[Illustration: IN FRONT IS GENERAL PETAIN ABOUT TO BE MADE A MARSHAL. BEHIND HIM, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ARE MARSHAL JOFFRE AND MARSHAL FOCH(FRENCH), FIELD MARSHAL HAIG (BRITISH), GENERAL PERSHING (AMERICAN), GENERAL GILLAIN (BELGIAN), GENERAL ALBRICCI (ITALIAN), GENERAL HALLER(POLISH)]

WORLD'S WAREVENTS

RECORDED BY STATESMEN -- COMMANDERSHISTORIANS AND BY MEN WHO FOUGHT OR SAWTHE GREAT CAMPAIGNS

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

FRANCIS J. REYNOLDS

FORMER REFERENCE LIBRARIAN -- LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

AND

ALLEN L. CHURCHILL

ASSOCIATE EDITOR "THE STORY OF THE GREAT WAR"ASSOCIATE EDITOR "THE NEW INTERNATIONALENCYCLOPEDIA"

VOLUME III

[Illustration]

PF COLLIER & SON COMPANYNEW YORK

Copyright 1919

BY P. F. COLLIER & SON COMPANY

WORLD'S WAR EVENTS

VOLUME III

 BEGINNING WITH THE DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST AMERICAN DESTROYERS FOR SERVICE ABROAD IN APRIL, 1917, AND CLOSING WITH THE TREATIES OF PEACE IN 1919

CONTENTS

ARTICLE PAGE

 I. A DESTROYER IN ACTIVE SERVICE 7 _An American Officer_

 II. EAST AFRICA 32 _Jan Christiaan Smuts_

 III. GREECE'S ATONEMENT 54 _Lewis R. Freeman_

 IV. THE ITALIANS AT BAY 69 _G. Ward Price_

 V. BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND 101 _Official Narrative_

 VI. WITH THE AMERICAN SUBMARINES 119 _Henry B. Beston_

 VII. WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE 138 _Abbé Felix Klein_

 VIII. THE BATTLE OF PICARDY 153 _J. B. W. Gardiner_

 IX. BULGARIA QUITS 170 _Lothrop Stoddard_

 X. THE FIGHTING CZECHO-SLOVAKS 183 _Maynard Owen Williams_

 XI. SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE 200 _Corporal H. J. Burbach_

 XII. AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD 210 _Raoul Blanchard_

 XIII. NIGHT RAIDS FROM THE AIR 229 _Mary Helen Fee_

 XIV. THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE 242 _General John J. Pershing_

 XV. THE AMERICAN NAVY IN EUROPE 271 _Admiral H. T. Mayo_

 XVI. ARMISTICE TERMS SIGNED BY GERMANY 297

 XVII. COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 306

XVIII. TREATY OF PEACE WITH GERMANY 318

 XIX. TREATY OF PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 365

 INDEX 375

A DESTROYER IN ACTIVE SERVICE

BY AN AMERICAN OFFICER

APRIL 7. 

[Sidenote: War accepted with equanimity. ]

[Sidenote: Life on a destroyer is simple. ]

Well, I must confess that, even after war has been declared, the skieshaven't fallen and oysters taste just the same. I never would havedreamed that so big a step would be accepted with so much equanimity. Itis due to two causes, I think. First, because we have trembled on theverge so long and sort of dabbled our toes in the water, that our mindshave grown gradually accustomed to what under other circumstances wouldbe a violent shock. Second, because the individual units of the Navy areso well prepared that there is little to do. We made a few minor changesin the routine and slipped the war-heads on to the torpedoes, andpresto, we were ready for war. One beauty of a destroyer is that, lifeon board being reduced to its simplest terms anyhow, there is little tochange. We may be ordered to "strip, " that is, go to our Navy yard andland all combustibles, paints, oils, surplus woodwork, etc. ; but we havenot done so yet. 

We were holding drill yesterday when the signal was made from theflagship, "War is declared. " I translated it to my crew, who receivedthe news with much gayety but hardly a trace of excitement. 

APRIL 13. 

[Sidenote: Anxiety to get into the big game. ]

There is absolutely no news. We are standing by for what may betide, with not the faintest idea of what it may be. Of course, we aredrilling all the time, and perfecting our readiness for action in everyway, but there is a total absence of that excitement and sense ofsomething impending that one usually associates with the beginning ofwar. Indeed, I think that the only real anxiety is lest we may not getinto the big game at all. I do not think any of us are bloodthirsty ordesirous of either glory or advancement, but we have the wish to justifyour existence. With me it takes this form--by being in the service Ihave sacrificed my chance to make good as husband, father, citizen, son, in fact, in every human relationship, in order to be, as I trust, one ofthe Nation's high-grade fighting instruments. Now, if fate never uses mefor the purpose to which I have been fashioned, then much time, labor, and material have been wasted, and I had better have been made into agood clerk, farmer, or business man. 

[Sidenote: The desire to be put to the test. ]

I do so want to be put to the test and not found wanting. Of course, Iknow that the higher courage is to do your duty from day to day nomatter in how small a line, but all of us conceal a sneaking desire toattempt the higher hurdles and sail over grandly. 

You need not be proud of me, for there is no intrinsic virtue in beingin the Navy when war is declared; but I hope fate will give me thechance to make you proud. 

APRIL 21. 

[Sidenote: A chance to command. ]

[Sidenote: Bringing a ship to dock. ]

I have been having lots of fun in command myself, and good experience. Ihave taken her out on patrol up to Norfolk twice, where the channel isas thin and crooked as a corkscrew, then into dry dock. Later, escorteda submarine down, then docked the ship alongside of a collier, and haveestablished, to my own satisfaction at least, that I know how to handlea ship. All this may not convey much, but you remember how you feltwhen you first handled your father's car. Well, the car weighs about twotons and the W---- a thousand, and she goes nearly as fast. You have tobring your own mass up against another dock or oilship as gently asdropping an egg in an egg-cup, and you can imagine what the battleshipskipper is up against, with 30, 000 tons to handle. Only he generally hastugs to help him, whereas we do it all by ourselves. 

[Sidenote: Justifying one's existence as an officer. ]

This war is far harder on you than on me. The drill, the work ofpreparing for grim reality, all of it is what I am trained for. The verythought of getting into the game gives me a sense of calmness andcontentment I have never before known. I suppose it is becausesubconsciously I feel that I am justifying my existence now more thanever before. And that feeling brings anybody peace. 

MAY 1. 

Back in harness again and thankful for the press of work that keeps mefrom thinking about you all at home. 

[Sidenote: Orders to sail. ]

Well, we are going across all right, exactly where and for how long I donot know. Our present orders are to sail to-morrow night, but thereseems to be wild uncertainty about whether we will go out then. In themeantime, we are frantically taking on mountains of stores, ammunition, provisions, etc. , trying to fill our vacancies with new men from theReserve Ship, and hurrying everything up at high pressure. 

Well, I am glad it has come. It is what I wanted and what I think youwanted for me. It is useless to discuss all the possibilities of wherewe are going and what we are going to do. From the look of things, Ithink we are going to help the British. I hope so. Of course, we are amere drop in the bucket. 

MAY 5. 

[Sidenote: Happier always for having taken the chance. ]

As I start off now, my only real big regret is that throughcircumstances so much of my responsibility has been taken byothers--you, my brother, and your father. I don't know that I am reallyto blame. At least, I am very sure that never in all my life did Iintentionally try to shift any load of mine onto another. But in anycase, it makes me all the more glad that I am where I am, going where Iam to go--to have my chance, in other words. I once said in jest thatall naval officers ought really to get killed, to justify theirexistence. I don't exactly advocate that extreme. But I shall all mylife be happier for having at least taken my chance. It will increase myself-respect, which in turn increases my usefulness in life. So can youget my point of view, and be glad with me?

[Sidenote: The best things of life. ]

Now I am to a great extent a fatalist, though I hope it really issomething higher than that. Call it what you will, I have alwaysbelieved that if we go ahead and do our duty, counting not the cost, then the outcome will be in the hands of a power way beyond our own. Butif it be fated that I don't come back, let no one ever say, "Poor_R----_. " I have had all the best things of life given me in fullmeasure--the happiest childhood and boyhood, health, the love of familyand friends, the profession I love, marriage to the girl I wanted, andmy son. If I go now, it will be as one who quits the game while the bluechips are all in his own pile. 

 GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON

MAY 19. 

[Sidenote: Rescuing a sailor. ]

On the trip over, we were steaming behind the _R----_, when all at onceshe steered out and backed, amid much running around on board. At firstwe thought she saw a submarine and stood by our guns. Then we saw shehad a man overboard. We immediately dropped our lifeboat, and I went incharge for the fun of it. Beat the _R----'s_ boat to him. He had nolife-preserver, but the wool-lined jacket he wore kept him high out ofwater, and he was floating around as comfortably as you please, barringthe fact that his fall had knocked him unconscious. So we not only tookhim back to his ship, but picked up the _R----'s_ boat-hook, which theclumsy lubbers had dropped--and kept it as a reward for our trouble. 

[Sidenote: Very little known about the U-boat situation. ]

We are being somewhat overhauled, refitted, etc. , in the Britishdock-yard here. Navy yards are much the same the world over, I guess. Iwill say, however, that they have dealt with us quickly and efficiently, with the minimum of red tape and correspondence. We have become in factan integral part of the British Navy. Admiral Sims is in generalsupervision of us, but we are directly in command of the British Admiralcommanding the station. Of the U-boat situation, I may say little. Thereis nothing about which so much is imagined, rumored and reported, and solittle known for certain. Five times, when coming through the dangerzone, we manned all guns, thinking we saw something. Once in my watch Iput the helm hard over to dodge a torpedo--which proved to be aporpoise! And I'll do the same thing again, too. We are in this war upto the neck, there is no doubt about that--and thank Heaven for it!

Kiss our son for me and make up your mind that you would rather have hisfather over here on the job than sitting in a swivel-chair at home doingnothing. 

MAY 26. 

I never seem to get time to write a real letter. All hands, includingyour husband, are so dead tired when off watch that there is nothing todo but flop down on your bunk--or on the deck sometimes--and sleep. Thecaptain and I take watch on the bridge day and night, and outside ofthis I do my own navigating and other duties, so time does not goa-begging with me. However, we are still unsunk, for which we should beproperly grateful. 

[Sidenote: War has become matter-of-fact. ]

I have seen a little of Ireland and like New York State better thanever. It is difficult to realize how matter-of-fact the war has becomewith every one over here. You meet some mild mannered gentleman and talkabout the weather, and then find later that he is a survivor from somedesperate episode that makes your blood tingle. I would that we wereover on the North Sea side, where Providence might lay us alongside aGerman destroyer some gray dawn. This submarine-chasing business is muchlike the proverbial skinning of a skunk--useful, but not especiallypleasant or glorious. 

JUNE 1. 

[Sidenote: Glad to be in the big game. ]

When I said good-bye to you at home, I don't think that either of usrealized that I was coming over here to stay. Perhaps it was just aswell. Human nature is such that we subconsciously refuse to accept anidea, even when we know it to be a true one, because it is totallynew--beyond our experience. Pursuant to which, I could not believe thatmy fondest hopes were to be realized, and that not only I, but the wholeof America, would really get into the big game. Oh, it is big all right, and it grows on you the more you get into it. 

Now, I realize that it is asking too much of you or of any woman to viewwith perfect complacency having a husband suddenly injected into war. But just consider--suppose I was a prosperous dentist or producemerchant on shore, instead of in the Navy. By now you and I would beundergoing all the agonies of indecision as to whether I should enlistor no; it would darken our lives for weeks or months, and in the end Ishould go anyhow, letting my means of livelihood and yours go hang, andbe away just as long and stand as good a chance of being blown up as Ido now. So I am very thankful that things have worked out as they havefor us. 

[Sidenote: Little one is permitted to tell. ]

There is very little to tell that I am allowed to tell you. Thetechnique of submarine-chasing and dodging would be dry reading to alandsman. It is a very curious duty in that it would be positivelymonotonous, were it not for the possibility of being hurled intoeternity the next minute. I am in very good health and wholly free fromnervous tension. 

P. S. When despondent, pull some Nathan Hale "stuff, " and regret that youhave but one husband to give to your country. 

JUNE 8. 

[Sidenote: Sleep, warmth and fresh food become ideals. ]

Once more I get the chance to write. We are in port for three days, andthat three days looks as big as a month's leave would have a month ago. Everything in life is comparative, I guess. When we live a comfortable, civilized, highly complex life, our longings and desires are many andfar-reaching. Now and here such things as sleep, warmth, and fresh foodbecome almost the limit of one's imagination. Just like the sailor ofthe old Navy, whose idea of perfect contentment was "Two watches belowand beans for dinner. "

[Sidenote: Nothing causes excitement. ]

You get awfully blasé on this duty--things which should excite you don'tat all. For instance, out of the air come messages like the following:"Am being chased and delayed by submarine. " "Torpedoed and sinkingfast. " And you merely look at the chart and decide whether to go to therescue full speed, or let some boat nearer to the scene look after it. Or, if the alarm is given on your own ship, you grab mechanically forlife-jacket, binoculars, pistol, and wool coat, and jump to yourstation, not knowing whether it is really a periscope or a stickfloating along out of water. 

JUNE 20. 

Well, we got mail when we came into port this time, your letter of May28 being the last one. I don't mind the frequent pot-shots the U-boatstake at us, but doggone their hides if they sink any of our mail! Wewon't forgive them that. 

[Sidenote: No joy-of-battle to be found. ]

My health is excellent, better than my temper, in fact. I am beginningto think that we are not getting our money's worth in this war. I wantto have my blood stirred and do something heroic--_à la_moving-pictures. Instead of which it much resembles a campaign againstcholera-germs or anything else which is deadly but difficult to get anyjoy-of-battle out of. 

Do tell me everything you are doing, for it is up to you to makeconversation, since there is so little of affairs at this end that I cantalk about. It is a shame, for you always claimed that I never spokeunless you said something first; and now I am doing the same thing undercover of the letter. 

JULY 2. 

[Sidenote: Life so gray that shock of danger is beneficial. ]

The other day, half-way out on the Atlantic, we sighted a periscope, andsome one at the gun sent a shell skimming over the _C----_, who was inthe way, and then the periscope turned out to be a ventilator stickingup over some wreckage. However, the incident was welcome. You have noconception of how gray life can get to be on this job, and the shock ofdanger, real or imaginary, is really beneficial, I think. All hands seemto be more cheerful under its influence. 

JULY 4. 

I was so glad to get your letters. A man who has a brave woman behindhim will do his duty far better and, incidentally, stand more chance ofcoming back, than one who feels a drag instead of a push. 

I am glad son had his first fight. You were perfectly right to make himgo on. Mother used to tell how, when brother was a wee boy, he came homealmost weeping, and said, "Mother, a boy hit me. " Instead of comfortinghim, she said, "Did you hit him back?" It almost killed her, he was soutterly dumbfounded and hurt; but next time he hit back and licked. 

[Sidenote: The life wears nerves and temper. ]

I am well but get rather jumpy at times. Strangely enough, it is alwaysover more or less trivial matters. Every time we have a submarine scare, I feel markedly better for a while--it seems to reëstablish my sense ofproportion. 

It is a mighty nerve- and temper-wearing life--at sea nearly all the timeand with the boat rolling and bucking like a broncho, you can'texercise. You can hardly do any work, but only hold on tight and wipethe salt spray from your eyes. Sometimes I have started to shave andfound the salt so thick on my face that soap would not lather. 

JULY 16. 

[Sidenote: Time is passed navigating, standing watch, sleeping. ]

Things are the same as before with us. Time passes quickly, withnavigating, standing watch and sleeping when you get a chance. One dayor two passes all too quickly. I wish there were more to do in the shapeof relaxation when we do get ashore. The people here are cordial enough, according to their lights, but those that we meet are practically allArmy and Navy people, who have no abode here themselves and are almostas much strangers as we are; and there is no resident population ofthat caste that would ordinarily open its doors to foreign navalofficers. 

[Sidenote: Little for diversion in Ireland. ]

Ireland is a poor country comparatively. A town of 50, 000 here showsless in the way of facilities for diversion than the average town of10, 000 in the States. 

[Sidenote: Mental privations hurt more than physical ones. ]

Don't worry about my privations--"which mostly there ain't none. " Suchas they are, they are necessary and unavoidable; and, above all, we arefitted for them. You can't well sympathize with a man who is doing thething he has longed for and trained for all his life. Besides, physicalprivations are nothing; it is the mental ones that hurt. A soldier inthe trenches, with little to eat and nothing but a hole to sleep in, canfeel happy all the same--particularly if life has something in prospectfor him if he lives. But a man out of work at home, sleeping in the parkand panhandling for food, is much more to be pitied, though hisimmediate hardships may be no greater. 

The weather over here is very passable at present, but they say it issimply hell off the coast in winter. However, somebody said the war willbe over in November. I hope the Kaiser and Hindenburg know it, too!

JULY 26. 

[Sidenote: Anxious to be in action. ]

I haven't done anything heroic, which irks me. We would like to get inon the ground floor, while all hands are in a receptive mood, and beforethe Plattsburgers and other such death-defying supermen make it toocommon. 

JULY 22. 

[Sidenote: A cheerful letter from home. ]

Your two letters of July 7 and 8 came this afternoon, but I got thelatter first and expected from what you said in contrition that therewas hot stuff--gas-attack followed by bayonet-work--in the former;therefore I was all the more ashamed to find you had dealt so lenientlyand squarely with me. Why didn't you come back with a long invoice oftroubles of your own, as 99 per cent of women would? Evidently you arethe one-per-cent woman. I bitterly regretted my whines after havingwritten them, for their very untruth. Alas, how many people think theworld is drab-colored and life a failure, and so have done or saidsomething they regret all their lives, when a vegetable pill or a briskwalk would have changed their vision completely! Why is it that peoplesometimes deliberately hurt those they have loved most in the world? Isuppose it is because we are all really children at heart and want someone else to cry too. The other day Smith shamefacedly abstracted fromthe mail-box a letter to his wife, and tore it up, and I know--oh, Iknow!

At a husbands' meeting on the ship the other day, we all agreed that theheavy hand was the only way to deal with women; but it seemed oninvestigation that no one had actually tried it the reason beingapparently a well-grounded fear that our wives wouldn't like it. 

[Sidenote: Danger, but little action or variety. ]

This war hasn't had as much action, variety, and stimulation for us as Iwould like. Danger there always is, but being little in evidence, youhave to prod your nerves to realize it rather than soothe them down. Lately, however, things have changed in a manner which, though involvingno more danger, furnishes a somewhat greater mental stimulation, andthence is better for everybody. I regret to say that I am gaining inweight. It was my hope to come back thin and gaunt andinteresting-looking. Instead of which, you will likely be mad as ahornet to find me so sleek, while you at home have done all the thinningdown. Truth to tell, if you compare our relative peace and war status, you are much more at war than I am. 

[Sidenote: The highest form of courage. ]

If you find son timid in some things, just remember that I was, too. Lots of things he will change about automatically. At his age I hadsmall love for fire-crackers or explosives of any kind, but in two orthree years, and without any prompting, I became really expert in gunsand gunpowder. Try to get him to realize that the very highest form ofcourage is to be afraid to do a thing--and do it!

AUGUST 3. 

[Sidenote: U-boat score against destroyers is zero. ]

Once in a while some one of us gets a torpedo fired at him, and onlyluck or quick seamanship saves him from destruction. Some day thetorpedo will hit, and then the Navy Department will "regret to report. "But the laws of probability and chance cannot lie, and as the totalU-boat score against our destroyers so far is zero, you can figure foryourself that they will have to improve somewhat before the Kaiser canhand out many iron crosses at our expense. 

[Sidenote: Picking up survivors. ]

We had a new experience the other day when we picked up two boatloads ofsurvivors from the ----, torpedoed without warning. I will say they werepretty glad to see us when we bore down on them. As we neared, theybegan to paddle frantically, as though fearful we should be snatchedaway from them at the last moment. The crew were mostly Arabs andLascars, and the first mate, a typical comic-magazine Irishman, delivered himself of the following: "Sure, toward the last, some o' thimhaythen gits down on their knees and starts calling on Allah; but I sez, sez I, 'Git up afore I swat ye wid the axe-handle, ye benighted haythen;sure if this boat gits saved 't will be the Holy Virgin does it or noneat all, at all! Git up, ' sez I. "

[Sidenote: The deep sea breeds a certain fineness of character. ]

The officers were taken care of in the ward-room--rough unlettered oldsailormen, who possessed a certain fineness of character which Ibelieve the deep sea tends to breed in those who follow it long enough. I have known some old Tartars greatly hated by those under them, but towhom a woman or child would take naturally. 

What you say about my possibly being taken prisoner both amuses andtouches me. The former because it seems so highly unlikely acontingency. Submarines do not take prisoners if they can help it, andleast of all from a man-of-war. But I have often thought of just what Ishould do in such a case, and I have decided that it would be far betterto die than to submit to certain things. In which case, I should use myutmost ingenuity to take along one or two adversaries with me. 

AUGUST 11. 

[Sidenote: The case for universal conscription. ]

So the boys at home don't all take kindly to being conscripted, eh?Well, I wish for a lot of reasons that the conscription might be ascomplete and far-reaching as it is in, for instance, France. I think forone thing that universal conscription is the final test of democracy. Again, I think it would do every individual in the nation good to findout that there was something a little bit bigger than he--something thatneither money, nor politics, nor obscurity, nor the Labor Union, nor anyone else could help him to wriggle out of. It would go far towardsdisillusioning those many who seem to feel that they do not have to taketoo seriously a government because they have helped to create it. 

[Sidenote: Not a question of courage but of mental process. ]

While I have precious little sympathy for slackers of any variety, onemust not judge them too harshly because their minds do not happen towork the same as ours. In nine cases out of ten it is not a question ofcourage, but one of mental process. Some people come of a caste to whomwar or the idea of fighting for their country is second nature. Theytake it for granted, like death and taxes. If they ever permittedthemselves seriously to question the rightness of it; to submitpatriotism and courage to an acid analysis, they might suddenly turnarrant cowards. How much harder is it, then, for people who have nevereven faced the idea of it before to be suddenly placed up against theactual fact!

AUGUST 18. 

I have been having a little extra fun on my own hook recently. The poorcaptain has had to have an operation, and will be on his back for someweeks. 

[Sidenote: Double duty on the bridge. ]

Do I like going to war all on my own? Oh no, just like a cat hatescream. It is a wee bit strenuous, as I have to do double duty; and onenight I was on the bridge steadily from 9 p. M. To 7 a. M. But the funnypart is that I didn't feel especially all in afterward, and one goodsleep fixed me up completely. 

[Sidenote: A submarine escapes. ]

I had a big disappointment on my first run out. I nearly bagged asubmarine for you. We got her on the surface as nice as anything, but itwas very rough, and she was far away, and before I could plunk her, shegot under. If she had only--but, as the saying goes, if the dog hadn'tstopped to scratch himself, he would have got the rabbit (not, however, that we stopped to scratch ourselves). 

AUGUST 27. 

[Sidenote: Responsibility for lives and ship. ]

I am still in command of the ship and love it, but there is a differencebetween being second in command and being It. It makes you introspectiveto realize that a hundred lives and a $700, 000 ship are absolutelydependent upon you, without anybody but the Almighty to ask for adviceif you get into difficulty. 

It is not so much the submarines, which are largely a matter of luck, but the navigating. Say I am heading back for port after several daysout, the weather is thick as pea-soup, and I have not seen land or hadan observation for days. I know where I am--at least I think I do--butwhat if I have miscalculated, or am carried off my course by the strongand treacherous tides on this coast, and am heading right into thebreakers somewhere, or perchance a mine-field! Then the fog lifts alittle, and I see the cliffs or mountains that I recognize, and bringher in with a slam-bang, much bravado, and a sigh of relief. 

Don't you remember the days when you thought son was dying if hecried--or if he didn't? Well, that's it!

[Sidenote: Recreations ashore. ]

Don't get the idea that I have no recreations. We walk and play golf, goto the movies on occasion, and there is always a jolly gang of mixedservices to play with. 

SEPTEMBER 9. 

Life here doesn't vary much. The captain is up and taking a few days'leave, though I doubt if he will take command for two or three weeksyet. But I am having a lovely time running her. 

[Sidenote: A veteran New Zealander for dinner. ]

The other night we had a very interesting chap for dinner--a NewZealander he was, who has served in Egypt, Gallipoli, the trenches inFrance, and is now in the Royal Naval Reserve. The tales he told were ofwonderful interest. He was modest and seemed to have been a decent sort, but you could sense the brutalizing effect of war on him. Some of thethings he told were such jokes on the Germans that we laughed rightheartily. 

[Sidenote: The beast in man is near the surface. ]

The beast in man lies so close to the surface. We think we are human andlaw-abiding of our own volition, whereas, as a matter of fact, nine-tenths of it is from pure habit. It doesn't occur to us to beanything else. But let all standards and customs be scrapped, let us seethe things done freely that never even entered our minds before, and alot of us are liable to develop ape and tiger proclivities. We nearlyall put unconscious limits to our humanity. The most chivalrous andkindly Westerner or Southerner would admit that massacring Chinamen, Mexicans, or Negroes is not such a great crime; and the most devotedmother or father is prone to regard as unspanked brats children who to athird party appear quite as well as the critic's own. 

SEPTEMBER 20. 

I am still in command and loving every minute of it. With any othercaptain than ours it would be a come-down to resume my place as asubordinate. But in his case I think that all mourn a little when he isaway. 

SEPTEMBER 29. 

[Sidenote: New knowledge of navigation and ship handling. ]

Oh, it's great stuff, this being in command and handling the ship alone. Particularly I enjoy swooping down on some giant freighter, like a hawkon a turkey, running close alongside, where a wrong touch to helm orengine may spell destruction, and then demanding through a megaphone whyshe does or does not do so and so. I have learned more navigation andship-handling since being over here than in all my previous seagoingexperience. In the old ante-bellum days one hesitated to get too closeto another ship, even in daytime, far more so at night, even with therequired navigation lights on. Now, without so much light as a glowwormcould give, we run around, never quite certain when the darkness aheadmay turn into a ship close enough to throw a brick at. 

However, I am back in the ranks again now, as the captain has come backand resumed command. 

OCTOBER 9. 

[Sidenote: Job of an executive officer is thankless. ]

You must not be resentful because of things you have gone through, unappreciated by those perhaps for whom you have undergone them. It isone of the laws of life, and a hard law too, but it comes to everybody, either in a few big things or a multitude of little ones. Do the peoplewho keep the world turning around ever get due recognition? I wasthinking in much the same resentful vein myself to-day, in my own smallway, how thankless the job of an executive officer is; how you neverreach any big end, or even feel that you have made progress, but justkeep on the job, watching and inspecting and fussing to keep the wholepersonnel-matériel machine running smoothly, and knowing that yourrecognition is purely negative, in that, if all goes well, you don't getcalled down. And then I calm down and realize that it is all in thegame, and that it is the best tribute so to handle your job in life thatnothing has to be said. If your car runs perfectly, you neither feel norhear it, and give it little credit on that account. But let it strip agear or something go!!

[Sidenote: Roller-skating for amusement ashore. ]

I hate to tell you what I was doing this afternoon. You will think I amnot at war at all when I tell you that I have been roller-skating. I wasa bit rusty at first, but warmed up to it. It is about the only exercisewe can get on shore, for it rains all the time. Each shower puts anadded crimp in my temper, as I have been trying to get a new coat ofcamouflage paint on the ship. I think, if some of the oldpaint-and-polish captains and admirals could see her now, they would dieof apoplexy. 

[Sidenote: No chance for wives to come over. ]

I fear there is no chance for you to come over. Admiral Simsdisapproves--not of you personally--one cannot find a place to livehere, and there would be too many hardships. How would it be for youwhen we had said good-bye, and you saw the ship start out into a howlinggale or go out right after several ships had been sunk outside? With youat home among friends, I can keep my mind on my job, which I couldn't ifyou were alone over here. 

Let me say right now that the destroyer torpedoed was not ours. It washard on you all to have the news published that one had been and a mankilled, and not say what boat, as that leaves every one in suspense. Isuppose the relatives of the man were notified, but that doesn't helpother people who were anxious. 

[Sidenote: A destroyer is torpedoed but does not sink. ]

I don't suppose I can tell you which boat either, if the authoritieswon't. You do not know any one on board of her, however. They saw itcoming, jammed on full speed, and nearly cleared it. It took them justat the stern and blew off about 30 feet as neatly as son would bite theend off a banana. The submarine heard the explosion, of course, frombelow, and came to the surface to see the "damned Yankee" sink, only tofind the rudderless, sternless boat steaming full speed in a circle withher one remaining propeller, and to be greeted by a salvo of four-inchshells that made her duck promptly. The man killed saw the torpedocoming and ran aft to throw overboard some high explosives stowedthere--but he didn't quite make it. 

[Sidenote: Damaged destroyers somehow get back to port. ]

Our destroyers are really wonderful boats--you can shoot off one end ofthem, ram them, cut them in two, and still they float and get to portsomehow. 

Some time ago, on a pitch-dark night, one of them was rammed by aBritish boat and nearly cut in two. Was there a panic? Not at all. Asshe settled in the water, they got out their boats and life-rafts, theofficers and a few selected men stayed on board, and the rest pulled offin the darkness singing, "Are we downhearted? No!" and "Hail, hail, thegang's all here. " She floated, though with her deck awash; the boatswere recalled, and they brought her in. She is fixed up and back in thegame again now. 

OCTOBER 25. 

[Sidenote: British destroyers fight raiders. ]

[Sidenote: The Admiral strict as a Prussian. ]

Where did you hear that about two destroyers being sunk off the coast ofIreland on September 3? False alarm. Of course, you have read in thepapers about the convoy destroyed in the North Sea by German raiders. The two British destroyers with the convoy stood up to them and foughtas a bulldog would fight a tiger--and with the same result. Somebody wasarguing with the Admiral, our boss, to the effect that it would havebeen better for them to have saved themselves, trailed the raiders, andsent radio, so that the British cruisers could have intercepted anddestroyed them. Said the Admiral, "Yes, it would have been better, but Iwould court-martial and shoot the man that did it. " He's a wonder toserve under, as grim and strict as a Prussian, but very just, and runsthings in a way that secures all our admiration--though we may fuss abit when, expecting two or three comfortable days in port, we get chasedout on short notice into a raving gale outside. 

A BRITISH DOCK YARD, NOVEMBER 4. 

[Sidenote: A friend on hospital duty. ]

There are lots of our army people here. Some of them are just passingthrough, while others are stationed at near-by training camps orhospitals. I was wandering around the big hotel here, when I saw afamiliar face in army uniform, and who should it be but M----. Much joy!He is near here, on temporary duty at a British hospital. I had him overto the ship for lunch, and hope to see him again. I certainly respectthat boy. He has no military ambitions, and wishes the war were over, sohe could get back to his wife and children; but _he_ answered the callwhile others were hiding behind volleys of language, and he is here tosee it through. I am afraid he is homesick and lonely, for it is harderfor a boy who does not know the English than for us hardenedmercenaries, who are accustomed to hobnob with everybody from Cubans toCossacks. 

[Sidenote: The American uniform and the British. ]

I will be glad when American Army and Navy uniforms are designed by atailor who really knows something about it. Alas, our people aredistinctly inferior to the British in the cut of their jib. I think itis the high standing collar that queers us. It is only at its best whenone stands at Attention--head up, chest out, arms at side--beingdistinctly a parade uniform. The British, with their rolling collar, andcoat tight where it may be, and loose where it needs to be, are, youmight say, less military and better dressed. 

Tell the Enfant that I am very proud when he gets gold honor-marks onhis school-papers, and I think that it probably means about the same asa star on a midshipman's collar. (That ought to get him. )

I must close and get a bit of sleep. It seems as if, when it is allover, all the heaven I will want, is to be with you and son again, perfectly quiet. 

AT SEA, NOVEMBER 16. 

[Sidenote: True democracy is in a way inefficient. ]

I think a true democracy is necessarily inefficient in a way. The onlyreally efficient government in the world is the one which we intend topull down, or else go down ourselves, trying to!

Can't you imagine, in the dim Valhalla beyond, how the archer ofPharaoh, the swordsman from the plains before Troy, and the Romanlegionary will greet the hurrying souls of the aviator, thebomb-thrower, and the bayonet-man with, "Brother, what were you?"

I'd hate to have to explain to their uncomprehending ears what aconscientious objector is!

DECEMBER 2. 

[Sidenote: Assuming command. ]

Well, to-day is one of the big days of my life, for I assumed command ofthis little packet. I put on my sword and fixings and reported toCaptain Paine, who was most benevolent. Several of us went on shore tocelebrate with a little dinner. Some of the boys just over joined in, and we became involved with some Highland officers of a fightingregiment famous throughout Europe for the last three hundred years. One's first ship, like the first baby is an event that cannot beduplicated. 

DECEMBER 21. 

[Sidenote: A jammed rudder leaves the destroyer unmanageable. ]

I needed your letter, being about twenty years older than I was a weekago. No, no harm done. Just had my first experience of what it meansunder certain circumstances to be in command. Went out with certainothers on a certain job. All went well, though we had a poor grade ofoil in our bunkers and were burning more than we should ordinarily. Then, through certain chances, we had to go farther than expected. Still, I figured to get back with a moderate margin, when the galestruck us. You may have read of Biscay storms; well, believe me, theyare not over-rated. I have seen just as bad, perhaps, but not from thedeck of a destroyer. And while I am frantically calculating whether Ishall have enough fuel to make port or not, there is a wild yell fromthe bridge that the rudder is jammed at hard-a-starboard and can't bemoved. She, of course, at once fell off into the trough of the sea, andthe big green combers swept clear over her at every roll, raising merryhob. All the boats were smashed to kindling-wood; chests, and everythingon deck not riveted down, went over the side. In that sea you could nomore manoeuvre by your engines alone than you could dam Niagara with ahandful of sand. A man alongside of me aft, where we were working on thesteering-gear, was swept overboard, but, having a line around his waist, was hauled back like a hooked fish. 

All I could do was to steam in a big circle, and at one point would berunning before it, and could work for an instant or two with the seasrunning up to our waists. When they get over your head, you probablywon't be there any longer. At that time I didn't really expect to stayafloat, but was too busy with the matters in hand to care. Well, wefinally got it fixed, though we could only use about 15 degrees ofrudder instead of full. 

[Sidenote: Lack of fuel causes worry. ]

All this time we were drifting merrily to leeward at a rate that I hatedeven to guess at, with the certainty, unless matters mended, ofeventually piling up on the Spanish coast, then not far away, though Ihadn't had sight of sun or stars in days, and didn't know within fiftymiles where I was. Well, when I finally headed up into it, I could justabout hold her, without making any headway to speak of. You cannot drivea destroyer dead into a heavy sea at full speed without bursting her intwo. Still, the situation would have been nothing to worry about much ifI had had sufficient fuel. Now, you on shore may fancy that a ship justkeeps on steaming till she gets there, whether it takes a month or more;but such is far from the case. Every mile you go consumes just so muchfuel, and, if your margin of safety is too small, you are liable to beout of luck. And my calculations showed me that while I was using up oilenough to be making ---- knots, in the teeth of the gale we were onlymaking ---- knots, and that at that rate I never would make port. 

[Sidenote: Three courses are possible. ]

[Sidenote: The destroyer makes France. ]

[Sidenote: Steel the aristocrat among metals. ]

There were three courses open to me: to let her drift, consuming my oil, in the hope that it would blow over; to run into a Spanish port; or torun for France, my destination, and, if I fell short of it, to yell forhelp by radio, and trust to luck that they could send out and pick meup. The first course was too risky. I would be making untold miles toleeward all the time, would probably roll the masts and funnels out ofher, and maybe burst down anyhow, too far off for help. The secondchoice was the safest. I could reach Ferrol or Vigo all right, but theywould probably try to intern me; and while I had heard that King Alfonsowas a regular guy and a good scout to run around with, the ensuingdiplomatic complications would make me about as popular in Alliedcircles as the proverbial skunk at a bridge-party. So I took the finalalternative, and jammed her into the teeth of it for all I thought shecould stand without imitating an opera hat or an accordion. And, glorybe, she made it, the blessed little old cross between a porpoise and asafety-razor blade! Whether the gale really moderated, or I got morenerve, I don't know; but anyhow I gave her more and more, half a knot ata time, until we were actually making appreciable headway against it. Inever thought any ship could stand the bludgeoning she got. It seemed asif every rivet must shear, every frame and stanchion crush, under theimpact of the Juggernaut seas that hurtled into her. As a thoroughbredhorse starts and trembles under the touch of the whip, so she reared andtrembled, only to bury herself again in the roaring Niagara of water. Oh, you thoroughbred high-tensile steel! blue-blooded aristocrat amongmetals; Bethlehem or Midvale may claim you--you are none the lessworthy of the Milan casque, the Damascus blade, your forefathers!Verily, I believe you hold on by sheer nerve, when by all physical lawsshould buckle or bend to the shock!

[Sidenote: Torpedo detonators spilt on deck. ]

And so we kept on. Don't you know, how in the stories it is always in aterrific gale that the caged lion or gorilla or python breaks loose andterrorizes the ship? We don't sport a menagerie on the ----, but I didpick up the contents of the dry gun-cotton case, which had broken andspilt the torpedo detonators around on deck contiguous to the hotradiator! And, of course, the decks below were knee-deep in books, clothes, dishes, etc. , complicated in some compartments by a foot or twoof oil and water. 

[Sidenote: Soundings and landmarks. ]

Well, the next day we made a little more, and the seas were onlygigantic, not titanic. The oil was holding out better, too, as we strucka better grade in some of our tanks, and I saw that we had a fightingchance of making it. By night I felt almost confident we could, and Ireally slept some. Next day I expected to make land, but, of course, hadlittle idea how far I might really be from my reckoning. Nevertheless, we sighted ---- Light about where I expected to, and laid a course fromthere into the harbor. It was a rather thick, foggy day, and pretty soonI noted a cunning little rock or two, dead ahead, where they didn't byany means belong. So I rather hurriedly arrested further progress, tooksoundings, and bearings of different landmarks, and found that we weresome twenty-five miles from our reckoning--so far, in fact, as to havepicked up the next light-house instead of the one we thought. 

After this 'twas plain sailing, though I had never been into that portbefore. Made it about noon, took possession of a convenient mooring-buoyinside the breakwater--which buoy I found out later was sacred to theFrench flag-ship or somebody like that--called on our Admiral there, andwas among friends. Yes, by heck, I let 'em buy me a drink at the club--Ineeded it! Had oil enough left for just about an hour more!

Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, April, 1918. 

 * * * * *

While the great campaigns were being waged on the western fronts, therewas being carried on in a more remote part of the world a series ofoperations which involved as hard fighting and as many difficulties aswere encountered in any other field of action. The campaigns in EastAfrica which resulted in driving the Germans from their former coloniesare described in the following narrative. 

EAST AFRICA

JAN CHRISTIAAN SMUTS

[Sidenote: Learned South Africa in The Boer War. ]

In the strenuous days of the Boer War I learned to know my South Africafrom the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean as one learns a country only underthe searching test of war. I came to know the unfrequented paths, thetrackless parts of the bush, the wastes where people do not often go. Ibelieve it is generally admitted that I covered more country than anyother commander in the field on either side--and my movement was notalways in the direction of the enemy!

[Sidenote: Obtaining water on the Kalahari Desert. ]

When the present war broke out, I proceeded once more on my extensivetravels, and I became something of an expert in the waterless, sandywastes of the southern half of German Southwest Africa. As for theKalahari Desert, over which the movement of men and transport wassupposed to be quite impossible, we did not rest until we had sunkbore-holes for water for hundreds of miles, and until we had moved alarge force of thousands of mounted men across an area in which it wasthought no human being could ever move. One of the reasons of oursuccess in that campaign was that, moving through the Kalahari Desert, we struck the enemy country at its very heart. The travels ofLivingstone, of Selous, who was a comrade of mine in this war, and ofother illustrious men in those vast solitudes of southern Africa were asjoy-rides to what we had to undergo in conducting a big campaign againstthe enemy, and still more against nature. 

[Sidenote: A campaign in East Africa. ]

[Sidenote: Careful study of topography necessary. ]

[Sidenote: Books of travelers all wrong. ]

When that campaign was over, and I thought my traveling days were past, the call came to East Africa, and 1916 was spent in traveling over thevast tropical expanses of that fascinating country. I need scarcely saythat a military commander has often very special opportunities oflearning geography. He has to study the country with the eyes not of thescientist or the traveler or the hunter, but of the soldier responsiblefor the lives and the movements and supplies of large masses of men. Itis one thing to follow the track of the elephant or to stalk the lion orantelope or to collect butterflies or other gorgeous things; it is quitea different and, from the point of view of learning geography, certainlya far more enlightening, task to lead a large army over those virginsolitudes, where your problem involves the careful study not only oftopographical features, but of all the numerous natural conditions whichaffect your progress. To provide for the needs of a small _safari_ maybe a light or delightful task; but the difficulties and requirements ofa large force, moving forward against an alert, ubiquitous foe, compelyou to probe into everything: the nature of the country, with itsmountains and rivers, forests and deserts, for scores of miles around;its animal and human diseases; its capacity for supplies and transport;its climate and soil and rainfall. And one of your first discoveries isthat the books of the travelers are mostly wrong. What to them wasperhaps a paradise of plant or animal life is to you, moving with yourvast impedimenta, a veritable purgatory. You soon come to agree withScripture that all men are liars, and from this rule you do not evenexcept the missionaries who write with their heads in the clouds; nor doyou except the writers of intelligence books compiled in Whitehall fromthe hunting tales of the travelers or the fairy-tales of themissionaries, and marked "very secret. " But these secrets are like mostsecrets of the African continent, very disconcerting to the simple, trustful soul. 

[Sidenote: The silence of the forest is broken by the tramp of armedmen. ]

[Sidenote: Horses virtually unknown. ]

These campaigning experiences were unique. Probably never before in thehistory of the world had such things been seen: the stillness, thebrooding silence of the vast primeval forest where no, or few, white menhave ever been before, and the only path is the track of the elephant;the silence of the forest, stretching for hundreds of miles in alldirections, broken by the tramp of tens of thousands of armed men, followed by the guns and heavy transport of a modern army, with itshundreds of motor-lorries, its miles of wagons, its vast concourse ofblack porters; while overhead the aëroplane, or, as the natives call it, the "bird, " more dreaded and more feared than even the crocodile in theriver, passes on swiftly with its bombs for the foe retreating ahead. And what an effect this movement, continued for many months over manythousands of miles, produced on the minds of the native population, looking on in speechless awe and amazement at the mystery of the whiteman's doings! I have often stopped to wonder at the natives' state ofmind. It must have been not unlike what is told of one of my simplecountrymen, on whose farm an aviator descended with an aëroplane, neverseen or heard of before, and who calmly walked forward to shake handswith the heavenly visitant, whom he believed none other than the Lord!And since horses, because of the fly, are virtually unknown in mostparts of the country, the natives were dumfounded by our mounted men, strange centaur-like animals that they called "Kabure, " after my mountedBoer forces, of whom at first they were mortally afraid. Even bodies ofwell-trained armed native soldiers have been seen to throw away theirrifles and run for dear life into the bush at the first sight of mountedmen. 

[Sidenote: Parallel mountain ranges rise in tiers. ]

[Sidenote: The second belt or veldt. ]

[Sidenote: Changes in rainfall. ]

The whole east of the African continent from the cape in the south up toAbyssinia in the north, and, I believe, farther, is marked by onepersistent feature, the existence of several more or less parallelmountain-ranges rising in tiers from the coast. At the top of the lastand highest mountain-range lies the great elevated inland plateau, stretching like a broad back along the continent. The first line ofhills or low mountains runs at a distance of from ten to fifty milesfrom the coast of the Indian Ocean, and all the country between it andthe sea forms a low coastal belt, which seldom rises more than a fewhundred feet above sea-level, with a distinct coastal climate andvegetation. Between these coastal hills and the next range lies thesecond belt, called in South Africa the low veldt, again with a climateand rainfall and vegetation of its own. Next and last, at a distance offrom a hundred to one hundred and fifty miles from the Indian Ocean, runs a mountain system, often rising to great altitudes, on which reststhe great elevated inland plateau from four thousand to six thousandfeet above the level of the sea. This plateau continues for hundreds ofmiles westward, and then begins to slope toward the Atlantic Ocean inthe far distance. Sometimes, as in Central Africa, the slope to the westis very sudden, and another range of mountains forms the westernbuttress of the great central plateau. All the great rivers of Africa, with the exception of the Niger, rise on this plateau or on itsmountain-flanks, which have a very high rainfall. The bush, or greatforest, which is almost impenetrable in the coastal belt, becomessomewhat more open in patches in the middle belt, while on the plateauopen, park-like country alternates with treeless, grassy plains, andthe forest is confined to the deep valleys or the mountain-slopes. Therainfall, which is fair on the coast, becomes very light in the middlebelt, which in consequence tends to have an arid character; on theplateau it is high or very high. Because of these marked differences theeconomic character of the three regions varies considerably. Semi-tropical products, such as maize, coffee, cotton, and millet, canbe raised on an almost unlimited scale on the plateau; while rice, rubber, sisal, and copra are raised in the two lower belts. 

[Sidenote: The chain of large lakes. ]

[Sidenote: Extinct and active volcanoes. ]

All along the mountains which mark the western edge of the high plateauone will notice a chain of lakes, from Nyasa in the south throughTanganyika and Kivu to Lake Albert in the north. In prehistoric timesome convulsion of nature broke the African continent all along itsspine, and formed this system of lakes. Another break occurs on the highplateau, from Portuguese East Africa in the south to British East Africain the north, along the Great Rift Valley, with its magnificentescarpments and weird scenery, prolonged through Lake Rudolf to the RedSea and on to the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley. Great volcanoes, nowmostly extinct, though some to the north of Kivu are still active, are astill later feature of the country. 

[Sidenote: Lakes and mountains a frontier for defense. ]

I have referred to these lakes and to the great mountain-chain along thelakes because they formed the western boundary of German East Africa, and from the point of view of defense made a magnificent frontier sostrong that the Belgian forces moving from the Congo found it impossibleto invade the enemy territory from the west, and had to be moved inlarge part northeast before they could strike south. Once there, withtheir usual dash they did their work remarkably well. 

[Sidenote: Seaplanes attack German vessels in the lakes. ]

As soon as this northern column had reached Kigali, the capital of thelofty Ruanda Province, the German forces fell back from the neighborhoodof Lake Kivu, and the remainder of the Belgian army was able to advancefrom the west across the mountain barrier. Simultaneously, and incoördination with their advance, strong British columns were movingsouthward to the west of Victoria Nyanza. As soon as we had reached thesouthern shores of the lake, a new concerted forward movement by theBritish and Belgian columns was begun both from Victoria Nyanza and fromTanganyika, where in the meantime the German armed vessels on the lakehad been bombed and destroyed by seaplanes, and Ujiji on the easternshore had been occupied. This movement did not stop until Tabora, withthe central railway, was occupied early in September, 1916. 

[Sidenote: General Northey's advance across the mountain. ]

At the same time a great movement was made in the south by GeneralNorthey, who advanced from the line between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasaacross the mountains flanking the great plateau on the west. This is avery mountainous region; but he got over the mountains, and movingnorth, took Bismarckburg, Neu Langenburg, and afterward Iringa, whereour main forces joined hands with his. These advances, all carried outwith great skill and energy against very great physical difficulties, were subsidiary to the principal attack, which was being executed fromthe north-east, in the neighborhood of Kilimanjaro. 

[Sidenote: The River Rovuma a strategic line. ]

[Sidenote: Pursuit of enemy across Rovuma is difficult. ]

The southern boundary between German East Africa and Portuguese EastAfrica was formed by the River Rovuma, which, coming from the highplateau and the mountains to the east of Nyasa, is one of the largeAfrican rivers. Except in its highest reaches near Lake Nyasa it is notfordable, and makes an admirable strategic line. However, as Portugalcame into the war after most of the German colony had already beenoccupied by us, this river acquired strategic importance only toward theend of the campaign, and then in a sense adverse to us, as General VanDeventer has found to his cost. After the remnants of the German nativeforces had been driven across the Rovuma at the beginning of December, 1917, our forces found the swift pursuit across the river a difficulttask. We are, however, now operating against the roving bands into whichthe enemy force has split, and if ever they try to break back to theiroccupied colony, they will find the line of the Rovuma a very seriousbarrier. 

[Sidenote: The search for the German raider _Königsberg_. ]

[Sidenote: The _Königsberg's_ guns accompany the enemy on land. ]

The eastern boundary of the colony is the coast-line of the Indian Oceanfor almost five hundred miles, with some very beautiful harbors, and itwas dominated by our navy from the day that war was declared. The RoyalNavy has played a very active part in our African campaigns, and one ofthe most fascinating episodes of the war was the search for the_Königsberg_, lost after she had destroyed the _Pegasus_ and done muchdamage in the Indian Ocean. She was discovered in a most secluded branchof the Rufiji River, and ultimately destroyed by seaplanes and monitorsin her impenetrable lair. Yet, though destroyed, she made her voiceheard over all that vast country, for her ten big naval guns, eachpulled by teams of four hundred stalwart natives, accompanied the enemyarmies in all directions, and, with other naval guns and howitzerssmuggled into the country, made the enemy in many a fight stronger inheavy artillery than we were. 

[Sidenote: Extensive enemy fortifications at the mountain gap. ]

[Sidenote: The rainy season worse than imagined. ]

From a strategic point of view, the northern frontier was the mostdifficult of all. It passed north of Kilimanjaro, to the west of whichis a desert belt. East of this desert belt and Kilimanjaro the enemycolony was protected by an almost impassable mountain system, with avery narrow, swampy, dangerous gap between the Usambara and PareMountains, and another gap of about four or five miles between the PareMountains and Kilimanjaro. It was impossible to move an army through thefirst gap; the second gap at the foot of Kilimanjaro was the place wherethe enemy had located himself early in the war on British territory, andwith patience and skill had dug himself in, with very extensivefortifications, surrounded by dense forests and impassable swamps. Herehe lay waiting for eighteen months, threatening British East Africa. From here he was driven in March, 1916, and by the end of that month ourforces had conquered the whole Kilimanjaro-Meru areas. It was at thisstage, and after our initial success, that the rainy season set in; andthat is another great feature of German East Africa. I had read muchabout it, and I had heard more; but the reality far surpassed the worstI had read or heard. For weeks the rain came down ceaselessly, pitilessly, sometimes three inches in twenty-four hours, until all thehollows became rivers, all the low-lying valleys became lakes, thebridges disappeared, and all roads dissolved in mud. All communicationscame to an end, and even Moses himself in the desert had not such acommissariat situation as faced me. 

[Sidenote: The enemy's line of retreat. ]

When in the latter part of May the rains subsided, the advance againstthe enemy was once more resumed. In order to create the maximumdifficulties for our advance, the enemy chose as his line of retreat thegreat block of mountains which I have referred to as forming the easternbuttress of the great central plateau. For the next three and a halfmonths our forward movement continued with only one short pause untilby the middle of September we had reached the great valleys of theRufiji and the Great Rwaha in the far south, and across the Rwaha wecould link up with General Northey at Iringa in the southwest. 

[Sidenote: Difficulties of transport and supply in advance. ]

[Sidenote: Poisonous insects and tropical diseases. ]

[Sidenote: The campaign a story of human endurance. ]

It is impossible for those unacquainted with German East Africa torealize the physical, transport, and supply difficulties of an advanceover this magnificent, but mountainous, country, with a great rainfalland wide, unbridged rivers in the regions of the mountains, andinsufficient surface water on the plains for the needs of an army; withmagnificent primeval forest everywhere, pathless, trackless, except forthe spoor of the elephant or the narrow footpaths of the natives. Themalaria mosquito is everywhere except on the higher plateaus; everywherethe belts are infested with the deadly tsetse fly, which makes an end ofall animal transport; and almost everywhere the ground is rich black orred cotton soil, which any transport converts into mud in the rain ordust in the drought. Everywhere the fierce heat of equatorial Africa, accompanied by a wild luxuriance of parasitic life, breed tropicaldiseases in the unacclimatized whites. These conditions make life forthe white man in that country sufficiently trying. If in addition he hasto perform hard work and make long marches on short rations, the trialbecomes very severe; if, above all, huge masses of men and material haveto be moved over hundreds of miles in a great military expeditionagainst a mobile and alert foe, then the strain becomes almostunendurable. And the chapter of accidents in this region of the unknown!Unseasonable rains cut off expeditions for weeks from their supplybases. Animals died by the thousand--after passing through an unknownfly-belt. Mechanical transport got bogged in the marshes, held up bybridges washed away, or mountain passes obstructed by sudden floods. Andthe gallant boys, marching far ahead under the pitiless African sun, with the fever raging in their blood, pressed ever on after theretreating enemy, often on reduced rations, and without any of the smallcomforts which in this climate are real necessities. In the story ofhuman endurance this campaign deserves a very special place, and theheroes who went through it uncomplainingly, doggedly, are entitled toall recognition and reverence. Their commander-in-chief will remaineternally proud of them. 

When in January, 1917, I relinquished the command to my successor, General Hoskins, we were across the Rufiji River in the southeast, andin the great valley formed by the principal tributaries, the Ulanga andRuhuje rivers in the west; but the rainy season which set in shortlyafterward stopped all advance until the following June. 

[Sidenote: Enemy's forces evacuate German East Africa. ]

Five months later our advance was resumed, and by the beginning ofDecember, 1917, the last remnants of the enemy's forces had evacuatedGerman East Africa across the Rovuma, while our forces were operatingagainst the enemy bands far south in Portuguese territory, as I havealready stated. 

[Sidenote: Development of tropical Africa retarded by diseases. ]

In economic value this region ranks very high among the tropicalcountries of the African continent, and probably no part of all Africahas a climate or soil more suitable for the production on an immensescale of copra, cocoanuts, coffee, sugar, sisal, rubber, cotton, andother tropical products, or of such semi-tropical products as maize andmillet. In common with the rest of tropical Africa, its full developmentis still retarded by the undefeated animal and human diseases, especially malaria. But the time is not far distant when science willhave overcome these drawbacks, and when Central and East Africa willhave become one of the most productive and valuable parts of thetropics. But until science solves the problems of tropical disease, Eastand Central Africa must not be looked upon as an area for whitecolonization. Perhaps they will never be a white man's country in anyreal sense. In those huge territories the white man's task will probablybe largely confined to that of administrator, teacher, expert, manager, or overseer of the large negro populations, whose progressivecivilization will be more suitably promoted in connection with theindustrial development of the land. 

[Sidenote: The Germans discouraged white settlement. ]

[Sidenote: Natives compelled to work for planters. ]

[Sidenote: German system more profitable one. ]

It is clear from their practice in East Africa that the Germans haddecided to develop the country not as an ordinary colony, but as atropical possession for the cultivation of tropical raw materials. Theysystematically discouraged white settlement; the white colonists, withtheir small farms, gradually building up a European system on a smallscale, who are a marked feature of British colonies, were conspicuouslyabsent. Instead, tracts of country were granted to companies, syndicates, or men with large capital, on conditions that plantations oftropical products would be cultivated. The planters were supplied withnative labor under a government system which compelled the natives towork for the planters for a certain very small wage during part of everyyear; and as labor was very plentiful, with seven and a half millions ofnatives, the future for the capitalist syndicates seemed rosy enough. Nowonder that under this _corvée_ system East Africa and the Kamerun wererapidly developing into very valuable tropical assets, from which intime the German Empire would have derived much of the tropical rawmaterial for its industries. The Germans realized better than mostpeople that the value of tropical Africa lay not in any openings forwhite colonization, such as are being developed next door to theircolonies in British East Africa, but in the plantation system, wherewhite capital and black labor collaborate to establish an entirelydifferent order of things. Harsh as the German system undoubtedly is, Iam not prepared to deny that it is perhaps the more scientific one, andthat in the long run it is the more profitable form of exploiting thetremendous natural resources of the tropics. 

With regard to tropical Africa, so vast in area, so great in resources, the first desideratum for its development is the opening up ofcommunication. The lakes, the Nile, and the Congo form the principalnatural links in any chains of communication with the seaboard; and thequestion is, how far railways have come in or will come in to completethese chains. 

[Sidenote: Railways built in the Congo territory and connective. ]

Two railways built during the war in the Congo territory have largelyextended the communications from east to west, and from the center tothe south. These two railways have opened up many routes in Central andEast Africa, and it is now possible to travel from the Indian Ocean atDar-es-Salaam by the German Central Railway to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika;by steamer across the lake to Albertville; thence by train to Kabalo; bysteamer on to Kongolo; train to Kindu, and on by steamer and rail downthe Congo to the Atlantic Ocean. 

[Sidenote: Railways in South Africa. ]

Now, as to the communications in the south, one can travel from CapeTown by rail to Bukama, and thence by steamer and rail either to Boma onthe Atlantic coast, or by rail and steamer to Dar-es-Salaam on theIndian Ocean. Besides these through lines, there is the Uganda Railwayfrom Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to the Victoria Nyanza, and there arein contemplation two other railways from the east coast to Nyasa, onefrom Kilwa, and one from Porto Amelia, in Portuguese East Africa. Arailway is also under construction from Lobito Bay on the Atlantic tothe Katanga copper areas, already reached from the south and east by therailways from Cape Town and Beira. 

[Sidenote: Communications to the northward. ]

The question remains as to communications northward to theMediterranean. One can travel to-day from Alexandria by rail and riverto Khartoum, and thence by steamer up the Nile to Rejaf, near the Ugandaborder. From Rejaf to Nimule, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, the Nile is impracticable for river transport, and therefore over thatdistance a railway will have to be built. But from Nimule the river isagain navigable up to Lake Albert. The problem is to connect Lake Albertwith the Central and South African systems. 

[Sidenote: Possible Belgian and British routes. ]

[Sidenote: Tropical Africa a great problem in world politics. ]

Three routes are possible, one wholly Belgian, one partly British andpartly Belgian, and one wholly British. That is on the assumption thatGerman East Africa remains British after this war. The Belgian projectis to construct the railway from the Congo bend at Stanleyville over thegold-fields at Kilo to Mahagi on Lake Albert. The British project wouldbe to construct a line from the south of Elizabethville to Bismarckburg, at the south of Lake Tanganyika, to proceed thence by steamer to Ujiji, thence by the existing railway to Tabora, to construct a line fromTabora to Mwanza on Lake Victoria Nyanza, and a line from Entebbe onthat lake to Butiabwa, on Lake Albert. The third or mixedBelgian-British line would proceed by way of Butiabwa, Entebbe, Mwanza, Tabora, and Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, but from there would make use ofthe existing line to Kabalo on the Congo. It is probable that by one orother of these three routes through communication from South Africa tothe Mediterranean may be established within the next ten years. Withthis vital industrial aspect of tropical Africa there is wrapped up theequally important political aspect, and these two problems are certainto make of tropical Africa one of the great problems of future worldpolitics. 

[Sidenote: Germans have no colonists to spare. ]

Now, the Germans are not in search of colonies after the English model, and those that they have in East and West Africa had no white populationto speak of before the war. Quite apart from the fact that tropicalAfrica would be no suitable territory for white settlement, they have nocolonists to spare, since for the sake of their industrial and militaryfuture in Germany they desire the largest concentration of populationpossible in the fatherland. As Baron von Rechenberg, formerly governorof German East Africa, has expressed it:

"Just as we lack suitable land for settling, so we lack suitable Germansettlers. .. . For a number of years immigration into Germany has beenmuch greater than emigration from Germany. .. . Even in times of peaceGerman agriculture had not a surplus, but a shortage, of labor, and itcannot possibly accord with our interests to increase the shortage byencouraging emigration. .. . Regrettable though it is, there can be noquestion at the conclusion of peace of acquiring territory forsettlement. There is no appropriate country, and there are no farmers tosettle on it. "

[Sidenote: Germany desires not colonies but strategic positions. ]

[Sidenote: Central Africa needed to supply raw materials. ]

[Sidenote: Germany could use natives in war. ]

German colonial aims are really not colonial, but are entirely dominatedby far-reaching conceptions of world politics. Not colonies, butmilitary power and strategic positions for exercising world power infuture, are her real aims. Her ultimate objective in Africa is theestablishment of a great Central African Empire, comprising not only hercolonies before the war, but also all the English, French, Belgian, andPortuguese possessions south of the Sahara and Lake Chad and north ofthe Zambezi River in South Africa. Toward this objective she wassteadily marching even before the war broke out, and she claims thereturn of her lost African colonies at the end of the war as astarting-point from which to resume the interrupted march. Or, rather, as appears from Count Hertling's recent pronouncement, she claims areallocation of the world's colonies, so that she may have a sharecommensurate with her world position. This Central African block, themaps of which are now in course of preparation and printing at theColonial Office in Berlin, is intended in the first place to supply theeconomic requirements and raw materials of German industry; in thesecond and far more important place, to become the recruiting-ground forvast native armies, the great value of which has been demonstrated inthe tropical campaigns of this war, and especially in East Africa; whilethe natural harbors on the Atlantic and Indian oceans will supply thenaval and submarine bases from which both ocean routes will bedominated, and British and American sea-power will be brought to naught. The native armies will be useful in the next great war, to which theGerman General Staff is already devoting serious attention, as appearsfrom the book of General von Freytag, the deputy chief of the GermanGeneral Staff, recently published here under the title "Deductions ofthe World War. "

[Sidenote: A great army on the flank of Asia. ]

The untrained levies of the Union of South Africa would go down beforethese German-trained hordes of Africans, who would also be able to dealwith North Africa and Egypt without the deflection of any white troopsfrom Germany; and they would in addition mean a great army planted onthe flank of Asia whose force could be felt throughout the middle Eastas far as Persia, and who knows how much farther?

[Sidenote: African natives a part of Germany's plan of conquest. ]

This is the grandiose scheme. It is no mere fanciful picture, but basedon the writings of great German publicists, professors, and highcolonial authorities, and chapter and verse could be quoted in fulldetail for every feature of the scheme. The civilization of the Africannatives and the economic development of the dark continent must besubordinate to the most far-reaching schemes of German world power andworld conquest; the world must be brought into subjection to Germanmilitarism. As in former centuries again the African native must playhis part in the new slavery. Dr. Solf, the present German ColonialSecretary, in the "Colonial Calendar" for 1917, made the followingpronouncement as to the organic connection of German colonial aims withher other aims of world power:

[Sidenote: Directions of German aims. ]

"The history of our colonies in this world war has shown what washitherto wanting in the German colonial empire. It has shown that it wasnot a proper 'empire' at all, but merely a number of possessions withoutgeographical and political connection, and without establishedcommunications. .. . How greatly would the power of resistance of ourcolonies have been increased if they had not been isolated!. .. Theseexperiences show what direction our aims must take. We shall achieve thefulfillment of our desires if we remain conscious that thecolonial-political aim is not something which stands alone by itself, but must be regarded in organic connection with all other aims which weare determined to attain by the world war. "

Prof. Delbrück, in a recent number of the "Preussische Jahrbücher, " thussketches the new African Empire:

[Sidenote: Plan for a new African Empire. ]

"If our victory is great enough, we can hope to unite under our hand thewhole of Central Africa with our old colony South-west Africa;Senegambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Dahomey, well-populatedNigeria with the port of Lagos, Kamerun, the rich islands of San Thoméand Principe with their splendid ports, the Katanga ore district, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, and Delagoa Bay, Madagascar, German East Africa, Zanzibar, and Uganda; and in addition the great portof Ponta Delgado in the Azores--one of the most important and mostfrequented coaling stations--and Horta, one of the most importantcenters of the transatlantic cable system. At present the Azores belongto Portugal, which is at war with Germany. Portugal also owns the CapeVerde Islands, with the port of Porto Grande, one of the most frequentedcoaling stations in the Eastern Atlantic. 

[Sidenote: The riches of the African territories. ]

"All these territories together have over 100, 000, 000 inhabitants. United in a single ownership, and with their various characteristicssupplementing one another, they offer simply immeasurable prospects. They are rich in natural treasures, rich in possibilities of settlementand trade, and rich in men who can work and also be used in war. Todemand them is not unjust, and does not offend against the principle ofequilibrium, since Germany would thus only be obtaining a colonialempire such as England and Russia, France and America, have longpossessed. "

Franz Kolbe, in the "Deutsche Politik, " a year ago thus described thefuture rôle for raiders in the South Atlantic:

[Sidenote: Importance of German-West African Coast in combating GreatBritain. ]

"The whole coast of West Africa from the mouth of the Cross River to themouth of the Orange River would be in German possession. When one onlyremembers what immense achievements were performed by the _Emden_ inthe Indian Ocean and by the _Karlsruhe_ in the Atlantic, without anynaval base, without any possibility of replenishing in port theirsupplies of munitions, food, etc. , it will be realized what thefortification of half the West Coast of Africa would signify for Germanyand for England! As soon as, in the new war, the Suez Canal is closedagainst England by the Turks, all traffic between England and India, Australia, and South Africa must go round the Cape of Good Hope. Butthen all the shipping must pass the coast of German Central Africa. Itwould be impossible for England any longer to concentrate her wholefleet in the North Sea and to menace Germany. She would be compelled tostation a considerable fleet in South Africa for the protection of hertrade, and that would mean a not inconsiderable weakening of her forcesin European waters. "

In the same review Emil Zimmermann explains the rôle of German EastAfrica in the future scheme of world power:

[Sidenote: German Africa would have balance of power in the East. ]

"German Africa, which will find allies at once in Abyssinia and inMohammedan freedom movements, will make the employment of black troopsagainst our European frontiers impossible. German Africa alone will giveus a balance of power in the East and in Africa. It will remove theEgyptian pressure on Asia Minor. German Africa will make us a worldpower by enabling us to exert decisive influence upon the worldpolitical decisions of our enemies and of other powers, and to exercisepressure on all shaping of policy in Africa, Asia Minor, and southernEurope. "

And in another article in the "Preussische Jahrbücher, " he says: "NearerAsia cannot continue to exist without this covering of its flank. Thatis the meaning of the German colonial question. " In other words, Berlin-Bagdad is not safe without a great German Central or EastAfrican Empire. 

[Sidenote: British ambitions are different. ]

[Sidenote: German policies dangerous. ]

The point of view of the British Empire is very different indeed. In thefirst place, it has never had any military ambitions apart from themeasure of sea-power essential to its continued existence; in Africa ithas never militarized the natives, has always opposed any such policyand has tended to study the natives' interests and regard their point ofview with special favor, often to the no small disappointment ofindividual white settlers. Indeed, no impartial person can deny that, sofar from exploiting the natives either for military or industrialpurposes, British policy has on the whole, over a very long stretch ofyears, had a tender regard for native interests, and on the whole itsresults have been beneficial to the natives in their gradualcivilization. In shaping this wise policy British statesmen have had avery long and wide African experience to guide them, and in consequencethey have avoided the very dangerous and dubious policies which theGerman new-comers have set in motion. Among these not the leastdangerous is to regard the native primarily as raw material to bemanufactured into military power and world power. 

[Sidenote: The British Empire asks peace and security. ]

In the second place, the objects pursued by British policy on theAfrican continent are inherently pacific and defensive. It desires noman's territory; it desires only to live in peace and develop the greatAfrican territories and populations intrusted to its care. And lookingat the future from the broadest points of view, looking at the magnitudeof its material African interests and the future welfare of the vastnative populations, and its difficult task of civilizing the darkcontinent; looking further upon Africa as the half-way house to Indiaand Australasia, the British Empire asks only for peace andsecurity--international peace and security of its externalcommunications. It cannot allow the return of conditions which mean themilitarization of the natives and their employment for schemes of worldpower; it cannot allow naval and submarine bases to be organized on bothsides of the African coast, to the endangerment of the seacommunications of the empire and the peace of the world. And it mustinsist on the maintenance of conditions which will guarantee throughland communications for its territories from one end of the continent tothe other. 

[Sidenote: Dependence on communications by sea and land. ]

The British Empire is not like Germany, Russia, or the United States, acompact territorial entity; it is scattered over the globe, and entirelydependent on the maintenance of communications for its continuedexistence. In future these lines of communication should proceed notonly by sea, but also by land. One of the most impressive lessons ofthis vast war is the vulnerability of sea-power and sea communicationsthrough the development of underwater transport, and the immenseimportance of railway communication. In fact, to be really effective thetwo should go hand in hand. Nor are we at the end of the chapter indiscovering new means of transportation. It is not only conceivable, butprobable, that aërial navigation may revolutionize the present transportsituation. 

[Sidenote: Prussian militarism cannot be tolerated. ]

[Sidenote: The dominions desire a Monroe Doctrine for the South. ]

As long as there is no real change of heart in Germany and no final andirrevocable break with militarism, the law of self-preservation shouldbe considered paramount; no fresh extension of Prussian militarism toother continents and seas should be tolerated; and the conquered Germancolonies can be regarded only as guaranties for the security of thefuture peace of the world. This opinion will be shared, I feel sure, bythe vast bulk of the young nations who form the Dominions of theBritish Empire. They have no military aims or ambitions; their tasks aresolely the tasks of peace; their greatest interest and aim is peace. Voluntarily they joined in this war, and to their efforts is largely duethe destruction of the German Colonial Empire, and the consequentprevention of the German military system being spread to the ends of theearth. They should not be asked to consent to the restoration to amilitant Germany of fresh footholds for militarism in the SouthernHemisphere, and thus to endanger the future of their young and risingcommunities who are developing the waste places of the earth. They wanta new Monroe Doctrine for the South as there has been a Monroe Doctrinefor the West, to protect it against European militarism. Behind thesheltering wall of such a doctrine they promise to build up a great, new, peaceful world not only for themselves, but for the many millionsof black folk intrusted to their care. 

[Sidenote: Germany's stubborn defense of her African colonies. ]

The enemy's stubborn defence of his last colony has not only been agreat feat in itself, but is also a proof of the supreme importanceattached by the German Government to this African colony both as aneconomic asset and as a strategic point of departure for theestablishment of the future Central African Empire to which I havereferred. At the conclusion of peace our statesmen will be bound to bearin mind these wider and obscurer issues, fraught with such consequencesto the world and to the British Empire in particular. Perhaps I may beallowed to express the fervent hope that a land where so many of ourheroes lost their lives or their health; where, under the most terribleand exacting conditions, human loyalty and human service were poured outlavishly in a great cause, may never be allowed to become a menace tothe future peaceful development of the world. I am sure my gallant boys, dead or living, would wish for no other or greater reward. 

