport, on the Somme, and in the Champagne. The troops whichhad been fighting for three years showed outwardly no sign of theterrible ordeals they had undergone, holding themselves proudly erectas they passed the saluting base amid the strains of military musicand flying colors. General Pétain, who believed in treating his men asif they were his own sons, commended their bravery and thanked them inthe name of the Republic for the brilliant example they had set to theother soldiers of France. The loss of the plateaus north of Craonne continued to rankle in themind of the German command, and repeated efforts were made to recoverthese precious positions. In the night of July 25, 1917, a ferociousattack was made on the French lines on a front of about two milesfrom La Bovelle Farm to a point east of Hurtebise. In the face of amurderous fire from the French artillery that wrought havoc in theadvancing masses the Germans pressed on and succeeded in occupyingportions of French first-line trenches south of Ailles. Repeatedattacks made on Hurtebise Farm broke down under French artillery fire. Attacks on Mont Haut, following an intense bombardment that lasted allnight long, failed to make any progress. North of Auberive the Frenchcarried out a successful operation during which they penetrated Germantrenches and continued their advance. In Flanders in the night of the 25th the town of Nieuport, which hadbeen in ruins since the first year of the war, was bombarded by theGermans with guns of every caliber. The British guns replied withequal violence, so that for miles around the air vibrated day andnight and the ground shook with tremors. East of Monchy the Germans resumed action, 400 attacking with flamethrowers the line of British trenches that had already been smashed byartillery fire, and succeeded in occupying some posts of no greatimportance. In the Champagne the sorely tried French troops were allowed norespite by the Germans, who would not renounce their hope of regainingthe important positions on the heights. In the night of July 26, 1917, no less than five attacks were made by the Germans in the vicinity ofthe height south and west of Moronvilliers, but all broke down underfire of the French artillery. East of Auberive, several groups ofGermans led by an officer tried a surprise attack which led to closefighting and from which hardly one German soldier escaped unwounded. The ground around the French position was strewn with dead, includingthat of the officer who led the attack. [Illustration: Barrage or curtain fire used to protect and clear theway for an infantry advance. Here the fire is being used to protectFrench troops for an advance on Fort Vaux. ] From the Flemish coast southward past Lens the great gun duelbetween the British and Germans continued without ceasing. TheGermans had brought up vast stores of ammunition and poured shellsinto Nieuport, Ypres, and Armentières, and for miles around sprayedthe country at large with the hope of smashing hidden Britishbatteries. To this wide sweeping storm of fire the British werereplying with far greater violence, sending two shells to theenemy's one, a rivalry of destruction that had not been surpassed onany previous occasion since the war began. Except for occasionalraids the infantry remained quiescent under this gunnery. North ofArras and east of Ypres the British raids netted a considerablenumber of prisoners and machine guns. The fury of the British firewas not without effect on the generally stolid and imperturbableGermans, for at Fontaine-les-Croisilles they ran away withoutfiring a shot when a British raiding party rushed forward to attack. The three weeks' bombardment in Belgium closed on the morning of July31, 1917, when British and French troops launched an attack on agigantic scale along a front of nearly twenty miles from Dixmude onthe north to Warneton on the south. The Allies won a notable victory, capturing in the first day of the battle ten towns and over 5, 000prisoners, including ninety-five officers. The attack began a littlebefore 4 o'clock in the morning, just when the first faint light ofdawn was breaking, German trenches had been either leveled or werecompletely wiped out by the preceding bombardment. The shellingincreased in violence as the troops of the Allies left their positionsand rushed forward to attack. The first and second German lines werecarried almost without opposition, but at some points the Germans heldup the advance with machine guns from their rear positions. These theBritish stormed, and lost considerable men in the operation, but theywere comforted with the thought that the German losses were muchheavier. As a result of the day's operations the British had advanced theirline on a front of over fifteen miles from La Basse Ville, on theriver Lys, to Steenstraete on the river Yser. The French troops on the extreme left and protecting the left flank ofthe British forces captured the village of Steenstraete, and rushingon penetrated the German defenses to a depth of nearly two miles. Having won all their objectives at an early hour in the day, theFrench continued to advance, occupying Bixschoote and capturing Germanpositions to the southeast and west of the village on a front ofnearly two and a half miles. In the center and on the left Britishdivisions swept the enemy from positions to a depth of two miles, andsecured crossings at the river Steenbeek, thus gaining all theirobjectives. In carrying out this attack British troops captured twopowerful defensive systems by assault, and won against fierceopposition the villages of Verlorenhoek, Frezenberg, St. Julien, andPilken, together with farms that had been transformed into fortressesand other strongholds in neighboring woods. The victory of the Allies was more remarkable because of unfavorableweather conditions. The day was marked by heavy rain and the sky wasfull of heavy sodden clouds, so that observation was well nighimpossible for the airmen and kite balloons. Fortunately on the nightbefore the attack the rain held off and the many thousands of Britishtroops who occupied mudholes and shell holes close to the enemy lineshad reason to bless the dark since they had a better chance ofescaping observation. But this was not always possible, for the Germanflares and rockets often revealed their position and a shell wouldpass over them or smash among them, killing some and maiming others. Those who escaped these death-dealing visitors were forced to maintainsilence, lest they betray their position. During the night the Germanaviators were more active than during the day and many times theirbombs found a mark among the British soldiers crouching on the ground. It was a terrible ordeal through which these brave fellows had topass, the forced inaction was maddening, and they were all the moreeager to fight when at last the welcome signal came in the early dawnto go forward to attack. Despite the discouraging weather conditions, which hinderedobservation, large squadrons of British planes led the advance againstthe German lines and not only maintained constant contact with theinfantry, but flying low carried on a destructive warfare with theirmachine guns. There were many air battles fought at a few hundred feet above theground, but the Germans were decidedly outclassed and had to retireafter they had lost six machines. One British aviator doing patrol duty, and flying at a height of notmore than thirty feet, came upon a German aerodrome on which hedropped a bomb with careful precision. As the Germans in the shedscame tumbling out, the aviator turned his machine gun on them, andcircling around the field poured such a stream of fire into thekaiser's men that they scattered, leaving a number of dead on theground. The Germans having presently recovered, from their astonishment got amachine gun into action and came back to attack the airman, who made adive, and when not more than twenty feet from the ground silencedtheir gun with his own. Then he circled the field, firing through thedoors of every building he passed on the groups of men within. Leavingthis scene the British airman next came upon two German officers, andhis machine-gun working steadily put them to flight. A column ofseveral hundred troops encountered after this were dispersed when heswept along the line, leaving a number of dead and wounded on thefield. It was now time to return to the British lines for moreammunition and some slight repairs, but the gallant aviatorencountered two German war planes that engaged him in battle. One hedisabled by a well-directed shot and the other seized the opportunityto hurry from the scene. On the Aisne front during July 31, 1917, there was violent artilleryfighting south of La Royère; the French had won all their objectivesand more. The German advanced trenches were filled with dead and theFrench captured 210 prisoners. On the same date the Germans after heavily bombarding French lines atCerny and Hurtebise, attacked positions east of Cerny on a front of1, 500 meters with three regiments. French counterattacks immediatelycarried out, drove the Germans back, their ranks seriously depleted, and the French were now enabled to advance along the whole front. The day was calm on both sides of the Meuse, but farther south, in theright center of the French attack, after gaining Hooge village andSanctuary Wood, their first objectives, they fought their way forwardand carried the village of Westhoek, against very obstinateresistance from the enemy. In this neighborhood there was stifffighting throughout the day, and still continued. The French hadpenetrated the German defenses to a depth of about a mile. A number ofviolent counterattacks were repulsed. South of the Zillebeke-Zandvoordroad, on the extreme right, French troops at an early hour in the dayhad succeeded in winning all of their objectives, capturing thevillages of La Basse Ville, and Hollebeke. The French claimed to havesuffered few casualties in these important operations, and bynightfall of July 31, 1917, over 3, 500 German prisoners had beenpassed behind the lines. The German Government having industriously circulated reports thatthe French armies had suffered such a wastage of men that in a shorttime they would prove a negligible factor in the war, the French WarOffice announced that there were a million more troops in the fightingzone than were mustered to stem the German flood tide at the Battle ofthe Marne. It was also declared that the Republic had more men underarms than at any time in her history. Nearly 3, 000, 000 troops were inFrance alone, exclusive of the interior and in the colonies. PART VIII--THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY CHAPTER LXI THE INTERIM The cessation of diplomatic relations between the American and GermanGovernments was an inevitable consequence of the latter's submarinedecree abrogating the undertaking it gave in the _Sussex_ case. Theworld knew it. Germany knew it. Her ambassador at Washington, Countvon Bernstorff, knew it best of all, and accepted his dismissal in afatalistic spirit. The rupture had to come. He had done his best toavert it, and his best had availed nothing. The long-feared break having become a reality, the American peoplelooked wide-eyed at the unexampled international situation. What now?When two parties enter into a bargain and one breaks it, there isusually a parting of the ways, a personal conflict perhaps, when thereis not also a lawsuit. But no court could settle the differencesbetween the United States and Germany. The nation squarely faced thefact that the two countries were officially not on speaking terms;they were on the dangerous ground of open enmity, when the leastprovocation would be as a spark to a powder magazine. Sparks therewere in plenty; but the explosion waited. President Wilson guarded themagazine. He waited an "overt act" before giving up his vigil andletting events take their course. Germany began her announced ruthless submarine warfare against neutralshipping with caution. Apparently she was loath to precipitate mattersby acting in the letter and spirit of the new decree which warned thatany neutral vessel found in the new danger zone "perished. " OnFebruary 3, 1917, when the decree was in operation, one of hersubmarines encountered an American freighter, the _Housatonic_, offthe Scilly Isles, which came within the proscribed area. It sank her, but first gave warning, permitted the crew to take to the boats, andactually towed the boats ninety miles toward land. A British patrolvessel then appeared; the submarine fired a signal to attract itsattention and vanished under water, leaving the patrol vessel torescue the _Housatonic's_ crew. According to the new order given thesubmarines the _Housatonic_ ought to have been sunk without warning. This unwonted chivalry looked promising; but it was deemed to bemerely an act of grace extended to neutral vessels on the high seaswhich had left their home ports before the date (February 1, 1917)when the new policy of ruthlessness went into effect. It was notrepeated. No such shrift was accorded British vessels, whether Americans were onboard them or not. About the same time the merchantman _Eavestone_ wassunk by a submarine, which also shelled the crew as they took to theboats. The captain and three seamen--one an American--were killed bythe gunfire. This action was debated as an "overt act, " but apparentlythe Administration did not regard isolated fatalities of thischaracter as providing ground for a _casus belli_. What came nearer to a flagrant violation of the _Sussex_ agreement wasthe destruction by submarine torpedoes of the Anchor passenger liner_California_ without warning off the Irish coast with 230 persons onboard. The vessel sailed from New York for Glasgow on January 28, 1917, and its crew and passengers included a sprinkling of Americans. There were no American casualties; but attacks on passenger linerswithout warning, regardless of the menace to American life, formed thecrux of the various crises between the United States and Germany, andthe sinking of the _California_, as an "overt act, " therefore broughtthe breaking point nearer and nearer. The loss of life was forty-one, thirteen passengers and twenty-eight of the crew being drowned. Thevessel sank in nine minutes and the submarine made no effort to savethe lives of its victims. The loss of two British steamers, the _Japanese Prince_ and the_Mantola_, sunk without warning, added to the growing indictmentagainst Germany in the consequent jeopardizing of American lives. There were thirty American cattlemen on board the _Japanese Prince_. With the remainder of the crew they took to the boats, and afterdrifting about for several hours were saved by a passing ship. AnAmerican doctor on board the _Mantola_ was among the latter'ssurvivors. The next attack on American shipping was the sinking of the _Lyman M. Law_, a sailing vessel loaded with lumber from Maine to Italy, by asubmarine off the coast of Sardinia in the Mediterranean. The crew, seven of whom were American, were saved. There was no warning; thecrew were ordered to debark, a bomb was placed on board, and thevessel was blown up and sank in flames. The destruction of the Cunard liner _Laconia_, without warning, followed. Three American passengers were lost, two of them women, mother and daughter, who died from exposure in one of the boats. Thevessel was torpedoed in the Irish Sea at 10. 30 p. M. On February 25, 1917, and it was not until 4 o'clock the next morning that thesurvivors, scantily clad, were rescued in a heavy sea. All these outrages were readily chargeable as overt acts, any singleone of which could have constituted a cause for war, if theAdministration was looking for one. But Germany's offenses, viewedsingly, were passed over; it was their cumulative force that wasproviding the momentum to hostilities. Two American freighters, the _Orleans_ and the _Rochester_, left NewYork on February 9, 1917, without guns or contraband, bound forBordeaux, France, and were the first craft to leave an American portafter Germany issued her terrifying order condemning all neutralvessels found in the new danger zone. Meantime the barometer at Washington was ominous. The _California_sinking, then the _Laconia_, proved how slender was the thread thatheld the sword of Damocles over the heads of the American people. Tension increased. "We are hoping for the best and preparing for theworst, " came one official view early in the crisis. The Presidentbecame detached and uncommunicative. Germany indirectly sought to avert the consequences of her conduct. Aweek after the rupture in diplomatic relations Dr. Paul Ritter, theSwiss Minister, to whom she had delegated the charge of her interestsin the United States, approached the State Department with an informalproposal to reopen negotiations. Secretary Lansing required him to puthis request in writing, and the following memorandum was thereuponpresented by Dr. Ritter on February 11, 1917: "The Swiss Government has been requested by the German Government tosay that the latter is now, as before, willing to negotiate, formallyor informally, with the United States, provided that the commercialblockade against England will not be broken thereby. " Secretary Lansing's answer, made the next day, was short and to thepoint. He notified Dr. Ritter, under instructions from the President, that "the Government of the United States would gladly discuss withthe German Government any questions it might propose for discussionwere it to withdraw its proclamation of the 31st of January [1917], inwhich, suddenly and without previous intimation of any kind, itcanceled the assurances which it had given this Government on the 4thof May last [1916], but that it does not feel that it can enter intoany discussion with the German Government concerning the policy ofsubmarine warfare against neutrals which it is now pursuing unless anduntil the German Government renews its assurances of the 4th of Mayand acts upon the assurance. " No further interchanges took place on the subject. The answerclarified the situation and disposed of doubts caused by the veil thePresident had thrown about the workings of his mind. It told thecountry that its Executive was not wavering and would brook nocompromise. Little hope prevailed in Berlin that war with the United States couldbe avoided, since the bait offered with a view to formulating a _modusvivendi_ for reconciling the divergent attitudes of the twogovernments had failed. It was said that behind Dr. Ritter's overtureswas a proposal that American vessels would be spared in order to avoidactual war if the United States assented to the continuance of theextended blockade against England. This implied that all othervessels, neutral or belligerent, were marked for destruction. Howeverthat might be, Berlin, finding its approaches repulsed, boldly deniedthat the German Government had been a party to initiating anyovertures at all. No recession of the submarine program was thought ofor proposed; no change of policy was possible In fact, this denialbrought with it tidings that the periods of grace Germany granted toneutral ships entering the prohibited zones had expired and that allimmunity from attack and destruction had therefore ceased. Then itdeveloped that Dr. Ritter's overtures had been traced to pacificelements in the United States, represented by William J. Bryan, whowas said to have been in league with the ex-ambassador, Count vonBernstorff, and the Washington correspondent of a Cologne newspaper, in a plan to avert hostilities. Part of this propaganda was thetransmission of dispatches from Washington to the German press statingthat the President's message to Congress must not be construedliterally, and that there was no desire for war with Germany. Thepurpose of these dispatches was to prevail on Germany to abate hersubmarine warfare by way of convincing the United States that her newpolicy was not so ruthless as had been described. The pacifists knewvery well that the President had no intention of yielding to halfmeasures, and that the only course Germany could take to obtain aresumption of negotiations was the absolute withdrawal of her orderrevoking the _Sussex_ pledge. The Administration resented thepacifists' activities as an attempt to undermine the uncompromisingposition it had taken. Their dealings with a foreign government wereactually unlawful; but no action was taken. A subsequent announcement from Berlin stated that Dr. Ritter (inspiredby American pacifists) had telegraphed the German Government offeringto mediate, whereupon he was told that Germany was agreeable on theterms named in the interchanges Dr. Ritter had with the StateDepartment. As to a belief which had arisen from Dr. Ritter's actionthat the marine barrier maintained against Great Britain by submarinesand mines had been or would be weakened out of regard for the UnitedStates or for other reasons, official Berlin (February 14, 1917) hadthis to say: "Regard for neutrals prompts the clearest declaration thatunrestricted war against all sea traffic in the announced barred zonesis now in full effect and will under no circumstances be restricted. " The United States had spoken: "Withdraw your new submarine decreebefore making any proposal, " it had demanded of Berlin. Germany hadspoken: "Our course cannot be changed. " The situation in Washington drifted along without any definite programof future action being disclosed; but the President was not idle. Hedecided--though he held the power himself--to ask Congress forauthority to protect American shipping on the high seas by providingmerchantmen with naval guns and gunners. There was a freightcongestion in Atlantic ports, due to the reluctance of Americanshipowners to sail their vessels without defensive armament. ThePresident's decision was a step nearer war, for armed Americanvessels, on encountering German submarines, would be bound to causehostilities, and war would be a reality. Berlin took this view. If theUnited States armed its merchant ships, German opinion was that theconsiderate submarines would be unable to save passengers and crews ofthe vessels they sank. Were the vessels unarmed the submarines couldperform this kindly service. This sardonic hint was construed as anofficial warning from Germany that the arming of American vesselsmeant war. The Administration, however, was no longer concerned withGermany's viewpoint. It realized that so long as it permitted Americanships to be held in port in fear of attack by submarines if theyventured out, its inaction would in effect be viewed as acquiescing inthe German policy. Such a state of affairs, it was decided, could notbe allowed to continue indefinitely. CHAPTER LXII BERLIN'S TACTICS Before the armed neutrality stage of the prewar period was reachedcertain events transpired in Berlin which call for inclusion in therecord. Immediately upon the rupture of diplomatic relations the StateDepartment notified Ambassador Gerard, who was requested to ask forhis passports. About the same time the German Government acceded to ademand made by Secretary Lansing for the release of a number ofAmericans captured from ships sunk by a German raider in the SouthAtlantic and taken to a German port on board one of them, the Britishsteamer _Yarrowdale_. Germany had no right to hold these men asprisoners at all, since they were neutrals. Yet there was an attemptto interject their release into the international crisis as an olivebranch and a concession to American feeling. The two issues weredistinct; but Germany, by her subsequent action, managed to link themtogether. Ambassador Gerard requested his passports on February 5, 1917, whilethe release of the _Yarrowdale_ prisoners was pending. Meantimedispatches which came to Berlin from Washington via London wereblamed for misleading the German Government into thinking that theUnited States was detaining Count von Bernstorff, and had seized theGerman ships, with their crews, lying in American ports. Until itreceived assurances regarding the "fate" of the ex-ambassador andlearned what treatment was to be meted out to the "captured" crews ofthe German vessels, the kaiser's government detained AmbassadorGerard, his staff, a number of Americans, including newspapercorrespondents, as well as the _Yarrowdale_ men. It practically heldall Americans in Germany as prisoners for a week. In view of the readiness of the German Government to seize upon theflimsiest excuses for its manifold disgraceful deeds, permissibledoubts arose as to whether it was willingly or willfully misled by thedispatches. Every courtesy was shown to the departing GermanAmbassador by the Washington Government; safe conduct across the oceanwas obtained for him from Great Britain; and he publicly expressed hisacknowledgments. As to the German vessels, there were no seizures, andthe only restraints imposed on the crews were those required by theimmigration laws. Whatever the motive, the detention of AmbassadorGerard was so wanton a violation of law and usage as to constitute initself an act of war. While Ambassador Gerard was held incommunicado in Berlin, his mailintercepted, his telephone cut off, and telegraphic facilities deniedhim, the German Government actually sought to parley with him by wayof revising an old treaty to apply to existing conditions. Mr. Gerard, having ceased to hold ambassadorial powers after the breaking ofrelations, could not enter into any such negotiations; but then theGerman Government had never been concerned with legalities. It blandlyasked him to sign a protocol, the main purpose of which was to protectGermans and their interests in the United States in the event of war. The proposed protocol, besides containing a formal reratification ofthe American-Prussian treaties of 1799 and 1828 regarding mutualtreatment of nationals caught in either belligerent country in case ofwar, provided for some remarkable additions as a "specialarrangement" should war be declared. Germans in the United States and Americans in Germany were to beentitled to conduct their businesses and continue their domicileunmolested, but could be excluded from fortified places and othermilitary areas. Or if they chose, they were free to leave, with theirpersonal property, except such as was contraband. If they remainedthey were to enjoy the exercise of their private rights in common withneutral residents. They were not to be transferred to concentrationcamps nor their property sequestered except under conditions applyingto neutral property. Patent rights of the respective nationals ineither country were not to be declared void nor be transferred toothers. No contracts between Germans and Americans were to be canceledor suspended, nor were citizens of either country to be impeded infulfilling their obligations arising thereunder. Finally Germanyrequired that enemy merchant ships in either country should not beforced to leave port unless allowed a binding safe conduct by all theenemy sea powers. In short, Germany asked that in the event of war her nationals and herships and commercial interests in the United States be regarded as ona neutral footing and exempt from all military law. They were to be asfree and unrestricted as in peace time. Mr. Gerard refused to sign the protocol after he had ceased toexercise ambassadorial functions. Thereupon Count Montgelas, chief ofthe American department of the Foreign Office, hinted that his refusalto sign it might affect the status of Americans in Germany and theirprivilege of departure. The reference was to American presscorrespondents in Berlin, whose fate was apparently thought to weighwith American public opinion. This threat to detain newspaperrepresentatives as supposedly important pieces on the diplomaticchessboard before war was declared brought a firm refusal from Mr. Gerard to yield to such pressure. He also expressed doubt whether thenewspaper representatives could be utilized to urge acceptance of theprotocol under pain of detention. Thenceforth nothing further washeard of the protocol. Germany was undoubtedly exercising duress inrequiring Mr. Gerard to sign it, since his passports were withheld anda needless guard had been placed round the American Embassy. It appeared that the protocol had also been submitted to the StateDepartment by the Swiss Minister in Washington. Secretary Lansingfinally disposed of it. In a communication to Dr. Ritter he said theUnited States Government refused to modernize and extend the treatiesas Germany proposed, and indicated that the Government held thetreaties null and void since Germany herself had grossly violated herobligations under them. The treaty of 1828, for example, containedthis clause governing freedom of maritime commerce of either of thecontracting parties when the other was at war: "The free intercourse and commerce of the subjects or citizens of theparty remaining neuter with the belligerent powers shall not beinterrupted. "On the contrary, in that case, as in full peace, the vessels of theneutral party may navigate freely to and from the ports and on thecoasts of the belligerent parties, free vessels making free goods, insomuch that all things shall be adjudged free which shall be onboard any vessel belonging to the neutral party, although such thingsbelong to an enemy of the other. "And the same freedom shall be extended to persons who shall be onboard a free vessel, although they should be enemies to the otherparty, unless they be soldiers in actual service of such an enemy. " Secretary Lansing pointed out another clause of equal import in thetreaty of 1799, providing: "All persons belonging to any vessels of war, public or private, whoshall molest or insult in any manner whatever the people, vessel, oreffects of the other party, shall be responsible in their persons andproperty for damages and interests, sufficient security for whichshall be given by all commanders of private armed vessels before theyare commissioned. " Germany was reminded of her violations of these stipulations in strongterms. Said Secretary Lansing: "Disregarding these obligations, the German Government has proclaimedcertain zones of the high seas in which it declared withoutreservation that all ships, including those of neutrals, will be sunk, and in those zones German submarines have in fact, in accordance withthis declaration, ruthlessly sunk merchant vessels and jeopardized ordestroyed the lives of American citizens on board. "Moreover, since the severance of relations between the United Statesand Germany certain American citizens in Germany have been preventedfrom removing from the country. While this is not a violation of theterms of the treaties mentioned, it is a disregard of the reciprocalliberty of intercourse between the two countries in times of peace andcannot be taken otherwise than as an indication of the purpose on thepart of the German Government to disregard, in the event of war, thesimilar liberty of action provided for in Article 23 of the treaty of1799--the very article which it is now proposed to interpret andsupplement almost wholly in the interests of the large number ofGerman subjects residing in the United States and enjoying in theirpersons or property the protection of the United States Government. " In addition to declining to enter into the special protocol Germanyproposed, Secretary Lansing significantly added: "The Government is seriously considering whether or not the treaty of1828 and the revised articles of the treaties of 1785 and 1799 havenot been in effect abrogated by the German Government's flagrantviolations of their provisions, for it would be manifestly unjust andinequitable to require one party to an agreement to observe itsstipulations and to permit the other party to disregard them. "It would appear that the mutuality of the undertaking has beendestroyed by the conduct of the German authorities. " The meaning of this passage was that as Germany was deemed to haveabrogated the treaties by sinking American ships, the German vesselsimmured in American harbors would be under no treaty protection shouldwar be declared, and would be immediately seized by the AmericanGovernment. Germany had thus destroyed the protection they would havereceived in case of war. The intimidation exercised on Ambassador Gerard to obtain hissignature to the protocol and its submission by Dr. Ritter toSecretary Lansing showed that Germany was nervously concerned aboutsafeguarding her interests in the United States and feared for thesafety of her nationals in the pending crisis. Ample assurancespresently came to Berlin, however, that, during the diplomatic breakat any rate, the American Government would not resort to Teutonicmethods. Count von Bernstorff was safe; no ships had been seized; nocrews arrested; no other German persons or interests molested. Thereupon Ambassador Gerard and an entourage of some 120 Americansreceived their passports and left the German capital on February 10, 1917, for the United States via Switzerland and Spain. Germany was less ready to release the Americans known as the_Yarrowdale_ prisoners. Her Government still appeared to fear that thecrews of German warships in American ports were in danger, andevidently wanted hostages at hand lest any trouble befell them at thehands of the American military authorities. Secretary Lansing demandedtheir release on February 3, 1917, when relations were broken. Germanyassented, then withdrew her assent. A second request for their freedomand for an explanation of their continued detention was made onFebruary 13, 1917. At this date the men had been held as prisoners ofwar for forty-four days contrary to international law. After beingcaptured from Allied vessels sunk by the German raider, they weretaken before a prize court at Swinemunde, when their status wasdetermined. Neutral merchant seamen, according to Germany, must beheld as prisoners of war because they had served and taken pay onarmed enemy vessels. Germany disclosed for the first time that she wastreating armed merchantmen as ships of war and regarded neutral seamenfound on such vessels as combatants. The German raider had capturedaltogether 103 subjects of neutral states. They were not imprisonedbecause they had committed hostile acts, which would have justifiedtheir detention. They were penalized for being on enemy vessels. TheAmerican Government insisted that Germany had no right to hold anyAmericans as war prisoners unless they committed hostile acts. Germanyhad no answer to make to that contention. But she did not free them. "They will be released just as soon as we learn of the fate of theGerman crews in American ports, " said Herr Zimmermann, ForeignSecretary. [Illustration: Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated President of the UnitedStates, March 4, 1913; was reelected and began his second term March4, 1917. He signed the Declaration of War, April 6, 1917. ] Germany had already been assured that the crews were in no danger. Theconviction grew that she meant to detain the _Yarrowdale_ seamen ashostages pending a determination of the crisis as to peace or war. TheAdministration had been inclined to subordinate all collateral issuesbetween the two countries to the major and vital one created by thesubmarine peril; but the plight of these seamen caused their case tobecome one of the chief factors in the crisis. Germany seemed toconclude that their continued detention, in view of the indignationroused in Washington by such a wanton violation of international law, to say nothing of the open insult hurled at the dignity and good faithof the United States, would only precipitate war. On February 16, 1917, came a report that the men had been released. This proved to bea false alarm. On February 26, 1917, Berlin notified that theirrelease, although ordered "some time ago, " had been deferred becausean infectious disease had been discovered in their concentration campat Brandenburg. They were consequently placed in quarantine "in theinterest of neutral countries. " On March 2, 1917, Dr. Ritter informedSecretary Lansing that the transfer of the American sailors to thefrontier had been arranged but delayed until the quarantine ended. OnMarch 8, 1917, they were finally released from quarantine and sent tothe Swiss frontier. Members of other neutral crews were sent homethrough various frontier towns. All were said to have been pennilessand in rags. Apart from the necessary quarantine (a Spanish doctorfound typhus in the camp), the record stands as an example ofGermany's gift for unscrupulous temporizing and for usingprocrastination as a club to hold the United States at bay when on thebrink of war. The Reichstag met shortly after Germany had compulsorily disposed ofher connections with the United States. An expected address by thekaiser's Chancellor, Dr. Von Bethmann-Hollweg, had been deferred untilFebruary 27, 1917, when a tardy official recognition was made of theAmerican action. The most deliberate official notice of the course the United Stateswould take was served on the German Government in the President'sultimatum arising out of the torpedoing of the _Sussex_ early in 1916. If Germany continued her ruthless sea warfare, the President warnedher, "the Government of the United States can have no choice but tosever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether. " Now thetime had come for the President to go even beyond that step. The daybefore the Reichstag listened to the Chancellor's complaint the voiceof the American President was again heard in the Capitol atWashington. CHAPTER LXIII ARMED NEUTRALITY President Wilson addressed Congress in joint session, February 26, 1917, asking authority to use the armed forces of the United States toprotect American rights on the high seas. He desired to establish astate of "armed neutrality. " This was not a request for a declarationof war, nor was it an act of war. It was to prepare the United Statesto resist what might be warlike acts by Germany. Reviewing the maritime conditions caused by Germany's submarine orderof January 31, 1917, which produced the diplomatic rupture, thePresident disclosed an unexpected view--that Germany's misdeeds incarrying out her new decree had not, in his opinion, so far providedthe "overt act" for which the United States was waiting. "Our own commerce has suffered, is suffering, " he said, "rather inapprehension than in fact, rather because so many of our ships aretimidly keeping to their home ports, than because American ships havebeen sunk. .. . "In sum, therefore, the situation we find ourselves in with regard tothe actual conduct of the German submarine warfare against commerceand its effects upon our own ships and people is substantially thesame that it was when I addressed you on February 3, except for thetying up of our shipping in our own ports because of the unwillingnessof our shipowners to risk their vessels at sea without insurance oradequate protection, and the very serious congestion of our commerce, which has eventuated, a congestion which is growing rapidly more andmore serious every day. "This in itself might presently accomplish, in effect, what the newGerman submarine orders were meant to accomplish, so far as we areconcerned. We can only say, therefore, that the overt act which I haveventured to hope the German commanders would in fact avoid has notoccurred. " But he felt that American immunity thus far had been more a matter ofhappy accident than due to any consideration of German submarinecommanders. Nevertheless, he pointed out, it would be foolish to denythat the situation was fraught with the gravest possibilities anddangers. Hence he sought from the Congress "full and immediateassurance of the authority which I may need at any moment toexercise. " "No doubt, " he proceeded, "I already possess that authority withoutspecial warrant of law, by the plain implication of my constitutionalduties and powers, but I prefer in the present circumstances not toact upon general implication. I wish to feel that the authority andthe power of the Congress are behind me in whatever it may becomenecessary for me to do. We are jointly the servants of the people andmust act together and in their spirit, so far as we can divine andinterpret it. .. . "I am not now proposing or contemplating war or any steps that needlead to it. I merely request that you will accord me by your own voteand definite bestowal the means and the authority to safeguard inpractice the right of a great people who are at peace and who aredesirous of exercising none but the rights of peace to follow thepursuit of peace in quietness and good will--rights recognized timeout of mind by all the civilized nations of the world. "I believe that the people will be willing to trust me to act withrestraint, with prudence, and in the true spirit of amity and goodfaith that they have themselves displayed throughout these tryingmonths, and it is in that belief that I request that you willauthorize me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms shouldthat become necessary, and with the means of using them, and to employany other instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary andadequate to protect our ships and our people in their legitimate andpeaceful pursuits on the seas. " Even before the President addressed Congress the "overt act" had beencommitted by Germany. News of the sinking of the _Laconia_, alreadymentioned, was published synchronously with the delivery of hismessage and subjected to correction his allusion to the noncommittalof any overt act by German submarines. The President, in fact, decidedlater that the destruction of the Cunarder without warning and atnight, in rough seas, with the loss of American lives, constituted a"clear-cut" violation of the pledge the German Government gave to theUnited States after the _Lusitania_ and _Sussex_ sinkings. But it wasfelt that the next step in meeting the situation now rested withCongress. The Senate and House immediately set about framing bills conforming, as far as the President's opponents permitted, to his request. Therewas no time to be lost. Congress expired on March 4, 1917, byconstitutional limitation and the President had delayed submitting hismessage until the last moment, so that Congress had only eight days todebate and agree to a measure that excited the pacifists' bitteranimosity in both Houses, as well as the opposition of otherlegislators who feared that the authority the President sought wouldencroach on Congress's war-making prerogative. In the House of Representatives the opposition dwindled to negligibleproportions. Public sentiment had been stirred by the sinking of the_Laconia_ and by certain revelations the Administration publisheddisclosing German overtures to Mexico in the event of war, thecharacter of which will be chronicled later. Sensitive to the publicpulse, the House was eager to receive the Armed-Ship Bill when it wasreported on February 28, 1917, by the Foreign Affairs Committee, whichhad occupied a couple of days in shaping it. A stirring debate on thebill took place the next day (March 1) under cloture rule, and beforethe House adjourned that night it had passed the measure by asubstantial vote of 403 to 13. The bill was at once sent to theSenate, and was substituted for the Senate Committee's bill, whoseprovisions conferred larger powers on the President. Expecting theSenate to pass its own bill as a substitute, it was the intention ofthe House leaders to accept the Senate's measure when it came to themfor passage. The measure, however, never passed the Senate. Throughthe wide latitude allowed for unlimited debate a handful of Senatorsopposed to any action against Germany succeeded in effectuallyblocking the bill. The Senate sat late into the night of February 28, 1917, and took up the Armed-Ship Bill the next day. Senator LaFollette, who led the successful filibuster against the bill, objectedto its consideration, and, under the rule of unanimous consent, wouldonly allow the bill to proceed on condition that no attempt was madeto pass it before the next day. A precious day was lost, which sealedthe fate of the measure. The bill came before the Senate forcontinuous debate on March 2, 1917, when it got into a parliamentarytangle. Debate was resumed on Saturday, March 3, 1917. Only a day anda half of the session now remained. Senator Stone who, though incharge of the bill, was opposed to it, found his position untenableand surrendered its conduct to Senator Hitchcock. This course enabledhim to join the opponents of the bill openly by contending for anamendment excluding munition ships from armed protection--a revival ofthe arms embargo he had urged before. But the main obstruction to thebill came from a group of Western senators, who balked every effortfor limiting debate or setting a time for a vote. As midnight nearedthe Administration's supporters saw that its chances of passing beforeCongress expired at noon the next day, Sunday, March 4, 1917, were ofthe slightest, and, anxious that the country should know where theystood, these senators, to the number of seventy-five, signed amanifesto reading as follows: "The undersigned, United States senators, favor the passage of Senatebill 8322, to authorize the President of the United States to armAmerican merchant vessels. "A similar bill already has passed the House of Representatives by avote of 403 to 13. "Under the rules of the Senate, allowing unlimited debate, it nowappears to be impossible to obtain a vote prior to noon March 4, 1917, when the session of Congress expires. "We desire the statement entered in the record to establish the factthat the Senate favors the legislation and would pass it if a votecould be obtained. " The Senate continued sitting until the stroke of twelve noon on March4, 1917. The President was in the Capitol receiving reports of thecourse of his opponents' tactics. A vote not having been reached, theArmed-Ship Bill went down to defeat, having been talked to death, andthe Senate automatically adjourned with the expiration of the lastsession of the Sixty-fourth Congress. The bill was assured of passage, had a vote been permitted, by 75 to 12. The twelve obstructionistswere Senators La Follette of Wisconsin, Norris of Nebraska, Cummins ofIowa, Stone of Missouri, Gronna of North Dakota, Kirby of Arkansas, Vardaman of Mississippi, O'Gorman of New York, Works of California, Jones of Washington, Clapp of Minnesota, Lane of Oregon--sevenRepublicans and five Democrats. The situation produced an indignant protest from the President, who, in a public statement, described the termination of the session byconstitutional limitation as disclosing "a situation unparalleled inthe history of the country, perhaps unparalleled in the history of anymodern government. In the immediate presence of a crisis fraught withmore subtle and far-reaching possibilities of national danger than anyother the Government has known within the whole history of itsinternational relations, the Congress has been unable to act either tosafeguard the country or to vindicate the elementary rights of itscitizens. " "The Senate, " he proceeded, "has no rules by which debate can belimited or brought to an end, no rules by which dilatory tactics ofany kind can be prevented. A single member can stand in the way ofaction, if he have but the physical endurance. The result in this caseis a complete paralysis alike of the legislative and of the executivebranches of the Government. "Although, as a matter of fact, the nation and the representatives ofthe nation stand back of the Executive with unprecedented unanimityand spirit, the impression made abroad will, of course, be that it isnot so and that other governments may act as they please without fearthat this Government can do anything at all. We cannot explain. Theexplanation is incredible. The Senate of the United States is the onlylegislative body in the world which cannot act when its majority isready for action. A little group of willful men, representing noopinion but their own, have rendered the great Government of theUnited States helpless and contemptible. "The remedy? There is but one remedy. The only remedy is that therules of the Senate shall be so altered that it can act. The countrycan be relied upon to draw the moral. I believe that the Senate can berelied on to supply the means of action and save the country fromdisaster. " The new Senate of the Sixty-fifth Congress met in extraordinarysession at noon on March 6, 1917, when both parties took steps toframe a revision of the rules for preventing filibustering. Bothcaucuses agreed upon a cloture rule empowering the Senate to bring thedebate on any measure to an end by a two-thirds vote, limitingspeeches to one hour each, but sixteen senators must first make therequest in the form of a signed motion presented two days previously. After several hours' discussion this rule passed the Senate on March8, 1917. Thus the right to unlimited debate, which had been regardedas the most characteristic prerogative of senators, was at lastrestrained after enjoying a freedom of nearly one hundred and tenyears. The recalcitrant senators who prevented the passage of the Armed-ShipBill were the subject of bitter criticism from the press and publicthroughout the country, which echoed, but in much stronger terms, thePresident's denunciation of them. There was none to do them reverencein the United States. The only meed of praise they received came fromGermany. The essence of editorial opinion in that country regardingtheir action, according to a Berlin message, was that "so long asthere are men in the American Congress who boldly refuse to have theircountry involved in the European slaughter merely for the sake ofgratifying Wilson's vainglorious ambition, there is hope that thecommon sense of the American people will assert itself and that theywill not permit the appalling insanity to spread to the new world thatholds the old world in a merciless grip. " The German press, like the senators whom it eulogized, was mistaken insupposing that the President had been thwarted by the failure of theArmed-Ship Bill. Certainly he remained in doubt as to his next course. He had told Congress that he believed he had the power to arm merchantships without its authority, but did not care to act on generalimplication. Now he was faced with the duty of ascertaining definitelywhere his freedom of action lay, since Congress had impeded, insteadof facilitating, his conduct of the crisis with Germany. An old act, passed in 1819, governing piracy at sea, had been unearthed, and atfirst sight its terms were read as preventing the President fromarming merchant ships. The law advisers of the Government, SecretaryLansing and Attorney General Gregory, examined this act and decidedthat it was obsolete. They were of opinion that it did not apply tothe existing situation. The statute forbade American merchantmen fromdefending themselves against the commissioned vessels of a nation withwhich the United States was at "amity"; but they could resist by forceany attacks made on them by any other armed vessels. In short, itlegalized resistance to pirates. The word "amity" pre-supposedfriendly diplomatic relations as well as a normal condition oftraffic and commerce on the high seas in its application to the armedvessels of other nations. The provision forbidding conflict with themby American traders was intended primarily to prevent private citizensfrom embarrassing the Government's foreign relations. Now it was heldthat Germany's denial to Americans of the rights of the high seas wasinconsistent with true amity, and caused her war vessels to lose, sofar as the United States was concerned, their right to immunity fromattack, both under international law and under this municipal act, which was viewed as superseded and void in its application to Germanwar craft. This decision disposed of an obstacle which had placed the Presidentin a dilemma. It was true he could go to Congress again; but immediateaction was imperative. Armed neutrality, under the President's powersas commander in chief of the army and navy, was thereupon determined. Every merchant ship which so desired would be provided with guns andnaval gunners to operate them. Foreign governments were notified ofthis action in an executive memorandum which read: "In view of the announcement of the Imperial German Government onJanuary 81, 1917, that all ships, those of neutrals included, metwithin certain zones of the high seas, would be sunk without anyprecaution taken for the safety of the persons on board, and withoutthe exercise of visit and search, the Government of the United Stateshas determined to place upon all American merchant vessels sailingthrough the barred areas an armed guard for the protection of thevessels and the lives of the persons on board. " The President meantime was also confronted with the necessity ofcalling the new Congress into extra session, not so much to gain itsassent to armed neutrality (since he had determined to act withoutit), but as a war expedient to support the measures projected againstGermany. Owing to the Senate filibuster the previous Congress had beenunable to pass appropriations exceeding $500, 000, 000, more than halfof which was needed for the army. The new Congress was accordinglyconvened, to meet on April 16, 1917. CHAPTER LXIV GERMANY'S BID TO MEXICO While Congress was in the midst of its consideration of the Armed-ShipBill, the Administration amazed the country by revealing through thepress that Germany had made overtures to Mexico for an alliance withthat country in the event of war with the United States, and alsosought to involve Japan. This disclosure was due to American secret service agents, who hadintercepted a communication addressed by Herr Zimmermann, the GermanForeign Secretary, to Herr von Eckhardt, the German Minister at MexicoCity, reading as follows: "BERLIN, January 19, 1917. "On the 1st of February we intend to begin submarine warfare unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United States of America. "If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement. "You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan. At the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan. "Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months. "ZIMMERMAN. " The Administration was in possession of this document, and achieved adramatic coup in exposing its contents just as important warlegislation was pending in Congress. The immediate effect of therevelation was that the Armed-Ship Bill passed the House ofRepresentatives by the overwhelming majority recorded in the previouschapter. The Senate was no less astonished; but its attitude was oneof incredulity and produced a demand to the State Department vouchingfor the document's authenticity and demanding other information. Secretary Lansing assured it that the letter was _bona fide_, butdeclined to say more. The letter was transmitted to Von Eckhardt through Count vonBernstorff, then German Ambassador at Washington, and now homewardbound to Germany under a safe conduct obtained from his enemies by thecountry against which he was plotting war. It came into thePresident's hands a few days before it was published on March 1, 1917, and provided a telling comment on Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg'sdeclaration that the United States had placed an interpretation on thenew submarine decree "never intended by Germany" and that Germany hadpromoted and honored friendly relations with the United States "as anheirloom from Frederick the Great. " Its disclosure was viewed as asufficing answer to the German Chancellor's plaint that the UnitedStates had "brusquely" broken off relations without giving "authentic"reasons for its action. The bearings of the proposal to Mexico were admirably stated by theAssociated Press as follows: "The document supplies the missing link to many separate chains ofcircumstances which, until now, have seemed to lead to no definitepoint. It sheds new light upon the frequently reported but indefinablemovements of the Mexican Government to couple its situation with thefriction between the United States and Japan. "It adds another chapter to the celebrated report of Jules Cambon, French Ambassador in Berlin before the war, for Germany's world-wideplans for stirring up strife on every continent where they might aidher in the struggle for world domination which she dreamed was closeat hand. "It adds a climax to the operations of Count von Bernstorff and theGerman Embassy in this country, which have been colored with passportfrauds, charges of dynamite plots, and intrigue, the full extent ofwhich never has been published. "It gives new credence to persistent reports of submarine bases onMexican territory in the Gulf of Mexico. It takes cognizance of a factlong recognized by American army chiefs, that if Japan ever undertookto invade the United States it probably would be through Mexico, overthe border and into the Mississippi Valley to split the country intwo. "It recalls that Count von Bernstorff, when his passports were handedto him, was very reluctant to return to Germany, but expressed apreference for an asylum in Cuba. It gives a new explanation to therepeated arrests on the border of men charged by American militaryauthorities with being German intelligence agents. "Last of all, it seems to show a connection with General Carranza'srecent proposal to neutrals that exports of food and munitions to theEntente Allies be cut off, and an intimation that he might stop thesupply of oil, so vital to the British navy, which is exported fromthe Tampico fields. " A series of repudiations followed. The Mexican Government, throughvarious officials except President-elect Carranza himself, denied allknowledge of Germany's proposal. The