America's War for Humanity Part 52

CHAPTER XXII

LATER EVENTS OF THE WAR

_Results of the Battle of the Aisne_--_Fierce Fighting in Northern France_--_Developments on the Eastern Battle Front_--_The Campaign in the Pacific_--_Naval Activities of the Powers_.

With a battle front reaching from the Belgian coast on the North Sea to the frontier of Switzerland, or a total distance of 362 miles, the operations in the western theater of war toward the end of October were being conducted on a more gigantic scale than was ever witnessed before.

On both sides reinforcements were being rushed to the front. German efforts to break through the Allies' lines were concentrated on the main center at Verdun and on the right flank of the Allies' left wing, above its elbow, between Noyon and Arras, while powerful coincidal movements were in progress on the extreme western end of the line in Belgium and on the southeastern wing in Alsace. At Verdun continuous fighting of the fiercest character had been going on for over sixty days, surpa.s.sing in time and severity any individual battle in history. The army of the Crown Prince had been unable to force the French positions in the vicinity of Verdun and the check sustained by the Germans at this point early in the campaign const.i.tuted a princ.i.p.al cause of General von Kluck's failure in his dash toward Paris.

All along the tremendous battle front the allies' lines as a rule held firm in the thirteenth week of the war, when the great conflict had entered upon what may well be called its fourth stage. The third stage may be said to have ended with the fall of Antwerp and the subjugation of all Belgium but a small portion of its southwestern territory. On the main front the Allies were maintaining the offensive at some vital points, while repulsing the German a.s.saults at others. One or two of the French forts commanding Verdun had fallen but the main positions remained in the hands of the French, and all along the line it was a case of daily give-and-take.

FIERCE FIGHTING IN FLANDERS

After capturing Antwerp the Germans pushed on to Ostend, an "open"

or unfortified town, and occupied it with slight resistance from the Belgian army, which was reforming its broken ranks to the south, between Ostend and the French frontier, and preparing to contest the pa.s.sage of the Kaiser's forces across the River Yser. Moving northward from Lille, the Allies encountered the Germans at Armentieres, which was occupied by a Franco-British force and there was also fierce fighting at Ypres, where there is a ca.n.a.l to the sea. For more than a week the Belgians gallantly held the banks of the Yser in spite of the utmost endeavors of the Germans to cross, and it was not until October 24 that the latter finally succeeded in getting south of the river, with the French seaport of Dunkirk as their next objective point. b.l.o.o.d.y engagements were fought at Nieuport, Dixmude, Deynze and La Ba.s.see.

At this time the battle line formed almost a perpendicular from Noyon in France north to the Belgian coast, south of Ostend. A battle raged for several days in West Flanders and Northern France and both sides claimed successes. The losses of the Allies and the Germans were estimated in the thousands and the wounded were sent back to the rear by the trainful. In the Flemish territory the flat nature of the terrain, with its numerous ca.n.a.ls and almost total absence of natural cover, made the losses especially severe. The pa.s.sage of the Yser cost the Germans dearly and Dixmude was strewn with their dead. And their advance could get no farther.

The necessity of holding the French ports, Dunkirk and Calais, was fully realized by the Allies, who threw large reinforcements into their northern line. The Germans also drew heavily on their center and left wing to reinforce the right, and for a while the forces opposing one another at the extreme western end of the battle front were greater than at any other point. The Germans were firmly held on a line running from south of Ostend to Thourout, Roulers and Menin, the last mentioned place being on the border north of Lille. Flanking attacks being no longer possible, as the western flanks of both armies rested on the North Sea, the Germans were compelled to make a frontal a.s.sault along the line formed by the Belgian frontier. As the Belgian troops, a.s.sisted by a British naval brigade, were pushed back from the Yser, they were gradually merged into the army of the allies, by whom they were received with the honors due the men who had made, for twelve long weeks, such a gallant and determined defense of their country against invasion and despoilment.

BRITISH WARs.h.i.+PS AID BELGIANS

Soon after the German occupation of Ostend, several British wars.h.i.+ps sh.e.l.led the German positions in and around the city and aided in hampering the German advance along the coast. The princ.i.p.al vessels engaged in this work were three monitors which were being completed in England for the Brazilian government when the war started and which were bought by the admiralty.

These monitors, which had been renamed Mersey, Humber and Severn, drew less than nine feet of water and could take up positions not far from sh.o.r.e, from which their 6-inch guns and 4.7-inch howitzers, of which each vessel carried two, were able to throw sh.e.l.ls nearly four miles across country, the range being given them by airmen.

French wars.h.i.+ps of light draft later joined the British monitors and destroyers and a.s.sisted in patrolling the coast, sh.e.l.ling German positions wherever the latter could be discovered by the aeroplane scouts. One reported feat of the naval fire was the destruction of the headquarters of a German general, Von Trip, in which the general and his staff lost their lives.