 * * * * *

Greece, as a result of the intrigues of the pro-German king and queen, was a thorn in the flesh to the Allies for the first years of the war. The deposition of King Constantine, and the resumption of power ofPremier Venizelos, brought Greece back to the place where her peoplewished to be. 

GREECE'S ATONEMENT

LEWIS R. FREEMAN

[Sidenote: A meeting with Venizelos. ]

The Venizelists had been having a bad time of it from the first, but theblackest hours of all were those toward the end of last April, whenConstantine was still strong in Athens, and before the Saloniki Allieshad found it practicable or expedient to welcome them to a fullbrotherhood of arms. It was during this "dark before the dawn" periodthat I had my first meeting with M. Venizelos, a conventional halfhour's interview in the suburban villa, midway along the curve ofSaloniki Bay where the Provisional Government had established itsheadquarters. 

[Sidenote: The attitude of Constantine. ]

I had just come up from Athens, where I had found the Allied diplomatsstill smarting under the memories of their ignominious experiencesfollowing Constantine's spectacular coup of the previous December, andit was by no means the least of these who had told me point-blank thathe could not conceive how it would be possible that Saloniki should bereturned to Greece after the war. Of course it was the RoyalistGovernment that my distinguished friend had had in mind when he spoke, but there was not much to indicate at this time that the Greece ofConstantine and his minions was not also going to be the Greece of afterthe war. 

It was with this state of things in mind, and recalling his well knownambitions to found a Greater Greece--by extending Epirus north alongthe Adriatic, and bringing the millions of Greeks of Asia Minor at leastunder the protection of the Government at Athens--that I mustered up mycourage and asked M. Venizelos offhand if he felt confident of beingable even to maintain the integrity of his country as it existed beforethe war. 

[Sidenote: What Greece must do for the Allies. ]

"Not unless those of us Greeks who have remained faithful to the causeof humanity and our honor are ultimately able to lend the Alliesmaterial help in a measure sufficient to counterbalance the harm theaction of the Royalists has caused them, " was the prompt reply; "and bymaterial help I mean military aid. We must fight, and fight, and keep onfighting, for it is only with blood--with Greek blood--that the stainupon Greek honor can be washed away. It is only our army that can saveus, and that is why we have been so impatient of the delay there hasbeen in equipping it and getting it to the front. The one division wehave in the trenches now, and the two others that are ready to go, arenot enough, but they are about all we have been able to raise so far. Thessaly is for us (as you may have seen in traveling across it), andwould give us two more divisions at least; but our Allies have not yetseen fit to allow us to go there after them. "

[Sidenote: Venizelos determines to aid the Allies. ]

M. Venizelos spoke of a number of other things before I left him(notably of the extent to which the Russian revolution and the entry ofAmerica had helped him in his fight to save Greece), but it was plainthat the problem uppermost in his mind was that of wiping out the scoreof the Allies against his country by giving them a substantial measureof assistance in the field. 

"Do not fail to visit our force on the ---- sector before you leave theBalkans, " was his parting injunction. "There may be a chance of seeingit in action before very long, and if you do, you will need no furtherassurance of the way in which we shall make our honor white before ourAllies and all the world. "

[Sidenote: Unenviable position of the Venizelists. ]

[Sidenote: Elaborate precautions against treachery. ]

The Serbian and two or three other Armies have been worse off in aphysical way, but no national force since the outbreak of the war hasbeen in so thoroughly an unenviable position on every other score as wasthat of the Venizelists at this time. The Serbs and the Belgians had atleast the knowledge that the confidence and the sympathy of the Allieswere theirs. Also, they had chances to fight to their hearts' content. The Venizelists had scant measure of sympathy, and still less ofconfidence; and when their first chance to fight was at last given them, they were allowed to face the foe only after elaborate precautions hadbeen taken against everything, from incompetence and cowardice on theirpart to open treachery. That this was the fault neither of themselvesnor of their Allies, and had only come about through the perfidy of aKing to whom they no longer swore fealty, did not make the shame of itmuch easier to bear for an army of spirited volunteers who had riskedtheir all for a chance to wipe out the dishonor of their country. 

[Sidenote: Spies sent in the guise of deserters. ]

The thing that for a while made it so difficult for the Allies to knowwhat to do with the Venizelist army was the almost ridiculous ease withwhich, under the peculiar circumstances of its recruitment, it lentitself to spying purposes. All the Royalists, or their Germanpaymasters, had to do to establish a spy in the Saloniki area was tosend over one of their Intelligence Officers in the guise of a deserterfrom the Greek army to that of Venizelos, and there he was! To send backinformation, or even to return in person, across the but partiallypatrolled "Neutral Zone" was scarcely more difficult, and it was thewholesale way in which this sort of thing went on that made it so hardfor the Allies to decide just who the bona fide Venizelists were, andjust how far it would be safe to trust a force to which the enemy stillhad such ready means of access. 

[Sidenote: Tact and common sense used. ]

There was nothing else for the Allies to do but "go slow" and "playsafe" in dealing with the Venizelist army, and, under the circumstances, there is no doubt that a difficult situation was handled with a gooddeal of tact and common sense. Just how trying the situation of theVenizelists was, however, I had a chance to see one day when I happenedto be at their Headquarters arranging for my visit to the Greek sectorof the Front. Their troops had acquitted themselves with great credit insome gallantly carried out raiding operations, which must have made itdoubly hard for them to put up with a new restrictive order justpromulgated by the Supreme Command as a further precaution against theleakage of information to the enemy. 

Just as I was about to take my departure, a copy of the new order wasdelivered to the Staff Officer with whom I had been conferring about myvisit to the Front. He read it through slowly, his swarthy face flushingred with anger as he proceeded. 

[Sidenote: A series of humiliations. ]

"Have you heard of this?" he said, handing me the paper, and controllinghis voice with an effort, "No man or officer of our army is to cross the---- bridge without a special permit from General Headquarters. It isonly the latest in the long series of humiliations we have had to put upwith. Just look at the way we stand. In Athens our names are posted astraitors who can be shot on sight. Here it isn't quite like that, but--well (he raised his hand above his head and let it fall limply ina gesture of despair), all I can say is that the only officers of theVenizelist army to be envied are those whose names are recorded here(indicating a file at his elbow). It's the death-list fromday-before-yesterday's fighting. "

[Sidenote: Venizelist troops succeed in big attacks. ]

Owing to the delay in issuing my pass in Saloniki, I did not arrive atGreek Headquarters until the evening of the day on which the big attackhad taken place, and it was day-break of the morning following before Iwas able to make my way up to the advanced lines. The Venizelist troopshad taken all their objectives, and held them with great courage againstsuch counterattacks as the surprised Bulgars--who, not expecting anattack from the Greeks, had made the mistake of massing too much oftheir strength against the British and French attacks to east andwest--were able to organize against them. They had been busy all night"reversing" the captured trenches in anticipation of a determinedattempt on the part of the reinforced enemy to retake them in themorning. 

[Sidenote: Movement carried out without confusion. ]

The hilly but well-metaled cartroad, along which by the light of thewaning moon I cantered with an officer of the Greek staff, had beenthronged all night with the surging current of the battle traffic--anup-flow of munition convoys and reinforcements, and back-flow of woundedand prisoners--but I could not help remarking the comparative quiet andabsence of confusion with which the complex movement was carried on. 

[Sidenote: The Greeks seem to understand the game of war. ]

"Somehow this doesn't seem quite like the transport of a new army justundergoing its baptism of fire, " I said to my companion. "I've seenthings on the roads behind the western front in far worse messes thanany of these little jams we've passed to-night. These chaps are asbusinesslike as though they'd been at the game for years. "

[Sidenote: Veterans of the Balkan wars. ]

"So they have, " was the quiet reply. "Our army, as recruited so far, isa new one only in name. The men who attacked yesterday were of thefamous S---- Division, which fought all through the last two Balkan warsand gained no end of praise from all the foreign military attachés forits great mountain work. It was this Division which scaled the steeprange beyond Doiran and drove the Bulgars out of Rupel Pass. "

[Sidenote: The Battle of "Rupel Pass. "]

"The S---- Division, " "Rupel Pass. " Instantly I recalled how a BritishGeneral, over on the Struma a few days previously, had pointed out to mea steep range of serried snow-capped mountains towering against theskyline to the northwest, and told me that the feat of the Greeks intaking a division over it at a point where even the wary Bulgar haddeemed it impossible was one of the finest exploits in the annals ofmountain warfare. 

"The Italians have fought the Austrians at a greater altitude in anumber of places in the Alps, and in our wars with the Himalayantribesmen we have sent our Gurkhas twice as high. But all of that wasafter more or less preparation. Here, the Greeks simply started off andwent over that range with only their rifles and the packs on theirbacks. I know of nothing to compare with it save the taking ofKaymakchalan by the Serbs last November in the operations which freedMonastir. Not many in Saloniki have had much good to say of the Greek asa soldier of late, but you may be sure that we can do with more men ofthe kind that crossed that mountain range, and there is no reason whyVenizelos should not be able to bring them to us. "

[Sidenote: A favorable position for observation. ]

The hill from which we were to follow the action jutted out of themountains into the plain like the bow of a battleship. So favorable wasits position for observation--from its brow a wide expanse of mountainand valley was spread from twenty to sixty miles in threedirections--that the British and French as well as the Greeks maintainedposts there. We found the officers in both of the Allied "O. Pips"[signal corps talk for O. P. , meaning observation post] highlyenthusiastic over the work of the Greeks in their attack of thepreceding day. 

[Sidenote: The evening bulletin. ]

We found two officers in the British Observation Post chuckling over theevening bulletin, which had just been delivered to them. "You have toread between the lines of Sarrail's 'Evening Hope' if you want to get atthe real facts, " said one of them. "It's what it fails to tell you, thatyou really want to know. Now, you might be able to gather from this thatall the Balkan Allies have been doing quite a bit of attacking duringthe last day or two at various parts of the Front from Doiran west toAlbania, but you have to go between the lines to find that our shiftyBulgar friend over there gave most of them as good or better than theygave him all the way. It's sad but true that in this, our 'Great SpringOffensive, ' as the papers at home have talked of it, the whole lot ofus--French, British, Russian, Italian, and even the Serb--have beenfought to a standstill by the Bulgar. Far as I can see, the only gain wehave to show for it is in the casualty lists. "

I failed to see just what there was to chuckle about in such aninterpretation of the glowing lines of the evening bulletin, and said asmuch. 

[Sidenote: Successes of the little Venizelist army. ]

"It isn't funny in the least, " was the reply, "and it would seem stillless so if we could see at close range some of the things that are lyingout on a hundred miles of these accursed mountain sides as aconsequence of what has happened. But what _did_ strike us as a bit richwas the fact that, of all the Allies, this little piece of theVenizelist army, which we have held in leash all winter while we made upour minds as to whether it would be safe to slip or not, is the only oneof the whole lot of us that has taken all the objectives set for it. "

A sporting instinct and a grim sense of humor--the readiness to admire abrave foe and the ability to extract amusement from discomfiture--arethe two things that have conspired to make the British soldier souniformly successful in treating those "twin impostors, " Triumph andDisaster, "just the same. "

[Sidenote: The view across the Vardar. ]

The sky was lightening and throwing into ghostly silhouette the line ofthe mountain ridge across the Vardar by the time we had pushed on outalong the communication trench to the Greek Observation Post on theextreme brow of the hill. Since midnight the enemy "heavies" had beencoughing gruffly under the mist-blanket that overlaid the plain, dappling it with alternately flashing and fading blotches of light tillit glowed fantastically like a lamp-shade of Carrara marble;star-shells, fired with a low trajectory, popped up and dove out ofsight again, throwing a fluttering green radiance over the white pallwhich swathed the battlefield. 

[Sidenote: The Bulgar preparing to go over the top. ]

The mist-mask must have fended the day-break from the plain long afterit was light upon the hill from where we watched, for it was not untilthe range of serrated peaks to the east of Doiran was all aglow with thered and gold of sunrise that the higher-keyed crack of the enemy'sfield-guns came welling up to tell us that the Bulgar was getting readyto go over the top. The flame-spurts--paling from a hot red to fadedlemon as the light grew stronger--splashed up against the mist-pall asthe jet of an illuminated fountain rises and falls, and down where thebattered first-line trenches faced each other the dust-geysers of theexploding shells rolled up in clouds to the surface of the thinningvapors as the mud of the bottom boils up through the waters of anagitated pool. 

[Sidenote: The Allied artillery opens. ]

For a minute or two the ragged line of the barrage wallowed forwardthrough the outraged mist alone. Then, as a sudden flight of rocketsspat forth from the Greek first line to warn that the enemy infantry wason the way, all the Allied artillery that could be brought to bearopened up and began dropping shells just behind where the murkymist-clouds marked the swath of the Bulgar barrage. 

For the space of perhaps two or three minutes the fog-bank swirled andcurled in swaying eddies as the shells came hurtling into it;then--whether it was from a sudden awakening of the wind or through thelicking up of its vapors by the first rays of the now risen sun, I neverknew--almost in the wave of a hand, it was gone, revealing a broadexpanse of trench-creased plain with a long belt of gray figures movingacross it in a cloud of dust and smoke. 

[Sidenote: Lively hand-to-hand fighting. ]

"It isn't much of a barrage as barrages go on the western front, " saidCaptain X---- half apologetically. "Their artillery won't do much harmto us, and, I'm afraid, ours not much to them. And we'll hardly behaving enough machine guns emplaced to sting them as they ought to bestung for swarming up in masses like that. But if it's only asecond-class artillery show, I still think I can promise you--if onlythe Bulgar has the stomach for it--a livelier bit of hand-to-handfighting than you might find in a whole summer of looking for it inFrance. Do you see those little winking flashes all along where theinfantry are moving? Some of them are from bayonets, but most are fromknives. A great man with the knife is the Bulgar. Did you ever hear thatsong about him they sang at a revue the British 'Tommies' had atSaloniki? It was a parody on some other song that was being sung in thehalls in London, and went something like this:

[Sidenote: A Bulgar song. ]

 I'm Boris the Bulgar, The Man With the Knife; The Pride of Sofia, The Taker of Life. Good gracious, how spacious And deep are the cuts, Of Boris the Bulgar, The Knifer--

"Now for it! Look at that!"

[Sidenote: The barrages lift and the Greeks advance to meet theBulgars. ]

I never did hear just what it was that Boris was a knifer of, for atthat juncture the two barrages--having respectively protected andharried to the best of their abilities the advancing wave of infantrydown to within a hundred yards or so of the Greek trenches--"lifted"almost simultaneously on to "communications, " and that lifting was thesignal for the opening of the climacteric stage of the action. Withoutan instant's delay, a solid wave of Greeks in brown--lightly fringed infront with the figures of a few of the more active or impetuous who hadoutdistanced their comrades in the scramble over the top--rose up out ofthe earth and swept forward to meet the line of gray. The gust of theirfirst great cheer rolled up to us above the thunder of the artillery. 

"Now for it!" repeated X----, focussing down his telescope and steadyinghimself with his elbows. "I think you'll find the show from now on worthall the trouble of coming up to see. "

[Sidenote: the Bulgars break and retreat. ]

I do not attempt to account for what happened now; I only record it. Itmay have been that the Allied artillery had wrought more havoc in thatadvancing wave of men than had been apparent from a distance, or it mayhave been that the enemy artillery had done less to the entrencheddefenders than it was expected to do; at any rate, the line of graybegan to break at almost the first impact of the line of brown, and thegreat hand-to-hand fight that X---- had promised me was transformed intoa Marathon. 

[Sidenote: Greeks have always beaten the Bulgars. ]

"As I expected, " muttered my companion. "'Boris' has no stomach for afight to-day with the man who licked him yesterday, and will lick himto-morrow and go right on licking him to the end if they'll only givehim a show. The Bulgar never has stood up to the Greek, and he neverwill. "

[Sidenote: The Greek Staff is in a mountain valley. ]

[Sidenote: Scarcity of nurses. ]

The Greek Staff shared a round bowl of a mountain valley, a few milesback from the front lines, with a clearing station. The equipment of thelittle hospital had mostly been provided by the British Red Cross, butthe Venizelists had made a brave effort to furnish the staff themselves. There were two French-trained Greek surgeons, a Greek matron, Greekorderlies, and two Greek nurses. Since the attack began there had beenwork for a dozen of the latter, but--as it had been impossible for thewomen of most of the Venizelist families to get away from Old Greece--noothers were available. An English nurse, who had marched in the retreatof the Serbians, and a French nurse from a Saloniki hospital hadvolunteered to step into the breach, and these five women werecourageously trying to make up in zeal what they lacked in numbers. 

[Sidenote: Working double hours. ]

"We are not enough for a double shift since the fighting began, " MadameA----, the matron, had said to me the night of my arrival; "so we areaccomplishing the same end by working double hours. We are working toatone for the dishonor our King has brought upon our country, just asour men are fighting to atone for it; and the harder we all work andfight the sooner it will come about. "

The last thing to catch my eye as I looked back from the rim of thevalley when I rode away at midnight had been the flash of a bar of lighton a white uniform, as a tired figure had drooped against the flap of ahospital tent for a breath of air. 

[Sidenote: Women nurses go without sleep. ]

"If any one of those women has had a wink of sleep in the last threedays, " Captain X---- had said as we reined in to let a string ofambulances go by, "it must have been taken standing. I have been up mostof the time myself, and never once have I looked across to the clearingstation but I saw some sign of a nurse on the move. "

[Sidenote: Venizelos at the nurses' mess. ]

Madame A---- had asked me to drop in at the nurses' mess for luncheon incase I got back from the trenches in time, and this, by dint of hardriding, I was just able to do. Three or four powerful military carsdrawn up at the hospital gate indicated new arrivals, but as to who theywere I had no hint until I had pushed in through the flap of the messtent and found M. Venizelos seated on a soap-box, _vis-à-vis_ MadameA---- at a table improvised from a couple of condensed milk cases. Atthe regular mess table, sitting on reversed water-buckets, were threeFrench flying officers and a civilian whom I recognized as the privatesecretary of M. Venizelos. Two nurses were just rising from unfinishedplates of soup in response to word that a crucial abdominal operationawaited their attendance at the theatre. 

"Most of the Provisional Government has come out to pay us a visit thismorning, " said Madame A----, showing me to a blanket-roll seat at oneend of the mess table, "and we are lunching early so that it can getback to Saloniki to take up the reins of State again. The General hascarried off the Admiral and the Foreign Minister, but I have managed tokeep the President for _our_ banquet. He has made the round of thehospital and spoken to every man here--that is, " she added with a catchin her voice, "to all that could hear him. We've--we've lost three menthis morning just because there wasn't staff to operate quickly enough. "

[Sidenote: A strange banquet at which the guests contribute. ]

That was, I think, one of the strangest little "banquets" I ever satdown to. Every one travels more or less "self-contained" in the Salonikiarea, and whenever a party is thrown together the joint supplies arecommandeered for the common good. The mess menu was a simple one ofsoup, tinned salmon, rice, and cheese, but by the time M. Venizelos'shamper had yielded a box of fresh figs, a can of the honey of Hymettus, and a couple of bottles of Cretan wine, and the French officers had"anted up" cognac, some tins of _flageolet_ for salad, and a tumbler of_confiture_, and the English nurse had brought out the last of herChristmas plum-cake, and I had thrown in a loaf of Italian _pan-forte_and a can of chocolates, the little crazy-legged camp-table had assumeda passing festal air. 

[Sidenote: No one speaks of war at the feast. ]

A number of toasts were proposed and drunk, but no one spoke of thenearer or remoter progress of the war. M. Venizelos adverted severaltimes to the wonder of the spring flowers as he had seen them from theroad, especially the great fields of blood-red poppies, and I overheardhim telling Madame A---- some apparently amusing incidents of his earlylife in Crete. But it was not until, the banquet over, he had settledhimself in his car for the ride to Saloniki that he alluded to any ofthe things with which his mind must have been so engrossed all the time. 

"So you thought that our troops had all the best of the enemy thismorning?" he said with a grave smile as he shook my hand. 

"Incomparably the best of it, " I answered. 

[Sidenote: Why Venizelos is confident in the power of Greece. ]

"Then perhaps you will understand why I felt so confident that theBulgars would not have come into the war if they had known that Greecewould stand by Serbia. And you will also understand why I feel soconfident that our military help to the Allies will be a very real one, perhaps enough of a one even to save Greece from herself. "

This was, I believe, the latest occasion on which M. Venizelos visitedhis troops at the front. Before another fortnight had gone by the forcesof the "Protecting Powers" were moving into Old Greece, and in a monthConstantine had abdicated and opened the way for the return of hisformer Prime Minister to Athens. 

[Sidenote: The maker and Savior of Modern Greece. ]

From the time of the Balkan wars of 1912-13 to the outbreak of thepresent one Venizelos was often referred to as "The Maker of ModernGreece. " After this war he may well be known as "The Savior of ModernGreece"; and of the two achievements there can be no doubt that historymust record that the one of "saving" was incomparably greater than theone of "making. "

[Sidenote: What the influence of Venizelos may do. ]

It is still too early to make it worth while to endeavor to forecastwhat is on the knees of the capricious war-gods of the Balkans, andthere is no use in trying to deny that the Bulgar--just as long asGermany has the power and will to back him up--will take a deal ofbeating. But that Venizelos will be able to make the army of reunitedGreece a potently contributive factor in bringing about thatdevoutly-to-be-wished consummation may now be taken as assured. 

Copyright, World's Work, January, 1918. 

 * * * * *

We have seen in a previous narrative the difficulties which the Italiansencountered in conducting their campaign against Austria. As a result ofGerman falsehood and propaganda, the Italian line was weakened andpenetrated by a great German army, and the Italian lines were sweptback. They finally held, however, and the strength of their resistanceis indicated in the following pages. 

THE ITALIANS AT BAY

G. WARD PRICE

[Sidenote: Udine as it seemed before the war. ]

Udine was a typically quaint and sleepy little Italian town galvanizedinto unnatural life and prosperity. Every one who has spent a week inItaly can put the picture of the place before his imagination in amoment: streets of dark, restful, Gothic cloisters; a broad piazzaflanked by a graceful loggia; remains of medieval fortification of whichthe towering gate-houses still narrowed each entrance to the town; ageneral air of pleasant tranquillity and of a well-being that was alegacy from the more spacious days of centuries gone by. The nature ofthe place was that of mellow old wine, very gracious, rich withassociations that brought a glow to the palate of memory, but for allthat something of which one wanted only little at a time. A glimpse ofUdine as she had been for centuries was delightful, to dwell there wouldseem like being buried alive. 

[Sidenote: Bustle and congestion when Udine becomes Army Headquarters. ]

To this forgotten township of the old Venetian province had comesuddenly in the spring of 1913 all the bustle and congestion of theheadquarters of the whole Italian Army. For the next two and a halfyears you could hardly find a room in Udine to sleep in; the people ofthe place opened large modern restaurants and cafés for the officers andsoldiers who crowded its streets; big shops filled the gloom of the oldarcades with an incongruous expanse of plate-glass windows; the goodburgesses of Udine made money and waxed fat. 

[Sidenote: A tactical dead-lock on the western front. ]

It seemed, indeed, as if the steady shower of war prosperity that hadfallen upon them for two years might last until that indefinite, but tomost minds far-off, day when peace should come. For it was the generalopinion that in the West, at least, the war had reached a condition oftactical dead-lock. Trench warfare had petrified movement, except inlaborious shifting of a few hundred yards at a time, hardly perceptibleon a small-scale map. The day of sweeping advances, of suddenretirements, was over. At a reasonable distance behind that unbudgingwall of trenches you were as secure from personal displacement by thewar as if you were at the other end of Italy; indeed, no earlier thanthe beginning of this month of October some people had arrived withtheir families at Udine from other parts of the country to carry ontrades connected with the life of the army. 

[Sidenote: General Cadorna praises the British batteries. ]

I myself set foot in Udine for the first time on October 20. I was goingback to the Macedonian front, where for two years I had been theofficial correspondent of the British Army, and I had asked the WarOffice to authorize me to visit on the way the British batteries whichsince April had been cooperating with the Italian Army on the Isonzo. General Cadorna had given them high praise in a message to the BritishGovernment after the fighting in which they had taken part in May, and Ithought it would be interesting to see British and Italian troops sideby side in the field for the first time. 

[Sidenote: Visits to the Italian front yield important information. ]

Visitors to the Italian front used to find most convenient arrangementsmade to give them a rapid idea of conditions there. Lying almostentirely among mountains, the line presented unusual opportunities forsurvey from dominating heights, and there were many places where, atleisure and in virtual safety, one could watch the Austrianintrenchments from close range. Fast cars took you up to thesevantage-points, and a number of staff-officers, speaking perfect Englishand knowing every detail of the front and its history, raised thesevisits from the level of sight-seeing excursions to opportunities forlearning a great deal that was important and technical. 

[Sidenote: The Austro-German offensive begins. ]

The very last of these journeys, which had been made by visitors ofevery country, took place on October 24, the day that the greatAustro-German offensive began, and I remember how, as we drove along inthe rain, all our talk was of the bad news of that morning--that theenemy, reinforced by a huge number of divisions brought secretly fromthe Russian front, and profiting by a night of rain and fog, had thrustdown into the valley of the Isonzo between Plezzo and Tolmino, carried, apparently by surprise, two Italian lines across the ravine after ashort and very violent bombardment, and then, pushing on, had capturedCaporetto, thus cutting off the Italian troops on Monte Nero and theother mountains beyond the Isonzo, and opening a most serious gap in thevery center of the Italian line. 

[Sidenote: Gorizia has suffered from the war. ]

[Sidenote: A shell interrupts the sight-seers. ]

The day was one of evil omen. We went to Gorizia, that pretty Austrianspa that was taken by the Italians last year, and has suffered from thewar as much as Udine, its neighbor across the old frontier, hasprospered. In the heart of the town its old castle towers up from anisolated crag, and from the battlements you can look across the valleyto the Italian and Austrian lines on the slopes of San Marco opposite. Scores of parties like our own had made this visit to Gorizia Castle, and to-day the driving rain and valley mists made observation so badthat it seemed more than usually safe to show oneself above the rampartson the side toward the enemy. Yet we had not been there threeminutes--a group of two well-known American correspondents and oneItalian, with an Italian officer, and myself--when an Austrian six-inchshell burst with a crash hardly ten feet from the right-hand man of ourline. A black wall of flying mud towered up and blotted out the sky;three of us were thrown headlong by the force of the explosion. Only thefact that the shell had fallen deeply into the rain-softened bank ofearth on top of the battlements saved the names of the last fourvisitors to the Italian front from being recorded on graves in Goriziacemetery. 

"I've brought people here seventy or eighty times, " said the officer whowas with us, "and nothing like that has ever happened before. "

"We've evidently brought bad luck, " said some one, and so, little thoughwe guessed it, we had. 

[Sidenote: The Italians expect an Austrian push. ]

During the first fortnight of October it had been a remark frequentlymade throughout Italy that an Austrian push was probable before the realwinter set in. I had heard this likelihood discussed by people at theChamber of Deputies on my way through Rome, but without serioussignificance being given to it. The Austro-Swiss frontier had beenclosed for five weeks, always a sign that important movements of troopswere going on in the enemy's country; something more unusual was thateven the postal mails from Austria to Holland and Scandinavia had beensuspended. 

[Sidenote: Cadorna believes the enemy will use large reserves. ]

According to the talk one heard in Italy, Cadorna had already had inmind the chance of a strong autumn attack on his army when he arrestedhis own offensive in September after capturing by a brilliant stroke thegreater part of the Bainsizza plateau beyond the Isonzo, taking thirtythousand prisoners and one hundred and fifty guns. The French andBritish general staffs, it was said, had asked Cadorna whether he meantto go on with his offensive, for which they had contributed contingentsof guns. Cadorna's reply had been that he had strong Austrian forcesagainst him, of which he knew the total, but that he also believed largereserves of unknown quantity were available for use against him, owingto the collapse of the Russian Army. In these circumstances he preferredto consolidate and prepare rather than to continue to challenge forcesthat could not be exactly estimated. 

Both the increase of enemy strength on the Italian front and theparalyzing uncertainty under which the Allies labored, were directly dueto the debacle of the Russian Army during the summer. The means by whichcommanders-in-chief arrive at the indispensable knowledge of what forcesthey have against them is through a highly organized intelligencedepartment, working in close cooperation with the similar departments ofthe other Allied armies. 

[Sidenote: How the enemy's strength is ascertained. ]

Each of these departments, by interrogating prisoners and reading papersfound on enemy dead, by collating the reports of the air service, byminutely sifting the enemy press, arrives at a fairly accurate knowledgeof the enemy's order of battle on the front of its own army. Soessential is this system to the successful carrying-on of operationsthat raids are often specially organized on the enemy trenches with thesole object of capturing prisoners who may be able to give informationthat will clear up some point about which there is uncertainty. All theknowledge of the enemy's dispositions thus collected by each of theAllied armies is open to all of them; it is exchanged and compared andcollated, so that they finally arrive at a fairly complete knowledge ofthe distribution of the enemy's forces in each one of the theaters ofwar. 

[Sidenote: The Russian intelligence department collapses. ]

Now, when the Russian Army went to pieces in the summer, itsintelligence department collapsed with the rest. The Russian Army hastaken virtually no prisoners for a long time, and consequently the factsabout what troops the Austrians and Germans have on that front have notbeen ascertainable. It was known that the enemy used to have about onehundred and thirty divisions there, but no one could tell whether theystill remained or whether they had been brought away to be held inreserve for some sudden operation on another front. 

[Sidenote: The attack by the Austro-Germans a surprise. ]

In this way it came about that the sudden attack by an unexpectedlylarge Austro-German force upon the Isonzo line took the Italians bysurprise, with the result that they lost in three days not only all theyhad won in two and a half years of hard fighting, by sacrifices andsufferings and labors beyond human estimation, but also the larger partof that rich north-eastern department of their country which was forcenturies the metropolitan province of the great Venetian republic. 

[Sidenote: Enemy has a great number of fresh guns. ]

On October 22 we learned at Italian headquarters that ten Germandivisions, about one hundred and twenty thousand men, had arrived behindthe enemy front on the Isonzo and were concentrated in reserve roundLaibach. This was the first time in the whole war that German troops hadmet the Italians on this front. The number of new Austrian divisions wasreported to be even greater. Many new batteries of heavy caliber hadalso arrived and were registering their ranges; indeed, when the attackactually came, it was found that the number of fresh guns was evengreater than had been thought, for some of them did not reveal theirposition by registering, but, taking their ranges from guns earlier inposition, fired not a round until they joined in that terrific firstbombardment with which the attack opened on the morning of October 24. 

[Sidenote: Italians expect to hold west side of Isonzo. ]

Most serious was the situation, but even yet no one grasped how bad thereality was going to be. It was generally accepted that all groundbeyond the Isonzo would have to be abandoned, but it seemed beyond alldoubt that the Italians would be able to make good their defense alongthe steep ridge that forms the western side of the Isonzo valley. As youlooked from those heights across the river, it was like looking from thewall of a medieval castle; you dominated everything, and behind you weregreat Italian guns ready to fill the gorge of the Isonzo and the slopesbeyond with a barrier of bursting steel. 

But one of those combinations that have often helped the Germans in thiswar helped them to the success that seemed impossible. It was made up ofthe secrecy with which they had been able to complete theirpreparations, of the luck of surprise and bad weather, and above all ofthe fatal failure in their duty of certain detachments of the Italianforces. 

[Sidenote: German propaganda has created disaffection in every Alliedcountry. ]

[Sidenote: Soldiers everywhere are weary of war. ]

One of the successes of this year's German offensive was the creation inthe heart of an efficient and gallant army of this canker ofdisaffection by propaganda that has been as energetic and as dangerousto our cause as any of the enemy's operations in the field. In everyAllied country it has been active; among the English it is at workcorrupting labor, preying on the nerves of the overstrained worker, andwhispering any subtle lie that will sap his will and undermine hisspirit. In France one fractional part of the widespread organizationthat carries on this treacherous work is being exposed by therevelations in the Bolo case. In Italy the Germans cunningly twistedfanatics, both socialist and clerical, into agents for forwarding theirwork, and they had flooded the country with money to corrupt the armywhich they had not been able to beat in the field. The individualsoldiers of every country, including above all the Central empiresthemselves, are dead-weary of the war, but the enemy alone has had thecunning and the baseness deliberately to exploit this feeling to hisprofit, working through the agency of bought traitors and hired spies. And so the Austro-Germans had managed to imbue a limited part of theItalian Army with the distorted idea that the quickest way to regain thelonged-for comforts of peace was to refuse to fight and thus open theway for a rapid Austrian victory. 

When this ferment of disloyalty had done its work, the Germans wereready to attack the particular sector of the line held by the troopsthat it had most affected. These were on the left wing of the ItalianSecond Army, which held the front of the Isonzo from Plezzo down toTolmino, and it was on that point that the enemy directed his firstthrust. 

[Sidenote: The news of the taking of Caporetto. ]

The news of the taking of Caporetto on the morning of October 24 hadabout as startling an effect at Italian headquarters as would beproduced on the British front if it were suddenly announced that theGermans were in Ypres. Not only was Caporetto a town on the Upper Isonzowhich the Italians had seized by dashing forward across the frontier thevery morning that war was declared, but it also stood at the head of amost important strategical valley leading back into the mountains onwhich the Italian main line lay, and from the town lead several easyroads that follow various routes into the plain beyond. Already theenemy was pressing in force along those roads. The Italians had, indeed, fallen back to reserve positions, but were the enemy to win through--ashe did within two days--he would be on the flank and almost in the rearof the whole Italian Army of a million men. 

[Sidenote: Rapid progress of the Germans is difficult to explain. ]

[Sidenote: Italian outposts are surrounded. ]

Just how the Germans progressed so fast that by noon on October 24 theyhad a machine-gun posted on the square in Caporetto still remains, eightdays later, incompletely explained. All that is really known is this: at2 a. M. They started a very violent bombardment. When the shellingsuddenly stopped after only two hours, the Italians regarded theinterruption merely as a lull, for the artillery preparation for aninfantry attack in force usually lasts much longer. With the valleyhidden by darkness, mist, and rain, and seeing more dimly than usualthrough the mica of their gas-masks, the Italians knew nothing of theGerman infantry's advance up the valley from the Santa Lucia bridgehead, south of Tolmino, until the enemy had actually reached their wire. Inthis way the Plec line of defense across that reach of the Isonzo knownas the Conca di Plezzo, a line specially designed to check an offensivefrom Santa Lucia, was captured by surprise, and then German troopspoured down into the river gorge from Mrzli on its eastern side, untilthe valley was full of the enemy, and Monte Nero and the other Italianoutpost positions on the heights beyond the Isonzo were completelysurrounded. 

[Sidenote: Violent fighting on the Bainsizza plateau. ]

The valley being in their possession, the Germans wasted no time. Pushing northward along the river, one detachment occupied Idersko andCaporetto; another proceeded to assault the height of Starijok, justabove Caporetto; yet another strong force made a frontal attack on theridge of Zagradan, which runs like a wall along the Italian side of theriver, and after fierce fighting took Luico, one of the pivots of thedefenses upon it. Elsewhere he had attacked at the same time with lessdefinite result. Mount Globocak was seized by surprise. It was anItalian big-gun position, and orders were given for it to be retaken atany cost. So a distinguished brigade of bersaglieri was sent up tocounter-attack, and drove the Germans from the captured guns down theslopes of Globocak again. North of Caporetto, too, the angle of theItalian line at Zaga had been assailed, but had resisted, and across theriver on the Bainsizza plateau the most violent fighting of all tookplace, as a result of which the Italian line was withdrawn from Kal, andthe heavy guns and equipment were sent back across the Isonzo, thoughthe Italian counter-attacks on the Bainsizza were carried out with suchdash that they captured several hundred Austrian prisoners. 

[Sidenote: Danger that the Italian Army may be trapped. ]

Now the enemy's plan stood out in all its formidable strength andstrategy. He had opened a gap in the Italian front; through this gap hewas pouring overwhelming forces. Already the rest of the Italian SecondArmy and the Third Army on the Carso to the south of it were outflanked. If the whole of that great force was not to have its line ofcommunications cut and be surrounded, it must be immediately and rapidlywithdrawn for a great distance. An immense sacrifice of Italianterritory was imperative if the Italian Army was to be saved from a trapby the side of which the fall of Metz was the capture of an outpost. During the afternoon of October 25 the general order of retreat wasgiven. 

[Sidenote: Austrians use seventeen-inch howitzers. ]

I went up again to visit the British batteries which were with the ThirdArmy on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, and from one of theirobservatories watched the heavy shelling. The Austrians were using hugeseventeen-inch howitzers, and the explosions of their gigantic shells, each weighing a ton, was like a small eruption. A solid block of piebaldsmoke as big as a cathedral sprang into the air and it was a minute ormore before the last of it had drifted away. 

[Sidenote: Monfalcone the most romantic point in the fighting line. ]

And as the sun was setting I went down to Monfalcone, to a place whichcould not be mentioned then, but which was at the same time probably theoddest and the most romantic point of the world's fighting-line. Monfalcone was for the Austrians a sort of combination of Birkenhead andBournemouth. There were important ship-building yards there, and it hadbesides popularity as a seaside place. In the shipyard the Austrians hadleft an eighteen-thousand-ton liner, of which the hull was complete andthe decks built in. 

[Sidenote: Tools of constructive labor are dropped. ]

To reach the ship you passed through a yard that was a rusty monument tothe futility of war. There were all the tools of constructive labor justas they had been dropped when this nightmare of destructive passionburst upon the world; weather-reddened traveling cranes rusted to thetracks on which they will never move again; trucks overturned, a lathesmashed by a shell that had torn a wide gap in the roof above. Here, where the air used to tremble all day long with the clang of gianthammers, there was now silence and desertion, and the offices from whichgreat ships were controlled on their voyages to far-off seas had becomethe barracks of Italian artillery-men. 

[Sidenote: The partly built Austrian liner. ]

There was a big wooden staircase that the Italians had built leading upto the various decks of the great liner, and, once on board, you couldwalk out to the forward bridge of the ship where from a sort ofconning-tower you looked out at the Austrian trenches less than a mileaway without the possibility of being seen. An odd observation post, neither asea nor ashore, and to make the confusion of elements morecomplete, the gunners whose guns barked continually from just behind itwere sailors of the Italian Navy, dressed not in blue, but in militarygray-green. 

[Sidenote: A view of coveted Triest. ]

Triest, the coveted city, lay ten miles away in full view, and eachnight the Italians saw its windows answer with flashes of dull gold thelast rays of the sun setting behind Italy. As you looked from Monfalconeacross the dreamy blue of the empty gulf between, the town lay like astone image, lifeless except for the white smoke curling gently from asingle tall chimney into the quiet evening air. Much nearer along thecoast was the Castle of Duina standing on an abrupt cliff. It belongs tothe Grand Duchess of Thurn and Taxis, who used to gather parties ofpoets, painters, and writers there to stay in what was like a legendarypalace looking down from its high headland upon the sunlit, sail-fleckedAdriatic, stretching away into the shining distance. 

[Sidenote: The Italians are evacuating the Bainsizza plateau. ]

It was from that last fair glimpse of Triest that you turned back to thegrave realities of situation. On the next morning, the twenty-sixth, theItalian supreme command announced that the Bainsizza plateau was beingevacuated. It had been won with great losses and gallantry in August, and the Italians had laboriously equipped it with roads and militaryestablishments to create a firm taking-off place for the next attackupon the crest of Mount Gabriele, which was expected to drive theAustrians back for five miles up the Vippaco valley, on the way toLaibach, one of the back-doors to Triest. 

The same day came the news of the fall of the Italian Government, whichhad been attacked during the fortnight by a strange combination of theadvanced wing of the pro-war party who considered that the ministry wasnot displaying enough firmness in its conduct of the campaign, with thepacifist socialist party who denounced the Government for infringingthe constitutional rights of the people in the interests of militarism. A feeling of _malaise_ was in the air. All the elements of success werepresent in the Italian Army except the most important of all, thepsychological element. 

[Sidenote: Evacuation of Udine. ]

By this time motor-lorries had already begun to pour back through Udine, and in the streets the Signal Corps were taking down thetelegraph-wires. You saw little parties of father, mother, and childrensuddenly emerge from house or shop, each with hand-luggage. If youlooked closely you generally saw that the woman was crying. 

[Sidenote: Air fights between Germans and Italians. ]

On the twenty-sixth there were frequent attempts to reach Udine byGerman flyers who were new to the ground. It was the first time that theItalian Air Corps had had to deal with a German attempt to contest theirsupremacy and they came well out of the trial. Ten enemy machines werebrought down during the day, two individual Italian airmen accountingfor three each. When the enemy machines were sighted heading for Udinethe jarring scream of a siren gave the alarm, and the police cleared thestreets. 

Saturday, October 27, was the day of general exodus. 

[Sidenote: Batteries hold rearward positions. ]

I left Udine early on Saturday morning, in the car of the Britishgeneral commanding our artillery contingent on the Italian front, to goup to the batteries and see how they got on in the retreat. We crawledout toward the front along roads blocked with rearward-moving trafficfor which there was no organization, and after lunching at the general'sheadquarters at Gradisca, I went on to Rubbia, just across the Isonzo, to the south of Gorizia, where was the group headquarters of thebatteries. Already the supply service of the Third Army were pouring ina black mass along the road, screened at the side and overhead byrushmats from the observation of the enemy. Voices and hammering underthe long wooden bridge across the Isonzo at Rubbia were signs that theItalian engineers were putting in position charges of explosive to blowit up when as much material as possible had been brought over. Some ofour batteries had already been withdrawn to rearward positions not farfrom group headquarters and were firing as fast as the guns could bereloaded. The others were still in their old emplacements a mile or sofarther forward, being shelled terrifically by the Austrian twelve-inchbatteries, but having extraordinary luck. They were using up as much oftheir ammunition as they could, because it was becoming clearer everymoment that the Italian transport service was not going to be able tosupply the lorries to move the shells, which were big enough for fiftyof them to make a full lorry-load. 

[Sidenote: Lack of motor lorries to move ammunition. ]

A major from one of the batteries came into group headquarters while Iwas in the mess. He was dark under the eyes after a couple of sleeplessnights, for his men had been working hard all round the clock to get theammunition back from the forward dumps, labor that afterward provedwasted, as there were no lorries forthcoming to carry it farther on. Sixty twelve-inch shells and one aeroplane bomb a yard away from one ofhis four guns was the afternoon's experience of his battery, and onlyone man wounded made up the casualty-list for the same period. 

"And I'm going to have a damn good dinner to-night whatever happens, " heannounced. "Goodness knows when we shall eat or sleep again. So thefowls and the rabbits we had in the battery are being killed thisafternoon. "

[Sidenote: English and French artillery dependent on Italian transport. ]

There were Austrian shells falling on the hill by group headquarters, but none fell on that dense-packed road along which military traffic ofevery kind and shape crawled and stuck and crawled on again. The tensiongrew greater at our headquarters. The guns needed tractors to move them, and motor-lorries were required to carry the battery stores. For theEnglish artillery contingent had no transport of its own, thearrangement having been that this should be supplied by the Italians. The French artillery contingent with the Italian Army, on the otherhand, was independent in this respect. 

The organization with regard to the transport of guns is different inthe Italian and the British armies. The British system is that every gunshall have its motor or horse-haulage permanently assigned to it, sothat it is always mobile at a moment's notice. In the Italian army themechanical transport service provides haulage for all units whenrequired, and as it is only in extraordinarily exceptional circumstancesthat every single thing in the army needs moving at once, they are ableto effect considerable economies over the British method, whichconstantly keeps large numbers of lorries and tractors and cars, together with their drivers and mechanics, idle, since the units towhich they are attached are not at the moment in need of transport. 

[Sidenote: Doubtful if all the British guns can be moved. ]

By the time it was dark on Saturday evening the likelihood of all theBritish guns getting away seemed doubtful, and the Italian artillerycolonel who supervised their employment as corps artillery came to ourgroup headquarters to say that preparations must be made for blowing thelast of them up, and that in any case each tractor must tow more thanone gun and come back for others directly it had got its first towsbehind the Isonzo. 

[Sidenote: Enormous conflagration of military stores. ]

And now the darkening landscape suddenly began to spring out intobrilliant points of light, as everywhere behind the Italian front, supply-depots, military stores, and vast collections of wooden shedswere set in a blaze. Gorizia was the site of a special conflagration, and the enemy gun-fire was steadily increasing, till sometimes thebarrage rose to a single prolonged roar, and you could not have got aknife edge between the bursts. 

By 7. 30 p. M. Six of our guns were across the river and the rest were nowfiring like field artillery, with no other batteries between them andthe enemy. They kept up this protection of the retreat of the infantryso long, in fact, that the last round of all, at about 10 p. M. , wasfired just before the gun was hitched to the tractor, and there was yetanother gun that had its breech mechanism smashed for fear it might haveto be left behind. 

[Sidenote: Abandoned ammunition is exploded. ]

[Sidenote: Like a volcanic eruption. ]

The bright moon hung in a pale-green sky, looking down on a dozen roadseach crawling like a black snake with the close press of retreatingtroops. As I was making my way back to Gradisca the whole firmamentleaped into sudden brilliance and every feature in every face among thethrongs around me on the road stood out for several seconds under aghastly light. Then followed from behind Monte Michele, a deep, rollingroar. It was the first of the explosions of the great abandoned storesof gun-ammunition behind the front. From then till dawn the night skywas continually breaking into a glare like that of gigantic sunset, andthe crash of destroyed artillery ammunition shook the ground. The lessbrilliant, but steadier, glow of burning stores and sheds and houses wasconstantly multiplied, and the flash of every new explosion revealedfresh masses of black smoke rising in sharp outline against the luridhorizon. It was an apocalyptic spectacle; nothing short of a volcaniceruption could produce those tremendous effects of infernalillumination. Millions of pounds' worth of material, all the fruits oftwo and a half years of labor, were burned and blasted out of existencein a few hours. 

[Sidenote: The necessity for speed. ]

[Sidenote: Valuable stores abandoned for lack of lorries. ]

The difficulty that complicated the Italian evacuation of their war-zonewas the fact that every hour the need for speed became more urgent, ifutter disaster was to be averted. A unit would be given twelve hours toget to the point on the railway where it was to entrain and then an hourlater its time-limit would be reduced to two hours. A headquarters mightbe told that a sufficient supply of motor-lorries would be available toevacuate all its material and that it had better begin getting rid ofchairs and tables and its superfluous stuff at once, but no sooner hadthese less important stores gone than word would come that no moretransport was available and that all the immensely valuable stores andreserves of ammunition that still remained, must be abandoned, as nolorries could be found for them. 

[Sidenote: Difficulties in a sudden retreat. ]

[Sidenote: Every officer tries to save his supplies. ]

Moving a great army is an affair of time-tables. There is room for onlya certain amount of men and material on the roads and railways at onetime, and every man and every wagon above that maximum becomes a factorof confusion and retards the movement of the whole mass to a dangerousdegree. The sudden retreat of an army is often reduced to chaos, first, because a thoroughly worked-out plan of general retirement exists butrarely in the strong-boxes of any general staff, and secondly, becausein the absence of a time-table drawn up in detail and strictly enforced, the elementary principle of self-preservation leads every unit of thearmy to put itself on the road as quickly as it can get transportation. This is not to say that confusion is an invariable indication ofpersonal panic; but it is very natural, and even very proper, that everybattery commander, the director of every military store and depot, andthe leader of every body of troops which is not definitely ordered toremain, should have the individual determination that his particularcommand shall not fall into the hands of the enemy. The artilleryofficer firmly resolves that he will save his guns at all costs; theheads of supply departments are in charge of valuable stores which theirarmy needs for its very existence and which would be of great aid to theenemy if captured, and the troop-leader naturally argues that it wouldbe futile to allow his men to be cut off when a general retreat hasalready been ordered. So if the organization of withdrawal is left tothe discretion of the people involved in it, as it has to be when thewhole thing has not been deliberately arranged beforehand, confusion isalmost inevitable. 

[Sidenote: Fear of being cut off by the enemy. ]

[Sidenote: Only severest means can stop civilian traffic. ]

[Sidenote: Modern war is a wild fury of destruction. ]

Moreover, the enemy always seems to be advancing much faster than hereally is. Under the discouragement that every army feels in fallingback, it is easy to credit the pursuer with exaggerated powers of rapidmotion; the defeated soldier forgets that the miles are just as long andweary for his adversary trudging painfully after him as they are forhimself. Rumor, too, spreads wildly among tired and disheartened men. Enemy cavalry, enemy armored motor-cars, hurrying ahead to cut himoff--that idea haunts the mind of each man in an enforced retirement. Afurther complication is caused when, as was the case in the Italianwithdrawal, the civilian population is also desperately anxious to begone before the arrival of the enemy. The news of the forthcomingevacuation of territory spreads backward with rapidity, and the roadsalong the route of the retreating army fill at once with unregulated, disorderly swarms of frightened civilians and their household baggage, hastily stowed on slow-moving dilapidated carts that are likely to breakdown at narrow points of the way and block whole miles of militarytraffic for hours at a time. The Italian Army had to endure a great dealof that kind of complication. Theoretically, of course, a general couldthrow back cavalry and mounted police along the line of his retreat andforbid any civilian traffic whatever under pain of military penalties;but it is very difficult to use such measures against your owncountrymen threatened with invasion, specially when the whole aim andobject of your war is to free men of your own race from foreigndomination. And not only does the sentimental reason of savingfellow-citizens from the yoke of an invader forbid this course, but alsoconsiderations of common humanity. In the old wars, when the danger-areaof fighting was restricted to the places where opposing troops actuallycame into contact, there was no particular danger for the civilianinhabitants remaining in invaded territory; though their property mightsuffer from the enemy's requisitions, their lives were likely to besafe. But wars of this modern character spread destruction broadcastover a whole region. A rear-guard action will involve a rain of shellsthat may smash to pieces any village on the line of retreat; gas may beused, creeping into the refuges where the non-combatant population hastaken shelter, and choking them there like vermin in a hole. War is nolonger a civilly organized affair of pitched battles; it is a wild furyof destruction, raging across the whole country-side like a typhoon. 

If the English batteries on the Italian front had brought with them toItaly their full organization of transport, they could have saved alltheir ammunition and stores, their ordnance workshops and supplies. Asit was, they had been incorporated in the Italian Army as corpsartillery on the Italian basis; they had to take their chance of gettingtransport along with every one else, and consequently of all theirequipment they could save only the guns themselves, which after all waswhat chiefly mattered. 

[Sidenote: A marching army does not seem as numerous as the same inconfusion. ]

Discipline is a camouflage of numbers. A thousand men marching past incolumn of fours does not make upon the mind the same impression ofmultitude as the sight of half that number in a disordered rabble. Regularity and compactness reduce the appearance of mass; and youreceive a profounder suggestion of size from a comparatively small pileof natural rocks than you do from the geometrical pyramids. In the sameway an army whose formations are suddenly relaxed seems to swellenormously in numbers. You can drive through a region where a millionmen are stationed under regular military organization and get no idea ofcongestion, but if those men are suddenly dissolved from a closely knitbody into a crowd of individual persons, the same country-side seemshardly large enough to hold them all. 

[Sidenote: Discomforts of the retreat. ]

So, as with that little party of Englishmen I started on the retreat inthe early morning hours of October 28, we seemed to be engulfed in aconstantly broadening flood of human beings. We were in a train, the menin open trucks, miserable enough under the cold, streaming rain, theofficers crowded into a closed van with the baggage. When we started inthe dark we had the train to ourselves, but as I awoke three hours laterfrom an uneasy sleep and looked out of the van, the rest of the trainalready swarmed with Italian soldiers who had clambered upon it as itcrept along at a snail's pace. And when dawn came we saw ahead of us along vista of trains stretching out of sight, while behind stoodanother queue of them, whistling impatiently like human beings at aticket office; sometimes one of them would back a little and make theothers behind it back too, all screeching furiously with their whistlesexactly as if they were trying to shout, "Where are you coming to?"

[Sidenote: The one idea is to keep on moving. ]

Along the railway, and on the roads at both sides of it, and across thefields beyond the roads, moved at the same time a crawling mass ofpeople, all going in the same direction, all at about the same pace, without stopping, without talking to one another, every one of them justplodding slowly, wearily, persistently rearward. As you watched them youknew that each man had in his mind just one idea, to keep on moving likethat until he knew that he was safe. There was no panic or fightingduring the retreat except at isolated times and places; the situationwas just this, that for the unique and imposed will that sways an armythere had been substituted a multitude of individual wills all strivingindependently for the same end of self-preservation. 

[Sidenote: People seem unaware of the others. ]

These dark, sluggish streams of men and vehicles and beasts crepttortuously over the country-side like the channels of a delta tricklingto the sea. Here and there little eddies of stragglers had been thrownout to each side. It is a curious thing, which I have noticed undersimilar conditions before, that each person or little group of personsin this mass of human beings seemed almost unaware of the presence ofthe rest. You would see a family party of peasants gathered round theirox cart and making a meal of bread and raw red wine without so much as aglance at the motley thousands streaming by at their elbows; a soldierwould strip off his wet clothes on the road's edge to change them forsome that he had looted from a wayside store with no apparentperception of the women trudging past; nor did they seem to notice him. The niceties of convention are quickly dulled by fatigue, and it is onlythe easefulness of modern life that makes the coarser little realitiesof human nature seem shocking. 

[Sidenote: The crowds get clothes from stacked trucks. ]

Among the trains that stretched out of sight along the line there weresome trucks stacked with bundles of military mackintoshes, woolenhelmets, shirts, thick socks. Some inquisitive soldier discovered theseand disinterred a complete outfit for himself. A few minutes later hewas a changed figure, with clean clothing in place of his own muddy, rain-soaked things, and a stiff blue mackintosh and sou'wester hat overall. The transfiguration attracted envious attention, and he wasbesieged with questions. Soon those trucks with their piles of whitepackages looked like giant sugar-basins swarming with wasps, and allaround were throngs jostling one another for the next place on the heap. It was all quite good-humored; they were all laughing, waving theirarms, calling to friends on the trucks to throw them a shirt or awaterproof, and when these things came flying down to them they turnedaway with the satisfied smile of children. Nothing puts human beings insuch thoroughly good temper as to get something for nothing. 

[Sidenote: A litter of old clothes on the road. ]

[Sidenote: Two Italian ladies follow the track. ]

In this way the whole track soon became a litter of old clothes, whichthe retiring soldiers trampled into the mud. Amid all this chaos onekept on meeting utterly incongruous figures, for with all the worldroad-worn, shabby, and dirty, to be clean and well-dressed is to begrotesque. Amid this multitude of haggard, unwashed, unshaven, dead-beatmales, I noticed two Italian ladies treading delicately over the roughballast of the railway-track. They had naturally brought with them intheir flight the most valuable of their possessions, which were of akind to be most conveniently carried on their persons. Against this graybackground of mud and rubbish and a disbanded army their two figuresglittered with a brilliance that would have been conspicuous in the ruede la Paix. Heavy sable furs and muffs almost bowed their shoulders;each finger had two or three rings that flashed in the light; roundtheir necks were gold chains hung with pendants, and yet, instead of theair of self-satisfied ostentation that might well have gone with adisplay so lavish, there were only two pathetically little, frightened, perplexed faces, and an uncertain gait that did not promise much furtherprogress along that ankle-wrenching railway-line. 

By this time I had left the train, which had taken thirty hours to coverfifteen miles, and was walking ahead along the track. There was alwaysthe chance that something might happen to the two bridges farther onover the Tagliamento, and I wanted to be on the same side of the riveras the telegraph office when that occurred. 

[Sidenote: The Tagliamento bridges dominate the retirement. ]

These bridges were the feature that dominated the whole movement ofretirement. In military terms, they constituted a defile upon its route. Everything had to converge upon one of those three narrow passages, anduntil they were crossed there was no security for the Italian Army. 

Rear-guard actions were, indeed, fought at intermediate places such asthe line of the Torre, west of Udine, where General Petiti di Roretomade a stand with six brigades, the valley of the Judrio, the heightsabove Cormons. But such efforts could do no more than delay the enemy'sadvance; the respite that the Italian Army so urgently needed to pullitself together, to reassemble its units, redistribute its artillery, and, in short, gather into one hand again the scattered threads ofcontrol, could be found only behind the Tagliamento River, forty milesback from the old front line. 

[Sidenote: Rain fills the Isonzo and holds back the enemy. ]

Fortunately from Saturday night through Sunday night, the first periodof the retreat of the fighting troops as distinct from the rearwardservices of the army, it poured torrentially with rain, and this, whileincreasing the hardships endured by the men, contributed in two ways totheir salvation; for one thing it swelled the swift and now bridgelessIsonzo, which the enemy had to cross, brimful, and turned theTagliamento, usually a trickle of water in an untidy stony bed acrosswhich a man can wade, into a broad deep flood; it, furthermore, kept theAustrian and German aeroplanes from following up to sweep with bomb andmachine-gun the tightly packed road where they could have massacredvictims by the hundred and might have turned the retreat into a hopelessrout. 

Though the men exposed in open trucks or sludging along the muddy roadsand swampy fields had cursed the rain bitterly, its value to our sidebecame conspicuously plain when Monday morning broke bright with autumnsunshine. 

[Sidenote: Troops fill the village of Latisana. ]

It was about ten o'clock on that morning when I reached the village ofLatisana, where was the southernmost bridge across the Tagliamento. Thestreets of the little town were simply chock-a-block with troops whichwere pouring into it from converging roads. Two or three Italianofficers, splashed to the eyes with mud and hoarse with shouting, hadorganized some control at this point, or otherwise nothing would havemoved at all. Pushing soldiers this way and that, seizing horses' heads, straining their voices against the din of clattering motors, they heldup each stream of traffic in turn for a few minutes and passed theother through. 

[Sidenote: An English soldier keeps his air of efficiency. ]

[Sidenote: Men in great need of food. ]

Conspicuous in his khaki among this spate of Italian gray, stood anEnglish soldier contentedly munching dry brown bread. The motor-bicycleat his side indicated him as a despatch-rider belonging to one of thebatteries. It would have been hard to say whether machine or man was themore travel-stained. The cycle's front wheel was badly bent, evidentlyby some collision; the soldier's hand was bound with a dirty rag, andhis face clotted with the blood of a congealed scratch, the result ofhaving been pushed off the road by a motor-lorry in the dark and fallinghead-long down a stone embankment. Yet about both mount and man therewas still an air of efficiency and unimpaired fundamental soundness thatwas encouraging, and the mud-plastered figure saluted the Englishofficer at my side with a flick of the wrist that would have passed onthe parade-ground at Wellington Barracks. Two guns of his battery, hereported, were three or four miles back down the road; the men weredead-beat, but the worst was that they had had nothing to eat forthirty-six hours, owing to the tractor that had their rations on boardcatching fire and burning them; they had picked up scraps of bread thatother troops had dropped, and some of them had tried and appreciatedcutlets from a dead mule; they needed food to restore their strength forthey had been working hard without sleep for two days and nights. It hadbeen forty-eight hours of continuous hauling on those heavy guns, whichwere constantly getting edged off the road by other traffic, and whichhad to be unhitched every time the tractor stopped because it was sooverloaded that it would not start with the full weight of its tow. Sothe officer had sent him on ahead to scout for food, and he had justfound a _sosistenza_ where they had given him a sack of bread to takeback. 

"You all right yourself?" asked my officer-companion. 

"Quite all right, sir, thank you, " he answered, and slinging the bulgingsack across his shoulders, the despatch-rider straddled his batteredbicycle and set off on a sinuous path through the wedged traffic, withhis bent front-wheel writhing like a tortured snake. 

[Sidenote: Finding the way to reach Padua. ]

[Sidenote: Walking single file through the mud. ]

This news of the existence of a _sosistenza_ was good hearing. I myselfhad not the least idea of how to get to Padua, the nearest place fromwhich I could hope to send a telegram, except by walking there; andPadua was sixty miles along the railway-line. Two days' walking, twobrown loaves the gift of the Italian officer in charge of thebread-depot, and a stick of chocolate; it was a prospect of noallurement. I stepped into place in the long trail of refugees andstarted, however. It needed no more than two hours of stumbling oversleepers and crunching on the rough stone ballast of the track to makeof me as tired and dull-witted a hobo as the rest. We all walked insingle file, keeping as far as possible to a strip of soft mud at theside of the line where the going was easier, and one's whole mind hadbecome before long entirely concentrated on nothing more than theincreasing soreness of two tired feet and the gradual development of ablister on a big toe. From Portogruaro onward, however, my own personalluck changed, and by getting one lift after another I reached Padua thesame night. 

[Sidenote: British guns wait to cross. ]

[Sidenote: An Italian colonel attempts to keep order on the bridge. ]

[Sidenote: A panic is started. ]

[Sidenote: Austrian aeroplanes are overhead. ]

[Sidenote: Italian officers check panic. ]

[Sidenote: Airplane opens fire on the road. ]

Gradually the throng at the Latisana bridge increased, and eventually noless than eleven of the British guns attached to the Italian army weredrawn up at the side of the road waiting their turn to cross. TheEnglish colonel who commanded the group to which they belonged hadarrived and was using the funnel of the bridge to collect his scatteredunits. The men refreshed with the bread that they had received from theItalian food-depot, were resting by the side of the road; an Italianartillery colonel, under whose command the guns had been when on theThird Army front as corps artillery, was on the bridge trying to hold upthe onpressing, unbroken string of heterogeneous traffic long enough forthe English guns to be edged into the procession. Then suddenly one ofthese things happened to which an army in retreat is peculiarly liable. How it started no one seems to know. One theory is that Austriansoldiers dressed in Italian uniforms had been hurried on ahead by theenemy to mingle with the retreat and spread such panics. What actuallyhappened was that several men galloped up all at once on horsebackshouting, "The Austrians are here. " Immediately the crowd, hithertopatiently waiting its turn to cross the bridge, made one simultaneouspush toward its opening. Beyond the river there was the wholecountry-side to scatter over; on this side they could expect no otherfate than to be caught helplessly in a trap. It was like a stampede in aburning theater; the desperate eagerness of every person in the crowd toget on the bridge stopped almost any one from getting there. Carts andpeople at the edge of the road were shoved down the embankment by theweight of the dense mass surging along its center. And then to add tothe terror of the moment there was heard above the shouts and oaths ofthe struggling mob a low, foreboding hum, the characteristic drone ofAustrian aeroplanes. It is hard to see what could have come of thesituation but complete and bloody disaster if it had not been for thedecided action of some Italian officers. By main force they thrust intothe middle of the entrance to the bridge and checked the panic withsheer personal determination. The sound of their authoritative voicesbrought back the sense of discipline that had momentarily gone. Undertheir orders the pushing throng sorted itself into some order. A jibingmule was summarily shot to clear the road, and so in a few minutes, despite the constant approach of the low-flying enemy aircraft, a waywas cleared for the English guns to cross the bridge. They were scarcelyover when the first Austrian machine, swooping down, dropped bombs andopened fire with its machine-gun on the tight-packed road. The attackdid not do much damage, though one British Red Cross car was filled asfull of holes as a pepper-pot; but the experience showed how much worsethe retreat would have been had not the heavy rain of the week-end keptthe Austrian airmen in their hangars. 

[Sidenote: The army reaches Tagliamento. ]

So the retiring army reached the Tagliamento, and completed the firststage of its retreat. Once behind that barrier the Italians could besure of a certain breathing space, but to secure its protection was themost difficult part of their rearward movement. To the constantconvergence which the lack of more than three bridges rendered necessarymust be attributed much of the confusion of the retirement and theabandonment of the military equipment that was still to the east of theTagliamento when the pressure of the enemy finally compelled theirdestruction. 

[Sidenote: Germans try to cross the upper course of Tagliamento. ]

[Sidenote: Enemies who cross are killed or captured. ]

The Germans fully realized the formidable obstacle to the retreat of theItalians which this rain-swollen river constituted, and they made adetermined effort to secure for themselves a passage across its uppercourse while the Second and Third Armies to the south were not yetbehind the stream. There is a bridge a few miles west of the town ofGemona which was not being used by the retreating army because of itscomparatively flimsy construction. The Tagliamento, then very high, was, like many mountain streams, subject to very rapid rises and falls. Therefore, part of the enemy advance-guard, which was following up theItalian retirement was pushed on ahead to try to obtain control of thisbridge at Gemona, for use at any rate when the waters had sunk a little. This German detachment forced its way across the bridge withconsiderable courage, some of them being swept away by the swift streampouring over it, but on the other bank they were immediately faced withstout resistance by the Italian rear-guard, and with their backs to theriver virtually all the enemy who had crossed the Tagliamento werekilled or captured. 

[Sidenote: Gallant conduct of the rear-guard. ]

The gallant and skilful conduct of the rear-guard of the Italian armyis, indeed, the brightest part of the gloomy story of the retreat. 

[Sidenote: The Italian armies are on the defensive. ]

[Sidenote: The war now a struggle against invaders. ]

The cavalry, specially, played a distinguished part in covering theretirement. Charging machine-guns with the lance, and holding commandingpositions until they were virtually cut off, these regiments had veryheavy losses. A retreat where circumstances make it impossible to getthe whole of the army away imposes upon the rear-guard a call forspecial self-sacrifice, since the moment never comes, when, the whole ofthe main body being safely past, it can break off the combat and itselfretire, its duty done. In the withdrawal of the armies that were alongthe front in the Cadore and Carnic Alps, occasions of this kind occurredseveral times during the week throughout which the retreat lasted, whenrear-guard detachments were completely surrounded. At Lorenzago a forcein this position succeeded in cutting its way back to join the main bodyagain; west of Gemona, however, the remnants of the Thirty-sixthDivision were so thoroughly engulfed by the advancing Austro-Germanforces that, having used up all their ammunition, they were obliged tosurrender. And so, gradually, not without moments of discouragementalmost amounting to despair, the Italian armies, which ten days beforehad been fighting on Austrian territory with every prospect of carryingstill further a series of victories that had lasted two years and ahalf, found themselves on the defensive far back of their own borders, awaiting the attack of a triumphant and advancing foe. It had been aterrible trial for them and for the nation at their back. Almost in onenight, dreams of imperial expansion, cherished with an enthusiasm thatgave them an air of virtual reality, faded into a remoteness beyondreckoning. The war that had been from the first gloriously offensive, was suddenly transformed into an outnumbered struggle against invaderswho had already seized half of one of the richest provinces of Italy. Yet, though numbed by the shock and stricken to the heart by therealization of her disaster, Italy reacted well. There was no talk ofyielding to be heard, only anxious discussion of the best means oforganizing the further resistance that would so soon be necessary. 

For though the great majority of the Italian army had succeeded for themoment in escaping from the grasp of the Austro-Germans, the enemy wassteadfastly pursuing. Encouraged by a victory that must have more thanrealized his most ambitious hopes, reinforced by captured guns andmaterial, he would wait only long enough to get sufficient strength intoposition before hurling the whole of his weight once more against theItalian line. 

[Sidenote: Impossible to meet the second shock on the Tagliamento. ]

To meet this second shock on the Tagliamento was not possible. The riveritself quickly became, as the rain stopped and the waters fell, tooeasily traversable an obstacle to be worth fortifying. The line which itwould have imposed upon the Italian army was, moreover, too long to beheld in the depth desirable for resistance to the attack of superiornumbers. So the Tagliamento was occupied as an intermediate positiononly long enough to shield the further retreat of the army and itstransport behind the broader and deeper stream of the Piave. 

[Sidenote: The new stand behind the Piave. ]

[Sidenote: Winter rains will delay enemy's heavy guns. ]

Here at the time of writing the Italian forces are in position and theenemy's advanced detachments have begun to register ranges and destroypossible observation posts across the river with such artillery as theyhave so far had the time to bring up. Whether the Piave line and therest of the Italian front to the westward, which has had to be modifiedin conformation with the general movement of retreat, can be heldindefinitely, will probably be a question of heavy guns. If the enemycan bring up his larger artillery before reinforcements of the samecharacter arrive from France and England, a further retreat from northand east to another river line may well be necessary. Fortunately thewinter rains that have set in make for delay in the arrival of suchcumbrous war-engines as the Austrian seventeen-inch mortars, and it maybe that persistent mud and rain will compel the Austrians to besatisfied with holding the considerable tract of territory that theyhave won. 

[Sidenote: Danger that Venice must be abandoned. ]

[Sidenote: Cathedrals and palaces are protected by sand bags. ]

But all preparations are being made to face the conceivable eventualityof another retirement. The most serious consequence that this wouldentail would be the abandonment of Venice and the necessity of bringingthat inestimable city within close range of the destruction of war. Evenat this early stage, therefore, while the danger to Venice is as yet noturgent, the Italian Government is doing its best to surround her withthe protection of such neutrality as the conventions of war, for whatthey are worth, secure to undefended and unoccupied towns. No person inuniform is allowed to enter the place and the civilian population isbeing encouraged to leave by free railway transport and subventions tosupport them until they can settle elsewhere. Even in such tragic hoursVenice keeps up her old tradition of light-heartedness. The cafés roundthe great piazza are full in the evenings with a cheerful crowd. Moreover, to go into St. Mark's is to enter a sort of neolithic grotto;the pillars, set about with sand-bags, have the girth of the arcades ofa Babylonian temple; bulging poultices of sacks protect each fresco; asa building it reminds one of a German student padded for a duel. TheDoge's Palace, too, is more hidden with scaffolding than it could havebeen when it was being built; each of those delicate columns ofdifferent design is set around with a stout palisade of timber balks. Venice, indeed, looks like a drawing-room with the dust-sheets on thefurniture and the chandeliers in bags, and to complete the parallel, thefamily is going away before one's eyes. 

Sad days for Italy, days unimaginable a month ago. There must, indeed, be virtue in the Allies' cause since such ordeals as these still leaveour courage high. 

Copyright, Century, March, 1918. 

 * * * * *

The bottling up of the Harbor of Zeebrugge and the attempted closing ofthe Harbor of Ostend formed what was probably the most brilliant singlenaval exploit of the war. These daring and successful attempts aredescribed in the narrative following. 

