Full text of "The Literary digest history of the world war, compiled from original and contemporary sources: American, British, French, German, and others"

E--N- G ir*TA N

f! n ff I i tl /t Berck s. M

* ft a n n

THE BATTLEGROUND IN

BELGIUM, FRANCE

and ALSACE LORRAINE

WESTERN FRONT

THE LITERARY DIGEST

History of the World War

Compiled from Original and Contemporary

Sources: American. JUritisli, lYcneh,

German, and Others

BY
FRANCIS \VII1TIXC; HAhSEV

IX TEX VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED

July IL>. 1013 Mav -(. li'l'

FT'NK \ \VA(i\. U.I.S COMPANY

\i:\V YORK" .VXD LONDON

1919

COI'YIU'IHT. l!ll!l. T!V

Fr.VK ,<c WACXAF-LS fo.MI'ANV
(Printed in thi- I itidd *tatci r,f America).

< 'OXTEXTS YOLTM K TILRKK
(>.\ TIIK AYKSTKRX FRO^r Continued

PACE

PAKT YII. TTIK ATTFMN AHIJFD OFFFXSTYF

I. HKFORK THK 7\KAi, OFFKXSIVK BKCAX (.July 1, HI 1.1 September

is, lUir,) ' 3

II. THE OFFKXSIVK ix TIIF. CHAMPACXK ('orxruv (September 2.",

Hi 15 December 25, I!)];")) 12

! 1 F. THK OFFF.XSTVK ix AKTOIS AROUND ARKAS, (IIVKXCHY, Loos,

AND LKXS (September 25. 1 !)!"") D(>ceml)er 15, HIM) . . L'.l

!V. THE: HOHEXZOLLEKX IXKIXH'!-'.T AXD CKX. SIR Jonx FKKNCH'S

IJKTIUK.MKXT (October 1.",. 1 !)!.") December lo, 1!)1;~) . . -!:',

A'. AlKCIJAKT TX THK AfTI'MX OFFKXSIVK TlfK CoMIXll OF THK

FoKKKR (September 2-", IDl." December b". 1!U") . . ,"i!)

PAKT VIII. Till-: GKKAT (iKinFAX ASSATI/F ON YKi;nr\

I. THK FIRST PHASK: Dor vfMo.XT AXD Y.\rx AXD FOKTS \\"KST OK
THK MKTSK THK COMIX<; OF I-JTSSIAXS TO FIIANCK (.lanunry

-24, l!U(i Ajiril .".o, IHK!) 71

II. THK SF.roxn PHASK: TTn.K HiH, DOTATMOXT AGAIX, AND TII :

FALL or FORT VATX (May '.'>, lii-Hi August I'.n. lllKi) . 115
III. THK LATKR PHASK: DOTATMOXT AXD VATX KKCOVKKKD .IOFFR:-:
A MARSHAL As TO XIVKLLK AXD J'F.TAIX (October L'-H, llMi.i
December 1^, ISilC) Ml

PART IX. ALLIFD OPFK'ATIONS IN THK NOKTIf BKFOUK Till-:
soMMF BATTLI-: BKGAX

I. MONTHS OF \VAITTNI; \\'ii'H MIXOI; FNG.\(;KMKXTS '1'iiK Ixsi u-

KF.CTION ix I!:KI. AXD (IVcembcr H. HM5 August In, inl(i) 1"7
IT. THK THIRD P.ATTKK OF YPRK.S PAXAPIAX Y\T,OR AXD Knvn-

KXKR'S D::ATH (April 27. HI]''> --.lime L'<I. HMfi) . . . 172

iii

CONTEXTS VOLUME TIIRHK

PART X. THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOM.ME

I'Ac.E
I. TilF. I'lIEPAUATIONS AND THE FlKST FORTXIUHT'S FlCHTIXi;

i.hfly 1, l!lti July 14, l!li!i 101

II. FIVE MEMORABLE \YF.KKS \vrni I'KIIONNK. AXD BAPACME AS
OK.IK.C TrvF.s HiNi>Kxmi;i; snvEEus FAI.KKNHAYX '.July 11.
I'.'lh August --, 1!1<>) _-l

III. ;ri!.I.F.MOXT. f'OMBLF.S, AXD TH1KP\AI. TlIF. " TANK *S " Ai:-

RIVAL (Sfj.ti llltitT -. I'.Mi'i ScptflilliiT ^7, 1HKJ) . . . 2") 4

IV. FrKTHKR PROfiRF.SS TO">VAKD I'.APAI'MF. AN!) PKKONXE TlIK

I'.ATTI.F. Ft>!: TIIK A.VCRK VALI.KV ( < )ct "1T 1. I'.*!'! .laiUKirv

17, :<17> 2S8

['ART Xf. Till] GERMAN RKTRKAT IX TTIH WKST AXD TIIK
XK\V ARRAS AXD ATSXE P.ATTI.F.S

I. DAPAI-MK. XOVON, AND PKIIOXNE ABAXDOXF.D A I ..AXD or UTTER

DESOLATION iFel.niary 1. 1017 ilurcli ~2\, 1H17) . . ::17
II. THE BATTLE OF AURAS, WITH YIMY RIDGE AXD LENS AS THE
FIIIST I'HASE CLANCY AXD GENET (April 7. 1M7 April

--. Ifti: ::tl

III. I;EI;MAXS. TNDEI; Fi'iE, ABAXDOX THE AI>XE ("'OUNTRY THE
[;... n; M : - (FEK.HTS Marcli, 1!"17 M.-iy

n, iti7 :"!74

IN", THE BATTLE OF ARI;AS, \VITH FIJESXHY AXD BrLLEcouiiT AS THE

si-:< OXD I'HASE (May 1, 1!17 May i!J>. I!il7,) .... :;!>:;

I ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME THREE

FULL PAGES

I'.M,E
GKNKRAL (XO\V M.VKSHAL) Pl'iTAIX . . . FrnH I ixjiicra

AN ALLIKD CorxriL OF WAI; AT Fi;i-:xcir llFAi>i>rAi:THi:s . '_'
TIIK SO-CALLF.I) "TowFi: PKIIXIK" AT Loos . . . . ,31

AFTKKTHF. EXPLOSION OF A Mk\i; .... fm-inf/ }irtfje 4s

YKRITX PF.FORK TMF WAI: ........ 70

P>ATTF.KF.I> CASF.MATKS XKAR FOKT YAUX
YKRITN AT TIIF Fxi> OF TIIK \\'AI:

< iFXFK'AL XlVKI.I.K .....

M AR.-IIAL .TOFF!JF IX Fn.L FxiFOK.M;

I\' A~F.i;i>rx FK.IITINI; FIKKS CAUSED nv frKiurAX SHELLS . 1.14

HAIC, -loFFRK. AN!) Fl.OVD fiKORCJE AT TIIK Fi;OXT . . . l.')li

A UIIITISII (!r\ IN TIIK SOM.MK J->A-I-TLM ..... 1!>0
r.i:rn>ii SOLHIK::S HOISTIXU A SIMLI. IXTO A ]."MX. HOXVITZKH

f drill y ini'je -OS
A. I''!;KNCI[ ATTACK ON (IKI:MAN THKXCHKS ox THE SO^IM?:

fm-inii I'll;!' 1 'J(i4
A TANK AXI> ITS Pi;m,KNri'Oi; ....... 'JS!!

I'.KITISH Soi.niKirs EijriPPF.n WITH XF.\V HKLMFTS f<i'-i'n : i /'"' '^> ss
TIIK I)KSTI;OVK;> CASTLK OF Corey ...... illti

. \FTFK- VIMY RIIK;K A\"AS TAKKX ....... 3')1

(iKK'MAN PI:I<ONF.I;S CAi'TriiKH ON TIIK WKSTHKX FI;MNT

1'itriiiif jjd^e .'Uio

TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS

A PHKNCII SOLDIKR \\"no A\'A> HI

(rOOSK-S,TKP AT TIJ-F. FlfOXT ........ (I

I'uoTKiTKD SHKLTI;I;S i'"i: AMIU'LAXCK WOCK . . . . ].')

A COXCKALKI) 1 .V)- MM. FlJKXCH Crx ...... 17

A Fl.'l-.NCll (il'N CONf'KALKH Fi!O.\I TIIK F.NF..M\' . . . . '2 1

FKFNCII Ti;oors IN A COMMUXICATIXI; TuF.Xfn .... '21

A I'IJOTKCTKII FuKXi'ii TKF.NIMI ....... 27

A Hiirnsn Soi.niFi; IN A GAS-MASK ,'].">

ILU'STRATIOXS VOLl'ME THREE

K.MII.IKNNK MORKAT .........

KriXS OK TIIK HOTKL DK VlKLKAT ARRAS ,'!7

THK Rnxs OK AI;RAS CATIIKDRAI 39

CAXADIAXS KX P>KITIM[ HKL.MKTS 45

THK IinxKD (.'iiL'Rcii OK AKLAIRK-SAINT-XAZAIKK . . .4!'
FRKNCH I >OG KKXXKLS PKHIND THK KROXT . . . . ~>'2

A MACHixK-Grx XKST 5s

ADOLIMI PKGOTD'S MOXUMK.NT (>3

A GKRMAX FOKKKR .......... 1)7

THK KUSTIXG SKKLKTOX OK A P.URXKD ZKRPKLIN . . . (iS

FRKXCH SHKLLS AT VKRDUX . 7-1

FRKXCH RKSKKYISTS ox THK A\'AV TO \"KI;DUN .... 7!'

A SURi.IfAL 1 )RK>SINl, -STATION ^7

FF;KXCH I)UI,OI:TS P>KKORK A'KRDTN Hi

KKKKCTS OK SHKI.K-!-'IRK> IN A'KRDTN ....... !>!*

A K'riNKD STRKKT ix A'KRnrx ........ 10!]

AROI ND A'KRDUX, XKAR l)ofAr.\ioxT .....

IJrssjAx SOLDIERS A-KRivixi; AT MARSK.ILLKS ....

A I-'RK.V' H ('K.MKTKRV XKAR TIIK VHRDTX BATTLKKIKI.!;
^TADA.M UAVXAL PKINI; DKCORATKD AT TIIK INVALIPKS .
GKXKI:AL ('HARKKS M.\NI;IX .......

A[.\^- :x A VATLT AT FORT DOUATMONT ....

A FKKXCH OKFICKR'S QTARTKL-S (.IN THK .MOSKI.I.I-:

PiARiiKii \\"H;K IN A LOKRAINK WOOD

KKKN< H ANTI-HAHUKH-WIUK (!rx . ...

A FRKNCII HKKK'KR'S SIIKKTKROXTHK KASTKIJX I-'ROXT
I-'RI.NI'H TRKXCHKS ON TIIK MKTSK .....
iii.'Ki'isH SHKLLS Acer \iri.ATi-;n IN A STOIIKIDH'SK
A KRF.XI n TI;I:NCH WITH A "MKTAL II'OOK
LIHI-.RTV II.M.L ix Iii'Di.iN AKTKR TIIK. IN>KRI;KCTIOX

Ifr'IXKD P>riLDIXi,s IN SA'T<\'ILI.K STI.'K.IT. ItlT'.I.IX

I'O-T-' (KKH'i IN DUIU.IX AKTKR TIIK lNsn;i;F.'"nox
SIR li'< n, Kf; < 'ASI...MI.XT

Ii'l.MoVINi, WnrXDKD I ROM \"l.MV IiIlK.K ....

WHAT II'KM.UXKD OK ['!;;( -oriri VILI.AM:

:AXS AMONG CANADIAN TI;OOI>> ....

ILLl'STRATIOXH VOLl'ME THREE

I-A<;E
HI.MTISH TROOPS MOVIXI; IN A STXKKN I\OAI> .... isl

FlKL!>-MAUSIIAL (YlSCOUXT) KlTOilF.XFi; IS?

IXFAXTKV RESTING Ex ROUTE TO THK FROXT .... !!>.'!
BRITISH NAVAL GUNS IN LAXD OPERATION'S .... l!i.">

SIGHTING A BRITISH (!ux" FOR ACTIOX ]!>7

HAST IXDIAXS ix PRAVKR ox TIIK WKSTKRX FRONT . . . Id!)
STAI.-TIXH FRENCH BALLOONS AT THE FI;OXT .... L!<I.'!

A FKKXCH SoixAXTK-QrixzK, OR "7")'' L!II.">

FI;KXC][ DISPATCH-BKAUKK'S CAR

SUF.LTKRS ox TIIK SOMME ........

A [)HYASTATKI> TO\VN ix TIIK SOM.MK ]\KI,IO\

OXK OK TIIK IJVI:HKST OF FRKNCII (.!rxs ....

TRACTOR HAULIXI; AX AAIFI;K AX (!rx ix FUANCI-:
I-'LOODKD ('OUXTRV ON THK So^i JIK, NKAR I'KI;OXX::

WHAT WAS ],KFT OF CIIAULNKS

lIixno-C'iiiNKSK LABOR IN FIJAXCK . . ....

I iKVASTATIOX' IN NOIITIIKRN FlIAXCK .....

SCKXK IX A VlLLACK Al-'TKI! IT AN'.vS liKTAKKX

(iFXFRAL KlMC VOX FALKKXIIAVX* ......

1-': FLU- MARSHAL vox" IliNiF.xi;n;i;

A (iKR.MAX' TI;KXCII AFTFR BKIXI; lioMiiARPK!'. . .

(|FI;.\IAX HUTS XKAR THE MEUSE

A FiRF-PRooF CnrRcii ix* NORTHKI;X FRAXCF.

I'ARISIAXS WATCH ixi; A HKKMAX "TArr.F" ....

l.iio> ix A ( t )['A];TKi; WHKKK A CHURCH ONTK STOO:. . .
A FRKXCH Sll-.\i.\i. (!rx-

A /.I:I'PFI.!X THAT FKI.L INTO A FifKNCH FORKST . .
TANKS Goix'c IX'TO ACTION .......

I-'A!I.I;I;F, OF A TANK TO ('ROSS A TRKXCH ....

( 'AI'TTRKD (iFR.MAN ('AXXOX AT THK FxVALIDKS ...
A SIIATTKRKD OF.RMAX TRF.XI n IN N(IRTI!KI;X FRAXCI: .
KIXI; GKORCK ix A OKVASTATKH FIKLD .....

(IiANT SF.ARCHLICHT FSKH ix THK DKKKN^K OF PARIS .
FUOXTIKI; TRF.XCHKS ix WINTKR ... ...

liKNKUAL COUNT SIXT \-ox ARXIM

FRKXCH. MOTIH; I-^ATTKRV Goixi; T THK FRMX-P ...

llKS!'TRATIoX-I>RILL AT THK FRoXT

ILLUSTRATION'SVOLUME THREE

I'EROXXE AFTER THE EVACUATION BV THE GERMANS

A STREET ix XOYOX FLOODED P,Y THE GERMANS

AFTER THE BLIGHT OF WAI; HAD PASSKD ....

Kurni WHARTON .........

GENERAL MAUD'HUY ix A FIRST-LINE TRENCH
CAPTURED BRITISH TANK SHOWN ix BERET;
DISTRIBUTING CIGARETS AT THE FRONT .....

OERMAN DUGOUTS .'"iO FEI-;T DEEP

GERM.VX TRKNCHE.S UNDER SHELL-FIRE .....
RUINS OF A VILLAGE IN ARTO;S . . . .
CiUN-SCREEN ]>EHIND AN UNDEH(;K'O\VTH ....

( )X THE YSER

A FRKXCII CHAPEL IN A CELLAR AT REIMS ....

A LOOKOUT KAST OF REIMS

"TiiE DRAGON'S CAVE" ........

A KKEXCII STOUT IN A SHELL-TORN AREA

A ZEPPELIN I)ESfEXD!XG WHEN ox FIRE ....

MAI'S

('HA.MPAGXE AND ARGOXXE ..... fm-iin/ />//' S
A I-'RENTH OFFENSIVE IN THE AUTUMN OF I!' 1 . "> fm-hut puiit- It!

THE BATTLE OF Loos -12

I'.EFURK \"ER!>UX WAS ATTACKED 7i!

THE FIELD OF BATTLE AT VERDUN *1

KASTERX FRANCE AROUND VERDUN .... /'//</>/// inujr ss

THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES 171

THE ANGLO-FRENCH OFFENSIVE ON THE SOMME . ftichnj i,nn>- 200
THE SOMME GAINS AND THE OER.MAX K'ETREAT .... .'!:!!
THE BRITISH OFFKXSIVE AROUND ARRAS IN APRIL. 1!M7

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Part VII.
THE AUTUMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

BEFORE THE REAL OFFENSIVE BEGAN
July 1, 1!)15 September IS. 1015

Ho a superficial observer Germany's arms, at the end of
- June, had been everywhere crowned with success. It
was true that her original scheme had failed, and that she
had been compelled to adopt a plan for which she had small
liking. But Avith patience she had made the change, and
the new policy thus far had Avon success. She had held the
Allies in the West Avith a minimum of men by virtue of an
artillery machine to which they could not show an equal,
and Avith fortifications of a strength hitherto unknown.
Applying her main force in the East she had Avon a great
battle on the Dunajec r'lA'er, had driven back Russia, now
short of munitions because of negligence and treachery in
her own household, had AVOH back (Jalicia. penetrated into
Poland, and had in her grip great fortresses whose cession
meant for Russia not only a crushing loss in guns, but an
indefinite further retreat an astonishing retreat it became
in August and September. She held tracts of enemy-soil in
Poland. Belgium, and France, and had a completely unified
command, so that all their strength could be applied to ac-
complish the purposes of her (Jeneral Staff. At the same
time. Turkey had held back the Allied advance in Gallipoli.
and was soon to bring it to a standstill.

Against these successes the Allies had to show the conquest
of German colonies, a few miles gained in Italy, the occupation
of the end of Gallipoli, a Turkish peninsula, some advances on
Egypt, and one or two costly failures
All the military results of the Mrs*
g on August 1 showed in the west
successes. All but a small western
fraction of Belgium was still a captive and in process of

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Germanization. Lille and all northeastern France, between
the Oise and the flense, were occupied by German troops
who had battered down Lille, driven a wediie across the
upper Meuse, and had the AYoevre in their hands. Their
furthermost battle-front was oidy thirty miles from Paris.
They held their western conquests with a line of trendies
through which the Allies in vain had soup-lit to break.

Germany's early disasters in East Prussia had been atoned
for at Tannenburgr, and IIindenbur<r. after several failures,
with Mackenzen's notable help, had tinally secured ;dl west-
ern Poland. Austria had blundered at the start, losing the
betier part of Galicia. but since the opening of the \ew
Year lier failures had been redeemed. East Prussia was
now inviolate and German armies were hammering 1 at the
grates of Riira. AYith (ialicia won bade Russian armies had
been driven inside their own frontier. The Warsaw triangle
had been assailed and AYarsaw seemetl doomed, so that it
looked as if all Poland would soon be in (icrman hands, as
indeed it soon was. If Germany had been granted no Sedan
in the East. she had at least completely broken the Rus-ian
offensive. One sentence could describe the naval position.
It wa> wholly in favor of the Allies. From all known seas
(ierman merchantmen and (lerman ships of war had dis-
appeared.

Ever since May. when the (lermans at the Dunajec heiran
to roll bark tlii- Russians in the East, there had been talk in
the press of London. Paris, and Ueriin. of a stronir Allied
a !_:!_: revive in Flanders and northern F ranee. There was
mudi speculation as to which army would take the initiative.
Expert^ declared that neither ally c(nld hope to train any
permanent vietory. because of the perfect network of (Jer-
man trenches that extended for miles back from the front.
All ihioii'jh May. .(line, and .Fu!y. the Allies waited, while
making occasional infantry attacks, or counter-attacks, under
cover of artillery lire, in order to te>1 the resistance. No
serious attempt was made in tlmse months to put into execu-
tion t :,.- frn-iil 1 on learned by the P>ri'ish at Ndive
riiaj)-']lc. altho early iu June tlier-e had been some li^htiiiir
around Souchex and later attacks and counter-attacks were
mad'- I'd! 1 posscssifiii of th" < 'hati-au IIoo<_ r e. Ti'eiiches. from

THE AFTUMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

thirty to two hundred yards apart, no\v represented the first
lines <>r the opposing armies. Hehind the Hritish were sec-
ond and third lines, with further positions at intervals in
the rear. The Germans had as many as these, and something
more. The ramifications \vere endless. Great redoubts,
almost flush with the ground, consisting of a labyrinth of
trenches and machine-gun stations, studded their front. In
natural defensive areas, sueh as the mining districts of the
Pas de Calais, every acre contained a fort. In the fullest
sense of the word the German lines in the west were a
furl ress.

The number of the Allies could only be given ap-
proximately. In September French commanded a force little
shnrt of a million men out of which from half a million to
600. (H)() men were combatants. The French line was manned
by some two million troops, and there were considerable re-
serves preparing in the depots. Such numbers gave the
Allies a superiority over the enemy, but every atom of that
superiority was needed for a successful attack.

Early September saw perfect weather, with the clear, cool
days that an east wind brings in northern France. In the
evening smoke from little tires of Held refuse cloaked the
country like a sea-fog. When, early in the month, a gen-
eral bombardment l'gan along the whole Allied front its
purpose was to serve a> a screen behind which preparations
for an attack could he made. It was violent alike in Lor-
raine, Champagne, Artois, and again around Ypre^. It
naturally drew a counter-bombardment. Hut it was a
demonstration rather than an attack. Before the summer
ended there had been lighting in which close observers be-
lieved they saw the beginnings of a larger offensive. On
July 12 French official reports had admitted the loss of the
Souchez cemetery, after a furious attack, but at other times
spoke of the repulse of the Germans. A German official
statement mentioned operations in the St. Millie! region and
French statements referred to violent artillery actions north
of the OUe. near Quenneviere.s, and in the Argonne. At
('ombres, and in the fop-st of Ailly. on the heights of the
flense, in the AVoi-vre region, the French penetrated German
lines. Fightinir also continued in the A'osgcs and in I'pper

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

Alsace. Northwest of Altkirch the Germans made a surprize
attack and captured one position over a width of 500 yards.
There had been fighting at Hooge at the end of July and
the beginning of August, but it had no strategic significance,
being only an incident in a struggle with small losses and

small gains to which the
policy of holding the
Ypres salient had com-
mitted the British. The
Germans had held the
chateau and the Belle-
waarde Lake since May.
On .July -SO .the Germans
delivered a violent attack,
sapped up close to the
line, and launched a tor-
rent of liquid fire pumped
from machines ami ig-
nited in its passage. The
combination of artillery
bombardment, liquid fire,
rench-moi tars, and bombs
was irresistible. Two com-
panies were nearly blotted
out. Germans carried the
first lint 1 and won the
crater. The British fell
back" to the second line,
which ran nort hwest from
corner of the Zouave
Wood. Thereupon the

OO( I

Over a horrible
aiiglements and
ry swept up to

THE AITTMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

mans. Two hundred ensconced in a pit of death died to a
man. The attack then swept beyond the crater, and carried
the ruins of stables. Throughout that long day the bombard-
ment: continued, the British losses increasing till they readied
before nightfall a total of nearly 2,000. Presently the fight-
ing died away, and tin' opposing lines returned to their
normal condition of intermittent artillery fire. The British
had restored the Ilooge- part of this front, which had been
left in a precarious state by the German success of July .'<0.
to as good condition as possible. The new army had won its
spurs, but at heavy cost.

During August an offensive occurred in Alsace. Opera-
tions southwest of Minister were carried out with definit'-
plan. They were directed on the approaches to Sondernadi
and Met/eral. and thence on the villages themselves. Minister
is the meeting-point of two valleys, one running toward the
Schulcht. the other toward Met/eral. The Fecht Valley and
tlu 1 Kleinthal meet in the town and pass through it. The
Fecht then continues its course to the northwest. The rail-
way from Minister to Colmar follows it closely for six miles,
and then turning to the right, readies ('olmar. If, on leaving
Minister, instead of following the Fecht Valley, one turned
to the left, after a steep climb through pine woods,
he would reach the forest of Kubdberg, East of it were
the Baren Kopf and the Linge Kopf. On these spurs during
August there was hard fighting, the Bavarian losses being
heavy.

In this district artillery duels for a long time 1 were con-
tinuous. French (5-inch and German S-indi guns were fired
with great regularity. On August 4 and (5 some 40.000 shells
df all calibers fell on French trendies and on shelters and
communication trendies, almost entirely destroying them.
The losses were considerable, and included stretcher-bearers
and telephonists as well as fighting units. .On August 17
the French resumed their progress. Their first attack made
them masters of a part of the Sdirat/maennele. the summit
of which they occupied on August '2'2. After a month of
ha I'd lighting the objective at which they aimed was at-
tained. The Germans, who had opposed to them no less
than seven brigades, had for the moment ceased to dispute

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

the ground. From the summit of the Schratzmaennele
Chasseurs could look down on the valley of Minister and
the plain of Alsace.

German troops early in the season gained possession in
eastern France of La Fille Morte 1 and the Allies had left
in their hands 64 officers and more than -S.400 men, 2 moun-
tain- and 2 revolver-cannon, -S4 machine-guns, 51 mine-
throwers, 5 bron/e mortars, and a large amount of ammuni-
tion, weapons, and tools. German reports said that 2,000
dead Frenchmen covered the battlefield and were buried by
German troops the next day. In Argonne battles, from
Tune 20 to .July lo. prisoners taken by the Germans num-
bered 116 officers and over 7.000 men. More than 4.000
dead were counted, and the number of wounded was esti-
mated at from 5.000 to 6.000. The total French losses in
this period were said by the Germans to amount to from
10.000 to 17.000.-

Early in September the German Crown Prince, after
fifteen days of Allied artillery fire, made an attempt to
break through the French lines in the Argonne. In a drive
which aimed to loosen the French salient around Verdun.
Berlin claimed that the Germans took trenches over a front
of one and one-quarter miles, and to a depth of from MOO to
oiio meters, captured 2.000 prisoners, 4S machine-guns, and
(14 mine-throwers. The attack was supported by artillery.
After guns had prepared the way. infantry charged. Among
the works taken was the important position of Marie Therese.
Paris said the Germans renewed their attacks with ferocity,
but that, with the exception of a trench section east of Laon
de Binarillc. the French lines held. This was the second
effort of the Kaiser's heir to win a victory in this region
within three month- and. altho on each occasion liv gained
Around, he wa- apparently a< far from his objective as he
\\a- on previous occasions. Ids offensive movement did not
modify the situation in the Argonne.

The Crown Prince'- army, after the whole
-.cveral attempts to break through the Allied line-, lost

> ** ^r\2 ifp.y^-vStfeSi .Ty^' J " -M-f'^J

u . ^ t) A /i*S? -*f 'c : * og F =- ^0^ %- \a / ='%
;>'<*>\ ^ /s^f..^^ = a - ; -*=^ _ . , .-.-> ; .,. * ^'

i. A >i*..a "#^- ^> f

y-x ' v o // 3 n T- i *-' ^

A^g /Y r o j'd^ I s 5

TIIF AITCMX ALLIED OFFKXSI VL

ward of 100.000 men, one corps alone losinir 40,000 from the
ranks in September obviously an exaggeration. A dispatch
to the Central News from northern France at the same time
pive a sensational report, said to be from a (Jerman source,
mi. Rotterdam, that the Crown Prince was suffering from
mental aberration, the result of the worries of the cam-
paign. The Crown Prince was known not to have spared
himself in his attempts to strike a decisive blow. Prisoners

In the iloorway arc the Gorman frown Prince and the. Kincr of Saxony

said lie did not sleep for three davs during the September

rile onlv major action during the midsummer months ~wa

offensive movement, tho un^ncrcssfn]. The heir of the
JTohenxoMerns had been blamed for much that happened at
the P>aftle of the Marne, and his reputation in his own coun-
try hail suf'lVred. For more than ei^ht months with a
small army, he had been stationed in the Arjronne. eujrajred
in forest warfare barren of results. The rival trendies in
this region had stood at the end of May not very far from
where they >tood at the beo-inninu' ,,(' October, TUl-l. It was
nece<vary to do something in Xapoleon s phrase, [>onr

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

chauffer la Claire, for the discredited military position of tlio
heir-apparent was repugnant to (lerman ideas of successful
stateci'a ft. Accordingly he had received reinforcements. lie.
had had the Sixteenth Corps of Lorraine, and now received
from von Strant/.'s army of Met/, several divisions of the
Wiirttemberg Landwehr. In all. perhaps he had r>< ).()()() men.

The Crown Prince's attacks had be<run on June 20. Be-
tween then and July 2 four attacks were delivered airainst
the alible formed by the French lines and the Vienna-Binar-
ville I'oad. Much use was made of asphyxiating shells, but
the results were inconsiderable, the total train beinjr a few
hundred yai'ds. On July 7 he t!un<_r his main strength
against the Fi'ench riyht in the neighborhood of the eastern
rid'_!v. called the Haute Chevauehee. After a violent artillery
bombardment, two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps were
hurled against the French between Fontaine Madame and the
highest point of the Haute Chevanchee. This position was
carried, and the (Jermans advanced their center and left be-
hind a space of nearly a mile. On the 14th the French
counter-attacked at the other side of the forest, where they
frail icd some trround both ill the wood of La Cruic and be-
yond it to the west toward the village of Servon. After that
tli'- iiirht inir languished. The Cnnvn Prince vvas pushed back
from the Haute Chevauchee or La Fille Morte. The total
result of a month's strnirtrle \vas a Cierman irain of an
average of 4 ( i<) yards on their Ar<_r >niie front. The casualties
on both sides were probably much the same. Last of the
news items from the front before the im-at offensive be^an
was oil'- of September 1 s . <ayi nil' l-'i'dich artillrry had severed
at St. Miiiii-l the "^real bridge" across the Meiise. besides
a bridge of boats and three foot Jiridjfes. The (lertnan foi'ees
at this salient hail thus lost a larirv part of their means of
communication \viih the district nn the \\-est cT'ii bank of the
.Ab'Mv,. vvhere they had ln-'d a foothold since September 2(5.
1!M 1.

The iinremit t intr l-'ri-tn-li artilh-ry attack that occurred in
the September ( ' 1 ! a m | >:\ '_; 1 1 e drive had been made po-sible by
ei|iiall\' uni'emit t inu 1 P'reiich ei'foi'ts in the production of
projectiles in factories transformed by an equipment of
American machine-tools and had been \vorkiii'_r ivtru-

Till-] Al'TCMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

larly twenty- four hours a day. One of these <rreat estab-
lishments near Paris made more than f>,000 shells every day,
not to mention a number of aeroplane motors. Before the
war these works had produced annually GOO automobiles.
After the Battle of the Martie, when France n-ali/ed the
real nature of the war and her lack of shells and heavy <ruus,
she set to work at once to supply her deficiencies. Every fac-
tory which could be turned to the purpose was utilized.
Every scrap of talent in the nation was called upon. Local
committees wore formed everywhere to orjraui/o the effort.
The result was that, early in the Xo*w Year. France had
multiplied her material by six, and was in the way to
multiply it by nine. 3

THE OFFENSIVE IX THE CHAMPAGNE COUNTRY

September 25 11H5 December 25, 1915

THAT the Allies had actually taken the offensive in
vigorous manner was tlie unmistakable meaning of the
fierce drives and grains made on September 25 tlie French
operating in Champagne, the British in Artois. To realize
what they accomplished, it was necessary to remember the
conditions against which they contended. An advance
through German lines could have been made only after an
artillery attack so furious that it practically blasted the
defenders off the face of the earth. Wire-entan<ilements had
to be swept away by sliell-fire. trenches made untenable by
hiirh-explosive shells and shrapnel, and artillery overpowered
by superior fire. For the French \ n <rain under such con-
ditions a strip of hostile territory fifteen miles in length
and from one to two miles in width had been a herculean
task. Thove who expected any extended and immediate re-
tirement of the German line in France a-- a result of the
operations were doomed to disappointment. Such drives as
were made entailed an amount of preparation in the matter
of ^upplies and information as could hardly have been over-
estimated. The ran.iz'e of each hostile Fortification had to be
determined and the position aKo of the German reserves.
The object of such drives was. not to force back the entire,
line, but to cut 1hrou<_rh at poinK where the attack would
endanger, if not sever, the German line of communications.
In the Champairne the offensive was in the hands of
Ca-telnau. who was now famous throughout France for his
leader-hip ;ii the (irand Couronni' in 1!'14.

At thi> sta<re of the war one rule L'overncd advances. The
ground had to be prepared thoroughly by artillery before
infantry couhl advance, and this had to be done for each

THE AFTFMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

advance. In the first battle near Arras, in October, 1914,
the artillery parks were nothing like so formidable as they
were in September, ll'Ll, when French guns fired as many
as ")()(). ()()() rounds in fifty-two hours. A significant feature
of the September advance was the activity of the air-fleet
in damaging railway communications at vital spots behind
the lines. This handicapped (iernian movements seriously,
the more so as the aviators kept it up, and practically made
daily raids. In this way the Germans were hampered in
rushing strong reinforcements from one part of their line
to another.

When the main bombardment began in Champagne on Sep-

tember 2-"> lid] was literally let loose from thousands of
places. Everywhere at that time stress and expectancy had
prevailed. Commanders knew only the orders given for their
men. but every one expected a great event while every mind
spoke in whispers. About midnight every gun was speaking.
From, thirty miles off they sounded like the roll of giant
drums, with no cessation. Sometimes the noise rose to a
crescendo, when it had the volume of thunder near at hand.
In the misty night nothing was visible but flashes from guns
oi' the bursting of shells. As the pandemonium went on
troops moved into communication Trenches. ftreat masses
just behind the front began to percolate into a labyrinth of

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

narrow ways which led to the first line while between them
and the sky was a canopy of flying projectiles. Whenever
they raised their heads, they saw the darkness of the night
lightened up with splashes of fire. Suddenly at dawn the
guns ceased and gunners shifted ranges and lengthened fuses.
Infantry were getting- over parapets. In preparation for this
attack, besides ordinary equipment the men were armed with
trench knives for that desperate close-quarter fighting of
which a summer's work at the ''labyrinth'' had warned
them. As the French moved forward in their new hori/on-
blue coats and steel helmets anticipation grew. Huge
Creusot howit/ers. christened ''Les Vainqueurs." were
speaking.

At dawn, as men drank coffee, they looked on a gray
and dismal world. A light rain was falling. Wet chalk
stuck to shoes and clothes. It was the weather of Valmy,
that battle in the same month, one hundred and thirteen
years before, on those same sodden downs where peasants
and mechanics with ttie ardor and the guns of the French
Revolution turned homeward the most seasoned and famous
troops in Europe. On September 25 and 26, the French
claimed to have driven the (Jet-mans back for two and a
half miles along a front of fifteen. The number of un-
wounded (Jerman prisoners reported taken was 20.000. On
September 211 the French War Office estimated the total
(Jeriuan looses at 120.000 in killed, wounded or captured.
Figures for ihe French looses did not come to hand, but they
were large. The gains caused rejoicing and exultation among
ihe Allies. ;is proof thai long, weary months of waiting for
succor were apparently over ; that men and munitions were
now ready.

Nothing like this action in Allied aggressiveness had
been reported since the battle of the Marne. The only
engagements in anv way comparable were the far less ex-
tended and less general allacks on Neuve ('hapelle ami Mill
No. lio in the spring. Hut ihe moral effect in encouragement
and hopefulness was probably grealer than Ihe military.
The armies under ('astelnau in tliis territory were in tin 1
center of a gi'eal rampart reared airainst the (Jet-mans. What
that rampart was could be reah/.ed only by those who saw it,

1 !

THE ATTTMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

who spent days in the trenches, which were its ultimate
expression, who studied an intricate and vast mechanism
which kept it fed and supplied, who visited the caverns in
which men were sheltered, explored concealed machine-gun
emplacements, wandered through acre upon acre of com-
munication trenches, trampled over miles of corduroy roads,
stumbled on sandbag cities, and wandered in new homes
underneath the ruins of old in cellars, drains, and grave-
yards. Nothing so stupendous, painstaking, and ingenious
had been seen in the history of war.

The field of battle was that of At ilia, or a little north of
the region where historians have looked in vain for the exact
spot where the great Hun made his last stand a thousand
and five hundred years ago. Even in lime of peace this
region is a desolate land with an ungrateful soil of chalk,
the roads few and the villages scarce. Nearly all the villages
lie on the banks of small streams which have cut for them-
selves beds in chalk hills. Here the front had been trans-
formed by fierman engineers into complicated and elaborate
trenches, the ground split up into more or less regular rect-
angles, each armed with an abundance of machine-guns, and
capable of standing a siege, or delaying the advance of an
enemy, or becoming a center of resistance and a rallying
point for counter-attack

The portion of the line attacked by the French consisted
of two main positions separated by two or more miles. First-
line defenses consisted of a complicated net-work of de-
fense- and communication-trenches formed by at least three,
and in some places by live, parallel trench-lines facing the
French, and cut up into compartments by lateral defeiise-
lines. the trench-line Mime 4<><> yards in depth. Hetween
each two trenches were large fields of barbed wire-entangle-
ments some sixty or seventy yards in depth. The second
line consisted of a single trench with here and there a sup-
port trench, constructed mi the unseen side of a hill-crest,
only the upper slopes of \vhieh were under observation by
tlie French and held only by machine-gun sections and
artillery spotters, whose advance posts were linked up by
tunnels with trendies behind them. The whole two miles
separating the two positions were fortitied and netted with

OX THE WKSTKRX FRONT

transversal, diagonal, and lateral works and communication

trenches, which. protected by barbed wire and armed with
mitrailleuses, became a by-system of fortifications capable
of putting up another light after hostile infantry had swept
over other positions.

The combined offensive. French and British, was made at
several p lints on a two-hundred-mile line reaching first from
Verdun pa-t Reims to Soiss<ms 'the nearest point to Paris)
and turning northward through Arras. La Bassee. Ypres, and
thence to the Xort li Sea. the British part, north of Arras,
being dealt with in the next chapter. For days before the
actual attack, there had b-en a terrific bombardment by
Allied guns all along the line, so that the Germans, who
knew that an attack was imminent, could not local* 1 the real
points on which a later formidable attack would be con-
ceutratid. AVesi and south of Verdun the French made
their strongest attack and their greatest gains. A counter-
attack from the Germans followed, but in fhe main the
French appeared to hob] their advance. In the Argonne
the French a'-o accomplished something of value.

But the main struggle was on a grayish-white chalk
plateau >t retching northward, capped here and there by
dirty white German blockhouses and fortresses constructed
out of sand-bags and chalk-boulders. Fir-woods, planted in
the h.ppe of utili/.ing an otherwise sterile ground, abounded,
but llu-se now di-appeured under the ravages of -hell-fire, or
remained only a- bearded -nibble. Away to the left, the

fightintr took place rsn richly w led -lopes over which runs

an old Roman mad to Reims. On the riirht. like a thunder-
cloud on tin- hori/on. lay the mi>ty bulk of the Argonne
I'idge. Fir>t in importance and results was the attack made
on a seventeen-mile front between Auherivc and Ville-sur-
Toiirbe. Here the German line was penetrated to a depth
varying from one in four kilometers, the French being able
povifinn- they gained, and withstand strong
Xothing was so reina.rkable as the rapidity
Jir-t line wa- carried over tremendous
t the infantry once they swept over the
e point- all semblance of resistance was

-;?'S.._ , 3V--Q" ^"

Till-: AriTAIX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

of machine-guns, untouched by artillery fire, delayed the
advance .for hours.

The first men who dashed out of the trenches had about
2f>0 yards to cover beiotv they could reach the first (ierman
lines. Practically the whole trout of the first line was taken
before noon the first day, altho at several points resistance
was maintained. The (iermans formed a number of re-
sistance-centers, separated each from another by weaker

trench fortifications under protection of bastions. The
French struck boldly for the weaker line, meanwhile pvttinti 1
their teeth into strong positions, bombing and firing while
their comrades p>t round fo the tlanks of the bastions and
forced a surrender or retreat. The a^siult at the two ends
of fhe line around Anherive and Servon failed to carry the
positions, but under conv'TLriiiL: artillery fire and counter-
attack's men fought on, pinned two win^s down, and thus

OX THE AYE STERN FRONT

facilitated work upon tin- center. In the Souvain section it
was not" until September 28 that the French got into real
contact with the second (ierman positions. The capture of
the IMain de Massiges and an advance made toward Tahure.
mi the north, threatened Tahure and the ridge behind it and
also menaced the Mesnil Ridge, which had been turned into
a regular fortress salient. Roads here were practically non-
existent, or had been rapidly and roughly constructed over
a pitted district which had been subjected to a downpour of
French shells. There were no communication-trenches for
the relief and revict Hiding of men with food and ammuni-
tion. In addition to natural difficulties, the (iermans. in an
endeavor to upset the French, flooded the countryside with
gas-shells.

The points against which the French attack wa^ directed
more particularly were the Ridge of Tahure. the village of
that name, and the "Tooth-brush" AYood. To the east,
tighting raged around the Xavarin Farm. On these points
French artillery-lire was concentrated. The attack upon
Tahure Ridge started from trenches parallel to (ierman
positions, which were dug under (ierman lire by an obstinate
Xormandy regiment. The dash on Tahure Ridge facili-
tated the work of the French south of Tahure. The whole
portion was carried by a flank attack west, and a frontal
attack south, of the village, in the "Tooth-brush" Wood.
Here, between the tirst (ierman trench and the village of
Tahun a distance of about two miles the (iermans had
seven parallel lines of trein-hes. all of which were rendered
practically useless by the success of Picardy troops in getting
through to Tahure K'idge.

I'.y tin- time the French guns had reduced the ''Tooth-
brush" Wood to a M-rag'_;y heap of splinters, the resistance
of the (iermans had praet ically been overcome. With the
fall of the liidge and " Tool li-bnish" Wood, ihe position of
the defenders of the village of Tahure. which lies in a --harp
fold of the Around between t wo heig

the Ffelleh d | 1 1 ' |'( < 1 )l|r village witho

coi'dinir to one of the prisoners, the bo
a aiiie in th

THE AUTUMN ALL1FD OFFENSIVE

French swept on about 000 yards beyond the eastern out-
skirts of the village.

The position ol' Tahure was of such importance to the
Germans that a few days later they made a determined effort
to retake it, pouring out from heavy artillery a cloud of
^.4-inch and b'-ineh suffocating pis-shells. For twenty min-
utes this drum-fire was kepi up and a <iTeat cloud, spotted
here and ihere black and white, shrouded the whole position.
The infantry assault melted away before French artillery
iire. William J'hilip Simms' 1 wrote from I'aris aftei'ward
that, in the middle of the battle, his first impression was
that ".Judgment Day had come"; that lie had been left be-
hind to roam the disrupted earth alone:

''As far as the eye could sec undulated one vast., pitted waste
of.' chalk, with snails ot' annihilated forests slickinir up, ii'uimt and
white and covered with dust, against the skyline, and with anus
and lei:s and other fragments of dead men lyim.r stinking like com-
mon n'ai'baii'e on a titanic rump. This was the work of the French
artillerv. Here the Hermans had been, llei'e thev wen.- still, hut
rotting. Hell's furies seemed to have been forestalled and out-
done. For three davs I \vas [)ei"initteil to wander over the Around
Won by the French. 1 had talked previously with many otliccrs
and men concernim. 1 ' tlie efficacy of the Fremdi shell-lire, but even
thus prepared and despite what I hail hitherto observed person-
ally, 1 was totally surpri/ed by what 1 saw. Over ten square
unles practically no vegetal um was left. Kven the rabbits am;
rats had not escaped. Alnmsl :!.nnn.oin> shells were hurled into
tiiis area in ihree days <li'_i^i r pits from live to seventy-live feel
deep, the latter F!o To ].">n feet across. As a result of concen-
trated lire the whole oountrv was covered with a white powder."

I-'.. Alexander Powell'" sliar.-d ail that Mr. Simms felt.
'"Hell." he said, "holds no horrors for one who lias seen
the battlefield of Champagne." I'ouid Dante have been
beside him diirinu- three of those days he "would never hav.-
written the I tiff mo, because the Hell of his imagination
wouhl have seemed colorless and tame." A si retch of rolling
moorland, five mile> wide and fifteen hum\ had been eon-
verted into a slauu'hter-housf, a cesspool, and a garbage-

OX THE AYE STERN FRONT

dump combined Midi was the battlefield of Champagne.
]>arri;i^ the Marne. In- thought it "the greatest battle ever
fought and the bloodiest." Approximately a million and a
half Frenchmen and (iermans took part. Europe there lost
more men in killed and wounded than had fought at Oettys-
hnrg. The thing that impi'est him 1110-4 was the enormous
amount of preparatory work that had been done by the

Fl'elieh before a {.Hill Was tired. ( 'h)-e 1o :>.()<)<) field-glllis

were concentrated alontr tliose lifteen mile-, of battle-front.
and behind eaeh were stacked 2. <>()(> shells. In order to brintr
up ammunition and supplies, the French hail built across
that rolling ]>lain a macadamized highway forty feet wide
and nine miles lonir. In order that infantry might reach
their stations without being annihilated },\- (b-rman shell-fire.
they had dug ten miles of communication trenches ei<_>'ht feet
d'-ep and wide enough for four men to walk abreast in.
('aMelnaii said before beginning this offensive that he
wanted the bombardment to be so terrific that his men
miu'ht L'o to the oj)])o^in.u ti'endi lines "with their rifles at
the shoulder." Never before j ia ,| s ndi a whirlwind of shell
and chemicals be,-n unloosed upon the eaj'th. ['ntinished
letters found on prisoners boi'e eloquent testimony to the
horror of the bombardment. 'MIC of the most graphic ac-
ts was furni>hed bv a (Jerman writer named \Ve<j-ener : ' ;

here. Yesterday t-v nint: the bombardment was exceptionally

lively; ii tliin liied do\vi> toward midnight. But at about 4 o 'dork
il started afresh, \\iib unprecedented intensity- a t\pi<-al brj-
sc-ale bombardment, with sbot t'ollowini 1 : shot in an unbroken
in linn of ili mder. like tbe roll ot' drums. One hour, two hours,
four in i:nd st ill no end to it ! The thunder ol' distant nuns
i.iii be beard bet'cron tl.e bills than do\v:i i:, the valley. I went
to the top o 1 ' a ill idi rises outside Ine town, and
returned. The Linns are .-till thnndei ini:'. On the lop of the bill
o]e atrtio-pliere uas in a state ot' d'lll vibration: it seemed
;- i ;' o! e pc'-cej' |.d i e so i! d lid only '. i 'itb the ear. b'it as it' one
b..d the pbvsical seiisation ot' licii!-- >haken by the air-waves. It

I'rii t. .] in F ! - !n C<.!nL'in' '.'/: tt>:

THE AlTl'MX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

was if the sound came up from the unknown depths of the earth.
Indeed, more than anything it was like the uncanny underground
rumble of a distant volcano in eruption, shaking as I. have re-
peatedly experienced it in Java and in Martinique the earth's
crust for miles around and making it tremble like a man in a lit
of an'iie. It was the most remarkable and exciting sensation
imaginable. All around, as far as the eye could reach, the country-
side lay bathed in a gracious peace, and through the clear, sunlit
air, from beyond the sky-line, came those awe-inspiring sounds.
It seemed to come straight from the south, or perhaps from south-
southwest, and therefore from Champagne."

("ierman iirst-lino defenses, had \von a local triumph, meas-
ured by prisoners nnd cannon captured. They had ad-
vanced from one to three miles on a front of ten. and had
got within effective ransro of the railroad they aimed for.
but they had not pierced the (ierman third line. Xor did
they actually reach the railroad, and late in October had to
tight desperately to hold 'their trains. The iv-uhs of all tins
heroism, of tliis straining and toiling in the factories of
France, of the vast work of stall' preparations which had
gone on without a break for five months, wore, however, im-
portant. The victory in the Champagne, altho from the

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

military point of view tactical, was almost the first definite
not ilicat ion to tin- world that tin 1 initiative alonir the "West-
ern Front had passed from the Germans to the Allies. By
the end uf October the (iennans ortrani/ed counter-attacks in
Champaprne alonir a front of five miles and on both oc-
casions were subjected to a serious check. At one time they
reached the. summit of Butte-de-Tahure. l>ut Frendi artillery -
and infantry-lire forced them to retreat. Lartiv numbers of
their dead bodies were left on the field. The German in-
fantry enjra^ed in the assault were chiefly troops recently
transferred from the Russian front.

Altho comparatively small attention was directed to the
Aisne district. Allied progress in these weeks was made
tin-re. Roughly, there were tif'y mile-, of front in this sector,
calculating it 1'rom Ribeeourt to Berry-aii-Bae. For the
mo>t pai't. it had const it ufed for over a year the unshakable
backbone of the German line in France. At the same time, if
1 he German positions had proved invulnerable, so had the
French, because in both cases natural defenses existed in
quarries and ru<r<_r<-d hillside-walls on both sides of the river.
Probably the Germans would have established their first line

oil the south side of the fiver had they had time to complete

their preparations: but the haste with which their rijfht win<r
fled after the battle of the Manie had compelled them to
take the position already prepared on the north side.
Progress from Berry-au-Bae was shown alonu' the valley of
La Miette River, From Berry-au-Bac the plain of Reims was
further threatened by stronjr French positions down the
Aisiie-Marne ('anal, where al Sapifm-ul 'the lock-keeper's
house and La Xeliville tliey held bridgeheads. The Frencll
had a lartre numbi'r of heavy ^'iiiis in the Ai>ne sector, and
the bomliardment was maintained at extraordinary pressure,
pro\'inu" that the Allies had ^ooil supplies of ammunition.
Fiirth'-r east, win-re the rocky hill- be'jin and vast subter-
ranean (jiiarrie> abound, it was much hard'T fn make an
impression on the main German position than in the chalky
-oil of ( 'ha mpa'j'ne. Sois-ons itself wa< ch-ar ot' (iermans.
but the Germans were t ju<1 acro-s the j'iver. within shut of
I: iirh l''rencli nosit ion--.

THE AITUMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

At Ilartmannsweilerkopf in Alsace French troops in tlie
third week of December made a capture of l.W)0 prisoners
and a line of German trenches. This was a sample of other
battlefields which in these late months of the year stood out
on the eastern frontier. For nearly a year possession of this
summit, dominating the approach to Miilhausen, had been
contested in many engagements. The total of troops engaged
there during this period and of the losses endured, if con-
centrated into a day or a week, would have made the place
memorable as the scene of one of the world's great battles,
hut spread out over eleven months, the tight ing hardly ap-
proached the idea of a battle. It more resembled a duel than
a battle, or a siege. Again and again battalions met on
that sanguinary hill to exchange shots, with the monotonous
persistence of antagonists on duelling-ground. Each suffered
and indicted suffering on his opponent. Each refused to
abandon his possession and each called for new pistols after
every exchange. The duel indeed was forced upon the Ger-
mans by the French, for to abandon these mountain trenches
would have amounted to opening the way for a French ad-
vance on Miilhausen.

Guns here thundered away remorselessly on December 24.
but Alsatians paid little attention to the bombardment, beiim 1
concerned with something they regarded as more important
the weather, for it rained heavily and it was ('hristmas
eve, and in every house, poor and rich alike there was a Christ-
mas-tree. The general commanding had relaxed the severity
of martial law. so that roads and streets were open to every
one all night long. The windows of little shops were gay
with Christmas trees. The general himself was present at a
Christmas-tree party, given by the inhabitants and attended
the midnight mass held in the church. In one of the hotels
was a Tree decked with candles, oranges, and simple toys
that reached to the roof. ('hristmas and war were thus
strangely minirled. Around one huge tree, abla/e with lights,
were gathered soldiers iii uniform, and inrls and children in
the beautiful Alsatian costume. Just before midnight the
whole parly went through the rain to midnight mass. .Any
one who listened could have heard the distant boom of guu>
that niirht. for men were tiirhtinu' onlv a mile or two awav.

OX TIIK WESTERN FRONT

lint the church was filled to overflowing with women from
farms and villages, and men in uniforms of every shade of
blue. lu the front seats were three yenerals, one of them
the commander of the whole district. 7

ITT

THE OFFENSIVE TX ARTOTS. AROl'ND ARRAS,
GIVENCIIY, LOOS, AND LENS

September 25, I!)!-") December 15, 1915

PROBABLY the most notable center of fighting in this
auluinn offensive was not in Champagne but in Artois
that is. in the. central part of the opposing trendies which
ran south from Ostend to Soissons. Tn a military sense, how-
ever, the attack in the north was subsidiary to the battle in
Champagne. By the third week of September, because of
reinforcements from England, the British army had been
able to extend its right wing to Grenay. opposite Loos and
Lens, taking over a section from the French and consolidat-
ing and enlarging trenches which ran southward from the
Bethune-La Bassee Canal to the ridge and plateau of Notre-
Dame de Lorette. Tin 1 British in numbers were believed to
be sufficient now for an offensive, but it was not with num-
bers alone that they had been strengthened. The troops sent
to France had arrived properly equipped with a due propor-
tion of artillery, in which were a large number of howitzers,
furnished with material which fulfilled expectations, and
ready to play their part in destroying broad belts of barbed
wire which covered the German line. No troops, however
gallant, eonld hope to penetrate these obstacles so long as
troops in the trenches. behind them could bring to hear on the
assailants a concentrated lire from machine-gnns and rifles.
The region north of Arras had perhaps been more formid-
ably fortified by the Germans than any other portion of their

and a t< t'rtn'n full of difficulties and it was not to be expected
that an advance here would be as rapid as one in Cham-
pagne. The di>1ance between British and German trenches
varied from 100 to 500 ynnls. In one region following an
almost imperceptible rise to the southwest trench.es ran
V. Ill :! o-.

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

parallel. Here were long grass and other self-grown crops,
and cabbage in patches on chalky soil in which dull gray
sand-bag parapets marked the presence of German trenches,
before which were barbed wire entanglements. The first line
was well west of Loos, the second, running in a slight de-
pression, covered part of the town and then turned abruptly
east and ran through the middle of Loos. Behind Loos was
a third line. A power-station furnished trenches and dug-
outs with electric light, and an elaborate telephone system
enabled German commanders to support any point with in-
fantry and gun-fire. Observation posts, constructed of re-
inforced concrete topped by steel cupolas, machine-gun em-
placements encased in concrete and iron rails, and dugouts
from fifteen to thirty feet deep abounded. A typical dugout
went down to a depth of twenty feet, the shaft being boarded
in. By means of a pulley a machine-gun could be lifted or
lowered in this shaft as occasion required. By a ladder oc-
cupants descended to a room six feet or so high, also boarded,
and furnished with table, chairs, and four sleeping-bunks.
< Mit of it a staircase led into another trench. Some of these
subterranean bedrooms had whitewashed walls and were lit
by lamps and decorated with pictures.

Arras as it lay already in ruins was sometimes said to be
more impressive than Vpres. tlio it was not so large a place.
While it was not easy to find a house in Vpres which still
had a 1 ! ass in all its windows, or the front of which was not
mon- or less pitted with rifle and shrapnel bullets, there were
whole streets in Arras still structurally intact, much as parts
of Antwerp were on the last day of the bombardment, when
the houses all stood, but the streets were littered with glass
and splinters of stone and brick, and quite empty of human
the ruin in Arras was concentrated in
ie most notable of which were in the
the 1'etile IMace. with the ruins of the
. and others in the neighborhood of
these points had set-veil as a con-
<_ru nners. The station buildino 1 had

THE AUTOIX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

an intact front, and fat' ing 1 you, hanging 1 ridiculously across
the sj)ace where once was a hotel, still clinging by its two
ends to the standing walls of buildings on either side, was
a large sign reading-. "Chambres pour Voyageurs !" The
Petite Place was a heartbreaking 1 sight, with ruins of the
beautiful sixteenth eenlury Hotel de Ville, one of the finest
in France. Three only of seven Gothic arches still stood,
and even those were chipped and battered. There were still
inhabitants in Arras. Three women kept open a little shop
for thi' sale of postcards and souvenirs for visitors, sleeping-

A I'KOTKl'TKI) FKKXCII TIJK.N'CII

at night in cellars underground. More pitiful perhaps than
the 'Hotel de Ville was what was left of the Cathedral of St.
Vaasf. Tt was not old barely a century but it was massive.
Hardly in liome it -'elf could one see ruin on a more complete
scale.

Xot alone, were French and Pelgian men. women, and
children in this war /one made homeless when war swept
over their country; there were thousands of homeless dogs
as well. These animals, who had been in great favor among
the people as draft animals and pets, were not cared for by
any Belgian Relief Fund, but had to shift for themselves,
and poor shifting they made of it at iirst. After a time they

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

Jiad recourse for aid to a source denied to their two-lepped
companions-in-despair ; they found friends in soldiers. Many
were taken into trenches on both sides. Along Hritish lines
they found a warm welcome with food, and a comfortable, if
somewhat perilous, home. Dogs were to be found everywhere
in the long battle-line, sleeping under guns and wagons. One
battery had twenty. They took cover in the most natural
manner, and waited until the "whiz-bang" passed before
venturing out again. The small dog who was a pood ratter
had a princely time. Ho was carefully looked after by the
company to which he belonged. A plague of rats had set
in and to exterminate them terriers were god-sends. In fact,
terriers eventually were sent to the trenches in carloads,
kennels being built for them behind the lines.

Dogs did not monopolize all things in the intrenehments,
for cats, chickens, cows, and other animals came with re-
spective claims. Cats figured .largely among soldiers' pets.
They showed a remarkable disregard of danpvr. and seemed
to prefer trenches to the rest of the lines. A cat would sit
and clean herself on the top of a parapet, and only retreat
when a bullet or shrapnel sputtered (dose at hand and upset
her toilet arranpements. The whistling and shrieking of
shells weiv commonplaces, but to be sputtered with mud or
sand in the middle of washing one's face provoked from cats
indignant spits, snarls, and bushy tails. The arrival of a
family of kittens became an event of immense importance.
Many a small cat that afterward appeared in a soldier's
Britain had fits) opened its eyes in the muddy
of a trench "somewhere in France." It
had boon taken to Enpland tucked inside a tunic or a
kit-bap."

All the way from Nieuport to Belfort. but conspicuously in
(.'hampapne and Artois. bombardment now set in. This made
it difficult for i lie ( Icrmans to decide where the main offensive
blow would fa!!. But in such a combat to keep one's plans
entii'clv hidden was impossible. Aeroplanes could observe a
<_ r "od deal: they could report any larpe accumulations of men
or puns at any point. X"i- could spies be entirely eliminated.
On one ocea>ion a (ierman air-machine was hit probably

From :ui nrtirli- roiiinilri] from w;ir cni-ri'siioiKl.'iic'- \>y T/i< l.iti-rur/i I>i'K'*t.

TIII-: A r T r M x A L L i K i > o F F K x s i v K

threescore times after crossing lines and yet the observer
successfully performed his task. Another time a British air-
man had to drive off four hostile machines before he could
complete his reconnaissance. -T\vo officers engaged six Ger-
man Taubes and disabled at least one. In addition to recon-
noitering work and personal encounters. British airmen
did service in bombarding German communications. Toward
The end of September nearly six tons of explosives had been
dropt on various objectives.

