! THE WAR
ILLUSTRATED
ALBUMDELUXE
A G
ttv t+rmivion of Gea. /'U/»I<IN £ v
'lull &Fty
GENERAL SIR WILLIAM ROBERT ROBERTSON, K.C.B.. K.C.V.O., D.S.O.
Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
THE WAR
ILLUSTRATED
ALBUMDELUXE
The Story of the Great
European War told by
Camera, Pen and Pencil
EDITED BY
nV" tacAndftr
J. A. HAMMERTON
CHAPTERS BY
MAX PEMBERTON, ARTHUR D. INNES, M.A
HAMILTON FYFE, BASIL CLARKE
EDWARD WRIGHT, GOMEZ CARRILLO
1,120 ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME VII.
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
PUBLISHED BY
THE AMALGAMATED PRESS, LIMITED
LONDON, 1917
607584
l\tr.str
532
to Folume
HE period of the Great War covered by this volume
eclipses, in its manifold interests and the dramatic
course of events, all those preceding, excepting
only the quickly changing features of the war's first
phase, when the Hunnish hordes were pouring across
Belgium, carrying all before them with fire and rapine.
In my introduction to Volume VI. I remark that, for the
first time, unmistakable evidence of the overwhelming
forces gathering for the Victory of the Allies is then
discernible. Here, in the pages that follow, we can see
the hand of doom writing with increasing vigour and
clearness the verdict of failure and defeat against the
barbarian nations that let loose the terrors of war in
1914, hoping for a cheap and easy victory.
OW changed is the scene from our first volume,
when the Huns were swarming through the golden
cornfields of Belgium, and pouring into the rich
industrial lands of Northern France ! Here we see them
withering under the dreadful pounding of the new British
artillery in those glorious battles of the Somme, staggering
from obvious inferiority, losing 38,000 prisoners in five
months, and many square miles of ground so strongly
entrenched that they had boasted it to be absolutely
impregnable. Although it is true that "the Great Push"
of 1916 did not succeed entirely in breaking through the
German lines, it is incontestable that the main objects of
the Somme offensive, as outlined by Field Marshal Haig
in his famous despatch, were fully attained, and that
this, the greatest feat of arms in the history of the world
until that time, must rank as a glorious British success.
HE Great Push of 1916 presents four quite distinct
phases, which are observed in the editorial
arrangement of this volume. The reader can
follow clearly in picture and story the development of
this most tremendous battle, or string of battles, from
the opening attacks which extended from Gommecourt
to the south of Peronne, launched on July ist, and
continued until the taking of Longueval on July 28th.
La Boisselle, Contalmaison, Bazentin, Pozieres, and
Delville Wood are some of the battle names made for ever
famous in those days. The taking of Guillemont and
Ginchy, from August i8th to September gth, represents
the second phase of the offensive, and then six days later
began the great September advance, when Flers, Martin-
puich, Courcelette, High Wood, Thiepval, Combles, and
many another place-name of France became immortal
in the annals of British bravery. It was then, too, that
the "Tanks" made their first appearance, and brought
such a picturesque and interesting element into the
strange war of trenches and poison-gases.
HE fall of Combles, on September 26th, was the
crowning achievement of this great advance, as
that military centre had been considered of such
importance by the German High Command that when it
was taken during the 1914 invasion the Kaiser had a
medal specially struck in honour of the event, and the
last degree of German ingenuity had been exercised in
the effort to retain its possession. Weather difficulties
now held up the offensive until the victorious battle of
the Ancre on November i3th, when Beaumont-Hamel
and other important enemy positions were recaptured.
All these intensely interesting movements are admirably
illustrated in the official photographs and other pictorial
records contained within the pages of this volume.
HE French offensive, which continued harmoniously
with the British, and resulted in the Allies
entering Combles together, as well as the brilliant
recapture of Douaumont and other positions in front of
Verdun, setting the seal to German failure in that
quarter, are also fully represented in picture and story.
The volume is further noteworthy as containing a full
pictorial record of the brilliant achievements of the
Italians in their great offensive on the Isonzo and the
Carso. The fall of Gorizia was their first definite feat of
arms of enduring importance, and the striking illustra-
tions we are able to give of the Italian campaign will
enable readers to form some opinion of the tremendous
difficulties against which these valiant allies had to battle.
ERE we also see the continuance of Brussiloff's
drive in the Volhynia and Bukovina, with the
capture of Stanislau, and the Germans in retreat
from the Strypa — a movement that was soon held up,
and unfortunately, except for the advance in the
Carpathians, no further Russian successes fall to be
chronicled in this period. The tragedy of Rumania
overshadows all events on the Eastern front, and here
it may be followed from the Rumanian declaration of
war of August 2yth, to the fall of Bukarest on December
6th. Naturally, it is not possille so fully to illustrate
the events in Rumania as those along the Western front ,
owing to the swiftness with which the Germans overran
that hapless country when once Mackensen had perfected
his plan of campaign, the whole people being put to
flight, and the national life for the time being all but
destroyed. In the Balkans we have interesting material
in the re-occupation of Monastir, though but little of the
war against Turkey, saving the successful engagement
east of the Suez Canal near Romani.
AVAL occasions are also remarkably few as
compared with earlier volumes of THE WAR
ALBUM. There was a growing intensity in sub-
marine frightfulness, and a few happenings of no great
consequence at sea, the most notable changes being
the elevation of Admiral Beatty to the chief active
command, and Sir John Jellicoe to the position of
First Sea Lord. Happily, in the period covered, we
are able to register one of the most pleasing features
of 1916 in the doom of the Zeppelin as an instrument
of frightfulness. This has added to the picturesque
contents of the volume certain items which, in the years
to come, will evoke even greater interest than they do
to-day. Finally, home events, Government changes, and
many other matters that go to the making of a mirror of
these times will all be found faithfully recorded or
graphically depicted somewhere in this volume, which the
Editor believes will be deemed by his readers in no
feature less interesting, and if anything more attractive,
than any of the series to which it belongs. J. A. H.
Principal Literary Contents
PAOK
The Moving Drama of the Great War: VII.— The
Autumn Campaign of 1916. By Arthur D. Innes. M.A. 2169
Storming the Bazentin Hills. By Edicanl W right . 2187
The Battle for the Ridne. By Max Pemberton . . 2210
General Sir Henry Rawlinson. K.C.B.. C.V.O. . . 2228
I'hr Taking of (Juillpmont. liy Mmr Pemlvrt.,1, . 2230
The Capture of Ginchy. By Mar Pemkertun . . 2238
Lieut. -General Sir W. P. Pultency, K.C.B., D.S.O. . 2246
The Glorious Twenty -Fifth. Hi/ Max Pemberton . 2248
The Battle of the " Tanks." By Max Pemberton . 2251
With the Cockneys in High Wood. By Corporal T. Butt, 2258
\ True Sti'ry of the ''Tanks." By Lance -Corpor'il
Hurry Kni/nrr . . . , . . • 2265
Night Cruising in a "Tank." By Max Pemberton . 2268
The Battle of the Abbaye. By Max Pemberlon. . 2277
The Taking of Thiepval. By Private W. Brook* . 22.S1
The Fight for the Warrens. By Max Pemberkm . 22,s:!
Lieut, -General Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, K.C.B. . . 2286
Britain's Day at Beaumont. By Max Pemberton . 2292
General Sir Henry Sinclair Home, K.C.B. . . . 2298
The Taking of Kegiua Trench
Anzac anil Africander in Action. By Edward Wright
General Sir Herbert Plumer, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. .
How I Got into Rheims During the Bombardment.
By Julia* M. Price ......
France Triumphant at Verdun. By Mn.r !'• inlurlnn .
General Sir Robert Xivelle . . . . .
The Russian Drive into Galicia. By Edward Wr!</>it .
The Russian Soldier's Faith in the Unseen. By
Hamilton Fyfe . . .
Italy's Triumph on the Isonzo. By Dr. James Mvrpliy
On the Road to Trieste. By Max Pemberton
Why Rumania Joined the Allies. By Robert Machray
Watched and Tracked. By Basil Clarke .
The ( frcatest Butcher of the War. By Basil Clarke .
M. Venizclos . . . . .
The Turkish Rout at Romani. By Edward Wright
The Fight of the Flaming Ship. By Max Pemberton •
\ Spaniard's Impression of the British Front. By
E. Gomez CarriUo .....
PAQK
2300
2310
2328
2353
2360
2362
2370
2375
23SO
2397
2402
2401 i
242H
2434
2464
2502
List of Maps
Large Scale Map of the Area of Victory in the "Great Push" of 1916 . . . . . . . . 2186
Area of General Cadorna's Triumph on the Lower Isonzo. 2374
Relief Map of Goiizia and the Carso Plateau . . 2377
Map Indicating the Area of the Rumanian Campaign 2396
General Map of the Balkan Operations in the Autumn of 1916 . 2410
Map of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula ............... 2434
Special Full-Colour Plates
General Sir William R. Rol>ertson. K.C.B. . ... . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
General Cadorna Facing page 2200
Monochrome Colour Plates
On the Homeward Journey : Conveying Wounded from Collecting Posts to Dressing Stations . . Facing page 2169
ruder the Blue Cross: Wounded Horses Being Conveyed to the Veterinary Hospital . . . ..... 2185
"The Campbells are Coming!" Brave Pipers Playing Highland Regiments to Victory. ..... 2217
The "Tanks" in Action. The Western Juggernaut Tacking Over the Mud Wastes 22ii;,
Tlic' Hour Has Struck. British First Line of Attack in the "Great Push" 22S1
Canada's Great Day at Coiircelctte . . - .. 0399
llnw tin Italians Drove the Austrians out of Burning Asiago 2:!77
,l..l|y Jack-Tars as "Handymen" 2424
British Armoured Cars in the Caucasus 2440
'Twixt Sea anil Sky. British Airship Towed by Warship 24o.'{
Air Sickness : Incident with the Royal Hying Corps in France ........ 2464
Coaliim the Fleet During a Gale 2505
TABLE OF CONTENTS-c<>»«rtB«i
The Autumn Campaign of 1916
Witiii-i 11 Hundred Yards of Thiepval Village .
British Troops on Their Way to Lesl oeafs .
Moscow's Welcome to British Troops .
\\iltshires Advancing Towards German parape
Anti-Aircraft Guns in Action
Canadian Red Cross Contingent In France
'The Great Push" of 1916
Opening Battles of the Somme
Munitions and Guns Move Up Along the Souime .
Before and After Going Over the Top ....
With Britain's King on Fields of British Victory .
King George Follows the Great Offensive of 1916 .
Royal Interest and Soldierly Zeal
Men Who Laid the Foundations of Victory ...
The Doom of Ovillers by British Bombardment .
Righteous Rctrib'ition in Birch Tree Wood ...
In Captured German Trenches at Ovillers ...
The Sprig of Shillelazh and Shamrock So Green .
House-to-House Fighting in Fortified Pozteres
Two Phases of Victory at La Boisselle
Through Roads and Meadows Ploughed by Shell .
An Unlucky Star in the Firmament of " No Man'* Lnml "
Hauling, Digging and Mining Along the Somme
Work of the Supply Section in the " Great Push " .
Briton Resorts to Fists In Lieu of Baj'onet ...
The Courage of Dumb Animals .....
Reaping Two Harvests from the Fields of Somme .
Germans Carry British Wounded from the Feld .
Wounded Lance-Corporal Subdues Five Boches .
Great Guns ! Sure Shield of Advancing Infantry .
British Wounded and Youthful German Captives .
Forty Huns Surrender to Tour Yorkshiremeh
Glimmers of Kindness Amid the Cruelty of War .
British Howitzers Move Forward in France ...
Reserves and R.A.M.C. in the Fighting Zone ...
Rules of the Road Where the Allies Join Hands
Run to Earth I Enemy Trapped in Deep Dug-out
Watching at the Front and Working at the Base .
Litter of War Left in the German Lost Lines . . .
PERSONALIA OF THE GREAT WAR— (iKNKKAT.
HENRY RAWLIN80N, K.C.B., C.V.O.
SIK
"The Great Push" of 1916— II
Victories of Guillemont and Ginchy
The Epic of Ireland in the- Victory of Guillemont -.-••-. * .'
Fan, Fighting and Ambulance Work at Guiltemom
Laurels for the Men of Erin . . . . .
Victory in Hood Over the Crest of the Ridge ....
(iold Stripes from Guillemout and Guns for Ginchy
Stamping Out Tcli-Tale Flares in a Night Attack . .
The Epic Story of the Somme
Official Photographs from Spreading Fields of Victory .
The Capture of Falfemont Finn
Fate of the P.ussim Guard at Falfemont Farm
PERSONALIA OF THE GREAT WAR— UEUT.-GKS.
sill w. P. PULTEXEY, K.C.B., D.S.O.
PiUE
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2245
'The Great Push" of 1916-IH
The September Advance and the "Tanks" in Action
Labour and Leisure in the Western Advance .... 2250
Fun and Frolic After Fierce Fighting ..... 2251
Arduous Artillery Work Under a Broiling Sun . . . 2252
Ttr- Power of the Pick in the Eif.irt for Victory . . . 2253
\ly,ti rious Monsters on the Muddy Somme .... 2256
Hri >ui'ig Back a Trophy from High Wood .... 2259
\'i 'hind a British Barricade at Lesloeufs .... 2260
I he Two Extremes of Courage on the Field .... 2261
Valiant, Victors of Morval and Montauban . • . 'l . 2262
t Crouched for the Spring in Trench and Brake 2263
General Weather Commands over the Sommo 2264
Going Out to Attack and Going Vp in Support 2266
PAGE
With the Heroes of Martinpuich and Thiepval . . . 2267
Ebb of the Tide of Invasion from Picardy .... 2269
Triumphant Tommies' Trophies from Thiepval . . . 2271
With the Crown Camera Men on the Somme .... 2272
Scenes of Valour When the Big Guns Lift .... 2274
Foot and Horse Advance as on Parade 2275
" The Guards Have Passed This Way " .... 227(1
Britons at Home in Dug-outs of the Foe .... 2279
Taking a Trent h at Thiepval 2280
Storming Schwaben Redoubt . . . . . . 2282
PERSONALIA OF THE GREAT WAR— L1EUT.-GEN.
SIR THOMAS D'OYLY SNOW, K.C.B. . . . 2285
'The Great Push" of 1916-IV
The Storming of Beaumonl-Hamel and Beaucourt
Ceaseless Pageant of British Gun-Power .... 2288
On the Ridges of the Somme ...... 2289
A Royal Inspection of Stalwarts from Erin .... 2290
Derelicts that Line the Way from Beaucourt . , . . 2291
Near Bcaumont-Hainel After the British Victory- .~~ " . . 2293
Five Thousand Captives Counted on the Ancre . . ' . 2295
After St. Pierre Divion : Rest Weil-Earned . . • . 2296
PERSONALIA OF THE GREAT WAR— GENERAL SIR
HENRY SINCLAIR HORNE, K.C.It. . . . 2297
Sons of Empire in the War
Canadians on the Somme Remember Ypres .... 2301
Sir Samuel Hughes Inspects Maple Leaf Veterans . . . 2302
Exits anil Entrances on the Stage of Bittle .... 2303
From the Golden West to the Sombre West Front . . . 2304
Canadians in Training and First-Line Veterans . . . 2305
Canadians Answer the Signal on the Somme .... 230(1
liack from the Firing-Line by Road and Rail . . 2:307
Imperial Fighters Most Feared by the Prussian . . . 2308
Wattle and Maple with the Rose La France .... 23<iu
Anzac Valour in Flooded Trenches at Fromellcs . . . 2311
Solid Souvenirs of Britisii Prowess on the Somme . . 2313
Highlanders and Anzacs : Where the Battle Rolls . . . 2314
Shells (ialore and Some New Colonial Warriors . . . 2315
Australian Premier Visits Anzacs in France . . . 231(1
New Zealanders in Fine Form South of the Ancrc . . . 2317
Rest and Recreation Amid the Glades of War . . «318
Crack Shots in the Making Near the Trenches . . . 2319
From Pacific Shores to the Stormy Sommc . . -,. 2320
Gallant South Africans Conquer Kilimanjaro .... 2321
Through Scorchirg Sand and Yawning Drifts . . 2322
Great British Activity in Tropical Africa . . . 2323
With General Smuts' Forces Nearing the Goal . . . 2324
German " Harbour of Peace " in British Possession . . 2325
Tracking the Fugitive Foe in Africa and Egypt. . . -.2320
PERSONALIA OF THE GREAT WAR— GENERAL SIR
HERBERT PLUMER, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. . . " '..2327
For the Glory of France
One Hour Before the Dawn of Victory ..... 2330
Up to the Somme Front and Back from the Yser . 2333
New Frencli Recruits to Advancing Batteries . . . 2334
Bombs Before Bayonets : The Last Fifteen Yards . . 2335
The Battery's Half-Holiday from its Strenuous Work . . 2386
An Irresistible Wave All Blue and Steel .... 2338
French Ironclads on the Sommc Canals . . . 2339
(!hivalry of France Spurring Ever Forward .... 2340
Guns, Shells and Men in Flaming Picardy . . . 234)
Through Wicked Wire Across the Pock-Marked Plain . . 2342
Organising Terrain Won at Sailly-Saillisel . . . . 2343
Incidental Duties in the Great Somme Effort . . . 2344
German Legions Reach Verdun in Bondage .... 2345
Verdun the. Glorious . . . . . . . .231(1
Monster Mortar Hurling Defiance at the Huns . . 2347
Where the Tricolour Flies in Splendid Triumph . . 2:!-I>
Douaumont Fort Recaptured by General Mangin . . . 234!>
Welcome Refreshment for Heroes of Verdun .... 2350
From City Boulevard to Battlemented Hill . . . " . 2351
With Our Dauntless Ally on the Meusc
Heights
Outposts In the Valley and on the Heights
TABLE OF CONTENTS— cow'""'
I'AGK
Battle MUMC: Koai • oi Guns ami Ring "1 r>p:idi->
With the iTcnch Parrying tin- Thrusts at Verdun
Through the VenJun Inferno to the Prison Camp
PERSON' VI.1A (IV THE GREAT WAK-GKXF.HAL Slli
ROBERT N-IVEI.LE
Along the Russian Fronts
Tsar Plans Victory tor His Country
Russian Leaders anil Men in the Hour oi Victors
With Bnissiloff and His RedouotaUe Russians
Wi! h the Tsar's Forces on the Field of France
Cossicks Hoot Germans at the Point of the Sabre
Where All the Eagles were Fighting Together
Brussiloff's Hammer Blows in Bukovina
Homely Little Incident" Along the Russian Line
2361
2368
2365
2366
2367
2368
236(1
2372
Bcdouii:s Surrender to British Forco in Egypt
Incidents in tin- Cot quest of the Scmissi
Empire W.irriors Hot and Hccu],eratc at Cairo
Behind the Enemy Lines
Large Guns and Small Dogs to Austria's Aid .
Germans Counter Their Own Method of Attack
Kaiser and Crown Prince on the Western Front
Fruits of Kultur Revealed by the Camera
German " Civilisation " Keintroduces Slavery
i ;erman Place in the Sun for Moslem Prisoners
Austrian Army Retreats from Lower Isonzo .
Teutons Fighting Three Hereditary Foes
Deutschlaml, Deutschland, U liter Alles .
The Crafty Submarine Liner Returns to Port .
King Tine's Legion Lost in the Fatherland .
With Italy Victorious
Italian Infantry Advancing on the IMJIIZU Front
How Italy Advanced on Her Way to Trieste .
Italian Territorials Make Headway in Albania
The Victor Enters the Stronghold of the Foe .
Vi.i Victrix : Italians on the Way to (lorizia .
Hal.- of Loinbardy lacked and Barred to Austria .
Vivi.l Pictures of the Great Italian Cffer.sive .
Grim War at Close Quarters in the Alps
In the Track of the Italim Progress .
With the New Belgian Army
Courage and Calm
Liveliness on the Yser . . ....
Belgians in Khaki ami Steel Casque,. ....
The War Along the Belgian Dunes ....
New Belgian Guns to Hasten Day of Reckoning
Where Dune and Ocean Flunk the Western I.lr.c .
More Belgian Troops to Swell the Rising Tide
Belgian Armoured Cars : Precursors oi 'the Tank> .
Eclipse of Rumania
Stirring Incident in Rumania's Desperate Fight .
King Ferdinand at the Rumanian Headquarters .
Rumanian Royalties and JU'prescntative Men
Rumania's Vallint Effort to Hold the Enemy
Rumanians' Vain Defence of Their Fatherland
With Rumania Struggling Against the Foe . .
Events in the Balkans
Getting Busy at Salonika
More Russians Take the Field in the Balkans
Latin Legions Land on the Greek Coast
Zouaves and Serbs Storm a Balkan Crest
Outposts of the Allies in the Balkan Field .
France and Serbia Jointly Punish Bulgaria .
Serbia Strikes Hard Against Her Aggre--or-
Scenes in the Victorious Advance to Monastii
Men Who Mattered in the Policy of Greece .
Regenerators of Greece in Council at Canea .
Mustering to Advance in Macedonian Mar-hc-
i Triumphs Which Serbii Sternly Avenge.:
crick Volunteers for the Aimv of the Allies .
Italy Joins Her Five Allies In the Levant
Greek Army Corps to Fight With the Allies .
shining Salonika. The Sombre Town of Viscgrad .
With a HritMi Bombing Party in the Balkans
PERSON M.IA i IF T1IK GREAT WAR— M. VKNIZELO*
Against the Turks
Camels Travelling to the Front by Train
Desert Duel Between Airmen and Hiir^eitien .
In tin Cit\ ni Si'idbad Under IlritMi Occupation .
General Townshcnd and Staff at Kut-el-Amara
To Romatii and Back with Ottoman Prisoner*
Imperial Camel Corps Ride Down the Turk*
2373
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The War by Sea and Air
The Argus Kyes oi the Fleet .
Under the French Ensign in the Mediterranean
Reads , Aye Ready ! to the Last Hanmuic* Cord
The Allied Naval Effort from Sea to Sea
Hero of a Hundred Fights. Britain's Star Flyer at the Front
Falling Like Lucifer, Flaming Through the Skies .
The Shattered Fragments of the Fated ship .
The Stricken Couriers of Teutonic Hate
One Crew Captured and Two Corsumed by Fire .
With the Royal Flying Corps Zeppelin Strafers
With the French Flying Corps Over the Front
Crashing to Earth a Meteor of Smoke and Fire
Golden Deeds of Heroism
British Soldier Rescues Wounded Comrade .
Decorated for Valour : More of Britain's Brave Sons
Wounded Hussar Saves Officer in Wheelbarrow
Coveted Crnss for Devotion to Duty and Comrade .
Supreme Self-Sacrifice of Strctcher-Bcarers .
New Members of the Great Comi>any of Heroes
Sixteen Britons : The Bravest of the Brave .
An Enemy in Their Midst at Dead of Night .
The Last Alarm of a Hapless German Sentinel
Decorated for Valour : More of Britain's Bravest .
One British Soldier Routs Twenty Germans .
For Manly Hercism and Womanly Devotion .
Removing Ammunition from a Flaming Gun-pit .
More British Heroes of the Cross of Courage .
Rally to the Music of the Huntsman's Horn .
One Englishman Takes One Hundred German Prisoners
Fusilier Rescues Wounded Captain Under Fire
Superb Indian Soldier Saves the British Line .
2409
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241 D
2410
2417
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Records of the Regiments
The Watch oil the Sommc . .
The Norfolks
Dancing a Highland Fling in Face of the Enemy .
The Royal Du&lin Fusiliers ......
Royal Welsh Fusiliers' Gallantry at Givcnchy.
The Scots Guards .
AniKcs aid Scots Guards in the Land of Gaul.
The Manchesters ........
Grenadier Guards Take a Turn with the Pick .
The Fifteenth Hussars .
2442
2443
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2494
World-Wide Echoes of the War
" Good-bye, Old Man 1 " .
Women and War Service at Home and Abroad
Praetic 1 Womanhood in War-time Pursuits .
Soft-He:irted Fighti-ig Men and Some of Their Pets.
Three Great Generals and Heroes of Mons
The Faithful Quadruped Goes on War Service
Lull After Battle: Pictorial Notes of War .
In Lovely Lucerne After Trenches and Prison
The Roll of Honoured Dead
Diary oi the War ....
. 2495
. 2496
. 2497
. 2498
. 2499
. 2500
. 2501
. 2503
250 5-2514
2515-2520
ERRATA. — On page 22U8 it should have been stated that General Home's Corps took Maim-tz
(not Montnuban). and that he wa- api»ointed to the command of the First (not the Second) Army.
21C!I
The Moving Drama of the Great War
VII.- -The Autumn Campaign of 1916
Progress of Events in all Theatres of the War from the
Opening Battles of the Somme to the Fall of Bukarest
Written by
ARTHUR D. INNES, M.A.,
Author of "A History of the British Nation," etc.
THE opening of the battle of the Somme on July
ist, 1916, definitely marked the entry of the
war upon a new stage. It had been in progress
now for two years, all but five weeks, and still there
was no sign of a decision. From the German point of
view, the outstanding fact was that still — except in
Africa — no territory belonging to the Central Empires
was in the occupation of the Allies save small fragments
where Austrians and Italians were facing each other ;
whereas the Austro-German front had behind it in the
east a huge block of Russian territory bounded by an
approximately straight line from Riga to the Bukovina,
and in the west the greater part of Belgium, with a sub-
stantial slice of France ; while Serbia was in Bulgarian
occupation. The German looked at his war-map,
and could not understand the obstinate folly of the Allies
in refusing to recognise him as already the victor. The
opening of the great battle, on the other hand, meant
precisely this — that the German, so far from being the
victor, was in the toils which would tighten and tighten
until the power of further resistance should be crushed
out of him — unless he should first make unconditional
submission.
We speak of the " Moving Drama of the War," not
because it is full of dramatic incidents and tragic happen-
ings, but because it is one vast drama, one great tragic
action, the most terrific that has ever been played upon
the world's stage ; having for its motive the funda-
mental motive of tragedy as conceived by the Greeks,
the creators of literary drama — what they called Hubris,
the arrogance which dares to assert its own will and
power in defiance of the will and power of the Eternal
Justice ; upon which follows Nemesis, the doom of all
such insolence since the world began. Yet first the
evildoer enjoys his brief illusion of triumph, before he
hears the sound of the beating of the Avengers' wings,
remorseless and irresistible, heralding the climax of the
drama, the outpouring of the wrath of the Gods.
A Summary of the Moving Drama
How had the drama been played so far ? It had
opened with the great onslaught, long prepared, suddenly
delivered, which was to lay the foe prostrate and help-
less in a single month — three months — six months at
the most. At the end of the first month the Germans
were at the gates of Paris. Then they were hurled
staggering back in the battle of the Marne till they halted
on the lines which for long they were to deem impreg-
nable ; whence they made their second onslaught directed
to Calais. That onslaught was held up at Ypres, in the
fourth month of the war ; and then began the long period
of deadlock in the west, where for nineteen months every
offensive, by whomsoever delivered, was held up. Only
fractional modifications occurred in the lines, which
from Belfort to Ostend were virtually the same in
December, 1914, and June, 1916, and along the Italian-
Austrian frontier from the time when Italy threw in her
lot with the Allies. In the west, staying power had
already become the decisive factor in the struggle. If
an early decision was to come, it must be in the cast.
It did not come. The Dardanelles expedition was a
heroic effort to achieve it on the part of the Allies, doomed
to failure from the day when the grand surprise failed by
a hair's breadth. The Germans sought to achieve it by
the great offensive against Russia, which opened in May,
storming across Galicia and Poland through June and
July, till it was brought to a standstill in September,
the decision still unachieved. In the same month the
Allies again sought a decision in the west, only to realise
that their hour had not yet come. And on the top of the
failure came the treason of Bulgaria and the double-
dealing of King Constantine, which delivered over
Serbia to the fate of Belgium, but was in no sense a
decision — though it seemed indeed an earnest of success
for the powers of evil, a demonstration of victory achieved,
a promise of triumph approaching.
The Great Riddle of the War
Berlin, perhaps, conceived that by sweeping back
the Russians it had, in fact, so far achieved a decision that
Russia was off the board for an indefinite time, and the
Central Powers had their hands free to force a decision
in the west before she could again enter the field. In
February they opened the attack round Verdun, an
attack which beggared all precedents, not only in its
hurricane violence, but in its persistency. At the end
of the first week it was held up ; at the end of the seventh
it was not indeed exhausted — far from it — but it had
proved the invincibility of the French resistance, proved
that only by sheer exhaustion of French men and material
could the line be broken ; and it had not proved that such
exhaustion was near at hand. It had left unanswered
the great riddle — which of the two, attackers or defenders,
would outlast the other ?
Throughout April, May, and June the Germans sought
to find the answer by a perpetual hammering, which
never ceased, but only fluctuated in its violence and
reached the height of its intensity at midsummer. And
still the answer to the riddle was unrevealed, though
in the last days of June the French had given ground
on the north-east of Verdun.
In May, a Teutonic offensive of a similar character had
developed on another front, the Austrians making a
fierce thrust through the Trentino, threatening the flank
of the Italian communications with the Isonzo front
through the Lombard plain. During June, however,
this onslaught too had been held up and pushed back.
Moreover, just when the thrust was reaching its most
advanced point, events ominous for the Central Empires
were initiated on the southern Russian front between
the Pripet Marshes and the Bukovina. The Russians,
instead of being off the board, were proving that they
had been utilising the winter and spring for a most
effective recuperation ; and through the month the
Austrian lines, depleted for the Trentino adventure,
were being swept back towards Lemberg with un-
precedented captures by the Russians of prisoners and
war material. Here, and here alone, was there a sign so
far of a direct offensive on the part of the Allies, while it
was still possible to believe that the German offensive
before Verdun, now in its fifth month, would yet increase
in intensity and attain its immediate objective.
But very different was the definite answer given to the
riddle when the British and French guns spoke upon the
Somme. They spoke, and the message they gave was
this. For eight long months the allied western line had
stood firm against every shock ; for eight long months
no counter-attack had developed, even with the object
of relieving the enemy pressure upon Verdun. But
during those months Britain had been accumulating
p 6
2170
THE DRAMA OF THE WAR
armies behind the fighting-line, amassing munitions,
not adding to, but multiplying her production of guns
and shells, piling up the supplies not only for herself
but for her Allies ; drawing also closer and ever closer
the net which cut off the enemy's supplies from over
sea, reducing them to almost exclusive dependence on
their own resources. France had limited herself
strictly to the sheer necessities of defence.
How the Allies Gathered Strength
The Allies, so far from being exhausted, had been
gathering strength, and the hour had come when that
strength was to be put forth — not indeed for the delivery
of a knock-out blow, but in a gripping, crushing pressure
not to be relaxed. The sound of the beating of the wings
of the Avengers of the Gods was in the roar of the guns
upon the Somme.
From Nieuport on the Belgian coast the western front
ran south with many curves, now this way and now
that, for a distance of one hundred and twenty miles —
roughly speaking — till, towards Compiegne, it bent
almost at right angles and ran east to Verdun, one hundred
miles away. Somewhere along that long stretch of line
some five miles south of the Somme, where it was faced
by the German position at Estrees. The general direction
of this line was from north-west to south-east. Between
the Ancre and the Somme the Germans occupied rising
ground, of which the crests ran almost east and west
from behind Thiepval to behind Combles ; ground
thick with woods and sown with villages, fortified to the
utmost perfection of trench construction.
The crests, it may be said, formed the German third
line ; as long as they held them they had the advantage-
that their observers could see where their shells fell,
whereas from the British, the falling of their own shells
was concealed by the undulations of the rising ground.
But when the British should master the crests, they in
their turn would have the advantage of observation in
the next phase. Meanwhile, they had to depend for
successful observation upon the skill and courage of the
airmen. The terrain over which they had to advance
was of extraordinary difficulty, but the French on their
right were not at the same disadvantage, the ground in
front of them being both lower and comparatively open.
But while the forward pressure on this small section
covered the immediate course of the advance
BRITISH GENERALS IN FRONT.— British officers have no notion of being anywhere but in front, and these two generals, with some
of their Staff, were well within " decisive " range of the enemy field-artillery. Left : A Staff officer found a horse-shoe and presented
it to his general, who appreciated the point. (Official photographs.)
everyone knew that the Allies would sooner or later
attempt some sort of offensive.
The British front had long held the section, running
from a point just north of the Ypres salient southwards,
with the Belgians on their left flank up to the sea.
During the earlier stages it had extended only for some
thirty miles ; then it had been doubled, till it reached
down to the Loos area ; then it had been again extended
almost to the Somme. The general expectation was
that an offensive, either German or British, was to be
looked for somewhere on the British front. In the last
days of June it appeared that very heavy bombardment
was going on along this whole section, and much recon-
naissance work. But what all this portended no one
could guess with certainty until the character of the
new phase of operations was revealed by the actual
advance which began on July ist.
Broadly speaking, the line of development was a
continuous thrust along a front of no more than fifteen
miles by the British right wing and the French left.
This front, at the beginning, ran from the point where it
crossed .he Ancre some five miles north of Albert, where
it was faced by the German position at Thiepval, to
contemplated, it was necessary to reduce to a minimum
the enemy's power of effecting further concentrations in
order to resist it ; necessary, therefore, to engage him
heavily on other points of the line, and to maintain a
continuous threat along the greater part of it, so that he
should not venture to weaken greatly his forces elsewhere.
Hence the activity displayed from time to time on other
sectors, as to which it was constantly impossible for the
enemy to judge with certainty whether its object was
merely the creation of a diversion or the delivery of a
mortal blow.
Opening Stages of Somme Battle
In the early morning of July ist the long bombardment
suddenly gave place to a general advance of the whole
Franco- British line from Thiepval to Estrees, and the
breaking into the German first line. At the two ends,
Thiepval and Estrees, the Germans held fast ; between
Estrees and the Somme the French swung forward till
they were so close to Peronne, though separated from it
by the canal and the river, that hasty commentators
talked of the immediate fall of that town. But its
immediate capture was not in the programme.
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
2171
Here there was no sensational objective, no proclaiming
to the world that the " great fortress " of Peronne or of
anything else was about to fall ; no desperate effort to
crash through at whatever cost. But within the week,
not only had Estr6.-s been occupied, but the whole line
north of the Somme had been carried as far forward as
was desirable, until the corresponding gains north of
the river should be made. The number of prisoners
passed back at the close of the 5th July had already
reached the total of 94 officers and 5,724 other ranks.
On the further bank, too, the French made rapid
progress; but with characteristic generosity they re-
cognised that the slower advance of the English was due
to no faults of officers, soldiers, or organisation, but to
the greater difficulties which had to be overcome, and a
heavier concentration of resistance. There was furious
fighting at Fricourt, at Mametz Village, and then in the
Mametz Wood, before those first line positions were fully
mastered by the British.
The advance paused only for breathing time and the
consolidation of the ground gained, and no ground was
gained without hard fighting. Nearly every system of
trenches was won and partly lost, and won again,
perhaps more than once or twice, before it finally passed
into British possession ; but our men were never
permanently driven out of a position which they had
once reached. In the second week they mastered
Ovilliers and Contalmaison.
The Somme and Verdun Contrasted
The resemblance to the German operations before
Verdun was not in actual fact so marked as the difference.
Before Verdun the French had for a week drawn back a
weakly-held line, before greatly superior forces, till it
rested upon a strongly-held line ; they had been content
to make the Germans pay the price of advance ; it was
only when, at the end of that week, the enemy broke
into a position which at the moment was of vital
importance, that the French delivered a costly counter-
attack which saved the situation. But on the Somme
the counter-attack in force was the inevitable sequel to
the British attack, and it was as invariably followed by a
new attack and the final retention of the position.
On the last day of the second week, July i4th, the
storming of the second line began ; the third week saw
the capture of the Bazentin-le Grand and Bazentin le-
Petit and the entry into Longueval, into Delville Wood,
of which Longueval is in effect a corner, and into the
wood of Foureaux, more familiarly entitled the Higli
Wood, a third line position.' And all the time the
artillery was crashing far away to the north at Ypres,
while raids in the Loos area and at that former scene of
furious combat, the Hohenzollern Redoubt, kept the
German lines in constant unrest.
Regiment after regiment had been adding to its laurels
The cooks sample their own stew. Scene In the camp kitchen
after the regiment had dined from the rough, but wholesome,
fare on the military menu.
Within a hundred yards oil h epval village. Two British soldiers
watching the enemy's movements with an ardour and intelligence
admirably suggested by the photograph.
or achieving new glories ; the Dominion troops holding
their own with the best. Of the Canadians and Anzacs
much had already been heard ; now it was the New-
foundland Regiment which distinguished itself, as it
had indeed already done in Gallipoli ; and now it was
the South Africans. Highland troops broke into
Longueval on July I4th ; next day the South Africans
carried the advance into Delville Wood. On the i8th
an eight hours' bombardment made chaos of the newly-
constructed trenches, driving the South Africans back
upon their Scottish comrades, and after the bombard-
ment came the massed infantry attack, wave upon
overwhelming wave, pressing the depleted line back by
sheer weight into a reserve trench ; yet even these
masses were hurled back by a desperate counter-charge,
and the ground was held.
Relentless Hammering of the Enemy
Afterwards it had to be temporarily abandoned, but
by that time the critical moment had passed. The heroic
defence had served its purpose, and in due time the whole
position was again made good. Yet this great fight for
Longueval was merely an episode, matched by other
episodes in which English, Irish, Welsh, and Australian
troops played their part with a like contempt for danger
and death, a like defiance of all odds, a like grim
endurance. It stands simply as a sample of what
British troops were doing in those days in every part of
the field — not as a glorification above their fellows of the
particular regiments engaged.
The pressure towards the ridge, still held by the
Germans, continued relentlessly from day to day. It
was a process of hammering the enemy out of his
positions, pushing at times beyond the lines which could
immediately be securely held ; so that now and then he
recovered a temporary footing in them, but never for
long. On July 2oth the Germans were driven out of
the High Wood, but effected a re-entry on the same
night by means of gas. On the Sunday (23rd) an
attack was in progress along the whole line from Thiepval
to Guillemont ; by the evening, Australians and
Territorials had driven their way into Pozieres, Longueval
had been won, but for the most part lost again. On the
Wednesday the whole of Pozieres had been won, but
beyond it the Windmill crest was still in the enemy's
hands. Two days later they had been finally driven out
of Delville Wood (the Devil's Wood), and out of
Longueval ; and on the 3oth the French, supported by
the British on their left, had captured a line of trenches,
pushing into the outskirts of Maurepas. No further
progress of a definite character had been reported from
this area down to August 4th, the second anniversary
of the British declaration of war.
On the Verdun front the month hal clearly wrought
a definite change. Until the opening of the Somme-
7 HE DRAMA OF THE WAR
ON THEIR WAY TO LESBCEUFS.— Striking camera impression by the French official photographer of an interesting scene during
the Franco-British advance on the Somme. These British troops are seen entering the roomy motor-waggons which whirled them
away to the action which resulted in the capture and occupation by the Allies of the strongly-fortified village of Lesbeeufs,
vay
offensive Verdun was still the object of a concentrated
German attack ; the last days of June had witnessed a
German advance, not great, but more pronounced than
any since February. Th'e pressure had been relieved by
the counter-pressure on the Somme, and though the
French had not developed an offensive of a like character,
it was clear that they had now become the attacking
party, slowly and piece-meal recovering the ground they
had yielded to the last great onslaught. The scene of
the struggle was round about the Thiaumont Work, and
the village of Fleury, which then for some days had
changed hands every few hours, finally remaining in
German occupation. Now their outskirts were under-
going the reverse process, and after once more changing
hands repeatedly had passed, as it proved, permanently
into the French possession.
Results of the July " Great Push "
What all the July fighting meant, it must for ever
be impossible to conceive for anyone who had not
witnessed it with his own eyes ; for the simple reason that
imagination is incapable of reconstructing anything so
wholly outside all experience. Mere figures lose all
meaning ; • language possesses no descriptive terms
which can convey even a suggestion of what the men
" out there " have seen. In a single week the British
exhausted more ammunition than the whole amount in
their possession at the outbreak of the war ; the
Germans had exhausted a proportionate quantity.
Acre upon acre, square mile upon square mile, of what
once had been smiling fields or leafy woods had become
a chaos of shell-craters, mounds, ridges, pits, where
dead men lay and the fragments of dead men, buried or
unburied in the debris, by hundreds and scores of
hundreds. Every inch of the ground had been fought
for with a desperate courage. Cannon to right ot them,
cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them — the
heroes of Balaclava faced nothing like what is summed
up in the brief familiar message " an enemy attack was
completely stopped by our barrage, and nowhere
succeeded in penetrating to our lines."
When the trench line had been battered, stormed,
occupied, into the trenches' that had been rent and
torn and wrecked by the deluge of British shells poured
the deluge of German shells, while men struggled
desperately to repair them into some semblance of
protective works. The hand-to-hand fighting with
bomb and bayonet was the least part of the furious
strife, for all its fierceness while it lasted ; that was
work in which British soldiers always had the best of
it, unless the odds were overwhelming. But the
slaughter, such as never was known in war before,
when men were mown down in swathes, swept away in
sacrificial hecatombs, came when lines and groups,
stumbling and racing forward over the belt of open
ground, were caught in the tornado of artillery fire and
the hail-storm from the machine-guns.
British artillery and machine-guns were now more
than on an equality with those of the Germans, which
had held at first an enormous and then a slowly diminish-
ing preponderance as the British manufacturing power
was brought into play. Presently, when the ridge
should be mastered, that new preponderance would
have still more decisive effect. For from the high
ground the observation posts would have in view a
wide range of country in which they could see with
exactness precisely what the British fire was doing ;
till the high ground should be held, only the flying-men
could tell what was happening beyond, only the flying-
men could direct the fire upon the slopes hidden by the
crests.
Ominous Lull in Othei Areas
In the meanwhile, it was the enemy who had the
advantage of observation, which was only lessened for
them by the superior skill and audacity of the allied
airmen. But day by day the British were nearing the
rampart, though it would not be wholly won until
Guillemont and Ginchy at one end, and Thiepval at the
other, should be carried.
In Italy, it seemed that the Austrian check had
brought about merely a return to the old position of
apparent deadlock on the Trentino heights and the
Isonzo front. In Russia, the movements between
2173
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
Riga and the Pripet Marshes had been calculated only
to keep Hindenburg fro-ii venturing upon a concentra-
tion for an offensive at any point, or from releasing
troops for the support of the armies in the south. South
of the Marshes there had been a comparative lull since
the staggering blows and sweeping captures of the
early days of the Russian advance.
In the extreme south, Letchitsky's activities since
the fall of Kolomea had been restricted by weather
conditions ; in the northern sector Kaledin's approach
towards Kovel was held up. In the centre Bothmcr
was holding to his lines unyielding. The menace to
him lay in the danger of the forcing of his right flank
from Kolomea, and of his left flank by the advance of
Sakharoff upon Brpdy.
It was only in this last-named quarter that the
Russians, during the latter part of July, continued to
make conspicuous progress. On the Stokhod they were
in fact forging forward ; in the north a fresh stroke
was in preparation, but had not been delivered ; but
Sakharoff struck and struck again, each time driving
the enemy back and capturing prisoners, not in hundreds
but in thousands.
The Great Russian Drive
This particular series of victories culminated with
the entry of the Russian troops into Brody on July
i8th ; whereof the significance lay in the fact that it
pushed deep into the Austro-German defensive line,
threatening to pierce it and actually to turn the flank
either of Bothmer's army southward, or of that which
blocked the way to Kovel northward. This at least was
ass"red, that if Letchitsky thrust up to Stanislau,
Bothmer's whole force would have to fall back at last —
if it should not already be too late.
Mesopotamia and the Caucasian front were only
secondary war areas, though of ultimate importance to
Russia and India. To the Central Powers, loss of
territory by their Turkish ally was of no moment if
they themselves were reft of the hoped for supremacy
in the Balkans. In Asia, in fact, Turkey had become
to them merely an instrument for the retention of
Russian troops in the Caucasus area and of British
forces in Egypt, though in its inception the Turkish
alliance had perhaps had no very different significance
at bottom from that of Buonaparte's great Egyptian
adventure in 1798.
The Round-up in East Africa
For Russia, however, the "contest in Asia meant the
acquisition of wide territories which at any time during
the nineteenth century would have excited the utmost
alarm and jealousy in British minds. Now the Mesopo-
tamian campaign was at a standstill, and since the
capture of Trcbizond the tide of Russian successes had
flowed very slowly. Nevertheless, the fall of Erzingan,
on July 26th, marked a further stage of, the gradual
conquest ; with it went Turkey's hold upon Armenia.
In other regions, the process of sweeping up the vast
area of German East Africa went steadily forward. A
campaign with a foregone conclusion excites no more
than a passing interest in the course of such a war as
this, though at other times the British public would
have watched it with the liveliest attention. But the
hunting down of an enemy whoje ultimate fate is a
mathematical certainty cannot very greatly move those
whose 'eyes are fixed upon a life and death struggle
between Freedom and the Powers of Darkness. The
war in East Africa was emphatically a " side-show."
In the main show, there remained one section of the
stage — the Balkans — where all open activity had for
long been suspended. There the Central Powers could
not, and the Allies would not, strike again — as yet.
The Germans, however, could not allow the second
year of the war to close without giving the world a
reminder that the root ideas of civilisation were at
stake in this war. They had achieved the capture of a
British liner, the Brussels. Some months before, her
captain, Charles Fryatt, had been attacked by a sub-
marine ; instead of yielding, he had attacked in turn —
MOSCOW'S WELCOME TO BRITISH TROOPS.
A contingent of troops representing the British Army was despatched to Russia, and when they marched through the streets of
Moscow crowds turned out and gave them an ovation.
2174
THE DRAMA OF THE WAR
a most unfair proceeding ! Now Captain Fryatt was a
prisoner. The officers and crew of a non-combatant
vessel which resists capture are explicitly entitled under
the Hague Convention, as well as by all precedent, to
be treated as prisoners of war. But Charles Fryatt
was court-martialled as a franc-tireur, and " executed."
Opening of Third Year of the War
When Edith Cavell was put to death, it was actually
possible to plead the letter of the law in excuse for an
inhuman and despicable crime ; it was not possible to
do so in the case of the authorised murder of Captain
Fryatt. The outrage called forth from the British
Prime Minister the significant pronouncement that
diplomatic relations would not be resumed with Germany
until its responsible authors had been called to account.
Unmistakably, its responsible authors were the supreme
Governors of the German Empire. If, however, the Ger-
man Press represents the German People, they cannot be
acquitted 'of sharing the responsibility with their rulers.
The opening of the third year of the war was imme-
diately productive, not of any decisive blow, but of
striking allied successes. The first came upon the front
where it was perhaps least expected, the front which
in England was the least understood. The nature of
the Italian effort was not commonly realised in England,
as the nature of the British effort was not realised in
Italy. Seeing how common it is for the British them-
selves to misconceive the enormous value of the work
done by the British Navy for the allied cause, it is
scarcely surprising that it should not be fully appreciated
by all the Allies ; and since the Italians were fighting,
and had been fighting since their first entry into the
war, entirely upon their own frontier, it was perhaps
natural that others should not fully realise the service
they were rendering, or the nature of the difficulties
with which they were confronted.
Austria'* Grave Miscalculation
In fact, however, they had for a year held, heavily
engaged, powerful Austrian forces which would other-
wise have been available in Galicia and the Balkans ;
and latterly they had tempted the Central Powers into
the Trentino adventure which had given the Russian
offensive its opportunity in June. Vienna, under the
direction of Berlin, had undoubtedly been led to believe
that a crushing blow could be dealt through the Trentino
w lich would remove Italy from the board and would
release Austrian armies for an offensive in the East.
Consequently the Austrians had at first weakened their
defensive . power against Russia to an extent little
short of disastrous, and had then found themselves pre-
cluded from remedying their blunder.
It was now to
appear that they had
been the victims of
an even graver mis-
calculation. The
Italians had not only
held up the attack
through the Trentino,
they had prepared a
counter-stroke where
the Austrians still
regarded themselves
as holding an im-
pregnable position on
the Isonzo front. Had
not Italian forecasts
repeatedly pro-
claimed the ' im-
pending fall of
Gorizia," command-
ing the main line of
Austrian communi
cations with Trieste ?
Yet the defences of
Gorizia still stood as
fast as Verdun.
The lurking pirate. Type ol U boat semi-submerged on the look-out for a
target, preferably a passenger cross-Channel steamer.
Nevertheless, the Italian moment came just when the
Austrians had been forced to realise that their own
anticipated triumph had broken down completely.
The positions dominating Gorizia had hitherto defied
attack. On August 6th a brilliantly-planned movement
carried Monte Sabatino on its north, and on the south
swept up the long Carso ridge, from M. San Michele to
Monfalcone. The victory was decisive ; Gorizia had
become untenable, and on August gth was occupied by
the Italians. Its fall did not mean an immediate entry
into Trieste ; but it was a great stride in that direction.
It offered, moreover, a striking proof of General Cadorna's
skill and resource.
At the same moment the Turks were receiving a
lesson in the Sinai region. Presumably they were still
under the impression that they could make trouble in
Egypt, though the British had thrown out a defensive
to the east of the Suez Canal, and could contemplate any
possible attempt at an invasion with supreme equanimity.
How the Invasion of Egypt Failed
The experiment was tried on August 4th with the
natural result. A Turkish column attacked the British
positions on a seven mile front, east of Port Said ;
their flank was drawn off into the sandhills, and was
then put to rout by a counter-attack. By the evening
of the 5th nearly 3,000 prisoners were in the hands of
the British, representing only a small proportion of the
enemy casualties. The hottest of the fighting was done
by Australian and New Zealand horse, who did brilliant
work, and were admirably supported by Yeomanry and
Territorials. The whole affair was managed in a
masterly fashion, and made it perfectly clear that under
existing conditions the " menace to Egypt " was
contemptible. Incidentally it emphasised once more
the quality of the Empire troops, whose brothers had
just been giving the Germans a taste of the same quality
in the Devil's Wood.
Meanwhile, not only was Sakharoff continuing the
pressure from Brody, but Letchitsky also was renewing
on the extreme Russian left wing the activities which,
not the enemy but the climate had forced him to suspend
for a time. On August loth he had thrust back the
Austrians and occupied Stanislau. The moment had
come when Bothmer could hardly hope to escape unless
he retired his whole line ; the news followed that he
was in full retreat to prepared positions behind the
Zlota Lipa, still covering Lemberg.
At the Russian centre General Scherbatcheff flung his
whole line forward, as a sequel to the capture of
Stanislau, but the retreating Austrians were able to
occupy new positions which no longer forced a dangerous
salient. A degree of mystery attaches to these opera-
tions ; for it soon
became obvious that
the forward sweep of
the Russians had
ceased, from which
the clear inference
was that the Austrian
retreat had not borne
the character of a
debacle ; and yet it
appeared from the
official reports that
Scherbatcheff had
taken prisoners to
the number of almost
a third of the whole
force under Bothmer's
command according
to expert estimates.
There was no doubt
that the figures of
the week's fighting
showed most sensa-
tional captures both of
prisoners and of war
material, Scherbatcheff
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
2175
Their first day out after
escence. Wounded horses enjoying a dip in a stream somewhere adjoining the headquarters of the
Veterinary Hospital behind the lines in France.
alone being credited with more than 50,000 of the
former. Whatever Bothmer's losses may have been, the
fact still remained that he had extricated his main
force from an extremely perilous position ; it had not
been enveloped, nor had his line been broken through.
The whole affair was extremely suggestive of the
Russian retirements of the previous year — the salients,
the pincers which were to nip the neck of the salient,
the more or less successful evasion of the pincers, the
whole line carried back but still remaining actually
unbroken. Still, in proportion to the forces engaged,
there had never in the whole course of the Russian
retreat been anything to match the huge tale of captures
which attended the Russian advance — an average of
nearly 40,000 a week during the ten weeks which had
passed since the offensive began.
French Mastery at Verdun
Meanwhile, the reports from the Verdun front made
it increasingly clear that the real offensive had passed
from the Germans to the French. On August 5th the
French were in full possession of the Thiaumont work,
and again held half Fleury village, which they had
captured — only to be driven out again — a couple of
days before. A fortnight later the Germans were out
of Fleury altogether, and their repeated and determined
attempts to recapture it were being repulsed with a
thoroughness which meant that the position had at
last been secured. In effect, all that the enemy had
gained by the concentrated attack at the end of June
had now been lost again. He was no nearer to the
achievement of the " fall of Verdun " than he had been
at the end of the first week of the attack, which had
opened just six months ago with high hopes of an
immediate break-through and a new rush upon Paris.
And now, instead of crashing forward, he was being
surely, if slowly, pushed b;>ck yard by yard.
On the Somme, too. the forward movement continued,
slow, persistent, sure, on the part of French and British
alike. The British line now ran a little south of cast
from fronting Thiepval to fronting Guillemont, a length
of some seven miles as the crow flies Before Guillemont
it joined with the French line running south to the
Somme and cros.sing it The British push was north and
north-east, the French east and north-east, Guillsmont
standing at the angle, with Ginchy behind it and Combles
behind Ginchy. These three places might be called
the joint objective, though the endeavour to reach
them was only a part of the effort of the forces generally ;
the one had to carry the whole northerly crest, the
other the whole eastern line between Combles and the
Somme.
So on August 5th the push went north from Pozieres
— this time it was the Australians and the men of the
south-eastern counties who completed the capture
of the German second line. On August nth the
French were almost in Maurepas, and were menacing
Clery on the Somme. From Pozieres to Guillemont by
August 1 6th the British held all the highest ground
except at one point between the Foureaux and Delville
Woods, and the French had pushed forward the extreme
right of their advance south of the Somme, straightening
their line. Closer and closer the Allies were creeping
towards Guillemont and Maurepas on one side — they were
in the outskirts of both — and towards Mouquet (or in
Tommies' language, " Moo-Cow," or " Mucky ") Farm,
covering Thiepval, on the other. They were pushing
round Guillemont towards Ginchy. But it is a far cry
from the outskirts of a village or a trench-system to the
other side of it.
The fighting-men have a joyous knack of detecting
the humours of their situation. We may be permitted
for a moment to glance at this lighter aspect of things,
for it is commonly due to the characteristic genius of
the British Tommy, who engineers a practical joke at
the Boche's expense with extreme gusto. He established
a conviction in the German mind that the British
force, the " New Armies," consists largely of barbaric
hordes from their oppressed subjects in the heart of
Africa — savages black and bloodthirsty — by a simple
device.
The "Brave Gentleman of Colour"
It happened that among the warriors of whom a
certain London battalion was composed there was
included one gentleman of colour whose courage was
equal to the somewhat formidable demand made upon
it. Periodically the black face was wont to emerge
above the parapet, emit a startling war-cry, and then
vanish. The owner of the face was not allowed to retain
any local habitation ; every fresh appearance was made
at some fresh point ; and so the fable grew — to be
2176
THE DRAMA OF THE WAR
solemnly disseminated by an indignant German Press —
that the British trenches were lined with regiments of
black men
An episode of a different character was the visit of
II. .M. King George V. to the front, the more memorable
because he was undeterred by the alarming accident
of which he had been the victim on a previous occasion.
Our monarchs are no longer permitted to take part in
war as combatants ; but it was not for the want of will
to plunge into the thickest dangers that George II.
submitted to be restrained from again risking his life
after Dettingen, and that George V. to-day must suffer
from a like restraint. But the incident was an apt
illustration of the unanimity pervading the whole nation,
the loyalty of the King to his soldiers as of the soldiers
to their King.
Renewed Activity in the Balkans
In the last week of August there were signs which
seemed to portend an early renewal of activity in the
Balkans, and of a strong movement among those of
the Greeks who had been chafing against the restraint
put upon Nationalist sentiment by King Constantine's
pro-German and absolutist predilections. Bulgars were
clashing with Serbians on the section of the allied line
held by those indomitable and now recuperated warriors ;
Bulgars were being permitted to occupy Greek fortresses ;
Greek officers, in despite of their General Staff, were
fighting the invader with a stubborn obstinacy.
From the east came the news that Mush, which had
fallen to the Turks, was again in Russian hands. On
the Russian front, between the Pinsk Marshes and the
Carpathians, the Russian progress had again become
slow, though it seemed that they were mastering the
passage across the passes into Hungary ; yet it was
hardly probable that an invasion of Hungary was in
immediate contemplation. On the western front the
French carried the whole of Maurepas, while the British
The innocents at home in spite of the fact that the Huns were within a few hundred
yards on the opposite bank of the Aisne. Corner of a French village in occupation cf
the military and a few imperturbable civilians.
pushed into the Leipzig redoubt, a work protecting the
south-west side of Thiepval. But the apparently decisive
event of the day was the declaration of war upon Austria
by Rumania, on August ayth.
Rumania had waited her time. There had always
been in that country a party passionately eager to join
in the war against the Central Powers ; and there had
been no equivalent pro-German war party. But the
control of the Government had rested with a section
which was determined to take no grave risks, to keep
out of a quarrel the issue of which was doubtful, to forego
the advantage which might accrue from audacity
rather than chance the possible disaster and the certain
peril which would be incurred thereby.
Like Italy, Rumania at the outset had declined to
recognise any obligation to support the Central Powers,
with whom she was actually allied, in an aggressive war
as to which she had not been consulted ; but she had
claimed that prudence justified her in resisting the
sentimental appeal of a Cause which brought with it
no secure prospect of success. The forward sweep of
the Germans and Austrians through Galicia and Poland
in 1915 had effectively prevented her intervention when
Italy took the bolder course ; but she had not allowed
herself to be outwitted by her own cunning like the
Bulgarian fox, and had continued to preserve a correct
neutrality. This, however, had not prevented her from
continuing at the same time to elaborate to the utmost
preparations for intervention — primarily with the object
of securing for herself Rumania Irredenta, the province
of Transylvania — should the opportunity arise.
Rumania Enters the Conflict
In August, 1916, she had become thoroughly con-
vinced that the tide had turned definitely and
decisively ; that the victory of the Entente Powers
was assured ; that her own intervention, hastening
the end of the struggle and adding to its decisiveness,
would secure the reward which
might be denied if she tarried longer.
An army numbering some three-
quarters of a million trained
soldiers well munitioned was thus
added to the services of the Allies
by a stroke of the pen, and
Bulgaria, with Turkey, suddenly
found themselves placed between the
hammer and the anvil. Such was
the apparent effect of Rumania's
declaration of war.
A day later came the declarations
of war upon Rumania by Germany,
Bulgaria and Turkey, and upon
Germany by Italy. Immediately
before, Germany had given proof of
her own consciousness that all was
not by any means well with her by
removing General Falkcnhayn from
the chief command and sitting
Hindenburg in his place. The im-
pudent fiction, disseminated officially
among the German people after the
decisive defeat of Jutland, that
British naval supremacy had perished
in that great battle, was already
dying or dead. The moment was at
hand when the Kaiser's willing dupes
would learn how monstrously they
had been deceived — at least, if they
were indeed capable of believing
the truth.
The fact that Jutland was not a
German but a British victory had
been emphasised by minor collisions
during July and August ; the rutting
off of foreign supplies, instead of being
relaxed, was growing in intensity ;
and although a German submarine
succeeded in crossing the Atlantic to
America and returning in safety, that
2177
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
quite creditable exploit, and the
jubilation which attended it, only
proved the practical futility of sub-
marine communication as a channel
of commerce.
Defeat of the Zeppelins
Similarly it was impossible much
longer to conceal the vanity of Ger-
man boastings concerning their
doings in the third element. In the
fighting line there was now no
comparison between the achieve-
ments of the allied and the German
airmen. Zeppelin activities had
indeed been renewed in a series of
raids upon the East Coast of
England, when much imaginary
damage had been done to many
imaginary " fortresses," and prac-
tically no real damage to anything
real. These performances received a
good deal of superfluous advertise-
ment in the British Press, for the
simple reason that they were the only
"military" operations which took
place over British soil. But Zeppelin
raids from first to last had wrought
destruction to property less in value
than one day's war expenditure, and
caused fewer casualties, all told,
than many a battalion has suffered
in a few hours of fighting.
The culminating point was reached
when a fleet of thirteen Zeppelins
made its appearance on September
3rd, and the earlier feat of Lieutenant
VVarneford was emulated by
Lieutenant W. L. Robinson, who
triumphantly attacked one of the
monsters single-handed, and sent
it to the ground in flames. To
counterbalance which, the thirteen
Women members of the Qreat Northern Railway Company's engine-cleaning staff
attached to King's Cross. The employment of women in this kind of work was a war
measure, and, indeed, could only be justified by the entirely abnormal conditions.
Their work was stated to be very satisfactory. They adopted a costume which, if
not picturesque, was exceedingly practical.
Zeppelins among them caused fifteen casualties.
On September 4th the Port of Dar-es-Salaam, in
German East Africa, surrendered to the forces of General
Smuts. For the completion of the conquest of the last
remaining German Colony, all that was left was the
rounding-up the remnant of German forces — though
that process was still likely to be somewhat tedious
and prolonged, unless they should recognise the futility
of maintaining a struggle for which there was only one
possible termination, and surrender.
The Rumanian Plan of Campaign
Rumania, having declared war, was prompt to act
upon a plan clearly concerted with Russia. The Ruman-
ian border marched with Transylvania along the whole
west, and with Bulgaria along the whole south. Between
Rumania and Transylvania stands the barrier of the
Eastern Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps.
Two-thirds of the Bulgarian boundary was formed by
the Danube ; but on the east and south of the lower
Danube (below Rustchuk), between it and the Black Sea,
lay the Rumanian province of Dobruja. Only in and
from the Dobruja could Rumanians or Bulgarians
invade each other's territory without crossing the Danube
in the face of an enemy — an exceedingly difficult opera-
tion. If the Russians meant to strike at the Bulgars,
obviously they would take the now open way through
the Dobruja. If the Bulgars wanted to put up a
strong defence, their first aim would be to master
the Dobruja and secure the whole line of the. Danube.
Rumania, however, had the Austrian enemy on one
front, the Bulgarian on the other. She might divide
her forces or might concentrate upon one. In fact,
she chose to fling the whole of her main armies upon
the Transylvanian passes, while holding the Dobruja
with only small forces, and virtually leaving Russians
and Bulgars to fight for possession.
For the Austrians in Transylvania, therefore, there
was no course open except a fighting retreat ; their long
front, forming two sides of a triangle, would have to be
drawn back upon the triangle's base, covering Hungary.
The vigour and precision of the Rumanian attack from
end to end of the line permitted no alternative, since the
situation on the Volhynian, Galician, and Italian fronts
allowed no margin for reinforcing the Transylvanian
front. Every pass was forced after nothing more than
a brief struggle, and it very soon appeared probable
that the complete occupation of Transylvania would
be only a question of weeks. Nor did many days
elapse before the northern wing of the advancing
Rumanians was beginning to be in touch with the
Russians in the Bukovina — though it was premature,
at least, to regard such contact as preluding a joint
invasion of Hungary.
Now both Russians and Bulgars had engagements
elsewhere, but both were pushing into the Dobruja :
Bulgars from the south, mainly along the Danube ;
Russians from the north, mainly upon the Black Sea
side. The main Bulgar objective was presumably the
one great bridge over the Danube at Cernavoda, while
the Russians had in view the Bulgar port of Varna
on the Black Sea and the envelopment of the Bulgar
force on the Danube.
Rumania Between Hammer and Anvil
As a set-off, therefore, to the rapid progress in Tran-
sylvania, something of a shock was caused by the news
that the Bulgars had captured Turtukai, just over the
Rumanian border — one of the few points where the
bridging of the Danube was practicable — claiming to
have taken 20,000 prisoners. It looked, in fact, as if
a fairly strong garrison had been enveloped by a surprise
attack in great force. A few days later the more famous
but perhaps less important post of Silistria was taken —
2178
THE DRAMA OF THE WAR
having probably been deliberately evacuated before
the superior forces. Here, however, it seemed that
the Russian approach imposed a check on further
advance, for in the second week of September the
northern troops were almost at the eastern Bulgarian
border, thrusting towards Varna, which was already
being bombarded from the sea.
Capture of Guillemont and Ginchy
Meanwhile, farther south, it looked as if the pre-
liminaries of a vigorous allied offensive from the Salonika
line were afoot. The French and British had been
joined by an Italian contingent ; the Lake Doiran
region had again been occupied ; and on September
nth the British forced the passage of the Struma.
It was noticed that the Germans had taken over the
general command of the armies of their dependents,
which had been conferred upon the redoubtable
Mackensen.
On the western front the steady progress of the
Allies continued. On September 3rd, by a co-ordinated
attack, the British carried the whole of Guillemont
and thrust into the outskirts of Ginchy, while the
French mastered Clery and Le Forest and thrust into
the outskirts of Combles. The Ulstermen had shown
their grand quality before. This time it was the men
of Munster, Leinster, and Connaught who taught the
Germans the folly of their hope that the Irishmen
would be found on their side. Irish regiments have
won laurels the world over by reason of their supreme
daring and dash, and never have those qualities been
more brilliantly displayed than in the capture of Guille-
mont and of Ginchy, of which a week later, on September
toth, the British were in full possession.
Therefore, as mid-September drew near, the hopes
of the Allies ran high, for the true situation in the
Balkan regions had not yet revealed itself. And the
next moves on the western front raised them higher
still. First, between Combles and Peronne, the French
thrust forward in a swift attack, crossed the north
road, breaking through the German first line, and
captured Bouchavesnes on September I3th, threatening
the enemy position at St. Quentin, just north of Peronne,
on one side, and, on the other, half encircling Combles.
Then came the turn of Sir Douglas Haig.
Great September Advance on the Somme
From Ginchy and Leuze Wood to the skirts of High
Wood the British were already established. Flers and
Martinpuich, Courcelette and Thiepval, still lay in
front of them on the line where they had been driving
forward ; for on the left, between Thiepval and
Gommecourt, the Germans had held their ground. On
September I5th enough breathing time had been taken
since Ginchy, and again the attack developed along
a front of six miles. On that day the British entered
Flers, Martinpuich, and Courcelette. With earliest
dawn began the terrific bombardment which is the
invariable preliminary to any advance. The beams
of the rising sun flashed upon the aircraft circling above
the enemy ; eyes, indeed, for the artillery away in the
rear, but something more than eyes, too, as not only
enemy airmen but enemy infantry and artillery were
to find to their cost that day.
A lull in the storm of the bombardment before it
burst afresh, which meant that it had lifted and was
directed to a point farther forward, leaving the battered
first line of trenches clear for the rush of the infantry.
And the counter-storm from the enemy's guns drew
backward sullenly. Up to the outskirts of Martinpuich
the advance thrust swiftly. Then came long and fierce
fighting before the Germans were cleared out and the
British had dug themselves in afresh in the position
they had carried. Before Courcelette the attack had
been opened by the Germans, and they carried the
first British trench before the moment for the British
advance arrived. The counter-attack overwhelmed
them, and the troops swept forward. Twice they were
driven back before the German first line, but the third
wave surged in. Yet it was not till evening fell that
Courcelette was fully occupied, and two hours after
sundown the dominating positions just beyond it were
mastered.
More desperate still was the fighting which at last
carried the High Wood, the point about which the fray
had rocked most furiously for two months past. And
still farther to the right the line was advanced a mile
beyond the Devil's Wood and past Flers, and again
well forward in front of Ginchy.
In the indomitable valour of the troops there was
nothing new. To-day men achieve as a matter of
course in the ordinary day's work, without recognition,
such feats of valour as in earlier wars would have won
for them imperishable fame. Nevertheless, that memor-
able day had one new feature which illumined the lurid
battlefields with a touch of grotesque humour.
The Arrival of the "Tanks"
It was on this day that the new British weapons,
the " tanks," made their d6but — those weird and
wonderful armoured cars which were suggestive of
nothing so much as the prehistoric monsters which
men of science have reconstructed from fossil remains.
The secret of their creation had been preserved with a
success as astonishing as it was complete until they
first heaved their ponderous way, imperturbably heedless
of obstacles, into the German lines, shaking the harmless
shot and shell from externally placid backs and sides
" as a dog that shakes his ears when he leaps from the
water to the land." Externally placid only, for from
within they poured forth a storm of machine-gun fire
which was anything but harmless.
Their doings were joyously recorded in a message
from the air, " A tank is walking up the street with
the British army cheering behind it." Fantastic,
invulnerable, fearful, they inspired the enemy with
a new and overwhelming terror, and their own side
with a new and overwhelming glee. Although the
sphere of their antediluvian gambols was strictly limited,
it was hard to say whether within that sphere they
were even more funny than . they were appalling, or
even more appalling than they were funny.
The ensuing days were characterised by violent and
repeated counter-attacks, stubbornly and successfully
beaten off, rather than by any marked progress in the
advance upon the British front, though on the French
sector on the Somme and also before Verdun ground
was gained. The hardest nut for the British to crack
was still Thiepval, on their left, together with Combles,
on the French left. It was apparent that a big effort
in these quarters was in preparation, but delay was
imposed by the unfavourable weather conditions and
especially heavy rains. On September 24th there was
an effective push forward on either side of Combles,
while towards Thiepval the hotly-contested Mouquet,
or Moo-Cow, Farm had already at last fallen a prey
to British persistence. The capture of Morval and
Lesboeufs, hardly won by the British, almost sealed
the fate of Combles.
Capture of Thiepval and Combles
Then on September 26th both the nuts were cracked.
Combles and Thiepval were wrested from the enemy,
and with them Gueudecourt, in front of Flers, on the
British right-centre. The capture of Thiepval was,
perhaps, the most striking event so far in the whole
advance, for its defences had been elaborated to the
highest point of perfection, and it had hitherto defied
every attack. The Germans, as reported by their
officers who fell into our hands as prisoners, had regarded
it as impregnable — but nothing is impregnable now,
and after very desperate fighting it was at last in the
hands of the Allies. And second only to the British
problem of Thiepval — if, indeed, we may call it second
at all— was the French problem of Combles, solved
with a like success. When September closed, the
Thiepval-Combles line was securely established.
In all these operations the " tanks " had played their
2179
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
cheerful part. What they were really like the folk
at home could not tell, because anything like an accurate
description of their personal appearance was forbidden
to the correspondents. All that was certainly known
was that they were the queerest thing ever seen on a
field of battle. They lounged, they sauntered, they
strolled, they waddled ; when they were not engaged
in ungainly frolics they sat down somewhere and wiped
out something. No one ever thought — certainly no one
ever spoke — of them, except as live dream-monsters play-
ing about casually until they found something to do which
interested them, generally of a devastating character.
The " Tank* " in Action
Now and then they came to grief, perhaps because
something went wrong with their internal machinery,
more often because they got stuck in mud, apparently
about the only obstacle which they could neither flatten
out nor surmount. To any sort of direct attack they
not been able to maintain the forces necessary to hold
them, and their capture caused an elation which was
perhaps excessive.
For as yet there was nothing more of a sensational
character within reach, and a repetition of heavy blows
was rendered impossible by the weather. The movement
from this point became slow, and though the line con-
tinued to advance perceptibly, if gradually, the steps
in it conveyed little to the ordinary student of the reports
from the front. When the British reached Eaucourt
1'Abbaye and Le Sars, and the French pressed to the
outskirts of Saillisel and Sailly, the attention attracted
by these movements was slight.
It was, perhaps, characteristic that the popular
interest had been much more excited by Zeppelin raids
in England. Hitherto the raids had succeeded in
damaging a certain amount of property, killing or
injuring some hundreds of civilians, and giving occasion
for a good deal of rather pusillanimous clamour amon™
British soldier, wounded In the
advance, poses for his photograph
In a Qerman helmet.
Types ol German prisoners captured In the
great British offensive movement on the
Somme, September, 1916.
Newfoundlander arrives at one of
the military hospitals with a bouquet
presented to him at the station.
were impervious ; even when disabled, no impression
could be made upon them, and when this occurred they
could still sometimes convert themselves into temporary
forts, from which considerable execution could be done.
On the rare occasions when a " tank " had to be
abandoned, it was first so dealt with by its crew that to
the enemy at least it could render no service.
Combles and Thiepval were names which had acquired
a definite meaning in the minds of the British public —
Thiepval because its strength had been revealed at the
very beginning of the push on the Somme. It was in
the German first line ; it had been not a remote objective
but an immediate object of attack from the outset.
But whereas the whole Franco- British line to the south
of it and far across the Somme had surged steadily
forward to Pcronne and the Bapaume road, Thiepval
had remained apparently impregnable for nearly three
long months. Both ol Thiepval and of Combles it was
believed that the German instructions had been that
they were to be held at all costs as long as there was a
man left to fight. Their value was to be measured not
merely strategically. It meant that the Germans had
people whose sense of proportion was limited and whose
imagination was more vividly affected by the sight of a
shell-hole within measurable distance of their own
homes than by an engagement in France, which in
twenty-four hours cost more in casualties and munitions
than the whole of the raids had accomplished since the
war began. But if the Zeppelin had achieved any
military object at all, it was only that of compelling the
authorities to divert a portion of their energies to the
problem of dealing effectively with the raiders. Lieut.
Robinson's feat, already alluded to, had suggested that
this diversion of energy was likely now to be turned to
some account.
Three Zeppelins " Bagged "
The suggestion was confirmed when three successive
Zeppelin expeditions within ten days resulted in some
damage indeed, and some casualties among civilians —
men, women, and children — but also in a " bag " of no
less than three Zeppelins, of which two were brought
down in flames, while the third was so seriously damaged
that its crew were forced to make their descent and
2180
THE DRAMA OF THE WAR
surrender themselves, after destroying their craft. How
long Zeppelin attempts would continue if such results
were to become normal became a matter for interested
speculation. Would the Germans count the ' game
worth the candle, if every time it should be played the
candles were to be Zeppelins ?
Ominous reports were now arriving from the East,
pointing to unexpected developments in the Balkan area
of the war, but their meaning was not yet realised in
Britain. Apart from these, it seemed that progress,
if slow, was steady, though not without checks. The
advance of the Italians on the Carso was in character
not unlike that of the Allies on the Somme. Gorlzia
had not opened the way to Trieste, but the Italians were
carrying their work forward with the dogged determina-
tion which had become so universally characteristic of
all the combatants, whether in attack or in defence.
Germany's New Submarine Campaign
On the other hand, the opening of a new submarine
campaign was becoming apparent. Those campaigns
had always followed similar courses. Some method
of eluding the naval net was discovered, the submarines
started a new era of miscellaneous destruction, ships were
sunk right and left for a time in the waters which were
less effectively guarded, and the process went on until
new counter-measures were devised and brought success-
fully into play and the campaign died down again, not
without the silent disappearance of unrecorded U boats.
The new campaign now was signalised by the appear-
ance of a German submarine at Newport, Rhode Island,
where she remained only for a few hours, and then
passing out of territorial waters began the usual operations
against any conveniently defenceless shipping. A curious
incident was the polite withdrawal of some American
destroyers, whose presence impeded the torpedoing of the
Stephano, at the request of the German commander. But
the Presidential election was impending. Although a
Dutch ship carrying grain — not for the Allies — was one
of the victims, no one imagined that in the circumstances
the United States Government , would see any reason
for departing from its accustomed attitude, or would
accede to the proposal of the Allies that all submarine
craft should be treated as in the category of warships.
French Recover Douaumont
The occupation of Sailly-Saillisel — more conveniently
to be spoken of as Sailly, to avoid confusion with the
actual Saillisel, a different but neighbouring post which
was still held by the Germans — by the French, was
followed on October 2$th by a successful stroke in the
Verdun area. No name had been more prominent in
the Verdun struggle than that of Douaumont, unless
it were that of the Mort Homme. It had been a very
early objective of the attack ; it had been wrested from
the French after prolonged battling ; it had been looked
upon as the key to Verdun, though in fact it had not
unlocked the entry. Hence the recovery of Douaumont
was hailed as highly significant of the change that had
taken place — the transfer of the offensive from the
Germans to the French. Virtually it was a restoration
of the main line in front of Verdun.
Just five months earlier the French had actually-
recaptured Douaumont, only to be forced to abandon
it again two days later. But this time there was to be
no going back. The effort made by the Germans to hold
it and the vigour of the French found their testimony
in the capture of some 4,000 prisoners, a number raised
above 5,000 in the counter-attacks, whereby the enemy
strove in vain to recover the lost ground.
The importance of the gain at Douaumont was brought
home a week later by the evacuation of Fort Vaux,
which had either been rendered actually untenable or,
without Douaumont, was no longer worth retaining.
Such an event appealed more to the imagination than
the slightly varying fortunes of the Somme battle-front.
There advances were made by French and British to
Saillisel and the Butte de Warlencourt, but they failed
to maintain their grip, at least, in completeness. South
of the Somme, however, more definite progress was made
in the first week of November, and on November iath
Saillisel was fully occupied.
Two days earlier, in the Thiepval region, the Britisli
completed the capture of the notable Regina Trench,
a part of which had been seized in a very gallant action
by the Canadians a fortnight before. But this was only
the prelude to another attack in force, made possible by
a momentary improvement in the weather conditions.
Attacking the Next Link in the Chain
The new move was the direct outcome of the Thiepval
victory. The extreme left of the British thrust at the
beginning of July had been directed against the line
running north of the Ancre from Thiepval to Gommecourt.
But there the whole line had held. It was a natural
anticipation that after Thiepval was taken the attack
on this next link in the chain would be renewed. That
anticipation was now fulfilled. Only an extremely
sanguine prophet would have ventured to foretell
success where hitherto the most heroic valour had failed
to pierce positions stronger even than that of Thiepval ;
yet such a prophet's confidence would have been
justified by the event.
A morning of fog, a tornado of bombardment, over-
whelming, very brief — -so brief that the infantry rush
which followed it seems to have been wholly unexpected.
Into and over three successive lines of trenches the tide
swept irresistibly ; then came some hard fighting before
the foitrth was mastered. An advance of a mile on a five-
mile front against a position which for two years had
defied attack was no small achievement when measured
merely by the ground gained. But measured by other
criteria the feat is immensely magnified. It decisively
disposed of any possible calculations of the enemy —
calculations far from unnatural — that the winter mud
would no longer permit of serious aggressive operations.
Through a chao9 of barbed-wire men of the Wiltshire Regiment are advancing towards the German parapet. (Official photograph.)
2181.
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
Replenishing their stock of shells. An ammunition waggon just arrived at a British roadside battery.
side of the road, and some are hidden in the thick brushwood.
Guns are in action from each
A two days' respite of drying weather had sufficed to
give the opportunity for a blow, and it had been seized
on the instant — an extremely encouraging sign of the
competence of the command. It had shown a diminish-
ing power of resistance in the opposing troops — another
encouraging sign, though one on which it would have
been rash to base high expectations. And — more
important still — it confirmed once more the feeling
which had been growing ever since the push began —
that the Allies were fighting now to win, however long
the struggle might be maintained, while the enemy was
fighting to avert defeat.
The Storming of Beaumont-Hamel
The victory of November I3th flattened a five-mile
curve into a straight line. South of the Ancre it carried
St. Pierre Divion, north of it the " impregnable "
Beaumont-Hamel, and Beaucourt beyond Beaumont.
The rest of the week established the British firmly in the
ground they had won, though farther to the east some
gains near the Butte de Warlencourt had to be
abandoned. But apart from the moral consideration
already named, the military fact of primary importance
was that the positions were precisely those which had
been accounted the most impregnable, as constituting a
barrier which could not be surmounted ; affording, at
least, a strong presumption that, comparatively spdaking,
the next line would present a less formidable obstacle.
Nevertheless, it was necessary to bear in mind that
the Germans were, as a matter of fact, deliberately
adopting a plain defensive in the west, economising men
:uid playing for time, in the hope that their offensive in
the east would thereby develop in vigour and rapidity
enough to produce decisive results in that quarter before
the Allies could accomplish anything decisive either in
the west or on the Italian front. How far were events
in the eastern theatre indicating that such a hope was
likely to be fulfilled ?
When Rumania intervened in August the common
belief was that she had a highly-trained army of nearly
three-quarters of a million men, well equipped and
furnished with munitions. At that moment, moreover,
it appeared that the Germanic Powers would be unable
to stay the Russian advance in Galicia, the Rumanians
would receive large reinforcements from Russia, and the
Germans and Austrians alike would be unable to spare
either troops or munitions from the west to strengthen
their lines in the east.
Rumania on the Defensive
The programme attributed to Rumania was that she
should contain the Austrians upon her long Carpathian
front, and assume on the south an offensive against
Bulgaria, which would be simultaneously threatened on
the other side from Salonika. Thus, it was hoped, the
eastern and western Allies would at last be able to join
hands and work in complete- co-operation.
None of these anticipations were fulfilled. At the
outset, indeed, it appeared that the strength of
Rumania had been correctly calculated, but not her
plan of operations. Her defensive was taken up on the
Bulgarian side, her offensive on the Carpathians, where
her troops broke through the passes and poured into
Transylvania, the Austrians falling back before them.
2182
THE DRAMA OF THE WAR
Evidently the attack on Bulgaria was postponed to the
success of the move on Transylvania. Somewhat to the
general surprise, the advance on the south was made, not
from but into the Dobruja. Moreover, Halicz, on the
Austrian right in Galicia, did not fall before the Russian
attack. The tide was stemmed, and though Russian
forces entered Rumania, it was by no means on such a
scale as had been hoped.
Mackcnsen in the Dobruja
Already by the second week of September it had be-
come manifest that the Central Powers were after all able
to develop an offensive, though in what strength still
remained to be seen. Of the fact, Mackensen's appoint-
ment to the command in the Dobruja was a sufficient
guarantee. And when it was known that Falkenhayn
was in charge of the Carpathian operations, it was easily
understood that his supercession by Hindenburg in the
supreme command had been due, not to any depreciation
of his abilities, but to a disagreement on military policy,
in which the older Field-Marshal's views were more
consonant with those of the Kaiser.
And in the military situation there were two indubit-
able facts — one that Mackensen was threatening, though
he had not yet reached, the bridge-head on the Danube
at Cernavoda ; the other that the Rumanian advance in
Transylvania had been turned into a retreat upon the
passes. As yet, however, the sufficiency of the Rumanian
munitionment being taken for granted, the presumption
was that the passes would be held.
At this time the data for forming definite judgments
were wholly wanting ; but it was possible to extract
certain inferences from what was known of the situation.
Ths Rumanian attack did not increase the strain upon
Austrian resources so much as was at first supposed,
because it was a contingency which it had never been
possible to ignore, and which had become increasingly
menacing ever since the Russian advance began. The
troops, the " army of observation," had been disposed
on the hypothesis that the front line might be driven in
by such a sudden attack, but only to a line on which a
strong stand could be made. There they could be raised
to striking strength by a comparatively small reinforce-
ment, which could be provided by a very carefully-
measured combing-out from the western line — practic-
able by reason of the very highly organised system of
communications permitting of an extremely rapid
transfer of units from point to point.
Enemy Plans Against Rumania
In the next place the opportunity was given of
launching an offensive from the Bulgarian border. This
could not have been accomplished by the Bulgars alone,
but here it was possible to bring into play a composite
force of Bulgars, Teutons, and Turks ; the last of whom
were willing enough to strike at Rumania, though they
were reputed to have been very ill-disposed to join in
operations for the advantage, not of themselves, but of
Bulgaria. But in the third place, Bulgar activity in the
north, even when thus minimised, would impose a
greater strain upon them on the Greco- Serbian front in
the event of an attack in that quarter, which was cer-
tainly impending. From all of which considerations
the conclusion to be drawn was that the offensive against
Rumania compelled the reduction of the forces on every
other front to a degree which, if the extreme nicety of the
calculation failed, would be attended with serious risks.
We have seen signs of the fineness of this calculation
on the Somme, at Verdun, and on the Carso. We shall
ANTI-AIRCRAFT QUNS IN ACTION.— One of the anti-aircraft quick-firers in action from a motor-trolly. Inset: Men hurrying
to their anti-aircraft guns after the aeroplane had been detected as hostile. These official photographs, taken during the approach
of a German aeroplane over the British lines In France, depict scenes that took place every day along our front.
2183
THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
With the Canadian Red Cross Contingent in Flanders. Allied members lining up outside the camp kitchen for dinner. On the right
edge of the table a welcome supply of French bread is being heaped up.
now see it on the southern Bulgar front, where, however,
it was modified by another grave factor in the situation
— the attitude of the Greek Government. Until that
Government should be deprived absolutely of the power
of stabbing the Allies in the back, their action would be
too much hampered to permit the dealing of a decisive
blow. Here, at least, the psychology of the Germans
was not at fault. The King would play the German
game, and the Allies would hold their hand.
British Campaign in the Balkans
It did not appear probable that a very vigorous
attempt to penetrate Bulgaria itself would be made,
unless in connection with a Rumanian offensive. The
movements of the Bulgars, on the other hand, had
seemed rather to threaten an offensive on their part than
to be directed to defence, and they had pointed in a
scarcely veiled fashion to collusion on the part of King
Constantino's Government. Nevertheless, the first
stroke of the Allies was aimed from the right front of the
Allies against the Bulgarian frontier. On September
nth, as already noted, British detachments pushed
across the River Struma, and during the ensuing days
compelled the enemy to retire from several positions, not
without some sharp fighting.
As the new campaign developed, it became evident
that the British had assigned to them a particular role
which they discharged with complete success ; but it
was not the leading part. They were to make it im-
Eossible for the Bulgars to transfer any troops from the
ne facing them — to nail them to the spot by attacks
or threatened attacks. For the main objective, political
rather than strategic, lay to the west.
Monastir had been the bait which finally decided the
Bulgarian people to throw their energies into the Serbian
campaign. They lusted for Monastir ; they had won-
it ; they meant to keep it. Monastir is not a position
of high strategic value, and the care which the Germans
had devoted to securing the grip upon it showed that in
their eyes also the loss of Monastir might have a
dangerously demoralising effect upon their ally ; a
most invigorating effect also upon the Serbians, whose
recuperated forces had been holding the line opposite
against Bulgar attacks.
The direct move upon Monastir began on September
1 4th. The Serbians, supported by the French, advanced
upon the first barrier, a ridge terminating in the high
summit of Kaimackchalan. The main part of the ridge
was carried on the I5th, and the Bulgars were driven
down to the plain, upon Fiorina. Three days later they
had been pushed back to their main line of defence, the
Kenali entrenchments, and the Serbs, with the French,
had occupied Fiorina. On the right of the Allies, the
peak of Kaimackchalan was stormed the next day,
though the enemy made a series of desperate efforts to
recover it, and it was not till another week had passed
that such attempts were finally abandoned.
Frontal Attack on Kenali Lines
To reach Monastir it was now necessary to carry the
Kenali lines, which, secured on their right by impassable
hills, barricaded the level approach by the basin of the
Cerna and stretched across the river over the mountain
spurs round which it curved. After more than a fort-
night's preparation a frontal attack was launched upon
these lines on October I4th. The attack was made
in force, and the strength of the position was demon-
strated by its decisive repulse.
1'lSl
THE DRAMA OF THE WAR
If a frontal attack was proved to be futile, it did
not prove that the lines might not be turned on their
left, at the Chuke and Tcpavsti ridges, on the other
bank of the Cerna. Though no footing had been gained
here, two bridge-heads had been captured by the Serbs.
But for the next three weeks the fighting reported was
on the British front, for it was now, in fact, the business
of the British to keep the enemy on tenterhooks in
that quarter while the new Franco-Serbian attack was
being prepared. The effect was apparent when the
attack came ; no reinforcements had gone or could go
to the Kenali lines.
Monastir Fall* to the Allies
On November loth, then, the new attack opened on
the Serbian right. That night the eastern spur, the
Chuke ridge, was in their hands — that is, the enemy
flank was, in effect, turned. In the next two days
the second ridge was cleared, and the progress of the
turning movement threatened the rear of the entrench-
ments west of the Cerna. So far the work had been
done mainly by Serbian troops supported by French
guns. Now, while these were brought to bear on flank
and rear, the French and Russian contingents made a
frontal attack. The Bulgars had no choice but to beat
a retreat, fighting only a rearguard action. From this
point the advance on Monastir was almost unimpeded.
On Sunday, November igth, it was in the hands of the
Allies. The strategical advantage of the gain was
small ; the political and moral advantages might be
considerable. But the outstanding fact was that the
lines before Monastir had clearly been regarded by the
enemy as worth holding ; they could have been held
if even a small reinforcement had been forthcoming.
The inference was obvious. It had not been possible
to spare reinforcements. On a smaller scale, the lesson
of Monastir was the same as the lessons of the Somme.