German Minister at Mexico Cityprotested that he had never received any instructions from SecretaryZimmermann, which appeared to be the case, since they wereintercepted. From Tokyo came the assurance of Viscount Motono, Japanese Foreign Minister, that Japan had received no proposal fromeither Germany or Mexico for an alliance against the United States. Hescouted the idea as ridiculous, since it was based on the "outrageouspresumption that Japan would abandon her allies. " Secretary Lansingdid not believe Japan had any knowledge of Germany's overtures toMexico, nor that she would consider approaches made by any enemy, andwas likewise confident that Mexico would not be a party to anyagreement which affected her relations with the United States. The Berlin Government impenitently admitted the transmission of theEckhardt letter and justified the alliance with Mexico it proposed. The Budget Committee of the Reichstag, unequivocally and by aunanimous vote, indorsed the initiation of the ill-starred project asbeing within the legitimate scope of military precautions. Addressingthe Reichstag, Herr Zimmermann thus defended his action: "We were looking out for all of us, in the event of there being theprospect of war with America. It was a natural and justifiedprecaution. I am not sorry that, through its publication in America, it also became known in Japan. "For the dispatch of these instructions a secure way was chosen whichat present is at Germany's disposal. How the Americans came intopossession of the text which went to America in special secret code wedo not know. That these instructions should have fallen into Americanhands is a misfortune, but that does not alter the fact that the stepwas necessary for our patriotic interests. "Least of all are they in America justified in being excited about ouraction. It would be erroneous to suppose that the step made aparticularly deep impression abroad. It is regarded as what itis--justifiable defensive action in the event of war. " The Mexican Government, despite its denials, remained under thesuspicion that it had secret dealings with Germany. Toward the closeof 1916 circumstantial rumors were afloat that German sea raiders, who were then roaming the South Atlantic, had a base somewhere on thecoast of Mexico. The Allied Powers were persuaded that if this wastrue the raiders could not obtain supplies from such a source withoutthe knowledge or connivance of the Mexican authorities. The Britishchargé at Mexico City thereupon presented a note to the CarranzaGovernment stating that if it was discovered that Mexican neutralityhad thus been violated, the Allies would take "drastic measures" toend the situation. The retort of the Mexican Foreign Minister, SeñorAquilar, almost insolent in tone, was to the effect that it was thebusiness of the Allies to keep German submarines out of westernwaters, and that if they were not kept out Mexico would adopt whatevercourse the circumstances might dictate. An allusion has previously been made to a peace proposal submitted byGeneral Carranza. Its character was such as to point to the presenceof German influences in Mexico, and the impression was created that itwas made solely to embarrass the United States. Shortly after theAmerican severance of relations with Germany, General Carranzacirculated an identical note to the neutral powers, including theUnited States, asking them to join Mexico in an internationalagreement to prohibit the exportation of munitions and foodstuffs tothe belligerents in Europe. Such an embargo, General Carranza piouslypointed out in florid terms, would compel peace. The inference wasplain. Only the Central Powers would benefit by such a step. If thenote was not directly inspired by German intrigue it certainlysuggested to the other neutrals a practical union against the EntenteAllies. The proposal was contrary to international law and to theprinciples of neutrality as laid down by the United States to theGerman and Austro-Hungarian Governments. The suspected complicity of Mexico as a tool of Germany, however, faded before the inconceivable folly of the latter in gravelyproposing that Mexico should attempt to regain the "lost territories"of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The American press was almostunited in declaring that Germany had committed an act of war againstthe United States. Certainly her exposed machinations broughthostilities perceptibly nearer. CHAPTER LXV A STATE OF WAR Armed neutrality proved to be a passing phase in a rapidly developingsituation. When the President on March 9, 1917, called on the newCongress to assemble on April 16, his course was solely dictated byexisting conditions, which required legislative support, by thepassage of adequate appropriations, for carrying out the defensivemeasures decided upon. But armed neutrality never became a reality. Asa certain foretoken of war it could not be sustained. Not a naval gunhad found its way on to the bow or stern of a merchant ship before thedepredations of Germany forced the United States to reconsider itspredetermined course of defensive armament. "We make absolutely no distinction in sinking neutral ships within thewar zone, " Herr Zimmermann had warned. "Our determination isunshakable since that is the only way to end the war. " This was an intimation that American vessels, like those of otherneutrals, must comply with the U-boat rulings or take theconsequences. Hence more American vessels were sunk, Germany pursuingher evil way regardless of the American attitude. On March 12, 1917, the unarmed steamer _Algonquin_, with a crew oftwenty-seven, of whom ten were Americans, was shelled and sunk withoutwarning by a German submarine. The crew succeeded in escaping. A few days later the sinking of three unarmed American vessels, the_City of Memphis_, _Illinois_, and _Vigilancia_, was announced. Thefirst and second named ships were returning to the United States inballast; hence their destruction could not be justified on the groundthat they were carrying freight for the Allies. The _City of Memphis_was first shelled and then torpedoed off the Irish coast on March 17, 1917. Her crew of fifty-seven escaped in five boats and were picked upby a steamer. The _Illinois_ was torpedoed the next day. The_Vigilancia_ was similarly sunk on March 16, 1917, by a submarinewhich did not appear on the surface. Fifteen of the crew, includingfive Americans, were lost. These sinkings occasioned gratification in Germany. Count Reventlow, anotable German publicist, thus welcomed them in the "DeutscheTageszeitung": "It is good that American ships have been obliged to learn that theGerman prohibition is effective, and that there is no question ofdistinctive treatment for the United States. In view of such losses, there is only one policy for the United States, as for the smallEuropean maritime powers, namely, to retain their ships in their ownports as long as the war lasts. " Another German press comment was that the sinkings were certain toproduce special satisfaction throughout the empire. German contempt for American feeling could no further go. A cabinetmeeting held on March 20, 1917, disclosed that the President'scolleagues, even reputed pacifists like Secretaries Daniels and Baker, were a unit in regarding a state of armed neutrality as inadequate tomeet the serious situation. The President was confronted with thenecessity of immediately taking more drastic action rather thancontinuing to pursue measures of passive defense against the submarineperil represented by arming ships. The cabinet's demand was for anearlier convocation of Congress and a declaration that a state of warexisted between the United States and Germany. The President listened, and that evening attended a theater supposedly to divert and preparehis mind for coping with the gravest of problems. Events proved thathe had already determined his course. Armed neutrality was a delusive phrase and misrepresented actualconditions; it merely glozed over a state of undeclared hostility anddeceived no one. Yet it had its adherents; they wanted to give it afair trial before discarding the pretense that it existed. TheGovernment, they said, should wait and see how armed ships fared atthe hands of German submarines. If they proved equal to encounterswith U-boats, or, better still, if the U-boats did not dare to attackthem, there would be no occasion for further action. The proposalwould not bear scrutiny since it was now known that Germany regardedarmed merchantmen as ships of war and their crews as combatants. The next day, March 21, 1917, the President issued a proclamationcalling upon Congress to assemble on April 2, instead of April 16, "toreceive a communication concerning grave matters of national policy. "The national emergency which had been in existence since Germany begansinking American ships in pursuance of her unrestricted submarinepolicy was now acknowledged. It would be the function of Congress, ifthe President so advised, to declare that a state of war existedbetween the Government of the United States and that of the GermanEmpire. And a waiting and willing nation was left in no doubt that warthere would be. The cabinet had become a war cabinet and the countrywarlike, goaded to retaliatory action by the wanton deeds of the mostcruel government of this or any other age. As the spokesman of an imperialistic régime preserving its accustomedrôle of a wolf in sheep's clothing, the German Chancellor addressedthe Reichstag on March 29, 1917, and took cognizance of the criticalsituation in the United States in these terms: "Within the next few days the directors of the American nation will beconvened by President Wilson for an extraordinary session of Congressin order to decide the question of war or peace between the Americanand German nations. "Germany never had the slightest intention of attacking the UnitedStates of America, and does not have such intention now. It neverdesired war against the United States of America, and does not desireit to-day. How did these things develop? "Why, England declined to raise her blockade, which had been calledillegal and indefensible even by President Wilson and SecretaryLansing, " said the Chancellor. "Worse than that, she had intensifiedit. Worse than all, she had rejected Germany's 'peace' offers andproclaimed her war objects, which aimed at the annihilation of theTeutonic Powers. Hence unrestricted sea warfare followed. "If the American nation considers this, " concluded the Chancellor, "acause for which to declare war against the German nation, with whichit has lived in peace for more than one hundred years, if this actionwarrants an increase of bloodshed, we shall not have to bear theresponsibility for it. The German nation, which feels neither hatrednor hostility against the United States of America, shall also bearand overcome this. " The march of events went on irresistibly. At 8. 35 o'clock on theevening of Monday, April 2, 1917, President Wilson appeared before ajoint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. He hadaddressed the Congress in person several times during his terms ofoffice, but never under circumstances or in a setting more dramatic. The streets leading to the Capitol were packed with vast throngs. White searchlights etched the dome and the pillars against the sky, revealing the Stars and Stripes waving in the breeze on the flagstaffabove the dome. Two troops of United States cavalry in dress uniform, with sabers drawn, formed a guard round the House approaches. Hundredsof police, in uniform and in plain clothes, were scattered along theroute followed by the President's automobile from the White House. Inside the House, which had been in almost continuous session all day, the members assembled to receive the President. The senators appearedcarrying little American flags. The Diplomatic Corps, the wholeSupreme Court--in fact, the entire personnel of the Government, legislative, judicial, and executive--gathered to hear the head of theAmerican nation present its indictment against the Imperial Governmentof Germany. The President was visibly nervous. He was pale. His voice was neitherstrong nor clear. He appeared to be deeply affected by the epochal andawesome character of his task. His distinguished audience listened inprofound silence as he stated America's case without bluster andwithout rancor. The burden of his address was a request that the Houseand Senate recognize that Germany had been making war on the UnitedStates and that they agree to his recommendations, which included adeclaration that a state of war existed, that universal militaryservice be instituted, that a preliminary army of 500, 000 be raised, and that the United States at once cooperate with the Allied Powers asa belligerent in every way that would operate to effect the defeat ofGermany as a disturber of the world's peace. In adopting ruthless submarine warfare, the President told Congress, Germany had swept every restriction aside: "Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, theircargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent tothe bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy forthose on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those ofbelligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to thesorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter wereprovided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the GermanGovernment itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks ofidentity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion orof principle. "It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply tolearn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendlynations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. "The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itselfhow it will meet it. " Here the President referred to the short-lived expedient of armedneutrality adopted to meet the challenge: "When I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February last I thoughtthat it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, ourright to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keepour people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, itnow appears, is impracticable. "The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at allwithin the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in thedefense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questionedtheir right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armedguards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated asbeyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates wouldbe. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in suchcircumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse thanineffectual; it is likely only to produce what it was meant toprevent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war withouteither the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is onechoice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will not choosethe path of submission--" The President's audience had listened in silence up to this point. There was more of the sentence; but Congress did not wait to hear it. At the word "submission, " Chief Justice White of the Supreme Courtraised his hands in a resounding clap, which was the signal for adeafening roar of approval alike from congressmen, senators, and theoccupants of the crowded galleries. "We will not choose the path of submission, " repeated the President, "and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to beignored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselvesare no common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life. " Then came the presentation of the only alternate course the UnitedStates could take: "With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character ofthe step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which itinvolves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem myconstitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recentcourse of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing lessthan war against the Government and people of the United States, thatit formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus beenthrust upon it, and that it take immediate steps not only to put thecountry in a more thorough state of defense, but also to exert all itspower and employ all its resources to bring the Government of theGerman Empire to terms and end the war. " Now what did this involve? The President thus answered the question: "It will involve the utmost practicable cooperation in counsel andaction with the governments now at war with Germany, and, as incidentto that, the extension to those governments of the most liberalfinancial credits, in order that our resources may so far as possiblebe added to theirs. "It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the materialresources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve theincidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the mosteconomical and efficient way possible. "It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in allrespects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means ofdealing with the enemy's submarines. "It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of theUnited States, already provided for by law in case of war, of at least500, 000 men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principleof universal liability to service, and also the authorization ofsubsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may beneeded and can be handled in training. "It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits tothe Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably besustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation. " The President asked his countrymen to undertake a herculean task. Butit was a necessary task--he deemed it an imperative one, and he knewit would be borne by willing shoulders. Without any object of gain, itwas to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the world asagainst selfish and autocratic power. Neutrality was no longer feasible when the menace to the world's peaceand freedom lay in the existence of autocratic governments backed byorganized force and controlled solely by their own will, not by thewill of their peoples. The United States had seen the last ofneutrality in such circumstances. The age demanded that the standardsof conduct and responsibility for wrong done which were respected byindividual citizens of civilized states should also be observed amongnations and their governments. He acquitted the German people of blame. The United States had noquarrel with them. They were the pawns and tools of their autocraticrulers. "Self-governed nations, " said the President, "do not fill theirneighbor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bringabout some critical posture of affairs which will give them anopportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can besuccessfully worked out only under cover and where no one has theright to ask questions. " What hope was there of a steadfast concert of peace with an autocraticgovernment which could not be trusted to keep faith within it orobserve its covenants? The President pointed out the futility oflooking for any enduring concord with Germany as she was now governed: "One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussianautocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the veryoutset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities, and even our offices of government, with spies and set criminalintrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, ourpeace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed, itis now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; andit is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in ourcourts of justice, that the intrigues which have more than once comeperilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industriesof the country, have been carried on at the instigation, with thesupport, and even under the personal direction of official agents ofthe Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the UnitedStates. "The selfish designs of a government that did what it pleased and toldits people nothing, " continued the President, "have played their partin serving to convince us at last that that government entertains noreal friendship for us, and means to act against our peace andsecurity at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies againstus at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister atMexico City is eloquent evidence. " The President then delivered the most striking passage of an orationthat will rank as one of the greatest ever addressed to a listeningworld: "We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we knowthat in such a Government, following such methods, we can never have afriend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lyingin wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, can be no assuredsecurity for the democratic governments of the world. We are now aboutto accept the gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty andshall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check andnullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we seethe facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus forthe ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included; for the rights of nations, great andsmall, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of lifeand of obedience. "The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be plantedupon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfishends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek noindemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrificeswe shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights ofmankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made assecure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them. " The following morning, April 3, 1917, the Foreign Affairs Committeesof both houses met at 10 o'clock to consider war resolutionsintroduced the previous evening in the House and Senate immediatelyafter the President's address. They were identical in form and weresubmitted to textual alterations by the committees. That adopted bythe Senate committee, and accepted by the House leaders, read asfollows: "_Whereas_, The Imperial German Government has committed repeated actsof war against the Government and the people of the United States ofAmerica, therefore be it "_Resolved_, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the UnitedStates of America in Congress assembled, that the state of war betweenthe United States and the Imperial German Government, which has thusbeen thrust upon the United States, is hereby formally declared andthat the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed toemploy the entire naval and military forces of the United States andthe resources of the Government to carry on war against the ImperialGerman Government; and, to bring the conflict to a successfultermination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged bythe Congress of the United States. " Senator Stone, chairman of the Senate committee, alone opposed itsadoption. It was at once reported to the Senate, only to meetobjection from Senator La Follette, who demanded the "regular order, "that is, that the resolution, under the rule any member could invokein order to postpone the consideration of important legislation, bewithheld for one day. His objection came when Senator Hitchcock, whowas in charge of the resolution, asked for unanimous consent to asuspension of the rules for its immediate consideration. The Senatewas obliged to submit to the Wisconsin senator's obstructive tactics;but Senator Martin, the Senate Democratic leader, rather than permitany other business to be transacted, promptly obtained an adjournmenttill the next day. It was determined that the Senate, on reassembling, should sit without rest, recess or intermission, and withoutconsidering any other matter until the war resolution was passed. Senator La Follette and other pro-German pacifists in the chamber werebarred from interposing further obstacles, especially as the newcloture rule was now operative. The Senate assembled on April 4, 1917, in serious mien to carry outits task of passing the resolution before it could adjourn. It was aday of speechmaking and of historic utterances characterized by amoving earnestness of conviction. Orators of patriotic fervor camefrom senators who had before condemned any declaration of war as thegreatest blunder the United States could commit. Others recounted thecrimes of Germany against civilization, and, in face of these deeds, condemned any national unwillingness and cowardice to retaliate asshowing a national degeneracy that was much worse than war. The debate ended shortly after 11 o'clock that night, having lastedthirteen hours. The resolution was thereupon put to the vote andpassed by 82 to 6. The actual alignment was 90 to 6, as eight absentsenators favored the resolution. The six opponents were Senators LaFollette of Wisconsin, Gronna of North Dakota, Norris of Nebraska, Stone of Missouri, Lane of Oregon, and Vardaman of Mississippi. Theyall belonged to the group of twelve who had prevented a vote on theArmed-Ship Bill. Three of this group, Senators O'Gorman, Clapp, andWorks, had already retired into private life. The remaining three, chastened by the contumely their attitude had occasioned, deserted thepacifists and voted for the resolution. The House had been waiting for the Senate's action and immediatelyproceeded to debate the resolution when it came before it on April 5, 1917, at 10 o'clock a. M. Following the Senate's example, it resolvedto remain in session without any interval until a vote was taken. There was a strong band of pacifists in the House, some withpronounced pro-German sympathies, and they occupied much of the daywith their outgivings. The House floor leader, Representative Kitchinof North Carolina, was one of their number. The debate extendedthrough the night without cessation until 3. 15 the next morning, April6, 1917, when, after a wearisome discussion exceeding seventeen hours, the resolution passed amid resounding cheers by the overwhelming voteof 373 to 50. The President signed the resolution in the afternoon of the same day, at the same time issuing a proclamation notifying the world that astate of war existed between the United States and the ImperialGovernment of Germany, and outlining regulations for the conduct of"alien enemies" resident within American jurisdiction. American relations with Germany's allies--Austria-Hungary, Turkey, andBulgaria--remained to be determined. In his war address to Congressthe President made this allusion to them: "I have said nothing of the governments allied with the ImperialGovernment of Germany, because they have not made war upon us orchallenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-HungarianGovernment has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement andacceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare, adopted nowwithout disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it hastherefore not been possible for this Government to receive CountTarnowski, the ambassador recently accredited to this Government bythe Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but thatGovernment has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of theUnited States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present atleast, of postponing a discussion of our relations with theauthorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearlyforced into it, because there are no other means of defending ourright. " Under German dictation, however, Austria-Hungary and Turkey brokerelations with the United States on April 9 and April 21, 1917, respectively. Bulgaria took no action. The American war declarationthus solely applied to Germany. CHAPTER LXVI BUILDING THE WAR MACHINE The United States entered the war as a member of the Alliedbelligerents in their fight for civilization against Germany at 1. 18on the afternoon of April 8, 1917, at which time President Wilsonsigned the resolution empowering him to declare war as passed byCongress. The nation set about girding on its armor. A message was flashed tothe great naval radio station at Arlington, Va. , which repeated it tothe extent of its carrying radius of 3, 000 miles, notifying allAmerican ships at foreign stations and the governors and militaryposts of American insular possessions in the Pacific and in theAntilles. Orders were issued by the Navy Department for the mobilization of thefleet, and the Naval Reserve was called to the colors. The navy alsoproceeded to seize all radio stations in the country. An emergency war fund of $100, 000, 000 was voted by Congress for theuse of the President at his discretion. The Allied warships which had been patrolling the Atlantic coastoutside American territorial waters since the war began, to preventthe German ships in American ports from escaping, were withdrawn. There was no need of further vigilance, as one of the first acts ofthe Government was to seize every German and Austrian vessel which hadlain safe under the protection of the Stars and Stripes. There wereninety-one German ships, several of them interned men-o'-war, aggregating 629, 000 gross tonnage. The largest group were moored inNew York Harbor, numbering 27, and included leviathans like the_Vaterland_, (54, 282 gross tons), _George Washington_ (25, 570 tons), and _Kaiser Wilhelm II_ (19, 361 tons). Six were in Boston Harbor, among them the _Amerika_ (22, 622 tons), and the _KronprinzessinCecile_ (19, 503 tons). Others were held in the Philippines and Hawaii. Seven Austrian vessels were seized, but subject to payment, the UnitedStates not being at war with the Dual Monarchy. All the German officers and crews were taken in charge by theimmigration authorities and held in the status of intending immigrantswhose eligibility for entering the country was in question until theend of the war. This decision meant internment. The machinery of most of the German ships was found to be damaged toprevent the Government making immediate use of them as transports, forwhich the larger ones were admirably fitted. The damage dated from theseverance of relations on February 3, 1917, and was a preconcertedmovement undertaken by the various captains and officers uponinstructions from Berlin to cripple the machinery when war seemedimminent. Captain Polack of the North German Lloyd liner_Kronprinzessin Cecile_, held in Boston, admitted that he had receivedorders to make his vessel unseaworthy from the German Embassy atWashington three days before the rupture with Germany took place. Congress later authorized the President to take title to the Germanships for the United States and to put them into service in theconduct of the war. Payment or any other method of return for theirseizure was to wait until the war ended. In a short time more thanhalf of the seized vessels had been repaired and put upon the seasunder the American flag with new names. Fifteen were fitted fortransports. The Stars and Stripes was duly hoisted on the great Germanliner _Vaterland_. Simultaneous with the seizure of these vessels came wholesale arrestsof Germans suspected of being spies. Federal officers swooped down onthem in various parts of the country as soon as war was declared. Theycould not now safely be at large. Several had already been convictedof violating American neutrality by hatching German plots and were atliberty under bond pending the result of court appeals; others wereunder indictment for similar offenses and waiting trial; the remainderwere suspects who had long been under Federal surveillance. It was awar measure taken without regard to the civil law to circumventfurther machinations of German conspirators, who had now become alienenemies. Bearing upon these precautions was a proclamation issued by thePresident warning citizens and aliens against the commission oftreason, which was punishable by death or by a heavy fine andimprisonment. The acts defined as treasonable were: The use of forceor violence against the American army and navy establishment; theacquisition, use, or disposal of property with the knowledge that itwas to be utilized for the service of the nation's enemies; and theperformance of any act and the publication of statements orinformation that would give aid and comfort to the enemy. The Government had previously assured Germans and German reservistsdomiciled on American soil that they would be free from officialmolestation so long as they conducted themselves in accordance withAmerican law. A general internment of German aliens was deemed to beboth impracticable and impolitic. Precautions taken against internal uprisings by Teutonic sympathizersproved to be sufficient without corralling the great number of Germancitizens established among the populace--a step which would not onlybe costly but inflict great hardships on many unoffending and orderlyaliens. The Administration held by its previous determination not toresort to reprisals in its treatment of Germans nor to lose its headin the periodic waves of spy fever which spread throughout thecountry. The President and his advisers, while taking all these preliminarymeasures of war, were deeply conscious of the enormous field of otheractivities, calling for leadership and statesmanship of a high order, which the war situation had opened out. Without being daunted by theprospect, the President took the step of appealing to the people atlarge for cooperation. There were so many things to be done besidesfighting--things without which mere fighting would be fruitless. ThePresident thus stated them: "We must supply abundant food for ourselves and for our armies and ourseamen, not only, but also for a large part of the nations with whomwe have now made common cause, in whose support and by whose sides weshall be fighting. "We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our shipyards to carry tothe other side of the sea, submarines or no submarines, what willevery day be needed there, and abundant materials out of our fieldsand our mines and our factories with which not only to clothe andequip our own forces on land and sea, but also to clothe and supportour people, for whom the gallant fellows under arms can no longerwork; to help clothe and equip the armies with which we arecooperating in Europe, and to keep the looms and manufactories therein raw material; coal to keep the fires going in ships at sea and inthe furnaces of hundreds of factories across the sea; steel out ofwhich to make arms and ammunition both here and there; rails forworn-out railways back of the fighting fronts; locomotives and rollingstock to take the place of those every day going to pieces; mules, horses, cattle for labor and for military service; everything withwhich the people of England and France and Italy and Russia haveusually supplied themselves, but cannot now afford the men, thematerials, or the machinery to make. " The President's specific appeal was to the agricultural and industrialworkers of the country to put their shoulder to the wheel to helpprovision and equip the armies in Europe. On the farmers and theirlaborers, he said, in large measure rested the issue of the war andthe fate of the nations. To the middlemen of every sort the Presidentwas bluntly candid: "The eyes of the country are especially upon you, "he said. "The country expects you, as it expects all others, to foregounusual profits, to organize and expedite shipments of supplies ofevery kind, but especially of food, " in a disinterested spirit. Heasked railroad men of all ranks not to permit the nation's arteries tosuffer any obstruction, inefficiency, or slackened power in carryingwar supplies. To the merchant he suggested the motto: "small profitsand quick service" to the shipbuilder the thought that the wardepended on him. "The food and the war supplies must be carried acrossthe seas, no matter how many ships are sent to the bottom. " The minerhe ranked with the farmer--the work of the world waited upon him. Finally, every one who created or cultivated a garden helped to solvethe problem of feeding the nation; and every housewife who practicedeconomy placed herself in the ranks of those who served. Legislative tasks which confronted Congress were overwhelming and nota little confusing. They embraced measures for authorizing huge issuesof bonds to finance the Allies and provide funds for the Americancampaign; new taxation; food control; the provision of an enormousfleet of airships; forbidding trading with the enemy; an embargo onexports to neutral countries to prevent their shipment to Germany; anespionage bill; and chiefly, a measure of compulsory military serviceby selective draft to raise a preliminary army of 500, 000 men, to befollowed by a second draft of the same number, to enable 1, 000, 000Americans to help the Allies defeat Germany. The Bond Bill passed both houses of Congress without a dissentientvote within eleven days of the war declaration and five days of thebill's submission. The Administration sought authority for an issue of$5, 000, 000, 000 bonds, to be raised by public subscription, and$2, 000, 000, 000 bonds in Treasury certificates of indebtedness, thelatter to be redeemed in a year by the aid of new war taxation thenexpected to be available. Both bonds and certificates bore 3-1/2 percent interest. The main portion of the five-billion issue, or threebillions, was apportioned as a loan to the Allies, in the dispositionof which the President was to be wholly unhampered. Securities at parto that amount were to be acquired from the various foreigngovernments to cover the loan. Representative Kitchin, in presentingthe bill to the House, described it as representing "the mostmomentous project ever undertaken by our Government and carried thegreatest authorization of bonds ever contained in a bill submitted toany legislative body in the world. " The only material amendments madelimited the loans and the acquisition of foreign securities ascollateral to the period of the war. The House passed the measureafter two days' debate on April 14, 1917, by a vote of 889 to 0. TheSenate vote, three days later, after a day's debate, was 84 to 0. Thevarious factions in both Houses, which were hostile to theAdministration's policy before war was declared, dropped allpartisanship in their eagerness to support measures for prosecutingthe war now that the die had been cast. The War Revenue Bill was less easily disposed of. It bristled withcontentious points bearing upon the most equitable ways and means ofraising supplementary imposts to meet the first year's war outlays. Assubmitted to the House it was designed to raise a revenue of$1, 800, 000, 000; but the barometer of the Treasury's needs kept risingand presently stood at $2, 250, 000, 000 as the amount needed to beraised by the bill. The House hurriedly passed a loosely constructedmeasure, taxing practically every industry and individual, especiallythe incomes of corporations and men of wealth. It raised all tariffduties and abolished the free list by making the exempted articlessubject to a duty of 10 per cent. The House accepted it as a warmeasure, full of inequalities that would never be tolerated in timesof peace. It threw upon the Senate the onus of repairing the defectsof the bill. It passed it largely as it stood, a hasty piece ofpatchwork, in order to get some kind of legislation before Congress tomeet the Treasury's requirements. The measure was discussed in a cloudof confusion, and so perplexed the members that, in disposing of it, they relied upon the Senate to return it in better shape foradjustment in conference. The Senate was inclined to confine themeasure's revenue scope to $1, 250, 000, 000, leaving the balance neededby the Government to be raised by authorized bond issues. But inredrafting the bill the Senate committee, after vainly succeeding inparing the imposts below $1, 670, 000, 000, was eventually obliged toraise them $500, 000, 000. The conferees' report further enhanced themto yield approximately $2, 500, 000, 000. In this shape the bill finallypassed the Senate October 2, 1917. A simple named bill "to increase temporarily the militaryestablishment of the United States, " which was early presented toCongress after the declaration of April 6, 1917, stood out as theAdministration's chief war measure. It became known as the SelectiveDraft Bill because of its chief provisions, which authorized thePresident to institute a modified form of conscription for raising anew army. It also authorized him to raise the regular army and theNational Guard to their maximum strength and officer and equip them. These latter enlistments were to be voluntary, under existing laws, unless the required number was not forthcoming by that means, inwhich case the regular military establishment was to be replenishedfrom recruits obtained by the selective draft. This latter method thePresident was empowered to use for creating two forces of 500, 000 meneach, one immediately, the other later, as deemed expedient. All men, citizens and intended citizens, between the ages of 21 and 30, weresubject to call under the selective draft and were required toregister their names for possible enrollment. The census showed thatsome 10, 000, 000 men between the ages named could be located byregistration, from which number the Government could select themillion of men required in two divisions. The House and Senate adoptedthe measure on April 28, 1917, by substantial majorities, the votingbeing respectively 397 to 24 and 81 to 8. A vain attempt was made inboth Houses to raise the new army by voluntary enlistments. There was a popular demand for sending former President Roosevelt toFrance as head of a volunteer force of four infantry divisions, andthe Senate adopted an amendment authorizing the project. The House hadrejected the proposal. When the bill reached the Conference Committee, the Senate amendment authorizing the Roosevelt expedition was deleted. But upon the bill's return the House reversed itself by refusing toaccept it, and sent it back to the Conference Committee with theinstruction to restore the section permitting Colonel Roosevelt toorganize a volunteer force for service in Europe. The bill went to thePresident for signature with this provision restored; but thePresident declined, in his discretion, to avail himself of theauthority to permit the dispatch of the Roosevelt division, and itnever went. The Food Control Bill which conferred large powers on the Governmentfor safeguarding the food supplies of the country for war purposesproved as difficult to pass as the War Revenue Bill, but succeeded inreaching the President. Its presentation to Congress was heralded by apublic statement from the President, who sought to impress upon thecountry the immediate need of legislation to conserve and stimulatethe country's food production. He sought authority to appoint a foodadministrator, and named Herbert C. Hoover, who had creditablydirected the feeding of the Belgians as head of the Relief Committee, for the post. The President drew a sharp line of distinction betweenthe work of the Government as conducted by the Department ofAgriculture in its ordinary supervision of food production and theemergencies produced by the war. "All measures intended directly to extend the normal activities of theDepartment of Agriculture, " he said, "in reference to the production, conservation, and the marketing of farm crops will be administered, asin normal times, through that department, and the powers asked forover distribution and consumption, over exports, imports, prices, purchase, and requisition of commodities, storing, and the like whichmay require regulation during the war, will be placed in the hands ofa commissioner of food administration, appointed by the President anddirectly responsible to him. "The objects sought to be served by the legislation asked for are:Full inquiry into the existing available stocks of foodstuffs and intothe costs and practices of the various food producing and distributingtrades; the prevention of all unwarranted hoarding of every kind andof the control of foodstuffs by persons who are not in any legitimatesense producers, dealers, or traders; the requisitioning whennecessary for the public use of food supplies and of the equipmentnecessary for handling them properly; the licensing of wholesome andlegitimate mixtures and milling percentages, and the prohibition ofthe unnecessary or wasteful use of foods. "Authority is asked also to establish prices, but not in order tolimit the profits of the farmers, but only to guarantee to them whennecessary a minimum price which will insure them a profit where theyare asked to attempt new crops and to secure the consumer againstextortion by breaking up corners and attempts at speculation, whenthey occur, by fixing temporarily a reasonable price at whichmiddlemen must sell. "Although it is absolutely necessary that unquestionable powers shallbe placed in my hands, in order to insure the success of thisadministration of the food supplies of the country, I am confidentthat the exercise of those powers will be necessary only in the fewcases where some small and selfish minority proves unwilling to putthe nation's interests above personal advantage. " A sweeping bill was thereupon presented to the House empowering thePresident, under the war clause of the Constitution, to take themeasures he named whenever, in his opinion, the national emergencycalled for their exercise. The mere conferring of such extreme powers on the President, it washoped, would suffice. The Government view was that armed with theeffective weapons the bill provided, no difficulty would beencountered in enlisting on the side of the public interest allrecalcitrant private agencies without legal action. The House, in passing the measure, made it more drastic by insertingan amendment prohibiting the further manufacturing of alcoholicliquors during the war, and authorizing the President, in hisdiscretion, to commandeer existing stocks of distilled spirits. ThePresident was unwilling to countenance such a drastic curb on theliquor industry, and the Senate Agriculture Committee, on hisrecommendation, restricted the veto on the manufacture of liquor towhisky, rum, gin, and brandy, removing the ban on light wines andbeer, but retained the clause empowering him to acquire all distilledspirits in bond, as above named, should the national exigency call forsuch action. The Senate approved the bill as thus amended. The antiwhisky provisions, which were due to the Prohibitionists, weredenounced as unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the House vote on thebill was 365 to 5. The Senate vote was as emphatic, being 81 to 6. A more direct contest with the President over his war powers was wagedaround the Espionage Bill. Though primarily framed to make spying andits attendant acts treasonable offenses punishable by death or heavyfines and imprisonment, it was projected more as a measure aimed atnews censorship, on account of a section forbidding the pursuit andpublication of information on the war. A violent and persistentagitation by the press of the country against such a restriction, echoed in both Houses in the course of lengthy debates, finally wonthe day. All control of the publication of war news was denied theAdministration, despite the President's appeals to Congress for theprovision of a press censorship. The newspapers demanded to be placedon their good behavior and scouted the idea that any law was needed torestrain them from publishing information likely to give aid andcomfort to the enemy. Thwarted by Congress, the President had to becontent to forego the authority he sought for placing a veto on warnews except such as the Government permitted to be disclosed. He wasreminded that when relations were broken with Germany and war neared, the press readily responded to the Administration's request--made inthe absence of legal authority to establish a press censorship--tosuppress the publication and transmission of information concerningthe movements of American merchant craft, then about to be armedagainst German submarines. Since then announcements of arrivals at andsailings from American ports of all vessels were excluded from thenewspapers. The Espionage Bill had an inherent importance of its own, but itspurposes had been so overshadowed by the prominence given to thecensorship provision that they were lost sight of. It empowered thePresident to place an embargo on exports when public safety andwelfare so required; provided for the censoring of mails and theexclusion of matter therefrom deemed to be seditious and anarchistic, and making its transmission punishable by heavy fines; the punishmentof espionage; the wrongful use of military information; circulation offalse reports designed to interfere with military operations; attemptsto cause disaffection in the army and navy, or obstruction ofrecruiting; the control of merchant vessels on American waters; theseizure of arms and ammunition and prohibition of their exportationunder certain conditions; the penalizing of conspiracies designed toharm American foreign relations; punishment for the destruction ofproperty arising from a state of war; and increased restrictions onthe issue of passports. The measure acquired a conspicuous place in the war legislation byreason of the embargo provision. It appeared an inconsequentialclause, judging from the little public attention paid to it; but thePresident saw a weapon in it that might have more effect in bringingGermany to her knees than Great Britain's blockade of her coasts, stringent as the latter had proved. It developed into a measure forinstituting a blockade of Germany from American ports. It had longbeen known that the maritime European neutrals--Holland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden--had flourished enormously by supplying Germanywith various necessities--mainly obtained from the United States onthe pretense that the huge increase of their American trade was due toenlarged domestic consumption, the same being due, in its turn, to thecutting off of needed supplies from other countries by the Britishblockade and the war situation on land. The design of the embargoprovision was to stop these neutrals from receiving any American goodsuntil it was clearly established, _before_ leaving an American port, that they would not be transhipped to Germany. With this object thePresident was authorized to stop any or all exports to any or allcountries in his discretion. This was a sweeping blanket instructionfrom Congress aimed at placing a barrier on transhipment trade withGermany from the port of departure. "Satisfy us that your goods arenot going to Germany via neutral countries, " the Government toldexporters, "and your ships can get clearance. Otherwise they cannot. "The embargo was even aimed at neutral countries that permitted theirown goods to cross the German frontier by threatening to cut thosecountries off from any trade with the United States. But it was notclear how it could be made effective in this respect. Its chief aimwas rather to make it impossible for the neutrals to replenish withAmerican goods such of their domestic stocks which had been depletedby exports to German customers. The subject raised a stormy debate during a secret session of theSenate. Senator Townsend, in an assault upon the embargo proposal, took the view that the Administration wished to use the embargo toforce small neutral nations into the war as American allies. "I am not willing, " he said, "to vote for the very German methods wehave condemned. I understand that this provision is not to be used forthe protection of American produce or to protect the American supply, but to coerce neutral countries. We stood for neutrality, and urgedthe nations of the world to support neutrality. Now that we areengaged in war we ought not to coerce other nations and force them toenter the struggle. " The Administration found a supporter from an unexpected quarter--fromSenator Stone, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whoopposed the war and all its works. He thus defended the embargo: "If we were still neutral I should join readily in opposing suchlegislation. But we are now belligerent. If it is true that anyneutral country, contiguous to Germany, which is now our enemy, issupplying Germany with food, munitions, and other materials out of itsown productions, and then comes to the United States to purchase hereand transport there a sufficient quantity to replenish its supply, doesn't the senator think the United States is within its belligerentrights to say that the United States doesn't consent?" "It is true we are no longer neutral, " insisted Mr. Townsend, "and wedon't intend that any other country shall remain neutral. We are introuble and want everybody else to be in trouble if we are strongenough to put them in. " The admitted purpose of the embargo was to force neutral countriescontiguous to Germany to suspend trade with her as an enemy of theUnited States. The sentiment of the Senate, barring the objections ofa few members like Senator Townsend, who protested against theembargo's "injustice, " was that the United States had full controlover its own trade, and, especially in time of war, could restrict itas its foreign interests required. No international law was involvedin American legislation which determined the disposition of Americanexports, even if that legislation had a direct bearing on theprosecution of the war. The Administration refused to see any analogybetween this embargo policy and the questions raised by the blockadecontroversy between the United States and Great Britain when theformer was a neutral. American belligerency had necessitated a changeof basis in the Government's attitude. The President went to some pains to explain to the country what theexport embargo meant. He created a Board of Exports Control, orExports Council, composed of Herbert C. Hoover, the selected head ofthe food administration body, and a number of leading Governmentofficials. This board's duty was to prevent a single bushel of wheator the smallest quantity of any other commodity from leaving anAmerican port without the board's license and approval. This check onexports, the President pointed out, regulated and supervised theirdisposition, and was not really an embargo, except on consignments toGermany. "There will, of course, be no prohibition of exports, " he said. "Thenormal course of trade will be interfered with as little as possible, and, so far as possible, only its abnormal course directed. The wholeobject will be to direct exports in such a way that they will go firstand by preference where they are most needed and most immediatelyneeded, and temporarily to withhold them, if necessary, where they canbest be spared. "Our primary duty in the matter of foodstuffs and like necessaries isto see to it that the peoples associated with us in the war get asgenerous a proportion as possible of our surplus, but it will also beour wish and purpose to supply the neutral nations whose peoplesdepend upon us for such supplies as nearly in proportion to their needas the amount to be divided permits. " Nevertheless the proclamation that came from the White House on July9, 1917, disclosed an exercise of presidential authority withoutprecedent in American history in that it contemplated, with Britishcooperation, the virtual domination of the country's trade with thewhole world. It provided for the absolute governmental control, bylicense, of the exports of essential war commodities to fifty-sixnations and their possessions, including all the Allied belligerents, all the neutrals, as well as the enemy countries. These commoditiesembraced coal, coke, fuel, oils, kerosene and gasoline, includingbunkers, food grains, flour and meal, fodder and feeds, meats andfats, pig iron, steel billets, ship plates and structural shapes, scrap iron and scrap steel, ferromanganese, fertilizers, arms, ammunition and explosives. By the control of coal and other fuels theGovernment was bent on obtaining a firm grasp on shipping. And thepoint was, as stated in the preamble of the proclamation, "the publicsafety requires that succor shall be prevented from reaching theenemy. " Europe hailed the establishment of the American embargo as signalizinga "real blockade" against Germany. The Paris "Temps" succinctlyexpressed the prevailing view in the Allied countries: "The Allies, despite the patience of their diplomats and the vigilanceof their navies, have failed to make the blockade sufficiently tight. A new measure was needed; the United States has now supplied it. Byforbidding indirect assistance the United States has introduced a newand efficient condition. If the Allies firmly apply the principle, aspublic opinion strongly demands, President Wilson's proclamation willhave been one of the decisive acts of the war. " The need for sending foodstuffs and like necessaries to the Allies, aspointed out by the President in explaining the embargo, called forshipping facilities of a magnitude that demanded the immediateattention of Congress. Exports there would be in unexampledquantities, but their destination must largely be to the Ententecountries, consigned in armed ships. Coastwise craft were drafted fortransatlantic trade; ships under construction for private concernswere subject to acquisition by the Government; every