The plain around Artois. here a center of the coal industry,
was dotted with villages, factories, mine-works and slag-heaps
intersected with trenches. For years before the outbreak of
the war the coal industry had sunk shafts and bored great
tunnels beneath the plain. For nearly twelve months after-
ward the Germans and their captives had burrowed in hol-
lo \vs and thrown up trenches, so that the ground where not
covered by buildings or mining refuse resembled preliminary
excavations for a great city. German trenches eight or nine
feet deep, mostly cemented or floored and furnished with
wooden platforms for musketry and machine-guns, between
Lens and Loos. Loos and TTulluch, Ilulhich and Ilaisnes.
IL-MMies and La Bassee. were supplemented by redoubts and
observation posts.

Loos itself, a town which before the war contained 12.01)0
inhabitants, of whom none but the heroine Emilienne
Morcau and a handful of half-starved women and children
now remained, was an agglomeration of t \vo-story miners'
cottages clustered about an ancient village. The principal
street ran weM and east, and was no\v lined by roofless shops
and cafes. The parish church, tho reduced to ruins, still
served to remind spectators of the antiquity of the place.
Conspicuous for forty miles around arose out of Loos the
tracery of what was called the "Tower Bridge." :>00 feet
high, a name given by British soldiers to two square towers
of steel girders connected with mining operations, joined
two-thirds of the way up by other girders and in a way sug-
gesting the newest of London bridges. This structure was
used as a platform for German artillery observers, snipers,
and mitrailleuses. For observation purposes possession of
"Tower Bridge.'' which stood midway between La Bassee

OX Till-: \VESTEKX FRONT

ainl Viniy Heights, nave the Germans a considerable ad-
vantage.

The attack beinpr correlated with the effort in Champagne
under ('astelnau. was under the direction of General
Foch. Details, however, were left to the two different com-
mands the French Tenth Army under D'Frbal, and the
British First and Second Armies under Hai^r. On the l2~)th
German positions in the Ypres salient and southwest toward
La lessee wei'e subjected to a tremendous artillery fire.
Four attacks were launched, the object beinp' to draw Ger-
man reserves away from Loos and Yimy. Further to mystify
the Germans. Ilain assaulted German trenches near Festubert
and Giveiichy. as if a direct attack on the point of the
salient had been contemplated. The finht here was for
villages and houses, or for some particular trench before an
army could enter the <_Teat plain which stretches down to
Lille. Every house alotip- the French and German lines had
been turned into a fortress. When superstructures were
blown to pieces by shell-fire, men burrowed fifty or sixty
feet beln\v the cellars and so held on to their positions.

The main British attack was launched on a front of about
seven miles south of La Bass.ee. The village of Loos and
the quarries above Ilulliich wen- occupied, the furthest point
reached hein<r the slopes of Hill TO. Like the French in
Champayne. the British were able to consolidate and hold
mo-t of the points gained, the British offensive beinjz' sup-
porter] by a strong French attaek between Lens and Arras.
Starting from the ruins of Soudie/ and Neiiville. the French
penetrated ;is far as tli" farm of La Folie. just short of the
main road from Lens io Arras. Before the real offensive be-
jan the mass of ruins ihat once \vas Ypres had been shelled
and the adjacent roads -prayed with shrapnel. Everywhere
prevailed an atmosphere of tension and expectancy. Just
before midnight the <_ r n-at nuns heu-an and from thirty miles
o!'f Bounded like the I'oll of u'iaiit drums. There was no
cessation, but sometimes a crescendo, which had the volume
of iiearhv thunder. Every section of the line was en^'au'ed.
The chief advances were made at 1 1 none and beyond

YertlielleS. lull tile hi".' st I'll <_! Ll'le Was just 1101'tll of Lells.

lii'itisl) lines covered \'erme]les and Gi'ena\'. A hundred

[Ill-: SO-CALI ED T()\VKl: '.RIDGE AT L()(l

(unit tor iniiiinir <>n.>ra

loiv tin- war. Tin 1 (Icrnians lon^ usi'il it ;

i: nlisvrviitiHii ii'"-i. I lir naini' lower Urnliri' rainc I nun

tin- Lundou TOWLT brid"

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

yards beyond lay the Germans. The defense of Lens was in
reality a defense of Lille. From a hillock well to the rear of
the line could be seen gun-flashes from La Bassee south to
Souchez. Sharp hailstorms drifted across the sky. and a
wet mist cloaked the horizon. Both French and British were
closely engaged, the former against the high ground east of
Givenchy. called Vimy Ridge the old objective of the battle
in May. 1!H"> the latter on a front west of Ilaisnes to Hill
70. east of Loos.

Immediately in front of the British and French, when the
advance began, was Lens, the chief railroad center for the
Germans on their front from Lille to Xoyon. To capture it
would have been to compel the Germans to draw back toward
Douai. Its investment would transform La Bassee into an
extremely dangerous salient, would be a threat to Lille and
would restore to France her lost coal mines. It would also
give to France one of the main trunk lines from Paris to
the north. Its fall would have made the La Bassee position
perilous. The consequence of a British advance might well
be a general German retirement upon Lille and Douai. with
the Lille-Cambrai-Paris railroad behind them, and the Douai-
Lille Canal in front of them most of the distance. Such an
advance would have brought the Allies perilously close to
the main trunk lines which the Germans used from the
Somine to Champagne. Any further Allied advance miirht
have meant a retirement from France, possibly under grave
difficulties, especially if a sudden attack should cany the
aggressor- to the Mons-Cambrai railroad. That was at least
an Allied hope a hope so loiiu' deferred, however, as not
to be realized until the autumn of II'IS.

"When, on the morning of September 2"). operations began
of the British under Ilaig. who directed
st the German first-line positions iiorth
. several portions were captured over a
s. British troops penetrating for 4. ODD
-line trenches, up to the outskirts of
h, and expelling the Germans from the mining works
between I. oiis and Hi 1-1 70. Beside the gain of ground the
dav's fiirhtint: resulted in the capture of some .''.MOD or more
prisoners with 21 gun-- and 40 machine-guns. Simnl-

THE AUTUMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

taneously with this, the main attack, other attacks were
made north of La Bassee Canal, and east of Yprcs, but be-
yond holding the enemy and diverting strong bodies of re-
serve troops toward these points, no advance was made and
no results were obtained. Attacks were not pushed home,
and were apparently only undertaken as diversions.

AVhile the First British Army was attacking between La
Bassee and Lens, the French drove the Germans out of
Souchex, and then advanced toward Civenehy-en-Gohelle,
training a footing on Hill 110. while? further south, north-
east of Neuville-St. Vaast. the French reached the farm of
La Folie. This French army, strongly opposed, was unable
to penetrate into German lines south of Loos as far as did
the British north of the village, but 1 .100 prisoners were
taken, and Souchex was left well in the rear. East of
Souchex a, tiny river of the same name ran among meadows.
On the west bank was a coppice called the Bois de Hache,
and across the stream a little to the south a larger woodland,
called the Bois de Givendiy. Just east of the trees lay the
village of (iivenchy-en-( iohelle. at the junction of several
roads: and south and west were the slopes of Vimy. these
slopes not high, the flat top just over 400 feet, but they
command Vimy station and the railway between Lens and
Arras, and gave a prospect over rolling slopes to the valley
of the Scarpe. By September 2!> the Canadians had won
Yimy Ridge, the French held their position just behind the
crest, and all the western slopes and most of the Givenchy
AVood. It was a fine achievement, and cost the enemy much
in dead, wounded, and prisoners. Canadians at home were
justly proud of what their men had done. Conspicuous
among them were the Princess Pat 's. whose losses here, as
they had been at Ypres in April, were appalling.

When finally the intense bombardment at Loos began, the
roar produced by an immense assemblage of guns was so
territic that sleepers thirty or forty miles away were
awakened. Farther off. when the sounds were dampened by
a southwesterly wind, the deafening noise diminished to a
low-pitched rumble, broken by louder reports from heavier
weapons. British and French science, it was believed, had
now given to the Allied armies weapons superior to those

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

forjred in German arsenals. At last the wished-for moment
came \vlien the roar oi' .MUIS behind ceased and lines of
soldiers, with heads covered with smoke-helmets, and re-
sembling divers in appearance, sprang forward from the
trenches. They moved silently through mist and smoke, and
swept like a wave against German trenches. A British
oflicrr declared later that ''hell itself could not be worse/'
Nothing "could be an exaggeration of the horrors of that
battlefield: it was, it is. a veritable shambles, a living death
of unspeakable horror even to those who, like myself, were
destined to come through it unscathed bodily at all events.
]\Iost of the survivors went through a ghastly nightmare
without the relief and joy of awakening.'' Philip Gibbs
wrote an account of the attack:

"A battalion leaped out of its trenches and ran toward the
enemy's lines with a wild hurrah, the point ot' attack bein^ the
Village (if Loos, some three and a half miles a\vay. The men
reached the enemy's lines of trenches without sustaining many
casualties, and found that the tirst t\vo lines of barbed wire had
been effect ivelv broken down by the artillery bombardment. The
third line was uncut and was of very strong wire, with ureat barbs.
The lirst two trenches were carried with a rush at the point of 'lie
bayonet, a lai'Lie number of (iermans beinir kille<l: but the uncut
wire made the lirst check, and was a formidable obstacle. I5ut our
men, reckless of their lives, and under a deadly lire of niacliine-
j'liiis forced then 1 \vav llii'oiiti'li the entanglement, b'ank alter rank
streamed up, and at last the threat tide of men poured through and
swamped foruard to the village, and then 1 hree-ouarters of a mil"
further on. as ihev ran shouting hoarsely, were faced b\ the lire
from an enormous number of machine-guns. l-Yoiii every part of
the village there came the stead\' rattle of these weapons pouring'
out st reams of ;ead. ' '

The assault launched from Vermellcs was a shock from
which the entrenched regiments around Loos could not re-
cover. An hour and a half after the British attack began.
there was witnessed in some cases the spectacle of German
infantry, in batches of twenty and thirty, surrendering to
one or two men amid the ruins of Loos. Battalions of
Kitchener's new army here gained their first experience ot

"For tin' I."i.<l"H Innhi flirtnucli; MM! The .NVw \<n-k 'linn.^.

TIIK AlTl'MX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

heavy fighting. They captured a position as strong as many
that had been stormed by veterans in the previous year.
The price was heavy, but they paid it without faltering.
The task was not easy. It meant a charge across level fields,
through three lines of barbed wire, past slag heaps; a hand-

to-hand struggle for mastery
trench ; 1 hen for the second-line
trench: trenches of communica-
tion, and dugouts filled with the
enemy. These cleared and the
trenches won. there remained
another dash across fields and a
high road studded with visible
entanglements until the western
edge of Loos was reached: then
the silencing of machine-gun
batteries, house fighting (with
plenty of cellar-to-cellar searches
for hidden enemies i . and con-
stant pressure through narrow
streets eastward to the open
fields, beyond where a final rush
would carry them to Hill 70. for
fresh fighting at close quarters,
and the endurance of a galling
fire from a kind of "machine-
gun fort " until its guns could
lie silenced. Altogether it was a
journey of perhaps three miles.
Among the rescued at Loos was
Mile. Emilienne Moreau. a girl
of eighteen, who had lived through the Herman occupation
and now assisted in bandaging British wounded.

with her own hand several Hermans who had attacked High-
landers and Territorials. On November '21 she was pub-
licly decorated at Versailles \vilh the ('roix de Huenv.

The ('rown 1'rince of Bavaria, in command of the army op-
posing the British, had brought up reserve troops from Bel-
gium and began a series of vigorous counter-attacks with the
intention of regaining the Around the Hermans had lost.

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

lie concentrated large reinforcements of men and guns
north and south of Haisnes. and succeeded in recapturing
Pit 8. During the night, which was lit up by the moon and
German star-shells and rockets, the scenes in Loos were
ghastly. The attack that day was preceded by a heavy bom-
bardment lasting an hour, but in the face of German ma-
chine-gun fire no progress was made. The Germans were
firmly established in a redoubt northwest of Hill 70 and

finally dislodged the British
from Pit 14. They made des-
perate efforts to dislodge
troops from Pit 8 behind the
Hohenzollern Redoubt and
around this point furious
fighting raged through the
day. The British, unable to
maintain their position as the
day wore on, were slowly
forced back to the eastern
portion of the redoubt. The
losses which the British sus-
tained at Loos and the French
in taking Souchex. with the
enormous expenditure of
shells, grenades, and cart-
ridges, induced Sir John

French to stop his offensive
1 heroine ,,

for the time. September _S

marked the end of the battle

of Loos. No (rreat results bad been obtained. The fighting
had co^t the British heavy casualties. They did not have
>ufficifiit reserves immediately available to back up early
successes and consolidate positions they had won. This gave
the Germans time to rally and counter-attack. The French
advance did not fake place until six hours after the British,
which left the riirht of the British exposed to a flank attack.
The result was a battle which, had it been fought under
more favorable enndit ion. might have changed the aspect of
war. but which was to all intents and purposes futile.

Many gruesome details were printed of the Loos battle

THE ACTTMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

of piles of German corpses at street corners; of bombing
parties that fell down steep cellar steps on the bodies of
dead men; of living men who were heard calling feebly un-
derneath; and of slow digging into piles of debris to rescue
buried men showing signs of life. Hut the strangest, most
uncanny incident was of a British battalion which, in mak-
ing its way through a captured position, tramped into a deep
firing-trench, where thev saw a Oerman standing in their

Ul INS OK TIIK IIOTKL I >K VILLK AT AKKAS

path erect. The first soldier raised his bayonet and then
step) quickly on one side. As the man behind him came on.
he <rave one look, and stept as quickly to the oilier side.
Each succeeding man coming down the trench saw thi>
solitary German, stiffly upright and facing him with a dread-
ful smile on his face. Xot until an observer was within
arm's length did he see that a bullet hole was in the Ger-
man's head. The man had died standing erect, and still
smiled as tho the sight of British soldiers was the best joke
in the world.

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Serious resistance was encountered when the attackers
came to a cemetery, which was alive with machine-gun
parties, sheltered behind parapets raised among graves.
Even tombstones were used as cover. Men who thing them-
selves on this burial ground rapidly added to the number
of corpses as they leapt from one parapet to another,
bayoneting as they went, and lost many num. It was three-
quarters of an hour before the cemetery was cleared of
Germans. The number of corpses then lying among fallen
crosses and trampled wreaths far exceeded those in the
molding community who lay below. The British beat their
way into Loos a step at a time, bearing bombs which they
hurled in each refuse. ('ellars were packed with gray-
coated Germans. Some tried the old trick of pretending to
Mil-render and then shooting point-blank at a British soldier
in front. After the taking of Loos the British army sang
the praises of guns and planes. Xo such bombardment had
been heard on tin- British front before. The roar had the
] lower and continuity of Niagara. House windows in the
surrounding country ki pi up a continuous rattle. "It is
tli' 1 sweetest sound in the world." s;iid one of the surviving
veterans of the retreat from Mons. "It means that you
will get into the German trenches and have a fair light."

On October 8 the British, after crowding into German
treiiehes. repulsed a German counter-attack. They had
known it was beginning when German artillery concentrated
a bombardment along the line. This became a terrific ordeal.
I'iiilip Gibbs wrote that the trenches ''were not only strewn
with shrapnel, but German batteries Mung out an enormous
quaniily of high explosives, which made earlh fly in all
directions." It seemed impossible to live under Midi an
annihilating storm. For a considerable time a German aero-
plane remained over the British lines, flying al a irreal height
and direetiiiLT artillery fire. Shortly after ">.">" the Germans
opened with ritle and machine-gun fire

M'fealll of bullets s\vep( across the spaee

trendies. Miiiie fifty yards m breadth.
"filled with the smoke of hiir-tini: shells
of battle, including poison-gases and smoke-balls." Sud-
denly through this dense curtain there loomed up a line of

THE ATT I'M X ALLIED OFFENSIVE

black figures, and then another, and then two more. Ger-
man infantry were advancing four deep, shoulder to
shoulder. The waiting British then knew their chance had
come as they fired in rapid volleys machine-guns which
sent streams of lead upon shadowy figures. Great num-
hi rs of the German infantry fell at once. After a further
short advance, others lay down and small groups tried to

crawl hack. Machine-guns and ritles concentrated on these
groups and swept the intervening 1 ground so that few
eseaped. Meanwhile, German artillery had established a
eurtain of shrapnel and high explosives behind British
lines to prevent supports from coining up. while one of their
aeroplanes flew no higher than l2.<H>0 feet in directing their
guns. British artillery replied and late in the afternoon

OX TIIH WESTERN FIIONT

the (lermans slackened their fire. Great numbers of dead
were then lyin<r in front of Hritisli lines.

After this British drive. Arras, out of 2."). 000 inhabitants,
had some (joo, or perhaps SOU, still remaining, hut there was
no house which had not received its shell. Only a few shops
remained open. One was kept by a mother and daughter
who had never left the town during a bombardment that had
lasted practically for more than a year. Contempt for
danger was funeral. II. Warner Allen 1 ' 1 in October saw in
the Grande Place, at Arras, an "old woman sitting with her
duo- in the sun. both fast asleep. The noise of <runs mean-
while' was incessant. When a biir shell appeared, she did
not move. On hearing a warning to "take eyre,'' she iinally
moved slowly away, ''ailing the dojr to a eellai 1 . a yai'd or two
away, then waited a little, and Iinally, as if nothing had hap-
pened, came back and went to sleep. The owner of one
house, on the advance of the Germans, buried under a tree
in his garden \!0<;.ooo in notes, slocks and shares. Later lie
returned to dii: for his treasure. But altho he dutr. and
dujr. his spade did not strike his treasure-chest. Then he
be^an to di<r madly under another tree, and there found
the still unopened chest. Arras in October mi<_rht well have
been called a city of the dead if it had not lacked the most
impressive mark of desolation silence. Almost always there
were heard the roar of cannon and the wild hurtle of hure
projectiles. (Ireal clefts in the cathedral's sides and roof
let in a vision of the sky. I'art of its masonry threatened to
fall at any moment. It hun ( _r suspended as if it were lighter
than air. IIu<re arches still remained aloft, balanced fan-
tastieally beyond the maddest dreams of architects, each on
a single column. Most Famous of Frenchmen whose early
lives were spent in Arra->, was Carlyle's ''Sea-frrceii "
Ii'obevp;.-rre of the Rei^rn of Terror, himself a victim of the

< r S\\ 1 Hot Hie.

When one had seen Ypp's he had seen Arras, with the
reservation that Arras was built on a bilker scale, and.
from its filiation as well a- from other standpoints, had
been an even more beautiful city. <J. \aleiituie Williams.
who ha<l visited the place In-fore it \va s bad!\ - wrecked.

THE AUTUMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

described it 31 as formerly "a pern of a cily, almost every
one of its houses an individual masterpiece of the Flemish
builder's art." Ixeducod now to "piles of rain-soused, mud-
stained, squalid, and uply ruins." time had coaled them
with "a. uniform patina of pray." The massive cathedral
"looked as if a piant had kicked it over," its frowning
facade sliced away, the interior "piled hiph with stacks of
broken sandstone.'' Directly you crossed the threshold, you
were confronted with splintered brick, charred beams,
broken pi ass, japped ends of furniture and papinp ease-
ments, "where a jeweled pleam here and there spoke of a
stained plass plory departed." Grass, lonp. fresh and preen,
had sprunp up between cobbles in tin 1 narrow streets, even
in 1he principal thoroughfare with its rows of shuttered or
ruined shops. Of civilians who lived in deep and rambling
cellars, dup under the Grande Place and other parts of the
city. ]\Ir. AVilliams wrote:

"Lon- 1 iliphts of steps lead from the pavement in front of the
shops under llie Arcades of the (Irunde Place down to these sub-
terranean abides where these wretched people made their homes
with such rude coin fort as they were able to provide. As you
pa>M'd the cellar openings you had a irliinpsc of beds, tables, and
cooking pots, an old woman peelmp potatoes or knitting, lier birds
or her c;;t by hei 1 elbow. There wei'e shops, too. where. besid"S
some of the commodities of life brought regularly into the town,
you could buy picture post-curds of Arras before and after the
bombardment. There were not many simps open, but those which
I sa\v seemed to be general in character and to stock evej'ythini:
from bi:t t ei' to reels of coi t on.

('hildren in Arras would pop our at you from cellars, from
ruins iu all kinds of unexpected corners apparently quite re< k-
Ie>s of the danger that was always lowering, heedless of rever-
beratini: 1 explosions echoing from different parts oj' the citv. L:k"
the gamins of Paris durum 1 the sie.uc, when a shell fell thev rushed
to the spot to hum for the fuse and splinters and to bear th"m
away as souvenirs as soon a< they were cool enough to touch.
They are a pr;;d and hitter folk, the Arrnpenis. Fifteen months
ot' war made them so. \ 011 >aw them standing at their cellar
openings, ii'a/inu 1 forlornly at the desolation about, thinking maybe,
ot' the ever-leiiii'theniiiLT line of crosses in the cemetery in the

ON TIIK WKSTKRX FRONT

corner, where tin- victims of the bombardment were laid to rest.
You marked the urave faces of men, the- hysteria stanm:' out of (lie
eyes of women.

'-' l'ri:i. i],ai Sourees: The rhin-x. The *>ni-, The H'or/r/. New Ym-k: Asso-
ciated I'ress (lis;iai.-lies : The Jlnilii C/i ni iclc. The 7'imr.v, The Muritin;/ 1'nst,
l.utiilun : The I. union V///K.V' 'History of the War": Tin- Mniii-ln *t* r tinnr-
(linii : The i:<-n innnixf. The xttnnlnnl . [.oiiilon : The New York Rrcninu r<ixt.
The l-'ortniHlitl.n L'i'riiic: "Nelsun's History of the War." by John T.uehan ;
Tin- Literary IHycxt, New York.

'I'll : I'.ATTI.i: el' L(K)S; APT! MX (U' I'.ii:

THE ITOTTEXZOLLERX REDOFBT AXD GENERAL
SIR JOTTX FREXOLI'S RETIREMEXT

October 13, 101 .1 December 15, 1915

OX the morning of October 13 the wind blew steadily
from tlie west, tlie air raw and chilly. A thick Scotch
mist covered the ground, and the drizzling rain seemed the
harbinger of a torrential downpour. As the hours passed
tlie rain ceased, the mist cleared off. and fields were bathed
in a warm, autumnal sunlight. To the northwest on the
horizon were dimly visible the outlines of the battered town
of La Bassee. Along the British front blotches of red
marked the presence of what remained of the villages of
Vermelles and Le Rontoire. Between them and La Bassee
ro<e the lofty chimneys of factories and the black, ngly slag-
heaps of Pit 8 and IFaisnes. Open spaces, stubble-fields, and
cabbage-patches were strewn with unburied corpses and
broken weapons. Huge holes recorded the activities of gun-
ners who for a year had been plowing up with their shells
this area, once the home and playground of miners and
their families. Behind hostile lines groups of miners and
peasants were even now phlegmatieally toiling at their daily
tasks.

Suddenly, at noon, a bombardment comparable with that
which had pi-eluded the battle of Loos began. Tongues of
fire leaping from the Around flashed as it were a warning
to the (iermans of a storm of descending shells. In the real-
British observation balloons hung motionless. Aeroplanes
buxxed forward and hack. From hundreds of spots in the
(Jerman line ascended pillars of black smoke. Fleecy while
puffs marked where shrapnel was bursting, a green or pink-
ish blot which swiftly vanished indicating that an asphyxi-
ating shell from answering (Jerman guns had exploded. In
the distance buildings crumbled away and clouds of chalky

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

smoke told that trenches and dugouts, which a few minutes
before had been the refuges of soldiers chatting to each other,
had been upturned. An hour passed by and from the
British lines near Vermelles a dense cloud of white smoke,
fringed below with red and green, drifted toward the Ilohen-
zollern Redoubt. By the time it hail left the British trenches
it was half a mile broad. Slowly it settled on the redoubt,
on a slag-heap behind it. and on the buildings of Pit 8.

Ilaiu' had directed the Midland division of British Terri-
torials to storm the Hohenzollern Redoubt, while troops
on the right were to attack the Hulluch quarries and trenches
between them and the village of that name. The assault
met with a certain amount of success. To the east the
British captured a trench on the northwestern face of the
ITulluch quarries, and. southwest of St. Eloi, trenches behind
the Vermelles-TIulluch road and the southwestern edge of
the quarries. South and west of TTulluch they gained 1.000
yards of trenches, but were shelled out of them.

In point of strength the ITohenzollern Redoubt was com-
parable with the "labyrinth" outside Neuville-St. Vaast.
Altho simpler in details, it was quite as strong as a position,
and all the more strong in not depending on metal cupolas
or other mechanical aids. Its nearly impregnable defenses
had been found in Mother Earth heaped high and cut deep.
Such a defense could be readily repaired under shell-fire,
because it did not depend on works constructed of imported
materials, but on inexhaustible materials in the dirt ready
at hand. The redoubt was a masterpiece of earth construc-
tion. It contained a vast number of machine-guns set in
dugout positions almost impregnable to shell-fire, arranged
so that fire could be concent rat ed and inter-supported in such
fashion thai the capture of the fire trendies forming the
outer she]] (l f ihe place was a mallei- of extreme danger.
The Hermans welcomed such invasion of their outer shell
because they were certain of beintr able to wreak summary
vengeance on interlopers.

The redoubt could have been described as shaped roughly
like a big kidney-bean, with its broadest end pointing due
northwest, outside the Herman line. Straight behind was the
Bethune colliery, its winding plant practically intact and

THE AITUMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

showing pithead piles of si a jr. Rows of miners' cottages
along the road provided excellent observation-points for
German gunners and emplacements for lighter artillery. The
"bean'' was originally joined on to the German trenches by
two communication trenches, which a month or two before;
the battle had been augmented bv "Biir Willie" and "Little

I.\ r.HlTISH 1IKI.MKTS ('N 'I' I IK WKSTKKN FRONT

Willie." ''Big AVillie" was a strong trench running at an
angle from the south end of the "bean" back to the main
line. "Little AVillie" occupied a similar position from the
north end. The whole position was a irentle rise. Across
the "bean" from end to end. ran a Mrong trench, bristling
with machine-guns, criss-crossed again with traverse trendies.
The very simplicity of the work was its strength. You had

OX TITE WESTERN FRONT

here an open gentle rise, without any species of cover. In
tin- dugouts men were sheltered under the heights of three-
story houses.

The British front over against the "bean" was roughly
NX) yards in length. To the northern end the "fat" end
of the "bean" ran a long sap (the German trenches being
almost 'JOD yards away), which just failed to get to the junc-
tion of ''Little Willie" and the main line. The British
drove a sap from this about fifty yards back over toward
"Little AVillie." which also had never been completed,
leaving a hiatus of from thirty to forty yards, which in-
cidentally cost a number of lives in traversing open ground.
The whole effort, or at all events the main part of it. was
concerned with "Little Willie," the British having got "Biir
AVillie" early. Fresh troops were brought up. One regiment
which marched by night was immediately thrown into
battle. Despite their long march, the men charged what to
them was an unknown position and went through to the
triangle formed by the saps, and also the corner of the
"liean." where they got mixt with another regiment. This
fir>1 charge resulted in a situation whereby the British were
holding "Little Willie" at both ends, but with the (Jermans
still in the center. As the open ground was being swept
clean by merciless artillery and machine-gun fire, the British
could not get their supplies of grenades, and so the regiment
was bombed out of the bits of trench they were holding.

Late in the month debris of the fiu'htin^ 1 was lying every-
whefi broken rifles covered with rust and mud. German
knap-acks with their fur lacking, discarded cartridge-
pouches, more often than not soaked in blood, bayonets by
the score, (ierjnaii and British, and innumerable articles of
equipment. The ground was strewn with cartridge-cases.
with the safety-pins of bombs, and with splinters of shell.
The treneli 'iKelf showed many signs of the terrific bombard-
ment to whi'-h it had been subjected. (Ireat holes had been
torn in ;he parapet. whi<-h the British built up again, while
here and then- some of the many dugouts, with which the
bottom of the trendi was lined, had been blown in. The
op.'ii ground thai stretched from the redoubt back to the old
British line presented a scene of desolation hard to describe.

THE AFTFMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

Out on that strip of shell-scarred field lay many dead bodies,
their faces decently covered by overcoats and awaiting burial.
Some lay on grass only a few yards from the back parapet.

Owing to the character of the battle-ground and the fine
clear day, non-combatants were able to obtain a view of this
action from the neighboring countryside. Largo numbers of
villagers living around slack-heaps and pit-heads did actually
go out to watch the bombardment, having been roused to in-
terest in this as a new kind of spectacle, others having lie-
come monotonous and familiar to them. This now interest
was ascribed to the intensify of the artillery -fire and the
smoke-clouds and whitish vapor which were wafted toward
the (ierman lines, and stirred the imagination so thai
peasants climbed to the peaks of black slag-hills and stared
off into the mist, where, beyond the brightness of an autumn
sun. men were fighting and dying. The Ilohen/ollerit Re-
doubt loomed vaguely through drifting clouds of thick and
slugu'ish vapor ;

Mr. (!ibbs 1:; climbed one of these slag-hills and wrote that,
on the edge of fhe great battle-ground, "fields were tawny
in. the golden light of fhe autumn sun. while the broken
lowers of village clinrch.es. red roofs shattered by shell-fin 1 ,
trees stript bare of leaves before the wind of autumn had
lorn-lied them, were painted in clear outlines against the
gray-blue of the sky/' British guns were invisible. Not
one of all the balteries massed over a wide stretch of counfry
could be located by a searching glass. AVhen the bombard-
ment began, it seemed as if shells were coming from every
field and village for miles behind fhe lines. The glitter of
burst inu - shells shot through the smoke caused by their ex-
plosion making "little twinkling Mashes, like the sparkle of
innumerable mirrors and heliographing messages of death."
There was one incessant roar "rising and falling in waves
of prodigious sound." The whole line of battle was in a
grayish mirk, which obscured all landmarks. Even the
''Tower Bridge" was only faintly visible.

From these slair-heaps observers had a brief glimpse of the
human element in this scene. Across a stretch of flat ground,
beyond xig-/.ag lines of trendies, little objects were seen

forrpspondpnt of Tin- NVw York Timrx, ami Tln> Dnilii CJn-niiicl<-, London.

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

scurrying forward, not bum-lied together in close groups.
lut scattered. Some seemed to hesitate, then to fall, and
lie where they fell. Others hurried on, until they disap-
peared in drifting clouds. No other details than these could
he seen of an infantry attack. The Germans were firing
shells, some of them curiously colored to a pinkish hue,
others orange-shaped and a vivid green, all poison shells,
giving out noxious gases. Men fought with fierce valor, and
fields swept by shell-fire from heavy guns reached the Ger-
mans. They captured the German first line south and west
of Ilulluch, and swept up to the main trench of the redoubt.
The Germans, strong in machine-guns, held on to some of
their trenches, while others which the British had captured
came under the fire of batteries. There were many acts of
fine courage and superb endurance among officers and men.

Compared with the French operation in Champagne 1 , this
attack in the north became a lesser operation. The distance
covered, however, was about the same, that is. upward of
three miles. As compared with Neuve Chapelle. the opera-
lion showed improvement. Like the offensive, in the Cham-
paLMie it remained incomplete. The Allies had not broken
through, they had not reached their immediate objective, but
they h;id taken positions which, if held, might have led to
the retreat of the Germans and the acquisition eventually of
points aimed ;it.

In one of the night bombardments an observer declared
that before him there was '"nothing but an abyss nf
shadow>," a vast screen, intensely black, like a restless sky-
sm'ii where plaved thousands of luminous streaks, so dense
that they formed, in the opaque night, a kind of incan-
de>ccni bar. extending in an immense line from one end to
the oilier of the fit !d of vision." All these sparkling
streaks were in a whirlwind of movement, bursting out in
all directions, in incredible profusion, so that the whole
liori/on "bristled with a shimmering mane ol fire that Hie
wind twisted and waved." lie fore this apparition M. Son
stood "dumb with ama/ement." Scarcely had one rocket
be'_nin to fall when two or three others shot out from the
same jMiinl to replace it. >ome straight up to a great height,

11 M. S'-m. tin- Fn-Mi-!> < ;i rt.MinKt. in f.i Ji/iininJ , Paris.

AFTKI; 'I'm; r:\ri. osi i.\ (! A MINI:

licniinii tl'ftn-li, 'I'lii- lluli' crcjlti'd li till 1 fXin-in

VMS till) h-i'I ilrrji ami 1^0 I'iM't uiil

THE AFTFMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

others sideways, others again in curves or xig-zag, their
nioveinents uninterrupted and bewildering. It was a magical
spectacle, a giant display of fireworks, over a twenty-five-mile
background. The impression of fairy-work was so intense
that lie was prepared at any moment to see the rockets
''spread themselves into multi-colored bouquets, and bow
gracefully, as if offering them to the night." Suddenly
blinding flashes and tongues of flame would dart furiously
out and "split the shadows with a tragic illumination of
black clouds that were scurrying in the scared night/' Two
seconds after, a quadruple detonation would shatter all
silences and the tremendous din would "go round the four
cornel's of the liori/on, rebound, and come hack like a rolling
wave, to be tossed on to infinity by all the echoes of the
heavens."

Then the noise would move further and grow fainter '"like
the sound of a train disappearing into the distance.'' Search-
lights would come into play, blazing shafts darting from
various points, "as if shot out of mortal's loaded with illum-
inating rays, and pierce the shadow like cannon-balls of
light.'' Brilliant cones would cross each other in the darkness,
"cutting out fantastic circles of clearness in which would ap-
pear suddenly, lit up as if in a sinister apotheosis, the turrets
of the hill of St. Kloi standing out like two pale phantoms
the mutilated trees of ('arency Wood, the skeleton roofs and
the ruins of Villers-au-Hois and of Ablain-St.-Xa/aiiv a

OX THE AYKSTFRX FRONT

eomplete Pantesque kind of desolation." So the powerful
light would sweep up tin- night, "searching the darkness with
lid 1 feverish and uneasy Jiaste of a burglar's dark lantern,
and then on a Midden palpitate, shiver, and vanish in hic-
coughs of ]i<:ht. as if tin- sky were shaken by Satanic
laiiirhter." On all sides rockets wouhl mount in .-.heaves, to
riii'ht and left. To the very hori/on guns would daft their
llames. and (ill tlie immensity with their deep voices." One

could distinctly >ee shells explode ovel' tl'ellclles. and ca>t

showers of sparks and red-hot splinters in the inid>t of
reddish smoke in "a struggle of Titans.''

The net re.Milt was a gain to the British of nearly seven
thousand yards of front and four thou.-and of depth, tho
if one were asked what exact advantage this train brought.
save as a visible si^n of military virtue, it would have been
hard to find an answer. The most substantial .Allied gains
were the :!.()()() prisoners, including ")7 ot'ficers. L'O' Held-gnns.
and 4 (| machine-guns. Altogether the losses during three
weeks of jitrliiin<_>- were not less than ."(). dim men and 2.<>(i(>
officers, a laf'jv proportion beint:- of wounded men. For a
second time. wet. fou'iry winter settled dnwn upon th<' wate]--
logged, clay-bottomed trenches. Little did those who in these
trenches spent ('hrj-tmas in 1H14 imagine that Christmas
in I' 1 !.") woidd find them in the same position. And yet a
move bark of a couple of miles at Ypres. and a move for-
ward of the same extent iii the south, were all that either

side eoiild show for a year's hard work and the loss of

i i
many t lion sain I lives.

In the first days of October. Ilulgaria joined the AuMro-
(Jermans and. as a ronsequetire. a not inconsiderable part
of ihe French and hrifish effectives had to be transported
lo Saloniki too late, however, to helj ihe Sei'bians and still
h-" abb- to take the field jigjiinsl (lernian. Austrian, and
llnhja'ian forces. The inability of the Allies to act with
vi'jor in the Xear I-]as1 had made them unable to ]re\-ent the
eii'-my from o'-'-npym<_r Serbia and Montenegro. This, how-
ever, together with the failure t'i make proLM'ess in flallipoli.
' mi ap lo the Anglo-Indian army at fiesiplioii
and Kut-e]-Amara. reacted on the stralen-y of the Allied com-
manders ju the wot. Sueh conditions inevitably produced

THE AUTUMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

a state of comparative inactivity. There were many small
fights and day after day the toll of losses mounted, but no
"Teat advantage was gained by either side.

By late October winter along the British front was close
at hand. Before midday a white fog would till np the
trendies, steal down the dugouts and drift densely over
fields. Perhaps a pale sun would gleam for a few hours,
giving a fictitious sense of summer, and then, when darkness
eame. the mist would creep up again from marshes and
woods and chill the air. Another winter campaign, to those
who had seen the misery of the first winter in bougy trenches,
was a distressing thought wet mud. ice-cold water reaching
above the knees in communication trenches, wind that laskt
like sharp whips, oo/e and slime in dugouts, water running
down through the roofs of broken barns. But it was not to
be quite so bad in the second year as during the first at
least not in some sections. Many trenches now had well-
bricked floors and drains to carry water away. Forests of
timber, too. had been made into logs to build dugouts and to
bridge over boggy ways.

The gi'eat problem of the winter was the billeting of the
new divisions lhat had come out. In villages behind the
firing-lines beyond, or almost beyond the range of (rerman
guns, every old barn was requisitioned, and. tho not very
watertight and not very clean (rats and vermin resented in-
trusion', were pretty good shelter against wind and cold.
Near fighting lines most barns had been smashed into ruin,
like most farmhouses to which they belonged. By the tirst
week in December the British settled down to a winter cam-
paign. For some time it was to be a stick-in-the-mud war-
fare, for there was incessant work to do in draining 1 trenches,
s! reiiLi't heniiiLT parapets, riveting walls, tiling or boarding
tloorways. timbering dugouts. AmonLi' the French the walls
of trendies were strengthened with hurdles to prevent land-
life. Simple but efficient
t roops with damp-proof
ly beaten down, leveled, and
arlhen roofs were strenirih-
diie attention \vas paid to
' second line, wooden huts

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

u\-re erected with double walls and slate roofs, while in
most eases floors were raised above the ground level. Soldiers
were particularly pleased with the beds provided, the founda-
tion consisting: of wire-netting stretched on a wooden frame,
with straw packing 1 and a good supply of blankets. A great
feature of these improvised barracks was the charcoal
bra/.ier. Coal might be short and stoves thus made in-
effective. but in the tiring- /one there was no 'scarcity of
wood, for shells lopped off great branches in every forest

FKKNCII IKM; KKNNKI.S P.KIIIM) Till-: FRONT

aii'! cut down many big trees whicli, but for Ihe war, the
woodman would have spared.

Tin- Germans, too. greatly improved their trenches and
dugouts. They wen- now composed of carlh. stakes, and
netting, which made them riiiid and insured elasticity.
Ground around Ircnclies often became green with newly
t-T'iwn gra^s before winter set in. One could walk Ihrough
them atnl yet remain quite clean. Roofs protected men from
rain. If an unusually heavy shower happened to penetrate
into an interior, the water could be carried awav bv an ar-

THE AUTUMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

rangement of pipes. Lamps taken from motor-cars provided
light, and there were fans, ventilators, and switch-boards.
Of smaller trench annoyances few were worse than a plague
of rats. Shelters and trenches, no matter where madi
whether in woods, open fields, or on mountain sides im-
mediately became infested. The plague attained considerable
dimensions before a really organized attempt was made to
deal with it. Many cases occurred of rats actually biting
men when chasing them down the trenches. Terriers proved
of considerable assistance in destroying them. Trains full
of dogs came to the front whole regiments of them. One
train left Paris with 2.700 dogs on board. Poison also be-
came effective. A reward was offered for every dead rat
brought in by men in the trenches. In a single fortnight
one French army corps disposed of no fewer than 8.000 rats.
At a halfpenny a rat this involved an expense of $80 and
it was money well spent. The sport of rat-catching on such
advantageous terms proved popular.

Romeo Iloule was a Massachusetts boy who, when the war
broke out. enlisted as private in a French-Canadian regiment.
In the spring of ]!J16 the American Government procured
his discharge because he had enlisted when under age and
he then came back to this country. lie had fought at Ypres.
St. Julien. Cuinchy, Givenchy. La Bassee. and in the first-
line trenches at Messines. He had also been in the first line
at Richebourg and Laventie where he survived as one of six-
teen men out of 500. On arriving in this country lit 1 gave
a striking account 111 of what war meant to men in the
trenches:

"Fur many months T lived in trenches. T slept daily in dread
of bullet, shrapnel, mine, and deadly LVUS : and niirhtly in fear ol
mine and iras and the man-eating rats. 1 am one of the few
soldiers living who entered the front trenches at the opening' of the
war and who lived to liulit the dermaiis in the front trenches in
February, liUli. Who has seen hell.' Who has experienced the
horrors of Milton's terrible vision or the slow tortures of Dante's
Inferno? (lod! If Dante's dream-madness were truth, ami those
seven circles were seven encircling battle lines in northern France
or the torn fringe of brave little Belgium, L could stand up and

111 In th.> X.'w Y.>rk Time*.

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

say there is no agony of body or mind which I have not seen,
which I have not experienced, i thank (.toil and give Him the glory
thai I still am sane.

"<!as.' What, do you know of it. you people who never heard
earth and heaven rock with the frantic turmoil of the ceaseless
bombardment ? A crawling yellow cloud that pours in upon you,
that gets you by the throat and shakes you as a huge mastiff
inidit shake a kitten, and leaves you burning in every nerve and
vein of your body with pain unthinkable: your eyes starting from
their sockets: your face turned yellow-green.

"Hats? What did you ever read of the rats in the trenches?
Next to gas, they still slide on tlieir fat bellies through my
dreams. 1'oe could have got new inspiration from their dirty
hordes. Rats. rats, rats I see them still, slinking from new meals
on corpses, from Belgium to the Swiss Alps. Rats. rats. rats, tens
of thousands of rats, crunching between battle lines while the
rapid-tiring guns mow the trench edge crunching their hellish
feasts. Full fed. slipping and sliding down into the wet trenches
they swarm at night and more than one poor wretch has had his
face eaten off by them while he slept.

"Stench? Did you ever breathe air foul with the gases, arising
from a thousand rotting corpses? Dirt? Have you ever fought
half madly through the days and nights and weeks unwashed, with
feverish rests between loni:' hours of an'ony. while the guns boom
their awful symphony of death, and the bullets zip-zip-xip ccase-
]e>-]y ali'inr the trench edge that is your skyline and your death-
line, too. if you stretch and stand upright?

"Ye*, I. Romeo Iloiile. knou the trench. I longed for biir adven-
tures, you see. and now. ah. (!nd! I am sick of adventure, for the
adventures I have had will plague my sleep until I die."

On December F") was announced the retirement of Field-
Mar>hal Sir .John French from the chief command of the
"HritMi forces on the 'Western Fnm1. Tins left Jotl'iv the
only ^urvivor among chief commanders who were serving at
til-- outbreak of the war. Moltke was gone, the (Jrand Duke
Nicholas was gone from the Eastern Front and was serving
in tin- Caucasus 'none then dreamed of what lie would soon
do at Er/iTiim and Trehi/ond : and the Austrian generals
Antt'eiiberg and Dankl had lieeii among the tir-t to go. He-
low the rank" of commamler-in-eliief thei'e had been a drastic
\\n-ding out of generals in all armies. The hand of .1 off re
had li-en particularly li^avy. Indeed, he had made whole-

THE ATTFMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

sal* 1 dinners before the war actually began ami during the
first weeks of actual lighting had cut right and left. Of
men at the head of the live French armies which look the
field Dubai], Castelnau. Rutl'ey, Laurie de Cary. and
Lanre/ac two had been removed as soon as the retreat to
the Marne beiran. Ruffey, who failed on tlie Meuse. gave
way to Sarrail, and Lanre/ac, who failed on the Sambre,
made way for Franchet d'Esperey. later to become the hero
of tlie defeat of the Central Powers on the Macedonian front.
Castelnau had failed in the early invasion of Lorraine, but
his ability was such thai he kept his place and within a few
weeks had won a magnificent success before Xancy. Foch,
the immortal Foch. who had had a minor command in Lor-
raine in August, 1014. still remained and had gone much
higher up. Of the Oermans the first to go had been Harden,
who led tlie Saxon army on the Marne. Deming. who com-
manded in Alsace, had also disappeared. Khick was heard
of as convalescing from what gave every sign of being a
diplomatic illne-s. Of British commanders. Ian Hamilton
had failed in the Dardanelles, and Sm'th-Dorrien had been
transferred to East Africa. Of the Russians, besides the
Grand Duke. Sam<onov was dead. Rennenkampf and
Sievers had been dis])laced and Radko Dmitrief'f. who took
the brunt of the Teuton attack in Galicia. was also out.
Neither was there any longer mention now of "Brnsiloff. who
had helped to win the battles of Rawa Kusska and Lemberg,
but of him something notable was heard a year later.
R u /.sky and Ivanoff had survived, and apparently with
credit.

A great war usually brings to the front an eminent soldier
or statesmen, but seldom docs so at the beginning:. England's
Civil War was well advam-ed before it saw the advent of
Cromwell and Montrose. The French Revolution was four
yi-ar> old before Najioleon's star was seen above the horizon.
Great Britain had to survive fourteen years of war to witness
tlie coming of Wellington. In our Civil War we found an
exception to the rule in the South, where, almost from the
start, two leaders of hiu'h genius. Lee and Jackson, ^prantr
into fame; but in the North the rule came back, for Lincoln
had to work with a loni;- succe.-sion of ineffective irem-raN

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

McClellan, McDowell. Burnside. Pope, Banks, and Hooker
before he found in Grant a soldier competent to use
effectively the vast resources of the Union, and in Sherman
and Sheridan men who could ably support him. It was
fair to infer that unless war is originated by a genius like
Alexander or Charles XII. there must generally be a long
period before a nation can find a leader possest of some-
thing which is genius in war. The Punic AYars had long to
wait for Scipio Africanus and the Roman revolution long
for Julius ( 'tt'sar.

AY hen one looked for specific reasons for the going of
French it was hard to speak definitely. The outstanding
reason plainly was failure to show results commensurate with
the size of the British army. The specific reasons were
failure at Neuve Chapelle in March and disappointment at
Loos in September. The same accusations were made in
both instances lack of preparation by the staff and delay
in bringing up reserves. French confest to a state of con-
fusion during part of the operations around Loos. But it
was unjust to overlook the peculiar handicap under which
the British army under French had labored. It had not
had the advantage of veteran staff-officers and intimate ac-
quaintance with Continental ground. It had to create officers
as well as men. Furthermore, it was unjust to speak of a
British '"failure" around Loos as compared witli a French
success in the Champagne, because, from the German point of
view, both attack's had failed. Considering the superior re-
sources Jol'fre had at his command, the relative irains may
not have been disproportionate. Nevertheless, the fact re-
mained that in Jol'fre the French had found a man of genius,
and in Castelnau and Foch men of great talent who might
have used the British with greater effect as Foch did so
conspicuously in 1!)1S.

French'^ going emphasi/ed the changed aspect of the war.
At the beginning events were decided by leadership and num-
bers. With tin 1 coming of trench-warfare, it became a ques-
tion of m iin it ions, so that people spnkc of the war as some-
thing to be won in armament factories. When the problem of
munitions had been solved, it seemed once more In be a ques-
tion of leadership. At Nenve ('hapelle British ammunition

Till'] AlTl'MX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

pave- out, and on this issue Lord Xorthcliffe assailed Lord
Kitchener. But there was no shortage of ammunition around
Loos. Britain now had to find men. not ammunition. As
formerly she had to tind guns and shells, so now she had to
iind a great leader.

The removal of French promised to become as fertile a
topic for discussion as the removal of McCIellan from com-
mand of the Federal forces in our Civil Wai'. There wen-
points of similarity in the two cases. Both were brave and
skilful soldiers, animated with patriotic fervor. Both had
to deal with comparatively untrained troops. Both fought
vigorously and even victoriously ou occasions. But both
seemed to lack the aggressive spirit and the strategic in-
stinct by which wars are won. "Die inertia of the British
campaign for many months was unquestionable, but there
were many who said that in this respect it merely kept itself
in harmony with .JotTre's Fabian tactics. At the same time,
there were men in England who argued that the Xeuve
Chapelle failure was due to lack of support from Gallic
forces: just as it was also said that the French rescued the
British from a catastrophe.

Sir Douglas Ilaig. who succeeded French, had gone out in
August. 1!)14. in command of one of the two army corps
which made up French's little force. On September 14,
when the first foothold was gained on the north bank of the
Aisne. French referred to the "skilful, bold, and decisive
character" of the services rendered by Ilaig, which had
enabled the British to maintain their position for more than
three weeks of severe fighting on the north bank. Great
Britain was then confirmed in the faith that she had in Ilaig
a modern, scientific soldier of front rank. In October when
the British forces were moved to the Ypres-La Bassee line
and the great three weeks' battle beu'an. the center of the
line was in the hand of Ilaig. who. in the words of French,
"held the line with marvelous tenacity and with an energy
and val'>r that gave furl lief proofs of his ability as a leader."

In three great battle^ greater than had ever before been
fought by a British army Ilaiir had showed masterly gen-
era'ship nnd won unstinted praise. lie was then fifty-four
yea- '. old. lie had served through the Nile Expedition of

V. Ill 3

ON TIIK \VKSTKKX KRoNT

!>!'>. In-ill^ piVM'iit at Atbara and the capture of Kliai'iuiu.
In the Smith African AYar In- was one of the first to reach
Natal, took j>art in the litrhtitijr at l']landslaa<rte, Riet-
I'ontein. and Lombards' Kop. and rode into Kimberley \\-ith
Lord Met hueii. Later lie joined Lord Roberts in his maivh
to Bloenifontein, and Avas present at Poplar drove. Paarde-
hrrir. Dreifontein. Pretoria. After this came many pun^s
to and fro across the Transvaal, the Orange l- r ree State, and
('ape ( 'olony when KitebciU'i' was weariim' down liner re-
sistaiice. He had now assumed command of by far the
largest army ever led by a l > >i i iti>I; irenend. Haiii' had under
him about twenty-live times as many soldier> as Welliimton
had in the Waterloo campaign. 1 '

;: I'riin-iiial SouiTi's: Sir Coiian I>(iyli''s "'I'lii' r.riti>l> ('ani|>^i,-n in I'r.-ur.
n:ni r.''Iuiuni" MMMII-UC II. Iinraii L'<O, A<sociati'd l'rc<-- (lU|p;itrhi'>. 'I'!n- N.-W
York Tirni*, Tin- Ixilln Cl>runid<; l.Dinloii : Tli- Paris Journal, The K
l'<j<t. Tlii 1 /.' cniii'i Pioi, New Yi'i'k.

AIRCRAFT IX THE AFTTMX OFFENSIVE THE
COMIX<; OF TITH FOKKKR

September 2-"), l!<lf> December K, 1 !)!.">

TX tin 1 Champagne and Artois drive's, an Allied aerial
-* :'riny had become no longer a divam of romance, fornu'd
as ii was in divisions, with battle and cruiser aero-
planes, scouts and torpedo-planes, all armored and carry-
ing three-inch cannon and rapid-tire guns, all made
pnN>ilile through the development of aviation in a tield
Kick of the firing-line ten times the si/e of a la rye race-track.
< Mi entering this field one saw a monster bailie-plane
thirty feel high, with arms stretching 1:10 feet across.
Further back was ranged a tleet of battle-cruisers and scout-
p'atics. formed into a battalion, twenty planes in a row
across the front, and ten deep. Their huge wings made a
front half a mile wide. Battle-planes and cruisers were all
armed -heavily. Each carried both three-inch cannon and
rapid-lire guns, (ireat battle-planes became a center of at-
tention, as the first actual reali/ation of an idea, other aerial
dreadnoughts having proved impractical. One of them could
fiy with a crew of twelve men. with two cannons mi the
winys throwing three-inch steel projectiles. Trial Mights
demonstrated that it had the steadiness of an ordinary
biplane. The regular crew for fighting consisted of four men
and an officer,

As morning approached, after a niirht of steady bombard-
ment, when officers on the British front were looking at their
wri-t-watches. and the ;i!_rure (! marked the half-hour half-
past six a wave of men would rise from tirst-line trendies
and every one try to outrun every other. Meanwhile, with
: "-t Mush of dawn, birds of war issued from aerodromes.
' I think we had ei<_rht planes that day to one of the (Jer-
mans." might say an aviator, and then a plane would be ob-

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

served to swoop down like a hawk. At all hazards, that aviator
was iioing out to identify shell-bursts. Other plains dropt
shells on railroad trains and bridges, to obstruct reinforce-
ments. The tirst thing was to hold what had been taken.
In this effort the turning of wrecked German trenches into
British ones, of making new dugouts, traverses, and parapets,
and laying out barbed wire defenses, had to be accomplished
before the Germans could concentrate and sweep back in a
counter-attack. "There has been a good deal of talk/' said
an officer, "to the effect that the elements of surprize has
disappeared from war. Tt is as vital as it ever was. Only,
concealment was never so difficult. Troops and guns have to
be moved at night, when the German planes can not note
the concentration."

As the attack proceeded, a veritable flock of planes could
be seen cutting circles, dipping and turning over the battle-
lield. as if giving an exhibition of airmanship. Indeed, they
almost appeared disconnected from the battle: and yet no
participant was more seriously busy or more intent than
they. All the panorama of action was beneath them: they
alone could really see the battle, if they chose to do six But
each aviator stole only passing glimpses of the conflict, for
each was intent on the part he had to perform, which was
to see whether the shells of the battery for which he re-
ported had hit their targets. To distinguish whose was the
.shell-burst that had appeared in a ehmd of dust and smoke
above (Jerman positions, seemed as difficult as it would be
to identify the spout of steam coming from some one pipe
when a hundred were creating a wall of vapor.

Armored cruiser aeroplanes were small biplanes of high
power armed wiih a cannon and capable of rising almost
vertically from the ground at a speed of ninety miles an
hour. By October < s a large number of these were ready.
Several had carried on a night bombardment far back of the
During the Champagne engagement they hil
loon, which exploded iii a mass of flames.
s and cruisers moving in squadrons, both de-
offensive, attacked (ierman lines of communica-
larly railway junctions, wiih the object of cnt-
and spread i ni: demoralization in the real'.

THE AUTUMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

Each squadron consisted of nine aeroplanes of all types, in-
cluding one battle-plane, two battle-cruisers, and six scout-
planes. The complement for a squadron was upward of
fifty officers and men for the operation of aeroplanes and
their transportation on lorries drawn by automobiles, with
which each squadron was equipped. About TOO military
aviators were under instruction in one school alone. A large
number of these schools turned out trained aviators. Ob-
servers not absorbed in battle never tired of looking at these
monster birds of war. Above the trenches six or seven thou-
sand feet in the air would appeal' something as big as a
man's hand against the blue light of a summer sky. which
was an enemy's aeroplane that wanted to see men on the
other side building new trenches, moving bodies of troops or
transports, and where their batteries were in hiding.

Seven American volunteer aviators took part in aerial
reconnaissances in the battle of Champagne Lieutenant
William K. Thaw of Pittsburgh, Sergeant AVilliam C. Cowdin
of New York, Sergeant Xormau Prince of P>oston, D. G.
Ma>son of San Francisco. P>ert Hall of Bowling Green, Ky..
James .[. Bach of New York, and II. C. Genet of New York.
Five more American airmen at the same time were scouting
and raiding on other parts of the French line, and eleven were
in training in an aviation school. These twenty-live men formed
the Franco-American Flying Corps, which had an office and
chili-rooms on the I\ue de Ponthieu. in Paris. Three of the
Americans Lieutenant Thaw, and Sergeants Prince and
Cowdin were mentioned in the orders of the day. Sergeant
Cowdin for having engaged two German aeroplanes. The
American corps had two objects to assist France and to ^ive
American airmen experience in war. so as to fit them to
serve as pilots for officers in an American aerial service
should an occasion arise. The French military administra-
tion trave American military volunteers every opportunity
to gain this experience.