What of the offensive against Rumania which had
imposed this economy of man-power upon the Central
Empires on every other front, forcing them to a gradually
retreating defensive ?
In the middle of September it was clear that the
advance of Mackensen in the Dobruja was, at the
least, a serious menace to that province, and that the
Rumanian advance into Transylvania was more than
held. The coming developments were wholly uncertain.
The first question was : Would Mackensen's line, extended
from Silistria on the Danube to the Black Sea, make
its way up to the much shorter line between Cernavoda
and Constanza, secure Cernavoda, and with it the control
of the Danube crossing ? A battle in the second week,
reported by the German accounts to have destroyed
the Rumanian army, did, in fact, carry the line very
appreciably forward, and secure the greater part of the
main road from Silistria to Constanza.
Evacuation of Constanza
There, for a considerable time, the advance was
stemmed. In the third week Mackensen even met with
a distinct reverse, though hardly a heavy one. When,
a few days later, it was announced that the Rumanians
had succeeded in carrying a force across the Danube
on the rear of the Germans, it seemed possible that the
German commander was in imminent peril of being
cut off and enveloped. Thus menaced, he might well
feel compelled to fall back at once in order to secure
his communications. He took the risks, however, and
stayed where he was — and was fully justified by the
event. As a piice of bluff, the crossing of the Danube
was a failure, and it was no more than bluff. The
Rumanian force which had crossed was not — and could
not be made — strong enough for active operations.
It was still uncertain, then, whether the next successful
stroke would be dealt by him or by the Rumanians.
The answer to that question was not given until, on
October 25th, it was reported that three days earlier
the Germans had forced their opponents to evacuate
Constanza, and had themselves occupied it. The hope
still remained that the Rumanians were able to
concentrate on the defence of Cernavoda. That hope
was dispelled by the news immediately following, that
Cernavoda had been abandoned and the Allies were
retreating into Northern Dobruja. The truth began
to be revealed that the decisive factor in the campaign —
superiority of munitionment — lay unmistakably with
the Germans.
Meanwhile, the Rumanians had been forced back
upon the whole long line of the Carpathian passes, and
there the defence proved successful for the time. The
German attack, concentrated on the northern group
of passes, definitely failed to break through. Foiled in
this objective, however, Falkenhayn turned his energies
against the southern group. But here, too, from the
Predeal to the Vulkan Passes, he failed to make effective
progress until, when the middle of November had
arrived, the Rumanians were suddenly found to be
in full and rapid retreat from the Vulkan Pass.
Th= Fall of Bukarest
Almost simultaneously Mackensen was able not only
to hold the bridge-head at Cernavoda, which had secured
him against the penetration of a fresh Rumanian force
into the Dobruja, but to carry forces of his own across
the Danube almost without opposition. In face of a
vigorous resistance, such an operation would have been
well-nigh impossible. The ease and success with which
it was now accomplished again demonstrated that the
Rumanians were lacking in the prime necessity for a
vigorous opposition — munitions.
The passage of the Danube and the penetration of
the Vulkan Pass enabled Falkenhayn and Mackensen
to join hands and advance on the Rumanian capital,
Bukarest. Only the most sanguine imagined that a
defensive line could long be maintained in front of it.
That Bukarest was unfortified was known ; that it
would be covered for a time by field operations outside
was understood ; that the covering armies would be
forced to fall back and relinquish it was a moral certainty
unless something wholly unforeseen took place. The
capital and the neighbouring oil centre were doomed
to go ; the real question was whether the Rumanians,
when the moment for retreat came, would be able to
accomplish it, as hitherto, without heavy loss of guns.
Therefore, although the Rumanian stand before
Bukarest was sufficiently vigorous to suggest that there
was just a possibility that it would prove successful,
no surprise, no serious disappointment even, was caused
by the news that Bukarest had fallen, which was received
in England on December 8th.
The "Lloyd George" War Ministry
Incidentally it may be noted that another raid of five
Zeppelins upon England only confirmed the impression
produced at the end of September, that the aeroplanes
had the mastery of the airships. Two of the five
Zeppelins were brought down in flames.
The fall of Bukarest was contemporary with political
occurrences which here may only be reported without
detailed discussion. In Greece it appeared that the
Allies would at last be compelled to abandon their
attitude of extreme forbearance, even if they should
abstain from going to the other extreme. But in each
of three out of the four Entente countries there was a
growing sense that somewhere or other there was mis-
management in the conduct of the war which ought
to be remedied. A change of Prime Ministers was
brought about in Russia, and in France a new control
of the military operations was constituted.
In Britain public opinion had been irritated partly
by the failure of the Admiralty — attributed to its civilian
chief — to suppress the submarine campaign, partly by
the fact that sundry schemes which seemed to promise
energy appeared to relapse paralytically. Suddenly
within the Cabinet matters came to a head, Mr. Asquith's
resignation was announced, and the task of forming a
new War Ministry was accepted by Mr. Lloyd George.
The death of the old Austrian Emperor a few days
earlier attracted no more than a passing comment.
2185
I. -OPENING BATTLES OF THE SOMME
On July ist, 1916, the important Allied offensive known as " The Great Push " was launched
from Gommecourt to the south of Ptronne. The memorable battles for the enemy fortresses of
La Boisselle, Pozieres, etc., are graphically told in picture and story in the following pages.
' AND DON'T FORGET " A young officer giving his men some flnal instructions and advice before the actual moment arrives for
them to go into the battle. The smiles on the attentive faces of the men are so many auguries of victory. (Canadian official.)
C6
2I8G
The War Illustrated
Largo Scale Map, indicating the Area of Victory in the great British advance on the Somrne, July to November. 1916
2187
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
Storming the Bazentin Hills
By EDWARD WRIGHT
ATER breaking up the German first line between
the Ancre and Somme Rivers on July ist, 1916,
the Southern British Army had a fortnight of
terrific fighting. The enemy had transformed the great
swells of wooded chalk running towards Bapaume into
a vast modern fortress which he regarded as being stronger
than Verdun. On the map, made by our aerial
photographers, his network of entrenchments, wire
entanglements, and redoubts looked like a spider's web.
The famous double cellars, which the farmers of
Picardy had built for shelter in the chalk in the sixteenth
century, when the Germans made their first great
invasion of France under Johannes von Werth, had been
enlarged and still farther deepened by the descendants
of the invaders.
In the village of Bazentin, for instance, there was an
enormous cavern in which a battalion and a half of Germans
could shelter from our heaviest gun fire. Then above
Bazentin-the-Little and Bazentin-the-Great rose the prin-
cipal chalk ridge, five hundred feet above sea-level and
nearly three hundred feet above some of the positions
we had won in the little river valley near Montauban.
In places there was an incline, nearly three miles in
length, leading upward through fortress woods to the
dominating second German line. This line stretched
from a windmill near Pozieres on the left to Delville
Wood on the right. In front on either side were the
bastions of Contalmaison, garrisoned by the Prussian
Guard, and Trones Wood, defended by forces taken from
Prince Rupert's army.
German Efforts to Stem the Advance
Germans by the hundred thousand were being drawn
from other parts of the front, and especially from Verdun,
in order to deliver such a stroke against the Southern
British Army as should bring our advance to a standstill.
Heavy guns by the thousand were also moving up by rail,
and shells at the rate of a million a day were pouring
through Bapaume and St. Quentin. Our men were told
by their prisoners that the great chalk fortifications which
began at the Bazentin villages were reckoned by German
engineers to be stronger than the works General Petain had
constructed at Verdun.
For the first fortnight, however, we retained the ad-
vantage of surprise. Our gigantic new armament of 15 in.,
12 in., g'2 in. and 8 in. guns, with our superb transport
arrangements for bringing up shells by the five million,
represented an achievement in preparation which the
enemy could not at once counter. Though he threw every
ounce of energy into the work, it took him nearly three
weeks to build up a local gun-power in any way comparable
to ours. In the meantime, our long-range 15 in. guns
shelled the German railhead at Bapaume, where we knocked
out some 12 in. guns and exploded their ammunition trucks.
German reinforcements could only advance through a
curtain fire of British shrapnel. Hostile battalions were
known to lose three hundred men in the march from the
railway to the trenches, and a brigade of Guards, that lost
their way near Contalmaison, entered one of our mechanical
barrage areas and suffered so badly that it had to be
withdrawn without going into action.
Lightning Strokes at Bazentin
In our lines, on the other hand, our tired troops could
be seen resting in the open by their piled rifles. Un-
ending columns of motor-lorries came close to the batteries
they were serving, so slight was the risk of a sudden tornado
of shell fire from the hostile howitzers behind the Bazentin
and Combles ridges. It was as much as the outmanoeuvred
and outgunned German artillerymen could do to assist
their own men in the battle that raged night and day down
the great slope. Our men gave the enemy no time to
reorganise his positions. In daylight and in darkness,
in mist and in rain, the ghastly, grinding conflict went on.
When the atmosphere was too thick for special artillery
action, our gunners maintained by the map a vast mechani-
cal sweep of fire over more than ten miles of enemy works,
communications, and railway centres. And while they
were holding down the enemy and battering him, tens of
thousands of our bombers steadily worked their way into
trenches, dug-outs, machine-gun positions, and gun-pits
occupied by the enemy.
On the left the Anzacs and the London Territorials
were coming into action by Contalmaison, where a
remnant of Prussian Guardsmen were hammered into
surrender by our guns. No water could be conveyed
into Contalmaison, with the result that the survivors
of the Guards' Division were at last compelled by thirst
to come out of their caverns. Their surrender opened the
way for the Anzacs' and Londoners' magnificent upwar 1
thrust into Pozidres at the top of the ridge.
Glorious West Kents
At Trones Wood, the great bastion on the left, the
position was reversed. A couple of hundred men and
officers of the West Kents had been surrounded in the
wood during a violent German counter-charge, and the
British commander naturally thought they had all been
killed or captured. But the West Kents are among the
most famous fighters in the British Army. As their
old colonel said, in taking over the command of
the ist Canadian Division, he came from a battalion
that had never lost a trench. Surpassing all their
previous records of endurance, the broken, battered,
surrounded, waterless company remained, for forty-eight
hours, an islet of invincibility amid a flood of ten
thousand enemies.
The Germans at last parleyed with the West Kents, but
the British soldiers refused to surrender. They beat back
bombing parties and charging infantry. So, on the night
of July I3th, 1916, the local German commander brought
some field-guns and trench-mortars down from the ridge,
in order to blast out the men who came from that county
whose motto is " Invicta " (Unconquered). But it
happened that, in the old days of the French Revolution,
the Bastille had been stormed by the people of Paris on July
I4th. With the establishment of the Third French Re-
public, July I4th had become the great national festal
day, and in France and Great Britain, Australia, Canada,
New Zealand, and South Africa striking preparations were
being made to celebrate the festival of France.
The Festival of Victory
In Picardy, Sir Douglas Haig and his Staff were also
preparing to pay homage to the men of Verdun on France's
Day. Many of our guns had moved forward, and many
new batteries had arrived, and on the night of July I3th
such a roll of thunder and blaze of crimson flame came from
our lines as eclipsed even our previous bombardment.
And the heroic West Kents were saved.
Above the heads of our waiting infantry the sky seemed
full of the whistle and rustle of invisible wings. The
whistling was a stream of lighter shells playing on the
enemy's wire entanglements. Then, above the whistling,
other unseen things roared like an express train going into
a tunnel. These were the heavy shells, some of them
carrying a ton of high explosives and metal, calculated to
choke and bury the dug-outs they did not destroy. Behind
was the enormous flap of cordite from the steel mouths of
the guns — a flat, dull, stunning rent of air that broke the
eardrums of men who worked for long without ear pro-
tectors. Against the blackness of the thick, cloudy night
the line of our fire flamed and sizzled like an electric arc,
rising and falling, now half dimming in the smoke from the
guns, now flashing out in an extreme fury.
Across the valley the infernal rain of shells made bursts
[Continued on jwje 2188
2.188
STORMING THE BAZENT1N HILLS l(££%-£j
of white and orange fire along the upper slope of the great
ridge, while between the red mouths of the guns and their
flame-shot, smoking targets the star shells, sent up by cacli
side, rose in fountains of strange fairy radiance.
The direct idea of this awful nocturnal bombardment
was to challenge the German commander to reveal his gun-
positions. He had either to let his infantry endure a
hammering worse than that which the French had endured
at Verdun, or else allow his howitzers to reply, and draw
by their flames the massed might of our long-range artillery.
In all modern battles the commander who is the stronger
in guns opens battle at njght, giving most of his gun-positions
away for the time, in order to compel his adversary also to
show his artillery hand. The guns captured by our infantry
were comparatively insignificant in number compared with
the guns that were caught and turned into scrap steel by
our artillery.
At half-past three on the morning of France's Day the
line of intense white and orange fire, marking where our
shells fell, went out like a _ —
great pattern of extinguished
fairy-lamps. But the flame and
thunder of our guns did not
diminish. A new pattern of
bursting shell fire instantly
appeared on the top of the
ridge. It was still half an
hour from dawn when our guns
thus lifted, and, under cover of
darkness, the heroic infantry of
our Southern Army made history
by daybreak.
For the first . time in trench
warfare on any front the second-
line position of the Germans
was reached and pierced. Since
the First Battle of Champagne,
in February, 1915, we and our
French comrades had several
times broken the first German
line. But despite our combined
heroism and skill we had both
failed to break into the enemy's
second line. There was usually
about four miles distance be-
tween the first and second line,
and this large intervening space
was a great fortress, with laby-
rinths of redoubts and mazes
of trenches designed to hold
up an allied advance until
the German commander could
obtain more guns, shells, and
men, and launch a decisive
counter-attack.
But in the Bazentin operations
Sir Douglas Haig and his com-
manders had set the British Army working behind our lines
with superhuman energy. Wonderful as was the Germans'
capacity for navvy labour, the rather easy-going and adven-
turous Briton had at last completely extended himself
in the matter of work. Between July ist and July
I3th our soldiers organised a second grand attack
quicker than the enemy could organise his grand counter-
attack. In the first phase of the battle we had taken some
months to collect and store millions of shells and dig new
sites for artillery and new communication trenches. But
after their first fine stroke, the men of our Southern Army
performed in the following two weeks more work than they
had done in the previous three months.
Completely Taken by Surprise
All the terrific fighting in the woods and villages beyond
Montauban and Fricourt was only a small part of the
labour of the battle. Advanced sites had to be dug for our
guns, with new shell chambers ; all the conquered positions
had to be consolidated, linked together, and strengthened,
till, with pick, shovel, and blasting explosives, a new and
immense underground city was excavated in the chalk, to
warehouse fresh supplies of shells, bombs, cartridges, food.
MARTYRED CAPTAIN OF THE BRUSSELS.
Captain Charles Fi-yatt, put to death by the Huns at
Bruges, July 27,1916. His offence consisted in bravely
piloting his vessel in defiance of a murderous U
boat on March 28, 1915. During a voyage from
Amsterdam on June 22, 1916, Captain Fryatt, less
fortunate, was taken prisoner, with his ship. Tried
by mock court-martial, he was executed contrary to
the enemy's own law, and before neutral influence
could be brought to bear on those responsible.
and water. The extraordinary rapidity with which our
fresh striking power was organised led directly to the
enemy's defeat. Our attack came at least a week before
he expected it, with the result that he was more com-
pletely taken by surprise than he had been on the Glorious
First of July.
In the darkness before dawn our gallant Line regiments
of Kitchener's men, from all parts of the British Isles,
carried the front German trenches in a triumphant rush
with little loss. When the day broke, the German machine-
gunners and riflemen in the Bazentin woods tried to hold
up our charge amid the trees, along lines of foliage-screened
wire entanglements, which had escaped our shell fire.
But in the main woodland our men had entered in darkness
and worked their way on the enemy's flank. In less than
an hour and a half the large wood was cleared of the cordon
of snipers brought down from the trees and of the machine-
gunners bombed out of their shelters.
The Douaumont ol the Somme
While the fight in the wood was going on, other British
battalions on the left swept
into the village of Bazentin-the-
Great and, reaching it in the
darkness, escaped much of the
sweeping fire down in the
slope. Entering the ruins of a
village famous in science, some
Irish troops conquered it by
half-past five in the morning.
Darwin's great predecessor, Le
Marck, was born at Bazentin.
Probably none of the Irishmen
knew or cared about this, for
they were extremely busy.
About six o'clock in the morn-
ing the German counter-attack
pushed them out of the top of
the village, but they bombed
their way back again, repulsed a
second counter-attack, and then
connecting with the British
troops in the large wood, they
stormed the highest point of the
ridge and, in a terrible piece of
slaughtering, smashed the Ger-
mans out of the key position in
the German fortress region of
Bapaume.
This position is known on
French maps as the Bois des
Foureaux, but our soldiers have
renamed it High Wood. It over-
looks all the lower ridges of
chalk running towards Bapaume,
and was a superb observation
station for the observers for our
big guns. It was at least five
times more important than the
height of Douaumont, at Verdun, regarding the capture of
which the German Emperor bragged so wildly and so loudly.
Sir Douglas Haig, however, did not want High Wood. It
was at the time too far away from his guns, and it had
been captured unexpectedly by the extraordinary dash of
the men of the New Armies. They held it for some days
in order to attract the enemy's fire on themselves while
hundreds of thousands of their comrades worked fairly
safely below the ridge, hollowing out the chalk, at the two
captured Bazentin villages, and bringing up the guns.
When this was done, the advance force at High Wood fell
back on the new dug-outs that had been prepared for them,
and the fiercer tide of battle moved towards the wings at
Pozieres and Delville Wood.
The science behind our tremendous blows was equal to the
power with which they were delivered. No longer did the
Germans talk about our amateur army. Amateur artillery-
men who could smash the veteran gunners of Germany, and
amateur infantrymen who could meet and break the
Prussian Guard, began to command in Germany the same
fearful respect which our " contemptible little " Regular
Army had earned in the fiercely contested engagements
between Mons and Ypres.
2189
Munitions and Guns Move Up Along the Somme
kneck speed over the grassy track a six-horse ammunition
hes by on its way to the battery, an officer perched on the
ecarious seat. and three steel-helmeted drivers in control.
Owing to the fact that water was scarce in some districts of the
advance, reservoirs were kept in the trenches protected by sandbags.
Anzao soldiers getting a "flying pig " into position, otherwise
a particularly effective type of aerial torpedo.
A companion ptcture to the first one on this page
into position by ten Shire horses, which were always the envy
the team could only proceed at a walking pace
Along the sun-bright, dusty roaas of France an enormous weapon is being hauled
the envy of our allies interested in horseflesh. Even with so much physical power
2190
Before and After Going Over the Top
British wiring party going up to the trenches. Circle inset: Some
of the Lancashire Fusiliers fix bayonets prior to the assault on
the enemy's positions, July 1st, 1916.
A tense moment in the trenches is when the roll-call is made after a charge, and the number of missing men is revealed by the
absence of their voices. This photograph shows such a roll-call on the memorable First of July.
2191
.WITH BRITAIN^ KING
,On Reids cf British Victory.
isflwfl
Ic C
The circle lllu.tr.tl... show. King Q.org. describing to King Alb.rt an amusing incident which h,s Mai.sty
In captured German trench... Above: All', well with the advance. An h.stor.o and happy »™"P °' J^",1*
from left to right : General Joftre, President Polncar*. the K.ng, Qen.ral Foch. and Qener. a^
2192
King George Follows the Course or
Australian soldiers going through a course of trench drill
from the left, will be
Watching the progress of the battle. His Majesty, from captured German
trenches, following the attack on Pozieres.
At the enemy's field quarters. King George about to inspect
The King made a tour of the ground captured, often
shows the Royal group (including the Prince)
a German dug-out captured in the great advance.
2193
the Great Summer Offensive of 1916
under Royal supervision. Among the officers, sixth figure
seen the Prince of Wales.
Studying a military plan. An officer explaining "the situation "to the King.
The group includes Sir Henry Rawlinson and General Congreve, V.C.
Honours for heroes. His Majesty decorating officers of the R.N. A. S
x posed to shell and rifle fire. This photograph
ispecting German trenches at Fricourt.
somewhere >n Flanders.
2194
Royal Interest & Soldierly Zeal
Radiant with pride and pleasure, his Majesty walked among his soldier subjects in France and Flanders, acknowledging
their enthusiastic welcome with a charm of manner which won all hearts.
A delightful snapshot of King Qeorge caressing a
tiny mascot puppy " attached " to a field hospital.
The King had a smile and a kindly word lor
many of the peasants who gathered near him.
2195
Men Who Laid the Foundations of Victory
Perhaps the hardest worked men in the Army are the Roya
Engineer, and Pioneers. Whether an advance is proceedln
not, they are always bu.y constructing, consolidating. Durini
the Somme offensive these valiant men accomplished splendic
and perilous work. While the bayonet and bomb were ousting the
enemy from hi. positions, the engineers were hard at it reversing
the captured trenches, hoisting the earth-sack, from on. side to
the other. This work was done under terrific counter-fire.
2196
The Doom of Ovillers by British Bombardment
Nothing could live in the storm of British shells which broke over
Ovillers — trees, shrubs, trenches, dug-outs, individuals were
utterly obliterated.
,
Two British soldiers contemplating the ruin wrought by artillery flre on the German trenches at Ovillers. Inset: Months of labour
and ingenuity swept away in moments. Interior view of the enemy trenches showing the entrance to the German dug-outs.
2197
Righteous Retribution in Birch Tree Wood
During the fighting at Fricourt a young Yorkshire soldier found
himself alone in Birch Tree Wood, which was being heavily shelled.
Presently he saw a wounded Qerman crawling on hands and
knees; as he crawled, another Yorkshireman, badly wounded,
passed near him. The German cautiously raised himself and
fired his revolver at the wounded man's back, shooting him dead.
Then he dropped to his knees again and resumed his crawl, but
another shot ripped through the trees. It was fired by the
youngster who had been left alone, and it found its mark. " I
killed the brute," he said afterwards, " and I'm glad of it."
2198
In Captured German Trenches at Ovillers
Lewis gun In action near Ovillers. Inset : German trench-bombs
that failed to explode.
Tired out with strenuous fighting, some British soldiers have flung themselves down to rest in a German trench at Ovillers. One
of their number, however, kept guard. (Official photographs.)
2199
The Sprig of Shillelagh and Shamrock So Green
The ryiunster Fumliers proved particularly formidable in the
many ralde Into German trenches that marked the British
advance after it began In July, 1916. On one occasion they got
In with irresistible dash, rushed the Germans off their feet and
bombed and bludgeoned them. The most deadly weapon used In
this encounter was a short bludgeon like a snillelagn, wnicn is
regarded as the prescriptive, hereditary right of all Irishmen. The
shamrock is the badge of the Munster Fusiliers, and " the sprig of
shillelagh and shamrock so green " gave the Huns a drubbing on
this night that none of the survivors will forget.
2200
Told by the Rank and File
WITH THE ROYAL FUSILIERS AT POZIERES
BY PRIVATE H. EVANS
IT was Sunday afternoon, just at the
time when folks at home were having
their after-dinner nap, when we
commenced to advance on Pozieres. The
Germans were pretty numerous in the
village itself, we were told, and would
hold the houses and rough trenches as
long as possible.
We had to contest every inch of the
ground covered, for, as usual, the German
guns were sending over all manner of
shells, and the machine-guns from the
ridge above the village were well at work.
And not only were we getting the usual
selection of shrapnel and high-explosive
shell, but you could occasionally get a
whiff of the lachrymatory projectiles —
they smell like a faint lilac, and some-
times the tears would start from your
eyes and stream down your cheeks.
Storming the First Line
It was comical to see men, goggled like
motorists, apparently crying, and at the
same time ripping out streams of swear
words at the shells. Then we'd get a big
selection of projectiles containing chloro-
form gas, and if we hadn't been pretty
smart with the gas-masks we'd soon have
been sleeping peacefully on the ground.
Just before it got dark on the Sunday
night we stormed the first line of German
defence and took a number of prisoners.
They weren't the type of prisoners we'd
captured in the first days of the advance.
They were Brandenburgers, a regiment
with a name something like our own High-
landers for fighting. Nor was there much
chance of rifle shooting when we came to
grips ; it was bomb and bayonet, knife
and rifle-butt.
The light didn't help us at all. Asa
matter of tact, you were within twenty
yards of the enemy before you could see
them, and those last few yards we covered
at the rush with a yell like a Trafalgar
Square cheer. We had all our work cut
out to deal with them, and several deeds
which would have won the V.C. in ordinary
fights passed quite unnoticed. One of the
corporals of my platoon, for instance,
stood over the body of his chum, who had
been stunned by a rifle-butt, and took on
all comers without any arms at all. It
was fist and boot for him, and the Branden-
burgers knew it all right.
Just after we cleared this trench, and had
dug a little head cover tor ourselves, the
machine-guns died away, perhaps be-
cause the gunners couldn't see. lor the
moon gave absolutely no light at all.
We got our field telephone connected, and
after a message had been sent to the rear
our guns began to drop shells a hundred
yards in front of us, while the Germans
tried to get theirs through that barrier
so that they could cut us up.
Through the Inferno
Ours, however, seemed to have the
range, for presently they lifted, and we
went forward right on their heels. " Now,
then," was the message we got, " over the
top and shift 'em." And off we went.
It was a rare sight to see the boys on either
hand rushing through that hell of shells,
with their heads tucked in and their
bodies bent forward. I, for one. have
never pretended to be anything of a
sprinter, but I'll bet I put up a new record
for the 220 yards, and almost before we
knew it we were among the Germans
again.
This time they'd taken cover on a
rough road, and' were firing rifle-grenades
among us. Our first rush settled their
hash, though a few again put up a bit of
a fight. But, name or no name, the
Brandenburgers are no great shakes with
the steel ; as soon as you get the bayonets
fairly working they seem to lose heart,
and they gave way, stubbornly at first,
and then with a rush.
Another Dose of Shell
Somebody must have been marking the
fight pretty smartly, for, as we were
chasing after them and picking off all
the stragglers who wouldn't surrender, we
got another dose of shell — mostly tear
shells, and we couldn't run for crying and
laughing. We retired a bit to the road,
and just after midnight went forward
again right into the outskirts of the
village.
We thought we'd been having a rough
time before, but it was nothing to the time
we had in the narrow streets. Every
house seemed to be packed with picked
Hun shots ; every doorway seemed to
conceal a machine-gun. In the first
run into the village we herded together
in a narrow street, and lots of good lads
went down in the hot reception we got.
But there was plenty of cover ; the shells
from both our own and the German guns
had torn down houses, and left heaps of
bricks and stones. There was one wall
just breast high, and we hid behind this,
with our rifles resting on the top. Every
time we saw a flash we fired at it, and in
many cases there was no flash from that
particular spot aiterwards.
We were getting a bit tired through
fighting all night, but nobody wanted
to stop for a rest.
Reinforcements Arrive
When daylight came we were joined
by a big party who'd got detached from
their main body during the night. They
hadn't a single officer left, only a corporal
in command, and they came and mixed
themselves among us behind the wall.
" I've stopped a bullet," said one big
fellow with a bandage round his arm,
" and there's going to be somebody who'll
smart for it before I'm through this mud
heap."
He was quite enjoying the scrap, and
every now and then he'd duck as a bullet
whistled through the air. One of the
bullets knocked off his hat, and whizzed
it about twenty yards away.
" Can't lose that bonnet," he remarked,
" I only got it the day before we came
across, and I haven't another anywhere.
I'll have to fetch it."
And he walked coolly off from behind
cover towards the hat. All the Germans
who could see him turned their rifles on
him, and the bullets hummed round him.
He got the hat and walked back, but
lust as he reached the wall he went down
with a bullet in his lung. I dragged him
under cover and put him out of harm's way.
" Darn that Hun," he said. Just as cool
and still smiling. " He's no darned sport
— but I got the hat."
Then he died.
That was the kind of man we had to
live up to, and I can safely say there
wasn't a man within earshot who wasn't
affected by his deed of daring. He threw
his life away, but he set a splendid ex-
ample— one that we lived up to in the
next few hours.
Our captain wriggled along behind the
wall till he came to the centre.
" Well, lads," he asked, " what about
it ? Shall we get along a bit ? "
The roar of " Yes, rather ! " that went
up xvas an eye-opener, and, with him at
our head, we rushed for the nearest house.
Rifle-butts swung at the doors like mad,
while the Huns at the upper windows
rained bullets among us. No sooner was
one man down than another took his
place, and when the door \vent we scuttled
through that house like rats in a warren.
The Germans fought like rats, too — like
rats in a corner, and when they couldn't
get swinging room for their bayonets and
rifle-butts they kicked and bit like fiends.
One fellow — I'd just knocked his rifle
clean out of his hands — fell on top of me
and bore me to the floor with his weight.
Then he tried to bite me through the
cheek, and I had to jam my thumbs into
his lace before he'd let go. I've got the
teeth marks in my cheek now.
Prom House to House
We cleared that house in ten minutes.
Then we stationed some men at the upper
windows to snipe the enemy in the opposite
house, and to keep its upper windows
free while we attacked it. OI course, you
mustn't think that the whole battalion
was dealing with one house at a time —
we were in groups all down the street,
some fighting on one side and some
on the other. We'd just dealt with our
fourth house when there came a German
battalion, marching in close order, and
with bayonets fixed and bombs flying,
round the corner. They came down that
street like the tide up a shore, and when
they met our lads you could fairly hear the
crash.
" Hochs ! " mixed with yells of " Play
U.P.
" Biff 'em ! " and that sort of
thing. Germans and British fired from
upper windows into the mob, though lor
our part we were pretty careful to aim
only at the spiked helmets. The Germans
didn't seem so particular ; they simply
blazed away as fast as they could load.
A little way down the street one " Fritz "
was leaning out of a window firing
from his magazine. I got a dead line on
him, waited a second, and then scored
a bull. He fell headlong to the pavement,
and lay there, a crumpled mass. Three
others I picked off in this way. ami
I was as mad as I could be.
Victory at Last
I saw a hat fly through the air, and
laughed hysterically when I remembered
the episode behind the wall. Then,
through the air, there came a big shell,
which plumped into the street in front ot
our house — we actually saw it fall. There
was a thundering noise, and in an instant
the walls of the house tell outwards, me
with them.
They picked me up on a stretcher when
darkness came, but they had to wake me.
In spite of the fighting and the gun fire
going on all around me, I tell asleep
as soon as I dropped, and I lost a tre-
mendous amount ot blood through my
wound. There's one thing I regret,
however, and that's that I didn't get a
chance to be in the finish ot the fighting,
when we cleared the Huns right out ot
Pozieres
Kv permission of Geo. Pulman *• Sons. Ltd.
GENERAL COUNT LUIGI CADORNA.
The Italian Commander-in-Chief.
To lacf ftHtf -.-'*'
2201
House-to- House Fighting in Fortified Pozieres
When the tentacles of the German lines were crippled, the most
costly and bitter fighting ensued in villages involved in the
German system of defence. Such a place was Pozieres, the
whole village being turned into one great fort. House-to-house
struggles were of frequent occurrence, and some of the Australian
troops displayed again that glorious valour which won them
fame in Qallipoli. This spirited drawing shows the capture of a
German machine-gun in an improvised fort at Pozieres.
D 6
2202
Two Phases of the Victory at La Boisselle
Assembling men ready to storm the German trenches, one of the most dramatic pictures of the war. A sergeant Is giving
orders In the foreground. On the left an officer laden with equipment is about to change his cap for a steel casque.
After the capture of La Boisselle. Men of the Royal Fusiliers indulge in a pardonable display of pride and spirit. Scattered
among the crowd are a number of French officers. In the far distance Is the battle-line. (Official photographs.)
2203
Through Roads and Meadows Ploughed by Shell
On the road to La Boisselle. A 'heap of discarded shell-cases is seen in the foreground. On the horizon the smoke of shell
explosions can be faintly discerned where the troops are going forward under cover of their artillery fire,
Conveying a trolley of pipes towards the front line, where they were utilised to facilitate the water supply to soldiers in the trenches.
A fleld-gun Is seen in the background.
Water for the inhabitants of No Man's Land. Hauling an eleotrio engine for condensing water over a shell-broken corner of the
neutral zone which, however, since the great advance of 1816, was in the hands of our troops. (Photographs Grown copyright reserved.)
2204
2205
Hauling, Digging and Mining Along the Somme
British Official Photographs
Big gun coming into position by the aid of much manual labour
somewhere along a French road.
Every possible ruse of war is resorted to in order to screen fighting men. Behind a broad smoke-stack some British soldiers are
digging in lull range of the enemy guns. Inset: Mine explosion. The earth heaves, a mass of smoking debris, shattered boulders
and roots are flung into space, and a yawning mine-crater results.
2206
Work of the Supply Section in the Great Push
East Yorks' baggage going up to the front. On the right two
typical London street steam-rollers are seen.
British camp behind the line*. The Inset photograph shows the great activity prevailing at the camp prior to the advance. IVlen are
moving up and down with baggage. In the middle distance a column of transport mules and horses is on its way back from the front.
2207
Briton Resorts to Fists in Lieu of Bayonet
During the first two weeks of the British advance on the
Somme the hand-to-hand fighting was particularly fierce
merciless. Yet there was one British soldier who could not forg
his native soorUmanshiP even then. He was a quiet-look, no
fellow and he asked a comrade to hold his rifle while he polished
off a German with his fists. When he was asked afterwards why
ho had chosen this method, he explained ingenuously that " the
bloke was too old to shoot in cold blood and too thin to bayonet.
2208
2209
Reaping Two Harvests from the Fields of Somme
Dramatic illustration of the violent contrasts in war. A reaper drawn by a pair of horses in charge of a lad of fifteen, and its peaceful
work immediately alongside a big gun engaged against the invader. These photographs were taken by a French engineer on the Somme.
Naval gun in position in a cornfield. These guns were carried on an armoured train and were mounted on a revolving platform so that
they could be pointed in any direction. Right: Heavy artillery moving along the ordinary railway.
Another view of a big gun on the permanent way. The crude painting of trees and the splashes of different colours on the protecting
armour served, under the law of "mimicry," to make the detection of the monsters less easy for hostile airmen by breaking up the surface.
2210
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Battle for the Ridge
Bv MAX PEMBERTON
THE end of August, 1916, was one of the most memorable
of the war. Not only did Rumania enter into the
vineyard, as it were, at the last moment, but strange
and exciting rumours came from Athens and Salonika, and
were attended by pale-faced handmaidens from Berlin.
Loud as the clamour was, and blinding the dust of fact and
fable, there yet arose above the turmoil the great story of
the Delville Wood, and of the Wilts and Worcesters, who
held the trenches south of Thiepval, to the humiliation of
the brazen Guard.
This is both a new and an old thing in the news of the
common day. The student of the war, who has not been
to France, is becoming familiar with that memorable scene,
and could draw a map of it with many a Staff officer. He
learned long ago that we are fighting for a considerable
ridge running from Thiepval on the one hand to Guillemont
upon the other. He could tell you that in the main there
are great rolling downlands of chalk, with rubble-heaps
that once were villages in between. But of the ridge itself
he is very sure, pointing out how that it forms the German
second line, is a very network of caverns and dug-outs and
well-armed shelters, and has been the desire of our eyes
since the earliest weeks of Armageddon.
Victory Over the " Invincible "
From its height the Germans looked down upon us for
two years, we may suppose with a just contempt. That
we would ever penetrate their first line they did not believe ;
but that we should be able to assault and take their second
would have been accounted the boast of madmen. So
much they said with confidence, until these months of July
and August undeceived them. What they are saying at
the moment their prisoners indicate in the written word.
What they are doing we know when the Kaiser dismisses
the Chief of Staff.
Understanding the ridge, the ordinary student knows
many names once famous locally upon and about it. All
these erstwhile smiling villages of the plain are marked upon
his mental map. He sees Longueval, where the Highlanders
piped that the Hun might dance to cold steel ; Bazentin
the Great and Bazentin the Little ; Fricourt and Maurepas,
Contalmaison and Bapaume, more clearly than all, perhaps ;
Ovillers, La Boisselle, and Pozidres, which will make the
second day of July for ever as memorable as the 23rd — the
Alpha and Omega of that great endeavour.
Of such scenes many battle pictures have been given to
us. We recall the heroic forty-eight hours which the West
Kents endured ; the storming of La Boisselle and the storm-
swept plateau our troops had to face ; the midnight assault
upon Pozieres by the Australians, and the final capture of
that immortal landmark. We read again and again of the
Prussian Guard, the 22nd and the 157111 Regiments brought
down headlong from Ypres to save the ridge. Some at
home, not perceiving clearly the meaning of the word
" pressure " as a Chief of Staff may employ it, complained
of the interludes, and declared that really it all came to
very little. These were the club-corner strategists, who
know as much of Pozieres as they do of the Poles. The
wonders of that fighting, the unceasing horror of it, the
inexorable purpose unflinchingly pursued, were lost upon a
little minority which has neither eyes to see nor ears to
hear. But the nation as a whole understood, and, under-
standing, was grateful.
Diabolical Strife at Devil's Wood
Mingled with the villages of the ridge arc the woods.
We know them by name as we know the villages, for many
of them have by ihe villages been named. Before the war
nothing prettier than these bowers upon a wide hillside
existed. Silver birches used to be found in many of them,
and all were verdant as we understand the term. Now the
most famous is Delville, well named Devil's Wood by the
troops who cleared it on August -24th and 25th. It stands
high above Guillemont, with a road to that hamlet, and is
itself practically a natural park to famous Longueval. Truly
have we fought for Delville like devils and deserved our
success. The eighteenth day of July carried us to the
outskirts ; but that was a point already well beyond the
German second line, which ran by Contalmaison, Longueval
and Guillemont. And before we got there we had to clear
other woods, and Trones had said that the West Kents
must never be forgotten. Anzacs and London Territorials
— all had helped us upon our way to Trones.
Bravo ! Worcesters and Wiltshiremen
Such fighting was after the hearts of such men. We see
them crossing the chalky upland, heads bent, eyes clear, the
bullets raining around them, the crash of shells resounding
in their ears, earth flying, trees uprooted, their limbs and
the limbs of men blown sky-high together — but the wood
is still their mark. They enter it — so poor and wan a thing
now, all a litter of branch and bark, and fearful holes and
wire a-coil and stumps and human blood. There is no
shelter here until they dig themselves in, or take to the
tree-trunk, and then breathe and wonder that they live.
It is catch who catch can, " and damned be he who first cries
'Enough!'" Snipers abound, and their bullets whistle
above or skim the ground below. No wood of the fables
could be so full of the sounds and shapes which should
affright but do not.
Many soldiers have given us pictures of this Delville
Wood, and the readers of THE WAR ALBUM DE LUXE are
familiar with them. For five weeks, as a correspondent
points out, there has been no rest in the dark places of that
fearful thicket. Holding the main portion of it, th~re were,
nevertheless, in the middle of August, positions upon
the north and the north-east where machine-guns kept us
from debouching. August 25th saw the end of these.
Not only did we clear them, but we pushed forward
upon a five hundred yards' line upon both sides of the
Flers Road. A similar gain of the orchards permitted us to
hold a curved line to a point a little to the south-east ol
High Wood ; we made another advance upon the high
ground to the north-west of Ginchy — and all this in response
to a savage onset, for which the Wilts and the Worcesters,
by thur gallant action south-east of Thiepval upon the
previous day, were responsible.
Despair of the German General Staff
Here, truly, was a battle picture for the painters. So
close were the trenches that our artillery fired to the pen:.
but never to the injury, of our own men. Huge shells
burst in the enemy's lines but a few paces from our own
infantry. A very hail of machine-gun bullets fell upon the
gallant fellows who leaped up presently to the final deliver-
ance of Delville Wood, and the answer to the Hun whose
" so far and no farther " had become a piteous " moritun "
for officers and men alike. We know now that the German
General Staff attached the greatest importance to this
action, and had gone as far as to declare that the salety
of their country was at stake. If that be the case, as \\e
devoutly hope, their further manifestos will be read wilh
interest.
All this, be it repeated, was the response to the previous
gallantry of the Wilts and Worcesters, of which so much
rightly has been heard. It must make a fine chapter
subsequently in the whole story of the ridge. The
Wiltshires, as we know, had previously captured the
Leipzig Redoubt, and this gallant action was the sequel. It
began upon August 24th, with the Ubual smashing bombard-
ment of the enemy trenches. At the appointed moment
the " Moonrakers " sprang from their shelters and charged
headlong across No Man's Land, now but a pock-marked
wilderness of dirty brown earth. So swift and relentless
was this advance that the 28th Regiment of Prussians was
still huddled in its trenches when the " Moonrakers " leapt
[Continued on rmie 2212
2211
Germans Carry British Wounded from the Field
Many touching incidents have occurred in the war which come as
a welcome relief to the long story of horrors. For example, the
Germans reported that the British Flying Corps dropped a wreath
in the enemy lines to the memory of Immelmann. After the advance
of July 1st, 1916, many captured Germans assisted in the work
of removing British wounded from the field, and it was no un-
common sight to see men who had been at mortal enmity one
moment enjoying temporary reconciliation the next.
2212
.
jwjf L-J1U.
THE BATTLE FOR THE RIDGE
over them. Now began a hide-and-seek of a kind not
surpassed upon the Somme. " Kamerad " was there, but
his hands were not always up, and he must be hunted from
cavern to cavern. Savage cries resounded, and the groans
of the dying. The bayonet flashed in dark places, and
muzzle met muzzle, so that the very clothes of the antagon-
ists were burned where the bullets passed. Nothing stopped
our fellows.
The great Hindenburg Trench, a cutting two hundred
and fifty yards long, full of Germans and commanded by a
machine-gun post known as the " Koenigstrasse Trench,"
was taken, as it were, in the stride. Bombing and bayonet-
ing as they went, these magnificent troops proved irresist-
ible. They hunted the Huns from dug-outs so large in
some cases that sixty men were housed in them, and in one
instance a battalion headquarters. They roved hither and
thither, fighting like demons as they went, and so ferocious
was their mien that whole squads surrendered without
raising a rifle.
Stirring tales of individuals naturally are told, and one
story that is quite remarkable. The Wilts and Worcester-
shires had reached the line of the German trenches, almost
obliterated by our artillery, and there, amid a hail of shells,
they set to work to dig themselves in. Sticking it with a
tenacity that was wonderful, they had reason to send a
" runner " back to the rear, and off trots this stolid fellow
as though he were late for a football match.
A Modern Messenger of Mars
It was dangerous enough in the open, but he appeared
to be quite unaware of the fact. No kind of shell put him
off his gait, and presently he delivered his message and set
off upon the return journey, through a very inferno, to
which he was oblivious. It is not surprising to hear that,
amid the din of bursting shell and singing bullet, our
runner located himself with difficulty, missed our own
trenches altogether, and presently found himself gazing
down into an abyss full of crouching men. These were
neither Wilts nor Worcestershires, surely ! The crop ears,
the helmets, the bayonets glistening, the attitude as of
beasts about to spring, warned the runner that he had
" barged " into a German trench, and that here was the
counter-attack all ready to begin. Report says that he
stayed not upon the order of his going, but trotted off again,
like a patient dog — and, more wonderful to tell, not one of
the Huns espied him. Never was there such a journey
since a famous personage did some sprinting of the kind in
ancient Greece. The runner got back to our own lines
safely, and there told the glad news. The counter-attack
was about to begin. Our artillery was warned. Away
hurtled the great shells into that very trench whose secrets
the lonely wayfarer had descried.
Of the other stories, many, conspicuously gallant, have
become familiar to us who read the splendid record of the
Somme. One fine fellow, who makes a speciality of killing
Hun machine-gunners, appears upon this occasion to have
varied the proceedings by bayoneting five Boches after
his ammunition was exhausted. An officer's bag was a
whole trench full of Huns, whom he so belaboured with the
butt-end of his rifle that they surrendered incontinently.
Prisoners came in all afternoon in batches. Their equip-
ment, we are told, was new and good, and each carried
three bottles of soda-water. They rounded off that fine
day's work, which was followed on the morrow by heavy
artillery fire, and upon the day after by the counter-attacks
of the Prussian Guard, the glory of whose defeat is shared
by Wilts and Worcestershires alike.
Torn to Shreds by Curtain Fire
Speaking of this affair, the " Times " says that it must
have been the most humiliating the Guard has yet experi-
enced. Launched toward seven-thirty at night, the usual
bombardment preceded it. For some hours all the pictur-
esque horror of that avalanche of steel and fire was witnessed
above and about the trenches we had won with such
gallantry. Monstrous clouds rose up from the earth
soaked in human blood. Columns of smoke, snow-white,
black, brown, and even pink, drifted away upon the breeze ;
but not until the debris of earth and men had shot high
above them at the instant of impact.
Finally, comes the Guard, debouching from its trenches,
hunched and staring, fearful of the holocaust, but pressing
on. It is devastated in an instant by our curtain fire. The
blue-grey wave breaks upon that fearful shore. Again and
again it surges, but to be scattered in a spindrift of bodies
and limbs torn asunder. The Wilts and Worcesters have
saved the day. We are one stage more upon the road to
Thiepval.
So the Battle of the Ridge goes on. If the omens arc to
be read . aright, and the policy which Hindenburg has
preached becomes now a practice, we may see it wholly won
before many weeks are passed. They talk of a shortening
of the German line and a great concentration upon the
eastern front. We may wish it thus— for then the supreme
hour of the war may be at hand.
German Marines marching along the Flemish coast. The comparative inaction of the German Fleet released a large number of men
lor service as Marines on the Belgian coast. In fact, most of the dunes were held by these amphibious fighters, who, though they
had escaped conflict in the onen sea, were not immune from the fire of British monitors.
2213
Wounded Lance-Corporal Subdues Five Boches
A striking instance of pluck and presence of mind on the part mans by sheer weight of his brave personality. Holding his rifle
of a lance-corporal. During the advance of 1916 he was sorely high over his head he shouted furiously to the Germans to drop
wounded in the left arm, but, nothing daunted, he gripped his rifle their arms. They immediately complied with his command, and
the harder with his right hand and was able to subdue five Qer- the lance-corporal marched them all back to the British lines.
2214
Great Guns ! Sure Shield of Advancing Infantry
Tons of tempered steel crawling along the captured roads behind
caterpillar— wheel tractors.
These terrific engines of war are advancing to new positions, mule— drawn ammunition waggons in their wake. Inset: One of the
faulty German shells, several of which fell In various parts of the British lines. (Official photographs.)
2215
British Wounded and Youthful German Captives
To walk through the rows ol stretchers with their suffering burdens was perhaps the most moving experience in the most moving
drama within human memory. Not Infrequently the enemy's wounded lay alongside their British opponents. Neither bore any malice
after havi«n nassed through the ordeal of battle, only too happy to have come out of it, temporarily at least, with their lives.
Germany's boy soldiers. During the advance on the Somme soldiers of the 1916 class were continually taken prisoners by the British
infantry. A group of these extremely youthful antagonists is seen above, two of whom in the first four must be brothers, judging
by their extraordinary resemblance to each other.
2216
Forty Huns Surrender to Four Yorkshiremen
British mercy was strained in the great advance by the way
in which Germans cried for quarter when our men had fought
to within ten yards of them, through a torrent of bombs. One
Qerman officer poked his head out of a hole and said, " I surrender.
and I have a wounded man with me." " All right," said a York-
shire sergeant, " fetch him up." Out of the hole came thirty-
nine men, all of whom surrendered, and were marched off to
the base.
2217
Told by the Rank and File
WITH "DERBY'S DEVILS" IN DELVILLE WOOD
BY PRIVATE L. FLETCHER
IT seems a strange thing that I, who
six months ago was a warehouseman
in London, should now be lying on
this bed, after taking part in as strenuous
a fight as ever fell to the lot of a soldier.
Yet it's a fact, and I, for one, am proud
that I have had the privilege of doing
my bit for the Homeland, even though I
was only a Derby armleteer.
During the advance on the German
front line we had shown that, although
comparatively new soldiers, we were
good fighting men, as the nickname
we had earned for ourselves — " Derby's
Devils " — shows. No seasoned troops
were more eager to be over the parapets
than we were ; no better fighting men
could be found anywhere than among
the platoons ol the New Army, just out
Irom England.
Against the Prussian Guard
We acted as supports during the attack
on Poziexes, and so we didn't get many
casualties, the only time we got hit being
when German shells came over through
the barrage, and dropped among the ruins
of the trenches they had so lately occupied
themselves. But, after the London
" Terriers " and the Australians had made
mincemeat of the Germans in the village,
we got orders to stand by to clear the
wood, which was still strongly held by
the Huns.
We were informed that the troops we
had to lace were the famous Prussian
Guard, but when we remembered what the
" Kilties " had done to them at Gomme-
court — and that after crossing a shell-
swept plain and in the teeth of hundreds
o! machine-guns — we weren't at all ner-
vous, though it certainly was an unprece-
dented thing to put what one might
fairly call half-trained men against the
supposedly best fighters in Europe.
Anyhow, we were all keen, and we
waited patiently for our guns to sweep
the outer edge of the wood, so that we
could get over and among the trees. It
was at once a terrible and a picturesque
sight. The shells would scream over our
heads, and droj> among the trees. Then
there would be a red burst of flame, and
the trees would fly in all directions, some
chopped 08 clean at the roots, others
torn right out of the ground.
At last the telephone message came
that the guns were increasing their range
another hundred yards, so we stood by.
They slackened, stopped a second as the
sights were altered, and then crashed
lorth again — and we were over the top.
running like fiends tor the cover of the
fallen trees. But, although the barrage
of shell prevented the Germans from
bringing up any supports, there were still
plenty ot them left among the timber,
and they were far from pleased to see
us. At least, that was the impression we
got as we took the first cover that came
to hand.
Sniping the Sniper
The Germans were there in hundreds,
snug and sate in dug-outs and under
cover, and it seemed at first as though
the bombardment had only been a waste
ol ammunition and time. But we weren't
troubling much about shell then ; it isn't
the big stuff that gets you. as a rule —
rifle and machine-gun bullets are infinitely
more dangerous.
" Steady, lads 1 " cried our sergeant —
one of the old Regular Army men. " Get
on the bull before you pull trigger, unless
you're snipers, and you'll score every
time."
His voice steadied those of us who
were flustered, and the shooting wasn't
at all wild. I lay behind the root of a
tree, which both gave me excellent head
cover and provided a rest for the barrel
of my rifle. Somebody on the other side
had picked me out as his special target,
and after three or four bullets had chipped
bits of root ofl, I took great pains to
keep myself covered, though I kept an
eye lilting as well.
It wasn't long before I found my
persistent friend. As I watched, his
spiked hat raised itself for a second, then
his rifle muzzle spat at me and disap-
peared. I waited for him ; the butt
pressed into my shoulder, my eye along
the sight, and my finger itching to pull
the trigger off. It seemed ages before
he bobbed up again — and then 1 got him.
At least, I didn't get any more rounds
from that quarter.
" Have you got your magazine full ? "
asked the sergeant just behind me. I
had. " Then you can advance as you
like, but don't get out of touch, and
don't forget your signals." And he was
gone to the next man.
Getting My Own Back
1 waited my chance, and crawled
twenty yards lorvvard into a shell-hole,
where the second-lieutenant of my com-
pany was already lying.
" Come on I " he said cheerily. " You'll
be able to do some good snapshooting
here I The place is simply full of them ! "
I grinned, and settled down to shoot.
One by one men crawled through the
tangled trees, and snuggled in the hole,
till there was standing room only.
" We'll get a shell here in a minute,"
remarked the sub. " That sausage there
has marked us down, I'll bet."
He'd hardly got the words out before
a big howitzer shell sailed over, and
blew a nice convenient crater about fifty
vards ahead. The sub was undaunted.
" That's another nice bit ot cover, lads,"
he said. " Let's take advantage of it
while the taking is good."
We jumped up and rushed, heads well
down, rifles loaded, bombs in hand and
bayonets fixed. Just as we reached the
crater rim a party of about fifty Germans
came crashing towards it, and it was a
case ot " pull Devils, pull Huns." Any-
way, we got three or four volleys into
them before they were on top of us.
They didn't stay to attack, they simply
crashed down into the crater, and then
began the most glorious ten minutes I've
ever struck. It was thrust and thump
with the butt, firing off the cartridges
in our magazines with the muzzles touch-
ing flesh. You could smell the burnt
clothing as you fired, and 1 got a nice
clump on the side ot the head that made
me very annoyed. I said so, too. and
pointed my remarks by spitting the
Prussian Guard 1 was nghtmg neatly
on my skewer. That was a bit ot my
own back, anyway
We'd just disposed of that little lot
when a second storming-party came from
the Germans' side, but before they got
to the crater they were all chopped up.
A second platoon of ours had just collected
in another shell-hole to our left, and,
thinking we still had our hands full with
the first lot, had kindly attended to the
new-comers for us. But we didn't exactly
appreciate it.
" Hi, there I " called our boy-officer.
" Will you kindly mind your own business
and find your own Huns to strafe. We've
got a patent out for the ground ahead
of us, and if you infringe it again you'll
get an injunction you won't like ! " And
we all said, " Hear, hear ! " and laughed
like the dickens. It's strange what little
things appear funny at times like this.
A Zulu Yell
Again our guns stopped for a second,
and then crashed on again, and again
we went forward at the heels of the shell.
There didn't seem to be any organised
resistance for a time ; the fighting was
quite detached. Here there'd be a little
battle between a section under cover
and a group ot Germans ; there we would
be advancing as last as the shells would
let us without a single target to shoot
at. It was a game of hide-and-seek,
too. As you crawled from cover to
advance, mostly on your knees, a bullet
would zip past you. and you'd drop flat
and look where it came trom. Then you'd
get up and fire, and there'd be no answer-
ing round, but as soon as you crawled
out again the mysterious snipers would
pot away at you.
We came at last to a rough trench
chopped out of the ground, with a breast-
work of tree-trunks. In some queer way
our shells had missed it quite, and the
Prussians were as thick as thieves inside
it. They were ready for us, too. and
gave us no peace.
" Well, they're asking tor it, lads ! "
shouted the young officer. " Just show
'em what ' Derby's Devils ' can do ! "
And he was up and running, with a
bit of a walking-cane in one hand and
a revolver in the other, and we were
after him, with a yell that would have
done credit to a Zulu regiment. And
they waited for us, and threw us back
by sheer weight. But not far. We
crashed on and on again and again,
simply maddened. I got a bullet through
the upper part of my arm, but didn't
feel it, and when at last we did get over
the top it was hell itself. Stab — swear —
stab ; bang and crash with the butt.
The officer laid about him with the cane till
his revolver was empty, then, just as he
clubbed a German officer with the butt,
he got a bullet somewhere. I saw him
go down, and jumped for him, but a
bayonet picked me up neatly as I dropped,
and pinned me down. I had just strength
enough to fire the last cartridge in my
magazine point-blank at the grinning face
in front of me.
Willing to Go Again
Then I just slipped ofl, and when I
next knew anything I had a dead Boche
for a pillow and a field-dressing round
my arm, and another one round mv
"tummy." But "Derby's Devils" hail
taken and held that German trench, and
were only waiting for daylight to go
ahead and get another section ot line.
At last they advanced, and lelt me
behind to be picked up by the R.A.AI.C-,
and — so here I am, on the shell tor a bit,
but glad 1 went, and willing to go again
if I'm well in time. You see, I want to
be in at the death.
E6
2218
Glimmers of Kindness Amid the Cruelty of War
The fight over, a British soldier, hard and stern to outward seeming, walked along a trench giving water to the wounded Germans
waiting dejectedly to be led on prisoners. Right : British rhaplain writing a postcard for a lad whose right arm was disabled.
Searching Qerman prisoners after capture. (Official photograph. Crown
copyright reserved.) Left : British chaplain taking the names of wounded.
Wounded Germans arriving at an advanced dressing-station on the western front, July 30th, 1916. This page furnishes camera
evidence that should satisfy the German people of the humanity with which the British behave towards their wounded captives,
(All these illustrations are from official photographs.)
2219
British Howitzers Move Forward in France
Qiant periscope captured from the Germans by French Colonial
troops in one of the Somme battles.
German prisoners cleaning some of the captured guns and
trench-mortars, under supervision of a British officer.
A helping hand from the enemy. Prisoner assisting despatch-
rider. Inset : Holt caterpillar tractor hauling a heavy gun.
One of the most thrilling features of an advance is the effective transport ot monster r,owu«r» irom place to place. These ten
engine* ot destruction are covered with tarpaulins and dragged laboriously along the battle roads by powerful tractors.
2220
Reserves and R.A.M.C. in the Fighting Zone
•he Allies, in 1916, celebrated July 14th, the National Day of France, by successful attacks on the German lines north and south
f the Somme. This photograph shows men who were about to relieve others in the British front line havmg a meal before start, ng.
A " Rest Home " for soldiers near the firing-line. Note the
Royal initials " O.R." formed in plants in the flower-bed.
While the casualties in the Battle of the Somme were of course very heavy, authorities agree that the proportion of light wounds
was very high. At this caravan buffet for " walking wounded " the refreshments appear to havo been more interesting to its
natrons than their injuries. Inset: Wounded being brought to the dressing-stations on a trench tramway. (Official photographs.)
2221
Rules of the Road Where the Allies Join Hands
French Official Photograph*
Scene at the junction of the French and British lines in the Valley of the Somme. French soldiers working among the pulverised
remains of what was once a timber-encircled village while a British cavalry patrol rides by along the pitted road.
On active service loaded convoys have the right to the road, while empty waggons travel on the roadside turf or across the fields. A
glimpse of the unending stream of British supply convoys that wound along the Somme Valley, with empties returning on the left.
2222
Told bv the Pank and File
WITH THE BERKSHIRES IN "THE BIG PUSH'
BY PRIVATE S. J. BOYLAND
•"fHE village had been taken, the
Australians and the London re?i-
ments who had been lucky enough
to share in the capture ot this important
little village had been relieved, and at
nightfall we occupied the first German
trenches outside the village to the east.
They were right on the crest of the ridge
— the summit of a position which had
cost us much fighting and the lives of
many gallant lads.
There was a picture before our eves
that was quite unique. Right ahead of us
we could see the German guns in action,
firing for all they were worth, and we
counted the flashes as we lay snug behind
cover. Halt a mile away there were about
forty batteries all pelting away as fast as
they could be loaded, and from the size of
their shells I should have considered
them to be light field-pieces.
Sniping Enemy Gunners
Every now and then a battery would
shift its position, and we watched the
gunners limber up and dash ofi down
the hill, helter-skelter, driving like fiends
and flogging their horses to their fastest
pace. This was our opportunity lor a
little " running-man " target practice, and
you can bet we didn't let it pass. There
was no hurry in the trenches, you simply
took aim at a certain point and waited till
the first horse crossed your line ot sight,
then you squeezed your trigger, holding
your breath and taking as deliberate
aim as it doing a musketry course, and
sometimes you'd have the satisfaction of
seeing a driver or a gunner topple over
from his seat on horse or limber.
We were looking into the darkness,
as I said, but that darkness was bril-
liantly illuminated by bursting shells,
star-shells, rockets, and Very lights.
We were in the centre ot the light, and
the night was about as hot as it could be.
The weather had been beautiful, and the
shells burst so close that the heat was
a thing you were simply bound to notice,
though there was plenty of excitement
to distract you.
But, hot as it was, we soon got it
hotter, for the Huns started firing their
liquid-fire shells among us. Then they
mixed the shells, sending shrapnel and
high explosive over together with the
fire. One big shell burst near me —
within five yards, and 1 was picked up
and thrown into the air. I thought
that my number had actually gone up
that time, but 1 seemed to be a long
time coming down, and when I landed
it was on soit earth. 1 was shaken and
dazed, but louijd 'that the shell had
dropped me into another shell-hole, close
alongside my original position.
"Over the Top"
1 was out oi the way for a little while.
Then, during a lull in the firing. I crept
to the edge ot the crater, and towards
my old position. That lull must have
been made tor me. tor as soon as I got
back into the old German trench they
started strahng us again.
We were getting annoyed, and some
fellows asked our captain when we were
going over the top. " Wait a bit," he
said. " Their wire isn't sliced up enough
yet. you'll have your till ol lighting
beiore niorumji." bo we had to wait,
and all the time we were getting more
and more angry.
Over our heads we heard the whir
of aeroplane propellers. They must have
been flying pretty low, for the noise
of the shells and the firing didn't drown
that ot their engines. Three minutes
afterwards we saw a brilliant display of
fireworks among the German gunners, and
many of them turned their pieces into
the air, and tried to get the aviators down.
That was our chance, and we took it.
" Over you go. lads I " yelled half a
dozen officers in a second. One of them
dropped to the telephone and yelled an
order to the gunners behind us, and
they sent a veritable hail of shells over
our heads into the German ranks.
As it was, the gunners saw us coming,
and limbered up at their top speed,
leaving the ground open for us. They
took up position quite a long way ahead
this time, too far off for us to do any
more target practice ; aad, to tell the
truth, we were too busy digging ourselves
in before they registered the target — that
was us in their position — to do much
shooting.
Towards dawn they ceased their fire
altogether, except for a few guns which
fired star-shells, so that we should not
advance under cover of the darkness.
And when light broke not a single German
gun was to be seen, except the ruins of a
few that the aeroplanes had crumpled
up. But, right ahead of us, about twelve
hundred yards away, a fresh German line
of infantrymen had been rushed up, and
they, too, had dug themselves in.
Shot Down by Their Own Guns
It was the old thing — bob up, pot at
the first head that showed itself, and get
under cover quickly — the same as we
had beiore the advance commenced.
But, early in the afternoon, half a battalion
ot the Huns in the trenches in front
signalled that they wished to surrender.
They stepped out ol their trench when
we knocked off firing, and came towards
us, with their hands in the air in the
approved lashion, in good order, but
about two hundred yards away they got
" nerves " badly, and broke in a panic, some
running towards us, and others making
for their own lines. But before they
could reach them their own guns opened
fire on the Hank, and raked them with
shrapnel, while our gunners, thinking that
there was something like a counter-attack
in the wind, also chipped in, and a dozen
machine-guns took a hand as well. There
were about twenty wounded men escaped
out ot all that crowd, and the main part
ot the killed died through their own
bullets.
At four o'clock our artillery started
their usual preparation. They hurled
shells over our heads to form a barrage,
and the strange thing is that we all went
to sleep, except tor a tew sentries, while
that awtul dm was going on. We required
a nap. 1 can assure you, but we were
all awake again beiore it got dark, lor
we knew that another attack was to
come.
The enemy, knowing this also, sent
star-shells and Very lights up by the
thousand, silhouetting us against the
dark background so that we tormed
perlect targets loi rifles and machine-guns.
Men dropped, but we pressed on, and soon
came to their barbed-wire entanglements.
The bombers ahead of us kept the Boches
busy while we carved lanes through the
wire, and then we filed through, rakt d by
fire the whole time, the bombers loading
and lobbing their grenades over as last
as possible-
Between the lanes officers stood and
yelled : " To the right ! " " To the left ! "
And when the firing got so loud that they
couldn't be heard, they blew whistles to
guide the troops coming up behind to
the gaps. But we were well among the
Boches in no time, and if the fighting
had only been half as good as the promise
of it was, we should have had a really
fine time. I can tell you that we were
all itching to get a rub at close quarters,
for during the attack we had been kept
more or less in reserve, and when those
blessed pap-fed Boches started in to
surrender as soon as they caught the
glint of a British bayonet at close quarters
it nearly made us weep with disappoint-
ment. But we were more unlortunate
in our section of captured trench than
they were a bit farther along the line. It
was strangely quiet where we were,
but they seemed to be having a regular
rough - and - tumble. You could hear
English language (some language, too !)
and guttural German curses.
"There's something doing over there,"
said my platoon leader. " Let's go and
investigate." We did.
Gluttons for Fighting
As soon as we started to move we
got right in the way of a shell, and for
the second time I gave death a wide
miss. " Third time will do it, Jim,"
I told myself, little thinking that I had
the gift of prophecy. We went into that
bit of trench and gave our lads a hand,
and not before they wanted it. If the
Germans to the left were worn and tired
these weren't, and they were gluttons
for fighting. It was all thrust and slash,
too ; no firing. It was too close quarters
lor that. I got mixed up in a corner
where two of my pals were dealing with
halt a dozen Boches — two big ones and
the others mere boys. It seemed a pity
to do the youngsters in, but they were
fighting like fiends.
And then the third shell came — right
plump where we were scrapping. It
wasn't a lilt this time ; it seemed to
sweep my legs right under me, and I
dropped, with my right leg clean broken:
right across a groaning German youngster
They took us to the rear in stretchen
side by side — he a prisoner — and they
bandaged us both up.
We had taken much ground, and that,
considering the fierceness ot the fighting,
was as good a bit ot work as ever the old
Berkshires did.
July
Aug.
Nov.
May
Aug.
Oct.
Aug.
DECLARATIONS OF WAR
1914.
28. — Austria against Serbia.
I. — Germany against Russia.
3 — Germany against France.
4 — Britain against Germany.
7 — Montenegro against Austria.
10 — France against Austria.
12. — Britain against Austria.
23. — Japan against Germany.
5. — Britain against Turkey.
1915.
23. — Italy again t Austria.
20. — Italy against Turuey.
15. — Britain against Bulgaria.
16. — France against Bulgaria.
19. — Italy against Bulgaria.
1916.
27. — Rumania against Austria,
28. — Italy against Germany.
28. — Germany against Uumania.
2223
Run to Earth ! Enemy Trapped in Deep Dug-out
had been practically untouched by bombardment, owing to the
2224
Watching at the Front and Working at the Base
Getting the better of a refractory mule on the British front. Six A signpost of the advance on the west front. The way to Pozieres,
men, ropes, and stout logs were necessary to repair one shoe. Bapaume, and the Rhine. Pozieres was captured on July 26th, 1916.
The target of a big shell, a tree on the front has broken at right angles, but
forms the support of a little outpost hut.
The way in which millions off letters passed to and from the fighting-line was one of the marvels of military organisation. This
corner of the trench O.P.O., and letters and parcels are being sorted. In circle : A bomber adjusting his stock of grenades.
This is a
2225
Litter of War Left in the German Lost Lines
Man of a mighty age. Gordon Highlanders on their way to the trenches with
the light ol battle in their eyes.
German look-out in Mametz Wood, the elusive Column of German ammunition waggons literally wiped out by British shell fire,
target of a elever British marksman. Some of our soldiers are in possession of the position.
Sritish officer inside a solidly constructed German dug-out with German ammunition abandoned by the enemy in r
a concrete roof. (Official photographs. Crown copyright reserved.)
2226
Told by the Rank and File
HOW THE ROYAL WEST KENTS HELD
TRONES WOOD BY CORPORAL DAVID MOORE
Corpl. DAVID MOOBE,
of the fitng't Liverpool li,;jl.,
attached to the Rogal Welt
Kent Regiment.
FO R some reason
or other I'd
been fighting
with the Royal
West Kents for a
long time before
the big push com-
menced, and after
we'd started the
Germans on the
run we lay in the
captured first-line
trenches, just in
iront of Trones
Wood.
One afternoon,
after tea, we got
orders to stand by to move on about
eight. We were to get across to the
timber in the straightest possible line,
and take or make what cover we could.
On the left there was another small
forest, where some of our troops were
already in possession, and the land
between this and Trones Wood was to
be consolidated by my platoon, with
three others.
We started off as darkness fell, and
managed to reach the edge of the wood
just alter midnight. We hadn't any
guides to show the way, and the ground
was exceedingly bad going, and in
addition there was the knowledge that
the enemy were in lull lorce on our
right and inside the wood proper to cheer
us up. But we meant to clear them
out of it, and were right glad to get a
chance to be among them. We hoped
that the fighting would be of the close
quarter order, so that we could see what
we 'were doing. Anything would be
better, we considered, than standing
waist deep in a trench, and firing -odd
and occasional rounds at a puff ot smoke.
Straight Through the Barrage
The ground we crossed made us savage,
too. lor it had been fought over betore,
and here and there we'd come across
the bodies of our own comrades. Many
others were wounded, and, being within
the zone ot fire, the ambulance people
hadn't been able to get up to them. In
one shell-hole that we stumbled across
there were ten lads, all hurt in some
way or another, and still fighting They
borrowed our field - dressings — quite
against all rules — and two oi them
insisted on advancing with us. The
others we managed to send back.
There was a sort ot hall-hearted
barrage fire going on. We walked right
through it, and as we advanced it
lilted and played just in front of us.
Needless to say. our own artillery were
sending shells screaming over our heads
in tons.
We reached a bit of sunken road just
at dawn, and dug ourselves in, lor we
knew that when the light was good
Fritz would straie us hard.
" You had better catch what sleep there
is going, lads." said our captain. There
mightn't be any lor you to-night." So
we lay down, just where we were, alter
posting a lew sentries, and slept till
breakfast time We were carrying rations,
ol course, and water-bottle full, and in
addition we'd brought along a spare
supply ot water in petrol tins. When
we came to make tea with this, however.
we soon got disappointed, for it tasted
so strongly of petrol that even we, used
to putting up with all sorts of things,
couldn't manage to swallow it.
We worked on the road, making good
our position, all through the day, getting
a dinner, steaming hot, from the A.S.C.
waggons, in spite of the barrage fire.
It was really wonderful to see the huge
motor-lorries dash up through the
shells, deliver their soup and beef, and
then make off again, wobbling all over
the shop as their drivers dodged the
shell-holes in the ground.
The Solace o! Fatalism
We got orders to advance again at
half-past four, and every man got his
bombs ready. The German artillery
fire had increased terribly by this time —
they seemed to know just what we
intended to do, and I can tell you there
wasn't much lagging behind. We didn't
try to dodge the shells — if your number
is up there's no sense in getting out
of the way, and if it isn't, well, you
can walk through German barrages
every day. We reached the rear of a
position where another company were
already entrenched on a ridge, and
waited. About an hour afterwards
our own artillery " lifted " about two
hundred yards, and with a yell we all
pressed on at the rush. The under-
growth was thick about here, and it
kept on hanging men up. but we slashed
through, and smacked our bombs over
at every opportunity. We handed over
a lot of bombs to the company ahead
of us — they'd somehow used up all their
own — and finally, when we stopped for
a bit, we got bombed in turn.
Again as darkness fell we reached an
enormous shell-hole made by one of our
projectiles, where we found part of
another platoon. The Germans were
entrenched about twenty yards in front,
and through the night they kept on
lobbing time-bombs over. About mid-
night a voice hailed us in German, and
asked some question. We didn't give
him any answer beyond shoving the
muzzles of a dozen rifles at his breast, and
calling on him to surrender.
Riddled with Bombs and Bullets
We hadn't understood him, and he
didn't seem to understand us. He
rapped out a curse, and turned and ran
towards his own lines. He didn't get
very iar ; a bomb dropped close under
his teet, and a tew dozen bullets punctured
him. In fact, everybody seemed to
have a spite against that poor Boche —
perhaps it was because they'd been de-
prived ot a good night's rest.
Just alter that we got orders to assault,
thinking the enemy were only on our
flanks and ahead ol us. Nobody seemed
to expect an attack from the rear, as
we'd naturally cleared all the ground
we crossed ol the enemy, and thought the
others had done the same. Perhaps they
had, and the Germans had worked round ;
anyway, betore we'd gone very far
we were being enfiladed from both sides,
peppered Irom the tront, and straled
from the rear. It was hot, and no
mistake. We tought like demons in that
terrible darkness, firing at the flashes
ot the enemy's rifles, and shortly alter
we discovered that we were surrounded
Fritz brought a battery ot machine-guns
into play, and we had to get right down
close to Mother Earth.
The bullets sprayed us like water from
a pipe, and the gallant lads were dropping
on every side. But, though they were
wounded — many of them severely —
they kept on fighting and firing.
The Germans in the rear seemed deter-
mined to clear us out altogether. They
came on in massed formation, and long
before we could see the outline of their
bodies against the sky we could hear
the crashing of the undergrowth under
their heavy boots. And, as if by precon-
certed signal, at the same time as they
swept on the machine-guns would double
their rate of fire, and every German
to the right and left and in iront would
indulge in a burst of rapid firing. Dawn
found us hemmed in on every side,
holding a position that someone had
made into a rough kind of tort before
we came, and we could see that we
were terribly outnumbered.
" Steady, the Half Hundreds," was the
word, and steady they were. I saw my
own regiment sliced up at Mons, and we
had some of the best fighters in the Army
among us, but this stand was even bigger
and better somehow than anything I'd
ever known of. Three times we tried
to get a message through to the outside,
but each time, as the messenger started
off, he was shot down. We didn't know
whether we'd ever get relieved, and
we all made up our minds to die fighting.
Bravo! the Half Hundreds
The day after — France's Day — the
main attack was launched, and the
bombardment that preceded it was
terrifying even to us, whose own guns
were firing. We could see and hear
the shells screaming over, and all the
time we were praying that they wouldn't
shorten the bracket — that is, make the
range shorter — because, if they had,
we should have been right in the line of
fire and unable to move either way.
lust before seven we heard a great
crashing, and the Germans to our rear
came rolling on in a vast, dense mass.
We thought it was another attack, but
when we could see that they were
retiring before a grand charge by some
of our troops, we nearly wept with joy.
The advancing regiment seemed to have
unlimited supplies ot bombs, and what
with these coming from Fritz's rear,
and our own bullets chopping him up
as he came on, he got a taste of what
we'd had all night long.
The charging regiment came on, passed
us, and gave us a cheer as they did so.
Weary, worn-out — we had been working
and fighting for lorty-eight hours straight
ofl, with about an hour's sleep — we
crawled out ot the trench and the wood,
and made a rest camp.
1 got my punctured shoulder bandaged
up at the dressing-station, where a
wounded German prisoner was receiving
attention.
We got you that time, Fritz," said
one of our men. " How d'ye like it ? "
The German gazed with mournful
eyes at the stained soldier. Then he
replied :
" You are wonderful men, West Kents.
The wood was to be held at all costs,
and there were six regiments holding it."
" Well," replied the West Kent. " you
couldn't do it, could you ? Fine lot
ot Germans you are, can't shitt a few dozen
ol the Old Half Hundred, even when
you've got ten times as many men as they
have I " And he was right, as the
German had to acknowledge.
22-27
THE WILLUSTRATED • GALLERY** LEADERS
GENERAL SIR HENRY S. RAWLINSON, K.C.B.. K.C.V.O.
Commanding the Fourth Army on the Somme
2228
GENERAL SIR HENRY S. RAWLINSON
/GENERAL SIR HENRY SEYMOUR RAWLINSON,
lj Bart., K.C.B., K.C.V.O., the leader of the Fourth
British Army on the Somme, was born on February
aoth, 1864, the elder of the two sons of Major-General
Sir Henry Creswick Rawlinson, G.C.B., first baronet, the
distinguished Orientalist, of Chadlington, Oxfordshire, and
Louisa, daughter of Mr. H. Seymour, of Knoyle, Wilts.
Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he carried on the family
tradition by his skill at sports and games, as well as by
devotion to his studies, being, at the early age of ten, a
fearless rider to hounds, while he quickly became an expert
shot, a clever boxer, and a first-class raquet-player ;
meanwhile he displayed no small facility as a draughtsman.
With "Bobs" in Burma
Gazetted to a lieutenancy in the King's Royal Rifle
Corps on February 6th, 1884, he first saw active service
in the East, being A.D.C. to Sir Frederick (afterwards Lord)
Roberts, also an Eton and Sandhurst man, in the Burma
Expedition of 1886-7, serving with the mounted infantry
in the Membo district, being mentioned in despatches, and
receiving the medal and clasp. Returning to England in
1889, in the following year he married Meredeth Sophie
Frances, only daughter of Mr. Coleridge John Kennard.
Gaining his captaincy on November 4th, 1891, he in the
following year exchanged int* the Coldstream Guards and
entered the Staff College, Camberley.
From November igth, 1895, in which year he succeeded to
the baronetcy, to January ist, 1898, he was Brigade-Major
at Aldershot ; and from January 24th to October 2ist, 1898,
D. A.A.G. to Lord Kitchener in Egypt and the Sudan, being
awarded the medal for his services on the Nile in 1897, and,
as a result of the part he took in the battles of the
Atbara and Khartum, gaining a brevet-lieutenant-colonelcy
(gazetted almost simultaneously with his majority), double
mention in despatches, and the medal with two clasps.
Distinguished Services in South Africa
Between September, 1899, and April, 1902, he was first
D.A.A.G. in Natal, and then A.A.G. in South Africa. He
took part in the actions at Rietfontein and Lombard's
Kop, in the defence of Ladysmith, as well as in the actions
at Vet River and Zand River, and tha fighting in the
vicinity of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Diamond Hill, and
Belfast. In command of a mobile column in the Transvaal,
Orange River Colony, and Cape Colony, he was several
times mentioned in despatches, and was awarded a brevet-
colonelcy, the Queen's Medal with six clasps, the King's
Medal with two clasps, and the C.B. Lord Kitchener
wrote of him that he " possessed the qualities of a Staff
officer combined with those of a column commander in
the field. Such characteristics," he added, would " always
ensure him a front place in whatever he set his mind to."
Promoted full colonel in April, 1903, Sir Henry
Rawlinson's next post was that of A.A.G. for Military
Education and Training at Army Headquarters ; and from
December 5th, 1903, to December 3ist, 1906, he was
Commandant of the Staff College, with the rank of brigadier-
general. Between March, 1907, and August, 1909. when
he was promoted major-general, he was respectively
Brigadier-General Second Brigade, Aldershot, and Brigade
Commander Second Brigade, Aldershot command. From
June ist, 1910, to May 3ist, 1914, he was G.O.C. Third
Division, Southern command, and on the outbreak of the
Great War he was temporarily Director of Recruiting at
the War Office, the duties of which post he quickly relin-
quished to take up in rapid succession those of Divisional
Commander and Army Corps Commander.
A Man lor an Emergency
One of the most trusted of " Kitchener's men," he was
retained at home for service in any sudden emergency.
The emergency soon arose. Grave news was received
from Antwerp. Sir Henry Rawlinson was despatched in
haste to report. He returned next day, with the result
that in the early days of October, 1914, with a section of
the Fourth Army Corps (consisting of Major-General
Capper's Seventh Division and Major-General Byng's
Third Cavalry Division), he landed at Zeebrugge, and
succeeded not only in materially hampering the advance
of the enemy, but in covering the retreat of the hard-pressed
Belgian army to the banks of the Yser.
Joining forcos with the Belgian troops on their right,
Sir Henry Rawlinson then extended his lines towards
Ypres. What followed is part of imperishable history.
After the deprivation and tension of being pursued day
and night by an infinitely stronger force, the Seventh
Division bore the initial brunt of the colossal effort of the
Germans to capture Calais in the First Battle of Ypres.
Ordeal of the Seventh Division at Ypres
To quote Sir Henry Rawlinson's own words : " It was
left to a little force of 30,000 to keep the German army
at bay while the other British Corps were being brought
up from the Aisne. Here they clung on like grim death,
with almost every man in the trenches, holding a line
which of necessity was a great deal too long — a thin,
exhausted line — against which < the prime of the German
first line troops were hurling themselves with fury. The
odds against them were about eighb to one, and when once
the enemy found the range of a trench, the shells dropped
in it from one end to the other with terrible effect. Yet
the men stood firm, and defended Ypres in such a manner
that a German officer afterwards described their action as
a brilliant feat of arms, and said that they were under the
impression that there had been four British Army Corps
against them at this point. When the division was after-
wards withdrawn from the firing-line to refit, it was found
that out of 400 officers who set out from England there
were only 44 left, and out of 12,000 men only 2,336."
Commander of an Army on the Somme
Later, Sir Henry Rawlinson returned to England to
superintend the embarkation of the remainder of the
Fourth Army Corps, with which he recrossed the Channel
in time to take part in the stubbornly-fought, if indecisive.
Battle of Neuve Chapelle, in the attack on Festubert, and
the capture of Loos.
In 1915, Sir Henry Rawlinson was made a K.C.B. In
lanuary of 1916 he was gazetted lieutenant-general with
the temporary rank of general, and in April he was ap-
pointed a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Then
followed his appointment to the command of the Fourth
Army in the " Great Push " between Maricourt and Serre,
and his promotion to the full rank of general.
The preparations for the five-months' Battle of the
Somme (July-November), with the exception of the sub-
sidiary attack at Gommecourt, were entrusted to Sir Henry
Rawlinson. , The struggle, to quote the words of Sir Douglas
Haig's despatch, was one of the greatest that had ever
.taken place ; and the British Commander-in-Chief, referring
in particular to the capture of the enemy's second main
system of defence on July I4th and subsequent days,
wrote : " Great credit is due to Sir Henry Rawlinson for
the thoroughness and care with which this difficult under-
taking was planned."
Old Etonians in the Fourth Army
The Fourth Army, so far as its composition is known,
included the Seventh Army Corps, under Lieut.-General
Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, K.C.B., K.C.M.G. ; the Eighth
Army Corps, under Lieut.-General Sir Aylmer Hunter-
Weston, K.C.B., D.S.O. ; the Tenth Army Corps, under
Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Lethbridge Napier Morland,
K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O. ; the Third Army Corps, under
Lieut.-General Sir William Pulteney Pulteney, K.C.B.,
K.C.M.G., D.S.O. ; the Fifteenth Army Corps, under Lieut.-
General Sir Henry Sinclair Home, K.C.B. ; and the
Thirteenth Army Corps, under Lieut.-General Sir Walter
Norris Congrcve, V.C., K.C.B., M.V.O. Of these commanders
Generals Snow and Pulteney are old Etonians, while
Generals Home and Congreve are old Harrovians. General
Hunter- Weston is an old Wellingtonian.
General Rawlinson is the author of a valuable work,
" The Officer's Note-Book." Eton is proud of him.
2229
II.— VICTORIES OF GUILLEMONT AND GINCHY
The second phase of the Battle of the Somme contained episodes of wonderful interest and
splendid heroism. During this period British troops captured the German main second line. On
September 3rd they advanced to the capture of Guillemont, taking Ginchy on September gth.
"A SPLENDID SCRUM."— During the period of the "Great
Push " an English regiment stormed a trench and actually
tackled the Germans with bare hands. An officer who was there
said he never saw anything finer In his life. " Never was such a
splendid scrum. One big section commander of mine was like a
terrier with rats. He smashed them down, grabbed them by the
breeches and the neck, and chucked them back over the parapet
to roil down Into the remains of their own wire."
2230
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Taking of Guillemont
By MAX PEMBERTON
SINCE the famous days of Ypres we had no such news
as that which came to us from the Somme on the
mornings of September 4th and 5th, 1916. That a
bloody battle had been fought round and about Guillemont
we learned from the communiques of the Sunday, but the
whole meaning of it, the value of its achievements and
the extent of our gains could not be revealed until some
days had elapsed.
The week ending Saturday, September 2nd, had left
us in possession of the famous Delville Wood, but that
stubborn fortress of Guillemont still barred our way upon
the right to the complete possession of the ridge, and
the Germans were yet in possession of Mouquet Farm,
which is near by Thiepval on the left. The taking of both
these objectives was reserved, if possible, for the Sunday
morning, and never, surely, has the ambition of a General
Staff been achieved with greater resolution upon the part
of the troops to whom it was entrusted.
A Night of Horror
We, who read of it afar, can perceive but dimly through
the smoke and flame of battle the frenzied scenes which
the day subsequently was to witness. Perchance our
imaginations lead us to the silence of the earlier hours,
when the sleeping troops were not yet awakened, and but
fitful murmurings presaged the tempest about to break.
We see the men in trench and dug-out, snatching a brief
rest, the observers vigilant, the gunners ready. It is a
night of summer, for a spell the heavy rain has ceased.
There are dreams of Blighty among the sleepers, perchance,
and many a vision of the white cliffs and the homes beyond.
Then comes midnight and the booming of the guns. The
sounds will not cease until Guillemont is won and the
Australians have driven every Hun from the deep dug-outs
which lie beneath the rubble of Mouquet Farm.
This, says a correspondent, was a fearful night enough.
It is difficult to describe the clamour of great guns to
those unfamiliar with their terrible and wonderful variety,
but the thunder about Guillemont upon that Sunday
morning appears hardly to have been surpassed even at
WHERE THE GREAT ADVANCE PROCEEDED. Quillemont
wns captured on September 3rd, 1916; Ginchy followed on the
9th, and our troops continued to move forward.
Verdun. Every kind of " brick," as a sailor would say,
was hurled upon the wreckage of Guillemont. There were
15 in., 12 in., Sin., and 6 in. shells, and this " mixed
bouquet," as Mr. Beach Thomas has called it, was thrown
upon one " little nest " for over an hour. Nor was the
intensity of the firing less remarkable elsewhere upon
that six-mile front. Fire truly seemed to rain from
heaven upon the German trenches. The night was
vivid with the crimson flashes, the star-shells burst from
above, the ground heaved as though the very ridge was
smitten from the bowels of the earth below.
Anzacs at Mouquet Farm
Thus did we prepare tor the dawn of Sunday. Day
hardly had come when our brave fellows left their trenches.
It was " five-twelve," to be precise, when Australians
and British working together reached the first line of the
German redoubt. Supports followed as the day cleared
and the sodden ground was revealed, and a man could
walk without risking his neck. We were not out of the
trenches before Guillemont until nine, and by that time
the best part of the work at Mouquet Farm had been done
by the Anzacs. Fighting more after their own hearts
had not been discovered by these gallant fellows since
the war began.
Mouquet Farm is no longer a farm at all, but the name
serves. Originally one of those picturesque chateau-like
buildings, a quadrangle of barns and granaries and ancient
habitations, it is now but a heap of rubble above vast
cellars, with a few scarred and broken poplars to mark
its site. Toward this ruin the Australians dashed as hounds
that are unleashed. Machine-guns swept the ground that
they crossed ; the heavy German artillery was still busy ;
but nothing daunted them. They fought from hole to
hole and ridge to ridge. Now rushing forward with heads
bent and rifles ready, at the next moment they would be
lying prone upon the earth, seeking to discover the where-
abouts of the machine-gunners who were killing their
comrades or the snipers whose bullets whistled about
their ears. Foot by foot they covered the ground, and
themselves reached the shelters which had housed the
Boche at dawn. Fearful and wonderful were the caves
they discovered, worthy of Dante and his inferno the
subsequent fights which ensured possession.
Exploring the Cellars
The stories told of this advance are always stirring and
not infrequently dramatic. When the dreaded machine-
guns at length were knocked out, the Anzacs found them-
selves roaming as they pleased over the ruins of the once-
dreaded farm. Below them in the vast cellars were
unknown terrors. Our brave fellows broke up into little
companies and descended into the depths, ignorant of what
awaited them there. No child of the fables going into the
bears' castle faced the ordeal with a greater curiosity.
Yet for the moment it seemed that their doubts were
groundless, True, they discovered great caverns which
yesterday had housed whole battalions of Huns. Postcards
and pictures from Germany were upon those dripping
walls, tables were spread with the relics of the feast of
yesterday, pots and pans and all the paraphernalia of
sojourn greeted the- eyes of the explorers.
Of Huns, however, one particularly jovial party saw
nothing. In their joy our good fellows sat down to drink
the coffee prepared for the delectation of the Bodies.
They made merry, and were at their ease, when, lo and
behold ! from a dark entry at the other end of the cave
the bulky forms of many Germans appeared without
warning, and a German officer ordered them in stentorian
tones to surrender. " Surrender yourselves and be
d d 1 " roared the leader of the Australians, and instantly
there befell a set-to which the palmiest days of mediaeval
bludgeoning could not have surpassed. Dark it was and
[Continued on pa /« 2232
2231
The Epic of Ireland in the Victory of Guillemont
The capture ol Quillemont was one of the most spirited affairs
In the h story ol the war. It was here that the gallant Irish
regiments made history. They fell, a veritable human avalanche,
on the German trenches. In one place a machine— gun
momentarily stopped their impetus, but the obstacle was swept
away, as were a large number of German soldiers, who might
as well have tried to hold back the tide as to stop these heroic
fighters from Erin.
The return of the Dublins and Munaters from Guillemont and
Ginchy was an inspiring scene in theSomme picture. The general
motored over to welcome the victorious Celts tramping along
with trophies and scars to the music of the pipes. " Eyes right!"
called the officer of each company as the men passed the general,
who greeted them with a few well-chosen and w II— merited
words. " Well done — you did glor.ously ! Bravo, Dublins! You
did well — damned well, Munsters, my lads!"