BOTTLING UP ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND

THE OFFICIAL NARRATIVE

[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ as she lies in Ostend Harbor. ]

Those who recall High Wood upon the Somme--and they must be many, as itwas after the battles of 1916--may easily figure to themselves the decksof H. M. S. _Vindictive_ as she lies to-day, a stark, black profile, against the sea haze of the harbor amid the stripped, trim shapes of thefighting ships which throng these waters. That wilderness of debris, that litter of the used and broken tools of war, lavish ruin and thatprodigal evidence of death and battle, are as obvious and plentiful hereas there. The ruined tank nosing at the stout tree which stopped it hasits parallel in the flame-thrower hut at the port wing of _Vindictive's_bridge, its iron sides freckled with rents from machine-gun bullets andshell-splinters; the tall white cross which commemorates the martyrdomof the Londoners is sister to the dingy, pierced White Ensign whichfloated over the fight of the Zeebrugge Mole. 

[Sidenote: The _Iris_ and the _Daffodil_ which shared the honors. ]

Looking aft from the chaos of her wrecked bridge, one sees, snug againsttheir wharf, the heroic bourgeois shapes of the two Liverpoolferry-boats (their captains' quarters are still labelled "Ladies Only")_Iris_ and _Daffodil_, which shared with _Vindictive_ the honors andardors of the fight. The epic of their achievement shapes itself in thelight of that view across the scarred and littered decks, in thatenvironment of gray water and great still ships. 

[Sidenote: The three cruisers that were sunk at Zeebrugge. ]

Their objectives were the canal of Zeebrugge and the entrance to theharbor of Ostend--theirs, and those of five other veteran and obsoletecruisers and a mosquito fleet of destroyers, motor-launches and coastalmotor-boats. Three of the cruisers, _Intrepid_, _Iphigenia_ and_Thetis_, each duly packed with concrete and with mines attached to herbottom for the purpose of sinking her, _Merrimac_-fashion, in the neckof the canal, were aimed at Zeebrugge; two others, similarly prepared, were directed at Ostend. The function of _Vindictive_, with herferry-boats, was to attack the great half-moon Mole which guards theZeebrugge Canal, land bluejackets and marines upon it, destroy whatstores, guns, and Germans she could find, and generally create adiversion while the block-ships ran in and sank themselves in theirappointed place. Vice Admiral Keyes, in the destroyer _Warwick_, commanded the operation. 

[Sidenote: The conditions favorable for the attack. ]

There had been two previous attempts at the attack, capable of beingpushed home if weather and other conditions had served. The night of the22nd offered nearly all the required conditions, and at some fifteenmiles off Zeebrugge the ships took up their formation for the attack. _Vindictive_, which had been towing _Iris_ and _Daffodil_, cast them offto follow under their own steam; _Intrepid_, _Iphigenia_, and _Thetis_slowed down to give the first three time to get alongside the Mole;_Sirius_ and _Brilliant_ shifted their course for Ostend; and the greatswarm of destroyers and motor craft sowed themselves abroad upon theirmultifarious particular duties. The night was overcast and there was adrift of haze; down the coast a great searchlight swung its beams to andfro; there was a small wind and a short sea. 

[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ heads for the Mole. ]

[Sidenote: The wind helps make a smoke-screen. ]

From _Vindictive's_ bridge, as she headed in towards the Mole with herfaithful ferry-boats at her heels, there was scarcely a glimmer oflight to be seen shorewards. Ahead of her, as she drove through thewater, rolled the smoke-screen, her cloak of invisibility, wrapped abouther by the small craft. This was a device of Wing-Commander Brock, R. N. A. S. , "without which, " acknowledges the Admiral in Command, "theoperation could not have been conducted. " The north-east wind moved thevolume of it shoreward ahead of the ships; beyond it, the distant townand its defenders were unsuspicious; and it was not till _Vindictive_, with her bluejackets and marines standing ready for the landing, wasclose upon the Mole that the wind lulled and came away again from thesouth-west, sweeping back the smoke-screen and laying her bare to theeyes that looked seaward. 

[Sidenote: The star shells discover the ships and battle opens. ]

[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ reaches the Mole. ]

There was a moment immediately afterwards when it seemed to those in theships as if the dim coast and the hidden harbor exploded into light. Astar shell soared aloft, then a score of star shells; the wavering beamsof the searchlights swung round and settled to a glare; the wildfire ofgun flashes leaped against the sky; strings of luminous green beads shotaloft, hung and sank; and the darkness of the night was supplanted bythe nightmare daylight of battle fires. Guns and machine-guns along theMole and batteries ashore woke to life, and it was in a gale of shellingthat _Vindictive_ laid her nose against the thirty-foot high concreteside of the Mole, let go an anchor, and signed to _Daffodil_ to shoveher stern in. _Iris_ went ahead and endeavored to get alongsidelikewise. 

[Sidenote: Captain Carpenter in the flame-thrower hut. ]

The fire, from the account of everybody concerned, was intense. Whileships plunged and rolled beside the Mole in an unexpected send of sea, _Vindictive_ with her greater draught jarring against the foundation ofthe Mole with every plunge, they were swept diagonally by machine-gunfire from both ends of the Mole and by heavy batteries ashore. CommanderA. F. B. Carpenter (now Captain) conned _Vindictive_ from her open bridgetill her stern was laid in, when he took up his position in theflame-thrower hut on the port side. It is to this hut that reference hasalready been made; it is marvellous that any occupant of it should havesurvived a minute, so riddled and shattered is it. Officers of _Iris_, which was in trouble ahead of _Vindictive_, describe Captain Carpenteras "handling her like a picket-boat. "

[Sidenote: The _Vindictive's_ false high deck and gangways. ]

_Vindictive_ was fitted along the port side with a high false deck, whence ran the eighteen brows, or gangways, by which the storming anddemolition parties were to land. The men were gathered in readiness onthe main and lower decks, while Colonel Elliot, who was to lead theMarines, waited on the false deck just abaft the bridge, and CaptainH. C. Halahan, who commanded the bluejackets, was amidships. The gangwayswere lowered, and scraped and rebounded upon the high parapet of theMole as _Vindictive_ rolled; and the word for the assault had not yetbeen given when both leaders were killed, Colonel Elliot by a shell andCaptain Halahan by the machine-gun fire which swept the decks. The sameshell that killed Colonel Elliot also did fearful execution in theforward Stokes Mortar Battery. 

[Sidenote: Landing on the Mole. ]

"The men were magnificent. " Every officer bears the same testimony. Themere landing on the Mole was a perilous business; it involved a passageacross the crashing, splintering gangways, a drop over the parapet intothe field of fire of the German machine-guns which swept its length, anda further drop of some sixteen feet to the surface of the Mole itself. Many were killed and more were wounded as they crowded up to thegangways; but nothing hindered the orderly and speedy landing by everygangway. 

Lieutenant H. T. C. Walker had his arm carried away by a shell on theupper deck and lay in the darkness while the storming parties trod himunder. He was recognized and dragged aside by the Commander. He raisedhis remaining arm in greeting, "Good luck to you, " he called, as therest of the stormers hastened by; "good luck. "

[Sidenote: The wounded and dying cheer. ]

The lower deck was a shambles as the Commander made the rounds of hisship; yet those wounded and dying raised themselves to cheer as he madehis tour. The crew of the howitzer which was mounted forward had allbeen killed; a second crew was destroyed likewise; and even then a thirdcrew was taking over the gun. In the stern cabin a firework expert, whohad never been to sea before--one of Captain Brock's employees--wassteadily firing great illuminating rockets out of a scuttle to show upthe lighthouse on the end of the Mole to the block ships and theirescort. 

[Sidenote: The _Daffodil's_ part in the fight. ]

The _Daffodil_, after aiding to berth _Vindictive_, should haveproceeded to land her own men, but now Commander Carpenter ordered herto remain as she was, with her bows against _Vindictive's_ quarter, pressing the latter ship into the Mole. Normally, _Daffodil's_ boilersdevelop eighty pounds' pressure of steam per inch; but now, for thisparticular task, Artificer Engineer Button, in charge of them maintaineda hundred and sixty pounds for the whole period that she was holding_Vindictive_ to the Mole. Her casualties, owing to her position duringthe fight, were small--one man killed and eight wounded, among them herCommander, Lieutenant H. Campbell, who was struck in the right eye by ashell splinter. 

[Sidenote: The _Iris_ finds her work difficult. ]

_Iris_ had troubles of her own. Her first attempts to make fast to theMole ahead of _Vindictive_ failed, as her grapnels were not largeenough to span the parapet. Two officers. Lieutenant Commander Bradfordand Lieutenant Hawkins, climbed ashore and sat astride the parapettrying to make the grapnels fast till each was killed and fell downbetween the ship and the wall. Commander Valentine Gibbs had both legsshot away and died next morning. Lieutenant Spencer, B. N. R. , thoughwounded, conned the ship and Lieutenant Henderson, R. N. , came up fromaft and took command. 

[Sidenote: Terrible casualties on the _Iris_. ]

_Iris_ was obliged at last to change her position and fall in astern of_Vindictive_, and suffered very heavily from the fire. A single bigshell plunged through the upper deck and burst below at a point wherefifty-six marines were waiting the order to go to the gang-ways. Forty-nine were killed and the remaining seven wounded. Another shell inthe ward-room, which was serving as sick bay, killed four officers andtwenty-six men. Her total casualties were eight officers and sixty-ninemen killed and three officers and a hundred and two men wounded. 

[Sidenote: The demolition parties on the Mole dynamite buildings. ]

The storming and demolition parties upon the Mole met with no resistancefrom the Germans, other than the intense and unremitting fire. Thegeography of the great Mole, with its railway line and its manybuildings, hangars, and store-sheds, was already well known, and thedemolition parties moved to their appointed work in perfect order. Oneafter another the building burst into flame or split and crumpled as thedynamite went off. 

[Sidenote: The enemy fights with the machine-guns. ]

A bombing party, working up towards the Mole extension in search of theenemy, destroyed several machine-gun emplacements, but not a singleprisoner rewarded them. It appears that upon the approach of the ships, and with the opening of the fire, the enemy simply retired and contentedthemselves with bringing machine-guns to the shore end of the Mole. Andwhile they worked and destroyed, the covering party below the parapetcould see in the harbor, by the light of the German star shells, theshapes of the block ships stealing in and out of their own smoke andmaking for the mouth of the canal. 

[Sidenote: The _Thetis_ shows the road to all the ships. ]

_Thetis_ came first, steaming into a tornado of shell from the greatbatteries ashore. All her crew, save a remnant who remained to steam herin and sink her, had already been taken off by the ubiquitous motorlaunches, but the remnant spared hands enough to keep her four gunsgoing. It was hers to show the road to _Intrepid_ and _Iphigenia_, whofollowed. 

[Sidenote: The _Thetis_ is sunk. ]

She cleared the string of armed barges which defends the channel fromthe tip of the Mole, but had the ill-fortune to foul one of herpropellers upon the net defence which flanks it on the shore side. Thepropeller gathered in the net and rendered her practically unmanageable;the shore batteries found her and pounded her unremittingly; she bumpedinto a bank, edged off, and found herself in the channel again, stillsome hundreds of yards from the mouth of the canal, in a practicallysinking condition. As she lay she signalled invaluable directions to theothers, and here Commander R. S. Sneyd, D. S. O. , accordingly blew thecharges and sank her. A motor launch, under Lieutenant H. Littleton, R. N. V. R. , raced alongside and took off her crew. Her losses were fivekilled and five wounded. 

[Sidenote: The _Intrepid_ follows. ]

_Intrepid_, smoking like a volcano and with all her guns blazing, followed; her motor launch had failed to get alongside outside theharbor, and she had men enough for anything. Straight into the canal shesteered, her smoke blowing back from her into _Iphigenia's_ eyes, sothat the latter, blinded and going a little wild, rammed a dredger witha barge moored beside it, which lay at the western arm of the canal. She got clear though, and entered the canal pushing the barge beforeher. It was then that a shell hit the steam connections of her whistle, and the escape of steam which followed drove off some of the smoke andlet her see what she was doing. 

[Sidenote: Sinking of the _Intrepid_ and the _Iphigenia_. ]

Lieutenant Stuart Bonham-Carter, commanding the _Intrepid_, placed thenose of his ship neatly on the mud of the western bank, ordered his crewaway, and blew up his ship by the switches in the chart-room. Four dullbumps was all that could be heard; and immediately afterwards therearrived on deck the engineer, who had been in the engine-room during theexplosion and reported that all was as it should be. 

[Sidenote: Probable that the canal is effectively blocked. ]

Lieutenant E. W. Billyard-Leake, commanding _Iphigenia_, beached heraccording to arrangement on the eastern side, blew her up, saw her dropnicely across the canal, and left her with her engines still going tohold her in position till she should have bedded well down on thebottom. According to latest reports from air observation, the two oldships with their holds full of concrete are lying across the canal in aV position; and it is probable that the work they set out to do has beenaccomplished and that the canal is effectively blocked. 

A motor launch, under Lieutenant P. T. Deane, R. N. V. R. , had followed themin to bring away the crews, and waited further up the canal towards themouth against the western bank. Lieutenant Bonham-Carter, having sentaway his boats, was reduced to a Carley float, an apparatus like anexaggerated lifebuoy with a floor of grating. Upon contact with thewater it ignited a calcium flare, and he was adrift in the uncannyillumination with a German machine-gun a few hundred yards away givinghim its undivided attention. 

What saved him was possibly the fact that the defunct _Intrepid_ wasstill emitting huge clouds of smoke, which it had been worth nobody'swhile to turn off. He managed to catch a rope as the motor launchstarted, and was towed for a while till he was observed and taken onboard. Another officer jumped ashore and ran along the bank to thelaunch. A bullet from the machine-gun stung him as he ran, and when hearrived, charging down the bank out of the dark, he was received by anumber of the launch's crew who attacked him with a hammer. 

[Sidenote: Shells make incessant geysers in the harbor. ]

The whole harbor was alive with small craft. As the motor launch clearedthe canal, and came forth to the incessant geysers thrown up by theshells, rescuers and rescued had a view of yet another phase of theattack. The shore end of the Mole consists of a jetty, and here an oldsubmarine, commanded by Lieutenant R. D. Sandford, R. N. , loaded withexplosives, was run into the piles and touched off, her crew gettingaway in a boat to where the usual launch awaited them. 

[Sidenote: An old submarine is blown up. ]

Officers describe the explosion as the greatest they ever witnessed--ahuge roaring spout of flame that tore the jetty in half and left a gapof over 100 feet. The claim of another launch to have sunk atorpedo-boat alongside the jetty is supported by many observers, including officers of the _Vindictive_, who had seen her mast and funnelacross the Mole and noticed them disappear. 

[Sidenote: The splendid heroism of men and officers. ]

Where every moment had its deed and every deed its hero, a recital ofacts of valor becomes a mere catalogue. "The men were magnificent, " saythe officers; the men's opinion of their leaders expresses itself in themanner in which they followed them, in their cheers, in their demeanorto-day while they tidy up their battered ships, setting aside theinevitable souvenirs, from the bullet-torn engines to great chunks ofZeebrugge Mole dragged down and still hanging in the fenders of the_Vindictive_. The motor launch from the canal cleared the end of theMole and there beheld, trim and ready, the shape of the _Warwick_, withthe great silk flag presented to the Admiral by the officers of his oldship, the _Centurion_. They stood up on the crowded decks of the littlecraft and cheered it again and again. 

[Sidenote: The _Warwick_ takes off the men from the canal. ]

While the _Warwick_ took them on board, they saw _Vindictive_, towedloose from the Mole by _Daffodil_, turn and make for home--a great blackshape, with funnels gapped and leaning out of the true, flying a vaststreamer of flame as her stokers worked her up--her, the almostwreck--to a final display of seventeen knots. Her forward funnel was asieve; her decks were a dazzle of sparks; but she brought back intactthe horseshoe nailed to it, which Sir Roger Keyes had presented to hercommander. 

[Sidenote: One destroyer, the _North Star_, is sunk. ]

[Sidenote: Monitors and siege guns bombard the enemy. ]

Meantime the destroyers _North Star_, _Phoebe_, and _Warwick_, whichguarded the _Vindictive_ from action by enemy destroyers while she laybeside the Mole, had their share in the battle. _North Star_, losing herway in the smoke, emerged to the light of the star-shells, and was sunk. The German _communiqué_, which states that only a few members of thecrew could be saved by them, is in this detail of an unusual accuracy, for the _Phoebe_ came up under a heavy fire in time to rescue nearlyall. Throughout the operations monitors and the siege guns in Flanders, manned by the Royal Marine Artillery, heavily bombarded the enemy'sbatteries. 

[Sidenote: The attack on Ostend. ]

The wind that blew back the smoke-screen at Zeebrugge served us evenworse off Ostend, where that and nothing else prevented the success ofan operation ably directed by Commodore Hubert Lynes, C. M. G. The coastalmotor boats had lit the approaches and the ends of the piers withcalcium flares and made a smoke-cloud which effectually hid the factfrom the enemy. _Sirius_ and _Brilliant_ were already past the StroomBank buoy when the wind changed, revealing the arrangements to theenemy, who extinguished the flares with gunfire. 

[Sidenote: The _Sirius_ runs aground. ]

The _Sirius_ was already in a sinking condition when at length the twoships, having failed to find the entrance, grounded, and were forcedtherefore to sink themselves at a point about four hundred yards east ofthe piers, and their crews were taken off by motor launches. 

[Sidenote: Operations cannot be rehearsed. ]

The difficulty of the operation is to be gauged from the fact that fromZeebrugge to Ostend the enemy batteries number not less than 120 heavyguns, which can concentrate on retiring ships, during daylight, up to adistance of about sixteen miles. This imposes as a condition of successthat the operation must be carried out at night, and not late in thenight. It must take place at high water, with the wind from the rightquarter, and with a calm sea for the small craft. The operation cannotbe rehearsed beforehand, since the essence of it is secrecy, and thoughone might have to wait a long time to realize all the essentialconditions of wind and weather, secrecy wears badly when large numbersof men are brought together in readiness for the attack. 

[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ makes for Ostend. ]

The _Sirius_ lies in the surf some two thousand yards east of theentrance to Ostend Harbor, which she failed so gallantly to block; andwhen, in the early hours of yesterday morning, the _Vindictive_ gropedher way through the smoke-screen and headed for the entrance, it was asthough the old fighting-ship awoke and looked on. A coastal motor-boathad visited her and hung a flare in her slack and rusty rigging; andthat eye of unsteady fire, paling in the blaze of the star-shells orreddening through the drift of the smoke, watched the whole greatenterprise, from the moment when it hung in doubt to its ultimatetriumphant success. 

[Sidenote: Unforeseen conditions add to the difficulties. ]

[Sidenote: German destroyers guard the coast. ]

The planning and execution of that success had been entrusted by theVice-Admiral, Sir Roger Keyes, to Commodore Hubert Lynes, C. M. G. , whodirected the previous attempt to block the harbor with _Sirius_ and_Brilliant_. Upon that occasion, a combination of unforeseen, andunforeseeable, conditions had fought against him; upon this, the mainproblem was to secure the effect of a surprise attack upon an enemy whowas clearly, from his ascertained dispositions, expecting him. _Sirius_and _Brilliant_ had been baffled by the displacement of the Stroom Bankbuoy, which marks the channel to the harbor entrance, but since thenaerial reconnaissance had established that the Germans had removed thebuoy altogether and that there were now no guiding marks of any kind. They had also cut gaps in the piers as a precaution against a landing;and, further, when towards midnight on Thursday the ships moved fromtheir anchorage, it was known that some nine German destroyers were outand at large upon the coast. The solution of the problem is bestindicated by the chronicle of the event. 

[Sidenote: A still sea and no moon. ]

It was a night that promised well for the enterprise--nearly windless, and what little breeze stirred came from a point or so west of north; asky of lead-blue, faintly star-dotted, and no moon; a still sea for thesmall craft, the motor-launches and the coastal motor-boats, whose workis done close in shore. From the destroyer which served the Commodorefor flagship, the remainder of the force was visible only as swiftsilhouettes of blackness, destroyers bulking like cruisers in thedarkness, motor-launches like destroyers, and coastal motor-boatsshowing themselves as racing hillocks of foam. From Dunkirk, a suddenand brief flurry of gunfire announced that German aeroplanes wereabout--they were actually on their way to visit Calais; and over theinvisible coast of Flanders the summer-lightning of the restlessartillery rose and fell monotonously. 

[Sidenote: _Vindictive_ passes. ]

"There's _Vindictive_!" The muffled seamen and marines standing by thetorpedo-tubes and the guns turned at that name to gaze at the greatblack ship, seen mistily through the streaming smoke from thedestroyer's funnels, plodding silently to her goal and her end. Photographs have made familiar that high-sided profile and the tallfunnels, with their Zeebrugge scars, always with a background of thepier at Dover against which she lay to be fitted for her last task; nowthere was added to her the environment of the night and the sea and thegreatness and tragedy of her mission. 

[Sidenote: Small craft guide the _Vindictive_. ]

She receded into the night astern as the destroyer raced on to lay thelight buoy that was to be her guide, and those on board saw her no more. She passed thence into the hands of the small craft, whose mission itwas to guide her, light her, and hide her in the clouds of thesmoke-screen. 

[Sidenote: Precise orders are planned for each stage of operation. ]

There was no preliminary bombardment of the harbor and the batteries asbefore the previous attempt; that was to be the first element in thesurprise. A time-table had been laid down for every stage of theoperation; and the staff work beforehand had even included preciseorders for the laying of the smoke barrage, with plans calculated forevery direction of wind. The monitors, anchored in theirfiring-positions far to seaward, awaited their signal; the great siegebatteries of the Royal Marine Artillery in Flanders--among the largestguns that have ever been placed on land-mountings--stood by likewise toneutralize the big German artillery along the coast; and the airmen whowere to collaborate with an aerial bombardment of the town waitedsomewhere in the darkness overhead. The destroyers patrolled to seawardof the small craft. 

[Sidenote: The signal is given for the guns to open. ]

The _Vindictive_, always at that solemn gait of hers, found theflagship's light-buoy and bore up for where a coastal motor-boat, commanded by Lieutenant William R. Slayter, R. N. , was waiting by acalcium flare upon the old position of the Stroom Bank buoy. Fourminutes before she arrived there, and fifteen minutes only before shewas due at the harbor mouth, the signal for the guns to open was given. Two motor-boats dashed in towards the ends of the high wooden piers andtorpedoed them. There was a machine-gun on the end of the western pier, and that vanished in the roar and the leap of flame and debris whichcalled to the guns. Over the town a flame suddenly appeared high in air, and sank slowly earthwards--the signal that the aeroplanes had seen andunderstood; and almost coincident with their first bombs came the firstshells whooping up from the monitors at sea. The surprise part of theattack was sprung. 

[Sidenote: The attack is a complete surprise. ]

The surprise, despite the German's watchfulness, seems to have beencomplete. Up till the moment when the torpedoes of the motor-boatsexploded, there had not been a shot from the land--only occasionalroutine star-shells. The motor-launches were doing their workmagnificently. These pocket-warships, manned by officers and men of theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve, are specialists at smoke-production; theybuilt to either hand of the _Vindictive's_ course the likeness of adense sea-mist driving landward with the wind. The star-shells paled andwere lost as they sank in it; the beams of the searchlights seemed tobreak off short upon its front. It blinded the observers of the greatbatteries when suddenly, upon the warning of the explosions, the gunsroared into action. 

[Sidenote: Heavy batteries on the Ostend coast open fire. ]

There was a while of tremendous uproar. The coast about Ostend isponderously equipped with batteries, each with its name known andidentified: Tirpitz, Hindenburg, Deutschland, Cecilia, and the rest;they register from six inches up to monsters of fifteen-inch navalpieces in land-turrets, and the Royal Marine Artillery fights a war-longduel with them. These now opened fire into the smoke and over it at themonitors; the Marines and the monitors replied; and, meanwhile, theaeroplanes were bombing methodically and the anti-craft guns weresearching the skies for them, Star-shells spouted up and floated down, lighting the smoke banks with spreading green fires; and those stringsof luminous green balls, which airmen call "flaming onions, " soared upup to lose themselves in the clouds. Through all this stridency andblaze of conflict, the old _Vindictive_, still unhurrying, was walkingthe lighted waters towards the entrance. 

It was then that those on the destroyers became aware that what hadseemed to be merely smoke was wet and cold, that the rigging wasbeginning to drip, that there were no longer stars--a sea-fog had comeon. 

[Sidenote: Destroyers keep in touch by lights and sirens. ]

The destroyers had to turn on their lights and use their sirens to keepin touch with each other; the air attack was suspended, and_Vindictive_, with some distance yet to go, found herself in grossdarkness. 

[Sidenote: The fog and smoke are dense. ]

[Sidenote: A motor-boat leads the way for _Vindictive_. ]

There were motor-boats to either side of her, escorting her to theentrance, and these were supplied with what are called Doverflares--enormous lights capable of illuminating square miles of sea atonce. A "Very" pistol was fired as a signal to light these; but the fogand the smoke together were too dense for even the flares. _Vindictive_then put her helm over and started to cruise to find the entrance. Twicein her wanderings she must have passed across it, and at her third turn, upon reaching the position at which she had first lost her way, therecame a rift in the mist, and she saw the entrance clear, the piers toeither side and the opening dead ahead. The inevitable motor-boat dashedup, raced on into the opening under a heavy and momentarily growingfire, and planted a flare on the water between the piers. _Vindictive_steamed over it and on. She was in. 

[Sidenote: A hail of lead falls upon the _Vindictive_. ]

The guns found her at once. She was hit every few seconds after sheentered, her scarred hull broken afresh in a score of places and herdecks and upper works swept. The machine-gun on the end of the westernpier had been put out of action by the motor-boat's torpedo, but fromother machine-guns at the inshore ends of the pier, from a position onthe front, and from machine-guns apparently firing over the easternpier, there converged upon her a hail of lead. The after-control wasdemolished by a shell which killed all its occupants. Upper and lowerbridges and chart-room were swept by bullets, and Commander Godsal, R. N. , ordered his officers to go with him to the conning-tower. 

[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ prepares to turn. ]

They observed through the observation slit in the steel wall of theconning-tower that the eastern pier was breached some two hundred yardsfrom its seaward end, as though at some time a ship had been incollision with it. They saw the front of the town silhouetted again andagain in the light of the guns that blazed at them; the night was apatchwork of fire and darkness. Immediately after passing the breach inthe pier. Commander Godsal left the conning-tower and went out on deck, the better to watch the ship's movements; he chose his position, andcalled in through the slit of the conning-tower his order to starboardthe helm. The _Vindictive_ responded; she laid her battered nose to theeastern pier and prepared to swing her 320 feet of length across thechannel. 

[Sidenote: A shell strikes the conning-tower. ]

It was at that moment that a shell from the shore batteries struck theconning-tower. Lieutenant Sir John Alleyne and Lieutenant V. A. C. Crutchley, R. N. , were still within; Commander Godsal was close to thetower outside. Lieutenant Alleyne was stunned by the shock; LieutenantCrutchley shouted through the slit to the Commander, and, receiving noanswer, rang the port engine full speed astern to help in swinging theship. By this time she was lying at an angle of about forty degrees tothe pier, and seemed to be hard and fast, so that it was impossible tobring her further round. 

[Sidenote: The order is given to abandon ship and the _Vindictive_ sinksin the channel. ]

After working the engines for some minutes to no effect, LieutenantCrutchley gave the order to clear the engine-room and abandon ship, according to the programme previously laid down. EngineerLieutenant-Commander Wm. A. Bury, who was the last to leave theengine-room, blew the main charges by the switch installed aft;Lieutenant Crutchley blew the auxiliary charges in the forward six-inchmagazine from the conning-tower. Those on board felt the old ship shrugas the explosive tore the bottom plates and the bulk-heads from her; shesank about six feet and lay upon the bottom of the channel. Her work wasdone. 

It is to be presumed that Commander Godsal was killed by the shell whichstruck the conning-tower. Lieutenant Crutchley, searching the shipbefore he left her, failed to find his body, or that of Sub-LieutenantMacLachlan, in that wilderness of splintered wood and shattered steel. In the previous attempt to block the port, Commander Godsal hadcommanded _Brilliant_, and, together with all the officers of that shipand of _Sirius_, had volunteered at once for a further operation. 

Most of the casualties were incurred while the ship was being abandoned. The men behaved with just that cheery discipline and courage whichdistinguished them in the Zeebrugge raid. 

[Sidenote: Recall rockets are fired from the flagship. ]

Always according to programme, the recall rockets for the small craftwere fired from the flagship at 2. 30 a. M. The great red rockets whizzedup to lose themselves in the fog; they cannot have been visible half amile away; but the work was done, and one by one the launches andmotor-boats commenced to appear from the fog, stopped their enginesalongside the destroyers and exchanged news with them. There werewounded men to be transferred and dead men to be reported--their namescalled briefly across the water from the little swaying deck to thecrowded rail above. But no one had seen a single enemy craft; the nineGerman destroyers who were out and free to fight had chosen thediscreeter part. 

[Sidenote: Ostend Harbor is thus made impracticable. ]

It is not claimed by the officers who carried out the operation thatOstend Harbor is completely blocked; but its purpose--to embarrass theenemy and make the harbor impracticable to any but small craft anddredging operations difficult--has been fully accomplished. 

 * * * * *

Too little was heard during the war of the work of the Americansubmarines, but they performed most efficient and useful service. Asketch of the life aboard one of these little vessels follows. 

WITH THE AMERICAN SUBMARINES

HENRY B. BESTON

[Sidenote: A view of the Embankment. ]

A London day of soft and smoky skies, darkened every now and then bycapricious and intrusive little showers, was drawing to a close in atwilight of gold and gray. Our table stood in a bay of plate-glasswindows overlooking the Embankment close by Cleopatra's Needle. Wewatched the little double-decked tram-cars gliding by, the opposing, interthreading streams of pedestrians, and a fleet of coal barges comingup the river, solemn as a cloud. 

[Sidenote: Submarine folk are a people apart. ]

Behind us lay, splendid and somewhat theatric, the mottled marble, stiffwhite napery, and bright silver of a fashionable dining-hall. Only a fewguests were at hand. At our little table sat the captain of a submarinewho was then in London for a few days on richly merited leave, adistinguished young officer of the "mother ship" accompanying ourunderwater craft, and myself. It is impossible to be long with submarinefolk without realizing that they are a people apart, differing from therest of the naval personnel even as their vessels differ. A man musthave something individual to his character to volunteer for the service, and every officer is a volunteer. An extraordinary power of quickdecision, a certain keen, resolute look, a certain carriage; submarinefolk are such men as all of us like to have by our side in any greattrial or crisis of our life. 

Guests began to come by twos and threes--pretty girls in shimmeringdresses, young army officers with wound-stripes and clumsy limps. Afaint murmur of conversation rose, faint and continuous as the murmur ofa distant stream. 

Because I requested him, the captain told me of the crossing of thesubmarines. It was the epic of an heroic journey. 

[Sidenote: How the submarines crossed the Atlantic. ]

[Sidenote: The mother-ship and submarines leave. ]

"After each boat had been examined in detail, we began to fill them withsupplies for the voyage. The crew spent days manoeuvring cases ofcondensed milk, cans of butter, meat, and chocolate, down thehatchways--food which the boat swallowed up as if she had been a kind ofsteel stomach. Until we had it all neatly and tightly stowed away, the_Z_ looked like a corner grocery store. Then, early one Decembermorning, we pulled out of the harbor. It wasn't very cold, merely rawand damp, and it was misty dark. I remember looking at the winter starsriding high just over the meridian. The port behind us was still anddead, but a handful of navy-folk had come to one of the wharves to seeus off. Yes, there was something of a stir--you know, the kind of stirthat's made when boats go to sea: shouted orders, the plash of droppedcables, vagrant noises. It didn't take a great time to get under way; wewere ready, waiting for the word to go. The flotilla--mother-ship, tugsand all--was out to sea long before the dawn. You would have liked thepicture: the immense stretch of the grayish, winter-stricken sea, thelittle covey of submarines running awash, the gray mother-ship goingahead, as casually as an excursion steamer, into the featureless dawn. 

"The weather was wonderful for two days, --a touch of Indian summer onDecember's ocean; then, on the night of the third day, we ran into ablow, the worst I ever saw in my life. A storm--oh, boy!"

He paused for an instant. One could see memories living in the fine, resolute eyes. The broken noises of the restaurant, which had seeminglydied away while he spoke, crept back again to one's ears. A waiterdropped a clanging fork--

[Sidenote: A terrific storm comes on toward night. ]

"A storm. Never remember anything like it. A perfect terror. Everybodyrealized that any attempt to keep together would be hopeless. And nightwas coming on. One by one the submarines disappeared into that fury ofwind and driving water, the mother-ship, because she was the largestvessel in the flotilla, being the last we saw. We snatched her lastsignal out of the teeth of the gale, and then she was gone, swallowed upin the storm. So we were alone. 

[Sidenote: Rough water the next day. ]

"We got through the night somehow or other. The next morning the oceanwas a dirty brown-gray, and knots and wisps of cloud were tearing byclose over the water. Every once in a while a great hollow-bellied wavewould come rolling out of the hullabaloo and break thundering over us. On all the boats the lookout on the bridge had to be lashed in place, and every once in a while a couple of tons of water would come tumblingpast him. Nobody at the job stayed dry for more than three minutes; abathing-suit would have been more to the point than oilers. 

[Sidenote: The boat registers a roll of seventy degrees. ]

[Sidenote: The cook provides food after a fashion. ]

"Shaken, you ask? No, not very bad: a few assorted bruises and awrenched thumb; though poor Jonesy on the _Z-3_ had a wave knock him upagainst the rail and smash in a couple of ribs. But no being sick forhim; he kept to his feet and carried on in spite of the pain, in spiteof being in a boat which registered a roll of seventy degrees. I used towatch the old hooker rolling under me. You've never been on a submarinewhen she's rolling, --talk about rolling--oh, boy! We all say seventydegrees, because that's as far as our instruments register. There weretimes when I almost thought she was on her way to make a completerevolution. You can imagine what it was like inside. To begin with, theoily air was none too sweet, because every time we opened a hatch weshipped enough water to make the old hooker look like a start at aswimming tank; and then she was lurching so continuously and violentlythat to move six feet was an expedition. The men werewonderful--wonderful! Each man at his allotted task, and--what's thatEnglish word?--carrying on. Our little cook couldn't do a thing with thestove, might as well have tried to cook on a miniature earthquake; buthe saw that all of us had something to eat--doing his bit, game as couldbe. "

He paused again. The Embankment was fading away in the dark. A waiterappeared, and drew down the thick, light-proof curtains. 

"Yes, the men were wonderful--wonderful. And there wasn't very muchsickness. Let's see, how far had I got?--Since it was impossible to makeany headway, we lay to for forty-eight hours. The deck began to go thesecond morning, some of the plates being ripped right off. Andblow--well, as I told you in the beginning, I never saw anything likeit. The disk of the sea was just one great ragged mass of foam beinghurled through space by a wind screaming past with the voice and forceof a million express trains. 

[Sidenote: The submarines run on the surface to save electricity. ]

"Perhaps you are wondering why we didn't submerge. We simply couldn'tuse up our electricity. It takes oil and running on the surface tocreate the electric power, and we had a long, long journey ahead. Thenice began to form on the superstructure, and we had to get out a crew tochop it off. It was something of a job; there wasn't much to hang onto, and the waves were still breaking over us. But we freed her of thedanger, and she went on--

"We used to wonder where the other boys were, in the midst of all theracket. One ship was drifting toward the New England coast, her compasssmashed to flinders; others had run for Bermuda, others were still atsea. 

[Sidenote: Good weather at last. ]

"Then we had three days of good easterly wind. By jingo, but the goodweather was great! Were we glad to have it?--oh, boy! We had just gotthings shipshape again when we had another blow, but this second one wasby no means as bad as the first. And after that we had another spell ofdecent weather. The crew used to start the phonograph and keep it goingall day. 

[Sidenote: Reaching a friendly coast. ]

"The weather was so good that I decided to keep right on to the harborwhich was to be our base over here. I had enough oil, plenty of water;the only possible danger was a shortage of provisions. So I put us allon a ration, arranging to have the last grand meal on Christmas day. Canyou imagine Christmas on a little storm-bumped submarine some hundredmiles off the coast? A day or two more and we ran calmly into--shall wesay, 'deleted' harbor?

[Sidenote: The men rejoice at food and baths. ]

"Hungry, dirty; oh, so dirty! We hadn't had any sort of bath or wash forabout three weeks; we all were green-looking from having been cooped upso long, and our unshaven grease-streaked faces would have upset adinosaur. The authorities were wonderfully kind, and looked after us andour men in the very best style. I thought we could never stop eating, and a real sleep--oh, boy!"

"Did you fly the flag as you came in?" I asked. 

"You bet we did!" answered the captain, his keen, handsome face lightingat the memory. "You see, " he continued in a practical spirit, "theywould probably have pumped us full of holes if we hadn't. "

And that is the way the American submarines crossed the Atlantic to dotheir share for the Great Cause. 

[Sidenote: A guest on the mother-ship. ]

I got to the port of the submarines just as an uncertain and rainyafternoon had finally decided to turn into a wild and disagreeablenight. Short, drenching showers of rain fell, one after the other, likethe strokes of a lash; a wind came up out of the sea, and one could hearthe thunder of surf on the headlands. The mother-ship lay moored in awild, desolate, and indescribably romantic bay; she floated in asheltered pool, a very oasis of modernity, a marvelous creature ofanother world and another time. There was just light enough for me tosee that her lines were those of a giant yacht. Then a curtain of rainbeat hissing down on the sea, and the ship and the vague darkeninglandscape disappeared--disappeared as if they had melted away in theshower. Presently the bulk of the vessel appeared again. At once we drewalongside, and from that moment on, I was the guest of the vessel, recipient of a hospitality and courtesy for which I here make gratefulacknowledgment to my friends and hosts. 

[Sidenote: The ship is most skillfully handled. ]

The mother-ship of the submarines was a combination of flagship, supply-station, repair-shop, and hotel. The officers of the submarineshad rooms aboard her, which they occupied when off patrol, and the crewsoff duty slung their hammocks 'tween decks. The boat was pretty wellcrowded, having more submarines to look after than she had been built tocare for; but thanks to the skill of her officers, everything was goingas smoothly as could be. The vessel had, so to speak, a submarineatmosphere. Everybody aboard lived, worked, and would have died for thesubmarine. They believed in the submarine, believed in it with anenthusiasm which rested on pillars of practical fact. 

[Sidenote: The heroism of the men who tried the first submarine. ]

The chief of staff was the youngest captain in our navy; a man of hardenergy and keen insight; one to whom our submarine service owes a verygenuine debt. His officers were specialists: the surgeon of the vesselhad been for years engaged in studying the hygiene of submarines, andwas constantly working to free the atmosphere of the vessels fromdeleterious gases and to improve the living conditions of the crews. Iremember listening one night to a history of the submarine, told by oneof the officers of the staff; and for the first time in my life I cameto appreciate at its full value the heroism of the men who risked theirlives in the first cranky, clumsy, uncertain little vessels, and theimagination and the faith of the men who believed in the type. Ten yearsago, a descent in a sub was an adventure to be prefaced by tears andmaking of wills; to-day submarines are chasing submarines hundreds ofmiles at sea, are crossing the ocean, and have grown from a tube ofsteel not much larger than a lifeboat, to underwater cruisers whichcarry six-inch guns. 

Said an officer to me, "The future of the submarine? Why, sir, thesubmarine is the only war vessel that's going to have a future!"

[Sidenote: The submarines are moved alongside. ]

On the night of my arrival, once dinner was over, I went on deck andlooked down through the rain at the submarines moored alongside. Theylay close by, one beside the other, in a pool of radiance cast by anumber of electric lights hanging over each open hatchway. Beyond thispool lay the rain and the dark; within it, their sides awash in theclear green water of the bay, their gray bridges and rust-stainedsuperstructures shining in the rain, lay the strange, bulging, crocodilian shapes of steel. There was something unearthly, somethingnot of this world or time, in the picture; I might have been looking atinvaders of the sleeping earth. The wind swept past in great boomingsalvoes; rain fell in sloping, liquid rods through the brilliancy ofelectric lamps burning with a steadiness that had something in itstrange, incomprehensible, and out of place in the motion of the storm. 

And then a hand appeared on the topmost rung of the nearer ladder, and abulky sailor, a very human sailor in very human dungarees, poked hishead out of the aperture, surveyed the inhospitable night, anddisappeared. 

[Sidenote: Submarines are going out to-night. ]

"He's on Branch's boat. They're going out to-night, " said the officerwho was guiding me about. 

"To-night? How on earth will he ever find his way to the open sea?"

"Knows the bay like a book. However, if the weather gets any worse, Idoubt if the captain will let him go. Branch will be wild if they don'tlet him out. Somebody has just reported wreckage off the coast, so theremust be a Hun round. "

"But aren't our subs sometimes mistaken for Germans?"

"Oh, yes, " was the calm answer. 

[Sidenote: The boats may never come back. ]

I thought of that ominous phrase I had noted in the Britishrecords, --"failed to report, "--and I remembered the stolid Britishcaptain who had said to me, speaking of submarines, "Sometimes nobodyknows just what happened. Out there in the deep water, whatever happens, happens in a hurry. "

My guide and I went below to the officers' corridor. Now and then, through the quiet, a mandolin or guitar could be heard far off twangingsome sentimental island ditty; and beneath these sweeter sounds lay amonotonous mechanical humming. 

"What's that sound?" I asked. 

"That's the Filipino mess-boys having a little festino in theirquarters. The humming? Oh, that's the mother-ship's dynamos charging thebatteries of Branch's boat. Saves running on the surface. "

[Sidenote: The captain of the patrol cheerful. ]

My guide knocked at a door. Within his tidy little room, the captain whowas to go out on patrol was packing the personal belongings he needed onthe trip. 

"Hello!" he cried cheerily when he saw us; "come on in. I'm only doing alittle packing up. What's it like outside?"

"Raining same as ever, but I don't think it's blowing up any harder. "

[Sidenote: Reading matter is in demand. ]

"Hooray!" cried the young captain with heartfelt sincerity; "then I'llget out to-night. You know the captain told me that if it got any worse, he'd hold me till to-morrow morning. I told him I'd rather go outto-night. Perfect cinch once you get to the mouth of the bay; all youhave to do is submerge and take it easy. What do you think of the news?Smithie thinks he saw a Hun yesterday. Got anything good to read?Somebody's pinched that magazine I was reading. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen--that ought to be enough handkerchiefs. Hello, there goes thejuice!"

The humming of the dynamo was dying away slowly, fading with an effectof lengthening distance. The guitar orchestra, as if to celebrate itsdeliverance, burst into a triumphant rendering of Sousa's "Stars andStripes. "

My guide and I waited till after midnight to watch the going of Branch's_Z-5_. Branch and his second, stuffed into black oilskins down whosegleaming surface ran beaded drops of rain, stood on the bridge; a numberof sailors were busy doing various things along the deck. The electriclights shone in all their calm unearthly brilliance. Then slowly, veryslowly, the _Z-5_ began to gather headway, the clear water seemed toflow past her green sides, and she rode out of the pool of light intothe darkness waiting close at hand. 

"Good-bye! Good luck!" we cried. 

A vagrant shower came roaring down into the shining pool. 

"Good-bye!" cried voices through the night. 

[Sidenote: The submarines disappear in the dark. ]

Three minutes later all trace of the _Z-5_ had disappeared in the dark. 

[Sidenote: Night and day are the same on a submarine. ]

Captain Bill of the _Z-3_ was out on patrol. His vessel was runningsubmerged. The air within--they had but recently dived--was new andsweet; and that raw cold which eats into submerged submarines had notbegun to take the joy out of life. It was the third day out; the time, five o'clock in the afternoon. The outer world, however, did notpenetrate into the submarine. Night or day, on the surface or submerged, only one time, a kind of motionless electric high noon, existed withinthose concave walls of gleaming cream-white enamel. 

Those of the crew not on watch were taking it easy. Like unto theirofficers, submarine sailors are an unusual lot. They are _real_ sailors, or machinist sailors--boys for whose quality the navy has a flattering, picturesque, and quite unprintable adjective. A submarine man, mind you, works harder than perhaps any other man of his grade in the navy, because the vessel in which he lives is nothing but a tremendouslyintricate machine. 

[Sidenote: Life on board. ]

In one of the compartments the phonograph, the eternal, ubiquitousphonograph of the navy, was bawling its raucous rags and mechano-nasalsongs, and in the pauses between records, one could just hear the lowhum of the distant dynamos. A little group in blue dungarees held aconversation in a corner; a petty officer, blue cap tilted back on hishead, was at work on a letter; the cook, whose genial art wascustomarily under an interdict while the vessel was running submerged, was reading an ancient paper from his own home town. 

[Sidenote: News of a German submarine. ]

Captain Bill sat in a retired nook, if a submarine can possibly be saidto have a retired nook, with a chart spread open on his knees. The nightbefore, he had picked up a wireless message saying that a German hadbeen seen at sundown in a certain spot on the edge of his patrol. SoCaptain Bill had planned to run submerged to the spot in question, andthen pop up suddenly in the hope of potting the Hun. Some fifteenminutes before sundown, therefore, the _Z-3_ arrived at the place wherethe Fritz had been observed. 

"I wish I knew just where the bird was, " said an intent voice; "I'd dropa can right on his neck. "

[Sidenote: The sentiments of the captain of a destroyer. ]

These sentiments were not those of anybody aboard the _Z-3_. An Americandestroyer had also come to the spot looking for the German, and thegentle thought recorded above was that of her captain. It was justsundown; a level train of splendor burned on the ruffled waters to thewest; a light, cheerful breeze was blowing. The destroyer, ready foranything, was hurrying along at a smart clip. 

"This is the place all right, all right, " said the navigator of thedestroyer. "Come to think of it, that chap's been reported from heretwice. "

Keen eyes swept the shining uneasy plain. 

[Sidenote: How a submarine crew takes orders. ]

Meanwhile, some seventy feet below, the _Z-3_ manoeuvred, killingtime. The phonograph had been hushed, and every man was ready at hispost. The prospect of a go with the enemy had brought with it a keenthrill of anticipation. Now, a submarine crew is a well-trained machine. There are no shouted orders. If a submarine captain wants to send hisboat under quickly, he simply touches the button of a Klaxon; the horngives a demoniac yell throughout the ship, and each man does what heought to do at once. Such a performance is called a "crash dive. "

"I'd like to see him come up so near that we could ram him, " said thecaptain, gazing almost directly into the sun. "Find out what she'smaking. "

[Sidenote: Getting up speed. ]

The engineer lieutenant stooped to a voice-tube that almost swallowed uphis face, and yelled a question to the engine-room. An answer came, quite unheard by the others. 

"Twenty-four, sir, " said the engineer lieutenant. 

"Get her up to twenty-six. "

The engineer cried again through the voice-tube. The wake of the vesselroared like a mill-race, the white foam tumbling rosily in the settingsun. 

[Sidenote: Seventy feet below the surface. ]

Seventy feet below, Captain Bill was arranging the last little detailswith the second in command. 

[Sidenote: The plan of attack. ]

"In about five minutes we'll come up and take a look-see [stick up theperiscope], and if we see the bird, and we're in a good position to sendhim a fish [torpedo], we'll let him have one. If there is somethingthere, and we're not in a good position, we'll manoeuvre till we getinto one, and then let him have it. If there isn't anything to be seen, we'll go under again and take another look-see in half an hour. Reillyhas his instructions. " (Reilly was chief of the torpedo-room. )

[Sidenote: Wreckage all about. ]

"Something round here must have got it in the neck recently, " said thedestroyer captain, breaking a silence which had hung over the bridge. "Didn't you think that wreckage a couple of miles back looked prettyfresh? Wonder if the boy we're after had anything to do with it. Keep aneye on that sun-streak. "

[Sidenote: A crash dive to avoid a destroyer. ]

An order was given in the _Z-3_. It was followed instantly by a kind ofcommotion--sailors opened valves, compressed air ran down pipes, theratchets of the wheel clattered noisily. On the moon-faced depth-gauge, with its shining brazen rim, the recording arrow fled swiftly, counterclockwise, from seventy to twenty, to fifteen feet. Captain Bill stoodcrouching at the periscope, and when it broke the surface, a greenishlight poured down it and focused in his eyes. He gazed keenly for a fewseconds, and then reached for the horizontal wheel which turns theperiscope round the horizon. He turned--gazed, jumped back, and pushedthe button for a crash dive. 

"She was almost on top of me, " he explained afterwards, "coming likehell! I had to choose between being rammed or depth-bombed. "

There was another swift commotion, another opening and closing ofvalves, and the arrow on the depth-gauge leaped forward. Captain Billwas sending her down as far as he could, as fast as he dared. Fiftyfeet, seventy feet--ninety feet. Hoping to throw the destroyer off, the_Z-3_ doubled on her track. A hundred feet. 

Crash! Depth-charge number one. 

[Sidenote: Depth bombs explode near by. ]

[Sidenote: The submarine's peril. ]

According to Captain Bill, who is good at similes, it was as if a giant, wading along through the sea, had given the boat a vast and violentkick, and then, leaning down, had shaken her as a terrier shakes a rat. The _Z-3_ rocked, lay on her side, and fell through the water. A numberof lights went out. Men picked themselves out of corners, one with theblood streaming down his face from a bad gash over his eye. Many of themtold later of "seeing stars" when the vibration of the depth-chargetraveled through the hull and their own bodies; some averred that "whitelight" seemed to shoot out of the _Z-3's_ walls. Each man stood at hispost waiting for the next charge. 

Crash! A second depth-charge. To everyone's relief, it was less violentthan the first. A few more lights went out. Meanwhile the _Z-3_continued to sink and was rapidly nearing the danger-point. Havingescaped the first two depth-charges, Captain Bill hastened to bring theboat up to a higher level. Then, to make things cheerful, it wasdiscovered that the _Z-3_ showed absolutely no inclination to obey hercontrols. 

[Sidenote: Anxious moments before the submarine rises again. ]

"At first, " said Captain Bill, "I thought that the first depth-bomb musthave jammed all the external machinery; then I decided that our measuresto rise had not yet overcome the impetus of our forced descent. Meanwhile the old hooker was heading for the bottom of the Irish Sea, though I'd blown out every bit of water in her tanks. Had to--fifty feetmore, and she would have crushed in like an egg-shell under the wheel ofa touring-car. But she kept on going down. The distance of the third, fourth, and fifth depth-bombs, however, put cheer in our hearts. Then, presently, she began to rise; the old girl came up like an elevator in aNew York business block. I knew that the minute I came to the surfacethose destroyer brutes would try to fill me full of holes, so I had aman with a flag ready to jump on deck the minute we emerged. He waspretty damn spry about it, too. I took another look through theperiscope, and saw that the destroyer lay about two miles away, and as Ilooked she came for me _again_. Meanwhile, my signal-man was haulinghimself out of the hatchway as if his legs were in boiling water. "

[Sidenote: The Stars and Stripes signal to the destroyer. ]

"We've got her!" cried somebody aboard the destroyer, in a deep Americanvoice full of the exultation of battle. The lean rifles swung, lowered. "Point one, lower. " They were about to hear "Fire!" when the Stars andStripes and sundry other signals burst from the deck of the misused_Z-3_. 

"Well, what do you think of that!" said the gunner. "If it ain't one ofour own gang. Say, we must have given it to 'em hard. "

"We'll go over and see who it is, " said the captain of the destroyer. "The signals are O. K. , but it may be a dodge of the Huns. Ask 'em whothey are. "

In obedience to the order, a sailor on the destroyer's bridge wigwaggedthe message. 

"_Z-3_, " answered one of the dungaree-clad figures on the submarine'sdeck. 

[Sidenote: No resentment of the adventure. ]

Captain Bill came up himself, as the destroyer drew alongside, to seehis would-be assassin. There was no resentment in his heart. Theadventure was only part of the day's work. The destroyer neared; her bowoverlooked them. The two captains looked at each other. The dialogue waslaconic. 

"Hello, Bill, " said the destroyer captain. "All right?"

"Sure, " answered Captain Bill, to one who had been his friend andclassmate. 

"Ta-ta, then, " said he of the destroyer; and the lean vessel swept awayin the twilight. 

[Sidenote: The cook's opinion of the destroyers. ]

Captain Bill decided to stay on the surface for a while. Then he wentbelow to look over things. The cook, standing over some unlovely slopwhich marked the end of a half a dozen eggs broken by the concussion, was giving his opinion on destroyers. The cook was a child of Brooklyn, and could talk. The opinion was not a nice opinion. 

"Give it to 'em, cooko, " said one of the crew, patting the oratoraffectionately on the shoulder. "We're with you. "

And Captain Bill laughed to himself. 

The breakfast-hour was drawing to its end, and the very last stragglersat alone at the ward-room table. Presently an officer of themother-ship, passing through, called to the lingering group ofsubmarine officers. 

[Sidenote: The first of the flotilla to return. ]

"The _X-4_ is coming up the bay, and the _X-12_ has been reported fromsignal station. "

The news was received with a little hum of friendly interest. "Wonderwhat Ned will have to say for himself this time. " "Must have struckpretty good weather. " "Bet you John has been looking for another chanceat that Hun of his. "

[Sidenote: The appearance of the crew. ]

The talk drifted away into other channels. A little time passed. Thensuddenly a door opened, and, one after the other, entered the threeofficers of the first home-coming submarine. They were clad in variousancient uniforms which might have been worn by an apprentice lad in agarage: old gray flannel shirts, and stout grease-stained shoes; severaldays had passed since their faces had felt a razor, and all were alittle pale from their cruise. But the liveliest of keen eyes burned ineach resolute young face, eyes smiling and glad. 

A friendly hullabaloo broke forth. Chairs scraped, one fell with acrash. 

"Hello, boys!"

"Hi, Ned!"

"For the love of Pete, Joe, shave off those whiskers of yours; they makeyou look like Trotzky. "

"See any Germans?"

"What's the news?"

"What's doing?"

"Hi, Manuelo"--this to a Filipino mess-boy who stood looking on withimpassive curiosity--"serve three more breakfasts. "

"Anything go for you?"

"Well, if here isn't our old Bump!"

[Sidenote: Captain Ned begins his story. ]

The crowd gathered round Captain Ned, who had established contact (thisis a military term quite out of place in a work on the navy) with theeagerly sought, horribly elusive German. 

"Go on, Ned, give us an earful. What time did you say it was?"

[Sidenote: An enemy submarine that escaped. ]

"About 5 a. M. " answered the captain. He stood leaning against a door, and the fine head, the pallor, the touch of fatigue, all made a verystriking and appealing picture. "Say about eight minutes after five. I'djust come up to take a look-see, and saw him just about two miles away, on the surface, and moving right along. So I went under to get into agood position, came up again, and let him have one. Well, he saw it justas it was almost on him, swung her round, and dived like a ton of lead. "

The audience listened in silent sympathy. One could see thedisappointment on the captain's face. 

"Where was he?"

"About so-and-so. "

"That's the jinx that got after the convoy sure as you live. "

[Sidenote: Two blind ships that tried to find each other under water. ]

The speaker had had his own adventures with the Germans. A month or sobefore, he had shoved up his periscope and spotted a Fritz on thesurface in full noonday. The watchful Fritz, however, had been luckyenough to see the enemy almost at once, and had dived. The Americanfollowed suit. The eyeless submarine manoeuvred about, some eightyfeet under, the German evidently "making his getaway, " the Americanhoping to be lucky enough to pick up Fritz's trail, and get a shot athim when he rose again to the top. And while the two blind shipsmanoeuvred there in the dark of the abyss, the keel of the fleeingGerman had actually, by a curious chance, scraped along the top of theAmerican vessel and carried away the wireless aerials!

All were silent for a few seconds, thinking over the affair. It was notdifficult to read the thought in every mind, the thought of _getting atthe Germans_. The characteristic _aggressiveness_ of the American mind, heritage of a people compelled to subdue a vast, wild continent, is awonderful military attribute. The idea of our navy is, "Get after 'em, keep after 'em, stay after 'em, don't give 'em an instant of security orrest. " And none have this fighting spirit deeper in their hearts thanour gallant boys of the submarine patrol. 

"That's all, " said Captain Ned. "I'm going to have a wash-up. " He lifteda grease-stained hand to his cheek, rubbed his unshaven beard, andgrinned. "Any letters?"

"Whole bag of stuff. Smithie put it on your desk. "

[Sidenote: "Trotzky" and "Rasputin. "]

Captain Ned wandered off. Presently, the door opened again, and threemore veterans of the patrol cruised in, also in ancient uniforms. Therewere more cheers; more friendly cries. It was unanimously decided thatthe "Trotzky" of the first lot had better take a back seat, since thesecond in command of the newcomers was "a perfect ringer for Rasputin. "

"See anything?"

[Sidenote: A British patrol hunts a lost torpedo. ]

"Nothing much. There's a bit of wreckage just off shore. Saw a Britishpatrol boat early Tuesday morning. I was on the surface, lying betweenher and the sunrise; she was hidden by a low-lying swirl of fog; she sawus first. When we saw her, I made signals, and over she came. Guess whatthe old bird wanted--_wanted to know if I'd seen a torpedo he'd fired atme!_ An old scout with white whiskers; one of those retired captains, Isuppose, who has gone back on the job. He admitted he had received theAdmiralty notes about us, but thought we acted suspicious. Did you everhear of such nerve?"

[Sidenote: Courage of the submarine patrol. ]

When the war was young, I served on land with _messieurs les poilus_. Ihave seen the contests of aviators, also trench-raids and the fightingfor Verdun. Since then I have seen the war at sea. To my mind, if thereis one service of this war which more than any other requires thosequalities of endurance, skill, and courage whose blend the fighting mencall--Elizabethanly, but oh, so truly--"_guts_, " it is the submarinepatrol. 

Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, October, 1918. 

 * * * * *

France took tender care of her wounded heroes, and the followingnarrative gives a number of touching incidents observed by one whovisited several of the French hospitals and received stories andexperiences from the wounded soldiers. 

WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE

ABBÉ FELIX KLEIN

The descriptions which are to follow belong to history already ancient;to the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918. So rapid is the march ofevents with us now!

[Sidenote: The enthusiasm of a wounded soldier in 1914. ]

The soldier wounded during the first months of the War came to usoverflowing with enthusiasm, eager to express himself. His mind was fullof picturesque and varied impressions and he asked for nothing betterthan to tell about them. Willingly he described the emotions and spiritof the moment of departure; his curiosity in the presence of theunknown, the shock of the first contact with the enemy, the dizzy joy ofinitial successes. He confessed the amazement and pain of the firstchecks and the headlong retreat which followed them. He spoke of thefamous Joffre's "_ordre du jour_" when, in the battle of the Marne, themen were told to take the offensive. They stopped the enemy. Theypursued him. They experienced the intoxication of a victory that gaveback to France her old prestige and felt with certainty, although atfirst confusedly, that their battle was a decisive event in humanhistory. 

[Sidenote: The wounded of 1918 reflect the long tragedy. ]

[Sidenote: They have faced terrible new weapons. ]

To this brilliant and epic beginning succeeded a long and sombretragedy, to this _Iliad_ worthy of a Homer an _Inferno_ worthy of aDante. So we cannot wonder that the wounded of 1918 differed from thoseof 1914, and that their faces, like the face of the Florentine poetreturning from hell, reflected the terrible things through which theyhad passed. The suffering of years, the eternal waiting for a decisionof arms that did not come, the increasing horror of confronting weaponsunknown in the early months--heavy artillery, gas, liquid fire, aëroplane attacks--left their mark upon our soldiers. 

Dante imagines the terrible things he recounts. Our soldiers have seenthem face to face. New Year after New Year has come and gone, and foundthem living underground, in constant danger of unseen and unavoidableforms of death, huddled together in damp, dark holes, exposed to rainand snow and shell fire. Rarely was there fighting--as we used tounderstand the term--but daily death took its toll, and ill and woundedwere evacuated to the rear. 

[Sidenote: Modern battle has become a scientific operation. ]

Ardor they certainly retained for the assault, and heroism forconfronting sheets of fire, or clouds of asphyxiating gas; but in thescientific operation which the modern battle has become, most thingsthat are purely personal are more to be dreaded than desired, a fierytemper counts for much less than coolness, discipline, mastery of self, the spirit of abnegation and self-sacrifice. And when the battle waswon, that is to say, when they had taken, not a town with a resoundingname, but the ruins of a village, a treeless forest, a dismantled fort, a hill thirty metres high, the survivors still had a task before themwhich had lost none of its roughness or austerity. They had to organizethe new position in haste, dig other shelters, undergo bombardments andreject counter-attacks, all the more violent because the enemy, supported in the rear by positions prepared in advance, was more furiousthan ever after defeat. Thus it continued--until now, even now, whenunder the irresistible pressure of the French, the English and theAmericans, the German wall is crumbling. At last it will be broken, andthe victorious flood of the armies of democracy will pass through. Thenour invaded provinces and the sacred soil of Belgium will be freed; thenthe conditions of just and honorable peace among all the nations of theearth may be dictated on the banks of the Rhine--or farther, ifnecessary. 

[Sidenote: Patience and tenacity are necessary. ]

But to support, while we waited, the monotonous trench-life toaccomplish the rapid nocturnal raids or the formidable exploits of thegreat days and weeks of offensive, required more than that brilliantquality of our fathers, the _furia francese_ that was the synonym ofoverwhelming courage and the ardor which commands victory. Patience towait, resignation to accept, tenacity to prolong efforts, deliberate andindomitable will to overcome trials, within and without and to press onto the distant goal of final victory were above all things necessary. 

[Sidenote: "To the end!"]

These qualities, summed up in one expression: "To the end!" soprofoundly different from those which hitherto have passed ascharacteristic of our race, were the ones most noticeable in ourcombatant of the fourth year of the War. Youthful enthusiasm was nomore; each man numbered the dangers run, each man took clear account ofthose to come. 

[Sidenote: Patriotism becomes a passion. ]

Only austere love of duty can sustain a man at such a height. Aschoolmaster-sergeant of Lyon, Philippe Gonnard, voices it to a friendinclined to pity him: he was ill enough to get his freedom, but wished, nevertheless, to keep at his post until he was killed: "I intend to stayat the front. .. . Patriotism for me is a passion. Does that mean that Iam happy here far from all I love? You do not think that and I haveoften said I am not, in prose and verse. But from now until peace, noman of heart can be happy. If I came back, I should be still less happy, because instead of being dissatisfied with my lot, I should bedissatisfied with myself. "

[Sidenote: Strong will and nobility of soul. ]

More or less consciously, this was the rock bottom of the character ofthe soldier of France after three and a half years of war: "Will alwayson the stretch, anguish conquered, melancholy transformed into nobilityof soul--as long as literature does not portray these essential traitsof the soldier, " says one of our best author-combatants, "all it createswill only be artificial and bear no relation to reality. "

[Sidenote: "No matter, it is for France. "]

"No matter, it is for France!" says the wounded soldier to the comradesbending over him, and if it is during an attack he tells them not tostop, not to carry him away "because it is no longer worth while, " butto continue without him the noble work for which he is offering hislife. Let a chaplain bring him divine help in time and he will die morethan resigned, joyous and radiant in the faith of his childhood, bewailing his sins and kissing the crucifix like the French of theMiddle Ages. How many times, in the horrible frame of modern war, havewords been uttered, scenes enacted, agonies suffered which echoed themost sublime passages of the _Chanson de Roland_!

[Sidenote: Most of the wounded recover. ]

[Sidenote: Many times wounded. ]

But, thank God, among those who fall without being killed outright, theminority are mortally wounded. Most of them are destined to get well orat least to survive: they know it, and are glad. As soon as they regainconsciousness after the shock, the first idea is: "Am I really notdead?" To be wounded does not disconcert them at all. "We are here forthat!" said, the other day, one of my young friends of the class 1915, who by exception has been preserved until now. The alternative, in thispresent War, is not to come out of it wounded, or unwounded, but woundedor dead: to escape death is all that one can reasonably ask. Men whohave only been wounded once, are more and more scarce, some havereturned to the front four or five times. We had at the hospital a yearago an American sergeant of the Foreign Legion, engaged at Orleans inAugust, 1914, who having fought in Champagne, on the Somme and inAlsace, had received three wounds, the last at the end of 1915, atBelloy-en-Santerre, when a German bomb had badly damaged his left thigh:"the last" up to that time, for he had to go back under fire and will inall probability receive a fourth wound. 

[Sidenote: The slightly wounded are lucky. ]

[Sidenote: The most unfortunate. ]

Those slightly wounded have not much merit, it must be confessed, inbeing resigned or even joyful. After a rapid dressing at the firststation they will rest several days at the hospital at the front, andthen get leave of convalescence which they will pass with theirfamilies. A wound for them, who can bear a little suffering, means anunexpected holiday and supplementary permission. They are only sorry ifthey are hit stupidly, out of action or at the beginning of awell-prepared attack, and prevented from going on with it. Let us leavethem to their good luck, and stay longer with the severely wounded, those, for instance, who have a leg or arm broken, a fractured jaw, vertebra or ribs bruised, or are deprived of one of their senses--blind, deaf, paralyzed. We unhesitatingly acknowledge that these three lastcategories of wounded feel their misery profoundly, and need time to getused to it. Those, happily much more numerous, who have only temporarilyor permanently lost the use of one of their limbs, generally considerthemselves very fortunate. "I have the good wound!" they affect to say, meaning that the War is over for them. So at least they expressthemselves, not at all wishing to be admired, and trying as it were, tominimize their courage in bearing their trial. 

[Sidenote: Self-sacrifice of the wounded. ]

[Sidenote: "Arise, ye dead!"]

But aside from this paradoxical attitude, they frequently speak and actin the most simple, touching way! It is common to hear one say to thestretcher-bearer who comes to fetch him: "Take my comrade here first; heis much more wounded than I; I can wait. .. . " And that when it meanslying on the ground under the bombardment, thirsty, feverish, feelinghis strength ebb with his blood. Before any one comes back to get him, often he will try again, if he has a sound arm left, to fire his rifleor his machine-gun once more. Glory surrounds the epic incident of thetrench where the only unwounded soldier, seeing the enemy arrive, criedout as if in delirium: "Arise, ye dead!" and the dying really rose, andsucceeded, some of them, in firing once more before they fell again, andthe assailants fled. A more recent and simpler deed is also worthrecording. 

[Sidenote: A dead observer protects his pilot. ]

Returning from a bombardment of the enemy's factories in broad daylight, a French machine conducted by two men was attacked by several aviators. The observer, hit by a ball in the chest, dropped down into the_carlingue_. The pilot seeing this prepared to turn back. But hearinghis machine-gun firing again, he concluded that the observer was notseriously hurt. As soon as he landed in France: "Well, what about thatwound?" he asked. No answer. He bent down and saw that his companion wasdead. Even in his agony he had continued to protect his comrade. 

In the beginning of the War the wounded stayed a long, a very long timewithout being rescued, at the place where they fell, or in the shelterto which they had been able to crawl. Our stretcher-bearers of theAmerican Ambulance found, after the battle of the Marne, many who hadlain for days and nights in shell holes, at the foot of trees, inruined barns or churches! One may guess what the mortality might be!Today, happily, it is no longer so. The field of action is morerestricted and the aid is better organized. 

[Sidenote: Transportation is painful and dangerous. ]

[Sidenote: Relief at the first dressing station. ]

[Sidenote: The nurses devoted and the sufferers resigned. ]

If transportation, however, is less retarded than three years ago, it isstill painful and rather dangerous. Even when a special passage has beendug before the attack for the evacuation of the wounded, all jolts arenot avoided in this dark and narrow way; but in going through theordinary passage-ways, dangerous and unseen obstacles are oftenencountered--crumbling earth, perhaps, or convoys going in the oppositedirection. If they heeded the wounded soldier, the stretcher-bearerswould go on open ground. This he frequently does, if he is at all ableto get on without aid; once hit he thinks himself invulnerable--asingular illusion which has brought about many catastrophes. At thefirst dressing-station and at the front hospital, relief begins. Inordinary times, this will be quite complete, and the wounded will not becarried to the rear until they are really able to stand the journey. Butwhile the battle is on, they must go in the greatest haste: the worstcases are thoroughly cared for; the badly hurt who can be moved receivethe attention which enables them to depart speedily; the slight caseshave to be content with summary consideration. Here one sees thedevotion of the nurses and the resignation of the sufferers, and betterthan resignation: the noble effort not to moan, the murmured prayer, theforgetfulness of self, eagerness to ask news of the fight. Among thefalsities of a book a thousand times too vaunted (falsities due not somuch to the lie direct as to the constant dwelling on odious details, and the suppression of admirable facts), nothing is farther from thetruth than the picture of a hospital at the front where one hears andsees only blaspheming and rebellious men. With most of the wounded whohave spoken to me about it in our hospital, and who certainly had theright to bear witness, we proclaim loudly that if the French army hadbeen such as the work in question paints it in this passage and in manyothers, the War would have ended long ago, and history would never haveknown the names of the Marne, nor the Yser, nor Verdun, nor theChemin-des-Dames. 

[Sidenote: A true picture of our Ambulance at the front. ]

A true picture of an Ambulance at the front, overflowing with woundedthe evening of a battle, I find in these lines by an eyewitness: "Somemoderate complaints among the crowded stretchers: one asks for a drink, one wants relief for pain, a bed, a dressing, to be quickly attended. But let some story be told in the group, some incident come out like atrumpet-call, all faces brighten, the men lift themselves a little, themirage of glory gives them heart again. I commemorate with piety theanonymous example of a little Zouave, doubled over on himself, holdinghis bullet-pierced abdomen in both hands, whom I heard gently asked:'Well, little one, how goes it?' Oh, very well, _mon Lieutenant_, ourcompany has passed the road from B---- to the south; we had gotten therewhen I was knocked out. It's all right; we are smashing them!"

[Sidenote: Their first thought for victory. ]

I, personally, received such answers from wounded who came to us fromthe Chemin-des-Dames, or from the fort of Malmaison. When I asked fornews, my mind preoccupied with their individual sufferings, their firstthought was to tell me of the victory. The ordinary French phrase for"How are you? _Comment ça va-t-il?_" (literally: How goes it?) may applyto an event or to a person. This being so, it is never of himself thatthe newly-wounded soldier thinks, but of what is interesting toeverybody--the common success. I went to welcome a patient brought inOctober 26th and asked: "You came tonight?"

