America's War for Humanity Part 57

The correspondent, describing the harrowing scene of the battle on April 23, said: "Long ago Kitchener's army was given its baptism of fire, but yesterday it got its initiation into h.e.l.l."

In their great effort to smash the Allies on the Yser the Germans also sustained terrible losses. By April 27 it was a.s.serted that the German force that managed to pa.s.s the Yser and took possession of the town of Lizerne had been practically annihilated. The fighting was said to have been far more terrible than that of the autumn of 1914, when the Yser ca.n.a.l ran red with blood.

It was charged by the Allies that in the fighting in Flanders late in April the Germans used asphyxiating gases, which placed thousands of the allied troops _hors de combat_, including many of the Canadian division.

Strong protests against the German use of such methods were voiced by the allied generals, and a formal denunciation was made by Lord Kitchener in the British parliament.

ALLIED TROOPS AT THE DARDANELLES

On April 25-27, a strong force of British and French troops under General Sir Dan Hamilton effected a landing on both sides of the Dardanelles, to co-operate with the allied fleets seeking to force a pa.s.sage through the straits to the Bosporus. The landing was resisted by Turkish troops, but the Allies succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng themselves on the Gallipoli peninsula by May 1, and made several thousand Turks prisoners of war. The bombardment of the Turkish forts in the Dardanelles by the allied wars.h.i.+ps was continued.

The French cruiser Leon Gambetta, with a displacement of 12,351 tons and crew of 714 men, commanded by Rear Admiral Fenet, cruising at the entrance of the Otranto ca.n.a.l in the Ionian sea, was torpedoed the night of April 26th by the Austrian submarine U-5, and went to the bottom in ten minutes; 578 lives were lost; all officers on board, including Rear Admiral Fenet, perished.

CHAPTER XXIII

SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA

_Destruction of the Great Cunard Liner by a German Submarine Caused a Serious Crisis in German-American Relations--Over a Hundred Americans and Many Canadians Drowned, Including Citizens of Prominence and Wealth--Prompt Diplomatic Action by President Wilson--The German Campaign of Frightfulness and Its Results._

Steaming majestically over a smiling sea, with the green hills of Erin in sight over the port bow and all well aboard, the greatest, fastest and most beautiful transatlantic liner in commission was nearing the end of her voyage from New York to Liverpool. It was the hour after luncheon on the great s.h.i.+p, the hour of the siesta or the promenade, the most peaceful hour of the day. Little children by the score played merrily about the great decks; families and friends foregathered in the lounges or beside the rail to watch the Irish coast slip by; all the internal economy of the giant s.h.i.+p moved smoothly, as if by clockwork.

It was more than a floating hotel, replete with comfort and luxury.

It was a floating town, with a whole townful of people. Over fourteen hundred men, women and children were on the pa.s.senger list and six hundred men in the Cunard uniform const.i.tuted the crew. Among the pa.s.sengers were many citizens of the United States and Canada, and there was an unusually large proportion of women and children on board, the families of men who had been drawn into the maelstrom of war.

For in spite of the calm and peace prevailing on the great pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p, the shadow of war impended over all. The b.l.o.o.d.y struggles of the great European cataclysm were proceeding at the other end of the English Channel and dire hints of dangers on the sea in the "war zone" had accompanied the sailing of the s.h.i.+p. But on this bright May day, as the liner approached its destination, danger seemed far distant and few indeed among pa.s.sengers or crew gave serious thought to its imminence.

All was truly well on board. The skies were clear, the sea was smooth, and though the myriad pa.s.sengers realized that they had entered a danger zone of the world's greatest war they had abounding confidence in the giant s.h.i.+p, in its veteran commander, and in the line to which it belonged, that had never yet lost the life of a single pa.s.senger committed to its care. And confidently they looked forward to a safe arrival in port next morning, the happy ending of a wartime voyage which the children on board, and their children's children, should recall with pride for a century to come. BUT--