2232
THE TAKING OF GUILLEMONT
gloomy, but not so dark that the dull eyes of the Germans
could not be perceived nor the glitter of their bayonets.
Any kind of weapon, we are told, served for that tragic
moment. Bayonets Mashed and bombs were bursting.
Where neither bayonets nor bombs were to hand, then
that more ancient form of warfare which applies a fist
to a bloody nose and is given to the order of the boot
came into the scheme of things. The wild turmoil, the
fierce shouting, the orgy of fire and smoke and death lasted
many minutes, but when it came to an end " the dog it was
that died." The surviving Germans surrendered in a body,
and were among the earliest to be sent back to the
prisoners' camps in the rear of our lines.
These fellows appear to have been not unwilling to talk.
Interesting was their intimation that the Kaiser had
promised them that there should be no winter fighting.
Our bombardment they described as terrible. Men of
the ist Prussian Guard Reserve, they had in the matter
of food fared like fighting cocks. They confessed that
they had come recently from Russia, where conditions were
by no means so strenuous, and yet, withal, they could
repeat the old boasts that Germany had already won the war.
Upon this they were left to reflect away back from the
firing-line — smiling men who thanked the God of the Huns
that he had delivered them into lie hands of the enemy.
The Prussian Guard
This was a fine beginning to the third day of September.
But as good things were to happen away to our right,
both upon that day and the days immediately succeeding.
Guillemont had been an objective for many weeks past.
It may be that we regarded it as a fortress as strong as
Thiepval and Combles, which had not yet fallen. The
news of its occupation, received Sunday, September ^rrl,
discovered smiling faces in London, and a cheery spirit
which could make light of Zeppelins. For Guillemont was
rushed with a courage and a brilliancy for which words
are inadequate. The Irish regiments, notably, behaved
with the greatest dash and gallaiitry, and took no small
share in the success of the day. This operation synchronised
with a fierce attack upon Ginchy, where the 73rd, 74th,
and i64th Prussian Regiments were engaged, and a small
unit of the Guard.
The strenuous nature of the operation is to be judged
by our testimony to the vigour of the German bombard-
ment directly we had driven the Germans out and the
fierceness of the counter-attacks which instantly were
launched In this operation we acted conjointly with the
French, and, indeed it was in the nature of a joint attack.
Guiliemont itself, destroyed for many weeks as it has been,
appears nevertheless to have been a veritable hive of
machine-gunners and of hidden snipers. Our men's advance
was over a rugged rise, pock-marked and torn and scarred,
a wilderness of desolation swept remorselessly by the
gunners on the height, but negotiated successfully none
the less. Step by step, the men running from hole to
hole and ridge to ridge, we gained the rubble of the village
and hunted the gunners out.
On from Guillemont
Many fell before that hour of triumph ; scores of the
brave lads tumbled into the watery pits never to rise
again ; the ambulances were busy, and there were sad
scenes in the lines behind. They meant nothing to the
powder-blackened figures which dashed into the debris
of Guillemont, flung their bombs as they went, and called
to their comrades to come on. It was butt and bayonet
here — a rooting in the deep places, dives into death-pits,
the groans of the dying, and the horrid figures of the dead!
But Guillemont we meant to have, and Guillemont we
took. Batch by batch we ferreted out the hidden Germans
and sent them to the rear. The dull pall of battle hung
above the place, but could not veil the meaning of the
victory. The last stronghold upon the ridge's height had
fallen, and never would Guillemont be the obstacle again.
The great object attained, it might have been thought
that the earlier days of the week would have brought a
lull. We had taken Guillemont and driven our teeth
well into Ginchy, but these achievements were no point
d'appui for the General Stafl Monday was to bring a
brilliant affair about Wedge Wood and Fauemont Farm.
These lie south and east of Guillemont itself. There is
the shallow valley of the River Ancre, and thrust out into
it a spur of higher ground at the far end whereon stands
Leuze Wood named Lousy Wood by our men. The valley
is reached from Guillemont by what is known as the Sunken
Road, a natural communication trench of the greatest
value. Wedge Wood lies down at the heart of the ravine,
and upon the slope on the opposite side is Falfemont Farm
•itself, where the brunt of the fighting fell. We had pushed
beyond Guillemont into the Sunken Road on September 3rd,
and on Se-ptemivr ^th the German guns were shelling
it heavily. Nothing very much was done during the
morning of the day, but about three on the afternoon ot
September 4th the hillside about Falfemont suddenly became
alive with British troops, and it was to be perceived that
they were sweeping onward toward Leuze and the farm.
Wedge Wood and Leuze Wood
Wonderful to tell, the Bodies did not immediately dis-
cover them. They went freely for awhile disappeared from
view and reappeared, entered Wedge Wood and gathered
there. Anon, there arose the curious grunt of the machine-
guns and, here and there, black and prone figures were
to be discerned upon the slope of the ravine. From the
copse itself, despite the sudden attack, a batch of German
prisoners appeared and were hurried to the rear. Then
came the reappearance of our fellows upon the far side.
Steadily, and without haste, they carried on, while upon
the southern slope the farm was rushed and held. Like
Mouquet, it was no farm at all— just a mass of ruin with a
few wan stumps to say that trees had stood about an
ancient homestead. Now it was swept remorselessly by
the gunners up in Leuze Wood — the bullets rained upon
it ; the dust of its ruins was tossed high to become a loom
of cloud above the carnage.
Beneath this veil our men held on tor the line of trenches
beyond the farm There was stiff work against the collar
here; a very storm of bullets, but as yet no counter-attack.
That came later, when we had entered the trenches and
were masters of them. Hardly had our men got a foothold
amid the wrack of the German debacle when blue-grey
figures appeared on the slope above, and the cry of " The
Guard! "went up. None but these could turn that critical
hour. Linked arm-in-arm, clearly seen in the intervals
of rain, they made for the lost trenches as though upon
parade at Potsdam. Instantly our gunners turned
upon them. There were gaps in their ranks. Many fell
from the linked arms of their comrades and tumbled
headlong. The splendid line withered away. At one
moment it was staggering down to Falfemont, the next
it had vanished as though the earth had opened and
swallowed it up.
The mad thing was done again later in the day. But
our immediate objects were then achieved, and the Boches
went down as corn before the sickle. We had Leuze
Wood by September 5th, and the French, our neighbours,
were masters of Clery, and actually threatening the great
road from Chaulnes to Rye. A new and wonderful thrust
added its page to the story of the "great push "
A POPULAR SPOT.— Men going down to an underground
canteen in the British trenches in France. (Official photograph.
Crown copyright reserved.)
2233
Fun, Fighting and Ambulance Work at Guillemont
The only tension between the Allies on the western front. Friendly
tug-of-war where the lines met in Picardy. (Official photograph.)
Crude dressing-station on the edge of Ouillemont Field, showing a group of R.A.M.C. workers among a number of stretchers.
Inset : Solitary German machine-gun which was put out of action, the British attacking force sustaining only one casualty.
F6
2234
2238
Victory in Flood Over the Crest of the Ridge
British Official Photographs
Infantry going to support spread out to minimise the effect of hostile shelling. Near Qinohy there was a half mile of open country
between our men and the Prussian Guard, who sprayed It with " bullet machines." But the deadly space was no defence against our attack.
All that was left of the railway station at Qu Memont after the British artillery had finished with it. The work of our nuns was
" unendurable," leav ng the infantry no trench to take and destroying the very landscape signs that indicated the proper limit of advance.
Reinforcements moving up towards Flers cross ng the first German trench, which was taken on September 15th, 1916. It was near
this point that two of our battalions met an enemy brigade in the open, and dispersed and threw it back by hand-to-hand fighting.
2230
Gold Stripes from Guillemont & Guns for Ginchy
Official Photograph*. Crown Copyright Reserved
Wounded coming in through barbed-wipe after the taking of Quillemont. This village, which had for a long time been an obstacle to
our advance, was carried on September 3rd, 1916, after desperate fighting with troops that Included the Prussian ird.
Unloading timber to be used as props. Inconceivable quantities of timber were used for trench construction, and all over France and
England battalions of lumbermen were employed felling trees, principally firs, and despatching them to the front.
Some idea of the extent to which the ground is churned up by the operation of large bodies of troops may be gathered from this
photograph showing men over their knees in mud hauling a heavily-laden cart which is submerged above its axles.
2237
Stamping Out Tell-Tale Flares in a Night Attack
Uei man* holding the trenches at Mouquet — known to our soldiers
as Moo-Cow Farm — expecting a night attack, sent up distress
signals to their guns and also flung coloured lights over to our
lines so as to illuminate any British Infantry who might be advanc-
ing. Where these flares fell they blazed up in vivid red and green
fires. At the same time the enemy's machine-guns played upon any
figures so revealed, so that it was almost certain death to come
within those lights. At great risk several men sprang forward
Into ths illumination and kicked out the burning canisters. Then
the leading companies advanced towards the German trenches.
2238
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Capture of Ginchy
By MAX PEMBERTON
fONDON has been hearing its good news at the week-
[. end latterly. We had the taking of Guillemont for our
Sunday dish upon the third day of September, 1916,
and the fall of Ginchy for the tenth. This great and
wonderful battle marks almost the last stage of the fight
for the ridge.
As the " Times " correspondent wisely says, it is difficult
to overestimate the importance to the enemy of this depriva-
tion of his last hold upon the high ground which runs
roughly from Thiepval to Ginchy village. From it he could
look down upon our positions, shell us at his pleasure, and
possess those " eyes of war " which are sometimes the
deciding factor. These eyes he had as long as he held the
plateau above and to the east of Ginchy. Now he has lost
them and we, in our turn, have advanced upon a front of
6,000 yards to a depth varying from three hundred to three
thousand yards.
Well Done, Ministers, Connaughts, Dublins !
It is a bald statement enough, and yet it embraces some
of the fiercest fighting upon the western front. Not since
the critical days of Verdun have such deeds been recorded
or such a display of stubborn bravery been witnessed.
We knew that the Irishmen had distinguished them-
selves beyond compare in the famous dash tor Guillemont,
and now we add the glorious work at Ginchy to their scroll.
"Well done, Munsters!" cried a general, as they came
lurching back from the hell of battle, begrimed, black and
sweating. The words are echoed here with a gratitude
which is very real.
" Well done, Munsters, Connaughts, and Dublins ! "
There were Sein Feiners among you, but they went for
" Jerry " in a way he will never forget ; and upon their
right Scotsmen and Welsh, the Rifles, the Warwtcks, the
Gloucesters, the Surreys, and the Cornishmen did work as
memorable. Well done, indeed ; so well done that,
" familiar in our mouths as household words " this day these
names shall be remembered.
The fall of Ginchy was the inevitable sequel to the
gallant storming of 'Guillemont on September 4th. How
we took that dust-heap has been told, and having taken
it, got " Lousy Wood " to the south-east of it, and
pushed on in the Sunken Road, which runs down the Ancre
ravine from West Wood to Leuze. The new positions thus
gained were held only by the unshakable tenacity of our
infantry and the splendid work of our artillery. Unable in
many places to dig themselves in, the men were forced to
take shelter in any shell-hole they could find, and there to
do what they could with a trench tool to make themselves
secure.
King Sol Brightens the Blasted Field
The Hun in his turn, driven by panic, rested neither by
day nor night. Star-shells burst over the pock-marked
ground, tear-shells were fired to the number of ten thousand
upon one occasion, and the very air we breathed reeked with
the acrid fumes of the gas which should have destroyed us
but did not. Through it all we held on, and began to con-
solidate our new positions. Ginchy was our immediate
objective. Ginchy we meant to have, as we shall have
Combles and Thiepval, perhaps before these lines appear.
The weather has been better about No Man's Land
these latter days, and the sun has shone gloriously upon
that scene of desolation and death. This week I talked to a
famous novelist who had just returned from Fricourt.
His brief Journey had greatly impressed him. "Who in
England," he asked me, " really has any notion of that
mighty business ot war, which is really all the business that is
known rolled into one ? Enter into it and you seemed
plunged into a vortex of confusion such as the world has
njver known. Every highway seethes with apparent
disorder. Waggons press on waggons ; multitudes ol men
move leisurely upon no apparent destination ; here, upon
a wide plain, are thousands and thousands of tents — scattered
bodies of troops, yet all having their movements planned
as surely as the hours of the day they are living. Bakeries
are here, and clothiers' shops and garages and saddlers
and torges, all behind that distant line where the snow-
flakes of the shrapnel are floating upon the still air and
the big shells burst in a loom of smoke that shows
the vivid flames of the deadly high explosives. Through
such a whirlpool of men and things you go on toward
that front where is playing the greatest tragedy the
world has ever seen ; forward to the long slope at the
top of which stand Guillemont and Ginchy, the place of
the skulls, of the dead, who have died for their country."
Nothing Daunted These Men of Britain
We lay all about Guillemont and Ginchy on the after-
noon of Saturday, September gth, and in his terror the
Boche rained tear-shells upon us. We gave him more than
we got, and all that afternoon there was a repetition of a
bombardment which many pens have tried vainly to de-
scribe. Not "whizz-bangs" this time, but monster shells,
grinding to very powder such ruins of houses as were left,
and lighting the whole horizon with flashes of fire which even
the sun could not obscure. Through this, in our trenches
from Leuze Wood across the north of Guillemont almost to
Devil's W'ood, the Irishmen and their English comrades
were crouching with that fierce expectancy that C.O.'s
find it so difficult to restrain. Young " subs " were there
looking at their wrist-watches, like coaches on the banks
of the Cam when the boats are about to start. Would the
moment never come ? Thunderously the firing goes on.
The great shells whir above their heads, the air is suffocating,
and the enemy replies with what effect he can, but our
mastery of the air has robbed him of his " eyes," and, looking
up, you see the circling British aeroplane but nothing of
the Fokker, which is away back over the German lines. So
Fritz shoots blindly, and his barrage does not daunt nor his
curtain fire restrain when the critical hour is at hand.
Through Rubble and Flaming Barrage
It is five o'clock exactly, and the Irishmen are up and
over the parapet. On their western flank they have a good
eight hundred yards to travel, and the journey is accom-
plished inside eight minutes. Remember that the inter-
vening ground was a slope, pock-marked like a solitaire
board and swept by machine-guns irom three sectors
ahead. The men had their rifles slung, many of them
smoked cigarettes ; their pipes sounded shrill and stirring
as they ran. Terrific as our bombardment of the German
positions had been, it was impossible that it should ferret
out all the rat-holes, and particularly it could not search
the depths of vast cellars below what had been an historic
farmhouse in the very heart of Ginchy. From this a hail
of bullets swept down upon the Irish, who had outdistanced
their English comrades on the right, where the going was
more difficult. It was hell across a dreary field, trees but
bare poles, and houses but a powder of dust.
We read that nothing could stop the Munsters, the Dublins,
and the Connaughts. Three amongst them had momen-
tarily deserted from their rest trenches at the rear, left a
note to apologise for their absence, and declared that as
they had missed the fun at Guillemont, they had no inten-
tion ot missing that at Ginchy. Such a spirit everywhere
animated the regiments. On they went over the rubble
which once had been a village. Many staggered and fell ;
some cunningly crawled upon their hands and knees : the
dying implored those who lived to get on with it. Amongst
the hidden Germans, at last, the old hunt in the " Twopenny
Tubes " began. There was that fearful redoubt in the
centre of the hamlet, strongly fortified and armed with
machine-guns upon three fronts. They circumvented it
cleverly, coming down from the north and south upon it
and heaving bombs for ail they were worth. Closing at
[Continued on page 2239
2239
THE CAPTURE OF GINCHY
last Kilkenny became but a discredited memory. Here
was fighting after an Irishman's own heart. Butt and
bayonet — the bomb when it could be used — the fist if
nothing else served, it is not surprising to hear the boast
that the devil himself would not have stopped the Fusiliers.
Kot only did Pat get the redoubt at the farm, but carried on
so far to the east beyond Ginchy that at one moment his
ardour really seemed to imperil the whole " diplomacy " of
the event, The Munsters might have been on the high-road
to Berlin by the dash they made after Ginchy itself was
taken. There never was a greater devilry of daring shown
by any troops in the world.
The Cry of " Kamerad ! Kamerad!!"
All this was good enough, but we found a greater stubborn-
ness on their right flank, and not a little difficulty. Sad to
tell, a couple of scientifically constructed " arc trenches "
upon the south-eastern slope of the village played the devil
with our men. Forced to take shelter in small holes, we
could make little progress against the hail of bullets which
here greeted us. These trenches had not fallen at the
moment of writing, and it looks as though we must lose a
number of men before this unexpected obstacle is swept
away by our gunners. Happily, there was nothing but
success to report elsewhere.
A gap upon the left flank, leaving the Irishmen " in
the air," was fortunately discovered by a young officer
of saps, who quickly collected rifles and spades and
dug himself hi against the looked-for counter-attack.
We used 9-2 in. shells upon the chief redoubt and
smashed it to powder. The crevices and craters which
shielded the Boches were entered one by one ; parties
roaming here and there, flinging their bombs and flashing
their bayonets. -And through it all there were Huns
upon their knees crying " Kamerad 1 " imploring mercy,
clinging to the very necks of the men whose bayonets
had just threatened their hearts.
Such was the affair at Ginchy. The synchronised advance
from " Lousy Wood " was slower but not less successful.
Here a strange thing was witnessed. A number of Germans —
some sav two hundred — had thrown down their arms and
were about to surrender en bloc when their officer turned
a machine-gun upon them and shot down the lot. Such
treatment naturally did not hinder the splendid work done
by the English and Scottish troops 1 have named. With the
Irish they had taken three hundred prisoners in the twenty-
four hours, and five officers among them. Of these, one
hundred and ninety-one came from Ginchy and Leuze Wood,
fifty from the neighbourhood of High Wood, and sixty-
two from the old ground to the north-east of the Windmill.
The regiments from which they were taken were the igth
Bavarians, the 185111 and 28th Reserve, the 5th Bavariar.s,
and the famous 2iith Pomeranians, the latter from the
vicinity of High Wood. As these are some of the finest
fighting regiments still at the disposal of old Hindenburg,
the quality of our victory is very evident.
Of individual achievements many stories are told, and
not a few to stir the blood. One sergeant entered a
German dug-out alone and found forty-six dead men
and five living within. He made easy prisoners of the
latter. Another, though wounded badly in the thigh,
took on four German officers, all armed, and made
prisoners of the bunch. Disarming them, he made them
find a litter and carry him back to the field hospital,
where he arrived in state, a cigarette still between his
lips. Another story of a young officer having tea in a
dug-out with a couple of comrades. Shells crashed about
him, and when some fellows in a " better hole " asked
him to have a drink, he prudently declined.
The Gallant Gentlemen ol Ginchy
Later on there came a summons from a superior officer,
and the man, perforce, must leave his shelter. His work
done, a telephone message came to him that his two
comrades were dead. A 5-9 in. shell had struck his dug-out
just a minute after he had left it.
Such stories will come to us by the hundred by-and-by.
At the moment we are content to know that Ginchy has
been taken by the bravery of some " very gallant gentle-
men " ; that a terrible battle has been fought and won,
and that the smashing of the German third line can now
be but a matter of days. We lift our hats to the men who
did it. We mourn our splendid dead who ever alter shall
make the name of Ginchy famous.
PART OF THE PRICE.— An armoured motor-car near Ouillemont, with a Red Cross ambulance and some of the men who won the
brilliant success which drew a special telegram of congratulation from King George
2240
The Epic Story of the Somme: Official
• ,
Wounded German prisoners on their way to the base under guard. Here and there groups of
British soldiers scrutinise the captives with pardonable satisfaction.
amp ! tramp ! tramp I Steel helms at frivolous angles, smiles on their lips, an officer riding ahead, these strong-willed, fearless
children of a Spartan age are going forward to fight for a great ideal.
2241
Photographs from Spreading Fields of Victory
7m jttr-
A little gray and somewhat dilapidated home In the west where two British soldiers are cooking a meal.
Inset: After Quillemont. A wounded hero of the fight trudging philosophically to the ambulance.
Orman prisoners awaiting the ambulance. Brave men bear no malice, and after the fight it Is cigarettes to the wounded, vanquished
foe i and men who were ruthless an hour ago are now not without a sense of pity.
2242
2243
Fate of the Prussian Guard at Falfemtmt Farm
In 1914 the suicidal charge In masafd formation of the Prussian
Guard near Vpres amazed all who witnessad it. They r<
touching arm, the leaders of a battalion of German troops, the
Prussian Guard. They advanced steadily, scarcely touched Dy shell
fire, till they reached tne range of our riHe» and machine-guns
uar near pres naze a „ ,d «ahtino round fire, till they reached tne range o our ri»» and macnme-guns
the scene on September 4th. 1916, In the frenzied fighting rouna • they vanished, and succeeding waves of devoted me
^alers^u^ Jft&^J$K'3SX"£SS toKM^SS Tan'ish.d «?so. obliterated by the appalling fire that met them.
2244
Told by the Rank and File
THE IRISH AT GINCHY
BY PRIVATE T. CONNOLLY, ROYAL IRISH RIFLES
1 HADN'T seen much of the fighting
which had taken place since the
commencement of the second part
of the " big push," having been detailed as
an orderly at Headquarters. It was what
we call a " soft billet," a place where
there isn't much danger and plenty of
easy times, but it wasn't the sort of job
I cared about. I joined to fight ; I love a
fight, and I wanted to fight.
Pozieres, Guillemont, Peronne. I heard
the lads talking about what they'd done
in these battles, and it seemed to me that
they looked a bit sideways at me when
they passed Headquarters on their way to
the rest billets. They knew, of course,
that I was filling a job that had to be done
by somebody, but they didn't seem to
care about it any more than I did.
Then, being on Headquarters Staff, I
was told off to deliver a message to my
own regiment, the Royal Irish Rifles.
They were, as orders went, to help in a
grand assault having its objective in the
capture of Ginchy, a little town just ahead
of our front lines, held by the Germans.
It was a bit of a hornets' nest, too, this
town, and from it the German " sausage"
balloons ascended every morning to watch
what our lads were doing, while hundreds
of field-guns and machine-guns sent shells
and bullets tearing into the trenches
which our brave lads had captured and
consolidated.
We were going to make a big thing of
the attack, and I fairly ached to be in it.
So, when I got back from delivering the
message, I looked for my officer, and
asked him if I could be transferred back to
the fighting battalion. He stared at me for
a minute ; he couldn't understand why I
should prefer chancing the shells and bullets
of the enemy. Then, when he saw that I
was determined to get into the scrapping,
he said he'd see what could be done.
Getting Back to Action
As luck had it, there was a chap just out
from England who hadn't been feeling
well, so they put him in my place. I
can't tell you how glad I was to get my
rifle and kit again, and when I joined up
with the lads they gave me a cheer all
on my very own.
We advanced in the early morning,
and lay in the trenches under fire all day,
while our artillery did the usual prepara-
tion. But, instead of making a barrage
between us and the town, as you would
have thought was the right thing to do,
the German guns shelled us where we
lay in dug-outs they had themselves made ;
and so, when we came to advance, the
only shell-holes we had to dodge were
those our own guns had made.
About four in the afternoon our artillery
fire doubled its volume. I'd thought
they were doing " some " shooting before,
but it was nothing compared with what
came over now. All the guns on our front
must have been doing exhibition drill, for
I'll swear that they were sending out ten
to fifteen rounds per minute each, and
they were all dropping in a beautiful
straight line on the town and to the right
and left of it.
The attack was a concerted one — that is,
several regiments advanced at a given
time. The trenches we occupied reached
from Leuze Wood and across the top of
Guillemont — where many a good Irish
lad lay at rest — and almost up to Delville
Wood. Some trenches were in the
Bapaume Road, and others in High Wood,
and we all left our trenches and crossed
the lid at precisely the same second.
If there had been any intention to ad-
vance in one straight line, it was soon broken
by German trenches, full of Bavarians
fighting like fiends — or Irishmen — machine-
gun posts, which sprinkled us with
thousands of bullets, and did surprisingly
little damage, and other strong places.
But these we took at the point of the
bayonet, clearing them out in no time.
A Wild Shout and Rush
If you will imagine the line as the
centre line of a football team, you will
understand that we Irish were playing
" left inside." • Against us was the
western side of Ginchy, like a dust-heap
ahead, with patches of white smoke
rising continually from it as our shells
dropped.
When we'd cleared the first few out-
lying enemy positions, we went forward
at the run, with a yell that ought to have
been heard back in Dublin, and which
would have put the Sinn Feiners — Gott
strafe 'em ! — to shame. There wasn't
much time lost in that mad rush, I can
tell you, for the Germans were treating
us to all sorts of fire. They were indulging
in " rapid " from rifles, blazing away into
the brown as we ran in more or less open
order ; smacking hundreds of machine-
gun rounds into us every second, and
working these pieces up and down as if
they were watering a garden ; sending
over tear-shells and gas-shells, mixed
occasionally with liquid -fire shells and
jets of flame from their own Flammen-
werfer ; and then, at the last,' working a
great grey-green gas cloud over at us,
just because a passing slant of wind
favoured them.
All this took just about ten minutes,
no more, and really before we knew it we
were among them. They didn't stay
long, and our captures in that first line —
where we stopped for breath — totalled
two hundred men, and ten fully-charged
gas cylinders. We got these latter ready
for use, for there was just a chance that
the wind would turn and allow us to give
the Huns a dose of their own stuff.
We whistled for the wind after we'd
got our breath back, and sure enough, it
wasn't long in coming. Just a puff, and
then another strong, steady gust, which
carried the gas over. You could catch
the whiff of the rotten pears as it went,
and we laughed like a crowd of school kids
to think that they were being poisoned
with the stuff they had got ready for us.
Forward with Packs
We couldn't advance as yet, for the
guns hadn't finished with them, but when
at last our commander signalled " Lift,"
they altered their range, and we went
forward again, just the same as before.
I was sweating like a bull, as the saying
is, and cursing the orders which made
us charge with our packs. In ordinary
circumstances we should have shed these
before we started, but as we were going
to consolidate any ground we took, we
had. of course, to either take our belongings
with us, or else go short of everything
that makes life bearable in trenches.
But at last we went over the top again,
and in less than ten more minutes, and
in spite of a further dose of all the different
kinds of warfare — human, mechanical, and
chemical — that the Hun could bring to
bear against us, we had taken possession
of the next trench-lines. You couldn't call
them trenches, they were just the places
where good, solidly-constructed trenches
had once been, before our guns got to work.
Now they were mere depressions in the
ground, with here and there a decent bit
of head cover, while in another place the
men were exposed both back and front.
We didn't waste any time in making
them capable of defence ; they weren't
our objective, only steps on the way to it.
But we had to stay there for fully twenty
minutes, cursing like mad because, in our
impetuosity, we were ahead of the pro-
gramme, and also ahead of the line.
Our patrols, too, were getting close
into touch ; they were getting restless,
and chafed at the delay. They worked
just behind the barrage of our shells,
themselves in the danger zone, and if the
shells hadn't been of the best, many a
good gallant lad would have gone to his
Maker, sped by a shell perhaps made by
his own sweetheart or sister.
We saw the Boches flying out of their
second -line trenches, and couldn't go
after them because of orders, and while
we waited we decided that men might
come after us and want to use the trenches.
The fact was we were too restless to do
nothing, so we started in and dug that
trench-line five feet deep. Nearly a whole
mile of trench we dug in under half an
hour, which I think is something like a
record, even for a swift war like this.
When we again went forward we found
ourselves working up a slope where there
were two arcs of trenches, one behind the
other, and each held by Germans. They
were so strong that they held up the whole
of the advance. Those who were in front
of them lay down in shell-holes, and did
a bit of the old-style trench warfare;
those to the right or left skirted round
them and then went on, leaving them
isolated spots in the battle.
Erin-go-Bragh !
We got into the village at last, and were
brought up all standing by an old farm,
where the Germans had made themselves
secure — as they thought — with sandbags
loopholed for rifles and machine-guns.
The chief redoubt appeared " blind," but
it had eyes looking every way, and could
rake us all as we came on from every side.
We finally had to bring up some guns to
make a breach in the wall, and when at
last the hole appeared, a yell of " Erin
go Bragh ! " went up, and we made for it
at the rush. We met with a real fight
this time, for the garrison had orders not
to surrender, and, whatever his faults,
the German is good at obeying orders to
the last.
I got a jab with a bayonet and lost my
tin helmet through the explosion of a
bomb, which also nearly scalped me, and
I was out of the fight. But I lay on one
side, getting occasionally trodden on,
and half blinded with the smoke as the
bombs burst, and watched the lads clear
the Huns right out.
And as, next morning, I came back on a
stretcher, I heard rifle firing. I asked the
R.A.M.C. men if the lads were being
beaten back, or what,
" Beaten back ? " said one. " Not a
bit of it. They're having a dicky little
fight of their own round those two arcs of
trench you left behind yesterday evening,
and they look as if they were enjoying it,
too."
2245
THE¥ARILLUSTRATED • GALLERYc* LEADERS
LIEUT.-GEN. SIR W. P. PULTENEY, K.C.B.. K.C.M.G.. D.S.O.
tomm.vndinn the Third Army Corps
2240
PERSONALIA OF LiEuT.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM PULTENEY
THE GREAT WAR
IIEUTENANT - GENERAL SIR WILLIAM PUL-
TENEY PULTENEY. K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O.,
Commander of the Third Army Corps in General Sir
Henry Rawlinson's Fourth Army on the Somme, and the
bearer of a name familiar in our public annals as far back as
the days of Crecy and Poitiers, was born on May i8th, 1861,
younger son of the Rev. R. T. Pulteney, of Ashley, Market
Harborough, and Hargrave, Stansted, Essex. An out-of-
doors man, keen in the hunting-field, a disciple of Izaak
Walton, a devotee of big-game shooting, a prominent foot-
baller, and sometime honorary secretary of the Army Foot-
ball Association, he was educated at Eton, and has had all
his regimental experience in the Scots Guards, in which he
was gazetted to a second-lieutenancy on April 23rd, 1881,
being given his second star on the first of the following July.
With Wolseley at Tel-el-Kebir
In the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, occasioned by the
revolt of Arabi Pasha, Lieutenant Pulteney had his baptism
of fire. He took part in the action at Mahuta and in the
Battle of Tel-el-Kebir (September I3th), when the British
under Sir Garnet (afterwards Lord) Wolseley crushed the
rebellion. His services were rewarded with medal and
clasp and the Bronze Star. Appointed adjutant on
February 24th, 1891 — a position he held until February
1 4th, 1895 — he was gazetted captain on May 4th, 1892,
and major on May 4th, 1897.
While employed under the Foreign Office in the Uganda
Protectorate (February I5th to September 22nd, 1897),
Major Pulteney took part in the Unyorp Expedition
against King Kabrega in 1895 (medal), and in the Nandi
Expedition of 1895-96 (mention in despatches and the
D.S.O.). From December 3oth, 1898, to June I7th, 1899,
he was Vice-Consul at Boma, in the Congo Free State.
His Services in the South African War
At the outbreak of the South African War, in October,
1899, he was still a major, but in the following month he
was given the brevet rank of a lieutenant-colonel. He
served right through the operations, which, it will be
remembered, lasted till May, 1902. From January, 1901,
to April, 1902, he was in charge of a column.
He took part in the memorable advance on Kimberley,
and in some of the severest of the fighting in the Transvaal,
the Orange Free State, and Cape Colony, including the
successful actions at Belmont and Enslin, in the hard-
fought passage of the Modder River, " one of the hardest
and most trying fights (so far) in the annals of the British
Army," in the costly battle at Magersfontein, the affairs at
Poplar Grove and Driefontein, the crossing of the Vaal and
Xund Rivers, and the actions at Diamond Hill and Belfast.
Commander of the 6th Division
His services were recognised by three distinct references
in the official despatches, by a brevet-colonelcy, and by
the award of the Queen's Medal with six clasps and the
King's Medal with two clasps. In 1905 these honours
were followed by a Companionship of the Bath.
Appointed full colonel on January ist, 1908, he spent
several years in the Sister Isle, with the rank of brigadier-
general, being from P'ebruary, 1908, to March, 1909, in com-
mand of the i6th Brigade at Fermoy. On January ist, 1909,
he was appointed to the rank of major-general, and from
July i6th, 1910, to July isth, 1914, he was General Officer
' Commanding the 6th Division, with headquarters at Cork.
At the Battle o! the Marne
The 6th Division formed part of the Third Army Corps,
when this was made up at the outbreak of the European
War, and its commander (with the temporary rank of
lieutenant-general) was entrusted with the command of
the corps, and sailed with it to France in time to take
part with distinction in those battles of the rivers which
from the outset have been comprehensively known as the
Battl • of the Marne, in which the colossal and vainglorious
effort of the Teutons to dash upon the French capital
was, by Franco-British valour and resource, turned into
a precipitate retreat to the Aisne.
The Third Corps, though lacking the number of troops
proper to an army corps, covered itself with glory. While
the two corps, under the command respectively of Sir
Douglas Haig and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, forced the
passage of the Marne, it fell to the lot of the Third Corps
to attack La Ferte Jouarre, a town lying on the north of
the river. The bridge had been destroyed, and a strong
German rearguard with the inevitable machine-guns
dominated the stream.
Praise from Field-Marshal French
The task before the men was great, but, thanks in the
first place to the indomitable courage of the sappers in
getting a pontoon bridge in position after many heroic
attempts had been thwarted at the last moment through
the intensity of the enemy's fire, the task was eventually
accomplished. By it work of the highest importance
to the general scheme of the allied operations was
completed.
Referring to General Pulteney's services, in his despatch
of October 8th, 1914, with special reference to the Battle
of the Marne, Sir John French wrote : " Throughout the
subsequent operations he showed himself to be a most
capable commander in the field, and has rendered most
valuable services."
Round Soissons the Third Army Corps acted for a time
with the right wing of General Maunoury's Fifth French
Army ; and once again its engineers distinguished them-
selves by pontoon bridging under heavy enemy fire.
In the First Battle of Ypres
When the little British Army made the surprising move
to its new position nearer to the coast in October, 1914,
the Third Corps detrained at St. Omer and moved on the
following day to Hazebrouck. On the igth General
Pulteney began his move towards the line Armentieres-
Wytschaete, with the understanding that should the Second
Corps require his aid he would have to move south-east to
support it. The days that followed were full of thrilling
incident.
General Pulteney's force was stronger than the enenu*
force facing it, so far as artillery power was concerned,
but rain and fog prevented him from deriving the full
benefit from this superiority. He succeeded, however, in
routing the foe and in consolidating the position. Bailleul
was then taken, and the line St. Jans Cappel-Bailleul
occupied, as, despite the strenuous opposition encountered,
were the lines Armentieres-Sailly and Bois Grenier-Le
Gheir.
Armentieres was taken, and village by village the enemy
was driven back to within a few miles of Lille, the corps
maintaining its own against massed attacks day and night
till the end of October and on into November. Between
them the Second and Third Corps withstood against terrible
odds all the efforts of the Germans to master the positions
west and north of Lille, until the first of the great Battles
of Ypres ended in favour of the British. " I venture to
predict," wrote Sir John French, " that the deeds during
these days of stress and trial will furnish some of the most
brilliant chapters which will be found in the military
history of our times."
Awarded the R.C.B. and Legion of Honour
In his despatch of November 2oth the Field-Marshal
paid a special tribute to the excellent work of the men
under General Pulteney's command. He described their
courage, tenacity, endurance, and cheerfulness in such
unparalleled circumstances as " beyond all praise." And
" that the corps was invariably successful in repulsing the
constant attacks, sometimes in great strength, made against
them by day and by night," was, he said, " due entirely
to the skilful manner in which the corps was disposed by
its commander." General Pulteney's services were rewarded
by a Knight Commandership of the Bath, and promotion
(May 4th, 1915) to the rank of lieutenant-general. From
our gallant French allies he received, at the hands of General
Delacroix, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. In
January, 1917, he was made a K.C.M.G.
2247
III.-THE SEPTEMBER ADVANCE AND THE "TANKS" IN ACTION.
The third phase of " The Great Push " was the most thrilling of all. It included the great advance
(September i^th-26th) when Flers, Martinpuich. High Wood. Morval, Lesboeufs, Thiepval.
and Gambles were stormed by the irresistible British, and the " Tanks " first came into action.
THE iviAiN LINE OF VICTORY. — Rail-power was a great factor of success for ths Qermane In the early months of the war, but
even the enemy militarists could not foresee to what extent it could be utilised in combination with heavy gun-power. How th«
Allies showed the initiative in this connection is demonstrated by this splendid official photograph from ths west front.
2248
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Glorious Twenty-fifth
By MAX PEMBERTON
PR the first time, perhaps, since the beginning of
\the offensive upon the. Somme the great and
glorious work accomplished by Sir Douglas Haig
and his men is being understood by the British people.
Hitherto the soldier has been almost alone in under-
standing how that we, after two years of warfare,
have only now come into our own ; how that we have
at length learned the one way in which the Boches can
be driven from France and Belgium, and have set about
the task with a valour and brilliancy to which no words
can do justice.
These facts being considered, it is in some senses
misleading to speak of battles. The ancient panoply
of 'war departed many decades ago. We saw precious
little of it in the Boer War, and those who remember
what it was in " "70" are few. Our people at home —
uninstructed as many of them are in this vast business
of mechanical campaigning — incline their ears not to the
rolling of drums but to the booming of cannon across
the dreary plains of Picardy. They look for rags rather
than for feathers; they dp not imagine an undulating
down over which the cavalier rides proudly, but a grim
desolation where for months together you can hardly see
a living thing.
The Landscape ol Modern War
A hundred pens told them of the ridge dominating
that plain, and of the supposedly impregnable fortress
at either end of it. Heaps of rubble here and there,
they came to know, stood for the villages which had been ;
some -bare poles that might have been so many isolated
gibbets marked the woods which once were sylvan ;
furrowed heaps of chalk said that below them and
behind them were those myriads of Germans massed
against the British front. This plain we had to cross,
this ridge to conquer, this fortress to subdue. When
that was done we must begin again from the beginning
against other ridges far off, other fortresses of like
renown — hammering with the mightiest force of artillery
the world has ever seen the straight and narrow way
into the land of the Hun.
For nearly three months now the task has been going
on, pursued no less magnificently by the French upon
our right than by our own superb armies, which we cannot
cease to praise. Villages that no Englishman would have
heard of in a hundred years have become famous names.
We learned at the beginning of Fricourt, Ovillers, Contal-
maison, Bazentin, Pozieres — to the west of Hardecourt,
Longueval, Guillemont, Ginchy — to the south of Rancourt,
Bouchavesnes, and of Peronne. The story of the fall of
each was often a story of gallant repetitions. There would
be a bombardment so terrible that the pens of all the
correspondents failed to convey but an echo of its terrors.
The villages became but powdered bricks beneath the
avalanche. Woods were so dealt with that but isolated
stumps could tell you where they stood. The ground
itself, scarred and raked and pock-marked, was often no
more than a vast cemetery for the unburied dead.
A Most Momentous Victory
A few hours later, and the men of our regiments,
new and old — Anzacs and Guards and Territorials!
Irishmen, Scotsmen and Welshmen ; men of the shires
and the roses. Londoners prominent amongst them, would
be racing across these fields of death, hunting the
Germans from their dug-outs, bombing and slaying,
sometimes gripped nail and tooth with the Boches who
met them— always going headlong without halt or fear.
To these the landmarks fell one by one. We were
climbing the ridge as men swarm a difficult Alpine
peak — going quickly where the ground was good, but
more leisurely where the way was dangerous — and ever
the story of the day's work was told with exultation
to-morrow. Pozieres fell, Guillemont and Ginchy, Longueval
and Courcelette. We were up upon the ridge and had
begun to look down upon the other side. The fortress at
either end forbade our claim to supreme possession.
When on Tuesday, September a6th, 1916, we heard that
both Thiepval and Combles had fallen, perhaps the
meaning of Sir Douglas Haig's most moderate despatch
on the 25th was to be understood even by the dullest.
Truly, this was a famous victory ; it may be that
there has been none more momentous in the whole story
of British arms.
For what were Thiepval and Combles ? Little towns
both in little valleys of the Rivers Ancre and Somme. But
they were little towns undermined with such vast subter-
ranean works that nothing like them has ever been known
in the history of warfare. We speak of dug-outs here
with an understanding of the term which is sometimes
wholly ridiculous. Men think of a little hole in the ground
six feet deep, perhaps lighted by a candle in a ginger-beer
bottle, and furnished with a gramophone and a mattress.
These were not the dug-outs of Thiepval and Combles.
Germans in the Underground
They went down fifty, sixty— even a hundred feet below
the ground. As an old soldier told me last week, you
could almost have put the Hotel Metropole below either
of them. Both places possessed chateaux, and the cellars
of the chateaux were the beginning of the wonderland.
Below them you went down, wide stairs to great rooms
elaborately lighted with electric light, carpeted for the
officers, capable of housing whole garrisons with their rifles
and machine-guns, and so deep below the ground that
our heaviest shell fire was but a patter of hail upon their
roofs.
These forts had defended the ridge since Von Kluck
took Combles on August 3ist in the year 1914. The
Kaiser struck a medal to commemorate that signal event ;
nor did he forget to add that God had blessed his
valiant arms. For two years his men perfected their
positions. There was no device of subterranean work, of
cunning trench, of gun emplacement which was neglected.
" Combles is impregnable," said the Germans ; and, being
" impregnable," we took it on September 26th.
Allies Shoulder to Shoulder in Combles
The fighting for this coveted possession has been described
as the fiercest yet witnessed on the Somme front. The
terrible bombardment endured from early morning until
half an hour after uoon on Monday. Then over a front
extending from Martinpuich to the Somme — a distance
of nearly twelve miles — the British and French dashed
to the attack. Out of Flers and Ginchy we came towards
Lesbceufs and Morval. The French debouched from Priez
Farm and the outskirts of Rancourt on the east and pressed
forward towards the fortress on the Fregicourt road.
Together we descended upon Combles behind a barrage
of fire which was terrifying. There was no intention here
of permitting, if it could be avoided, that slower and more
deadly assault upon the covered emplacements where
the machine-guns stood. Combles might have been a
holocaust for troops sent heedlessly to an assault which
artillery could make unnecessary. Sir Douglas Haig had
no such intention. We crushed the outskirts to powder
before we went in. Our own men upon the west and the
French upon the east and south joined hands at length
in the centre of this fortress of the fables, and who shall
wonder at their exultation ?
Mr. Beach Thomas, in his admirable despatch, has told
us that the day was glorious, but the ground was yeasty.
No cloud appeared in the azure sky. For the first time
for many weeks German aeroplanes came boldly across
No Man's Land and tried to discover what was doing behind
our lines. We fired at them ceaselessly, and many a
[Continued on paye 2249
2249
THE GLORIOUS TWENTY-FIFTH *"*^{g*
duel was fought above, with few below to pay heed to it.
Those who stood at the rear, glass in hand, must watch
impatiently tor many hours when day came, listening to the
thunderous guns, noting every new chord in the strange
gamut of sounds for which modern artillery is responsible.
Through all this forenoon Combles was a vast haze of
smoke in the hollow. Remember that there were upon
this front four thousand guns — Allies and Boches — and
that they were firing without cessation in these
waiting hours. Noon came, and the man with the glass
need be impatient no more. " Out went our fellows,
old men and new ; the Territorial, the corps d' elite,
the men from overseas — hands across and down the
middle they danced forward in unison, their shells and
bullets leaving many dead, or few dead — it was all the
same to the rest."
A Contest of Gladiators
As for the enemy, the very ferocity of it appears to
have staggered him in many cases to immediate submission.
From Lesboeufs, from Gueudecourt, and lastly from Combles
he came from the trenches, hands up and trembling. Not
so his officers, who sometimes showed fight. There is
one story of a burly sergeant from " down under," who
was just about to take possession of forty willing Huns,
when their officer appeared and whipped out his revolver.
Instantly the sergeant closed with him and a pretty affair
was witnessed by his astonished comrades. Round and
round the men swung until the Prussian was down and
the giant upon him. In vain the fellow tried to get his
revolver arm to the sergeant's back ; the hand upon his
throat was squeezing the life out of him, his heels rattled
upon the ground as a dying gladiator's in an historic forum.
Suddenly his body relaxed, the hand with the revolver
fell to the ground ; he was dead. Then that sergeant
arose and expressed his opinion of the encounter. " The
beggar nearly had me," he said, and quite calmly he ordered
the prisoners to fall in.
The swift fall of Combles and Thiepval, the rare and
refreshing fruits of the a6th, clearly were not anticipated
by the correspondents who wrote of Monday's affair.
The " Times " then said that the village of Lesbosufs was
ours and all Morval except the extreme south-eastern
corner. Above Lesboeufs, it told us, we had advanced
something like a mile from our former positions, carrying
two strongly-held German positions on defended roads
to a point one thousand yards to the east of Gueudecourt.
On the right the French had then carried both Rancpurt
and Frtgicourt, and latest reports told of " storming into
the blue beyond." The taking of Morval itself and of
the sunken roads about it and Gueudecourt appear to
have been one of the most gallant of the many gallantries
perpetrated during the wonderful forty-eight hours.
The men advanced like a whirlwind. The barrage of
fire, heavier than the Germans had made it for some days,
had no more effect upon them than hail upon an iron roof.
They passed through it unchecked, and, while they were
passing, the forces on the left swung round as upon a pivot
and joined with them for the massed attack. Such dash
proved invincible, as we know, and all Morval was in ovr
possession tliat night, though the correspondents could
not be aware of the fact. It was truly the key to Combles
on the left, as Mouquet was the key to Thiepval on the
right. Heavy German reinforcements brought down from
the neighbourhood of Ypres during the night did nothing
for the Boches. Through the haze of the shell fire, clouds
of shrapnel above, the black-brown smoke of the high
explosives below, the earth rent and scarred and shaken
as by an earthquake, we drove up to the gates of this
momentous victory, and nothing hereafter could stop us.
Of Thiepval itself the surrender appears to have been
no less sudden than that of Combles. Equally was the
stronghold reckoned impregnable, and one of the most
formidable upon the western front. Then, as a French
officer had told us, the Germans had excavated subterranean
works which could only be called prodigious. As in Combles,
the cellars of a once superb chateau served for a gateway.
You passed them and entered a veritable subterranean city
with galleries hewn out fifty feet below the solid rock and
lifts to bring you up, and cellars where the vintage was
of men and guns and high explosives, to be used the moment
the enemy sprang to the attack. But strong as Thiepval
was, the Boche began to fear for it directly we had Mouquet
and dominated the Bapaume road. On Monday night he
was trying to get his guns out.
On Tuesday, the 26th, Sir Douglas Haig, profiting by
his confusion, attacked the place on three sides at once.
A fierce barrage prevented the enemy bringing up rein-
forcements from Eaucourt — and remembering what was
below the ground we shelled the gates severely, though
not so severely that the French first and our own men
afterwards did not suffer heavily at the first swift onset.
The rebuff was brief, and the heart soon out of the
On the Crest of the Ridge
Thirteen hundred prisoners were sent back almost imme-
diately, including two majors and forty other officers.
The cellars themselves yielded a veritable harvest of
machine-guns and stores and ammunitions, but the chief
thing was that Thiepval was attacked with a dash that
was invincible, and that once again our men had justified
all that we believed and hoped of them.
With our great allies, the French, we have now taken
ten thousand prisoners during the fifteen days of fighting
on the Somme. We have topped the ridge, and begun
the descent to the great plain below it. For the first
time for many days our cavalry are riding freely in the open.
Patrols have been within two and a quarter miles of
Bapaume, and we may soon be hearing of the fall of that
stronghold. No longer does the Hun appear to be fighting
with the dash of yesterday. We have thrashed the heart
out of him with whips of steel, and when he lives he comes
to us thankful and smiling that he is alive.
A great and important victory, truly, as Sir Douglas
has called it. In the opinion of many wise judges, the
greatest victory of the war.
A great advance ie a Booming paradox of making and breaking. No sooner have the artillery and infantry churned the wide fields Into
w*»te land, than the Engineer* and Navvies get to work consolidating, building road, over the captured territory. (Official photograph.)
G 6
2250
Labour and Leisure in the Western Advance
Capable workman always take good care of their tools. South
African Highlanders cleaning and oiling Lewis guns.
Digging in near Trones Wood, where some of the fiercest
fighting was experienced in the beginning of the great advance.
The British soldier has a native craving for personal cleanliness,
and utilises spare moments In a little laundry work.
Running up fresh water to the troops along a light railway laid
to a stand-pipe for that purpose.
The first occupation after entering into possession : Building
dug-outs immediately upon taking up a new position.
A well-earned meal : Black Watch at breakfast after having
delivered a counter-attack on the morning of July 19, 1916.
A group of officers turn on a gramophone and enjoy a little light
music and conversation during an interval between the acts.
An impression of the size of the 15 in. shells that were rained
on the Germans. (Official photographs.)
2251
Fun and Frolic After Fierce Fighting
British and Canadian Official Photograph*
One can imagine the hilarity with which this ancient vehicle was discovered by the boys beaming through the window. Forthwith
the most fragile member of the company was assisted inside and joyously escorted in the direction of the Premier's official residence*
.jvB'.. w >
A little music relieves the cheerless monotony of life in a dug-out One of the Northumberland Fusiliers, greatly daring, returns
in France. Hun-helmeted from the trenches riding on a mule.
"A merry heart goes all the day." Somme smiles at a Canadian ammunition-dump. Spirit that cannot be broken carried the
Canadians through some of the worst situations in the war. Reinforced by unlimited munitions it made them irresistible.
2252
Arduous Artillery Work Under a Broiling Sun
A welcome arrival In the firing-line. Mules bringing up water
for the guns' crews in action on the western front.
Loading a gun. Under the hot sun the gunners were compelled
to strip to the waist in order to carry on their work.
Driving home the shell. The gun-teams shown in these photographs were busily engaged putting over curtain fire, or barrage, to
prevent supplies being brought up to the enemy's line. According to prisoners' statements, Germans in the first line were for days
without food during the earlier British bombardments on the Somme. Insst : Loading a gun with one of our big shells.
2253
The Power of the Pick in the Effort for Victory
After an advance, one of the primary duties was to construct roads
over captured territory to facilitate movement of troops. Such a
highway is seen being built by men of the Labour Battalion.
To be able to make roads and trenches is as essential as the need to be a good shot. This photograph shows British soldiers con-
structing a way at Contalmaison in anticipation of an advance through this captured village. <nset : Spare moments from the
ceaseless struggle. Soldiers divested of their heavy equipment resting in dug-outs adjacent to the firing line.
2254
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Battle of the "Tanks"
By MAX PEMBERTON
HPHE habit of sending us good news at the week-end,
frequently noticed in these pages, was not varied by
Sir Douglas Haig upon the morning of Monday, the
eighteenth day of September, 1916. Not for many months
had there been such scenes of enthusiasm in club and
street. We read early on Sunday morning of a " very
great victory," but Monday's news surpassed our expecta-
tions ; for it said that the German third line was practically
done with, that we had thrust forward in some places to a
depth of two miles upon a six-mile front, and that we had
taken more than four thousand prisoners. His Majesty the
King's gracious thanks to officers and men voiced the
sentiments of the nation exactly. They spoke, in all truth,
of momentous and most glorious days.
Now all this was good enough, but there was a note of
rejoicing over Courcelette, Martinpuich, and Flers which
none of us has heard before since Austria issued her ulti-
matum to Serbia. It was a note of exultation which the
situation justified ; but it was also a note of humour. Never
have I seen the town so amused. Men found themselves
able for the first time to laugh at a story, which must always
be a story of agony and death. " Have you seen this about
the 'tanks'?" they asked each other. When the answer
was in the negative, they produced Mr. Beach Thomas's
despatches, or those admirable pictures of the war which
Mr. Philip Gibbs is giving us. " Look here ! " they said.
" We have got something new at last— armoured cars
which can almost climb trees. Huge saurians and steel
pterodactyls which eat houses as elephants eat hay ; great
Jabberwocks and Behemoths which crush resistance to
powder, climb hills, and creep out of hollows; turreted
dragons which spit fire in the ancient mood ; Juggernauts
which defy machine-guns, bombs, and bullets ! We've
got them and the Germans haven't ! " They played
a great part in that struggle for Flers, though to be sure
it was won by one thing only — as Mr. Beach Thomas
has finely said — the courage of our brave fellows which
nothing could resist.
Harvest Moon and Sickle of Death
To follow this stirring battle we should take our stand
upon the left of the British line before day had broken.
This would be over by High Wood beyond Pozieres to the
north and east, and in the vicinity of Mouquet Farm, for
which we have fought so strenuously. There had been
intermittent bombardment all night, and few upon either
side could have slept in their trenches. From time to time
star-shells discovered that weird landscape weirdly ; there
had been hours when a glorious harvest moon and a
" wonderful heaven of stars declared, in silhouettes of
black and azure grey, and the mild blues of witching time,
the desolation where death had reaped and was to garner
again at daybreak " But all this was the common chord
of the prelude. The crackling bomb, the hiss of the whizz-
bang, the moaning of the great shell are lullabys for those
who wake that we may sleep.
Armadilloes that Moved at Sunrise
The abnormal thing had been the great clearing out of
the rest camps during the mid-week. All the panoply,
such as it is, and the grim machinery of war were then upon
the roads — transport and cannon ; motors rushing head-
long ; red hats to be seen among miles of marching infantry ;
the fine horses of the artillery, the moving workshops, the
ominous ambulance. Often had our men seen it all before,
but these days they regarded it jocularly. " Hush ! " they
said, and saying it, they laughed. The great secret was a
secret no longer. The " tank " had been discovered. Men
had seen it with their own eyes. And already they had
named it — called it Whale, Slug, Boojum, Dreadnought
H.M. Landship, Creme de Menthe, Weary Willie, Snarki
but " tank " chiefly, for that was official.
In truth, the shadow of the " tank " seems to have been
over everything and everybody long before day broke ;
but it was a kindly shadow, and its ripples were of laughter.
Men knew not what they were going out to see, but that it
would be worth while seeing they were convinced. David
Harum told them long ago to do unto others as they would
that others should do unto them, and to see that they did
it first. They believed that the brains of pur people at
length were to justify themselves mechanically in the
machinery of war, and they were not to be disappointed.
The sun had not been long up when the " tanks " went
forth — horrible toads, blind monsters, creeping over
the fields of death, devouring fields and houses and men,
indifferent to the bombs and bullets raining upon them
— vomiting fire and flame as though these were the
food they fed upon. Since war began no such engines
had been seen upon her fields. Shall we wonder that
Fritz ran in terror, screaming that it was not cricket ?
Close In with Bombs and Steel
They went forth, but much had happened before they
went. For one thing, Fritz himself had come out of his
trenches before Courcelette and given some of our fellows
an unexpectedly lively time. We were just ready for the
attack — the clock had not struck six of the morning —
when a signal went up from the German trenches, and over
came the grey coats to the astonishment of our men. " Look
out for yourselves ! " cried a sergeant. " We shall have
the whole lot on top of us ! " It was a true word, for
though the rifles did great execution as the Boches
came up, many of them reached the line and leaped
into our trenches. For a few minutes a deadly struggle
ensued. Men hurled bombs at an enemy whom their
outstretched arms could almost have touched. Rifles
were fired point-blank into grinning faces ; the bayonets
flashed in the breaking light. Then, as the mists them-
selves, the Hun vanished from the scene, and the men
who had just been wrestling with him leaped from the
trenches and went headlong for Courcelette as though he
had never been.
Here was a fine scene, and one upon which the writer of
to-morrow will dwell. In the sky above, the silver shapes
of the darting aeroplanes about to do such gallant work for
us. Down below, the barren land now covered by the
figures of the brave men who never shall be forgotten. Fire
is a detail of the scene and the scream of shells — the great
guns roar ceaselessly ; the earth quakes and trembles as
though smitten by mighty forces below. Through it all
our fellows press on toward Courcelette — and now, look
you, and you shall see the " tanks " creeping after them.
The Tank's Insatiable Hunger
Soon there is a halt upon the right, for the ruins of a sugar
factory are here, and the Germans have made a veritable
fortress of it. To it goes the ' ' tank, ' ' leans for a few moments
in a tired way against its shattered wall, and lo ! it passes
on as though no wall were there. Tommy has been saying
" Hush ! " these many days, but now he cannot say " Hush ! "
for laughter. On goes Creme de Menthe and eats up a
house. It was a good house, as an officer declared ; but,
nevertheless, he was very glad to see it eaten. Trees are
no more to the monster than leaves to a giraffe. They are
down in a twinkling, shivered to splinters in its powerful
maw. And from its side there spits the fire of the fables ;
its many tongues lick yellow flames ; it deals death about it
as some monstrous engine emerged from the very bowels of
the dreadful pit.
Naturally, such machines were priceless at such a
moment. Our dashing infantry forgot their dash and
watched Creme de Menthe at work. When he had rolled over
a trench and smashed machine-gun and machine-gunners
flat, butted down a wall, and removed an inconvenient
[Continued on page 2255
2255
THE BATTLE OF THE "TANKS"
wood, Tommy came on and did the rest. We soon
had the Germans squealing and surrendering in batches.
The fight for Courcelette was fierce enough, but once
more our splendid fellows proved irresistible. Again and
again they advanced to that labyrinth of hidden guns.
Seventy fell at the first assault ; another seventy succeeded,
and were annihilated ; a third attempt, and we were
in among them, and the village was doomed. It was
one of the fiercest fights of that most glorious day, and
only to be matched upon the right where Irish, Scots,
and English had gone again for their old friends the
Prussian Guard, and fairly and squarely beat them as
they have never yet failed to do.
Creme de Menthe Makes Mirth
This was the thrust upon Martinpuich and High Wood —
that fearsome thicket which so long was denied us and we
had coveted so ardently. Fortified almost as no other
wood upon all the ridge, it may be that we should not
have taken it on the i5th but for H.M. Landship. Many
times did the men advance to the assault ; many times
were they repulsed. Then the cry went up here, as it had
gone up on the left, that Creme de Menthe was coming.
All stood and watched the monster. Would the trees stop
it, the deep hollows, the craters, the threatening wire, the
hidden guns ? Men asked the question as it leaped into the
wood and all began to fall before it. Down went the " ancient
monarchs " and the saplings alike. There was not a crater
so deep that Behemoth's claws could not fathom the
depths ; it ground machine-guns to powder and the
emplacements which had housed them. It drew the
Hun in terror from depth and dug-out, and set him
heaving his impotent bombs. But there is no bomb
that can touch Creme de Menthe. " I could have
laughed until I cried to see them," said one Mark
Tapley of the line. The Boche did not laugh. He howled
with terror, and even his officers lost their wits. One
of them, a colonel, was so scared that he lifted his hands
high above his head and roared " Kamerad, Kamerad ! "
" Come inside," replied the driver thereof — and pulling
the man aboard he carried the fellow about for the
rest of the day and showed him sights his eyes will
never see again in this world.
In spite of the " tanks," Martinpuich was almost as
bloody a business as Courcelette. There was one
dreadful hollow in which a company of our men were
compelled to lie, but ill-protected and exposed for hours
to the havoc of whizzbangs. Many of them lay in
bloody pools at the end of it, and their comrades advanced
at last over their shattered bodies. " Fritz should repay,"
they swore; and repay he did. We can imagine the
mood in which such men entered at last the ruins of
what had been Martinpuich, and how they dealt with the
Hun sneaking from cellar and dug-out to meet the flashing
bayonets. A pitiless onslaught it properly was, carried
far beyond the hamlet and sending tired men home
at last with that cry of victory which has echoed and
re-echoed through the land they have served so well.
Boches Lose Ground and Wits
The " Times " correspondent has dwelt eloquently upon
this phase of it, and there are men back from that front
to-day who will tell us that this was a battle more
momentous in its splendid results even than the Marne.
We first penetrated High Wood on July I4th. Its
final capture on September i6th shares with Verdun the
distinction of being the " finest feat of the war." At
the moment of writing we have got Flers, Courcelette,
and Martinpuich, and are a thousand yards to the north
of Ginchy, into the German third line with all its net-
work of newly made trenches and ancient dug-outs. To
the north again we have gained Lesbceufs, and the final
atom of the ridge seems to have been occupied beyond
dispute on Sunday, September ijth. So is this battle
won and yet enduring. It will not cease until the Boche
is across the Rhine.
As to the " tanks" — one of which drove calmly through
Flers at the height of the battle with a placard on its side
announcing a " Great British Victory " — a Boche prisoner
who saw one for the first time threw up his hands and
cried " Gott in Himmel ! " It seems the only comment
oossible.
" Tank," bearing a placard " Great Hun Defeat," dashing along a village street in enemy occupation. One can but faintly imagine the
terror ol the Germans on being confronted by this steely leviathan, which crumpled weapons and fortiflcations , like so much crepe.
This vivid illustration shows the Germans surrendering to the Infantry followmg the •• tank's .rres.stible progress.
225C
Mysterious Monsters on the Muddy Somme:
Crash against the enemy, the" tank" goes into action with something of the bravado of a mediaeval knight in armour. A monster of living
steel, It churns its way over obstacles and into positions with a blind, implacable fury that recognises no obstacles.
While the " tanks " caused roars of laughter from Britons who witnessed the first move into action, the Germans suffered a painful surprise,
and, in many cases utterly demoralised by the steely and apparently invulnerable novelty, surrendered en masse.
2257
Land -Cruisers Luffing into the Battle Line
Canadian War Record*— Official Photographs
maii-coated l.vl.th.n .pitting fir. a, ,t go.,. A " tan, " cr.w.ing ov.r the desert .1 .war £""
i. akin to that of submarln. m.n bringing th.ir craft into position during a na
val action.
nd .hell-hole, to th. land.hip ar. Ilk. so many way. to a Powerful d«tpo»«r- ^' h'avT
Imperturbability which is som.tim.s as comic to thos. behind It as it is tragic to thos. who have
2258
Told by ihe Rank and File
THE COCKNEYS IN HIGH WOOD
BY CORPORAL T. BALL, LONDON REGIMENT
I HAVE been told by people who
ought to know that the taking of
High Wood on September isth. 1916,
was one of the most important events of
the British advance, and as I took part
in it — although I have only just reached
England and hospital — I should like to
tell you about it. The London battalions
have obtained much glory in this war,
though they haven't been credited with
all the fine things they have achieved.
There may be some military reason for
this, but, speaking personally, the mere
knowledge that your regiment's name is
being mentioned in the descriptions of
fights makes you feel that it is up to you
to make the glory of that name more
conspicuous than ever, if possible.
Nearly all the London troops employed
at High Wood were Territorials, and
proved their worth and mettle as fighting
men to the hilt. I am a regular soldier
myself, and I've never seen a crowd more
eager for a fight and more reliable when
in it.
Strongly Held Position
The wood itself had been a battlefield
for just two months, and was full of dead
soldiers of both sides. The Germans had
been so harassed by constant attacks and
artillery fire that they had been unable
to bury their dead, although we managed
to do so under conditions representing
almost insurmountable difficulties. I can-
not give you any estimate of the number
of lives lost, but the enemy always made
a point of massing soldiers there and
holding the position in strength, and it
was more than we could afford to hold it
lightly.
The Germans made machine-gun em-
placements in greater numbers every day,
and brought up gun after gun to use in
them. They strengthened them with iron
girders and concrete blocks, and hundreds
of miles of barbed-wire fronted their
ground. They even attempted on two
occasions to wire the ground within two
hundred yards of our trenches, but the
way in which we got busy soon stopped
that little game.
Ceaseless Curtain Fire
And all the while a certain section of
our guns devoted its whole attention
to keeping a curtain of fire behind the
wood, so that supports could not be
brought up. This fire never ceased, and
on the evening before our great attack it
redoubled in fury.
Of course, the Londoners were not
alone in the push, but we did happen to
lie right in the dead front of the wood,
and got the whole brunt of the attack.
It was just dawn.
I shall never forget the picture that lay
before us when we went " over the top "
with shouts and yells of encouragement.
Bits of men, of trees, of guns and rifles
had been tossed all over the place by
exploding shells ; some were half buried,
and others hung on the half-smashed
trees. The undergrowth was torn and
scattered on all sides.
The enemy, having had plenty of time
to make his preparations, was ready for
us. He was fully on the alert and in
great force, and possessed every imaginable
machine and weapon of defence. Machine-
guns rattled cleafeningly, drowning even
the noise of the artillery, but the thiug
which struck you most, even amid that
deafening din, was the crying of the
stretcher-bearers as they scrambled from
place to place calling for the wounded,
and the smell from that dead -strewn
ground seemed to rise up and hit you
between the eyes.
Advancing behind the barrage fire of
our artillery, we leapt into the open, but
our progress was very, very slow. We
advanced in three sections, each section
having as its end a particular defence-
trench. When we came to the first we
found it full of dead and wounded enemy.
There wasn't a single fighting man in the
whole length of it, and it was the most
magnificent testimonial our artillery could
have had for accuracy of fire.
Leaving this behind, we embarked on
the second section, and again found a
trench occupied only by the dead. The
last jump landed us in a shallow and
ruined trench about a mile ahead of our
last night's resting-place.
Of course, you must not think that we
simply walked on from point to point
unscathed. At all times, whether we
moved or stopped, we were under raking
machine-gun fire from every bit of the
wood, and German snipers, aloft in
undamaged trees, did their very worst on
us. We crouched and crawled, took
advantage of every nook and corner of
cover, and scraped shallow pits in the
ground, but try as we would we couldn't
find any real protection. And the Huns
gave us not a second's respite.
Advance by Inches
Our real struggles commenced now, as
we entered the edge of the wood. Cowering
behind broken tree-trunks, even using
awfully-smelling dead Germans as head
cover, we lay and fired individually at
any head or part of an enemy's body
which came within our range of vision.
We were advancing, it is true, if only
by inches at a time, but gaining ground
all the same. You cannot have any idea
of the beneficent effect it has upon a
regiment's moral to know that, despite all
the enemy's strenuous endeavours to hold
them, despite all the good lads who are
dropping on every hand, they are gaining
ground. Nothing matters so long as you
advance.
Five full hours — it seemed five centuries
— we fought thus, and at the end of that
time we hadn't gained more than a
hundred yards. Then somebody got busy
on the telephone wire and told the artillery
what was happening.
" Hold on where you are," was the
order from our officers. " Get under
cover as much as possible ; the guns are
going to start hi real earnest."
And they did, without a mistake.
What had gone before was mere deliberate
target practice to what came now. The
shells never ceased to explode, and two
full minutes was more than the enemy
could stand. About three hundred Bochea
scurried out from under cover and
surrendered unconditionally. We des-
patched them over towards our own lines,
and waited still while the guns carried on.
" God bless the guns ! " shouted a
sergeant, and the lads repeated the words
with a fervour I have never heard equalled.
A few minutes later several hundred
Huns broke cover, trying to get away
irom those terrible shells. It was cue
chance, and we took it immediately. They
were only fifty yards away at most, and
the way the trench-mortars, bombs, rifles,
and machine-guns cut them up was
wicked and wonderful. If a single German
out of all that mob got away alive he did
so unseen by me, and I had a specially
good view. The dead lay around in stacks,
some of them across bodies which must
have lain untended for weeks.
This made our work easier, but we
hadn't finished yet. A large number of
infantry, well supplied with machine-guns,
still held their ground, and a salient
feature of their position was that any one
machine-gun was as strong as a company
of infantry. For two solid hours we lay in
front of this position and engaged it hotly,
but for all the valour and fierceness of our
fighting we couldn't dislodge them. One
by one, however, we managed to dispose
of their machine-guns, and just at one
o'clock a heavy shell sailed over and
strafed the most deadly one of the re-
maining few the enemy had in action.
It seemed to be drawn by this particular
gun as by a magnet — it exploded in full
view, and you could see bits of the gun and
bits of the gunner flying through the air.
Paying Off Scores
" Bayonets, lads ! " yelled our com-
manding officer; and we never heard a
more welcome sound. We sprang from our
cover, from behind trees, and out of hastily-
dug pits, and went for those Germans
with lull determination to pay off all the
morning's scores — and a few that had
accrued during the last two years as well.
The fight was short but sharp, and the
Germans, their nerves already wrecked by
the hell of shell fire which they had
experienced, and tried by the long fight
and the vigour with which we had pressed
home our offensive, soon saw fit to
surrender. Then we had a rest in their
captured position. And not a rifle was
fired at us, not a single machine-gun
attempted to enfilade us.
About four we sent out patrols — I was
in charge of one — but never a sign of a
living Boche — save those badly wounded
and unable to move — could we find in the
whole wood. They had decamped incon-
tinently, leaving us in sole charge. We
dug trenches in decided peace, and even
sat out on the parapets smoking. It was
like a rest camp, and the only thing that
seemed hard to us was the order not to
search the adjoining wood for souvenirs.
Three Months in Blighty
But that night a few wandering Boches
tried to get into the wood, and my patrol
met them. In the melee that ensued we
accounted for eight, and wounded half a
dozen others, losing one man, and one
wounded — myself. I had come through
all the hell of the advance without a
scratch, and then, in a little scrimmage
like that, got a wound which has put me
out of action for at least another three
months. Which I call hard lines— eh ?
LA BASSEE ROAD
The night breeze sweeps La Bassoe road,
The night dews wet the hay.
The boys are coming back again, a
straggling crowd are they.
The column's lines are broken, there are
gaps in the platoon,
They'll not need many billets, now, for
soldiers in Bethune.
For many boys, good lusty boys, who
marched away so fine,
Have now got little homes of clay beside
the firing-line.
— From " Soldier Songs," by Patrick
MacGill (H. Jenkins).
2259
Bringing Back a Trophy from High Wood
Bringing back a captured German gun from High Wood. In the first eleven weeks of the Somme advance the British captured
one hundred and nine guns, besides two hundred and twenty-three machine-guns. (Official photograph.)
A French 4-8 in. gun battery. The long range and great shell power of these weapons permitted of their being dispersed in batteries,
and even In sections of two guns, along the front of an army without forfeiting the power of concentrating their fire on any point.
2260
Behind a British Barricade at Lesboeufs
Brilith Official Photographs
No right of way for the foe. Preliminary and hastily-built barrier to help consolidate a gain at Lesbceufs. Some British soldiers are
watting behind the massed timber as if expecting a counter-attack. A machine-gun is seen on the extreme right of the photograph.
2261
The Two Extremes of Courage on the Field
The work of the R.A.M.C. went forward day
the crater-marked ground these
hole, clinging
.
orward day and night, none the less splendid because it was carried on In silence. Under fire and over
"gallant gentlemen " went out to rescue their wounded comrades, availing themselves of every shell
g to whatever cover presented itself, with a dexterity born of peril and experience.
During the fierce battles for High Wood a German 4-7 in. gun and crew were trapped in a heavy barrage, behind which a battalion of
the New Army was work. ng forward. The German gunners in their dug-outs resisted, but were either killed or taken prisoners. No
aid was forthcoming from the enemy trenches on account of the British fire interposing between them and the German gunners.
2262
Valiant Victors of Morval and Montauban
British Official Photographs
Luxury amid the debris of shells. British soldier enjoys a comfortable The church-bell of Montauban as a prop for a glance at
nap on a dug-out bed. aircraft through field-glasses.
The fearless gaze of zealous men waiting to go
over the top.
German prisoner doubling towards the British lines. His alacrity is due to the
fact that he is still within range of British artillery fire.
2263
Crouched for the Spring in Trench and Brake
British Official. Crown Copyright Reserved
British troops waiting to attack on September 25th, 1916. This was ons of the most successful days in the great Somme advance. Six
miles of enemy trenches were stormed to a depth of more than a mile, and Morval and Lesboeufs were carried.
2264
General Weather Commands over the Somme
Briti'l Official Photntrraaht
Coffee-stalls were established along the roads behind the lines, where men obtained
coffee and biscuits free at any time. Ueft : " Reminds one of Bond Street. What ? "
Home. Misery that they never imagined and would have supposed they could not
endure was borne without " grousing " and cheerfully by our Incomparable soldiers.
Men of the Middlesex returning from the trenches. Right: Some of the Worcesters, almost tired out, resting on the bank and even on
the road, indifferent to further discomfort. The mud, an officer " out there " said, was the only obstacle that delayed the Allies' advance.
T» face page SS
2265
Told by 1he Rank and File
A TRUE STORY OF THE TANKS
BY LANCE-CORPORAL HARRY RAYNER
I SHALL never forget the roar
of laughter that went up from
all the boys when we first saw
the armoured - motors which have
eventually come to be called " tanks."
We were distinctly scornful of what
they would do, and expected to
see them crunched up in no time by
the German artillery. The names that
were attached to them in the first
place would fill a book, and most of
them have appeared in various
papers. But there are one or two more
that aren't quite common property
yet. For instance, the Canadians
call the machines " The Land Navy " ;
while the north- country regiments
refer to them as " The New Infantry."
" The Caterpillars," and " Kelly's
Eye " are others, the last coming
from a game called " House," where
number one is always called out in
this way.
My Leave Stopped
•1 have been out in France for twenty-
two months, and through the whole
of the Somme offensive. This latter
started just as it was about my turn
to return to " Blighty " for a few days'
leave, and I can tell you that when we
first started the " big push " I strafed
more than a bit at my bad luck in
missing my run home. But I'm glad
I didn't go then — I should have
missed two glorious sights if I had :
the " tanks " and the charge of the
Guards. These were worth stopping
out here another year for.
I never saw the lads in the trenches
so eager to go over the top as they
were on that day when the " tanks '
first appeared. We all wanted to see
Fritz in a real fnght, and I think we all
got what we were wanting.
Fun in a Crater
One of the " tanks " came and
stationed itself in front of my platoon,
and we were told to advance astern of
it, and to take advantage of all possible
cover as we went. We could hardly
advance for laughing at its antics.
The ground was soft and slushy,
and in one place the " tank " went
walking down the side of an enormous
crater made by three or four " Jack
Johnsons " which exploded pretty well
together. As it went down it was
squirming all over the shop, and the
wheels would slip round and round in
the soft ground, throwing big chunks
of it out astern on top of us lads.
Then it tried to back pedal, and
slithered still farther down, and at
the bottom it side-slipped three yards,
and nearly collared me. I had to
jump quick or the wheels would have
grabbed me and rubbed my nose in
the mud.
But it was when it started to climb
the other side that the fun started in
real earnest. It was like the old tale
of the snail who climbed up the side
ol a wall three feet and then slipped
back two feet. That was exact y what
was happening, and every time " Black
Bertha " made a big dash and
climbed partly up the crater side,
only to slip back as soon as her stroke
was exhausted, we nearly convulsed
with laughter. We lay in that shell-
hole holding our sides ; we actually
couldn't stand for laughing.
At last, with a supreme effort,
" Bertha " reached the rim of the
crater, and with a final cough dragged
herself out on to comparatively level
ground. Then the German machine-
guns started taking aim at her, but the
bullets only slithered harmlessly off
her thick hide with little blue flames.
Getting Behind "Bertha"
Where " Bertha " was there the
fire was hottest ; she seemed to draw
machine-gun bullets like a magnet.
Most of the troops gave the " tanks "
as wide a berth as possible, but my
platoon satisfied themselves with get-
ting behind Bertha as she trudged on,
and thus we dodged all the bullets
that came our way.
Every time we saw a German we
would yell out, in unison, " Kelly's
Eye ! " and the " tank " would turn her
machine-guns on and strafe him.
" Bertha " accounted for a great many
Germans that day. And at last we
got into the village of Flers, and
what we had laughed at before was
child's play to what happened there.
" Bertha " swung into her stride, and
made down the main street, with
us close under her lee out of the
way, and her guns walloping into the
Germans at the rate of several hundred
bullets per minute.
At last we cleared the street, and
got to the far end again, where fallen
masonry blocked our way. The Ger-
mans sniped at us from the upper
windows as we went on, and we
thought we should have had to turn
back and run the gauntlet again, on
our way out of the town. But we
hadn't reckoned on " Bertha."
We made for the German trenches
next, and the shells started falling all
round "Bertha." Evidently somebody
was keeping a watch on her move-
ments, for we found it unhealthy to
stick too close to her. So we dropped
back about two hundred yards, ready
to take a hand in the fighting if we
were wanted.
Futile Bavarian Charge
She got to the trench, where about
four companies of Saxons and Bavar-
ians were massed ready for a counter-
attack. They charged at her, but
they couldn't stop her. She turned
on all her guns and strafed them as
they came. But they were evidently
annoyed, for in spite of the carnage
she was doing, they raced up to her,
while all the time their machine-guns
were firing over their heads. And the
bullets glanced off and went among
their own troop?, while the others
went down before " Bertha's " ad-
vance like ripe corn.
And then, suddenly, there came a
big shell over the town and dropped
clean in front of " Bertha," hiding
her from sight with smoke and dirt
and stones. We thought the dear old
lady had been done in, but when the
rough stuff cleared away she was
perched across the German trench,
talking to them quite loudly and trying
to get her own back for the insult they
had put on her.
She wasn't moving, and the Ger-
mans thought she was a capture, and
with loud yells of " Hoch ! " they
started to scramble all over her out-
side. This was where we came in, for
we lay in a friendly shell-hole, and did
a good bit of sniping on our own.
And then the machine-guns inside
" Bertha " stopped firing, and we
thought the old lady was done for.
" Come on, lads ! " I yelled. " We
can't let them take her prisoner like
that ! Charge ! "
We started out across that two hun-
dred yards of ground, but before we
had gone fifty " Bertha " started to
move, and, though she was running
all over the place and steering very
wildly, she was certainly moving
towards the other German lines.
Shaking OH the Hun
The Germans on her back went
slipping and sprawling all over the
show, and fell off as she went on.
Then her guns spoke again, and they
raced for cover like rabbits. We
followed her up again, and when we
reached the fifth German line we
thought we should have had a scrap
of our own, but the Germans had
received enough. They surrendered
to us, and we sent them over the top
under charge of two wounded lads.
" Bertha " was still going ahead,
and large batches of Germans with
their hands in the air doing the
" Kamerad " trick were coming down.
Suddenly she stopped again, and a
man got out of her. He approached
a wounded British soldier on the
ground, and we thought that, after
all, the Germans had captured her.
We thought that he was going to kill
the wounded chap off.
Mistaken lor Fritz
" Hi, there ! " I yelled. " Come out
of that ! Put your hands up 1 "
I had him covered with my rifle,
and walked up to him, making him
keep his arms up all the time.
" What's up with you t " he asked.
" Gone loopy, or what ? "
He spoke broad Lancashire, and I
stared hard at him.
" Well, I'm damned ! " I said. " I
thought you were a Fritz., and that
they had captured the old waggon
there."
And there were a couple of lads in
my platoon who even then wouldn't
believe that he was one of our own
Tommies, until at last he fished his
pay-book out of his breast pocket and
showed us his name, fully convincing
us by comparing it with his identity
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2267
With the Heroes of Martinpuich and Thiepval
Sound asleep within a hundred yards of Thiepval. A British
soldier resting alter hours of hard fighting.
Fwo Gordons seated on a trench parapet with a mascot cat. Cats
are said to show a curious indifference to shell fire.
Trollies laden with 15 in. shells waiting to be sent to the battery. Shells bursting near Thiepval. The white ridges in the distance
In the background infantry arc moving forward. are the long lines of opposing trenches.
Hidden deep In a waste of rubble, a handful of Britons are seen in the foremost positions before Martinpuich. The debris of shell fire
all round them, these hardy Scots are scarcely distinguishable from their environment, but any moment they may arise from their
hiding-place to charge down on the enemy.
2263
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
Night Cruising in a 'Tank
By MAX PEMBERTON
IT is evident that the " tank " has not come to stay. It
is here to go on. When it first burst upon the
astonished Germans like a dragon upon children from
a wood of fables our critics were a little doubtful about
its future. " It is experimental," they said. " Famous
things have been done, but we do not know how far it will
go." Well, it has gone a long way already, and we may
say in all moderation that it has but begun.
There have been new things in this war — as, perhaps, in
all wars — but the " tank " was both a new and a humorous
thing. When Hannibal introduced the Roman to the
elephant there may have been laughter in Carthage, but
no historian has recorded it. Gunpowder about the time
of Crecy does not appear to have inspired the Harry Tates
of the time. The first man in armour may have amused
his relatives at home, and no doubt the small boy of the
period had observations to make upon his appearance.
For all that, the man in armour is ever historically a gentle
knight sans pew et sans reproche. Even throwing back to
the East and the coming of the Juggernaut, it has needed
a twentieth-century artist to hitch laughter to that singular
coach. Yet I suppose the Juggernaut is the true forbear
of the " tank." Some people will tell you that it all arose
from the employment, both by us and the Germans, of the
armoured car at the beginning of the war. We put machine-
guns upon fine Rolls-Royce chassis, sent them into France
and Flanders, and often left them in a few weeks but rusted
wrecks upon a roadside. They were not new, for, oddly
enough, in the very earliest days of the motor movement
inventors came forward with contraptions of the kind ;
and so closely did they resemble the machines which
fought in Flanders that one must look twice at the picture
to discover their lack of modernity.
Deadly Drolleries of the Somme
For all that, the very failure of the initial armoured car
inspired the inventor of the " tank," and his secret was
well kept. How many people knew before that famous day
of September I5th, 1916, that in many great factories the
ribs and heart, the lungs and the steel bodies of these
pachyderms had been hammered and forged during the
summer of 1916"? Soldiers sometimes learned of it, but
wisely held their tongues. It may be that the higher
authorities had little expectation of the monsters, and
regarded them drolly as gargantuan puppets to scare
the Germans. But, however it may have been, and
whoever is entitled to the credit of them, a comfortable
fleet of the new landships was parked for the battle of
September I5th, and with such success that the whole of the
world laughed at the story before twenty- four hours had run.
We have the photographs of these drolleries by this time,
and the man in the street knows at last what they look like.
Sometimes he will say that they are vast hump-backed
turtles ; others call them toads. They are driven, as we
see, by two caterpillar bands, and they have controlling
wheels behind which help them to steer.
New Knight ol the Old Time
Functionally we must not discuss them, but we know that
their crew of eight climb into their bowels through a panel,
and that once inside nothing but a shell of large calibre can
fetch them out. Eyes the monsters have, though vision
thereby is — as Sam Weller's — limited. Their speed, they tell
us, is as high as ten miles an hour, though frequently slower
for obvious reasons. Nothing, as we know, stops them.
They squat upon trenches and shell the defenders out.
Houses come crashing down upon their approach. They
break great trees like sticks ; barbed-wire before them is
like string at the touch of a locomotive. The captain of the
" tank " is a new knight of the old time. He enters the
dragon's wood, and should the beast devour him, there is
none to hear his groans. His mission is not so 'much to
slay -as to prepare .for slaughter. The infantry follow
him as the Carthaginians followed the elephants more than
two thousand years ago.
Let us take the imagined case of such a captain and of
his adventure.
It is a night of early autumn, and a drizzling rain is
falling. You cannot see your hand before your face,
except in those lurid intervals when the star-shells burst like
enduring meteors above. Fitfully the searchlights sweep
the sodden ground, and their aureole is a mighty arc of
silver.
Into the Bowels of the Mystery
The boom of cannon thunders everywhere ; the far
horizon suggests the forked lightning of a summer storm.
The nearer field is ever and anon shaken by the crashing
explosion of the larger shells. Men are dying in this dark-
ness, but none see them fall. Night hides a thousand
horrors. It hides also the British trenches, where the
infantry are awake and waiting.
Meanwhile, the captain of the " tank " and his merry
men are busy in their places apart. The oiling of the brute,
the replenishment, the loading of munition, the many
details of preparation, were done before dark came down.
And now the crew climb into the bowels of the mystery as
boys disappear through the manhole into a boiler that must
be cleaned. They have their instructions, and yet, how
difficult it would seem to carry them out! The luminous
compass is in the captain's hand, but the void before him
is black as Styx. He has to go over yonder and cut the
wire of the German first and second and, perchance, of their
third line trenches. Behind him, at a proper interval, will
follow the infantry, held ready for the night attack. Well
he knows the perils of the way. It is a horrid land of
vast pits and craters and roads hacked to pieces — a land
covered by the debris of ruined villages and factories
laid lov/, and cemeteries so broken that the long-hidden
dead have come to light again. But tell him this, and he
and his men will laugh at you. It is all nothing to the
" tank." The very mystery of it delights the boys who
hold the castle. No youngsters upon a sand-heap which
defies the tide are more merry. " Let her rip ! " is the cry,
and with the noise of half a dozen Zeppelins she digs her
bars into the soft earth and heaves forward on her way
Its Forward Plunge
" A black night," says the captain, as he stands trying
to pierce through that fish-like eye of bullet-proof glass.
He sees, in truth, nothing at all ; has no idea what the
ground is like over which he is lurching ; can in no case
make himself audible to the others because of the row. For
all that he stands there, his men at their posts, the guns
ready, the " tank " driven everywhere irresistibly. Some-
times at the very beginning there will be a terrible lurch,
which throws the whole crew headlong, but is attended by
nothing worse than the English of Stratford-le-Bow.
" She is over ! " you would say — and yet the words would
hardly be out of your ups before she has righted herself
again. Now it will be- a monstrous plunge like that of a
bull-nosed tramp into an Atlantic hollow ; again a rearing-
up as though she were a thoroughbred horse confronted
suddenly by a peace tract on a high road. But the wildest
capers are hardly incidents to the captain and his trained
crew. " Cheer-oh ! " they will cry, and " Good old girl ! "
— and they peer more intently into the blackness, and even
their shield of armour cannot hide from them the nearer
booming of the shells.
So we come to the first line of the German trenches.
There is wire before them — a very forest of wire, crossed
and tangled — a death-trap for any infantry that should
come upon it unawares. To the " tank " it is a little
scratching of the back — a light caress such as a patient
dog will suffer at the fireside. Those inside do not know
that they have gone through wire at all. There is a great
[Continued on paye 2270
2269
Ebb of the Tide of Invasion from Picardy
Official Photograph*
Indian cavalry despatch-rider conning back from Flers. Sir Douglas Haig reported that most of the village was in our hands on September
15th, 1916, and very soon thereafter cavalry patrols were moving far beyond Flers near Queudecourt, a sure sign of a German retirement.
Stretcher-bearers on their way out near Qinchy to bring back the wounded. Oinchy was the last observation-post of high value left to
the Germans on this battle-front, and It was carried by a magnificent assault in which the Irish troops won conspicuous glory.
Moving the guns forward to a new position in the steady, victorious advance. Consciousness of our established and increasing
superiority in artillery made our gunners elated, and our infantry actually incurred avoidable casualties owing to their too great zest.
2270
{Continued frvrn
page ••£&»
NIGHT CRUISING IN A "TANK'
jolt at the trench's edge — a warning cry ; then the flashing
of lights ; the discovery in the pit below of the white and
ghastly faces of men. Well may the Hun cry out in fear.
What is this terror that is upon him ? Is it of earth or
hell ? His flares show him the great round dome and the
blinking eyes ; never has he seen their like. Feverishly
he heaves his bombs. They are but pebbles cast at the
ramparts of a castle. He swings his machine-guns round
and the bullets rain like hail upon the " tank." It does
not answer ; its laughter is imagined. Wilder and wilder
still becomes the Boche. He yells in his fright, turns
tail and would run, and then — then the " tank " speaks.
Its deadly gun flares the trench in a twinkling. Flame
vomits from unseen mouths. There is a sauve qui pent.
a mad sortie of men^-anywhere for safety. The captain
of the " tank " gives an order ; she climbs laboriously
from the pit leaving, it may be, the crushed and mangled
bodies which she has cast from her deadly embrace. Again
she is a rover. Direction is only got by the compass,
but that is well enough. There comes a fearful crash,
and for a moment she staggers — a house, maybe, has
stopped her, but soon it will be a house no more. She
withdraws and charges it. A hail of bricks rains upon her.
She crunches the fallen walls between her relentless teeth,
and presses on she knows not whither.
Letting Her "Rip"
The wood that should have been impassable is clearly
marked upon the map ; but maps mean nothing to captains
of " tanks." This particular captain drives on and merely
cries " Hold tight ! " when the first of the trees is struck.
He knows now that he is in the wood, and " lets her rip "
because of it. She ploughs onward over the stricken trunks,
rolling them almost joyously in her jaws — emerging gorged
upon the plain and confronting the second line of trenches.
Within you hear the bullets raining upon her ; you are shaken
when the bombs burst ; you feel her almost lifted when
a great shell bursts near by — but confidence remains.
*' Nothing is going to hurt Creme de Menthe," you say.