"Yes, Father. "

"Not too tired by the journey?"

"No, not too much. "

"What wound?"

"Jaw pierced by a bullet, arm broken, wound in the thigh. "

"How goes it?"

[Sidenote: The wounded are delighted with the success of the attack. ]

"Very well! The wounded who came to the hospital at the front weredelighted, we had gotten everything we were trying for!"

"You were in the attack?"

"Unfortunately no, I was wounded the day before. "

"In the bombardment?"

"Yes, while we were filling up the trenches to make a way for the tankstoward the fort of Malmaison. "

"That must have been pretty constant thundering?"

"Yes, but very soon we did not think of it. In the little bombardmentsyou hear the shells coming and try to get to shelter, but, in thosegreat days, when it is going on all the time, you can no longerdistinguish anything, it is a continual noise, a kind of huge snoring. Then you are quite calm. "

[Sidenote: They do not speak of what they have done or seen. ]

These are a few illustrations, a few rays of light, such as one stillgets sometimes. I do not know if they will become more frequent with thenew evolution of the War. They have been rare, and never followed bylong expansiveness. Our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the Wardid not like to speak of what he had done nor of what he had seen. Whatmay be the reasons for his silence? In seeking to interpret them wepenetrate a little into the psychology of this taciturn man. 

[Sidenote: The soldier plays an impersonal part. ]

First, his impressions of the War are no longer fresh and now he wouldhave some difficulty in analyzing them. It is as with ourselves in a newcountry: at first we have a thousand things to describe in our letters;after that nothing strikes us any longer. This passage to a sort ofunconsciousness is the easier for the soldier as he plays a moreimpersonal part in the War; a simple cell in a great organism, a simplewheel in an enormous machine, quite beyond his comprehension in itslearned complication. Catastrophes happen to him but no adventures: hemay be wounded, he may be killed, nothing else. This is no material forfine stories. 

A deeper reason for the silence of the witness, or rather the actor, inthe great drama of the War, is a very just realization of theimpossibility of conveying any idea of it to those who have never beenthere. It is so very different from anything they know; so out ofproportion to the normal life of human beings. 

[Sidenote: The wounded man does not like to think of war. ]

To these intellectual motives may be added one of feeling. The woundedsoldier does not like to speak of the War because he does not like tothink of it: there are too many horrors; he has had to bear too manyprivations, too much suffering. As soon as he finds himself out of it, he tries to turn his mind away from it as much as possible, and to shakeoff the impression of it, as the sick man in the morning shakes off hisfevered nightmare. Later on, doubtless, when his memories have losttheir keen edge, they may attract him again. All he asks for the momentis to forget. One thing especially afflicts his heart and tightens hislips: it is the thought of the comrades he has lost. 

Such are the reasons why the later wounded, differing from those at thebeginning of the War, shut themselves up in a silence full of gravity. 

[Sidenote: The men in hospital are grateful. ]

[Sidenote: Infirmities are less felt. ]

In spite of this, however, you would have a false idea of the militaryhospital if you thought of it as a place of mournful desolation. Doubtless our earlier patients regained their spirits more quickly, having no years of suffering behind them. But the quiet and seriousresignation which reigns in the hospital of to-day does not exclude acertain sweetness; the wounded man appreciates the intelligent anddevoted care lavished upon him, he congratulates himself and thanks Godfor having escaped from mortal peril, for not having fallen to thebottom of the abyss, for remounting now the slope at the summit of whichhe has a glimpse of the recovery of his strength and activity. If hiswound leaves no serious traces, he rejoices to live again as he didbefore; if it has deprived him of the use of his limbs or of somenecessary organ, he consoles himself by the thought that the War is overfor him and that soon he will take his place at home. His infirmities, which perhaps will weigh more heavily upon him later, he feels lesshere, where they are the normal thing and where it is the exception toappear intact. 

It is a rest for him not to hear the voice of the cannon. And he likesthe moral peace with which the wise kindness of the doctors, thedevotion of the nurses, the friendship of the chaplain, surround him; heespecially enjoys the many letters he receives from his family, andthose which he slowly writes himself, or dictates to an amiableneighbor. Often he has friends and relatives in the neighborhood whocome to see him, but what he likes best of all is the visit from hisfamily, his mother, father, wife, his young children. 

[Sidenote: A dying man is decorated. ]

[Sidenote: A legacy of honor for his family. ]

Another joy in the life of our wounded is the announcement and then thepresentation of his decoration. Once, however, I saw the Cross of Honorreceived with no sign of satisfaction at all, but that was because itcame too late, and its recipient, one of my friends, a brave officer, was about to receive another recompense in heaven. It was very affectingto see the decoration laid on that already gasping breast, without anyconsciousness on the part of the poor hero. His mother and wife, atleast, before they buried him, could take the glorious emblem to handdown as heirloom and as instruction to his three little ones. It is anoble idea of the French Government, to give the decorations of soldierskilled by the enemy to their families--their widows, their orphans, or, if they are not married, to their old parents. During these years filledwith emotion, few spectacles have impressed me so deeply as the ceremonyof "taking arms" in the court of honor of the Invalides, when in thishistoric monument, built by Louis XIV. And now the tomb of Napoleon, aGeneral of the Third Republic gave the emblem of the brave to women andchildren dressed in mourning, at the same time as to rough soldiersnewly healed of their wounds and ready to return to the front. 

[Sidenote: The return to the front. ]

[Sidenote: Often impatient to rejoin his comrades. ]

Return to the front!. .. This is the almost invariable ending of thehistory of our wounded soldier of the fourth year of the War. Return tothe front! Never will the heroism required for the acceptance of such aduty be sufficiently admired! After three years of fatigue, privations, of unheard-of dangers, after one or several wounds which brought himwithin an inch of death, this man who has for long months felt thesweetness, the care, the calm of a comfortable hospital; has had a tasteof the charms of family life once more; has little by little turned histhought away from the horrors of war, now he is sent back, to the depot, from which he knows that before long he will be called again to thefront! And he submits, resigns himself: what do I say? Often impatientof inaction, of the little rules which annoy his independent temper, heasks to go in advance of the call, to rejoin as a volunteer and withoutfurther delay his comrades of Champagne, Lorraine, Flanders or Picardy. He reenters his regiment as the traveler reenters his own country, andhis only sadness is to find that during his absence so many old comradeshave fallen, so many newcomers have filled the gaps. But the welcome ofthe survivors warms his heart. 

[Sidenote: He goes into the trenches at night. ]

Although it is night--for only at night do they go into thetrenches--the sky is ploughed with illuminating fireworks, withprojections and projectiles, of various kinds which bursting sow quickflashes of light, and a death often as prompt. In a maze of narrow andcomplicated paths our friend advances without knowing where and feelinghis way: nearer and nearer he approaches to enemies whose sleepless hategrowls menacingly below his feet in the ground, around him on the earth, above him in the sky filled with sinister gleams. He goes his waywithout enthusiasm, but without hesitation, without boasting, butwithout fear, knowing by long experience what peril he runs, butoffering himself calmly to his formidable destiny, ready to answer:"Present!" if God and his country demand his life. 

[Sidenote: There are no heroes in past history so grand. ]

What hero in all the centuries of history attains to the grandeur of ourhero? Who ever defended, in a war so terrible, a cause so important tothe future of the world? Who has striven so hard, suffered so much, sooften passed through death? To prove himself equal to his high mission, he has had to rid himself of all egoism, renounce lucre and vain honors, sacrifice family joys; many times he has known the worst extremes ofweariness, thirst, hunger and cold; he equals and surpasses inausterity the severest of monks; he practices an obedience and humilitythat monasteries and Thebaîdes know nothing of, constantly ready toexpose himself, as soon as he receives the order, to a terrible andinvisible death. No one ever more completely obeyed the counsels ofChrist: "If you will be perfect, leave your father and mother, yourwife, forsake your possessions, renounce yourself, take up your crossand follow Me. "

[Sidenote: Humanity has never shown such moral grandeur. ]

Those among these brave men who have faith, are conscious of suchsupernatural life and their letters--admirable collections have beenpublished--reflect a light of authentic saintliness. The others, too, without knowing it, walk in the footsteps of Christ; at the moment ofsupreme sacrifice He will enlighten them with the brightness of Hisgrace and will admit them, like their believing brothers, into theheaven promised to those who suffer for righteousness. Humanity whichhas never known horrors like those it is enduring now, has also nevershown such moral grandeur, and it is not astonishing that in face ofsuch great crimes and such great virtues, our soul should pause, breathless, incapable of expressing the excess of its emotion. 

[Sidenote: The devoted war of the American public for the wounded. ]

I cannot speak to the great American public about our wounded, withoutsaying how much we appreciate the fact that it has followed them, withadmirable solicitude, all the length of their hard Calvary. Itsstretcher-bearers have helped us rescue them at the front, itsambulances have carried them to our hospitals, where they have found itsdoctors, its nurses to tend their wounds, its offerings of all kinds toassure their material well-being and their moral comfort. And inafter-care it has not been less solicitous: teaching the blind, reeducating the maimed and giving them the costly apparatus which takethe place of their lost limbs. When they could not survive, despiteefforts of science and devotion, it contributed toward assuring thefuture of their widows and orphans. 

America to-day gives us even her blood; she has from the first given usher gold, given her heart!

Copyright, Catholic World, October, 1918. 

 * * * * *

The great series of battles, known in general as the Battle of Picardy, formed a prelude to the final acts of the war. A stirring account ofthese battles is given in the narrative which follows. 

THE BATTLE OF PICARDY

J. B. W. GARDINER

[Sidenote: Possibly the decisive battle of the war. ]

[Sidenote: Germany will emerge victor or vanquished. ]

On March 21st, 1918, Germany opened the great engagement which willprobably prove to be the decisive battle of the war. This designationhas already, but not altogether correctly, been given to the Battle ofthe Marne. The Marne did decide that the Germans were not to captureParis in their first great rush through Belgium and France. It did notonly halt the German advance, but threw it back behind the Aisne, thuspreventing Germany from winning the war in 1914. But it did not defeatthe German army decisively. Nor did it make an ultimate German victoryimpossible. It left the German army still in the field, its strengthpractically unimpaired, still capable of strong defense, still withgreat striking power in attack. It made possible for the future adecisive Allied victory, but it did not achieve it. The German defeat atVerdun, indeed, did more harm to the German army, lessened to a greaterextent its power of defense and its strength to attack than did theMarne, because through the French defense and counter-efforts, theGerman army lost nearly half a million men. But the battle now raging, which for convenience of reference is called the Battle of Picardy(although it embraces Picardy, Artois, and Flanders), will do more thandid either the Marne or Verdun. It will place irrevocably andunmistakably upon Germany the laurel of victory or the thorny crown ofdefeat. It is, therefore, the decisive battle of the war. It is thefinal struggle of the civilized world against the domination of thebeast. It is Germany's final effort, and, in order that this may beappreciated, it is necessary only to recount the conditions whichimpelled Germany to take the offensive at this time. 

[Sidenote: Germany's eastern ambitions attained. ]

[Sidenote: A peace by compromise would be a German victory. ]

The developments in Russia, so entirely favorable to Germany, led manyto believe that, having attained so completely their eastern ambitions, the German leaders would rest content with what they had, and, strengthening their lines in the west through reinforcements drawn fromthe Russian front, remain on the defensive on the western front until apeace could be arranged. With the German talons firmly fixed in thethroat of Ukraine; with Poland, Courland, and Lithuania practicallyannexed, there was a certain element of reason in this contention. Itwas entirely conceivable that with such strength in the west, Germanycould set in motion the machinery of a peace propaganda, and obtain apeace conference which would enable her to work out a programme ofconcessions in the west for concessions in the east--a peace bycompromise which would answer present needs while furnishing all futurerequirements in case she decided to provoke another war. Thus Germanywould end the war with a victory just as truly as if she had won it onthe field of battle, and without the terrific loss in man power that anoffensive on the western front would entail. 

[Sidenote: The Allies refuse a peace by compromise. ]

In constructing this theory, however, certain essentials were ignored. German voraciousness can never be satisfied. It is a bottomless pitwhich can be filled only by pouring into it the world. When there isnothing more to be had, Germany would perforce rest content. Thepossession of Russia only whetted her appetite for France and Belgiumand the life of England. Moreover, the Allies, having now learnedGermany, and having acquired a sense of their own safety and of thefuture peace of the world, had no thought of permitting Germany toremain in possession of western Russia, of Serbia, and of Rumania, andthereby not only perpetuating but actually aggravating the condition outof which grew the present war. They had, therefore, notified Germanythat they would lay down arms only when she was willing to disgorge whatshe and her allies had swallowed, and had rectified their frontiers inaccordance with President Wilson's fourteen conditions and with LloydGeorge's statement on the same subject. 

In other words, Germany was to be permitted to emerge from the war witha profit only through military victory; she would have to defend herconquests. This negatived the idea of a peace through negotiation. 

[Sidenote: The German people equally to blame with their government. ]

[Sidenote: The letter to Prince Sixtus. ]

[Sidenote: Austria might make a separate peace. ]

[Sidenote: There is suspicion among thieves. ]

Having absorbed the fundamental fact that the Allies proposed tocontinue the fight to the end, what then was Germany's position? I amnot one of those who cherish the fatuous delusion that this is a war inwhich the German people are not equally involved with their government. At the same time, it is undeniable that there existed in both the Germanand the Austrian empires a considerable internal pressure, induced byhunger and by privations (but not by any moral or ethicalconsiderations), to bring the war to a close. The cupboards of Russiawere neither so full nor so readily available as had been anticipated. Suffering was general, and, with the scarcity not only of food but ofwool and of cotton, made the prospect of going through another winter ofwar a gloomy contemplation. In Austria the situation was worse than inGermany. The letter of the Austrian Emperor to his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, which the French Government publishedin April, gives sufficient indication of the Austrian need for peace. Itshows also that Germany must have had doubt of the loyalty of her ally, and German knowledge that conditions had come to such a pass in Austriathat a separate peace would be more welcome to Austria than no peace atall, regardless of the sacrifices which had to be made to obtain it. Howlong Austria could be held Germany did not know, but it was evident thatshe was not to be trusted too far. Austria is as unscrupulous, ashypocritical as is Germany, and Germany knows it. And while there may behonor among thieves, there is also suspicion. 

[Sidenote: Germany must resume the offensive. ]

But, aside from internal and political considerations, the militarysituation itself was one which demanded immediate action or none at all. It is an elemental military fact that a war cannot be won by defensiveaction alone. Defeat may be averted by such means; but victory cannot beachieved. Germany, with the exception of a single incident south ofCambrai, had been on the defensive since the close of the battle ofVerdun early in the summer of 1916. The necessity for offensive actionat some time was therefore absolute if Germany was to win. But therewere many considerations which made that time the present. Germany couldnot afford to wait. 

[Sidenote: Divisions are brought from Russia. ]

The middle of March found Germany at the height of her man power. Neverbefore since the outbreak of war had the opportunity been presented forthe concentration on the western front of practically her entireeffective strength in both men and guns. For this, of course, Russia wasresponsible. The divisions which were holding the Russian lines had beencarefully picked over, and from men thus selected new divisions wereformed and old ones filled up. All were sent to France as rapidly aspossible, the movement occupying the time from September, 1917, toMarch of this year. Similarly, all available artillery was concentratedin the west, the eastern front being practically denuded. Germany thenwas in immediate danger of being diverted by activities of the Allies inother fields. 

[Sidenote: America could not furnish numbers in 1917. ]

The Allies on the other hand were by no means at their full strength. America, who stepped into the war just in time to take Russia's place, still remained impotent, unable to place in Europe numbers in any waycommensurate with the situation. But America was gathering impetus asshe went. And while she was a negligible force in 1917--except in thematters of food and money--and would probably be a negligible force in1918 subject to the same exception, in 1919 she was almost certain toturn the tide strongly against the Central Powers. Even in 1918 therecould be expected a steady though small stream of men across the ocean, who being fresh, eager, and unwearied, might cause trouble. Germany thenhad the one chance to win, and that chance demanded that she strike withall her power before America reached the field. To delay meant not adrawn game but certain defeat. For if Germany is ever confronted inEurope with the full strength of America in men and in the machinery ofwar, she will be crushed. 

[Sidenote: Germany must strike before America reaches the field. ]

[Sidenote: The Russian situation is disquieting. ]

Finally, the situation in Russia boded ill for Germany. Great rejoicinghas taken place in Berlin and in Vienna over peace with Russia. But itis a peace which has not altered Germany's inability to keep faith withany Power. Her persistent worship of materialism and force has created asituation in Russia not at all to Germany's liking. Once the Russianborder was absolutely undefended and the way to Petrograd and Moscowwide open, Germany could not resist the temptation to march on incontinued aggression, regardless of treaty or promises or peace ormorality. And Russia has furnished strong evidence that she is not atall complacent under such aggression. 

[Sidenote: A new Russian national army is formed. ]

[Sidenote: Danger of guerilla warfare. ]

The Russians are in a stage of transition, and are, therefore, unstable, mentally unsettled. They are completely dissatisfied at Germany'sinterpretation of the peace terms. They see themselves being starvedthat Germany may fatten on their granaries. They are reaching the pointwhere organized resistance is the only answer of which the situation iscapable. Steps have already been taken to form a new national army, tooffer organized resistance to further encroachments. There are alsolarge elements which have never accepted the unconditional surrender andwhich never will. At any moment in this land of instability, the fireswhich have been kindled by German bad faith and duplicity may break intoa conflagration. There is no danger at the present time--there is dangerthat before the year is out public dissatisfaction and unrest maycrystallize and Germany be faced with the most colossal guerilla war theworld has seen; and while warfare of this kind cannot defeat Germany, itcan neutralize many divisions of German troops and pin them down to theeastern front while the Allies make the finishing stroke in the west. This situation, out of which anything can grow, made it stronglyadvisable that Germany should act before the crystallization should takeplace. 

[Sidenote: Ready for a great blow in the West. ]

Realizing that she could not wait without serious danger to herself, Germany mustered all her resources in the west for the great blow shewas to deliver. The problem which confronted the German General Staffwas to destroy one of the two great armies, that of France or that ofEngland. Both could not be handled together. Germany did not have thestrength. The attack had to be delivered against one or the other. Whichshould it be?

[Sidenote: The French losses much greater than the British. ]

An attack against the French had certain advantages. The French army wasunmistakably the weaker of the two. In the early days of the war, whilethe British army was being formed, it was the French who had to standthe brunt of the fighting. At Verdun it was the French who from Februaryto July beat back the German assaults along the Meuse time after time inthe most tremendous duel of the war. In the Battle of the Somme it wasthe French who fought their way forward south of the river to theoutskirts of Péronne and Chaulnes. The French losses had, therefore, been very much greater than the British. As the populations of Franceand of the United Kingdom are about the same, the French people had, therefore, suffered much more than had the British, and werecorrespondingly less able to stand such a blow as Germany was able todeliver. 

[Sidenote: Much of French front is invulnerable. ]

But there was one great disadvantage in attacking France. The blow couldnot be delivered against the front from St. Mihiel to the Swissfrontiers. This front is vulnerable only where the Vosges Mountains arebroken by the great gaps at Belfort, Epinal, and Nancy; and these gapsare easy to defend and well backed up in rear by great bases of supplyexcellently served by many radiating railroad lines. It could not bedelivered at Verdun, because France had not only retaken all the groundof military value which had been lost; but Verdun had become to France areligion, a fanaticism. To France it was a symbol of French love ofcountry, of French patriotism. Verdun meant France. Germany, therefore, had no desire to test this fortified area again. This left only theChampagne line between the Argonne Forest and Rheims. 

[Sidenote: Reasons for not striking on the Champagne line. ]

[Sidenote: The Allied armies would be left intact. ]

If Germany had attacked this front, the British army, the stronger ofher enemies, would soon have struck, and whether Germany so elected ornot, she would nevertheless be running two major operations at the sametime--one offensive in Champagne, the other defensive in Picardy or inFlanders. Again, suppose her army did bend the French line back, as itundoubtedly would, how far back would it have to go in order for Germanyto reach a complete military decision? There would indeed be no suchdecision in sight, almost regardless of the depth of penetration. Thelines might have to be rectified; Verdun might have to be abandoned; theVosges frontier line might have to be drawn in. But even so the Frenchand British armies would both be intact; both biding their time when, with full force of their own and a million or more American troops, Germany could be beaten. In short, an attack against the French at anypoint, while promising new gains in territory, promised nothing in theway of a decision, and, be it remembered, this is Germany's last effort;it must reach either victory or defeat. The Battle of Picardy must andwill produce a definite, positive result. It cannot end in indecision. 

[Sidenote: British army trained only for trench warfare. ]

[Sidenote: The French positions. ]

[Sidenote: The British railway connections might be taken. ]

An attack against the British offered none of the disadvantages whichattended an attack against the French. The British were stronger it istrue. But this army, unlike that of the French, was trained for but onething--trench warfare. If Germany could restore war in the open--a warof movement--this strength might be offset by a wider experience. Inattacking the British, the French could be held in check by defensivetactics with not a great deal of difficulty; as in such operations theterrain was greatly in Germany's favor. To take a hurried glimpse of theFrench positions, we find them in the valley of the Ailette north ofthe Chemin des Dames facing the high slopes of the plateau on which isfound Laon. In the Champagne they are facing a high rolling country, studded with good artillery positions and points of observation. In theVosges, their problem is identical with that of the Germans--forcing thegaps in a barrier otherwise impassable. There would be then a minimum ofdanger from the French while Germany was engaged on the British front. Moreover, behind the British line was, first, Amiens, through whichpassed the great railroad systems from Calais, Boulogne, and Abbeville, binding together the British north of the Somme to the French in thesouth. With Amiens in German hands this connection would be badlyruptured. And farther on still was the sea, which, if Germany couldreach it, would physically separate the great Allied army into twoarmies, without connection, each of which could be dealt withseparately. And unlike an advance through Champagne, the farther theGermans pushed through, the closer the Allies came to total disaster anddefeat. Germany, therefore, selected the British front for attack andtook up the task of destroying the British army. 

[Sidenote: The main blow is to fall along the Oise. ]

[Sidenote: Plan to drive through Amiens. ]

[Sidenote: High ground near Lens and Ypres to be retaken. ]

The German plan of campaign was simple in its essence, althoughinvolving great numbers of men and an inconceivable mass of material. Itwas to strike the main blow along the Oise on the front between St. Quentin and La Fère, while a subsidiary attack was to be simultaneouslydelivered on the northern side of the Cambrai salient between Cambraiand Arras. This subsidiary attack was designed to break the salient anddestroy the danger of a flank attack against the movement to the south. In the main attack, delivered with 15, 000 men to the mile of front, itwas intended to break the connection between the British and the Frenchalong the Oise, push a great wedge through at the point of rupture, andthen roll the British line back to the north, leaving the French to betaken care of later. Failing in this (and Germany had taken into accountthe possibility of failure), the British were to be forced back throughAmiens to the sea, and the split in the armies accomplished byinterposing between the parts a section of the seacoast. This operationwould automatically flank the positions held by the British at Arras, force the British to fall back from Vimy Ridge, and from Lens toward St. Pol, and, as they retreated, to uncover the Ypres salient and thepositions held in the high ground to the east and south of Ypres--thatis, the Messines and the Passchendaele ridges. 

[Sidenote: The Germans use eighty divisions the first day. ]

[Sidenote: The Allies retreat. ]

After a brief but very intense bombardment the German infantry wentforward on March 21, 1918. They were favored by a heavy mist whichconcealed their movements until they were within fifty yards of theBritish trenches, between La Fère and St. Quentin. By sheer weight ofnumbers these trenches were overrun and the German infantry pouredthrough the gap. The line to the north was at once affected by the breakin the southern line, and taken in flank, was also forced to fall back. But a few hours after the attack was launched, the entire fifty miles ofline north of La Fère was ablaze and the British were in retreat. Inthis attack the Germans threw in on the first day 80 divisions--aboutone million men--nearly 20, 000 men to the mile--a heavier concentrationof men than had ever been used in an attack since the war began. Againstthis number the British, in the opening attack could oppose only 5, 000men to the mile. It is not surprising in view of this disparity innumbers that the British were completely overwhelmed. In spite of therapidity of the initial German advance and the strength of the Germanattack, the hoped-for rupture of the Allied line at the Oise did notoccur. The British and French, though retreating steadily, kept in closetouch and preserved intact the continuity of their line. 

[Sidenote: The French extend their left to keep in touch with theBritish. ]

As the British section of the line withdrew, the French, in order topreserve this continuity, were necessarily affected. The French extremeleft withdrew behind the Oise to throw this defensive screen before theGerman attack, gradually extending their left as the British retreatcontinued, passed Noyons and Pont l'Eveque. As the Allies in theirretreat approached the Somme River, the German progress became slower, the efforts were labored. From this point indeed, the huge battle tookon something of the nature of the battle of Verdun. It became a fightfor limited objectives. Each village offered resistance and became theobject of an independent battle. The German advance, however, thoughslow was not the less persistent and steady. 

[Sidenote: The Somme divides the field into two areas. ]

[Sidenote: Montdidier falls. ]

[Sidenote: French check the Germans at Villers-Bretonneux. ]

With the crossing of the Somme and the Somme-Aisne Canal on the frontbetween Peronne and Noyons, the battle was automatically divided intotwo well defined areas by the east and west course of the Somme betweenPeronne and Amiens. In the southern area, the Allied line was held byboth British and French in about equal proportions. But the French werenot yet in great force. The Germans, having passed both the Somme andthe Canal, fought their way westward step by step, in total disregard oflosses, until the line of the Avre River was reached. Here the French, who held the line from the Luce River south and then east, made aposition stand, and a series of pitched battles occurred for the rivercrossing. The first of these to fall was Montdidier at the head watersof the Avre. This enabled the German army to reach westward of the riverand spread out after crossing to flank the defenses to the north. Gradually the left bank of the river was cleared as far north asMoreuil. Here the high ground on the left bank between Moreuil and themouth of the Luce enabled the French to beat off all German attacks forseveral days. Finally, however, both Moreuil and Morisel were taken andlater the village of Cassel, the Avre being thus cleared of the Alliedtroops as far north as the mouth of the Luce. From Cassel to the Somme, however, the German forces found themselves in serious difficulties. About Hangard, particularly, the fighting was exceptionally heavy; butafter changing hands several times, the Germans were finally thrownacross to the southern bank of the Luce and there held in place. FromHangard north to the Somme the result was the same. After struggling fordays against the troops on the high plateau of which Villers-Bretonneuxis the centre, the Germans were brought to a standstill in theirattempts to approach Amiens by way of the Avre-Somme angle. 

[Sidenote: The British retire behind the Ancre. ]

[Sidenote: Albert is taken; but Germans are soon held. ]

In the battlefield north of the Somme, the British retired slowly untilthey were safely behind the Ancre River, which figured so prominently inthe battle of the Somme in 1916. Taking Albert, an important Britishbase, the Germans tried desperately to push beyond and reach therailroad which runs along the lower Ancre from Amiens to Albert. Failingin this, they struck heavily in the angle between the Somme and theAncre in order to flank the line north of Albert from the high groundnorth-east of Corbie. Here also they met with defeat, so that fromBeaumont-Hamel southward the Allied line became stationary. 

[Sidenote: The situation of the Germans. ]

[Sidenote: To win peace the Germans must destroy an army. ]

At this point in the battle the Germans found themselves in thissituation: from Montdidier westward the French lines were firmlyestablished first along a series of small but well defined heights asfar as Noyons and thence along the southern bank of the Oise as far asthe lower forest of Coucy. This side of the wedge was firmly fixed andcapable of great resistance. Moreover, to expend time and men in anattack on this front would mean a serious departure from the Germanplan, as success here would mean an advance toward Paris instead oftoward the sea. And at this stage of the war, peace cannot be obtainedby the capture of any city, even the French capital. The price of peaceis the destruction of an army, either that of the British or that of theFrench. This can be accomplished only through reaching the sea at somecentral point such as Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme. 

Therefore, the German problem had of necessity to find its solutionnorth of Montdidier--between that town and Albert. There is not muchdoubt that by concentrating sufficient artillery and by the expenditureof sufficient men, the German leaders would be able to push their wayfarther westward, even beyond Amiens. But as the wedge deepened it wouldgradually draw down to a point so that the ultimate situation would bethat the German lines would form an acute angle, the vortex of whichwould be on the Somme at or west of Amiens, one side passing throughAlbert, or possibly through the village of Bucquoy, the other throughMontdidier. Such a formation would mean positive disaster. It would beworth a quarter of a million men to the Allies to strike both north andsouth across the base of this angle and snuff it out. It would mean toGermany the loss of a mass of artillery and tens of thousands of men. And the Allies would not be slow to see this opportunity and strike. TheGerman High Command, therefore, did not dare to take the chance withmatters as they then were. 

[Sidenote: Necessary to advance north of the Somme. ]

[Sidenote: The defenses of the British northern wing. ]

[Sidenote: The fight for Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette. ]

In order that the German army might continue its march to the sea then, it was necessary that the line north of the Somme should advance, synchronizing its movement with the point of the wedge along the river. Thus only would the wedge be sufficiently wide to avoid disaster. Butthe entire northern wing of the British army was guarded by Vimy Ridgeand the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette. It was impossible that theadvance could be made, leaving these positions directly on the flank. The combination of these two heights forms a huge semicircle concavetoward the south. The British batteries posted on these heights couldcontinue to rake the German advancing troops in flank and rear with mostdestructive effect. Therefore, after the fighting in the south came to ahalt, the Germans undertook to open the way by forcing these twopositions. Using seven divisions--about 90, 000 men--the Germans attackedon a front not exceeding ten miles from Arleux to Fampoux on the Scarpe. The attack continued for two days, but was an absolute failure. TheGerman advance had to be made down the slopes of one hill, across astretch of flat, open valley, and up the sides of another. Down in thevalley were the British outpost positions which were overwhelmed anddriven in. But in attempting to cross the valley floor the Germansliterally withered under machine gun and rifle fire. At the end of twodays' fighting, during which the greater part of these divisions werecut to pieces, the attack had to be abandoned. The fighting then fromLens southward to the Avre came to an end with the Germans completelyhalted. The first definite stage of the decisive battle of the war wasthus concluded. 

[Sidenote: The attack about Bucquoy. ]

[Sidenote: Considerable initial successes. ]

[Sidenote: A stand at the edge of the Forest of Nieppe. ]

[Sidenote: The Germans take Messines Ridge. ]

But the Germans were by no means ready to acknowledge defeat. TheLens-Arras sector had to be cleared up. The attack from the south, crystallizing about Bucquoy, and from the east both having broken down, there remained but to attack from the north. Utilizing to the utmost theadvantages of the great railroad system which parallels this front, connecting in a single chain all of their great advance bases, theGermans effected a heavy concentration at Lille, and, using about twentydivisions (which were afterward increased to thirty), struck the Britishline between Givenchy--just north of La Bassée--and Warneton on the LysRiver. The initial successes were considerable. The Germans penetratedto a maximum depth of more than four miles in the centre, although onboth right and left the line held fast. North of Armentières, however, the British line gave ground, which enabled the Germans to pocket thiscity and to capture it on the second day of the attack. On thesucceeding days, the British centre continued to give way until the edgeof the Forest of Nieppe was reached. The German position at this pointin the attack became practically untenable. The northern side of thiswedge was lined with heights from which the British artillery waspouring a devastating plunging fire. These heights, beginning farthereast, began with the famous Messines-Wytschaete Ridge and extended duewest through Kemmel to Cassel. Moreover, in falling back the Britishpivoted on Messines, which left this strong bastion from which to strikeout against the very heart of the salient. Accordingly, to remove thisdanger the German leaders swung the attack north against the MessinesRidge. After days of fighting in which Bailleul was taken and the footof the Kemmel series of hills was reached, the Messines Ridge was takenin reverse and the British line was withdrawn until it passed over theridge just north of Wytschaete. Still pressing on the north, the Germansattacked the Kemmel position, but the British, now reinforced by theFrench, threw the attacks back as rapidly as they formed. Failing hereand at the centre in Nieppe Forest, still another attack was delivered, this time against the southern side of the wedge from Givenchy to St. Venant. The first two days of this fighting was also disastrous to theGermans who were entirely unable to dent the British positions. Inbrief, the Germans were then enclosed in a huge semicircle about fifteenmiles in diameter. All parts of the area enclosed were subject toartillery fire from three sides and the Germans were striking first onone side then on the other in frantic efforts to break the Allies'grip--and giving no indication of sufficient power to succeed. 

[Sidenote: Objectives of the Germans in the North. ]

[Sidenote: The British gradually retire about Ypres. ]

The objects of the German effort in the north were several. Primarily itwas intended as a means of breaking the defenses of Arras and of Lens bycutting in behind the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge. Again it was intended to take Hazebrouck, Bethune, St. Pol, Aire, andSt. Omer, through which the distribution of supplies and men landing atCalais is effected. Finally it was intended to take from the British thehigh ground in Flanders, uncover Ypres, and open the way to the coast. But for many reasons, now that the Allies had caught their breath for amoment, so to speak, the advantage appeared to have passed from Germanhands. The element of surprise, so essential to success even in trenchwarfare, was no longer possible. The gradual retirements of the Britisharound Ypres were not costly nor did they "open a way" to the channelports as the Germans hoped. The Germans had fixed the points ofattack--and these were the only possible points: southern Flanders andfrom the Avre to the Scarpe. Germany had already used in the offense 130divisions out of 204; and of these 50 had been in action twice--whilethe British had been heavily engaged from the outset, the French havehad but few divisions in action. There was, therefore, apparently muchgreater reserve strength behind the Allies' battle line than Germanycould possibly muster. And it is reserve strength which must ultimatelydecide the issue. 

[Sidenote: The crisis of the Great War is at hand. ]

Germany has taken the great plunge--the concentration and utilization ofher entire resources in man power in a final effort to win. It isGermany's last bid for victory before the peace propaganda is launched. Germany must win or go down to defeat. But Germany cannot stop. She mustgo on and on regardless of cost. She has expended literally hundreds ofthousands of men, not for territorial conquest as the German press haspointed out and emphasized, but to destroy the British army. Whatfigment of pretense is left if the battle remains indecisive? None theless, for the Allies as well the situation is serious though notcritical. The crisis of the Great War is truly at hand. None can doubtthe outcome who has any belief in honor and justice among civilizednations. 

Copyright, World's Work, June, 1918. 

 * * * * *

For many months prior to the end of the war Bulgaria had sought anopportunity to make peace. The people were wearied with fighting and itwas plain to them that a German victory was hopeless. Finally a completecollapse occurred, King Ferdinand fled, and Bulgaria surrendered, as isdescribed in the following pages. 

BULGARIA QUITS

LOTHROP STODDARD

[Sidenote: "Mitteleuropa" crumbles. ]

Bulgaria's withdrawal from the Teutonic block and her frank capitulationto the Allies is easily the most dramatic episode of the World War. Almost overnight the massive bridge of "Mitteleuropa" has crumbled atits central span, leaving exhausted Turkey foredoomed to speedysurrender and laying distracted Austria open to the combined assaults ofAllied arms and domestic revolution. So stupendous are the possibilitiesflowing from the Allies' September offensive in Macedonia that we arealmost tempted to believe that the age of miracles is come again. 

[Sidenote: The war-spirit of Bulgaria weakens. ]

Yet in such hours we should clarify our vision by insistent remembranceof Clausewitz's famous saying that war is but the extension of politics. For brilliant as was the Franco-Serbian escalade of mid-September, storming successive mountain walls as though they were mere trench linesand shearing through war-hardened Bulgarian divisions like a knifethrough rotten cheese, there was more than fighting involved. For thelast year and even longer a combination of circumstances had beenweaning Bulgaria from her former solidarity with the Central powers, andthis disruptive process, proceeding with special rapidity during thelast few months, had been steadily sapping the morale of the Bulgarianpeople and the war-spirit of the Bulgarian soldiery. From the broaderpoint of view, therefore, the Allies' Macedonian offensive must bedeemed not merely a skilful military operation, but even more awell-timed garnering of fruits ripe for the plucking. In such masterlycombinations of strategy and politics lies the secret of decisivevictory. 

[Sidenote: Bulgaria's political evolution. ]

The accurate gaging by Allied statesmanship of Bulgaria's politicalevolution is specially noteworthy because that evolution was bothcomplicated and obscure. In fact, its roots reach down to thefundamental aspirations of the Bulgarian people. Bulgaria's presentvolte-face is no chance product of panic, but a logical step in hernational policy. Its consequences thus promise to be not ephemeral, butlasting. An understanding of the factors that brought about the existingsituation is therefore worth careful study. 

[Sidenote: The Prussians of the Balkans. ]

[Sidenote: Desire to attain race unity. ]

The Bulgarians have often been called the Prussians of the Balkans, andin this characterization there is a large measure of truth. Ahard-working, tenacious folk, capable of great patience, docile to irondiscipline, and appreciative of governmental efficiency, the materialprogress made by the Bulgarians during their forty years of independenceis as striking in its way as the similar progress of the German people. Unfortunately, the Bulgarians resemble the Prussians not only in theirvirtues, but in their most unlovely qualities as well. There are thesame tactlessness, brutality, overweening ambition, and cynicalindifference to the means by which those ambitions are to be attained. This has shown itself clearly throughout Bulgarian history. WhenBulgaria gained her independence of Turkey in 1878 she started with aperfectly legitimate ambition, the attainment of Bulgarian race-unitythrough the annexation of those Bulgar-inhabited portions of Macedoniathat remained under Turkish rule. For this the Bulgarian people toiledand taxed themselves without stint. For this they built up a militarymachine relatively the most formidable on earth. 

[Sidenote: Projects of the leaders. ]

But that was by no means the whole story. Race-unity may have been thegoal for which the simple Bulgarian peasant drilled and delved. Hisleaders had more grandiose projects in view. This was specially true ofthe Bulgarian monarch, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a man of greatpolitical sagacity, but of a cynical unscrupulousness rivalingMachiavelli's "Prince. " Ferdinand's dream was a great Bulgarian empireembracing the entire Balkan Peninsula, with its seat at Constantinopleand his exalted self occupying the imperial throne. This implied boththe expulsion of the Turks from Europe and the subjugation of the otherChristian Balkan peoples. In the Balkan War of 1912 Bulgaria's hourseemed to have struck, but Ferdinand for once overplayed his hand, andBulgaria's Balkan rivals beat her on the battle-field and forced her tothe humiliating Peace of Bukharest in 1913. 

[Sidenote: the Peace of Bukharest. ]

The Peace of Bukharest was not a constructive settlement. It was anattempt on the part of embittered enemies to punish Bulgaria's ambitionsand keep her permanently down. The result was most unfortunate. Playingupon their balked desire for race-unity, Ferdinand bound his subjects tohis wider imperialistic designs. Raging under their humiliations andtheir failure to redeem their Macedonian brethren, the Bulgariansdeclared themselves ready to league with the devil if they might therebytear up the Bukharest parchment and revenge themselves upon theirenemies. 

[Sidenote: The opportunity for revenge. ]

The opportunity was not long in coming. The Pan-German devil was alreadypreparing his stroke for world dominion, and when the blow fell in 1914, Bulgaria's alinement was almost a foregone conclusion. The militarylosses in the recent Balkan Wars had of course so weakened her thatcautious diplomatic jockeying was a preliminary necessity, but whenRussia had succumbed to Hindenburg's hammer-strokes in the summer of1915 and the Germanic hosts menaced Serbia in the autumn, Bulgaria threwoff the mask, struck Serbia from the rear, and joined the Teutonicpowers. Thus did the "Berlin-Bagdad" dream grow into solid fact, andMitteleuropa became a hard reality. 

[Sidenote: The people give hearty assent. ]

[Sidenote: Germany promises cessions from Turkey. ]

[Sidenote: Victory over Serbia and Rumania. ]

There can be no question that when Bulgaria entered the war on theTeutonic side in the autumn of 1915 she did so with the hearty assent ofthe vast majority of her people. The Germans had promised Bulgaria thosethings which Bulgarians most desired. A Teutonic alliance offeredBulgaria immediate possession of Serbian Macedonia, where lived the bulkof the Bulgarian element still outside Bulgaria's political frontiers, together with the practical destruction of the Serbian arch-enemy. TheTeutonic alliance likewise offered prospects of reclaiming the Bulgarianpopulations of Greek Macedonia and of the southern Dobrudja, annexed byRumania, in 1913, should Greece and Rumania, both notoriously pro-Ally, strike in on the Entente side. Lastly, the German Government agreed touse its good offices with its ally, Turkey, to obtain for Bulgaria aTurkish cession of the Demotika district of Thrace west of the MaritzaRiver, thereby giving Bulgaria direct railroad communication withDedeagatch, her one practicable outlet on the Ægean Sea. All thesethings presently came to pass. Serbia lay crushed, and Serbian Macedoniawas under Bulgarian control before the close of 1915. Turkey soonyielded Demotika. In the spring of 1916 the quarrel between the GreekKing Constantine and the Entente powers permitted Bulgaria to occupy thecoveted Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia, while thatsame autumn Rumania's intervention on the Allied side resulted in herspeedy defeat, with Bulgarian troops overrunning the whole Dobrudja asfar as the Danube mouth, and Bulgarian regiments triumphantly paradingthrough the streets of Bukharest. Small wonder that up to the close of1916 Bulgaria remained a loyal member of Mitteleuropa, thoroughlycontented with her bargain. 

[Sidenote: Effects of defeats on Russia. ]

[Sidenote: The Russian Revolution. ]

[Sidenote: Bulgaria only a link in Mitteleuropa. ]

The year 1917, however, saw the beginning of that estrangement fromGermany which has finally caused Bulgaria's abandonment of the Teutoniccause. The first rift in the lute was the Russian Revolution. This eventwas a great shock to Ferdinand and the Sofia politicians. When Bulgariahad joined Germany in the autumn of 1915 her political leaders haddivined the fact that Russia's war spirit was broken by the crushingdefeats inflicted upon her by the Germans and that she would ultimatelyretire from the war. But Sofia had looked forward to a Russianretirement under imperial auspices and thereafter to a Russo-Germanrapprochement in which Bulgaria should be the connecting-link, extracting a profitable brokerage by playing off one against the otherin Balkan affairs. The idea was subtle, yet not without reason when weremember that it was toward this very state of things that the lastczarist governments of Stürmer and Golytzin were feeling their way. However, Bulgarian expectations were completely dashed by the credo ofRevolutionary Russia, which renounced imperialism and eschewed all thosenear-Eastern ambitions which had been the watchword of the old régime. Now, Bulgaria did not like the new situation. For though Russia wasdefinitely out of the Balkans, Germany and Austria were emphaticallynot, and their weight was too heavy to be borne pleasantly even by theirfriends. It was one thing for Bulgaria to be the connecting link ofMitteleuropa, with mighty Russia always potentially present to redressthe balance. It was quite another matter to be just the link. That thiswas to be Bulgaria's future rôle in Mitteleuropa, Germany's new attitudemade increasingly plain. The progressive disintegration of Russiathrough 1917 riveted Teutonic domination on the Balkans and even offeredalternative routes to the East. This meant that Germany no longer neededto show Bulgaria special consideration, and what that fact implied toTeutonic minds was quickly shown by the series of bitterdisillusionments that Bulgaria had to experience. 

[Sidenote: Germany disposes of the Dobrudja. ]

The first shock came regarding the Dobrudja. When the Teuton-Bulgararmies had swept the Rumanians out of the Dobrudja at the close of 1916, Bulgaria had expected to acquire the entire peninsula. But Germany soonshowed that she had other ideas on the matter. The Dobrudja not onlycontrolled the mouth of the Danube, but also contained the port terminusof the main railroad trunk-line from Central Europe to the Black Sea. These things Germany had no intention of placing in Bulgarian hands. Accordingly, Bulgaria was given only the southern Dobrudja, the rest ofthe peninsula being held "in common. " And when in the spring of 1918Russia's final collapse forced Rumania to make peace with the Centralpowers, it was to them, and not to Bulgaria, that Rumania ceded theDobrudja prize. Of course Germany temporized, and extended the Dobrudja"condominium" until the final peace settlement, but Bulgaria could seewith half an eye that her hopes in this quarter would never be realized. 

[Sidenote: The dispute with Turkey about Thrace. ]

A second shock was presently administered by Turkey. In return forBulgaria's extension of territory in the southern Dobrudja, Turkeydemanded compensation by Bulgaria's retrocession of the Demotikadistrict of Thrace. This district, it will be remembered, was vital toBulgaria's railway communications with her Ægean seaboard. Bulgariatherefore angrily rejected the proposal, Turkey as vehemently insisted, and by the beginning of 1918 a very pretty quarrel was on between thetwo allies, culminating in at least one bloody mix-up between Turkishand Bulgarian troops. In these circumstances Bulgaria appealed toGermany, but was deeply chagrined to receive from the Wilhelmstrasse aDelphic utterance which might have been interpreted as an indorsement ofTurkish claims. The reason for this was that Germany was thenoverrunning the Ukraine preparatory to the occupation of Transcaucasiaand the penetration of the middle East. For such far-flung projectszealous Turkish cooperation was a prime necessity. Accordingly, Turkeyhad to be favored in every possible way. As for Bulgaria, she must notembarrass Germany in her march to world dominion. 

[Sidenote: Germany does not promise Saloniki. ]

[Sidenote: Reservation regarding Macedonia. ]

A third shock was in store. Ever since the spring of 1916 Bulgaria hadoccupied the Drama-Serres-Kavala districts of Greek Macedonia. In 1916, Greece was clinging to an ambiguous neutrality, but a year later theEntente powers deposed King Constantine, and Greece ranged herselfsquarely on the Allied side, with a declaration of war against Bulgariaas one of the first consequences. Thereupon Bulgaria urged Germany toallow her definitely to annex the occupied districts and to promise herSaloniki when victory should crown the Teuton-Bulgar arms. But hereagain Bulgaria discovered that Germany had other fish to fry. Ex-KingConstantine and the Greek royalists might yet be very useful to Berlin. Therefore they must not be alienated by giving Bulgaria territorieswhich would render every Greek an irreconcilable foe to Mitteleuropa. Also Saloniki, the great Ægean outlet of central Europe was far toovaluable a prize to be committed exclusively to Bulgarian hands. ButSaloniki could be reached from central Europe only across Macedonia. Therefore in the final Balkan settlement there must be reservesregarding Bulgaria's control of the Macedonian railroad system. For thatmatter, this might have to be applied to Bulgaria's own railroad system, since it was the trunk-line from central Europe to the East. 

[Sidenote: German interests first. ]

So reasoned the suave German diplomats. The effect upon Bulgariansensibilities can be imagined. How far removed was this drab realityfrom roseate dreams of imperial Bulgaria dominating the entire Balkansand treating with Teutonic partners as a respected equal! The grim truthwas this: Bulgaria's promised gains were being whittled away accordingto the shifting exigencies of German policy. Was anything certain forthe future? No. Because German interests came first, and the juniorcolleagues must "do their part. " Here once more appeared the Nemesis ofPrussian _Realpolitik_, that sinister heresy the crowning demerit ofwhich is that it is not even "real, " since it reposes on short-sightedegoism and disregards those moral "imponderables, " good faith, fair-dealing, etc. , which weigh most heavily in the end. Having turnedthe neutral world into enemies, _Realpolitik_ was now ready to turnGermany's allies into neutrals. 

[Sidenote: Bulgaria is discontented. ]

[Sidenote: Bulgaria suffers also from previous wars. ]

Thus by the opening months of 1918 Bulgaria was no longer a contentedmember of central Europe. Most of her political leaders were profoundlydisillusioned, and uncertain as to the future. Of course these politicalmatters were still somewhat veiled from the masses. But meanwhile theBulgarian peasant had been undergoing a little educative process of hisown. German diplomats might ask Bulgaria to make sacrifices. TheBulgarian peasant could answer roundly that this was already the case. For Bulgaria was suffering--suffering in every fiber of her being. Whenshe entered the European struggle in 1915, Bulgaria was still weak fromtwo bloody wars. True, the Bulgarian conscripts had marched gladlyenough once more, because they were told that it was a matter of asingle short campaign, ending in a speedy peace. But two long years hadnow passed, and Bulgaria's manhood still stood mobilized in distantMacedonia, while at home the fields went fallow, and the scantyharvests, reaped by women and children, had to be shared with theGerman. Everywhere there was increasing want, sometimes semi-starvation. Bulgaria, like Russia, was proving that a primitive agricultural peoplemay make a fine campaign, but cannot wage prolonged modern war. 

[Sidenote: Premier Radoslavov resigns. ]

All this discontent, both above and below, presently focused itself inthe parliamentary situation. The opposition groups in the BulgarianSobranje steadily gained strength until on June 17, 1918, PremierRadoslavov was forced to resign. Radoslavov had been in power since1913. He had been the architect of the Teuton-Bulgar alliance and wasknown to be a firm believer in the Mitteleuropa idea. His successor, Malinov, naturally gave lip-service to the same program, but his pastleaning had been toward Russia, and he had never displayed markedenthusiasm for the Teutons. 

Of course this change of ministry did not mean that Bulgaria was thenready to make a separate peace with the Entente Allies. Every Bulgarianknew that such an act would mean the abandonment of Bulgaria's wholeimperialistic dream and the immediate relinquishment of supremely prizedMacedonia. But it did mean that Bulgaria was discontented with herpresent situation and that she was resolved to take a more independentstand toward her Teutonic allies even though Germany was in the fullflush of her great Western offensive and dreaming of a speedy entry intoParis. 

[Sidenote: The changes of fortune in the West. ]

[Sidenote: Peace demonstrations. ]

[Sidenote: The tales of Bulgarian prisoners. ]

[Sidenote: The capitulation. ]

But just a month after Malinov's accession came the dramatic shift offortune in the West. The German offensive broke down, and the Alliesbegan their astounding succession of victories. Instantly the Balkansituation altered. Bulgaria knew that the spring offensive had beenGermany's supreme bid for victory. To fill the ranks for the rush onParis and the channel ports the last German veterans had been withdrawnfrom the East. Gone were those field-gray divisions which had stiffenedthe Macedonian front and kept down popular discontent by garrisoningBulgarian towns. The peasant voice was at last free to speak, and itspoke in no uncertain terms for an end of the war. Agrarian disturbancesincreased in frequency. Peace demonstrations occurred in Sofia. In fact, some of these demonstrations were tinged with revolutionary red. Bolshevism, that wild revolt against the whole existing order to-daymanifest in every quarter of the globe, had not passed Bulgaria by. Ofcourse there was the army, but the army itself was not immune. By earlyJuly, Bulgarian deserters and prisoners taken on the Macedonian frontwere telling the Allied intelligence officers strange tales--tales ofmidnight soldiers' meetings at which "delegates" were chosen in trueRussian fashion, and which Bulgarian regimental officers found it wisestto ignore. Such was the situation in early summer. By the first days ofautumn Bulgaria was cracking from end to end. It was in mid-Septemberthat General Franchet d'Espérey, the Allied commander, ordered theMacedonian offensive. Small wonder that within a fortnight Bulgaria hadsurrendered and retired from the war. 

[Sidenote: Turkey's doom sealed. ]

The consequences of Bulgaria's capitulation should be both momentous andfar-reaching. In the first place, Turkey's doom is sealed. Cut off fromdirect communication with the Teutonic powers save by the Black Seawater-route and staggering under her Palestine defeats, Turkey is nowmenaced at her very heart. By the terms of the recent armistice Bulgariahas agreed to allow the Allies free passage across her territory, including the full use of her railways. This means that the Allies canmove through Bulgaria upon Turkish Thrace, the sole land bastionprotecting Constantinople. Turkey's military situation is thus hopeless, and it is not impossible that before these lines appear in print Turkeywill have followed Bulgaria's example and will have thrown up thesponge. 

[Sidenote: Rumania to be freed. ]

A second possibility is the liberation of Rumania. The "peace" imposedupon Rumania by the Central powers last spring was one of the mostshameless acts of international brigandage in the annals of modernhistory, and though dire necessity compelled Rumania to sign, it wasplain that she would submit to her new slavery only so long as theTeutonic pistol was held to her head. This pistol took the form of aTeutonic army of ten divisions camped upon her soil. But to-day Rumaniais thrilling to the great news, and when Allied bayonets begin flashingsouth of the Danube these heliographs of liberty will light a flame ofrevolt which second-rate German divisions will be unable to stamp out. With the ground burning under their feet the Teutons will probablyevacuate Rumania with only the most perfunctory resistance to theadvancing Allies. 

[Sidenote: German prestige in the East crumbles. ]

And southern Russia is in much the same case. To-day it is bowed beneaththe Teuton yoke, yet the Teutonic corps of occupation are mere isletslost in its vast immensity and ruling more by prestige than by physicalpower. But German prestige is crumbling fast, and when Turkey'ssurrender opens the Black Sea to the Allied fleets, southern Russia, like Rumania, should be in a blaze. From the Ukraine to the Caucasus theland is already seething with disaffection. The Don Cossacks have neverbeen subdued. Will the Germans dare to hold their thin communicationlines till the guns of Entente warships are thundering off Odessa andBatum?

[Sidenote: Austria's condition is desperate. ]

Lastly, there is Austria-Hungary. Bulgaria's capitulation opens the wayfor the liberation of Serbia and an Allied push to the Austrian borderon the middle Danube. Beyond lie whole provinces full of mutinousJugoslavs and Rumanians. For that matter, all the non-German andnon-Magyar peoples of the Dual Empire are in a state of suppressedrevolt, held down by armies largely composed of their disaffectedbrethren. Perhaps the Balkan winter may delay the Allied advance, perhaps Germany may find enough troops to stifle Austrian disaffection, but the condition of the Hapsburg realm is at best a desperate one, fullof explosive possibilities. 

[Sidenote: Bulgars are disillusioned about Germany. ]

[Sidenote: There may be a Balkan confederation. ]

These are the major consequences which seem likely to flow fromBulgaria's surrender. There remains the question of the future attitudeof Bulgaria herself. Will she remain a passive spectator of thesemomentous happenings, or will she, striking in on the Allies' side, doher share toward bringing them to pass? The latter eventuality is morethan possible. The Bulgarians, from czar to peasant lad, are realists, not given to vain sacrifices. They see that Germany's game is up andthat her Balkan grip is broken forever. They have also been bitterlydisillusioned about Mitteleuropa, and must to-day realize that underMitteleuropa whatever Balkan territories might have been colored"Bulgarian" upon the map, they themselves would have been virtuallyserfs of a Germany whose idea of empire was the outworn concept of amaster race lording it over submissive slaves. With their eyes thusopened, the Bulgarians are in a position to appreciate the Allies'profession of faith with its program of freedom for the smallest peoplesand fair-dealing even toward the foe. Imperialistic dreams must ofcourse be banished forever. But solicitude for race-brethren outsideBulgaria's present frontiers is a sentiment which the Allies recognizeas wholly legitimate and which they are pledged to satisfy either bypermitting annexation to the homeland or, where this is impossible owingto superior claims of intervening races, by assuring the unredeemedBulgars full cultural liberty. The Allies' hope is a Balkanconfederation in which its varied races may pull together in commoninterest and mutual respect instead of rending one another in vaindreams of barren empire achieved through blood and iron. Is it too muchto hope that so level-headed a people as the Bulgarians will come torealize that in such a Balkan settlement their lasting interests will befar safer than in a Balkans precariously dominated by a Bulgarianminority holding down a majority of sullen and vengeful race enemies?

Copyright, Century, December, 1918. 

 * * * * *

The most picturesque army raised during the great war was that formed bylarge numbers of Czecho-Slovaks, formerly prisoners of war in Russia anddeserters from the Austrian armies. This force fought its way throughRussia and Siberia, opposed by the Bolsheviks who had promised them safeconduct to France. A description of these famous fighters is containedin the following pages. 

THE FIGHTING CZECHO-SLOVAKS

MAYNARD OWEN WILLIAMS

[Sidenote: The romantic Czecho-Slovak army. ]

The Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force is one of the most romantic armiesof the ages and an important step toward world democracy and idealism. Ilearned to know the Czechs in a journey across Siberia on one of theirtrains. They furnished me a bed when beds were scarce, transportationwhen transportation was scarcer, and shoes when shoes were necessary. Ihave never seen a real Czech that I could not endorse. 

[Sidenote: Two methods of travel in Russia. ]

[Sidenote: A journey on a Czecho-Slovak train. ]

Last March there were two ways to travel in Russia. If one was anAmerican--relief worker, correspondent, Y. M. C. A. Man--one could get aprivate car. Many Americans rode that way for a trifling cost andwithout inconvenience. And it was in such cars that some of Russia'sseverest critics traveled. The other way was intimate travel with thecommon herd. I started thus. It was at Irtishevo, a junction point nearthe lower Volga, that I changed. In a crowded station in the Russiandisorder, I suddenly found myself looking into the eyes of a spirited, smiling young officer, who had evidently learned that I was an Americanjournalist and who was explaining to me in three languages that therewas no way out of my riding to Vladivostok with his military train. Hewore a red and white ribbon. His alert bearing and enthusiasm marked himin the numbers of nondescript soldiers who were still traveling in theRussian chaos of last spring. I was about to protest mildly in Frenchwhen three of his fellow soldiers of fortune seized my baggage, carriedit around a countless number of trains and stowed it away in acompartment from which another officer, warned of our arrival just intime, was removing his personal effects. He may have stood up all night. Anyway, I was a quite willing captive on one of the forty odd trains ofthe Czecho-Slovaks which had started to cross Russia and Siberia tofight for their liberty in France. 

My friend was of medium height, well knit, deep chested, smart inbearing. The red and white ribbon on his cap was the badge of theCzechs. Before I had left them at Vladivostok five weeks later I couldhave picked a Czech out from any crowd by his air of determinationbacked by an enthusiastic good cheer which everywhere won its way fromAustrian prisoner to warmhearted Russian peasant woman. All that night Iheard them singing in that splendid, low, group chorus of theirs alongthe entire line of the train. 

[Sidenote: The Czechs are finely disciplined. ]

I found these finely disciplined fellows next morning sitting in thedoorways of their freight cars. Some were playing on violins they hadwhittled out in the prison camps. The future of their cross countryjaunt to the Pacific worried them not at all. They had fought their wayout of the Ukraine, where German elements had tried to stop them. Asformer citizens of the Central Powers, they were quite happy in thechance to fight again for what their ancestors of five centuries beforehad stood. Bolsheviks there were among them. But a Czech Bolshevikdiffers from a Russian in that he shaves and thinks before he acts. Never have I seen more sharp salutes or stricter discipline, and thesemen were in Russia where discipline was a curiosity. A Czech is soanxious to accomplish that he is willing to discipline himself. When aCzech marches, he marches irresistibly. In theory, he may be aSocialist. In action, he is a patriot. 

[Sidenote: Teaching English to Czech officers. ]

I found my place on the expedition as teacher of English to a group ofCzech officers and members of the National Assembly. My class wantedEnglish in order to be able to understand President Wilson's speeches asthey traveled across the United States, for they rank the President withtheir own national leader, Masaryk. The Czech is literate in severallanguages, and if he wants another he gives a week-end to it. In myclass were university graduates, artisans, engineers and musicians. TheCzech is a natural-born good mixer. 

[Sidenote: The young men make friends everywhere. ]

When our train would reach a town, these young men of action won friendswherever they went. Milk woman and bread seller all along theTrans-Siberian liked them, for they pay spot cash, deal honorably anddon't know what ruffianism means. 

The miracle accomplished by the Czechs is the result of discipline andcourage rather than strategy. Their rise to power was on their owninitiative. They could have stayed passive as have so many times theirnumber among the prisoners from other parts of Austria. But their standfor freedom from the Austrian yoke is uncompromising. They started outdetermined to fight for France and victory. The great bulk of theremaining Austrian prisoners are completely satisfied if only they cankeep away from war. The Czechs are passionate in their burningpatriotism. The Austrian prisoners in Russia who still feel a certaindegree of loyalty to Austria are passive in their sentiment. Most ofthem shrink from enforced military service--either back in Austria or ina German-Austrian prisoner offensive on the spot in Siberia. 

[Sidenote: Groups that have no love for the Germans. ]

[Sidenote: Willing to join the Czechs. ]

This Czechish heart centre of virile independence acted as a powerfulmagnet wherever their bands moved. All through Russia and Siberia, thereare refugee groups from Poland, Lithuania, Courland and the RigaDistrict. These people have no love for the Germans who drove them fromtheir homes nor for the Junkers of their own communities who handedtheir lands over to the Germans rather than have them divided by theBolsheviks. Germany is finding that there is a difference between savinglanded proprietors from hostile peasants and workingmen and the hugetask of enslaving these same peasants under the Prussian yoke. Hundredsof these elements in Russia's great refugee population wanted to enterthe Czech expedition, but these fighters were compelled to keep theirarmy small, compact and homogeneous. Transportation was insufficient. Even Czech artisans were refused a place in the trains unless they couldpass rigid examinations. The willingness of other forces to unite withthe Czechs may well be counted on when the call for them comes inSiberia and Russia. 

[Sidenote: The National Assembly of Bohemia. ]

[Sidenote: Attractive decorations of the cars. ]

The General Staff train on which I rode carried, in addition to the carsfor officers and men, a hall for the National Assembly meetings, acomplete printing outfit, a photographic dark-room, with full equipmentfor still and motion pictures, a bakery, kitchens and a laundry. It wason this moving train, all parts of which were connected by telephonewith the car of the commanding officer, that the plans for a New Bohemiawere being worked out. A daily four-page newspaper was published on theGeneral Staff train. It gave the ideals of the expedition, the currentnews translated into Czechish, lessons in French for the use of theforces on landing in France, and quotations from Professor Masaryk. About four thousand copies of this paper were printed every day anddistributed not only among the Czechs but among many of the Austrian warprisoners, who were thus informed of the ambitious plans these fightingindependents saw before them. Their trains showed their versatility andlove for decoration and home-making. Not only were they clean, buthundreds of the cars were decorated with life-size drawings, and withquaint designs in evergreens. To enable the men to find their friends, aroster of the occupants of the car was printed on the red flanks oftheir freight wagons. On the roofs, model aeroplanes and wind-mills spunin the breeze. A Czech train reminded me of a picnic, and, aside fromthe earnestness, it was. 

[Sidenote: Study and athletic contests. ]

For some travelers, the Trans-Siberian trip is monotonous. It was notfor the Czechs. They read and studied. They were always busy--evenbefore their clashes with the Bolsheviks began to take up some time. TheY. M. C. A. Had secretaries with some of the trains and sent supplies ofliterature and games. The Bohemians are the champion gymnasts of theworld and athletic contests were arranged at every station, until at thecall of a bugle the train would pull out, picking up sweating, happy menas it gathered speed. 

[Sidenote: The Czechs distribute President Wilson's speeches. ]

At the larger stations we spent sometimes hours, sometimes days. Thatgave a chance for the Czechs to mix with the Russian people. It gave thepeople an awakening sense of acquaintance with this happy race, who, while going from war to war around the world, were distributing thewords of President Wilson to prove the sanity of their cause and thefolly of the Russian collapse. The President's speeches were widelyread and much appreciated. But these enthusiastic, friendly Czechsoldiers were the living examples of the President's rather abstruselessons of democracy. President Wilson might seem a political Messiah, but the Czechs were the John the Baptists who made the initialimpression upon the Russian and Siberian peasants. 

An Austrian prisoner at a Siberian station shouted one day so all couldhear: "What is this freedom that you talk about?"

Immediately a thick-chested Czech strode forward. 

"It is the one thing that makes a man a man, " he replied. "It is thething that links men together without weakening them individually. It isthe thing that will wipe out tyranny, because a free man won't stand atyrant. "

As he talked to the slow-minded Russians and the slouching Austrian, this ruddy-cheeked Czech exemplified the advantages he preached. Therewas no slouch in his body, or character. The power that had gatheredtogether a group which had been dispersed all over Russia and welded itinto a fighting unit was not only passionate desire for freedom andwillingness to fight for it, but the power of self-discipline which madeboth possible. 

[Sidenote: The spirit of crusaders. ]

The Czech army was gay without license. In Irkutsk, during the Easterholidays, it ate ice-cream sandwiches or went up in tiny Ferris wheelsin the true spirit of the reveler at a dry-town carnival. In Omsk onenight it stood silent for hours, listening to the art of a Czechviolinist playing for the wounded in the Red Cross car. It paraded thestreets with a smile and an air of pride. It is boyish, open-hearted, lovable. It makes friends. Neat in dress, erect in bearing, enthusiasticin outlook--the Czechs win the Russian masses. There is the spirit ofthe Crusaders in these fighters, a spirit of personal and nationalcleanliness. Liberty to them is not a thing to wave a flag over but todie for, if necessary. They are too sincere to be dramatic. 

[Sidenote: A force in establishing confidence. ]

Having come out of Armenia, with its remnant race of human wrecks, andafter months of the demoralizing fatalism and moral laxity of theRussian, I was astounded by the miracle of stability of the tiny Czechforce in establishing an economic frontier between the Germanophilesections of Russia and freedom-loving Siberia. Not only is this forcethe key to the military problem of opposing Germany in Siberia. But fromthe standpoint of sympathetic friendship between confused Russia andAmerica, the Czecho-Slovaks offer the most helpful force in establishingconfidence and turning into fact the good will which America bears toRussian citizenry. 

They can best tell their own story. Lieutenant B---- of my English classwas typical. 

"When war was declared, I was in Switzerland, " he told me. "Late in JulyI climbed to the heights overlooking Austria. I could throw a stone overinto that land of oppression. That very day, when I went down into theSwiss village, I heard that the Austrian mobilization had been ordered. I could not believe that war would come. I returned to the land I hatedand in two days I had joined my class. We were to fight Russia. This wasunthinkable. Better to mutiny against our German and Magyar officersthan murder our brother Slavs. 

[Sidenote: Czech regiments went over to Russia by companies. ]

"And so it was that the word was secretly passed through whole regimentsof our men to desert to the Russians. The opportunity came when we facedBrusiloff's army. The Russians knew and were ready to receive us. Wewalked over in companies, with banners flying and bands playing and menfalling before the shots that rang out behind us. We hoped to turn andfight against our oppressors. And for a while some of us did. But one byone those of us who had entered the Russian ranks were removed and sentto prison camps, whence we were scattered among the homes and factoriesof Russia. My own band of companies was soon thoroughly broken up anddispersed from Turkestan and the Caucasus to Tobolsk and Irkutsk. AsGerman influences strengthened at the Russian court we were sent toworse and worse positions, malarial and barren territories. But weprospered in spite of all that was done to oppress us. 

[Sidenote: Waiting the time to strike for liberty. ]

"For a while I managed a cotton factory in Turkestan and later I went toopen some mines further in the country. But all the while we kept intouch with one another and day by day we waited for the time when wecould strike for liberty and Bohemia. Professor Masaryk was to give thesignal for the blow for liberty. 

[Sidenote: The Russian Revolution. ]

[Sidenote: Czechs ask to go to France. ]

"Then came the Russian Revolution. With the Czar, the German influencesat Court were overthrown. We left our farm work and our shop benches. Wepoured out of the dark mines and united in Czech battalions to fight inthe armies of Kerensky. At Zborov, we pierced six enemy lines but wereforced to retreat because the other fighters failed to advance as fastas we. Then came the long wait for the time when Russia should findherself, as she is still trying to do. The Slav is not a coward once hismind is trained. There is hope for his ultimate recovery. The power ofCzardom was enforced ignorance, and this made possible the infamoustreaty of Brest-Litovsk. But we saw that there was no hope for a merehandful of us to hold the Russian front, and to attempt this would be toantagonize the Russian people. So we applied for permission to leaveRussia and go to France. 

[Sidenote: The journey to Vladivostok. ]

"Everyone said that it could not be done. It meant going almost roundthe world. But we were determined and soon we had gained the support ofthe French Government and the permission of the Bolshevik leaders, whowere glad enough to get us out of the country. They feared we wouldstart a counter-revolution. But here we are in Siberia and the hardestpart of our journey is over. Two weeks more should find us inVladivostok and from there we can go very quickly to France, wherethousands of our fellows are already fighting for the cause of liberty. "

[Sidenote: The men are classified by occupation. ]

Captain H---- was in Omsk. Behind him, as I talked with him, was a cardindex file showing the occupation and residence of forty thousand Czechartisans resident in Siberia. Typewriters clicked in the bright officeand outside a Czech wagon arrived with a ton of meat en route to thecold storage cellar which he had built in the outskirts of Omsk. 

[Sidenote: Food is obtained at high prices. ]

"I arrived here alone and with only a few rubles, " said Captain H----. "But I heard that some day my fellows would come through on their way toFrance. So I began organizing our resources. Many of our men have mademuch money as prisoners in Russia. They were generous. Men began toflock in and we took off their Austrian uniforms and put them intoRussian uniforms--the uniform of our expeditionary force. Fighting menwere listed and trained. Artisans we merely listed, and there are fortythousand names classified by occupation and residence in those files. Inthree weeks we have taken in 610 Czech prisoners and sent them out inthe uniform of the expeditionary force to France. Every shoe and beltand uniform is utilized and nothing is wasted except the hated Austrianuniform, which is in most cases worn to shreds anyway. We haveestablished friendly relations with the people. Theoretically we are notsupposed to be doing this. Theoretically, we are not securing food. Butactually we are getting enough and to spare. Ten trains a week getseveral days' supplies here. Only in disorganized Russia could suchthings be. But we have to pay the secret agents of the local Sovietsixty-five rubles for meat. Its market price is thirty-five. "

[Sidenote: Professor Masaryk in America is the leader. ]

In my note-book, I cannot find the names of a dozen leaders of the Czechexpedition. In a sense, there were no leaders. The outstanding fact inthe Czech army is the democracy of it. The leaders are men who have beentrained, but they owe their position to popular choice. Yet there is nofoolish idea that military decisions can be made by a committee ofsoldiers. The Czech sacrifices personal ambition to his cause and thatis why his cause is worth fighting for. The Russian cause, a thing ofchaos, is losing force every day. I might almost say that the Czechs, inSiberia, were led by Professor Masaryk, in America, through theinfluence of his words in the daily paper. As prominent a figure amongthe Czechs as any one man in the expedition is Kenneth Miller of NewYork, director of the Y. M. C. A. , and held on a high pedestal in theaffection of 10, 000 men. He has had much to do with the moving of theCzech trains in all their complicated travel arrangements. 