Right ahead in the path of the floating palace, athwart the prescribed course of the Lusitania there lurked the deadliest slinking serpent of the seas--the tiny volcanic hull of an enemy submarine, most dangerous of war's new weapons. Lying leisurely in wait, its body submerged just beneath the swelling undulations of a summer sea, invisible, ruthless, insatiable; only the protrusion of a foot or so of periscopic tube betokened its presence without betraying its purpose. But in that innocent-looking tube lay vast potentialities for evil--nay, devilish certainties of dealing death and destruction. For the little steel-encased arrangement of lenses and mirrors peeping from the depths was the mechanical eye of the submarine and sufficed to betray to watchful Teutons below the approach of the great s.h.i.+p, treasure laden with human freight of non-combatants and neutrals, but flying the flag of the German's foe.

For the crew of the submarine "der Tag" had come. Without a thought of the innocents and neutrals aboard; reckless alike of immediate results and ultimate consequences, animated only by the deadly designs of a war-madness and a deliberate campaign of frightfulness, the firing signal was flashed from the German commander's station and the fatal torpedo was launched against the unsuspecting and unprotected leviathan.

Traveling true to its mark, it tore its frightful way through the thin sheathing of the s.h.i.+p and, exploding on impact, pierced her vitals and sealed her doom. * * *

Barely a quarter of an hour elapsed before the giant vessel disappeared from sight, plunging bow foremost to the bottom in waters scarcely more than one-third of her length in depth, so that the shock of her bow striking the bottom of the sea was felt by the gallant captain on the bridge before he was torn loose from his ill-fated vessel.

And when the waters of the Atlantic closed over the hull of the Lusitania, within sight of the Irish coast on that fatal Friday, the lives of over eleven hundred non-combatant men, women and children, including more than a hundred American neutrals, were ruthlessly sacrificed to the Teuton G.o.d of war.

CHAPTER XXIV

A SUMMER OF SLAUGHTER

_Submarine Activities--Horrors in Serbia--b.l.o.o.d.y Battles East and West--Italy Enters the War and Invades Austria--Russians Pushed Back in Galicia._

The Lusitania was the twenty-ninth vessel to be sunk or damaged in the first week of May, 1915, in the war zone established by Germany about the British isles. Most of these vessels were torpedoed by German submarines, although in some cases it has not been established whether the damage was inflicted by mines or underwater boats.

Sixteen of the twenty-nine vessels were British trawlers. There were four British and one French merchantman in the list. The others were vessels of neutral nations.

One of them was the American steamer Gulflight, torpedoed off Scilly islands on May 1, with the loss of three lives. There were three Norwegian, two Swedish, and one Danish merchant vessel sunk.

b.l.o.o.d.y BATTLES EAST AND WEST.

The second week in May saw minor German successes on the western front, but these were immediately succeeded by determined efforts on the part of the Allies to retrieve lost ground. The week of May 10 to 15 was marked by fierce a.s.saults by the British and French upon the German positions in Flanders and northern France. Thousands of lives were sacrificed on both sides. At one point on the Yser where the Germans were beaten back, they left 2,000 dead on the field, but this was only a small percentage of the total losses during this series of engagements in May. Around Ypres early in the month the Canadians lost heavily, but made a splendid record for gallantry and endurance in the face of odds.

The Germans began at this time the use of asphyxiating gases in their attacks. The results were horrifying in the extreme, and as these inhuman a.s.saults with gas were continued, the Allies prepared to adopt the use of similar noxious gases by way of retaliation.

BRITISH WARs.h.i.+P TORPEDOED.

On May 12 the British wars.h.i.+p Goliath was sunk by a Turkish torpedo during the continued attack by the Allies on the Dardanelles. Twenty officers and 160 men of the crew were saved and over 500 lives were lost. The Goliath was one of the older British battles.h.i.+ps of the pre-dreadnaught type. She was built in 1898, was 400 feet long and feet wide, with a displacement of 12,950 tons. Her armament consisted of four twelve-inch and twelve six-inch guns, twelve twelve-pounders, six three-pounders, and two machine guns.

In the determined attack on the Dardanelles, land forces of British and French troops co-operated with the combined fleets. The Turks made a stubborn resistance, but were compelled to give way gradually before the terrific bombardment of the wars.h.i.+ps and the persistent attacks by land.