Here is the second line at last ; we are going to wipe
it out as we wiped out the first. The infantry must soon
be upon our heels. Dawn is breaking, and the whole of
that drear scene revealed. Aurora has not looked down
upon anything of this kind since the beginning. All the
great plain is now alive with the activities of ten thousand
times ten thousand. Infantry leap into the trenches and
the Hun leaps out. The white and red and black loom
of battle gives an immense circle of smoke for an horizon.
Flashes of fire dart from concealed covers ; cries come
from the very bowels of the earth — and yet, after all, the
number of men actually to be seen is small. Only his
fellow " beetles " are of interest to the captain of the
" tank." He sees them here and there as fabulous
things that have come out of their lairs to greet the dawn.
One over yonder has been struck by a shell, and lies upon
its side. It is a barrier between bombers, who heave their
grenades across it. Another has waddled into a trench
and there is struggling to get out, while all the time its guns
are rattling. A third has broken down, and is surrounded
i v a host of excited Huns. Now surely they have got it.
Their cries are fiendish as they run right up to it and smash
their bombs at its iion ribs. "A colonel, flushed to the point
of apoplexy, roars for a jack to lift the thing and heave
it upon its side. He has caused machine-guns to be thrust
at its very forehead, and there to be discharged triumphantly
as though this must be the end. We watch the scene
and laugh consumedly. Is it possible that Daphne is lying
" doggo " with all the cunning of her sex ? We soon learn
that this is the truth. She has let the Germans cluster
thickly about her before she looses off her guns. Suddenly
with a cheering rattle she opens fire. The ground around
her is strewn with dead before a man can count ten. The
Boche flies terror-strfcken — what is left of him. He will
tell that tale with awe in any dug-out he can find to-night.
The Hun Watchword: "Surrender"
But if some of our consorts enjoy bad luck, others
enjoy the best. Look at that fellow over there by the
wood, who has been enfilading the enemy's trenches for a
long while, and is now wondering why the infantry is not
there to support him. Disturbed at being alone, he makes
a return journey of more than 1,500 yard?, to discover that
his supports have been held up by a group of machine-
guns turned upon them from a trench they thought un-
occupied. " We will soon make an end of this," says the
" tank," and calmly thrusting itself astride the trench
it knocks out one machine-gun after the other until nothing
but the bodies about them speak of its recent position.
Farther away still, upon the brink of another wood, a white
flag is being waved vigorously, and there are fearful howls
for mercy. These are faint-hearted fellows whom Colossus
has driven almost mad with terror. Surrender at any price
is their watchword. They climb from the depths and run
toward the unpitying horror with hands uplifted. It
drives them headlong back to the cages, and they do not
hesitate to tell of their gratitude. So at all points ot
the field the " tank " is making this a famous day.
There will not be a dinner-table in London to-night
which will not echo the story with laughter.
Like a Pantomime Animal
As for Tommy himself, we know well what he thought
of it. " I heard," says one lad, " a sound out of the fog
which was like three or four motor-horns rolled into one.
Toot, toot, toot ! and the boys came staggering along — all
muddy and bloody ; but some of them laughing fit to kill
themselves.
" ' Look out for the Lord Mayor's Show,' sings out one
chap, and then through the mist came No. i ' tank ' — the
most comical sight you ever saw in your life. She looked
like a pantomime animal, or a walking ship with iron sides
moving along, very slow, apparently all on her own and
with none of her crew visible. There she was, and groanin'
and gruntin' along, pokin' her nose here and there, stoppin'
now and then as if she was not sure of the road. The
last I saw of her was when she was nosing down a shell-
crater like a great big hippopotamus with a crowd of
Tommies cheering behind."
It could not be better. We take up Tommy's cheers
for the " tank." May its shadow never grow less 1
A frivolous quadruped engaged in the serious work of transporting munitions to the guns. The small proportions of the donkey
render this animal less susceptible to shell-fire when passing through communication trenches.
2271
Triumphant Tommies' Trophies from Thiepval
Briliih Official Photographs
German trench architecture and construction were so sound that many excellent subterranean structures survived the
and were occupied by our troops, who highly appreciated the comfort that awaited them. Left: A bed-room found in one captured
id (right) a telephone office fitted up in another.
Some of the men who stormed Thiepval, September 26th, 1916. German helnr
strong fortress position, but revolvers and cigars won much favour. 1
U pe^Hy^rilisT ""'
2272
With the Crown Camera Men on the Somme
An early morning move against the enemy. Scene in the reserve trenches on September 25, 1916
nfantry fully equipped going forward — bombardiers, men with the bayonets, and stretcher-bearers
_. • • *•- -; •••-'-• -*"~ —~,,;~: -»^ICT ,*:;*n0mi-.Si!mmm mm... 'it .» J.a ^ : ••-<• ' g::-gA •,:-,W*.'&-.\ "'' '
With wonderful deliberation, undismayed by heavy fire, British sold.ers are clambering over the top. Spreading out in open formation,
they went forward on their way to the capture of Morval.
2273
Recording the Greatest Battle of the War
British Official Photograph*
In single file a bombing-party leaves the trenches for a surprise visit to the German dug-out*,
carrying enough explosives on them to blow up a small citadel.
'Engineer go.ng 'orward to wire newly-won pos.t.ons. In8et: Jub.lant, though wounded, a reg.memal sergeant-major bein8 brought
back, on a stretcher, by four German prisoners.
2274
Scenes of Valour When the Big Guns Lift
Some spirited hand-to-hand fighting characterised the capture of Thiepval village, a strong bulwark in the German line of defence.
Only after a very complete bombardment did the British advance, and even then the enemy put up a stern resistance. This vivid
illustration was designed to show the triumphant moments when our infantry secured a footing in the fortress, headed by the bombers.
Before Combles fell to British arms and prowess. Dramatic illustration showing a British officer standing on a parapet and giving the
signal for the barrage to lift so that the infantry might advance. In the background are some heavy guns. The top right-hand corner
shows the Infantry going forward, while in the foreground a party of men are threading their way along a trencn with a Lewis gun.
2275
Foot and Horse Advance as on Parade
Brilith Official Photographs
Reinforcements moving tip towards Marti npuich, the scene of some of the stiff est fighting in the great battle for the villages on September
15th, 1916. The place was full of dug-outs manned by the 2nd Bavarian Division, who made their name at the Hohenzollern Redoubt.
Another view of infantry reinforcements moving up to the front on September 1Sth. On this battle-front alone the Germans had about a
thousand cannon against the British, but the spirit of victory was so hot in our men that their officers had difficulty in keeping them back.
There was no finer sight than a cavalry division on the move in France. Though a friendly rivalry has ever existed between foot soldiers
and horsemen, the modern infantrymen are happy to see cavalry canter past, for it is an omen that their advance has gone well.
Cavalry on the inarch near the Somme. It was hoped that the day was not far distant when British cavalry would have its great
opportunity, when splendid Hussars, Lancers, and Dragoons would sweep through the territory in German occupation.
2276
2277
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Battle of the Abbaye
By MAX PEMBERTON
THE news which reached England on October 2nd, 3rd,
1916, opened a new page in the story of the Somme
adventure. For the first time for many months we
heard of green fields and of cavalry. Delighted British
troops, looking across this scarred and withered No Man's
Land, perceived beyond it the growing crops of sugar-beet
and the villages which did not appear to have known war.
The great high-road from Bapaume to Albert stood out
as a very Route Nationale of the Napoleonic era. Poplars
by its side were unscathed, and their leaves rustled
in the breezes. Bapaume itself could be seen through
powerful glasses, and there were even subalterns who
declared that they set their watches by its clock. Not
only was this the case, but cavalry patrols started off
towards the end of the day to ride over ground where
horses could feel their feet, and to amuse themselves
with those " little affairs " which are dear to the cavalry-
man's heart.
All this, be it observed, was remarkable in its way,
and bore witness to the attainment of a great purpose.
We had achieved beyond question the summit of the
ridge and had thrust the enemy below us. There was
even some doubt as to the strength in which lie held
the decline and the points at which he held it. It was
a Staff conclusion, early in the morning of October ist,
that many of the trenches in the neighbourhood of
Le Sars were in possession of but a handful of men.
Eaucourt 1'Abbaye, on the other hand, stood for a more
difficult proposition, and upon the capture of this Sir
Douglas Haig was set.
Shattered Cloisters of Eaucourt 1'Abbaye
We read of abbeys and envisage the picturesque. Tintern
and Glastonbury and Fountains suggest sylvan scenery and
placid streams, and monks singing sweetly as Knut might
have heard them. There may have been a time when
Eaucourt 1'Abbaye would have invited the strolling artist
to its doors, and sent him away in some content. On
Sunday, when our men looked down upon it — men old in
fighting and young, veterans who had battled on the
Somme since July ist, Londoners and troops from the
shires who had recently crossed over and were wide-eyed
at the spectacle of battle, Canadians all resolute and
Guards determined — there was little to suggest the cowl or
cloister, or that picturesque environment with which the
religious were wont to surround themselves. Seen from
the ridge Eaucourt 1'Abbaye looked but a rectangle of
ruins. Not yet utterly destroyed as the villages behind us
which we have pounded to dust, its barns and refectories
were nevertheless but tottering walls, and its courtyards
but a harbourage for a battalion's d6bris. The strength of
it lay round about in the deep trenches before it to the
north ; in its cellars, once generous in the red wines of
Burgundy, but now rich in the number of its gunners and
weapons they housed there. Lying as it does in a little
hollow, local tradition speaks of wonderful tunnels below
it, here reaching afar almost to Bapaume, there south-
ward towards Flers, and again to the north-west to the
village of Le Sars. With these we need not concern
ourselves. The Abbaye remained the most redoubtable
fortress between Martinpuich and Bapaume, and to take
it was Sir Douglas Haig's objective on the first day of
October.
No Rest for the Foe
This was a battle beginning, so far as our infantry was
concerned, very late in the day. You should know that
part of the old German third line ran roughly from Grand-
court, south-eastward through Le Sars, Eaucourt 1'Abbaye,
and Gueu Jecourt. The latter place we had some days ago,
and Le Sars and 1'Abbaye undoubtedly would have shared
its fate before the end of September but for the heavy rain
upon the last days of the month. Boggy ground and mists
lying low over the land forbade offensive operations on
the 29th and 3oth. October ist saw us applying our heavy
guns to this particular purpose from dawn onwards. To
be sure, there never was rest upon that amazing front,
and truly has the Boche declared that it is hell behind
his lines. Neither day nor night has given him relief.
Now it will be a few desultory shots from one or two of
the monsters. A lull follows, and is broken by a very
avalanche of gigantic shells. They are dispersed over a
wide area until the definite moment of action, then they
concentrate upon their objective. On Sunday it was the
trenches before Le Sars and, when these were done with,
the colossal entanglements before the Abbaye and the
dug-outs which lay deep down in the earth beyond them.
German Sailors as Infantry
These were bombarded relentlessly until half-past three
of the afternoon. Occasionally our aeroplanes, never more
conspicuous, were discovering many facts for us. To the
north of Courcelette, for instance, there was but a thin
wall of men, and it crumbled quickly to the attack. Not
so at Le Sars and Eaucourt, where really strong forces
held the ground ; while between Courcelette and Grand-
court, in what is known as the Regina Trench, there were
German sailors from the Belgian coast. Such fellows gave
us the best of the hand-to-hand fighting which the Battle of
the Abbaye was to witness. The ist and 2nd Marine
Regiments of the 2nd Naval Division had here replaced
the 26th Regiment of the yth Magdeburg Division, and
their arrival was significant indeed. Did it mean, as the
" Times " correspondent suggests, that sailors would face
the terrors of the " tanks " with lighter hearts, or is the
Boche so pressed that even the Belgian coast must be
denuded of its garrison ? We neither know nor care.
With the greatest gallantry our men fought their way to
the Regina, drove the Marines from it, were themselves
on the Monday night driven again out of part of it, and
finally on Tuesday stormed the whole position.
Enter the Hungry "Tank"
The sailors certainly had opportunity to test the quality
of the " tanks," for they played a big part in the final
operations. At one point south of Eaucourt the entangle-
ment was unbroken, and our men lay down in the open,
lobbing bombs over the wire at Germans lobbing back
from the advantageous cover of a trench. Things were
becoming critical when some " tanks " slugged solemnly
from behind a copse ; one " absolutely ate up the wire,
and then nosed along the trench, squashing obstructions
flat, and leaving a broad wake, along which the infantry
followed it. Finally, in an impassable pit, it squatted
down, sleepily satisfied with having cleared up the impasse,
and its crew emerging from its carcase took an active
hand in the fighting outside.
So fierce was the fighting that it degenerated often enough
into wild encounters in the open, in which the cheers of the
onlookers stimulated the activities of the detached partisans.
Germans were seen, we are told, running like hares across
the scarred fields. A Guardsman chased one for more
than a hundred and fifty yards, caught him upon his
bayonet at last, and pitched him high above his shoulder.
A private of Territorials elsewhere took bombs in his hand,
and caring nothing for the machine-gun which was turned
upon him, ran madly along the parapet of a trench and
killed the most part of those below him. Here a majcr
takes half a company of Huns at the revolver's point ;
there a huge Bavarian, nearly seven feet high, falls upon
his knees before a tiny subaltern and begs to be spared for
the sake of his wife and his ten starving children.
This " scrap " lasted all day, and was still not definite
on Monday night. Meanwhile, upon the right, Eaucourt
[Continued on page 2278
2273
THE BATTLE OF THE ABB AYE
1'Abbaye had practically been encircled and its doom
decreed. We lost surprisingly few men in this adventure,
though some eight hundred yards of ground had to be
covered in the face of Eaucourt's fire when the word to
" Go ! " was heard in our trenches. Here the Londoner, just
out, proved his mettle with a vengeance. Fearful he may
have been of that whirlwind of German shells which shook
the earth beneath his feet ; scared beyond utterance by
the scream of death in the air above and the figure of death
in the fields below ; awed by the rattle of machine-guns
and the bullets which whistled about his ears — but never
daunted, pushing on always with pursed lips and eyes which
looked straight ahead across the wilderness, and fingers
which twitched upon the rifle's butt. By his side were the
veterans needlessly .bidding him to be of good cheer. Not
for him to-day were the horrors of Guillemont or the Trones
Wood. So magnificently had our artillery done its work
that it needed but one swift assault to drive the enemy
from the outposts of Eaucourt. Within the ruined monas-
tery itself there were the unnumbered hosts of hidden
Germans, but with these the gunners had still to deal.
Yard by yard we fought for the Abbaye gates, burst into
the outbuildings, ferreted the dug-outs, and cleaned the
ground — but never blindly as men who go to a holocaust,
but always under the shelter of the terrible artillery which
made our advance possible.
Great Advance by Veterans and Tyros
It should not be thought that such an advance was
possible without some mishap. Mr. Philip Gibbs, in an
admirable despatch, has told us of the tributes of the old
troops to the new, but the word " loss " is not unheard
among them. Difficult as the operation was, a gully of the
Martinpuich-Eaucourt road added to its hazards ; for here
in the sunken way the German machine-guns could cover
the storming-party and cause even the veterans to pull
themselves together. These guns " chattered horribly "
as our men swept past. " Lots of 'em dropped," said a
veteran of the New Army as he related the circumstance ;
" but there was no kind of difference between us." Men
who had not left London many days went side by side with
ancients, who could speak of Loos and Neuve Chapelle,
across the gully and the death-pits to the smiling fields
beyond. Here was sugar-beet, red if not rosy. Boys
made footballs of the vegetables and kicked them on toward
the German trenches. " It helped us to forget," they said
— and we who hear them may picture the sights from which
their eyes were wisely turned. Brave men, down and out,
were behind them. Others lay bleeding from wounds.
Not a few, in their excitement, would have crawled after
the comrades who were going on. Others were already
in the stretchers on their way to the dressing-stations.
Fitly did No Man's Land offer such a harvest to the
reapers.
Our concern is not with these poor fellows. The tide
surged past them and reached the Abbaye gates. Not
many Germans lived to confront it, so well had our artillery
work been done. The first and second trenches defending
the monastery were heaped with dead, we are told. A few
machine-gunners held on to the last with units of the 6th
Bavarian Division brought down from Lille. They shot
and would have bayoneted our vanguard, and when they
could neither shoot nor stab, they lifted their hands and
cried " Kamerad ! " " Too late ! " we read — and who
shall wonder ? For we know the Hun by this time, and in
the heat of action it is impossible that our men should forget.
" Kamerad " must bolt like a rabbit for the shelter of wall
and dug-out, and we must fetch him out as we could. It
was Tuesday afternoon before we were sure of the cellars
of the Abbaye, and many of them are unexplored to this
The Great Part of the Bird-Men
Once again our aeroplanes did yeoman service in all this
fighting. Not only in reconnaissance but in actual attack
have they proved their valour. One pilot, observing
reinforcements on the Bapaume road, dropped to within
two hundred feet of the ground and turned his machine-
gun upon them. Anti-aircraft guns were boldly attacked
from the air and their gunners shot down. Like vultures
the 'planes swept over the harassed land, discovering
derelicts here and hidden enemies there. They bombed or
shot them with a recklessness which was superb. Upon
one occasion (says a correspondent) a whole regiment,
coming up to reinforce, was scattered by these dauntless
adventurers. A great day for them, truly, when it may be
said that the enemy's organisation behind the lines was
broken up absolutely by our flying men alone. Undoubt-
edly they contributed to the sum of German losses, which
were colossal. Some of the Bavarian companies from Lille
lost seventy-five per cent, of their effectives. One went in
one hundred and ninety strong, and had sixty whole at the
end of the day. The prisoners taken were not many, but
in the main they were of a coarser calibre than some cap-
tured at Martinpuich and Flers — little men, very dirty, and
very glad to be with us.
Upon the other side is Sir Douglas Haig's assurance that
our own casualties were surprisingly low in an action to
which he attached the greatest importance.
Ik*
A QUIET JOB FOR A CHANGE.— Guards carrying water to their billets. The Guards, with their superb tradition behind thim,
were on their mettle in the great advance, and their fighting at Courcelette and many another point was irresistible. (Official
photograph. Crown copyright reserved.)
2279
Britons at Home in Dug-outs of the Foe
The earliest Inhabitants on the globe could not have lived under more primitive conditions than did the twentieth century fighting
men. This remarkable photograph gives an excellent idea how British soldiers burrowed in the earth, impelled by the instinct of
self-preservation to find cover from the diabolical instruments of German science.
Capiured German dug-outs were found to be of great strength, and not Infrequently furnished with home comforts. Life therein
before the terrible British bombardment must have been comparatively easy. (Crown copyright reserved.)
2280
Told by the Rank and Fils
THE TAKING OF THIEPVAL
BY PRIVATE W. BROOKS
A "THOUGH I'm telling this story,
I want to say right at the cora-
mi nc Tnent that you are not to
run away with the idea that my regiment
was the only regiment used in the greatest
attack oi all history. It was only one
unit of a great force.
The night before the attack commenced
we had a lecture by our commandant,
who told us as much as the Headquarters
Stafi knew about Thiepval. He said
that the place had been the headquarters
ol a brigade of Wurtembergers tor two
years, and that the men had come to regard
it as a soft and easy job. In fact, when,
they were about to be relieved by other
troops and sent to other parts of the line,
they begged to remain.
They had improved it in their own way,
he said, and had underground passages
running in all directions, to which they
would descend when our artillery fire
got too hot to be comfortable. They
would, as a point of honour, hold the
place to the end, and would no doubt
fight strenuously before the end came.
Wine lor the Winners
We were told that the hub of the defence
would be the chateau, which had been
made as impregnable as possible by
every device known to warlike science.
But — he finished — in the cellars of the
chateau were a fine lot of cooling drinks —
wines and the like — to slake the thirst of
those who won.
We made up our minds to have some
ol these drinks at all costs, and as that
meant the taking of the chateau, it of
course also meant a warm time for the
comfortable Huns. The artillery, as
usual, opened the ball the night before,
raking the place from end to end and comb-
ing it through thoroughly. Then, from
our trenches at the foot of the hill —
Thiepval lies on its crest — we advanced
steadily, as fast as possible, but still only
at a walking pace.
Every trench and shell-hole was held
against us, but we simply marched up
to them, whacked a few bombs into them,
and then cleared them out with the
bayonet. Whatever prisoners we took
were sent back under nominal escort
to the rear.
We had reached the second line of
German trenches — they were mere heaps
of mud and dead bodies, with here and
there a machine-gun party strafing away
at us as we marched onwards — when
one machine-gun team surrendered en
bloc. They hadn't used half their cart-
ridges, either, and we could only surmise
that they must have been fed-up with the
war. Anyway, we put the sixteen of them
in charge of two of our slightly wounded,
and bundled them off to the rear, taking
their gun and ammunition with us to
strafe their comrades.
Prisoners Become Restive
Hall-way down the lull these sixteen
prisoners seemed to change their minds
about being captives, lor they made a
dash at the two Tommies. As luck
would have it they managed to keep the
Huns ofl fairly well with their bayonets,
though they sustained slight flesh wounds.
Our sergeant saw what was happening,
and took half the platoon down to talk
to those silly Germans. We did — with
the butts ol our rifles, and when we had
finished those sixteen went along as
quietly as mice, without a word, and all
whimpering and nursing the places where
good, hard, English fists had touched
them.
We advanced again, steadily, and all
the time we were chafing because we had
to wait for our own artillery to lift.
It crept along cunningly and slowly,
and at certain times jumped about a hun-
dred yards. Then we broke into a run,
bashed everything that tried to stop us,
and settled down to follow the creeping,
searching shells again.
The Tunnelled Chateau
We came near to the tunnelled chateau,
and were held up, both by the artillery
and the enemy's fire. He had as usual
thousands of machine-guns, hidden here
and there, popping up and down like
Jacks-in-the-box. They were in shell-
holes, in wired trenches, and in strongly
held redoubts, and no ordinary troops
could have lived through the fire.
But we had a " tank " — a great big beast
of a " tank." It went ahead, straight up
to the centre of the position, in spite of
bombs, hand-grenades, and machine-gun
bullets which the enemy aimed at it
with all his vigour. Suddenly it started
to add its din to that already existing,
and we had to laugh at the way the
Germans disappeared in front of it.
We didn't lose the opportunity, but
dashed on after it, treading between the
places where its caterpillar wheels had
marked the soft ground. Just as we
reached it the machine-gun people tied
white flags to their rifles, though the trench
holders still slugged away at it, trying
to put it out of action. It simply turned
to the right and went waddling down
the trench, its guns going all the time.
Some intrepid Germans even swarmed
on its back, and tried to poke rifles
through the slots in its armoured hide ;
but they fell off like dead flies.
A French aeroplane swooped through
from the sky, and came down within four
hundred feet to see the sport. The Huns
thought they were going to be bombed,
and, throwing down their rifles, did the
Kamerad trick like one man.
Retreat to the Cellars
On the heels of this initial success
the infantry dashed forward irresistibly.
We stormed the chateau, fighting in the
good old-fashioned style, though helped
by our artillery, who dropped shells with
a nice precision into it every few seconds.
The Wurtembergers retired to their
cellars, leaving us in charge.
Then commenced the queerest part
of this fight — the hunt underground.
We would search around for the entrance
to the cellars, when suddenly from
behind us would come a volley of rifle
fire. Turning round quickly, we'd be
just in time to see half a dozen Germans
doing the disappearing act down a tunnel.
You can bet we were after them like
terriers after rats. They had the advan-
tage at first, being in the dark and invisible,
while we were silhouetted against the
light. But we pressed on, and engaged
them on equal terms. They ran, and we
followed. It was like fighting in a coal-
mine. Every here and there passages
would branch off towards the right and
left, and sometimes we would hear the
sound of firing, telling us that others
of our lads were engaged in private
hunts of their own. We never gave our
quarry an opportunity to bolt, but keeping
him in sight followed every twist and turn
of the tunnels.
Bombs in the Dark
In one place they passed a heap of
bombs, and as they went they stooped
and slung a few back at us. When we
reached the heap the rear men stopped and
gathered armfuls of the bombs, while
we in front kept in touch. When they
rejoined us we made Fritz a present of
a few of his own bombs, and judging by
the shrieks and yells with which be
received them, he didn't appreciate the
gift a bit.
And all the time our lads were dropping,
after three hours' fighting well below
the earth's surface. But the Germans'
game was up, and we got them in a corner.
We expected they would fight like rats,
but to our glad surprise they chucked
up the sponge and came over with their
hands in the air. And we fifteen marched
back forty-three Germans, including one
officer, right to the place where we had
started from, after telling them that if
they led us into an ambush they would
get strafed first.
We found that what the lecturer had
told us was quite the truth, and one of
the great Wurtembergers had the nerve
to say to me, " We fought well, didn't
we ? " — after he had surrendered with a
clean bayonet as well as a fully-charged
magazine.
When we got to the top again and got
rid of our lot of prisoners, we received
orders to prepare for a gas attack. The
enemy was still holding on to a house
in the north-east part of the town, and
he had to be smoked out somehow. We'd
hardly got the gas-masks over our heads
before the grey-green clouds rolled along,
with the wind behind them.
Then the Germans gave us another
Kamerad exhibition, rushing through the
fumes with their hands up and their
masks on to surrender.
Bombs, Liquid Fire, and Gas
For two hours we got a rest, and then
the Germans, having massed all their
available troops, came back again in
a counter-attack. This was no Kamerad
business — they were desperate, and, tired
as we were, we had all our work cut out
to hold them. But hold them we did.
in spite of their guns and shells, bombs,
liquid fire, gas, and machine-guns, and —
what is more — we hurled them back and
counter-attacked.
And as we went over the top of a
battered and captured German trench,
some spiteful machine-gun bullet came,
smacked my steel helmet, and tore it off,
tearing part of my scalp with it. And
so, after the stress and turmoil of Thiepval.
I'm back in a London hospital — and
thank God for the rest ! Though, mind
you, I wouldn't have been out of that
scrap — no — not even for a month's
leave when the Cup Ties are being played.
BELGIAN SLAVERY
The German " round-up " in Belgium,
which began in the middle of October,
1916, and embrace i Flanders, the Tournai,
and the Mons districts, was applied to
at least 15,000 men. These unfortunate
individuals were herded together in open
trucks, exposed to all weathers, and
sent like cattle to various destinations,
some to Germany, others to the Verdun
front, undoubtedly lor work ol a military
nature.
I 6
2282
2283
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Fight for the Warrens
By MAX PEMBERTON
ITHE week ending October 14, 1916, was for the most
J[ part quiet upon the west front. The Saturday, how-
ever, witnessed two pretty little battles, which in their
effect were as important as anything done recently in the
neighbourhood of Thiepval. We took both the Schwaben
and the Stuff Redoubts upon that occasion, and took them
with a loss which was inconsiderable. They were the very
last of the really formidable subterranean fortresses between
our front and Bapaume, and their possession has given our
artillery a domination which is unquestionable. Hence-
forth our powers of observation are supreme. The redoubts
alone had qualified them these many days.
To understand rightly the import of this success, a contour
map is necessary. We all know by this time that we have
fought for and won a position upon a ridge which the German
Staff chose deliberately after the Battle of the Marne as the
strongest it could find between the French and the Belgian
plains. Beyond the ridge there is no other elevation of a
similar height between us and Cambrai — none with an
altitude ot 500 feet, which this attains, and none which
offers such unique opportunities of subterranean fortifica-
tion. Everywhere from the summit, by Schwaben, the
ground slopes down toward Bapaume.
Great Guns on the Heights
The Valley of the Ancre is below Thiepval, upon our
extreme left. Our centre shows a rolling decline from High
Wood through Flers and Gueudecourt. Upon the right
there is the high ground beyond Ginchy and the more
favourable inclination towards the Bapaume Road. In the
old days an army which won the complete possession of
this range of heights would have descended upon its enemy
with a momentum which might have been irresistible.
To-day it is not for the purpose of a massed attack that we
have fought the fierce battles of the summit, but for the
domination of the artillery of which I have already spoken.
Thiepval itself, as we know, lies upon the height of the
ridge, but is in a hollow. Beyond it the ground rises for
some thousand yards to the very summit of the range. It
was upon this summit that the Germans had entrenched
themselves in the Schwaben Redoubt. Here their old first-
line trench used to run, and they have used that trench for
many months as one of the high-roads to their labyrinth.
The redoubt itself appears to have been of extraordinary
strength. It was a maze of pits and cellars ; its surface
broken and pock-marked with shells, while below it there
was a series of subterranean works which were almost as
remarkable as those of Combles.
The redoubt covered an area, the " Times " tells us, of
nearly 700 yards in its longest diameter. We have been
for some time in possession of the greater part of its western
trenches, but the enemy has clung desperately to the
entrenched positions upon the north. So, despite our success
along the whole ridge from Thiepval to Combles, he has
still been able to hamper the sure advance upon Bapaume,
and has maintained at the crest an artillery observation-
post with the greatest advantage to him. This Sir Douglas
Haig determined finally to destroy on the morning of
October I4th, not only the Schwaben, but beyond it, a
thousand yards farther on to the east, its twin brother, the
Stuff Redoubt, whose defences were almost as formidable.
Wonderful Artillery and Infantry Co-operation
This appears to have been a very pretty little battle.
We began, of course, with an inevitable and tru'y terrible
bombardment. From quite early in the day the great guns
behind the British lines were concentrating upon the
Schwaben and the Stuff, and put a barrage between them
which must have been singularly destructive to the Hun
reinforcements groping along their battered trenches. So
close were our troops to this barrage of fire that the greatest
confidence in our own gunners was needed to maintain
them there. But nothing has been more remarkable
latterly than the fine shooting of the British artillery, and
its reputation did not suffer upon this occasion. A good deal,
it is true, we owed to our aeroplanes, which never had done
better work.
Very early in the morning, we are told, the sky was alive
with the daring airmen who have long since ceased to pay
any attention to the Huns' attack, and are grown as bold
as the warriors of the fables. Happily, the weather
favoured them from the outset. There had been much
rain earlier in the week, but the Saturday was a fair day
of a typical autumn. A cloudless sky showed a sun which
shone brightly upon the desolation of No Man's Land,
while a gentle wind made trick-flying necessary, but not
dangerous — conditions which favoured the airman.
Wings of Splendid Valour
No longer, we may remark, is that brave fellow content
merely to take a flight over the enemy's lines and to signal
to the artillery which is watching him. He has himself
become a combatant. Daringly he swoops down like some
ravenous eagle upon the Germans hunched in their trenches.
Nothing for many miles behind the line is safe while such
an intrepid adventurer is on the wing. He will attack a
railway siding with a sang-froid which is matchless ; swoop
upon a regiment marching, and scatter it headlong ; face a
park of artillery and defy the gunners to touch him.
Some, unhappily, pay with their lives the penalty of this
daring, but the terror they inspire is not to be estimated in
words, and the services they are rendering us are priceless.
The air was full of them on the morning of Saturday, and
our fellows below watched them with an admiration which
was natural. They themselves were waiting for the signal
to be up and out, and waiting with that expectancy they
have often described for us. To men bunched in a trench,
with long hours of delay before them, time is an enemy
indeed. Nothing matters but the work they have in hand.
They are like lightly-clad runners who shiver at the post
until the word for the race is given, but who shiver with
impatience rather than with fear. The perils of the
intervening hours may then be realised, even by the bravest.
We do not hurl these countless shells upon the German
lines without a quick reply, and just as the British eye can
follow the flame and smoke of the devastation upon the
enemy line, so may hostile eyes witness it in our own.
Great guns hurl their monstrous projectiles, and those in
the trenches hear them bursting all about.
Bombs Ready and Bayonets Fixed
Here and there a shot will fall into the trench itself, and
the stretcher-bearers will creep forward and their ghastly
burdens be carried gently to the rear. In the main, how-
ever, the shells across the Schwaben did us little damage,
and already our men began to understand what artillery
domination was meaning to them. There was no such
wild firing as this at Guillemont or Trones, or even in
Leuze Wood. Then the Germans were masters of the
ridge ; theirs was the advantage, ours the stern task of
assaulting lines so advantageous.
We suffered, then, comparatively little by shell fire before
the Schwaben, and our men were in high spirits enough
when the afternoon brought the long-expected order to
advance. Now the bombers made ready and the bayonets
were fixed. This was not to be any orderly fight of mass
against mass, regiments advancing here, platoons there,
to objects clearly perceived. Schwaben, they tell us,
was like a human warren. Our men burst into the
labyrinth and instantly found themselves looking for the
enemy whom the cellars had swallowed up. We knew
that the noth and mth Bavarian Regiments were
holding the place, but few of them we saw until the bombs
had fetched them out.
Then came the duels a outrance — fierce fights apart and
individual scraps ; man hunting man out of touch with bis
[Continued an paje 2284
2284
THE FIGHT FOR THE WARRENS
fellows ; bayonet exercise in dark places — a very hue-and-
cry in the bowels of the earth. So successful was it that
we had three hundred prisoners before the night had
fallen. Our losses were returned as comparatiyely light.
We heard again of the splendid behaviour of the new troops ;
of acts of individual daring which have become common-
place. Finally, we had to record the complete success
of this pretty operation which gave us the Schwaben, and
the final mastery of the ridge.
The Stuff Redoubt proved to be an easier job. There had
been tenacious fighting at the Schwaben, but in the Stuff
the bayonet proved irresistible. Correspondents have told
us that these were not the Germans we fought at Ginchy
and Combles, and certain it is that the readiness to throw
up the hands and cry " Kamerad ! " was greatly to the
taste of our fellows. Here again we have evidence of the
terrible effects of that ceaseless bombardment of the
German lines which our guns have undertaken since
July ist.
It may be true to say that the moral of the Boche is still
magnificent upon occasion, but that vast numbers of his
troops are shaken, no sane judge can doubt. Soldiers give
us the most diverting anecdotes of some of these stricken
warriors. We hear of men running as hard as they can,
bayonets at their backs, their hands waving like the fins of
a walrus, and their cries for mercy rending the very air.
Some of them creep forward on their knees, that there shall
be no mistake about it. And yet they are treacherous to
the last, and when we had taken Schwaben we had by no
means done with it. Machine-guns would appear suddenly
in some crater where they had not been ten minutes pre-
viously. Snipers hid themselves in any odd crevice and
opened fire upon any unsuspecting group they saw
near by.
There were sudden sorties from deep cellars, resurrec-
tions of men who had come like moles from the depths of
the earth — new and violent attacks when all was thought
to be over. With these we wrestled for many hours.
Going stealthily from pit to pit, the bombers hurled their
grenades and waited, as Tommy would put it, for the
groans. No depth was left unexplored ; no dark place
was passed until it had been searched with powder. To-
day we hold Schwaben firmly, and the Germans are paying
the price of their defeat. There must be hundreds of them
buried down there in the pits they dug nearly two
years ago.
We took four hundred prisoners altogether on the I4th,
and suffered little by way of counter-attack until the
Sunday. The weather broke for a spell after we had con-
cluded this successful advance, and the night of the I5th
was pitch black and rainy. Some sort of a massed German
attack, which was instantly broken, was the only event
of the Sabbath. But as usual the night brought the cease-
less flashes of fire upon the horizon and the booming message
of the artillery which never rests. All this means that we
have consolidated the position of Schwaben and are moving
the great machine forward for the next act in this colossal
drama.
Our Ally Victorious at Sailly
Upon our right the French have not been less busy. The
seizing of Sailly is a great event. There is, says a French
expert, but a gap of the fifth part of a mile between the
German line about Peronne and the River Somme, and even
the High Command must begin to think their position
precarious. Sailly has made it more so, and at a surpris-
ingly little cost. It was a bitter fight, and remarkable for
the tenacity with which the Huns resisted the brilliant dash
of our allies.
Unlike many of the other villages, which are but dust
upon the desert's face, Sailly showed the remnants of
houses, each one of which had long since been a fortress.
Here the French fought in the old style, as formerly they
fought at Bazeilles in the terrible days of " '70." We
follow the fearful melee in what once were streets ; the
vomit of fire from the sheltered walls ; the rattle as of sticks
upon a railing when the machine-guns opened up ; the shrieks
of men whom the bayonets caught — above all, the thunder
of the cannon that sent their shells high above the village
and devastated with their barrage the regiments that were
coming up.
They call it an important action in Paris, and we may
believe them. Day by day the great machine goes forward
—now swiftly as a runner ; again creeping as a snail — but
irresistibly always towards that goal upon which the eyes of
its masters are set.
"SCOTCH EXPRESS" IN FLANDERS.-Light railway engin, construct.d from parts of a broken-down automobile.
Conveymg rails to lengthen the transport line just behind the British front. (Official photographs.)
2286
THEWILLUSTMED-GAIXEEYoFLEADERS K9
LT.-GEN. SIR THOMAS D'OYLY SNOW, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.
Commanding the Seventh Army Corps
228G
PERSONALIA OF
THE GREAT WAR
LIEUT.-GEN. SIR T. D'OYLY SNOW
TIEUT.-GENERAL SIR THOMAS D'OYLY SNOW,
K.C.B., K.C.M.G., who commanded the Seventh
Army Corps in the great Battle of the Somme,
July-November, 1916, was born on May 5th, 1858, the
eldest son of Mr. George D'Oyly Snow, of Langton
Lodge, Blandford, in the Dorsetshire Heights. Educated
at Eton and St. John's College, Cambridge, he gained his
first experience of war service at the age of twenty-one.
First Experiences Under Fire
He entered the Army in 1879, the year in which hostilities
broke out between the British and the Zulu King Cetewayo,
owing to the refusal of the latter to make reparation for
the raids by his people over the Natal border. This " little
war " had a disastrous beginning for the Imperial troops.
A British force crossed the frontier, but was surprised
and attacked at Isandhlwana, on the left bank of the
Buffalo River, no miles N. by W. of Durban. There it
was defeated, with a loss of over eight hundred men, on
January 22nd, the day on which D'Oyly Snow was gazetted
a subaltern to Prince Albert's Somersetshire Light Infantry.
Reinforcements were hurriedly sent out from England,
and young D'Oyly Snow went out with his regiment. The
campaign, which, under Sir Garnet (afterwards Lord)
Wolseley ended in the following September, is memorable
for the part taken in it as a volunteer by Prince Louis
Napoleon, who lost his life in a surprise attack on a recon-
noitring party near the Mozani River. D'Oyly Snow,
whose services were rewarded by the medal with clasp,
was promoted lieutenant on July ist, 1881.
Severely Wounded at El Gubat
Three years later General Gordon was despatched to
Khartum to bring away from the Sudan several Egyptian
garrisons that had been hemmed in by the Mahdi. This
was in January, 1884. Gordon reached Khartum, but
by the time he did so the whole of the Sudan was in a
state of revolt, and in September an English army under
Lord Wolseley .was sent to his assistance. Lieutenant
D'Oyly Snow was in this force as a member of one of the
Camel Corps.
After a tedious voyage up the Nile a part of the force,
under General Sir Herbert Stewart, marched across the
desert and defeated the enemy at Abu Klea, about 120
miles from Khartum (January lyth, 1885). In addition
to taking part in this engagement, in which the British,
numbering only some 1,500 men, defeated 10,000 Arabs,
Lieutenant D'Oyly Snow was present in the action a few
days later at El Gubat, near Metemmeh, where a fierce
Arab onset on the British square was repulsed with very
heavy loss to the enemy. On this occasion Lieutenant
D'Oyly Snow was severely wounded. But at the age of
twenty-seven he had gained a second medal with two
clasps and the bronze star.
With Kitchener in the Sudan
After serving as adjutant from December 3oth, 1885,
to December 2gth, 1890, he gained his captaincy on July
ist, 1887, and passing through the Staff College at Cam-
berley in 1893, he was, on May ist, 1897, promoted major
in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, a promotion which
involved the supersession of three captains who were his
seniors. But it was already recognised that he was a man
who from the first had taken up his profession seriously,
and was, withal, not only an earnest, but a capable, soldier.
For some time before receiving his majority he had
acted as brigade-major of the First Infantry Brigade at
Aldershot (May 2gth, 1895, to January 4th, 1898), and,
returning to the land of Old Nile, he was brigade-major
in Egypt and the Sudan (first of the British Brigade and
then of the First Brigade British Division) from January
5th to September 29th, 1898. By January, 1898, Kit-
chener's plans for the reconquest of the Sudan were almost
completed. The all-important railway, in the face of
appalling difficulty and discouragement, had been pushed
on to the Atbara. At length the awful war machine went
forward. Mahmud was captured. Osman Digna was
routed. It was with peculiar satisfaction that Major
D'Oyly Snow, with his memories of 1884-5, found himself
part of the machine that achieved this result. He took
part in the Good Friday Battle of the Atbara, and in
that of Omdurman in the following September. He was
twice mentioned in despatches, given the brevet rank of
lieutenant-colonel, and awarded the medal with two clasps.
Commander of the 4th Division
In April, 1899, he exchanged into the Northamptonshire
Regiment, and, being appointed full colonel June 2nd, 1903,
held in succession the following appointments : A.Q.M.G.
Fourth Army Corps and Eastern Command (June 2nd, 1903,
to July 6th, 1905) ; A.A.G. Eastern Command (July 7th,
1905, to May 3ist, 1906) ; Brigadier-General, General Staff,
Eastern Command (October ist, 1909, to June 3Oth, 1910).
Created a Commander of the Bath in 1907, he was
promoted major-general on March 3ist, 1910, and in 1911
became General Officer Commanding the 4th Division.
When the British Expeditionary Force landed in France,
oh August i6th, 1914, the 4th Division was unattached.
It included the ist Warwicks, the 2nd Seaforths, the ist
Royal Irish Fusiliers, the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers,
the ist Somersetshire Light Infantry, the ist East Lanca-
shire Regiment, the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, the 2nd
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the 2nd Essex Regiment, and
three batteries of artillery. The division began to detrain
at Le Cateau, east of Cambrai, on the morning of August
25th, and proceeded to take up a position with its right
south of Solesmes, and its left towards Cambrai, as an
adjunct to the Second Corps under General Smith-Dorrien.
Gallant Work in the Retreat from Mons
A severer test of moral could not be devised than the
position in which the division found itself. When the
retirement from Mons had begun it fell to the lot of
the 4th Division (in the words of the Commander-in-Chief)
to " render great help " to the effective retirement of the
Second and First Corps.
The British forces had been obliged to take part in a
general engagement within two days of their concentration.
They had no choice of ground or of time. In their with-
drawal in the face of an overwhelming number of the
enemy they had to keep pace as well as they could with
our French Allies. Day and night — and the nights were
dark and the rain fell in torrents — they fought and marched
without halt or rest from August 23rd to September I7th.
By this time, however, the foe, balked of its prey, had
retreated in turn and entrenched itself on the Aisne.
Attached to the Third Army Corps, the 4th Division
played a gallant part in the second Battle of Ypres (April-
May, 1915), in which the Germans, with what Field-Marshal
French spoke of as a " cynical and barbarous disregard
of the well-known usages of civilised war," brought into
play a gas of so virulent and poisonous a nature that any
human being brought into contact with it was first paralysed
and then met with a lingering and agonising death.
Leader of the Seventh Army Corps
So unexpected was this device of the foe that confusion
was caused, and the situation east of Ypres Canal rendered
very critical. Field-Marshal French, in his despatch of
June I5th, placed on record the deep admiration he felt
for the resource and presence of mind evinced by the
leaders actually on the spot, of whom he singled out Major-
General Snow for special mention.
On July isth, 1915, Major-General Snow was appointed
temporary lieutenant-general. His services were also
recognised by the bestowal of a Knight Commandership
of the Bath. Later he was given the command of the
Seventh Army Corps, and in this capacity rendered service
on the Somme which gained him a Knight Commandership
of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
A Justice of the Peace for his native county of Dorset,
Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow married, in 1897, Geraldine,
second daughter of Major-General John Talbot Coke, of
Trusley Manor, Etwall Derbyshire, and has two sons and
two daughters
2287
IV.— THE STORMING OF BEAUMONT HAMEL AND BEAUCOURT
On November i$th, 1916, the British made a great advance on both sides of the Ancre, where they
had been held up at the opening of the Battle of the Somme, In this forward move the veritable
strongholds of St. Pierre Divion, Beaumont Hamel, and Beaucourt-sur-Ancre were captured.
THE PRICE OF KAMERADERIE !— British soldiers, In process of clearing the dug-outs in a captured trench, help themselves gaily
the cigars and other good things with which the dispossessed tenants, now their very good " Kameraden," were well supplied.
2288
Ceaseless Pageant of British Gun-Power
Forward, artillery! Great British gun shrouded with a tarpaulin labouring
up an incline behind twelve powerful horses on the devastated front.
Fransport mules floundering in a sea of mud, one of the additional difficulties
engineered by the weather clerk.
The gun, having arrived at its new po.nt on the front,
a way for an infantry advance. The gunners'
2289
on the Mud-Clogged Ridges of the Somme
British Official Photographs
Even twelve Shire thoroughbreds and twenty brawny arms experience no little
difficulty in hauling the heavy weapon to the front through a Somme quagmire.
is swung round into position, and will soon be pounding
dug— out is seen on the right off this illustration.
Up to the advanced dressing-station by light railway. Medical stores for
the Somme front arriving on an improvised truck.
2290
A Royal Inspection of Stalwarts from Erin
Britilh OHJeia2 Photorrtmh*
Collecting German rifles left at St. P.erre Div.on, wnere some ol tn
fiercest flghting took place on November 13th, 1916.
return from Canada ° K 1 h h H fonnaught, and (inset) the Duke inspecting men of an Irish battalion. Immed.ately after his
return from Canada, where h. had man, tested constant solicitude in the raising and equipping of the Canadian Continge. ts, the Duke
I the western front and inspected the Irish troops, who have added such splendid lustre to the Empire.
2291
Derelicts that Lined the Way from Beaucourt
British Official Photographs
Soldiers taking rations on pack-horses through a ruined uillage which other soldiers are clearing up. The broken timbers are stacked
for use in a number of ways, and the bricks and rubble are immediately employed in restoring some sort of surface to the roads.
2292
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
Britain's Day at Beaumont
By MAX PEMBERTON
ON the morning of Monday, November 13, 1916, we
fought upon the River Ancre the most successful
battle which has been waged in France since the
Marne. Verdun, of course, remains the last word in the
heroism of defence, and the retaking of Douaumont and
Vaux were gigantic achievements ; but this new victory
which Sir Douglas Haig has won is sui generis and altogether
remarkable. Incidentally, it brought about the fall of the
fortress of Beaumont-Hamel, which for nearly two years
had been regarded as impregnable by the German Staff.
Neither Thiepval with its subterranean city, nor Combles
with its amazing labyrinth of trenches, was considered by
• the experts to be the equal of Beaumont. " You will never
take it," said a captured German officer to Mr. Beach
Thomas as late as June 3oth. We took it on November
1 3th, and with it that other fortress of St. Pierre Divion,
which lies upon the very brink of the little River Ancre.
People at home are becoming familiar nowadays with this
god-forsaken country, and are beginning to get some idea
of the unsurpassable horrors of the Somme. They know
that the scene is a vast landscape of chalky undulations,
horribly pitted by the shells and so denuded of foliage that
a few wan stumps alone mark the site of ancient forests.
The villages within the fighting area no longer exist. There
are not even the ruins of villages in many places, for the
walls of church and street and mill and factory have been
so powdered that their very dust has been absorbed again
by Mother Earth.
Latterly all this wilderness has been little better than a
woeful bog. Trenches have been running with water, the
chalk has turned to a slimy mud into which men sank over
their knees and through which it was almost impossible to
walk. The rivers themselves — the wide Somme upon the
south and the little Ancre upon the north — became flooded
and overflowed, so that all the low-lying land about was
nothing but a marshy and forbidding pool.
Hideous Conditions
So bad were the conditions that the Germans, forgetting
our splendid victories, began to say that the advance upon
the Somme was drawing to an end. Their papers spoke of
a lull until the spring of the year, during which all might
be repaired.
We knew that they had brought up vast quantities of
heavy artillery and an odd assortment of troops — the over-
flow of divisions which Ludendorf had gathered in his wild
striving for men. But these were to be the mere idlers in
those advance trenches where nothing would be doing until
the spring. How terribly Sir Douglas Haig undeceived
them the record of November I3th and of the following
days establishes in \vords that are unforgettable.
Take a map of the Somme district and study it closely.
Pick out Thiepval and Courcelette, Eaucourt 1'Abbaye arid
Gueudecourt — that is a line running over the high ridge of
chalk, past the Schwaben Redoubt, which is at the summit,
and so away upon the slope towards Beaulencourt and the
Bapaume Road. Standing at any point upon this line and
looking due north you will see the shallow ravine in which
the River Ancre runs. Beyond this ravine the German
trenches lay both north and south of the puny stream.
German Fortress Lines
They crossed the river practically at St. Pierre Divion
once a collection of a church and a few houses, but latterly a
fortress only second in strength to Beaumont-Hamel ; thence
they ran northward by the village of Beaucourt up the rising
ground to Beaumont itself, behind which is the considerable
hill of the upland. So you see that both lines came down, as it
were, from the north and the sea, suddenly swung respectively
to the left and the right, and carried in that direction ail
the way to Sailly-Saillisel and the French positions.
The country itself is exactly as the rest of the Somme
district, but its altitude is lower, for it is on a slope of the
ridge which we have won by such desperate fighting since
July came. The River Ancre itself has a marshy edge for a
little way upon either side of it ; then a steep, often cut by
shallow ravines, and always affording the Germans an
opportunity of digging into the earth and there establishing
those vast subterranean barracks which are beyond the
imagination of the maddest child that ever dreamed of a
robber's cave.
Our task, then, was to take these fortresses, to drive
ahead north and south of the Ancre, and to straighten
pur line, so that instead of running due west before
Thiepval, we " tidied up " in the north and cut the
German salient. So well was this done that we heard
on Tuesday morning of the shattering of the great German
first line on a front of some three or four thousand yards
on the left bank of the river ; of the capture of more than
five thousand prisoners, and of the fall both of Beaumont
and St. Pierre Divion at a single coup. Beaucourt
itself fell late on the Monday night, and the fighting for
consolidation was carried on vigorously all Tuesday.
An Amazing Triumph
So remarkable was the victory that the correspondents at
the front were at a loss at first to give us any exact account
of it. They spoke of varying numbers of prisoners from two
to four thousand ; told of wild wanderings in a fog ; of
surprising victories, here with hardly the loss of a man,
there with stubborn fighting by which we suffered con-
siderably. But all recorded that the troops engaged were
chiefly Scottish and of our own home regiments. It was
a famous day for the men of the shires. Never has greater
coolness been shown by any troops since the action upon
the Somme began. Let us tell of it now a little more in
sequence.
The action began at six o'clock on the Monday morning.
A weird fog lay over the barren land. It was one of those
November dawns when the earth seems loath to discover
itself. For a little while, when the troops were first
awakened, there was not a sound on the still air. A loom
of white vapour rolled everywhere unbroken. It chilled
the waiting infantry to the marrow, and sent men stumping
up and down the trenches for warmth, as those on a football
field when waiting for the whistle. Everywhere in our lines
the men of the shires were ready, and thought of nothing
else but the enemy behind that great curtain of vapour.
Seething Cauldron of War
" It should," says a correspondent, " have been light
after six," but it was still as dark as a November night, and
the figures moved as the shadows of sleep ; yet all was
ready, and tne signal awaited with just impatience. When
it came it was not by voice or whistle, but with a crash and
thunder of guns which made the very earth heave and
churned the sodden fields until they frothed. Now the
fog gave pictures like to none yet seen since the beginning.
The red and brown and black smoke of the great explosives
mixed with the looming mists to form a mighty curtain in
the air, against which the play of gold and yellow light was
ceaseless. Terrible to see and awful to hear, men hearing
and seeing could jest when they thought of Fritz down there
in the bowels of the earth, and wondered what he was
making of it. Would he come out like the rabbit that will
peep to see if the stoat be there ; or was he lying low,
believing in his boast of impregnability ? Time would show
— the end of that brief hour during which this unsurpassable
tornado endured— not a long preparation, but sufficient for
the work to be done.
Tommy at any rate believed it to be so, and when
the whistle blew he went out of his trenches like a shot
from a gun. Immense tasks had he done — a thousand
heroic things since he set foot in France — but nothing like
this thing. Helter-skelter into the fog, losing sight almost
of the very man at his elbow, stumbling in and out of
[Continued on jiaqe 2294
2293
Near Beaumont-Hamel After the British Victory
Official Photo yraohs
Hot drinks for officers and men on their way back from duty. Inset :
Men of the Citizen Army filing into a newly-constructed trench.
German machine-guns captured in the victorious assault on Beaumont-Hamel, November 13th, 1916. Two British soldiers exemlning
the weapons left fairly intact by the retreating enemy. On the right is the entrance to a captured German dug-out
2294
BRITAIN'S DAY AT BEAUMONT
hollows and climbing up steeps, diving into unexpected
trenches ; yet all upon a compass line and wondering what in
God's name he would find before him. Perhaps he hardly
understood the superb gallantry of that first rush which
carried him at a bound into Beaumont-Hamel and found
him the master of it before he recognised where he was.
So swiftly was it done that Mr. Beach Thomas has said
that the battle became in some places almost a rout at the
very beginning. " The men who stormed the positions
north of the river and along it might have been advancing
over roofs in a street fight. Underneath them were rooms
upon rooms containing hidden and unsuspected groups,
and down in the street — trenches below— some nearly
empty, some crowded — the enemy lifted their hands and
shouted for mercy, or occasionally fired into the air."
These fellows were sent back in squadrons large and
small almost from the first hour of the day. They went
for the most part in good content, their officers insolent as
usual, but Fritz himself whistling cheerily as one who
should say " My war is over." One of them had the
impudence to declare that he must now learn to love
England. His officers in the same breath complained of
the barrage of his own artillery and of the fact that he was
herded too closely with " those swine " — truly signifying
thereby the men he had just commanded.
These, however, were but instances apart. The great
scene was over there in the ravine and upon the hillside —
men moving they knew not with whom in the fog ; odd
platoons coming suddenly upon trenches and heaving
their bombs at a hazard ; others pressing on into Beaumont
itself, searching the dug-outs, disappearing into the ground
like hounds upon a scent, brought up here and there by
machine-gun emplacements — always fighting with a ferocity
which was amazing, dying when they died with a laugh
upon their lips.
Gay, Gallant Shiremen
Nothing, surely, like this battle in the fog has been
known in our story. The marvel of it is that we got
through at all, picked our way across hill and hollow,
discovered the trenches, had the nerve to go down into
catacombs and bring the Huns out. Yet we did it with a
sang-froid unsurpassed. These shiremen, says every cor-
respondent, were the merriest fighters that ever came to
the Somme. They were breakfasting off the coffee the
Germans had left before the battle was two hours old, and
the wounded among them declined to be moved while they
could still see the fun. In all truth, this " impregnable "
fortress was brought down by them as a house of cards by
a child's breath. Yet even when they had taken it they
hardly knew that it was done, so heavily did the mist loom
upon their handiwork.
South of the river tilings went just as well. The " Daily
Mail " correspondent has called Divion the crowning
marvel of the German defence; " If you slip along the
river road," says he, " you come to an opening about
seven feet high in the clay cliff, and when you have pene-
trated into the secret place you find a new world — a Monte
Cristo world. Even the guns, which thunder to madness
outside, are blurred to a murmur ; indeed are often wholly
inaudible. A sickly reek pervades the place — not the reek
of dead bodies, though a few wounded men from the battle,
vainly seeking shelter here, lie where they have fallen in
the passages.
" Meat and bread perhaps have mouldered in the stores
and the volatile dust of the fungus blends with the pungent
dankness of the clay. But those who first entered this
cavern had no other thoughts than curiosity or appre-
hension. They walked into the unknown, on and on
round one traverse after another, until the broad corridor
— seven feet high and as much in breadth — was cut by
another of like sort leading right and left. The leg of
this T-shaped avenue is about three hundred yards, and
the arms — not yet fully explored — are at least two hundred.
A Monte Cristo World
" Double bed-rooms and Chambers of various sizes lead off
from the corridor. How many men could barrack here I do not
know ; but over four hundred enemy soldiers took refuge
during the attack and filed out meekly after it was over."
We took St. Pierre Divion — but it should not be thought
that the task was light. Some of the old-style fighting
characterised the fall of that redoubtable fortress — bayonet
and bomb found men apart, sanguinary duels, and the
death-cry which follows steel. So also at Beaumont there
had been splendid work done, and Sir Douglas Haig justly
reminds us of the personal heroism of the Scots and the
shiremen by which this magnificent victory was won.
The troops against us were a medley whose very variety is
astonishing. Silesians were there and the Prussian Guard
— old men and young men — units representing many
regiments, the and, the I5th, the 23rd, the 55th, and the
68th. They were all glad to come out of their burrows
and surrender to the hated British who could go singing
even into such a hell as this.
The King has voiced the nation's gratitude to Sir Douglas
Haig and his men. The people echo the words gladly. A
great victory — a day which may never be forgotten.
" ARTHUR " AT THE FRONT.— A London coffee-stall behind the lines. " Arthur's " familiar counters, with shining urns, glowing
stove, and plates of cake and bread-and-butter, are a welcome sight in London on a rainy night. How much more welcome must
they have been in the devastated, rain-sodden land behind the firing-line. (Official photograph.)
2295
Five Thousand Captives Counted on the Ancre
Counting the 5,000 German prisoners as they came in from Beaumont-Hamel. Inset: A
German prisoner, wounded and muddy, taken at St. Pierre Divion. (Official photograph.)
Collection of prisoners' effects, chiefly boots, assembled for disinfection after their long use in the pestilent trenches. The boots
supplied to the German troops remained noticeably good, although in Germany their production was affected by our blockade.
2296
After St. Pierre Divion: Rest Weil-Earned
Altar heavy work a party of soldiers have foregathered in a
comparatively sequestered corner for a brief rest. Inset: The
sentry at the gate of a wai — desecrated cemetery.
cUoe
spectacle
munitions. Though, doubtless, these had wasted since the Verdun effort,
isolated heap of bombs and mortars captured at St. Pierre Divion did not tend to prove any real dearth.
2297
THE WARILLUSTRATED • GALLERY<* LEADERS
LIEUT.-GEN. SIR HENRY SINCLAIR HORNE, K.C.B.
S 1
'
i
Commanding the Fifteenth Army Corps
K 6
2298
OF
THE GREAT WAR
LiEUT.-GENERAL SIR HENRY HORNE
| IEUT.-GENERAL SIR HENRY SINCLAIR HORNE,
[_j K.C.B., Commander of the Fifteenth Army Corps in
the Somme battles of 1916, was born on February igth,
1861. He was nurtured in the hard lap of the north, being
a son of Major James Home, of Stirkoke, Caithness, that
bleak corner on the far north-west of the Scottish mainland.
Son of a soldier, his own career and that of his younger
brother afford very striking evidence of the way in which
one family has spent itself in the service of the Empire.
Enters the Army at the Age ol Nineteen
While Henry Sinclair was edticated at Harrow, the
famous school on " the Hill," and at the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich, his younger brother, William Ogilvie,
went to Clifton College, and then qualified himself at Trinity
College, Oxford, for the Indian Civil Service.
Henry Sinclair entered the Royal Artillery as a lieutenant
on May igth, 1880. Two years later William Ogilvie
joined the Indian Civil Service. He gave long years to the
administration of Madras, holding in succession the offices
of Collector; District Magistrate and Agent to the Governor
in Vizigapatam, 1896-1901 ; Inspector-General of Police,
1902-8 ; Commissioner of Separate Revenue and Member
of the Legislative Council, 1908 ; and Commissioner of
Land Revenue and Forests, 1910. Made a Companion
of the Order of the Star of India in 1912, he retired from
the Indian Civil Service in 1914.
Slow but Sure Progress
Meanwhile his brother had been making slow but sure
progress in one of the most exacting branches of the British
Army. While during his leisure his younger brother found
solace in hunting, shooting, and fishing, Henry Sinclair
had but one out-of-door form of relaxation — polo. How
thoroughly he devoted himself to his profession is proved
by the record of his services during the great European
War. Like Kitchener's, his advancement was at first a slow
one. He had to wait eight years for his captaincy, being
given this promotion on August lyth, 1888. He had to
wait almost the length of another decade for his majority,
which was gazetted on February 23rd, 1898. From
September 2oth, 1890, to May 22nd, 1892, he was Staff
Captain for the Royal Artillery in Bengal.
Then he gained his first considerable opportunity. It
was a double opportunity. On the one hand, it offered
distinction in the field ; on the other, it held out lessons
for the future which Major Home most demonstrably
profited by. The reference is to the South African
Campaign of 1899-1902. The immediate service half of
the opportunity may be dealt with first.
First Services in South Africa
While at the outset of the campaign the severest fighting
took place in Natal, the most important inland town of the
Cape Province — Kimberley — was closely invested by the
enemy quite early in the operations. It will be recalled
that it held out for a period of 122 days until it was relieved
by General French. Major Home had a Staff appointment
with the relieving force. He was present also in many a
hard-fought action, including that at Paardeberg, where,
on the nineteenth anniversary of Majuba, he witnessed
the dramatic surrender of General Cronje. He was in the
successful fighting near Poplar Grove, where the British
overcame General Joubert. He was in the affairs of Karee
Siding, Zand River, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen, and Coles-
berg. He took part also in the closing operations in the
Transvaal and Orange River Colony.
He was mentioned in despatches, and was awarded the
brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, the Queen's Medal with
five clasps, and the King's Medal with two clasps.
Development of Artillery Efficiency
We now come to the lessons of the South African War.
Popularly, thanks to Lord Roberts's efforts, the public
came to see that these had much to do with more efficient
musketry training. They also had not a little bearing on
our artillery efficiency. From the time of its formation
no regiment has been more popular than the " Gunners."
None, it has been often pointed out, has contributed more
to our national prestige. The Royal Regiment of Artillery
has ever lived up to its magnificent mottoes: " Ubique "
(Everywhere) and " Quo fas et gloria ducunt " (Where
duty and glory lead) — nowhere more certainly than in the
Great European War.
Lessons Learned in South Africa
When the South African War came upon us, nearly half
a century had passed since in mortal combat we had
measured our metal against that of men of a white race.
As it proved, the metal at our disposal was of a kind that
left much to be desired. The men, as usual, were splendid,
but many old guns, rifled muzzle-loaders, had to be pressed
into the Imperial service. And yet there were those who
had predicted that modern science and invention had so
developed man-killing machines that war was all but a
tiling of the past ; that before its potential horrors
civilisation would shrink, universally. The illusion was as
fallacious as that other illusion about the peace-power of
international finance. But for the lessons learnt at such
cost on the veldt, our Expeditionary Force, when it landed
in France in August, 1914, would not have been able to
write so glorious a page in our military history.
With the "Gunners" on the Western Front
But this is anticipation. To return to Lieut.-Colonel
Home. Promoted in November, 1905, to the substantive
rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was gazetted to a brevet-
colonelcy on September 24th, 1910, when he was appointed
Staff Officer for Horse and Field Artillery in the Aldershot
command. He held this position till April 3oth, 1912.
On May ist, 1912, he became a temporary brigadier-
general and Inspector of Royal Horse Artillery and Royal
Field Artillery. He held the last-named appointment till
the memorable 4th of August, 1914, in which year he was
made a Commander of the Bath.
How valuable his work and that of his brother officers
in the Artillery had been may be gauged by Field-Marshal
French's constant and eulogistic references to the
" Gunners " in his despatches. At the very outset, during
the awful retreat from Mons, the Artillery, " although out-
matched by at least four to one, made a splendid fight, and
inflicted heavy losses on their opponents." In his third
despatch, dated October 8th, in which Brigadier-General
Home gained mention, the Field-Marshal had already
seen the vital part guns were going to play in Armageddon.
He paid special tribute to our Artillery efficiency on the
Aisne and in the first Battle of Ypres, and to the " skill,
courage, and energy " of the commanders. In his long
despatch of October I5th, 1915, Lord French, in the course
of an extended comment on the splendid work of the
Artillery, and the terribly exacting nature of its duties,
declared that " to the many calls upon them the Artillery
had responded in a manner that is altogether admirable."
Promoted for Distinguished Conduct in the Field
On November 3rd, 1915, the "London Gazette"
announced the promotion of several temporary brigadier-
generals to the rank of major-general " for distinguished
conduct in the field." The names included that of Henry
Sinclair Home. Soon afterwards Major-General Home
was given the rank of temporary lieutenant-general and the
command of the Second Division. He held this command
for nearly a year with such success that he was awarded
a Knight Commandership of the Bath, and, with the
temporary rank of general, became Commander of the
Fifteenth Army Corps.
Major-General Home, who rendered specially valuable
services in the capture of Montauban, and invented the
method by which infantry follow close behind an artillery
barrage, was afterwards appointed to the command of the
Second Army. On New Year's Day, 1917, he was promoted
to be lieutenant-general.
In 1897, Lieut-General Home married Kate, daughter
of Mr. George McCorquodale, J.P., D.L., of Newton-le-
Willows, Lancashire, and Gadlys, Anglesey, and has one
daughter. His home is in East Haddon, Northamptonshire.
2290
The splendid deeds of the " Sons o/ Empire " on the western front and in East Africa
form the subject of the following pages. The New Zealand Division achieved con-
spicuous success at Flers. " No praise can be loo high for such troops," was Sir
Douglas Haig's tribute. The Australians fought with magnificent courage at Pozi'eres
and the Canadians at Courcelette. The Imperial forces of South Africa performed
deeds of prowess both on the Somme and with General Smuts in East Africa,
SUMMER TIME IN THE FIELD OF MARS.— How four ardent Anzacs got the better of a heat wave. Stripped to the waist, they
continued their warm work of blasting the enemy positions, putting shell after shell on the mark, in spite of the temperature, enduring
the physical and mental strain of keeping a giant howitzer in action with cheerful but indomitable will.
2300
Told by the Rank and File
THE TAKING OF REGINA TRENCH
BY A CORPORAL OF THE CANADIAN INFANTRY
IF there ever was a bit of ground that
made itself an infernal nuisance
over on the Continent it was the
trench we called Regina. It was a
German hot-bed, reeking with snipers,
and they made life miserable for us. You
simply couldn't move in some parts with-
out a bullet slamming into the earth
alongside you, and more than one casualty
has gone down to the base as a result of
the unceasing vigilance of the Huns.
And there was no spotting the snipers,
either, or some of our own marksmen
would soon have put paid to their ac-
counts. They were skilfully hidden, and
the incessant firing that took place got
on our nerves. And, like all the other
ground over there, the place we occupied
was all greasy, slippery mud — and you
can't hop very lively in mud, even if
Brother Boche has picked you out as his
own special target.
Splendid Barrage Work
The operation was purely a minor and
local affair, though we needed Regina for
a variety of reasons. The troops em-
ployed were Canadians, and the artillery
preparation that went before the attack
proper was the best bit of barrage work
that has been carried out over there.
It was a glorious sight. The night was
brilliant, the moonlight perfect, and the sky
seemed like some bright-blue silk curtain
sti etched across from horizon to horizon,
and studded with pieces of looking-glass,
each reflecting a special light of its own.
And on this background the bursting
of the shells seemed as though some
giant hand was throwing heaps of dia-
monds and sapphires into the air, and
scattering them with a burst of orange-
red flame.
And the jewels turned and shifted in
the air above a thousand yards of black-
scarred mud, ankle deep, which was the
snaky line of the trench. Part of Regina
was already in our hands, but this thou-
sand yards — past the turns in the original
line of trenches — was strongly held by the
Germans, and our attacks had failed to
dislodge them. The guns roared and
growled, and occasionally, like a tenor
solo, you would hear the crackling of the
smaller pieces as they took their part in
that grim, great overture.
The Guns Lilt
The barrage started just this side of the
trench, and in spite of all the hail of
shells and machine-gun bullets that came
through it towards us, we clambered over
the parapet and advanced steadily to-
wards the enemy. We got close up— as
close as we dared — to the fire-working
shells, and waited for the guns to lilt.
Two minutes at the longest was that
wait, and then, timed to the precise
fraction of a second, the whole line of
fire lifted at the same instant, and started
ploughing up the earth exactly a hundred
yards ahead. There wasn't a hitch in
the whole thing, and it struck one — even
at the moment that one disappeared into
a shell-hole to avoid the enemy's fire — that
this had been carried through with hair-
splitting precision, and at the cost of a
great deal of organisation.
The ground was rotten, but the crust
was fairly dry, lor the winds had been
at work on it, and although cold it was
dry cold, and a mere flcabite to what we
Canadians are accustomed to at home.
I don't think the enemy expected the
attack, and we certainly got the nearest
to surprising him that has been done so
far in this war of open and known move-
ments. As a result of the surprise, he
did not get a chance to use his machine-
guns as freely as he desired, and we ex-
perienced very few casualties on the way
up to the trench itself.
Hasty German Retreat
The machine-gun officer had a very
miscellaneous collection of weapons in his
section, as we afterwards learned from
prisoners, and these included Maxims
captured in East Prussia from the
Russians, and Schwarzlon guns captured
by the Russians from the Austrians, and
retaken by the Germans in the east. We
got the whole of these.
Most of the garrison of Regina Trench,
when they saw us coming, took to their
heels and flew, and the remainder, as soon
as they realised the Canadians were up
against them, did the " Kamerad " trick
in approved Hun fashion.
LT. THE HON. V. S. T. HABMSWOBTH,
R.N.V.R.
Killed in action November 13th, 1916.
""THE second son of Lord Rothermere and
^ nephew of Lord Northcliffe, Lieut, the
Hon. Vere Harmsworth was educated at
Osborne and Dartmouth Naval Colleges.
He became a midshipman in the Royal
Navy, from which he retired on account of
gun-deafness. Later he refused a Staff
appointment, saying that the " greatest
honour an officer can receive is to lead his
men over the parapet." His end was
splendid, and the men of his battalion who
survived the action were thrilled with pride
in his name. Though wounded twice, he
led his men to the third German line,
where he was hit by a shell and killed, but
not until by his courage and endurance he
had brought his men through a highly
critical juncture.
We captured fifty men and three
officers in the trench, and before we sent
them back took their names and regiments.
One chap smiled as he told us, and then,
when asked what the joke was, replied :
" You got a bit of a surprise when you
took Mouquet Farm, eh ? '
" What are you talking about," I said.
" We haven't had any surprise at all."
" What, hasn't there been an explo-
sion ? Haven't your men been all blown
to pieces ? " he asked, flabbergasted.
" Not a bit of it," I replied. " Why ? "
He didn't seem like telling me, but I
fetched it out of him all right. It ap-
peared that the farm had been exten-
sively mined by the Germans against the
day we should take and occupy it, and
that it should have been touched off, but
something went wrong with the arrange-
ments. This prisoner of mine had been
one of the fellows who'd had the job of
getting the dug-outs and tunnels beneath
it ready for us. Of course I reported
the conversation to the officer, and I
believe that when Fritz went to the rear
the Staff had a special confab with him,
and perhaps this chance-gained bit of
information saved quite a lot of lives.
"Remember the First ol July!"
There wasn't much fight about the
capture of Regina, although we gained
ground to the depth of five hundred yards
over the thousand yards of front, and
joined up with the other British regiments
to right and left of us. That was one of
the main reasons for trying to take it, as
the enfilade fire the Huns turned on our
lads was more than hot at times.
We expected, of course, that, seeing
that it was so important, the Huns would
have put up a bit of a fight, and our
watchword as we advanced was " Re-
member the First of July ! " We have a
special score to pay off on the Huns for
that day, but we didn't do much towards
chalking it off at Regina, beyond taking
the ground from them.
The artillery were pleased that we'd
managed to take it, and refused to share
the honours, although we who took part
in it know that the' excellence of their
fire saved hundreds of lives. The Huns
were dazed by the incessant rain of shells,
and hardly had any fight left in them
when we reached them.
The morning dawned gloomy and
cloudy, with a promise of more rain, and
just after eight the German gunners set to
work to try and smoke us out of the trench.
But their shell fire was nothing like
what ours was. Some shrapnel occasion-
ally spluttered the earth around us, and
about ten o'clock they strafed us in real
earnest for about ten minutes. They
had no observing airmen aloft, and so
could not correct their range.
Shelling and Counter-shelling
One big gun kept dropping shells in
precisely the same spot. One — the first —
came sailing over, and dropped with a
crump and a scrunch that shook Regina.
Then a second shell followed, and before
the mud and stones had properly settled
down from the bursting of the first shell,
they were flying in the air again.
At noon our own guns started giving
Fritz something more to do than shell the
trench he could not hold, and for about
half an hour the ruined woods and
scarred fields were iit up through the
sullen daylight with the flashes of our own
shells. This gave us an opportunity for
getting to work to consolidate the position
we had taken. And now the field is
at its usual winter quietness — the winter
quietness of the Somme.
2301
Canadians on the Somme Remember Ypres
Canadian Government Official Photographs
Canadians who took part in the Battle of the Somme rolling in shells for their heavy guns. Right : Inscribing on 15in. shells messages
to the Germans, to whom they were about to be consigned with efficiency and despatch.
Hoisting up a shell Into one of the heavy howitzers, and (right) loading the gun. Canadians were the object of the Germans' special
animosity in Belgium, and no troops welcomed the opening of the British offensive in France more than they did.
Ramming home the shell, and (right) the howitzer at the moment of firing. Canada had a long account to settle witn Germany in the
Battle of the Somme she repaid with inter«»t what she had received In the Battles of Yores.
2302
Sir Sam Hughes Inspects Maple Leaf Veterans
Canadian and British Official Photographs
Some of the splendid Canadians under review by General Sir
Sam Hughes, who is seen taking the salute.
Lleut.-Qeneral Sir Herbert Plumer and officers standing on the lip of a mine-crater. The charge was exploded for Instructiona
purposes. Inset: German prisoners carrying a wounded British soldier from the battlefield.
2303
Exits and Entrances on the Stage of Battle
Official Photograph*
i had finished his share in the battle smoked a cigarette with composure while a brother of the Red Cross, taking his
turn, tied up several damaged limbs. Right : Four Indian soldiers carrying in a wounded officer.
' Good refreshment for man and beast" by the roadside. References to the activity of our patrols pressing on the heels of the enemy
suggested that the Germans were breaklna from cover, and were giving our cavalry a chance of resuming their proper function.
2304
From the Golden West to the Sombre West Front
British Official and Canadian War Records
Sturdy fighters in a shallow trench at Quillomont. Welsh Guard
killing time after having disposed of more tangible quarry.
Joy tor the Maple Leaf men. The mail, just arrived from Canada, about to be distributed among the men of the Dominion on the
west front. Inset: Takina the letters from the Far West to the sortina-house.
2305
Canadians in Training and First-Line Veterans
,. front. (Official photograph.) ln..t i Ca""^,n|d8cott''h
. th.p«by compUtlnu th.ir trainlnn lor th« battlefl.ld.
2306
Canadians Answer the Signal on the Somme
Canadian Official Photographs
It is difficult to contemplate any impression of soldiers
" going over the top " without being moved to admira-
tion of the courage that impels them towards the enemy
through a veritable hell of gun fire.
2307
Back from the Firing-Line by Road and Rail
Canadian Official Photographs
Canadian infantry lust out of an advance oblige the photographer by " looking pleasant." In the great Somme fighting the Canadians
gave a demonstration of dash and courage which have inspiring significance, and which absolutely established their ai
Canadian wounded coming down from the flrlng-lln. to the first dressing-station. On October 8th, 1916, battalions from Ontario,
Brmsh Coufrnbia, and Alberta attacked German positions on a front of two mile., and experienced eome exceptionally heavy flflht,na.
2308
Imperial Fighters Most Feared by the Prussian
British and Canadian Official Photographs
After the bayonet the pick. Sturdy warriors from the Golden
West on their way to consolidate new Somme gains.
A delicacy for Fritz. Qermen prisoner sampling
with obvious relish a tin of bully beef.
Canadians loading ammunition on to an auto-train. Inset: Canadian official photographers gathering Somme film?, while two artillery
observers are spotting for their uunners. From authentic accounts the Prussians considerably respected the fighting power of Canada
230ft
Wattle and Maple with the Rose La France
. at work behind the line, on the western front. These stout-limbed
Giants loundflCg sandbags and digging trenches oomparative.y easy labour.
, 1916 the Germans captured the Canadian trenches
Winnipeg Battalion of the Canadian Forces in r...rv.. In June W*J* ^ made , 8pjrited atta k d reaain.d
n<>t ^rning rubbish in a ..« furnace on t Urn front.
2310
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
Anzac and Africander in Action
By EDWARD WRIGHT
AFTER the Southern British Army had broken the
centre of the German second line at Bazentin,
some formidable bastions remained in the enemy's
hands. The German commander was reinforced with
the flower of Prussian soldiery taken from all points
of the western front, and particularly from Verdun
and Ypres. The most critical part of our line was that
which ran from our advanced centre, on the ridge of
High Wood, towards our right salient at Delville Wood and
Longueval, and our lower right flank by Waterlot Farm
and the village of Guillemont.
On July i4th, 1916, a superb body of Highland and
English battalions had broken through the German positions
at Longueval and Delville Wood. The Highlanders were
led by their pipers into the thick of battle to the tune of
" The Campbells are Coming." With bayonets and hand-
grenades the men in tartan came, and the men in field-grey
went. Instead of cautiously bombing their way along
the enemy's communication trenches, the Highlanders ran
above, under heavy fire, and then leaped down upon the
enemy and took him in the rear with steel and high-
explosive missiles. They worked southward past Waterlot
Farm, leaving the German garrison there unattacked
for a day. Then, having enclosed the Germans, they
smashed them in a hand-to-hand bombing and bayonet
conflict, which they waged with indescribable fury.
Their own losses were terrible, but they remained not
merely undaunted, but full of the grim and deadly
joy of battle. Never has the Gael shown such sustained
fighting power.
On July i5th the Highlanders were reinforced by
Brigadier-General Lukin's South African Brigade, fresh
from their victorious battles in the Libyan Desert against
the Senussi. Under Colonel Tanner, part of the South
African force went into Delville Wood to hold the line the
Highlanders had won, and another South African force,
under Colonel Jones and Colonel Dawson, strengthened
the Highlanders' position in Longueval village. As a
matter of fact, the village and the wood formed one large
salient, with the trees running like a green screen amid
fortified buildings, deep-dug trenches and caverns, where
fighting went on continually with the enemy. From the
left of Delville Wood a dry ravine ran towards our centre at
Bazentin-le-Grand. The Germans held the northern slopes
of the ravine and the British troops held the southern slopes.
Imperial Troops Go Forward
We were using nearly a quarter of a million shells a day
in blasting new paths of advance from Bazentin to Longueval
and Guillemont. But on July i6th and I7th heavy rain
and mist impeded the work of our artillery observing
officers. It was a period of fierce in-fighting with bombs,
Lewis guns, and rifles, in which we achieved a notable
success on our left flank at Ovillers. This very important
position was surrendered by a rrmnant of the Prussian
Guard on July lyth, with the result that a way was opened
for an advance in force towards the dominating position of
Pozidres, along the highway from Albert to Bapaume.
So long as Pozigres, on our left, and the northern part of
Delville Wood, on our right, were held by the enemy, we
could not progress from our centre at Bazentin-le-Petit.
We had to withdraw from the crowning point of the ridge
at High Wood, because High Wood was swept by German
batteries in front, with one smashing side fire from Pozidres,
another smashing side fire from Delville Wood, and a rear
fire from the enemy positions along the Buzentin Ravine
and the northern houses of Longueval.
In these circumstances Sir Douglas Haig gave an inspiring
Imperial touch to his operations by detailing an Australian
Division to attack the German bastion of Pozi£res, while
the South African Brigade advanced into the other German
bastion at Delville Wood. Both horns of our advancing
crescent were thus formed by the splendid fighting men
from the Oversea Divisions — the Anzacs, hardened and
tempered in Gallipoli; the Africanders, inured to warfare
in the deserts of German South- West Africa and Libya.
But the German Commander-in-Chief employed the
pause in our attack in the two days of mist and rain to
prepare a tremendous counter-blow. It is clear he no
longer regarded our New Army as an army of amateurs.
He brought up against our men the pick of all the finest
forces of Prussia. As he proclaimed to the world, the
Brandenburgers, who had stormed Fort Douaumont, were
brought from behind Verdun towards Delville Wood.
Then the Prussian regiments of Magdeburg were brigaded
with the Brandenburgers, who were further strengthened
by large fresh forces of Saxons and the remains of two
broken divisions of the Prussian Guard. Hundreds of
additional heavy guns were sited around the Delville-
Longueval position, and in some places 13,000 troops
gathered for the attack on a front of 2,000 yards. It was
the first time since the opening battle of the Somme that
the -enemy had really counter-attacked, and he certainly
succeeded in putting a terrific weight into his blow.
All day Delville Wood looked like a stretch of
subterranean fire. The trees were blotted out by a pall
of smoke, and through the smoke came jets and
spits of flame, caused by bursting shells. Then at
half-past five in the evening three great Prussian and
Saxon columns advanced on the three sides of Delville
Wood against the South Africans, while other Prussian
forces attacked the South Africans and Highlanders in
Longueval, Waterlot Farm, and near Guillemont
Ordeal of Fire and Poison
Near Guillemont our troops joined the famous French
corps which contained the Iron Division, and the principal
aim of the German commander was to cut through Delville
Wood and make a deadly disorganising gap between the
British and French armies. The brunt of the attack fell
upon the South Africans. They were blinded with bromide
shells, poisoned with gas shells, burnt with liquid-flame
shells, and annihilated by huge high-explosive shells which
made forty-feet craters. Our hastily improvised trenches
in the wood were wiped out, and the South Africans were
forced back in small broken bands to a reserve trench held
by the Highlanders. This trench was as weak as those
that had been lost. There had been no time to construct
elaborate, deep dug-outs, and the enemy's shells had blown
away half the sandbags. If the little weak force of South
Africans and Highlanders had made a stand in the trench
they would have been wiped out. They would also have
been wiped out had they tried to retire through the enemy's
curtain of fire on their rear.
They charged forward. It was one of the finest feats
in the whole war. Fragments of battalions, scraps of
companies, shreds of platoons — they rallied and swept
forward in sheer, desperate desire to die fighting. But
by getting into a mad, stabbing, hand-to-hand combat
with the German troops in the mazy screen of trees, they
not only avoided the German shell fire, but strangely
picked up reinforcements as they went on. One South
African, the only man left out of a Lewis gun-team, came
up with his gun at a very critical moment, swept a large
force of the enemy back, and wiped out one of their machine-
gun parties. Then another advance party of South Africans
was found still holding out on the edge of the wood, by an
open drive known as Buchanan Street. As they were
despairingly fighting against a ring of flame, the ring was
broken by the extraordinary charge of the remnants of
the South Africans and Highlanders, who thus obtained
further reinforcements.
All night the battle went on, and all the next day and
the next. The enemy's curtain of fire on our rear made it
difficult to bring up British reinforcements, but they
slowly filtered through the barrage of gas shells, liquid-flame
{.Continued on vaae 2312
2311
Anzac Valour in Flooded Trenches at Fromelles
In the British advance at Fromelles the Anzacs underwent an
ordeal as terrible as any they had experienced on Qallipoli. After
stubborn flghtlng they occupied some German trenches. In
addition to concentrating a murderous flre on the captured position.
the Germans flooded the trenches with water, and very soon the
men from Australasia were fighting up to their waists in it.
After holding on bravely for some hours the Anzacs were ordered
to retire from their critical position.
2312
ANZAC AND AFRICANDER IN ACTION
shells, and "Jack Johnson" shells. So the line through
the wood and Longueval village, won back by the South
Africans and the Highlanders, was held and gradually
strengthened. The South Africans were withdrawn from
the position they had captured, after fighting for five days
and .nights and leaving the flower of their brigade in the
wood they called Devil's Wood. The Highlanders were
also relieved after six days and nights of the most bloody
struggle in history.
Many of the relieving battalions were formed of men
recruited under the Derby Group System. When they went
into the fight in Delville Wood on July 2oth they were
called Derby's Men. When they came out of the wood
on July 3ist they were called Derby's Devils. They had
taken all Delville Wood, stormed the last enemy strong-
hold in Longueval, and broken up innumerable German
counter-attacks. By their achievement the right flank
of the German second line was definitely conquered, allowing
our dominating centre at High Wood to be again advanced
to the high part of the ridge.
Midnight Charge at Pozieres
This extremely important movement on the High Wood-
Delville-Longueval sector was greatly helped by the Anzac
advance on the Pozidres side of our line. Sir Douglas
Haig used his forces in a balancing line. On July 23rd,
when the Germans were concentrating their main available
forces on the western front against the Delville Wood sector,
hammering our trenches there with incessant shell fire
and sending out wave after wave of infantry by day
and night, Sir Douglas Haig answered this terrific pressure
on his right flank by exerting a still more violent pressure
from his positions on the left flank.
For some ten days a fine force of men, recruited from the
Stock Exchange, Lloyd's, the Baltic, and Corn Exchange,
had been continuously fighting upward from La Boisselle
towards Pozifires. They cleared the way for a grand
attack by an Australian division and a force of English
Territorials. The Territorials advanced from Ovillers
towards the north-west side of Pozidres, while the Austra-
lians advanced from Contalmaison towards the eastern
side of Pozieres. All the day and part of the night our
massed guns battered Pozieres village and flattened it
to the ground. Then unexpectedly, at midnight, the
Anzacs and the Territorials charged up the trenched and
pitted slopes.
The Australians had to storm three successive fortified
lines. First a sunken road, which they took with ease ;
then a new system of entrenchments, where they made a
great kill of Germans, and last the high road running
from Albert to Bapaume and forming the village High
Street. The road was transformed by the Germans into a
great embankment for their final line of trenches, and in
front of the embankment were innumerable redoubts
formed by the cellars of the shattered houses. Here the
fighting was of a terrific violence.
In the wild night battle the Australians drove through
machine-gun fire and barrages of shrapnel and shell,
bombed their way through caverns and round all kinds
of difficult angles. The Germans fought magnificently ;
their machine-gunners especially displayed deadly skill
and coolness. The Australians worked forward in silence,
with no shouting or battle-crying, and though the Guard
regiments against them sometimes fought almost to
the last man, the High Street and the eastern part of
the village were captured by daybreak. On the other
side, the Territorials went through a rain of liquid-fire
shells mixed with gas shells, and broke the German line
about the village and began to work towards the cemetery
higher on the ridge.
At daybreak on July 24th the German artillery ob-
servers were able to measure exactly the ground their
troops had lost. Then it was that the innumerable German
batteries put the Anzacs and Territorials to a test of super-
human endurance. Not only did the Germans obliterate
with high explosive their lost lines, but they employed
increasing quantities of liquid-flame shell against our
men. After each furious bombardment the German
troops sprang from their shelters with loads of grenades,
in an attempt to finish off what remained of our gallant
infantry forces.
But the enemy was at a serious disadvantage in regard
to position. Pozigres formed a wedge in our lines, and
the wedge was being attacked in superior force on
two sides. So long as our men were able to hold out
and be supplied with ammunition and food, the German
garrison in the salient was kept at a disadvantage. For
our artillery was still equal to the reinforced German
artillery. Our "Grandmothers" hurled 15 in. shells into
the German lines; our "Auntie Marys" knocked the
heavy German trenches about with 12 in. shells, while
our " Little Mothers " pitched hundreds of 9'2 in. shells
into the enemy dug-outs in and around Pozidres.
Capture of Windmill Hill
Amid a noise like that of a hundred thunderstorms
the ghastly hand-to-hand fighting went on, in daylight
and darkness, through the village. By the evening of
July 25th the Anzacs had smashed through all the houses,
and as they arrived at the top of the village the victorious
Territorials met them below the cemetery. The two forces
then went up the ridge to the dominating point that used
to be topped by a windmill. Windmill Hill was captured
in another fierce action on July 26th. This completed
our conquest of the German second line, which had begun
on July I4th. Twenty-four square miles of trenched,
caverned, barricaded, fenced, and lortressed hill country,
constituting the strongest system of fortifications in the
world, had been stormed and occupied by the Southern
British Army. All that the Germans had accomplished
in their first attack on Verdun was far surpassed. Our
New Army had proved itself. Heavy its losses naturally
were, but the men had beaten the best veteran forces of
Germany. And probably not one victor in a hundred
had the slightest knowledge of how to handle a rifle
on August 4th. IQI4-
Kit Inspection in the battle-zone. One of the first rules of discipline is that the soldier should be smart in appearance. Even under
stress of battle, and durina inclement weather, the British soldier contrived to keep this cardinal rule.
2313
Solid Souvenirs of British Prowess on the Somme
Inspiriting scene within the Australian lines on the western front.