[Sidenote: How the Czechs came to control Siberia. ]

The democracy of the Czech army and the ease with which it made friendscontinually surprise me. The officer who induced me to join them was amere lieutenant, yet he never consulted anyone about taking me in. Was Inot an American? Each day some officer was told off to arrange matterswith the station masters. They moved their trains without bluff orbluster. Sometimes the Soviets hindered them in order to get what gunsand supplies they could. But not till weeks after they started did anySoviet have the temerity to try to stop or disarm the men. The Russianmasses were quickly won to friendship for the Czechs and the only forcethat tried to interfere was the Bolshevik battalions who acted underorders from distant points, where the man who gave the order enjoyedcomparative safety. The way that their control of Siberia through anattempt to disarm them came about is as romantic as any feature of theirstory. 

[Sidenote: They have passes to leave the country. ]

The presence of forty thousand well-disciplined Czech soldiers whoseloyalty to the cause of freedom was stronger than that of the rapidlychanging Russian proletariat made it seem desirable to the Bolshevikauthorities to rid the country of men so willing to fight and so littlesubject to the extreme socialistic doctrines then rife in Russia. BothLenine and Trotzky by agreement with Professor Masaryk furnished thesemen with passes for leaving the country and in spite of the chaoticcondition of transportation ample rolling stock, amounting to aboutsixty trains of forty freight cars each, was placed at their disposal orsecured by the Czechs through their own efforts. Arrangements hadalready been made with representatives of the French Government so thatplenty of money was provided for provisioning, equipping andtransporting a minimum of forty thousand men over about six thousandmiles. 

[Sidenote: Military equipment being taken away. ]

[Sidenote: The Czechs resist. ]

Before these trains had gone far one local Soviet after another hadinsisted on their leaving behind the armored motor cars, aeroplanes, machine-guns and other military equipment which had been allotted tothem by the Russian Government during the Kerensky offensive. By thetime Penza--one day's run west of the Volga--was reached, aftermachine-guns had been mounted on the engines in fighting their waythrough the Germanized Ukrainian districts, the arms of each train hadbeen reduced to 140 rifles and ammunition. But the Czechs knew enoughabout Russian conditions to realize the necessity for at least one gunto a man and when the Bolsheviki, early in June, started to disarm them, guns and rifles appeared from secret hiding places, to the extremeconsternation of the disarmers. 

[Sidenote: Siberian Soviets delay the Czechs. ]

[Sidenote: The Czechs overcome their captors. ]

The reason for their being in the district of the Urals is one part ofthe romance of their adventurous life. Out across Siberia, near theManchurian frontier, during April and May, the Cossack General Semenoffwas operating. He had closed to traffic the Trans-Siberian line by wayof Harbin, so that the first twelve thousand Czechs had had to use thesingle track Amur Railway line to the north by way of Khabarovsk. By May4 an international proletariat army thoroughly mercenary in characterand numbering possibly three thousand men, largely Austrian prisoners ofwar, was enlisted to repulse Semenoff from the region of the railwayjunction at Karuimskaya. Obviously since it was known that the Czechswere financed by France and that France favored intervention in Siberiait was indiscreet to allow thousands of Czech soldiers whose bravery wasunquestioned to pass within fourteen miles of the army under the commandof Semenoff. Fictitious floods on the Amur and some well-founded storiesof the poor condition of the single track Amur line were conjured up bythe Siberian Soviets as a reason for temporarily preventing the Czechsfrom proceeding to France. The only real service performed by Semenoff'sprovocative army of mercenaries and Chinese and Japanese irregulars, wasthe indirect one of detaining the Czechs in Siberia, a service on whichthe Cossack leader never figured. There is no question but that to getto France was the sincere desire of the Czechs and there was nosuggestion that their forces could be or desired to be used in Siberia. Having left the Austrian army rather than fire on their brother Slavsthe Czechs could scarcely be expected to have much enthusiasm forfighting Russians over an ill-defined intervention program throughthousands of miles of Siberia. Chafing under the enforced delay, thesesoldiers insisted that they be allowed to proceed to France. This seemedout of the question to the Bolsheviki whose only alternative was todisarm them. The Czechs who had carefully avoided any aggression uponRussians until then, immediately set up a stout resistance, quicklyovercoming their would-be captors and thus almost miraculously puttingthe small force which had then probably reached one hundred thousand menin control of thousands of miles of railway reaching from NovoNikolayevsk to Tcheliabinsk and thence along the two branches leading toEkaterinburg and Zlatoust. This virtually established an economicboundary between Siberia and Russia along the line of the Urals, sincethe unsettled condition of the country makes the railway the onlypracticable line of communication. 

[Sidenote: How control of the railway is secured. ]

[Sidenote: The Russian peasants friendly. ]

The control of the railways was easily secured. At each of the importantstations Czech trains held the sidings. Due to the delay the trainswhich should have been en route to France piled up at the stations, andeven in European Russia at Samara, Simbirsk and Suizran, a sufficientnumber of Czechs held the station points to make their capture byBolsheviki forces a difficult matter. The Czechs made no attempt toseize the towns located some distance from the stations or any otherterritory. They wanted only to make secure their railroad travel. Thehigh prices which they paid for their necessarily large supplies ofprovisions and the fact that they paid cash while the Bolshevik forcesand Soviets often requisitioned food supplies, likewise their good cheerand personal magnetism, won for them the friendship of the peasant andartisan classes in many of the villages so that when the clash came onlysuch Bolshevik forces as were definitely put to the task of disarmingthem were actually hostile. The easy-going and friendly Russian peasant, supine under the violent political changes, is a traditional friend andan unwilling enemy. This characteristic, which the Allied Governmentshave harshly criticized, may be counted upon to work to the advantage ofthe Allies under any fair scheme for economic aid and peacefulpenetration which does not give grounds upon which active Germanpropaganda could construct open hostility. 

One may well wonder why the hundreds of thousands of Austrian warprisoners in Siberia have not blown up tunnels, destroyed tracks andotherwise tried to stop the Czech expedition. It may be that theAustrians secretly admired these men and were too tired of war to takethe initiative in Siberia. 

[Sidenote: Seizure of Vladivostok. ]

[Sidenote: The people welcome the Czechs. ]

The seizure of Vladivostok by the Czechs was characteristic. From theirarrival, they attracted the attention and admiration of the people, manyof whom were planning an anti-Bolshevik demonstration. Every shipcommander in the harbor had his men ready for landing parties in case oftrouble. But there was no disorder on the day of the demonstration andnot till a month later did a Bolshevik disturbance give the Czechs achance to free an anti-Bolshevik city from its oppressors. Japanese, Chinese, English or Americans from the war-ships could have done it. Butwhen the Czechs did it, a Slavic, Russian-speaking people gainedcontrol of a city that gladly welcomed their intervention. The same ideaexplains their marvelous success in Russia. Having braved death ratherthan fight Russians, the Czechs can now fight oppressive Russianelements without having their motives misunderstood or their plansopposed. 

[Sidenote: Marriages of war prisoners and peasant women. ]

Siberia has afforded an interesting race study ever since the Teutonprisoners began to arrive. From the very first, German and Austrianprisoners mated with the sturdy peasant women of Siberia and settled toa happy and unhampered life in the undeveloped lands of the greatplains. Some of the women had husbands at the front, but _nichevo_ nevermeans "never mind" to a greater extent than it does in Russian maritalaffairs. A man's a man for a' that, and there was little trouble untilthe two parents of different nationality and language discussed whichlanguage the children should be taught. German and Russian produce thesame tow-headed stock. With the downfall of the Russian army the Russianhusband sometimes returned and though quite willing to assumeresponsibility for the new offspring, insisted on asking the Austriansubstitute at his bed and board to leave. As often as not the Austrianleft. There were always a better farm and frau to be had elsewhere, andsome Russian women are tiresome anyway. 

[Sidenote: Many Austrians do not go home. ]

When conditions are like this in Siberia, why should an Austrian returnto a hungry country to fight a heroic enemy? A happy home in Siberia, which some other man has founded, or starvation in Austria? No wonderthe Austrians in Siberia are a mercenary and unpatriotic lot. I saw manyin the Bolshevik army. Most of those I talked with were under arms forthe sake of the 200 rubles per month, equipment and food they were paidby the Bolsheviks, without, as they told me, planning to run anyunnecessary chances of losing their lives in actual fighting against theCzechs or any other enemy of the Bolsheviks for that amount of money, ifthey could avoid it; not a very difficult matter. 

Allied military support of the Czechs in Siberia is not Japaneseintervention, and sentiment in Russia and Siberia against interventionto-day is now what it was six months ago. If the Bolsheviki do notrepresent the people of Russia, the only way the Russian people candevelop confidence in themselves, and strength, is to throw off theBolsheviki. The Archangel and Siberian regions have started such moves. 

Siberia seems ready to welcome the Czechs, and if the Allied forces inSiberia keep themselves sufficiently in the background, Siberia willprobably welcome the friends of the Czechs. The Allies have failed inRussia in the past because they have trusted upon material equipmentrather than upon education of the people in the ideals of our cause. Acertain amount of military intervention is necessary in Siberia if weare to protect the Czechs and protect the supplies which an economicmission would furnish. The danger lies in taking the control of thatmilitary intervention out of the hands of the Czechs. If my observationamong all classes in Siberia counts for anything, the day the non-Slavicforces of the Allies, especially the Japanese, whom the Russiansdespise, move ahead of the Czechs who have already the confidence of theRussians as no Allied army could, that day the Allied army willencounter difficulties. This may spell tragedy for the cause ofdemocracy. 

[Sidenote: Siberia differs from Russia. ]

In general the Volga divides Siberia, the home of the freedom-seekingexile, from Russia, in which for years German ideas have been encouragedto the exclusion of French and English. Whole sections of Russia andSiberia will starve this winter. If we follow the Czechs into Siberiawith economic aid, repairing and consolidating the railroad lines behindthem, installing modern methods of distribution we can then say to thestricken people--"Some of you are starving, but this is in spite of allthe aid we can give. " But across the Volga in Russia the people will sayto Germany--"We are starving because you took our food, because youforced disorganization which has ruined us. " Spring will allow theintelligent Russian peasant to compare such Americanism with the blightof Prussianism. Never fear that the object lesson will be in vain!

[Sidenote: A nucleus for the forces of freedom. ]

Can the Czechs become an actual nucleus for the forces of freedom inRussia and Siberia? They already are. The extent of their influence inSiberia, in the region of the Don and in the heart of the Central Powersthemselves, is only limited by the support they receive from the Alliesand the restraint of the latter in independent action. The fate ofhistory may depend on the working out of the Czecho-Slovak miracle--aplain gift of fortune to the cause of freedom. 

Copyright, Asia, Journal of the American Asiatic Association, September, 1918. 

 * * * * *

The spirit which animated the American soldiers in France was arevelation to the Allies, although it was precisely the spirit whichAmericans at home knew would inspire them when they reached the actualfighting line. Some instances of this spirit, and of experiences on theAmerican firing line, are told in the following pages. 

SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE

CORPORAL H. J. BURBACH

"We have arrived!"

[Sidenote: We reach the front. ]

The French Army officer, who, skilled through years of actual artilleryservice on the French fronts, had been my instructor through weeks oftraining, and my guide up to the Front, stood still and spoke mostcasually, as if our destination had been a Chicago restaurant. 

[Sidenote: My comrades are hidden in the fog. ]

"Yes, sir. " I tried to be as casual, but could not disguise theexcitement that filled me. "Shall--the guns--" and I stopped, startledat the tone of my own voice. It sounded as if it were coming from someperson a dozen feet away. And as I stood there a sense of elation, thatwas possibly partly fear, swept over me. I looked about me, toward thedirection of the French officer who had spoken, toward the fellows of mybattery who had accompanied me up to the Front. I say toward theirdirection, for I could not see my comrades--the fog that had come overthe land at sunset was too heavy to allow one to see an arm's length. 

The officer snickered. 

"Is this all that there is to it? Are we really on the firing line?" Iasked aloud. "Why, it's as quiet here as the Michigan woods!"

The officer laughed again. 

"At this minute, yes, " he said; then, "Wait here, I will be backdirectly, and no noise!"

[Sidenote: The firing line seems a lonely place. ]

He went off through the fog, and I have never experienced such afeeling of loneliness as swept over me at that minute--loneliness, and Ireally believe disappointment, --for I had imagined the firing line to bea place of constant terror. 

"Gee, this is what we've been training for all these months!" I heardone of the fellows say. "Well, all I've got to say is it won't be soquiet over on the Boches' land when we get started, " and they alllaughed. 

[Sidenote: An experience of many sensations. ]

It is absolutely impossible to describe the sensations that come over afellow when he realizes that he is going under fire. I think that youpass through various stages that include every sensation in life. Youare frightened, you are glad to get into the fight. You are anxious tobegin--you wish you had a few weeks' longer training to become a bettershot. 

I am not sure how long we stood there waiting for the return of theFrench officer who was tutoring us for our baptism of fire, but suddenlyhe was at my side. 

[Sidenote: The first need is a signal station. ]

"The battery is to be over there, " he pointed through the night, "and wewill set up a signal station right here. The first thing to do is to digin the telephone wires, for headquarters reports that there isconsiderable rifle fire about here in the daytime. Order a detachment ofmen to help you!"

[Sidenote: Digging in the telephone wires. ]

"Yes, sir, " and I went quickly back toward where I knew the men werewaiting, happy to think that there was work to be done at once. I gavethe orders that had been handed to me, and in about twenty minutes wewere turning over the earth. While we were working others were just asbusy, for our battery was being placed in position, and some fifty feetbehind the battery the others of the signal service detachment, of whichI was a member, were setting up a receiving station. As I helped in thedigging of that small trench for telephone wires my heart sang, and Ilived again the months that I had served in order that I might be fitfor the service I was performing that minute. 

It might be well, before going further into this narrative, to say thatthe fellows who had accompanied me were the first American troops totake charge of a sector of the French line, a sector which some day willbe moved into the heart of Germany and make old friend Hun wish thatthere was a way for him to change his nationality and viewpoint. 

[Sidenote: The artillery training camp. ]

The training camp where we had prepared for the front after our arrivalin France had been purchased by the United States from the French, andhad been in use since the beginning of the war for the purpose ofputting the high spots on the training of men belonging to both theheavy and light artillery. It was a spacious place; we had comfortablequarters and lots of good food. I had been on the Mexican border, sothat sound of the heavy guns that were being used for training purposesdid not annoy me, though to about ninety per cent. Of the rest of thefellows this was a new sound, and orders were issued that cotton was tobe put in the ears. 

[Sidenote: The French officers are fine fellows. ]

Except for the return fire, we might have been at the front, for thecamp was an exact duplication of conditions under fire. Our equipmentwas largely French, and the officers who tutored us in modern warfarewere all French--and as fine a bunch of fellows as ever lived. 

[Sidenote: Buying a village for a target. ]

One of the exciting incidents of the Camp was the day that news arrivedthat the American government had purchased a small village just beyondthe Camp (France is honeycombed with small villages, --it is almostimpossible to walk a mile without passing through a village) and thatit was to be used as a target for the American boys. 

We practiced in turn, a battery going out for a few hours' work, andthen returning. Both light and heavy Artillery used the village as atarget, and it was not long before there was only a heap of rubbish totell where there had once been houses. 

[Sidenote: The instructors praise American marksmanship. ]

One of the things that the American fellows felt proud of was the factthat they were constantly being praised by their French instructorsbecause of their very superior marksmanship. Several men told me thatthe American troopers learned in two weeks' time as much of thecraftsmanship of war as the French learned in three months. As the storywas on themselves, I guess it must be true. 

[Sidenote: Good care close to the firing line. ]

[Sidenote: A question of high prices. ]

We worked hard in camp, but the fellows liked it. We had good food, lotsof fresh vegetables, and meat. It is a fact that the closer you get tothe firing line the better care you get. There was plenty of recreationthrough the Y. M. C. A. Activities, but we did not have many furloughs. Remember that at the time I am writing of, the American boys were new inFrance. One of the reasons for the lack of furloughs was that in many ofthe towns near the great camps that were set apart for the Americans themerchants had decided that it was harvest time, and prices had gone veryhigh. General Pershing himself ordered that no member of the Americanforce should buy anything in these towns until the matter of prices wasadjusted, and this was speedily done. 

[Sidenote: A journey in motor trucks. ]

[Sidenote: Making the new quarters sanitary. ]

I had been in the training camp about a month, making a special study oftelephone work as carried on between the front-line trenches andoutposts regimental headquarters, and the various gun batteries of theregiment. At the end of that time I was detached from my regularbattery and assigned as Signal Sergeant to work with another batteryproceeding immediately to the American sector of the Front. We did nottravel forward in gradual stages as is the usual custom of approachingthe firing line for the first time, but made the journey as quickly aspossible, in motor trucks--a never-to-be-forgotten journey. Ourdestination was a village between five and ten miles from the Front, where we were to be billeted, and where the American troops would spendtheir time while not actively in the trenches. We got there in theafternoon, and a batch of the men were detached to make the place cleanand perfectly sanitary. It needed their work. The village had been usedby the French soldiers for some time, and there had been no time oropportunity for repair work. With the coming of the Americans it wasdifferent. Cleanliness is a strictly enforced rule with the fellows ofour fighting force, and from a standpoint of sanitation we are literallyintroducing soap, water and whitewash into France. 

[Sidenote: The order to advance. ]

Later that afternoon, when it was growing dusk, came the orders to goforward--and at nightfall I found myself walking beside the Frenchofficer across rough ground, a very occasional dull boom telling us thatthere was an enemy before us--but all other sounds seemed natural. 

As I said before, it is impossible to accurately describe the sensationsthat come over a fellow when he discovers that he is on the firing line, and I welcomed the work to which I was so quickly assigned, and which werapidly accomplished. I marveled at the precision with which I had goneto work that first night on the front, but everyone had their work todo, and did it so quickly and coolly that we had no time to think ofpersonal feelings. 

[Sidenote: An interesting day on the firing line. ]

The first day on the firing line was very interesting. The battery keptup a constant fire, getting range from the map which is issued daily--aswell as the given ranges, targets, etc. (which arrived over the fieldtelephone). That night we stood ready to do any work required, but noorders came through, and I had my first experience in sleeping in a gunpit. 

Our food, by the way, was brought up daily from the headquarters at thevillage and was prepared in rolling field kitchens. 

[Sidenote: Food is good and abundant. ]

As an example of the care that the fellows are getting, I might say thatwe were given bread and milk, fruit, excellent coffee, eggs, or possiblyhash, and, of course, bread for breakfast; a heavy meal of soup, steakor some roast meat, potatoes and vegetables, coffee and sweets, camenext, with a meal of canned foods for supper. All of it well cooked andmighty tasty. Believe me, Uncle Sam was taking mighty fine care of hissoldier boys!

[Sidenote: The telephone system is demolished. ]

The following day started as the first, but in the middle of theafternoon the telephone system of our sector was demolished by rifle andit was impossible to get into communication with either the headquartersor the trenches. 

"That stops work for today!" the officer told me. "No more gun fire tillwe get it fixed. "

I can remember asking anxiously what we could do. 

"Nothing just this minute, " he laughed at my eagerness, "but tonight youand I will crawl out on our bellies and find that broken wire. Then wewill fix it, and unless they find us with a shell we'll crawl back. "

[Sidenote: We go out to mend the wire. ]

The prospect was exciting, and I waited anxiously for night. Then, armedwith the necessary tools, we started to crawl along the trenchcontaining the wires. We had no light, we could not stand upright. Wewent about a half mile, feeling every inch of wire for the break, andthen suddenly I ran my hand along the wire that suddenly came to apoint. We had found the break. 

"I've got it, " I called in my best whisper, but before I could receive areply there was a noise from the German trenches. 

"Star shell, star shell, " my French companion called excitedly. 

[Sidenote: A star shell bursts above us. ]

Suddenly the shell burst above us, and it was more brilliant than day. Frightened! Say, that light is so great and the knowledge that if theGermans spot you you're a goner, makes you just lie there and forget tobreathe! It does not take many seconds for a star shell to die away to aglow, but in those seconds you go right through life and back to thepresent. When the light was gone I lay there fairly panting for breath. 

"We'll have to work quickly, " came the inspiring voice at my elbow, andwe did. We had not finished work before a new star shell was sent up. 

[Sidenote: The repair work is finished. ]

The repair work did not take many minutes, and we started back again. Wewere halted several times by star shells, and after the second or thirdtime I began to reassure myself by saying that the Germans did not knowI was out there, that they had nothing against me individually. Afterwards I heard one of the officers say that they were probablysuspicious because of the sudden cessation of the gun fire thatafternoon, and were looking for a raiding party to cross no-man's-land. 

[Sidenote: The noise of the shells. ]

During the time that I was at the front, it was the custom for men tospend six days at the front, then go back to the village in which theywere billeted--always well beyond the firing line--and there rest forabout two weeks. By the end of my third day I had become quiteacclimated to the noise. One afternoon a scouting aeroplane must havereported some fancied movement of troops in a village two or three milesback of us, for the Germans started a heavy barrage which went singingover our heads. The shells went high, but just the same they madeeveryone uncomfortable for a few minutes. Fellows that have been on theline, however, will tell you that you don't mind the noise of shellfire--for you figure it out that the bullet that hits you is the bulletyou never hear--and while that doesn't seem a very comfortable thought, you soon forget to think of danger. 

[Sidenote: Shifting the gun's position. ]

Perhaps the most exciting incident, and at the same time the one thatsent more terror to our hearts than any other, occurred late oneafternoon. It was foggy, though fog always hung over our battery--infact, the climate of the front that has been assigned to our troops isnotorious for its winter fogginess. Orders had been sent out to shiftthe position of our gun, and as the afternoon wore away--and the thicksmoke-like pall that hung over us made it impossible to recognize thefellow standing next to you when he was half a dozen feet away--it wasdecided that there was no use to wait till night, but that we couldshift the gun at once. 

[Sidenote: A German aeroplane right overhead. ]

All the crowd started to work, the new gun pit was ready, and the signalstation was all moved. It was just as we got the gun into the positionand were straightening it into position that a faint breeze camestealing down from the mountains. In a minute the breeze was stronger, and we could see a hundred yards away. In another minute we could seethree times that distance, and at the end of the third minute we couldsee clear up into the heavens--and there was a German plane flyingstraight for us. 

Did you ever stand waiting for death? I suppose not--but that was whathappened to our gun crews. The plane swooped low and seemed to hangright over us. We waited, hardly daring to breathe. I saw theperspiration running from one fellow's face, and guess it was runningdown mine. I know that I had a most pressing desire to run--anywhere, solong as I was moving. As I was looking down I glanced at my wrist watchabout every thirty seconds and lived minutes between each glance. No onespoke--it was as if we had suddenly been turned to wood. Then afterfifteen minutes of observation the Hun plane circled away from us--andwe had lived several lifetimes in that short time. 

[Sidenote: Army trucks take us back to the village. ]

It was the fog that got me--and sent me back to the United States. Twoyears before, coming home from drill at the armory (I was then a memberof the National Guard) I fell asleep on the train and contracted asevere cold. The cold never seemed to leave me, and now, after a week offog, after sleeping in a gun pit, I grew hoarse and developed a nastycough. I was not really sick when I left the firing line after my sixdays and returned to the billet, but I felt pretty miserable. I canremember being glad when, after a several miles' walk back of the lines, we found the army trucks ready to carry us to the village where we werequartered. 

[Sidenote: A month at the base hospital. ]

I spent four days in the billet receiving further instruction from myFrench officer, and then after ten days I started back to the trainingcamp, where I was to help in the instruction of the fellows of mydivision who had not as yet been under fire. By the time I reached thecamp I was what might be termed all in, down and out. I went to thehospital, and when I was able I was moved in an ambulance to a U. S. ArmyBase hospital far removed from the firing line. I was at the basehospital a month, and spent most of the time in the sunshine trying toget rid of the heavy bronchial condition that had fastened itself to me. The hospital was full--but not with Americans. I was surrounded byfellows from all the allied nations, and had the chance to talk withthem. They're a great lot, and anybody who has any doubt about whetherwe are going to win this war needs only a few minutes' conversation withsome of the chaps that have been over there for years. You bet we'regoing to win--there isn't a thought of anything else but victory. 

[Sidenote: Orders to go home. ]

At the end of my month at the base hospital it was decided that I wasnot fit for the firing line. Uncle Sam is mighty good to his fellows--hedoes not believe in placing them under unnecessary risks, and when thedoctors said that my bronchial condition was practically chronic, andthe life on the firing line would only aggravate it, I got my orders togo home and take up service in a climate where there was less chance ofmy becoming a liability and where there was just as much work for me todo as in France, though of a different nature. 

It was a disappointment, but I'm glad to think that I had those six dayson the firing line, and proud to think that I was with the first batchof Americans to see service in the fight against autocracy. 

Copyright, The Forum, May, 1918. 

 * * * * *

That portion of France in which the American army did its most activefighting is a country filled with historic and romantic associations. Itis also a country of great scenic beauty. The following articledescribes graphically the general aspect of this portion of France. 

AN AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD

RAOUL BLANCHARD

[Sidenote: A glorious battlefield. ]

Terrific battles, ushering in the dawn of victories which will ensurethe freedom of the world, were fought in July and August, 1918, betweenthe Marne and Vesle rivers, from Château-Thierry to Soissons and Fismes. In this soul-stirring struggle the young American troops played a largepart, and played it with heroism and success. It has occurred to us, therefore, that the American people will be glad to become acquaintedwith the battlefield made glorious by their sons, with the soil whichwill some day be a consecrated goal of pilgrimage for the entire nation. 

[Sidenote: The field once the most beautiful country. ]

This field of death, bristling with ruins still smouldering, wasformerly, and will soon be once more, a beautiful stretch of country. Here we are in the heart of the Ile de France, and the countrysidedisplays all the gracious charm of a typical French landscape. With itsundulating plateaus, pleasant vales, broad green valleys, forests andgreensward, châteaux and villas, small towns, and dear old villagesthronged with souvenirs of the past, the district between the Marne andthe Aisne was peculiarly representative of France--the France of theMerovingians and Capets as well as of the twentieth century. 

There is no manufacturing and little commercial activity; but askillful, varied, and persistent culture of the soil, with specialattention to those most exacting of crops, the vine and vegetables, which are successfully raised only by dint of hard labor, and to theproduction of vast quantities of sugar-beets and cereals. 

[Sidenote: The villages are built of stone. ]

The villages, built of the beautiful stone of the district, have, oneand all, an air of dignity and prosperity which gives animation to thelandscape. The very names are among the most pleasant to the ear, andoften among the most illustrious in the language. Our great men ofletters, La Fontaine and Racine, Pope Urban II, who preached the FirstCrusade, and other statesmen and princes, all born in the province, hadalready made it a genuinely historic spot; and the memory of the battlesfought by Napoleon at Château-Thierry and Soissons, against the invadersof 1814, has not yet faded. When they turned the enemy back from Paris, the Americans were fighting in the most truly French of all thedistricts of France, and their gallantry has imparted to it a new charm, a more resplendent glory. 

[Sidenote: Topography from the Marne to the Vesle. ]

But this attractive region does not exhibit everywhere the samefeatures. The topography of the Ile de France is so varied that one candistinguish several families, or groups, of landscapes between the Marneand the Vesle. Let us follow them, in the order followed by thedifferent stages of the battle. 

The southern portion is the most elevated and most picturesque; itincludes the shores of the Marne, from Epernay to Château-Thierry, aswell as the hills and valleys to the eastward, grouped about the ArdreRiver in the district called the Tardenois. In the centre thebattlefield embraces plateaus studded with low hills, half hidden bybroad patches of forest, and cut by deep, narrow valleys--those of theOurcq and its affluents; whence the region is known as the district ofthe Ourq, or the Orxois. Lastly, to the north this undulating groundgives place to a practically level plateau, a vast table-land ofcultivated fields, through which flow the deep ravines of the Aisne, theVesle, and their affluents. This is the Soissonnais. 

[Sidenote: The wake of the American armies. ]

From the Tardenois to the Soissonnais by way of the Orxois, let usfollow in the wake of the French and American armies, in theirdecisively victorious advance. 

[Sidenote: Valleys of stream cut deep. ]

On emerging from the plains of Champagne, at Epernay, the Marne flowsthrough the plateaus of the Ile de France as far as Paris, and thecountry along its banks changes its aspect. Instead of the wide valleywhich seems one with the immense bare plain, the stream, breaking out apath for itself through the solid mass of the plateau, has cut a gashfrom 500 to 2000 metres in width, which turns and winds in graceful andever-changing curves. Thus, although its general course is from east towest, the trend of the walls of the valley constantly changes and bearstoward every point of the compass in turn. Moreover, these walls, intersected by the ravines and valleys of numerous tributary streams, are cut up into capes, bastions, and deep hollows. Finally, the clifffrom whose summit the plateau overlooks the valley, and whose averageheight is about 150 metres, at times rises steeply from the lowland, andagain is broken up into terraces following the different strata of whichit is composed. Thus, although the topographical elements are simpleenough, they lend themselves to an ever-changing combination of forms, which gives to the landscape its great charm, and at the same timeoffers some formidable advantages of various kinds from a militarystandpoint. 

[Sidenote: The placid Marne. ]

[Sidenote: The Marne easy to cross. ]

The bright green ribbon of the Marne winds along the valley bottom. Theplacid stream, about a hundred metres wide and broken here and there byislets, wanders from one bank to the other, lined by poplars andwillows. On either side of its limpid waters are broad fields, whosedelicate greenery frames the sparkling line of the river, which forms aby no means impassable obstacle. In the days just preceding the Germanoffensive of July 15, American patrols constantly crossed betweenChâteau-Thierry and Mézy, and picked up prisoners and information on thenorthern bank. In like manner, during that offensive the attackingGerman troops were able without great losses to cross the Marne andattack the defenders on the southern bank. To be sure, the Alliedair-men made their life a burden by keeping up an incessant bombardmentof the bridges, large and small. 

[Sidenote: Fierce fighting on the slopes. ]

But the real obstacle which this valley offers is found in the slopeswhich dominate it, and it was there that the fiercest fighting tookplace until the day when the French and Americans, having thrown theenemy back across the river, scaled the cliffs of the right bank on hisheels and dislodged him therefrom. In this neighborhood there were twosectors of terrific fighting--that of Châtillon-Dormans upstream, andthat of Château-Thierry below. 

[Sidenote: A wide valley with steep slopes. ]

[Sidenote: The vine-growing district. ]

Going upstream, the valley is quite wide: from Monvoisin to Dormans, byChâteau-Thierry, it measures two kilometres almost everywhere. The highcliff which overlooks it on the north, cut by a multitude of narrowvalleys coming down from the table-land of the Tardenois, forms a seriesof buttresses which make excellent defensive positions. On the sharpest, which is a genuine peninsula overhanging the main valley, sits thevillage of Châtillon, formerly crowned by a haughty feudal castle, onwhose ruins was erected a statue of Pope Urban II, who long ago hadtrouble with the German emperors. The slopes below are hard to climb, because of their steepness and the network of tilled fields. Here weare at the heart of the vine-growing district, and these banks of theMarne contribute largely to the production of the famous champagne. Thevines extend, on long rows of poles, to the very summit of the cliffs, especially on the right bank, which has a better exposure to the sun;they are often connected by strands of wire, on which straw mats areplaced to protect the vines from the cold in winter. 

[Sidenote: Allied troops find many obstacles. ]

On a lower level, nearer the stream, are magnificent orchards: thecherry tree joins with the vine to impart to those slopes an aspect ofrustic opulence. Huddled white villages, with tawny-hued pointed roofs, follow one another in regular succession on the rolling ground. Theirnames have lately won a terrible celebrity: Binson, Vandières, Vincelles, Tréloup. Sandstone quarries burrow into the summit of thecliffs and furnish shelters for the defenders. Finally, there are stripsof forest along the slopes wherever the exposure is thought poorlysuited for crops. All these features unite to form a cheerful, animated, lovely landscape; but at the same time a conglomeration of obstacleswhich the Allied troops were able to overcome only after fiercefighting. 

[Sidenote: Villages in the hillsides. ]

Below the little town of Dormans, the valley narrows temporarily: fromTréloup to Brasles it is frequently less than 500 metres in width. Thecliff, although steep as before, is less cut up, and the patches offorest are large. At the mouths of the smaller affluent valleys, thevillages rear their church-towers on the hillsides, overlooking thelowest vineyards and orchards; on this right bank are Jaulgonne, Chartèves, and Mont Saint-Père, all taken by the Allies late in July, and Fossoy, where the Americans successfully repulsed the German attackof July 15. 

[Sidenote: The ancient town of Château-Thierry. ]

But now the valley widens once more as it enters the broad basin ofChâteau-Thierry. It is a beautiful spot, and at the same time, of greatmilitary value. The little town long ago forgot its rôle of fortress, but has been brutally reminded of it by the violence of the battles thathave been fought in its neighborhood. In the foreground is the wideexpanse of fields in the valley bottom; then a suburb of the townenclosed between two arms of the Marne. Across the river, scaling theslopes of a hill crowned by the ruins of a castle, the town rises, terrace-like, at the mouth of a narrow valley. The position can becarried by frontal attack only on the heels of a defeated foe, asNapoleon carried it in 1814, and Franchet d'Esperey just a hundred yearslater. But in 1918 the Americans had to take Château-Thierry in flank, and in order to force their way into the town, had to fight the bloodybattles of Vaux, Bouresches, and Etrepilly, which carried them to thenorth of the town and hastened its evacuation. 

[Sidenote: Military operations difficult. ]

What is the nature of the terrain above those steep cliffs which enclosethe valley of the Marne? Does it become more favorable to militaryoperations than the deep depression through which the river flows? Notby any means. The surface of the table-land is broken by so many ravinesand narrow valleys which descend steeply to the Marne, that it is cutinto a multitude of ridges and hillocks amid which it is no longerpossible to recognize the original horizontal aspect of the plateau. 

[Sidenote: Heavy impermeable soil. ]

[Sidenote: Hills that are fortresses. ]

On the other hand, the strata which lie on the surface--loam, sandstone, and clayey sand--make a heavy, impermeable soil, quite infertile, inwhich it is hard to raise anything, and which is largely given over towoods. Thus, freedom of movement is impeded by deep ravines, ridgesrunning in all directions, and more or less dense forests; an offensiveis difficult, and the defensive easy. This is true in the immediateneighborhood of Château-Thierry, where the ravines of Vaux, Brasles, Chartèves, Jaulgonne, and Tréloup, and the valley of the Surmelin, slashthe plateau on either side of the Marne into fragments--intoforest-topped hillocks which are genuine fortresses, where the strugglewas terrific and where the Allies were able to advance only one step ata time: on Hill 204, west of Château-Thierry, in the Bois de MontSt-Père, the forest of Fèze above Jaulgonne, and especially on the spurof the forest of Riz; and south of the Marne, at the broad, woodedbastion of Saint-Agnan and at La Chapelle-Monthodon, where the fightingwas so intense from the 15th to the 20th of July. 

[Sidenote: The villages and forests of the table-land. ]

[Sidenote: Genuine mountain battles. ]

This strip of broken table-land becomes broader again farther upstream, above Dormans and Châtillon-sur-Marne. In that direction the plateau ofthe Ile de France ascends until it is more than 260 metres above thestream. Erosion has been even more active there, and in that part of theTardenois the plateau is dissected into narrow strips separated by deepvalleys, broad and moist, the largest of which is the valley of theArdre. In the valley bottoms the streams are bordered by bands oftillage land; above, on the lower slopes, amid the vineyards andorchards which monopolize all the favorable exposures, is a multitude ofsmall villages, some of which have become famous--Ste. Euphraise, Bligny, and Ville-en-Tardenois, whose rustic dwellings of uncut rubble, arranged amphitheatre-wise, sheltered some 500 inhabitants. Higher up, on the uneven surface of the plateau, are scattered villages built onlimestone foundations--tiny fortresses, like Rumigny and Champlat, thescene of hard-fought battles. Almost the entire surface is covered withforests of pine and oak and birch. These are the woods of Le Roi, Courton, Pourcy, and Reims, where hand-to-hand fighting went on for morethan a fortnight, British, Italians, and French succeeding at first inchecking the enemy and then in forcing him back, in those titaniccombats. They were, in reality, genuine mountain battles; for the hillsreach a height of 265 metres, above the level of the plateau, while thevalleys are at least 100 metres deep; and the difficulties of the unevensurface were greatly increased by the obstacles offered by forests, vineyards, streams, and the villages, closely packed with stone houses, which could easily be transformed into fortifications. 

[Sidenote: The first great American battle. ]

A deep, broad, swampy valley, traversed by an unfordable stream;surmounted by steep slopes bristling with vineyards, orchards, villages, and diversified by quarries; above, an entanglement of low hills, ravines, and valleys, under a mantle of forest--such was the theatre ofoperations in which the Americans won their first great victory. A moredifficult terrain could not be desired, or one better adapted to testthe valor of the victorious troops. 

But when they had made themselves masters of this battlefield, theAllies were by no means at the end of their labors; and the difficultiesof the ground to be traversed were still serious in the central portionof the theatre of operations--the Orxois. 

[Sidenote: The Orxois plateau--its soil and relief. ]

[Sidenote: A varied landscape. ]

The Orxois is a plateau extending north of the Marne to the Soissonnais, at a mean height of 160 metres. But it is very far from being uniform. Let us study the nature of its soil, and the relief, that we maycomprehend its aspects more thoroughly. The substratum of the plateau ofthe Orxois is the layer of rock called "hard limestone" 30 to 40 metresin thickness, so much of which is used for building material in thetowns and villages. This layer is almost horizontal, and if there werenothing superimposed upon it, the plateau would be a practically levelplatform. But above the hard limestone are successive layers of a fardifferent character--layers of sand, of Beauchamp sandstone, mingledwith marl, making a moist, impermeable, infertile soil; then anotherlayer of limestone, softer and more clayey than that below. Finally, this upper limestone is covered, especially toward the east, with thinlayers of marl, clay and, lastly, Fontainebleau sand, which areconnected with the strata of the Tardenois. Thus, to a depth of 100metres, we find a succession of diversified strata, hard and soft, dryand moist, which impart great variety to the landscape. 

The valleys which intersect this conglomeration run from east to west, toward the deep depression hollowed out by the Savières and the LowerOurcq. From north to south, we can count three--the Upper Ourcq, byFère-en-Tardenois and La Ferté Milon, the Ru d'Alland, and the Clignon. Very wide where they pass through the upper strata, these valleys growabruptly narrower and deeper when they reach the level of the hardlimestone, where they are little more than deep and narrow ditches. Between these furrows, the marl, sand, and softer limestones formridges, now steep, now rising more gently, the sandy soil bearing woods, the limestones cultivated fields. 

[Sidenote: The ridges run east and west. ]

Thus the whole plateau of the Orxois is a series of elevations anddepressions, running from east to west, which form just so manyobstacles to an advance from south to north like that of the Allies. Luckily they approached this locality at the same time from the west, which enabled them to outflank the obstacles simultaneously with theirapproach from the south. 

[Sidenote: Torcy, Belleau and Bouresches. ]

North of Château-Thierry, three or four kilometres from the Marne, theplateau is less diversified. The only obstacle is the valley of theClignon, which deepens rapidly toward the west. Above it, at the summitof the limestone cliff, the plateau forms a species of promontories onwhich are built villages--Torcy, Belleau, Bouresches. The Americantroops had held their positions there during the last part of June, andit was there that the heroic marines halted the enemy in his march uponParis. And again, it was there that they assumed the offensive on July18, to outflank Château-Thierry from the north. On that day they carriedthe ridges of Torcy and Belleau; on the 19th they pressed beyondBouresches; and on the 20th they forced their way into Etrepilly andChâteau-Thierry. 

[Sidenote: The terrain beyond is less rugged. ]

Immediately beyond, the terrain is not so difficult. The Clignon valleybecomes less rugged and gradually blends with the plateau. TowardBézu-St. -Germain and Epieds lies a comparatively open plain withextensive stretches of fallow land. In this more open region theprogress was more rapid; on July 22 the American troops took possessionof Epieds, twelve kilometres from Bouresches, their starting point. 

[Sidenote: Along the valley of the Ourcq. ]

But the difficulties are more serious farther to the north, along thehills which form the southern boundary of the valley of the Ourcq. Although the depression made by the Ru d'Alland, being broad and level, is not a considerable obstacle, it is not the same beyond. The reliefmap shows a line of heights running from west to east, and rising higherand higher in that direction. From these heights a multitude of valleysdescend to the Ourcq, from south to north, cutting the crest into hillsseparated by depressions. Thus the terrain is broken up in everydirection and well adapted to meet an attack from the west as well asone from the south. 

[Sidenote: The French carry ridges and valleys in succession. ]

It was necessary to deal with all these obstacles one by one. Startingfrom the west, the French had to carry successively these lines ofcrests and depressions with their fortified villages: ridge of Monnes, July 19; ravine of Neuilly-St-Front the same evening; the hill ofLatilly and its wood the 20th; La Croix and Grisolles the 21st, withtheir thickets and dense plantations of osiers. On the 23d the Alliedtroops took Rocourt and the wood of Le Chatelet; on the 24th the deepravine of Brécy; and, finally, on the 25th, French and Americanstogether attacked the hill of the forest of Fère, which is 228 metreshigh, completely covered with woods, cut by ravines, and flanked byfortified villages. On the 27th the whole position was taken, and theAllies were on the verge of the deep valley of the Ourcq, which theywere next to cross. 

[Sidenote: Caves in the cliffs. ]

[Sidenote: Allies turn the line of the Ourcq. ]

This line was a by no means inconsiderable obstacle. Imagine, if youplease, a deep depression, twisting and turning in all directions, andfrom 200 to 400 metres wide, extending at least as far asFère-en-Tardenois. It is bounded on either side by cliffs of hardlimestone, 30 to 40 metres high, in which innumerable caves arescooped--the so-called _boves_, which are used as dwellings, with doorsand windows flush with the face of the cliff. These _boves_ areinvaluable defensive positions, out of reach of bullets and shells. Thevalley bottom is wet and swampy, with dense clumps of poplars mingledwith alder-bushes. There are numerous villages at the foot of thecliffs, --Rozet-St. -Albain, Brény, Armentières, --or on the slopes above, like Noroy. A frontal attack on such a position would have been toocostly. The Allies turned the line of the Ourcq from the north. Theycrossed the river in force in the upper part of its course, where ithas not yet attacked the stratum of hard limestone, and where the valleyis wider, and the sides are less steep. Nevertheless they encounteredterrible difficulties. 

[Sidenote: Strategic value of hills of Orxois. ]

North of the Ourcq, indeed, the last heights of the Orxois form anotherchain of hills, from four to six kilometres wide--the last obstaclebefore we come to the plateau of the Soissonnais. These hills are of thegreatest possible diversity of shape and vary in height from 200 metresat the western extremity to 230 at the eastern. Their bases consistlargely of sandstone and Fontainebleau sand, with clumps of forestscattered here and there; higher up is the softer limestone, the landbeing entirely cleared and covered with crops. Here and there we findthe remains of the former covering of clay and Fontainebleausand--wooded ridges which expand toward the east into the wood ofSeringes, the forest of Nesle, and Meunière wood. These hills, the lastas we travel northward, where they command the whole of the Soissonnais, have therefore the greatest strategic value, particularly the positionsof Hartennes, Plessier-Huleu, and Seringes. 

[Sidenote: The French approach from the west. ]

Luckily these formidable defensive positions were approached from thewest, astride the ridges. Starting from the forest of Retz, the Frenchcrossed the Savières with a rush, and in a single bound reachedNoroy-sur-Ourcq and Villers-Hélon, which lie along one of the ridges, surrounded by orchards. On July 19 they had advanced three kilometres tothe east; the strong line of the Ourcq was outflanked. On the 20th theywere at Parcy-Tigny and Rozet-St. -Albain, pushing forward over thebroken ground planted with sugar-beets and cereals, enlivened in spotsby small clumps of trees perched on the sandstone hillocks. Thus theydrew near to the heart of the position--the ridges of Plessier and ofHartennes. There the resistance was much more violent; but after threedays of hard fighting, the French entered Plessier and approached thevillage of Oulchy-la-Ville, surrounded by picturesque heaps of sandstoneblocks mingled with pines and birches. On the 25th, in the evening, theywere in occupation of Oulchy-le-Château, which lies in a charming valerunning down to the Ourcq. The line of the Ourcq, as to that portionwhere the river, flowing between high cliffs, constitutes a realobstacle, was in the Allies' hands. 

[Sidenote: Fère-en-Tardenois and Sergy. ]

It remained to complete the victory by the conquest of the easternsector of the hills; and this again was no easy task. The French andAmericans had now to approach that strong defensive position from thesouth. On the 28th they entered Fère-en-Tardenois; the Americans crossedthe Ourcq, taking Sergy, which changed hands nine times. On July 31, after more titanic battles, they wrested Seringes from the foe. OnAugust 1 there was a general advance all along the line, and the Alliescarried the whole line of hilltops, from Plessier-Huleu to Meunièrewood. 

[Sidenote: Heroes of the second battle of the Marne. ]

This was the end: the horizon expanded. From the heights conquered infourteen days of fighting the Allies went down to the plateau of theSoissonnais; soon they would reach the Vesle and join hands with thetroops who had retaken Soissons. Among the numberless heroes of thissecond battle of the Marne, they who stormed the heights of the Orxoisand either outflanked or crossed the valley of the Ourcq were thebravest of the brave and are entitled to the largest share of ourgratitude. The third act of the battle was played upon a terrain quitedifferent from those preceding it. The relief is considerablysimplified. The great plateau of the Ile de France, which is buried, asit were, under the accumulations of recent deposits, where erosion hasworn gaps in the ridges of the Orxois, and hollowed out the deep ravinesof the Tardenois, is reduced here to the substratum of hard limestone, almost entirely free from superimposed layers. So that, instead of beingan uneven, swampy district, the Soissonnais is a dry level table-land, where the streams flow underground through the layers of limestone. Afertile district, too, for the surface is covered with a thin coating ofloam, in which sugar-beets and cereals vie with one another in profusionof growth. 

[Sidenote: Valleys of the Vesle and the Aisne. ]

[Sidenote: Fertile slopes and valleys. ]

However, the plateau is intersected by occasional valleys, generallybroad and deep. The two most considerable are those of the Vesle and theAisne which come together above Soissons, at Condé, and isolate thefamous Chemin-des-Dames to the north. Two tributaries, Ambleny brook andthe Crise, flowing down to the Aisne, subdivide the southern portion ofthe Soissonnais, where the battle was fought. With respect to theplateau, these valleys are little worlds apart. Below the hardlimestone, they have hollowed out a path through very soft rocks, sands, and clays; in these the streams have inevitably made large inroads, sapping the limestone cliffs which overhang them. Thus the valleybottoms are abnormally wide--from two to three kilometres near Soissons. The presence of the clayey soils makes them very moist, and we findthere fields of beets and grain side by side with extensive tracts ofgrassland. On the lower slopes are many small fields given over to theless hardy products--beans, orchards, and sometimes grape-vines. Hereare most of the villages, at the level where the water-courses, seepingthrough the limestone of the plateau, reappear in the shape of springs, on the impervious stratum. For the most part the villages lie along thehillsides, surrounded by trees, embellished by châteaux and parks. Theyare well-built and attractive, boasting churches of gracefularchitecture, thanks to the lovely decorative stone taken from thequarries in the limestone cliffs above, which are called _boves_, or_croutes_. A fascinating, fertile country, diversified and pleasant tothe eye, before the war it might well have been taken as a sample ofrural opulence. 

[Sidenote: Great difficulties of passage. ]

Plateau and valleys, then, differ materially--the one monotonous andeasy of access; the other, no less charming than varied, but presentinggreat difficulties of passage in the face of opposition. There is not avillage on the plateau: only a few large farms and scattered sugar-beetrefineries. In the valleys and on the slopes there are everywherehouses, châteaux, parks, orchards, and grottoes. The slenderchurch-tower barely rises to the level of the plateau, as if to watchfor the approach of an enemy. The conditions then were quite simple: onthe plateau it was possible to gain many kilometres in a single rush;but in the valleys a fierce resistance was to be expected. 

[Sidenote: The Franco-American attack. ]

The French and American attack in the Soissonnais was fortunate in itsstarting-point. In the course of the hard-fought battles between June 15and July 15, the French had retaken the entire valley ofAmbleny-Coeuvres, and had gained a footing on the plateau to theeastward, which stretches as far as the outskirts of Soissons. To thesouth they had completely cleared the verge of the forest of Retz, fromwhich they were thus able to debouch into the plain. 

[Sidenote: In sight of Soissons. ]

[Sidenote: Germans bring up reserves. ]

The first onrush was magnificent. Starting at ten minutes to five in themorning, the Allies were within sight of Soissons at ten o'clock, havingoverrun the whole plateau on a front of some ten kilometres. Rarely hasa more successful attack been seen in this war. It was even said thaton this first day some French and Americans got as far as the suburbs ofSoissons. But the danger for the Germans was too great, and they broughtall their reserves thither. Moreover, they had the valley of the Criseto support their defense. 

[Sidenote: Artillery can hardly see the villages. ]

This valley is the widest and deepest of all those which eat into theplateau of the Soissonnais from the south. The very considerabledepression is more than 100 metres below the surface of the plateau, which it cuts in two, effectively shutting off all progress from west toeast; for on the south a narrow isthmus, that of Vierzy, barelyseparates it from the ravine of the Savières; and on the southeast itreaches to the foot of the wooded hills of Hartennes. Clinging to thesides of the valley and of the ravines which open into it, numerousvillages--Vauxbuin, Berzy-le-Sec, Villemontoire, Buzancy--are the moredifficult to capture because the artillery can hardly see them, as theylie close against the hillside. It was on the Crise, in the latter partof May, that a handful of Frenchmen held up the German avalanche fromthe Chemin-des-Dames. 

[Sidenote: German guns have revenge. ]

[Sidenote: Allies enter Soissons. ]

The Germans paid us back in July. Sheltered in the ravines and windingsof the valley, their artillery, being almost invisible, had nothing todisturb its aim. The villages, the orchards, the grottoes, crammed withmachine-guns, were so many fortresses; the whole valley was a veritablehell. There were incessant counter-attacks, which the Allies, on thebare plateau, entirely devoid of cover, could repel only with thegreatest difficulty. They pushed forward step by step, and by fits andstarts. On the 19th our troops were hard put to it to hold the groundthey had taken the day before; on the 20th they barely began to nibbleat the ravines, at Ploisy and L'Echelle. On the 21st the Americans tookBerzy-le-Sec, and the French were astride the lower waters of the Crise;on the 23d they went down into the ravine of Buzancy. But not until the25th did they gain possession of the promontory of Villemontoire; andonly on the 29th did a Scottish division, after three days of forwardfighting, carry Buzancy. This last success, to be sure, was decisive, for it uncovered the upper valley of the Crise. And so, on August 2, theenemy gave way; that day the Allies crossed the valley along its entirelength, and advanced across the eastern side of the plateau as far asthe Vesle. On the same day they entered Soissons--at last. The ancientcapital of the French kings, the city which formerly disputed the claimof Paris to be called the metropolis, is now no more than a mass ofruins. For four long years the war has laid its heavy hand upon her; andit is no new thing for her, since she had played an important militaryrôle in 1814, 1815, and 1870. She owes it to her fine location, in theheart of a broad valley, where the roads from south and east meet. Letus hope that her martyrdom will soon come to an end. 

[Sidenote: The Allies hold the entire plateau. ]

Here ended the second battle of the Marne. The Allies have regainedpossession of the whole plateau which extends from the Marne to theVesle and the Aisne. They have established themselves in the valleys ofthose great rivers, from Soissons to Braisne, Bazoches, and Fismes--evento Rheims. They find there formidable obstacles to be overcome: a broad, moist, sometimes swampy bottom; facing them the cliff of theChemin-des-Dames and the plateau of the Vesle, with its cap oflimestone, and its numerous windings lined with villages and grottoes. Except in case of a surprise or a voluntary retirement, it will be ahard job to carry these positions. But sufficient unto the day is theevil thereof. The results already achieved are fine enough to justify usin declaring ourselves satisfied. 

[Illustration: A PICTORIAL MAP SHOWING THE FARTHEST GERMAN ADVANCE, THEHINDENBURG LINE AND THE LINE AT THE TIME OF THE ARMISTICE: NOVEMBER 11, 1918]

[Sidenote: The American troops do magnificent work. ]

[Sidenote: Peers of the world's best soldiers]

The work done in their début, by the American troops in conjunction withour own, was magnificent. They fought against victorious soldiers sureof success, and whipped them. They were engaged on a difficult terrain. In the south they were obliged to cross a broad river and wide valleys, to scale cliffs bristling with defensive positions. In the center theywere confronted by a confused entanglement of broken ground, hills andravines, woods and open fields, bisected by a deep valley half-concealedby trees. In the north they became acquainted with the snare formed byplateaus falling abruptly away into the wolf-trap of ravines, where theenemy, lying in ambush, refused to give ground. The Americans triumphedover all these obstacles, and deserve to be reckoned the peers of thebest soldiers in the world. On the other hand, fighting as they havefought in these countrysides, so typically French in their simplicityand grandeur, and seeing all their charms foully outraged, ourattractive villages destroyed, our churches--graceful masterpieces, inalmost every case, of the Middle Ages--desecrated and shattered, theyhave come to understand France better; they have had a share in hermisfortunes and in her hopes. 

Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, December, 1918. 

 * * * * *

Throughout the war Germans persisted in the assumption that by nightlyraids from bombing machines and Zeppelins they could spread terror amongthe Allies and weaken their morale. They did succeed in killing a largenumber of defenseless men and women, but this was the only result ofthese attacks. A vivid account of these night raids is given in thenarrative following. 

NIGHT RAIDS FROM THE AIR

MARY HELEN FEE

[Sidenote: Thousands of automobile trucks. ]

When the first offensive began to the north of us, we, who werestationed in the American Canteen at E----, not more than fifteen milesfrom Rheims, were thrilled by the sight of the thousands of automobiletrucks, which like a mighty river flowed ceaselessly by our canteencarrying French troops up to the English front; and we grew sad when webeheld ambulance convoys hurrying in the same direction. 

We could not be oblivious to certain signs which pointed to renewedactivity in our sector. The American ambulance boys predicted with theemphasis and at the same time with the vagueness born of surmise insteadof exact knowledge, that we should "see something doing" in a few weeks. 

[Sidenote: Few German airplanes. ]

What chiefly excited our curiosity, however, was the scarcity of Germanairplanes. Although the days were clear and fine for observing, onlyoccasionally did the barking of guns call us outside to behold a littlewhite, shimmering object skipping defiantly through extremest blue whiletufts of woolly cloud broke far below it, serving only to aid us indetecting the almost invisible plane. One came over one night just aboutsunset, and called us and our dinner guests from the beginning of ameal. Another paid us an early morning call. Then for nearly three weekswe enjoyed undisturbed rest at night. Not once did the "alerte" send usshivering to damp cellars; not once did we hear the deep "boom" followedby a savage jar and rattle which differentiates the falling bomb ortorpedo from the cannon. We said, fatuously, that we believed all theairplanes were engaged up on the English front, and that at last ourmastery of the air must be firmly established. 

[Sidenote: News of the second offensive. ]

[Sidenote: The permissionaires return in good humor. ]

It was on a Monday that the news of the second offensive reached us. Trains from Paris were delayed and the Paris papers did not arrive, butthe ambulance men told us there was a German offensive from Rheims toSoissons. Next day the canteen was crowded with permissionaires hastilyrecalled from leave and hurrying to join their regiments at the front. Most of them had passed through, ten to two days before, in the subduedgood humor with which the poilu hails his bath, disinfecting, cleanclothes, and relative security of body while on a ten days' leave. Theywere going back to face death, mutilation, and an experience whichdrives many men mad. There was no undue hilarity about them, but a quietdetermination which has been reflected in the stand made by the armies. Here and there a weakling had tried to escape thought in drink, but thepercentage of that sort was very small. 

[Sidenote: Three weeks' respite of raids. ]

On Tuesday more news drifted in, and that night I did not fully undresson going to bed. So strongly can the sense of optimism be grown fromlittle habit that a respite of three weeks from bombing attacks hadalmost (though not quite) convinced me there would never be any more. Imay explain that I was serving as canteen accountant, and occupied atiny three-room apartment across the street from the canteen, between itand the railway station, and I took my meals at one of the two Red Crosshouses maintained in E----. 

[Sidenote: Objective of a bomb attack. ]

When a town is bombed, the Germans have various objectives, principallythe railway stations, troop barracks, canteens, munition dumps, foodstores, and hospitals. As a rule, when private homes are destroyed, itis because they happen to be close to these points of attack. Torpedoesare too expensive to be wasted in chance destruction. 

[Sidenote: Lights are extinguished in the war zone. ]

In towns in the war zone, great precaution is taken to prevent even athin line or dot of light from showing at night. Only the railroad showsits signal lights, and these are put out at the first alarm, while allmoving trains come to a standstill and extinguish what lights theycarry. The lamps in passenger coaches are always put out when the trainenters the war zone. So the bombing aviator has a rather difficult taskin getting his bombs exactly where he wants them. The bomb must bereleased about a thousand feet in advance of the object aimed at, andthe plane must pass over and reverse its course before a second bombcan be thrown at the same target. The course of a plane can be followedby tracing its bombs. 

My position during a bombing raid was most unenviable. A torpedo cast atthe railway station and going a bit too far was likely to land on thetwo-story brick house in which I was lodged. One cast at the canteen, and falling short, was likely to do the same. 

[Sidenote: Anticipating air raids. ]

It is fashionable among the workers in France to affect greatindifference to danger. I am free to confess that I am not aparticularly courageous woman. My imagination is active, and on nightswhen we expect a bombing raid I always go through a period of miserybefore going to bed. I would not for anything leave the war zone, but Ihave always a lively vision of coming out of slumber to theaccompaniment of fearful noise and the crashing of the building atop, and then my coward imagination paints pictures of lying torn andanguished under settling weights of being burned alive while disabledand unable to extricate myself. Oddly enough, all my terrors vanish withthe falling of the first bomb. I cannot remember being in what theEnglish call a "blue funk" while a raid is going on, though many a timeI have been in one beforehand. 

[Sidenote: Premonition of danger. ]

Tuesday night some subtle instinct warned that trouble might come. Inaccordance with a natural forethought I slipped into a suit of underwearand woollen stockings under my nightdress. I must have been asleep inthree minutes after my head touched the pillow, for I was dead tired. 

[Sidenote: A bomb lands close by. ]

[Sidenote: The sky blazes with shells. ]

I wakened with the sense that I had heard a gun, and, with onestockinged foot thrust out of bed, wondered sleepily whether it was thefirst, second or third of the alerte, or whether indeed I had notwakened from a dream of a gun. Probably it was the last gun of thealerte, for the next sound was the thunderous roar of a bomb whichclearly had landed close by (it got a railway shed and a freight car onthe tracks behind me). The terrific noise and the shock to our building, which rattled as if it were coming down, considerably accelerated mymovements. I snapped on the electric torch which always lay, togetherwith my cap and slippers, beside the bed, slipped a skirt over mynightdress and my great-coat atop, and got into the cap and slippers inrecord time. But by the time I had crossed the flagged passage andwrestled with the lock of the "grande porte" there was no getting out ofthe house. The canteen, directly across the street, lay in utterdarkness, lights out, doors locked. There was no hope of using it as ashort cut to the _abris_, or shelter, on the other side, while to try togo around it was almost certain death. The sky was ablaze with breakingshells from our seventy-fives; shrapnel was falling like hail in thestreets, while the steady "pup-pup" of machine-guns--both our own andthe bombing planes'--advised all who could to remain under shelter. Thenoise of our guns and of the bombs was like a small inferno. 

[Sidenote: Waiting through the raid alone. ]

I stayed it out--about twenty minutes--alone in that dark flaggedhallway, and it was lonesome. When the shrapnel and machine-gun fire letup sufficiently to make it safe, I crept along under the shelter of theeaves to the door of a courtyard next door where I knew one of our cookslived. She had invited me a few days before, to refuge there instead oftrying to get over the _abris_, because, she said, the whole upper loftswere full of hay, and it had been demonstrated that bombs will notpenetrate to any depth in hay. But the door was locked, and though Ibeat upon it with my electric torch, nobody heard me. I finally tookadvantage of a lull in the firing, when the Germans went back to theirown lines for more ammunition, to get over the _abris_. 

There one of the women on night duty at the canteen told me that thedirectrice and everybody else not on night duty, had gone up to theevacuation hospital about ten o'clock, in response to a call for aidfrom the French authorities. 

[Sidenote: Many wounded in the hospitals. ]

In E---- there were half a dozen large hospitals. The wounded, chieflyEnglish, were coming in faster than the hospital corps could handlethem. They needed our help, not only in registering the men--very few ofwhom understood any French--but in feeding and giving water. 

I got to the hospital the next day and worked steadily till eightthirty. Then an ambulance driver gave me a lift as far as the canteen, and I managed to get a cold supper at our mess. 

[Sidenote: Dispensing hospitality to worn-out officers. ]

I was hardly in my office before I heard a knock at the door, which, asI was alone in the house, I always locked at night as soon as I entered. In response to my "Who's there?" a voice, guided by my English, replied, "I am an English officer. " I threw open the door without a second'shesitation. A young officer, weary, white-faced, stood there, beginningto apologize as he saw my uniform and white veil. He was simply "done, "he said--and he looked it. He had found every hotel was full, and, seeing a few gleams of light behind the shutters, he had knocked in thehope of finding shelter for the night. I knew that the woman at thecanteen who would go off duty at midnight was scheduled to goimmediately to the hospital to work until seven in the morning and thatI could occupy her bed after I came back from the hospital, and Ioffered my apartment to the officer for the night. He was most grateful, and I rushed over to the canteen to get him a pitcher of hot water and acup of chocolate. But there I found a group of French officers, who saidthey had neither sleep nor rest for three days and nights, pleading forsome place to lie down. As there was a comfortable leather couch in myoffice, besides a wide soft couch over which I had laid my steamer rug, and, in addition, an exceedingly soft double bed in my room which Ithought the tired Englishman ought to be willing to share with anequally tired man, I proffered my hospitality, which was gratefullyaccepted. I piloted them across to the office, and returned to thecanteen, hoping to find an American ambulance boy who would run me overto the hospital. 

[Sidenote: A new raid begins. ]

[Sidenote: Directing men to shelter. ]

[Sidenote: Help from American boys. ]

I sighted a group of the familiar uniforms, and was heading for it when, bang! went a falling bomb, without any warning alerte. The next instantall lights were out, and the French soldiers were swarming through thedoor. As all the other women in the canteen had set duties toperform--putting out fires, locking up money and food--and I, not beingon duty, had none, I stationed myself at the door, calling out to thesoldiers where they would find shelter. Being transients, they did notknow where to find refuge. But long before the canteen was empty, themachine-gun bullets were sweeping the street and the shrapnel wasraining down. Two American boys came up in the darkness, and one said inthe quietest tone of authority, "Get between us, lady!" They backed meup against the side of the canteen, close under the shelter of theeaves, and stood one on each side of me. I had no trench-helmet, so oneof them took his sheepskin driving coat, folded it, and put it over hishead and mine. As soon as a lull in the firing permitted, we ran acrossthe street to the _abris_. The Germans went back several times for moreammunition and continued the bombing for nearly two hours. 

[Sidenote: The nurses stay with the wounded. ]

One of our workers, who was at the hospital, told me that her firstimpulse was to run for an _abris_ as we would do at the canteen, butwhen she looked about her and saw everybody composedly going on withduty, she gathered herself together and did the same--"Although, " sheadded, "my teeth just rattled at first. " Some of the wounded wereterrified and begged not to be left; and that called out the motherinstinct in the women, so that they forgot to be afraid. 

The Germans swept the hospital with their machine guns and did theirbest to bomb it, but fortunately made no hits. It was finally necessaryto put out all lights and to cease work. It was a most trying ordeal, because the buildings were of pine, close together, and a direct hitprobably would have started a fire which would have burned the woundedas they lay. 

[Sidenote: The sound of battle draws near. ]

About half past one I went up to our mess and crawled into an empty bed. The next morning when I awakened it was to the sound of distant cannon. This meant that the battle was drawing nearer. 

[Sidenote: A ride on an ambulance. ]

An especially hard day kept me on the strain from 8 a. M. To 7 p. M. Andwhen I returned to the mess I found no dinner and no servants. Ourdirectrice, anticipating evacuation, had dismissed them. Only a littleBelgian refugee, a sort of "slavey, " hung on, because she had no otherplace to go. Tired out, I managed to make an omelet and a cup of tea, and to fry some griddle cakes to replace the bread which was conspicuousby its absence. Then I stationed myself in front of the canteen hopingto flag a passing ambulance. An American driver stopped his car, and aFrenchman, who was beside him on the front seat, jumped down to help meup. This man had a bandage around his throat, and when I asked him if hewas wounded, he made a hissing sound in reply. The American driverexplained that he could not speak because he had a bullet through hiswindpipe. There were six badly wounded men on the stretchers inside, butwe heard not a sound from them. 

[Sidenote: A night of horrors. ]

I shall not soon forget that night I had steeled myself to meet horrors, and knew that I _must not_ let them affect me. Yet in spite of terriblewounds, there was little sound of suffering. The place was wonderfullyquiet. 

When I got inside of the receiving room, a group of our women who hadbeen at work all afternoon were still moving about, white andhollow-eyed with fatigue. A French doctor asked if I could not bringsome food there from the canteen. It was Thursday. Some of the men hadbeen wounded on Tuesday, and had had no food and little water. 

[Sidenote: Bringing up food for the wounded. ]

I found an English girl with an empty ambulance, who risked a reprimandfor leaving without orders, and we flashed back to the canteen, andloaded up with twenty gallons of hot chocolate, bread, about threehundred hard boiled eggs, some kilos of chocolate, and raw eggs andsugar. We flew back to the hospital; but there was a big convoy ofambulances just in, so that we could not get up to the main buildings. We scouted around in the dark to find a place to deposit our stuff andopen a temporary kitchen, and, returning to the ambulance, we cameacross a wounded boy who had sunk on a bench. The ambulance driver hadpassed him, making his way on foot, but being full-up, she was unable togive him a lift. He was wounded in the chest, was exhausted, and had nogreat-coat. It was absolutely necessary to get him under cover and togive him warmth and nourishment. We put our arms around him and tried tohelp him along, but soon it was apparent that he had not the strength tomake the reception ward. 

[Sidenote: Holding up a boy too weak to stand. ]

The English girl said, "You hold him up while I get a stretcher"; so Ijammed myself up against the side of a building and put my arms aboutthe boy while his weight grew heavier and heavier against me. I couldnot let him slip, because the roadway was narrow and a long string ofambulances, without lights, was passing. He never uttered a sound, buthis arms moved convulsively. As he felt himself growing weaker, he putthem around my neck, and clung to me precisely as a frightened childwould. It seemed an age while I waited there, warning off ambulancesthat were about to shave us too closely. I could not help wonderingwhere that boy's mother was, what she was doing, or if he had a mother. And I thought some terrible thoughts about war and some wicked onesabout Germans. 

[Sidenote: Dispensing food to the wounded. ]

The girl came with her stretcher at last, and we got the boy on it. Then we went about setting up our feeding station. Hungry men limped in, bandaged mostly about the head, and _how_ they consumed hard boiled eggsand drank hot chocolate! I left the English girl dispensing food anddrink, while I took to the badly wounded a mixture of beaten egg, hotmilk and sugar. Here and there men asked for a piece of chocolate orbread, but most of the wounded wanted only the liquid food. They wouldsay with their awful English cockney accent, "Ah! that's good!" or"Prime stuff!" or "Could you spare a little more, sister?" In spite ofdreadful wounds, they were full of pluck. 

[Sidenote: Great numbers of wounded in stretchers. ]

For the next two hours I gave water and egg mixture to all sorts andconditions of men--English, French, Canadians, Moroccans, Senegalese. The doctor asked if I knew enough to administer morphine hypodermics, and I regretfully admitted that I did not, while I registered a vow tolearn. Then some American Red Cross men appeared, and some Englishdoctors. Before midnight three or four long Red Cross trains had beenfilled with wounded, and sent out. Yet at that hour more than fivehundred wounded men still lay on their stretchers on the grass outside. And all the while, as I worked, I thought of how, as soon as the mooncame up, we should hear the familiar roar and rattle of the bombs, andof how the shrapnel and machine gun bullets would rain down on thoseupturned faces. 

[Sidenote: The hospital floors are crowded. ]

But, grace to heaven, the Germans did not come that night! At midnight Iwent into Ward 4, where some of the worst wounded had been placed. Stretchers had been laid on top of the beds and flat on the floor onboth sides of the central aisle, till one could hardly move. Most of thewounded seemed to sleep. Only here and there one begged for water, andthese men were usually wounded in the abdomen where not even watercould be given. We could moisten their lips and wipe off the hotfeverish faces, and that was all. 

[Sidenote: Everything possible has been done. ]

By one o'clock it was evident that the most of what could be done hadbeen done. Another section of our women had arrived with more food, andI went out to the covered way between the receiving room and theoperating room, to steal a ride home on the driver's seat of somedeparting ambulance. An English boy, who had been gassed, asked mehoarsely if I could get him a blanket, and I did so. Another man wasthere, on whose eyelashes and eyebrows something that looked like iceseemed to hang. I think it was an application to soothe gas-burns. 

It was two o'clock before I got to bed at the mess. The English officerwas still occupying my apartment. I might pass off my action inresigning it to him as philanthropy, but candor compels me to admit thatI was glad of an excuse to stay at the house where there was company incase of a bombing raid. 

[Sidenote: The French bills come in. ]

Friday was a long, tense day. The French merchants and all the peoplewith whom we had dealings, anticipating our withdrawal, swarmed in withaccounts. When the G. A. N. (Grand Armée Nationale) sent in its requestfor a check (previously, I had been obliged fairly to windlass theirbill out of them), I knew the French would evacuate. The Commandant sentfor the Directrice, and advised her to follow French headquarterswherever it might move. He said he was evacuating all French hospitalsand had turned over all evacuation hospitals to the English. No morewounded French were to be brought into E----. 