A battle between a French aeroplane loaded with 00-
millimeter bombs and a fast double-engined German aeroplane
was an incident of the battle of Champagne while the
offensive was at its height. The French machine had just
>et out to destroy a line of railroad behind the German line

OX Till-] WESTERN FRONT

when a German craft emerged from a cloud, ami the battle
hen-;.]!. Almost as soon as it started, the maehine-<iuii on the
French aeroplane having jamineil. the observer shouted to
the pilot. "Dive! Dive!" whereupon the marhine plunged
in a swift curve. The German, no less prompt, dive,! too,
and continued to tiy around the French machine, which was
hampered by the weight of bombs it carried. After Hrinir
his carbine until his supply of cartridges was exhausted, it
having oc.-unvd to the French observer ihat an abrupt land-
in.tr would be fatal to him and his pilot unless the fuses
W'Te removed from the bombs, he coolly set about taking out
tile fuse-. and h;id just finished the task when a bullet struck
him in tip- back and a moment later another, and then a
third shattered one of his wrists. The pilot was hit in tip-
eye by a piece of the propelh-r knocked off by a bullet, and
then wounded in the abdomen and fainted. After tin- the.
observer seized the levers and guided the machine, into
French trenches. I.oth observer and pilot siir\ived llp-ir
wounds. The destruction in the Champagne of a German
capiive balloon, of the type known as "sausage." \\as ano1i;er
incidenl of this battle. Determined to yet rid of this balloon,
by means of which the Germans had obtained valuable iuf >,-
ination i'e'j{irdiu<r the movements of French troops, an ofiieer
had exp'-riiiieiiied for two months with "lire" bails. The
aeroplane which guarded the balloon, moon d fifteen miles
behind the German lines, was so vigilant that the lieutenant
had to try four time.-, before lie could rise above it. ' )]) ;he
fourth attempt he swooped d"\vn in a iriddy flight from a
lieiLi-i of lil.UO-'i feet, and placed his missile- accurately be-
iii could be hauh-d down. In dropping his fire-
Frenchman came near enough the earth to be in
I'anue of German aifcraft-^uns, but he mana^"d : < ris.-
-af"!y and -o ese;i]>ed from a [>erfeci hurricane of bur-tin'_r

S I i ! ' a p 1 1 e | ,

Aft'-r the taking of Loos early in Ortober the [>ritish armv
\va- [^raises of ^nns and aeroplanes. \ () sip-h

bombardnieni had evi-r been heard on the I'.ritish front as
: ..' \vhi -h |>i'i led the at lack. There seemed no interval-

tl :' a'-!'ot>laip-s was -i !] euttinu cird > and d'ppinir and

Till-; Al'Tl'.MN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

turning over the battlefield as it' makintr an exhibition of
airmanship. No part icipaiit was more busy or intent than
they. All tlie panorama of action was beneath tliein ; they
,-ilone could really see the battle if Iliey so eho.,e. lint each
avialor siolc only passing u'limpM's of ihe whole; for t-aeh
was intent on liis own part, which was to keep watch ami
see whether the shells of the battery to which he reported

rnrnrd ln'm Hii- tirli 1 "Kiii.u nf tho Air." IT. 1 hnd

ni'iitinn''il in ;in < ird<T l ih" I 'ay. Ili

\vei'e on Ilie tiirtri-t nr not. Every youtli in Enu'land np-
tly has wanted to uvt into tho siorial sorvicc. So tlie
aviation corps had the pick- of men. Promotion was rapid.
It took only two months lo ti'ain a m'an into aptitude to d
T i,e rontine work "f reconnaissaiiee. Imt he had to lie yonnir
M'-n did n> ! i le;ini reailily jifter they were thirty, and were
very poor pupils after thirty-live,

(K-caMnnally a plane miLriit be observed to sweep down

like a hawk which had located a iNh in the water. At all

rds tl'n 1 intreiiid aviator was to identify the shell-bnr>1<

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

of batteries which lie represented. Germans with rifles might
have got him. but they were too busy trying to hold back
the English infantry. Other aeroplanes dropt shells on rail-
road trains and bridges, to hinder the Germans from
rushing reinforcements. The French aviator Pegoud.
whose death was announced in the late summer, had chased
twenty-one German machines, most of them declining to
iighr. Two of them faced him one on the 2sth. and the
other, from which lie was killed, on the olst. M. Cremot.
whose son by adoption Pegoud was. afterward published
Pegoud 's diary, describing a journey of December 27 when
he lost his way and nearly ran out of petrol:

"Weather cloudv. Morning observation at Verdun. Xo Boche
aeroplane about. l'J:_!t> le: ve with eiuht shells for Xantillois. At
4. '-!'"> feet over I'>ras 1 net into clouds. Fog and rain continue
over Xantillois. More than beastly. My machine in all positions.
Can see not him;'. Am continually wiping my glasses: compass
iammed. After one and one-half hours of all sorts of worry
dive to '.yet mv position. 1 notice 1 .SOU feet under the clouds a
tint 1 captive balloon and drop my einht bombs. General panic in
ie company. Si-vcraJ guns, are lired at me. and I rise up into
, fug. \.i:-i a'-rain. Dive down to see, and continue lliuht at
:;.noo feet. I'p attain amonir the clouds, and dive down to '_',4oO
feet. I steadv the machine and compass and take the direction
S. W. I have an hour's petrol left. Swearing like a pickpocket.
It's the limit. I don't know where I am and am lired at. I am
L'.JIO feet up. I'p into the clouds. Down anain. Xote a rather
lar^c station. Am shot at.

i';, into : : .<' clouds again. Dive twenty-six minutes later and
in over the station. I'm like a roaring \\ild beast. Only
lifti ' : i-i n] petrol left. Don't know where \ am: am shot
iit. I make up my mind, and am -j'oing to tly under the clouds
:, _!.}( HI ;,-. S.W. till petrol gives out. de-pit( shots. I note a
vi'.Ia'je far off. and as I get nearer recogni/e Ftam. I can usf
my |:ni'_-. to bi'eathe now. Saved! C,,,od Heavens, to think how
n\-e been \\itli nrjc. I dive with the motor at full speed.
. e. I keep on wiping the nlas-es ;ni I break
I'a.-s over Ktain at 1 . i-" 11 feet . -'ill divin
f :!1 ., ,]. ],V ich Verd in in fog at 1 " o feet, ai d --t
i i see !,'' .i :._:. One of my eyes U liurting very
|,, : . d. I' ',- a splendid feelini: after all. I ran breathe
I, ;, face to the \\ind a:.d take in lungfuls of air. I!ut

THE AFTFMX ALLIED OFFENSIVE

to think ho\v I've sworn. Another lesson for me, and I shall keep
my eyes open more than ever, h'eport made at once. Captain as-
tonished, and boasts about it to other officers and makes his re-
port. Food. At my ease, very pleased to be by the fireside at
Verdun. Smoke several pipes, which are excellent. Bed.''

After France had developed an aerial force with battle-
planes, cruiser-planes, scouts, and lesser aircraft, which
officers referred to as torpedo-planes, it became necessary to
oru'ani/.e a. special aerial service with the exactness of details
that armies and fleets are organized with, as to tactics and
maneuvers of advance and retreat, attack and defense. All
the tactics of 'the air were in course of time worked out with
precision. Official reports referred to these maneuvers as
those of an ' Vsquadrille," the French term for a squadron
of air-fighters. By the end of October one attack had been
made with (>"> aeroplanes, two with more than (>0, and five
with from 20 1o 40. A stranv device used in these tactics
was a battery of twelve small .irlass bottles, set in a wire
rack within easy reach of the operator. The bottles con-
tained a liquid which exploded five seconds after the cork
was drawn, emitting a little round puff of smoke, or a short
trail of smoke. This was the method used for aerial tele-
graphing. The smoke-puffs were dots; the smoke-trails
dashes. Thus the pilot talked back to a far-away land
battery, in dots and dashes of smoke, tolling waichei-s that
their shots were too hi.irh. or too low. or too far to flu- left, or
ri^'ht. and trivinu' them the exact range. Another remarkable
development in tactics was the use of wireless, by which
aeroplanes were kept in communication with, a central sta-
tion over a radius of 220 miles.

[Marked changes in air operations wore heralded in De-
cember. I'. 1 !."), with the coming of what was called the

erman plane which could
'or forward firing. It
(Ireat Britain's former
T" was the smallest aero-

It could make about !'"> miles an hour. but. when

ox TIN-: ^'i-;sTi-:i;x FRONT

PCI] with a - 1 H '-horse-] MI\V<T motoi 1 . promised to make
fi-i'tn I*! 11 iniifs upward. \Vi:!i the exception of tin- wind's,
were usually mad'' of a new transparent material,
inakiiiLT the machine practically invisible, the whole c. n-
-trucTion was of steel tubing. It carried a pilot and gunner.
Tin* armament con-isti-d df a rapid-tire nun capable of more
IJ(M) shots a iniinitt'. Tiic "Fokker" was the invention
i if ,; young I ["llandiT who livci] in (Jcrinany. In ll'll <r
VI i' l:e had infill a weird-looking, urn-apsi/able iiiono-
[i] in-. Hiv "Fukker." 1 however. \vas ipiiie unlike tiuit early
. ffuri in which all altcmpts at securing inherent stability had
1..-11 aliandone.l.

'! he e was designed to li" u.'uL'r control of a

in every position ; this made it a dangerous opponent,

<; ^ : - ciin'd niaii'Miver with lightning speed. .Mo-t l-'okk-rs

: passenger in front who worked a machine-gun.

ii-.,.-,. | ul ,| (I,,, rf! 1}] fixt aliove tlic engine, The favorite

mi-till..] of attaek i'or a "Fokki-r'* was 1o go up about

l.."iiii feel, and ill- 11 hang around till one of the Allies' ma-

ne> ajijieared iii si.^hl In-low. Then, if of the iixt ir.m

yp'-. ilie "Fukker" would stand on its head and dive

V;d'/i.i its victim. Idling off .: -'ream of bullets ,:- soon

ji> ; '_ ran^''. l'>y makinir tin- descent ever -o

. -piral. the -', l ;nii < sii'eam of bullets became a eone

of ;ire. witii it> api x at the trun, and with tin- victim inside,

-.1 that, wh ichevi-r way the lower machine tried 1" ex-ape, it

-- pa through the .-one. When the "Fokk'-r" Lrot

. .. - i hi eiii my. if he had ii"1 a In-ady been hit. r a])-

. _ ' raiirl ' :i . iii'j i .

. . . so as to have pilot . ] pa--'-nger. tank-, and
, ; ;; (ire. I'nle-s th' 1 pursued machine \va- '','.'

- I'ois and able to dodtre like a rabbit. -< ::..'
vi'a ;.-. '" v a- bound to be hit -ooiH-r or later.

'i'i.e inn-' rea--nriiiLr an>wcr to the Fokk.T menace i'or 'i..'
i ; ' - ;\ ; , . of fine of t heii' ;i ii'itien. on .];. ,

'[':. j- aviator. il to hi- inuui H

. ' a- ' '.n act niif a- .,-, TO
i--a lice d ity. 1 \\'o i' \\
i 'iii- 11 r; ! i -ii macli inc.

THE ATTCMN ALLIED OFFENSIVE

the escort was 2,000 feet above it. The escort dived imme-
diately and, picking out one <>!' the hostile craft, opened fire
upon it with several rounds, so that it was forced down and
continued to nose-dive for at least 6.000 feet. The second
"Fokker" had climbed in the meantime above his British
adversary, but lie was -oon chased by him up the sky until
within 100 feet of the (Jerman, when he opened fire. After
thirty rounds the (ierman machine made a steep nose-dive,
followed for about 4..~>00 feel by the British pilot, who saw
him reach the earth at last in a plowed field. The British

pilot climbed atraiu to about 1 1 .000 foot, when lie discovered
a German ''Albatross" filoft. behind and above one of the
British scouts, I; i'."d after a short encounter. The British
pilot then saw another : "Fokker" jnnonjr a u - roup of British
biplanes on reconnaissance, but forced it out of action. The
third ' ; Fokker" descended at a very steep anii'le until it
disappeared, siill imse-divinir. :!.oim feet In-low.

AYhile this success showed that the "Fokker" was not in-
viivibl(\ it was seen thai this t \ pe of aii'plane was a dan-
ire rous opponent for reconnoiteriim 1 machines. But it va-
chine, built exclusively for the cha-e.

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

and licit luT stable enough, nor able to carry enough petrol
I'm* reconnaissance work. IT would lie in wait for st-onts
coming over its lines, t-liinl) very quickly and then make a
hawk-like >woop. escaping hack to its own lines if it met
wit h serious opposition. 111

"' I'rim-ii>a] Suu;v..-s Thr Lund. in Tinu.*' History <>f tlu- War." Associated
I'r>-- (lisiuiti'hcs. The New Y.irk TrUiiitu , Tin- N\-\v York 7iu^.

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Part VIII

THE GREAT GERMAN ASSAULT OX
VERDUN

THE FIRST PHASE: DOFAF.MONT AND YAFX AND
FORTS AYEST OF TIIK MEUSE THE

co. Mr NT; OF UFSSIAXS TO FRANCE

-January 124. 1!'1(> April :>0. l!lti

'oWARD the end of -January the Germans bewail to
* "feel'' the French and Kii;_;'Iish lines, thrusting one day
against the English a! Ypre-., another against the Freiteh in
('hampag'iie. and one day making a invat din of artillery -
fire over the whole front of l."ii) mil'--. In a general sense, it
had been known that prodigious offensive preparations by
tlie (i'-riiiaiis were in the making, but there had been so much
feinting, and so many false scares, that public interest had
heroine more or less perfunctory, -\vhcn of a sudden the tid<-
of net ion hep'an ominously and dangerously to rise at Ver-
dnn. E\'en then it was two or threi 1 days before it was fully
believed that the Germans had undertaken, in that sector,
an attack of the h'r-t importance one from, which they
not recede wit hoi;; serious, not to say disastrous
moral consequences. Hut ;; was soon seen that they had
i-lectrd to put fortune to the touch and pay the price of
seeing whether the French line could, or could not. be
smashed on the eastern frontier.

1; was during the famous "race to the sea.'' in the early
mi of 1!'1-K thai the Germans iirst eMabli-hed them-
s ves ;it. St. ililiii-l, some twenty miles south of \Vrdun.
\\ ere the Freiidi riiz'ht h.ad been weakened by the departure
foi- I-'!aiiders of the Twentieth Army Corps under Castlenau.
The (Jermans sei/ed the opportunily thus offered to strike
a blow, not only to cut the railway between Verdun and
Nancy, but to invest the Verdun fortress itself. Their suc-
cess in -vetting as far as St. Mihiel tilled them at the tim- 1
with a u'l-eat sen>.e of iriumjih. (Jerman sti-att^isN counteil
( 'rown Prince's army beinu' able s^on to sweep around

OX Till-] AYKSTKRX FRONT

AYrdun itself, jiiid through the Argonm-, and so to join the
(lei-man army that was operating on the Meuse. Instead of
thi^. the (Jeriuans did no more than cut the direct railway
line between Verdun and Xaiicy. For a lon<r time this re-
mained the limit of their success. The Crown Prince, for
over a year, tried to break through St. Mihiel and Verdun,
but he did not succeed iii attaining any objective of stra-
tegical or tactical importance. At St. .Mihiel he found liiin-
st-lf face to face with the natural barrier of the Heights of
the Meu.se which barred him from making a westward ad-
vance.

A> a preliminary to the attack on Verdun in February,
]!Ub', there had occurred in January an offensive operation
between the Oise and the North Sea. Nothing like sustained
derman action anywhere mi the Western Front had taken
place except a year before when a (lei-man advance on
Vpres was ushered in by the Use of poison jras. On January
24. near Nieuport.an attack" was now opened with a violent
bombardment. As many as 2(M)()l) shells were said to have
been tired, but without breaking the defenses. AVhen der-
man infantry tried to debouch from their trenches they were
driven back to cover by French artillery. Still another
(ierman effort was directed against French positions west of
the Arras-Lens road, where there was heavy fipfhting from
January L'.'Id to the 2 s th. a six-day battle, at the end of which
thi- oppo-inu 1 combatants stood practically in the same posi-
tion^ as before the attack was launched. Amonir other at-
tacks wa^ one on January 2!' south of the Somme. It
covered a front of from four to live kilometers between Frise
and I )ompierre. when Fri-e fell into (ierman hands and was
retained by them, altho trenches south of the village were
a Iterwa '.'< 1 recovered.

lievoiid air-raids and forays, no further event of im-
portance i<iok place uii the British front till February 12,
when the dermaiis renewed their attacks on the Vpres salient
hv breaking into trenches near 1'ilkem. but were driven out
bv bombiii'j- parties. Thi^ was I'ollnwed by a heavy bom-
bardment of the British trenches south of Iloo^e. between
the Vpre--( 'ommiiieN ('anal and the Vpres-Commines railway,
after which, on the ni'_dit of the l-tth-l.")th, the (.iermans made

LEGEND

French Battle Line
iiiiniiiiiiBritish Battle Line

Scale of Miles
10 20 3u 10 :>0

Mons X /I

' Ml

i- m:nl< atijick^ in !'..> \Vfsi durinir .T;innar\

I ill.- I:]--! TWO ivi'fk> nl l-i'liriiMrv. I'-Uii. tin 1 intiV'-ini'iit hiMim a

ON TIIK WESTERN FRONT

their way into advanced British trenches on a front of 6 ( >0
yards. The suc'i-ess of this attack was due to an e.\plo>ion
of mines, whi'-h rendered trendies untenable. The Hermans
>till had thrir eye on Yptvs. because it barred the way in
Calais. Detachments of Germans tried to reach Soisson> on
February 1:5. and a train on the 14lh. but were eliecked by
the tire of French trims. In the ('hampa^rne on February
11 the Fivnch captured :!()() meters of Herman lirst-iine
livnelies northeast of Mesnil, and in spite of repeated
<iunter-a1tacks kept possession nf them, but on tin- l:!th
they lost a pnsjii,,n east of tlie Tahure-Somme-Py road, and
only recovered a pnrlion of it. Durintr the four weeks
'ndiiiLr HM I-Ybniary 1") the Hermans delivered twenty attacks
atrainst tlie Frem-li fr"nt.

I: \vas still true that, if the Hermans could win a trreat
victory in the west take ('alais. Bmdntnie. and the ('haniiel
nasi -the mi ral etVeet wmild be incalculable and miiziii
lead to the makintr of that peace whi<-h was lielieved in Her-

to llaVe l)eell postponed l)i'C{|USl' nf a I'Oll VIcl loll ill

Ahied capitals thai Hermany was approaching exliausti'Ui

and thai the Allies had already won the war. If Hermany

led n ,w. a ; tn 1 she had failed iii the !>att !e

of Flandi-i's. lit'teeii months before, hei- success wmild ha\'e

In ;i -' _' _ ' ri t : low. pai't iciilarly to I^rance. espeejally

as the A a1 ' is time were believed to be plannintr a

for the spring or smiimei 1 tinrth nf Arr;is and

1 ampatrne. The (ii-rm;in positinn in l-'rain-e at this

was ;i dei ;, salient, nol \\-holly unlike the Camilla!'

ich 11 indeiiliurtj' and .Mackeiisen had broken

il the slimmer of I' 1 !'). It rested III the West nil tile fl!'ti-

': : e;;\ [.'. ... | T east mi the Arti'oniie ridt;e. now

>o a <iermaii fortress. Tn attack at both ends nf

; ; e (Ji-j'ii an Iii . a1 line and I'each (lernian cnminuni-

cations, to envelnp ;ijj ( j ciil i ,\'l (iennaii coi-])s. and so tn tui'n

(iei'tiiaiis nut ni' Kraii'-e am! Ueljfium. by a process nf

envelnpi il at was whal -lotTre had suiitiht in do evi-r

sii -i thi battle uf the Mariie. and that \vas what Fneii

: in !'<!-.

The (le.p-nian nffeiisive that was soon tn culminate at V"''
dun ': I - L'reate.st battle in the west sine,- the Alii' i

THE GERMAN ASSAULT OX VERDUN

drives in the districts of Champagne and Artois in the
previous September. On a wide front north of Verdun the
Crown Prince had been furnished witli an army estimated
at from 2f>( ).()()() to :500.()()() men with which to try again.
Vrrdnn was the most difficult point at which to smash the
French line: strongest of that line of fortified places which
faced the German frontier. Why Germany, numerically
weaker than her enemies, should have assumed the offensive
now. and whv she should have assumed it in a theater where

the odds weiv at their highest and the total cost would be
tremendous, was a bat'lling question. To Germany time un-
doubtedly was more than precious; it had become vital. It
was in order to gain lime that she had disregarded as "a
scrap of paper" an international obligation and had gone
through Belgium because the way past Verdun was longer
and harder. But the shorter way through Belgium had
proved for Germany no thoroughfare to Paris, and now. after
eighteen months of precious time and all the wa>tage of war,
>he was battering at Verdun once more.

OX THE WESTERN FRO XT

All that winter talk of peace had come from Berlin and
had met with a chilly reception, (iermany being informed
that the real struggle by the Entente had not yet begun.
Certain overtures to Belgium whatever these were, and they
were perhaps unofficial had been answered by a renewal
of Belgium's Allied engagements, (iermany was not in a
position to sit still any longer. She had to consider her own
people, who were growing impatient of victories which
brought no decision. Slit 1 had also the prestige of her
dynasty to think of. and the whole military and bureaucratic
system built around it. Two alternatives confronted her; she
might stand as before on the defensive in the AVest, and look
to the East for a decision: or she might attack in the AVest.
and then return against Russia. Perhaps the inspiration
for the attack she now made came largely from Falkenhayn.
new chief df >taff in succession to Moltke. and from Ilinden-
berg and Ludeiidorf'f. who had conquered Poland and who
believed that a triumph by the same methods could In 1 re-
peated at Verdun: that Verdun. Toul. and Kpinal could be
made to L;"'> the \vay of Kovno. Yilna. and Brest-Litovsk.

(Iermany. to their thinking, had never yet brought into play
in the West the full resources of her artillery machine. At-
tempts, it was true, had failed in the past at tin 1 Marne. and
in the lifst battle of Ypres. but (iermany had learned the
lessons of her failure, and believed that with Falkenhayn to
h-ad her. her new plans, based on an intensified use of artil-
lery, would put the odds ill her favor. Verdun was more
famous than either Ypres or Arras; besides, it was still in-
tact, and those cities had become mere shells. It was still
called a fortress, and had already been desperately battled
for. It was less than eight miles from the (ierman lines,
and within the an-a of th- k Crown Prince's command, so
that IK fall would have raised the waning prestige of the
dynasty, mil to mention that of its much discredited and un-
heroic young figurehead.

In attacking Verdun, (iermany really entered a trap, of
which she had never dreamed. It mattered not that the trap
wa> of her own makintr. It was just as truly a trap as if
the Allies had made it. To
1 the strongest

THE GERMAN ASSAFLT ON VIvRDl'N

she got into a position where, to save lice reputation, she had
to hold on till Verdun fell or give up a lout; struggle. To
stop would have been to admit to those at home whom her
military machine not only wished to impress, but had to im-
press, that it was no longer capable of the task it had set
out to accomplish. Not that German failure to take the
fortress would have ended the war in favor of the Allies,
but it would have proved, both at home and abroad, that
Germany was surrounded by an iron ring, and that, sooner
or later, she would have to beat herself to pieces against it
in efforts to break through. Germany made the battle of
Verdun her greatest effort thus far in the war. Guns that
had made short shrift of fortresses in Belgium were brought
forward and concentrated there in numbers such as no other
section of the battle area on any front had seen. Great guns
and small, thousands of machine-guns, masses of infantry,
were sent forward in successive waves, only to suffer in time
inconceivable losses. The poisonous gases first introduced at
Ypres were again thrown forward at Verdun. Liquid fire,
shooting out ahead of attacking infantry like so many
gigantic dragons' tongues, was employed to sear French in-
fantry as they manned their rifles. Some day Germany's
allies and the German public would know how serious and
tremendous that (Jerman effort was.

Verdun itself was a town of only 20. 1)00 people, but the
term was applied to a fortified area of 1-SO square miles.
When the ('rown Prince's army began its siege it faced the
herculean labor of reducing eighteen outer forts constructed
after the most approved plans of modern army engineers.
In addition to the>e there was an equal number of redoubts
and batteries, girdling every height in the neighborhood of
the town, on both banks of the Meuse. A series of straight
lines connecting all forts made a perimeter of nearly forty
miles, the longest distance between any two being that from
Fort de Marre on the west bank to Fort Doiiaumont. 1 he most
northerly, on the east bank. This line measured six miles,
but in the gap were three sfronir batteries, including Poste
and ('harny. From Douaumoni to Fort Genieourt on the
extreme south was a distance of twelve miles. The greatest
diameter in the fortified ana from cast to west was nine

OX THE WKSTKKX FRONT

miles, which was the distance from Moulainville to Bourrus.
The citadel of Verdun dominated the surrounding 1 territory
from the left bank on the site of the ancient abbey of St.
Vuiine. A circle with a radius of ten miles drawn about
the citadel before the war would have included more than
thirty suburb^ and villages nestling in vine-clad surround
iiiL:>. In the >ie^e practically all these fjarden-spots of Ver
dun were charred by the cui'tains of fire which swept over
the entire !viri"M. Some of them, like Fleury and Damloup,
under the >h;idow of Fort Vaux, became immortal on ac-
count of the frightful toll of life which was exacted in their
environs.

The (lei-man attack, as initiated on February 21. came
as no real surprize to the French. It was a realization of
po^ihilit ie> l.iim 1 foreseen, and for which the French >taff
iiad provided means to meet every eventuality. Since Feb-
ruary ]'i. the problem of maneuvering and revictualins; an
army of 'Join tin i men on the ri.Liht bank of the Meuse had
been under con>ideration. and had been worked out with
complete e! jnijiiai jon of assistance from any railways, since
fortunes of the \var miirht not keep railway> available.
A system of motor-transport had been prepared and or-
Lrani/.ed to take the place of railways. The keynote of a
battle for Verdun was to be ammunition. On hi> way west-
ward from (iermany to the front. 'MI .March, ('yril I.rown 1
pa-^ed a continuous procession of ammunition train>. -ome
rnllinir aloii i -r throiio-h (iermany. others crawling over tlie
bordeiinto France. He saw them unload their deadly freight
ul lift e <1 nt-to pieces way ---i a t ioi is on si 1'ati-sjrie bi'aneh-lines,
well ' :_' <>\ French truns. Ilundi-ed^ of tield-

is i'i -' : ;i i n i ML;' every nerve and muscle to unload
the daii'_rer"ii> m.-r'-liandise ipiickly and pile it up into \'a^t
mounds, in comparison with which the -/reat ipiantitie> of
IJuxsian amnniiiit ion found by the dermans in Kovno and

\,, l*l i* 1 i i 1 ~ "\II

, ,\-, i-(, t - 1 , I'M.. V-K MI the autumn ol I'M-) seemed to An-. I.rown

is." otln-r LraiiL r >. stimulated by officers, were
; :it;, toy-cars, pulled by toy-eiitrines.

.\;i,"!L r ' hatteries were a do/en ilivi-riimji liraiiches of
in"' 1 ' le i rrow-u'a^e field-railways, "windiiiL: away snake-

TIIH GKIttlAX ASSAULT ON VKIJIH'X

lik*-/' Some of these trains ''puffed deep into the lire-zone,
where they left loads of ammunition at advanced poini>. ; '
Hitched to miniature ammunition-trains could be seen half
a do/en cars, loaded with sections of track, all boiled to tiny
cross-ties which only needed to be laid and fastened to-
gether.

With an eye to the future, the fiermans also had unre-
mittingly pushed narrow-<i'a<re tracks close toward Verdun,
and so formed a network of ammunition railways. This

road-lniildin? for the transportation of millions of shells
\vas the work of troops. Miles of road with beds of cnisht
stone had 1o be bllill before ho;ivy u'Ulls could lie brought lip.

Tlie (ierman front before Verdun resembled the humdrum
and well-or<ranized routine of a irre.it eu<i"ineerin<>; enterprise.
.Mr. Brown's final impression was of heavy artillery boring
and blast inu' away at various points, where infantry wedges
would be driven when the time came; of laborious hlastinir
operations till the battle front should crumble and the
Fi'eh'-h fall back behind fortified lines; of monster jruns

O\ TIIK WESTERN FRONT

crawling closer and closer on caterpillar tractors: of ground
gained in terms of yards and inches only; of an advance
that moved so slowly toward Verdun as to seem to stand
still: of a concentration of apparently haphazard iits and
starts and eccentric jerks that constituted this most unique
of military operations, baffling to all except the highest
leaders /ho were iii the secrets of the (Jeneral Stall': of new
strategic and tactical methods, uncanny in machine-like in-
humanity. and of a wearisome repetition of processes, as
merciless as mathematics and as inevitable as the rising' tide.
The whole purpose of the German attack was to overwhelm
the French with the power of guns. served by ammunition
brought on trains on specially constructed railways. No
doubt the resources of the French were underestimated by
the (iermaiis. They did not know how prodigiously the
French supply of munitions had increased. The ratio of this
increase was as 1 at the beginning" of the war to 31 in Feb-
ruary. lull!. The output of larnv shells rose from 1 at the
beginning of the war to '}""> in December. I!)!."), and was more
than 44 when the (Jermans launched their Verdun offensive
iii February, ll'lli. Heavy guns were made in April. 1916. at
the rate of :!:! to 1 at the opening of the war. Of French
tield-guns the number was more than 23 times what it was
when ihe (lei-man rush on Paris was thwarted twenty months
before. Thus, as the military importance of Verdun had de-
creased. the cost of taking it, or of making headway against
it. ha

nch were no
ii-im-h typ
had had a monopoly
ore than to

f hi<_r howitxers.

other had (ie

(iermaiis struck litz'htlv and
. Tiiis was a method least
at any point, since il wa
fatr'_i':>1 an

OX TIIK WKSTKKX FRONT

that time, tin- deniians lacked a sufficient surplus of men to
iiiakf it possible f<>r them in withdraw some considerable
number from any sector elsewhere in the line; au<l that
theivfnre attacks had to IK- made in each seeior cautiously
by trniips stationed imuit -dialely in eaeh region and having
little outside viippnri. Tin- derman preparations ir tin-
attack in artillery were ln-li'-vd to have be"ii made on a
sc.de surpas>in</ ihnse for any previous otVeiisive nn tip-
western i'l'inn. Tin- mins ediiei-nii'atfd in the ca>l a year
b'-forc prolialily wire nut a- man;." as tlio>e oolleetec] in tht?
upper .AF'-n-'- valli-y at i!,' 1 end nf Febniary. IfHG. HUT tin?
IJu-^ian defeat in (Jalii-ia had been dm- to Ruvsian detii-i'-ney
in LTUII- and munitions i-atli'-r ilian in enormous (Jerman ^up-
plif>. The same conditim^ did tmi i-xi>t in the west. Vi-i-dini.
in fact, h-nt il>eli' to defi-nse in even ^reaii-r decree than
?>!'/. The rierman strateyy was that of Falkenhayn. and

was tia-^ed nn two principh thai no first-class artiller" ffnrl

had yet been made ajrainsl the westei'ii entrenchments, and
that, with adeijiiale concentratinn. <:nn> miii'hl win. A< a
preliminary the enemy was to he pu/./led and di.^li'actei].
i-'i'niii tlie tit^i week of fauna:'}" the Allied front, as al-
ri-ii ly s.-i f'nrih in detail, had bc.-n ;'"i 1 " in all it- streiijrili
from Xieiipnfi in the Alp--. Fnder covei 1 nf these nmve-
mi'titv rjermany !:ad continued tn accumulate ironp>. and
material in the Vi-rdun hinterland, which was to b.- the
sceni- of her real iif't'Viisivc. and then a' a tpiailer-past
>evi-n on the umrnijiu' of Mnnday. February ~2] . tho

ae' ;;,! 1 mill I i;i I'd !i ' i li 1 befni'e Vel'iluU be-all. The smallest

uuii was 4-inch, and the rnmmnnest F-inch, but the bi<r

b!-inch al-n played it- part. History had

v.-cii so furious a lire. It hlntted nui I-'i'em-h ;ii'-t

line-, shattered communication tiv-ni-hes. lore woods into

: 'ITS. and altered the very -hape nf hilN. l-'nlh
h.ii'd upnti i - dermaii infantry mn\-ed foj-wai'd tn what iliey
he. -n tnhj \\-niihl lie all ea-v and uncostly triumph. They
led tn ], in Verdun in fnur day-, us tln-y had exjn ''!
tn ' i . I'ari- ;i few vv'-i-ks at'le?- enteriiiLT Iii-liriuin. ''M thai
! e air was thick and damp, a ra\\

,'_' t'fntll the e.'.'^t. A -llOl't ^ea-n!| nf pfetliatlU'e -!

}| 'lie fa !' ' '.- Wi ' k- of 1 he tl|nnlh had -eel), had e/lVeJl
tO 1 I b] lllie nf NnVi-mbe!'. This Wa^ pel'fect

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

weather for the German attack. Their guns, massed far
behind in the open and tiring by tin- map, had the exact
range of the French lines, while the French guns could not
find the (iermans. since tile limit of visibility was low. It
was a sudden, overwhelming blast of fire, precisely directed
and fed from accumulations of munitions delivered from no
fewer than fourteen new strategic lines, suddenly unloosed
upon a front prepared for no more than an average field-
bombardment. Its success was planned to be immediate and
overwhelming. Soon tin- French tirst line disappeared, and
German infantry at noon advanced, promenading into pos-
session.

The action started with a general and intense bombard-
ment of the French advanced positions from Malancourt. on
the left bank of the IMeuse. to Abaucourt, on the right bank;
the main volume of. fire being directed from the region of
Spincourt, where the greatest number of German batteries
Were massed, against the northern sector of the salient which
the oMncent rated and concealed infantry were in readiness to
assault. The bombardment encompassed the Verdun region
with a devastating ring of fire on three sides. It destroyed
in a twinkling French advanced positions, and removed en-
tirely from the map a number of small localities. It con-
Vlilscd the countrywide lik" a tornado, vibrated the air a::d
altered atmospheric conditions for miles and miles around,
and shattered nerves as uell as ground formations.

The advanced positions which the French, under sudden
pressure from the Germans, evacuated soon after the -attack
bewail, had been taken up only for the purpose of protecting
Verdun itself from (list nil 1 bombardment. In the face of an
overpowering offensive it had been intended to abandon these
outlying posts, remove the civil population from the town,
and fail hack on the first line of permanent defenses. After
the Germans broke throuirh tie 1 outer line, the French had
:;econd and third lines, both equally stromr. to fall back upon.
The second line ran from the heinh.N of Montzeville. on the
1-ft bank of the Mouse, along a rid<re which touches the river
at Charny. where it was prolonged on the riu'ht bank
to the Tavennes blu''f which commands the Verdun railway
to M t/ O:\ the third line was the (.'haume position on the

OX THE WESTEKX FKOXT

left bank of the river, and the Belleville-St. Mihiel-Belfort
])osition on the riirht bank, with a continuous chain of forti-
fied works as far as Fort Haudainville. Before the Germans
could enter Verdun each position had to be carried at the
point of the bayonet after <nins had done their work.

Where the ground permitted, the Germans came for-
ward in serried masses, to be met by devastating artillery.
mitrailleuse- and rifle-lire. The total forces finally en<ra<n-d
in the attack were estimated as hijrh as from MOO. 000 to
400.000 men. The French command, while reeop;ni/in<r the
strength of the German artillery, refused to believe the Ger-
mans were backed by sufficient infantry to hold such trenches
as the French mi<rht temporarily evacuate under stress of
tire. The center of the stru<i'irle at first was between Brabant
and Ornes. Here dense masses of men. rank after rank, in
old phalanx formation, were thrown against French trenches
above Ilaumont. in the Caures wood, at TIerbebois and north
of Ornes. Tin- Germans were thrown back with losses, ex-
cept in the woods of "Wovrille. Two acute and dangerous
French salients. Caures-TTerbebois and the village of Brabant,
had been left somewhat in the aii 1 by the evacuation of a
irrnup' of twenty or thirty cottages called Tlaumont. These
positions were from three to five miles beyond the outer-
most of the p'Tinanent fortifications of Verdun. The as-
sault proceeded with terrifically increasing intensity and un-
interruptedly for seven days, but on the eighth or ninth day
the intensity relaxed.

In the meantime, activity increased at other points, notably
on tin- Woevre Plain, to the southeast of Verdun, and at
two points on the line west of Verdun. One of these was
at the corner of the western front looking toward Paris.
Verdun itself was 140 miles from Paris, but two minor of-
fensive positions, far to the west of Verdun, were 1O."> and (iO
miles from Paris respectively. After two days of rest the
frontal attack on Verdun was impetuously resumed, the
pressure from the southeast at the same lime increased.
First opinions apparenllv were continued that the Germans

i II

had made "a flintr with fate" and found they could not
lonir as there was any hope of fretting
cost.

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

By February -'.$ fighting of great violence was in progress
from the right bank of the Me use to a point southeast of
Herbebois. North of Verdun there were infantry action-
on a front of ten miles. East of Seppois the French were
able by a counter-attack to retake a great, portion of the
Forest of Cauces. Troops belonging to seven army corps.
under the Crown Prince, were engaged along a twenty-five-
mile front north. The battle-line reached from Malaneourt on
the west to Etain on the east, with Verdun in the center but
several miles southward. The bombardment of French posi-
tions made with thousands of shells was uninterrupted. All
available French guns were called into action and responded
in kind to heavy shelling by the Germans. In the fighting
north of Verdun, which was prest with unabated violence,
the Kaiser's troops, despite a heavy fall of snow, made
progress toward the fortress, forcing back French lines
along the whole front from the east bank of the Meuse to
south of Ornes.

"Serious but not disquieting 1 ' was the phrase used com-
monly in Paris to describe the situation. Paris was extra-
ordinarily calm in the presence of the great battle. Then 1
were no indications of tension or nervousness, but sober con-
fidence rather in results. The battle on both banks of the
Meuse was increasing in intensity, especially in the center on
the wooded heights which form a continuation of the Cotes
Lorraine. Here the struggle was for the Cote de Talou. a
barren ridge commanding the high-road, which the Germans
captured in the course of the day. a French counter-attack
being repulsed. Simultaneously in the hills east of the
Meuse a like movement was in progress. One /one in the
neighborhood of the Herbebois Wood, about three-quarters
of a square mile in extent, at the end of the bombardment
of some hours resembled a field the soil of which had been
turned by some new kind of agricultural machine. A veil
of smoke and dust floated over the field. An eye-witness
described the bombardment : "

"Without reusing shells of every caliber are bursting around
us, and the air is torn with incessant explosions. Thousands of.

= Printed in The London Tii '.-.'' "IINtory of the War."

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

projectiles arc flying m every direction, some whistlinsr, others

howliMir. others niuaniiiLr low. and all this whistlimr, howling, and
moaning unites in one infernal roar. From tune to time an
aerial torpedo passes making a noise like that of a yi^untic rattling
n.oior-car. All these missiles of destruction iiyintr over a fairly
\vide area hurst mie upon the other, so dense is the fire. Shell
fragments lly mi every side from the cloud of smoke and earth,
which soon becomes so per-istent that it finally covers the earth
like a thick I'OL:'. With a tremendous thud a inant shell bursts
i|i;ite close to our observation post, breaking the telephone wires
and interrupting all communication with our batteries. A man
L'ets out at once for repairs, crawling alonir on his bellv through
all this plaee of burstim: mines and shells. It seems <|tiitf im-
possible that he should escape from the rain of shell which is fall-
in L' with disquieting rapidity. The enemy's shell expenditure ex-
ceeds anything imaginable. There has never been such a bombard-
n;ent in war be'oiv. ( \r man seems to be envelo]ied in explosives
and shelters him-elf from time to time in the shell craters
which lie thick upon the -round one upon the other, lie linally
reaches a le-s stormy spot, mends his wires, and, a> it would be
madness to try to return to cover, he settles down in a bi'j -hell-
crater and waits for the storm to pa-s."

1'ii'l'T tliis tin- the lir-i line ami lar^e portions nf ih<'
Mipp"rtii!L!' line- of French tr<'iiehes disappeared, ami a
mass of Tumbled earth took ti.eir places. WooiN in the tii'-t
line were splinter.-.! and shattered "as tho -otnr wild tor-
n;ido had swept <lown upon them." (ii'eal trees were up-
rootcd and rent and the woods became Mlled with an nnder-
L r !'i i\\ th oj' splinter- and > i>'-l>:'>.

In Par;- the temper of tin- piildie as to the tinal outcome
became day b\ day moj'e coniideiit . I-"ot % the fir-i time prr-

haji- a eoi|seioll-ne>s of e(jllipoi>e in tin- oj)posij|'_ r t' I' 1 '--.

rather than an inl-n-e admiral inn for a irallanl fi.trht airainst

odds. oeellpi'MJ the pubiii' Illilld. After the lit'-l dilVS of

tiarkn'-.-s and di-a-t-r aloiitr the ['..'leian front iej-. in 1M14. the
Kreiieli had betfiin to realize, faintly, pefhapx. the tremendous
slreiifth of thi 1 IJermaii ''_"'. n^-maehin--. In the re-i-
1 ' ' ' "A !-!! ! '.'"Irani rellehes -i : , i\ved

more ch-arly how L't'eat would have to IH> their
{ireparat ions for victory. The Marne. liowi-vej-. had pre-
vented the survival of aiiv ietri-nd of aetual (Jei-maii in-

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

vincibility. The fight in Flanders for the road to Calais had
shown that, in sticking power, the Allies need fejir no com-
parison with their enemies. In the Champagne were seen for
the tirst time the fruits of war-industries which had covered
France with factories. After the tirst few days of anxious
tension during the battle of Verdun, French public opinion
hegjin to perceive that here at least the German artillery
and German "tackle" had found their equal, if not their
master, in the new artillery resouives of France.

On the evening of February '2~t. ;is the result of Castelnau's

A srUiilCAL DUELING-STATION IX AN UfTUK TllLNCLl

visit, and under orders from -Toffre. wlio.se chief of staff C'as-
telnau was. and a survey of ihe situation. Petain. then com-
nianding in the ( 'hampa^ne. was >ent to A'erdun to take over
direct control of its defense. IV-Tain. destined to command all
the Freneh jinnies in France durinjr Foclrs succt^ssful offensive
in 1 !'!>. at the ht'fjiiininjj of the w;ir \\";is one of hundreds of
colonels about to retire. Tie had --prut liis years (jiiietly in
the army seeking neither notoi'ieiy nur.fame. but performincr
reii'imental duties, and >panny; neither himself nor his men.
I>eean>e he had been pjixsed over in promotion lists. ;md be-
cause of hi> frequent use nf a Mimewluit iri>nic;d wit. tlier--

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

had been given to his personality a flavor of bitterness joined
to an austerity of life. But he had commanded his regiment
so well during the Charleroi defeat, that he had been marked
out for promotion. Those were days of wholesale removals
of generals by .Jof'fre and promotion was not uncommon.
But Petain got a brigade.

Castelnau having concluded that Vermin could be held,
and must be held, summoned to the task his ablest lieu-
tenant in Petain and Petain went to Verdun alone in a
motor-car. French reserves following. His task was to do
what Castelnau had done at Nancy in September. 1!H4 to
hold the eastern gates of his fatherland. lie did not arrive
an hour too soon. In four days several miles of ground
had been lost, and with them gun-positions that made his
task still more difficult. Petain had to reorganize communi-
cations which had been terribly threatened, to reconstruct
and perfect entrenchments that had been neglected, to bring
up supports over difficult ground, to meet the greater man-
power of the enemy, and to orgauixe artillery to counteract
the hammer-blows of the colossal Cerman concentration. lie
had to do all this against an enemy who believed a victory
had already been won.

order had been issued by the iJerman command that,
costs Douaumont must be taken and held, since Douau-
miinl was the key to Verdun. Victory was taken for
granted when the order was bruited in Berlin. Berlin only
wanted the word to fly its flags and make a holiday. When
the wearied French lines, after bending back for live days,
found themselves reinforced under IVtain, on the morning
of ihe 2(>th, they launched their counter-attack in which the
famous Twentieth Corps of Nancy, the men who. with
Casielnau. had held the (irand Coiiroiine. swept from behind
a cresl of hills and drove back the invaders in the most
critical time in the whole \Yrdim battle. The (Jerman aim

falling back had cotnp

III 88

TIIK (JKR.MAN ASSAl'LT OX VKKDCN

deavors. each pail of which now required fresh infantry
attacks and nc\v artillery 'preparations, French guns were
tired from positions which the (iermans had not registered.
and unequaled French gunners handled them. The (ierinan
iiioiiiciituin did not pun, liul di-cliiied.

After the (iermans had captured the Ilerbebois AVouds. the
< 'hambret te Farm and the Village of Ornes, they found im-
mediately facing them a corner-stone of the permanent
stronghold of Verdun For! Pouamnonl which stood on a
protected hill jutting out like a promontory. Vv'hen. after
battering 1 down its armored defenses by heavy artillery, a
bold storming 1 attack" was made by a Brandenburg regiment,
this meant that all the northeastern defenses of Verdun were
in jeopardy. Standing on a hill four miles north of Fort
Douanmont, Kaiser Wilhelm watched for six hours the
bloody struggle for possession of the foil. A raw wind blew
sheets of rain and snow across the eminence. Staff officers
urged the Fmperor not to expose himself on account of a
recent illness, but despite entreaties lie held to his post, lield-
glass in hand, protected by a great storm-proof coat, while
the Brandenburg's charged the French positions. As Douan-
mont was being stormed the noise was deafening five miles
away. For minutes together there was a continuous crash,
huge (lermaii shells bursting in and round the town, and
French guns answering from every slope. Outside the town
from lime to time there came a silence of perhaps thirty
seconds that was more nerve-racking than the eternal boom
of bursting shells. During these silences men waited in
tense expectation for the infernal din to break loo-e again.
Never before had so many heavy guns and such super-
abundance of ammunition been concentrated on a single
point. Everywhere on the French line (here rag-'d such a
--toi'in of huge projectiles as probably had never before been
known in the history of war. Practically no small caliber
Willis were used, the main (Jermaii artillery being made up of
eight- and twelve-inch guns. Officers who had been through
the battle in the Champagne declared that the work of
French artillery on that occasion wax a mere nothing com-
pared with the artillery used by the (iermans before Verdun.

Duuaiimonf village is situated about three-tenths <>f a

OX TIIH WKSTKRX FKOXT

mile to tin 1 northwest of and below tin- fort of the same name.
It was strongly fortified before tin- offensive began. Stories
were told f protected subterranean chambers, fifty to eighty
meters deep, covered by nearby batteries on a ridge running
sout hwesl ward from tlie foil. The French .could be driven
out only after earefid artillery preparation and repeated
storming assaults. Lying a t |) 1( . base of an elevated peninsula.
forming a salient from the fort northwestward of the main
line of the outer girdle of permanent fortifications, it be-
came a mere scrap-heap, mingled with the shell-torn trunks
of trees.

German artillery, after a pause of sixty hours, re-
turned to the attack against the Douaumont positions on
Man-h 1. Douaumont, which was 1.200 feet high, was the
highest hill above Verdun, and commanded the whole sur-
roundings. ( >u March -. from 10 A.M. until .'> P.M., the village
was covered with so great a number of shells that the Ger-
mans believed they had annihilated the defenders. Having
covered their heads with helmets, infantry went forward,
but machine-guns and rifles stopt and decimated the assault-
ing waves. On March M, the French bombarded Douaumont
and soon converted the village into a heap of stones. French
artillery charged at night, battalions of selected troops
throwing themselves against German barricades all of which
gave way. The village was again in French hands. On the
-tth. the Germans resumed the offensive. A furious battle
lasted from daybreak until the night when the village was
once more taken by the Germans, and the French line was
reconstructed L'dii meters in the rear.

l!arn von K'eden. writing from the front on February
'J!' declared that "a new page of history had been turn-d
here before my eyes a tenfold magnification of the picture
of the battle of Sedan." While only a part of the battle
around Verdun could be seen by him. ''yet this section was
titanic in extent." He said of the attack on "the strongly
fortified and far-dominating Hill :!M." that as the infantry
advanced, "a frightful tire from some far-distant French
fla!ikiir_r batteries laid a checkerboard pattern of bursting
shelU on the foreground, through which the brave troops

1 Iu t !, I',' r'lin 7 'I'!' lilut t.

TILE GERMAN ASSAl'I/F OX VKKDTN

stormed with indescribable defiance of death till at last they
readied the top of the hill." Hut the French having laid a
tierce concentric fire upon this important hill, possession of
which was decisive for the terrain on both sides, the German
troops "were completely cut off for t \vo days as on an
island and forced to hold out,'' which they did despite
everything, and held out until a whole strip of the front
was in their possession. Karl II. von \Vie<rand ' quoted Paul
K. Krause. son-in-law of Field-Marshal von der Golt/., as

rrihinjr on March iM. the seenes he had witnessed around

''Hour after hour, day and niuht. the thunder of the biir u'uns
in what was perhaps the irreatt'sl artillery duel in the history
of the world, rolled in from around Verdun like the ponderous
roaritiLT of inuantic waves continuously breaking on >ome rock-
boiind shore. The roar of battle was at times heard '_'<!() kilometers
nr about 1-1 miles. Fascinated by the wonderful spectacle almost
the entire population of the towns and villages ot' the western
slope of the Yos^es. in the Meurthe \ailev and in Lorraine, sns-

ID Th" W<,rl'l i X<-w Y.Tk I.

ON TIIK \YKSTKKN FKONT

pemied work to watch and listen to the deep-throated cannon,
which made the carili tremble for a radius of many mile-.

"People >ecined Ii\ -pnot i/ed by the spectacle. Not only ( Jeriuar.
civilians but a larne portion of the French population: woimde.i
who came from the hospitals far back of the reserves; officers and
mri of the lines of coniinunication back of the army, and ollicers
and men of the columns of supply and ammunition trams, were
as>eiiibled mi the Lorraine heights overlooking the \VoJ ; vre plain.
and almo-t silently looked into the veritable hell of thunder-
roar-, tire and snioke beyoml.

"Several stories hi 1 .;!! smoke, earth, and debris shot into the air
where the biuu'^t shells exploded. Kadi time it seemed as if an
isually j.iL'.ani ic "wave had broken there on the clifl'. It was im-
possible to c-onceive how human beings could live through that lire.
To] - upon tons of steel and iron projectiles were rainini:' upon
that short sector with marvelous accuracy, wreathing the ridue in
ja-j'u'ed : : .-i:..'- and smoke. Numerous columns of I-'i-em-h prisoners
and wounded passed us. The French were in a state of apathy as
if' >tupelie(l, utterly da/.ed. They said no human beir.ir could h>:;_:
exis! in that hell: that the shock when the biu 1 shell- struck the
ced concrete or steel armored plates, the a:r pressure and
coiic;is>ion from the terrific explosion, and the constant trembling
anil sliakinu' of the "round were so terrible that i; stupetied the
ihiiid and ] laraly/ed the nerves.

Fivneh arlilli-ry ot'ticei-s oiiinalei] Ilial. diiriiiu 1 llie firsi
t'oiir ilayv of tile >1 rtiir^'le. the (lermaiis dixdiaru'eil :2.i H in.iiiii i
slii-lK. innsl :>f them of lii-avy ealiber. The niimbei' of prn-
jeetih-s lired by the |-'reiieh \vas probaldy as <jfi'rat. The
whole theory of opi-ratioiis was fo ptilveri/.e defenses a' lotm
ranee, drive out or kill defenders, and Ihen oeeiipy the
Lffoiind liy ina-s,.il i'u>hi'> of infaiilry. The prineiple o|' thr
^' feii>e was to scareli out the heavy pieces id' the adversary
\\~ilh eipiaily Ip'avy shells, to wilhdi'aw from ileniolished tir^ ;
liiii- works, ami then, whru th'^f desei'ted treindi-wehs Wi'fi
appruaelii-d by altaekiny t'ore'-s on the run. io eaiidi ihem
with multiplied enfilading artilb'i'y and machine-trim
At tinifs thf life \\'a^ ^iiddfidy suspended, and the attackers
'!i 'ja L 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 in ha nd-1 o-hand nilanlry clashes.

Tie- (iermans u-.-d several kind> of liquid-tire proji-etois.
(>ni- \va-~ in ihi' form of a small tank carried on the baek
and liih'd with a eomposilion-liiniid which seemed In lie

TIIK (JKRMAN ASSAFLT ON YFKDFN

mostly kerosene. Attached to the no/./lc was an igniting
apparatus, the liquid being projected ly means of a hand-
pump. The radius of action of the oil depended on the
skill and physical effort of the man who projected it, but
it was ordinarily from sixty to ninety feet. Some French
soldiers were burned to a crisp by this flaming liquid. Other
chemical weapons used by the (iermans were asphyxiating
shells which spread vapors that irritated the eyes, and in-
cendiary shells.

Near the end of February had been undertaken an attack-
in"' movement in the \Yoeviv plain. The northern part of 1 hat
rich, fruitful country, had been in French hands since Sep-
tember, l!M4. The (Jerman advance now swept over its
lieids and through its extensive woods, first in snowstorms
and then in a sprin.tr thaw. Field-batteries galloped past
in the open and heavy trims advanced, producing unac-
customed pictures everywhere. Among the fresh troops
with which the French in violent counter-attacks sought
vainly to withstand the advance from Donaumont to Ilard-
aumont. were seen Moroccan regiments. From tin. 1 Lorraine
Heights a (ierman war correspondent '' wrote:

1 \\*e c-oiilcl overlook the AYoevi'c pluiii and sec far lichind in the
background thai hell of sinoke anil life in \\'inch an unprecedented
artillery li'_dit I'm' the fort- and L'urtiiied positions of \'efliin was
rairir.ir. Cleafly visible on the hori/on rose a bare rid .'' of heights
on the riii'lit hank of the river towering above the Mense heights,
and in the valley behind lay Ycrdim. At the northern point of thi-
nduc. which \\'as also the lushest point, a l'ai'a\\'av garland ol
white shrapnel-clouds loo'.;cd like tin- sillioiicile of the fortros
\\hich we had coin | iieivd. In the immediate neighborhood of this
fortress of 1 loiiaiimont the battle was rairinii' with particular tierec-
tii'ss. l-'.vcii from oiif distant point of observation we could rt'cojr-
ni/e this from the white poudei'y clouds which were wafted hither
ainl thitlicr.

"Bui ho\v can we describe the hell on the hci^lit of the ndt:e
to the left of [kmnuinont. upon which for miles the French arlil-
Ici'v posiiioiis extended.' I'pon lliein the lire of onr heavy and
heaviest trims was directed. As hiuh as a house columns ,,f dust,
earth and smoke rose from onr burst insj 1 shells, and it \vas almost
iiicuintirehensiblc lo us t' at men could live there and liulit.'

OX THK NVKSTKKN FRONT

<>n Mardi ">. further \vc>l across the Mcust 1 . the Germans
emerged from positions around Forces and began a long-
expected tlank offensive. It was about eight o'clock in the
morning when their gray clad columns started from the
Forces wood and the village of Drillancourt (west of the
wo- id toward Forces. "Whenever Prussian regiments de-
bouched from the lower angle of the hill and the shelter of
the wood, they were met with tierce machine-gun and rifiV-
tire. They were also subjected to the enfilading salvos of
French field-guns from Hethineourt and Dead Man's Hill.
After a furious bombardment, the Qermans entered Foruvs,
and despite retreated French counter-attacks, pushed forward
up the grassy slope of Hill iMi."). Five regiments were sent
to the assault. They were repulsed twice with great losses,
but the third attack was successful. At the c]os,. ,,f the day

the French still held tile Upper heights of I r- lose Ridge I ('<~>t<:

<1< 1'O'n and flic approaches to the road from Forces to
('umit''res. French oftieers estimated the attacking forces at
not less than L'IHHIO. More than fifteen different battalions
were identified by the French. All day the (iermaiis fniight
to train a foot inn 1 in the important village of Bethincourt,
which lies in a hollow, overlooked bv both eombatants.

by the French, who fought with indomitable tenacity. Th"
heavy losses amoiiLT (Jerman officers were explained by the
fact that, for the tir--t time in many months, oftieers up to
the rank of general had on tin- Kaiser's order led the men
into action instead of following them.

On March 1 ( > the battle at Verdun was going on with un-
diminished intensity, but without cau^inu- an\" radical change
in the respective poviijon^ of the opposing armie>. Fighting

was p!-. eiJinM- f, if definite possession of the village of I)ou-

aumoiit, Iieinfoi'cemeiits. lu-oiiu'ht up by the (iermans alter

tlii-> plia^e of tin- battle beu-aii. had 1'aised the total forces

utili/.ed by the a^-ailants jirobably to half a million siieh

at I'-a-t wa> an Allieil estimate. Particularly vioh-nt were

attack^ made to the n irth of \'erilnn. around Douaiiinont . it

viliaL r e of \*aux and at Forl Vaux. Here the Hermans

vvef ( - thrown in -olid formation against l-'i'eiich ti'enches at

I nit of slope- i lominat inir l-'"i-t \'aux. but the French

. \

TIII-; (juiniAx ASSAFLT ON YKKDCN

brought their curtain of tii'c into play and drove back the
attacking 1'oi'ccs. Northeast of the fort the (Jermuns essayed
an assault against the village of Yaux. from which they
had previously Itcen driven by the French, liut here they
were repulsed. Aii attack on the outskirts of the village
of Dnuaumont was similarly beaten by French artillery and
infant ry-firc.

Three weeks of terrific conflicts ended in disputed posses-
sion. One week the question was as to Fort Doiiauinont
whether the (iernians had taken it or whether the French
still held it." In efforts put forth by one side to capture
and by the other to save it. a presumption was created that
Douaumont was a "key portion.'' but when the Fivneh
yielded and the Germans finally took- it. the effect on the
coinbai as a whole was almost imperceptible. Next week
there was a like suspense over Fort Yaux. which the (Jer-
mans one day were reported to have taken at a dear price.
against which came the French assertion That the (iermans
liol only had not captured Fort Yaux or the village of Yaux.
I'll! had never stormed the one and Were repulsed from the
other. Fort Yaux wa- only two miles from Fort Douamnonl
to the southeast, but it was hardly any nearer Yerdun.

Major Moraht. the (lermaii military expert, estimated the
French losses at this stage of the attack at TO.ono to NI.OOO
and the (lerman losses as low: hut if the offense had not
c-osl a greater sacrifice of men than was required of the
defense, the result was a reversal of experience in war. If
the (ierman casualties had not been at least twice as heavy
as those of the French it would have been remarkable. An
explanation might lie in the fact that the battle of Yerdun
was an event characterized by new experience. Powers of
offense and defense, developed to the utmost, here met as
for a supreme trial. It was the most terrific impact of
tile war. and il came after a long preparation as to means
and condition- with problems which could be solved (inly by
the "income. An inelastic, muscle-bound, direct and head-
long mass was impigned with terrific momentum upon a
body which was fully prepared to receive it. and which, for
taetical and temperamental reasons, had elected to offer a
re-istance that in quality was t'exible instead of rinid. In

OX TIN-: WFSTKKX FRONT

other words, a (ierman iron-mass was launched and a yield-
iiiiT French body received it with commanders who from the
monu'iil the liirhiinu: be<ran were opportunists. It' oin- ap-
plied ilic matlit'inatical law of impact, he would have ex-
pected that tin 1 ela-tic Imdy \vuuld suffer the ".Tcatest altefa-
lini] nf shape at the tirst shock but thai it would rebound
i'ui'iher. and wmild ultimately make the greater effort to
reeovi'r its original foi'in.

Xever In-fore in this war. or in any other war. had artillery
and heavy Lrnns been employed <:^ they were at Yei'duu.
O>i iliis puint at least all the evidence agreed, no matter
from which side it came. In the lirM i'onr days of the
attack, when tlie dermaus fired 2.000.000 shells, whole woods
were reduced to kindlinp', a 1'iver disappeared in one place;
tin- top of a hill was literally blown away in another. The
third week lei'1 the outcome as uncertain a-> it was at the
em] of the iirst. save that the arrested rate of (iei'inan
pi'o^i'css liad to be treated as significant. One of the
peculiarities of the attack. iVom the iirst. was that it wa^
launched fi-oiitally against the \"erdun salient. whei'ea> irood
tactics always before had insisted on takinjr a salient on two
-ides at Ollce instead of on the head: to squeeze 11 together
;i; ; ,''!' than cru-di it from the apex. It was French military
" ' > who seemed to think thi> was a blunder, and that the
( 'I'own Pi'iiice \\'a> ri'sponsible foi' it. It was a question to
In- left for future decision, on evidence not at that time

The (it'feiisive thus far had resulted in important net

chains. While al some points the Allies had been able

'o r"_raiu pai't- of the "'round, the (iermans chum' tenaciously

: de-pile all elVorts to dislodge them. The

en I'l-siiincd wit h an a> Iva nee by the < lermaii

. , - far a> Furl Douaiimont . followed by a swiim 1 of

ii".'-m;in left \vliii-li brought the line to Fort Yaux. 1 '.y

; tl ir i 111 ivenn'tit an advance was made by the ri^ht (ler-

- wexj 1,,-nik uf tin- MeiiM'. Through llnx

Mi-Ill hi- ( Jermatls i'X])ectei 1 in have \ cl'i llill
oil 1 lifer sides and every pa ft of it

ir--. 'I . . en 1 iial ivduct ion of the f. if t iv>s M-CHH-I i

. pfo\ ideil 1 he Fl'elH-ll did Hot launch a serious

TIIK (iKKMAX ASSAFLT OX VKRIH'X

counter-offensive and the (iermans did not run short of men
and ammunition.