A battery galloping up to where a heavy gun already is in action.
Smiling volunteers working with alacrity to take away a heavy gun captured from the Germans. Above : Captured German howitzer
on the battlefield not far from Mametz Wood, which was won by the British on July 12th, 1916. (Crown copyright reserved i ,, <-
2314
Highlanders and Anzacs Where the Battle Rolls
British Official Photographs
Pipes and drums at its head, a valiant Scottish regiment taking
the road to the trenches. Inset: King George's Hill, the point
whence his Majesty watched the Battle of the Somme.
Field-kitchen within the Australian lines. Some of the men are enjoying a cup of tea. In the background can be seen a terrace of
dug-outs, each entrance being neatly supported by sandbags and roofed with squares of corrugated iron.
2315
Shells Galore and Some New Colonial Warriors
British Official Photographs
A lew shells which contributed towards victory. During the
autumn of 1916 Great Britain surpassed the enemy in shell
output, in spite of his long start.
Men of the West India Regiment who helped to swell the British ranks at the front. Inset: Three of these doughty fighters cleanina
their rifles. There was no part of the Empire that did not send soldiers to the Homeland in her time of need.
2316
Australian Premier Visits Anzacs in France
^•^•••BBHBB.-- «^*rf»
On May 8th, 1916, the Anzacs arrived in France under the command of General Birdwood, and the Hon. W. M. Hughes, Prime
Minister of Australia, seized an early opportunity of inspecting them. Anzac infantry passing before the Prime Minister.
General Birdwood addressing the troops alter the inspection. His name will go down to posterity coupled with the phrase " the
Soul of Anzac," applied to him by Sir Ian Hamilton in an historic despatch from Qallipoli. Mr. Hughes is standing beh nd him.
Taking the salute ot the guns. Anzac artillery marching past Mr. Hughes, who is standing w.th General Birawood at the corner
uild.nn. (The three illustrations on this page are from official photographs issued on behalf of the Press Bureau.)
2317
New Zealanders in Fine Form South of the Ancre
British Official Photographs
New Zealanders at home in a shell-hole near the Qerman
after an advance on September 15th, 1916. Right: Enemy d
Men of the New Zealand Contingent eating bread and jam after having consolidated a switch trench. The oval photograph shows
British officers observina the German front from a position captured six hours previously.
2318
Rest and Recreation Amid the Glades of War
Australians enjoying a spell of leisure behind their trenches somewhere in France. The poplars snapped by sheila
attest the close proximity ol these imperturbable fighting men to the enemy whom they chiefly desired to meet.
(Official photograph issued by the Press Bureau.)
Clearing in a wood effected by the art of war instead of forestry. The wood was actually being shelled by the Germans
while this photograph was being taken.
2319
Crack Shots in the Making Near the Trenches
An International Match : Canadians, Australians, New
Zealanders, South Africans, and Imperials. Right:
Instructions In sniping. (Official Canadian photographs.)
Sir Charles Wakefleld, Lord Mayor of London 1915-16, is Hon. Colonel of the Royal Garrison Artillery and a keen soldier.
During the month of June. 1916, he visited the western front and spoke to many men of the London battalions.
2320
From Pacific Shores to the Stormy Somme
Official Photographs. Crown Copyright Reserved
A column of New Zealanders and transport on
the road to the trenches in France.
~h^nhrhr.»nfle 'mpr.e8B1°n O'the D°™i";on men on the march. "What a country to fight for! " was the exclamation of cnany Anzacs
when they first set foot in Franc., and maanificently did they flaht for her. Inset : Long queue of men waiting to get to the canteen
2321
Gallant South Africans Conquer Kilimanjaro
A 4 in. gun from the Kcnigsberg blown up in the operations. Hospital waggon crossing a river. Heavy work devolved on the*
The Qermans in Qerman East Africa had sixty guns. medical staff, who evacuated the wounded with great expedition.
The British camp. Mount Kilimanjaro can be s«en faint in the distance. The British troops had to move on a very light
scale, and the consequent hardships of the conquest of this reoion were very qreat.
2322
Through Scorching Sand and Yawning Drifts:
British engineers rebuilding a bridge over the Lumi River. One of tne chief difficulties of th
colony was the interruption of communication. This undoubtedly accounted for the pr
e war against Germany's last
prolongation of hostilities.
2323
Great British Activity in Tropical Africa
Armoured car proceeding along a typical highway in East Africa. Water-tank automobile being assisted over a drift in East
It will be seen that the wheels are several inches deep in dust. Africa. An everyday incident with Smuts on the offensive.
Portable aeroplane hangar at Serengeti Camp, showing a machine at rest.
Boring for water at a British camp, a fre- Courtyard of Fort Moshi, one of the most powerful German positions
quent additional operation to actual fighting. which was captured by the British.
Destroyed railway bridge, blown up when General Smuts Native troops building huts with that dexterity of hand
advanced to seize the Moshi-Tanga line. peculiar to all coloured peoples.
2324
With General Smuts' Forces Nearing the Goal
Wonderful everywhere, the aeroplane seems a thing of greater magic when it soars over the wild places of the earth. In Africa
aeroplanes flew over the sands of the desert and dropped bombs, as shown here, on enemy camps near Kilimanjaro and the great lakes.
Washing-day is any possible day with British soldiers campaigning, and much of their healthiness as well as their smartness is due to
their passion for cleanliness. Right : A transport steamer on Lake Nyanza, from which the German flag was cleared in 1916.
Watching a German camp somewhere in East Africa through a powerful telescope set upon high ground. Right: Back view of a machine-
gun emplacement fashioned out of one of the giant ant-hills which are a remarkable feature of the landscape in many parts of Africa.
General Smuts' forces had to travel very light owing to the variety of the country over which they operated. Transport nevertheless
was arduous work, as may be inferred from the quantity of material required to construct a camp like this pitched in a treeless waste.
2325
German 'Harbour of Peace7 in British Possession
IIH1IM 111! ItM
^«_»» j ffBPj —JB-4 ! nBI. ^^H
Dar-es-Salaam (a name signifying the Harbour of Peace), the
capital of the Qerman colony in East Africa, which surrendered
to the British forces on September 4th, 1916. Inset : The
pplatial residence of the German «x-Qov«rnor.
German gunboat lying off Dar-es-Salaam. The Germans
selected Dar-es-Salaam as the site for their capital In East
Africa because of its good harbour facilities.
Picturesque glimpses in our new territory. King's African Rifles at an outpost in German East Africa. Right: A primitive but
effective way of crossing a river in flood by means of a box worked across by rope and pulley.
2326
Tracking the Fugitive Foe in Africa and Egypt
Native labourers included in General Northey's command laying a roadway of tree-trunks along which the advancing column was to
pass. After the fall of Dar-es-Salaam, September 4th, 1916, General Northey's column pursued the enemy towards Mahenge.
Stalwart German prisoners captured among Turkish units during
the attack against the Suez Canal, August, 1916.
Bringing in German prisoners who misled th« Turks.
twenty-two captured, seven were wearing Iron Crosses.
With General Northey's artillery harassing the fugitive foe. A field-gun has just discharged a shell. German East Africa, the enemy's
best and last colony, was practically conquered when the capital fell on September 4th, 1916.
HEWAR1LLUSTRA1 D- GALLERY OF LEADERS
GENERAL SIR HERBERT PLUMER, G.C.M.G., K.C.B
Commanding an Army on the Western Front.
2328
PERSONALIA OF
THE GREAT WAR
GENERAL SIR HERBERT PLUMER
GENERAL SIR HERBERT CHARLES ONSLOW
PLUMER, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Grand Officer of the
French Legion of Honour and of the Belgian Order
of Leopold, Hon. Colonel of the 4th (Waikato) New
Zealand Rifles, and commander of the Second Army, was
born on March I3th, 1857, son of Mr. Hall Plumer, of Malpas
Lodge, Torquay. He is thus one of the noble company of
Devon men — Monk and Marlborough, Raleigh and Drake,
Hawkins and Grenville, to name but a few — who have
won distinction in their country's cause. Educated at
Eton, he has been one of the most loyal sons of the famous
College beside Windsor, his love of his old school being
finely expressed in the speech he made on December 6th,
1916, when seventy-three old Etonians met under his
presidency to celebrate Founder's Day at the front.
Under Fire in the Sudan
Gazetted to a lieutenancy in the 65th Foot, the ist
Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment, on
September nth, 1876, he was adjutant from April 29th,
1879, to January 26th, 1886, gained his captaincy on
May 29th, 1882, and had his first experience under fire
in the Sudan campaign of 1884, being present at the battles
of El Teb and Tamai. He was mentioned in despatches
and awarded the medal with clasp, the Bronze Star, and
the 4th Class Medjidie.
Appointed on May 7th, 1890, D.A.A.G. in Jersey, and
given his majority on January 22nd, 1893, his next spell
of active service was in the Matabele Campaign of 1896,
when he raised, organised and commanded a corps of
Mounted Rifles, known as Plumer's Horse. He was again
mentioned in despatches, received the medal, and was
•promoted to a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy.
His Gallantry at Ramathlabama
We next hear of him as D.A.A.G. at Aldershot, an
Appointment he held from May 5th, 1897, to July I4th,
1899 ; and then we come to the great Boer War, in the
records of which his name appears as that of a commander
who never made a mistake. Going out as a Special Service
officer, and appointed later to the Staff, he commanded first
the Rhodesian Frontier Force and then the Colonial Mounted
Brigade. One never tires of reading the accounts of his heroic
attempts to relieve Maf eking and his tireless pursuit of De Wet.
When almost within reach of Mafeking, he and his little
body of Rhodesians found themselves suddenly confronted
with an enemy force in great strength. He was compelled
to withdraw to Ramathlabama and then to his bass camp.
There was little or no cover. The action lasted for three
hours. One half of the officers were wounded ; Colonel
Plumer himself was wounded in the right arm, and had
his horse shot under him. But he extricated his men, in
the retirement walking with the rearmost of them. After
long, weary months of continuous fighting his force was
strengthened by a battery of Canadian artillery and a body
of Queenslanders, and, joining hands with Colonel Mahon's
force, he at length had the satisfaction of participating in
the relief of the little town and its gallant garrison.
Golden Opinions ot Lord Kitchener
Afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel Plumer was given the
.command of the Mounted Brigade, and won golden opinions
from Lord Kitchener, the result being that for the first
part of his services (1899-1900), in addition to mention
in despatches, he received the Queen's medal with four
clasps, the brevet of colonel, a Companionship of the Bath,
and appointment as A.D.C. to King Edward VII. For his
work during 1901-2, he was promoted to the rank of major-
general, and received the King's medal with two clasps,
besides further mention in despatches.
In the succeeding years he held a series of high commands
.at home. From October ist, 1902, to December 7th, 1903, he
was commander of the Fourth Brigade, First Army Corps ;
from December 8th, 1903 to February nth, 1904, commander
of the loth Division and igth Brigade of the Fourth Army
Corps ; from February I2th, 1904, to December I7th, 1905,
.Quartermaster-General to the Forces and Third Military
Member of the Army Council ; from April 3oth, 1906 (in
which year he was made a K.C.B.), to February 3rd, 1909,
commander of the 5th Division of the Irish Command. On
November 4th, 1908, he was. promoted lieutenant-general,
and from November loth, 1911, to December 3ist, 1914,
he was General Officer commanding the Northern Command.
Leader of Fifth Army Corps at St. Eloi
During the earlier months of the Great War, Sir Herbert
Plumer was engaged in the training camps at home ; but
early in 1915 he was sent out to the Front as commander
of a new army corps numbered the Fifth. This corps
included the 27th and 28th Divisions and Princess Patricia's
Canadian Light Infantry, the first of the overseas troops
to be engaged in a first-class action. Both divisions had
with them several Territorial battalions. Neither division
had previous experience of European warfare, and a number
of units composing the corps had only recently returned
from service in tropical climates. In addition to these
handicaps and the inclemency of the Flemish winter, the
Fifth Corps, which was attached to General Smith-Dorrien's
Second Army, was allotted the dangerous angle at St. Eloi,
south of Ypres. The ground was marshy and the trenches
most difficult to construct and maintain. Up to the beginning
of March the corps was constantly engaged in counter-attacks.
On March I4th an action of considerable importance was
brpught about by a surprise attack against the 27th Division
holding the trenches east of St. Eloi. A large force of artillery
was concentrated by the enemy under cover of mist, and a
heavy volume of fire was accompanied by two mine ex-
plosions. The immediate result was the capture of the
position by the Germans, who, however, only held their
gain for a few hours. Well-directed and vigorous counter-
attacks, in which the men of the Fifth Corps showed great
bravery and determination, restored the situation. Field-
Marshal French paid a splendid tribute to the " gallantry
and devotion " of the troops and to the " skill and energy "
of their leaders.
His Fine Defence of Ypres
In April, Sir Herbert Plumer took over the command of
the Second Army, and with the temporary rank of general
added to his laurels by his " fine defence of Ypres throughout
the arduous and difficult operations " of this and the
succeeding month. Lord French's despatch of June isth,
1915, dealt at considerable length with these operations.
In their second terrific assault on Ypres the Germans relied
partly on the preponderance of their artillery and partly
on their introduction of the barbarous device of poison-gas.
Wherever the foe engaged in actual fighting he was anni-
hilated ; but the use of poison-gas necessitated the retire-
ment of the Second Army to a new position on May 2nd.
" I am of opinion," wrote Lord French, " that this
retirement, carried out deliberately, with scarcely any
loss, and in the face of an enemy in position, reflects the
greatest possible credit on Sir Herbert Plumer and those
who so efficiently carried out his orders. The successful
conduct of this operation was the more remarkable from
the fact that on the evening of May 2nd, when it was only
half completed, the enemy made a heavy attack, with th3
usual gas accompaniment, on St. Julien and the line to the
west of it. An attack on the line to the east of Fortuin was
made at the same time under similar conditions." In both
cases our troops regained all the lost trenches at night. It
was a case of Ramathlabama again, but on an unpre-
cedented scale.
Rewards for Good Service
In October, 1915, Sir Herbert Plumer was created a Grand
Officer of the Legion of Honour. Early in 1916 his services
were rewarded with the G.C.M.G., he was made a Grand
Officer of the Belgian Order of Leopold, and promoted to
the rank of general. Later his name figured in Sir Douglas
Haig's despatch on the Somme battles among those whose
" distinguished and gallant services and devotion to duty "
were considered deserving of special mention.
In 1884 Sir Herbert married Annie Constance, youngest
daughter of Mr. George Goss, and has one son and three
daughters.
2329
In the following pages the glorious part played by France in the Battle of the Somme
is graphically shown. So far from being exhausted by the terrible struggle for
Verdun, our splendid ally was able to render substantial assistance to the British
in their "great push," and also to take the offensive at Verdun, winning back
Fort Vaux, Douaumont, and other key positions defending the great Meuse fortress.
A THUNDERBOLT IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT. — French gunner firing a heavy cannon in the " Great Push." The tornado of shells
and the unsurpassable gallantry of the French troops robbed the foe of the initiative, and won important successes.
M 6
2330
2331
True Tales of the War by Famous Correspondents
How I got into Rheims during the Bombardment
By JULIUS M. PRICE
Artist-Correspondent of the "Illustrated London News"
Mr. Julius Mendes Price has crowded adventure into his life since he became attached to the
"Illustrated London News" as war-artist and correspondent. For journalistic purposes he
enlisted as a trooper in Methuen's Horse in the Bechuanaland Campaign of 1884-85, and served
with the regiment- till it was disbanded. Later he went with the Exploration Expedition to open up
the Nordenskiold route to the interior of Siberia, and afterwards travelled alone across Mongolia
and the Gobi Desert to Peking. He was with the Greek Army in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897,
and with the Russian Army in Manchurii in 1904-5. There was thus little for him to Itarn
when he went to France for his paper in the Great War, and his thrilling yet amusing story,
written specially for this volume, shows once again that in daring and resource, and in power
of graphic writing, he retains to the full his position in the first rank of war-correspondents.
DURING the early weeks of the war the life of the
correspondent in France was scarcely worth living,
as for unexplained reasons the authorities were one
and all determined he should see as little as possible of
what was going on, with the result that unless he was
content to fool away time in Paris, waiting for permission
to go to the front, he might as well have returned to
London forthwith.
After a very short time this irksome and apparently
needless restraint got on my nerves. At the Ministere des
Affaires Etrangeres, where a " Press Bureau " had been
established, the officials were courtesy personified, but
you soon realised that this was but a polite method of
putting you off.
So at last 1 determined to kick over the traces, and
decided — if I may be forgiven the " bull " — to take French
leave as I couldn't get it, and was so far successful that I
managed to leave Paris, get into the war zone, and remain
there four months.
It was not, however, easy sailing by
any means — for with me the bump of
inquisitiveness is strongly developed,
and as a result I was continually getting
into hot water somewhere. I forget for
the moment how many times exactly
during those four months I was arrested
for being in places where I was not
welcome ; I believe it was six in all.
But anyhow, of one thing I am certain
as I recall them to mind now, that
every one of them was worth all the
risks entailed.
There is an element of adventure
which imparts additional zest to the
knowledge that you have no right
to be where you are, wherever that
may be. In my particular case, the
fact of my intimately knowing France
and its customs, and speaking French as easily as English,
gave me the opportunity of wandering far afield, and
enabled me also to make friends everywhere.
The Friendly French
There is no more cheery companion in the world than
the average Frenchman, and if he takes to you, you have
in him a real friend. I was particularly fortunate in this
respect during my wanderings, and met a lot of good
fellows who went out of their way to be of service to me.
In this connection I recall what was perhaps one of the
most thrilling adventures I had while at the French front.
Hitherto I have refrained from narrating it for fear of
getting anyone into trouble, but as it occurred as far back
as September. 1914, I feel that there can be no harm in
relating it now.
I was in Epernay shortly after the Battle of the Marne,
and was trying my utmost to get a permit to go to Rheims.
which was then in the throes of the bombardment — but
without success. In the meantime, 1 had made friends
with an officer of the train des equipages (motor-transport
convoy), that went every day with stores from Epernay
to a distributing depot a few miles from Rheims. He
Mr. Julius M. Price
the
genially offered to give me a run out there in his car any
day if I could get permission to go with him.
The Commandant d'Armes, after some demur, consented
to my having a laisser passer, which allowed me to go to
several places along the line — amongst others the destina-
tion of the transport convoy. I ventured to hint that
while he was about it Rheims might be included, since it
was only a few miles farther on — but to no effect. If I
could get permission from the " privante " (i.e., the
gendarmerie) to go there, well and good, but so far as he
was concerned he could not give it to me. My transport
friend was as good as his word. On seeing my laisser
passer he agreed to take me with him the following day.
Humour in a Motor-Waggon
The convoy left Epernay every morning at seven o'clock,
and I was advised not to bring any bulky luggage, as the
car was only a small one. As I only had my mcksak
with me, this did not trouble me. When
I turned up, my friend informed me
that he regretted he would not be able
to go with me, so he would put me on
the leading waggon, which was driven by
the sergeant in temporary command of
the convoy.
It was a bit of a disappointment, after
looking forward to a jaunt in a luxurious
car, the more especially as I should be
with men I did not know at all ; but there
was no help for it, and no time to lose,
as punctuality was strictly observed. So
up I climbed on to the box seat and off
we went.
The convoy consisted of every descrip-
tion of motor-waggons and some Paris
motor-omnibuses — about a dozen in all-
packed full up with army stores, forage,
etc. There were three soldiers, including
chauffeur, to each car, so it made a pretty tight
[SlliaU i AV»
squeeze, as I soon realised. But my companions had
a keen sense of humour, and treated my being with
them as quite a good joke ; in fact, we were speedily on
the best of terms.
It was a dull, grey, autumnal morning, witn a snarpish
wind that cut through one -like a knife, and was,
moreover, very cramped and uncomfortable on the un-
sheltered seat of the waggon. I was wearing breeches
and gaiters and a Norfolk jacket, with only a light
"Burberry" waterproof as overcoat, so before we had
gone very far 1 was chilled to the very bone. Almost
needless to mention, my companions were wearing their
heavy army greatcoats.
A few miles along the road we stopped for some reason
or another, and I profited by it to endeavour to make myself
a bit more comfortable. The sergeant stowed my rucksak
under the seat, and kindly got a man to fetch a blanke*-
to go over my knees.
Suddenly it seemed to occur to him that my waterproof
was not very warm, and he insisted on my getting into a
spare greatcoat that was in the waggon. It was very big
for me, and came well down below my knees, and thus
(Continued on vaie 2332
2332
HOW I GOT INTO RHE1MS
(Continued from
l-t'K 2331)
hid my breeches. The greatcoat of the French soldier is
practically his entire uniform, as he always wears it —
summer and winter.
I could only guess the transformation in my appearance
by the laughter it produced. " He only wants a kepi to
look a typical reserviste," someone remarked. " Then lend
me one," said I, " and I shall not look out of place on the
waggon." This was agreed to nem. con. In a few moments
a cap was found that fitted me, and that fortunately, like
the greatcoat, had no regimental number on it. Quite a
bit of luck, in fact. I pulled the cap well down over my
eyes, turned up the collar of the coat, and felt that my
best friend would have failed to recognise me.
As I clambered back to my seat the thought flashed
through my mind what a mad thing I was doing, and that
there would be the very devil to pay if I were caught
masquerading like this ; but the thrill of the adventure
and the humour of the situation soon made me feel at
my ease again, and as we passed several officers I took
the cue from my companions and, to their great amusement,
saluted as they did.
" Where is it you want to get to ? " asked the sergeant
suddenly, as though an idea had struck him.
" Rheims," I replied, " if the gendarmes will let me."
" You need not trouble about that," he remarked. " I
will drive you on there after I have got rid of my cargo.
I don't suppose we shall be very long unloading, and then
I am free for a few hours."
Hospital train near the front. Light railway behind the line of the British
advance in the west for transport of wounded. (Official photograph.)
" It won't get you into any trouble, taking me there ? ".'
I asked, for I did not want to take advantage of his good
nature.
" Not in the least," he replied. " I want to get a few
tlu'ngs one can't buy in Epernay, and it will be an excuse
to try and get them in Rheims. And at the same time
we can have an aperitif together, if there is a cafe left."
So it was arranged that I should remain in the waggon
while it was being unloaded.
I felt I should be showing nervousness if I made any
objection, besides which we were now quite close to our
destination, and I had no chance to alter my mind and
get out of the uniform, even if I had wanted to.
The distributing depot was a sort of junction where
several big roads converged and it would have been impos-
sible to picture a more animated scene of military activity.
imagine what would happen if they " spotted " me. A
military officer might perhaps look upon my escapade as a
joke, but a gendarme sergeant would have no such sense of
humour. I had already had experience of his views of
" duty," and the mere thought of getting into his clutches
again made a cold shiver run down my back. The French
gendarme is conscientiousness personified, and he is hard
as several bricks.
Since no one seemed to take any particular notice of me,
I lit a cigarette and assumed as nonchalant an air as
possible.
A little incident, however, occurred which even now
makes me shudder when I recall it — for I was within an
ace of being discovered.
Within an Ace of Discovery
A load of empty sacks had just been dumped on the
ground in front of me. Then a big empty " camion "
drew up alongside. At this moment an excitable captain
of dragoons, who was evidently hustling around looking
for something to find fault with, noticed a soldier standing
idly by my waggon, with his hands in his pockets.
" What are you doing there ? " bawled the officer.
" Nothing for the moment, mon capitaine," was the
reply.
" How nothing ? Then set to work and do something I
Pick up horse dung — anything — but, N de D ,
don't stand there doing nothing ! " Then suddenly espying
the heap of empty sacks, to my consternation he called
out to me :
"Where are these sacks to go — in this camion?" indi-
cating the one that had just drawn up.
I could not risk a complicated reply, in case
my accent might betray me, so without the
slightest hesitation I saluted smartly and replied,
" Oui, mon capitaine ! "
To my relief he took no more notice of me,
but in less time almost than it takes to relate,
he had got the soldier hard at work piling the
sacks in the van. In a few minutes it was loaded
up. " En route ! " the officer called out to the
chauffeur, and off went the waggon with the
sacks. Where they got to, heaven only knows —
perhaps they are still travelling.
Meanwhile, the distribution of stores had
been proceeding rapidly, and the various
regimental waggons were starting on their
return journeys with their loads. The throng
was thinning out. The day's routine of our
convoy was ended.
At last the sergeant turned up. " Well, they
haven't shot you ? " he exclaimed jocularly, as
he accepted a cigarette I offered him. " How
have you got on ? No one took any notice of
you ? I told you they wouldn't. I'm sorry I was away so
long, but there was a lot to see to."
I told him the incident of the sacks, whereupon he gave
a long whistle, and then roared with laughter at the
denouement. He evidently thought it a capital joke.
" And now for Rheims and our aperitif I "
Bombardment of Rheims
It was a run of about eight miles, and once past the
depot we seemed to leave the military zone for the time
being. It was a delightful country road, typically French,
and for the first mile or so, had it not been for the distant
booming of big guns, one might almost have forgotten
the war. But a turn in the road brought it back in all its
reality.
One saw the Cathedral of Rheims standing out in sharp
Jfficers and men of apparently every branch of the French silhouette against the sky. All around were significant
Army were there; military vehicles of every description columns of smoke — the bombardment of the city
were drawn up awaiting our arrival. '" ' ' • '
" I shall have to leave you for a little while," said the
sergeant as he pulled up. " But you just stay where you
are, and no one will take any notice of you." And without
giving me time to reply, he jumped down and disappeared
in the throng of soldiers. Meanwhile, his companion had
hurried off to the back of the waggon and started un-
fastening the flaps. So I was left quite alone.
As may be imagined, 1 felt anything but comfortable.
1 realised now the risk I was running, for round about I
could see several gendarmes, and it was not difficult to
continuing with unabated fury.
The guard at the Porte de Paris took no notice whatever
of us. No doubt hundreds of military transport waggons
passed through the gates every day.
The sergeant knew his way to the cafe, where I had been
told I could get lodgings, and drove through an unfrequented
lane, where he pulled up and advised me to get into civilian
attire again. The sense of relief I experienced when I had
got out of the regimentals can be better imagined than
described. I felt I would not have gone through the
adventure again for a pension !
2333
Up to the Somme Front and Back from the Yser
French and Belgian Official Photographs
Zouaves coming up to the Somme line. These Colonial troops
emulated In Picardy their glorious work before Verdun.
Belgian soldiers entering a large loft, which constitutes their billet. " Na-poo " — nothing doing. An easy day In part ot the French
They have ju»t left the trenches after a spell of duty in the rain. line. One soldier deeps, another writes, while a third watches.
New French Recruits to Advancing Batteries
French Official Photographt
A Somme village with French artillery batteries on the way to the front lines. The convoy coming in the opposite direction
consists of ammunition waggons returning empty after lodging their loads at the various batteries during the night.
Artillery waggons waiting behind the front for night to fall, when they will proceed to the.r batteries with fresh supplies of ammunlt.on.
This, of course, reoresents only part of a single night's supply at one ooint on the French front
2335
Bombs Before Bayonets : The Last Fifteen Yards
The official phrase " some progress was made by bombing " covers stories ol some of the fiercest fighting that occurs. These Frenchmen
were bombing the German trenches near Maurepas from a range ol fifteen yards, and the bayonet charge was imminent.
2336
The Battery's Half-Holiday from its Strenuous Work
THOUGH many more powerful guns have been invented, the
French gunner is still justifiably proud of the Seventy-Five,
the simple, delicate machine which served France so splendidly
in her most critical hour, the only artillery which was, at that time,
superior to the German guns. To keep the weapon trim is his
bounden duty and delight. On the bank of a swift-flowing river a
2337
* Seventy- Fives' in Repose Along a French River Bank
battery ot these guns is undergoing a rigorous toilet, preparatory
to being placed in position again in the line. But for the Seventy-
Fives, this beautiful photographic study bears no suggestion of
war, though no doubt the sound of furious battle echoes audibly
enough from over the hills and valleys of the Somme, where the Allies
were pounding away with confidence and elation born of victory.
2338
An Irresistible Wave all Blue and Steel
By word of mouth the signal for the advance is given. Along the trench line it passes, and qu.ck as l.ghtnmg steel helmets and blue
uniforms rise above the parapet and make deliberately for the enemy lines, a rolling cloud of discipline and strength.
It is still customary to imagine that soldiers rush headlong at the enemy trenches, but their heavy equipment alone makes the "lightning
charge" possible only in rare circumstances. A slow, ordered advance in the face of danger exacts the greater courage.
Somet.mes the most elaborate artillery bombardment may leave a stretch of barbed-wire intact. Then the advancing infantry cl.p the
obstruction with special scissors, generally in the face of terrible enemy flre. The above photographs are from the area of Maurepas.
French Ironclads on the Somme Canals
Monitor leaving a tunnel on a Somme canal. Inset
Crews of motor-boats lined up on the tow— patfi.
There is a network of canals along the Somme, and this was navigated by ironclad monitors. They co-operated with the land forces
in the bombardment of Mont St. Quentin, advancing their positions gradually with the closing in of the land artillery lines.
2340
Chivalry of France Spurring Ever Forward
French Official Photovrae'is
Rushirg a battery of "75's" up to the front. The supremacy of
the French artillery was definitely established by the "76." Its
accuracy of fire and its mobility rendered it incomparable.
People who complain that modern war is not picturesque should be silenced by these photographs of French cavalry spurring along
the Somme. All the glamour of old romance gathers round these helmeted. lance-armed kniahts of modern chivalry.
2341
Guns, Shells and Men in Flaming Picardy
French Official Photograph*
Enormous French cannon on a rail emplacement. The weapon fires a shell Lull after battle. French warrior's timely nap on
of the greatest known calibre. afield adjacent to the zone of fighting.
Africa in the greatest European battle. Senegalese fighters Convalescent Senegalese going through native dances and songs
marching up to the Somme first line. to amuse their wounded comrades.
Shells of great calibre. A reassuring photograph Telephonic exchange for French artillery. General Retain perfected a system of
from behind the Somme line. control °' whole parks of artillery by telephone.
2342
2543
Organising Terrain Won at Sailly-Saillisel
French soldiers in the German trenches at Sailly-Saillisel, which were captured on October 24th, 1916. Sailly marked at that date
the limit of our allies' advance on the Somme. A Poilu is seen crouching forward as if Boche shells were coming over.
Collecting booty — rifles, equipment, etc. — from the debris left by the French bombardment of Sailly-Saillisel. Some of the earth-sacks
still remained in position, and awnings were improvised by the new-comers until the enemy dug-outs could be reconstructed.
2344
Incidental Duties in the Great Somme Effort
French Official Photographs
Quaint vision on the Somme front. French Colonial chauffeur
with his convoy. Inset: Trap for the impetuous Hun. Preparing
a cheval-de-frise.
Beginning of a cheval-de-frise to consolidate a newly-captured position. Barbed-wire is coiled round three stakes, and a number of
these obstructions are placed together to form what is the most formidable defence work available in a short space of time.
2315
German Legions Reach Verdun in Bondage
Sun on
sold
ided by the havoc of their own guns some of the thousands of enemy prisoners are lined up in the Placede L' Archeveque. French
iers wearing the steel helmets may be identified here and there, while German officers are being interrogated by interpreters.
German airmen venturing over the Somme front had to be unusually brilliant to discover dispositions. Most of the bridges were so
screened with rushes and foliage that it was almost impossible to detect them even within a few yards. (French official photograph. )
N6
2347
Monster Mortar Hurling Defiance at the Huns
One of the defence mortars at Verdun in the very act of hurling
an eleven hundred pound shell over a hill into a living target
signalled frcm a captive balloon. It was carefully concealed
from the eyes of enemy observers, who from the beginning
ot the battle did their utmost to locate this royal old warrior.
In ten days this monster flung a thousand shells at the German
host. The soldiers came to know its m'ghty voice, and when
they heard it the French advanced with greater confidence.
2348
Where the Tricolour Flies in Splendid Triumph:
Work of French artillery fire on German positions before
Douaumont Fort. The memorable position was captured by a
brilliant French action, October 24th, 1916.
Advent of winter over ground which once was a luxuriant forest. All that remained of the Caillette Wood — a stretch of calcined
territory on the Verdun front. Inset : How a stationary balloon was defended against aircraft by a mitrailleuse on terra firma
2349
Douaumont Fort Recaptured by General Mangin
Douaumont Fort, captured by the Germans on February 25th, was
retaken by the French under General Mangin, October 24th. 1916.
Bringing in wounded across open ground at the edge of the forest. Inset': French soldiers laying an underground telephone
cable. The apparatus ploughs a furrow along which the reel lays a cable. The furrow is then filled in by an inverted
ploughshare behind the reel.
23JO
2351
From City Boulevard to Battlemented Hill
French infantrymen on th.ir way to be reviewed by Qen.ral Qouraud. Marching with their gallant defender, and to the stirring
music of the band are two French boys and a mother wheeling her child in a wheelbarrow.
',. French line b.tor. Verdun. A soldier about to flr. an ..rial torpedo under the direction of an officer. The .moke of an
In the Fren ^^ ^^ ^ v(>|b)e be|jind the ,uttlng waM o, ,andbags.
2352
With our Dauntless Ally on the Meuse Heights
The deadly 95 mm. French artillery going into action in
the Verdun sector. I nset : Working the optic heliograph on
the French front.
Fully-equipped reinforcements going up to the first-line trenches to relieve some of their comrades holding the enemy at bay.
Nothing like the French resistance at Verdun has been known, a resistance which entirely disorganised the German plans and
upset all their calculations.
2353
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
France Triumphant at Verdun
By MAX PEMBERTON
THE communiques told us on the evening of Tuesday,
October 24th, io,i6,that the French had that day won
a great and striking victory at Verdun. Coming as
it did upon the unsatisfactory tidings from the Dobruja,
the good news would have been welcome in any case, but,
associated with Verdun and our gallant Allies, it provoked
an enthusiasm such as we have rarely witnessed since the
days of the Marne. Very properly men said that it was
more than a set-off to Mackensen's success. But there
was more than this in their tribute — a realisation perhaps
of the true meaning of this famous story ; a retrospect
which could not but stir the puls2.
Verdun ! In what letters of gold is not the name
written in the history of Armageddon ! Very early in the
war we had a picture of the Kaiser standing " in shining
armour " upo i the heights above Nancy and watching the
slaughter of his troops who were battling westward toward
the citadel. Many men then heard of Verdun for the
first time since the outbreak of hostilities. Great as the
fortress was, it stood for little to the uninformed. Even
the ancients who remembered ' '70 " would also
recollect how little was done at Verdun during those
memorable days. True, a part of Bazaine's army was
there at the outbreak of hostilities. Napoleon rode thence
to Saarbriicken and witnessed his son's baptism of fire —
that wholly theatrical display which was so soon to become
a tragedy.
Critical Hours at Verdun
When the French, fighting gallantly as ever, were beaten
at Mars-la- Tour, the Emperor quietly entered his carriage,
arid surrounded by an escort of hussars set off to Verdun.
But the fortress, though one of the greatest in France,
never loomed large in the fighting, and there was a time
even in the present campaign when it seemed that a
similar story might be told of it. This was in the early
days. The war had swung northward. The line of the
Aisne permitted the faint hearts to speak of " stalemate."
There were. the terrible days in Flanders, when our men
lived in ditches and the Germans fired a hundred rounds
of their artillery for every four we could muster. Verdun
became, as it were, a side-show. People rarely spoke of
it until that famous February ist in this present year of
grace, when there came the startling news from Paris that
the Crown Prince's army had opened a terrible bombard-
ment upon the outer works, and that Verdun suddenly had
become the danger- point.
They were critical hours. For three days Paris was at
a tension. Was it possible that the French Staff had been
caught napping and had made no adequate provision
against the vast preparations of men, guns, and material
the Huns were known to have completed on the eastern
bank of the Meuse ? It might have seemed so in the
first hours of this titanic conflict. The thinly-held line
was driven in by an artillery bombardment surpassing all
precedence. There were orderly retreats, shortenings of
the line, throwing up of new defences ; the summoning of
new generals ; the reorganisation of commands.
The Hey o! the Coveted City
With an unfailing instinct, Joffre sent for the one man
who was to save Verdun — General Petain, the possessor
of one of the shrewdest brains in France. We know the
sequel well. Reserves were hurled forward in camions. A
subtle strategy yielded fort or hill when the Boche had
paid the price. We began to hear of the atjack in waves.
Vast masses of Germans would suddenly leap from their
trenches and cross the terrible zone, shoulder to shoulder,
as sheep for the slaughter. They were mown down by the
thousand and the hundred thousand. In a despatch —
the best that the war has given us — Lord Northcliffe
told how, standing with a battery of French artillery, he
witnessed a whole plain covered suddenly with the
blue-grey forms : heard the deadly rattle of the " 75's " ;
perceived that plain blotted out by a loom of thick
black smoke ; watched the smoke drift away, and then
looked for the hosts that had been. But not a German
could he see.
Of all the thousands who had rushed valiantly to the
attack not ten minutes before, the glass could not discern
a single stricken man advancing or retreating. Such
slaughter went on day by day, until April gth made it
clear that the great assault had failed and that Verdun
was saved.
For all the French gallantry, the situation of the
splendid citadel became precarious more than once
before July had come. The chief of its great strongholds
were lost by then. Haudromont Quarries had gone ;
the village of Vaux and the citadel of Vaux were
taken with terrible German loss — above all, Berlin
had become delirious at the capture of Douaumont.
This fell on February 26th, and moved the Kaiser to a
frenzy of bombast even he has rarely surpassed. It was
the key to the coveted city, he said.
The Sommc and the Meuse
In Berlin they even cried the fall of Verdun itself. Only
in Paris was there no excitement. The " II les aura " of
P6tain was never for an instant forgotten. The French
believed that the Germans would never get there, and they
were right. July ist brought our own great offensive on the
Somme and ended in a twinkling the menace to Verdun.
For the next three months we heard little news from
this sector. Everybody supposed there was great inac-
tivity there. But if we had forgotten the citadel, we were
reminded of it on August i8th, when the French retook
Fleury after a brilliant assault. Then again came stagna-
tion. All the beautiful district of the Meuse appeared to
have dropped out of the picture. If we tried to conjure
up the scene, we saw trenches but lightly held ; artillery
that but nibbled the enemy ; the somnolence of the
hill-lands in the truce beyond the river.
Verdun itself, lying in the hollow of the hills, we knew
to be grievously hurt. The beauty of its ancient buildings
was sadly marred. The churches were but ruins ; its
splendid buildings but' whited sepulchres. Occasionally
travellers gave an account of the country to those who
were unfamiliar with it. I have seen many word-pictures
of Verdun, but none which described it in a sentence so
well as that phrase of Lord Northcliffe .which says : "It
is like looking down on Perth from the hills round about."
General Joffre Strikes
If these hills be imagined to be twice the height of
those which surround the Scottish city, then we get the
panorama in its due proportion. The hill upon which
Fort Douaumont is built rises, for instance, to an altitude
of three hundred and eighty-eight metres. There are
others almost as high all about, and the ravines between
them used to be as picturesque as anything the Valley of
the Meuse can show. Now they are sadly scarred — their
woods but cemeteries ; their trees but ghosts haunting
the once beautiful woodlands so characteristic of the
district.
Here was the scene of the great advance on Tues-
day. Through these ravines in three splendid columns
the gallantSFre'nch set out at 11.40 upon Haudromont and
Douaumont and the ghastly Caillette Wood. They tound
the Hun taken wholly by surprise. Yet he should not
have been, for ten days previously the French had begun
to bombard his positions, and his aeroplanes should have
told him of that endless procession of camions rolling up
on the great white high-roads behind the French lines.
Apparently they did not, and he droned on in the lazy con-
fidence that the Somine was occupying all the Allies'
energies. [Continued on pane 2354
2354
FRANCE TRIUMPHANT AT VERDUN "™'":
For ten days this belief seemed justified. Rain fell
incessantly. The deep ravines ran with water. Mists
loomed above the river. The dolour of autumn lay
heavy upon the land, and nothing could be done. Even
on Tuesday the weather did not favour the glamour of
battle. Fine rain fell all day, we are told. There was
mist in the morning and wreaths of it still hung about the
hills when the action began. But the French had had
enough of waiting. General Joffre was at Verdun. At
any cost, General Petain must show him what his splendid
fellows could do.
Dawn ol Victory
So the rain and the mist are disregarded and the welcome
word goes forth. Very early in the morning the hills
resounded to the thunder of the " 75*8 " and of the great
howitzers behind the lines. Everywhere the roads were
alive with the dense masses of troops who moved upon
them ; camions and cannon, transport and ambulance,
Staff officers on horseback, and regimental officers on foot
— all the countless items which go to make the sum total
of battle as we know it to-day. In Verdun itself, in the
cellars below its once splendid houses, those who have
made the French Army what it is sat in earnest conclave,
directing the course of that victory they knew to be in-
evitable. A terrible bombardment they decreed upon it, a
barrage as daring as any yet attempted. The troops were
often to be but twenty-five yards behind the torrent of
shells which hewed a path for them. Thus do the French
wage war — so are their losses but few. They took more
German prisoners on Tuesday than all their own casualties.
Truly an astounding victory I
It was twenty minutes to twelve precisely when this
great battle began, and after five o'clock at night when it
was finished. The word being given, the three columns
dashed forward like hounds that are unleashed, and soon
their grey figures were to be discerned behind a curtain of
flame and smoke, pressing on through the ravines, swarm-
ing the heights, and anon disappearing in the woods and
thickets of a far horizon. Upon the left at Haudromont,
where the hill-side is a hive of quarries, they had expected
a fierce resistance, but found nothing worse than a
few machine-guns still undestroyed and a few hundred
desperate Huns who crossed bayonets with them but were
speedily worsted. A rocket soon signalled to General
Joffre that the quarries had been taken, and hardly was
this splendid news realised when the Staff heard with
amazement that the general in command of the centre had
surpassed all hopes by capturing the Fort of Douaumont
itself.
This, certainly, was not expected. At the best
an envelopment had been looked for. But who could
hold the Poilu on such a day ? All the finest traditions of
fighting France were with him as he went. Cheering like a
boy at play, he stormed the forbidding heights and plunged
into that maze of trench and dug-out. Soon " Kamerad "
was holding up his hands or dying. A whole regimental
command was taken here — and next day the commanding
officer came up from the very depths of the pit. Such a
triumph could not have been looked for by the warmest
friends of France.
What France Rewon in a Day
On the extreme right, the third column penetrated the
BDIS du Caillette, that place of the skull whose ghastly story
is world-famous. These were the troops who were to be
threatening the Fort of Vaux next day after the fiercest
slaughter of the battle. But here, as elsewhere, the
splendid work of the French artillery minimised the French
loss, and so wonderfully did the men fight that their on-
slaught proved wholly irresistible. The citadel of Vaux
itself may have fallen by the time these lines appear.
There would, indeed, appear to be nothing this superb
army of Verdun cannot accomplish in its present
mood.
Three thousand five hundred Boche prisoners were the
first-fruits of Tuesday's advance. Another fifteen hundred
were taken on Wednesday the 25th, and the total was
five thousand by the a6th. The material booty has not
been less generous. Europe rightly deemed this one of
the most striking victories the war in the west has vouch-
safed to us. And why should there be any other verdict ?
Has not France rewon in a single day the losses of those
bloody battles the Germans waged from April to July ?
The Hun stands where he did toward the end of February,
and he has sacrificed 500,000 men to attain that end.
The Kaiser's " bright jewel " has fallen to French valour
and efficiency ; and Verdun shall ever be remembered to
the honour and glory of France.
" SHELLINQ-OUT" IN A SHELL-HOLE — With characteristic placidity the officers of a certain regiment on the western front
utilised a •hell-hole as the local branch of their pay department, and, comfortably installed at the bottom, " shelled out" their pay to
the men on presentation. of their pay-books. (Official photograph.)
2355
Outposts in the Valley and on the Heights
French Official Photographs
A
The duty of outposts, whether aviators or infantry, is one of heavy responsibility. Apart from following the movements of the enemy,
they have to keep a close eye on their own infantry, seeing that they do not advance too rapidly and thus come within range of their
own artillery fire. This photograph shows two French scouts working a wireless installation on the Somme.
Remarkable photograph showing a French soldier i
ad nh
Remarae poograp sowg a ren s
French soldier is about to hand his comrade
been
ildier in the act of hurling a huge boulder on the enemy assaulting a ridge. A second
mother stone. To the right of the photograph Is a soldier mortally wounded, having Just
struck by a bullet from the oncoming Germans.
235G
Battle Music: Roar of Gun and Ring of Spade
French Staff officers watching and directing an attack. A group ol
liaison officers are standing by ready to carry orders.
From the comparatively safe shelter of an attic a Poilu keeps watch
upon the enemy. Left : Belgian Marine Fusiliers in the trenches.
It is of the work of the guns near Verdun that one heard chiefly, but the work of the spade was quite as unceasing.
The construction of deep communication trenches was of vital importance, and it never stopped.
2357
With the French Parrying the Thrusts at Verdun
Pile of twisted metal and distorted machinery — all that re-
mained of a field-gun after one of the battles round Verdun.
Wastage of war on a battlefield before Verdun. A destroyed
gun, some trench mortars, and captured German rifles.
French reserves enjoying a comfortable luncheon on the wooded
slopes of the Mouse and within range of German shell fire.
Types of the men who fought round Verdun and experienced the heaviest bombardment of the war. Muddy, battle-stained, and
tired these Frenchmen were on their way to billets for a spell of rest. Inset : An ancient weapon which was very effective in trench
warfare — an arbalest In use in a French trench.
235S
Through the Verdun Inferno to the Prison Camp
Wounded Germans on their way to
told would yield In five days, to be
o a base hospital after a repulsed attack on Verdun. After months of hammering at a door they were
wounded or taken prisoner was their only hope of release from the terrible sacrifice to Imperial vanity.
ess1'*..*;:" :-.;->. • . •<>¥.' •••" ..- .•JiT-SHEfiii; ' ' • .'•"^^sVI-i^'SSR * - •"• ''V^1-
Taken prisoners on the Somme, these Germans presented a study in type that animated every man of the Allies to drive th
the soil they had invaded. The dejection of failure only emphasises the animal sullenness of their heavy faces.
2359
HEWARILLUSTRAl D- GALLERY OF LEADERS
GENERAL NIVEL
Succeeded General Jolfre in the Command on the French Front
December. 1916
2300
OF
THE GREAT WAR
GENERAL SIR ROBERT NIVELLE
GENERAL SIR ROBERT GEORGES NIVELLE,
K.C.B., Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour,
and Commander-in-Chief, in succession to Marshal
Joffre, of the Armies of the North and the East (of France),
has been apt'v described by one of his compatriots as " the
Entente Co di le incarnate." The son of an officer in the
French Army, his mother was an English lady, Louisa
Sparrow, daughter of Captain Robert George Sparrow, of
Deal, who fought with Wellington in the Peninsular War
and also at Waterloo ; and he has several relatives in the
British Navy.
His English Descent
On his mother's side Genera! Nivelle is a descendant of the
Rev. Nicholas Carter, D.D., perpetual curate of the Chapel-
of-Ease at Deal, who belonged to an old Bedfordshire
family that settled at Higham in the reign of Edward IV.
Dr. Carter's first wife, Margaret Swayne, was descended,
through the Dorsetshire family of Trenchard, from Princess
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I., by her marriage with
Humphrey de Bohun, fourth Earl of Hereford, third Earl
of Essex and Constable of England. Of Dr. Carter's two
daughters, the learned Elizabeth, friend of Dr. Johnson,
and translator of Epictetus, did not marry. Her sister
Margaret married a member of the Muncaster family, the
Rev. Thomas Pennington, D.D., rector of Tunstal, Kent.
Their two sons, Thomas and Montagu, both entered the
Church. Louisa Theodora, daughter of the former,
married Captain Robert George Sparrow, and their daughter
Louisa, while studying the French language in Paris, met
and married General Nivelle's father, who was at that time
a colonel in the French Army.
His Thorough Military Training
Robert Georges Nivelle had a thorough military training.
He went to St. Cyr, the French Sandhurst ; he studied,
as young Joffre did, at the Polytechnique ; he passed
through the cavalry school at Saumur, becoming a superb
horseman, and found the task-work peculiarly fitted to
his genius as an artillery cadet at Fontainebleau.
Tall, handsome, vigorous, quick in decision as in
thought, it is said of him that he has the look of the old
France, but the ways of the new. Ordinarily a grave,
silent man, who relaxes in congenial society, he has a
quiet gift of humour, and the faculty of winning the
absolute devotion of all under his command.
Entering the artillery, he served both at home and in
Algeria with distinction. He was a major when he took
part in the allied expedition in China, during the Boxer
outbreak of 1900, and he contributed some valuable
memories of that affair to one of the Paris reviews in 1903.
In the fateful August of 1914 he was Colonel of the
.5th Artillery Regiment, stationed at Besancon, a venerable
fortified town on the Rhone-Rhine canal, east of Dijon, in the
department of Doubs, and the headquarters of the Seventh
Army Corps. With his regiment he took part in the
stirring raid into Alsace, and there captured the first
fruits of the revanche in the shape of twenty-four German
field-guns, an achievement which won for him special
mention in the Army Orders of the day.
Gallant Deeds on Marne and Aisne
He again distinguished himself during the retreat from
Charleroi. In September, on the Ourcq, during the
Battle of the Marne, he saved a critical situation. The
Seventh Army Corps was at the momentary mercy of a
large enemy force, when, t etting together all the guns
available, in an incredibly short time lie had them concen-
trated against the foe, with the result that an entire
German division was partly annihilated and partly routed ;
and the Seventh Corps, rallying, won the day. He was
the hero of an almost identical feat on the Aisne rather
less than a fortnight later. In the month following his
services were rewarded by promotion to the command of
a brigade.
fn January, 1915, he defeated the German attack on
Soissons, and was promptly promoted to be a general of
division (the Sixth), fully justifying the confidence thus
reposed in him by recapturing the salient of Quennevieres,
breaking through the German lines and inflicting heavy .
losses on them.
Then came Verdun, whither he went in April, 1916,
during the height of the siege, as commander of the Third
Army Corps. As General Petain's right-hand man he
contributed more than anyone else, with his great skill in
the use of artillery — he may be described as the genius of
the " 75's " — to the successful defence of the right bank
of the Meuse. At this time Mr. H. Warner Allen, the
representative of the British Press with the French Army,
paid an eloquent tribute to him. " In General Nivelle's
sections," he wrote, " all the newest scientific inventions
were welcomed and put to a thorou h test. He is a
magnificent type of the French soldier. He is never happy
unless he is in the front trenches and under fire, and his
determination to see for himself everything that happens
often leads him into positions of considerable risk. His
men would follow him anywhere."
In Command of the Army of Verdun
In May, when General Petain was given the command of
the Central Armies operating between Soissons and Verdun,
General Nivelle succeeded him in the command of the
Second Army. In September he was appointed Grand
Officer of the Legion of Honour, with the following official
mention : " For four months he has commanded the army
that has victoriously resisted repeatedly renewed attacks
of the enemy and has endured the severest trials. With
the most brilliant qualities of leadership he has shown in
this command an energy and strength of character that
have had a powerful influence on the development of
operations all along the front. After stopping the advance
of the enemy towards an objective that had become the
moral stake of the war, he has step by step retaken the
offensive, and by repeated attacks has succeeded in
dominating the adversary on the very ground chosen by
him for decisive effort."
His response to this new distinction was characteristic.
In October he retook Douaumont and Vaux Forts, and
before the year was out he had regained from the Germans
in front of Verdun, at comparatively small cost in the
lives of his men, ground which it had taken the enemy
seven months of continuous and desperate fighting to win.
Early in December he was appointed to succeed General
Joffre in the command on the French front with the title
originally held by General Joffre of Commander-in-Chief
of the Armies of the North and the East. And once again
was promotion signalised by a new victory.
The Glorious Victory of December, 1916
Within a week an attack, organised by General Nivelle,
and carried into effect by Generals Petain and Mangin, on
a six-mile front, had driven the foe back for about two
miles farther from Verdun, with a loss of nearly twelve
thousand prisoners, including two hundred and eighty-
four officers, and one hundred and fifteen guns. The
victors dashed over the crest of the Cute du Poivre (Pepper
Hill), and on to Louvemont. They carried Hill 378, over-
looking the Bois des F'osses. They went through Vauche
Wood and Hassoule Wood, to the north of Douaumont,
and they overran the minor forts of Bezonvaux
and Hardaumont, to the north of Vaux — in the words
of the "Times" correspondent — "like international
Rugby football forwards making mincemeat of a village
team."
It was a glorious day for France : a crushing reply to
the boast of Von Bethmann Hollweg, uttered only a few
days previously, that the German lines were unassailable,
especially as there were only four French divisions against
five German divisions. Well might General Nivelle
exclaim, on leaving the Second Army after the victory,
" The experiment has succeeded ; our method has justified
itself ; victory is assured ; " and General Mangin declare
that the soldiers of the army of Verdun had shown them-
selves the Republic's best diplomatists.
Iti the autumn of 1916 General Nivelle was invested
with the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Bath.
2361
ssian
The following pages deal with incidents in Russia's wonderful recovery
in the summer and autumn of 1916. General Brussiloff's great drive
into Galicia, in which operation he was ably seconded by Generals
Sakharoff and Lechitshy, resulted in the capture of 300,000 prisoners.
The Austrians were driven back from the Pripet on a front of 220 miles.
THE TSAR PLANS VICTORY FOR HIS COUNTRY. -The
Tsar, as Commander-in-Chief of his gallant armies, played as
great and active a part in Russia's Holy War against the Central
Empires as did King Albert with his valiant Army on the western
front. In spite of serious military reverses, and a skilful, far-
reaching German political intrigue to detach Russia from her
Allies in the west and win her over to the ideal of Prussian
autocracy, the Emperor of Russia steadfastly remained loyal to
France and Britain. In various ways his Majesty fostered the
nascent spirit of freedom and democracy for his Empire, and
demonstrated & will to fight till victory was won, thereby
dashing all German hopes of a separate peace. This exceptionally
striking picture shows the Tsar, with the Grand Duke Nicholas
and some of his Staff, planning a victorious campaign.
06
2362
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Russian Drive into Galicia
By EDWARD WRIGHT
A? the end of June, 1916, it seemed as though all that
the Russians had done to recover their full striking
power had been done in vain. By an unexpected
explosion of force they had again crippled the Austrians.
Out of five Austro-German armies, ranged on a front of
two hundred and sixty miles from the Pripet Marshes to
the Bukovina frontier, two had been broken and two badly
battered. Only the Central Austrian Army, under the
Bavarian General Count von Bothmer, remained strong
and firm. Of the total forces of nine hundred thousand
Austrians, Hungarians, and Germans, a half had been put out
of action.
Yet the Russian commander. General Brussiloff, who had
accomplished this extraordinary stroke of surprise, could
not claim a definite victory. It seemed, indeed, as though
his successes would prove his undoing, for Hindenburg had
come with tremendous energy to the rescue of Austria.
All the year the field-marshal had been quarrelling with
Kaiser, Crown Prince, the German Chief of Staff, and the
Austrian Chief of Staff. He held that the Verdun and
Trentino operations were disastrous mistakes, and that
as Russia was rich in men; and poor in machinery, every
available man, gun, and shell should have been launched
against her early in th~e spring of the year.
Undoubtedly the old marshal was right. Events had
confirmed him. So he insisted, in the first week of June,
in getting practically all control of the war in his hands.
He stopped the Trentino operations, slowed down the
Verdun affair, and brought troops by the hundred thousand
from the Italian and French fronts. The main stream of
shells, the daily output of which was nearly half a million,
was directed towards two' places marked by arrows on
Hindenburg's map. These places were Kovel and Lemberg.
Something like a thousand more heavy ^uns were railed to
the Kovel and Lemberg sectors. Two powerful new
armies were transported towards the positions at which
Brussiloff was hammering.
Then, in the third week of June, 1916, Hindenburg opened
one of the two most important campaigns in the war.
Next to the Battle of the Marne ranks the Battle of the
Styr. Everything between October, 1914, and May, 1916,
is episodal to these two powerful turning-points in the
European conflict. Hindenburg did not intend merely to
recover the ground at Lutsk and Dubno, Which the Austrian
Archduke had lost. He aimed to drain Russia of all her
remaining strength by a long, horrible grinding movement
through the wheat-belt towards the Black Sea. Russia
was still weak. Her new 6 in. guns were outranged by
hundreds of German and Austrian monster pieces of
artillery. Her shell supply, though fairly good, did not
permit her gunners to maintain a long, hurricane fire.
The Battle of the Styr
Hindenburg, on the other hand, could keep a thousand
guns in action, day and night, for a month, replace them
when worn out, and maintain his shell supply. Behind
his lines was a vast and intricate network of light railways,
connected with old and new main tracks. Germany's
enormous production of. rails, locomotives, and trucks was
quite as important as her enormous production of shells
and guns. Hindenburg fought chiefly by means of railway
power.
His method was a slow one, and by the end of June his
Kovel army had only regained the Stokhod River marshes
and advanced a few miles towards the Styr River line:
For the rate of the advance was conditioned by the rate of
reconstructing the main railway track and building the
light railway branches. But the method seemed irre-
sistible. The hitherto victorious Russian armies, under
General Kaledin and General Sakharoff, were overwhelmed
by an almost continuous tempest of high-explosive shells
and shrapnel bullets. Only when the new Russian trenches
were flattened did the German and Austrian infantry send
out patrols with machine-guns, and then advance in
lorce. Much of the land by the Stokhod River was
swampy, so that the Russians could not dig deep
caverns for machine-gun shelters. Stubbornly fighting,
and with many skilful rearguard actions, Kaledin with-
drew towards Lutsk, while Sakharoff protected his flank in
the Dubno sector.
When night fell on July 3rd, 1916, it looked as though
Hindenburg was likely to win the grand success in the war.
So far the battle was not immediately decisive, but it was
testing fully the strength of Germany and Russia ; and
Russia, despite the help obtained from British, Japanese,
and American war factories, apparently could not with-
stand the pressure brought against her. And if she could
not resist on the ground she had chosen for a display of her
renewed strength, what could she do when Hindenburg
had broken through ?
But on the morning of July 4th, 1916, there was an
extraordinary change in the situation. The explanation
was that General Brussiloff had foreseen everything that
his opponent would do. He had foreseen it for quite a
year, when he was fighting Mackensen and Linsingcn in
Galicia. And he had been preparing for a year against the
Hindenburg-Mackensen blasting tactics. Two new mighty
Russian armies, composed of several millions of men, had
been training all the winter, spring, and early summer for a
decisive test of strength against Germany's siege-guns,
shell factories, and railway works.
Old Asiatic Warfare Revived
Unknown to the Germans, a third Russian army, under
General Lesh, advanced under cover of darkness in the
Kovel sector, towards the Styr front at Kolki. Lesh, who
had fought Mackensen at Cholm, in August, 1915, was
one of the most original minds in the Russian Army.
With Alexeieff his chief, Brussiloff his local commander,
and his comrades Kaledin, Sakharoff, Tcherbacheff, and
Lechitsky, Lesh had worked out a strange, new, stern way
of fighting.
All these Russians, with Alexeieff drawn from the
peasantry and Brussiloff from the old aristocracy, had gone
back studiously and deliberately to the old Asiatic form of
warfare. At first there was nothing remarkable about
Lesh's infantrymen. They came forward in open artillery
order, while their guns were breaking paths for them in the
Austrian wire entanglements. The advanced companies,
charging over the wide spaces between the opposing trenches,
took shelter in shell-holes, linked some of them together by
digging, and helped to cover with their musketry and
machine-gun fire the next open, thin wave of attack.
In all this there was nothing different from the British and
French method of infantry advance, except in regard to
artillery support.
The Russian guns could not dominate the greater number
of more powerful German and Austrian pieces of artillery.
The gunners, indeed, often could not spare shell to batter
and choke all the enemy's dug-outs. Generally, they
dodged the hostile counter-battery fire, broke paths in the
entanglements, and maintained a curtain fire on the
Austro-German second line. Their chief task was to hinder
ammunition and food reaching the enemy's first line.
All the grand work of attack was carried out by the Russian
infantry and cavalry.
For the waves of advance continued, until their number
began to grow terrifying. In places the Germans say they
counted a series of thirty-six waves. Yet the tactics were
not those of the German mass attack. No large, compact
targets were presented amid the hurricane of shrapnel
and squalls of machine-gun bullets with which Linsingen
tried to break up the advance. The Russians were wide
apart, and after a short rush they fell and dug themselves
in with intense labour.
When most of the old shell-holes were full of Russian
[Continued on page 2364
2363
Russian Leaders and Men in the Hour of Victory
General Brussiloff. A striking portrait of General Sakharoff, co-operating with General LechiUky, forming the trio of
the victorious Russian leader. Brussiloff in the great Russian push. Russia's successful leaders In 1916.
Russians digging along the River Dubno after having driven the
Austrians from the houses and gardens In this vicinity.
A few planks, some energy and skill sufficed to restore a bridge
destroyed by the Austrians In retreat.
Russian officers and some fugitive peasants watching the progress of an east front battle. Three little children are seen In the
foreground! two of whom, standing hand-in—hand, are not concerned as to the problems of Empires.
2364
THE RUSSIAN DRIVE INTO G ALICIA
infantrymen, firing against unbroken, fortified lines ot
parapets and redoubts, tens of thousands of Cossack
horsemen galloped out and over their crouching foot
soldiers, in an apparent act of general suicide. The
German and Austrian gunners lifted too late to catch
the wild horsemen, who, while the enemy was changing
the range, whirled through the tempest of shrapnel.
Instead, however, of riding on, madly and hopelessly,
at the hostile trenches, the Cossacks leaped from
their little horses, turned their mounts into living
cover, and opened fire. Then the Russian waves of
infantry resumed.
The method of the Russians became clear. They were
adapting to modern conditions the swarm attack of the
Mongol era. In her day of extreme crisis, strange, mediaeval,
half-Oriental Russia, with her terrible memories of the
Mongol and Tartar conquerors of the world, reverted to
the swarm method of ancient Asia. All that she had
learnt in other periods of bitter strain from Genghis Khan's
and Tamerlane's lieutenants she revived and modernised
for use against Germany. Millions of armed, newly-trained
men were echeloned between the Styr and the Black Sea.
As the front ranks wasted under the hurricane fire from
the Teutons' guns, the mass behind surged onward in
another wave movement.
If the Russian gunners could maintain their curtain
This Russian soldier's burden is neither a strange form of
bagpipe nor a harmless hookah, but a gas apparatus captured
from the Austrians during General Brussiloff's great push.
fire over the Austro-German communications the end
was inevitable. It was reached in twenty-four hours in
one sector and in thirty-six hours in the other. Then
naked human power — a long steel weapon in the strong
hands of an angry peasant — triumphed over all the
elaborate mechanism of slaughter devised by German
science. Mainly with the bayonet and sabre the Russians
struck home. High explosive was needed too much by
gunners to spend on hand-bombs, and the Russians
preferred the bayonet, despite its awkwardness in trench
and dug-out fighting.
When the new Austro-German front broke, the terrific
Russian pressure at once produced large results. The
mounted Cossacks spread in a mobile flood in the rear,
towards the Pripet Marshes, surrounded brigades, and shot
down gun-teams. Nearly half the hostile forces on the
sector were put out of action. But when General Lesh
and General Kaledin came to the Stokhod line they were
held up. Rain fell heavily, widening the marshes by the
river, and, under these untoward weather conditions, the
advance on Kovel had to be postponed.
But only the direction of the great Russian thrust was
altered. Kovel had been an alluring goal of attack, because
it was a main railway junction, where the German and
Austrian forces connected. Had it been taken, Hindenburg's
Polish and Courlander lines would have been seriously
endangered But as Kovel was newly moated by the
rain-soaked marshlands, General Brussiloff turned towards
Lemberg.
The enemy's Lemberg line was defended by a man
of Arab blood, Bohm Ermolli, whom Sakharoff, in
the first surprise attack, had pushed back towards
Brody. In the second week in July, Sakharoff was
given the great stream of men that Kaledin and
Lesh were for the time unable to use. Sakharoff struck
on July i6th, 1916, with unparalleled effect.
Russian Night Swarm Attack
He had learned that Hindenburg's Staff was arming
Bohm Ermolli for a more terrific attack than Linsingen
had delivered. Linsingen's vain thrust had only been
intended to shake the blunt front of the Russian salient.
Bohm Ermolli's task was to win a decision by striking a
terrific blow low on the Russian flank. For three weeks
he had been increasing his forces and his heavy-gun power
and storing shell. In village cellars, which the Teutons
afterwards had no time to blow up, two hundred thousand
shells were found, and more than that quantity was
exploded by them in their retreat.
Sakharoff could not await the blow. His guns were
too weak to answer the enemy's monster artillery. So
he attacked at the time when the over-confident, careless
enemy was immersed in the muddle of his own final prepara-
tions. Avoiding the Styr line, where the chief phalanx
of Krupp and Skoda guns was placed, Sakharoff struck at
his enemy's flank. About an hour after midnight the
Russian infantry advanced in silence through the darkness,
without artillery preparation, made a series of brushwood
paths across a marsh, and put a light bridge over a stream,
without being discovered.
They reached the wire entanglements and removed
some of the supports, and then, being at last observed,
rushed the Austrian fire trenches. By the time the first
line was taken the troops in the second line were well
prepared to resist. But, with the marsh and river bridged,
and the entanglements and fire-trenches taken, the enemy
was left with no means of resisting the nocturnal swarm
attack of the Russians.
The German and Austrian gunners were baffled by
the darkness, the loss of their observing officers, and
the general confusion in their second line. They did
not know where the Russian bridges had been built,
and could only use shrapnel fire as a general curtain.
By sunrise the Russians were encircling important forest
positions where hostile batteries were placed, and after
a long, dreadful series of hand-to-hand combats in
daylight among the headwaters of the Styr and its
tributaries, the battle was won by nightfall. Captured
German and Austrian guns, with their huge shell supplies,
were turned upon Bohm Ermolli's broken army. Brody
was stormed, and the enemy's lost big pieces were hauled
within eight miles of the Lemberg railway.
The Spirit of the Hive
Loud echoes of the rage of Hindenburg resounded across
Europe. He wanted to dismiss not only Bohm Ermolli
and Ermolli's chief, the Archduke Frederick, but every
Austrian Royal commander and ordinary general.
The total German and Austrian losses exceeded three-
quarters of a million men. More than 330,000 officers
and men were prisoners. Hindenburg had failed on the
Styr more completely than Moltke had failed on the Marne.
Everything seemed to show that the veritable turning-
point in the war had been reached.
The Russian Staff calculated it had sufficient men
to go on making swarm attacks for two years. Not in the
days of Napoleon had the Russian people reached so terrible
a height of communal battle fury. The systematic atrocity
of the Teutons had revived in them the spirit of the swarm,
by which in ancient time they broke the power of the
Golden Horde. Like a cloud of angry bees they fought,
eager to sting and die so that the stock might survive and
flourish. Eighty out of a hundred of them were patient,
quiet, pious peasants, still coloured with primitive village
Socialism and mediaeval trains of thought. To them the
Kaiser was Anti-Christ ; it was not death to fall fighting
him, but martyrdom Glorious and dreadful were the
Russians when this high mood was upon them.
2365
With Brussiloff and His Redoubtable Russians
Erecting screens of rough-hewn timber against the German " portmanteaux," or " Jack Johnsons " as our men generally calle
Russian officers directing a cannonade, for which they had unlimited ammunition, from an Infantry trench In Bukovina.
lled them.
iwfc £.'
BK *± «^^-5&ir
A group of Russian officers at work in the Staff quarters of a division. Throughout
the war the operations of the Russian Army, both defensive and offensive, were
distinguished by generalship of the highest order.
Escorting Austrian prisoners captured in recant battles to the rear. Inset : General Alexei Brussiloff among his men, who worship
him. Since General Brussiloff began his great offensive in June, 1916, the number of prisoners taken by the Russians to the beginning
of August exceeded 300,000, and the Austrians were driven back from the Pripet on a front of 220 miles.
2366
With the Tsar's Forces on the Fields of France
The Russian forces on the Frencn front were as popular as General Haig's men.
This photograph shows a Slav kitchen near the firing-line.
Russian troops, equipped for conflict, proceeding
along a communication trench.
FOLLOWING on the disembarkation of
Russian troops at Marseilles, another
detachment landed at Brest, August 2, 1916,
amid scenes of great enthusiasm. No two nations
are more in accord than France and Russia.
Temperamentally, the Slav approximates near
to the Gallic spirit. For generations educated
Russians have spoken the French language with
as great a facility as they have discoursed in
their native tongue. Thus, hie in France to
the Tsar's troops was not so unusual an ex-
perience as it was to our own men. In fact,
wearing the same steel helmet, the Russian at
first glance was scarcely distinguishable from
General Joffre's men. The photographs on
this page are from the sector held by the
Russians in the Champagne district, where they
were in continuous action with the Boches.
At Auberive, during the last days of July, 1916,
the Russians, in the course of a violent night
attack, penetrated beyond the enemy trenches,
cleared the position with grenades, and brought
back a number of German prisoners.
Soupi an Indispensable French course, was equally in demand by the Russian
troops, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Allies.
Russian Red Cross men carrying a wounded
comrade along a communication trench.
The Russian is a brave soldier with a generous soul. Bearing no malice, he is
ever willina to help » wounded foeman vanquished in fair fight.
2367
Cossacks Rout Germans at the Point of the Sabre
During the great Russian offensive in Volhynia some of the
redoubtable Cossack regiments helped to sweep the Austro •
Germans back. The enemy made a determined counter-attack
on the village of Svidniki. to the north of the Stokhod. in
conjunction with a powerful armourea tram. At a critical
moment several hundred Cossacks, under command of Colonel
Smirnoff, charged into the Germans' flank and scattered the enemy
at the point of the sabre Many machine-guns were captured
2368
Where All the Eagles were Fighting Together
•^^^^^••••^•••••••^^^^•ii^^^^B^^^MMBiM^^^^^^HMBBiHBBB^HBB^^^Bii^^^H
tion on the Stokhod, in Qalicia, undergoing violent bombardment from the Russian guns. Directly her deficiency
e good, Russia's pressure upon Austria became irresistible, and once more she moved with deliberate purposefulness
towards the territory of the Dual Monarchy, not this time to be repelled.
Austro-Qerman position on
of munitions was mad
The medals, and especially the three crosses, on this Cossack's breast testify that his martial bearing is not the theatrical pose of a
carpet soldier. The Russian Cross of St. George is not scattered indiscriminately like the German Iron Cross. Right : Russian
troops massing before an advance upon German troops in the north.
2309
Brussiloff's Hammer Blows in Bukovina
Along the Austrian line of retreat. Broken enemy guns abandoned to the Russians. Though these weapons had been shattered, their
worth in metal made them of considerable value at a time when every ounce of steel was essential to victory.
Russian scouts observing the enemy from amid the debris of a mill.
Trenches flooded by continual rain.
Some of the Austrian prisoners captured in General Brussiloff's Volhynia offensive. Whole army corps surrendered to the spirited
attacks of the Russians, the latter fully equipped with guns, munitions, and commanders of undoubted genius. (Exclusive pnotographs.)
2370
True Tales of the War by Famous Correspondents
The Russian Soldier's Faith in the Unseen
The Simple Piety of the Tsar's Fighting Men
[Ho,,!*
MB. HAMILTON FYFE
By HAMILTON FYFE
Special Correspondent with the Russian Army
Of all national temperaments the Slav possesses the most lovable, if the most
complex and mysterious. Humorous, generous to prodigality, with a rare
detachment from the mattrial issues of life, the Russian is the very antithesis
of the over-industrialised Teuton type. The Tsar's Holy War declared
against the Austro-German alliance was no picturesque figure of speech, but
a fervent national expression of the will to triumph over the unendurable
menace of the Central Empires. The religious zeal and spiritual exaltation
of the Russian peasant-soldier form the subject of this most engrossing
" True Tale of the War." The author is Mr. Hamilton Fyfe, whose
vividly-written despatches from Petrograd and Russian Army headquarters
were an important feature of the " Daily Mail " from 1915 onwards.
Mr. Fyfe had great experience of the war both on the east and west fronts.
MOVING about along the Russian front one comes
across constant evidence of the religious element
in the Russian character.
Nothing in the war has made me think or feel more
deeply than this. At first it astonishes an Englishman,
or a Frenchman, to find a whole army, with very few
exceptions so far as I discovered, sincerely, unquestioningly,
openly professing its faith in the Unseen. Later, this
becomes so integral a part of one's daily life that one
scarcely regards it. It is the same everywhere. At first
one is surprised in the cities to see people of all classes
crossing themselves when they leave home, when they
return home, when they pass a church (even if they are
in a train or a street-car), when they are within sight of a
shrine containing a holy picture. Afterwards one does
not notice it.
In the Army, as in civil life, the phrase " Slava Bogu "
(Glory to God) is constantly used, and used with meaning.
When they sit down to a meal, most of the older and many
of the younger officers are careful to cross themselves.
Wherever I have happened upon services held by regimental
priests, I have seen them eagerly thronged by all the men
who could be spared, and listened to with reverent atten-
tion. There is no need to have church parades. If the
men are free, they cannot keep away from the sound of the
singing and the basso profoiido intonation of the priest.
I stopped for a few minutes recently at a divisional
headquarters, to pay respects to a general whose trenches
I had permission to visit.
" Come and see our church," he said at once, and took
me into a big room fitted up for the Orthodox ritual. It
was not Sunday, but a Mass was being sung, and the room
was packed with soldiers.
Spiritual Exaltation of the Slav
Two services to which happy chances brought me
just in time will always remain in my memory. Never
will i'alm Sunday and Easter Eve pass by without
renewing the emotion they aroused, without recalling to
my mind the nearness of God to men which they seemed
to make so plain.
On a rainy, gusty morning I was riding with some Staff
officers towards the positions held by a gallant Finnish
regiment. It was Palm Sunday. We had just passed a
village churchyard filled with Galician peasants coming
away from Mass with their branches of pussy-willow palm.
As we trotted the breeze brought snatches of harmony to
our ears. We reined up and listened. Then we followed
-the sound and came soon to a httle tent pitched under
the shelter ol a ridge. In the tent was a table dressed
as an altar with green and gold frontal ; upon it were
a book and a crucifix, with two tiny tapers burning
before an icon holy (picture). Before the altar a priest
in green and gold vestments was chanting. To one
side, apart from the congregation, stood about twenty
soldiers. They were the choir. A young officer with a
tuning-fork acted as conductor, after the practice of Russian
church choirs.
Whether it was because 1 expected little, or because
of the impressiveness of the scene, or because they really
were a wonderful choir, I cannot tell, but I certainly felt —
and I feel still — that I had never heard singing more beauti-
ful. Russian church music is affecting always. Here was
a rendering of it which brought out with most moving
simplicity the haunting appeal of the Orthodox office
to the pity and tenderness of God. " Gospodi, pomilui "
(" Lord, have mercy ") was sung with an infinitely touching
stress upon the significance of the words.
Divine Service Under Fire
From not far off came at intervals the boom of big-gun
firing. Close by were three graves with pathetic freshly-cut
wooden crosses over them, marking the spot where throe
men of the regiment had been killed a few days before by a
shell. Round about were many shell-holes. All of those
singing, all of the congregation, knew that at any moment
a like death might put an end to them. The voices rose
and fell, now swelling to joyous praise and gladness, now
sinking to a murmur of exquisitely modulated petition.
They blended with the effect of an organ played by ,i
master of music. The emotional quality of their singing
was intense. Never in any cathedral had I felt God so
close, or realised so poignantly the cry of humanity to its
Creator — " Lord, have mercy," " Lord, we beseech Thee
to hear us," " Spare us, Good Lord."
I still believe it was the singing itself, and not the sur-
roundings, which took my spirit prisoner that rainy, gusty
day. The service over, the colonel invited us into his
" dug-out." We went down steps, through a door marked
" Regimental Staff " into the pleasantest little under-
ground house, just like a house in a fairy-tale. Here the
colonel not only produced most hospitable refreshment, but
he asked a few of the choir to let us hear some Cossack
soldier-songs. Their singing seemed to be no less perfect
below ground than it had been above in the open. Rough
soldiers all of them- — peasants, illiterate boys. But the
very soul of music was in them, and their conductor must
be a genius.
The week between Palm Sunday and Easter Eve
slipped by, and the question arose : Where should I see
Easter in ?
The midnight Resurrection service in Russia is the
greatest religious festival of the year, and it is always
followed by a supper to celebrate the ending of the Great
{Continued on page 2371
2371
THE RUSSIAN SOLDIER'S FAITH
Fast. Around this Easter Supper have grown up the
same tradition and sentiment of family affection which
cling to our Christmas. Highest and humblest alike make
merry. No one is so poor as not to be able to set out
a " Paschal board."
An army corps Staff was kind enough to invite me, but
I felt that I would sooner be among the soldiers in the
field. Coming in the dusk of the soft April evening to a
field dressing-station about a mile from the trenches, I
found preparations going forward, and the kind sisters
asked me to stay with them. They were four of the
sweetest, simplest souls imaginable. At once they put
me on a footing of friendship, just as children welcome a
fresh comrade with open gaiety of heart. We took a
lantern and trudged along the uplands, watching the
travelling glare of searchlights and the incessant
Hghting-up of our position by rockets from the Austrian
lines. We heard a battery clatter through the dark
village below us. We saw distantly the long,
mysterious snakes of twinkling light which mean
transport columns. Then we went indoors and
played children's games and wrote in confession
albums, and laughed a great deal, and discovered mutual
friends, with such other simple-hearted enjoyments. At
home, these were young women in society. One was
a princess. All belonged, as they say in the United
States, to the "first families." Here they were just
" sisters," living four in one little cottage room,
and they made me their brother indeed.
Service in the Tent
" Now, no more frivolity," said one soon after eleven.
" The priest is here. The service will begin." So we lit
tapers to hold in our hands and went outside the cottage
into the darkness. Again there was an altar in a small
tent, with soldiers standing before it. Some had brought
lanterns, and the light from these made long, shiny flickers
on the wet ground, for it had been raining. Every few
moments fresh steps were heard, plodding their way
toward us. All felt the emotion of the hour. The sisters'
faces were grave, and shining tears glistened in their
eyes. Frequently the priest came to the edge of the
tent and cried three times " Kristos voskress " (Christ
is risen), receiving from the darkness the fervent
answer, " Voieestinoo voskress " (He is risen indeed).
Everyone was moved. Everyone felt the common
Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood in Christ. Religion
is in Russia a very bond and interpretation of life.
Discussing the Sermon
Even at supper, over the traditional Easter fare —
hard-boiled eggs with coloured shells, ham, goose, a
sweet curd cheese called Pascha and a tall cylindrical
cake to eat with it known as Koolitch — the influence
of the service remained. We discussed the priest's
little sermon. To the sisters, who had seen so much
of the pitiful side of war, the thought " There is no death "
was very precious. The undoubting sureness of their
faith touched me nearly. I thought with a wistful
pang of those who would soon be gathering in my little
village church at home in England to sing the joyful
Easter hymn that meant so much to me as a child.
I felt again the old child-like Easter gladness. When
the sisters spoke with their guests, doctors, officers,
sanitars, of the impressiveness of such a service, with
fighting going on only a mile away, I sincerely agreed.
I shall never forget it . . or them.
Breaking the last. Great reverence for hcly days was always displayed by our Russian allies in the field. Thus all religious festivals
of the Greek Church were scrupulously observed after the manner of the mystical and deeply religious temperament of Tsardom in
the battle-line. Inset : Canteen at a railway station, where a number ot Slav infantrymen were awaiting welcome rations.
2372
Homely Little Incidents Along the Russian Line
Russian officers treat their men almost like big children. Here one
is seen reading to them while they have their tea.
Russian soldiers coming up to a field-kitchen cart for their midday rations after a hot and trying morning. Right: Army butcher
bargaining with a peasant woman for her live stock — " And how much do you want for this little pig ? "
The enemy had destroyed all bridges as they retreated, and the advancing Russians had to set to work to build more.
drinking tea in the shadow ot their machine-gun, cunningly hidden under a litter of hay.
Right: Soldiers
'$ Itajy
The fall of Gorizia, August glh, 1916, and a particularly fine advance on
the Carso, east of Vallone, at the beginning of October, 1916, were the two
outstanding features of the Italian Campaign in the period covered by this
volume. The pictures and articles which appear in this and succeeding pages
afford striking proof of the heroism of General Cadorna's splendid armies.
Through a shrapnel storm and a deluge of rain the splendid Italian infantry are advancing to capture a peak on the Isonio front
The time of the attack is somewhere near midnight, but the light from exploding shells has given the scene a supernatural glow
2374
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AREA OF GENERAL CADORNA'S TRIUMPH ON THE LOWER ISONZO.— By the capture of Gorilla, on August 9th, 1916,
General Cadorna practically completed his conquest of the Lower Isonzo. Pressing on with his occupation of the Carao, he had
the rich prize of Trieste, about twenty miles to the south-east, on the Adriatic, almost in his grasp.
2375
Italy's Triumph on the Isonzo
General Cadorna's Strategy Vindicated
By DR. JAMES MURPHY
Sometime Correspondent with the Italian Army
The fall of Gorizia, August gth, 1916, was the vindication of General Cadorna's original plan
of campaign. From the outset of the Italo- Austrian conflict the Italian Generalissimo several
times attempted to capture this important centre ; but former operations were dogged with persistent
ill-luck. Failure of plans due to various causes, among which were floods on the River Isonzo
and an insufficiency of artillery, cost Italy the sacrifice of thousands of her brave and devoted sons
during her first year of war. While maintaining an offensive in the Trentino, General Cadorna
prepared secretly and elaborately for a final crushing blow against Gorizia, the strongest point in
the Austrian barrier, an effort which would bring him within striking distance of Trieste. The
Editor of this volume invited Dr. James Murphy, the expert writer on Italy's part in the war, to
contribute the following article by way of explanation of this little-known area of the world-struggle.
IN order to understand the capture of Gorizia, and
appreciate its bearing on the general course of the
war, one must reduce the manifold character of
the Italian operations to a single concept and iorm a
mental picture in which only the main strategic elements
stand out. It helps little towards forming an adequate
The whole bulk of mountains has been in Austria's
hands, while, generally speaking, the Italians have had
possession of the surrounding plains. But the frontier
line was drawn through the centre of Friuli, some miles
westward of the Isonzo, so that the Austrians had full
control of the river. The sides of the mountain range are
appreciation of our ally's great victory on the Lower cleft by a number of deep river beds, which give easy
Isonzo if we merely say that the Italians have advanced
some five or six miles over a depth of fourteen miles and
that they have taken large numbers of prisoners, together
with valuable war booty. For the Isonzo line of defence
access to the plain. These were fortified by the Austrian
Staff and meant as the starting-points of a general attack
against Italy, which had been treacherously premeditated
long before the outbreak of the present conflict. By a
is almost as important to Austria as the Rhine is to swift thrust General Cadorna seized the openings of the
Germany ; and the Italians have broken through it at its
strongest point. Therefore, their victory must not be
judged by the span of their advance, or the magnitude of
the loss in men and material which has
been inflicted on the enemy, but rather
by the significance of the bare fact that
the Austrian defence has been broken
where it was considered unassailable.
Nature on the Enemy Side
The Italian war is being waged not
merely against men and guns but against
mountain barriers, where the natural ob-
stacles immensely outweigh the opposi-
tion offered by troops and artillery.
There are sections of the Austrian line
where a hundred men may hold thousands
at bay. It is the siege of Sidney Street
repeated in a hundred places on a
colossal scale. And this was specially
true of Gorizia.
To grasp the matter fully one must
have before the mind a picture of the
whole Austro- Italian front. Imagine a
colossal figure somewhat the shape of a human body
stretched at full length on the ground, with its face to the
sun. Within the outlines of that figure, even though we
must so far interfere with its symmetry, as to make it
somewhat grotesque, we can picture the great mass of
mountain barrier which raises its bulk against the advance
of the Italian Army. The feet of the figure rest at the
The Duke D'Aosta, who commanded the
Italian Army which brought about the
fall of Qorizla on August 9th, 1916.
passes during the first weeks of the Italian campaign, so
that the danger of a sudden attack from the Austrian
side was reduced to a minimum for the time being.
But there remained the question of
selecting the points where he might
open an offensive and invade the
enemy's territory.
Cadorna's Choice of Ways
Three mam passes offered themselves.
At the shoulder joint of our imaginary
figure is the Pass of Monte Croce, which
leads into the Puster Valley at Toblach
and thence westward to the Brenner
at Franzensfeste. Here the Roman
legions passed on several occasions, to
break the power of their northern in-
vaders. At the elbow of the figure is
the Predil Pass, which gives access to
the Drave Valley, where two most
important railroad centres, Villach
and Klagenfurt, are situated. Here
Napoleon entered and brought Austria
to her knees. From the mountains
which rise southward of the Draye the Isonzo runs to
the sea. The Julian Alps guard its left bank as far as
Gorizia. Thence the Carso overhangs it, from Gorizia
to the Adriatic. The Julian Alps and the Carso form
a great fortress wall of which the Isonzo is the moat.
That wall is broken at two points, Tolmino and Gorizia,
by the Valleys of the Idria and Vippacco respectively.
juncture of the Lombardian and Venetian Plains, a few Here Cadorna decided to break through. Both these
miles north of Verona. The right arm is extended west-
ward, skirting the northern side of the Lombardian Plain ;
rivers flow westwards into the Isonzo. We shall get their
relative positions well into our minds if we imagine the
but the line of the Swiss frontier crosses it quite close to Idria breaking through the forearm of our figure and the
the body, so that portion of it need not interest us further. Vippacco through its wrist. The Julian Alps form the
The head of the figure rests at a point — let us say, Brixen — forearm and the Carso the hand. At the tips of the fingers
where the Tyrolese mountain range begins its descent Trieste lies. Here the mountain rises abruptly from the
towards the German side ; and the figure is cleft in twain,
as through the vertebrate column, by the Brenner Pass.
The left arm is extended eastwards ; but it follows a
semicircular line, bending southwards at the elbow and
running along the north-eastern side of the Venetian
sea, so that no military route to Trieste is offered in that
sector.
From Gorizia to Trieste is about nineteen miles. You
follow the Valley of the Vippacco, at the rear of the Carso,
south-eastwards as far as San Daniele ; then you turn due
Plain, enclosing that section of it which is generally called south and are almost immediately in the plain that sur-
Fnuli, until it touches the north-eastern corner of the rounds the great Austrian seaport. From the immediate
Adriatic shore. military viewpoint the route presents no extraordinary
[Continued on page 2377
2-J1S
How Italy Advanced on Her Way to Trieste
To capture such a position as this, Mount Cauriole, exacted more
than the usual nerve and skill of ordinary combatants.
Duke of Aosta decorating General Tettoni, who signally dis-
tinguished himself in the capture of Qorizia, August 9th, 1916.
Cheering the preliminary successes of the Rumanians as the
news is read out from the papers just arrived in trenches.
Lloyd's Arsenal and adjacent hangars, Trieste, at the moment
of being subjected to a bomb attack from Italian aircraft.
To /ace jtaye 2377
2377
Relief map of Oorizia and the Cargo Plateau, showing the
tremendous natural defences of the " Gibraltar of the Isonzo."
difficulties, but there are other considerations affecting its
choice which cannot be openly discussed at the present
juncture. To the ordinary observer one consideration
is quite plain. By moving swiftly southwards, after the
capture of Gorizia, an advancing army leaves at the rear
of its left flank a block of mountains which might prove
very dangerous if held strongly by the enemy. Hence
the necessity of a simultaneous thrust forward at Tolmino.
From Tolmino one moves in a south-eastwardly direction
along the Valley of the Idria, to the Plain of Laibach or
Lubiana. The distance is about thirty-five miles. At
Laibach four great railroads meet, one of which is the
central commercial channel between Trieste and the
Austrian interior. This is the longer route, but it brings
about a complete encirclement of Trieste.
From this, it is clear how serious for Austria was the
Italian advance of 1916. At the beginning of the Austro-
Italian War, General Cadorna sent forward the left wing of
his Isonzo army at Monte Nero, north of Tolmino, and
on the Carso, south of Gorizia, intending to gain control
of the mountains which flanked both valleys, and thus
force the Austrians to withdraw from the two great portals
of the mountain fortress. But an unfortunate chain of
circumstances hampered his advance, the result being that
the Austrians gained sufficient time to strengthen their
defensive positions. Throughout the autumn and well
into the winter his artillery pounded at the defences of
Gorizia ; but the mountains bristled with Skoda guns,
and it appeared as if the idea of storming the great fortress
was hopeless.