[Sidenote: The German aviators bomb hospitals again. ]

All day I worked without food, and after 7. 30 got supper for myself andthree companions. We hoped for a night's rest, but the Germans beganbombing us at dusk, and kept it up till daylight. They were afterhospitals, as we knew by the fact that the dropping bombs were at adistance from us and the regular line. All night the machine-gun battlewent on--our own guns at E----, warring with the sweeping planesoverhead. We got so tired of going to shelter, and so accustomed to thefiring, that we finally stayed in our rooms and even opened our shuttersto peer out into the calm summer sky. Shells were bursting and groundsignals of colored lights were streaming skyward. It was too exciting tosleep until we gave out from sheer exhaustion. I managed to get anintermittent slumber from four until seven. 

[Sidenote: The town is full of refugees. ]

As there was no breakfast at our mess, I went to the canteen for a cupof coffee, and found the place crowded. The French Commander said thatour town was due to be shelled before long as we were getting in rangeof the German guns. We decided not to go until we had to, but to ceasekeeping the canteen open at night; to sell only hot coffee, chocolate, bread, cheese, eggs and apples by day--thus omitting our hot meal--andto divide our forces, one part to run the canteen, another to organize atemporary canteen on the grounds of the evacuation hospital, and stillanother to maintain the rolling canteen at the railway station. Thestreets were almost blocked with refugees. I saw one unconscious womanin a wheelbarrow being trundled by a boy. Regiments went through, goingup to the front, the men's faces stern and set. The sound of the battlegrew louder and louder. 

[Sidenote: An airplane sweeps the street with a machine gun. ]

That night we bundled our bedding into the Ford camion, and slept in oneof the deep champagne caves. I had volunteered to go on duty at thecanteen at six the next morning, and arriving there on time, found twoor three hundred tired and hungry men waiting for the doors to open. The night before a great thermos marmite had been filled with boilingcoffee, and we were able to begin feeding the men without delay. All daywe did a tremendous business. About half past nine a German plane cameover, tried to bomb us, and swept the street with a machine gun. Wecontinued serving and pouring out coffee. The aviator killed a woman andchild who were standing in a garden, and then one of our machine gunsgot him. The plane, a three passenger one, came tumbling down into thepublic square. The pilot was caught with both legs under the engine andwas badly hurt, but the observer and the gunner were uninjured. Aninfuriated Frenchman, who had seen the killing of the woman and child, rushed up and killed the gunner as they lifted him out. I got thesefacts from an American staff car driver who assisted in extricating thepilot. That morning, our guns got three German planes. 

[Sidenote: A German shell hits twenty-seven. ]

At one that afternoon I left the canteen, and went home for the bathwhich I had missed that morning. I had just finished dressing when aGerman shell passed over the house, killing, as they said, twenty-sevenpersons. 

[Sidenote: The distant thunder of battle. ]

I elected to stay over night at the hotel instead of going to thechampagne cave. No sound disturbed the night except the distant thunderof the battle and the bursting of shells which were falling about athousand yards short of the town. The Germans were trying to destroy thebridge over the Marne, to cut our communication with Rheims, but theydid not have the range. 

Copyright, The Forum, November, 1918. 

 * * * * *

Volumes of detailed narrative could not sum up more graphically what theAmerican Army did in France than did the summary written by GeneralPershing, presented in the following pages. 

THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING

[Sidenote: Organization of the American army. ]

With French and British armies at their maximum strength, and allefforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly intrenched positions inBelgium and France failed, it was necessary to plan for an Americanforce adequate to turn the scale in favor of the Allies. Taking accountof the strength of the central powers at that time, the immensity of theproblem which confronted us could hardly be overestimated. The firstrequisite being an organization that could give intelligent direction toeffort, the formation of a General Staff occupied my early attention. 

[Sidenote: The division. ]

[Sidenote: A corps comprises six divisions. ]

After a thorough consideration of allied organizations it was decidedthat our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of3, 000 men, with three battalions to a regiment and four companies of 250men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments, a machine-gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery, a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs andmilitary police. These, with medical and other units, made a total ofover 28, 000 men, or practically double the size of a French or Germandivision. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions--fourcombat and one depot and one replacement division--and also tworegiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. Withfour divisions fully trained, a corps could take over an Americansector with, two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depotand replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks. 

[Sidenote: Plan of training for the infantry. ]

Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force which should beable to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, thedevelopment of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use ofthe rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. Theplan of training after arrival in France allowed a division one monthfor acclimatization and instruction in small units from battalions down, a second month in quiet trench sectors by battalion, and a third monthafter it came out of the trenches when it should be trained as acomplete division in war of movement. 

[Sidenote: The school center at Langres. ]

[Sidenote: British and French officers assist. ]

Very early a system of schools was outlined and started, which shouldhave the advantage of instruction by officers direct from the front. Atthe great school center at Langres, one of the first to be organized, was the staff school, where the principles of general staff work, aslaid down in our own organization were taught to carefully selectedofficers. Men in the ranks, who had shown qualities of leadership, weresent to the school of candidates for commissions. A school of the linetaught younger officers the principles of leadership, tactics, and theuse of the different weapons. In the artillery school, at Saumur, youngofficers were taught the fundamental principles of modern artillery;while at Issoudun an immense plant was built for training cadets inaviation. These and other schools, with their well-consideredcurriculums for training in every branch of our organization, werecoordinated in a manner best to develop an efficient army out of willingand industrious young men, many of whom had not before known even therudiments of military technique. Both Marshal Haig and General Petainplaced officers and men at our disposal for instructional purposes, andwe are deeply indebted for the opportunities given to profit by theirveteran experience. 

[Sidenote: Questions of communication and supply. ]

The eventual place the American Army should take on the western frontwas to a large extent influenced by the vital questions of communicationand supply. The northern ports of France were crowded by the BritishArmies' shipping and supplies while the southern ports, though otherwiseat our service, had not adequate port facilities for our purposes andthese we should have to build. The already overtaxed railway systembehind the active front in northern France would not be available for usas lines of supply and those leading from the southern ports ofnortheastern France would be unequal to our needs without much newconstruction. Practically all warehouses, supply depots and regulatingstations must be provided by fresh constructions. While France offeredus such material as she had to spare after a drain of three yearsenormous quantities of material had to be brought across the Atlantic. 

[Sidenote: Plans for construction on a vast scale. ]

With such a problem any temporization or lack of definiteness in makingplans might cause failure even with victory within our grasp. Moreover, broad plans commensurate with our national purpose and resources wouldbring conviction of our power to every soldier in the front line, to thenations associated with us in the war, and to the enemy. The tonnage formaterial for necessary construction for the supply of an army of threeand perhaps four million men would require a mammoth program ofshipbuilding at home, and miles of dock construction in France, with acorrespondingly large project for additional railways and for storagedepots. 

[Sidenote: The southern ports are selected. ]

All these considerations led to the inevitable conclusion that if wewere to handle and supply the great forces deemed essential to win thewar we must utilise the southern ports of France--Bordeaux, La Pallice, St. Nazaire, and Brest--and the comparatively unused railway systemsleading therefrom to the northeast. Generally speaking, then, this wouldcontemplate the use of our forces against the enemy somewhere in thatdirection, but the great depots of supply must be centrally located, preferably in the area included by Tours, Bourges, and Chateauroux, sothat our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever theymight be serving on the western front. 

[Sidenote: Army and civilian experts are employed. ]

To build up such a system there were talented men in the Regular Army, but more experts were necessary than the Army could furnish. Thanks tothe patriotic spirit of our people at home, there came from civil lifemen trained for every sort of work involved in building and managing theorganization necessary to handle and transport such an army and keep itsupplied. With such assistance the construction and general developmentof our plans have kept pace with the growth of the forces, and theService of Supply is now able to discharge from ships and move 45, 000tons daily, besides transporting troops and material in the conduct ofactive operations. 

[Sidenote: Organization of the Service of Supply. ]

As to organization, all the administrative and supply services, exceptthe Adjutant General's, Inspector General's and Judge Advocate General'sDepartments which remain at general headquarters, have been transferredto the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours under acommanding general responsible to the commander in chief for supply ofthe armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief SignalOfficer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of ChemicalWarfare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to questionsof procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General in themaintenance of order in general, the Director General of Transportationin all that affects such matters, and the Chief Engineer in all mattersof administration and supply, are subordinate to the Commanding Generalof the Service of Supply, who, assisted by a staff especially organizedfor the purpose, is charged with the administrative coordination of allthese services. 

[Sidenote: The transportation department. ]

The transportation department under the Service of Supply directs theoperation, maintenance, and construction of railways, the operation ofterminals, the unloading of ships, and transportation of material towarehouses or to the front. Its functions make necessary the mostintimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, with the practical result that our transportation department has beenable to improve materially the operations of railways generally. Constantly laboring under a shortage of rolling stock, thetransportation department has nevertheless been able by efficientmanagement to meet every emergency. 

[Sidenote: Duties of the Engineer Corps. ]

The Engineer Corps is charged with all construction, including lightrailways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projectsrequired, the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeauxand Nantes, and the immense storage depots at La Palice, Montoir, andGièvres, besides innumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports ofFrance. These projects have all been carried on by phases keeping pacewith our needs. The Forestry Service under the Engineer Corps has cutthe greater part of the timber and railway ties required. 

To meet the shortage of supplies from America, due to lack of shipping, the representatives of the different supply departments were constantlyin search of available material and supplies in Europe. In order tocoordinate these purchases and to prevent competition between ourdepartments, a general purchasing agency was created early in ourexperience to coordinate our purchases and, if possible, induce ourAllies to apply the principle among the Allied armies. While there wasno authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met bygrouping the purchasing representatives of the different departmentsunder one control, charged with the duty of consolidating requisitionsand purchases. Our efforts to extend the principle have been signallysuccessful, and all purchases for the Allied armies are now on anequitable and cooperative basis. Indeed, it may be said that the work ofthis bureau has been thoroughly efficient and businesslike. 

Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessaryfor its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most importantdeficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In orderto meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offerof the French Government to provide us with the necessary artilleryequipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and onefifty-five G P F guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. Thewisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, althoughwe soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, therewere no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on ourfront at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these typesproduced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-fivemillimeter guns. 

[Sidenote: The first airplanes received from America. ]

In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the FrenchGovernment came to our aid until our own aviation program should beunder way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for trainingour personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2, 676 pursuit, observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received from homearrived in May, and altogether we have received 1, 379. The firstAmerican squadron completely equipped by American production, includingairplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to tanks, wewere also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we were lessfortunate, for the reason that the French production could barely meetthe requirements of their own armies. 

[Sidenote: The attitude of the French Government liberal. ]

It should be fully realized that the French Government has always takena most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us everypossible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as inother respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, andtanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not beenexclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our ownmanufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the timethe armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the earlysupply of practically all our necessities from our own factories. 

[Sidenote: Responsibility for the welfare of the troops. ]

[Sidenote: Welfare organizations and their valuable work. ]

The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as Commander inChief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who came toFrance in the impressionable period of youth. They could not have theprivilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of leave ofvisiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully realizingthat the standard of conduct that should be established for them musthave a permanent influence in their lives and on the character of theirfuture citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's ChristianAssociation, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the JewishWelfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in everypossible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different customsand language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with thecause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in theirbehalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and theirinnate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that themembers of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire tobe of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion ofthese representative men and women has given a new significance to theGolden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never berepaid. 

[Sidenote: The Twenty-sixth fights at Seicheprey. ]

During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions hadengaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which wasSeicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20, in the Toul sector, but nonehad participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which hadpassed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to thetrenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October andby March 21, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had fourdivisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal toany demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developedwas such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed. 

[Sidenote: Pershing offers forces to Foch. ]

On March 28 I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch, who had beenagreed upon as Commander in Chief of the Allied Armies, all of ourforces to be used as he might decide. At his request the first divisionwas transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve atChaumont en Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required promptaction, an agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of theAllied premiers and commanders and myself on May 2 by which Britishshipping was to transport 10 American divisions to the British Armyarea, where they were to be trained and equipped, and additional Britishshipping was to be provided for as many divisions as possible for useelsewhere. 

[Sidenote: The First takes Cantigny. ]

[Sidenote: Fighting qualities demonstrated. ]

On April 26 the First Division had gone into the line in the Montdidiersalient on the Picardy battle front. Tactics had been suddenlyrevolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident of theresults of their training, were eager for the test. On the morning ofMay 28 this division attacked the commanding German position in itsfront, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all otherobjectives, which were organized and held steadfastly against viciouscounterattacks and galling artillery fire. Although local, thisbrilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated ourfighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that theenemy's troops were not altogether invincible. 

[Sidenote: The Third Division on the Marne. ]

[Sidenote: The Second wins Bouresches and Belleau Wood. ]

The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27, had advancedrapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisisequally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again everyavailable man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the ThirdDivision, which had just come from its preliminary training in thetrenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine-gun battalionpreceded the other units and successfully held the bridgehead at theMarne, opposite Château-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve nearMontdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport tocheck the progress of the enemy toward Paris. The Division attacked andretook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held itsground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle ofBelleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority andgained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemythan to ourselves. On July 1, before the Second was relieved, itcaptured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision. 

[Sidenote: Second Corps is organized. ]

Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Major General George W. Read, had beenorganized for the command of our divisions with the British, which wereheld back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five ofthe ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three torelieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris areato join the group of American divisions which stood between the city andany farther advance of the enemy in that direction. 

[Sidenote: The Forty-second and the Twenty-eighth. ]

[Sidenote: Brilliant work of the Third. ]

The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way, and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary trainingbefore being put into action, their very presence warranted the use ofall the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves. Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheimsagainst the German offensive of July 15, and held their groundunflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies ofthe Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancingwaves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank ofthe Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west ofMézy, opposite Château-Thierry, where a large force of German infantrysought to force a passage under support of powerful artilleryconcentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A single regiment ofthe Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annalson this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on itsfront while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing, pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the Germanattacks with counterattacks at critical points and succeeded in throwingtwo German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600 prisoners. 

[Sidenote: First and Second in the thrust toward Soissons. ]

The great force of the German Château-Thierry offensive established thedeep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and thevulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to hisdisadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, everydivision with any sort of training was made available for use in acounter-offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons onJuly 18 was given to our First and Second Divisions in company withchosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of apreliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery, firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while theinfantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops underthese trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemybrought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense bothwith machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting theFirst Division continued to advance until it had gained the heightsabove Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-Sec. The SecondDivision took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance andreached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. Thesetwo divisions captured 7, 000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery. 

[Sidenote: The Twenty-sixth and the Third. ]

The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a French division, was undercommand of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement towardSoissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy while the ThirdDivision was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. TheTwenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past theChâteau-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing itsprogress, took the heights of Mont St. Père and the villages ofChartèves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine-gun and artilleryfire. 

[Sidenote: Germans fall back. ]

[Sidenote: The Forty-second relieves the Twenty-sixth. ]

[Sidenote: Third and Fourth Advance. ]

On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugney and Epieds, our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from theChampagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through theForêt de Fère, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth Divisionswere already advancing, while the French divisions with which we werecooperating were moving forward at other points. 

[Sidenote: The Forty-second and Thirty-second. ]

[Sidenote: The Twenty-eighth and the Seventy-seventh. ]

The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29thand was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. TheForty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering theheights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and theThirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in thepursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of reducingthe salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was relieved by theFourth at Chéry-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the Twenty-eighth, while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on the Vesle. Theoperations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the Third Corps, Major General Robert L. Bullard, commanding. 

[Sidenote: The First Army is organized. ]

[Sidenote: The American sector is extended. ]

With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to theconcentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of theforthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had longbeen planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the FirstArmy was organized on August 10 under my personal command. WhileAmerican units had held different divisional and corps sectors along thewestern front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts theAmerican forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over apermanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30, the linebeginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to thewest through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, wasplaced under my command. The American sector was afterwards extendedacross the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and includedthe Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and theSeventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun. 

[Sidenote: Large troop movements. ]

The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidabledefenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and ofcorps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, thelocation of hospitals, and the molding together of all the elements of agreat modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by ourService of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was to bea surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of approximately600, 000 troops, and required for its success the most careful attentionto every detail. 

[Sidenote: Heavy guns can reach Metz. ]

The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and armyartillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start ofour superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy gunswere able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German railmovements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my commandwhich, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces, gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged inone operation on the western front. 

[Sidenote: The First Corps. ]

[Sidenote: The Third Corps. ]

[Sidenote: The Fifth Corps. ]

[Sidenote: Reserves. ]

From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to theMoselle River the line was roughly 40 miles long and situated oncommanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our FirstCorps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second Divisions) undercommand of Major General Hunter Liggett, restrung its right onPont-a-Mousson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth, Forty-second, and First Divisions), under Major General Joseph T. Dickman, in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on thepivot of the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray toMouilly the Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center andour Fifth Corps, under command of Major General George H. Cameron, withour Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base ofthe salient, were to attack three difficult hills--Les Eparges, Combres, and Amaranthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighthDivision, our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army theThirty-fifth and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth andThirty-third available. It should be understood that our corpsorganizations are very elastic, and that we have at no time hadpermanent assignments of divisions to corps. 

[Sidenote: The attack on St. Mihiel begins. ]

[Sidenote: Breaking the barbed-wire defenses. ]

After four hours' artillery preparation, the seven American divisionsin the front line advanced at 5 a. M. , on September 12, assisted by alimited number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by theFrench. These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters andothers armed with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bandsof barbed wire that protected the enemy's front line and supporttrenches, in irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down alldefense of an enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artilleryfire and our sudden approach out of the fog. 

[Sidenote: The First Army takes the salient. ]

[Sidenote: Many prisoners and guns taken. ]

Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curvedback to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corpsmade the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and theFifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counterattack. A rapidmarch brought reserve regiments of a Division of the Fifth Corps intoVigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of ourFourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west ofThiaucourt to Vigneulles, and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost ofonly 7, 000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16, 000 prisoners and443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of manyvillages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a positionto threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in itsfirst offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had aformidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he hadone to reckon with. 

[Illustration: AMERICAN ATTACK ON THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT]

[Sidenote: Movement to cut German railway connections. ]

On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our Corpsand Army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel, and our Divisionsin reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the areaback of the line between the Meuse River and the western edge of theforest of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old Germanfront line from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. Inthe general attack all along the line, the operation assigned theAmerican Army as the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed towardthe important railroad communications of the German armies throughMézières and Sedan. The enemy must hold fast to this part of his linesor the withdrawal of his forces with four years' accumulation of plantsand material would be dangerously imperiled. 

[Sidenote: German Army not demoralized. ]

The German Army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the massof its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions andnotably its machine-gun defense were exhibiting remarkable tacticalefficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully awareof the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain thathe would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was plannedwith as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with thedetermination to use all our Divisions in forcing decision. We expectedto draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume them whilethe enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack should breakhis line, which it was our firm purpose to do. 

[Sidenote: The Argonne Forest considered impregnable. ]

[Sidenote: American order of battle. ]

Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced theArgonne Forest whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened bydense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order ofbattle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse toMalancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions inline, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps fromMalancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, andNinety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve;and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, withThirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, andthe Ninety-second in corps reserve. The Army reserve consisted of theFirst, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions. 

[Sidenote: Attack begins on September 25. ]

[Sidenote: Montfaucon is taken. ]

On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of theFrench who thinly held the line in this sector which had long beeninactive. In the attack which began on the 26th we drove through thebarbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man'sLand, mastering all the first-line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number ofenemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from 3 to 7 miles, and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and Exermont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinonville, Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of ourDivisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, capturedMarcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of ourmain body. We had taken 10, 000 prisoners, we had gained our point offorcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy'sreaction, which was bound to come as he had good roads and amplerailroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves. 

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PERSHING'S SECRET BATTLE MAP SHOWN ATNATIONAL MUSEUM

There is on exhibition in the United States National Museum atWashington what is probably the most interesting and valuable singlerecord of America's part in the Great War--General Pershing's own secretbattle map, transported here from his headquarters in France and set upin the museum exactly as it was there. 

It was General Pershing's own idea to have the map displayed to thepublic to show the people of the United States the actual militaryresults obtained by their armies. For instance, at the hour thearmistice was signed the United States forces were holding 145kilometers of front, of which 134 kilometers were active. This is madeplain on the map by the colored pins and tags by which the differentallied and enemy armies are shown. 

The map itself shows the location of all divisions, both the enemy andallied, on the western front; the correct battle line, commandinggenerals, location of headquarters and boundaries down to includearmies, and various other information concerning divisions, as, forexample, whether they were fresh or tired. The map was developed andkept posted to date daily by the third section of General Pershing'sstaff, and used by them and other superior officers during activeoperations for strategical studies and purposes of general information. 

It is evident that during the war the information which this mapcontained was such that the enemy would have spared no pains to secureit. Every precaution was taken to insure its secrecy, and to this endthe map was always kept locked up, and in addition was kept in a smallcompartment formed by a closed screen. Furthermore, access to this mapwas had by only the half dozen chiefs of the general headquarters staffsections whose work was directly affected by the changes shown on themap. This map appears to have been unique. The staff officers from thedifferent allied headquarters who had occasion to see the map declaredthat it was the most complete representation of the opposing forces thatthey had seen. 

General Pershing, in his letter to the adjutant general suggesting thepublic display of the map in the National Museum, says:

"It has occurred to me that this particular map with its accompanyinginstallation will have a great historical value. It will be of intenseinterest to future generations, not only because it was the only map ofits kind used at these headquarters, but because it shows in a vividfashion the exact situation at the hour of the armistice. "]

[Sidenote: Difficult tasks of engineers and gunners. ]

In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roadsacross spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man'sLand, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, puttheir shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through themire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of theenemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counterattacks in strongforce, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas. From September 28 until October 4 we maintained the offensive againstpatches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of machineguns, and pushed forward our guns and transport, seizing strategicalpoints in preparation for further attacks. 

[Sidenote: The Twenty-seventh and the Thirtieth with the British. ]

Other Divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. Itwas the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh andThirtieth Divisions, which had remained with the British, to have aplace of honor in cooperation with the Australian Corps on September 29and October 1 in the assault on the Hindenburg line where the St. Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The ThirtiethDivision speedily broke through the main line of defense for all itsobjectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through themain line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of themaze of trenches and shell craters and under cross fire from machineguns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and inlater actions, from October 6 to October 19, our Second Corps capturedover 6, 000 prisoners and advanced over 13 miles. The spirit andaggressiveness of these Divisions have been highly praised by theBritish Army commander under whom they served. 

[Sidenote: Second and Thirty-sixth with the French. ]

On October 2 to 9 our Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions were sent toassist the French in an important attack against the old Germanpositions before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defenseworks on their front against a persistent defense worthy of thegrimmest period of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held woodedhill of Blanc Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweepingover it with consummate dash and skill. This Division then repulsedstrong counterattacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienneand took the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheimsand yield positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9the Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its firstexperience under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment andrapidly took up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne. 

[Sidenote: Steady progress in the Argonne Forest. ]

[Sidenote: The terrain favors the defense. ]

The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in thiscrucial contest as the German command threw in more and more first-classtroops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the almostimpenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite thisreinforcement, it was our Army that was doing the driving. Our aircraftwas increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and ourInfantry and Artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience. The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions withlittle time for training, but they had the advantage of serving besidemen who knew their business and who had almost become veteransovernight. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, whichespecially favored the defense, by a prodigal use of machine guns mannedby highly trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges. In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unableto accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards, but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage ofour troops. 

[Sidenote: Strong enemy counterattacks. ]

[Sidenote: First Corps takes Chatel-Chéhéry. ]

[Sidenote: Argonne Forest is cleared. ]

On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third Corpstilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth Corpstook Gesnes while the First Corps advanced for over 2 miles along theirregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of theArgonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art andweapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemystriving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strongcounterattacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corpscaptured Chatel-Chéhéry and continued along the river to Cornay. On theeast of Meuse sector one of the two Divisions cooperating with theFrench captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the FifthCorps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fléville, and the Third Corpswhich had continuous fighting against odds was working its way throughBrieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest ofthe enemy. 

[Sidenote: The Second Army is organized. ]

It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9 theimmediate command of the First Army was turned over to LieutenantGeneral Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisionsoccupied a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieutenant General RobertL. Bullard, who had been commander of the First Division and then of theThird Corps. Major General Dickman was transferred to the command of theFirst Corps, while the Fifth Corps was placed under Major GeneralCharles P. Summerall, who had recently commanded the First Division. Major General John L. Hines, who had gone rapidly up from regimental todivision commander, was assigned to the Third Corps. These four officershad been in France from the early days of the expedition and had learnedtheir lessons in the school of practical warfare. 

[Sidenote: The Kriemhilde line is penetrated. ]

Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day moreprisoners, mostly survivors from machine-gun nests captured in fightingat close quarters. On October 18 there was very fierce fighting in theCaures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th theFirst Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-handencounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde line, where the enemy hadhoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated furtherthe Kriemhilde line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and theimportant town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down theenemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us, thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advanceless difficult. 

[Sidenote: Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium. ]

Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but ourThirty-seventh and Ninety-first Divisions were hastily withdrawn fromour front and dispatched to help the French Army in Belgium. Detrainingin the neighborhood of Ypres, these Divisions advanced by rapid stagesto the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. OnOctober 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked andmethodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3 theThirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy acrossthe Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bankincluded in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movementtroops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, adifficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector, reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. Thesedivisions received high commendation from their corps commanders fortheir dash and energy. 

[Sidenote: Preparation for the final assault. ]

On the 23d the Third and Fifth Corps pushed northward to the level ofBantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back theenemy's violent counterattacks with great loss to him, a regrouping ofour forces was under way for the final assault. Evidences of loss ofmorale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and morefortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardshipsof very inclement weather. 

[Sidenote: The final advance begins. ]

With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in theMeuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. Our increased artilleryforce acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and theenemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistentfighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome hiswill to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, andAndevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressedthrough successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. Onthe 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became animpetuous onslaught that could not be stayed. 

[Sidenote: Aid of large caliber guns. ]

[Sidenote: The enemy's line of communications cut. ]

On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motortrucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads closebehind. The First Corps reached Authe and Châtillon-sur-Bar, the FifthCorps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating theenemy's line to a depth of 12 miles. Our large caliber guns had advancedand were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the importantlines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps crossed theMeuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence that theday was theirs, eagerly cleared the way of machine guns as they sweptnorthward, maintaining complete coordination throughout. On the 6th, adivision of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite Sedan, 25 miles from our line of departure. The strategical goal which was ourhighest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main line ofcommunications, and nothing but surrender or an armistice could save hisarmy from complete disaster. 

[Sidenote: Prisoners and guns taken. ]

[Sidenote: Divisions long in battle line. ]

In all 40 enemy divisions had been used against us in the Meuse-Argonnebattle. Between September 26 and November 6 we took 26, 059 prisoners and468 guns on this front. Our Divisions engaged were the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first. Many of ourdivisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves ofsteel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and, Ninetieth were in the line twice. Althoughsome of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon becameequal to the best. 

[Sidenote: The fight in the Meuse Hills. ]

On the three days preceding November 10, the Third, the Second Colonial, and the Seventeenth French Corps fought a difficult struggle through theMeuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the plain. Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces contemplatedan advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the direction of Longwyby the First Army, while, at the same time, the Second Army shouldassure the offensive toward the rich iron fields of Briey. Theseoperations were to be followed by an offensive toward Château-Salinseast of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly, attacks on theAmerican front had been ordered and that of the Second Army was inprogress on the morning of November 11, when instructions were receivedthat hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock a. M. 

[Sidenote: A new offensive is halted by the armistice. ]

At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left, began at Port-sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres andthrough the Woevre to Bezonvaux in the foothills of the Meuse, thencealong to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevreforests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting withthe French under Sedan. 

[Sidenote: Cordial assistance of the Allied armies and governments. ]

Cooperation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A fargreater effort has been put forth by the Allied armies and staffs toassist us than could have been expected. The French Government and Armyhave always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment, andtransportation and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamletswherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French peoplehave everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friendsthan as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quiteinadequate to express our gratitude. There can be no doubt that therelations growing out of our associations here assure a permanentfriendship between the two peoples. Although we have not been sointimately associated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troopsand ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. Thereception of those of our forces who have passed through England and ofthose who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic. Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the ties oflanguage and blood bring the British and ourselves together completelyand inseparably. 

[Sidenote: Americans in Italy and in Russia. ]

There are in Europe altogether including a regiment and some sanitaryunits with the Italian Army and the organizations at Murmansk, alsoincluding those en route from the States, approximately 2, 053, 347 men, less our losses. Of this total there are in France 1, 338, 169 combatanttroops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the Infantry personnel of10 have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in Franceorganized into three armies of three corps each. 

[Sidenote: American losses and American captures. ]

The losses of the Americans up to November 18 are: Killed in action, 36, 145; died of disease, 14, 811; deaths unclassified, 2, 204; wounded, 179, 625; prisoners, 2, 163; missing, 1, 160. We have captured about 44, 000prisoners and 1, 400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars. 

[Sidenote: Ability of the American officers. ]

The duties of the General Staff, as well as those of the Army and corpsstaffs, have been very ably performed. Especially is this true when weconsider the new and difficult problems with which they have beenconfronted. This body of officers, both as individuals and as anorganization, have, I believe, no superiors in professional ability, inefficiency, or in loyalty. 

[Sidenote: The Service of Supply. ]

Nothing that we have in France better reflects the efficiency anddevotion to duty of Americans in general than the Service of Supplywhose personnel is thoroughly imbued with a patriotic desire to do itsfull duty. They have at all times fully appreciated their responsibilityto the rest of the Army and the results produced have been mostgratifying. 

[Sidenote: The Medical Corps. ]

Our Medical Corps is especially entitled to praise for the generaleffectiveness of its work both in hospital and at the front. Embracingmen of high professional attainments, and splendid women devoted totheir calling and untiring in their efforts, this department has made anew record for medical and sanitary proficiency. 

[Sidenote: The Quartermaster Department. ]

The Quartermaster Department has had difficult and various tasks, but ithas more than met all demands that have been made upon it. Itsmanagement and its personnel have been exceptionally efficient anddeserve every possible commendation. 

[Sidenote: Ordnance Department, Signal Corps and Engineer Corps. ]

As to the more technical services, the able personnel of the OrdnanceDepartment in France has splendidly fulfilled its functions both inprocurement and in forwarding the immense quantities of ordnancerequired. The officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corpshave performed their duties with a large conception of the problem andwith a devoted and patriotic spirit to which the perfection of ourcommunications daily testify. While the Engineer Corps has been referredto in another part of this report, it should be further stated that thework has required large vision and high professional skill, and greatcredit is due their personnel for the high proficiency that they haveconstantly maintained. 

[Sidenote: American aviators. ]

[Sidenote: The Tank Corps. ]

Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability and haveleft a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant pagein the annals of our Army. While the Tank Corps has had limitedopportunities its personnel has responded gallantly on every possibleoccasion and has shown courage of the highest order. 

[Sidenote: Other Departments. ]

The Adjutant General's Department has been directed with a systematicthoroughness and excellence that surpassed any previous work of itskind. The Inspector General's Department has risen to the higheststandards and throughout has ably assisted commanders in theenforcement of discipline. The able personnel of the Judge AdvocateGeneral's Department has solved with judgment and wisdom the multitudeof difficult legal problems, many of them involving questions of greatinternational importance. 

It would be impossible in this brief preliminary report to do justice tothe personnel of all the different branches of this organization which Ishall cover in detail in a later report. 

[Sidenote: Cooperation of Navy and Army. ]

The Navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided theArmy, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never beforebeen such perfect cooperation between these two branches of the service. 

As to Americans in Europe not in the military services, it is thegreatest pleasure to say that, both in official and in private life, they are intensely patriotic and loyal, and have been invariablysympathetic and helpful to the Army. 

[Sidenote: Heroism of the officers and the men in the line. ]

Finally, I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of theline. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotionwhich I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they haveearned the eternal gratitude of our country. 

 * * * * *

No one doubted the efficiency of the navy or of its capacity to carry onits operations in a way worthy of the traditions of the American Navy. What the navy did during the war, and how it did it, is summarized inthe following report by its chief. 

THE AMERICAN NAVY IN

EUROPE

EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF

ADMIRAL H. T. MAYO

[Sidenote: Activities in Ireland, Great Britain, and France. ]

In conformity with instructions contained in the reference, thefollowing preliminary statement is herewith submitted in regard toUnited States naval activities in Europe. This preliminary reportrelates to our naval activities in Great Britain, Ireland, and France, visit to the last named having been concluded on November 1, 1918. Acomplete and detailed report will be submitted later and upon completionof the current tour of inspection and observation. 

In view of the fact that United States naval activities in Europe arechiefly matters of cooperation with the allied navies, and that thecooperation amounts practically to consolidation where effected with theBritish Navy, this preliminary report is arranged on that basis inseveral parts:

[Sidenote: General cooperation. ]

I. COOPERATION WITH THE ALLIED NAVIES IN GENERAL. (1) Commander United States naval forces in Europe. (2) Allied naval council. (3) Naval staff representative, Paris. (4) Naval staff representative, Rome. 

[Sidenote: Naval Headquarters in London and Ireland. ]

II. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE BRITISH. (1) United States naval headquarters, London. (2) United States naval activities in Ireland. (_a_) Battleship Division Six, Berehaven. (_b_) Submarine detachment, Berehaven. (_c_) Destroyers based on Queenstown. (_d_) Subchaser Detachment Three based on Queenstown. (3) United States naval air stations in Ireland; seaplane stations; kite-balloon station. (4) Battleship Division Nine. (5) Mine Force. (6) Subchaser Detachment One, based on Plymouth. (7) United States Naval Air Stations, Great Britain, Seaplane Station, Killingholme; Northern Bombing Group, Assembly and Repair Plant, Eastleigh. (8) Cross-channel Transport Service. 

[Sidenote: Paris, Brest and coast districts. ]

[Sidenote: Naval air stations. ]

III. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE FRENCH. (1) Naval staff representative, Paris. (2) United States naval headquarters, Brest. (3) French coastal districts. (4) Destroyers based on Brest. (5) United States naval air stations on French coast: (_a_) Seaplane stations. (_b_) Dirigible stations. (_c_) Kite-balloon stations. (_d_) Assembly and repair plant, Pauillac. (_e_) Aviation Training School, Moutchie. 

[Sidenote: Radio stations, hospitals, etc. ]

IV. OTHER COOPERATING ACTIVITIES. (1) Naval liaison officer at Army General Headquarters. (2) Naval Radio Station, Croix d'Hins. (3) United States Naval Railway Battery. (4) Naval Pipe-Line Unit. (5) Stations not yet inspected or not to be visited. 

V. UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION IN EUROPE. 

VI. Y. M. C. A. AND SIMILAR ACTIVITIES. 

VII. HOSPITAL FACILITIES, ETC. 

VIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

I. COOPERATION WITH THE ALLIED NAVIES IN GENERAL. 

[Sidenote: Varied character of Naval activities. ]

It could hardly have been foreseen to what extent United States navalactivities in Europe would accumulate, and it is a fact that it has beena growth by accretion rather than by system. The resultant fact is thatthe supervision of the commander of United States Naval Forces in Europeis of great and varied scope and continues to increase from week toweek. Despite this great extent and varied character of our navalactivities in Europe (as evidenced by the list given in par. 2 above)and the fact that their growth by accretion has made a highlycentralized control more or less inevitable, the results speak forthemselves--all of our naval activities are cooperative in character andall of them give every evidence of performing useful and appreciatedwork wherever found. 

[Sidenote: Under the Allied Naval War Council. ]

Cooperation with the allied navies in general is effected by means ofthe Allied Naval War Council, which meets monthly or as may be deemedadvisable. The membership is composed of the several naval ministers andnaval chiefs of staff and of officers specifically appointed torepresent them in their absence. Vice Admiral Sims is the United Statesnaval representative. The secretariat of the council is composed ofBritish officers and personnel, with officers of the allied naviesdesignated for liaison duties therewith. 

The Allied Naval Council has advisory functions only and has liaisonwith the Supreme War Council, with a view to coordinating and unifyingallied naval effort, both as regards naval work only and as regardsunity of action with military or land effort. Proposals made by theseveral allied navies are considered and definite steps recommended tobe taken in the premises. As well the naval aspects of military (land)proposals are examined into and passed upon. Conversely military (land)aspects of naval activities are referred to the Supreme War Council forconsideration. 

[Sidenote: Unity of effort on land and sea. ]

[Sidenote: Council at first advisory. ]

The Allied Naval Council has had, in common with the Supreme WarCouncil, until last spring the handicap of being only advisory infunction. The conclusions are recommended to the several Governments foradoption, but there is no common instrumentality for carrying intoeffect measures which require cooperation or coordination. This state ofaffairs in the Supreme War Council has been remedied by the appointmentof an allied commander in chief in the person of Marshal Foch. 

There can be no doubt but that the Supreme War Council has met and thatthe Allied Naval Council continues to fill a great need as a sort ofclearing house for the necessarily varied proposals of the severalGovernments, most of which require cooperation on the part of some otherGovernment, and certainly it should be continued in being until a moreforceful control of allied naval effort can be agreed upon and broughtinto effect. 

[Sidenote: Liaison officers with the War Council and the Naval Council. ]

The United States naval staff representative in Paris is the UnitedStates naval liaison officer with the Supreme War Council, and a memberof the staff of Vice Admiral Sims is the liaison officer with thesecretariat of the Allied Naval Council. The United States naval staffrepresentative in Paris is also liaison officer at the French Ministryof Marine and is at present naval attaché as well. 

[Sidenote: Naval attaché to Italy. ]

The naval attaché to Italy, Capt. C. R. Train, maintains naval liaisonwith the Italian Ministry of Marine and keeps in touch with the UnitedStates naval activities in Italian waters. 

II. ACTIVITIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE BRITISH. 

Inasmuch as the British are predominant in naval activity, it is naturalto find that a major part of our naval activities are in cooperationwith them and controlled by them. In fact, the British have been inposition to carry so much of the "naval load" of this war that our firstand our principal efforts have been toward taking up a share of thatload. 

[Sidenote: Friendly rivalry between British and Americans. ]

Cooperation has in many cases been carried to such an extent that thecoordination necessary for efficiency has developed into practicalconsolidation. It is pleasing to note that while consolidation is allbut a fact, our own naval forces have in every case preferred topreserve their individuality of organization and administration and, asfar as feasible, of operations; and that a healthy and friendly rivalrybetween them and their British associates has resulted in much good tothe personnel of both services. 

[Sidenote: On the coast of Ireland. ]

The largest single group of naval activities wherein cooperation iseffected with the British is that in Ireland, all of them being underthe jurisdiction of the commander in chief, coast of Ireland, who hasbeen and is Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, whose cordial appreciation of thework of our forces has gone far to stimulate the personnel coming underhis direction. The chief of staff, destroyer flotillas, and the officerin charge of aviation in Ireland are designated by the British Admiraltyas members of the staff of Admiral Bayly. 

[Sidenote: Battleship Division Six. ]

_Battleship Division Six_, Rear Admiral T. S. Rodgers, is based onBerehaven, Ireland, in readiness for the protection of convoys ingeneral and of troop convoys in particular. Arrangements are in effectfor the supply of their needs as to fuel and stores. While lack ofdestroyers has operated to restrict their training underway, they are ingood material condition and their efficiency is being maintained byutilizing all available facilities. 

[Sidenote: The submarine patrol. ]

_Submarine Detachment_, Lieutenant Commanders Friedell and Grady, isbased on Berehaven, Ireland, and maintains a submarine patrol off thewest and south coasts of Ireland. Their service is hard; they have had agreat deal of work at sea and have cheerfully met every demand made onthem. Despite their relative isolation, they have maintained themselvesin readiness with the aid of the submarine tender _Bushnell_, whoselimited facilities have been utilized to the utmost. Their performancesand condition of material and personnel reflect great credit on allconcerned. 

[Sidenote: Destroyers at Queenstown. ]

(_a_) _The destroyers based on Queenstown_, Capt. F. R. P. Pringle, arethe original United States naval force in European waters--a distinctionwhich is an ever-present spur to cheerful efficiency under any and allcircumstances and produces results which must be a satisfaction to theirsuperiors. 

[Sidenote: Changes in destroyer personnel. ]

(_b_) Despite the fact that the requirements of supplying personnel fornew destroyers has resulted in large changes in the original experienceddestroyer personnel, this has been accomplished in such a manner as tomaintain the operating efficiency of the force at or near its originalhigh standard. 

(_c_) Aside from unavoidable casualties, the force is in good operatingcondition. The systemization of supply and repairs developed andmaintained by the destroyer tenders _Melville_ and _Dixie_ effect thereadiness of destroyers for sea with commendable promptness and with aview to the comfort of destroyer personnel during their short stays inport. 

[Sidenote: Destroyer tenders. ]

[Sidenote: Gunnery and torpedo exercises. ]

(_d_) Within the last few months means have been found to systematizeand supervise the training, particularly with regard to the carrying outof gunnery and torpedo exercises, which, under the press of keeping thesea, had somewhat lapsed in favor of the necessary development of escortwork and of depth-charge tactics. 

(_e_) All of the activities at Queenstown--the torpedo repair andoverhaul station, the training barracks at Passage, the repair forcebarracks at Ballybricken House, the general supply depot at DeepwaterQuay, the hospital and barracks at White Point, as well as theactivities afloat--were well underway and gave an impression ofpurposefulness in "getting on with the war" in that particular corner ofthe world. 

[Sidenote: Enlisted Men's Club at Queenstown. ]

(_f_) On account of the restricted facilities for liberty andrecreation, a special and most successful effort has been made tofurnish healthful and interesting diversion in Queenstown itself bymeans of the Enlisted Men's Club, wholly of and for the men, which issecond to none in results obtained in promoting contentment. 

[Sidenote: Subchaser at Queenstown. ]

_Subchaser Detachment Three at Queenstown_, Captain A. J. Hepburn, hadonly recently arrived, but arrangements for their employment were wellin hand, and they were expected to begin operations as soon as the meansof basing them had been perfected. The need of a suitable tender wasapparent, especially for the upkeep of those units whose working groundwould be at some distance from the main base. The personnel gaveevidence of a strong feeling of eagerness to get to work and ofreadiness to face the hardships that going to sea in small craftentails. 

[Sidenote: Seaplane and balloon stations. ]

_United States Naval Air Stations in Ireland_, Commander F. R. McCrary, consists of seaplane stations at Whiddy Island, Queenstown (also themain supply and repair base), Wexford, and Lough Foyle, and akite-balloon station at Berehaven. None of these stations was inoperation in mid-September, except that Lough Foyle was partially so, but all were about ready to begin operations and would do so upon thereceipt of the necessary planes or pilots or both, all of which were enroute. A great deal of the construction has been done by our ownpersonnel, some of the stations having been entirely done by them. 

[Sidenote: Rear Admiral Rodman's command. ]

(_a_) _Battleship Division Nine of the Atlantic Fleet_, under thecommand of Rear Admiral Rodman, has constituted the Sixth BattleSquadron of the British Grand Fleet under Admiral Sir David Beatty fornearly a year. 

(_b_) When this division was sent abroad it had, in common with otherunits of the Atlantic Fleet, suffered in efficiency from the expansionof the Navy, which required reduction in the number of officers andtransfers of numbers of men to furnish trained and experienced nucleifor other vessels. Upon reporting in the Grand Fleet, it immediatelytook its place in the battle line on exactly the same status as otherunits of the Grand Fleet. The opportunities for gunnery exercises arelimited but drill and adherence to standardized methods and procedure asdeveloped in our own naval service have brought this division to asatisfactory state of efficiency, which continues to improve. 

[Sidenote: General efficiency of the squadron. ]

(_c_) It is pleasing to record that the efficiency of this unit ingunnery, engineering, and seamanship is deemed by the British commanderin chief to be in no way inferior to that of the best of the Britishbattle squadrons. In fact, it is perfectly proper to state the beliefthat our ships are in some respects superior to the British, and perhapschiefly in the arrangements for the health and contentment of personnel, which have been very thoroughly examined into by the flag officers, captains, and other officers of the Grand Fleet. These ships have alsobeen the subject of much favorable comment in regard to their capacityfor self-maintenance, a matter which has been given much attention inour own Navy of late years. 

[Sidenote: Capacity for self-maintenance. ]

(_d_) Service in the Grand Fleet is noteworthy by reason of the factthat the fleet is at never less than four hours' notice for going tosea, so that liberty is restricted and whatever is necessary in the wayof overhaul and upkeep of machinery must always be planned with a viewto assembly in case of orders to sea. 

[Sidenote: Mine-laying operation. ]

[Sidenote: Readiness to attack difficulties. ]

_The Mine Force of the Atlantic Fleet_, under the command of RearAdmiral Strauss, is an independent unit, except that the mine-layingoperations are under the jurisdiction of the commander in chief of theGrand Fleet, who has to choose the time when arrangements can be carriedinto effect to furnish the necessary destroyer escort and heavy coveringforces. The arrangements made at home prior to the departure of the mineforce appear to have been well considered and thoroughly developed. Themine-laying operations themselves give an impression of efficiency whichcan only come from thorough preparation and complete understanding ofthe work. The assembly of mines in the bases has been somewhat changedby the necessity for certain alterations in the mine itself, most ofwhich are due to difficulties inherent in the application of theoperating principle of the mine. Here, as elsewhere, the cheerfulreadiness of officers and men to attack difficulties and to surmount allobstacles is producing results of magnitude and importance of which alltoo little is known even in the Navy itself. 

[Sidenote: Crossing the channel. ]

_The Cross-channel Transport Service_ was brought into being to renderindispensable assistance to the British in ferrying United States troopsacross the channel from England, in whose ports over half of our troopswere landed from British ships. At the time of inspection late inSeptember four United States vessels were in service, and four more wereexpected in the course of a few weeks. The vessels in service weresuperior in capacity to British vessels engaged in the same work andcombined with the efficiency of their naval personnel made them thesubject of favorable remark by the British transport authorities. 

[Sidenote: Subchasers at Plymouth. ]

_Subchaser Detachment One_, based on Plymouth, Captain L. A. Cotten, hadbeen operating for some time. A very compact and efficient base was inprocess of completion and should, with the aid of the subchaser tender_Hannibal_, amply suffice for the requirements of a larger number ofchasers than that now available. This base is to be expanded into aUnited States naval base, of which Rear Admiral Bristol will be incharge. The upkeep of chasers is effected entirely with the resources ofthe base; operations are initiated by the British commander in chief atPlymouth. A great deal of development work in listening devices is beingcarried on at and from this base. The work of the subchasers from thisbase has proved their usefulness up to the limit of their sea-goingcapacity. 

(_a_) _United States Naval Aviation in England_ is carried on bycooperation in two British commands. 

[Sidenote: Seaplanes at Killingholme. ]

(_b_) _The United States Seaplane Station, Killingholme_, Commander K. Whiting, is under the vice admiral commanding on the east coast ofEngland. It has been in operation for some time and does escort ofcoastal convoys, escort of mine layers in the southern part of the NorthSea, and some reconnaissance work in the direction of the Dutch coast. 

[Sidenote: Day and night bombing squadrons. ]

(_c_) _The Northern Bombing Group_, Captain D. C. Hanrahan, is under thevice admiral commanding at Dover, whose jurisdiction extends to navalaviation units in northern France in the vicinity of Calais andDunkerque. The day bombing squadrons are manned by marines; the nightbombing squadrons by the Navy. There has been some delay in theacquisition of suitable night bombing planes, but their delivery willfind all in readiness to go immediately to work. The British prescribethe objectives and designate the available free flying time; theoperations themselves are carried out by our own personnel. The seaplanestation at Dunkerque has operated successfully under the handicap oflimited and difficult water area in which to take off and to land. 

[Sidenote: The base at Eastleigh. ]

(_d_) _The Assembly, Repair, and Supply Station at Eastleigh_ wasbrought into being primarily for the Northern Bombing Group because ofthe difficulties of transportation to and from the general aviation baseat Pauillac. It also does necessary work for Killingholme and for theair stations in Ireland. This base, when visited, was in process ofcompletion and gave every evidence of purpose and capacity to meet allrequirements likely to be made of it. 

III. _Activities in Cooperation with the French. _

[Sidenote: Vice Admiral Wilson's command. ]

Aside from the cooperation effected by the force commander with theFrench Ministry of Marine through the naval staff representative inParis on matters of general policy, actual cooperation is carried on byVice Admiral H. B. Wilson, commander United States naval forces inFrance, whose headquarters are maintained in Brest. 

[Sidenote: The coastal convoy system. ]

It is deemed worthy of special remark that whereas practically allcooperation with the British is effected by operating as units underBritish control, cooperation with the French is arranged on a basis thatleaves to the United States naval forces a very large measure ofinitiative. This is particularly true in regard to troopships destinedto French ports, which are provided with escort and routed in and outwholly from the Brest headquarters which is kept fully informed as toroutes and positions of British-controlled convoys and as to locationsof submarine activities and has to so adjust routes on and off the coastas to keep clear of both. Three out of eight escort units are providedby United States vessels for the coastal convoy system, which isoperated by the French. Unity of purpose and sympathy of understandinghave combined to make the handling of cargo convoys on and off the coasta matter of ready adjustment to the general conditions obtaining inregard to destination of cargo ships and availability of escort vessels. 

[Sidenote: Rate of movement of troops by transports. ]

At the end of the fiscal year United States naval forces in France arestated to have been escorting troops into France at the rate of 134, 000per month. Since May 1, 1918, the number of troopships and cargo-vesselconvoys east and west bound have averaged more than 1 a day, and thenumber of ships over 200 a month. No convoy of troopships has failed tobe met by destroyer escort before entering the area of submarineactivity, and no passenger intrusted to the care of the United Statesnaval forces in France has been lost. 

[Sidenote: Destroyers controlled from Brest. ]

(_a_) _The destroyers based on Brest_ are controlled directly fromheadquarters at Brest and are at present maintained in readiness forservice with the aid of the fleet repair ship _Prometheus_ and latelyalso by the destroyer tender _Bridgeport_. Additional repair shops onshore are in process of completion. 

[Sidenote: Gunnery and torpedo exercises. ]

(_b_) Arrangements are now in hand for the carrying out of gunneryexercises including torpedoes, the need of which has been recognised buthad hitherto been deemed impracticable on account of press of work. 

[Sidenote: Facilities for repairing vessels. ]

(_c_) The United States naval repair facilities here as well aselsewhere on the coast of France have to be made use of not only for theupkeep of the United States naval vessels based on the coast, but alsofor necessary repairs to troopships and cargo vessels, whether naval, Army, or Shipping Board, the guiding idea being to keep the shipsmoving. 

[Sidenote: French divided into districts. ]

(_a_) _Coastal Districts in France. _--The north and west coasts ofFrance are divided into districts which correspond with the Frenchprefectures maritimes, and the district headquarters are in every caselocated in the same place as those of the several prefects maritimes. These headquarters are communication and operating centers and providenaturally by arrangement as above described for full and readycooperation with the French district activities. 

[Sidenote: Port officers. ]

(_b_) The principal ports have assigned to them a port officer whosefunction in regard to all United States ships is to expedite their "turnaround, " and in addition, where vessels carrying United States navalarmed guards are concerned, to inspect the armed guards and adjust suchmatters as are beyond the capacity or authority of the armed guardcommander. 

(_a_) _United States Naval Aviation in France_ includes all that thetitle implies, except the northern bombing group mentioned above, andaviation matters are immediately in the hands of Captain T. T. Craven, aid for aviation on Vice Admiral Wilson's staff. 

[Sidenote: Stations for seaplanes, dirigibles and balloons. ]

(_b_) There are eight sea-plane stations, three dirigible stations, andthree kite-balloon stations, all of which are operated by districtcommanders in cooperation with the French naval air services in theseveral corresponding prefectures maritimes. There is also an assembly, repair, and supply base at Pauillac for the general service of all airstations in France and a sea-plane gunnery and bombing training schoolat Moutchie, both of these activities being directly under theheadquarters in Brest. 

(_c_) Of the eight seaplane stations, five have been in operation forperiods varying from 12 to 3 months, and the remaining 3 are now aboutready to begin. 

(_d_) Of the three dirigible stations, only that at Paimboeuf has beenin operation for any length of time, and is to be used also for trainingand experimental work. The station at Guipavas will shortly be inoperation. The station at Gujan has been delayed to let material go toother stations which it was deemed advisable to complete first. 

[Sidenote: Experimental balloon work at Brest. ]

(_e_) Of the three kite-balloon stations, only that at Brest is readyfor operation. Test and experimental work have been carried on heresince August, 1918, in connection with destroyers and yachts. Thestation at La Trinite is nearing completion and that at La Pallice isprogressing rapidly. The utility of the station at La Trinite seems tobe somewhat in doubt, as the original purposes for its establishmenthave undergone some change due to alterations in the methods of handlingconvoys, coastal as well as on and off shore. 

[Sidenote: Repair and supply station at Pauillac. ]

(_f_) The assembly repair and supply station at Pauillac is under thecommand of Captain F. T. Evans, under whose forceful and able directionthe station has progressed rapidly to completion and is deemed ready toundertake any and all demands that may be made on it. 

[Sidenote: Devices used in training aviators. ]

(_g_) The training school at Moutchie, under the command of CommanderR. W. Cabaniss appears to have a thorough system of instruction, foundedon sound bases, and includes study and lectures, as well as ample, practical work. Endeavor is made to keep in touch with and to adopt, where deemed advisable, the best British and French methods. Some of thedevices in use for training are ingeniously adapted to the simulation ofthe conditions obtaining while flying. 

IV. OTHER COOPERATING ACTIVITIES. 

[Sidenote: Liaison with the United States Army. ]

_Liaison with the United States Army in France_ is carried on bymaintaining a naval liaison officer (Commander R. Williams) at the Armygeneral headquarters, chiefly for the purpose of rendering assistance ineffecting cooperation as to the handling and routing of troopships andof cargo vessels consigned to Army account. 

[Sidenote: The radio station near Bordeaux. ]

_Trans-Atlantic Radio Station. _--The erection of the trans-Atlanticradio-transmitting station at Croix d'Hins, near Bordeaux, is being doneby United States naval personnel under the direction of LieutenantCommander G. C. Sweet. The French authorities are putting in thefoundations. The personnel is well taken care of and the work ofconstruction appears to be progressing favorably. It is hoped andexpected by those in charge that a four-tower unit will be ready foroperation about March 1, 1919. 

[Sidenote: The naval railway batteries in France. ]

_The 14-inch Naval Railway Battery_ was built and equipped by the Navyand manned by naval personnel for service in France with the UnitedStates Army. It arrived in France in July last under the command of RearAdmiral C. P. Plunkett and was ready for service during August. A partof the battery has been operating with the French against Laon andvicinity, and is understood to have rendered what the French considervery valuable service against the enemy. The entire battery is now withthe First United States Army, but data as to what it has accomplishedare not yet available. This test of our naval guns of late design andlarge caliber in long-range firing and the opportunities given to navalpersonnel to study and observe the artillery work on the western frontare considered to be of great value to the service. 

[Sidenote: The oil pipe line across Scotland. ]

_A United States Naval Pipe-line Unit_ has completed important servicein the construction of a fuel-oil pipe line across Scotland, and isunderstood to have been asked for by the French to do some work of thesame kind for them. 

(_a_) There are yet to be inspected and observed the followingactivities, which have not so far been mentioned:

[Sidenote: Additional naval bases. ]

United States naval base at Cardiff, Subchaser Detachment Two, based onCorfu, Captain C. P. Nelson, United States naval air stations in Italy. 

(_b_) It is not deemed practicable to visit the United States navalforces based at Gibraltar (Rear Admiral Niblack), nor the United Statesnaval forces based on the Azores, because of difficulties oftransportation, as is also the case in regard to the U. S. S. _Olympia_ innorthern Russia. 

V. UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION IN EUROPE. 

[Sidenote: Aviation Headquarters in Paris and London. ]

(_a_) The establishment of United States naval aviation in Europe hasbeen one of the most difficult and involved tasks which have had to beundertaken and brought into effect. Captain H. I. Cone arrived in Europefor this work about October 1, 1917, and has continued in charge of itever since. He maintained headquarters in Paris until about August 1, 1918, when he removed to London and was designated as aid for aviationon staff of the commander of United States naval forces in Europe. 

[Sidenote: Supplies arranged for by cable. ]

(_b_) There were arrangements to be made with the French and the Britishas to locations for stations that would be best adapted for cooperation. There were further arrangements to be made as to the procurement ofsites or the taking over of the stations already in operation or inprocess of construction. The Navy Department had also to be communicatedwith, largely by cable, as to design, quantities, and shipments ofmaterial, which upon receipt had to be allocated with a view tocompleting certain stations as soon as possible while not delaying theprogress of the general scheme any more than could be helped. 

[Sidenote: Coastwise transportation difficult. ]

(_c_) Delays and mistakes in the shipment of aviation material probablycaused more trouble than any other one thing, for when material oncearrives in a European port it has been, and still is, a very difficultmatter to arrange for coastwise transportation. 

[Sidenote: Creditable progress. ]

(_d_) Taking into consideration the necessary scope of the project, thedifficulties inherent in providing for establishments on foreign soil, and the delays which the magnitude of the undertakings caused in theproduction and shipment of material (and personnel) from the UnitedStates, the state of progress is considered highly creditable to CaptainCone and to his assistants. 

VI. Y. M. C. A. AND SIMILAR ACTIVITIES. 

[Sidenote: Y. M. C. A. Activities. ]

(_a_) It was satisfactory to note that in practically all cases--whetherour own naval facilities provided reading, writing, and amusementfacilities for the personnel or not--the Y. M. C. A. Was in evidence. Their arrangements were, in many places, all that could be expected inthe way of cheerful and comfortable quarters; and, in those places wherethe facilities were not so good, inquiry usually revealed the fact thata suitable building was either under way or soon would be. 

[Sidenote: Knights of Columbus. ]

(_b_) In at least one place the Knights of Columbus were foundestablished in a commodious building with all in readiness to duplicatethe character of the work generally associated with Y. M. C. A. Activities. 

(_c_) All assistance of this character, from whatever source, has beengladly taken advantage of by the officers in charge, and is much usedand appreciated by the men. 

VII. HOSPITAL FACILITIES, SICK QUARTERS, ETC. 

[Sidenote: Excellent hospitals at naval bases. ]

It is deemed worthy of note that the arrangements and facilities forcaring for the sick and injured Navy personnel are almost more thanample. In many of the naval-base hospitals the majority of the patientsare, consequently, of other services--both the United States and theallied. The provisions of the United States Navy in this respect are socomplete in their facilities and so efficient in their readiness as toexcite the admiration of all the foreign services, military as well asnaval. 

[Sidenote: Hearty cooperation with British and French. ]

As has already been said at the beginning of this report, cooperationwith the British and the French had been the chief method of work forthe United States naval forces in European waters. That cooperation hasbeen effected with such cordial appreciation and the few minordifficulties have yielded so readily to sympathetic understanding thatall zeal displayed was in the common interest of "winning the war" thatthere is and can be nothing but reciprocal praise for each other'sefforts, which will be of lasting benefit in future when the presentcompelling community of interest is no longer operative. The UnitedStates and the allies know each other better individually andcollectively and are and will continue to be the greater and betterfriends for the experience that has come out of the cordial cooperationand coordination required by the common interest in this war. 

[Sidenote: Spirit of men and officers. ]

There is ample evidence on every hand, from the north of Scotland to theshores of the Mediterranean, that officers and men of the naval service, regular and reserve alike and together, have "turned to" on the work inhand, inspired by the guiding idea of doing all in their power, howeverhumble the task, of "helping to win the war. " Officers whose preferenceis for duty at sea, men who came over with a view to doing battle withthe enemy, one and all, have done and are doing the work that comes tohand, even to the digging of ditches, with a will and with a cheeryreadiness for more of the same kind, for anything that will help to "geton with the war, " that is an inspiration to all who work with them andof vast satisfaction to those over them who will know what theirpreferences in the matter of war employment are. They are a credit tothe service and to their country. 

[Sidenote: High standard of conduct. ]

Furthermore, this large body of men, which occupies the position of theadvance guard of the Navy, as a whole have so conducted themselves as toearn the highly favorable comment of the citizens in whose country theyfound themselves and whose guests they are in some measure. It isbelieved that it may well be said that the men on duty in Europe, faraway from home ties and influences, will return to their own countryunharmed by the temptations and pitfalls which their relatives andfriends may have feared. They are a fine, upstanding lot of men, andtheir adaptability and efficiency have been so apparent as to fullywarrant the oft-made statement that the men of the United States Navy, which includes the Marine Corps, can do anything, anywhere, and at anytime. 

[Sidenote: The _President Lincoln_ is torpedoed. ]

On May 31, 1918, the _President Lincoln_ was returning to America from avoyage to France, and was in line formation with the U. S. S. _Susquehanna_, the U. S. S. _Antigone_, and the U. S. S. _Ryndam_, thelatter being on the left flank of the formation and about 800 yards fromthe _President Lincoln_. The weather was pleasant, the sun shiningbrightly, with a choppy sea. The ships were about 500 miles from thecoast of France and had passed through what was considered to be themost dangerous part of the war zone. At about 9 a. M. A terrificexplosion occurred on the port side of the ship about 120 feet from thebow and immediately afterwards another explosion occurred on the portside about 120 feet from the stern of the ship, these explosions beingimmediately identified as coming from torpedoes fired by a Germansubmarine. 

It was found that the ship was struck by three torpedoes, which had beenfired as one salvo from the submarine, two of the torpedoes strikingpractically together near the bow of the ship and the third strikingnear the stern. The wake of the torpedoes had been sighted by theofficers and lookouts on watch, but the torpedoes were so close to theship as to make it impossible to avoid them; and it was also found thatthe submarine at the time of firing was only about 800 yards from the_President Lincoln_. 

There were at the time 715 persons on board, including about 30 officersand men of the Army. Some of these were sick and two soldiers weretotally paralyzed. 

The alarm was immediately sounded and everyone went to his properstation which had been designated at previous drills. There was not theslightest confusion and the crew and passengers waited for and acted onorders from the commanding officer with a coolness which was trulyinspiring. 

[Sidenote: No confusion in leaving ship. ]

Inspections were made below decks and it was found that the ship wasrapidly filling with water, both forward and aft, and that there waslittle likelihood that she would remain afloat. The boats were loweredand the life rafts were placed in the water and about 15 minutes afterthe ship was struck all hands except the guns' crews were ordered toabandon the ship. 

[Sidenote: Saving the sick and wounded. ]

It had been previously planned that in order to avoid the losses whichhave occurred in such instances by filling the boats at the davitsbefore lowering them, that only one officer and five men would get intothe boats before lowering and that everyone else would get into thewater and get on the life rafts and then be picked up by the boats, thisbeing entirely feasible, as everyone was provided with an efficientlife-saving jacket. One exception was made to this plan, however, inthat one boat was filled with the sick before being lowered and it wasin this boat that the paralyzed soldiers were saved without difficulty. 

[Sidenote: Courageous work of the gunners. ]

The guns' crews were held at their stations hoping for an opportunity tofire on the submarine should it appear before the ship sank, and orderswere given to the guns' crews to begin firing, hoping that this mightprevent further attack. All the ship's company except the guns' crewsand necessary officers were at that time in the boats and on the raftsnear the ship, and when the guns' crews began firing the people in theboats set up a cheer to show that they were not downhearted. The guns'crews only left their guns when ordered by the commanding officer justbefore the ship sank. The guns in the bow kept up firing until after thewater was entirely over the main deck of the after half of the ship. 

The state of discipline which existed and the coolness of the men iswell illustrated by what occurred when the boats were being lowered andwere about half way from their davits to the water. At this particulartime, there appeared some possibility of the ship not sinkingimmediately, and the commanding officer gave the order to stop loweringthe boats. This order could not be understood, however, owing to thenoise caused by escaping steam from the safety valves of the boilerswhich had been lifted to prevent explosion, but by motion of the handfrom the commanding officer the crews stopped lowering the boats andheld them in mid-air for a few minutes until at a further motion of thehand the boats were dropped into the water. 

[Sidenote: Rafts tied together to prevent drifting. ]

Immediately after the ship sank the boats pulled among the rafts andwere loaded with men to their full capacity and the work of collectingthe rafts and tying them together to prevent drifting apart and beinglost was begun. 

[Sidenote: The submarine takes an officer prisoner. ]

While this work was under way and about half an hour after the shipsank, a large German submarine emerged and came among the boats andrafts, searching for the commanding officer and some of the seniorofficers whom they desired to take prisoners. The submarine commanderwas able to identify only one officer, Lieutenant E. V. M. Isaacs, whom hetook on board and carried away. The submarine remained in the vicinityof the boats for about two hours and returned again in the afternoon, hoping apparently for an opportunity of attacking some of the otherships which had been in company with the _President Lincoln_ but whichhad, in accordance with standard instructions, steamed as rapidly aspossible from the scene of attack. 

[Sidenote: After dark signal lights. ]

By dark the boats and rafts had been collected and secured together, there being about 500 men in the boats and about 200 on the rafts. Lighted lanterns were hoisted in the boats and flare-up lights andCoston signal lights were burned every few minutes, the necessary detailof men being made to carry out this work during the night. 

[Sidenote: Water and food limited. ]

The boats had been provided with water and food, but none was usedduring the day, as the quantity was necessarily limited and it might bea period of several days before a rescue could be effected. 

The ship's wireless plant had been put out of commission by the force ofthe explosion, and although the ship's operator had sent the radiodistress signals, yet it was known that the nearest destroyers were 250miles away, protecting another convoy and it was possible that militarynecessity might prevent their being detached to come to our rescue. 

[Sidenote: Destroyers _Warrington_ and _Smith_ arrive. ]

At about 11 p. M. A white light flashing in the blackness of thenight--it was very dark--was sighted, and very shortly it was found thatthe destroyer _Warrington_ had arrived for our rescue and about an hourafterwards the destroyer _Smith_ also arrived. The transfer of the menfrom the boats and rafts to the destroyers was effected as quickly aspossible and the destroyers remained in the vicinity until afterdaylight the following morning, when a further search was made forsurvivors who might have drifted in a boat or on a raft, but none werefound, and at about 6 a. M. The return trip to France was begun. 

The performance of Lieutenant Commander Kenyon, commanding the U. S. Destroyer _Warrington_, and Lieutenant Commander Klein, of the U. S. Destroyer _Smith_ deserves great commendation, as they located ourposition in the middle of the night, after having run a distance ofabout 250 miles, during which time the boats and rafts of the _PresidentLincoln_ had drifted 15 miles from the position reported by radio, andit had been necessary for the commanding officers of these destroyers tomake an estimate of the probable drift of the boats during that time. The only thing they had to base their estimate on was the force anddirection of the wind. The discovery of the boats was not accidental, asthe course steered was the result of mature deliberation and estimate ofthe situation. 

[Sidenote: Drift of the boats accurately estimated. ]

[Sidenote: The missing. ]

Of the 715 men present all told on board, it was found after the musterthat 3 officers and 23 men were lost with the ship and that 1 officer, Lieutenant Isaacs, above mentioned, had been taken prisoner. The threeofficers were Passed Assistant Surgeon L. C. Whiteside, ship's medicalofficer; Paymaster Andrew Mowat, ship's supply officer; and AssistantPaymaster J. D. Johnston, United States Naval Reserve Force. 

[Sidenote: Two officers taken down with the ship. ]

The loss of these officers was peculiarly regrettable, as they couldhave escaped. Both Dr. Whiteside and Paymaster Mowat had seen the menunder their charge leave the ship, the doctor having attended to placingthe sick in the boat provided for the purpose, and they then remained inthe ship for some unexplainable reason, as testified by witnesses wholast saw them, and apparently these two excellent officers were takendown with the ship. Paymaster Johnston got on a raft alongside the ship, but in some way was caught by the ship as she went under, as C. M. Hippard, ship's cook, third class, United States Navy, states that hewas on the raft with Paymaster Johnston and that they were both drawnunder the water, but when he came to the surface, Paymaster Johnstoncould no longer be seen. 

[Sidenote: Men working below decks. ]

Of the 23 men who were lost, the following 7 men were engaged in workbelow decks in the forward end of the ship, and they were either killedby the force of the explosion of the two torpedoes which struck in thatvicinity, or were drowned by the inrush of the water. 

H. A. Himelwright, storekeeper, second class, United States Navy; F. W. Wilson, jr. , yeoman, second class, United States Naval Reserve Force; B. Zanetti, coxswain, United States Navy; A. S. Egbert, seaman, secondclass, National Naval Volunteer; G. B. Hoffman, seaman, United StatesNavy; J. A. Jenkins, seaman, second class, United States Navy; F. A. Hedglin, seaman, second class, United States Navy. 

[Sidenote: One raft probably went down. ]

The remaining 16 men were apparently caught on the raft alongside theship and went down, this being probably caused by the current of waterwhich was rushing into the big hole in the ship's side, as the men wereon rafts which were in this vicinity. 

[Sidenote: Danger from submarine. ]

Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance ofany kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boatwas all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as towhether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts, I thought hemight probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officersdisclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds ofthe men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on thesubmarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with theintention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed bysome of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, "Good night, herecomes the fireworks. " The spirit which actuated the remark of thiskind, under such circumstances, could be none other than that of coolcourage and bravery. 

[Sidenote: Instances of self-sacrifice. ]

There were many instances where a man showed more interest in the safetyof another than he did for himself. When loading the boats from therafts one man would hold back and insist that another be allowed toenter the boat. There was a striking case of this kind when about dark Inoticed that Chief Master-at-Arms Rogers, who was rather an old man, andbeen in the Navy for years, was on a raft, and I sent a boat to take himfrom the raft, but he objected considerably to this, stating that he wasquite all right, although as a matter of fact he was very cold andcramped from his long hours on the raft. 

[Sidenote: The Balsa rafts excellent. ]

Fortunately, the splendid type of life raft known as the Balsa raft, asit was made of balsa wood, had been furnished the ship, and theseresulted in saving a great many men who might otherwise have been lost, due to exhaustion in the water. 

[Sidenote: Inspiring conduct of the men. ]

The conduct of the men during this time of grave danger was thrillingand inspiring, as a large percentage of them were young boys, who hadonly been in the Navy for a period of a few months. This is anotherexample of the innate courage and bravery of the young manhood ofAmerica. 