The result of the blow on the west bank was to win a
triangle, less than a mile deep, between the brook of Forge.-
and the P>el hineoiirt-( 'umieres road. It >harpetied the l>e-
thineourt salient. hut it did not >ecure the keypoinl of the
Mort Ilonime. On the east bank most of the "Wood of
Hardaumont had gone, and the (iermans were up to Vaux
village, but they wei'e no nearer retaking the village of
1 )onauniont . ("p to now the attack had lost perhaps twice
as many men as the defense. The original (ierman plan had
gone astray. Tip 1 battle of Verdun, as conceived by Falken-
hayn by the end of the first week had been lost. That swift
surprize which was to have given the Germans the city and
thereby a rebounding advertisement for (ierman arms and
which in certain circumstances might have broken the French
front, had died away into a war of trendies. By the middle
of March, it was dear that Verdun, even if it fell next day,
would have been bought at far too high a price. The
essence of war is to win something from an enemy at a
fair price. In every battle both sides have losses; if the loss
to one side, whether in position or in men. is greater than
the loss to the other, the latter lias Avon.

The (ierman schedule, according to numerous (ierman
prisoners, called for an entrance into Verdun on March '2.
or two day- before the opening of the new (ierman loan
subscription on March 4. Verdun had not been entered on
that date but Douaumont, with its old fort had yielded and
xiit'liced to give an aspect of hopefulness to the Verdun of-
fensive. Occasional attacks kept up the h'>pe of victory until
the closing date for si 1 1 >-c r i pt i > >i N on March '2'2. after which
(lie attacks on Verdun plainly slackened, altho they were
continued Tor many weeks. Thus a h>an was made at Ver-
dun, hul the commission was paid in the blood of perhaps
100.000 killed and wounded. To deny the success of the
loan, as some among the Allies did. was to doubt the <>b-
vious. IVrhap^ less wa^ rai^-d than in the phenomenal sub-
scription of Aii!.riM. 1!>1.~). but still it was enoiiu'li to carry
on the war for several months longer. The loan proved

ON THE WESTKKX FRONT

that there \vas still plenty of borrowing capacity in German

(ioVrrnmelit credit.

Berlin's confidence in graining Verdun was reflected as

hiii' as March '21 by Karl IT. von Wiegand/' who wrote from
the (ierman lines north of Verdun on March 27 that "with
almost glacier-like force, irresistibility, and steadiness the
vast army of the Crown Pritiee is slowly enveloping \ er-
dun." lie said that probably n^t far from 1 .(MMi.iMMi men
liad been battling on both sides around Verdun, and "never
in the history of the world have such enormous masses of
artillery been engaged in battle at one point/' On the
forty mile semi-circle firing-line around Verdun, from the
Meii-e above St. Mihiel to Avoeourt. the Germans probably
had two thousand, perhaps :>."><><). guns in active service
or in reserve. Were each gun tired but once an hour, there
would have liceii a shot every second. As probably half the
trun-- were of middle and heavy caliber, the average weight
JUT shell was certain to be more than twenty-live pounds.
It followed that, even in desultory tiring, Ib'O.itUO pounds, or
from four to live car-loads of iron, were raining on the
French positions every hour. The tremendous amount of
artillery used by the French was estimated to be almost as
Lri'i-at as that ued by the (lermans. The conclusion was that
more than (iJNin cannon, varying from o-inch field-guns \n
42-centimeter sien-,. -mortars, "were engaged in hurling thou-
samK of high-explosive shells hourly in the never ceasing,
thunderous artillery duels of the battle of Verdun."

In the sixth week of the assault two miles of line bet \\ven
Vaiix and Douaumont saw a resumption of the (ierman
attack, bcinir the fourth major assault on the Verdun front.
but it was thrown back aft>T it had scored partial Drains.
French troops delivering one of the few extensive counter-
attacks they had thus far undertaken. They regained po^i-
tions in the ''aillette wood and in Vaux villatre. los^ of
which had ^rin-ly threatened their line of defense. As a
result the NJiuation north of Verdun and east of the Meii^e.
for ':." time lieiiii_r_ \vas brought back" a])pi'oxima1ely to
' it was on Ma reh 11 sn that the tactical situaliou re-
mained the same, but the failure of a fourth a-^ault had

THE GKRAIAX ASSAl'LT OX VKRDl/X

for France a larger meaning. It gave further proof that
tfie French stronghold could not be won by the Germans
without a sacrifice of men exceeding its value 1 , and perhaps
sin-passing the power of Germany to bestow. Infantry
masses had been used by Germany four times, with all the
losses that such a course in the face of an entrenched
enemy, entailed, but without breaking the line of defense,
a line moreover which was neither the last nor the best
still standing between the attack and its objective. When

some intimate history of the Verdun M ruu'trle came to be
'ii the battle for ('ailletle wood promised to rank a> nil* 1
of its most bloody and thrilling epi>odes. After a hurricane
of French artillery fire, there was left a shell-torn ground.
covered with debris, over which neither horse nor ear:
could go.

I'ldess some barrier rose swiftly, a French counter-attack
already massing mitrht sweep the assailants back. Cnder
heavy tire, the (Jcrmans. disdaining cover stood at full
height making a chain that stretched openly across hollows

ON TlIK WKSTKKN FItONT

in that lint- I iy ImrMintr liH'lillitt', Iiu1 as coolly as at ma-
iii-uvffs the iron-disciplined soldiers of (Germany sprang for-
ward from f'-ar -helteis to take I he places of fallen com-
rades and the \vork \vciit on. (iradually another line came
in and doubled the chain as upheaved corpses forim-d a
contiiioii> embankment. cadi additional dead man invm";
LT'-aier protection to his comrades. The work of resistance
ended after fearful cost. As the vanguard sullenly with-
drew there hurst alono- the whole lentrth a liavoc of flame
directed at llic advancing Frenchmen who dashed forward,
lmt the liarri'-r Mil] held. As evenintr fell German workin<r-
paities burrowed like mule^ in a maxe of trendu'S.

[Ti-i'e had in-i'ii seen a radical clianpre in the tactics cm-
' liy the flcrinaii^. One saw the massed formation that
: ,"- to mark many lat'-r 'Jerman offensives, comjuniies of
men Imrled one after another at a single point, with just
viiffu-ii'iit intei'val to n-ive a snci ..... dinn- attack the full force
i.f a definite blow. Had. it not 1 ..... n for the rapid-fire French
, nis. pioliaMy nothinir could have withstood the sha1lerin<_ f
iin])ael of ' ; ,;: - n-Mtltile Imdy of humanity. The rapid-fire
found nothinir to compete with it. A rlnxi-n of siidi
M-iuis. op-'i'ati ' by fewer tlian fifty men could melt the
- df a i-liaririnfr comjiany as if they were wraiths of
lialtle mo';e. Alxml a tiiousand Frenchmen sto^d oil' Ti.nno
(Jermans cominii 1 on in f"iir column^. Xo !es> cut hrallitiiJ!
was the >tory of men on the creM of tip- "wavi-- ' ' beal
anaiiiM fortification^. A (I-'i'iiian office?- named IJ iss foMi.'!
>d ovi-i'powerintr the imprev>ion>; Imi'iied upon men * mem-
ories by these attacks that they ''eared mainly to keep
silent about them and to forget them.'' hut lie was induced
to say:

*\Vlia1 arc we li'j'i:1 ii;'_ r f i' : why are we l\'i!,^ umli-r shell-fire
!'(,r ]ay< on end. I'n-i i . thirst iii'_'. in mini ami wntcr. lie! WIM
. , ;,,] ;i! i(l the i ; \\liy do we hourly L;r<-ei deaili it mil I'm 1 yn i

NU:i- '/ [ I'D jMil ?] ->',' nl rnyst f: I aii t ill alive and im\\ n ml-
-iii-a] |'nr ilii- ''-:-;;.'!- who an i i ' ' ; ' :

THE GERMAN ASSAFLT OX VERDFN

hearth with their bodies, who are silent without expecting either
thanks or recognition, simply doinp 1 their duty, and a hundred
times more than their duty. I do not call them 'heroes.' That
word is worn out. They are more than heroes. There is many a
\veakliir_r amoni;' them who in peace-time ran from a biting don,
yet who lies now, under a murderous shell-lire in trenches which
are shot to pieces, without murmurin<r, and leaps toward death
on signal without hesitation, without fear, almost without con-
sciousness. These men are dyinu 1 1'or you daily, hourly."

As 1o how loup 1 the Germans could keep up an offensive
nn such a irip'antic scale there was wide difference of opinion.
The Allies said the Germans were every day suffering enor-
mous losses, and that they had by March !"> used up two-
thirds of .">oo.ooo men. But unofficial reports from Berlin
claimed that the German losses amounted to "only a few
thousand" and that the Allied reports wore "fantastic."
According to the British, the Brandenburirers who stormod
Fort Douaumont lost 40.000. but the official German cas-
ualty list irave only l2<>2. of whom fifty were killed. There
was also pTeaf discrepancy in the accounts of early operations
at Yaux. The (iphtinp 1 on the western side of the Meuse
seemed at this time more important than that on the eastern.
A sufficient advance there could have cut off Verdun from
Paris, which so far had been kept in communication one
with another by railroad and a double stream of automobiles.

The Meiisf pursues a winding course north of Verdun.
Tn one of its loops lay the village of ( 'hampenville. which
the Germans had taken. -lust north of this the river makes
a curve to the east around Forces and ReLrnevillo. h\-o vil-
lages which also had been taken by the Germans. Beyond
{hose points tin 1 way to Verdun was barred by two stronirly
fofiilied heip'hls. i]|,. ('oi,. ,],. FOio and Le Mort ITomme
(Goose Ridp'o. and Dead Man's IlilF both over eip-ht hun-
dred feet hipb and dominating the plain and ravines across
which the Germans had to advance. They were about two
miles apart, with adjacent lower hills known as the Bois des
( 'orbeaiix. or the ('rows' Wood covered with timber. Barbed
wire stretched from free to five had made of it a veritable
entanglement, concealed batteries covering all the approaches.
In spite of these obstacles, the Germans penetrated the

TO]

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

Crows' Wood and had bejrim to ascend the slope of Goose
Ridire. when the French drove them out l>y raking the wood
with their 7-Vs and charging with infantry. Later the Ger-
iiians gained the wood and threatened the French line south
of Bethincourt. During the next week the Germans made no
perceptible progress, altho they attacked on both the eastern
and \\vstern sides.

On March 2!. MO. and Ml they had delivered a series of
assaults to the west of the Meuse. several miles away, which
were designed to divert French reserves. Petain had per-
mitted the Germans to sei/.e Malancourt knowing his chief
risk was not then-. When soon afterward the main attack
fell in the east on Vaux and Caillette he still had his re-
serves in hand. Having captured Malancourt, the Germans
shifted their offensive to the sector around Le Mort Ilornme.
With heavy forces they attacked the French line between Hill
2M-"> and Le Mort Ilomme and succeeded in entering French
first-line trenches. A vip-orous counter-attack by the French
almost immediately expelled the invaders. Another attack
by the Germans, delivered a little later, was declared by
Paris to li.-ive been completely defeated. The Germans made
no attempt to debouch from Malancourt aftei 1 they had
Occupied the village.

The heavy bombardments; of preceding days northwest of
AVrdun pivatly Blackened. Thei'e was only moderate activ-
ity by biLr nuns to the north and east. About four and oiie-
half miles noi'thejist of the forti'ess the (iermans penetrated
the (';iillette \vood. just outride I^oft Douaumont. but as
;:lre;idy stated, after a vioh-ni bombardment from pail of
this \\-nod ill'- l'"i'eMcl]. in ;iu immediate counter-attack had
driven them b;n-k. Another attack was delivered airainst
thai [tortion of the Avorouri wood lield by tlie Fivndi. Init
he] 1 !- the French barrier-lire and inachine-n-uiis held tlie (ier-
rnans. The l-'reiich by Api-il '2 ii;id entirely cvaciialed the
villatr' 1 of \';nix and drawn (heir lines south of the town.
t" p"int s in its immediate out ski rt s.

The (Jermaiis fi;id nol 1 n brniiLiht to a full stop, as the

\Vefe ;;' \r-IIVe ('liapelle Ol' tile French ill |he pl'e-

v [nils ;iMiiinin in the ( 'li;i m j >;i LMIC. Nor was the late ot
:' !n<_ r repeated in France. Six weeks lutd parsed

TIIK (iKKMAX ASSAULT <>X VKKIM'X

since tlic (iermans launched their attack. In May, llll-l, they
had inarched in that length of time nearly one hundred
miles from the Dunajee, had recaptured IV/.emysl ami were
on the eve of reoccupying Lemberg, while further south
they had advanced sixty miles from the Carpathians, and
were winning the passages of the Dneister. In contrast with
Mackensen's drive the record of six weeks around Verdun
showed an advance forward of perhaps three miles on a
front of not much more than twenty-five. The only ap-
preciable (ici'man gains were made west of the Meuse. where
the attack at first had bided its lime for nearlv two weeks.

while tile first assault was being delivered east of the river.
A /one like fhe one conquered ea<t of the river had been
gained west of it. by a series of short movements, so that
the line on both sides had been made continuous. Attack-;
had alternated on both banks, with the rate of advance in-
considerable when measured by standards in the Russian
campaign, but important when compared with former sap-
pin LT and deadlock in the west. The capture of one village
at a time, like Malanconrt. or Yaiix. showed that the enersry
of the (rerman attack had not yet spent itself, altlio the
rate of advance was not such as to threaten Verdun in the

OX THE WKSTKRN FRO XT

immediate future. Hardly a day passed west of the Mouse
without some (itTinan strj) forward. Two days after the
capture <if Ilaueoiirt Sile.xiaii and Bavarian t roops stormed
two strongly fortified supporting pnints, lavishly protected
by fields of wire-entanglements and t rein-lies, south of Hau-
eourt and on the riu'ht bank of Forces ('reek. Storming
troups also took the so-called Teriniteu Hill, extending a
kilometer south of Ilaueoiirt alon.tr the road from Mout faueoii
to Ksiii's. The attack, launched after a strong artillery
preparation. wax an excellent example of cooperation between
artillery and infantry, trained to efficiency."

Disappointed in a sharp advance, the frermans, instead of
^(iintr back into siejre warfai'e. were still usiim 1 the method
of continued battering. The principle of wastage, which
had obtained alon.Lf the whole front for nearly a year and a
half, was concentrated on a small portion of the lino. Tt
was a prolonged test of nerves carried on in the open. It
had become a question of outstaying ono another in sus-
tained collisions. Formerly it had been a question which
side cuuld pour in the mo<t terrific delude of shells in the
course of a single day or of a couple of days. Xow the prob-
lem was one ol' continuous artilh'ry fire lastintr fur months.
The rapture of Verdun would have materially improved
their portion in Franco, but only from a defensive point of
view. Such an achievement could not have contributed
materially to the chief aim of a German offensive in France.
which was to break the Allied line and sever connection
between the mass of the French forces defending central
('ranee and the French ; md British forces operating in
northeastern France and across the "Belgian border. The
Hermans at Soissons for eiifhieen months liad been much
nearer Paris than they would have been had they captured
in. The easiest and shortest road to Paris started from
not from the more distant Men c.
little over six weeks, \\-ith brief lulls in the fi<_dit-
ature of the battle which stood out most con-
was ils relentless continuity. There had been
: ' on ihe Western Front. The British drive at
lle and ihe <_ r r>-at Allied drive a t Lens wore
m-r in thu L<jl;nl-An~< i;i> r <]:< rl;n).

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

quickly brought to a stop, exhaustion of artillery supplies
having ended the forward movements, but at Verdun the
Germans lavished fire as it had been lavished nowhere
else since the war began, ;ind followed up the bombard-
ments persistently with infantry attacks. Men and ma-
terial were used with a prodigality unprecedented. Under a
similar attack Russian lines in Poland had yielded; the
fortresses of the Polish and Baltic Provinces had been
evacuated and Russian forces driven back to the line of the
Dwina and the Pripet marshes. Serbia, in about the same
length of time, had been cleared, the Serbians hardly having
a chance to rest in their flight from the banks of the
Danube over the mountains to the shores of the Adriatic.

For the first time in history aeroplanes at Verdun took
part in the actual fighting; they were used not only against
other planes but against troops. AVhen the Germans were
bringing up a battery to shell Pepper Ridge (Cotedu Poivre)
an air squadron drop) bombs from an altitude of less than
a thousand feet, killing thirty men and nine horses. AVith
other horses wounded or frightened, the guns could not be
moved and soldiers had to abandon them and run to cover.
In one day the French reported twenty aerial engagements
northeast of Verdun. Sometimes these were duels in which
a score of avion ft participated, the new German "dread-
naught of the air." the "Fokker" biplane, turning out to be
not as invincible as at first feared.

The most famous of the French airmen was Sub-Lieu-
tenant George Guynemer. barely twenty-one years old. who
at the outbreak of the war was a high-school student. He
had offered himself for the army but being rejected by the
examination board, set himself to learn flying. In August
If 'I."), he. obtained his pilot's license, and in December brought
down his first German machine, a "Fokker." He then de-
voted himself to sinti'lc combats with German aeroplanes,
act inn 1 both as pilot and gunner. Tn one duel he chased a
German to a height of two miles, where the ail' was so cold
that his machine-trim would not work because of the freez-
ing of the oil. Guynemer then dashed against the German
maehine and both fell. The German was t-rusht to the
ground, but Guynemer recovered control at a height of

v. ill A 105

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

l.-")00 feet and alighted safely. For his exploits he was
awarded the Legion of Honor, the Military Medal, and the
War Cross. On the ribbon of the cross were embroidered
eight palms, one for each German aeroplane he had brought
down.

One reason that the German onslaught on Verdun now
slackened was because these air-raids interfered with German
lines of communications with supply depots in the rear.
The army attacking Fort Vaux received ammunition and re-
inforcements, over a railroad that ran via Confians and Metz.
One night seventeen French aeroplanes from Verdun flew
over this line, dropping forty large caliber shells on the sta-
tion at Oonflans and fourteen on Metz. All the aviators
returned to their base unharmed. On another night forty-
two shells were dropt on the station at Brieulles which fed
the northern sector of the investing force.

The only gain recorded by the Germans in a week
was Malancourt. While this success made good reading for
the civilian population in Germany, it was without meaning
in a military sense. Malancourt. of itself, had no value. It
merely brought the Germans a few yards nearer a French
position that was causing them trouble, and was only a
small plateau, amounting to little more than a hill-top,
about 500 yards to the southwest. This hill-top was not a
part of the main French position like Le Mort Ilomme. but
it had tactical value and was a point the Germans wished
to clear awav as thev had cleared other advanced French

man >oldiers flowed incessantly over their comrades' bodies,
until at last .Tof't'iv unleashed his waiting legions and man
fought man as of old. Two facts stood out clearly, the first
that (i'Tinai! artillery could not silence French, and second
that, if sacrifices were ignored and reserves were sufficient,
infantry could advance despite artillery and. be checked only
by in fan! ry.

Had (iermany succeeded at Verdun, slit 1 probably
could not have escaped ultimate defeat, for sooner or later
the Allied workshops would have delivered the needed

100

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

quantity of guns and munitions and the Allied army would
have attained a sufficient numerical superiority. Then would
have come a series of blasting attacks, terribly expensive,
but culminating in a German reverse. In the last resort
only infantry could have saved Germany, but her infantry,
from the banks of the .Marne to the Riiia swamps, had been
wasted like sand. The ground was of no especial value. In-
deed. Verdun itself could have been laid in ashes without
affecting the essential military situation on the Meuse front.
So long as French lines held every gain in territory merely
called for another effort and another sacrifice on the part
of the attacking armies.

Tactically. IVtain was master of the situation. He had
followed the traditional French practise of holding his ihst
line lightly, or surrendering it under attack", and of winning
it back, if necessary, with a counter-stroke. Thus, when a
desperate push was made, he was prepared to fall back a
little, provided he could take sufficient toll of the enemy.
In siicli fighting the losses of the defense were only a half
or a third of those of the attack. In certain cases, such as
the Douaumont crest or the Mori Ilomme. where the position
wa< vital for }\\< plan. IV-tain was prepared to push the
counter-attack with resolution, and lr.se men on the same scale
as the enemy: but his yen era! purpose was to incur no
needless losses, and to 'make the enemy pay heavily for
every yard of ground surrendered. No village, or crest.
not even Verdim itself, was immune from his grim attitude
of bargain inir. The (iermans could have any "'round tliey
wanted so ran his argument provided they paid a high
enough price. He knew it was the destruction of the Ger-
man forces, not the sacrosanetity of strips ,,t' land, that
could gain for France the victory. April !)-1<) marked the
culmination of the German effort. By th<' middle of the
month the Fren<-h themselves had taken the offensive a 1
Vaux. Ifaucourt. and the Mort Homme. It was no <_ r eneral
counter-attack that was not the French strategy but the
winning of a position here and a position there.

So ebbed the first phase at Verdun, already the longest
continuous battle in history. Ft had stretched from late
February into mid-April. AVheii the first shots were tired.

107

OX THE WESTERN FRO XT

''the copses of tin 1 Meuse Heights were brown and leafless."
when it rinsed "young given was breaking in waves over
the scarred soil, almond lives were blooming, and waterside
meadows were gay with marigolds." On that arc of thirty
miles a million men had stood to arms. To the observer
from any point from the ridge of Oiarny. the southern
forts, or the shattered Verdun streets they seemed to have
been swallowed up. Only the dull unceasing rattle of guns.
fleecy pull's of shrapnel on ridges, and mushrooms of dark
smoke, told of a struggle going on with an endless stream of
transports choking every road as the might of France moved
up to lines of defense.

The result was already a French victory. If Verdun
represented a less critical moment than the Marne, it was
far more deadly as a struggle, and it bit deeper into Ger-
man strength. Of all that she set out to win Germany had
gained nothing. She had not broken the French front: she
had not set foot in Verdun city, she had not lured the
British into a premature offensive; she had not taken con-
siderable toll of the French. She had. however, compelled
the expenditure of large stores of shells, and thereby had de-
layed the Allied offensive, and she had won a few square
miles of barren highlands. But that was the sum of her
achievement. Of losses those of the French up to the end of
April was probably under loo. ODD men and the German over
200.OOO. The British at Loos had lost in a week between
4').000 and .")().<)()() men fighting witli nine divisions on a
front of four miles.

(icrmany's tactical plan was sound, but the soundest plan
may miscarry. When an immediate success was denied her,
she continued to spend herself for victory which every day
became of diminishing value. Verdun to her was worth a
priee. but it was not worth any price; and it was beyond
doubt not worth the price she paid after February 2lith.
Tactically, she probably overrated the power of artillery in
action. Her successes against Russia in the Fast, against an
ill-equipped foe. he]- success against Serbia, a small people,
had distorted her vision. She was inclined to regard infantry
as a mere escort for guns. But infantry wins decisions; its
role is the principal one. An artillery "preparation" can

ins

THE GERMAN ASSAl'LT OX VEKDL'N

never be more than a mentis to the occupation by infantry of
an enemy's trendies. It was clear time and a pi in thai Ger-
many's men hail not the stamina, or the I'hui, to eoni])lete
the work which the <i - uns beu'an. The (ierman infantryman
was tried too far: his nerve was weakened by impossible
demands. Germany treated her human material as if it
were a lifeless mechanism, and human nature reacted and
foiled her plan.

In manuals Verdun was spoken of as a first-class fortress,
facing (ierman Lorraine, on the road from Metz to Paris.

Outside the fortress proper, spreading like the rays of a fan
toward the Germans, lay sixteen or more detached forts,
where, after amazing 1 feats of strategy, valor and invention
and enormous losses, only two detached forts. Douaimioiit
and Yanx. had been readied. All the rest of the ti^htiiiir
so far had been outside the girdle of detached foils. For
nearly half the lime the city of Verdun had been on tire
from shells dropt into it by bin- mortars, but it had been
abandoned by civilians and its threat fortress was pradically
undefended, having been " undassed " and disregarded after
Lie*:e and Antwerp. The battle took place almost entirely
outside of forts. The iiirhtinu' was mi hill-tops, and in

ON Till-] WESTKKX FRONT

ravines, forests, village streets, and open spaces. Seven
weeks after the beginning of the battle, Verdun was still
surrounded by a chain of forts that averaged five miles
from the renter of the town. Whereas to the east of the
Meuse tlie (ieriiians in four days had covered a distance of
three or four miles from their original lint 1 to the edge of
the fortress line: to the west of the Meuse they had taken
tour and a half week's in traversing a smaller /one, and
were >till a good three miles from the fortress line. The
Crown Prince's supreme effort for the capture of Verdun
had spent itself.

One n|' the moM dramatic occurrences since tin 1 beginning
<>f the war took place in the midst of these operations at
Verdun. On April 2<>. to the neutral world's surprize, it
was learned that a Russian force had actually landed in
Marseilles and was on its way to the Western Front, a
''airly open road running north through Lyons straight to
Verdun. At Berlin, this event was taken as a sign that
French resources were running low. Quite the contrary was
the case. The number of men whom the C/ar. owing to the
lonir sea-voyage, could send to Franc" was bound to be
-mall, if not incommensurate with any military results hoped
for. France, had she really been in straits, had forces of
her own at Saloniki that she could have drawn home. The
expedition was generally taken rather as a formal pledge
of Russia's fidelity to the Allies. If expectations of a sep-
arate peace with IVtrograd were still entertained at Berlin,
this move was meant effectually to dispose of them. Had
Toff iv been in any actual need of Russians, they could have
been brought to Franco without the world being any the
wiser, but care was taken to give much publicity to their
arrival. A censorship which had concealed the departure of
the Russians, from home could have concealed their arrival
in Mar-ill,. v.

In the view that the expedition was a sentimental one,
was found an answer to the (|iiestion why it was necessary
to bri.'itr men across H.oitii miles, m 1 lu.iliiu miles, of sea
when larn'e British forces were available for the French on
the Western Front. The British had not only taken over a
section of the French line as far south as the Somme, but

110

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

their lino had turned the corner of the Disc and extended
as far south and cast as Soissons. From having only one-
tenth of the Allied line in the west they now had one-fourth;
and this change, involving elaborate and complicated ma-
neuvers, had been accomplished without the world's knowl-
edge, until .Jotl're chose to make it public in formal thanks
to the British for their hearty comradeship.

It was plain that, if the British army could more than
double its line, it could easily have spared to the French
line as many men as debarked from the Russian transports
at Marseilles. The Russian expedition had a moral rather

KTSSIAX SOI.DIKUS AKIMVINO AT MAUSKILI.KS

than a strategic purpose. The French knew that the war
must be decided on the AVeslern Front and felt that Rus-
sians had come so thai all elements aiding the Allies might
be represented when the decision was reached. The Russians
were looked upon as heralds of happenings of great moment.
One of the greetings they received was the appearance in a
daily Russian newspaper which had been started for their
benefit and in which was given news that Trebizond had
been captured. Other preparations included a Russian
church.

Ill

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

The C/ar's troops had come from European Russia by
way of the Trans-Siberian Railway and Dalny. On April 2~>
another contingent arrived at Marseilles and was received
with all military honors. Its coming was greeted by the
flying of flags and blowing of whistles from the craft of
many nations in the harbor and by a large crowd massed
on the quay. The Russians man-hed through the streets on
their way to Camp Mirabeau amid a tumultuous welcome
from crowds on pavements, balconies, and housetops. These
men belonged to the same class of sturdy younir soldiers as
the previous contingent, and occupied the same quarters at
Camp Mirabeau, the others having already pone forward to
Camp Mailly. near Troves, on the Seine, ninety miles south-
oast of Paris.

The manner in which troops for this war had been trans-
ported from the four corners of the earth to battle on the
fields of France. Serbia, Mesopotamia, and (lallipoli. quick-
ened the imagination and commanded the admiration of ob-
servers as had no similar military enterprises in history.
While lacking the spectacular elements of Xerxes 's crossing
of The Hellespont, of Caesar's voyage to Britain, of Hanni-
bal's cros-ing of the Alps, of the march of 10.000 ({reeks
as recorded by Xenophon. or of Napoleon's expedition to
Egypt or of his march into Russia and its calamitous re-
treat, yet the staggering problems involved iu bringing
thousand- of fiirhting men acro-s great oceans were almost
stagircrinir. Because her colonies were so widely scattered
and her command of the seas carried with it greater re-
sponsibilities. (Ireat Britain had become the chief lng-
clistance carrier. She brought South-African troops from
Cape Town to Calais and her troop-ships semi-circled the
globe, a distance of nearly ll.dUO mile-, in order to bring
Au-lralians from Melbourne to Marseilles, by way of Sue/.
She brought (ihurkas from Bombay to Briipe-; Indian gar-
rison- from Calcutta to the irates of Constantinople: Cana-
dian- from Montreal to the Manic, and volunteers from New
Zealand to Saloniki. From her own shores, in the mean-
time, there went forth a stream of Kntili-h. Scotch. Iri-h.
We!-h and other Briti-h troop- to

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDl'N

aggregate more than 50. 000 miles, or twice the circum-
ference of the earth. France also sent soldiers thousands
of miles by sea, Marseilles being the chief port of embarka-
tion for troops bound for Saloniki, Gallipoli. Albania, and
Serbia, while Turcos whom she brought from Algeria served
to swell the ranks under General Joffre in northern France.

The coming of the Russians to France recalled vividly
certain reports widely credited during the first month of the
war that Russian troops were then crossing Scotland and
England bound for France, having reached Scotland from
Archangel. These reports were remarkable for their per-
sistence during several weeks. London clubs and London
newspaper-offices became split into two camps those who
scoffed at the rumor and those who implicitly believed it.
The report began in an unassuming fashion. It was said
that a certain number of Russian Staff-officers had conn 1 to
Fn^land to get in touch with the military plans of their
British and French Allies. Then a certain small number of
troops were spoken of and. before long, these had swelled to
two. three, or even more army corps. Many denials were
fort hcoming. but the story continued to gain ground. Men
were prepared to bet anything that the Russians were in
Fngland or had been there and were now in France. In at
least two London newspapers, it was firmly asserted that
Russians were going to make their appearance in the west-
ern field at a crucial moment. In one office, after every
possible means of investigation had been tried, the news-
editor was prepared to bet '2~t to 1 that there was not. and
had not been, any Russian force in Fn<_rhmd.

When file story was at its height, the favorite theory of
the amateur strategist was that Cossacks had been landed
at Ovtend and Dunkirk and were goin!_r to make their attack
in the rear of the German line of battle at the psychological
moment when the Germans were busily engaged on their
front with the French and P>riti<h. Hundred- of people said
Osti-ud was swarminir with Cossacks. Many persons \\-IT>>
prepared to say they had actually seen hordes of Russians,
scattered over the south of England on ninlit duty. One
man asserted that the Russians were mounted and carried
bavonets; that thev were iufanfrv and carried swords. Others

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

had been awakened from sleep by the tread of thousands;
one person in Peterborough said he had seen 20 army trains
pass in one direction in an hour: Yarmouth was kept awake
all one night by the march past of 2;">( ).()()() men in astrakan
tunics; a whole train had gone through Redhill laden with
field-cannon of a pattern unknown to the British Army.

After repeated denials that any Russian troops had en-
tered (Jreat Britain efforts were made to ascertain the cause
of the persistent reports. According to a high official they
probably owed their source to the fact that several Rus-
sian officers, detailed for staff and observation duty with the
French and English armies, had actually passed through
Britain accompanied by their orderlies and servants, all in
uniform. Villagers in Scotland who caught sight of these
Russians started reports of a Cossack movement across (livat
Britain. Among explanation-- of the great myth was a
statement, put forth long afterward, that Kitchener had
started the story and craftily promoted its spread, in order
to shake (ierman nerves."

114

Till-: SFCOXI) I'll ASK II ILL :;04. nOUATMOXT
AGAIN AND TIIF FALL OF FORT VAFX

.May :{. 1916 August :H>. 1916

WFST of tho Meuse tin- sal't-ty of Le Mort Ilomme
seemed assured by llic first of ]\Iay because for the
moment, it looked as if ihe C.erman offensive on both l)anks
had worn itself out. The Fivueh General Stat'f announced,
in a semi-official review, that the check of the enemy might
be regarded as final, hut this judgment turned out optimistic.
In the first week in ]\Iay the Germans made ready to launch
another attack, aimed at the capture of I Fill :>04. the tactical
key to the whole of the Verdun defense-system west of the
flense. If the (iermans could have succeeded in driving the
French off this hill, and in establishing their batteries at
the top. the Mort Ilomme posit inn would have been enfiladed
and no longer tenable-. The whole length of the Cote de FOie
would then have fallen into the enemy's hands, so that this
commanding ridge way could have been used as an offensive
point d'ajtpui for attacking Ihe Cote du 1'oivre, on the east
bank.

The second phase of the battle divided itself into three
main episodes. First, the attempt of the (lerinan right wing
to carry Hill .'{04 and Le Mort Ilomme, to press the French
back on their last position an attempt which succeeded in
its immediate, but failed in its ultimate, purpose. Second.
simultaneous with the first, a vigorous counter-attack by the
French on the Douaumonl riduv. Third, a concentrated
German assault from Douaumonl against the last line cov-
ering Verdun, which irave them Fort Yaux, Thiaumont. and
for a moment the village of Fleury, and which brought
them within four miles of the walls of Verdun,

OX Till-] WKSTKRX FIJOXT

After inaction there be<ran on May :> a steady, violent
bombardment of the northern slope of Hill .'504. Xot only
were French front lines bombarded, but the crest of the
slope behind them became a mass of spout inn- volcanoes. All
that niirht the lire continued; trenches were obliterated, and
the defense sheltered itself as best it could ill shell-holes.
There was a lull on the morning of the fourth, and then
artillery beiran airain, and continued with increasing fury
till afternoon. At four o'clock reconnoitering parties of Ger-
man infantry advanced, but were driven back by French
rifle-fire. Altho the Hermans occupied a considerable stretch
of the first lines north of Hill :!04. the French at Le Mort
Ilomme on the same day pushed their left horn forward.

On May 7 came a more formidable assault, delivered on
all three sides of Hill .'504. from the wood of Avocourt. the
direction of Haumont. and the ravine of the Fsnes stream
between Hill .'>o4 and Le Mort Ilomme. An intense bom-
bardment be<ran at dawn, and a barrage cut off all com-
munication with the rear. That fight for Le Mort Ilomme
was one of the most costly incidents of the whole battle.
The Hermans between Avocourt and f'umu'res used at least
tive divisions, partly drawn from the First Bavarian Corps,
which had lately been on the I'riti-h front. Their losses
were heavy, the ravine of the Ksnes beinir cumbered with'
dead. There were slopes en Hill -504 and on Le Mort Ilomme
where tin around was raised in meters by mounds of Her-
man corp-es. The French casualties altho hi.irh. were small
in proportion to the Herman. This success brouirht the
Hermans half a mile nearer Verdun: but every yard of that
advance had been dearly paid for. When the battle was
over there wa- a visible slackening of the Herman offensive.
Hy May 1" another irreat assault, the ninth airainst
Verdun a;:d the third west of the Meuse. was he<_riin with
its object the e.-ipture of Hill :ii>4. Two or three divisions,
sh Pomeranian troops d't'Ii/t were employed.

te asion was the development ni' a strong

-ive in another quarter, leaving Hill .'!<>4. as
thouuht. iieirlected. Seven attempts in all were
enlminat inir one of the series, carrymtr the
up a ravine and brook, led to the top of the

llfi

r.ATTi:ui:i> 'ASI;MATI:S M:AK r< >KT VAIX

ON THE AYKSTKRN K-ROXT

divide between Hill .'>04 and Le Mort llomme. whence they
were expelled by the French. The German gain amounted
to an inseeiire tenure of trendies still swept by French fire
mi the north and northeast slopes of Hill .'.04. The total
<li I'inan loss was placed in excess of If), 000 men for a week's
effort. No position had been captured; only the fringes of
positions.

Two months had passed since early successes had ended
with the capture of Vaux village. Each resumption of
ill'- fi:_ r hting became a cause for increasing wonder in the
world outside of Germany. The only explanation was that
this new effort was intended, in some spirit of desperation.
to be a supreme blow. Germany was a duellist who. feeling
exhaustion and loss of blood, redoubled her effort in a
forced last spurt. Redoubled activity occurred among the
French. Auto-trucks loaded with troops and munitions ar-
rived. lY-tain had converted ihe whole Verdun sector east
of the Meuse into a gigantic heap of subways and deep cut-
tings along which troops could advance unperceived and
without harm. George la IIir lu vi.-ited and described them:

''T'nder L."'it:d in quarries the darkne-s was absolute save when
burst inn 1 'jrei.ades showed brief visions of carnaue and terror. It
v;.- an cxtranrdinarv journey. Altho the bombardment from both
sides was tremendous, shaking the earth, we were completely
sheltered, Do\v inovhur alonir in deep-cut galleries, and now in
ac'ual tunnels, above which at intervals we could bear a strange
th'id. !'ollo\ved by a roar as a shell fell harmless in the open air.
Twice we re-ted in wide, deep caverns, where the men were allowed
to talk and smoke, without fear of enemy aircraft. They joked
chatted freely :1< if enua^cd in a practi-e march in-lead of
bei.ML! on the veru'c of a terrible battle. Only here and there a
nervous hn-Ii or yawn marked emotion that was impossible to
control. When the signal came for the men to emerge the com-
bat seemed the mo.-l savage of the war. Men t'oii'jlit amid stmie-
heaps. hand to band, or at ten yards' <li>tam-e with grenades
like children plavim.r liall. The ball- \\ere bomlis. deadlier than
tlio-e \ itli v bi<-li anarchists u-ed to -et a whole city in uproar.

"My May '_'!. the Verdun rl-adlo.-k bad changed to piobably
tin tnosl terrilic pitched battle in Li.-tury. Fully half a million

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

men wore engaged altogether. Whole regiments melted in a few
minutes, but others took their places, only to perish in the same
way. 'It is a battle of madmen in the midst of a volcanic erup-
tion.' was the description given by a Staff Captain. The valley
separating Le Mort Homme from Hill 'JS7 became choked with
In iilics. A full brigade was mowed down in a quarter of an hour
by machine-guns. While the scene there was appalling it was
dwarfed by comparison with the fighting around Donaumont. West
of the Meuse men died in the open air, but at Donaumont in the
horror of darkness, they fought in tunnels, 'screaming with the
lust of butchery, deafened by shells and grenades, stifled by
smoke.' "

The great interest of the Douaumont battles lay in the
faet that no other portion of the operations gave so clear
an idea of the real cause of German failure to break through.
The great fact was that the Germans had underestimated
the lighting spirit of the French soldier. AVlien the hour
of an attack drew near, all Frenchmen knew the price of it.
They remembered the lighting at Xeuville-St. Yaast, the
offensive in the Champagne, the hand-to-hand struggles in the
I>ois des Caillettcs ; and they knew the efficiency of German
artillery. The French center had allotted to it the big job,
which was to carry the ruins of the fort: the right and the
left were to take enemy trenches east and west, and endeavor
to surround Ihe position. AVlim they all dashed forward
there was no singing, and they did not form a battle picture.
They bounded from shell-hole to shell-hob', from obstacle to
obstacle, lying down, disappearing, rushing forward, some
falling never to get up ;igain. At noon a staff aeroplane re-
ported that a lire was burning on Douaumont fort. One
regiment had taken only eleven minutes to carry three lines
of enemy-trenches and reach its objective. On the left all
German trenches west of the fort as far as the road from
Douaumont to Fleury had fallen into French hands. The
northeastern angle was still in German hands.

The renewed fight ing at Douaumont showed that the spirit
and dash of French infantrymen were as great as ever.
Infantry streamed out of trenches in open order and
advanced faultlessly upon the plateau. Once they got
inside the fort, the garrison made a most determined

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

stand and hung on to positions in the north and north-
east with grim intensity, waiting for a counter-attack
to conic. They had not long to wait. The rest of the day
and night were tilled with the roar of battle as fresh counter-
attacks followed one after the oilier. Time after time strong
bodies of infantry were launched against the fort from west,
east, and north. Two fresh Bavarian divisions were finally
triumphant, and on May 24 the ruins of Douaumont were
again in German hands. The whole Verdun front was now
ablaxe. From Avocourt to Vaux the Germans hurled regi-
ment after regiment of new troops upon French lines in a
supreme endeavor to break through.

On May 2:! the situation on the left bank had again be-
come extremely critical; in fact, the whole battle of Verdun
was an unending series of critical days. Time after time
the Germans stormed the most forbidding positions, over
corpses of hundreds who had failed before them. Time after
time regiments which had reeled and melted beneath the
deadly sputtering of mitrailleuses reformed and returned to
obvious destruction. The French were not long left in pos-
session of a recaptured line. Before night it fell again under
counter-attacks. This effort was most pronounced to the west
of Le Mort Ilomme. A surgeon saw in a redoubt 200 French
dead, fully half of whom had more than two wounds. Those
lie was able to treat seemed utterly insane, kept, shout ing war-
cries, their eyes bla/ing and indifferent to pain. German
dead lay heaped in long rows. One observer thought there
were a fe\v thousand in the space of TOO yards.

May :>0. the one-hundredth day of the Verdun battle, was
marked by the beginning of another great battering against
the whole western <ection. Infantry moved out of the ( 'or-
beaiix Wood airainst French trenches between Le Mort
Ilommc ;md ( 'iimi'Ve^. French guns drove the Germans
back in disorder. Five hours later a midnight assault was
made, but it met with no belter fate. The Germans had
resumed ;i violent bombardment from Avocourt to the Meuse.
In the last bi'_r attack on \\\\< section over sixty heavy Ger-
man batteries had been en traced, but the number in the
attack on May :1 was liiirlier. The lighting began in the
104. Large forces, estimated at the

ll'fi

THE GERMAN ASSAFLT ON VERDUN

strength of two army corps, were flung into ;in attempt to
complete its capture and drive the French out of trenches on
the southern slopes. Two separate attacks failed. Troops
"fathering for a third effort were caught and dispersed by
French guns west of the hill. The best troops of the Ger-
mans were understood to have been employed in an attack
on Cumieres. a little hamlet numbering some twenty houses,
and only 27)0 yards long. All the Germans gained was a
portion of a trench 200 yards long.

After this failure the high Command instructed the Crown

A FUKNCII CKMKTKRY NKAH Till-: VKUIM'X KATTLEFIELI)

Prince to transfer his efforts to the right bank, and use Fort
Douaumont and works constructed round it as a starting
point for a further advance, with the object of driving the
French off the Douaumont plateau and forcing them back to
the Cote de Belleville, where their last and mo^t formidable
line of defense was situated. Before this could be done it
was necessary tirst to capture Fort Yaux. situated on heights
overlooking a deep ravine which extended from Damloup in
a northwesterly direction to the western spurs of the plateau.

v. ni o 121

OX Till-] ^'KSTKKX FRONT

Its guns not only dominatt'd the ravine hut were iu a posi-
tion to bring an enfilade tiff to hcai' on troops advancing
i'foni Fort Douainnonl to Fleury. It was necessary to cap-
tuff this tactical point hi-t'oiv attempting any ulterior opera-
tions, and the (iermans decided to undertake the task.

On .June 1 the attack began with a bombardment which
was described as one of extreme intensity, in the course of
which (ierman infantry debouching from west and east of
Fort Douaumont, seized positions on the north side of the
ravine and descended into it. Fighting went on all through
the night, the (iermans capturing the village of Damloup.
under tli-' cliff on which Foil Yaux was situated. The same
day they got a footing in the northern part of the !>ois de la
('aillettc. north of the Yaux ravine. In the afternoon in-
fantry swarmed up the south spurs of the cliff and attempted
to rush the fort by a cfmp-dc-tnn'm, but at first failed. Un-
daunted by defeat, the (iermans returned to the attack and
succeeded late at night in penetrating into the ditch of the
fort, which lunl hern battered to pieces by (ierman guns.
TI'Te they remained four 'lays, unable to enter the interior
of the fort, which was held by a battalion of French in-
fantry. The defense had clung to their posts throughout a
storm of shelK rained into the fort at the rate of >.i)(Mi a
day. To escape the >hells the garrison retreated into bomb-
proof refuge^. Here they held off iill ihe fort was sur-
rounded and the water supply cut off. when further re-
sistance was beyond the limits of human endurance. The
surrender took place in the early morninu 1 of .Inne 7.

Thirst was one of the most terrible trials to which sol-

di'Ts oil both sides Wefe subjected. Letters cap'lll'ed oil

(ierman prisoners continually referred to n. Troops were
''1 by curtains of shell-tire on a narrow front,
making all movement impossible. Darkness was the only
[trotect ion : but in .lime tin 1 nights are short, and shells were
continually bla/ing. Isolated m. n succeeded in givmi:' re-
lief at terrible risks. Tiny supplies of water only eoiild be
carried. Tin- task of providing with water -Inn men who
had taken refuge in the fort was wholly beyond their
power. Yet the fort was held for four days when a limit
to human endurance came. The last message sent by Major

Till-] (IKiniAX ASSAULT OX YKKDFX

Ixaynal, commander of the fort, ran as !'<>]l<>\vs: ''We arc;
near the end. Officers and soldiers have done their whole
duly. Vive la France ! "

I uiie (i was Ihe final day. In 1 he morning a i'e\v wounded.

who were determined not to he taken alive, escaped through

a grating' and crawled toward French uuns. lint several

\\ere killed. Tlie defense of iln.s fort was one of ilie fine-t

\a in jiles of French doirc'edness. Departing from a n

an office) 1 in a cum mini iff IH', the French ( luvernment held nn
to admiration Major Raynal. Indeed, before flit 1 fort fell,
lie was promoted to the rank of commander in the Legion
of Honor. AFajor UaynaFs defense muved the (lernians In
admiration. On his removal to Main/, they permitted him
to retain his sword. From them he learned of the honor
hestowed upon him hy the French Republic. In further
ivcoo'iiit ion of his gallantry the in^iu'iiia of his new Tank in
the Legion of Honor wa> conferred also njion his wife. The

OX THE WESTERN' FROXT

value of Vanx in tin- treneral reduction of Verdun proved
small, but its fall was the necessary preface to tin- beginning
of a direct operation against Souville. It was reali/ed every-
where that ihe French at Verdun were fighting for time.
As Sir Edward Givy pointed nut, they were lighting, not
f'li 1 France alone, but for the whole alliance. If the French
had failed there, the arch of Allied cooperation mi^ht have
tumbled to the uTound. the machinery of victory would have
been Hunt: out of gear, and many a month probably have
been added, to the duration of the war.

Long before -Tune the struiru-le had ceased to be a battle
for Verdun and had developed into a process of murderous
attrition. It showed the wearing-out tactics which, for a
year and a half, had obtained on a four-hundred-mile front,
now concentrated within a twenty-mile area. On.- mitiht
almost say that by common consent the opposing leaders had
decided to try 'attrition with 4<>.i)i)0 men to the mile instead
of only 5.0(11) men to the mile. This plan gave commanders
a mii'-h narrower field to worry about, it simplified their
problems, but it did not change the purpose of the war.
which was to see which side could continue to l<e the most
men without moral breakdown. AN ihe contest for more
i ; :;m a yeai' had been a matching of casualty lists, it hardly
mattered wlieilicr these lists were filled from a narrow
vector around Verdun, or from a line extending from the
North Se ;t to Switzerland. Dead Man's Hill and Hill :W
are several miles north of the line on which the French
would have made their last -land to hold Verdun. Po-,>e.s-
>ion of them was valuable to the Fivneh beeause it pej--
: them to deliver a i!ankiii'_ r fire on the Germans when
attacki;j(_r aero-s the i-ivei'. but the view in "Pari< had beeti
from the outlet that these hills would willingly be ''.Mild to
the Herman-" for a heavy c-osl in casualties.

On June ^ the l-'i'eiieh War Offiee. in an official slatemeut.
adnd'te,] the neeujial ion of Fort Vaiix by the (Jei'maiis. T-s
oi-ding to the German official statement, took
action in which trims and 7" 1 '
u< a pi-oblem to the (ierman- still
six irdh-s of trround. every loot of

. VailX Was. nevertheless, testi-

THE GERMAN ASSAULT OX VERDUN

mony to the extraordinary resourcefulness and persistence
of the German attack. If the battle of Verdun had been
the only operation necessary in the war, its occupation by
the Germans that is, occupation of the ruins that once
were Verdun could have been predicted, after three months,
perhaps, or after half a year more. The essential of Ger-
man success was that their efforts against Verdun should
not IK- interrupted.

After a brief respite for tired troops there set in on the.
east bank a series of new assaults no less savage in charac-
ter than those which gained Fort Vaux. The objective
point was a heavily fortified position, not unlike the Ilohen-
zollern redoubt on the Hritish front, which went by the
name of Thiaumont Farm. It lay about a mile southeast
of Fort Dotiaumont. Against this farm no fewer than
fourteen bayonet charges were directed. Fully .10.000 Ger-
mans, including a division never before brought into action
at Verdun, were deployed on a front scarcely two miles in
length. Despite a frightful cost in casualties, two battalions
managed to dig themselves in a few hundred feet in front
of their original lines and cling there until reinforcements,
thing forward in dense waves, came to their aid, but no
dent was made in the French defense.

After dark, when the fire of the 75 's would necessarily
be less accurate 1 , the Germans sent another full division into
the slaughter-house, but after two more bloodily contested
rushes, the fighting died down from sheer exhaustion of the
combatants. Counting the new divisions which the Crown
Prince had thrown into the fray the Germans had now
had thirty-nine divisions (approximately 780,000 'men)
"completely or partially demolished'' in the nearly five-
months-old battle for the fortress city. Tn this time the
Germans had won many local tactical successes, and had
made notable advances toward the town on both sides of the
Meuse : but the price they had paid was still incommensurate
with its value. It was estimated from documentary evidence
and reports of prisoners that up to "May 15 the German
losses of all kinds had amounted to o~0.000. Had these
casualties continued on the same scale up to June 15 the
losses would have been not less than 450.000. French losses

125

OX THE AYKSTKRX FRONT

hail also been heavy, and particularly in prisoners, owinjr to
llic tenacity with which French troops held on to exposed
positions lonir after the t'ontinuance of tin- defense had be-
come tactically hopeless: hut the roll of killed and wounded
was smaller than that of the Hermans, who luul been con-
tinually attacking.

Berlin had looked f"r victory in a fortnight: then in a
month: in two month.-, or in three: at the outside, in four.
The four months ended on June ill. and not even the nearer
defenses had hem hi'eaehed. ( )hsei'vers often said, and
France still scarcely denied, that Verdun eventually would
fall if tile price could he paid. Vet success >eemed less
likely on the twenty-second day than on the fifth. In two
week- a new Uiis>ian on-lauirht in the Ea>t. following the
recovery of tin- IiUs-ian army from its disaster in the
autumn of 1!H.">. had taken foui 1 times as many prisoners as
the Herman- claimed at Verdun and was calling Herman
reserves To that imperilled front. Some writers for nearly
two years had heeu calling the hattle of the Marne (Jer-
many's (icltyslinrjr, her Avai'tiinn' of certain defeat. ITer
dieck at \Vrdnn a^ain invited that American eoniparison.

On June :;o the French recaptured the Thiamnonl woi'ks.
After a terrific strnji^le the Hermans were dislodged from
a place they held fur seven days. There was heavy ti-'htiuQ-
also near Hill .'i"4 when, in a terrific attack, the (iennans
captured a fortified work in the tirM line of French trenches.
lut this success was not won until after the Liarri^on had
been buried under a storm of shells. Then the posifiun was
reeapfured by a brilliant enunter-atta'-k. The Hermans on
the same day delivered a powerful attack on French po>i-
ti'His in Avocourt AVood. but the rft'oi't was checked.

]>y the middle of July. Verdun, after a period of com-
parative quiescence, once more for a time divided attention
with the frreat Franco-IJritish battle he<_nm on the Somme
which had been in progress for a t'oi't nitrht. Uoth I-'reiicli
and Herman reports indicated that the fivjitinir on the
Meiise was scarcely less desj)ei'ati and stubborn than on the
Somme. tlir Herman- having once more attaeked on both
sides of the Meiise. after an artillery iiombardiuenl -aid to
have Ijecn equal to that preceding the fall of Fort Vanx.

126

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

Denser German masses stormed the approaches to Fort
Souville which was the seventh great assault since the battle
began. They kept up a violent bombardment throughout
the nielli, but made no infantry attacks. The violence of
the attacks gave evidence thai Germany was determined to
continue fighting regardless of her critical position on the
Somme. Eighteen days had been spent in the preparations,
She had brought up guns and ti'ench-morlars, shifted
more troops from the west bank, and hurried fresh supplies
<'f ammunition to the Sonville-1 )amloup sector. The French
turned 'loose a sheeted tire into the advancing German ranks
and took terrible toll with "75's." Only at one point, near
the intersection of the Fleury and Yaux roads, did the
(Jerman attack gain ground.

By the end of -Inly the great struggle for Verdun, tho
longest continuous battle as yet fought, had fallen for the
time being into a st ruLride of second-rate importance. In a
live months' eombat some :!.OH<> heavy cannon had been
brought into action; twc millions of men bad attacked and
defended the stronghold: perhaps 'JOO. (Kill had lost their
lives, and the end wa- not in sight. The second anniversary
'if the beginning" of the war funnd (iermany on th<' de-
fensive. Verdun proper slill lay in ruins, but still untaken.
Within the ramparts buili hv Vauban. win-re barbed-wire
trenches covered the favored promenade and play-ground
it' old families, in gaping \valK and cracked cellars, one had
glimpses of twisted lieilsi cads. Red roofs, where any roofs
remained, were littered with tiles torn up and shattered by
explosions. In streets were scattered earth and stones.

Yei'dun had not suffered as Ypres suffered but the work of
making the town uninhabitable had been thoroughly ac-
complished. Hardly any building remained untouched. In
the center where the bombardment was heaviest, little re-
mained, but mneh had dime to liirht of the ancient city
which Rome had made one of the sentinels of her empire.
German guns had bud bare a Roman wall, the existence
<f which had been quite unsuspected. It lay uncovered
along the whole mile and a quarter of its circumference.
From this old wall stretched out the circles of defense of
successive civilizations. First came grass mounds and

127

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

masonry fortifications built by Yauban ; then an inner line 1
of forts which \vriv modern when this war broke out : then
trench after trench, tiehl after Held, of barbed wire seaming
the plain and mounting in terraces upon hills toward their
crests and ridges. Stubbed fields which once wore green
woods were marked by trailing veils of smoke and fume
which rose also on trenches that no longer existed. Men

huddled under what cover they
(mild rind, in craters and
mines. The country for miles
around was blasted and
scorched; in every village there
were ruins.

The condition of Verdun it-
self was almost indescribable.
The town had been built on
slopes descending to the Meuse.
On its west bank was the fa-
mous citadel, on a natural hill.
Hat on the top and constructed
into a fortress. (Jreat powder
chambers had been dug into
its depths. Long galleries with
openings on hillsides connected
these chambers. There was
now not one inhabitant left in
the town. It had berome a
deserted city. The only sii;n of
life was a soldier now and
1 hen going through a street on
an errand or with a message.
Parts of the town were heaps of ruins. In other parts
houses reared their fronts, but gaping shell-holes showed that
probably linle was h-ft of their interiors. Verdun was like
Pompeii a dead city.

Since the end of .June it had been evident that the de-
fender> of Verdun were to get relief. Along the whole line
trench i';ii(JN were carried out. the (Jermans kept constantly
on the alert and made to fee] that something was comiiiLT.
but where no one knew. Then suddenlv. on -lulv 1. the

M.\M.1N

Manuin under Xivelle. hail a coin-
niiini] at Verdun dunni; Tin- later
o|n ra t Inns in I'.il'',. At the lijs-
tur'n- meeting with the Kritish
under Kit chc-iHT at Kashoda in
1 v.ts In' was present with Mar-
i'ha ml. Ma rehand a No was st ill liv-
ing ami in ;i<-t ivc scl'vii'c' in t In West

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

.storm burst. Events in the Verdun region became affected
and controlled by Franco-British operations on the Somme.
Sir Douglas liaig, in a dispatch dated in the following De-
cember, pointed out that one of the main objects of the
Somme battle had been achieved, when Verdun was re-
lieved. Not only were the Germans forced to abandon
Verdun, but the Somme operations so altered the situation
on the flense that the French were able to recapture much
ground lost and to seal quite definitely the defeat of the
German Crown Prince.

On July 15, General Mangin, famous already as a hard-
hitter, began a series of minor attacks on Fleury which
gradually spread along the whole front on the right bank.
By August 1 it became evident that a French offensive of
some importance was in progress of development. Thiau-
mont was in the hands of the French on the fourth, won
at the point of the bayonet and held against a gray line
driven against it in unending surges. Twice the French
took that shell-plowed, lead-sown field-work, and when forced
out. they won it back. Thiaumont in peace was not even a
village, but merely a small farm along the road between
two villages. Bras and Fleury. AVhen Liege and Namur had
taught the world that forts of concrete were not to be relied
upon, this farm was made into a marvelous labyrinth of
trenches, of hidden gun-emplacements, tangles of barbed
wire and catacombs of underground shelters. As such it
was a prize for an army which held it and a constant menace
to an enemy. By August -i it had changed hands six times.
To take it the Germans had sacrificed three divisions
ofi.OOO men. Thiaumont seemed likely to go down into history
as sharing, with the open slopes leading up to Fort Douau-
mont. the gruesome distinction of being the bloodiest spot in
tin 1 world. On August S it was again in German hands.

All France believed th battle of Verdun had now
entered upon its final phase. The attacks had lost their
dash, but artillery still roared uninterruptedly day and
night from behind German lilies. The French thrust was
netting gains such as neither side had registered since the
first phase of the attack. After five and a half months the
combat had become one involving the retention by the Ger-

129

OX TIIH AVKSTKHN FRONT

minis of the outer rim. The French strengthened their
positions on thi' Poiviv heights and for ;i short time held
tin- Thiauinont rrdoiiht. \vhose captiife more than a month
before had lircn haih'd in llerlin as ushering in the last act
of th' 1 drama, Fnhroken in spirit, the French army showed
iisrlf sufficient in numbers for its task. It was, however.
easy to exaggerate the value of French progress. So far
they h;id taken nothing whieh materially changed the situa-
tion, lint it was not possible to overestimate the value of
the f;iet that it was the French and not the Germans who
were on the offensive.

Nothing better illustrated the gravity of the strain under
which the (ii-rmans were staggering than the change before
Verdun. To abandon the attack upon the heights of the
.Meiise was not only to admit to the German people the
failure of their most cosily operation in the war. but to
lose a valuable pivot on which the withdrawal of the Ger-
man western front might some day be bronchi about. The
attack had not been abandoned, but the ('rnwn Prince had
been compelled to .send a number of his regiments to the
nd he was no longer able to continue his offensive.
or even hold the ground he had won. After a pause, a
series nf demonstrations were made, principally on the east
bank. lending up to a strong effort to make headway soiith-
ward toward Soiiville. AS a whole this movement was a
failure. The French, after breaking repeated assaults, were
able to make a more satisfactory advance, both immediately
north of Souville. where they reached the borders of Flenry
village, and to the northwest, between Froide Tern- and the
Cole dii Poivre. In a three days' offensive the French had
retrained all the ground the Germans took" several weeks to
con<)Uef. They took- positions for a depth of about a mile
from the slopes of Souville forf to the approaches of Hill
M'JU, us \vll as in the woods east of Vacheraiiville. and in
the Vigries ravine. They also installed themselves in pos'i-
'; us -oulhwest, south, and southeast of the Thiaumont field-
work and captured the redoubt ilseli'.