One must have travelled over the ground in order to
realise its terrible difficulties. Gorizia has been called the
Gibraltar of the Isonzo and the Verdun of Italy ; but
these comparisons convey no more than a vague idea of its
difficulties to the minds of those who have no first-hand
acquaintance with the country. Except for its historic
interest, and the fact that it harboured 30,000 inhabitants,
most of whom left it soon after the outbreak of war, the
city is of little importance. It is the valley and not the
city that is of military consequence. In no way is it a prize
or a goal ; it is simply a milestone on the road. But
it is a milestone at the summit of a gruelling ascent ; and the
military traveller will breathe more easily once he has
reached it, for the further stretches of the road offer him
no such hardships as those which he has just experienced.
To compare it to Verdun is out of the question ; for the
defences of Gorizia entirely surpass the defences of Verdun.
At Verdun a huge French army had been necessary -to hold
the Germans at bay. At Gorizia one-fourth of the same
army could have held the Kaiser's troops at bay for years.
There is scarcely another military position in the world to
compaie with it. It lies at the mouth of the Vippacco
Valley, well within what may be called the jaws. There
is ideal room for the manoeuvring of troops, and the rail-
road connections with the interior of Austria are excellent.
On the north it is commanded by the heights of Monte San
Gabriele and on the south by Monte San Michele. On its
western front the Isonzo flows in a deep gorge. Here the
Austrians erected a bridgehead for the immediate defence
of the city. Westward of the river the huge bulks of Monte
Sabotino and Podgora are thrown up from the plain,
forming two independent fortresses outside the gate of the
valley. Scarcely a crevice or a vantage point in these
hills that has not harboured artillery of every calibre.
Guns were embedded in the rock, with reinforced parapets
of concrete and steel. A military railroad system led from
one point to the other, so that artillery could be easily
transferred and brought into ever varying positions. Every
approach from the Italian side was under perfect control.
Yet the troops of Victor Emmanuel stormed Podgora a few
days after the outbreak of war ; and, though the mountain
was being gored and mangled by the great Skoda guns,
yet the Italians succeeded in getting a footing. Immense
sacrifices had to be made. Many times I have seen it,
that mass of grey uniform, human wreckage mingled with
the steel of the guns, the roots of great trees ground into
pulp, and the whole mass being rechurned every day.
The Italians call it Golgotha to-day. The terrible Carso
has the same story to tell. There it was impossible to bury
even the dead that lay between the first and second lines of
Italian trenches, because the Austrian guns on the heights of
San Michele, Sabotino, and San Gabriele had the mountain-
sides under perfect control. Much of the success in the
advance of August, 1916, was due to the tunnels which
Italian engineers bored through the solid limestone of the
mountain ; but the feature that stands out stronger than all
others is the perfect organisation displayed by Cadorna's
troops. The Italians have proved that the old Roman
genius for organisation and initiative has not run to seed
in its children, and has not been outdone by the German.
The Mandoline -Players
" You will have to destroy once and for all this army of
mandoline-players," said Conrad to his Austrians at the
outbreak of the Italian war. During the bombardment
of Gorizia, when the Austrian defences were tumbling as if a
volcano were tearing the mountains to pieces, an Italian
airman flew over the enemy's lines, dropping slips of paper
on which were written the words : " How do you like the
music of our mandolines ? " Franz Josef will find it hard
to return the answer.
In speaking of the Gorizia capture, and judging its bearing
on the general campaign of the Allies, one point must be
steadfastly borne in mind. The natural defences of the
Isonzo line so helped the Austrians that the advantage of
position made it possible for them to hold their ground with
comparatively few men. Now that these advantages had
gone Austria had to withdraw troops from some other
quarter if she was to protect the interior of her territory.
In so far as Austrian resources are concerned, the Italian
victory was equal to the capture of half a million men.
The castle where the Italian flag now flies. — View in Qorlzia
showing the castle on the hill. While the city itself Is of com-
paratively small importance, Ooriiia was a milestone on the road.
P 6
2378
Italian Territorials Make Headway in Albania
In Albania as well as in the Trentino and on the Isonzo the Italians advanced with marked success. A troop of seasoned Territorials
are here seen crossing the Vojussa to attack the village of Kuta.
2379
The Victor Enters the Stronghold of the Foe
Italian soldiers taking possession of an Austrian dug-out and a collection of arms, among which were spiked clubs and other barbaric
instruments. Two ardent Romans are penetrating, with bayonets fixed, into the enemy's funk-holes.
2380
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
On the Road to Trieste
By MAX PEMBERTON
IT was not to be supposed that General Cadorna would
remain indifferent to Rumania's peril during the last
days of October, 1916, and his contribution to the
Allies' 'cause was not delayed. This splendid soldier is
notoriously the most secretive general in Europe. It is said
that no one in Italy shares his confidence, and while the
prophets continue to cry " Trieste," other objectives may
dominate his plans. With this we have nothing to do at
the moment. It is sufficient to record that he made upon
the first three days of November a thrust into the Austrian
lines upon the Carso which he could claim justly to be quite
the most successful offensive he has waged since the fall of
Gorizia.
Setting lor a Battle ol Giants
Now this is a land of weirdly difficult names and quite
remarkable topography. The travelled Englishman knows
what is the meaning of the Carso, or Karst formation of
rock, for he has climbed it in the Dolomites. The arid
limestone country sweeps round the head of the Adriatic
Sea, and thrusts itself as far south as Herzegovina. Some-
times it affords but a landscape of torrent and gloomy rock,
magnificent in its very destitution of colour or foliage.
At other places, and nearer to the border of the sea,
these heights will be wooded ; the valleys will disclose
foaming torrents or rivers serenely blue. There will be a
stratum of sandstone in the face of the rock, and for man's
contribution the spires and minarets of villages which knew
Mohammed.
The neighbourhood of Gorizia is such a country. From
an imaginary height above that town an observer would
see the mighty ravine in which the blue Isonzo flows. Mte.
Sabotino, rising to a height of 1,980 feet upon the right
bank, is faced upon the left by Mte. San Gabriele, at a
height of 2, too feet, and Mte. San Daniele, with an altitude
of 1,800 feet. Between these mounts the river takes a
sharp right-handed turn, and thence flows almost in a
straight line to the Adriatic Sea. It is down and beyond
this line that we must look for the scene of the great battle
of November ist. Away upon the left hand there rises
that high and desolate plateau they call the Carso. It is
defended by steep slopes and walls of red-brown rock.
Two Great Roads to Trieste
There are the ravines through which the tributaries
o! the Isonzo flow, and right across it, where the Adriatic Sea
sweeps round towards the great port of Pola, is the com-
mercial town of Trieste. This lies at present some fourteen
miles from the nearest Italian trenches. If it be General
Cadorna's objective, he is pushing for it both over the high
and tremendously fortified plateau of the Carso and
southward through the line of Monfalcone and the low
ground by the sea. Upon both these fronts he won a great
and signal victory in the first three days of November.
Take a map of the district between Gorizia and the sea,
and put a pen upon cestain of these weirdly-named places I
have mentioned. Immediately south of Gorizia you will
see Tivoli and Mte. San Marco, noting the River Vertoi-
bizza behind them. A little farther south is Biglia, and
south of that another river, the Vipacco, running in a
ravine called simply the Vallone. To the south-east of
Biglia is a mountain that is called the Faiti Hrib, rising to a
height of 1,440 feet, and to the south-west of that we see
the Veliki Hribach, Mte. Pecinka, the town of Oppacchia-
sella, and, almost due east of it, that other hamlet of
Castagnievizza, by which runs the great road to Trieste and
to Comen. The latter has been called the centre of the
Austrian system. Upon this line in the north General
Cadorna's thrust was from Mte. San Marco and Biglia ;
in the south upon the mountains of Faiti Hrib and Pecinka,
and to the outskirts of Castagnievizza. It resulted in the
killing of 10,000 Austrians, the wounding of 20,000, and the
capture of 9,000 prisoners, to say nothing of the capture of
large quantities 01 booty, and of the complete Staff ot a
brigadier, who surrendered pistol in hand and threats upon
his lips.
Obviously it was an exceedingly picturesque battlr ;
something of the old-time joy of combat entered into it.
Correspondents viewing it from distant heights were able
to follow a part of the action, at any rate, and to witness
the amazing gallantry and dash of the undaunted Italians.
These had waited patiently during the whole of Tuesday,
October 3ist, when their great guns were thundering
incessantly until dark fell, and the fog of war loomed up
brown and red and black, to blot out the glorious sunshine
of the picturesque scene it would have disclosed. So fierce
was this bombardment that the houses were shaken even in
far Trieste, while the Hash of the gun fire, seen against the
dark background of the Carso, was like the lightning of a
hundred storms.
With such a warning did General Cadorna summon the
Austrians to the assault of Wednesday. The day was fine
enough, but from the sodden ground the fierce sun drew
heavy mists, which drifted in the deep valleys and left but
the summits of the towering hills exposed. Through this,
shortly after eleven o'clock, the dashing Italians went out
to the assault. King Victor Emmanuel himself was a
witness of their prowess, and often by his side there stood
the Duke of Aosta, the commander of the Carso army. So
rapid was the Italian attack that in many cases the Austrians
in their trenches put up no kind of resistance at all — were
surrounded, in fact, and made prisoners almost before they
had fired a shot.
Cavalry Charge on the Heights
The tremendous obstacle of Faiti Hrib, which three
months ago an Austrian general declared to be impregnable,
holding that if the Italians ever took it Trieste was lost —
this was taken very early in the day, together with Mte.
Pecinka and Veliki — the latter in less than fifty minutes
after the opening of the engagement. A wild scene with
the confusion of war now was disclosed behind the Austrian
second line. Just as in the retreat from Cjuatre Bras, more
than a hundred years ago, the one cry of the British was to
get the guns through to Waterloo, so here the salvage of
the batteries remained the obsession of the Austrian com-
mand. Wildly they were galloped, alike through the deep
ravines and upon the perilous roads to the heights, and
after them in the old style went the Italian cavalry and tin-
infantry, panting not wholly in vain.
Of this stirring episode a famous Italian writes in the
" Daily Telegraph " : " The chief concern of the Austrians
was to save their batteries, and this could be seen as they
were hurried along the roads. The Italian guns immediately
made them their target, and at one time there disappeared
as if by magic an entire Austrian battery that was galloping
away in full retreat. At another point for a considerable
time an Austrian battery was pursued by a detachment
of Italian infantry, which an pas de charge was trying to
overtake it on the road."
"What a Fine Day! What a Great Day ! "
Such a diversion must have been a joy indeed to men
who had known for months the monotony of the rock-
bound trenches. One Italian report tells us that nothing
else was thought of — not even the multitudes of prisoners
taken. The heights of the Carso abound, as we know,
in natural caverns, passes which Nature has quarried and
gloomy recesses which will harbour whole regiments. These
were searched by the Italians with the ferocity of hounds
upon a keen scent. At Pecinka a Bersagliere badly wounded
was seen pointing to a height and summoning his comrades
to climb it. A battery of six guns had been taken, and
the brave fellow was anxious that his comrades should
know of it. A wild excitement possessed him ; he thought
nothing of his wound, would not hear of assistance, and
continued to cry " It is there ! " until he fell senseless
[Continued on pare 2382
2381
Via Victrix: Italians on the Way to Gorizia
Since Italy declared war on Austria, Qorizia had been the first
objective of General Cadorna's troops. Owing, however, to floods
and other causes, the capture of this important gate to Trieste,
on the Adriatic, was unrealised before the winter season 1915-16
set in. After many months of preparation, a carefully planned
attack brought the town under a wonderfully accurate artillery
fire, which shattered an Austrian headquarters, killing many
officers and demoralising the enemy command. The extent of the
Italian triumph is all the more wonderful when one contemplates
the precipitous route to Qorizia, which is Illustrated in this picture.
MS2
ON THE ROAD TO TRIESTE '^"T^r
and the ambulance carried him away. Elsewhere a soldier
with one leg shot off sat upon a barrel and greeted every
passer-by with the remark, " What a fine day ! What a
great day ! " The same thought was in the heart of every
man who fought for Cadorna in those splendid hours —
" What a fine day ! What a great day !
While all this was happening upon the left there were
great doings down by Oppacchiasella and the low ground
nearer the sea. The sun began to shine about midday,
and to show the Austrians throwing their heavy shells
from the Vallone to the crest where the fight was raging ;
and at this time three Austrian aeroplanes came searching
for the Italian batteries. It was a picturesque incident,
and, indeed, the whole scene at this time showed the
glamour of battle at its best. Upon the north the dark
grey ridges of tlie Carso were the curtains against which
there flashed the lightning flames of the unresting artillery.
To the south the Austrian centre was being driven in
relentlessly and with a vehemence unsurpassable. Now
the man with the glasses could see groups of Cadorna's
infantry crossing the summir of Veliki Hribach while
other squadron* were upon the ridge of heights which runs
down fiom Veliki to Mtc. Pccinka. Intermingled wi+h the
dashing Italians were the gloomy bodies of prisoners
driven like sheep towards the " cages " which awaited
them in the rear. Veliki itself and Hills 375 and 308
were taken by this lime and the infantry still pressed
onwards. They were at the very threshold of Castagnievizza,
described by the Austrians themselves as the key of this
southern line.
Thursday's fighting saw the gains of November ist both
consolidated and extended. In the north the advance was
continued along the ridge commanding the Vipacco Valley ;
while on the south the central area of the plateau and the
meeting of the Castagnievizza-Comen road were threatened
— the latter as the principal artery of communication on
Chaos m an Austrian munition depot on the Carso trout,
caused by bombs dropped from Italian aircraft.
the Carso. This day saw the Italians at their best as
mountain fighters. From the Vallone Valley a rocky
wall, with natural terraces, rises step by step to the
broad plain of the Carso itself. Up these the infantry
stormed with the greatest gallantry, often climbing amazing
precipices, fighting in every wood and thicket, and disap-
pearing ever and anon into the depths of caverns where
the foe was hidden. The artillery itself now had to do
with objects far distant, and upon the south they even
bombarded Duino, which is on the shore of the Adriatic.
Naturally such a hunt as the hills afforded resulted in a
large increase in the number of prisoners. No cave seemed
too remote but that it contained Austrians. Sometimes
they appeared to have been brought out only after fights
which were memorable ; a thousand acts of heroism may
have been hidden in the darkness of those caves and will
neyer be told by any witness. But the main thing was
that the Italians went on undaunted from terrace to terrace
until they were but dots upon a sunny horizon. So were
the fruits of victory gained, and so did we hear without
surprise that General Boroviec had telegraphed urgently
for reinforcements, and insisted that if Trieste were to be
saved his legions must be sent back from Rumania.
Mountain Peaks Split in Twain
Great as were these achievements of the Italian infantry,
we must not forget that this was in the main a battle of
artillery, and that General Cadorna's gunners have never
done better. To this the " Giornale d'ltalia " bears witness
when it says that the " systematic offensive " was due
before all to the tactical preparation made by the general,
seconded by the Government, and backed whole-heartedly
by the industrial classes. So terrible was the preliminary
bombardment that whole woods on the summits of Veliki,
and of the heights above Vallone, were blotted out, while
mountain peaks were split in twain by a single shot and
new formations created. That the enemy was driven out
by such an avalanche of shell does not surprise us ; but
that he fought tenaciously we may not doubt. Trieste is
dear to him, and whatever may be General Cadorna's real
objective, the Austrians persist in believing it to be Trieste.
The loss of this great commercial port would strike such
a blow at Austrian moral as never yet has been struck
since the war began. No bulletins could explain it away—
no tacticians j ustif y so tangible a defeat. For these reasons
an Italian writer is able to say that the Austrian command
will even call up the last reserves to cast them into the
furnace. The keys to their positions have fallen one by
one, and now this capture of the Veliki and the Pecinka
heights, with the fall of Faiti, is a blow which has brought
Vienna to the verge of panic and has sent Italian shells
thundering upon the very shores of the Adriatic.
Enemy Still Obdurate and Strong
For all that, the obstacles still before General Cadorna
upon the Carso front must not be treated lightly, and no
premature optimism is to be indulged in. He has pushed
forward two miles upon a front of three and a half miles,
and the week has seen his men consolidating on height
and marsh and valley. Before him are vast subterranean
works still harbouring thousands of Austrians. They are
complete to the point of wonder, and nothing but the
patience and persistency of a great leader can overcome
them. Deep down in caverns cut from the solid rock
the defenders of Trieste are trying to reorganise them-
selves after this great assault. They are defended by
innumerable machine-guns, while their heavy artillery has
been rushed back to heights from which it can bombard
the lines which were lost. Veliki and Pecinka they now
shell incessantly, and the great road to Comen is a death-
trap for advancing troops. Upon their side the Italian reply
with a vigour which " makes the very earth tremble," and
have broken the glass of houses many miles from the scene.
It may be added that among the prisoners and booty
captured on November ist and 2nd, 1916, were 259 officers,
ten 105 mm. howitzers with ammunition, two mountain
guns, numerous machine-guns, and large quantities of the
material of war. Of the unfortunate brigadier and his
Staff we have already spoken. He will now be able to
taste the rare wines and see the beautiful women of Italy.
But it will be from the terrace of that prison wherein he
and his must remain " for the period of the war.".
2383
Gates of Lombardy Locked and Barred to Austria
Back to billets after a spell In the trenches. Left : Making sure that the road i
clear. Bersagliere watching a point past which his transport must move
n of the Italian Army outside their quarters, situated in tl
summer foliage on the hillside
A n.w and deadly growth on the mountain side. Barbed-wire entangle- Type of
ments that flourished alongside the Lombard vine.
'"
2384
Vivid Pictures of the Great Italian Offensive
Italian Alpini taking observations in the Trentino to assist in
regulating the fire of artillery.
Headquarters of a commandant of the Italian Army countering
the Austrian Trentino offensive.
There is no more inspiring sight than an Italian charge on Italian Alpini rush an Austrian position, capture machine-guns,
the enemy trenches. and turn them against the enemy.
2385
Grim War at Close Quarters in the Alps
Detachment of Italian engineers, all but surrounded by 141st Italian Regiment «>«"•«•"*'» £ "^"liar^st.el h'e ImeT
Austrian., succeeds in cutting its way out at the bayonet's point. from an Austrian onslaught. Note the familiar e
Vigorous Italian counter-attack in the environs of Monfalcone.
The action sugaested In the illustration is unusually effective.
Bombardment of Austrian positions along the Carso. A power-
ful mine has Just been sprung beneath the enemy trenches.
2386
2387
The dauntless army of King Albert was never so formidable as in the autumn
of 1916. Remodelled and re-equipped, the new Belgian Army was able to keep
back the German hordes facing the Yser, and owing to its improved artillery, to
render the British and French armies on the western front very valuable and timely
assistance. Scenes with the new Belgian Army engage us in the following pages.
ffl
COURAQE AND CALM.-A typical soldier of the n.w Be.Q.an Army deeply interested in the Belgian woman busy lace-making,
.itting with pillow and bobbins at her door a. quietly a. a lace-maker in the peaceful village,, of South Devon.
238S
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2389
Belgians in Khaki and Steel Casques
Belgian machine-gun emplacement, with a special egress for
the gunners in the foreground, to save exposure to enemy
fire. Inset : Field telephone operator at work.
Part of the Belgian Army going up to the trenches, with mitrailleuse section in the foreground. Since they are supplied
with khaki and steel helmets their uniforms are almost identical with those of the British. (Official photographs issued
by the Belgian Government.)
2300
2391
New Belgian Guns to Hasten Day of Reckoning
Battery ol Belgian anti-aircraft guns, ingeniously mounted on
revolving pivots. Mobility in gun-power is the great essentia
In combating air-raiders.
210 mm
rr~^~ - tr,nche8 Inset : 75 mm. mortar, a new pattern, mounted on a
. Belgian siege-mortar about to thunder a !fd ooden hand-trolley.
2392
Where Dune and Ocean Flank the Western Line
In the Belgian lines facing the Yser. This part of the line remained practically
unchanged since October, 1914.
Battery of Belgian 75 mm. mortars in action among the dunes. Inset : 75 mr
quick-firer (used against enemy aircraft) mounted on a revolving pivot.
At the extreme end of the western battle-line. Belgian troops marching to the front along the seashore, hauling the new mortars
with which Kina Albert's forces were equipped in the autumn of 1916.
2393
More Belgian Troops to Swell the Rising Tide
Belgian recruits on a route march "Somewhere in France." Our
gallant ally was never more hopeful of recovering her Fatherland
than in the autumn of 1916.
Khaki-clad Belgian soldiers testing trench-mortars
Belgian recruits in practice trenches.
hegiment ot the
new Belgian Army asumbung ax a training cemr« »or a route march. Y<
ol a valiant race, these new Belgian troops contributed their share to t
Young, strong, and eager representatives
relentless push.
R O
2394
Belgian Armoured Cars : Precursors of the Tanks
Belgian Official Photographs
New armoured cars that helped in the reconquest of Belgiu
Mobile military machines traversing the Low Country.
Each of these fleet vehicles is armed with a machine-gun, and Mitrailleuse, one of the most deadly yet delicate inventions in
carries three or four men. armaments. It is of French origin.
Heavy gun affixed to motor wheels. An interesting experiment Something wrong with the engine, but a few seconds' expert
which was hoped to have excellent results on the Belgian front. attention sufficed to set the mechanism in order again.
se of
While the great expectations aroused among the Allies by the entrance of Rumania into
the war were not realised, they were not wholly vain. Our gallant ally fought
desperately against overwhelming odds, and though by December 6th, 1916, her capital
Bukarest had fallen to the foe, her hard-hit army still showed a fighting spirit. Articles
and pictures describing Rumania's tragic days are to be found in the following pages.
Rumania joined th. Allies on August 27th, 1916, and at once invaded Transylvania, where the Fourth Army Corps defeated and
captured 800 officers and men of the Dual Monarchy In th. mountain passes. Later, our ally had to retreat owmg to the superiority
of German artillery, and Bukarest fell on December 6th, 1J16.
2396
2397
Ready to Strike in Freedom's Cause. Rumanian Infantry at exercise in the barracks yard at Bukarest.
Why Rumania Joined the Allies
By ROBERT MACHRAY
The perfectly frank, Rumania joined in the colossal
conflict from the simplest, sincerest, and most
universal of all human motives — self-interest. But
while this is true, it is not by any means the whole truth,
for in her case self-interest coincides, as it does not always
nor even often, with the principles of justice and eternal
right. When on Sunday, August 27, 1916, she declared
war on Austria-Hungary, and thereby also declared that
she took the side of the Allies, she was inspired by the con-
viction that the time was opportune for her to realise
that which she long has desired.
Frank Statement of " Casus Belli"
What Rumania wants is such an extension of her territory
as will include the people of her own race, known as the
Rumanes, who live in that part of Hungary called Tran-
sylvania, and who for many years have groaned under the
tyranny and oppression of the Magyars. And she finds
a further justification of her action in the well-grounded
belief that her definite appearance in the field at the present
juncture will tend to hasten the end of the vast and terrible
struggle which has shaken the world to its foundations.
In the interesting Note, which was handed to the Austro-
Hungarian Minister at Bukarest after the Crown Council
had come to its momentous decision, Rumania defines her
attitude in the matter with refreshing candour. Towards
the close of this remarkable document, which writes the
first page of a new epoch in her history, she observes very
accurately that the war raises the gravest problems affecting
the national development and the very existence of States,
and then goes on to say that " Rumania, from a desire
to contribute in hastening the end of the conflict, and
governed by the necessity of safeguarding her racial in-
terest, sees herself forced to enter into line with those
able to assure to her the realisation of the national unity."
The expression " sees herself forced," with the regret it
implies, comes naturally enough from her past position,
first with respect to the alliance which subsisted between
her and Germany, Austria, and Italy prior to the war,
and secondly with regard to her special relations with the
Dual Monarchy.
Before the Note was published it was widely supposed,
rather than positively known, that Rumania had entered
into some sort of treaty with the Central Powers and
Italy, who in 1914 formed the Triple Alliance. This
compact, she tells us, was essentially of a conservative
and defensive character, its object being to guarantee
security to the contracting parties against any attack
from outside. When the war broke out both Italy and
Rumania, rightly looking on the belligerency of Germany
and Austria as distinctly aggressive, declined to endorse
it, and refused to begin hostilities against the Entente
Powers, but both still remained members — at any rate
nominally— of the Triple Alliance, which only passed
out of existence when Italy, in 1915, declared war on
Austria.
The action of Italy, between whom and Rumania there
always has been the greatest sympathy, put a new com-
plexion on affairs, and it was from that time that Rumania
began to hold the views which have led her to take the part
of the Allies. The Note states in unmistakable language
that when the Triple Alliance ceased to be, then the reasons
which had determined her adherence to that political group
also disappeared. Rumania, in fact, felt that she was no
longer safe, and had to reconsider her position.
There was a good deal more than that in the case. For
not only had Rumania regarded her agreement with the
Triple Alliance as ensuring peace for herself from without,
but she had thought of it as a pledge for the improvement
of the lot of her kinsfolk, who were the subjects of the
Dual Monarchy or, more precisely, of the Magyars of
Hungary. The pledge, however, was not redeemed. 'No
amelioration of the unhappy circumstances of the Rumanes
of Transylvania occurred ; their life was a burden to them.
How matters stood cannot be phrased better than in the
Note : " For a period of over thirty years the Rumanians
of the Dual Monarchy not only never saw a reform
introduced of a nature to give them even the semblance
of satisfaction, but, on the contrary, they were treated
as an inferior race, and condemned to suffer the oppression
of a foreign element which forms only a minority in
the midst of the diverse nationalities constituting the
Austro-Hungarian States."
Austrian Tyranny Over the Rumanes
In Hungary, which has a population of upwards of
twenty-one millions, that of Austria being about twenty-
nine millions, there are over three millions of Rumanian
blood. The Magyars number some ten millions, but many
so-called Magyars are not of that race at all, and the real
figure should be much smaller. In Transylvania, by the
census of 1910, at least 55 per cent, of the people are
Rumanian, as against 34 per cent, of Szeklers or Hungarians ;
the remainder is of Saxon origin, and not friendly to the
Magyars.
According to the principle of " nationality," which is
now so generally accepted, Transylvania ought to be
Rumanian, or at least she should be governed by the
Rumane majority. In her Note Rumania points out to
Germany that her own unification was a recognition of this
principle. At one time Transylvania had a Diet or Parlia-
ment, as her neighbour Croatia-Slavonia still has, but it
was taken away from her by the Magyars. Though she
has a franchise, and is technically in full political union
with Hungary, her votes do not count, owing to the terrorism
of the ruling caste as well as the ignorance in which the
\Continuei on page 2398
239S
WHY RUMANIA JOINED THE
great bulk of her people are kept, 70 per cent, being
illiterates. They were scarcely treated as human beings.
It was small wonder, then, that the wrongs of these down-
trodden and suffering Rumanes should create the most
painful feeling in Rumania, and maintain between her and
Austria-Hungary a continual state of animosity, which
threatened every moment to disturb most seriously their
good relations with one another. Being but a small
Power, Rumania for the most part had to submit in silence
to the miserable condition of her kin. At the outset of the
war she had some hope that the Dual Monarchy would
change its policy, but she was disappointed.
King Ferdinand of Rumania, who, though a Hohenzollern,
listened to the voice of his people, and threw in his lot with
the Allies in the cause of national integrity and the emancipation
of the world from the evils of Teutonic aggression.
Two years of war had proved that Austria-Hungary,
hostile to all domestic reform that might benefit the
peoples she governed, showed herself, to quote from the
Note once more, " as prompt to sacrifice them as she was
powerless to defend them against external attacks." Thus
Rumania broke her silence, and said what was in her
mind, but which for obvious reasons she was unable to
give utterance to before. Her day had now come, and
with it that of her oppressed nationals in Transylvania,
whose frontier passes she has so quickly penetrated to join
issue with their oppressors.
Rumania had yet another cause for declaring war on
Austria and adhering to the Entente Powers. Properly
speaking, she is not one of the Balkan States, but her
contiguity to them, and the march of recent events in that
region, have brought her well within their orbit. By the
Second Balkan War, which was speedily and effectually
terminated by her intervention, she gained a small slice of
territory from Bulgaria. In her view — though, of course,
not in that of Bulgaria — this acquisition rectified her fron-
tier, giving her greater security against aggression, and at
the same time repaired the injustice, as she considered it,
that had been done to her by the Congress ol Berlin. Now
Bulgaria was the pet and the protegee at that time of
Austria, who had egged her on to fight her former allies.
it must be remembered that it was Austria, and not
Germany so much, that cast her shadow over the Balkans
just then, and embodied the Drang nach Osten ; and
Austria made Rumania feel her intense displeasure with
what had been meted out to Bulgaria.
A new situation arose when Austria went to war with
Serbia in July, 1914. The Balkans again were thrown
into turmoil, and the whole position of affairs in that area
became disquieting to Rumania. She was well aware of
the ideas respecting Serbia which were held by Austrians
and Hungarians alike, and dreaded the revenge they would
wreak upon that brave but unfortunate country. Her
fears were to be amply justified, but at the outset of the
war she asked Austria to say what were her intentions
with regard to Serbia, and Rumania now specifically
asserts that she imposed neutrality on herself in conse-
quence of the assurances she then received that Austria
was not inspired by the spirit of conquest, and had abso-
lutely no territorial gains in view. As all the world knows,
these assurances were not realised. In spite of a glorious
resistance, which drove back in crushing defeat three
invasions of her soil, hapless Serbia, insufficiently aided
by the Allies, was overwhelmed in the end, and her land
has been apportioned between Austria and Bulgaria. Such
is the value of the pledged word of Austria.
The True Example of Italy
No doubt Rumania reflected that there were other
Powers whcxse word was to be trusted, but with Austria
triumphant, Bulgaria swollen and exultant, and Serbia
blotted out- — temporarily, as we all know- — from the roll
of the nations, she had to take stock of her position very
seriously. Earlier she had before her eyes, so that she-
could not help seeing, the general success, as should be
admitted, of the Central Powers in the field last summer
and autumn, which committed Ferdinand of Bulgaria and
his people to the German programme.
No one was better informed of the tremendous losses
of Russia than Rumania. The one bright beam that
shone like a beacon for her was the breaking away of
Italy from the Triple Alliance. Still earlier, when the
war looked less dark for the Allies, as when Russia was
victorious in Galicia, she was urged by many, even of
her own leaders, to throw in her lot with the Entente
Powers. All the while she was courted or threatened,
according to the look of things, by the Central Powers,
but she bided her time. Her position was extremely
delicate, and even critical. She could expect little or
no help from Russia, and practically she was surrounded
on all sides by the enemies of the Allies.
Rumania and the Winning Card
The great fact remains that, in spite of all temptations,
notwithstanding all menaces, she did not stand in with
Germany. For one thing, the majority of her people had
no love for the Germans, but liked France and Italy ; and
for another, her King, though he was a Hohenzollern, and
had been a Prussian soldier, put the interests of Rumania,
his adopted country, before everything — to his everlasting
honour be it said. Most of all, her destinies were mainly
in the strong grasp of a remarkable man, M. Bratiano,
her Prime Minister. Calm and infinitely patient, moving
slowly or not at all, he weighed events, and waited. It is
easy now to see the influences working on him and where
his sympathies lay, but he had to be sure not to make
any mistake. It was a matter of life or death to Rumania.
Apart from the impossibility of realising her national
ideals through Austria and Germany, Rumania's final
decision must have depended largely on the four factors
which have caused the red tide of war to turn. These
are the failure of the Germans at Verdun, the raising of
large British armies ensured by compulsory sendee, the
resurgence of Russia and her great success in Volhynia,
Galicia, and Bukovina during the summer of 1916, and
the Franco- British offensive on the Somme, all of which
had combined to take the initiative from Germany and
leave her everywhere on the defensive. The concentration
of huge forces of the Allies at Salonika must also have had
some effect. M. Bratiano at last was satisfied, and
Rumania was in the field with her hundreds of thousands of
soldiers, every one of whom knew why she had joined in
the war, and was keen to fight the thing through.
2399
Stirring Incident in Rumania's Desperate Fight
tn spite of the terrible inventions of science, many simple devices
have proved, in emergency, far deadlier than the greatest gun
or the most powerful mine. Frequently In the Vosges and Alps
Allied soldiers scored a triumph by rolling huge boulders down on
to the unsuspecting foe. A striking instance of this primitive
method of campaigning is reported from the Rumanian front.
Our gallant ally scored a notable victory in the mountains by
hurling casks of burning naphtha into the Austro-Qermans. This
ruse disorganised the enemy ranks, which were thereupon routed
by the Rumanian infantry at the point of the bayonet.
2400
King Ferdinand at the Rumanian Headquarters
King Ferdinand of Rumania at the wheel of his military auto-
mobile. Next to him is the Crown Prince. Inset: The King's
bodyguard lined up outside the Rumanian Staff headquarters
2401
Rumanian Royalties and Representative Men
M. J.J.C. BR ATI AND,
Prim* Minister and
Minister of War, an
ardent supporter of the
pro-Ally policy.
M. TAKE JONESCU,
Leader of the Rumanian
Opposition, but an
enthusiastic pro -Ally
statesman.
KINO FERDINAND CF RUMANIA,
born 1865 ; succeeded to the throne
October 10th, 1914.
QUEEN MARIE OF RUMANIA,
born 1875 ; daughter of H.R.H. the
Duke of Edinburgh.
M. N. FILIPESCU,
Leader of the Conserve-
tive Party and former
Minister of War.
m. EMIL PORUM-
BARO, Minister for
Foreign Affairs when
war broke out.
General AVARESCU, Commander-
in-Chief of the Rumanian Army.
He fought in the Russo-Turkish and
Balkan Wars.
General CULCER, a distinguished
soldier, who was appointed to the
command of the Fifth Army Corps.
General T. POPOVICS,
An eminent leader.
PRINCE CAROL OF RUMANIA, General COANDA,
Crown Prince; born at Sinaia, formerly Inspector of
October 3rd, 1893. Cavalry and A.D.C. to
the late King.
General PRESAN, ap-
pointed to the command
of the Third Army
Corps.
PRINCESS ELIZABETH OF
RUMANIA, eldest daughter of the
King and Queen of Rumania.
240:!
My Adventures as a War Correspondent
Watched and Tracked
Foiling a Turkish Spy at Constanza
By BASIL CLARKE
RUMANIA'S entry into the war will no doubt put a
stop to the undesirable activities of numerous
gentlemen — German, Austrian, and Turkish — who
for the last two years or so have lived in Rumania for the
purpose of gleaning all the secrets, military, diplomatic,
and other, that they could find for the private use of the
countries that employed them. These gentry, in short,
were spies. Nor did they confine their attentions to
Rumania and Rumanians alone, but, as became good
servants of their masters, they pried into everything that
might by any possible crook have any bearing on the war
and the countries engaged in it. As British newspaper
correspondents were not over common in Rumania, and as
they might reasonably be expected to be putting them-
selves in the way of getting news, the spies gave them a
good deal of attention.
'.I found, for instance, that my own ways and doings in
Bukarest were followed by these folk with a most flatter-
ing interest. Little escaped them. My movements, and
even my meals in caf6s and restaurants, were under their
closest surveillance. Did I call on a Rumanian statesman
for information or guidance, a spy was pretty sure to be in
the neighbourhood. Even my order for afternoon tea at
the Caf6 Capsa (the great fashionable caf6 of Bukarest)
was listened to as though it might shed light on some great
diplomatic secret. 1 grew in time quite used to one or two
particular faces, not always nice ones, that occurred and
recurred no matter where I went.
Searching My Pockets
And besides following me about day and night, these
people or their agents took occasional peeps into my luggage
when I was awav from my hotel, and felt in pockets of clothes
hanging in my room wardrobe. All these.thinsis I discovered
by various careful and cunning tests. You can be sure that
I left unguarded nothing that would help them, though a
good deal of " secret information " which I had concocted
for their edification and left where it could be found by
uiem was no doubt carefully copied into pocket-books
and duly forwarded to the Kaiserliche Secret Service. Bureau.
All this sort of thing was very amusing, till such times
arose as I did not wish to be seen by agents of the enemy,
and then it became a trial between their wits and mine as to
whether 1 should do my business unseen by them or not.
It so happened that things Rumanian became pretty
slack so far as news to send to England was concerned, and
as the British landing in Gallipoli had just been effected,
and all the world at home was agog for news of it and of
Constantinople behind, I thought I would see if I could
not get some news of Constantinople. So one fine day,
taking all the care I could to give my spies the slip, I took
train from Bukarest to Constanza, which is a Rumanian
watering-place and a port of some importance on the coast
of the Black Sea.
News from Constantinople
And here lor a day or two I observed the shipping, looking
out with especial care for any ship bound for Constantinople
and back again. Eventually a ship so bound made its
appearance. 1 sounded with some care the feelings of
certain members of its crew, and finally bartered with one
ol the most intelligent of them (not a Rumanian), that for
sundry pieces of gold he should take careful mental note of
things in Constantinople when his ship got there and,
returning, tell them to me. This man, an officer, said that
without the goid he would willingly do this, tor he was as
anxious to see the Entente win the war as anyone. Still,
goU was goiJ. and a sailor's pay was sailors' pay — no better
than it ought to be. So we shared a bottle ol Rumanian
wine at a cale over the bargain.
As we dran^ it, a sudden shifting of the eye of a solid-
looking Turk sitting near us suggested to me at the time
that he was more interested in us than he cared to appear.
The foreigner who stares at you frankly is generally harm-
less enough, for it is noticeable as one travels round the
world that the only people who show no curiosity about
their fellow-men are British people. But when a foreigner
stares at you and then takes some pains to hide his interest,
it is a suspicious sign. This man never looked at us again,
but went on fingering his little string of amber beads (as is
the habit of Turks) with the best appearance of unconcern.
I was suspicious, and from that moment realised that my
sitting in a public place with a sailor bound for Con-
stantinople was a mistake.
My sailor's ship was due back from Constantinople, I
remember, on a Saturday afternoon, and I was down at the
quay in good time to see it arrive. So also was friend Turk
from the cafe, though he, for some queer reason, seemed to
find it more agreeable to stand out of sight of the incoming
ship behind a pile of merchandise on the quay. This looked
significant; but more significant still was the look which
my friend the mate of the ship gave me from his station
near the bow hawsers of the boat as she was coming up to
the quayside. It was no more than a look, half a second,
maybe, but most clearly and emphatically it said, " Keep
clear — something's in the wind ! "
I remained by the quay as long as I thought was war-
ranted by an apparently idle curiosity to see the ship land,
and then went back up the town. There are only one or two
nice cafds in Constanza, and they are all next door to one
another. Everyone goes to his cafe sooner or later, so I
knew I should meet my sailor there.
I ordered a " grenadine " from the waiter and waited.
An hour passed. Then a little Turkish boy slipped into
the cafe with a note. A moment later my waiter handed
it to me. " See you in your hotel during dinner-time to-
night," it ran. " Leave note in hall-rack addressed M.
Roumali " (a fictitious name), " giving number of your
bed-room. Be in it, and be careful you are not watched."
The Ubiquitous "Mr. Turk"
I had no sooner read the note, torn it up, and put the
pieces in my pocket ready to throw away later, than up
came the Turk. He sat at a table five yards from me and
ordered a drink. Soon 1 rose, paid for my " grenadine," and
le.ft the cafe. I turned round just before entering my
hotel, and sure enough " Turk " was behind. I had lunch.
He was outside when I came out again. This would never
do. He must not be about at night-time. How was I to
shake him off ? The idea came. I sauntered through the
town, gazing now and again at shop-windows. He followed
a hundred yards behind. Past the post-ohice and up the
hill 1 took him by the most leisurely walking till we were
well on the outskirts of the town, and out of reach of all
cabs — for the presence of a cab would have defeated my
plans utterly. And then I began to walk my hardest. I
walked and walked till I had nearly lost him, and then,
giving him just time to get in sight of me again, 1 walked
on and on.
If there is one thing your Turk hates more than another
it is walk ng. Yet he dare not let me out of sight. For all
he knew I might have an appointment at one or other ot
these little wayside public-houses. He plodded on. He
was a stoutly-bunt lurk It was a broiling hot day, too,
though possibly I felt the heat more than he. We walked
eight solid knometres along that dusty road, and a solid
eight back again. And 1 had not spoken to a soul.
It was evening and nearly dinner-time when I walked
into Constanza h main street again, my Turk waddling,
footsore and weary, behind. I walked past the cafes and
on towards my hotel, waiting for a moment in the cover of
a gateway to see what happened to the Turk. As I had
[Continued on paye 2404
2403
Rumania's Valiant Effort to Hold the Enemy
Rumanian artillery arriving at a new part of the front. Inset •
Reinforcements move up to relieve their hard-pressed comrades.
Rumanian infantry in ambush. In the background are the Transylvanian mountains, while the foreground, with its profuse grass and
wealth of trees, gives an idea of the fertile country against which the Central Empires concentrated their united strength.
2404
WATCHED AND TRACKED
(Continued from
page 1M2)
expected, he stopped at the cafe — literally dropping into
one of the seats on the pavement outside it. He was done
up. I should be safe from him for some time, at all events.
In my hotel everyone was at dinner. I hurried upstairs,
and found the sailor sitting on my bed. He had taken my
note from the rack in the hall, and come upstairs without
being seen.
" Oh, a nice time I've had ! " was his first remark.
" I've been followed from start to finish. No sooner did
our ship leave Constanza than a wretched little Turkish
warship hove in sight and boarded us. When we got to the
Bosphorus we were boarded and searched again. They went
through my cabin with a small-tooth comb, so to speak, and
left never a paper or letter or book unsearched. At Con-
stantinople we were boarded again and overhauled. There
was nothing incriminating ; but even then they did not
seem to be satisfied, and they again searched me from top
to toe. There's a Turk on the ship now, and I'm sure he's
there to watch me. I've had a job to give him the slip."
The sailor had been in Constantinople for three days,
and though he was followed almost everywhere he went,
the Turks did not stop him from going about and seeing all
there was to be seen. He had seen the Turkish and German
wounded being brought home from the Dardanelles, also the
warships Goeben and Breslau, about which everyone was
talking ; also the big ship, moored a hundrod yards or moie
from the shore at Constantinople, irt which the German Staff
made their headquarters (the German Staff in Constantinople
have always seemed to prefer to be housed where they are
safe from surprise attack by any hostile crowd).
When the day came tor the boat to leave tor Constanza
a file of Turkish soldiers under a German officer came on
board, and once more searched the ship high and low. My
sailor was taken to his cabin and stripped stark naked. Not
only were his clothes looked through, even to the linings,
but his body itself was searched. Fortunately, they could
not look into his brain, or they might have seen interesting
little details about Constantinople that he was bringing
home for me — material from which I wrote an interesting
article to be telegraphed home to England. The point was
how to get it away. I suspected that nothing in the
Constanza post-office was sacred from the eyes of these
spies, and that anything I wrote would get to their knowledge
one way or another. So I wrote two articles. The first
was a harmless thing about war-time shipping on the Black
Sea ; the other described the things in Constantinople which
my friend had told me.
Treachery at the Post -Office
It was dark when I left my hotel. My spy was not far
from the front door. Sure enough he followed me up to
the post-office. The post-office itself was shut, but I took
my message up to the wire-room, which is always open,
came away, and after waiting five minutes,
went back into the post-office. " Turk" was
in the wire-room, looking at some papers.
When he saw me staring at him he dropped
the papers. Then he left. I made no coubt
that he had been reading what I had written.
If" Turk" read my wire about shipping on
the Black Sea it must have bored him greatiy.
My other telegram went by registered post to
a friend in Dorohoi, and was despatched from
there with a wire saying, " Ignore my Constanza
telegram."
Next day I went for a long walk from
Constanza. My Turk saw me go, but did not
attempt to follow.
inch mortars in action in the region of Tahure. They fire a formidable shell that explodes with a terrific noise. Inset: Am
iply waggons on service behind the front line on the Meuse, where all the trains were employed solely in the transported munition
Tre
supply waggo
2405
Rumanians' Vain Defence of Their Fatherland
Rumanian soldiers who resemble Siberian troops passing along a
communication-trench in the vicinity of their hard-pressed front.
Fighting in a wood from a wattled entrenchment, which gives the position the appearance ol a pen. A wounded soldier is being attended
by a Red Cross doctor. Inset : A pastor who takes up his position with his flock in the first line.
2 toe
My Adventures as a War Correspondent
The Greatest Butcher of the War
An Adventure with an Austrian Spy in Bukovina
By BASIL CLARKE
"P\ INNER? Yes, domnule (sir). There is stewed
\__J chicken and olives and marmalega to-night."
The landlady of the little Rumanian inn re-
peated her stock menu with an enthusiasm I could hardly
share : for stewed chicken (of the wiry Rumanian peasant
breed) when eaten for meal after meal, day after day, is
apt to prove wearying fare, even though mitigated by
olives and maize pudding — which are excellent.
Still. I was lucky to get anything at all, I realised, in
this heart of remoteness, and I leaned back in my chair
and waited with as good heart and appetite as might be
the coming of my old — and oft-tried — friend the chicken.
What a poor little place it was ! The paraffin lamp on
my table was the only lighting. It threw flickering rays
upon the bare floor of rough-hewn boards and on walls
made of mud and logs covered with a drab motley of many
different paperings. A door led from this room into the
back room of the house — my bed-room. Another door,
with glass panels, led to the common room of the inn.
You went, I remember, down a little steep stairway of
five steps — almost a ladder — to get to it, and once down
this ladder the floor boards gave out and you walked on
Mother Earth — or on mud if the weather were wet. In this
room was another paraffin lamp, and round the mud walls
were two wooden benches. On them sat Rumanian peasants
in their tall, pointed hats of astrakhan fur, quietly drinking
their rye snaps from little cone-shaped glasses. Big, dark-
eyed fellows they were ; friendly enough to an Englishman,
and always willing to bid him the time of day. But
bad fellows for anyone to " get across " with, nevertheless.
The Sociable Austrian Officer
As 1 sat back in my chair, rather tired after a heavy day
in the mud and half-melted snow — for the thaw had set
in — and listened dreamily to the faint hum of these peasant
voices, the glass-panelled door opened and someone stood
behind me. I thought it was the landlady, and did not
turn. But someone took three military strides and stood
stiff before me. He was in uniform, but without sword or
revolver. I recognised in a flash the green-grey cloth. It
was an Austrian officer.
My heart gave a twitch on its bedplate, because tor days,
over in the Bukovina, not far away, I had been dodging
Austrian patrols, and it did not occur to me for an instant
that an Austrian, enemy though he might be, dare not
touch me here on neutral territory — in Rumania. Startled
though I was, I sat quite still.
" n' Abend ! " (good-evening) he said in German.
" n' Abend I " I replied coldly, wondering what he wanted.
" Wiegner," he replied, saluting and clicking his heels
together.
I looked at him in surprise.
' Wir kann verkehren zuzammen, nicht wahr ? " (We can
chat — or associate — together, can't we ?), he said smilingly.
And then suddenly I remembered the German and
Austrian custom of introducing oneself by name to people
one meets in public places, with a view to talking together.
"We are on Neutral Territory"
Here was a curious little quandary I As an Englishman,
at war with Austria, and as one who had been chased by
Austrian patrols not many days previously, I had no
particular keenness to hobnob with this fellow. He stood
waiting an answer.
" But," I answered, " what if I tell you that 1 am
English ? "
' So ? " he replied in surprise. " Pah 1 " he added —
waving his hand — " we are on neutral territory. What does
it matter?"
I thought it over. 1 had in my pocket a special permit
given to me by M. Basil Mortzun, the Rumanian Minister
ot the Interior, permitting me, as an English journalist, to
remain on the Rumanian-Bukovina frontier. Rumania's
feelings for Austria at that time were too well known to
me to leave room for doubt what would be the opinion of
the simple Rumanian peasants of the frontier, or even of
the officials, if an Englishman were seen hobnobbing with
one of the hated Austrian officers. It would be misunder-
stood entirely. I should be trusted no longer — and rightly.
" I am sorry," I said to him at length. " I think in the
circumstances it would be better if we kept apart. Our
association might be misunderstood, both in your own case
as well as mine."
He paused a moment, then sniggered and turned away.
The landlady brought in my meal.
" Another table ! " he ordered sharply. She found one
from my bed-room behind. He drew a chair to it and sat
down noisily. " Wine ! " he shouted. I went on with my
meal quietly. So we sat for perhaps five minutes. Then
the door behind me opened again.
" Come to this table, comrade," said the officer pointedly
to some new-comer. " You'll get a better welcome."
Dining with the Enemy
A stranger walked into the room. He, too, was an
Austrian officer, but before I could take stock of his face
he was sitting down at the table with his back towards me.
I could note only his round, heavy shoulders and the
curiously livid scarlet of his short, bull neck. They talked
in whispers. Once I caught the words " verfluchter
Englander " (cursed Englishman) from Wiegner, and
gathered that the new-comer was hearing of my little
passage with his colleague.
It was a strained position, and my company did not
add to the interest of that chicken and maize. But
at length there was a clattering on the wooden stairs
leading to the room, and in came three Rumanian friends
of mine. They were the Customs officer, the Frontier
doctor (an official appointed by the State), and the Chief
of Police of the district.
They were in great excitement. After one long and
indignant stare at the Austrians at the other table, they
sat by me and began to whisper into my ears something
of what was stirring them so deeply. On my left the
doctor, in French, and on my right the police-officer, in
German, were pouring out some burning story in which one
word, a name, was ever recurring. That name was " Klappa."
And at every repetition of the name they nodded head
or finger towards the Austrian officer whose back and beel-
red neck were turned towards us. " Klappa, the bloody
Klappa, the murderer Klappa, the hangman Klappa, the
greatest butcher of the war Klappa," had had the effrontery
to cross the Rumanian frontier and was sitting there before
me. Had I ever heard the like ? Could flesh and blood
stand so much as having that ruffian, that murderer of
good Rumanians, sitting there in peace on. Rumanian soil
drinking Rumanian wine ?
Spy -Hunter and Executioner
So they sped on in their excitable Rumanian way. But
let me translate into cold English the facts they breathlessly
retailed to me about that man with the blood-red neck
who was sitting there quietly with his back to us.
Of all the names most hated in Rumania that of Klappa
comes an easy first. The simple peasant soldiers spit when
they repeat it.
Klappa was once an Austrian schutzmann, which in
plain English is " policeman." When called to the Colours
as a private, he won promotion to the rank of lieutenant
for his callous zeal in persecuting the Rumanian in-
habitants of Austrian Bukovina and denouncing them as
Russian spies. Later he became a sort of spy-hunter in
chief to his command, and added to this inglorious function
that of executioner ; he presided over the gibbet, upon
which scores of innocent Rumanians were done to death.
[Continued on pajc 24us
2407
With Rumania Struggling Against the Teutons
Rumanian cavalry on parade. The Rumanian cavalry are armed with the
Mannlicher carbine, the Infantry with the Mannlicher magazine rifle -256, the
horse and field artillery with the Krupp quick-firing gun of 75 mm.
Rumanian Infantry and (right) a type of Rumanian cavalryman. The Rumanian Field Army contains about 290,000 men, and forty
battalions and nine batteries of second-line troops. The force mobilised for the Great War numbered 600,000 men.
Rumanian cavalry in action with a Maxim gun and (right) Rumanian infantry entrenched with a Maxim. Universal service is
compulsory. Rumania was the tenth civilieed State to enter the alliance against the Kaiser and the Imposition of Kultur on the world.
2408
GREATEST BUTCHER OF THE WAR
" And five Austrian marks," whispered the doctor angrily.
" was the blood-money he earned for each ' spy ' hanged.
He saw to it that the list of victims did not fail, and that
few escaped his rope."
The Austrians, you remember, were driven out of
Czernovitz- — the capital of the Bukovina, and a town only
seven miles from my little inn — by the Russians, who in
turn were driven out again by the Austrians. And this
capturing and recapturing of the city happened several
times. Whenever the Austrians recaptured the city their
first task was to seek out for punishment Rumanian
citizens of the town, whom they accused of helping the
Russians while they occupied it. Klappa presided over this
dirty work. Simple Rumanians were hanged on evidence
which in any decent court of justice would not have
" hanged a flea," as the saying goes. To have given a
Russian soldier a glass of beer or to have sold him a packet
of chocolate — even when he might have taken it by force
I) ad he been refused — was crime enough for which to hang
a Rumanian.
" An old peasant," said the police-officer, " for having
driven in his cart a Russian officer who ordered him to give
him a lift, was hanged by that brute Klappa for ' helping
the Russians.'" A cafe proprietor, at whose cafe some
Russian soldiers had ordered drinks, was taken away and
hanged on the same ridiculous plea. " Any Austrian
wastrel," whispered the doctor, " could go to Lieutenant
Klappa and say, ' That Rumanian helped the Russians,'
and the Rumanian was hanged without more ado. And
Klappa pocketed his ' five marks a time,' and gloated in his
victims' faces. The butcher! Yes," said the doctor,
finishing his excited and angry narrative, " and that man
over there is Klappa, the biggest butcher of the war."
His angry whispering had become a little louder in his
excitement, and Klappa must have heard the last words,
lor his neck took even a deeper shade of red, and he
slowly turned his heavy shoulders and faced us.
Hangman of Innocent Peasants
The phrase " a shudder of horror " is often used loosely
and in exaggeration, but some such shudder passed through
me on first seeing that face. It was much the same colour
as his neck, but suffused about the cheeks with a purple
tinge. His nose was long and cruel. His mouth, but ill-
hidden by a ragged, dark moustache, was big and irregular,
with great purple lips. His eyes, lying deep underneath a
blotchy forehead that sloped obliquely into a black touzle
of oily, overhanging hair, were of a browny green, suggesting
to me the green film that lies on the top of some brown oils.
The right eye had a slight squint and looked awry. Never
have I seen such a face. My notes, written the following
day, say of it, " Search among all the gargoyles of Europe
and you will hardly find such a hideous face."
" Yes. I am Lieutenant Klappa," he said threateningly.
-No one took any notice.
" I came over the frontier to buy a few cigarettes and a
drink." he went on in a more whining tone, " and this is
what I get."
He paused, and then a hideous smile, which may possibly
have been intended to be friendly, passed his lips. " Why
can't you come over here and have a drink together, all
friendly ? " he asked with a leer.
" With you ? " said the doctor, jumping to his feet with
flashing eyes. " My God, I can't even sit in the same room
with you ! " He seized his hat and hurried out.
The Butcher in a Tight Corner
" Thank you, we'll stop over here," said the police-officer
coldly. The Austrian shrugged his heavy shoulders and
turned his back. A moment later he lumped to his feet
again, his heavy fist clenched, his cruel eyes blazing with
rage.
" If you Rumanian swine think " he began, and then
he stopped short and stared as though petrified at some-
thing he saw at the door of the room. I turned and looked.
At one of the glass panels ol the door, dimly revealed by
the light ot o.ir lamp, was a dark tace surmounted by a tall
hat of astrakhan fur. It was one ot the peasants ot the inn's
public room, and with a glance which could l.ave no two
meanings he was fixing Klappa with his coal-black eyes.
More tall hats of astrakhan came beside the first — hats
shaped like dunces' caps, but with dark and angry faces
beneath them. And to leave no doubt as to what the
peasants were looking at, the door opened slightly, and.
carried in on the hiss of Ihcir eager whispering, came the one
word " Klappa ! " Hate and rage — both were expressed
in that word, for every peasant in Rumania knew of
Klappa the Butcher.
Klappa stood staring for a minute, and then his colleague
touched him on the sleeve. " Sit," he said anxiously; for
he knew, just as well as Klappa and the rest of us knew,
why the peasants were so angrily interested.
Klappa sat, his face once more turned away from the
glass door. But as he sat the window came within his
gaze. Outside, dimly silhouetted against the snow on a
neighbouring cottage roof, and against the deep purple of a
night sky. were more big hats of astrakhan fur, and under
the first of them, just appearing over the level of the window-
ledge, were a pair of savage black eyes into which the lamp
of our room threw yet an angrier glitter.
Angry Eyes and Rough Voices
" Curses ! " said Lieutenant Wiegner. " The swine are
all round the place."
Klappa turned anxiously to the door, then to the window
again. Then his eyes took a quick look round the room
as though looking for any other means of exit. His fingers
twitched in their hold on his chair-back. The blood ran
black in the big veins of his hand. He was scared. His
lace twitched with fright.
" I come over the frontier without arms," he began in a
whining appeal to us, " and this is what I get."
" Klappa ! " " Klappa the Butcher ! " (the shouts
were translated for me later) came floating in through
the door on the crest of the ever-growing hum of peasants'
voices.
Then from the second crowd about the window came,
like an echo, the same shout: " Klappa the Butcher!"
followed by the significant words (as new-comers were told
the news), " We've got him in here ! "
Faces jostled one another at the window for a peep at
him. Klappa's eyes glared round the room like those of
some hunted animal. His blotchy forehead began to
glisten with sweat.
The door opened farther. Such was the press of peasants
behind the first man that he had been pushed into the
room. (If you knew the timid modesty and deference of
the Rumanian peasantry towards people a little better off
or a little better educated than themselves, it would help
you to realise the stress these men must have been under
to make them invade the privacy of the " better room "
in this way.)
Klappa s Timely Escape
Their remarks were now plainly audible through the open
door. They wanted Klappa, Klappa the Butcher. Had
he been among them they would have torn him limb from
limb. They hesitated as yet to root him out of the sanctuary
of the " better room." But they were gradually coming
nearer and nearer. Two men already stood within the
room itself, and others were pressing behind. It could not
last much longer.
Klappa realised this as well as anyone. His craven
and flinching eyes were going round the room and from side
to side. His face had gone a dark purple, like his lips.
His forehead was wet. Then with a snarl, like some hunted
animal's, he jumped to his feet. In two strides he had
crossed the room and entered the little room where I slept.
There was a bang as its tiny window was slid aside, and
when I walked into the room not ten seconds later it was
empty ; he had gone.
With a howl of rage the peasants sped from the room,
out of the inn door and round into the maize fields behind.
Their infuriated shouts came fainter and fainter over the
snow.
They never got him. He had run across the fields,
waded through a little stream that divides Austria from
Rumania at this point, and so got back to the Austrian
lines. His coat and helmet were carried back for him by
his colleague.
" Tell Klappa," said one peasant to him in German, as he
left, " that Rumania is not healthy for him. He'd better
not come again."
2409
The Balkan area of operations was full of dramatic events in the autumn of 1916,
as the following pages amply prove. The remodelled Serbian Army made a great
nag .orward to recovering its overrun territory, and along with the French recaptured
Monashr. In addition. Russia and Italy supplied contingents to General Sarrail's
splendid army based on Salonika. The setting up of a Provisional Government
by the great statesman, M. Venuelos, proved an event of the first importance.
QETTiNO BUSY AT SALONIKA. — Landing a huge gun on the quay at the Qreek port. The weapon was partially dismantled before
being " dropped over the side," suspended on powerful steel hawsers. The barrel of the weapon Is seen lying on the quay.
S 6
L'410
2411
More Russians take the Field in the Balkans
Russian ambulance carrying an Armenian Red Cross doctor who had dealt with thousands of refugees. Germany's atroo'ous treatment
of civilians in Belgium and France was eclipsed by the horrible treatment, amounting to extermination, which was meted out to the
Armenians by Turkey with the express sanction of Germany.
2412
Latin Legions Land on the Greek Coast
Over the historic fields of Thrace. French soldiers on the
march near Salonika. Inset : Machine— gun company
disembarking near Kava
t. A flag indicated the po.nt at which each company landed. In October, 1915,
A year later no fewer than six nations, representing a colossal army, were
shoulder for the overthrow of the Central Powers.
French troops disembarking on the Greek coast.
handful of allied troops landed at Salon. ka.
shoulder to
the first
fighting
2413
Zouaves and Serbs Storm a Balkan Crest
In the course of an attack on Hill 1,050, ten and a- ha If miles north-"
east of Monastir, a number of French Zouaves had the opportunity
of displaying that marvellous spirit and strength which have won
them renown on many a western field from Champagne to Verdun.
The strategic value of the Balkan hill was so important that the
German commander entrusted ii to me elite of his infantry. The
French Colonials, together with the Serbians, swept the foe trom
the crest by sheer impetus. Several counter-attacks were made
by the Germans, but in spite of a great sacrifice of men, Hill 1,050
remained in the hands of the Franco-Serbians.
1>414
Outposts of the Allies in the Balkan Field
Greeks loyal to the cause ot Serbia and the Allies. A troop of patriotic volunteers
who revolted against the policy of King " Tino."
Buffaloes on their way down a Macedonian stream. Top right-hand corner : Outside the headquarters of the British motor transport
attached to the Serbian Army.
French Colonial soldier from Cochin China en route tor Ostrova Flooded out. A strong offensive on the part of the weather adds to
with a heavily-laden mule. (Photographs exclusive.) the discomfort of camping in the British linea near Salonika.
2115
France and Serbia Jointly Punish Bulgaria
French Official Photographs
Eight hundred Bulgarian prisoners, part of the France-Serbian haul on the occasion of the capture
of Monastir, November 18th, 1916.
Type of Comitadji who Joined up with the Allies as a result of the fall of JVIonastir. On th.
right a 6 in. howitzer in action.
. (6 in.) short weapon, which
2416
Serbia Strikes Hard Against Her Aggressors:
British Official
The man with the rockets. A lonely soldier in
a remote part of the Salonika front.
Live wires over barren ground. Serbian soldiers linking up
communications over captured territory.
The fraternity of suffering. Recent enemies,
Bulgar and Serb, now wounded, smoke
cigarettes by the wayside.
Serbians about to launch a " pigeon," or aerial torpedo. King Peter's soldiers adopted
the French steel helmet and tunic. These splendid fighters experienced the joy of
revenge in worsting the Bulgers, November, 1916.
2417
Scenes in the Victorious Advance to Monastir
holographs
General Yankovitch, a venerable Serbian c
paigner in the cause of Karageorgevitch
Getting on to Serbian headquarters. An operator testing the
new line which he and his comrades have just laid down.
'holograph
le mountai
of convey.ng Serbian wounded over
rrogating capture
whom was an Alsatian, not sorry to be a prisoner.
showing a primitive but effective means .
n tracks. In centre: French officer interrogating captured Qerm
Another ingenious method of carrying wounded.
Two Bulgarian prisoners coming down with a
Serbian on a double-saddle chair.
2418
Men Who Mattered in the Policy of Greece
Greek volunteers ott to tight the Bulgars under the flag of revolution. Inset: Lord
Granard with General Zimbrakakis, Minister of War to the Provisional Government.
General view of Athens from the Acropolis. The ancient citadel of Greece is
perhaps the most vulnerable capital to sea-power in Europe.
King Constantino of Greece, the
believed in the victory of the Ci
monj
ntral
irch who
Powers.
2419
Regenerators of Greece in Council at Canea
M. Venizelos, head of the Provisional Government of Greece,
had very modest quarters in a small hotel on the quayside at
Canea, in Crete. One small room served as Council Chamber and
Presence Chamber in one. It had a stone floor, and for furniture
a bare table and a few decrepit chairs, with oleograph portraits
on the wall. Here M. Venizelos held counsel with Admiral
Condouriotis and a small company of ex-Ministers, Deputies, and
naval and military officers. The sessions of the Council were
almost like family reunions, and all the proceedings of the new
Government were marked by a fine homeliness.
2120
Mustering to Advance in Macedonian Marshes
French Official Photograph*
General Sarrail, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Macedonia, with the Italian General Pettiti. Right: An object-lesson in
the continuity of history. French machine-gunners, Latin warriors of to-day, on a bridqe built centuries ago by the Romans.
The drinking-water problem is difficult in Macedonia. These photographs show (left) the well and drinking-irough in a model
encampment in the French lines, with wash— house and bath— house beyond, and (right) model cars for the conveyance of pure water.
General view of a battery in the French lines on the Macedonian front. In the original disposition of the allied forces at Salonika th»
French occupied the centre on the line of the Vardar, with the British on their right and the Serbians on their left-
3421
Teuton Triumphs which Serbia Sternly Avenged
After some well-earned months of rest, ths valiant Serbians went into victorious action again. Thus on every front the Central
Empires and Bulgaria felt the simultaneous pressure of the European coalition. King Peter's wonderful warriors, remembering
the tragic retreat of 1915, a striking illustration of which appears above, fought with great courage.
When King Ferdinand heard that the Serbians were advancing
on Karadjova he IB reported to have expressed incredulous surprls
saying that he thought Serbia had been finally crushed. Kmc
•• Fox " had reason to fear the coming Nemesis. The Serbians
had not .orgotten Bulgar treachery. This picture shows the Austro-
Qermans and Serbian prisoners on the road from Belgrade tc
SetiTje, whence, it was anticipated, they would surely be dnven
in the Balkan offensive.
Greek Volunteers for the Army of the Allies
French Official Photograph*
Colonel Christodoulos (in the centre), who resisted the Bulgarian
advance at Seres, arriving at Salonika with his men. General
Zimbrabakis is on the right.
New Greek regiments o« the Insurrectionary Party assembling in the streets of Salonika after throwing in their lot with the Allies,
in repudiation of Kma Constant,™', vacillating Dolicv. Inset : Greeks who Joined the new force, showing their uniform and arms.
?42?
Italy Joins Her Five Allies in the Levant
Clffifln t PA „ » L _
Official Photographs
Five nations to keep the peace in neutral Greece. Group of
British, French, Serbian, Russian and Italian police at Salonika.
Italian infantry, ready for the Belkan field, marching through the streets of Salon ka. Inset : Typos of ardent Italians who arrived to
complete the alliance of six nations in the Balkans. Most oi the Italians were seasoned in the Tripoli campaign.
2424
Greek Army Corps to Fight With the Allies
The 1st Battalion of the Greek Volunteers with their regimental colours and their Pope. One complete army corps of Volunteers was
ready to take the field in October, 1916, fully equipped and eager to co-operate w.th the contingents from the Allied Powers already
represented in the Salonika Expeditionary Force.
Genera Zimbrabak.s (in centre with hand uplifted) in conversation with some of the officers after reviewing a body of Greek Volunteers
General Z.mbrabakis was appointed Minister of War in the new Provisional Government by M. Venizelos when that patriotic statesman
definitely cast in his lot with the Allies.
JOLLY J.
\ li'iiui'Iy scene off a
7 . Jltr* JMJ« Ht'-'t
ACK-TAKS AS "HANDYMEN,- HOW OUR ^PRACTISE ™^
1 M^= s? ;n ^sv^rr s.n:«^^ ± -^ s » «;.
2425
Shining Salonika • The Sombre Town of Visegrad
'x&'&m
Remarkable bird's-eye view of Salonika taken by a French aviator at a height of two thousand feet. Since General Sarrail was given
command of this key to the Near East, Salonika was made one of the most formidable of positions.
By September, 1916, the Serbians had forced their way back to their own territory, wni • •J"^™,'1 apm 'and 'exaited'their spirit. It was
in the autumn and winter. 1915-16. Bitter memories of that term .. th« Orma at Vised rad instead ol retreating, as shown here,
hoped the hour was not far distant when the Serbians would be advancing across the Drm, T fi
2426
With a British Bombing Party in the Balkans
British Official Photograph*
Trench gunners awaiting the signal from the man with the
periscope to bombard the enemy position.
The overhand on the battlefield. British bombing officer
"lobbing" a Mills grenade somewhere in the Balkans.
Assembling bombs, a hazardous duty in connection with perhaps In the so-termed danger trench where the bombers are assembling
the most dangerous of infantry work. fuses to bombs and rifle-grenades.
2427
THE¥ARILLUSTRATED-GALLERYoFLEADERS
M. VENIZELOS, THE GREATEST OF MODERN GREEKS
Formerly Prime Minister ol Greece, he became head ol a Provisional
Government in sympathy with the Allies
2428
M. ELEUTHERIOS VENIZELOS
M ELEUTHERIOS VENIZELOS, whose passionate
devotion to the cause of Greek liberation from
Ottoman tyranny found such a fitting parallel in
the self-sacrificing support given by him to the Allies in
their fight for freedom from Prussian militarism, belongs
to one of the oldest of Hellenic families, though, with the
exception of his two sons, he is the only bearer of his family
name in the Hellas of to-day.
Hereditary Hatred of Turkish Oppression
Ancestors of M. Venizelos were living in Athens as far
back as the middle of the seventeenth century, and were
identified with the struggle going on at that time against
the Turks. From Athens they migrated to Pylos, on the
western coast of Peloponnesus. Thence they went to
Cravatas, near to Sparta. Their next home was in the
island of Crete (orCandia), where Eleutherios Venizelos was
born in 1864, in the little village of Murniaes, near Canea.
The Turks had governed (or, rather, misgoverned) Crete
from 1669, and before he had entered his teens M. Venizelos,
whose Christian name is the Greek equivalent for " free,"
was fated to feel the lash of the oppressor. As a child he
was a fugitive from the frightfulness of the Turkish irregular
forces known as Bashi-bazuks. His home was ruined.
With his parents he shared the hardships of a hand-to-
mouth existence in the hills. So bitter was his experience
that, child as he was, he made the resolve, " Some day I
will make them pay for all this."
He Becomes a Barr'ster
Then the time came when, having gained all the school
instruction available in his native island, he went to the
University of Athens. Discarding the intention of his
parents that he should follow a commercial career, he
studied law, became a barrister, and returned to practise in
Crete. In 1888, at the age of twenty-three, he was elected
to the Cretan National Assembly as Deputy for Kedonia.
Appointed leader of the Liberal party, he was afterwards
made President of the Assembly, and then Prime Minister.
Mindful ever of his boyhood's resolve, M. Venizelos took
an active part in successive uprisings against Turkish
domination. He went through many perilous adventures, in
which the chances of life and death hung upon the slenderest
of threads. He was the leading figure of the Cretan revolu-
tion which precipitated the war of 1897 between Greece
and Turkey. The Concert of Europe, as the Great Powers
used to be called, then compelled the Sultan to grant
autonomy to Crete, and to recognise Prince George of
Greece as High Commissioner in the island.
The Call to Athens
Autonomy, however, was not the aim of M. Venizelos. He
continued to work for union with Greece, and to this end,
in 1908, he organised another revolution in the island.
Two years later there had arisen in Greece itself an organisa-
tion known as the Military League. This organisation,
which was composed of Greek army officers, had for its
aims the elimination of political corruption and the placing
of the Greek army and navy on a sound footing. It needed
a leader. M. Venizelos was sent for, and, having been
elected a member of the National Assembly by the people
of Athens, he landed there in 1910.
The Constitution was threatened. The position of King
George was unsafe. It is important, therefore, to recall
the fact that the first act of M. Venizelos was to insist that
the Greek National Assembly must confine its work to
eradicating the evils that had grown up, and not attempt
to tamper with the foundations of the State.
Prime Minister of Greece
His services to the Crown at this juncture were such that
King George entrusted him with the formation of a new
Cabinet. Within the brief period of three years, as a result
of M. Venizelos' efforts, not only had political and financial
reforms made material headway, not only had the war
services of the kingdom been reorganised, but an alliance
had been formed with Bulgaria and Serbia, the object of
which was to liberate the Christian races of the Balkans
from Ottoman oppression. It was one step nearer to the
cherished dream of his youth. The scheme for the League
had a double motive. While aimed directly at the Turk,
its secondary purpose was the provision of a safeg 'ard
against the " benevolent interest " of Austria-Hungary
in the troubled Peninsula, and particularly in Macedonia.
At the outset of the war of 1912-13 Crete was declared
to be part of the Hellenic Kingdom. In the result the
Great Powers, which had hitherto refused to countenance
the union of the island with its mother country — though
it contained some 270,000 Christians as against 34,000
Moslems — had to tolerate the dismemberment of Turkey
in Europe ; meanwhile Greece, in addition to retaining
Salonika, secured the greater part of Macedonia, with
Kavalla, Seres and Drama. But for Bulgarian treachery,
the dream of the great Greek statesman might have
materialised then. It was Bulgarian duplicity which, when
the Great War began, once again marred the project of a
lifetime, and gave Turkey a new opportunity, with Germany
and Austria as her allies.
Break with King Constantine
It is with little satisfaction that the people of Great
Britain can survey the progress of events from the day
when Venizelos offered the co-operation of Greece in the
cause of the Allies to his resignation of the Greek Premier-
ship. Throughout the tangle of negotiations Venizelos
remained true to his ideals and, until forced by circum-
stances to set up a Provisional Government at Salonika,
loyal to his king, who owed his crown to the minister he
was persuaded by his advisers to treat so badly.
King Constantine, who succeeded his father, King George,
in March, 1913, commanded in Thessaly in 1897 during
the first Greek War with Turkey. In 1909, as the result
of a cabal of Greek officers, he was retired from the Greek
Army, but was restored to it by M. Venizelos in 1912, when
he was appointed Inspector-General, and took command
of the Greek Army in the Balkan Wars.
The Richelieu of Greece
Up to the end of 1916, though barely two months had
passed since the formation of the Provisional Government
(or, as it was alternatively called, the Government of
National Defence) at Salonika, it had received the unani-
mous support of the whole Prefectoral district of Macedonia,
of the islands of Chios, Crete, Lesbos, Samos, Syra, Naxos,
Andros, Keos, Kythnos, Imbros, Poara, Lemnos, Tenedos,
and Santorin — names full of historic memories — and of
the large Greek populations in Turkey and Bulgaria.
In January, 1917, it had its representative in London in
Dr. Gennadius, while Earl Granville was appointed British
Agent at Salonika.
In appearance M. Venizelos is more Italian than Greek.
His mild blue eyes, peering through gold-rimmed glasses,
suggest little of the fighter he has proved himself in
both the field and in the forum. His characteristics are
surprising coolness in emergency, absolute self-control,
extraordinary will-power, steadfastness of purpose, amazing
capacity for work.
M. Take Jonescu's Tribute
One of the most noteworthy tributes to M. Venizelos was
that of M. Take Jonescu, leader of the National Democratic
party in the Rumanian Chamber of Deputies. "When,"
wrote M. Jonescu in 1915, " I made the acquaintance of
Venizelos, I was attracted from the first. That head, like
a Byzantine saint straight from a church fresco, that gentle
and penetrating glance, that subtle smile, the irresistible
sympathy which radiates from all his being, the almost
girlish modesty, all the more charming when combined
with a will of iron — all that strikes you the moment you
see him. I asked him the secret of his success, and he
replied in these simple but profound words : ' I have
always told my fellow-countrymen the truth, and the whole
truth, and I have always been quite prepared to lay down
my power without regret." Sincerity, the cult of truth,
that is the first trait in Venizelos' character, and at the
same time the secret of his strength."
2429
Although British troops continued to hold up a large Turkish force
in Mesopotamia, the chief operation against the Turk in the period
covered by this volume was the desert conflict in the eastern marches
of Egypt, ending with the rout of the enemy at Romani. This
campaign is described and pictured here, while, in addition, will
be found other incidents of the war against the Ottoman forces.
Camels travelling to the front by train. In the op
and drove the remnants of his forces far beyo
perations against the Senussr, General Peyton's force captured the hostile commander
ind the Egyptian border. For such work camels were worth their weight in gold.
2430
Told by the Rank and File
WITH THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE IN
MESOPOTAMIA
WE'D
Ft
,,r>
Private John Haig,
2nd Black Watch
been in
France,
w h e rever
the fighting was
thickest, right from
the start of the war,
being sent home
from India with the
first draft. And we
had been in every-
thing that was of
any importance —
Mons, Ypres, Neuve
Chapelle, and Fes-
tubert. So when
they said there was
big fighting to do in Arabia, they selected
us, and we went out there determined
to do big things.
Our luck started when we left Malta.
We belonged to a big convoy that was
going to Salonika, and when it came to
the parting of our ways we steamed right
througn the two lines of ships. They gave
us rousing cheers that did us good to
hear, and then we lost sight of them, and
heard nothing more till we got to Alex-
andria, and then they told us a troopship
had been lost out of the convoy.
We had understood that we were going
to land at Alexandria, and were all ready
to do so. Our baggage was on the upper
deck of the transport, but when we
arrived we got orders to pioceed to try
to relieve General Townshend at Kut.
Port Said was our next port of call, and
here we coaled ship. H.M.S. , with
several destroyers and monitors, was
lying here for the defence of the Suez
Canal. They, too, cheered us in a chummy
fashion as we cleared the Canal and
steamed along on our way. At Aden we
stayed long enough to fill all our tanks
with water ; and at last, on Christmas
Day, we reached the mouth of the Tigris.
Christmas Day in the Old World
We had a glorious Christmas dinner —
corned beef, with no potatoes, and dried
biscuits, washed down with a tot of rum.
In the evening — just about the time folks
at home were pulling crackers and sitting
round the nice bright fires telling stories
and enjoying themselves — we humped all
our baggage to a second transport, and
started off up the river to Basra.
Here the Seaforths disembarked and
proceeded in flat-bottomed barges, while
we of the Black Watch went on shore to
the old Turkish barracks — what a smell
they had, to be sure ! — where we stayed
till the Jast day of the year, when our
main battalion arrived in still another
transport.
Hogmanay — New Year's Day — which is
always a Scotch festival, we kept up in
fine style, singing all the songs we could
think of as we plugged along the Tigris
in flat-bottomed barges. They hadn't
given the main battalion a single day's
rest ; they'd just chucked 'em from the
transport to the barges, and sent 'em
along with us up the river.
We landed next morning at Kurna,
where the Garden of Eden is supposed to
be, with a " forbidden fruit " tree as old as
Adam and Eve. We didn't get any chance
ol tasting it, for we were bound lor Amara,
and after a short spell on the shore we
pushed on again. When we reached
Amara we did some field work on the
BY PRIVATE JOHN HAIG
sand, just to show that we hadn't forgotten
the way to attack.
And didn't it rain ! Drops as big as
shrapnel bullets fell all around us, and
soaked us through and through in less
than ten minutes. It was fun seeing us
double across that sand, where there
wasn't a bit of shelter ; and I couldn't
help thinking about Neuve Chapelle,
where the lead was coming over us every
bit as thick as the rain, and the Black
\Vatch advanced through it all as steady
as on parade. They didn't mind lead and
bullets a bit, but they cursed that rain
something shocking !
Back to the barges ; up the river in
the rain to Allegarbi, where we got out
all our gear and prepared to start out the
next morning. It was here that I first
made the acquaintance of a bed on the
sand. It's just about the worst bed you
can have. As you lie there, your hip-bone
seems to be on concrete, and when you
turn over the sand seems to shove out
hard ridges, and nearly breaks your back.
We got a tot of rum just before we made
camp, but there wasn't a wink of sleep
the whole night through for any of us.
Blistering Heat in the Desert
We were glad when morning came,
and the sun shot up in a hurry, as it
always does out there. And we were in
for a grilling, I can tell you. At eight
o'clock we got orders to break camp and
start off. I've done some marching in my
time — out in India, and France, and at
home — but never anything like that. It
was hot — seemed as if the sun had ma'de
a bet to scorch us up. There were a lot of
new chaps with the Black Watch, lads
who'd recently joined, and they couldn't
stick it. Every now and then one would
fall out and rest, done right up with the
heat. We were fuHy loaded — packs,
rifles, pouches and bandoliers full of
ammunition, water bottles and haversacks
full, and our blankets on our shoulders.
The very rifle barrels got hot, and if you
touched them with your bare hands they
raised a blister, while the water in our
bottles was lukewarm.
When we halted at four in the afternoon
we were just about all out. We lit fires and
made tea, but nobody wanted anything to
eat ; a tot of rum was just about as much as
we could manage to dispose of. We simply
lay down on the sand and pulled our
blankets over our faces to keep the flies off,
and as soon as the sun went down and it
got a bit cool the rain started coming down
again in bucketfuls. But we were too fed
up and too tired to move ; we simply lay
there and soaked through, blankets and all.
Black Watch Goes Forward
At seven we crawled out, broke camp,
and started off again, and at ten our
advance guard came under the enemy's
artillery fire. It seemed really funny to
hear the guns in this strange land ; every-
thing seemed at least a thousand years
old, and if the enemy had been armed
with bows and arrows we shouldn't have
been a bit surprised.
There's one thing about the Turks,
they're good clean fighters. If they see
a man down they won't fire at him, and
any wounded who come into their hands
they'll bind up and leave for the stretcher
parties to find.
We were told that the Turks were
retiring, that the Seaforths had got 'em
on the run ; so we halted again and gave
the Eeaforths a yell of encouragement,
though, of course, they were too far away
to hear us.
Our colonel was well out in front on
his horse, and as we lay there in the
broiling sun he came back, his charger all
in a lather.
" Fall in. Black Watch ! " he yelled out.
" You're wanted up there ! There's plenty
of work to be done this day — and you're
just the boys to do it ! "
The cheer we gave then simply tore
the air ; we were all anxious to get a slap
at the Turk. We didn't need any coaxing,
I can tell you. We were going in support
of the Seaforth Highlanders, but we got
word that the enemy's right flank was
retiring, so we spread out in extended
order on the left of the line, with a whole
flank opposing us. We had no supports
behind us, and the fire was deadly, and
no mistake.
One young lad, just fresh out from
home, got a bullet through the ankle,
and yelled shockingly. Our corporal,
trying to put some heart into him, pulled
his leg, and put a bandage round his knee.
But the lad wouldn't see the joke.
" Where's the nearest dressing-station ? "
he said, and when we pointed it out to
him he started off on his own, limping as
fast as he could go. Another bullet caught
him and he fell down, and the corporal
who'd been having a joke with him
jumped out of the trench and picked him
up. He carried him through the rain of
bullets and the hell ot shell fire to the
station, and then came back through it
all without a scratch, as cool as you please.
We gave him a cheer that meant more
than a dozen Victoria Crosses to him.
9th Lancers Scatter Arabs
Just then the Arabs tried to rush
round our flank, but the gth Lancers —
a native Indian regiment — met them and
gave 'em pepper, red and raw. They
beat 'em back time and time again. It
was a glorious sight — the horses crashing
against each other, the lances and the
swords flashing, and then the white
garments of the Arabs streaming out as
they flew back on their horses.
I'm only telling the cold truth when I
say that the ground was dyed crimson.
Shrapnel shells and bullets were making
the air black ; one shell burst in front
of me, and I got a smack with a piece of
hard earth that knocked me down. Up
I got, and was advancing again when a
bullet plugged me in the thigh. I got out
my field-dressing and tied it up. and tried
to crawl on, but my leg seemed to freeze
and was a dead weight. So I took off my
pack, and used it as head cover for myself.
I lay there a full two hours, till the
firing died down, and then, using my rifle
as a walking-stick, started off back to the
dressing-station. I reached it at four in
the morning, completely exhausted, and
when I got there I found over half the
battalion there as well. There was nobody
to attend to us, and we had to do what we
could for each other. It was pitiful, and
we cried like school kids who've lost their
mothers. Lads were dying off all round
like flies, and we said some hard things
about the hospital people, I can tell you.
The unwounded troops collected us
next morning and packed us in the barges
and sent us down river, where we were
transferred to the hospital ship Varella.
We reached Bombay on January 22nd —
just seventeen months after we'd left
India to go to the Fron t — and I left for
Blighty on April I4th, 1916
2431
Desert Duel Between Airmen and Horsemen
In the district of Shat-el-Hai, Mesopotamia, a spirited affair was took them, and, descending to within twenty feet of the ground,
reported between a party of mounted enemy ir. e u.nrs am. two d.apdrsed the Arabs by macnme-gun flre. Abandon ing the c; m sis,
British aeroplanes armed with machine— guns. The enemy nad the hostile cavalry retreated to the mountains, and a troop of British
captured a number of camels and made off ; the aeroplanes over— horsemen came up and took possession of the recaptured booty.
2432
In the City of Sindbad Under British Occupation
Him foam
QikSKA
Enrolling recruits for the Basra police. A stalwart and Commissioner of Police at Basra inspects a squad of native
picturesque Arab becomes a member of the force. constables enrolled to preserve order in the city.
Study in sunlight, shadow, and Oriental vegetation. Indian British soldiers engaging a "bellum" from an Arab boatman,
transport waggons proceeding along the river strand at Basra. With craft such as these Mesopotamian Melds were won.
Types of native people in the track of the British Mesopotamian
forces. Arabs who were not frightened by the camera man.
Some of the Indian troops who so signally distinguished ther
selves in the fighting alona the valley in Mesopotamia.
2433
General Townshend and Staff at Kut-el-Amara
Historic photograph, taken Just before the capitulation of Kut, and received through the agency of an exchanged pr.soner. It shows
General Townshend with his Staff. Third from the left are Colonel Annesley, A.D.S.T., Brigadier-General Evans, Colonel P. Hehir, C.B.,
General Townshend. On right : Major Gilchrist, Colonel Chitty, Colonel Maule, R.F.A., Colonel Parr, Colonel Wilson, R.E.
Borneo, the , ndian^and wounded ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - Ku,
serious cases.
2434
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Turkish Rout at Romani
By EDWARD WRIGHT
OF all the battles of the war, the desert conflict in the
eastern marches of Egypt was in some ways the
most interesting, because of the far-reaching, subtle
play of British and German intellects that went on beneath
the movement of the forces. Our former Chief of Staff,
Sir Archibald Murray, matched his wits against those of
the German Chief of Staff, General von Falkenhayn, and
left Whitehall for Cairo, apparently to undertake the
direction of a small affair in a third-rate theatre of the war.
But it may be remarked that the Germans also sent to
Syria, about the same time, one of their best men, the late
Field-Marshal von der Goltz. Neither side thought of
putting much more than 20,000 men in the Egyptian field
of conflict. Yet Germany employed one of her best strate-
gists, and we employed our then Chief of Staff, giving Sir
William Robertson the important position at home that
Sir Archibald Murray resigned. Clearly something of im-
portance was occurring in connection with Egypt.
Titanic Energy in the Sin Desert
On the surface there was nothing very remarkable-
General von Kressenstein, the German director of the first
vain Turco-German attack on the Suez Canal, prepared a
more formidable movement of invasion across the great
Desert of Sin. Hundreds of first-rate directive German
minds — engineers, gunnery instructors, drill instructors,
and supply organisers — with two thousand Teutonic
troops, came to Palestine to train, stiffen, and energise
Djemal Pasha's defeated army. For eighteen months the
Germans laboured with great skill and high ingenuity.
They excavated huge depots in the sand of the oases, and
stored tens of millions of cartridges and tens of thousands
of shrapnel and high-explosive shell. Krupp produced a
special gun to be carried on a camel pack, and batteries of
6 in. howitzers that could be hauled by ox teams across the
wastes of soft sand, by means of a continuous track of
planks carried by gangs of labourers. Fifty big pontoons
Map of Egypt and Sinai Peninsula, indicating the area of the
Turkish rout. In the smaller plan Romani, where the Turks were
shattered on August 4th, 1916, is shown, together with Katia and
Bir-el-Abd, the line of their retreat.
for bridging the Suez Canal were also hauled by ox teams
over the sand. A large concrete reservoir of fresh water
was built in the heart of the desert ; scores of new wells were
sunk, and pipe-lines laid in places.
Early spring was the best season for an advance through
the wilderness, for many of the dry gullies in the inland
heights were then roaring with water. Kressenstein, how-
ever, let the cold, healthy months go by, for certain reasons
of larger strategy, and abruptly launched his expedition in
July, 1916, at the height of the scorching, tropical desert
summer. Instead of attempting a surprise attack across
the centre of the Sinai wastes, as he had done before, the
German commander made a well-heralded movement
along the ancient caravan track by the Mediterranean
shore — the Serbonian Road, used by most of the famous
conquerors of old, from Rameses to Napoleon. On the
Serbonian Road there was plenty of water, and though so
brackish as to be undrinkable by European troops, it was
good enough for the two Turkish divisions that Kressen-
stein led to battle. For his picked force of two thousand
German infantry and his hundreds of German officers,
engineers, and gunners, fresh water was conveyed by
camel pack.