craft afloatadaptable to war service--ferryboats, private yachts, motor boats andthe like--were listed for contingent use; and the thousand or moremerchant ships of American registry demanded an equipment of guns andammunition to enable them to run the submarine blockade. The seized German and Austrian ships helped to supply the neededtonnage, but they did not go far. War conditions, created by therecognition that the United States would practically win the war forthe Allies by keeping their countries generously supplied with allnecessities required the construction of a huge trade fleet of steelor wooden ships at a cost of a billion dollars. The Government, through the Shipping Board, reserved the right of preempting theproducts of every steel mill in the country and of canceling all theirexisting contracts with private consumers, so as to divert the use ofsteel products for the trade fleet. The acquisition of every shipyardin the country was also contemplated as a contingency. Tentativeestimates provided for the construction of thousands of steel andwooden cargo ships aggregating between five and six million tonnagewithin the coming two years. The shipbuilding program was undertaken by General Goethals, builderof the Panama Canal, as general manager of a new Government bodycalled the Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, and WilliamDenman, its president. Conflict immediately arose between themregarding the expediency of building steel or wooden ships to meet theemergency, and the whole project was imperiled by their personaldifferences. General Goethals favored a steel fleet and planned toapply the available balance of an appropriation of $550, 000, 000 to theconstruction of fabricated steel ships of standard pattern. Early inJuly contracts for 348 wooden ships, aggregating 1, 218, 000 tons, andcosting some $174, 000, 000, had been made or agreed upon and contractsfor a further 100 were under negotiation. Of steel ships seventy-sevenhad been contracted for or agreed upon, amounting to 642, 800 tons, ata cost of $101, 660, 356. This was a good beginning, as it represented aprogram under way for providing 525 ships of all sorts. The remainderof the Goethals program called for steel ships, of which he promised3, 000, 000 tons in eighteen months. Another feature of the Goethalspolicy was the immediate commandeering of private ships in the stocks, whether owned by Americans, Allies, or neutrals. Acute friction arosebetween General Goethals and Mr. Denman, mainly over the question ofthe former's negotiations and plans with the steel interests. In theend President Wilson intervened by accepting the invited resignationsof both, and placing the shipbuilding in the hands of AdmiralWashington L. Capps, a naval ship constructor of renown, and EdwardN. Hurley, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. By now the foundations of a huge war machine had been laid bylegislative and executive action; but it was discovered that a vitalfactor in modern wars had been overlooked. An enormous air fleet wasnecessary to provide further eyes for the Allies. Congress repairedthis omission by voting $640, 000, 000 for building 22, 000 airships andfor raising and equipping an American corps of 100, 000 aviators. CHAPTER LXVII MEN AND MONEY IN MILLIONS The country early realized the practical effect of the legislationpassed by Congress enabling the President to call on the nationalresources in men, money, and material for conducting the war withGermany. The Administration's first nation-wide appeal was for money. Under theBond Bill it was empowered to raise war funds, and proceeded to do soby floating the first issue of the "Liberty loan of 1917, " this beinga demand for $2, 000, 000, 000 from the popular purse. The money raisedwas to provide credits to the Allied governments to meet the enormouswar purchases they were making in the United States, and, likeprevious accommodations to them, this provision of funds was not somuch a loan as a transfer or exchange of credits. American money waslent to the Allies, deposited in American banks, to enable them to buyAmerican products. Not a cent of the Liberty loan went out of thecountry. It was the largest single financial transaction ever undertaken by theUnited States Government. It greatly exceeded all previous bond issuesand squarely brought the country to face the necessities of warfinance on a huge scale. But the prewar period, which produced a hightide of prosperity, due to the unexampled calls on American industriesby the Allied Powers, had revealed the enormous wealth and economicstrength of the American investing community, as well as aflourishing condition of the working population. The Governmententered upon the financial operation with no misgivings and the resultproved its confidence in the success of the loan. Bank subscriptionswere discouraged. National loans hitherto issued in war time werefloated as a basis of national currency and were taken up by the banksin large amounts. But the Liberty loan was an appeal to themillion--to several millions; to the man in the street, the smalltradesman, the salaried class. Workers realized that in subscribing tothe loan they were not only securing an absolutely safe investment, but were providing funds for wages and profits. The money theyinvested as a loan to the Allies was applied by them to buyingAmerican goods. The Liberty loan was floated on May 14, 1917, in denominations as lowas $50, rising to $100, 000, at 3-1/2 per cent. Interest, redeemable infifteen or thirty years. The banks of the country, national and State, the trust companies, newspapers, department stores, express companies, and numerous corporations and firms placed their establishments andstaffs at the national service for receiving applications, which camefrom all classes. The response flagged as the date for closing thesubscription lists neared (June 15, 1917), but there was a rally atthe last moment by small investors, and the lists closed with the loangreatly oversubscribed. Germany had been watching its progress. There were lulls during themonth in which the loan was under issue and Germany was eager to seein a passing slowness of response a popular unwillingness to shoulderthe burden of war and an apathy that she welcomed. The people had nospirit for the war and it was largely a bankers' loan, said herspokesmen. Anticipating this criticism the Government, aided by thepress, publicists, and bankers, conducted a propaganda whichsuccessfully impressed the country that a large popularoversubscription could not be misconstrued by Germany, as it wouldconvince her that there would be no stinting of national resources bythe United States to aid the Allies in encompassing her defeat. Theresult showed that a request for $2, 000, 000, 000 had been met by aresponse of $3, 035, 226, 850 from over 4, 000, 000 investors, mainly forsmall amounts. The success of the loan, especially in its appeal tomodest purses, was imposing. Secretary McAdoo of the Treasury thusexpressed the Government's gratification: "The widespread distribution of the bonds and the great amount of theoversubscription constitute an eloquent and conclusive reply to theenemies of the country who claimed that the heart of America was notin this war. The result, of which every citizen may well be proud, reflects the patriotism and the determination of the American peopleto fight for the vindication of outraged American rights, the speedyrestoration of peace, and the establishment of liberty throughout theworld. "The Congress pledged all the resources of America to bring the war toa successful determination. The issue just closed will serve as anindication of the temper and purpose of the American people and of themanner in which they may be expected to respond to future calls oftheir country for the necessary credits to carry on the war. " The operation of the Selective Draft law provided a simultaneousopportunity for a display of patriotism. Acting under its provisions, the President in a stirring proclamation issued on May 18, 1917, called upon every man in the country between the age of 21 and 30 toregister his readiness to be called upon for army service at thedesignated registration place within the precinct where he permanentlyresided. It was a call to the nation to arm. "The power against which we are arrayed, " the President said, "hassought to impose its will upon the world. To this end it has increasedarmament until it has changed the face of war. In the sense in whichwe have been wont to think of armies, there are no armies in thisstruggle, there are entire nations armed. Thus, the men who remain totill the soil and man the factories are no less a part of the armythat is in France than the men beneath the battle flags. It must be sowith us. It is not an army that we must shape and train for war; it isa nation. "To this end our people must draw close in one compact front against acommon foe. But this cannot be if each man pursues a private purpose. All must pursue one purpose. The nation needs all men; but it needseach man, not in the field that will most pleasure him, but in theendeavor that will best serve the common good. Thus, though asharpshooter pleases to operate a trip hammer for the forging of greatguns and an expert machinist desires to march with the flag, thenation is being served only when the sharpshooter marches and themachinist remains at his levers. "The whole nation must be a team, in which each man shall play thepart for which he is best fitted. To this end, Congress has providedthat the nation shall be organized for war by selection; that each manshall be classified for service in the place to which it shall bestserve the general good to call him. "The significance of this cannot be overstated. It is a new thing inour history and a landmark in our progress. It is a new manner ofaccepting and vitalizing our duty to give ourselves with thoughtfuldevotion to the common purpose of us all. It is in no sense aconscription of the unwilling; it is, rather, selection from a nationwhich has volunteered in mass. It is no more a choosing of those whoshall march with the colors than it is a selection of those who shallserve an equally necessary and devoted purpose in the industries thatlie behind the battle line. " The President had strongly espoused the selective draft in preferenceto the voluntary system of raising an army organization. He hadpointed out that many forms of patriotic service were open to thepeople, and emphasized that the military part of the service, important though it was, was not, under modern war conditions, themost vital part. The selective draft enabled the selection for servicein the army of those who could be most readily spared from the pursuitof other industries and occupations. There being a universalobligation to serve in time of war, the Administration felt the needof being empowered to select men for military service and selectothers to do the rest of the nation's work, either by keeping them intheir existing employment, if that employment was useful for warpurposes, or utilizing their services in a like field. "The volunteer system does not do this, " he said. "When men choosethemselves they sometimes choose without due regard to their otherresponsibilities. Men may come from the farms or from the mines orfrom the factories or centers of business who ought not to come butought to stand back of the armies in the field and see that they geteverything that they need and that the people of the country aresustained in the meantime. " Registration day, which was fixed for June 5, 1917, partook of thecharacter of an election day. The young manhood of the country of theprescribed ages trooped to the registration places of their districtslike voters depositing ballots at polling booths. It was a nationalroll call of the pick of civilian manhood available for military duty, and yielded an enrollment of 9, 649, 938 from which the first army wasto be drafted. "The registration, " reported the Government, "was accomplished in afashion measuring up to the highest standards of Americanism. Theyoung men came to the registration places enthusiastic; there was nohint of a slacking spirit anywhere, except in a few cases wheremisguided persons had been prevailed upon to attempt to avoid theirnational obligation. " The machinery for the selective draft had merely been started. Onlythe groundwork had been laid. The principal operation--the draftitself--had to be undertaken, and the process was a slow one. Half themen who registered claimed exemption from military service for amultitude of reasons, but as not more than 6 per cent were to bechosen to compose the first citizen army, this was not important evenif most of the exemption claims were justified and allowed. The outstanding fact was that the registrants were all on an equalfooting and that their mustering brought nearer the realization of thePresident's dream of a "citizenry trained" without favoritism ordiscrimination. The son of the millionaire and of the laborer, thecollege-bred man and the worker forced to earn his living from earlyyouth, were to march side by side in the ranks and practicemarksmanship and trench digging together. Great Britain and France haddemocratized their armies; the United States did the same. The President increased the number of men to be drafted for the firstarmy from 500, 000 to 687, 000 in order to use drafted men to bring theregular army and the National Guard to their full strength. Thus therewere 687, 000 men to be selected from a registration of 9, 649, 938. Thequota required from each State, based upon each State's number ofregistrants, was determined in that proportion. The draft, which was practically a great lottery to establish theorder in which the registrants were to be called into war service, took place on July 20, 1917, in Washington. As it was anticipated thatfully half of the men called would either be exempted or rejectedafter medical examination, the exemption boards appointed throughoutthe country, located in 4, 557 districts, were required to call doublethe number of their quota for examination in the order in which themen's numbers appeared on the district list after the drawing. Thismeant a call of 1, 374, 000 men. The drawing itself was based on a system of master-key numbers in twogroups, written on slips of paper. These slips were rolled and placedin a bowl, from which they were drawn one at a time by blindfoldedmen. The picking of a single number out of one set of a thousandnumerals, or out of another set of eleven numerals, drafted each manin the 4, 557 districts whose registration card bore the serial numberpicked. The method fixed with absolute equality of chance the order inwhich all registrants--if called upon--were to report to their localboards for examination and subsequent exemption, discharge, oracceptance for military service. The local boards at once organizedfor the examination and enrollment of the men called. The new citizen force became known as the National Army, incontradistinction to the regular army and the National Guard, and wasorganized into sixteen divisions, grouped by States as under: First--Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Second--Lower New York State and Long Island. Third--Upper New York State and northern Pennsylvania. Fourth--Southern Pennsylvania. Fifth--Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and District of Columbia. Sixth--Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Seventh--Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Eighth--Ohio and West Virginia. Ninth--Indiana and Kentucky. Tenth--Wisconsin and Michigan. Eleventh--Illinois. Twelfth--Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Thirteenth--North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa. Fourteenth--Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri. Fifteenth--Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Sixteenth--Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, and Utah. Huge cantonments, or concentration camps--army cities--were put underconstruction in the various sections of the country where the draftedmen could be expeditiously massed for mobilization and training beforeproceeding to the European battle ground. In all, thirty-two of thesecamp cities were required, the regular army and National Guardproviding another sixteen divisions for which such training groundswere needed. The camp sites were chosen for spaciousness, absence ofmarshes, natural drainage situations, and proximity to lines oftransport and a good water supply. Each army camp called for vastbuilding supplies, as each was designed to constitute a complete town, with sewerage, water works, lighting system, and streets. [Illustration: United States naval gunners defending the trooptransport ships from submarine attack. The troop ships of the firstcontingent to cross the sea were twice attacked by submarines on theway. ] The volunteer system was largely depended upon to recruit the regulararmy and the National Guard to their required strength; but in thedraft call a provision of 187, 000 men had been made for service inthese two branches to fill up gaps caused by failure of volunteerenlistments or by the detailing of regulars or guardsmen to aid intraining the draft recruits. The President pointed out that there wasample scope for the volunteer system in augmenting the two establishedservices, which needed as many men as the draft army. On April 1, 1917, before war was declared, the regular army and National Guardnumbered about 225, 000 men. These branches needed augmenting to astrength of 293, 000 and 400, 000 respectively, making a combined forceof 693, 000. There was thus a call for 468, 000 men, which was mainlyresponded to by volunteers. The draft citizen army of 500, 000 and thisforce of 693, 000 made an army approaching 1, 200, 000 men which theGovernment organized for field service in Europe in the first year ofAmerica's participation in the war. Adding to this an augmented navalforce of 150, 000, and the Marine Corps, numbering 30, 000, a grandtotal approximating 1, 400, 000 men appears as the first Americancontribution to the forces fighting Germany. CHAPTER LXVIII ENVOYS FROM AMERICA'S ALLIES What perhaps most vividly brought home to the nation that it was nowone of the belligerents of the Allied Powers was the visit of a numberof special commissioners from the governments of the latter countries, following the American declaration of war. The presence of the Britishand French missions in particular made a deep impression, not onlybecause of the importance and magnitude of their errand, but becauseof their personnel. The British mission was headed by Arthur JamesBalfour, a former Conservative premier, and now Foreign Secretary inthe Lloyd-George cabinet. The French mission included René Viviani, apredecessor of Premier Ribot and a member of his cabinet, and MarshalJoffre, the victor of the Battle of the Marne and an idol of France. The commanding personalities of Mr. Balfour and Marshal Joffre caughtthe American imagination and the visits they paid to several citiesduring their brief stay partook of the character of state events, marked by an imposing welcome and sumptuous hospitality. A reception no less generous was accorded the members of the othermissions--the Italian, headed by the Prince of Udine, son of the Dukeof Genoa and nephew of King Victor Emmanuel, and including SignorMarconi, the inventor of wireless telegraphy; the Russian, headed byBoris Bakhmetieff, the new Russian Ambassador; and the Belgian, headedby Baron Moncheur. Other missions came from Ireland, Rumania, andJapan. The reception of these various missions formed the occasion for anumber of state functions which placed the Administration in the rôleof a national host to many distinguished guests from foreign countrieswith which the United States was now allied for the first time in adevastating war. The honors paid to them produced remarkableproceedings in Congress without parallel in that body's deliberations;but then the great world war had shattered precedents wherever ittouched. The spectacle was witnessed of a British statesman, in theperson of Mr. Balfour, addressing the House and Senate, an event whichbecame an enduring memory. Congress also heard addresses from M. Viviani, Baron Moncheur, and the Prince of Udine. They told why theircountries were in the war--a familiar story whose repetition withinthe halls of Congress had considerable point in that the nationallegislature itself had sanctioned war on Germany for the same reasons. American and Allied statesmen thus met on common ground in a commoncause. The numerous conferences between the various sections of theAllied missions and American officials--beginning with that betweenthe President and Mr. Balfour--were councils of war. They symbolizedthe joining of hands across the sea in a literal sense--across a seainfested with German submarines, which the envoys, incidentally, escaped both in coming and returning. In the public ceremonials that marked their visit the leading envoysfreely and repeatedly expressed their grateful recognition to theUnited States for unselfishly entering the war at last on the sidewhich was fighting for civilization--a disinterested action withoutparallel in the history of wars, as Mr. Asquith had called it. Theirgratitude might well be taken for granted; but, like the Allies' aimsin the war, it bore repetition, because American aid was sorelyneeded, and they had, in fact, come to accept as much assistance asthe United States had to give. The immediate need was money, food, ships--all the accessories of waroutside the fighting zone. Funds for loans having become available, the American Treasury proceeded to distribute its largesse generously. Great Britain received $200, 000, 000 as the first installment of anumber of loans; France and Italy received $100, 000, 000 each; Serbiagot $3, 000, 000; Russia $175, 000, 000; France another $60, 000, 000; andGreat Britain $300, 000, 000 more. Further credits to the variouscountries brought the amount loaned to $1, 525, 000, 000 by the close ofJuly, 1917, or more than half of the $3, 000, 000, 000 sanctioned byCongress for financing the Allies. By these transactions the United States Government displaced thebanking firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. , who had been acting as fiscalagent for the Allies since they began to purchase huge supplies inAmerica on American credits. Great Britain, as the bulwark of her allies, had many weighty mattersto lay before the United States. Her mission sought an understandingregarding the conduct of the blockade, naval operations, munitionsupplies, military dispositions and resources, and the shipment offoodstuffs. There was no driving of bargains, since neither was acompetitor of the other, and hence could have no radical difference ofview on questions to the settlement of which they had been drawn inunion against a common foe. The attitude of the British missioninvited American cooperation, reciprocal service, and expressedgratitude for the American partnership. They had no policies tosuggest to the Administration. They had much information on theconduct of the war to lay before the United States--speciallyblunders to be avoided; but they did not presume to teach Americanshow to make war. The United States, on its part, eagerly wanted toknow all that could be known, and to be guided accordingly. A week of conferences clarified the situation. Both the British andFrench missions revealed with surprising frankness the status of theAllied resources and the military situation. Great Britain wasespecially candid in disclosing the extent of her losses bysubmarines. She needed ships, as many as America could build. Franceneeded an American army at once to augment her man power. Italy wantedcoal and grain. Most of all, the collapse of Russia's militaryorganization had brought the Allies to the pass of relying on Americanaid as imperative if Germany was to be defeated. The personal contact between American Government officials and thevarious missions, especially the British, produced a mutual confidenceand sympathy not to be measured by words. Resources and needs werefrankly stated. The United States disclosed what it could do and how. The way, in short, was cleared for the United States to enter theGrand Alliance on a basis making for efficient cooperation in theconduct of the war. A gentleman's agreement was effected with neither side committed toany binding policy. The United States retained a free hand, and wasnot controlled, formally or informally, by any entangling undertakingas to any future course it might elect to take in its relations withGermany. But one enlightening point emerged. It was that while theUnited States was free to enter into any peace it chose, it would notenter into a separate peace. No action in that direction wasimaginable in the circumstances without consulting the Entente Allies. This injection of peace considerations into the war situation, beforethe United States had really entered the lists with troops and guns, was taking time by the forelock. But it was needful to clear the airearly, as one of the reasons ascribed to Germany's apparentcomplacence to the entrance of America as a belligerent was that shecounted on the United States as a balance wheel that might restrainthe Entente's war activities and hasten peace, or later operate tocurtail the Entente's demands at the peace conference. On theseassumptions America's participation was supposed to be not whollyunwelcome to Berlin. American freedom of action was unlikely to confuse the war issues inthe manner Germany looked for. Whatever hopes Germany built upon thatfreedom did not deter Secretary Lansing and Mr. Balfour from hasteningto counteract misleading impressions current that America would beembarrassed in its postwar foreign policy by becoming involved inEuropean territorial questions, from which, for more than a century, it had remained aloof. The French mission also achieved an incontestable popular triumph, dueto the presence of Marshal Joffre and to memories of French assistancein the Revolutionary War. France's heroic resistance to Germaninvasion of her territory, specially in thwarting the advance onParis, had also attached American sympathies to her cause. M. Vivianiand Marshal Joffre did not hesitate to avail themselves of thisfeeling by plainly requesting the immediate dispatch of Americantroops to France. While this course conflicted with the early plans ofthe American General Staff, the latter had to recognize the immensemoral effect which the flying of the Stars and Stripes would have onthe Allied troops in the Franco-Belgian trenches, and the request didnot go unheeded. The country realized that the French importunity fortroops was born of an equally importunate need. All the missions, except the British, were birds of passage, whodeparted upon fulfilling their errands of securing American aid indirections where it was most required. There was more permanency tothe British mission, owing to Great Britain's rôle of general providerto her Allies, which called for the establishment of several Britishorganizations in New York and Washington as clearing houses. Mr. Balfour and his suite left, to be succeeded by Lord Northcliffe, chiefproprietor of the London "Times, " London "Daily Mail, " and many otherBritish publications, who was commissioned by Lloyd-George to continuethe work Mr. Balfour had begun and to coordinate the ramificationsproduced by extensive scope of the Allies' calls on Americanindustries for war equipment. In the same direction the American Government consolidated itsenergies in a War Industries Board, which it created to supervise theexpenditure of millions of dollars on equipping the American armies. CHAPTER LXIX IN IT AT LAST The Administration decided to send an American expeditionary force toFrance as an advance guard of the huge army in process of preparation. Major General John J. Pershing was placed in command of thisexpedition, which was believed to embrace an army division, a force ofthe Marine Corps, and nine regiments of engineers. A veil of officialsecrecy (religiously respected by the press in pursuance of thevoluntary censorship it imposed upon itself) was thrown over thedispatch of the preliminary force, and nothing further was heard of ituntil tidings came of the unheralded arrival of General Pershing inEngland on June 8, 1917, and of the appearance of a number of Americanwarships off the French coast about the same time. This latter event proved to be the safe arrival of a convoyed navalcollier, the _Jupiter_, which served as a harbinger of the fleet oftransports conveying the American troops. It carried a cargo of armyprovisions, including over 10, 000 tons of wheat. The arrival of the first division of transports at an unnamed Frenchseaport was reported on June 26, 1917. They were signaled from thedeserted quays of the town at 6 o'clock in the morning, and as theysteamed toward port in a long line, according to an eloquenteyewitness, they appeared a "veritable armada, " whose black hullsshowed clearly against the horizon, while the gray outlines of theirescorting destroyers were almost blotted out in the lead-colored sea. Dominating all was an enormous American cruiser with its peculiarupper basket works. The warships went to their allotted moorings withclockwork precision, while tugs took charge of the transports andtowed them to their berths. Resounding cheers were exchanged betweenthe troops which lined the rails of the incoming ships and thepopulace which lined the quays. The next day came a formal intimation from Paris that the firstexpeditionary unit of American troops, in command of Major GeneralWilliam L. Sibert, had safely reached their destination. Rear AdmiralGleaves, commanding the destroyer force which accompanied thetransports, telegraphed the Navy Department to the same effect. But itsubsequently transpired that all had not been plain sailing in passingthrough the submarine zone. The expedition was divided into contingents, each contingent includingtroopships and a naval escort designed to hold off any German raidersthat might be sighted. An ocean rendezvous had also been arranged withthe American destroyer flotilla under Admiral Sims, which had beenoperating in European waters since May 4, 1917, in order that thepassage of the danger zone might be attended by every possibleprotection. Frequent indications pointing to the presence ofsubmarines in the expedition's course were observed as the transportsneared European waters. The passage through the infested zone wastherefore made at high speed; the men were prepared for any emergency;boats and life belts were at hand for instant use; and watches atevery lookout were heavily reenforced. These precautions were timely and more than warranted. The firstcontingent of transports was attacked twice by German U-boats. AdmiralGleaves, describing these incidents in reporting to Admiral Mayo, commander in chief of the Atlantic fleet, said the first attack wasmade at 10. 15 p. M. On June 22. The location, formation, and names ofthe transports and the convoys, the speed they made, and the methodof proceeding, were suppressed in the account made public by the NavyDepartment. It appeared that the destroyers' flagship, which led the transportfleet, was the first to encounter the submarine. At least the officeron deck and others on the bridge saw a white streak about fifty yardsahead of the ship, crossing from starboard to port at right angles tothe ship's course. The ship was sharply turned 90 degrees to starboardat high speed, a general alarm was sounded, and torpedo crews wereordered to their guns. One of the destroyers called _A_ and one of thetransports astern opened fire, the destroyer's shell being fitted withtracers. Other members of the convoying destroyers turned to the rightand left. At first it was thought on board the flagship that the whitestreak was caused by a torpedo, but later reports from other shipswarranted the conclusion that it was the wake of the submarine itself. At 10. 25 the wake of a torpedo was sighted directly across the bow ofthe destroyer called _A_, about thirty yards ahead. The ship's coursewas swung to the left, and shots were fired from port batteries inalarm, accompanied by blasts from the siren. The destroyer then passedthrough a wake believed to be from the passing submarine. A secondtorpedo passed under the destroyer _A's_ stern ten minutes later. Another destroyer known as _D_ was also the target of a torpedo whichpassed it from starboard to port across the bow about forty yardsahead of the ship, leaving a perceptible wake visible for about fouror five hundred yards. The submarine sighted by the flagship immediately engaged theattention of destroyer _B_. In fact it darted under the latter andpassed the flagship's bows, disappearing close aboard on theflagship's port bow between the destroyer columns. The _B_ followedthe wake between the columns and reported strong indications of twosubmarines astern, which grew fainter. The _B_ afterward guarded therear of the convoy. So much for the ghostly movements of the submarine or submarines whichcrossed the tracks of the first contingent of American transports onthe night of June 22. In the absence of more tangible proof of theirpresence beyond that provided by white streaks and wakes on the seasurface, the incident might well have been a false alarm. It onlyoccasioned much excitement and activity. But its interest lay in thealertness of the destroyers to danger. The officers on board theflotilla had no doubt at all that the danger was real. AdmiralGleaves, indeed, saw circumstantial evidence of the menace in alludingto a bulletin of the French General Staff which referred to theactivities of a German submarine off the Azores. This U-boat, thebulletin said, was ordered to watch in the vicinity of those islands, "at such a distance as it was supposed the enemy American convoy wouldpass from the Azores. " The second contingent of transports, which arrived in France a weeklater, had a similar experience, with the important difference thattheir encounters with submarines took place in broad daylight, andthat the firing at one of them produced material traces of the enemy'sproximity. Two submarines were met on the morning of June 26, 1917, one at 11. 30, when the ships were about a hundred miles off the coastof France, the other an hour later. The destroyer _H_, which wasleading, sighted the first U-boat, and the _I_ pursued the wake, butwithout making any further discovery. The second episode was moreconvincing of the actual presence of a submarine. The destroyer _J_saw the bow wave of one at a distance of 1, 500 yards and headed for itat a rapid speed. The pointers at the destroyer's gun sighted itsperiscope several times for several seconds; but it disappeared eachtime before they could get their aim, which the zigzagging of the shipimpeded. Presently the _J_ passed about twenty-five yards ahead of amass of bubbles which obviously came from the submarine's wake. A deepcharge was fired just ahead of these bubbles. Several pieces oftimber, quantities of oil and débris then came to the surface. Nothingmore was seen of the submarine. There was plain evidence that it hadbeen sunk. Two days later--on the morning of June 28, 1917, at 10 o'clock--thedestroyer _K_ opened fire at an object, about three hundred yardsahead, which appeared to indicate a submarine. Admiral Gleavesdescribed it as a small object rising a foot or two high out of thewater, and leaving a small wake. Through binoculars he made out ashape under the water, too large to be a blackfish, lying diagonallyacross the _K's_ course. The port bow gun fired at the spot, and theship veered to leave the submarine's location astern. Then the portaft gun crew reported sighting a submarine on the port quarter, andopened fire. The lookouts also reported seeing the submarine under thewater's surface. The ship zigzagged and the firing continued. Not onlywas the submarine seen but the lieutenant in charge of the firing onthe _K_ destroyer, as well as the gun crews and lookouts aft, testified that it fired two torpedoes in the direction of the convoy. The latter, however, had sheered off from its base course well to theright when the alarm was sounded. The _K_ continued to zigzag untilall danger had passed, and duly joined the other escorts. The convoythen formed into column astern. No submarine ambuscades awaited the third group of transports. Theirvoyage was quite uneventful. Apart from the probability that much ofthe commotion marking the passage of the first and second contingentsmight well have been due to groundless fears, the success of theAmerican expedition in safely landing in France registered Germany'sfirst defeat at the hands of the United States. It was her boast thather submarines would never permit any American army to reach itsdestination. General Pershing was in Paris when the first transport contingentarrived, and immediately set out for the French port to get in touchwith his troops. They were debarking in long lines when he arrived, making their way to their temporary camp, which was situated on highground outside the town. Their debarkation signalized the actualbeginning of General Pershing's command in the European theater of warof an army in being, as yet small, but composed of seasoned troopsfrom the Mexican border and marines from Haiti and Santo Domingo, allfit and ready for immediate trench service. He had been greeted inEngland as America's banner bearer, was immediately received by KingGeorge on his arrival in London, while Paris accorded him, as Londondid, the royal welcome which a sister democracy knows how to extendto the representative of a democracy bound to the Anglo-French Ententeby the grimmest of ties. The landing of the vanguard of his armydisposed of further hospitalities and brought him squarely to thebusiness in hand, which was to get his troops in the fighting zone. A section of the French battle front for eventual occupancy by theAmerican forces was early selected after General Pershing hadinspected the ground under the guidance of the British and Frenchmilitary authorities. Its location, being a military secret, was notdisclosed. Meantime the troops were dispatched to training basesestablished for affording them the fullest scope to become familiarwith trench operators. The bases also included aviation, artillery, and medical camps. Further tidings of them thenceforth came from the"American Training Camp in France, " wherever that was. Toward theclose of July, 1917, actual intensive work was under way and pursuedwith an enthusiasm which warranted hopes that the troops would soonreach a stage of efficiency fitting them for the firing zone. Trencheswere dug with the same spirit as that animating soldiers diggingthemselves in under artillery fire. The trenches were of full depthand duplicated those of certain sections of the front line, consistingof front or fire trenches, support trenches, and reserve trenches, with intricate communicating passages between them. The marines--those handy men who apply themselves to every servicein warfare, as to the manner born, whenever the occasionrequires--cheerfully bent their ardent energies to spade work, whichwas probably a new task even for that many handed corps. Thereafterthey wired themselves in their trenches behind barriers ofbarbed-metal entanglements. All this intensive work was performed under conditions approximatingto actual warfare. Both offensive and defensive tactics were employed, including lively sham battles with grenades, bayonets, and trenchmortars. For bayonet practice dummies were constructed and the menwere taught the six most vital points of attack. The troops wereentertained by stories telling how the French decorated and paintedtheir dummies to resemble the kaiser, Von Hindenburg, and other enemynotables, and each company searched its ranks for artists who couldpaint similar effigies. Practice in trench warfare did not displace route marching. Thehardening process in that direction continued as part of theoperations. The men's packs increased in weight until they nearedfifty pounds. Duly the men would be equipped with steel helmets and anextra kit, when their packs would weigh eighty pounds, like the burdencarried by the British troops. Accordingly the Americans were drilledto bear this burden without undue fatigue. This was the stage Americanoperations in France had reached by the beginning of August, 1917. Little was disclosed regarding naval movements--beyond the activitiesof American destroyers, which were not only occupied in convoyingtransports and passenger liners through the submarine zone, butcooperated with British patrols in checking submarine destruction inother lanes of travel. The British recognized them as a formidablepart of the grand Allied fleet. As to the navy itself, its personnel was increased to 150, 000 men. Where the main American fleet was--whether with the British fleet atthe Orkneys, or stationed in some other zone--no event transpired togive any clue. But patrol of the South Atlantic, as well as of theAmerican coast, was assumed by the Pacific coast fleet under AdmiralCaperton, the remaining French and British warships in those watersacting under his authority. Sea warfare conditions, outside the useful work of the Americandestroyers provided by the German submarines, gave little scope fornaval operations, and it was assumed that the main American fleet, like the British, was lying quiescent, with its finger on the trigger, awaiting its opportunity. The Navy Department meantime busied itselfarming scores of American merchant vessels to brave the submarines, and in carrying out an extensive building program, which included theconstruction of hundreds of submarine chasers--a new type of swift, powerfully armed small craft--as well as of many new destroyers. PART IX--THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION CHAPTER LXX FORESHADOWING REVOLUTION Without danger of overstatement or exaggeration, it may be said thatthe most dramatic feature of the Great War's history during the periodFebruary-August, 1917, was the revolution in Russia. To outsiders, acquainted with Russian conditions only superficially, it wasstartlingly unexpected. A revolution, usually, is merely the climax ofa long series of events of quiet development, the result of a longperiod of propaganda and preparation, based on gradually changingeconomic conditions. The overthrow of the Russian autocracy seems tohave been an exception to this general rule--at least in part. Foreven to close observers nothing seemed more dead than therevolutionary organizations in Russia on the outbreak of the Great Warin the summer of 1914. To be sure, when the opportunity came, theysprang into life again and were able to place themselves in control ofthe situation. But the great climax certainly did not come aboutthrough their conscious efforts. For this reason a detailed description of the early revolutionarymovements directed against the czar's government is not necessary to athorough understanding of the events which so startled the world inMarch, 1917. The causes which brought them about originated after theoutbreak of the war. We were in the habit of describing the two great governments, that ofthe German Empire and that of the Russian Empire, with the word"autocracies. " And in that each was, and one still is, controlledabsolutely by a small group of men, responsible to nobody butthemselves, this was true. Aside from that, no further comparison ispossible. The German autocracy is the result of the conscious effort of highlycapable men who built and organized a system with thoughtful andintelligent deliberation. With a deep knowledge of human psychologyand the conditions about them, they have guided their efforts withextreme intelligence, knowing when to grant concessions, knowing howto hold power without being oppressive. The Russian autocracy was a survival of a former age, already growingobsolete, rarely able to adapt itself to changing conditions, blindlyfighting to maintain itself in its complete integrity against them. Change of any sort was undesirable to those controlling its machinery, even though the change might indirectly benefit it. It had beencrystallized in a previous epoch, even as the tenets of its churchwere the crystallized superstitions of a barbaric age. It was, infact, a venerable institution which certain men wished to perpetuatenot so much from self-interest as from a blind veneration for its ageand traditions. To them even the interests of the people were of farless importance than the maintenance of this anachronism in itsabsoluteness. Where the German rulers had the intelligence to divertopposing forces and even to utilize them to their own benefit, theRussian autocrats fought them and attempted to suppress them. The chief of those forces which oppose autocracies are, naturally, thegrowing intelligence of the people and the resulting knowledge ofconditions in other countries which they acquire. Realizing this fact, at least, the Russian rulers were bitterly opposed to populareducation and made every effort to suppress the craving of the commonpeople for knowledge of any kind. These facts considered, it is not surprising that the firstrevolutionary movements in Russia should have been generated among theeducated classes, even among the aristocracy itself. As far back as acentury ago a revolutionary society was formed among the young armyofficers who had participated in the Napoleonic Wars, and who, intheir contact with the French, imbibed some of the latters' democraticideas, though they were then fighting them. Failing in their effortsto impregnate these ideas among the czar and his ruling clique, theyfinally, in 1825, resorted to armed violence, with disastrous results. Nicholas I had just ascended the throne, and with furious energy heset about stamping out the disaffection which these officers hadspread in his army, and for the time being he was successful. CHAPTER LXXI THE RISE OF NIHILISM The first agitators for democracy among the civil population were theNihilists, those long-haired, mysterious individuals whosebomb-throwing propensities and dark plottings have furnished so manyWestern fiction writers with material for romances. The Nihilists, sowell described as a type in Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons, " were thesons and daughters of the landed aristocracy, the provincial gentry, who went abroad and studied in foreign universities, or, studying athome, imbibed revolutionary ideas through foreign literature. Comingtogether in small groups, they began to formulate ideas of their ownespecially adapted to Russian conditions. At first these ideas were ofa nonpolitical character and extremely abstract. They wished to goamong the ignorant peasants and educate them in the Western sciences. "Going among the people" was a phrase among them which assumed thesignificance of a program. But with its antipathy toward all forms oflearning the Government soon showed its determination to suppress allthese efforts at educating the common people, and the youthfulagitators were arrested and thrown into prison by the hundreds. As a matter of fact their abstract ideas had made little impression onthe ignorant mujiks, and had the Government ignored the Nihilists itis probable that their organization would have died a natural deathfrom lack of success. But the opposition of the police only roused thefighting spirit of the young aristocrats, and they not only becamemore enthusiastic, but added recruits to their ranks more than enoughin numbers to fill the gaps made by those in prison. The persecutionby the police, furthermore, forced them to make a secret organizationof their loosely knit groups, and this too fired the romanticimaginations of the young people. The fight between the agitators and the police waxed stronger and morebitter. Then one day all Russia was shocked by the news that aPetrograd police chief had had a young woman in prison as a Nihilistsuspect disrobed and flogged. Hitherto the Nihilists had been entirely peaceful in their methods;violence had formed no part of their tactics. The indignation rousedwithin their ranks by the outrage to the young woman resulted in achange. They decided to instill terror into the hearts of theGovernment officials by a systematic policy of assassination, wherebythe most oppressive of the officials should be removed from theirfield of activity by death. The first of these assassinations, notquite successful, took place in Kiev in 1878. From then on violence onboth sides increased and the bitterness intensified until in 1881 itculminated in the assassination of Alexander II. This so enraged theGovernment officials and vitalized their energy that soon after allthe most active Nihilists had been captured or driven abroad, and forsome years there came a lull in the agitation for democracy in Russia. But it was, after all, lack of success which had killed Nihilismrather than the violent measures of the Government. Practically all ofthe Nihilists had imbibed the radical doctrines of Karl Marx andMichael Bakunin, especially those of the latter, himself a Russian andmore inclined toward violent anarchism than toward politicalsocialism. These doctrines were far too abstruse for the untutored andpractical minds of the peasants, and in most cases they had shownanimosity rather than sympathy toward the agitators. Yet the Nihilist doctrines and program formed the basis for laterefforts toward creating a revolutionary spirit among the Russianpeople. To this day the few surviving Nihilists of the early days, notably Katherine Breshkovskaya, "the grandmother of the RussianRevolution, " are venerated by the people as the last representativesof the heroic age. It was not until the middle of the last decade of the nineteenthcentury, after the succession of Nicholas II to the throne in 1894, that revolutionary organization was revived in Russia. These modernefforts were concentrated into two forms of organization. The largestof these was the Social Democratic party, whose program consistedmainly of organizing the working people in the large cities andindustrial centers. Its leaders were made up largely of recruits fromthe educated middle classes and from the Jewish elements. Second in size, though quite as important in influence, was the SocialRevolutionary organization. Though smaller in regard to membership, its leaders and most active members were those same students from thearistocratic classes which had made up the Nihilist groups. It wasinterested in injecting its doctrines into the peasantry, rather thanpropagating them among the working classes. And a certain branch ofthe organization, known as the Fighting Branch, still practicedassassination as a means to gaining its ends. As a result of itsactivities some of the highest officials of the Government and themost important dignitaries of the ruling clique lost their lives. CHAPTER LXXII REVOLUTIONARY DOCTRINES As members of both these organizations are at present in power inrevolutionary Russia, it may be quite appropriate to enunciate theirfundamental principles. The Russian Social Democrats, together with all the Socialist partiesof the world, stand for a democracy that shall be economic orindustrial as well as political. They contend that a nation, such asthe United States, which is democratic in its political organization, but whose industries and natural resources are in private hands, isdemocratic only in appearance. They stand for the socialized statewhich, being controlled by the universal suffrage of its people, shallin its turn own and control the natural resources and the industriesthrough which the people are supplied with their daily needs. Theirfirst aim is to gain control of the political machinery of the state, then reorganize industry on a socialistic basis. The aims of the Social Revolutionists are not so easily defined, forthe reason that there is more diversity of opinion among themembership. Most of them are undoubtedly Socialists, and many againare Anarchists of the Kropotkin school. Temperamentally the Russian ismuch more an Anarchist than a State Socialist, more an individualistthan a collectivist. It is the Jewish element which gives the SocialDemocrats their numerical superiority. As compared to the SocialDemocrat it may be said that the Social Revolutionist, taking theaverage, is opposed to the strongly centralized state and bases hisscheme of reconstruction on the local autonomy of the small community. It is the same difference that may be found, or is supposed to exist, between the principles of the Republican and the Democratic parties ofthe United States. The Social Revolutionist is the Democrat ofSocialistic Russia; the Social Democrat is the Republican. The failure of the war with Japan proved a strong stimulus to therevolutionary movements in Russia. In fact, their activities compelledthe Government to conclude a peace when further hostilities mighthave brought about the defeat of the Japanese. To bring this domesticunrest to a head before it should gain too wide a volume, theGovernment sent its own agitators among the workingmen and incitedthem to make demonstrations and other forms of disturbance, whichshould serve the police as a pretext for violent suppression. Thefirst of these demonstrations occurred on January 21, 1905, a datewhich remains in: scribed in the pages of Russian history as "RedSunday. " The workingmen, some thousands in number, were led by FatherCapon, a priest, who was at least under the influence of theGovernment, if not in its pay. Against the wishes of the SocialDemocrats, with whom his organization cooperated, he decided to lead agreat army of his followers to the gates of the palace and petitionthe czar for constitutional government. When the unarmed demonstratorsarrived at the palace they were shot down by the hundreds and trampledinto the mud by the hoofs of the cavalry horses. The outrage stirred the Russian people profoundly. The revolutionaryelements now began to act in earnest, though they were not quite asprepared as they had wished to be. A general strike was organized, andso effectively was it maintained that the czar and his clique promisedthe people a constitution. But when the strike had been called off andthe disturbances subsided, it soon became evident that the promiseswere not to be fulfilled. More than that, the police now began such aseries of repressive measures that again the fires on the revolutionwere lighted. Most notable of these was the uprising in Moscow inDecember, 1905, when the people and the soldiers fought bloody battlesin the streets. But the revolutionary forces lacked properorganization, and were finally crushed. Of all the promises which hadbeen made only the Duma remained, amounting to little more than adebating club with absolutely no independent legislative power. The first Duma at least served to give some conception of the coloringof public opinion in Russia. The majority of the deputies belonged tothe Constitutional Democrats, a political party which appeared andrepresented the moderate progressives, those who wished aconstitutional monarchy and progressive reforms. Their leader wasPaul Milukov, a professor in the University of Moscow and at one timeprofessor in the University of Chicago. The Duma, though the restrictive election laws had minimized therevolutionary elements within it, clamored for the promised reformsuntil it was finally dissolved by the Government. A number of deputieswent to Finland and there issued a manifesto with the object ofrousing a general demonstration, but without success. The second Dumaproved quite as progressive as the first and was also dissolvedarbitrarily. Then the electoral laws were made still more restrictive, so that the landed nobility and the clergy should be more represented. The third Duma, as a result, proved quite innocuous, and for fiveyears it sat, never attempting to initiate any changes, attractingvery little attention. During this period reaction regained all its former ascendency, withinthe Social Revolutionary organization it was discovered that the chiefof the fighting organization, Eugene Azev, was nothing more than thepaid agent of the secret police and that he had been delivering themembers of the organization into the hands of his masters as theyproved themselves most dangerous. The agent through whom the exposurehad been made, by an ex-police chief, was an obscure Russianjournalist, Vladimir Bourtsev, who at once rose to internationalprominence as the "Sherlock Holmes of the Russian Revolution. " Tomaintain his reputation he began with much publicity furtherinvestigations and discovered a great number of smaller-fry spies inthe organization, with the result that all mutual confidence of themembers was broken and the organization went completely to pieces. After this, 1907, little more was heard in foreign countries ofRussian revolution. Within Russia itself the university students whohad formed the best material for the working committees turned theirenergies in other directions, degenerating into the notorious"candle-light clubs" and other somewhat depraved practices with freelove as a basis. Nor had anything occurred to revive the hopes of the friends ofRussian freedom when hostilities broke out between Russia and Germanyin 1914, and the greatest of all wars was precipitated. Certainly notwithin revolutionary circles. Among the peasantry and the workingclasses, indeed, and of spontaneous origin, there had appeared a greateconomic movement, more directly revolutionary in character than