The conditions of liLrhtiii'/ before \'erdun developed a new
type ot' -oldier called "the couriers of Verdun." They were
men who maintained communication between iroops in the

TIIK (JKIttlAX ASSAI'LT OX VKR

midst of in<!(<* and officers commanding iVoin the roar.
The battlefield into which they darted with orders or after
in formal ion was a desolated /one where nothing l>ut thick
smoke, sometimes black, sometimes white, uave any appear-
ance of life. Ivxcepl during the brief period of an in-
fantry-attack it was to al 1 appea ranees deserted ; the sharpest
eye discovered no movement of humanity. The earth was
everywhere furrowed by freshly stirred earth, but no one
saw the hand that stirred it. Occasionally a form was seen
iroiiiLr over this de;ert land something after the manner of

MASS IX A VATLT AT 1'OUT I X M'ATM* >XT

a rabhil. bounding into si^ht out of herbs and above uneven
ground only to (lisappear a^ain : leaping from obstacle to
obstacle, from ditch to ditch, from shell-hole to shell-hole
as i< approached the front line, at times vaulting, at others
crawlinir. and sometimes kepi motionless for considerable
periods by showers of projectiles sent over from the other
side of the line. This was the messenger of the modern
battle; he wa^ never more needed nor more useful than al
Verdun and the type may bear the name for years to come
of ' " t he courier of Verdun. "

Xo telephone line could resist the incessant bombardment

ON THE WKSTKRN FRONT

that dug u|> tlif soil and leveled all field-work along the
who!" line in front of tin- fortress. Consequently to assure
(.ummunicat ions between tin- front and the rear became a
dit'ti<Milt problem. Communications by carrier-pigeons be-
came uncertain, and optical signals were insufficient for
various reasons. Nothing was certain except a man mes-
senger and to transmit information and orders across the
tieaten field required something extraordinary in the way of
a man. lie had to lie an athlete, with i;o"d lungs, and,
above all. lie had to have a stout heart. The courier of
Verdun was unable to use communicating trendies, where
he would be out of sight of the enemy, because that line
was alwavs crowded with soldiers tn>mg to or from the
front line, with wounded carried back, with men of the
commissary department carrying provisions to men on
guard. That was too slow a route for the courier of
Verdun: lie had. to take his chances of being sighted and
hit above ground.

The first formidable obstacle to pass was the zone that
was beaten by "drum-fire.'' where eight-inch, six-inch, and
four-indi shells were bursting with formidable explosions,
sending showers of shrapnel over the whole zone. In going
through this the courier saw everywhere the spectacle of
death, stumbled over corpses, sometimes ran. into a cloud of
poison-vapor before lie crossed it : once through, he was
within range of the smaller (ierman guns and the quick-
firers. For the whole distance of a mile or two miles, ac-
cording to position, his nerves were at highest tension, his
mind on the end of his mission and at the same time on the
obstacles that were multiplied each instant in his path.
Some of these e. . ur'iers "of through untouched : some crawled
baek to the starting-point, bruised or maimed; sonic never
returned to tell the story of their heroic effort. The couriers
all volunteers, selected from a considerable
who offered themselves for the dangerous

cost the French very dear. There was
throughout France which did not con-
t'ense. In spite of a censorship, the country
knew only too \vdl what was the price of the

THE GEKMAX ASSATLT OX VERIH'X

Mense stru<r<rle. There were niotnciits when all seemed lust.
it became commonplace, both in France and in Great
Britain, to say that the peoples of the two countries had
shown themselves infinitely superior to their governments.
Directly responsible for the later plans was General Xivelle,
who was appointed to supreme command in I 1 ranee six
months later, but was not to retain it lonjjr. From the be-
^iniiin - of May. Xivelle was in direct command in succession
to lY'tain. who had superseded General Lan<rle de Gary in

A KUKNCII oFKICKU'S ol'AUTKKS OX TIIK MOSKLLK

command of the central Lrnuip of Freneh armies which in-
cluded the Verdun area. lYtain's. successor at Verdun had
a loiii* 1 record of pre-war service in the colonies. He was an
old " Polytechnique' ' man, and had speciali/ed in the u>-
of artillery. Less than a year later the honor of appoint-
ment as Ghief of Staff came to IV-tain.

On August :?0 news was received that the Kaiser had re-
moved Falkenliayn as head of the German General Start',
and had appointed Ilindenburg in liis place. Aiming
neutrals and the Allies Falkenhayn's dismissal was ac-
cepted as Germany's admission of defeat around Verdun.

133

ON THK WESTERN FRONT

I: came more than six months after (he beinnnin.n' of tliiit

L: -i^ani ic adventure, when rumor had it that Falkenhayn !><-

licvt'il Verdun could I).- taken at a cost of half a million

n:e!i. lie had spent the half million, and they weiv the

''Iti. of t!ie Kaiser's armies, hut Verdun had only turned

mil a military defeat whose consequence could lie observed

I'icardy drive in western France, in ilie Russian ad-

. and in Italian successes in the Tivntino and on the

Kon/.o.

While tin- recapture id' Thianmonl on tile laM day of June.

ihe l:I<Mh ,Jay of ilie struir^le. was taken as the logical end

i- battle of \"ri'dun. tiirhtini: followed for weeks,

: it ' iis was only the backwash of a trn-al action, the last

etVorts of a baftled enemy who had lost strategic purpose, and

the lirsl 1'oi'ward movement of the defense. The battle had

i M roved the bulk" of Germany's free strateo-ic reserves and

had tided over months of waiting durini: which the Allies

i mplelinir preparations. The scene now shit't'-d from

! he sheltered Verdun uplands 10 the u'l'eeu hills of 1'ii-ardy.

from lli 1 ' MeiiM- to the Somme. Over \ erdun. ;is ovei- ^'p'res.

\vill |)!'OM,I iii hisioi'y a strange (turn, tiie inrliii-iii-e of

a supreme sacrifice, of sph-udid resolution, of unyielding

fortitude, of tens of thousands who died before her irales.

All over northern France the "lift" brought to the

: the linal 1'esnlts at YVrdnn was unmistakable. Con-

iideiice was everywluM'e newly evident. Frenehmeii did not

ay that \"erdun was the b"i;'innin^ of the end: they did not

fori-i-asi 'i i pri nipt coll;i])se of (Jerinany. or an iminediate

end of li.ti'hl inir aliout \"erdnn : they diil not regard tip' vie-

ory as a Waterloo, or a Sedan, or any other foolish thinu':

y did c;dmly see in Verdun the chief (lennan failure

ttif Marne. and failni'e in a fiu'ht in which the (Ici 1 -

mans had laid down all the conditions in advance and had

''-'I as a victory what they did not achieve.

Tl i' loi _' duration of the campaign of the Oerman arms at

Verdun was due io "tactical and strategic" considerations, at

i a s i so ! 1 1 1 ( I * r m a n p ; i J " r > maintained. One. published 1 1 1 .\ e w

York.' said in Mav that the (li-rman plans did not coiitem-

tlp' i;d;iiiL'- of X'erdun before Aun'iist. and that the he-

THE GERMAN ASSAl'LT ON VERIH'N

sieging army was then three weeks ahead of its schedule.
The methods followed in attack, said another, had been
"voluntarily decided upon in advance." Already they had
indicted gigantic losses on the French in killed, wounded,
prisoners, and booty. Long after obvious defeat some of
the most influential German papers published long articles
to prove that all was well at Verdun. A staff officer on
furlough wrote in the Ii<rlin<r T<i<j<t>l<itt : "Reviewing the
whole series of operations before Verdun, we see that, since
the beginning of the offensive on February '!'}. we have
U'one forward by steady, victorious stages." The military
expert of the Frankfurter Z<itun<j emphasized the fact that
"patience had to be exercised." linal success in the circum-
stances could only "mature very slowly." Germany's
enemies had made the greatest possible effort to attain a
solid coordination of their strategical action, but "had
been forestalled." and this had been "too easily forgotten
by those who seemed unable to tear their expectant and
hopeful ga/.e away from Verdun." Everything was pro-
ceeding according to schedule, said the I\i>l itiscln Z<if>ni</,
Th'Te was no need for impatience. Battles occurred eitli'T
here or there "because our Supreme Command chose its own
place and time and compelled the enemy to give battle where
we wanted it." One phase of the operations was "linked on
to another according to our scheme." and the pauses had
not been dictated by the Allies, but had ''proceeded from
our own intention and the direction of our will." The
write;' said he did not mean to say that "the enemy's will
did not come into the question at all, for such a view would
not be in accordance with the nature of war which is a two-
sided and not a one-sided activity": he wished to make the
supreme point that "we >tick to our purpose in order
ultimately to achieve it." German strategists protested
that a decision had not been counted on and that the gains
were worth what they had cost. Views such as these make
strange reading now.

Berlin's claim that more than a million men, two-thirds of
them French, fouu'ht for Verdun, was exaggerated. The
French had not ><><>. mil) or half of 800.000 on their line at
Verdun, or in reserve behind it. A conservative estimate of

ON T11K WESTEKN FRONT

Tin- French forces engaged and in reserve was 800.000.
Neither the French nor the Germans could munition and
maintain any larger forces in that sector; nor could either
have made use of them because of the character of the coun-
try. When the (lermans asserted that they were outnumbered
on the Western Front, and had been for a long time, they
\\vre telling a truth which had not been disputed. Germany's
indirect bid for peace at this time, viewed alongside her esti-
mate of French losses, gave new strength to the argument of
those who believed Germany was approaching the point
where her military reserves would be exhausted. There was
sound reason for believing that Germany might not be able
to hold her lines for six months longer if the wastage con-
tinued to be anything like the average for previous months
of the war. The whole Verdun campaign had been planned
by the Crown Prince's mentor. General von TTaeseler, oldest
of all German generals still in service, and who. when Ver-
dun had become a failure, went into retirement. Ilaeseler's
achievement in the war had been the conquest of Antwerp in
October. 1!>14.

Verdun, a mighty episode in itself, was commonly thought
to be only the prelude to a final act in the war drama.
Above the grim orchestration of guns on the Meuse there
came from behind the curtain such vague sounds and
sctirryings as immediately precede the darkening of a play-
hou-e and the upflare of footlights. England hurried
through conscription. Russians ,came across fifteen thousand
miles of land and sea. to take their place on the front.
Fresh Canadian forces crossed the Atlantic. Australians
were ferried over to France from Egypt.

At Verdun, as elsewhere on the Allied front in the west,
the French 7">'s played an important part in saving France.
Some French officers estimated that these little guns won
the battle of the .Mai'ne. It was also their opinion that at
Verduii it was the "swarms of little bees" that came from
the T.Vx that stung the German columns to death on the
hloody slopes of that famous field. If there ever was a
w-apon which had a personality it was this gun. Other
M-L r uns. as Stanley Washburn remarked. 1 ' "seem cynical

h Tin 1 im< -

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

ami sinister, but this gun, like the French themselves, has
nothing malevolent or morose about it." Its whole atmos-
phere was "one of cheerful readiness to serve." Killing 1
was a part of its impersonal duty. With a speed of fire of
thirty shells to the minute, and with a well-trained crew
serving it with clockwork regularity, the 75 resembled a
machine-gun rather than a field-piece in action. So ex-
quisite was the adjustment of the recoil that it was said a
coin, or even a glass of water, could be placed on the wheel
while the gun was in action without being jarred off. In
one of the battles on the Russian front a battery fired 525
rounds to the gun in a single day, which seemed at the time
an extraordinary rate of fire. When this fact was men-
tioned to a French captain in the west, he laughingly re-
plied to Mr. AYashburn. "I have tired from the four-gun
battery .'5.100 rounds of shells in forty-five minutes." "How
IOIILT do your guns last at that rate.'" he was asked, for the
theory before the war was that a field-piece did not have a
lit'.- exceeding 8.000 to 10.000 rounds of fire. The officer
placed his hand affectionately on the gun and said: "This
is a brand-new gun which I have just received. The one
whose place it has taken had fired more than .'50.000 shells
and >till was not entirely worn out. You may be surpri/ed
at this speed of fire, but there have been 75 's in this
That have tired l.fiOO rounds in a single day."

No commercial or manufacturing people in the world, no
matter how well organized or how efficient, could manufac-
ture shells at the rate they were consumed in one of these
modern battles. It was estimated that two batteries of
French 75-millimeter guns could use up in one day the out-
put of 5. (100 men for a week. The depletion of shells, there-
fore, was a serious mallei 1 to an army contempla
offensive. The French had a great reserve of shells
the Yrrdun battle started, and were manufacturing
estimated rate of about 250,000 a day of all calibers,
in two days' lighting in Loos and in the Champagne

up nearly 2.000.000. Hi
after February 21 no one

e. It was probable that the (lerman reserve supply.
lit' all the utVeiisive work thev did. had been

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDUN

greater than that of the French. But their expenditure,
particularly of heavy shells, had been much more lavish.
The French apparently did not use as pi-eat a proportion
of heavy shells as the Germans, principally for the reason
that there was no such necessity. The Germans had to
pound intrenclnneiits to pieces and ruin them; the French
had to disable men. The German problem was by blasting
to make every shelter held by the French a shelter no
longer; the French problem was to pnt out of action as
many men as possible as they came forward. The former
required heavy artillery; the latter quick-firing light artillery
and machine-guns.

Verdun was not attacked, we may feel fairly certain, with
the main idea of raising the Crown Prince's lost military
reputation by a showy victory. It was not assaulted as a
means of opening Paris. Il was not beleaguered solely with
the intention of breaking up French and British plans for
an allied offensive at some other point. Nor was the blow*
a desperate, random effort, dictated solely by an approach-
ing collapse of German power. Equally certain it is that
A'erdun was not especially coveted for remote economic rea-
sons, such as the control of the adjacent iron ore basins of
Briey. Each consideration might add a little to the de-
sirability of attacking Verdun, hut not all of them together
would have wholly sufficed. The Kaiser's leaders believed
they could reach Verdun not so much by waste of men as
by use of artillery. They deliberately planned the opera-
tion so that much artillery might take the place of men.
This they did logically and systematically, as they did all
things. They calculated that they were now outmatched in
men on the "Western Front and could not therefore tight
deadly campaigns without further cutting down their
already inferior forces. Tn output of artillery -munitions
they remained superior to the French and British com-
bined: therefore they devised an offensive which relied
chielly on artillery and made a minimum demand on in-
fantry.

Verdun became the grave of Germany's claim to military
invincibility. The original conception of the attack was a
.stultification of the Kaiser's reasons in August, 1014, for

139

OX TIIK WKSTKKX KIIOXT

ini-nrrinir thr odium of violating I''l'ji;;n neutrality. His
at that time of military necessity in UMH^ iJrlu'inm as
;. - |>pinsr-sToiie to Paris, lirokr down when hi> armie^ tri"d
tu .in in ll'lti what h-- had >aid wa> impracticable in I'.'il.
Til-- l-'ri'ii'-h owed tlicir vii-tory at Verdun to their unaidi'd
I'ti'ni'N. Thi-y foiiLih; durini;- the urr'-at Inntr-ilrawn-oiit lintih'
;i- tln-y iirvcr fought lii-foi'f. with a r'>nr;i!_!''- diif to a yood
r-an>.'. and with a rorilidt-ncc inspii-rd li\- coiiM-ious >tri-ii^tli.
Th'-y ii'-v-'i 1 -howrd any -iirn i-itiifi- of riiiii-liinji 1 or of yii'ld-
h _:. In 1't'tain they found a r-oininanili-r wiio was a> >kilful
a> :.- was rcstilnte. They had said early in the assault,
"//> /.( i>nx*t rail! i>it.i" "they >hall not pa^s" and the
( i'-rmans did nut j >ass. !

! :. ;i il >;: . s : "N. Ison's [I1>1 ! h- \V:ir" hy J.ihn till .

/ ,". , <-. Tin' i:>-nihi;i -'<". 'i'in' Tini''*, Ni'\v York : Tin' r.mi.l.in
. \V; r/' 111.' ' Milil iry l'.'.}> n" H 'I In N ' \ : - 1

Unii, 'I':,- l><;[\! rin-;>: '>.', Luinloii : A-soriar-'il l'r.-v ,lNi.,n ..--
- . Ti.. /-..' /''--'. Ti !: .' '. N-'\\ Y ii :..

1 10

Ill

TIIK LATER PHASE: DOUAUMOXT AND VATX

KE< 'nVEKED !<>FFRE A MARSHAL AS

TO XIV ELL E AND I'KTAIX

' k-tober 2!, 1916 December IS. 1016

FOI'K months after the Somme offensive <i'ot under way
that is. on (tetolier L'4 iht' French under Xivelle
struck a sudden and smashing blow north of Verdun. Break-
ing through the German lines on a front of more than four
miles, they advanced at one point almost two. Fort
Douaumont ami Douaumonl village, the scene of savap-e
earlier battles, and the Haudromont Quarries, as trans-
formed into a foi'lre>s, were captured and the invat redoubt
cm Thiauinont Farm was taken. Violent German eounter-
aitacks \\'ere delivered but failed, the French maintaining
their pcviiiuns. Amoii^- .'!..")( in prisoners taken by the French
wa< th' 1 <Jerman commander of Fort Douauniont. Xivelle's
stroke aeeoinplished a twofold ]iin i ]>ose. It definitely re-
moved the (lermaii menace and it halted the massinir of a
(iemian ai'my on the Hapaunie-PiM'onne line fur a counter-
attack auainst Haii; on the Somine. The (Jei'inan lines were
thrown back twu miles at the point where, in the summer,
they had made their nearest approach to Verdun. The
battered Fort Vaux. xmtheast of Douaumont, was the only
important work on the northeast front that now remained in
(ierman hand'-. With this resumption of the French
offensive the last vestige of the German's dream of reaching
l'ari> by way of X'erdun was shattered.

The operation falls natui'ally under two headin<rs the
battle of Douaumont and the battle of Vaux. Around
Douaumont it was very much more easy than around Vaux.
and much more decisive, siin-e it was largely the success of
tile Douaumont ti^litin^ whii-h renilered inevitable the fall
of Vaux in the last stages of the eiiLrat, r einent . The honor
of carrying the Douaumont fort was iriven to three battalions

141

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

of the Moroccan Colonial force that had earned this privilege
by its conduct at Dixmude and Flcury. The Moroccans met
with unexpected resistance at the outset, having to recapture
portions of their own line before they were able to start for
the fort. The incident was curious as an illustration of the
snrpri/e which even a modern battle may contain. The
French had i'ound it necessary, in order to increase the
efficiency of their heavy gun bombardment, to evacuate cer-
tain portions of their line at points which ran too close to
their artillery targets. The Germans, taking advantage of
a 1'oir. pushed through, and when the first of the three
Douaumont battalions advanced, it i'ound that it had to
clear out its own trenches with grenades before it could get
goinir. This did not take long. The Modat battalion reached
its first objective without much delay, and dug itself in.
while the ('roll battalion swept past and pushed beyond the
fort, leavinir it to be carried by Major Xicolay's battalion.

Duritiir I'mir weeks all French thoughts and actions
had been concentrated on this attack. In a replica of the
fort, erected on training-ground in the rear, they had
fonirht the action time after time in anticipation of finally
taking the fort. Each man knew the exact spot for which
IM- was to tight: each knew the nature of the obstacles he
would have to overcome. The battalion, moreover, had been
specially equipped for its task. Tt moved out in thickening
foir. and had. like most of {lie troops throughout the day.
to rely upon a compass for its direction. Disaster nearly
overtook the men owinir to an error in the compass, caused
probably by the attraction of a revolver or some other piece
of metal. Thus milled they were moving far from the direct
line of advance when suddenly the fo<r lifted and two Ger-
man prisoners who came in pointed out the rising height of
Douaumont in the distance.

Th>- fort consisted of two stories, covered with a tre-
niendous cuirass of sand and armored cement. This shield
had completely defied the efforts of the German bombard-
in'-nt in February, but beneath the repeated blows of the
grt-at Freii'-h sixteen-ineh howit/.er >hells it gave way in
three places. T\vo casemates and one of the first-story corri-
dor- were pierced, and tin- upper works, such as observa-

THE GERMAN ASSAULT OX VERDCX

tion stations, turrets, counterscarp walls, etc., were com-
pletely destroyed. The moat was tilled up, and the outer
tunnels were blocked by the tremendous lire concentrated
upon the fort. In three days 400 tons of steel and high
explosives fell upon it. Xo less than seventy-one of these
huge missiles were tinny upon the fort. Twenty-two of them
fell in the immediate neighborhood of the fort, twenty-three
inside the outer wall, and twenty-six upon the fort-building
itself. This tornado of shell stirred up the ground as if
it were a whisk going through cream, and left it twisted

FUK.XCII AXTJ-liAKBED WIUE GUN
Note tlic i evolving knife used to cut the wire

and mangled in fantastic shapes so that it resembled a
stormy sea suddenly fro/en into immobility. The battle of
Verdun, begun on February I'l. 1!)1f>. had at the end of the
year brought the French back almost to the line from which
they were first forced.

The French success, while possessing importance as an
achievement in itself, when measured by the number of
prisoners taken, and for its possible effect on the situation
on the Somme. was perhaps mo<\ significant as a demonstra-
tion of the reserve striking power of the Allies in the west.
It had been the custom in German quarters to speak of

143

OX Till-: WKSTKRX FRONT

I-' ranee as now "bled white." That the blow around Yev-
ilun should have been delivered at tin- MIMIC time that the
heaviest tight ing in the Somme campaign was under way.
ai'LTU'-d ctVcctivdy that French resources were not yet ex-

insted. (icniian resistance had. however, been weakened
along the line of ^reatest <ierman effort. Battling in rain,
mists, and clouds of smoke the French had reea[)tni'ed Fort
houaumont in less than three hours. The entire operation
wa> witnessed by (Jeiicral -IniVre.

The Fivneh had launched thi> supplementary offensive at
\'erdnn eiirht months \ the day after the beginning of the
( 'ro'-vn Prince's etVnrt in Felu'iiaiy. Within six hours they
had reeaptured important positinns east of the Meuse. all
except \"aux. Fi'eiicli aviatoi's had esTal)li>hed the faet that
iMany (iei'inan liattei-ies on the X'^rdun front cnnsisted of a
single LTun and nthers nf only iwn or three. Since the begin-
ninir of the Allied Somnie offcii.sive the only (ierman reinforce-
Mieuts that had been sent to that battlefield were drawn
from \Yrdun. Reports of casualties showed that those of
the Fivneh were less than the number of prisoners taken.
A lanjv proportion of the men \vere only slightly wounded.
Three lieutenant-gi'iicrals who. under eommand of Mangin.
led the attacking divisions, were all lieutenant-colonels at
the outbi'eak of the war. and had b"eii sin^l-'d out by Joffre
for promotion on account of technical ability, energy and
initial i\v.

Tliis exploit demonstrated once more how this war was
all one battle, the liattle of Ivirop.-. As the Roumanian
division hail been repulsed, the Verdun division had come
to its rescue, coopcraling with the Somme division. Rail-
roads h;id nai'rowecl a eontin-'in to the sj/(> M f what used to
b" .1 battlefield. (lermans eould send divisions from th"

So!!!llle to tile ! )ol I I'l 1 d j a . jllsl ;|> Nap'-ileoU. at Waterloo. sell f

them t'rom I loiiLToniout to La IIa\'e Sainle. Knowiiiir they
e iidd not jidvaiiee on the Somme. and that their only chance
to extort a vii-fory was to destroy Ronmania, the (Jermans
had launched their heaviest forces there. When Ronmania
cri-'d t'or help, the Freneh assailed and dashed on (Jei-many's
weakened Verdun lines. The victory of \ivelle \\-as the
-. : -- iry of one wintr in the Lrreat Kuropeaii battle; the li>>se.s

1 1 1

IENERAL MVK]

Havnii: retaken Forts Pnuamnnnf and Vauv nt Verdun when aotine under

retain in Mi.' lati' iiUMlinn nt' I'.Mti. Xivelle. ill 111.' t'l'llnwius: Vi';\r. \

ile L'iiiniu:iiiiler-iii-("iii-t' <>\

in il ..... ffeusivi 1 iu LhauiLiajn

lilll wa^ a i'ti i-wai'.l

TIIF GFRMAN ASSAULT ON VKRDFN

in Roumania were the lo-s of another. Verdun served
notice on Germany ihat she had another front to be pro-
tected.

The French victory was a triumph of character. The De-
fense of Verdun by France throughout those many weeks
siirpri/ed all save tliose who knc\\- at lirst hand the spirit in
which France was tii^ht inij. livery one had expected hril-
liant French charges, hut a donned, sullen, tenacious haiit:'-
i:i<r on this was what took the Allied world hy snrpri/.c no
less than Germany and cost th" Kai>er at least half a mil-
lion casualties and ;i urea! defeat. What Nivelle did was to
i'econ(|iier practically ail the positions which actually men-
aced the French and so terminated the irreat chapter of
which Verdun had become a subject in the war. That chap-
ter in French history became what Sara.u'ossa was in Spain's
battle against Napoleon. In those few days the French took
almost all the Around of prime military importance which
the liermaiis had taken in months. Verdun had practically
been restored to the condition of a bulwark against German
invasion. Like the Marne. Verdun wa> a French triumph.
Neither iii the earlier nor in the subsequent success did
France receive any aid of real importance from an ally. Half
a million German casualties, a quarter of a million French
casualties this was the measure of the cost of Verdun. At
a terrible price France had >aved herself and after a colossal
sacrifice the German^ had won nothing. The decision of
the Manic was continued at Verdun; the day of deliverance
for France miLi'ht still be ionir in cominir. but the peril of
conquest had been adjourned without date. .

By November Fort Vaux was evacuated by the Germans.
The only German occupant when the French entered it was
a. nondescript dou'. who was treated with all the honors of
war. Germans left behind, according to an estimate, a
million cartridu'e<. :;.0nil mea' rations. :!jni() bottles of
mineral water, lar^e quantities of anti-tetanus serum and
other drug's unobtainable outbid" of Germany. With their
artillery in phn-e a Fort Vaux garrison eonld now dominate
the entire Woi'-vre plain, whence new lines of German en-
trenchments became vaguely visible si-veral kilometers off.
in low. mai'shv ground.

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

One of tlu' most interesting statements made by any one
in authority in (Jennany was made by Ilindenburg in the
early Mimmer of this year to an Austrian press representa-
tive, a eiivuinstanee which gave to the interview a political
tinirc. since the world knew the eondition of Austria, with
her lines shattered and the Russians pouring through and
capturing men by thousands. Ilindenhnrg's statement as to
the condition of affairs in France was one which (Jermany
had been making, in one form or another, since the begin-
ning of the battle of Verdun. It was a condition which
(iermany devoutly wished were true, but nothing that had
yet happened gave any indication that it was true, llinden-
burtr said: "France was bled while on the hills of Verdun."
Yet before the glow of the Verdun tire died out. the world
saw the Fivneh take the lead in the terrible lighting on
the Somme. and while the Somme fighting was at its height,
saw enontrh reserve-force left to strike another blow at
Verdun which snatched from the (lermans in a short tight
of a few hours all that they had gained after months of
lighting.

Kivnch troops on December 1 s again made an effective
thrust. Sinking at (irnuaii positions between the flense
and the \Yoeviv. north of Douaumont. along a front
of MX miles, they forced hack the < 'ro\vn Prince for almost
two mile-.. .More than T.oiHi prisoners and numerous guns
were taken nil ihe iirst day The French next day con-
tinued their offensive and made further gains. The prisoners
bered 11.-'! S 7. including 2>4 officers; ]]'>
or destroyed; 44 trench-mortars, T7
were taken with much other material. Four
occupied, and the better part of six enemy-
destroed. The French losses for the first

ater days
"s ])oin1 :

fur he had artrued that it wa- only when the line grew
stationary that losses came, and that an attack, kept up con-
t i!iii"iisly. had to be economical a truth of significance for
the future. This success was no sudden gift of fortune, but
a IVMill foreseen and planm-d for a triumph of geiieral-
ship and calculation as we]] as of lighting prowess. The

THE GERMAN ASSAULT ON VERDl'N

episode took its place in the history of the war ''like some
noble lyric interpolated in a great drama."

"Nivellc has answered Yon Bethmann-Holhveg," were
words that went through all France, the reference being to
the Chancellor's peace proposal of December. The cry was
mingled with singinir of the "Marseillaise" in many parts
of the western tield. Xivelle. who had planned the opera-
tion some time before he became aware of his promotion to
the post of Commander-in-( hief. had decided to carry it
through in person, despite his assumption of the duties of

V *

*j^T-r%i .Z^-&JB&L

i - "-W^'CSsSSiSfe--

A rUoTKCTKIi AMMUNITION MAGAZINE r.KHIND FUEXCII LINES

high command. The effectives engaged were under the im-
mediate eontrol of Mangin. who gained new honors in Foch's
victories of "liHS. and was now assisted by Maud'hiiy. Each
of four divisions covered a little over two of the ten kilo-
meters of front. The initial bombardment was of terrific in-
tensity. several batteries participating. So well did the shell-
tire keep step with the infantry that in most cases the latter
found it unnecessary to seek momentary shelter by throwing
themselves at intervals Hat on the ground, the usual pro-
cedure in bavonet charges. Fortified machine-gun redoubts

ON Till-: \YKSTKKN F1MXT

.': Vachi-rativille ;m <] fortlets ;il I la r< laumont and li'./.on-

\illi.\ Were tile chief Obstacles t( pr"!_!TeS>. 1>II1 ^o OVel'coniO

Wi-i't- the (iermaiix i <y the i.iu'li explosives and shra pm-I :i,;it
mially broke over tln-m, that their resistanee wax si-Mom
ii.' ; ! haii nominal.

Xivolle's action wax not part of lh<' irem-ral Allied of-

fei.xivv; ii wax an individual tiiru>i made ai a time whin

ti.'-re wax the jjTeatest ehaliee of success. It \vas al-" all

i'-iil reply i" oflicial slal'-meiits from Ilei'hn a> to ill" 1

impren-naliility *d' the (Jri'tnaii line in the west. l-'rom the

peninsula of the MellM' to the !i'ML:llt> of the WoeVlV tin'

(ierinans no\v did no' ioid a sinu'le position of any im-
poi'tance or of any value from which they coiihl advaiie( j .
Tiii- lilo\v was proof of the l>a>ic uiisouiidlicss of the theo) - it-s
i if Kalkenhayn. IIae-. ( .ler and Hie ('rown I'l'ince a- to the.
powiliil it ies. from a (i'-rman standpoint, of the wesiej'n li< Id.
and '-'|iial!\' showed th' 1 liii^oundiiess of the tlieoriev of Ilin-
'ii-nlmri:' that he \vas free to do what he would in the ea-t.
since file western situation was under control. ThU snot-ess,
however, did ii"i mean a l>reakin<r of the (ierman line.
Twelve squai'e miles d;d iiol li.ok v ry lai'^re when i-om-
pai'ed with the amount of territory in France which the
< i'-rma n- o'-cii ph-d.

Joffi-e. whose iiace in (lie sense Xivelle had now taken.

of .loffi'e's 1-i-ma mi iiL! 1 portion. II:> title remained the >ame

ji" h'-fori ( 'ommauder-in-( 'hief of all the Kreiidi armie:

while Xivi-lle was Field-( 'ommander of the l-'rendi ai'mi"-s in

France. loffiv in a real sen>e wa> more impor1ati1 than

Before. Inasmuch ax the wai 1 was to he conducted on tii^yer

hnev. the whole nation coming in '-lo-e touch with the active

army, he was to liecome the technical adviser nf the \Var

( nuii'-i!. Mean wilile, i; would lie Xivelle's task to execute

offe|i^i\ P e-.. \'.;IL T " liaitles, ;,; : fi L'eliel'ally Orrupy the center of

th' 1 M-.-ne. Til'- choice of XiVelle was the result of loli^r de-

; / it h ;. real i/at ion thai, no matter wha: the

, ii'i lii'oii^ht , i: wa- "Papa .(ot'fre who had won a1 th' 1

.'. : o i. ad ma<h' the a rm \' liijljTei 1 and

>tron< r er than at the IM-O ninnif of ;he \var. despite its sac-

TIIH (JKIUIAN ASSAFLT ON VKKDFN

rifiee.s, and his name would ivmuin forever one of the most
glorious in Ktviirh history.

Nivelle was one of the youngest uenerals in France, hut
no French generals were very young. He was sixty-one,
but could pass for forty-live. He was big. tall, and power-
ful, without an ounce of fat. Kxcept for the trimness of
lii> waist-line, and his face which was unlined and almost
youthful in its freshness, he was regarded as a type not
unlike .lot'i're a much younger -Jol'l'iv, untired by the re-
snonsibilities of high command. Since .Mav, Nivelle liad

been in coniniand of file Verdun defenses, completing the
work of IV-tain. who had been advanced to command the
armie> in the ('hampairne. and was one of numerous dis-
('tveries made by JotTre. At the beginning of the war he
wa^ a colonel in command of a regiment of artillei'y and
about to be retired. He resembled the authentic portrait
of ''ardinal Ivichelieu. in action alert, and while given to
gesticulating, gave an improsion of reserves of energy, both
physical and mental. He had, ; d>o the i-eputation of beir,^
a strict disciplinarian and ])o^-il)ly the greatest gunn-'r in
the French army. He >poke l-'nu-liNh. having had an Knu:-

140

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

lish mother, and was fond of reciting English war-verse, like
" Hoheiilinden." "The Battle of the Baltic." and "The
Burial of Sir -John Moore," the hist of which he had trans-
lated into French.

The simple at Verdun had been the making of Xivelle.
When the battle entered its fourth month and the French
ook (ierman trenches at Ilaucourt and Ilaudromont quarry,
;.nd recaptured a part of Fort Douaumont. the recapture
was effected by Nivelle. who took advantage of the (ierman
concentration of effort on Dead Man's Hill on the other side
"f the river until artillery resistance practically prevented
further (ierman advances. AVhen Fort Vaux was lost the
French held 'stubbornly to trenches in the neighborhood,
;.nd after Fleury fell the (iermaiis were ap'ain driven out of
the fort. Altho the dermans reached the inner trirdle of
forts late in June, they had kept a precarious hold airainst
-.mall eounter-suceesst's won from time to time by the French.
Finally, in October, the French retook Douaumont. and
arlv in November Vaux also fell before Xivelle's stroke.
Ills last success, the retaking of points that the (iermaus had
gained in their first onset, the capture of over 10.000 men.
itr or destruction of over eighty <runs. tjave to
ne\v hi<rh command a prestige that promised

lell cailse.

( 'hi'ist mas the whole Entente world was de-
ear that Joffre had been made Marshal of
Napoleon had said that a soldier of France always
carried a possible marshal's baton in his knapsack. Just as
NVy. Soult. Massena and Mural owed nothing to birth, so
was it true of Joffre. a marshal worthy to be named with,
:f not above, all these. Louis Napoleon had cheapened the
laxaine had added nothing to the rank and
1 been i_ r lad to forget his military career when
'ranee. Marshal Foivy had lon<r since been
in Mexico. Joffre was the tirst marshal to V>e
he Third Repulilic. (ieneral Chan/.y. shortly
of 1^7o. had been offered a marshal's baton.

150

THE GERMAN ASSAl'LT OX VERDI "X

eminent, in appointing Jotfiv, had not forgotten Chanzy's
words. The last living French marshal was ('anrobert. of
Crimean fame, and the last marshal appointed by the Sec-
ond Empire was Lebu'uf, the luckless Minister of AVar in
1S70. Mae-Mahon pre-deeea.sed by a few years ('anrobert.
who died in 1S!)5. Since ('anrobert died there has been no
living Marshal of France.

Joft're was the three hundred and twenty-fifth marshal
France had created. The dignity dates back to the twelfth
century, when it was held second to that of High Constable
of France. For centuries, or until Francis I, only two living
marshals were permitted, but their num'ber was increased
later to sixteen and so remained until the Re volution abolished
the title. Napoleon, in restoring it, enacted that it could be
received only by a commander who had vanquished a foe in
a pitched battle, or had captured two fortified places. A
Marshal of France holds his dignity for life. He wears a
general's uniform, witli three rows of oak and laurel leaves
embroidered on a cocked hat and sleeves, and carries a
baton, which, according to Francis I 's regulation, has to be
twenty indies lonir. and bear at one end the marshal's name,
and at the other the inscription, '"Terror IxUi <licux
pn.ris." His baton, under the Monarchy, was covered with
blue velvet mid bore gold fleur-de-lvs, and under the Empire,
bore gold beads. Marshal .J off re's bat<m is embroidered with
gold stars. The French Government determined after the
battle of the Marne to confer this supreme honor on Jot'fre.
On Sepi ember 21. 1!'14. a regulation was published specify-
ing that the pay of a Marshal of France, if any were named,
would be fixt at :>i>.:!ir>f 7!'c per annum. 1 ' 1

The battle of Verdun, whieh thus had dragged from Feb-
ruary 21. lIHti. to the IGth of December, ranked next to the
battle of ilie Marne as the greatest event of the war. Like
the Marne. it represented the eheekmate of a supreme effort
on the part of the Germans to end the war swiftly by a
thunder-stroke. It surpassed the battle of the Marne by its
length, by the fury with which it was carried on. and by
the huge scale of the operations. It came after a year that

1.11

<)X THE WESTEKN FRONT

had been rich iii Mid-esses ;'ir tlii 1 ' iernui MS. Iii tin 1 "\Yost
; hey had held ;irm a^ains* Allied oii-laiiizhts in Artois and
in ( "ii;ilii| >a<z'lie ;n;d in the East their offensive had been
fruitful. (Jalicia li;id been almost completely recovered, the
kingdom of Poland occupied, t'ourland. Lithuania, and
nia invaded. To the south they had extinguished Serbia's
'pposit ion. haii saved Turkey, and won over Bulgaria. Tlu'M.'
ll'iuill])ll^. llOXVeVe] 1 . had lldt lu'iniirlll tllelll ]t.-;iee. foi' the
heart and snnl of tlie Allied I'mv. :< lay in the \Ye>t Eng-
land and Franre. It ^til! remained I'm' (ieniiany, sci-kin<j;'
vieioi'ii-^. to aitaek and anniliilaU- ihe l-'rctich urmy. and
lli'-n eame \"i-rdiin. the ohjcd of whieh To (ieniiany was to
\vin a decisive victory in the \\'.-;. stai'tin^ 1 a tremendous
iislitu^ht M'hii-li would liriniz tin \var tn a triuin])lijint close. 30
Verdun, which liy holding out saved l-'ranct and ]>y

^avinjj; Kraiice >a\'--d the All'j-d cau^e 1 aim- two years

;'' ihe (icrnian assault fcr the Allieil nations ;i shrine at
they paid lioniaii'e to France. They had d--]>o^'d at
\'< rdun votive offei'iii^'s it) the fi mi nf IMC highest declara-
tions ;! nd iii'-dals for military valor which th.ey hail had the
power to confer. France herself j>aid the tirsl tribute iiy
i-onfei'rinji 1 <u; tlie city the cross of the Legion of Honor, to
was added, the Croix de Oiierre. Other allied nations

,,'d. Ill the ("itadel Were ])!lllied. oil a Velvet ciishio!!.

in addition to the Le^i"!; of Honor and the ('mix d,e (iuerre.

tin- [\iissi;in ci-oss of the (inh-r of Saint (leorye; the liritish

Military ( 'ross. the Italian jz-uld medal t'ui 1 military valor.

the Belgian cross of tin- Order of Leopold, the Serbian .u'old

ic-dal for military ln'avei'y. the Montenegrin histoi-ic Obilitch

nii-dai and ihe plaque, collar and urand corilon of the

: ' luiiesc Order of the TOWI r ;iiid the Sword. Above the

led and d'-cora1ed cii-hion was ; I ;;:;- a elistenini: uold

he .Mikado of .lapan. Kiny Albert of llel^ium

ie\ to \*ei'dun 1 hal IP ini'j'ht pay his t ribute in

1 ': .! hill .: : ;-' nut side i he ity he pi i ined va rions

: ;. 'u a i -I'm niiita ry valoj- on the breasts of in-

' . V idor Km man lie] 1, ft Italian soil

liiii- -ii i ' .!!!. of Italy iii oi-<h r

THE (JKILMAN ASSATLT ON YERIHN

of ( 'oiinauglit made the pilgrimage on liehalf nf King (Jeorge
of England, and 1'ivsident 1 iernardino Maehado of Portugal
went there in person, taking with him the high insignia of
the Order of the Tower and the Sword. 17

:: rrincipal Sources: Th.- London Thin*' 'History of the War." The .\>>\v
York TrilniiK'. Tin- "M ilitnry Kxpt-rt" of Tlic New York Thm*. "Nclsoli'.s His-
tory of the W-ir" liy John lUn-linn. Lincoln I-:.vre in '1'lie \Ynrlil ('New York),
Tlit Ec'iiin;/ r<)*t (New York), Tin- Dally Trl<:<irui>h (London).

ri:i:.\cn TKEXCIIES ON TIIF MECSK

v. in 11

153

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Part IX

ALLIED OPERATIONS IX THE NORTH

BEFORE THE SOMME BATTLE

BEGAN

MONTHS OF AYAITlNfi. AY IT! I MINOR ENGAGE-
MENTSTHE 1NSFRRECTION IN IRELAND

December 1!>, lf>ir> Auirnst lt>, ID It;

AFTER Sir Douglas Ilaijr took over Sir John French's
command in December, l!il.~>, activity cont inued on the
British front, but only as minor operations. Within five
months, and mainly while the Germans were throwing; them-
selves in vain ajrainst Verdun, some hundreds of local
actions took place, of which two or three occurred every

Week. The effect of tills \va.S to retain opposite the British

lines an active body of German troops proportionately more
numerous than the German troops en^ativd on ai.y other
front excepi Verdun. Aiming the more important actions
were February to March ii^lit it:'_r in and about the Vpres
salient and on the Bluff, March to April ii<j'htin^ at St. Eloi.
and (ierman <ras attacks in April. In the tirst of these
actions German attempts to advance ultimately failed, and
the B:-i;ish advanced their line. At St. Eloi the offensive
was British, and in the lonu- i-un it was frust rated. Of the
various (icrman ^as-at tacks none led to ;; consolidated suc-
cess. The (iermans, however, were only feinting on this
front. Their real purposes were revealed on February 21
at Verdun.

Some of these engagements, which, from .Berlin, were
designated ;is '"fieree drives'' on the part of the (iermans.
wre set down by Ilaiu' as "sharp local actions." They
i-evealed certain ]')oints in tin- (ierinan line which needed
re;id.)iisi met:t. The strategy of the line still remained what
it was when the British created their salients at Vpres in
October. 1!H: at Nelive Chapi'lle in March. l!Mr>. and at
Loos in September. l! ( l.">. l-'or a distance as >rreat as that
on which the (i'Tinans could feed their line with men and
munitions, a British offensive at Vpres had to dominate the
front in Artois. Lille. Lens. Douai. and St. (.Client in were

157

OX THE WESTERX FROXT

the natural objectives. Airmen of the Allies found that
the (iermans had rebuilt the Freneh fortifications at Lille,
Roehambeau, Mauheuge. Landredes, Ilirson. La Fere, and
Laoii. while in the south they had prepared three lines of
defense for use in case an offensive should be delivered in
the Champagne. In May the British had 450.000 men on
the line and the (iermans 500.000. The Germans kept the
bulk of their forces on the firing-line, but the French and
English, unless attacked, did not keep more than a third of
theirs exposed in the normal condition of a dormant front.
They depended on the vigilance of officers on the first line
to notice any signs of an attack. Reserves could then be
brought up. Thousands of lives were thus saved during
daily artillery duels.

Meanwhile, the French for four mouths were resisting the
tremendous German assault on Verdun. The comparative
inactivity of the British at this time led many to feel that
the British, should improve a great opportunity to break
through while the Germans were being weakened elsewhere.
French people, when they saw their sons falling by thou-
sands on the hills of the Meiise, sometimes asked earnestly,
"What are the English doing.' Why don't they counter-
attack.' They might easily draw off some of the troops
which the Crown Prince is hurling on us.'' But it was
mainly from the uninst ruded classes that complaints of this
sort came. The more intelligent French had confidence in
the loyalty of their British ally and in the closeness of the
understanding that existed between the two general staffs.
Since at Verdun the (iermans were said to be losing three
men to the French one. intelligent Frenchmen did not re-
quire much reflection to see that, for the British in the
north, by an offensive in March, to repeat the error made
by the (iermans at Verdun, would have been a disastrous
way of neutralizing the fruits of French resistance. More-
over, for administrative and military reasons, it would have
been impossible for the British to have dispatched any ap-
preciable body of men to Verdun to fi^lit with the French.

British assistance look" the more practicable form, the more
fruitful, if less glorious, form, of an extension of their line
in France, and the consequent release of French troops for

ALLIED OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH

service at Verdun. Joffre, in replying 1<> a telegram of con-
gratulation from Ilaig, said the French Army thanked the
British ''for the expression of hearty good-will which it
had been good enough to address to us while the great battle
of Verdun is proceeding," and added that, from the fierce,
struggle going on there, the French Army was convinced
that it would achieve "results from which all the Allies will
reap an advantage." lie remembered that a recent call on
the comradeship of the British Army had ''met with an im-

I'.KITISII SIIKI.LS ACCl'MULATKD IX A ST

The entire storage shelter, of which tho area shown was a part.

mediate and complete response. 1 " That ''complete re-
sponse" was the relief afforded to the Tenth French Army
by the .British troops that took their place north of the
Aisne.

('ritics of the British did not know how well in accord
the British were with the French all this time. Bonar Law
declared, in a French newspaper, that the British Army
was completely in accord with -I off re. and wa> prepared to
move "whenever the French headquarters staff saw tit to

1/iO

OX THE WESTERX FRONT

have it do so." Tliis statement was cited as a sufficient
answer in the chartre of British indifference to French losses
1 fore A erdiin. From the outset, military authorities in
Paris insisted that it would be playing (iermany's ^aine for
tht 1 British to move before the psychological moment arrived.
aiid scouted anti-British criticism as idle or maliciou-
pissip. Observers about this time were contending that for
weeks there had been unmistakable sitrns of a British
offensive impendinpr. but that it would not become active
until the (ierman forces facing them had lieen seriously re-
duced from losses at Verdun, or until propitious offensives
had been be'uu by the Allies in other quarters of the lonir
ii<_ditin' line. AYhile the struiTLrle above ground and under its
surface went on thus uninterruptedly, but with varying
violence, air and sky were a No embraced in the area of con-
flict. Observation balloons ascended, and air-hips and aero-
planes crossed and recrossed the immense front of battle.

Early in March occurred the extension of the British
front. A British corps thus relieved a French corps in oc-
cupation of that part of the Allied from \vhidi lies between
Loos and Arras. The British line now extended in unbroken
ciiit'muity from I'ilkin, opposite Boesintrhe, on the Yser
< 'anal, to the Somme. a few miles south of Albert. Xo
formal announcement of this extension was made in either
the British or French coninnin!f]Ut'*. hut in a dispatch of
March l2-'!d. Ilaiir incidentally mentioned the activity of the
British artillery in the region of Soiiche/. It was afterward
ascertained that British had replace,] French troops as thus
indicated, thus settinir free a French corps ],, reinforce the
army ti^ht intr around Verdun. The BritNh now occupied a
front of about ninety miles, or a quarter of ihe entire west-
ern front. Even before the (iermaii campaign auahist Ver-
dun liec'an on l-'ebruai'v 'Jl. a Ilrili-li ot'fi'iisive had been

ifelHTallv expected li\' visitors to tile liflll-ll c H! ce|] t t'a 1 i oil

camps, parade-grounds, and storehouses. Subsequently the
riLfant ic propoi't ioiis of the (Jermali oll'ensive at Verdun had
diminished the chances of success for' an immediate British

offensive, since the defense of Vel'dllll wollld of itself make

t^n-at inroads on Allied accumulations of munitions and
n.. n. In the defense of Verdun th- l-'i-'-nch. save for

Hid

ALLIED OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH

veterans transferred from the western sector, had not prone
beyond tile use of local reserves. A reserve force of 1!1G
men .and conscripts of the 1 .000. 000 men of 1!>17. besides a
veteran Territorial army of another million, had not yet
been touched.

By the middle of June public opinion in ("Ireat Britain
reached the conclusion that great events were impending 1 on
the western front, if not in every /one of the war. Joj'fre's
visit to London, conferences between British and French
Ministers. Premier Asquith's and Colonial Secretary Bonar
Law's announcements that British help had been proffered
to the French some time before, the fact that Kitchener
when he lost his life was bound for Ixussia all these events
had helped to create a universal feeling of expectancy. The
Entente Allies were known to be in complete touch by wire-
less. Their military operations and grand strategy wen 1 in
more instant and thorough coordination than the}' had ever
been before. High hopes were raised in all Allied circles
and in many neutral ones. That the Germans were soon to
be driven out of France was, however, expected by few
trained observers.

Early in -July was published a statement that seven hun-
dred and fifty-three communes or townships had by that
time been partly or totally destroyed through military opera-
tions in France since the beginning of the war. These
figures were made public by the French [Ministry of the
Interior with a view to ascertaining the total damage caused
by hostilities. These communes were distributed over eleven
departments of France, including those in the Ardennes.
still occupied wholly by the Hermans, who were in posses-
sion of 2..~">r>4 towns out of a total of :>(:>. 247 in all France, or
7 per cent. Houses to the number of l(i.()b'!> had been
totally destroyed and 2!>..">!i4 partly destroyed. In 14S com-
le proportions of houses destroyed exceeded .">() per

le public buildings destroyed in 42s communes in-
>7!' school-

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

hundred and thirty factories which supported 57,000 per-
sons had been destroyed.

While the British held tlie lino from the Yser to the
Soinint' and thence south of the Somme, and extending to the
( h'se, the French under Foeh were holding perhaps thirty
iiiili-s. Between the Yser and the sea French and Belgians
hdd rather mure than fifteen miles. Allowing for curves,
Thf whole line might cover ].">() miles between Xieuport and
Xoyon.. Portions of the line held by the British covered the
sectors from which an offensive could be expected to move.
The region occupied by Belgians supported by French troops
was a swamp, following two years of inundation. The <;>-r-
man sector in front of Foeh was too strong to hold out much
hupe for a successful drive by the French. Resting, as the
(ierman llanks did here, on the fortress of Peronne, the
Soiniiie marshes at the north, the Xoyon Hills on the south,
it was an exceedingly difficult front to break.

The Belgian sector and the Foeh sector, those about the
Y-er and west of Rove, had been in the main inactive since
the battles of the Marne and Flanders in 1D1-L The (Jer-
mans after the Ma rue had made a great effort to move west
from the Ojse on Amiens and turn the French flank: and
had failed at Hove ami Albert in one of the must desperate
of the western operation--. More familiar was the (lermaii
thruM at ('alais which was checked at the Yser, when the
sluices were opened and the country flooded. The British
afterward made their iir^t effort to break the (Ierman lines
at Xeiive Chapelh- in the spring of 1 !*!"). Here they almost
reached tin- Aubcrs ridge, the key to Lille, and a few months
later they attacked to the south of La Bassee. reached Loos
and almost succeeded in turning the (iermans out of both
La Bassi'c and Lens. The French in -June made a terrific
assault on the (ierman front smith of Lens and northeast of
Arras, took the Lorette heights, some villages west of the
Yimy rid<_ r e. including Souehey,, and gained a foothold on the
Yimy I'ld^re, but could not make further progress.

The progress of the Russian drive in fJalicia and Yolhynia

' early summer of If'Hi had been watched in France

with painful eagerness, not only because of its own import a nee,

i'lit because it \vas felt that that cam])ai.L r n was only a part

ALLIHI) Ol'KRATfoXS IX THE NORTH

of a vast movement contemplated for all fronts. In London
the utmost which many observers hoped for in l!)Hj was the
defeat of Austria, a virtual elimination of the Balkans and
the driving back of the (iermans a considerable distance on
the Western Front, llie final defeat of Germany being de-
layed until another year. Great Britain was believed to
have 4.000.000 men in northern France. Of these, two mil-
lion five hundred thousand had seen no fighting. They had
been held in reserve awaiting the great offensive. ^lean-
while. 1 ..100. 000 were in the trenches holding a line eleven

A FUF.NVH TKFXriI WITH A METAL HOOF

miles long from Arras 1o Neuve C'hapelle. Both the British
and the French were erecting hundreds of new base-hospitals.
Xear Vpres within a few weeks forty-five hospitals had been
established.

The (Iermans. expecting this offensive, were reinforcing
their lines. From Knocke in Belgium, in the second week
of -June, troop-laden tram-cars were going toward the front
"in a iiever-endiiig proee^inn. and were covered with green
boughs In ill-event the Alli-d airmen from detecting them
readily." A French statemenf. much quoted at the time,
was that "the (iermans in front of Verdun were maintain-

OX Till-] WESTERN FRONT

ing an attitude of expectation in view of the menace of
events which they felt were becoming more and more im-
minent." This was commonly interpreted to mean that the
big Allied drive would start at the .strategic moment, when
the momentum of the Russian drive should have left the
Herman commanders with no choice but to have their line
smashed either in France or in Russia.

Hi-eat Britain's activities all through the spring and early
Dimmer of IfllG were those of complete preparations for an
important offensive. When the war began Kitchener had
said two years would he needed for England to become
really prepared. By -hine, 191 G. in addition to her ''superior
fleet." it was pointed out by Lord Rosebery 1 that five mil-
lions of British were in arms: that a million and a half of
men and a quarter of a million of women were turning out
munitions: that the daily expenditure was approaching five,
millions; that a debt was piling np so formidably that by
March. 1!<17. at the rate in March. 1!)1G. it would reach the
almost incalculable figure of 1.440.000.000. In the presence of
these facts it was a grave error to say England was 'Making
the war lying down."

In the first half of that eventful year. 11)16. the war was
entering upon a new phase. In unexpected quarters both on
land and sea. after a long period of stagnancy, events had
followed one another with startling rapidity. Around Ver-
dun for over three months the (iermans had been battering
Fivnch defenses, but, except in the latter part: of February,
had made only costly local gains; it had become a question of
advancing by yards, not by miles, and then only after
enormous sacrifices. In May the Austrians had turned their
strength against the Italians and. after inflicting severe losses,
sei-med on the point of breaking through their northern lines.

On May :il the Briii>h and Herman fleets had met off the
eoast "f Jutland and here, for the first time. ;in opportunity
had come to measure their strength in a general engagement.
Tie- result was inconclusive. Both sides suffered severe losses,
the British heavier than the Hermans, and the Hermans
heavier than they were willing to admit. If
prestige suffered, Hermany found herself still

: It; ;i?i ii.t:-', In, timi to Mr

ALLIED OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH

an impenetrable wall of Hritish dreadnoughts and cruisers
and the (lerman sliips never ventured out again. In tin- mean-
while the Russian giant had awakened, and in June I3rusiloff's
armies had raptured over fiO.OOO Austrians more prisoners
than the (Jermans had taken around Verdun since February
-] had driven the Austrians from the fortress of Lutsk,
which they had held since the previous August, and were
driving home their advantage over a two hundred-mile front.
The immediate ef'feet of the Russian drive had been to
paraly/e the Austrians in their campaign against Italy.
Thus, by June, had come a sudden change everywhere ex-
cept along 1)],. British line in France, where sharp fighting
around Lens was chronicled in a few lines only in daily
official bulletins. Hut there had been much local fighting
along this line for half a year.

These events and the battle of Verdun to some extent had
made onlookers forget that to the west, northwest, and south
of Verdun, from Swit/erland to the sea, heavy field-artillery
was seldom, if evei\ silent for any long interval in the six
months between January 1 and the beginning of the western
allied offensive on July 1. Bombing and mining operations
and tlights and duels of airmen were also the rule and not
the exception. The daily casualty lists, if not very numerous,
showed that there were continuous encounters with the (ier-
maiix alt ho none was of any magnitude. It was known to
the Allies that their resources in men and material would
eventually he far greater than those of the Central Powers.
and there was no military reason why they should be drawn
into a premature offensive, which, if unsuccessful, might
lower their pre<tiuv among neutrals and canst 1 disappoint-
ment to the HritMi. French and Italian nations. They be-
lieved that for the moment it was their best plan to play a
wa it ing LSI me.

Meanwhile tragic events that concerned the "Western
Front had occurred in Ireland, and were believed in Allied
qjiarters to have been timed to synchronize with the Verdun
attack. Sir Roger Casement. \vho for years had been prom-
inent in The HritNh consular service, was arrested near an
Iri^h port, on or before April L'1. while seeking to land from
a ship laden with munitions of war intended for inMirree-

1C5

OX THE AYKSTKRX FRONT

tionisls in Dulilin. Sailin

this

der a (lei-man commission,
s a merchantman. Sir Ro^vr hail

hern associated with a small hand of Irishmen who hated
Kn^laml hecaiise of traditional grievances. rather than ])reseiit
injuries, and who held that every means of revolt, however
violent, was justified. They had comhined themselves into
an association called the "Sinn Fein." founded ahoul l!M)f),
and were the political heirs of the Fenian movement of fifty
years het'ore. They dreamed of an independent republic for
Ireland. Two days after Sir Roger's arrest riots were re-

I.IKIOKTY HALL IN DIT.LIN A II

OF TNSTHKKrTIOXTSTS

' AKTKUS

pmled in Dublin and telegraphic communications were cut.
It was understood that the rebels \vere in possession of a
lar<re part of the city: l*>y April 27 the uprising had so
spread that all Ireland was placed under military law. and
lai'tre cont indents of troops were sent over from \\ales.
Next dav the post-office. Stephen's (liven, and other parts
of Duhlin were in the hands of the Sinn Fein. Sniping
was prevalent and fire-, ln-okf out. On April :!() the "Irish
Ik'ejdihlic" which tin- rebels had proclaimed and which had
had an exi-tence nf 120 honi's. \vas overthrown, and its
lenders -MiTciidei-ed unconditionally. Save for occasional

inn

ALLIED OPERATIONS IX THE NORTH

sniping 1 , Dublin thereafter enjoyed peace. Next day scat-
tered remnants of the Sinn Fein surrendered. In all over
.1,000 prisoners were taken and were rapidly brought to
trial. On May 3 occurred the first executions. By May 10
thirteen men had been executed. The casualties of all kinds
soldiers, civilians, and rebels were about 1,000. Of these
400 were killed. Of the troops and constabulary 124 were
killed, 388 wounded, and 9 missing, or T>21 in all.