The conflict opened on July igth, 1916, with skirmishes
between the enemy's horse and foot and our cavalry screen
round the Katia Oasis, some twenty-five miles from the
canal. We had about 12,000 Scottish Territorials and
2,000 troopers, under the command of Major-General the
Hon. H. L. Lawrence, opposed to the 18,000 troops that
Kressenstein advanced. General Lawrence had besides a
reserve brigade of 5,000 Lancashire Territorials with some
Warwick and Gloucester Yeomanry. The German general
also seems to have had a strong reserve, which he threw out
in the closing phase of the struggle. The available forces
on both sides were about equal, and this equality, as we
shall see, had a bearing upon the larger strategical victory
won by Sir Archibald Murray as commander-in-chief.
Sand Wraiths in Phantasmal Nights
We occupied a position about seven miles west of Katia,
and about eighteen miles east of Port Said. Our flank
rested on the Bay of Tina, where it was strengthened by
four monitors. From the coast our entrenchments curved
towards the Oasis of Romani, and the new desert railway
station near by. A sand-dune three hundred feet high,
called Gannit, served as our chief observation-point beyond
Romani. Then a mile west of Gannit was Wellington
Ridge, named after the Wellington Mounted Rifles, with
two miles farther south Mount Meredith, and three miles
farther westward Mount Royston. Meredith was named
after the commander of the ist Light Horse Brigade of
Australia, and Royston after the commander of the 2nd
Light Horse Brigade. Three brigades of the Light Horse,
famous for their charge to the death on Gallipoli Peninsula,
were combined with a brigade of New Zealand Mounted
Rifles, under the divisional command of General Chauvel.
On this Anzac mounted division of 2,000 troopers fell the
heaviest fighting and the highest honours.
For fifteen days and nights the ist and and Light
Horse took turn and turn about in keeping touch with the
enemy. Then, at midnight on Thursday, August 3rd,
Kressenstein made a sudden bid for a decision. Under
cover of the strange, phantasmal desert night, lit only by a
thin crescent moon, when the sand wraiths dancing on the
wind seemed often to be an army in movement, he launched
three thousand men against the weary five hundred troopers
of the ist Light Horse. His aim was to break through
our slight cavalry screen, seize the dunes south-east of
Romani, take the railway, so as to isolate the Scottish
Territorials, and prevent reinforcements reaching them by
rail. Then the road to Port Said would soon be opened by
him.
The Anzacs had eight to one against them in men with
[Continued on page 2436
2433
To Roman! and Back with Ottoman Prisoners
Men of the Herts Yeomanry watering their horses by a fresh-water canal near the
Nile. The Herts were the first Yeomanry to leave England in September, 1914.
Conveying wounded on camel-back In Egypt. Inset: Men of ths Herts Yeomanry
swimming their horses across the Suez Canal
Some of the Turks taken prisoners at Roman! marching tjrjugh
by Sir Archibald Murray's army on August 4th, l.no, w
; Turk^wTre* routed Jn" ow
igypt was shattered
iriaoners.
2436
THE TURKISH ROUT AT ROM AN I
6 in. howitzers, as well as mountain batteries and machine-
guns, against their light horse artillery. But with the help
of a battery of Scottish Territorial guns they saved
Romani and the railway, and then, while the Scottish
Territorials smashed up a frontal attack, the hard-pressed
ist Light Horse pivoted on the high stretch of sand at
Wellington Ridge, but slowly gave ground on their right
flank. Their own Mount Meredith was lost, and then
Mount Royston. Not until daybreak did General Chauvel
bring the and Light Horse Brigade to reinforce their
valiant comrades. But the commander of the Anzac
mounted division knew what his men could do. By beating
the enemy from Romani and Gannit, and holding to
Wellington Ridge, they practically won the battle !
Meanwhile, the Scottish Territorials, who had also fought
the Turks before at Gallipoli and again in the spring of 1916
in the Sin Desert, shattered the enemy's front attack. The
Turks and Germans had entrenched by a belt of marsh
near the coast and advanced within rifle range of our
positions. But at daybreak our monitors searched them
out, and when they tried to storm our elaborate defences
they were swept by a still more terrible rifle and machine-
gun fire. " Your rifles were worse than your big guns,"
said a captured Turkish officer. Early in the afternoon,
Kressenstein gave over trying to force his way along the
Serboman Road, and swung his main force farther inland
into the dune country south and west of Romani. Between
the dunes ran a wide, undulating plain of sand leading
towards the canal.
Turks Driven Into the Marshes
The German guns plastered Gannit and Wellington
Ridge with shrapnel and high explosive. But the heavy shells
made little impression on our defences, as the force of
their explosion was cushioned by the sand. The Turks
charged at Romani and Gannit, but the Scotsmen
and the Light Horse drove them back towards the marshes.
Then as the main body of the enemy turned into the dune
region and reached the slopes of the Wellington Ridge there
was a transformation scene.
General Lawrence had railed up the Lancashire Brigade,
and the Warwick and Gloucester Yeomanry were moving
into battle. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles were closing
round Mount Royston at the end of the enemy's eight mile
line, and the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade was
preparing to charge. The enemy was trapped. His appar-
ent semi-success among the dunes, achieved against only one-
fourth of General Chauvel's force, was his undoing. En-
tangled amid the sand hills, well to the south-east of the
old caravan road, was nearly half of Kressenstein's forces.
It could not escape if we made a general advance.
At five o'clock in the afternoon the advance began. The
New Zealanders moved on Mount Royston and recovered
it. The English Yeomanry, fighting on foot, stormed Mount
Meredith, and while the Light Horse and the Scottish
Territorials were driving the enemy from Romani, the
I,ancashire Territorials came from the rail-head and drove
in the Turkish centre. Sweeping through the gap, infantry
and dismounted cavalry enveloped the Turkish brigade
among the dunes, taking some two thousand unwounded
prisoners, and scattering the rest towards the waterless side
of the wilderness. The pursuit continued until August 5th,
when the ist and 2nd Light Horse and the New
Zealand Mounted Rifles moved directly towards Katia,
while the 3rd Light Horse made a southern flank attack.
There was scarcely a drop of water for men or horses, and
the ist Brigade had been fighting almost uninterruptedly
since midnight on August 3rd. Yet the brigade galloped
three-quarters of a mile over heavy country, through a
curtain of shell fire, going so quickly that the Turkish
gunners could not get the range. But the flanking move-
ment by the 3rd Brigade, which was new to the Katia
district, did not at once succeed. So the ist and 2nd
Light Horse withdrew in the evening for water, food, and sleep.
The Real Object of the Attack
Late in the evening the Territorial troops carried a strong
Turkish rearguard position, and Kressenstein withdrew
to his main entrenchments at Bir-el-Abd, some forty miles
from the Suez Canal. Here, on August gth, began another
long and desperate battle that lasted three days. The
Turkish artillery fire was more intense than at Romani or
Gallipoli, and as our infantry were left behind, owing to the
speed of the enemy's retreat, only our small force of mounted
troops, the Anzac Light Horse and Mounted Rifles, the
Yeomanry and Territorial Mounted Infantry, had sufficient
mobility in the matter of supplies to come up with the
enemy. Outnumbered and outgunned, the mounted troops
broke three attacks, brought their guns within 2,000 yards
range of the Turks, and captured Bir-el-Abd. In all,
Kressenstein lost hah" his force, of which more than 3,920
were captured. Four guns, 9 machine-guns, 500 camels,
100 horses, 4,000 shells, and 1,000,000 rounds of small-arm
ammunition formed part of the war material taken
The defeat of Kressenstein, however, was an affair of
secondary importance. We had abundant means of
defeating him, by reason of our sea-power and the expansion
of our military power. The main thing was that we did not
use these means. Falkenhayn's primary design was to
waste some thousands of Turks in order to compel us to
weaken our Grind Army in France and Flanders. He
thought to mislead us into placing men in hundreds of
thousands and guns in hundreds along the Suez Canal,
where they would be comparatively idle during the critical
period of the European conflict. For we needed to be
strong at every point on a long front at which a thrust
might be made. But Sir Archibald Murray defeated the
scheme by constructing an extraordinary system of defences,
with railways, motor tracks, and fresh-water pipe-lines
stretching far into the desert, and enabling a small British
force to concentrate victoriously against any similar force
that Kressenstein could bring over the Sinai wilderness.
This was the far-reaching success of the second Egyptian
defensive campaign. From a local point of view, the
movement of invasion was largely a bluff, in that it was
scarcely designed to conquer the country. At the utmost,
Kressenstein with good luck could only have temporarily
disturbed the Suez Canal traffic. But from a universal
point of view, if we had used a great British force in order
to meet the bluff, our local victory would have been a
strategical defeat. For we might then have lost in France
against the Germans more than we gained in Egypt against
the Turks. Thanks, however, to the foresight and energetic
organising skill of Sir Archibald Murray we won all round.
Camel transport leaving for the firing-line on the Egyptian frontier. Incongruity never went further than in the battles in old Egypt,
where motor-cars jostled camels, telegraph wires reached across deserts, and aeroplanes flew over immemorial caves.
2437
Imperial Camel Corps Ride Down the Turks
The Turkish effort of August, 1916, against Egypt may be said
to have been as great a failure as any of their previous attempts.
In the course of a pursuit of the Ottoman troops in the Katia dis-
trict, east of the Port Said end of the Suez Canal, the Imperial
Camel Corp* came into brilliant action in the southern oart of the
line. Charging full tilt on to the enemy entrenchments, the pon-
derous camels with their agile riders drove the Turks from their
positions. Falling back on Bir-el-Ab, the enemy endeavoured to
rally, but eventually had to give way, retreating along previously
prepared points. The British victory was complete.
2438
Bedouins Surrender to British Forces in Egypt
Giaffar Pasha, Turkish Com mender- in-Chief of the Senussi, who
surrendered to the British in West Egypt, March, 1916, being assisted
into a picket-boat of a warship, which conveyed him to Alexandria.
Near impression of Qiaffar Pasha, who was severely
wounded. A sword penetrated his arm, and his
uniform was smothered in blood.
When Iheir chief, Qiaffar Pasha, surrendered to the British Forces, the Bedouins lost heart and swarmed into the British camp,
throwing down their arms and begging for mercy. This photograph gives a general view of the camp on the seashore, with
a Bedouin leading a string of camels to another part of the settlement.
2439
Incidents in the Conquest of the Senussi
British soldiers and men of the Egyptian Labour Corps getting
water and cleaning fruit by a ways de elation on the journey from
Alexandria to Matruh. The natives in the background are sitting
on top of a loaded truck. Beyond the terminus the mobile column
had five days' continuous and heavy marching, halting and
bivouacking at points where there were wells. At some of these
the water supply was fount, to be plentiful, but at others there was
only just sufficient for drinking purposes. An incident of this cam-
paign was the dashing action of the armoured cars under the Duke
of Westminster, which resulted in the rescue of the men of thoTara.
2440
Empire Warriors Rest and Recuperate at Cairo
Red Cross ambulances for use in the Desert of Sinai. They are fitted with broad wheels to prevent their sinking too deep into the
sand, and have a spring flooring constructed on the principle of the wire— mattress.
A group of British West Indian soldiers in Cairo. Native Colonial troops, both
British and French, rendered magnificent service in the fighting in Europe.
Convalescent Indian soldiers from Qallipoli visiting the Pyramids. Inset above: Reggie Wood, the youngest Australian with the
forces, in Opera Square, Cairo. Only ten years old, he ran away from his home, and arrived in Egypt with the 11th Battalion.
I5K1TISH NAVAL MEN WITH ARMOURED CARS WIN HONOUR IN THE CAUCASUS.
Commander I.ockcr-Lampson, with a contingent of armoured cars, proceeded to the Caucasian front, where he and his gallant naval men
distinguished themselves fighting the Turks and Kurds in the mountain passes.
To facr fHi'tf :'4J"
2441
The pages in this section portray diverse scenes of enemy activity In striking
contrast will be found photographic records of the unwarranted Hun arrogance and
the miserable condition of the German captives. The enemy added to his unspeakable
cnmes the renewal of his policy of terrorism in Belgium and Northern France
and our illustrations include scenes of the cruel deportation of the inhabitants
NO CONTRABAND ? -Isolated examples of treachery on the part of German prisoners who, having gained clemency, attack our
men ofl guard, made British soldiers doubly wary that the vanquished foeman had no weapon or missile concealed on his person.
Prisoners were also searched for documents likely to prove of value as divulging movements of the enemy regiments.
u 6
2442
Large Guns and Small Dogs to Austria's Aid
Type of heavy gun that Falkenhayn arrayed against the Rumanians. Fix!
field-howitzer in position on the snow-covered Transylvanian
Austro-Hungarian dog-team bringing up supplies to an entrenchment on the Rumanian front. Inset : General Brialmont, who planned
the forts of Bukarest, of which there are thirty-six, four miles from the city. This engineer also built Hie forts of Liege and Namur.
2443
Germans Counter Their Own Method of Attack
nh n «r ri TJ? ?" ra"9nd to f" 'n°h r°Ut" *° the Brltlth front, and shells found their mark on munition waggons. Even
though Projectile, did not actua lly strike the team, the crash of "Jack Johnson." stampeded the horses into terrlflo confusion
Such an Incident finds illustration abov.-men, animals, and munitions having been thrown Into a Flemish canal
2444
Kaiser and Crown Prince on the Western Front
The Kaiser at a distribution of Iron Crosses to troops on the
western front.
2445
Fruits of Kultur Revealed by the Camera
A Qerman superman — - the product
ol Kultur and militarism.
It would be difficult to find faces affording less evidence of the boasted mentality of the
Teutons than those reproduced' here of Germans taken prisoners near the Somme.
The German prisoner receiving first— aid trom a French Red Cross officer was an object of interest to the French people in the farm
behind the lines to which he had been taken. Inset : Another German, wearing a steel helmet, taken prisoner during the allied advance.
2416
German 'Civilisation' Reintroduces Slavery
trrnr
terror
lsm l B l i growing realisation of failure to keep up reserves the Germans in November, 1916, renewed their policy of
ism in Belgium and France. From Roubaix, Turcoing, and Lille General von Oraevenitz has deported 25,000 French sub ects^
girls, women, and men— without distinction of class, and compelled them to work in the fields
TictTm. f m h ?r MB 5 , . f" tne8oldl»,r8 came and Podded the unhappy civilians at the doors for their officers to pick out
victims from eacnjamlly. Protestation was useless, and attempts at evasion were punished ruthlessly. People were taken off qui'e
arbitrarily, separated from their relatives, and packed ofl to unknown destinations.
2447
German Place in the Sun for Moslem Prisoners
Wounded Inmates of the Wunsdorf Camp at prayer
In the prison grounds.
British prisoners in Germany were
given a minimum of food and execrable
accommodation, Mohammedan subjects of the
Empire were treated with every kindness and
consideration. The design, which no doubt
emanated from high quarters, was obvious.
Apart from the fact that Germany was in alliance
with the Ottomans, the enemy's dream of Asiatic
possessions was by no means dispelled.
Therefore, Wunsdorf, near Berlin, was a kind
of prisoners' happy hunting-ground. Here were
congregated five hundred and sixty-nine Indian
soldiers, in well-constructed barracks. The food
consisted of an abundance of rice and wheat,
flour, potatoes, tea, sugar, and margarine, while
a sheep farm supplied the inmates with meat
which could be prepared in accordance with their
religious rites. The Kaiser himself presented the
camp with a mosque, where Divine service was
held. The photographs on this page eloquently
testify to the conditions prevailing at this sunny
prisoners' home in a dismal land. Recalling the
pitiable plight of British prisoners under lock and
key in Germany, the Moslems may be congratu-
lated on their healthy, contented appearance.
Well nourished and clean, Moslem prisoners at Wunsdorf leaving the mosque
presented to them by William II.
Genera
view of the mosque at Wunsdorf designed specially to meet the
spiritual requirements of Moslems.
Moslem prisoners in Germany received preferential treatment, good food, comfortable quarters, and consideration as to religious
scruples. Above is a camera view of the Prisoners' Volunteer Fire Brigade drawn up outside the mosque.
2148
Austrian Army Retreats from Lower Isonzo
Austrian patrol at a high altitude. Simultaneously
with General Brussiloff's staggering blows, General
Cadorna launched an offensive which brought about
the fall of Qorizia on August 9th, 1916.
The capture of Qorizia and thousands of prisoners was an Italian
triumph of the greatest magnitude. General Cadorna abode his
time, and then let loose a storm of shells which blasted the foe
out of one of his most powerful positions. Some idea of the
difficulties of an Alpine campaign may be gathered from this
photograph of the path followed by one Austrian patrol, and,
inset, of an Austrian mountain gun brought up to an advan-
tageous position over almost Insurmountable obstacles.
2449
Teutons Fighting Three Hereditary Foes
Corner off the Vosges. German soldiers on their way to the front.
Inset : Testing the wind's direction by means of a paper balloon on
the Austro-Russian front.
Flanked by an enormous rock, an advanced Austrian force is just leaving the trench to attack an Italian patrol. The shallowness of the
trench in this area is no doubt due to the rocky soil, which makes entrenching a matter of great labour.
2450
Deutschland, Deutschland Unter Alles:
The German submarine merchant craft Deutschland ready to be
launched on its maiden trip to America with a cargo of chemicals.
Inset: On left, Captain Koenig with Count Zeppel.n.
—zjSSS*
.. _2!.Si
The return of the DeuUchland to German waters, showing the German populace greeting the super U boat on its journey from
Wesermunduna to Bremen in the morning of August 25th, 1916. (Reproduced from an enemy painting.)
2451
The Crafty Submarine Liner Returns to Port
The discreet appearance of the German submarine Deutschland on its preliminary journey to America. Th» super-underwater craft
was built at Bremen for Transatlantic service.
Impression of the Deutschland submerging. The submarine is driven by two Diesel engines, is three hundred and fifteen feet long,
and has an underwater speed of twelve knots and a surface speed of eighteen knots.
The Deutschland on the surface. She carries a crew of twenty-nine, and is alleged to hold seven hundred and flfty tons of cargo.
According to Captain Koenig, the Deutschland cost £100,000 to build, and her first cargo to the States was worth £200,000
2452
King lino's Legion Lost in the Fatherland
Members of the Greek army corps at Gorlitz. Caught between the allied and
enemy lines at Kavalla, they allowed themselves to be interned in Germany
rather than break neutrality. Right: Greeks marching through Qorlitz.
XAIPETE
Leaving the railway station at Qorlitz to be the "guests" of the
Fatherland until the end of the war.
Entrance to Greek camp at Qorlitz, where a number of Tino's
soldiers were interned behind the sign which reads " Welcome ! "
Colonel Kanaka! los, of the interned troop:
walking with a German officer at Qorlitz.
Some of the Greek officer.* o-us.du the barracks at Gorlitz. The King of Greece
asked for the return of his legion (25,000 men) in vain.
This section, while containing no record of big naval engagements, is interesting
as showing various phases of aerial activity. The striking illustrations of the war
in the air are of surpassing importance, for during this period was finally exploded
the idea of unrestricted " frightfulness " by means of Zeppelins. The daring of
our airmen effected the destruction of six Zeppelins which attacked our shores.
THE ARQUS EYES OF THE FLEET. — Moat of us have admired the spectacle of searchlights over a great city ; but comparatively few
have had opportunity to see them at their finest, when a squadron of battleships are searching the sky with their powerful batteries of
lights, dappling the clouds with luminous pools and cleaving a clean cut way through darkness with blades that broaden as they rise.
2454
Under the French Ensign in the Mediterranean
On board a French destroyer off the coast of Asia Minor. Inset:
A gun on one of the Mediterranean islands held by the Allies.
On October 11th, 1916, Admiral du Fournet, in the interests of
the Allies, took charge of the Greek Fleet and Pirteus batteries.
Fr.n
Fren
^2S^^«»T«S^rt^£
2455
Ready, Aye Ready ! to the Last Hammock Cord
Hammocks and bedding laid out aboard ship for inspection.
Lashings are neatly coiled, and everything is spick and span
and correct, according to tradition.
Process of " lashing up " after the inspection of bedding. Every
detail of duty in tht Grant Fleel is carried out with a discipline
which is the keystone of efficiency.
The stokers are up aloft. Men of the " Black
Squad " cleaning the funnel of a warship.
Standing easy while provisions are being stored. The complement of a large
warship consume as much food as the population of a small town.
2456
The Allied Naval Effort from Sea to Sea
The power of the crane. Hauling an electric pinnace
aboard a French battleship at Toulon.
French warship taking in supplies of shells at a well-
known Meditarranean port.
Off to the assistance of a ship in distress. Lifeboat, supported
by a tug, on duty in the North Sea. Inset: Naval boarding-
party about to examine a suspicious craft for contraband.
Boarding-party about to leave a battleship on the high seas to inspect the papers of a neutral steamer and generally to
satisfy themselves that no contraband is leaking through.
2457
Our Star Flyer • The Hero of a Hundred Fights
••••^••m^^^^— ^^^ — _
APTAIN and FLIGHT-COMMANDER ALBERT BALL
. DSO Sherwood Foresters and the Royal Flying
Corps was 'the champion airman of Britain during igif
This young officer gained the Military Cross and he had been
awarded a bar to his D.S.O. He was regarded as the star
more drums at them, driving down another «*««"I*gJ;
He then returned, crossing the lines at a low altitude, witl
his machine very much damaged. Mavor ot
Captain Ball, who is the son of a former
Nottingham is only twenty years of age, and prior t(
had had rexperie^ce of flying. It is said that his favourite
formation, dived in among uiem, *uu •"-""; 7 "j" "several
nearest machine, which went down out of control Severa'
more hostile machines then approached, and he 1
has never oeen mjuicu. j.*- • •--- -- ,
chap, with longislv black hair and eyes like a hawk,
he goes to battle in his shirt-sleeves.
x 6
2458
Falling Like Lucifer, Flaming Through the Skies
Suddenly one end of her burst into a brilliant blaze, and she dropped like a spent but fiercely-burning rockst. Inset: Lieut. W.
Leefe Robinson, Worcester Rent, and R.F.C., awarded the V.C. for bringing the Zeppelin down at Cufflev on Sept. 3rd, 1916.
2459
The Shattered Fragments of the Fated Ship
rrr-sr. ESS:" • ~hioh
One of the engines of the monster. Left: Removing a machin
gun. The German gunner worked it until the last moment
Immediate possession was taken of the debris by the military authorities, with a view to the reconstruction of the machine sufficient
to inform our experts of novel details. A large amount of wood was used in the construction of the doomed raider.
2460
The Stricken Couriers of Teutonic Hate:
Official Photographs
Two views of the wreckage of the Zeppelin which grounded on the night of Sunday, September 24th, 1916, near the coast of Essex.
The commander's first request was to be allowed to telephone news of his safety to a friend in London.
The occupants of the cottage in front of which the Zeppelin came down.
Miraculously, they and their cottage escaped injury.
Seen from a distance the wreckage suggested the skeleton of some prehistoric beast sprawling across two fields. Inset above:
Exactly a week later, October 1st, 1916, a Zeppelin was brought down in flames near Potter's Bar while attempting to evade our
anti-aircraft defences and drop bombs on London.
2461
One Crew Captured and Two Consumed by Fire
Official Photographs
dun fire began and an aeroplane completed the destruction of the
second Zeppelin brought down on September 23rd-24th, 1916.
This picture shows the control and a Maxim.
The Zeppelin was impaled upon an oak-tree, which was stripped bare. It lay a crumpled mass of aluminium, bent out of shape, all
the fabric burned off the gaunt ribs. Inset above : One of the gondolas of the ruined airship.
This photograph shows the delicate tracery of the stern and steering-plane frame. Right : The calcined crew were buried In the
churchyard of the parish where the Zeooelin fell, the funeral being in charge of men of the Royal Flying Corps.
2402
With the Royal Flying Corps Zeppelin Strafers
Sec. -Lieut. F. Sowrey, awarded the
D.S.O. for attack on a Zeppelin.
Group of R.F.C. officers arm-in-arm, including
Lieut. Robinson and Lieut. Sowrey.
Lieut. Brandon, awarded D.S.O.
for attacking enemy air-craft.
DOTH on the west front and at home our aviators established
permanent ascendancy over the enemy. The fact that
by October ist, 1916, four Zeppelins had been brought down in
England was calculated to induce the Germans to modify their
policy of frightfulness, in spite of the ravings of Count Zeppelin.
This notorious German found it increasingly difficult to
justify his hideous invention, and one which had cost his Father-
land several millions — to no real military purpose.
It is significant that where competent German reconnaissance
was most needed, on the Somme front, it was conspicuously
unsuccessful. Certainly no Zeppelin dared appear over the
Franco-British line. That is why Paris was immune from the
couriers of hate, and, with the perfection of London defences,
the Zeppelin found it increasingly dangerous to approach the
British metropolis
Lieut. Robinson's squadron of the Royal Flying Corps on parade
at headquarters.
Mark of the Hun ! Would-be baby-killer who jumped from
Zeppelin at Potter's Bar left this mark on the turf.
Brother heroes of the R.F.C. Left to right: Lieut. Robinson, V.C.
Lieut. Tempest, and Sec. -Lieut. Sowrey, D.S.O.
2463
With the French Flying Corps Over the Front
French Official Photographs
Lieutenant Guynemer held the French record for the destruction of enemy aircraft. These photographs show him making a trip in his
machine known as " Old Charles," and (right) floating in space while on an excursion. The French military authorities stimulated
friendly rivalry among their flying men by giving publicity to their individual achievements, and Lieutenant Quynetner headed the list.
Not a Zeppelin after an encounter with hostile bombs, but a new type of observation balloon in use by the French. It is so constructed
that it can remain absolutely steady even if the wind is blowing a gale.
2404
BATTLE PICTURES OF THE GREAT WAR
The Fight of the Flaming Ship
By MAX PEMBERTON
ON the borders of Lake Constance was the ship born,
and there upon her they made the sign of the
Iron Cross.
A great occasion for the Hun, and celebrated with
Hunnish joviality. Fat men were there whose breasts
jangled orders ; lean men pressed in and out of the crowd
and piped their feeble voices. The deuce and all was played
with the sausages. Not only must the gasbag be filled,
but also the balloons of culture. Looking ahead, the
bespangled fire-eaters declared that England was finished.
The Zeppelin stood in the heaven and all was well with the
world below.
Later on the ship is in another place. It is the same
ship but different. The idea that drifted over Lake
Constance half a decade ago has become the fact which a
hangar in Flanders or the islands shall shelter. It is a
wonderful sight, and guarded by sentries most vigilant.
Puny man looks up at it from below and stands aghast at
its immensity. The child upon a wharf does not regard
the sheer sides of a monster liner with greater veneration —
yet how different are these twain ! The one will house
three thousand people. It is an hotel, and again an hotel.
Its engine-room is like a church ; its crew alone may
number a thousand souls.
Not so the Zeppelin. But twenty-eight or thirty will
manoeuvre this vastness. Here are neither bath-rooms
nor lifts, restaurants nor bridge-saloons. The cabins are
but enlarged canoes. Men go hazardously with muffled
feet upon a single plank. You could not whip a cat in the
engine-room. The captain sits apart like the driver of a
car in the Tube, his switchboard before him, his instruments
ready to his hand. But the seat of his authority is small.
The landsman peeps in his cabin with awe and shivers,
maybe, when he contemplates his responsibility.
On Murder Bent
Look at the crew — volunteers all, and paid high wages.
Years ago, when the motor-car was a new thing upon an
English high road, we saw strange ajiimals within them,
and perchance the populace jeered. " 'Twas not alone
the inky cloak, good mother." Men wrapped themselves
in many thicknesses, and coat was laid upon coat — fur
over all and leather in between. There were hooded
varieties, and they were not labelled. The intensity of the
cold put Arctic boots even upon the feet of dilettante
wanderers. Some such hybrids are the crew of the Zepp.
Fur and flannel go to their making. Their boots are felt
with a lining of fur. They have the cabbage ears and slit
eyes of the Oriental. " Sportsmen," you say — but that is
wholly too generous. They have courage, but are without
pity. Well they know the object for which the Colossus was
built. " Gott strafe England ! " is on their lips as they
climb the ladders to the cabins which enshroud them.
There will be dead women and children in London to-
morrow. God save the Kaiser !
The Dream of Dzedalus
It is the truth. And yet, Heaven knows the whole thing
would be romantic enough if these were the piping times.
Here is the dream of Daedalus, and as this dream shall fall,
so fell less terribly Icarus, the son. Fifteen hundred years
have not changed man at all. Jules Verne put him in a
balloon and sent him across Africa. The small boy of a
hundred generations had longed for that. To leave the
world behind, to make faces at your enemy from a height,
to tempt the lion with a sawdust ham and then to run
helter-skelter for your ladder and your balloon — what joy !
Zeppelin the Terrible made it all possible. Given petrol
and oil, you could cross Africa easily enough to-day, as
Jules Verne crossed it — is it not forty years ago ? But the
peace of it was never in the destroyer's mind. The hope
of slaughter and champagne went hand in hand on the
feast day ; and slaughter alone without the champagne
now sends the Zepp. from its hangar across the North Sea
to the hated shores. Meteorologists all over the place
have said that the barometric conditions are favourable ;
there will be no dreaded north-easter to-night. The moon,
as the old song has it, is behind a tree. A little wraith of
mist will smoke about the dragon, and its teeth will be
hidden awhile. But there will be no storm and so — let her
rip ! The men have fed well, and their wool is buttoned
close around them. Militarism permits of no cuddled
farewells. They climb to their seats, and the captain, with
a last look round, takes his place at the wheel. Let her go
now ! It is day, and the children who will be dead to-night
are laughing in the sun.
It is a fair journey, and if it be from the north, will
show you something of Holland, perchance, and the
fat Dutchmen below. A dull old dog he is, yet with
wit enough to fire a gun if fingers be too loudly snapped
in his jovial face. The North Sea itself is but a grey
waste beyond the coast, and the ships upon it are few.
In a more frolicsome mood this grim Hun at the wheel
would toss bombs upon them for luck and wish them
" God-speed ! " But to-day he has other work to do.
Crying for the Dark
Should he have come, not from the north but from
the great hangars by Bruges, he will cross our old friend
Zeebrugge, and look down upon the batteries which once
were golf-links as fine as any in Flanders. They will cheer
him there, and cheers are music in ears grown deaf to
curses. From a height, it may be, of 5,000 feet at this
point, he will see Ostend, white and shining in the curve
of the bay, and broken Nieuport beyond it, and La Panne
upon the coast, and the desolation of the waters by which
Belgium drove his fellows back when the hour was critical.
Perchance, too, he may spy out the dim shape of a British
warship like a fleck of black upon a cold grey carpet. But
all these are without interest to him upon this afternoon of
autumn. Now _ he is crying for the dark to come down.
The shadows gather, and sea and shore alike are blotted
from his view.
A shaded lamp shows him the face of his instrument-
board, and the buttons with which he will release the
bombs presently. He pushes on with a luminous compass
for his only guide, and anon his bearings trouble him.
If London be the goal, he should be somewhere in the
neighbourhood of Harwich by this time. He drops a
star-shell, and 10 and behold ! its blinding blue light
turns to a cold whiteness, which reveals the mouth of
a great river and ships at anchor, and below the Zepp.
the houses of a village and the curves of a bay. "It is
Felixstowe," says the Hun, and instantly correcting his
helm, he hurries on for London — and death.
A Horrible Alternative
He is at a great altitude now. Every effort of his twin
engines was needed to lift the weight of bombs as he drew
near the white cliffs ; and he seeks the shelter of any cloud
as though a friendly hand were outstretched to him. The
country immediately beyond the cliffs has little interest
for him. Here and there a faint shimmer of light will
speak of town or village. A deeper glow tells of a railway
or shipping in the river. London itself cannot be perceived
until the rim of-it is crossed. But the clock and the speedo-
meter will tell the fellow where he is, and the river will
guide him infallibly. For all that, this is no gay pilgrimage.
These marauders go with no laugh upon their lips. The
dullest imagination can but speculate upoA the " might
be." Down and yet down through the darkness, flung
like a stone from the sky, brought up at last with a dreadful
crash beyond which is night and blackness — that is the
mildest penalty of disaster. There is an alternative so
horrible that men must clench their hands when they
think of it. If this great balloon above them were fired !
[Continued on paat 2465
- - :
AIR SICKNESS. AN EVERYDAY INCIDENT WITH THE SPLENDID MEN OF THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS IN FRANCE.
Owing to the rapid changes in elevation experienced in air by pilot and observer, reaction sets in when they land, and the flying-men require
assistance in getting to their rest quarters.
2465
THE FIGHT OF THE FLAMING SHH* j**fl53
The terror of it is beyond comprehension. They put it
from their thoughts, and lick their lips because the prey
is at hand. Surely this England whom they would strafe
is asleep. But is she ?
In a great garage " somewhere in the silver isle " there
has been a note of alarm to-night. Peep into the place
and you will see strange doings. Yonder are the sheds,
but they are lighted and their doors are open. Before
them upon the grass are the hornets whom the winter
night will set buzzing. Their wings are already spread
and they have eaten. Oddly clad men move about them
and test their pennons with tender fingers. There is
work to be done, and it requires courage like to none
that war has yet called for. The good fellows look above
to the blackness of the clouded sky, and tell themselves that
the enemy is there. Anon the word to go is given. One
by one the engines are started with a roar and a rattle.
The hornets spread their wings and skim'away and disappear
in the darkness. They circle and rise. They are cut off
from all things living. The lights of the great city become
but a glow beneath them. They, too are thinking of women
and children. God, what work to do !
Excitement of the Adventure
And so back to the Zepp. The Hun has not liked it over-
much since he left that fair town of Harwich, and, in truth,
his heart has been more than once in his mouth. Objection-
able people, swinging the shoulder-pieces of guns deftly,
have used the goniometric range-finder, of which he thinks
so much, and have peppered him with shrapnel most
" demnibly." Profiting by his own instruction books,
they have described the sky parallelogram and filled it
cheerfully with messages of goodwill. Bullets sing about
the monster and the air cracks with detonations. More
than once the chief Hun thought that he was hit, and put
feverish questions to the crew. But this, after all, is the
HEROES OF OUR NAVAL AIR SERVICE.
F'iaht-Lieut. E. Cadbury, D.8.O. (left), and Flight-Sub-Lieut.
EL Pulling, D.S.O., R.N.A.S., who, with Flight-Lieut. Q. W. R.
Fane D S.C., R.N.A.S., were awarded their honours for dis-
tinguished services on the occasion of the d»8truct.on of a
Zeppelin off the Norfolk coast on November 28th, 1S
peril with which habit has made him familiar, and he is
willing to take his chances. At the worst he can bring
the great ship down and take a rest cure at Donington.
It is of that greater danger he will not think until he must.
London is now ahead of him, and he circles about it for the
objective which he will call military. Shrapnel still follows
him, but the excitement of the adventure prevails above
the dread of it. He touches a trigger and a bomb falls
upon the awakened city. Plainly to the raiders' ears
comes the boom of that resounding explosion. Perchance
those who were alive ten seconds ago are dead this instant.
The crew chortles in its joy — another and another ! Doing
well to-night, and undiscovered by those cursed search-
lights. A vain boast. The words are hardly spoken
when the great silver beam wings up from the blackness
below, and the ship is shown as a fairy in a limelight.
No more bombing now, be sure of it. Every nerve must be
strained, every trick be tried to escape this damning pub-
licity. See how the gigantic snake is wriggling ? Here
and there, to the right, to the left, up and down — a rat
seeking a hole is not in a greater hurry. For well these
fellows know what that revelation means. Already the
omens are buzzing in their ears. " A 'plane ! " cry twenty
voices. Figures cower and huddle in the depths of the cabin.
Is this the end ?
The aviator is alone, and all the living world he has
known seems far away. Of his own peril he has no sense.
He is cut off from the earth, and in this vast blackness of
the ether he sees but one objective. The great path of
silver light links earth and sky ; but it shows him the gate
of the seventh heaven. If only he can do it ! What joy
to the millions awake and awaiting there in the city which
has sent him forth ! His gun is ready and the " jolly "-stick
is between his legs now. He can give but an occasional
hand to it, and that for the swift manoeuvre. Clearly
he sees the very faces of the Huns. There is the sharp
rattle of discharge, but no answer from the monster.
Beginning of the End
He climbs above it with tremendous acceleration of his
willing engine, and again he presses his shoulder to the piece.
If he can but do it ! His new discharge has helped him no
better than the old. He hardly realises at this time that
he is in an aeroplane at all. A mad excitement possesses
him. In all that vastness of infinity there is but one
star — and he must win it. Down he goes and round,
the answering bullets singing about him, the roar of the
enemy's gun now loud in his ears. A new manoeuvre
lias sent him winging to the rear of Colossus, and putting
in his last belt he prays to God that he may get her. Now a
sharp rattle follows the speeding of the bullet. He swerves
and comes upon a new tack — and so he sees, and who shall
find words for him ?
It all began with a little glow of rosy red light at the rear
of the tremendous envelope. The light spreads. It is as
the coming of the sun upon a lone mountain peak — at
first but a pink flush, anon a flame, and then the whole
glory of the day. So here shall be the glory of the night.
See, now the envelope has burst and with a mighty roar
the' flame has rushed about it. The doomed men in the
cars below, listening to the sounds, utter one doleful,
piercing cry when the truth is understood.
In the Furnace of Destiny
An instant later and they are themselves enveloped
in that furnace of their destiny. So awful are their cries
that the man in the aeroplane wings away for very
terror of them. Here and there one, unable to suffer
the agony, leaps from the car and crashes over headlong
to the black earth beneath. The rest have become but
shrivelled trunks, dying helplessly, it may be without
consciousness of time or place.
But the Zepp. itself is now a flaring beacon for all the
countryside. Men will tell their children in the years to
come that they saw it fifty miles from London town.
Great crowds throng the streets and point at it. There are
those who weep for very joy. But, in the mam, it is a glad
cry upon the falling. Cheer oh, and again cheer oh ! Read
by this splendid lamp the story of the salvation of woman
and child The Zepp. is down, and the man who took her
is up yonder somewhere in the flaring heavens— alone— and
it may be that, now. he also is afraid.
2468
Crashing to Earth a Meteor of Smoke and Fire
24«7
The glorious story of British heroism in battle forms one of -the most striking
sections of this volume. The native bravery of the sons of the Empire was
never more conspicuously shown than in the deeds recorded by pen and pencil
in the following thrilling pages. Portraits of British heroes of the cross
of courage are given, as well as spirited drawings by famous war artists,
illustrating the necessarily brief official records of deeds that will live for ever.
THE BEAUTIFUL SIDE OF WAR. — Actual photograph of a British soldier bringing a wounded comrade out of danger. Though
all the time under heavy fire this great hero saved as many as twenty stricken men in this way.
2468
Decorated for Valour : More of Britain's Brave Sons
Flight-Lieut. E. H. DUNNING. R.N.A.S..
awarded the D.S.C. for exceptionally
good work in observing and photo-
graphing in a seaplane.
Coy.-Sergt.-Major W. GRIFFITHS.
1st Shropshire L.I., awarded D.C.M.
and French Military Medal for saving
lives under shell fire.
Pte. T. BYTHEWAY, 2nd Ox. and
Bucks. L.I.. awarded D.C.M. for
rescuing three gassed men and de-
votion to duty.
Sergt. G. BURNETT, 1st R. High-
landers, awarded clasp to his D.C.M.
and Cross of St. George for con-
spicuous gallantry in action.
Flight-Corn. C. H. BUTLER, R.N.A.S.,
awarded D.S.C. for his splendid
observation work while flying low
over the enemy's lines.
Corpl. F. G. COUSINS, 187th Coy.
R.E., awarded D.C.M. for capturing a
German colonel, a captain, and five
privates, though quite unarmed.
L.-Corpl. C. T. BOLD, A.S.C., awarded
D.C.M. for bravery in bringing up
supplies. A wheel breaking, he
fitted on another under fire.
Flight - Lieut. G. L. THOMSON.
R.N.A.S., awarded the D.S.C. for
gallant observation service while
flying low over enemy positions.
Pipe-Major I. S. HOWARTH, 6th
Gordon Highlanders, awarded a
clasp to bis D.C.M. for great bravery
in action at Loos.
Pte. J. RILEY, 1st Worcester Regt.,
awarded the D.C.M. for saving
wounded men under heavy fire at
Neuve Chapelle.
Bomb. G. DOUGHERTY, R.G.A.,
awarded D.C.M. for twice repairing
communication lines under fierce fire
at Neuve Chapelle.
Sergt. A. CHARLEY, R.F.A., four
times mentioned in despatches, and
awarded clasp to his D.C.M. for
gallantry in action at Loos.
Sec.-Lient. P. R. FOISTER, 2nd Lei-
cester Regt., gained the D.C.M. near
Festubert in 1914, and was given a
commission for distinguished service.
Sergt. J. E. FRKETH, 1st S. Staff.
Regt., awarded D.C.M. for con-
spicuous service along the enemy's
front under fire.
Sergt.-Major J. DUGGAN. 6th S.
Staffs. Regt., awarded D.C.M. and
Russian Cross of the Order of St.
George for bravery in action.
Pte. J. JACKSON, A.S.C., awarded
D.C.M. for saving an ambulance
with wounded under heavy fire :
congratulated by Lord French.
2469
Wounded Hussar Saves Officer in Wheelbarrow
While Private Q. Ingle, 4th Hussars, was advancing with his
trooo during an attack, he was badly wounded in the head from
shell flre Seeing his troop leader, Lieut. Radclyffe, severely
wounted and unable to move, he and a non-commissioned
officer procured a wheelbarrow from a farm, and in turn they
wheeled the officer back to headquarters under very heavy fli
the whole time. On reaching there Ingle collapsed from loss ot
blood. He received the D.C.M. for his bravery.
2470
Coveted Cross for Devotion to Duty and Comrade
Lieut. T. 0. L. WILKINSON, North Lanes
Regiment, posthumously awarded the V.C. for
great courage in driving back the enemy and
attempting the rescue o! wounded comrades.
Rev. W. R. F. ADDISON, Temp. Chaplain, awarded
V.C. for carrying a wounded man to trench cover and
assisting several others. He set a fine example to his
comrades by his heroic contempt of danger.
Sec. -Lieut. E. F. BAXTER, Liverpool Regt.,
received V.C. for great devotion to duty,
particularly in storming and bombing a
German trench. He fell on the field.
Sec.-Lieut. E. KINQHORN MYLES. Welsh Regt.,
was seen to leave the trenches under heavy rifle
fire and rescue a wounded officer and men in
circumstances of great danger.
Staff Nurse ETHEL HUTCHINSON, Q.A.I.M.N.S.
(R.), who was awarded the Military Medal for
exhibiting conspicuous courage in the course
of her duty on the battlefield.
Pte. ALBERT HILL, R. Welsh Fusiliers, showed
great daring in an attack when he routed 20 Germans.
He also assisted to bring back his wounded officer
under fire and captured two prisoners.
Sergt. C. C. CASTLETON, Australian Machine-
Gun Company, gave his life for his comrades in
facing a terrific enemy fire to rescue wounded
lying in shell-holes. He went out three times.
Cpl. S. W. WARE, Seaforth Highrs., displayed unusual
gallantry. Ordered to withdraw trom a trench, he
carried one wounded man to cover, and for two hours
went to and fro until he had brought in all.
Pte. J. H. FYNK, South Wales Borderers,
awarded V.C for making several journeys into
No Man's Land to bandage and carry wounded
comrades back to the trenches.
2471
Supreme Self-Sacrifice of Stretcher-Bearers
Imagination can conceive no situation more poignant than that of a wounded' man who, carried to a Red Cross station, finds himself,
by the bursting of a shell upon it. the sole survivor of the party, the men who brought him in lying dead around him.
2172
New Members of the Great Company of Heroes
Temp. Capt. ERIC R. WOOD,
awarded a bar to his Military Cross
for rallying bis own men and or-
ganising stragglers nnder heavy fire.
Able-Seaman H. J. BOUTELL, D.S.M.
In the Battle of Jutland continued to
serve his gun throughout the action,
though wounded in both legs.
Rev. Canon C. S. WOODWARD, M.C.,
Temporary Chaplain 4th Class A.
Worked for thirty-six hours tending
wounded under very heavy fire.
Acting-Corpl. LEO CLARKE, V.C.,
Canadian Infantry. Heavily attacked
while defending a trench, he killed five
of the enemy and captured a sixth.
Capt. F. LONGUEV1LLE, D.S.O., Lieut. J. A. MANN, M.C., Scottish
M.C., Coldstream Guards. Led bis Rifles and R.F.C. Killed. With his
company to the second objective pilot, disposed of eight German
through intense barrage. aeroplanes in seven days.
Coy.-Sergt.-Maior J. BAXENDEN,
M.C., Cameronians. All his officers
being wounded, he took command of
half the battalion at Martinpuich.
Capt. E. E. WOOKEY, M.C., Glouces-
tershire Regt. Rewarded for con-
spicuous gallantry in action. Already
twice mentioned in despatches.
Sec.-Lt. J. N. RICHARDSON, M.C.,
Royal Berkshire Regt. He is son of
the Rev. 0. F. Richardson, Vicar
of St. Paul's, York.
Sec.-Lt. J. S. GRANT, M.C., Gordon
Highlanders. Formerly of Bronghty
Ferry. For reconnaissance work,
trench raids, and bringing in wounded.
Sec.-Lt. A. H. BLOWERS, M.C.,
Machine Gun Corps. Fought his Tank
with great gallantry, reaching his
final objective and assisting infantry.
Capt. A. D. SPARK, M.C., Gordon
Highlanders. All the officers of a
company being wounded, be assumed
command, and covered retirement.
Lce.-Corpl. H. W. LANE, D.C.M.,
Grenadier Guards. For paiticularly
gallant conduct in the storming oi
Lesbreuis, which won him " heaps of
congratulations " from the officers.
Sergt.-Major FROST. D.C.M.. New
Zealand Infantry. Killed at Armen-
tieres. Crossed No Man's Land nve
times, bringing in wounded comrades
each time.
Seret. 1. E. GARTON, D.C.M.,
Leicester Regt. Awarded bar to
medal for great bravery, capable com-
mand of bis platoon, and repeated
offers for dangerous work.
Pte. J. WALSH, D.C.M., West Riding
Rent. Went to the front early in
1915, was badly gassed, and after
months in base hospitals, went back
and showed distinguished courage
2473
Sixteen Britons: The Bravest of the Brave
Temp. Lt.-Col. J. V. CAMPBELL,
V.C., D.S.O., Coldstream Guards.
" For most conspicuous bravery
and able leading in an attack."
Capt. W. B. ALLEN, V.C., M.C..
M.B.. R.A.M.C. Attended wounded
under heavy fire though himself hit
four times and badly wounded.
Lieut. J. V. HOLLAND, V.C.,
Leinster Regt. Led bombing-party
through barrage, took 50 prisoners,
and broke the enemy's spirit.
Sec.-Lt. G. G. COURY, V.C., S. Lanes
Regt. " With utter contempt of
danger " brought his C.O. in under
machine-gun fire.
Sergt. W. E. BOULTER, V.C.,
Horthants Regt. " With utter con-
tempt o! danger, "severely wounded,
bombed a machine-gun team.
Sergt. D. JONES, V.C., Liverpool
Regt. Held a position for two
days and nights and inflicted losses
on counter-attacking parties.
Temp. Capt. A. C. T. WHITE,
V.C., Yorkshire Regt. Held a
redoubt lor lour days and nights,
risking his life constantly.
Capt. N. G. CHAVASSE, V.C., M.C..
M.B.. R.A.M.C. " With courage and
self-devotion beyond praise " saved
twenty lives under heavy fire.
Pte. T. A. JONES, V.C., Cheshire
Regt. Single-handed disarmed and
inarched 102 prisoners in through a
heavy barrage.
Bt.-Maj.W. LaT. CONGREVE.V.C.,
D.S.O., M.C., late Rifle Brigade.
For constant acts ol gallantry and
devotion to duty during 14 days
preceding death in action.
Lce.-Sergt. F. McNESS, V.C., Scots
Guards. Led his men through
heavy fire, and though severely
wounded brought up supplies of
bombs through a barrage
Lieut. B. G. D. JONES, M.C., Welsh
Regt. Killed. Did fine work in front-
line trenches in command of machine-
guns under very heavy fire.
Sec.-Lient. N. HURST, M.C.. Royal
Dublin Fus. Organised parties to
rush two machine-guns that held
up the advance, and took the post
and 32 prisoners.
Sergt. G. WARD, D.C.M., Royal
Sussex Regt. Lei bombing-party
through heavy fire, and by personal
skill and courage captured and held
the enemy trench.
Flight-Corn. T. H. ENGLAND,
D.S.C., R.N.A.S. For pluck, deter-
mination, and skill in a seaplane
flight into Syria through constant fire
and bombing the station of Horns.
Rev. A. S. CHAWLEY, M.C., Army
Chaplains Dept. For bravery and
devotion while acting as stretcher-
bearer under heavy fire. He went to
the front very early in the war.
Y6
2474
An Enemy in Their Midst at Dead of Night
An astonishing Instance of daring occurred in the night of
November 4th, 1916, immediately before the fighting for the
northern half of Zenith Trench, east of Le .boeufs. A young British
officer, reconnoitring a position, crawled into a German trench,
through a dead black night with spits of rain. He crept along,
passing dug— outs packed with men asleep, and came to a machine-
gun bay, with ihe gun unde<* its waterproof cove -ing and the crew
asleep near by. This was the point he cho e for leaving the trench
with the information he had gathered ; and he did so, taking tha
gun with him, and bringing It intact into the British lines.
£475
The Last Alarm of a Hapless German Sentinel
Two parties of the West Yorkshires started on a nocturne
raid ~
sprang at the throat of the sentry, who uttered a piercing shriek.
i j .. . , . — — »"W "' »«• «« mw BDKI.I y , VVMU UfcfcaiBU el UlorullIU »rll IHK.
raid on the enemy's trenches after cutting through the German The officer than crept up and endeavoured to club the German
"ilii*'! officer and sergeant came across an enemy sentry but his weapon went off, the bullet passing through the sentry's
olivious of Immediate danger. The sergeant approached, and neck and the sergeant's hand. By now the Germans were fully
aimed point-blank, but his revolver missflred. He thereupon alarmed, and the raiders retreated.
2476
Decorated for Valour : More of Britain's Bravest
L.-Corpl. HATHAWAY, South Staf-
fordshire Regt., who was awarded
the D.C.M. for courageous work in
action at Loos.
Corpl. R. MORETON, Royal Engineers
(T.F.). Awarded D.C.M. for bravery
in taking charge of a section under
heavy fire, and attending wounded.
Pte. L. E. ADAMS, Army Service
Corps. Gained D.C.M. for rescuing
wounded under heavy shell fire and
saving his ambulance car.
L.-Corpl. W. A. GOODE, Royal
Engineers. Awarded D.C.M. for his
bravery in repairing telephone wires
under fierce fire.
Sergt. J. A. BATE, King's Shropshire
L.I. Awarded D.C.M. for his gallant
conduct in action with a machine-
gun section.
Sergt. H. BARRACLOUGH, R.E.
Awarded D.C.M. for bravery in the
field. Enlisting at the beginning of
the war, he rapidly gained promotion.
Sergt. J. W. COXON, Somerset L.I.
Awarded D.C.M. for raiding an enemy
trench, shooting two Germans and
capturing a third.
Capt. E. M. MURRAY, Queen
Victoria's Own Corps of Guides
(I.A.). attached R.F.C. Awarded
Military Cross for daring flying.
Sergt. A. T. GRIFFITHS, Coldstream
Guards. Gained D.C.M. for gallantly
rescuing a wounded officer under
heavy fire.
Trumpeter J. MOYLAN, Q.M.O.
Hussars. Gained D.C.M. (twice re-
commended) and Croiz de Guerre
for stretcher work.
L.-Sergt. W. J. STARLIN, Worcester
Regt. Awarded D.C.M. for tending
wounded for a night and day, although
his battalion had been withdrawn.
Corpl. H. P. WOOD, S. Midland
Division. Awarded D.C.M. for the
cheerful, energetic and fearless way
in which he performed his duties.
Sergt.-Maj. S. POSTON, Notts and
Derby Rsgt. Awarded D.C.M. for
gallantry in the field. He also served
through the South African War.
Chief P.-O. M. S. KEOGH. H.M.S. Ark
Royal. Awarded the Albert Medal for
attempting to save the late Capt. Col-
let, D.S.O., from a blazing aeroplane.
Gunner R. COOMBES, Royal Field
Artillery (T.F.). Awarded D.C.M.
for brave telephone work at an
observation post under fire.
Corpl. T. ADAMS, Royal Engineers
(T.F.). Awarded D.C.M. for re-
pairing a trench within forty yards
of the enemy
2477
One British Soldier Routs Twenty Germans
Private A. Hill, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, won the Victoria Cross by
magnificent conduct. His battalion had deployed under heavy fire
for an attack, and when the order to charge was given he dashed
forward and bayoneted two of the enemy. Cutoff presently, and
surrounded by a score of Germans, he killed and wounded many
with bombs and routed the rest, afterwards fighting his way back
to the lines. There he heard that an officer and a scout were ly>ng
wounded outside, and he went back and brought in the officer, the
scout being carried in by two other men. In conclusion he captured
two Germans and brought them in prisoners.
:!47S
For Manly Heroism and Womanly Devotion
Nurse Norah Easeby, among
the first women to receive the
Military Medal for bravery in
the field. Nurse Easeby was
wounded In the course of her
valiant work.
General J off re, notwithstanding his arduous duties as
Generalissimo, still found time to decorate gallant officers of
the British Army who took part in the Somme Battles.
Nurse Beatrice Alice Allso p,
who was also decorated by the
King for bravery in the field.
The coveted Military Cross is
conferred on women for excep~
tional bravery.
Honour for a brave Colonial soldier. At an investiture of heroes held in the Garrison of Vincennee, Ve Thank Mong, an Annamite
volunteer, received the War Cross and Medaille Militaire. which is accompanied with a pension. (French official photograph.)
2479
Removing Ammunition from a Flaming Gun -Pit
Splendid and unique acts of heroism were performed by Captain
Charles Alexander 6. Cadell and Sergeant Coombes, of
Battery, 75th Battery. R.F.A. During a violent bombardmer
from the German guns one of "C" Battery's gun-pits became
ignited. Without considering their personal safety, the gallant
officer and sergeant entered the flaming pit ana romuv™ *.,.
ammunition already glowing red-hot and threatening to explode.
For these brilliant examples of bravery Captain Cadell was
awarded the Military Cross, while Sergeant Coombes was given
the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
2480
More British Heroes of the Cross of Courage
Capt. E. N. F. BELL, V.C., late Royal
Inniskilling Fusiliers. With bomb and
rifle stayed counter-attacks single-
handed, and " gave bis life in supreme
devotion to duty."
Capt. J. WILKIE SCOTT, M.D.,
R.A.M.C. Awarded the Military Cross
for devoted attention to wounded
under heavy fire, and organising the
defences of an advanced trench.
Driver TOM SPENCER, R.G.A., attached to a trench-mortar battery
i the summer of 1916 there was published a remarkable photograph
of this gallant soldier carrying a wounded comrade out of danger
It was officially announced that he saved twenty men this way but
his name had not then been made public.
Regt.-Sergt.-Maj. L. B 0 N N E Y.
Awarded D.C.M. for coolness and per-
severance in repulsing attacks on a
trench for four days, and for devotion
and self-sacrifice.
Sec.-Lient. A. S. BLACKBURN, V.C.,
Australian Infantry. By dogged deter-
mination he carried nearly four
hundred yards of enemy trench and
established communication.
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. D. COOPER, London
Regt. Awarded the Military Cross
for rescue of wounded under difficult
circumstances after the explosion of
an enemy bomb.
Sergt.-Maj. DELANEY, D.C.M., Royal Irish Fu^iers. Awarded a bar
to his medal tor leading his regiment into Ginchy, September 8th 1916
He had the extraordinary experience of being struck on the neck by a
German bomb which fell and exploded almost at his feet.
Capt. WILLIAM JOHNSON, M.D.,
R.A.M.C. Awarded [he Military Cross
for leading the bearer division of his
unit for seven days in heavy fighting,
and rescuing wounded under fire.
21S1
Rally to the Music of the Huntsman's Horn
The " most conspicuous bravery and able leading in an attack,"
which won the Victoria Cross for Temp. Lieut. -Colon el John
Vaughan Campbell, D.S.O., of the Coldstream Guards, were
distinguished by a particularly English touch which will make his
deed ever memorable. In a charge the first two waves of the
battalion were decimated by machine— gun and rifle fire, and the
colonel rallied his men by blowing the horn he used as Master of
the Tanat Side Harriers, Shropshire. The men responding at
once, the colonel led them against the machine-guns, capturing
them, after disposing of the foe in vigorous fight.
2482
One Englishman Takes 100 Germans Prisoner
The annals of the Victoria Cross contain no incident that Is not
thrilling In its devotion to duty, the splendour of its courage,
or the sublimity of its self-sacrifice. Among them all there are
few so utterly amazing as the achievement of the soldier which is
the subject of this illustration. Private Thomas Alfred Jones, of
the Cheshire Regiment, went out against an enemy sniper and
killed him, and then shot two more men who -were sniping him.
He next reached a German trench, and single— handed disarmed
no less than a hundred and two of the enemy, including officers,
and marched them back to our lines through a heavy barrage.
2483
Fusilier Rescues Wounded Captain Under Fire
2484
Superb Indian Soldier Saves the British Line
Naik Shahamad Khan, of the Punjabis, won the Victoria Cross by
superb courage. In chargeof a machine-gun section in an exposed
position covering a gap in our new line, he beat off three counter-
attacks and worked his gun single-handed till only two belt-fillers
were left unwounded. Hla gun being knocked out, he and his two
belt-fillers held their ground with rifles till ordered to retire.
With three men sent to assist him he brought back his gun and
ammunition and a badly wounded man. Finally he returned and
removed all remaining arms and equipment. His great gallantry
saved our line from being penetrated by the enemy.
2485
s stirring section continues from our earlier volumes the accurate and
graphic narratives of some of the famous British regiments which distinguished
themselves in the war, giving also interesting historical accounts of their
origins and past deeds. The striking illustrations of various units which
are interspersed with the chapters on famous regiments reveal the British
soldier always brave in action and optimistic as to the ultimate issue.
THE WATCH ON THE SOMME. — Cavalry patrol on the watch at twilight, a statuesque impression which is reminiscent of Physical
Energy, the colossal bronze man and horse by Q. F. Watts in Kensington Gardens, possessing the same symbolism of vitality and
valour. (British official photograph.)
2486
If— •*=. -
11 THE
NORF
o
— Jip=
LKS
1
Records of the
Regiments
in
the War.— XX.
HE campaign in
Mesopotamia, one
portion of which
ended in the surrender
of General Townshend
at Kut. began in
November, 1914, when
a force from India
landed at the village of
Fao. This little army,
about 20,000 strong, consisted largely of
bearded Indian soldiers, eager to fight
for the sahibs, but it also included three
seasoned battalions of British regulars ;
one of these was the 2nd Norfolks, from
Belgium.
The Norfolks did not take part in the
first little engagement with the Turks.
On December 7th they helped to capture
Kurna, but their first experience of heavy
fighting was near Basra in the following
April.
The battle there, which lasted for three
days, began with an attack made by the
Turks on the British entrenched camp,
and ended with a British attack on the
Turks. As soon as ever the enemy's
troops had been beaten back by our
men, our generals decided to clear them
from the neighbourhood. This, however,
was not an easy task. It was found that
the Turks were in trenches, and, further,
they had chosen the sites for these
trenches with extraordinary skill. Be-
hind them were some woods, and in front
a plain absolutely without cover, and
commanded by the Turkish guns. More-
over, it was very difficult to find out
exactly where the trenches were, they
were so cleverly hidden. The front was
three miles long, and owing to natural
obstacles there was only one way of getting
at it — by an advance across the plain.
The name of the wood was Barjisiya, and
on that account the fight is sometimes
called the Battle of Barjisiya.
A Norfolk Charge
The day, April I4th, was one of burn-
ing heat, trying even to men who had
been trained under the Indian sun. But
the advance was ordered, and it began,
the Norfolks leading one section of the
British line. For several hours our men
pressed on, rushing forward for a hundred
yards or so, and then lying down for
a time, while at great risk picked men
went back to bring forward water and
ammunition to their comrades. All the
time (to quote an observer) our shells
dropped neatly in front of them, clearing
the way.
At length, in the afternoon, the men
were near to the Turkish trenches, and
all was ready tor the final rush. The
bayonets were tested, and then it came.
The Nortolks dashed into the Turkish
trenches. But, whatever his faults, the
Turk is a sturdy fighter, and he took a
good deal of clearing out. But cleared out
he was. and the victory was ours — a real
success.
GeneraJ Melliss, himself a V.C. hero,
has described the battle, which added a
fresh honour to the long record ot the
Nortolks : " Splendid dash, combined
with resolute courage, alone carried
our men across that bullet-swept glacis.
" In carrying out these interesting ami
almost unique operations of way, the chief
meed of praise is only justly due to that
noble corps, the <)th Fool."
— C. R. Low, "Life of Sir G. Pollock."
It was a sheer, dogged soldiers' fight.
and no words of mine can adequately
express my admiration of the conduct
of those gallant regiments who won
through."
After another pause, the advance up
the Tigris was renewed, and the Norfolks
were again in the forefront, for they
helped to capture Kut-el-Amara in
September, 1915. In this campaign the
shells and bullets of the enemy were not
their only foe, for there was a'so the
terrific heat, and at times the super-
abundance of floods. On one occasion
we are told that the Norfolks disembarked
from some boats and were at once up to
the \vaist in mud and water. All night
they lay in the wet mud, and when in the
morning they advanced against the Turks
and their Arab allies their rifles were all
choked with mud, so that firing was very
difficult indeed. Nevertheless, as before,
they won through.
In the West
The ist Norfolks, the sister battalion,
were all this time in France and Flanders,
where they were in Sir Charles Fergusson's
harassed gth Division. Their difficulties
began in the retreat from Mons, where
they were protecting the lelt of the
British line. Near Dour they fought a
little battle on August 24th, a day of
tremendous heat, when, so one officer
calculated, 6,000 shells fell in two hours
within a quarter of a mile of the
battalion's headquarters, and two days
later they fought at Le Cateau. Soon
they turned on their pursuers, forced
their way across the Aisne and, like the
rest of Smith-Dorrien's corps, marched
away to Flanders.
On October 22nd the battalion was
fighting its way, almost inch by inch,
towards Lille ; but when they got as tar
as Violaines they were forced back, and
on the 26th they were in action at
Festubert, where Sergeant E. S. Grice
and Private E. Burton won the D.C.M.
During the winter they enjoyed a certain
amount of rest, and they only heard Irom
alar the sounds that marked the attack on
Neuve Chapelle in March.
Every Man Needed
But in April our generals needed all
their reserves, and the Norfolks were
again in the line of battle. With the rest
of the 5th Division they held a position
near Hill 60, and they were there when,
on April 22nd, the Canadians faced the
waves of German gas. There they
remained through those weeks of dreadlul
carnage, and when the battle died away,
this splendid battalion of regulars was,
like so many others, but a shadow of its
former self. Henceforward the brunt
of the struggle against the new barbarian
must fall upon the Territorials and the
men ot the New Armies. The regulars
had done their part. Let those who
may be inclined to doubt turn to the
casualty lists.
The Norfolk Regiment was first raised
in 1685, when Monmouth was about to
invade England, and was known as the
9th of the Line. Its first experience of
war was in Ireland, when it fought at
Londonderry, the Boyne, and elsewhere.
It won honour and glory at the Battle of
Almanza in 1707, and later in the century
was in America and the West Indies.
In 1792 the regiment was associated
definitely with Norfolk, and was called
for the next hundred years the East
Norfolk Regiment.
Hard fighting in the Peninsular War
was their next exploit, and one of their
battles there was Corunna. After that
fight the Norfolks were given the sad but
honourable task of placing Moore's body
in the grave, burying him " darkly at
dead of night," and they were the last
troops to leave the shore. A black line
in the regimental lace commemorates
his service to-day. At Busaco, in 1810,
the regiment finished the day by charging
downhill with the bayonet ; and at
Salamanca, two years later, they showed
perhaps greater heroism by just standing
still under fire. They were present at
three other fierce battles — Barrosa,
Fuentes d'Onor, and Vittoria — and when
it came to the crossing of the River
Bidassoa their gallantry was equally
conspicuous.
Thirty years later the Norfolks were in
Afghanistan, forcing their way through
the Khyber Pass to Kabul. Under
Gough they encountered the warlike
Sikhs, and then returning to Europe they
shared in the Siege of Sebastopol. They
were a second time in Afghanistan in
1879, and finished the century with
service in South Africa, where they had a
considerable share in the victory at
Paardeberg, and a good deal of desultory
fighting as they marched to Bloemfontein
and then to Pretoria.
Those Ardent Souls
This is a fine record, but the crowning
glory is still to come. Among the troops
sent to Gallipoli were the gth Norfolks, a
Territorial battalion, consisting partly of
men in the employ of H.M. the King at
Sandringham. They were ordered for-
ward to support the attack at Suvla in
August, 1915, and on the I2th, after our
first attempt had failed, their division
tried to capture the Anafarta ridge. The
Norlolks were on the right of the line, and
they pressed forward eagerly, while the
fighting grew hotter and the country more
wooded and broken. Some were wounded,
others were exhausted through thirst and
tell out of the ranks ; but the colonel,
Sir Horace Beauchamp, Bart., with
sixteen officers and two hundred and filty
men, still kept pushing on, driving the
enemy before them. And then, said
Sir Ian Hamilton of these " ardent souls,"
as he called them : " Nothing more was
ever seen or heard of any ol them. They
charged into the forest and were lost to
sight or sound. Not one ot them ever
came back." A noble epitaph tor Norfolk
men.
2487
Dancing a Highland Fling in Face of the Enemy
A stirring account of the prowess and pluck of the Manchester
" Pals " in the advance of July 1st, 1916, is related by a young
officer who led a battalion into action. Disappointed that they
had not been In any of the raiding parties preceding the advance,
the men from Manchester were determined to make up for it
when the hour for going forward struck. One sergeant-major
was so overjoyed that he actually danced a Highland fling on tin-
parapet off the trench, in full view of the enemy.
2488
THE ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS
Records of the Regiments in the War.— XXI.
T
""HE River Clyde,
making her way
in the early
morning towards the
shores of the Gallipoli
Peninsula, was surely
one of the strangest
ships in which British
soldiers ever sailed, for in her sides great
holes had been cut, and in her bows was a
battery of machinr-guns, protected, just as
if 1h?y were on the Western Front, by
sandbags. The River Clyde was carry ing be-
tween her decks about two thousand men,
some oi whom belonged to the famous
Dublin Fusiliers. Just in front of her
were some more Dublins, crowded together
in little boats which were being rapidly
towed by steam pinnaces to the shore.
The Landing in Gallipoli
It was the day of the great and memor-
able landing in Gallipoli — April 25th,
1915. These men had been ordered to
seize the beach marked V on our maps,
a sandy strip some ten yards wide and
three hundred and fifty yards long, backed
along almost the whole of its extent by
a low sandy escarpment about four feet
high. The plan was for the men in the
little boats to land first, and then for
the River Clyde to be run ashore. The
holes in her sides were made to allow
the soldiers to pour quickly out on to
the lighters, which would be swung round
to make a gangway to the land.
At first everything went well. The
wily Turk, cunningly concealed in trenches
on the cliffs, made no move as the boats
moved over the water to the shore, but
as soon as ever the first one graced upon
the beach the place was alive with shot
and shell. The Dublins were shot down
in scores as they stood or lay in the boats
or dashed through the shallow water
to the land, and only a fortunate few
managed to get across the beach to the
low cliff under which they were in com-
parative safety.
Doughty-Wylie's Deed
After great difficulties and heavy losses
some of the men from the River Clyde
also got ashore and joined the surviving
Dublins on the beach. Most of their
officers had gone, but Lieut.-Col. Doughty-
Wylie, a Staff officer, was there, and he
took command. He arranged an attack
on the hill above the beach where the
Turks were, and led this until he was
killed. However, the object was attained
and the Turkish position was soon occu-
pied by our troops, Private Cullen, of the
Dublins, being the first man to enter it.
But for this success our men, and
especially the Dublins, paid a terrible
price. Their colonel, R. A. Routh, three
majors, and six other officers were returned
as dead, while nine more were reported
wounded. A little later the names of
the men killed and wounded reached
England, and in one day's list alone there
were no less than one hundred and fifty-
seven dead, one of the heaviest regimental
totals reported even in this awful war.
All the senior officers had been killed
or wounded, so Lieutenant H. D. O'Hara
took over the command, and when the
" For their heroism the Dublin Fusiliers
were put in the van of the procession, and
it is told how, as the soldiers who lined
the streets saw the five officers and small
clump of men, the remains of what had
been a strong battalion, realising for the
first time, perhaps, what their relief had
cost, many sobbed like children."
— SIR A. COXAS DOYLE, "The Great Boer War."
Turks broke through he succeeded, with
the few men who were left.^in driving
them back and restoring the line. On
March 3rd, 1900, the 2nd Battalion of this
regiment had entered Ladysmith only
five officers and a handful of men in
number ; but the ist Battalion must have
been quite as weak when, on April 26th,
1915, the survivors of the landing stood
victorious on the hill above Beach V.
The ist Battalion of the Dublin Fusiliers
went from Madras to Gallipoli, where it
was part of the redoubtable 2gth Division.
After the severe ordeal of the landing
the men were given a rest, but it was
only a short one, and they were soon
taking part in the attack on Krithia and
fighting the Turk at close quarters. From
time to time during the terrible months
of heat and disease that followed the
landing, one heard a little of the Dublins
and their deeds. On June i6th, for
instance, they won back some trenches
taken by the Turks, and a fortnight later
one of their corporals, F. McNamara, led
sixteen men in a wild charge against a
horde of the enemy and rescued a machine-
gun which we had lost.
On the Western Front'
On the Western Front all this time was
the 2nd Battalion of this regiment, the
successors of the heroes who did so much
to relieve Ladysmith. They joined Sir
John French's force during the retreat
from Mons, and as part of the 4th Division
they fought in the Battle of the Marne.
They were at the Aisne, too, when they
crossed the river near Missy, and held
grimly on to their gains in spite of a
tremendous concentration of guns.
The Dublins were in the First Battle
of Ypres, their station being near Armen-
tieres, and there they beat back one by
one the assaulting waves of German
infantry. In the Second Battle of Ypres
they were sent up from reserve to support
the Canadians, and there they came for
the first time under poison gas. One of
their officers has described his experiences
at this time. The attack made by the
Dublins near St. Julien was quite suc-
cessful, a lot of ground being won back
from the enemy. Then came the gas-
shells — dozen alter dozen of them, and
the fumes of these he describes as the
" very devil." The shelling continued,
and a day or two later General Bulfin
decided to shorten his line, and a retire-
ment was ordered, but it was only a
slight one, and the Dublins drew back
but a few yards. Their position was
still in the neighbourhood of that place
of death known to our men as Shelltrap
Farm, and there they remained until the
end of the battle. It is well worthy of
mention that on April 25th — the identical
day on which his comrades of the ist
Battalion were landing in Gallipoli —
Sergeant W. Cooke, of the 2nd, "killed
about ten Germans and then went out
and took prisoner their leader, an officer."
Truly an Homeric deed, fit to rank with
those performed on Beach V.
Guillemont and Ginchy
But a brief outline of the war-story
of these two grand battalions leaves much
untold, including the deeds of those
Dublin Fusiliers who were in Lord Kit-
chener's New Army. In the force sent
out to land at Suvla Bay in August
was the 6th Dublin Fusiliers, and it was
part of the division led by that dashing
Irish soldier, Sir Bryan Mahon. On
August icth the men landed, and, under
a storm, of shrapnel, advanced in perfect
order towards the enemy. There came a
pause, a fatal hesitation on the part of
the generals, a failure to provide the
drinking water so necessary in that torrid
climate, and the chance of victory was
lost. Who was to blame for this fiasco
we know not. We do know that no share
of it belongs to the Dublin Fusiliers and
their comrades of the loth (Irish) Division.
• From Suvla the loth Division was taken
away in the autumn, and the men were
next heard of at Salonika. They were
sent forward into the wild, mountainous
land of Greece in order to help, if possible,
the harassed Serbians, and there, near
Lake Doiran, they were the first British
troops to fight the Bulgars.
Next came the " Great Push " on the
Somme, for the lull stoiy o\ which we shall
have to wait awhile. Meantime it is
inspiring to know that there also the
Dublins did their share, for Sir Douglas
Haig mentioned the gallantry of the Irish
regiments in taking Guillemont on Sep-
tember 3rd, and again praised them for
their share in seizing Ginchy.
First Honours in India
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers won their
first glories in India, where they were
raised, and their connection with that
country is a long and honourable one.
The two battalions bore at first the names
of the Madras and the Bombay Fusiliers
respectively, and as such were part oi
the standing army maintained by the East
India Company. The Madras Fusiliers
helped Clive to seize Arcot in 1751, and
both they and the Bombay Fusiliers
fought at Plassey.
The same Madras Fusiliers fought
against the Mahrattas and the Sikhs, and
then came the Indian Mutiny with its
linked story of horror and heroism.
Soon alter the Mutiny the East India
Company was dissolved, and the two
battalions were taken into the service
of the Queen-Empress. Their part in
the South African War can be lorgotten
by none ; how they tought at Colenso,
and then made their way inch by inch
across the hills to Ladysmith. The
regiment which has done this, and which
has, moreover, won its way on to Beach V,
can hardly hope to win any greater
honour, but doubtless the Dublius will try.
Good luck to them !
2489
Royal Welsh Fusiliers' Gallantry at Givenchy
2490
THE SCOTS GUARDS
Records of the Regiments in the War.— XXII.
V
rERY early in
the morning of
Sunday, May
i6th, 1915, long be-
fore the church bells
in peaceful England .
had begun to peal,
the 2nd Battalion of
the Scots Guards were
awake, dressed and
ready for battle, waiting only for the
signal to advance. Soon it came, and
officers and men dashed forward. The
British plan was to attack the German
position near Festubert, this being what
is now called by everyone a salient, and
the part allotted to the 2oth Brigade,
in which the Scots were, was to advance
southward from Rue du Bois, where their
trenches then were. The attack was a
complete success, and Sir John French
was able to telegraph home that the
enemy's line had been broken " over the
greater part of a two-mile front."
Where the zoth and 22nd Brigades
attacked our success was especially
marked. Near La Quinque Rue over
half a mile of German trenches was
quickly taken and then, pushing rapidly
on, the men seized another six hundred
yards farther to the south, doing this by
bombing the enemy out of them. Finally,
they crossed the road running between
Festubert and La Quinque Rue, and
advanced for a mile into the German lines.
A Ring of Dead
It was during the third stage of this
attack that the 2nd Scots Guards gained
great glory. Past the first line, past the
second line, they dashed furiously on, and
still advancing the men of one of their
companies found themselves right in
front of all their comrades. Soon they
were cut off from all the others, and
surrounded by Germans they must choose
between surrender and death. When the
attack closed and the roll was called, all
that was known of them was that they
were missing ; the full story came a day or
two later.
On the 1 8th, the following Tuesday,
our men made a fresh advance and
managed to seize the cross-roads at La
Quinque Rue and some other ground
thereby. There and then they saw, silent
and stifl upon the earth, the bodies of
the missing Scots, and around them a ring
of dead Germans. Clearly the Scots had
refused to surrender, and bayonet in hand
had fought on, fought till they fell and
died. Everyone who read the story of
their heroism must have been reminded
of those eariier Scots who fought and died
at Flodden lour hundred years ago.
The Scots Guards sent two battalions to
fight early in the Great War. The ist went
to France at the beginning and fought at
Mons and in the Retreat, afterwards
sharing in the Battles of the Marne and
the Aisne. Transferred to Flanders, they
were at Ypres. where day alter day
they formed part of the thin line which
kept the Germans from Calais. When, on
November nth, their General, Charles
Fitzclarence, V.C., was killed and the
battle came to an end. the lour battalions
under him. one of which was the ist
" By this, though deep the evening fell,
Still rose the battle's deadly swell ;
For still the Scots, around their king.
Unbroken, /ought in desperate ring."
— SIR WALTER SCOTT, "Marmion."
Scots, only numbered eight officers and
five hundred men altogether.
On New Year's Day, 1915, the ist
Scots were in trenches in the brickfields
at Cuinchy, and the wet clay was anything
but pleasant as a home. However, it
failed to depress their spirits, and when
the Germans came on they found the
Guards as ready as ever to meet them.
At a critical moment the Hon. R. Coke led
forward one company just in time to save
the day, while Sergeant A. McPherson
took command of another when all its
officers had been put out of action.
A Scottish Charge
The 2nd Battalion began as part of the
7th Division which, from Zeebrugge and
Ostend, marched across Belgium and then
took such a glorious part in the First Battle
of Ypies. In the earlier days of that
grim struggle they were in some trenches
near Kruseik, and there on October 24th
they had a terrible time. The Germans
broke through the British line, and from
reserve the Scots were ordered to drive
them back. Dashing up. they made it
impossible for the enemy to retreat, and,
owing to the coolness and resource of
Captain C. V. Fox, two hundred Germans,
including five officers, were forced to
surrender. But this was not the end.
Next morning the Germans came on
again in great force and drove back the
Scots a little way. For some hours the
battle swayed to and fro, and when
the cavalry came up to help, the Scots
Guards had almost all been killed or
wounded, and the splendid battalion
reduced to less than a hundred men.
A V.C. Won
The battalion was next heard of in
December when, having been reinforced
from home, it was at Rouges Banes. There,
under Sergeant A. James, some 2nd Scots
captured a German trench, and there
also one of their privates, James
MacKenzie, won the Victoria Cross for his
gallant efforts to save wounded men.
Unfortunately, like so many of these
heroes, he was killed while earning it.
At Neuve Chapelle the Scots fought
desperately around Pietre Mill, but they
had little to do in the Second Battle of
Ypres. Then came their heroic deeds at
Festubert.
During the summer the Scots and the
rest of the Guards enjoyed a certain
amount of rest, well-earned rest it was, too,
but they took their turn at trench work
from time to time. In July, for instance,
the ist Scots were in trenches near
Cambrin, and about this time one of their
officers, Sec.-Lieutenant G. A. Boyd-Roch-
fort, won another V.C. for the regiment.
A mortar-bomb came flying over the
parapet and landed near him. Without
a moment's hesitation he picked it up
and hurled it back again, shouting to his
men to get out of the way of the explosion.
Before the autumn offensive the
Guards had been strengthened and re-
organised. A new division, roughly 16,000
'men, was made up entirely of them,
and in the 2nd Brigade of this were the
ist Scots, the 2nd Scots being in the 3rd
Brigade. The first part of the Battle of
Loos had passed off quite successfully,
but then came a check, and Sir John
French sent up the Guards from reserve
to restore the situation.
The ist Scots were told off to attack a
colliery called Pit 4, and while pressing up
a slight slope their colonel was wounded
and several other officers killed. However,
they won the ground, and under Captain
Cuthbert cleared the Germans out of the
houses around it, but before night — this
was on September 2yth — they had to fall
back a little way, so they threw up some
trenches and made their homes therein.
The Fight for " Big Willie"
The 2nd Scots with the other battalions
of the 3rd Brigade were sent through
Loos against Hill 70. They reached the
town, swept easily through it, and then
made for the hill. They got right on to
it, but the top was too much exposed, so,
like their comrades in the 2nd Brigade,
they fell back a few yards and dug trenches
on the slopes. A fortnight or more later
the ist Scots were sent to the Hohenzollern
Redoubt, and there they were in some
severe fighting for the possession of the
trench called " Big Willie."
For a long time after Loos little was
heard of the Guards, and they took no
part whatever in the opening stages of
the " big push " on the Somme. On
September 15th, however, our men and
the French were still pushing, and there
was a very stiff bit of work to be done
near Thiepval. This gave the Guards
their chance, and they and the " tanks "
entered the field on the same day. They
did what they were asked to do, but at a
great price, of which the papers on
Friday, October I3th, gave some idea, for
on that day a memorial service was held
in Lo'ndon for the fallen Scots, when four
captains, ten subalterns, and many of the
rank and file were commemorated.
The Scots Guards, long known as the
3rd Foot Guards, date from 1662, although
a regiment called the Scots Guards was in
existence before that date. They first
fought abroad under William of Orange,
afterwards serving in Spain, under
General Stanhope. At Fontenoy their
gallantry was most noticeable, and in
Egypt in 1801 they lost very heavily in
officers and men. At Talavera the
regiment was almost destroyed, but it
fought on under Wellington, who had
great faith in the Guards. At Waterloo
two hundred and forty of the Scots fell
upon the field, and at the Alma and at
Inkerman their losses were nearly as
heavy. At that time (1854) they were
called the Scots Fusilier Guards, but in
1877 they received their present name.
As Scots Guards they fought in Egypt
and in South Africa, and as Scots Guards
their gallantry is known and admired
far and wide.
2491
Anzacs and Scots Guards in the Land of Gaul
A bomb-prool shelter in the trenches. (Official photograph. Summer days with the Australians in France Scene in
Crown copyright reserved.) foremost trench. (Official photograph.)
Battalion of Scots Guards on the march through a French village.
On to duty to martial strains. Scots Guards band playing A picture for a war artist. Scottish pipers and drummers
their regiment through a French town. at a rail-head on the western front
2492
THE MANCHESTERS
Records of the Regiments in the War.— XXIII.
AD ISTIN-
GUISHED
Oxford
scholar, who was
recently killed in
Flanders, sug-
gested in one of
his letters home
that after the
war the " front,"
that tunnelled
and blood-stained strip winding from the
North Sea to Switzerland, should be con-
secrated and set aside as a Holy Way.
Along it are the bodies of thousands of
brave men, and the places where they lie
must always be sacred ground.
At Givenchy
If this idea of a " Via Sacra " ever
comes to anything, the road will run
through Givenchy, a village between Ypres
and Lens, where there was some very
desperate fighting in October, 1914. At
that time the Indian Army Corps, after
a rest at Marseilles, had just reached the
seat of war. Like the rest of our army,
"it was divided into brigades, and each
brigade was composed of three battalions
of native and one of British troops.
Among these battalions was the ist
Manchesters, under Colonel Strickland.
The Manchesters arrived on the scene
near Givenchy at a critical moment.
5ome of their" Indian comrades had just
been driven back, and they were sent
forward to turn the scale. In spite of
heavy losses they advanced steadily,
company by company and platoon by
platoon, and by nightfall they had re-
gained the lost trenches which were in
and about Givenchy. Then, as so often
happens, came a check, due to the strange
conditions and the lack of adequate
reserves. The Germans had the range of
the trenches, and by the light of some
burning haystacks they were able to see
the Manchesters crossing the open ground
to help one of their companies which was
in difficulties. The snipers took their
deadly toll of the moving men, and the
result was that the movement failed, and
the various companies of the battalion
were cut off from each other.
Nearly Surrounded
On the next day, October 25th, the
Manchesters were in the trenches they
had regained, but they could get no
farther forward. Their position was bad,
and of this the Germans took full advan-
tage. They came on in front, worked
round the left flank, and after some
terrible hours forced our men to retire.
But these Huns did not have it all their
own way. The retirement was orderly,
and the company which covered it suc-
ceeded at one time in driving back the
enemy. Then Colonel Strickland rallied
the whole battalion, and after the
Germans had made another savage attack
brought it into comparative safety.
These Manchesters had been fighting
continuously for thirty hours, and in tlie
engagement they lost some three hundred
officers and men, or over a third of their
numbers. But everyone agreed that they
had done a valuable piece of work. The
" The fort was before us. With such
arms as the troops had in their hands they
had to assault ; and silently and swiftly,
in the face of the artillery playing upon
them, the troops ascended the hill. The men
had orders on no account to fire. Taking
the colours of the t>yd and bearing them
aloft, Sir Henry mounted with the stormers."
— THACKERAY, " The Virginians."
general commanding the Lahore Division,
H. B. B. Watkis, said that Givenchy was
the most important point in his line, and
Sir James Willcocks added that " by your
gallant conduct in holding on to it you
rendered greater service than you pro-
bably realised."
Not far from Givenchy a little later
was the 2nd Battalion of this distinguished
regiment. Under Lieut.-Col. H. L. James
it had crossed from Ireland to Havre at
the beginning of the war, and as part of
the sth Division it had suffered very
heavily indeed in the retreat from Mons.
First of all the men were stationed along
the canal, and after the fighting on the
Sunday they retreated as ordered to
Dour. There on the Monday they fought
a rearguard action, and then they got
back to Bavai and Le Cateau.
Saving the Day Again
In the stand at Le Cateau the Man-
chesters had a great share. If the whole
army was to avoid disaster, the Germans
must be kept back, for a few hours
anyhow, and . so Colonel James was
ordered to turn and fight them as soon
as ever they got close enough. Choosing
a position, he prepared to obey, and then
came a terrible time. As we know now
only too well, alas ! the Germans had the
big guns and the abundant shells and we
had not. These were used with great
effect against the Manchesters, but,
although half the battalion was soon out
of action, the survivors held on to their
task. At length it was done. The main
body, had had time to get away, and the
rearguard could withdraw. The battalion
reached a camp where they could have
food and a brief rest, and the worst of
the retreat was over. With the rest of
the division these Manchesters fell back
to the Marne, and when the British troops
turned round they made their way as an
advanced guard across that river, this
time in the right direction.
Leach and Hogan
The last ten days of October were a
testing time for these Manchester men.
On the 22nd they were hurried up from
reserve to prevent a German advance,
and Viscount French has placed it on
record that they carried out their task.
But the 29th was their great day. A
German rush carried the first trench, but
from the support trenches they were
repulsed, and then Sec. -Lieut. James
Leach and Sergeant Hogan went forward
alone, killed eight Germans, and seized a
trench with sixteen prisoners. These two
heroes received the Victoria Cross.
Space will not allow us to follow these
two battalions through the campaign.
but one or two of their deeds can be
indicated. The ist took part in the attack
on Neuve Chapelle in March, 1915, and
shared in the Second Battle of Ypres in
the following April. They came up to
St. 'Julien to take the place of the gassed
Canadians, and on the 26th they made
an attack on the Germans there. They
were sent forward in the daylight against
an enemy well supplied with guns and
ammunition. Officer after officer fell, and
the " London Gazette " contains the
account of how, led by some gallant fellow.
the men struggled on until there were few
of them left. Their colonel, H. W. E.
Kitchens, was killed.
No Eight Hours' Day
Another story quite as inspiring can be
told of the Territorials from Manchester.
As a brigade, four battalions of this force
went out to the Dardanelles at the
beginning of the campaign there. They
were in the fighting for Krithia in June,
and about that time they lost their
general, Noel Lee. In August they were
again attacking in the same neighbour-
hood, and on the Sth an officer of the
gth Battalion, W. T. Forshaw, performed
one of the outstanding deeds of the war,
for which he was deservedly awarded the
Victoria Cross. Nothing short of the exact
words of the award can describe this feat.
" He held his own, not only directing his
men and encouraging them by exposing
himself with the utmost disregard of
danger, but personally throwing bombs
continuously for forty-one hours." Relief
came, but he continued in command of
his detachment. " Three times during
the night of August Sth-gth he was again
heavily attacked, and once the Turks got
over the barricade ; but after shooting
three with his revolver, he led his men
forward and recaptured it." Forshaw was
assisted among others by Corporal S.
Bayley, who also remained at his arduous
task for forty-one hours — little short of
two whole days. Forshaw and Bayley
belonged to a regiment with a long and
grand history.
Bunker's Hill and Inkerman
First the 2nd Battalion of the Sth Foot,
now the Liverpool Regiment, it became
the 63rd in 1758, and with the g6th Foot
was formed into the Manchester Regiment
in 1881. Its early reputation was won
in America in the unfortunate War
of Independence. The &3rd were at
Bunker's Hill and Brandywine, and
in " The Virginians " Thackeray has
described how Sir Henry Clinton led them
against Fort Clinton in 1776. They
remained in America until the end of
the war, and then saw a good deal of
active service in the West Indies, Flanders,
and Holland.
After the long peace the 63rd showed
its fighting spirit at Inkerman, when its
losses were very heavy indeed, and in
Afghanistan. Its ist Battalion was in
Ladysmith, where two of its privates,
Pitts and Scott, won the Victoria Cross
for defending Caesar's Camp, and its 2nd
Battalion also did very good work in the
South African War. Manchester was
proud of them then, but she is prouder of
them now.
2493
Grenadier Guards Take a Turn with the Pick
Official Photographs
A road-mending party from the British troop* along the Somme repairing an important road on the lines of communication. The army
behind the army won grateful recognition of its splendid service which, while never spectacular, was essential to victory.