themore picturesque terrorist organizations. This was the cooperativesocieties. In the towns and cities and the industrial centers theytook the form of consumers' organizations in which the people combinedtheir purchasing power and conducted their own stores for the supplyof their daily needs. These local societies again federated into theMoscow Wholesale Society, which purchased in bulk for itsconstituents. In the rural districts the peasants organized for thepurpose of marketing their produce jointly; this form of cooperationwas especially marked in Siberia among the dairy farmers. Then therewere the credit societies, cooperative banks which federated in theMoscow Narodni (People's) Bank, and so had millions of rubles at itsdisposal with which to finance more cooperative organizations. Allthese societies were much restricted by the police, but they gainedenough headway to play an important part in the economic life of thenation after the outbreak of hostilities and to become a big elementin the final revolutionary movement. Closely akin to the cooperatives, and of much older origin, were theZemstvos. These local governing organizations were established in 1864by Alexander II to satisfy the desire of the peasants to expressthemselves in local politics. The local Zemstvo is charged with theadministration of education, sanitation, medical relief for the poor, maintenance of highways, and other local matters outside the sphereof the central government. Naturally the Zemstvo was not intrustedwith any power that was likely to prove dangerous to the PetrogradGovernment, but as the members were elected by popular suffrage, restricted by certain qualifications demanding the ownership ofproperty on the part of the electors. The Zemstvos proved highlyeffective training schools in which the peasants could learnself-government and parliamentary procedure. The local Zemstvos, likethe cooperative societies, federated into district Zemstvos, whichsometimes had the control of large affairs on their hands. CHAPTER LXXIII RUSSIAN WAR SPIRIT AROUSED With the declaration of war against Germany, slumbering Russia seemedsuddenly to awaken, and elements which had hitherto been antagonisticjoined together for the common purpose of repelling the Germaninvasion. Keenly patriotic, even to the point of fanaticism, in spiteof his ready acceptance of radical doctrines, the Russian is everready to present a solid front against outside interference. Thus itwas that when the war began revolutionists who had fled from Russia, or who had been exiled abroad, flocked home in great numbers andoffered their services to the autocracy to fight the Germans. Neverhas Russia shown such unanimity of spirit and such solidarity ofpurpose. The Japanese War had been so plainly one of aggression, andin so distant a part of the world, that this same spirit had not beenmanifested in 1904. But now the Germans, always hated by the Slavs, were actually crossing the Russian frontier, close to the nationalcapital. All Russia rallied to the call for action. As a matter offact, it was the Russian autocracy itself which presently beganrealizing that it had unintentionally and illogically arrayed itselfon the side of the forces which it had always fought, as therevolutionary elements in Russia also presently began realizing thatthey had followed their truest instincts in supporting the war againstGermany. For within a few weeks after the outbreak of hostilities the warassumed an entirely different character. In its first aspect it was aquarrel between various autocracies over greed for influence andterritory. The Russian autocracy went into the fight because of itspretensions in the Balkans. Then France and Great Britain, the two bigdemocracies of Europe, threw themselves into the conflict. They foughtto oppose the ambition of the German rulers to Prussianize the wholeof Europe. It soon became obvious that the Teutonic Powers wantedsomething of immensely more importance than territorial gains inSerbia; they wanted to become the masters of all Europe. And so theinitial character of the war changed within a few weeks: it developedinto a conflict between international democracy on the one hand andinternational autocracy on the other hand. It was then when thequestion of Serbia sank into comparative insignificance that theRussian autocrats realized that they had enlisted on the wrong side. But with the whole populace of the country enthusiastically unitedbehind it, the Government was swept onward; it was too late to make anabrupt change of front. Undoubtedly all the members of the ruling class of Russia realizedthis fact. But in full justice to them it must be said that the largemajority of them, those who previously had supported the Governmentagainst the revolutionary and progressive elements, decided to acceptthe situation and support the war against Germany to a finish, whatever the results might be in internal affairs after the war. Within the governing clique, comprising some of the most influentialindividuals, was a small group, later known as "the dark forces, "which quickly came to the conclusion that democracy must be defeatedat all costs. First of all came the czar himself. Nicholas, however, played a verysmall figure as a personality in all the later intrigues. Weak ofcharacter, almost to the point of being mentally defective, hereflected only the personalities of those about him. Yet he was byblood seven-eighths German. Next came the czarina, entirely German, with not a drop of Russianblood. Of a stronger personality, though scarcely more intelligent, she formed the real power behind the throne, in so far as directcontrol was concentrated in any one person. By persons of moreintelligence than herself she could be used in manipulating the willof the czar to their own purposes. Behind her, or rather to one sideof her, stood a group of the Russian nobility of German origin, descendants of the courtiers and officials brought into Russian courtcircles by the German wives of Russian czars. These still retainedenough of their German sympathies to counteract any consideration theymight otherwise have felt for the interests of Russia itself, especially as this was further strengthened by their realization thatthe defeat of Germany would also mean the doom of Russian autocracy, of which they were a part. CHAPTER LXXIV RASPUTIN, THE EVIL SPIRIT OF RUSSIA The dominating figure of this dark circle of pro-Germans within theRussian court was the monk Rasputin--Rasputin the peasant, thepicturesque, the intriguing, the evil medium through which the agentsof Germany manipulated the Russian Government toward their own ends, the interests of the German autocracy. Such a figure could have playeda part in no other than a court of Oriental pattern, and such theRussian court was. Gregory Novikh was a Siberian by birth, the son of a common, illiterate mujik, as illiterate and as ignorant as his father. Earlyin life, while still a common fisherman, he showed abnormal qualities. Degenerate, unrestrained in all his appetites, he possessed a magneticpersonality sometimes found in persons of that type. It was said thatno woman, even of the highest culture and quality, could resist hisadvances. So loose was his behavior that he acquired the nickname ofRasputin, which means a rake, a person of bad morals. And by this namehe gradually became notorious all over the land. From fishing Rasputin turned toward easier ways of making a living. He became an itinerant monk, a holy man, a mystic. A rôle he was ableto play on account of his peculiar hypnotic powers. As a religiousfakir he acquired influence over women of high degree, though hismanners were coarse and his person was decidedly unclean. Eventually Rasputin made the acquaintance of Madame Virubova, thefavorite lady-in-waiting of the czarina. With the credulity of asuperstitious woman of her class, the czarina was a patroness of manyoccult cults and had a firm belief in the influence of invisiblespirits. Rasputin was presented to her by the lady-in-waiting as anoccult healer and a person of great mystic powers. Immediately he wasasked to show his powers on the young czarevitch, Alexis, heir to thethrone, who was constitutionally weak and at that moment was sufferingespecially from attacks of heart weakness. Rasputin immediatelyrelieved the sufferings of the child and so permanently establishedhimself with the czarina and even with the czar. As has been explainedsince, Madame Virubova had previously administered a drug to the youngczarevitch, and by applying the antidote Rasputin had obtainedimmediate results. Whether this story be true, or whether Rasputinreally did possess those peculiar healing powers which certainabnormal persons undoubtedly do possess, the fact was that he remainedin court as a permanent attachment and acquired an influence therewhich was equaled by no other person. He became, in actual fact, thereal ruler of all the Russias, for the prime minister who incurred hisdispleasure did not long remain in power. Such a man, naturally, wouldhave many enemies, even within court circles, and efforts were made tobring about the downfall of Rasputin. Once his enemies did actuallysucceed in having him expelled from Petrograd for a while, butimmediately the czarevitch became critically ill and during hisabsence the czarina was almost continuously hysterical. Again he wasinvited back to court and then he set about building up his influenceinto a political machine that was never again to be broken, even afterhis death, until it became necessary for the reactionaries themselvesto help destroy the autocracy itself in order to purge Russia of thespirit of Rasputin. Rasputin, not the revolutionary movement, brought about the downfallof czarism. Yet up until after the outbreak of the war Rasputin had beenintelligent enough to refrain from interfering in matters of stateimportance. His influence had thus far been wielded only to secure hisown position. Perhaps his keen instincts, rather than hisintelligence, warned him against too deep an interference in politicalmatters. To this self-restraint he owed his long continuance in power, for though the situation was well known all over Russia, it wasregarded rather in the light of a joke. Rasputin's power wasunderestimated, perhaps; he was more or less regarded as the petpoodle of the czarina. It was after the war that he suddenly changed his attitude. He was oneof the first to realize the danger to the autocracy that a Germandefeat would mean; that the Russian court was ranged against theforces which would perpetuate it. Whether it was this realizationwhich determined Rasputin to wield his powerful influence in favor ofPrussianism, or whether he had been bought by German gold, the factremains that he became the central figure about which revolved allthose "dark forces" which were working for either a separate peacewith Germany or the utter military defeat of Russia in the war. Inthis object Rasputin and his allies nearly succeeded. It was to avertthis that practically all the social elements, both liberal andreactionary, united with the revolutionists in overturning czarism. What the plans of the dark forces were during the first year of thewar cannot now of course be definitely known. Perhaps they realizedthat the utter inefficiency of the Russian autocracy would soon decidethe issue on the eastern front. And had there not appeared otherelements to guide and support the Russian soldiers at the front, Russia would undoubtedly have been overrun by the German-Austrianarmies before the end of the first year. But the patriotic enthusiasm which German aggression had awakenedalso brought into life powerful social organizations created for thepurpose of supporting the army in its fight against the Germans. Fivedays after war was declared a congress of all the Zemstvos met inMoscow and organized the Russian Union of Zemstvos. A CentralCommittee was appointed and, with almost unlimited funds at itsdisposal, raised through subscriptions, set to work to supplement thework of the Red Cross and the commissary department of the army, bothof which were obviously unable to meet the needs of the situation. This organization practically took the place of the two otherdepartments of the Government, establishing hundreds of hospitals andsupplying their equipment, caring for the wounded soldiers, supplyingthe soldiers at the front not only with their necessities, but withtobacco, bathing facilities, laundries, and many other minor luxuries. During the first two years of the war the Central Committee disbursedover half a billion dollars. At the head of this organization, democratic in form, as its president was Prince George Lvov, who waslater destined to play an important part in the organization of therevolutionary government. Another spontaneous and democratic organization which came intoexistence to support the army against the Germans was the Union ofTowns, representing 474 municipalities in Russia and Siberia. It, too, carried on a work similar to that of the Zemstvos, raising andspending vast sums of money. Then came the cooperative societies, supplying the army with food. In the towns and cities the consumers'societies combated the intrigues of the food speculators, which wereeven more active in Russia than they are in this country, andstabilized prices. In some of the cities the local municipaladministrations turned over the whole problem of food supply to thelocal cooperatives, doing nothing more than foot the bills. During thewar the membership of these societies rose to thirteen million. They, too, were democratic in form. It would seem that the Government could have done no less than acceptthe cooperation of these social organizations thankfully and done allin its power not to handicap them in their efforts. But this did nothappen. On the contrary, from the beginning they were hampered asthough they were dangerous revolutionary organizations. This policybecame even more pronounced later on, when the success of the Alliesmade the dark forces desperate. CHAPTER LXXV TREACHERY OF THE AUTOCRACY On the outbreak of the war the premier was Ivan L. Goremykin, atypical autocrat, who had served under four czars, and who was nowwell past seventy. As though utterly unconscious of the war situation, he carried his administration on as he had done previous to the war. First of all, he began a determined campaign of persecution of theJews, at a moment when the most violent anti-Semites would beirritated by such a course. He even went so far as to have a number ofpogroms perpetrated and he spread persistent rumors that the Jews werebetraying the cause of Russia, in spite of the fact that they wereplaying a leading part in the social organizations and were more thanproportionately represented in the army. Then he instituted similarpersecution among the Ruthenians and the Poles, and when Galicia wasoccupied by the Russian military forces Goremykin sent there a numberof petty officials whom he instructed to make the inhabitants intoRussians according to old methods. Then when the commander in chief, Grand Duke Nicholas, issued his manifesto promising the Poles liberty, the Goremykin ministry completely ignored the promise. And finally, anumber of political refugees, who had returned from abroad to offertheir services, either in the army or in the social organizations, were imprisoned or sent to Siberia. Even the reactionaries who had previously supported all that theGovernment stood for were indignant. This feeling became most manifestin the Duma. In 1914 the Duma had been a reactionary body, themajority of the deputies being in favor of trusting entirely to theGovernment. In August, 1915, a most astonishing thing happened, theDuma, with a large majority, which included Conservatives, Liberalsand Radicals alike, drew up a demand for a series of reforms, including the institution of a cabinet responsible to the peoplethrough itself. Another demand was for a general amnesty for allpolitical prisoners. This was the famous Progressive Bloc. Goremykinrefused even to discuss the program. Instead, he hurried to the czarto get his signature to a decree proroguing the Duma, in which hesucceeded. The result was that the whole population rose inthreatening revolution, and this time the threat was not from therevolutionary elements. Even former leaders of the Black Hundreds wereamong the protestants. It was then that Rodzianko, the president ofthe Duma, addressed a letter to the premier, placing theresponsibility of Russia's recent defeats squarely on him and added:"You are obviously too old to possess the vigor to deal with sodifficult a situation. Be man enough to resign and make way for someyounger and more capable man. " Then Goremykin resigned. But the change was for the worse, rather than for the better, for thenext premier was a close friend and associate of Rasputin, a youngerman, to be sure, and more capable, but whose capabilities were to beturned in the wrong direction. Boris Sturmer, a German by blood andsympathies, former governor of Tver, one of the blackest ofreactionaries, was appointed to fill the vacant premiership. Sturmer, where his predecessor had perhaps been merely incompetent, now set about consciously to make a separate peace with Germany, andthis object he hardly took the trouble to hide. Through the censorshiphe suppressed the loyal press and encouraged a number of papers whichopenly denounced Russia's allies and demanded a separate peace withthe kaiser. Then he sent agents to Switzerland, there to confer withrepresentatives of the German Government, so openly that it was knownall over Russia, even among the peasants, that a separate peace wasbeing prepared. CHAPTER LXXVI PARTY INTRIGUES Again the popular protest checked the machinations of the dark forces. Then Sturmer turned deliberately to suppress the democraticorganizations. Early in 1916 he issued an order forbidding any ofthese societies, which were keeping the armies in the field, fromholding meetings. Next the headquarters of all these organizationswere placed in charge of the police. And then came the removal fromthe Cabinet of Sazonov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the one manin whose loyalty to Russia the people had confidence. Sazonov hadalways been a keen admirer of the British and the French, and was inclose touch with the embassies of these countries in Petrograd. To theRussians he had seemed at least some sort of a guarantee against beingsurprised with a sudden separate peace. Nor can there be any doubtthat he was a serious obstacle in the way of the dark forces in theirefforts to bring about their object. Sazonov's removal acquired stilldeeper significance when it was announced that Sturmer himself wouldtake charge of foreign affairs, business of which he had absolutely noexperience. Of a deep significance, though this was not obvious at the time, wasthe appointment of Alexander D. Protopopoff as Minister of theInterior. This was the man who was finally to kick aside the lastwedge shoring up the tottering walls of the Russian autocracy. Protopopoff, who had for the first time entered politics in 1908, being a cloth manufacturer of Simbirsk, was in that year elected adeputy to the Duma by the moderate Octobrists, a conservative bodywhich usually sided with the Government. But when the Octobristsjoined the Progressive Bloc against the Government, Protopopoff hadshown himself quite radical and supported it. Quite unexpectedly, bythe resignation of a vice president of the Duma, he rose to prominenceby being elected to the vacant office. In the summer of 1916 he wasone of a delegation which visited England, France, and Italy. On hisreturn to Russia, through Stockholm, he there met and held aconversation with a German agent, but at the time, though the matterwas taken up by the Duma for investigation, he managed to exoneratehimself. But, as became known, the incident caused him to attract theattention of Rasputin, and he and the court favorite came together andto an understanding. The result was his appointment to the cabinet. At first it was hoped that Protopopoff would prove the sign ofsurrender of the autocracy; that a liberal element was to beintroduced into the administration through him. But the new ministershowed himself in close harmony with Sturmer, and presently this lasthope was destroyed. With Protopopoff a new idea was introduced into the Government. It washe undoubtedly who conceived the idea of staging a revolution inRussia, of creating or precipitating a premature uprising, as had beendone so successfully in 1905, but for a different purpose. The ideanow was to create such internal disorders as to give the Government apretext for making separate peace with the Central Powers. This mightdeceive everybody; the revolutionary elements, which would be used asthe medium for the disorder, and the liberals and conservatives whowere now strongly anti-Government. In the midst of the turmoil theseparate peace could be effected; then the soldiers could be recalledfrom the front and used in suppressing the revolution, a task thatcould be easily accomplished with the vast number of men under arms. As was later to be demonstrated, the dark forces did not reckon withthe psychological changes which the army was also undergoing. Mysterious placards now began to appear in the factories and munitionshops calling on the workingmen to go out on strike and organizedemonstrations. Police agents, disguised as workingmen, went into theindustrial plants and began to preach revolution. It was easy enoughto utilize Socialist philosophy for this purpose. Why should theworkers of Russia fight the workers of Germany, when their interestswere identical? Why should they shed their blood for the rulingclasses, when the ruling classes were the only ones who could gainthrough the war? The German Socialists were even then rising againsttheir masters; the Russian Socialists were urged to do likewise and sojoin their German comrades in paving the way to the cooperativecommonwealth. Fortunately the Social Democratic party had already issued a detailedmanifesto explaining why the Russian Socialists should stand by thewar. The genuine leaders of the Socialists should [see TN] the labororganizations realized immediately the policy which the dark forceswere initiating. For once they came together with the liberals andeven with the conservative elements, and prepared to combat thisunderhanded propaganda. Placards were posted and proclamations wereissued by the real leaders denouncing the impostors and explainingtheir tactics. This underground fight among the laboring classes wasof long duration, however. In instituting this policy the dark forceswere indeed playing with the fire which was eventually to consumethem. Throughout the war the food supply had been very bad, not on accountof any real scarcity of foodstuffs, but because of the inefficienthandling of the inadequate transportation facilities. In somelocalities provisions rotted in the warehouses while in the largecities the people were starving, on the verge of famine. Instead ofhandling the food situation as the other belligerent countries weredoing, Sturmer encouraged a group of dishonest financiers to acquirecontrol of the food supplies, thereby making big financial profitshimself. This greediness on his part was, however, to cause his owndownfall before that of his associates. A traitor to his country, hewas also a thief. CHAPTER LXXVII THE WORK OF TRAITORS Such were the tactics the dark forces had fully adopted in the fall of1916, only a few months before the revolution. They deliberately setabout disorganizing the machinery of the nation to facilitate aRussian defeat. As has been proved, they did not stop short of actualtreachery in the military field. The failure of the Rumanian defensewas the result of actual betrayal by those higher even than thegenerals in the field. The Germans and Austrians had known everydetail of the campaign plans of the Rumanians and the Russian armysupporting them, and this information they had obtained directly fromPetrograd. Had it not been for the fact that the whole nation was awaiting theopening of the Duma to take place on November 14, 1916, it is morethan probable that the revolution would have taken place in the fallof 1916 instead of four months later. It would then, however, havebeen a far bloodier event, for then the disintegration of theautocracy had not yet reached such a complete stage as it did in thefollowing spring, and it might have offered a far more serious, perhaps a successful, resistance. But the last hope of the people wasin the Duma, and they awaited its session in that spirit. The Duma convened on the date set, and then was witnessed theremarkable spectacle of the conservative members denouncing theGovernment with the fiery oratory of Socialist agitators. Thepresident himself, Michael Rodzianko, who hitherto had always been astanch supporter of the autocracy, being a prosperous landowner andthe father of two officers in a crack regiment, arraigned Sturmer asonce he had arraigned the revolutionary agitators. But it was left toProfessor Paul Milukov, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats, tocreate the sensation of the meeting. He not only denounced Sturmer asa politician, but he produced the evidence which proved beyond a doubtthat Sturmer was receiving bribes from the food speculators; thespecific case he brought up showed that Sturmer, through hissecretary, had offered to shield certain bankers under indictment fora substantial consideration. Sturmer immediately took steps todissolve the Duma. But the czar, whose signature he needed, was at thefront. For the moment he was delayed. During this interval another sensation occurred. General Shuvaiev, Minister of War, and Admiral Grigorovitch, Minister of Marine, appeared in the Duma, and declared themselves on the side of the Dumaand the people. This settled the fate of Sturmer. On his way to thefront to procure the signature of the czar to the proclamationdissolving the Duma he was handed his dismissal. His successor was Alexander Trepov, also an old-time bureaucrat, butknown not to be affiliated with the dark forces. It was hoped that hewould conciliate the angry people. But Trepov never played animportant part in later developments; the fight was now between theDuma and the people on the one hand and the Minister of the Interior, Protopopoff, on the other. This battle now began in earnest and wasdestined to be fought out to a bitter finish. With a brazen fearlessness which must be credited to him, Protopopoffnow arraigned himself openly against the whole nation and the Duma, with only the few hundreds of individuals constituting the dark forcesbehind him. But these sinister forces included Rasputin, theall-powerful, the czarina, and, unconscious though he himself may havebeen of the part he played, the czar himself. Protopopoff now began persecuting the members and the leaders of thesocial forces as though they were the veriest street agitators forSocialism. Next he endeavored to have Paul Milukov assassinated, butthe assassin repented at the last moment and revealed the plot. Thenhe gathered together former members of the Black Hundreds andrecruited them into the police force and trained them in machine-gunpractice. And finally he renewed the energy with which he had begun toorganize revolutionary disorders among the workers. All Russia was against him, even to the great majority of the membersof the Imperial family. His own mother had warned the czar thatdisaster threatened him. As early as December, 1916, the Grand DukeNicholas Michailovitch had held a long interview with the czar inwhich he had openly denounced the czarina and Rasputin in such strongterms that when he had finished, having realized he had gone extremelyfar, he remarked: "And now you may call in your Cossacks and have them kill me and buryme in the garden. " In reply the czar only smiled and offered the grandduke a light for the cigarette which he had been fingering in hisnervous rage. It was by a member of the Imperial family that the firstvital blow was struck at the dark forces. In the early morning hoursof December 30, 1916, a dramatic climax was precipitated. It was then that a group of men drove up in two motor cars to theresidence of Prince Felix Yusupov, a member of the Imperial familythrough his having married a cousin of the czar. Among the men in thetwo cars were Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch, ex-Minister of theInterior, A. N. Khvostov, also an ex-Minister of the Interior, andVladimir Purishkevitch, at one time a notorious leader of BlackHundred organizations, but since the beginning of the war an activeworker in the social organizations and a deputy in the Duma, where heformed one of the Progressive Bloc. A few minutes later the policeman on duty in the neighborhood heardshots within the house and cries of distress. On making aninvestigation he obtained no satisfaction, nor did he dare to continuehis inquiry on account of the high rank of the owner of the house. Again the men came out of the house and carried between them a largebundle resembling a human form, which they hustled into one of theautomobiles and rode off. Next morning blood spots were found in the street where the motor carshad stood. Then a hole was discovered in the ice covering the riverNeva, beside which were found two bloody goloshes. Further searchrevealed a human body, which proved to be the corpse of no less aperson than the notorious monk Rasputin himself. CHAPTER LXXVIII THREATENING OF THE STORM Thus was Rasputin finally removed from his sphere of evil influence bymen who before the war had been of the very inner circles of theautocracy, but who had gradually undergone a great change of opinion. They believed that even the autocracy itself was only secondary inimportance to Russia herself, and they had taken it upon themselves, after doing all in their power to circumvent the traitors throughlegitimate means, to remove the archconspirator as such creaturesusually were removed in the days when they were more common. Rasputinhad been lured to the house of Prince Felix and there killed. It was said that the czarina was hysterical for days after thesensational news had swept over all Russia and Protopopoff faintedupon being informed of the death of his dark ally and master. Theczar, who was at headquarters at the front, hurried home to TsarskoeSelo. And then, as though to insult the nation, the dead mujik wasburied with such pomp as was accorded only to members of the Imperialfamily, the emperor and Protopopoff being among the pallbearers. The people treated the event as though it were a great militaryvictory, rejoicing unrestrainedly. The premier, Trepov, who though amere figurehead, was still loyal to Russia and secretly an enemy ofRasputin and Protopopoff, allowed all the details of the assassinationto be published in the papers, even to the names of those concerned inthe actual killing. These latter were of too high a rank to bepunished, besides which popular sentiment stood solidly behind them. Trepov himself did not prosecute them because of his sympathy withtheir deed. Now that Rasputin, the undoubted leader and master mind of the darkforces was dead, there was universal hope that the pro-Germanconspiracy was killed with him. But the machine he had built up forhis own protection and medium through which to accomplish his ends wastoo well organized to be broken even by his removal. Into Rasputin'splace stepped Protopopoff. He maintained his hold over the czar bymeans of spiritualistic séances in which he pretended to havecommunication with the spirit of the dead monk. The conspiracycontinued unabated, only now Protopopoff worked with the fury ofdesperation. And so the crisis soon came to a head. All Russia, save for the small palace group, was against him. At thenew year reception held in the palace he was most severely humiliatedby Rodzianko, the president of the Duma, who, when Protopopoffapproached him with extended hand, swung his back to him, causing asensation all over the country. At another time, when he entered therooms of the aristocratic club in Petrograd, of which he was a member, all the other members present walked out. Yet he had the courage ofhis evil convictions; with the desperate fury of a tortured bull inthe ring he faced all his enemies and continued on his path, the wholenation against him. Trepov, who had shown his sympathy for the executioners of Rasputin, was removed. So were the Ministers of War and Marine, who had declaredthemselves for the people. Black reactionaries and pro-Germans wereplaced in their posts. Then he began arresting all the labor leaderswho were agitating against strikes and demonstrations and in favor ofprosecuting the war, leaving his own hirelings, who were preachingstrikes and revolution, to continue their efforts unharmed. This wasabout the most obviously significant act he had yet committed. Thenthe food-supply trains arriving daily in Petrograd were deliberatelyhalted in the provinces and the population drifted on to the verge ofactual famine. Then Protopopoff's efforts, in the early days of March, 1917, began tobear fruit. In spite of the warnings of the few loyal labor leadersstill at liberty, the workers began to grumble and to talk revolt. Their stomachs were empty. On February 27, 1917, when the Duma wentinto session again, 300, 000 workingmen had gone out on strike inPetrograd. The air was charged with electricity. Everybody realizedthat the critical moment was approaching: the final battle between thedark forces and the people. On March 1, 1917, the only two leaders of the labor organizationswhich supported the Duma issued an appeal exhorting the workers toreturn to work. And this appeal in favor of order and law was censored by theGovernment. Further proof of the treachery of Protopopoff were not needed; thiswas the most convincing which had yet appeared. During the first week of March, 1917, the unrest among the populacecontinued growing, and the Duma and the labor leaders felt themselvesregarding the situation helplessly. Small riots occurred and martiallaw was immediately declared. Food was so scarce that even the wealthywere starving. But Protopopoff had made one mistake: he was also starving the troopsgarrisoning Petrograd. On March 9, 1917, the street railways ceased running on account of astrike of the street railway men. The streets were full of excitedcrowds, though as yet no violence had been committed. Cossacks andsoldiers also patrolled the thoroughfares, while squads of police wereon the housetops, covering the street corners with machine guns. Protopopoff wanted revolution, but he did not mean to allow it tosucceed. All he wanted was a few days of violent disorder, a prolongedRed Sunday, during which a separate peace with Germany and Austriamight be proclaimed. But the violence did not break out so soon as he desired. The strikewas spreading; by the 10th it had become practically universal. Butmeanwhile the workingmen were quietly organizing. Electing delegates, they formed the Council of Workingmen's Deputies, which immediatelytook over the control of their movements. It was this fact whichcaused what might have been a blind uprising of desperate people toassume the character of an organized revolution. On this date theDuma, which had been in continual session, broke off relations withthe Government with a resolution stating that "with such a Governmentthe Duma forever severs its connections. " In response to this act theczar issued a decree ordering the dissolution of the Duma. On the following day, Sunday the 11th, the members of the Dumaunanimously decided to ignore the decree of the czar and to hold whatwas to prove the first session of the Duma as the representative bodyof the Russian democracy. Meanwhile the street demonstrations continued, augmented by thoseworkers who had not yet gone out on strike and were simply out ontheir weekly day of rest. A proclamation had been issued by themilitary authorities forbidding gatherings, adding that the severestmeasures would be resorted to in breaking them up. But no notice wastaken of this order. The Cossacks were riding through the crowdedstreets, but, in sharp contrast to their behavior of former times, they took great care not to jostle the people even, guiding theirhorses carefully among the moving people. CHAPTER LXXIX REVOLUTION The first actual violence was begun by the police, who opened fire onthe crowds in certain sections of the city from the housetops withtheir machine guns. A number of demonstrators were killed and wounded, but still the disorders did not yet become general. Where the policeopened fire the more resolute elements of the crowds rushed in toattack them and killed them. And now came Protopopoff's pretext forordering the soldiers to fire and to begin such a massacre as hadsquelched the premature uprising on Red Sunday twelve years before. It was at this point that one of the most vital arrangements ofProtopopoff's scheme snapped. There were 35, 000 soldiers in Petrograd at this time, more thansufficient to suppress any uprising. Neither Protopopoff nor the mostradical members of the Duma doubted that the soldiers would obey theorders of their officers, and shoot down the crowds on the streets. When had Russian soldiers ever refused to suppress demonstrations ofthe people? "The revolution is on, " cried Milukov, "but it will bedrowned in blood!" In this supposition both sides were to provegreatly mistaken. The Russian army of March, 1917, was a very different organizationfrom the Russian army of March, 1914. First of all, it was nowcomposed of men who three years before had been part of the Russianpeople. The regular professional army, the standing establishment, which had been the support of the autocracy, had been practicallydrowned in the vast influx of recruits. Furthermore, the old, well-trained regiments constituting the regular army had beendecimated in the fierce battles along the Russian front, some ofthem being annihilated. They had been eliminated. Of still moreimportance there had been a change in the minds of the highest armyleaders themselves. Whatever might have been their attitude towardthe autocracy and the people in the days of old, like theircolleagues, the civilian reactionaries, they had seen the autocracyand the social organizations contrasted; they were profoundlypatriotic and they realized what Rasputin and his dark forces hadstood for, what Protopopoff stood for; they had personally, most ofthem, pleaded with the czar to clean the court of the sinisterpro-German influences--with absolutely no success. They realizedthat the country must choose between the autocracy as it was and agovernment of the people if Prussianism was to be defeated, and theydid not hesitate in their choice. Among these army leaders, who had undergone such a change ofpsychology, was no less a person than the Grand Duke NicholasNicholaievitch himself, who had been removed from his command of thearmies facing the Austro-Germans and transferred to the minor field ofoperations against Turkey, only because he had protested against theinfluence of an illiterate Siberian mujik. With very few exceptions, the army leaders, from the commander inchief down to the regimental commanders, stood arrayed on the side ofthe Duma. So clever an intriguer as Protopopoff should have realizedthis. One of the first regiments to be called out to fire on the peopleafter the first encounters between the machine-gun squads of thepolice and the demonstrators was the famous Volynski Regiment, notorious in Russian revolutionary history. Never had it failed itsmasters. A noncommissioned officer of this crack regiment, Kirpitchnikov, immediately made the round of the soldiers and theother noncommissioned officers. They organized a committee whichapproached the officers. The latter, with the single exception of thecolonel, stood with the committee. When the order came to fire on thepeople, they shot the colonel, formed, shouldered their pieces, andmarched out on the streets as the first organized body of soldiers tofight for the awakening Russian democracy. Persuading several other guard regiments to join them, they attackedProtopopoff's police squads. This event occurred at 5 o'clock in theafternoon of the 11th, and marked the beginning of the actualrevolution. The fighting begun by the mutinied soldiers now becamegeneral. One by one other regiments were called out, but with very fewexceptions all refused to fire on the people and joined therevolutionists. Then the Cossacks came over in a body. As twilightapproached the firing in the streets became general and continuous. Meanwhile Michael Rodzianko, president of the Duma, made one moreeffort to avert the great crisis. The czar, having been assured byProtopopoff several days previous that all danger was over and thesituation well in hand, had gone to army headquarters at the front. Tohim Rodzianko sent a telegram worded as follows: "The situation is extremely serious. Anarchy threatens in the capital, transportation of provisions is completely disorganized, and fightinghas begun in the streets. It is of vital importance that a new cabinetbe formed by some person enjoying the confidence of the people. Eachmoment of delay adds to the disaster. May the responsibility for agreat national calamity not fall upon your head. " To this telegram the czar made no answer. CHAPTER LXXX THE CULMINATION Meanwhile the deputies sat in session, helpless, regarding thesituation with growing alarm. After all, the majority were naturallyconservatives and feared revolution. As a matter of fact, they allowedthemselves to lose grip of the situation. As has already been said, the uprising was not a blind force givingvent to elemental feeling, but a thoroughly organized revolutionarymovement. The old revolutionary forces had awakened in time to takecontrol of the developing situation. It was the leaders of the SocialDemocrats, the Social Revolutionists, the successors of the old-timeNihilists and the labor leaders, who were proving themselves mastersof the situation. The Duma sat quiet, inert, and so lost itsopportunity. It hated the dark forces on the one hand, it feared therevolution on the other, and at the critical moment helped neither. What saved it from being completely discredited was the fact that anumber of the revolutionary leaders, such as Alexander Kerensky andTcheidze, both Socialists, were also deputies in the Duma, and, beingof well-balanced minds, realized that they must have the support ofthose elements which the Duma represented to succeed. The real centerof government of the new democracy, then rising out of the birth pangsof the nation, was the Council of Workingmen's Deputies. This organization on the part of the active revolution was largelycompleted during the night of the 11th, even while heavy firing sweptup and down the streets of the city. When Monday morning dawned thevarious radical and labor leaders had knit themselves together in theCouncil of Workingmen's Deputies and were in control of therevolutionary forces through a great number of subcommittees. Anintelligent plan of campaign for the actual military or fightingoperations had been drawn up and was followed with an efficiency thatwould have done credit to organized troops. Undoubtedly the officersof the mutinied regiments who had gone over to the side of the peoplehelped, but the revolutionary commanders did not for a moment allowthem to take control of the situation. The red flag of InternationalSocialism was raised that Monday morning as the emblem of the newrégime, and to the present moment it continues flying. The dominating brain, the vital moral force, behind the revolution wasAlexander Kerensky, the young Socialist lawyer. On Monday morning the revolutionary column headed by a regiment of themutineers delivered an attack on the Arsenal, after dispersing thepolice groups in the neighborhood. The commandant, General Matusov, proved loyal to Protopopoff and offered resistance, but after somesharp fighting the garrison was overcome and Matusov killed. Thecapture of the Arsenal gave the revolutionists possession of a supplyof rifles, small arms, machine guns, and ammunition more than ample toequip all their fighting forces. The artillery depot was also taken, and now the revolutionary soldiers, most of them students andworkingmen, organized into flying detachments which scoured the cityin automobiles and hunted down the police as though they were wildanimals. The jails and prisons too were broken into and all thepolitical prisoners liberated. And so fell the notorious Peter andPaul Fortress, the Bastille of Russia, in which some of the finestminds of the Russian revolutionary movement, both men and women, hadbeen done to death with horrible torture. In the confusion somecriminals also escaped, but in spite of their presence in the fightingcrowds, there was very little looting or disorder, such as invariablyattends violent uprisings. Schlusselburg Prison, another monument tomartyred advocates of freedom, also fell. Then, headed by one of theold revolutionists, just released from a long imprisonment, the peopleturned on the most hated of all the old institutions, the headquartersof the secret police. This building was stormed, its defenders killedand then burned to its foundations, together with all its records. Everywhere the revolutionary forces were successful, meetingcomparatively little resistance. Meanwhile the Duma continued inactive, except that Rodzianko sent asecond telegram to the czar and also a telegram to each of theprominent army commanders, begging them to make their personal appealsto the czar, that he might be persuaded to take some action whichwould at least save him his throne nominally. "The last hour has struck, " wired the Duma president. "To-morrow willbe too late if you wish to save your throne and dynasty. " And again the czar, misled by a false adviser, refused to heed. Various accounts would seem to indicate that he was drunk at the time. By this time 25, 000 soldiers of the garrison had joined Kerensky'srevolutionary army under the red flag. Then came a committee fromthese soldiers to the doors of the Duma with the demand: "We have risen and helped the people overturn the autocracy. Down withczarism! Where do you stand?" President Rodzianko, speaking for the Duma, showed them his telegramsdemanding a ministry of the czar responsible to the people, and saidthat they stood for a constitutional democracy. The soldiers weresatisfied. Then soldiers began arriving at the Taurida Palace, themeeting place of the Duma, to acknowledge their recognition of itsauthority. This was done under the influence of deputies Kerensky, Tcheidze, and Skobelev, all Socialists, who felt the need of havingthe cohesion of the Duma to the revolution. At about this time thenewly appointed premier, Golitzin, who had succeeded Trepov, telephoned his resignation to the Duma. The other members of thecabinet had disappeared. That afternoon the Duma appointed a committee of twelve members, representing all parties, which should represent its authority andshould assist the revolutionary organizers in maintaining order. Theselatter held a separate meeting in another room of the palace andissued an appeal to the populace to refrain from excesses. An electionof deputies to the Council of Workingmen's Deputies was then calledfor that evening, the name of the council being now changed to theCouncil of Workingmen and Soldiers' Deputies. CHAPTER LXXXI THE NEW GOVERNMENT By this time the firing in the streets had died down. Desultoryfighting still continued in the outskirts of the city between patrolsof the revolutionary forces and policemen, but by evening calm oncemore settled down over the city. The autocracy was dead; therevolution had been won. The dead and wounded had been collected andthe latter were being cared for. The dead amounted to slightly lessthan two hundred. The two committees--the one representing the Duma and the onerepresenting the red radicals--were in joint session all that nightworking with a harmony that would have seemed incredible only a weekbefore. On the following morning they issued two proclamations. Thefirst simply appealed to the people to remain calm and commit noexcesses. The other announced the establishment of a new governmentfor Russia, which should be based on universal suffrage. Then the Dumacommittee issued a special appeal to army officers to support the newrégime. All day delegations from various organizations of both socialand military life of the capital appeared before the doors of the Dumato offer allegiance, and again and again Milukov and Kerensky, eachthe popular hero of their separate elements, the one of the liberalmiddle classes and the other of the radical working classes, werecalled out to deliver addresses to crowds of enthusiastic people. Despite their differences of opinion, these two and their fellowsworked together with an ideal harmony, each supporting the other withhis constituency. Perhaps no greater anomaly was ever presented inhistory than the spectacle of Rodzianko, ultraconservative, andKerensky, radical Socialist, each addressing a large crowd, the one inone courtyard the other in another courtyard, exhorting theiraudiences to stand shoulder to shoulder for a common purpose. Nothingbut the knowledge that on the morrow the Prussians might be thunderingat the gates of the city could have produced such harmony of actionbetween two such differing types. Another picturesque incident of the actual revolution occurred whenthe Imperial Guards at the palace revolted and, having disposed oftheir commanders, sent a committee in to arrest the czarina, who wasattending her children, all of whom were ill with the measles. "Do not hurt me or my children, " she appealed, "I am only a poorSister of Charity. " A guard was left over her while the main body ofthe regiment went over to Taurida Palace to place itself at thedisposal of the Provisional Government. Meanwhile other notorious members of the dark forces were apprehended. Ex-Premier Boris von Sturmer, the traitor whom Milukov had denouncedas a thief, and who had since his downfall been a member of the courtcamarilla, was arrested and put in a cell lately occupied by apolitical prisoner. Next came the metropolitan of the church, Pitirim, an appointee of Rasputin, a feeble old man in a white cap and a blackcassock, tottering in the midst of a crowd of laughing and jestingsoldiers and workingmen, showing him, however, no other violence thanwith their tongues. One by one all the members of the old régime werebrought in, or they came of themselves. Finally the archconspirator, Protopopoff himself, was the only one of note still at large. For twodays his whereabouts remained unknown. As developed later, he washiding in the house of a relative. On the evening of the 13th an old man in civilian dress appearedbefore the main doorway of the Duma headquarters. A civilian guard, astudent, stood there. "I am Protopopoff, " said the man to the astonished guard; "I have cometo surrender myself to the Duma and to recognize its authority. Takeme to the right person. " The guard shouted the ex-minister's name in his excitement and a crowdquickly gathered. Even the perennial good humor of a Russian crowdforsook this gathering and it began to assume the aspect of a Westernvigilance committee. There were angry shouts; the archtraitor, Protopopoff, was before them in person. But before actual violencecould be offered the old man, Kerensky, the Socialist leader, leapedinto the crowd and allayed the excitement, thus saving Protopopoff'slife. Another strange feature of the day's events was the appearance ofGrand Duke Cyril on the balcony of his own house, uttering arevolutionary speech to the crowds on the pavement below. He declaredhimself unequivocally for the new government, wherever it might lead, and appealed to the people to support it. Meanwhile the Duma committeesent telegrams to all the commanders along the various fronts and tothe admirals of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, stating the barefacts and asking their adhesion to the Provisional Government. Fromall came ready professions of loyalty and adhesion. Similar telegramswere sent to all the towns and cities throughout the provinces. Andall the country responded similarly. With very little violence the oldrégime was upset all over Russia and local councils elected to work inharmony with and under the authority of the Provisional Government inPetrograd. The French and British ambassadors too hastened to informthe president of the Duma that their respective governments recognizedits authority and were prepared to enter into diplomatic relationswith the Duma committee. On the 14th the streets of Petrograd had assumed their normal quiet, if not their normal appearance, for it was somewhat unusual not toobserve a single policeman in sight. Every member of the police waseither in prison, in the hospital, or dead. The maintenance of orderwas given over to a civilian police, or city militia, under thecommand of Professor Yurevitch, the first time in Russian history thata college professor had ever undertaken such a function. On this daythe garrison of the fortress of Kronstadt and the sailors of the fleetstationed there mutinied, killed their commanders and came over to thecause of the revolution. That evening the Duma committee issued aproclamation worded as follows: "Citizens! The wonderful event has transpired! Old Russia is dead. TheCommittee of Safety of the Duma and the Council of Workingmen's andSoldiers' Deputies are bringing back order into the city and thecountry. .. . The most pressing need now is food supplies for the peopleand the army. Assist with bread and your labor. " Until now since the last of the fighting the control of affairs hadbeen in the hands of the two committees, one representing the radicalrevolutionists and the other the middle class and aristocratic Duma. Each committee appealed to its constituency to respect the authorityof the other. During all of the next morning, the 15th, the two committees were incontinuous joint session, planning the formation of a cabinet or setof officers for the Provisional Government. Early in the afternoonthis labor was concluded and the members of the new government wereannounced. Prince George Lvov, he who had organized the Zemstvo Unionand served so efficiently as its president, was Premier and Ministerof the Interior. Though an aristocrat of the bluest blood, he wasextremely liberal in his views. Never had he been an autocrat, evenin sympathy. Paul Milukov, the leader of the Constitutional Democrats, was Minister of Foreign Relations. He represented the middle-classliberals or progressives, constituting what in this country would becalled the business men and professional class, as Lvov representedthe broad-minded country gentry. Alexander Kerensky, the radicalSocialist, an old member of the Social Revolutionists, theorganization of many assassinations, was named Minister of Justice. Less fanatical and more balanced than many of his associates, herepresented the connecting link between the two sharply contrastingelements which constituted the new government. To him the red flag ofInternational Socialism meant more than the flag of nationalpatriotism, but he, as some of his associates did not, realized thatnational patriotism must not be destroyed until the spirit ofinternational brotherhood was an established fact; that worldfederation must rest first on national unity. He proved then, thoughstill a man in his early thirties, the dominant figure of thesituation, a position which he has retained to an increasing degreeever since. The other members of the new cabinet were: M. A. I. Gutchkov, chairmanof the War Industries Committee, Minister of War and Marine. Inearlier life he had been a soldier of fortune, having fought undermany flags, for many causes, including that of the Boers in SouthAfrica. In politics he was conservative. Andrei Shingarev, aConstitutional Democrat, was made Minister of Agriculture, animportant post, for under his charge came the complicated problem offood supply, to be solved by means of a transportation all tooinadequate in its lack of rolling stock to supply both army and peopletogether. A physician by profession, he was also an expert on finance. Neither Rodzianko, president of the Duma, nor Tcheidze, the presidentof the Council of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies, was representedin the cabinet, though both had taken important and leading parts inthe revolution and the organization following. The policy agreed upon was a compromise between the two elements inthe new government. The Duma party could not yet face the possibilityof a pure republic, and desired a constitutional monarchy under theczar, reducing him to a mere figurehead, to be sure. The radicalswanted a clear-cut democracy. Between them, by mutual compromise, theyagreed that the czar should be deposed and his brother Grand DukeMichael should be proclaimed regent, with the Czarevitch Alexis asheir apparent. The new constitution, which was to be as liberal as themost progressive in the world, must, it was decided, be worked out indetail by a national congress or constituent assembly which should beelected by universal suffrage as soon as possible. The more importantand pressing task before the nation, it was realized by both elements, was the organization of transportation that both the people and thearmy might be supplied with food and that munitions and other militarysupplies might be sent to the front. The armies of two great empireswere still to be defeated before there could