Sir Roger, altho a north of Ireland Protestant, had
been an active figure in other conspiracies organized by ex-

RTINED r.lII.DIMiS IX SArKVIi LE STREET. DIT.LIN.
DI'K TO THE INSURRECTION

treme Irish revolutionists. In his early career he had done
excellent service for the British, especially in connection
with the exposure of cruelties in the Kongo and in the
Putumayo rubber industry in Peru, and as a reward had
been knighted and pensioned. Thomas F. AYoodlockr of
New York, voiced the views of many Irishmen in this coun-
try in saying that this revolt was "the crudest blow that
had been struck at Ireland's hopes in over a century." He
believed, however, that those who struck it. tho erring deeply
in their judgment foolish, indeed, beyond words struck.

:<jrk Tin'

Mr. Wo.Mlork was fi.iniu.Tly editor uf Tlu>

OX TI1K WKSTERX FRONT

as they thought, for Ireland, lie believed tliat those who
were ". sickened at heart by the tragedy'' sliould not allow
themselves to lu' led into a wrong judgment as to tin- ulti-
mate causes from which it had sprung and the shoulders
1 1 pou whom should fall the blame. The blood shed in
Dublin he said was ''upon the. heads of that section of the
English ]>eople who supported Sir Edward Carson and the
I'lster Orangemen in their utterly lawless attempts to cheat
the Iri.-li people of the home rule that had been fairly won
from the English democracy." English ''unionists" in the
early part of 1914 ''had openly backed an armed rebellion
against the law of the land."

On May o Premier Asquith announced in the House of
Commons the execution on that day of the leaders. Pearce.
'"provisional president of Ireland"; James Connolly, styled
"Commandant C.eiieral of the Republican Army"; Thomas
J. ( 'lark, and Thomas MacDonagh. Casement was to be
tried. Three other men were sentenced to three years' penal
servitude. Taken to London. Casement and Daniel Bailey,
his soldier confederate, were indicted for high treason on
May 2(i by a grand jury after due consideration of the
evidence. Harold Beghie 3 described Sir Koger as entering
court "quickly and jerkily, his eyes glancing in every direc-
tion, his hands fidgeting at his coat, his lips working, his
eyebrows twitching." He was a tall, handsome, aristocratic
looking man. extraordinarily dark, thin to the very bones,
and looked "desperately ill." He cast his eyes at the
magistrate, bowed with real politeness, recognized a friend
in court, bowed to him with a momentary smile, which
flickered away almost immediately, and then seated himself.
"half turning at the same time to the other prisoner. a> if
inviting him to be seated, too: as if, indeed, he would put
this otln-r prisoner at his ease." Then he "folded his arms,
worked hi< neck about in its turned-down collar, bit his lips,
and looked at the prosecution," The thick black hair of
Ca-ement. .wit h two or three flecks of white over the ears, was
brushed ^traighl back from the forehead, which projected
over large dark eyes so surrounded by shadows that the
pupils \vefe indistinguishable at a few paces. The nose was

ALLIED OPERATIONS IX THE NnRTII

aquiline and small. A short moustache covered the upper
lip, and a little ^ri//ly heard, with an upward tilt at its
line point, covered the chin. It was a face "not only aristo-
cratic and tine, but spiritual." The man was more than
bron/ed; lie had been "baked by scorching 1 suns to a dark-
ness which was almost Indian." And yet no one could
have mistaken him for an Eurasian. Casement's trial came
off late in -June. lie was found guilty of hi^h treason by the
jury who deliberated less than an hour.

rnsT-oFFic'E r.riLiu.v; IN DUBLIN AFTER BEING DESTROYED BY

FIUK r,Y TIIK INSTPJtErTTONTSTS

Many efforts were made to save Casement's life, but late
in July the sentence of death by haninn<r was confirmed by
the Court of Criminal Appeal. Adherents of John Red-
mond had forwarded to Premier Asquith a petition for
clemency siirned by six bishops, twenty-six members of Par-
liament, and fifty-one other persons, including' a number of
educators, and Pope Benedict interceded in Casement's be-
half. Irish Nationalists ur<red that he was not a traitor but
a sincere man inspired by Irish patriotism. Strenuous
efforts were made in the I nited States and Ireland, and

V. 11112

ion

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

oven in England, to secure a reprieve. Some of them sought
to obtain action by President Wilson.

The hopes of the condemned man's friends were finally
extinguished when Lord Robert Cecil, Minister of War and
Trade, announced that the < lovernment had determined uot
to grant a reprieve. Lord Robert declared that Casement
was much more malignant and hostile to (Jroat Britain than
were the leaders in the Sinn Fein revolt, and that there

was no ground which could
be brought forward in mitiga-
tion of his offense. Case-
ment was hanged in "Penton-
ville prison on August ',$.
Two .hours before the execu-
tion a crowd of men, women,
and children gathered before
the prison gates. Twenty
minutes before Casement
mounted the scaffold when
1 he grent prison bell began to
loll, the sound WHS greeted
with cheers from the crowd,
mingled with groans. At nine
o'clock the crowd had swollen
to such proport ions 1 hat it
extended for two blocks from
the prison front. At one
minute after nine, when :i
II announced that the I rap
the signal for a mocking,
1, but this soon died away,
incident in a great war, th,>
g the Freudi Revolution to
at Bantry Bay. Hoche was
Revolutionary generals, and
'orce. Ireland from
to west, was at that time

Had Hoche. the man who had already pacified
iictuallv landed in Ireland at the head of his

SlH It

I),

single stroke of the bi

had been sprung, it became

jeering yell from the crowd

Men recalled, as a similar
attempt of (Jetieral Hoche dut
land a force of men in Irdarx
one of the ablest of the Prone
was in command of a splendid veteran
north to south, and from eas

dlsaffectei

La Vend*

efficient troops, there might have been an exceedingly serious-

170

ALLIED OPERATIONS IX TIIK NORTH

stru^lc, iiltlio even then the Hritish fleet had sufficient con-
trol of the sea 1o determine an eventual victory in favor of
llie I'nited Kingdom. .Hut, under a general of the capacity
of Hoche, and with tlie whole of 1he I'nited Irishmen ready
to join him, such a strn<jfrle would have been serious. Jt
was in this attempt that the Irishman, AVolf Tone, became
involved. Tone, like Casement, was arrested by the British,
but at'lei' belli"; 1 condemned to death, he managed 1o commit
suicide before his execution. Like Robert Lmmet, Tone
made a speech after his. trial, which usually linds its way
in'.o collections of Irish oratory, alon^ 1 witli Emmet's, altho
it r;mk> far below that classic nmonir impassioned speeches^

. Tin- Time*, The Trillin*' N<>\v York: Th

MII-: Tiiiuii KATM.I; OF vi'iii-is- JIM: : Td JIM: i

\Vtioil, .-UK] in wliicli ( ':i n:nli;i

'c a I'Diisiiciuni

I'lilluwini; rliaiitc-r from i>;i.i;rs l.'l t

171

A THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES ('AXADIAX VALoR
AXI) KITCHEXER'S DEATH

April 27, ]!>1G June 20, 1!U6

BY early May the Germans were showing marked activity
in the Vpres region following earlier and rather serious
attaeks on April 21 and 27 each more than mere treneh
raiding. Then came a jrn-at Zeppelin raid over Great
Hritain, a naval raid on the English east coast, and the armed
revolt in Ireland. Fiu'htin<r alonir the British front, in fact,
was such as to l<>ok like the beginning of a bir>- drive. The
Germans had kept massed against the British an a.^pTeprate
of some hundred thousands of men. with heavy <iuns and
cavalry. An a!ia< k on the 20th was launched at several
points between Ypn-x and Souchez. the most serious effort
neenrriim' between Ilnlluch and Loos, where the Germans
made two iras attacks. They named a foot in jr on support
lines near Loos which had been heavily bombarded, but were
ilriven out au'ain by counter-attacks from Irish troops. This
activity of the Germans was no doubt intended to convince
the French thai the Verdun battle had come to an end. but
when the storm a^ain burst around. Verdun the French were
fully prepared for it. the disposition- of their troops having
undergone no numerical changes.

Of the Irish troops in this fiu'ht inir Philip Gibbs" noted as
"a splendid fMiincidi-nce" that, on the niu'ht when the Sinn
Fein were tryinu 1 to besmirch the honor of Ireland in the
streets of Dublin. Irish battalions at the front in France
were, on the fin-htinir line, and by threat gallantry ''(rav<*
proof to the world that the heart of Ireland was loyal/' On
April 27. when one of the Irish brigades was holding the
ciialk-pit salient south of Hulluch. the Hohenxollern redoubt
was attacked and the Germans were bombed out of one of

" ' <'nTT< --liOIHl'-llt uf 'l''n- L.iIl'l'Jll lhl',1'1 ('!> fjlll 'c'l' ami Tin.' Ni'W York TitlH--.

ALLIED OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH

the craters. Through the darkness, faintly lighted by tliou-
sands of stars, throbbed a great glare when one of the (Her-
man mines exploded to the west of Ilulluch, and another
lurid flame xig-xagged across the tields to the northeast of
Vennelles. .Mr. (iibbs wrote:

two. Irish soldiers in the dugouts behind the front line of' trenches
cxprest the thought that perhaps bel'ore dawn the eiieinv mitrlit
make an attack upon 'the hoys up there.' These Irishmen kept
cool. In the trenches they were as stolid as their Kntdish comrades,
with a trrim joke or two. It was no joke just before dawn when
the enemy's trims concentrated upon the Irish sector. Irish officers
kept up the spirits of the 1 men. The truns ceased about "> o'clock
that mornintr. a queer silence ensued in which maiiv birds were
r-intMntr hiuh in the blue sky of a brilliant mornim: 1 , when slowly,
on the Huh' northeasterly wind, came from the (lerman trenches a
thick sluruish volume of smoke. The Irish boys crabbed the hel-
mets they carried in little satchels slum;' across the shoulders, .V
headdress like that made them look like queer beasts.

''Far from beimr demoralized bv the poison-gas, the Irish spirit
was fiercely aroused and they poured a heavy rifle-lire into tho
Herman soldiers as they came rushintr i'or.vard. Alany fell and the
ethers were checked by the barbed wire. So the Dublins shot them
down before they could break through. An officer and forty dead
Hermans lay there entamrled amonu' broken strands. The .Irish
organized a counter-attack. Within half an hour the enemy was
driven out, leaving many dead. An officer with four men of an
Fri>h brigade in this sector advanced up the trench into which a
Herman patrol had trained a footing and without any other aid
put the enemy out of action. A third iras attack was attempted
hut tailed to reach the Irish and floated back in a swirl of wind
to the enemy "s lines.

From the end of April until the beginning of the Sommo
offensive that is. for eight weeks righting on the AVestern
Front was continuous, but it yielded no important results.
Fighting also went on continuously in the Argonne and
Champagne region, and at many little points the French
straightened their line. Since the second battle of Ypres
tlie Hermans had made use of poison-gas lachrymatory
shelK and llame-jcts. but after the tirst use of gas at Ypres.

173

OX Till-; WKSTKRX FRONT

where it came as a surpri/.e and so enabled the Germans to
train some success, it became only a small factor in warfare.
since the Allies had fully armed themselves against it.
Every man carried a helmet which, filtering out the noxious
iras, enabled him to breathe air, which passing through
chemicals, was rendered lit for respiration. One of the
latest German developments was the introduction of "stink"
ii'as. so called from its odor, hut not in itself dangerous. It
was sometimes mixed with poison-gas. Lachrymatory shells
as their name implied, produced a copious How oi:' tears. To
<Miard against it jrou'^les were introduced which, in the
latest pattern of helmets, formed part of the helmet.

On the niuht of May 1">. on the Yimy lvid<re, the British
advanced and seixed thi 1 (ierman forward line over a length
of l2->(> yards, and indicted considerabU 1 losses. \'imy was
important to the Allies, as i; dominated ground to the east
over which the British would have to pass in anv future
advance. ()n May '2\ the (Jermans tried to recapture posi-
tions at the north end of the Yimy Rid^-. After a heavy
bombardment, which lasted well on into the afternoon their
infantry penetrated the front line of British treiiche^ on a
front of ]..")()() yards, and to a depth of loo to :!<><> yards.
Se\-cral lines of the British position over a length oi a ndle
and a quarter were captured, and during the mu'ln counter-
attacks were ivpnUed and ei^ht officers and '2'2( ) men. witli
four machiiie-ii'iins and three trench-mortars taken. On the
next day the British nuns, in their turn, subjected the
enemy to a bombardment, but nothing more was done.
During May '2~ the British bom ha riled (ierman trenches to

the southeast of N'ellVe ('hapelle, and destroyed some stores

at ( I u 1 1 leni' 'lit . The (Jermans for their part directed a bom-
bardment lastinu' twenty minutes wesi of l-'ricourt. and one
about Sei'fe. The British sprang live mines, three about
Ilnlhich and two southeast of ('ilinchy. and the (iermans
exploded one in-ar the Ilohen/ollern R' dmibt and another on
the Yimy Rid-jc. ()n May :!(> the Germans continued their
L'eiiej-al bombardment, the one about Xeiive ('hapelle beiujf
particularly h^avy and lastnm' eighty minutes. This was
follnwil by an infantry attack- which penetrated British
trenches and took some prisoners, but a counter movement

174

ALLIED 01'KRATIOXS IN THE NORTH

drove the (Jermans back. North of Bethune tin- (lermans
sprang a mine ami British iroops occupied the near lip of
the crater. There was some activity neai 1 Loos also.

This sort of conflict was followed early in .Jim" by
anotliei' at Ypres which has been called the third battle of
Ypres. Round Ypres there had already been two seven-
battles, the first from October :>(> until November 11, 11114,
the second from April '2'2 to .May lo. 1!H.~>. ( )n .June '2,
ll'lfi. the Around ovei 1 which the battle was fought was
roughly conliiied between the Ypres-Menin road and the
neighborhood of Klein Zillelieke. ' I'o-session of Ypre* was

Mill considered of sufficient importance to the British to
ju>tify them in hanjiinj:' on to it. because if it should fall
into (ierman hands it would be necessary to draw back the
front line of British trenches, north and south of it, for a
considerable distance.

Few cities in the path of (lennan devastation had suf-
fered more than Ypres. At the be^inniiiir of the war there
were few more picturesque IOWIK in Belgium than this
thriving community of 17. (KM) inhabitant-, a majority of
whom gained a livelihood from ;he production of Valen-
ciennes lace. They were amoni;' the earliest sufferers. The
invat ('loth Hall of Ypiv-. now in ruins, which had been

17."

OX THE WESTERN' FRONT

the most considerable building of its kind in that country,
\vas begun in llMO by Count Baldwin IX oi' Flanders and
was under construction for more than a century. Within a
stone's throw of the hall stood the famous thirteenth cen-
tury cathedral of St. Martin, which, during two years, was
reduced to a shell of crumbling stone above the grave of
its famous bishop. Jansen. father of the great religious
revival known as Jansenism, that spread through this part
of Europe durinir the first half of the seventeenth century.
Both the Cloth Hall and the cathedral had been completely
restored only a year or two before the outbreak of the great
conflict.

After breakfast on tin 1 morning of June 2 the British
were observed to be in high spirits, going about their tasks
of digging, repairing, rifle-cleaning, and general tidying-up.
Then, at twenty minutes to nine o'clock and without any warn-
ing, "hell broke loose." the detonation becoming overwhelm-
ing, h did not come from one part, but from the whole
length of the opposing line opposite the Canadian division,
ft not only deafened the ear and paraly/ed the nerves, but
instantly the firmament became blackened. For the next
few minutes men groped about in darkness, unable to hear
any word of command, clutching rifles and wailine for what
would happen. Two generals attempting to reach a com-
rnunicat ion-trench found their retreat cut off. Behind the
front line a hiirh wall of descending shells, screaming, crash-
ii;^'. exploding, emitting ciomU of noxious smoke, seemed to
shut off all chance of escape. Moments passed that seemed
hours, and th'-n iron and steel missiles rained and exploded
in the front line, scattering death and destruction. Nothing
could live for loti'j. 1 ill such a storm. Sides of trenches
'rumbled and fell in. Men held on, however, darling from
one devastated section to another in order to gain a refuse.
;i mine would explode leaving a i:rim crater.

From an oppo-ile ti'ench \\arm^ of gray-coat
he'j'an to spring. Ful l

ALLII-;i) OPERATION'S IX TIIK XORTII

soldiers, two officers among them. and, runniii!_r forward with
rides and pistols, they bade defiance to the (iermaiis. On
they ran, and, havintr discharged their weapons, tiling them
in the very faces of the (iermans. Death was inevitable for
these men, the only reimilling occupants of the British
front line, but it was belter to die thus than to be shot in
a ditch, or finished off with a (ierman bayonet.

The battle began at !' A.M. when the (iermans opened a
bombardment agr.inst that part of the British front which
lies between Ilooge and Hill (!<). The bombardment lasted
four hours. At noon the infantry attack was launched by
\\TirtteinberL;' regiments, who penetrated into first-line
trenches against the resistance of the Princess Patricia's
('anadian Light Infantry. Three commanding officers were
killed in a. hand-to-hand fight in the trenches and another
was wounded and taken prisoner. The (iermans continued
their attack during the niji'ht and pushed through the British
<lefenses to a depth of 7< l< > ya n U in the direction of Zille-
beke, the Canadians having retired on their supports to
organize a counter-attack, which, after a bombardment equal
in intensity to that of the (iermans on the previous day.
was delivered at 7 A.M. on the :jd. The Canadians fouuht
their way back to their trenches, which they found battered
to pieces, with hundreds of German dead lyinj}- about
nnburied. some of the trenches beino; untenable. Altho they
failed to recover all the ground 'ost on tin 1 previous day.
they pushed the (Jermans back tor ;. (quarter of a mile and
consolidated their new line.

Kxcept for a continuous artillery dnej. thei'e was then a
lull in The battle till the afternoon ot the Oth. when the

ON TIIK \YKSTKRX FRONT

enemy be^aii another heavy bombardment mi \he ]>ritish
position aiul north nf the village of I loop-, while southeast
of Xilleheke. between the Ypres-Commines railway aii'l c;ni;il.
the bombardment was maintained \viih the same intensity as
before. Hetueeii :! and 4.ilO I'.M. a scries of mint- explosions
Took plare at various points at a 2. 000-yard front, north of
IIooLre. these hein<r ilie signal for a oviiera] infantry attack.

Which Was UllsUcceSNt'ul eXcept at IIoilLl'e. wllelV tile (Jel'tliailS

eaptuivd the Uritish front line trendies 1'unnin^ 1 thi'ou.irh
i-uiiis df the villa<r<>. Tin-re \va- a lull in the infantry ti^'lit-
inir till 1 .-">o A.M. on the Tilth, \\-hen tin- Canadians made
annth'T counter-attack with the intention <t' reo-ainin_: their
furinei- pi >-.ii inns hrt \veen Saiieliiarv WiKid and Hill h'o. The
Germans fell liaek under ihe impel iinxity of this jiMack.
Treip-h after trench was i-.-takeii. three officeis and 1"> S men
li.'iim- made prisoners. Saiictuary Wood and Iloii^e were
vtill in (ii-rjiuni hands, but elsewliere the l;ri;i>h line \va->
intaei .

Tile iniiial sueeess achieveil by the (iiTinan^ on linn- 2d
\vas fiirt h'T pi'oof. if >iieh wei'e wanted, of the eMnmious
pnwer \vhidi artillei'y exerted on the mudern tidd <if battle.
Thi- bombardment came a^ a ^urprixe tn the Divisional ( 'oin-
Miandef. who dearly had in> vu^pieion of its imminence. It
was possible td effect an artillery concentration without dis-
coverv bi-canse a mnvenienl nf m'-n wa^ less easy to hide
fi'iim tip- observation of airim-n than a m<ivement ni uiins.
The latter could be bronchi up at ninlit and placed in con-
cealed positions till the moment for action arrived. When.
on the other hand, a larii'c movement of troops took place,
thev bet raved their piv-eiice by a corresponding movement
of supjdy \\-aii-ons and otliei 1 transport accessories. It thus
had happ'-in-d that tie 1 (lei-man bombardment lie^'an without
equality of artillery -treimth mi tin- UritUh side.

( 'iinteuiporary narratives agreed as to the xuddenne> with
whicli the bombardment ln-c/an over the whole area attacked,
and the terrible, and. so far as tin- front wa< concerned.
;i : e uiiprecedeiited severity with which it continued, without
interruption, for over four hours before an infantry attack
\vas made. A weapon the (icrmaiis weiv now u^ini; was
-oiin-iiiiies known a- the ".")-!." bin everv other xirt of c- U ii

ALLfKI) OI'KKATIOXS IX THE X'ORTII

was employed, including heavy howitzers, naval guns, and
trench-mortars, with high explosive, shrapnel, and Jachryma-
tory shells. In a position such as this, at the angle of a
.salient, tlu' place attacked could he subjected to a concen-
trated fire from all sides, hut, quite apart from this local

KAXS AMO.Xi; CANADIAN" TKool'S

battle Of Ytuvs,

si ill to ti.uhf ;it Ft'stlibcrt. Givi-iichv, Mcssii

vHii'-iis iiml < ';i mlira i. Tnc picture show

c.iudition, the immense we'mlit of artillery iiM-d. in pi'ojior-
tiuu to size, in all attacks on tliis front, gave tri the iightinu 1
a new character. Artillery-fire was no) ]io\v used merely to
demoralize the enemy or break up formations. .It was used
to annihilate, to obliterate every form of defensive work.
and to make life itself impossible on every vard of the

OX TIIK \YKSTKRX FRoXT

ground attacked. The ti'oops engaged included units of the
Princess Patricia's Light Infantry, the Canadian [Mounted
Ritles, the Royal Canadian Regiment, and the Canadian In-
fantry. The. northern end of the line attacked, just south
of Ilooge. was held by the "Patricias, 1 ' and there, in Sanc-
tuary Wood, Avas fighting of the most desperate kind. The
"wood" afterward was a mere ghost of what the. name im-
plied. There was little greenery or shelter; nothing but a
certain remnant of ragged stumps and bits of splintered
poles. To the south, occupying the middle of the ground
covered by the (ierman tire, Avere battalions of the Canadian
.Mounted Jiiiles. Here the trenches Avere out on flat ground
in a region Avhere the soil a few feet below the surface be-
came water, so that defensive works of any depth, capable
of resisting modern shell-fire, Avere impracticable.

The lines iw front Averts held by a battalion of the Cana-
dian [Mounted Rifles. Other battalions came up later to
assist them through the barrage. Few things finer have
been seen in Avar than the Avay in Avhich they c-ame. If one
could imagine Zeppelin bombs dropping at a rate of scores
to the minute over eA'ery awre of a given area, and con-
tinuing unceasingly for hours, until before the end there
was no spot Avhere holes in the. ground did not coalesce, and
none where every sort of structure on the earth's surface
was not a shapeless lump of ruin, one Avould have some idea
of what this type of artillery bombardment meant. AYlien
the (ierman infantry advanced they came. not. charging,
but in regular formation, as if to occupy untenanted ground.
In Sanctuary Wood next day. when the British pushed
through in a counter-attack, they found the ground covered
wit h ( ierman dead.

Kven more splendidly dramatic were some of the scenes
along the trenches. After the long bombardment the der-
mans heralded their infantry attack" by blowing up mines,
which besides the wreckage they wrought at that particular
point cau^'-d considerable loss of life. Thr actiral advance
of the (ierman infantry from the trenches was preceded and
partiallv concealed by a smoke barrage. To the da/x'd an,d
broken remnants of the men in British trenches the (icrmans
were not visible until clo^e at hand. Of one battalion few

I.M)

ALLIKI) OPERATIONS IX THE NORTH

men who remained had any rifles left that were lit i'or use
even if the men had been til to use them. Hut when they
saw the (icrmans close at hand they climbed from the
trenches to meet them and. some blind and deaf and stayjrer-
in^, charged pitifully to their death with no weapons but
the 1 broken rifle-bulls, bits of entrenching tools, and in some
cases bare lists. Among innumerable gallant deeds one de-
serves to be recorded. It was that of a private from Saskat-
chewan. I'mler the awful artillery-tire to which there wa.-
no replying with rifles, he had busied himself in caring for
the wounded. He had bandaged one officer, two non-com-

I'.KITISII TKOOI'S MOVI.M; IN A SINKKN KOAH

missioned officers, and two privates, and was looking after
them as well as he could behind a bit of battered sand-
bag breastwork- out in the open, when the fragment left of
his company was told'to fall back but he refused to go. He had
se) up his private hospital there, and one of his wounded
privates was a pal from his own small town in Saskatchewan.
So he stayed with his pal. Philip (Jibbs wrote of scenes he
witnessed among the ('anadians at Vpre>:

ON THK WESTERN FRONT

bardmi-nt that has been seen upon our front except at Yimy. and as

1 listened lo tiicir stories of the battle. I si 1 in the presence ot'

men who had esc-nped from tin 1 very piis of that hell which has
been invented by Innnan beings out of the earth's chemistry, and
yet had kept their reason, and their courage, and their pride ot'
-piiit. Thai was wonderful.

"Karth belo\v them opened up into ureat craters ;1 s hiuh explos-
ive siiells barst continually, tlinuiiiu up mas^s ot' soil. flattcnim;
out breastwork-, and -catteriiiL:' >and-ba^-s into du.-t. The bom-
bardment euiitiniied without a pan>e for live hours, bv which time
most ot' o;;r front trenches liad been annihilated. At about a
quarter-past one the enemy's L^UIIS lit'ted a little, and thi'oiiuh \\\<-
dense smoke-clouds which made a solid liar across No Man's Lam;
appeared a in;;ss of < !criii;iii infantry. They wore their packs and
'nil field-kit, ;;s if th.ey had come in stay. They diecl to a man,

: _ 'I'.'J'. Il -reined In li.e ill t' llie mo>1 piiifnl and heroic tl !!:_-

nf i - v: , : tie crowd of men. many of them \vounded. -ome
of ' cm da/ed and deaf, -tnmblin^ t'orv/ai'd to their certain dentil
to "pp. ise the enemy 's adva : ce.

"No one can say." said one of i heir o Hirers "that the ( 'anadiaii.-
iio noi ;i,n ho to ilie. I ! i- a l ra^'ed\ thai so . of ; hem
!i;ive '.. . this battle under that devilish -bell-tire, b ;t -h"
'. ill live l'i irevi r. ' '

Tl is - ; -n':!iL;' al Yjn-t-s fell into ;\v.! iliMiin-1 ii'-tiniis. The

1'i'Mllts of tile tif^t llJIVe illl'i'.'ldy l)-'e|i 'ulil; Will] ;i i-olllltel'-
' - [llla^e etlileil. Tin l;e.\1 h 1'ee il;tys fi U'lllcM i all

in; I'l'lin h\ and then eainr ,1 M.-\V and wi-l!-detiiied a'taek,

I. ill |li ii in |i:'''ja i-ai ion f, ir \- --!.-. sei-t ion , ,j' t !;> line

-onlli of Iloo^-e. wjiie'n hitd -innd lirtli in ' - e;ir 'T iillack,

. ,-j i ; '. ail e\1 eli^i in M]' ' !:e lie 1 lirnllii'll I I o, PMC. U ;(S

' 1 1 timely In mi MM I'd fd lt;a! day fro MI rim in nil w;in 1. Tin- It;in"iU't'

. pui iiji M! ' '. a ' nie. u ;i- part ii-nla rly diriM-ted at

^';lll-^ itself, of \vhieli ile i"iin> were then ^til! t'nrtlh'r >nli-

1 o delnolil iol). A ' :! I'. M . '''< Illiriex Wel'e e\j >\< 'ded

ami about tip- I'ri'i-i, froiil. Lvivinir |.roof of loii^
[ii'i-pii I'iit i iii. and ("''I'lnan nifanti'y iidviiiiced iindi-r eover ot

the e\pio->io]]. Tile ;it1;|el< \\'il~- II 11 ! wholly slleee>>,}'l ] 1, 1 1 1 o
-o)||e lie i-lie- ill tile I'llill- of Ilno'j'e WelV sej/e(l illld oe-

upied. The iioi'l hi'i'ii p;ii'i of ill-- lirilisli line stood linn.

\"i [ did the (iel'lllMIl- I'eMeli lileil' nlijeetive oil the south.

A ;''! I hi> Met ion nn i'urt in-r infaiil rv ti^hliim w;i> rei-nrded.

ALLIED OPERATION'S IX THE NORTH

all ho iid day was free from heavy artillery-fire from l)0th
ends. By tin- end of a week heavy British guns had
silenced hostile [latteries. The casualties on both sides were
severe. On ihe night of -June 4-"> five raids were carried out
hy English, Scottish and Welsh troops in the neighborhood of
('niiichy and (iiveiichy. All had been planned with care. A
dash to the trenches was made. After that the work was
brief, but exciting, depending on the cool courage of in-
dividual men working on a general plan.

lust south of where the Canadians made their stand a
maple copse was visible. The earth was all torn and seared,
but a surpri/ing amount of fine timber was still standing.
During those two fierce days' fighting wounded men were
crawling about or lying motionless for hours on the ground.
either helpless or in order to avoid observation, having lost
their way. One man spent two nights on his back in Xo
Man's Land without food, drink, or succor. Another was
thrice buried by the effects of a mineiiwerfer shell, which
plowed ii]) ihe surrounding earth, and was thrice dug out by
a passing officer. Machine-guns wen 1 repeatedly buried, and
then rapidly and diligently excavated and brought again
into action, much to the enemy's discomfiture. Little by
little in after time the threads of the story of the third
battle for Vpres were to be gathered np and individual acts
of daring and heroic self-sacrifice brought into the light of
day. The (ierinan had apparently done his worst. He had
given a violent tug at the loop, and if he had shortened it
by a few inches, he had also math 1 it stronger. Precisely
what new schemes of fright fulness he was meditating the
British did not know, but his latest exploit cost him thou-
sands of lives and yielded him a dismantled church and a
few battered cottages at Ilooge. Elsewhere on the British
front numerous raids, adroitly planned, became the order
of the day.

Fighting in this region now became of more normal and
quiet character. It was chiefly artillery-fin 1 with occasional
small raids of no great importance: but on the 10th the
(ierman bombardment against the Ypres positions became
violent. British trenches north of the Ypres-Comines rail-
way, between the hours of 1 and -5 P.M. being severely pun-

OX THE WESTERN 7 FRONT

ished, as was the' ground south of llooge; but there were
no infantry engagements. The next day. during the morn-
ing, there was a further bombardment of Ypres and ground
to the south of it. also of British trenches north of the
Menin road, while in the afternoon the main attention of
the German gnus was directed against the Canadian posi-
tions from Hill 60 to the north for a distance of 1 ..">00
yards. But again there were no infantry attacks of im-
portance. June 12 was an uneventful day with only a
heavy bombardment between Hill 60 and Hooge by both
sides: but the ]:>th saw a vigorous counter-attack delivered
by the Canadians to regain ground lost on June 2-o. At
half-past one the Allied tire lifted and the infantry dashed
forward. The enemy poured out a severe harrier-fire to
prevent the approach of the British, but so great was their
impetuosity that they pushed through it and quickly gained
their objective before the sun rose. The British set about
consolidating heavy artillery-fire, and during the next
twenty-four hours clung bravely To the position they had
gained. Once the (iermans massed infantry for an attack,
but they were met by such a hail of tire that no attempt to
advance was made.

<Mi the morning of June 22 the Germans sprang a large
mine in the neighborhood of Givenchy. just nortli of La
Bassee ('anal. This was followed by a heavy barrage-tire
behind the British line, under cover of which the Germans
penetrated the British front on a narrow space. Suddenly
there was a terrible roar, the earth opened, and a huge mass
of timber, soil and sand-bags was upheaved and fell back
with a crash into a vast crater. 120 feel across, and the
trendies in its neighborhood, destroying the parapets and
replacing the well-ordered construction by a cleared space
and a deep pit. Then came artillery-lire, pounding the posi-
tion and seeking by a veil of shells to cut off all access to
it. followed by three distinct assaulting parties, who rushed
forward to occupy the mine-pit. Welshmen some of whom
had been blown up and others dazed by the shock closed on
the Hanks of the raiding party and drove them back, light-
ing hard, into the crater, out of it. and back to their own
trenches.

1S4

ALLIKI) OI'KKATIOXS IX Till-; .XoRTII

A preparatory bombardment of (lerman lines, intended
to pave the way for the great advance of -Inly \vas begun at.
the end of .June. From Ypivs to the Snmme the (icrman
position was subjected to a hail of projectiles, generallv dis-
tributed, but also concentrated at various points, so as to
leave them in doubt as to where the attack, which they quite
appreciated was coming, would really be delivered. The
(lerman reply, except for short intervals, and against a
few places, was ineffectual. The British tire was one of
devastation intended to destroy (.lermans, their batteries and
trench defenses, blow up their ammunition depots, and
bombard far back their rextinir-plae.es and lines of communi-
cation. Raids were made mi (lerman trenches, indicting
losses. Some of these attacks were Covered by gas, and at.
one place where they had been employed the trenches when
entered by the British were full of (ierman dead. No less
than a do/en successful raids were made by the .British be-
tween .June I2S and l2!l. The prolog of the play then came
: ,111 end. and in a couple of days the grand drama would
begin. All this time battle raged round Verdun and in the
( 'hampagne, while further away, in Alsace, there was more
or less continuous fighting. The Allies were about to begin
a more real offensive on the Somme.

While ihe death of any one man could not have affected
vitally the issues of the war, while neither Kaiser, (.'/ar. nor
King, neither Ilindenburg nor .loffre. carried on his shoul-
ders any strictly single responsibility, and while such a
war as this was not to be settled by any one man's genius,
nevertheless the death of Lord Kitchener on the night of
Tune ">, by drowning, off the Orkney Islands, after the war-
ship on board which lie was bound for Russia bad been
torpedoed, or hit by a mine, moved the British public pro-
foundly. Earnestly the nation mourned his death and ac-
claimed his fame. Kitchener was on his way to Russia to
consult with Russian war-leaders about munitions and plans.
His vessel, the ll(ttnj>sli!fi , an old-type British cruiser of
little war value, was blown to pieces. AVhether the ship
was sunk by the ("Iermans. or even whether the mine was a
(lerman mine, was uncertain. The Tlainpsh-irt went down,
almost instantlv. at eitrht o'clock in the evening. Officers

OX TIIK WESTERN FRONT

ami crew were s;iid tit number between three and four hun-
cltvtl a small complement for a ship of the //aw/>,s7f //v \-
elass. "With Lord Kitchener were lost his staff. How
Kitchener died was described by the last man who saw him
alive, a seaman named Rogerson. After the explosion oc-
curred. Kitchener had gone calmly out of the captain's
cabin and mounted a ladder to the quarter-clerk. There
Rogerson saw him "walking about collectedly and talking
to two officers/' All three were wearing khaki and had on
no overcoats. Kitchener was watching the preparations for
abandoning the ship, which wer,' going on in an orderly
way. Rogerson continued:

"The cre\v went to their stations, obeyed orders and did their
best IM !_;et out tile hoats. hut that was impossible, Owim;' to the
I'oiiuli \vcatlier no hoats could be lowered. Those that were n'ut out
were smashed. No boats left the side of the ship. What the
people on shore thought, to he boats leaving were rafts. The men
did '.ret into the hoats as tliev lav in their cradles, thinking as tin
ship went under the boats would Moat, but the ship sank' bv the
head and when she went under she turned a somersault forward.
carrying down with her all the hoats and the men in them. When I
spratrj' to a raft Kitchener was still on the starboard side of the
<|iiarter-deck. talking with the officers. From the little time that
elapsed between niv leaving 1 the ship and her sinking, I i'eel cer-
tain that Kitchener was on deck at the time she sank'."

"When news of the tragedy readied Edinburgh, it was
learned that not more than a do/en people in the city had
been aware of the fact that the Secretary of War and his
.staff two days before had passed through that city on their
way to the port from which they sailed on their last journey.
On his train, a night express from King's (Yoss station in
London due in Edinburgh at 4 o'clock in the morning,
Kit'-hener had a sleeping saloon. At that early bour there
were few people in the station at Edinburgh, and fewer
still knew the names of the travelers on this train. One or
two railway officials only were aware that Kitchener was on
hoard. After a few minutes' stop the train went on by
the Forth liridge route to IVrth and the north of Scotland.

Perhaps the thing that one might say first of Lord
Kitchener was that he. mop- than anv other man. served in

ALLIED OPERATIONS IX THE NORTH

Britain as a symbol of the will to bear and do in the
terrible tirst months of the war. 'When there had been a
whisper that Lord llaldane might go back to his old post,
P>ritain and .Britain's Allies alike felt a sense of apprehen-
sion, but all this was dispelled when the 1'aet was established
that "K. of K.'' was to go to
the War Office. In the months
that followed, when England
had to ereate out of nothing
new armies with officers, a sys-
tem and a machine, it was
Kitchener who in the public
mind stood for the success of
that tremendous undertaking.
The very posters that bade
men enlist bore the face and
name of the man who had
conquered the Sudan and
brought civilization back in
the land where (Jordon per-
ished.

Never ill history, probably,
net even in our own t'ivil
War. had there been a more
voluntary rising of a nation
than thai which answered the
call in <iivat Britain in the
early mont h-- of 1 lie war. Those
who volunteered were num-
bered by millions. The task
that was Kitchener's wa> in
magnitude beyond thai which
any other general had con-
fronted. In flwraeter it was like that which was faced by
the elder ('arnot. the "organi/er of victory." in France, and
by Ah-( 'lellan in our (,'ivil War. It was the task of finding
guns, officers, and munitions, not for an army, but for a
nation long given ov-r to habits of peace. Mistakes wt-ro
made. Kitchener him-. 'If was responsible for some, but the
main mistake was not his. While the miracle itself was per-

ON T1IK YVKSTKRN FRONT

formed men critici/.ed incidental mistakes. Before he died
almost f). 000. 000 men had joined the colors. The work was
completed by conscription as we in the Civil War had re-
course to the draft. This was the great, enduring. British
fact in the war. and it was the fact that men would here-
after associate with Kitchener.

Following so closely on the naval battle off Jutland on
May Ml. which the Germans continued to hail as a great
sea victory over the British fleet, altho the German fleet
retired to port whence they never again ventured out to
challenge the British, the sinking of the }I<i>H]>xhh'r, with
Lord Kitchener and his staff, made a tremendous impression
in Germany. Morning papers in Berlin devoted columns to
a review of Kitchener's career and what Kitchener meant
to England. The substance was that Kitchener embodied
the traditionally tenacious bull-dog qualities of the. British,
iron determination and great energy. He was pictured as
Great Britain's most capable military leader and (iermany'-
most inveterate foe. The blow to the British from hi- !o--
was compared to what (iermany would feel if Falkenhayn
aiid his staff or Hindenburg were killed. He was declared
to have been England's one real hope. The (ierman Navy
Department did not claim credit for the destruction oi the
If am i>.<I>!r/ . Xo reports from submarines in the area where
the cruiser -ank had been received, therefore nothing definit- 1
could be said. The impression, however, in navy circles,
was that it was not the work of a -ul>ma rine. but of a mine.
The fact that the disaster occurred in a very rough sea
ai'ini' d airainst the ("-boat theorv. 1 '

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

Part X
TIIK ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

1M1

TIIK PREPARATIONS AM) Till-] FIRST FORTNIGHT'S

KIGIITlXf!

Inly 1, 1!1U July 14, 1'MIJ

EARLY in .June surpri/ed comment w;is continually heard
on the prolonged delay in launching a real British
offensive. Tnrko-German forces in Asia Minor liad by this
time been put completely <>n the defensive: Russia had at-
tacked fiercely and with conspicuous success on the Eastern
Front: Austria had lieen diverted from her offensive against
Italy, and at Verdun the Germans had obviously failed, altho
for political and strategical reasons they still went on making
sacrifices. In t hesc conditions, so favorable to a British alt a<-k,
war on all that part of the Western Front when 1 the British
held a line of !H) or TOO miles from Yprcs in Flanders to the
Somme in France had continued, it was true, but only mi a
plan of slow attrition. It seemed altogether probable that
for weeks and even for a month a British offensive could have
been made effective in that territory in a high military sense,
whether tactically it should succeed or fail. Opposed to the
British had been forty German divisions, perhaps NiO.nOQ
men. altho English writers thought the number had been
gradually reduced by demands \'\- Verdun to not more than
f)00.000 men. In any ease, the British force was larger, and
probably much larger, than the (Jennan. That the British
alone were equal if not superior to the Germans in artillery
equipment, was also generally assumed. Therefore it could
not be for lack of strength that Ilaig delayed an offensive.
There was apparently as much, mystery and conjecture in
Kngland about the delay as there was anywhere else.

By the end of June, however, evidence was strong that a
general British offensive was at hand. An official statement
from the German Headquarters Staff on .Tune l2(i. spoke of the
fighting for two days on the British and northern French

101

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

fronts as ''important," while bulletins of the British War
Office, altho scanty in details, gave the impression of a con-
certed attack at many points, together with constant and
heavy artillery-fire. All this was understood to be in prepara-
tion fur a greater attack soon to follow and for which all wer
impatient. Traveling along roads one now saw heavy guns
and field-guns arriving. New British troops flowed in from
French ports, passed and disappeared for a while, to be found
afterward in fields and billets, looking more hardy than before,
and burdened with stories of trench life and raids. Everyone
felt that Germany was no longer on the offensive, except for
defensive purposes. It was not so much a grip at the throat that
she was feeling as a steady and squeezing pressure on her
every physical part. Central Europe was being prest on one
side by Russia, on another by British and French armies, on a
third by Italy. Germany also had a fourth side, one \vhere a
pressure, at once the hardest and most severely felt of all,
had been exerted for nearly two years by the British fleet.
When Brusiloff's Russian attack began, in the early summer
of this year, there was much speculation as to whether it was
intended to relieve Austrian pressure on Italy or German
pressure on Verdun. It later appeared that it was not for
either purpose, but was the beginning of a general Allied
movement on all fronts. "Whether it was intended to originate
the long expected drive or not, no one knew. The point was
that, by an almost simultaneous movement on three fronts,
Germany was about to be assailed in a general attack. Our
Soul hern Confederacy had been slowly strangled for two
years by a blockade before the squeezing process was put in
execution by Grant in the East and Sherman in the West.
The resemblance of thos

had not a resemblance but a parallel.
>t riking feat lire of t he d rive was the ext raordinary
-. fhat had been made for it. Seemingly nothinir
that i-i.idd ha\'e been done was left undone. The collection of
inn. ) he assembling of art il lery. and t he concent rat ion
\vefe only one |>ha-e of the preparations, lla^e^ for
-upplie> were prepared where they would be mo^t

],,o

TIIK ALLIED DUIVE ()\ THE SOMME

easily accessible \vhen the advance began. Emergency hos-
pitals were constructed and enclosures built for the reception
of prisoners. Extra motor-lorries in great numbers were pro-
vided for transport work over roads which \vere continually
being improved by thousands of workmen. Red Cross motor-
ambulanees were made ready for handling large numl)ers of
wounded. Engineers worked out an elaborate scheme whereby
water could follow men into the (ierman trenches all along
the line. (!un emplacements back of the German front line-
were prepared and routes of least resistance for reach ing

INFANTRY KKSTI.M; KN itor'n: TO TIII-; FRONT

these points decided upon. Plans for the consolidation of
eaptureil territory were elaborately considered, and provisions
made for the immediate clearing away of great quantities of
debris of every description such as always strews a battle-
ground.

When the attack' got under way, intense but methodi'-a!
activity prevailed for miles behind the front. Motor-lorrie-
bringing supplies passed in steady streams bark and forth
along the roads. Wounded were moved swiftly but with
u'i'eat care to base hospitals mdes away. Scores of thousand-
of soldiers were kept busy handling supplies, making pro-
visions for calls from the extreme front, and clearing and
consolidating ground taken. At points back of the line where

193

OX THE WESTERN .FRONT

British and French forces joined, operations were carried on
side by side. In various towns one saw great numbers of
French and British motor-lorries using the same streets.
Bodies of khaki-clad and blue-uniformed troops passed each
other continually as they went about their duties. Each was
under control of its respective army commander, and there
was no confusion in the work. Foch and Ilaig cooperated
much as Prince Eugene and Marlborough had worked together
in the campaign of Blenheim, and as Wellington and BHicher
in that of "Waterloo. Koch's position was that of commander
of the French troops on the northern front. lie had been
ordered to keep in close touch with the British, and do all that
was necessary to coordinate the operations of the two armies.
"With Ilaig he had got into most friendly relations until the
whole scheme of actions on the Somine became the result of
consultat ions.

Some further idea of the magnitude of the preparations
could be gathered from the fact that over 1 .><"><) wells had been
sunk in that particular region before the tirst attack began.
But the greatest of all proof was seen in the Pare des Bultes,
Avhich was only one of eight similar munition depots situated
directly behind the line just out of shell-range and connected
Avith batteries by new railroads and a continuous train of
auto-camions'. The shell supply at this depot covered several
acres. The number of shells of all sixes was staggering. On
an average day several hundred loaded freight-cars and auto-
camions were sent forward. An enemy aeroplane sailing
above could never have recognixed the place for Avhat it was,
the greater number of the shells being- placed below ground,
Avliile those above Avere under a canvas roof of the same color
as the ground and arranged upon sloping sides so as to cast
no shadows. < hie saw going into bomb-proof shelters thou-
sands of beds and window-shades for huts. There Avere cast-
iron observation turrets, with slits for rifles and mitrailleuses,
and curved cast-iron tops for underground tunnels. Rolls of
barbcil wire posts ;m,I barbed wire sheets covered acres of
ground. Vast quantities of tar roofing-paper Avere seen.
Acp-s were covered by flooring for trenches, trench-beams,
planks, jind stakes made into forms to tit the needs of under-
ground life. Attached to each depot was a fleet of armed

TIIK ALLIK!) DKIYK OX TIIK SOMMK

aeroplanes which ])alroleil the sky day anil niu'ht. Otic could
see hundreds of new hangars along the countryside. Xew big
guns often reared their huge snouts aloft, and were the most
striking features of the landscape.

A sinister object was one of these great guns which her crew
regarded tenderly and named '"Birdie." It was a 400-milli-
meter i lo.T > mortar that could throw projectiles so heavy that
only twelve of them could be carried in an ordinary freight
car. It had a weird disguise of paint. An instrument could
move its nose a considerable number of degrees to the right or
left and it could be tired every two minutes. Its .twin com-
panion, named ''Desire," was similar in appearance and
caliber. This unlovely pair while in transportation formed
the main burden of a railway train which also hauled dozens
of ammunition-cars loaded with shells. Kadi gun had a crew
of twenty-two men. The train's equipment included a com-
plete wireless outtit and two aeroplanes for scouting and de-
fense. On a track adjoining this train was seen another out-
fit, the star favorite of which was '"-Julie." a coast gun of oOO
millimeters ( 1 1 . s caliber, and the longest gun ever mounted
on a train. ''Julie" had a revolving platform, so that she
could turn completely around if necessary, and the excep-
tional ratlin 1 of 2o kilometers Mo.fi miles. On account of
its IOUL:' range this gun was used chiefly against (ierman
munition depots, bridges, convoys, and other places that had
been picked out by aeroplanes, rather than in throwing
projectiles airainst trenches.

The most considerable offensive the British had before un-
dertaken was the drive at Loos, in September, li'lo. in fm-
junction with a similar French effort in the Champagne dis-
trict. The British then captured Loos and claimed to have

lUTISII NAVAL Ct'NS IN LAND Ol'l :K ATK >N

OX TlIK WESTERN FRONT

Taken 120.000 prisoners ami many inins. hut were unable to
press home their advantage because reserves failed to arrive.
The British official losses in the battle of Loos were (iO.OOO
men. That the British public was prepared in 1!'1(J to face a
roll of dead and wounded on a vaster scale was indicated by
the comments of British newspapers in anticipating the of-
fensive on the Somme. Political and military leaders warne-d
'he nation that the smashing of the (ierman lines could not
possibly l>e accomplished without an appalling 1 loss of life. It
\vas indeed asserted that the British authorities were prepared
o face a loss of hundreds of thousands, if in doin>' so they
could achieve their object, which was to drive the (iermans out
of France and Belgium.

The line in Picardy selected by the .British ran northward
from Albert to a point about ei<rht miles south of Arras, beintj
part of that section of the Western Front which ran roughly
north and south from the North Sea through Belgium and
northern France, before it swun<r sharply south and east to
the Swiss border. Albert lies seventy miles northeast of Paris.
In former actions there had been much heavy li^htin^ over
this ground, but not to the same extent as further north,
where, lay the battlefields of Arras. Loos. Xeuve Chapelle,
Ypres and Dixmude. The region chosen lay almost entirely
\vithin the level ])lain of the Department of the Somme. on a
dry. chalky soil, with few natural obstacles to an advance.
Before the war most of the villages taken had been inhabited
by weavers, the open country devoted to siiLrar-beet ciiltiva-
i ion.

Picardv. an ancient province of France no longer on maps.
was now divided into four departments the Somme. the Oise.
the Pas-de-Calais, and the Aisne. It contained two battle-
iields whose very names quickened the pulse of all English-
men. It was at. Crecy that the Black Prince won his spurs,
and at Ainncourt that Henry Y. commanding his yeomen with
their cloth-vard bows, overthrew the flower of French chivalry.
Picjirdv is a treasured name in romantic literature and in
French historv; it has a literature of its own of the twelfth
centurv. and its soldiers ha\'e been amoiiir the most valiant of
I- 1 ranee. The province was a natural battle-ground for French
and KriLrlish in the Hundred Years' AYar the war in which

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

Crecy and A^incourt occurred. Its shores extend alonj* the
Xorth Sea and English Channel, from above Calais to a point;
helo\v Dieppe. In .the fifth century it was the heart of
Merovingian France. Clovis made Soissons his capital ;
Charlemagne made Xoyon 'his principal city and lesser
Carolinians similarly honored Laon.

If an observer had stood on a small knoll, about three miles
north of the town of Bray-sur-Somme, and looked north he
would have seen, almost at his feet, a shallow and tortuous

SK;IITIX<: A r.urnsii <;rx FOU ACTION*

valley, runnintr in the main east and west, with a single line
of railway winding alonjr its course. lieyond this hollow ran
a ranire of hilN. so small that in the fjonoral <j<'o<rraphy ot
Europe, they did not count as hills at all. but only as detail^
in the surface drainage system of the u'l'eat east and we^t
European, plain which one can cross by train from the
I'yrenees to Warsaw without pas>inu' thi-ouuh a tunnel. Thai
little ratine of liill> is only ten miles huiir. and its highest ]oini
less than "">.">() feet above the sea. AVhih- it ha> sometimes heci;
cailed a plateau, it has. in miniature, all the salient features
of a mountain ranp'. It is composed of a stitV yellowish clay,

T.)7

OX THE WESTERN FKoXT

ami is (fritted with a do/en villages, isolated farms, and six or
seven thick woods of irregular shape, with well-defined edp-s,
l<i< 'kin:.!' rathi-r like patches of fenced cover in a ban- ]>ark.
Across this ran<:e of hills the British fouirht the (rermans.
northwai'd and northeastward, during .Inly.

To appreciate sonic of the difficulties and inevitable delays
of the enterprise, on,, had only to step down from a po-t of
observation. after a successful drive had been made, and ex-
amine what remained of the tierman line. The first trenches
had heeii so shattered that in most places it was difficult to
jnd<_ r e of their quality, or even to say for certain which holes
in the around were scraps of unfilled trenches and which were
pits made hy >hells in the open. The ivcnjrnizable portions,
altho <rood. were not extraordinary specimens of trendi-
di^'jin^ 1 . They had heen made in a favorable soil which could
be cut like cheese, needed little support, did not crnmhle in
the wet. and baked almost to brick in hot weather. What
were really remarkable, for their military value, were some
of the communication trenches and the duirouts. One. at
lea^t. of tiie surviving communication trenches was a tunnel
more than a hundred yards lone.-, completely lined with tim-
ber, and carried so deep underground as to be secure a^ain^t
everything except mininir. Another tunnel acquired fame in
l! ( l v when American troops Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth

Division: fought lirilliantly for and captured it in their

break th roiii/n the Ilind'-nhur^ 1 line on the St. ( A ueniin ('anal.

Tin- larger dugouts wei-e entered thi-oiiu'h a stee] door: from
it one descended a thirty-foot staircase, in \vhich the face ;i nd

tl'ead of each -'ep \Vere made of Wood. At tile foot of the

si ail's were spacious rooms iii which lioors. walls, and roofs
\v re elos(-ly Imai'ded. The conneclinir pa^sa^es wei'e eijiially
.h'-d. A second thirty-fool staircase led down to a
; L r ri up of ; onis treated in the same way. In one dii!_ r -
. n win-re aii extension was beniu 1 made when the line wa>
captured, was to be seen an inneniou^ mechanism for sending
up c.vavated cai'lh. ready packed in sand-baLT'-. for us.' in
';' riches above. Anothei- was arranged as a hospital with two
liei-s i,f liunks. as in an KnidUh hospital-ship, to hold some
'hii'tv patients. Ka'-h of these laruvr duyonts would easily
li'-H-e ;<. whole pla'oon and ^ive it comj>lete seciii'ity under

TIIH AKKIKI) DRIYK OX TIIK SOAKMK

severe artillery-fire unless a high-explosive shell or mortar
round its way in at the door.

Another striking detail of the German defenses was the
skill taken in providing etTective posts for snipers. A typical
post, near Kricourt. \vas the mouth of a small, deep man-
hole, siieh as is used in American streets to give access to
severs. It I'eached the surface near the highest point of a
piece of high ground, where the opening was screened by the
casual-looking debris of a broken cart. At the bottom of the
manhole a tunnel connected it with trenches. Kadi manhole

of this kind was well squared, full timbered, and fitted with
couvi-nient iron j'unu's. Kike dugouts, it suggested that Ger-
man troops in the trendies had done an amount of manual
labor which, to any one eKe who had had to ortraui/e trench
fatigue-work, seemed remarkable. Apart from trendies, each
successive German line included a chain of fortified villages
and woods. Amotm' the ruins of Mametx could be seen the
remains of a typical improvised foil, in the oval basement of
.i lari:v cottage, from which machine-gun lire could be directed

ion

OX T1IK AVKSTKRN FRONT

through loop-holed walls Toward almost any point at every
stage (if their progress. House-to-house fighting, in any case
notoriously trying, was practised by the Germans with un-
questionable method and energy in Picardy villages, as was
aUo the defense of woods complicated with harhcd wire, which,
from the nature of the ground, could not easily he destroyed
by artillery-tire. In these chalk-bed shelters, occasionally
forty feet under ground. German batteries were so well hidden
That the Allies were sometimes surprized at the emerirence of
German soldiers from ground which they had apparently
swept (.lean with fire long before. In most cases the Germans
wt-re well protected by reinforced concrete casements, from
which they could be reached only by bombs or bayonets. But
:n others they met the charge of the Allied infantry by coming
nut on parapets and using machine-guns in the open to rake
advancing lines.

As early as June 27 intensified artillery activity had been
accepted in Berlin as heralding the long-expected British
offensive, but German military circles wen- described as
"calmly confident that Great Britain's arealest effort would
meet the fate of previous offensives." There was. however,
keen interest in seeing Kitchener's new armies in action. The
u'eneral opinion was that a supreme lest of strength between
the British and German-- would occur during the summer and
that it would mark the climax of the war. News then came of
a slackening in the intensity of the bombardment around
Verdun, and of gains by the Russians in Volhynia. while in
the Trentino region the Italians continued to force back the
AuMrians at various points between the Adi^e and Bivnta. in
'he Garma and Arsa valleys, between the Posina and Astico,
-tnd along upper regions. Northeast of Verdun, the French
recaptured ground north of Hill :!'J1 and around the Thiau-
mont works, and northwest of Verdun carried out a heavy
bombardment against the Avocourt sector, but were prevented
from launching an infantry attack from the east of Hill :!<>4.
In the Champagne, the Germans occupied French positions
ne;ir Tahure but later were driven out.

Almost at the hour when the new Italian rush began in lh<-
Trentino. British artillery on -July 1 broke loose against the
German trenches from La Bassee Canal southward to the

ANGLO-FRENCH OFFENSIVE
ON THE SOMME

Ill 200

Till-] ALLIKI) DKIYK ON TIIK SOALMK

Somme. Both British find (ierman official statements com-
mented on the violence of this attack, which in ccrtfiin sections
approached the intensity of the drum-fire that precedes an
infantry blow. The steady shelling of the (ierman line from
Ypres to the Somiiie \vas continued for live days. Apart from
raids in which P>ritish troops penetrate<l trenches and brought
t>ac|< prisoners, the object of this fire was simply to kill (Jer-
maii.s in lar.ire numbers, and to save British man-power as
much as possible ; |o destroy (ierman batteries; break up de-
fi -isivc works; blow up aiiimiinil ion stores behind lines; bring
down observation balloons; reach the (iermaiis in and beyond
their communication trenches in billets and rest camps, and
V-e'ierally to cause destruction to the (ierman offensive powers
over a wide area. It was known from various sources that.
British gunners were successful in many of their objects. At
various p<>ni!s from Xeuville~St. Yaa-t southward to the
Volume, the bombai'dmenl had it- effect. The /one of shell-
fire was wid'- and far-reaching. All alon^' the lines shells
burst. La Boisselle was slashed with fire. ^Xljove i'Yicourt
was a coniinnal tlasli of bip-siin^ 1 shells through the smoke
'.vhich shrouded it. Only a few 'ierman slx'lls answ'ered
! Jrii is]| bait erics.

['roiii one of the hills a corresponden! ] watched the be^in-
iiiii.i! 1 of |hc offensive after he had witnessed the preparations
for weeks. With deliberate and methodical precision the

:-M"_r nf human and mechanical material had proceeded
'verywhoiv alont; the whole line included in a preliminary
bombardment. Overwhelming a- was the power of ^uns. a.
irrim ami significant spe.-tach was the si^ln of detachments

fantry in tield-ii^ht in<i eijnipmi'nt. movinu' forward until

''nally duii'ouN became hives of khaki about to swarm forth

foi battle. Lach ofiicei- had map- and directions in detail

f -lie par; his unit \vas to play in tin complicated scheme.

Met: had sewn to their uniforms insignia to designate units

il the d list and smoke of action.
AS a battalion marched they san<r the same tunes they

-';!:<_; on drill-<rroiinds at home after responding to
!\i*i-lienei''< call. Then were f|iiiet and undemonstrative
Knij :-h. seaking with Voi-ki-'n or < 'ornish accent-, or

().\ TIIK WKSTKKX FRONT

iiiayhi 1 breaking out in gibes in the slang of the Londo.i
cockney, There were brawny Scots, with kilts and steel.
mush mom-shaped helmets, suggesting medieval men of arms.
An Irish battalion could have been heard whistling not only
Irish Mings but "The .Marseillaise." Men reali/ed that fear-
ful work was ahead of them. Ridges and hills, rich fanning
hinds and numerous villages rolled away to the eastward.
TO the north one could see almost to Dommecourt and to
the south a> far as Bray, near the hanks of the Somme.
Fvery village within ranuv of vision was to be fought over,
as h;id been those in front of Verdun. Something more
than a mist rose from dew-laden Melds and hid landscapes.