From time to time German aerial attacks were made in the vicinity of Dover, across the Straits, but these without exception proved to be without military importance in their results. Steps were taken to organize anti-aircraft artillery forces on the eastern coast of England and the continued failure of Zeppelin attacks, annoying as they were, soon restored the equanimity of the British public in this respect.

INDIAN TROOPS IN ACTION

The first word of the employment of British Indian troops at the front came on October 27, when it was reported that in the fighting near Lille a reserve force of Sikhs and Ghurkas, the former with bayonets and the latter with the kukri (a short, curved sword) played havoc with an attacking force of Germans. "Never has there been such slaughter," said the dispatches. "Twenty thousand German dead and wounded, nearly half the attacking force, lay upon the field, while the British losses did not exceed 2,000."

THE FRENCH CAMPAIGN IN ALSACE

At the end of October the French right wing in Alsace-Lorraine was reported to be making distinct progress. It was said to be advancing through the pa.s.ses of the Vosges in the midst of heavy snowstorms. Paris reported that the Germans, who were attempting a movement against the great French frontier fortress of Belfort, had been driven back with heavy losses, while from other sources the Germans were reported to be bringing up heavy mortars for the bombardment of Belfort. There were persistent reports of German defeats in Alsace, but these were repeatedly denied in Berlin. The situation in the territory coveted by the French appeared to resemble that farther west--neither side was making much headway.

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

In the eastern theater of war the conflict during October was waged with fortunes that favored, first one side and then the other. Contradictory claims were put forth from time to time by Petrograd, Vienna and Berlin, but the net result of the operations at the end of the thirteenth week of the war appeared to be that while the intended Russian march on Berlin had been completely checked, the Germans had been repulsed with heavy losses in all their attempts to cross the Vistula and occupy Warsaw, the capital of Russian Poland, which was at one time seriously threatened.

The fighting along the Vistula was fierce and prolonged for several days at a time. The Germans made numerous attempts to cross the river at different points by means of pontoon bridges, but these were destroyed by the Russian artillery as fast as completed. The slaughter on both sides was considerable. On October 28 the Russian battle front reached from Suwalki on the north to Sambor and Stryj on the south, a distance of about 267 miles. The German operations on the Vistula were still in progress and Poland furnished the main arena of battle. East Prussia was practically free from Russian troops, save at a few points near the boundary, but they strongly maintained their positions in Galicia.

THE AUSTRO-SERVIAN CAMPAIGN

After eleven weeks' bombardment by the Austrians, the Servian defenders of Belgrade were still bravely resisting, although half the city had been destroyed. The situation was such as to cause at once astonishment, pity and admiration.

In the open field the Servians continued to hold their own against the Austrian forces opposed to them. Their Montenegrin allies, under General Bukovitch, were reported to have defeated 16,000 Austrians, supported by six batteries of artillery, at a point northeast of Serajevo. The battle terminated in a hand-to-hand bayonet conflict which lasted four hours.

The Austrians are said to have lost 2,500 men, killed and wounded, while the Montenegrins claimed that their losses amounted to only 300 men.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE PACIFIC

Beginning with the loss of its colonies in the China sea, Germany was compelled to witness during the first two years of the war the pa.s.sing into enemy hands of practically all its colonial possessions, which more than balanced its temporary possession of enemy soil in Europe. One by one its colonies in Asia and Africa were captured, and in these operations not only the j.a.panese but the Belgians a.s.sisted, the latter in Africa.

Late in October, 1914, the j.a.panese received the surrender of Tsing Tau, the important German city in Kiauchau, China. The place had been battered for weeks by land and sea by the j.a.panese forces, and the surrender was ordered, it was said, to save the German forces and civilians from certain annihilation if a defense by the garrison to the end were to be carried on. German wars.h.i.+ps were powerless to a.s.sist the beleaguered city, as j.a.panese and English war vessels had driven them far from the coast of China.

The j.a.panese cruiser Takachiho was sunk by a mine in Kiauchau Bay on the night of October 17. One officer and nine members of the crew are known to have been saved. The cruiser carried a crew of 284 men. Her main battery consisted of eight 6-inch guns.

MAIN FLEETS STILL INACTIVE

Up to the last week in October the main fleets of the warring powers were still inactive, but rumors of intended German naval activity were frequent. The cat-and-mouse att.i.tude of the British and German fleets in the North Sea was continued, the Germans lying snug in their ports, protected by their mines and submarines, while the British battles.h.i.+ps lay in wait at all points of possible egress. The situation tried the patience of the people of both countries and there were frequent demands for action by the great and costly naval armaments. But the Germans apparently were not ready to risk a general engagement, and the British could not force them to come out and fight. The British admirals, therefore had, perforce, to pursue a policy of "watchful waiting,"

irksome as it was to all concerned, and "the tireless vigil in the North Sea," as it was termed by Mr. Asquith, was maintained day and night.