 * * * * *

The Germans, hard pressed by the Americans and French in theMeuse-Argonne, and by the British in Flanders, at last saw the futilityof further resistance, and asked for an armistice, on November 11. Theterms of this armistice, dictated by the Allies, were as follows:

ARMISTICE TERMS SIGNED BY GERMANY

[Sidenote: Operations to cease. ]

One--Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after thesignature of the armistice. 

[Sidenote: Invaded countries to be evacuated. ]

Two--Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed withinfourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops whichhave not left the above-mentioned territories within the period fixedwill become prisoners of war. Occupation by the allied and United Statesforces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. Allmovements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordancewith a note annexed to the stated terms. 

[Sidenote: Inhabitants to be repatriated. ]

Three--Repatriation beginning at once to be completed within fifteendays of all the inhabitants of the countries above enumerated (includinghostages, persons under trial or convicted). 

[Sidenote: Surrender of war material. ]

Four--Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the followingwar material: Five thousand guns (2, 500 heavy, and 2, 500 field), 25, 000machine guns, 3, 000 minenwerfer, 1, 700 airplanes (fighters, bombers--firstly, all of the D 7's and all the night bombing machines). The above to be delivered in situ to the allied and United States troopsin accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the note(annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing of the armistice. 

Five--Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bankof the Rhine. The countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall beadministered by the local troops of occupation. The occupation of theseterritories will be carried out by allied and United States garrisonsholding the principal crossings of the Rhine (Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne), together with the bridgeheads at these points of athirty-kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarlyholding the strategic points of the regions. A neutral zone shall bereserved on the right bank of the Rhine between the stream and a linedrawn parallel to the bridgeheads and to the stream and at a distance often kilometers, from the frontier of Holland up to the frontier ofSwitzerland. The evacuation by the enemy of the Rhinelands (left andright bank) shall be so ordered as to be completed within a furtherperiod of sixteen days, in all, thirty-one days after the signing of thearmistice. All the movements of evacuation or occupation are regulatedby the note (annexure No. 1) drawn up at the moment of the signing ofthe armistice. 

[Sidenote: Allies to occupy left bank of Rhine and principal crossings. ]

[Sidenote: Inhabitants of evacuated territories to be protected. ]

Six--In all territories evacuated by the enemy there shall be noevacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to thepersons or property of the inhabitants. No person shall be persecutedfor offenses of participation in war measures prior to the signing ofthe armistice. No destruction of any kind shall be committed. Militaryestablishments of all kinds shall be delivered intact, as well asmilitary stores of food, munitions, and equipment, not removed duringthe time fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civilpopulation, cattle, &c. , shall be left in situ. Industrialestablishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnelshall not be removed. 

[Sidenote: Means of transportation to be surrendered in good order. ]

Seven--Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroads, waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in nomanner impaired. All civil and military personnel at present employed onthem shall remain. Five thousand locomotives and 150, 000 wagons in goodworking order, with all necessary spare parts and fittings, shall bedelivered to the associated powers within the period fixed in annexureNo. 2, and total of which shall not exceed thirty-one days. There shalllikewise be delivered 5, 000 motor lorries (camion automobiles) in goodorder, within the period of thirty-six days. The railways ofAlsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within the period of thirty-onedays, together with pre-war personnel and material. Further, thematerial necessary for the working of railways in the countries on theleft bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal andmaterial for the upkeep of permanent ways, signals, and repair shopsshall be left in situ. These stores shall be maintained by Germany in sofar as concerns the working of the railroads in the countries on theleft bank of the Rhine. All barges taken from the Allies shall berestored to them. The note, annexure No. 2, regulates the details ofthese measures. 

[Sidenote: Mine positions to be revealed. ]

Eight--The German command shall be responsible for revealing within theperiod of forty-eight hours after the signing of the armistice all minesor delayed action fuses on territory evacuated by the German troops andshall assist in their discovery and destruction. It also shall revealall destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning orpolluting of springs and wells, &c. ). All under penalty of reprisals. 

[Sidenote: Allies to have right of requisition. ]

Nine--The right of requisition shall be exercised by the allied andUnited States armies in all occupied territories, subject to regulationof accounts with those whom it may concern. The upkeep of the troops ofoccupation in the Rhineland (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall becharged to the German Government. 

[Sidenote: Allied and American prisoners of war to be repatriated. ]

Ten--The immediate repatriation without reciprocity, according todetailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all allied and UnitedStates prisoners of war, including persons under trial or convicted. Theallied powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of them asthey wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subjectof the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 1918, incourse of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners ofwar interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall continue as before. Therepatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at theconclusion of the preliminaries of peace. 

[Sidenote: Sick and wounded to be cared for. ]

Eleven--Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territorywill be cared for by German personnel, who will be left on the spot withthe medical material required. 

[Sidenote: Germans to withdraw from Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey andRussia. ]

Twelve--All German troops at present in the territories which beforebelonged to Austria-Hungary, Rumania, Turkey, shall withdraw immediatelywithin the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August First, Nineteen Fourteen. All German troops at present in the territories whichbefore the war belonged to Russia shall likewise withdraw within thefrontiers of Germany, defined as above, as soon as the Allies, takinginto account the internal situation of these territories, shall decidethat the time for this has come. 

[Sidenote: Evacuation to begin immediately. ]

[Sidenote: German requisitions to cease. ]

Thirteen--Evacuation by German troops to begin at once, and all Germaninstructors, prisoners, and civilians as well as military agents now onthe territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to be recalled. 

Fourteen--German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizuresand any other undertaking with a view to obtaining supplies intendedfor Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914). 

[Sidenote: Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk treaties to be renounced. ]

Fifteen--Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk andof the supplementary treaties. 

Sixteen--The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuatedby the Germans on their eastern frontier, either through Danzig, or bythe Vistula, in order to convey supplies to the populations of thoseterritories and for the purpose of maintaining order. 

[Sidenote: East Africa to be evacuated. ]

Seventeen--Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africawithin a period to be fixed by the Allies. 

[Sidenote: Repatriation without reciprocation. ]

Eighteen--Repatriation, without reciprocity, within a maximum period ofone month in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixedof all interned civilians, including hostages (persons?) under trial orconvicted, belonging to the allied or associated powers other than thoseenumerated in Article Three. 

[Sidenote: Financial restitution. ]

Nineteen--The following financial conditions are required: Reparationfor damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shallbe removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies forthe recovery or reparation for war losses. Immediate restitution of thecash deposit in the national bank of Belgium, and in general immediatereturn of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money, togetherwith plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interestsin the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian goldyielded to Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered intrust to the Allies until the signature of peace. 

[Sidenote: Cessation of hostilities at sea. ]

Twenty--Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definiteinformation to be given as to the location and movements of all Germanships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of navigationin all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marinesof the allied and associated powers, all questions of neutrality beingwaived. 

[Sidenote: Germany to return naval prisoners. ]

Twenty-one--All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the allied andassociated powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity. 

[Sidenote: Submarines and mine layers to be surrendered. ]

Twenty-two--Surrender to the Allies and United States of all submarines(including submarine cruisers and all mine-laying submarines) nowexisting, with their complete armament and equipment, in ports whichshall be specified by the Allies and United States. Those which cannottake the sea shall be disarmed of the personnel and material and shallremain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. Thesubmarines which are ready for the sea shall be prepared to leave theGerman ports as soon as orders shall be received by wireless for theirvoyage to the port designated for their delivery, and the remainder atthe earliest possible moment. The conditions of this article shall becarried into effect within the period of fourteen days after the signingof the armistice. 

[Sidenote: German warships to be disarmed and interned. ]

Twenty-three--German surface warships which shall be designated by theAllies and the United States shall be immediately disarmed andthereafter interned in neutral ports or in default of them in alliedports to be designated by the Allies and the United States. They willthere remain under the supervision of the Allies and of the UnitedStates, only caretakers being left on board. The following warships aredesignated by the Allies: Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eightlight cruisers (including two mine layers), fifty destroyers of the mostmodern types. All other surface warships (including river craft) are tobe concentrated in German naval bases to be designated by the Alliesand the United States and are to be completely disarmed and classedunder the supervision of the Allies and the United States. The militaryarmament of all ships of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore. Allvessels designated to be interned shall be ready to leave the Germanports seven days after the signing of the armistice. Directions for thevoyage will be given by wireless. 

[Sidenote: Allies to sweep mine fields. ]

Twenty-four--The Allies and the United States of America shall have theright to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germanyoutside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to beindicated. 

[Sidenote: Free accession to the Baltic for the Allies. ]

Twenty-five--Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to thenaval and mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers. Tosecure this the Allies and the United States of America shall beempowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries, anddefense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat intothe Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within andwithout German territorial waters, without any question of neutralitybeing raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions areto be indicated. 

[Sidenote: Blockade conditions to remain unchanged. ]

Twenty-six--The existing blockade conditions set up by the allied andassociated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German merchant shipsfound at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the UnitedStates should give consideration to the provisioning of Germany duringthe armistice to the extent recognized as necessary. 

[Sidenote: Naval aircraft to be immobilized. ]

Twenty-seven--All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilizedin German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States ofAmerica. 

[Sidenote: Navigation material to be abandoned. ]

Twenty-eight--In evacuating the Belgian coast and ports Germany shallabandon in situ and in fact all port and river navigation material, allmerchant ships, tugs, lighters, all naval aeronautic apparatus, materialand supplies, and all arms, apparatus, and supplies of every kind. 

[Sidenote: Black Sea ports to be evacuated. ]

Twenty-nine--All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany; allRussian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the BlackSea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States ofAmerica; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; allwarlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those ports are to bereturned and German materials as specified in Clause Twenty-eight are tobe abandoned. 

[Sidenote: Merchant vessels to be restored. ]

Thirty--All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the allied andassociated powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by theAllies and the United States of America without reciprocity. 

[Sidenote: No destruction permitted. ]

Thirty-one--No destruction of ships or of materials to be permittedbefore evacuation, surrender, or restoration. 

[Sidenote: German restrictions on trading vessels to be canceled. ]

Thirty-two--The German Government will notify the neutral Governments ofthe world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of theirvessels with the allied and associated countries, whether by the GermanGovernment or by private German interests, and whether in return forspecific concessions, such as the export of shipbuilding materials, ornot, are immediately canceled. 

[Sidenote: No transfers of German shipping. ]

Thirty-three--No transfers of German merchant shipping of anydescription to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of thearmistice. 

[Sidenote: Armistice to last thirty days. ]

Thirty-four--The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, withoption to extend. During this period if its clauses are not carriedinto execution the armistice may be denounced by one of the contractingparties, which must give warning forty-eight hours in advance. It isunderstood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant thedenunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient executionwithin a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying theminto execution. In order to assure the execution of this conventionunder the best conditions, the principle of a permanent internationalarmistice commission is admitted. This commission will act under theauthority of the allied military and naval Commanders in Chief. 

[Sidenote: Must be accepted within seventy-two hours. ]

Thirty-five--This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany withinseventy-two hours of notification. 

This armistice has been signed the Eleventh of November, NineteenEighteen, at 5 o'clock a. M. French time. 

 F. Foch. R. E. Wemyss. Erzberger. A. Oberndorff. Winterfeldt. Von Salow. 

 * * * * *

The chief concern of President Wilson, and the controlling reason forhis trip abroad to attend the Peace Conference, was the formation of aLeague of Nations to insure perpetual peace. After months ofdeliberation the covenant of the League of Nations was prepared and madepublic. The text of this covenant follows. 

COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

[Sidenote: The purposes of the League. ]

PREAMBLE--In order to promote international cooperation and tosecure international peace and security by the acceptance of obligationsnot to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just, and honorablerelations between nations, by the firm establishment of theunderstandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct amongGovernments, and by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respectfor all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with oneanother, the Powers signatory to this covenant adopt this Constitutionof the League of Nations:

[Sidenote: A body of delegates. ]

ARTICLE I. --The action of the high contracting parties underthe terms of this covenant shall be effected through the instrumentalityof a meeting of a body of delegates representing the high contractingparties, of meetings at more frequent intervals of an Executive Council, and of a permanent international secretariat to be established at theseat of the League. 

[Sidenote: Each high contracting party to have a vote. ]

ART. II. --Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held atstated intervals and from time to time, as occasion may require, for thepurpose of dealing with matters within the sphere of action of theLeague. Meetings of the body of delegates shall be held at the seat ofthe league, or at such other places as may be found convenient, andshall consist of representatives of the high contracting parties. Eachof the high contracting parties shall have one vote, but may have notmore than three representatives. 

[Sidenote: Nations to be represented in the Executive Council. ]

ART. III. --The Executive Council shall consist ofrepresentatives of the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, together with representatives of four otherStates, members of the League. The selection of these four States shallbe made by the body of delegates on such principles and in such manneras they think fit. Pending the appointment of these representatives ofthe other States, representatives of ---- shall be members of theExecutive Council. 

[Sidenote: Meetings at least once a year. ]

Meetings of the Council shall be held from time to time as occasion mayrequire, and at least once a year, at whatever place may be decided on, or, failing any such decision, at the seat of the League, and any matterwithin the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of theworld may be dealt with at such meetings. 

Invitations shall be sent to any Power to attend a meeting of thecouncil at which such matters directly affecting its interests are to bediscussed, and no decision taken at any meeting will be binding on suchPowers unless so invited. 

[Sidenote: Committees to investigate particular matters. ]

ART. IV. --All matters of procedure at meetings of the body ofdelegates or the Executive Council, including the appointment ofcommittees to investigate particular matters, shall be regulated by thebody of delegates or the Executive Council, and may be decided by amajority of the States represented at the meeting. 

The first meeting of the body of delegates and of the Executive Councilshall be summoned by the President of the United States of America. 

[Sidenote: The permanent secretariat. ]

ART. V. --The permanent secretariat of the League shall beestablished at ----, which shall constitute the seat of the League. Thesecretariat shall comprise such secretaries and staff as may berequired, under the general direction and control of a Secretary Generalof the League, who shall be chosen by the Executive Council. Thesecretariat shall be appointed by the Secretary General subject toconfirmation by the Executive Council. 

The Secretary General shall act in that capacity at all meetings of thebody of delegates or of the Executive Council. 

The expenses of the secretariat shall be borne by the States members ofthe League, in accordance with the apportionment of the expenses of theInternational Bureau of the Universal Postal Union. 

[Sidenote: Representatives to have diplomatic privileges andimmunities. ]

ART. VI. --Representatives of the high contracting parties andofficials of the League, when engaged in the business of the League, shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities, and the buildingsoccupied by the League or its officials, or by representatives attendingits meetings, shall enjoy the benefits of extra-territoriality. 

[Sidenote: Admission to the League. ]

ART. VII. --Admission to the League of States, not signatoriesto the covenant and not named in the protocol hereto as States to beinvited to adhere to the covenant, requires the assent of not less thantwo-thirds of the States represented in the body of delegates, and shallbe limited to fully self-governing countries, including dominions andcolonies. 

No State shall be admitted to the League unless it is able to giveeffective guarantees of its sincere intention to observe itsinternational obligations and unless it shall conform to such principlesas may be prescribed by the League in regard to its naval and militaryforces and armaments. 

[Sidenote: To reduce national armaments. ]

ART. VIII. --The high contracting parties recognize theprinciple that the maintenance of peace will require the reduction ofnational armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety, and the enforcement by common action of international obligations, having special regard to the geographical situation and circumstances ofeach State, and the Executive Council shall formulate plans foreffecting such reduction. The Executive Council shall also determine forthe consideration and action of the several Governments what militaryequipment and armament is fair and reasonable in proportion to the scaleof forces laid down in the program of disarmament; and these limits, when adopted, shall not be exceeded without the permission of theExecutive Council. 

[Sidenote: To regulate private manufacture of munitions. ]

The high contracting parties agree that the manufacture by privateenterprise of munitions and implements of war lends itself to graveobjections, and direct the Executive Council to advise how the evileffects attendant upon such manufacture can be prevented, due regardbeing had to the necessities of those countries which are not able tomanufacture for themselves the munitions and implements of war necessaryfor their safety. 

The high contracting parties undertake in no way to conceal from eachother the condition of such of their industries as are capable of beingadapted to warlike purposes or the scale of their armaments, and agreethat there shall be full and frank interchange of information as totheir military and naval programs. 

ART. IX. --A permanent commission shall be constituted to advisethe League on the execution of the provisions of Article VIII. And onmilitary and naval questions generally. 

[Sidenote: Territorial integrity. ]

ART. X. --The high contracting parties shall undertake torespect and preserve as against external aggression the territorialintegrity and existing political independence of all States members ofthe League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat ordanger of such aggression the Executive Council shall advise upon themeans by which the obligation shall be fulfilled. 

[Sidenote: All wars the concern of the League. ]

ART. XI. --Any war or threat of war, whether immediatelyaffecting any of the high contracting parties or not, is hereby declareda matter of concern to the League, and the high contracting partiesreserve the right to take any action that may be deemed wise andeffectual to safeguard the peace of nations. 

It is hereby also declared and agreed to be the friendly right of eachof the high contracting parties to draw the attention of the body ofdelegates or of the Executive Council to any circumstance affectinginternational intercourse which threatens to disturb international peaceor good understanding between nations upon which peace depends. 

[Sidenote: Disputes to be submitted to arbitration. ]

ART. XII. --The high contracting parties agree that shoulddisputes arise between them which cannot be adjusted by the ordinaryprocesses of diplomacy they will in no case resort to war withoutpreviously submitting the questions and matters involved either toarbitration or to inquiry by the Executive Council, and until threemonths after the award by the arbitrators or a recommendation by theExecutive Council, and that they will not even then resort to war asagainst a member of the League which complies with the award of thearbitrators or the recommendation of the Executive Council. 

In any case under this article the award of the arbitrators shall bemade within a reasonable time, and the recommendation of the ExecutiveCouncil shall be made within six months after the submission of thedispute. 

[Sidenote: The Executive Council to act if arbitration fails. ]

ART. XIII. --The high contracting parties agree that wheneverany dispute or difficulty shall arise between them, which they recognizeto be suitable for submission to arbitration and which cannot besatisfactorily settled by diplomacy, they will submit the whole matterto arbitration. For this purpose the court of arbitration to which thecase is referred shall be the court agreed on by the parties orstipulated in any convention existing between them. The high contractingparties agree that they will carry out in full good faith any award thatmay be rendered. In the event of any failure to carry out the award theExecutive Council shall propose what steps can best be taken to giveeffect thereto. 

[Sidenote: A permanent court of international justice. ]

ART. XIV. --The Executive Council shall formulate plans for theestablishment of a permanent court of international justice, and thiscourt shall, when established, be competent to hear and determine anymatter which the parties recognize as suitable for submission to it forarbitration under the foregoing article. 

[Sidenote: Cases to be stated to the Executive Council. ]

ART. XV. --If there should arise between States, members of theLeague, any dispute likely to lead to rupture, which is not submitted toarbitration as above, the high contracting parties agree that they willrefer the matter to the Executive Council; either party to the disputemay give notice of the existence of the dispute to the Secretary Generalwho will make all necessary arrangements for a full investigation andconsideration thereof. For this purpose the parties agree to communicateto the Secretary General as promptly as possible statements of theircase, all the relevant facts and papers, and the Executive Council mayforthwith direct the publication thereof. 

[Sidenote: Terms of settlements to be published. ]

[Sidenote: Measures to give effect to recommendations. ]

Where the efforts of the council lead to the settlement of the dispute, a statement shall be published, indicating the nature of the dispute andthe terms of settlement, together with such explanations as may beappropriate. If the dispute has not been settled, a report by thecouncil shall be published, setting forth with all necessary facts andexplanations the recommendation which the council think just and properfor the settlement of the dispute. If the report is unanimously agreedto by the members of the council, other than the parties to the dispute, the high contracting parties agree that they will not go to war with anyparty which complies with the recommendations, and that if any partyshall refuse so to comply the council shall propose measures necessaryto give effect to the recommendations. If no such unanimous report canbe made it shall be the duty of the majority and the privilege of theminority to issue statements, indicating what they believe to be thefacts, and containing the reasons which they consider to be just andproper. 

[Sidenote: Dispute may be referred to the body of delegates. ]

The Executive Council may in any case under this article refer thedispute to the body of delegates. The dispute shall be so referred atthe request of either party to the dispute, provided that such requestmust be made within fourteen days after the submission of the dispute. In a case referred to the body of delegates, all the provisions of thisarticle, and of Article XII. , relating to the action and powers of theExecutive Council, shall apply to the action and powers of the body ofdelegates. 

[Sidenote: When a nation breaks its covenants. ]

ART. XVI. --Should any of the high contracting parties break ordisregard its covenants under Article XII. It shall thereby ipso factobe deemed to have committed an act of war against all the other membersof the League, which hereby undertakes immediately to subject it to theseverance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of allintercourse between their nationals and the nationals of thecovenant-breaking State and the prevention of all financial, commercial, or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-breakingState and the nationals of any other State, whether a member of theLeague or not. 

[Sidenote: Armed forces of the League. ]

It shall be the duty of the Executive Council in such case to recommendwhat effective military or naval force the members of the League shallseverally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect thecovenants of the League. 

[Sidenote: Financial economic measures. ]

The high contracting parties agree, further, that they will mutuallysupport one another in the financial and economic measures which may betaken under this article in order to minimize the loss and inconvenienceresulting from the above measures, and that they will mutually supportone another in resisting any special measures aimed at one of theirnumber by the covenant-breaking State and that they will afford passagethrough their territory to the forces of any of the high contractingparties who are cooperating to protect the covenants of the League. 

[Sidenote: When a non-member is party to a dispute. ]

ART. XVII. --In the event of dispute between one State member ofthe League and another State which is not a member of the League, orbetween States not members of the League, the high contracting partiesagree that the State or States, not members of the League, shall beinvited to accept the obligations of membership in the League for thepurposes of such dispute, upon such conditions as the Executive Councilmay deem just, and upon acceptance of any such invitation, the aboveprovisions shall be applied with such modifications as may be deemednecessary by the League. 

Upon such invitation being given the Executive Council shall immediatelyinstitute an inquiry into the circumstances and merits of the disputeand recommend such action as may seem best and most effectual in thecircumstances. 

In the event of a power so invited refusing to accept the obligations ofmembership in the League for the purposes of the League, which in thecase of a State member of the League would constitute a breach ofArticle XII. , the provisions of Article XVI. Shall be applicable asagainst the State taking such action. 

[Sidenote: Executive Council to take means to settle the dispute. ]

If both parties to the dispute, when so invited, refuse to accept theobligations of membership in the League for the purpose of such dispute, the Executive Council may take such action and make such recommendationsas will prevent hostilities and will result in the settlement of thedispute. 

[Sidenote: Supervision of trade in arms. ]

ART. XVIII. --The high contracting parties agree that the Leagueshall be intrusted with general supervision of the trade in arms andammunition with the countries in which the control of this traffic isnecessary in the common interest. 

[Sidenote: Development of backward peoples a sacred trust. ]

ART. XIX. --To those colonies and territories which, as aconsequence of the late war, have ceased to be under the sovereignty ofthe States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited bypeoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuousconditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principlethat the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trustof civilization and that securities for the performance of this trustshould be embodied in the constitution of the League. 

The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that thetutelage of such peoples should be intrusted to advanced nations, who byreason of their resources, their experience, or their geographicalposition, can best undertake this responsibility, and that this tutelageshould be exercised by them as mandatories on behalf of the League. 

The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of thedevelopment of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances. 

[Sidenote: Provisional recognition of certain communities. ]

Certain communities, formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire, havereached a stage of development where their existence as independentnations can be provisionally recognized, subject to the rendering ofadministrative advice and assistance by a mandatory power until suchtime as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communitiesmust be a principal consideration in the selection of the mandatorypower. 

[Sidenote: Central Africa peoples. ]

Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stagethat the mandatory must be responsible for the administration of theterritory, subject to conditions which will guarantee freedom ofconscience or religion, subject only to the maintenance of public orderand morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the armstraffic, and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishmentof fortifications or military and naval bases and of military trainingof the natives for other than police purposes and the defense ofterritory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade andcommerce of other members of the League. 

[Sidenote: The South Pacific Isles. ]

There are territories, such as Southwest Africa and certain of the SouthPacific Isles, which, owing to the sparseness of the population, ortheir small size, or their remoteness from the centers of civilization, or their geographical contiguity to the mandatory State and othercircumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the mandatoryStates as integral portions thereof, subject to the safeguards abovementioned in the interests of the indigenous population. 

[Sidenote: Mandatory's annual report. ]

In every case of mandate, the mandatory State shall render to the Leaguean annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge. 

The degree of authority, control, or administration, to be exercised bythe mandatory State, shall, if not previously agreed upon by the highcontracting parties in each case, be explicitly defined by the ExecutiveCouncil in a special act or charter. 

[Sidenote: The mandatory commission. ]

The high contracting parties further agree to establish at the seat ofthe League a mandatory commission to receive and examine the annualreports of the mandatory powers, and to assist the League in insuringthe observance of the terms of all mandates. 

ART. XX. --The high contracting parties will endeavor to secureand maintain fair and humane conditions of labor for men, women, andchildren, both in their own countries and in all countries to whichtheir commercial and industrial relations extend; and to that end agreeto establish as part of the organization of the League a permanentbureau of labor. 

[Sidenote: Transportation and commerce. ]

ART. XXI. --The high contracting parties agree that provisionshall be made through the instrumentality of the League to secure andmaintain freedom of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce ofall States members of the League, having in mind, among other things, special arrangements with regard to the necessities of the regionsdevastated during the war of 1914-1918. 

[Sidenote: International bureaus to be placed under League. ]

ART. XXII. --The high contracting parties agree to place underthe control of the League all international bureaus already establishedby general treaties, if the parties to such treaties consent. Furthermore, they agree that all such international bureaus to beconstituted in future shall be placed under control of the League. 

[Sidenote: Treaties to be registered with the League. ]

ART. XXIII. --The high contracting parties agree that everytreaty or international engagement entered into hereafter by any Statemember of the League shall be forthwith registered with the SecretaryGeneral and as soon as possible published by him, and that no suchtreaty or international engagement shall be binding until so registered. 

[Sidenote: Reconsideration of treaties. ]

ART. XXIV. --It shall be the right of the body of delegates fromtime to time to advise the reconsideration by States members of theLeague of treaties which have become inapplicable and of internationalconditions of which the continuance may endanger the peace of the world. 

[Sidenote: To procure release from obligations inconsistent with theLeague. ]

ART. XXV. --The high contracting parties severally agree thatthe present covenant is accepted as abrogating all obligations inter sewhich are inconsistent with the terms thereof, and solemnly engage thatthey will not hereafter enter into any engagements inconsistent with theterms thereof. In case any of the Powers signatory hereto orsubsequently admitted to the League shall, before becoming a party tothis covenant, have undertaken any obligations which are inconsistentwith the terms of this covenant, it shall be the duty of such Power totake immediate steps to procure its release from such obligations. 

[Sidenote: Covenant to be ratified. ]

ART. XXVI. --Amendments to this covenant will take effect whenratified by the States whose representatives compose the ExecutiveCouncil and by three-fourths of the States whose representatives composethe body of delegates. 

OFFICIAL SUMMARY OF THE TREATY OF PEACE

GERMANY

[Sidenote: The Allied and Associated Powers. ]

The preamble names as parties of the one part the United States, theBritish Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, described as the Five Alliedand Associated Powers, and Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Serbia, Siam, Czecho-Slovakia, and Uruguay, who with the five above are described asthe allied and associated powers, and on the other part, Germany. 

[Sidenote: Desire for a firm, just and durable peace. ]

It states that: bearing in mind that on the request of the then ImperialGerman Government an armistice was granted on November 11, 1918, by theprincipal allied and associated powers in order that a treaty of peacemight be concluded with her, and whereas the allied and associatedpowers, being equally desirous that the war in which they weresuccessively involved directly or indirectly and which originated in thedeclaration of war by Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914, against Serbia, the declaration of war by Germany against Russia on August 1, 1914, andagainst France on August 3, 1914, and in the invasion of Belgium, shouldbe replaced by a firm, just, and durable peace, the plenipotentiaries, (having communicated their full powers found in good and due form) haveagreed as follows:

From the coming into force of the present treaty the state of war willterminate. From the moment and subject to the provisions of this treaty, official relations with Germany, and with each of the German States, will be resumed by the allied and associated Powers. 

SECTION I

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

[Sidenote: Specific duties of the League of Nations. ]

The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section I of the peacetreaty, which places upon the League many specific, in addition to itsgeneral, duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation ofa neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world'speace. It will appoint three of the five members of the SarreCommission, oversee its rêgime, and carry out the plebiscite. It willappoint the High Commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence ofthe free city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germany andPoland. It will work out the mandatory system to be applied to theformer German colonies, and act as a final court in part of theplebiscites of the Belgian-German frontier, and in disputes as to theKiel Canal, and decide certain of the economic and financial problems. An International Conference on Labor is to be held in October under itsdirection, and another on the international control of ports, waterways, and railways is foreshadowed. 

MEMBERSHIP

[Sidenote: How states may become members or withdraw. ]

The members of the League will be the signatories of the covenant andother States invited to accede who must lodge a declaration of accessionwithout reservation within two months. A new State, dominion, or colonymay be admitted, provided its admission is agreed to by two-thirds ofthe assembly. A State may withdraw upon giving two years' notice, if ithas fulfilled all its international obligations. 

SECRETARIAT

[Sidenote: Permanent secretariat at Geneva. ]

A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the League, which will be at Geneva. 

ASSEMBLY

[Sidenote: Voting by States. ]

The Assembly will consist of representatives of the members of theLeague, and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will be by States. Each member will have one vote and not more than three representatives. 

COUNCIL

[Sidenote: Meetings at least once a year. ]

The Council will consist of representatives of the Five Great AlliedPowers, together with representatives of four members selected by theAssembly from time to time; it may co-opt additional States and willmeet at least once a year. 

Members not represented will be invited to send a representative whenquestions affecting their interests are discussed. Voting will be byStates. Each State will have one vote and not more than onerepresentative. A decision taken by the Assembly and Council must beunanimous except in regard to procedure and in certain cases specifiedin the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will be by amajority. 

ARMAMENTS

[Sidenote: Permanent commission on military and naval questions. ]

The Council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments forconsideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every ten years. Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armaments fixed withoutthe concurrence of the Council. All members will exchange fullinformation as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commissionwill advise the Council on military and naval questions. 

PREVENTING OF WAR

[Sidenote: Members to submit disputes to arbitration. ]

[Sidenote: Council to consider means to protect covenants. ]

Upon any war, or threat of war, the Council will meet to consider whatcommon action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters ofdispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until threemonths after the award. Members agree to carry out an arbitral award andnot to go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it. If a member fails to carry out the award, the Council will propose thenecessary measures. The Council will formulate plans for theestablishment of a permanent court of international justice to determineinternational disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do notsubmit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of theAssembly. If the Council, less the parties to the dispute, isunanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that theywill not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with itsrecommendations. In this case, a recommendation, by the Assembly, concurred in by all its members represented on the Council and a simplemajority of the rest, less the parties to the dispute, will have theforce of a unanimous recommendation by the Council. In either case, ifthe necessary agreement cannot be secured, the members reserve the rightto take such [action?] as may be necessary for the maintenance of rightand justice. Members resorting to war in disregard of the covenant willimmediately be debarred from all intercourse with other members. TheCouncil will in such cases consider what military or naval action can betaken by the League collectively for the protection of the covenantsand will afford facilities to members cooperating in this enterprise. 

VALIDITY OF TREATIES

All treaties or international engagements concluded after theinstitution of the League will be registered with the secretariat andpublished. The Assembly may from time to time advise members toreconsider treaties which have become inapplicable or involve danger topeace. 

[Sidenote: Monroe Doctrine not to be invalidated. ]

The covenant abrogates all obligations between members inconsistent withits terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity of internationalengagements such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandingslike the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of peace. 

THE MANDATORY SYSTEM

[Sidenote: For nations not able to stand alone. ]

The tutelage of nations not yet able to stand by themselves will beintrusted to advanced nations who are best fitted to undertake it. Thecovenant recognizes three different stages of development requiringdifferent kinds of mandatories:

[Sidenote: Provisional independence. ]

(a) Communities like those belonging to the Turkish Empire, which can beprovisionally recognized as independent, subject to advice andassistance from mandatary in whose selection they would be allowed avoice. 

[Sidenote: Abuses to be prohibited. ]

(b) Communities like those of Central Africa, to be administered by themandatary under conditions generally approved by the members of theLeague, where equal opportunities for trade will be allowed to allmembers; certain abuses, such as trade in slaves, arms, and liquor willbe prohibited, and the construction of military and naval bases and theintroduction of compulsory military training will be disallowed. 

[Sidenote: League to determine degree of mandatary's authority. ]

(c) Other communities, such as Southwest Africa and the South PacificIslands, but administered under the laws of the mandatary as integralportions of its territory. In every case the mandatary will render anannual report, and the degree of its authority will be defined. 

GENERAL INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS

[Sidenote: To maintain fair conditions of labor. ]

[Sidenote: Steps for prevention and control of disease. ]

Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of internationalconvention, existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of theLeague will in general endeavor, through the international organizationestablished by the Labor Convention, to secure and maintain fairconditions of labor for men, women and children in their own countriesand other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of thenative inhabitants of territories under their control; they will entrustthe League with the general supervision over the execution of agreementsfor the suppression of traffic in women and children, &c. ; and thecontrol of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in whichcontrol is necessary; they will make provision for freedom ofcommunication and transit and equitable treatment for commerce of allmembers of the League, with special reference to the necessities ofregions devastated during the war; and they will endeavor to take stepsfor international prevention and control of disease. Internationalbureaus and commissions already established will be placed under theLeague, as well as those to be established in the future. 

AMENDMENTS TO THE COVENANT

Amendments to the covenant will take effect when ratified by the Counciland by a majority of the Assembly. 

SECTION II

BOUNDARIES OF GERMANY

[Sidenote: Germany to cede to France and Poland. ]

Germany cedes to France Alsace-Lorraine, 5, 600 square miles to thesouthwest, and to Belgium two small districts between Luxemburg andHolland, totaling 382 square miles. She also cedes to Poland thesoutheastern tip of Silesia beyond and including Oppeln, most of Posen, and West Prussia, 27, 686 square miles, East Prussia being isolated fromthe main body by a part of Poland. She loses sovereignty over thenortheastern tip of East Prussia, 40 square miles north of the riverMemel, and the internationalized areas about Danzig, 729 square miles, and the Basin of the Sarre, 738 square miles, between the western borderof the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria and the southeast corner ofLuxemburg. The Danzig area consists of the V between the Nogat andVistula Rivers made a W by the addition of a similar V on the west, including the city of Danzig. The southeastern third of East Prussia andthe area between East Prussia and the Vistula north of latitude 53degrees 3 minutes is to have its nationality determined by popular vote, 5, 785 square miles, as is to be the case in part of Schleswig, 2, 787square miles. 

SECTION III

BELGIUM

[Sidenote: Frontier changes. ]

Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, bywhich Belgium was established as a neutral State, and to agree inadvance to any convention with which the allied and associated Powersmay determine to replace them. She is to recognize the full sovereigntyof Belgium over the contested territory of Moresnet and over part ofPrussian Moresnet, and to renounce in favor of Belgium all rights overthe circles of Eupen and Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to beentitled within six months to protest against this change of sovereigntyeither in whole or in part, the final decision to be reserved to theLeague of Nations. A commission is to settle the details of thefrontier, and various regulations for change of nationality are laiddown. 

LUXEMBURG

[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights of exploitation. ]

Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the GrandDuchy of Luxemburg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the GermanZollverein from January first, last, renounces all right of exploitationof the railroads, adheres to the abrogation of its neutrality, andaccepts in advance any international agreement as to it reached by theallied and associated powers. 

LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE

[Sidenote: No German fortifications or armed forces. ]

As provided in the military clauses, Germany will not maintain anyfortifications or armed forces less than fifty kilometers to the east ofthe Rhine, hold any manoeuvres, nor maintain any works to facilitatemobilization. In case of violation, "she shall be regarded as committinga hostile act against the Powers who sign the present treaty and asintending to disturb the peace of the world. " "By virtue of the presenttreaty, Germany shall be bound to respond to any request for anexplanation which the Council of the League of Nations may think itnecessary to address to her. "

ALSACE-LORRAINE

[Sidenote: Territories restored to France. ]

After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong done in1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, theterritories ceded to Germany by the Treaty of Frankfort are restored toFrance with their frontiers as before 1871, to date from the signing ofthe armistice, and to be free of all public debts. 

[Sidenote: How French citizenship may be acquired. ]

Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those whoare immediately restored to full French citizenship, those who have tomake formal applications therefor, and those for whom naturalization isopen after three years. The last named class includes German residentsin Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished from those who acquire the positionof Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. All public property andall private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to France withoutpayment or credit. France is substituted for Germany as regardsownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways. TheRhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep. 

[Sidenote: Manufactured products to be admitted to Germany. ]

[Sidenote: Administration of Kehl and Strassbourg. ]

For five years manufactured products of Alsace-Lorraine will be admittedto Germany free of duty to a total amount not exceeding in any year theaverage of the three years preceding the war and textile materials maybe imported from Germany to Alsace-Lorraine and re-exported free ofduty. Contracts for electric power from the right bank must be continuedfor ten years. For seven years, with possible extension to ten, theports of Kehl and Strassbourg shall be administered as a single unit bya French administrator appointed and supervised by the Central RhineCommission. Property rights will be safeguarded in both ports andequality of treatment as respects traffic assured the nationals, vessels, and goods of every country. 

[Sidenote: Contracts, judgments of courts, political condemnations. ]

Contracts between Alsace-Lorraine and Germany are maintained save forFrance's right to annul on grounds of public interest. Judgments ofcourts hold in certain classes of cases while in others a judicialexequatur is first required. Political condemnations during the war arenull and void and the obligation to repay war fines is established as inother parts of allied territory. 

Various clauses adjust the general provisions of the treaty to thespecial conditions of Alsace-Lorraine, certain matters of executionbeing left to conventions to be made between France and Germany. 

THE SARRE

[Sidenote: To compensate for destruction of mines in France. ]

In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in Northern France andas payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France fullownership of the coal mines of the Sarre Basin with their subsidiaries, accessories and facilities. Their value will be estimated by theSeparation Commission and credited against that account. The Frenchrights will be governed by German law in force at the armisticeexcepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners, whomGermany undertakes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish thepresent proportion of coal for local needs and contribute in justproportion to local taxes. The basin extends from the frontier ofLorraine as re-annexed to France north as far as St. Wendel including onthe west the valley of the Sarre as far as Sarre Holzbach and on theeast the town of Homburg. 

[Sidenote: To be governed by a commission. ]

[Sidenote: A local representative assembly to be organized. ]

In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population andguarantee to France entire freedom in working the mines the territorywill be governed by a commission appointed by the League of Nations andconsisting of five members, one French, one a native inhabitant of theSarre, and three representing three different countries other thanFrance and Germany. The League will appoint a member of the Commissionas Chairman to act as executive of the Commission. The Commission willhave all powers of government formerly belonging to the German Empire, Prussia and Bavaria, will administer the railroads and other publicservices and have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. The localcourts will continue, but subject to the Commission. Existing Germanlegislation will remain the basis of the law, but the Commission maymake modification after consulting a local representative assembly whichit will organize. It will have the taxing power but for local purposesonly. New taxes must be approved by this assembly. Labor legislationwill consider the wishes of the local labor organizations and the laborprogram of the League. French and other labor may be freely utilized, the former being free to belong to French unions. All rights acquired asto pensions and social insurance will be maintained by Germany and theSarre Commission. 

[Sidenote: Liberty of religion and language. ]

There will be no military service but only a local gendarmerie topreserve order. The people will preserve their local assemblies, religious liberties, schools, and language, but may vote only for localassemblies. They will keep their present nationality except so far asindividuals may change it. Those wishing to leave will have everyfacility with respect to their property. The territory will form part ofthe French customs system, with no export tax on coal and metallurgicalproducts going to Germany nor on German products entering the basin andfor five years no import duties on products of the basin going toGermany or German products coming into the basin. For local consumptionFrench money may circulate without restriction. 

[Sidenote: Plebiscite to be held after fifteen years. ]

After fifteen years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertainthe desires of the population as to continuance of the existing régimeunder the League of Nations, union with France or union with Germany. The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over twenty residenttherein at the signature. Taking into account the opinions thusexpressed the League will decide the ultimate sovereignty. In anyportion restored to Germany the German Government must buy out theFrench mines at an appraised valuation. If the price is not paid withinsix months thereafter this portion passes finally to France. If Germanybuys back the mines the League will determine how much of the coal shallbe annually sold to France. 

SECTION IV

GERMAN AUSTRIA

[Sidenote: Independence to be recognized. ]

"Germany recognizes the total independence of German Austria in theboundaries traced. "

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

[Sidenote: Frontiers of the new State. ]

Germany recognizes the entire independence of the Czecho-Slovak State, including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians south of theCarpathians, and accepts the frontiers of this State as to bedetermined, which in the case of the German frontier shall follow thefrontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipulations as to acquisitionand change of nationality follow. 

POLAND

[Sidenote: A Boundary Commission to be constituted. ]

[Sidenote: Minorities to be protected. ]

Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of Upper Silesia, Posen and theprovince of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A FieldBoundary Commission of seven, five representing the allied andassociated powers and one each representing Poland and Germany, shall beconstituted within fifteen days of the peace to delimit this boundary. Such special provisions as are necessary to protect racial, linguisticor religious minorities and to protect freedom of transit and equitabletreatment of commerce of other nations shall be laid down in asubsequent treaty between the principal allied and associated powers andPoland. 

EAST PRUSSIA

[Sidenote: Frontiers of East Prussia and Poland. ]

The southern and the eastern frontier of East Prussia as touching Polandis to be fixed by plebiscites, the first in the regency of Allensteinbetween the southern frontier of East Prussia and the northern frontier, or Regierungsbezirk Allenstein from where it meets the boundary betweenEast and West Prussia to its junction with the boundary between thecircles of Oletsko and Angersburg, thence the northern boundary ofOletsko to its junction with the present frontier, and the second in thearea comprising the circles of Stuhm and Rosenberg and the parts of thecircles of Marienburg and Marienwerder east of the Vistula. 

[Sidenote: German troops and officials to leave. ]

In each case German troops and authorities will move out within fifteendays of the peace, and the territories be placed under an internationalcommission of five members appointed by the principal allied andassociated powers, with the particular duty of arranging for a free, fair and secret vote. The commission will report the results of theplebiscites to the powers with a recommendation for the boundary, andwill terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down andthe new authorities set up. 

[Sidenote: Access to the Vistula. ]

The principal allied and associated powers will draw up regulationsassuring East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of theVistula. A subsequent convention, of which the terms will be fixed bythe principal allied and associated powers, will be entered intobetween Poland, Germany and Danzig, to assure suitable railroadcommunication across German territory on the right bank of the Vistulabetween Poland and Danzig, while Poland shall grant free passage fromEast Prussia to Germany. 

The northeastern corner of East Prussia about Memel is to be ceded byGermany to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept thesettlement made, especially as regards the nationality of theinhabitants. 

DANZIG

[Sidenote: Danzig to be under League of Nations. ]

Danzig and the district immediately about it is to be constituted intothe "free city of Danzig" under the guarantee of the League of Nations. A high commissioner appointed by the League and President of Danzigshall draw up a constitution in agreement with the duly appointedrepresentatives of the city, and shall deal in the first instance withall differences arising between the city and Poland. The actualboundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointedwithin six months from the peace and to include three representativeschosen by the allied and associated powers, and one each by Germany andPoland. 

[Sidenote: Convention between Danzig and Poland. ]

A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the principal alliedand associated powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, which shall include Danzig within the Polish customs frontiers, though afree area in the port; insure to Poland the free use of all the city'swaterways, docks and other port facilities, the control andadministration of the Vistula and the whole through railway systemwithin the city, and postal, telegraphic and telephonic communicationbetween Poland and Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poleswithin the city, and place its foreign relations and the diplomaticprotection of its citizens abroad in charge of Poland. 

DENMARK

[Sidenote: Frontier to be fixed by self-determination. ]

The frontier between Germany and Denmark will be fixed by theself-determination of the population. Ten days from the peace Germantroops and authorities shall evacuate the region north of the linerunning from the mouth of the Schlei, south of Kappel, Schleswig, andFriedrichstadt along the Eider to the North Sea south of Tonning; theWorkmen's and Soldiers' Councils shall be dissolved, and the territoryadministered by an international commission of five, of whom Norway andSweden shall be invited to name two. 

[Sidenote: Voting to be in zones. ]

The commission shall insure a free and secret vote in three zones. Thatbetween the German-Danish frontier and a line running south of theIsland of Alsen, north of Flensburg, and south of Tondern to the NorthSea, north of the Island of Sylt, will vote as a unit within three weeksafter the evacuation. Within five weeks after this vote the second zone, whose southern boundary runs from the North Sea south of the Island ofFehr to the Baltic south of Sygum, will vote by communes. Two weeksafter that vote the third zone running to the limit of evacuation willalso vote by communes. The international commission will then draw a newfrontier on the basis of these plebiscites and with due regard forgeographical and economic conditions. Germany will renounce allsovereignty over territories north of this line in favor of theAssociated Governments, who will hand them over to Denmark. 

HELIGOLAND

[Sidenote: Fortifications to be destroyed. ]

The fortifications, military establishments, and harbors of the Islandsof Heligoland and Dune are to be destroyed under the supervision of theAllies by German labor and at Germany's expense. They may not bereconstructed, nor any similar fortifications built in the future. 

RUSSIA

[Sidenote: Brest-Litovsk treaty to be abrogated. ]

Germany agrees to respect as permanent and inalienable the independencyof all territories which were part of the former Russian Empire, toaccept the abrogation of the Brest-Litovsk and other treaties enteredinto with the Maximalist Government of Russia, to recognize the fullforce of all treaties entered into by the allied and associated powerswith States which were a part of the former Russian Empire, and torecognize the frontiers as determined thereon. The allied and associatedpowers formally reserve the right of Russia to obtain restitution andreparation on the principles of the present treaty. 

SECTION V

GERMAN RIGHTS OUTSIDE EUROPE

[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights. ]

Outside Europe, Germany renounces all rights, titles, and privileges asto her own or her allies' territories to all the allied and associatedpowers, and undertakes to accept whatever measures are taken by the fiveallied powers in relation thereto. 

COLONIES AND OVERSEAS POSSESSIONS

[Sidenote: Property of German Empire to be transferred to newgovernments. ]

Germany renounces in favor of the allied and associated powers heroverseas possessions with all rights and titles therein. All movable andimmovable property belonging to the German Empire, or to any GermanState, shall pass to the Government exercising authority therein. TheseGovernments may make whatever provisions seem suitable for therepatriation of German nationals and as to the conditions on whichGerman subjects of European origin shall reside, hold property, or carryon business. Germany undertakes to pay reparation for damage suffered byFrench nationals in the Cameroons or its frontier zone through the actsof German civil and military authorities and of individual Germans fromthe 1st of January, 1900, to the 1st of August, 1914. Germany renouncesall rights under the convention of the 4th of November, 1911, and the29th of September, 1912, and undertakes to pay to France in accordancewith an estimate presented and approved by the Repatriation Commissionall deposits, credits, advances, &c. , thereby secured. Germanyundertakes to accept and observe any provisions by the allied andassociated powers as to the trade in arms and spirits in Africa as wellas to the General Act of Berlin of 1885 and the General Act of Brusselsof 1890. Diplomatic protection to inhabitants of former German coloniesis to be given by the Governments exercising authority. 

[Sidenote: Diplomatic protection for inhabitants. ]

CHINA

[Sidenote: Germany to renounce Boxer indemnities. ]

Germany renounces in favor of China all privileges and indemnitiesresulting from the Boxer Protocol of 1901, and all buildings, wharves, barracks for munitions of warships, wireless plants, and other publicproperty except diplomatic or consular establishments in the Germanconcessions of Tientsin and Hankow and in other Chinese territory exceptKiao-Chau and agrees to return to China at her own expense all theastronomical instruments seized in 1900 and 1901. China will, however, take no measures for disposal of German property in the legation quarterat Peking without the consent of the Powers signatory to the BoxerProtocol. 

[Sidenote: Abrogation of concession. ]

Germany accepts the abrogation of the concessions at Hankow andTientsin, China agreeing to open them to international use. Germanyrenounces all claims against China or any allied and associatedGovernment for the internment or repatriation of her citizens in Chinaand for the seizure or liquidation of German interests there sinceAugust 14, 1917. She renounces in favor of Great Britain her Stateproperty in the British concession at Canton and of France and Chinajointly of the property of the German school in the French concession atShanghai. 

SIAM

[Sidenote: Rights of extra territoriality to cease. ]

Germany recognizes that all agreements between herself and Siam, including the right of extra-territoriality, ceased July 22, 1917. AllGerman public property, except consular and diplomatic premises, passeswithout compensation to Siam, German private property to be dealt within accordance with the economic clauses. Germany waives all claimsagainst Siam for the seizure and condemnation of her ships, liquidationof her property, or internment of her nationals. 

LIBERIA

[Sidenote: Commercial treaties and agreements to be abrogated. ]

Germany renounces all rights under the international arrangements of1911 and 1912 regarding Liberia, more particularly the right to nominatea receiver of the customs, and disinterests herself in any furthernegotiations for the rehabilitation of Liberia. She regards as abrogatedall commercial treaties and agreements between herself and Liberia andrecognizes Liberia's right to determine the status and condition of there-establishment of Germans in Liberia. 

MOROCCO

[Sidenote: Germany to renounce rights in Morocco. ]

Germany renounces all her rights, titles, and privileges under the Actof Algeciras and the Franco-German agreements of 1909 and 1911, andunder all treaties and arrangements with the Sherifian Empire. Sheundertakes not to intervene in any negotiations as to Morocco betweenFrance and other Powers, accepts all the consequences of the Frenchprotectorate and renounces the capitulations; the Sherifian Governmentshall have complete liberty of action in regard to German nationals, andall German protected persons shall be subject to the common law. Allmovable and immovable German property, including mining rights, may besold at public auction, the proceeds to be paid to the SherifianGovernment and deducted from the reparation account. Germany is alsorequired to relinquish her interests in the State Bank of Morocco. AllMoroccan goods entering Germany shall have the same privilege as Frenchgoods. 

EGYPT

[Sidenote: To recognize British Protectorate over Egypt. ]

Germany recognizes the British Protectorate over Egypt declared onDecember 18, 1914, and renounces as from August 4, 1914, thecapitulation and all the treaties, agreements, etc. , concluded by herwith Egypt. She undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations aboutEgypt between Great Britain and other Powers. There are provisions forjurisdiction over German nationals and property and for German consentto any changes which may be made in relation to the Commission of PublicDebt. Germany consents to the transfer to Great Britain of the powersgiven to the late Sultan of Turkey for securing the free navigation ofthe Suez Canal. Arrangements for property belonging to German nationalsin Egypt are made similar to those in the case of Morocco and othercountries. Anglo-Egyptian goods entering Germany shall enjoy the sametreatment as British goods. 

TURKEY AND BULGARIA

[Sidenote: Arrangements with Turkey and Bulgaria. ]

Germany accepts all arrangements which the Allied and Associated Powersmade with Turkey and Bulgaria with reference to any rights, privilegesor interests claimed in those countries by Germany or her nationals andnot dealt with elsewhere. 

SHANTUNG

[Sidenote: To cede Kiao-Chau rights to Japan. ]

Germany cedes to Japan all rights, titles, and privileges, notably as toKiao-Chau, and the railroads, mines, and cables acquired by her treatywith China of March 6, 1897, by and other agreements as to Shantung. AllGerman rights to the railroad from Tsing-tao to Tsinan-fu, including allfacilities and mining rights and rights of exploitation, pass equally toJapan, and the cables from Tsing-tao to Shanghai and Che-foo, the cablesfree of all charges. All German State property, movable and immovable, in Kiao-Chau is acquired by Japan free of all charges. 

SECTION VI

MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR

In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation ofthe armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes directly to observe themilitary, naval, and air clauses which follow. 

MILITARY FORCES

[Sidenote: German Army to be demobilized. ]

The demobilization of the German Army must take place within two monthsof the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100, 000, including 4, 000officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry and three ofcavalry, and to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal orderand control of frontiers. Divisions may not be grouped under more thantwo army corps headquarters staffs. The great German General Staff isabolished. The army administrative service, consisting of civilianpersonnel not included in the number of effectives, is reduced toone-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. Employees of the German States, such as customs officers, first guards, and coast guards, may not exceedthe number in 1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only inaccordance with the growth of population. None of these may be assembledfor military training. 

ARMAMENTS

[Sidenote: Munition works to be closed. ]

All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, ordesign of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically excepted, must be closed within three months of the peace, and their personneldismissed. The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed Germany islaid down in detail tables, all in excess to be surrendered or rendereduseless. The manufacture or importation of asphyxiating, poisonous, orother gases and all analogous liquids is forbidden as well as theimportation of arms, munitions, and war materials. Germany may notmanufacture such materials for foreign governments. 

CONSCRIPTION

[Sidenote: Conscription to be abolished in Germany. ]

Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must bemaintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of twelve consecutiveyears, the number of discharges before the expiration of that term notin any year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officersremaining in the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, andnewly appointed officers must agree to serve actively for twenty-fiveyears. 

No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the unitsallowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. Noassociations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting ortouring clubs, educational establishments or universities may occupythemselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization areforbidden. 

FORTRESSES

[Sidenote: Fortifications in Rhine to be dismantled. ]

All fortified works, fortresses, and field works situated in Germanterritory within a zone of fifty kilometers east of the Rhine will bedismantled within three months. The construction of any newfortifications there is forbidden. The fortified works on the southernand eastern frontiers, however, may remain. 

CONTROL

[Sidenote: Interallied commissions of control. ]

Interallied commissions of control will see to the execution of theprovisions for which a time limit is set, the maximum named being threemonths. They may establish headquarters at the German seat of Governmentand go to any part of Germany desired. Germany must give them completefacilities, pay their expenses, and also the expenses of execution ofthe treaty, including the labor and material necessary in demolition, destruction or surrender of war equipment. 

NAVAL

[Sidenote: German navy to be demobilized. ]

The German navy must be demobilized within a period of two months afterthe peace. She will be allowed 6 small battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either military orcommercial, with a personnel of 15, 000 men, including officers, and noreserve force of any character. Conscription is abolished, onlyvoluntary service being permitted, with a minimum period of 25 yearsservice for officers and 12 for men. No member of the German mercantilemarine will be permitted any naval training. 

[Sidenote: German war vessels that must be surrendered. ]

All German vessels of war in foreign ports and the German high sea fleetinterned at Scapa Flow will be surrendered, the final disposition ofthese ships to be decided upon by the allied and associated powers. Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, and all submarines, with their salvage vessels. All war vessels underconstruction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels nototherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve, or used forcommercial purposes. Replacement of ships except those lost can takeplace only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years fordestroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be10, 000 tons. 

[Sidenote: To sweep up mines. ]

Germany is required to sweep up the mines in the North Sea and theBaltic Sea, as decided upon by the Allies. All German fortifications inthe Baltic, defending the passages through the belts, must bedemolished. Other coast defenses are permitted, but the number andcaliber of the guns must not be increased. 

WIRELESS

[Sidenote: German wireless messages only for commercial purposes. ]

During a period of three months after the peace German high powerwireless stations at Nauen, Hanover, and Berlin will not be permitted tosend any messages except for commercial purposes, and under supervisionof the allied and associated Governments, nor may any more beconstructed. 

CABLES

[Sidenote: To renounce title to cables. ]

Germany renounces all title to specified cables, the value of such aswere privately owned being credited to her against reparationindebtedness. 

Germany will be allowed to repair German submarine cables which havebeen cut but are not being utilized by the allied powers, and alsoportions of cables which, after having been cut, have been removed, orare at any rate not being utilized by any one of the allied andassociated powers. In such cases the cables, or portions of cables, removed or utilized remain the property of the allied and associatedpowers, and accordingly fourteen cables or parts of cables are specifiedwhich will not be restored to Germany. 

AIR

[Sidenote: Air personnel to be demobilized. ]

The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval airforces except for not over 100 unarmed seaplanes to be retained tillOctober 1 to search for submarine mines. No dirigible shall be kept. Theentire air personnel is to be demobilized within two months, except for1, 000 officers and men retained till October. No aviation grounds ordirigible sheds are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine, orthe eastern or southern frontiers, existing installations within theselimits to be destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts ofaircraft is forbidden for six months. All military and navalaeronautical material under a most exhaustive definition must besurrendered within three months, except for the 100 seaplanes alreadyspecified. 

PRISONERS OF WAR

[Sidenote: Repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians. ]

The repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians is to becarried out without delay and at Germany's expense by a commissioncomposed of representatives of the Allies and Germany. Those undersentence for offenses against discipline are to be repatriated withoutregard to the completion of their sentences. Until Germany hassurrendered persons guilty of offenses against the laws and customs ofwar, the Allies have the right to retain selected German officers. TheAllies may deal at their own discretion with German nationals who do notdesire to be repatriated, all repatriation being conditional on theimmediate release of any allied subjects still in Germany. Germany is toaccord facilities to commissions of inquiry in collecting information inregard to missing prisoners of war and of imposing penalties on Germanofficials who have concealed allied nationals. Germany is to restore allproperty belonging to allied prisoners. There is to be a reciprocalexchange of information as to dead prisoners and their graves. 

GRAVES

[Sidenote: Graves to be respected and maintained. ]

Both parties will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers andsailors buried on their territories, agree to recognize and assist anycommission charged by any allied or associate Government withidentifying, registering, maintaining or erecting suitable monumentsover the graves, and to afford to each other all facilities for therepatriation of the remains of their soldiers. 

SECTION VII

RESPONSIBILITIES

[Sidenote: William II charged with responsibility for war. ]

"The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William II. OfHohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense againstcriminal law, but for a supreme offense against international moralityand the sanctity of treaties. "

The ex-Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland and a specialtribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five greatpowers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be guided"by the highest motives of international policy with a view ofvindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and thevalidity of international morality, " and will fix the punishment itfeels should be imposed. 

[Sidenote: Persons who violated laws of war to be tried. ]

Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws andcustoms of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals undermilitary law. If the charges affect nationals of only one State, theywill be tried before a tribunal of that State; if they affect nationalsof several States, they will be tried before joint tribunals of theStates concerned. Germany shall hand over to the associated Governments, either jointly or severally, all persons so accused and all documentsand information necessary to insure full knowledge of the incriminatingacts, the discovery of the offenders, and the just appreciation of theresponsibility. The Judge [garbled in cabling] will be entitled to namehis own counsel. 

SECTION VIII

REPARATION AND RESTITUTION

[Sidenote: Germany's responsibility for loss and damage. ]

"The allied and associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, theresponsibility of herself and her allies, for causing all the loss anddamage to which the allied and associated Governments and theirnationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed uponthem by the aggression of Germany and her allies. "

The total obligation of Germany to pay as defined in the category ofdamages is to be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing, and not later than May 1, 1921, by an interallied Reparation Commission. 

At the same time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligationwithin thirty years shall be presented. These payments are subject topostponement in certain contingencies. Germany irrevocably recognizesthe full authority of this commission, agrees to supply it with all thenecessary information and to pass legislation to effectuate itsfindings. She further agrees to restore to the Allies cash and certainarticles which can be identified. 

[Sidenote: Schedule of payments to be presented. ]

[Sidenote: One thousand million pounds in two years. ]

As an immediate step toward restoration Germany shall pay within twoyears one thousand million pounds sterling in either gold, goods, ships, or other specific forms of payment. 

This sum being included in, and not additional to, the first thousandmillion bond issue referred to below, with the understanding thatcertain expenses, such as those of the armies of occupation and paymentsfor food and raw materials, may be deducted at the discretion of theAllies. 

[Sidenote: Belgium to be repaid. ]

Germany further binds herself to repay all sums borrowed by Belgium fromher allies as a result of Germany's violation of the treaty of 1839 upto November 11, 1918, and for this purpose will issue at once and handover to the Reparation Commission 5 per cent gold bonds falling due in1926. 

While the allied and associated Governments recognize that the resourcesof Germany are not adequate, after taking into account permanentdiminution of such resources which will result from other treaty claims, to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage, they requireher to make compensation for all damage caused to civilians under sevenmain categories:

[Sidenote: Damage to civilians to be compensated. ]

(a) Damages by personal injury to civilians caused by acts of war, directly or indirectly, including bombardments from the air. 

(b) Damages caused to civilians, including exposure at sea, resultingfrom acts of cruelty ordered by the enemy, and to civilians in theoccupied territories. 

(c) Damages caused by maltreatment of prisoners. 

(d) Damages to the Allied peoples represented by pensions and separationallowances, capitalized at the signature of this treaty. 

(e) Damages to property other than naval or military materials. 

(f) Damages to civilians by being forced to labor. 

(g) Damages in the form of levies or fines imposed by the enemy. 

[Sidenote: Work of Reparation Commission. ]

In periodically estimating Germany's capacity to pay, the ReparationCommission shall examine the German system of taxation, first to the endthat the sums for reparation which Germany is required to pay shallbecome a charge upon all her revenues prior to that for the service ordischarge of any domestic loan; and secondly, so as to satisfy itselfthat in general the German scheme of taxation is fully as heavyproportionately as that of any of the powers represented on thecommission. 

[Sidenote: Refusals in case of default. ]

The measures which the allied and associated powers shall have the rightto take, in case of voluntary default by Germany, and which Germanyagrees not to regard as acts of war, may include economic and financialprohibitions and reprisals and in general such other measures as therespective Governments may determine to be necessary in thecircumstances. 

[Sidenote: Germany's capacity to pay. ]

The commission shall consist of one representative each of the UnitedStates, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, a representative ofSerbia or Japan taking the place of the Belgian representative, when theinterests of either country are particularly affected, with all otherallied powers entitled, when their claims are under consideration, tothe right of representation without voting power. It shall permitGermany to give evidence regarding her capacity to pay, and shall assureher a just opportunity to be heard. It shall make its permanentheadquarters at Paris, establish its own procedure and personnel; havegeneral control of the whole reparation problem; and become theexclusive agency of the Allies for receiving, holding, selling, anddistributing reparation payments. Majority vote shall prevail, exceptthat unanimity is required on questions involving the sovereignty of anyof the Allies, the cancellation of all or part of Germany's obligations, the time and manner of selling, distributing, and negotiating bondsissued by Germany, any postponement between 1921 and 1926 of annualpayments beyond 1930 and any postponement after 1926 for a period ofmore than three years of the application of a different method ofmeasuring damage than in a similar former case, and the interpretationof provisions. Withdrawal from representation is permitted on twelvemonths' notice. 

[Sidenote: Guarantees to cover claims. ]

The Commission may require Germany to give from time to time by way ofguarantee, issues of bonds or other obligations to cover such claims asare not otherwise satisfied. In this connection and on account of thetotal amount of claims, bond issues are presently to be required ofGermany in acknowledgment of its debt as follows: 20, 000, 000, 000 marksgold, payable not later than May 1, 1921, without interest;40, 000, 000, 000 marks gold bearing 2-1/2 per cent interest between 1921and 1926, and thereafter 5 per cent, with a 1 per cent sinking fundpayment beginning 1926; and an undertaking to deliver 40, 000, 000, 000marks gold bonds bearing interest at 5 per cent, under terms to be fixedby the Commission. 

[Sidenote: Interest on Germany's debt. ]

[Sidenote: Certificates to represent bonds or goods. ]

Interest on Germany's debt will be 5 per cent unless otherwisedetermined by the Commission in the future, and payments that are notmade in gold may "be accepted by the Commission in the form ofproperties, commodities, businesses, rights, concessions, &c. "Certificates of beneficial interest, representing either bonds or goodsdelivered by Germany, may be issued by the Commission to the interestedpowers, no power being entitled, however, to have its certificatesdivided into more than five pieces. As bonds are distributed and passfrom the control of the Commission, an amount of Germany's debtequivalent to their par value is to be considered as liquidated. 

SHIPPING

[Sidenote: Right to Allies to have merchant shipping replaced. ]

The German Government recognizes the right of the Allies to thereplacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships andfishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede tothe Allies all German merchant ships of 1, 600 tons gross and upward;one-half of her ships between 1, 600 and 1, 000 tons gross, andone-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These shipsare to be delivered within two months to the Separation Committee, together with documents of title evidencing the transfer of the shipsfree from encumbrance. 

"As an additional part of reparation, " the German Government furtheragrees to build merchant ships for the account of the Allies to theamount of not exceeding 200, 000 tons gross annually during the next fiveyears. 

All ships used for inland navigation taken by Germany from the Alliesare to be restored within two months, the amount of loss not covered bysuch restitution to be made up by the cession of the German river fleetup to 20 per cent thereof. 

DYESTUFFS AND CHEMICAL DRUGS

[Sidenote: Material to be delivered to Reparations Commission. ]

In order to effect payment by deliveries in kind, Germany is required, for a limited number of years, varying in the case of each, to delivercoal, coal-tar products, dyestuffs and chemical drugs, in specificamounts to the Reparations Commission. The Commission may so modify theconditions of delivery as not to interfere unduly with Germany'sindustrial requirements. The deliveries of coal are based largely uponthe principle of making good diminutions in the production of the alliedcountries resulting from the war. 

Germany accords option to the commission on dyestuffs and chemicaldrugs, including quinine, up to 50 per cent of the total stock inGermany at the time the treaty comes into force, and similar optionduring each six months to the end of 1924 up to 25 per cent of theprevious six months' output. 

DEVASTATED AREAS

[Sidenote: Machinery and animals to be replaced. ]

Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly to thephysical restoration of the invaded areas. The Reparations Commission isauthorized to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles by thedelivery of animals, machinery, &c. , existing in Germany, and tomanufacture materials required for reconstruction purposes; all with dueconsideration for Germany's essential domestic requirements. 

[Sidenote: French damages in coal and fuel to be made good. ]

Germany is to deliver annually for ten years to France coal equivalentto the difference between the annual pre-war output of Nord and Pas deCalais mines and the annual production during the above ten-year period. Germany further gives options over ten years for delivery of 7, 000, 000tons of coal per year to France in addition to the above, of 8, 000, 000tons to Belgium and of an amount rising from 4, 500, 000 tons in 1919 to1920 to 8, 500, 000 in 1923 to 1924 to Italy at prices to be fixed asprescribed in the treaty. Coke may be taken in place of coal in theratio of three tons to four. Provision is also made for delivery toFrance over three years of benzol, coal tar, and of ammonia. TheCommission has powers to postpone or annul the above deliveries shouldthey interfere unduly with the industrial requirements of Germany. 

[Sidenote: Koran of Caliph Othman and skull of Okwawa. ]

Germany is to restore within six months the Koran of the Caliph Othman, formerly at Medina, to the King of the Hedjaz, and the skull of theSultan Okwawa, formerly in German East Africa, to his BritannicMajesty's Government. 

[Sidenote: Papers taken in 1870. ]

The German Government is also to restore to the French Governmentcertain papers taken by the German authorities in 1870, belonging thento M. Reuher, and to restore the French flags taken during the war of1870 and 1871. 

[Sidenote: Reparations to the Louvain Library. ]

As reparation for the destruction of the Library of Louvain Germany isto hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, &c. , to theequivalent of those destroyed. 

[Sidenote: Belgian works of art. ]

In addition to the above Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings, nowin Berlin, belonging to the altar piece of "The Adoration of the Lamb, "by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, the center of which is now in the Church ofSt. Bavon at Ghent, and the wings, now in Berlin and Munich, of thealtar piece of "The Last Supper, " by Dirk Bouts, the center of whichbelongs to the Church of St. Peter at Louvain. 

FINANCE

[Sidenote: The pre-war debts of Alsace. ]

[Sidenote: German debts not to be assumed by mandatory powers. ]

Powers to which German territory is ceded will assume a certain portionof the German pre-war debt, the amount to be fixed by the ReparationsCommission on the basis of the ratio between the revenue and of theceded territory and Germany's total revenues for the three yearspreceding the war. In view, however, of the special circumstances underwhich Alsace-Lorraine was separated from France in 1871, when Germanyrefused to accept any part of the French public debt, France will notassume any part of Germany's pre-war debt there, nor will Poland sharein certain German debts incurred for the oppression of Poland. If thevalue of the German public property in ceded territory exceeds theamount of debt assumed, the States to which property is ceded will givecredit on reparation for the excess, with the exception ofAlsace-Lorraine. Mandatory powers will not assume any German debts orgive any credit for German Government property. Germany renounces allright of representation on, or control of, State banks, commissions, orother similar international financial and economic organizations. 

[Sidenote: Germany to pay cost of armies of occupation. ]

Germany is required to pay the total cost of the armies of occupationfrom the date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in Germanterritory, this cost to be a first charge on her resources. The cost ofreparation is the next charge, after making such provisions for paymentsfor imports as the Allies may deem necessary. 

[Sidenote: Funds deposited by Turkey and Austria-Hungary. ]

Germany is to deliver to the allied and associated powers all sumsdeposited in Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection withthe financial support extended by her to them during the war, and totransfer to the Allies all claims against Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, orTurkey in connection with agreements made during the war. Germanyconfirms the renunciation of the Treaties of Bucharest andBrest-Litovsk. 

[Sidenote: Public utilities in ceded territories. ]

[Sidenote: Brazilian coffee to be paid for. ]

On the request of the Reparations Commission, Germany will expropriateany rights or interests of her nationals in public utilities in cededterritories or those administered by mandatories, and in Turkey, China, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, and transfer them to theReparations Commission, which will credit her with their value. Germanyguarantees to repay to Brazil the fund arising from the sale of SaoPaulo coffee which she refused to allow Brazil to withdraw from Germany. 

SECTION IX

OPIUM

[Sidenote: Convention on opium to be brought into force. ]

The contracting powers agree, whether or not they have signed andratified the opium convention of January 23, 1912, or signed the specialprotocol opened at The Hague in accordance with resolutions adopted bythe third opium conference in 1914, to bring the said convention intoforce by enacting within twelve months of the peace the necessarylegislation. 