be any detaileddiscussion of forms of government. CHAPTER LXXXII THE CZAR ABDICATES Meanwhile where was the czar? As yet not a word had been heard fromhim. He seemed to have been lost in the confusion. And as a matter offact he was as though he were the lost soul of the dead autocracywandering about in space, mournfully looking for some spot on which hemight alight. As has already been stated, Nicholas was at the general headquartersof General Alexiev, the commander in chief, when the crisis wasprecipitated in Petrograd. With him were a number of his personaltoadies, among them Baron Fredericks, the Court Minister, said to havebeen responsible for most of the evil influences during past years. Another of his companions was General Voyeykov. The two telegrams from Rodzianko had been received, but it seemsprobable that they had been intercepted by either one of these twoattendants. At any rate, they must have counteracted whateverinfluence the telegrams might have had on the weak-willed man'sdecisions. General Alexiev, too, in response to Rodzianko's telegramto himself had attempted to bring the czar to a realization of theseriousness of the situation. Nevertheless he did nothing. Of the manypersonal pictures of the czar which have been painted by those whohave known him personally one stands out predominantly: a little manwith a weak face, twirling his mustache with one hand and alternatelylooking out of the window or fixing the speaker with a semi-vacantstare. Nicholas stood so when Alexiev explained to him the situation in thecapital and then pleaded with him to grasp his last opportunity. Butthis last opportunity he allowed to slip by. Undoubtedly he could thenhave saved himself. Had he been a man of broad intelligence he mighthave come forward and averted the rising storm by granting even lessthan the autocracy of Germany has conceded to the German masses. Thushe might have emerged more firmly fixed in his high position than everbefore. There are those who assert that Nicholas is mentallydefective. Certainly the facts bear them out. Finally there came an urgent appeal from his wife to return toTsarskoe Selo, and this, a purely domestic matter, he understood. Together with his suite he started on a train, his escort under thecommand of General Tsabel. All had been drinking heavily, and whenfinally the news of the uprising came through in full detail, theywere all inclined to minimize the importance of what had happened. Onthe morning of the 14th General Voyeykov briefly summarized thesituation to the czar, then added that General Ivanov, the onecommander at the front who still remained faithful to the autocracy, was advancing on Petrograd with a regiment of picked men and he wouldsoon restore order. General Tsabel overheard this conversation. Hethereupon showed a telegram which he had just received from Petrogradin which he was ordered to bring the czar's train direct to the cityinstead of to Tsarskoe Selo. "How dare they give such orders!" demanded Nicholas. "This order, " replied General Tsabel, "is backed by sixty thousandofficers and soldiers, who have gone over to the revolutionists. " Nicholas was now finally impressed by actual fact. "Very well, " he said, suddenly, "if it must be so, it must. I will goto my estate in Livadia and spend the rest of my days among myflowers. " But even that was not a final decision. On approaching Petrograd andTsarskoe Selo the news came through that the garrison at the latterplace had gone over to the revolutionists. The czar now insisted thathe would go to Moscow, which he believed still remained loyal. Butpresently there came a telegram announcing that the Moscow garrisonhad also revolted. All day the train rolled back and forth from point to point, with nodestination in view, the czar and his suite hoping to find some breakin the wall about them. At Dno General Ivanov joined the party andadvised the czar to go to the army. It was later said that he andGeneral Voyeykov suggested that the Russian lines be thrown open atMinsk and the Germans be allowed to come in to suppress therevolution. To his credit be it said, however, that Nicholas refusedto consider this last resort. He next went to Pskov, the headquarters of General Russky, in commandof the army nearest to Petrograd, hoping to persuade that commander tosend a large enough force to Petrograd to suppress the revolution. At8 o'clock in the evening he arrived. But Russky, together with all theother army leaders, including the Grand Duke Nicholas, who hadconferred together by means of telegrams, had decided to support theDuma. At 2 o'clock next morning, on the 15th, the czar met Russky. Thelatter explained to him his position, and then called up Rodzianko bytelephone. Rodzianko told Russky that the Duma and the Council ofWorkingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies had mutually agreed that the czarmust abdicate and two deputies--Gutchkov, the War Minister, andShulgin--were on their way to demand a document to this effect fromNicholas. Before seeing the czar again Russky communicated with allthe commanders and explained the new situation, namely, that the czarmust be eliminated entirely. All replied immediately that they agreedto this as the best course. Then Russky went to the czar again andtold him there was no other way open to him, he must vacate histhrone. The czar agreed and went to his private apartment on the trainto prepare the document. At 8 o'clock that evening the two deputies from the ProvisionalGovernment arrived and were taken directly to the czar. Theyimmediately explained to the fallen monarch the full details of thesituation in Petrograd. The one incident that seemed to make animpression on him was the defection of his own body guard. "What shall I do, then?" demanded Nicholas finally. "Abdicate, " replied Gutchkov briefly. It will be remembered that the Provisional Government had decided thatit would demand of the czar that he abdicate in favor of his son andof his brother, the Grand Duke Michael, as regent. "I have already signed my abdication, " said Nicholas, "but on accountof his health I have decided that I cannot part with my son. ThereforeI wish to abdicate in favor of Michael. " The two deputies asked leave to consult together for a few minutesover this change. Finally they agreed to this form of abdication. Theczar then withdrew and presently returned with the document. The twodeputies read it through, approved it, shook hands with NicholasRomanoff, no longer czar, and returned to Petrograd. Still unrestrained in regard to his freedom of action, Nicholas wentto Moghiliev, the general headquarters, to bid his staff farewell, buthis reception there was cool at least; nobody took the slightestnotice of him, no more than if he had been some minor subalternofficer. Then his mother, the Dowager Empress Marie, appeared and inthe evening he dined with her in her private car. Meanwhile public opinion in Petrograd had begun to make itselfstrongly felt in regard to the outward form of the future RussianGovernment. Many organizations passed resolutions and streetdemonstrations took place, all protesting against a monarchical formof government. Before the Provisional Government needed to take anyspecial action in response to this expression of popular sentiment, Grand Duke Michael, the new czar, hastened to abdicate in his turn. Favoring the principle of democracy, he added, he was not willing toassume the responsibilities of such a high office without the formalassent of the Russian people expressed by an election "based on theprinciple of universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage. " Finally, he urged the people to give their loyal support to the ProvisionalGovernment, until such a time as an election could be held. Czar Nicholas abdicated on March 15, 1917. His brother, Czar Michael, abdicated within twenty-four hours. CHAPTER LXXXIII FIRST ACTS OF THE NEW RÉGIME The Provisional Government then made no further steps toward fillingthe vacant throne and Russia remained a republic. Then on the following day came a telegram from General Alexiev, stating that the people of Moghiliev were growing impatient over thefreedom allowed ex-Czar Nicholas and requested the ProvisionalGovernment to have him removed from headquarters. Alexiev did not wishhim wandering about headquarters. Four deputies were dispatched to Moghiliev to arrest the ex-emperor. The four were received with a popular demonstration of enthusiasm, which contrasted sharply with the coldness with which Nicholas hadbeen received. Nicholas was in his mother's train when the fourdeputies arrived. He immediately emerged, crossed the platform andstood before the four representatives of the new republic like aschool child about to be punished; with one hand he came to a salute, recognizing their authority; with the other he twirled his mustache. He was shown his carriage and quietly placed under guard. The deputiestook places in another carriage, and then the train steamed out of thestation with Nicholas a prisoner. Arriving at the palace at TsarskoeSelo, Nicholas was taken over by the commandant and marched throughthe gates of his old residence. And so he disappeared completely fromRussian public life. Meanwhile the czarina had also been arrested and confined to her suiteof rooms in the palace. All the telephone and telegraph wires werecut. Most of the palace servants were dismissed and all the doorsexcept three were locked and barred. A battalion of soldiers nowmounted guard over him who had made more political prisoners than anyother man in the world. Now began the troubled career of the new Russian republic. The Councilof Workingmen and Soldiers, under whose direct supervision thefighting forces of the old régime had been overcome and the revolutionorganized, and which represented just those elements which the Dumadid not represent on account of the restrictive election laws, feltits right to exist beside the Duma, possessing at least an equalauthority. Thus the new governing forces started under very peculiarconditions, with a double head. The Council immediately issued aproclamation inviting the communities all over Russia to elect localcouncils, which might send their delegates to Petrograd to associatethemselves with the deputies elected by the workingmen and soldiers ofthe capital. Another of the first acts of the Provisional Government was to orderthe liberation of all the political prisoners of the old régime, especially those in Siberia, and to invite all exiles abroad to returnhome. The return of some of these political exiles roused quite asmuch enthusiasm and popular demonstration as had the overthrow of theautocracy itself. The progress of Catherine Breshkovskaya, the"grandmother of the Russian revolution, " from Siberia to Petrograd wasalmost like the progress of a conquering general. She had been one ofthe original Nihilists in the seventies and since then had spent mostof her life in Siberia. All Petrograd turned out to welcome thepopular heroine, now a feeble old woman, and she was officiallyreceived at the railroad station by Kerensky and other members of theGovernment in the old Imperial waiting rooms, where formerly onlymembers of the Imperial family had been permitted to enter. Outside inthe streets surged crowds of fur-capped people as far as the eye couldreach, waving red banners and revolutionary emblems. Now and again aroar of voices chanting the Marseillaise would sweep back and forthover the throngs. Within the station the walls were banked withflowers and festooned with red bunting and inscriptions addressed tothe returning heroine. However, this incident occurred later, alreadya great deal had been accomplished. The emancipation of the Jews had been one of first acts of the newcabinet. All restrictions were removed and the Jews were recognized asRussian citizens, and as such to be distinguished from all othercitizens in no way. Then the constitution of Finland was restored andits full autonomy recognized. The same recognition was granted all theother minor nationalities. Next the death penalty was abolished, andfinally the Provisional Government declared itself in favor of theequal suffrage of women with men, a principle which is innate in therevolutionary movement of Russia, to which as many women as men havesacrificed themselves. The vast possessions of the ex-czar and most ofhis munificent income were confiscated. At the same time the granddukes and other members of the Imperial family voluntarily gave uptheir landed possessions and at the same time expressed their loyaltyto the new order. CHAPTER LXXXIV SOCIALISM SUPREME Within the church the same overturning of old authorities took place. The new procurator caused to be thrown out the gilded emblems of theautocracy, and priests known to be in sympathy with the revolutionwere elevated to the offices vacated by the reactionaries. Most of thevast landed estates of the church were confiscated, and the church wasrelegated to a position in which it could no longer interfere inmatters of state. Probably a majority of the radicals would have likedto abolish the church altogether, but even they must have realizedthat the great body of Russia's population, the peasantry, had not yetarrived at this state of mind, corrupt though they knew theinstitution to be. For some weeks while these reforms, in which the vast majority of thepeople believed, were being promulgated the most enthusiastic harmonyprevailed between the two elements constituting the ProvisionalGovernment. But those realizing the wide gulf lying between these twoelements, the constitutionalists and the revolutionary radicals, wereevery day expecting the inevitable dissensions to arise. Eventuallythey came. They would have come much sooner had it not been for thefact that the nation was at war. The friction which presently began between the two contrastingelements sharing the power of government has undoubtedly been muchmagnified and distorted by the press in Great Britain and thiscountry, not through malicious intent, but through ignorance of theaims of one of these elements and of Russian character. The twoelements in question are, of course, found in all countries, and thedissensions in Petrograd probably caused more bitterness in othercountries between these opposing elements than existed in Russiaitself. The conservative press of England and America exaggerated toabsurdity the program and aims of the radical forces in Russia, whilethe Socialist press of these same countries was equally unreliable inits partisanship, and would have had its readers believe Prince Lvovand Milukov hardly any improvement on Protopopoff, a view in which itwould not have been supported by the most radical Russians. For thetrue story of this period we must wait yet a while until dispassionatewitnesses have had time to present their experiences and observationsin permanent form. Nevertheless, there seems to be no doubt that the wine of freedom didrise to the heads of the ultraradicals, and the Russian radical'sideas often do approach the borders of absurdity. Having obtaineddemocracy in civil life, the extremists among the deputies of theWorkingmen's and Soldier's Council wished to extend it in full to thearmy. Though this army was face to face with the best organizedmilitary machine in the world, they demanded the resignation of allthe officers, that their places might be filled by the votes of thecommon soldiers. This rank absurdity the commanders on the frontnaturally resisted, and it was not allowed to come into practice, butthe spirit behind the suggestion did begin to permeate the ignorant, peasants of the rank and file and caused endless demoralization. Animated by the same spirit, many of the workingmen in the factoriessupplying the army grew restless under the discipline of work andstruck for impossible wages. They had always thought that under aSocialist system they would have little work and plenty to eat. Nowthe social revolution had been accomplished, and these improvementsdid not materialize. If more disorder and fighting were needed tobring them about, they would supply these deficiencies. What added to this spirit was the arrival in Russia, early in April, 1917, of the extreme radical Socialist, Lenine. He is generallycredited in this country with being an agent of Germany, but men ofhis type are not easily subsidized, nor would it have been necessaryfor the Germans to do so. Utterly idealistic, a wild fanatic, unpractical to the point of being unbalanced, he represented that wingof radicalism which lives in Utopias and will give no consideration tothings as they are. They preach the doctrine of the brotherhood of manwith the same bitterness that many religious sects preach thesalvation of the soul. Lenine began his propaganda, together withthirty or more of his followers who arrived with him. They preachedan immediate separate peace with Germany and Austria; it was not tothe interest of the Russian working classes to fight the Teutonworking classes when both were slaves under the same masters, thecapitalists of the world. Let the Germans fight their capitalists andthe Russians theirs. And even if the Germans did conquer Russia, whatdid it matter? They would not prove any worse masters than the Russiancapitalists. All the working classes of the world should unite andattack the capitalists simultaneously, etc. Undoubtedly Lenine madesome impression on the more ignorant workingmen of Petrograd andsoldiers of the army, but his significance has been much overestimatedin this country. In Russia his influence corresponds somewhat to theinfluence of Emma Goldman in this country: their followers are morenoisy than numerous. CHAPTER LXXXV POLICIES PROCLAIMED The first important cause for dissension between the Council ofWorkingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies and the Provisional Governmentoccurred on April 7, 1917, when Professor Milukov, speaking asMinister of Foreign Affairs, stated that the occupation ofConstantinople and the Dardanelles was essential to the economicprosperity of Russia. Either he underestimated the strength of theSocialist elements, or he did not understand their point of view, forhere he proclaimed a principle to which even the mildest Socialistwould be opposed: the holding of territory occupied by people of onenationality by a nation whose people are of another nationality. There was a rising storm of protest, in which even Kerensky joinedagainst his associate in the ministry. The result was that theProvisional Government was compelled to issue the famous statement ofits aims in the war, in which it renounced all indemnities and thedesire to conquer any foreign territories, at the same timeenunciating the rights of all small nationalities to decide their ownseparate destinies. President Wilson had expressed a very similarformula before the entrance of the United States into the war in thewords "peace without victory. " Unfortunately this general statement ofSocialistic principle lacked the detail necessary to make itapplicable to the war situation; nor have the radical forces ever beenunanimous enough in their opinions since then to supply these details. There remained, and there still remains, the question as to whetherliberating Alsace and Lorraine from the Germans would be the conquestof foreign territory, or whether reparation on the part of Germany forthe damage done in Belgium would constitute an indemnity. Must theArmenians remain forever under Turkey, or must armed force be employedto take Armenia away from Turkey, that the Armenians might settletheir own destiny? Either course might be interpreted as against or inaccordance with the principle enunciated. Nevertheless, this manifesto had a powerful influence in the Alliedcountries, and the justice of the principles in question have been, broadly speaking, generally recognized. The Germans made the most of the proclamation and suggested a separatepeace through countless agencies, in which Russia should not lose anyterritory inhabited by Russians and need not pay any indemnities. Atthis bait the Leninites and dupes of the numerous agitators in Germanpay, which undoubtedly began infesting Petrograd, bit readily. Buthere the Provisional Government responded by a clever stroke ofdiplomacy, and in this it had the support of the council; if theGerman and Austrian Socialists were really in sympathy with theRussian ideals of democracy and wished to make peace with them, letthem then also overturn their autocracies. If they would do this, thenthey might expect peace with Russia and undoubtedly with the otherAllies, for France, Great Britain, and the United States had eachdeclared that it was fighting the Teutonic autocracies and not thepeople they ruled. The German Socialist is entirely a different type from the RussianSocialist. He believes in iron discipline. He believes in strongcentralization. The German autocracy in many of its featuresapproaches something not far from the ideal of the German Socialist, especially in its care of the working classes through state insurance, workingmen's compensation legislation, and its many state andmunicipal enterprises. In this lies the strength of the Germanautocracy; with all its imperialistic features, it has cared for thewelfare of the working classes. The German Socialists did not respond to this appeal. And from thatmoment all danger of a separate peace between the Russian democracyand Germany was past, if danger it may be called. The real danger tothe cause of the Allies and to Russia itself was the internal danger, the disorganization in army discipline which the radicalism of therevolution naturally spread among the soldiers, augmented, as it was, by every power and agency which the enemy could bring to bear. In the second week of April, 1917, a convention or congress of theWorkingmen's and Soldiers' Council was held, all parts of Russia beingrepresented. By a vote of 325 against 57 the continuance of the warwas declared necessary. The council also issued various appeals to thesoldiers, both in Petrograd and at the front, asking their support ofthe Provisional Government, which seemed at least to indicate thatthere were radical influences at work even too advanced for thecouncil. In Petrograd General Kornilov, the famous Cossack commander, who hadonce been a prisoner of the Austrians and had escaped, and who hadpersonally placed the czarina under arrest, was placed in command ofthe Petrograd garrison. His task was especially difficult, as his menwere in closer contact with the demoralizing influences of the radicaldebating clubs of the capital. The Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council probably had no deliberateintention of undermining the military discipline necessary to maintainthe efficiency of a body of troops, but it could not entirely give upits idea of "democratizing the army. " The result of these efforts, asthe members of the council themselves admitted, went far beyondanything they had intended. On the 1st of May a number of politicaldemonstrations on the part of the soldiers took place in Petrograd. Socialistic in nature, some of them directed against policies of theProvisional Government. The council immediately disclaimed allresponsibility for the demonstrations and appealed to the soldiers toremain in their barracks. This disintegration in army organization nevertheless made continualprogress during the early part of May, 1917, and was fastprecipitating a crisis. The fact was that the Provisional Government, though nominally at the head of affairs, had no material power behindit. This power, the army, was organized in the council and wasself-conscious. Naturally it could not resist the temptation ofattempting to exercise its judgment, though it realized that it wasnot fitted to assume the entire responsibility of government. It felt, too, a right to assert itself because the Duma, on account of therestrictive election laws which had created it years before during theold régime did not represent those classes to which the soldiersbelonged. The members of the Provisional Government did not deny the justice ofthis claim, and early in May, 1917, they suggested as a remedy thatthe cabinet be reorganized and the radical elements be given fullerrepresentation. But here again the council was faced by the obstaclein the Socialist principle that Socialist organizations must neverfuse with so-called capitalist organizations. The offer was refused. CHAPTER LXXXVI KERENSKY SAVES RUSSIA FROM HERSELF On May 9, 1917, the situation was intensified when the council issuedan appeal to the working classes of the world to come together in ageneral congress to discuss terms of peace. This meant naturally aninternational Socialist conference. There was really no disloyaltybehind this move. The majority of the deputies no doubt considered ita means of forcing the hands of the Socialists of the CentralEmpires, perhaps to force them to overthrow their autocracies. Theidea was to formulate a peace program which would come close todemanding universal democracy the world over and, by having the TeutonSocialists subscribe to it, force them to bring pressure to bear ontheir governments which might even develop into revolution. But thiswas not understood abroad, and created much ill feeling. On May 13, 1917, General Kornilov, commanding the Petrograd garrison, gave up his efforts in despair and handed in his resignation, onaccount of "the interference of certain organizations with thediscipline of his troops. " Generals Gurko and Brussilov also sent intheir resignations, and a few days later Minister of War and MarineGutchkov, wishing to precipitate the impending crisis, also resigned. Complete anarchy now threatened, for the council still insisted on itsright to guard the interests of democracy in the army as well as amongthe civil population. It was then that Minister of Justice Kerenskyrose and saved the situation with an impassioned speech, in which hedeclared that he wished he had died two months before when democracyseemed such a promising dream. He then appealed to his associates inthe council, of which he was a vice president, to set aside theirUtopian fantasies for the time being and consider the needs of thepresent. His oratory carried the day. The council agreed to acoalition cabinet which should have full control of affairs. After a joint session between the executive committee of the counciland the Duma committee, the new cabinet was formed on May 19, 1917. Paul Milukov retired as Foreign Minister, for his nationalisticutterances in regard to Constantinople had aroused against him all theradicals. Prince Lvov remained as premier. Kerensky became Minister ofWar. The Minister of Finance, Terestchenko, became Minister of ForeignAffairs. Shingarev, a Social Revolutionist, became Minister ofFinance. Altogether the new cabinet included six radicals. Immediatelyafterward the council passed a resolution of confidence in the newgovernment and urged all its constituents to support it. Kerenskythen stated that he would immediately leave for a tour of the frontfor the purpose of exhorting the soldiers to submit to militaryorganization and that an iron discipline would be instituted. Thegenerals at the front now withdrew their resignations, which had notbeen accepted, and returned to their posts. During this period two important conventions were held in Petrograd; anational congress of the Cossacks and a national congress of peasants. The former declared itself for a strong offensive against the enemybut passed no political resolutions other than to support theProvisional Government. The peasants' congress did likewise and alsoshowed itself strongly Socialistic in its election of officers. Lenine, however, who was one of the candidates, received only 11votes, as against 810 polled by Tchernov, a Social Revolutionist, and809 by Catherine Breshkovskaya, the "grandmother of the revolution. " During the month of June, 1917, the Provisional Government madedistinct progress, considering the almost insurmountable obstaclesinherent in such a situation as it had to face. From now on there wasvery little friction between the cabinet and the council; they workedtogether with comparative harmony. The fact that the radical elementswere now so well represented in the ministry probably was the chiefreason, but the personality of Kerensky was now beginning to rise asthe dominating figure of the new Russia. A fairly extreme radicalhimself, with the confidence of his associates, he was also respectedby the more conservative elements on account of his sanity andpractical abilities. On June 1, 1917, A. I. Konovalov, Minister ofCommerce and Trade, resigned on account of friction with hisassociates over what he considered the Government's interference withprivate industries, but this incident passed quietly. On this same date there occurred another incident which, on account ofits highly dramatic aspect, attracted wide attention in the press ofthe Allied countries, and was therefore considered more significantthan it has since proved to be. The local council of the Workingmen'sand Soldiers' Council of Deputies in Kronstadt, the location of thenaval arsenal and the headquarters of the Baltic fleet, declaredKronstadt an independent republic. The president of this council, ayoung student by the name of Anatole Lamanov, was apparently ananarchist of the extreme type; extreme in that he believed thatanarchist principles could be put into immediate practice, and he atonce issued a proclamation calling on all other communities in Russiato declare their independence. His idea was that all the communitiesshould be knit together very loosely for specific purposes, such asthe war against the Germans, of which he was still heartily in favor. Later dispatches, if true, would indicate that the real instigator ofthis comic-opera scene was a woman, possibly in the pay of the GermanGovernment, since she was the companion of Robert Grimm, a SwissSocialist, later expelled from Russia by the Socialists themselves onaccount of pro-German activities. With its usual tolerance the Provisional Government made no attempt tosuppress this act of secession by armed force. The council itself inPetrograd, representing the whole country, immediately denounced theKronstadt proclamation, and sent two deputies to Kronstadt to reasonwith Lamanov and his associates. The whole incident seemed to belargely a matter of paper proclamations, since no violence on eitherside ever occurred, and the Kronstadt situation finally faded frompublic attention. Nevertheless it caused Kerensky to cut short histour of the various fronts and return to Petrograd two days later. In the public speeches which he then made he spoke very encouraginglyof the situation on the firing lines, but two days later it wasannounced that General Alexiev's resignation as commander in chief hadbeen accepted and that Brussilov had been appointed in his place. On the 10th President Wilson issued his famous note, prepared inresponse to the radical formula of the council, declaring for a peace"without annexation and without indemnities. " In spirit it was inperfect accord with what the council had demanded: that no peopleshould be annexed against their will, that democracy should be theguiding principle, etc. Certainly it was in accord with his previousdeclaration made before the war; a "peace without oppressivevictories, " a principle quite as radical as anything the Petrogradradicals had ever formulated. There was then, and has been ever since, every indication that the Provisional Government and the big majorityof the members of the council accepted this declaration as being inharmony with their own sentiments. Nevertheless, it became the objectof a very noisy attack by those extreme elements known as theMaximalists, best represented by Lenine and his type. CHAPTER LXXXVII THE AMERICAN COMMISSIONS To the members of the German Government the Russian revolutionundoubtedly came as a great surprise, placing their faith, as theydid, in the efforts of Protopopoff and his machinations. It isextremely unlikely that Petrograd was infested with German agentsdisguised as radicals in the earlier days after the overthrow of theautocracy. But by this time, in June, 1917, Germany had had time tomeet the new conditions, and obviously the German agents had arrivedand were busy. The only fertile ground available was that occupied by the Leninites. While the genuine Maximalists may have been, and in all probabilityreally were, unconscious of the spies in their midst, they acceptedthe cooperation of the dark elements, and together they set to work tocreate disorder. The Kronstadt affair was their initial success. In the early days of June, 1917, armed bands of these disturbers beganparading the streets of the capital, haranguing the crowds. TheProvisional Government followed the policy of noninterference. Oneparty of the armed propagandists entered and took possession of alarge residential building in the Viborg section of the city and heldthis position until late in July, 1917. These activities culminated in an attempt on the part of theMaximalist leaders to organize a giant demonstration in the streetson June 23, 1917. Placards were posted all over the city denouncingthe war, calling upon the soldiers to refuse to fight for thecapitalist governments, etc. The action taken by the Workingmen's and Soldiers' Council, itself sooften denounced as being under pro-German influence, and even inGerman pay, by the press of the Allied countries, was extremelysignificant. It immediately placarded the city with appeals to thesoldiers and workingmen to ignore the call of the Maximalists. Allthat night until daybreak not only Kerensky himself, but N. C. Tcheidze, the president of the council, and his associates, spent inmaking the rounds of the barracks, addressing the soldiers, appealingto them against participating in the demonstration. Their efforts werea complete success; on the following day there was no demonstration. And apparently in the last hour the Maximalist leaders themselvesrealized that foreign influences were at work, for when their organ, "Pravda, " appeared, its front page was covered with an appeal to theirfollowers not to demonstrate. On June 16, 1917, a convention of newly elected deputies to theWorkingmen's and Soldiers' Council, representing all Russia, convenedin Petrograd. One of its first acts was to pass a resolution ofapproval of the Provisional Government's expulsion of Grimm, the SwissSocialist, who had attempted pro-German activities in the capital, thevote being 640 against 121. In the middle of the month the two American commissions, one underRoot and the other under Stevens, arrived in Russia, and it wasnotable that the reported utterances of their members were sharply incontrast to the press dispatches in their optimism. The conclusionmust be obvious that German influences were at work with our sourcesof news. The Stevens Commission, whose mission was of a technicalnature, expressed surprise and pleasure over the progress which hadbeen made in straightening out the transportation tangle and the goodcondition in which they found railroad facilities, the only handicapsbeing lack of locomotives and rolling stock. Meanwhile, during June, 1917, a special council of sixty members wasat work drafting new legislation for the civil government of thecountry. One law prepared by this body, as an illustration, was makingthe judges of petty courts subject to the election of the people onthe American principle. This council was also intrusted with the taskof formulating the groundwork for the new constitution for the Russiandemocracy, to be approved by the General Assembly when elected. During the first half of July, 1917, the sudden offensive of theRussian armies, so brilliantly begun, seemed to engross every elementof Russian society. Kerensky himself had gone to the front and wassaid to be leading the advancing troops himself. But even his magneticpersonality and stupendous vitality proved insufficient to accomplisha task evidently begun too prematurely. On July 15, 1917, five members of the Provisional Governmentresigned--Shingarev, Minister of Finance; Manuilov, of Education;Nekrasov, of Ways and Communications; Prince Shakovsky, of SocialWelfare; and Acting Minister of Trade and Commerce, Steganov. Theirreasons for this action was their inability to agree with theirassociates in the cabinet over the demands made just then by theUkraine elements in southern Russia, who wanted complete independence. The dissenting ministers held that to grant such a demand would openthe way to similar action on the part of Finns, Ruthenians, Poles, andother minor nationalities, which would mean the disintegration ofRussia. On July 18, 1917, there was a sudden outburst of Maximalist activity, the most violent which had yet occurred. A body of sailors fromKronstadt appeared and, together with the Anarchists who hadpreviously made armed demonstrations, they began parading the streets. A body of Cossacks, armed only with sabers, which was advancing up oneof the streets conveying some wagon loads of material was fired uponand several Cossacks were killed. The cavalrymen retired, being unableto return the fire. This first bloodshed roused the indignation of thetroops supporting the Provisional Government, and they at once setabout clearing the streets. Some severe fighting followed, in which anumber of men on both sides were killed and several hundreds werewounded. The demonstrators were finally driven away and withinforty-eight hours order had been reestablished. On this occasion, asbefore, the Council of Workingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies cooperatedwith the members of the Government in making the rounds of thebarracks and the workingmen's quarters to quiet the soldiers and thepeople. The disturbance on this occasion was obviously of traitorousorigin, as the leaflets which had been used in furthering thedisorders accused both the Provisional Government and the council ofplanning a counter-revolution in favor of the autocracy. The Provisional Government and the council now together appointed aspecial commission for the purpose of keeping in touch with thecommandant of the Petrograd garrison and cooperate with him incounteracting the efforts of the Maximalist agitators. Of special significance is the fact that these disorders occurredalmost simultaneously with the mutinous behavior of the regiments atthe front, whose treachery at a critical moment broke the Russianoffensive. Another result of the disturbances was a more energeticpolicy against the Anarchists. Troops were now detailed to dislodgethe armed bands of Anarchists who had been occupying several largeresidences in the city. On seeing that the Government was in earnestthe Anarchists surrendered unconditionally. On July 20, 1917, it was announced that Prince Lvov had resigned fromthe premiership and that Kerensky had taken his place. Prince Lvovgave as his reason for retiring his inability to agree with hisSocialist associates in their determination to declare Russia arepublic, since he believed that this decision was essentially theright of the Constituent Assembly yet to be elected. The recentdisorders and the unfortunate situation at the front, however, probably had much to do with the new ministerial crisis, for it wasalso announced that Kerensky would be granted unlimited powers insuppressing further disorders and an "iron discipline" in the armywould be instituted. At a joint conference held between theWorkingmen's and Soldiers' Council and the Executive Committee of thePeasants' Congress, it was decided by a large majority to give the newgovernment, to be known as the "Government of National Safety, "absolute support. On the following day Kerensky announced that sterner measures wouldimmediately be taken: the death penalty would be reestablished, bothin civil life and in the army. Deserters and traitors would be shot. Though the radical elements were behind the change in the governmentpersonnel, the new cabinet was not by any means a Socialist body. Fivenon-Socialists still remained: Nekrasov, Vice Minister President, without portfolio; Terestchenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Efremov, Minister of Justice; Nicholas Lvov, Procurator of the Holy Synod; andGodniev, Controller of State. The radicals were Kerensky, the Premier, who also retained the War portfolio; Terestelli, Minister of Posts andTelegraphs; Skobeliev, Minister of Education; Tchernov, Minister ofAgriculture; and Pieschiehonov, Minister of Supplies. For some days there were reports that further changes were still to bemade, giving the Constitutional Democratic party more definiterepresentation in the cabinet, on condition that these representativeswould be free from party dictation. Milukov, the party chief, showedhimself very much opposed to this suggestion, as he was to thegranting of such absolute power to the Government. On the last day ofthe month further changes had not been made. Already Russia's armieson the front were stiffening up against the German onslaughts. Forthis full credit was given to Kerensky. He stands now as thedominating figure in Russia, with the eyes not only of all Russians, but all the peoples of the Allied nations, turned on him as the manmost capable of guiding the Russian republic through the difficultieslying before it. Beginning with only the confidence of the radicalelements, he has gradually acquired a similar confidence in hisabilities and integrity from the Russian conservatives and all thepeoples of the countries aligned with Russia against the common enemy. PART X--EASTERN FRONT CHAPTER LXXXVIII THE END OF WINTER AT THE EASTERN FRONT Various similar local enterprises were carried out on February 19, 1917. The Germans, about a battalion strong, attacked in closeformation in the region of Slaventine, northwest of Podgaste, but weremet by concentrated fire and forced to return to their ownintrenchments. In the Carpathians during a snowstorm a Russianblockhouse south of Smotreo was successfully raided. The blockhousewas blown up after the capture of its defenders. North of the SlanioValley, after driving away Russian forces and repulsing counterattacksby outposts, Austro-German forces advanced their fighting position ona ridge of heights. East of Lipnicadolna, on the Narayuvka River (Galicia), the Russiansexploded a mine under some German trenches and occupied the crater. The Germans, however, reconquered the position in a counterattack. South of Brzezany a Russian attack, made after mine-throwingpreparations, was repulsed. On February 22, 1917, near Smorgon, west of Lutsk and between theZlota Lipa and the Narayuvka, fighting with artillery and minethrowing became more violent. Near Zvyzyn, east of Zlochoff, Germanthrusting detachments entered a Russian position and after blowing upfour mine shafts returned with 250 prisoners, including three officersand two machine guns. A successful reconnoitering advance was madesoutheast of Brzezany by another German detachment. Similar enterprises, frequently accompanied by increased artilleryactivity, were carried out in various parts of the front toward themiddle of March, 1917. Thus on March 12, 1917, north of theZlochoff-Tarnopol railroad, German reconnoitering detachments made anattack during which three Russian officers, 320 men, and thirteenmachine guns were captured. Advances into the Russian lines nearBrzezany and on the Narayuvka also brought gains in prisoners andbooty. Again on March 14, 1917, near Vitoniez, on the Stokhod, and nearYamnica, south of the Dniester, enterprises of German thrustingdetachments were carried out with success. More than 100 prisoners andseveral machine guns and mine throwers were brought back from theRussian positions. In the meantime there had occurred one of the most momentous events ofthe war. The great Russian nation had risen in a comparativelybloodless revolution against its former masters, the autocraticgovernment headed by Czar Nicholas. Though these events took placeMarch 8-11, 1917, news of them did not get to the outside world untilMarch 16, 1917. By then the czar had abdicated both for himself andfor his son. He, as well as his immediate family, had been madeprisoners. A new democratic though temporary government had been setup by the guiding spirits who had directed the upheaval. Of course, the Germans and Austrians were not slow in taking advantageof these new conditions. Fortunately for Russia the spring thaw wasbeginning to set in and made really extensive operations impossiblefor the time being. The last week of March, 1917, however, saw some determined attemptson the part of the Germans to take as great an advantage of theRussian disorganization as circumstances permitted. On March 21, 1917, in the direction of Lida, on the river Beresina, inthe region of the villages of Saberezyna and Potaschnia, Germanthrusting detachments after a bombardment of long duration attackedRussian positions and occupied them. By a counterattack they weredriven out of Potaschnia. The other part of the positions remained intheir hands. Northwest of Brody (Galicia) after artillery preparation the Germansattacked Russian positions in the region of Baldur. After a stubbornbattle they were driven back to their trenches. The Russian forces were still active in some sections. On March 23, 1917, Russian reconnoitering detachments, advancing after artillerypreparation near Smorgon and Baranovitchy and on the Stokhod, weredriven away by the Germans; however, severe fire by artillery and minethrowers preceded attacks, in which Austro-German troops south of theTrotus Valley in the Carpathians near the Rumanian frontier took bystorm and in hand-to-hand fighting Russian positions on the frontierridge between the Sueta and Csobonyos valleys and brought in 500prisoners. A Russian advance north of Magyaros that followed soonafter failed. On March 26, 1917, the Germans again registered a success. Southeastof Baranovitchy an energetically carried out attack was successful. Russian positions situated on the west bank of the Shara betweenDarovo and Labuzy were taken by storm and in hand-to-hand fighting. More than 300 Russians were made prisoner and four machine guns andseven mine throwers captured. West of Lutsk and north of the railroadfrom Zlochoff to Tarnopol and near Brzezany, Russian battalionsattacked after violent artillery fire. They were repulsed with heavylosses. Considerable fighting occurred during the following night and day, March 27, 1917. This, in spite of the fact that the spring thaw wasofficially announced to have set in. On the night of March 26-27, 1917, after artillery preparation the Germans attacked in the regionof Boguchy, northeast of Krevo, and occupied some Russian trenches. Immediate counterattacks restored the situation. On the Stokhod River, in the region of Borovo, the Russians delivered a mass attack. East ofBrzezany (Galicia), following a mine explosion, Russian patrols raidedGerman trenches and took twenty men prisoners. A German armored trainbombarded Russian positions east of Korosmezo. During a raid on thenortheast slope of Coman, in the wooded Carpathians, German raidingdetachments worked their way into a Russian position, blew up severaldugouts and returned with some prisoners and booty. A Russian attackon Magyaros failed. South of the Uzul Valley, near the Rumanianfrontier, a strongly intrenched ridge was taken by storm and inhand-to-hand fighting by German troops, who maintained it againstrepeated counterattacks. One hundred prisoners and some machine gunsand mine throwers remained in German hands. CHAPTER LXXXIX EFFECTS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION By this time, however, the disorganization of the Russian forces whichhad resulted from the revolution made itself everywhere felt to a muchgreater extent. The Germans apparently were either taken by surpriseby the suddenness of the revolution or else decided to wait for sometime before undertaking any important operations and to determinefirst to what extent the revolution and change of government wouldaffect the Russian armies. Another factor in the delay of the Germanattack which everyone expected almost as soon as news of the Russianrevolution became known was the successful battles which had beenfought by the British and French forces at the western front. On April 3, 1917, however, signs began to multiply, indicating thatthe Germans had decided to begin more extensive operations. On thatday they opened a heavy artillery fire against Russian munition depotson the left bank of the river Stokhod, in the region of theStchervitche-Helenin station, and on the river passages. The fire wasdelivered partly with chemical shells. Simultaneously the Germansdischarged thirteen gas waves from the Helenin-Borovno sector. Under cover of the artillery fire the Germans took the offensive onthe Toboly-Helenin front and pressed back the Russian troops. Part ofthe Germans succeeded in crossing the Stokhod in the region northeastof Helenin. The Russian left flank detachments, which were defendingthe munition dumps, found themselves in a serious position owing tothe pressure of the Germans and were forced to cross to the right bankof the Stokhod. Some of the Russian detachments suffered heavy losses. After strongly bombarding Russian positions south of Illukst theGermans, attacked and occupied field posts and trenches in the regionsouth of the Poniewesch railway line, but were expelled and drivenback by a Russian counterattack. During the same night the Germans also directed a violent fire withartillery and mine throwers against Russian trenches in the region ofthe village of Novoselki, south of Krevo. At daybreak a German columnin strength of about a company forced its way into first-line trenchesnear Novoselki, but as the outcome of a counterattack by Russianscouts was dislodged and driven back. Russian raiding troops attacked the Austrians as they were attemptingto fortify positions in the region six miles west of Rafailova. Havingpenetrated the barbed-wire entanglements the Russian troops occupiedthree rows of trenches and bayoneted the Austrians. On the remainderof the front rifle firing and reconnoitering operations occurred. The German success on the Stokhod, according to German reports, developed almost into a rout. It was claimed that almost 10, 000 menand officers and fifteen guns and 150 machine guns and mine throwersfell into the hands of the Germans. On April 5, 1917, after heavy artillery preparation, partly withshells charged with chemicals, the Germans took the offensive andoccupied part of the Russian trenches to the east of Plakanen, thirteen miles south of Riga. They were driven out as the result of aRussian counterattack. On the following day, April 6, 1917, a number of local engagementswere reported. North of Brzezany, in the region of Angostoveka andKoniuchy, after artillery preparation, the Germans attacked Russianpositions, but were repulsed. Southwest of Brzezany, in the region ofLipnica Dolna, the Russians exploded a mine, destroying some Germantrenches which the patrols immediately captured. The Russians repulsedall counterattacks at this point and also took prisoners. In the sameregion they attacked with gas. West of the town of Tomnatik strongGerman detachments, supported by the fire of artillery, bomb throwersand mine throwers, entered Russian trenches, but were immediatelyejected by counterattacks. Again on April 7 and 8, 1917, the Germans on the Galician front mademinor attacks in the Carpathians, in the region west of Dzemdron, inthe direction of Marmaroch and Siguet and to the west of the town ofTomnatik. All of these were repulsed, however. Similar unimportant activities occupied the next few weeks. In themeantime the disorganization of the Russian forces apparentlycontinued to increase. The Germans, however, apparently had decided bythis time not to attempt to make any military use of this condition, but to improve the opportunity to come to an understanding with theRussians. Almost daily reports appeared from various sourcesindicating that a certain amount of fraternizing was going on in manyplaces on the eastern front. Though these reports varied very much, itbecame quite clear that generally speaking the Russian lines stillheld. In some places, undoubtedly, Russian detachments of varying sizelaid down their arms and refused to continue to fight. There were evenisolated reports of some military groups having entered into peacenegotiations with their opponents. It is almost impossible to sift thetruth from these reports. It appears, however, that for some weeks amore or less unofficial truce had been established almost everywhereon the eastern front. The majority of the Russian soldiers at thattime undoubtedly were strongly in favor of immediate cessation ofhostilities. The Germans, on the other hand, seemed to be acting underorders to treat their opponents with a minimum of severity and toawait further political developments before undertaking any importantmilitary operations. The Russians, though of course glad enough to notice this cessation ofmilitary activity, apparently were frequently not willing to let theenemy get too close to their lines, even though he pretended to comewith friendly intentions. The official Russian report occasionallyindicates this, as for instance that for April 15, 1917, which saysthat "attempts to approach Russian positions at various sectors of ourfront by small enemy groups, the members of which carried flags intheir hands, were discovered. These groups, on coming under our fire, returned rapidly to their trenches. " Only very rarely, however, did the Russians attempt any offensivemovements during this period. On April 16, 1917, they made a gasattack in the region of Konkary, but were met by strong machine-gunfire. On the next day, April 17, 1917, the Germans started a slightdiversion of a similar nature north of Zboroff in Galicia. At that reports began to appear concerning the massing of troops bythe Germans in the northern sector of the line, indicating an attemptto take Riga and possibly to march against Petrograd. Throughout May, 1917, the disorganization of the Russian armycontinued. In the early part of the month the Council of Workingmen'sand Soldiers' became more and more radical in its demands, both as tothe share it was to have in the control of the army and as to thedisciplinary measures under which soldiers were to live. So seriousbecame the crisis that Minister of War General Gutchkov, as well asGenerals Kornilov, Brussilov, and Gurko resigned their commands. A. F. Kerensky, then Minister of Justice, assumed the War portfolio, and itwas primarily due to his sagacity that the government and the councilfinally agreed on May 16, 1917, on a basic program including thecontinuation of the war. While these serious events were happening at Petrograd nothing of anyimportance occurred at the front. The Germans still were playing theirwaiting game and, according to reports, were exerting all theirinfluence toward a separate peace with Russia, both in Petrograd andat the front. Military operations during May, 1917, were practically negligible. Here and there skirmishes would occur between outposts and other smalldetachments, and occasionally artillery duels would be fought forshort periods. Only a few times throughout the entire month were theengagements important enough to be mentioned specifically in theofficial reports. Thus on May 6, 1917, in the region of the village ofPotchne, on the Beresina River (western front), Russian artillerydispersed a German attempt to approach the Russian trenches. In thedirection of Vladimir Volynski, south of Zubilno, after an intensefire with grenades and bombs, a German company left their trenches andbegan to attack the Russian trenches with hand grenades. Russianartillery drove them back to their own trenches. On theKabarovce-Zboroff front the Germans carried out an intensebombardment. Again on May 8, 1917, German artillery was active in the direction ofVilna, in the Smorgon and Krevo sectors, in the direction of VladimirVolynski, and in the Zatorchy-Helvov sector. In the region of Zwyjene, to the east of Zlochoff, the Germans exploded two mines which damagedRussian trenches. Northeast of Brzezany Russian artillery causedexplosions among the German batteries. "Elsewhere on the front therewere the usual fusillades and scouting operations, " continued theRussian official report. CHAPTER XC THE BEGINNING OF RUSSIAN REHABILITATION The beginning of June, 1917, saw the first signs of a decided changein Russian military conditions. It became clear that those politicalforces at Petrograd who were demanding a separate peace and animmediate cessation of hostilities were losing ground. Strong as thecry of the soldiers was for peace and sincere as their belief had beenthat the revolution had freed them not only from czarism and all thatwent with it, but also from the awful business of killing and maimingin which they had been engaged for almost three years, it graduallydawned on them that this was not yet time. As early as June 1, 1917, reports came of increased firing at manypoints of the eastern front. A few days later, however, it againseemed as if Russia's military establishment was near to completecollapse. General Alexiev, appointed commander in chief of all theRussian armies as recently as April 15, 1917, resigned. He had beenforced out as a result of the opposition on the part of the Council ofWorkingmen's and Soldiers' Deputies to his frankly pronounced beliefthat adherence to most prerevolution conditions in the army wasessential if the army's discipline and effectiveness were to beretained. General Brussilov, then