No sea captain becalmed in the doldrums ever whistled for a wind more earnestly than the British Jack tars prayed for a chance at the enemy during those three months of playing the cat to Germany's mouse; and on the other hand, the German sailors were, no doubt, equally desirious of a chance to demonstrate the fighting abilities of their brand-new battles.h.i.+ps. All were equally on the _qui vive_, for any hour might bring to the Germans the order to put to sea, and to the British the welcome cry of "Enemy in sight!"

CARING FOR BELGIAN REFUGEES

The plight of the Belgian people, including the refugees in Holland, England and France, was pitiable in the extreme and by the end of October had roused the sympathy of the entire world. A conservative estimate placed the number of Belgians expatriated at 1,500,000 out of a population of 7,000,000. On October 26 Mr. Brand Whitlock, United States minister to Belgium, reported that the entire country was on the verge of starvation, while Holland and England had their hands full caring for the Belgians who had sought refuge in those countries. In eight cities of Holland there were said to be 500,000 Belgian refugees. Over 70, arrived in London in one week and a central committee in London had twenty-seven subcommittees at work in different cities in England, Scotland and Wales, placing the refugees in homes as rapidly as possible. The humanitarian problem of taking care of the Belgians was one of tremendous responsibility, but the people of the three countries in which most of them sought refuge rose n.o.bly to the occasion and spared no effort to lessen their sufferings.

MORE CANADIANS FOR THE FRONT

It was announced in Ottawa, Canada, on October 19 that the Dominion Government had decided to put 30,000 more men in training in Canada, to be despatched to England when ready. As soon as the first unit of 15, was embarked, probably in December, another 15,000 men would be enlisted to replace them, the plan being to keep 30,000 men continuously in training, to be drawn upon in units of 10,000 or 15,000 as soon as equipped, during the continuance of hostilities in Europe. Thus with the 32,000 Canadian volunteers already landed in England, and 8,000 under arms guarding strategic points in the Dominion, Canada would soon raise 100,000 men as part of her contribution to Imperial defense.

But this was only a beginning. Later in the war Canada stood ready to furnish half a million men to the cause of the Empire, if required.

Nearly 360,000 of that number had been enlisted when the war was two years old. The greatest problems were encountered in the first year, or rather in the first six months of the war, after which time efforts were systematized, the military machine worked smoothly, and the Dominion's splendid response to the call to arms was maintained throughout. General prosperity in the face of adverse conditions happily attended this record of patriotic achievement, and the predominant spirit in Canada was one of buoyant optimism as to the inevitable outcome of the great conflict.

THE "EMDEN" DRIVEN ASh.o.r.e A WRECK

During the first three months of the war the German cruiser Emden, operating princ.i.p.ally in the Indian ocean, played havoc with British merchantmen, sinking over twenty vessels engaged in far Eastern commerce, besides a Russian cruiser and a French torpedo-boat. But she met her match in the second week of November, when she was engaged off the Cocos or Keeling group of islands, southwest of Java, by the fast Australian cruiser Sydney and driven ash.o.r.e a burning wreck after an hour's fight, with a loss of 280 men.

NAVAL BATTLE OFF CHILEAN COAST

Early in November a fleet of five German cruisers, under Admiral von Spee, encountered a British squadron composed of the cruisers Good Hope, Monmouth and Glasgow, in command of Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, off the coast of Chile, in the Southern Pacific. Despite a raging gale, a long-range battle ensued, resulting in the defeat of the British and the loss of the flags.h.i.+p Good Hope, with the admiral and all her crew, and of the cruiser Monmouth. The Glasgow escaped in a damaged condition. The loss of life was about 1,000, officers and men.

Up to November 15, the struggle in the coast region of Belgium continued with terrific intensity and appalling loss of life on both sides. The Germans occupied Dixmude November 11, only to lose it on November 13, after a fierce attack by reinforced British troops.

DAILY COST OF WAR

The daily cost of the present war to the nations engaged in the struggle is estimated at not less than $54,000,000 a day--a sum which fairly staggers the imagination. This enormous cost of the armies in the field gives a decided advantage to the nation best supplied with the "sinews of war" and may contribute to a shortening of hostilities. War is indeed a terrible drain upon the resources of a nation and only a few there are that can stand many months of war expenditures like those of August-October, 1914, amounting in the grand aggregate to nearly five billions of dollars ($5,000,000,000).

TURKEY ENTERS THE WAR

On October 29 an act which was regarded in Russia as equivalent to a declaration of war by Turkey was committed at Theodosia, the Crimean port, when that town was bombarded without notice by the cruiser Breslau, flying the Turkish flag, but commanded by a German officer and manned by a German crew. The Breslau was a former German s.h.i.+p, and was said to have been purchased by the Turkish government, with the German battles.h.i.+p Goeben, when they sought refuge in the Dardanelles at the beginning of the war, from the French and British fleets in the Mediterranean.

FOURTH MONTH OF THE WAR

The month of November, the fourth month of the war, was marked by the heaviest losses to all the nations concerned, but made little change in the general situation.