America's War for Humanity Part 58

On June 22 the city of Lemberg, capital of the Austrian province of Galicia, was recaptured from the Russians, who had held it for nearly ten months, by combined German-Austrian forces, under General Mackensen.

This marked the culmination of a successful Teuton campaign in Galicia, including the recapture of the strong fortress of Przemysl, as well as Lemberg, and the driving of the Russian invaders back to their own borders.

The eastern battle front in June extended for 680 miles north and south, and while the German drive through Galicia was entirely successful, the Russians gained some victories in the north. They were sorely handicapped by the lack of supplies and ammunition for their forces, and at the end of June the Russian authorities were organizing every possible industry for the production of ammunition.

The fiercest fighting of the war, as far as the Baltic provinces of Russia are concerned, occurred in a battle for the mastery of the Dubysa River early in June. The river changed hands five times in one day, and at nightfall the stream was completely choked with the bodies of thousands of dead, so that a plank roadway for artillery was laid by the Russians across a solid bridge of bodies.

HEROIC FEAT OF A CANADIAN

A thrilling and unprecedented feat was performed by Lieut. R. A. J.

Warneford, a Canadian aviator, when alone in an aeroplane, he destroyed a Zeppelin airs.h.i.+p with its crew of twenty-eight men in Belgium. He received the Victoria Cross for his exploit, but a few days later was killed while testing a new aeroplane near Paris. He was buried with naval honors in London, June 23.

On July 3, 1915, when the twelfth month of the Great War began, it was conservatively estimated that the total losses on all sides, including killed, wounded and missing, had exceeded six millions of men. Over vessels had been destroyed, including 120 s.h.i.+ps of war.

DEADLOCK IN THE WEST

During July and August there were no general engagements of importance in the Western theatre of war. The deadlock continued. The troops along the Western battle lines were, however, subjected almost daily to violent artillery bombardment.

By August 22 the British line in northern France and Flanders had been lengthened from 40 miles to over 100 miles, with over 800,000 troops on the firing line. German submarines were very active in the war zone during the month of August, over 170 merchant steams.h.i.+ps of more than 500 tons displacement and nearly 2,000 noncombatant lives being the awful toll to date of this new method of warfare.

The British transport Royal Edward was torpedoed and sunk August 14 by a German submarine in the Aegean Sea. Nearly 1,000 lives were lost. The transport had on board a force of 32 officers and 1,350 men, in addition to the s.h.i.+p's crew of 220 officers and men. The troops consisted mainly of reinforcements for the 29th Division and details of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

FALL OF WARSAW

Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was taken by the Germans August 5.

Bavarian troops under the command of Prince Leopold carried the forts of the outer and inner lines of the city's defenses, where the rear guards of the Russian troops made a tenacious resistance.

The German armies under Gen. von Scholz and Gen. von Gallwitz advanced in the direction of the road between Lomza, Ostrov and Vyszkoy and fought a number of violent engagements. The brave and desperate resistance of the Russians on both sides of the road between Ostrov and Rozan was without success.

Twenty-two Russian officers and 4,840 soldiers were taken prisoners. The Germans also captured seventeen machine guns.

The fall of Warsaw marked the culmination of the greatest sustained offensive movement of the war. Thrice before Teutonic armies had knocked at its gates, only to be denied by the strength of its defenses and the resistance of the forces holding it.

Warsaw lies on the Vistula, 625 miles southwest of Petrograd and miles east of Berlin. It is an important industrial center and its population is estimated at not far from 900,000.

The great Russian fortress of Kovno was captured by the Germans August 17. More than 400 cannon were taken. The fortress was stormed in spite of the most stubborn Russian resistance.

The capture of Kovno was the most important German victory in the East after the taking of Warsaw.

Kovno fell under the eye of General von Hindenburg. The capture of the fortress was the first personal triumph of the "old man of the Mazurian lakes" since the great Austro-German campaign in the East was inaugurated. The six great forts defending the city from the west and southwest were simply blown to pieces by the incessant pounding of Germany's great 42-centimeter guns and a host of minor pieces.

The forts were under direct attack for scarcely a week, demonstrating again the superiority of modern artillery over fort structures built by man.

Kovno, capital of the Russian province of that name, is on the right bank of the Niemen. It is a fortress of the first cla.s.s. The civilian population of the city is more than 75,000.

The important Russian fortress of Novo Georgievsk, the last halting place of the Russians in Poland, fell into the hands of the Germans on August 19, after a most stubborn resistance. The garrison consisted of 85,000 men and of these over 20,000 were taken prisoners. Over cannon were captured and a large amount of war ammunition seized.

BATTLE OF THE BAY OF RIGA

Russian naval forces aided by British submarines, in the Gulf of Riga won a decided victory August 18 over the German fleet which penetrated the gulf on August 13.

The great German battle cruiser Moltke, one of the finest s.h.i.+ps of its kind afloat, was destroyed in the engagement. The cruiser had a displacement of 23,000 tons and carried a crew of 1,107 men and officers. Its main battery consisted of ten 11-inch guns, mounted in pairs in five turrets. Its secondary battery contained twelve 6-inch guns. Twelve 24-pounders and four torpedo tubes completed its armament.

The Moltke was 610 feet long over all, with a beam of 96-3/4 feet, and cost $12,000,000.

With the Moltke three German cruisers and seven torpedo boats, all unnamed, were destroyed.