commanding on the southeasternfront, was made commander in chief. Though this quick change in thesupreme command necessarily was for discipline, it augured well in allother respects for a reconstruction of the Russian armies. The newsupreme commander was known to be an efficient general, a keenfighter, and a sincere adherent of the Allied cause. His own commandat the southeastern front was assumed by General Gurko. On June 20, 1917, it was announced that the Congress of Soldiers' andWorkingmen's Delegates from the whole of Russia which was then insession in Petrograd had voted confidence in the ProvisionalGovernment and unanimously passed a resolution demanding an immediateresumption of the offensive and the reorganization of the army. It wasalso reported that a war cabinet was formed including the leaders ofthe Russian army and navy and technical representatives. On the same day it was reported that near Lutsk (Kovel region), onthe Zlota Lipa, and Narayuvka (Lemberg region) and south of theDniester the artillery of both sides was more active than it had beenbefore. Russian raiding detachments, however, were driven off atseveral points by the Germans. Again on June 21, 1917, in some sectors of the Galician and Volhynianfronts Russian artillery activity increased, heavy guns cooperating. Aerial activity was also livelier. The first signs of a possible Russian drive against Lemberg and Kovelbecame evident on June 22, 1917. On the mountain front and in VolhyniaRussian artillery fire was revived. The Russian artillery's continuousbombardment of the region south of Brzezany (Galicia) wasenergetically returned by Austrian batteries. Increased fightingactivity also prevailed, especially between the Lemberg-Tarnopolrailway (Galicia) and the Dniester, a front of about forty miles. Additional proof of the revival of the Russian fighting spirit wasfurnished by the detailed report of a small engagement on the historicStokhod River. The Russian statement described how, near the villageof Pozog (Volhynia), Russian scouts prepared an ambush, and, surrounding the approaching Germans, showered hand grenades on them. In the bayonet fighting that followed some Germans were killed. Owingto the approach of German reenforcements, however, the Russian scoutswere forced to return to their own trenches. On the rest of the front fusillades became more intense in the regionof Krevo. Apparently all thoughts of fraternizing with the enemy had left bythat time the minds of the Russian soldiers. This was shown by the twooccurrences reported on June 23, 1917. In Galicia, in the region ofGrabkovce, an Austrian scouting party attempted to gain information ofa Russian position, but was dispersed by a Russian company. In the region of Presovce an Austrian company surrounded a Russianscouting party. The commander of the party assembled his men and bymeans of bayonet fighting and the use of hand grenades succeeded inbreaking through and returning to their trenches without losing asingle man. June 24, 1917, brought very lively artillery activity at manypoints in the eastern theater. In the Narayuvka-Zboroff sector theRussian fire appreciably increased and continued with systematicregularity. In the Carpathians north of Kirlibaba fighting alsoincreased in strength and frequency. [Illustration: When revolutionary Russia seemed likely to revert tochaotic conditions, A. F. Kerensky, the Minister of War, rallied thearmies. He succeeded Prince Lvoff as Premier. ] The following day, June 25, 1917, the Austro-Germans apparentlydecided to follow the Russian lead and renew military operations to aconsiderable extent. In the direction of Zlochoff and in the region ofPerpelniki (Galicia) a strong Austro-German party, supported byartillery, endeavored to approach the Russian trenches, but wasrepulsed by rifle fire. South of Brzezany, in the region of thevillage of Svistelniki, on the Narayuvka, German infantry forced theirway into Russian trenches, but a counterattack compelled them toretire. The German heavy artillery conducted an intense fire in theregion of Potuary, Ribney, and Kotov. On June 26, 1917, south of the Lemberg-Tarnopol railway line and onthe Narayuvka the artillery and mine-throwing fire was lively. On theZlota Lipa more German forces made some Russian prisoners as theresult of a successful reconnoitering advance. On the last day of June, 1917, came at last news of renewed fightingon the part of the Russians on a larger scale. After a destructivefire lasting all day against Austro-German positions on the upperStripa as far as the Narayuvka River there followed in the afternoonpowerful attacks by the Russian infantry on a front of about eighteenand a half miles. The storming troops, who suffered heavy losses, werecompelled everywhere to retire by the defensive fire of theAustro-Germans. On the same day, after several days of violent fire from the heaviestguns, the Russians in the afternoon commenced an infantry attack southand southeast of Brzezany and near Koniuchy. Strong fire from Austrianbatteries stopped this attack and inflicted heavy losses on theRussians. Another very strong attack, started late in the afternoonwest of Zalocz, broke down under artillery fire. Toward midnight theRussians, without artillery preparation, endeavored to advance southof Brzezany. They were repulsed. During the night the artillery firedeclined, but it revved the next morning. The artillery duel extendednorthward as far as the middle Stokhod and south as far as Stanislau. Then came on July 1, 1917, the news that the Russians had successfullyattacked in force on a front about thirty-five miles wide to the westof Lemberg. Not until then did it become known that Prime MinisterKerensky, the guiding spirit of the Provisional Government, had beenat the front for four days and had by his fiery eloquence stirred upthe Russian armies to such an extent that all talk of peace and allthought of sedition disappeared for the time being. Press reportsstated that Kerensky having told the soldiers that if they would notattack he would march toward the enemy's trenches alone, was embracedand kissed by soldiers. The Russian attacks were made at various points. In the direction ofKovel (Volhynia), in the region of Rudkasitovichskaya, Russian scoutsunder command of four officers, after destroying the wireentanglements by mines, penetrated the Austrian trenches, killed someof the occupants, and captured a number of prisoners. According to thetestimony of prisoners, the Austrians knew of the attack from twodeserters. In the direction of Zloczow, after two days' artillerypreparation, Russian troops attacked the Austro-German positions onthe Koniuchy-Byshki front. After a severe engagement they occupiedthree lines of trenches and the fortified village of Koniuchy andadvanced to the Koniuchy stream, to the south of the village of thesame name. Farther south, southeast of Brzezany, after artillery preparation, Russian troops attacked the strongly fortified positions of theGermans and after stubborn fighting occupied them at places. Germansand Turks made counterattacks, and formidable positions changed handsconstantly. Along the Stokhod and on the Dniester the lively artilleryactivity of the Russians continued. As a result of these attacks theRussians claimed to have captured 164 officers, 8, 400 men, and sevenguns. On the other hand, the Germans claimed that sixteen Russiandivisions constantly employing fresh troops assaulted their positions, which were completely maintained or recaptured by counter attacks bySaxon, Rhineland, and Ottoman divisions. The Russian losses surpassedany hitherto known. Some units were said to have been entirelydispersed. The Germans apparently considered these attacks veryserious, for it was announced officially that Field Marshal vonHindenburg and General von Ludendorff, quartermaster general, hadarrived at headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian army to visit theAustrian field marshal, Artur Arz von Straussenburg. CHAPTER XCI THE RUSSIAN JULY OFFENSIVE It soon became clear that the gradual increase in fighting activitywas not simply an impulsive response to Prime Minister Kerensky'seloquence or the result of isolated local conditions. Gradually thefighting spread over more and more ground. It became more efficientand less spasmodic. Undoubtedly this was partly due to the fact thatmatters behind the front began to settle down somewhat and thatsupplies of ammunition and food again flowed more regularly andabundantly. Then too the new commander in chief seemed to be morecapable of controlling his troops and to have a more definite plan forhis operations than his predecessor. Where formerly only smalldetachments of Russians apparently could be persuaded or forced toundertake military operations, now regiments, brigades, and even wholedivisions, went again at the business of fighting. Thus the Russianswere able to gain nice successes at many points. Especially in thedirection of Zlochoff, the Russians continued their offensivesuccessfully. In the afternoon of July 2, 1917, after a stubbornbattle, the Zoraisky regiment occupied the village of Presovce, whilethe troops of the Fourth Finnish Division and the Cheshskoslovatskybrigade occupied the strongly fortified German positions on theheights to the west and southwest of the village of Zboroff and thefortified village of Korshiduv. Three lines of trenches werepenetrated. The troops of the Central Powers then retired across theLittle Stripa. The Finns took 1, 560 officers and soldiers prisoner, while their captures included four trench mortars, nine machine guns, and one bomb thrower. The Cheshskoslovatsky brigade captured sixty-twoofficers and 3, 150 soldiers, fifteen guns and many machine guns. Manyof the captured guns were turned against the former owners. Positionsto the west of the Uzefuvka also were taken. Altogether in that day's battle in the neighborhood of Zlochoff theRussians took 6, 300 prisoners, officers and soldiers, twenty-one guns, sixteen machine guns, and several bomb throwers. Southeast of Brzezanythe battle continued with less intensity. In that region the Russianscaptured fifty-three officers and 2, 200 men. Between the Baltic andthe Pripet the activity of the fighting increased only at Riga andSmorgon; there was heavy artillery fighting on the middle course ofthe Stokhod, where, however, Russian local attacks on the Kovel-Lutskrailway line failed with heavy losses, and also on the Zlota Lipa. During the night following there was lively artillery fighting fromthe Stokhod to the Narayuvka. New strong attacks of the Russians tookplace at Brzezany, which failed with heavy losses. South of Zboroff the Russians, with the use of superior forces, succeeded in pushing back a limited portion of the Austrian fronttoward the prepared supporting position. In engagements involvingheavy sacrifices the Austro-Hungarians were forced to retire step bystep against the pressure of superior forces, but did this so easilythat they enabled the reserves to intervene for the restoration of thesituation. Unsuccessful attempts were made by the Germans in eastern Galicia onJuly 4, 1917, to regain some of the lost ground. East of Brzezany theGermans attacked advanced Russian posts, but were compelled byartillery fire to retire. East of Lipnicadolna on the eastern bank ofthe Narayuvka, after artillery preparation, they twice attackedRussian positions, but were repulsed on both occasions. The next day, July 5, 1917, the violence of the fighting againincreased. In Galicia, between Zboroff and Brzezany, an artillerybattle of great violence developed. It diminished during the night andincreased again after daybreak. Also at Zwyzyn, Brody, and Smorgon theartillery activity was very lively at intervals. On that part of theGalician front, held chiefly by Turkish troops intermingled with someGermans and Austro-Hungarian forces, the Russians made an unsuccessfulattack which cost them, according to German claims, 200 prisoners and500 dead. Some more successes were gained by the Russian forces on July 6, 1917. In the direction of Zlochoff, after artillery preparation, Russianinfantry attacked strongly fortified positions of the enemy. Theyoccupied three lines of trenches, but later the Germans succeeded inpressing back the Russian detachments. In the sector of the heights northwest of Presovce and in the woodwest of Koniuchy Russian detachments conducted an offensive andengaged in a stubborn battle throughout July 6, 1917. The Germansexecuted counterattacks and at certain places pressed back the Russiandetachments. Toward evening, however, there remained in Russian handsthe heights northwest of Presovce and the villages of Lavrikovce andTravotloki and the heights east of Dodov, as well as seventeenofficers and 672 men. In the region northwest of Stanislau to the south of the Dniester, after artillery preparation, Russian advance detachments pressed backthe Austrians in the Jamnica-Pasechna sector and occupied theirtrenches. South of Bohorodszany Russian advance detachments defeatedan advanced post of the Austrians. The Russians also occupiedSviniuchy and repulsed the enemy's counterattack. Altogether in theengagement the Russians took 360 prisoners. By now the Russian attack had spread so that Halicz, only sixty milessouthwest of Lemberg, Galicia's capital, and its chief protection fromthe southeast, was practically in reach of the Russian guns. In thissector the front was somewhat more than thirty miles long and ranalong the Narayuvka River. The newly organized Russian forces had beenformed into three armies and were continuing to pound away at theiradversaries. There was considerable fighting near Stanislau on July 7, 1917. Austro-Hungarian regiments in hand-to-hand encounters repulsedseveral Russian divisions whose storming waves, broken by destructivefire, had pushed forward as far as the Austrian position. Near Huta, in the upper valley of the Bystritza Solotvina, another Russian attackwas repulsed. Between the Stripa and the Zlota Lipa the Russians wereapparently unable to renew their attacks in spite of their gains ofthe previous days. Near Zboroff a Russian attack without artillerypreparation broke down with heavy losses. Farther north, in the Brzezany-Zlochoff sector, in the direction ofZlochoff the Germans launched energetic counterattacks on the front atGodov and the wood west of Koniuchy in an attempt to dislodge Russiantroops. All these attacks were repelled. Assaults west of Bychka bytroops in dense columns, supported by armored motor cars, were alsorepulsed. Not until then did it become known that the Russians, in the beginningof their offensive, had had the support of some of their allies. The Russian offensive had now been under way for more than a week. Asso often in the past, it had been launched against that part of thefront which was held chiefly by Austro-Hungarians, and also, as manytimes before, the troops of the Dual Monarchy had been forced to giveway under the Russian pressure. German reenforcements, however, nowbegan to arrive and the defense began to stiffen, bringing at the sametime more frequent and stronger counterattacks. CHAPTER XCII THE CAPTURE OF HALICZ AND KALUSZ The surmise that Halicz, the important railroad point on the Dniester, was soon to fall into the hands of the Russians, provided they wereable to keep up the strength and swiftness of their offensive, wasproved correct on July 10, 1917. Late that day the news that Haliczhad fallen on July 9, 1917, into Russian hands came from Petrograd. The Russians were fighting under General Kornilov and their attackswere so strong that the Austrians under General Kirchbach were unableto resist. In two days Austro-German positions seven miles deep andstrongly fortified during a period of two years were overrun by thevictorious Russians. More than 1, 000 prisoners, seven guns, manytrench mortars and machine guns, and a large booty of engineeringmaterials and other military stores fell into the hands of thevictors. The Austro-Hungarians were forced to retire behind the lowercourse of the Lomnitza River, and at the end of the day the road toLemberg, only sixty-three miles northwest of Halicz, seemed seriouslythreatened from the south. Earlier in the day sanguinary battles occurred on the road to Haliczin the region of the villages of Huciska, Pacykov, and Pavelone. Inthe streets of Pavelone there was bayonet fighting, which ended in acomplete rout of the Austrians. Toward evening the Russian troopsreached the village of Bukovica, having occupied the villages ofViktarov, Majdan, Huciska, and Pacykov. South of Brzezany there was intense artillery fighting. In thedirection of Dolina the army of General Kornilov continued itsoffensive in the region west of Stanislau. The Austro-Germansdisplayed energetic resistance which developed into stubborncounterattacks. Farther north, too, near Riga, Dvinsk, and Smorgon, the fighting activity increased. The Russians maintained their successes on the following day, July 10, 1917. In the direction of Dolina they continued the pursuitnorthwestward toward Lemberg of the retreating enemy, who had beenbroken by General Kornilov's army on the Jezupol-Stanislau-Borgordchanfront--a front of almost twenty miles. At midday troops led by General Tcheremisoff, who had accomplished thecapture of Halicz, were thrown across to the left bank of the Dniester. Toward evening they reached the valley of the river Lomnitza on thefront from the mouth of the river to Dobrovlany, and advancedetachments, crossing over after a short engagement to the left bank ofthe river, occupied the villages of Bludniki and Babin. Russian troopsadvancing on the Borgordchan-Zolotvin front, having broken down theresistance of the enemy, reached the line of Posiecz-Lesiuvka-Kosmocz. This was a success in a new sector south of Halicz and threatened theapproaches to the northern Carpathians. In the course of the day the Russians captured more than 2, 000prisoners and about thirty guns. Altogether in the three days' battlefrom the 8th to the 10th in the direction of Dolina they took morethan 150 officers and 10, 000 men. Their captures also included abouteighty guns, twelve of them of heavy caliber, and a large number oftrench mortars and machine guns and a large quantity of engineeringmaterial and military stores. On the remainder of the front there wasartillery firing, which was more intense in the direction of Zlochoffand south of Brzezany. These various operations continued to develop on July 11, 1917, especially among the rivers Dniester and Lomnitza. After a stubbornand sanguinary battle the Austrians were forced out of the town ofKalusz, which was occupied by the Russians. Kalusz, a town of about8, 000 population previous to the war, is on the west bank of theLomnitza and on the important railroad that runs from Stanislau toLemberg south of the Dniester. Until the development of the Russianoffensive it served as Austrian headquarters in this sector. To thewest of Bohorodszany, on the Grabovka-Rosolna-Krivicz front, theAustrians taking advantage of the extremely intricate terrain, succeeded in holding back the Russian advance. Near Riga, Smorgon andBaranovitchy the artillery fighting was again spirited. Near Lutsk andin the East Galicia fighting area the firing also reached a point ofconsiderable intensity at times. On the Ochtschara Russian chasseurtroops were repulsed, as were local Russian attacks on the Stokhod. On July 12, 1917, the firing activity between the Zlota Lipa and theNarayuvka increased. Engagements developed also on the Honika River, northwest of Halicz. Russian troops crossed to the left bank of theriver confluence and captured heights on the line of the riverDniester-Bukazowice-Bludniki. After a stubborn battle the Austrianswere driven back from the heights to the northeast of Ehilus. TheRussians occupied the villages of Studzianka and Podhorki. In the region of Kalusz a Bohemian regiment by means of a daringcavalry attack captured four heavy guns. Southeast of Kalusz, on theLandstru-Lazianya-Kraisne front, Russian troops engaged in battle withAustrian detachments who were protecting the crossings of the riverLomnitza on the road to Kornistov and Dolina. The crossings of theriver at Perehinsko west of Bohorodszany were captured. In the region of Vladimir Volynski (Volhynia) southeast of KiselinGerman detachments under cover of artillery fire attacked Russianpositions and entered Russian trenches, but were expelled by reserveswhich came forward, immediately restoring the situation. On the Dvinanear Smorgon and on the Shara there was spirited fighting, and alsowest of Lutsk there was a temporary revival of activity in consequenceof reconnoitering thrusts. In describing the capture of Kalusz the "Russky Slovo" says that theRussian cavalry entered the town at noon and found it abandoned by thegarrison. The Russians were soon attacked, however, by fresh enemyforces, which were rushed from the fortress. After a stiff fight theRussians were compelled to fall back. Reenforced, they returned anddrove the Germans out. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the Germans, supported by an armored train, counterattacked and again occupiedKalusz. But they were once more expelled with heavy losses. Sanguinaryhouse-to-house fighting, mostly with the bayonet, ensued until 6o'clock in the evening. On July 13, 1917, it was reported that there was considerable riflefiring on the lower Lomnitza, between the confluence with the DniesterRiver and Kalusz. In the neighborhood of the town of Kalusz theAustrians made two attacks from the direction of Mosciska and nearGartenel and attempted to dislodge the Russian troops occupyingKalusz, but were repulsed. The Russians occupied, after fighting, thevillage of Novica, southwest of Kalusz. Heavy rains preventedextensive fighting at other points south of the Dniester. Near Dvinskand Smorgon lively fighting activity continued. In eastern Galicia thegunfire was lively only in the Brzezany sector. Heavy rains continued and swelled the rivers Lomnitza and Dniester andthe small streams running into them. Naturally this also affected thecondition of the roads. In spite of the unfavorable weather there wasconsiderable fighting on July 14, 1917. Southwest of Kalusz theAustrians several times attacked troops which were occupying theDobrovdiany-Novica front. All the attacks were repulsed. As a resultof the battles in this region the Russians captured sixteen officersand more than 600 of the rank and file. In the region of Lodziany(eighteen miles southwest of Kalusz) as the final result of a seriesof stubborn attacks Russian troops drove the Austrians from theirpositions and took more than 1, 000 prisoners and a number of guns. Atthe crossing of the river Lomnitza, near Perehinsko, the Austrianslaunched an offensive with the object of throwing Russian detachmentsback to the right bank of the Lomnitza. The Russian offensive on theSlivkiasen front met with stubborn resistance. CHAPTER XCIII THE COLLAPSE OF THE RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE The accomplishments of the Russian armies during the first two weeksof July, 1917, were little short of marvelous. Not only had theycaptured such important points as Halicz and Kalusz and had forcedback the Austrian lines in southeastern Galicia for miles and miles, but they had also taken large numbers of prisoners and capturedvaluable booty. From July 1 to July 13, 1917, 834 officers and 35, 809men were captured by the Russians, with ninety-three heavy and lightguns, twenty-nine trench mortars, 493 machine guns, forty-three minethrowers, forty-five bomb mortars, three fire throwers, twoaeroplanes, and much equipment. By the middle of July, 1917, however, the first fury of the Russianonslaught had spent itself, and then too, as so often before, theCentral Powers had recovered from their first surprise and hadsucceeded, thanks to their superior transportation facilities, inbringing up strong reserves. For the first time since the beginning ofthe Russian offensive on July 15, 1917, there appeared definite signsthat the German defensive was stiffening. On the lower Lomnitza therewere fusillades and artillery bombardments. Northeast of Kalusz theGermans made energetic attempts to throw back the Russian troops onthe Lomnitza. The battle on the Landes-Reuldzian-Kraisne frontcontinued all day. After a severe engagement the Austrians were drivenout of the village of Lodziany and pressed hard to the river Lomnitza, but owing to attacks made by their newly arrived reserves from thedirection of Rozniazov, and in view of the great losses, the Russiantroops were compelled to retire a short distance and intrenchthemselves in the eastern end of the Lodziany. Then on July 16, 1917, came the news that the Russians had been forcedto evacuate Kalusz. Northeast of Kalusz the Germans had conductedpersistent attacks which at first had been repulsed by the Russians. Finally, however, Russian troops occupying the left bank of the lowercourse of the river Lomnitza were transferred to the right bank, leaving Kalusz in Austrian hands and securing behind them theimportant crossing of the Lomnitza. In the Novica-Lodziany-Kraisne section the Russian troops continuedtheir attacks, with the object of throwing the enemy back across theLomnitza. The Germans made stubborn resistance. With the approach ofevening, they counterattacked in dense waves from the direction ofSelohy-Kagnka, and, pressing the Russians back, occupied the villageof Novica, but were driven out again upon the arrival of freshreserves. Farther north, too, the lively fighting activity at Riga, Dvinsk, and Smorgon continued. With the clearing of the weather thefiring on the Narayuvka front became heavier than it had previouslybeen. Once again on the following day, July 17, 1917, the Russians had toyield ground under the ever-increasing pressure from the Germans. Inthe north there was a still more noticeable increase in the fightingactivity at Riga, south of Dvinsk, and at Smorgon. In eastern Galiciathe firing was strong at Brzezany. In the Carpathian foothills Bavarian and Croatian troops in a combinedattack captured the heights to the east of Novica, which werestubbornly defended by the Russians, and repulsed Russiancounterattacks in the captured positions. At other points on theLomnitza line also the Russians were forced back in local engagements. As the result of a night attack Russian detachments reoccupied thevillage of Novica to the south of Kalusz, but, suffering great lossesin this operation, withdrew to the eastern end of the village. TwoGerman attacks on these detachments were repulsed. Northwest of Lutskand on the East Galician front operations carried out by Austro-Germanforces brought about an increase in artillery activity and resulted inthe capture of numerous prisoners. The artillery activity south of Dvinsk and Smorgon, which had beenlively for some days, continued. During the next few days fighting everywhere became more violent. NearJacobstadt, Dvinsk, and Smorgon, along the Stokhod, and from the ZlotaLipa to south of the Dniester, the artillery activity increasedconsiderably. Advances and reconnoitering operations often led tolocal engagements. Near Novica, on the Lomnitza front, new strongRussian attacks were repulsed with sanguinary losses. On July 19, 1917, east of Brzezany, to the south of Szybalin, Austro-German troops made repeated attacks and occupied a portion ofthe Russian first-line trenches. Austrian efforts to attack south ofBrzezany were repelled by gun and rifle fire. West of Haliczdetachments occupying the village of Bludniki retired, whereupon theAustrians, profiting by this movement, occupied the place. An effortto win back this village was unsuccessful. In the direction of Vilnathere was animated artillery fighting throughout the day. After strongartillery preparation the Germans persistently attacked the Russiandetachments on the Pieniaki-Harbuzov front, twenty miles south ofBrody. At first all these attacks were repulsed. At 10 o'clock the SixHundred and Seventh Mlynov Regiment, stationed between Bathov andManajov, in the same region, left its trenches voluntarily andretired, with the result that neighboring units also had to retire. This gave the Germans opportunity for developing their success. The Russians explained this occurrence officially in the followingstatement: "Our failure south of Brody is explained to a considerable degree bythe fact that under the influence of the Bolsheviki extremists(Anarchists) several detachments, having received a command to supportthe attacked detachments, held meetings and discussed the advisabilityof obeying the order; whereupon some regiments refused to obey themilitary command. Efforts of commanders and committees to arouse themen to fulfillment of the commands were fruitless. " A similar incident, indeed, had happened during the German attacksagainst Novica on July 17, 1917. On that day when the Germans early inthe evening had taken the offensive and had seized the height south ofNovica, to the south of Kalusz, one of the Russian regiments began toleave. Major General Prince Gargarin, commander of the militarydistrict, perceiving that the situation was critical, at once movedforward a battalion of the Ukhnov regiment commanded by Second CaptainBurishen, which had only recently arrived in the district. Thisbattalion conducted an energetic attack. Simultaneously General PrinceGargarin threw troops into the attack on both flanks, advancinginfantry and native cavalry regiments of Daghestanians on the rightand Circassians and Kabardians on the left. The Ukhnov regiment andthe natives rushed forward in a furious onslaught, carrying with themalso the Russian regiment which had retired. The general assault soonchanged the situation in favor of the Russians. These two occurrences were typical of many others of a like nature atvarious points of the entire front. The affected groups varied inextent, sometimes only small detachments would refuse to fight, whileat other times entire companies or battalions and even whole regimentswere affected. It now became quite evident that the Russian offensive had to come toa standstill, and that Russian disorganization not only set in again, but came much nearer to a total collapse than it had been previous tothe beginning of the Russian offensive. At the same time the newGerman offensive developed in strength and extent. Even then it waslikely that the Russians not only were to lose the territory whichthey had gained so recently, but possibly a large portion of EastGalicia that had been occupied by them for a long time. Whether theCentral Powers would be able to follow up their offensive in Galiciawith similar undertakings at other points of the eastern front, ofcourse, was a matter that depended not only on conditions at theeastern front, but also on how things were going in the west. The Austro-German forces made good use of the opportunity created forthem by the defection rampant in the Russian armies. In East Galicia, on July 20, 1917, behind the hastily retreating Russian forces, ofwhich only parts made a stand for rear-guard purposes, German troopsin impetuous pursuit crossed the Zlochoff-Tarnopol road on both sidesof Jezierna on a width of twenty-five miles. Wherever the Russiansmade a stand they were defeated in swift assaults; burning villagesand great destruction showed the route of the retiring Russians. Again the Russians had to admit officially that their armyorganization was going to pieces. They did this, in regard to theirretreat toward Tarnopol, in the following words: "Our troops on the whole did not show the necessary stability, and atsome points did not fulfill military commands; consequently theycontinued to retire, and toward evening they paused on the lineRenov-Hlatiki-Pokropuvia-Vybudow. " North of Brzezany Austro-Hungarian troops after hard fightingrecaptured positions they lost on July 1, 1917. North of the DniesterRussian attacks broke down before the Austrian lines. South of theriver the Russians were driven out of Babin. At Novica German andAustro-Hungarian troops stormed the Russian height positions in spiteof a stubborn defense. From the Stokhod to the Baltic the activity ofthe artillery increased occasionally. It reached special intensitybetween Krevo and Smorgon and at Dvinsk. At this critical point the Provisional Government again decided tomake a change in the command of the Russian armies fighting inGalicia. Early in June, 1917, General Gouter had been placed insupreme command in this section. Lieutenant General L. G, Kornilov, then commander of the Eighth Russian Army, with which he had gained inthe first part of July, 1917, the successes on the Halicz-Stanislauline, was now intrusted with the chief command of all Russian troopsfighting in Galicia. CHAPTER XCIV THE RUSSIAN ROUT IN GALICIA AND THE BUKOWINA Day by day the Russians' disorganization became worse. Instances ofdefection became more frequent as the German offensive movementincreased in violence. With their usual thoroughness, and with almostincredible swiftness, the forces of the Central Powers struck. Againthe Russian Government was forced to admit officially that Russiancommanders had lost control over their troops. By July 21, 1917, the Germans and Austrians in the region west ofTarnopol managed to reach the Brzezany-Tarnopol railway at severalpoints. Near Brzezany the Seventh Russian Army also began to yield toincreasing pressure on its flanks. The number of prisoners and theamount of booty were large. At Jezierna rich supplies of provisions, munitions, and other war stores fell into German hands. [Illustration: The Russian Offensive and Retreat in Galicia. ] Late in the afternoon the Germans forced their way forward fromTarnopol to as far as the Sereth bridgehead. During the fight therailway line from Kozowa to Tarnopol was reached at several points. The Russian masses southeast of Brzezany began to yield. The town ofTarnopol and numerous villages east of the Sereth soon were in flames. On the lower Narayuvka River the artillery duel increased toconsiderable intensity. On the river Lomnitza after a bombardment theGermans took the offensive in the regions of the villages of Babinoand Studzianka and forced Russian troops to evacuate Babino and crossthe right bank of the Lomnitza. By the end of the day the wholeRussian front from the Zlota Lipa close up to the Dniester waswavering under the pressure of the German-Austrian attack on theSereth. In the north, however, the Russians were still fighting back, thoughunsuccessfully. Between Krevo and Smorgon the Russians after a strongartillery preparation attacked with a strong force. Their assaultsbroke down with heavy losses on the German troops. After an agitatednight fresh fighting broke out at that point. Northward as far asNaroz Lake and also between Drysviaty Lake and Dvinsk increasedartillery fighting continued. The offensive movements undertaken by the Russians in the northernsector were continued on July 22, 1917. In the direction of Vilna, inthe neighborhood of Krevo, Russian troops attacked and occupied Germanpositions in the district of Tsary-Bogushi, penetrating to a depth oftwo miles in places. Over one thousand Germans were taken prisoner. However, the spirit of disobedience was gradually spreading among theRussian troops. "The development of a further success is beingjeopardized by the instability and moral weakness of certaindetachments. Particularly noteworthy was the gallant conduct of theofficers, great numbers of them perishing during the fulfillment oftheir duties, " says the official Russian statement. On the uppercourse of the Sereth, from Zalovce to Tarnopol, there was considerablerifle firing. South of Berezovica-Velka the Germans conducted anintense artillery fire. Between the rivers Sereth, Stripa, and ZlotaLipa they continued their offensive, occupying the villages ofNastasov, Beniave (on the Stripa), Uvse, and Slavintin. The strategiceffect of the German operations in East Galicia was continuallybecoming more powerful. The Russians began retreating from thenorthern Carpathian front. From the Sereth to the wooded Carpathiansthe Germans were pressing forward over a front of 155 miles wide. By July 23, 1917, the victorious German army corps had forced theirway over the Sereth, crossing to the south near Tarnopol. NearTrembowla desperate Russian mass attacks were repulsed. The Germansadvanced beyond Podhaytse, Halicz, and the Bystritza Solotvina River. The booty was large. Several divisions reported 3, 000 prisoners each. Numerous heavy guns, including those of the largest calibers, railwaytrucks filled with foodstuffs and fodder, munitions, armored cars andmotor lorries, tents, articles left on the field, and every kind ofwar material were captured. Archduke Joseph's north wing now joined in a movement which hadcommenced to the south of the Dniester. There was strong Russianfiring activity along that whole front. In the north the fighting, too, was severe. In some places theRussians made decided gains, only to lose them again by the refusal ofcertain troops to obey their commanders. Southwest of Dvinsk Russiandetachments, after strong artillery preparation, occupied Germanpositions on both sides of the Dvinsk-Vilna railway. After thissuccess entire units, without any pressure on the part of the Germans, voluntarily returned to their original trenches. A number of theseunits refused to carry out military commands during the battle. Detachments of the Twenty-fourth Division, the Tulsk, Lovitsky, andSaraosky regiments, and the "Battalion of Death, " consisting of women, acted especially heroically, and as at other points the gallantry ofthe officers was noteworthy. Their losses were large. In the directionof Vilna and in the region north of Krevo the Germans delivered anumber of counterattacks, and succeeded in occupying one of theheights north of Bogush, which had been captured by the Russians onthe previous day, July 22, 1917. Heroic exertion by the Russianofficers was required to restrain the men from withdrawing to the rearin great numbers. The German successes became more and more important and the Russianroute more and more complete. Stanislau and Nadvorna were now inGerman hands and German forces were rapidly approaching Buczacz. In the Carpathians, too, the Russians began to give way. Prime Minister Kerensky had rushed to the Galician front as soon asnews had reached him of the Russian débâcle. However, even hispresence could not stem the Austro-German advance and the Russianflight. It was reported that he had even risked his life in thisattempt. On July 25, 1917, the Austro-German successes were still fartherextended. During stubborn engagements Austro-German divisions gainedheights west of Tarnopol and the Gniza River sector to theTrembowla-Husiatyn road. Farther southwest Buczacz, Tiumacz, Ottynia, and Delatyn were taken. The Russian Carpathian front, owing to the pressure on the north ofthe Dniester, now commenced to weaken to the south of the Tartar Pass. The Russians were retreating there in the direction of Czernowitz. In the north, south of Smorgon, concentrated German artillery firepartly closed up the breach in the German lines made by the Russians. The latter were compelled to retreat, and the Germans regained almostall of their former positions. July 26, 1917, brought still further defeats to the Russian forces inGalicia. In a bitter struggle near Tarnopol, German divisions extendedtheir gains by a powerful attack at the bridgehead on the eastern bankof the Sereth, which recently had been contested hotly. Farthersouth, in spite of stubborn resistance of Russians, who were sentforward regardless of the fact that thousands upon thousands of themwere being mowed down under destructive German fire, the Germanscaptured the Gniza and Sereth crossings from Trembowla to Skomorocze. They were also advancing rapidly on both sides of the Dniester. Kolomea was captured by Bavarian and Austro-Hungarian troops. In thenortheastern portion of the wooded Carpathians Austrian troops werefollowing on the heels of the Russians who retreated in the directionof the Pruth. [Illustration: The Entire Eastern Battle Front, August 1, 1917. ] Without let-up the Germans and Austrians continued to press back thedisorganized Russian armies. By July 27, 1917, the Austro-Germandivisions under General von Boehm-Ermolli had crossed theJablonica-Horodenka-Zablowow line. Austrian troops on the northernwing were drawing close to the Pruth Plateau below Kolomea. West ofSeletyn-Fundul, on the Moldavian Road in the wooded Carpathians, German and Austro-Hungarian troops wrested some heights positions fromthe still resisting Russians. By July 28, 1917, the Russians on both sides of Husiatyn had retiredbehind the frontier. German corps had reached Zbrocz. Othersapproached the confluence of the northern Sereth and the Dniester. Between the Dniester and the Pruth the Russian rear guard made astand. The Germans in a powerful attack broke through their positionsand pursued the Russians on both banks of the Dniester. In theCheremosh Valley Kuty was taken. Above and below the town a crossingof the river was effected by the Austrians. In the last days of July, 1917, the Russian resistance stiffenedslightly. Still the Teutonic forces gained new successes in easternGalicia and Bukowina. The river Zbrocz was crossed at many points byGerman and Austro-Hungarian divisions from above Husiatyn to south ofSkala, on a front of thirty-one miles, in spite of the bitterresistance of the Russians. Between the Dniester and the Pruth theallied Teutonic troops captured Werenocanka and Sniatyn, in thedirection of Czernowitz. In a strong assault German chasseurs broke through Russian rear-guardpositions near Visnitz. The Russians were thereby forced to evacuatethe Cheremosh line and retired toward the east. Also in the woodedCarpathians, on the upper course of the southern Sereth, and on bothsides of the Moldava and the Suczawa, the Austro-Germans gained groundin an attack toward the east. Under pressure of this success theRussians abandoned their first-line positions in the Meste-Canastesector. That the Russian rout was not worse, and that they managed to save alarge part of their armies, was due largely to the assistance renderedby Belgian and British armored cars. PART XI--AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT CHAPTER XCV STALEMATE ON THE ITALIAN FRONTS On February 1, 1917, on the northern slopes of Monte Maso, along thePosina Torrent, and in the Astico Valley Italian patrols destroyedAustrian outposts, taking eleven prisoners. In the Sugana ValleyAustrian artillery bombarded Italian positions on Monte Lebre andOspedaletto and in Pesino Hollow with gas shells. On the Julian frontthere were minor artillery actions and activity by patrol. At onepoint a bombardment of the Austrian lines resulted in a smallammunition dump being blown up. On the Trentino front even the artillery was handicapped by snowfallon February 3, 1917. In the upper Comelico Valley Italian troopsrepulsed a surprise attack. On the Julian front there was the usualartillery firing. On February 6, 1917, on the Trentino front the artillery fighting wasmore intense in the Astico Valley. In the Sugana Valley an Austriandetachment which attempted to attack advanced Italian positions onMonte Maso was put to flight, leaving arms and ammunition on theground. On the Julian front artillery fighting occurred, during whichthe Austrians bombarded Goritz for a short time. In the Sugana Valley, after a violent bombardment, the Austrians atdawn on February 7, 1917, attempted another attack on one of theItalian positions on the right bank of the Brenta. It failed in itsinception, however, owing to the combined action of Italian infantryand field batteries. A similar operation attempted by the Austrians onthe Freikofel had a like result. In the Posina Valley, at Astico, inthe Plezza sector, before Sagora, and in the vicinity of Boscomalo andHudilog, the activity of Italian reconnoitering patrols led to minorskirmishes. During the next few days there were desultory artillery actions in theTrentino. Italian batteries shelled Austrian positions on Monte Creinoand dispersed supply columns on the northern slopes of Monte Pasubio. On the Julian front the Austrian artillery showed increased activity. In the area east of Goritz on the night of February 10, 1917, afterheavy artillery and trench mortar preparations, the Austrians inconsiderable forces attacked the Italian positions on the westernslopes of Santa Caterina, northwest of San Marco, and east ofVertoibizza, between Sober and the Goritz-Dornberg railway. Afterheavy fighting the Austrians were repulsed nearly everywhere. However, the Austrians succeeded in entering several portions of Italiantrenches, inflicted heavy losses upon the Italians and capturedfifteen officers and 650 men, ten machine guns, two mine throwers andmuch other war material. This slight success gained by the Austrians resulted in an intensebombardment and violent counterattacks on the part of the Italianforces during February 11, 1917. The latter entirely reestablishedtheir lines and completely repulsed the Austrians, inflicting uponthem serious losses and taking more than a hundred prisoners, amongwhom were a few officers. In the Trentino there was moderateartillery activity. Detachments of Austrian ski runners attempted toapproach the Italian lines on the Pasubio. They were repulsed anddispersed by a few well-directed shots. In the upper valleys of theBut and Fella there were continuous artillery duels. The Italiansreached the station of Tarvia with their fire. In the Vedel zone, after throwing hand grenades, an Austrian detachment attacked. It wasspeedily repulsed in violent hand-to-hand fighting. The detachment waspursued and decimated by Italian fire. The few survivors werecaptured. On the Trentino front the activity of the artillery increased again onFebruary 12, 1917, especially in the Tonale Pass, on the westernslopes of Monte Zugna, in the Lagarina Valley, in the upperTravignola, and in the Cordevole Valley. In the Arsa Valley and on theupper Coalba Torrent, on the right bank of the Brenta, Austrian raidswere repulsed. In the upper But Valley the artillery was active. Italian batteries set fire to some Austrian barracks behind ValPiccolo. The following day, February 13, 1917, Italian artillery fire againreached and hit the station at Tarvia. In the zone north of Sober, inthe Goritz district, an Austrian attack was repulsed. In the WippachValley lively artillery engagements continued. The Italians firednumerous gas grenades. Italian attacks from the district of St. Peterwere repulsed. Near Tonale Pass Austrian troops surprised an Italianpoint of support and took twenty-three Italian prisoners. Similar events of minor local importance occurred during the next fewdays. Thus, on February 16, 1917, the Adige Valley was the scene ofconsiderable activity by the artillery. Italian batteries caused firesto break out on the Austrian Zugna line. Minor encounters favorable tothe Italian forces were reported from various places. On the Julianfront there were the usual artillery actions. The railway station atSanta Lucia di Tolmino was hit by Italian fire. Increased activity of reconnoitering parties led to small successfulencounters during February 17, 1917, at Cavento Adamello Pass, nearForcellina di Montozzo, at Valcamonica in Vallaria, in the upperPosina at Astico, and at Felizon in the Boite Valley, and in FrigidoValley. In the upper But and on the Carso considerable artilleryactions were reported. During the next few days the Italian artillerywas again lively on several sectors of the mountain front. Tarvia wasrepeatedly shelled. On February 19, 1917, Austrian patrols madetwenty-two prisoners as the result of an enterprise against Italianpositions east of Monte Zebio and north of Assio. During the following night Austrian detachments entered throughgalleries dug under the snow one of the Italian trenches near CasereZebio Pastorile. After heavy hand-to-hand fighting they were repulsedwith considerable loss, leaving some prisoners in the hands of theItalians. On February 20, 1917, the Austrians attempted attacks on the left bankof the Maso Torreni and east of the Vertoibizza Torrent in the FrigidoValley. There were desultory artillery actions. They became especiallyintense in the south Loppio Valley in the upper Vanol, and on theCarso. Other raids attempted by the Austrians during February 21 and 22, 1917, against the Italians on the Zugna in the Adige Valley, betweenStrigne and Spera in the Sugana Valley, and on the slopes of MonteCadini in the upper Boite Valley, failed owing to firm resistance. Inthe Col di Lana area an Austrian detachment by a sudden attackoccupied one of the Italian outposts. The detachment was at oncecounterattacked and driven off. Again on February 23 and 24, 1917, the usual artillery actions tookplace, particularly in the Sugana Valley, in the Plava sector, andeast of Goritz. Raids attempted by the Austrians against Italianpositions on the northern slopes of Col Bricon, in the TravignolaValley, at Navagiust in the upper Degano, and on the slopes of MonteNero were repulsed. In the area southeast of Goritz Austriandetachments, after a violent bombardment, attacked one of the advancedItalian positions south of Vertoiba. They were driven back anddispersed. During the last few days of February, 1917, the weather cleared upsomewhat and brought increased artillery activities. The artilleryduel was more intense in the zone east of Goritz. Some shells fell onthe town. At the confluence of the Vertoibizza and Frigido theItalians repulsed Austrian detachments that were attempting toapproach their lines. On the northern slopes of San Marco an Italiandetachment made a surprise attack and penetrated into the Austriantrenches, which were destroyed and the occupants driven out. The month of March, 1917, opened in the same manner in which February, 1917, had closed. There were intermittent artillery actions all alongthe front. Italian batteries destroyed advanced Austrian posts onMarmolado Mountain, near the upper Avisio River (Trentino front), causing fires at various places. Detachments of Italian infantry onMarch 2, 1917, successfully raided Austrian trenches at differentpoints, destroyed defensive works, and captured ammunition and otherwar material. Austrian patrols made several similar raids. On March 4, 1917, artillery activity increased noticeably on theTrentino front from the Travignola Valley to the upper Cordevole. Inthe upper part of the San Pellegrino Valley, in the Avisio district, abrilliant attack by Italian troops resulted in the occupation of astrong position at an altitude of almost 9, 000 feet on the Costabellagroup. The Italians captured sixty-one men and one machine gun. On theJulian front there were again intermittent artillery actions. Italianbatteries caused explosions and fires in the Austrian lines nearCastagnievizza on the middle Isonzo. Austrian detachments thatattempted to approach the Italian positions southeast of Vertoiba wererepulsed. During the night of March 9, 1917, Austrian detachments, in the midstof a violent snowstorm, entered advanced positions on the southernslopes of Cima di Bocche. They were driven out by a counterattack. There were also the usual artillery duels. Italian batteries shelledthe station at Santa Lucia di Tolmino and the Austrian lines in theCastaomavilla sector with good results. Not even minor engagementswere reported on the following day, March 10, 1917. But on March 11, 1917, an Austrian detachment, in the Concei-Ledro Valley, in theWesterdak, after violent artillery and trench-mortar bombardmentagainst Bezzecoa and Mount View, attacked the Italian position in thesmall valley of Vai, northeast of Lenzumo. The Austrians were repulsedand a few prisoners were taken. On the remainder of the Trentino frontthere were patrol encounters and increased artillery activity. In theTravignola Valley of the Avisio, after trench-mortar preparationagainst the southern slopes of Cima di Bocche, the Austrians attackedtoward Peneveggio. They were driven off. There were the usualartillery actions along the Julian front. In the Castagnievizzasector, on the Carso, the Italians surrounded an outpost and capturedthe garrison, comprising nine men and one officer. On March 12, 1917, there was the usual artillery activity in theTrentino. The Austrian batteries showed increased activity in theTolmino Basin on the Julian front. On the Carso an Italian detachmentraided the Austrian lines southwest of Lucati and destroyed the works. The dugouts were burned and twenty-four prisoners and one machine guncaptured. An Austrian counterattack failed. CHAPTER XCVI SPRING ON THE AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT With the approach of spring, which of course comes late in themountainous regions in which the Austrians and Italians were fighting, a quickening of all fighting activities became noticeable. Artilleryduels became more frequent and violent, scouting expeditions moreextensive and daring, and air reconnaissances an almost dailyoccurrence. All this pointed to the coming of a new offensive. Rumorswere flying around almost as thickly as shells and bullets and theycredited equally both sides with making preparations. However, forquite some time conditions continued very much in the same way inwhich they had been running along during the winter. In the Monte Forno zone, on the Asiago Plateau, an Austrian detachmentduring the night of March 15, 1917, made a surprise irruption intoone of the Italian trenches, but was promptly repulsed by acounterattack. In the upper Cordevole Valley small patrol engagementsoccurred on the slopes of Monte Sief. On the Julian front there werelively actions by both the artillery and by small infantrydetachments. In the Adige Valley zone there was intense artillery activity on bothsides on March 16, 1917. Italian artillery bombarded the railwaystation at Calliano and Austrian cantonments in the environs of VillaLagarina. Minor encounters of infantry occurred at Serravalle, ValLagarina, on the slopes of Monte Sief, in the upper Cordevole, nearthe lower Studena, at Ponteblana Fella, and on the heights of Hill 126on the borders of the Carso Plateau. Artillery and mine-throwingengagements on the Carso Plateau and in the Wippach Valley went on dayand night. On the Cima di Costabella a minor Italian attack wasrepulsed. East of Monte Forno, at the north of the Asiago Plateau, detachmentsof an Austrian regiment, advancing through snow tunnels, penetratedinto the Italian trenches, destroyed the dugouts, and inflictedconsiderable losses upon the Italians. On March 17, 1917, after violent artillery preparation the Austriansattacked Italian positions at the head of the small valley of Coalbo, in the Sugana, but were driven off with heavy losses. On the precedingnight the Austrians destroyed, by heavy artillery fire, the defensiveworks of the position gained by the Italians in the San PellegrinoValley on March 4, 1917, and succeeded in occupying the upper portionof it. On the Julian front increased artillery and trench-mortarfighting was reported. In the Plava sector the Italians repulsed anAustrian detachment which attempted to raid positions near Pallioca. East of Vertoiba an Italian patrol entered the Austrian lines, whichwere set afire. Ammunition and war material were taken. In thedistrict of Kostanjevica an Italian attack preceded by strongartillery fire was repulsed before the village. On the Tyrolean frontItalian long-range cannon shelled Arco and Villa Lagarina. On the whole front there was increased activity of the artillery onMarch 18, 1917. It was most marked in the Lagarina Valley. Italianfield hospitals at Goritz and Ronchi were struck, causing a fewcasualties. The Austrians attempted raids in the Giumella Valley andin the Lucati sector, but were checked. On March 19 and 20, 1917, there was again considerable artilleryactivity in the Trentino. On Costabella Massif, after a violentbombardment with gas shells, the Austrians repeatedly attackedadvanced Italian positions. They were repulsed with heavy loss. Theusual artillery actions and patrol encounters were reported on theJulian front. Two Italian patrols entered the enemy lines in the Goritzarea and destroyed them. Comparative inactivity was the rule during the following week. Butduring the night of March 27, 1917, Austrian detachments in the SuganaValley attempted to approach Italian positions on the left bank of theMaso Torrent west of Samone. They were driven off and dispersed by theItalian fire. There was also considerable artillery activity on the Julian front. Atdusk the bombardment was extremely severe in the section between theFrigido and Dosso Faiti. After destroying the Italian defenses theAustrians launched two attacks in force, one against Hill 126, wherethey succeeded in occupying some advanced trenches, and the othertoward Dosso Faiti, which was repulsed. Nothing of any importance occurred anywhere on the Austro-Italianfront during the last few days of March, 1917. April brought somewhat warmer weather, resulting in the beginning ofthe spring thaws. This made military operations even more difficultand brought about a very noticeable reduction in all activities onboth sides. Not until April 6, 1917, was there anything of anyimportance whatsoever to report, and even then the operations wereonly of minor importance. On that day there were desultory artilleryactions along the front, although the prevailing bad weather greatlyinterfered with operations. During the afternoon the Austrians exploded a large mine in thevicinity of advanced Italian positions on the second