In the fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula the British colonial troops from New Zealand covered themselves with glory, fighting like veterans and breaking down Turkish opposition with the bayonet. On May 19 one of the most important forts at the Narrows, guarding the entrance to the Sea of Marmora, was silenced by the wars.h.i.+ps' fire, and this was an important step on the Allies' way to Constantinople.

Meanwhile an immense German army, said to number 1,600,000 men, had been forcing the Russians back in Galicia to the San River and the gates of Przemysl. A German bombardment of this fortress seemed imminent on May 20.

ITALY ENTERS THE WAR.

On Sunday, May 23, Italy finally plunged into the great conflict with a declaration of war against Austria. The formal declaration, presented to the Austro-Hungarian foreign minister, Baron von Burian, by the Duke of Avarna, Italian amba.s.sador at Vienna, a.s.serted that Italy had "grave motives" for annulling her treaty of alliance with Austria and "confident in her good right," resumed her liberty of action. The declaration of war continued as follows:

"The government of the King, firmly resolved to provide by all means at its disposal for safeguarding Italian rights and interests, cannot fail in its duty to take, against every existing and future menace, the measures which events impose upon it for the fulfillment of national aspirations.

"His majesty, the King, declares that he considers himself from tomorrow (May 24, 1915), in a state of war with Austria-Hungary."

Thus the ninety-sixth anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria, of England, found eleven of the countries of Europe at war, their rulers including three of her grandsons, two arrayed in a bitter struggle against the third. The Triple Alliance on this date became the Quadruple Alliance, when Italy joined the Allies. Austria was of course supported by Germany. Italy was expected to put 3,000,000 men in the field. WHY ITALY WANTED WAR

The reasons why Italy entered the great conflict were succinctly stated on May 19 by Signor Enrico Corradini, nationalist leader, as follows:

"1. The necessity for Italy to take advantage of the present revolution in European affairs to settle her national irredentist problem at the expense of Austria. Our right to the Trentino, Trieste and Istria, now held by Austria, is not questioned by reasonable people anywhere in Europe.

"2. The necessity for Italy to arrive at a secure and definite settlement of her military frontiers on the north and east.

"3. The necessity for Italy to create for herself by her intervention a new moral and political position in the new European order of the future, to replace that which she had, thanks to her alliance with the central empires, a position which was liquidated at the outbreak of the war.

"4. The necessity for Italy to contribute to repelling the danger of a German hegemony which would flourish at the expense of the various individual cultures and civilizations."

INVASION OF AUSTRIA

Italy promptly threw an army across the Austrian frontier and began active operations in the direction of Trent and Trieste. The fortified city of Luzerne soon fell into Italian hands and continued successes marked the progress of the invaders all through the month of June.

The Austrian strategy at first appeared to provide for a series of withdrawals after skirmis.h.i.+ng; but late in the month a more determined resistance developed, the defenses of the Austrian troops being skilfully prepared. The loss of life during the month was comparatively light on both sides, but on June 26 the Italians--already masters of Plava on the left bank of the Isonzo river, and the heights dominating that town--were ma.s.sing heavy bodies of troops before Gorizia and Tolmino for crucial battles at those two points, both of which blocked the way to the coveted Austrian seaport of Trieste.

STRUGGLE FOR THE DARDANELLES

All through the month of June the Allies continued their desperate struggle for the possession of the Dardanelles, the gateway to Constantinople. Under the direction of German officers and engineers, the Turkish troops and gunners offered determined resistance and the British, Colonial and French troops co-operating with the allied fleets, gained headway but slowly and at tremendous cost. But it was declared that the Allies were bent upon forcing a pa.s.sage through the straits regardless of cost and that every effort would be made to complete the operation during the summer. Several German submarines appeared in the Gulf of Saros during the month and effectively interfered with the activity of the British and French fleets. The results of the operations on the Gallipoli peninsula during the month indicated that the Dardanelles would prove a veritable slaughter pen before the Allies succeeded in winning their way to Stamboul.

LEMBERG IS RECAPTURED