Grenadier Guards helping to keep the roads in order. This happy photograph shows that the Guards applied their superb physique to
the use of pick and shovel with as cheerful energy as they applied it to the use of rifle and bayonet.
24U4
THE FIFTEENTH HUSSARS
Records of the Regiments in the War.— XXIV.
THERE are lew
British folk who
did not read
with quite unusual
delight Sir Douglas
Haig's message of
July i jth, 1916. In it
he stated that a
squadron of Dragoon
Guards had been after
the enemy, " the first
opportunity for mounted action which has
been afforded to our cavalry since 1914."
From this it is quite evident that our
Hussars and our cavalry generally have
not, during the Great War, had anything
like the opportunities which their ancestors
enjoyed in the Peninsula a century ago.
Then, as we know, in the intervals between
spirited little encounters with the French
— such as the one at Sahagun in December,
1808 — they exercised their horses by
chasing the fox behind the lines of Torres
Vedras.
Nevertheless, like brave men every-
where, our cavalrymen made opportunities,
and when made they have used them
well. They, almost as much as the
infantry, have had their fill of hard
fighting, and the story of their deeds is
well worth telling. Certainly, he who
tries to tell it will not be cut short by any
want of material.
All are familiar with the notices of
deeds of gallantry which from time to
time appear in the " London Gazette."
Therein are the names and actions of those
officers and men on whom the King has
been asked to bestow the Distinguished
Service 'Order or other military decora-
tions. One of the first of these lists
— at least, as far as the Great War is
concerned — appeared in October, 1914.
It was quite a short one, for then the war
was only a few weeks old, and it con-
tained in all but twenty-two names, men
recommended for the D.C.M. Six of
these names, or more than a quarter,
however, belonged to the cavalry, and
three of those six to one regiment — the
1 5th Hussars. This is pretty good evi-
dence that the cavalry had been up and
doing in those anxious days, for, unlike
the Iron Cross, the D.C.M. is not given
for merely looking at the enemy.
The First Taste of War
The regiment went to France from
Longmoor Camp quite at the beginning
of the war to act as divisional cavalry
for General Lomax's ist Division. On
August 24th, the Saturday before Mons,
they were hard at work, and for his ser-
vices on that day one of their officers, the
Hon. E. C. Hardinge, son and heir of the
late Viceroy of India, won the D.S.O. A
little later in the war this fine officer was
severely wounded and died of his wounds.
The men were worthy of him. This is
what is said of Lance-Sergeant A. J. Earl,
one of the three just referred to : " For
gallantry under fire on the night of
August 22nd and 23rd, August 2yth and
September loth." About his comrade
Corporal W. Darley we were told : " For
good reconnaissance on two occasions,
when he penetrated the enemy's posi-
tion." The Hussars then were scouting.
They were riding out in troops and
patrols trying to find out how many Ger-
mans there were in front of our lines, how
many guns they had and where they were,
and anything else about them which
might be of use to French and Haig.
They were doing the work for which our
cavalry had been trained for generations,
and they did it exceedingly well.
A Cavalry Hero
But that was not all. On Monday the
retreat began, and on Tuesday the Guards
in the ist Division were heavily attacked
at Landrecies. With them were the I5th
Hussars, and one of their troops had been
cut off from the rest and, in the dark-
ness, surrounded by the Germans. Then
Private W. J. Price did his bit. It was
night, and the Germans were pouring
from the woods into the streets of the
little town when Price heard how the
troop was situated. He first of all swam
a canal, and then made his way through
the Germans until he reached his com-
rades. He told them what the position
was, and through his courage and prompt-
ness the troop escaped capture.
Two days later, on the Thursday, these
I5th Hussars were again to the front.
Every history of the war has told the
story of how the Royal Munster Fusiliers
were left behind and surrounded by Ger-
mans, because the despatch-rider who
was taking to them the order to move on
with the rest of the corps was made
prisoner. They do not all, however, tell
the sequel ; how some of them got away,
and how this was owing to the help of the
I5th Hussars. Hearing of the impending
disaster the cavalry dashed up, fought
with those of the Irishmen who remained,
and then carried them off through the
ring of their foes. For this deed four
Hussars received the D.C.M.
Turcos in Form
We must pass now to the First Battle
of Ypres, and specially to one of its critical
days, November nth. The Hussars were
still serving the ist Division, assisting in
every possible way the hard-pressed in-
fantry. A sergeant of the regiment,
E. J. Clark, was one who proved him-
self a hero on November nth, the day
when the Prussian Guard broke through
the British line and General Fitzclarence,
V.C., commanding the ist Brigade, was
killed. All was confusion, and every man
fought where he was, cavalryman and in-
fantryman, French and British, even
white and coloured side by side, hardly
knowing where they were. By some
strange chance Clark found himself forced
into a chateau with thirty Turcos. With
a Turco sergeant he took command of
these men, and together they kept back
the surging Germans for two hours,
holding the chateau against attack after
attack, very much as a century before
the Guards held Hougomont.
Some few weeks later the Hussars ceased
for the time being to act as cavalry, and in
the Second Battle of Ypres they served, to
their eternal honour, in the trenches as
infantrymen. They were not there at the
beginning of that long and terrible fight,
but as it progressed and the infantry
became fewer and tewer they were sent up
to assist, and early in May cavalry bri-
gades were holding a considerable stretch
of the line near Hooge. There, on May
1 5th, a sergeant of the isth, E. E. Everest,
when a piece of the line had been lost,
rallied his troop and took it forward to
regain the position. He did this, although
in the contusion someone called out to
him that an order to abandon it had been
received and all around him men were
falling back.
But there was a greater trial of fortitude
on the 24th. On a beautiful summer
morning the Germans sent along their
asphyxiating shells, and then loosed a
cloud of gas from their infernal cylinders.
For nearly five hours this was blown to-
wards our men, but by that time they had
respirators, and so they were by no means
incapable of action when the Germans
came on. In one or two places the
enemy broke through, but before the day
was out he had been beaten back.
The 1 5th Hussars were in the thick of
this fighting, and one of their captains,
C. J. Leicester Stanhope, was specially
commended for the way he rallied his
squadron and led the men forward at a
very critical time indeed. Two non-
commissioned officers, B. Durnford and
H. F. Borough, were equally daring and
useful, and not only their regiment but
also the gth Lancers profited by their
gallantry. Both were suffering to some
extent from gas poisoning at the time.
The new British armies which got into
their stride in the Battle of the Somme
have no cavalry with them, and it may
well be, in spite of much talk about
pushing horsemen through gaps in the
enemy's lines, that the day of the cavalry
is over. Yet do not let us forget that
when Britain needed them they were
there, and in her hour of need none
served her better than the 15th (The
King's) Hussars.
The Birth o! a Regiment
This regiment was first raised in 1759,
the wonderful year, the year of Quebec
and Cjuiberon, Minden, and Wandewash.
At that time it seems that troops of light
dragoons were attached to the various
cavalry regiments, presumably to move
more quickly, and to go in front of their
heavier comrades. Then it was decided
to form separate regiments of these
lighter men, and the i5th Light Dragoons,
as it was then called, was one of the first
of these. It was raised by Colonel G. A.
Elliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield,
iamous as the defender of Gibraltar.
In 1760 the 1 5th were sent to Germany,
and they did good service at Emsdorff
and Willems, but their real glories were
won in the Peninsula, whither they went in
1808. Their1 encounter with the French
chasseurs at Sahagun was most creditable
to them, and they were also allowed to
inscribe Vittoria on their colours. From
Spain they passed to Belgium, and at
Waterloo they did their part in beating
the French. Years then passed without
any active service, but the Hussars went
from one part of the world to another, and
in 1 878 found themselves letailed tor service
with the expedition into Afghanistan.
2495
In this interesting section are gathered together pictures of very varied
interests. Events at home and abroad, showing the soldier and civilian
each " doing his bit," provide a. pictorial collection of diversified interest.
The soldier enjoying his well-earned convalescence, Tommy at work and
at play, and our splendid women on war service — such are some of
the items of intensely human interest to be found in the following paaes.
' GOOD-BYE, OLD MAN ! " — The soldier's farewell to his steed. A touching incident on the road to
a battery position in Southern Flanders. (Drawn by F. Matania.)
2496
Women on War Service at Home and Abroad
— — — *.««• w moments in the long day's work. British
ry town by means of signallers, taking a long-distance message. nurses chatting on the steps of an officers' hospital.
Queen Elizabeth visits the Belgian trenches and is agreeably surprised by an
impromptu rendering of the " Brabanconne " on the fiddle.
srr^^^
2497
Practical Womanhood in War-time Pursuits
Cooks at the headquarters of the Scottish Women's Hospital on
the Serbian front tasting a stew of their own making.
A fair bugler of the Scottish Women's Hospital installed
at the Serbian front.
At the wheel of a road-maker. A woman driving a steam-
roller on the Cornish roads.
Some of the British Red Cross nurses who were decorated by the Charity in the name of the Red Cross. A French nurse collecting
King at a heroes' investiture at Buckingham Palace. alms in a first-class railway carriage at a Paris terminus.
2498
Soft-Hearted Fighting Men & Some of Their Pets
One of the great German search-
lights that nightly swept the horizon
from Ostend.
Britsh Marines, wearing life-belt*
in case of accident, on a patrol boat
looking for pirate U boats.
it up by hand. At first it was so weak that it could only lick milk from his lips,
esopotamia. Right: Corporal Tschulko vski, aged fifteen,
enter Enerum. He was personally decorated by the Tsar.
2499
Three Great Generals and Heroes of Mons
General Cadorna sees the point. The Italian leader (in spectacles)
heartily at a Joke made by one of his Staff officers.
A few of the remnant of the original British Expeditionary Force quartered in
the Tower of London. Above : Second-Lieutenant McCubbin, the British pilot
who brought down the famous German aviator Immelmann.
General Marchand (right) about to make a
flying tour of inspection.
g£$*wai 1 3E1* «OKi SUKS » »h ia ^™ ^—
General Qilinsky, commanding Russian troops in France, decorating French munition
workers by special order of the Tsar of Russia.
2500
The Faithful Quadruped Goes on War Service
Dropping . dead horse in the Indian Ocean during a transport's Horses going down to 'tween decks on a transport. The animals
v°yag« 'r°m Austral.a to Bombay. suffered terribly from the journey when the sea was rough.
Horses for the war zone coming aboard ship. Everything to
mitigate the discomforts of the voyage was done.
Feeding time on a transport. Horses in their specially-
constructed stalls.
Horses at Brisbane, Australia, being got ready for transhipment to France and Flanders. The problem of a supply of these animals
for war service was not so acute as it was expected to be, owing to the development of siege warfare, and to the use of motor-vehicles,
which fortunately minimised the need of man's four-footed friend on the battlefield.
2501
Lull After Battle: Pictorial Notes of War
Wounded member of New Zealand Mounted Rifles, with Rona,
mascot of the regiment. The dog had been under tire.
A dog of war. Airedale terrier trained to carry a load of shells
for the use of the light field artillery.
Private of the Irish Rifles accompany-
ing himself on trench-made fiddle.
Annamites, coloured natives from the French
colony, in training for the first line.
Serbian bagpipes made from lamb-
skin, a gourd, and rubber piping.
a Berlin street. British and Belgian officers
accompanied by a German non-com.
Members of the Canadian Red Cross Hospital. Left to right-Miss Gamble,
Miss Spanner, and Colonel R. A. Roberts, all from Toronto University.
2502
A Spaniard's Impression of the British Front
Specially Written
By E. GOMEZ CARRILLO
The Famous Author and Traveller
It is at all times a wholesome tonic to hear what an unprejudiced witness has to say about ourselves.
"To see ourselves as others see us" is an excellent antidote to self-satisfaction, and at no tune
in our national history has it been more necessary for us as a people to hearken to the foreign critic.
Some of the opinions which the foreigner may entertain of us will probably seem absurd to the British
reader — in the second paragraph of the following article there is an amusing instance of this — but let
us remember that we are equally liable to harbour similar delusions concerning other peoples.
Senor Gomez Carrillo, who lives in Paris, is one of the most eminent Spanish authors of to-day, of a
type that has no counterpart in literary England, being at once a brilliant novelist, essayist, travel
writer, and journalist. He has wandered widely and written quite a library of works about many
nations of the world. During the war his articles about the French front had myriads of readers
in the Press of Spain, Italy, and South America, and a collection of his most notable war sketches,
"Among the Ruins," has been issued in English.
Knowing that Senor Gomez Carrillo had been on a visit to the British front, I ashed him in the
autumn of 1916 to contribute an impression of what he saw, and received from him the following
interesting and characteristic article. — EDITOR.
TO be perfectly frank, until three months ago I did not
have a very high opinion of the British Army.
Like everyone else, 1 knew that the officer in the
Army of his Britannic Majesty was a perfect type of
chivalry and courage, a kind of knight-errajit or adventurer
in the noblest sense of the word — a gentleman, in fine, who
welcomed danger, strife, and sacrifice as an aristocratic
sport. But I considered the great mass of ordinary soldiers
little fitted to play an important part in the tragedy now
being enacted.
The blame for these opinions of mine must be attributed
to those in Britain and out of Britain who have popu-
larised the idea of a Tommy endowed with more bravery
than discipline, and fonder of his own comfort than of
prolonged military efforts. Who has not heard the story of
the famous khaki-clad troops who dropped their rifles
when the clock struck five, although the battle was at its
height, because it was time to go a»d have tea ? Have
we not all heard it affirmed that any self-respecting British
trooper requires at least two servants,
one for himself and the other for his __^^^_=^_^^__
horse ?
I know now that these are fairy-
tales, but I did not know it until" a
short time ago, when I had the
honour of paying a visit to the
British front in the company of my
friend, Lord D .
A Hurricane of Heroism
The Battle of the Somme, in
which the warriors of Sir Douglas
Haig reached the German second
line at a single bound, was just
commencing. Every day the Tom-
mies were gaining some ground in
territory which the German strate-
gists considered absolutely impreg-
nable. The whole world, somewhat
surprised, paid well-merited tribute
to that magnificent hurricane of
heroism which little by little was
overthrowing the great barriers
erected on French territory by the
Kaiser's General Staff.
" This afternoon," said my
companion, when we reached the
neighbourhood of Albert, " you
will see the regiments who have
captured Pozidres after a wonderful
fight."
My mind went back to some other
troops — French, not British — which
suddenly came in sight one spring
morning, singing martial airs, as they
returned from a victorious attack. Their faces showed how
proud they felt at their success, and their eyes shone with
the light of duty nobly done. But, Dios mio I What a
state they were in ; uniforms torn and covered with mud,
helmets battered and dented ; and how terribly weary
they looked !
And I expected to see the same thing again.
But what was my astonishment at seeing approach along
the road a column of warriors apparently coming off
parade ! The fighting helmets had been left behind in the
trenches, and the regulation cap was set jauntily on their
fair heads. Their uniforms were clean. Their faces
looked as though they had shaved less than an hour ago.
" But/' I asked my guide, " have they not been to some
reserve camp since the battle ? "
" No," he replied, " these men arc coming straight from
the trenches they captured two days ago. There they have
cleaned, shaved, and tidied themselves as best they could."
That scene explained better than any careful study
the real psychology of the British
fighter who, even in the most
tragic moments of the campaign,
preserves his smartness, sang-froid,
and spirit of moral and material
dandyism.
Shortly afterwards, when visiting
a rest camp where two regiments
were waiting their turn to go forward
again into the fight, I was able to
probe more deeply into the character
of the Tommy. They were as calm
and indifferent as though they had
been enjoying a country holiday
in peace time.
Democratic Camaraderie
All those young athletes, frank
of eye and pleasant mannered, were
engaged in their favourite amuse-
ments. I saw tennis-courts, reading-
rooms, mess-rooms, chapels, barbers'
shops, bars, and even a concert-room.
And as the officers have their quarters
on the spot, I at once noticed the
truly democratic camaraderie, such
as exists in France, between plain
soldiers and the higher ranks of all
grades.
" This discipline does not resemble
the German discipline," I said to
Lord D .
He merely smiled, and murmured:
" Naturally "
And quite true. For a free race,
a worthy race, a race of men
[Continued on paje 2604
2503
Injgyely Lucerne After Trenches and Prison
British and French soldiers interned in Switzerland being entertained at the Polytechnic Chalets, Seeburg, Lucerne. These men WOTI
undergoing treatment at the Lucerne Hospital, which was specially arranged for operations rendered necessary by German maltreatmen
when the men were taken prisoners and interned in Germany.
Group ol interned Britons entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mitchell at the Polytechnic Chalets, with some French Red Cross nurses
who were taking a briet rest as guests ot the Hotel Schweizerhof, Lucerne. The party had just completed a trip on the Lake of Lucerne.
2504
A SPANIARD ON THE BRITISH FRONT
(Continued from page 2502)
conscious of their rights as citizens, would never submit
to the regimen of terror and humiliation unending which
makes the Germanic hordes into an iron machine. Read,
for example, in the Paris newspapers the following
telegram referring to one of the recent battles, and then
say whether it would be possible for the Staff of General
Joffre or of Sir Douglas Haig to act in this way :
" In the recent fighting round Metzeral the Germans
were compelled to make a bayonet attack ; behind them
were crouched a line of men with orders to turn their
machine-guns on any columns which did not advance
quickly."
No, neither British nor French could be treated in this
way. Therefore, if the perfect military type is the German,
the British are not and never will be a military nation.
But, happily, the present war has shown that the superiority
of Germany was only in her material preparedness, and
never in her human elements.
How often have we heard asked : " Is there really a
British Army ? "
"The First 100,000"
To this question there is no clearer reply than the results
of the Battle of the Somme. Would it, in fact, be possible
to carry out so formidable an enterprise, fighting against
the nation whose preparations for war were the cleverest,
if no Army existed ?
But I quite understand that military experts, when
they ask this question, mean : Has Britain, in spite of
her individualistic traditions and her antipathy to con-
scription— in fine, in spite of the spirit peculiar to her —
has she already succeeded in creating the homogeneous
nucleus of officers and men which constitutes what is
called an army ?
Even in this sense there can be no doubt that
the British should be extremely proud of what they
have done.
When the war broke out the British troops were not
numerous. The book which tells the story of the campaigns
in Belgium is entitled " The First 100,000." And this
figure, in a tragedy like the present, is so insignificant that
it would not suffice now to hold a sector. But when one
remembers the enthusiasm with which men of all classes
have voluntarily enlisted right from the beginning, until
they have formed the presenf formidable nucleus of three or
four million Tommies, one cannot but admire the real spirit
of national and democratic discipline which animates this
wonderful people. Britain,s stupcndous Achievement
That other countries, where conscription is the established
system, should possess large armies is not to be wondered
at. But that the necessary elements have been found from
which to improvise what it has taken an empire like Austria
centuries to accomplish, is indeed extraordinary. And this
is what Great Britain has done, creating a stupendous
Army while a war raged.
Naturally I saw something more than the mere size of
the Army. During the few days I spent on the northern
front I was able to appreciate the fighting qualities and
chivalrous spirit of the British soldier. How many millions
of soldiers are fighting there ? I cannot tell. How many
new heavy guns are smashing the German lines ? I do
not know. But this I do know : When we asked our-
selves whether Kitchener's men could play an important
part in this tragedy we showed supreme ignorance of the
virtues of the British race.
With officers such as I saw, going into battle unmoved
and fearless as if it were a friendly match, with generals
such as received me, showing a tranquil consciousness of the
duty they are doing, with soldiers like those who calmly
performed their toilet after the Battle of Pozidres, a country
can sleep peacefully, sure of victory.
German naval battery in position near Westende, on the coast of Belgium. British monitors played havoc with these gun-positions
and upon the extreme right flank of the German army resting near the sea.
2505
These pages contain a large gallery of portraits of the gallant
British officers who fell on the field of honour fighting for their
King and Country. The whole Empire cherishes the memory of
these splendid heroes who made the great sacrifice, and their names
are inscribed for ever on the scroll of fame in the Golden Book of
British Chivalry- They are representative of every regiment and rank.
Corner of a military cemetery in a pine-wood, and (inset) an
alley in a military graveyard at the front.
-
2SOO
OF HONOURED DEAD
BRITAIN'S ROLL
Lieut.-Col. H. E. BRASSEY
Household Cavalry.
Capt. J. P. FORSTER.
Northumberland Fusiliers.
Capt. I. A. BENJAMIN,
Duke o! Wellington's.
Capt. R. L. HOARE,
London Regiment.
Capt. the Hon. R. E. PHILIPPS,
Royal Fusiliers.
Lieut. M. L.W. MATTHEWS
West Kent Regiment.
Capt. R. G. TASKER,
Worcester Regiment.
Lieut. L. A. LEA-SMITH,
East Kent Regiment.
Capt. H. E. CLIFFORD,
South African Infantry.
Capt. W. J. HENDERSON,
Loyal North Lanes.
/"•aptain the Hon. Roland Erasmus Philipps was the only surviving son of Lord St.
*•* Davids, this nobleman's elder son having fallen in action in May 1916 Educated
at Winchester and New College, Oxford, he joined his regiment (Royal Fusiliers) in
September, 1914, and was promoted captain In February, 1915. Captain Philipps won the
Military Cross for devotion to duty April, 1916.
Captain Herbert E. Clifford, South African Light Infantry, died of wounds received in
action. He served throughout the South African War and was mentioned in despatches.
On the outbreak of the South African Rebellion he joined General Botha's army as lieutenant
and was promoted to captain. Subsequently he went to Egypt, and finally to the western
front.
Captain William J. Henderson, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, was educated at
Forest Hill School and Dulwich College. He also gained a classical scholarship at Corpus Christ!
College, Oxford. For some years a member of the Dulwich O.T.C., he received a commission
in September. 1914, and just prior to his death was mentioned in despatches and awarded
the Military Cross.
Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) Arthur H. Hales, Wiltshire Regiment, was the eldest
son of the late Major-General Hales. He was an Oxford rowing " Blue." In March, 1915,
Lieut. Hales gained the Military Cross for leading his men after being twice wounded in
rescuing injured soldiers under fire.
Lieut. P. D. ROBINSON,
Northumberland Fusiliers.
Lieut. D. J. J. HARTLEY
Dragoon Guards.
Lieut. J. F. HEALY,
Royal Irish Rifles.
Lieut. A. P. GREEN,
Norfolk Regiment.
Lt. and Adjt. G. S. GATHER,
Royal Irish Fusiliers.
Lieut. A. H. RALES.
Wiltshire Rc:iment.
Sec.-Lieut. P. G. B. LYS,
Northants Regiment.
Seo.-Lieut. T. S. W. WARREN,
Durham Light Infantry.
Sec.-Lieut. E. H. ROGERS.
Royal Warwicks.
Sec.-Lieut. H. H. HODGES
Leinster Regiment.
Portraits by Lafayette, EUioU & Fry, Chancellor, Swaine.
Sec.-Lieut. A. B. COOK.
Royal Fusiliers.
2507
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
Lt.-Col. R. J. DOUGLAS,
C.H.G., Cameronians.
Lieut.-Col. A. E. SHAW,
Canadian Mounted Rifles.
Major P. P. BALLACHEY
Canadian Infantry.
Major P. R. HARDINGE,
Cameronians.
Maj.-Gen. E. C. INGOUVILLE-
WILLI AMS, I
C.B., D.S.O.
Capt. H. D. RILEY,
East Lanes.
Capt. H. C. DRUMMOND.
A. and S. Highlanders.
Capt. GUY DICKENS,
King's Royal Rifles.
M. PARTRIDGE
«ON, Lanes Fusiliers.
Capt. J. W. JACKSON,
South African Infantry.
T ieutenant-Colonel Robert J. Douglas, C.M.O.. saw active service In South Africa, gaining
*-* the Queen's Medal with five clasps. Major-General Edward Charles Ingouville-
Williams, C'.B., D.S.O., had a long Staff and active service record. He fought in the Battles
of Atbara and Khartoum, and took part in the Relief of Ladysmith, was presentat the
actions of Spion Kop, Vaal Kntns. and Tugela Heights. Major Patrick Robert Hardinge
was the only child of the Hon. Robert and Mrs. Hardinge, Brockworth House, Gloucester.
Only twenty-three, he attained proficiency and promotion, and won the Military Cross.
Captain Maurice Partridge Gainon was one of the heads of the publishing house of S. W.
Partridge A Co. On the outbreak of war he received a sub-lieutenantcy in the tancashire
Fusiliers. One of the survivors of the ttrst German gas attack, he was promoted to captain
and attached to the Intelligence Dept.. but took part in the advance, and fell leading
his men on July 1st, 1916. Lieutenant Donald Campbell. Coldstrenm Guards, was
the eldest son ot Captain the Hon. John Beresford Campbell, 1J.8.O. (himself reported
missing since January, 1U15). Thus two heirs of Lord Stratherien and Campbell have fallen
on the Held of honour. Lieutenant Henry Webber. J.P , South Lanes Regt., volunteered
for foreign service at the age of i>8. Second-Lieutenant A. S. H. Barrett was a grandson of
Wilson Barrett, the eminent actor, and son of Mr. A. Wilson Barrett, editor of "Colour."
He fell gallantly leading his men to victory at Mametz.
Capt. J. L. GREEN, V.C..
R.A.M.C.
Lieut. R. H. DOINBRAIN,
Indian Army.
Sec.-Lt. M. H. BLACKWOOD.
Seaforth Highlanders.
Lieut. DONALD CAMPBELL,
Coldstream Guards.
Lieut. HENRY WEBBER, J.P.,
South Lanes Regt.
Lt. G. T. LOVICK ELLWOOD,
Leicester Regt.
Lieut. M. N. SCHIFF,
Scots Guards.
Sec.-Lieut. N. B ARN ARD, Sec.-Lient. A. S. H. BARRETT,
King's (Liverpool Regt.). Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Portraits by Walter Burnett, Elliott <fc Fry, Lafayette, Russell
Sec.-Lieut. 0. G. WILLIAMS,
Duke ol Cornwall's L.L
Sec.-Lt. C. SUMMERSCALES,
Connaught Rangers.
• Sons, Suiaine.
2508
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
Lieut.-Col. 0. S. FLOWER,
Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Major W. W. MOORS.
Canadian Infantry.
Major 0. W. BARCLAY.
Rifle Brigade.
Major C. H. SMITH.
Yorks and Lanes.
Major G. E. VENNER.
Sherwood Foresters.
Capt. P. S. B. HALL,
The Buffs.
Capt. BASIL HALLAM RAD-
FORD, Royal Flying Corps.
Capt. M. WILLIAMS
R.M.A.
Capt. F. D. FRASER.
Canadian Infantry.
Lieutenant-Colonel Oswald Swift Flower joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1892, and
served in Crete, Malta, China, Burma, and India. He was at the Relief of Tientsin,
Peking, and other actions in China ; was mentioned in despatches and received a medal with
clasp. Rejoining the Army on the outbreak of war, he helped to raise and train new battalion!'
of his old regiment. Lieut.-Colonel Flower was mortally wounded in the Somme offensive.
Major Geoffrey William Barclay was a prominent sportsman and Master of the Eton
College Hunt. He received the Military Cross for conspicuous bravery at Ypres, during
an action in which he was badly wounded. Recovering from his injuries, Major Barclay
returned to France and fell in the advance of 1916.
Captain Percy Shene Bernard Hall, the Buffs, attached Hampshire Eegiment, was
educated at Eton and Sandhurst, where he gained the Military History prize, passing
out tenth. He joined his regiment In 190C!, and in August, 1914, was gazetted captain.
Captain Hall was wounded in the early days of the war, and subsequently held a Staff appoint-
ment for some time. Captain the Hon. John B. Campbell, D.S.O., was the son and heir
of Lord Stratheden and Campbell. Missing since January, 1915, Captain Campbell's death
was reported in 1916. His son. Lieut. Donald Campbell, also fell on the field of honour.
Captain Basil Hallam Radford was the original " Gilbert the Filbert," perhaps the
most popular character created in modern revue. He scored his first notable success in
" The Blindness of Virtue." Captain Hadford met his death in France through a parachute
apparatus failing to open.
Lt. A. F. Baron de RUTZEN.
Yeomanry.
Lieut. A. S. LLOYD,
R.F.A.
Lieut. W. H. V. NELSON,
Sherwood Foresters.
Lieui. R. J. E. TIDDY,
Oxon and Bucks L.I.
Sec.-Lieut. ERIC GOLDING,
D.C.M., Middlesex Regt.
Sec.-Lieut. G. G. LAUDER, Sec.-Lieat. A. V. STANF1ELD. Sec.-Lieut. H BARROW
King's (Liverpool Regt.). West Surrey Regt. Royal Fusiliers.
Portraits by Elliott <t Fry, Lajayette. and Swatne.
Capt. P. B. K. STEDMAN.
London Regt.
Capt. Hon. J. B. CAMPBELL,
D.S.O.. Cold-stream Guards
Lieut. J A. J. BLAKE.
R.F.A
Sec.-Iaent. FAWCETT HIL-
TON. Lines Regt.
2503
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
BriE.-Gen. the EARL OF Lieut.-Col. A. C. ANNESLEY,
LONGFORD, Life Guards. O.S.O.. Royal Fusiliers.
Major W. J. DOBSON,
Canadian Infantry.
Major W. La T. CONGREVE,
D.S.O.. Rifle Brigade.
Captain J. FOLEY,
Northumberland Fusiliers.
Capt. E. V. BRJSCOE,
Royal Warwiclra.
Major A. YOUNG,
Canadian Infantry.
Capt. C. R. LIMBERY.
South Stafford:.
Capt. A. S. THOMSON.
Argyll and Sutherland H.
Capt.P.W.T.MACGREGOR-
WHITTON, Royal Scots Fus.
Drig.-General Lord Longford. " wounded and missing " in Gallipoli since August, 1915,
** now officially reported killed, succeeded to the title in 1887, in which year he received
his first commission in the 2nd Life Guards. He served in South Africa as captain of the
45th Imperial Yeomanry and as lieut. -colonel of the Irish Horse.
Lieut.-Colonel Albemarle Cator Annesley, D.S.O., Royal Fusiliers, served in South Africa,
was three times mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Queen's Medal with six clasps.
He served in the Military Police in India, and received the thanks of the Indian Government
five years in succession. He commanded a battalion of the Royal Fusiliers at the front
since May, 1915, and in April, 1916, was awarded the D.S.O.
Major William La Touche Congreve, D.S.O., Rifle Brigade, eldest son of Lieut -General
W. Congreve, V.C.. C.B.. was A.D.C. to Major-General Hamilton, commanding the 3rd
Division, and later served as General Staff officer and brigade major. He won the Military
Cross and was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Only two months before his
death he married Pamela, daughter of Mr. Cyril Maude.
Captain Edward Villiere Briscoe, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, killed on patrol duty,
was present at the retreat from Mons. the Battles of the Marne, Aisne, and at Ypres.
Lieut. Raymond Asquith. Grenadier Guards, the Prime Minister's eldest son, was born
in 1878. and after a brilliant scholastic career at Winchester and Oxford, was called to the
Bar in 1904. He wag married in 1H07 to Katherlne, younger daughter of Sir John and
Lady Homer, and leaves a son and two daughters.
Capt. 3. A. H. BROWN,
Gordon Highlanders.
Lieut. H. 1. QUANBURY,
Canadian H. R.
Lieut. RAYMOND ASQUITH.
Grenadier Guards.
Lieut. N. S. STEWART,
Rifle Brigade.
Lieut G. S. WALLEY.
K.R.R.C.
Sec.-Lieut. T. J. A. O'BRIEN,
R.F.A.
Sec.-Lient. A. C. BOYD,
Royal Susses Segt.
Sec.-Lient. E. J. PUSCH, Sec.-Lieut. W. 0. E. MORRIS, Sec.-Lieut. L. L. MOODY.
Royal Warwicka. Liverpool Regt. Royal Sussex Regt.
Portraits by S-peaight, Elliott <fc Fry. Lafayette, Lambert Weston, Russell, Stmine.
Sec.-Lient. A. H. PAGE,
Suffolk Regt.
2510
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
Lt.-Col. the EARL OF FEVER-
SHAM. King's Royal Rifle Corps.
Capt. W. J. MASON,
Gloucester Regt.
Capt. E. G. C. BAGSHAWE,
Yorkshire Regt.
Capt. H. J. SIM KIN.
King's (Liverpool Regt.).
Lieut. B. N. FITZGIBBON.
Royal Irish Regt.
Capt. JOHN LEADBEATER,
Australian Infantry.
Capt. DOUGLAS KURD,
Middlesex Regt.
Capt. H. T. ROWLEY,
Royal Berks.
Lieut. H. Q. CARVER.
King's (Liverpool Regt.).
Capt. S. D. SOMERVILLE,
Yorkshire L.I.
Llcut.-Coloncl the Karl of Feversham, who (ell while leading his battalion of the King's
Royal Ritle Corps on Sept. 15th, 1910, succeeded his grandfather in January, 1915.
Born in May, 1879, and educated at Eton and Oxford, he was elected M.P. (or the Thirsk
Division in 1906. He saw service with the Yorkshire Hussars at Yprcs. He married in
1904 Marjorie, daughter o( the Earl of "Warwick, arid left two sons and a daughter.
Captain Douglas William Hurd, Middlesex Regiment, was the eldest son of the well-
known author and economist Mr. Percy Hurd. and on active service displayed all the
promise and initiative which won honours for him at Marlboroueh and Oxford. He was
,in his twenty-second year. Captain John Leadbeater, who fell while leading his men on the
Somme, had seen nearly twenty years' active service. He went through the Boer War,
was present at Suvla, went to Egypt, and thence to France. Captain 8. D. Somerville,
Yorkshire Light Infantry, was the elder son of Major S. J. Somerville. He was educated
at Lancing College, and was articled to the law. He joined the Territorial Force in 1911.
Ireland lost one of her most brilliant sons and University College, Dublin, a distinguished
member of its staff in Professor T. M. Kettle. He enlisted at Fermoy in January. 1915,
and was given a commission In the Leinsters. Later he transferred to the Dublin Fusiliers.
He was born in 1880, and was M.P. for East Tyrone from 1906 to 1910.
Lieutenant Brian Normanby FitzOibbon, Royal Irish Regiment, was educated at Rugby
and won a history scholarship at Kcble College. Oxford. On the outbreak of war he
obtained a commission and went to the front in December. 1915. as a machine-gun officer.
Lieut. R. E. MELLY,
King's (Liverpool Reet.1.
Lieut. C. H. RUDDLE,
Australian Infantry.
Lieut. F. MORAN,
Royal Muasters.
Sec.-LieiU. H. C. DAVIS,
Royal Berks, att. R.F.C.
Lt. J. S. WILMOT-SITWELL,
Coldstream Guards.
Lieut. J. F. LADELL,
Middlesex Regt.
Sec.-Lieut. W. H. PACKARD.
Suffolk Regt.
Sec.-Lieut. A. B. PHILLIPS, Pro!. Lieut. T. M. KETTLE, Sec.-Lieut. S. R. F. EMPEY,
London Regt. Dublin Fusiliers. Royal Irish Kines.
Portraits bu Elliott & Fry, W. H. Home, Lafayette, Ruseell, Swainc.
Sec.-Lieut. G. H. GR1MSHAW,
Loyal North Lanes,
2511
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
Brig.-Gen. C. E. STEWART.
C.H.G.. Black Watch.
Capt. J. V. HYNDMAN.
Royal Irish Rifles.
Capt. F. a. GILLESPIE.
Royal Sussex Retrt
Capt. G. E. H. KEESEY.
Rifle Brieadp
Capt. F. L. LEIGH.
R.G.A.
Capt. J. R. SOMERS-SMITH.
London Reel
Capt. T. G. GR1CE,
Scottish Rifles.
Capt. DAVID WILSON,
R.F.C.
Capt. G. W. EATON,
Royal Irish Fusiliers.
Sec.-Lieut. H. HANLCOCK.
Leinster Rest.
Drigadier-Oeneral Charles Edward Stewart. C.M.O., Black Watch, entered the Royal
*-* Highlanders in 1889. In 1908 he received his majority, and just after the outbreak
of war was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. Early In 1916 he was appointed to the Staff,
and given command of a brigade He saw much service in South Africa, notably «t
Kimberley and Paardebere, was mentioned in despatches, and received the Queen's and
the King's Medals with six clasps. For service in the Great War he was made a C.M.G.
Captain David Wilson, of the Royal Flying Corps, who was a grand-nephew of the first
Lord Nunburnholme, gained the Military Cross In May, 1916.
Lieutenant Kenneth Lotherington Hatchings, Liverpool Regiment, attached Welsh
Kegiment, was the famous Kent cricketer, and accredited one of the most remarkable
batsmen of the generation. He was a member of the Tonbridge eleven for five years,
heading the batting for three seasons in succession, but hU most brilliant record was made
in 1906. when he was acclaimed by all an England cricketer.
Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur F. Townshend was educated at Halleybury College. He was
gazetted to the 2nd Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in 1894, and served with the 4th Scottish
Rifles in the South African War. From 1903-6 he was Military Consul in Turkey. In
1915 Lieut.-Colonel Townshend left with his regiment for the front and was twice wounded,
and mentioned In despatches on November 30th, 1915. In January, 191(1, he was appointed
to command the Royal West Kent Regiment, and was fatally wounded on the 15th of the
same month.
Lieut. H. G. II. MANSEL-
PLEYDELL, Dorset Regt.
Lieut. K. S. de BLABY.
Loyal North Lanes.
Lieut. K. L. HUTCHINGS.
Liverpool Regt.
Lt.-Col. A.F. TOWNSHEND. Sec.-Lt. T. R. H. DORMAN.
Scottish Rifles Royal Munsters.
Sec.-Lieut. J. FISH,
Worcester Regt.
Sw.-Lieut. N. H. COLLINS,
Royal InniskillinKS.
Sec.-Lieut. D. C. O'CONNELL, Sec.-Lieut. W. DRAKE, Sec.-Lient. F. R. HOGGETT.
ConnauKhts. R.H.A. Queen'j (R.W. Surreys).
Portrait* hn llatunno. Klliott de Fry. Hawkins. Iirookr Uughes, Lafayette, Stfaine.
Sec.-Lieat.F.A.J.BROWN.
Leinster Regt.
2512
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
Capt. CHARLES NEVILLE
Sherwood Foresters.
Capt. C. H. WOOLLATT
Queen's (R. W. Surreys)
Lt.-Col. A. J. B. ADDISON
York & Lancaster Regt.
Lt.-Col. C. P. MURTEN,
West Yorks Regt.
Capt. B. E. F. CREED,
South African Infantry.
Capt. and Adjt. G. R. LANE,
Coldstream Guards.
Capt. Hon. R. P. STANHOPE,
Grenadier Guards.
Capt. G. G. HERMAN-HODGE,
R.F.A.
Lieut. C. P. COTTON,
Canadian Artillery.
Lieut. A. B. BROWN,
South African Infantry.
faptain Claud Humpston Woollatt was the second son of the late Randal Woollatt
*-• and Mrs. Woollatt. of Ditton Hill, Surbiton. He was educated at Cheltenham
College, and joined the Army at the beginning of the war. His younger brother, Sec.-
Lieut. P. 11. Woollatt, who was also in the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), was
killed five weeks earlier.
Captain George Ronald Lane was the only son of Major-General Sir Ronald Lane of
Carlelon Hall, Saxmundham. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he was gazetted to
the Coldstream Guards as second-lieutenant in 1913 ; he went to the front in September
1914, and was wounded at the Battle of the Aisne. Promoted captain in March, 1916^
and passed fit for active service, he went out again in August, and was killed in action on
September 15th. Captain Lane was a Page of Honour to King Edward VII.
Captain the Hon. Richard Philip Stanhope, killed in action September 24th, 1916 was
brother of Earl Stanhope and heir-presumptive to the title. In 1914 he married Lady
Beryl le Peer Trench, daughter of the Earl of C'lancarty.
Lieutenant Joseph Lamb, New Zealand Engineers, had been with the N.Z. forces
since August 21st, 1914, and saw service In Egypt, Gallipoli, and France. He was
mortally wounded on his twenty-fourth birthday, and died the following day.
Sec.-Lieut. T. O. Whitlock, Northumberland Fusiliers, was son of Mr. T. T. Whitlock
of Nottingham. He was attached to the Tyneside Scottish as Lewis-gun officer and was
killed in action on August 24th, 1916.
Lieut. R. B. THORBURN,
South African Infantry.
Lt. H. H. C. WILLIAMSON,
Coldstream Guards.
Lieut. M. M. GRONDIN,
Canadian Infantry.
Lieut. B. M. BIRTZEL,
South African Infantry.
Lt. and Adjt. W. E. DAVY,
Cheshire Regt.
Lieut. J. 0. LATER,
Macbine-Gun Corps.
Lieut. JOSEPB LAMB,
New Zealand Engineers.
Sec.-Lt. G. V. NOAKS, Sec.-Lieut. N. L. GIDDY, Sec.-Lieut. G. TBOMSON
Northamptonshire Regt. Northamptonshire Regt. Argyll & Sutherland Bighrs.
Portraits by Walter Barnett, Elliott & Fry, Hills & Saunders, Lafayette, and Swaine,
Sec.-Lt. T. 0. WHITLOCK,
Northumberland Fusiliers.
£513
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
Col. G. E. RIPLEY.
Northampton Regt.
Lt.-Col. C. E. FISBBOURNE,
Northumberland Fusiliers.
Maj. A. C. HUDSON,
Royal Fusiliers.
Maj. T. M. D. BAILIE
Irish Guards.
Capt. S. LUDLOW.
Royal Warwick Regt.
Capt. A. K. S. CUNINGHAME.
Grenadier Guards.
Capt. W. C. F. V. BARKER-
HILL, Rifle Brigade.
Capt. H. H. BURN, M.C..
Coldstream Guards.
Capt. H. M. GREEN,
Royal Fusiliers.
Capt. J. A. RITSON.
South Lanes Regt.
faptain 1. A. Ritson, South Lancashire Regiment, killed in action July 23rd, 1916, was
*-> only child of Dr. and Mrs. Ritson, of Beading. Educated at Rugby and Trinity
College, Cambridge, he received a commission directly after the outbreak of war, and was
given his captaincy in February, 1915. He was a noted oarsman, rowing in the First Trinity
Eight, 1912-14, the University Eight which defeated Oxford in 1914, and at Henley.
Lieut. H. Douglas Vernon, Grenadier Guards, killed, was educated at Charterhouse and
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he got his Soccer Blue as a freshman, and played against
' Cambridge In 1913 and 1914. Still an undergraduate when war broke out, he obtained a
commission in the 7th Liverpool Regiment, and later transferred to the Grenadier Guards.
Sec.-Lieut. Gerald Archibald Arbuthnot, Grenadier Guards, killed in action September
2Sth, 1916, was only son of late Major-General W. Arbuthnot, C.B. Born in 1872, he entered
the Navy, but left the service in 1902. He took a great interest in politics ; he represented
liurnley from January to December, 1910, was Vice-Chancellor of the Primrose League
and Chairman of the Lancashire and Cheshire Federation of Junior Unionist Associations.
Percy Robert Herbert, Viscount Clive. Welsh Guards, died of wounds received September
llth 1916, was elder son of the Earl of Fowls. Born in 1892, he was educated at Eton and
Sandhurst, and gained his first commission in the Scots Guards. He went to the front
early in the war, but was invalided home, and later transferred to the Welsh Guards.
Viscount Clive was the 56th heir to a peerage to lose his life in the war up to November, 1916.
Capt. E. R. DONNER,
Rifle Brigade.
Capt. W. D. DHURY-LOWE,
D.S.O.. Grenadier Guards.
Lieut. H. D. VERNON,
Grenadier Guards.
Sec.-Lt. 0. A. AKBUTHNOT,
Grenadier Guards.
Lieut. C. S. BELL,
South African Infantry.
Lieut. M. H. O'DONOVAN,
Royal Minister Fusiliers.
/ ni
Lieut. Viscount CLIVE,
Welsh Guards.
Sec.-Lieut. H. WYNDHAM
THOMAS, Rifle Brigade.
Sec.-Lt. CYRIL CLARKE,
East Surrey Regt.
Portraits by Elliott & Fry, Lafayette, Swaine, Brooke Hvghe.
Sec.-Lt. A. D. WILSON,
Royal Munster Fusiliers.
Sec.-Lt. J. T. ROBERTS.
Royal West Surrey Regt.
-Ml
BRITAIN'S ROLL OF HONOURED DEAD
BriK.-Gen. F. J. HEYWORTH
C.B.. D.S.O.
Major 0. K. VANSITTART
Canadian Field Artillery.
Capt. H. D. BROUGHTON,
Cheshire Regt.
Capt. E. E. C. WELLESLEY
Norfolk Regt.
Capt. I. A. 0. FERGUSON
Royal Scots.
Capt. J. E. ROSS,
King's (Liverpool Regt.).
Capt. C. J. HUGHES,
Connaught Rangers.
Lieut. BRYCE STEWART
Seaforth Highlanders.
Capt. A. C. BURNELL,
Rifle Brigade.
Capt. G. Y. GROSS,
Royal West Kent.
Capt. F. E. GANE,
Canadian Infantry.
and
to
in the
Lieut. C. C. HENRY.
Worcestershire Regt.
Lieut. D. TWEEDY-SMITH,
Royal Flying Corps.
Sec.-Lieut. F. W. BATTLEY
Royal Sussex Regt.
Lieut. T. HATTON,
Canadian Infantry.
. Lieut. 0. A. MANN,
King's Own (R. Lane. Regt.).
Sec^Lieut. C. N. CRAWFORD.
Northamptonshire Regt.
Sec.-Lieut. J. C. SMITH,
Royal Fusiliers.
Sec.-Lient. J. L. WALKER,
Royal Irish Rifles.
Portrait* by Lafayette, Lambert Weston. Elliott A Fry, Vandyk.
Sec.-Lieut. M. R. L. ARM-
STRONG, Royal Engineers.
Sec.-Lieut. R. D. TIBBS,
Indian Army.
S615
DIARY OF THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN OF 1916
Progress of Events in all Theatres of the War from the
Opening Battles of the Somme to the Fall of Bukarcst
1916
AUG. i. — The British hold their gains north of Bazentin-le-Petit
against the enemy's attempts to drive them out.
French capture a German trench between Estrees and
Belloy-en-Santerre. A new German attack at Verdun,
west and south of the Thiaumont Work, repulsed.
Russians cross the Koropiec River, just north of the
Dniester.
AUG. i. — French Gains on the Somme. — North of the river the
French capture a strongly-fortified enemy work between Hem
and the Monacu Farm. South of the Somme they occupy
an enemy trench in the Estrees region. At Verdun, west
and south of the Thiaumont Work, and in the ravine south
of Fleury, they carry German trenches, taking 800 prisoners.
AUG. 3. — Zeppelin raid on Eastern and South- Eastern Counties ;
one airship hit.
French Successes at Verdun. — They retake the village of
Fleury, and, towards Thiaumont, all the trenches between
it and Fleury as far as the south-east of the Thiaumont
Work and the approaches of Hill 320.
Casement hanged.
AUG. 4. — Alter being driven from Fleury and the Work of Thiau-
mont, the French regain possession of both positions.
Turk Attack on Egypt. — An enemy force, 14,000 strong.
attacks our positions near Romani, 23 miles east of the
Suez Canal, but fails disastrously.
AUG. 5. — New British Advance. — North of Pozieres an attack,
in which the Australians and New Army troops take part,
penetrates the German main second-line system on a Iront
of over 2,000 yards. A later despatch states that during
August 4-5 we pushed our line north and west of Pozieres
some 400 to 600 yards over a frontage of about 3,000 yards.
Suez Canal Victory. — Our forces start the pursuit of the
Turks at dawn, and by the evening take more than 2,500
unwounded prisoners, four mountain guns, and a number
of machine-guns.
AUG. 6. — Germans counter-attack north-west of Pozieres, and
in one attack, by the use of liquid fire, t< mporarily force us
back along one of the trenches we had captured. Later
we recover all but some forty yards of lost ground.
,\UG. 7. — Italian success on Isonzo front ; 4,000 prisoners
announced to have been taken since Aug. 4.
Announced that pursuit of Turks in Egypt pressed for
eighteen miles, and the Katia-Elm-Aisha basin cleared of
invaders.
In German East Africa Van Deventer's men reported now
on the Central Railway at three points, the enemy retreating
to the coast.
French troops carry a line of trenches between Hem Wood
and the Somme to the east of the Monacu Farm.
AUG. 8. — Great Italian Gains. — Officially reported that on the
Ix>wer Isonzo the Mt. Sabotino and the Mt. San Michele
strongholds are completely in the possfssion of the Italians.
General Lechitsky reported to have driven the enemy back
along the whole line on the south of the Russian frorit, and to
be ten miks from Stanislau.
British right wing moves against Guillemont, our line having
been advanced about 400 yards south-west of the town.
Portugal decidts, on the invitation of the British Govern-
ment, to extend her co-operation to Europe.
AUG. 9. — Fall of Gorizia.
Zeppelin raid on East Coast ; eight persons killed,
seventeen injured.
French artillery bombards Doiran.
1916
North-west of Pozieres the Australians advance our line
200 yards on a frontage of 600 yards.
AUG. 10. — Russians occupy Stanislau.
British again advance north-west of Poziercs, and the
French north of Hem Wood.
AUG. ii. — The French follow up their bombardment of Doiran
by occupying Hill 227, south of th? town.
Great British Air Offensive. — Our squadrons bomb airship
sheds at Brussels and at Namur, and railway sidings and
stations at Mons, Namur, and Busigny.
AUG. 12. — French attack the third German position from east of
Hardecourt as far as the Somme opposite Buscourt, carry
all the trenches to a depth of 1,000 yards, and penetrate
into the village of Maurepas.
Enemy retreat in Galicia. Count Bothmer driven out of
his fortified positions west and south-west of Tarnopol.
Seaplane attack on Dover ; one officer, six men slightly
injured.
AUG. 13. — Important British Advance. — Our troops progress
north-west of Pozi&res, gaining 300 to 400 yards on a front
of over a mile. Enemy trenches captured on the plateau
north-west of Bazentin-le-Petit towards Martinpuich.
French progress on the slopes of Hill 109 to the south-east
of Maurepas.
Continued Italian advance. Our allies press on east of the
Nad Logem (Hill 212), and pierce another strong line of
enemy entrenchments.
H.M.S. destroyer Lassoo torpedoed or mined off the
Dutch coast.
AUG. 14. — South of the Somme the French extend their positions
south-west of Estrees. On the British front west of
Pozieres the enemy gain a temporary footing in a portion
of the trenches captured by us on Aug. 13.
AUG. 15. — Announced that British retake nearly the whole of
the remainder of the trenches in which the enemy gained
a footing on the I3th.
At Verdun the French force back the German lines close
to Fleury.
Russians occupy Jablonica, two miles from the Car-
pathians crest.
AUG. 16. — Announced that King George has spent a week with
his Army in France.
French Advance on Somme Front. — They carry a line
of trenches on a length of almost a mile, and at certain points
reach the Guillemont-Maurepas road. They occupy all the
enemy positions east of the Maurepas-Clery road.
Russians publish the total of their captures from June 4
to Aug. 12 : 7.757 officers, 350,845 men, 405 cannon.
AUG. 17. — British line pushed forward both west and south-west
of Guilli mont.
Reported that the Arab town and military coastal station
of Bagamoyo, thirty-six miles north of Dar-cs-Salaam,
occupied by naval forces.
AUG. 1 8. — New Allied Advance. — The British and French attack
all along the front from Pozieres to the Somme. Our troops
carry strong positions and gain ground towards Ginchy and
Guillemont. The French carry a further great part of
Maurepas village.
AUG. 19. — North Sea Naval Fight. — German High Seas Fleet
comes out, but retires in face of British forces in consider-
able strength. We lose two light cruisers, the Nottingham
and the Falmouth, which were torpedoed. One enemy
submarine destroyed, another rammed.
2510
DIARY OF THE GREAT WAR
1916
Submarine £23 torpedoes and sinks German battleship
of the Nassau class.
Thiepval Ridge Captured. — Sir Douglas Haig reports
capture of the western outskirts of Guillemont, and the ridge
south-east of and overlooking Thiepval, and the northern
slopes of the high ground north of Pozieres.
AUG. 20. — British gain more ground north of Bazentin-le-Petit.
Activity in Balkans. — Bulgarians reported advancing on
Kavalla. On Struma front our cavalry in touch with the
enemy.
AUG. 21. — Sir Charles Monro succeeds Sir Beauchamp Duff as
Commander-in-Chief in India.
German counter-attacks in the region of the High Wood.
Our guns severely damage the enemy's trenches south of
Thiepval, causing a conflagration in one of the enemy's
batteries.
General Smuts, moving on Dar-es-Salaam, supported by
warships operating at sea. Deventer defeats a German force
near Kidete Station.
AUG. 22. — Sir Douglas Haig reports progress near Pozieres, in
the Leipzig salient, and south of Guillemont.
Russian and Italian troops in Macedonia. — Announced
that troops of our allies have landed at Salonika, the Russians
arriving on July 30, the Italians on Aug. II.
Occupation of Kilossa, East Africa.
AUG. 23.— British troops gain another 200 yards of German
trench south of Thiepval.
War Office issues communique dealing with position in
Macedonia, in which the enemy line east of the Struma is
denned.
Zeppelin raid on East Coast.
AUG. 24. — Several Zeppelins carry out raid on East and South-
East Coasts, one reaching outskirts of London ; eight killed,
many injured.
French take Maurepas, and progress beyond the village.
British troops push forward 300 yards towards Thiepval.
Russia reports her troops have retaken Mush.
AUG. 25. — Admiralty announces H.M. armed yacht Zaida sunk; four
officers and nineteen men of her crew prisoners of the Turks.
H.M. armed boarding steamer Duke of Albany torpedoed
and sunk in North Sea.
Naval aeroplanes bomb airship sheds at Namur.
Prussian Guard's Defeat. — In the Thiepval salient a deter-
mined attack by the Prussian Guard repulsed by Wiltshire
and Worcestershire troops.
AUG. 26. — British gain 200 yards of German trench north of
Bazentin-le-Petit, and make headway north-west of Ginchy.
Russian troops gain fresh ground on the frontier heights
near Mt. Kowerla.
AUG. 27. — Rumania Declares War on Austria-Hungary.
British troops gain ground north-west of Ginchy.
AUG. 28. — Italy at War with Germany.
Bulgarians announced to have reached the ^Egean coast
at Kavalla.
British long-range guns successfully fire on troops and
traffic between Bapaume and Miraumont.
British monitors bombard Bulgarian forces at the mouth
of the Struma.
Zeppelin raid on Bukarest.
AUG. 29. — Rumania in Action. — Rumanian Army moves in the
passes of the Transylvanian Alps. South of Kronstadt
Austrian troops compelled to retire by " an encircling
movement."
Officially announced that the total prisoners captured by
British since July I are : 266 officers, and 15,203 other ranks,
with 26 guns, 160 machine-guns.
AUG. 30. — Lechitsky's troops, advancing in the Carpathians,
capture Mt. Pantyr.
General von Falkenhayn dismissed from post of Chief
of General Staff ; he is succeeded by Von Hindenburg.
Turkey declares war on Rumania.
AUG. 31. — British launch discharge of gas " over a broad front "
near Arras and near Armentieres, with good results.
Russian troops march across the Dobruja Delta ;
Rumanian Army twenty miles into Hungary.
SEPT. i. — Allied naval demonstration at Athens. Twenty-three
warships, with seven transports, anchor four miles outside
the port of Piraeus.
A revolt of Greek troops in Salonika results in the surrender
of the garrison to General Sarrail. Insurrection breaks out
in various parts of Macedonia, and a " Committee of National
Defence " is appointed.
General Smuts announces enemy in full retreat both east
and west of the Uluguru Mountains, south of Mrogoro.
Rumanian victory at Orsova, on the Danube.
1916
SEPT. 2. — Russians capture the Ploska Heig'it, just north of the
Jablonica Pass.
Allied warships enter port of Piraeus and seize three German
vessels. The Allied Governments demand the control of
posts and telegraphs, the banishment of enemy agents, and
punishment of Greek subjects in collusion with the Germans.
SEPT. 3. — British capture Guillemont and part of Ginchy. French
capture the -village of Forest and Clery.
Zeppelin destroyed near London. — Hostile airship, one of
thirteen raiding Eastern Counties, attempting to approach
the London area, is brought down by Lieut. W. L. Robinson,
R.F.C., at Cu'Hev, near Enfield. Lieut. Robinson was later
awarded the V.C.
Russians conquer new ground on the Zlota Lipa front,
in Galicia.
SEPT. 4.' — Great French Advance. — South of the Somme our ally
attacks over a front of twelve miles, from Barleux to the
district south of Chaulnes. As the result, their new line runs
from Barleux, touches Berny, comprises Soyecourt, sweeps
through the western part of Chaulnes Wood, and includes
the village of Chilly. Unwoundcd prisoners exceed 2,700.
Surrender of Dar-es-Salaam to British naval forces.
British air raid on Mazar, Sinai Peninsula.
SEPT. 5. — From Mouquet Farm to the junction of our line with
that of the French our troops carry the whole of the German
second line, and gain a footing in Leuze Wood. East of
Clery the French reach the Bouchavesnes-Clery road.
Russians in touch with German-Bulgarian forces in the
Dobruja.
British air raid on El Arish.
SEPT. 6. — British capture whole of Leuze Wood.
General Brussiloff's troops in a new attack towards
Halicz capture a fortified position and take 4,500 prisoners.
SEPT. 7. — Russians capture bridge-head of Halicz.
French gain at Verdun. Attacking the German line on
the Vaux-Chapitre Wood — Le Chenois front, they carry it to
a length of 1,600 yards, taking 250 prisoners and ten
machine-guns.
Rumanians sustain a reverse at Tutrakau (Turtukai) on
the south bank of the Danube.
British naval forces and Marines, with military landing-
parties, occupy the ports of Kilwa Kivinje and Kihva
Kissiwani (German East Africa).
British naval aeroplanes raid enemy's aerodrome at St.
Denis Westrem.
SEPT. 8. — Four massed attacks by the Germans between Ycrman-
dovillers and Chaulnes repulsed by the French.
Capture of Orsova by Rumanian troops officially an-
nounced.
SEPT. 9. — Sir Douglas Haig reports the whole of Ginchy village
now in our hands.
Bulgarian and German invaders of the Dobruja reported
driven back.
On the Euphrates a mixed British force from Nasiriyeh
drives Turkish irregulars northwards, killing 200.
SEPT. 10. — Reported fall of Silistria to a German-Bulgarian force.
A British Headquarters despatch summarises our gains
during the week Sept. 2-9. We advanced on a front of (> <x><>
yards to a depth varying from 300 to 3,000 yards. The
ground between Ginchy and Leuze Wood is also captured.
SEPT. II. — The British operating on the Salonika front cross the
Struma, and drive Bulgarians out of villages east of the
river.
M. Zaimis, the Greek Prime Minister, resigns.
SEPT. 12. — Brilliant French advance. Our ally carries Hill 145,
the village of Bouchavesnes, the woods of Marrieres, and all
the enemy trench system up to the Bapaume-Peronne road,
capturing 1,500 prisoners.
Russians win a considerable success in the capture of the
Kapul Mountain, with a number of other Carpathian heights.
Austrian air raid on Venice.
SEPT. 13. — Continued French advance. They carry by assault the
Farm of L'Abbe Wood, 600 yards east of the Bethune road,
and hold the German third line.
Italian air raid on Trieste.
SEPT. 14. — French increase their gains south-east of Combles by
storming Le Priez Farm. South of the Somme they pro«n ss
by the use of grenades to the east of Belloy-en-Santerre.
Activity on the Salonika Front. — British troops move
forward through Machukovo, and capture a salient in the
enemy's line north of the village.
Serbians push forward towards Monastir, taking Garni-
chevo and most of the Malka Nidjc ridge.
SEPT. 15. — Great British Advance on the Somme. — Our attack
is made on a front that goes from a point north of the
DIARY OF THE GREAT WAR
igi6
Albert-Bapaume road to Bouleaux Wood, a distance of
six miles. We advance at various places some 3,000 yards,
and take Flers, Martinpuich, and Courcelette, with most
of Bouleaux Wood, and the whole of High Wood. Announced
that we use for the first time a new type of heavy armoured
car (" tanks "). Over 2,300 prisoners taken.
Italian stroke on the Carso. Our ally storms enemy
positions east of the Vallone, and takes 2.117 prisoners, thus
taking a long step farther on the way to Trieste.
SEPT. 16. — Sir Douglas Haig reports continued progress, and
estimates total number of prisoners captured at 4,000. Our
line now runs 500 yards to the north of High Wood.
Russian victory north of Halicz.
Russo-Rumanian forces in the Dobruja retire to strong
positions between Rasova and Tuzla.
The allied forces in Macedonia drive the Bulgarians before
them, and capture the heights overlooking Fiorina.
__ The Italians advancing in the Carso capture the height of
San Grado and strong entrenchments towards Loquizza
and east of Oppacchiasella.
SEPT. 17. — Sir Douglas Haig reports we have improved our
position near Mouquet Farm, and beaten off counter-attacks.
The French advance south of the Somme, capturing the
villages of Vermandovillers and Berny.
In Macedonia French troops take Fiorina by storm.
A mobile column, comprised of Anzac mounted troops,
camel corps, with artillery, surprises the Turks at Bir-el-
Mazar, 65 miles from the canal, penetrates their trenches,
inflicting considerable casualties.
SEPT. 1 8. — North-west of Combles we straighten our line by the
capture of a strongly-fortified German work.
Trench troops carry the whole of the village of Deniecourt,
and advance towards Ablaincourt.
SEPT. 19. — French troops make progress east of Berny. Five
enemy attacks against Russian detachments in Champagne
repulsed.
Reported heavy fighting in the Defile of Merisov, in
Transylvania. The Rumanians are moving towards Hatszeg.
SEPT. 20.— -Great German attacks upon the French lines in the
salient which cuts the Bethunc-Peronne road between Le
Priez Farm and the Farm of the Abbe. Wood repulsed with
very heavy losses.
Sir Douglas Haig in a despatch quotes an order by Falken-
hayn while he was Chief of the German General Staff which
refers to the enemy's shortage of guns and ammunition.
Allies declare a blockade of the Greek coast from the mouth
of the Struma to the mouth of the Mcsto.
SEPT. 21. — Enemy makes strong counter-attacks south of the
Ancre against the New Zealand troops, all of which are
beaten off with severe loss to the enemy.
East of Gorizia the Italians occupy a new position near
Santa Caterina.
Rumanian Victory in the Dobruja. — Bukarest officially
announces that the Battle of Dobruja, which began on
Sept. 3 (i6th), ended on Sept. 7 (20th) in the defeat of the
enemy.
SEPT. 22.— British Line Advanced. — On a mile front, between
Martinpuich and Flers, our troops carry two lines of enemy
trenches.
Hostile seaplane attack on Dover ; three bombs dropped,
r.o damage caused.
SEPT. 23. — British advance to the east of Courcelette, where a
strongly-fortified system of enemy trenches is captured
and our line advanced on a half-mile front.
Great Zeppelin Raid on London and the Eastern, South-
Eastern, and East Midland Counties. Two Zeppelins
brought down, one in South Essex, the crew being destroyeel.
The crew of the other set fire to their craft and surrender.
Casualties : 38 killed, and 125 injured.
Italians take the summit of the Cardinal, south of the
Avisio.
SEPT. 24. — British Cross the Struma. — Officially reported from
Salonika that British troops cross the Struma in three places.
Air Raid on Essen. — Two French airmen — Capt. de
Beauchamps and Lieut. Daucourt — drop bombs on Krupps.
SETT. 25. — Forward move on the Somme. — The British and
French, after a long and violent bombardment, resume their
offensive. Our troops take Morval and Lesbceufs, and
practically sever the enemy's communications with Combles.
Crisis in Greece. — M. Venizclos leaves Athens with a num-
ber of highly-placed officers and many supporters.
Zeppelin raid on Northern and North-Eastern Counties;
36 killed, 27 injured.
SEPT. 26. — Thiepval and Combles Captured. — The British take
the former, and, in conjunction with the French, the latter.
1916
Reported that the Rumanians are again masters of the
Vulkan Pass.
SEPT. 27. — British Gains Extended. — North of Flers, on a 2,000
yards front, we advance to the eastern side of Eaucourt-
1'Abbaye. North-east of Thiepval the British capture the
Stuff Redoubt.
Naval aeroplanes attack enemy airship sheds at Evere,
Berche, St. Agathe, and Etterbeck, near Brussels.
SEPT. 28. — British line advanced north and north-east of
Courcelette.
Text of the Proclamation of the Greek Provisional Go vern-
ment published, signed by M. Venizclos and Admiral
Condouriotis.
SEPT. 29. — British gains south-west of Le Sars, on the Bapaume
Road.
SEPT. 30. — Completion of three-months' Battle of the Somme.
OCT. i. — Blitish Forward Move. — Attacking the German lines
in the Somme area, our troops capture the whole of their
objective on a front of 3,000 yards, and take Eaucourt
1'Abbaye.
Zeppelin raid on East Coast ; one airship brought down
in flames at Potter's Bar.
Renewed Russian offensive south-west of Brody and
north-east of Halicz. In latter area our ally takts 112
officers and 2,268 men.
Rumanian diversion across the Danube between Ruschuk
and Tutrakan.
OCT. 2. — Germans regain a footing in some of the buildings of
Eaucourt 1'Abbaye.
Russians defeat enemy counter-attacks south of Brzezany,
on the Zlota Lipa.
Naval aeroplanes attack enemy airship sheds near Brussels.
OCT. 3. — Russians continue their olk-nsive in Volhynia, attacking
on both sides of the main road from Lutsk to the enemy's
fortified base at Vladimir Volynsk.
British recapture Eaucourt I'Abbaye.
French success near Rancourt, 120 prisoners taken.
OCT. 4. — General Haig's comprehensive review of the Somme
operations states that to the end of September the British
had taken 26,735 prisoners, and engaged 38 German divi-
sions.
Rumanian Campaign. — Our ally captures 13 enemy
guns in Dobruja. The Rumanian torces which had crossed
the Danube withdrawn. The Rumanian Second Army at
Fogaras retreating.
Greek Cabinet resigns.
Transport Franconia sunk in the Mediterranean by
enemy submarine.
French troopship Gallia torpedoed in the Mediterranean,
600 soldiers missing.
OCT. 5. — British advance north-east of Eaucourt I'Abbaye.
General Sakharoff attacks General Boehm-Ermolli
between Brody and Tarnopol railway lines on a twenty-
five-mile front.
Rumanian retreat towards Brasso continues ; withdrawal
in the Fogaras- Vladeni sector.
OCT. 6. — British make further progress towards Seres.
OCT. 7. — British capture Le Sars.
French carry their line forward over 1,300 yards north-
east of Mjrval.
Reported that British troops have established a bridge-
head ten miles in width across the Struma towards Seres.
OCT. 8. — Rumanian forces in Southern Transylvania are with-
drawing to the frontier from Orsova to Predeal. Enemy
claim to have retaken Brass) (Kronstadt).
Hundredth Day of Battle of the Somme.
OCT. 9. — British make progress, and establish posts east of
Le Sars, in the direction of Butte de Warlencourt.
Falkenhayn in his attack on the frontier between Tran-
sylvania and Rumania reported to be approaching the
defensive positions in the mountains, and reaches Torzburg.
Reported from New York that eight vessels torpedoed
off Nantucket Lightship by German submarines.
M. Venizelos arrives at Salonika.
OCT. 10. — War Office reports that British cavalry patrols in
Macedonia have reached the Demirhissar-Sercs railway
at some points.
French attacking south of the Somme, between Berny-en-
Santerre and Chaulnes, take the hamlet of Bovent, and hold
the outskirts of Ablaincourt and most of the woods of
Chaulnes.
Italian Advance on Three Fronts. — On the line from the
River Vippacco and south of Oppacchiasella the Italians
captured all the entrenchments of the enemy and over
5,000 prisoners. In the Julian Alps, just south of Gorizia,
2518
DIARY OF THE GREAT WAR
1916
the Austrian line has been broken. By a third thrust
in the Trentino the enemy is ejected from the northern
slopes of Mt. Pasubio.
OCT. ii.- — In Macedonia the French carry the first Bulgarian
lines on the heights wt_st of Ghevgeli.
Allied Ultimatum to Greece. — It demands surrender of
Greek Fleet, except three warships. Greek Government
complies under protest.
OCT. 12. — Fresh British Advance. — Our troops attack the low
heights between their front trenches and the Bapaume-
Peronne road, and secure successes.
Both in the Gorizia area and on the Carso the Italians
materially increase their gains. Officially announced that
since August 6 they have taken in all 30,881 prisoners.
OCT. 13. — DespatchtromLt.-Gen. Sir Percy Lake relative to opera-
tions in Mesopotamia, Jan. ig-April 30, 1916, published.
Franco-British squadron of 40 aeroplanes raids Mauser
Works at Oberndorf, on the Neckar.
British advance their lines between Gueudecourt and
Lesboeufs.
Rumanian retreat in the Torzburg Pass.
OCT. 14. — South of the Ancre British improve their position
in the neighbourhood of the Schwaben Redoubt.
West of Belloy-en-Santerre the French take the first
German line on a front of a mile and a quarter, the hamlet
of Genermount, and the sugar refinery, 1,300 yards north-
east of Ablaincourt.
OCT. 15. — British line advanced slightly north-east of Gueude-
court. Progress at Stuff Redoubt.
French enter Sailly-Saillisel.
Austro-German attacks on the passes between Tran-
sylvania and Rumania continue, the enemy making progress
in the Torzburg Pass.
In the Black Sea, near the Bosphorus, Russians seize
the 6,ooo-ton Turkish armed transport Rodosto.
OCT. 16. — French consolidate themselves in the captured portion
of Sailly-Saillisel, and carry a small wood between G6ner-
mount and Ablaincourt.
Flame attack on British at Schwaben Redoubt repulsed
with heavy loss.
Russian communique reports an Austro-German offensive
with strong forces near the point in the Carpathians where
the Russian and Rumanian armies join. Enemy captures
Gyimes Pass.
OCT. 17. — Allied Landing at Athens. — Troops to the number
of about 1,200 land to help the police in keeping order, and
occupy municipal buildings and railway stations.
Rumanians check enemy in the Gyimes Pass.
Italians carry the Tooth of Pasubio, in Southern Trentino.
OCT. 18. — Allied Advance North of the Somme. — British extend
the front north of Gueudecourt and towards the Butte de
Warlencourt. French take the whole of Sailly-Saillisel.
South of the Spmme they capture the whole of the front
between La Maisonette Chateau and Biaches.
Bukarest announces enemy repulsed in the Buzau Valley.
Serbian advance on the Tcherna ; Brod taken.
OCT. 19. — Slight British progress at the Butte de Warlencourt.
British Headquarters review of fighting on our front since
the beginning of October gives our total captures since
July I at 28,918.
General Smuts reports main forces of the enemy driven
into the Rufigi Valley.
Fighting at Goioasa, twelve miles from within the Gyimes
Pass ; enemy repulsed at Oitoz Pass to Polana Sarata. New
offensive by Mackensen in Dobruja.
Announced that a reconnaissance has been made against
the Turks at Maghara, in the Sinai Desert.
Serbians occupy Veliselo.
OCT. 20. — German attacks on Schwaben and Stuff Redoubts
defeated.
Rumanian withdrawal in the Buzau Pass.
German Note to Norway on her submarine policy.
OCT. 2i.— British advance on a three-mile front between Schwaben
Redoubt and Le Sars, and capture Stuff and ReginaRedoubts.
Our prisoners total 1,018.
French succc ss in the region of Chaulnes.
German cruiser of the Kolberg class torpedoed by British
submarine.
Assassination of Count Sturgkh, Austrian Premier.
Rumanians evacuate Tuzla.
British Camel Corps detachments and armoured cars
sweep the Dakhla and Baharia oases, in the western Libyan
desert, taking 175 prisoners.
OCT. 22. — Aeroplane raid on Sheerness. Later in day it is shot
down and destroyed at sea by naval aircraft.
1916
French carry whole of Ridge 128, west of Sailly-Saillisel.
Fall of Constantsa.
OCT. 23. — British right wing advances east of Gueudecourt and
Lesbceuls.
H.M.S. Genista, a mine-sweeper, torpedoed and sunk.
All her officers and 73 men lost.
Hostile aeroplane raid on Margate.
British air raid on blast furnaces of Hagondange.
On the Transylvanian frontier the enemy take the village
of Predeal.
OCT. 24. — French Victory at Verdun. — Enemy's line pierced
along a front of five miles to a depth of two. Douaumont
village and fort, the farm of Thiaumont, and the cjuarries
of Haudromont captured. Prisoners total 3,500.
OCT. 25. — Russo-Rumanian retreat in the Dobruja. Enemy
troops occupy Cerna Voda, the Danube bridgehead of
the Bukarest-Constantsa railway. On the Trausylvaniaa
front Falkenhayn's armies capture the Vulkan Pass.
OCT. 26. — Officially announced that the pressure of the enemy
in the Dobruja has weakened. On the Transylvanian
frontier the chief pressure of the enemy is being exercised
in the passes south of Brasso, and mainly in the Torzburg
and the Predeal.
German Raid on Channel Transports. — Ten destroyers
attempt a raid on our cross-Channel transport service.
One empty transport, the Queen, is sunk, two of the enemy
destroyers believed to be sunk, and the rest driven off.
H.M.S. Flirt missing, and H.M.S. Nubian disabled by a
torpedo and grounded.
OCT. 27. — French closing round Fort Vaux.
Rumanians repulse enemy attacks in the Valley of Pravatz,
and advance in the Uzal Valley, taking 900 prisoners.
OCT. 28. — British reconnaissances to the north-east of Lesboeufs
result in the capture of several important enemy trenches.
At Verdun French troops carry a quarry which had been
organised by the enemy north-east of Fort Douaumont.
British liner Marina sunk by submarine ; American
sailors believed drowned.
OCT. 29. — British make further advance north-east of Lcsbceufs.
French progress in the regions of Sailly-Saillisel and
Biaches. The Germans penetrate the Chateau of La
Maisonette.
Successful Rumanian Actions. — Our ally continues her
offensive in the Jiul Valley (north-western front).
OCT. 30. — North and south of the Somme the French win two
successes. North of the river their troops carry a system
of trenches north-west of Sailly-Saillisel. East of Sailly
they advance towards Saillis -1.
North of Veliselo the Serbians engage German-Bulgarian
troops and score some successes.
OCT. 31. — Rumanians surprise and repulss the enemy on Mount
Rosca. and occupy it.
Nov. i. — British, in conjunction with the French, make a local
attack east of Lesboeufs, and gain ground. The French
carry a strongly organised system of trenches on the western
outskirts of the St. Pierre Vaast Wood.
British strengthen hold on the Seres- Demirhissar railway
by the capture of Barakli Djuma.
Vaux Fort abandoned by the Germans.
Italian Thrust on Carso. — An advance is made over a
six-mile front, from east of Gorizia to beyonel the Oppac-
chiasella-Kostanjevica road ; 4,731 prisoners taken.
Successful raid on Pola by Italian torpedo-boats.
Nov. 2. — Dutch vessel Oldambt, being taken to Zeebrugge by
a German prize crew, captured by British scouting craft.
Italians continue their advance from Gorizia to the sea,
and take strong defences and 3,498 prisoners.
Nov. 3. — French carry their lines forward as far as the outskirts
of Vaux village.
Nov. 4. — French take all the village of Vaux, and occupy
Damlnnp.
Nov. 5. — New Somme Blows. — French take most of Saillisel,
and British in their centre progress on a front of about
1,000 yards, and take the high ground near the Butte de
Warlencourt.
German Dreadnought torpedoed by British submarine in
North Sea.
Nov. 6. — Lieut. -General Sir Bryan Mahon appointed Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland in succession to
Lieut. -General Sir John Maxwell, who takes the Northern
Command.
P. and O. liner Arabia torpedoed in Mediterranean, all
passengers saved.
British troops forced to relinquish part of ground gained
in central region near the Butte de Warlencourt.
2519
DIARY OF THE GREAT WAR
iqi6
Conquest of Darfur. — Our mounted troops round up the
rebels, capturing 200 prisoners. All Dinar, the ex-Sultan
killed.
Nov. 7. — French take all the villages of Ablaincourt and
Pressoir, push east of Ablaincourt, capture the strongly-
fortified cemetery, and advance as far as the approaches
to Gomm6court.
Officially announced that from July i to November I
Franco-British troops, in Somme fighting, take 72,000
prisoners.
Admiralty reports that submarine officer claims to have
hit .two German battleships of the Kaiser class.
Russia reports success in the Carpathians ; south of
Dorna Watra over 800 prisoners captured.
Nov. 8. — Violent enemy artillery bombardment in the Prahova
Valley, where Rumanians repulse an infantry attack. In
the Dobruja they advance towards the south.
Serbians repulse three Bulgarian attacks in the loop of
the Tcherna.
Russian southern flank advanced five miles into Tran-
sylvania.
Nov. g. — Rumanians report they have re-occupied Hirsova
(Dobruja), with assistance of gunboats on the Danube.
East of Armentidres the British discharge gas, and bomb
the enemy's trench line.
Prime Minister of Portugal announces Portuguese Army
ready to leave for the European battlefields.
Nov. 10. — British naval aeroplanes attack the harbour and
submarine shelters at Ostend and Zeebrugge.
Air Squadrons in Action. — A pitched battle takes place
between a British and a German squadron on the west
front, each of- 30 machines or more. Enemy squadron
broken up and dispersed, 15 of his machines fall out or
driven down, 7 British machines missing.
Fast German destroyers shell Baltic Port, west of
Reval. In their retreat the majority are sunk by Russian
fleet.
Reported that allied force has driven enemy from
Dumarea, at the Rumanian side of Danube bridge at
Cerna Voda.
Dutch mail steamer Konigin Regentes captured by enemy
and taken to Zeebrugge.
British storm and capture eastern portion of Regina
Trench on a front of i.ooo yards.
Serbians storm the Chuke Heights and carry the village
of Polog, taking 600 prisoners.
Nov. ii. — French recapture greater part of Saillisel.
British deliver gas attack south of Ypres.
Nov. 12.— French take whole of Saillisel.
Rumanians report they have advanced in the Dobruja
as far as the Topalu (Danube), luan-Cisme, Caranasuff
(Black Sea) front.
Nov. 13.— Capture Of Beaumont-Hamel. — Our troops attack on
both sides of the Ancre, and penetrate the German defences
on a front of nearly five miles, taking the strongly-fortified
village of St. Pierre Divion, Beaumont-Hamel, and over
3,300 prisoners.
Further Serbian Successes. — Continuing their offensive
towards Monastir, they drive the Bulgarians out of Iven,
fifteen miles east of Monastir, taking 1,000 prisoners.
Rumanians admit yielding ground in the region of
Sarcinesti, to the south of the Roter Turm Pass.
Nov. 14. — The Victory on the Ancre. — Sir Douglas Haig reports
continued success, our troops capturing Beaucourt-sur- Ancre,
and advancing east of the Butte de Warlencourt. Prisoners
to date number over 5,000.
Aeroplane raid on Cairo, a number of civilians killed and
wounded.
Nov. 15. — Sir Douglas Haig reports our troops establish the
positions gained north and south of the Ancre.
Heavy German attacks on the French north and south
of the Somme. Enemy sets foot in Pressoir, but repulsed
everywhere else.
Rumanian retreat in the western valleys south of the
Roter Turm and Vulkan Passes.
British air raid on Ostend and Zeebrugge.
Bulgarians abandon Kenali line.
Nov. 1 6. — French drive Germans out of Pressoir.
Rumanians admit retirements in the valley of the Aluta
and in the rrpion of the Jiul.
Nov. 17. — Flight-Captain de Beauchamps bombs Munich, then
flies across the Alps, landing north oi Venice, making a non-
stop flight of 437! miles.
British naval aeroplanes make another raid on Ostend
and Zeebrugge.
1916
Nov. 18. — British advance north and south of the Ancre, and
reach the outskirts of Grandcourt.
Germans claim to have broken the Rumanian front in
the western valley of the Jiul.
Capture of Monastir by allied troops.
Nov. 19. — Sir Douglas Haig reports a total of 6,962 prisoners
taken since Nov. 13.
Ultimatum to Ministers of the enemy Powers at Athens
to leave the capital by Nov. 22.
Nov. 20. — Allies pursuing enemy from Monastir ; advance on
Prilep.
Officially reported that in the valley of the Jiul the
Rumanians continue to retire towards the south.
Nov. 21. — Death of Emperor Francis Joseph.
German troops occupy Craiova, the chief town in Western
Wallachia.
British hospital ship Britannic sunk by mine or torpedo
in the Zea Channel, in the JEgean Sea; 1,106 survivors,
over 100 lost.
Germans raid British front south-west of Cite St. Elie
(north-west of Hulluch). A part of our front-line trench is
obliterated, and 26 men missing.
Nov. 22. — Hostile artillery active in the Beaumont-Hamel and
Ypres areas. We bombard the enemy's lines near Ransart
(south ot Arras), east of Angres, and north of the La Bassee
Canal.
On the western shore of Lake Prespa (west of Monastir)
French troops occupy Leskovetz (about 10 miles south-east
of Ochrida), and continue their advance towards the
north.
Zeebrugge raided by British naval aeroplanes, an enemy
destroyer hit.
Nov. 23. — Petrograd reports that on Oct. 20 the Russian battle-
ship Imperatritsa Maria was sunk as the result of internal
explosion ; 64 dead, 152 missing.
Naval Raid on South-East Coast. — Six German destroyers
during the night attempt to approach the north end of the
Downs, fire about twelve rounds, and steam off at once.
One shell hits a drifter without injuring any of her crew.
It is denied that shells hit Ramsgate, as the enemy's com-
munique reports.
Nov. 24. — British hospital ship Braemar Castle announced
mined or torpedoed in JEgean Sea ; all on board saved.
Mackensen reported to have forced the Danube. Ru-
manians give up Orsova and Turnu Severin, and continue
retreat.
Nov. 25. — Bukarest admits her troops retire on the left bank
of the Alt, in the direction of Dragasani and Slatina.
Nov. 26. — Falkenhayn's army has come into touch with
Mackensen's, which has crossed the Danube at Zimnicea.
German advance continued in south-western part of
Wallachia.
Zouaves carry by storm Hill 1,050, north-east of Monastir.
German sea raid near Lowestoft ; armed trawler Narval
sunk.
Nov. 27. — Rumanian Retreat. — Our ally abandons the line of
the Olt (Aluta), and falls back. Alexandria, on the Vedea
River, reported in German hands. On the Rumanian right,
Rymmk, on the Olt River, has fallen to the enemy.
Zeppelin Raid on Northern Counties. — One airship brought
down in flames into the sea oft the coast of Durham.
Serbians carry a height north-west of Grunishta. Zouaves
storm a crest east of Hill 1,050.
Nov. 28. — Another Zeppelin which took part in the raid on
the night of Nov. 27 brought down in flames nine miles out
at sea off the Norfolk coast.
Mid-day Raid on London. — Enemy aeroplane drops six
bombs, nine persons injured, material damage slight. Later
in day the same machine brought down by the French off
Dunkirk.
March on Bukarest. — Germans holding Giurgevo, on the
Danube, almost due south of Bukarest, and Curtea de Arges
in the north.
Russian success in Carpathians. Our ally seizes heights
four miles west of Worochta, in the region of Wakarka, and
in the region of Kirlibaba gain possession of a ridge of heights
east of Kirlibaba, compelling the entmy to retire from their
positions, capturing 800 prisoners.
Nov. 29.— Important Naval Changes. — Sir John Jellicoe becomes
first Sea Lord ; Sir David Beatty is appointed to command
the Grand Fleet.
Nov. 30. — Mackensen reported attacking 12 miles from inner
forts of Bukarest. Rumanian Gov< rnment removed to Jassy.
Greek Government refuses Admiral du Fournet's demand
for the surrender of arms.
2520
DIARY OF THE GREAT WAR
1916
DEC. i.— Allied troops land at Athens, and arc attacked by
Greek troops ; many casualties.
War Office issues statement recording the defeat and
dispersal of enemy force in German East Africa, which,
driven out of Tabara by the Belgians in September,
attempted to join the German troops in the south-central
region of the territory. The force has been divided into
two parts, one of whirh surrendered.
DEC. 2. — Rumanian troops turn in their retreat and oppose the
enemy's advance. Latter driven back on the road from
Bukarest to Alexandria. Rumanians recapture Comana
and Gostinari.
DEC. 3. — Announced that Government is to be reconstructed.
Rumanians defeated at battle of the Arges.
DEC. 4. — Petrograd announces Rumanians under uninterrupted
enemy pressure retiring in the Pitesci-Targovistea area.
Russians storm a height two miles south-west of
Tablonitza.
Serbians carry by assault the village of Staravina.
DEC. 5.— Mr. Asquith resigns Premiership, and Mr. Lloyd George
resigns as Secretary for War.
Continued Rumanian retreat towards the east ; enemy
advancing towards Ploesti.
DEC. 6. — Mr. Lloyd George to form a National Government.
Fall of Bukarest.
Russians lose again the commanding height of the
Jablonica Pass.
Germans attacking at Verdun win slight gains on Hill 304.
DEC. 7. — Mr. Lloyd George, Premier. He accepts the King's
offer of the post of Prime Minister and First Lord of the
Treasury, and kisses hands upon his appointment.
Germans announce Rumanian rearguard at Orsova forced
into engagement on River Olt, and obliged to capitulate
with 8,000 men.
DEC. 8. — Admiralty announces German armed raider sighted
in the North Atlantic on December 4.
Russians attack three miles south of Jawornik, in the
south-east corner of Galicia.
Allied Blockade of Greece.
DEC. 9. — British raid enemy trenches at Neuville St. Vaast
and Souchez.
French make successful coup de main against a German
salient in the region of the Butte du Mesnil.
1916
DEC. jo. — British bombard heavily various points behind the
enemy's line.
Russians report that in Wailachia the Rumanian troops,
under unceasing hostile pressure, continue to retire eastward.
DEC. it. — Names of the new " War Cabinet " announced.
Allied raid on Zeebrugge.
Russians reported to have advanced in the Carpathians in
the region of Kirlibaba and in the valley of the Trotus River.
DEC. 12. — French troops carry five small Bulgarian posts south
of the Lumnitza River (S.W. of Ghevgeli).
Germany's Peace Move. At a specially summoned
meeting of the Reichstag, the Chancellor makes a speech
outlining Germany's willingness to open peace negotiations.
Overtures for such negotiations to be made through neutral
Governments by the four enemy powers.
Rumanian retreat continued ; enemy in possession of
Urziceni and Mizil.
DEC. 13.— Changes ir. French Higher Command. General Nivelle
to command in the field on the Western front. General
Joffre becomes " technical military adviser " to the new
French War Committee. Vice-Admiral Gauchct to com-
mand Allied Fleet in the Mediterranean in place of Admiral
du Fou met.
Advance on Kut. British troops advance from the south
on the Hai River. Crossing to the west bank of the river,
they clear the Turkish trenches and hold a position 2.5 miles
from Kut.
DEC. 14 — Near the Jablonica Pass, Russian artillery bombauls
Kovosmezo.
French report enemy's artillery bombards the whole of
the Serbian front and the town of Monastir.
DEC. 15. — Great French Victory at Verdun. Attacking the
enemy on the east bank of the Meuse, to the north of
Douaumont, our ally breaks his front over a depth of two
miles, taking Vacherauville and Louvemont. and the works
of Hardaumont and Bezonvaux. Prisoners amount to
7,500.
Allies' Ultimatum to Greece results in compliance of latter.
British outposts pushed on to within three-quarters of a
mile of the Tigris, south of Kut.
DEC. 16. — French victory at Verdun extended. The village of
Bezonvaux carried, and prisoners now total 10,000.
British troops near Kut extend their hold over the Hai.
KAMERADEN AT THIEPVAL. — A dramatic incident in the glorious capture of Thiepval on September 26th, 1916, was the advance
into the open of No Man's Land of a troop of Germans with hands high above their heads. The enemy in this manner passed unmolested
right through General Haig's oncoming men, the debris of barbed-wire and broken terrain, and the shower of shell to the British lines
of IDolume vii.
D Haramerton, (Sir) John
522 Alexander (ed.)
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