summit of MonteColbricon. The Italians suffered no serious damage and no casualties. On the Carso a small detachment of Italian troops surprised andoccupied an advanced Austrian post north of Boscomalo, capturing theentire garrison. On April 10, 1917, the artillery activity, normal on the remainder ofthe front, was more lively west of Lake Garda and in the LagarinaValley. The Austrians having renewed their attack with medium-caliberguns on Limone Garda, Italian batteries replied by shelling theAustrian lines in the vicinity of Arco and Rovereto. On the CarsoItalian patrols pushed back advanced positions of the Austrians atmany points. During the night of April 11, 1917, the Austrians, after violentartillery and trench-mortar preparations, succeeded momentarily inentering one of the advanced Italian trenches to the east of Vertoiba, but were immediately driven off on the arrival of Italian reserves. Artillery was again active on April 12, 1917, on the Trentino frontbetween the Adige and San Pellegrino Valleys. Italian medium-caliberbatteries employed effective bursts of fire against the railwaystation of Calliano, where an unusual movement of trains had beenobserved. On the Colbricon Massif, in the upper Cismon Valley, theAustrians had been mining toward Italian advanced positions. Duringthe night the Italians exploded a countermine, which destroyed theAustrian gallery. The edge of the crater was occupied by Italiantroops and the position established. On the Julian front artilleryduels were reported in the Plava area, to the east of the VertoibizzaTorrent and in the northern sector of the Carso. The Italians repulsedminor attacks in the vicinity of Della Tolmino, and against theposition which they had captured on April 7, 1917, north of Boscomalo. On April 13, 1917, the railway station at Calliano and moving trainsin the neighborhood were repeatedly hit, an ammunition depot was blownup, and a fortified position destroyed in the Zugna area. On theremainder of the Trentino front bad weather interfered with alloperations. On the Colbricon Massif, in the upper Cismon, Austrian detachmentsattempted to attack the position which the Italians had captured onthe preceding night after the explosion of their mine. They wererepulsed with loss. On the Julian front artillery duels took place inthe Goritz Basin. Again on April 16, 1917, Italian artillery in the Lagarina Valleyrenewed the bombardment of the station at Calliano, damaging thebuilding, putting trains and motor lorries to flight and dispersingtroops. Encounters among small groups of infantry were reported. In the upper part of the Aravionodo Valley in the midst of a heavystorm an Austrian detachment made a surprise attack and penetrated oneof the advanced Italian positions west of Lake Bocete. They weredriven back to their own lines. On the Julian front the artilleryfighting was more intense in the vicinity of Goritz. Bad weather once more interfered seriously with all operations for afew days. On April 20, 1917, however, there was again lively artilleryfire on the whole front. Italian batteries shelled Austrian camps inthe Lagarina Valley, dispersed Austrian detachments on the northernslopes of Monte Pasubio and at various points on the Carnia front, andchecked Austrian fire in the Goritz area and on the Carso. For the next two days only artillery duels were reported. These werecontinued on April 23, 1917, in the Sugana Valley, where extensivemovements of troops behind the Austrian lines were reported. In theupper Cordevole Valley an Austrian detachment, which attempted topenetrate one of the Italian positions in the Campo zone, wascounterattacked and dispersed, abandoning some arms and munitions. AnAustrian attack at Gabria, northwest of Tolmino, had a like result, the Austrians suffering appreciable losses. On April 29, 1917, an Austrian detachment entered one of the advancedItalian positions at Tonale Pass in the Camonica Valley. Notwithstanding a violent barrage fire from the Austrian batteries, Italian reenforcements at once reoccupied the position. The artilleryactivity was continued in a desultory way. It was somewhat morelively, however, in the Travignola Valley, at the head of theCosteana stream, and in the Goritz area. Reconnaissance patrols wereactive along the entire front. The first definite signs of an impending Italian drive on the Julianfront appeared on May 12, 1917. Along the whole front between Tolminoand the sea the Italians were active with artillery and mine throwers. The fire lasted through the entire night. It caused explosions andfires in the Austrian lines and was continued with unabated vigor inspite of prompt response from the Austrian guns during May 13, 1917. CHAPTER XCVII THE ITALIAN DRIVE AGAINST TRIESTE It now became quite evident that the Italians once more were ready toattempt to reach their goal, Trieste. More and more violent becametheir bombardment of the Austrian lines on the Isonzo front. On May14, 1917, on the Julian front from Tolmino to the sea the destructivefire of the Italian artillery, directed against strong Austrianpositions, reached great intensity and was vigorously answered bynumerous Austrian batteries of all calibers. Toward noon Italianinfantry made several raids on various points along the front, whichled to considerable progress in the Plava area, on the slopes of MonteCucco, and on the hills east of Goritz and Vertoibizza. At the sametime other Italian troops made a thrust in the northern sector of theCarso and reached the wrecked Austrian lines east of Dosso Faiti, capturing prisoners. The infantry actions continued during the entireday, supported by artillery and trench mortars, which were keeping theAustrian artillery in check. On the remainder of the front the Austrians attempted various attacksin force on advanced positions northwest of Tolmino and on the AsiagoPlateau. All were unsuccessful and resulted in severe casualties tothe assailants. This offensive action, it now appeared, had really begun on May 12, 1917, when, in the morning, fire was opened along the whole line fromTolmino to the sea. It was maintained with a regularly quickenedrhythm until the morning of May 14, 1917, when it was intensified to apowerful drum fire. During the first part of the bombardment theAustrians reacted but feebly. It seemed as though the Austrians hadbeen taken by surprise, but their reply was more vigorous on May 13, 1917, and extremely violent on the morning of the 14th. Austrianbatteries then opened a heavy curtain of fire, pouring thousands ofprojectiles on the trenches in the Italian line. Undeterred by this tempest of fire, the Italian infantry, toward noon, leaped over the parapets and dashed forward toward the objectivespreviously assigned. These positions were almost all difficult ones, and some of them hitherto had been regarded as impregnable; such, forinstance, as the heights on the left bank of the Isonzo, from Plava toSalcano Pass. The steep slopes, covered with rocks and dotted here andthere with thick clumps of brush, constituted a formidable obstacle toan infantry advance. Successive lines of trenches, prepared monthsbefore above deep caverns, well supplied with defensive and offensivematerial, were defended by seasoned troops and protected by batteriesplaced so as to flank attacks with their fire. Notwithstanding theseconditions, the Italian infantry advanced. This vigorous offensive movement was continued by the Italian troopson May 15, 1917. Ably supported by artillery, they succeeded inestablishing themselves on the steep and wooded heights along theeastern bank of the Isonzo, north of Goritz, which had beentransformed by the Austrians into a formidably fortified defensiveposition. On the left wing one of the Italian columns, after forcing apassage across the river between Loga and Bombrez, captured thelast-named village and fortified itself there. In the center the heights of Hill 383, northeast of Plava, werecaptured, while the Florence infantry brigade and the Vaellinobrigade, after taking by assault the villages of Zagora and Zagomila, which were infested by machine guns, carried the crests of Monte Cuccoand Monte Vodice with great dash. On the right wing the other Italian columns made considerable progresson the steep slopes of Monte Santo. Fierce Austrian counterattacks, prepared and supported by a bombardment of exceptional violence, wereall repulsed. In the area east of Goritz the Messina brigade conquered Hill 174north of Tivoli, which was strongly fortified and stubbornly held bythe Austrians, whose insistent counterattacks were beaten back. The city of Goritz suffered a heavy bombardment from Austrianbatteries, and some buildings were seriously damaged. On the remainder of the front down to the sea there were livelyartillery actions. The Austrian rear lines were again effectivelybombed by air squadrons and during the night by airships. In the first two days of their advance the Italians made 3, 375prisoners, among them ninety-eight officers. They also captured amountain battery, about thirty machine guns, and much war material, including arms and ammunition. On the following day, May 16, 1917, the Austrian resistance stiffenedsomewhat. In spite of this the Italian advance continued. Fighting inthe zone between Monte Cucco and Vodice was bitter and lengthy. Considerable Austrian masses, supported by the fire of numerousbatteries, were repeatedly launched against Italy's new positions. Each time they were repulsed, and the Fochux bastion of Monte Cuccofrom Height 611 to Height 525 remained firmly in Italian hands. Moreover, the Italians made appreciable progress toward the importantsummit of Height 652, on the Vodice. In the zone east of Goritz Austrian counterattacks, directedparticularly against the summit of Height 174 and to the east of theVertoibizza Torrent, broke down under Italian fire. Afterward Italianinfantry, assuming a counteroffensive, occupied the important heightto the south of Grazigna after a desperate conflict. On the Carso Plateau the Austrians, with the evident object oflessening the Italian pressure in the region of Goritz, attempted apowerful effort against positions at Monte Vuocgnacco and Monte Faiti, on the northern sector of the plateau. Successive waves of Austrianinfantry were broken down by well-directed fire, or rolled back indisorder after having suffered serious losses. On the whole front from Tolmino to the sea there were continuousactions by artillery of all calibers. The Austrian artillery continuedits work of devastation on the city of Goritz. On May 17, 1917, the Italian troops were engaged in fortifying theimportant position captured east of Goritz and organizingcommunication with the rear. The Austrians attempted but failed tohinder the work of the Italian forces. During the night the Austrians under cover of darkness attemptedsurprise attacks upon positions on the bridgehead of Bodrez (on theIsonzo seven miles southwest of Tolmino), on the Vodice, Hill 592, andat Grazigna. In the morning the Austrians brought up strongreenforcements and renewed their attack, which was particularlyviolent in the Vodice region and south of Grazigna. Shattered byItalian battery fire the Austrian masses were counterattacked andrepulsed by infantry, who at several points surrounded theirassailants and forced them to surrender. The number of prisoners by now had increased to 6, 432, including 143officers. All along the front from Tolmino to the sea the artillery continuedvery active. Goritz again suffered very heavy damage. Surprise attacks during the night of May 17, 1917, on Italianpositions on the heights of Hill 592 on Monte Vodice were repulsed. Inthe morning of May 18, 1917, Italian troops opened a vigorous attack, with the object of capturing the heights of Hill 652 on Monte Vodice, the key to the Austrian defenses north of Monte Santo. The stubbornresistance of the Austrians, supported by numerous batteries of allcalibers, which kept up a continuous fire from the rear, rendered theaction long and severe. Advancing from rock to rock, expelling theAustrians from trench and cavern, destroying their machine guns, Italian infantry by evening succeeded in reaching the crest of thelong-contested heights and maintaining the position against theconcentrated fire of Austrian batteries. With the capture of the ridge between Monte Cucco and Monte Vodice, the task of diverting the Austrian attention, which was assigned tothe troops in the sector between Bodrez and Loga, was completed, andthey withdrew to the right bank of the Isonzo without molestation fromthe Austrians. In the region east of Goritz the Italians maintained all theirpositions against persistent attacks, which were particularly violentsouth of Grazigna and on the heights of Hill 174 south of Tivoli. On the remainder of the front incessant artillery duels occurred. TheAustrian fire was especially violent against Goritz and thesurrounding villages. In the area north of Goritz the Italian troops on May 19, 1917, extended their positions on Hill 652, on the Vodice (a ridge whichlinks captured Monte Cucco with Monte Santo, the immediate Italianobjective in this region). Dense masses of Austrians preceded by aheavy barrage fire counterattacked in an attempt to stop the Italianprogress, but each time were driven back with heavy loss. In theevening the Austrians withdrew their infantry, and concentrated astrong artillery fire on the lost positions. These the Italians firmlymaintained. They captured two 4-inch guns, two 6-inch mortars, trenchmortars and machine guns, and a large quantity of arms and ammunition. In the area east of Goritz Italian troops broke into the Austrian lineand took some prisoners. On the Trentino front the Austrians attempteda diversion by a heavy bombardment and by local infantry attackswithout success. These attempts were resumed on May 20, 1917, in the Trentino, in theCampo area, in the Daone Valley, southeast of Lake Loppio, at RioCameras, in the Adige Valley, and on the Maso Torrent line in theSugana Valley. Late in the evening masses of Austrian troopsvigorously assaulted Italian positions on the Pasubio, west of MonteDente. After heavy hand-to-hand fighting, the Austrians, sufferingsevere loss, were completely driven back all along the line of attack. On the Julian front, Austrian attacks on the northern slopes of SanMarco, east of Goritz, between Monte Vuocgnacco and Monte Faiti, andin the neighborhood of Hill 268 were repulsed. The Italians took Hill363, between Palieva and Britof, east of Plava, and extended theirpositions still more on the Vodice. On May 21, 1917, the Austrians on the Trentino front, notwithstandingthe repulse so far suffered, persisted in making desultory andfruitless attempts to divert the Italians from their main objectives. Raids were made in force against the advanced Italian line at CaventroPass, Adamello, Pluberga Bridge, in the Chiesa, and in the GiumellaValley, at Rio Pionale. All were repulsed. Between Lake Garda and theAdige the Austrians, after an intense and prolonged bombardment withartillery of all calibers, attacked positions on Monte Dosso Alto, southwest of Loppio Lake, and on Monte Zugna. They were driven backwith heavy loss. Other local attacks which were attempted in thePosina Valley, on the Asiago Plateau, and in Carnia failed. On theJulian front, in the sector north of Goritz, the artillery duel, already spirited, became more intense, but was not followed byinfantry action. The position which the Italians captured on Hill 363, east of Plava, was consolidated. East of Goritz the Austrians attempted repeatedly to recapture Hill126, south of Grazigna, but failed on account of the effective actionof Italian artillery reserves. A slight lull set in on May 22, 1917, except that the Italians openeda very heavy fire against the Austrian positions on the Carso Plateau. This bombardment continued on May 23, 1917, and after ten hours ofviolent bombardment, the troops of the Third Italian Army assaultedand broke through the well-organized Austrian lines fromCastagnievizza to the sea. While they were heavily engaging theAustrians on the left, other troops, after carrying trenches in thecenter and on the right, occupied part of the area south of theCastagnievizza-Boscomalo road, passed Boscomalo and captured Jamiano, the important and strongly fortified heights of Hill 92 east ofPietrarossa, Hill 77, Hill 58, Bagni, and Hill 21. The Austrians, atfirst surprised by the sudden onslaught, toward eveningcounterattacked in force, supported by an exceptionally heavybombardment. They were repulsed with severe loss. During the day the Italians captured more than 9, 000 prisoners, including more than 300 officers. In the Goritz area Italian troopsrepulsed heavy attacks, captured a strong point on the northwestslopes of San Marco, and after severe fighting made considerable gainsin the Monte Santo and Vodice areas. It was also announced officially that ten British batteries assistedin the fighting of these days. On May 24, 1917, the battle continued to rage along the Julian frontfrom the sea to Plava. Italian troops, advancing over very difficultand intricate ground, fought their way, yard by yard, through a deeplabyrinth of fortifications stubbornly defended by strong, well-trained forces. In the sector between the sea and the Jamiano-Brestovizza road largeItalian forces, supported by some field batteries which advanced withthe infantry, drove the Austrians back as far as Foce Timavo, Flondar, and Hill 31, a line south of Jamiano. North of Jamiano, after heavy fighting, the strongly fortified heightsHills 235 and 247 were carried and the Italian positions extended asfar as the outlying houses of Versic. The Austrians attempted to lighten the Italian pressure on thesouthern Carso by violent counterattacks from Castagnievizza toFrigido. All these efforts failed. East of Goritz persistent Austrianraids were repulsed during the night on Hill 174, north of Tivoli, andat Grazigna. In the region of Monte Cucco and Monte Vodice theAustrians vainly made every effort to retake captured positions. AnAustrian column attempted a surprise attack against Italian lines eastof Hill 652 on the Vodice. It was counterattacked and driven back toits point of departure, which was then carried and held by Italiantroops. East of Plava the Italians extended their occupation on Hill363. CHAPTER XCVIII THE HEIGHT OF THE ITALIAN OFFENSIVE The struggle which had now been raging for almost a fortnightcontinued with unabated strength. Although the Austrians put up a mostgallant and determined resistance, they could not keep back theItalian advance, which apparently was made with superior infantry andartillery forces. On May 25, 1917, heavy fighting continued on the Carso. After intenseartillery preparation lasting until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, infantry of the Seventh Italian Army Corps vigorously attacked andcarried the network of trenches extending from the mouth of the TimavoRiver to a point east of Jamiano and took possession of the heightsbetween Flondar and Medeazza. Farther north, after severe hand-to-hand fighting, the Austriandefenses at the labyrinth east of Boscomalo were broken and Hill 220, southeast of the village, and trenches around Castagnievizza weretaken. The operations on the northern sector of the Carso wereconfined almost exclusively to artillery actions. The Italiansextended their positions on Hill 174, north of Tivoli. The fighting was very heavy in the Vodice area, where the Austriansmade every effort to dislodge the Italians from the important pointHill 652, which, however, remained firmly in Italian possession. Afterviolent artillery preparation dense masses of Austrian troopsattempted repeatedly and stubbornly to attack the Italian lines. In the Plava zone the Italians made farther progress on the slopes ofHill 363 in the Rogat Valley. The total number of prisoners capturedso far on the Julian front from May 14 to 25, 1917, was 22, 419, including 487 officers. It was now the fourth day of this new Carso battle. Still the Italiansextended their positions. On May 26, 1917, artillery action all alongthe line continued fiercely from sunrise until evening. In theafternoon between the coast and Jamiano Italian infantry by abrilliant assault succeeded in reaching a point beyond the railwayfrom Monfalcone to Duino, northeast of San Giovanni, and carried thestrongly fortified Hill 145 southwest of Medeazza. They establishedthemselves a few hundred yards from the village. North of Jamiano violent attacks and counterattacks followed insuccession all day, supported by artillery fire. Castagnievizza alsowas reached and passed, but the persistent and concentrated shellingby a number of Austrian batteries compelled the Italians to evacuateground there. The latter maintained a hold on the western boundary, however. In the area east and north of Goritz the artillery action was intense. The Italians shelled the basins of Cargaro and Britof, in which theAustrian supplies centered. In the Plava sector Italian infantry carried the heights at the headof the Palieva Valley, thus connecting their Monte Cucco lines withthose on Hill 363. Weather conditions on May 27, 1917, slowed down the fightingeverywhere, but did not prevent the Italians from extending theirvarious successes slightly in all directions. On May 28, 1917, however, the Isonzo battle was resumed for the thirdtime. A new and large Italian attacking wave was directed against theheights of Vodice and Monte Santo. An Italian attack launched at noonagainst the north slope was preceded by powerful artillery fire. Itextended along the entire sector. During the afternoon it resulted many times in severe hand-to-handfighting, which also raged during the night. Especially violentfighting occurred in the region of Hill 652. The entire extent of theAustrian front, however, now offered iron resistance to all Italianefforts. South of Jamiano the Italians attacked Austrian positions four times, losing, besides heavy casualties, fifteen officers and 800 men asprisoners. The number of prisoners brought in by the Austrians sincethe commencement of the Isonzo battle amounted to 14, 500 men, according to their official statements. The Italian offensive now began to come to a stop. The hard fightingnaturally had exhausted the Italian forces and munitions and by nowstrong Austrian reserves had come up and made the resistancesufficiently strong to stop further advances. On May 29 and 30, 1917, artillery was not very active on the Trentino front and in the Carnia, but was very heavy on the Julian front, particularly in the sectorfrom Monte Cucco to Vodice and east of Goritz. On May 31, 1917, considerable artillery activity developed in thenorthern sector of the Carso and on the line from Goritz to Plava. Inthe Vodice area numerous massed troops of the Austrians made a violentattack upon Italian positions on Hills 592 and 652. The attack, prepared by intense artillery fire and carried out with stubbornness, failed. On June 1 and 2, 1917, the activity on the whole front was confinedfor the most part to the artillery, which was especially activeagainst Italian positions east of Plava, in the Vodice area, and inthe northern sector of the Carso. On the Carso, after several days of violent artillery preparation, theAustrians attacked in mass on June 4, 1917, from Dosso Faiti to thesea. Although the Dosso Faiti positions were completely destroyed, they were strenuously defended by the Italians. The latter alsoresisted determined attacks from Castagnievizza to the ridges north ofJamiano and by counterattacks and heavy hand-to-hand fightingsucceeded in maintaining their positions and even in occupying newadvanced positions near Castagnievizza and Versic. South of Jamiano, while maintaining their wing positions, the Italianswere obliged to rectify somewhat the center of their new line to avoidthe Austrian fire, at the same time carrying out frequentcounterattacks, effectively stopping the Austrians. It apparently was now the Austrians' turn. The Italians began toreport slight withdrawals. On June 5, 1917, lively artillery duelscontinued on the front from the Monte Nero area to the heights ofGoritz. On the Carso the violent shelling of Italian positions fromVersic to Jamiano was resumed, provoking an energetic reply from theirbatteries. South of Jamiano the fighting was less intense. The new Italian linefronting Flondar, however, was withdrawn slightly to a position moreadvantageous tactically. The struggle continued during the next few days, especially nearJamiano. Positions changed hands frequently, but the advantage nowseemed to be slightly with the Austrians, though neither sideregistered any extensive successes. The fighting gradually slowed downto the type which had been employed previous to the Italian drive. Most of the positions which the Italian forces had gained, remained, however, securely in their hands. On June 10, 1917, there was a slight revival of more extensiveoperations, especially in the Trentino. Throughout the whole of themountain zone of operations there was more fighting than usual, especially between the Adige and Brenta Rivers. In the night theAustrians were driven back and followed up at the Tonale Pass, in theupper Chiesa Valley, on the slope of Dosso Casino, and in the PosinaValley. On the Asiago Plateau Italian artillery destroyed the Austrians'complex system of defenses at several points. Italian infantry, attacking during a violent storm in the direction of Monte Zebio andMonte Forno, carried the pass of Agnello, and captured nearly thewhole of Monte Ortigara, 6, 924 feet high, east of Cima Undice. On the remainder of the front there were desultory concentrations offire on the part of the Austrian batteries, to which the Italiansreplied. On the Carso attacks on the Italian line south ofCastagnievizza were completely repelled. During the balance of June, 1917, only isolated actions of importanceoccurred. On June 15, 1917, east of the Adamello Massif in the easternTrentino, Italian Alpine detachments and skiers advanced over verydifficult ground, notwithstanding furious resistance, and attacked thestrongly fortified positions of Corno Cavento, at an altitude of 3, 400meters. The position was carried. The Italians captured what was leftof the enemy garrison and two 75-mm. Guns, one trench mortar, fourmachine guns, and a large quantity of supplies and ammunition. On thefront of the Asiago Plateau the Austrian artillery continued to showgreat activity. Patrol attacks on Italian positions on Monte Zebiowere repulsed. On the Ortigara at dawn Italian positions on Hill 2, 101 were againattacked with extreme violence. From 2. 30 o'clock onward theAustrians, continually reenforced, redoubled their efforts, but theyall failed. In the San Pellegrino Valley an attack upon advanced Italian positionson the massif of Costabella was repulsed. On the southern slopes of Monte Rombon the Italians occupied bysurprise advanced posts, and maintained the same in spite of theconcentrated fire of the Austrians. On the Julian front the artillery fire was especially noticeable inthe Tolmino sector, and on the heights northeast of Goritz. Columns ofAustrian motor lorries were dispersed, and troops assembled east ofCastagnievizza were shelled. Again on June 20, 1917, the Italians renewed their activity in theTrentino. After twenty-four hours of artillery preparation, an Italianinfantry attack on Sette Communi Plateau began early in the morning, and was carried out with the greatest display of effort, especially onthe northern wing in the region of Monte Forno and the frontier ridge. All the assaults failed. A local success which gave the Italians again of about 100 yards was nullified by a counterattack. Nothing ofimportance occurred on the Isonzo front. On the Asiago Plateau fighting was resumed on June 25, 1917. All nightItalian troops opposed the desperate efforts of the Austrians, who, notwithstanding heavy losses, were attempting to retake the positionsrecently lost in the Monte Ortigara sector. Attacks and counterattackswere continuously made on the contested positions. Diversions at thesame time by the Austrians on other portions of the front werecompletely stopped. On June 28, 1917, the artillery struggle was fairly active on thewhole front. In answer to the fire directed by the Austrians againstAla the Italians repeatedly shelled the railway station at Calliano. On the Asiago Plateau the Austrians concentrated a violent fire onAgnello Pass. Near Santa Lucia, in the Tolmino region, traffic wasinterrupted repeatedly by Italian fire. Throughout the last few days of June, 1917, and all of July, 1917, only minor operations were undertaken by either side. Artilleryactivity varied in extent and frequency from day to day, and so didthe operations of outposts and patrols. In a general way, however, there was no readjustment of the positions which had been establishedby the latest Italian drive. On March 10, 1917, Austria-Hungary issued a proclamation, ostensiblyto the Albanians, but obviously addressed to the whole world, thatAlbania was to enjoy local autonomy under an Austro-Hungarianprotectorate. In June, 1917, Italy responded with a similarproclamation, granting Albania independence under Italian protection. At the time the announcement was made a semiofficial interview wasgranted to the representative of a London newspaper by Deputy EugenioChiesa, who had recently returned from a tour of inspection of theparts of Albania held by the Italian army: "The Italian occupation in Albania and northern Epirus, " he said, "extends well into the Greek kingdom. Not only have the Italiansoccupied Valona and its hinterland, but they have passed a long way tothe south of the boundary between Greece proper and northern Epirus atCape Stylos and have extended in a northern direction as far as theriver Kalamas, opposite the south end of Corfu, which was intended bythe thirteenth protocol of the Berlin Congress of 1878, and by theBerlin Conference of 1880, to have been the northwestern frontier ofGreece, but which, since the last Balkan wars, has been well withinthe enlarged northwestern boundary. I am opposed, " continued SignorChiesa, "to the permanent occupation of these places, nor do I believethe Italian Government intends to retain them. I consider as sincerethe manifesto of the commandant of Valona, but Valona Kanina, northof Valona, the surrounding districts, and the isle of Saseto mustremain Italian, not only for strategic but for sanitary reasons, owingto the necessity of draining the pestilential marshes which affect thehealth of Valona. Venizelos, with whom I spoke at Saloniki, franklyrecognized this occupation of Valona, Saseto, and the territory aboutValona. The Italians have already constructed over 400 kilometers ofroads and opened over 125 schools, where both Italian and Albanian aretaught. .. . Corfu cannot remain Italian, it ought to be Greek. " PART XII--WAR ON THE SEA CHAPTER XCIX SUBMARINE WARFARE The six months' period from February 1, 1917, to August 1, 1917, covers a more intensified submarine activity than any other periodsince the beginning of the war. It was on February 1, 1917, that theso-called unrestricted submarine warfare was initiated by the GermanGovernment. As was to be expected, losses resulting from this new typeof "frightfulness" quickly became very large. As time went on, however, it became evident that the Germans were unable to maintaintheir submarine sinkings on an equal basis at all times. Losses variedgreatly from week to week. However, even at that they soon became sosevere as to cause grave difficulties to the countries fightingagainst Germany and her allies, which before long were joined by theUnited States as a result of Germany's new submarine policy. Difficult as it had been in the past to compile an accurate account ofsubmarine losses, such an attempt became even more impossible now. All the governments involved soon followed Great Britain's lead andstopped the publication of detailed data concerning their respectivemaritime losses. Figures, it is true, were published, at least byEngland, at regular intervals. But they were far from complete oraccurate. It is now next to impossible to give even an approximateidea of the total losses. The following data come as close to being correct as a carefulconsultation of official statements permits. They must, however, notbe considered complete. Up to the date of writing the United States had not published anyofficial figures covering the losses incurred by the American merchantmarine. From newspaper and other accounts, however, it appears thatbetween February 1, 1917, and July 16, 1917, from thirty to fortyAmerican ships of more than 100, 000 tons were lost. The first of thesewas the steamer _Housatonic_, sunk on February 3, 1917, near theScilly Islands without loss of life. The sailing schooner _Lyman M. Law_ was sent to the bottom of the sea on February 12, 1917, off thecoast of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, also without loss of life. Next on the list was the steamer _Algonquin_, sunk on March 12, 1917, near the Scilly Islands without loss of life. Four days later, March16, 1917, the steamer _Vigilancia_ went down with a loss of fifteenmen. On March 17, 1917, the _City of Memphis_ was torpedoed, and onMarch 18, 1917, the _Illinois_, both without loss of life. The sinkingof the steamer _Healdon_ in the North Sea on March 21, 1917, however, brought about the loss of twenty-one members of her crew, seven ofwhom were Americans. On April 2, 1917, the sinking of the armedsteamer _Aztec_ was reported. With her twenty-eight of the crew, including a U. S. N. Boat-swain's mate, perished. The _Missourian_went down on April 4, 1917, and the _Seward_ on April 7, 1917, both inthe Mediterranean. On April 24, 1917, the sinking of the schooner_Percy Birdsall_ was reported. The crew was rescued. Later that monthanother small schooner, the _Woodward Abrahams_ was sent to thebottom. On April 28, 1917, off the north coast of Ireland, the oiltanker _Vacuum_ was sunk. As a result of exposure in lifeboats, seventeen of her crew, including some naval gunners, died. On May 2, 1917, the loss of the steamer _Rockingham_ was reported, two of hercrew being lost. During May, 1917, the following American-owned boatswere sunk: _Hilonian_, _Harpagus_, _Dirigo_, _Frances M. _, _Barbara_, and _Margaret B. Rouss_. Between June 12, 1917, and July 16, 1917, theAmerican merchant marine lost, besides some small boats, the followingeight vessels with a total tonnage of over 38, 000: _Hansau_, _Haverford_, _Bay State_, _Moreni_, _Petrolite_, _Massapequa_, _Orleans_, and _Grace_. The following list shows the losses of the British merchant marineduring the period from February 25, 1917, to July 22, 1917. Thefigures are those published weekly by the British admiralty. Duringthe month of February, 1917, 110 British ships of varying size and ofa total tonnage of 316, 204 were sunk: Week Ending Over Under Fishing 1, 600 Tons 1, 600 Tons Vessels March 4 14 9 3 March 11 13 4 3 March 18 16 8 21 March 25 18 17 10 April 1 18 13 3 April 8 17 2 6 April 15 19 9 12 April 22 40 15 9 April 29 38 13 8 May 6 24 22 16 May 13 18 5 3 May 20 18 9 3 May 27 18 1 2 June 3 15 3 5 June 10 22 10 6 June 17 27 5 0 June 24 21 7 0 July 1 15 5 11 July 8 14 3 7 July 15 14 4 8 July 22 21 3 1 July 29 18 3 0 These figures show that in twenty-two weeks England lost 438 vesselsover 1, 600 tons, 170 vessels under 1, 600 tons, and 187 fishingvessels. The average tonnage of vessels over 1, 600 tons has been saidto be 4, 500. On that basis the loss in this class alone would amountto about 2, 000, 000 tons. If we add to this the total loss duringFebruary, 1917, and an approximate figure representing the loss ofvessels under 1, 600 tons and of fishing vessels, it is safe to assumethat the total loss suffered by the British merchant marine betweenFebruary 1, 1917, and July 29, 1917, was about 2, 650, 000 tons. On June 30, 1917, the German admiralty claimed that since thebeginning of the war more than 5, 500, 000 tons of shipping availablefor Great Britain's supply of food, munitions, and materials had beendestroyed up to June 1, 1917, and that, on that date, there wasavailable for this purpose from all sources only about 4, 500, 000 tonswhich, it was claimed, could be destroyed at the rate of from 800, 000to 1, 000, 000 tons a month. Of the other Allied countries only France supplied from time to timedefinite figures. During February, March, and April, 1917, seventeenFrench vessels were sunk while nine others were attacked, but escaped. During May, 1917, twenty-eight French vessels were attacked. Of theseeighteen escaped and ten were sunk. In June, 1917, fourteen Frenchboats were sunk and twenty escaped. During the early part of July, 1917, two more French steamers were reported sunk having a tonnage ofalmost 10, 000. On June 22, 1917, a debate in the French Chamber ofDeputies developed the fact that the French merchant fleet was2, 500, 000 tons at the beginning of the war and since that time hadlost 560, 000 tons, 460, 000 by acts of war. During the same period680, 000 tons had been built or bought and another 140, 000 was on thestocks, so that the fleet was actually greater now than before thewar. The grand total of submarine operations during February, 1917, according to figures compiled by the British admiralty, showed thefollowing results: Number of ships sunk--British, 110; American, 2; other belligerents, 20; neutrals, 51. Total tonnage destroyed--British, 316, 204; American, 3, 322; otherbelligerents, 44, 272; neutrals, 93, 019. Grand total February 1-28, 456, 817 tons. On the other hand the German admiralty made the following officialannouncement on March 19, 1917; "In February 368 merchant ships of anaggregate gross tonnage of 781, 500 were lost by the war measures ofthe Central Powers. Among them were 292 hostile ships, with anaggregate gross tonnage of 644, 000 and seventy-six neutral ships of anaggregate gross tonnage of 137, 500. " The State Department in Washington on April 10, 1917, gave out thefollowing official figures regarding neutral losses inflicted bysubmarines: "Information has been received by the department that since thebeginning of the war, including April 3, a total of 686 vessels havebeen sunk by German submarines, as follows: Norwegian, 410; Swedish, 111; Dutch, 61; Greek, 50; Spanish, 33; American, 10; Peruvian, 1;Argentine, 1; total, 686. Neutral vessels attacked and escaped:Norwegian, 32; Swedish, 9; Danish, 5; Greek, 8; Spanish, 2; Argentine, 1; Brazilian, 1; American, 8; total, 66. " On May 8, 1917, a debate in the Reichstag brought out the fact thatthe German admiralty claimed to have sunk during February, March, andApril, 1917, 1, 325 vessels of all sizes and nationalities with atonnage of 2, 800, 000. Denmark on May 22, 1917, announced that since the beginning of the war150 ships had been lost and 210 Danish seamen had perished. On May 28, 1917, the Athens newspaper "Patris" printed a list of 102Greek ships of a total tonnage of 300, 000 which had been sunk bysubmarines, leaving 149 Greek ships with a displacement of 500, 000tons still afloat. Norway during March, 1917, lost sixty-four ships, during April, 1917, seventy-five; and during May, 1917, forty-nine. On June 25, 1917, it was announced that from the beginning of the warup to that date Norway had lost 572 vessels of 815, 000 tons, 431 ofthese of 680, 000 tons being steamers. This made Norway by far theheaviest loser among all neutrals. From all various sources it appears that the total tonnage sunk duringthe six months from February 1, 1917, to July 31, 1917, amounted tosomewhere between five and six millions. Of course the submarine fleet of the Central Powers suffered severelosses during the six months' period, February to August, 1917. Themeans employed to put submarines out of business were manifold. Largeflotillas of small but swift patrol boats, squadrons of destroyers, guns mounted forward and aft on merchantmen, dragnets, mine fields, and last but not least aeroplanes, all contributed their share towardthe combating of submarine warfare. Just how many submarines have beensunk or captured is not even approximately known. From goodauthorities, however, it appears that the Germans up to now have beenable to put new submarines into commission at a greater rate than theAllies have been able to maintain in destroying them. Only one case of a submarine fighting and destroying another submarinebecame known. This occurred on June 2, 1917, when a French submarinesank a hostile submarine just as it was sailing out of the harbor ofCattaro on the Dalmatian (Austro-Hungarian) coast of the Adriatic Sea. CHAPTER C NAVAL OPERATIONS The principal feature of naval warfare, aside from that conducted byand against submarines, was the absence of major engagements. Suchengagements as occurred were of a minor nature and confined tomeetings between patrol units or to local raids. On February 25, 1917, German destroyers bombarded Broadstairs andMargate on the English coast. Two deaths but no material damageresulted. About the same time it was announced that on February 15, 1917, aBritish cruiser had fought a successful engagement against threeGerman raiders off the coast of Brazil, damaging two of them. Thethird escaped. Not until March 22, 1917, did the German Government announce that theraider _Moewe_ had returned to her home port from a very successfulsecond raiding trip in the Atlantic Ocean which had yieldedtwenty-seven captured vessels, most of which of course had been sunk. Still another German raider was heard of on March 30, 1917. On thatday the French bark _Cambronne_ arrived at the Brazilian port of Riode Janeiro, having on board the crews of eleven vessels which had beencaptured and sunk by the raider. The latter was said to have been theformer American bark _Pass of Balmaha_ which had been captured by theGermans in August, 1915, and at that time had been taken intoCuxhaven. She had been renamed _Seeadler_ and was a three-master ofabout 2, 800 tons, square rigged, with a speed of about twelve knots, and was equipped with a powerful wireless plant. Her armament was saidto have consisted of two 105-mm. Guns and sixteen machine guns, and acrew of sixty-four men. The boat apparently had left Germany inDecember, 1916, escorted by a submarine, and had successfully evadedthe British patrol, not mounting her guns until she had run theBritish blockade. The eleven ships known to have been sunk by the_Seeadler_ were: _Antonin_, French sailing vessel, 3, 071 tons, owned in Dunkirk; 31 menon board. _British Yeoman_, British sailing vessel, 1, 963 tons, owned inVictoria, B. C. ; 21 men. _Buenos Ayres_, Italian sailing vessel, 1, 811 tons, owned in Naples;21 men. _Charles Gounod_, French sailing vessel, 2, 199 tons, owned in Nantes;24 men. _Dupleix_, French sailing vessel, 2, 206 tons, owned in Nantes; 22 men. _Gladys Royle_, British steamship, 3, 268 tons, owned in Sunderland; 26men. _Horngarth_, British steamship, 3, 609 tons gross, owned in Cardiff;33 men. _Lady Island_ (or _Landy Island_), 4, 500 tons; 25 men. _La Rochefoucauld_, French sailing vessel, 2, 200 tons; owned inNantes; 24 men. _Perce_, British schooner, 364 tons, owned in Halifax; 6 men, 1 woman. _Pinmore_, British sailing vessel, 2, 431 tons, owned in Greenock, 29men. _The Cambronne_, which on her arrival at Rio de Janeiro had on board263 men, had been brought up by the raider on March 7, 1917, in theAtlantic Ocean in latitude 21 south, longitude 7 west, or almost on astraight line with Rio, but twenty-two days east. During March, 1917, the British Government announced an extension ofthe danger area in the North Sea, which affected chiefly the protectedarea off Holland and Denmark. On March 28, 1917, German warships, cruising off the south coast of England, attacked and sank the Britishpatrol boat _Mascot_. On April 8, 1917, an engagement occurred between British boats andGerman destroyers off Zeebrugge on the Belgian coast. One of theGerman destroyers was sunk and another was seriously damaged. Various raids were carried out during April, 1917, against the Englishcoast. On April 21, 1917, six German destroyers attempted an attack onDover. Two of them were sunk by British destroyers. The Germans alsoclaimed to have sunk two British patrol boats. Six days later, onApril 27, 1917, another German destroyer squadron attacked Ramsgate, killing two civilians before they were driven off by land batteries. During another engagement a few days later between British lightcruisers and destroyers and eleven German destroyers off Holland, oneGerman boat was damaged. Both Calais and Dunkirk were bombarded by German destroyers. In theformer town some civilians were killed. As a result of the attack onDunkirk one French destroyer was sunk. On May 10, 1917, a squadron of eleven German destroyers about to sailout of Zeebrugge was attacked by a British naval force and forced backinto the former Belgian harbor, then serving as a German naval base. Two days later, May 12, 1917, the same British force assisted by anair squadron successfully attacked Zeebrugge, destroying two submarinesheds and killing sixty-three persons. During May, 1917, it was also announced that American warships hadarrived safely in British waters and had begun patrol operations inthe North Sea. At about the same time Japanese warships made theirappearance at Marseilles to assist in the war against submarinesoperating off the French coast. On May 15, 1917, Austrian light cruisers operating in the AdriaticSea, sunk fourteen British mine sweepers, torpedoed the British lightcruiser _Dartmouth_, and sunk an Italian destroyer. An engagement occurred between a French and a German torpedo-boatflotilla on May 20, 1917, during which one of the French boats wasdamaged. A few days later British warships bombarded Ostend andZeebrugge. Six German destroyers engaged in a running fight with aBritish squadron, as a result of which one German destroyer was sunkand another damaged. On May 29, 1917, a Russian squadron, operatingalong the Anatolian (south) coast of the Black Sea bombarded fourTurkish-Armenian ports and destroyed 147 sailing vessels carryingsupplies. Thirteen Bulgarian ships successfully bombarded the Greek port ofKavala, then occupied by Allied forces. Fort Saliff on the Red Sea was captured by British warships. FortSaliff is a Turkish fortress on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. Nothing of importance happened during June, 1917. Early in July, 1917, a German submarine bombarded Ponta Delgada in theAzores, but was beaten off by ships lying in the harbor, including anAmerican transport. On July 17, 1917, it was announced that British destroyers hadattacked a flotilla of German merchant ships on their way from theDutch port of Rotterdam to Germany, sinking four and capturing fourothers. Mines, submarines, and explosions also made inroads on the navalestablishments of the various belligerents. During February, 1917, theRussian cruiser _Rurik_ was damaged by a mine in the Gulf of Finland. On February 28, 1917, a French torpedo destroyer was sunk by asubmarine in the Mediterranean. On March 19, 1917, the French warship _Danton_ was torpedoed in theMediterranean, 296 of her crew having perished. A mine was responsible for the sinking of a British destroyer on May4, 1917, causing the loss of one officer and sixty-one men. Mines also were responsible for the sinking of the French armoredcruiser _Kleber_ off Point St. Mathieu on June 27, 1917, with a lossof thirty-eight men, of a British destroyer and of a German torpedoboat in the North Sea, and, on June 30, 1917, of a Russian torpedoboat in the Black Sea. A torpedo sent the British auxiliary cruiser _Hilary_ to the bottom ofthe North Sea with the loss of four men, while a collision was thecause of the loss of a British torpedo boat. On July 9, 1917, the British battleship _Vanguard_ of the dreadnoughtclass, 19, 250 tons, was destroyed by an internal explosion while atanchor in a British port. According to figures compiled by the New York "Times" the naval lossesat the end of the third year of the war (August 1, 1917) had reachedapproximately the following figures: Allied navies, 120 ships with atotal tonnage of 662, 715; Central Powers, 122 ships with a totaltonnage of 387, 911. PART XIII--WAR IN THE AIR CHAPTER CI AERIAL WARFARE As the war progressed the use of aeroplanes of all kinds became moreand more extensive. This was due chiefly to the wonderful progresswhich had been made in aeronautics, the full story of which will notbe told until the end of the war has come. Not only have aeroplanes, since the beginning of the war, become safer, but they have alsobecome marvelously swifter and more powerful. As this is being writtennews comes from Washington that some recently imported very big andpowerful Italian aeroplanes have made successfully a flight fromNewport News to the Federal capital--a distance of some 150 miles--atthe rate of 135 miles per hour and carrying ten passengers. This istypical of the recent development in the science of flying. The result of this development has been the more varied uses to whichaeroplanes are now being put. Not only do they continue to act asobservers of hostile positions and movements and as guides toartillery operations, but they have also come into vogue as offensiveweapons. With increased carrying capacity and extended radius ofaction it has become possible to utilize aeroplanes extensively forthe bombardment of important positions or localities far behindhostile lines. Even for the purpose of hunting down and destroyingsubmarines aeroplanes are being used to-day, and frequently theycooperate with naval forces in strictly offensive operations. The six months' period covering February, 1917 to August, 1917, therefore, shows the greatest activity of the various aerial forcessince the beginning of the war. On the other hand there has been agreater lack of news and an extreme scarcity of details concerningaerial operations than ever before. However, in spite of this lattercondition, it is possible to state that aeroplanes were used morefrequently and more extensively than ever before on all fronts, especially the western front. From such reports as are available itappears that the combined English and French aerial forces have becomesuperior, both in number and in efficiency, to those of Germany. Thelatter, however, have maintained a remarkably high standard. It is impossible from the reports which are available to give anythinglike a complete history of aerial warfare during the period fromFebruary to August, 1917. Throughout February, 1917, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Austrian aeroplanes were extensivelyemployed wherever and whenever conditions permitted. Furnes inFlanders was one of the places frequently bombed by German aeroplanes, while British planes with even greater frequency visited the harbor ofBruges (Zeebrugge) where heavy damage was inflicted on German torpedoboats, docks, and railway lines. Zeebrugge is the German submarinebase in Belgium. On February 10, 1917, aeroplanes were especially active on the westernfront. German machines unsuccessfully attacked Nancy and Pont St. Vincent. During the same night French air squadrons visited manyplaces in Lorraine and bombed factories at Hauts Fourreaux, La Sarre, Hagodange, Esch, and Mezières-les-Metz. A fire was caused in theneighborhood of the Arnaville station. The aviation ground at Colmarand the fort of Zeebrugge were likewise bombarded. February 13, 1917, was an especially active day for Russian aeroplaneson the eastern front. They dropped bombs on the Povursk railwaystation, east of Kovel, and on the depots north of the Povurskstation. Bombs were dropped on the station at Rodenrois, east of Riga;on the little town of Lihinhof, in the vicinity of Friedrichstadt; onValeika, the village of Sviatica, north of Vygonov Lake, south ofKiselin; on Radzivilov, and in the regions south of Brody. On the same day French and German aviators were busily attacking manyplaces on the western front. A German aviator dropped bombs onDunkirk. There were no victims and no damage was done. In the vicinityof Pompey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, bombs were dropped. Two civilians werekilled and two were wounded. Nancy, too, was visited. During the nightFrench air squadrons dropped projectiles on aviation grounds atEtreillers (Aisne), and Rancourt (Somme), on the railway stations atAthies, Hombleux, Voyenne, Curchy, St. Quentin, and Ham; and also onmanufactories east of Tergnier, where several explosions occurred. Similar activities were reported almost daily, and of courseobservation flights were made continuously by the aerial forces of allthe belligerents. On February 25, 1917, a French dirigible was shot down by Germanantiaircraft guns near Weelferdingen, west of Saargemund, in Lorraine. It was completely destroyed and its entire crew of fourteen perished. On February 28, 1917, the German admiralty made the followingannouncement: "In the northern Ægean Sea a German seaplane successfully droppedbombs on a hostile transport. Notwithstanding the fact that it wasfired on by artillery and pursued by two enemy aeroplanes, theseaplane returned safely. " This well illustrates the superiority which aeroplanes had achievedwhen they could, far from their base, successfully attack steamshipsguarded in every possible way. During the great advance of the Allied troops in France in March, 1917, unusual activity in the air played an important part. This wasespecially the case on March 17, 1917, when the British eitherdestroyed or damaged sixteen German planes, the French ten, and theGermans accounted for a total of twenty-two British and Frenchmachines. At this time aeroplanes were active not only inreconnaissance work, but even attacked with bombs and machine gunssmaller units of the retreating Germans. The British official reportcovering March 18, 1917, for instance, contains the following passage:"Our aeroplanes did much valuable work yesterday in cooperation withour infantry. Enemy troops were engaged successfully with machineguns, and bombs were dropped on a number of places behind the enemylines, " while the French report says: "During the evening of March 17and the following night a French air squadron bombarded the factoriesand blast furnaces at Thionville and in the Briey Valley, as well ascertain convoys of enemy troops which were marching in the region ofGuiscard. " The same kind of aerial activity was an almost daily occurrence duringApril, 1917. The last days of that month, however, were red-letterdays for military aeronautics. On April 29, 1917, the British claimedto have winged twenty German machines, while the Germans stated thatthey had shot down during April 28 and 29, 1917, a total ofthirty-four British and French planes. Again on May 7, 1917, the British accounted for fifteen Germanmachines, while the French claimed to have brought down during theweek May 1 to 7, 1917, seventy-six German aeroplanes, of whichtwenty-five were known to have been destroyed. During the last days of May, 1917, Allied aeroplanes were especiallyactive in Belgium. On May 26 and 30, 1917, Hest, Blankenberghe, Zeebrugge, and Ghent were attacked and considerable damage wasinflicted on railway stations, docks, and other buildings of militaryvalue. Again on June 4, 1917, British aeroplanes attacked and severelydamaged German vessels in Zeebrugge. French airmen were busy, too, in June, 1917. The French War Office onJune 21, 1917 published the following statement covering theiractivities: "Fourteen aeroplanes and a German captive balloon were destroyed onour front in the period from June 8 to 20. Eleven of these machineswere brought down by our pilots during aerial combats, and three ofthem by the fire of our machine or antiaircraft guns. In addition, seven enemy machines seriously damaged fell in our lines. "In the same period our squadrons effected numerous sorties. Theybombarded notably the railroad station at Bensdorf, factories atHayatge-Jesuf at Moyeuvre, blast furnaces at Burbach and in the SaarValley, railroad stations at Bethienville, Châtelet-sur-Retourne, Bethel, Mezières, Charleville, and Molshelm; the bivouacs in SuippesValley, and munitions depots in the region of Laon, etc. Thirteenthousand kilograms of projectiles were dropped during the expeditions, which caused serious damage to enemy establishments. " British, French, and German air squadrons continued their activitiesthroughout June and July, 1917. July 12, 1917, was particularlysuccessful for the British airmen, who claimed to have brought downnear Ypres thirty-one German planes without loss to their own forces. On the Russian and Italian fronts and in the Balkans and the Near Eastaerial activities were slightly fewer and less extensive than on thewestern, due to the difference in conditions, such as the greaterscarcity of machines and the greater distance from the source ofsupplies. A novel use of aeroplanes was made after the entrance of the UnitedStates into the war. On April 4, 1917, it was stated that British andFrench aviators dropped large numbers of German translations ofPresident Wilson's war message over the German lines and Italianaviators did the same over the Austrian lines. On a few occasions aircraft violated the neutrality of countriesadjoining belligerent territory. In one case a French aeroplanedropped bombs on a Swiss town. A prompt and complete apology on thepart of the French Government followed. On March 13, 1917, Dutchtroops shot down a German plane which had flown over Sluis in Holland, ten miles northeast of Burges. Before they could capture the aviator, he succeeded in restarting his machine