The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders Part 21

"Hold up a minute, now, Stubbs," said Hal. "You're all tangled up here. You've forgotten what you are talking about."

"Tangled? Forgot?" sputtered Stubbs. "What do you think I am, a fool?"

"Well, I didn't say so, did I Mr. Stubbs?" Hal wanted to know.

"That means you do, eh?" grumbled Stubbs.

"Well, all right, think what you please. What I asked you was this: Why did you run away from me?"

"What makes you think we ran away, Stubbs?" asked Chester.

"What makes me think it? Why shouldn't I think it, I ask you? Why shouldn't I think it? I ask you to wait till I get a horse, and when I come back, you're gone."

"Maybe we didn't hear you, Mr. Stubbs," put in Hal.

"And maybe you did," exploded Stubbs. "Now, if you don't want my company, all you've got to do is to say so."

"Stubbs," said Chester, "you know we'd rather have your company than that of--of--of, well, say three wildcats."

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Hal.

"Think you're funny, don't you?" said Stubbs, gazing at Chester with a scowl.

"Not so funny as you and the wildcats, Stubbs." laughed Chester.

Stubbs wheeled his horse about.

"I can see I'm not wanted here," he said with dignity. "Therefore, I shall not bother you."

He rode back the way he had come.

"It's too bad," said Hal. "We've offended him and he's awfully angry."

He raised his voice and shouted: "Hey, Stubbs! Come back here."

Stubbs did not deign to turn his head.

"He's mad all right," Chester agreed. "But h.e.l.l get over it. Besides, it's just as well. We should not take him with us."

"You're right, Chester. Come, we have no time to waste."

The lads again put spurs to their horses and galloped rapidly along.

It was late afternoon when they rode up to General Haig's tent, and announced their errand. They were admitted to the general's quarters immediately, and Hal presented his message.

"General Pers.h.i.+ng informs me," said General Haig at length, "that if I have need of you, I may use you."

The lads bowed.

"As it happens," said General Haig, "I do have need of you at this moment. You have, perhaps, surmised that we are about to strike?"

Again the lads bowed.

"Good. This attack will be made with the third army, under command of Sir Julian Byng. I have dispatches for you to carry to him. Also, you will attach yourselves to his staff during the engagement. I will write him to that effect."

General Haig scribbled hastily, and then pa.s.sed several doc.u.ments to Hal.

"Deliver these immediately," said the British commander.

Hal and Chester saluted, left the tent, mounted their horses, and dashed rapidly away.

They reported to General Sir Julian Byng at 6 o'clock.

CHAPTER XVI

THE ADVANCE

The advance of the British troops under Sir Julian Byng, who was to win in this engagement the sobriquet of "Bingo" Byng, marked a departure from rules of warfare as it had been conducted up to date in the greatest of all conflicts. Heretofore, heavy cannonading had always preceded an advance in force. Heavy curtains of smoke from the great guns had been flung over the enemy's lines to mask the movements of the attackers.

While this smoke curtain had protected, to some extent, the movements of the a.s.saulting party, it also had the effect of "tipping off" the foe that an attack was about to be launched. Now the British were about to advance without the protection of the smoke screens.

But General Byng's army moved forward in the wake of even a more formidable protection than smoke.

British "tanks," armored tractors, showed the way.

General Byng's attack covered the whole length of what had become known as the redoubtable and supposedly impregnable "Hindenburg line," so called because it had been established by that greatest of all German military geniuses, Field Marshal von Hindenburg. From Drocourt, just to the northwest of Douai, the line stretched for forty miles in a fairly straight line down through Vitryen-Artois, Villiers, Cagnocourt to Queant and p.r.o.nville, thence on to Boursies, Havrincourt, Gour Zeacourt, Epehy and St. Quentin.

The first, or upper section of this line--from Drocourt to Queant--was called the Wotan line. The lower section had become known as the Siegfried line. Both together formed the general scheme of the Hindenburg front.

It was along this line, then, that the British struck on the morning of Nov. 20, 1917. The drive had for its chief objective the capture, or possible isolation, of Cambrai, one of the most important positions in this sector in German hands. Cambrai was a railroad center in those days, a terminus from which the German general staff supplied various points of the long line with munitions, food and men, the latter when required.

The capture of Cambrai, it was apparent, would mean the ultimate fall of St. Quentin and Lille, both points of strategic advantage.

General Byng ordered his third army forward shortly before daylight so that when the moment came for the first blow his men would have daylight with which to go about their work.

As has been said, there was no preliminary bombardment of the enemy's positions sufficiently in advance to give the enemy time to prepare his resisting measures. Instead of the uprooting barrage, British tanks cleared the path for the infantry, and what few cavalry was used in the attack. Thus the enemy was given no warning.

The attack was a complete surprise--and a surprise attack in this great war had been called well nigh impossible. Even the German air service was fooled. As a result of its inability to antic.i.p.ate General Byng's movements, the German fighting machine naturally lost some of its efficiency.

As dawn broke, the British tanks bore down on the foe steadily and without the appearance of undue haste; in fact, the tanks could not have made haste had such been General Byng's plan. Formidable instruments of warfare that they are, they do not number speed among their many accomplishments.

Hundreds of these tanks, bearing every resemblance to mythical monsters of a prehistoric day, crawled across the ground that separated the opposing armies. What must have been the surprise of the German general staff when the break of day showed these monsters so near?

Having had no warning of the impending attack, the enemy naturally was taken at a disadvantage. The warning of the advance was flashed along the German first-line defenses the moment daylight disclosed the hundreds of tanks advancing to the fray. The second-line defenses were made ready to withstand an attack should the first line be beaten back, and, although it was not within the comprehension of German leaders that it could be possible, the third-line defenses also were made ready to repel the invaders.

Between the German first-line trenches and the British front at this point the distance was something under half a mile. Between the various German lines of defense, the distance was almost an even mile.