From ( o'clock to 7. .'50 all guns along a twenty-mile front
were for the first time firing their fastest in a chorus of
final blasts, cutting wires, and demolishing trenches. The
trenches were hidd.cn by a curtain of smoke, punctured with
vicious flashes. Toward that curtain, which shrouded every
form of destruction within the power of man. reserves were
moving fill-ward. Far above were observation balloons,
motionless in still air. find a squadron of aeroplanes flying
to their work and spotting targets for artillery. At 7.20
o'clock rapid-fire trench-mortars added their shells to the
deluuv ponrintr upon first-line (ierman trenches. At 7.o<)
the ufuns lifted their fire to the second line of (Icrman
trenches, as if answering to the pressure of a single button,
and men of the new British army leaped over their parapets
and rushed toward the wreckage which guns and mortars
h;id wrought. They were visible only a moment het'ore they
were hidden by the smoke of a (ierman shell-curtain over
what remained of trenches. Germans, said a British Staff
Ot'ticer. had now to yield to ''two years of our prepared-
ness against forty for t'he Hermans."

Soon nothing was to be seen from the hill except smoke
Mashes, throiiirh which was visible a figure of the Virgin
atop the tower fit Albert, which, tho struck by a shell early
in th" war. was still in place, tipping at an anyle. but
showing dimly. It was not \n]\<r before ambulances were
coMiin'_r down roads, and batches of half-starved prisoners
were he in;/ brought in, too da/ed to appreciate their escape
after having been marooned for five davs in dugouts with-

T1IH ALLIED DRIYK ON TIIK SOMMK

out food. IlaiLT delivered tin 1 concerted British attack along
a sixteen-mile i'foiit extending from Gommeeouri to Mari-
eourt. As days passed the bombardment became inlenser.
It fell everywhere on the front; German trenches were ob-
literated at Ypres and Arras as well as Beaunionl llamel
and Kricourt. From Gommecourt a mile or two south of
the Somme the fire \vas especially methodical and persistent.
It seemed as if a complete devastation had been achieved.
Villages had become heaps of rubble.

STARTING A I'Ui:.\CII r.ALI.oo.N AT TDK J'KONT

There was a curion^ exhilaration every wliei'e. ^Fen
felt that the ^I'eat ot't'eiisive had come, that this was no
flash in the pan. but a movement conceived on the grand
scale as io n'liu- and men which "would not cease until a de-
cision was reached. A detailed description came from the
pen of OIK- nl' the editors of the />'/////// Xt-'tlintii <nn Miltuy,
who had beiii an eye-witness of an advance. lie pive a
iclnn- of the destruction wrought by incessant biM--u'mi lire;

OX TIIK WKSTKRX FRONT

aerial mines of unheard-of calibers, which were thrown in incredi-
ble numbers. The explosion of the aerial torpedo shattered by its
tremendous detonation the windows of the bomb-proofs, and
threw up a massive pillar of black earth perhaps a hundred yards.
This showered the whole neighborhood with root's, bricks, and
earth. This was a regular Vesuvius eruption. The destructive
effects of this uninterrupted throwing of the heaviest mines were
almost immediately visible. The work of day and niuht for nine
months was destroyed in a few minutes. Report after report
arrived of bomb-proofs demolished by aerial torpedoes buryini:' the
inmates. The trenches became rapidly leveled: communication be-
tween the sections was difficult. The third lines were so heavily
shelled that il was impossible to traverse them.''

South of the Ancre heavy assaults were delivered against
Thiepval. Ovillers. and La Boiselle. but British troops found
themselves up against formidable positions, and the most
they could do was to secure a firm footing' in the approaches.
On the left, between Gommecourt and Beaumont llamei,
where their artillery had been ] t -ss successful than south of
the Am-iv. no substantial irains were obtained. On the sec-
ond. Fricourt was captured, and on the following day. after
a fin'lil that lasted -ixty consecutive hours. La Boi-elle i'e'l.
X''>rili of the Ancre the attack was abandoned in order to
concentrate an effort au'ain-f the German front south o!'
that river, and widen out I'm' northern face of the IVronno
salient. On the fourth, many local points of vantage wore
soemvd. In the evening General Haiir reported that

than .>.()()() prisoners had 1 n brought in since the bee.-

: ', e movement. Owm . 1 1 i the -lo\v pro^ros made, in
< niipa rison with the French snu;h of the Somme. rumor
U'aiiiei! Around in London that the British advance had been
cheeked, bu-t thi> proved ba-e]e>-. as on -Inly 7 British
troop- successfully stormed a formidable work known a> the
L'Mp/ii; Redoubt, which was the key to the Thiepva] posi-
tion, while further south the village of ( 'ontalmaison wa-
carried !>v storm. On the eighth an advance was mad"
through the Boi> de Bornafay to 'die Boi- des Troiie-, an
important taetical point, and for- the |>ossession of which
e liirht inir .took [)lace ilunntr the next three day-.

A part of the a->anlt coin p v ; - 1 noeturnal expeditions of

patrol ing parties into (Jerman first-line trenches, an essential
feature now in any attack on fortified lines. The first tiling
in order, however, was the destruction by heavy artillery of
iJerman concrete shelters as perfected with consummate
skill, the second beiii^ 1 to recotnioit'T and make sure that the
destruction was complete, for a single machine-gun left in-
!ac1 under a shelter could alone stop an infantry assault.
Next came the destruction of barbed-wire defenses, since it
wa- onlv after this had been dune that infantry could }><

nil-: i i;i:.\cn SOIXA.VITMM i\/i;." <>n "."

Atkins knew tliis -mi iictt'T n< ' iia-tiii-iin-pn." Tlio "Koixantc-

prudently ordered te> attack. In these operations Uriti^h
!roi p>- vho\vi'd the fternians. a^ well as the Frencli, sonie-
';. n<: iie\v in the tactics of vii-^c o]ierations. 1; liad for-
iin rly been calculated that Hl.HOd shots from tield-o-uns wort 1
'essary in order to make -iifiiciciit bi-eaches in liarbed-
\vire defenses to p'l'Miit a ^in:h army corps to LI'O through.
i '. ilie lii'-- i f tin heavier l'>riti<h ^uns in Irvelin^- trenches
and de-t roving conm:' -i;> ! "ii- and mai-hiiie-^nns becanie

ON TIIK WKSTKRN KIloNT

far more etfect ivc than that. In amount of ammunition ex-
pended and in territory involved, the Somme offensive ex-
ce.-ded anything of the kind previously known in the war.
More than 1 .()()().()()() shells \vere tin-d daily in preliminary
bombardments, extending over a front of ninety miles. Km-
ployintr an enormous number of u'lins. the British main-
tained a continuous lire. leveling (Jeriuan trenches and de-
stroying concrete fortifications sheltering machine-gun squads,
while hurricanes of shells were directed au'anist barbed-wire
entanglements.

Following daylight artillery ..-torms raiding parties at
niirht dallied out to complete the work of destruction. Many
prisoners were taken, many machine-puns destroyed or cap-
lured, and the defense demoralixed. Fn derick Palmer re-
marked that, "There were times wh>-n a fortune was being
Mreil away every hour: when a sum which would send a
youth for a year to college, or bring up a child, went into
a >in.irle large --hell that might not kill one human being 1 as
an excuse for tiring it: when an endowment for a ma-
t"rnity hospital was represented in a day's belch of d"struc-
Ti"ii from a single acre of trodden wheat land." The (Jcr-
man artillery-tire was heavy at smiie ]>oints. but in most
cases it seemed half-hearted. The Kritish appeared to lire
two shells to the (Ii-rmans one. .V new ty{>e of British
mortar was capable of such rapid tire a> both to cut wire
and sma^h trenches. The sky at niu'ht for a space of from
twenty to thirty miles was made brilliant from dusk to
dawn. One could witness scenes of uTandeur under a cloud-
les.s and moonless niu'ht with broad sheets of flame and uirly
'lashes and darts of tire over an entire area of more than
eighty miles, from the Yser to the Somme. where British guns
Were shellin" 1 (ierman lines. Lincoln Kviv" wrote;

-hi his 1 k "My SiM'itnil Vi-.'ir of Hi.- W.-ir" ilmli]. MIMI] ^ Co.). 1',-ihn.T

M linn' \v:i - tin' . [lii'-.l ri-pr'-^'-ntniivi 1 nf ilic Aiii'-ri'-.-iii I'rcss wiili

,. [intish Army ;iinl !'!.''!. \\"!IITI IM-III-IMI r.T-hiim >;iil'-cl in Jim.'. I'.MT.

; .. >. ' ; il|| M -, ;| IM-'Illli'T nf I 1 !- - ' : I 'T W i ' 1 1 lln- r:l!]U i)f M.'l.i'T. Ills

ni' l.ifiiti'iiMiit ('riliiii-'l \\':i^ ;iii|uir>-il in l!n- l:ist year of ilic w.-ir, wiifii
> ! -. :', iii-- .'ii I'l-fsliinu's -t,-il1'.

;. Tli- World i \"\\ York i.

Till-; ALLIKI) DRIYK OX Till-; SOALMI-:

Ilic crash of hinh explosives. Raids that followed this shell-fire
killed many of the enemv and brought forth sufficient prisoner-;
for the ident ilicat ion of regiments and divisions eon front inu' the
British. Some prisoners said they had had no .food for three
days, owiim' to the barrage-lire, which prevented supplies from
reaching them l>v communication trenches. Immediately in front
of where I stood I counted twelve British kite-balloons posed above
the lines so that observers could see far across the German trenches
to their battery positions. Time was when I used to see 'German
sausages.' as we called those balloons, starting down upon the
Allied lields. But to-day there was not a sinule hostile balloon
opposite those twelve British ones. Kapid-fire destruction of -ix
of them had 1 fancy, caused the hauling down of others. The
purpose of these bombardments, is to kill Germans. Behind th' 1
dead is a irreat living army, strongly intrenched and able to strike
back heavy blows.

AYithin twenty-four hours al'tcr IJritish battalions north
df tlic Somme find French units immediately north and a
considerable distance south of the rivet 1 , debouched from
their trenches, ten Pieardy villages had a<rain become Allied
territory, and each of which, with a normal population of
from 100 to 500 persons, had been transformed by the Ger-
mans into an armored and cemented stronghold like the
llohi'tixollern Redoubt and the Thiaumont Fai'm. The
speed with which men flung themselves across 500 yards
between their own trenches and the German earthworks was
such that German machine-guns, already depleted by a
week-long bombardment, scarcely had time to get into action
before their operators were bombed or bayoneted into sub-
mission. Silencing machine-guns was not the only task. In
Dompiorre the Germans had constructed, besides ordinary
trench-lines, do/ens of little dugouts and underground block-
liouses. iii each of which men were able to resist" death or
apt nre for hours. Special platoons of French, armed only
with grenades and knives, were obliged to force their way
into these dens, and there, in the darkness, to wrestle and
stab the defenders into submission. Owing to the stubborn
courage with which the Germans fought, few prisoners were
brought to the surface after these st rubles under the earth.
The percentage of dead everywhere along the front \va*
large. In Dompiern 1.5(>0 German botlies were counted as

OX THK WKSTKRX FRONT

against 7'H) prisoner-. Special correspondents vied with one
another in vivid descriptions of the li^htinv,'. l)iit it was a
private soldier in a Xorth Country regiment who told of
lh" launch of the Allied offensive in terms that perhaps
went furthest home, for In- spoke, or wrote, in the lan^uax k
of his own people:

"Aye. u were halt'-pa-t seven when we -tailed, sir. 'Twa.- in a
kind of a bit wood, ye know, -ir. The third line like, we was;
I) and (' companv hem' afore u-, ve see; we could see them movin '

in tiie open like, past the w 1; tin the lire caught 'em. an' they

went down like uruss. 1 was beside the Colonel in the front trench.
[ carried bombs, ye see. Tiie Colonel, he was to >_M> wi'the last
line, after us.

'I5ut when he sees the second line cut down that way, an' our
time come <)h. damn! says in .just like that and he up- an'
over the parapet. 'Come on. me lad-.' he -aid like that an' ,|:;.- r
thai moment he was hit. and kind of stair'.rered. an' afore 1 could
iT'-t till him like, he fell backward into the trench auain. I doubt
i' killed him. Hut we had to iro. I had me bomb-. We was
sinu'iiiu 'John Peel' like mad. all bu' two or three near, who saw the
( 'oh.:, el. an ' cheerin ' to rai>e : he d'-ad.

"1 u'ot a buMct in me arm here directly. I was on the parapet
an' somehow it made me stumble like, an' I fell. But I went on
as ijiiick as I could, me bavin' the bombs, ye see. lint ye .1 have
wondered to Lear how loud our lad- were -in_:in' an' cheerin'.
,-:' .: foot ball-mat ch. Aye, twas a pilv 1 lost me rille an ba\one*
ill ' me cap an' . then. But 1 'd the bomb-, ye see. [

ki'.e ,v ' ' : we 'd need the bombs.

Wonderful thick them bulb-is (lew, to be sun-. There's nae
tr left there now I 'in t'dnkii u. It ' as jus! pa si their lirst li:
I _:'> ; i- one iu me hand. A bit son- like, thai was, more'n the
arm : but no! so very bad i I ' it 1 _voi on all rinlit : till this t hit d
.1 e J-MJ me here, and 1 fell in a s eil-hul" near by ihe second line.
',' e : :' as, I co Id ,' used ;..- bombs, like; aye, 1 could t'l'om
there, but 1 '.'.a- at'eard o ' our wn lads. Bui l.aiice ( or-

. took 'en i i'ron me. a ' I : iv i !- i i j \>

-N'e.-ir alu _r cvcni ! -I cou'd -ee our -tretchcr-bearcr-

' o ' i. iinl. a ' i ' ' .'.;' .! Bounded man \\'ben l

! ; en I 1 .. !! e- :- dirt; devil-. T e\ -aw t lie -,t re!

I up 1 hey 1 u rued a ".'tin on em.

:, ' , ' round \-erv !o to kill oil Bounded. T
!! o r el . r- : iiat v:a ' i It er a bit . just a ''' u '

TILE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

mans. So I just kind o' humped my.-df aloni;, as ye mii;Iii say.
Unt they fired when they saw a move, and then I u'ot into a trench,
an' thev couldn't see me craul.

'I came to where the dead lay blockin' the way, an' I didn't
like to crawl on top o' they. Hut I sa\v they was Hnns. an' oul-
side, ye sec, the bullets come pretty thick', so 1 crawled on 'em
till I found I was on one of our own lads. I couldn't crawl on
them, an' I u'ot out au'ain, an' then 1 don't seem to mind much
after. "1'was after- dark I iv>t in, an' the M. < ). at the dressin'
station, he said, 'You're all ri^ht. lad.' he said, like that: and lie
give me a ciiraret. Aye. an' a stretcher-bearer helped me out
through the wood. I reckon 'twas their machine-guns checked i;>
like. Hut. them behind us i^'ot through with some of ours what was
left. Our hoys is all right, ye see. They're not ai'eard o' the
Boehe- -not at all. ' '

Many villages iti this part of Franco had a complete sys-
tem of catacomb-like cellars. The (rormans had made the
fullest use of cellars, extending them into elaborate sub-
terranean barracks and fortified positions. The value Ol
underground habitations in such a bombardment was
obvious. Complete destruction of a village overhead only
increased the thickness of the protective covering. At
Tliiepval, after the British had taken it and passed on. th* 1
(iermans issued from secret hi ding-phi cos underground and
with machine-guns took" the British in the rear. The cap-
ture of 1 lerbecourt and the outskirts of Estroos carried the
French advance about six miles beyond the point of de-
parture. The Frond) lines were now only three miles from
Pennine, the defence of which had been ^really weakened
by the capture of Mnreaticourt Woods. This was the strong-
est fortified position of the (iorman second line on the en::
front. By the eveninu' of (Ionium second Inn' posi-

tions iin ;i six and one-half-mile front south of the Somm. 1
were in French possession. On the >ixth and seventh tlte
iiermaiis. reinforced, delivered a series of counter-attacks
which were all repulsed, while the French consolidated their
new positions. On the eighth, sighting in conjunction with
tin' British, the French captured the village of ITardecouri
north of tin 1 Soinine. and rif .\-< ,jay assaulted the Herman
position at Biadies. south of ' ; :'' S mini . This brought tli"in

ON TIIK YVKSTFKN FRONT

within hah' ;i Miile of Pennine. On tlif eleventh they
stormed Hill !i7. and occupied the [Maisonnette farm on the
Suiniiiii, which brought tin- tir-i pha-e of the French of-
fensive ti> an riid. The total captures amounted to '2'-'>~t
('flic. TV. 11.74H men, with < s .~> ^uiis. < s <) machine-guns, and L'G
tivnch-mortars.

The fact that (lermany had lost the offensive did not mean
thai -he had cea-ed to lie a formidable foe. None could tell
what her temper mi<_!'ht In- under the shadow of defeat--
whether -he would iiuht to the last ditch, or seek to save
the utmost sin 1 could from the wn-ckauv. The threat current
of the war had obviously changed. Humanly speaking, there
wa- no power visible that could turn it back into old chan-

Ilels. The t-lid Illicit. iloWeVel 1 , Still be far off. TlllI- it Was

tuat. in the n'r-; week of the last month of the second year.
(iermany was ]nit on the defensive on all front-* a circuin-
stanee new in the conflict. The ('eiitral Power- were at-
tacked on the east by the Russians, on the south by the
Italians, and mi tile west by the J'.ritish. Fi-eiich. and 1U-1-
fiiins.

fn tlii- >drive the snake-like line that had dandled from
r>el<riuin through France for twenty-one months y/a- at last
Miifted some miles eastward. The actual distance advanced
d irinir the firsl week wa- not much <rreater than the space
gained by the I'.ritish at Ni-uve ('hapellc in .March and the
French in the < 'hampa^ne in Sejitemlier. 1 !!.">. luit the pros-
pect of a permanent success was better, for the larLi'e-1 army
Britain ever had in all her history was in this Held and both
French and I'>riiUh for the tiiM time wen- supplied with
artillery and ammunition on a scale at least equal to the
(iermans. Altho the French lo-t heavily at Verdun, the
i M-nnans wej-e weakened more, not only by n-reater lo-se~.
but by the im-ii whom they were compelled to sacrifice dur-
: hL r the year on other front-, in Ku--ia^ (ialicia. Serbia, and
Turkey.'

Al Le f'reusol. the center of the Fi'ench war munitions
wru'k-. the output of the ii'on torrent which was debininu-
):e Central Kmpire- wa- now -urpa-sinr all expectation-.
Al the outbreak of the war these work- employed more than
].~>.oi"'M hand-, and their i^i-eat -hop-, ciiverintr hundreds of

210

TI1K ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

acres, were connected by a network of nearly forty miles of
railroad-tracks. After the war be^an this plant was
enormously increased. Le Creu^ot lies in the center of one
of the richest coal- and iron-mining districts of France. It>
coal-beds were first discovered in the thirteenth century, but
it was not until three hundred years later, in 1774. that tie-
first iron-works were established. -lust, before the war bej^an
the city had :!.").()()() inhabitants, nearly half of whom w>'r>-
employed in armor-plate factories, trim-shops, locomotive-

(he splash. >s of mtl'l anil thr wh.'.'ls wirhoiu ni'ihrr tt

\\'orl<>. and ordnance-plants. Le ('ivu^ot wa> admirably situ-
ated with resptv-t to the French frontier, for while if wa>
not so far from the firing-line ns to oci-a^ion undue delay in
the transportation of munitions, if was sufficiently removed
to be well beyond the danii'er /one. Tt wa> 1 :"!."> miles, in at:
aii'-line, southwest of l^-lfort. and 17-") miles south of Y-T-
dun. This was not the first war in whieh the works nf L^
^'feu>ot had j>layed an important part in furnishing Franc-
with arms. Durinu: the conflic f of tin. 1 Ci'imea and the

211

ON" TIIK AVKSTKK'N FRONT
Fi aiico-Pnissian War its factories produced enormous quanti-

' ' - of lliunit 1O1!-..

Nothing inntv clearly showed ilu- successful defence by
ti.e French of Verdun than Tin- undisturbed manner in
which fin- weeks the Frei'ch (ioieral Staff' had been hu-y
a -cumulat ing guns, ammunition, and men behind the Somme
for an Anglo-French offensive. F'M-h's annirs had been
virTluilly recreated. lie had received, in addition to the
army under (Jeneral Fayo'.ie. some of tin- finest Irooji^ of
France, illcludiii.L 1 ' Moroccans and Cohiiiials. ()j)])sfd to the
; resell at the liejriuiiilifr wt-n- twctny-scvcn (Jcrmaii hat-
'alions. l)eloii<riiij; to sevei-al divisions, hut reinforced until
the iiumher of Uittulions. had heoi brought tip to thirty-
nine.

Lincoln Eyi'c 4 obtained details of the advance by French
-Torininjz <livisious over four miles in a straight line from
trendies west of Fri^-. themv through that village, the
Mi'ivaiicourl A\'ood and the Chapitre AVoml. to l-'euillej-es.
! took fifty hours t" traverse tho^e four miles alontr wliich
\vere stations transformed by (icrman labor into powerful
-'rone-holds, augmented by the obstacle presented by a
"buckle" in the Somme. The Somme's regular course is

a-t and west, but ju^t noi'tli of Fi'ise it makes an abrupt
hairpin loop iioi'thwai'd. the sides of the loop about two
miles in length and the width about three-quarters of a
mile. JJefore the offensive. French trenches ran from north
*i^ vouth immediately ea-t of the western <ide of the
"buckle." .Much of the French artillery was further west,
, cross the river. Therefore, when the infantry left the
".'cliches and started for Fri>e. six hundred yards due east
(:' them, they risked beine' deprived of adequate artillery

- .('port because of the difficulty of moving lieavy guns j'or-
>\ a rd acrosv, the shell-^jtrinkled river. The number of
French batterie> south of the rive]- -\va> such that the handi-

ap imposed by the '"buckle" wa no real hindrance to

it and sufficient gunnery activity. An uflicer in a

r'rench line-regiment who took part in the fir>t day's attack

lid \va> wounded in the knee, wrote from a field-hospital:

ave hern in the \\ a r from the very first day; 1 have

- '-::. -i"'i.'l' i<t '!' T! ~\V>,> ', N- u V' I'k'i.

Till-: ALLIKI) DRIVE OX THK SOMME

taken part in every ^reat offensive and defensive aetion
Artois last year, the Champagne and Verdun but this is
different and more terrible than any of those. The artillery
organi/ation is more wonderful than ever. For several days
before 'the tirst attack the earth trembled as in an earth-
quake. AVe a ro stronger and better organized than the
(lermans. wonders tlio thev have been and with a biir kiek

Mill left in till-in, but we will never slop now until they are
finished."

The Kiviieh in five day> of the offensive made more
progress than the liriii-h. nwiiiL: 1 parily to the more diftieu'.;
irroinid that faced the IJrin^h. and pai'tly to the faef tiia 1
stronger foi'ees \\ p etv oppiMiiLV tlp'tn in a belief amoni>- rfie
(i'-rmans thai the main attack i:i thi'se operations \vouhl bo
on the l>r:ti<h front. |)i--pite theii- slower progress th' 1
Hi'itixh siiccevxfnlly beat ba^k heavy (ierman eounter-attaeks
delivered boi h da\' and !;:_:.' : ' - ivijioil of La Boi^elle

OX THE AYESTERX FRONT

and Thiepval. and. iretierally, between the Ancro and the
Snmme. where the British were making steady progress. It
was estimated that the German losses in the battle of the
Somme by Muly "> had been (iO.OOO. The capture of <runs
wa< comparatively small, however, because the Germans, in
anticipation of the offensive, had withdrawn their bi<
artillery to longer ranges before the battle be^an.

The battle of the Somme was eventually to assume the
proportions of the hi<rrest battle over yet fought on the
Western .Front: but its maximum strength had not yet been
reached. The Germans were throwing men into the resist-
ance as fast as their means of transport would permit, and
while many of the troops were reserves in the strict mean-
ing of the term, the bulk of them had been hurried on from
other theaters of war. Berlin believed that a severe check
had been administered to The French and that, since the
opening days. IIai<r had been unable to make any im-
portant jrains. Forced to abandon shell-wrecked first-line
positions, the Germans had retired to their second line north
if 'the Somme, where they threw back time 1 and ajrain
British infantry assaults. It had been well understood in
Berlin that the British were about to resume the offensive,
perhaps with greater violence than marked the first days;
but the manner in which the German Avail had withstood
the iirst shock inspired the greatest confidence in Berlin.

Never before, however, had the Allies been able to drive
at (Jermauy from all sides at once, and the situation was
frankly reco<i'iii/ed in the Fatherland as serious. Sibils of
anxiety were seen in a Berlin dispatch passed by the Ger-
man censor from Karl II. vnn XVie^and.' which impelled the
Ne\\- York Tina* to say. "If von Wie^and talks in this
way. the end must be nearer than had been thought." Von
YVietrand had lonjr proved himself "a faithful reflector of
military sentiment and opinion in Germany." Tie was "im-
pregnated with it." and repeated what he heard "with en-
tire (idelitv and not the slightest consideration for how it
would strike outsiders." That the German authorities were
preparing the pe "pie for the "inevitable" was surest ed in
his statement, lie wrote that "now "for the first time in the

TV r!ii '-nrn -\>w'\i nt of Tl < TT< .-V f\, w Y,,]-U.

TIIK ALLIKD DKIVK (N TIIK SnMAIK

Will 1 , tin' military initiative has pas-.ed to the other side,"
and added :

' ' ( iermativ is liidit IIIL:' on the defensive almost everywhere I even
west ward of Lutsk, Linsnigeii 's counter-offensive has slowed down.
Onlv at Verdun the (lennan (Yo\vri I'rnice is keeping iij) a slu\v hu!
st roiisr'ortVnsivo pressure, gaining 1 Around litcrallv foot hv font, and
even the combined offensives of the Allies east ami wot have not
yet lieen ahle to divert tlie 'iermans from that uoal. (Jermany '-
liil'ht iiiv! 1 day and night aiiainst superior numbers in the west, with
a heroism and lira very to whieh the other side is invmi: 1 a lavi-!;
trihnte of praise. In the east the thin, anemic line of Hindeilburg.
Leopold. Linsiugeii, and l>othmer is strugidilisi' against almost
overwhelming odds often four or live lo one. Fresh armies,
drummed up out of' Russia's hundred and tit'tv millions and
equipped with ammunition from the arsenals of Japan and
America, are heating against those thin lines with the c-euseless-
ne.is of the sea. that cannot he otherwise than discouraging 1 to tin-
.stoutest hearts."

Nevertheless there were (dose observers who warned any
one \vho expected to see the Kritish break through sne-
eessive (iei'inan lines, jam a million men through the bi'each
and maridi to the Rhine, that they would "soon be di>-
illtisioned." This offensive wouhl apparently be Verdun
over au'ain, with the Allies in the role of attackers and the
(iennans launching counter-attacks and succeeding here and
there in regaining 1 a trench or a wrecked village and holding
it for a day or for two days, or t'or three days, at a hideous
cost in lives. That the decision would be slow and uncer-
tain, and that no immediate c<nt)> could be looked for was an
opinion held by many thoughtful minds, remembering th' j
great recuperative power of (Jermany. even with the burden
of her Austrian ally. A titanic struggle was promised in
Pieardy before there could be even a ulnnpse of a decision.
lint it was now (dear that the war-councils of the Allies in
Paris and London, in IVtrograd and Rome, had been "ti"
mere conventional affairs." The enemies of (iermany felt
that the day they had long looked forward to had come
and that they could begin to exert the full force of their
united superiority in men and resources.

(id-man writers look seriou^ note o:' the changed situa-

(A T1IK WKSTKKN FRONT

lion. The Frank flirt ( r Ziiinn(j referred 10 the French ad-
vance on Pennine as "remarkable." and added:

'\\"e know \ve are only at the bo.irinninjl 1 of the battle. The
tirst pushes usually are dangerous, but it stands to reason that
the introduction of very important reserves by the attacking
armies, which is l<> be expected to a certainty, will impose a verv
heavy task on the defenders. There is no (jiiestion that the British
will attempt to proiit in their new offensive by the experience they
...i .I'd through failure at the battle ot' Loos.''

T!ie Cologne l-'c!kx:< it if it;i said it was the feeling of the
i ierman ])eoj)le that, if only ihe Allied offensive could be
!ie!d iij). (lermany would accomplish a great deal. Oilier

lerman journals exprest themselves similarly and indicated
.ontideiice that the Kntente Allies could not really menace
he (ierman lines anywhere. At the end of the tirst week.
!>!-. Max Oshorne '' said the (iei'inans could see with satisfac-
tion th.at. after initial local successes, the enemy had conn--
i.o nearer to their goal. Osborne added:

"What an army has to endure in such a defense exceeds all
oin-epl ions. "We have become so accustomed to these unheard-of
performances ot' our troops that we think nothin.tr more of il and
must- leave il to a later time to estimate what it means for half
'he (ierman armv in the west to stand at hay against the united
forces of l-'rance and Kndand. fresh armies of 1 .0(111. (MM) men. the
last of the Bel'jians. and expeditionary corps from the four <jiiar-
ters of the ".lobe, and the ammunition factories of half the world,
r of siuns indicate we may have t" li.u'iire on an extension
oi t he at 1 ackinu front .

An outstanding 1 principle of strategy established by the
war was the value of artillery of all kinds on a scale here-
tol'ore never dreamed of. In its use (iermany early proved
her foresight and skill. So nival was her preparation and
the po\\-cr of her thrust that her drive through Belgium and
northern France in 1011 barely missed its ultimate object
'he .-aplui'c of Paris, and the elimination of France as a

'_M.' in<_r force before others <if the Kntente Allies could put
:heir forces in motion. It was milv bv the most heroic

Til!-: ALIJKI) DIJ1VK OX TIIK SOALMK

efforts that France and (livat Britain had tunic<l hack the
tide of Herman invasion at the Manic and later at the Y-<T.
It \vas by these successes that they <raiiied a breathing-space
in which to make the preparations necessary fur the siiccess-
lul prosecution of the war. (iernia.ny had demonstrated the
power i if artillery in a way that was a revelation to the
revt of the world. The walls of Lie^e and Antwci']) had
crumlilcd under her tire and the same I'c^ults had followed
the concent ration of artilh-rv in the Kast Prussian. I'oli^h.

ami Carpathian eampaiii'iis. The Allies had lieen slow to
liiidcr^iand the meaning of tliis. The Ur'nish had failed at
N'cuve < 'hapelle and at Loos', and tile French in the Cham-
pau'iie i)t'fct!>ive. not ln'caii-e they did m>t have enoujill LTUIIS,
fur they had partially learned the lesson a- \o ^uns ly that
time, hut liecau-e they did m>t have shells and other hitz'li
ex]>losives iii Mtfficient ijiiantiiies. Accordint: 1 !}' they IKK! to
^it down for a year or two in order that preparations for
their next offensive uiijrlil lie carried to a point beyond
chance of failure.

(>.\ T11K WKSTKRN FRONT

Official reports on the production of arms and ammuni-
tion in France showed ho\v This gigantic artillery offensive
was madr possible. If The figure 1 (ll) In- taken as represent-
ing the power of daily production of various arms and ex-
plosives at Tlie outbreak of the war, then by the end of
March, ll'lt). the comparative production was as follows:
Machine-guns. !>."><>: rifies. 2.S.7<)0 ; seventy-five millimeter
guns, 2. .">:>< i; powder. 44."); other explosive-. 2. ">(>(>. and
superior-caliber shells. f>.4(>o. This growth of several thou-
sand per cent, was proof of wonderful cooperation between
State and private enterprises. Furthermore, reports stated
that the number of trims for other Allied armies had in-
creased in like measure. IVing the same scale as a basis
for comparison the number had reached 2.74<> per cent, for
heavy cannon. The Allies had nn trench-guns at first, but
they had them now in the proportion of I'.MI when com-
pared with heavy cannon. Such figures gave amj">le expla-
nation of the long delay in the Allied offensive and were a
triumph of French initiative and industry. Shipments from
America had played a small part, and that part was con-
stantly decreasing-.'

Karl Rosiier " l reported That violent English attacks on
the road from Albert To l>apaume continued uninterruptedly
for forty-eight hours, had increased to unheard of violence.
Approximately fourteen kilometers long, the attacking front
''presented a picture of one immense battle, swaying now
one way. now the other." The i>"itish had "a colossal
numerical superiority.'' and "were hurling attacking wave
after wave, division after division. again-t our defenses,
staking everything on a renewed, embittered effort to wipe
out the failure of the first offensive by widening the strip
of ground so far gained by them, in order to u'ive the wedge
driven into our lines a broader front." What (JermaM
troops performed in stemming this attacking flood "be-
longed amoiiLr t'iie most glorious deeds of tins war." Re-
peatedlv in the course of these charges of unheard-of em-

bit terednesx. the jifitish sii'M led in t em jiora r i 1 y gettinir a

fnotinir on tin- edne of position- thev sti'ove to take, but so

THK ALUKI) DKIVK ON TIIK SO.M.MK

tiii 1 "we have invariably surrerded in tearing their achieved
success away from ihrin by our counltT-attacks." The
I'Yench were niiiiuly pressing forward in tin- region of
Kstrees and lit-lloy. iind against Uai'l'Mix. Tln-i-r. too. iln-
iitiacks followed one anotla'r like waves. A stubborn litittle
filled incessant ly. "in which the enemy's embittered passion
for yiiiniiiir u'ronnd and the ln\';d and <_rlorions firmness of

nil! 1 dt-felldel's 1IH';|>U frd >1 reliylll." \villh' tllt'ir attempts to

^toi'in position^ iMintiniici] to br "cht'cked by mil' harrirr-
lii-e." .Al.-i-s storms in llu- sector frnm llrlloy io Barlcux
' ' i-i illapscd with t'rijrlit fid losses." Tin' offensive. I\OSIKT
thought, had tioi yet reai-lu'd it- la-1 liori'ible climax of in-
i e 1 1 si t y .

A -tit'r' fiction on .Inly 1-1 produced the lartrexi sinirlt 1

ON' TIIK WKSTKRX FRONT

gain tli'' British had yet made. Al'u-r artillery preparation
an infantry attack was launched and the (ierman line south-
ward at Montanban was completely eliminated, until the
new line extended so that it was almost straight. At its
deepest point the day's advance was over a mile. After
the British had made an advance sufficient to protect them-
selves, they switched the section under tiiv to a point to the
east so as more thoroughly to keep in touch with the French.
This move greatly improved the French lines. It formed
airainst the (iermans a little pocket juM north of ('urlu. The
British were now slowly and steadily working north toward
the Albert-Bapaume railroad, one of the main national high-
way^ Should it lie reached, the (ierinan line west of that
point would he seriously affected.

When the Anglo-French attack began, the (ierinan line in
J'icardy was a great half-circle or Calient, bulging out be-
tween Arras and Kstree-. ;i!nl reaching it- extreme westerly
point a linle north of Albert. Both Albert and Arra- were
n iw in Bri'i-h luind-. Thix advance cut off nearly half the
German salient and carried the Allied line a little east of
the longitude of Bapaunie. In-teail of hnldiiiL;' a wiile

t. the (iermans occupied only a narrow salient, with I
French and British well in their rear. In effect the op.-ra-
tion had driven a deep \vedge into the (ierinan lines mi a
front of perhap- fifteen miles and ti a depth of about four.

Ti is \V;|v tile fil'M T)hase of the n-feat Allied offensive Of'

FIVE MEMORABLE AYEEKS. AV1TII PKROXXE AND

BAPAFME AS OB.JECTIVES UIXDEXBrRG

SUCCEEDS FALKEXIIAYX

July 14. Till 6 August 2. linr,

THE Bi-itish attack on the Somme after the second week
of -Inly took a direction wholly different from what it
formally had been. Originally both the French and British
advanced from west to east, but now the British made their
attack from south to north. As the two forces advanced.
they steadily narrowed the salient and. as they narrowed
the salient, the position of the (iermans inside of it became
more perilous, since they were increasingly exposed to the
danger of being ivo-uiied and their line of retreat cut off.
Primarily the important tiling was to retain in true per-
spective the nature and objects of this western offensive.
It was not intended to be at once, or soon, a knockout blow.
Should the (ierman line crumble sensationally, that would
have been a success not contemplated in the original design
which was to wear down the (iermans, partly by mere
-laughter and the capture of effective*, partly by forcing
'}}"}\\ to keep their reserves continually in motion and to
meet incessant attacks delivered in widely distant areas.

The most interesting feature now wa^ the part played by
the British who seemed to have settled down to the work
'hat the world had long expected of them. They pushed
ahead at a pace that e<|iiai''d the advance of the French
south of the Somme. Practically all the gains the British
made for weeks were made after the direction of their attack
had been changed. The ^ain.s nil -July ]~i totaled a depth of
about four miles over a front of ^ix and a half miles. Since
the first of July the British had acquired twenty-h've square
miles of teri'ilory. or about otie-tifth as much a< the (ier-
mans had taken since the battle of Verdun began in Feb-

ON TILK WESTERN FRONT

ruary. Considering that this offensive had for its ultimate
object the clearine; of Hermans out of France and Belgium.
and thai il was not a meivly local movement, it as yet had
not carried far. But. locally, the nains were of importance
- the local object was control of the Albert-Bapaume road,
and later of Bapanme itself. The measure of British suc-
cess, therefore, was its influence on these two objectives.
On the day when the British broke through the second Ger-
man line. Philip ( iihhs : ' wrote :

"The itiiM poured through and surged in waves into and across
the trendies. Kveiy man ainoiiL; them was a u'renadier. provided
with lionibs. and \vith supplies coining:' up hehind. it was with til"
lioiiih. the ino-t deadly weapon of this murderous war Tor (dose
combat, that the men. fought their way through. While men were
rli'uninir up rhe dugouts in the tirst-line trenche.-. olher men presl
on and stormed their way into Lonuueval village. The ureat lires
tiiere had died do\\ n and there was only the ulow and smidder of
them in the ruins, hm the nuudiiiie-inuis were still cliatterinu in
1 heir emplacements.

''In one broken buildii:u' there -were six ot' them lirinu 1 throiiuli
holes in the ualls. Scottish soldiers I'lished the ]ilacc and llu IL;
humhs into r niitil there was no more swish ot' bullets, but only
Miioke clouds and black dust. Lon.uiieval was a heap of charred
bricks above LM'uiind. but there wa< still trouble below ground he-
fore it wa< tinally taken. There \vere many cellar-, in which the
(reniians foii-ht like wolves at bay. and down in the darkness ef
tliese places men t'oirjht savagely, seeinu 1 only ihe u'lint of cadi
other's eyes and t'eelniL; for each other's throats. unle there were
Mill bomb- hamlv to make a quick endniL;.

"And while \\oiinded men cra\\led back\\'ard. blecdiiiL;. from
shell-hole to >iiell-hole. iniWoiilided men crawled forward in the
,-ame \vjiy. ^-iiii.t 1 in LM'oiip-. othti's alone. keejiiiiLi' their bombs dry
and ready fur u-e. There \\'ere niiicliiiif-u'Uiis su'eepiiiL: 1 the south-
ern end ot' the woi>d> with cro>Miiv, and \\'ith burstiiiL;' >liell ox'ei 1 -
i.ead it was a place of black liorr^r in the niirht, but the-e I-'.n^li-ii
boys kept cra\'. liirj' on to -aiii a \ a rd or two before the next crash
came, and then another yard r t\vo. and at la>t they came up to
' : e (tern ;i li c and !';: j t lieiiisel ves suildeiily upon the <!ei - inaii
machine i 1 nners and lierman rillemen sheltered behind earthwoi'k-
and tr 1 !' !:- of t rees.

Till'] ALLIKI) IHi'lVK ON T1IK SO.M.MK

When, as somet hues happened on the Soinme. a squadron
i,f cavalry, British or Indian, intruded upon tin- mass of
motor-trucks and tractors drawing <nins. ( 'olonel Frederick
Palmer 1 " noticed ho\v "they hrouuht pieturesqueness and
warm-blooded life to the scenes.'' He thought "such a
merciless war of steel Contrivances really needed some such
ornament." Sometimes cavalry at such times would fa-
cetiously refer to themselves as the "Dodo" hand, or say
they were like the bisons "preserved in the Yellowstone
1'ark in order that the species miirht not die out." Except-

ing a dash made in the Champagne, and on the ^larne. not
since trench warfare bewail in 1!H4 had cavalry had any
chance. Aeroplanes had taken their place ; is scouts: ma-
c'hine-ji'iins and rifles their place as a rear-<ruard. and aero-
plane patrols as a screen. On the Smiiine. cavalry had a
taste of action owiii^' to the lirilish success of -Inly 14. which
took the (iermaii> liy -ui'pi'i/.e hetwi-en Iliu'h and Delvillt'
Woods and left them "sta^-erino 1 with their second-line
trenches lost. 7 ' (iunners then rulthed their eyes as they saw
horsemen pass and infantry stood amaxed as they saw them
crossing trenches, on their way up the. slope 10 a rid<re. The
wonder wa- that anv came hack alive. In the casualties

ON" TIiK WKSTKRX FRONT

were about the same number of horses as men. Riders wlio
lost their horses. mounted horses that had been mail'' rider-
less, A percentage of one hoi^e in six or seven had been
hit. Seme were killed and others only wounded, but "there
were enough deaths to east a spell of gloom over the ad-
venture; and yet ju^t enough to show what a gambling
lia/ard is war and to give the rillip of danger.

According to advices reaching Taris, the capture of
Orvillers was signalized by heavy German losses and des-
perate lighting. The importance of the place lay in that
it covered the main road from Albert to Bapaume and in
IN situation on the British left Hank which rendered its
reduction necessary to safeguard advances further south.
After six hours of concentrated bombardment by hundreds
of heavy guns, the attack began at dawn from three sides,
a -ection of men frm Orvillers Wood being the til's t t >
penetrate the village. The British plunged into the ruins,
chafing Germans along the pa^ages. In one underground
retreat they captured twenty-five (Germans. >urvivors of a
full battalion, "who had not tasted fond for sixty horns."
In another stronghold survivors were found nearly dead
fri'in thirst. ( 'orpse> were seen everywhere. At one end of
the village where two little forts defended its entrance were
mure than N l( ' bodie>. "horribly mannled by the incessant
shell-tiiv."

Xear the central market-place a half-ruined house proved
tin- h'na! center of resistance. Here \'<>r fully half an hour
a terrible mitrailleuse-fire beat off all attacks. Then lmmber>,
crawling foot by foot, managed to throw their missiles into
the loophole. For a moment the defense's lire wavered, and
tiie British charged. l"d by a wounded subaltern whose let':
arm was almost severed at the shoulder. There was a sh r'
hand-to-hand stniirirh'. after wl the iV\v survivors, when

olieled. tlll'eW <' 'WU their JII'Mls. while a suballe! 1 !!

wi : -'!: x , i j i " Titerai " si 1 in the doorwa, wai'ini;- for

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

liausted prisoners marched to tin- rear an order rang out,
and swiftly formed khaki lines "presented anus in h' image
to the defenders' courage.''

The (ierman General Staff in the third week of July
issued an appeal to the people of Germany for confidence
in its condnet of the war. "Never has the world experienced
anything so stupendous as the present battles," said this
appeal: "never has an army braved what ours has braved."
Neutrals were startled by this appeal, coming as it did from
the (ierman official world. The (Jovernment and the Great
and General Stall's were all asking the German people to
trust them. On all fronts their enemies were making
progress and Germany was definitely on the defensive, with
France. Russia, Great Britain, and Italy each advancing.
Germany could not break out in any new place. She had
eome to a point where slit 1 must hold what positions she
had and do this with all h'T strength against superior num-
ber-, and ei|ual preparations. Only two yea IN before she
had expected to reach Paris in six weeks. French. Belgian,
and British armies were soon to be destroyed. On the soil
of France and before the gates of Paris. Sedan and Water-
loo were to lie repeated. In this tone (ierman ofticial reports
had been framed.

There had been nothing more significant >ince the war
!ie-an than this appeal to the (ierman people to trust the
Government. Manv (ierman illusion* had irnne hv the

OX THE AYKSTKKN FRONT

hoard. There was no longer a deeadent France, a helpless
ilritain. or an inert Russia. Instead there were .British.
Russian, and French armies Invakingf in waves of tire and
steel against (iei'iuaii lines, and the (lerman people were
brjryeil to trust the army as the instrument that was defend-
ing the walls of the Fatherland, which was a far cry from
the altitude of August. 1IH4. A military force that had
expected to rnahe the (ierman people masters of the world
had <_rone down on its knees to ask them fin- a measure of con-

thousands nio-v were dyin<r daily. east and west ; other mil-
li.ins were hungry and Paris. Calais. Moseow. Sue/., and
V'-rdtin. as (ierman dreams and p>als h.ad become the fic-
tions i :f yesterday.

When tli' 1 Allied offensive was in its fourth week it had
plainly settled down to a war of attrition. Kaeh side could
rush the other's trenches after an artillery preparation hut
fiily at terrible cost. Undeniably, the Allies had the better
of the struirirle, but so for weeks had the (Jermans at Ver-
dini. where their attacks were finally stopt by need of troops
elsewhere to hold back French and Hritish in Pieardy. Mudi
had been gained in jti'ovin^r the value of Kitchener's levies;
but there was no si^n as yet that the Allies were within
siiihl of that hmtr desired hour when they could lnvak
through the TJerman lines and resume warfare as practised
in nther <lays. It was in its indirect results that, next to
lie' wearing-down of the <!erman forces. lh>' Allied offensive
was telling must. It was preventinjr ihe sending of 1roo]>s
tn the ea^t to hold ot'f the Russians; it was straininir th ;
nerves and i-esoiirees of the fierman TJeneral Staff, and it
was hourly crushing the morale of the (ierman people, who
must now have ivali/ed that their hopes of an early and
separate peace with Franc< which they had been told was
to be ihe result of the capture of Verdun were without
foundation.

AS days passed there was no abatement in the strn, r i. r le
iMifih "f the Soimiie. Tn counter-attacks the liritish suc-
ceeded in re<rainin.LT most of such territory as at times they
lost, and in addition dispersed with artillery-tire bodies of
Germans masse.] fin- other atiack-s. North of tlie Somme

TILE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

French infantry established new liin's alon^ the ('ombh-s-
Chery narrow-Lra<re railway. South of it troops stormed and
captured an entire first-line trench between Barleux and
Soyecoiirt. The advance north further straightened the
French line to confirm to the British advance, while the
attack south was another pain in a campaign to clear the
(iermans from the bend of the river. Every foot of (i-erman
portions behind lines captured by the British north of the
Somme \vas carefidly and slowly drenched with a destructive
fire of hi<rh explosives. Giant British shells were dropt on
(ierman works from <nins stationed miles to the rear.
British artillery of Iar'e and small caliber, acting in unison,
systematically pounded, (icrman lines. The roar of j^uns
became continuous. From a height a short distance in the
rear. Wilbur S. Forrest 11 obtained an excellent vie\v of
Friconrt, ( 'ontalmaison, Matnetx, the Manietz Wood, Bazen-
tine-le-firand and other positions taken by the British. Later
with others he traversed the valley of the Somme and en-
tered the ruins of Friconrt, once a (ierman stronghold, Imi
stormed and captured by the British early in their offensive.
lie said:

' ' I ma'-Miie a tnant steam-roller passing' over anv American t"w:i
of L'.IHIO inhabitants and von u'et an idea nf Friconrt to-day. The
little French t'o\\'ii has licen litei'allv \\'ipcd oft' the map. < rci'inan
diiLimits and shell-holes represent the spike-holes of a Inure steam-
roller. The re>t of the to\vn is llattened in debris, lleri' and there
1'rom the hole of a hattered-in (rei'inan dn^'out comes a sickening
stench that tells of ]iile< ot' coi-pses. Tlie scene at Fricourt is
typical of that in anv of the other villages blotted out by hruii
exph isives.

''Iliu'h l>ritish oliicei's sa\" that the pnrpox' of tlie Ui'itish oft'eii-
sive is not speed, but to recover bv slo\v. steady pushes every yard
of invaded Frem-h and IJeU'ian territory at a minimum expenditure
of human blood and by a heavy expenditure of powerful explosives,
of which there is an ample supply. Fii:ht ini; must '40 on below as
well as above ground. The <!ermans have catacombed all villages
to escape shell-lire. At I >a/ent m-Ie-< I rand, for instance, the nnder-
iM'i'imd caverns sheltered 1. "><><> men.

"The entire Anirlw-Frcncli front on the Somme offensive, as far
as the eve can see. literallv swarms with men and material."

ON Till-] WESTERN FRONT

After a brief pause a main thrust by the French was
Tiiailc to the south. Tlii- French no\v struck against one side
of another salient, the famous N<>yon salient, where the
(iermans were nearest Paris, a distance of about sixty miles
with Le Fere as a center. From Craonne, its eastern end, to
N' yon. its northwestern end, was fifty miles. From La
Fere to the front west of Noyoii was about twenty-five miles.
The prime object of the French here was, by pushing south
and east, hut mainly south, to get behind the German troops
in the salient and compel them to retire from Chaulnes,
Roye, Lassigny, and Noyon in order to avoid being en-
veloped and compelled to surrender. The Germans in
('hauines were already in difficulties. The British were then
holding the north side of the Bapaume salient with troops
about Arras. Thus each ally was attempting to squeeze the
(iermans out of a salient and the Germans were lighting
desperately to prevent them. The Noyon salient was much
larger than that of Bapaume ; the distance across the neck
of the latter from Arras to IV-ronne being not much more
than twenty miles, as against fifty from IV-romi" to Craonne.
Thus the ta>k nf tin- French was greater, since they would
have to advance much further before they could accomplish
the same result, but. if they succeeded, they would recover
a mii'-h greater bit of territory. The important thing to
7veogni/e was that both the British and French had thus
far only made a beginning. They had not been stop); in-
deed, a further advance might take Bapaume and turn the
Germans out of ('hauines and Roye; but .neither of these
rtsulis would necessarily be followed by sweeping changes.

Bv Jiilv '2'2 the (iermans had be<_>un to lose certain ad-
vantages furnished by nature. "With the impending cap-
ture of Foureaux and "Dclville AVoods their forces would be
sw< pt out of what remained to them of natural covers. That
explained the tenacity with which they cliinir to these places,
which wen- being reduced by British artillery-fire to acres
of blackened slumps and hole-- in the ground. The British
a' the same time \VTO encountering the full strength of the
third-line positions of the Oermans with their bomb-proofs
and sh,. Hers, to build which they had had plenty of time
uninterrupted bv artillerv-tire, Trench-stormers found the

Till-] ALLIKI) DlilVK OX TITK SOMMK

Germans in many cases burrowed underground in labyrinths
with roofs reinforced by steel plates and concrete. Only the
heavie>t artillery-fire could have any effect: on such de-
fensive structures. In. the Peronne sector the French now
had the advantage of fi^lit iujjr from heights with t IIP Germans
below them. They had advanced beyond much marshy
<_;T Hind.

Another attack was bejrun by the British alon^ <i seven-
mile front from Thiepval through Po/ieres and Longueval,

a> t'a r as (luillemont, ju>t north of Trones \vood>. Hair's
infantry had captured ih,> outer work> of Po/i''! 1 ''- and
L.tn^rui'val, but the (Jei'man^^ in a he-ivy i?ounter-attaek, re-
yaiiied the iioft hei'ii cud of the village. Ouritm 1 tli.> next.
iiay the oiil-kirts of Guillemout chaiiil'ed hands twice. The
(iermans fouu'ht with their inmost sirenii'tli to pivviii the
I'>!':'i-li from advanciiiL; 1 to their third-line positions, hut tin 1
Australians, (irmly established, in Poxi^res. o-o: astride the
road in the direction of Bapaume. A (iei-man counter-

OX THE AVKSTKRN FRONT

attack against the French front proved unsuccessful. Berlin

declared tliat along the entire line the attacks of the British
were thus far fruitless and that they had suffered heavy
casualties. Around 1'ozieres and Foureaux AVood the com-
batants came to grips in hand-to-hand fighting. the attacks
being unusually stubliorn and at many points on a iVont of
twenty-five miles. At Foureaux the British threw cavalry
against the Germans. AVith the village of Pozieres in their
hands, and having strengthened their positions temporarily
by the capture of two strong trenches west of the village, the
British rested before attempting again to throw their forces
against the Germans, who were blocking their advance
toward Bapanme.

The British put on Delville AVood the heaviest concentra-
tion i if shell-tire in a given area yet directed against tield-
fort ideations, (.-runners wei'e amazed when they computed
its volume per minute. There must have been three shells a
minute falling on every yard, the purpose being to leave
nothing standing, nothing living. Not a single (iermaii
sniper in a tree, not a German machine-gun, was to survive
th>- tornado of blasts. German officers taken prisoners bore
witness to the work of gunners. "Your artillery/' said one
of them, "is better than anything I have seen, even at
Verdun.'' (li-mian officers were Mirprizcd that "an army
of amateurs." as they still called the British, had produced
scientific artillery-work in so slmrt a time and paid tribute
tu the daring of lield-gfmiiers. "They came up." said one
of them, speaking of the Memetz Wood attack, "like
charioteers in a Roman circus, at full gallop." Many

horses Were killed, bill the Hid) Were reckless of danger.

placing their batteries in the open as if at maneuvers. There
-'i-int-d litth- doubt that the (li'i'inan army was now standing
up under friirht fill losses. A correspondent of the Berlin
i emphasized the importance of the opera-
he battle thus far wa- regarded as only the

siii'-M 1 ] uf dcstnict ion i^ passing

;irn;\ \\itli ;i I'nrv ami inei'ciless-

le~ li.Mcl |u^t lie'JIUI. \\ (' fee]. ;is

f tin- eiicrnii's" united po\v-r. I'

TIIK ALLIED DRIVE ()\ THE SOMME

is now a question of litV 1 or death for our nation. Tin* root of this
war is the deep meanness of human nature, which can not bear
another power ^ row in:: 1 up alongside it. -eli' without trying to
destroy it."

Amon<r many ])oints of similarity between the Allied of-
fensive on tlie west and the attack on Verdun, was one
esscntinlly different. Verdun could he definitely marked
down in phases, each phase representing a period of ex-
haustion in shells, making necessary a shift in the attack
from one side of the river to the other. These periods came
with regularity, and altho the attacks were practically coii-
finuous. they were not so on any given section of the line.
The French attacks south of the Somme had the same
characteristics, lut the British attack's were different. After
the first few days there did come a period of quiet, which
lasted for several days; hut the attacks became continuous.
Night and day shells wen- rained into German lines. The
British supply-system was somet hing that had not been seen
before in this war. It was probably the most perfect thiim 1
in the way of a transport service yet developed. To have a
shell was one tiling, but to have it where and when it was
\\Tinied was another. The fact that the British were able to
keep their shell-supply at the front was now The most
promising thing- in connection with their part in the gn-at
offensive. They had never been able to do tliis before. At
critical moments in every former battle either men or guns
failed them when success was almost within their gi'a-p.

The destruction at this time of a certain German forti;i>'d
work on the Somme was marked by a tragic episode. An
order had been given to destroy the fort at whatever cost.
In less than six hours more than l2.">nO shells were fired and
the defenses finally all gave way in clouds of dust and
smoke. Infantry then went forward and Germans positions
were taken. French artillery officers, in examining- the
ruins, discovered amid a mass of debris a Bavarian officer
lying with his chest crushf and at the point of death, lie
seemed to collect himself and beiran to speak softly, and a
Frenchman knelt at his side to h<-ar what he wished to say.
Thirty-two men. he explained, had originally occupied the
place. After the bombardment began half the ineii became

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

victim-; of an awful death. Two were decapitated. Of three
i '.thers near whom a shell exploded not a vestige remained.
The survivors crouched at the bottom of The subterranean
shelters and there awaited their fate. When another terrific
i xplosjoii came these men were tlirown together in a eon-
fused heap and almost immediately flames shoi up from the
nndt rin'ound cavern. A moment of indescribable terror
eii-ned in which the man in command went mad. Shmitinjr
wildly at imaginary enemies, in the sinister <rlare of flame--,
he srt furiously upon his own men, killing one after another.
and then was himself burned to death. Of all these the
Bavarian officer alone survived. Determined not to die by
the hand of his chief, lie had scaled the ruins, clun<r to a
sloping side of the works, but only to be buried under a
block of stone. lie died soon after the French officer-, found
him. in lh<- hospital to which they had carried him. 1 -

Real Allied success was regarded as relatively unimportant
now. >ave as it miirht be the foundation for sneeoss later.
The Artois-ChampagTie operations in r.U.~> had extended
over only a week, but in the third week of the i'icardy
tiiMirinu' every one recoirni/.ed that the offensive was to L r o on
indefinitely. It resembled the Verdnn. more than the I'ham-
pa<nie, strufru'le. I; was an effort to wear through, ii"t To
eras!, 1 hi'MiiLi'l. a wearing, not a driving. attack. ShnuM
the British finally L r et Bapaume and the French turn the
(iermans ,iiit of ('hanlnes. Ii"ye. and Xoyon. somethin<r j'eal

-nntheasi uf Ai'i'as, at the intersection of roads, lay the con-
siderable i-ity of ('ambrai. one of the ^reat railroad centers
of that region. ATvr I>a]ianme. ('ambrai was the real ob-

ji-ctivc i f the r>!'i'i-ll. It' they could p-1 it the whole (iel 1 -

maii ]iovi;ion west of the Oi-e would be in ]>eril. The fall
if ('amiifai, fi-om all appearances, would have meant the
retirement of tin- < i'-i'mans tVom France, fi'om the Ariri'ini''
to Pieardy. 01- frnm south of a line drawn from You/iers
in I. ill-, which, in fact, was what it meant in September.
I'M-.

T,es> than twenty miles ea>t of the French line was Si
Qii'-ntin, one of the biir industrial cities of northern France

-La Lllu-tc < I'ari.s).