and in making his escape tothe German lines. On June 1, 1917, a Zeppelin appeared first overSwedish territory near Malmö and then over Danish territory south ofCopenhagen. Swedish torpedo boats and Danish troops fired on itsuccessively and it quickly disappeared in a southerly direction. One remarkable enterprise of Russian airmen was reported officially onApril 3, 1917, from Petrograd and deserves, on account of its highlyadventurous nature, detailed repetition. The statement read: "On theBlack Sea on March 27, 1917, during a raid by our seaplanes on Derkas, one of them was hit by the enemy. The petrol tank being punctured, themachine was compelled to descend. "The aviators, Lieutenant Sergeev and Sublieutenant Thur, seeing aTurkish schooner, attacked it by opening machine-gun fire. The crewthereupon left the schooner. Our aviators, having sunk their machineafter taking from it the compass, machine gun, and valuablebelongings, boarded the schooner and set sail for our shores. "They encountered a heavy storm during their adventure, but arrivedwith the schooner at the Duarlidatch Peninsula, west of Perekop, onSunday. From this place our aviators returned to Sebastopol on atorpedo boat. The only provisions available on the schooner consistedof a few pieces of bread and a little fresh water. " Naturally interest in the activities of American airmen in the Frenchservice continued unabated. They continued to cover themselves withglory. During the second half of May, 1917, members of the LafayetteEscadrille engaged in twenty-five combats with German machines. Adjutant Raoul Lufbery was engaged five times, Sergeant WillisHaviland (Minneapolis) twice, Sergeant Dovell three times, CorporalThomas Hewitt (New York) twice, and Corporal Kenneth Marr (SanFrancisco) twice. As a result of these activities an official report announced thedecoration of Adjutant Lufbery with the Military Medal by the King ofEngland, and cited the meritorious conduct of this aviator and also ofSergeant Haviland, Sergeant Charles Johnson (St. Louis), andLieutenant William Thaw (Pittsburgh). In June, 1917, the American aviators flying under the French flagwere even more active. In the short period from June 10 to 16, 1917, they made fifty-four patrol flights and fought nine air battles, ofwhich Adjutant Raoul Lufbery, Edwin Parsons, and Sergeant RobertSoubiran each fought two, and Stephen Bigelow, Sergeant Walter Lowelland Thomas Hewitt each fought one. Unfortunately death claimed two American flyers. On April 16, 1917, Pilot Edmond C. C. Genet of Ossining, N. Y. , was killed during a fightwith a German aeroplane over French territory. Genet was twenty yearsold and was the great-great-great-grandson of Governor Clinton and thegreat-great-grandson of Citizen Genet, who was French Minister in thedays of Washington. He had originally fought in the Foreign Legion, but had later been transferred to the aviation service. In March, 1917, Sergeant J. R. McConnell, also a member of theEscadrille, had been killed in action. On May 24, 1917, it wasannounced that the commander of the Escadrille, Captain de Laage ofthe French army, had been killed while flying near Ham on the Sommefront. Another death of interest to this country and caused by aerialoperations was that of H. E. M. Suckley of Rhinebeck, N. Y. , who wasin charge of a unit of the American Ambulance Field Service. He waswounded while on duty near Saloniki by an aeroplane bomb and died thefollowing day. He was thirty years old and had been with the AmbulanceService almost from the beginning of the war, first in the Vosges, then at Pont-à-Mousson, and finally with General Sarrail's army. Regarding the losses suffered by the various aerial forces, authenticinformation available is very scant and incomplete. Up to February 1, 1917, the Germans claimed to have destroyed 1, 002 Allied aeroplanesand to have put out of commission a total of 1, 700, valued at$12, 500, 000. During April, 1917, according to the London "Times, " atotal of 714 machines was brought down on the western front. Thesewere distributed as follows: German machines, 366; British, 147;French and Belgian, 201. Of the 366 German aeroplanes brought down 269fell to the British, ninety-five to the French, and two to theBelgians. British airmen accounted for 263 German aeroplanes andantiaircraft gunners for six. On the other hand the Germans admittedthe loss of only seventy-four machines, but claimed to have broughtdown 362 Allied aeroplanes and twenty-nine captive balloons. During May, 1917, according to London newspapers, 713 aeroplanes werebrought down on the western front. Of these 442 were said to have beenGerman and 271 French and British. CHAPTER CII AIR RAIDS The second phase of aerial warfare was represented by the raidscarried out by the various belligerents over enemy territory at aconsiderable distance from the actual theaters of war. In theseoperations the Germans, as in the past, were the most active andEngland was the greatest sufferer. But unlike their previous custom, the Germans, during the period from February to August, 1917, usedaeroplanes more frequently than Zeppelins. On February 25, 1917, British naval aeroplanes raided iron-works nearSaarbrücken in Rhenish Prussia, about fifty miles beyond the border. On March 1, 1917, one German plane bombed Broadstairs, an Englishwatering place on the island of Thanet off the Kentish coast. During the night of March 4-5, 1917, French aeroplanes bombedFreiburg-im-Breisgau (Black Forest) and Kehl near Strassburg. German airships bombed the southeastern counties of England during thenight of March 16-17, 1917. Margate was attacked by a German seaplaneat the same time. One of the Zeppelins was brought down later byFrench antiaircraft guns near Compiègne, northeast of Paris, itsentire crew being killed. A French aeroplane bombed Frankfort-on-the-Main on March 17, 1917, causing only little damage. On April 5, 1917, a German aeroplane again bombed the Kentish coasttown without causing any damage. Freiburg-im-Breisgau was once more the object of an attack by Englishaeroplanes, made, as announced later, in reprisal for the torpedoingof British hospital ships. Ten civilians and one soldier were killed, and twenty-seven civilians, mostly women and children, wounded. Threeof the British aeroplanes were shot down. Considerable damage topublic buildings was caused. On May 5, 1917, Odessa, the Russian port on the north shore of theBlack Sea, was visited for the first time by a German aeroplane. On May 14, 1917, British naval forces detected a Zeppelin in the actof approaching the English coast. The alarm was given immediately anda squadron of British seaplanes was sent after the invader. The firefrom the machine gun of one of these soon reached the big airship, andbefore long the latter was seen to burst into flames and disappeared. During the night of May 23, 1917, four or five Zeppelins appeared overEast Anglia and penetrated some distance inland. Bombs were dropped ina number of country districts. One man was killed, but otherwise thedamage was negligible. Two days later, May 25, 1917, early in the evening, seventeenaeroplanes appeared over Folkestone on the southeast coast of England. They dropped about fifty bombs. As a result seventy-six persons werekilled and 174 injured, most of them civilians, and a large percentageof these women and children. The returning German aeroplanes werepursued by machines of the British Naval Air Service from Dunkirk andattacked. Three German machines were shot down. Again on June 5, 1917, sixteen German aeroplanes appeared over Essexand the Medway. They succeeded in dropping a large number of bombswhich caused two casualties and considerable material damage andinjured twenty-nine persons before antiaircraft guns and Britishplanes drove them off. At least four German machines were shot down. On June 11, 1917, a British patrol boat sighted five Germanaeroplanes off Dover. Attacking them at once, the British craftdestroyed two of the machines and captured their pilots. The remainingthree German machines fled. At noon of June 13, 1917, London was subjected to the most extensiveand destructive raid in its experience. In the middle of a beautifulsummer day fifteen German aeroplanes appeared over London anddispatched their death-dealing burden of explosives on England'scapital; 157 men, women, and children were killed, and 432 injured. Considerable material damage was caused, although the raid lasted onlyfifteen minutes. All but one of the German planes escaped. The EastEnd, London's tenement district, inhabited chiefly by the poor, wasthe principal sufferer. On the same day British naval forces attacked and brought down aZeppelin in the North Sea. The airship was a total loss and apparentlythe entire crew perished. On June 16, 1917, two Zeppelins attacked the East Anglian and Kentishcoast. Considerable damage was done by the bombs dropped. Three deathsand injuries to about twenty people resulted. A British aeroplanesucceeded in bringing down one of the Zeppelins, which, with its crew, was destroyed completely. Three times in July, 1917, German aeroplane squadrons appeared inEngland. On July 4, 1917, about twelve attacked Harwich, a port inEssex; two of the planes were shot down, but not until the attackershad inflicted considerable damage, killed eleven people and injuredthirty-six. Three days later, July 7, 1917, twenty aeroplanes bombedLondon, forty-three people were killed and 197 injured, while three ofthe German planes were destroyed. Again on July 22, 1917, fifteen totwenty German aeroplanes reached the English coast. Felixstowe andHarwich were raided. Eleven persons were killed and twenty-sixinjured. On the way back to their base one of the German planes wasbrought down off the Belgian coast. During the third year of the war, that is from August, 1916, toAugust, 1917, air attacks on England caused death to 393 people andinjuries to 1, 174, according to figures compiled by the New York"Times. " The same source claims that from the beginning of the war upto August 1, 1917, or during a period of practically three years, 751people were killed and 2, 007 injured in England as a result of Germanair raids, of which there were officially recorded eighteen in 1915, twenty-two in 1916, and eleven in the first seven months of 1917. A fitting end to this chapter is the record of the deaths at the ageof seventy-nine of the Zeppelin's inventor, Count Ferdinand vonZeppelin, which occurred at Charlottenburg on March 8, 1917, as aresult of an attack of pneumonia. INDEX Abyssinia, Italian defeat in, I, 192 Adige River, fighting along, V, 280 Adige Valley, operations in, VI, 460 Admiral Sims, commanding American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357 Aerial combats, number of, V, 426 Aerial maneuvering, French, IV, 55 Aerial raids, VI, 492 Aerodromes, attacks on, IV, 473 Aerodromes, German, IV, 470 Aeroplane attack by Germans on Lemnos, VI, 169 Aeroplane coast battle, IV, 471 Aeroplanes, losses in, VI, 255 Aeroplanes, number of, V, 420 Aeroplanes, western front, VI, 486 Aeroplanes and submarines, I, 23 Aeroplane warfare, VI, 168-181 Aeroplane warfare on submarines, V, 414 Africa, British possessions in, I, 181 African coast, operations on, III, 493 Agadir, I, 140 Agar Khan, III, 24 Aircraft, losses in, IV, 479; VI, 51 Air fighting, strategy and tactics of, IV, 459 Air fights along the Somme, VI, 50 Air raids on England, IV, 16 Air raids on Paris, IV, 19 Aisne, battle of, II, 130-135 Aisne, counterattacks on the, VI, 248 Alaska, garrisons in, I, 11 Albania, Austrian advance, IV, 336 Albania, Serbian retreat, IV, 303 Albania, withdrawal of Serbian forces from, IV, 337 Albanian uprising, I, 247 Albanians, racial characteristics, I, 220 _Alcantara_, merchantman, V, 59 Alexander II, assassination, I, 152 Alexander III and France, I, 152 Alexandretta, III, 503 Alexiev, General, commander in chief Russian army, VI, 429 _Algonquin_, sinking of, by German submarine, VI, 317 Allenstein, capture of, II, 437 Allied aviators, work of, V, 421 Allied commands in Champagne, IV, 80 Allied demands on Greece, V, 224-227 Allied nations, policy of, I, 105 Allied offensive, March, 1915, IV, 45 Allied raid, Houlthulst Forest, IV, 56 Allies, withdrawal of, into Greece, IV, 308 Alsace, French in, IV, 40 Alsace-Lorraine, conditions in, I, 138 Alsace and Lorraine, campaign in, II, 38-45 Altkirch, capture of, IV, 40 American airmen in France, VI, 490 American army, I, 11 American aviators, VI, 181, 490 American citizens, rights of, defended by President Wilson, IV, 503 American Commission to Russia, VI, 416 American Congress, resolution on sinking armed merchantmen, IV, 502 American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357 American expedition in France, VI, 357 American Government's assertion of neutral rights at sea, IV, 480 American merchant marine, VI, 476 American navy, strength of, I, 11 American navy, work of, in foreign waters, VI, 357 American negotiations over _Ancona_ sinking, IV, 490-496 American note to Austria on _Ancona_ issue, character of, IV, 492 American war preparations, VI, 328 American Prussian treaties, VI, 298 American response to German note on _Sussex_, V, 458 American second note on _Ancona_ issue, IV, 494 American training camp in France, VI, 361 American troops, transportation of, to France, VI, 358 American vessels sunk, VI, 202 American warships in European waters, VI, 482 Anafarta Ridge, attack on, IV, 352 _Ancona_, destruction of, IV, 490 _Ancona_, yielding of Austria-Hungary on issue, IV, 494 Ancre, British gains in, VI, 223 Anglo-American trade balance, V, 52 Anglo-Chinese conference, I, 184 Anglo-French agreement, I, 136 Anglo-Russian agreement, I, 136 Anti-Catholic movement in France, I, 163 Anti-Serbian riots, I, 260 Antwerp, Belgian withdrawal to, IV, 40 Antwerp, fall of, II, 167 Anzacs, heroism of, III, 460, 462 _Appam_, capture of, IV, 160 _Arabic_, sinking of, IV, 150, 480-490 _Arabic_, German version, IV, 483 Arabs, assistance given British in Mesopotamia, IV, 423 Arabs, confederation of, IV, 429 Arbitration, failure of, I, 14 Archibald papers, V, 11 Area of British Empire, I, 286 Area of France, I, 286 Area of German Empire, I, 286 Area of Russia, I, 286 Argechu River, VI, 117 Argonne, activity in, III, 158 Argonne, campaign in, II, 193-194 Argonne Forest, fighting in, IV, 48 Argonne, German attacks in, in September, 1915, IV, 55 Argonne, operations in, V, 375 _Argyll_, loss of, IV, 154 Armed-merchantman resolution, final form of, in Congress, V, 439 Armed-merchantmen resolutions, debate in Congress, V, 434-435 Armed neutrality, address of President Wilson, VI, 304 Armed-shipping resolution in Congress, V, 436 Armenian atrocities, III, 472 Armenians, massacre of, IV, 378 Army, American, strength of, I, 11 Arras, Canadian victories at, VI, 56 Arras, fourth blow by Haig, VI, 256 Arras, operations around, IV, 127 Arras, operations around, VI, 39 Arras, second phase of, VI, 249 Artillery, II, 366 Artillery activity on the western front in September, 1915, IV, 55 Artois, British successes in, IV, 85 Artois, fighting in, III, 121-128 Artois, French campaign in, IV, 85 Artois sector, V, 373 Asia Minor, Germany in, I, 50 Asiago, Austrian advance, V, 256 Asiatic Turkey, disorders in, IV, 377 Asphyxiation from gas, I, 53 Assassination of crown prince, Austrian report on, I, 350 Athens, street fighting in, VI, 147 Atkutur, battle at, III, 474 Aubers Ridge, attacks on, III, 128 Augustovo, Battle of, II, 444 Ausgleich, I, 146 Australians at Suvla Bay, IV, 356 Australian troops at Pozières, V, 409 Austria and Prussia, I, 127 Austria-Hungary, American relations with, VI, 328 Austria-Hungary, area of, I, 286 Austria-Hungary, explanation of sinking of _Ancona_, IV, 465 Austria-Hungary, position of, I, 142 Austria-Hungary, request for recall of Dr. Dumba, V, 10 Austrian air attacks on Italian cities, V. 291 Austrian army, I, 309 Austrian armies in Poland and Galicia, command of, IV, 181 Austrian army in Serbia, IV, 259 Austrian and Balkan nationality, I, 258-259 Austrian captures of Durazzo, IV, 338 Austrian note, July 27, 1914, I, 270 Austrian counterattack, repulsed by Italians, V, 269 Austrian defenses in Alps, IV, 394 Austrian demands on Serbia, I, 261-265 Austrian fleet in the Danube, VI, 97 Austrian forces along the Italian front, increase of, V, 245 Austrian-Italian aviators, V, 428 Austrian-Italian front, V, 229 Austrian losses at Lutsk, V, 159 Austrian losses in Serbia, II, 343 Austrian naval strength, II, 206 Austrian note to Serbia, I, 261 Austrian offensive in Trentino, V, 246 Austrian offensive in Trentino, increase of, V, 235 Austrian offensive in Volhynia, V, 138 Austrian press, accusations, I, 353 Austrian proposals to Rumania, III, 377 Austrian raids on Italian coast, III, 394 Austrian rupture with the United States, VI, 328 Austrian squadron shells Italian coast cities, IV, 168 Austro-German capture of Bucharest, VI, 119 Austro-Hungarians defeated near Kuty, V, 190 Austro-German invasion of Serbia, IV, 263 Austro-German resistance to the Russians, VI, 73 Austro-Hungarian press, I, 351 Austro-Hungarian reply to _Ancona_ note, IV, 492 Austro-Italian line, V, 233, 234 Austro-Russian front, III, 236 Austro-Russian operations, resumption of, V, 133-141 Aviators, loss among, V, 425-426 Avlona, battle between Austrians and Italians near, V, 220 Avlona, Italians at, IV, 327 Avocourt Wood, German occupation of, V, 351 Aylmer, General, IV, 446 Azerbayan, failures in, III, 477 Babuna Pass, resistance of Serbians, IV, 283 Bagdad, British at, IV, 419-425 Bagdad, expedition against, I, 62 Bagdad, Russian advance, V, 330 Baiburt, capture of, by Russians, V, 337 Balfour, Arthur J. , reply to Churchill, V, 61 Balkan League, I, 248 Balkans, conditions in, 1916, V, 212 Balkans, countries, II, 275-286 Balkans, diplomacy in, I, 59 Balkans, summary of first year's conditions, IV, 255 Baltic Sea, operations in, III, 191 Ban-de-Sapt, attacks on, III, 164 Bapaume, capture of, VI, 232 Basra, capture of, II, 508 Battle cruisers, British, lost in Jutland naval battle, V, 90-91 Battle cruisers, importance of, I, 21 Battle line on eastern front, II, 262 Battle line on the eastern front in the spring of 1916, V, 116 Battleships and fortifications, I, 24 Battleships, advantages of, I, 21 Battleships at Jutland battle, V, 80 Bavarians, bravery of, at Eaucourt, VI, 30 Beatty, Admiral, movements at Jutland naval battle, V, 75-78 Beaucourt, attacks on, VI, 218 Beaumont, abandonment of, by French, IV, 142 Belgian coast, bombardment of, by British fleet, IV, 60, 112 Belgian neutrality, I, 276 Belgian neutrality, unity of powers, I, 476 Belgian territory, alleged violation of, I, 283 Belgian envoys, visit of, to United States, VI, 352 Belgian withdrawal, IV, 40 Belgium, American lessons from, I, 12 Belgium appealed to powers guaranteeing neutrality, I, 384 Belgium, area of, I, 287 Belgium, location of, I, 197 Belgium, attacks in, July, VI, 279 Belgium, German attacks on the French lines in, VI, 250 Belgium, operations in, VI, 61 Belgium, German proposals to, I, 281 Belgrade, bombardment of, IV, 265 Belgrade, capture of, II, 347, 353 Belgrade, riot following assassination of crown prince, I, 346 Benckendorff, A. , I, 320 Berchtold, L. , I, 324 Berlin, Treaty of, I, 228 Bernhardi, I, 83 Bertie, Sir Francis, I, 317 Bethlehem, efforts to start munition strikes in, V, 9 Bethmann-Hollweg, I, 323 Bethmann-Hollweg, circular letter to powers, I, 368 Bethmann-Hollweg's statement in Reichstag, I, 498 Beyers, General, III, 70 Bieberstein, Marshal von, II, 496 Bight, Battle of, II, 208 Bismarck Archipelago, II, 243 Bismarck, growth of power of, I, 127 Bismarck, retirement of, I, 134 Bitlis, massacre at, IV, 378 Bitlis, occupation of, by Russians, V, 293 Blockade against Germany, III, 181 _Blücher_, sinking of, II, 255 Bolimow, fighting around, II, 470 Bombs in trenches, I, 74 Bosnia, annexation of, I, 147 Bosnia, fighting in, II, 360 Botha, General, III, 74 Boy-Ed, Karl, activities, V, 14 Brabant, abandonment of, by French, IV, 140 Bregalnitza, battle of, I, 257 _Bremen_, exploits of, VI, 190 Brenta River, fighting along, V, 278 Brescia, bombardment of, IV, 468 Breslau, II, 494 Brest-Litovsk, II, 447 Brest-Litovsk, capture of, IV, 196 Briand, resignation of, I, 170 British in Macedonia, VI, 135 British advance on Arras, VI, 251 British aerodromes, IV, 473 British air raids, IV, 18 British, mobilization of, I, 304 British attack around Lens, IV, 82 British attacks on the Stuff Redoubt, VI, 49 British attacks on Zeebrugge, VI, 482 British cabinet declaration, I, 473 British declaration of war against Germany, I, 283 British East Africa, I, 180 British Empire, area of, I, 286 British expeditionary force, II, 34 British expeditionary force landing in France, IV, 40 British fleet shells Zeebrugge, V, 67 British forces, disposition of, V, 380 British and French offensive, VI, 27 British and French successes, VI, 17 British gains on the Somme, VI, 14 British guns at Gallipoli, IV, 359 British losses at Jutland naval battle, V, 94-98 British losses to 1916, IV, 117 British navy, effect on war, I, 18 British offensive in Artois, IV, 82 British operations south of the Ancre, VI, 39 British policy of isolation, I, 42 British position, August 1, 1915, IV, 46 British position in Persia, IV, 419 British prize court, proceedings, effect of, in United States, V, 32 British raids on the German trenches, VI, 32, 39, 57 British reverses in Belgium, VI, 281 British seizure of ships of American registry, V, 49 British shipping, loss to, IV, 170 British squadron bombards Belgian coast in November, 1915, IV, 112 British statement in regard to Greece, IV, 312-313 British successes in Artois, IV, 85 British successes near Ypres, VI, 264 British at Jutland battle, V, 98-104 British troops on the Ancre, successes of, VI. 224 British troops, suffering of, at Kut-el-Amara, V, 320 British use of tanks, VI, 21 Brody, battle near, IV, 204 Bruges, occupation of, II, 168 Brussels, surrender of, II, 31 Brussilov, in Galicia, V, 167 Bryan, William Jennings, connection with peace propaganda, VI, 295 Buchanan, Sir George, interview with Sazonof, I, 376 Bucharest, capture of, VI, 119 Buczacz, capture of, by Russians, V, 160 Bukoba, capture of, III, 494 Bukowina, operations in, IV, 227 Bukowina, Russian occupation, III, 238 Bukowina, Russian reconquest of, V, 162-172 Bulgar attacks on Rumania, VI, 98-102 Bulgaria, after second Balkan war, I, 257 Bulgaria, conditions for neutrality, IV, 257 Bulgaria, position of, III, 370 Bulgarian army, IV, 270 Bulgarian bombardment of Galatz, VI, 121 Bulgarian declaration of war on Serbia, IV, 269 Bulgarian demands, III, 378 Bulgarian movements in Serbia, IV, 305 Bulgarian pursuit of Serbians, IV, 209 Bulgarians cross Greek frontier, V, 221 Bulgarians, defeat of, in November, 1916, VI, 138 Bullecourt, occupation of, VI, 261 Burian, Baron, letter of Ambassador Dumba proposing munition strikes in United States, V, 9 Bzura, battle along, II, 492 Cadorna, General, III, 404 Caillette Wood, German repulse at, V, 354 Calais, air raids on, IV, 24 Calais, bombardment of, by destroyer flotilla, VI, 482 _California_, destruction of, VI, 292 Cambon, J. , I, 328-330 Cameroons campaign, III, 62, 481 Campbell-Bannerman, Sir, I, 185 Canadians at Arras, VI, 56 Canadians' capture of Vimy, VI, 241 Canadians, raids by, VI, 222 Candler, Edmund, description of operations in Mesopotamia, IV, 448 _Canopus_, sinking of, II, 223 Carency, surrender of, III, 125 Carinthian front, bombardment by Italian artillery, V, 230 Carlos I, murder of, I, 204 Carnic Alps, conditions in, V, 289 Carpathian fighting, VI, 91, 442 Carpathian Mountain passes, advance of Russians toward. V, 207 Carpathian Mountains, II, 275 Carpathians, campaign in, III, 235-241 Carso Plateau, attack on, by Italian artillery, VI, 155, 464 Castelnau, General de, II, 43 Catholics, movement against, in France, I, 163 Cattaro, bombardment of, II, 359 Caucasus, campaign in, IV, 380 Caucasus, operations in, III, 9 Caucasus, reasons for Russian offensive against, IV, 382 Caucasus, the, II, 286 Cavell, Edith, case of, IV, 98-101 Central powers, area of, I, 286 Central powers, homogeneity of, I, 291 Central powers, military plans of, I, 33 Central powers, position of, on the eastern front, V, 117-121 Champagne campaign, IV, 62 Champagne, French in, VI, 249 Champagne, German attacks in, March, 1917, VI, 230 Champagne offensive, IV, 61 Charleroi, battle of, II, 54-59; IV, 40 Charles Francis Joseph, Archduke, V, 249 Chemistry in war, I, 11 Chicago meat packers' cases, V, 47 Chino-Russian treaty, I, 154 Church and State, separation of, I, 168 Churchill, Winston Spencer, V, 61 "Circular Note" to powers, I, 270 Citizen soldiery, training of, I, 12 _City of Memphis_, sinking of, VI, 317 Climate in Mesopotamia as a factor in war, IV, 421 Col di Lana, attack on, V, 231 Collo, Italian successes in, IV, 413 Colonial beginnings of Germany, I, 133 Colonial possessions of Great Britain, I, 174 Combes, I, 167 Combles, British attack on, VI, 26 Combles, repulse of German attack on, VI, 18, 25 Concentration camps, VI, 350 Confederation of North German States, I, 128 Congress, American, McLemore resolution in, IV, 505 Congress, opposition of, to President Wilson's policies, VI, 306 Congress, war discussion in, V, 433-438 Constantine of Greece, IV, 341 Constantinople, operations in, IV, 475 Constanza, attacks on, VI, 110 Contalmaison, capture of, V, 397 Cossacks, II, 383 Cossacks, repulse of Turkish troops by, V, 303 Cotes de Meuse, attack at, V, 348 Council of Workingmen and Soldiers, VI, 405-410 Courcelette, capture of, by the British, VI, 23 Courland coast, bombardment of, by Russian torpedo boats, V, 194 Courland, invasion of, III, 337 Courland, operations in, IV, 185 Cracow, attack on, II, 414-416 Craiova, capture of, VI, 114 Craonne, capture of, VI, 256 Craonne, German attacks on, VI, 252 Craonne sector, operations around, July, 1917, VI, 282 Ctesiphon, battle of, IV, 437-443 Cumières, German attempts to retake, V, 347 Curtain of fire, I, 74 Cyril, Grand Duke, II, 486 Czar of Russia, escape from aeroplane bomb, V, 429 Czarina, influence of, VI, 373 Czernowitz, capture of, V, 169 Czernowitz, retreat at, II, 413 Dankl, retreat of, II, 392 Danube, Rumanian raid across the, VI, 102-111 Dardanelles, aeroplanes at, I, 23 Dardanelles campaign, abandonment of, reasons for, IV, 363 Dardanelles, naval attacks, III, 174-179 Dates, important, I, 325-329 Death's Head Hussars, II, 154 Delarey, General, III, 73 Delcassé, Théophile, I, 319 Deniécourt, capture of, VI, 26 Denman, William, controversy with General Goethals, VI, 343 Destroyers, achievements of, I, 17 _Deutschland_, V, 111-112 De Wet, General, III, 70 Diarbekr, struggle for, V, 299-306 Diplomacy in the Balkans, I, 59 Diplomatic exchanges, first, I, 322 Diplomatic papers, I, 313 Disraeli, I, 179 Dixmude, III, 166 Dixmude, British and French attacks at, VI, 287 Dixmude, German attack on, IV, 87 Djemel Pasha, II, 500 Doberdo, operations along, V, 232 Dobrudja, operations in, VI, 101 Dobrudja, situation in, October, 1916, VI, 109, 112 Dolomite district, Italian successes in, IV, 397 Dolomite passes, fighting in, III, 393 Dolomites, operations in, V, 243 Douai, aeroplane attack on, IV, 474 Douaumont, French attempts to retake, V, 363 Douaumont, French recapture of, VI, 34 Douaumont, German attack at, V, 344 _Dresden_, German raider, III, 182 Dreyfus affair, I, 165 Dubno, fortress, capture of, V, 161 Dubno, fortress, strength of, IV, 210-211 Dukla Pass, fighting at, III, 261 Duma, defiance of czar by, VI, 389 Duma, disturbance in, VI, 394 Duma, inability of, to meet crisis, VI, 392 Duma, meeting of, in 1916, VI, 383 Dumba, Dr. , explanation of efforts to V, 9 Dumba, Dr. , recall of, by Austro-Hungarian government, V, 11 Dunajec, battle of, III, 267, 273 Dunkirk, bombardment of, by German destroyers, VI, 482 Durazzo, Austrian capture of, IV, 328 Durazzo, evacuation of, IV, 414 Dvina, crossing, by Russians, VI, 89 Dvina, Russian attempt to cross, VI, 80 Dvinsk, fighting around, IV, 213 Dvinsk, fortress, strength of, IV, 214 Dvinsk, Russian bombardment around, V, 143 _E-13_, British submarine, IV, 153 Eastern battle front, conditions in spring of 1916, V, 116 Eastern front, winter on the, IV, 250-254 Eastern front, winter on the, VI, 93, 121-124 East Prussia, devastation in, winter battles in, III, 313, 317 Eaucourt l'Abbaye, British capture of, VI, 28 Edea, capture of, III, 67 Edward VII, I, 182 Effectiveness, naval, I, 19 Egypt, attack on, III, 15 Egypt, Turkish attack on, III, 507 El Kantara, fighting at, IV, 10 _Emden_, career of, II, 226 _Emden_, story of, III, 193-205 Emmich, General von, II, 18 England, air raids on, IV, 21 England, east coast, attacked by German Zeppelins, II, 460 Enver Pasha, II, 499 Epine de Vedegrange sector, movements in, IV, 68-70 Erzerum, beginning of Russian advance toward, IV, 383 Erzerum, evacuation of, IV, 389 Erzerum, operations around, III, 9 Erzerum, Turkish losses at, IV, 391 Erzerum, Turkish plan for defense of, IV, 387 Erzingan, capture of, by Russians, V, 339 Erzingan, Russian advance, V, 294 Espionage Bill, divisions of, VI, 338 Explosions at Messines, VI, 267 Explosives, quantity of, I, 68 Exports, embargo on, VI, 341 Eydtkuhnen, attack on, III, 317 Falkenhayn, stroke of, VI, 113 Falklands, battle off, II, 230 Fallières, M. , I, 168 Far eastern problem in 1910, I, 140 Farman speed plane, V, 421 Fashoda, I, 166 Faure, Felix, death of, I, 166 Fay, Robert, activities of, V, 15 Federal control for militia, I, 13 Ferdinand, King, decision to join central powers, IV, 257 Festubert, battle of, III, 128-134 Fighting on western front, August, 1915, character of, IV, 47 Finland, disturbances in, I, 156 Fire, curtain of, I, 74 Fire of machine guns, I, 67 First Ontario regiment, III, 143 First year's operations on eastern front, summary of, IV, 174-178 First year's operations on the western front, summary of, IV, 39-46 Fisher, Sir John, V, 61 Flags, neutral use of, III, 173 Flame jets, German use of, on the Somme, VI, 20 Flame projectors, German use of, IV, 58 Flanders, extensive operations in, VI, 286 Flanders sector, operations in, V, 376 Flers, capture of, by British, VI, 23 Fleury, German repulse at, V, 368 Floods on the eastern front, effect of, V, 141 Foch, General, II, 122 Ford peace expedition, V, 53 Ford permanent peace board, V, 55 Foreign policy of Russia, I, 151 Foreign trade of Germany, I, 49 Forges, German occupation of, V, 345 Fortifications, land, and battleships, I, 24 France, declaration of war, I, 281 Francis Ferdinand, assassination of, I, 260 Franco-Bulgarian operations, IV, 317-318 Franco-Prussian War, I, 128-129 Franco-Russian friendship, I, 154 Franz Ferdinand, diplomatic exchanges in regard to assassination, I, 341 Frederick III, accession of, I, 134 French, Sir John, II, 34 French, Sir John, relieved of command, IV, 115 French advance in the Champagne VI, 231 French aerial maneuvering, IV, 55 French and British envoys, visit of, VI, 351 French armies, mobilization of, I, 297-303 French attack on Douaumont, account of, V, 342-344 French attacks in the Vosges in July and August, 1915, IV, 51 French attack on Souchez, IV, 84 French aviators, activity in December, 1915, and January, 1916, IV, 475 French aviators bombard Saarbrücken, IV, 48 French battle plane, V, 429 French campaign in Artois, IV, 46 French colonial expansion, I, 164 French fleet at Kronstadt, I, 154 French General Staff, V, 355 French in Alsace, IV, 40 French indemnity to Germany, I, 130 French in North Africa, I, 136 French influence on Dardanelles campaign, IV, 365 French occupation of Tunis, I, 163 French offensive, VI, 13 French progress in 1917, VI, 248 French strength in 1917, VI, 290 French troops in Serbia, IV, 279 Fresnoy, German success at, VI, 259 Fricourt, British attack upon, V, 393 Galatz, bombardment of, VI, 121 Galicia, operations in, IV, 185 Gallipoli, concentration of Turkish troops at, IV, 357 Gallipoli, conditions in, August, 1915, IV, 345 Gallipoli, landing on, III, 429-469 Gallipoli, Peninsula of, II, 285 Gallipoli, withdrawal from, IV, 366 Garua, capture of, III, 483 Gas, use and effects of, I, 53 Gas attack at Hooge, III, 148 Gastein Alliance, I, 132 George V, accident to, IV, 102-103 Gerard, Ambassador, request for passport from German Government, VI, 297 German achievement in two years of war; statement by Mumm von Schwarzenstein, V, 508-509 German aeroplanes, VI, 488 German airdrome, VI, 170 German and Austrian merchandise prohibited in Italy, IV, 410 German answer to American note on _Sussex_, V, 447 German armies in Poland, IV, 181 German armies, I, 292 German army in Belgium, II, 10 German artillery, II, 264 German attacks at Verdun, VI, 58 German attacks in Rumania, cessation of, VI, 120 German attacks near Dvinsk, V, 184 German capture of Craiova, VI, 114 German casualties in the Somme offensive, VI, 9 German claims of losses by submarines, VI, 478 Germans on the Aisne, VI, 248 German counterattacks on the Somme, VI, 16 Germans before Kovel, V, 178-183 German declaration of intentions toward Belgium, I, 487 German declaration of war, I, 278 German defenses of Messines Ridge, VI, 265 German edict against armed merchantmen, V, 50 German Empire, creation of, I, 130 German forces, disposition of, in the Somme sector, V, 378 German forces in Serbia, IV, 259 German foreign policy, I, 136 German foreign trade, I, 49 German intrigues in Mexico, VI, 312 German invasion of Luxemburg, I, 33 German losses, IV, 79-80 German losses at Jutland, V, 94-98 German losses in Russo-German campaign, II, 482 German merchant ships, V, 60 German naval policy, I, 46 German Navy League, I, 141 German offensive, IV, 79 German plots, in United States, in autumn and winter of 1915, V, 12 German position in 1915, IV, 46 German prisoners, VI, 217 German proposals to Belgium, I, 280 German raiders, damage by, III, 183 German raids on England, VI, 482 German rupture with the United States, VI, 205-216 German Samoa, II, 242 German Southwest Africa, III, 68 German steamers, requisition by Italian government, IV, 412 German submarines, VI, 202 German submarine campaign, IV, 166 German submarine decree on the United States, VI, 291 German submarine war zone, VI, 205 German tactics at Jutland, V, 104 German trenches, raids on, VI, 32 German version of the sinking of the _Arabic_, IV, 484 German vessels interned, VI, 329 Germany yielding to America, V, 451 Germany in Asia Minor, I, 50 Germany, Japanese declaration of war against, I, 284 Germany's declaration of war on Russia, I, 282 Ghent, air raids on, IV, 34 Ginchy, German operations, VI, 16 Givenchy, operations around, III, 187 Gladstone, I, 179 _Goeben_, German cruiser, II, 494 Gore, Senator, V, 436 Goritz bridgehead, V, 231 Goritz, capture of, VI, 149 Goritz, operations around, VI, 466 Gorizia, attacks on, III, 408 Gorringe, General, V, 314 Goschen, Sir Edward, I, 431 Gough, Sir Hubert, VI, 59 Gouraud, General, succeeded by General Sarrail, IV, 52 Government in Russia, VI, 395 Grand Duke Sergius, murder of, I, 157 Great Britain in Persia, I, 185 Greece, attitude of, IV, 280 Greek forces, V, 223 Greek frontier, V, 214 Greek government, attacked by Venizelos, IV, 311 Greek fleet, seizure of, VI, 137 Greek Macedonia, revolt in, VI, 128 Greek provisional government declares war on Germany, VI, 144 Greek troops surrender of, VI, 129 Grévillers, capture of, by British, VI, 230 Grey, Sir Edward, I, 281, 316 Grey, Sir Edward, note to American government, V, 30 Grodno, fall of, IV, 187 Guillemont, British attack on, VI, 12 Haig, Sir Douglas, promoted to commander in chief, VI, 59 Haig, Sir Douglas, succeeds Sir John French, IV, 116 Haldane, R. B. , I, 315 Halicz, battle of, III, 249 Halicz, capture of, by Russians, VI, 437 Hamilton, Sir Ian, plans of, III, 437 Hamilton, Sir Ian, report of Gallipoli operations, IV, 362 _Hampshire_, cruiser, loss of, V, 108 Harrington, German raids on, IV, 149 Hartmannsweilerkopf, III, 115 Hartmannsweilerkopf, IV, 123 Haucourt-Malancourt, V, 351 Haumont, capture of, IV, 137 Herbecourt, capture of, V, 390 Hermannstadt, attack on, VI, 105 Herzegovina, annexation of, I, 147 Hill 304, battle of, V, 361-371 Hill 185, capture of, VI, 229 Hill 304, German attacks on, VI, 61 Hindenburg, General von, II, 439 Hindenburg, Von, offensive, V, 164 Hohenzollern, redoubt, V, 373 "Holy War, " III, 21 Home Rule Bill in Ireland, I, 43 Hooge, operations at, III, 146-151 Hoover, Herbert C, named food administrator, VI, 335 Hostages at Gallipoli, French and British, IV, 359 _Housatonic_, sunk, VI, 292 House of Commons, Sir E. Grey's statement, I, 490 Hulluch, operations around, IV, 92 Humin, battle of, II, 470 Hungarian frontier, VI, 103 _Illinois_, sunk by submarine, VI, 317 Illuxt, Russian offensive near, V, 186 India, Russian invasion of, I, 62 Internal policy of Bismarck, I, 133 Ireland, situation in, I, 43 Irles, capture of by British, VI, 229 Isolation, British, I, 42 Isonzo, battles of, VI, 470 Isonzo front, Italian activity, V, 267 Isonzo frontier, battle on, IV, 394 Isonzo front, operation on, VI, 149 Ispaha, capture of, V, 334 Isvolsky, A. P. , I, 320 Italian aeroplane service, IV, 469 Italian Alpine troops, V, 268 Italian army, strength of, III, 388 Italian cities shelled, IV, 168 Italian front, VI, 452 Italian landing at Avlona, IV, 327 Italian losses, offensive, V, 257 Italian navy, operations of, IV, 168 Italian objective in Istria, IV, 417 Italian offensive, VI, 468-473 Italian retreat in Trentino, V, 253 Italian strategy, III, 382 Italian Third Army, IV, 393 Italian war loans, IV, 411 Italo-Turkish War, I, 195 Italy, neutrality of, I, 281 Ivangorod, capture of, III, 365 Ivangorod, fighting around, II, 458 Jablonica, Russian advance against, V, 206 Jablonitza, evacuation of, by Russians, VI, 75 Jacobstadt, Russian attack on, V, 126 Jagow, von G. , I, 323 Japan and Russia, friendly relations between, V, 61 Japanese declaration of war against Germany, I, 283 Jaroslov, recapture of, II, 411 Jellicoe, Admiral, V, 78-94 Jellicoe, Admiral, report by, V, 90 Jewish persecutions in Russia, I, 153 Joffre, General, II, 38 Joffre, General, IV, 41, 61, 115 Joffre, General, order before Champagne offensive, IV, 61 Joffre, plan of retreat, IV, 41 Judenich, General, IV, 385 Julian front, battles along, VI, 462 Jusserand, J. J. , statement in regard to second anniversary of the war, V, 504 Jutland Bank, battle of, V, 70-108 Jutland, engagement off, IV, 150 Kaiser and King of Belgium, I, 341 Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, I, 135 Kalkfield, capture of, III, 489 Kalusz, capture of, VI, 439 Kantara, aeroplane raid on, V, 431 Kara-Urgau, battle of, III, 12 Kars, attacks on, III, 471 Kasr-i-Shirin, capture of, V, 334 Katshanik Pass, IV, 293 Kerensky, Alexander, assumption of supreme command in Russia, VI, 412 Kermanshah, capture of, V, 332 _Kheyr-ed Din Barbarossa_, IV, 148 Kiao-chau, I, 285 _King Edward VII_, loss of, IV, 164 King Humbert, I, 192 King of Montenegro, IV, 330 Kitchener, Earl, II, 34 Kitchener, Earl, death of, V, 108 Kluck, Von, retreat of, II, 12 Knight, Rear Admiral, I, 17 Kolomea, capture of, V, 192 Königsberg, fighting around, II, 479 Kossovo plain, IV, 297-298 Kovel, resistance near, V, 167 Kovel, Russian attacks on, VI, 86 Kovno, capture of, IV, 183 Koziowa, attacks on, III, 246 Kragujevatz, capture of, IV, 280 Krasnik, battle of, III, 348 Krithia, attacks on, III, 454 _Kronprinz Wilhelm_, cruiser, II, 226 _Kronprinz Wilhelm_, raider, III, 187 Kronstadt, French fleet at, I, 154 Kronstadt, mutiny, VI, 414 Kuropatkin, General, V, 120 Kut-el-Amara, V, 307 Kut-el-Amara, British stand at, IV, 444 Kut-el-Amara, surrender of, III, 502 Kuty, capture of, V, 185 La Bassée, attacks on, II, 178-192 La Boisselle, attack upon, V, 385 Labor Peace Council, organization of, V, 24 Labyrinth, attacks on, III, 122-123 Labyrinth, IV, 108 _Laconia_, destruction of, VI, 293 Lafayette Escadrille, VI, 490 Lake Nyassa, battle on, II, 243 Lansing, Secretary, VI, 294 _La Provence_, sinking of, IV, 172 Ledro Valley, operations in, V, 237 Leman, General, II, 15 Lemberg, capture of, II, 387 Lemberg, drive against, VI, 70-76 Lemberg, V, 163 Lenine, influence of, in Russia, VI, 408 Le Mesnil, German attacks, IV, 107 Lens, attack around, IV, 82 Lens, conditions in, VI, 245 Les Eparges, fighting at, III, 118 Liberty Bond Loan, VI, 344 Lichnowsky, K. M. , I, 323 Liege, capture of, II, 22 Liege forts, fall of, IV, 39 Linievka, capture of, V, 190 Lipa River, crossing of, V, 207 Lloyd-George, David, I, 185 Lombaertzyde, III, 156 London, air attacks on, VI, 174 London, Zeppelin raids, IV, 29, 463 Longueval, British recapture of, V, 408 Loos, capture of, IV, 83 Lorraine front, IV, 57-58 Lorraine, German successes in, VI, 219 Loubet, President, I, 166 Louvain, capture of, II, 28 Lowestoft, air raid on, IV, 22 Lowitz, fighting around, II, 465-467 Lukoff, capture of, IV, 194 Lunéville, bombardment of, IV, 54 _Lusitania_, crisis, IV, 502-503 _Lusitania_ deadlock, IV, 496 _Lusitania_, sinking of, III, 185, 222 Lutsk, capture of, IV, 202 Lutsk, capture of, V, 158 Lutsk fortress, strength of, IV, 210 Lutsk, Russian attacks on, VI, 86 Lvov, Prince George, VI, 398 _Lyman M. Law_, VI, 293 Luxemburg, bombardment of, by aeroplanes, IV, 466 Luxemburg, invasion of, I, 280 McLemore resolution, in House of Representatives, IV, 505; V, 440 McNeely, Robert N. , IV, 157 Macedonia, invasion of, IV, 277 Macedonia, conditions in, V, 214 Macedonia, reforms in, I, 238 Macedonian Bulgars, II, 282 Macedonia, Allied forces in, VI, 124 Macedonia, Serbian advance in, VI, 132 Mackensen, in Dobrudja, VI, 109, 115 Madagascar, I, 164 Maldon, air raid on, IV, 22 Malines, Belgian control of, II, 32 Mama Khatum, V, 335 Mangin, General, plans of, VI, 35 Manoury, General, II, 134 Margate, air attack on, VI, 171 Mariakerke, V, 431 Maritz, Colonel, III, 70 Marne, battle of the, II, 88-138 Martinpuich, capture of, VI, 23 Massiges, German attack at, IV, 124 Massiges sector, IV, 76 _Matoppo_, British ship, V, 65 Maurepas, French capture of, VI, 15 Maximalists, in Russia, VI, 418 Mazurian Lakes, battles of, II, 439 Mazurian Lakes, battles of, III, 313 Memel, raid on, III, 334 Merchantmen, armed, V, 60 Merchantmen, submarine warfare on, IV, 499 Messines Ridge, attack on, VI, 264 Metzeral, capture of, III, 165 Meuse, battles on the left bank of, V, 345-348 Meuse, French successes, VI, 64 Microphone, I, 21 Milan, demonstrations in, III, 379 Military operations in the Balkans, V, 214 Military plans of Central powers, I, 33 Military training, I, 14 Militia under Federal control, I, 13 Milukov, Paul, VI, 398, 413 _Minneapolis_, sinking of, V, 64 Mitrovitza, capture of, IV, 300 Mlawa, movements before, III, 324 _Moewe_, German raider, achievements of, IV, 159 Monastir, capture of, VI, 141-143 Monchy, capture of, VI, 242 _Monmouth_, cruiser, II, 223 Monro, Sir Charles, IV, 366 Mons, battle of, II, 60-68 Monte Adamello zone, V, 243 Monte Altissimo, IV, 396 Monte Ancora, attack on, V, 243 Monte Barro, capture of, V, 258 Montenegrin surrender, IV, 336 Montenegro in the war, II, 358-361 Montenegro, conquest of, IV, 329 Monte Rombon, attacks on, V, 230 Mont St. Elio, III, 121 Morgenthau, Henry, IV, 359 Mort Homme, battles of, V, 345, 354, 360, 362 Motor-Zeppelins, V, 418 Mountain fighting, VI, 159-166 Mount Lovcen, effect of capture of, on Italian campaign, IV, 399 Mülhausen, capture of, IV, 40 Müller, Captain von, II, 229 Mush, massacre at, IV, 378 Mush, Russian capture of, III, 479 Namur, capture of, II, 53 Narotch Lake, V, 124 _Natal_, British cruiser, destruction of, IV, 163 National growth in Balkans, I, 258 Nationality in Serbia, I, 259 Naval battle of Jutland, V, 70-108 Naval lessons of the war, I, 17 Naval losses, IV, 143-144; V, 113-115; VI, 484 Naval policy, German, I, 44 Naval strength of Austria, II, 206 Naval strength of Germany, II, 204 Naval strength of Great Britain, II, 197 Naval warfare, I, 26; VI, 480 Navy, American, strength of, I, 11 Navy, British, effect on war, I, 18 Navy, increase in personnel, VI, 362 Navy League, German, I, 141 Near East and Russia, I, 153 Near Eastern question, I, 131 Neutral shipping, loss of, IV, 170 Neutrality of Belgium, I, 276 Neutrality terms refused, I, 281 Neuve Chapelle, battle of, III, 83-92 Neuville St. Vaast, capture, III, 127 New Zealanders, gallantry of, at Suvla Bay, IV, 356 Nicholas II assumes command of Russian army, IV, 188 Nicholas, Grand Duke, II, 373; IV, 189; VI, 490 Nicholas, Grand Duke, transferred to the Caucasus, IV, 382 Nicholas, King of Montenegro, IV, 330 Nicholas II, abdication of, VI, 403 Nicholas II, indifference to conditions, VI, 385 Nicholas II, reply to kaiser's message, I, 440 Niemen, operations along, III, 330 Nieuport, attack on, III, 269 Nihilism in Russia, I, 153; VI, 365 Nish, fall of, IV, 288 Nivelle, General, victories, VI, 246 Nixon, Sir John, available forces for capturing Bagdad, IV, 421 North Sea, battle of, II, 252 Notre Dame de Lorette, attacks on, III, 155; IV, 88 Novo Georgievsk, capture of, III, 364; IV, 184 Nuredin Pasha, IV, 426 _Nürnberg_, II, 224 Nyassaland, fighting in, III, 495 Odessa, bombardment of, VI, 493 Olti, battle of, III, 478 Ortelsburg, capture of, II, 437 Oslavia Heights, capture, IV, 408 Ossowitz, bombardment of, III, 328 Ostend, raids on, IV, 56; VI, 173 Otavi, battle of, III, 490 _Palembang_, Dutch steamer, V, 62 Palmer, Frederick, the world's war, I, 31 Pan-Slavism, I, 153 Paris, air raids on, IV, 19, 462 Paris, arrival of American troops in, VI, 360 Paris, siege of, I, 129 Pashitch, N. P. , I, 321; IV, 289 Passes, battle of, III, 241-244 Peace of Tilsit, I, 84 Pégoud, Alfonse, IV, 50 Pepper Hill, successes at, V, 358 Persia, interests in, I, 185 Persia, British position in, IV, 419 Péronne, V, 390; VI, 232 Pershing, General John J. , commander of the American expeditionary force, VI, 356 _Persia_, destruction of, negotiations over, IV, 500 _Persia_, British steamship, sinking of, IV, 157 Persian Gulf, importance of, II, 505 Perthes, III, 79; IV, 72 Pétain, General, report on operations at Verdun, V, 358 Peter, King of Serbia, IV, 290, 302 Pinsk, IV, 205, 207 Pinsk marshes, Russian successes in, V, 197 Poland, campaigns in, II, 462; III, 345 Poland, Austrian, II, 272 Political situation in Ireland, I, 43 Political conditions in Germany, I, 53 _Portugal_, sinking of, V, 64 Portuguese seizure of German merchant ships, V, 60 Power of Bismarck, growth of, I, 127 Powers, Central, military plans of, I, 33 Pourtalès, F. , I, 323 Pozières, bombardment of, VI, 11 Pozières Wood, advance on, V, 407 _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_, German raider, III, 179 Prinzip, Gabrilo, I, 260 Pripet Marshes, IV, 209 Pripet Marshes, operations in, V, 152; VI, 81 Pro-German propaganda in United States, IV, 505 Protopopoff, treason of, VI, 388 Provisional Government in Russia, VI, 398 Prussian alliance with Italy, I, 127 Przasnysz, battles of, III, 324 Przemysl, II, 249, 405; III, 324 Radautz, capture of, V, 183 Radoslavov, Premier of Bulgaria, III, 372 Ramsgate, air raids on, IV, 26 Rancourt, capture of, VI, 27 Rasputin, VI, 374-377, 385 Rawa-Russka, battle of, II, 395 Régime, new, in Russia, VI, 404 Reichstag, Bethmann-Hollweg's statement in, I, 502 Rennenkampf, General, II, 443 Revolution in Russia, VI, 390 Rheims, bombardment of, II, 146-153; III, 152-154; VI, 237 Rhodesia, border fighting in, III, 495 Rifles used in different armies, I, 26 Riga-Dvinsk sector, V, 125, 128, 204 Riga, Gulf of, Russian torpedo boats in, V, 151 Rockwell, Kiffin, death of, VI, 181 Rodzianko, Michael, VI, 391 Roosevelt, Theodore, efforts to take troops to France, VI, 335 Root, Elihu, arrival of, in Russia as American Commissioner, VI, 417 Rovereto, Italian attack on, IV, 396; V, 244 Rovno fortress, strength of, IV, 212 Royal British Corps, loss in, V, 425 _Royal Edward_, sunk, IV, 149 Rozau, capture of, III, 361 Ruhl, Arthur, the war correspondent, I, 113 Rumania, III, 370; VI, 93-96 Rumania, neutrality of, IV, 256 Rumanian raid across the Danube, VI, 106-110 Russia and Great Britain in Persia, I, 185 Russia and Japan, V, 61 Russia and the Near East, I, 153 Russia in European politics, I, 148 Russian advance on the eastern front, V, 120 Russian mobilization, I, 306 Russian army, rehabilitation of, VI, 428 Russian artillery activity, V, 134 Russian attempts to extend time limit for hostilities, I, 385 Russian autocracy, VI, 364 Russian defeat, effect of, IV, 364 Russian disorganization, VI, 422 Russian fleet, mutiny, VI, 414 Russian foreign policy, I, 151 Russian internal troubles, I, 155 Russian losses in August, 1915, IV, 202-203 Russian mobilization, I, 405 Russian offensive, VI, 431, 440 Russian offensive in the East, V, 154 Russian offensive, temporary lull in, V, 188-192 Russian people and German diplomacy, I, 56 Russian persecution of Jews, I, 153 Russian Poland, II, 268 Russian pursuit of Turks, V, 292 Russian retreat, IV, 229-239 Russian revolution, foreshadowing of, VI, 363-365 Russian rout in Galicia, VI, 445-447 Russian troops in Rumania, VI, 97 Russian troops on the Black Sea coast, V, 61 Russia's attitude on Serbia, I, 377 Russia's strategy in East, II, 433 Russky, General, II, 377 Russo-German treaty, I, 319 Russo-Japanese War, I, 155 Russo-Turkish War, I, 132 Saarbrücken, bombardment, IV, 48 St. Julien, assaults on, III, 102 St. Mihiel, salient, attacks on, III, 116 Sakharoff, General, V, 205 Salandra, I, 322 Salisbury, Marquis of, I, 179 Saloniki, II, 284; IV, 261, 321; V, 215, 429 Saloniki, German air raid on, V, 216 Saloniki, importance of, I, 61 Saloniki, Allies at, IV, 261 Samogneux, abandonment of, by French, IV, 137 Samsonoff, General, II, 436 San, battle of, III, 297-301 San, battles of the, II, 398 San Stefano, treaty of, I, 227 Sarafoff, Boris, I, 242 Sarajevo, I, 260; II, 277 Sari Bair, attack on, IV, 348 Sarrail, General, commands French troops in Balkans, IV, 279; V, 215 Sazonov, Russian Minister, VI, 380 Scarpe River, operations on, VI, 253 Scarborough, raids on, II, 247 Schiller, Ernest, V, 65 Schleswig-Holstein, war for, I, 127 Sea command and troop transportation, I, 24 Selective Draft Law, VI, 346 Semendria, bombardment of, IV, 269 Serbia, invasion of, II, 301; IV, 177 Serbia, offers of peace, III, 376 Serbian retreat to Albania, IV, 303 Serbian army, strength of, in November, 1915, IV, 293-294 Serbian nationality, I, 258 Serbian reply to Austrian note, I, 265-270 Serbian resistance at Babuna Pass, IV, 283 Serbian troops, transport across Greek territory, V, 218 Serbians in Macedonia, VI, 132 Sereth River, crossing by Russian forces, V, 178 Servetsch region, V, 146 Sette Comuni Plateau, Italian successes on, V, 270 Shabatz, battle of, II, 317 Shevket Pasha, I, 244 Shipbuilding program, VI, 343 Shipping Board, creation of, VI, 213 Shipping, neutral loss of, IV, 170 Ships of American registry, seizure by British, V, 49 Shumadia division of Serbian army, heroism of, IV, 275 Sibert, General, with American expeditionary force, VI, 357 Siege of Paris, I, 129 Simonds, Frank H, summary of two years of war, V, 461-502 Simonds, F. H. , the theatres of the wars' campaigns, I, 83 Sims, Admiral, commander of American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357 Smith-Dorrien, General, II, 60 Smoke screen, I, 74 Smorgon, fighting around, V, 179 Smorgon, operations around, VI, 80 Soissons, operations around, V, 376 Soldau, capture of, II, 437 Somme, British, and French offensive on the, VI, 27 Somme, battles of, beginning, V, 377 Somme, conditions in situation south of, on July 9, V, 399 Somme front, French and British gains, VI, 19 Somme offensive, German casualties in the, VI, 9 Somme offensive, object of Allies in, V, 377 Somme offensive, spring of 1916, VI, 9 Somme, second phase, V, 401 Souain sector, IV, 71-72 Souchez, attacks on, III, 124-125 Souchez, Canadian raids at, VI, 222 Souchez, French attack on, IV, 84 Southwest Africa, British conquest of, III, 484-493 Souville, attacks on, V, 368 Spee, Admiral von, II, 230 Speed plane, in warfare, V, 421 Stambuloff, I, 233 Stanislau, operations around, VI, 435 Stanislau, advance on, V, 193; VI, 72 Steenstraete, capture of, VI, 287 Stokhod River, V, 198-207; VI, 76-81, 423 Strikes in munitions factories, planned by Germans, V, 10 Strypa River, fighting along, IV, 223-229 Strypa River, Russian artillery attacks along, V, 138 St. Mihiel, French gains, VI, 231 St. Quentin, VI, 236 Stuff Redoubt, VI, 32, 49 Sturmer Boris, VI, 379 Stuttgart, bombardment of, by French aviators, IV, 60 Styr River, IV, 223-229; V, 178 Submarine attacks on American transports, VI, 358 Submarine campaign, IV, 116 Submarine campaign against merchant ships, V, 59 Submarine, detecting, I, 21 Submarine, effectiveness of, I, 19 Submarine, efficiency of, IV, 145 Submarine negotiations, VI, 193 Submarine warfare, III, 209-222 Submarine warfare, VI, 182-188 Submarine warfare in 1917, VI, 475 Submarine warfare on armed merchantmen, IV, 499 Submarines, aeroplane warfare on, V, 414 Suchomlinof, V. A. , I, 320 Suez Canal, defenses of, III, 18-19; IV, 11 Summary of first year's operation on western front, IV, 39-46 _Sussex_, sinking of, V, 63, 443 Suvla Bay, IV, 346-356 Suwalki, occupation of, II, 448 Talaat Bey, II, 499 Tanks, VI, 21, 46 Tannenberg, battle of, II, 438 Tarnow, battles around, III, 286 Tergovistea, capture of, by Austro-Germans, VI, 117 Terrorism in Russia, I, 153 Thiepval, British successes around, VI, 17 Tigris River, IV, 426; V, 326-330 Tigris valley, campaign in, V, 307 Tilsit, peace of, I, 84 Togoland, campaign in, III, 62 Townshend, General, V, 311 Trade, foreign, of Germany, I, 49 Transloy, British successes at, VI, 65 Transportation of troops, I, 24 Transports, protection of, I, 18 Trans-Siberian Railway, I, 153 Trebizond-Erzerum road, V, 299 Trebizond, occupation of, V, 297 Trench bombs, I, 76 Trench fighting, I, 68 Trentino, Austrian offensive in, V, 244-255 Trentino front, VI, 154, 455 Trieste, Italian drive, VI, 159, 452 Triple Alliance, I, 133, 141 Triple Entente, formation of, I, 158 Trônes Wood, V, 402-403 Troops, transportation of, I, 24 Tsing-tau, defenses, attacks on, capture, III, 48, 52, 60 _Tubantia_, Dutch steamer, V, 62 Turkey, American relations with, VI, 328 Turkish navy, operations of, IV, 170 Turkish troops on the eastern front, VI, 83 Typhus, epidemic of, II, 356; III, 475 Uganda, protectorate, I, 180 Undersea warfare, IV, 155 Unification of Germany, I, 130 Union of South Africa, rebellion in, III, 70 United States, development of pro-German propaganda in, IV, 505 _U-53_, exploits of, VI, 194 Union of Towns in Russia, VI, 377 Van, concentration of Armenians in, IV, 378 Van, Russian successes in, III, 477 Vaux, French defense of, V, 351, 367 Vaux Fort, French recapture of, VI, 37, 39 Veles, resistance at, by Serbians, IV, 278 Venice, air raids on, III, 426; VI, 169 Venizelos, attacks of, on Greek Government, IV, 311 Venizelos, E. , I, 60; V, 217 Verdun, attack on, I, 64 Verdun, effect of five months' siege, V, 371 Verdun, French victories at, VI, 54 Verdun, operations around, VI, 19, 53, 281 Verdun, struggle for, IV, 131-142 Victor Emmanuel, address to army, V, 254 Victor Emmanuel III, I, 194 Vienna, congress of 1814, I, 260 _Vigilancia_, sunk, VI, 318 Vilna, campaign against, IV, 187, 192 Vimy Ridge, capture of, VI, 239 Viviani, René, I, 318 Viviani, instruction to French ambassador at Vienna, I, 379 Volhynia, Austrians in, V, 138 Von Bernstorff, note to Secretary Lansing in reply to _Lusitania_ protest in Germany, IV, 485 Von Bethmann-Hollweg, IV, 485 Von Bülow, Prince, I, 136 Von Caprivi, General, I, 134 Von Jagow, interviews with, I, 33, 502 Von Mackensen, commands German forces in Serbia, IV, 258 Von Papen, recalled, V, 26 Von Plehve, murder of, I, 156 Von Rintelen, Franz, V, 22-28 Von Tirpitz, Grand Admiral, attitude toward submarine warfare, IV, 484 Vosges, German activities in, IV, 51, 108 Vulkan Pass, capture of, by Germans, VI, 103 War, German declaration of, I, 278 War, declaration of, between United States and Germany, VI, 325 War Revenue Bill, VI, 333 War zone, establishment of, III, 170 Warsaw, attack on, II, 450 Warsaw, capture of, III, 366-368 Warsaw, movements upon, III, 346 Warsaw, occupation of, IV, 178 Washburn, Stanley, on conditions on eastern front, V, 180-183 Western front, summary of first year's operations on, IV, 39-46 Western front on February 1, 1916, IV, 126 What the war means to America, I, 9 Whitby, raids on, II, 247 Whitlock, Brand, efforts to aid Miss Cavell, IV, 100-101 William II, accession of, I, 134 Wilson, President, address before Congress, April, 1917, VI, 320-326 Wilson, President, on armed neutrality before Congress, VI, 304 Wilson, President, and British blockade of Germany, V, 457 Wilson, President, and Congress, V, 434 Wilson, President, denouncement of unpatriotism, V, 26 Wilson, President, letter to Congress, IV, 503 Wilson, President, note to Russia, VI, 415 Wilson, President, proclamation convening Congress, VI, 319 Wilson's address on relations with Germany, VI, 210 Windhoek, capture of, III, 489 Wood, Major General Leonard, what the war means to America, I, 9 Yarmouth, raids on, II, 246 _Yarrowdale_, prisoners, VI, 297 Younghusband, General, IV, 446 Yperlee Canal, III, 107 Ypres, attack on, II, 171, 172, 174 Ypres, bombardment of, III, 95 Ypres, British successes south of, VI, 264 Ypres, first battle of, IV, 44 Ypres, German success at, in February, 1916, IV, 122 Ypres, second battle of, III, 99-106 Ypres sector, operations in, in March, 1916, V, 372, 375 Yser, II, 169; III, 167; IV, 122 Yser region, flood in, IV, 117 Zanzibar, I, 180 Zeebrugge shelled, V, 67; VI, 482 Zeppelin attack on Warsaw, IV, 19 Zeppelin, Count Ferdinand, death of, VI, 494 Zeppelin raids on England, IV, 16, 466; V, 422; VI, 494 Zeppelin, value of, V, 412 Zeppelins, loss of, IV, 468; V, 430; VI, 179 Zugan Torta, V, 247 Zungar Valley, V, 247