The Russians lost the destroyer Novik of 1,260 tons, largest in the navy, and the gunboats Sivutch and Koriets, of 875 tons displacement.

The Russian victory did not end with the defeat of the German naval forces. The invading fleet was accompanied by four enormous transports, all crammed with troops. These soldiers attempted to make a landing on Pernau bay, on the northeastern shoulder of the Gulf of Riga. They were permitted to land and were then attacked and exterminated by the Russian forces at that point. The loss was estimated at 6,000 men.

WHITE STAB LINER ARABIC SUNK

The White Star liner Arabic, which sailed August 18 from Liverpool for New York, was sent to the bottom by a German torpedo August 19 off Fastnet on the south coast of Ireland, not far from the point at which the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine.

Out of 429 persons aboard including crew, 39 lost their lives. Two Americans perished--Mrs. Josephine Bruguiere, widow of Emil Bruguiere, California millionaire banker, and Dr. E. F. Wood, of Janesville, Wis.

Capt. Finch, who commanded the steamer, gave the following graphic account of the disaster: "We were forty-seven miles south of Galley Head at 9:30 in the morning when I perceived the steamer Dunsley in difficulty. Going toward her, I observed a torpedo coming for my s.h.i.+p, but could not discern a submarine. The torpedo struck 100 feet from the stern, making terrible havoc of the hull. The vessel began to settle immediately and sank in about eight minutes.

"My order from the bridge about getting the boats launched was promptly obeyed. Two boats capsized. We had taken every precaution while in the danger zone. There were plenty of life-belts on deck and the boats were ready for immediate launching. The officers and crew behaved excellently and did everything possible in the circ.u.mstances, getting people into the boats and picking up those in the sea.

"I was the last to leave, taking the plunge into the sea as the s.h.i.+p was going down. After being in the water some time I was taken aboard a raft, to which I had a.s.sisted two men and women.

"If the submarine had given me a little more time, I am satisfied I could have saved everybody."

The Arabic's tonnage was 15,201 gross. It was 600 feet long, 65 feet beam and 47 feet in depth. It was built at Belfast in 1903 by Harland & Wolff.

On September 4 the German forces under General von Beseler stormed and captured the bridgehead at Friedrichstradt, the most important defense of Riga. The furiousness of the attacks in this region led military critics to believe that the fall of the city of Riga was imminent.

Everywhere as Russians retreated they left a trail of utter devastation, causing the Teutons to march around burning cities, finding the country devoid of food or shelter. This destructive policy, however, resulted in saving the Czar's army and rendering futile the hope of the Kaiser that the military forces of Russia could be crushed.

With the Russian armies in full retreat and their double line of fortresses all fallen to the invader, the apparent calm on the Western front continued to be the marvel of the European campaign, as up to September 7 no development on the Western front indicated that any effort was being made to distract the Kaiser's attention from his victorious expedition into the territory of the Czar.

THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN.

The struggle of combined land and sea forces of the Allies to gain control of the Dardanelles, and thus open the way for the British and French fleets to Constantinople and the Black Sea, continued through the autumn of 1915 and furnished some of the most sanguinary battles of the war. From the day of the landing of British troops on the Grallipoli peninsula up to the end of November the fighting was continuous and b.l.o.o.d.y. The British losses were tremendous, while the Turkish defenders of the supposedly impregnable straits also suffered heavily, but with Mohammedan stoicism.

A terrible picture of the slaughter at Seddul-Bahr, where the British troops landed from transports under the guns of their fleet, in the face of an awful Turkish bombardment, was painted on his return to England in November by Lieutenant-Commander Josiah Wedgwood, a Liberal member of Parliament, who had received special mention for bravery at the front, and the coveted stripes of the Distinguished Service order.

"Our school books told us," said Commander Wedgwood, "that the bloodiest battle in history was that between the confederates and federals at Sharpsburg during the American civil war, when one-third of all the men engaged were left on the field. But Sharpsburg was a joy ride compared with Seddul-Bahr."

Paying a tribute to the enemy, he said: "The Turks are the finest fighters in the world, save only the Canadians and Australians. And they proved to be humane. They could easily have killed all those who went to succor the wounded, but I found them extraordinarily merciful as compared with the enemy in Flanders."

Commander Wedgwood's first view of fighting at the Dardanelles was at the so-called V beach, where a steams.h.i.+p, the "River Clyde," was run aground to furnish cover for the landing of the British troops.

"This modern 'wooden horse of Troy,'" said Commander Wedgwood, "was run ash.o.r.e on a beautiful Sunday morning, 400 yards from the medieval castle of Seddul-Bahr. I was on the vessel, but never noticed her grounding for the horrors ahead of us in the shallow waters on the beach. Five tows of five boats each, loaded with men, were going ash.o.r.e alongside of us.

One moment it had been early morning in a peaceful country, with rustic sights and sounds and smells; the next moment, while the boats were just twenty yards from sh.o.r.e, the blue sea around each boat was turning red.

It was truly horrible. Of all those brave men two-thirds died, and hardly a dozen reached unwounded the shelter of the five-foot sand dune.

"About 9 o'clock a dash across the row of lighters from the Wooden Horse was led by Gen. Napier and his brigade major. Would they ever get to the end of the lighters and jump into the sheltering water? No; side by side they were seen to sit down. For one moment one thought they might be taking cover; then their legs slid out and they rolled over.