RELIGIOUS MISSIONS

[Sidenote: To continue their work. ]

The allied and associated powers agree the properties of religiousmissions in territories belonging or ceded to them shall continue intheir work under the control of the powers, Germany renouncing allclaims in their behalf. 

SECTION X--ECONOMIC CLAUSES

CUSTOMS

[Sidenote: German tariff to be regulated for five years. ]

For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff duties higherthan the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain agricultural products, wines, vegetable oils, artificial silk, and washed or scoured wool thisrestriction obtains for two and a half years more. For five years, unless further extended by the League of Nations, Germany must give mostfavored nation treatment to the allied and associated powers. She shallimpose no customs tariff for five years on goods originating inAlsace-Lorraine, and for three years on goods originating in formerGerman territory ceded to Poland with the right of observation of asimilar exception for Luxemburg. 

SHIPPING

[Sidenote: Rights of ships of the Allies. ]

Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years andthereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the League of Nationsotherwise decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as Germanvessels, and have most favored nation treatment in fishing, coastingtrade, and towage even in territorial waters. Ships of a country havingno seacoast may be registered at some one place within its territory. 

UNFAIR COMPETITION

[Sidenote: Safeguards against unfair competition. ]

Germany undertakes to give the trade of the allied and associated powersadequate safeguards against unfair competition, and in particular tosuppress the use of false wrappings and markings, and on condition ofreciprocity to respect the laws and judicial decisions of allied andassociated States in respect of regional appellations of wines andspirits. 

[Illustration: CLOSING WORDS OF THE PEACE TREATY, WITH THE SIGNATURESAND SEALS OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATES, HEADED BY THE BRITISH PRIMEMINISTER, LLOYD GEORGE. ]

[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF CANADIAN, AUSTRALIAN, SOUTHAFRICAN, NEW ZEALAND, AND INDIAN DELEGATES. THEN THE FRENCH, HEADED BYPREMIER CLEMENCEAU. ]

[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE DELEGATIONS FROM PERU, POLAND(HEADED BY PREMIER PADEREWSKI), PORTUGAL, RUMANIA, SERBIA, CZECHO-SLOVAKIA, AND URUGUAY. ]

[Illustration: SIGNATURES AND SEALS OF THE GERMAN DELEGATES, DR. HERMANNMULLER AND DR. BELL, ON THE LAST PAGE OF THE TREATY]

[Illustration: The signatures of the American delegates--PresidentWilson, Secretary of State Lansing, Mr. Henry White, Colonel House, andGeneral Bliss--come first after the closing words of the Treaty of Peace(pages 213 and 214); then the names of the British delegates--PrimeMinister Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, Lord Milner, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Barnes (page 214); the Canadians, Minister of Justice Doherty andMinister of Customs Sifton; the Australians, Premier Hughes and Mr. Cook; the South Africans, Premier Botha and General Smuts; PremierMassey of New Zealand; Mr. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, andMaharajah Ganga Singh for India (pages 215 and 216). Then come theFrench--Premier Clemenceau, whose signature is third from the top onpage 216, M. Pichon, M. Klotz, M. Tardieu, and M. Cambon (page 216). Thename of Premier Paderewski of Poland is the second from the top on page221. ]

TREATMENT OF NATIONALS

[Sidenote: German nationality. ]

Germany shall impose no exceptional taxes or restriction upon thenationals of allied and associated States for a period of five yearsand, unless the League of Nations acts, for an additional five yearsGerman nationality shall not continue to attach to a person who hasbecome a national of an allied or associated State. 

MULTILATERAL CONVENTIONS

[Sidenote: Postal and telegraphic conventions. ]

[Sidenote: North Sea conventions. ]

[Sidenote: Arrangements with various nations. ]

Some forty multilateral conventions are renewed between Germany and theallied and associated powers, but special conditions are attached toGermany's readmission to several. As to postal and telegraphicconventions Germany must not refuse to make reciprocal agreements withthe new States. She must agree as respects the radio-telegraphicconvention to provisional rules to be communicated to her, and adhere tothe new convention when formulated. In the North Sea fisheries and NorthSea liquor traffic convention, rights of inspection and police overassociated fishing boats shall be exercised for at least five years onlyby vessels of these powers. As to the international railway union sheshall adhere to the new convention when formulated. China, as to theChinese customs tariff arrangement of 1905 regarding Whangpoo, and theBoxer indemnity of 1901; France, Portugal, and Rumania, as to The HagueConvention of 1903, relating to civil procedure, and Great Britain andthe United States as to Article III. Or the Samoan Treaty of 1899, arerelieved of all obligations toward Germany. 

BILATERAL TREATIES

[Sidenote: Renewal of treaties. ]

Each allied and associated State may renew any treaty with Germany in sofar as consistent with the peace treaty by giving notice within sixmonths. Treaties entered into by Germany since August 1, 1914, withother enemy States, and before or since that date with Rumania, Russia, and governments representing parts of Russia are abrogated, andconcessions granted under pressure by Russia to German subjects areannulled. The allied and associated States are to enjoy most favorednation treatment under treaties entered into by Germany and other enemyStates before August 1, 1914, and under treaties entered into by Germanyand neutral States during the war. 

PRE-WAR DEBTS

[Sidenote: Clearing houses for pre-war debts. ]

A system of clearing houses is to be created within three months, one inGermany and one in each allied and associated State which adopts theplan for the payment of pre-war debts, including those arising fromcontracts suspended by the war. For the adjustment of the proceeds ofthe liquidation of enemy property and the settlement of otherobligations each participating State assumes responsibility for thepayment of all debts owing by its nationals to nationals of the enemyStates, except in case of pre-war insolvency of the debtor. The proceedsof the sale of private enemy property in each participating State may beused to pay the debts owed to the nationals of that State, directpayment from debtor to creditor and all communications relating theretobeing prohibited. Disputes may be settled by arbitration by the courtsof the debtor country, or by the mixed arbitral tribunal. Any ally orassociated power may, however, decline to participate in this system bygiving six months' notice. 

ENEMY PROPERTY

[Sidenote: Damages for private property seized or injured. ]

Germany shall restore or pay for all private enemy property seized ordamaged by her, the amount of damages to be fixed by the mixed arbitraltribunal. The allied and associated States may liquidate German privateproperty within their territories as compensation for property of theirnationals not restored or paid for by Germany. For debts owed to theirnationals by German nationals and for other claims against Germany, Germany is to compensate its nationals for such losses and to deliverwithin six months all documents relating to property held by itsnationals in allied and associated States. All war legislation as toenemy property rights and interests is confirmed and all claims byGermany against the allied or associated Governments for acts underexceptional war measures abandoned. 

[Sidenote: Pre-war contracts. ]

Pre-war contracts between allied and associated nationals excepting theUnited States, Japan, and Brazil and German nationals are cancelledexcept for debts for accounts already performed. 

AGREEMENTS

[Sidenote: Disputes as to transfers of property already made. ]

For the transfer of property where the property had already passed, leases of land and houses, contracts of mortgages, pledge or lien, mining concessions, contracts with governments and insurance contracts, mixed arbitral tribunals shall be established of three members, onechosen by Germany, one by the associated States and the third byagreement, or, failing which, by the President of Switzerland. Theyshall have jurisdiction over all disputes as to contracts concludedbefore the present peace treaty. 

[Sidenote: Insurance contracts. ]

Fire insurance contracts are not considered dissolved by the war, evenif premiums have not been paid, but lapse at the date of the firstannual premium falling due three months after the peace. Life insurancecontracts may be restored by payments of accumulated premiums withinterest, sums falling due on such contracts during the war to berecoverable with interest. Marine insurance contracts are dissolved bythe outbreak of war except where the risk insured against had alreadybeen incurred. Where the risk had not attached, premiums paid arerecoverable, otherwise premiums due and sums due on losses arerecoverable. Reinsurance treaties are abrogated unless invasion has madeit impossible for the reinsured to find another reinsurer. Any allied orassociated power, however, may cancel all the contracts running betweenits nationals and a German life insurance company, the latter beingobligated to hand over the proportion of its assets attributable to suchpolicies. 

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

[Sidenote: Conditions on use of German patents and copyrights. ]

Rights as to industrial, literary, and artistic property arere-established. The special war measures of the allied and associatedpowers are ratified and the right reserved to impose conditions on theuse of German patents and copyrights when in the public interest. Exceptas between the United States and Germany, pre-war licenses and rights tosue for infringements committed during the war are cancelled. 

SECTION XI

AERIAL NAVIGATION

[Sidenote: Allied aircraft in German territory. ]

Aircraft of the allied and associated powers shall have full liberty ofpassage and landing over and in German territory, equal treatment withGerman planes as to use of German airdromes, and with most favorednation planes as to internal commercial traffic in Germany. Germanyagrees to accept allied certificates of nationality, airworthiness, orcompetency or licenses and to apply the convention relative to aerialnavigation concluded between the allied and associated powers to her ownaircraft over her own territory. These rules apply until 1923, unlessGermany has since been admitted to the League of Nations or to the aboveconvention. 

SECTION XII. 

FREEDOM OF TRANSIT. 

[Sidenote: Germany may not discriminate against allied or associatedpowers. ]

Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories by mail orwater to persons, goods, ships, carriages, and mails from or to any ofthe allied or associated powers, without customs or transit duties, undue delays, restrictions, or discriminations based on nationality, means of transport, or place of entry or departure. Goods in transitshall be assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishablegoods. Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor ofher own transport routes or maintain "control stations" in connectionwith transmigration traffic. She may not establish any taxdiscrimination against the ports of allied or associated powers; mustgrant the latter's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted herown or other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powersequal rights with those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, save that she is free to open or close her maritime coasting trade. 

FREE ZONES IN PORTS

[Sidenote: Existing free zones to be maintained. ]

Free zones existing in German ports on August 1, 1914, must bemaintained with due facilities as to warehouses, packing, and shipping, without discrimination, and without charges except for expenses ofadministration and use. Goods leaving the free zones for consumption inGermany and goods brought into the free zones from Germany shall besubject to the ordinary import and export taxes. 

INTERNATIONAL RIVERS. 

The Elbe from the junction of the Ultava, the Ultava from Prague, theOder from Oppa, the Niemen from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm aredeclared International, together with their connections. 

[Sidenote: Appeal to a special tribunal under internationalcommissions. ]

The riparian states must ensure good conditions of navigation withintheir territories unless a special organization exists therefor. Otherwise appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the League ofNations, which also may arrange for a general international waterwaysconvention. 

The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissionsto meet within three months, that for the Elbe composed of fourrepresentatives of Germany, two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each fromGreat Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium; and that for the Odercomposed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, GreatBritain, France, Denmark, and Sweden. If any riparian state on theNiemen should so request of the League of Nations, a similar commissionshall be established there. These commissions shall upon request of anyriparian state meet within three months to revise existing internationalagreement. 

THE DANUBE. 

[Sidenote: Representatives in European Danube Commission. ]

The European Danube Commission reassumes its pre-war powers, but for thetime being with representatives of only Great Britain, France, Italy, and Rumania. The upper Danube is to be administered by a newinternational commission until a definitive statute be drawn up at aconference of the powers nominated by the allied and associatedgovernments within one year after the peace. 

The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damagescaused to the European Commission; shall cede their river facilities insurrendered territory, and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia, and Rumania anyrights necessary on their shores for carrying on improvements innavigation. 

THE RHINE AND THE MOSELLE

[Sidenote: The Rhine is under the Central Commission. ]

The Rhine is placed under the Central Commission to meet at Strassbourgwithin six months after the peace, and to be composed of fourrepresentatives of France, which shall in addition select the President, four of Germany, and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Germany must give France on the courseof the Rhine included between the two extreme points of her frontiersall rights to take water to feed canals, while herself agreeing not tomake canals on the right bank opposite France. She must also hand overto France all her drafts and designs for this part of the river. 

RHINE-MEUSE CANAL

[Sidenote: Plan for a Rhine-Meuse Canal. ]

Belgium is to be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal ifshe so desires within twenty-five years, in which case Germany mustconstruct the part within her territory on plans drawn by Belgium, similarly the interested allied governments may construct a Rhine-Meusecanal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent internationalcommission. Germany may not object if the Central Rhine Commissiondesires to extend its jurisdiction over the lower Moselle, the upperRhine, or lateral canals. 

[Sidenote: Facilities for navigation to be ceded. ]

Germany must cede to the allied and associated governments certain tugs, vessels, and facilities for navigation on all these rivers, the specificdetails to be established by an arbiter named by the United States. Decision will be based on the legitimate needs of the parties concernedand on the shipping traffic during the five years before the war. Thevalue will be included in the regular reparation account. In the caseof the Rhine shares in the German navigation companies and property suchas wharves and warehouses held by Germany in Rotterdam at the outbreakof the war must be handed over. 

RAILWAYS. 

[Sidenote: Communication by rail to be assured. ]

Germany, in addition to most favored nation treatment on her railways, agrees to cooperate in the establishment of through ticket services forpassengers and baggage; to ensure communication by rail between theallied, associated, and other States; to allow the construction orimprovement within twenty-five years of such lines as necessary; and toconform her rolling stock to enable its incorporation in trains of theallied or associated powers. She also agrees to accept the denunciationof the St. Gothard convention if Switzerland and Italy so request, andtemporarily to execute instructions as to the transport of troops andsupplies and the establishment of postal and telegraphic service, asprovided. 

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

[Sidenote: Access to the sea on north and south. ]

To assure Czecho-Slovakia access to the sea, special rights are givenher both north and south. Toward the Adriatic she is permitted to runher own through trains to Fiume and Trieste. To the north, Germany is tolease her for ninety-nine years spaces in Hamburg and Stettin, thedetails to be worked out by a commission of three representingCzecho-Slovakia, Germany, and Great Britain. 

THE KIEL CANAL. 

[Sidenote: Open to ships of all nations at peace with Germany. ]

The Kiel Canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant ships ofall nations at peace with Germany, subjects, goods and ships of allStates are to be treated on terms of absolute equality, and no taxes tobe imposed beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for whichGermany is to be responsible. In case of violation of or disagreement asto those provisions, any State may appeal to the League of Nations, andmay demand the appointment of an international commission. Forpreliminary hearing of complaints Germany shall establish a localauthority at Kiel. 

SECTION XIII. 

INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION. 

[Sidenote: Permanent organization to be established. ]

Members of the League of Nations agree to establish a permanentorganization to promote international adjustment of labor conditions, toconsist of an annual international labor conference and an internationallabor office. 

The former is composed of four representatives of each State, two fromthe Government, and one each from the employers and the employed, eachof them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative legislativebody, its measures taking the form of draft conventions orrecommendations for legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, must be submitted to the lawmaking authority in every Stateparticipating. Each Government may either enact the terms into law;approve the principles, but modify them to local needs; leave the actuallegislation in case of a Federal State to local legislatures; or rejectthe convention altogether without further obligation. 

[Sidenote: An international labor office. ]

The international labor office is established at the seat of the Leagueof Nations as part of its organization. It is to collect and distributeinformation on labor throughout the world and prepare agenda for theconference. It will publish a periodical in French and English, andpossibly other languages. Each State agrees to make to it forpresentation to the conference an annual report of measures taken toexecute accepted conventions. The governing body, in its Executive, consists of twenty-four members, twelve representing the Governments, six the employers, and six the employes to serve for three years. 

[Sidenote: Court of international justice. ]

On complaint that any Government has failed to carry out a convention towhich it is a party, the governing body may make inquiries directly tothat Government, and in case the reply is unsatisfactory, may publishthe complaint with comment. A complaint by one Government againstanother may be referred by the governing body to a commission of inquirynominated by the Secretary General of the League. If the commissionreport fails to bring satisfactory action the matter may be taken to apermanent court of international justice for final decision. The chiefreliance for securing enforcement of the law will be publicity with apossibility of economic action in the background. 

[Sidenote: Labor conferences. ]

The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, atWashington, to discuss the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week;prevention of unemployment; extension and application of theinternational conventions adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting nightwork for women, and the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture ofmatches; and employment of women and children at night or in unhealthywork, of women before and after childbirth, including maternity benefit, and of children as regards minimum age. 

LABOR CLAUSES. 

[Sidenote: Of supreme national importance. ]

Nine principles of labor conditions were recognized on the ground that"the well-being, physical and moral, of the industrial wage earners isof supreme International importance. " With exceptions necessitated bydifferences of climate, habits and economic development. They include:the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as acommodity or article of commerce; the right of association of employersand employes; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life;the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; a weekly rest of at leasttwenty-four hours; which should include Sunday wherever practicable;abolition of child labor and assurance of the continuation of theeducation and proper physical development of children; equal pay forequal work as between men and women; equitable treatment of all workerslawfully resident therein, including foreigners; and a system ofinspection in which women should take part. 

SECTION XIV--GUARANTEES

[Sidenote: The bridgehead of Cologne. ]

As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to thewest of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied byallied and associated troops for a fifteen years' period. If theconditions are faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, including the bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expirationof five years; certain other districts including the bridgehead ofCoblenz, and the territories nearest the Belgian frontier will beevacuated after ten years, and the remainder, including the bridgeheadof Mainz, will be evacuated after fifteen years. In case the InteralliedReparation Commission finds that Germany has failed to observe the wholeor part of her obligations, either during the occupation or after thefifteen years have expired, the whole or part of the areas specifiedwill be reoccupied immediately. If before the expiration of the fifteenyears Germany complies with all the treaty undertakings, the occupyingforces will be withdrawn. 

[Sidenote: German troops. ]

All German troops at present in territories to the east of the newfrontier shall return as soon as the allied and associated governmentsdeem wise. They are to abstain from all requisitions and are in no wayto interfere with measures for national defense taken by the Governmentconcerned. 

All questions regarding occupation not provided for by the treaty willbe regulated by a subsequent convention or conventions which will havesimilar force and effect. 

SECTION XV. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

[Sidenote: To recognize treaties made by allies. ]

Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the treaties of peaceand additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associatedpowers with the powers allied with Germany, to agree to the decisions tobe taken as to the territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and to recognize the new States in the frontiers to be fixed. 

Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against anyallied or associated power signing the present treaty based on eventsprevious to the coming into force of the treaty. 

[Sidenote: Decision of German prize courts. ]

[Sidenote: Effective on ratification. ]

Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by anyallied or associated prize court. The Allies reserve the right toexamine all decisions of German prize courts. The present treaty, ofwhich the French and British texts are both authentic, shall be ratifiedand the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon as possible. The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on thedate of deposition of its ratification. 

SUMMARY OF PRELIMINARY TREATY OF PEACE

AUSTRIA

On June 2 there had been handed to the Austrian delegates a preliminarytreaty which covered certain points, but left others to be dealt withlater. 

Austria must accept the covenant of the league of nations and the laborcharter. 

[Sidenote: Extra European rights to be renounced. ]

She must renounce all her extra European rights. 

She must demobilize all her naval and aerial forces. 

Austria must recognize the complete independence of Hungary. 

Austrian nationals, guilty of violating international laws of war, to betried by the Allies. 

Austria must accept economic conditions and freedom of transit similarto those in German treaty. 

Sections dealing with war prisoners and graves are identical with Germantreaty. 

Guarantees of execution of treaty corresponds to those in German pact. 

[Sidenote: Boundaries with Czecho-Slovakia. ]

Boundaries of Bohemia and Moravia to form boundary between Austria andCzecho-Slovakia, with minor rectifications. 

Allies later to fix southern boundary (referring to Jugoslavia). 

Eastern boundary Marburg and Radkersburg to Jugoslavia. 

Western and northwestern frontiers (facing Bavaria and Switzerland)unchanged. 

Austria must recognize independence of Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia. 

[Sidenote: Republic of Austria recognized. ]

Austria is recognized as an independent republic under the name"Republic of Austria. "

Austria must recognize frontiers of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia as at present or ultimatelydetermined. 

Boundaries of Austria, Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia to be finallyfixed by mixed commission. 

Czecho-Slovakia and Jugoslavia must agree to protect racial, religiousand linguistic minorities. 

Both new Slav nations and Rumania must assure freedom of transit andequitable treatment of foreign commerce. 

Austria must recognize full independence of all territories formerly apart of Russia. 

[Sidenote: Brest-Litovsk treaty annulled. ]

Brest-Litovsk treaty is annulled. 

All treaties with Russian elements concluded since revolution annulled. 

Allies reserve right of restitution for Russia from Austria. 

Austria must consent to abrogation of treaties of 1839 establishingBelgian neutrality. 

Austria must agree to new Belgian boundaries as fixed by Allies. 

Similar provisions with respect to neutrality and boundaries ofLuxemburg. 

Austria must accept allied disposition of any Austrian rights in Turkeyand Bulgaria. 

She must accept allied arrangements with Germany regardingSchleswig-Holstein. 

[Sidenote: Equality of races before the law. ]

Austrian nations of all races, languages and religions equal before thelaw. 

Clauses affecting Egypt, Morocco, Siam and China identical with Germantreaty. 

Entire Austro-Hungarian navy to be surrendered to Allies. 

Twenty-one specified auxiliary cruisers to be disarmed and treated asmerchantmen. 

All warships, including submarines, under construction shall be brokenup and may be used only for industrial purposes. 

All naval arms and material must be surrendered. 

[Sidenote: Use of submarines prohibited. ]

Future use of submarines prohibited. 

Austrian wireless station at Vienna not to be used for military orpolitical messages to Austria's late allies without Allies' consent forthree months. 

Austria may not have naval or air forces. 

She must demobilize existing air forces within two months and surrenderaviation material. 

Austrian nationals cannot serve in military, naval or aerial forces offoreign powers. 

She may send no military, naval or aerial mission to any foreigncountry. 

Penalties section identical with German treaty excepting reference toGerman kaiser. New states required to aid in prosecution and punishmentof their nationals guilty of offenses against international law. 

[Sidenote: Access to the Adriatic promised. ]

Economic clauses in general similar to those in German treaty. Austriagiven access to Adriatic. 

Austria must abandon all financial claims against signatories. 

Treaty to become operative when signed by Austria and three of theprincipal powers. 

On July 21, an amplified treaty with Austria-Hungary taking up mattersomitted from the first paper was given to the delegates from thatcountry. A summary of the articles follows:

[Sidenote: Arrangements for reparation. ]

In addition to the published summary of the terms of June 2, the newclauses provide for reparation arrangements very similar to those in thetreaty with Germany, including the establishment of an Austriansubsection of the Reparations Commission, the payment of a reasonablesum in cash, the issuing of bonds, and the delivery of livestock andcertain historical and art documents. 

The financial terms provide that the Austrian pre-war debt shall beapportioned among the former parts of Austria, and that the Austriancoinage and war bonds, circulating in the separated territory, shall betaken up by the new governments and redeemed as they see fit. 

Under the military terms the Austrian army is henceforth reduced to30, 000 men on a purely voluntary basis. 

[Sidenote: Universal military service to be abolished. ]

Paragraph 5, relating to the military situation, says that the Austrianarmy shall not exceed 30, 000 men, including officers and depot troops. Within three months the Austrian military forces shall be reduced tothis number, universal military service abolished and voluntaryenlistment substituted as part of the plan "to render possible theinitiation of a general limitation of armaments of all nations. "

The army shall be used exclusively for the maintenance of internal orderand control of frontiers. All officers must be regulars, those of thepresent army to be retained being under obligation to serve until 40years old, those newly appointed agreeing to at least twenty consecutiveyears of active service. Non-commissioned officers and privates mustenlist for not less than twelve consecutive years, including at leastsix years with the colors. 

[Sidenote: Manufacture of war material. ]

Within three months the armament of the Austrian army must be reducedaccording to detailed schedules, and all surplus surrendered. Themanufacture of all war material shall be confined to one single factoryunder the control of the State, and other such establishments shall beclosed or converted. Importation and exportation of arms, munitions andwar materials of all kinds are forbidden. 

[Sidenote: Compensation for damage to civilians. ]

Paragraph 8 (on reparation) reads, in substance: The allied andassociated Governments affirm, and Austria accepts, the responsibilityof Austria and her allies for causing loss and damage to which theallied and associated Governments and their nationals have beensubjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by theaggression of Austria and her allies. While recognizing that Austria'sresources will not be adequate to make complete reparation, the alliedand associated Governments request, and Austria undertakes, that shewill make compensation for damage done to civilians and their property, in accordance with categories of damages similar to those provided inthe treaty with Germany. 

The amount of damage is to be determined by the Reparation Commissionprovided for in the treaty with Germany, which is to have a specialsection to handle the Austrian situation. The commission will notifyAustria before May 1, 1921, of the extent of her liabilities and of theschedule of payments for the discharge thereof during a period of thirtyyears. It will bear in mind the diminutions of Austria's resources andcapacity of payment resulting from the treaty. 

As immediate reparation, Austria shall pay during 1919, 1920, and thefirst four months of 1921, in such manner as provided by the ReparationCommission, "a reasonable sum which shall be determined by thecommission. "

[Sidenote: Bond issues to be made. ]

Three bond issues shall be made--the first before May 1, 1921, withoutinterest; the second at 2-1/2 per cent. Interest between 1921 and 1926, and thereafter at 5 per cent. , with an additional 1 per cent. Foramortization beginning in 1926, and a third at 5 per cent, when thecommission is satisfied that Austria can meet the interest and sinkingfund obligations. The amount shall be divided by the allied andassociated Governments in proportions determined upon in advance on abasis of general equity. 

[Sidenote: Representatives of the Reparation Commission. ]

The Austrian section of the Reparation Commission shall includerepresentatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Rumania, the Serbo-Slovene State, and Czecho-Slovakia. The first four shall each appoint a delegate with two votes, and theother five shall choose one delegate each year to represent them all. Withdrawal from the commission is permitted on twelve months' notice. 

[Sidenote: To pay cost of armies of occupation. ]

Paragraph 9, (Financial. )--The first charge upon all the assets andrevenues of Austria shall be the costs arising under the present treaty, including, in order of priority, the costs of the armies of occupation, reparations, and other charges specifically agreed to and, with certainexceptions, as granted by the Reparation Commission for payments forimports. Austria must pay the total cost of the armies of occupationfrom the armistice of November 3, 1918, so long as maintained, and mayexport no gold before May 1, 1921, without consent of the ReparationCommission. 

Each of the States to which Austrian territory is transferred and eachof the States arising out of the dismemberment of Austria, including theRepublic of Austria, shall assume part of the Austrian pre-war debtspecifically secured on railways, salt mines, and other property, theamount to be fixed by the Reparation Commission on the basis of thevalue of the property so transferred. 

[Sidenote: The pre-war debt. ]

Similarly, the unsecured bonded pre-war debt of the former empire shallbe distributed by the Reparation Commission in the proportion that therevenues for the three years before the war of the separated territorybore to those of the empire, excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

No territory formerly part of the empire, except the Republic ofAustria, shall carry with it any obligation in respect of the war debtof the former Austrian Government, but neither the Governments of thoseterritories nor their nationals shall have recourse against any otherState, including Austria, in respect of war debt bonds held within theirrespective territories by themselves or their nationals. 

[Sidenote: Replacement of ships lost by the Allies. ]

Austria, recognizing the right of the Allies to ton-for-ton replacementof all ships lost or damaged in the war, cedes all merchant ships andfishing boats belonging to nationals of the former empire, agreeing todeliver them within two months to the Reparation Commission. With a viewto making good the losses in river tonnage, she agrees to deliver up 20per cent. Of her river fleet. 

[Sidenote: Restoration of devastated areas. ]

The allied and associated powers require, and Austria undertakes, thatin part reparation she will devote her economic resources to thephysical restoration of the invaded areas. Within sixty days of thecoming into force of the treaty the governments concerned shall filewith the Reparation Commission lists of animals, machinery, equipment, and the like destroyed by Austria which the governments desire replacedin kind, and lists of the materials which they desire produced inAustria for the work of reconstruction, which shall be reviewed in thelight of Austria's ability to meet them. 

[Sidenote: Animals to be delivered. ]

As an immediate advance as to animals, Austria agrees to deliver withinthree months after ratification of the treaty 4, 000 milch cows to Italyand 1, 000 each to Serbia and Rumania; 1, 000 heifers to Italy, 300 toSerbia, and 500 to Rumania; 50 bulls to Italy and 25 each to Serbia andRumania; 1, 000 calves to each of the three nations; 1, 000 bullocks toItaly and 500 each to Serbia and Rumania; 2, 000 sows to Italy, and1, 000 draft horses and 1, 000 sheep to both Serbia and Rumania. 

[Sidenote: Timber, iron and magnesite. ]

Austria also agrees to give an option for five years as to timber, iron, and magnesite in amounts as nearly equal to the pre-war importations asAustria's resources make possible. She renounces in favor of Italy allcables touching territories assigned to Italy, and in favor of theallied and associated powers the others. 

[Sidenote: Valuable objects to be restored. ]

Austria agrees to restore all records, documents, objects of antiquityand art, and all scientific and bibliographic material taken away fromthe invaded or ceded territories. She will also hand over without delayall official records of the ceded territories and all records, documentsand historical material possessed by public institutions and having adirect bearing on the history of the ceded territories which have beenremoved during the past ten years, except that for Italy the periodshall be from 1861. 

As to artistic archæological, scientific or historic objects formerlybelonging to the Austro-Hungarian Government or Crown, Austria agrees tonegotiate with the State concerned for an amicable arrangement for thereturn to the districts of origin on terms of reciprocity of any objectwhich ought to form part of the intellectual patrimony of the cededdistricts, and for twenty years to safeguard all other such objects forthe free use of students. 

[Sidenote: War debt held outside the empire. ]

The war debt held outside the former empire shall be a charge on theRepublic of Austria alone. All war securities shall be stamped withintwo months with the stamp of the State taking them up, replaced bycertificates, and settlement made to the Reparation Commission. 

The currency notes of the former Austro-Hungarian Bank circulating inthe separated territory shall be stamped within two months by the newgovernments of the various territories with their own stamp, replacedwithin twelve months by a new currency, and turned over within twelvemonths to the Reparation Commission. The bank itself shall be liquidatedas from the day after the signature of the treaty by the ReparationCommission. 

[Sidenote: Property within the new States. ]

States to which Austrian territory was transferred and States arisingfrom the dismemberment of Austria shall acquire all property withintheir territories of the old or new Austrian Government, including thatof the former royal family. The value is to be assessed by theReparation Commission and credited to Austria on the reparation account. 

[Sidenote: Property of historic interest. ]

Property of predominant historic interest to the former kingdoms ofPoland, Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, theRepublic of Ragusa, the Venetian Republic, or the episcopalprincipalities of Trent and Bressanone may be transferred withoutpayment. 

Austria renounces all rights as to all international, financial, orcommercial organizations in allied countries, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, or the former Russian Empire. She agrees toexpropriate, on demand of the Reparation Commission, any rights of hernationals in any public utility or concession in these territories, inseparated districts, and in mandatory territories, to transfer them tothe commission within six months, and to hold herself responsible forindemnifying her nationals so dispossessed. 

[Sidenote: Austria to renounce treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk. ]

She also agrees to deliver within one month the gold deposited assecurity for the Ottoman debt, renounce any benefits accruing from thetreaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk, and transfer to the allied andassociated Governments all claims against her former Allies. 

Any financial adjustments, such as those relating to banking andinsurance companies, savings banks, postal savings banks, land banks ormortgage companies in the former monarchy, necessitated by thedismemberment of the monarchy, and the resettlement of public debts andcurrency, shall be regulated by agreements between the variousgovernments failing which the Reparation Commission shall appoint anarbitrator or arbitrators, whose decision shall be final. 

Austria shall not be responsible for pensions of nationals of the formerempire who have become nationals of other States. 

[Sidenote: Committee of three jurists. ]

As for special objects carried off by the House of Hapsburg and otherdynasties from Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Czecho-Slovakia, a committeeof three jurists appointed by the Reparation Commission is to examinewithin a year the conditions under which the objects were removed and toorder restoration if the removal were illegal. The list of articlesincludes among others:

[Sidenote: List of special articles to be restored. ]

For Tuscany, the Crown Jewels and part of the Medici heirlooms; forModena, a Virgin by Andrea del Sarto and manuscripts; for Palermo, twelfth century objects made for the Norman Kings; for Naples, ninety-eight manuscripts carried off in 1718; for Belgium, variousobjects and documents removed in 1794; for Poland, a gold cup of KingLadislas IV. , removed in 1772; and for Czecho-Slovakia, various documentsand historical manuscripts removed from the Royal Castle of Prague. 

INDEX

A

Air Raids, at night, III, 229-241; British, II, 249; on England, I, 375-388

Albert, King of Belgium, I, 114-115; encourages soldiers, I, 51-53

Albert, town of, III, 164

_Alcedo_ torpedoed, II, 374-378

Alderson, General, at Second Ypres, I, 258

Aleppo, importance as railway junction, II, 180; starting point for caravans, II, 178

Alien enemies, rules concerning, II, 239-243

Allenby, General, at Gommecourt, II. 75; commands in Palestine, II, 344-368; in Allied retreat, I, 65-67

Allied Armies, in Macedonia, III, 170; positions in Battle of the Marne, I, 78, 81, 90-93

Alsace, operations in, I, 84

America Drawn Into War, II, 205-225; bad faith of Germans, II, 210; sinking of _Lusitania_, II, 210; stirred by invasion of Belgium, II, 208; _Sussex_, II, 212

America's Break with Germany, relations severed, II, 197-198; reasons for, II, 194-204

America's Declaration of Existence of War, II, 224-225

American Expeditionary Forces, a corps, III, 242-243; a division, III, 242; airplanes, III, 248; artillery supply, III, 247; artillery training camp, III, 202; attack in the Soissonais, III, 224; aviators, III, 269; communication and supply, III, 244-246; construction work, III, 244; Engineer Corps, III, 216, 269; fight through Meuse-Argonne sector, III, 256-267; First and Second in Soissons drive, III, 252; First Army is organized, III, 254; first days on the firing line, III, 200-209; First Division at Montdidier, III, 250; First Division takes Cantigny, III, 250; Forty-second Division east of Rheims, III, 251; Forty-second and Thirty-second at Cierges, III, 253; from the Marne to the Aisne, III, 210-228; German supply line cut, III, 266; infantry training, III, 243; line on date of armistice, III, 267; losses of, III, 268; Medical Corps, III, 268; Ordnance Department, III, 269; organization of, III, 242-248; plans for movement against St. Mihiel salient, III, 254; ports employed, III, 245; quality of soldiers, III, 228; Quartermaster's Department, III, 269; Second and Thirty-sixth with French, III, 261-262; Second Army organized, III, 263; Second Corps organized on British front, III, 251; Second Division takes Bouresches, Belleau Wood and Vaux, III, 250-251; Service of Supply, III, 245-247, 268; Signal Corps, III, 269; soldiers in Italy, III, 268; soldiers in Russia, III, 268; take St. Mihiel salient, III, 254-257; ten divisions train on British front, III, 250; Tank Corps, III, 269; Third Division on the Marne, III, 250-252; Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first in Belgium, III, 264; three divisions on the Vesle, III, 253; troops in the Argonne, III, 258-266; Twenty-eighth Division east of Rheims, III, 251; Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth Divisions break Hindenburg line, III, 261; Twenty-sixth at Seicheprey, III, 249; Twenty-sixth takes Torcy, III, 253

American Navy in the War, III, 270-296; activities of Y. M. C. A. And Knights of Columbus, III, 287-288; air stations in Ireland, III, 278; aviation base at Eastleigh, III, 281; base at Cardiff, Scotland, III, 286; Battleship Division Nine, III, 278; convoy of troops, III, 282; co-operates with Allies, III, 271-273; cross-channel transport service, III, 280; destroyers on coast of Ireland, III, 275; destroyers at Brest, III, 282-283; forces at Gibraltar, III, 286; mine-laying operations, III, 279; naval pipe-line unit, III, 286; northern bombing group of seaplanes, III, 281; seaplane station at Killingholme, III, 280; radio station near Bordeaux, III, 285; railway battery, III, 285-286; Rear-Admiral Rodgers, III, 276; subchasers, III, 277; subchasers at Corfu, III, 286; subchasers at Plymouth, III, 280; submarines, III, 276; Vice-Admiral Wilson on French coast, III, 281-282

American Food Commission, II, 163

American Railway Association, aids war preparations, II, 332

American ships torpedoed, II, 286

Amiens, capture of, I, 82

Ancre, Battle of the, Beaumont taken, II, 109

Ancre and Somme, lines between, II, 71

Anglo-Russian Campaign in Turkey, II, 174-187; British save oil fields, II, 181; British in Kut-el-Amara, II, 181; Russians in Caucasia, II, 183-186

Anzac, meaning of term, I, 224

Arbuthnot, Rear-Admiral Sir Robert, death of, II, 52; ships are disabled, II, 41

_Ardent_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52

Argonne, American army prepares for battle, III, 258; Americans open battle, III, 259; character of ground, III, 258; divisions engaged, III, 266; is cleared of enemy, III, 263; prisoners taken, III, 266

Armenia, Russians in, I, 184

Armistice, duration of, III, 304-305; November 11, 1918, III, 266; signatories, III, 305; terms of, III, 297-305

Artillery, work of, in Argonne, III, 259, 261

Asia, routes, II, 177-178

Atrocities, in Belgium and Serbia, II, 223

Australians, at Gallipoli, I, 222-224; in Palestine, II, 350

Austria-Hungary, army and navy reorganized, I, 8; condition on Bulgaria's capitulation, III, 181; orders partial mobilization, I, 24-25; seeks control of Constantinople, I, 126; sends ultimatum to Serbia, I, 14

Austria-Hungary and Russia, mutual antagonism of, I, 8

Austrians, on Col di Lana, II, 55-65; in the Alps, I, 315-319; use 17-inch howitzers, III, 78

Austro-German Offensive Against Italy, III, 71-100

Austro-Italian front, II, 56

Aviation, American naval, in Europe, under Captain Cone, III, 286; American naval air stations in England, III, 280-281; American naval air stations in France, III, 283-285; American naval air stations in Ireland, III, 278; German air raids, I, 375-383; III, 229-241; report on Jerusalem, II, 362; Royal Flying Corps at Mons, I, 73

Avocourt, attack on, II, 22; retaken by French, II, 19

Avocourt Wood, stormed by Germans, II, 18

_Ayesha_, cruise of the, I, 184-189

B

Bainsizza Plateau, evacuated, III, 80; fighting on, III, 78

Baker, Newton D. , Secretary of War, II, 298-343

Balkan Nations, I, 127-128

Balkan Railway, II, 179

Balkan War, danger to Turkey, I, 134

Basra, threatened, II, 181

Battle Lines, Map of, III, 227

Bayly, Admiral Sir Lewis, commands destroyer forces, III, 275

Beatty, Admiral, reports on Jutland Battle, II, 31-40

Beaumont, captured, II, 109

Beau Repaire Farm, III, 252

Belgian Army, heroism at Liege, I, 45; retreats to Ostend, I, 106; spirit of soldiers, I, 113, 122; stand in Belgium, I, 101

Belgium, conditions better than in France, II, 167; dangers for, I, 17; French army in, I, 100-101; German rule in, II, 159-173; invasion of, I, 41-61; last ditch in, I, 108-124; neutrality of, I, 31-32; war in, I, 106-107

Belleau Wood, taken, III, 251

Berzy-le-Sec, captured, III, 252

Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr von, opinion, I, 25-26

Birdwood, General, plans of, I, 370-371

Bismarck Fort, I, 216

_Black Prince_, sunk, II, 52

Black Sea, closing of, I, 135-137

Bohemia, National Assembly of, III, 186

Bohlen, Herr Krupp von, opinion of, I, 20

Bollati, Signor, views on German Government, I, 18-19

"Boris the Bulgar, " III, 63

Boulogne, objective, I, 103

Bouresches, taken, III, 251

Boy-Ed, Captain, violates American neutrality, II, 288

Bridge of Arches, I, 47

Briggs, Lieutenant General, operations at Saloniki, II, 252

_Brilliant_, at Ostend, III, 111-112, 118

_Bristol_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172

British Admiralty, I, 283-284

British and French, cooperation in Somme attack, II, 75, 86, 89

British Armies, advance in Marne battle, I, 80-82; in capture of Tsing-Tao, I, 205-220; growth of, II, 67; in the Great Retreat, I, 86-89; on Italian front, III, 83; remove from Aisne, I, 99-100; retreat in Picardy, III, 162-163; transported to northern theater, I, 99

British Empire, in Africa, III, 50

British Navy, arrival of squadron at Port Stanley, I, 161-162; at Jutland Bank, II, 32-54; in Coronel sea fight, I, 141-157; in Falkland Battle, I, 157-175; Grand Fleet, II, 30; at Zeebrugge and Ostend, III, 101-118

British Troops in Mesopotamia, advance up Tigris, II, 181; routes to Bagdad, II, 185

Brussiloff, commands offensive in Volhynia, II, 132-133; talks on Rumanian situation, II, 137

Bulgaria, affected by the Russian Revolution, III, 174; character of people, III, 171-172; dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179; dissatisfaction with Peace of Bucharest, III, 172; dissatisfied with share of the Dobrudja, III, 175; dissatisfied with treatment from Germany, III, 177-178; influenced by Teuton promises, III, 173; influenced by Allied victories in the West, III, 179; victorious in Serbia and Rumania, III, 174; withdraws from the war, III, 170

Bulgarians, advance in Struma Valley, II, 246; attack Greeks, III, 61-64; in Eastern Macedonia, II, 247

Bullard, General Robert L. , commands Second Army, III, 263; commands Third Corps, and operations on the Vesle, III, 253

C

Cadorna, General, arrests Italian offensive, III, 72-73

Caetani, Gelasio, Italian engineer on Col di Lana, II, 62

Calais, battle of, I, 104; objective of Germans, I, 103

Cambon, coolness in crisis, I, 36; fears of, I, 16

Cameron, Major General George H. , in St. Mihiel battle, III, 255

Canadians, at Second Ypres, I, 248-286; counterattack on Germans, I, 251-252; heroism of, I, 249-252; in gas attack at Ypres, I, 253; position of Division at Ypres, I, 248-249; recapture of guns at Ypres, I, 221; Royal Highlanders, I, 255-257; Third Brigade, I, 249-257

_Canopus_, accompanies Glasgow, I, 146-147; in Falkland fight, I, 156-158

Cantigny, taken by First Division, III, 250

Cantonments, completion of, II, 327; materials for, II, 322-323; sites chosen, II, 319-320; typical, II, 323

Caporetto, falls to Austrians, III, 71; taking of, III, 76

_Carnovan_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170

Carpathians, I, 319-320

Carpenter, Captain A. F. B. , commands _Vindictive_ at Zeebrugge, III, 104

_Cassin_, U. S. Destroyer, torpedoed, II, 369-376

Castelnau, General de, orders troops to hold at Verdun, II, 16

Cavell, Edith, I, 348-364; trial of, I, 350-352

Central Powers, desire to dominate other races, II, 215

Champagne, great offensive in, I, 322-347

Channel, race for, I, 96-107

Charleroi, defeat of Allied armies at, I, 61

Château-Thierry, German offensive at, III, 252; July counteroffensive, III, 252; Third Division holds bridgehead, III, 250; topography, III, 210-213

Chetwode, General, route of Germans by, I, 73

China, neutrality of, I, 204

_Choising_, German ship, I, 187-191

Col di Lana, blowing off Austrian position, II, 55-65

Combles, French advance on, II, 94-95

_Communipaw_, sunk, II, 282

Congress, in extraordinary session, II, 226

Constantine, King of Greece, attitude of, III, 54

Constantinople, contention for, I, 129-130; German cruisers at, I, 135; hold of England and France on, I, 129; importance of, I, 126-127, 140; II, 177

Contalmaison, attack on, II, 78

Convoy System, III, 282

_Cornwall_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-172

Coronel, Battle of, I, 141-157

Coté du Poivre, attack at, II, 18-21; taken by French, II, 28

Council of National Defense, II, 321-343

Cradock, Rear Admiral Sir Christopher, attacks German cruisers, I, 150-157; in chase for German squadron, I, 145

Crown Prince, German, army of, at Verdun, II, 12; brings up fresh forces, II, 18; urges troops to take Verdun, II, 8

Cumières, retaken by French, II, 22; stormed by Germans, II, 22

Curry, General, at Second Ypres, I, 256-257, 259

Czecho-Slovak Expeditionary Force, III, 183

Czecho-Slovaks, III, 183-199; character of men in Siberia, III, 184-185; journey on a Czecho-Slovak train, III, 184

D

_Daffodil_, at Ostend, III, 101; at Zeebrugge, III, 102-103, 105

Declaration of War, II, 238

_Defence_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52

Dellville Wood, attacks on, II, 87-88; terrain around, II, 85

Deportations, II, 161-162

Destroyers, American, III, 7-31

Dickman, Major General, commands First Corps, III, 263; in St. Mihiel battle, III, 255

Dobrudja, disposed of by Germany, III, 175; failure of defense in, II, 134

Doiran Lake, British lines near, II, 246

Donnelly, Lieutenant, surprises Turks, I, 235-236

Douaumont, attacks at, II, 21; French victory at, II, 27

Drake, exploits of, I, 149

Duchess of Hohenberg, I, 9

Dunkirk, bombed, I, 109-110; objective of Germans, I, 103

E

East African Campaigns, III, 32-53

Egypt, natural routes to, II, 178; need for large army, II, 180

Eightieth Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, 255; in Argonne, III, 258

Eighty-ninth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255

Eighty-second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; in reserve in Argonne, III, 259

Eighty-seventh Division, in Argonne, III, 259

_Eitel Friedrich_, in Falkland fight, I, 162-174; interns at Newport News, I, 174

_Emden_, cruise of, I, 176-197; ships captured by, I, 179-180

Engineers, sent to France, II, 328; training of, II, 327; work of, in Argonne, III, 259

England on neutrality of Belgium, I, 30-31; scorns German proposal, I, 26-27

Erzerum, taken by Russians, I, 183

Evan-Thomas, Admiral, report on Jutland Bank, II, 39

F

Falkland Sea Fight, I, 142-175

Festubert, Canadian advance at, I, 274-275

Fifth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255

First Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; in drive for Soissons, III, 252; in reserve in Argonne, III, 259; takes Berzy-le-Sec, III, 252

Flanders, Battle of, I, 97; German attack in, I, 101-103

Foch, General, afterward Marshal, outmanoeuvres Germans in Battle of the Marne, I, 93; launches counteroffensive, III, 252; uses American troops in Picardy and on the Marne, III, 249, 250

Food, in Belgium, II, 168

Forts of Liege, I, 54-59

Forts, on banks of Meuse, I, 54-56

Forty-Second (Rainbow) Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; captures Sergy, III, 253

Fourth Division, in Argonne, III, 258; relieves Forty-second, III, 253

France, her wounded heroes, III, 138-152; Germany declares war on, I, 35; German rule in, II, 159-173; control cards, II, 160

Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, assassination of, I, 10; character of, I, 7-9; marriage to Sophie Chotek, I, 9; political designs of, I, 7-9

French, Sir John, on Battle of the Marne, I, 73-82; on Great Retreat, I, 62-72

French and British, cooperate in Battle of the Somme, II, 86, 89; on Italian front, III, 83

French Armies, advance at Marne, I, 80-82; break German attack at Verdun, II, 16; in Alsace, I, 83-84; in Battle of the Marne, I, 91-95; in Meuse Hills, III, 266; losses of, III, 159; official account, I, 83-107; retreat at Verdun, II, 14; victorious at Ypres, I, 275

Fricourt, British attacks on, II, 76; captured, II, 77

G

Gallipoli, abandonment of, I, 366-374; campaign at, I, 221-239; suffering of troops, I, 367

Gas, accounts for German gains at Second Ypres, I, 269; bombardment at Second Ypres, I, 262-265; cloud of, at Second Ypres, I, 242; Canadians charge through, I, 268; first use in war, I, 240-276; Germans first to employ, I, 276; peculiar appearance of gas battle, I, 267

Gerard, Ambassador to Germany, II, 294

German Activities in the United States, II, 278; note to Mexico, II, 297

German Armies, battle plans of, II, 12; cross the Sambre, I, 86; checked at Verdun, II, 16; driven to Soissons-Rheims, I, 77; first to use gas in battle, I, 241-242; in Battle of Picardy, III, 153-169; in Battle of the Marne, I, 89-90; in Race for the Seas, I, 101-102; invade Belgium, I, 41; line at close of Battle of the Marne, I, 81; losses in Battle of the Marne, I, 95; losses at Ypres, I, 105; losses at Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 209; losses at Tsing-tao, I, 219-220; strength at Verdun, II, 20; positions in Champagne, I, 324-327; losses of, at Ypres, I, 105; defenses between Somme and Ancre, II, 72; in retreat, I, 79-82; prepare for Battle of Verdun, II, 8-12; rapid advance against Italians, III, 77-78; reinforced, I, 84

German Colonial Aims, strategic points desired, III, 45-46

German Control in Belgium, II, 167-172

German Control in France, gendarmerie brutal, II, 167; treatment of girl workers, I, 161

German East Africa, a menace to Asia, III, 49; evacuated by enemy, III, 41; opinion of Baron von Rechenberg, III, 45

German Fleet, in Battle of Jutland Bank, II, 30-54

German Interference with American manufacturers, II, 292

German Note to Mexico, II, 297

German Notice of January 31, 1917, II, 285

German Propaganda, in Allied countries, III, 75-76

German Spies in America, II, 286-292

German West Africa, strategic importance of, III, 48-49

Germans, issue submarine proclamation, I, 280; make peace proposals, II, 29; nearness to iron ore, II, 9; system of colonization, III, 43

Germany attains eastern ambitions, III, 154; declares war on France, I, 35; industrial expansion of, I, 127; mobilizes, I, 35; loses prestige in the East, III, 181; must destroy either French or British army, III, 158; need for Central Africa, III, 46: perfidy of Government, II, 222; plans of, I, 128-133; preparation for defense, I, 201-202; proclaims ruthless submarine warfare, II, 194; sends note on submarine warfare, I, 307-308

Germany's African colonies, strategic importance of, III, 46-47

_Glasgow_, in Coronel fight, I, 146-157

_Gneisenau_, in Falkland fight, I, 147-171

Gompers, Samuel, labor leader, assistance rendered to government, II, 325; on Council of National Defense, II, 325-326

_Good Hope_, sunk, I, 146-155

Gorizia, suffers from war, III, 71

Goschen, Sir Edward, I, 30-32

Gough, General, in Battle of the Somme, II, 77

Grand Fleet, British, II, 30

Great Britain, holds vantage points in the East, II, 180; interests in Persia, II, 174-176

Greeks, fight at Rupel Pass, III, 59; on the side of the Allies, III, 54-68; successes of, III, 61

Greeks and Bulgars, III, 64

"Green Devils, " nickname for German gendarmerie, II, 167

Grey, Sir Edward, refuses German proposals, I, 30

Guillemont, fighting at, II, 88-91

H

Hague, The, American policy at, II, 206

Haig, Sir Douglas, commands British in Battle of the Somme, II, 67-113

Haig and Joffre, discuss plans for Somme offensive, II, 67

Hardaumont, fight for, II, 18

Hardromont Quarries, taken by General Mangin, II, 22

Henderson, Sir David, I, 71

Hepburn, Captain A. J. , commands subchasers, III, 277

High Wood, II, 81, 82

Hill 304, artillery attack on, II, 21

Hindenburg Line, broken, III, 261

Hines, Major General John L. , commands Third Corps, III, 263

Hohenberg, Duchess of, I, 9-10

Hood, Rear Admiral, at Jutland Bank, II, 38; death of, II, 52

Hoskins, General, in East Africa, III, 41

Hospitals, II, 342-343; at naval bases, III, 288; bombed by Germans, III, 240

_Housatonic_, sunk, II, 200

I

Identification Papers, II, 159

_Indefatigable_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52

_Inflexible_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170

Ingram, Osmund K. , saves comrades, II, 370

International Law, upheld by United States, II, 284

_Intrepid_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107-108

_Invincible_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-170; sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52

_Iphigenia_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107-108

_Iris_, in Ostend Harbor, III, 101

_Iris_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102-103, 105-106

Irish, in Gallipoli fight, I, 227

Isonzo, filled by rain, retards enemy, III, 92; in Austro-German offensive, III, 71, 75

Italian Retreat, army reaches Tagliamento, III, 96; Austrian aeroplanes overhead, III, 95; brilliant work of cavalry, III, 97; civilians in, III, 90-91; difficulties of, III, 82-91; Importance of Tagliamento bridges, III, 91; military stores evacuated or destroyed, III, 84-86; stand on Piave, III, 99

Italians evacuate Bainsizza Plateau, III, 80; evacuate Udine, III, 81; expect Austrian push, III, 72; tactics, I, 315-318

Italy, American troops in, III, 268; Legion Italienne withdrawn for rest, II, 56-57; war on Alpine front, II, 55-65

J

_Jacob Jones_, U. S. Destroyer, torpedoed, II, 378-384

Jagow, Herr von, on Austrian note, I, 15; on mobilization, I, 35

Japan in the War, I, 198-220

Japanese characteristics, I, 198; landing and advance of, I, 203-206; losses at Tsing-tao, I, 220; ultimatum, I, 199-200

Jellicoe, Sir John, commands at Jutland Bank, II, 30-45

Jerusalem, British advance toward, II, 366-368; capture of, II, 343; official entry into, II, 368

Joffre, General, announces plans to General French, I, 76; appeals to troops, I, 323-324; forms new Ninth Army, I, 75; gives order to advance, I, 90; letter of thanks from, I, 347; resumes offensive, I, 98-99

Joffre and Haig, discuss plans for summer offensive, II, 67

Jutland Bank, II, 30-54

K

Kalahari Desert, III, 32

Kato, Japanese Foreign Minister, I, 199

Kato, Japanese Vice Admiral, I, 202

_Kent_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-175

Keyes, Vice Admiral, commands _Warwick_ at Zeebrugge, III, 102

Kiao-chau, blockade of coast, I, 202-203

Kigali, East Africa, III, 37

Kitchener, Earl, II, 188-193

Kivu Lake, East Africa, III, 37

Kleyer, Burgomaster of Liege, I, 47-51

_Königsberg_, in Rufiji River, III, 18

Kriemhilde Line, penetrated by Americans, III, 264

Kut-el-Amara, occupied by British, II, 181; importance of, II, 183

L

Lansing, Secretary, note to German Government, I, 305-307

League of Nations, III, 306-316

Leipsic Salient, II, 77

_Leipzig_, in Pacific, I, 147-148

Leman, General, I, 43-61

Le Mort Homme (Dead Man Hill), attacks on, II, 18-22

Le Transloy, defenses of, II, 102

Leval, Maitre de, endeavors to aid Miss Cavell, I, 353-362; opinion on German Courts, I, 352

Liege, Forts of, I, 54; Germans enter, I, 49

Liggett, General Hunter, commands First Corps of First Army, III, 253; commands First Army, III, 263

Lipsett, Lieutenant Colonel, at Second Ypres, I, 257-258

Littell, Colonel I. W. , constructs cantonments, II, 320

Louvain, capture of, I, 61

_Lusitania_, torpedoed, I, 277-312

Luxembourg, invaded, I, 41

_Lyman M. Law_, sunk, II, 200

M

Macedonia, Bulgarians in, II, 247

_Macedonia_, in Falkland fight, I, 161-171

Macready, General, cited, I, 72

Mametz Wood, II, 78-79

Mangin, General, takes quarries of Haudromont, II, 22

Marne, American Third Division at Château-Thierry, III, 250; description, III, 212-215; Battle of the, I, 73-82; I; 91-95

Marne-Aisne District, character of country, III, 210-224

Marne-Vesle, topography, III, 211-212

Masaryk, Professor, leader of Czecho-Slovaks, III, 192

Massiges, capture of, I, 340-341

Mayo, Admiral, report of, III, 270-296

Mediterranean, German submarines in, II, 282

Menin Road, I, 270-272

Mesopotamia, value of, II, 174-175

Messines Ridge, in Battle of Picardy, III, 167-168

Meuse-Argonne Front, the final advance, III, 265-267

Meuse River, divides battlefield of Verdun, II, 10; fighting on both sides of, II, 18

Mexico, German note to, II, 297

Mitteleuropa, apparently accomplished in 1915, III, 173; Bulgaria only a link, III, 175; crumbling of idea, III, 170

Monastir, advance on, II, 250

Monfalcone, III, 79-80

_Mongolia_, fires first shot at Germans, II, 270-277

Monroe Doctrine, II, 205-207

Mons, Allied line through, I, 62; British retreat from, I, 70

Montdidier, First Division at, III, 250; taken, III, 164

Monte Nero, cut off, III, 71

Montfaucon, taken, III, 259

Moscow, refugees in, II, 114, 116

Motor trucks, supply French at Verdun, II, 17

Mountain Warfare, I, 313-321

Mücke, Captain of the _Ayesha_, I, 176-197

Mudros Harbor, I, 222

Mulhouse, capture of, I, 83-84

Munitions Board, Council of National Defense, II, 321

Murray, Sir Archibald, Lieutenant General, cited, I, 72

N

Namur, surrender of, I, 61

Napier, Rear Admiral, II, 39

National Army, II, 318

National Guard, II, 318

Naval War Council, III, 273-275

Navy, United States, transports troops to Europe, II, 340

_Nestor_, sunk, II, 52

Neutrality, armed, II, 220

New Zealanders, in Palestine Campaign, II, 361

Newfoundlanders, at Gallipoli, I, 221-238

Niblack, Rear Admiral, commands ships at Gibraltar, III, 286

Nicholas, Grand Duke, in Caucasia, II, 183-184

Nieuport, bombardment of, I, 110; fight on the road to, I, 123

Ninetieth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255

Ninety-first Division, in Belgium, III, 264; in Argonne, III, 259; at St. Mihiel, III, 255

Nivelle, General, brings up 400 millimeter guns, II, 26

_Nomad_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52

Northey, General, advances in East Africa, III, 37

North Sea, battle of the, I, 85

_North Star_, British destroyer, sunk at Zeebrugge, III, 110

_Nürnberg_, in Pacific, I, 147-148

O

Oil, in Black Sea district, I, 136; pipe line in Scotland, III, 286

Oil fields, in Persia, II, 175; pipe line from Persian fields, II, 181

Okuma, Prime Minister of Japan, I, 199

_Olympia_, on coast of northern Russia, III, 286

Ostend, evacuated, I, 106

Ostend Harbor, blocking of, III, 111-118

Ourcq, valley of, III, 219-223; Forty-second on, III, 253

Ovillers, taken by British, II, 82

P

Palestine, Campaign, II, 344-366

Papen, Captain von, plots of, II, 287-289

Pare Mountains, III, 39

_Patria_, attacked, II, 283

Peace, Allies refuse a peace by compromise, III, 155

Peace Treaty, with Austria, III, 366-374; with Germany, III, 318-365

Pershing, General John J. , offers army to Foch for Picardy battle, III, 249; report on American Army in Europe, III, 242-270; sent to France, II, 339

Persia, British and Russian interests in, II, 174-176

_Persis_, sunk, II, 282

Petain, General, congratulates French at Verdun, II, 19; uses 40, 000 motor trucks, II, 17

Petrograd, refugees in, II, 116, 118-120

_Petrolite_, sunk, II, 282

Piave, Italians stand on, III, 99-100

Picardy, Battle of, III, 153-169; fighting in Lens-Arras sector, III, 167; French extend to join British at the Oise. III, 163; German infantry advances, III, 162; Germans bring divisions from Russia, III, 156; Germans checked at Villers-Bretonneux, III, 164; Germans take Albert, II, 164; Germans take Messines Ridge, III, 167-168; German objectives in the North, III, 168; Montdidier falls, III, 164; number of German divisions, III, 162; opens, III, 153; plan to drive through Amiens, III, 162; Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette, III, 166; why attack was made here, III, 159-162

Plec Line, taken, III, 77

Plunkett, Rear Admiral, commands railway battery, III, 285-286

Poland, refugees from, II, 115

_President Lincoln_, torpedoed, III, 290-296

Press, German opinion misled, I, 23-24; public opinion on peaceful settlement I, 15; Serajevo tragedy, I, 10; warning in New York papers, I, 284

Prince Heinrich Hill, I, 208-211

Pringle, Captain, commands destroyers at Queenstown, III, 276

Proclamation of War, II, 238-243

R

Radio, Bordeaux station, III, 285

Radoslavov, Premier of Bulgaria, resigns, III, 178

Railways, Balkan, II, 179; Berlin to Bagdad, I, 129; British and Belgian routes in Africa, III, 44; in Africa, III, 43-44; in Asia Minor, II, 179

Ramscapelle, destruction of, I, 117-118; recaptured, I, 103

Rawlinson, General, commands Fourth Army at the Somme, II, 75; commended by Haig, II, 83

Read, Major General, commands Second Corps, III, 251

Red Cross, establishes hospital bases, II, 341

Refugees, I, 46; II, 114-123

Regular Army, II, 318

Relief ships, attacks on, II, 292

Retreat of Allies, I, 62-72

Rheims, capture of, I, 82

Robertson, General, cited, I, 72

Rodgers, Rear Admiral, commands Division Six, III, 276

Rodman, Rear Admiral, commands Battleship Division Nine, III, 278

Roubaix, France, under German rule, II, 159

Rovuma River, III, 37

Rumania, Allied plan for operation in, II, 133; army well drilled, II, 140; danger in entering war, II, 124; failure of defense in Dobrudia, II, 134

Rumania, King of, a Hohenzollern, II, 126; personality, II, 126-127; views, II, 127-131

Rumanians, withdraw from Transylvania, II, 134

Russia, American troops in, III, 268; declares war on Austria, I, 21-23; defends Serbia, I, 14; desires control of Constantinople, I, 126-127; general mobilization, I, 38; interests in Persia, II, 175-176; likely to defend Serbia, I, 14; partial mobilisation, I, 24-25; receives ultimatum, I, 34-35; revolution in, II, 258-270

Russian Army, effect of collapse on Italian situation, III, 74

Russian Campaign, 1916, II, 68; in Caucasia, II, 183-186

Russian Refugees, children emaciated, II, 115; in freight train in Moscow, II, 114-116; number of, II, 116-117

Russian Revolution, barricade on the Litenie, II, 264; Cossacks in, II, 253, 259-261; Czar dissolves Duma, II, 255; Duma takes command, II, 286; people charged by police, II, 254; soldiers join revolutionists, II, 267

S

Sailly-Saillisel, French attacks on, II, 102-105

St. Julien, fighting at, I, 262-264; penetration of, I, 244-246

St. Mihiel, Battle of, III, 254-257

Saloniki, British operations at, II, 248, 250

Sambuks, cruise in, I, 191-193

Samson, air adventure at Gallipoli, I, 232

Sand Dunes, I, 119-120

Sazanoff, M. , receives German ambassador, I, 27

_Scharnhorst_, in Falkland fight, I, 147-170; in Pacific, I, 147-148

Second Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; in drive for Soissons, III, 252; takes St. Etienne, III, 262; takes Beau Repaire Farm, and Vierzy, III, 252; with French near Rheims, III, 261-262

Seicheprey, Twenty-sixth in battle, III, 249

Selective Draft, classes exempt, II, 309; liability to service, II, 304; physical examination of men, II, 308; registration, II, 305-312

Serajevo, assassination at, I, 10

Serbia, announcement of expedition against, I, 19; defended by Russia, I, 14; demands from, I, 11; replies to ultimatum, I, 22-23; ultimatum to, I, 14

Sergy, taken by Forty-second Division, III, 253

Seventy-eighth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255

Seventy-ninth Division in Argonne, III, 259

_Shark_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52

Shipping Board, II, 340

Sixtus, Prince, emperor's letter to, III, 155-156

Smith-Dorrien, Sir Horace, services of, I, 69-70

Smuts, General Jan Christiaan, III, 32-53

Soissons, American First and Second Divisions in drive toward, III, 252; Franco-American drive toward, III, 224-226; entered by Allies, III, 226

Solf, Dr. , opinion on German colonies, III, 47

Somme, Battle of the, II, 67-113

Somme and Ancre, lines between, II, 71

_Sparrowhawk_, sunk at Jutland Bank, II, 52

Spee, Graf von, commands cruisers in the Pacific, I, 147-155; in Falkland light, I, 162-170; wins Coronel fight, I, 148-156

Struma River, bridged by British engineers, II, 250; British positions on, II, 245; rise hinders operations, II, 248

Subchasers at Corfu, III, 286

Submarine War Zone proclaimed, II, 219

Submarine Warfare, American lives lost, II, 279; American vessels sunk, II, 200; in the Mediterranean, II, 282; American ships, II, 269-384; proclaimed by Germany, II, 194, 196-197; the _Sussex_ case, II, 194-196

Submarines, hunt each other in the dark, II, 135-136

Submarines, American, III, 119-137; cross the Atlantic, III, 119-124; go out on patrol, III, 126-134; how it feels to be depth-bombed, III, 131-132; the mother ship, III, 124-125

Suez Canal, control of the, I, 138; importance, I, 138

Summerall, Major General Charles P. , III, 263

_Sussex_, torpedoed without warning, II, 283

_Sussex_ Case, II, 194-196

T

Tagliamento, importance of bridges, III, 91

Taurus Mountains, Armenian, II, 184; frontier of Egypt, II, 178

_Thetis_, at Zeebrugge, III, 102, 107

Thiaucourt, taken by Americans, III, 256

Thiaumont, II, 23-25

Thiepval, British advance on, II, 98-99; in Somme battle, II, 76

Third Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255; on Marne, III, 251-252

Thirtieth Division, with British, III, 261

Thirty-fifth Division, in reserve at St. Mihiel, III, 255

Thirty-second Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, 259; takes Hill 230, III, 253

Thirty-seventh Division, in Belgium, III, 264

Thirty-sixth Division, with French near Rheims, III, 261-262

Thirty-third Division, available for St. Mihiel, III, 255; in Argonne, III, 258

Tigris, British on, II, 181

_Tipperary_, sunk, II, 52

Torcy, taken by Twenty-sixth Division, III, 253

Townshend, General, advances on Bagdad, II, 182

Treaty of Peace, with Austria, III, 366; with Germany, III, 318-365

Trebizond, Turks flee toward, II, 183

_Triumph_, attacks Fort Bismarck, I, 216

Trones Wood, British troops in the, II, 78

Trucks, used at Verdun, II, 17

Tsing-tao, capture of, I, 198-220; importance of, I, 200-201; siege of, I, 207-220

_Turbulent_, at Jutland Bank, II, 52

Turkey, Anglo-Russian campaign in, II, 174-187; dependence on Germany for aid, II, 179; imperialistic designs, I, 129-130; economic and strategic position of, I, 131-132; military situation hopeless, III, 180; reason for joining Germany, I, 132-133; reorganizing army, I, 134-135

Twenty-eighth Division, east of Rheims, III, 251; relieves Thirty-second, III, 253

Twenty-ninth Division, in reserve in Argonne, III, 259

Twenty-seventh Division, with British in attack on Hindenburg line, III, 261

Twenty-sixth Division, at St. Mihiel, III, 255; pivot of Soissons movement, III, 252-253

U

Udine, before the war, III, 69-70; in war, III, 69-70; evacuated by Italians, III, 81

United States, holds Germany responsible, II, 284; neutrality endangered, II, 208; prepares for war, II, 298-343; protests to England, I, 281; protests to Germany on submarine proclamation, I, 281

United States, military preparations of, II, 298-343; Act to Increase Military Establishment, II, 300-301; cantonment sites chosen, II, 319-320; construction and supplies, II, 324-325; Council of National Defense, II, 331; Council of National Defense organized, II, 334; delayed by neutrality, II, 298; labor assembled, II, 325; labor conditions adjusted, II, 326; Medical Reserve, II, 313; navy transports troops to Europe, II, 340; Officers' Reserve Corps, II, 313; Officers' Training Camps, II, 314-315; organizes mines, agriculture and factories, II, 299; Pershing goes to France, II, 328; plan to operate railways in France, II, 328; Quartermaster General's problems, II, 329-334; Red Cross hospital bases, II, 341; Regular Army and National Guard increased, II, 304; Selective Draft, II, 304, 305-312; training of engineers, II, 337; voluntary enlistment, II, 301

V

Van Deventer, General, in East Africa, III, 38

Vaux, fight for possession of, II, 18; Germans gain at, II, 19; taken by Second Division, III, 251

Vaux, Fort, captured by French, II, 23; French victory at, II, 27

Venice, endangered in Italian retreat, III, 99-100

Venizelists, in Greece, III, 54-58

Venizelos, interview with, III, 54-67

Verdun, plateaus on either side the Meuse, II, 10; relief map of, II, 10; value of, II, 10

Verdun, Battle of, II, 7-29

Vierzy, taken by Second Division, III, 252

Vigneulles, taken by Americans, III, 256

Villers-Bretonneux, Germans checked at, III, 164

Vimy, in Picardy battle, III, 166

Vimy Ridge, German attacks on, II, 68

_Vindictive_, at Ostend, III, 111, 113-117; in Ostend Harbor, III, 101; work of, at Zeebrugge, III, 102-110

W

Walthamstow, air raid, I, 375-383

War, causes of, I, 7-40; formally declared by the United States, II, 298

War Messages, II, 226-243

_Warrior_, sunk, II, 52

_Warwick_, at Zeebrugge, III, 110

Welland Canal, attack on, II, 291

Western Battle Front, August, 1916, Map of, II, 66

William II, Kaiser, eager to act, I, 28-30; influence of, I, 16; returns to Berlin, I, 23; trip to Norway, I, 13; ultimatum to Russia, I, 34-35

Wilson, Major General, cited for admirable work, I, 72

Wilson, President, addresses Congress on break with Germany, II, 192-204; ideas on peace, II, 216; note regarding peace, II, 214-215; War Message of, II, 226-241

Wilson, Vice Admiral H. B. , commands U. S. Naval forces in France, III, 281

Y

_Yarrowdale_, prisoners from, II, 294-296

Ypres, air battles at, I, 265, 266-275; First Battle of, I, 104-106; Canadians at, I, 248-276; Germans use gas projectiles, I, 242; second battle of, I, 240-276; in battle of Picardy, III, 168

_Ysaka Maru_, sunk, II, 282

Yser, Germans trying to cross the, I, 116-117; last ditch, I, 108

Z

Zeebrugge and Ostend, bottled up by British, III, 101-118

Zeppelins, raid England, I, 375-383

Zimmermann, Herr von, I, 35; views of, I, 21-22