OQO

THE ALLIED DRIVE ON THE SOMME

and an ultimate French objective. If the British could get
Cambrai, the Germans would probably have to quit St.
Quenthi; if the French could capture St. Quentin, while it
might not imperil Cambrai, it would mean that the Ger-
mans must leave France, south and east, as far as the
Argonne, evacuating La Fere, Laon, and the Champagne
south of Rethel. Should the British get Cambrai, they
would l)e able to cut all the main lines of German communi-
cation west of the Argonne and the Germans would have no
choice but to retire behind the Belgian frontier from Lille
lo the Meuse. France would then be liberated, save for
some parts in Lorraine. The British had got half-way to
Bapaume and once Bapaume was taken the}' might advance
on Cambrai. Unless they were able to do that, the Germans
would have successfully checked the offensive. Should the
British get Cambrai before snow fell they would accomplish
all they had dared hope for, but it would mean something
like half a million casualties. The British, however, had
the men to pay the price; the. French had not. and the
Germans had not. This whole Allied operation was like a
tlood beating on a dike and wearing in to make a breach.
If the tlood ever got clear through, it would spread rapidly.
The Kaiser on July 22 was seen at the Western Front by
Karl II. von AYiegand, 1 '' 1 who declared him to be in excellent
health. Reports current that he was in ill-health and broken
down were 1 fables. During the entire war he had "never
looked better." Mr. von AViegand, who was one of the few
civilians who attended church where the Kaiser at that
lime attended, sat near him one day and thus had an ex-
cel lent chance to study and observe him. lie described him
as follows:

"Kai-er AVilhelm has ai^ed considerably; his hair has turned very
:rray. His face, while reflecting earnestness, is at times remarkably
fresh and vigorous. His expression lias become more seri<ui>. Ins
manner mure irrave. Kxccj t for Ins hair he doe- nut look older
than his years. One receives the impression iliai no one is more
conscious uf his responsibilities than is he. Atluvd in a lifld-uray
uniform, he- sat in a plain, larire \voodcn arn. chair directly in front

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

of the pulpit. Ik-hind him were two rows of.' officers from the head-
quarters stall' on a small raised platform; to his left other oilicers
were standing, and to the right were fifteen sisters. Of these and
the several hundred soldiers who stood durin.tr the service none was
a more attentive listener than the Kaiser. Only when the organist
started at the Avrontr moment, which caused him to glance in that
direction, did he take his eyes from the little white cross on the black
draped pulpit. After the service the Kaiser stood under the trees
by the roadside while the soldiers who had attended the service
stepped by in review. lie then talked with military representatives
of the Kin. ITS of Saxony and Wiirttemberg. I stood about fifty feet
away. The Kaiser was describin.tr to them what he saw on the
Somnie front. At times his face became almost fiercely earnest;
iresticulatin.tr energetically with his riirht hand, he occasionally
emphasized words by bringin.tr his fist down on his leg 1 . His entire
attitude was one of trreat force fulness."

On July 23 the main fury of the attack was on the- left.
where Pozieres and its windmill crowned the slope up which
ran the Albert-Bapaume road. The village had long ere
this been pounded flat, the windmill was a stump, and the
trees in the gardens matchwood; hut every yard of those
devastated acres was fortified in the German fashion with
covered trendies, deep dugouts, and machine-gun emplace-
ments. The assault was delivered from two sides a British
Midland Territorial Division, moving from the southwest in
the ground between Po/i/n-s and Orvillers, and an Anxac
division from the southeast, advancing from the direction of
('ontalmaison Villa. The movement began about midnight,
and tin- Midland'-rs speedily cleared out the defenses which
the Germans had :!ung out south of the village to the left
of the highroad, and held a line along the outskirts of the
place in ih" direction of Thiepval. By the evening of the
next day most of I'o/K-rt-^ wa> in British hands. By July
L'*i tile whole \i!l;i<_!v \vas British, and the Midlanders on the
l.-ft had 1ak'-n two lines of trenches. The 1 wo divisions
jo'im-d hands at tin- north corner, where they occupied th-
C'-ni'-tery. and ln-!d a portion of the switch line where they
! v>'d imd'T p'Tpftual bombardment. The <!ermans still held
ih" windmill. whi>-h was {he hiirher ground and gave them
a trood ob-rrvat ion point.

234-

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

On July 28 the Germans, thrown back in two counter-
attacks on the Delville "Wood and at Vermandovillers, while
the British gained at Delville, Ili^rli Woods, and Pozieres,
found themselves unable to take up an offensive. Sharp
hand-to-hand fighting continued at many places. The mili-
taiy pounding was tremendous, but Ilai.u' reported that
"nothing of importance'' had occurred. All news went to
show that the British were maintaining their superiority in
hand-to-hand ii<z'htin<r. which was gradually driving the (Jer-

HINDO-CHINKSK I.AI'.nU IN FUANCK

Brought from French colonies to cultivate the soil -while

Frenchmen were at the front

literally a case of every house heinir a t'orl 1'ess. I'ndei*
tei-rilic artillery-tiiv th>' B)i'iiish steadily wort- ilirouu'li the
iirmy's third line. Tlieii 1 wed'jv. tii'^t di'iven in at Po/ieres,
was wideniiiir. Tlieir o-i'Mwin^ superiority in nu-n. ji'uns and
supplies facilitated their ability to attack where and when
'hey pleased, while the (leriiiau counter-attacks were <rrowing
less. The fact that each counter-attack was followed bv a

OX THE AYKSTFRX FRONT

gain for the British showed how invat was their superiority.
AVithout spectacular charges, without any general attack
along the I'rout. the British, with grenade, knife, and
bayonet, weiv slowly cutting down the defenders of the
crest of the ridge, and forcing their way aei'oss it.

Die French and British were n.iw attacking in sweltering,
midsummer heat, the first real hot wave of the season hav-
ing struck northern France. Every day the Hermans were
increasing the number of their guns and men in tlie Hnille-
inont sector, which was among the last portions of high
ground they held. Ten Herman battalions, or 1(1. OIK) men,
occupied a front of 2.<><">0 yards. Part of the British attack
struck from T rones AVood and another on the flank. The
Hermans tried to man machine-guns after a British bom-
bardment and resisted bitterly. lighting under a broiling
sun as if every inch of ground was precious. The British
got possession of the railroad-si at ion, which they had reached
in a previous attack, and some of the attackers got into
Giiillemoiit, reaching a church where the (iermatis. swarm-
inti' in dugouts, outnumbered the advance party which was
iitrlniti^ against them on all sides. Jt was a hide-and-serk
conflict amid village ruins with indescril)al>le feroi-ity.

The British tinally had to retire from the ed^-e of (iuille-
mont. but made <^ood a considerable advance southward on
the flank of the town where, through a hot ni^ht. tiyhliny
fonlinued. Pcixpii'at ion that day "made while water-
courses in the (lust on m-n's faces." Fyes looked out
throutrh ma^ks so thick that faces ''seemed to be covered
with sonic kind of armor." .Motor-trucks passing on the
road were like "fantom^ in thick clouds." (iiinners. strijit
to the skin, sei-ved ^uns at !^)p speed. In that mixture of
dust and shell-smoke, breathing was difficult. Men in the
first Hue. with no dugouts and no shade except that made
by clouds of shell-smoke. ;)n ,j often exposed to the full blaxe
of the sun. found their steel helmets about as hot as skillets
o!V a fire. The ha/e of dancing heat-waves in a lifeless air
hid many positions from balloon observers'. Artillery ob-
servation became almost as difficult as in a foj;. It was
hard at any distance to tell dii^t-covered French blue from
dust-covered Hnnl'isli khaki.

Till-: ALLIK!) DRIYK OX TIIK SO.M.MK

Details were Driven out in France on August - of tin- de-
poriation on Easier Sunday of this year, a! an hour ami a
half's notice, of L>~>.iiii(i citi/.ens from Lille, Roubaix. and
Toui'coin<>'. The victims were chosen liy an officer in charge
of the deporting pai'ty. Kadi person singled out for de-
portation was permitted to have sixty pounds of bairy.'ajie.
which it was recommended should consist of utensils for
eating and drinkiujr, a lihmket, ^uod shoes, and personal
linen. If any one exceeded this wein-hf his or her bairira^'''
was in lie thrown aside. Kadi bundle was to be made up
separately for one person and supplied with a lay- showinu'
the address, name and number card. When at their destina-
tion the deported persons were permitted to write to their
relatives once a month. Premier Briaml. Vivian i's successor,
sent copies of a "Yellow ]>ook" with a covering' note to
all neutral Powers, in which he said:

" About "J."). (Mid French subjects, yomii:' irirls of between sixteen
aiul twenty Years of auc, youim \voiiicn. and men up to the ai:e
nf lit'ty-tive, \vitlu>ul distinction oi' social condition, have been torn
t'i'iiiii their home-; ;it Roubaix. Toiircoiui:, and Lille, separated with-
out pitv 1'i'oui their families and forced to work in the liehls in
the depart incuts of the Aisne and the Ardennes. (iirls whose
hands showed sivjis of work were taken in preference to the
other-: servant-ii'irlrf wi-re taken nearly everywhere, and in many
cases their mistresses, decliniiiii to be separated from them, went
with them to >hare the in, known future. The proportion of women
taken was between _!(> and i!<> per cent. Two hundrt'd school-iris
ot' lifleen were taken awav, but on tin. 1 Avlioh- it \vas the laborin.;'
classes who suffered, and in some instances voiim.:' inrls of Lrod
fiimily wlio had been removed have been sent hack.

"The raids were accompanied by terrible scenes of trrief and
sorrow, am] not a few elderly people lost their reason when they
saw their daughters iiein- 1 carried oft'. Some of the men, espe-
cially of the I.andsl ui'in. seemed to be conscious that they were
cnirnn'cd in s'lamefiil work; some ot' the officers, too. admitted that
notliii _;' could ever cleanse the <!erman tla 1 ,:' t'rom this fresh stain
put upon it. Indeed, it is said in Lille that a number ot' oth'cers
and men are in the ('itadd awaiting their trial for refnsim: 1 to
< mor themselves.

" 1 te'ailed eviilences a< to \vliore they wero all sent wa< not
foi'thcomiiiL:', but the majority appeared to have been scattered

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

between Scclin and Teiupleuve down to the Ardennes. There they
were employed in various labor* some on the soil, others road-
inendinu'. some in the manufacture ot' munitions, or in the dii^'ini:
of trendies. l'>iit the fact which was most appalling was that the
wnnu'ii were employed in cooking for German troops, and as servants
to German ol'iicers. Inhabitants were forced by threats and deporta-
tions to make trenches, bridges, roads, and railways; to work in
factories and mines; to make sand-hairs for use in trendies. They
were forced to work durinu' IOIILT hours for no pay, in conditions
of the utmost misery, without food, liable to tlou'U'inii' and to
other punishment. They were deported to work in mines and
factories ot' the Hhineland and Westphalia."

This matter was considered calmly by the official Xor<1-
<J/ iitxr/it All>/< UK ' //< Z<ilun<t. which stated that the French
population affected by the emergency measures "declared

itself to be quite satisHed tO til'' fullest decree." Tile Allies

were blamed for making sneh measures necessary. That
paper, an official organ, added: "The German administra-
tion caused many thousands of French inhabitants of both
sexes to be removed from tlie "Teat cities in French
Fland'-rs. It is intended to go mi doing tins in future. The
necessity for this action the French and their Allies owe to

themselves alotle."

The two years of war no\v completed were marked by a
notable contrast between conditions as of August 1. lOlb.
and those of a year before. Germany, in August. 1!>15. had
gone forwaril with the greatest campaign of the war. The
ma!_ r n it ude and extent of hep conquests, as Ilindenburg had
said they would do. had ''astonished the world." That
triumphal eastern march had continued almost to the gates
of Riira. which had been evacuated by the civil population.
Other facts were that Loveeti and Belgrade had been bom-
barded, some hundreds of thousands of Armenians massacred
bv Turks and Kurds. Brest-Litovsk occupied and Bulgaria
mobili/ed against Serbia. Auaiu-.; these achievements the
British could point only to small trains north of Loos and
east of Kut. Had as the record in August was. it soon
became worse. Bulgaria declared \var a^ain-t Serbia: the
otVep by tli'- Entente Allies to Greece of Cyprus, on condi-
tion that she would discharge her treaty obligations t>

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

Serbia, her ally, was refused ; the French army was forced
to retreat from Serbia; Doiran. forty miles northwest of
Saloniki, was occupied by the Bulgars, while as a visible
sign of Teutonic progress the first Berlin-Constantinople
railway express train started from the German capital with
a flourish of trumpets, confirming the highest Teutonic
hopes, and overawing tJie neutrals of southwestern Europe.
These events, however, had blown into a consuming flame the
smothered fire of P>ritish wrath. Great as had Keen the
results of voluntary enlistment in Great Britain, they were
found inadequate for the task the British had before them.
Xot until the twelfth hour, when the fortunes of war were
at their lowest, had the British Government, urged by the
nation and by Britain's Allies, assented to obligatory military
service. Probably all Britain felt that the most difficult
and decisive achievement of the war had been the voluntary
abandonment by the British race of the luxuries of pacifism
and acceptance of the hated burden of Continental military
discipline. 14

In August. l!Hf). Gei-many was on the defensive. In far-
off Armenia, hi Volhynia. in Galieia, in the Baltic provinces,
in northern France, in the Tivntino. the troops of Russia,
France. Great Britain, and Italy were attacking hi-r. ^lean-
while, there was every promise of a ne\v offensive from
Saloniki aimed at Bulgaria and designed to liberate Serbia,
and further promise of an early entrance into the war on
the Allied side by Roumania and Greece. It was no longer
possible, as it had been in KH4 and 1fU.">. for Germany to
move troops from east to west, or from north to south, as
one field after another became interesting or unimportant.
On all fronts with equal pressure the rlond was beating
upon her bait le-liiies. Three times she had sought to de-
strov one of her foes at a time at the Marne. in Russia,
and at Verdun. Each time, by a single colossal blow, she
had aimed {n put one of her great opponents out of the
reckoning, as Napoleon disposed of Austria at Austerlitz, of
Prussia at Jena, of Russia at Friedl-and. But France was
still Maiiding erect, unbroken. Russia was returuinir to the
charge with numbers and efficiency that evoked wonder in

1J T>r. F. ,T. PilVn in Th> .n, ; .-7, T<lr;!rapll (London^.

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

Berlin, while Great Britain had millions where, she had tens
<>t' thousands in August. 1014, and hundreds of thousands
in August, 101"). As the year advanced, it beeame more
and more clear that, even when Germany had outnumbered
her foes on the Western Front, she had been beaten, first at
the ,Marne. and then in Flanders. After that she <rave her
we.-tern foes more than* a year in which to recover and then
she tried again, only to be beaten more decisively at Verdun,
for in that offensive she did not gain ten miles in five
months. To balance the miles of French territory that Ger-
many still occupied in all less than 8,000 square miles
France and Britain had taken a million miles of German
colonies, swept the seas clear of German ships and isolated
Germany as. no nation had ever been isolated before in
modern history.

Current compilations of the cost of the war in two years
showed how utterly beyond previous conceptions the figures
were. An estimate of .^oO. 000. 000.000, as the total cost to
August 1, 101 (i. was a figure that could be handled by the
tonirue, but not by the mind. It hardly helped the imagina-
tion to know 1h;it the amount spent by (Irvat Britain in
two years was ten times as great as the cost of our four-year
Civil War. A Wall Sliver compilation placed the total loans
of the Central Bowers at *lLM :>!..">< 10.000, and the grand
total of war loans at >">!'. 1 01 .'2~>4. 1 1 0. Meanwhile the
casualties for two years of war were estimated at .1 'l.ooT.fiL'T.

mae

by Major-! ieiieral Ilu-h L. Scott of the Fnited State-, Army.
For the fir-t year of the war the casualties had been placed
at S.fj7o.N>.~). The Kivnch Minister of the Interior. M.
Ma Ivy. made public the extent of the damage thu- far done
to property in those pnrlions of Krance occupied by (Icrnian
troop-, the figure- beiii;: 1 the iv-ult of an official invent i<_ra-
lion conducted by hi- (lepart inent . l)ata were collected
from TO 1 town- and villages. in which it wa- found that
K'i.fidO building had been entirely wrecked and ir>..~>')4
partially wrecked. The \vor-1 sul'ferei 1 was the Department
of the .Marii' 1 . where l.l.liHi l)iiildin;s were damaii'-d and

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOALME

0.49!) totally ruined. In Pas-de-Calais, which came next,
l.'5.f>42 buildings were damaged and 6.060 completely ra/ed.
In 14S communes more than ~>0 per cent, of all the build-
ings within the commune limits were destroyed, and in 74
communes the wrecked buildings were more than 80 per-
cent, of the total existing. Public buildings were wrecked
in 42S communes, the damaged edifices including 221 city
halls i.Mairies), :>79 schools, ool churches, and ;$00 other
structures of a public or semi-public character; the public,
monuments damaged totaled 60. Fifty-six of the edifices
destroyed were classed as "historical," among them being
the city hall and departmental archives of Arras and the
cathedral. Archbishop's palace, church of St. Jiemy, and
city hall of Reims.

<>n August 1. 1916, a month had passed since the Great
Allied western offensive began. Since that Friday morning,
July 1. when men looked at their wrist-watches and said.
"It is half-past seven," there had been no day's pause in
fighting until -July >! ; when, for the first time, there had
been no infantry attack. After the first break through the
(ierman line between Fricourt and .Montauban. and the
partial, break north on the left, the lighting had been a
harder struggle as each day passed. It was never an easy
triumphal pmgre>,s from one place ti> another, even when
(levmany was in retreat to new positions. !t was intensive

OX THE WESTERX FRONT

lighting, in which every bit of ground, every bit of broken
dinglet. every earthwork, almost every shell-crater, had to
be attacked, sometimes twice or thrice, by determined troops.
The (iermans fought stubbornly, not yielding any ground
until forced to do so by a superior determination.

The second phase of this fighting had become known as.
the "Battle of the Woods." when Kritish troops were called
upon to capture Troiies Wood. Bernafay "Wood. Caterpillar
Wood. Manicix Wood, and Bailiff Wood, which had to be
done before any great effort could lie made to break the
second (ierman line. By this time the Germans had brought
up great reserves of heavy guns and were hurling enormous
quantities of shells in steady barrages along the British
line. British battalions had to advance through this tire
when they captured Mametx Wood and Trones Wood, and
had to hold them under terrific bombardment by day and
night. The tide of battle ebbed and flowed in and about
those woods, and it was a tide of blood. After live weeks
the Anglo-French offensive came to one of those halts which
were a familiar detail of operations in this war, when an
attack had failed to pierce enemy lines in the opening
thrust. Berlin was justified in its assertion that the effort
to pierce the Somme front had MI far failed: and it might
have been warranted in a belief that the effort had per-
manently failed ; but of that there was no proof as yet.

There was now probably no more dreadful region in all
France than that which lay about and beyond Orvillers-La
BoissfHe. Xo adjectives could describe its hideousness. I, a
Boisselle was no more than "a tlat layer of pounded gray
stones and mortal 1 on the bare face of the earth." Of any-
thing like a village, or even of buildings, there remained no
semblance whatever. Tlie whole earth's surface before and
around had been torn into shell-holes and seamed with lines
of trendies, now all white because th" soil hciv was chalk.
Such land as remained unscarred was almost bare of vege-
tation, with only here and there a thin coat of sickly irrass,
i-r a (lusty in ft of cornflower, mallow, or white camomile.
< 'rowning a gentle slope were a few rag'jvd stumps or frag-
m. 'tits nf tree-trunks ten feet high, with bits of splintered
lower branches sticking from them, standing gaunt against

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

the sky to mark whore Orvillers used to bo. Beyond was
uproar, the sky above constantly full of the rattle of ma-
chine-guns and the noise of exploding shrapnel. Orvillers
was more utterly destroyed than any other village in this
battle area. No village could have been destroyed more
completely, because there was nothing left of it but cellars,
mere holes in the ground. Of superstructure there was none.
.It was estimated that the dugouts at this place could hold,
and did hold. 2.000 Germans. In one, eighty dead Germans
were found.

The failure of the German counter-attacks on British posi-
tions around Po/ietvs was in line with what had occurred
around Verdun, alt ho on a more extensive scale. The
Kaiser's soldiers did not "come back" at Po/.ieres as sharply
as they had been in the habit of doing at Venlun. Nowhere
was there that sharp rejoinder by which the Germans
hitherto had testified that, wherever they had got their
teeth in. they would not let go. At the same time, it was
deelared that in Germany more than one million new troops
were in training in barracks. The youngsters of the 1D17
class, which, according to advance mustering, now expected
to yield close to .">!)(). Olli) high-standard troops, had not yet
been ealled to colors, and there was no possibility of their
being mustered before 11)17. Of the 1D16 class only (]() per
cent, so far had been called to the colors. They were re-
ceiving the same thorough training as in peace times, and
formed an <'Hti army equal in quality to the first line that
took the field at the outbreak" of the war. In addition
more than l.oon.non able-bodied men between the aires of
nineteen and fi>rty-five could be thrown into the tield. Mus-
tered and found physically tit. they had not yet been called
to the colors. The a no limit for active service had been
raised from forty-five to fifty, but for this at present there
was neither necessity nor probability of need for them.
Over 4. i ton. Ooi) men between the a ire of eighteen and forty-
five would altogether he available. These figures were held in
German military circles to justify the German "War Min-
ister's statement that Germany's requirements in men were
fully covered for a war of indeterminate length. Such had
been the confidence of Germanv in the earlv summer of 1!'1G.

OX TlIK \YKSTKKN FKOX'f

ll \vas not unlil after the battle of the Somme that this con-
fidence appeared in any way tn have been -haltered.

Mast of the Somme. with French mm- roariir.: a morning
and (ierman cannon thundering replies, the (ierman
Lmpej'or. on Aniriisi 12. unexpectedly appeared in a little
Hire behind lln- front, reviewed a ha-tily improvised
p:;jade and decorated a numb- r of officer- and soldiers, lie
; ' : ""-; tin- iin-ii hrii-tiy. and w;i> then \vlii-ki-d on to the
itio-t ad\'a!M'cd jiosilion. Ih-- visit was known bctoi'i-lialid
only tn a fi-w lu^ii ol'Iicci's and cann- a~- a coiiijili-ic surpi'ize
' troops. I'p.iii a liroad Icvd plain, tlankcd hy a
l-'i'i-nch i-'nairau. all itic troops in ihc iniiin-diatc nciu'lihtir-
liood \vci't- so in collccicd. \Vi;i, llic I^mpi-ror wa- I'l'iiicc
Kitr! Fn.-dcri'-k. besides an admiral, and several "vnerals. Tin-
troops wi-re drawn up in a l.nliow sfjuan 1 . lli^ majesty was
doci'ilied as "lo'ikinn- trim and lit. tho ])crlia]is somewhat
\vcai icd." II- quickly passed in review, shook hand- here
and there with ofijct-i's whom In- knew, and saluted soldiers
who stood at piv-'-nt arms as correctly as they would have
done at a parade in l>eHin.

In Autrii-t I 'yril Urown ' had an opportunity of viewing
the whole twenty-five-mile Snmme from from a hiiih vantage
point where a far-thin^ paralioli*- battle-line was unrolled
befoi'e him "like a painted scroll."' The center was marked
bv ii'iant -moke-pillar- of burmnir Pei'oniie. where (Jerman
soldiers, at 'lie risk of their livex. under heavy French shell-
tire, were dynamiting blocks of hoii-es to stem the eontla^ra-
t : on. Far to the north "ihe smoke-pall of battle fesloonetl
tin- Hritish front . and ju-t north of the Somnie there was
a sea of smoke where the French and (lerman artillery were

village of I.liiche-. in (iernian hands, and close to it "one
of the burniim 1 point- of the Somnie battle, now smiling in
snnliL'ht and comparative calm, the -mall hill of La Maison-
nette, whose toll in blood approximated the human sacrifice
laid nil the altar of Notre Dame de la Lorctte." l-'rom his
TI- (rpoiind. Mr. lil'own eouhl see the (Jemiaii and
l-'reiieh lirst line-, "a tangle of trenches chi-eled sharply in
. ] ei-ki rboard pattern of the Sonnm- land-rape and even
- r,,rp i")]iil-ut r>f r rii<. New Yurk Tiint*.

TIIK ALLIED DK'IVK <>X Till': So.AIMK

French second .-iiid third lines. It -venied to him ;is it' the
battle of th' 1 Somme were already "eiiier'nm; tin- last phase
of transition to trench warfare." A straight silver thread
1 he Somnie ('anal ami the winding uTeen -edited river

\vas at I he observer 's feet .

French and British troops, in a combined forward move-
meiii on August 1 ti. took (ierman li'eiiehes totaling three
miles in length and in one place a third of a mile in depth.
In impetuous bayonet-cha rues. Allied infant rv captur d

i:.\i: IN A ri:i:.\cii VII.I.ACI-: Ai"i'i:u rr HAP I:I-:KN

IlKTAKEN r.V Till-: PRKNP

liundreds of (iei'man pi'isoners. The <r;i'nis by the Allies
were ihe most important that had been made on the French
front in week>. They practically assured the occupation of
]\Iaurepas. where the French already had a foothold,

seriously threatened the village of ( 'omhlcs and put the
Freiieh nearer the village of P>erny. to the south. The
l-'reneh made the Lrtvater M-ains in this combined assault.
North of Mauivpas they and the I>riti>h worked 1orether.
Thev took an entire (Jerman line of trenehes on a front of
almost exaetlv a mile. At some points this trench line

OX TIIK AVKSTKKX FRONT

reached as fa i 1 as tin- road from Mann-pas north- to Onille-
moiit. South of Mann-pas tin- attack was made entirely by
tin' French. There tin- aim was ;o occupy all the Merman
positions between the former French front and the road
from Mann-pas south to ('h'-ry. It succeeded completely,
driving out the (lei-mans alop.ir a front of a mile and a.
i[iiarter and a third of a mil-- back. These jrains put the
British and French a little les> than two miles from ( 'ombles,
a railroad town and the junction 01' live roads, toward which
they had been driving.

Perhaps the most important advantage the Allies had in
the Somme offensive was the superiority of their air-service.
S.madrillas of airplanes went forward to brinir down or
drive ba<-k (ierman aviators and destroy their "sausage''
observation-balloons. The>e raids wiv carried out before
infantry advances beiran. The importance of the airplane
mastery the French had. obtained became evident. It
meant that, in this offensive, the costs in life and limb, in-
evitable to an attack npon modern field-works, were reduced
to a minimum, and that the whole depth uf the French
front became comparatively immune from effective bom-
bardment.

The curve in the British lines between Thiepval and
Po/i-re- had been a menace to the British since Po/ieres
was taken, but the menace was eliminated on August '2'2 by
th<- takintr of trenches in the (ierman salient on a front of
about half a mile. The nains were south of Thiepval and
on both sides of the Po/ieivs-Miramont road. The British

lilies Wefe HOW extended to witllll] I."! 1 !' Val'ds of Thiepval.

thus deci-easiiiir the "Leip/iu 1 " Calient, (hi Auii'ii-f -''> the
I'.riti^h c;ij)tured more ground on the Thiepval rid^'e. driv-
J!iL p back the (Jei-matis fur L'I m yards. This heinbi. sii'on^ly
foi-lilierl and guarded by a nefwoi'k of trenches, was s]ow!y
yieldinir to the pn-ssuri' of Hair's i:uns and infantry. (^\\
August l' 4 was captured an !iin H 'i";int porlion of territory
within the area of the "Leip/iL'" salient immediately to the
snutli of Thiepval. The pai'ticular ti'ench -ei/.ed. on a 1- nii'h
of abouf ! IHI yards, af^-r tin i '" rman ]IO^;T;OH had been pi ne-
'rated to a depili of :!ini yard-. \va- known as the "llin-
(ienbur'j- tn-neh.'' a nan.'' apfilied :o i' out of compliment

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

t<> tlif general whose wooden effigy for so long a period had
had nails hammered into it win-re it stood in Berlin. The
British had not only had to traverse open country in their
direet assault, but to work up on the left through a maze
of trenches. They had also to seeure a transverse sector of
the stronghold known as the Konigstrasse, which formed a
point of juncture with the Hindenburg trench.

Prussian Guards, tin? Emperor's pet troops, fought with
skill and bravery. They proved themselves expert bombers,
but in the end were beaten. Some of them lurking in dug-
outs came forth and absolutely declined to surrender. In
tins way many were killed. In an early stage of the fight
tlie trench was heaped up with German dead. From one
dugout there emerged a Prussian company commander with
a number of non-commissioned officers and men who declined
to surrender and a terrific combat at once ensued at close
quarters. Then a counter-attack was ushered in by a pro-
longed and intense bombardment. The Germans knew the
British were then in the Ilindenburg trench, and were able to
''register" on it with precision with their "heavies" and
their shrapnel. British artillery apprized of the situation
turned on a tornado of shell-tire. Machine-guns from the
newly conquered trenches joined in. until the counter-attack
was smashed and pulverized.

A col-respondent l " who saw the fighting below Thiepval
under advantageous conditions, described it as the mosi
wonderful spectacle he had seen in this war. Bombardments
had occurred over a much larger front and attacks had been
made on a grander scale, but nothing had been more intense.
Well hidden from German view, lie lay with others in holes
near a narrow spur of ragged trees which were once a wood.
On the further edge of these remnants of trees Tan the
British first-line trench. frm which the attack was delivered,
and from o(>0 to 4<>() yards beyond, running directly across
the line of vision on the opposing slope, were German lines
aliin^ the lower side of the salient. It was all "as plain ns
if you looked out on your own grounds," in that sunlight of
a perfect summer evenintr. Straight ahead, beyond the top
(f the slope, was another fringe of blasted tree-trunks, hav-

15 Ul The Time* (Loailou).

ON THE WESTERN FRONT

ing a few shattered branches; that was where Thiepval lay
out of sight. No word could describe the battle that ensued.
"One could hardly set oneself to describe the end of the
world." In the course of his life he had seen "many
gigantic things, like typhoons, prairie-fires and forest-tires
and most of the great volcanoes of the world, and some
battles, and the fall of Antwerp"; but as a spectacle, for the
splendor and the power of it. he doubted if anything ever
resembled what now went on before him for twenty minutes.
lie wished to shriek, to bite his fingers, to do he knew
not what, but "all one could do was to drum one's heels on
the ground and gasp." How many guns were at work lie
did not and could not tell. But they began all at once
breaking suddenly on the sunlit silence. In ten minutes
hundreds of shells had plunged upon one spot of earth. In
twenty seconds it seemed as if there had been thousands:

"Hurricanes, \vliirl\vinds. thunderstorms, and gigantic coiiilagra-
tions, bring them all together and concent rate tlieni on all in a riim
of a few acres, and you will have only a suggestion of what went on
immediately before our eyes. One almost sobbed from sheer exalta-
tion, for the over-mastering sensation was astonishment at the power
of it at the power of British artillery and the splendor of its accu-
racy. We could concentrate here on less than 1.000 yards the guns,
which ordinarily have charge of miles of enemy front. So terrific
was it that, above all the roar of the explosions, the sound of the
shells passing overhead tilled the ears wi'.li a shrieking louder than
any wind. As for the ground where the shells fell, it simply was
not. Kent and torn in every direction, it heaved itself into the air,
not in spurts or bursts, but universally in one great dust-storm.
There was no ground, no trench, no brown earth or green: noth-
ing but chaos, swirling and incredible, until the smoke grew and
blntted even chaos out."

After the early weeks of Verdun, France had said: ''They
shall not pass." a phrase which became a creed; and the
i'Tinaiis did not pass. N'o\v after seven \\veks (Jcrmaiiy
was -ayin<_r of the Somme : "They shall not pass." On the
Sonmie a svstem of sometimes three and sometimes live lines
of trendies covered ha>fs which fed the (Jeniian lines Miiith
and southeast, while outposts protected lines of retreat into
Bapaume. With Bapaume and Pennine in the Allies' hands.

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

the Germans knew they would have to retreat from a front
encircling 1 Noyon, while, with the loss of Douai, Cambrai,
and St. Quentin, they would have to give up the Cham-
pagne. There were no such key-positions at Verdun, where
the operations were local in effect. Those on the Somme
were general and far-reaching. At Verdun, in over five
months, the Germans had occupied 120 square miles of terri-
tory, pierced a twelve-mile front to a depth of five miles,
and captured two of the nineteen permanent French posi-
tions. To do this they had perhaps lost 800. 000 men, and
attained none of their objectives. In seven weeks on the
Somme the Allies Intd occupied seventy square miles of terri-
tory, pierced a twenty-six-mile front to a depth of eight
miles, and threatened the most vital German bases on the
"Western Front. They had done this with a smaller loss of
men, for there was no comparison between the preparatory
artillery assaults on Verdun and those on the Somme no
comparison between the killing capacity of the respective
defenses. The offensive at Verdun had long since readied
its maximum: silent guns at Pont-a-Mousson were all that
covered the forts of the great Lorraine stronghold. Hut the
offensive on the Somme still went on.

<)u August 24 the French captured the village of
Maurepas and advanced more than 200 yards to the east on
a front of one and a quarter miles. On the same day the
Hritish. who were blasting their way toward Thiepval,
pushed their lines 300 yards nearer the town and captured
a German trench 400 yards long, together with many
prisoners. The new French line east of Maurepas now ex-
tended from the railway north of the village of Hill 121. to
a point Miutheast, and the fall of Thiepval was near at
hand. P>y a series of small, sharp attacks in short rushes
after enormous shell-fire, the Hritish had forged their way
across a tangled web of trenches and redoubts until they
were just below a row of apple-trees which still showed a
brnketi stump or two. Helow the southern end of the
village they had bitten off the HOM> of the "Leipzig" 1 salient
and taken the "ITindenburg" trench, ban-ing the way to
the soul hern entrance of the village fortress. The Thiepval
garrison was in a death-trap.

v. in 17 240

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

Thus ended inconclusively those first weeks of memorable
fighting in Western Europe. In July the war had entered
upon a new phase its fourth great phase, counting the
Marne, the Russian campaign, and Verdun as the three
others. Germany in two years had not only failed to con-
quer her foes, but her foes had found themselves sufficiently

strong in men and munitions to
undertake to conquer Germany.
German preparations and effi-
ciency in those two years
had overbalanced the numbers.
wealth, and sea-power of the
Allies, but she no longer had
any such advantage. As yet
the Allies had failed to con-
quer her: indeed, they had
failed to show just how they
were to conquer her in the end;
but they had almost reached
the Gettysburg stage. It took
nearly two years of war after
Gettysburg for the North to
bring about Lee's surrender at
Appoinattox. but it was to take
two years and more to foive
the Germans out of France,
nations were startled on August
that the Kaiser had dis-
Flindenbtirg in his place
had thus substituted a

popular li'-ro fi >r an imperial fax
day tact ician wil li a vet eran of

referred to ;|N ;t victory of 1 I'iei

fur at lifty years or so Kalk>

- red with 1 1 indeiibui'L!'. the rever
- . ' ' who wa in ret ireiiient and a lino

pri>f''--ioii wh-'ii the war broke out. a >

I T 1 * T T 1 1

the old school. In his teens
AiM ro I Vu^ia n war of ] Mil! ,
in l-Yance in the l-Vanco-IYi

replaced a latter-
The change was

>e| I10HS VOUt 1)

a mere stripling
Old .Man of the
an outcas) in his
dier distinctly of
ilnirir had foULrlit in the
a yoiin<r man had served
War. \earlv ten vear->

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE so} I ME

before the AYorld AVar bepui, lie had been retired from the
army for physical disabilities. .But his interest in the. war-
pi me had remained as keen as ever. War was his life and
the seieiiee of war had been his life study.

AVhen the (Germans, under commanders of the new school,
overran Belgium, pushed back the French, harried the
"British and marched onward
to the time of ' ' Paris in six
weeks.'" this ''Old Man of the
Lakes." in his study at home
in Hanover, was poring over
maps, not those leading to
Paris, but maps leading to
Moscow, and he offered his
services to his Emperor, but
was told courteously that when
they were needed he would
be duly informed. TTinden-
burir's time came after the
Russians overran and began to
lay waste East Prussia in tin-
early autumn of 1!14. He
was called to take command
in East Prussia where he ad-
ministered to the Russians
amoii<r the morasses of the

Ma/urian Lakes an utter defeat near Tannenberg. Ilindeii-
burir's name was thereafter on every (ierman tongue, ('ities
were named for him. busts, portraits, and a liiinv wooden
statue were raised in his honor, and Tannenbery I)ay be-
came a festival.

( M' different sinews from ITindenlnirj? was Falkenhayn.
A descendant ot' one of the oldest and uol)lest houses in the
empire, lir traced his ancestry to tin- eighth century.
Xervoiis. brilliant, excitable, and rrood-lookinp } 1( . \\-a-* [>a^t-
master of the iH-\v -chool of Prussian soldiery. At tii'ty he
had become Chief of Staff to succeed Moltke. a veteran of
the old lint'. who was retired al'ti-r the battles of the Mann-
and the Aisue on account of ''ill-health." AVith actual
\va?'-expericuce limited to the expedition apiinst the Boxers

ON TIIK WFSTKRX FRONT

in ('hiua. Falkenhayn had betrayed no lack of confidence
when thrust into supreme command. His dismissal now was
regarded in Allied and neutral countries as Germany's ac-
ceptance of a verdict of defeat at Verdun. It came more
than six months after the beginning of that gigantic ad-
vi-nture and when the German failure was fully proved.
If Falkenhayn paid the price of failure at Verdun, it was
still true that to his credit at least officially stood the
greatest achievements of the German armies in the war,
achievements lar^v enough, perhaps, to excuse even so big
a failure as Verdun the conquest of Poland, of a goodly
portion of western Russia, and of Serbia, all of which were
carried out under his auspices. The Mackensen "phalanx"'
which smashed the Russian line in Galicia was usually de-
scribed as a Falkenhayn idea and it was Mackenseu in
Galicia who had made Ilmdenburg's advance possible in
northern Poland. Most German faith in ultimate victory
was now based on the huge enemy territories which the
Kaiser's armies held, and of these five-sixths had been ac-
quired under Falkenhayn.

It was not so much Hindeiiburg the man as llindenbiirg
the national hero and ideal whom the Kaiser placed at the
head of the General Staff. It did not follow, because Ilin-
denhurir knew the Masurian swamps as well as the palm of
his hand, and had bagged Russians by hundreds of thou-
sands, that he could bring the same minute knowledge to
bear on a couple of thousand miles- of (Jerman war-front
with similar decisive effect. AVhile about him was seen the
popular halo of victory, the victories lie had to his credit
were by no means the greatest that the (Jerman armies had
won. Rather it was his personality which imprest his coiin-
trymen. His <_nvat bulk, his massive, unemotional face, his
curt economy of words these appeared to the German peo-
ple when in adversity, as an embodiment of fundamental
national traits of rugged strength and patience. lirilliant
strategists and technicians all had failed Germany. For
the problem of <l n ri}> Iml 1 1 a , which confronted her. she now
had recourse to the man whose very physical dimensions
siitrm-Med that f'stt liin-ff to which a nation encompassed
with enemies could turn for refutre in her hour of need.

Till-: ALL IK I) DRIVE OX THE SOMME

In P>erlin the appointment was regarded as ''a measure
of such far-reaching military and political consequences that,
even a! tins dose ratine, it is impossible fully to discern its
si^'ii i ticancc. " The investment of Ilindenburg' "with prac-
tii-ally dictatorial power" was the most popular tiling the
Ka'ser had done. There was Dion- enthusiasm over the
tield-tnarshal 's elevation ''than over any victory since the
earliest months of the war." While the change was pre-
cipilated by Roumanians entry into the war. as much as by
the Verdun failure, it was impossible to say whether the
decisive factor was military necessity or the certainly of a
tonic effect on the morale of the (ierman nation. P>oth con-
siderations were undoubtedly important factors, but the
mairic of Ilindenbnrg's name was the most compelling factor.

Falkeiihayn 's fall was regarded in SOUK- quarters as one
of the most dramatic incidents of the war. It not only
marked the triumph of Ifindeiiburp; over his younger rival,
but. what was much more important, it indicated that a
perception of the real gravity of the (ierman situation was
dawning on the Emperor and his advisers. Xo one mistook
the meaning of the sacrifice of the courtier soldier in favor
of tile e. T ut'f old tield-marshal. who had not always been in
the Emperor's j^ood graces.

X<> artifices could longer conceal the results of divided
counsels ;md the dissipation of forces. Falkeiihayn 's re-
movnl \vas tantamount to an open confession of failure, as
well as a humiliation for the Crown Prince whose instructions
in military matters had come from him. Indeed. Falkeiihayn
was said to have owed his earlier appointment as War
.Minister largely to the Crown Prince's influence. Xo one
had been more frequently than Kalkenhayn in the company
of 1 i:.- Emperor and the Crown Prince. lie had been en-
trusted with all kinds of important confidential commissions,
had traveled with the Kaiser in special trains and within
a few weeks of his fall had accompanied him to Cologne
Cathedral, during his journey from west to east."

17 Triiiriiial Soimvs : Thf Ihiihi <'lir<mirli (London), Tlii- Ercniii'i l'<i*t.

The Tlmi-x, Tin- Tribune, X"\v York: the "Mititury Kxpi-rt" of Thr N,>\\ York

Timi-*. Tlii- Jlnilii TiJrurnpJi (T.utidim ). Thi' *un i New Y.irki. Tin- Tinu .-

i London i . Assor'mtcd I'r^ss disjin t ''hrs ,-Mnl "T.ul''-i in<" of tlii' National (u-o-

Si i I y, NI'\V V"' k.

Ill

GUILLKMOXT, CoMBLES. AND TII1EPVAI THE

"TANK'S" ARRIVAL

September 2. l!U 6 September 27, 101 G

IX August the French and British armies had been almost
within sight of Pennine and Bapaume and yet those
towns did not fall. English papers explained that the ad-
vance was nut intended as a "knock-out blow," but to wear
down slowly the Teutonic lines and eventually to force a
general retirement. ]\Iost London papers commented opti-
mistically on the situation, and stated emphatically that the
advance, altho slow, would finally result in a general with-
drawal of the fierman line, but all warned readers not 1o
attach undue importance to local successes.

(Jcrman military circles had been a little pu//led at the
choice of this particular point for a Franco-British drive.
Whatever had been the original purpose, it now possest, they
said, only academic interest. That (Jerman commanders
had brought the advance to a standstill by September was
an opinion held by most (Jerman papers. Owing to the ex-
traordinary length of the Western Front, from the North
Sea to the Swiss frontier, it had not always been possible
for the (iermans to have reserves so well distributed that
they could meet a strong push with the necessary force at
every place. The Allies on the Somme had reckoned on this
when they began their offensive with great superiority in
rs. But the (Jermans as soon as they could bring up
necessary reserves and the artillery, believed the Allies
nld he ^compelled to halt." The Allies, they maintained.
I -;ici'ificed thousands of men in achieving nothing con-
i-nilile after makinir an initial offensive stroke. ls
'eiTin asserted that the Allies on both fronts had lost

liriit----i-!/, 1 u<ir:, itini'/ f I'.'Tliri i .

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOMME

more than a million men in killed, wounded, and missing,
since the grand offensive opened with the Russian attack in
June. Against these losses they had to show only the con-
quest liy the Russians of the Bukovina and some Galician
territory, the capture of Gori/ia by the Italians, a shallow
thrust into the German position on the Somme and the
occupation of mountainous Transyl-vanian territory by the
Roumanians. The Allied losses were listed in Berlin as
follows: Russian. 600.000; British. 2:50.000; French. 150.-
000; Italian, Serbian and Roumanian combined, 50, 000.
Some Austrian experts, and a number of Germans, estimated
the Russian losses at more than 800.000, and the combined
British and French losses at more than 400.000 all proba-
bly exaggerated figures. Anglo-French forces might score
further local successes on the Western Front and the Rus-
sians might advance at some other points in the east, but
any additional gains "must be made at such a frightful ad-
ditional cost in human lives, and with such an extravagant
waste of munitions, that the people of the Allied countries
would cry for peace. "

The British view was that the offensive by the Allies had
achieved formidable results on every side. Probably the
main burden henceforth would fall on Great Britain, but sin-
was quite prepared for it. The conditions of victory were
comprised in men. warships, munitions, and money, and
in three of these elements of power Great Britain's con-
tribution would continue incomparably the greater. As for
men. she expected to put at least six millions through her
lighting services before the end of the war. and more if
needed, which as an achievement was something gigantic and
far beyond anything else recorded in her history. The
Allies believed they could wear down any possible German
counter-attack and again take the offensive. They meant to
"crush inward on converging lines, and they were deter-
mined to effect a thorough settlement on German soil."

finite inadequate conceptions of the magnitude of the
British achievements in the war had at this time prevailed
in America. The appeal of France had been so simple and
direct that America's sympathy and admiration for France

; -' ,T. L. (Marvin in Tli> X'\v Yrk Triiiiin<:.

OX THE WESTERN FRONT

had not gone astray, but so much had been heard of
British mistakes and shortcomings that Americans lost sight
of the magnitude of what Britain had been doing. By com-
mon consent among the Allies the creation of England's
volunteer army, with the mobilization of the industries of
the nation fur the support of that army, was the most
marvelous achievement of the war always excepting the
victory of the French and British on the Marne, which still
remained the miracle of the war.- Before conscription was
adopted almost 00 per cent, of the available men in Eng-
land. Scotland. Wales, and Ulster had volunteered. Great
Britain had assembled, trained, equipped, and officered a
volunteer army of about 4.000.000 men. No one who had
not seen this for himself could form any conception of the
gigantic proportions of that task. England by the voluntary
action of her people had done in two years what it had
taken Germany and France two generations to accomplish
with the most drastic measures of conscription and organixa-
tion. England had been turned into a veritable armed camp.
Soldiers were >een everywhere. To equip and munition this
army over 4.ooo factories had been operated by the Govern-
ment, or wen- under its control, many of them built since
the beginning of the war. At least 2.000,000 people were
engaged in the manufacture of munitions, and in other
activities directly connected with the war. Since the out-
war, the production of munitions in England
plied at least iiftyfold. Tn two years Eng-
100.000 on her preparations, and
more to her Allies and ( '< '!< mies.
liluiiders and delays, this mobili/a-
nation had been accomplished
r-alilv of sacrifice and service

n X> \v Yi'i-k Timra

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOALME

and thus constituted an important day's work. The capture
of ('lery village, an outpost of Peronne, the chief single
point in the French success of September 2. was accom-
panied by the capture of Leforest hamlet and an approach
in a single bound to the edge of Combles. On the British
side the complete capture of Guillemont and an entry into
the neighboring village of Ginchy carried forward the
northern extremity of the advancing armies. Of the village

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aa^f ''*,>..,-;-, '- .->;,, W-^V. -> r ~
"-lir^V^i^T*^,, ^, . , ... -.^. . .-. -VXvv^.

^*S8S^?* &*> -. ': 'K'f^

SaKEIM3iS?n!? ^^P:w
^%^S^*;.^ ; './ ;''V '^^g;',.

of (iiiillemont only one \vrerknl ;unl liattei-i-il buildini,'. ap-
pai't-ntly a barn, remainei] in a waste of masonry pounded
into thi 1 earth. How even a ('rainm-nt ot' the walU of that om^
building still stond was a mystrry. Some queer chance had
kept it tottering on iN t'cct when everything else had not
"illy fallen but had been pounded to nothing. The ruins
were full of Germans lurking in holes. All around the edge
of the village were strong positions held with, machine-guns.

OX THE AVESTERX FRONT

On the southwestern and southern sides were deep dugouts.
Before the attack the Germans had thrown into or about the
British front lines gas-shells to the number of probably
KM UK), hut the shells did not seriously impair the vigor of
the attack.

The most intense struggle was in the region of Falfemont
Farm and AVedge AVood. Due east from Guillemont was a
strong, narrow wood, on high ground, known as Leu/e AVood.
a conspicuous object in the landscape. From the lower end
of this wood, nearest to Guillemont, the high ground ran
southwestward in a narrow spur some .">00 yards, with a
narrow valley or ravine on either side. In the left-hand
valley that is. the one near Guillemont lay AVedge AVood,
a small, wedge-shaped patch of trees. On the slope of the
right-hand valley was Falfemont Farm. On this little patch
of ground throughout the afternoon, alonir the sides of the
little valleys and upon the spur itself, there raged as stub-
hoT'n fighting as had perhaps been seen. Almost imme-
diately before the British reached Falfemont Farm, the
ruined site of which was once a considerable farmstead, came
a counter-attack. The Germans came on almo.-l in a solid
line, from Leu/e AVood, over high ground toward AVedge
AVood and the farm, until they topped the edge of the
ravine where the guns took them. The dark, solid line first
wavered at one end, then gaps appeared in it. and it
broke into hits, withered away and disappeared. Those who
were not killed or wounded flung themselves down to take
cover in shell-holes or among the heritage on the edge of
the ravine. The capture of Guillemont and an advance to
(linchy by September H were treated as a completed opera-
t ion.

The points which emphasized the gain made were, tirst.
its greater extent as compared with previous progress on the
Somme; next, its situation in the most difficult part of the
Soinni'- front and toward the mo-1 important direction; and,
linally. it- accomplishment in the face of German expectation
and intention to prevent it. In extent, thr advance fell
only sliirlitly short of equaling the entire previous gains
made on the -ix-mile front from Clery to Ginchy. A mile's
proLTe-s in Ifii davs. the rate >et, if continued, would carrv

THE ALLIED DRIVE OX THE SOAIAIE

the offensive in eight months a distance of twenty-five miles,
or to Bnsigny, an obscure railroad-station, where the
direct line from Cologne to St. Quentin, the chief supply
line of the (lerman Aisne front, intersected a line from
the Champagne to Lille, the short, direct route taken by
German reserves in passing from the Champagne front to
the Artois front. The arrival of the Allied forces at this
point would cut down the supply of munitions for some
sixty miles of the German line, from Chaulnes to Craonne.

Foch, shifting his attack on September 6 from north to
south of the Somme, reached the outskirts of Chaulnes, the
main support of the German line in the sector from Peronne
to Roye. The French also threw forces against the railway
from Chaulnes to Roye, thus cutting one of the two roads
which supplied the Roye salient. The gains were made
after heavy counter-attacks had been beaten back. As^ail-
ing the Teuton line on a front of more than twelve miles.
Fodrs troops carried the greater part of the village of
Berny-en-Santerre. northeast of Chaulnes, and the northern
part of Vermandovillers, to the southwest. The British
meanwhile endangered the German grip on Combles. Ilaig's
troops captured the Leiize AVood, less than a mile north-
west of Combles. This gain, in addition, imperiled Ginchy.
which lay well west of the new French line, and left the
(iermans the alternative of withdrawing or surrendering.

This victory held the promise of speedy developments
around the two towns toward which the Allied offensive
immediately directed, Combles and Peronne. Foch

was along the middle section of that front for a dis-
of more than a mile and a half. Along that section
reiieh drove forward about two miles. Hitherto the
Allied line, pressing against Combles and Peronne. had run
in a southwesterly direction on a fairly even course with
no forward salients. The new French success thrust for-
ward a wedtre nearly two mile> wide and more than that
deep, so that Coinhles found itself "pocketed." The Ger-
mans had now to face west, south, and southeast. The
southern face of the wedge in the same way threatened
Pennine from the north. The highway to Bapaimie had

250

OX Till-] \YKSTKKX FROXT

been cut. Every mile which the French could push forward
would mean the severance of another of the three remaining
highways running north from IV-ronne and including the
roai 1 to ( 'ambrai.

To what extent the steady yielding of the German lines
on the Somme was involuntary, to what extent it was a part
of tie- plan which tin- advent of 1 1 indeiiburir as chief had
brought into the field, namely, the abandonment of the (ier-
man lines in the west for a concentration and a decision
against Russia or Roumania. were vital questions now. Out-
side observers could only conjecture, but the feat performed
by Foci), it' it could be repeated, would make it plain that
the (terman defensive on the west was no longer rigid.
At Soyecourt had occurred a ureat battle of the old-fash-
ioned kind, a battle of armies in the open, a battle of
bayonets between great forces. Armies had gone forward
to meet each other ju-1 as they did in feudal times, but on a
vaster scale. The feudal baron ran no ureat 1'Nk when he
advance, 1 10 meet his foe. gallantly scorning advantages of
position, and that was just what the French and (lermans
now did. with much more courage. The French came out
of the trendies cheering and singing, and the Germans
rushed TO meet them. At Soyecourt the French charged
with the bayonet, look machine-guns, and turned them on
their former owners. The British, at their end of the line,
fouirhl in the same way. Aviators who looked down upon
the scene saw it a- a mad football scrimmaire of struggling
fiiruros. There had been such fiirht inn' before in this war
but never on such a scab- in the west. Brigades had i'ouirht
hand-to-hand, but here armies were fighting. Jt was a great

. a clean-cut victory. The (lermaiis wen- not able to
retrieve their losses as they had so often done before. They
made small uahis lnre and there, but no such fiu'ht to regain
their place as they had been accustomed to make. Their re-

ail now been a gradual development of a stra-

ti-'_ r ic plan until tin' Allied operations on the Soimne and

at Verdun had become part of one great battle. The head-

ps of Jnftre became like some \-;i^t clearing-house.

linked the iffeiisive conducted bv J-'och with that

Till-: ALLIED DKIVK ( >X TIIK SOALMK

carried on by Xivdle. It \v;is no mere coincidence that,
within fifteen minutes after the nulls ot ; the Tenth Arinv
t'oujjhl tlii'iv way into tin- mound of masonry which hail
been I '.erny-en-Santerre. the regiments of the artny of Ycr-
dun were storming (let-man trendies in llic Vatix-Cluipitre
and Clu'uoise Woods norili of l*'ort Sonvillr on the ^Imsr.
The two attack's, separated by hundreds of miles of firing-
line, were interlocked even to the extent that the generals
in charge of each knew to the minute when the fiist was
'it ivach a conclusion and another was to be^'in. lleavv

. imt far iroin '1 iiaiicourt (}i-rnians llvod tnr i-nii- VI>MI

artillei'y miles liehind lines and innumerable field-guns
tiii-k'-d away in dose proximity to trenches crusht <ier-
man earthworks and armored bastions into tine pmvder dur-
ing a, foriy-riu'lit-hoiirs' cannonade. At 1.4.") fuses w<u'e
lejiLi't hened, and infantry sprang from trendies. Without
even the iiMial halts for u'cttinu- their second wind in dod.<;-
injj 1 sln-apnel. Fi-t-ndi battalions spi'intinl full tilt across
shdl-scanvd fields iiiterveninu' bftwet-n ihem and a village
half a mile away. In (ierman trendies little sijjn of life,
was usually found but much rapid-tire activity was neces-

ON TIIK WKSTKRN FRONT

sary to stamp out tlic resistance of machine-guns and
grenade-throwers lurking in underground shelters.

( )n September 6 the village of Berny became part of
France again for the first time in nearly t\vo years. The
fighting continued among a few l)atlct'c(l houses to whn h
the (iennaiis Mill clung south of the mad from. P>erny to
Kstrees, but by ~> P.M. French possession of the village was
a-Miivd and infantrymen settled down \n dig themselves in.
The capture of J>erny made for the sti'ategic domination of
Barleux. the ]a>t stronghold of tile (iermans on the ])lateau
overlooking Peroiine. .More important still, perhaps, was
ihe taking of the railroad from Koyc to Pennine, for this
was the principal means of communication behind all the
front south of the Summe. No sooner had the conflict Availed
in the Chaulnes region than UK- tide began to rise in the
\ i-rdim /one, where a t wen t v- fou r-h on i's ' artillery prepara-
tion sufticed to pave the way for the regiments which
Nivdle hurled against the fierman positions on a line almost
a mile long in the wooded districts south of Fort Yaux.
Kvery objective was reached in this enyau'eineiit. and -')()
prisoners and do/ens of machine-guns were seized. 21

Advancing alontr a front of six miles north of the Somine,
on September < s . the French and British forces struck the
greatesl MOW they had delivered in weeks. In a joint attack
the Allied forces extended their lines nearly half a mile at
every poinl and brought them to the outskirts of ( 'ombles.
During this aita<-k the Allies were again on the offensive on
all front-, and the respite which the (iermans had had
while the Roumanian question was being settled was ended.
At a time when Aiislro-( lerman armies were being driven
from vital positions on the Iron (ial'-s of the ha.nube. and
whep (lermany had sent .><i.ixi<i men to avert disaster, Russia.
Italy, and now Britain and K ranee were applying pressure.
This Allied success on the Somme carried the British fmnl
Tiini val'ds easl of (Juillemonl from (inicliy to I-'al femont
Farm, ainl extended the French lines almosl on top of
('ombh-s and as much as half a mile east of their former
ills in the di-trii-t between ('ombles and ('h'-ry. (Inns
n v threatened ' 'ombles from the west, south and east. .By

!.;.;!. 1 ... U i.rlil ' N' ". Vnrli I.

THE ALLIED DRIVE ON THE SOMME

capturing Clery the Franco-British troops accomplished
what the French alone had found too difficult a task. Foch's
soldiers had entered Clery before, but counter-assaults'
pushed with vigor had succeeded in turning them out.

For ten weeks it had been a ceaseless body-to-body
struggle on the Somme. There was nothing of chance in
this fighting. On the field, as a whole, the question was
only one of power and its right application sheer grit,
fighting quality, and staying power. The actual extent of
territory won by the British was somewhere in the neighbor-
hood of thirty-three square miles, but if all the lines of
trench-defended shell-craters, and lines of fortified posi-
tions, as on sunken roads, the edges of woods and villages,
could be strung out end to end and measured, they would
have been found to reach for hundreds of miles 300 or 400
miles was one estimate. Rough calculations showed that
the total expenditures in those eighty days, on the part of
Germans and British, had been between 20.000.000 and
2-1,000.000 rounds of artillery ammunition. These figures in-
cluded shells of all sizes, from those of ordinary field-guns
to those fired by large guns, and huge howitzers, gas-shells,
tear-shells, incendiary-shells, shrapnel, and high explosive
of every description. To these had to be added many hun-
dreds of thousands of trench-mortar projectiles, millions of
bombs and hand- and rifle-grenades, and untold millions of
rifle and rnachine-gun ammunition. The grand total of
missiles fired ran into some tens of millions; and this took
no account of uas-clouds. llammeiiwerfer bombs dropt by
aeroplanes, and other miscellaneous instruments for the de-
struction of: human life.

Continuing the drive toward Combles and IVronne. the
French mi September 12 captured Bouchavesnes, midway
between Combles and IN'ronne. Marly next morning they
d further eastward, capturing in a bayonet-charge the
1'Abbe Fanes, near the Peronne-Bapaume highway.
iy the French were the la^t of a
in third line between Combles and
ons behind this line had been built
of French artillery, and eonse-
- strong as the old lines. Foch

OX THE WESTERN FROXT

was believed to be nearer a striking victory over the Ger-
mans than at any time since the Somme offensive began.
Combles was under lire from two sides and half-way sur-
rounded. Pennine itself had been out off from direct com-
munication with Tumbles, and the French, driving eastward
on a front of nearly four miles, established themselves
almost directly north of the city. The capture of both
Combles and Peronne within a fortnight was confidently ex-
pected, provided Foch continued his hammer blows north
of the Somme.

In the capture of Hill 145, two miles southeast of Combles,
the French went over its summit with bayonets and grenades
and drove the Germans down the slope. From the new
position thus acquired French artillery could completely
dominate Combles, while the British were shelling the town
from the northeast. According to military critics the key
to the Bapaume-Peronne road passed into the hands of the
Allies when the British took Ginchy, which was the pivotal
point whence the line turned south. As Ginchy was strongly
fortified its capture was necessary to the taking of Combles.
just as the capture of the latter was essential to the bagging
of Peronne. This explained the extraordinary efforts the
Germans made to recover this ground.

Xow took place on the "Western Front a battle in the
open field, where tactics and maneuvers of troops, rather
than assaults on trenches, won an advance. This, more than
anything else, served to show the extent of the French gains
in the Somme offensive and the advances they had made.
Between Combles and the Somme there was a gap of more
than four and a half miles running clear throu